I feel like a stalker, the Bridgers rising in picture postcard fashion directly across from the B&B where I’m staying.  They are the first thing I see in the morning, and the last thing I think about at night.  What a strange obsession!  But I’m not alone.  At breakfast I traded pictures and running tales with a Swiss couple (Luca and Natalie) who have inspired me with their half and full marathons and 20 mile runs in the Alps.  Pictures of brightly-clad runners with glaciers and the Matterhorn in the background.  Like an addict, I feel the pull.  I pumped him for information and now need to research the Zermat Matterhorn marathon, the Aletsch half marathon, the Jungfrau marathon, and something called Sierre Zinal.  Luca also shared some wisdom about uphills:  One of his races starts with several miles of pretty much unrunnable climbing.   The expression they have is “one minute gained on the uphill means 10 minutes lost on the race.”  Good advice to slow down and conserve!

Then, at dinner, with the Bozeman connection of one of my Saturday morning running crew, I hear all about the twists and turns of the Bridger from a woman my age who ran it 20 years ago, and ran it two weeks ago just for fun.  Annie is an addict too.  She’s run the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim (though not R2R2R she points out), and last year did a 50K with 11K of vertical.  Yikes.  She had more post-Bridger ideas for me — a trail run from Telluride to Ooray, and others in the Alps (I’m sensing a theme).  More heroin, more opium, for my veins.  Just hearing her talk about the joys, the pains, eyes alive, wide smile.  She’d rather poke her eyes out with sticks rather than walk or hike.  At 57, she just loves to run.

One cautionary note.  Annie is a strong runner, and about my age.  When she ran the Bridger trail for fun a few weeks ago with a friend, she did it in 7:45.  Can I really hope to run it in 6 hours?  We’ll see soon enough.

Tomorrow, up at 6 a.m., getting prepared for Saturday’s early alarm!