There’s still a bit of snow outside if you look for it. I found this about 7 miles into a 15 miler. The weather was so perfect for a trail run today that I don’t have the words. I didn’t wear a watch but my rough math had me running a 12 minute per mile pace. That’ll do for my 50K ultra I have in April. I’m feeling good about things.

I ran the Niwot Loop today, which is a 12 mile loop for me generally, but I added another 3 mile loop on top to make it the Niwot Loop plus 3 route. There’s construction in Niwot, along a creek. Take the detour which is up the street to the stop sign and turn right. Rejoin the trail about 200 meters down the road.

Happy trails.

The snow was wet as rain today, but lovely white and cozy as I ran on the LoBo Trail. The Inov8 rain jacket Karen gifted me at Christmas to run the Bandera 100K protected me well. It was good to test it in the elements.

I’m training now for the Desert Rats 50K in April. Post broken collar bone, I’m starting out from scratch, slow and heavy. Slow’s not a problem for an ultra, but the weight needs to improve. I can’t afford to miss out on long weekend runs because of a little weather. And today was actually quite enjoyable, with little wind and 32°. This rain jacket’s a keeper.

I had my first run of the new year today. First run in ten weeks. I planned on taking it easy and only going for three miles, but it felt so good that I ran five miles. The weather was perfect for running, 27° and zero wind. I’m sore now, but happy.

I began strength training after the holidays but I’ve still gained fifteen pounds. Prepping for that ultra in April will take some focus. I want to be able to run with my daughter and I won’t be able to do that unless I get back to where I was before breaking my collarbone. Thinking I can hang with a girl half my age might be delusional, but it’ll be fun if I can run with her for even a little ways.

The Yeti water bottle in the photo will be Karen’s gift for crewing the ultra. I expect her contribution will be babysitting Margot while Brit and I run and Eric crews us. That counts though. It takes a team to crew.

I would have ran my first 100K this weekend, if not for breaking my collarbone. The first person to finish in my age group was 63 year old Stephanie Pearce from Austin, which also won her the Masters division for women which includes 50 year olds, in 15 hours. The first man in my age group was 60 year old Stephen Scobie in 15.5 hours. I was estimating I could finish in 14 hours, so I might have been competitive assuming I finished.

My doctor told me last Monday that I’m healing ahead of schedule for my age and that I can start running again. I kept to the elliptical this weekend though because the temperature has yet to rise above 0°. I’m a gentleman runner.

I still can’t perform any activity, like changing a light bulb, that requires me to raise my arm over my head, but I’m on the mend. Pull-ups are out but I can’t do pull-ups normally, so I’m not missing out on anything. Most of my strength training has always been focused on my legs and core and I’ve been working on that for the last couple of weeks.

Still planning on a 50K ultra in April, and the Colorado Marathon in May. My first attempt at the 100K distance will have to wait until January 2025.

I took a tumble on the Wild Turkey Trail Saturday and broke my clavicle. It might be the first time I’ve ever broken a bone. There are times I should have broken many bones. I was tossed out of the bed of a pickup truck at 55 miles per hour. I was swept over a waterfall on the Pedernales onto the rocks below. No broken bones. But yesterday, I tried to turn my fall into a roll and didn’t quite have the angle to pull off that maneuver. My shoulder slammed hard into a rock. The kind of hard where I knew immediately that I wasn’t going to be okay.

I was an hour into my run and it took two hours to walk back to the trail head. I drove home before going to the ER to look at it. My left shoulder looked dislocated, which it was after falling off a bike in fourth grade. So, I have experience with dislocated shoulders. This is worse. It will take six to eight weeks to heal. The Bandera 100K is in eight weeks. Bandera is out.

So I’m pretty bummed out right now. I was scared of running Bandera, but also so excited. It was consuming all my free thoughts, which is why I like projects like that. But now, Bandera is a broken dream. I’m broken. The whole world is broken.

I’m going to try to stay positive and redirect my energies into writing my novel, but I think I like running more than writing. I like both hobbies, but I need physical activity. There was a time after college that I thought I would become a professional house painter. I like physical work. I think I’d have been happy with that career. I might be able to workout on the elliptical with this, after the pain subsides. We’ll see.

Not a bad view on today’s run. It’s from the junction of Ponderosa Loop and Wild Turkey Trail. I ran my furthest run yet on top of Wapiti Trail. I ran 2 hours and 41 minutes at a 13:42 pace. Recording that here more for me than you, to look back on when I’m considering if I trained hard enough for a Hill Country trail run in January.

I ran in my new Tecton X 2s, as I have for the last three days. They felt great. I could feel the ground and yet the rock plate protected me from over-feeling the ground. My legs were heavy today and I stumbled, tripping over rocks, uncharacteristically often. Good test for my new shoes though. My feet felt great while I was running, but one of my toes feels bruised now from that bruising earlier. That’s fine though. My toes need to toughen up.

I’m guessing this trail looks a lot like most of Bandera. Its hills are different, Heil Valley has graceful hills but at altitude; Bandera is 4000 feet lower but with short, steep hills. But many of the Heil Valley rocks are good Bandera replicas.

I’m not confident yet that I’ll be able to finish or feel good running those 62 miles of trail in the Hill Country State Natural Area. But I’m enjoying training for it. I’m getting in hours on a replica trail. I’m testing new shoes, new gels, new electrolyte drinks. My son-in-law is coaching me, giving me tips.