Weekly Summary - 2/6

Monday, January 31st - 5.5 Miles in 48:27 - Treadmill (PM)
Still feeling a little sore from the weekend ski trip. Just a nice and easy shake-out on the mill as temperatures continue to drop.
Sit-ups & push-ups (1 set)
AM Food - Granola Cereal + Banana + Coffee
Lunch - Sandwich (turkey & cheese) + Sun Chips + Apple + 2 Clementines
PM Food - 2 Burritos (1 wheat + 1 corn tortilla) with lean beef, rice, & salsa

Tuesday, February 1st - 4.5 Miles in 44:57 - Treadmill (AM)
Another easy shake-out on the mill. It's been a while since I've gotten up early and got a short run in. I woke up surprisingly easy at 4:50 AM and felt ready to go after my run.
Sit-ups & push-ups (1 set)
AM Food - Wheat bagel with homemade strawberry jam + Banana + Granola Bar + Coffee
Lunch - Blackened Redfish with Rice & Ice Tea
Mid-afternoon - Trailmix
PM Food - Spicy Chicken Pasta from the Pumphouse + Beer

Wednesday, February 2nd - 6.5 Miles 55:10 - Treadmill (Late PM)
Another nice and easy run on the mill, just not wanting to battle the negative double digit temperatures. This should be the last night of the extreme cold and tomorrow will become more manageable. I'm taking it pretty easy this week as I contemplating the Skyline Traverse for Saturday. Just as I say that, a friend invited me backcountry skiing on Saturday morning. Oh, decisions, decisions.
Today was a bit of a heavy day as far as food is concerned:
AM Food - Wheat bagel with jam + Coffee x 2
Late AM - Coffee
Lunch - BBQ Chicken Wrap + Fries + Cantaloupe
Midafternoon - Banana
PM Food - Wheat pasta with peppers & tomatoes + 2 slices of wheat bread

Thursday, February 3rd - Off
Decided to take the day off, since Christine is heading out of town early tomorrow morning.
Sit-ups/Push-ups (PM)

Friday, February 4th - Total 8.44 Miles
3.0 Miles in 25:54 - Treadmill (AM)
After waking up at 3 AM so that I could get Christine to the airport, I only had enough time to get a few miles in before heading off to work.

5.44 Miles in 44:57 @ 271 vert ft - McIntosh Loop (PM)
I was able to get out of work and watch a nice sunset as I ran around the lake before meeting a friend at Oskar Blues. It was a beautiful evening to be out, especially since I've spent so much time on the mill this week.

AM - Bagel with Jam + Banana x 2 + Coffee x 2
Lunch - Spinach Lasagna + Apple
PM - Burger + Sweet Potato Fries + Beer (Oskar Blues)!

Saturday: 3523 vert ft on the day (skiing + running)
3.0 Miles @ 2030 vertical feet - Telemark Skiing (AM)
I decided to head up to Rocky Mountain National Park for some skiing with friends rather than try my luck at the Skyline Traverse. The weather forecast wasn't stellar, and I don't think my legs are ready for a proper go at it. I want to be able to actually run this and feel good doing so.

My friend Micah and I met up with 4 other folks in Lyons at the Barking Dog. After a blueberry muffin and a coffee to go, we headed up Hwy 36. It's interesting how different the skiing experience was today compared to last weekend, yet it was just as enjoyable. Last weekend was a more focused effort, while today was considerably more laid back. It's nice to head up to the mountains without an agenda or timetable. Sometimes it's good just to go with the flow, stop, look around at the scenery, take a deep breath, and just be.

We decided to stay below treeline, as the wind seemed to be blowing fairly hard and we wanted to enjoy our day as much as possible. We made 2 loops on the same run, getting fresh tracks through the small fur trees that have grown in the old ski runs at Hidden Valley. There was plenty of new snow and you couldn't help but smile after each turn. There was good conversation, no end to the sarcasm, and plenty of high-fives to go around. It was good day!

11.07 Miles in 1:44:41 @ 1493 vertical feet - Picture Rock (PM)
After stopping at the house for a quick drink of water and a change of clothes, I headed out the door again for a different snow sport. Donning my recently purchased MT101's, and Microspikes, I headed up the trail to log a few more miles on the day. Immediately I could feel the morning of skiing in my legs and soon a glance at my watch confirmed what I had suspected! It wasn't going to be a PR day. Despite my snails pace up and down the hill, I was captured by the beauty of the falling snow and the solitude of the trail. I finished up the run just before sunset. As I drove back home, I felt that I had truly made the most of this day, spending it all in the midst of mountains!

AM - Blueberry muffin + Coffee x 2
Late AM - Banana
Lunch - Tortilla with Nutella + Chips & salsa + Coffee
PM - Burrito with beef, rice & salsa + Christine's homemade chocolate chip cookies

Sunday: 6.11 Miles in 1:32:00 @ 2626 vertical feet - Green Mountain
If I were heading to Green Mountain to gain confidence in my fitness, I picked the wrong day. If I were heading there to strengthen my mental fortitude, then I picked the right day. Let's not live in the past!

With a coat of fresh snow (Boulder has about 6 inches and I'm guessing the upper stretches of Green had even more), I headed up Gregory. Besides feeling some stiffness from the previous days effort, I initially didn't feel too bad. I could tell my time was drastically reduced due to the snow conditions, but I didn't realize how much at first. When I arrived at the Ranger Station, I checked my watch at 22 minutes from the Gregory Trailhead. That's basically when my mind began drifting between one of the following thoughts: "this deep snow is making me work for every step and I'm still struggling!" to "could my fitness be that much worse than the last time I ran this mountain?"

After I passed the junction of Greenman, things got dramatically worse. The trail was even less traveled and the snow seemed to be getting deeper. It was basically as if I took one step forward and a half step back. The additional effort and difficult footing forced me to hike a few sections which I was upset about. I would assume run slower than hike, but my body just couldn't hold on. Despite the intersperced hikes, I continued up and finally reached the summit in 52 minutes.

It wasn't the day for a personal best, but it was a great day to challenge the mind. I truly enjoyed the views from the top and the achievement of just getting there. Then it was on the fun part....the descent! I'm not sure I've run that amount of vertical in the amount of fresh snow before, but for a while, I turned off my running brain and turned on my skiing brain. What fun it was to run down the mountain! It was very much like being 7 years old again!

Weekly Totals: 42.15 Miles in 6:56:06 @ 4390 vertical feet

Silverton Mountain

Friday was a day to remember. I had planned to leave work at 3 PM as I had a very important appointment in Boulder at 3:30. My cell phone rang at 2:45! It was my Vice President, asking me to get on a conference call immediately. So, with a mix of fear and anxiety, I jumped on the call with a number of "higher-ups" and began answering questions as quickly as I possibly could. Finally, at 3:15 I spoke up, saying I had go and asking if there was any way we could continue this later. One gentlemen replied, "You know what we're looking for. Can you just continue this process and get the data back to us soon?" How soon I asked. The same gentlemen answered, "As long as you send it tonight, it will be fine." I replied with an "ok," closed my computer, and I was out the door and headed for Boulder.

After my exciting appointment, I headed to meet my ski partner for the weekend in Golden. I rarely travel Hwy 93, especially on a Friday evening. Traffic was absolutely horrendous, leaving me to sit still, pondering how I was going to complete my assignment. After throwing a ridiculous amount of gear in Joe's truck, we sped down I-70 heading West.

"It should not be denied . . . that being footloose
has always exhilarated us.  It is associated in our
minds with escape from history and oppression and
law and irksome obligations, with absolute freedom, 
and the road has always led west."
       - Walter Stegner

So, I quickly broke the news to Joe that I had to work during the first part of our adventure. Thankfully, or should I say unfortunately, I have a broadband card which allowed me to access my company's network via Joe's truck in the middle of the Rocky Mountains.....no digital detox for me this weekend. Joe and I talked about cycling and the latest doping scandal, then I thought about heat transfer and how to justify a project. Then Joe and I talked about the sport of ultrarunning, followed by justification for alternative fuels. And on and on it went, all the way to Montrose Colorado where we pulled into a Quality Inn for the night. I sent the completed file just after midnight, barely missing my deadline.

My cell beeped much too early, having slept less that 5 hours, but excited about what the day would bring. We drove South into Ouray as the sun rose, casting light to the tips of the San Juans.



After a quick stop at 'THE' gas station and a brief chat with the local owner, we made our way through the historic mining town of Silverton Colorado.

The Silverton Mountain Ski 'Resort' is another 6 or so miles outside of the town and is a backcountry style mountain. There's a maximum number of skiers allowed each day, a guide to every 8 folks, and it's mandatory to have an avalanche beacon, probe and shovel. Trust me, these folks aren't kidding around. When my powder skis, which are 101 mm under foot, are the skinniest in the line up, you better believe people are prepared to immerse themselves in the white-room.

We pulled into the parking lot as approximately 80 other folks were assembling the necessary gear for a day in the big mountains. Joe and I quickly changed clothes and made our way to the base area, which is nothing more than a 20 ft by 60 ft tent. We filled out our waivers, basically signing our lives away, and received our lift tickets. Silverton must be moving up in the world, as the first time I skied there 5 years ago, the 'lift ticket' was nothing more than a colored zip-tie on your ski boot. This time they actually had real tickets, not that they were scanning them or anything, but it looked professional enough.

We were grouped with 6 other folks. A restaurant owner and his lawyer friend from Santa Fe, a young couple that I think were questioning their relationship by the end of the day from Durango, and two best friends from Fort Collins made up our group, led by our fearless ski guide Mariah (seriously, she ripped turns like it was nobodies business)! We skied powder in open bowls, we skied powder in trees and we skied powder in chutes. Basically we skied powder, even though Silverton hasn't had snow in 5 days. There's a reason they do what they do and people keep coming back.....they do it well!


Our guide estimated that we skied 10,000 vertical feet on Saturday and I could feel it. It's amazing how you can run almost everyday, then feel so much lactic acid in your legs skiing two thousand plus vertical feet at thirty five degrees in knee deep snow. Actually, it's not that amazing. It's reality. It's difficult (more like impossible) to be in shape for every different physical activity one (especially me) my partake in. I walked to the truck after our last run Saturday afternoon feeling mostly exhilaration, but maybe a little relief as well!

It was day of skiing to remember. After sharing stories and beers in the tent with other survivors, we headed over Red Mountain Pass and filled our stomach's with Ouray's finest.


After leaving the Ouray Brewery fat and happy, we headed to our next destination: Gunnison Colorado. A friend of mine let us enjoy a free place to stay before hitting Crested Butte the following morning. After skiing in almost too warm of temperatures in Silverton the prior day, we awoke to less than warm temperatures of -2F. We quickly packed our gear and headed for one thing I long for almost every morning other than my wife.....coffee!



With the soreness of a day at Silverton beginning to set in, we left the steeps of the Butte behind and headed for the Front Range and the quickly approaching work week.

In retrospect, there's a lot I'm taking away from my weekend. Mainly, it's the sense that these folks are doing exactly what they desire and are passionate about. Here in Colorado, I hear people speak of passion as if it were something you can buy at any King Soopers, but I truly believe this was different, it was genuine.

On Saturday, I asked one of the Silverton guides the same question I've been asking people for years......"what is your dream?". The answer? "I'm living my dream!" How many people do you come in contact with, or even read about, that say they're living their dream? I was pretty blown away.

Let's throw a few facts (and maybe a few assumptions) on the table about a Silverton skiing guide:
1). Guided skiing is Thurs-Sun - that means they can only work a maximum of 4 days per week, but I'm pretty sure they don't get to work all 4.
2). They live in a town with a population of 500 year around residents - I'm sure many of those are residents which feel the town should remain as is, not changed by these fun-hounds looking for the next extreme adventure. Reduce the 500 to a number of residents that actually enjoy them being there, and see how many actual connections one might make and the odds of building a community start to look rough.
3). These are smart folks - from my vantage point, these guides are pretty top notch. They demonstrate superb leadership skills, all the while assessing the ever changing situations around them. I sure placed a lot of trust in them!
4). Based on #1, they're not making a lot of money - they probably have another job or two to make ends meet.
5). Based on #3, they could probably be making a lot more money, if that's what they were pursuing. They're good at what they do, but they could use those same skills to be good at many other things.

The fact is, these people really are living their dream, or maybe even dreams. I'm actually amazed by that. By no means is it money or success induced. It's purely the pursuit of happiness. I hope to take these facts, things that I saw in and through these guides and apply them to my own life, both now and for years to come.

I love stories. I'm from the South, so I love telling stories. Some of them actually true! But I also love to hear stories. My favorite thing about traveling, whether it be around the state of Colorado or to another country on the other side of the world, is hearing people's stories. We have so much to learn from others, yet we continually build walls around ourselves, not wanting to let others in. I do it myself, for many reasons, some of which I don't even realize until a wall is built. My continued hope is to spend my time, not only listening and learning about other people's stories, but also breaking down the walls I've created to let even more people in, intertwining my story with the ultimate story.

Christmas Eve Eve Skiing

Today I had the opportunity to take an awesome young man from my church skiing. Actually, he's the son of the pastor of my church. He recently turned 16 and he's a great young guy. As I've gotten to know him, he's mentioned on several occasions that he's a snowboarder.....and that he's willing to go skiing with me anytime.....anytime! Knowing that I had the day off, I asked him if he wanted to head up into the high country for a little back-country riding. After approval from the parents, he gladly accepted.

Then came the hard part......where do you take a younger guy skiing? First of all, I wanted to ensure he was safe everywhere we went. I didn't want him traveling or skiing anything dangerous, which means sticking to 20ish degree slopes and being extremely careful where you're touring. Secondly, I didn't want to wear him out on a climb, leaving little chance he'd enjoy the trip down or the overall experience of being away from the crowds in the mountains.

Lastly, there was the logistics of getting him up the mountain. He's a snowboarder, whereas I typically telemark ski in the back-country, using climbing skins to tour and get me up the mountain. I've ridden with guys that use a split-board, giving them touring capability with their snowboard, but I couldn't find a setup for him. I've also ridden with guys that use snowshoes (or slowshoes as some call them) but I wasn't sure how he'd fare.

With all that in mind, I decided to take him to a local mountain pass where skiers and riders often go. By hitching to the top of the pass, you get halfway 'free!' Then, there's always a solid bootpack to follow up to the ridge. Lastly, a good portion of the bowl and runout sits at 18 degrees or so. I thought this was the best option.

For a high school sophomore, he was up early! I picked him up at 7 AM and we headed up to the high country. We talked about school, girls, music and all that lies in between. As we headed up the mountain, I ran into a co-worker who decided to join us on our outing. We hiked in great weather, with temperatures in the high 20's and virtually no wind. We couldn't have asked for better conditions. The snow was nice as well, giving us the opportunity to open it up a little in the bowl, having confidence there was little variability in the snowpack. As we were in the parking lot, munching on snacks at the end of our day, my young ski partner said, "that wasn't so bad.....I'd say it was pretty equal to track practice!" And with that (and a quick stop by Starbucks), we headed for the Front Range.

Flattop Mountain - RMNP

With a thermos full of coffee, I headed out the door into the crisp morning air. The first stop was the Barking Dog in Lyons, where I was to meet my adventurous partners for today's outing. After a coffee, pastry (I know, but I'm a sucker for a cinnamon roll occasionally) and a little pre-game planning, we piled into the car and headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park and our final destination of Flattop Mountain.

The parking lot was fairly empty and we lazily packed the appropriate gear in our packs for a few hours in the elements. With the group not being familiar with each other, the time passed quickly making random conversation from music to climbing to church and the like. The higher in altitude we got, the louder the wind became. Knowing we'd soon be getting pounded by mother nature, I opted to detour us a bit, attempting to stay in the safety of the trees for as long as possible. This proved to be a mistake, when I soon landed us all in a difficult situation of skinning up a steep, loose and wind-blown section of mountain. After flailing around in the snow, we decided to take refuge under a thicket of high altitude flora to get a break from the wind and take a gander at the map. The banana bowl of Flattop looked completely different than any other time I've been on it due to the lack of snow. We opted for the only skiable line, a short thin section, opening up at the bottom.

We tried to make quick work of removing skins, adding a shell layer, and throwing the skis on, but the wind and temperature made it difficult, with constant pelts to the face from frozen conglomerated snow. Once I booted up, I skied down a short section to 2 of our 4 party team, trying to ensure they were ready to descend. Surprisingly, there were a few nice patches of snow, allowing me to confidently drop the knee, hoping I remembered how to telemark ski.

Once back in the trees, we got some relief from the wind, threw a couple high-5's, and gave our own account of the snow slope. We then bushwhacked our way through the tight trees to find the return trail from Fern Lake. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride the rest of the way, skiing on narrow sections of trail, with little chance to 'check' your speed but ample chance to case of a rock or tree. We all arrived safely back to the car, pulling off the loads of gear we'd had been carrying and indulging in a celebratory Fat Tire, while recounting the day. We capped off the day with a quick stop at Kind Coffee (that may have been my idea, as I'm a bit of a coffee addict).

Joe and Mike, taking a breather from the roller coaster descent.

A view up the trail - from whence we came

No pictures from above treeline, as the wind kept my mind on one thing only - staying on my feet!

On our way up

As I sit and reflect upon the seasons first day of skiing, I can't help but compare it to running, as running as been my primary activity as of late. The first thing of comparison comes in the form of gear. My gear for running, for the most part has been shorts and shoes. Even with the coming of colder temperatures, you need only add a pair of tights, a windshell, and hat. That's it. Simple. Backcountry skiing on the other hand is much more complicated. Here's a quick gear list from my little outing yesterday:

• Skis - Telemark of course
  
• Poles - Retractable
  
• Boots - Lightweight for touring yet burly enough to turn a bigger ski
  
• Climbing Skins - To my detriment, I used my wife's old ones - (i.e. too short)
  
• Avy Beacon - Mammut Barryvox
  
• Avy Probe
  
• Shovel
• Base Layer - Top and Bottom
• Smartwool Socks - B/c they're the best
  
• Gore-tex ski pants - The North Face (Sorry Steve)
  
• Gore-tex soft-shell - Arc'teryx (Again, sorry Steve)
  
• Synthetic mid-layer - Patagonia (Thanks Steve)
  
• Down jacket (thrown in the pack just in case) - REI (it was on sale)
  
• Gore-tex gloves - The North Face (Christmas present)
  
• Winter hat - The North Face (Another Christmas present)
  
• Ski Goggles - Oakley (Someone left them in my car)
  
• Sunglasses
  
• Water bottles (3)
• Granola Bar (2)
• Sunscreen (always in the pack)
• Backpack - manufactured specifically to strategically place all these items

Although I actually had a few more items stuffed in my pack, you get the gist of the situation. Some activities just aren't simple. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love gear, in all it's glory, but yesterday I came to the realization that gear, in abundance, don't make an activity, like skiing, simple. Cycling, although not quite as complicated as skiing, is not simple.

In so many other ways, it's extremely difficult to compare running and skiing. Skiing gives me a feeling I've never felt while running. It also allows me to experience the mountains in a different way, in a different season, through a different mode. I absolutely love skiing and plan to get back in the backcountry as much as possible this winter (and maybe even do a little resort skiing).

But, when I slip on my 7.8 oz trail shoes and throw on my shorts, grab my 8 oz hand-held water bottle and head down the trail, I'll have a little extra pep in my step knowing that few things in life are simple and the act of running is about as simple as it gets.