Long Run: Doubling up on Falcon

Here's the Cliffs Notes report - Craig tried to run me to death.

If you want to know more about the run, keep reading. 

 From the Falcon Trail, looking southwest to Blodgett Peak

I met up with Craig over at the US Air Force Academy Saturday morning for his long run leading up to Pikes Peak Marathon.  Quite a few weeks back he showed me his top-secret training plan for shaking things up at PPM.  When I saw the Long Run - 2 laps at Falcon for time on feet, I was intrigued to say the least.  While I have no interest per se in marathons, or for a large part racing in general, I have often thought about a double loop of Falcon.  Number 1, I really like the loop - great terrain, lots of variety, good climbs, etc.  Second, it is one of few places locally where you can do a long, continuous loop - 13 miles to be exact.  The only problem I saw was doing it solo.  I guess now I had that part checked off the list also.  So I told Craig I would at least hang for the first loop and see where everything shook out for a second.

 The Knuckledragging Runner himself - still sporting "battle bandages" from the last time we ran

Now there was a secondary issue, which I did not share until we were already running.  I had only run up to 21 miles previous, and my longest run this calendar year was 19.  It did not seem to phase my running comrade, so we were off and running - clockwise on lap 1.  While it was warming quickly, there was a strong breeze that really saved our bacon throughout the day.  It was, however, a bit of a Catch-22 - when we were in the trees and shaded from the sun, there was no breeze.  When we were in the breeze, we were fully exposed to the overhead sun.  We managed pretty well though and the first lap rolled very well.  OK, maybe too well.  We were hitting some time checks a fair amount earlier than Craig's goal pace.  Now that is good in one sense if it was a "one and done" event, but there was that whole second lap conundrum looming on the horizon. I let Craig lead out, so it was his fault...

 The Chapel overlook - beautiful day to be on the trails

We didn't get too concerned about making decent time, figuring it never hurts to bank some time for the next lap.  It was a great day to be chatting about trails, races, family stuff, life in general, etc., although we never got around to solving the problems of the world.  Maybe next run.  We did get in a great first lap - I logged 2:13 moving time for lap 1, about 45 seconds per mile under goal splits.  With the loop nature of the trail, finishing the lap put us back at our vehicles for an unmanned aid station, which is quite convenient.   We got a bit of solid food, loaded up some more water in the packs, and started lap 2 counter-clockwise for a fresh look at the trail.  I am not certain Craig really knew if I was "all in" for a second loop, but I took the look of relief on his face as a sign that he was happy to not head out for #2 alone.  The guy has business to get done on the mountain in three weeks - gotta "man up" and show some support, right? :)

 Top of the last big climb - looking due south at Blodgett and the AFA water treatment plant

Where do I start with lap 2??  About a mile and a half in, after some gradual up around the golf course and through some forest, there is a grunt of a climb on a spine above the northern part of the Academy.  It is not that it is steep, rather it is long and very very very exposed.  It was already in the 80's by now and the sun was directly overhead.  Conversation waned, to say the least, and for about 3 miles was reduced to two or three word sentences.  Several times the guy who tricked me into this death march Craig asked if this ever ended.  While it did eventually crest, the slog took its toll.  I had gone quite a ways without a glimpse at the Garmin, and I think we were so anxious to get that sucker done, we had climbed it a little fast for what was already in the legs.  Oops.  On the descent off the ridgeline, it was apparent I had put a dent in my reserves as Craig quickly put a gap on me, although I think some of that is his overall descending edge on me.  We had to regroup quickly though as the next climb was soon upon us.

We put our heads down and ground out the next climb, first through the deep sand along Interior Drive below the Chapel, then up the long switchbacks to the Chapel Overlook.  From there, it was a nice reprieve winding through the forest, before crossing Academy Drive and pushing the tough little climb up to Stanley Canyon trailhead.  We took a breather in the shade, knowing we were 75% of the way done.  Now it was time for the steepest descent off the backside of the canyon - on tired legs no less. 

 Unfamiliar Territory

I was reminded to get a photo of the display once we were past the longest-run-ever point.  Too bad my running glasses don't have my bifocal rx in them - I totally blew the focal point on that shot!!!  

So near the bottom of the long hill, before crossing the Monument Creek Trail, Craig sounds the first alarm - he got his first draw of "air" from the hydration pack.  With 4.5 miles to go.  "So, Steve, how far off the trail is it to that Burger King you showed us?"  "Oh, just across the road, through the BX parking lot, after the grunt hill past the fire station."  "Ok, maybe we better check the fire station."   About 5 minutes later, I had my first bubbles.  We hadn't totally realized how warm it was getting but both of us had burned through some H2O - and we had a long stretch of exposed meadow to run through between us and the vehicles.

You can imagine the relief when we rolled up out of the creek drainage and saw people swarming around the fire station.  There was some sort of community event going on, with barbecue - OK, that part was rude having to smell bbq 22.5 miles in to a run - they even had a Big-Air Jumper for the kids shaped like a fire truck.  Frankly, we didn't care about any of that.  When the fireman said past the kitchen and refrigerator, cold drinking fountain, blah blah blah, we were all over it.  Plus it was air conditioned inside the fire station.  So we lingered a bit, filled the packs, drank a little more from the fountain, then eventually had to get out before we decided to climb into the fridge and take a nap....

Not too far to the finish - luckily most of the rest of the trail was not too technical

Coming out of the fire station, there is a steep trail that climbs up to the community center/BX area.  Not sure, but I have a feeling we I looked less than amazing climbing that. It was hot, and I was getting pretty tired.  I think the stop at the fire station had given Craig a fifth wind, as he was starting to push me a bit.  We hit the descent from the BX with a "rabbit" out in front - a lanky guy had hopped on the trail and was pushing a decent pace out ahead of us.  I was struggling a bit for the first time to hold an even gap and I think the lure of finishing off strong was taking hold of Craig.  Somewhere in that foggy zone of tiredness, I am on my face.  It is weird how when you are tired, you hit the dirt before you are even aware that you hooked your toe and are falling.  There is none of that slow motion business where it takes 5 seconds to hit the ground - that only happens when you are alert!  Luckily, I was in the deep sand so there wasn't much in the way of damage assessment.  It did wake me up a bit, though, which was apparent by my first thought - "Crap, I never restarted the Garmin at the fire station..." - like that mattered at this point!  So, I dusted myself off, got my senses, and took off.  Craig had enough gap that he didn't hear me hit the ground, so I was a ways back now.  At the bottom of the meadow, he yelled that he was taking a shot at sub-4:30 and I was all for it.  

I reeled it in a bit, knowing that I could easily faceplant again if I tried to push the pace with my feet barely leaving terra firma with each step.  I was already well into the bonus round and had been fueling off reserves for a bit of time so that strategy was just fine.  I finally rolled in for 26 miles at 4:32:45 moving time, for a second lap split of 2:19:45 - not too shabby to drop only 1/2 minute per mile pace on the second go round.  The gain for the double loop is about 3100', which is by no means huge but does add up.  Oh yeah, and the whole longest run ever thing comes in to play as well.  I thought about running out to the golf course and back, just to say I was an ultrarunner and so forth -  however, I didn't really care.  I was more interested in having a seat in the shade and "not running" for a while...  BTW, five gels, 2 S-Caps, 130 oz. water and one Strawberry Yogurt granola bar fueled the effort if you wonder about such things.

I have to say, in all seriousness, this was a great run.  I was glad Craig threw it out there because it was on the list for a while.  I think, although he will have to confirm, that this was a good confidence boost  for some overall pre-race fitness.  But all that fitness, goal oriented jazz aside, it was just a fun day on the trails.  Definitely good times.

Shoes - Brooks Pure Grit

On a side note, you may be asking where Mrs HT has been.  Good question, and you'll soon be seeing more photo evidence of her on these pages.  As has been the case (too often to count) in the past 18 months, we had a couple setbacks related to the Graves Disease recovery.  Things that were unpredictable but happen and are common issues related to fall-out from the disease.  I am biased, but I am also in control of the keyboard, so I have to say Kathleen has been absolutely rock-star at dealing with all these crazy roadblocks - her grit and determination are astounding to me.  That being said, we are rolling with it all, and are most thankful that we still have biking legs as she (we) has had to do more biking this summer than we really wanted to have on the schedule.  However, good progress is being made on the running front and along with it, we have a couple scenic long rides on tap, and maybe a few runs, to report on in the coming weeks.  Stay tuned...

                                                             happy trails

Fun on Two Feet ... and Two Wheels

Last weekend started with a little trip over to the US Air Force Academy for a good run around the Falcon Trail loop with Craig and his son Alex.  It was the first time over there for the guys, and this is a must run trail if you live in our area.  We had a good time just taking an easy stroll around the loop.  Although we got started when the gates opened to the public to get on base, by mid-loop it was already blazing hot out there! 

 Sunny and warm on the Falcon Trail - crossing the Stanley Canyon access point

 Had a blast being tour guide for these two guys

These two have some good races coming up and goal for the day was time on the feet and some climbing thrown in - both accomplished.  While this is not the hardest run in our neck of the woods by any stretch, you won't see too many 13 year old youngsters spending their Saturday mornings running 13 miles with the old guys - most of them are home in bed until the crack of noon, then glued to an X-box for 6 hours or whatever the national average is these days.  While we had a couple of what Craig calls "teenager moments", it was a good run and we all enjoyed the trail.  We were also glad to be done as it was heading into the upper 80's when we finished.  Good Times!  (By the way - Craig took a bunch more photos - go over to his blog and have a look.)

Shoes - Brooks Pure Grit

Meanwhile, while the boys were out running, Kathleen was out on the roads of the Academy enjoying some quality time on the road bike.  She is working through some musculo-skeletal issues related to the Graves Disease, so she will be spending some good time on the bike here and there to help with the rebuilding process.  She was able to get in a sweet 30 mile ride while we were out playing on the trails and had her feet kicked up waiting on us when we reached the trailhead.

Hit The Road!

 Enjoying the blossoming Jupiter's Beard - a.k.a. Red Valerian - in our Xeric Garden out front

 Italian Cycling Slippers

 Starbucks and Pikes Peak - aaah....

This morning we headed out early for a road ride and we needed to beat the heat.  It was forecast to hit 90's by noon, so we wanted no part of that especially since we would be spending our workout time on asphalt!  We also wanted to be out early to beat the nut-jobs driving on the west side of town, but we didn't totally avoid that...  And what is up with the wind this year - it can be over any time.  Had to run in it yesterday and it was gusting heavily while riding today.... The route for the day was a combination of The Garden of the Gods area, Gold Camp Road, and Mountain Shadows area.

 Riding up Gold Camp, almost to Section 16 parking lot

 Up on the open stretches of Gold Camp - no hiding from the wind here...

 Almost to the top

 End of the road - at least for skinny tires

Riding up to the end of the pavement is a great out and back.  On the weekends, you will have plenty of two-wheeled company.  This is a popular route for gradual and steady grade hill repeats thanks to the extended climb - from 31st street and Highway 24, you climb 1000' in a bit over 4 miles, for around a 4% grade.  You'll have mountain bike company as well, headed up past the pavement into Cheyenne Canyon where countless miles of steep trails await.

 The suburban reservoirs at Stratton Open Space and the Broadmoor Hotel

You should stay there if you come visit....

 The Trusty Rigs

Back in our neck of the "woods" - Mesa bike path looking into Queen's Canyon

We had a great ride - 30 miles for the day and the heat was building, so we got ourselves out of the sun!  It was a good week - I ran two solid tempo runs this week - a short and a long, and finally felt decent doing so.  I had quite a lengthy funk after Greenland but appear to be hitting solid stride again.  Looking forward to some longs runs in the high country, but those will have to wait until at least mid-July.  Our niece is getting married and my folks will be here for two weeks, so family time comes first!!

Happy Trails!

Flying Solo on Falcon Trail

With all the crazy restrictions and the all-too-confusing DEFCON color coordinated alert scales used at the local military installations, it has been a LONG time since we have been on the Falcon Trail. I heard from a trustworthy source that Falcon was in good shape AND had a green light for civi's.  With Kathleen having caught the crud from a coworker, I decided to tackle the long route on Saturday since it is so close to home.  Normally we would park at the stadium trailhead and run this as a loop, but for some reason I had it in to run in from the horse trails up on Blodgett, run the loop, and then CLIMB back out to finish.  It would be a good test of the winter fitness and the ice-induced hip strain I have been nursing.

 Over the ridge from Blodgett, the USAFA in the distance

Starting from this area, there is about a 2 mile drop in on a variety of dirt roads and horse trails to link up with the Falcon Trail.  Given our bizarre winter to date, there were rare patches of snow and almost no mud.  It was gray and cool at the start but forecast was for some sun and upper 50's so I was optimistic that the finish would be much warmer.

 Finally on Falcon - nice luge trail through the rocks

 Nice views along the creek

 That cave could be emergency shelter in a storm!

 Center of campus - Chapel on the skyline

Circa 1860's - not sure if it is the "original" glass, though!

It was indeed good conditions on the trail.  The back side was completely dry and I encountered no ice until dropping out of the Stanley Canyon trailhead to the northeast.  Down from there to the road there were a couple sketchy spots that required some mindful attention.  With the temperature in the mid 40's, there was just enough of a slimy surface on the ice to make it snot slick.  I have been enjoying the consolidated snow traction on the Saucony Peregrine, but it is definitely NOT an ice shoe (not many are...).  I traded places quite a few times with guys on bikes - passing on the climbs, getting passed on the descents.  it was such a great day to be out and the forecast high winds we have endured lately took the day off.  So it was definitely a good day to be out on the bike - a couple guys made mention that they left early to beat the wind but were wishing they would have started an hour later for warmer temps!!  

I fatigued noticeably by the time I climbed the ridge above the golf course on the north side of the Academy.  This is, after all, January  and I have not been maintaining the mileage I did in the fall.  I made a conscious effort to ignore the Garmin as I knew at that point I still had 7 or 8 miles to go.  Running out the long meadow below the BX, I passed two cyclists that I had traded spots with 4 times.  They had laid their bikes in the grass and stood beside the trail with their thumbs out as I went by.  I got a good laugh and they shouted encouraging words since they were almost done with their loop!  On the trail above the BX, I caught wind of Burger King.  Now I am not a fast foodie, but why after almost 15 miles does that smell SO GOOD???  I contemplated the emergency cash stash in my Nathan pack and thought about sauntering in to the BK and getting a Whopper, Animal Style, if you know what that is ;-)  Gotta stay clear of the bread, you know???  But alas, with a 2 mile climb out of the Academy staring me in the face, that thought was fleeting...

 Exit gate - depart from the Falcon Trail and head UP

 Blodgett Peak

The next trail beta I need to work out is a route that starts at Blodgett Peak Open Space and gains access to the horse trails I dropped in on today.  That would certainly put this run well over 20 miles and make for a good mid-summer long run bonanza.  I am thinking this might involve connecting to the West Monument Creek Trail, which drops in the "V" on the right side of the photo.  This gets sticky as Colorado Springs Utilities parked a water treatment plant on the creek and "interrupted" access to the trail.  However, there are people who know ways around such things.  :)

 AFA water treatment facility on the hill to the left,

and one of their reservoirs below right

 Can't stand still long - still have to climb out over that ridge

Back over on our side of town - looking over Mt St Francis,

home of The Sisters of Saint Francis of Perpetual Adoration

As you can see, I made it out alive!  17 miles with just under 2600' climb.  That was a long run for me at this time of year, however, I enjoyed the test of fitness and found out that I still have a good base.  If you are in this area, get out and run the trail - it is not often in January that Falcon is this free of snow and ice.  And you never know when they might close access again...  Happy Trails

Shoes - Saucony Peregrine

Red Rocks and Falcons and Trails

Kathleen had to work Saturday, so she ran early before work and was able to get in a great 8 mile morning run.  I waited until she got home, had an iced mocha waiting for her recovery fuel, and then set out for my long run.  In anticipation that Kathleen was going to attempt Falcon on Sunday, I decided to run from home and incorporate some sort of loop in/around the Garden of the Gods.

 Nice View

 North Gateway and Tower of Babel

After completing the "urban" portion of the run, I dropped in on the Navigators side and onto the north Garden trails.  After a cool start, I had already ditched the arm warmers and the sun was fantastic.  I was trying not to think too hard about it - but it was NOT windy.  Big deal of late, for sure.  Although I encountered little to no traffic on the entrance trails, there seemed to be an oddly high amount of car traffic for 9 am - more on that later...  After looping up onto Palmer trail, I took the hard switchback up and started out of the Garden onto the National Forest trails.  I wanted to try another route this time, so instead of taking the goat path up and over the rim to Rampart Range Road, I circled south and around a few false summits, and then dropped onto a singletrack that appeared to head down to RRR.  The singletrack turned to a "halftrack" to a barely-there-track and before I knew it, I was scrambling down some 30% plus slopes trying not to plummet face first down the side of the hill!!!  Safely down, I dropped out onto RRR quite a bit below where I jumped on last time. 

 Making sure it didn't tip over...

 Almost off RRR - looking through an old tree to the Garden

After the cruise down RRR, I dropped back in on the Garden trails and headed up Cabin Canyon, then up the backside of Siamese Twins.  I kept thinking to myself, where are all these people coming from.  I mean. you NEVER see anyone on Cabin Canyon other than oddball trail runners people like us.  And having to pass people on the backside of Siamese - what???

 Siamese Twins

There was a horse train going through the normal route around Siamese Twins when I go to the top, so I had to come in the top side.  It then dawned on me that it was D-Day - the grossly overdone Earth Day extravaganza at the Garden.  Some of our worst trail experiences with rude, moronic people on trails have been on this very day.  Funny, as it is supposed to be a day for people who actually like being on trails... OK, where was I??  Oh yes, running along now... Climbing over, this was my view.  Aside from the little guy picking his nose, the other 4 people were lined up for the photo I wanted to take and they were not interested in moving any time soon.  Since I was 12 miles into a run, I got rather pushy, and popped in front to snag this photo, which you may have spotted yesterday:

 What a frame for Pikes Peak!

Although this is a ubiquitous photo around these parts, I still like to stop by every now and again to snag the shot.  I particularly enjoyed the lighting this time as the slightly shadowed keyhole allowed for a nice focus lock on the Peak.  It is also nice to see that prominent diagonal scar of the Manitou Incline - one of the better 35 minute workouts in our arsenal....

 Reservoir Trail...and the tree is hiding something:

 Climbers at the top of Cathedral Rock - I'll pass on that activity!

The whole enchilada - Cathedral Rock set against a wonderful sky!

I made the outer loop as quickly as my dwindling legs would allow, utilizing the most difficult trails in order to avoid the hoardes.  Made the quick jaunt out through the Navs and then up and over Flying W back to the casa.  Felt great all day and finished at just under 19 miles with 2900' climbing.  I am really starting to enjoy these longer runs - might just become habitual...  In fact, I may just start hauling off on some long runs like these and not even bother with races - we'll see.

Shoes - K Montrail Mountain Masochist

S - Pearl Izumi SyncroFuel XC

  and once again, sported the McDavid Compression sleeves which take nice care of the calves!

More Sun and more Wind on the Falcon Trail

 Kathleen enjoying the sunshine

Today we headed over to the US Air Force Academy to run the Falcon Trail.  Kathleen has been itching to see just how long she can run these days.  We know this trail well, so it is always a good testing ground.  The sun was out strong and we got out pretty early to "attempt" to beat the wind.  There were a bunch of people who had the same idea as the Stadium trailhead was packed with lots of empty bike racks on the backs of vehicles.  Despite the number of folks out, it really never seemed busy on the trail which was nice!

 Backside climb complete - looking across to the water facilities and Blodgett Peak

 Lots of bikes out - trails and road alike

We couldn't help but notice the swarms of road bikes on the drive in.  It turns out that USA Cycling had a little shindig going on at the USAFA - The Front Range Cycling Classic. They were utilizing a loop that is one of our favorite road loops and was also the site for the 1986 Road Worlds. The AFA is an awesome place to ride and it is a  great loop. We usually do 2 for 30 miles.  The Pro men were treated to 5 laps - in 2000mph wind - OUCH!

 The backside of USAFA - beautiful facility if you get a chance to visit

Sweet day on Falcon Trail

Even though the 2000 mph winds made their appearance yet again, the temperatures in the low 70's helped ease the sting of their rude interruption of our trail bliss!  It was an awesome day out there and as always, we enjoyed Falcon.  Bonus highlight of the day - We saw a couple on a SWEEET full suspension tandem clean the gnarly switchbacks down from the Chapel overlook - big time skills on that one!!!  Toward the end of the route, Kathleen simply ran out of gas, which is to be expected while we get her meds dialed in for Graves Disease.  This is OK - we knew it was a "test" run of sorts.  She stopped just past the 12 mile point and walked it in from there, which was fantastic.   It was a great day and we sat in the sun for a while enjoying fresh-baked-this-morning coconut oatmeal cookies and a protein shake, soaking up another wonderful day!!!

13 miles, 1800' climb

Shoes - Montrail Mountain Masochist

Good Weekend of Running

Falcon Trail

After a "wet your whistle" run on the back entrance into the USAFA last weekend, I was planning on taking on the full loop if weather held out for the weekend.  Sure enough, we had nothing but a dusting of snow and I was not about to let gloomy gray weather hold back this fun time.  So Saturday morning, I parked up in the Peregrine neighborhood and slithered through the iron curtain for some more sweet trails!  Kathleen had to work, so it was a solo outing.  It was cool in the mid 30's and there was an inversion over town, so up high it almost appeared as fog.  About a half mile in, I thought my day was over as a hiker coming up the road toward me was screaming for his pit bull "Turtle" to stop - which he did not.  Great, I thought, 'Runner mauled by pit bull on USAFA' - nice headline for the news...  Lucky for me, Turtle just wanted to jump up shoulder high and lick my face, all while almost knocking me down.  So, a few muddy footprints on the chest and on with the run...

 Top of the backside climb - looking across to the rim where I dropped in

After dropping in from the rim and navigating the gates through the horse pasture, I hopped on Falcon trail and headed clockwise for the backside climb.  Might as well get the two biggest climbs on Falcon out of the way early, at least that was my thought.  It was quite cold on the back of the Academy in the shade and my glasses fogged frequently from the thick air steaming each breath.  Aside from a few ice flows and a bit of snow, the trail is mostly clear even around back.  I attempted early on to gauge my effort as this is a stiff effort for me this early in the year. 

 Cadet grounds across the valley - not part of the Falcon loop tour

After passing the Stanley Canyon trailhead at the high point, the sun started to peak out now and again, and with it, came the wind ~ pleasant...  Aside from the chill, I got into a nice groove on the second half of the loop, even "tapping the brakes" a time or two knowing that the final 2 miles are straight up.  I was astonished to see golfers out - that had to feel great on a cold day, let alone the fact that the greens are brown!!!

 Up on the north side - looking out at the Inversion sitting over town

(That is Cheyenne Mountain on the far end of the city)

 Stopped for some history - or to catch my breath...

Stopped to check out the cabin in the lower meadow after crossing Academy drive.  I even remembered to catch both sides of the sign this time!  There was quite a fair amount of bike traffic considering the cool conditions and I had to negotiate a few passings on the east side of Falcon, especially tricky as the singletrack is, for the most part, very narrow on the east.  Luckily, all the bikes I encountered today were piloted by qualified trail users, not wobbly neophytes ready to leave chainring scars on your leg from panicking and tipping over right on top of you.  But I digress...

 Finally at the BX - still looking foggy over town

 Blodgett Peak

 Top of the singletrack climb and onto the dirt road - 
looking across to the high point from 10 miles previous

I had a pretty decent climb going on the way out until I hit the first steep switchbacks on the dirt road, then I cramped on my right quad.  While favoring that, I soon cramped on the left hammy - what the heck???  (A couple hours later the salt "harvest" on the rim of my visor could have adorned an entire bar's stock of margarita glasses....)  Time to start stashing some S-Caps even though it is cool I guess.  By the time I reached the top, the last of the day's sunshine was being engulfed by cloud cover.  Oh well, I got a little bit of time with some rays, so life is good.  The loop ends up being 17 miles as I had expected and the elevation for the route is just over 2500'.  Unfortunately if your legs are toast, 600' of that is in the last 1.5 mile climb out.  All in all, a good run and a new preferred way to run the Falcon Trail.

Shoes - Pearl Izumi SyncroFuel XC

Sunday run on Santa Fe Trail

 Gray again...and cool

This morning, we headed over to the Santa Fe Trail to get in a little different run (for us) - a relatively flat run, with more continuous leg turnover.  It was once again gray and drab looking, with a south wind that was quite sharp.  That meant we would have a headwind on the return trip of the out and back run.  It also meant I would be running on the USAFA for a second day, this time farther east.  Despite the "atmospheric un-pleasantry", there were a lot of folks out on the trail today.  I guess they were all taking the weather guy seriously on the pending winter storm warning for tomorrow...

 Cruising with some tunes - very rare for HT

 Kathleen enjoying the run......

....... and getting a little friendly with the "camera man"

Kathleen turned back at the overpass for Stadium Drive but I continued on a way as I have been making a concerted effort to bump up my weekly mileage.  This will be aided by the impending time change - extension of daylight is a good thing!!! 

 Some ducks enjoying the beaver pond

Asked a nice stranger to snap a group photo - 

don't know where the goofy look came from...

Today was a nice change of pace run for us.  Different from what we normally choose to run but good in its own way.  It was nice because everyone was happy on the trail - usually you have at least a handful of grumps, but not today.  Hope you enjoy your week - Happy Trails!

11 miles, 600' climb

Shoes - K Saucony Xodus

S Saucony Mirage