About 70 miles from home, Mitch and I camp at Red Lodge every summer. We got married there. We ride/run there as often as we can when the weather allows. The Beartooth Pass provides a great hill climb ride for Mitch and I can get a 12 mile run if I park at the campgrounds at the base of the pass. The run is awesome! A solid downhill for the first 4 miles and the rest has rolling hills, but ultimately a net downhill.
The plan usually involves me dropping Mitch off in Red Lodge. He will ride up to the pass and then to Vista Point, a lookout partway up the Pass.
Then I drive up 12 miles and park at the Parkside campground parking area. After riding up the pass, Mitch rides back as far as the campground, picks up the truck and meets me back in town. It's a good set up.
I get some pretty great views on the way back to town. Today I got to see a Bull Moose. He crossed the road in front of me and took me by surprise. Being on foot and without any defense, I backed away several feet before I even considered taking out my phone for a picture. Unfortunately, this meant that I missed the great shot. He's in this picture, but he's REALLY hard to see.
Rock Creek is one of my favorite views along the run. Sometimes I stop and soak my hat. And sometimes I will brave the freezing water for an ice bath at the end of a hard run. Not today though.
It was a gorgeous day! Can you tell? Truthfully though, the wind was brutal. I had a strong head wind for the first half of my run and I wanted to quit all the way until about mile 8, I think. I kept telling myself that I would jump in the truck if Mitch caught up with me before town. He caught up at mile 10 and by that point the wind was calmer and I was determined to finish out the last 2 miles.
I am totally not ready for THIS:
Autumn is a beautiful time of year, but to me it always means winter is much too close. I love the summer. I even love the fall as long as it stays nice out. I do not enjoy snow. I don't like to drive in it. I don't like being cold. And I don't like having to find ways to get my training indoors. But everything is changing colors already and I will have to suck it up. Seasons change in spite of me. So not fair.
Today way also the Montana Marathon in Billings. My friend from work ran it for her first marathon. Before we drove to Red Lodge, we found her and rang a bear bell for her as she passed.
Congrats Cathy!
Goodbye weekend. Time for another week of work. Tomorrow will be a trip to the gym (cross training... blah) and I'm sure it won't be worthy of blogging. So, until the next run...
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