Barr Camp + Freeze Your Thorns Off 'Race'

So, remember the middle of last year I told everyone about crazy race that people were doing on the internet, but were actually running, but not together, but online? Yeah, that is happening again, only it is winter this time!! Well, the Boring Runner (no, not me, it is actually the guy's name) Adam put together another one for the winter, calling it Freeze Your Thorns Off (he is in Arizona, lots of cactus).

Unfortunately he did it on Saturday the 28th, so I am a day late. To make up for it, I added some extra credit. Last year I also forgot to print out the bib, and completely forgot to take pictures. Whoops. This year I just forgot the bib, next time I'll be right on! Back to that in a little bit.

I have been running with the Incline Club since about Thanksgiving training for the Ascent again this year (probably). They do routes which take us up Ute Pass and up service roads and around local hiking trails, it is pretty neat. Lots of elevation gain, which is necessary for the Ascent. Unfortunately the lack of snow this year, combined with the relatively hot temperatures have made most of the trails quite icy, and it is kind of annoying. I wanted to get away from that a bit this week, so I decided to run up to Barr Camp, and it worked!

So with the introduction out of the way, I ran 15 miles with 3900' of elevation gain, and it was awesome!

Running up to Barr Camp included some obstacles, including ice, snow and fallen trees!


Pikes Peak from lightning point (so named because it not somewhere you want to be when it is lightning).


This is the closest I got to a self-shot during the run. I hung out at Barr Camp for about 30 minutes, completely forgot to get a picture there. Hosed. At least I can show off my awesome shoes and the spikes that keep me upright on the run!


One of the few pictures I took at Barr Camp, the creek is quite frozen, but there is enough flow to get some water if you need it. There is a guy filling up a bucket in the background.


No shortage of cool stuff to show off on the Barr Trail:


Colorado Springs from the trail:


The route up Barr Trail, it really is a lot more interesting than just a strait line through the forest.


OK, yeah I'm showing off a bit, this is the elevation chart from the run:


Finally, the bib I forgot to print out once again. Dang it.


Thanks for putting this together again Adam, and thanks for reading!