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