Border collies -- and herding dogs of all types -- have been selected for their intelligence, strength and alertness.

Time: 2:04:42
Distance: 6.2 Miles
Elevation Gain: 1,997 Feet
Fremont’s  Good Citizen Grade: B
Today’s Play List: Good Conversation

Day 3 of the Sanitas challenge mixed it up a bit, with the same opening run up the Linden connector to the valley trail but then a more casual hike up the Mount Sanitas trail. Joining Fremont and me were Sheila and Mystic and I’ll take good company over a chilly solo run any day, especially with an early morning start.

I enjoy hiking with Sheila as she is strong, spirited and we often enjoy great conversations along the way. However, when we have the two border collies with us, we need to shift our focus a bit. Both pups were adopted through rescue shelters but Fremont gets an asterisk since he was born into the rescue and has had nothing but loving friends from day one. Mystic is a sweet dog, a magnificent athlete and a true rescue story. He was found, barely a year old, wandering remote farm roads near Fort Collins. Thanks to Sheila’s patience and love, he’s become an exceptional canine (and the inspiration for my choice to adopt a border collie).

But Mystic still has some wild in him. At home he’s a casual alpha but on the trail he’s the guardian and ace herder. Most of the time, we can see the deer or coyotes before he does but when we don’t, Mystic enters the trance of the chase. Fremont tries to keep up but Mystic is just too fast, too driven. Plus all this chasing stuff is a game to Fremont, whereas it’s serious business for Mystic. If it weren’t for the fact that the chase is bad for the animals, could be dangerous to Mystic and Boulder’s rangers are especially keen to ticket even minor offenses, one could marvel at the precision, speed and focus that comes hardwired in Mystic. Instead, we need to be vigilant to ensure no conflicts.

We were able to keep the pups in check but at the expense of deep conversation. Sheila is a keen people watcher as opposed to me, who has run right by good friends without noticing. The people that catch her attention often spurn great discussion; not gossip but better things. The woman with the walking poles leads us to muse over the virtues of complex metal alloys. The man with the weathered face and craggy smile takes us to Germany, where an elder gentleman tried to maintain a cobbler’s store in the heart of a growing and impatient city. And so on.

Only mildly meaningful conversations emerge as we are disrupted by a valiant charge to investigate a chipmunk (by the dogs of course, Sheila is more intrigued by pikas). The air is cobalt-cold and still, perfect outdoors weather for me. Our summit stay is brief and we retreat down the same side of the mountain, both somewhat amazed at how many people rally to get up and peak this early in the morning. Soon we part ways and Fremont and I run back up the valley trail, with Fremont constantly looking back to see if his friend and “border colleague” are going to catch up.

I sometimes wish I had a big, open free mountain in my backyard where the dogs could be dogs, chase and ramble without hesitation. Those who study dogs say that border collies aren’t just good workers, they love it. And as the cliche goes, if you never want to work a day in your life, find a job you love. That’s why sometimes, just once in a while, it’s fun to let Mystic and Fremont tap into their primal yet sophisticated genetics and rip across an open field to spook a meandering herd of deer, just enough to push them out of some unseen diametric boundary. It is a game played out by nature for hundreds of years, a small stakes chance to test doggie teamwork and move the way dogs are supposed to move. And it is splendid to behold.

» Sanitas Challenge: Day 2
» 5 Day Sanitas Challenge Day 1

Black fox are a variation of the common red fox but in Boulder, there's a twist.

Time: 1:09:42
Distance: 4.33 Miles
Elevation Gain: 1,722 Feet
Fremont’s  Good Citizen Grade: A
Today’s Play List: TMBG – Nasal Rock Mix

Howling winds and bright blue sky were on order today as I repeated the same running route on Mount Sanitas. On the valley trail I got a good look at a beautiful red fox sunning itself on a rock. I’m a big fan of these mountain fox and not just because they are the mascot of my alma mater studiorum. (By the way, did you know “alma mater” means “nourishing mother? ) Over the years I’ve seen quite a few black fox as well. Black coats (known as silver foxes) are a naturally occurring variation of red fox though there are rumors that the relatively high number of black fox in the area comes from one of PETA’s first daring acts where they released a number of fox and mink from a fur farm in Nederland and burned the factory down. I have no problem with this and I hope the story is actually true.

Part of Fremont’s “A” today was in part to his seeing the red fox and not chasing after him. Good boy, Fremont!

How I feel when I see people in Colorado still wearing fur in 2011.

On my run, I began to think about how much I’ve always hated fur for fashion. While that’s another rant for another day, it must be said that even as a child I knew that fur belonged on an animal and not in a fancy coat. To this day I cringe at people who should know better but still wear fur. (Still have a fur as a gross family heirloom? Donate it to your local animal shelter where they can use it to line crates for cats and dogs).

Near the summit of Sanitas, I had a quick thought about extreme skier Jamie Pierre who was killed in an avalanche in Utah earlier this week. Pierre was famous for two things: being a surly bastard and for hurling himself off of 100+ foot cliffs and bombing into powder — then skiing away. Later in his short life, he found god (uh oh), had a family and continued to fly off cliffs for the sheer thrill of pounding into earth at a speed that should by all means kill him.

People like Pierre (and another RIP thrill seeker Dan Osman ) are easy to scorn but I wonder to myself are they doing what they do from a similar mind as most of us or are they just wired differently? Our brains hold up a lot of red flags when we’re faced to mortal danger; from time to time we get away with overcoming that fear. Most extreme sports athletes point to the intense mental focus as the prize for their actions, bodily harm be damned. I didn’t really reach any conclusions with this thought but I’d have to say crazy as they are, I have a lot respect for those who go big and dare to push the limits of what is possible. I have no inclination to follow in his bomb holes.

Rolling down the mountain I had one last thought. On this day in 1999 was my first day of employment in Boulder at the long lost Planetoutdoors.com. It was on my second day on the job that I made my first ascent of Mount Sanitas with my late pal Jonny Copp. I wanted to see the summit and JC was there to Boulder. He carried what must have been a 70 lb office cruiser bike 3/4 of the way to the top (good training he said) and fired off a few bouldering problems while I scampered to the top and met him on the way down. We had lunch at Mustard’s Last Stand that day, the only time I’ve ever eaten there. It all feels like a lifetime ago.

» 5 Day Sanitas Challenge Day 1

The Linden Traihead route for Mount Sanitas, our standard run.

Time: 1:06:53
Distance: 4.33 Miles
Elevation Gain: 1,722 Feet
Fremont’s  Good Citizen Grade: A+
Today’s Play List: Rush – 5 The Run (Mostly Snakes & Arrows Live)

Today is day one of the “5 Day Sanitas Challenge”, a little quest for Fremont and me to run, er jog, to the top of our favorite 6,863 ft. training mountain here in Boulder. Running Sanitas is nothing new for us, we do it 2 -3 times a week year round when we’re in town. It’s good exercise, tires Fremont out a little and lets me settle down all the things rattling in my head for an hour or so.

On the really good days I tend to actually not think about anything at all and let the music in my headphones take over. The downside of zoning out is that I do occasionally run right by friends without so much as a nod or a wave, but please don’t take it personally — I’m trying to get through the run! I’m not a passionate runner nor am I looking to crush my personal best times, whatever those are. I’m out there to get the legs, lungs and heart working and do so in the company of my border collie Fremont.

Now Fremont… he has his good and bad days. Thankfully, he has good outings more than 90% of the time. I think he has times where he’s moody, frustrated and has some pent up energy that manifests itself in an errant bark at a fellow hiker (usually ones that are dressed like they just came out of a Curious George book). He’d never bite anyone but his bark has gotten a little scary for some people. To keep track of his good citizenship, he gets a grade on how well he behaves. Most days, he gets an easy A. The days he gets less than an A are when he senses my stress and feeds off it a little. Today all was well and he got an A+ for being especially friendly to dogs and people on the trail.

As for jogging up Sanitas, it hasn’t come easy to me. It took a few months (way back in 2001) for me to actually be able to jog to the top non-stop and I still believe I can probably hike up faster. By no means am I a natural runner so when I was finally able to make it to the summit without stopping, I made a point to run the mountain on a regular basis as not to lose the fitness/mental edge needed. The degree I suffer is mostly generated in my own head; there are days when jogging the less strenuous  valley trail, a moderately inclined path that skirts the footprint of the mountain, is a miserable experience that can’t be over quick enough.

Geddy and the boys of Rush have been with me on hundreds of runs up Sanitas.

And then there are days like today, when the weather is sunny and cool, Fremont is a perfect gentleman and my legs cruise on autopilot all the way up. Good music is a big help and today’s fare was my collection of Rush live tracks and a few studio recordings that keep me moving. My mind was peacefully zoning/zenning out for the bulk of the run but one particular lyric from the song We Hold On caught my attention as I rolled down the northeast descent trail:

How many times
Do we chaff against the repetition
Straining against the faith
Measured out in coffee breaks
How many times
Do we swallow our ambition
Long to give up the same old way
Find another road to take

I’ve always been a little worried about measuring my life in coffee breaks. If there’s anything I’ve learned about myself in 35 years on this wonderful planet, I don’t thrive well in a Dilbert-esque setting of cubicles and ID badges. With all the life events that have transpired in the past 13 years in Boulder, most of the lows are tallied as inevitable circumstances and in time, I move on. However, the dull and tedious fetters of the comfortable, ergonomically sound cubicle seem especially corrosive to whatever it is in me that ignites my passions. The enervation from an 8 hour office day is supremely draining, moreso than a tough 10 hour day in the mountains or a particularly bland drive stuck in ski traffic. I can easily recall the mental fatigue and ennui from my days at NetLibrary, where I did an fine job editing books but did so with the joyless precision of a meter maid.

"A Bad Day Fishing is Better Than a Good Day in the Office" - just one in the line of trucker's hats with filthy sayings. This one is a little more tame.

More recently, my tenure at Natural Habitat Adventures came to an end, largely in part because the company had evolved in my four years on staff from a fun, grassroots, local company to a corporate brand, under the thumb of the largely proficient business leadership of Gaiam Inc. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s the way businesses progress and at some point little business become big money and things change. I’m living proof that even the best office job in the world… is still an office job. (

Bland is the base ingredient for apathy and baked at the appropriate temperature, resentment. I know somewhere in my Einstein-ian brain that we truly do create our own realities, built up of all the energy and ambitions we harvest. I do think there is some peril in remaining an idealist into adulthood without a firm understanding of the realities of responsibility to yourself and others. I agree that we all have to give back to the bigger society, whether that comes in the form of writing books, welding car frames, delivering mail, you name it. As much as the hedonistic bliss of playing in the mountains and exploring the immense natural world is endlessly satisfying, there’s a lot of things that have to line up to actually be able to pull it off for any amount of time in good style.

So back to my buddies, Rush and of course, Sanitas. We Hold On is a great song to run to and a good anthem for me at this time in my life. “How many times do we wonder if it’s even worth it? There’s got to be some better way to get me through the day.” Getting out on Sanitas with my dog, that’s a better way for sure.

When I get out early, I have accomplished two major things before 9 AM: wake up my mind and body and hopefully get Fremont enough border collie action so that he can just chill while I work from my home office (a *much* better office than cubicle land). So today was not a run of profound thoughts, which is actually good because it means I was light on my feet and the music was good. I’ll gladly take an hour of mental dormancy when I can get it.

Oh and a quick apology to my good friend Marie and her border collie mix Ella. On yesterday’s pre-5 Day Challenge Sanitas jog, I zipped right by them without saying hello. Sorry Marie, I must have been locked in. Next time you have full permission to trip me or bonk a reasonably sized  rock off my head to get my attention. I blame Geddy, Alex and Neil and those sweet, sweet Rush riffs.