Goodbye San Juans

views from handies peak (14,053ft)






left the san juans today - well actaully left silverton 2 days ago but drove past the mountains on the way to grand junction (a laundry stop) today.
had the privelage of course de-marking with bob boeder on saturday.
he's the author of 'beyiond the marathon' and hardrock fever'.
is ex-army, has a phd in history is a trained EMT/ambo and works part time at 'the old mill' giving tours.
so quite an interesting person!!
felt the altitude for the first time that day - mainly on the way down.
i presume this is because i spent so much tinme >12000ft.
when i got to handies peak i put my oxygen probe on then started doing star jumps to see what my o2 numbers were with exercise.
for the recoprd they were high 70s.
wish i knew bob was an author before this - something tells me this craziness may be a part of one of his books someday.

sunday 8th: 1hr run camp bird rd then 1hr walk cascade and box canyon falls
monday: 5hr course marking virginius pass 16km 4400ft climb
tuesday: no walk/run
wednesday: 2hr run bear ck trail: 300-400ft drop offs!! 14km 2600ft climb (to 11000). went to course briefing.
thursday: 3hr walk oak ck trail 1800ft climb
friday: race start!!
saturday: 5.5hr 4300ft climb to handies peak via grizzly gulch (my first 14-er!) then american-grouse pass then back down via grouse gulch.
sunday: 4hr walking ice park trail and albany loop trail
total about 16000ft ascent/descent over the week - now just need to do twice that in 2 days!!