April 15 - 21

4/15/2013
Mon-AM: 2:02, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Up Gregory-Ranger, down Greenman-Gregory from my doorstep. Woke to rain turning to snow and by time I got to the trailhead it was really dumping. ~4" fresh on the summit with plenty more coming down. Man, I'm ready for summer.

4/16/2013
Tue-AM: 2:11, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Ran up to Chat to meet Dakota and Jurker for a run up and down Green. Up Greg-Ranger, down the front. We were slogging up through about a foot of fresh snow, but otherwise it was a very calm, pleasant morning, if cloudy.
PM: 1:00 ~ Creek Path
Cruisy 8+ miles out and back east from Eben G. Fine park. Surprisingly fun to get out and just roll along at a comfy low-7s pace, something I don't do very often anymore.

4/17/2013
Wed-AM: 2:14, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Ran up to Chat and then over on the Mesa to go up Bear Canyon to the summit. Descended the front. Pretty nasty weather day, with a rain/sleet/snow mix and a 1/4" of ice covering everything, which wasn't a whole lot of fun to break through for the first 90min getting to the summit.
PM: 1:01 ~ Creek Path
Same run as yesterday, but today it was cold(er) and snowing and my legs were quite tired.

4/18/2013
Thu-AM: 1:01, 500' ~ Gold Hill
Early morning jog with Joe in 0F temps. Tons of snow up there. Legs were tired.
PM: 1:18, 3000' ~ Incline/Rocky Mt.
Stopped off in Manitou on our way to the Grand Canyon and got in a lap on the Incline in a snowstorm. 23:25 ascent for me, not great, but good enough on tired legs. Continued on up to the summit of the mountain in ankle-deep snow before descending Barr back down to Soda Springs Park.

4/19/2013
Fri-AM: 0:16, 500' ~ Durango
Got up in the +10F weather and started out on a jog with Joe before being doubled over with abdominal pains. Hobbled back to the Roost while he finished up his run.
PM: 1:03, 500' ~ Tusayan, AZ
Easy but brisk out and back on a FS road just outside town. Shirtless in the sun!

4/20/2013
Sat-AM: 6:59, 11,500' ~ Grand Canyon Double Crossing
Used the standard South-North Kaibab route and clocked a 6:59:24 roundtrip, which was a 17min PR for me and I think ~30sec under Mackey's previously 2nd-fastest time (but still 6min short of Dakota's FKT). I didn't know if I was going to go particularly quick today, but thought I'd just see how the legs were feeling. After getting down to the river pretty quickly (despite being slowed a minute or two by a descending mule train), I decided to keep going steady and see how things shook out. Felt pretty solid all the way to the North Rim, hiking a fair bit above the Supai Tunnel, but then on the way back down I was definitely already getting pretty tired by time I made it back to the residence water spigot. Things got progressively worse on the run back to Phantom Ranch (stiff, achey, tired legs), but I pounded three bottles of water there (spending 4min at the spigot) and then climbed quite strongly all the way to Tip-Off, but above there things got pretty weak/queasy as I ran out of water about half-way up. At Tip-Off I thought there was a really good chance I could still get Dakota's record--even take 5min or so off of it--but in the end I was just psyched to sneak in under 7hr. Great run, and a good confidence boost going into TV, as I know I still have a lot of running fitness to gain. Had another 12min of running on the day, getting to and from the South Rim. Splits: River, :46; Phantom Ranch, :53-54; Cottonwood, 1:54; Residence, 2:09-10; Bridge, 2:42; Supai Tunnel, 2:56; North Rim, 3:22; Supai Tunnel, 3:35; Bridge, 3:43?; Residence, 4:04-6; Cottonwood, 4:16; Phantom, 5:08-12; River, 5:19; Tip-Off, 5:49; Skeleton Pt, 6:14; Cedar Ridge, 6:37; South Rim, 6:59:24.

4/21/2013
Sun-AM: 3:25, 4500' ~ New Hance to river and back
Joe and I parked at the totally stealth "trailhead" on Hwy 64 (just west of the Moran Pt turn-off) and after much grumbling and groaning about various sorenesses and lack of sleep, stumbled off into the woods towards the Rim. This trail is an awesome, true goat route and about as technical as a trail can be while still being a trail. Eventually dropped into Red Canyon via some buffed singletrack and ran the ~3mi of wash down to the Colorado River. Took a quick dip in the green-hued waters, put the shoes back on and ran back up the wash. Chugged and filled our bottles at the top of the wash and then went into grunt mode to get back up to the rim. Choppy, technical and hot, but all in all an awesome way to get some secluded (we saw four people, one of which was a ranger) Canyon time before hitting the road back home. We didn't get driving until 2pm or so, hit Glenwood Springs right around midnight where we crashed out in a rest area until 4am, and then got up and drove the rest of the way back to Boulder, including some heinous, pre-dawn blizzard conditions on Vail Pass.

Hours: 22h40min
Vert: 30,500'

Not as much vert this week because of all the snow on the trails, but I did get in 135mi or so, buoyed by the big run on Saturday and the flat doubles earlier in the week. The Grand Canyon was as great as usual, and I was excited to feel as strong as I ever have (this being my third R2R2R) on the final climb up South Kaibab, but that vertical mile was still the crusher of dreams that it always is. If I'm going to go for time the next time I do it, I'll probably stash a bottle at Skeleton Point on the way down. The problem is I've never done a Double Crossing with explicit intentions of running hard, I always just wait to see how the legs are feeling. So, I pay for the non-committal attitude. The Canyon is always such a breathtaking and inspirational place, I can't wait to get back and explore more non-corridor routes, maybe this fall.

My Czech roots love the fact that he used the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra on this whole album.