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Weekend Jaunt of S-ness

3/18/2013

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This past weekend I had the opportunity to revisit a stretch of terrain I hadn't seen in just over a year. Originally, I was going to use the time to lead a different group going longer back to where they could reach their starting point as a long loop, but they opted to do a point to point type run instead. 

I decided I would go ahead and do the run I planned, despite the necessity of four wheeling into the starting point. Since I was going solo, and the start point was quite a bit from a paved road, I took it pretty easy, especially over the rocky stretches. I certainly didn't want a turned ankle - or worse - several miles from the truck, and that being 10-12 miles from a paved road.
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The day started beautifully, and as I left my side of town to go run on the other, this is what was greeting me. The sun was just about to rise, and I was on my way. 

I had extended an open invitation to any to join me, so I went to the meetup location to see if any would bite. None did. Their loss. The ones that were doing the point to point were excited and ready to go. I was facetiously asked if I was going to provide any food at my truck, which would be along their route.

After thinking a second, I realized I should have. So I popped to the store and bought some Ruffles: the perfect run food.

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I dropped the chips at the top of Sullivan Canyon - where the group would climb after winding about 10 miles up Eldorado Canyon. That was about 1 km shy of where I parked (view at right). I didn't know that they wouldn't follow the path I expected and had I been waiting to guide them from this point ("guide" being loosely defined, as I would have been doing so from the rear), I would have waited forever; they never saw the chips, nor where I parked.

Things worked out well; I got a beautiful run, they got a great run too, and some wild critter got a great snack of Ruffles.

I sallied forth on my own and did a nice out and back. At one point, the rocks were, shall we say, challenging? I was moving very slowly at this point, since I was about 6 km from the truck. No fun to hobble that far on a bum ankle. Also, there is no cell service there, so getting out would have been my only recourse. Or wait for someone to find me.

When I do solo runs, I have a planned route and I stick with it. That way, if something happens, someone knows my route, so I should be found. At least my carcass would be. Funny thing, it was the last time I did this route that I screwed up about as many times as one can, and come back out. If you want to read that go here.

Below are photos and the elevation profile. It was a different profile than I typically run, in that the overall descent was in the first half of the run and the climb on the second. It didn't matter much as I classify myself as a SUDS runner: 
  • I like beer after a run;
  • It's an acronym for Same Up Down Speed

In my case, that speed is slow.

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I was out for a couple of hours, and during that whole time, I heard not a single engine of any kind, nor saw another person. It was a total "S" run: Slow, Short, Solo, Scenic,  and Silent. Well, except for my harsh breathing and occasional admonishment to keep my eyes on the terrain, and not the scenery.
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Doing It Wrong

2/20/2012

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I did it wrong. Over and over and over. Not sure which part I did right – well, maybe getting home again –but other than that, Saturday's escapades read like a Litany Of Wrongness. On the plus side, of which none was my doing, so as to not detract from my Doing It Wrong, animal activity abounded. I saw birds everywhere, evidence of deer, rabbits, various rodents and this Big Boy/Girl:
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That, mis amigos, is a puma print. Since it snowed on Wednesday, and I was doing my Thing o' Wrongness on Saturday morning, s/he must have sauntered up the trail sometime Thursday or Friday. Cool as all get out, but it did make me rubberneck a bit more than usual.
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Classic 1991 Specialized Stumpjumper M2. Still going strong 21 years later.
The first wrong thing I did, I did even before setting out; I forgot to eat breakfast (#1). I had every intention of eating a good breakfast, but my family was leaving roughly the same time I was, and it sorta got lost in the shuffle. I did have coffee though. It counts in my book, but not enough.

Along the same lines, I forgot to bring adequate food along for my adventure (#2). A single 300-calorie PowerBar isn't enough for what turned out to be a 4+ hour event, even for my skinny butt. On the bright side, I did bring along enough water. However, I didn't drink enough of what I brought, bringing the Wrong-tally to 3, and counting.

I had decided to do a little more exploration in the Eldorado Canyon area, however, I didn't tell anyone specifically where I was going (#4). Add to that, the fact my family left town not to return until Monday night. If anything had happened to me, I wouldn't have been missed for nigh on 60 hours or so (#5).

Keeping up? So far, five tactical errors, and I hadn't even started the truck yet.

Speaking of the truck, I descended a 4x4 track that was snow-and-mud covered to get to my intended start point. I didn't really have a lot of options to get back out. (Two alternates, I think. Both potentially equally treacherous.) The snow and mud on the departing ascent might be more than just a little difficult (#6).

My intended plan was to ride my bike to investigate. The bike I haven't been on more than twice in ten years (#7). My helmet was ill-fitting and painful; I took it off for part of my ride to alleviate the nascent headache (#8 & #9).

Once I got going, I changed my plan of where an how far I was going to ride (#10). A bit further along, I changed it again, and went where I had no idea the trail led (#11). Why, you are asking, did I take an unknown trail? Good question. I though it might get me to where I needed to go, but wasn't sure, because I had no map (#12), but it headed in the correct general direction, and I was running on empty. (See wrongs #1 and #2.) That particular path was a motorcycle track. Anyone try to ride up a motorcycle track covered with 1" of mud when not covered with 2" snow (#13)? Personally, I think riding a bike up a motorcycle trail is a Wrong all on its own. With a motor, up means straight up: follow contour lines – are you kidding? Yeah, runners can follow the motortrack for short distances, bikes - nah.

As for getting me home, sure, I could use the GPS on my phone to locate me and the truck, despite the lack of cell service, as the GPS uses satellite. But the phone has to be charged for that to work (#14). All that aside, I wasn't able to do a lot of riding up the trail, and – here's a protip for you all – bike shoes, even 18-year old classics with laces – don't have a lot of traction in snow and mud. With >1000' gain in just two miles (see below), making those two miles took me seemingly forever. The Hills Were Alive With The Sound Of Cursing.
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I did finally make it back to the car. I was exhausted and thought seriously about sleeping a few hours before attempting to leave. I desperately needed some fuel input into my system, and reached for the Recoverite that would alleviate the twitchies in my leg muscles (calf and quad this time - special!). Alas, I had forgotten that, too. (#15).

Needless to say, I survived, and I was able to glean some positives out of the experience: (a) The route is a viable run route. Rocky in parts, steep in a few, but overall, for a distance maven, enjoyable. (b) I only spent 8 miles of the 14 total in the saddle. My butt-bones thank me.  (c) I hopefully learned something from this.

To sum: Do as I Say, Not as I Did, and if you yearn to sojourn solo like I do:
  1. Tell someone your start point, your route and your ETA to the startpoint. 
  2. Do not deviate from your planned route. See something interesting? Do it another day.
  3. Take enough nutrition for twice the expected distance and duration.
  4. Take a phone and make sure it's fully charged.

As my curses and self-recriminations echoed off the canyon (who knew how many times I could drop F-bombs in a row?), I realized it's good for me to go alone. There isn't a person on the earth who would have enjoyed my company for more than the first mile/15 minutes. Doing it this way, at least some will enjoy my route, though. If you want to see any of the routes I've found check out the trail maps page on ccrunners.com and download the ccrunners_routes.kmz file. Some interesting places.
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    Just a guy out exploring the world. Former world-class never-was endurance runner.

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