MyCOLORADOLife.net

Sniktau SNOW summit

Published March 11, 2018

“The mountains are calling and I most go” – John Muir

Seems to happen every March. Maybe it’s just the season. Maybe it’s the newness of annual goals losing luster 2 months in & the reality of day-to-day training/the struggle for balance sets in. Whatever the itch, HUGE need for a mental reset.

Plan of attack: Snow hike in the high mountains.

4 weekends of marathoning. 4 different states, 3 different time zones. Body held up/only superficial injuries, just a matter of making peace with the travel. Out Friday nite/Saturday morning, home again Sunday evening. Amazing life opportunity to see so many new places (that little gem isn’t lost on me). Tired but SUPER appreciative. #luckyinlife

Saturday: mountain snow & wind. Hung with the pup; postponed my high peak retreat.

Sunday 4am: showered/backpacked, pup walked/everybody fed. West on I-70, turnoff just before the tunnel. Day’s climb goal: Mount Sniktau, directly across from Loveland Pass.

Gonna be a beautiful one. Sunrise not yet crested the first false summit. Light wind on a notorious windy peak. Attempted to snow-summit this peak in November 2013. Turned around in white-out conditions/blowing snow on the 2^nd false summit.

Mile UP to the first false summit. Good way to get your head back in the mountains. Three-quarters UP, morning sun peeped over the looming peak ahead. Stunning.

11/23/2013: Top of the first false summit – BEAUTIFUL! Quiet, stunning, everything WHITE. A-Basin, Keystone, Breckinridge & Loveland all visible. Grizzly Peak & Torreys too. Better than a class reunion – I missed you guys!

Switched out my water, downed half a burrito, repositioned the iPhone [camera] to my pants front pocket (battery was fast freezing in the backpack, now warmed against my right quad). Temp: 23 above. Light wind. Perfect day.

Easy hike. High wind from yesterday’s storm blew the ridge line free of snow. No crampons, no snow shoes – just stuck to Sniktau’s craggy rock ridge. Nice view of Grizzly Peak’s single track from the trail split below.

High above, quiet & alone.

Followed hoof tracks the last mile. Goat or sheep – too small for elk, elevation too high for deer. Lost 15 degrees fast, shielded my face from intermittent wind gusts/bitter cold. Sunshine blasted above. Pull down my bandana, nothing but SMILE 🙂

Slow summit push. Nothing crazy technical but weather conditions limited hand holds. Ice on Sniktau’s shady side, heavy snow where the sun cast. Slow & steady. AMAZING solo hike – only human on today’s snow SUMMIT. Cold thin air, surrounded by white.

360 degrees, every high peak, SNOW ❄❤⛄

: directly across from Loveland Pass, Colorado 13er on the Divide

: Sunday sunshine

: first false summit

: Grizzly Peak’s single track trek

: nothing but SMILE 🙂

: too small for elk, too high for deer

: no crampons, no snow shoes – just stuck to Sniktau’s craggy rock ridge

: slow & steady SUMMIT push

: 360 degrees, SNOW ❄️

Mount Sniktau 13,240ft

Zydeco Marathon

Published March 4, 2018

There is no education like adversity. It makes you strong. Your most challenging times in life.. those moments you overcame the most adversity.. are your greatest opportunities to learn and grow as a person.

Either you’re committed to getting it done.. or you won’t. Either you openly tell yourself, that you’re willing to go through anything “Hell or high water” to get that race finished.. or you won’t. Just as you need to practice the running, and practice the power hiking, to be a real rounded Ultra Runner… you also need to practice the adversity. Face It. Embrace It. Make it your slave… What you learn won’t just benefit you as an ultra runner, it will benefit you as a human being. There are many parallels between the lessons learned in this sport, and life.

#Adversity See you out there, Sherpa John

Let’s just say…there’s no easy way to Lafayette, Louisiana. LOL>

First flight cancelled. Independently managed Plan B details (American refunded the $75 change fee next day, many thanks). Saturday BBQ breakfast in Dallas, 5 hours later…small prop plane to Bajou country. 70’s & sunshine in Acadiana. You’d never know USA’s East Coast was being pounded by another multi-foot snow storm.

Arriving mid-afternoon, not enough time to check out Evangeline’s gravesite in St Martinville LA. After starting the story last summer in Nova Scotia, wanted to see how the saga ended – or at least understand what happened to everyone’s accents during the French migration from Canada. HA! What a crazy dialect, Cajun French!

Bib pickup at Blackham Coliseum (Louisiana-Lafayette U’s Ragin’ Cajuns), then local eats at the Pot & Paddle. Carb-loaded on TWO entrees: jambalaya AND red beans & rice. Who could decide? Marathoning tomorrow, really any excuse will do 🙂 #food addict

Chain hotel, nothing special – 10 minute drive to Sunday’s Start downtown. Running Acadiana’s Zydeco Marathon, named for the region’s unique ‘zydeco’ music. Jazzy flavor, always with an accordion (YouTube sample provided below).

Small field of marathoners, race same weekend as Roll n Roll-New Orleans two hours east. National anthem, self-policed wave start (every 2 minutes). Comfortable, cool, felt good, started strong. Temps wouldn’t heat up ‘til 2^nd Half. Hung with the 4-hour pack for 10 miles. Quiet Sunday morning, start of Spring in French Louisiana.

first Half, just over 2 hours. Training starting to pay off. Not pushing, running easy.

Snap, just like that. It’s how we deal with unexpected events that test character. Half-mile into the 2^nd half: mind wandered, clipped a pothole. Tripped, went down hard. Didn’t even try to catch myself, happened super fast. Ankle, knee, left arm.

Arm bled the worse, hurt the least. Picked myself up, walked to the corner, knee hurt/throbbed. Rocked mentally. Sat down, talked with a police officer manning the intersection. 14 miles in, 12 to go. Not possible. DNF. Asked for the SAG wagon, needed a ride back. Not my day.

20 minutes. Officer radioed again. Van caught in traffic, majority of the Half field now finishing.

Stood. Arm stung, knee throbbed but mentally, event was over/panic passed.

Waved to the officer. I’m going on, radio the van please. Walked. Jogged ‘til knee pain went from throbbing to shooting, then walked again. Still planned on quitting, just hadn’t decided when.

Mile 17. I’ll quit at the next aid station.

Ahead of me recognized Steve Boone [founder, 50 State Marathon Club]. Stroke of luck. Walked & talked thru mile 19. No one flies to rural Louisiana, runs 19 miles & quits. I can do this.

Puking started at 21. It is what it is.

Walked mile 23, much of the next mile too. Teared up at 25, chest-pumped motivation – who quits with one mile to go? Stopped twice. Started twice. FINISHED.

K R Haga, Congratulations on Finishing the 2018 Lafayette General Zydeco Marathon & 1/2!

Time: 5:39:31.9

: nothing direct to Lafayette

: Ragin’ Cajuns

: Creole cookin’

: marathon Start in Acadiana

: Blood on the Bayou

“Johnny Ma Cabrille” in Louisiana Cajun/French Creole

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVAgkX4g8TU

Posted in Marathons/Ultras, South | Leave a comment

Phoenix Marathon 🌵

Published February 24, 2018

After some crazy cold temps at home, more than one reason this runner was looking forward to Phoenix. Reunited with Sis! On a medical conference in nearby Scottsdale, got an invite last month to join her – marathoning, of course 🙂

Direct flight from Denver, landed mid-afternoon. Struggled thru traffic to bib pickup in Mesa (whole lotta people in Arizona), then hotel check-in & early dinner with Sis. Nice digs – FREE too – Sis’ husband, a VP-Architect with this chain.

Early Saturday race start, 3:15-4:30am bus times. Cut the difference & boarded at 4 (same time zone, wake-up as a weekday run/no biggie). Downside? Sis running the Half – different Start, different bus. (She’d finish, then attend her conference. Yikes! Shower & afternoon nap, my plan.)

Cold Arizona start. Runners gathered ‘round campfires. Me? Not a hot weather runner – thinkin’ whew, dodged a bullet. Double-layered & shorts. Ready, ready to run.

Desert dark on Usery Mountain, dark enough for head lamps. Started just below the ‘Phoenix’ sign (visible by plane as you’re approaching Sky Harbor). Downhill grade for miles then highway flat. Fully trained or not…no excuse not to break 5 hours. Crowded with the 4:45 pace group. Fell back fast, stopped & soaked in the dessert. Giant cacti littered the landscape. WOW!

Cool morning temp, felt GREAT, might as well run. 5:30 pace group, 5:15, 5 hour trekkers. Miles 4-6: met & passed two more pace groups. Hung with the 4:15 bunch thru mile 10. Lost ‘em at the porta-potty. Stopped again at the Half – photo opportunity, time to shed layers. SUN high now.

First race where the Marathon course FAR surpassed [beauty of] the Half. Designed on purpose me thinks. Second 13.1 miles (the Half course) highway flat – literally flat, running on the side of a highway. Not the most scenic run, reminiscent of December’s race in Buckeye. Several US Olympians in today’s Half field. GREAT half-marathon times can qualify runners for the Olympic Trials FULL. Doesn’t seem fair to those that kick a course 26.2 miles with hills. Wonder how many folks qualify with Half times then later fade in Trials. Let it go – will NEVER be my problem. LOL>

Not a great 2^nd Half runner, never have been. Dropped pace, mind wandered, [flat] nothing to engage the legs. Temps warmed up but all-in-all, mighty lucky with the weather. Ran aside the 4:30 pace group. Puked at mile marker 22 – would be GREAT to finish a race without puking. ARGH. It’s never a lot, but shakes me mentally. Texted Sis at mile 25 questioning the meaning of life. Sometimes I get the ‘suck it up’ speech, this time she texted ‘bout post-race food. Super motivating – I’m an eater ❤

Coasted jog-pace under the FINISH banner. Eyes skirted around: WARM French toast, cooked on-site by a local bread company.

Shower, nap. Dinner & a show with Sis in downtown Phoenix. Tickets to LIBERAL political commentator Bill Maher. Let’s just say, he’s not a FAN of our current President. Wore my best Colorado plaid. LOL> Interesting though, makes ya think.

LOVE LOVED seeing Sis again, getting spoiled. We need to plan another BIG vacation. Tag.