Green/Bear/SOmelittlepeakIcan'tBOothertorememberthenameof/Green Again
10.28 miles
5,256 (dang it, just 24 ft. shy of a vertical mile)
2:49
I had a surprise and very rare morning to do as I pleased, with no real pressure to get home anytime soon, so I headed into Boulder to get in some leisurely hill running.
Headed up A/S/G on Green in an easy 38, down to the 4-way, got a little confused here and ended up on some hardly recognizable trail. Miraculously, this trail dumped me off right where I had hoped, at the start of the West Ridge trail for Bear, which just opened a few days ago after being closed since the Flagstaff Fire in June.
**Side note, I was expecting total devastation on the W. Ridge, as it looks pretty wiped out from afar and heck, it was closed for 5 months, so it must be really bad right? I was shocked to observe that, though burnt, it was not nearly as bad as I expected. It is absolutely ridiculous that this was closed for 5 months. 2 or 3 weeks may have been more appropriate, then a simple "proceed at your own risk" sign, would have been more than sufficient. All the trail work? I noticed they minorly reworked/rerouted the trail in at least one spot, some nice steps, but 5 months? Really?**
Back to the run, I again got a little disoriented, but I could eventually hear voices on Bear, as SOmeBOdy was talking loudly and I eventually topped out and enjoyed the views. Looking over to South Boulder Peak, it looked pretty bad, IS pretty bad (from what I hear). Sure wish they would open that soon, I am really itching to go check it out myself.
From Bear, I headed down W. Ridge which was really good to get re-acquainted with after not having run through there since before the fire. Once back to Bear Canyon, I again got a little disoriented, but soon found myself back at the 4 Way and then headed up to tag Green once again. Bumped into Ben K and Johannes R, so we stopped to chat for a bit.
On Green, I was feeling awesome and seriously considered tacking on Flagstaff and possibly Sanitas, but then 5 minutes into the descent, I bonked bad, probably my worst bonk in many years, as the early breakfast and lack of fueling caught up to me. I was a stumbling fool and what is normally a 20 minute cruise, ended up being a 27 minute struggle to not trip and fall.
It was awesome to get out for a little longer run than the norm and I really hope I can do this again on Thanksgiving if I can talk the in-laws into watching the girls (if anybody wants to join, gotta earn that Turkey and those measly 5 or 10ks just do not cut it ;)).
