Notes
Great run. Not too shabby, considering: A) At altitude B) from 9.12 miles to 10.85 miles, I climbed up a 500 foot mountain C) My run yesterday was pretty crummy D) I thought the loop around Lake Dillon would be 17-ish...and was over 18. Cool.
Anyway...ran around Lake Dillon, as I originally schemed on Sunday evening. My only concern was the 5 mile stretch on Swan Mountain Road (which is the mountain I had to climb, coincidentally) because there was no bike path, and not much shoulder, and it was up and down a mountain, so it was windy. It concerned me because A) when I mapped it out ahead of time, it showed a 2 mile section that was all uphill, and I'd noticed that uphills are no fun at altitude, and B) traffic, with not much shoulder. But...I decided to do it anyway. I figured if worse comes to worse, i take walk breaks up the 2 mile hill (which I did) and that the traffic would be an issue because A) It was recommended on Summit County's website to complete the Lake Loop for bikers (though they warned to use extreme caution due to traffic) B) The speed limit was 30 mph for cars and C) Like risking death has ever stopped me on a run before.
All in all, it was pretty awesome. I took it easy for the first few miles, and by around mile 4, found myself in a pretty good groove. Great views the whole way. Started up on the Dam, and at 7:30am, the view on the lake with the sun coming up was pretty darn awesome. Then, the bike path took me through the forest/camping area between Dillon and Frisco. Then went through the marshland area on the east edge of Frisco (where the blackbirds that harassed me on Tuesday harassed me yet again this morning) and then down by the Frisco Marina, and the middle school track I ran on Monday evening. Then, it went by the Frisco Cemetery (which looked like noone had been buried there in decades, as it all looked very old) and through main street in Frisco. I got off the path and took Summit Blvd to Hwy 9, which took me to Swan Mountain Road...which amazingly enough, took me up Swan Mountain. The views of the lake on Hwy 9 were pretty awesome, and then running up Swan Mountain was very, very cool. Once I got to the top, I had to text Lauren to let her know I'd survived (she was a bit worried about me running on Swan Mt Rd) and that it was a cool 1.75 mile climb. Tough, but pretty awesome. Then...I had about 3 miles of downhill coming down from Swan Mountain...which was great. The views at the bottom, on the southeast side of the lake were very cool too.
I kinda bonked around 14 or 15, which was also when I realized the loop was going to be 18, and not 17, which didn't help. But...while I didn't feel as good, I maintained pace, and had a good finish.
So...all things considered, I can't complain about this run at 9,000 feet.