We've been in Colorado for 6 days. Day 2 James ran 30-some miles of the San Juan Solstice 50 mile race. He dropped because of the heat and dehydration, it was in the mid to high 90's. The race was James last long training run, so he had planned to drop if it didn't go well. The guy pictured above was the "Gator Aid" at William Aid station at mile 15. I crewed a bit for James and had planned to pace him the last 10 miles if he didn't drop. Instead I ran out 10 miles to the pacing spot (Last Aid Station) and when I heard he dropped I ran back. Good enough for a 20 mile day!
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| James comes into mile 15 at William Aid Station. It was getting HOT! |
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| San Juan Solstice course (last 2 miles) so pretty! |
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| Hiking/running to Mile 40 in the race |
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| 1st place runner, just 5 miles from the finish. He did the 13,000 feet of gain, 50 miles, at 9,000+ feet in just 8:08! |
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| Course markers had fun with marking... |
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| Smoke from recent wildfires in CO rolled in by early afternoon during the race. It made the light look very strange and yellow/golden. |
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| Slumgullion Aid Station during San Juan Solstice 50m |
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| James loads the truck up after a night of camping in the back. Beautiful weather soon turned stormy and then beautiful again. |
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| Engineer Mt |
James and I met James' long time friend, Sean Meissner, who recently moved to Durango, to run the loop around Engineer Mountain. It was 17 miles long. The loop was very scenic and not too tough, by San Juan Mountain standards anyway. Just 3,500 feet of gain. We were between 9,200 and 12,500 feet the entire time. I liked it because it was a "up" then "down" course. Those are my favorite.
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| Sean and James with Engineer Mt in the background |
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| James and me during our 17 mile run around Engineer Mountain |
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| Sean and James scheming about races... |
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