Sky high

I’m writing this from Room 9119 at the Gaylord Rockies hotel and convention center in the Denver area, here for the USTFCCCA Convention – the annual convention for collegiate track/cross country coaches. Conventions are what conventions are: Meetings, symposiums, networking, and a lot of socializing. Those that know me well may have noted that among this short list of activities none ranks high in my world. But alas, I do my best to get to the convention every year. There are conference and regional sessions that I believe are important; and, most importantly, any legislation that comes up for voting can only be voted upon here, on site. And so, I attend. But still … I do my best job of dodging as much of the above activities that are not “required” – whatever that means. So far, so good.

I spent the better part of two days nowhere near Denver. Oh sure, I flew into Denver on Sunday afternoon, walking outside to the surreal feeling of 62 degrees in December. In a city that is a mile above sea level! Soon enough, I would experience winter. My good friend Bob Sweeney was there to pick me up and jettison me far away from the convention. And really, far away from everything! Bob lives in Leadville, an old mining town deep in the Rockies. Leadville has the highest elevation for an incorporated city in the United States, sitting at a bit above 10,000 feet. It is known for that, as well as for endurance races such as the Leadville Trail 100-miler. With the convention being in Denver, this gave me permission to finally overcome my travel inertia and pay a visit to Bob and his wife Sue, who have been living in Colorado for nearly 15 years.

Bob is a one of my best and oldest friends. Sitting around drinking coffee and talking for hours on end could have hijacked my entire stay there. I have a very low bar for satisfaction and I would have been fine with that. However, we did get out and do some stuff. Alert followers of the blog may recall that Bob is a world-champion pack burro racer – racing with donkeys. I got to meet his partner in racing, Yukon, and Yukon’s backyard companion Ray. Bob thought it would be a good idea to take Yukon and Ray out for a easy jog/walk with the strange visitor from New York State. This, of course, filled me with great trepidation. I’m a falling hazard. I’m not particularly athletic. And, like most people on this planet, I have no experience in how to handle and manage a 400-plus-pound animal with a mind of its own. “Just hold onto the rope and follow Ray,” Bob said. “And if he goes too fast, let go.” It turned out to be a fun experience on a sunny and brisk morning. We did more walking than running; Bob managed my inexperience well and for the most part Ray cooperated. We did a little more than two miles on snowy dirt roads, and met some neighboring donkeys along the way. That turned about to be the biggest challenge – getting a distracted Ray back on the road back to Bob and Sue’s house and not stuck commiserating with the neighborhood asses.

Oh, so about the elevation. I did wake up with a splitting headache on Monday morning – a common altitude side effect but also may have been partially due to dehydration. Other than that, day-to-day activities didn’t seem much different. Until Tuesday morning, when Bob took me out for a 3-mile jog right before our trip into the Denver area for the convention. Tuesday was cold and snowy – standard-issue Leadville weather. Bob took me on a snow-covered trail, and we went straight uphill for 1.5 miles. My lungs burned. My legs burned. At sea level, I’m a mediocre at best hill climber, actually probably not even that good. At 10,000 feet? Pfffft. My wheels were spinning as my breathing maxed out and Bob suppressed laughter and occasionally broke into a fast walk, which pretty much coincided with my lung-searing shuffle. My breathing maxed out but I’m glad I got to experience a run in Leadville. I’d like to come back in warmer weather and run on some dirt roads that are not covered in snow so I could get a better gauge of the true effect of this high altitude on my “normal” run pace. The 3-mile jog came in at around 12 minutes per mile. Yes, altitude was a major driving force to this stumbling pace. But also, the snow-packed trail, while runnable, proved to be less than ideal for my awkward gait. Definitely a memorable experience and I’ll have to try jogging here in Denver to see how much of a difference it is! As high up as Leadville is, Bob and Sue’s house is surrounded on either side by huge mountains – most of them near or above 14,000 feet of elevation. This sort of Rockies scenery makes the Catskills and the Adirondacks look like speed bumps in comparison. Definitely glad I was able to make the trip out there and thankful for Bob’s willingness to transport and entertain me.

After a few meetings on Tuesday afternoon here at the convention, my avoidance strategy continued. Rather than attending the Hall of Fame dinner and reception at the convention center on Tuesday night, I opted to meet Marist Running alum Katie Messina for dinner in the area. It’s difficult to fathom that Katie (Class of 2013) graduated nearly 10 years ago already. She and her husband Nathan moved out to the Denver area a little more than a year ago so it was good to be able to connect with her for a few hours. Will be hoping to do the same tomorrow night, with a few other Marist Running alums who now live in the Denver area.