13,185 Feet of Fun

I know I been away a lot lately. I have had some other issues going on and taking a lot of my time. I thought I would post though what I did today.

I took off on a day trip to go over the highest mountain pass in the United States. It is called Mosquito Pass and is a 4x4 very rough pass. It took my parents and I in our trucks near 3 hours to cross. It tops out at 13,185 feet above sea level. I thought I would share some of the pictures of the day.

London Mine



A STEEP road

WWR Results

The Miramonsters (Team I was on) took 19th of 128 teams and was 5th in the Open division of 25 teams. Not too bad for just a bunch of runners out to have fun. We averaged a 8:18 pace at altitude and climbing all those hills.

My friend’s teams took 13th, 29th and 35th overall also. It was a blast to run with such a bunch of great people.

WWR 2008

This weekend was the Wild West Relay (WWR) 2008. Again this year we had a great time. No one got lost this year but we did have a bit slower time. Here is a few thoughts on my runs.
Well I didn’t die as projected so no Cubed you can’t have my chair. I was runner 6 this year for a change. My first run consisted of 3.8 miles of which 2 miles were uphill on a busy highway. It was 100 degrees at 1:30 when I took off on my run. I still did the run in 31:30 which is great for the heat.

My second run was 6.5 miles with a slight uphill finishing with a over 1 mile downhill. It was at 10:30 at night in the dark. The timing was perfect and I was able to run the whole time with one of my best running friends Cat. She and I have run together weekly for 4 years and she was on another team. We chatted and the time flew by. We got to the last mile and I felt great. I had 2 more runners ahead of me that I wanted to real in and pass and Cat said go. So I turned on the legs and pulled out the last mile of a 6.5 mile run downhill at 11:30 pm in the dark in under 6 minute pace. It was awesome to run that fast.

Our van then shuttled to Walden where we threw out sleeping bags on the group in a field. I was sleeping and suddenly heard someone yell SPRINKLERS. I hoped up and had to run with my sleeping back to not get soaked by the sprinkler system. That kind of ruined the sleep time.

My last run was at 8:30 am. I had to cover 6.7 miles. The leg started with a steep fall and then 5 miles of steady climbing to the end. I was running and had passed 3 other runners and I was also passed by 3 runners. So I was net 0 when the van gave me a shot of gu and some water. I told them see that girl ahead she is mine. They were encouraging but were laughing. I caught her about a ½ mile from the finish. They were a bit surprised but happy.

We finished our race in 27 hours and 54 minutes for 195 miles. Our average pace was 8:19 with all the mountains we climbed. Again I run with some of the best people you anyone could ever know.

Thanks to all my friends that I run with you are the best.