Mental Hoarding in the Backseat: Friday's Mountain Run

The dog that followed me home on Monday is reunited with her owner. This is my conclusion since she was removed from the adoption boards after only a couple of days. This is good, but Liz and I had already started thinking of names! We were getting ready to adopt this dog, so all those feelings have to calm down a bit. As of now, there will be no Millie or Cassie to add into the fold. The shelter named her Mabel!

I went on a trail shoe hunt recently because I'm addicted to shoes it seems. Anyway, rocky terrain / minimalist shoes are hard to find. The new New Balance MT101s are out which I would buy in a sec, but you can only get them online and my size has been sold since they came out. I went to the only hard core local running store here and tried on some popular shoes, but a lot of it was a bit heavy. I did meet some interesting people at this store though including a couple of ultra runners. One of them who worked there talked about running with Anton Krupicka and running with the tarahumara in the copper canyon race. Pretty cool!!

In the end, out of 15 pairs tried on ranging from 50 to 130 dollars, I ended up with a entry level model from New Balance, the MT572 for just 50 bucks. It gets some bad press on amazon, but I think they're pretty good so far. Light, somewhat low profile, and not much cushioning, and a grippy sole. I know Solomans are popular, but the pair I tried on at REI felt like wearing tug boats on my feet! I say this because I'll prolly buy a pair someday and say what was I thinking!

So my Friday run, brought me back to the mountain. I wanted to get on the South Loop trail which starts with a steep 4 mile ascent! Part of me thought that sounds like too much work, but I wanted something different. Alas, the parking lot was full, so I had to go back to the ole Bristlecone trail.

Its been much cooler here lately with the temps in the valley being in the 70s in the morning ,which made the mountain a bit nippy in the shade with wind. I was glad I brought a long sleeve shirt. Nothing too dramatic this time though. I quickly forgot just how steep the first 2 miles of the upper trail are. I was just out of breath constantly. I couldn't get a groove going. I felt sluggish in both mind and body. I thought, this will just be a slow day, just keep on and maybe I'll perk up.

I ended up making some better time later on the downhill side and also ended up going a bit longer than I had planned. So unlike last Fri, this 2:30 run ended with me feeling really good and running strong downhill. At one point, I passed 3 young shirtless guys running up. I said 'hey guys' to them and they said nothing. Punks! The only downside to the whole trip was that I still haven't learned 'do not put things on top of the vehicle'. I lost my favorite running visor!

There was a funny instance though. I was running along feeling good and suddenly I look up and see 2 horses coming down the trail which is very narrow. We both stop about 30 feet from one another. I look at them and they look at me. It's a stand off of confusion with both us having a bubble over our heads that says, "wtf are you doing out here!" I'm not seeing anyone else behind them. I know there are wild horses here, but are these guys really wild? Will they hurt me? So I move up the hill as if to say you go on by. That's the comedy, me trying to wave on horses. The front horse tilts his head at me and then they both run down the hill. Then some people come out and say did you see those wild horses? Reminds me of my Colorado moose story.

Anyway, here are some pics from the outing.

heres that tribute poster I mentioned in a previous post. the rains got it a bit