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Diamond Peak Circumnavigation

July 5, 2014 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 50s - mid 80s, clear

Comments:
Group long run today: Diamond Peak circumnav. This was Hammer's idea: a 24 or so loop around Diamond Peak. He initially looked at a 36-mile option, but that was too daunting for most of us - namely me, who was using this as a "recovery run".

The group: me, Emily, Dan-O, Hammer, Tommy, and Brian (my student observer).

Drove up with Emily and had some good relationship chats, spurred on by THESE fucking stories about a former patient of mine(!!!). I told her, "Damn, he needed to read The Game!"

http://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/31781050-75/schley-girl-sexual-wife-attorney.html.csp

http://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/31814694-75/schley-contact-victim-court-judge.html.csp

Guys like him (and, in a way, like ME) too often try to fill some "hole" in their lives and hearts by using kids, because they don't have the self-esteem, social skills and abilities to connect with real adults! Just sad...UGH.

Hits SUPER-close to home, given my history with being just wayyyy too "social" with high school kids when I was in my mid-late 20s. Absolutely was I trying to fill a "hole" with that affection.

Anyway...

Chatted with Emily about Kaci - Emily was quite excited (:-P), which is cool.

Got to the trailhead - a LONG drive off 58 into the west side of the Diamond Peak Wilderness - around 8:30. TONS of skeeters, but they were manageable if you kept moving. Left just after 8:30.

I felt understandably sluggish at the start, and that sensation was consistent most of the day. We ran clockwise around the mountain, starting at "11 o'clock" or so.

TONS of climbing to start with, including lots of hiking. My calves were rocked, but it was a good way to loosen them up. The fellas were out front, while I was middling between them and Emily/Tommy, who were consistently in the rear.

Got up on this nice ridge heading East, just being Mt Yoran, and alternatively had a great views of Diamond to the south, and the Waldo course to the north. Lots of stopping for pics, etc. I kept my watching going continuous all day, and the early miles were in the 12-15min range.

Once we rounded the top of the clock heading south, we were pretty high - around 6500-7K'. Once on the PCT, that's when we hit snow. TONS of snow. It was cool at first, but after several miles (like, 4-5??) and wayyy too much route-finding, it got annoying. Trudge, trudge, trudge. Then, when the trail did appear, it was TOUGH to run.

We were hitting 20-25min miles for a while before finally hitting the south end and descending into the trees, out of the snow. Lots of downhill, but it didn't feel all that great.

Once we hit 6 o'clock on the loop, the group - which had yo-yo'd together for hours - began to split off: the four fitter guys, then Em and Tommy. The latter had a map, so we pulled away from them on this runnable trail.

A big up and over to the west side of the mountain, where it was quite runnable, but pretty tough: high-altitude and...HOT! Pure sun, and temps in the mid-80s.

I was committed to staying fat-burning, so when I got into the 150s, I hiked. Wound up hiking a TON, but still kept those final miles in the 10-12min range. Ran past the "Solo Fast" site, which was cool.

The final 6 or so miles were on ROUGH trail: tons of downed trees, wash-out, and overgrowth! But overall it was fine. Found a fun little lake/pond about 1.5mi from the finish, so Dan-O, Hammer and I went for a dip! Felt GREAT. From there, a pretty easy 1.5 downhill to the finish.

Clocked 6:00:30 for 23.1 GPS miles (rounding up to 24...the watch is much more accurate lately). Map said 24.

FORM: really focused on:

- quick arms/stride turnover
- forward + lumbar arch
- pawback on the trail (tough but super important).

Never felt like I was braking and otherwise had very little soreness from being on the feet this long.

ZERO calories. Ate 4 eggZ in butter at 0600, then no other calories 'til 2:30 PM. Baller.

Waited 30min for Emily, then another 30 for Tommy. Successful run!

Post-run at Brewer's Union, then home. No PM activities. Ate, text-fested with Kaci and tried to find some airfare for Omaha! B-)