A smoky morning greeted runners at this year’s 2nd Annual Silverton 6/12/24 Hour Mountain Runs held at the Kendall Mountain Recreation Area. The run takes place on a 1 mile loop on the Kendall Trail which was hand built by Rodger Wrublik and Jamil Coury in 2010 specifically for the Silverton 1000 mile challenge. The loop is not easy enough being at 9318 feet above sea level, but also climbs 250 feet up to the top of the ski lift on single track trails and a small section of dirt road. This is no Across The Years! The loop was accurately measured with a Rolotape surveyor’s wheel to be exactly 1 mile and runners aim …
First Weekend in Silverton
My first weekend training in Silverton is now complete and I’ve got a full growler of beer from Avalanche Brewing ready to drink tonight to celebrate a solid 7 hours of running on the Hardrock course. I am constantly blown away by the beauty and ‘epic’ness of the San Juan Mountains. The vast mountains and valley’s make me feel quite insignificant in the larger sense. A lightning strike off in the distance while running along a ridge at 12,600 feet on my first training day sent a shot of adrenaline through my body. Running along a thin strip of “quarter” track trail above 11,000 feet on the Kamm Traverse with a ridiculous drop off to …
Run Steep, Get High
Ok, so I have a bit of an obsession with the San Juan mountains of Southwestern Colorado and The Hardrock 100. It all started innocent enough. I had run a couple of ultra marathon races in 2005 and I was excited to see how far I could run. Sometime in the summer of 2006 I stumbled across these photos taken by Klas Eklof of the 2006 Hardrock 100 Mile Endurance Run. As soon as I got through the second or third page I knew that I HAD to run Hardrock. It was if it was calling my name. High altitude, steep & unrelenting climbs and descents, unpredictable weather, wildlife and amazing scenery staged through some …