I wait all fall, winter, and spring for summer. I watch the snow melt on the peaks just west of my house, waiting for the days when I can go on high-country trail runs or climbs without bringing snow shoes and avalanche beacons. I recognize I’m extremely privileged to take off for weeks at a time in the summer to camp and run in the mountains.
For me, summer means –
Trail running!
SummitsRecovery food. See also: potatoes, steak, all the vegetables and fruit. And, oh yeah, baked goods 🙂Wild flowersLots of trip planningSummit lounging
Feet that look like these (especially this summer)Places I’ve never seen beforeSelfies when I’m feeling tired and stalling because my legs don’t want to keep climbingTime with really great friends (This is Megan Finnesy who is the race director for Golden Gate Dirty 30 and Silverton Double Dirty 30)
Animal Encounters. Sometimes more than just the footprint.
Recovery. I found these backcountry hot springs a few weeks ago.Alpine lake swimming. Okay, actually, this is a new thing! I dove into one for the first time just in July. Now I’m hooked.
And writing! Sometimes I get even more done on the road in between alpine adventures. I feel calm and sane and rejuvinated (even if I’m physically exhausted) and sometimes that’s the best time to dig in to the hard stuff – yes, even from the comforts of the back of my car where I’ve been living for a week!
Author: Lynn K Hall
Lynn Hall is a memoirist, activist in the movement to end sexual violence, ultra-runner, and crazy cat lady. Her memoir, CAGED EYES: AN AIR FORCE CADET’S STORY OF RAPE AND RESILIENCE, was published by Beacon Press in February 2017. Her writing has previously appeared in the New York Times, The LA Times, Hippocampus Magazine, The Sexual Assault Report, The Manifest-Station, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, and elsewhere. In the summers, Lynn copes with publication anxiety by spending too many days in the Colorado mountains, and in the winters, with pans of brownies. She lives in Boulder with her partner and their 23 cats. Just kidding…she only has five.
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2 Replies to “Summer Turns Me Into a Dirt-Bag Trail Runner”
ROCK ON!
🙂