My birthday camping trip last week was a grand success (especially in  light of today’s frigid temperatures and snow). The weather cooperated and while it was definitely chilly in the morning, the sun shone for much of the two days. Here’s the view out the van window on my birthday morning.

After it warmed up a bit and I’d had coffee and sunflower butter smeared on a rice cake, I decided to celebrate my day with a run. The lake’s water level was low and as long as I stayed away from the wetter muck near the water, my shoes wouldn’t collect the heavy mud. So I began my run in the lake bed, thinking I’d go about three miles. But while running across the sand, I remembered my 50th birthday and how I’d celebrated with a 50-minute run on a San Diego beach. I spontaneously decided to do the same, except this time the run would be 60 minutes.

Here’s part of my route (picture taken the day before):

That photo shows a deceptively flat surface, but it was a pretty technical run because of hardened footprints and bike-tire tracks in the mud, patches of weeds, and the inexplicable paver stones and concrete blocks scattered about. I had to pay attention to where I placed my feet.

Still, I enjoyed seeing gulls and Canada Geese as I ran.

I took this photo the next morning so maybe not the exact same geese I passed.

After 30 minutes on the dry lake bed, I ran on trails near the lake for another 30 minutes. That ground was also uneven. Plus, the trails were short and connected in various places so I found myself doubling back to circle around again. All this to say, my pace was not-fast and my various joints began to tire of the celebratory run. Near the end, I checked my watch about every two minutes, thinking “Please, let it be 60 minutes!” And finally, it was.  Hooray! I’d run a total of 5.83 miles which wasn’t even a 10-minute mile pace. BUT, I didn’t do a face plant. Victory!

Later, I took a nap in the van as the sun shone on me through the back windows. All in all, a very nice day. Well done, me.