Frozen Thumbs and a Frosty Beard

I went on a cold 10 mile run Sunday morning. Perhaps too cold.

First of all, it was 6:30am, and nobody should be running at 6:30am... ever. I was somehow coerced into running at this ungodly hour by someone who I thought was my friend, and his accomplice,  who I met for the first and probably last time that morning (kidding). You know it is too early to be doing something when the only other people awake and moving around in the dark are with you.

I knew it was going to be a painful morning when we got out of our cars and found ourselves standing on a parking lot that had been transformed into an ice-skating rink. The ground was frozen solid. So was everything else.
I kept thinking to myself, "It'll warm up, or at least my body will after we start running". Neither happened.
It was so freezing that the fluids in my body were solidifying. I was wearing Manzella Silkweight Windstopper gloves and they were way too thin for the 20 degree temperature. Next time I'll go with a thicker glove.

My thumbs were the first extremity to freeze, and I kept telling the guys I was running with, "My thumbs are frozen!" They responded with laughter, but I wasn't joking.
After a while I started feeling a little better (because I could no longer feel my thumbs).

Once the sun came up, it's radiance provided a little warmth, but that wasn't enough to make any body parts thaw. I will admit that it provided some beautiful scenery as it lit the mountains in front of us. The only warmth I experienced on this run came from the laughter and joy of reuniting with an old friend. I look forward to more training runs with John as we prepare for the Leadville Silver Rush together. We laughed a lot, but after my beard froze, it hurt my face to smile.

Lessons from this run:
1. Avoid 6:30am runs in January.
2. Avoid 6:30am runs altogether.

A slimy, but satisfying day

Today I ran a tough 10 miles (well, for me anyway).

I put in at the Marshal Mesa trailhead and ran up to Hwy 93, crossed, and ran the Community Ditch trail over to Doudy Draw. From this trailhead, I crossed Eldorado Springs Dr and ran up the Mesa trail for 2 miles. This 2 mile climb was my destination. I wanted to get in some climbing, and I realize that I need to get SO much more climbing in before the Silver Rush 50. What I need to do is start parking closer to the Mesa Trail so that I can run up Green Mt. or Bear Peak or something. I'm just too cheap to pay the parking fees. Since parking at Marshal Mesa is free, I figure I'll just run in from there and add a few miles.

I intended to run a little further on the Mesa trail today, but I ran out of time. We got a new mattress delivered to our house this afternoon and I had to be back home for its arrival. As an aside, I am extremely excited about the new bed, and sustaining fewer aches, pains, and sleep-related injuries (I'm about 90% sure that our previous mattress was made in the Paleolithic era).

About a mile or so in, looking at my destination. 

Anyway-

Even though it was cut short, the run was magnificent. The trail was dry at the bottom, with patches of snow, ice and mud every so often. The trail became increasingly worse as I moved closer to the foothills. Right now the Mesa trail is a mix of all conditions, but the section of climbing that I ran was pretty tame. I'm amazed at how quickly the conditions of these trails change. I am also tempted to buy a pair of microspikes, but I feel like the trails change so fast that I can probably just tough it out in the good 'ol tennies. I don't know...

Anyway-

Smelling the flowers... or cows, that is.

Since I decided to turn around a little earlier than planned, I wasn't sure about my mileage. I kept looking at my watch thinking, "There's no way this is any farther than 7 miles... maybe it's 8, tops." I was making good time, so I felt like either my watch was lying to me, or the distance was a bit shorter than I thought. I was wrong on both accounts. As it turned out, I was just running a faster pace than I thought.

I clocked in at a 7:59 mile pace for the run, which is a lot faster than I would have expected with the trail conditions, and also the climb. This is good progress for me, and a good indicator of how possible my goals for the race are.

I stopped three times to grab some super professional photos, courtesy of my top-of-the-line cell phone.

Get out and run uphill!

Thumbs-up (below Devil's Thumb)