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

Fun Run After All....

Woke up today to gray and windy again.  What's new?  Did not immediately feel motivated to do much of anything, let alone get after a good run.  We had entertained the idea of running with Tim in Boulder, but didn't want to be a drag if we felt like crap, especially since he is heading into Miwok 100k so strong.  If any of our small handfull of regular readers get a minute, go over to Tim's blog and pump him up for Miwok!!

So we headed down the road to Cheyenne Mountain State Park to see what we could put together for a run.  Since we can put loops together and bail early if it just wasn't cutting it out there today, we thought this was a safe bet.  Plus it is mostly out of the wind.  We were hoping the current snow had not trashed the trails and were pleasantly surprised that, other than some ruts and lumps from muddy day usage, the trails were sweet.  Bonus - barely a mile in, sun came out - close enough to the truck for wardrobe adjustment number 1.  Kathleen is cruising the first loop on Zook as the sun was breaking out.  Nice!

These bottom loops had the most mud-use damage, as you can see the lumpiness in the photo above.  Not too bad, just had to be cautious on the foot placement.  Since these are easily accessible to those with less than stellar fitness, they get tons of traffic, even on crummy days.  Regardless, it turned out to be a perfect weather day and started to immediately lift our running enthusiasm.

These trees perfectly framed the mountain!

Wide open vista as Kathleen rolls the start of Sundance Loop.

Surprisingly, even the back side of the Sundance Trail was mostly dry - I am rounding one of the sections above.  The northwest exposure holds snow quite a while but had relinquished the moisture nicely and was in great shape.  We skipped out on the Talons today, as the steeper climbs are not anywhere near the profile of Greenland's course for next week.  Plus we would be doing a decent amount of climbing today, as it was, so we left those for next time.

Kathleen summits Sundance Trail, with Cheyenne Mountain filling the background.

Near the finish of Sundance Loop, I noticed that Kathleen was not right behind.  I was needing to ditch the long sleeve at the truck, so I was going to pull up at the trailhead for a quick switch.  Behind me I hear "These dang trail runners!" and immediately recognized the voice of our good friend Jon coming up on his mountain bike.  He had already stopped to chat with Kathleen and was coming up on my heels.  We met Jon and Kim WAY back in the day, shortly after we had seriously started mountain biking- 1992 or 1993??? - which seems like just yesterday.  (I know, we were all mere CHILDREN way back then....)  Jon is a serious mountain goat of the highest order on the bike and we have spent many hours out on epic group rides with him - lots of good memories!!  Just don't ever challenge him where uphill is involved - you'll lose!  I learned the fine art of building Frankenbikes from him as well.  To top it all off, he writes the most entertaining Christmas letters, hands down - it is one of the highlights of the holidays!!!  It was great to catch up with Jon and we were glad he and his friend Chris didn't mind stopping to chat for a bit.  They were down at Cheyenne Mtn getting some riding in because their backyard trails are under snow and running water from the storm on Friday.  Of course we had to get a group photo before they headed out for another lap.

We got rolling again and headed up onto the Blackmer Loop for a stout climb.  Kathleen is ascending the long saddle on lower Blackmer before heading up into the trees again.  We rolled across Blackmer and then doubled back on Cougar's Shadow for a little extra up on top.  I had a slight navigational mishap and turned left instead of right, then had to haul some extra backtrack to catch back up to Kathleen.  Doh!  We were still feeling good, so at the bottom of Blackmer we ascended the saddle again and then headed over to Acorn and Bobcat to catch the northern section before finishing.

That's me, heading down Soaring Kestrel.

One last look at the mountain from the upper deck before heading down!

We ended up feeling really good today - good sign for next week - and were very glad we decided not to bail.  Plus we got to catch up with a great friend!  Logging just under 14 miles and around 2500' of climb, it felt great to workout the legs really well and enjoy what turned out to be great weather just a few miles south.  Happy Trails!

Shoes - La Sportiva Wildcat 

Weather Smorgasboard...and a new Tasty Treat

We had some typical Spring weather this week.  Some nice periods of sun, drastic temperature swings, rain, hail, and snow.  Everything you could ask for in one day....  Wednesday night, I headed into Ute Valley Park hoping to get 6 - 8 miles, however, rain then hail hit when I was at the bottom of the park and I had to quickly climb out of the instant quagmire created by rain and bentonite clay - SLIPPERY SLUDGE!  So I got 4 miles and was drenched/mud covered.  Oh well that is Spring.

Friday we had a big snowstorm.  Mostly thick, wet chunky stuff in the Springs, but huge accumulations north between Baptist Road and Castle Rock - we are hearing 16" on the race course at Greenland - OUCH!  Only 1 week out from race day.  Below are CDOT photos from around noon Saturday at County Line Rd - about the top of the Kipps Loop climb; and at Greenland exit - where the start of the race is.

April Showers?!?!

Up for a trail run?  Anyone? ....

FORTUNATELY, however, just 20 miles south we had cleared out from under the snowstorm and had this view of a dusted Blodgett Peak when we started out this morning.  It was chilly and SUPER windy, but we had dry trail to run on so we had to at least make an effort, right?  The unfortunate part was that we started with tail wind and had to finish all the way home into a 38 mph headwind.  9.5 miles was all we felt like mustering up.  On days like this, you pull off the reverse-negative-split ~ fast out, survival back in!!!  It was for sure a "character builder" run - whatever that nonsense means!!!  Hard effort, hoping to go a bit longer tomorrow but under better conditions, then see where the chips fall next week. 

Shoes - K Asics 2150 Trail
S - Brooks Ravenna

As with almost every run I do, I wore a Nathan hydration vest today.  I wore the HPL#008 which is a 50 oz., compact and lightweight vest.  I also have an HPL#020 which is a 70 oz. and can hold more "junk - aka, Kathleen's Sherpa" - I wear it on long and/or hot days.  I have occasionally been asked why I wear these - quite simply, I go through quite a bit of water for whatever physiological reason.  I always have, even on the bike.  Early on, I got accustomed to wearing Camelbaks on the mountain bike, so it has never been an issue to carry it over to trail running.  I also do not do well at all with handhelds - I have several and I don't like the balance issues and arm fatigue.  The Nathan sits so quietly on the back that it is a perfect fit for my tastes.  I will be wearing this for my race next week, and whenever you see it in the photos, you'll know "why" I always have one on! (and you know where I always have the camera to take cool trail running photos!!!)  If you have not ever tried one, I would give it a shot.

Now for a new tasty treat we recently stumbled across - Nutella spread.  Yummalicious pretty much wraps this one up.  Spread this hazlenut/cocoa concoction on a sourdough English muffin in the morning and look out!  We had always heard about Euro MTB racers that swore by this stuff for their morning kick start but never thought much of it.  Bonus points - it is gluten free, so Kathleen can indulge (just not on regular bread...).  So if by chance we hit some sort of spectacular PR next week, you might just wonder the next time you cruise by it in the aisle at the store ....