5K with Stella

It was just a year ago that Stella started expressing an interest in running with me more.  For her first run we went out to Soderberg and ran up Towers to Stout where I had forgotten a hat along side the trail earlier that morning.  She ran the entire mile back to the Soderberg lot without stopping that day, her first day out.  Since then there are days she runs more and days she takes more walk breaks.  I think I've done a good job not pushing too hard while trying to get her out at least 1-2 times a week.   Last summer and fall she didn't go out a lot but this winter we have more, targeting the Sharin' O' The Green 5K as her first 5K.

Stella knows fashion

I was unsure what to expect for a time.  Most of our recent runs have had running portions of less than 1/4 mile before we break for a walk.  A 35:00 2.1 mile run wasn't uncommon.  I know she can run a mile without stopping though so who knows.  She could have been around 37-38 minutes and could have finished at 50 minutes and neither would have surprised me.

She was unhappy about waking up at 7:15 Saturday morning and a little chilly, but excited, as race time neared.  The 2800 person crowd made for a crazy start but we were far enough back that we ran slowly until the crowds thinned.  I think this helped Stella's pacing a lot.  We ran until 1/2 mile where I offered up a walk break.  Nah, let's keep going.  At 1.25 miles she took me up on the walk but we were running again by mile 1.5 and ran until a bit after the mile 2 sign.  This walk break was shorter and soon we were running again.  Stella was chatting the whole way and having a blast.  We took one last short walk break at the 4K point (34:00, 51 seconds ahead of her 4K time last spring) and then headed out for the final half mile.  As we got close Stella wanted to kick it in but I reigned her back, thinking she might blow up if she kicked too early as she had already run more than I expected.  I should have let her go.  When my watched beeped at 3 miles I told her to go and for a second I had trouble keeping up.  She ran the entire last stretch at an average 8:07 pace.  40:28 for a finish time and she ran progressively faster all race long.

About 1/2 mile in

Stella has fantastic theories and observations on all things in life.  Her 2 observations from the race were A) she ran so fast at the end because her legs were numb and they were just flopping around and going fast was the only way to not fall down and B) she was amazed at how she improved as the race went on.  B) doesn't seem too strange until I finally realized she wasn't amazed at running negative splits, she was amazed that her muscles were adapting and getting stronger during the race, thus the faster paces as the race went on.

At the finish, I'm not sure who is prouder

I had a blast running with her and she did too.  She was a little mad that she couldn't go run up Towers with me and Tonks later that afternoon.  I think this race re-kindled her love of running so I hope to keep it going through the spring and summer. 

Tonks got her turn later that afternoon

Twin Mountain Trudge

From a field of 65 down to 23 nuts

The Twin Mountain Trudge is a race put on by Alec Muthig of Journeymen Adventure Enterprises.  He bills it as an adventure footrace, not a trail race, through a lot of snow up near the Happy Jack rec area in Wyoming.  The trudge around Twin Mountain seems to represent the only foot traffic of the winter in this area and completing one 11 mile loop of the course often requires anywhere from 2 to 5+ hours.  Conditions can vary from year to year, best illustrated by Alex's times which in 4 years have ranged from 2:18 to 4:09.  There are big snow years and there are years that Nick Clark is willing to show up.  2011, my first year was a non-Nick year.  Other than 1/4 mile at the start and finish the snow was knee deep or higher.  That Trudge consisted of moving your feet from foot hole to foot hole left by the racers in front of me.  I finished in 4:20, besting my marathon PB by 8 minutes.  The 2012 race approached without the ominous snow warnings that Alec sent out in 2011 so at first I thought it might be a faster course this year.  Over the 2 weeks before the race though we were informed otherwise.

Best marked course you'll ever find, if you run in back at least. 

In 2011 I was prepared for wind, as Wyoming is the word for wind in some language I am sure.  2011 spared us from a lot of wind, though there was some at the end for us one loopers, and a lot for the 2nd loop of the two loopers.  2012 had winds howling from the get go. So much so that the race was actually postponed 1 week due to 70 MPH winds (not gusts) forecast the original date.  30-40 MPH greeted us as we got out of the truck at the starting line, sitting exposed on top of a hill.  With the wind it was chilly, and I briefly wondered just what I was getting in to.  Once we starting running I warmed up quickly though and the first turn had the wind mostly at our backs.  By mile 1.5 I had stopped to shed my thicker coat in favor of my light wind shell.  It's not so bad I thought, as there was already way more of the course that was runnable than in 2011 due to windswept trails without a ton of snow on them.  Eventually it dawned on me that wind at my back now meant I would pay for it at the end of the race, but I buried that thought and enjoyed things while I could.  Mile 1 was my fastest of the day at about 14:30, and mile 2 was a 16:something.  There was a crust on top the snow and it was hard enough to hold you up much of the time so far in the race.  The toughest conditions so far, I thought, was the sugary snow that was shallow enough you thought you should run through.  This snow flowed and was slippery so every step your foot would slide what seemed like feet (but probably was just 4-6 inches).  Regardless it made for hard work.

Mile 3 things started to get deep and there was some climbing too.  We were in the trees though so the wind wasn't bad.  Mostly the snow was knee deep but a few of the waist high drifts Alec warned us of were there.  Though the moving was slow it was a bright sunny day out and the scenery was wonderful.  There are a lot of really cool rocks up that way.  I hit the site where the aid station is in years that it's accessible for the aid crew, about mile 4.5, in 1:50.  I was making good time and having fun.  I made the fence line climb and pushed towards the Devil's Loop, meeting up with course photographer Wendy (who was snowshoeing the course backwards to take pictures of us) just before heading down into it.  Here there were lots more thigh and waist deep snow patches and a lot more breaking through the crust.

This year an 8 mile course would have been about perfect.  I hit 8 miles in 3.5 hours and while tired was doing OK overall.  Here climbing and becoming more exposed to the now headwinds with every step the going got tough.  Wind in your face, waist high drifts you occasionally had to crawl out of, and very slippery sugary snow when you could run.  The last 3 miles took me 100 minutes to complete including an 18 minute mile "sprint" straight into the wind for the final 1/4 mile.  I swear I was running with track interval intensity and barely moving into that wind.  Half way through I made the mistake of telling Wendy I thought it was easier this year than last.  I paid for that braggadocio for all of the last few miles. Over the second half of the race my devolving goals went from sub-4:00 finish to beat last year's 4:20 to beat my first ever marathon time of 4:58.  I crossed the line in 4:56, which was why I was putting so much energy into that "sprint".

I crossed the finish line, stopped running, and was handed a shot of Scotch.  Things seemed better.  Though I wondered what I was doing a few times during the last couple miles I never got to the point where I thought about not coming back in 2013.  I'll be back, and I'll enjoy it, mostly.  I like things like this, a challenge mentally and physically, success not 100% dependent on how fast you are, something that most people would not do.

Halfway through, having fun

2 miles left, just want to be done

Moab Red Hot 55K

It's been 3 weeks since the Moab Red Hot 55K.  I suppose if I'm going to maintain a blog I should write about it.  I haven't though, because I was (still kind of am) disappointed in my performance in the race.  I have run another couple races since then and was going to post about them but it seems the right thing to do to tie up the Red Hot loose ends first.  I did set a course PB, beating my 2011 time by about 5 minutes.  One of my rules is that nobody is allowed to complain about a PB.  I should probably listen to myself, as I am a pretty smart guy.

I had a great time in Moab overall, it's fun seeing all the other FCTR folks there.  I know I see some of them every week, but somehow it's different all being together out of town (and state) for a race.  FCTR represented 27 of 200 finishers in the 55K race and another 16 of 138 finishers in the 33K race. Throw in some Boulder folks I recognize and there was someone I knew around every bend it seemed.  My family came along as well, they enjoy Moab too.  We had a nice stop at the Ice Castles at Silverthorne on the way over and also picked up some info on the Grand Mesa State Park to plan a summer camping trip.  We didn't do much exploring of Moab  together on Sunday as the weather wasn't that great -- the reverse of last year where the race was met with ugly weather but Sunday was nice.  My wife and kids did go to Dead Horse Point state park on Saturday while I raced and enjoyed that.

The weather this year was beautiful.  Race day started with me in shorts and a short sleeve shirt under a long sleeve.  I had on a hat and gloves by took them off a couple miles in.  The long sleeve shirt was gone by mile 13 but should have been gone sooner, I just didn't want to stop and take my hydration pack off.  It was sunny all day long and temperatures were easily in the 50s.  This was a big contrast to 2011.

Beautiful blue sky day

Also in contrast to 2011 was my mental state during the race.  In 2011 I let my mind go negative and really didn't have a great time over the second half of the race.  I felt like I was the last runner on the course, though I wasn't and was beating myself up mentally for running slow.  I am not often like this and the depth to which I went that day surprised me.  In 2012 I kept a good mental outlook all day long, even when things slowed at the end.  I've commented before that my picture quantity during a run or race is proportional to how much fun I'm having and I took a lot of pictures this year, only 2 in 2011.

I think my disappointing performance in 2012 was mostly due to 2 things.  First I am just not good at running on slanty slick rock.  Much of the last 11 miles of the course is generally downhill but on side to side slanted slick rock.  I find this surface really difficult to run on, it beats me up and I never feel comfortable enough to let go and fly.  Second, I went out way too fast and ran a stupid race.  It was so easy to get caught up in the excitement early.  Miles 2-4 are all gently downhill and I ran them in 25:20.  I ran a 5K on New Year's Day in 25:19.  That's probably all that needs to be said there.  In my defense, I was talking the whole time so it wasn't 5K effort, but it was still too fast to be running with another 47K left to go.  I'd do it again though, I really did have a good time chatting with Kemp and Mindy and Lindsey as we cruised down that hill. 

Mindy and I when were still rocking the course

I reached the top of the first part of the course, mile 10, about 10 minutes faster than I did in 2011 but I felt 10x better this year.  I ran up most of this section with Mindy and Marie, chasing Lindsey.  Feeling good I took off down down the nearly 7 miles of downhill running to the 3rd aid station.  I was bounding from rock to rock, had great footwork on the technical spots and felt strong.  Mindy and I hit mile 15 at 2:50, faster than I've run 15 miles on trails in a long time.  I hit the mile 17 aid station 15 minutes faster than in 2011 and still felt pretty good.  Over the next couple miles of steeper downhill I started to feel it in my hips though.  Pounding downhill does that to me.  I got through it though and hit the cutoff point at mile 19 again 15 minutes ahead of 2011. 

Red rocks against the LaSal range, a cool juxtaposition.

I hoped the climb from mile 19 to 22 would let my hips rest and leave me strong for the overall downhill last 11 miles.  The climb seemed harder this year than last, though I did it in about the same time as I was again 15 minutes ahead of 2011 pace when I hit mile 22 at 4:35.  I think the climb seemed harder because I was along doing it this year.  In 2011 I happened up this hill in a crowd of others and the chatter kept my mind occupied I believe.  At mile 22 I was tired, but not wiped out I thought and running an average 12.5 minute pace.  My realistic goal for the day was a 7:00 finish, which is a 12:40 pace so I was still slightly ahead of that with 2/3 of the race and the biggest climbs done.  My legs were tired but did not feel as trashed as they did in 2011.  In 2011 I remember not being able to hop down off even the smallest edges, instead needing to ease myself over.  I remember being very jealous of those who were just hopping down, barely missing a stride.  So after a few bites to eat and some Coke I forged on.  11 miles, 2:20 to run it in, no problem, right?  It seemed very possible.

It didn't take long (well distance-wise) to suspect I was wrong.  My watch beeps as it takes auto-split times every mile.  I heard a beep awhile after leaving the aid station and thought wow, 2 miles down already.  Then I looked and realized it was only 1 mile.  1 19-ish minute mile, going kind of downhill, all on difficult to run on slick rock.  I had stopped to re-tie my shoes once, but still, 19 minutes?  I am just not cut out of running on this slick rock stuff it seems.  (It is slightly reassuring to hear everyone complaining about this section of the course, even the fast runners.)  As I plodded along over the 6 miles to the last aid station I watched my chances at 7:00 slip slowly away with every mile split beep from my watch.  I did stay positive mentally though, accepting what was happening as just that and enjoying the beautiful views of the course, and come mile 15 or so, the wonderful company of Ean whose bubbly voice I heard yell out "Brian!" as she came up over a hill behind me.  Ean graciously ran with me for 6 or 7 miles before pulling away to the finish.  I'm sure she could have run that stretch faster but I did appreciate the company and conversation, it makes the miles go by so much faster when you're chatting with someone. 

Just.  Need.  To.  Get.  To.  That.  River.  Down.  There.

Anyway, this dissertation on a pedestrian race is getting way too long.  The long and short of the last 11 miles was that it took me 3:15, over 17 minute miles.  I really did try and push things a few times, especially in the last 4-5 miles on the jeep roads, but I really had trouble sustaining even a 12 or 13 minute pace for long.  Did I not eat and drink enough?   Was I under trained?  Was it all due to going out too fast?  Was it the damn slick rock?  I guess that's one of the reasons we keep doing these, to try and figure out those answers.  I do know I'd like to run that 6 mile section from aid station 4 to aid station 5 without 22 miles in my legs as that stretch has been my biggest downfall both years.

So, a 5 minute PB, I should be happy.  I'm getting there, some days.

I'm still upright, I guess that is success.  Photo courtesy of Chris Hinds.

Moab, here we come

In Moab, Utah one of the marks of the coming spring is the descending of runners from Fort Collins and Boulder into the Big Horn Lodge.  This happens in mid-February every year for the Red Hot races, 55K and 33K trail races.  Once again Fort Collins runners look to be over 10% of the field with probably as many from Boulder as well.  It was a lot of fun seeing so many familiar faces out on the trail last year and should be much the same this year as well.

Photo from Alex May

I had a bad race last year, really falling apart pace-wise in the last 10-11 miles.  I can come up with some reasons why and some excuses but what's done is done.  After being disappointed last year I am hoping to run better this year.  Overall my longest runs were longer last year than this year but I still put in several in the 22-24 mile range.  One thing that has been different this year is my overall mileage.  With the streak I have been much more consistent this year and have run about 35% more mileage in Red Hot training for this year.  I have felt overall strong and free of niggling aches and pains as I've tapered down the past couple weeks, I'll take that as a good sign.

I'm still haven't come up with a race day plan yet.  It's tougher for trail races than road races as it's more difficult to compare training runs to race day performance.  This is especially true with the slick rock surface in Moab, which is difficult to approximate here.  I have not found running downhill on slick rock to be as easy as it sounds.  I've tried to include a good mix of trails, hilly harder surface runs like Centennial, and harder effort runs on hard surfaces like the bike paths.  Last year my training was much more skewed to trails.  Originally I was hoping to chop an hour off 2011, so 7 hours or about 12:40 miles.  Maybe that will still be my goal.  Some runs it seems very possible, some it still seems far off.  I still need to think about that one.  Heck, I still need to decide which shoes to wear and what to carry for water/gear.  The weather does look nicer than last year at least.  That will be nice.  Four days of work left, that's a lot of time to day dream about the details ;-)  I'm getting kind of excited to find out how it all unfolds.

Early view from the overcast and rainy course in 2011

And the rest of December

Surely after that long last post there couldn't be much of December left, right?  Since then ...

We decided to adopt another dog as a family holiday present.  The girls have been wanting another dog, and I admit I am jealous of all my friends who have dogs who can go out and run with them.  Our dog Sirius does love to run but a) he's terrible on a leash and b) he has a problem with one of his legs and if I take him longer than 5 miles he'll limp around for a day or two afterward.  I took a day off work the Monday before Christmas and we headed out.  First to Animal House, as Pete as done a good job advertising the dogs he runs with while volunteering for them.  Thanks to Pete's posts I fell in love with Zorro, and I never even met him.  As it turns out Animal House is closed on Mondays though.  After a brief stop at Larimer County Humane Society we ended up in Longmont where they had several dogs we liked.  We ultimately chose an almost 2 year old Doberman mix, then named Emma Louise, renamed Tonks to stick with the "wizards who died in the Harry Potter books" theme.  Tonks seemed pretty well behaved, knew basic commands and performed them even for Stella, and did well when jogging around with me, including having 100 times more of a clue than Sirius on what heel means.  Tonks has lived up to the name as she proved to be a bit clumsy, acquiring a spiral, or green tree, fracture in a bone in her front paw within 10 minutes of coming home.  Her running debut will be delayed 4 weeks (now only 2.5!) but the vet told us she should fully heal and still be able to run.  She and I both anxiously await.  

On the 29th the Fort Collins Trail Runners had the first annual Toast To Towers, or FCTR Winter Formal, or just another crazy running shenanigan with the best bunch of runners and friends you could ever hope to meet.  Call it what you want.  We were told to wear our formal wear out for the last trip of the year up our favorite hill.  I thought about it, thinking maybe I'd find a bow tie to wear with my tech shirt and tights, but didn't really think it would much beyond that (and never looked for that bow tie).  If I've learned something though, it's that I shouldn't underestimate the FCTR.  Runners showed up to run through soul-sucking deatheater mud and up icy hills dressed to go out on the town.  Dresses, coats, ties, buttom up shirts, tiaras, scarfs, even high heels made appearances.  I felt woefully underdressed, but was overwhelmed by the spread Ean and Alex whipped up for us.  A table with table cloth, cheese and crackers, fresh baked cookies, some bubbly, christmas lights, music, you name it, all hauled up the hill by Alex and Ean.  I don't think I'm going out on a limb in thinking a tradition has been born.  

Then came New Year's Eve.  68-ish days ago, when Ean decided to streak until the end of the year (and inspired several of us to follow suit) I suggested that the Resolution Run 5K would be a great way to celebrate our streaks.  And we did.  Many dressed in the formal wear they wore up Towers, and me in a shirt and tie and jacket too this time.  I won't underestimate this group twice!  All in all about 12 of us ran the 5K.  I ran a good race for where I'm at, 41 seconds off my 5K PB isn't bad wearing a jacket and tie.  My 5K time is closing in on what would predict that sub-4 marathon.  Now to stretch that out to longer distances.  Happy Streaking to Ean, Mindy, and all the established Streakers who were out there on NYE.

Celeste, Jennifer, Mindy, and Ean at the Resolution Run

And New Year's Day (not December, but pretty darn close).  The Runners Roost in Fort Collins hosts a 5K on New Year's Day every year.  I've never run the race, but have heard it's small, fun and there are great sales afterward.  Two 5Ks in 15 hours time?  All the cool kids are doing it, so why not?  9 or 10 of us who ran the night before showed up, leaving the formal wear and opting for the standard running garb this time.  After coming close to my PB the night before I was hoping to be even closer this time, but I instead came in about 15-20 seconds slower.  My legs, especially my hips and hamstrings, were a little tight and my 0.9 mile warm up was not enough.  Next year I'll either bike or do a longer warm up to get things loose before starting.  I also tired sooner in this race than the night before.  Shocking, I know.  It was yet another great day out with good running friends.

All in all December was a fun, friends, and shenanigan-filled month.  As I did in July, I still ♥ FCTR.

December Fun

It's been awhile since I've posted it seems.  Day 42 was so 3 weeks ago!  Today, Christmas Day, I got out for a nice 7.5miles at Coyote Ridge, marking day 62 of the streak.  I ran easy today, soaking in the sunshine and enjoying the chance to run in shorts on snow covered trails, not paying too much attention to how much the snow can slow you down.  The first couple miles were well packed and somewhat runnable, but on the back side of the ridge there was some mud and there were a few spots that were almost Trudge-worthy, though they were very short.  It was the second day in a row the weather was just about perfect, sunny, temperate, no wind, and great views of last week's snow.

Only about half way up to my knee here, it would be an easy Trudge.

Last week the Fort Collins Trail Runners had a Festivus run, ironically to view Christmas lights at the Gardens on Spring Creek.  I love my FCTR buddies, but some of them do not know what a social pace is when the surface is hard and flat and it is cold outside.  It wasn't long before I was at the back, totally dusted by the rest of the group.  Fortunately a few of my kind of runners were in back with me, and with some company the run was enjoyable.  The lights at the Gardens were pretty cool, I liked the Preying Mantis the best and there were several cool displays.  No pictures of these though as a couple weeks ago my camera died.  Overall the run was over 10 miles, a good reminder that I need to start working a longer mid-week run into my schedule as Moab nears.


The run was just the appetizer though, as we had Chili, and corn bread and chili, and beer, and chili once we got back to Cat's, and then we were treated to a great dance routine by the ladies of the FCTR - choreographed and directed by our own Victoria.  It was entertaining, especially the second time with Scott and Pete joining in.  I love the FCTR community, it was so much fun hanging out with everyone after the run, eating, drinking, swapping tale tails or training tips, just catching up, whatever.  And a special Thanks! to Dave, Cat's husband, who brews beer for us and doesn't complain when we invade his house just hours after he returns to town from a long business trip.

The Thursday before was the 2nd running of the VBM.  Warning: Not all the images at that link are safe for human eyes.  The VBM, I had to miss it as it was not run on the traditional last Towers Thursday of the year.  I was bummed to say the least, but it's your prerogative when you're So Damn Fresh, you get to change well established race days to suit your personal travel schedule.  From the stories I've heard I missed every bit as much fun as I thought I would.  Congrats to one of my kind of runners, Mindy Clarke, for taking home the women's title though, with a new course record to boot.  She beat some formidable competition.


The Thursday before that some of us FCTRs joined the Fort Collins Running Club for a holiday lights running tour and potluck.  Thursdays are where it's at, eh?  The runners in the FCRC are fast too, but they didn't take off at quite the speed the FCTR runners did so I was able to hang with them, mostly, for 5 miles. The last 2 miles Ellen kindly hung back with me and humored me by telling me she too hoped she could run under 4 hours in the Colorado Marathon this spring.  Those road runners have a lot more desserts at their potlucks.  I think they remind them of GU.  They have about the same amount of beer though, so I won't complain.


And this brings us to the big event for December, the Chubby Cheeks JV/Marathon/50K, held on Dec. 10th. This is So Damn Fresh, should be UROY, Nick Clark's fat ass-style race, in it's second year.  2011 provided much more snow than the 2010 version.  I opted for the 7 AM start again, because I'm slow.  I was kind of hoping to run the marathon course but knew going in that the 21.5 mile JV course was probably the right choice.  My last 20+ mile run had been in August, afterall.  Anyway, I had until Mile 12 to decide.  I ran nearly all day with Marie, Mary, and Laura, though there were big chunks of the day that others were with us as well.  We had a good time, listening to Marie needle everyone in to running up to Arthur's rock with her (which was on the marathon route, not the JV).  I secretly wanted to run to Arthur's too, and maybe cut off some elevation gain on the return. That was exactly how things turned out.  I'm not sure how I worked that one, while keeping mostly silent, but I was glad to work some magic  This is not the turn you are looking for.

The running was hard in El Chubbo this year.  I mean it's difficult any time as Nick has us running up and down and back up nearly anything that looks like a peak in Horsetooth or Lory.  Now throw snow, 8-10" of snow, and ice on top of things (like the entirety of Horsetooth Rock) and it's down right slow.  7:40 slow. That's 7 hours, 40 minutes, our time for the 23 mile JV+ version (5000 ft vert) Marie and I ran.  Last year it took us 7:20 to run the marathon course, which was an extra 3 miles and extra 500-1000 ft of vert.  It was fun though, as almost any day on the trail with my fellow FCTR runners is.  We had good conversation, good laughs, and good views.  And the weather was pretty nice as well.  My camera broke about 9 miles in, so I didn't get a ton of pictures, but the ones I did snag are below.  Hopefully I captured some of the magic that was out there that day.  There were times it seemed almost magical running on lightly used trails throught the trees in nearly pristine snow.  After the "race" we hung at Nick and Dana's place and had a potluck, of all things.  People think we like to run a lot because we're nuts, but really we just like to eat.  And evidently we're all pretty good cooks.


So, while I haven't been posting this month, I have been running.  And eating at potlucks.  December will be one of my bigger months of 2011, due mostly to the consistency the Streak provides, not any huge runs.  As I mentioned up top, my run today was day 62 of the streak. On the 15th I hit my 2011 mileage goal of 1620 miles (50K/week) and Monday I should hit 1700 miles for the year.  And the year isn't over yet, six more days of running, surely some shenanigans, and one race, the Resolution Run 5K, are left. 


It is time to start thinking about 2012 goals ... 50 miles a week sounds too daunting.  Maybe run my age every week, 43 miles a week seems possible.  Or maybe just a nice fat round number like 2000.  I've got a few days to decide.  One goal I know I'll keep is to eat healthier and lose some more weight.  I'm feeling better with the little I've lost, but know if I can lose the rest then I can hang up with fast kids instead of being in the back for the 2012 holiday light tours.  Another goal I'll keep is continuing the Streak.  It's been great for keeping me consistent and for getting my head back into the game of running.  It also helps with overall planning.  I'm glad Ean came up with this idea and inspired me to jump on board.

Heading up Audra Culver

There are some great views on the infrequently used Audra Culver Trail.  

Horsetooth Rock up close and personal

Longs and Meeker, always looking over us.

This snow was sooo sparkly, it was like there were diamonds littered about.

Magical

5K PB!

Yesterday at the Fort Collins Running Club's T&H finale I set a 5K PB by 22 seconds, finishing in 24:20 (7:43).  My old PB was set at the Colder Boulder in Dec 2008, so it's been awhile (not that I run a lot of 5Ks, last was in May I think).  I am pretty excited about this. 

My speed has not been the same since injuring my ITB in September 2009, mostly because I never picked speed work back up after the injury.  I still don't run any regular speedwork, though things like Towers and treating social runs kind of like tempo runs in trying to keep up with the fast guys and girls surely count for something.  Lately I have felt a little extra something something when opening it up on the roads so I was hopeful on Sunday and went for broke from the gun.  I went out too hard, but not too too hard I guess. ;-)  Most of my short race PBs are ill-run from a pacing perspective, as Sunday's 7:35, 7:44, 7:57, 1:04 would illustrate. 

It's funny how things like this shape your views on future races.  I had all but given up on breaking 50 in the Bolder Boulder this year, or even beating my BB/10K PB of 51:39.  I also had no thoughts of a half PB in the Horsetooth Half.   Now I'm thinking all that is possible.  I've even thought a bit about a another road marathon.  Only so Nick would have another data point in his Towers-Marathon prediction formula of course.

Oh, and I'm going for broke up the hill on Thursday.  I'm feeling fast.

24 Hours of Utah/Moab - The Statistics

Rob, Mindy, Joselyne, Cat, Brian, Celeste, Alex, Lindsey

Fort Collins took two teams to the 24 Hours of Utah race.  I was on a team of 5 with Alex, Joselyne, Rob, and Mindy while Cat, Celeste, and Lindsey took on the challenge as a trio.  After some friendly competition for a few laps I made Celeste mad and they never looked back.  That's not really true, but they did pull out to about a one lap lead on us throughout most of the day, they are all strong runners.  As nightfall came we slowly chipped away at the lead, likely due to fresher legs, and finished only about five minutes behind them as the race came to a close.  Both teams ran 24 laps for a total of 128.88 miles each.  Not a bad days work, eh?  8 people and 257.8 miles (and that doesn't even count the extra laps people snuck in, probably another 6 laps or so).  They edged us out for third place as the tie-breaker was the time you finished your last lap. 

Up this canyon lies the stream bed, fun to run through!

The big rock we ran around and around at daybreak

Another picture of the route with more daylight

The majestic La Salle mountain range.  I never got sick of this view.

The 5.37 mile, 600 ft vertical gain course was run on the Monitor and Merrimac Trail which is a a mixture of dirt road, single track sandy trails, a totally awesome half mile stream section, lots of slickrock, and great views of towering red rock buttes and mesas.  It ran up and around the Mill-Courthouse Mesa.  I know this now because I looked it up, but during the race I thought the mesa we were running around was the Monitor and Merrimac Buttes.  They lie to the south of the trail it turns out, but the trail offers good views of them -- if you knew to look.  I likely did, there was a lot of beauty to look at.  Even though my four laps were on the same trail, the race alternated directions with each lap so I had one lap each way in the daylight, one clockwise at dusk, and one counter-clockwise in the middle of the night.  All four laps were thus different enough that I did not get bored.  In addition to breaking the monotony,the washing machine loops also allowed you to see a lot more people on the trail than you would have if everyone was traveling the same direction.

That's the boring stuff though.  I'm still working on getting the good stuff, the people stuff, written up.  I'll post that along with some pictures later.