Weekly Run Log - August 14-20, 2011

 The South side of Eccles Pass.

 Looking out from the north side of Eccles Pass.

 Looking out from the north side of Eccles Pass.

08/17/2011: Thought I would take advantage of traveling through Summit County on my way back from New Hampshire by going for a run while I was there. I ran the Eccles Pass Loop as defined in Trail Runner's Guide to Colorado: Meadow Trail, Gore Range Trail, Willow Spring/Buffalo Mountain Cutoff, Buffalo Cabin Trail, Lilypad Pond Trail. It was a fun loop despite two things: 1.) I didn't spend much time looking at the map beforehand and therefore I felt that I was almost done when I had arrived at the junction of the Gore Trail and the Buffalo Cabin Cutoff. I was unpleasantly surprised to find that I still had a third of the distance to travel again with maybe another 700' to 800' of uphill to travel. 2.) My right knee is acting up with tendonitis I think. This upsets me but shouldn't surprise me. Long runs lately have been on the monumental scale (relatively) and have been closely spaced. While the rest of my body (muscles, cardio, mind, etc.) is in phenomenal shape it is almost always my joints, the tendons and ligaments, that suffer. Yesterday I had flare-ups in both knees but it was the right knee that suffered the most.

Despite these setbacks (really only one real frustration - the knees) it was a wonderful run. Once I got out of the severely beetle-infested lodgepoles that stood from the trailhead (9180') to about 10,500') the views were amazing. I kept stopping to take pictures as each meadow was more scenic. There were abundant carpets of purple and yellow flowers that covered everywhere but the trail itself. The peaks were beautiful. Everything was just peaceful. An amazing run! 4:03, 14.5 miles, 3,200'

08/19/2011: Ran to Tabor Boat Ramp on Turquoise Lake Trail. Testing the knee our. Felt fine. Just some twinges here and there. Stretched it out good and proper. It  might be a good idea to warm up and stretch for a while. 0:43, 4.2 miles, 50' vert.

08/20/2011 (into 08/21/2011): Paced Jon Beyers from the Fish Hatchery to the Finish. We started at about 1:10 am and ran until 9:21 am where he finished with an official time of 29:21! I was excited and motivated by his ability to keep going. The Leadville 100 is always such an inspiring event and I was stoked to be a part of it in volunteering for the Aid Station and pacing a terrific guy. Because I walked so much of this I am not sure how to log it. I think I am going to count it as my weekly mileage because it was such good training walking through the night after being up all day working the aid station, but on the other hand I did walk the entire time. 8:11, 23.5 miles, 1,700' vert.


Weekly Summary: 42.2 miles, 4,950' vert.