Springtime

When I was in southern Utah for spring break, the weather was typical of that area in the springtime: sunny, somewhat windy, with highs in the 60s. It was perfect. I expected to return to at least slightly colder temps up here in Colorado, but have found the weather this past week to be almost ideal. Excepting the wind, which can gain some pretty impressive force at times, spending time outdoors has been more pleasurable than all year so far. Nothing makes me enjoy running more than good weather and dry trails.

That said, next weekend is my first 50 mile race of the year, the Lake Sonoma 50, in Healdsburg, CA. I'll be competing against some pretty stiff competition for such a new race, with people like Hal Koerner, Mike Wolfe and Geoff Roes. As with any race, I don't really have any idea what will happen. But I do know three adjectives that accurately describe the way I've been feeling lately: "excellent", "sharp" and "terrific". Sort of excellently sharp, which is terrific...

Tomorrow morning you'll be able to find Ryan Burch and I climbing Long's Peak in the snow. The spring weather may be good down here, but it also makes the conditions on the big mountains conducive to climbing. Seems like a pretty good way to "actively recover" before next weekend's race with a less-intense-but-still-valid workout hiking a fourteener.

Make sure to enjoy the beautiful weather yourself. The season has begun.