catching up

Been a while.

Got my tenth finish down in Lake City at the San Juan Solstice.  Decent race, I was steady if not fast.  13:48.  Probably a little too close to my last big run two weeks ago which crushed me.

Not sure if it's my last SJS, but I won't be there next year as I'm committed to the Rachel Carson Challenge in Piittsburgh.

Took me a bit to recover from that.  Then on Friday I went over to Ute Valley Park for the second race of the Blue Moon series.  Ran well for the 8k, taking second overall in a VERY limited field.  It was a completely different crowd than in the first race, and it sucks that I'll miss the final race as I'm winning the overall series right now.   Again, the W is not due to any speedy performances but to nobody showing up.

On top of the running, SAR has been keeping me busy as everyone is hanging outside during the summer.  Good times.  

Kudos to Shad for getting it done at Western States!

SAR

Wasn't planning on a down week but I was crushed for a few days after Mace's and then SAR took up all my weekend time.

Good news: I was running up to Barr Camp on Saturday and a call came in for a hiker who was lost just off Barr Trail near Barr Camp.  He wasn't injured, so I got the go-ahead to go look for him.  I found him about 60 feet off Barr Trail, a little bit below the trail that heads over to the Cog Railway.  That incident is mentioned here.

Bad news:  A guy from New Hampshire came out here to hike Pikes Peak and it didn't end well.  I spent a good chunk of Saturday evening, most of Sunday, and a few hours on Monday looking for him.  All of that time was with a heavy pack above 13,000 feet.  That story is here.  

There was a little bit of running in there.  For the week:

run - 34 miles, eight hours

hike - 27 miles, 14 hours

Mace's Hideout

Tempest Adventures is now two for two in thoroughly kicking my ass.  I did their Mace's Hideout 50 miler down in Beulah and holy hell was it rough.  First four miles are on a dirt road but after that it's nothing but technical trails and lots of climbing and descending.  I ran pretty well, or at least I kept moving forward all day, but I found myself pushing the overall cutoff of 16 hours.  Rallied over the last three miles, which included climbing up a waterfall, and finished in 15:58:30.  Pic below is at the finish, those other two runners and I worked together to barely beat the cutoff.

I had planned on getting back home on Saturday after the race, maybe even early enough to hit WestFax for last call.  But I finished at midnight and was wrecked.  Ended up spending the night in the parking lot.  Good times.  I have some work to do before Rio Grande.

On Sunday after SAR training we headed up to Red Rocks for Big Head Todd's 40th anniversary show.  Saw Bill Murray and Warren Haynes open up.  Great time.

For the week:

run - 81 miles, 21.5 hours

hike - 19 miles, nine hours

South Dakota

4:27:30.  Gave up quickly and just jogged to get another state.  Over 90F during the race and I just wasn't ready to deal with that.  Live to fight another day.

Great van trip though.  Visited some Rapid City breweries, slept at Crow Peak Brewing in Spearfish, visited the Moonshine Gulch Saloon, and spent a quiet night in Sturgis.

Rough week as I got bogged down with a lot.

run - 35 miles, six hours

hike - 27 miles, ten hours