Thru Endurance We Conquer!

The first step to any big adventure is learning the trail. Every time you run any little peice of track, you add more knowledge to the database. With as many miles as there are to cover, I think it’s going to take a while to accumulate the knowledge I need! But anyway, last year a new chunk of singletrack opened up here in the valley and I wanted to explore it. All the mountain bikers have been ripping laps, so I figured it was time for a runner to take on Windmill. I knew it would be a big loop, a nice long day and plenty of climbing where I could work in my pole technique. So I packed up my big pack and headed up to Bangs Canyon trail head. The route I had in mind was to drop down Tabaguche to Windmill and take the single track down to the river. Then I’d climb up Third Flats to Billings Canyon and head back to the car. I figured it would be about 21 miles for the loop, which was perfect for the day.  One of these days, I'll get down to Hell's Hole I was lucky - my one midwee...

 It's easy to declare to the world that you want to try a new route on a long trail. It's another thing to actually set all the pieces in motion for that run. There's a lot more then just heading to the trail head, pressing start on the watch and running. Especially for a route that has not been established yet. That's one of the things that's drawing me in instead of tackling an existing long route. The planning and preparation component of the attempt are what makes it fun. Every day you have something new to look forward to. Every map is a new bit of knowledge to add to the data base. With that said, I don't think I'll be ready to take on the trail next year. That was my original hope - that I would run Silverheels this year (and hopefully finish!) and then be able to turn my attention to the trail so I would be able to take it on in 2022. But I don't think it's realistic. There's far too much that we don't know. I know the start and the f...