Those of you who know me in real life know that I pretend to be a really hard-core jock while struggling to get out to run 5-6 miles twice a week and doing curls with 10-pound weights about twice a month. One of the ways that I preserve this illusion is that I like to run on the Ute Trail in Rocky Mountain National Park, which runs from the visitor’s center at the top of the park at 11,796 feet above sea level, down to Milner Pass, the continental divide, at 10,800 feet. I end up doing this about once or twice a year–it’s about a two-hour drive from my house, depending on the time of day and traffic, so I can’t justify getting out to do it weekly or even monthly during the summer, the only time the road and the trail are accessible (usually early May to late September, depending on the snow.) Sometimes I do it round trip, but yesterday I only had time for a one-way jog, downhill.
Yesterday was the day, and it was great! I’ve never had any trouble running at that altitude, for some reason. You feel a little lightheaded and tingly at first, but then it’s just another run, albeit with better scenery than my neighborhood routes. No large animal sightings–not even an elk, which in RMNP are as common as pigeons in big cities. Once I saw a couple of bighorn sheep on this run–fortunately, they left me and my running partner alone, as they can be very nasty creatures. There were still lots of wildflowers, like asters, Indian paintbrushes, and all kinds of little yellow and white blossoms. And the weather was mixed–overcast with thunderstorms all around me, but patches of warm sun (as you can see in this picture of the trailhead.) Maybe I can get up there again in a few weeks to do the round-trip run before they close the road!
Historiann 
Good for you Historiann! That is hardcore- I’m inspired. I’m sure that is a nice way to start the school year- before you know it you’ll be grading like a lunatic.
LikeLike
Well, Nicole–as you well know, I’m not big on grading…although I’m going to try to return work to students before a whole month passes by!
Grading is the one part of my job I would LOVE to outsource.
LikeLike
Perty! Although I’m more of a saunterer than a runner myself…
LikeLike
Gee, for someone who doesn’t exercise much you certainly have quite the figure! I exercise a lot (just rode 36 miles on my bike, for a weekly total of 140) and still pack on the pounds.
LikeLike
Thanks, KC, but you don’t do yourself enough credit. Biking is incredibly high energy work–when I had to ride a stationary bike because of an ankle injury, I remember going home afterward and eating an entire pound of pasta before I felt like I had replentished myself! I think I gained weight that month–although that may have been because I was working in a restaurant too…
LikeLike
Way more of a run than I could do at that level, although in the Philly outback over the years I learned to enjoy the existential pleasures of the “net-negative” run, i.e., some uphill, some flat, but at the end of it you’re closer to the bottom. I’m just now pushing off on the famous Run for the Coal marathon, which once it starts, lasts until May. And I’m dragging already!
LikeLike
Awesome, Historiann. You have inspired me to do a run today, although at sea level.
LikeLike
Running in soft sand counts for running at +5,000 feet, I think, so give yourself a bonus!
LikeLike
Makes me miss the old RMNP, Historiann. Greetings to all in the old cowtown.
LikeLike
Hi, Tom–we miss you too! The reading group is defunct, since everyone has moved out of Potterville but me. Harumph.
LikeLike
Pingback: A CALAMITOUS DAY unto me! : Historiann : History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present
Pingback: It’s so easy to be a 46 year-old old runner near sea level | Historiann
Pingback: The greatest cowgirl of them all | Historiann