Friday, September 23, 2011

14 minutes!? It took me an hour!

  So yesterday Amanda and I got outside and went on a hike. We'd been kicking it around Boulder for 2 weeks and had yet to go into the mountain trail systems. So we planned our trip to Mt. Sanitas. It's just west of the city and easy to get to by bicycle or walk from Pearl Street Mall. Being the planner that I sometimes am I looked up the route online the day before. Apparently, it's a mid level difficulty hike that makes a loop and is an all-around good time. Estimated time: 2 hours. Ok, that seemed reasonable. So we ride our bikes to the trail head and start our hike. It's gorgeous. Nice day, but all I have pant-wise to hike in is blue jeans. Not the best choice, but I made it work. And by that I mean I toughed it out, NOT made jorts.
  I brought along my camera and took a ton of pictures. (As seen below.) We started out and began our climb up to the summit. Now, while there is a path, it is by no means "beaten." Rocks, ledges, other obstacles. We reached the top in 50 minutes. An being the geniuses that we are, we packed the other halves of the sandwiches from the night before. Winning. After our lunch break we began our decent along the "long way" down. Probably even more "technical" than the other side. Anyways, we made it through while stumbling upon a "warming hut" which I can only assume to be used for "medicinal" purposes on those chilly days. We also found a snake sunning itself on the path and then being a little scaredy cat and running off. Also, apparently there was a bear sighting 2 days before we went. What!? BEARS! And of course I tell Amanda that she needs to carry bear mace just in case someone tries to attack her. But to get to actually use bear mace on bears!? Epic.
  We make it down without any more incidents, unless you count hearing a motorcycle engine start and think it's a bear's stomach growling. Not winning. So the day was a good one and today we're sore, but it's good.







The plaque at the summit

"Warming hut"
The snake that was scared of us
  Now that you get an idea of the fullness of this hike, chew on this. Kilian Jornet ran this trail and guess how long it took him to ascent? 14 minutes and 12 seconds. Good grief.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Wait, was that...?

  In two weeks I am running an X-terra trail half marathon in Colorado Springs, CO. I've lived at nothing higher than 500ft above sea level all of my life. I'm in trouble. I've been in Colorado for two weeks now and I'm slowly working my way into "Thin air." So due to this fact, I've continued running everyday. Usually, no more than 50 minutes. Well, on Monday I told myself that Tuesday, "I'm going running for 8 miles." My friend Amanda, who is also running the half marathon and not used to the altitude, told me to go right ahead. She wasn't going. So I headed out to look for trails. The last two weeks have been mostly street runs. I needed some trail but didn't have the energy to run eight miles of Boulder's "boulders". So I headed for the pavement. It was nothing too fancy for the first 30 minutes and I was still breathing. As I was about to turn around and head back I saw a sign for the Bobolink trail on the east side of town. I can't turn that down! There I was about to leave and head back on the road and all of a sudden I see a trail?! I took it. I had no idea how long it would go, but I figured I could try it and then turn around if I needed.
  What is greater than running trail along a creek with the Colorado mountains in front of you? Nothing. So awesome. For those of you who stick to the road, do yourself a favor and hit a trail one day. You won't regret it. So this is a buffer for the point of my story: a few months ago Runner's World came out with an article about the greatest trail runner in the world, Kilian Jornet. Oh yeah and by the way he also lives in Boulder, CO. He kind of a bad ass when it comes to all things trail and mountaineering. So about five minutes into my trail section I come head on to another runner. He's going pretty fast and not really paying much attention to anything else. But the thing is...he kind of looks like Kilian Jornet. So we pass each other and the whole time after I pass him I ask myself, "Was that just Kilian Jornet?" Of course it most likely wasn't but if it was that would be pretty cool, eh?
  So long story short I finish my trail run through under the watch of the mountains and end back on Baseline. A total of 8.65 miles. Overall, it was a good day.
Boulder (Bobolink Trail/City) by mdlove297 at Garmin Connect - Details