Santa Fe Trail Day

We were hoping for a dry spot to run today and we (sort of) found it. We got out to the Santa Fe trailhead not far from home to get in some mileage on another of our multi-use gravel trails that holds up to water OK. Santa Fe Trail is home to the American Discovery Trail Marathon, which will be run on Labor Day. We try to steer clear of Santa Fe all summer because we are required to utilize it more in the winter when our favorite trails, at times, are under snow and ice.

This is near the trailhead and is probably the least scenic part of our run. The running water is usually a dry creek bed, so the water is quite muddy after the rains. We have had 2.8" of rain since Thursday night, compared to only 6.7" previous to that since January 1! We'll certainly take it even if it puts a dent in our trail running time. So we ended up with a nice 10 mile run and as we walked our legs out back to the truck, it started raining - Perfect Timing!!! Good times and we are still very thankful to get out for our runs!!!

Snuck one in!

I got my window of opportunity and took it! The rain let up so I took off on the gravel multi-purpose trail out of our neighborhood for a quick workout. We'll have to use the wide trails for a few days as our singletrack trails have a lot of clay and do not do well with loads of water. I was able to get in a nice 6 mile run even though it was raining again before I finished. Oh well, better than nothing at all. Kathleen had to work, so it was a solo run today :-(

An update on the Ascent - about 742 runners were able to finish in the freezing conditions and about that many were turned back at A-Frame, which is right below treeline on Pikes Peak. The weather above treeline had turned to sideways-blowing snow and sleet and they were fearful of having to get too many hypothermic runners off the mountain. The other problem was that the Pikes Peak highway had to be closed due to adverse driving conditions, leaving no way to get additional vehicle support to the summit house. Even though our friend PR'd (and got 3RD WOMAN OVERALL!), she said it was quite miserable.

Welcome to August in Colorado!

Word(s) for the day - SOGGY and COLD! In most parts of the country, these do not describe summer - welcome to the mountains. August can be unpredictable and can range in temps from the 30's to the 90's. It started raining yesterday morning and has not stopped. Don't get me wrong, we need rain like peanut butter needs jelly. We have had nearly 30% of our year-to-date precipitation just in the past week and a half! Imagine starting your Ascent of Pikes Peak in rain and low 40 degree temps, then climbing 8000 or so vertical feet to a summit temp of 29.8°F - that is the current reading at 11:52 AM on the Peak! Luckily, the cam shot did not show snow yet at the summit. While I sit sipping coffee in my wool slippers, our friend Connilee is trying to warm up for sure as she finished third overall woman in ~ 2:53:35 (unofficial post from Summit House) - Way to Go!!! Over in Leadville, the Leadville Trail 100 is being contested in a wee bit better conditions - it is 49°F currently and the runners have been on course approximately 8 hours now, having started at 4 am with light rain and 40 degrees. They will possibly face snow or heavy rain overnight - sweet. Here's a topper for you - this live cam of Winter Park, Colorado is from 11:40 am. There was supposed to be race #6 of the Winter Park Mountain Bike Race series, one of the best run series in the mountain west, but heavy rain overnight combined with snow this morning to postpone the race. Currently, Loveland Pass, Trail Ridge Road, and Mount Evans highway are all closed due to snow and as of 11 am, Eisenhower Tunnel was requiring chains for commercial vehicles. Yee-haw!!! So if I get a wild hair, you might get an update post later that I snuck out for a short, wet run - just don't count on it! It will be sunny and 80 by mid-week anyway, so a couple days of bizarre summer weather can't hurt, right...