Green Mountain!

Today was AWESOME!

Bear with me as I know I can sound like a broken-record saying that :)

Today Zach, Shannon, and myself decided to head up towards Boulder and ascend Green Mountain!  Green Mountain has been on my bucket-list ever since seeing this and because we had a few hours to kill before we could check-in at our hotel we decided to do it!

Unfortunately upon arriving the storms and conditions over the past few days had really taken a toll on the lower trails rendering them to a soupy, muddy mess....  Mud so deep and thick each step almost stole my shoe! :(

The beginning was beyond gross...storms had rendered the trails to a soupy mess.

Thankfully once we started up the mountain and into the treeline the trails firmed up which made the ascent infinitely more enjoyable!  Heading up the mountain we identified a noticeable change in temperature too - something visually apparent when little pieces of ice started dropping from the trees around us!

Found a little chipmunk friend :)

The ascent took us about two hours.  I use to do quite a bit of climbing and hiking back in the Eastern Sierras but I had forgotten how strenuous ascending peaks at altitude can be!  I wore my Ravenna 6's this time and though they held up perfectly fine my ankles did take a bit of a beating from a few twists and slips...

Me!

Zach and Shannon!

This was bolted to the cairn at the top of the peak, on a clear day you could identify these various peaks in the distance from the summit!

The hike down was infinitely easier and quicker than the ascent up.  It did start snowing on us a little bit which I thought was really cool as I hadn't 'seen it snow' in well...before I can remember....  Though our ascent was pretty lonely, on the way down we did start seeing quite a few runners which was awesome - especially those rockin' new Cascadias!

Heading back to the truck....

 After getting back to the truck we all headed to SINK - one of the oldest restaurants in Boulder - to warm-up and replenish the lost calories!

Fried chicken and waffles?  #Nomnomnom

I decided to forgo the group run tonight at Boulder Running Company.  Between my run this morning and Green Mountain my legs and ankles are thoroughly shot.  It was great to be scrambling up a peak again though!  Now that Green Mountain has been conquered I'm looking into tagging another before my stay is over - Bear Mountain perhaps?

Today I also learned some ROCKIN although bittersweet news....  With the tour coming to an end, it was brought up that perhaps it'd be best if I flew out of Denver to San Diego on May 27th after our last event in lieu of riding with Zach and Shannon back to Seattle.  While Zach and Shannon have family back in Seattle and the DSD has to be returned there, I have no reason.  I'm STOKED to be getting back into San Diego in time for Bike To Work Day and Rock 'n' Roll San Diego but I am a little sad it's all coming to an end!  The past three months have literally flown by.  I'm really thankful now though that I kept this blog :) as it'll be cool to revisit and look back on such a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Even if nothing else amounts from this experience, I am so thankful to Brooks Running for allowing me to be part of it.  Right now I'm hoping for one last hurrah by helping out the other Run Happy Island (Ray!  Remember Ray?!) at Rock 'n' Roll San Diego!

Until tomorrow ya'll :)

#RunHappy