Greenland Tune-Up

Starting to get some more miles in the legs, which is always good with a race coming up.  Of course, the weather (usually) and longer days appropriate more available time, and generate more positive energy, for running.  We both got in nice runs Monday - Kathleen at the Garden and me on Santa Fe post-work. Wednesday morning started out snowing like mad for 4", then in true Colorado style for spring, the sun broke out and 90% was melted by drive time home.  Sweet.  So Thursday night, we hit the Garden for part 2 on the week and did an 8 miler on totally dry trail - nice!

We have been wanting to hit a training run at Greenland with the 25k coming up May 1, so we headed there today.  It was cool with some wind (always windy there) but the sun was mostly out and there is not snow covering the trails - hot diggety!  A little pre-run pose at the kiosk at the main trailhead.  Thought about going Johnny Cash today, but opted for the gray liner shirt at the last minute...   Oh, and I broke Kathleen's cardinal rule of photo taking #1 by cutting our feet off - sorry!!!

Awesome view of Pikes from the race start area.

 Kathleen passes an old corral on the Kipps Loop climb.

The plan for the day was to run out the Territorial Road double track, as the race starts, then do Kipps Loop, double back over Greenland Trail to the two track, and then cruise the last two miles in flat to the trailhead.  This is around 11 miles and we hoped to hit low 8's average pace three weeks out from the race and evaluate our condition with a few key training runs to go. 

Steve rolling through the prairie meets mountain landscape.

Kathleen on Greenland Trail, cruising past the pond on the climb over the saddle.

Finished ... and smiling! 

We came up just a hair short of 11 miles, but our estimate was pretty close.  The nice thing was that we ran well today and hope it is a good sign of positive and progressive spring fitness level.  We had no splits over 8:56 average on the climbs, and hit low 7's average on the descents.  So we're liking where we are for "speed" (for us! since we are not fast!), if you can call it that, and pretty positive about our conditioning this spring in spite of a few setbacks over the past few months.  Looking forward to a nice, long run tomorrow - Happy Trails!

Shoes - K Asics 2150 Trail

S - Brooks Cascadia 2

Stats: 10.7 miles, 1070' elevation gain, 8:13 avg. pace

Some shelter from the wind - a Monday romp through Garden of the Gods

Well, our customary Spring-time winds have arrived in relentless force, which, for me (Kathleen), requires earplugs in order to sleep at night and a nice protected trail running route for shelter from the wind during the day.  Garden of the Gods, although not completely sheltered, does offer a little reprieve from the windy nastiness we've been experiencing as of late so that's where I headed.

I think I used up my allotment of "words" talking at work today so few words here but several pics from my romp through the park:

I love trail pics!

Smiling and savoring wonderful trail, sun, and 60 degrees.  Lovely day!

Not much "mojo" today - more like "slo-jo" but it was all good.  Ended up with 9 miles, beat the wind (mostly!), and had a great day!  Happy Trails to everyone this week!

Falcon Trail and Friends

After a 9 month furlough to the golden gate state, our friend Tim bid farewell to San Rafael and moved back to the Promised Land.  We were glad he decided to move back and hit him up for a run this weekend.  (Of course, everyone else up in Boulder was doing the same, so hopefully this week calms down for him!!)  So we decided we would go over to the Air Force Academy and run the Falcon Trail and follow it up with some good Mexican food - sound good????

Tim and Kathleen cruising the Falcon Trail

We headed out on Falcon counterclockwise and took a nice pace so that we could chat and catch up on Tim's jet-setting, Cali-tales and mostly running related yack.  (Oh - and also Pippit, Tim's awesomely cool little dog that goes everywhere with him!)  It turned out to be a perfect day with sunny skies and temps eventually climbing to 60 degrees.  That was fantastic after yesterday's gale force winds and downright cold temps for the morning run.  As you will soon see, it appears that we all run for team lime green!!! Too weird that everyone ended up in the same color shirts...Tim and I even had the same Wildcats on - lime green also!!!

Steve coming through (photo by TL)

We had a blast running the trails at AFA and Tim gave us a bunch of tips for the running/action photos, as he is an experienced outdoor clothing model and veteran of some magazine photo shoots.  Fortunately, the fellas up in Boulder softened up Tim's legs for us, so he was comfortable cruising the Happy Trails pace.  He has to save his legs for the Miwok 100k coming up in a few weeks.  Plus - he was noticing all the ladies out on the trail today and trying to make a good showing - never know when the future Mrs Footfeathers is on the trail!!!

Steve leading the way for Tim.

Kathleen strolling through the pines.  (Photo by TL)

Tim returns the favor, leading out Steve.

Group photo with Tim feigning exhaustion...

Had to stop for a group photo at the old cabin from the 1800's.  It is seriously leaning to one side and we were wondering if we would have to lean over at an angle to make the picture look good!!  You can't tell from the photo, but it was 1.5 miles to go and we were all thinking BURRITO!  We polished off a great 13 mile run, enjoying good company and a friend who was willing to drive 80 miles to run with us.  well, and eat Mexican food too - can't forget that.  We had a nice visit at 3 Margaritas Mexican restaurant in Monument and rehashed a great day running.  How wild is this - we ran into a guy in the parking lot that has read our blog and recognized us - Thanks Luis, you helped make our day!!!  We chatted a bit about Buffalo Creek trails - I might still have to kick around the idea of hitting the 50K there ... Hmmmm - not sure if I can safely train up to that mileage in 3 months, but alluring as the trails are awesome.  Maybe if some others joined the fun (TZ & Dana, Tim, anyone ....)

Shoes - K Asics 2150 Trail

S (&T) LaSportiva Wildcat

Sporting my new Diablo Trail race shirt that Tim smuggled in from Cali - Thanks TL!!