Training Log Archive: Nadim

Hefei, China. 45 sit-ups in the hotel after a day of mostly traveling.

Beijing, China. Hiking with our group past a few government buildings (the People's Hall), we entered Tianamen Square, and went on through the Forbidden City. It was much busier than my visit in 2010. It was also much hazier. The only good thing about the pollution was that it kept us from feeling hot. We rarely saw the ball in the sky. The grounds were still impressive, even as quickly as we toured through. In other parts of the day we saw a silk factory and a peal factory. We also got more of what to expect on Monday from our guide.

Balding (Yeng Chiem west of Beijing), China. Peggy, I, and several other adopting couples, some with family, hiked on the Great Wall of China. We did a loop going counter--clockwise, uphill most of the way and taking a steeper route down. This was all just across the valley from where I climbed The Wall in 2010. The way we went this time was a lot less climb and the views were about as good. We could see The Wall much busier on the steeper side. The hike was fun, even though I was jet lagged and my lungs were full of phlegm. However it was all that much more enjoyable sharing it with the other families to be. All were enjoying amazing experience while dreaming of bigger things to come.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. I hit more traffic than going home the day before. I'm getting a sore throat and my nose is runny.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. Things are fairly busy these days.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. I hit the lights and other traffic intersections pretty well.

45 situps.

From Northfield Rd. to Ayrlawn Park, with Max on his bicycle, then back towing Max's bicycle, then to 13th and C St. SW, Washington, D.C. I felt fairly good after dropping off Max's bicycle and seemed like I was riding fast (after a battery change, my cycle computer needs recalculation so it was hard to know without converting by a factor of 1.62). There was a detour on Custer as trees were being trimmed and other indications made it seem like the city name is being changed to Roadwork. On the CCT, I steadily caught-up to a rider whom I hesitated to pass. He appeared to be a fast rider taking it easy. After remaining behind him for almost a mile, he realized I was there and zoomed. It was what I didn't want to happen. I hung with him until the water treatment plant, then let him go. He was probably doing around +24mph and I didn't want to work that hard with this being my first full commute in a while. There were some slight headwinds from the south. I felt tired by the end.

From 13th and C St. SW, Washington, D.C., to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. When I got out, it had already been raining. The radar showed a lot of red but there was not much wind and mostly steady rain. I got passed rounding the Jefferson Memorial, rare since I often take off fast to get out of the traffic. There was a lot of traffic in Georgetown and I got passed just after getting on the trail there too. Like the morning, I was mellow and didn't push it too hard. The guy slowly pulled away but I think I saw him again in Bethesda. The rain felt fine; not much different from when I sweat and ride. I had to slow for turns so as to not wipe-out.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd. I carried by clothing from Monday back. I would have run also but got busy.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station--back to work again!

From 14th & Independence Ave., SW, Washington, D.C. Independence Ave. to the Reflecting Pool, to the Lincoln Memorial, to the Rock Creek Trail, along the Georgetown Waterfront to the Capital Crescent Trail (CCT), to the Glover Archbold Trail, up to the Tenleytown Metro Station via Van Ness St. and Wisconsin Ave. I did feel pretty good starting out. My lungs were not so challenged but by the 3rd mile, my quads started feeling a little more-so. It was a pretty nice day for Washington D.C. in August; humidity under 50% and temperatures in the low 80s F. That was still warmer and wetter than my last 2 weeks. I started sweating more on the climb and sometimes pushed harder on the hills. I ran out of energy on some so I was only running a little better than the last time. Perhaps it was part of the time zone change and not getting the sleep I'd been getting but after finishing the run I was wobbly tired. Running the trail was pretty nice though.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd. The breeze while I was riding felt really nice. I had been completely soaked with sweat. I weighed-out at 170lbs. After eating, I had to lay down for a while.

Seneca Creek State Park, Lake Clopper Area. I got out early to try to finish-up a couple of areas for a QOC meet in September. Things started slowly as a ranger at the gate recognized my car from July, and we discussed the upcoming QOC meet. I got into the woods near the Bluejay shelter and was surprised at how much the stilt grasses had grown in one month. I felt a good bit stronger than I had been feeling in July. I had a spring in my step that was probably due both to altitude acclimation and the extra running and hiking over the last 2 weeks. The spring was the cause of an unfortunate loss of time as my GPS popped out of my open waist belt pack and disappeared in the stilt grass. I spent the better part of an hour looking for it. I was somewhat able to retrace my steps because of the stilt grass being mashed down where I'd stepped. I had a 120m stretch on a hill to go over. Not finding it, I went on to another area but when I passed through the same hill again, I gave it another try. I got off my track by about 5 ft. and that was enough for me to find it. After finishing the area, I drove to the east end of the lake and tried to cover 2 hillsides. I rushed through it and would have like to have done a better job. I still ran short of time since I had to meet my mother and sister in Virginia, and I didn't finish it completely--still there's enough to use.

Event: 12th World Rogaining Championships
 

Flying back from Denver, CO, to Washington, D.C. my job was to carry a large case of controls back as carryon luggage. I was worried that the security guards would have a lot of questions for us but perhaps since we got shuffled into a special line, we go through without a single question. They were a bit busy so that probably helped. It would have been awkward explaining just what these battery operated and sealed plastic boxes with holes in them were. The case of controls also meant that we had an extra carry-on bag so my second worry was that they'd want us to check something. Fortunately the stewardess greeting people was distracted and I walked past with my backpack and the somewhat heavy case (about +25 lbs worth).

Rocky Mountain National Park, CO. From the Bear Lake parking area., Peggy, Max, and I went to Emerald Lake via Nymph Lake, and Dream Lake. This was a wonderful hike and a popular one. We had to take a shuttle bus just to get to the trail head. The climb was fairly easy. It started on a paved trail at about 9,475 ft. elevation; paved like so many of the popular area short trails are. However, it changed to natural surfaces within about a half mile. At the lakes and on the approaches, there were great views of stunted pine trees, boulder gardens, towering cliffs, and waterfalls. The skies were great too with clouds popping over the snow speckled continental divide above. We saw a little wildlife. Max was bewitched by the many chipmunks that were so tame that they would crawl up onto people (including Max and Peggy). On the out and back hike, he referred to one spot as the chipmunk place, rather than Dream Lake. Some jays were searching for handouts too and even the trout were tame enough to show themselves a few feet from the shore. Just after we left Emerald Lake (about 10,200 ft.) to return, we started hearing thunder, and dark clouds started replacing the white ones on the mountain tops. We got a little rain, but most of the energy missed us. After we got back to the bottom, we walked just a little way to see Bear Lake too. As a bonus, on the bus ride back we saw a flock of wild turkeys crossing the road.

Grand Lake, CO. From the marina at the end of Hancock St., Peggy, Max, and I all rented Hobie Cat kayaks and paddled across the lake. A few motor boats made a few waves but mostly it was calm, quiet water. It had rained the night before and so it was cloudy. This made me more tired than I thought it would. Sleep had helped my stiff neck the day before but the kayaking, with less back support, seemed to set it back a little. We rested with lunch and some street shopping afterward. It also rained and hailed during lunch.

Later we visited the Kawuneeche Visitor Center in Rocky Mountain National Park, and saw a bull moose just off the road along the way.

Rocky Mountain National Park, CO. From Medicine Bow curve, Peggy, Max, and I hiked out on a trail that seemed to indicate it continued on for 35 miles to the Medicine Bow Wilderness, where we spent the early part of our vacation. We climbed gently for a ways above tree line with beautiful views of the Never Summer Range. This was somewhere above 11,500 ft. As we rounded a bend to a ridge, the trail ran out. We did however get a wider vista of the Mummy Range and more alpine tundra. We returned the way we came.

Rocky Mountain National Park, CO. From the Alpine Visitor Center, Peggy, Max, and I hiked up and back to the rocky knoll at 12,500ft. Along the way we got a close up view of a marmot who was under the trail in a culvert. The views from the top were great. The clouds kept changing the scene from sunny to cloudy and things in between. The steps from my last time here had been replaced by nice stone ones.

Rocky Mountain National Park, CO. From Trail Ridge Rd., Peggy, Max, and I went to the Mushroom Rock, high on the ridge; this was perhaps around 12,300 ft in elevation. The temperature was about 53 F and there was a breeze going that kept it cool. The winds in the winter here get to 150mph, and the shapes of the rocks surely supported that measurement. We went further a ways to another set of rocks which had a marker on top, dedicated to a former park superintendent. We heard, then saw a Pika really close. Views back to the Alpine Visitor Center and the Never Summer Range were on one side, the Mummy Range on another, the big Thompson River Valley on another, and finally Longs Peak on the other.

After we'd returned to the car and got down the road a ways, we saw a herd of elk that were slowly crossing the road. The were fairly tame, and allowing of us to get some close-up shots from the car.

After dinner, walking around in Estes Park, watching Max at the pool, I noticed in the mirror that my neck wasn't straight. There's a definite lean to the right.

Glenwood Springs, CO. In the main or original attraction of the town, Peggy, Max, and I splashed around going back and forth from the large warm pool, to the water slides, back to the warm pool, into the therapy pool, and all over again, we were there for about 2 hours.

Later we drove toward Grand Lake, stopping by to checkout what Vail was all about. The Village at Vail seemed to be a completely planned place, like Disney World or a shopping mall. It was nice to look at. We bought candy at a candy store. Grand Lake was completely different. While not exactly run down, the town of Grand Lake had much less of the glitter and little of the planning--Grand Lake was more organic.

My neck was stiff and it was difficult to turn to see things on my left side. This may have been related to some perceived back pain after the race on Saturday.

Glenwood Springs, CO. From Wulfson Rd., at about 5,850 ft. elevation) I got on a bicycle trail that took me to W 8th St., and another trail that ended very quickly 0.25 miles later at Sayer (?) Park. I turned around from there to cross the river on 8th Street, and got on the Glenwood Spring trail going upstream. Taking that past the high school, I used a gravel trail to loop around, and to get back. When I was climbing the trail up river, I felt slow but tired; it was a little redeeming in that despite my slow pace, I was able to out run a feeble but determined elderly cyclist.

Peggy, Max, and I rented bicycles and rode downstream to 6th St. in Glenwood Springs, from the Bair Ranch area off of I-70. We were told that I-70 is the most expensive stretch of interstate highway in the country. There were numerous elevated sections which the trail took us under. The cliffs of the canyon, cut by the Colorado River, were mesmerizing and beautiful. It was 91 F (but dry). Though mostly downhill, a 200 ft elevation drop, this ride took the energy out of us. There was one smallish hill before the town of No Name, and we all crawled up it. We got out of breath easily. The ending elevation was about 5,800 ft.

Later, after relaxing a little while, we had fun at the Glenwood Springs Adventure Park. To get there we rode a gondola up about 1,000 ft. Above the town. There we started with a mountain roller coaster in which the driver gets a brake to control a car going down a track. This was quite fun and Max rode with me. We also did things like ride a big 3G swing that suspended us out over the canyon cliffs, ride swings that swung us over the same cliffs, played laser tag, did a maze, climbed a rock wall about 40 ft., and hiked through a cave (what is being logged)neither a guide.

Mesa Verde National Park, near Cortez, CO. I had intended for Peggy, Max and I to visit this park on Tuesday, but got things mixed-up when scheduling hotel reservations. We first stopped by to view the Cliff Palace from above. After that we took the formal tour of Balcony House. There was lots of good exposure on the cliff faces when we climbed ladders. Squeezing through small openings in the interior was cool too. The tour was nice and informative. It had been about 15 years since I last came; the year that I did the Ride Across the Rockies, starting in Cortez. The guide's narrative had changed significantly in that earlier there was doubt that the Pueblo people were the original builders, and that they used to speculate the natives had built their homes there to be safe from more hostile neighbors. The current explanations, backed up by more archeological finds on the mesa, were that a thriving agrarian culture lived on the mountain top for centuries before moving on, and used the cliff dwellings for ceremonies.

Later in the day, having missed the opportunity to hang around in Durango, we drove north through beautiful country. We crossed the mountains and made a quick stop in Telluride; very much a Switzerland-like place in appearance. We eventually ended up late in the evening in Glenwood Springs, CO.

RMOC 2014 US Classic Championsips on the Round Mountain map. I jogged to the start. I felt physically better than the day before though I noticed a touch of sciatica and tightness in my right hamstring after the race yesterday. This went away with the warm-up. The assembly area at the M Lazy C Ranch was about 8,400 ft. In elevation and the start was closer to or above 8,500 ft.

RMOC 2014 US Classic Championsips on the Round Mountain map. I tried to make some adjustments today-some of this worked but not always. One thing I tried to do was to adjust to the right of what my compass was telling me to do. This worked on the first control and a couple of others. However, on the second control I ended up way to the right of where I was supposed to be. I fumbled around searching more to the right and beyond where I should have been, finding several trail-o controls before correcting. This was a +4 minute error.

On the third control, I was right of where I should have been when crossing the road figured this out and was able to reinforce it at the fence crossing. My route took me near a campground which I went around, but a small dog chased me. Fortunately, I spiked the control.

On the fourth control, I aimed to the right again and thought I knew my position at an aspen/reentrant crossing. On the approach, I found a reentrant just before the one with the control, and I went down it nearly to the fence. It hen had to run back up the correct reentrant. This was a +2 minute error. I must have missed it by only a little bit on my initial pass.

I went around to the right for the 5th control, a little hesitantly but I did ultimately spike it. The sixth control was similar though I went more directly toward it, reading features along the way.

For #7 I went directly toward it, read the two boulders about 100m before the the control, then missed to the right, getting drawn off by the much bigger boulders. I lost close to a minute on this.

For #8, I ran across the field, spiking the control. For #9, I found myself off to the right when crossing the road in the field. I remember the intermittent trail coming up early but thinking my bearing was good, I followed a line of rocks to the wrong control. I wandered back and forth, then went higher. I saw a 2m rocky knoll but wasn't sure it was mine since it was so much to the left of my earlier attack. I saw others hesitantly approaching, including Steve Gregg, and I turned to it, getting there just before Steve. This was about a 4.75 minute error.

Going to #10, I wanted to put ground between Steve and myself since Steve started after me. Having rested in my wanderings, I was able to pull ahead, but more importantly, I was able to spike the control. Still concerned about Steve being nearby, I pushed toward #11 swiftly at first. When climbing the blandly mapped hillside with some rock on it, I slowed, but kept going on to spike the control.

I ran quickly out of #11 hoping that I wouldn't give away the control position to Steve. I found myself on the knoll farther from the fence than I had wanted to be so I corrected. As I passed the long straight fence, it did seem clear to me that there was a problem with the magnetic north/south lines on the map. I pushed on and spiked #12. Going almost straight toward #13, I saw Peggy ahead, coming from my right to my left, before the reentrant so I crossed behind her and got around the aspens. I passed her when she popped out of the aspens, and ran to my control. It was easy to find and see from far off. I hit #13 fairly quickly, passing an older runner in the possess. I ran somewhat hard after the Go control but the bumps were awkward for me, and I didn't want to injure myself.--I didn't go all-out.

Overall, I think I had about 12 minutes of error, and ran 5.4 miles. It was a disappointing end of the weekend orienteering for me.

Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO. A storm was threatening as we took off for the nearest dune. We saw some lightning but the storm appeared to be heading away from us so we went on. We got over the creek and partway up before the rain fell. The wet sand made it easier to climb. Unlike last time when Peggy and I took one step forward and one sliding back, we just moved upward stepping in the footprints of those who'd gone before us. The rain stopped but the wind was still brisk. We took a fairly direct route; more so than last time. Peggy thought we ought to turn back with about 200 vertical feet to go because our time was limited. We made it to the top but it was like being sand blasted up there. +30mph sustained winds were whipping sand that was stinging our legs. Peggy and Max got sand in their eyes. For a while, they didn't want to move or stay there. We moved down but the wind kept up force, blowing into our faces. Eventually the lower we got, the wind was less fierce but it was still troublesome all the way to the creek. The conditions took a lot of the fun out of galumphing down the soft sand. It took effort to get back too. We got sand everywhere and it locked-up both of our cameras for a while. Peggy's remained locked-up and worse, she was hurting for the next hour in the car.

C • wind 2

Green Y - Splits

Event: 2014 US Classic Championships
 

Rocky Mountain Orienteering Club (RMOC) 2014 US Classic Championsips on the Badger Gultch map. Walk to the start with Peggy and Bill Langton. The assembly area at the M Lazy C Ranch was about 8,400 ft. In elevation and the start was closer to or above 8,500 ft.

RMOC 2014 US Classic Championsips on the Badger Gultch map. I jogged some circles in the terrain near the start.

RMOC 2014 US Classic Championsips on the Badger Gultch map. I had a tough day. My start was fine but on long legs across relatively featureless terrain I didn't do well. A suspected problem with the north-south lines may have contributed to my misses but I use all the information available to set things right either. My misses amounted to 10.5 to 11.5 minutes of error. My GPS track was 6.0 miles, or just short of 10k for a 7.5k course. I spiked the first 2 controls but went to the left of #3 and past it by 250m. In the better contoured and detailed areas of #4-7 I spiked the controls. Hugging the hillside and not using the field led to a 5 minute error on #8. I was off to the left on #9 and #10. Going to #11, I was off to the left again, but I corrected at the ditch, and knoll. With short attacks, I hit #12 & #13 pretty well. I was a little to the left again on #13 and went over the knoll--then didn't correct for it. The last controls to the finish were okay. Altogether, I'm surprised that I placed as high as I did.

Green Y - Splits

Colorado Springs, CO. Max and I went to Trampoline World Gymnastics for open gym time. There were a variety of things from trampolines with harnesses, trampolines with different nearby sized pads, to even ones with nearby foam pits to jump into or swing into from a trapeze line. I got to do a few tricks but didn't push it much. I was content bouncing 4-5 ft. Into the air, and glad that it didn't nauseate me too much. I did jump into the foam pit, bounce up from my butt and back, spin, and eventually do flips onto 3 ft. mats. Max was more flexible doing flips on the trampoline, the mats, and the pit. He also started learning a trick to bounce off of his back repeatedly and walk vertically upward on a tall nearby mat while horizontal. The jumping often seemed like a low effort workout but I would find myself breathing hard when I got off the trampolines, and I felt weak/rubbery legged.

Later in the day we went to the Olympic Training Center for lunch, then to Cripple Creek to tour the Mollie Kathleen Mine, a gold ore mine. Both were interesting. The miners had a very hard life, and the athletes living in the training center seemed to have a fairly nice one.

Colorado Springs, CO. Peggy, Max, and I hiked the trails around Garden of the Gods. We started from the North and Main parking lot. Nearby storm. Clouds kept the air cool and the light changing. The sky made for a lot of great contrasts with red rocks.

Earlier in the day we waited out a storm in Jason's Deli (recommended) in downtown Denver on the 16th Street Mall. It was a nice way to see some of the city.

East of Laramie, WY on the Diamond Bay map. Warmup jog to the start.

LROC Laramie Daze, Daze 6, One Cowboy Relay, east of Laramie, WY on the Diamond Bay map. This motala was a fun end to what could be the last of the summer week adventures put on by Mikell Platt in the Medicine Bow Wilderness east of Laramie, WY. There were 4 initial loops run in different orders by competitors, and a 5th common finish loop for all. I ran my loops as follows:

Loop D 1.2k
Loop B 0.8k
Loop A 1.1k
Loop C 0.8k
Finish Loop 2.4k

I ran okay starting Loop D with Ted Good and Troy Bozarth, coming in 2nd for the trio. After that, I had no idea of what place I was in until I saw others on the last loop. I ran okay with slight bobbles on 2 controls in the first 4 loops: I stopped early at the wrong boulder going to the second control on Loop B, got partly drawn to the wrong control going to the second control on Loop A. On the last loop, I got passed making another bobble, leaving #2 like I was leaving #3. I started catching up to Clint Morse and Troy but at each of the controls afterward, my transition after punching was awkwardly slow and in the later controls, I'd lose ground. For the route choice on leg 4 of the Final loop, I went over the top through the saddle. In the end, I just was too tired, perhaps from the day before, or not sleeping well, or the 8,100 ft. altitude. It was a lovely setting with picturesque fields, scattered boulders and knolls in patchy forest. I finished the course in 10th behind Ted, Troy, Clint and others.

East of Laramie, WY on the Diamond Bay map. Warm down back to the start to pickup maps, then back to the finish.

From Fiddler's Green in Englewood, CO, to Clinton St. Peggy and I went to see the Doobie Brothers and Boston together in concert. It was a lot of fun. I'd never seen either group live before. In some ways it was campy 1970s stuff; the crowd was generally older than the usual current concert goers are. We walked back to our hotel afterward.

Daze 6, One Cowboy Relay - Splits

LROC Laramie Daze, east of Laramie, WY on the Pelican Bay East map. Warm-up on the road and to the start. I felt better than I had earlier this week, perhaps getting more used to the altitude.

LROC Laramie Daze, east of Laramie, WY on the Pelican Bay East map. This was a rather nice area. On the initial long leg, I slowly moved up until I felt I was going too fast. I found myself near Ted Good and Troy Bozarth again. Going to #3, Ted went off to the right across the sage. I climbed high to the left near Troy until I lost sight of him. Using the open area, I got close and cut right with a different Rocky Mountain Orienteering Club (RMOC) member who'd caught and passed me, to spike the control. I learned later that those going to the right to #2 generally missed. I was pretty good navigating and chasing the RMOC guy to #4 and spiking that. Going to #5, the RMOC guy I was with dropped left early. I ran the hillside and saw Troy running the ridge to my right. I got there just before Troy and never saw the other RMOC guy until the race was over. Troy passed me on the climb to #5. We closed in on Tom Svbodney. Reaching the ridge, I was a little to the left, Troy in the middle, and Tom to the right as we converged to the control. We went past Pelican Bay, full with water toward #6 with Troy mostly leading Tom close by, and me falling back a little. We saw few others for the next several controls but did see Wyatt around control #12. I fumbled my bearing leaving #12 with #15 in sight and lost more ground. Troy started pulling away from Tom and I sometimes gained back ground but by then we were each just working to finish in our places. It was fun to race across such nice terrain. The mass start certainly helped the overall pace since there was a trail of people just about the whole way.

Vedauwoo Rocks, WY. We started out with the Riley's hiking the box canyon. Peggy, Max, and I climbed to the right and up to a different saddle. From there, Max and I climbed further back to the left for some great overlooks. There were a lot of cool boulders and cave-like overhangs. Rain was threatening so we hurried down. We still got a great view and great experience.

Daze 5, Long - Splits

LROC Laramie Daze, east of Laramie, WY on the Brown's Landing map. I mostly walked to the start with few jogs when it wasn't too steep. I was with the Riley's. Wyatt took a shortcut straight up to cut off a switchback and I followed him up. The woods were scraggly and I was worried that we'd be racing over it. We did not.

LROC Laramie Daze, east of Laramie, WY on the Brown's Landing map. This was a physical and technical course. We started at about 8,700 ft. I did okay but fell apart at the end. I hit controls 1-7 pretty well. On number 8. I missed and when I wandered up to the trail I relocated and went right to it. A crowd had caught me at 8 so it was mob orienteering. After that. I made up time at #9, pulled up short going to 10, and wandered about with others at 11. Fortunately, I found #11 first. Unfortunately, I came out of it in a funny way taking me up a hill in not so nice woods going to #11. I was behind Ted Good again, Clint Morse, and Svbodney. I passed Clint on the downhill to 14, then messed up at 16. Steve Greg got ahead an I chased to 17. I lost confidence in which knoll we were at so I turned with him away from the control. 4 others passed me.

Daze 4, Long - Splits

Laramie Range Orienteering Club (LROC), Laramie Daze, east of Laramie, WY on the Remarkable Flats map. Though the Daze started 2 days back, today was the first for Peggy and I. It was a Billygoat event, though a pleasantly shorter one. I warmed-up on Forest Rd 708, by heading out and back to Rte. 210 and back. As I returned, just about everyone had disappeared, walking the other direction to the mass start area.

LROC Laramie Daze, east of Laramie, WY on the Remarkable Flats map. We started the RMGoat right a 9am. The terrain was wonderful with oddly shaped scattered boulders in mostly open terrain. Sometimes the smell of sage was in the air. I felt that I was running a conservative pace but soon found myself not far behind Wyatt Riley and a few others. A group of racers set off on a bad bearing to the left of me but slowly converged. The first few controls were not difficult. It took a while getting used to the map since many abundant boulders showed up as small boulders on the map. Jan ingebritsen passed me on the way to #4 after he got mixed in the crowd taking the long way to #1. We were running at around 8,300 ft. elevation and I had little time to get used to it. As we climbed I started dropping places, but overall it wasn't that bad running in the thinner air. Tom Svbodney passed me going to #6 but I passed him back later. On the way to #10, I had to take a nature break and lost 2 minutes. I wasn't so clean on the short legs after that but didn't make any big errors either. The race seemed longer than I'd anticipated. I walked some of the hill going to the Go control. However, I ran harder into the finish as I heard footsteps approaching from behind.

Daze 3, RMGoat - Splits

Boulder, CO. After a good sleep and relaxed morning, Peggy, Max, and. I took the Bluebell Baird Trail from Baseline Rd. to the 1st/2nd Flatiron Trail that goes between Flatiron1 and 2. Max had been forecasting a boring vacation after time at the beach last weekend and even before. However the sleep and the interesting landscape made him game, as Peggy said. He became enthusiastic as we went along except for when he suddenly got bit or stung by a flying bug. He immediately said we should turn around and head back, expecting to start swelling up as he does for bee stings. We sat a while and he was soon ready to proceed. After that, the trail got steeper but even more scenic. Max said it was a breeze. After spending a while up top on the rocks, we came down using much of the same route but branching off thought the pine forest and grassland on the Chautauqua Trail. To round out e Dagmar we had lunch at Lindsey's Deli (I recommend. It) on Pearl St., explored the shops, saw some street performances, and ate ice cream.

Event: Laramie Daze
 

45 sit-ups in the hotel near Denver after a day of traveling.