The ten second countdown to the start of a 100 mile race is a crash course in coping. I often feel a bit sick to my stomach and while standing there I can’t help but think about what is happening, what kind of mistake I’ve made. How did I get in this situation? Why would anyone voluntarily sign up for this, let alone pay money to participate? Will I really watch the sun rise twice while...
We’re ready to go. Here’s some info to follow along.
This connection of trails that circumnavigates the Maroon Bells crests four passes greater than 12,000 feet and resides entirely within the Maroon Bells/Snowmass Wilderness. It’s one of those reminders as to why we live here. Completed in either the clockwise or counterclockwise direction, its reported distance and elevation gain varies a bit depending on who you ask and where you start but definitely qualifies as a must-do. Outings can commence from...
Thoughts and photos from a snowy Pikes Peak Marathon in 2008.
More specifically, Conundrum Creek trail up to Triangle Pass, down to Copper Lake, up to East Maroon Pass and down East Maroon Creek. The route can actually be completed in either direction, in our case Todd Clark, Christy and I began the day at the Conundrum Creek Trailhead (8800 ft.) and ran most of the popular trail up 8 miles or so to the famous hot springs (11,200 ft.) that bear the trails name. FYI, the lowest...
Sunday was the inaugural running of the Leadville Silver Rush 50 miler. Christy’s first 100 miler is only 6 weeks away (Wasatch Front 100), it sounded like good training.
One of the best things about having some big goals on the horizon is getting prepared. Friday evening we went up to Turkey Rock for an easy two pitches of rock climbing. The next morning, we headed over the pass towards Twin Lakes to Monitor Rock where we had a climb of the ‘Trooper Traverse’ planned. At 5 pitches in length and with a crux difficulty rating of 5.8 it was...
The Hardrock 100 starts at 6 am friday and though my feet are glad to miss this one, I must admit feeling a bit bummed that I won’t be there. The results of the February lottery had me at 40th on the waitlist behind 140 accepted runners, and I thought it to be a long shot that some 30% of the accepted field would drop. I was wrong. Yesterday I moved up to 2nd on the...
So it was a record breaking ski season and snow year in most of Colorado. That’s good, right? Well it was way back in January that Christy, Richard Betts and I made plans to run this race. The mountainous course touches 13,300 ft., has more than 12,000 feet of elevation gain and spends the majority of miles well above 10K(with a huge stretch above 12K). Last June Christy had ideal conditions and a...
We met in Aspen in 2000 and have been happily stuck in the rockies ever since, getting out in the mountains every day we can, in every season and by all means possible. Read More
