Sunday recovery ride

Today began with brilliant sunshine and bluebird skies. It was also one of the first days where it warmed up really early. We decided to saddle up the road bikes and head out for a mellow recovery spin following our fun race from yesterday. We looped around our area and ended up with 22 miles, which was sufficient. Surprisingly, our legs felt pretty good. After our great day yesterday, we are now looking for a few more fun and scenic (and do-able since we are just getting our feet wet) trail races this summer. Here are a few that could potentially be on the radar:

July 6 - Summer Roundup Trail Run 12k - Colorado Springs
http://www.summerroundup.com/

July 26 - Spring Creek Memorial Run - 9 miles - Steamboat Springs
http://www.runningseries.com/

September 21 - Boulder Backroads Half-Marathon - Boulder
http://www.boulderbackroads.com/ (although the entry fee is a bit abusive)

September 27 - Aspen Golden Leaf Trail Half-Marathon - Aspen
http://www.utemountaineer.com/

Anyway, we had a wonderful weekend and are thankful for each day we get to experience. Life is good!

Joe Colton's Off Road Adventure Run - Our first ever running race!

We finally decided to try a running race and we picked Joe Colton's Off Road Adventure run in Rollinsville, Colorado as our initial plunge into the racing world. A little background: Joe Colton was an adventurous young boy who tragically died from the flu at only 6 years of age. The race is a memorial for him and raises funds for the small mountain towns near Rollinsville.
It was an absolutely beautiful day with a cloudless sky and about 60 degrees at the start. Aside from a strong headwind on the way out, the weather was perfect. This was the view along Co Hwy 119 as runners arrived and prepared for the race.
A friendly fellow racer offered to take a photo of us together while we were getting ready, which was nice as Steve did not wear his pack for the race and had nowhere to stash the camera - sorry no race photos :-(
The race was an out-and-back format on the Tolland/East Portal dirt road along the railroad. Rollinsville is at the base of Rollins Pass and accesses the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel. The tunnel is bored through the mountains under the Continental Divide and drops out in Winter Park on the western side of the Divide. The town and start area sit at about 8500' elevation.
This is the view down the road toward the start area from Hwy 119. The mostly-snowpacked mountains of the Continental Divide are barely visible in the distance, but we would have an awesome view of the peaks at the 5 mile turnaround. We raced the 10 mile version of the course (there were 5k, 10k, 10 Mi, and 15 Mi distances) and it was undulating with a gradual climb out and mostly descent back. The course topped out at about 9000' and logged about 770' of climb. It was a good course made fabulous by the scenery and surroundings. Most of the course followed South Boulder Creek, still flowing rapidly with "spring" runoff. We ran most of the race together which was pretty cool since neither of us knew what to expect from racing. We were strong on the hills thanks to our trail running and thanks to nothing being flat anywhere we run!! The return 5 miles with mostly downhill was new territory for us as we've not done any sustained runs at that pace (mostly between 7 and 8 min/mi). It was apparent when we finished that our non-race-specific training still served us well. Kathleen finished third in her age group and 5th woman overall at 1:22:00! Steve finished second in his age group and 14th in the men's overall at 1:21:43. Not too bad for a first try at racing!! This one will definitely be on next year's calendar. It was an excellent day for sure!

I still LOVE my bikes!!!

Yesterday, Steve and I headed over to the Santa Fe Trail to do a short, mellow run but a "Rabbit" came up from behind and PASSED us while we stopped to tie a shoelace and alas, our mellow run turned to tempo to catch that darn Rabbit! It was good because we were kind of lolly gagging and the Rabbit was really pushing the pace - we had to work pretty hard to catch, pass, and then stay in front! It became evident that we need to utilize the relative "flatness" of Santa Fe for a little more tempo/speed work. It was fun to have some added incentive to push the pace! Our mellow/tempo run ended up about 7.25 miles. It was good!Today, I headed out on my road bike for 22 miles in our neighborhood. I LOVE my bikes, hence the picture of my beloved road bike, above. I had been having some abandonment issues regarding riding but once I mounted my lovely steed, she wooed me back with her crisp acceleration, speed and grace, and wind in my face!!! I love riding through our neighborhoods and checking out all the local gardens coming to life with color (finally!). It was funny, too, seeing all the deer merrily munching (mowing) away on the lovely, new, tender garden tidbits. It will continue to be funny as long as the nice little deer stay out of OUR flower garden.
Our flower garden is finally producing some color of its own (above). Because of our very dry climate, we have planted predominately xeric plants, which require very little water, and in our case, care! A garden requiring too much time would cut into our fun time of trail running and biking! Some of our favorite hardy plants include: Jupiters Beard, Russian Sage, Catmint, Cranesbill, Salvia, Hyssops, Artemesia, Yarrow, and Evening Primrose. It is enjoyable to watch the color of the various plants come to life and pop with their beautiful colors over the season.