"running from dusk 'til dawn" -old hardrocker

Every year I find myself thinking something I once considered a totally crazy idea may actually not be such a bad idea. I mean at one point I remember telling my high school track coach that a 400m race was too long! After reading all about Hardrock this past week it's not sounding so outrageous...maybe one day. Apparently James also wants to run Hardrock. Every time I watched one of the Voices of Hardrock videos on irunfar.com he smiled and laughed along to the Old Hardrocker song. We may have created a monster!


Kenosha Pass

 Last week was another good week of training. I'd still like my mileage to be a bit higher, but all things considered I think training is going well. I got out to the Colorado Trail twice last week running segments 3 and 6.  On Saturday I ran from Kenosha Pass to Georgia Pass after a hard run on Friday. I was hoping to get over the pass and a few miles down before turning around, but a thunderstorm turned me around a mile from the pass. I need to save up that lightening karma for the big dance, it's not worthing risking for a training run. Regardless the run was still good. After the initial downhill from Kenosha Pass the trail gradually increases approximately 3000' to Georgia Pass. It's just a long grinding uphill that's totally runnable and really makes you work for it. Definintely a great place for training. There's also a pretty good river at Jefferson road that you can pump water from for a really long run. The best part of this run was just after getting back to the car, with tired legs, soaking wet and with no dry clothes to put on, I got to see a cow and her calves just off the side of the road. Seeing sights like this remind you why you run trails rather than taking the easy way out and trucking down the road. Saturday's long run was also great mental toughness training. The long uphill defnintely makes you second guess your ability to finish a 100 mile race, especially when its pouring rain and thundering all around you. Experiencing what will be a typical low point and turning it around to pound the downhill and feel good, knowing you can keep going is perfect training for 100 miles. Hopefully next week I can build on the running I've done the past two weeks to get in a few more miles including a significantly longer run next weekend.

Week July 9-15
Miles Ran: 56.1
Hours Hiking and Running: 17