Other Race Results

Louisville to Leadville

Published September 5, 2015

running LOCAL ROCKS – new Coal Creek PR, 34th overall

Hooray for Labor Day! Kicked off the 3-day holiday weekend with my favourite 10 miler, Louisville’s Coal Creek Crossing. Running LOCAL ROCKS! (Glad to be back — last year’s event was cancelled due to extensive trail damage from the 2013 Boulder Flood.)

7am start, near perfect weather. Lined at Community Park – ok, go.

Louisville, like most Front Range communities, hosts a highly competitive field. I came out slow – but well remember Aquarius Hill (mile 4 & 9)…I’d catch folks either out or back, it’s a steep climb.

Used today’s local run to fix my mental before Fall marathon season. Tagged a runner at mile 6, closed the gap on Aquarius Hill. Lost him again on the downhill. A mile from the Finish I generally fade (mental lapse)…but not this day. Half-mile upgrade, stuck close & pushed past. Hitting pavement tenth-mile to go, sprinted to the Finish.

Improved my Coal Creek PR by 5 minutes, 34^th overall. Good day 🙂

1428 K R Haga Louisville CO 1:24:07

Quick shower, change of clothes, packed the Prius. Tomorrow’s 14er goal: Mount Massive (3^rd highest in the continental U.S.)

Whole lotta traffic on I-70 (holiday weekend parking lot). Arrived in Leadville at 3pm, two hours to see the National Mining Museum. I’m a FAN of minerals & big rocks – add history to the mix & I’m well entertained ‘til closing time. LOL>

Quick walk downtown, grocery store provisions, then 11 miles over dirt road, past Halfmoon Campground to Mount Massive Trailhead.

Pulled out the sleeping bag, downed a tub of hummus, kicked back & counted stars. Goodnight Moon.

: I-70 holiday parking lot

: tucked off Highway 24 in Leadville CO

: dedicated to the three Argall women in mining

: mining claim, issued when Colorado was still a Territory

: quartz crystal wall removed from Idarado Mine near Telluride

: iron pyrite from Colorado’s oldest mine, the Eagle Mine at Gilman

: built in 1879 by Horace Tabor (Leadville’s Silver King)

: sleeping bag, hummus & stars

Posted in Boulder County, Continental Divide, Other Race Results | Tagged louisville, museo | Leave a comment

Colorado Day 2015

Published August 1, 2015

Best way to celebrate Colorado Day? Outdoors of course 🙂

On August 1, 1876, president Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation admitting Colorado as a state. Colorado Day was celebrated as a state holiday on August 1 for many years, and then was moved to the first Monday in August. The day no longer became a public holiday, but rather an observance, when the state started observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a public holiday in 1985.

Started the day with an early hour-half drive to Estes Park. Rocky Mountain Half Marathon, my first Half in 18 months. 6am Gun time – something special about racing pre-dawn, settling into pace, then experience sunrise.

Circled Estes Lake. Mile 2 jammed up on the running path – lotta runners, maybe 2 across possible. Picked up pace & caught the 1:50 racers.

Mile 4 thru 8 – UP. Elevation AND incline – but no negativity this day. I dug in, held pace & picked off tens of runners walking the last mile up.

Miles 9, 10 & 11 – big smile. Ripped DOWN (rare for me, generally I pull up, hold back).

UP again at mile 12 to the Stanley, then finished flat to the Fairgrounds. (Kinda weird ending – passed a ‘3’ which we all assumed was mile 13…but that happened another half mile later, then the final tenth mile was actually .3 miles. Not a deal breaker but I went out fast, far too early.)

Good day. 13.1 miles, half the distance – nice to have some gas left in the tank.

Hills & altitude – my new favourite combo. Finding hills to be an age equalizer.

Bib Name City Chip Time Division Place

327 K R Haga Louisville CO 1:52:21 6

Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park – Planned to re-hike Black Lake, hadn’t been in 3 years (2012 challenge: 52 weeks, 52 hikes). 9am in the Park but couldn’t find parking, even RMNP’s Park N Ride advised to come back at 2pm. Seriously? (Easy to get frustrated with summer tourist season but learning to share the love. National Parks are OUR parks as Americans – all Americans, no discrimination.)

Snuck the Prius in Moraine Park campground & hiked the extra mile to Cub Lake trailhead. Not a lotta trees in the meadow (Fern Lake fire burned most in 2012). Temps soon soared near 90, warm day. Last mile forested, blanketed in wildflowers 🙂

Cub Lake – pulled off my shoes & soaked. Lily pads, 2 ducks, dragonflies, small blue fish. Nibble, nibble, BITE. Hey, that’s no fish – pulled off a blood-sucking leech attached to my foot. ‘Nough soaking, hiked back – 4.6 miles total.

½ marathon run followed by a Nat’l Park hike. Colorado Day done? Nope, not yet.

: a well lived life

Othello

Colorado Shakespeare Festival (Boulder) – 8pm curtain time, biggest concern was sleep deprivation. Half-moon outdoor arena, center aisle seat, Flatirons sunset, temps in the low 70’s – yep, pretty much PERFECT.

From the opening dialogue, was hooked.

Iago couldn’t have been more sinister, nor Othello more tormented. Acting from these 2 overshadowed all other players. Othello a North African Moor, interracial marriage – and Iago’s sheer cunning to drive noble Othello mad.

NOT the Shakespeare of my youth. Far exceeded all expectations – I’ll be back next summer. FAANNN-frickin-TASTIC!

Colorado Day, day after? Sleep 🙂

Posted in Boulder County, Other Race Results, RMNP | Tagged hiking, holidays, rivers-lakes, theatre | Leave a comment

Fort Smith Marathon

Published February 8, 2015

Credit to my sister – she corralled all to commit to Fort Smith Arkansas’ inaugural marathon event. Many thanks!

Pop-ups – new term sis taught me; kinder friendlier word for HILL; might be unique to only her & her local running group; big picture…a hill is a hill is a hill – and this particular course had miles of ’em 🙂

Family Marathon – ran marathon relay with both siblings & a nephew; ok to be jealous – my family ROCKS!

After driving the course on Saturday, lotta discussion over marathon legs:

2 huge hills in Leg 1 (along with pop-ups). Hill training since December, I was tagged with Leg 1.
Leg 2 – longest relay at 7.45 miles. Half the distance my sister runs every weekend, Leg 2 all hers.
Third leg was a mystery – mostly on paved trail, not accessible by car. Huge hill, then levels off (we think). Would have been my sister-in-law’s leg but missed for a work commitment. That left my brother with 7 miles.
Last (& shortest) leg to Jack, my 14 year old nephew. Young & eager, posted a 6:42/mile in track camp.

We ran as Team 4-Layer Delight (named after Mom’s signature dessert).

Woke to near perfect race conditions – 50° & sunshine. Hadn’t run relay since high school, near 100 years ago. “Never drop the baton” – I remember that was a relay runner’s biggest fear. Fast forward to 2015 – same medal baton, tech-tweaked with a timing chip.

Lined way way back. Pop, gun start & I ran – side-stepping runners, targeting the 3:45 pace group.

Since I started out fast, focused early on air intake (controlled breathing) just before the turn on Free Ferry (2 mile mark). Multiple pop-ups, then a right on Albert Pike – first of my 2 huge hills. Had been lagging behind 2 young runners, up & down Free Ferry. This hill however was all mine – I owned it. Strong arms, kept pushing, crested, then flew the other side. Turned up the tunes & settled into my next mile. Up the 2^nd huge hill – a serpentine climb per my sis; call these switchbacks in Colorado. Couldn’t see the top – just kept pushing. Popped over, relay exchange ahead. Already? Handed off the baton to my sister, pacing a sub-3:40 marathon. WOW!

Because of traffic delays, only my sister (& nephew) drove the start of Leg 2. I asked Jack if he knew how to get to Leg 3 – a quick yes, so I handed him the keys. At almost 6’ feet, I never knew he was only 14 & could not drive. HA!

Parked at First Nat’l Bank (site of Leg 3) where I met up with Ash & Tom, Mom, bro, niece, etc etc etc…talk about crowd support. Pumped, still felt super strong. Knowing my brother doesn’t run regularly, asked if he‘d mind I join him. And that’s the way it went. Sis finished under 4 hour marathon pace, handed off the baton & off we journeyed.

Half mile trek then – HUGE hill. UP, UP, UP…we passed several walkers, neither of us stopped. Slow steady pace. Gotta say my brother’s leg was the least scenic – exception: mounted police. Pretty cool – no horse patrol in my prior races. Nice job, Fort Smith!

Bro felt all 7 miles as we neared Old Greenwood – but never stopped, he kept moving. Don’t know too many people who wake up & think – today I’ll run 7 miles (with no training). Leg 3 ended flat– deceptively, that final quarter-mile lasted forever.

Ready, ready, ready to run. Young Jack was all smiles. Hand-off complete, we boarded cars & rushed to the Finish Line – Team shirts in hand. A half mile out, pulled a Team shirt over Jack’s head & all crossed together (including his dad who ran the half marathon).

My first marathon relay – 13th Place (just over 4 hours). Go Team 4-Layer Delight!

Lunch at Longhorn’s, quick shower, airport. Under an hour ’til take-off, TSA drama – Ash lost her license (also inadvertently packed a half-bottle of water). Luckily, she also carries a Costco card. Who knew that would come in so handy?

Family marathons, highly recommended. A moment in time I’ll never forget.