Left home planning on just doing an out and back to SoBo without dropping down shadow…somehow changed my mind and decided to do the full route by the time I parked at the trailhead (I already had Lizzys previous gpx route downloaded so that was probably part of it). Super fun and brutal route - hoping some more people give it a shot!
Started at Sanitas just before 7:30am with gels and some random candy bars from a gas station that I picked up when I realized I’d need more fuel if I was doing the full double. Took it out pretty easy knowing it would be a long day but climbing was going well. Trail was nice and smooth until just before bear when the snow picked up and the rocks turned slick. Summit of bear was pretty sketchy so I took it really slow…the descent down SoBo and shadow were also not ideal but the cool temps were nice. Made it to half just under 3:50 and swapped some gels and trash around in the pack. Stopped on the way up shadow to filter some water. Cruised pretty well all the way to Green and was still running most of the moderate climbs which was shocking. The long descent to Sanitas was cold and wet but it was nice to be going down finally. Hit the bottom of Sanitas around 7:10 and knew I wanted sub 8h so that kept the effort going a bit. Overall a really fun day and great training run!