Distance today = 58.90 km; Total distance = 5476.91 km; Location = Fairplay – 39 12.374′ N, 105 59.686′ W; Start time = 0814, Finish time = 1656

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/171203316

There are many different ways to run around the world, perhaps millions, but it’s only possible to choose one course. In my case, I’ve decided not to shirk the difficult geographies. I could have taken the easy way over the Rockies, but have instead decided to spend a lot of time running through these mountains, experiencing the various passes and the views they afford me.

I am on my way to Colorado Springs, and today I could have taken a more direct course. Instead, I chose to go via Fairplay which, at just over 3,000 metres in elevation, is the highest town I’ve ever been to. It’s almost twice as high as the highest town in Australia.

Just before reaching the town this afternoon, I peaked at a high point of 3,013 metres, which is pretty much equal to the summit of the Haleakala volcano on Maui. These are (so far) the highest places I’ve been to on Earth. Today’s high was also more than 200 metres higher than the highest pass in Europe, the Col de la Bonnette.

Being in the Rockies, I really wanted to reach at least 3,000 metres in elevation. As I mentioned, I’m not shirking the hard stuff, and will be going even higher, quite significantly so, when I cross the Andes in late November. Having also crossed the deserts of the US, I’m also looking forward to running across parts of the Sahara and Australia’s Nullarbor.

It was a long day, with almost 59 km covered. I had to race to finish before the Garmin battery gave out, and my pace over the last kilometre was the fastest I’ve run so far on the whole world run. You can see what I mean by clicking on the Garmin link above and checking out the speed chart. I think I almost got to five minutes per kilometre! Wow, that’s positively sprinting (said with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek). I hope I don’t suffer tomorrow because of it.

PS Click on Journey to see maps of where I’ve run so far. Thanks to Jimbo for creating these from the Garmin data.