Heading for the mountains...

I'm heading for the mountains bright and early tomorrow morning. Silverton, Colorado to be exact. I am looking forward to the trip for many reasons. It is a part of Colorado that I have never visited and, someday, I want to run Hardrock. I'll run a qualifying race next year so I can begin putting my name into the lottery. And, the reason I want to run Hardrock is to see all the incredible scenery. I was looking at pictures a friend of mine, who has finished many times, shared two years ago. It was during my time spent looking at the pictures that I finally realized that race has nothing to do with covering one-hundred miles. It has to do with bonds that are created with others, the suffering by oneself and others that is surely to occur during such an endeavor, and the incredible scenery one gets to experience during the run. What an incredible time that would be!

Since I'll be traveling tomorrow and not able to run, I completed a short trail run on flats this evening doing some short pick-ups with recovery in between. I took my camera with me, just in case I found something that caught my eye. Well, I did. It was a type of sunflower, I think. About 3 to 4 feet in height on a single thin stalk. I ran past it and, then, turned around to go back and take a picture. The run was pleasant and the spotty showers that occurred in the vicinity just before my run made for interesting trail conditions. I was running on everything from dry hard-pack, water puddles dispersed among the limestone slabs I ran on occasionally, and mud. There were parts of the trail where the sunlight was flickering through the tall tree canopy and shining onto the trail in a few dark sections. It had the effect of a strobe light and made it difficult to see where to put my feet on the rocky trail, at times. All in all, a great time.

I'm outta here!!!