2017 Trail Run Plans

It's been a while since the last post due to a busy winter and some uncertainty about my plans for this coming season.

First a brief recap since my Nolan's attempt last September. I ran very little from November through January. This was a bit longer than usual off-time for me, but I guess I needed a bit of a mental break. I do like to take time off, to let my hunger for running build back up and I believe it's important to give the physical, mental and endocrine systems the opportunity to rest and regenerate. This is also the first year that Jennifer and I have been splitting our time between the High Rocky Mountains, where we will spend our summers and the desert and canyon lands of Western Colorado, where we'll spend our winters. So, a lot of work went into getting our new desert home up and functioning. The other big event was Jennifer's foot surgery in April to remove a fractured sesamoid bone in her foot. She had spent the better part of 2016 trying to rehab it, but in the end, it was determined that the best course of action, with the highest probability of full and less painful functioning that will allow her to return to all of the high intensity outdoor activities she so loves would be surgery to remove the compromised bone. I'm extremely happy to report that she took her first bike rides this past weekend, 7 weeks out from surgery!

One of the reasons we're spending our winters in the desert at 4500' elevation, vs. 9200' in the mountains is so we'll be able to hike, bike, run and train without much snow for just about the entire year. So, I was able to run on dirt starting in mid-February, steadily upping my mileage in the subsequent months. If you're interested, please feel free to connect with me on Strava.
So, my plan for this season is the following:

• San Juan Solstice 50 Mile Run on June 24. I ran this in 2015 and this will be the first trail race that I'm doing more than once. It's a gorgeous loop course with close to 13,000' gross ascent, a lot of time spent above 10,000' (so acclimatization is important) and a great small mountain town vibe, wonderfully supported by the host town of Lake City, CO.
• High Lonesome 100 on July 28. This is the inaugural running of this event. It promises to be an interesting and scenic course in the southern Sawatch Mountain Range. This will be my second 100 mile run after last year's Bighorn 100.
• Spend time exploring the back country with Jennifer and our dogs Bella and Penny.
• Possibly make another attempt at Nolan's 14 over the Labor Day long weekend. This is dependent on a combination of time availability to scout the line, share time in the mountains with Jennifer, work commitments and my physical and mental state at the tail-end of the season. 

So, there you have it. I'm so fortunate to have the support and advice of my wife/coach in all of these adventures and to get to experience so many amazingly beautiful places along the way. Here's an album of some of my experience these past few months.

I understand the San Juan Solstice is going to offer live GPS tracking. I'll try to put up a post with the info prior to the start, but if I can't I'll definitely put up a post-race recap.

'Till then...