Running on tired legs today, but still made it up and around the snowy upper loop on Bergen Peak.
Time: 1:22
Distance: 8.14
Effort: Moderate
Body: Fair
Weather: Sunny and cold
As I looked yesterday at my Friday work calendar, I had exactly one spot - 10 a.m. - when I could squeeze in a run, so I booked it. Fast forward a day, and exactly at 10 a.m. I was greeting Jason P. at the wind-swept lower lot at Elk Meadow Open Space.
Jason is an accomplished local Evergreen adventure racer/ultrarunner - 7th at Hardrock last year, 24-hour orienteering champion...the list goes on. It's amazing the quality of athletes lurking seemingly around every corner in our fair state.
We set off, running counter-clockwise up through the meadow trails up to the Meadow View/Too Long intersection. I was feeling sluggish, no doubt the effects of two days on Green Mountain in Boulder (combined w/ far too much time off of late). Still, we held a respectable, if uninspiring, pace up to the junction with the Summit Trail (44 minutes). Jason had extra time, so he set off for more ups and a trip to the summit of Bergen Peak. Maya and I continued down the Bergen Peak Trail.
There was a good five inches of snow on the upper portions of the loop. It will melt fast, no doubt.
Finished off the run with a jaunt south on Meadow View to Sleepy S and back to the car. My back was feeling a bit tight on the descent. Might be time for a day off, or a very easy day. Don't want to give back the progress I've made this week.
1,757 feet o' elevation gain.
And, if you haven't seen this story by Charlie Engle on the Barkley Marathons in the current issue of Runner's World, check it out. Jason is mentioned in the piece several times. The accompanying videos are pretty cool, too.
The Barkley 100 is just sick and probably - actually - too extreme, if there's such a thing. 59,100 feet of up/down. It's a 20 mile loop done 5 times, I think. It's mostly just a bunch of 2,000' foot ascents/descents without much trail. I contacted the RD once because I wanted to just run the 20 mile loop once to see what it was like, but I received a simple, right to the point response - "The area is private property and you cannot run there except during the race."
ReplyDeleteNothing subtle about the Barley Marathons! While the challenge is alluring, in a way, there's nothing about the course that has the least bit of interest to me. That said, I'm a wimp.
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