South Boulder (PR), Bear

From South Mesa TH. Mesa, Towhee, Shadow, South Boulder; over to Bear; down Fern, upper North Shanahan, Mesa, Big Bluestem, Mesa.

Started at 5:59 am. Started out easy. But the effort has to increase to keep running on Towhee and up to the start of Shadow Canyon. Tried to keep it as comfortable as possible and still be running. Upped the effort entering the canyon, hiking fast and running a number of short, less steep sections. Didn't really stop on South Boulder and continued over to Bear, scrambling up the west face. Couldn't find any rhythm going down Fern. So steep, so technical, legs were tired. Down on the Mesa, ran the "Death Stairs" (always hard), then eased off until I hit the Mesa again below Bluestem. Worked pretty hard there, including sprinting all out from the wooden bridge to the finish. Fun run.

PR up South Boulder by 57 seconds. Previous PR was 58:29 on 7/14/03.

0:00 - South Mesa TH
16:02 - Towhee/Shadow
24:14 - Shadow/"Bridge"
50:46 - top of Shadow
57:32 - South Boulder (PR!)
1:08:36 - Bear
1:29:59 - North Shanahan/Mesa
1:39:14 - Mesa/Big Bluestem
1:47:18 - Big Bluestem/Mesa
1:52:19 - South Mesa TH

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