Comments = motivation!

I got a comment a couple days ago from a member of the Incline Club asking when I was going to head on down to the Springs to run with them again. That was all the nudge I needed to get up at 5am and drive to Manitou!

I arrived at the park planning to run to Barr Camp, but some of the folks were doing to do a 3-2-1 from the top (drive to the summit, go down-and-up 3, then down-and-up 2, then down-and-up 1). I decided that if I’m going to get altitude, I may as well get a LOT, so I went with them.

I haven’t been running much, and haven’t been above 10K feet this year, so I told Tracey before we started that I was going to do down-and-up 3, and then have french fries at the top. So that’s what I did

The rocks at the top are pretty bad, I wouldn’t really call it running. Tracey and Darrell left me pretty quickly, but I caught up with them shortly before 2 miles. I passed them, and told them they’d catch me on the way back up. I hit the turn-around point (A-frame) in 43 minutes. I turned around and WHOOSH the climb hit me. They caught up with me with about a mile and a half to go. I was definitely struggling. With a half mile to go, I stopped just to breathe. I looked at my watch, it read 1:37. I reasoned that I could do a half mile in 8 minutes to finish in 1:45.

HAHAHAHAHHAH.

It’s pretty humbling when you can’t even pull off a 16 minute mile for a half mile, but I couldn’t. I reached the summit again at 1:50.

I went inside, not feeling too bad. I got my french fries and a soda, and met up with another runner from the club. He’d run from the bottom (just shy of 13 miles) in 3:37 – his second-best time ever.

We hung out at the top while I patiently waited for the rest of the group. Eventually Mike finished – he completed the whole 3-2-1 for the first time ever – and we reminisced about the time I cut my hand open on the trail. It was crazy to think about all the snow there’d been that day – we saw none today. Then we decided to get our blood oxygen levels checked. Mine was at 80, which didn’t excite the EMT. I’d actually be interested to know what it is normally in Denver.

Eventually the whole gang met up and we headed down the mountain. I feel a little out of sorts today, but I figured that was a hard workout and I’m really glad I did it. I love the comradery of the group – honestly, the riding up to the top is great as everyone is sharing stories, etc, and you can’t beat the scenery.

It’s been a long time since I went to Manitou on a Sunday – I’ll admit twisting my ankle in the winter made me a bit nervous, so I taped my ankles today – but I definitely know I need to get back to making it a priority!

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