Dovergeddon

I can’t believe I haven’t updated in a week! It has flown by! Last week we were getting ready for Aa’s parents, they came Thursday and left yesterday!

Overall it was a great week for workouts as you can see below. The third row in each box is my actual activity – the top two are what I planned a few weeks ago.

Running – 11 miles
Biking – 26 miles
Swimming – 2700 meters


Thursday (6/14)
AM: 800m swim, 3 mile run
It was going to be a busy evening, so I got up early to go do an open water swim at Grant Ranch! I was about 2 minutes away when I realized OWS were only M/W/F. I decided to head to Wash Park and still get in my first brick workout! I did 800 meter swim in the pool, threw on my sneakers, put stuff in car and then did a 3 mile run around the outer loop! I even had negative splits for my run – I was very pleased!

Friday (6/15)
Horseback Riding ☺
AA, his parents, and I headed up to Beaver Creek for a horseback ride! It was such a fun time! We did a 2 hour tour and my horse, King Kong, was awesome! I’ve never had an easier time gaining 1600 ft in elevation ☺ We went to Beaver Creek Stables – great experience!

Riding along ridge

Happy Fam!

Sweet Bandanas

Gorgeous Aspen Forests

Hello Beaver Creek!

Group Shot!

Saturday (6/16)
AM1: 5 mile run at Wash Park
AM2: 9 mile bike up Lookout Mountain

Early to bed meant early to rise! I think we were all up by 6:30 and headed to Wash Park for a run! AA’s dad (Kit) and I decided to try and do 2 outside loops (5 miles) and Aaron walked with his mom since his foot was still hurting from the Tough Mudder! It was an awesome run. Kit was aiming to do 10 minute miles – which is slower for him but since he just came from sea level it seemed reasonable! At one mile I updated him it had been 10:06, and I shortly noticed him one by one passing people. After a few tenths I looked down and our pace was in the 9:40s! The run felt good and I was definitely trying to keep up with him! After the first mile of 10:06 our times were 9:44, 9:48, 9:33, 9:27 for a pace of 9:44! (For comparison, my run last Sunday, by myself…right after my OWS was paced at 10:46 for the same route). Even though I felt I was trying to match his pace, he was also trying to keep up with me so it was great motivation!

Kit and Me!

After, I wanted to get in another practice bike ride at Evergreen. Aaron was excited to try it with me so we pumped up the tires and headed out while his parents relaxed a bit! On the way there was a sign on I-70 that route 74 (which we needed to take and bike on) was closed from 10-1. I quickly started looking for alternate routes and Aaron suggested we try Lookout Mountain – which we were quickly approaching but was on the way. I had never done Lookout Mountain, only driven up it a bunch! It is all uphill, around windy roads to the top of the mountain where Buffalo Bill’s grave is and some amazing views in to Golden, the foothills and even Denver. The people climbing up this always seemed crazy good bikers and when I first moved here I never imagined I could ever do it. Luckily I did not have time to think about it so I said that sounded great! We came from the backside so actually drove down the part we were going to be biking up and as always, it looked crazy. I should also note Aaron also only has a single speed bike – so that was going to be challenging ☺

Top of Lookout!

Way down

Anyways, we started out and my goal was to just take it slow and steady! Aaron thought it was around 5 miles and I had my watch! I quickly was short of breath but my legs were feeling pretty strong and I was pretty excited to just be trying it! Aaron went ahead but waited for me after about a mile and then just followed me up the rest of the way. Around mile 2 he told me to look left and I saw that we had just passed a deer on the other side of the road! It is super narrow road with no shoulders – but obviously I was so focused I missed the deer 10 feet from me! Even though we got passed by other bikers along the way, I was happy I didn’t need to stop at all and kept going. The first miles had gain of 280 and 293 and a break in the third at 249. I could definitely tell the fourth was the hardest at 342. This is great practice for Evergreen and a little bit steeper! The biggest miles for Evergreen were 305, 210 and 194! All in all it was about 41 minutes up and 12 minutes down ☺ GREAT time!



 
Sunday (6/17)
750m open water swim
It was another early morning and I headed off to Grant Ranch for a swim in the lake and I double checked that I could go ☺ I ended up doing the triangle that is about ½ a mile. I started with the bobbing and got used to breathing in a lake again. I was still a bit nervous. I started out and switched to breast stroke for sighting every once and a while. I got short of breath for a little bit and really tried to get those scary thoughts out of my head. All in all a decent swim, still work to do! I flipped over on my back once on each of the 3 legs so sort of take a moment and regroup – which I didn’t have to do during the clinic last week. I am planning on trying the Boulder Stroke and Stride again on Thursday so I am hoping my two OWS will help out this time around! Slow and steady! And don’t freak out!

Cutest baby award from BBQ on Sunday

Monday (6/18)
3 mile treadmill run
Weights (arms/abs/push-ups/planks)

Slow and steady run – not very exciting.
AA also took me to a park nearby for the sunset and took some cool pics!

Tuesday (6/19)
1250 meter swim
11 mile bike ride (Kickball RT)

AA and I headed to Wash Park in the AM – I swam laps and he did a gentle run to test out his foot. Kickball tonight so that will be an 11 mile bike ride! Theme: cartoon character! We’ll try to stay cool in this 90+ degree weather!

Superman and Alvin!

Plan
As I mentioned I am hoping to do the stroke and stride (750m swim + 3 mile run) on Thursday if I can leave work on time. I might bike to work tomorrow, or atleast a bike ride at work tomorrow. I am taking Friday off because a college roommate is coming to visit for the weekend! We are going to head to the mountains for a scenic bike ride, so I’ll get in a little exercise, but not sure how long it’ll be! I am hoping to do a run at Wash Park Sunday – but other than that I’ll be focusing on hanging out with Tink!

OWS....Take Two

Well my last post had me worried about the tri in a weeks – more than ever. After my first open water swim, I was not feeling confident! So I did what any analytical, type A person would do – get more information about it! I found a swim clinic on Sunday morning at Grant Ranch and decided I definitely needed to try it out.

Saturday

But first, on Friday night AA and I headed to Vail to stay over before the Tough Mudder on Saturday. We got upgraded (thanks Dad!) to the Presidential Suite! It was an amazing room and awesome hotel – it’s just too bad we couldn’t enjoy it more! We walked around Vail village a bit, and enjoyed our complementary ice cream and vino :-) Wake up time was 5:30 though so early to bed!

Tough Mudder was at Beaver Creek Resort – about 15 minutes down the road. We got our Starbucks, found the parking and were there just before registration that started at 7. AA got all marked up and we were looking for his teammates (superman and wonder-woman) and found them just before race time at 8 AM and headed up to the start. 

Hyatt Ryatt

Just to GET to the start line, you had to jump over a 10 foot wall. 

Wall to get to the start

I started taking my pics and got to side with other spectators. The MC got the first wave AMPED up and they were off! I hadn’t done my usual planning so I didn’t even know where to go. I was hoping there’d be signs for spectators or a group to follow – but there wasn’t. Luckily I met this girl whose boyfriend was in the same wave as AA with his dad and brother. She had a map, so we started up the mountain in hopes of taking lots of pictures. It turned out to even be a fun day for me! I ran around with her trying to make it to lots of obstacles. We were both so happy to get our first pics and meet-up at obstacle 6, where they had to army crawl through water while getting shocked by live wires. It was sort of painful to hear! 

Climbing through live wires

I’ll leave the Tough Mudder update to AA’s post – but the weather and surroundings couldn’t have been more beautiful. 

View down to Beaver Creek and the start

Needless to say, the race was re-freakin-diculous. 12 miles, 4000 ft elevation gain, 22 obstacles all while fighting elevation and making 2 trips up and down Beaver Ski Resort Mountain…His team stuck together and I’m so proud of him for making it! He had an awesome time, although was sore for DAYS and was not only physically…but mentally challenging, but he is ready to sign up again already :-)

After crawling through Mudd...Tough Mudder much?

Sunday

AM1: 750m swim

AM2: 5 mile run

After a quick appearance at the block party on our street – we were in bed early on Saturday night. I was up at 6:30am to get to swimming at Grant Ranch on time.  I got there with plenty of time and sat in some lawn chairs with the rest of the group waiting for it to start. I hadn’t fully prepared for the early AM temps so I was glad I had my towel to wrap around me :-)

Melissa was our instructor, and after listing off her impressive (and obviously qualified) background – she got in to the lecture. She sort of surveyed the audience (20 of us) and it seemed like most people were there training for their first triathlon. Others had done some, but still stunk at the swim. It was very relaxed and everyone was having a fun morning. She talked about the basics which was nice. A lot I had read, but a lot was new and other pieces were just nice to hear from a professional! I won’t go over the whole lecture – but I did have a few good take aways:

-Only thing the same between open water swim and swimming in the pool is that you are still swimming

-OWS (open water swim) has so many more unknown elements where as pool swimming is a controlled environment

-Melissa talked about proper breathing technique and using crocodile eyes to sight before you turn and take your breath back in your shoulder

-She advised to start either in the very front (if a strong swimmer) or in the very back to avoid the chaos at the start

-Talked about what to wear and proper technique for taking off wetsuit and goggles/cap during transition

-If you need to take a break, it’s okay to relax with a few breast strokes

There was a time to ask question and I actually built up the nerve to share my experience! I spoke how I had done my first OWS and had trouble breathing. I wasn’t able to exhale under water and it messed everything up. I asked, if in addition to a few breast strokes if she had any tips. She reiterated the problem that if I don’t ever exhale, and I keep trying to inhale above water – my breaths get shorter and nothing else can fit in my lungs. This is exactly right. She said we were going to be doing a bobbing exercise that would really force you to focus on the breathing. She said it sounds basic, but you have to consciously force yourself to make big exhales and think about it.

So in to the water we went! The bobbing exercise was great. You basically just jump up and then down and submerge yourself under water. When you are under you do a deep exhale and then come up and inhale. I went down and was SO happy when I actually exhaled under water! It was so simple but I just kept jumping up and down a lot and practiced exhaling under the water and then inhaling! She would go out a little ways and have us swim to her. Then back and then did a swim to her and back around. I was AMAZED I was actually doing a free-style swim, exhaling under water, using real strokes. It felt great! I did notice I would get a little caught up with the sighting. I definitely lift my whole body too much rather than just my head and it forces me to come up and get out of rhythm and mess up with my breathing and I usually take in some water. Not only sighting, but with everyone around me – the same thing happens. After some warm ups she let us loose. She showed us the buoys for the 750m swim. I knew I just had to TRI! Before I knew it I was off and doing a good job! There were two other women in front of me and a lot of people behind me. I still haven’t gotten the sighting thing down, but found after a few strokes if I did 1 or 2 breast strokes, I could orient myself, relax and keep going without getting overwhelmed. I continued to do this for the rest of the swim and I made it around the 750m and felt really good about it!

I forgot to take pics :-(

I left the swim in a great mood, and very happy that I signed up for the clinic. It was, as many said, a little bit of confidence that I needed. I still am not expert, and can see myself getting worked up in the washing machine…but if I stick to the back and start out with breast stroke to make sure I am calm– I think I have a better shot than last time.

You can get $12 one day passes at Grant Ranch to use M/W/F form 5am-7am or on weekend from 7am-9am so I am hoping to do this!

I was feeling great and drove right to Wash Park and did 2 laps (5 mile long run) at a decent pace! It was a great way to start Sunday morning :-) Not to mention AA had breakfast ready when I got home!

The rest of the day we strolled around the Farmers Market up the street (amazing) and then went to Jazz in the Park to round out a great weekend.

Jazz at the Park - City Park Denver

Monday

30 minute cycle at the gym

Pushups/abs

Tuesday

AM: 1150m swim

PM: 3 mile run

PM2: 11 mile bike ride

I made it to swimming before work! I did 44 continuous laps (with 3 breast stroke laps to break it up). My arms were a bit tired, but overall felt good!

During lunch I went for a run on the Orchard Hills course. The first 1.5 miles felt good – but struggled with the last mile. I think I went out too fast and it was a HOT day! Overall I was happy with the run though!

This isn’t quite a bike workout – but the roundtrip distance to kickball is 11 miles :-) Good workout! Tonight’s theme was dress as your favorite animal – super fun!

Panda and Giraffe - Kels and my fav's since nursery school!

Pandas all ready for Noah's Arc

Looking forward

The rest of the week is going to be busy. I hope to get in a good bike tomorrow then the same swim/run on Thursday as today. AA’s parents get to town on Thursday so the rest of the weekend is pretty busy! I am hoping to get in at least one run and MAYBE a swim? Only 4 weekends of training left! Visitors for the next 2, then an overnight hike the following Fri/Sat, then a wedding in Chicago…then it is race weekend!!

Boulder Stroke and Stride #1

First I’ll recap the Boulder Stroke and Stride last night and then do the rest of the week!

I had a nervous feeling in my stomach all day. I was obsessing over the weather, since Colorado has crazy afternoon storms in the spring, and the season has already started this year. In the morning, there was 60% chance of Tstorms at 6 PM (race time) but luckily as the afternoon approached they got pushed back to 9 PM, so we were in the clear! I went in to work early to leave work early to be up in Boulder by 6. It is an hour drive (without traffic) since I work south of Denver, but hits traffic going through the city. I hit some traffic, but made it up there in just over an hour.

Some background for the race – the Boulder Stroke and Stride is at the Boulder Reservoir. It runs every Thursday during the summer. You can choose from a 750m or 1500m swim followed by a 5K run. Each week is $20, or you can purchase a 6 pack deal. I just did the one race. There are 6 Thursdays before my race, but I already know I can’t go next week. I am hoping to do a few more.

Underground Racing tent

I arrived around 5 and saw some tents and figured that is where to go. I walked up and approached the tents where I received my timing chip, bib #, and I had gotten a shirt too!
I saw some people sitting on a grassy area on their towels, so I pegged this as the transition area, since it was close to the water. I saw people had wrapped the timing chip around their ankle, so I did the same. I set up my towel and got my shoes, etc organized and went back to the car for my wetsuit. The next 30 min or so I just observed everyone coming in and seeing what my pre-race rituals should be. I did pretty good on the packing. I saw some people had cool belts to attach their bib # to, and others were attaching it to a shirt. I am glad I threw one in the bag last minute so I could attach it to the shirt and throw it on for the running portion! The one thing I did forget was sunscreen, it was in the lows 80s and you could feel it! The race director came over the loud speaker about 20 minutes to race time and I saw more people start putting on the wetsuits. Some headed down to the water and had fifteen minutes to warm-up. I wasn’t really sure if I should so I just dunked myself in the water and took it all in.

My bib and shirt!

View from transition to water

Once more people started arriving

The director explained the route, and it seemed FAR! We basically swam about probably 325m then across 100m and back to the shore for another 325m. It looked really long. But I was still feeling confident.

The 1500m race started at 6PM and the 750m race would go off at 6:05PM. It was neat seeing the first race go off, it was tons of splashing and kicking and lots of water all about. They were going quick! There were about 250 total participants split pretty evenly between the two swims.

Next we got in position and he had some fun words before we started. The buzzer rang and we were off! I was positioned in the back of the pack so ran up a little before I dove in. I put my head in to start off and it was SO weird not being able to see! Next thing I knew I was struggling to breath. I couldn’t stop or control my breathing, it was going at rocket speed. I started getting really worried, I was not having a panic attack – but I knew I need to settle down. The was water coming in my mouth making it hard to breath even more-so. I started to just do the free stroke but not put my head under water. I could see there were 5-7 people around me also struggling, with the rest of the pack in front of us. There were kayakers around us if we needed help but I really did NOT want to pull out of my first race. I continued to breath heavy and couldn’t do anything more than keeping my head above water, I even flipped over to my back once and a while. It seemed to go on forever – eventually I made it to the first buoy and started my turn and just kept on trucking. It was pretty bad as I knew my swimming form was NOT good and NOT efficient to preserve my energy. The second side was short so I made the last turn, by this time lots of the swimmers from the 1500m had already lapped me! I tried to stay very far on the outside so I wasn’t in their way. I only got in the way of like 2 people. By this time I was a bit calmer, but my breathing was still super heavy, plus we were looking in to the sun now. I finally realized that between the nerves and the wetsuit constricting me, I couldn’t exhale under water. This was causing all sorts of problems, and obviously why I couldn’t get in to a rhythm. I actually managed to put my head under and do like 2 strokes, on 3 separate occasions. I was feeling pretty down though. I thought – these people are insane, there is NO way I can do this triathlon in 5 weeks! My right calf was tightening up and hard to swim at some points.

I finally made it out of the water and just walked up the beach to the transition. I was feeling kind of dizzy and was wondering if I could even do the run. I got to my towel, started drying my feet and putting on my sneakers. I remembered to start my watch to find the GPS but realized after I left the transition I forgot it at my towel. I grabbed a sip of water and a tiny bite of a Lara bar. I was starting to feel better and was off on my run. I had no watch so had no idea of what my pace was, but just tried to take it easy and slow. There was a small uphill at the beginning and immediately my calves started to tighten up – I had a feeling it was going to be a LONG run. It was an out and back with water at the turn around so I was hoping to make it there for some quick water and back without stopping. It was neat seeing all the other athletes on their way back, or see the athletes that passed me with such speed. My spirits started to brighten a bit. At the one mile mark I thought we had gone a lot further. I had been breathing heavy but started to get in to a better rhythm. I made it to the water, took a quick sip and headed back! I knew I could make it. It was a gorgeous day and the scenery, as usual, was amazing. The course was flat and I was just trying to enjoy myself at that time.

I crossed finish and was a little confused if I should be happy or sad about my performance. I ended up finishing the total course in 56:12.
750m swim: 21:13 (rank 102 out of 116)
Transition: 2:50
5k run: 32:11 (10:23 pace) (rank 99 out of 116)
Overall: 98 of 116

Female: 50 out of 67
If that were a test, I failed miserably! But I am trying to think that I finished it and I should be happy with it! 15% of the people finished below me ☺

I finished 3 out of 5 in my age group! (F25-29). Somehow that seems odd, but I’ll take it.

Afterwards, one of the sponsors, Naked Pizza had about 50 pizzas so I grabbed 2 slices of a good onion and pepper pizza. Drank some water and again just sort of took in the environment. Lots of people seemed to know each other and it seemed like a great community. I headed home and tried to think of how I can better prepare myself and get ready for the race in a short 5 weeks! Aaron also had delicious pancakes when I got home – well deserved I thought!

Post race!

Next Steps
As I reflected of what else I can do, I know practice, practice, practice is key. I was wondering if I should wear the wetsuit at the pool and try swimming in it more? I know there is also a swim clinic before the Stroke and Stride for an hour. I can’t go next week, but in 2 weeks there is the last one. This might be worth it. I also researched some other open water clinics, I found a beginner one this Sunday only 20 minutes away! It is 90 minutes and includes lecture, skills/drills and then water implementation. It didn’t take long to decide that if I want to succeed at the race, I should do as much as I can. It’s a little early for a Sunday, but I’ll just have to end our Saturday evening festivities early.

Week Recap
Monday
AM: abs/pushups/free-weights at the gym
After the good bike on Sunday, and not having a day off in a while I took it easy
Tuesday
AM: 3 mile run at work – did NOT feel good, stopped a lot, but didn’t get much sleep so I was thinking that is why
PM: 11 mile bike ride (round trip distance to and from kickball)

Aaron and I are playing kickball with some of our other friends in a park up North. It makes for a nice additional bike ride there – and we all need some play time right? It is a noncompetitive league and you are required to be holding a beer at all times…it’s pretty awesome! We didn’t win, but had tons of fun. Next weeks theme: dress as your favorite animal. That’ll be easy!

Kels and AA at kickball!

Enjoying kickball!

Hartford Jen - this may have been the grand slam!

Wednesday
AM: abs/pushups/free-weights at the gym
PM: 500m swim – just wanted to get in a few strokes!
Thursday
See above
Friday
AM: abs/pushups/free-weights at gym + 30 min bike ride

Weekend Plans
Aaron and I are headed up to Vail tonight! He is doing the Tough Mudder race with a group from his work. It is an insane 10 mile obstacle course through the mud, while gaining 4000 ft in elevation. His start time is 8 AM! Then we’ll head back and there is a festival on our street with drinks and music from 1PM-10PM on Saturday. Love our new neighborhood! I’ll retire early for the clinic Sunday morning and then we are doing Jazz in the Park Sunday night with some more friends. We’ll bring food and drinks and basically picnic and hangout and listen to Jazz! Love Denver!

HAPPY FRIDAY

Evergreen Tri - Biking portion

I knew I wanted to try and bike the course for the Evergreen Sprint Tri on Sunday, since the next few weekends are so busy - but I didn't really know how I would feel after the 14er trip yesterday (Saturday!). Luckily with an early start, meant we were home and in bed early! I easily got 9.5 hours of sleep!

I was on the road by 10 AM headed to Evergreen. I wanted to scout out the route first and then bike it. I got totally turned around and it took a while to figure out where I wanted to go, but I was happy that I mapped out the route before I went.

Route follows Upper Bear Creek Road then Stagecoach and back down Evergreen Pkwy

Green = Elevation & Blue = Speed

 I figured out how to get down to Upper Bear Creek and started the drive. It goes right by Evergreen Lake, through windy roads with beautiful houses and amazing scenery. There wasn't much of a shoulder but I saw so many other bikers and the speed limit is 20 on the road. I could tell this was going to be a challenge but was so excited to try! I found an RTD lot near where I wanted to start and got ready to go!

The first 4 miles are uphill, but manageable, and I was just enjoying the gorgeous scenery and the weather. The first four miles I was averaging a 4:30 pace. 

Managed to snap a pic while riding!

Most of the road windy with gorgeous scenery

At about mile 4 the grade kicks up and then next 2 miles were really hard. I was basically in my lowest gear the whole time. I decided to stop at the intersection around mile 6 before going up to Stagecoach to take a few power gels and some water. I had some energy for the next hill and there was a great lookout for another picture :-)

View from the Evergreen bike today

Next time I'll know if I make it up that hill on Stagecoach I'll have a break with a downhill! The next 2 miles had more good climbs but you got a break once and a while with a fun downhill. I knew there was one final hill around mile 9 and I stood up and pedaled hard through the hill. Miles 6, 7 and 8 were between 8 and 8:30 min miles. The remaining 3 were mostly downhill and the clouds started to come in a little so I was glad to be getting home. My ninth mile time was 2:07 :-)

All in all it was a great morning trying out the course. I definitely have a lot of work, but I finished in 57:26 with 1,100 ft of gain. I hope I get to do this a few more times before the race and next time I won't stop!

DeCaLiBro!!

Not much to update on the end of last week before I get in to the weekend re-cap. Swimming did not happen - so that is a necessity for Monday or Tuesday with the OWS (open water swim) on Thursday - as long as I can get out of work kind of early. I did get in a 45 min cycle at the gym on Thursday. It was interval-esque. I would ride for 4 min at good pace and then crank up resistance and stand up and ride for 1 minute and repeat. Friday I did not want to do too much and just did intervals for 2 miles on the treadmill - alternating between 6.0 and 6.6 every 1/4 mile. Between the two days also did abs/arms/pushups.


After work on Friday, Aaron and I loaded up the truck and headed up to Kite Lake, which is the trailhead for the hike we were tackling on Saturday. Our plan was to do three 14ers (Democrat/Cameron/Lincoln and also basically do Bross...but it is closed)...acronym = DeCaLiBro. There are saddles between the peaks so you don't actually climb all the way down between them...luckily!

Headed to DeCaLiBro...peaks on the right

We arrived at the trailhead at 8:30 and there was still enough light to find a place to pitch our tent and then wait for the rest of the group. Kelsey, her friend Mark, and Kat were about an hour behind us. We were probably the 4th or 5th car there and they continued to roll in throughout the night! We lit up the jetboil and enjoyed some hot chocolate :-)

After the rest the group arrived and set up camp, we enjoyed some raw smores (thanks Kat!) and headed to bed around 11...wakeup time was 4 AM! Unfortunately no one slept well. Sleeping at 12,000 ft is hard!

The group was on the trail by 5 AM and it looked like it was going to be a gorgeous day.  Here is a pic of the trail and elevation too. We went up to the left. At the first saddle we went left and over to Democrat, then back to the saddle and up Cameron and then over to Lincoln. An adventure on the way down...

Ready to hit the trail @ 5 AM!

Rocky trail up to the saddle

Saddle! 1 hour 20 min, 1.41 miles, 1300 ft elevation gain

Dogs ready for a treat

After the saddle, there was some steep elevation with lots of rocks. You sort of switchback through them, but don't be fooled this isn't the top. Once you crest over you'll see this snowfield below and the end is very close!

Heading up final part of Democrat

Kat, Panda and Kels on Democrat

Crew on the top of Democrat

 Ok that needs some explanation...I have frequently talked about our love for Park Burger after a grueling workout as a treat. Luckily for us hikers, the first group to take the Park Burger flag to the top of a 14er and take a picture gets 2 burgers and 2 beers! None of the 3 we did were on the list, and we wanted to get creative with the pictures :-)

Me and AA - 14er of the season!

Headed back down..pictures don't do justice!

After Democrat, we headed down to the saddle and started up Cameron. This was another rocky trail. Starting at the saddle you lose 1000 ft of elevation in .7 miles and gain it back just as quickly. When we got to the top we actually questioned if we were there...it was anticlimactic. We took our pics though! 

Ellie did so great all day! On top of Cameron

Cameron Park Burger pic

Love this shot - view leaving Cameron over to Lincoln

After Cameron, the toughest stuff was behind us. We headed over to Lincoln and the sky was gorgeous. At the top we celebrated with lunch. There were a few people when we got there and by the time we finished pictures - 15-20 people were enjoying the views and accomplishment.

Henry taking a breather on top of Lincoln

Love the clouds! Crew on Lincoln...L to R (Kat, Kels, AA, Panda, Mark)

Aaron probably holding his stomach because he was feeling awful altitude sickness

 Aaron's trip update! 

Poor Scarlet had a tough time on the rocks! Luckily we had socks and used Henry's booties!

Although the clouds look great in the above pictures - it was evident the clouds and storms were moving in fast. We could already see it storming in the distance (in many directions). One big thing for 14ers is getting off the mountain by around noon because of the storms. This is why we left so early! Even leaving so early, I was really nervous how it would end up.


We headed down Lincoln and the normal route continues to Bross and around the side of it. It looked long and far, with even more elevation gain. Bross is closed to the public, although some people do summit it since the trail is only a few hundred feet from the top. After about 1.5 miles of hiking we reached a decision point. We could either continue around the side of Bross and go off trail down a very sleep 'washout' area of rocks. I am NOT one to do anything that isn't allowed, but I also was so scared of the impending storms I was all for the fastest route. So we made a group decision to head down. It was very steep, rocky, and no trail. It was easy to sort of ski through the big sections of rocks. It was toughest for Kat since she has some knee problems from torn ACLs, AA was feeling awful from altitude sickness and poor Scarlet had torn up pads and was struggling. We all continued down though and tried to be as careful as possible. With the sight of a big snow area - Kels and I knew we wanted to 'glissade' where you sit on your butt and just coast down. It sure beat climbing down the rocks. Soon after AA picked up Ellie and coasted down. It was a nice break to the grueling rocks. Mark was helping Scarlet down a bunch in the rocks too. The girls got ahead and we basically ran back to the car once we reached the grass, which was still a good mile away. We were SO happy to be down off the mountain...and it was only 12:15! We packed up quickly and headed back to Denver to get our Park Burger! It was an awesome day and I easily got 9.5 hours of sleep!

Glissading down Wash Out

Scarlet and Henry - relaxing at the car!

 Aaron's trip update!