Today was epic. Over the years, I have logged thousands of miles, thousands of runs. A few stand out as epic. There are, of course, the races that come to mind There are also those runs or workouts that just stick out because you just kill it. Everything comes together, and even though you are breaking your very flesh it is as if you are pushed by some greater force. You float above the earth, and for a moment, you exceed what you were – almost running as some greater representation of yourself. Other runs stick out because something different happens: you fall (although if you run mountain trails enough these get forgotten because you do it often enough), you see something different or spectacular, or it is just an absolutely ridiculous experience.
MK, BL and I once did a quarter workout in a blizzard snowstorm on Potts Field. Snow was flying off our shoes and hitting the trailing guys in the face. We pushed the workout despite the conditions. A contingent of Japanese runners sat in the press box looking at us, shaking their heads and laughing. Another time MK and I ran on a day that was so windy in Boulder that birds were tumbling through the air. We actually saw a guy walking who got hit with a gust of wind so hard he was pushed 10 yards off the trail.
So in that vein, today was a ridiculous run. My mother in law looked at me when I was planning my AM with my bride and said, “you may not want to run today. It is pretty windy out there.” And it was. The trees were rocking back and forth, the sky was gray, and snow was blowing from the ground as well as coming down lightly. The mountains that are typically the spectacular show to the west were gone in a haze of white and gray. I replied, “I may not want to run, but I want the alternative less.”
“What alternative is that?”
I paused. I figured going into the lengthy response was not really what she wanted to hear and so I simply quipped, “an IV in my arm in August.”
Of course that might happen anyway. But her statements, while she may not have realized it, lit a bit of a fire under my tail. I decided to head out to the Mosquito Pass road – a road that climbs from south of Alma to Mosquito Pass. In the summer, this run is a bit of an altitude staple for me – providing a decent climb (3000 feet) but at a reasonable grade (over 8 miles). It gets harder as you go along of course as you lose oxygen but the footing becomes tricky as the road becomes a 4 x 4 course. This time of year, it is nearly impossible to get much further than a mile or two past the old small township of Park City. In the spring, you can usually get a few more miles up before you run into some mini glacier.
Today, I had no intentions of heroics on the road, but wanted to get out and get in a solid effort (out and back) and chose the road to check out its conditions and simply to get a different view of things. From the get go, I knew it was windy but I thought it would be pretty manageable. It is about a 2 mile run to the road from the house, but most of this is in some trees. It was cold, windy, with a lot of snow blowing in the air, but manageable. I started at an honest pace – one that would be easy to start but one I knew I could dig into over the run and challenge me over the course of an hour. Once I got to the road – that all changed. The wind was coming directly down from the valley and hard. I kept pulling my neck warmer over my face – but that kind of sucked as it made it hard to breathe and fogged up my glasses. I was pushing hard, but the wind was slowing me to 8m/m. Ice was building up on the sun glasses – my breath was freezing on it! As I got into the open fields that are up the road a bit – visibility, which had been maybe 200 yards, went to a couple of feet. Literally, I was in a cloud of white and gray could see nothing beyond me. I had a concern that some car would come out of nowhere and nail me - a couple did drive by. I could imagine the faces of the people and it served as some goofy internal motivation.
Forty minutes in and I was definitely worked but I did not want to have any excuses today. I pushed even though I was probably beginning to slow. I thought this might be the hardest I have worked for 7 minute plus miles – but that would not be true in light of Pikes. 8 miles in 57 minutes but a good tempo workout. I am fighting a minor cold – mostly causing me to sneeze and have a bunch of clear crap leak out my nose.
I am going to try to get up real early tomorrow and do a shake out of four or five miles – as we are expected to ski the rest of the day. I expect to be back in Boulder County come Wednesday. I am welcoming the warmer temps and my treadmill. Expect shorter posts as I get back to work. Low week for mileage, 43. I think that is the lowest (other than weeks off) in a long time.
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