Running Dreams

West Yellowstone, Montana

2011-11-27T20:14:00.000-08:00

Every year during Thanksgiving week the town of West Yellowstone, Montana is invaded by hundreds of nordic skiers. Several college and high school XC ski teams along with many nordic enthusiasts make the annual pilgrimage to this tiny town on the western edge of Yellowstone National Park to take advantage of reliable early season snow. The Rendezvous trail system consists of over 35 kilometers of gently rolling trails that are impeccably groomed through tall lodgepole pines and open meadows starting right from the southern end of town.

When I competed in nordic skiing in college back in the late 1980's my team from Bemidji State made the long drive over to West Yellowstone for the camp and the experience created some of the best memories that I have from my college days.
This year during Thanksgiving week my family was invited to stay near Big Sky for my mother-in-law's birthday and I was lucky enough to get down to West Yellowstone for two of the days to ski on the Rendezvous trails.

The trails were in great condition and it was truly a winter wonderland. I loved skiing through the woods with snow covered trees and perfect snow. West Yellowstone has a reputation for being really cold, but the two days that I skied the temperature was perfect, in the mid 20's on the first day and low 30's the other day.

I was skiing with my new iPhone 4 with the Map-My-Run app and decided to shoot for 50 km of skiing, probably not the most prudent thing to do my first day back on snow after a two year hiatus, but what the heck. I felt good and skiing is like riding a bike, you never forget.

The last 10 km were a bit of a grind, but I made it though 50 km, no worse for the wear. Most of the ski teams train twice per day and I was lucky to have most of the trails to myself during the mid-day period when most of the skiers go back to their hotel rooms for lunch and a nap before the afternoon workout.

The streets of West Yellowstone remain snowpacked throughout the winter and the skiers can ski to the trail head right from their hotels.

The entrance into Yellowstone National park is on the east side of town. The road to Old Faithful is not plowed in the winter and some skiers will ski the entire 27 miles to the geyser and then ski back for a massive 54 mile day.

Two days later I was back in town for more skiing and this time it was spectacular sunny day with some great views from the trail. Again I hit the sweet mid-day period and for the most part had the trails to myself.

My legs were really sore and tired this time from the 50 km day two days earlier, so I took it easy, stopping a lot to shoot photos and enjoyed the day. Above is a shot of me skate skiing up one of the rollers on the Dead Dog loop. I ended up with 30 km for the day.

The Rendezvous trails are set up with a biathlon stadium and there was actually a race going on while I was there. The race only took up a small section of the trail system.

The next day was Thanksgiving and I got a run in near Big Sky with my daughter Mena before the big feast later.

We brought our dog Daisy on the trip and she had the time of her life exploring the area.

The girls got some sledding in on Thanksgiving day.

On Friday the downhill area opened up and we got out for some runs, not something we do very often. It was our first time out in two years. That's Mena in pink.

That's Missa in blue with her mom behind in green.

Gabi has a lingering ankle injury from cross country running and had to call it quits after one run. we played some pool and ping pong in the lodge.

I fell and broke my Lumix

2011-10-28T18:24:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I got out for a double ascent of Green Mtn. My plan was to cruise the first one and hammer the second. The first time up I ran in my Saucony Peregrines and used it as a warmup, hitting the summit in 41:17 going up the front side. On the way down I ran past a very large group of Japanese tourists at the top of the Amphitheater trail. They were stopped by the side of the trail and I had a feeling that the on my second ascent I would have to deal with this group. Back at my car, parked at the switchback at the base of Flagstaff road, I changed into my New Balance MT101's for my second time up. I love running in these shoes because they are so light and every time I put them on my feet feel like they've come home. I only use them on special occasions, usually races or key workouts, because I'll get metatarsal issues if I run in them too much.

I felt really good on the second ascent, going all out at race pace effort. Shortly after the 1st Flatiron cutoff I saw the large group of tourists near the overlook. I was redlining the pace and didn't want to deal with getting around this large group of people, but I had no choice. As I squeezed by them, politely saying "on your left", three of the males started chattering to each other in Japanese. I knew that they were talking about me and then one them them started running right behind me. He pushed ahead of me on my right while the others cheered him on. After 10 yards he stopped, looking back at his friends with a triumphant look on his face. As I ran by him in my oxygen starved state I said, "Good job! Keep going!"

His friends heard this and urged him on even louder this time. Sure enough the dude started running again and rubbed by me on the left side this time, going for all he was worth. He made it another 15 yards and then stopped again, looking back at his friends with a huge grin on his face. As I ran by him I encouraged him again, "Good job, keep going!" But he had enough and stayed back with his friends.

I continued my second ascent, resuming my rhythm after the excitement with the tourists below. On the flat section I fell, tripping on a rock, and losing a couple seconds before jumping back up to continue the effort. I've been feeling uncoordinated lately due to my ankle issues and being overprotective to make sure I don't roll it again. I made the summit in a season best time for the front side in 36:47 and I was satisfied. I stood on the summit rock for a few minutes sucking in the crisp fall air and enjoying the views.

On the descent I ran down the Ranger trail to Flagstaff road for the final 2.7 miles downhill on the pavement to work on leg turnover. Last summer, when my girls were running under coach Lyle, he was a big advocate of downhill running to train the body to go fast. Descending Flagstaff road I tried to relax, concentrating on my running form and maintaining a comfortable pace which ended up being 6:30 min/mile, a good way to end the workout.

Green Mountain

The next morning I did an easy hike up Bear Peak via Fern Canyon. On the summit there was a group of three hikers and one of the guys was giddy with excitement, he said something like, "This is just such a perfect moment that I have to tell you guys a joke." He proceeded to tell them a joke about Ole and Lena from Minnesota riding up to Duluth on a bus for their honeymoon. I couldn't resist and hung out on the summit, tying my shoes, enjoying the view and snapping photos while listening to the joke. I won't give away the punchline, but it was a pretty good joke, culminating with the honeymooners cresting the hill above Duluth with the spectacular view overlooking the largest freshwater port in the world.

On the way down Fern I jogged at a nice and easy pace, but again I was clumsy due to the ankle brace I was wearing and took a hard fall near the bottom. I was carrying my Panasonic Lumix camera in my right hand at the time and the impact trashed the camera, scratching the lens and ruining the lens cover mechanism. When I tried to turn on the camera it made a sickening crunching sound from the dirt in the lens adjust mechanism. That's two cameras trashed in less than a year, I scratched the lens of my Canon camera on our trip to Kauai last January.
Below are more photos from the Bear Peak outing, these are the last photos you'll ever see from my Lumix.

Boulder.

Indian Peaks.

Looking west from upper Fern Canyon.

South Boulder.

Cross Country Wrap-Up

2011-10-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

Cross-Country season ended last Thursday for my two oldest girls, Gabriela and Samantha. The shot above is Samantha on her way to a season ending PR at Regionals in Lyons. I really enjoyed watching the girls competing together this year and I'm sad to see it come to an end. Gabriela starts swimming in a couple weeks and Samantha will continue training with the team at winter track. She plans to learn the pole vault and her previous gymnastics training should help with that. Speaking of gymnastics, my youngest daughter Marissa had the meet of her life last weekend in a competition at her home gym. This is her fourth year of serious gymnastics and it is really fun to watch her improve a little each year.

The girls at the Mead Stampede 9-30-11

Gabi at the Northern Conference Meet in Loveland, 10-12-11

Mena at the JM Invite in Ft. Collins 9-23-11

Gabi at the Mead Stampede 9-30-11

Mena at the Mead Stampede 9-30-11

On the start line at Regionals, 10-20-11

The girls finishing up Regionals, 10-20-11

The finishing sprint at Regionals, 10-20-11

Boulder Skyline Traverse 10-15-11

2011-10-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

I have had the Boulder Skyline Traverse on my list of runs to complete for a couple years now and I finally got it in today. Anton K holds the FKT (Fastest Known Time) running this route in 2:29:45 hr last year on June 2, 2010. I knew that I would not beat that time, but I was shooting to break 3 hours.
I had a late start today and wasn't running until 10AM. The route starts at the South Mesa trailhead and ascends South Boulder Peak via the Tohee and Shadow Canyon trails. I felt good on the climb, but there were a lot of people out hiking today and it became a bit cumbersome constantly going around people. I did my best to remain courteous and not piss anyone off. I tagged the summit in 54:36 and from their I traversed over to Bear Peak, tagging the summit in 1:05:04 (10:28). Running down the West Bear Ridge Trail trail I rolled my left ankle really bad, this ankle has been bothering me for close to a year now and is really weak and tends to roll easily. I need to figure out a way to tape it to prevent it from rolling. I have found the plastic ankle braces for this are too bulky. I had to run the downhills super cautiously for the remainder of the run, taking short, quick baby steps and I could not push off my left ankle on the climbs because of the stiffness and pain. I was committed to the run, so I made the best of the situation and did the best that I could with the lame ankle. I made to the Green-Bear Trail in 1:23:53 (18:48) and then ran up to the summit of Green Mtn in 1:39:36 (15:43). I still felt pretty good at this point and the summit of Green was crawling with people so I didn't bother to climb up the summit rock. I descended Green Mtn via the Ranger Trail crossing the Flagstaff road and going up the Ute trail. At one point I went off trail to tag the true summit of Flagstaff in 2:00:54 (21:18) and then descended the standard Flagstaff trail over to Eben Fine Park. From there I stopped at Settlers Park to pick up a water bottle that I had stashed earlier and ran up and over the short Red Rock hill over to the base of Sanitas reaching this trailhead in 2:32:14 (31:19). At this point my legs were pretty shattered but I still wanted to push the last hill and see if I could break 20 minutes. My lack of endurance really showed however and I had to hike most of the climb in the 80 degree heat. I topped out in 2:56:01 (23:46) and slumped against a rock on the crowded summit for a few minutes. At least I broke 3 hours. My left ankle was stiffening up really fast so I began gingerly walking-jogging back down the ridge trail to the trailhead.

The plan was for my 16 year old daughter, Gabriela to meet me at the trailhead, but once I got there, she was nowhere to be seen. I saw some people in the parking lot and I borrowed their phone. I did not know Gabi's number, so I called my wife, but she didn't answer and I had to leave a message. I decided to walk down the road towards 4th street and I found our empty car parked on the street. I hung out for awhile, stretching and then walked into the hospital and called my wife again. This time she picked up said she would call Gabi and tell her I was waiting at the car. A few minutes later Gabriela and my 2nd daughter Samantha came strolling down the road. It turns out they were waiting for me on the Sanitas Valley trail, not the ridge trail that I descended, oh well, it was all okay.

Together the three of us drove back to pick up my car and then we drove into Boulder for a late lunch at Moe's on 30th. It was a pretty fun outing and it's nice to check Skyline Traverse off my list.

Skyline Traverse Splits:
South Boulder Peak 54:36
Bear Peak 1:05:04 (10:28)
Green-Bear Trail 1:23:53 (18:48)
Green Mtn summit 1:39:36 (15:43)
Flagstaff summit 2:00:54 (21:18)
Base of Sanitas 2:32:14 (31:19)
Sanitas summit 2:56:01 (23:46)

High Lonesome Loop 10-1-11

2011-10-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

On Thursday Josh, the guy who works in the office next to me, sent me an email with a link to Peter Bakwin's FKT website. I didn't know that Josh was into trail running and was surprised that he knew about the website. He was totally amazed at some of the records, in particular Bakwin's Sanitarado and back record. We talked for awhile about it and I encouraged him to start doing some trail runs and possibly sign up for a race. Back in my office I perused the FKT website and the High Lonesome Loop FKT caught my eye. Today I decided to take a crack at Mike Priddy's existing FKT set on Sept. 2, 2011 of 3:11:05. According to the FKT website, the GPS distance for the High Lonesome Loop is 14.5 miles and I measured 3,100 vertical feet gained/lost with my Polar HRM.

Jim D and my wife Brook joined me for the outing this morning.

The leaves are peaking right now just above the Hessie Trailhead.

Brook and Jim cross the bridge over the north fork of Middle Boulder Creek. This bridge is the "official" starting line for the route. Brook and Jim would do an out and back on the King Lake trail while I was doing the loop CCW.

Even though I was going for a fast time, I had to stop several times to shoot photos of the incredible leaves.

The Devil's Thumb trail.

Devil's Thumb. Around a mile before reaching the lake I passed Buzz B out hiking on the trail.

You can see the switch backs of the trail going up to Devil's Thumb pass in the center of the photo.

Looking back down at Devil's Thumb Lake.

Near the top of the pass, the trail is on the right.

The High Lonesome Trail just beyond Devil's Thumb Pass. My split at the pass was 1:17:52. I was on record pace!

Looking down into the Fraser Valley from the High Lonesome Trail.

Winter Park Ski area in the distance.

King Lake. At the King Lake trail junction my time was 1:43:10 (25:18 for the High Lonesome section). At this point I was 36 minutes ahead of record pace.


The view from the King Lake trail.

The trail approaching Hessie. I finished up the run back at the bridge where I started in a time of 2:28:56 (45:45 for the section from the King Lake junction down to the bridge), a new FKT.

Jim D. finishes up the run. It's hard not to smile in a place like this.

My stats for the High Lonesome Loop CCW.
2:28:56 total time.
1:17:52 at Devil's Thumb Pass
1:43:10 (25:18) at King Lake/High Lonesome Junction
2:28:56 (45:45) finish at Bridge

High Lonesome Loop Map

JM Invite, Sombrero Race & Tombstone Ridge

2011-09-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

Mena at the John Martin Invite 9-23-11

Mena raced in the John Martin Invite in Fort Collins on Friday afternoon in the heat. I had to work and couldn't make it to the meet. She said it wasn't anything special, finishing in 24:26.
Gabi and I raced in the Sombrero 4.5 trail mile race in Estes Park Saturday morning. We enjoyed carpooling with Jim D and Becky, great conversation on the drive up and down. I just barely made my goal of finishing under 38 minutes to make the "A wave" in next year's Bolder Boulder. Gabi had a solid race finishing in 49:17. She said she really likes doing trail races and I am looking forward to doing more of these with her and Mena in the coming years.
Sunday morning I continued with my goal of running every trail in RMNP, this time running from the Upper Beaver Meadows TH up the Ute trail past Tombstone Ridge all the way to Trail Ridge road and back.

Map of the trail to Tombstone Ridge

The Upper Beaver Meadows Trailhead. Nice because there were not many people.

Aspen leaves starting to change.

Longs Peak from the Ute Trail.

Tombstone Ridge.

Approaching Trail Ridge road after 6.5 miles and 3000 vertical feet.

The Continental Divide.

Running back down you can see Estes Cone and Twin Sisters Peaks (left).

Estes Cone from lower on the trail.

The trails that I've run are highlighted in dark green.

The entire run took 3:20 hr at a very easy/slow pace, 13.6 miles, 3200 vertical feet. The trail was really rocky and I was forced to always watch my foot placements on the uneven terrain.

Eldorado Race & St. Vrain Mtn

2011-09-21T18:40:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday morning my family all went over to Eldorado Canyon just south of Boulder to race in the Rattlesnake Ramble 4.2 mile trail race. This is the 3rd year in a row that we've done this fun low-key race. Gabi and Mena had raced the day before at Liberty Bell, so they were doing the race as a training run. Missa ran the kids ~2 mile race while the rest of us did the 4.2 mile race. It was fun seeing so many friends and family, cheering each other on during the race and chatting after. The shorter distance isn't my forte, but I really enjoyed the high intensity effort. It is painful and exhilarating at the same time.


Missa finishing the ~2 mile race, S. Wright Photo

Gabi finishing the 4.2 mile race. S. Wright Photo

Mena finishing the race. S. Wright Photo

Brook (in green) finishing the race with Gabi running next to her. S. Wright Photo

Pops finishing. S. Wright Photo

Cooling down after the race with Mena and Missa. S. Wright Photo

The kids had fun helping out during the post race raffle. S. Wright Photo

St. Vrain Mountain

The next morning I continued my quest to run or hike every trail in Rocky Mtn National Park. I was pretty tired from the race the day before so I decided to hike up St. Vrain Mtn and jog back down from the St. Vrain Mtn trailhead.

That's Mt. Copeland on the right side of the photo.

Looking south from St. Vrain Mtn summit at Mt. Audubon.

Looking Northeast from the summit toward Twin Sisters Peaks.

Moon over St. Vrain Mtn.

Lower on the St. Vrain Mtn trail.

The St. Vrain Mtn trailhead parking lot.

Liberty Bell

2011-09-18T13:21:00.000-07:00

Friday afternoon I left work early to drive down to Heritage High School in Denver to watch my girls race in one of the biggest and most festive high school meets in the state, the Liberty Bell Invitational.
The course for this race is fast, most people run PR's here because it is either paved or hard packed gravel bike path with a net elevation loss. Being the parent of two high school runners, my main focus while spectating XC meets is to see my kids on as many parts of the course as possible. At Liberty Bell this is a logistical challenge due to the spread out nature of the course. I studied the maps of the area prior to the race and determined that if I brought my bike I could see the race at 4 locations. The start, the 1 mile, 2 mile marks and the finish.

There are several waves at Liberty Bell with around 150 runners per wave. My girls were not in the first wave which consisted of the smaller schools, boys first and then 3 minutes later the girls go. As expected, by the one mile mark of the girls race, Tabor Scholl had a huge 20 second lead over the field and she went on to win her wave by 1:10 in 18:15. This would be the 4th fastest girl time of the day including all classes.
Next up was the wave with my girls and the Silver Creek runners. I watched the boys take off and then 3 minutes later the girls, snapping photos. At this point I ran across a church parking lot, ducked through a barbed wire fence, ran across a horse pasture, ducked through another fence and then climbed up to the bike path near the one mile mark. I was able to see the lead boys come through the one mile and then the girls.

Gabi (left) runs through the one mile mark.

Mena at the one mile mark.

After Mena passed, I ran down the bike path with several other fathers to where my bike was stashed, locked to a tree. Time was critical now and I fumbled with the combination trying to unlock the bike as fast as possible. Once I removed the lock I carried my bike among a crowd of people to the street, trying not to be rude. At this point I hopped on my bike, sprinted down the road to an empty dirt bike path following my planned route to the 2 mile point in the race. I arrived with less than a minute to spare to see Gabi, leading the Silver Creek contingent at this point.

Gabi at the 2 mile point.

Mena at the 2 mile mark.

After Mena ran by, I ran down the trail in the opposite direction back to my bike. I saw a couple other Silver Creek runners and cheered them on. I got onto my bike and rode it back up the empty bike path to the finish line. Again, I didn't have much time to spare and had to ride fast. When I arrived I stashed my bike by the ambulance, locked it to a tree and ran down to the bottom of the hill around 250 meters from the finish line. The scene around the finish line is chaotic and loud with girl and boy runners finishing up their races. Within 2 minutes Gabi was in sight and I cheered for her while snapping more photos. In the shot below you can see the intensity on Gabi's face, she was disappointed with her time, 22:45, she had hoped to get into the 21's this week.

Gabi (left) approaching the Liberty Bell finish.

Mena (right) finishing up the Liberty Bell in 23:20, only 2 seconds slower than her PR.

After the race I chatted with some of the other coaches and parents about everyone's races. It was another enjoyable outing spectating the meet.

St. Vrain Invite and Vail Evergold

2011-09-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

The girls had their first official XC meet of the season on Saturday at the St. Vrain Invite in Lyons. Both Gabi and Mena had solid races with times close to their PR's. Gabi ran a 22:43 and Mena ran 23:53. It was probably the most fun I've ever had at an XC meet because this was the first time that the sisters have run together in the same race. Also, this being my third year going to high school XC meets, I've gotten to know a lot of the runners and parents and it is really fun to check in with everyone and following their progress.


Gabi early in the race.

Mena working hard.


Mena flying down the hill.

The girls relax after the race.

Sunday morning I got up early and drove to Vail for the 7.1 mile Evergold race. The course was super technical and a blast. I love racing in these events because I always push myself way harder than I would on a training run. There's nothing like pushing the limits to make you feel alive. I completed 5 of the 7 Vail races this year, but I lost out on the overall series age group prize to Bernie B. During today's race I actually almost caught up to Bernie near the end of the race, but this was only because he was taking it easy because he had done Imogene the day before.

In other news I was super excited to see Samantha Stosur win the US Open. Stosur had Lyme Disease back in 2007 and is a real inspiration for me.

Sky Pond

2011-09-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

The Loch with Taylor Glacier in the background

This morning I took a vacation day from work and after bringing my youngest daughter to school I drove up to Rocky Mtn National Park for a run to Sky Pond. I am becoming obsessed with running the trails at RMNP, hoping to someday run all of the trails on the map. Today I started from Bear Lake and ran on the trail that goes past Nymph, Dream and Haiyaha Lakes before turning up toward "The Loch" and then to Sky Pond.

Map of the trails from Bear Lake in RMNP.

I have a race on Sunday in Vail, so I didn't want to go too hard today. I did a 10 minute warm up and then 10x 3 min on/2 min off. Since it was Friday I thought that there would be minimal people on the trail, but that was not the case. I was constantly passing hikers early in the run, trying not to be rude as I went around them. I reached Sky Pond just over 1 hour into the run and then explored the area taking several photos and enjoying the day. The "Sharkstooth" rises abruptly Northwest of the pond and I heard climbers shouting to each other stuff like "ON BELAY". Their shouts echoed throughout the canyon and I unsuccessfully tried to spot the climbers on the wall. I zoomed in on the Sharkstooth with my camera and snapped a photo. You can see the climbers in the photo below.

Climbers on the Sharkstooth.

I took the descent easy and relaxed. The only downer of the run was the massive number of hikers on the trail, especially closer to the trailhead. I ran back on the trail that goes past Alberta Falls and Glacier Gorge trailhead before the short climb back to the Bear Lake parking lot. After the run I stopped at my favorite coffee shop in Estes Park and enjoyed the brew on the drive back home.

Taylor Glacier above Sky Pond.

The trail to Sky Pond and Timberline Falls.

This is the crux of the climb to Sky Pond, I had to get my feet wet here.

Glass Lake located just below Sky Pond.

Sky Pond.

Sky Pond and Sharkstooth. The climbers were around 1/3 of the way up the tooth.

The Sharkstooth.

Glass Lake looking down the valley.

The dark green lines are trails in RMNP that I have run so far.

LINK TO PHOTOS

Mt Sherman & Mt Ida

2011-09-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

We hiked up Mt. Sherman on Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011 with my sister and her family. This was Gabriela and Samantha's 12th 14er and Marissa's 11th. This was by far the easiest 14er they've ever done, finishing the entire hike in around 3 hours. Gabi was on a mission on the ascent and left all of us behind, topping out on the summit in just 1:09 hr. My nephew AJ was right behind her in 1:11 hr, Samantha finished in around 1:17 hr, Marissa and Mom in around 1:25 hr. All of the kids were totally self motivated to see how fast they could climb the mountain, I'm not sure what got into them. We hung out on the summit for around 30 minutes on a perfect day before heading back down. The girls were really surprised at how easy this mountain (6 miles and 2,500 vertical feet) was compared to Mt. Princeton that we did earlier this year from way down at the trailhead. That hike took us around 8 hours, with a 13 mile round trip and 5,400 vertical feet.
Below is a video from the hike.
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Link to Photos from Mt. Sherman hike.

On Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5th, 2011 I got up early and drove over Trail Ridge road to the Milner Pass trailhead and did a nice little run up Mt. Ida and back. The entire run took just over 2 hours at a leisurely pace as I enjoyed the bluebird sky, smooth trail and fantastic scenery, stopping several times to shoot photos.

Until recently I did not even realize that there was a trail to this mountain because it is not shown on the map. I highly recommend this run of around 11 miles round trip with 2,300 vertical feet.

Mt. Ida trail with the Never Summit Mountains in the background.


Azure and Inkwell Lakes from Mt. Ida summit.

Link to Photos from Mt Ida run.

D'Evelyn XC and Berry Picker

2011-08-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

Gabriela and Samantha raced in their first meet "scrimmage" of the season at D'Evelyn High School in west Denver Saturday morning. The course had a little bit of everything including pavement, open fields, a ditch water crossing and a super STEEP hill. Above is a shot of Samantha going up the steep part of the hill. Since this was only a scrimmage there was no official timing and most of the kids did not wear their school jerseys. All of the classes were combined and the High School girls field had close to 300 runners, Tabor Scholl dominated the race. In the citizen race Tyler Scholl won by over a minute. It was fun to watch.

Tyler Scholl running through the water ditch.

Gabi in the white top and light blue shorts.

Gabi working hard up the hill.

Sunday morning I met up with Jim D and Mark K to drive over to Vail for the Berry Picker trail race. This is a 3.2 mile uphill race gaining over 2100 vertical feet. The Scholl's showed up again Tyler winning the men's by over a minute and Tabor winning the women's by over 4 minutes. RESULTS. I had a lot of fun in this shorter race really pushing myself. I was surprised how steep the course was, requiring power hiking in several spots. During the power hiking sections I leaned way forward and pressed my hands on my knees as I pushed off. This seemed to help take some of the strain off the quads. We hung out for a short time after the race talking with other racers and then heading down to try and catch the U.S. Pro Cycling Challenge on Lookout Mtn. We ended up missing the race by 5 minutes.

Start of Berry Picker Race

That's me near the top of the course.

Jim D in the Berry Picker.

Mark K in the Berry Picker.

Jim (no shirt) finishing up the race.

Mark near the top of the course. Gore range in the background.

Andrews Glacier-Flattop Mtn Loop 8-25-11

2011-08-27T16:05:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning I drove up to Bear Lake to do a run in Rocky Mtn National Park. My route took me past the Loch and up Andrew's Glacier to the Continental Divide. From there I ran on the tundra west to the North Inlet trail and then north around Otis and Hallett Peaks to Flattop Mtn. At that point I descended the Flattop Mtn trail back to Bear Lake. It was perfect morning with a blue sky and warm weather. The entire run was around 12.5 miles with 3000 vertical feet in 2:45 hr.

Andrews Glacier

Sharks Tooth.


Andrews Tarn

The sign at the top of Andrews Glacier after topping out on the continental divide.

The North Inlet Trail on the continental divide.

If you look close you can see the switchbacks of the North Inlet trail heading down toward Grand Lake.

Looking down toward Lake Helene.

The Tonahutu trail.

Flattop Mountain.

Bear Lake and Hallett Peak.

Pikes Peak Ascent

2011-08-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

I ran my 10th Pikes Peak race on Saturday (9 Ascents and 1 Marathon). This was kind of a come back race for me after being knocked out by Lyme over a year ago. I wanted to prove to myself that I could still compete in events like this and for the most part it was a success. My time (2:43 hr, 22nd place out of 1702) was a bit slower than I expected, I thought that I was in shape to run 2:35 this year, but it didn't happen. My PR is 2:31 from back in 2002. The race was fun for the most part, I had some good patches and some rough patches. Probably the highlight for me was just above A-frame when I was feeling great. I could smell the finish line 3 miles ahead and I was passing people effortlessly. I knew that I was on 2:40 pace at this point and felt like I could bring that down into the high 2:30's if I killed it the last 3 miles. The great feeling only lasted for a mile and then I struggled and lost time the last two miles. I hung out at the top waiting for Jim D and Tim F to finish. It was fun hanging out with those guys after the race. On the bus ride down I sat with the Montrail rep and it was interesting talking to her about the Montrail athletes, shoes and trail running.

In the first mile of the race on Ruxton Ave in Manitou Springs.

Smile for the camera.

Getting into a rhythm above the W's

That's me in the blue shirt early in the race, way back in the pack at this point.

In the sun it was pretty hot lower on the course.

Running past the Fred Barr memorial.

It hurts at this point.


Struggling to finish.

It feels good to be done.

Boulder Brook and N. Longs Trails

2011-08-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning I got up to Rocky Mtn National park with my wife Brook for a run on some trails we haven't been on before. I have a goal of running every trail on the RMNP map eventually, so I try to explore new trails whenever I can. We parked at the Sprague Lake trailhead and ran up the Boulder Brook trail to the North Long's Peak trail to Granite Pass and back. The Boulder Brook trail is steep with a lot of rocks and turns. The N. Longs Peak trail was much smoother and with a steady grade. I ran intervals all the way to Granite Pass (3 minutes on followed by 2 minutes jog back down to Brook and then repeat). I was able to get 20 intervals in, over 3500 vertical feet to the top of the pass at just over 12,000 ft elevation, a pretty good workout.


Sprague Lake

A waterfall on the Boulder Brook trail


Another waterfall on the Boulder Brook trail


Longs Peak coming into view on the North Long's Peak trail


Looking north from near Granite Pass

Sign at Boulder Brook and N. Longs Peak trail intersection

Mt Audubon and Pearl Street Mile

2011-08-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

I met Jim early this morning at the base of Lefthand Canyon and we drove up to Brainerd Lake for a run up Mt. Audubon. We did a short 12 minute warmup and then ran up to the summit at a pretty hard effort. I'm not a big fan of this trail because of all the rocks making it difficult to stay in a rhythm. I felt okay and I was happy with my time (58:40), the first time in years that I've been under 1 hr for this climb. We descended together at an easy pace enjoying the perfect morning and good conversation. On the drive back we stopped in Ward to pick up some coffee for the drive into work.

After work I met the girls in Boulder for their race in the Pearl Street mile. It was pretty fun hanging out, watching the races and running into several old friends.

The girls are lined up in the front row of the Open Wave.


The girls were swallowed up by the swarm after the gun went off.


The girls around 1/4 mile into the race.


Gabi finishing up her race.


Mena finishing up her race.

Gabi with one of the mascots.

Fowler Hilliard Hut and Ptarmigan Hill

2011-08-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took our annual summer hut trip to the Fowler Hilliard hut near Camp Hale. The wildflowers were amazing and the roads and trails around the hut made for great running, hiking and mtn biking. Although I no longer own a mountain bike, I am going to make sure that I borrow one for next year when we will most likely go to the same hut. On the morning we were leaving Missa woke up sick with the stomach flu, so Brook stayed home with her while I took Gabi, Mena and friend Helena. A couple of the other families that were signed up to join us backed out at the last minute, so there were only 3 families at the hut this year. This was a change from the chaos that usually occurs during these hut trips with typically over 20 people and over half of them kids.

I was able to get in a short flat run and long hilly run along with 2 hikes with the kids all above 11,000 feet. It was good training for Pikes, trying to get acclimated. Running at 11,000 feet never feels good, I feel so slow and sluggish.
The highlight of the trip was probably getting up in the middle of the night to use the out house and seeing the billions of stars. It was a clear night and the white, cloudy band along the ecliptic of the Milky Way was dramatically visible. I stood outside the hut gazing upward for several minutes enjoying the show before heading back into the hut to sleep a few more hours.

I've never seen so many different wildflowers clustered in one area before.

Gabi, Mena and Helena on top of Resolution Mtn.

Great views of Mt. of the Holy Cross

The girls descend Resolution Mtn heading back to the hut.

The Hunters running up Ptarmigan Pass.

Ptarmigan Pass with Ptarmigan Hill above it. I did repeats from the intersection at the lower left to the top of Ptarmigan Hill, 750 vertical ft per repeat.

Brian and Mena hiking up Ptarmigan Hill.

The shack on top is a shelter for backcountry skiers.

Mena showing off.

The girls on Ptarmigan Hill.

The girls descending Ptarmigan Hill. So green, love it.

Mena practicing her Javelin skills.

The Keyhole

2011-08-02T18:53:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday morning I decided to do a run up the Long's Peak trail to the Keyhole. I went at a comfortably hard pace, not at race pace, and enjoyed the climb. I took my splits so I could compare them to when I ran my Long's PR in 2002 in 1:49 hr. I was 36 years old back then and I'm 45 now. I was not going all out this time, so I had no visions of matching those splits, but I was curious to see how I would compare.

Split comparison 2002/2011

Cutoff to Estes Cone: ?/5:45

Bridge: 23:10/25:22

Chasm Lake cutoff: 40:54/45:48

Granite Pass cutoff: 53:49/1:00:13

Boulder Field Privi: 1:10:46/1:18:30

Keyhole: 1:20:22/1:30:35

Top of Trough: 1:40:14/na

Summit: 1:49:04/na

That's about what I expected, 10 minutes slower to the Keyhole, I doubt that I'll ever match that 1:49 time again, my nerve on the class 3 terrain is not what it used to be and I'm a lot older now, on the slippery slope of performance degradation.

Last week the rest of the family took a trip to Snowmass and did a hike up Buckskin pass near the Maroon Bells while I stayed home and worked. Below is a shot with the Maroon Bells shrouded in clouds.

Vail Half Marathon

2011-07-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

Scott McClarrinon photo

Sunday morning I did a quick day trip up to Vail to run in the Vail Half Marathon. The first 9 miles of the course climbs nearly 3,500 vertical feet on a dirt road and then the next 5.4 miles are mostly downhill with some rollers on the ridge finishing up at Eagles Nest. I tried to stay in the uncomfortable zone up the climb, pushing myself beyond my preferred "comfortably hard" pace. Typically in races like this I fall behind early and then start picking off people as the race goes on. At around the 6 mile point I passed a lady who I would later find out is from Trondheim, Norway. I got around a 40 yard gap on her and then I slowly fell apart. By the 8 mile mark my legs were gone as I tried to hold my pace until the top. I knew that I was slowing down and I heard her breathing as she gained on me. At one point I tripped and fell into a puddle while going over one of the many snow crossings in the last 2 miles of the climb.
She was right behind me at the top of the climb and somehow I was able to hold her off. She wasn't quite as quick as I was on the downhills and I opened up a gap again. On the next little climb she almost caught me again, but I held her off. I asked her if she wanted to get by and she said, "no, you are faster going down". In the photo above although you don't see her, she right behind me. During this I wasn't desperate to stay in front off her, but I didn't want to give up either, so I rolled with it. I was curious to see what would happen. It turned out that the last 3 miles of the course was mostly downhill and I was able to open a sizable gap and finish in front of her by around 14 seconds. It was a fun race on a difficult course with incredible scenery. The wildflowers on the ridge were outrageous.

Highland Mary Lakes

2011-07-23T15:33:00.000-07:00

The day after my San Juan Adventure Run I drove up to the end of Cunningham Gulch and did a run up to and beyond Highland Mary Lakes. This run was full of truly spectacular terrain and views again.

Below is a shot of Cunningham Gulch, where I started the run.

Below is a shot of the first small lake. Note the campers on the far side.

Below is a shot looking back at the 2nd lake, you can see a tent on the grassy hillside to the left of the larger lake.

These campers gave me a wave as I ran by.

Below you can see the trail leading up above the lakes to the continental divide trail.

Running up the trail with Verde Lakes in the background.

Verde Lakes.

When I got up to the top the spectacular Grenadier Range came into view.

A close up of Vestal and Arrow Peaks.

I turned back after running on the CDT for awhile, but in hind site I should have continued on this trail to complete the loop. There are several other loop options with several trails that wind around Kendall Peak and Little Giant Peak.

San Juan Adventure Run

2011-07-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 17, I drove Gabi and two of her friends to Gunnison for the Western State College High Altitude Distance Running Camp. Gabi attended this camp last year and really enjoyed it.

After dropping the girls off and getting them settled into their dorm room, I continued on solo down to Silverton. I was psyched to "Live the dream" for a couple days and check out some of the phenomenal trails in the heart of the San Juan Mountains.
My plan for the next day was to run on part of the Hardrock 100 course between Silverton and Telluride. After checking into my room at the Canyon View Motel, I drove over and found the Mineral Creek crossing on the Hardrock course to see if the rope was still up, it wasn't. That foiled my plan of running up Bear Creek Canyon.

I received a tip from Mark O. the previous week and decided that tomorrow I should go with his suggestion of starting the run up near Molas Pass on the Colorado Trail and sync up with the Hardrock course after 4 miles at the base of Putnam Basin.
The next morning I slept in until after 7 AM listening to the rain outside. I decided to go over to the Mobius Cafe for some coffee and a muffin to let things clear up a bit. After indulging at the cafe, I headed back to my room, dressed, gathered all my running supplies and drove 7 miles toward Durango to the Little Molas Lake Trailhead. I was super excited to finally be running around 9 AM with the weather starting to clear up.

The mountains here are spectacular and they inspire me. I took my time running at an easy pace and stopping a lot to snap photos. I would end up taking 140 photos on this run, so many amazing views.

I found the obscure cut-off from the Colorado trail that Mark had described and I headed toward upper Bear Creek.

Once in Putnam Basin I had some trouble actually bridging up with the Hardrock trail and I had to thrash my way through the thick brush and creek crossings shown below.

Once on the Hardrock course I made my way up to upper Putnam Basin.

When I made it onto the ridge the trail was non existent and I had to consult my topo map several times to make sure that I was on the correct route.

Running with poles really helped on these trails by taking some of the strain off the legs and propelling myself over a lot of the little stream crossings. Below is a shot looking down Cataract Creek.

The Cataract-Lime saddle is truly spectacular, below is a shot showing the ridge that I just descended from.

Once I started descending to Porcupine Creek I was committed to the run. I wasn't sure how I would get back to my car and I figured that there would be hitch-hiking involved, not something I do very much, but I would worry about that later.

It was nice to be on a well defined trail again and I enjoyed the descent down Porcupine Creek. I could see the famous Kaam traverse (just above the red colored mountain face) and Grant Swamp pass (the low point in the mountains on right) off in the distance.

My feet were constantly getting soaked on the wet trails, but I just accepted this and it did not bother me.

I ended up filling my water bottle 5 times during this outing from the plentiful streams. I used Sodium Chlorite and allowed it to react for 30 minutes minimum before drinking.
I crossed the South Fork Mineral Creek and made my way onto the famous Kaam traverse 3 hours into the run. The Kaam traverse was really fun with steep drop-offs to the right.

I enjoyed the descent down to the Ice Lake runoff and easily crossed the steam over the logs. I could imagine that this crossing would be a lot more difficult in the dark, during a rainstorm and after 85 miles of running.

At this point the trail climbed steeply to join the Ice Lake trail for a short time. I saw several backpackers here going up to camp at Ice Lake, a truly beautiful place.

I found the trail that split off to the right from the Ice Lake trail and climbed up the incredibly lush mountainside. I stopped several times to take photos.

As I made my way up toward the famous Island Lake and Grant Swamp pass I spoke with 2 hikers descending who had climbed US Grant Peak.

I felt like I was in a dream approaching Grant Swamp Pass with the deep turquoise colored Island Lake below me.

At the top of the pass I spoke with a group of 5 or 6 hikers who were hiking the Hardrock course in 9 days, one section at a time with car shuttles each day. Their guide told me that they had trouble on Virginius without a fixed rope. The Joel Zucker memorial plaque on top of Grant-Swamp Pass is shown below.

The photo below shows the steep descent off Grant Swamp pass and into Swamp canyon. You can see the next climb's switchbacks (Oscar's pass) just to the right of center.

The mountains were still jaw dropping gorgeous and I stopped a lot to shoot photos.

As I descended I decided that it was time to figure out how to get back to my car and I would forgo the brutal climb of Oscar's Pass (center of photo below), even though it looked so darn inviting. I would take Ophir Pass instead (the road slanting up and right in the photo below).

At the bottom of the Swamp canyon descent there were a couple places with splits in the trail and I wasn't sure which way to go, but I knew either one would eventually bring me up to the Ophir Pass road, my old friend from back in 1992 when I did the "Get High".

I finally reached Ophir Pass road 5:35 Hr into the run. Although my legs felt okay, I wanted to save something for tomorrow's run. I told myself that I'd ask the next jeep coming up Ophir pass for a ride.

I came upon this couple in a Honda Element and they were super nice and made room for me in the back. It turned out the guy is the elected Boulder County Surveyor and he just bought a house around 1 mile from where I live in Longmont.

I enjoyed Amy and Josh's company as we made our way up and over Ophir pass in his Element. At one point Amy and I had to get out to help Josh maneuver his Element around a vehicle with a flat tire.That's me in the photo below with the small town of Ophir in the background.

They dropped me off where Ophir Pass meets hwy 550. From here I jogged down the road for only 8 minutes before catching another ride into Silverton from a young couple who live Moab, Utah. They dropped me off right in front of my hotel and I went into my room to eat a banana, fill my bottles and drop off my poles before hitting the road again. My car was still 8 miles up the pass and I started jogging up the road and sticking my thumb out when cars passed me. I tried to look friendly, taking off my sunglasses and smiling each time. Less than 10 minutes later another couple from Durango picked me up and gave me a ride up to Molas pass. I was amazed at how easy it is to get a ride, less than 10 cars passed each time before somebody stopped to pick me up. At this point I jogged up the road 1 mile to my car at the Little Molas Lake trailhead, 7 hours after I started.

It was a fun little adventure in the San Juans. I gained respect and appreciation for what the Hardrock 100 runners do. I only did around 20 miles with two of the ten major climbs that make up the course and that was more than enough for me in one outing.

Spectacle Lakes Foiled Attempt

2011-07-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

"I don't even have any good skills" -ND
"What do you mean?" -Pedro
"You know, like nunchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills..." -ND

I was wishing that I had better climbing skills on the run I did this morning.
I started from the same Lawn Lake trailhead as last week in RMNP.
My goal this time was to make it to Spectacle Lakes. I knew that it would be tricky above Ypsilon lake from reading several reports on the web.

I started out with a 10 minute warmup and then did 5 minute intervals with 2 minute walking recovery all the way to Ypsilon Lake. Below is a shot of Endovalley/Horseshoe park around 2 miles up the trail.

I made quick progress up the trail and passed Chipmunk lake shown below.

Before I knew it I was at Ypsilon lake (shown below) after 1 hour of running and 7 intervals.

At this point my workout was over and the fun was about to begin. I followed the"unimproved trail" west of the lake up the drainage. The hiking became steeper the further up I went and eventually I caught another hiker. He was also trying to make it to Spectacle lakes and we talked for a bit. There are basically two ways to get there, the waterfall drainage or the exposed slabs to the left. I went ahead of him and I was eventually funneled into a waterfall. I wanted to avoid the exposure on the slabs. I was making good progress until a crux section where I was literally climbing in a waterfall making hand and foot holds. Eventually I came to a point where I thought I might be able to get up, but I probably couldn't get back down. At this point I imagined Paul Sherwin doing the color commentary on my progress.
"This man's complete and utter lack of climbing skills are going to foil his bid to make the lakes today."
I turned around and saw the other hiker behind me. He had chosen the slabs route and I followed him. I wasn't ready to give up yet. We quickly made progress until we came to a super steep section with a stepped crack. I had no idea how to get up this and I knew that even if I somehow did make it up, I would not be able to come back down. I asked the man if he had any climbing skills and he said, "Yes, back in the day, but I'm not as strong anymore". We both made a couple attempts at the crack and looked around for other options, but there weren't any. At this point I turned around and headed down. After descending a couple hundred yards I looked back up and saw that he was actually climbing the crack now. See the 2 shots below, the 2nd one is zoomed in on the man (I never got his name).

I watched him make it up. He stood tall and looked back down at me. He raised his hand and waved. I waved back and headed back down. I was disappointed to not make it, but I wasn't willing to go beyond my comfort zone, the consequences of a fall were not worth it. Below is a side shot of the slabs that we were climbing on to give you an idea of the steepness. I know this is trivial terrain for people who climb a lot, but I'm not a climber.

The man told me that there was a 3rd way up to the lakes via the valley around the corner and to the right in the photo above. I didn't want to give up and I scrambled up this for 15 more minutes before realizing that this would not take me to Spectacle lakes and retreated down again. Below is a shot of Ypsilon lake from above.

I made it back to Ypsilon lake after spending the last 1hr 30min trying to get to Spectacle Lakes. I started running back on the trail and there were several people on the trail now. I came up on a young guy who looked pretty fit. He looked back at me and asked if he could tag along for awhile. I said "yes" and we ran together for the next 2.5 miles. He just graduated from Battle Mtn high school and was an XC and track runner there. He was looking for his dad because they were separated on the way up. Eventually he stopped with a sideache and we parted ways. I wonder if he ever found his dad?
Below is a shot of the trail.

It was another good outing. I was on the trail for 3:18 hr and probably covered close to 11 miles with 3,000 vertical feet.

Rogers River Run 5 Km and "The Saddle"

2011-07-10T13:23:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we ran the Rogers River Run 5 Km in Longmont. This event is so close to our house that I was able to run to the race for my warmup, around 2 miles. How nice is that? Nothing special happened in the race, I had a solid workout finishing in 19:32, 7th overall in not a very competitive field. 13 year old Paul Roberts took the win. Gabi, Mena and Brook also ran, but none had their best race. The photo above is from the start and you can see me in the red shirt and white hat on the right side. We hung out after for a long time checking out the booths at the festival, getting free breakfast and picking up our awards (both Mena and I were 2nd in our age group).

After the race I finished up making this video from our climb up Mt. Princeton last Tuesday.

Friday and Saturday I followed the Hardrock 100 via twitter updates. I am obsessed with this race and I dream about doing it someday. I was most impressed with Diana Finkel's win coming back after what she went through after winning last year. That lady has guts to put it all on the line again.
Sunday morning I woke at 5:30AM feeling like a kid on xmas morning. I was really looking forward to getting up high for a run. I drove through Estes Park into Rocky Mtn National Park to the Lawn Lake trail head. I made it through the entrance station before the Ranger arrived and didn't have to pay. My goal for the day was to make it to "The Saddle", 8.7 miles up the trail.

The trail was clear of snow up to the Black Canyon trail junction and only small patches of snow the rest of the way to Lawn Lake.

Below is a shot of Lawn Lake and The Saddle in the distance. According to the map, The Saddle is 2.5 miles beyond Lawn Lake. I had to negotiate my way though some snow and water on the way to The Saddle, but nothing significant.

Below is a view from The Saddle looking north. I had the entire place to myself, nice.

Below is a shot of Hagues Peak (13,560 ft) from The Saddle (12,398 ft).

Below is a shot looking back down toward Lawn Lake and the valley below where I started the run from. If you look close you can see the trail that I took up to The Saddle, it was pretty wet in spots.

Below is a shot of Crystal Lakes, located above Lawn Lake.

Another shot of Lawn Lake.

Below is one more view of The Saddle from Lawn Lake.

The Black Canyon Trail/Lawn Lake trail junction.

It ended up being a really nice run (17.4 miles with around 3,800 vertical feet) with not many people on the trails. I went at a comfortable pace going up and easy going down.
Here are my splits:
1:12:21 to Lawn Lake
1:55:31 (43:09) to The Saddle
4:29 on top
2:33:23 (33:22) back to Lawn Lake
3:31:44 (58:20) back to the trail head

Vail, Breckenridge & Mt. Princeton

2011-07-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos and a brief description of what we did over the 4th of July weekend.
Saturday, July 2: We picked up Brook from the airport after her flight from New Orleans where she had spent the week at a history conference.

Gabi in the Vail Hill Climb, Scott McClarrinon photo

Sunday, July 3: Gabi and I got up early to drive to Vail to race in the Vail Hill Climb. This is a 7.5 mile run up the service road on Vail mountain with 2,500 vertical feet gained finishing at the Eagles Bahn Gondola. This was Gabi's first ever hill climb race and she paced it pretty conservatively until the last couple miles when she found her rhythm. She finished 4th in her age group in 1:22:25, not bad for her first time racing at altitude up a mountain.

I also ran the race, really enjoying the effort and scenery.
RESULTS

Kraig in the Vail Hill Climb, Scott McClarrinon photo

After the race we drove to Breckenridge and met Brook, Mena and Missa. I took these three for a short run on the French Gulch road.

Brook and Mena running down French Gulch road near Breckenridge

Missa running down French Gulch road

Monday, July 4th: I got up early for a hike/run up Peak 8 and then we drove to the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs.

10 Mile Range from Peak 8 summit, Breckenridge

Once we arrived at the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs we changed for a quick run before enjoying the water slide and pools. That night we drove into Buena Vista to watch the fireworks at the rodeo grounds.

The girls get ready to run

Missa, Mena and Brook running near Mt. Princeton Hot Springs Resort

A view of the water slide and the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs

Tuesday, July 5th: We woke up at 5:30AM and quickly dressed, ate, packed and headed to the Mt. Princeton Trail head. Our plan was to start hike from the actual trail head at 8,900 feet and go all the way up the road and trail for a 13 mile round trip with 5,400 vertical feet gained/lost.

The girls are ready to go

Missa early in the hike, still on the road

Gabi and Mena where the single track trail starts

Mena and Gabi early on the trail before the rocks

Missa and Brook getting high on the mountain

Gabi and Mena working their way through the rocks

Gabi and Mena on the rocky trail with the summit upper right

Gabi and Mena at the point the trail reaches the ridge line

Mount Antero

Brook and Missa on one of the smoother parts of the trail

Mena near the summit, notice the trail we came up to the right of Mena

Mena and Gabi signing the summit register

From Mt. Princeton summit, you can see the hot springs way down there

The family on the summit of Mt. Princeton


Descending, a storm moved in

The entire hike took us 8.5 hours. We were rained and hailed on once we reached the road descending. It was a long and satisfying day on the mountain. After the hike we went back to the hot springs and soaked in one of the hot pools and exchanged stories with another couple from upper New York about our adventures that day.

Twin Sisters

2011-06-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

For the last 3 years I have run up Twins Sisters in June. This trail is usually one of the first in the high country to dry out. During the week I contemplated where I should run on Saturday, checking the trail conditions report on the Rocky Mountain National Park page each day. On Friday I was close to deciding to try and run to Lawn Lake until I saw the report that the trail is snow covered and sloppy 4.5 miles up. I really want to try running all the way past Lawn lake and up to "the Saddle" this year, but it is still too early. I like variety and running new trails, but this time I decided to stay dry and run Twin Sisters again. I wanted more vertical than just going up from Lily Lake and I wasn't too excited about doing 2 laps. Studying the map I noticed the Homer Rouse trail that links Fish Creek Road with the Lily Lake trail head. I decided to park ~1.6 miles below the Homer Rouse trailhead to start the run, thus adding 3.8 miles and almost 1000 vertical feet. The entire ascent would be ~7.8 miles one-way with almost 3400 vertical feet gained. The round-trip would be 15.5 miles. Sweet.

Fish Creek road eventually turns to dirt and you pass Fish Creek Ranch shown below.

I eased into the run slowly increasing the pace and finding a rhythm. I wanted to PR my split from Lily Lake to the summit and I ended up easily beating my previous fastest time from last year when I ran up twice. Two years ago when I ran this trail I didn't time it because I stopped a lot to shoot this video. There were several hikers out on the trail this morning, and most seemed to be in a good mood enjoying the day. Below is a shot of Longs Peak from the summit of Twin Sisters. The snow is melting fast.

Below is a shot of the south Sister and the foothills to the southeast.

Here is a zoomed in shot of Longs.

Here is a shot looking northwest from the summit.

Below is a photo of Lake Estes. You can see Fish Creek road on the right side of the photo.

I started and finished the run right next to this Beaver dam on Fish Creek road.

My splits:
13:24 from Beaver Dam to Homer Rouse trailhead
19:13 (32:37) Homer Rouse trail to Lily Lake
53:50 PR (1:26:27) Lily Lake trailhead to Twin Sisters Summit
9:45 (1:35:52) hanging out on top
46:31 (2:22:24) from summit back down to Lily Lake trailhead
23:32 (2:45:56) Homer Rouse trail and road back to car

Barr Camp and S. Boulder Peak

2011-06-19T18:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Mena had a gymnastics meet in Littleton. These meets last 6 hours and I received the green light to sneak away for a run on the Pikes Peak race course up to Barr Camp and back. It was a really nice day with several runners and hikers on the trail. I went hard all the way up, checking my splits on the way. My times showed how much I've slowed in the last year. I stopped at Barr Camp to refill my water bottle for the jog back down to town. It ended up being a 16 mile run with ~3700 vertical feet.

This is a pretty cool VIDEO about Ryan Lochte's training, I'm going to be pulling for him in London.
I just finished reading this book called Unbroken, what an incredible story.

Today I did a jaunt up South Boulder Peak, mostly hiking on the way up and jogging down. I brought my camera and took the photos shown below.
I started from Eldorado Springs going up the old mesa trail, below is a shot of South Boulder Creek, I had a nice soak in this after the run.

Below you can see the saddle between South Boulder Peak and Bear Peak. The trail I took went directly up Shadow Canyon to this saddle before turning left to go up to South Boulder Peak.

Here is a shot of Devil's Thumb from the Shadow Canyon trail.

This is a summit shot from South Boulder Peak looking west at the continental divide..

Below is a shot of Bear Peak from S. Boulder Peak. If you look close you can see some people on the summit.

Below is a shot looking down to the south from high up on the Shadow Canyon trail.

This is the old shack at the base of Shadow Canyon.

Below is a shot looking down at the meadow that the old mesa trail takes down to the tiny town of Eldorado Springs.

Eldorado Springs.

I soaked in the creek up to my hips for 10 minutes, good stuff.

Camping and Sunrise Stampede

2011-06-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

With my wife Brook and oldest daughter Gabi out of town for the week, I took Mena and Missa on a camping trip. We drove over trail ridge road the day after it opened.

We camped at the Arapaho Bay campground near the Monarch Lake trail head. This campground is perfect, with quiet secluded sites. We camped Tuesday night, so there were only two other people at the campground.

We got a really good run in on the nice gravel road that goes to the campground. There was barely any traffic and the weather was perfect.

Mena switches over to her racing flats before we begin the intervals.

After the workout we soaked in the freezing cold river.

We gathered our own fire wood from the woods and the girls started the fire.

The next morning we did a short hike by Monarch Lake.

We soaked in the water again, it was painfully cold.

The girls have a little meeting at the picnic table.

Today, Saturday June 11, the girls ran the two mile race at the Sunrise Stampede in Longmont.

Missa said her legs felt really good getting a PR in 16:54. Missa is training 17 hours per week in the gym this summer for gymnastics so she hasn't had much time to run.

Mena had an okay race, running a 15:19 with tired legs. The new training program is tough and these races are basically training races. Mena's main focus is fall XC season. The old saying is that XC runners are made in the summer and Mena has been super consistent with her running so far this summer.

My legs were also kind of tired from the new training (I've been doing most of the key workouts with Mena) and I ran a slow and painful 40:50 in the 10 Km race. I was hoping to break 40, but it didn't happen.

Early June Update

2011-06-06T20:32:00.000-07:00

We've been pretty busy so far this June. Bright and early Wednesday morning (June 1st) I brought Gabi and her friend to Gunbarrel for her balloon ride. This was Gabi's 16th birthday present.

The balloon ride was something that has been on Gabi's bucket list for quite awhile and she was pumped to finally do it after a few cancellations earlier due to wind.

After she lifted off, I headed over to Chataqua for some hill repeats up the Chataqua trail. Each time I jogged back down the trail I tracked Gabi's progress as the two balloons become tiny black specks to the north. After my 4th repeat the specks were gone, so I figured (hoped) she had landed safely...she did.

Friday (June 3rd) I headed up to Nederland for my first run at altitude on the west Magnolia trails.

These trails are pretty mellow, but they are usually the first trails to dry out after the long winter.

The leaves on the Aspen trees are just starting to come out up here. I ran easy with several 15 second sprints thrown in to keep things snappy.

On Saturday morning (June 4th) we headed up to Frisco to meet with Gabi and Mena's new coach for a private session. A few of the other Silver Creek runners also came up for the session. We started out with the girls learning Dynamic Leadups at the Summit High School track. I shot video of this.

After the Dynamic Leadups we drove up to French Gulch road in Breckenride for 14 x 1:30 on 4 minutes downhill repeats. What an amazing workout, I've never done a workout like this before and I could really feel the stimulus from the additional speed along with the altitude. The girls are pumped about their new coach and training plan.

Below the group descends French Gulch road.

On Sunday, June 5th my legs were pretty worked over, but I was itching to get out onto the trails.

I went for an easy hike Bear Peak via Fern Canyon from Cragmoor, stopping often to shoot photos.

The snow on the divide is finally starting to show signs of melting.

Below you can see that the ski runs at Eldora are starting to melt off.

That's the CU Boulder campus below with all the red roofed buildings.

Below is a shot of Green Mtn from high on the Fern Canyon trail.

Another shot of Boulder below.

Bolder Boulder Weekend

2011-05-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

I always love Memorial day weekend in Boulder, the true start of summer. The girls just finished up school earlier in the week and there is the anticipation of summer break in the air. Gabi says that summer doesn't officially start until we do the Bolder Boulder 10-Km race, an annual tradition for us every Memorial day.
On Saturday we checked out the Boulder Creek Festival. It was extremely crowded with plenty of stuff going on.

On Sunday we hung out in Longmont and the girls did a final workout riding on a new bike path and then doing a short run around Golden Ponds followed by a swim in our neighborhood pool.

We woke at 5:30AM Monday morning for the race in Boulder. I ran with Gabi and Mena in wave CA, my job was to pace Mena. Missa ran with her mom in wave EC. Gabi ran really well and broke through some mental barriers, reaching her goal of breaking 50 minutes. She was hurting during the 4th mile, but she overcame it and finished strong.
Gabi 49:58 PR (7:53, 7:50, 8:08, 8:19, 7:59, 8:08, 18th in 16 yr old Age Group)
[Gabi's old PR was 52:20 in 2007]

Mena had a rough patch between miles 3 and 4, and I encouraged her, telling her that if she can hold on until the 4 mile mark she can make up time in the last 2 miles. She never gave up and pushed through it with a fast 5th mile and >2 minute PR.
Mena 50:41 PR (7:53, 7:52, 8:29, 8:30, 7:51, 8:28, 15th in 14 yr old age group)
[Mena's old PR was 52:54 in 2010]

Missa ran with her mom and overcame sideaches and untied shoelaces to also get a PR.
Missa 1:01:19 PR (9:44, 9:30, 10:07, 9:54, 9:58, 10:12, 15th in 11 yr old age group)
[Missa'a old PR was 1:03:05 in 2010]

After the race we met up with a large group of friends who also ran the race and we all walked down to the International House of Pancakes for a huge breakfast. This is another tradition for us and it was a good time reliving the race with friends while we ate breakfast.

Fresh, Moist and Green

2011-05-24T18:32:00.000-07:00

I wake up before my alarm and sleepily get ready to go. The body is tired and feels heavy, I hope it will come around eventually. I wobble down the stairs and gather up my stuff for the day. I drive to my favorite coffee shop and get the good stuff. As I drive into Boulder I look at the mountain and the sky, yes it's going to be a good morning. Clouds in the east block the rising sun. Some clouds flank the mountain, but it's not raining. I arrive at the base, park at the switchback and put on the shoes. I step out of the car and smell the air, a deep inhale. Oh yeah that moist, fresh air brings so much pleasure and nostalgia. The trail is damp and the leaves are brilliant. I decide to avoid shocking my body and go easy the first time up, methodically waking up the muscles. Heading up Amphitheater the sensations are good but I don't push it. It's a comfortable pace and it feels good. The legs are coming to life and feel coordinated today. Days like this are rare and meant to be savored. I don't push it, instead connecting with the trail, smelling the air, noticing wet rocks and the moist and grippy dirt. As I get higher on the mountain I look to the north down at the Flagstaff road switchbacks and beyond and I take in the splendor.

I marvel at the concept of running up a mountain before work and the views offered up by the trail. Above the sounds and turmoil of the city below. For a moment I am slightly dispirited realizing that this is going to be the highlight of my day and it will soon be over. I reach the summit and turn back down right away, descending the trail I just ascended. I think to myself, how is the body? Can I handle two ascents without totally putting myself in the tank? Should I go for it today? Is the body ready? I push the doubts aside and enjoy the moment, focusing on the trail and staying smooth with quick feet.

I pass several hikers coming up on their own morning outings. Near the trailhead I take a fall. It happened so quickly, failing to lift my foot enough and tripping on one of the thousands of rocks that litter the trail. I lie on the rocks and wet dirt for a moment, stunned, it's a been a few weeks since my last fall. I take inventory and everything is okay, just a scraped arm. Good thing I was wearing my cycling gloves or my hands would have been cut up. I approach my car, get a new bottle and dry headband and turn to go back up to the trail. This time up I decide to push the limits a bit. Training for speed as I go up the same front route with repeats of 3 minutes all-out followed by 2 minutes of slow-walking. The first one hurts and my body complains, but soon I'm back into climbing mode. The 2nd one feels better and I find my rhythm for the next few repeats. I try to run like I want to run in a race, strong, quick and fast. I don't look at the views as much this time but I'm keenly aware of my surroundings. As I approach the summit I feel the fatigue and try to push through it. I pass an old man hiking with poles on the home stretch. I scramble up the summit rock, my reward. I'm perched a narrow band of rock with my chest heaving. I stand tall and look to the west and the snow covered continental divide. So much snow this year, when will it melt? The old man arrives at the summit and I comment on the nice day and he agrees. I spend less than two minutes on the summit and then scamper back down the front side again relishing every step before heading back to reality.

Bolder Boulder Training

2011-05-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

May is definitely my favorite month on the front range. The leaves comes out and the landscape turns green and lush. Most days have higher humidity and the fresh smells of spring bring back memories of growing up in northern Minnesota. I used to do trail runs right from my house in dense woods. The sights and smells from those runs are some of the best memories that I have from growing up.
Track and tennis seasons are now over for my girls and they are focusing on getting ready for the Bolder Boulder 10 Km Race on Memorial day. We do this race every year and this year I'm pretty excited about the girl's fitness level. All three of them are running really well right now. Last Saturday we headed out at twilight to the gravel roads west of our house for a key workout, (1 mile warmup, 4x1 mile at race pace and 1 mile cool down). Below Missa warms up on 49th street, a quiet country road.

Helena (in pink) joined in for this workout. Below the girls contemplate the first of 4X mile repeats.

Below I gave Missa and then Helena a head start while Gabi and Mena wait to go west on Oxford road at twilight.

And they are off!

The people in the trailer knew Mena from school.

Helena leads Gabi and Mena on the 2nd repeat coming back east on Oxford road.

Below the girls get ready for the 3rd mile interval. Yes, I was riding the red Cannondale.

Missa charges down the road with Haystack mountain in the background.

Today I took the girls to Boulder for their last long run before the Bolder Boulder. We started from the East Boulder Rec Center and did an out-and-back on the S. Boulder Creek Trail. Below Gabi and Mena give the cow plenty of room.

Gabi and Mena going over the wood bridge.

Gotta love spring, new leaves, moist air and fresh smells.

After 3 miles the girls get ready for 6x3 minutes at race pace with 2 minute recovery.

Brook ran the repeats with Missa and I ran with Gabi and Mena.

Below is a shot of South Boulder Creek.

A lonely shack.

Brook and Missa on their 6th repeat coming out of the tunnel that goes under S. Boulder Road.

The girls cool down around the East Boulder Rec Center.

7-8th Grade District Track Meet 4-30-11

2011-05-01T11:51:00.000-07:00

Alas, the middle school track season is over. Mena finished up her middle school track career Saturday at the district track meet in Longmont. RESULTS. She PR'd in the 1600 (6:40) and 800 (3:05). She also tried the 75 Hurdles for fun. Below is a short video from the meet today. Mena is in the gray top and black shorts.

Today (Sunday) I took the girls to the Earth Day 5 Km in Boulder at the CU Research Park. The course actually goes around my work twice. Mena slept in and enjoyed the extras Zzzz's after her track meet yesterday. Gabi had a great opening mile in 6:50, but then slowed after that finishing in 24:33. Gabi played her last tennis meet of the season yesterday, a tournament in which she played 8 singles tennis matches! She said her legs were killing her during the race today.
I paced Missa to her 5 Km PR in 27:33 (8:52 pace). Amazingly a 3-year old girl won Missa's age group in 24:15. See the results HERE. Missa's previous PR was 28:23 last week at the Mud Hen 5 Km last weekend. Missa wasn't very happy with her time last week and wanted to improve on it so she could be in a better wave at the Bolder Boulder. Missa can only run 2 days per week now due to her gymnastics practice.
Brook raced the 5 Km, her first time actually racing in years and finished in a respectable 26:33. She enjoyed pushing herself again.

April 2011 Track Meets and Running Races

2011-04-27T08:28:00.000-07:00

As usual it's been very fun attending the Middle School track meets this spring and cheering on my girls. These Middle School meets are super low key and parents are allowed on the infield to cheer on their kids. Conversely, High School track meets are super strict and organized, nobody is allowed onto the infield. I remember last spring attending one of Gabi's first High School meets. Unknowingly I went onto the infield to cheer her on and shoot some video. Before the race was over a big and burly authoritative man in a red jacket was stomping toward me and wagging his finger.

"WHAT THE HE## ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE!"
"DON'T YOU KNOW THE RULES."
"ARE YOU A COACH OF ONE OF THE TEAMS?"
"GET THE @#$# OUT OF HERE!"

I put together a video (see below) showing the highlights from April Track Meets and running races that Gabi, Mena and Missa have competed in. The music for the video is "Wait So Long" by Trampled by Turtles. Mena spent 10 minutes learning the main violin riff and she plays it in the beginning of the video. In the video you will see that during Missa's 6th grade District Track Meet in Lyons Gabi and I climbed up to the "L" on the mountain above the track. I've never been up there before, it's pretty nice view.

It's been a successful season with plenty of PR's.
Even though Gabi is not running track, she was able to jump into the Boulder County meet a couple weeks ago and PR'd in the 3200 Meter in horrendously windy conditions with a 14:43. Two weeks later during a 2 mile training run she came up with another huge 2 mile PR in 13:55 (7:07/6:48).
In Middle School track Mena has PR'd twice in both the 800 (3:09) and 1600 (6:46). Interestingly Mena has not bettered her indoor 1600 Meter PR of 6:43 which she ran last February at the Balch Field House.
Missa has had an excellent debut track season setting PR's in the 800 (3:42), 1600 (7:27) and 5 Km (28:26).
MUD HEN RESULTS
With track season winding down, the girls will continue to train for the Bolder-Boulder 10 Km and compete in some local 5 Km's, the summer track meet series and hopefully some trail races.

Spring Running Update

2011-04-08T21:57:00.000-07:00

Spring has arrived in Colorado and Mena and Missa are competing in middle school track. Gabi decided to forgo track and compete in high school tennis this spring along with running some citizen races. See the video below showing some clips from some of the training sessions.

Gabi and Mena took a special trip with their aunt during spring break to San Diego for the Carlsbad 5000 race. See some photos from the trip below.

Mena and Missa competed in their first track meet of the season last Wednesday. Below is a video showing the highlights.

Janet's Hut

2011-03-22T19:22:00.000-07:00

For the past 8 years Brook and I have taken our kids on one winter hut trip and one summer hut trip each year. The winter hut trip is typically for one night only and the summer hut is for two nights. In the early years I had to carry a heavy pack and pull a sled, often having to go up and down twice, pulling one or more of the kids and supplies. Over the years the kids have become stronger and now they carry their own packs making it easier on the parents. We do these hut trips with a group of 3 or 4 other families with kids the same age as our kids. It's been very satisfying to see all the kids develop and become more capable over the years. The kids do most of the hut duties now like cleaning up after dinner and breakfast, tending the fire and melting snow for drinking water.
The conditions this year coming down from the hut were pretty icy and tricky for my girls. They had trouble controlling their nordic skis on the transformed snow. Janet's hut is unique because you park at Copper Mtn and typically take a chairlift up to access the 4 mile trail up to the hut. On the way down you ski back to Copper Mtn and then down the groomed slope to get back to your car.
I'm already looking forward to next year's hut trip to Benedict Hut near Aspen. That trip will be in early February, so the conditions should be better.
Below is a short video of the hut trip.

Winter Sports 2010-2011

2011-03-01T20:10:00.000-08:00

Gabi, Mena and Missa have been busy this winter.
Gabi competed High School Swimming again, her Sophomore year and had a lot of fun with her team.
Mena ran with the Rojas winter group and competed in some indoor track meets at CU Balch Field House and the Air Force Academy.
Missa continued training in Gymnastics and working toward competing in Level 7 next winter.
The video below shows some highlights from the girls' competitions and training.

Gabi's swimming PR's this winter:
50 Free in 30 seconds
100 Free in 1:06
200 Free in 2:27
500 Free in 6:36
Mena's running PR this winter:
1600 Meter (6:43) at the CU Balch Field house.

7 Days in Kauai

2011-01-24T07:07:00.000-08:00

Here's a highlight video of our 7 day trip to Kauai from Dec. 28, 2010 to Jan 4, 2011.
Day 1: Queens Bath, Hideaways Beach, Kilauea Lighthouse, Hanalei Bay.
Day 2: Kalalau Trail to Hanakapi'ai Falls, Ke'e Beach.
Day 3: Tunnels Beach, Hanalei Bay.
Day 4: Sleeping Giant hike, Kipu Falls, Wailua Falls
Day 5: Sea Lodge Beach, Hanalei Bay.
Day 6: Waimea Canyon, Nu'alolo - Awa'awapuhi Hike.
Day 7: Anini Beach, Hanalei Bay.

Kauai

2011-01-09T19:16:00.000-08:00

Hanakapi'ai Beach

We recently returned from a 7-day family vacation in Kauai. Brook and I planned this trip for 11 months and kept it a secret from our kids until Xmas morning when we unveiled the surprise. Last January we were inspired to go to Kauai after seeing the movie A Perfect Getaway.

We tried to make the most out of our 7 days in paradise. We did 3 hikes and usually went to two different beaches each day for snorkeling, swimming, cliff jumping and playing in the waves. I also got in a some runs scoping out the trails and roads on the north side of the island. Below are photos from some of the highlights of the trip.

Mena jumping into Queens Bath on Day 1 of the trip.

Queens Bath was a 15 minute walk from the condo that we rented for the week in Princeville.

Kilauea Lighthouse.

Shave Ice in Hanalei.

Starting the hike to Hanakapi'ai Falls on Day 2.

On the Kalalau Trail.

Mena at Hanakapi'ai Beach.

Hanakapi'ai Falls, 4 miles into the hike. It was nice and cool up here with the falls actually creating a micro environment.

The water was pretty cold, but it was a thrill to swim under the huge falls.

Back at the stream crossing for the final 2 miles of the hike on the Kalalau trail.

One of the many views along the Kalalau trail.

Ke'e Beach, the start/end point of our 8-mile hike.

We did some snorkeling after the hike at Ke'e beach, the brown stuff in the water is a coral reef. We were yelled at by the life guard for standing on the reef, a big no-no, whoops.

We spent the morning of Day 3 on Tunnels beach.

In the afternoon I went for a run on the Okolehau trail while the girls played at Hanalei Bay.

The view of Hanalei Bay from the top of the Okolehau trail.

On Day 4 we did a hike up the Sleeping Giant on the Nonau Trail.

Hiking up toward the "chin" of the Giant.

On the "Chin" of the Sleeping Giant.

After the hike we drove over to Kipu falls for some jumping into the waterhole.

Gabi jumping in.

On the way back to our condo in Princeville we stopped for a quick look at Wailua Falls.

On Day 5 we walked down to Sea Lodge Beach.

The sand on Sea Lodge Beach is super coarse-broken up coral and shells. There was a local guy on the beach collecting small pink shells for his jewelry business.

3 girls on rocks.

Big surf today. Most of the beaches on the north side are protected by reef.

The view from the Sea Lodge grounds, you can see the Kilauea Lighthouse in the distance.

In the afternoon I drove the girls to Hanalei Bay again (their favorite beach) and I checked out the Powerline Trail.

My legs were pretty tired and I decided to turn around at this huge puddle.

Missa in a hole at Hanalei Bay. We spotted Bethany Hamilton out surfing in the bay on Day 3. The rumor was that Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck were renting a house on Hanalei Bay while we were there, but we never saw them.

On Day 6 we drove to the west side of the island for a massive 10 mile hike. Before the hike we stopped at the Waimea Canyon lookout shown above.

The hike was a big loop of the Nu'alolo Trail, Nu'alolo Cliff Trail and Awa'awapuhi Trail. Above you can see some massive erosion on the Nu'alolo Trail.

A shot of the family near Lolo Vista Lookout.

Another shot looking at Nu'alolo Valley.

The Na Pali Coast from near Lolo Vista Lookout.

There were quite a few drop offs on the trail like the one shown above.

Above is a shot of the Nu'alolo Cliff Trail.

Above is a shot from the Awa'awapuhi Lookout. The last 3.1 miles of the hike were all uphill back to Kokee Rd.

On Day 7 we headed over to Anini Beach.

Anini Beach is great place to swim and snorkel. The waters are very calm because the beach is protected by a long fringing reef. I got a short snappy run in on the road that parallels Anini beach, nice and flat.

We spent our last hours on the island in Hanalei.

Above is a shot of the Hanalei Pier.

The trip back home went smooth, leaving at 9:30PM and flying through the night. None of us wanted to leave and even now 5 days after arriving back in Colorado we are still dreaming of Kauai.

100 Ascents of Green Mtn

2010-12-19T08:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday after dropping Mena off for her new winter running group in Boulder I had a short window of time to get a run in. I drove up to Chautauqua for my 100th ascent of Green Mtn in 2010. It took me several months longer than I originally expected to complete this goal due to getting sick in June with Lyme (I also tested positive for Mono and CMV virus) and going through a 6 month ordeal that brought me down to the weakest state of my life. As you can see in the photo above there were a couple inches of snow on the trail and I used microspikes for the first time since last spring. I ran into Homie on the way down and we stopped and talked for around 5 minutes. I hadn't seen Homie in several months and I congratulated him on his fine finish at Hardrock earlier this year.

Below I highlight some of my 100 ascents of Green Mtn this year.
Feb. 14: 1st ascent up Green in 3 inches of fresh snow on top of packed powder.
Feb. 23: 5th ascent 6:15AM in loose snow, descended with Homie.
Feb. 24: 6th ascent 12:45PM, saw Tony, my right shin is hurting (this turned into a stress fracture, but I ran though it).
Feb. 27: 8th & 9th ascents on nice hard packed snow, 41:10 and 40:26 up front.
Mar 4: 11th ascent on nice sunny spring day, saw JV and BF on top.
Mar 20: 19th ascent in 2 feet of powder, broke trail, 78 minutes up front, have hacking cough.
Mar 25: 22nd ascent in horrible icy-uneven footing, 69 minutes up Gregory/Ranger, still have bad cough.
Mar 28: 24th ascent with Brook on a nice sunny day, trail icy on bottom.
Apr 10: 33, 34 and 35th ascents, first day without microspikes, up Greg/Ranger in 44:54, 44:38 & 45:51.
Apr 17: 41, 42 & 43rd ascents, up Greg/Ranger in 47:01, 42:44 & 42:37.
Apr 24: 47th & 48th ascents, part of 6 hr/30 mile run including Walker Ranch and Eldorado Springs in slushy snow and sloppy trails.
May 1: 52, 53 & 54th ascents, all via different routes, Greg/Ranger, Front and Flag/Long/W. Ridge.
May 6: 56th ascent, start-finish at Potts Field, up front in 39:47.
May 8: 57th ascent, part of 5:20 hr/26 mile run that included full ascents of S. Bld Pk, Green and Bear Pk
May 12: 59th ascent in 1 foot of new snow on top, heavy and wet with crust on top, 56 minutes up front.
May 22: Raced in the Jemez 50 miler.
May 29: 62nd ascent, saw JP and BF on top, talked for 5 minutes, committed to Leadville.
June 2: 64 & 65th ascents at 5:45AM, talked to Homie, used new Montrail MM shoes.
June 6: Complete 93 mile week with 5 ascents of Green, by far the most I've ever run in one week.
June 8: 69th ascent at 5:45PM, 2nd of the day, did it in morning too, shot running Green video. Everything is super green and lush.
June 10: 72nd ascent at 5PM, 2nd of the day, thunderstorms, love it, super green and lush.
June 12: 73rd ascent same day as Sunrise Stampede, ate at Mustard's Last Stand after.
June 13: Complete 92 mile week with 6 ascents of Green.
June 17: 77th ascent from Potts, 46 minutes up Greg/Ranger, 4 laps barefoot at CU on way back.
June 20: 5 hour run in Jay Cooke State Park in Minnesota, exposed to ticks.
June 20: Complete 94 mile week with 4 ascents of Green, that's 3 weeks in a row over 90 miles.
June 21: 2 hour run in Jay Cooke Start park, exposed to more ticks.
June 23: 78th ascent day after driving 17 hours straight back to Colorado from Duluth, Minnesota. This was my last run up Green as a healthy person.
June 27: Complete 96 mile week, 4 weeks in a row over 90 miles with tons of vertical, more that twice the amount of running in 4 week period in my life.
June 28th: Sickness sets in, extreme headache, body aches, violent shivers, night sweats, extreme fatigue. This is the beginning of 6 months of hell.
July 4: 79th ascent, hike up with family, feel TERRIBLE.
Aug 3: 83rd ascent, reduced to hiking and need to take a salt pill every 15 minutes to keep from getting hyponatremia, my body has lost the ability to maintain stable sodium levels in the blood, extreme nausea.
Aug 11: 85th ascent, hike up then jog down with Hunters, totally exhausted after.
Oct 19: 90th ascent, saw Tony and top and a black bear at the base of the Amphitheater trail.
Oct 31: 93rd ascent, hike up at 100 max heart rate, if I go any harder extreme fatigue sets in.
Nov 2: 94th ascent, hike up at 100 heart rate Greg/Ranger in 58:37, saw Geoff Roes on way down.
Nov 7: 96th ascent, hike up Greg/Ranger in 59 minutes, body still gets super tired after even with slow pace.
Dec 7: 97th ascent, run up front in 41:42, feeling better, new diet is working (no sugar or dairy).
Dec 14: 99th ascent, run up front in 39:47, out of shape but went hard and no big fatigue after.
Dec 18: 100th ascent, 2" snow on trail, used Microspikes, up Greg-Ranger, saw Homie on way down.

Totals for 2010:
100 Ascents of Green Mtn
5 Ascents of Bear Peak
5 Ascents of South Boulder Peak

There is a lot of negative information about Lyme Disease on the web, but HERE is a positive story about Samantha Stosur (the top tennis player from Australia) and how she beat Lyme Disease.

CU Turkey Trot 11-25-10

2010-11-25T20:03:00.000-08:00

The family and I got out this morning for the CU Turkey Trot at the East Research Park on the CU Boulder campus. It was a brisk 20 degree morning with no wind. The girls did not have any time goals today and were just out to get some exercise in a social setting before the big turkey dinner later today. Above is a shot of the girls prior to the start.

Helena, Gabi and Mena round a corner early in the race.

Above is a shot of Brook and Missa with Green Mountain in the background.

That's me in the shot above. I went into the race with no intention of racing, but I felt pretty good and ran harder than I have in several months. I'm in pretty bad shape so it was a good stepping stone workout. I hope I didn't over-do-it.

The girls cruised the run today.

Gabi finishing up on the Potts field track.

That's Mena above behind the turkey girls.

Above, Missa and her mom round the final corner.

Above is a shot of Missa in her finishing sprint with me behind her on the infield.

It was a fun race and good to get out and make some room for the Turkey later in the day.

Results

The Manitou Incline

2010-11-23T19:06:00.000-08:00

I was in Colorado Springs last weekend with the family for Missa's State Gymnastics Meet.
While there we checked out the Air Force Academy and I was shocked at how impressive the athletic facilities are. The place is so massive, they even have a full size indoor track.
On Sunday morning I took a quick trip to Manitou Springs to check out the famous Manitou Incline. I have never been up the Incline and I and was excited to check it out. The Incline route is visible in the photo above, it is the vertical line going up the mountain in the top-center just to the right of Pikes Peak.

The standard route up the Incline is around 1 mile up with 2,000 vertical feet gained. At this point you can cut over to the Barr trail for a less steep descent back to the base, or you can turn around and go straight back down the Incline. I was surprised at how many people were hiking up the Incline. It was literally crawling with hikers on this brisk Sunday morning.

In the above photo the "No Trespassing" sign is visible.Here is a link to a video about a group that meets every week to do the Incline and then drink beer.

In the photo above the trail steepens.

More hikers ahead.

Above is a photo looking back down towards the base around half way up the Incline.

Above, I approach more hikers on a steep section.

Above in a particularly rugged section you can see that a lot of work has been done to insure that rail ties stay in place.

Above is a photo of the final steep pitch to the summit.

Looking back down from near the top.

Above is a shot of just beyond the end of the Incline. It took me 32 minutes to get to the top at a moderate pace-125 heart rate. I think that I read somewhere that the fastest ascent is around 16 minutes!

I jogged back down the Barr trail and again ran into several hikers and runners. I noticed that people almost seemed more conscientious and aware of runners compared to Boulder Mountain Parks. I think the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon races probably have something to do with that.

Longmont Turkey Trot 11-13-10

2010-11-13T18:49:00.000-08:00

My family got out for the Longmont Turkey Trot this morning. The race was held only one-mile from our house at Altona Middle School where my two younger daughters attend. It sure was nice to have another local race so close to home. It was a cool, crisp and clear day for the 10 Km and 2 mile races with over 1,100 people racing. My girls competed in the 2 mile race, I like to keep the girls at shorter distances and they only do one 10 km race each year, the Bolder Boulder. There is plenty of time for them to do longer races when they get older. Below Mena and Gabi get ready to warm-up before the race, notice the balloon in the sky.

The obligatory attitude-funny face shot.

In the shot below you can see the balloon in the sky again. All the people in purple tie-dye shirts are kids from my wife's elementary school. She organized an after school running club for the kids that was focused on training for this race.

Gabi loves to pose for photos. Below from left to right is Mena, Gabi, Missa and Brook.

Below is a shot of the start of the 10 km race.

I ran with Gabi and Mena for the first mile before Gabi pulled away and I stayed with Mena for the rest of the race. Mena is shown below at the 1 mile mark. She hit this in 7:36 and then followed up with an 8:21 to run 15:57. She was hacking up a lung and coughing for most of the race and was not happy with her result. Gabi ran 14:59 (7:17/7:42) for a solid time with hardly any running in the last 3 weeks.

Missa is shown below finishing up in 19:51. She has been totally focused on gymnastics for the past several months and hasn't been doing any run training. She will be competing in the USAG Level 6 state gymnastics meet next weekend.

In the photo below can you tell which one was not happy with her race??

2 Mile Results

Twin Peaks Rotary XC Race 11-6-10

2010-11-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

This morning I took Gabi and Mena over to Rogers Grove in Longmont for the Twin Peaks Rotary Cross-Country Race. This race is advertised as 3.5 miles but I think it might be a bit long. It is a 3-lap course that includes some tight single track next to the river, hay bail obstacles and ditch crossings. Mena and Gabi were looking to get a good workout out in before next weekends Longmont Turkey Trot. Gabi's high school cross-country season ended a couple weeks ago and after taking a 10-day break, she is starting to run again to stay in shape before swim season starts. It's always nice to have a home town race that is only a 5-minute drive from our house. I am still a ways off from being able to race.
My recovery from Lyme Disease is taking a long time and I continue to have set backs. Recently I discovered that if I keep my heart rate at 100 or below during workouts, I don't set myself back and feel totally exhausted for the next week. This has made my pace really slow and racing isn't possible. I do enjoy the race atmosphere and hope to get back into it someday. Meanwhile I am continuing my quest for 100 ascents of Green mountain this year, although keeping my heart rate under 100 makes it impossible to run up, but I can still jog down. At this point after 4 months of being sick, I am just happy to sort of feel like myself again and still be able to get out on the trails.
Below are some photos from the race.

Lion Lake Run 10-16-10

2010-10-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

I got up to the Wild Basin trailhead Saturday morning for a run up to Lion Lake. The entrance station at Wild Basin is closed for the season now, so there is no fee. Most of the leaves are off the trees up here, but the crisp fall weather was a delight to run in. This was an out and back run, the Wild Basin trailhead elevation is 8,500 ft and Lion Lake is 7 miles up the trail at 11,065 ft. Below is a map.

Above is a shot on the trail near the Wild Basin trailhead. Lion Lake is near Thunder Lake and is reached by taking a spur to the right 2 miles before reaching Thunder Lake.

Above is a shot of the bridges above Calypso Cascades.

Above is a view of Long's Peak.

Most of the leaves are down now.

Above is a shot of Copeland Mountain.

Shown above is a great view of Boulder-Grand Pass in the center of the picture. Brook and I ran up and over this pass last year on a crossing run from Wild Basin to Grand Lake. The last stretch up the steep snow field is very steep. It was loose scree when we climbed it last August.

Above is a shot of Mt. Alice and Lion Lake. It took me longer than expected to make it to the lake and the entire run was more than I should be doing at this point, but it was worth it.

Above is a shot looking south from Lion Lake.

On the way down I ran into a trail of more than a dozen horses.

The scene back at the Wild Basin Trailhead after my run.

Lyons CC Course Workout

2010-10-16T15:53:00.000-07:00

We headed over to the Lyons Regional Course to put in one final key workout prior to Gabi and Helena's big race this Thursday. Gabi, Helena and Mena did 4X800 meters with 3:30 recovery on the hardest section of the course. The workout went really well with the girls getting faster on each interval.
Gabi: 3:26, 3:22, 3:21, 3:10
Helena: 3:30, 3:26, 3:28, 3:20
Mena: 3:30, 3:27, 3:30
Below is a video of the 2nd interval.

Erie Invite and Estes Cone 10-9-10

2010-10-09T15:50:00.000-07:00

Mena ran the Erie Invite Middle School race this morning. The race was actually held in Longmont near Centennial Pool. The Middle School race was listed as a 3 Km, although I think it was actually a little shorter than this. Below Mena runs through the 1 Km mark in 4:25.

Below Mena runs through the 1 mile mark in 7:22.

Below running across the bridge with 600 meters to go.

The final sprint to the line.

Mena finishes in 15th place of 65 runners in 13:07.

After the race I decided to try another run up in the high country. I've never been up Estes Cone, so I drove to the Lily Lake trailhead for the run. Below you can see Estes Cone from the trailhead.

The trail is in very good shape.

Below is the junction at Storm Pass. From here it is another 0.7 miles up to the 11,006 foot summit. The trail becomes much steeper and more rugged from this point forward. Note the snow on the edges of the trail--winter is coming.

Below are three shots from the summit.

In the photo below you can see Lily Lake, where I started the run.

One more shot of Estes Cone below with Lily Lake in the foreground.

Fern Lake Run 10-2-10

2010-10-02T11:18:00.000-07:00

My neighbor Charlie gave me his week long Rocky Mtn National Park pass that he purchased last Sunday and I decided to take advantage of it for a short run in the park this morning. The leaves are nearing peak colors up there so I decided that even though my running is severely limited right now, the drive up would be worth it. It would be one last mini-indulgence in the high country before the weather turns.

The drive to the Fern Lake trailhead had several elk.

These guys brought traffic to a standstill.

Note the tag on the leader in the photo above.

The shot above is of Fern Falls, just over 2 miles into the run.

That's Fern Lake above with Little Matterhorn in the background.

You don't see this every day.

A shot of the leaves.

After the short run I did some stretching near the river.

Broomfield Cross Country Race

2010-09-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

My two oldest daughters Gabi (15) and Mena (13) competed in the Broomfield Invite Cross-Country meet on Friday, Sept 24, 2010 at Broomfield Commons Park. Gabi ran the girls varsity race and had a tough time, she might be a little over-raced right now. She ran 24:57 (7:22, 8:00, 8:30).
Mena was going to run the open/citizen race, but we were too late to sign her up, so she ran the first 3 miles without a number and then stepped off the course. She got in a solid workout, running it in 24:58 (8:01, 8:25, 8:32). Below are some photos from the races.

Sept. 11-18 Racing Update

2010-09-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

Gabi in Pink shoes at the start of the RE-1J Meet 9-14-10

Mena and Gabi have been racing quite a bit in the past week.

Sept. 11, 2010 St. Vrain Invite in Lyons, Gabi ran the Varsity Girls 5 Km race in 23:34 and Mena race the Middle School 2 mile race finishing in 15:36.

Sept. 14, 2010 RE-1J Meet at Sunset Golf Course in Longmont. Gabi ran the 5 Km Varsity race in 28:30, she went out too hard completing the first lap in 12:20 and then slowing drastically in the second lap 16:10 cruising in to save herself for the big Liberty Bell race on Friday. Mena ran the Middle School girls 1.5 mile race in 12:20.

Sept. 17, 2010 Liberty Bell Race in Littleton. Gabi ran the 5 Km Varsity Girls race in 22:59, this is 1 minute faster than her time on the same course last year so things are looking good.

Sept. 18, 2010 Rattlesnake Ramble 4.25 mile trail race. The entire family ran this race. Gabi finished in around 41:14, Mena in 42:14 and Missa did the 2 mile race in 24:14.

Below are photos from some of the races.

Gabi coming down the hill at the St. Vrain Invite 9-11-10

Gabi at the St. Vrain Invite 9-11-10

Mena at St. Vrain Invite (black shirt & green shorts)

Mena coming down the hill at the St. Vrain Invite

Gabi at the RE-1J Meet 9-14-10

Gabi at RE-1J Meet

Gabi suffering in the 2nd lap of the RE-1J meet 9-14-10

Mena just after the start of the RE-1J middle school race (while shirt & magenta shorts)

Mena at RE-1J meet 9-14-10

Gabi at Rattlesnake Ramble 9-18-10

Pops and Mena at Rattlesnake Ramble 9-17-10

Brook at Rattlesnake Ramble 9-18-10

Missa after her race at the Rattlesnake Ramble 9-18-10

Rattlesnake Ramble Post Race (Lou, Mena, Pops, Brook) 9-18-10

CC Season Starts & S. Boulder Peak

2010-09-05T13:53:00.000-07:00

Gabi and Mena have begun Cross-Country Season. Above is a photo from the start of Lyons Scrimmage on 8-28-10. Gabi and Mena are visible next to each other on the start line. Below is Gabi in blue around 1/2 mile into the race. Gabi is a sophomore this year and competes for the Silver Creek High School CC Team.

Below is Mena in white and yellow just over 1 mile into the race. Mena is in 8th grade and will be competing in some middle school races this fall.

Below Gabi descends a hill on the course.

Mena sprinting to the finish line which is located on the Lyons High School football field. Mena finished in 27:54 on the course which contained a 2 major climbs. Gabi cruised the race to finish in 25:21.

The Disney Channel was filming the race, focusing on Paul Roberts for a "Get Your Head in the Game" segment. After the race Gabi, Mena and another girl on the Silver Creek team convinced the film crew to shoot some video of them.

The next week on Saturday (9-4-10) Gabi competed in her first real race of the season at Pre-State. This is on the state course and it was a huge meet with around 300 runners for her race (Girls Class 4A). Below is a photo of Gabi on the left with two of her teammates.

Below Gabi comes through at around 1 mile into the race. This course was brutal with a super long hill on each of the two laps called the "Power Line Hill". The conditions were hot and dusty.

Below is a nice shot of Gabi at the base of the Power Line Hill on her 2nd ascent. To the left of her is a Silver Creek teammate. Gabi would pull away from her and ended up finishing as the 2nd Silver Creek runner on this day in a respectable time of 25:33. Gabi's PR from last year is 22:08, but that was set on a much flatter course than this one.

Below Gabi charges up the Power Line Hill.

After the race the girls had some fun cooling off.

The next day (Sunday, 9-5-10) we did a hike up South Boulder Peak.

Missa and Mom on the summit. It took us two hours to reach the summit from the S. Mesa Trailhead.

Mena, Gabi and Pops on the summit of S. Boulder Peak looking south.

Gabi with Mena signing the summit registry. It was a brilliant day and really hot.

Gabi on the summit.

Don't do it!

Nah, just kiddin!

Missa.

Missa and Mena heading down Shadow Canyon. The entire hike was 6.8 miles with 3,000 vertical feet. It took us just under 4 hours including spending a half hour on the summit. Now the girls have climbed Green, Bear and S. Boulder Peaks this summer, the 3 big mountains in Boulder Mountain Parks.

Hallett Peak

2010-08-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

This morning Brook and I did a slow run up to Flattop. Once on Flattop Mtn I did a little side trip to the top of Hallett Peak (12,713 feet). Above is a shot of mirror-like Bear Lake (9,475 feet) with Hallett Peak visible in the upper left. Below is a shot of Emerald Lake from the Flattop trail.

I was supposed to be running Leadville today, but at this point, that is impossible for me. I ran as slowly as possible up to Flattop trying to avoid the extreme exhaustion that has been setting in for me after trail runs. Below is a shot of Hallett Peak and the Tyndall Glacier.

Brook works her way up the Flattop trail.

Brook takes a break on the Flattop summit (12,324 feet). From here it is a rugged 0.5 miles to the summit of Hallett Peak.

The Tyndall Glacier sign with Hallett Peak in the background.

Below is the view from the summit of Hallett Peak (12,713 feet) looking south. Longs Peak is visible on the left and Otis and Taylor Peaks on the right. These are some awesome mountains.

Below is a view looking north from the summit of Hallett Peak.

The town of Grand Lake is visible in this shot from the summit of Hallett Peak.

On the way down, a nice view of Longs Peak.

Brook making her way back to Bear Lake.

Big crowds of tourists at the Bear Lake trailhead shown below. It ended up being a 10 mile run with 3,300 vertical feet.

I went to the Bronco game with my 3 girls that night and the next day I was totally exhausted, a deep-deep fatigue that shows me I am still a long way from being well, I took a zero for the day.

Mt. Audubon and Cony Lake

2010-08-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, August 14, we did a hike up Mt. Audubon with a pretty big group of friends. Only Missa, Mena and Mom did this one (Gabi slept in and took the day off after a pretty big running week). Shown above is a nice shot of Missa going airborne on the descent. Below is a shot of some of our group on the way up just above treeline.

Below, Missa (left) and Mena (next to Missa) take a quick break before the final push to the summit.

Missa is shown below with Buchanan Pass in the background to the left of her head. Just to the right of her head is the distinctive flat summit of Longs Peak. That flat summit is the size of a football field to give you an idea of the size.

Missa, Mena and Daisy huddle in the Mt. Audubon (13,220 feet) summit rock shelter. It was pretty windy on top.

Missa and Mena on the way down. The entire hike took 3 hr 50 minutes including all stops.

The next day (Sunday, August 15) I could not resist going back up to the high country. The weather was perfect again. Below is a shot of the Allenspark trailhead leading into Rocky Mtn National Park. My destination for the day was Cony Lake, which is 3 miles beyond Pear Lake in one of the most remote places in the park.

Below, around 2 miles into the run, Longs Peak can be seen.

Below is a shot of Finch Lake, 4 miles into the run.

Below is a sign at Finch Lake.

Check out the deer.

This unnamed lake below Pear Lake is full of Lily Pads.

Below is Pear Lake, 6 miles into the run.

At this point there is no trail on the map, but there is actually a faint trail for the next 1.5 miles that is pretty easy to follow. Below shows the start of this trail leading up to the Hutchenson Lakes.

Below is a family of pine trees in front of Lower Hutchenson Lake.

The trail is barely visible at this point.

Below is a shot of middle Hutcheson Lakes. There was not a soul around.

Below shows the approach to Upper Hutchenson Lake with Cony Pass notch visible in the top-center of the photo.

To reach Upper Hutchenson Lake I had to climb over several boulder fields like this one shown below.

Below is a shot of Upper Hutchenson Lake. There was nobody around and I saw some fish in the lake. It was very isolated, quiet and peaceful up here.

Looking down at Upper Hutchenson Lake with St. Vrain Mtn visible in the background.

Below is a shot of Cony Lake with Ogalalla Peak and the continental divide in the background (left-top).

I ran up above the lake for a little ways to check out Cony Pass.

That's Cony Lake shown below.

The climb up to Cony Pass is shown below. It is very steep with loose scree. I did not have the time or energy to climb it today. It leads to Paradise Park.

That's me shown below trying to run over the rocky terrain back down to Cony Lake.

After 40 minutes of difficult terrain, I was finally back on a faint trail as shown below. Descending back down toward Pear Lake.

Below is a shot of me running near Finch Lake. The rest of the run was pretty uneventful. The entire run was 4:35 hr. I turned around at 2:30 hr just above Cony Lake. This run was way longer than I planned on (~18 miles, 3,200 vertical feet), but it was worth it.

Dream Lake-Loch Loop

2010-08-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

This morning I headed back up to Bear Lake in Rocky Mtn National Park with the girls (Brook, Gabi and Mena)(Missa stayed home and slept in, she's not quite strong enough yet, but hopefully next year she'll be able to join us for these runs). In the photo above the girls are running past Nymph Lake.

We ran the Dream Lake-Loch Loop from the Bear Lake Trailhead. It was cloudy and cool at the start of the run, but eventually the sun came out. In the shot below the girls are climbing up towards Dream Lake.

Mena (left) and Gabi are working hard on the climb.

Brook leads the girls across the bridge.

In the photo below is Dream Lake with Hallett Peak in the background. High clouds are sitting on the continental divide.

The girls climb through some dense forest running toward Lake Haiyaha.

The trail skirts some steep drop-offs and the sun is coming out.

Below is a faint rainbow over Lake Haiyaha.

The girls at Lake Haiyaha.

Gabi and Mena running down a nice trail in lush forest.

Descending a rocky part of the trail. This loop had some really rocky areas that made it difficult to keep a descent pace. That was fine and the young girls are getting a feel for trail running in the Rockies.

At the next junction Mena and Brook continued on toward the Glacier Gorge Trailhead and Gabi and I did an out and back to "The Loch". Gabi needed to get 8 miles in today and Mena would end up with 6.5 miles. Below, Gabi climbs toward "The Loch".

Gabi at the Loch, the mist is moving in.

Gabi descending back down from "The Loch".

More descending.

Having a little fun with the rocks.

At this point Gabi was still running strong and hamming it up for the camera.

Running through a nice Aspen grove as we approach the Glacier Gorge Trailhead.

The final 0.5 mile climb up to Bear Lake and Gabi is still smiling.

After the run the girls insisted on stopping at The Stanley Hotel. Gabi has seen "The Shining" (Jack Nicholson version) and really wanted to see the famous hotel.

Mena getting spooked in front of the haunted hotel room.

Gabi in front of The Stanley Hotel.

Flattop Mountain Run

2010-08-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

This morning I was really itching to get up to the high country. There is only a month left before the snow can start up there, so I hit the road early and drove to Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. There are several trails from Bear Lake and most of them go to lakes as shown by the sign below.

This is one of the most popular trailheads in Rocky Mtn National Park. The beginning looks more like a well manicured road as shown below.

My destination for the day was Flattop Mtn, a 2,900 vertical foot climb 4.4 miles from Bear Lake.

This trail is very runnable and well maintained as you can see in the shot below above treeline.

Below is a shot of Hallett Peak, which is very close to Flattop Mtn, in hind-site I wish I had gone to the summit.

Below is near the summit of Flattop Mtn, it's FLAT!

I really liked it up here and I hung out jogging on the various trails for over 20 minutes.

Below is a great view (from left to right) of Odessa Lake, Lake Helene and Two Rivers Lake. When Scott and I did the Tour de Lakes two years ago we ran right past these lakes. You can just make out the trail in the center of the photo.

Looking backup toward Flattop Mtn and Hallett Peak.

A little marshy area and beyond is Grand Lake and the Fraser Valley.

That's me running back up to Flattop.

Below is the Tyndall Glacier.

The trail going back down to Bear Lake with Estes Park in the background.

Long's Peak is shown below.

The view from Bear Lake.