Easy Running Day ... and a brief rant

It was a crisp morning and we decided to run the Santa Fe Trail today for some easier miles. This is our "road running" - as close as we get to it at least - Santa Fe is fairly wide and smooth with a crushed granite surface. We have not been here to run in quite a while because it becomes a staple of our winter running diet once the snow and ice are packed on our favorite trails.
One of the reasons we needed some easy miles is that Kathleen is fighting off some sort of crud, which we are pretty sure originated with the children of our friends, neither of which exercise or read our blog, so we can rant about them! ;-) What is up with people who have children needing to parade them around their friends when the kids are sick - why can't you JUST.STAY.HOME.? Please. We don't get it but we are not allowed to ask that question for real because we don't have any kids. So if anyone would like to let us know why it is necessary, we would appreciate the wisdom. :-) Back to the run, although it was crisp and cool, it was a very nice and sunny day and there was NO wind.

It was a good change of pace day for the legs, getting some faster turnover and a steady, consistent cadence.

As you can see, the trail is pretty wide open in most places and has a very rural feel even though it runs along Interstate 25 for most of it's length. It also runs through the Air Force Academy and we got to see some skydivers warming up before the pre-game air show.

As always, the scenery factor is quite high when you have Pikes Peak and the Rocky Mountains as a backdrop!!

A little snow lingers along the banks of the creek from yesterday's brief storm...

...and also on shady areas of the trail. Not a terribly exciting day and these runs can be a bit monotonous for us, but any day we can get out and enjoy any type of trail is a good day indeed. We are hoping that Kathleen can outlast the crud and can run tomorrow, although her planned race is most certainly not happening thanks to those charming little germ carriers - God bless 'em, we still love them! Get out and enjoy the last of Fall!

Shoes K - Asics Gel Nimbus

S - Asics Gel Landreth