If I had to list a “happy place,” Leadville at the end of May would be that place.  Here’s our outdoor classroom:

I brought my pulse oximeter along on this trip to track my o2 sats — because I’m just that nerdy.  And because I’ve read and heard how it’s better to show up the night before a race at altitude than try to acclimatize over two or three days — and I wanted to see if that was true for me.
So I flew from DC to Denver and drove directly to Leadville.  My 02 sat was 96% at 4pm when I headed out to run along Turquoise Lake.  (I’m regularly 99% in San Antonio.)  I was 94% the following morning. By 5pm I’d dropped to 89% and 12 miles around Turquoise Lake felt harder than the day before.  This morning I was back up to 93%.  I’m curious to see how the run will feel this evening.  I’ve heard the third day is the worst day as far as running performance goes during acclimatization.  I hope I don’t run too much more slowly than yesterday because I’ve got a lot of work to get done tonight.

So I wasn’t planning to show up the day before the Leadville 100, but it’ll be fun to see how much my sats increase over the next week — and how quickly.

Gotta get a cup of coffee to fuel the afternoon now.