There is gold in them hills: June

Monday, June 30, 2014

June

About 10 of us went out and scouted SJ's marathon course. Great course and awesome day. We ended up in snow and there was a rare high country tornado about 13 miles from where this photo was taken. This area is outside of Fairplay near Mt Sherman.

June was a solid month for me. I topped 200 miles for the second time this year and I reach a personal high for vertical in a month. I added 2 new 14ers to my list. I'm up to 22 peaks. Tim F and I had a great 3 day training weekend where we logged 49 miles and 13,300 vert. Fortunately the altitude slowed him down enough for me to keep up for a couple of days but by the third day he was definitely pulling me.

One of my favorite places in Colorado. Willow Lake. I'm drawn here often. Tim F and I fought through the snow and the payoff was worth it. Here is a look at the frozen lake with the Zodiac Peaks looming above.

I've recovered nicely from my injury and really feel some momentum heading into the back half of the year.

beautiful young bull moose on Gore Trail

Silver Rush 50 is coming up in 2 weeks and I'm really thinking of pushing hard and try to go sub-10 hours. It will depend on how I feel on race day. I will pace Tim F on the back 50 of Leadville while he makes an attempt for the big buckle. The Rut 50k has been in the front of my mind lately. I'd love to have a good race. I need to continue to crank the vertical. The winter snow is melting quickly and the high country is opening up. I'm so excited to get high this year. I'm planning on the 10 Mile Range traverse this upcoming weekend.

I've been inspired by so many of my friends finishing their 100 mile races this past month. I'm proud that I've been able to do some training runs with them. Their accomplishments have helped me put more of a laser focus on WRT.

Here are some more pics from June.