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!

Getting ready...

I hit the trails at Palmer Park again Wednesday night after work and what beautiful trails they are! Don't know how scientific their poll is, but over at Serious Running's Best Trails in Colorado these are currently #1. It was a nice day with the temp at about 63 when I left work - perfect evening run weather. I don't know what to expect as I get some last runs in before Greenland 25k - don't even know if you really "taper" for an event like that. So my theory was to continue getting some good intensity in and maybe not run quite the volume this weekend. I have never had to think about tapering, so if I screw up, it's no big deal - I will still set my 25 k PR ;-)
I ventured out on some of the lower trails to start since we are eaking out a bit more daylight. Here I'm cruising the Palmer Point trail heading out to the northern reaches of the park. It was another traffic jam on the trails as folks are shedding the couch for some time out in the "wild"!

You could say this is a natural "cairn" - quite difficult to miss!

I made my way around the outer edge of the park and started the climb up onto the mesa where I could harness the last of the evening rays. I ran a few meters on the Yucca trail with none other than Wiley Coyote right after this picture was snapped. I think I ticked a few hours off his "life-clock" and he crashed through the gamble oaks trying to get out of sight. It was a bit odd seeing him on the mesa as I was right in the middle of the dog walk area - hold on to your poodles folks!
I have been getting to watch some incredible sunsets from Grandview mesa and this was no exception. I was able to click off almost 8 miles with 1100' climb, so it was a nice evening workout.

Saturday Slog

I decided to do on last recon run at Greenland Open Space today and it was less than optimal conditions. This was the view from the entry to the park, so the camera was left in the truck after this shot.

I was hoping to test what kind of speed I could push on the main loop but the weather was iffy at best, so I was not sure what would happen. As I arrived, I had another surprise - there was a horse event taking place on the trails, so I would be sharing track with half-ton turd spewing machines - fantastic! One of the horse people did have a cool little device that measured wind speed - 27 to 32 mph straight from the south. That meant the first 3.5 to 4 miles I could look forward to plowing headlong into the wind and light rain - AWESOME! No land speed record today - the CR would be safe for yet another day ;-)

I did not drive 35 minutes to turn around and head home, so I hit the Garmin start and took off. The first half of the run I was basically in and out of having numb quads from the blistering wet wind, so it was difficult to really get a rhythm. (Yes, I forgot to bring tights and it was a wet 38 and who knows what the wind chill was!) Once on the climb on Kipps Loop, I started to warm a bit and really got into a nice cadence. I am hoping to outdo some of the "roadies" on this climb next week - we'll see.

The climb went well and after 1.3 miles of steady ascent, it was time for the payoff - 3.5 miles of rollers and shedding about 500 feet of elevation with a solid tailwind - oh yeah! I finished feeling a lot better than I did for the first 30 minutes or so and held a respectable speed for the conditions. You never know, if it sucks on race day, I'll be better prepared :-) Happy Trails - let's just hope they are dry tomorrow!!!

Oh yeah, been neglecting the shoes - Asics Gel Trabuco - haven't run in anything else for 6 weeks
(w/ some nice new Icebreaker Merino Wool socks that are dang comfy)