Sunday morning was awesome. After my mild success on Saturday's run, I was feeling very confident. Not to mention I was hitting the trails with Marge Hickman and her husband Michael. They are both very experienced runners up here, and I knew this was an opportunity not to miss. If you want to read more about Marge, go here, or just Google her name, she is pretty well known in the ultra community.
Since it was my first day of feeling really good, they took me to Lodgepole Flats. This is a place where the race course crosses for a bit on a section called "Pipeline." It is named so because of the underground pipeline that carries water from Turquoise Lake to one of the bigger cities (sidenote: In the mountains, there are places where other cities own the land and the water rights in a valley, then they come in, dam it up, and ship the water to themselves for their municipal supply...boo...at least in this instance they put the pipeline underground, and didn't run the water along the valley floor to erode the valley.) The place is called "Lodgepole" because this is where Lodgepole Pines grown, and the state/county issues permits to go cut your own firewood here. In Colorado they don't have many hardwoods, so they have to cut Pine, let it dry for a long time, and then burn it in the fireplaces. Luckily stuff dries faster here. At home, we would never use Pine because it would clog the chimney, but they either have to use Pine, or a fast burning Aspen, so they use Pine, and just clean the chimney more often.
So now to the run. It was great. We started out just hiking, and then Marge and I took off for a bit since Michael is coming off of a knee replacement. Their dog Oskar (named for the local brewery Oskar Blues, who happens to be the new beer sponsor of the race) came with us too. Once I sort of got my bearings Marge suggested that I leg it out a bit since she was also recovering from a hamstring tweak. So I did, and it was awesome. The last couple of miles were mostly downhill, and I was flying. I don't think I have ever felt so good running. When I got to the turn around spot that they had described, I ate a Clif Bar, and turned around to meet Marge. Oskar was not used to such a distance, so she decided to stay there, and I was to catch up with Michael who had turned around, and tell him to come get them.
I was sorry to see Oskar suffering, but this gave me an excuse to hammer on it a little bit. So Marge gave me some tips on going fast, and long climbs that aren't too steep, and it worked out great. In no time, I was back on the ridge and running mostly flats for a while at a pretty good clip. In my mind, I had made it very important to catch Michael, so I was pushing it. The situation was not dire, and I caught Michael about a mile and half before the cars, and thanked him for the advice and showing me the route.
I gave them a canister of PureSport, which is the company that Kirk works for. I have been very graciously supplied with several canisters of this product, and have already told several of the runners about it, and how it has helped me recover after long runs.
All in all it was a great day. I came home, got cleaned up, and headed down to James and June Gober's house in Nathrop. James is my dad's first cousin. June was my math teacher in the 6th grade. They have always been amazing hosts. It was nice to spend a day with them, and just relax. Now, I am about to do dishes, eat breakfast, and head over to the forestry service to pick up a map of the trail system, and pick a long route for the day (probably 4 hours or so).
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