Weeks in Review: April 28 - May 25

Week in Review: May 19-25

Monday, May 19^th

AM—10 Miles—1:46—2,600’—Green Mountain

Up Gregory/Ranger and down Bear Canyon. I started off towards the Gregory TH at a decent pace and continued that about halfway up the canyon before my left shin started feeling weird. So I fell into a hike the rest of the way to the summit. My shin started feeling better near the summit, which led me to pick up the pace a bit on the descent. After coasting down the technical stretch back to the Ranger trail junction I started moving a little quicker—running around 6:30-7:15 pace for all of GreenBear and the upper stretches of Bear Canyon. Then it was just ~three miles of the Mesa Trail before calling it a morning.

PM—Climbing at BRC

Tuesday, May 20^th  

AM—Climbing at BRC

PM—22 Miles—4:16—4,600’—Fowler, Eldo, Walker Ranch, Green Mountain, Mesa

David and I decided to head out for a 20-25 mile run today that included mostly runnable terrain. He wasn’t feeling too great on the climbs and I wasn’t feeling too great on the descents. We parked at the Fowler TH and began our warmup run into Eldorado Canyon before digging into the climb up-and-over to the Walker Ranch trail. From there we took the short side of the loop to the TH, crossed over to the Meyers Gulch trails, pounded out a mile of pavement, and got on Green Mountain’s west ridge to the summit. It was a pretty hot day out, which didn’t mesh too well with our limited supplies of water (one bottle each). After a not-slow-but-not-fast descent of Bear Canyon we just had a few miles of the Mesa Trail to grind out. These miles sucked. My footwork was pretty off from being dehydrated so I just tiptoed along trying not to fall. On the last few miles of dirt road leading to the south Mesa TH I started busting out some ~6:40 pace in an effort to get back to some water quicker. Of course, I snagged a toe and took a good fall. Fortunately, I’m used to that by now and it didn’t really do any damage other than a bloody knee. With less than a mile to go from the TH we plodded along the paved road drunkenly. After downing some water we met up with Aubrey, David’s wife, and their kids to cheer them on in a 5k along Boulder Res. 

Wednesday, May 21^st

AM—2 Miles—0:20—200’—Dowdy Draw

Easy shakeout run. Legs felt crappy and I was still dehydrated.

PM1—2 Miles—1:07—1,200’—2^nd Flatiron Hike

With a tornado watch in effect and rain on the way I decided to shimmy up the 2^nd and try to beat the rain. I wore my climbing pants in an effort to resist any temptation I might have to run up the approach. About 30 feet up the route is the crux—a bulge in the rock that took me about 5-10 minutes to figure out how to negotiate in my traction-less 110’s. After that I just cruised up to the walk-off point and trotted back down just in time to avoid being soaked.

PM2—Climbing at BRC

Thursday, May 22^nd

AM—12 Miles—3:25—4,200’—Bear Peak and Green Mountain

My legs weren’t really in the mood for much running. So I took off down the Mesa Trail and veered onto Fern Canyon for some power hiking. Pretty slow day.

PM1—6 Miles—0:54—100’—Bike Paths

My left Achilles was a bit sore. So I got out for an easy run to try to loosen things up a bit.

PM2—Climbing at BRC

Friday, May 23^rd

AM—7 Miles—1:36—2,500’—Anemone and Mount Sanitas

My legs felt pretty awful this morning. I hiked most of the way up Anemone before turning around and plodding down on shaky quads. For some reason I decided to head over to Sanitas anyways. I made the summit in about 21 minutes with my legs starting to feel better every step of the way. My footwork was spot on for the descent, but I still kept the effort in check. About halfway down I stopped to chat with Darcy and Matt Hart for 5 minutes or so. Shortly after that I passed Peter Bakwin and Buzz on their way up.

Saturday, May 24^th

AM—15 Miles—1:50—300’—Bike Paths

A mellow 15 miles along the bike paths and South Boulder Creek from BRC. Kept the pace between 7:00 and 7:30.

Sunday, May 25^th

AM—22 Miles—4:39—6,250’—South Boulder Peak, Bear Peak, Green Mountain, Flagstaff Mountain

A nice, fun day bagging all of the local peaks minus Sanitas. I started at Ebin G Fine, ran up to Panorama Point and down to Chautauqua, cruised the length of the Mesa Trail to the south TH, and turned around to start tagging peaks. By the time I hit the steep, technical portions of Shadow I already had about 11 miles on my legs, but they were still feeling pretty good. I pretty much power hiked the entire way up South Boulder. The scamper over to the summit of Bear took about 14 minutes to cover. From Bear I trotted along towards Green Mountain, which I eventually reached in 50 minutes. I lingered on the summit of Green for longer than anticipated to down a gel and chat with Terry Miller (I met him while running Greys and Torreys a while back). Some fatigue started to sink in on my way down Green towards Flagstaff. So, I just took this descent pretty casually and even fell into a power hike up the Ute Trail to Flagstaff. When I reach the Taco at Ebin G Fine I stopped for some water and a couple of bananas while debating whether or not to go tag Sanitas. I’m not the biggest fan of Sanitas (especially with weekend crowds) so I decided to go grab a beer instead.

Weekly Totals

Miles—98

Time— 19 hours 57 minutes

Elevation Gain— 21,950  feet

Week in Review: May 12-18

Monday, May 12^th

AM—5 Miles—0:50—300’—Boulder Creek Path

I decided on a much-needed easy day on the Creek Path. Once the pavement ended the easy run turned into a snowy semi-slog that required more effort than I was really hoping to put out this morning. I knew there was no chance of me getting out for an evening run after finishing this morning’s run.

PM—Climbing at BRC with David

David and I both decided to flail about on the walls for an hour or so. He wasn’t feeling so well after coming off a cold. I just suck at climbing. Fun, regardless.

Tuesday, May 13^th  

AM—10 Miles—1:17—200’—Bike Paths

A moderate morning run to loosen my legs up a bit before climbing. I was running around mid-7’s for the first five miles before my stomach went to hell and I had to carefully walk to a Johnny-on-the-Spot I saw about a half mile away. So mile six was about 12 minutes. Then I started hitting mid-6 minute pace for the last four miles. Passed TK doing one of his weekly faster turnover creek path runs.

AM—Climbing at BRC

A few hours of climbing immediately after my run on the creek path.

Wednesday, May 14^th

AM—10 Miles—2:54—2,700’—Green Mountain

Crappy snow conditions and crappy feeling legs made for a longer than anticipated morning. I hiked from about a half mile below the Bear Canyon-Green Bear junction all the way to the summit. The last steep stairs were all iced over. Ran into Stacey on my way down and chatted for 5-10 minutes. I was a bit glad when I got back to the Taco after this “run”…

PM—5 Miles—0:35—100’—Boulder Running Company Group Run (Bike Paths)

Pearle Vision called to tell me my new contacts and glasses were available. So I picked them up and stopped next door at BRC (the running place, not the climbing place) to talk to a few friends. I was lured into the group run with promises of beer and pizza. My legs still had plenty of energy since I really didn’t do anything difficult on my outing this morning. When we took off I trotted around near the front of the pack waiting for one of the roadies to lead the way since I had no idea where the hell we were running. Finally, the typical roady looking guy who was warming up for 30 minutes prior to the group run and still had a triathlon number Sharpied on his calf bolted out ahead of everyone. I stayed close to him until we reached the Goose Creek pathway (I had no idea how to get there otherwise) and then fell back into a relaxed effort—around 6:30 minutes/mile. I maintained this pace pretty much throughout. With about a mile to go along sidewalks I fell back to ~7:45 pace for a bit of a cool down. I might make this run a weekly thing. It’s sort of fun chasing down a bunch of roadies.

Thursday, May 15^th

AM—Climbing at BRC

I didn’t really feel like running first thing this morning. So I hit the climbing gym at 6:30 and spent two hours flailing around on the walls. 

AM—13 Miles—2:09—2,600’—Mesa Trail

There were quite a few muddy/slippery stretches of trail this morning. So I decided to push the uphills and relax on the downhills. The first two miles or so after turning around at the South Mesa trailhead are always a fun little climb. 

Friday, May 16^th

AM—9 Miles—2:07—2,700’—Flagstaff (x2)

My legs were tired. So I mostly hiked up Flagstaff from Chautauqua and then descended the Rangeview, Tenderfoot, and Chapman trails before retracing my steps back to Chautauqua. Pretty blah day.

AM—Climbing at BRC

A fast-and-furious 30 minutes before heading up canyon to help my buddy do a little work.

Saturday, May 17^th

AM—4 Miles—0:35—100’—Bike Paths

I got to the climbing gym about an hour too early. So, I headed out for an easy jog. Sweet inversion layer this morning that granted me great views of the Green and Bear summits.

AM—Climbing at BRC

Pretty solid 2.5 hours with minimal rest. I did quite a bit of 5.8’s and 5.9’s with tired arms and downclimbed every 5.8 route. Starting to feel like I can put in longer efforts at the gym. I still only have a few 5.10’s in me during each session before I lose all grip strength.

PM—4 Miles—1:00—1,650’—Mount Sanitas

My cousin came to town for a visit on his way back home from college. So I decided to give him a tough introduction to trail running in Boulder. Pretty mellow effort for me—easy up and mainly a walk down until reaching the Valley trail.

Sunday, May 18^th

AM—Climbing at BRC for 3.5 hours

Hit the climbing gym with my cousin for a few hours before getting in some easy running/hiking.

PM1—2.5 Miles—0:31—800’—Green Mountain

I took my cousin up to the West Ridge trailhead on Flagstaff Road to show him the view I get from the summit of Green Mountain several times a week. Easy effort up to the last ~quarter-mile of steep stairs and then I picked up the pace to the summit. Mellow pace back down.

PM2—3.5 Miles—1:26—1,500’—Flatirons Access Trails Hike/Jog

Easy hiking up and even easier running back down. We went up to the top of the 1^st. I hit some sub-5 minute pace on the road section back to Chautauqua.

Weekly Totals

Miles—66

Time— 13 hours 30 minutes

Elevation Gain— 12,650  feet

Week in Review: May 5-11

Monday, May 5^th

AM—4.5 Miles—0:40—300’—Creek Path

Mellow run on the Creek Path to see how everything felt after my fall yesterday. Predictably, my face and shoulder both felt like they got hit really hard by a rock. My shoulder also kept feeling like it was popping out of place when I tried swinging my left arm while running. I also had some slight pain in my left knee, which I busted up pretty good in the fall.

PM—4 Miles—0:56—1,600’—Mount Sanitas

I started off with an easy run up-and-over Red Rocks from Settlers Park and continued up Sanitas with the same effort. I topped out in ~22 minutes or so, spent about 15 minutes on the summit, and then closed the loop by descending Sanitas Valley. I walked most of the descent until the valley trail. I didn’t really feel like taking another digger until my shoulder had healed from the previous one.

Tuesday, May 6^th  

AM—10 Miles—2:14—2,600’—Green Mountain

From Chautauqua, I ascended via Gregory Canyon/Greenman and descended via Bear Canyon. Shortly after the washed out bridge on Gregory I fell into power hike mode. I mostly hiked all the way to the summit with a few short stretches of running: the flat section at the top of Gregory, lower Greenman, the flat stretch of upper Greenman, and the last few switchbacks to the summit. I took the descent even easier; starting off with a slow plod down to the Green-Bear trail junction. When I hit the lower sections of Bear Canyon that follow the rocky creek bed I decided to just walk. I’ve decided to take my runs easy until I get some new contact lenses since I’ve been wearing five-year old glasses the past week or so…

PM—4.5 Miles—0:33—300’—Creek Path

A nice, moderate effort along the creek going up Boulder Canyon.

Wednesday, May 7^th

AM—13 Miles—4:25—5,000’—Torreys Peak (14,267’) and Grays Peak (14,270’)

Peter and I had been talking about getting out in the mountains this week. We decided to seize this morning’s weather window before an afternoon storm rolled in. I met Peter and Tara in Golden around 5:30am and we headed off towards Bakerville. We began running from the winter trailhead right off I-70 and I could immediately tell that my legs were lacking energy. I struggled keeping up as we trotted up the three mile stretch of snow-covered road. We reached the summer trailhead in about 0:48. From here up to the summit of Torreys was all hiking. Peter would pull ahead considerably, stop and wait for me, I’d catch up, and we’d repeat. We decided to take the shortcut route to the saddle and hit Torreys first so that we could just come straight down the face of Grays for our descent. Almost immediately after getting on the shortcut we stopped to put on Microspikes since the snow was pretty frozen over and neither of us really felt like taking a 1,000’ slide down the snow slope. From the saddle it was a 600’ slog up to Torreys’ summit that kicked my ass every step of the way. I finally topped out in 2:43. The near-perfect weather allowed us to linger on the summit for a while before heading back down to the saddle for another 600’ slog to the summit of Grays. The altitude really started taking its toll on me during this short ascent; I started feeling dizzy and had to stop fairly often to rest along the way. I hit the summit of Grays in 3:12. Again, the amazing weather permitted us to lounge around on the summit and scheme up bigger routes for the summer. When we finally began our descent we followed a few switchbacks down to a large, continuous snowfield that provided a fun glissading opportunity. Glissading is probably my favorite part about ascending high peaks during this time of year. The snow was beginning to soften up a bit in the willows. Luckily, it stayed firm enough for us to run down without postholing. We hammered out the last three miles from the summer trailhead back to the highway to finish in 4:25. I would guess that Peter would have been somewhere closer to 4:00 without waiting on me. He’s been running G&T every week for 38 weeks. So, he’s got both fitness and acclimation on his side. This was my first time above 11k feet since October, which made this a bit of a sufferfest for me. Couldn’t have been a better day for a sufferfest, though.

Thursday, May 8^th

AM—4.5 Miles—0:42—300’—Creek Path

After getting down from Grays and Torreys yesterday I began to feel pretty crappy. Around 5pm I had a pounding headache and felt on the verge of death. I pounded water like crazy in hopes that it was just dehydration and fatigue from my first day up high in a while. I fell asleep around 8pm and woke up around 5am feeling remarkably better. So I went out for an easy jog on the Creek Path this morning. The cool, crisp morning reminded me of heading out early up a 14er in the summer months.

PM—4 Miles—0:45—1,100’—Flatirons Access Trails and Mallory Cave

Legs felt sluggish. So I stayed low and just ran an easy loop of the access trails with the addition of a Mallory Cave loop.

Friday, May 9^th

AM—8.5 Miles—1:47—2,650’—Green Mountain

From Chautauqua, up Bear Canyon and down NE Ridge/Frontside. I ran up Bear Canyon at a moderate effort on tired legs. From the summit I began down Greenman before veering onto the NE Ridge route for a mostly offtrail/social trail descent. Sometimes I think I can descend faster off trail than on some of the technical trails in the Boulder area…

PM—5 Miles—2:03—2,500’—2^nd Flatiron and Green Mountain

I was supposed to run with JV and George this afternoon, but those plans fell through with Jeff coming down with an illness. So I decided to get out for my first bit of scrambling since falling and hurting my shoulder. Given the afternoon flood of tourists I decided to just hike most of the way up to the base of the 2^nd. From there, I began a super slow ascent. My shoes were covered in mud from the lower sections and even after clearing off never really seemed to offer the usual purchase. The entire way up they seemed to be slipping a bit, as if they were a little wet. So I just took my time. After walking off I continued a power hike up to the summit of Green. I took the descent pretty easy until I reached the top of Gregory Canyon. My footwork seemed to be “on” so I picked up the pace on the more technical stretches of Gregory and never missed a step. It’s fun when everything is in perfect rhythm on technical descents.

Saturday, May 10^th

AM—8 Miles—2:18—2,650’—Green Mountain

Legs felt like hell today. My original plan was a backside loop, but I ruled that out after power hiking about 75% of the way up the middle route of Green. I descended via the West Ridge, Long Canyon, and Gregory Canyon—walking most of the way. My legs started feeling decent in Gregory Canyon, which led me to picking up the pace a bit. In one of the more technical areas I slightly tweaked my right ankle and decided to walk it on in. Definitely not the day I had in mind, but thankful that I didn’t really hurt my ankle that bad.

Sunday, May 11^th

AM—6 Miles—2:36—2,550’—Green Mountain

The mid-May snowstorm that was hammering Boulder gave me the perfect opportunity to take an easy day today. I ran from Chautauqua to the Gregory lot before falling into the slogging pace that I continued up the front side all the way to the summit. I decided to take the middle route back down. I was first tracks from Chautauqua to the summit and back down to the Ranger/Greenman trail junction before seeing Tony’s tracks heading up. My “waterproof” gloves were soaking wet; making for miserably cold hands. If my hands are cold then everything is cold. When I finally got back to Chautauqua I went directly to the bathrooms and used the hand dryers for about 10 minutes to bring some life back into my iced fingers.  

Weekly Totals

Miles—73

Time— 19 hours 05 minutes

Elevation Gain— 21,550  feet

Week in Review: April 28-May4

Monday, April 28^th

PM—2 Miles—0:19—500’—Flatirons Access Trails

After driving through horrendous wind in Kansas all day I needed to get out for a run. Predictably, my legs felt like hell. So, I just did a nice and easy two-mile loop around the access trails. Beautiful night in Boulder!

Tuesday, April 29^th

AM—9 Miles—3:10—2,950’—2^nd Flatiron and Green Mountain

In preparation for the summer I decided to get out on the 2^nd Flatiron and test out my scrambling skills that haven’t been used in almost seven months. Of course, I had zero confidence in anything I did. I played around for about 1.5 hours on the 2^nd—upclimbing here, downclimbing there, traversing, and what-not. I was basically just trying to get a feel for the rock after so long away. Once I finally topped out I made my way over to the summit of Green and descended Bear Canyon.

PM—3 Miles—1:55—1,200’—2^nd Flatiron Hike

David and I decided to get out on the 2^nd again this evening. It was his first time in the Flatirons. We just made our way up without ever really being on the Freeway route until the last pitch or two. Come to think of it, I’ve never actually ascended the Freeway route because I have no idea where the hell it really is…

Wednesday, April 30^th

AM—5 Miles—2:55—2,850’—Green Mountain Bushwhack

I made my way to the base of the 2^nd and spent about an hour scrambling around the lower ~50 feet or so to practice downclimbing. I eventually made my way up between the 2^nd and 3^rd and enjoyed a little boulder field action as I neared the top of the 2^nd. From there I continued up Green via the NE Ridge. I ended up taking a slow-going bushwhack route down that eventually joined with the Gregory Canyon creek bed. I followed the creek until I eventually ended up on the lower stretch of Saddlerock—hopefully that trail was actually open…

Thursday, May 1^st

AM—6 Miles—3:24—2,700’—Bear Peak Bushwhack

Gerber and I decided to get out for a hike/bushwhack up the east face of Bear Peak. This was a fun little route that had some decent segments of bushwhacking, some really low-angle slabby scrambling, a little boulder hopping, and some shitty, loose scree’ish sections. This was a great route for a little solitude. We slowly made our way down Fern Canyon, which was surprisingly rockier than I remember.  It’s always fun to explore familiar territory in new ways and to have good company along for the ride.

Friday, May 2^nd

AM—17.5 Miles—4:11—6,000’—Flagstaff, Green, Bear, South Boulder, Bear, Green, Flagstaff

My quads were still considerably sore this morning. So, I’m not really sure why I decided on this route. Regardless, I felt great on the climbs, but my legs were a little shaky on the descents. So, I ran the ascents at a good pace and coasted on the downhill stuff. With the exception of getting a little thirsty on my way up Green for the second time I never bonked or had any low patches. I hit my turnaround point, South Boulder, at 2:15 from Ebin G Fine Park. I ran into Neeraj on the summit of Green and chatted for a bit before we both made our way down towards the old four-way. He headed off towards Bear and I headed towards Flagstaff. Fun day of running!

Saturday, May 3^rd

AM—8 Miles—2:39—2,650’—2^nd Flatiron and Green Mountain

I was doing my usual choose-your-own-adventure route up the 2^nd when I noticed a guy above me and to the left a little. I made some comment about having no idea where the Freeway route actually is and he invited me to follow him up it. After chatting for a bit I found out that his name is Shawn Mitchell and his car-to-car PR on the 2^nd is around 36 minutes. Damn. He was great conversation all the way up and even took a photo of me doing the leap of faith. After topping out I made my way over to Green and descended Bear Canyon.

PM—2 Miles—1:10—1,200’—2^nd Flatiron

Easy scramble up the 2^nd in the mid-afternoon heat. There were so many hikers on the trail that I walked most of the way up. I spent about 10-15 minutes poking around the lower section trying to figure out how to get over the bulge in the first 30 feet or so. Finally, I just headed up along the right-hand side and veered left to join the Freeway ramp. From there I cruised up pretty quick, but stopped along the way to talk to some other scramblers. I took the descent at an easy paced run.

Sunday, May 4^th

AM—3 Miles—0:47—500’—Mesa Trail

I intended to hit Bear via Fern and then head over to Green with a descent of Gregory Canyon. However, about 1.5 miles into the run I snagged my right foot on a rock, tripped, busted open my left knee, nailed my left shoulder on a rock pretty hard, busted my eye on another rock, and ripped open my right palm. I sat on the ground for a few minutes, shaken by the blow to my head. I finally got up and started walking back towards Chautauqua. When I hit the half-mile of road that leads down to the ranger cottage I started jogging again. The worst part about falls like that is treating all of the wounds…

Weekly Totals

Miles—55

Time— 20 hours 34 minutes

Elevation Gain— 20,550  feet

 

April 7-27—From the Desert to the Plains

Week in Review: April 7-13

Monday, April 7^th

PM—11.5 Miles—1:48—1,900’—Angels Landing, Emerald Pools, Zion Canyon Road (Zion National Park)

Less than an hour after finishing the eight-hour drive from Telluride and gorging myself on a $5 Pizza Hut lunch buffet I decided it was a good idea to run up Angels Landing. The entire way up I was on the verge of throwing up, but I kept running until I hit the beginning of the easy scramble up to Angels Landing. From here on, I moved up at a steady pace. I stopped my watch at a collection of cairns near the far edge of the landing (this is actually lower than the true summit) in 30:32. I descended the landing quickly before falling into a relaxed pace on the steep, sharp, and paved switchbacked trail descent. I reached the trailhead with a roundtrip time of 51’ish minutes I think. From there, I headed over to the Emerald Pools, stopping to take lots of photos along the way. After the pools I rejoined the Zion Canyon scenic drive for about four miles of pounding the pavement at low-6 minute pace. 

The view from Angels Landing is well worth the effort

Upper Emerald Pool

Tuesday, April 8^th

AM—8.5 Miles—1:41—2,400’—Observation Point and Hidden Canyon (Zion)

This is a fun, challenging run that’s 100% runnable. The ascent gets steep in a few places, but for short enough durations that you can just grit your teeth and grind it out knowing there’s relief not too far off. I reached the Observation Point in about 48 minutes. Not bad for a 2,400’ climb over four miles on tired legs. On the way down I noticed a horrible pain in both feet near my big toe. I was wearing a pair of 1010’s that I fixed with some ShoeGu. Apparently when the glue dried it formed hard, sharp objects that were causing blisters fast. This almost brought me to a crawl for a while. Running was not an option considering that each step of the pounding descent dug these sharp blister causers deeper into my feet. I stopped a hiker and asked for some tape. He didn’t have any, but he did have a sharp pocket knife that I used to cut out the glued portion of my shoe upper completely off. The relief was instantaneous—I could run again. On my way down I took a short detour to the Hidden Canyon. This was a shit show of tourons (tourist + moron = touron) who were scared to death of the minimal exposure encountered on this trail. Running wasn’t even an option. So I walked in frustration until I made it back to the main East Rim trail where I cruised the remaining switchbacks back to the parking lot. 

Looking back as I head up Observation Point

The views from Observation Point are also worth the effort. Looking down Zion Canyon with Angels Landing in the middle.

Another view down Zion Canyon from Observation Point

Descending from Observation Point

A much needed shoe surgery.

Another view coming down from Observation Point

PM—5 Miles—0:52—1,500’—Angels Landing (Zion)

My legs felt sluggish from the start. So, I decided to start off easy, be patient, and just see what happened. The trail starts off flat as it follows along the riverbed, but then it gets vertical pretty fast. I ran along at 7:30 pace for the flat part before I got into low gear and began grinding up the switchbacks. After crossing the bridge I was able to push the pace again on the reasonable flat stretch of trail before leading up to the Walter’s Wiggles switchbacks. Once again, I fell into a power hike here. It’s hard to justify the extra energy expenditure required to run these when the scrambling section is right around the corner. During the scramble I kept thinking about how slow it felt like I was going. Somehow, as I neared the top I was flirting with being able to break 30 minutes for the ascent. So I picked up the pace for the runnable section near the top and reached the collection of cairns in 29:55. My legs were a little shaky so I just coasted on the descent. 

Descending the "exposed" and "terrifying" Angels Landing

Wednesday, April 9^th

AM—14 Miles—3:18—1,700’—Kolob Arch (Zion)

Nice and easy run on pretty tired legs. This was an incredibly scenic portion of the Trans Zion route that Ben and I missed out on in early March. On the outward leg the first five miles or so were pretty cruiser, with the first mile or two being a significant descent. The last two miles to Kolob Arch were mostly in a sandy riverbed, which sort of sucked since I was wearing my newly modified 1010’s (see photo above). I sat on a downed tree for 30 minutes or so, staring up at the arch, while enjoying a Cliff Bar that some hiker absolutely insisted I take from her. I wasn’t really in any hurry to tackle the two miles of sand again. After walking through most of the sand I finally hit the runnable stretches again. By this time the sun was out in full force and the water in my handheld was almost non-existent. Oh well, looks like the making of a nice little bonk. It ended up being exactly that. I was able to run the flats, but any uphill (no matter the grade) was not happening. Finally, on the last half-mile of ascent to the trailhead I was able to run again. I guess a gallon of cold water back in the Taco was all the motivation I needed? 

Running along a sandy riverbed to the Kolob Arch

Dam on Lake Powell

Thursday, April 10^th

AM—15 Miles—3:01—4,600’—South Kaibab Trail (Grand Canyon National Park)

Overall, I took the descent pretty mellow. There were some fast spots, there were some super slow spots, but overall it was mellow. I stopped to take quite a few photos along the way as well. I didn’t really know if I would end up down at the river since my legs felt especially awful and I was also breaking in a brand-new pair of shoes. However, the farther down I went the better my legs and the shoes felt. So, I just kept going and next thing I knew I was crossing the Colorado River to Bright Angel Campground for a water break. I reached BA Campground in a comfortable 1:12, which includes the ~5 minutes it took me to cover the 0.6 miles from where I parked the Taco to the trailhead. After a ten minute bathroom and water break at BA I turned around to begin the arduous ascent—all 4,600 feet of it. I was cruising along pretty comfortably up to Skeleton Point before the constant uphill began to take its toll on me physically and mentally. Just below Skeleton Point I passed a couple hiking down. They asked if I would stop and take a photo with them. After asking if they were serious I told them I wasn’t going to stop in the middle of running up a 5k feet ascent, but they were welcome to run alongside me to take a photo if they wanted. They didn’t take me up on my offer. Somewhere above Skeleton Point I reached a steep section that finally reduced me to a power hike. From here on, the rest of the ascent was a mix of about 80% running and 20% power hiking up to the trailhead. The last series of switchbacks sucked per usual, but with a little gritting of teeth and grunting I was at the top before I knew it. After sitting around for 10-15 minutes to catch my breath I got up to finish the last 0.6 mile to the Taco. The heat today removed any thoughts of running R2R2R tomorrow from my mind.  

Sunrise on my drive to the Grand Canyon

 

When you're at the bottom of the Grand Canyon there's only one direction to go...Up!

PM—2.5 Miles—0:58—200’—Hike to Shoshone Point with Alan (Grand Canyon)

Alan wanted to get out and walk a little after driving 3+ hours. So I suggested we head out to Shoshone Point since I hadn’t been there yet. It turned out to be a great viewpoint with relatively little traffic compared to other parts of the Canyon. 

Friday, April 11^th

AM—20 Miles—3:54—4,800’—South Kaibab, Bright Angel, Rim Trail Loop (Grand Canyon)

This is the third time I’ve done this loop. It’s quickly becoming one of my favorite runs in the Grand Canyon. The only negative aspect of this run is that you hit two busy sections near each trailhead, you will almost certainly run into multiple mule/horse trains, and the Rim Trail is the very definition of a tourist shit show. I began my descent of South Kaibab at a good pace. I pushed the pace when the trail was straighter/smoother than average and slowed in the more technical areas. I’ve never actually descended the south rim recklessly or with any intention of a speed descent. As I closed in on the Colorado River I came upon a ridiculously long mule train. I had to walk behind the goddamned thing for a half-mile and almost 10 minutes—breathing in the pulverized dust they kicked up the entire time. When the wranglers finally let me pass I sped off in an effort to make up lost time. Just before reaching the river I was treated to a train of horses plodding along with tourists who seemed healthy enough to walk down the trail on their own two feet, but were on horses nonetheless. Fortunately, I was able to cross the bridge before them and reached the river in 0:58. Just after crossing the bridge there was ANOTHER train of horses with tourists on their backs. Ughh…I snagged some water at Bright Angel campground before hitting the Bright Angel trail to grind out the nearly 5k feet of ascent back to the South Rim. I hit the second river crossing in 1:04 and began the climb out. I was grinding along pretty effortlessly, occasionally fielding the questions from hikers who had seen me on South Kaibab yesterday. Eventually, I saw four beautiful women running down the trail towards me—it wasn’t that hot out so I didn’t think I should be hallucinating. Turned out to be Darcy, Krissy, and others. I knew they were running R2R2R, but expected them to use the South Kaibab trail for their descent. I stopped and chatted with them for a few minutes before parting ways. After a water stop at Indian Garden campground I began the last 4.5 miles up to the rim—the steep (fun) stuff. It’s a bit surprising just how runnable the Bright Angel trail is. Yes, it’s steep in places, but the steep grades don’t last for long. I reached the Bright Angel trailhead at the top of the south rim in 3:01 from the South Kaibab trailhead. I was hoping to sneak in under 3 hours, but given that the weather was 15 degrees hotter than average and my legs were fatigued I’m pleased. I still had four miles of pavement to get back to the Taco. I chose to use the interior park trails that are away from the rim in an effort to avoid people. I walked some parts of this since I was dehydrated and starting to get a little dizzy, but in 41 minutes I was back at the Taco guzzling water. Great day in a grand place. 

PM—4.5 Miles—1:45—1,150’—Hike to 1.5 Mile Rest House (Grand Canyon)

Alan was out running a R2R2R. So, I decided to head down a little bit to meet him on his way up. My hips felt like hell and my right foot felt like it was severely bruised. This limited my walking pretty significantly. I waited for Alan at the 1.5 Mile Rest House until about 45 minutes before darkness would settle in. At this point, I decided to head up since I didn’t’ want to stumble around in the dark with a bum foot. I spent a few hours near the Bright Angel trailhead waiting on Alan before leaving a note on his car and going to the Taco for a nap. Right as I began drifting to sleep I was startled by a pounding on my driver’s side window. I was relieved to see Alan standing there looking a little haggard. I joined him in his rental car to hear all about his R2R2R before parting ways. With almost all of the North Rim water sources off, it sure sounded like a brutal day out there…

Saturday, April 12^th

AM—5 Miles—1:36—800’—Point Lookout, Knife Edge, and Spruce Tree House (Mesa Verde National Park)

Both of my hips and my right foot were pretty trashed. So, I stopped in Mesa Verde for an easy run/jog to try loosening them up a bit. Not entirely sure if it worked. 

Sunday, April 13^th

AM—6.5 Miles—1:18—1.900’—Hogsback x2 (Durango, CO)

My friend Michele and her roommate Beau were kind enough to let me crash on their futon Saturday night. It was certainly nice to have a shower and relax after beating my body up the past week. I woke up a little stiff this morning because I’m not in college any more and apparently that’s the age cutoff for being able to sleep on a futon comfortably. I eventually loosened up and decided I would go see what the Hogsback was all about. I decided to take Beau’s dog, Kio, out with me for the first lap. As expected, my hips and calves felt like hell, but they loosened up quite a bit in the quarter mile run to the trailhead. There were trails zig-zagging everywhere so I just followed my instincts and kept going up. On the first lap I hit the summit in 21’ish minutes and completed the lap in 0:43. On the second lap I hit the summit in 21’ish minutes and completed the lap in 0:34. Not a bad day out considering how bad everything felt in the morning.

Weekly Totals

Miles—93

Time— 20 hours 15 minutes

Elevation Gain— 20,950  feet

Week in Review: April 14-20

Monday, April 14^th

AM—6 Miles—1:09—950’—Fowler and Eldorado Canyon

David and I decided to try running the Eldorado Canyon-Walker Ranch lollipop loop. However, almost a foot of fresh snow made us rethink this decision. We turned around a short while up the Eldorado Canyon trail and retreated back to the car with the intent of hitting the climbing gym later. 

PM—Climbing Gym with David

I almost forgot how bad I suck at sport climbing. Almost…Fortunately, they had a crack at the gym that I could shimmy up easily. That made me feel worth something…

Tuesday, April 15^th

AM—3.5 Miles—1:23—1,050—Partial 2^nd Flatiron and Access Loop

I made it about 2/3 of the way up before almost getting knocked in the head by a chunk of falling ice. So I bailed off the side and finished a loop on the access trails before calling it a day. 

Wednesday, April 16^th

PM—3 Miles—0:26—0’—Orrick Roads

I had to shakeout the legs after the always horrendous drive through Kansas. 

Thursday, April 17^th

PM—4 Miles—0:24—0’—Orrick Roads

Trying to work the kinks out of my legs after all of the driving in the last week. My legs felt heavy and the pace felt slow. So, I was surprised to see that I hovered around 6 minute pace for this run. 

Friday, April 18^th

AM—2 Miles—0:16—0’—Orrick Roads

Easy run to keep the legs moving.

Saturday, April 19^th

AM—62 Miles—11:18—4,000’—Free State 100k (Lawrence, KS)

Hot and humid. Fell apart on the last lap, but held on for 2^nd place. I may or may not write a little something about this eventually…

Sunday, April 20^th

PM—3 Miles—0:35—0’—Orrick Roads

Ugh…This felt like death…

Weekly Totals

Miles—84

Time— 15 hours 32 minutes

Elevation Gain— 6,000  feet

Week in Review: April 21-27

Monday, April 21^st

AM—2 Miles—0:21—0’—Orrick Roads

Legs still felt like crap, but I was able to shuffle a little bit faster today. 

Tuesday, April 22^nd

PM—2 Miles—0:18—0’—Orrick Roads

Legs felt a little better. Ran a little faster…

Wednesday, April 23^rd  

PM—4.5 Miles—0:56—350’—Stocksdale Park Trails

I thought my legs were feeling considerable better until I hit the first uphill section. Then I realized I have zero drive in my legs right now. I still puttered along for a little bit before calling it a day. Felt nice to get off the roads of Orrick. 

Thursday, April 24^th

AM—8 Miles—1:03—0’—Orrick Roads

My legs finally felt pretty decent today. So, I tried a moderate paced run and they responded OK. The first four miles were into a headwind and about 15-30 seconds/mile slower than the last four miles. It was a fun little run in the rain. 

Friday, April 25^th

PM—6.5 Miles—0:45—0’—Orrick Roads

I spent almost all day doing some extreme cleaning on the Taco. I decided to sneak in a quick run before my brother got to the house for a family dinner. This was a little loop around the farmland surrounding Orrick and ended up being a little over 6.5 miles. There were two railroad crossings that gain 10 feet or less, but that was enough to remind me how little drive my legs have on the uphills right now. Overall, I was pleased. I averaged sub-7 pace for the run less than a week after a 100k. 

Saturday, April 26^th

AM—5 Miles—1:05—400’—Stocksdale Park Trails

Another slow going day on the trails. The uphills still drain the life out of me. I tried to open up my pace on a flat, straight section of trail to see what pace felt uncomfortable. I managed to hit about 9:15 pace before it felt like I was using all of my effort. I would typically run this around 6 minute pace or less. Still have some healing to do. 

Sunday, April 27^th

PM—2 Miles—0:15—0’—Orrick Roads

A really easy day in hopes of having some extra energy in my legs when I arrive in Boulder tomorrow.

Weekly Totals

Miles—30

Time— 4 hours 46 minutes

Elevation Gain— 750  feet