A cold start ... then a nice spin in the Garden

Kathleen needed to head to work this morning, so she headed out early for a quick run in Ute Valley Park with her friend, C. It was quite cold when they headed out - 20 degrees but felt like 14 with the wind chill - I let them go by themselves - I wanted to hold out for the forecasted 50 degreees! We have been friends with C and her husband P for about 13 years. They are an awesome couple. C is one of our local elite female runners. She has had a number of top 3 finishes in the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon over the years, mixing it up with "big" girls like Anita Ortiz, Lisa Goldsmith, and others of that running caliber. Now that Kathleen has accumulated a few more running miles in her legs, she is hoping to get some training runs in with C this year (trying to keep her in sight will be a good start!) and glean some knowledge (a little more strength and speed wouldn't be bad, either) from her years of running and racing experience. And FUN, it's mostly about having FUN!!! We live only about 2 miles apart so, hopefully, they will be able to hook up periodically, when schedules allow (they have 4 young kids!!!). Anyway, the girls seemed to have had a fun and good run this morning, in spite of the cold.
I have been having trouble finding some replacement shoes as my 2 pairs of Cacsadia 2's are nearing retirement, and I generally do not run 2 days in a row in the same pair of shoes. I took a tip from the Trail Zombie and checked out the Asics Gel Trabuco at one of the local shops this morning. They fit great right out of the box, and I decided to head out to Garden of the Gods and put them to the test. This was odd as I usually wear new shoes around the house a few days first to make sure everything is 'perfect'. I don't know why I have never tried these, as Kathleen has been a diehard Asics fan for a while now. The Garden was awesome as always with plenty of blue sky and crisp mid-40's air - pretty good for late November (and certainly better than the 14 degrees the girls had this morning!).

Cruising the Palmer trail here, with one of the many cool rock formations in the background. While we have enjoyed the non-seasonal weather, it is quite dry and our trails could use a little moisture. So we'll enjoy the good trail running weather while we can, as we know the moisture that will inevitably come will be snow and with that comes the periodic snowpacked/icy trails for 3 months or so. That will be another post where we can teach you how to make 'screw' shoes'!!! Lots of fun!

Coming out of the trees at the top of Palmer trail, overlooking South Gateway Rock.

Running the lower portion of the Niobrara trail, with Pikes Peak looming large on the horizon. (You don't realize how hard it is to capture photographic moments on the trail without a second person to take the pictues.)

From the top of Niobrara, it is cool to see the 'layers' of the park unfold to the north. It was a great day on the trails! The initial run in the Trabuco was good - no blisters, no feet falling off - very positive - thanks for the tip, TZ! Got in a nice 8 miler and although I don't normally do so, I will probably run in them again tomorrow. Good times!

Shoes K Asics Trail Attack

S Asics Gel Trabuco

Cheyenne Mountain State Park

Well, we had another fabulous fall day here in the Rockies. Mild temps have been very welcome - the past couple of winters have been extra cold so we are keeping our fingers crossed that the mild weather continues. Another bonus for today: I (K) think I "escaped" getting really sick which I am totally thankful for. I am usually one, at this time of year, who doesn't just settle for a simple cold. Oh no, I usually go right into full-blown bronchitis. It has been my nemesis. So no bronchitis = good!

We headed to the south end of town to one of our favorite areas, Cheyenne Mountain State Park. Although the park consists mostly of non-technical trails with a few rocks and roots to keep it interesting, the scenery and the flow of the trails is very enjoyable. We are pretty easy to please - just give us a gorgeous day and the ability to "just get out" and we are happy!

Although mostly smooth, the park does have a few rocky sections to keep it interesting. We were shooting for 10 to 12 miles at a S.L.O.W. mellow pace (there are 20 miles of developed, marked trail in the park right now with more to come) since I was trying to make sure to escape getting bronchitis and Steve is coming back from his bout of pneumonia, we ended up with only 9 S.L.O.W. miles. Oh well. We were out and it was all good!

We saw more people out on the trails today than we ever have in this park but it was by no means crowded. Everyone was out savoring the sunny 63 degree day.

You can see the trail behind Steve, heading up into the trees. Did I mention it was a gorgeous, bluebird day?

Colorado Springs is in the background, above.

This is high in the trees on the Blackmer Trail.

This is the Rock Garden at the intersection of the Zook and Blackmer trails. Even though I wasn't able to do the trail race I had hoped to do today and we cut our run a little short, it still was a good time. Always. We try to count and appreciate our blessings every day, which are many - big and small - and the run today was one. We should both be back on track by next weekend and be able to get a longer run in. Happy trails to all this week . . .
Shoes: S - Brooks Cascadia 2

K - Asics Trailsensor 2

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