Week Summary: April 6-12

Mon-am: 2:20 Stratton Open Space. 1000' vertical
pm: :44 barefoot
Tue-am: 2:34 Barr Camp. 4000' vertical
pm: :33 barefoot
Wed-am: 2:46 Jones Park/Loud's Cabin. 3300' vertical
pm: :41 barefoot
Thu-am: 2:41 Mt. Buckhorn-Gold Camp-Stratton. 2300' vertical
pm: :42 barefoot
Fri-1:38 Railroad Tracks & barefoot
Sat-5:10 Section 16-Intemann-Rampart Range Road Overlook-Waldo-UPT. 6000' vertical.
Sun-4:26 Jones Park-7 Bridges-Buckhorn-Dog Rock-Crystal Park Road. 5500' vertical.
Total: 24hr15min, ~170 miles, 21,000 vertical

This was a pretty good week. I really felt "on point" for the Sunday run where all the climbs (a 3000' climb, a 1000' climb, and a 1500' climb) felt really solid, despite the snow. I also got in a good amount of barefoot this week, which I was hoping for.

The Sunday run was out of control. I started the run at 6:30am when it was ~40F with low clouds. However, within 30 minutes it was sleeting, and that soon turned into enormous, floppy, wet flakes that were quickly accumulating until I was running through anywhere from 6-12" of the white stuff. This was fine until I became completely soaked through by precipitation that seemed to be half-snow/half-rain (typical springtime crap) that was just dumping out of the sky, and I was confronted with a 2500' six mile descent that didn't allow me to maintain a whole lot of body heat. The last three miles or so running through the streets back to my house found me plowing through ankle-deep slush/water and getting repeatedly sprayed by passing cars. Fun fun. I nearly got in the shower with my shoes still on because the lack of function in my fingers wouldn't allow me to untie the laces.

It was actually great fun, and I was summarily heartened by the iconic passage from Thoreau's Walden that I heard on NPR upon exiting the shower: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately." I'll spare you the rest of the marrow-suckingness in the passage that has almost become cliche, but suffice it to say that, if nothing else, during my run on Sunday morning I was certainly living deliberately and I emerged from it once again awakened and with my soul wide open. I have no other reason than that to do a run like that.

I can only imagine/assume Thom Yorke gains a similar feeling from composing and performing music like this: