6 miles
2,500 vertical
Today I just barely snuck in a run between squalls of various precipition. I parked at Chautauqua and warmed up across the park to the Gregory TH. The small window of opportunity had me motivated to run fast, but my legs just were not there. Got to Gregory in 4:43, then headed up the Amphi/Saddle/Greenman route, sticking to the main trail, no shortcuts or NE ridge. Picked up my pace a bit over the last half as I was feeling a bit better and was motivated by the deteriorating skies. I was in shorts/tee and was fine until the final few hundred vert. where it started to get windy, the temp dropped dramatically and it began to squall some good snow.
Even further motivated by the snow, I cranked the downhill the best I could (without corrected vision as I was too lazy to put in contacts). I see OK, but with the dim light it was tought to focus too far ahead. The damp ground made footing nice and tacky, but caution was needed on certain rocks and I made good time on the down. Cautious but quick, I negotiated the technical sections of the shortcut down to the back of the 1st, then down the access trail (it is pretty much all a technical section) and when I hit the smoother section, I gave it all I had, knowing I was putting in a good descent (for me). Got to Chautauqua 22:30 after leaving the summit in a full on sprint, people on the trail were practically jumping out of my way as I huffed on through.
Up in 39:18
Down in 22:30
RT 61:48
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