Sweet spot - n: 1) a place, often numerical as opposed to physical, where a combination of factors results in a maximum response for a given amount of effort; 2) the focal point between two speakers, where an individual is fully capable of hearing the stereo audio mix the way it was intended to be heard by the mixer.

I’m back in it!

I find it fairly joyous that I’m back to the point where I can head out in the morning before the sun has begun to climb over Mt. Blanca and enjoy a solid 90 minutes of running before work, and then be able to head for another run and lunch or right after work.

I feel as if I’m back in the sweet spot in both senses of the term. Not only does it feel as if my running is effortless, but I also get that sense that I’m in the perfect spot in each run and am able to enjoy it to its maximum extent. Pretty sweet indeed!

Of course, things have felt even sweet with being able to get out into the mountains twice in the past month and put to use the High Gear Alterra watch that I got 10 months ago for Christmas.

After making it out to Mosca Pass as the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, I was able to sneak out of work Monday afternoon and head West to run in the Rio Grande National Forest just south of Monte Vista. I’d been out in the area once before, but primarily just ran on a dirt road at that time since it was already approaching dusk when I arrived. A lot of the running was again on dirt roads, the Goat Creek Trail Road to be exact. But, after a few short miles of rocky dirt road, it turned to ATV/Jeep trail and, by the time I got to a good climb, it looked like something that someone had once tried to ATV up but had been unsuccesful in doing and there was merely a faint trail leading up and over a rather steep ridge.

I spent a good 45 minutes or so of the 2h45m I was out running for a few minutes, stopping to see if there was anything resembling a trail around me, deciding I might still be on a trail, runnign a bit further on and then questioning my physical relation to any trail again. All-in-all, it was quite a bit of fun. Ended up climbing narly 4,000 ft. by the time I made it back to my car, and except for some smashed toes and chaffed nipples was feeling mighty fine when all was said and done.

It’s become fairly apparent in just these two quick trips to run in the mountains that while I can fairly well fake my UP and grind out a climb, that coming back DOWN  is something that I’ll certainly need to get more time on the trails and in the mountains to master. Though it’s not an enjoyable alternative, I can work on the climbing aspect on the treadmill, but there’s just not an option for getting used to steep and/or rocky descents in town. Although, I will say that having finally found a pair of trail running shoes that don’t feel like clunkers has probably gone a long way in my not biting the dust on either trip to the mountains.