Getting Ready

Man, it is great to be back in the mountains!  From the beginning of November 2012 until mid-May 2013 I was at Monastery of Christ in the Desert in New Mexico.  It's a beautiful place, right on the Rio Chama and surrounded by gorgeous mesas in the high desert.  I lived in a hermitage right on the river, getting up at about 4 every morning to pray before heading to work at 9, and would then either read or run before ending the day with more reading and prayer.  I don't know exactly how to summarize my time there.  Every time I try it seems to somehow denigrate the experience.  Our words are such inadequate conveyors of the experience of the Word Himself, and I suppose that's intentional.  If words alone were enough, what would be the incentive to truly live?

The chapel at Monastery of  Christ in the Desert

Though my time at the monastery was inexpressibly good, I love being back in the mountains.  There were pretty decent trails near the monastery, including a stretch of the Continental Divide Trail that provided adequate elevation and a healthy dose of beauty.  But still, when I arrived back in Estes Park, my feet couldn't wait to hit the trails.

My first real run was up Lily Mountain via the Homer Rouse trail from the Carriage Hills development in Estes.  I didn't expect too much of a challenge, but I was pleasantly surprised by the last three-quarters of a mile up the mountain.  It was steep, and just what I needed to give me an idea of my fitness level.  In other words, I was out of shape, but not horribly so.  I'd never been up Lily prior to this run because of its popularity, proximity to town, and the short round-trip distance (4 miles if you start from the actual trailhead), but the views from the top were magnificent.  The run ended up being 10 miles with about 2800 ft. of gain.  'Twas a good start to getting my legs back.

The next excursion was Twin Sisters, another smaller peak but with significant gains in a short amount of time.  It starts out at a bit of 9000' and climbs to over 11400' in 3.6 miles, which equates to rough 670 ft./mi.  , and like its neighbor Lily Mt., it has great vista views from the top.  I got up in 1:12, slowed a bit by a considerable stretch of snow just below treeline, but I picked up the pace on the way down to finish in 1:53. Nothing spectacular, but I was good with it.

A couple of days later, it was time to tackle Lumpy Loop: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/60518.  It had been over six months since I was last here, and that trip resulted in a broken finger on the descent from Gem Lake to the intersect with the Cow Creek Trail...neat.  I was hoping for better results this time.  Lumpy is one of my fitness assessment runs.  If I run it between 2:00 and 2:10, I'm happy. It's about 10.5 miles with 3000' ft. of gain split between two hearty climbs, winding through beautiful stretches of forest though it's often pretty warm because of its relatively low altitude (the high point is around 9200 ft.).  I opted for a counterclockwise run this time because many say that this is the more challenging direction.  I'm still not convinced of this, but what do I know?  I laced up the shoes, downed some VFuel, and hit the trail.  I felt like I was struggling a bit on the 1.7 mile ascent to Gem Lake, but my watch disagreed.  I arrived at the lake in just over 26 minutes, which put me on pace to hit my 2:00-2:10 mark.  The next climb slowed me to a hike at several points, and I topped out on the Black Canyon Trail/Lumpy Ridge Trail intersection in 1:30.  I knew I probably wasn't going to hit a sub-2:00 on this run, but I pushed the last 3.7 miles and finished in 2:09:30.

Since then, I've been up Hallett Peak with my best good friend, VFuel co-founder Michael Hodges, for his 45th ascent of that beautiful beast.

Nobody cares...but way to go, buddy!

Two days later, I returned to Twin Sisters for a hike with Michael and some other folks I consider near and dear to me (check out www.shelmusic.com).

I'm definitely the prettiest one in this photo.

Just before the rhinoceros attacked.

It's now time to shift into high gear, as my friend Alan Smith, another VFuel co-founder, asked me to pace him at this year's Hardrock 100.  With Hardrock looming, I've put Mt. Meeker, Mummy Mountain, and a Mummy Kill loop on the docket for the near future.  If those don't get me passably ready for pacing Hardrock, I don't know what will.