Hitting on Anton Krupicka's Mistress

I was waiting for the Bolder Boulder to be history before I began more adventure running. I decided to get acquainted with Anton Krupicka's mistress while he was resting on level ground somewhere. I decided the gentle approach was indicated so I wore my Vibram FiveFingers. In hindsight she is more the steel-toed hiking boot type. A helmet would even be prudent. She is hard and unforgiving. She has some impressive curves though, mostly of the 20% incline variety. It took an hour and fifteen minutes to summit Ms. Green. OK, enough of the mistress metaphor. From my starting point at Chautauqua Park to the summit was 2.73 miles with 2411 of rather technical vertical. I started out at an elevation of 5666 ft. above sea level and reached the summit at 8077 ft. above sea level. The descent was just as challenging and was slightly steeper because I took a route that was only 2.52 miles. (The highest point of the mountain in the background is the summit)

(Photo taken from about half way up looking down toward Boulder)
I am truly amazed that someone can run this up to four times a day and do each trip two and a half times faster than I did. Anton also often adds up to 25 additional mountain trail miles sometimes day after day.

(Photo taken from the summit looking over to the summit of Bear Mountain)













I was fortunate to just hyper-extend my big toe slipping on a large flat rock on the ascent and receive a rather curious bruise on my little toe which I didn't notice until this evening when I submerged my feet in an ice bath. I think this occurred when I momentarily glanced away from the trail. The balls of my feet feel as if they could have become one big blister if I had gone much farther. Although I came away relative unscathed and I had fun barefootin' this highly technical trail I consider myself lucky; more serious footwear is definitely indicated.