Go slow to go fast.

That was a cool run...very difficult, but very enjoyable.  It was really cool running at high altitude.  I started the run at 11,100 feet.  Almost to the tree line already, and then climbed 2 14,300 foot peaks, Grays peak, and Torreys peak which are right next to each other (seperated by a mile and a 600 foot descent and ascent).  Here's how my run splits went:

.36 miles from the car to the trailhead in 5:41 - slow, walking with Pat and Chris, some realtor friends with the brokerage, Your Castle, that I have a license with.  (a group of them had put together the hike, so I came along...but not to hike per se)

The Ascent: 3.64 miles from the trailhead to the summit of Grays peak at 11,170 up to 14,310 ft.  That was tougher than I thought it would be.  I thought, no big deal, 3000 feet ascent over a 9 mile run, no biggie.  Not nearly as much climbing as my run last weekend.  WRONG.  Between the two peaks it was actually 3800 Feet ascent and descent over 9 miles total, which is significantly (30%) more than 3000.  Anyway, I climbed 3140 Feet in 3.64 miles, in 1:13:33 (20 min/mile).  Avg is 862 feet ascent per mile...umm...yeah, that's pretty steep.  I was able to run the first 2 miles of that.  The last 1.6 was mostly power hiking, with brief run spurts on the less rocky, less steep sections.  It was a lot steeper than I anticipated.  Also, the altitude...wow!  I knew to expect an affect, but I didn't know exactly what to expect it to feel like.  It was pretty interesting to feel how my body reacted to the altitude.  I could definitely notice a decrease in my output ability as I got up into the 13-14000 foot range.  But I think my body acclimated somewhat once I was up there.  The 2nd climb up to Torreys felt like I handled it more easily and smoothly.  It was REALLY cool to be so high and be running/hiking for so long above the tree line.  The views were incredible (which I only started noticing for the most part once I reached the summit because my head was just buried in the trail trying to hit the peak until then.)

There were literally herds of people up there, which was the only drawback to the run.  I passed AT LEAST 200 people on the run up.  It was kind of crazy actually.  That apparently is the most popular hike in the front range or something...better do that one mid-week next time...holy smokes.  It definitely slowed the progress having to step around so many people.  Oh well...glad for them that they were up there enjoying the beauty also.

I hung out on the peak of Grays for about 4:29, then headed over to Torrey's peak.

It was .82 miles to Torreys - it took me 20:44 - 25 min/mile - it was super rocky, technical and slow descending the 600 feet to the saddle, then it was basically straight up 600 feet in 1/3 of a mile to Torreys peak.  Steep stuff up there.  It was beautiful from both peaks, and I enjoyed 5 minutes on the peak there too.  Just taking pictures and loving the views of everything.

Then I headed down to the trailhead - 3.62 miles in 44:07 - 12 min avg - I actually stopped for about 5 minutes or so on the way down when I ran into Charles and Pat who were still on the way up.  This was about about 2.5 miles up the trail, they still had about a mile to go, and probably 45 min to an hour more of hiking to reach the first peak.  I was down to my car about 20 minutes later.  Its a pretty big difference of time on the trail between hiking and running.

My total time out there was 2:37.  My running time was about 2:22:30 - 15:50/mile avg. It was a really enjoyable run.  I'd like to run some more 14K peaks this summer while I have the chance, its really cool up there.  Unfortunately I've got most eekends booked already and the community service time I need to finish in August isn't going to help my cause of getting out mid-week, but we'll see what I can pull off I guess...I'm sure I'll be pulling some early mornings out to try to squeeze in a couple more high altitude runs.