A Little Update

It's been about three weeks since I've updated this blog, so I guess I should put something in writing. The first week in August I spent in Colorado at a Christian camp called Hermit Basin. It used to be a ski resort, but it went bankrupt. The story is that the slopes were built wrong so that snow would not accumulate on the slopes, and it just wasn't a very good place to ski. Anyway, it was a nice place to stay for a week in the summer.

I missed my Monday hill workout, the Saturday long run, and the Thursday night group run, but I made up for it. On Monday morning I got up early and tried a bit of running. Since it was almost 9,000 feet altitude, and since there was no really level ground, I didn't run very fast or very far. I basically just moved and breathed hard for about a half hour or so. Then I ate breakfast and went on a hike. I started up the ski slope and then followed a walking trail that led to a jeep trail, which I followed for quite a ways. Looking at maps, I figure I gained about 1500 feet in elevation before I headed back. Total hike time was a little over 3 hours.

Tuesday was white water rafting down Bighorn Sheep Canyon, just upstream of Royal Gorge. That was a fun day. Wednesday we rode the train through the Royal Gorge. It was interesting to see the rafters going through the gorge, and try to judge the difference between the rapids in the different parts of the river. My wife definitely wants to raft in Royal Gorge next year. Thursday the big activities were bowling and sand volleyball.

I didn't do as much hiking as I expected during the week. However, on Friday we went on a hike up to Horn Peak (about elevation 13,500). It is the tall peak in the picture. We started the hike at Horn Creek, which is at about 9,000 feet elevation. There was a mile or so of hiking on level ground before we started our ascent.

The hardest part was once we got above the timber line. Here is a picture looking up to a little peak that is not too far from the actual peak. It was quite windy up there, and my oldest daughter, Melissa sort of had a panic attack and I had to help her get down back into the trees. I sent my other three daughters on ahead. It took about 2 hours to get Melissa down below the trees and to get back up to where I was.

I didn't quite make it to the little peak before I met my daughters coming down. The wind was so strong up there that they thought it was too risky to attempt to cross the ridge to the actual peak.

Here is a picture of my daughter, Sarah , being blown by the wind. I was guessing that the winds were at least 50 miles per hour, with much greater gusts.

I hiked on up to the little peak, and once I was there, I agreed with the girls.

I tried to take a picture of the ridge leading up to the actual peak, but my arm got in the way. It was way too windy to try to take good pictures.

When we returned to camp, a guy said that in the valley (5,000 feet below) the winds were over 40 miles per hour, so I was probably right on my guess of wind speed. It took us about 8 hours for that little hike. It was a disappointment to not reach the peak, but at least we are alive to hike again.

We drove back to Tulsa on Saturday. Monday I went on business to New Orleans. Ran 14 miles on a treadmill. It was awful. Tuesday I ran for a little over an hour - probably close to 7 miles. Took Wednesday off from running. Thursday I wa back in Tulsa running with the group. We did 9 miles with 2 x 2 miles of tempo run.

Saturday I did the 16 miler out to Sand Springs and back. Most of the way out was a little slower than a 9 minute pace, until Paul pulled a muscle in his calf and turned back. I continued on doing roughly 8:35 pace until I hit the hill up to Gilcrease Road on the way back. That caused me to slow back to about a nine minute pace. I caught up with Paul just before the railroad tracks. Hopefully his injury will heal quickly.

Monday was a hill workout. The group was small this time. Only five of us. We ran easy out to Easton Street and did hill repeats on Easton between Quanah and Yukon. All went well except for the water. I had set out a cooler with bottled water, and in the half hour that it sat there unattended, somebody stole it.

Tuesday I did 5 miles at lunch at a fairly easy pace. Today (Wednesday) I am a little sore. I was going to bike in the evening, but instead I will spend the evening with my wife.

That's all.