It didn't get any cooler

I gave up waiting to feel better, for the weather to break and for the cool of autumn to make running in the hills bearable so I went out anyway.
It was very hot.


It took over an hour to reach the trailhead, where I had to sit in the shade and eat and drink and drink
and drink.
















It took over 2 hours to reach the vending machine between the golf course and Rokko Garden Terrace, where I had to sit in the shade and eat and drink and drink and drink.

I opted not to take the tarmac variation and ran down the side of the main road for a short distance before hitting the trail to Mt Maya. It was a good idea, it felt shorter, faster and was certainly more off road than on it, the views weren't bad either.

I found the trail down the mountain easy enough but ended up taking a small detour to a very big tree, and then having to retrace my steps.

Ah yes steps, there were plenty of those on the way down from Maya, in fact there was precious little else. It was pretty, wooded, ran by a stream and had lots and lots of steps.

I found myself back in town by Oji zoo and should have looked at my phone to get a better idea of where the nearest station was but instead I wandered for a while until I found a train to take me home.

That would be about the slowest times I've posted, anywhere, ever.

In the 5 hours I was out I drank 5.5 litres of fluid, and when I weighed myself I'd lost another 3kg so 8.5kg of fluid loss for the day, no wonder it was hard.
Rokko Island to Oji

Home again

And back into the heat and humidity of a Japanese summer. It was another shock to the system, along with the realisation that I was no longer fit for anything. It might have been heat or jet lag or humidity or exhaustion or...but I could not really run for any more than 3 miles. One flat lap of the island we call home and I was done. I also began to suffer stomach problems similar to the problems I faced in Winter Park prior to Leadville.

I cannot explain how unusual this is. I normally have the ability to eat or drink what I like, when I like, as long as it is not just prior to a run.

Then I got sick - flu like sick, achy hot cold sweats, tickley cough.

So it is that 7 weeks after Leadville and 9 weeks before I race in the mountains again I still struggle to force my way round a 5 mile flat circuit.

I did battle round an 11 mile jog/hike, most of which was on tarmac but some was lost on the mountain in the aftermath of Typhoon Talas. In retrospect not one of my cleverer moves, but it did take 3 hours and had me walking sections of the flat path home.

Lost in the Mountains after typhoon Talas

San Francisco

San Francisco was a shock to the system, it was cold and windy, a bit dirty and very urban. After 5 weeks of living within touching distance of the mountains the city was a bit difficult to come to terms with. We ate, saw sites, and shopped. It was an expensive waistline extending few days

.

The Grand Tetons

 So soon after Leadville I was prepared to sit around, drink beer and take in the views, but then as soon as I saw those mountains I knew I had to get out into them, bears and snow or not.

It was beautiful. We jog/hiked around Jenny Lake and Phelps Lake and then went on a 12 mile hike with lots of climbing, lots of snow, and lots of big scenery just before we left.

Leadville the run

So it was cold that early in the morning, and sleep had been a bit hard to come by, and my legs were sore from the ride, and three of my toes had gone numb, like completely numb (they still haven't really defrosted), and 50 miles is a long way, and I knew what was coming, and I knew it was going to be a very very long day. 

The sign said "Thinking of giving up-suck it up!"

 So I did. The next sign was a little more encouraging.

So I did what it said as well.

The turn around point, half way in under 6 hours.

12 hours later I was back where I started.

I'd done it...with a little (lot of) help from my friends

Now where's the beer?

The outbound splits can be found here Silver Rush 50 Mile Run but the inbound ones got a bit lost in technology malfunctions. Suffice to say that on the way back the climbing was hard, the slog out of Printerboy soul destroying, and the run down to and through the last aid station about as much fun as I'd had all day, until I hit the wall with about 2-3 miles to go then it was just hard.

Leadville

And so it was to Leadville.

The mountainbike race came and went. It was hard, much harder than it should have been, but then a glance at my training log kind of explained why. I had ridden more in the States in the lead up to and including the race than I had in the six months before. I knew deep down I could tough out any 50 mile mountain bike race and so it proved but it wasn't big and it wasn't clever. Still I finished and that's what counts in the end, for large parts it was an enjoyable grind and for one short (3-4 mile) section coming out of Printerboy aid station on the way back it really really wasn't.

Bring it on!

Bang! Now get out of the way.

I had the best crew!

Printerboy on the way out.

Right that's that bit done then.

Splits are here Silver Rush 50 Mile Mountain bike Race . I should have been faster, I should have hurt less, but then maybe just maybe I should have trained, even just a little might have helped.

Winter Park

Sarah Bob and Linda got out for some good runs and hikes. I stayed home nursing a very bad stomach, which is generally unlike me and again left me worrying about race preparation.

Wasn't all doom and gloom though as we tried to make the race car do a loop the loop.

Yellowstone

Yellowstone is a stunning place, it has a bit of everything, there's a bit of the wild west as you pass through Jackson, there are the stunning volcanic pools, geysers and steaming rivers, and then there is the wilderness. Only when we were there lots of the wilderness was closed. The snows were late coming and very late melting, which closed a lot of the trails. Then there was a bear attack which unfortunately killed a man just before we got there. Nevertheless it was a stunning place again with great people. 

It wasn't always sunny. The only problem for me was that there was not a lot of training going on and it began to stress me some as the date of the Leadville races drew closer and I was largely inactive.

Fort Collins

Provided a lot of entertainment, the company was excellent the beer tasty and we got to ride about on borrowed cruisers.

We did get out on some lovely hikes and runs. I stopped and waited for the others to join me when on an early morning run up by Horsetooth I charged on ahead only to find this very large footprint fresh on the path.