Summer plans are coming together…sort of. I really wanted to spend the whole summer camping, but since I need to pay my bills I happily agreed to teach a class at the community college in June. I love teaching and I will get to see some of my past students. Plus, I get to teach my favorite age group – high school students! I’ll be teaching Culture and Psychology to the early college high school students at Gateway Community College where I work as an adjunct professor. The travel is starting in June anyways and July 2nd I leave for the rest of the summer.
Here is the basic schedule for the summer.
June 11th – June 15th Flagstaff for the Big Pine race.
June 25th leave for Western States where I will pace Caroline Boller. Back in Phoenix by 11am on June 29th (to teach at 11:30am).
July 2nd leave for Norman, OK. My family is having a family reunion the weekend of July 4th at my parent’s home in Norman.
July 6th drive to Telluride. Hopefully we will get a spot at Town Park. We will leave on July 10th for Silverton, but we are volunteering at Hardrock in Telluride.
July 10th through July 17th we will camp outside of Silverton. July 17th I will be racing Kendall Mountain as my first race of the Sky Running Series. After the race we will hot foot it to Aspen. We are actually staying in Basalt because it was the only place I could find a hotel room we could afford. On July 18th I am racing the Audi Power of 4 50K in Aspen/Snowmass.
After I finish this race we will go as fast as possible to Copper Mountain so that Enzo can ride the Barn, the indoor BMX park that Woodward has at Copper. It is only open on the weekends so we won’t have a lot of opportunity to get to the Barn.
After this we will eventually make our way to Colorado Springs so that Norm can fly home to Phoenix. (Somebody needs to be making some money!) We are meeting with friends to camp (not sure where) the weekend of July 24th.
July 27th I hope my friends in Denver will let us spend a few days at their house to do laundry! Also, Enzo wants to try an indoor park there.
After this the goal is to hit Breckenridge so Enzo can try the new skate park there and maybe hit up Frisco (we loved it there last year, but it was a quick trip). Maybe another stop in Telluride?
July 31st I have to be in Utah to race the Tushars race. Norm is going to meet us there.
August 3rd we hit the road again. We will be making out way to Washington State for Angels Staircase. We want to get there early so we can take a visit to Canada. Ava has a friend in Canada and we will be so close… (I just found of the kids passports are expired and so now I have to take an extra $300 out of the budget to renew their passports and hope they arrive so Norm can bring them to us in Utah.)
After the race we will start driving home. We need to be home by August 11th so Sinjin can celebrate his birthday on August 12th with his friends.
I am super excited about this trip! Although I can’t believe how crazy the schedule is for the trip!
Here is the basic schedule for the summer.
June 11th – June 15th Flagstaff for the Big Pine race.
June 25th leave for Western States where I will pace Caroline Boller. Back in Phoenix by 11am on June 29th (to teach at 11:30am).
July 2nd leave for Norman, OK. My family is having a family reunion the weekend of July 4th at my parent’s home in Norman.
July 6th drive to Telluride. Hopefully we will get a spot at Town Park. We will leave on July 10th for Silverton, but we are volunteering at Hardrock in Telluride.
July 10th through July 17th we will camp outside of Silverton. July 17th I will be racing Kendall Mountain as my first race of the Sky Running Series. After the race we will hot foot it to Aspen. We are actually staying in Basalt because it was the only place I could find a hotel room we could afford. On July 18th I am racing the Audi Power of 4 50K in Aspen/Snowmass.
After I finish this race we will go as fast as possible to Copper Mountain so that Enzo can ride the Barn, the indoor BMX park that Woodward has at Copper. It is only open on the weekends so we won’t have a lot of opportunity to get to the Barn.
After this we will eventually make our way to Colorado Springs so that Norm can fly home to Phoenix. (Somebody needs to be making some money!) We are meeting with friends to camp (not sure where) the weekend of July 24th.
July 27th I hope my friends in Denver will let us spend a few days at their house to do laundry! Also, Enzo wants to try an indoor park there.
After this the goal is to hit Breckenridge so Enzo can try the new skate park there and maybe hit up Frisco (we loved it there last year, but it was a quick trip). Maybe another stop in Telluride?
July 31st I have to be in Utah to race the Tushars race. Norm is going to meet us there.
August 3rd we hit the road again. We will be making out way to Washington State for Angels Staircase. We want to get there early so we can take a visit to Canada. Ava has a friend in Canada and we will be so close… (I just found of the kids passports are expired and so now I have to take an extra $300 out of the budget to renew their passports and hope they arrive so Norm can bring them to us in Utah.)
After the race we will start driving home. We need to be home by August 11th so Sinjin can celebrate his birthday on August 12th with his friends.
I am super excited about this trip! Although I can’t believe how crazy the schedule is for the trip!
Working with Enzo to plan the camping/running/bmx park visiting trip this summer.
To get ready for mountain racing I have been trying to run as much vert as possible. This past weekend I made my first trip to Flagstaff for training. The weather in Phoenix has been pretty nice, but the end of last week it went from nice to HELL! I decided to go to Flagstaff on Sunday to run Elden Lookout Road. I like this run because it is all up for 5 miles (maybe 5.5) and non-technical. Just a nice place to run without thinking. I have run there before but got to the road by taking trail from Buffalo Park. I wasn’t sure where I was going and was trying to find directions when I came across an article saying that the road was closed for resurfacing. Not what you want to read as you are walking out the door!
I was trying to be nice and offered to take Enzo and his friend with me so they could ride their bikes at the skate parks while I was running. We go up pretty often for this so Enzo knows his away around and has friends in Flagstaff. Unfortunately Enzo’s friend was running late. Instead of starting my run at 8am I was starting at 9am. It was hot!
There were signs saying “road closed” and “no bikes” but there were other cars parked at the start of the gravel road so I went ahead and decided to run. I saw a handful of mountain bikers, a couple runners and a few hikers. A lot less traffic than normal, but people were definitely still using the road.
A new addition since the last time I was here are mile markers! Someone used paper plates to make mile markers. Not sure how long they will last, seems like a good rain could ruin them, but they were nice to have. They were posted on both sides so you could see them going up and coming down.
I was trying to be nice and offered to take Enzo and his friend with me so they could ride their bikes at the skate parks while I was running. We go up pretty often for this so Enzo knows his away around and has friends in Flagstaff. Unfortunately Enzo’s friend was running late. Instead of starting my run at 8am I was starting at 9am. It was hot!
There were signs saying “road closed” and “no bikes” but there were other cars parked at the start of the gravel road so I went ahead and decided to run. I saw a handful of mountain bikers, a couple runners and a few hikers. A lot less traffic than normal, but people were definitely still using the road.
A new addition since the last time I was here are mile markers! Someone used paper plates to make mile markers. Not sure how long they will last, seems like a good rain could ruin them, but they were nice to have. They were posted on both sides so you could see them going up and coming down.
Paper plate mile markers on Elden Lookout Road.
Making it to mile 5 is amazing because the road levels out! You are almost done – sort of. I decided to run to all 3 towers. I still needed some miles so I took a road in between two of the towers that looped back to south most (west most?) towers. A little not really trail, but kind of a trail running and I found this cool shelter. I also saw some deer (?) run across the road in front of me! This happened the last time I was here too. I snapped a few pictures, but they might be hard to see.
I still had some time to run so instead of heading down the mountain I decided to take a trail (turned out to be the Sunset trail). It was so beautiful that before I realized it I had run downhill a lot. Crap! Now I have to run uphill a lot when I turn around. Lots of mountain bikers on this trail and no real place to go to when they need to get around you. The trail was single rack with a drop off that was pretty loose. I know because my foot slid down a few times.
I still had some time to run so instead of heading down the mountain I decided to take a trail (turned out to be the Sunset trail). It was so beautiful that before I realized it I had run downhill a lot. Crap! Now I have to run uphill a lot when I turn around. Lots of mountain bikers on this trail and no real place to go to when they need to get around you. The trail was single rack with a drop off that was pretty loose. I know because my foot slid down a few times.
The view from about mile 4 of Elden Lookout Road.
The very top was destroyed by fire. This is where I saw the deer. can you spot it?
Just a little more and I'll be at the top!
On the way I realized there a lot of trails that cross Elden Lookout. I would love to go back and explore. My run ended up being 14.6 miles in 2:22:48 with 2,767 feet of gain. I’m planning to go back next weekend for more running. Before I leave for the summer I want to do Weatherford to Humphreys and back (if anyone wants to join me).
I have also made a decision about fall racing. I was on the fence about trying to qualify for the Olympic Trials. This was my goal when I first started running. If I decided to go for it this fall that would mean no 100 mile races. In the end I decided since the window is closing in January, I should go for it. I will run my first attempt November 1st at NYC in AZ marathon by Startline racing.
I have also made a decision about fall racing. I was on the fence about trying to qualify for the Olympic Trials. This was my goal when I first started running. If I decided to go for it this fall that would mean no 100 mile races. In the end I decided since the window is closing in January, I should go for it. I will run my first attempt November 1st at NYC in AZ marathon by Startline racing.
Found this cool shelter while I was exploring.
Fun times exploring the trails.
Took Enzo and his friend to the dirt jumps at Fort Tuthill
Enzo reluctantly gives the dirt jumps a go. With no brakes I hear the end of the jump was a little sketch.
