The day my man turned 55, we did a 14-er, Mt. Bierstadt. It was so much fun, even though I always thought I didn't care for "bagging the peaks"! The drive in the darkness of the morning was uneventful, and we hit the trail at 6 am. The first mile was relatively flat, and we jogged parts of it, warming up for the climb - and then we just kept on moving as fast as we could, passing a few dozens of folks in the process. What else happened, is that we suddenly saw a familiar face, who turned out to be our friend Pete from Austin! He was vacationing with his family, and hit the summit before sunrise. That was a birthday gift for Larry! I made everyone to wish him happy double-nickel as we passed folks, and then to sign a "Happy birthday" song at the summit. Gotta do something memorable, even though he claims he doesn't care for his birthdays! It was a great little adventure, and our Colorado 14-er number 12.
I got hooked, and a week later devilishly planned a double-whammy of Elbert-Massive. However, Larry had to work that Friday morning, so we didn't leave until well after 9 am, what put us at the trailhead exactly at noon. Yes, we're normally the people who scold others who are trying to go above tree line after 12 pm, and yes, the promise of thunderstorm was at 100% (plus there was an obvious huge dark cloud over the peak), yet, we still gave it a go, figuring we can turn around if the situation gets too dangerous (as if, ha). Anyhow, we were moving really quick, the wind was blowing in the direction that kept the cloud just a tad off the peak, and we got up Mt. Elbert - with a bonus of having it all to ourselves! Duh, obviously, nobody else was that dumb! That was super-nice, even if short stay. Top of Colorado, highest peak and our number 13, is in the books. As we dashed down, racing the imminent storm, I stopped to pick a huge mushroom and carried it all the way (balancing it on my hand and giving Larry some lee-way in slower pace downhill). As soon as we got to the car and off the dirt part of the road, the sky opened up and downpour ensured. That was close, and oh, we were so lucky!
We decided against camping in that heavy wall of rain for our attempt at Massive next morning (we live here, the mountain is not going anywhere), and instead drove to Leadville to meet with our good young friend Annie, whom we'll be helping out for her upcoming Leadville 100 race.
On the weekend of Larry's birthday we had our annual backyard grill-out - a tradition that was very steadily going in Austin for years with so many of our running and "normal life" friends. At this point, in Colorado Springs, this (second year in a row) hang-out includes only our neighbors from both sides (who are our friends as well), but we hope, eventually, it'll expand. Either way, it's always fun to have people and great conversations!
All of this times together (plus a few dates we had) has been very good for my aching heart. There is running, of course, along with work and life. I've been hitting trails a lot, and in the last couple of weeks running really well. Nothing too long or crazy, but 10-14 miles with 3-4k of gain at a brisk (and brisk-er) pace excites me and gives me hope. Could it be that I finally have a solid 7 hrs of sleep on most of the nights (5 out of 7 weekly), a resting HR that makes me smile, thus allowing me to go a tad faster at still breathe while running uphill, or improved mood and coherent load of weekly mileage? Maybe I am coming back to form after the Colorado Trail DNF mentally and emotionally, returning to a semi-balance in life and dreams... Inclines are going weekly pretty good as well, and my leg workouts have returned to high quality. I am not sure what it'll transpire into, I simply love the process of training hard. Some people definitely need a tangible goal, while I do the work, then might pick something to check on my fitness. However, with trail ultrarunning, in the last 2 decades I learned that great fitness doesn't always equals great racing, therefore I absorb myself in simply getting fit as a goal in itself. :) I have a trail marathon in a month, and a couple of 50 k's in the Fall, then I might take a break as the winter season will bring us skiing. Regardless of the goals, I am truly living the dream here. And that makes up for a lot of years of suffering and waiting on my part, plus makes up for some other unwritten life's events.
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