"Extended Cow Paddies"

Noonish - met Dan-o, of Earlham College Cross Country and Track, for a little jaunt. Warm (shorts), but windy. Warmed up 12 minutes solo before meeting him (I need that - He's 20, so he can "just go". I need to ease into it). We ran what he calls "extended cow paddies" (from Fairview H.S., through the "hood" to the East Shanahan TH, south on the Shan-Blue connector, up lower Big Bluestem, south on the Mesa, east on S. Boulder Creek, to the TH on Hwy. 93, frontage road back into town, Greenbriar to the H.S.). 48 minutes at moderate pace (for me - easy for him). Even though I'm feeling blah today, it's good to turn the legs over more quickly, felt great on the run. It's good to see ol' Dan-o. I'll be trying to run more with him before he goes back to school for spring semester. Then ran solo for 4 minutes of warm-down afterward. 64 minutes total.

Easy at White Rocks

Noonish, with NeNe, chilly start, rather warm at end. Sunshine, a little breezy. 65 minutes at easy pace, from the the East Boulder Trail / Teller Farm North TH to "the tank" and back. Coughin', hackin', and snottin' the whole way, but on the road back to full-on good health. Saw a bald eagle at the trailhead.

Illin' and Chillin'

Yesterday and today (Wed. & Thurs.) were rest days. Caught a little cold and have an achy back and neck. Using that as my excuse to lay low - try to get back at it tomorrow. I don't need much to declare a rest day this time of year. I knew something was funky on Tuesday, when that easy run wiped me out. I'll be good-to-go in the '06 for sure.

Big Big Blue

Midday, with NeNe. 84 minutes at easy pace, but the elevation gain kept it from being super easy. From South Boulder Creek (West) Trailhead, up S. Boulder Creek Trail, north on the Mesa, west on the upper Big Bluestem, reconnected with Mesa and ran north, east on North Shanahan Trail, south on the N-S Shan connector, east on South Shanahan, south on little fenceline trail back out to the lower Big Bluestem, back to the TH. Uphill headwind out, downhill tailwind back. Warm - wore shorts. Love gettin' up on the Mesa Trail - in the forest. Felt tired today.

Near Buena Vista

62 minutes with NeNe on Chaffe County Road 304, just southeast of Buena Vista. Out and back. Warm, uphill tailwind out, downhill headwind back. Cool old road through several man-made "canyons" blasted for the road. Started at the picnic shelter near US 285, ran south. Nice overlooks of the town. Mt. Princeton looming large - that's one big chunk of earth. Easy pace - did a little downhill surge coming back.
Soaked for an hour and a half at Valley View Hot Springs an hour before the run.

Sunday - Saguache County Roads

Midday, with NeNe on the dirt roads near Saguache, CO. 66 minutes easy (but I could feel the extra altitude), mostly on county roads Y and 48.7. County road 48.7 north of US 285 led to a lovely informal shooting range with a well pick-over deer carcass. I don't know if those ranchers down there had ever seen people actually "running" before. Saw a big ol' jackrabbit scurry away along county road Y. Warm and sunny.

Saturday - Kenosha Ski

Catching up on the log after a weekend in the San Luis Valley, near Moffat. Saturday we stopped along the drive and did a little backcountry ski at Kenosha Pass. Headed west from the pass along the Colorado Trail, but only skied out (mostly up, but gentle) about 50 minutes before we ran out of snow. Where we did ski, there was barely enough snow to cover the trail. 10,000 feet, but not much early season snow. Turned around at a nice little rock outcropping and zipped down - the trail slalomed through big aspen trees - a little scary but super fun.

Big Blue

12:30, from South Boulder Creek - West Trailhead, with NeNe. Warm (wore shorts), but gusty. Dry trail. 44 minutes at super-easy pace. Short and mellow. Up the South Boulder Creek Trail, north on the Mesa, east on the lower Big Bluestem.

[Planning to ski Kenosha Pass tomorrow and Monday, and do a run in the San Luis Valley on Sunday. I will try to remotely blog, but I may have to catch up on Monday.]

Warm EF Loop From The House

10:30am, from the house, with NeNe, warm (shorts and long top). We ran the EF loop - the "E" stands for Enchanted Mesa (even though we only actually get close to it) and the "F" stands for Fire Road (the fire road connecting the mouth of Bear Canyon to the neighborhoods). Cut through the "hood" to get to the NOAA/NIST property along Broadway, along its southern border, up the service road to Kohler Mesa, connect to the Mesa Trail, south on the Mesa to the mouth of Bear Canyon, down the fire road, up and over Yuri Pass (down via a little singletrack), through the "hood" and down Table Mesa Drive to the house. 71 minutes of easy effort with some fartlek surges mixed in. Feelin' good.

Eldo Today - Nap Yesterday

[Yesterday - Tuesday Dec. 20 - Rest day. Intended to run in the afternoon, but watched Nene head out on a run and took a hour-long nap. Sometimes that's what you need.]

Glad I took yesterday off. Sunday through Tuesday I was feeling blah (scratchy throat, tired), but all is well now. Plus today is the solstice, so it was good to be out there today, feeling good, appreciating nature. It would have been nice to actually be running when the exact solstice occurred (11:35 Mountain), but we were still filling up our water bottles - 25 gallons of the best water in the world. At least we were outside. Ran from the Eldorado Mountain trail head at 11:45. Fowler trail, super-warm day - 60ish degrees - got to intermittently wear my summer get-up (shorts and no shirt), but had a long-sleeved top on sometimes - gusty warm winds - snow melting like crazy. Ran easy with NeNe on the Fowler to the visitor's center in Eldorado Canyon State Park, she headed back and I ran up another 10-15 minutes, up the Eldorado Canyon trail, then off to the left in North Draw on a little singletrack trail that was obviously a climbing access route (several bouldering areas along the trail - RV-sized actual boulders resting in the grasses with chalk clinging to the handholds) - trail got a lot steeper and fainter (need to explore here more) - turned around and ran at a good clip back to where NeNe and I met to cool-down the last half mile to the car. 58 minutes. Great views of the canyon today - Low sun lighting, frozen waterfalls in South Boulder Creek - lovely.
Dinner at our sister city's teahouse.

Rail Trail Beauty

Noonish, filtered sunshine, light snow on the trail. Rail Trail, 52 minutes, solo, easy to moderate pace. The snow was just starting to melt - if I had started an hour later, I likely would have been dealing with mud. Beautiful. Snowflakes, still balanced on the seed heads of prairie grasses, glistening in the sunlight, and prairie dog tracks in the snow all over the place.

Brainard Lake Ski

Backcountry skiing at Brainard Lake with NeNe. Midday, light snow, a mellow 2 hour tour. Took the Waldrop trail to Brainard Lake, then back on the road for a mile before retracing the Waldrop back. Tons of cars at the trailhead, but not so many people out on the trails. Super fun - getting more comfortable with the new skis.

White Rocks Run

2:30pm, cold, snow flurries. 51 minutes, easy pace, with NeNe. My fingers were freezing for most of the run from handling a video camera - see the video over at toxic toxins. First day in my new shoes. They are new, but not unfamiliar, as these are my third pair of Montrail Hardrock's.

Another Rest Day

I don't feel too good about it, but it is what it is. Let me list some sorry excuses: very cold out there today, very busy today, running the lights in the play tonight, slept very little and very poorly last night, etc. But, the real reason is that I simply didn't feel like it. Two rest days in a row is quite wimpy, I know, but I'll be making up for it tomorrrow in running shoes, Sunday on skis, and throughout winter break. "An object at rest remains at rest unless acted upon by another force." That other force never arrived.

Rest Day

[Rest day - Although the idea of running under the full moon at 7pm sounds like fun - and it would be, once I got out there - I cannot fool myself. I know how motivated I will be when the time comes.]

Rail Trail Mapped

Boulder Running has created a Google Maps mashup called Google Mapper that allows you to use your mouse clicks to plot your running route. It plots your course and calculates the distance. I plotted my favorite run - the Rail Trail - 6.5 miles out-and-back (use the "satellite" or "TS-UA" view to see the trail). It appears that it only is available for the Boulder area, but Map My Run will let you do it anywhere. It's a fine tool to estimate distances if you cannot afford one of these.

[Those Polar watches may be great heart rate monitors, but their distance function does not use GPS; they use "advanced sensors" to calculate each stride. Sounds like a glorified pedometer to me - no thanks. How 'bout a real GPS running watch. I wonder if these watches can upload data to a computer to plot maps.]

Rail - Left Hand - Cobalt Loop

8am, solo, sunny with a cold wind. 80 minutes of easy to moderate effort (closer to moderate). From the school, Foothills Trail, north on the Rail Trail to its terminus, then down to and across US36, Beech Trail, south on Left Hand Trail, up the Cobalt, Eagle, back under US36 on the Foothills Trail. What a great loop. Feeling very strong this week. It's wierd; I get to the tops of hills before I even realize I'm climbing them. Hills have always been fun for me, but this week they feel flat.
[Tomorrow it will be tough to get out there - I will have no time while the sun is up. It is a full moon tomorrow, but will I actually go running at 7pm? - We'll see.]

Rail Trail ..... Again & Again

Today - Rail Trail again (oh, do I love that trail). 8am - cloudy out, sunny back. Mud was not a problem today as I left early enough that the mud was frozen. Temperature was chilly at the start, but was getting quite warm at the end (50's forecasted again today before we're back in the cold tomorrow). 53 minutes, solo. Easy to moderate pace. Felt great.

[Yesterday, Monday, Dec. 12 - B-day. Met NeNe at the Fourmile Creek Trailhead at 1pm and ran the Rail Trail. Warm - wore shorts! Mostly sunny. Some snow and a lot of mud - not the splashy type of mud, but the sticky kind that clumps on your shoes so each shoe weighs five pounds - weight training. Super mellow pace, easy effort, about an hour.
Sushi dinner (magic food) - had my first beer since September - tasted good.]

First Day On New Skis

Today was sweet. NeNe and I went up to Peaceful Valley for a bit of backcountry skiing on our new skis. Midday, warm west wind, mellow tour up the gentle grade of the Middle St. Vrain Creek valley along the Buchanan Pass Trail past the Camp Dick Campground and farther west. Perfectly cloudless blue sky. Not too many people there for a Sunday. The snow was a little thin in some spots; we could always find a snow-covered route to travel, but had to leave the trail and go into the trees to stay on snow a few times. Climbed for 1 hour 45 minutes, then found a snow bridge across the creek, and descended via the Middle Saint Vrain Road (45 minutes). I love the skis. Good for backcountry, off-trail, breakin' trail, controlled descents with the metal edges, but light enough to feel pretty good on the groomed stuff. Whenever I ski at a place with groomed nordic trails I'll likely be renting skate skis and leaving these at home, so these Rossignol BC70's are perfect for what we'll be doing most of the time. We had to get back to town by 2pm, so we had to leave the place wanting more - eager to ski farther west into the Indian Peaks Wilderness. We will be back there soon.

[Yesterday, Saturday, ended up being a rest day. Got busy, distracted, lazy.]

Snow On The Rail Trail

8:30am, chilly (but felt very warm compared to the last few days), cloudy out, sunny back. Solo. On cut-up powder / packed powder snow. 57 minutes at easy pace. The footing was a bit tricky, but I always enjoy technical footwork. It stimulates me - keeps me from getting bored. No wildlife of note to report (other than the usual rabbits, prairie dogs, magpies, ravens, and small birds - those creatures are so common that it can be assumed that I see them on every run).

Cold Wonderland Loops

8:30am, cold (5 - 10 degrees), sunshine (which makes a huge difference). 40 easy solo minutes. Early in the morning was the only time I had to run today - just wanted to get something in - didn't want two consecutive rest days - that would start affecting my mental health. (I know - insert joke here - I need a lot of help in that department.) 4 easy laps of Wonderland Lake on the packed powder snow. Beautiful. Warmer days coming - longer runs coming.

Rest Day - That's Fine

Since it is not even ten degrees, I am totally cool with calling today a rest day. I am not going out there. (Sure glad I ran on Monday.) Those snowy trails will still be there tomorrow - when it is at least twenty degrees warmer. (3- 5 inches of snow fell in the last day.)

Pre-Snow Hogback Loop

[UPDATE: OK - After researching a bit in guidebooks and on the Internet, I am fairly certain that it WAS an OSPREY that I saw this morning. It was in flight, 10 meters to my left and only 3 meters above me. My gut told me that it was an osprey, but I was thinking that Colorado was not part of their range. After some reading - I guess we do have osprey here - and I am pretty sure that I saw one. How cool. (But it's almost winter. Would these birds still be here this late? Where's a birder when you need one? What else could it have been? What I saw looked remarkably similar to the osprey in this photo.)]

8am, overcast, solo, 44 minutes of easy to moderate effort (moderate going uphill, easy everywhere else). They are calling for snow today (just started as I type this), so I figured this was my last chance for a while to do some hills and some technical without ice everywhere. I did the Hogback Loop from the school and back. It was chilly but pleasant on the way out, and cold and windy on the way back (but nothing compared to yesterday's wind). Saw a small herd of mule deer (four does and a buck), a Northern Flicker, and some bird I've never seen before. I will be trying to figure out what type of bird it was - it looked like miniature Osprey, but I'm certain that's not what it was (little help here, bird experts?).

Rail Trail With The Bora

This is going to be a tough week weather-wise (Boulder forecast). Today it was the wind. Boulder is notoriously windy, and today furthered the legend. The wind woke me up at 5am and, as I write this at 6pm, it's still howlin'. At 6:50am, NCAR's Mesa Lab Weather Station recorded a gust of 88.1 mph (that was the one that ripped off 5 fence panels in our yard as we ate breakfast), and NCAR caught an 89er in the afternoon. That's hurricane force, people. Granted these wind speeds are not sustained, but merely gusts. But still - those are some mighty gusts! Normally, Boulder's winds are the Chinook type, which are warming winds, but today it was the Bora type - a very cold wind. As weather goes, we in Boulder cannot complain about much, but the wind here can be awful.

I almost bagged the running today, but the forecast, while less windy, calls for crazy-cold temperatures this week. So, since it's all going to be tough this week, I went out there and did the Rail Trail in the Bora gusts. 53 minutes of moderate effort, solo, in the early afternoon. The pace was easy to moderate, but just being out there in those winds takes it out of you, so the effort was more difficult. I had to keep it moving fairly quickly just to stay warm with the wind chill, and the gusts were knocking me around a lot. A couple of gusts almost took me down. It really wasn't that bad once I was out there - kind of a challenge. I'm glad I wasn't a wimp today, as I must leave myself a little breathing room to be a wimp later in the week.

SoBo Creek - Towhee - Lower Blue

2pm, chilly, filtered sunshine, breezy. An easy 55 minutes with NeNe from the South Boulder Creek Trailhead (west). Up the SoBo, south on the Mesa, west on the Towhee, northwest to reconnect to the Mesa, and down the lower Big Bluestem. Nice and easy. Saw a Northern Flicker in the Shadow Creek valley.

Doudy Loop In Fresh Snow

9:30 am. An easy 85 minutes with NeNe on the Doudy Loop (From the Doudy Draw trailhead, up the Doudy - SE portion extended - Greenbelt Plateau, Community Ditch). A touch of snow fell overnight; the snow depth on the trail varied from zero snow (under the trees) to about 1.5 inches (on the north faces). Chilly and - sunny for the first half, cloudy for the second half. The snow was starting to melt, so it was rather muddy the last mile.

(I intended to run yesterday, but, when the decisive moment came, tapas at a colleague's house sounded like more fun than running in the wind and the shadow. And it was. And, rest days are important too - right?)

North On The Rail Trail (And Back)

Chilly, but sunny. 8:15 am. Solo. Appox. 53-54 minutes of easy to moderate effort from the school to the terminus of the Rail Trail (aka North Rail Trail or North Foothills Trail) and back.