Hard to believe July is halfway gone already!
Summer always feels so short when it arrives.
Here's some photos and summaries from the first half of the month.
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On July 3rd, I did a 5.1 mile out-and-back in Palmer Park.
It was a lovely day for a short, casual jog.
I happened to catch this busy bee tending to a flower, with gossamer wings.
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To celebrate Independence Day on July 4th, I did another short run in Palmer in the morning.
Pippin joined me this time!
We did 5.6 miles, which was enough for Pippin since the day was already getting hot.
It was nice that they close the entire park to vehicles on the 4th!! Pippin and I loved this, as we had the run of the roads.
That evening, my family and I walked back up to the Grandview Overlook to watch the fireworks over the town.
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July 6th was a misty cool morning, and Pippin and I ran 8 miles in Palmer.
The wildflowers were in full bloom!
That afternoon, we took the family to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge.
The bison were hiding today, but we saw lots of other wildlife, including the ground hogs.
After the animal park, we did a little shopping in downtown Denver and checked out the giant french fry before heading home.
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On Sunday, July 9th, I started out just after 5am with Dionne from the Pikes Peak Marathon start line in Manitou.
There was an inversion, and the clouds were already quite pretty at sunrise.
We went pretty casually up the Ws. When arriving at No Name Creek, a sea of clouds was off in the distance, blanketing the city. Meanwhile, we were dancing with nature up in the bright sunlight.
After a few miles in the rolling forest beyond No Name Creek, Dionne had to turn around. I continued onwards and upwards. I didn't stop in to Barr Camp this time as I wanted to just continue on to the summit.
The inversion was amazing as I climbed up past treeline.
I made the summit in 4:54 moving time from the start line. I was pretty happy with this time, considering I'd been pretty casual for the first half of the uphill.
But as soon as I got into the summit house and refilled my water and began to cool off a little from the effort, I felt an altitude headache coming on.
I knew the primary cure for altitude sickness is to come down from altitude.
I had to get off this mountain fast.
I told myself that my headache wasn't that bad, so I could jog. I was fooling myself a little, but I took off at a steady downhill pace.
Right before treeline, I caught this fellow trying to hide behind a small bush:
The little bush wasn't big enough for this big dude to conceal himself!
I made it back to the A-frame and slowed to a walk for a minute. I assessed my condition. I still had a headache, but I was less concerned about it now that I was down in the trees.
I walked the next mile or so, trying to feel better. I suspected I didn't drink enough water on the uphill, so I tried to drink more. It was a slog, but I eventually reached Barr Camp.
This time, since I was on the downhill, I entered the cabin.
I collapsed on the couch and commented to the caretakers how tired I was! Fortunately, they did have some ibuprofen I could take for my headache.
I didn't want to stay too long as I knew the risk of cooling off too much and cramping up. As I got up to exit the cabin, another guy was on his way out as well.
He introduced himself as Jonas and told me that he was going to help me get down off this mountain! He said he had seen me jogging on the uphill, and he was doing a full Pikes Peak marathon today too. He was a strong downhiller and he would pace on the downhill.
My headache persisted for a couple miles of the downhill, but Jonas was so kind as to wait for me to catch up whenever he got ahead of me. He was really helping me get down.
After about twenty minutes, the ibuprofen began to work and my head felt much better. And then we began going fast!!
I felt like I was back from the metaphorical graveyard, no longer slogging, but now flying! We cut through the crowds on the Ws, descending at a pace that was silly fast for having just ran a marathon on this mountain. But it felt great!
We made it back to town and I split from Jonas, thankful that he'd pulled me through the downhill. I would have been slogging down from Barr Camp much more slowly if he hadn't volunteered to pace me. He must have seen me in my sorry collapsed state at Camp and thought "that dude needs to run or he'll never be off this mountain."
I made it back to Memorial Park in Manitou, (technically past the finish line), giving me a total of 27.1 miles on the day.
Then I soaked my feet in the stream at the park, which was flowing very well. Cold exposure therapy!
A great day for a practice Pikes Peak marathon!
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On July 11th, I joined the Striders for a speed workout around Prospect Lake.
This was a tough workout, especially since I'd just done the practice PPM two days ago!
We ran a total of 6.3 miles in the speed workout. My average pace for the whole workout, including the recovery, was 8:30 min/mi. I was really pleased with that, and the jelly feeling in my legs confirmed that I'd pushed hard.
Since I had a little more time today, I wanted to do some extra mileage in one of my favorite locations: Rampart Range Road.
I ran 7.3 miles on RRR, bringing today's total up to 13.6 miles. Not too shabby for two days after the practice PPM!
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On July 13th, Pippin and I ran 6.3 miles in the park in the morning.
That evening, I went on a walk with the family up near Woodland Park on the Mule Creek Trail.
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On Saturday, July 15th, we attended the Colorado Renaissance Festival in Larkspur.
We had a day of jousting and shows!
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A nice start to the month: A full PPM, and one solid speedwork session.
Also I've been including a lot of bodyweight workouts on non-running days, and I did do some heavy squats earlier in the month.
I've put back on about 3 to 5 pounds, but I don't feel like it has negatively impacted my running pace. I like the feeling of being really lean, but it isn't realistically sustainable for me. At least continuing the strength workouts helps me feel like the weight I've regained is at least partly muscle.
I will have to include at least one more speedwork before the end of the month to meet my goal, and I hope to ascend the Pikes Peak summit again soon, now that it is completely clear of snow.
I also plan to do the Pikes Peak Road Runners' virtual challenge before the month is out.
And I hope to see some of you folks out on the trail while I work towards these goals 😄!
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