Wednesday Full of Gold

This morning: 4 mile run around a portion of Twin Lake, breakfast, drive into Leadville to the coffee shop with free internet, Provin’ Grounds, drink a double shot espresso and upload Tuesday’s blog.

Then, a drive down to Red Cliff to give Melitta her bag which she left in the van.

Here’s her host family in Vail (Brian, Melitta, Brenna and Marilyn) outside the only restaurant in Red Cliff:

I drove east out of Red Cliff up into the mountain on Shrine Pass, a narrow jeep trail, in search of the perfect panning spot.

That’s where I was:

Look what run is at the end of this month. I was right where they will pass!

No gold, but a beautiful spot to eat my cheese sandwich.  I later found out the correct way to pan for gold, so I probably dumped my fortune back in the stream right here!

Then, returned to Leadville for more coffee and decided I would try to find the secret gold panning creek that Larry and Shirley told me about yesterday; south of Twin Lakes to Granite, right for a mile, south along the powerline for a mile to a parking lot and creek. Guess who was there? Larry and Shirley. 

The photo of Larry and Shirley didn’t turn out. Sorry, Shirley.

Here’s Larry showing me a ring he made out of gold they found.

I met others who were gold searching. Here, Patrick and Robyn are sleuthing with an impressive machine that sure beats panning:

Here’s Steve and Paul. 

Paul is the pro and Steve was along to learn after being prodded by Paul for many years. Paul also showed me some different techniques and some incredible nuggets he found several years ago. They all do this as a hobby. None of them sell their gold!

Here are my instruments:

And here is the gold I found:

Probably won’t quit my day job just yet!     Wait, I don’t have a day job yet!

I began the day visiting the Leadville store and office... and buying some Leadville 100 shirts for the family.  Shhh.  Don't tell.  Here I am with the race director..and John.

Me and John:

There is no doubt that a vacation alone is less sweet than with my wife and kids. Certainly, there is more work; but there is more joy.

Nonetheless, I visited the National Mining Museum where a wonderful elderly woman gave me a map, and I purchased a PAN.  From there, I visited with the Visitor Bureau folks and headed up into the mountains behind Leadville. Standing in Leadville and looking up, there is no indication of the massive number of mines up in those hills.  The mini van (don’t tell the rental company) was basically an off-road jeep.  I stopped and looked at about 20 separate mines or pilings.  I passed up another 100.

Then, my trip up the mountain to explore old mines. The first one I saw:

I kept wondering what life must have been like back in the gold, solver, lead, etc. hey-day. It appears that the cabins all had tin roofs, the miners ate out of tin cans, and left no other traces of their existence. I also kept looking around at the beauty. I wondered if the miners, spending hours and days underground looking for treasures, ever simply enjoyed where they were. At 12,000 feet, surrounded by mountains with meadows for necklaces, looking down on blue lakes, looking up at white expanses of residual snow I felt pretty rich.

That's Turquoise Lake.  We run around the north side(right).  At the very tip is May Queen Aid Station, mile 13.5.

At the top an abandoned gold mine.  Lot's of fools gold which ended up in my pocket.

Turquoise Lake in the background.

At the top of one mountain, I found numerous nuggets of bright, shiny gold. On the way down, I stopped and talked with some professional rock hounds, Larry and Shirley. Evidently, real gold does not sparkle, is not in crystal form and is a dull yellow. Nonetheless, Shirley was a wealth of information, including the location of a secret creek where I’m guaranteed to pan out some gold. I’m going there Wednesday morning. Shirley also let me keep a rock with some beautiful copper in it. With a pocket full of fool’s gold, I can say I had a really good afternoon.

That's me literally trying my hand at panning.  I found lots of pebbles.

Here I sit in a small cabin between Leadville and Twin Lakes, about 10,200 feet up. I’ve posted below some photos of a few places along the Leadville course. But first, my day of traveling.

The whole family dropped me off at the airport this morning before they headed off to the Star Wars exhibit and movie at the science museum.  While I was waiting for my flight, a good friend from law school, Melitta, walked up.  It turned out she was going to Vail for the week.   She cancelled her van shuttle up and joined me in the rental car.  I hadn’t planned on going to Vail this year but now I may get to go twice as she left her camera and contact lenses in the van (yes, van; and a full on mini-van).

To save approximately $42, I booked a rental car on-line at the cheapest Denver car rental place I could find without employing the mob.  It turns out that while all the rental facilities are not right at the airport, this one is “off-site,” which is a nice way of saying that I should have packed a lunch for the trip to get the car.  Once there, the receptionist's unusually long glare at the computer screen led me to correctly assume that something was wrong.  It turns out I had booked a car for August 11, 2009.  Yes, in anticipation for next year’s Leadville race.  And, I had reserved a VW Jetta.  “Well, do you have anything else?” I asked, realizing that if there were no other cars, Melitta and I would have to return to the airport and then take a shuttle to one of the dozen other rental car facilities not “off-site.”

“Yes, we have one mini-van available. Would you like it?”  As visions of our 1986 maroon Dodge Caravan flashed through my mind, I asked, “Will it get me up the mountain?”  She was not amused.  It turned out to be a brand new Dodge Caravan with 3000 miles. It’s beautiful and it charges up mountains.

I dropped Melitta off in Vail and drove, with her camera and contact lenses, on the pass between Minturn and Leadville.  Incredible drive.  

Groceries for the week in Leadville, unpacked at the cabin, a quick trip into Twin Lakes, probably the only one before the race, and now here I sit.

I must confess that in the spring when I envisioned sitting in a cabin in CO by myself, I thought it would be heaven on earth. Honestly, I miss my family.  While it is more difficult to have everyone out here while preparing for a race, I miss experiencing the excitement and wonder of the mountains through the kids and Marty.  It is quite hollow attempting to engender awe by myself as I look at these incredible sights.

I don’t think it was intended that majesty be reveled in alone.  Put another way: I think majesty is best experienced with others.  I’ll post some photos of incredible sights - they will not do the real thing justice – and make plans to bring everyone out here next year.

Me along the pass between Minturn and Leadville.

A house in Red Cliff. Red Cliff is a very interesting little town that must be driven through at least twice in one's life.

The hill coming into (or out of) the Twin Lakes Aid Station.

The river crossing right after Twin Lakes.  It look pretty deep right now.

Looking up at the path up Hope Pass.

An empty aid station at Twin Lakes.

Beating Anton

My children made cards for me in preparation for Leadville.   The cards are endearing and will travel with me to CO.   

Last year, when I was at mile 42, Anton passed me on his way back.  I don't think the kids really wish Anton to do poorly; I think they just want me to do well.  Here's Grace's card: 

Notice # 3 on Emma's card:

Here's the real motivation behind Emma's encouragement:

Unfortunately, if I just run one mile of Leadville this year, I'll beat Anton.  Apparently, he's had some unfortunate injuries and won't be running.  

Finally, here's Eli's wish for me while out in Leadville:

That's me and Mr. Grimes panning for gold in a stream.  It appears that we found some sizable flakes; maybe even some nuggets.

Empty me of ...the poison of my pride.

This song has been on Sirius lately. "Poison of my pride" jumps out at me every time. Like pride, poison is rarely a good thing. The etymology of pride is vast, but simply put, there's good pride and bad pride. I find lots that fits into the bad side. I have to work pretty hard to populate the good.

So, to think that former American Idol candidate Chris Sligh would be singing a song about Christ just ... Well, my own pride could fill up the bad side of the "pride divide." But the words haunt me. Actually, they stun me.


Then, I checked out his other songs. I'm humbled. Pretty good theology for an American Idol contestant.

I'm not certain how to blog about this, but hearing my pride described as poison is significant. It is a very accurate description of the result of many of my thoughts; particularly thoughts towards others. I read about some runners who recently stopped to give aid to a heat stroke victim during an ultra. They sacrificed their run. Every day, I race by people because of my pride.

Leadville Here I Come!

I'm not the only Minnesotan attempting Leadville this year.  There are at least twelve of us!  While Pete lives in WI, I think he should be included in the list of Minnesotans.  Here they are:

We all plan to meet after the race ceremony on Friday for a Minnesota Picture.  What fun.

Last year, the entire family came out and we stayed in Vail.  While there, we read about a boy who bought a gold pan at the Leadville Mining Museum, returned to Vail Village and while sitting in Vail Creek panned out around $200 worth of gold.  Marty wouldn't let me sit in the creek and pan, even though I argued that the cold water would actually help prepare my legs for the race, and any discovered gold would help pay for the trip.

Well, this year, I'm going out to Leadville alone.  So...I arrive Monday afternoon.  Tuesday morning, the Leadville Mining Museum opens at 11am, and I intend to be their first patron.  Sure, I'll feign interest in the displays and exhibits.  But it's the pan I'm after.  Once I get it, I'm off to find the nearest, or at least the most-likely-to-have-gold-in-it, stream I can find.  

Oh, the race?  It starts on Saturday morning at 4am.  100 miles.  Out and back.  Two passes over 11,000 feet.  Hope Pass is 12,600 feet.  

To get ready for the race?  I'll do some stretching, I might run a couple of times, try to eat some pasta, get used to the altitude.  But if the gold-hunting is going well, I may just take the week to be an ultra gold panner rather than an ultra runner.

Still Trying to Study

Today, Eli and I went to Ace Hardware to begin some long-overdue yard work. On the way out, my eyes spotted a rack of fact sheets. And what should I see.....

More opportunity to study for the Bar Exam!!

For about 1 minute, I honesty wished I had found this before taking the Bar Exam. It might have helped.
I pulled it out to see what legal issues it might contain.

Only then did I realize that it was a guide to mixed drinks.

I bought it anyway.