To the Top of Mt. Evans

Diann, Jeff, Matt, Pete, Me, Dennis

And it's to the top we go! 6 of us today and we were all over the mountain at different time. Didn't help the fact that I refused to drive my car up there; I'm sorry, but there's some serious cliffs up there and not much road and zero guard rails. Um, no way. So this is what transpired: Two vehicles. Vehicle One,Pete, drops Matt and Jeff at mile 8 and drives to the top. Vehicle Two, Dennis, drops Diann and I off at Summit Lake at mile 9 and drives to the top. Dennis leaves vehicle 2 at the top and hops in vehicle 1 and Dennis and Pete drive back down. I have key for vehicle 2 since I'll probably be at the summit first. Or I thought I had key but actually, I left it in the car. Panic attack. Okay, I'll flag down vehicle 2 and get the other key from Dennis. Diann quickly drops and I run alone after about the first quarter mile. It's steep here...very steep but somehow I manage to run the entire mile. Celebrate by taking a very short walk break. Mile 11 has a very brief downhill - sweet! But then it gets steep again. See Dennis and Pete about mile 12.5 and remember to flag them, a miracle because I really wasn't doing a whole lot of thinking. Pete's so funny...I think he thought I had something seriously wrong with me. No, just forgot the key. Actually, I was feeling a LOT better this time around then I was on the lower 9 we did two weeks prior. It's incredibly windy so I decide it's better to just walk on the steep, into-the-wind, sections and then run as much as I can on the steep wind-at-my-back portions. I could breathe better this week, too. Dennis went past Summit Lake and drops off Pete at mile 7 and then drives back and parks at Summit Lake at mile 9 and then heads up the mountain - finally. So ya see, we were all over that mountain today!! I felt bad for Dennis being so behind after playing chauffeur but really, in the end, he wasn't that far behind Pete. I got to the top about 5 minutes before Diann and she about 5 minutes before Matt. Matt had no gloves; his hands HAD to be freezing...mine were just taking them off for a couple minutes to get his picture. Tons of Mountain Goats up near the restrooms and they weren't moving, they were just hanging out and not really caring who was around taking pictures. It was a really good run today, just the little kick in the butt I've been needing. I need to get up at 5a.m to go workout tomorrow so going to cut this short. But will add a few pictures to punctuate a really great day with a exclamation point!

6 miles run

Jeff had a little issue with vertigo and the steep cliffs with no guardrail. :)