Home again

I came back from work on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday have been the most beautiful days of the summer. Thursday Matias and I went up the Ramp. We went down to Ship Lake pass then out to Powerline. It was awesome. Very mellow effort.

The reason for doing the Ramp was so that we could check out a route from Bird Ridge that would finish on the hillside somewhere. Heidi and I were going to camp with Gina, kids and dogs, then I could hook up with Matias down in Bird and run back to the hillside. We had a great night at Bird Point. Highly recommended for family friendly camping - if the weather cooperates.

Pictures of Matias on the Ramp and me running down towards the pass with Ship Lake to my left.















We ended up bailing on the Bird Ridge route across Indian Valley, but we did have incredible weather and made it up to the overlook. All was great except I struggled right from the beginning. It was one of those days where you can't really put your finnger on exactly why you don't have it, but I didn't.

Photos of Matias at the Overlook, with the previous day's hike in the background (Temptation to the far right) and then running back towards the highway on a sweet trail that follows the ridge most of the way to the Overlook. My trusty running partner Joey waiting patiently for me to finish the photo shoot.





















These last couple days were the types of runs that make me realize that, while I'm training for a race, the training in and of itself is worth every minute. Over the course of the last year I've spent about half my time exploring new territory, new trails, longer runs, new peaks. It's been awesome.