It's been over a month since i've written anything down. I've been busy with too many endeavors to make writing a priority, but over this past weekend, i had a couple truly fun runs and explorations through the winter wonderlands which have become home, and felt a couple paragraphs and pictures were in order.
I was doing a bit of traveling and managed to get in some really fun runs in san diego with victor (revisited some old familiars, sunset cliffs).
In new york, exploring some of the hills i used to roam about as a kid. how much less climbing there seems to be, but so much fun and lots of obstacles in the form of hidden rocks, fallen trees, and briar patches. I also had the pleasure of following my good friend Ian of
Finger Lakes Running Company through some of the spectacular trails around Ithaca. If you love down home back to your roots type of running where the race director isn't the most organized, but pours every ounce of his soul into the event and makes an effort to accomodate every participant, you won't find a better fit than Ian and his races:
- cayuga trails 50 we ran a bit of the course, and it is incredible views and some very technical sections, along the way we came across some railroad tie sections (literally railroad tie sized pieces of wood) which had washed down into a gully below the trail. Ian, and his genuine love for his local trails proposed a little cross training: and so we proceeded to haul each of the 15 or 20 hunks of wood up out of the gully and place them above the trail. sorry no pictures, i truly wished i had my camera on this trek.
- Virgil Crest Ultras: if you are interested in doing an ultra with incredible support, Ian offers a 50k, 50 miler, and a 100 miler on some super technical and fun trails. As with everything i've seen Ian do, all his heart and soul, and that of his family gets poured into this race, ensuring the participants have a great time, and get their monies worth. it's a tough course, deceptively tough. there are only a few sections that you can turn your brain off and run. the vast majority of the race your trying to figure out your footing, and wiggling through trees. Despite my thoughts that the course is well marked, it is a bit of an adventure, and has had 1 or 2 sections each year that are a bit tricky, though most of it is super easy to follow. If you want to read more, my buddy Scott Magee wrote a great little post on the course, and i've written a few over the years:
Upon arriving back in leadville I got in touch with Mike to see what was on the agenda for running. A small group runs out of Breckenridge saturday mornings, so it was off to
breckenridge for some explorations, with a bail out option around 10 miles. no camera, just enjoying the fresh snow and once again surrounding myself with trails and a few good people. Mike and I opted to go up Mt Royal, one of Mikes favorite spots in all of Colorado. This has to be worth checking out. After nearly an hour of scrambling up icy trails we reached the summit, overlooking the 70, and Frisco, windblown and full of snow and rocks, it was incredible. i can see why Mike loves this place so much. There will be more trips up Mt Royal. We scrambled back down and met up with the rest of the group at the coffee shop, warmed up a bit, and took the shuttle back to Breckenridge (It takes a certain kind of fortitude to head out for another 10 miles in 20 degree weather with snow falling and wind blowing after drinking hot liquids and sitting in a cozy coffee shop for the better part of an hour: none of us had it today). Instead we sat in the warm shuttle and had good conversations.
 |
| a light dusting of snow down in Breckenridge |
 |
| Following through some packed paths |
 |
| trees and blue skies - a lovely day for a run |
 |
| dogs love snow |
 |
| looking back on the trail as the crew regroups |
I did an
encore performance on sunday with a bit more climbing and a lot more snow. i had hoped to run a bit more than i did on the ascent, but the fresh snow, climbing, altitude, cold, and my breathing all suggested it was more of a hike up with some short efforts at running, and a fun jaunt down:
 |
| The goal: mt massive |
 |
| flat and somewhat packed early on |
 |
| started out a bit overdressed, but i'm cautious these days |
 |
| almost ate some of these, but decided they weren't really raspberries |
 |
| wiggling through the trees |
 |
| all this climbing makes things warmer |
 |
| breaking new ground |
 |
| looking back on the trail i am working on |
no photos from the return trip, i was having too much fun "running" down.
Some more photos of my running excursions can be found
here
