hiking

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

 

 

Vanish when you can, it’s good for the soul. ~ Dean Karnazes

 

 

Mountain hike always cures whatever’s ailing.  Mental fix, physical reset.

Hour drive thru Boulder Canyon, trailhead parking in Nederland center.  Backpack, snacks & my best pal Ro.  Super cool [that] Ned provides a free shuttle to Hesse Trailhead (dogs allowed onboard) – no chance of parking my super-sized Ford, even if I did show early.  HA!

Late day start after morning’s a.m. return from Cincy.  Whole lotta folks with the same idea.  Labour Day weekend, elevation/thin air, Colorado sunshine.  Dig our outdoor community.  Busy trail.

Easy 4 miles.  Kicked back at Lost Lake; shared a sandwich with Pup.  Waterfall stop on the hike return.  Water still flowing high late in the season.  Fingers crossed, heavy snow again this year.

One more run-free day, then back at it.  Saskatchewan this weekend.

LOVE LOVE my Colorado life (kinda crushin’ on Canada too 🍁).

 

 

 

So You Had A Crappy Race … Now What?

DAVID ROCHE SEPTEMBER 3rd, 2019

 

If I’m asked what the most important attribute is for an athlete, I have a simple answer: “Belief.”  You put it all on a start line, and you proceed to crash and burn.  Your time sucks.  Maybe you have to DNF.

 

  1. Accept uncertainty.

Races aren’t tests, they’re celebrations.  They are celebrations of life, existence, and yes…uncertainty itself.  So give yourself permission to celebrate no matter how the day actually unfolds.

  1. It’s OK to grieve.

You can know all of that celebration stuff intuitively, but it still stings when a day doesn’t turn out how you had hoped.  It’s healthy to let yourself feel your emotions, even the bad ones. You aren’t being dramatic when you get a little depressed after races.  Give yourself time to get to acceptance.  And it’s no rush either.

  1. Your fitness is your best day, not your worst.

There’s a temptation to use bad races to judge your fitness, thinking that the day gives you a benchmark from which you can evaluate your progress. Bad race? Bad athlete. Bad training.  That’s not how the body works, though.

  1. Bad races can be good training days.

The physiological reason why so many breakthrough races follow poor ones is uncertain.  It could be neuromuscular.  Whatever it is, you can use that race stress to get stronger and faster.

  1. You are heroic.

…the bad races are where the magic happens, where you learn and grow and get the resolve to make a courageous leap of self belief.  So if you can, try to celebrate bad races most of all.  That is when you become a hero in your own story.

 

 

Chose my ICELAND HIKE months ago, Thórsmörk Valley.  Nameworthy, the land of Thor (Norse thunder god believed to have struck down his hammer Mjölnir and formed the depression).  High mountain trail, glaciers, fitness requirement (Difficulty‎: ‎Challenging) & a VOLCANO.

10 years past Katla’s ‘best by’ date, town of Vík schedules regular evacuation drills.  When this one blows, large glacier above (Mýrdalsjökull) expected to flood residents with end-of-day water levels & mountain debris.  Tick, tick, time bomb.  Sign me up!  Life’s all about second chances 😊

Hour-half drive to Básar Cabin in a tricked-out SUPER JEEP.  Dirt road, lava field, multiple water crossings & a well-timed pit stop where I purchased some quality take-away.  Reminiscent of I-70 hikes & Georgetown burritos (2 hours in a pants pocket, heats like any microwave).  big GRIN.

up, UP, UP.  Mile climb to our first overlook.  Walls stamped green.  Waterfall views (just a teaser).

2 craters: Magni & Modi, formed by 2010’s massive Eyjafjallajökull eruption.  Snow-cap peaks – all volcanos, active & brewing.  Island’s tectonic plate-positioned between continents.  Averages 3 eruptions a year!  Mile-wide scar exposed northwest of Reykjavik (Thingvellir National Park).

20-minute lunch break on a high table mesa.  North Atlantic wind, GLACIERS, ice-melt waterfalls spraying from exposed rock walls.  No words.  Stop, sit, breathe.  Get small.  STUNNING.

Fimmvörðuháls Pass.  2 stayed behind, rest of our group – UP.  Thin trek anchored with cables kept us on trail (not far far far below).  Crossed one-at-a-time.  Last hour similar to a 14er hike.  Lotta boulder, broken rock.  Less switchbacks than Colorado but same happy UP.  Thick fog greeted, blanketed soon after SUMMIT SUCCESS.  Cold, windy, quiet.  Sheets of old snow; stretches of new Earth (2010 lava remains).  WOW!

Jeep regrouped.  Quick stop at Seljalandsfoss (while our driver added tire-pressure for the highway ride to Reykjavík).  Ever walked BEHIND a waterfall?  16km hike, 14-hour day.  Volcanos, glaciers, waterfalls.  Gotta/hafta/MUST.  Highly recommended ✔️

Tomorrow’s adventure:  Icelandic ponies 🐎

 

Thórsmörk Volcano Hike

 

Vík lies directly south of the Mýrdalsjökull glacier, which itself is on top of the Katla volcano.  Katla has not erupted since 1918, and this longer than typical dormant period has led to speculation that an eruption may occur soon.  An eruption of Katla could melt enough ice to trigger an enormous flash flood, large enough to obliterate the entire town.  The town’s church, located high on a hill, is believed to be the only building that would survive such a flood.  Thus, the people of Vík practice periodic drills and are trained to rush to the church at the first sign of an eruption.