Greenland 25k : Putting the Non-Plan to the Test

Two years ago, after a second straight implosion on lap 2 of the Greenland 25k, I swore off this race.  However, like a moth to a flame, early spring had my mind wandering to this race and possibly taking another stab at it with more focused workouts.  This race has had everything in the past - howling wind, snowstorms, exposed baking heat - and year after year, it sells out.  Derek and all the folks over at Colorado Runner Events put on an excellent event, which lends to the appeal as well.  This year, with an increased registration of 1000 runners, it sold out later than the previous two but still was full prior to registration closing.  With the increased cap also came staggered starts for the 3 distances - this was a relief because the 550 runner mass start in 2010 was harsh, and I could not have imagined a 1000 runner stampede to start!

What a view to start the race!

Race Central - almost time.

Unlike previous years that I have run this, we showed up to Greenland about an hour prior to the race start to blue sky, relatively warm, and NOT WINDY conditions - hmmm?  While I know that most racer types relish frigid temps to start a race, I was completely OK with this scenario, especially sans-wind.  When I hopped in line for packet pick up, I got to chat for about 10 minutes with Mr Ace, which is always a pleasant way to start the day!  This guy is a spring of enthusiasm, and was getting ready for his second 50k in seven days with badly blistered feet - wow!  

Anyway, got my bib and went back to the car to get pinned up, put the chip on the shoe, and get in line for the "facilities".  Uh, oh.  The waiting line for the cans ended up being over 15 minutes, which ended any chance of getting a warmup run in.  I'm not sure about logistics or park regs for Greenland, but I am not sure 10 portalets adequately cover 1000 racers....  I wormed my way in to the front area of the start with 3 minutes to spare.  I was lucky - keep reading.

Massing at the start

And they're off - stampede at the start - I was about 8 deep at the start, which was good!

Eventual winner and new CR Daniel Kraft had to pass everyone coming out

of the parking area - we surmise he got stuck in the potty line too long!

LOL on that one - Kathleen remembered seeing this kid hauling onto the course after everyone was across the mat!  I noticed him pulling through because he reminded me of a twenty something Scott Jurek - floppy curly hair and smooth as silk stride.  He blazed a 1:34:38 which blows my mind.  

Now back to the race in front of me.  Start was hopping as expected, but I have a patience problem with wading through people and I always worry about getting tripped, rolling an ankle, going to jail for punching someone who keeps stepping on my shoes, and so forth....  So after about 3/4 mile I had to tune it down a bit as there is no way these legs are rolling 7's for 25k :)  By about 2.5 miles, I had settled in to my comfort zone and started to, for the first time, look around and enjoy the scenery.  Given the vast open expanses here and the complete lack of any shade, Greenland Open Space still has its charm.

Looking over to Spruce Mountain Open Space

Coming off the hill toward the end of the first loop and feeling good.

I hit the top of Kipps Loop climb about on target at 7:49ish pace, and dropped in for the first screaming descent off the back side.  I kept it reeled in a bit given the past experiences of Lap 2 doom.  However, with the turnover I have been doing this spring and my legs being used to better pace, "reeled in" ended up being 6:50 - 7:05 pace, which is newer territory for a comfortable running pace but felt good.  There were already quite a few 50k runners mixed in with the line by this point but I could tell from posture and body language who I was racing with.  The folks with the "I will be out in this exposure for another 3 or 4 hours" look were pretty obvious.  And it was getting warm.

I made the turn at I am guessing 59 and change, though the chip splits aren't up on the Greenland page yet (hope they will be), and grabbed a cup of Heed at the aid station before crossing the mat and starting Lap 2.  I have been pretty dialed on hydration and seemed to be doing really well as far as that goes.  Lap 2 is kind of tricky as the gradual climb back on Greenland trail to the pond starts to tell you where the legs are.  Then the sharp climb over the ridge from the pond twists that down a bit and you must concentrate on regaining some turnover before the second trip up Kipps.  I flagged a bit on mojo here and had to wrap my head around the task at hand.  Unlike past years, I was still running fluid and no signs of blowing up.  Progress.

Got to the aid spot at the base of the climb hoping for a Heed cup but the tanks.were.dry.  "Can you hang on a minute while we're mixing?"  Um, like, I am racing here....  So I grabbed a water cup, drank half, and tossed the other half over my head.  The breeze we had to start had completely ceased and the second time up Kipps with the overhead sun was definitely warm.  Felt bad for the 50k folks to go two more rounds on that - ouch.   Took my last gel about 4 minutes from the top of Kipps - one of my bigger mistakes was not having a couple more gels - and I knew I had to grind one out of the legs to push over the top.  Ended up about 1:20 slower on the second time through the climb, which is a good sign.  However, I hit the crest and started running calculations on some "silent" goals I had.  Sketchy, but I spent a lot of time preparing for it, so I decided it was all or nothing.  A younger guy I had been running with for a good portion of the time drug me over the top and we picked our way through the eternal line of 50k runners on the back side.  We had traded some chatter earlier but were in red light zone at this point.  He asked me to pull through as he was not sure what he had left, so I did - but realistically I didn't know either.  I told him that I was going for broke, but might see him again...  

   

Smelling the Barn - mission almost accomplished.

There were a lot of runners to pick through the entire way down the backside descent, most of them 50k folks in damage control mode with the quickly mounting heat.  At one point I was hitting sub 6 paces and knew this was simply not in my sustainable range.  However, in the heat of the moment, the brain doesn't function like that!  By the time I hit the turn off the Kipps Loop to the main drag for the last .9 miles my fleeting dream of sub-2 Hours was all but gone.  I have no business running a 6:05 mile (and I am OK with that) and it was going to take that from my fuzzy-brained calculators but still I rolled.  Three quarters out, for the first time all day, one of those neural twinges hit my left calf.  Then two hit my right.  Why Me?  I almost said it out loud, but tried to push through.  Then it hit, at one half mile out, my right toes curled under my foot in a ball and I almost toppled.  I pulled off trail, unable to move my foot, and desperately dug both thumbs into the ball of twisted mass that was my right calf and pushed them all the way to the bone.  Within what I guess to be about twenty seconds I was hobbling, then running gingerly, then flogging for my life!  I vaguely remember my young friend going by screaming at me to get up and run - and I thanked him at the finish.  I pulled in behind him for the last half and he shouted "Not a word - I am this close (holding up his thumb and finger about a quarter inch apart) to having both calves ball up and I am hanging on..."  

And so I rolled in at 2:00:48, nearly a 10 minute PR and quite a satisfying day.  The barely structured training program I had concocted worked well and the efforts of the previous 2 months paid off.  The strong second lap and all out finish vanquished those lingering demons this race had left me with in the past.  Granted, in those previous years, I had no training schedule to speak of and really expected more than I had worked for.  This year was different.  For someone in their 40's who is mostly a 3 day per week runner, I would say that I have to be ecstatic with where I ended up.  And I planned the peaking pretty well too.  A month ago, I ran a two lap trainer here and yesterday took another 13 seconds per mile off that effort.  So I am happy.  And now I do not have anything hanging over my head about Greenland, which is OK by me.  Unless the flame draws me in...again...  (Or when Kathleen is recovered and decides to go for the Masters Women's win there :) )

Here are the numbers, for those who must know:

2:00:48 

22nd overall, 5th masters 

7:47 per mile if you use raw 25k, or 7:45 if you use the race's advertised distance of 15.56 miles

               BTW, I ran good tangents - Garmin showed 15.57

1987 calories burned  ( I only ate 300 during - oops)

1380' elevation gain - pretty "flat" for out here

73 degrees, 7% humidity at my finish time - that's right Midwesterners/Southerners - single digit humidity

Shoes: Saucony Kinvara2 

We finally got to meet Craig and his family after the race, and hung out for a while chatting up race recap, future trail runs, etc. - Good Times!  Craig and his son both won awards - sweet!  After that, we got to run into the entire "Ace" clan in the parking lot, including Mrs Ace, the kiddos, and the rest of the family who were visiting from Montana - pretty neat!  We stayed for a bit to see some of the front 50k runners come in.  We were absolutely stunned when Peter Maksimow came in at just over 3:22 for a new course record - 5 of the 6 CR's fell yesterday, even with the heat.  We were hoping to see Brad finish before heading out and he rolled in with an awesome sub-4 hour finish.  Good day all around! 

Oh - and forget Gluten-Free for a minute,
Kathleen insisted - Black Forest Roulade Was Mandatory!

Greenland 25k Trail race - done!

Steve's Greenland 25k trail race is in the books and it was all good!  His unofficial finish time was 2:00:48, a 10 minute PR.  One of his calves cramped a half mile from the finish - the kind of cramp where the toes curl beneath the foot.  He had to stop briefly and let the toes unfurl and then was able to finish well.  He did great.  He is very pleased with his result and I am so proud of him!  Race report forthcoming.......

Training Day

It was a great day for my last obsessing training run at Greenland ahead of next Saturday's race.  I had intended to head up and do a "hot" lap to see what I could push, and then maybe run a second cutoff lap at a more reasonable pace.  However, when Kathleen woke up this morning, she wanted to at least try a run before she went to work.  This was the most awesome news I heard all week.  So I suited up and headed out with her for a 3.5 mile loop.  Now 3.5 miles certainly beats ZERO and I was stoked for her to run - Kathleen is quite a trooper and is going to come back to running with a vengeance once the hormones get leveled out.  Time to "take names", so to speak, after a year and a half of limbo ;-)

So I  fueled up with a little breakfast, threw some extra clothes in the truck, and hit the road.  As we have mentioned in the past, ad nauseum, no matter what time of day or what day of the week, there is usually wind at Greenland.  No different today, and it was a cold wind.  And I forgot liner gloves.  So as is the routine, roll off at the traditional race start at the gate for the Territorial Road and bore down straight into the teeth of the wind.  For 3.5 miles.  It was good today though.  I have been a bit nervous because I have basically a "non-plan" plan for getting ready for a race.  Having no background in "real" running, we know nothing of periodization, track workouts, Arthur Lydiard, blah blah blah blah....  Basically we run to have fun, do some hard tempo runs, some of which are on similar terrain to the race course, and see where the chips fall.  Scoff if you want, but when it is a bluebird sky day and we're out running delicious ribbons of singletrack and you can't because it is your 12x400x600x3000 or whatever, who is happier :))

Anyhoo, back to running.  I felt good on the doubletrack out, almost too good.  I hit Kipp's at 7:37 avg, the saddle at 7:50 avg, Greenland cutoff at 7:31 avg, then in to the finish - 8 miles, 59:00  and 7:22 avg.  Then I wet myself, err I mean, thought "What if I could hold that for 15.5???"  Now the week of nervous stomach starts!!!  Seriously, though, I don't know if most people need this sort of run but it will actually help my mind rest this week with comfort that I have put in the requisite training for my goal.  We'll find out in a week!  I ran a 2.5 mile cool down after swapping out shoes and sloshing down some Blueberry Pomegranate Gu Brew, putting the day's work at 14 miles, and the last long effort for the training cycle.

BTW, I wore the Saucony Kinvara for the hot loop.  Not sure if it has adequate tread for the sand, but man it sure flowed nicely as far as I could tell.  My plan all along was to race in the Peregrine, but now I am waffling.  At 2.5 ounces less per shoe, it may not be such a bad idea.  Any suggestions pro or con???

Done!  And feeling pretty good too!

Greenland OPEN Space, with Pikes Peak in the distance

Spruce Mountain on the left with Noe Road rolling away

So there is the profile for the full lap...

...and my splits

Working on the Pagosa Springs post - it should be up tonight or tomorrow with some sweet pics of Springtime in the Rockies!  Also wanted to get an early "Good Luck" out there for next week at Greenland - Ace and Brad running the 50k, and Craig running the 8 miler - should be good times out on course!

Chugging Along

Oops... it appears we missed the month of March.  Well, not really, but apparently we missed the urge to put up a post in the month of March :)  We are still getting out on the trails, albeit less mileage for Kathleen, but we are still out chugging along.  And it certainly helps that the weather has been unseasonably phenomenal in Colorado for this time of year.  Before we get to the weekend's activities, here are a few images from the prior month:

Group photo from a great run at Cheyenne Mtn State Park -

65 degrees on March 4!

 It has been nice enough that we have been out on the bikes too

 Since Daylight Savings Time, I have been chasing "daylight" quite a few nights post-work

Sunset on the Grandview Mesa - Palmer Park

Greenland Trail - Saturday

Now for current events, we headed out to Greenland Open Space on Saturday morning.  I have still been hitting some tempo training, and some harder trail outings, and have been thinking about taking another crack at the Greenland 25k race.  Twice previous, I have crashed and burned on lap 2 after going out over my head here.  So I have been training in an attempt to go out hot, and then hold it for both laps.  I have been encouraged by the fitness I carried over the winter months, and had a couple recent runs last weekend that had me salivating for a little redemption up north: - a first ever sub-7 pace tempo run and a 3 1/2 minute PR on the Falcon Trail at the US Air Force Academy.  So one of my goals for the day was to test the legs on Greenland and decide if I was in.  The weather forecast was for calm Saturday and WINDY Sunday - they lied.  We arrived at the parking area with some nice wind already pasting the hillsides, but there is a good chance for that on race day too, so it was put up or shut up.

Climbing the Kipps Loop switchbacks, overlooking Spruce Mountain Road - 

Kathleen in the center of the photo

Kathleen had no idea when I took the above photo that from my vantage point, I could see 2 runners on the climb below her.  Even in her post-RAI-dying-thyroid-slower state, they never caught her on the climb (or at all for that matter).  She was stoked later when I pointed it out! ;-)

Spruce Mountain from Kipps

Lap one for the course starts out an old doubletrack road that is quite sandy.  It is a gradual climb to the base of Kipps Loop (mile 3.5), which then switchbacks to the high point on course (mile 5).  Off the back saddle of Kipps, it is mostly descent to the finish, if you are on the 8 M course.  The 25k and 50k go most of the way back to the start, before doubling back over the Greenland trail to the dirt road and repeating the Kipps Loop.  So lap 2 of the 25k (and 3 & 4 of the 50k) are slightly different than lap 1.  Both previous attempts at this race, I have cramped badly on lap 2, especially coming off the saddle on the descent, which is where you make up time from the climbs.  Saturday I guessed at the turn point (off a little) and hit it at 59:40. 

Great to see Kathleen running!

At the trail junction going back out, I waited for Kathleen coming off the hill as she was finishing the loop out to the trailhead for a nice 8.1 mile jaunt.  She was running great and enjoying the day - 75 degrees in March at Greenland is pretty sweet!  After seeing her off, I headed off for lap 2.  I was pushing pretty hard into the headwind heading out and I was curious to see how I would hold up.  I hoped to simulate the race to see where the fitness was at, of course always hoping for race day to show with NO STINKING WIND.  I was pretty excited to hit the saddle at the top of Kipps on round two at low 8 average pace, and dropped off the back ready to let it roll in to the finish.  Much to my surprise, the legs held out really well until the flat straight heading in to the start.  About half mile out, I had the first alarm go off for calf cramp, shortly followed by more of the same.  However, I was close enough at this point that it didn't matter.  I was short of race distance at 15.12 (race is 15.54) but my time of 2:00:25 put me at a 7:58 pace, cutting 25 seconds per mile off my best race pace there.  Sweet!  So there was only one thing left to do - drive home, log on , and enter.  (Well, that is after BBQ at Broken Bones BBQ in Monument -pulled pork and sweet potato fries - and a Starbucks stop!!!)  So I guess that means I'm in ;-)

Shoes - K Nike LunarGlide

S Saucony Peregrine

Sunday - Red Rock Canyon

 Kathleen running sweet ridgeline singletrack - Codell Trail

Today we got a late start (again) and headed over to Red Rock Canyon Open Space.  It was already mid 70's when we rolled in, so the gusty winds were actually helpful in keeping us cooled off - which is weird to mention on April 1...?   Both of us were fairly tired and had lead in the legs, so it was a day to enjoy the scenery, kick up a little dirt, and be glad to have sweet trails to run.

 Climbing the Quarry Pass Trail

 Nice view of Red Rock Canyon, and the Garden off to the north

Kathleen hits the top of Roundup Trail

 It is funny how light angles change perspective - the water looks like Gatorade from here...

... but just brown from here!  One of the old mining ponds.

We enjoyed our run today - 8 miles and we were done!  And with the carryover from yesterday, we were also quite hungry - and what better way to cure that than to hit Rudy's BBQ which is only a block away.  We could smell the smoker when we were on Codell Trail and I thought about it the whole run!!!  Smoked turkey, green chile stew, and potato salad hit the spot.

Shoes - K Brooks Pure Flow

S Brooks Pure Grit

Good Times at the Greenland 25k

We headed out early this morning to the Greenland 25k trail race that we've had on the schedule for quite a while.  This year's event sold out about two months ahead of race day, so all 550 runners had been watching May 1 for a long time.  We even got a nice, functional tech shirt again this year.

Last weeks enormous snowstorm left a nice little surprise of over 1 foot of snow on Greenland, and the weather this week was not conducive to speedy melting.  We were bracing ourselves all week for atrocious weather conditions but were pleasantly surprised to awaken with clear skies, albeit a bit on the cool side - this would be a good thing, keep reading...  Bonus #2 came when we arrived at Greenland Open Space and there was no gale force wind, as there was last year.  Sweet!  Just look at the view....

Got to meet up with fellow Colorado blogger Ace before the race started.  He was running the 50k for his first ultramarathon - cool!  We knew we could find him easily, being the Brooks ambassador that he is, but he actually spotted us first.  I met him for the first time at the Winter Series III race, but Kathleen had not yet met him so that was fun.  We had also been watching for Jonathan and Tammy, who we met in person for the first time last night when we picked up packets at Colorado Running.  They were also doing their first 50k - awesome for them as well.  Unfortunately, we did not get to see them until out on course, so no photo this time!

So, start of the race was sunny, about 36 degrees, and not much wind.  The overnight cold was a blessing as most of the mud was still a bit on the frozen/crusty side for lap 1.  (8 mile = 1 lap, 25k = 2 laps, 50k = 4 laps)  We were a bit pushed on time after the eternal wait in porta potty line and had to scratch and claw our way toward the front of the start area.  Although the race started on a dirt two-track, wading through 550 people at the start of the race can be a drag.  First lap went great, with the aforementioned mostly frozen mud being greatly appreciated.  After the first couple miles, it thinned out pretty well and we got to settle into a pace with not too many folks around.  I was a bit in front of Kathleen, but she was keeping a nice pace and had found a small group (including Jonathan) to pace with.  First lap - good run, no issues.  Good.

As is the case with the strong sun/UV at altitude, lap 2 started to present some significant mud issue.  That really was not appreciated by tired legs, but everyone had to run on the same stuff, so just adapt and move forward.  Last year, the wheels came off for me on lap 2 - I was really hoping not to have that happen again.  Hit my gels and S-caps on schedule, as did Kathleen, and it worked pretty well for us.  Felt good most of the way, even with the mud slogging, with just a wee bit of crampiness coming on to the calves on the drop off the saddle after the big climb. The calf crampiness hit Kathleen there too.  Maybe a little dehydrated going into the day? Not sure, but with only a couple miles, we managed. 

I stopped the clock (unofficially - results not posted yet) at 2:10:03 UPDATE: official time posted at 2:10:06 for 24th of 184 overall, which peeled 3:30 off my mark from last year.  2:10 was my target, so that was good!  2:05 was super-wish list, but was not happening today.  Course came to 15.62 on the GPS with 1600' climb, so that put the pace at 8:20/mile.  Not bad - I was happy with that.  New 25k PR.  BTW, the Dirty Girl Gaiters were awesome for keeping rocks out of the shoes with the tacky soil and, as always, the Drymax socks were perfect!

Kathleen came in at 2:15:30 2:15:32 - good for 3rd in her age group and 36 out of 184, 6th overall woman!!!  So 3 of the top 6 in her age group!  That works out to 8:40/mile pace - awesome. Her goal had been 2:12ish for a good day and 2:15 for a decent day.  I guess it was decent. Photo above is her getting her award.  First ever 25k for Kathleen and her longest race to date - so a PR for her as well :-)  And she got lots of comments for the pink leopard gaiters - she said she "sold" over a dozen pairs!

The age group award was a cool ceramic tile "coaster" with a photo from the start of last year's race on it.  Very nice!

It ended up being a great day for us - both happy with the results but also knowing that there are still things we can improve on for future races.  

Shoes - K Asics 2150 Trail

S - LaSportiva Wildcat

Spring in the Rockies - a little Seattle, a lot of Colorado!

Spring .. or Seattle?

One of the things that you learn to live with when Spring finally arrives to the mountains - weather is, from day to day, a crap shoot.  But it is a change of seasons that does not bring aggravation like the prolonged winter does.  It is different.  Green starts to show, flowers attempt to come out, and every weather-challenged day generally brings with it a run of several days of pretty good stuff.  It is a season of transition.

So, when you wake up to days like Saturday, you roll with it.  Thick fog surrounded our house Saturday morning, so much so that I thought I had awakened too early for a weekend.  Kathleen had to work, so we had to get in a run or she would be out of luck.  So we pretended we were in Seattle and this was normal, and headed out the door.  Up and over Flying W and down to 30th street and it was a little "brighter", and then climbed up Mesa Rd - where I am approaching summit above.  Fog was thick enough, you could not even see Kissing Camels from the top of Mesa.  Pikes Peak - forgetta bout it!

As we made the return trip, the fog grew more dense.  Not really a surprise as we live about 500' elevation above 30th.  This was the view on the Flying W trail about half mile from summit - a little soupy!

We crested Flying W and headed down toward home.  Here is Kathleen dropping into the Abyss o' Fog.  It is strangely peaceful running in the fog, though I don't know that I would prefer to do it enough to get "used to" it.  There is an odd detachment from spatial and distance relation in the fog as well.  Your internal pace sensors don't work well and time seems frozen.  It is cool every once in a while.  We borrowed it for a day, now the Pac NW can have it back. To keep.  All in all, it was a nice morning out, given the soggy conditions - did I mention there was light rain coming from the fog the whole time?  We were able to get in 9.5 miles with around 1100' elevation gain - significant because this route fairly closely mimics the undulations of the Greenland 25k in two weeks.  

Shoes - Asics 2150 Trail

Colorado Came Back

As almost always is the case, fantastic weather followed up our foggy, soggy day.  It took a while as we were astounded to wake to a blanket of fog again this morning.  However, it was short lived, and the skies (and trails) were treated to the radiance of a spring Colorado sky by mid morning.

We wanted to get one more recon mission in at Greenland Open Space this week, but decided to change it up a bit.  How do I say this gently?  Greenland.Is.Boring.  At least Kipps Loop where the race is held.  One lap is plenty.  We do two laps for the 25k, the folks doing 50k get a whopping 4 - with a free sanity check at the finish!  Really, it is good for a race because it is compact enough for logistics to work on race day and it is challenging enough to keep your attention - and heart rate - up on race day.  BUT, we like to have fun on the weekends - the whole, entire, absolute reason for trail running. Soooooooooooo, the plan was to first run a loop on Spruce Mountain for "fun" and then head back over to Greenland and run a loop on the race course with tired legs, like we will do for lap 2 in the race. We started our run from Spruce Meadows horse parking area - and got to start behind these 4 horse riders.

We ran the 1.5 mile gradual climb on Spruce Meadow trail over to the base of Spruce Mountain and then started the ascending in earnest.  Two and a half miles of climb until cresting mid-way around the loop on top of Spruce will get the legs jellied up a bit.  Kathleen is climbing above on one of the "flatter" sections going up Spruce.  Some of the switchback sections are nearing 20% - ouch.

Surprisingly, the trail conditions were stellar on Spruce.  A few mud patches, some standing water from snowmelt, but mostly smooth sailing - sweet!  Here I am about a third of the way up - still a bit of snow on the north side.

View from the southern rim of Spruce Mtn.

The ranch down below might as well be named Bonanza - bordering over 1000 acres of open space, and within easy access to Pike National Forest, these folks have access to the Trail Bonanza!!!  On top of that, they have their own "open space" to play on as well.

One of our favorite group photo spots - overlooking Larkspur.

Panoramic view of Spruce Mountain, seen from Greenland Open Space.

We headed back across the prairie trail to connect over to Greenland.  We had maintained a reasonable pace for Spruce, knowing that we wanted to run a loop on Kipps with pre-fatigued legs - as much for the mental preparation as it was for the physical seasoning.   We headed out on Greenland with just a bit over 9 miles in the legs and knew it was going to be another long run.  While lap 2 is not exactly identical to lap 1, for the most part the trail is generally ascending for the first 4.5 miles of the second loop.  There is a short, steepish descent off the saddle that drops down to the Territorial Road and connects at about the 2 mile mark of the first lap.  The second ascent of Kipps is tough, as that 1.5 miles of steeper climb comes on softened legs.  Get ready to work!

Kathleen running the WIDE OPEN spaces at Greenland.

 By the finish, clouds were building to the west - almost like summer...

We made our way to the summit and knew that, for the most part, it was downhill rolling from here.  Although tired legs prevailed, we did chip away at our overall average pace on the loop around Greenland - good sign.  We ran 17.5 miles with 2100' climb and 8:40 pace.  That was, for the second week in a row, a new distance achievement for Happy Trails!  At almost 2 miles additional to the race, and with a lap on the more difficult Spruce Mtn, we are feeling pretty good for the 25k in two weeks. AND, thankfully no "issues" for Kathleen this week!  Great day out running!

Shoes - K Brooks Cascadia - Loop 1, Asics 2150 Trail - Loop 2

S - La Sportiva Wildcat

Good luck to all the Boston Marathon runners tomorrow - both Blogger friends and local PPRR members!

Gray Saturday

Occasionally in February, we start to get "glimpses" of Spring time weather in the Rockies, and sometimes a downright warm day here and there.  Not this year.  Local weather morons people are saying we are on par for one of the coldest winters on record, partially because the darn thing started so early!  Add to that watching a family member struggle to live, and it has been a mental beatdown this winter. Then, just when you think that the dark night of the soul might be lifting, you wake up to another 6 inches of snow and sub-zero temps....

 

Happy Friday - 6" of Prime Colorado Champagne Powder! (2 feels like -14.)

  

Kathleen would forego a run on Friday morning and take the sweet Miss Sage for a nice walk in the snow - what a photogenic girl!

  

Got out early this morning for a run as Kathleen had to head to the office for a bit.  It was gray and cool, but we are so used to those conditions it seemed normal.  Strong Sunny afternoon Friday relieved us of some of our snow, which was nice.  There are two ways to climb the trail along Flying W - north to south and you get .5 mile at ~10% grade, or south to north and you get 1.5 miles at ~5% grade.  So we started north/south and ran into a group of gals out for their breakfast at the top of the hill!!  We passed within 10 feet of a couple of the fawns and they did not even flinch - fairly used to runners.

 

We hit the bottom of the south side at 30th street and turned around to head back over south/north.  Nice little hill work on a Saturday morning.  Kathleen cruises along Flying W trail with a cold Pikes Peak in the background.  With the earlier light, we were able to squeeze in a bit over 9 miles before the sweet half of HappyTrails had to head off to work for a bit.  

Shoes - K Asics 2150 Trail

S Brooks Cascadia

After a bit of recovery (aka, sitting on my duff catching up on blog reading/olympic results/etc.), I headed out for run #2 as I got NO mid-week run in this week.   Going for the boredom route award for the day, I ran the Flying W Loop and was rewarded with a third climb of the day to the top of FW road.  It warmed up to near 40, so mud was abundant on the second time around the trail.  In fact, I must admit that I ran about one third of the loop on the road in protest of running on packed snow and mud.  Tired of it, but it is Mud Season - woohoo!  Brought the iPod along to keep somewhat motivated to run alone - some fresh tunes from Thousand Foot Krutch, Red, and Seventh Day Slumber really helped toward the end of the run.  Don't use a pod much but today it was worth having it along.  Also enjoying the fact that REI started to carry the Chocolate Mint GU gels - ummm.  It's like eating Andes Mints or Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies on the run - tasty!  Logged another 6 miles and called it a day.

Shoes -  Brooks Ravenna

 

In other "exciting" news - we both are signed up to do the Greenland 25K trail race on May 1.  It was getting close to capacity, so we had to go ahead and get our names in.  I want a chance to redeem my second half cramp/meltdown last year and Kathleen will be running it for the first time as she was sick last year.  Should be good fun!  Looking like snow again tomorrow - we're rooting for March to come in "like a Lion" and then, winter can take it's sorry behind elsewhere...