The forecast was 60 degrees, sunny, and fairly light winds and I had a few hours to spend outside. I got myself ready and left the house around 9:45, not really sure what I was going to do. I thought maybe I would run up Hallet, or maybe take the North Longs trail up to the Boulderfield, but really didn’t have my mind made up. As I drove through the Beaver Meadows entrance station, I noticed much to my surprise that Trail Ridge Road was still open! Knowing that this would almost certainly be my last opportunity this year to drive up high I set my sights on the Alpine Visitor Center.

At 10:30 I parked my car and donned all my gear and headed down the (closed) Old Fall River Road.

I was wearing my favorite running shorts, racing flats with short toe socks, and earband, gloves, and 3 1/2 layers on top. I ran down the road for a while until it started to go towards the east, when I got the bright idea that it would be quicker to go straight at Chapin instead of down the road. I traversed the west side of Marmot Point, and then wandered my way through the forest in the valley between Marmot Point and Chapin. The snow was mostly 3-4 inches deep in the forest, which is not enough to seriously hinder progress but just enough to be annoying. Especially when you’re wearing mesh racing flats, ankle socks, and shorts! Around 11:40 I finally emerged from the trees and found myself below the trail on the NW flank of Chapin.

Feeling revived by the breathtaking view, I pushed up the slope towards the SE with renewed vigor and gained the top of the ridge around 12:05. It was fairly windy up there, probably 20mph or so. I stopped briefly to knock all the iceballs off of my calves in a vain attempt to warm them up.

Once on the ridge, the snow was very minimal and I made very quick time, reaching the summit just before 12:15. I dropped down off of the east side of the summit about 15 feet, and took a nice break on the warm rocks out of the wind. While there, I called Lori to let her know where I was, and uploaded a pic for all my Facebook friends to see.

I took off at 12:30 and headed down the ridge toward the Chapin Pass TH. I learned my lesson going cross-country on the way there, and decided I would take the road back. At 1:21 I arrived at Old Fall River Road, very happy to see the sign at the Trailhead.

The road was almost clear of snow, and in great condition.

Much to my surprise, I was able to run all the way up the road to the visitor center, arriving back to the car at 1:50. I couldn’t have asked for a better day (at least this time of year) to be up on the tundra.

Here are all the pictures I took today:

• Old Fall River Road about 1/2 mile below the AVC

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• Old Fall River Road just a bit above treeline

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• Chapin Pass Trailhead

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• The view to the south from the false summit of Mt. Chapin

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• The Fall River Valley - looking East from the summit of Mt. Chapin

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• Looking SE towards Longs Peak from the summit of Mt. Chapin

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• Iceballs on my leg from postholing

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• Mt. Chiquita from the NW flank of Mt. Chapin

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• Looking N at the Poudre River Valley - from the NW flank of Mt. Chapin

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• Looking back at the AVC from the NW flank of Mt. Chapin

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• Marmot Point and CCY from the top of Old Fall River Road

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• The Never Summer Range seen from the AVC Parking Lot

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• Alpine Visitor Center - Looking SE

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• The Alpine Visitor Center - Closed for the season

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It was a Monday, with less than three weeks to go before the race, so I was starting to ease up on my training and thinking mostly about acclimatizing. It was also my last chance that week to go hiking with Lori, so we decided to head up to Mills Lake, with me possibly going up Longs via the Trough route. The weather was pretty iffy though, with lots of rain clouds already blowing around at 9:30 when we arrived at the Bear Lake parking lot. After observing the weather, I decided that I would just hike barefoot to Mills and come back with Lori. So then, after removing my shoes and socks and placing only two of the three 4oz flasks of Vi Fuel in my pocket, we headed out. At the appropriate place, we made sure no one was paying attention and then headed up the fire trail.

Along the way, I started feeling pretty good and started wondering if I could safely make it up Longs barefoot. Weighing the pros and cons, and thinking more seriously about it, I started convincing myself that I could do it safely. I would be relatively protected from lightning until I was at the top of the Trough, and could then decide whether it was safe or not to make a quick dash to the summit and back. I was talking a bit out loud, running my thinking past Lori to see if she made any objection, which she did not. Finally I told her I was a bit surprised that she wasn’t trying even a little bit to talk me out of such an ill-advised, spur of the moment outing. She just told me that she had decided a long time ago to stop trying to talk me out of any kind of crazy endurance adventure, since I wouldn’t listen to her anyway!

After a while, we arrived at Mills Lake and stopped to refill our water bottles from the rapidly moving outlet stream. Lori gave me her socks (just in case), and we enjoyed the view for a few minutes. Here I am, ready to take off.

I had two 4oz flasks of Vi Fuel, a sandwich baggie with cubed chicken, a 26oz water bottle, my Steripen Opti, a pair of cotton socks, my Moeben sleeves, a little backup flashlight, my mp3 player (which I didn’t use), my iPhone, and my Marmot rain jacket tied around my waist. And the best part – no shoes! Giving Lori a quick kiss and hug, I headed on south down the trail.

The trail was in good shape and relatively free of people, so I made good time up to the Glacier Gorge campsite, where I saw this little cascade created by a log jam.
In just a few more minutes, I saw my first patch of snow! It must have been 10 or more feet deep up here in May!

Continuing on, I soon left the trail a little ways before Ribbon Falls to check out one of my favorite water features in the park.

Here is a shot of Ribbon Falls, right before Black Lake.

Just a little bit past the top of the falls, this view of Black Lake awaited me. You can see the Spearhead in the upper left corner.

I then skipped around a few people and made short work of the climb up to the plateau above the lake. I spent 10 or 15 minutes picking my way through the scrub willows, trying to find the best route, and filled my water bottle. Soon I was nearing the base of the Trough, ready to start the long climb up.

I started climbing and soon ran into patches of snow. It was generally pretty easy to avoid just by staying on the rock to either side of the snow. Here’s a nice cascade part of the way up.

About this time, I could see that I was about to get hit with a rainstorm. It started raining lightly, and then soon I had to put on my rain jacket. Thankfully, it only rained lightly for a few minutes, and then the sun came back out. I took a couple of pictures of the view shortly after the storm moved on. You can see the next wave starting to build up in the west.

Notice Mills and Jewel lakes off in the distance in this one.

I continued to climb, reaching the level of the Ledges on the Keyhole route in right at an hour from the bottom of the Trough. By this point, I could see that another wave of storms were headed right for me. Straining my ears for the sound of thunder, I continued on up, a little quicker yet since I feared I would miss the summit. Twenty minutes later, I reached the top of the Trough right as the storm clouds hit from the West, bringing lots of wind with it. I quickly climbed up the Chockstone and slipped a little bit onto the Narrows to get out of the wind a bit to take this picture of the Hearse.

Quickly scooting across the Narrows, almost running at that point, I snapped a pic and soon reached the bottom of the Homestretch.

Thankfully, there was no rain coming out of this wave of the storm. Hearing no thunder, but still a bit nervous, I headed up the Homestretch. Halfway up, I realized I was making really good time and pushed it the rest of the way, making it to the summit in 7 minutes flat! I’m pretty sure that this is my PR for this section.

I went over and signed the summit register, elated that I had made it up in 3hrs and 5mins from Mills Lake. And my feet still felt great!

The clouds had blown on by then, and it was gorgeously sunny. Here’s a view of the Roaring Fork drainage, with Chasm Lake at the start.

I made a quick call to Lori, answered a text from a co-worker, and started heading down at 2:15.

The trip down to the Keyhole was uneventful, but I was starting to get slow due to the tiredness in my feet. It usually takes me 30 minutes to get to the Keyhole from the summit, but this time it took an hour. I slipped through the Keyhole to get out of the wind for a bit, and took a standing break right beside the shelter house. I called Lori (our summit call was cut very short by a cloud bank that killed the signal), and then checked Facebook and posted an update to my status as any true Geek would do if he had good signal after hours without.

I could tell that another wave of the storm was about to overtake me, so I headed down as quickly as I could manage.

Shortly after the Boulderfield campsites, the storm overtook me, and it started raining. And then it rained harder, and the wind blew 20-30 mph. And the temp dropped down into the 40′s. I had already put my sleeves on, and then my rain jacket, but it rained so hard for so long that my jacket was soaking through and my shirt was getting wet. And then my feet really started bothering me, partly because they were cold, and partly because (I didn’t figure this out until later) the moisture was making all the little gritty stones stick to my feet and aggravating the same tired nerves with every step. There was little I could do except press on and hope that it would get better as I descended. Which it did, shortly after I got onto the Jim’s Grove trail!

Things went better after that, and I quickly arrived at Jim’s Grove junction and refilled my bottle again. Shortly after that, I passed two guys headed up with backpacks taking a break. One of the asked me where my shoes were, and I told him I left them at home. His reply? “Right on!”. I started back down the trail when the other guy asked if I had summitted. When I replied that I had, he told me I was “amazingly awesome”! Doubting that a little, my spirits were still very much lifted by the positive reception they gave me. Most people I meet on the trail when I’m barefoot just look at me like they’re scared of me, and quite often I hear them whispering comments after I’ve passed them. I’m glad to have the opportunity to challenge their paradigms without saying a word, and even more glad when I meet someone like these guys who are positively encouraged by my folly.

The rest of the trip went well, but very slowly. I was able to run a few short sections of good trail shortly after the Alpine Brook, but soon my feet were so tired and sore that I could only hike. Towards the bottom, my ankle started acting up, as it hadn’t fully recovered from the run almost to Grand Lake and back two days prior, and I had to walk very carefully to avoid further aggravating it. At 6:20, I finally reached the trailhead, where Lori, Izzie and Hannah were waiting to pick me up.

I was very surprised that I had very little tenderness or sensitivity on my soles, which I had expected would be the main problem. It was only the muscles and connective tissue that was worn out, and it would be several days before they were 100% recovered. Here’s a pic of my left foot right before I went to bed that night. No blisters, no abrasions, just lots of tiredness!

Overall, I think this went a lot better than what I was expecting. I’ll have to wait until after Leadville, but I’m already thinking that a good next challenge would be to climb Longs barefoot by as many routes as possible. The North Face, the Loft Route, Keplinger’s, maybe even Keyhole Ridge seem pretty doable. I still haven’t figured out how to do Kiener’s route due to the climb up Lamb’s slide in the snow, but maybe I’ll be able to figure out something!

This year, I decided early on that I needed to do more races in order to motivate myself to more adequately train. Toward that goal, I signed up for the Bighorn Trail 100, which was held Friday June 17th and Saturday June 18th. The race started and ended in Dayton, WY, with the registration and award events in nearby (and much larger) Sheridan, WY. A friend of mine (Kari Fraser) graciously rented a gorgeous house in a golf community just south of Sheridan that several of us runners (and pacers/crew) stayed in. Mike Poland, my very good friend and business partner, volunteered to be my crew and pacer, and we made the 6 hour trip from Estes together on Wednesday. We arrived in the late afternoon and were unpacked and settled in quickly. Later we all went out for dinner at Olivia’s Kitchen and had some pretty decent Mexican food.

Our drop bags were due in Sheridan Thursday afternoon, so Thursday morning was a flurry of preparatory activities around the house. Mike and I brought a few gallons of Vi Fuel with us for everyone to try out and use during the race, so lots of flasks were getting filled that morning.

Kari trying out some Peach Cobbler Vi Fuel

Mike likes it so much he flavored his oatmeal with it!

Mike pouring Peach Cobbler Vi Fuel on his breakfast

I took advantage of the oven and cooked up 2 lbs of yummy bacon. It would serve me well the next day during the race.

Candy for ultrarunners!

Mike and I went for a 3 mile run after the bacon was done, and then after lunch we all headed to downtown Sheridan for the medical check and drop bag dropoff. I weighed in at 128 lbs, picked up my race packet, and then dropped off my drop bags. We then made the 20 minute drive out to Dayton to check out the race start/finish area, so I wouldn’t be anxious about how to get there or how long it takes. We then went back to the house, had supper, and spent the evening relaxing and enjoying ourselves with our friends, finally going to bed around 9:30.

It rained nearly all night, with several serious thunderstorms moving through as well. Even more water for an already soggy course! But, when I woke up and took a peek outside just a bit after sunrise, this is the view of the mountains that greeted me.

Peaceful morning before the race

We then had breakfast and made our last minute preparations like putting on our race clothes and gathering up all the stuff that we needed to start the race out with.

Kari decked out in her race apparel

Chris Gerber fueling up for the long day(s) ahead

Mike and I headed over to Dayton and the race start, arriving around 7:45. The race starts and ends in Scott Park, which is bordered by the Tongue Fork river. The river was running so high that part of the park had to be closed off due to flooding.

Lots of water everywhere this year

Pretty soon, the runners began showing up in earnest, and the park was abuzz in pre-race energy. I took some time to snap a few pictures as our friends showed up.

Me with Chip Tilden and Ning Cabiles before the race

Eric Lee ready to tear up the trail

We listened to the pre-race briefing at 9, and then hit the john and lined up at the starting line around 9:45, and, at 10 o’clock, we were finally off and running!

The first five miles of the course this year is on a gravel road, so we made good time. I was running this section with Kristel Liddle, Victoria Funk, and Catherine Speights. I was feeling a little sluggish, and was glad that they were moving a bit quicker than I would have been left to my own devices. We passed through the Tongue River aid station (5.1 miles) in 46 minutes, and then started the steep climb up to Horse Creek Ridge. Soon Victoria was blasting up the hill ahead of all of us, and I started feeling a bit better and chased after her. Kristel and Catherine were more disciplined than I was and stayed at a more mellow pace.

After cresting Horse Creek Ridge, there was a steep descent into the Sheep Creek drainage and the Upper Sheep aid station (12.5 miles). A quick water refill and then the trail ascended at a more mellow pace until we reached the peak by Camp Creek. It was then an easy descent into the Dry Fork aid station (17.5 miles). I refilled my bottles and quickly headed out to do the 7 mile out-and-back climb up to Twin Buttes. After turning around at Twin Buttes, I had my first high of the day and ran back down to the Dry Fork Aid in ~40 minutes. Once there, I grabbed enough gel to get me to Footbridge and took off down the trail, chasing after Kari who was just a couple of minutes ahead of me. I finally caught up to her about a mile before Cow Camp (30.5 miles) and ran with her for a while before she pulled ahead again.

I finally arrived at Footbridge aid station (41 miles) around 7:30pm and restocked from my drop bag. Mike also met me there, and would pace me for the remainder of the race. I was feeling good when I arrived, and continued to make good time for most of the way to the Spring Marsh Turnaround (50.3 miles), immensely enjoying having someone to talk with after running by myself for so long. I passed Victoria in this section, and said hi to her and her pacer Pete Stevenson. She was having some trouble and unfortunately would end up having to drop from the race later.

I finally arrived at the turnaround suffering from a serious low at around 10 or 10:30pm. I saw Kari and Chris (who was pacing) there and said hi before I sat down by the fire. Big mistake! I sat around for 10 or more minutes before I got up and left the aid station, and found myself going hypothermic within a couple of minutes. I was shaking all over and having trouble breathing but had no more clothes to put on. I started trying to walk faster, and Mike walked behind me for a minute rubbing my back and shoulders, and soon I was warm enough to quit shivering. I had one more high on the way back down and actually passed Kari and Chris briefly before I crashed and they passed me back. I finally arrived back at Footbridge aid and was able to pick up one more layer to try and make it through the night.

Leaving Footbridge, I ran head-on into the lowest point of my race. By 1 or 1:30, my body decided it was time to go to sleep and nothing I did could convince it otherwise. So, from mile 60 to nearly mile 70 I could only walk. I eventually decided to quit fighting it and wait for the sun to come up, which it did a little after 4:00am. At that point, I started feeling really good and put my headphones and starting running! I was even running uphill at times, and was ahead of Mike at least 1/4 mile at one point. This went on for a while, until I started running down the steep decline shortly before Cow Camp. You see, I had been working on a blister on each foot since mile 25 due to the horribly muddy and wet trail conditions (not to mention my pathetic peak of 94 miles/month training). My left foot slid just a bit and put too much pressure on the blister on my left foot, and the pain shut me down completely. I ended up hobbling down to the aid station and ended up having the paramedic there drain the blister on the that foot, and also bandage and tape both feet. This got me by until somewhere around mile 16-17, when I had to stop and completely clean the mud off of my feet, out of my socks, and out of my shoes. I started moving better after that, and actually ran all the way down the steep decline from Horse Creek Ridge down to the Tongue River aid.

I walked a bit after the aid station, trying to rehydrate from the steep, hot descent. After 1/2 mile or so, I tried to run but quickly had to stop due to a tendon in my left ankle. I had been running with bad form from the pain in that foot, and had stressed my ankle and my left hip. I tried in vain to work out the kinks and run, and ended up just power hiking the last 5 miles in at just under 4 miles per hour.

Finally, I arrived at the park and hobbled across the finish line in 29:42:57! I was finisher 54 out of 110. Mike and I made our way over to where Kari, Chris, Eric and some other friends were watching the runners come in. Eric had finished in 26:06:25, Kari in 27:06:35, and Catherine in 28:54:03. Ning came in later at 30:53:26, Chip at 32:09:56, and Kristel at 32:26:26. I took off my shoes to inspect the damage.

My left foot after the race

Both feet after the race

We stayed around there for a while, and then headed back to the house to get a shower and supper, as well as some much needed rest. The next morning, we went to the award ceremony.

The award ceremony

I picked up my buckle and finisher’s jacket, and watched as many of my friends picked up their awards as well. This race is seriously tough, but has scenery second only to the San Juan Solstice and Hardrock, at least as far as my experience goes. It definitely made it onto my short list of favorite races, and is one I will strongly consider doing again.

Here are some more pictures of friends with their awards.

Eric with his award for 2nd in his division

Kari - 4th female overall, 3rd in her division

Me with my jacket and buckle

Chip with his jacket and buckle

Kristel with her buckle and 3rd in division rock

Although I am tapering for the Bighorn 100 Trail Run starting this Friday morning (June 13th), I was looking for a good opportunity to get in a little more hill training and, more importantly, some exposure to high altitude. After weighing my options, I decided to do the easily accessible east ridge of Mt Lady Washington. This hike has just a touch over 4000 ft of elevation gain/loss, and is somewhere around 9 miles in length, ending up at an altitude of 13281 ft on the summit. Expecting a lot of snow, I donned my Saucony racing spikes and hit the trail.

Ready for lots of snow and ice

The trail was totally clear of snow so the going was pretty easy until I neared Goblin’s forest. This is where I hit the first serious patch of snow.

First big snowdrift on the trail, shortly before Goblin's forest

After that, the trail was clear for another 5 or 10 minutes, then became snow packed again. There had been enough traffic on the trail that it wasn’t really an issue though.

I continued on, struggling a bit with the thin air. After 40 minutes, I reached the clearing at the Alpine Brook.

Right before the Alpine Brook crossing

I stopped briefly at the brook and refilled my water bottle, then continued on up the trail. I didn’t get very far when the trail simply disappeared and I just made my way straight uphill through the trees. I postholed around a little bit, but soon found the trail again above treeline and stopped for a minute to enjoy the view from the trail right below Jim’s Grove junction.

The trail was pretty much clear from here on up, so I slogged my way up the steps along Mills Moraine, stopping more and more often due to the increasing problems I was having with the altitude. I finally arrived at Chasm Junction in about 1 1/2 hrs. Pastor John will be happy to know that the sky potty survived the winter with no damage.

The Sky Potty

Next I turned my sights to the top of Lady Washington. The face appeared to be mostly free of snow, and I just decided to follow the ridge up and see how it went.

Looks easy, right?

I moved slower and slower, and nearly fell down/over a few times on my way up the mountain. My coordination, sight, and thinking skills were being seriously degraded by my lack of acclimatization, so I was taking it easy and picking my route very carefully. I was surprised when, at ~12500 elevation, I looked down and saw flowers! It always amazes me just how tenacious the flora and fauna are in such an inhospitable environment.

A little bit after I spotted the flowers, I was surprised by an unusual noise. My hypoxic brain didn’t register it at first, and I almost stepped right on top of two ptarmigan! I quickly side-stepped to avoid scaring them off, and was able to take a little video of them being their usual silly selves.

Finally I made it to the summit in 2:45. I only stayed around 5 minutes to chat with a couple of climbers from Colorado Springs and take a few pictures, then quickly headed back down to the car, arriving in about 1 1/2 hrs. This is one of my favorite shorter hikes, and I had a great time in nearly perfect weather. I love summer in the Rockies!

Here are a few more pics I took from the summit or on the way back down.

My 1/2" spikes are now 1/4" spikes

I woke up on this sunny Saturday morning feeling terrible. My allergies coupled with the 32 miles and 11000 vertical feet the past two days had left me exhausted and unable to rest well. After moping around the house for a while, I decided to go to the east Longs trailhead and see if some exercise would help perk things up. I arrived at the trailhead just before 9:30 to discover that there were >150 cars parked along the road below the trailhead, and of course the parking lot was completely full. Fortunately for me, my friend Peter Sanders was staying at the campground, so I just went and parked by his campsite and was on the trail at 9:30.

Right away, I could tell that I was feeling strong even though I felt exhausted, so I headed up the Phone Line trail and just kept my heart rate between 140 and 145. I was above treeline in 35 minutes, and joined the Jim’s Grove trail after dipping my bottle in the creek as I went across the bridge, sterilizing the water as I walked with my Steripen Adventurer Opti.

Forty minutes later, I walked through Granite Pass and started working my way up the trail from there. As soon as the trail turned to the North toward the switchbacks, I headed uphill across the tundra, straight for Chasm View and Longs North Face. After a bit of climbing, I was over the ridge and on the left edge of the Boulderfield. Soon the relative flatness of the Boulderfield gave way to the climb up to Chasm View, and at 1:50 I was in the vicinity of the easternmost spire at Chasm View. I decided there to drop my water bottle, since I knew I would need both hands to climb through the technical section, and I figured I could downclimb after I summited to retrieve it.

From there, it took 8 minutes to climb up to the start of the technical section, and the real fun began. I could see and hear a group of four climbers up at the top eyebolt getting ready to rap down, but since they weren’t ready yet I continued climbing up. After about 10 minutes and a couple of wet 5.2-5.3 climbing moves, I was standing beside them at the top of the technical section. I asked them if they would keep an eye out for my bottle and carry it with them down to the Boulderfield since there was no way I was going to downclimb that section on wet rock, and they readily agreed. So from there I took off and headed up the steep but easy terrain towards the summit, pausing briefly to take this picture of Chasm View from the upper north face.

By this point I was suffering pretty badly from the altitude, starting to stagger a bit and feeling dizzy, so I had to move a bit slower. I reached the summit in 2hrs 22min, which is 4 minutes slower than my PR which I set in 2008. From there, I quickly hiked across the summit plateau and started down the Homestretch, keeping well to the left of the many people there so I wouldn’t have to wait on them. In 8 minutes I was on the Narrows, and jogged across in a couple of minutes passing 4-5 people. The Trough went quickly as well, as well as the Ledges, and I reached the Keyhole in 26 minutes from the summit. Coming down from there, I kept my eye out for the 4 climbers who might be carrying my water bottle but I didn’t spot them until I was halfway to the Boulderfield campsites. They were taking a break on the rock cliff below the bottom eyebolt, so I turned right and climbed back up to Chasm View. After 30 minutes of hunting, I finally found my water bottle and headed back down towards Jim’s Grove. I took this picture of the scary opening through the rock by Chasm View. The scary thing about this is that there is probably 10 feet of ground between the hole and the edge, so there is an amazing amount of rock overhanging the void there.

On the way down the ridge east of the Boulderfield, I met up with a climbing ranger named Josh who was hiking his way down from the Boulderfield as well. We chatted for a couple of minutes and then I took off for the Jim’s Grove trail, since I needed water pretty badly. I finally made it to the stream just a ways below the main trail and slammed two water bottles, then refilled. During this time, Ranger Josh had made his way down the same trail, and we ended up hiking together nearly all the way to treeline. From there, I ran all the way back down to the trailhead and finished up the trip in 5:45.

2010 was the second year I have ran the Bolder Boulder. In 2009, my two oldest daughters became interested in running the race due to one of the teachers at their school and decided to enter. Lori and I entered as well and had so much fun that it has turned out to be kind of a family tradition now. I was in the Middle School challenge wave (wave MB) that year and ran in my racing flats, passing about 1000 people to finish in 49:22. This year, I was able to get into a qualifying wave (wave B) using my time at the 2009 Sombrero Trail Run , and I decided that this year I would make it interesting and run it entirely barefoot. My longest (and only) barefoot race prior to this was the 2009 Running of the Bulls 6K, so I expected that this race would push the limits of my barefoot running ability.

My wave started at 7:03am so I left the house in Estes around 5:20 and easily found parking at the big church about 1/2 mile north of the start. After arriving in the area of the start, I went looking for a place to go to the bathroom and ended up finding a parking lot off to the east with LOTS of porta-pots and got right in. Apparently I had arrived there just at the right time judging by the lines in the picture above that I took right after I got out.

From there, I went to my assigned wave position and after a few minutes I spotted Mike Priddy up ahead of me in the AB wave. I went up and said hi and he introduced my to his charming friend Cassie who was running in that wave. After a few minutes of conversation, it was almost time for her to run so Mike and I went back and took our places in the B wave. Here is a shot of my feet while I was waiting to start, showing the chip strapped around my ankle:

Finally the time arrived and I started running. The pavement was fairly worn from heavy traffic and easy on the feet, and I made the first mile in 7 minutes flat. Not as good as I had hoped, but I was off that day and just couldn’t push it as hard as I wanted to. The mat didn’t pick up my chip at miles 2 and 3 so I don’t know the exact time, but I’m pretty sure they were around 7:20 pace. Mile 4 was the toughest for me, with a pace of 7:36. From that point on, I started loosening up and was getting faster as I went on. Mile 5 went by in 7:25 and I could feel the pull of the finish line. Mile 6 went by in 7:17 despite the fact that I was starting to feel a bit sensitive on some of my little toes. The last quarter mile or so of the race is uphill, but I was so pumped from being close to the end I was probably running sub-7 and was passing people all the way up the hill and into the stadium. I used up most of my energy going up the hill into the stadium and had to back off just a bit going around the track, finishing in 45:54, an average pace of 7:23. Here is a picture of one of my feet right after I sat down in the bleachers to wait for the rest of the family:

After everyone finished and we met back up, we all walked to the Chipotle Mexican Grill in the 29th street mall for an excellent after race dinner.

I wasn’t terribly happy with the time I ran, but I was having an off day and felt satisfied that I had done all that my body was capable of that particular day. Here’s a picture of the toe damage taken that evening. Both feet had pretty much identical damage.

Here is the story of my ascent of Long’s Peak on Friday Sept. 10th, 2004. The forecast was calling for sunny and warm all day (like it had been all week long), so I didn’t get up until 4am. Lori drove me to the trailhead, I signed in the register, and was on the trail at 4:45. It looked like there were a few clouds in the sky, but it was a very nice morning, not much wind and around 55 deg. I made good time, a little over 2 mph, so I was at Chasm Junction (3.5 miles) around 6:15. I stopped for about 10 minutes and visited with the 6 or 8 people who had stopped there, and then I was off again. At 6:30, the sun came up and bathed everything in a beautiful alpenglow. Unfortunately, the clouds swallowed up the sun in about 5 minutes so I didn’t get any cool pictures. Around 7:45 I made it to the end of the trail where the campsites are, at the start of the Boulderfield (5.9 miles from the TH). There was only one tent there, and the occupants were moving around getting ready for their day. At this point, the wind was picking up and the temperature had fallen to around 40 deg, and the sky was completely overcast. I made a quick stop at the privy and set off across the Boulderfield. At 8:30 I arrived at the shelter at the Keyhole (6.5 miles from the trailhead, 13,100 ft), and it was snowing like crazy. The rocks were wet and slick, so I stopped at the shelter to see what the weather would do. After a while, I met a guy name Bryan who was there with a friend. After an hour and a half, it was still overcast and wet, and lots of people were turning back down the trail. Several people had come back from the Ledges saying it was too slick for them. Bryan and I had just decided to go see for ourselves when a young couple from Boulder showed up and started putting on their climbing harnesses. Bryan and I looked at each other and said “Hey – they have a rope and know what they’re doing. Let’s follow them.” So after they got all of their equipment on and organized, all five of us took off through the Keyhole and across the Ledges. One other guy started out following us, but everytime I looked back to check on him he was further and further behind, with a seriously pained expression on his face. After a few hundred yards, he turned around and we never saw him after that. The Ledges were completely wet, with a couple of small patches of ice, but were easily navigable. We just had to carefully place our steps and take our time. Fortunately, we didn’t get any more snow after we left the Keyhole. It took us about 45 minutes to negotiate the Ledges, and then we entered to Trough. The right side of the Trough was covered with a couple of inches of snow with ice underneath (very dangerous), and there was a fair amount of lighter snow-covered ice in the middle and left side, but again we just took our time and chose our steps (and handholds) carefully. In 2 loooong, steep hours, we had climbed the Trough and negotiated around the chockstone at the top and were ready for the Narrows. We decided to ditch our packs and make a quick dash to the summit (except for Bryan and his friend, who kept their’s on). This did make negotiating the couple of tight spots on the Narrows a little more comfortable, but it would have been easy enough with the pack on. I was really surprised – much of what I read about the Narrows is completely misguided. It is actually quite easy to cross (even if it was slick I don’t think it would have been too difficult). The view is certainly breathtaking, but the path is wide and there are plenty of handholds and footholds to keep you on the mountain with relative ease, though if you have a problem with heights this is not the place for you. After about 15 minutes we were across the Narrows and headed to the HomeStretch. The HomeStretch had some very thin ice on it in spots, but the rock was rough enough that we were able to ascend without too much difficulty in around 20 minutes or so. At 1 pm, we were all on the summit! Unfortunately, we were almost completely in the clouds, so we couldn’t see too much. We signed the register and rested for 20 minutes or so and headed back down after I called Lori on the cell and let here know I made it. Whoa! Going down the HomeStretch is harder than going up, at least when it is slick. I ended up kind of slowly skiing down the difficult sections on my feet while in a crouching position (so I didn’t have far to fall onto my behind ). A little more than half an hour and we were back at the top of the Trough with our packs, eating lunch. By this time, the clouds were completely gone and we were privileged to enjoy some incredible views. The trip back down the Trough and across the Ledges was uneventful, and easier than going up since the rocks were dry and most of the ice had melted in the middle and left side of the Trough. We were back at the shelter at the Keyhole at 4. After 10 or 15 minutes of visiting, I said goodbye to my new friends and headed down the trail. Fortunately, for me at least, I left just in time. A T-storm started brewing in the North and I ended up almost jogging down the trail to get to treeline before it got to me. I was just past the Alpine Brook bridge when the first thunderclap came from directly above me. I was a little concerned, knowing the my new friends were way behind me on the trail and above Timberline during the storm. Fortunately, the lightning seemed to be confined to the clouds so I figured they were OK. A quick 40 minutes took me the last two miles in the hail and rain to the TH, where I signed out (at 6:58 pm) and jumped into the truck where Lori and the kids were waiting to take me back to the camper. I made it! – car to car in 14 hours and 13 minutes, 15 miles with 1 mile of elevation gain. Here are the pictures:

The Trailhead sign (during the daytime)

Rebecca at Chasm Junction on the Tuesday before my ascent

Me trying to get the latch to work on the ‘Sky Potty’ at Chasm Junction

Here’s a great shot of Peacock Pool, Ship’s Prow, Mount Meeker, and the couloir leading to the Loft,
taken from Chasm Junction

A closeup of Peacock pool from Chasm Junction

A shot of the Diamond and North Face from the trail before the BoulderField

The Keyhole from close to the end of the trail. If you look close you can see the Privy in the lower center.

One of the tent sites at the start of the Boulderfield. The rocks are stacked up to help block the fierce winds
that often blow up here.

Bryan (red pack) and the climber from Boulder

Awesome view of Glacier Gorge from the bottom of the Trough

View of snow/ice on the right side of the Trough

Here’s me at shortly after we entered the Trough – just follow the Bullseyes and you’ll eventually get there

This is the start of the Narrows, the narrowest part. The fog at this point was
good, since it blocked the view of the 2000 foot dropoff on the right.

Here’s the proof – the obligatory Summit photo

Bryan’s friend had a nasty fall trying to get over the chockstone at the top of
the Trough. Ow – that lump stuck out almost an inch from his shin.

Preparing to leave the Summit in the fog

Going down the HomeStretch in the fog

A quick look at a small, unnamed lake close to Keplinger’s lake, seen from the bottom
of the HomeStretch.

An awesome rock formation called the Pallisades that blocks the view of the South side routes
up Longs. That’s Mt. Meeker and part of the Loft in the background.

A great shot of the HomeStretch from the bottom.

Here is Pagoda Mt. and the saddle called the “Keyboard of the Winds”

Another shot of the Keyboard of the Winds

Back across the Narrows

Just follow the crack and you won’t fall off

An awesome frozen waterfall about halfway down the Trough

Here’s a good clear view down the Trough into Glacier Gorge

Here’s the hardest spot on the Ledges. There is about 10-15 ft of smooth
rock to the right of the bottom bar and then a serious dropoff.

As near as we can tell, the bottom bar is a foothold, and the top one is
a handhold. We could have negotiated this without the bars, but were
certainly more comfortable having them there.

Chasm view and the North Face and upper part of the Diamond, taken from the BoulderField on the way back down.

I couldn’t resist this shot of Mt. Ypsilon from the Boulderfield, with the storms starting to brew.