Running down from Saddle Mountain

I shot this video with my cell phone camera last month just below the top of Saddle Mountain. The quality is absolutely terrible but it sort of captures some of the intensity of the weather. The sustained winds were about 40+ mph with gusts well over that. Snow sleet was slapping me in the face as I left the summit.

I really can't think of a more intense run that I've done in the 10+ years of my running career! I thought I was just going to encounter a lot of mud, rain and some wind. I wasn't expecting to hit such ferocious weather conditions. I was only wearing a base layer and a cell phone. In reality I was pretty much running for my life! What I mean is that with only a (very wet) base layer in those conditions, the only thing keeping me warm was physical exertion. Had I become immobilized I would have become hypothermic in minutes!

For the record I do NOT recommend anybody run/hike in this manner. It was not wise. It was unnecessarily risky. It was really quite unsafe...At the same time, it was the coolest run I've ever done!!!

There's something about risk that brings life out to the surface. Not sure how to put it into words. It's beyond adrenaline. There's a certain quality of life that can only be obtained when risk is accepted as part of the package.

I think God has been speaking to me about how this run is true in the spiritual realm. Sometimes we just need to get over our phobia of risk and move straight out into the howling, screaming winds of fear to experience life abundantly!