There was no one out on the MUP when I get there to jog/walk the 3 miles around the lake. I timed it so the light snow would have a start. I love being outdoors when it's snowing... there is so much elbow room. A mile down the path I see some traces of footprints in the snow going my way and the further I get the fresher they look. I continue along zoned in on what am I seeing. I am the tracker! It's a woman and she is walking briskly and even as I clomp along at a 12 minute pace I think I can catch up. I'm fired up now.
Coming up to the first long straight away, I'm thinking that I should see her ahead, and yes there is the outline of my quarry :-) only minutes away. Just ahead I notice a disruption in the almost seamless pattern of her footsteps up to now. I slow to a walk to study and determine what happened (I am the tracker) and lucky for me I did, because there was black ice under the snow, and I almost went down as she had, in the same spot. Whew.
So, now I straighten up and fly right for the big pass coming up. As I pull along side, I ask her if she was OK after slipping down and she turned to me peering out from behind the hood of her parka, face burning from the 12 degree cold, big smile on her experienced face and announced "Oh yeah, I'm fine."
She loved playing in the snow too.