Cowboy Hazel

I got to run 16 miles on my favorite stretch of road in the world today, but it wasn't easy. I started in Rollinsville, Colorado at an elevation of 8,474 feet and ran the eight miles to the Moffat Tunnel, which sits at 9,197 feet. In addition to the steady climb, I was having to deal with a brutal headwind and the fact that the Yankee Doodle Dandy song had gotten stuck in my head somehow. The elevation started taking its toll on me in the form of an intense headache about mile 4. I struggled on, but slowed considerably. My dad and sister were waiting for me at the tunnel with Gatorade and snacks and I asked them to hang around for a while and meet me in a half hour just to be safe. I didn't want to end up collapsed by the road with them waiting back in Rollinsville for another hour before noticing that anything was wrong. They were super supportive and meandered back, passing me several times. It turns out, though, that I never needed any assistance. Running downhill and with the wind at my back was delightful and the headache was completely gone by mile 10. The Yankee Doodle song, however, never went away and I probably repeated the lyrics to myself at least a couple hundred times. Does that mean I'm going crazy? I hope not. The scenery was amazing on the way back and I laughed at how little of it I'd noticed on the way out. The whole run was through a gorgeous valley (like the ones you seen on postcards) with giant snow-topped mountains on both sides. There was a little river running next to me and cows and horses lazily munching grass in the fields. I got back to Rollinsville in just a bit over two hours, keeping a 7:57/mile pace overall (which I was thrilled with, considering the conditions.) I felt pretty good right afterwards, but a wave of nausea swept over me as we were wondering around the dam down by Nederland on our way back home. Between that and the headache, I think there definitely was some elevation sickness this morning, which makes me feel like the decision to head out here as early as I did in preparation for Leadville was a very good one.