You just can't beat the short 5 hour drive to San Diego for running. If it was up in elevation say around 8-9,000 feet...it would be perfect. With the 65-70 degrees and endless rolling hills, one can run all day. Granted, Kerry & I had other things on the agenda (Museum Cafe and the Zoo) and I couldn't run for 4 or 5 hours, but I sure wish I could have! Now I'm back in Hell and the temperature topped out at 110+ today.
As I had mentioned previously, I was planning on heading to Los Alamos for the 4th of July, for some good running and climbing on the Jemez trail. Unfortunately, the wildfires burning in and around Los Alamos put the kibosh on that idea. Especially when the person I was hoping to run with had to evacuate! Plus, my long time friend who recently moved to the area still has not received his furniture from the movers. Bummers all around. Glad everyone is fire free now though.
Here it is, the beginning of July, and I'm almost drooling over the idea of heading back to Pagosa Springs, Colorado on October 1st for the Devils Mountain 50 miler or 50K ultra. I'm not sure yet which one I might be running, but either one is sure to be a challenge in elevation alone. We'll have to see how the training goes this month. Considering we're going to be close to record highs this weekend (near 120 degrees) my outlook on training over the next two months is bleak at best. Needless to say, running in Colorado sounds really good right about now.
I'm open to ideas (if you have any) on how to not die, while out running in the next month or two! I'm going to continue swimming to help with my overall fitness and endurance, plus I still have ironman in the back of my mind. The 2010 Devils Mountain 50 miler only had 2 finishers with a time just under 12 hours. Meaning...the race is either brutally hard or it's just not that popular. I have been to Pagosa many of times, so I'm going with brutally hard! The 50K had considerably more runners and the marathon even more than that though.
....If any of you are interested in meeting me in Pagosa on October 1st, let me know!
Who is this fabulous "Kerry" you speak of???
ReplyDeleteHey Chris -
ReplyDeleteSorry we couldn't connect over the 4th. Even if this horrendous fire hadn't started, the National forests/open spaces were completely closed because of fire danger. Almost all of the Jemez 50 course would have been off-limits anyway.
The smoke is still an issue here, especially in the morning and evening. It is possible to get out(on the roads)during the day. We need the monsoon rains and hopefully then they'll be able to open some of the forests back up.
I thought about the Devils Mountain 50, but signed up for the Slickrock 50 in Moab on October 8th. Hoping to do the Silverton 50k or Mt Tam (Cali) 50k, as a training run/race at the end of August.