Mt Shavano

This 14,000 foot peak is located near Salida, Colorado and is accessed by heading toward Monarch Pass. The Angel of Shavano trail takes 4.5 miles to ascend 5,000 feet past a snow field that looks like a great angel from the valley below. Yes, I said 5,000 feet in 4.5 miles. Not exactly a trail full of switchbacks. We added 2 miles along the Colorado trail to make it a 13 mile day and did the round trip in about 6 hours. There was a creek near the base and was a good respite as we used Brendan's water filtration system to drink from the stream. Here are some photos.

We made the blog!

How nice to be included in the "Running in the Springs" blog
http://www.runninginthesprings.com/2008/07/summer-round-up-12k.html
Calvin, Brendan, Dad and I were standing together and three of us captured some age group awards... the blogger took our picture together which is shown halfway down the page. Cool beans.

So, the next race is Pikes Peak! This weekend, we'll head over to Mt. Shavano for high altitude training.

Trail Roundup

On Sunday, Calvin, Dad, Brendan and I all ran the 12K Summer Roundup in Colorado Springs. The run began down a slope that Bren and I surged to get around some congestion before the trail closed us up. We got free and were running in the top 30 positions the whole way. Bren pulled away from me up the hill but toward the top I was able to close so we could turn together. Down the hill we passed a number of runners before he began to have stomach trouble. I finished in 55:10 with Bren about 1 minute back. On a different day, the roles could easily reverse. I am impressed with how strongly he climbs.


Calvin ran his own race this day, no longer depending on one of us for pacing. I saw him climbing well as I came down the dirt section of the road. Cal finished in 1:09 and won a second place finisher trophy.

Dad ran about a minute slower than last year, but he said he felt faster. His Achilles is not troubling him and he doesn't get out of breath... he needs more muscle strength. I feel the same way.

Well, let's do a fourteener this weekend and work on that! Mt. Shavano, here we come!

Race Results

Photos for Mt Evans

Here are links to the SkiPix photos from Mt. Evans Ascent

Calvin, Dad and Dan

Calvin and Dad above 12,000

Dad in pursuit