So for those of you following, my friend Krysta and I do a 5k every month as part of an effort to get healthy. Quick question though, did you know that there are no 5k’s in our area in the month of december? In fact there was only one in the whole state of Utah, but it was at 7am in St. George and a trip to St. George would have been way too expensive right now.

So after putting all our heads together, and a couple failed ideas, we came up with this seemingly ingenious plan: Do a 5k while snow shoeing!

Before heading out we needed to carb load, so we went to Rancheritos to get some amazing breakfast burritos.

After breakfast we drove up South Fork to Big Springs park and went up to some of the mountain biking trails. We got all bundled up and ready to go.

Zac worked at UVU’s Outdoor Activity Center so he was able to get all the equipment rented for us. Getting all the gear on took a lot longer than I had anticipated.

Once we were finally ready, though, it was so much fun.

The boys and Karen were really excited to go too!

Karl was really excited too, even though he just looks really confused in this picture. He was really excited to track our progress. He and a GPS app on his phone that would make sure that we finished our entire 5k.

Here we are!

After our first little jaunt we started to strip layers. It was really hard work, and we were working up a sweat.

Karen was in a carrier on Zac’s back. Even with Karen Zac was an animal out there. He was so fast!

My frequent view: The boys ahead of me, waiting for me to catch up. This time though they were looking at something really cool:

Deer Tracks straight up the mountain side.

We pressed on across a meadow, that looked really flat but was actually up hill.

The Whitmores!

The Hite’s with Timp in the background.

While we took another break Karen played with the poles. Karen was obsessed with the poles. She was constantly asking for one and when ever we stopped and let her down, she was playing with one.

Karl was standing still, and I think he started to get cold.

Me too.

We started up another hill and this time I couldn’t help but whine a little. I was getting really bag leg cramps and I could feel my burrito coming up.

View from below!

We decided since we didn’t know the area that well that we would go to 2.5 kilometers then go back the way we came. This gate was half way!

The perfect time to turn around.

You can’t tell in this picture but my leg was shaking uncontrollably.

Happy faces. We were able to take a break here and I took off the snow shoes. Some stretches helped a lot for the trip back. Also, the whole way was down hill.

We got down to the car in no time at all. The problem was that we still had half a kilometer to go.

We took an end shot, and a fun one.

We wandered around the park for a while.

We all started to get tired.

So Zac and Karen went to the car and we walked down to the road.

THE END!!!

When we got to the home, Zac gave us each a donut.

They came with a cute story. Whenever Zac went with his dad to pour concrete he would buy each of them a Mountain Dew and they would share a box of donuts; these powdered raspberry filled ones.

Yum.