Before heading out for our Sunday run, we were checking on our small Xeriscape garden and I could not resist taking some butterfly shots. These Jupiter's Beard plants are fantastic butterfly magnets when in full bloom. I could not coax this guy into standing still, but caught him pretty close to motionless.
We went exploring today in Bear Creek Regional Park in the southwestern portion of Colorado Springs. The Summer Roundup Trail Race is being held there in two weeks, so we thought we would snoop around the course and test our legs a bit. The race course is an out-and-back on wide singletrack, some double track dirt road, and a short paved connection on Bear Creek Road.
It was sunny and pretty warm by the time we started and there is not much shade to be found along the trails. The trails are pretty mild with a fair amount of steady climbing on the way out to the turn around. The first mile is pretty steep, as is the last eight-tenths of a mile before the turn. It will require some will power to not go out too fast at the start so that there is some fuel in the tank for the return trip. Kathleen is running out on the plateau following the first hard climb, with great mountain scenery ahead. Waiting ahead is a steep climb up High Drive to the turn around.
Although the return trip is predominantly downhill, there are a few short climbs to keep you on your toes. Steve is climbing out of the small canyon next to Bear Creek Road above. We had a great time on the trails today and will probably end up doing the race - we have to take advantage of the events close to home!!!
Western States 100 this weekend
On a side note, we'll be tuning in to the webcast for the Western States Endurance Run this weekend. We will be tracking the progress of local ultra running phenom Tony Krupicka and anticipate that he will have a great race! It looks like the field will be packed with talent this year, so if you are interested in following the action go to this link: http://webcast.ws100.com/
Decided to go somewhere we would not normally run in the evening for the post-work run, so we headed over to Garden of the Gods. Steve did not carry a camera, so here are a couple scenery views from the Siamese Twins Arch from a recent visit to the park. It is hard to resist framing Pikes Peak through the keyhole when you get a chance on a sunny day! It was quite warm this evening, in the upper-80's, so we were testing our electrolyte mixtures - they work well. We have not had much heat yet, but both of us struggle with losing a lot of minerals when we sweat. We'll need some tips from the desert runners.
We got in a very nice 6 mile run, traversing the main outer loop of trails in the park. We were quite happy to have very light trail traffic (and no snakes to give us Jello-leg, either!!!) It was a surprising, good-tempo evening for us and we're hoping to better our speeds if we can get a few more races in. We have always heard that racing makes you run better and faster, hope it's true!!
