Breckenridge Half Marathon

Sunrise at Dry Creek



Hudson with his new running buddy, Hank the Saluki



Green #16 for Hudson



I decided to skip the Breckenridge half marathon this year for a few reasons, including trying to move away from always being so competitive with myself and to simply enjoy the race - the social aspect and the seeing of new places. It's also possible that my subconscious wasn't so sure that I was in as good running shape as last year

Anyways, signed up for a local and relatively flat half marathon in Erie. It was perfect; ease the guilt of skipping my "big" race and then enjoy a party up in Jamestown later that evening

I had hoped to get a good sleep - unlike the lousy night before the Jemez - but after only 40 minutes I was awake until 2am. At 1am I had decided to skip the race and turned the alarm off - but woke up anyways at 5:30am

My plan was to run at a sustainable race pace and see how it went. For the first time this year I ran a race with my iPhone and used my GPS apps - MapMyRun will talk to you after every mile in a very robotic female voice and tell you what your pace is. Surprisingly I was running sub 7:30 miles at an easy enough effort so decided to keep it up until I hit a wall. More surprisingly I never did and ran a 1:38:31 - good for 10th place (it was a small town race). It was also a very consistent run, with all miles between 7:06 (mile 2) and 7:42 (mile 13)

On Thursday I went for a run with Leadville Chuck and Woody and we were talking about the Breck half - started feeling pangs of being a pussy. I signed up later that evening

Colts lazing about at Walden Ponds on an easy Friday run



Was tired Saturday night so headed to bed early, dreading the now ritualistic nightmare of insomnia. Sure enough, after 3 hours of nothing I grabbed a beer, a smoke and turned off the alarm. Or so I thought - I had only turned the switch from "radio alarm" to "buzzer alarm". I actually ended up getting a decent enough sleep, so off I went

My plan was once again to run at a sustainable race pace and see how it went. The obvious difference is being above 10,000' with 3,000' of gain, so some sort of strategy was needed

The first section is half a mile on the street before heading up the Burro Trail and then on Spruce Creek Road - all-in maybe 1,400' of the gain over 4.5 miles. As in prior years ran about 95% in 47 very consistent minutes. My first Breck half I had run this section in 48 minutes but faded badly in the second section, whereas last year I had run it in 51 minutes at an easy pace and did much better later

The second section is 2 brutal miles with 1,600' before topping out for a 0.7 mile stretch at 12,500'. I was running in a small group of two guys - one with a serious sounding breathing issue like he may need to be rescued - and one gal. We all ran until the very steep section. I had worked on my hiking this summer - I found out that hiking uses some different muscles than running - so the 1,000' / one mile stretch went from being completely dreaded to somewhat fine (not fun). Ended up finishing this section in 44:15 and was now 5 minutes ahead of last year's time

The final section is essentially all downhill - 3,000' down over 6.5 miles. I passed one guy right away and then only saw one other person. The first mile is a pretty rocky jeep trail but the next four miles are very nice and I was running 7:XX miles (even got a 6:XX mile in). By the final aid station my quads were hurting - and a woman passed me seemingly out of nowhere. I chased her over the final 2 miles - which is a trail system in a rich residential area (all of Breckenridge near the slopes is a rich residential area) - but no luck. Still, did this section in under 50 minutes and came in at 2:21:04 for 8th place

As I was heading out of town I saw a 60+ year old fellow obviously suffering and struggling down the street to the finish. Gave him a few honks and he gave a wave. His effort was much more awesome - good job, Norm Stein...

This is the fellow with the breathing issue - that's me in white coming up behind



Maureen liked this pic but to me smiling isn't acceptable



The best race pic of myself that I've seen was at a race in Colorado Springs with Pike's Peak perfectly framed behind. Even bought it as the money went to Search & Rescue. I wish my pic above was with no smile and this panorama



Thinking about the marathon next year - this is the view they get

Rogers Pass

Ran the Eldorado Springs 4-miler Thursday evening for the third straight year. Fun night race with good prizes and free beer. 28:13, good for 15th place

The wife wasn't able to run this year (but did take the free beer). She was ready to take this photo of me at the finish



Sunrise driving up Flagstaff



Hudson did his 14th & 15th Green summits this weekend. He also chased a wild turkey (which is not good, but the turkey easily got away)



Went up to Rollinsville today and ran from the East Portal TH to Rogers Pass. 11.5 miles RT with 2,700' - which seems like nothing on this major race weekend in the area - the Leadville 100 (100 miles with 18,000') and the Pike's Peak Marathon (26.2 miles with 7,600')

Driving in off the Peak-to-Peak highway



The Moffat Tunnel - an interesting part of Colorado's early history. David Moffat was an industrialist and railway man. The tunnel cost $24M back in the 1920s ($318M in 2013 dollars). 28 people died building it



Rogers Pass Lake



The final push up the Pass. This last section was a half mile and hard. The grade was generally over 20% and as steep as 30%. I saw an older lady and her dog coming down...it's impossible to brag in Colorado



The Pass. The sign seems a tad battered - was hoping for something more photogenic



Views. The final pic is looking down at Winter Park









If we do close on the house, it will be the end of this blog. We started it to have a record of what was going to be a 6-month cross-country trip that has now gone on for 4 years now - although the past 2 years has been spent mostly in Colorado, New Mexico or Seattle. It was also a fun way for our parents and friends to follow along

With trail running we see some amazing places but the iPhone camera doesn't quite capture what we see. We'll probably start a photo blog when we get a better camera. Plus, without this blog we would have lost all photos from the first year since we lost both cameras in the fire. It's a nice back-up system

Meadow Mountain

Hudson's 13th Green Mountain



View from South Boulder Peak



View from Bear - the toughest of the Boulder Peaks as these ladies would agree



Ran the Holy Cow 10K in Westminster Saturday. Started faster than I could sustain - a 6:56-mile pace after 3 miles. Finished 11th with a 7:10 pace - good for the coveted bronze cow bell!



Maureen & I hiked in Magnolia in the afternoon



Yikes! This was a big leg





We were startled by - and startled - a moose who was alongside the trail. It's hard to tell what he was thinking - he never took his eyes off us. We moved on and skipped the photo op

Sunday we headed to St. Vrain Mountain TH. After a mile Maureen's knee wasn't doing well with the rocky trails, so she went to Camp Dick to hike on Buchanan Pass. After I hit Meadow Mountain I would come down the south side into the the Indian Peaks Wilderness and meet up with her

Looking into the Rocky Mountain National Park





Headed down the St. Vrain Mountain trail but lost it after awhile - a lot of fallen trees. Got the compass out and figured as long as I kept going down and to the SE all would be OK. There is no cell coverage in the Wilderness areas. It was disorienting, coming down a few thousand feet off-trail in the woods over large fallen trees that cut the heck out of my legs. After an hour I didn't know where I was and all I could see were trees. I assumed I was close as I could here ATVs, but I was on top of a rocky ledge and wasn't keen on scrambling down with no one around. So with maybe an hour of phone battery left I decided to retrace my route back up using MapMyRun (GPS app). The battery died just as I made it back up top

Ran the 4 miles back to the St. Vrain Mountain TH and started running to the town of Allenspark. I was now 2 hours late and had run something like 17.5 miles with 4,600' of climbing with 10 miles to go - although I assumed hitch-hiking was a good option. Sure enough, after a mile or so a USFS Ranger was driving up so I flagged her down and hitched a ride to Camp Dick

Looking at the GPS later that evening on my computer, I was only 300' away and 700' above a trail. Sigh

Bought COSAR (Colorado Search & Rescue) cards for us later that night just in case...

Burro Days '13

A few weeks of inspections and contractors and a break was needed - so we headed up to Fairplay for Burro Days!

On the way up stopped off in Nederland for the Eldora 10K - a tough little course at 9,200' with 950' of gain. 53:34 for 26th / 151



Sunday took Hudson out for one of our favourite runs; the trail to Silverheels at 11,500'



Hummingbirds are always in great numbers in Park County



Our favourite time of the Burro race is when everyone is getting ready



We caught this guy eating his person's race bib











Finally got to meet the Champs, George Zack (in the black hat) and Jack



The race begins...







The full two-and-a-half minute movie of the start on Main Street

On the course where it turns onto Mosquito Pass Road





Burro racing legend Curtis Imrie







The leaders for the short course (15 miles) coming back for the final stretch



Now that we'll be settling in Colorado it's time to find a burro and start training for 2014...

Mount Audubon

Headed up Mount Audubon in the Indian Peaks Wilderness











Running down from the summit, I took a head-over-heels tumble down the large boulders. Got up a little disoriented and had to figure out where all the blood was coming from. All fine

On the drive out saw these guys