Continental Divide

Right time of the year; too much ‘stay-at-home’.

Not a naysayer, the virus is real but moving forward.  Done with living the past.  Grieving every lost flight, every marathon registration, day-to-day work-family banter.   Not sure what the future holds/our new norm.  Faith.  Balance.  Control what you can control.

St. Mary’s Glacier

Six weeks more ‘til we can attempt the high peaks in Colorado.  No rush; I’m not there yet.  Corona belly & lack of altitude.  Big jump – my home @ 5500ft & our 14er peaks.

Alarm set.  Backpack readied.  Water & burritos.  destination: St. Mary’s Glacier.  Hour from home (nearby Idaho Springs).  Expect far fewer hikers than currently clog Boulder County trails.

Easy ride.  No one on the highway.  Weird to drive again.

Mile half up, mile half down.  Relatively short hike.  Goal: home return by 9am.  Get up/get out/get back/little people exposure.  Snow PILED as the truck CLIMBED.  4WD happy.  Lotta WHITE ❄️

Pre-dawn park Ranger.   Ok to hike, just pay the permit fee.

Been months between hikes.  ROOKIE mistake.  BOOTS.  Where are they?  Been a pair of Brooks or slippers stay-at-home.  I’m here.  I’m parked.  Tag on the windshield.  Suck it up buttercup.

DEEP snow.  Shins, knees, quads, hip bone.  Wind a-blowin’.  No path.  FIRST to forge a way.  Pine/spruce surrounded & virgin snow.  Doing it all from memory today.  30 minutes in, reached my first clearing.  Peak peeping for direction.  Go Right, young man – & UP of course 😊

When it’s snow season, is it glacier or just heavy snow?  Answered day’s question.  Wind whipping, there she is… or there she should be.  LOL>  Looks more ski slope than primeval glacier.

Arms outstretched.  Did my 8pm HOWL.  Sucked in the thin air, held my breath, let it go slowly.  Chicken soup for the mountain soul.  We’re gonna be ok.  LOVE LOVE my Colorado life ❤️

 

 

#self isolation HIKE

 

 

Christmas in Georgetown

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire?  After today… been there, done that.  Song might be more nostalgic than the actual taste.  Ick.  Next year, a second try at fruitcake 😊

Christmas in Georgetown… been long on my Colorado to-do list.  Nestled along the Divide, easy access off I-70.  Hot chocolate, homemade bread, hearty omelet.  ‘Happy Cooker’ breakfast.  Main Street Georgetown decked Old School Victorian.  Chestnuts roasting ($5/bag), horse-drawn wagons, local mountain stores all a bustlin’.

High noon.  Lined to watch another tradition (60+ years)… the town’s St. Lucia procession.  Children dressed in Christmas past, wreath-adorned heads.  One girl chosen to pass thru with traditional candles.  Well done.  LOVE LOVED.

Purchases made, strudel consumed.  Quick walk-thru the Museum of Miniatures (think: doll furniture).  Motored home before ski-traffic snarls our lone east-west highway.

Dinner theatre evening.  Holiday Inn.  Singing, dancing, White Christmas ♪ ♫ ♬

Whatta weekend!  holiday spirit OVERLOAD 🎄❄️🎅

 

 

Christmas in Georgetown

 

Each December the town of Georgetown transforms into a bustling Christmas scene reminiscent of Christmas of long ago.  Thousands come to this tiny mountain town to experience a traditional holiday where Christmas hasn’t changed in 100 years: roasted chestnuts, holiday shopping, horse-drawn wagon rides through historic Georgetown, and wonderful sights and smells.  Visitors enjoy appearances by St. Nicholas in his traditional dress and the daily procession of the Santa Lucia. Carolers in Victorian costume, dancers, and other family entertainment provide hours of memorable performances.  Adorned with lights and Christmas greenery and blanketed with snow, the quaint, historic town of Georgetown, Colorado has been a Christmas tradition for generations of Colorado families.

 

Not often I register race-week & NEVER EVER a double.  Until now.

Plan A.  Motor after-work, mountain hotel, Saturday marathon, interstate-commute to Wyoming.  Reality.  Room-search in Colorado ski country proved crazy expensive (even in September).  Plan B?  3am alarm.  Road-trip!  Run shorts, hydration vest, layers & a V8.  Who doesn’t dig early morning tomato?  LOL>

I-70 West.  Denver ⇨ Continental Divide ⇨ Breckenridge.  Same east-west where all the great hikes happen.  Same Silverthorne exit where Ash & Tom married two years prior.  Notta lotta snow on the peaks this late in summer – but WOW, whatta sunrise!  Nothing/nowhere/anywhere, our Rockies.  Stunning.  Always.

South Gondola parking.  20-minute bus ride.  Start temp just above freezing.  Race elevation 10,000ft.  Lodgepole pines, thin air, sun now a-blazing.  First couple miles like a REVEL event – straight DOWN.  But unlike REVEL, whole lotta climb thereafter.  UP 800ft, down next mile.  Another push UP, lungs burning/O2 searching.  Colorado-native no big deal, right?  Reality.  BIG elevation jump – my backyard @ 5500ft vs today’s 8800ft average.  Past month of flat-world running also done me no favours.

High-altitude sunshine.  Muy bueno scenery.  Hills?  Oh mama.  That last climb at mile 22?  Mountain folks are crazy tough.  No crocodile tears, no regret.  5-hour finish, all FIGHT, NO FAIL 💪

Gas station cola & a bag of salty chips.  Journey on.  Day One.

Texted a friend – please find/contact the Race Director in Cheyenne, gonna miss bib pick-up.  Burning trailer near Georgetown.  Highway accident.  Need a Plan B.  6pm Wyoming arrival (thanks Larry).

Hotel, shower, sleeps.  Sunday 5am at the Depot (RD bib meetup).  Body tight/achy after Saturday’s all-day hill repeats, skin still radiating sunshine.  But — I’m here.  Wyoming.  THIRD time this year.  Cap off, National Anthem.  Cowboy country & I LOVE it 😊

Day strategy.  Hit it hard first Half.  Walk/run after mile 15.  Elevation similar to home, easy comfortable course.  Tunes early.  Notta lotta runners.  Several miles on an empty military base.  Hill at marker 9 or 10…but not Breckenridge hilly, just an incline.  Day 2.  Perspective.  Push, push, push.  2:05 first Half.  Sun high, getting warm.  Legs like lead.

Walked mile 14.  Called it two miles later.  Sorry Cheyenne – ya deserved better.  Mentally not plugged-in for a March-of-Dimes walk.  Montréal next week, Europe week after.

17 miles.  Check, done.  Colorado HOME by noon.

Lick my wounds, run another day.  Well maybe…in two or three other days.  LOL>

 

BRECKENRIDGE ROAD MARATHON

SEPTEMBER 14, 2019

 

35 K R HAGA 05:23:41 M Louisville