Three things I’ve learned today:
+ Ski towns in summer resemble ghost towns — empty and slighty creepy.
This morning when I left the condo, I didn’t see a soul until I got to Starbucks. (Thank goodness for Starbucks!) There are very few people around. I mean, there are at least a few hundred people here for the conference, but they’re spread out in lodging across the resort, which is 6 or so miles from end to end.
While running, I ended up at the bottom of a couple of the ski lifts that I swear were swinging and creaking in the breeze like the saloon doors in some old black-and-white 1930s western. I expected to see a tumbleweed blow by at any minute! There were lift ticket windows, stores, and restaurants — and every single place was shuttered up tight.
+ You don’t truly realize how much time you’ve been spending with someone until you are suddenly deprived of their company.
I spent all afternoon alone in the condo. There weren’t any great talks at the conference, and I needed to spend a solid few hours putting together my presentation for Wednesday morning. It was really, really quiet. I had to keep the TV or iPod on to make things seem more normal.
+ At 9,500 feet above sea level, you can be gasping for air even if you’re running really, really slowly.
I went running tonight for the first time at serious altitude. Though I’ve hiked at 9,000 feet and above many times, I’ve never attempted to run. It’s tough. Of course it’s tough. I knew it’d be tough, and it was.
Keystone has a nice long bike trail that runs the length of the resort (about 6 miles in total from what I can tell). I ran from my condo to one end and back then down to Rich’s condo and back for what, as far as I can tell, was about 3.5 miles, give or take a bit. It took me a huffing, puffing, heaving, and gasping 44 minutes to do the run in a 6/1 running/walking pattern.
Even the downhill portions were hard, and in addition to the massive amounts of air I was trying to gulp down as quickly as possible, my legs were completely and utterly dead. No spring, no zip, no energy. I wonder if that has something to do with the altitude as well? In any case, I’ll try again tomorrow and if nothing else, a week at altitude is bound to do me some good in the Cinco Ranch Tri on Sunday. Hooray for legal blood doping! 😉
Jen and I drove through Breckenridge after seeing you two off, it wasn’t as dead since it has a lot of other stuff going on. Great steak dinner. 🙂
Running at altitude sucks even though the scenery is great. When I was a kid it usually took me about a week to run without gasping like a fish during soccer practice after I returned to a mile above sea level.
That’s so interesting how the altitude affected your running. Wonder how long it would take to acclimate and how it will affect you when you get back here.
Sorry for the alone time there. Hang in there. Chin up!
I went running/walking in Colorado Springs today, and I didn’t feel too bad. The extra 3000 ft or so you are up in the mountains makes a huge difference. I had to run in Estes Park for drum corps once, and I felt awful.
Not *all* ski towns turn into ghost towns; Tahoe doesn’t. Not with all of the campgrounds and the lake. It’s a nice trade-off – ski hills in the winter, campgrounds in the summer. Works out well.