"What matters is action. Action is character. Action creates motivation. Thought creates fear; action cures it. Imperfect action is almost always better than inaction."
Before that rest, I had to put another Pikes Peak down. Or, up, technically speaking. So, the month of November basically started with my 11th for this year round-trip up and down Barr trail. It was so dark for so long, took me over 2 hrs to turn the headlamp off. Eventually, the grey light flickered, and then - the magnificent sunrise lit the sky. Life was good from then on.
Above the tree line, the air was crisp (16F) but still, and the views all-around were breathtaking. I also shared a trail with a heard of bighorn sheep, all 6 of them! However, the clouds were moving in. I was trying to race them to the top, while breaking the trail - yes, the fresh snow had arrived, about ankle deep, and I was first, yet again - but I lost the battle.
By the time I was 1 mile under the top, I was all-engulfed in a big grey mass, and the top wasn't any better - no views whatsoever. I didn't feel the need to put spikes on the way up, but definitely made sure I had them on for the slide down. It's just safer and faster - I also took a few shortcuts through.
Once down the same mile/1000 feet, the fog lifted, and I began seeing the surroundings, again, including my sheep - as it happened, the only other live anything for the whole peak. My footsteps never got traced by any other human that day, as I didn't meet a single soul on my way down, way past Barr camp/halfway point. Weird...
Back off the snow, below the tree line, I took my spikes off, folded my poles, and took the jacket off as well. My uphill trip took longer than the last few (not as long as winter/springs climbs though), but for some odd reason, I found downhill legs (I did have to go to work after that, being Wednesday and all), and booked it pretty fast, all things considering. As I turned around, I saw that the Peak itself still sat in the cloud, so at least it wasn't just me so unlucky.
Only with less than 4 miles to go did I run into humans - and to my delight, there were Ann and David, whom I haven't seen since August! Well, we all keep on tracking on our favorite mountain...
My gym got more structured, and I had written myself a real schedule, if one can believe it. I plan on trying and bringing some leg speed, or resemblance of it, into my running. Since all the nearest tracks outside we have (that belong to 2 middle schools) are dirt/gravel, and not lit until the school hours, my idea is to do Treadmill intervals (gasp).
By the end of first week Larry and I ventured back to our staple trailhead of High Drive, and it was a nice reminder of what we have at our disposal. Turns out, I haven't been there in over 2 months! Same goes for our near-creek flat dirt wide trail Greenway, and with time change, it, too, came into my view. We spent the first weekend doing chores, after a crazy October full of travel, and having neighbors over. That first weekend we also got extremely lucky, as far as Fall weather goes: it's supposed to be nearly winter, and we had 70F and sunshine! This very rest and recovery promise spurred another nearly forgotten activity: I spun my good yarn, bought some more sock yarn, and sat down with my needles. Talking about decompressing! I guess it's gotta to be either running or knitting, my two pastime.
A patient of mine asked me at the end of that first week, as I told her about my upcoming easy month, if I am anxious about it - judging by what she knows about my character. I laughed, and said that I am looking forward to it. Of course, at the time she asked, I had to tell her that in the last 10 days I climbed Massive and Pikes Peak (two 14-ers) and 5 times Incline, marking some 15k of vert. It's the second week of November my body was trying to hit reset. I focused on sleeping lots - thanks to the time change, though I despise the idea in general - and running easy for the first few days. It felt dragging ass, regardless. On Thursday, I ventured to the gym for my first 1 min intervals, no pre-determined speed, just in pick-up style. Turns out, I missed structure! I nailed them, intervals, and actually did them faster than anticipated I could. May be it is that R&R working already...because on Friday I ventured to High Drive for the mountain trail run, and my staple 10 mile route went in one of the faster times. It was weird, because none of the separate splits were "stellar", just "good" (you bet I know each section's times by heart), but together I strung a solid run in something like 3rd or 4th fastest time/pace. Go figure, and it definitely deserved a celebration. The rest of the Friday was spent reading a book on a couch - a luxury that hasn't happened in a very long time...
The Fall this year has been purely spectacular, long, dry, extremely colorful. I snatched the last few photos of rare bright red trees, as most of the leaves by now are on the ground. While we're behind on snow for the ski season, I am so grateful for somewhat mild weather and so much color.
This beautiful morning lead me to do something I meant for a while: to the
Orthodox Church of Colorado Springs, for a full service, with communion and all (2+ hrs!) and finished with a personal blessing of my new cross (to wear) by Father Anthony. That was an experience! Having grown up in Soviet era, while I am fully baptized and raised in Russian Orthodox culture, I don't have much knowledge of how things are done inside the church, during services, and everything around it. I actually had to read up on how to behave in the most correct way - and I truly felt the sense of belonging. Plus, I feel blessed and protected, and not alone, and I am not even joking.
To end the mid-November, we finally got out for a date dinner, to celebrate 3 years of purchasing our home, at the restaurant downtown we had dinner our very fist visit to COS together, in
July 2015.
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