colorado half + eldo climbing on wind tower

I'm more than 4 months late writing about this adventure, so I'm sure the details will be fuzzy. I've been very lazy re: blogging this year, but I'm going to try to dig back into my brain to capture what I can. As previously mentioned, this year has been a lot about focusing on my mental health and hormonal health. Running has taken a back-burner and I've basically entered my sub-ultra era. I loved visiting Boulder last fall, so I knew I had to go back. I found a half marathon distance at the Colorado Marathon in Fort Collins, which is a short drive from Boulder, so I signed up. Mainly, this was my way to keep motivated to train a bit, without over-doing it. It would still be a challenge for me, because it would be a road half at elevation (about 5,000 ft above sea level).

The Colorado Marathon half marathon is a point to point course. It was an early wake up, since I had to catch a bus that took all of the runners to the start. There was no way to drive there, so it meant waking up at about 4:30AM and driving to a parking garage and then a short walk to catch the bus at 5AM for a 6:30AM start. We were driven out to a gulch in the middle of nowhere and had to wait in the cold for about an hour. After using the porta-potty and having a very bad cup of coffee, I just found a spot to hang out in the dark. I'm glad I looked down before I sat down because there were several cacti in the area. I'm also glad I wore some extra layers. At least they had a drop bag that they took to the finish for us so I could stash my extra layers right before the start. I chatted with strangers before the start and gave away my free beer ticket. The weather was windy and chilly, but perfect for running. It was a relief when we were able to finally start running. It was so beautiful watching the sun rise over the mountains surrounding us and running along the river was the best.

I had intended to run the entire race at an easy pace since I was planning on climbing for an entire day the next day. I needed to save my legs. A half marathon is never truly "easy" for me, but I did control my effort and really didn't feel tired until about mile 12. I did end up pushing the last mile, just because I wanted it to be over. Overall, it was a great race. I took 2 SiS beta-fuel gels and took in about 1.5 L of water. The volunteers were all super friendly. I especially enjoyed the one dressed up as an axolotl. The course was primarily flat. I really only remember one little baby hill. It was so nice to be finished so early. I finished in about 2 hours and 28 minutes and so I still had plenty of time to go back to my hotel to rest and get cleaned up. I found a great little Vietnamese place for lunch after checking out from the hotel and enjoyed a delicious bun.

After lunch, I drove to Boulder and met up with Audrey, who I'd be climbing with the next day. We met on Pearl Street and walked around prior to our check in time at Basecamp, Boulder. I'm normally an Airbnb gal, but Audrey had made the reservation and it was a convenient location. I guess there aren't many Airbnbs in Boulder anyway. For dinner, we ended up eating at Flower Child, which was really yummy. It's sort of a healthy, fast casual restaurant, but had a very simple, clean atmosphere.

Unfortunately for us, the weather forecast was quickly changing for the next 48 hours. We were supposed to climb for 2 days with our guide, but given the forecast for snow on the second day, he had to cancel that 2nd day. We were lucky in the sense that we were out there during graduation, so things were very quiet in Eldo. It was also probably because it was a little chilly and there was a chance of rain. We ended up having the place almost all to ourselves so were able to get on anything we wanted to on Wind Tower. The best part of climbing on Wind Tower is the very short approach. We warmed up on The Bomb, did 4 pitches on Wind Ridge and then finished up on Calypso. Nothing was rated more than 5.7, but the climbing was really fun and our guide Japhy was awesome. I think we got in about 950 ft of climbing over the full day.

Wind Tower

Warm up on The Bomb

Topping out on the second pitch of Wind Ridge

Working my way up Calypso

We had worked up a pretty good appetite and ended up having a delicious Nepalese dinner at Sherpa's Adventure. Our guide was Nepalese and recommended the restaurant. The momos, curry and noodles were all delish. All of it felt very much like home-cooking.

Our second day was pretty relaxed. The snow started falling and we got a good coffee at January, some shopping on Pearl Street, where I finally found soft flasks for my Black Diamond hydration vest and finally lunch again at a Vietnamese place before I had to get off to the airport. Travel back was uneventful. Denver knew how to deal with the snow. I was back very late, but back in time to see my daughter off for her 8th grade field trip to D.C. the next morning.

I rarely like visiting a place more than once, but Boulder is the exception. I'd gladly come back again. I feel like I've barely scratched the surface - so much more to discover on trails, climbing and eating.