Summer is the busiest time for sure in my chosen profession !

That is why having Pikes Peak in my backyard is such a luxury for me since life/work balance is the most challenging this time of year.

Monday, with a rare morning off from work, I made a rather spontaneous choice to ascend the Pikes Peak,arriving at the first shuttle of the day at 6 am (and a nice visit with my friends Daryl and Donna) to start off the Ascent with a trip up the incline steps. 

As I continued my brisk hike, the foliage between the incline and Barr Camp was very different than it was on Father’s Day! All that was left where a few indian paintbrush and dry looking wild roses

Barr Camp was just busy enough as i made a brief stop to filter some water, enjoy small talk with fellow hikers and joggers,and continue on!

I finished the last 3 rather warm miles enjoying the company of Wesley, who is training for his first ultra.

What a difference 3 years makes! in 2015 we were post holing it through snow drifts on july 2 and today, not even a wet spot on the trail!

I stood in the shuttle line for about a minute before getting a ride down to Devils Playground, where I got a ride with a nice family immediately as well... I am beginning to think weekdays might be best if you’re in a time crunch as I was back in Manitou right around noon(Compared to Fathers Day Sunday when there was much waiting in long lines--and I was actually in the wrong line for part of that time!)

This Sunday is the Summer Roundup 2nd leg of Triple Crown. Very nervous for this this technical half marathon and easing the anxiety by looking at cut off times! I haven’t looked at the course, going into it cold turkey since downhill is a hard on my muscle imbalance (right leg weighs at least a quarter pound less than left one, you can actually tell in this photo--time to start working on that right VMO muscle for sure) plus, I haven't even reached a week of running that totals 13.1 miles, much less doing all of that in one day! Should be interesting, to say the least!

Hope to be making a race report on a happy finish for Summer Roundup next week!