YOU KNOW YOU’RE HIGH UP when you breathe hard after drinking from your water bottle. What does one do after a fun Indian Creek 55K at 7,500 feet last year? Sign up for a longer race at a higher altitude, of course. And so my niece Robin and I journeyed to the southwest Colorado mountains …
Growing a Pair, and Heavy Breathing
Just one week until my next big ultra - the Sangre de Cristo 50-miler in the Colorado mountains. Average altitude: 10,000 feet, with 10,000 feet of elevation gain and loss. Why? Reasons. Last year’s Indian Creek 55K (7,000-8,000 ft) with my niece Robin turned out fine, so naturally I signed up for a longer race …
Debauched by Two Punk Kids
I ARRIVED BACK AT CAMP ALLAMUCHY exhausted, sore, soaked in sweat, and with a stomachache. I’d endured several thousand feet of elevation gain, kicked approximately 17,000 rocks, and bushwhacked the last two miles up and down ridges, one flag at a time, one very careful step at a time. I was ready to call it …
One, Two, Bungee My Shoe?
THINGS WERE GOING TOO WELL. My hiking partner and I were climbing the Abyss Lake Trail in Colorado, near Mt. Bierstadt and Mt. Evans. Seven miles into the 8.5-mile outbound leg, we were at 12,000 feet, above the treeline, walking on tricky, rocky trail. I was moving along well, with no breathing problems, only the …
