Mon 7/18 - 5 hour hike

Return to the infamous South Zapata Lake trail which humbled and dismissed the CH and I a year ago. This time we made it to the trail's end, a nice spot if ever there was one but a journey that seemed neverending at times. I had entertained notions of doing an evening run, which went right out the window given the length of the hike and the soreness in both legs from yesterday's pounding. Seemed gratuitous in fact, plus given how late we finished there really wasn't time for it anyway.

Sun 7/17 - AM 2 hours trail race Barr Trail

A stinker of a race and about what I expected. Simply too flat and tired to be in any condition to race up and down a mountain at altitude. Not using the rebreather in the lead up to this trip likely played a role as well but no gimmick or performance aid was going to make up for the crap way I felt right from waking up in the morning. Tried to hold something back early in deference to how flat I felt, still overdid it and felt myself give in a bit at about 25 minutes. As it turns out it was the first of multiple tactical retreats on the day. In fact the whole thing resembled a fartlek workout as there were (brief) moments of being motivated and interested bracketed by longer stretches of just not caring and trying to get through the thing without injuring myself. By far my worst time on this course, both up and down. While it was nice to be on the trail as always, I wish I had just been out for a run and not trying to race it. Finished feeling more used up and depleted than last year when I ran almost four minutes faster. Ugh.

Sat 7/16 - PM 30 minutes very easy

Garden of the Gods. Stop and start putter around the southwest corner of the park with the CH, with various photo ops along the way. Feeling spectacularly listless and unmotivated after both the day's travel and yesterday's long session in steambath conditions. Tired to the bone.