That's what I decided about this run, about 3.5 hours into it with another hour to go, walking up a 1.6-mile Jeep road because I didn't have the energy to run it.
See, on Sunday my sister ran her first 1/2-marathon ever (2:39!) after starting running just last fall. I had this idea of doing a same-day run of at least that much mileage, but I like to run trails so I can commune with the little birdies and fuzzy coyotes. So trails it was.
I was keeping a steady pace, but I'm not that fast on a good day, and conditions were wintry.
I made great time all the way up the mountain, hiking when I needed to. Then my GPS beeped and I saw it was only 3 miles. I'm a thousand feet up. It seemed farther.
Crossing from Green Mountain over to the hogback:
In a repeat of my last run up Zorro, it was a mud-fest, with goo that wanted to pull my shoes off. I just walked it. On the way back I saw signs from the park folks asking people not to use muddy trails (what!? where!?), and wished I'd picked a different way.
The top of Dakota Ridge is sandy, so it's usually pretty good. Great views:
The plan was to run to Red Rocks Amphitheater, which is about 8 miles, and fill up on water there at the Trading Post. The water there tasted like it was treated with chlorine or something -- ick -- but I was hydrated.
On the run back over the hogback, I realized that I had been running with the wind on the way out, and now that wind was hitting me full-force. For about an hour I was catching 25-mph winds and my hands and face were seriously cold. The 1.6-mile Jeep road up the west side of Green was pretty trying.
Then when I hit the top, it was worse! I was wearing shorts and two layers on top and was getting pretty close to hypothermic, my hands quickly turning numb. I beat a path down into the more sheltered ravine for the descent, cross-cutting straight down through the snow, cursing as I ran.
And the snow on the trail was lumpy and frozen, a strangely elevated and teetering strip of white, which made footing tough and running nearly impossible until farther down. It seemed like no human had used that trail all week.
Finally the wind relented, and I could resume running and build some warmth.
Distance was 16.43 miles, moving time 3:51 (total 4:39), and elevation change 3,288 feet.
I've often wondered what the horizontal equivalent of vertical is. Does this add a mile? 2 miles? 5 miles? No idea. It seemed like a lot at the time.
Felt pretty good other than being dead tired. My stomach had started to shut down since I hadn't eaten in a while (not good), so I had some water and soup and it fired back up again. Mild nausea went away before too long.
Knees are fine after another intense ski/run weekend. The faster cadence is really doing the trick. Of course I have been blowing off most running during the week, that may help. We'll see when the weather turns nice and I enjoy getting out more.
