Well, running up in the high country might be done for the year. Yesterday I wanted to do the long version of the Pawnee-Buchannon loop, but was shut down by rain/snow/cold/wind. The long version of this classic loop starts from the west side of the Divide at Monarch Lake and adds on ~7 miles and 1,500' of gain. Although the clouds looked foreboding, I still thought I might have a chance and went for it. I was on a good pace, but decided not to chance it once I got soaked and frozen. Still, I ended up having an enjoyable day in the mountains, putting in 24 miles in 4:32 with around 6,000' of gain. Almost time to focus on skiing and shorter runs.
On another note, I ran across a new study that looked at changes in systolic function (the pumping of the heart) and diastolic function (the ability of the ventricles to relax and work properly) in postmenopausal marathon runners. Although they found significant changes in postmenopausal women before and after the marathon, there was an improvement of the systolic function (pumping of the heart) and no long lasting detrimental effects on the diastolic function (the ventricles). So, looks like running marathons is good for the heart no matter the age! Keep on trucking!
You can't tell because my camera doesn't zoom anymore, but there are 5 moose and 1 bald eagle in this photo!
Around the next bend, I ran into two more moose!
Getting wet - the camera had fogged up at this point.
Going up there...
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