On The Loose: July 21st to July 27th

Monday, 7/21--Backyard Loop

4,868', 2:28

Up South Sentinel, down North Pengelly, up Sentinel, up University, down to Pattee Canyon and back. Foggy conditions below 5,000'. I love this loop. I might look into extending it with a detour over to the other side of Pattee Canyon, to get a more comprehensive tour of the Sapphires. Legs felt good.

Tuesday, 7/22--South Sentinel, North Pengelly, Sentinel

5,032', 2:20

I went out just shooting to get a fast 5k of vertical in. The legs are definitely feeling good, and they felt really responsive on the downhills. I know I'm not totally recovered (and probably won't be with my frequency of racing until late fall), but I feel good enough to start pushing it every now and then.

Wednesday, 7/23--Sheep Mt.

4,855', 2:58:02

This was a good effort, and I'm happy to have gotten it in under 3 hours, but I pushed myself a little too hard considering this was in the heat of the day (2:30-5:30). I coaxed myself into going for a sub three hour attempt after reading Brian Story's account of his run. I ran without water, and took one GU at the summit, but felt very faint afterwards. Probably a bad idea to ingest pure carbs without water when I'm already dehydrated. After chugging a bunch of water back at my truck, the drive home seemed to take forever, and I threw up nothing but water when I got back. Ugh. I need to realize my limits in the heat.

Splits were about 1:39:30 to the summit, and 1:18:30 back. Going back felt a lot slower.

Thursday, 7/24--Off

Friday, 7/25--South Sentinel + Sentinel

3,931', 1:54

A moderately easy pace, and a little shorter than usual. I had to get back to make sure and pack for the big run tomorrow!

Saturday, 7/26--RatBob! (Run Across The "Bob" Marshall Wilderness)

7,372', 14:58

A wonderful day in the wilderness, with intermittent running, a lot of bad jokes, and friends made. There were 21 of us in all, but most of the time we were in smaller groups, going at different paces. I'm still kind of processing this whole run. Midway through, I was the furthest from civilization I've ever been (26 trail miles and 30 miles on a dirt road). This is the kind of run that makes me want to quit my job, quit everything, and just go explore. There's so much I'll never see.

After the run, around the campfire, Ken Ellis recited a poem by heart--The Men Who Don't Fit In, by Robert Service. The first stanza is still going through my mind:

There's a race of men that don't fit in,
A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain's crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
And they don't know how to rest.

26,058', 24:38

Over a day on my feet this restless week. Usually, I run out of a desire to know the land and myself. But to cover 50 some miles of new land, and run it with such a large group of friends--that's something rare. I feel luckier than ever to be in Missoula, and RATBob has spurred me on to try to take this next month before fall semester starts, and use it to the fullest. I want to be restless.