Warm w/ a Relapse...But a good ending!

Thursday Night Sneak

With temperatures in the 70's this week and a wee bit more daylight, I ventured over to Garden of the Gods Thursday evening after work. Kathleen was in the midst of a relapse of her crud, so it was solo again :-( It isn't quite light long enough for a run of any length after driving across town, but I don't want to burn out my stash at Palmer Park. A nice view from just west of the "big" rocks, with the sun starting to trim behind Pikes Peak.
I was not out long but got to push a little "carbon" off the legs from last weekend's racing. The onset of cramping toward the end of the race left a bit of lactic sludge hanging out in the muscles, so it was good to push a bit through before the weekend. This is a shot coming off the Niobrara trail with some good rays still to be caught!
Surprise - it's green! It seems that it was just cold and snowing (probably because it was) and we went straight to warm and green - nice. Heading back to the trailhead and slim on daylight.
With the sun setting behind the Sleeping Giant, it was time to call it a day. It was nice to get a little blood going and squeeze in a sweet evening at the Garden!

Who exactly invited La Nina?

Speaking of relapse, what's up with the weather??? So, for the past 9 weekends, we have had - 1) a cold front move through, and 2) some form of precipitation. Saturday would hold true to that pattern. They claim it to be a La Nina (who invited the little girl anyway???!!!) pattern that is repeating after each 5 day block - those 5 day blocks have conveniently been M - F! Saturday dawned with fog, drizzle, and a cold wind. Though the clouds temporarily broke a few times, they did not exit noticeably until about 6 PM. It seemed to be a bit better south, so I took off for Red Rock Open Space. I have not run there in a while anyway, so it was a good fit. There was a bit of sun when I arrived - here is the view to the north looking over Garden of the Gods.
I started out by climbing up to the top ridge to access the Section 16 connector and make my way over to the Intemann Trail. There was a nice break in the clouds over the city and there appeared to be fog continuing farther east.

From Intemann trail, there are great views down into Red Rock Canyon.

As I headed out onto Intemann trail toward Manitou, I was running just below a cloud formation and it got somewhat cold for a bit. The 50 degree temp was not very comforting with the strong upslope winds. I am going to have to do some time with this section of trail because it always kicks my butt. It is a string of sharp ups and downs with some technical running thrown in and, for some reason, I have trouble pacing it well.
As I was heading back down into Red Rock, I had a great view of the old quarry, and the swanky Cedar Heights area in the distance, high above town. The wind was kicking a bit more and I was looking to wind down and start heading in for the day.
Before I finished though, I got my first "rubber-leg" treatment of the year - you know the feeling as the adrenaline hits everything EXCEPT your legs?!?! While not poisonous, this bull snake is still intimidating enough to startle you and has obviously had some good meals early season. I'm guessing he was a good 4 to 4.5 feet long and nearly 3" diameter in that section under his head. So I let him have his space and cruised in to the trailhead to finish a nice day on the trail. I was able to get in about 10 miles and enjoy the gray day!

Back to the Garden...and the SUN!

Sunday was one of those days - crisp, blue, cloudless skies and low 70's made for a great morning to hit the trails back at the Garden of the Gods. Good Morning Pikes Peak! And guess what...
... recognize this person??? After several MIA reports were filed and Dr's fiddled with a plethora of crap, er medicine, that hasn't worked, Kathleen hit the trails with me today for a while. It was only her second "meaningful" run in six weeks. What an awesome day to get back at it! This photo is just as we're getting started on the Dakota trail, with Cathedral Rock poking out in the background.
More action on the Dakota Trail - didn't even have to find a post to prop the camera for this one - woohoo!
Still running! I was sooooooo glad Kathleen got to run today. She was able to get in about 5.5 miles, and although she coughed a bit, she actually had a real nice run.
The BIG ONES - as seen from the north: l-r, North Gateway, South Gateway, Cathedral Rock, and Sleeping Giant. The Garden was basking in the sun today and the park was packed!
Out on the backside of the Sleeping Giant, I paused to allow a fence post to take my picture - how kind! (Plus I was a bit hot on the climb and needed a breather - going from 50 to 75 takes an adjustment!)
What a view - it is no wonder this is the most visited attraction in the Pikes Peak region - approximately 1.7 million per year. (Glad they weren't all on the trail today!!!)
Some of the local "residents" were out on the trails today - this group of desert bighorns was not too concerned about me running by. I stopped to watch for a minute and saw about 15 sheep on the hillside. Only one bothered to look up the whole time I was standing there.
Out on my last loop of the day atop the Ute Trail, I had a much clearer view of Red Rock Canyon than was available yesterday. Perfect day for a run, with a bit over 10 miles of fantastic trail - it was warm enough that I even took my first ice bath of the year to chase off the remainder of the kinks from Greenland - brrrrr! Happy Trails and have a great week!

Shoes, as always for Steve, Asics Gel Trabuco
K- Montrail Odyssey

Greenland 25K

This morning 550 hardy souls were greeted with brilliant blue skies and a stout headwind that put the wind chill in the high 20's for the start of the Greenland trail races. The forecast all week had been for rain, so it was great to have sunshine. There were 50k, 25k, and 8 M event categories and I was competing in the 25k. This was to be my longest run ever, so I was hoping for good legs to keep me on the move the entire time.
With the wind, everyone remained huddled in their vehicles or in the park shelters until the last minute, then migrated quickly to the start line. All three events started at the same time and followed the same course, except that the 25 and 50k runners did multiple loops.

And they are off!!! The long line of runners took quite a while to string out along the initial double track section. It was quite nice to be in the pack at the start because it delayed the inevitable fact that half of each lap would be spent laboring into a cold headwind. I did my best in the first 2.5 miles to find the tallest guys running around my target pace and ducked in behind for a little drafting!!!

#570 - That's me. I did not carry the camera, so the photos were all taken by Kathleen, who was freezing standing still in the wind.

Nice shot of Pikes Peak just peeking over the rolling hills at Greenland Open Space. This was really a great place to have an event like this. The course was long enough and had enough rolling hills that you often felt remote. At the same time, the trails are contained in a fairly small geographic area, making it a bit more feasible for proper course management. Aside from having only 8 potties for 550 runners - eek! - the event was very well run.

Coming through on the tail end of lap 1 and feeling pretty good.

Giving the "Thumbs-Up" to the cute camera girl!!! I hit the halfway point in about 1:05 and was feeling pretty good but had that beginning inclination that I might have to battle some cramping on round 2. So I accelerated my eating schedule a bit and took advantage of the Hammer Heed at the second aid stop on lap 2 - which was, surprisingly, handed to me by Tony K, our local ultra phenom. It was nice to see him helping out at the race - thanks!!
These two guys drafted me for about a mile heading out on lap 2 - I guess I had to pay back for my drags I took at the start! The gal in blue a little ways ahead of me was my carrot on lap 2 - that is Ms A, a friend of ours who is a very fast local runner. By the time I hit the big climb for the second time, I was in full on cramp management mode. I was metering my stride and doing my best to not overdo the effort. Adding fuel to the fire was the fact that the wind was gusting a little harder on the second loop. But aside from those minor issues, I was having "fun" and was running pretty well. By the middle of loop 2, I was mostly running by myself as everyone had spread out over the course. That probably hurt my pace a bit, along with the cramping.
Tired but happy - here I am coming to the finish! According to the Garmin, the course was 15.82 miles and I finished unofficially in 2:13:34 - my 25k PR - well, the only 25k I've done!!! I was happy with my time. I am not yet sure of my place as the results are not up yet. We stayed only long enough to see the overall and age group winners for the 25k and then took off. Two of Kathleen's friends won their age groups - Ms C taking the 30-39 - and second overall female - and Ms A winning the 40-49. Congratulations to both! Happy Trails - if I can walk tomorrow, maybe I'll get out for a run!!!

UPDATED INFO - Race results were posted last night. Official time 2:13:33, 34th place out of 173 finishers in the 25k. Thirteen runners went sub-2 hours, so there were some fast folks there! Congratulations to Justin Ricks who broke the CR with a 1:36:27 - there were 3 guys that went under the previous CR - WOW!!

She's Back...

....sort of!

Kathleen did her first run in 3.5 weeks today - this has been an extra rough bout of bronchitis for her. After riding the trainer for 20 minute sessions the past 3 days without coughing up a lung, she decided to attempt an outdoor venture today and see what happened. She was able to run 3 miles and did not have any reactive airway issues following the run, so I think she is on the up swing now - woohoo!!!

So for the first 1.5 miles today, I actually had company on my run. After that I took off on the Flying W loop. It stayed pretty gray all day against the foothills by us, but the sun was breaking on and off to the east - lucky them. It was actually not bad though as the temp was 50ish and much better conditions than yesterday. My goal for the day was to get in another mid range run at a good effort level and not overcook the legs.
It was slim pickings on singletrack today after rain all day yesterday and overnight last night. Got to run the little spine out to the overlook above the school - the ridge above the houses is the west rim of Ute Valley Park.
Here I am at the base of that rim looking south. Ute was definitely off limits after the soaking we got - venture in there at the risk of sinking shin deep in bentonite clay and becoming a stalagmite protruding from the floor of the park!!!
The horses were relaxing at Flying W Ranch as I finished up the day and headed home. It was a nice run and I definitely stuck to the plan of going at a good pace but cutting back the distance a bit. Hope everyone had an opportunity to get out this weekend - Happy Trails!