apAdventures

The temps are slowly cooling here in the southwest and we’re beginning to fall back into our Hueco groove. Ivan has been officially initiated (responding with big chubby-faced smiles and giggles – this kid is happy no matter where he is), Silas is already proving to be an accomplished hiker and scrambler (this is the first season we’re not carrying him in a pack), Paul can’t get Crown of Aragorn off the brain, and I’m relishing in the freedom of having a whole Hueco season ahead of me without being pregnant and puking….woo! With 2 kids now, this season will no doubt be unlike any of the previous and I’ll admit I’m a bit excited to take on the challenge…in a masochistic, super-mom sort of way.

Originally, we were selfishly hoping that Ivan (now 6 months old) would take his time at becoming mobile so that he could just happily hang out in the bouncer or on a pad while we climbed and Silas played. But given that a month ago he started rolling over obsessively (both front-to-back and back-to-front) and now he’s mastered the dead-legs army crawl, our chances seem a bit slim that we’re going to make it to Thanksgiving without him wanting to explore the boulders 4-legged style. The good news though, is that Ivan has Silas. And Silas is Ivan’s ultimate hero. And most of the time, if Silas sets up his construction zone, train station, pizza factory or pancake kitchen (all of his most popular make-believe games these days) next to Ivan, Ivan is about 99% absorbed into Silas’ every move. So we’re now hoping this should keep him somewhat stationary….at least long enough for me to glance at Paul and shout some words of encouragement while he’s climbing or vise versa, anyway. If it doesn’t end up that easy – well, bring it on baby! Stay tuned this season for the new adventures of April & Paul…and Silas…and now Ivan at Hueco. 🙂

Morning in the van

Some reading before day begins

Time to head to the boulders

How we roll

Ivan anchored down with rocks. We don’t trust this boy anymore.

Construction zone

Some climbing in the Gymnasium

Silas can’t pass this gate without showing off

Paul on Belly of the Beast, v7

Topping out Belly of the Beast, v7

Silas with his “sleigh.” Apparently, the fine powdery dirt here made for good “snow”

Paul on Ice at the East Spur

Silas at his oven in the pizza factory. Nothing beats hot and fresh pizza at the boulders

Mmmmm

Goofing off at camp

Ivan is of course entertained

The hero and his admirer

Cuteness

Double cuteness

And more! Ahhh I can’t take it!

Silas finding a friend

Silas with more friends

Storytime

Silas wants to climb his own boulders now. He picks them out himself

A fine pick.

posted by arr

posted by arr

Way way back, when Paul and I first started this website, we vowed to never put bad, mad or sad news here. We meant this to be a place for sharing only the fun adventures (because dwelling on the not-so-fun is just…well…not so fun). Sadly, however, I’ve decided to break our cardinal rule and share our recent loss of our Morgie. She’s had so many admirers over the years that I figured this would be the easiest place to bring everyone up to date. And well, because it’s all so devastating that I really have a hard time mentioning it verbally.

Earlier this year both Paul and I noticed that Morgan was slowing down a bit. She was falling behind on short runs and hikes, not noticing cars drive up to the house, and not all that interested in hanging out at the ponds at my parent’s house (her all-time favorite haunt back when we lived east). Then late this summer she developed a bit of a limp that gradually got worse and worse and then really worse. Somewhat reluctantly, I finally took her to the vet to get a diagnosis…fearing that it was most likely some sort of news I didn’t want to hear. And I was right. It was bone cancer. So finally, after many weeks of sadness and plenty of pets, hugs, treats and love, we said our goodbyes to our sweet brown dog gal and had her put to rest.

Morgan has been with me since she was 10 weeks old. It’s hard to believe that 12 and 1/2 years have passed since that day I picked her up and knew that her and I were meant to be. I can’t even begin to list all the places she has traveled to and all the adventures she’s been on with us over the years. She’s crossed the country multiple times, has waited patiently at the base of just about every climbing cliff we’ve ever been to, has put up with numerous hours crammed into a moving vehicle on our many, many roadtrips, has trail run obscene distances without complaint, has hiked ridiculously far for good bouldering or a good view, has guarded many a campfire, woody session, and now two small babes. And above all, has given us unconditional love and loyalty that I never thought possible from a pet. To put it simply, she wasn’t a pet. She was part of our family. And she’ll be sadly missed.

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Happy Birthday to our Silas.

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The big day finally arrived – last Saturday was Imogene Pass Run. And…well…I finished it!! Woohoo!!!! With my dear friends and family cheering me on as I came barreling down the homestretch into town, I crossed the finish line 9 minutes under my goal of completing it in 5 hours. I call that buffer of 9 minutes “finishing by the skin of my teeth.” Our buddy Courtney calls it “overtraining”, haha. Either way, I’m psyched. One week later I’m still smiling just thinking about it (and still sore!) And as is always the case after completing something that really pushes one’s limit, I’m already dreaming about how stellar it would be to shave an hour off my time in Imogene 2013. Hey, I can dream, can’t I?! 🙂

Here’s a recap of the weekend’s race:

The little guy who started it all. 4 months ago the last thing on my mind was running Imogene. (Ok, that was just a teensy bit of a lie. I was in fact fantasizing about it just a tad, couch-bound with a newborn in my arms)

Catching our first glimpse of some Colorado mountains on our drive in. Right about now I’m looking over my mile splits and having serious doubts about having not trained nearly enough. Yes people, I actually figured out mile splits….as lame as that may sound. I was petrified of getting turned around at the cutoff points for not moving fast enough!

Silas psyched to be in the mountains and ready to cheer mama on with his coined phrase “Go mama! Run faster!!”

Approaching Telluride around noon on Friday. The lowest part of the ridgeline in this photo is where the pass is.

This time we decided to stay in Telluride (the finish line) versus Ouray (the starting line), thinking that it would be awfully nice to just be able to roll over to our accommodations after the run versus having to get in the car for a 45 min drive back to Ouray. What we hadn’t considered was having to wake up at 4am Saturday morning (which is 3am Tucson time!) to catch the runner’s bus to Ouray.

First line of business: race registration. As we mosey around town we can’t help but notice that Telluride is packed with incredibly fit-looking human beings, most likely here for the race. And a remarkable number of them with kids! And little babies! Maybe I’m not too out of my league after all…

…and then I catch a glimpse of this: the supplies for each aid station, lined up under these signs outlining mileage and elevation. My heart leaps just a little at the thought of these supplies being shuttled high up into the mountains later that afternoon/early evening by race volunteers on some bouncing, rugged truck; and then sitting there all night as the temps dropped below freezing, awaiting my arrival the next day.

Help!

Next line of business: Checking into our big fancy condo in the town of Mountain Village just above Telluride. The place was huge and the view from the couch, gorgeous.

It comfortably housed 8 adults and 5 kids and we each had our own bathrooms….sweet. The crew contained our fam, Mandy’s fam, Linda, my sister Holly and her boyfriend Joe, and the one and only, Courtney.

Silas doing some monkey-hangs in the log-mansion.

Most of you know Paul and I well enough to understand that it simply is not possible for one of us to sit contently as a spectator just watching the other do some sort of massive physical exertion of fun (i.e. run, climb, hike, etc.) without getting in on the action. This time was no exception. As soon as we got settled into the condo Paul was chomping at the bit to go off on a big solo run of his own (having not entered the race on account of designated kid-duty). From the front door of our condo he hopped on a ski slope and ran up to the See Forever Trail, shown here, hoping to bag an ascent of Palmyra Peak – 13,320 feet.

Although he didn’t quite make it to Palmyra Peak (shown in background), he claimed he had a great run nonetheless. He did about 10 miles and reached just under 13k.

From the See Forever Trail, you can…uh, for lack of a better term,…see forever. Paul was able to see almost the entire Telluride-side of the course. In this photo you can see part of the town of Telluride. Near the lower left corner of the photo you can see a jeep trail cutting from Telluride up the hillside, angling left to right below the red cliffs. This is the course. Keep following the trail and see how it switch-backs up through the mountains. The pass is in the upper right corner of the photo, hidden behind some peaks in the foreground.

Meanwhile, while Paul was running, Silas, Ivan and I did some exploring of our own of Mountain Village.

Paul kept us up-to-date with his trail progress via email and some photos so we were actually able to pick out the peak he was attempting from town – the rocky summit in the photo is Palmyra Peak.

Silas had never seen a gondola before so we spent a great deal of time inspecting this one that connects Mountain Village to Telluride from all angles, including the loading/dropoff station.

To our delight, we learned that it was free to ride the gondola (FREE?! In a ski village?! I kid you not.) So we rode it just for fun. Better than an amusement park.

Some time later Paul stumbled back to the condo and spent the rest of the evening dead-tired and nauseous (typical for Paul when he runs something big).

And then it was race day. Here is Linda, Mandy and I in the Ouray Community Center keeping warm before the start.

Approaching the starting line.

And we’re running! Or, well, walking as fast as physically possible – as shown in this pic.

A photo I snapped of the pass (over 2 miles and 2,000 feet of elevation away) just as we were leaving Upper Camp Bird aid station where, according to an extremely loud and jolly aid station volunteer, “the temperature is 80 degrees!!!” and “it’s all downhill from here!!!” with a promise of “all the beer in the bars in Telluride will be FREE!!!!!”
From this spot I could just barely see the little ant-sized runners making their way up to the pass. Obviously they were too far and too high away to show up in this photo. (Gulp).

Linda snapped this photo of the Imogene Pass aid station. At this point in the race she is significantly ahead of Mandy and I.

Another photo of the Imogene Pass aid station.

Next Mandy makes it to the pass and then finally me. Here we both are at the pass together. My lower back was in a significant amount of pain from all the uphill and I could tell Mandy was a bit concerned as to whether I’d be able to make it down. Luckily they had hot chicken noodle soup, peanut M&M’s and pain pills at the aid station.

The view from the pass down to Telluride, 7 miles away. ‘You could be done with this in an hour’ I tell myself.

And just over an hour, I am indeed DONE! Super cheese photo of me running by the gang down to the finish line.

And here comes Mandy not a minute behind me. Let me just point out that she too had a baby not more than 6 months ago. And, having never done a mountain run of quite this magnitude, she impressed us all – totally rocking it to the finish looking fresh as a daisy. Nice, Mandy!

The runner gals celebrating our victory. Linda, the natural-born-runner she is, finished in under 4 hours…even taking a few minutes off last year’s time! And, like last year, barely trained!!

Yeah baby! See ya next year Imogene!

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#10. Because pushing two kids isn’t easy, despite the fancy, expensive, lightweight, smooth-rolling rig (B.O.B. Ironman Duallie, aka “Double Bob” in our household). All the roads around here are flat too – and it’s still hard!

#9. Because I need to beat the heat. To run in the summer in Tucson means one either has to get up early and get out and back home before it starts to cook, or suffer later in the day and be cooked. So running with the kids means buckling them in the stroller as soon as Silas gobbles up his breakfast in the morning (at the constant “hurry up” urging of his mother) and running like a bat out of hell to get back home ASAP before the thermostat creeps any higher into the danger zone. If we can wrap up the morning’s run before 8am, we’re usually pretty good. Toasty, but no where near cooked.

#8. Because Ivan is getting heavier by the day.

#7. Because mud puddles after a rainstorm are kid-magnets. Rain is rare here. And getting to splash in a mud puddle, even rarer. After a good rain Silas commands the stroller be steered through every. single. puddle.

#6. Because it’s windy sometimes. Wind + Double Bob = no further explanation needed.

#5. Because if there’s any sort of construction vehicle anywhere in sight, it requires a closer look. ‘Anywhere in sight’ is literal – Silas has an eagle eye. Our runs have made many a lengthy detour.

#4. Because my 2 year old likes to talk. ALOT. And not just chatter to himself. He has to ask questions and requires responses. And if he’s not asking questions and just making a comment, he still requires a response. And if I don’t respond, he’ll just repeat. And repeat and repeat and repeat. A typical conversation while out on a run:

Silas: “What’s that sound mama?”
Mama: “Probably someone’s air conditioner or a pool filter.”
Silas: “A POOL filter, mama?”
Mama: “Yes. I think it’s a pool filter.”
Silas: “(humph). Pool filter.”
Silas: “Is this our turn, mama?”
Mama: “No, not yet. Next turn.”
Silas: “Go faster mama. Catch up to that man.” (referring to some old dude walking his dog in front of us rather slowly)
Mama: “I’m going as fast as I can, baby.”
Silas: “Faster mama! GO FASTER!!!!”
Mama: “Silas, can you just sit quietly please and enjoy the ride?”
Silas: “Okey dokey. That’s a good plan, mama.”
Not 30 seconds later,
Silas: “What’s that sound, mama? A pool filter?”
Mama: (no response).
Silas: “Mama, is that sound a POOL filter?”
Mama: “(sigh) No, it’s an air conditioner.”

Note, this becomes increasingly difficult while pushing the Double Bob through mud puddles on a windy day.

#3. Because when I finally do get a chance to go out on my own without the kiddos, I’m wicked motivated to rip it on the trails.

Note: “rip it” is a relative term here. “Ripping it” for me right now is running what feels to be top speed with perfect form, a long stride, muscles ripped and hard, skin glowing and jiggle-resistant, face calm and totally chill, mind ready for 10 more grueling uphill miles. In all reality, what I’m really doing is just picking up the pace from 10 minute miles down to 9 min 45 sec miles, with maybe only a few inches longer in my stride, muscles that look as though they may have seen more-ripped days, skin beat red and drenched in sweat with those nice crusty, highly noticeable, salt crystals forming on my temples and around my armpits (cause sweat evaporates in the dry desert), face looking like I need a mountain rescue to helicopter me outta here cause I’m about to collapse any second and mind cursing at myself for looking like a poser wearing only a spotsbra and stupid skirt because I’m totally having to suck in the jiggling, deflated baby-pouch around my middle when I pass people.

#2. Because despite my ranting I do really enjoy taking Silas and Ivan out on runs with me. Running through mud puddles has never been so fun and “Run faster mama!” really gets me goin’ some days…even if I’m only stepping up the pace by 15 seconds/mile. These two keep me company and make me smile – and smiling while running can be pretty hard!…given all of the above.

and finally, #1. Because this view of little feet from the cockpit can’t be beat:

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From the Priest Draw parking lot:

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Paul sent this weekend! A big thanks to John for putting together this sweet little video.

Paul ticks Lolita, v10/11 at Priest Draw

My turn is next: Imogene less than 2 weeks away!

posted by arr

posted by arr

Some photos from a run up Douglas Springs Trail last week:

posted by arr