Weather was perfect, so we chilled on Oxford for a while. While up there, we made friends with a local marmot. Marmots are one of my favorite animals, mostly because they're associated with Colorado mountain peaks. They are friendly and curious, but I've never had one just mosey right up to me. 
All told I spent about six hours above 13,500 feet. Good times! I've now bagged 21 Colorado 14ers, and if you count repeats then Oxford was the 40th time I've summited a 14er.
Ended up camping Friday night at near the Treeline aid station on the Leadville course. Fittingly, I slept about a quarter mile from the actual place where I took a 30 minute nap during the race.
Saturday morning it was off to the Leadville gym to begin training camp. Sat's run was from May Queen, the first aid station during the 100 miler, out to Twin Lakes. This included Sugarloaf Pass and a few other pretty good hills. Even though I took it easy, taking a lot of pictures along the way and spending at least 5 minutes at each of the three aid stations, I did the 26 miles in five hours. That's a sub-20 Leadville pace for those keeping score at home. I don't think I'll run that fast, but I have a new goal brewing which I'll work on after Hardrock. Here's a shot of me and fellow CRUDer John G:
After refueling at Leadville's newest pub, Doc Holliday's, it was back to the campsite for a quick bath in the freezing cold Arkansas river followed by a big fire and lots of Pabst.
Sunday morning was supposed to be the dreaded Hope Pass double crossing, but the north side of the mountain was still covered in snow. So the new plan was to summit Hope from the ghost town of Winfield and return. Made it from Winfield to the summit in a not-too-pedestrian 76 minutes, then added some extra credit by bagging 13,461 ft Quail Mountain. Here's me on the Quail summit:
All in all a nearly perfect weekend. Really crammed one last shot of hard training in, and now it's time to let my body heal up for the big race in less than two weeks. Met a lot of ultrarunners I've seen at races, and it was nice to get to know them in a not-quite-so-competitive situation. Love the shirts too - has the stereotypical miners sitting around a tent picture, with Yoda standing by them saying my favorite Star Wars quote - "Do or do not. There is no try."
Took a ton of pics, all of which can be seen here.
1 comment:
If you find one that hasn't been harrassed and noone else is around to spook it you can get them to take a carrot out of your hand. Then when they're close enough & trust you, with your other hand...
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