Mt. Falcon

2/10/08
7 miles/2,000 feet
30:36 up, easy on the down

After a morning spent cleaning house and waiting for the day to warm up, Allison, Sierra and I got out for a great outing at Mt. Falcon. Kevin was there to meet us on his mountain bike and it was good to chat with him for a while. Allison got a 5 minute head start, then I spent 7 warming up. We kept in touch with our two-way radios and her early report of her location has me scrambling. I was debating how hard I wanted to push, but her stunning progress got me motivated to go fairly hard, as I was not sure I would even catch her by the top.

As I neared the junction (getting to this point is normally just over half the time), I catch Allison and Sierra. I reach this turn at 16:39 after giving them 12 minutes, she was a bit off on her estimates. From here to the top, the gradient subsides a bit and you can really cruise fast (if it is dry). There were very few dry stretches for the entire route, lots of pig slop mud, deep slush, off camber snow. Toward the top I was rewarded with a sweet stretch of packed snow, which I used to really up my effort in hopes of going under 30 minutes (not that it really mattered). I arrived at the shelter in 30:36. Even though I was 4 minutes off of a "soft" PR, I felt great out there splashing in the mud and slush, working on turnover and form and enjoying a perfect February afternoon!