60 minutes
easy to moderate pace
5 pm - cold with light snow - ran home from work via the same route as Monday - only this time I left a half an hour earlier and had more light to work with, and 3-4 inches of fresh powder covered the trail - it was a little harder climbing with the snow on the ground - I could just barely see the flatirons through the snowflakes and clouds (beautiful) - the snow cover made the ice underneath a little less treacherous - saw four mule deer ascending a steep slope west of NCAR - the long climb took a bit longer, but seemed much shorter today - feelin' good - really starting to enjoy this winter snowy weather - Boulder feels like a ski town this winter.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Bike Paths into Work
45 minutes
easy pace
5 am, cold & dark - the moon that helped me last night was far beneath the horizon - ran down the Bear Creek bike path to Boulder Creek, then up the Boulder Creek bike path to downtown, then 13th to Pearl - it was a lot of concrete, but I wanted to keep it flat since I had just run 12 hours earlier - the whole way I only saw one woman walking her dog (he had a glow-in-the-dark collar!) and one runner - the partially frozen cascades of Boulder Creek were neat to see - felt a little tired, but the crisp morning air felt great - everything was so quiet at that early hour.
easy pace
5 am, cold & dark - the moon that helped me last night was far beneath the horizon - ran down the Bear Creek bike path to Boulder Creek, then up the Boulder Creek bike path to downtown, then 13th to Pearl - it was a lot of concrete, but I wanted to keep it flat since I had just run 12 hours earlier - the whole way I only saw one woman walking her dog (he had a glow-in-the-dark collar!) and one runner - the partially frozen cascades of Boulder Creek were neat to see - felt a little tired, but the crisp morning air felt great - everything was so quiet at that early hour.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Moonlight Mesa
57 minutes
easy to moderate pace
5:30 pm, pretty cold, slight breeze, dark - ran home from work (Pearl Street Mall) - west on Walnut, south up 9th to Chautauqua, up the Mesa Trail, down Bear Creek Canyon fire road (no Yuri today), Bear Mountain Park, and home - when I left it was dusk/twilight, but by the time I got to Chautauqua it was dark - but the snow and the moon helped me see where I was putting my feet - I didn't realize how bright the moon was until I got into the trees, where it was much more difficult to differentiate between packed snow and ice (sometimes I had to slow down to just a shuffle) - it was a long 25 minute climb up 9th and the Mesa onto Kohler Mesa, but I was rewarded with serene solitude and beauty - the city lights almost looked beautiful from above - the pace was pretty mellow, but the long climb and my inability to completely relax on the snow and ice in the dark made the effort a bit tougher - so beautiful and peaceful - had a great time.
easy to moderate pace
5:30 pm, pretty cold, slight breeze, dark - ran home from work (Pearl Street Mall) - west on Walnut, south up 9th to Chautauqua, up the Mesa Trail, down Bear Creek Canyon fire road (no Yuri today), Bear Mountain Park, and home - when I left it was dusk/twilight, but by the time I got to Chautauqua it was dark - but the snow and the moon helped me see where I was putting my feet - I didn't realize how bright the moon was until I got into the trees, where it was much more difficult to differentiate between packed snow and ice (sometimes I had to slow down to just a shuffle) - it was a long 25 minute climb up 9th and the Mesa onto Kohler Mesa, but I was rewarded with serene solitude and beauty - the city lights almost looked beautiful from above - the pace was pretty mellow, but the long climb and my inability to completely relax on the snow and ice in the dark made the effort a bit tougher - so beautiful and peaceful - had a great time.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Shan-Blue-Slab
56 minutes
easy pace (but moderate effort)
1:30 pm, a bit chilly but sunny, breezy - parked at the base of Shanahan Ridge (on Lehigh), ran East Shan out to Big Bluestem, up Upper Big Blue, north on the Mesa to North Shan junction, west to "the Slab" (touched the slab), then down North Shan to the trailhead - Lower Blue was muddy as the wind had eaten away the snow (and it was still howlin' on that open section of trail), but once I got into the trees on Upper Blue the trail was mostly snowpack - but the sun and wind had really softened the snow, thus the moderate effort for an easy pace (not a very efficient transfer of energy) - occasionally a my shoe would post-hole into the snow, but my body was still moving forward creating a slightly painful rip-the-foot-out-of-the-snow-hole-ankle-tweak - I took one little spill (I don't even know what happened - suddenly my kneecaps were slamming into the ground - fortunately on soft snow, not Rocky Mountain rock) - the trail up to the Slab was a lot of work (still a lot of soft snow that was not as well traveled and packed) - once I turned around at the Slab it was all down, down, down - mostly running, with a little sliding / shoe skiing mixed in - super fun - feeling damn good - my fitness isn't as horrible as I thought - it's only January, so I'll be fine by April (but I hardly ever race - I'm not trying to achieve anything other than feeling great).
easy pace (but moderate effort)
1:30 pm, a bit chilly but sunny, breezy - parked at the base of Shanahan Ridge (on Lehigh), ran East Shan out to Big Bluestem, up Upper Big Blue, north on the Mesa to North Shan junction, west to "the Slab" (touched the slab), then down North Shan to the trailhead - Lower Blue was muddy as the wind had eaten away the snow (and it was still howlin' on that open section of trail), but once I got into the trees on Upper Blue the trail was mostly snowpack - but the sun and wind had really softened the snow, thus the moderate effort for an easy pace (not a very efficient transfer of energy) - occasionally a my shoe would post-hole into the snow, but my body was still moving forward creating a slightly painful rip-the-foot-out-of-the-snow-hole-ankle-tweak - I took one little spill (I don't even know what happened - suddenly my kneecaps were slamming into the ground - fortunately on soft snow, not Rocky Mountain rock) - the trail up to the Slab was a lot of work (still a lot of soft snow that was not as well traveled and packed) - once I turned around at the Slab it was all down, down, down - mostly running, with a little sliding / shoe skiing mixed in - super fun - feeling damn good - my fitness isn't as horrible as I thought - it's only January, so I'll be fine by April (but I hardly ever race - I'm not trying to achieve anything other than feeling great).
Saturday, January 27, 2007
E/F in the Pow-Pow
60 minutes
easy pace
We woke up to yet more snow today. Headed out at about 11:30 am in 4 or 5 inches of fluffy powder. Did the standard E/F loop from the house (down church trail, west along the southern edge of NOAA/NIST property, Fed service road up onto Kohler Mesa, crossed Enchanted Mesa trail, continued to the Mesa trail, Mesa to Bear Creek fire road, down fire road, up and over Yuri Pass, Bear Mountain Park, and home). Still snowing when I left, encountered some hikers, a couple snowshoers, several XC skiers, but most of the peeps out there were runners. Mesa Trail was packed powder - had seen a good amount of traffic in the snow today. Once at Bear Creek, snow stopped, sun showed itself, and I had sunshine from Yuri Pass to home. Beautiful up there today.
easy pace
We woke up to yet more snow today. Headed out at about 11:30 am in 4 or 5 inches of fluffy powder. Did the standard E/F loop from the house (down church trail, west along the southern edge of NOAA/NIST property, Fed service road up onto Kohler Mesa, crossed Enchanted Mesa trail, continued to the Mesa trail, Mesa to Bear Creek fire road, down fire road, up and over Yuri Pass, Bear Mountain Park, and home). Still snowing when I left, encountered some hikers, a couple snowshoers, several XC skiers, but most of the peeps out there were runners. Mesa Trail was packed powder - had seen a good amount of traffic in the snow today. Once at Bear Creek, snow stopped, sun showed itself, and I had sunshine from Yuri Pass to home. Beautiful up there today.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Dink-Around Loop
42 minutes
easy pace
After about 10 days off with a nasty cold I did my typical dink-around not-too-hilly loop from the house (down church trail, in front of the NOAA/NIST property along B-way, King Ave., Four Pines, behind the cemetery, up Skunk, down telephone road, behind the houses, Bear Mountain Park, and home). Just nice and easy today - trying to get back into it. It felt so good to be back out there, even if I was hacking up a ton of gunk from being sick. Started with the long-sleeved shirt but ended up running with no shirt - just long shorts, hat, and gloves. The sun makes a big difference. Still a lot of snow on the north sides - and quite muddy where the earth was exposed.
easy pace
After about 10 days off with a nasty cold I did my typical dink-around not-too-hilly loop from the house (down church trail, in front of the NOAA/NIST property along B-way, King Ave., Four Pines, behind the cemetery, up Skunk, down telephone road, behind the houses, Bear Mountain Park, and home). Just nice and easy today - trying to get back into it. It felt so good to be back out there, even if I was hacking up a ton of gunk from being sick. Started with the long-sleeved shirt but ended up running with no shirt - just long shorts, hat, and gloves. The sun makes a big difference. Still a lot of snow on the north sides - and quite muddy where the earth was exposed.
---Hiatus (from blogging)---
OK folks, back at the blogging here. What's been happening during this hiatus? I have been running, but not every day - not even close. The big news is that our little boy was born in September. I won't say much about it here - there's another blog for that - but he's great, and I hope I can stay in shape enough to hang with him until he stomps me into oblivion when he's in high school. I've been running about three to four days a week, but there have been several weeks thrown in there with no running at all. I've been at it enough to keep from gaining weight or getting too soft, but my fitness is a couple of levels below where it was before. Things are now finally settling down to the point where I can see myself trying to run most days. We'll see how it goes. I am very motivated to be fast and mean come summer. So off we go...
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