I thought about opening this trip report by adding up how much money I’ve spent on races this year, almost all of which have been cancelled. But then I realized I don’t actually want to know the answer to that question.
First it was the Dirty 30 in May (pretty early on in the pandemic, so understandable, I suppose). Then it was the San Juan Solstice in June (second year in a row for that guy, oof). Then it was the Devil on the Divide in September (seriously, F Clear Creek County for that one). Suffice it to say, COVID has not been easy on the wallet for those stubborn enough (i.e dumb enough) to try to do what is arguably the single most anti-COVID activity (health wise, at least) in existence: running races. Keep Reading….
Well after 15 years of slogging up piles of rocks and the hundreds of summits beginning to all blend together, I decided to pick up a new hobby, inspired by good pal Ben Conners. He reminded me that I used to poo poo on running and that within a few years, I’ll probably be signing up for 100 milers. I don’t doubt that I viewed running as silly, but I do doubt I’ll ever run a 100’er.
Anyways, my first ultra was everything I thought it would be. Happy, sad, angry, exciting, terrifying, painful, rewarding. I’m not sure many other activities can elicit all those emotions in one. In retrospect, I’m also not sure why I chose the Indian Creek 55k. I guess it just sounded intriguing and I had never visited the area before. Now it’s a place I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Funny how that works. I spent the majority of the summer working up to the race via Half marathons, local races around Westminster and trail runs in the foothills. Keep reading…
In early-August I headed down to the San Juans to join my friend Sarah Boyum at the Silverton Ultramarathon, likely to be my last ultra race of the summer. It wound up going well for both of us despite being one of the more challenging courses either of us have run to date. The Silverton Ultramarathon (SUM) is the second race of the year put on by race director Megan Finnesy (the first of course being the Dirty 30 in June). Keep reading…
On Saturday, July 6th I motored over to Leadville and ran in the 12th annual Silver Rush 50; a 50-mile trail race offered by the Leadville Race Series that takes place every summer. Things went well and it was a good day out for the most part. I was happy to get another 50-miler under my belt and check out another classic Colorado ultra that also happens to be close to home.
Truth be told I didn’t sign up for the Silver Rush until after the San Juan Solstice 50 was cancelled in May. Those of us on the SJS50 runners list kept our fingers crossed but as the spring wore on, it became clear that there was simply too much snow, avalanche debris, and flood potential around Lake City to make the mountain race viable in late-June. The race director was forced to call it and allowed runners to bypass the lottery and defer their entry to next year, which was an option I was happy to take. Keep reading…
