Back at it….

… the normal routine, that is. 

What might I possibly be up to after this summer? Same ole everyday stuff as everybody else- Work, class, etc. Been staying busy with college classes, a new job, and a switch up of workout routine. 

The start up and running of my biscotti 'business' sparked my interest into the business world- accounting, finance, stocks, etc. I made a switch from a science related major to business here recently, and am currently closing in on a 2-year associates from Arapahoe Community College. Didn't plan it- just so happened I took the required amount of hours needed for it. I'm going to end up going to the business school at University of Denver for my next few years of college, and hopefully major in business with an emphasis on accounting and/or finance. I'd also like to get my entreupeneurship certificate as well. Not sure how much I'll be able to fit in mountains/hiking here the next few years of classes!

With my next goal being the Boston Marathon 2016, I figured I'd give myself adequate rest/recovery time from the leadville 50 run before I start up marathon training, let alone boston marathon training! A qualifying time of 3:35 for my age group is attainable… but with speed work still so foreign to me, it personally is a little intimidating! Hoping to qualify anywhere from May-July 2015, so perhaps start up training in February. Currently- I've just been in the gym. Very few trail runs! I may fit one or two in on the weekend. But for now its just weights- building muscle (specifically leg muscle) to help out and prepare for whenever I start marathon training in February! Plus- a little extra quad will help out here on the slopes once ski season is here (Copper mountain… opening day Oct. 31st!) 

I have a pretty amazing Thanksgiving and Christmas break planned… so I'm just trying to grind this month out (October) and make it to the end of November! Hurry up ski season! 

Leadville Silver Rush 50

"This is going to be a long race, guys…."

That's what I told my crew at the mile 13 aid station. 

And long it was!

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I returned from Africa July 6th, which allowed only 5-6 days of recovery before the SR50. I was congested, sunburned, dehydrated, had blisters on my toes from the sand and had stepped on a sea urchin in Zanzibar. Yikes- not the best situation a week out from a 50 miler! 

I tried my best to use my situation not as an excuse but instead as an extra challenge, so to say. My cough got a little better, sunburn healed, and no telling how many gallons of water I drank the week between returning and my race!

Headed to Leadvile on Saturday, I knew I was not at 100%. If I had to put a number on it, I'd say I was feeling 85% recovered/rested. I decided to not worry about time, and to solely finish. I would have loved to come into this on my A game, but I tried to make the most out of how I was feeling at the time. 

Race started promptly at 6am, and the first few miles were fun. I felt good and prepared for the 48 more miles to come. 

The first climb was tough- and it shouldn't have been. This is where I knew the rest of the climbs where going to be brutal! 

Soon I reached the road and really enjoyed the downhill. I made up some time here, though I was thinking "This is going to be one heck of a hill on the way back…" during my whole run down. 

I was really glad to see the Printer Boy aid station at the 13.5 mile. My sister, Ashley, and running partner, Chad, were both there as my crew. I never knew I needed so much assistance only 13 miles into a race! While I ate and drank, Chad reapplied band aids and moleskin to my feet, and Ashley refilled my water. I was in and out in about 4 minutes. Before taking off again, I told them 'Hey guys- I know I'm not on my A game, but I'm going to finish. It's just going to be one long race…" 

Nothing too exciting happened between mile 13.5 and 25- besides eat, drink, run…

Since this was an out-and-back race, runners had to pass each other once they turned around at the half way point. It was neat seeing all of the elite and faster runners passing by on my way to the halfway point- I couldn't help but smile as I was in trail runner heaven. I was surrounded by hundreds of other trail runners in the mountains of Leadville, and we all had the same goal in mind- to run 50 miles. I think the others noticed as I got a lot of "Keep on smiling!" and "Love the smile!" 

Again I met Ashley and Chad at Stumptown (halfway aid station, mile 25), and again Chad reapplied band aids to my blisters to my toes, and Ashley refilled my water and pack. I was feeling great at this point- a lot better than I had at the beginning of the race. I feel as if I get stronger the further into the race I get (Well… up to about mile 35… as I found out later this race). 

The climb out of stumptown was brutal, like I anticipated. It was like a death march almost. You wanted to go faster but couldn't. I thought "Well, might as well zone out, grind out, and get out." Reaching the top of that climb felt more successful than summiting Mt. Elbert it seemed! 

Continued on through miles 28-35 without much mishap. Feet still felt ok and stomach was still handling calories. 

I was typical mid-race grumpy at mile 35 aid station. I met my crew again but didn't need much. I chatted mileage and time with them, while borrowing some lady's bugspray I asked for rather rudely. Oops. 

I honestly don't know how or what kept me motivated mile 36-50. Every single step hurt whether it was walking or running. There were no 'breaks' from it. The trail never ended it seemed, which of course is a given traveling 50miles on your own feet. I've never had to block out so many negative thoughts before- My mind was throwing all kinds of negativity at me in those last few miles. I kept focusing on one foot ahead of the other and you'll get there. 

At last people start slowly showing up on the side of the trail, and the sound of the announcer got closer. I had ran out of water about mile 47, and was feeling it. I texted Chad and Ashley (yes, mid race!) to let them know I was getting closer and almost there. With the AMAZING crew that I had, as soon as they heard I was out of water, Chad ran some up to me for the last mile or so. Talk about going the extra mile!

Came up and over the hill, and finally felt the red carpet underneath my feet they had placed right before the finish line. No exuberant finish for me, and thats ok Just a small smile and a few high-fives. I feel like I need to actually earn the cheers and exhilarating finish- next race! 

My 'goal' was sub-12 hr, but I was just happy to finish. Happy to know I could do it, and happy to know I can go 50 miles. 

I of course have more goals and times I want to accomplish, so no settling down for me! Now its time to play and enjoy the mountains for a little bit before starting towards my next race..

Kilimanjaro Day 6, Safari, and Zanzibar

Day 6-

Final day on Kili- a little bittersweet for me. Glad to be headed back down to a hot shower and a nice bed to sleep on, but I was thoroughly enjoying my time on Kili. I don’t know if it is because it was my first mountain to hike outside of CO, or if I really did fall in love with the mountain- either way, I really enjoyed this mountain with its varying terrain, weather and elevation each day. I loved being in a new campsite, new scenery, new setting every evening. I would climb Kilimanjaro again any day.

Breakfast was pancakes with peanut butter and a cup of hot chocolate. I had given up on the Africafe coffee and figured I’d just stick with the sugary stuff to get some form of hydration in!

We took our group photos with Kili in the background, and then were treated to a Kilimanjaro song sung by our porters and guides. I’m sure they have sang that exact song hundreds of times, yet they all were still thrilled and happy while singing it. You could tell even though this was their job, they all still love being up on the mountain just as much as we did! Or..… Perhaps they were all just happy that we were headed down…. I’ll stick to my optimistic viewpoint J

The rest of the group headed down at about 8am, while I waited for Shafii to finish up around camp. He had asked if I wanted to continue running down- of course I agreed! We left at about 8:15am.

I will forever remember that run back down! The trail was technical in places, but nothing much different from the trails here in Colorado. It actually felt like I was back on my home trails (well… besides the jungle scenery… we don’t have that in CO!)

Headed back down!

The lower part of the trail was very packed and slick. I had a few good slips, but those were just reminders to focus harder and pick out better foot placements. Sometimes, a few of the porters would join behind me and run with us for a little bit. There is nothing more motivating than 2-3 African porters with huge packs running behind you!

We made it down at 9:45am- an hour n half back down what took about 2 days to hike up. I washed up in the ‘very nice’ (actually had a toilet and sink!) bathroom there at the gate, grabbed a ginger ale and headed over to the stream to dip my feet in. Flowing water had never felt better!

The rest of the group made it down quickly as well. I really enjoyed going with such a strong group of hikers!

Quick lunch of spaghetti, pumpkin soup and avocado, and then we were on our way to Arousha- about an hour n half drive from Moshi.

The next day was a rest day, then we headed out to our hotel for the safari’s. On the list was Lake Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire National Park.

After the safari’s, Jon, Tara and I headed to Zanzibar since we left a few days later than the rest of the group. 

It was my first real beach, and lets just say I did love it! A nice change of scenery. The sunrises and sunsets were incredible, but I’ll still take a sunrise in the mountains over the beach anyday.

We left the hotel in Zanzibar by taxi Saturday morning, followed by a flight, taxi then two more flights.  Our final travel time back to my house in Denver, CO was 40 hrs. 

This past week I’ve been resting up and recovering from congestion, sunburn, dehydration from the travel, blisters on my toes from the sand, and from stepping on a sea urchin! Returning to my regular diet with lots of veggies and fresh fruit definitely helped!

I’ve recovered the best I can, but still don’t feel exactly back to 100% for the Leadville 50 tomorrow. No worries though- I signed up for this! I am going to try my best and trust my training. I say bring it!

Kilimanjaro Day 5- Summit Day

Woke up around 1am feeling ecstatic and ready for the summit! After a tiny breakfast of 2 chocolate creme cookies and some hot chocolate, our group started up at 2am. The winds had died down overnight, but it was still a bit chilly. This was pretty much the scene for the majority of the night while we were hiking:

Dark trail, dusty boots and bright headlamps! 

I could feel the altitude from about 17,000 ft to 18,000ft. Jon mentioned something about lots of shooting stars in the sky, but if I tried to take my focus from the headlamp-brightened trail ahead of me onto anything else around me, I'd have to stop and then restart hiking. I couldn't multi task one bit! I did have some thoughts of 'Why did I sign up for this?' and 'Why am I doing this?'. Mentally- it was exactly like the long, hard, later miles of a marathon. 

But- all of that came to end as soon as we came up onto the ridge, stella point (18,651ft). I was so zoned into the trail ahead of me that whenever we reached the stella point sign, I was clueless. I had no clue what was going on or why that sign was there. Were we at the top? I had to pause and think ‘Oh, right, this is stella point, the point before we reach the true summit.’ 

The cold wind on top of Kili soon demanded me to put on every single layer I had brought up- which meant my rain coat over my down coat! I knew it was going to be cold- but not that cold!

The sunrise was better than any Colorado sunrise and sunset combined. The way it was reflecting off of the crystals of frost up top is something a camera cannot reproduce. I was absolutely captured by the beauty of the snow glaciers I had heard about. I’m pretty sure I took one too many pictures of them!

 After reaching stella point, I continued to the true summit, Uhru Peak (19,341ft.). My pace was brisk and I didn't even realize I was at 19k ft. I passed lots of people who were going 'pole pole' to the summit.

At 6:45am, I finally reached the summit of Kilimanjaro. I had this great feeling of accomplishment and happiness. Snapped a few summit pictures, and then walked around a bit up top to take in everything- the scenery, sunrise, congratulations, etc. The wind was still present, so we got a quick group photo once everybody made it, then headed back down. 

Last few steps to the summit

PC: Jon Kedrowski

I slowly walked back down to stella point- trying to take in as much as I could. Everything happened so  fast it did not feel like real life! Spent about 30-45 minutes up top.

Back down to stella point, a few of us started heading back down. I stopped and turned around to wait on a few others, and thats when I saw one of our guides, Shafii, running down (I suppose to catch up with us). Well… that gave me an idea! I still felt great (not sore one bit), so whenever Shafii reached us, I asked if it was possible to run back down. He said absolutely- infact, if it was his choice, thats how he would descend all the time! So we both ran down from 18k ft to 15k, back to camp. I could not have asked for a better way to enhance my Kilimanjaro experience. It was so incredible to be flying down the side of Kili after summiting! What took a good 4 hrs to hike up, took us only 30minutes back down. I thanked Shafii many times back at camp as we waited on the others to make it back down. Enjoyed a cup of hot tea and sat and chatted/rested up for the rest of the morning before packing up and continuing on down another hour or so to our campsite at a lower elevation for the evening. 

Back down to trees!

Enjoyed a dinner of pumpkin soup with rice and veggie sauce, and we all went to bed early as we had a bit of a full day….

Kilimanjaro Day 6, Safari, and Zanzibar next post! 

Kilimanjaro Day 3 and 4

Day 3

It was a chilly morning with frost covering the tent. Good thing I brought in my clothes from drying the night before! 

Breakfast was eggs, crepes, sausage and toast. The coffee was called Africafe, which was an actually pretty decent instant coffee. Though sure not as good as Peakview and Ice Ranch Coffee (coffee shops I work at)!

Started hiking about 9am at a brisk pace. I was still feeling fresh, so thought I'd try for a little faster pace today.

Looking back at camp after heading out on day 3

The landscape for day 3- a little different than the rain forest on day 1!

Today we reached 15,190ft, but only stayed for about half an hour at this elevation before dropping back down. This helped us acclimatize.

Reached Barranco Camp (13k ft) around 1pm. We had to sign in at each camp, and today I was the first to sign the book! The downhill from 15k to 13k was really scenic and enjoyable I didn't even notice I was ahead of everybody.

Barranco Camp- Evening of Day 3

Kili in the evening sunlight

Enjoyed a dinner of beef stew, green beans and rice, and then had time to relax, grab some pictures, and read. I read a few chapters from the book Born to Run. As I was reading, I looked up at Kili and thought how amazing it was to be reading about ultra running in Mexico, while sitting in Africa with a 19k ft mountain in front of you!

Day 4

Today was more of the same as the last few days- hiking to the next camp. Though today's end camp is at 15k ft, which we were all excited for and ready to get to.

Looking back at the descent (from day 3)

Started the day up Barranco Wall- It was fun to get to use your hands and actually climb for a little bit! 

Part of the team headed up the wall

Descent into the valley

Ascent out

Continuing onto high camp (circled)

Reached Barafu camp (High camp) at about 3:30pm. It was very windy and cold! I reorganized my pack and got everything out for the summit. We spent most of the evening inside our tents as it was a bit too windy to be out! 

Dinner was spaghetti with a veggie sauce and lentil soup. Didn't eat much for dinner so that I wouldn't still be digesting food the whole night and save energy. 

The next day (day 5) was summit day- so we all headed right to bed after dinner! With a planned start time of 2am, we needed to rest up as much as we could. 

I laid in my sleeping bag that evening and thought back on everything it took to get here. All of the 5am mornings in the coffee shop, all the weekends I had to work instead of climbing 14ers, the many miles of running and prepping, etc. I reflected on everybody who had helped me out financially and who supported me for this climb. It really made me grateful! I was a bundle of pure happiness in my sleeping bag there in my tent that night- the night before heading out for the summit. ..

Safely Home- Kilimanjaro Day 1 and 2

Made it back home today! Good to be back- it feels like I have been gone for months. Though, I will miss packing up and heading to a new place every few days or so like we did for the past 2 1/2 weeks…

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Kilimanjaro Day 1 and 2

The flights from Denver to Tanzania were not as bad as I had expected. We flew 3hrs from Denver, CO to Washington D.C., 13hrs  to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and finally 2 ½ hrs to Tanzania. We stayed at a hotel in Moshi the 21^st, and were ready to start hiking the next day.

Luckily I caught this picture before they shut it off! 

Part of the team headed through the airport

Arriving in Tanzania

 Day 1

We started Sunday June 22^nd up the Machame route. 

Starting point for Machame Route

A 4hr. hike through the rainforest got us to Machame camp (9,780ft.), which was our first camp destination .  The jungle was exactly what I have heard about- Lush, green, and rainy. There were low clouds in the trees, which added to the landscape!

The weather was quite nasty- cold, rainy, and muggy. There were clouds around Kili, so we could not see any further than the trail ahead of us. 

Camp Day 1

 After a dinner of cucumber soup, fish, potatoes, and veggies, we all tried to manage to keep our tents clean between our muddy boots and wet raincoats. Nonetheless, I got a good nights sleep.

Day 2.

Woke up to it still cloudy and raining. Packed up my sleeping bag and mat and put on my rain gear. It was coming down hard enough that I pulled out my rain poncho to go over my rain coat!

The hike today was more uphill- more steps/rocks. I was feeling great at this point, besides a few “I wish it would stop raining and clear up” thoughts.  Nothing too challenging yet!

Shira Camp

Once we reached camp 2, Shira Camp (12,600ft.), it was still foggy and misting hard. I had this ‘soaked’ feeling, and my clothes were all damp as I worked up a little sweat from hiking. Sweaty clothing and cold mist is not a fun combination. And with the low clouds, we still hadn’t seen the mountain. 

I found it hard at this point, 2 days in, to keep a positive attitude and thoughts as we were told by the porters we missed a lot of good views. 

However, later that day, the clouds cleared a bit and we got our first glimpse of the mountain! The view of my goal, Kili, definitely helped me out of my bad ‘rain mood’ – it assured me that yes, there was a mountain there in the distance. No, you are not just walking up some random trail! That’s pretty much what it felt like!

Clouds Clearing

Kili finally showing off!

I really enjoyed the down time we got each evening at our camps. It gave me time to journal and reorganize my gear if needed. I had one of the assistant guides point out and talk a little bit about all of the other mountain peaks around. He had climbed pretty much everything in sight! Chatting with the porters and guides really helped personalize the trip for me. I learned a few Swahili words as well from them! 

I was definitely looking forward to gaining elevation to get into the drier climates. The jungle was neat, but I was ready for treeline!

Night 2 assured a good nights sleep as well. No problem sleeping here!

Day 3 & 4 next post!