A hot day in the mountains with the Incline club!

Wow, what a contrast in the weather from last week! All the snow up to 10,000 feet has completely melted off.

I went to the club run this morning knowing I'd probably run on Barr Trail, but unsure of how far. It was so warm from the start that I was comfortable in a tank top and shorts.

It was nice to see Debbie & Mark at the start and catch up! I should have gotten a photo with you guys!

At the Incline bailout, I decided to go up the second half of the Incline, where I ran into Mary and Steve who had just done the Cheyenne Mountain trail race yesterday! They placed first and second in their age groups respectively, all that training is paying off!

There was a giant crowd atop the Incline today of course. I was pretty tired today as the heat was getting to me so I took it slow for a while. Then I ran into Mike coming down on Barr Trail and Adrian and Karl who had come over from Heizer trail. That is one I still have to try. The good news that Karl had for me is that the restrooms at Barr Camp should both be gender-neutral soon! It just makes sense since they are both single stall restrooms.

Close to the 1/2 mile to Barr Camp sign, I was feeling pretty beat and I didn't think I'd have energy to go to Adaman Rock  (1/2 mile up above Barr Camp) and back. When this pretty rock outcropping appeared on my left hand side!

This rock outcropping has been on my to-do list for a while. I am unsure on the name but I have heard the name Monty's thrown around, does that name match this rock? In any case, I figured it would be a fantastic view, and it would be enough for today since I was running out of time. After a quarter mile and a little scramble up the mostly class 3 north side of the rock, I emerged at the top on a wide open area. The views of Pikes Peak and Almagre were really unbeatable! 

The nifty rock formations on top really were worth the scramble and the scratches from the occasional stray scrub branch. I took my time going back down Barr Trail. I was tempted to take the shuttle bus back to the parking lot, but it had just left, so I just jogged easy on the pavement and beat the next bus back to the parking area anyhow. A roundtrip of 15 miles from the parking area, and although I didn't get to Barr Camp today, this little adventure gave me about the same mileage and new different views of our amazing mountains.

My next adventure will be a summit via the Cog tracks on Wednesday with Sharon! Looking forward to it! And Tommyknocker 12 Hour ultra is coming up really soon - May 12. Therefore I'll probably take next Sunday pretty easy, maybe just an Incline  and a climb to Eagle's Nest for some mountain views of course.

If anyone wants to join at the Tommyknocker 12 Hour with me, or hop into the Mine Shaft Half Marathon, there is still time to sign up! http://humanpotentialrunning.com/races/tommyknocker-ultras/

Thanks for reading, I hope everyone had a great weekend.

A Sunday long run in the snow.

Last weekend, I was looking for something different to do, and I've been itching to try out the new Missing Link Trail for a while.

When I woke up on Sunday though, and I saw all the beautiful snow on the mountains, I knew it wouldn't be reasonable for me to do all 24 miles from North Cheyenne Cañon to Barr Camp and back. But that did not stop me from getting out to the trail to give it my best effort and go as far as I could! I headed up on Seven Bridges trail  (622) to find a winter wonderland awaiting me.

I knew the snow would get deeper further up, but I pushed up 622 to 622A and then continued on 667. The views were gorgeous!

But as I got to the junction of 667 and 701 where 667 splits to the dead end, the snow was completely untouched and a few feet deep. By this time I was tired of stomping into the snow, so I went a bit further on 701 before turning around. When summer gets to the mountains, I plan to do the full 24 miles on this route, but I settled for half that distance on a snowy Sunday.

The mountains easily remind us that spring in town is often still winter up in Colorado's high country.