56 minutes
easy pace (but moderate effort)
1:30 pm, a bit chilly but sunny, breezy - parked at the base of Shanahan Ridge (on Lehigh), ran East Shan out to Big Bluestem, up Upper Big Blue, north on the Mesa to North Shan junction, west to "the Slab" (touched the slab), then down North Shan to the trailhead - Lower Blue was muddy as the wind had eaten away the snow (and it was still howlin' on that open section of trail), but once I got into the trees on Upper Blue the trail was mostly snowpack - but the sun and wind had really softened the snow, thus the moderate effort for an easy pace (not a very efficient transfer of energy) - occasionally a my shoe would post-hole into the snow, but my body was still moving forward creating a slightly painful rip-the-foot-out-of-the-snow-hole-ankle-tweak - I took one little spill (I don't even know what happened - suddenly my kneecaps were slamming into the ground - fortunately on soft snow, not Rocky Mountain rock) - the trail up to the Slab was a lot of work (still a lot of soft snow that was not as well traveled and packed) - once I turned around at the Slab it was all down, down, down - mostly running, with a little sliding / shoe skiing mixed in - super fun - feeling damn good - my fitness isn't as horrible as I thought - it's only January, so I'll be fine by April (but I hardly ever race - I'm not trying to achieve anything other than feeling great).
