Starting to get some more miles in the legs, which is always good with a race coming up. Of course, the weather (usually) and longer days appropriate more available time, and generate more positive energy, for running. We both got in nice runs Monday - Kathleen at the Garden and me on Santa Fe post-work. Wednesday morning started out snowing like mad for 4", then in true Colorado style for spring, the sun broke out and 90% was melted by drive time home. Sweet. So Thursday night, we hit the Garden for part 2 on the week and did an 8 miler on totally dry trail - nice!
We have been wanting to hit a training run at Greenland with the 25k coming up May 1, so we headed there today. It was cool with some wind (always windy there) but the sun was mostly out and there is not snow covering the trails - hot diggety! A little pre-run pose at the kiosk at the main trailhead. Thought about going Johnny Cash today, but opted for the gray liner shirt at the last minute... Oh, and I broke Kathleen's cardinal rule of photo taking #1 by cutting our feet off - sorry!!!
Awesome view of Pikes from the race start area.
Kathleen passes an old corral on the Kipps Loop climb.
Steve rolling through the prairie meets mountain landscape.
Kathleen on Greenland Trail, cruising past the pond on the climb over the saddle.
Finished ... and smiling!
We came up just a hair short of 11 miles, but our estimate was pretty close. The nice thing was that we ran well today and hope it is a good sign of positive and progressive spring fitness level. We had no splits over 8:56 average on the climbs, and hit low 7's average on the descents. So we're liking where we are for "speed" (for us! since we are not fast!), if you can call it that, and pretty positive about our conditioning this spring in spite of a few setbacks over the past few months. Looking forward to a nice, long run tomorrow - Happy Trails!
Shoes - K Asics 2150 Trail
S - Brooks Cascadia 2
Stats: 10.7 miles, 1070' elevation gain, 8:13 avg. pace
