Kathleen climbing the Shinglemill Trail.
We started out on the Buffalo Creek dirt road for a warm up to the couple big climbs, then turned off onto Shinglemill for the first big effort of the run. Shinglemill is quite exposed as much of it was burned in the '96 fire so you never, ever want to be climbing it mid day in the heat - been there, don't care to do it again. There was a nice cool breeze but temps were already in the high 50's when we started and got near 70 by the time we finished. You can't tell in the photo above, but it would be a rough day for the lovely Ms Kathleen.
Enough said...
Kathleen has been having some chronic GI tract issues for the last few months and it is really cutting into her recreational pursuits. Despite having the Imodium IV on for the whole drive, it still put a bit of a damper on her day. While the Imodium took care of the main "running" issue, the cramps and severe leg fatigue took it's toll. She is a very good sport, so don't think I am making her the butt of the joke. It's just gets frustrating when it acts up and we hope it is figured out soon.
My view of Tim Long most of the day.
We were able to get rolling pretty well, and despite Kathleen's struggle, she was a trooper and would not give up. Springing off a good early season of training, Tim is definitely running quite well and pulled away easily on most any climb. He is preparing for the Miwok 100k in a few weeks so give him some encouragement if you stop by his blog. We saw lots of bikes out today, which is the usual scenario at Buff Creek - we just don't see many runners there ... yet. Hopefully the North Fork race will expose some of the Denver/CS area runners to this awesome venue.
Kathleen on the slickrock - Baldy Trail.
Now, Steve on the slickrock...
Guess what, Tim ran it too!
After the descent off the Morrison Creek trail and a short jaunt up Buffalo Creek road again, we hopped onto the Baldy Trail for the Big Climb. The 1300' climb in 2.5 miles is not altogether abusive by Colorado standards, however, the occasional ramps of 10 to 15 percent grade can really put a damper on the great, twisty singletrack that comprises Baldy. Today it was manageable with the mild temps and we made pretty good time on the ascent. After reaching the Gashouse Trail at 10.5 miles and the high point of 8075' elevation, there is quite a bit of descending on the return trip - WooHoo! Aside from a couple rude, but short, climbs the final 6.5 miles were mostly going down, dropping 1300' and pounding on the quads a bit after a long day on the feet. It was all good!
Group photo - Gashouse/Baldy intersection - still all smiles.
We finished up with 17 miles (Tim 19 due to a technical directional instruction malfunction - sorry!) and nearly 3000' of climbing on the day. A new longest run on the books for Happy Trails, and coach Slavedriver Tim pushed us to run these trails more than a half minute per mile faster than our last trip! We even "recovery" soaked our legs in the mountain stream for a bit - BRRRR! It was a fantastic day and we finished with a nice tailgate picnic before heading home. Good Times!
Shoes - K Asics 2150 Trail
S - La Sportiva Wildcat
9 comments:
Kathleen was the slave driver. when I suggested we cut it short, she said, "Let's finish...the whole planned route." My heart dropped because I was out of water and whiny. She'd win a race running on hot coals; the girl is tough!
Looks like an awesome place to run... we'll have to check it out sometime! Sorry you were not feeling so great Kathleen -- but, you were a trooper for sure... good for you:)
You are tough! You run in such scenic settings! I did watch MANY dolphins today and a small seal on the shore so was quite thrilled with my morning run. It was slow slow slow but that's okay!
Hope you feel better, Kathleen. I don't know how you did the 17.
Kathleen, you're one tough runner! I hope you get this figured out. Glad you guys got in such a long run! It looks like a hard running route, climbing up and then down for so long!
It's always nice to have a slavedriver along for the run...well about every few months anyway! Back in the summer when I was training on trails, you mentioned that some of my pictures looked like Colorado and this series of photographs DO look like the Noble Canyon trails where we ran last summer. I just love it! So dry though!
Nice job picking up your speed for your upcoming fun, I can't wait to hear more about your training and the slavedriver!!
Hey just nice to see trail pix without snow. Glad it is starting to feel like spring for ya.
Sounds like a great day outdoors in Colorado! Hope the medical issues can get sorted out that is tough!
See you at Greenland!
I do not use a special setting for my sunset pic as I don't even know what that entails! This morning I caught the sunrise over the ocean for a run. It was magnificent!!! Bright bright red!
I would miss the mountains also! Ours are smaller than yours but I love them. Driving down through VA was flat and boring. I could not live in such a setting.
Yikes, I could have sworn I commented on this a few days ago....so sorry. I did read it though. You are one tough chica, Kathleen!! I hope your tummy problems are behaving themselves and you're feeling better. I had some similar bouts awhile back, NOT FUN!
I wasn't going to post my race # for the world to scream at me, "Get your ass in gear and run faster, Jilly!!" hahah...but I'll give it to you: 18646. Take that little cursor on your computer and help push me along, will ya!!!??? I'll need it.
Thanks for all your wonderful support; you guys are amazing and I am so blessed to have found you guys! I can't wait to get home and recover so we can go for a nice trail run (slow, remember SLOW) and a margarita. YUM!
HUGS!!
Post a Comment