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
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- Colorado road-trip
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- pine, thin air & elevation
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- all FIGHT, NO FAIL 💪
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- Saturday all-day hill repeats
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- Day 2 DNF
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 🍁).
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- Hesse Trailhead
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- off-leash adventure
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- cures whatever’s ailing
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- Indian Peaks Wilderness
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- thin air & sunshine 🌞
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- Lost Lake
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- waterfall slip-n-slide
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- dog SMILE ❤️
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- Labor Day reset
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Chautauqua Auditorium
Month of rain, 2 months of sizzle – triple digit HEAT.
2019’s also been a solid season of MUSIC. Outdoor concerts, outdoor theatre. Rodeo & Shakespeare. Tim McGraw ‘Party Zone’ tickets, Diana Ross @ Red Rocks.
New addition to the tradition? Colorado Music Festival, Chautauqua Auditorium in Boulder. Warm summer night, Mahler Symphony No. 3, soul-reaching viola. String, my orchestra ‘Spirit Animal’. Violin, viola, bass. Completely memorized.
Downtown Street Faire. Bookend’d this year’s series. Second Friday of June, second Friday of August – concert first & last. More than music, love the energy, the life it breathes into my hometown’s downtown. Kids in the Bounce House, grandparents bunched close to Stage. BBQ, microbrews & Sweet Cow. Dig that too ❤️
Season shift, autumn. Kids in school. Sun drops sooner. Centaurus High band part of the outside evening beat. Friday nights & football. Goodnite Moon 🌙
September Update: Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. Bus, box lunch & show badges. Employer treated the entire Company. Thanks PS!
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- Mahler Symphony No. 3
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- end of Summer
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- Goodnite Moon 🌙
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- Thanks PS!
Louisville Street Faire (2019 season-end)
