It was a great morning, crisp but warming quickly as the sun went up. I departed on my Incline club run a bit early before the main group because I knew I wanted to go up to and probably beyond Barr Camp today. This is a good time for me to plug the Incline club: it's a great group of folks who are serious about training (often for the Pikes Peak Marathon) but also like to get together and do long runs together, because it's more fun with friends!
I did run to Barr Camp two weeks ago, but the snow conditions today were worse than they were a couple weeks ago. Up until No Name Creek, it was intermittent ice patches. Then it was choppy snow all the way to Barr Camp. Beyond that, it was pretty much knee-deep snow. A few others had gone up before me, making holes in the snow, but any time I stepped to the side of the footprints, I sunk deep into the crunchy, ice-topped, wind-blown snow. I kept at it for half a mile, but eventually decided that was sufficient for today and made my way back to Barr Camp.
I spent some time talking to the volunteers filling in for the caretakers over the holiday. Alex Nichols, last year's Pikes Peak Marathon winner, was one of the volunteers. In addition to being super fast, he seemed like a very nice guy to talk to! I had brought a sandwich so I ate that and bought some last minute Christmas gifts from their nice t-shirt selection. They mentioned that they were expecting three guests tonight.
Eventually I knew I had to head out, so back out into the beautiful sunshine I went. I had checked the weather beforehand and it said that it was supposed to be a sunny day and hover in the mid 40s.
Down the trail a bit I passed a couple and their young daughter. They had large packs so I asked if they were headed for Barr Camp and they said yes.
Soon, a large cloud came in from behind the mountains. It cooled down quickly from the sunlit mid 40s. Quick weather changes are the norm in the mountains, so I shouldn't have been surprised. But oh, what's that? A snowflake? Good thing I was almost down to Ruxon by this point. After a brisk jog through town, I pulled out my GPS on my phone. Exactly 16 miles. It felt pretty good, considering I'd done 20 miles two days ago! My time to Barr Camp was 2:42 today, versus 2:40 two weeks ago, but I blame the snow conditions and slightly tired legs.
On my drive home, it began snowing more. Right at that moment, the guy on the radio was talking about "I hope you're enjoying your sunny Sunday!" I laughed. Poor kid must have been inside a room with no windows, because the sunny Sunday had morphed into windy wet snow within the span of half an hour. I thought back to the family on their way to Barr Camp. They still had about 1.5 miles to go, I hope they made it without getting too cold during that flash snowstorm.
The best feeling in the world is a hot shower and fuzzy jammies after a long run in the snowy mountains. *Especially* when it's snowing outside. And it did snow enough to accumulate a bit. But as quickly as the weather came, it cleared out. In fact, it went from blowing snow to clear and cold skies during the time I typed this on my phone. So now I have the great fortune of watching the sun set behind the summit of Pikes Peak, the mountain still partly veiled in clouds, shrouding it in mystery. In fact, if I look hard enough, I believe I can see where I was earlier today, up on that behemoth of granite.
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