I ran into Keith on the LoBo Trail this afternoon.  We finished up the second half of my run together.  I took advantage of the opportunity to try shaming him into running the Boulder Half on Sunday.  We’ll see if he shows up at the Boulder Res on race day.  This is another pic of me running the Moab Half two weeks ago, apparently later in the run as the crowd is a bit thinner.

I’ve been putting in some decent distance since Moab.  Now that it’s daylight savings time I’ve begun to run after work and that gives me more time for longer runs.  And I hammered out 23 miles over the weekend.  I’m not considering resting my legs for the Boulder Half.  Like last year, I’ll treat it more like a workout.  If things go the way I want, I’ll start off slow the first half – which is uphill, then run faster the second half back downhill.  In a sense, it’s really only a 6.5 mile run.

Of course, the entire run could turn into a giant 13 mile slog but I’m hoping for a fun downhill 6.5 miles after an easy 6.5 mile warmup.  The whole thing is a warmup really to prep for my next big event – the 25 mile Collegiate Peaks Trail Run on April 28th.  That’s the big enchilada I need to get in shape for.  That’s almost like a marathon.  Seriously, despite being a mile short, it stands to be much tougher.  And longer time-wise.  Trail runs at altitude usually are.

This puppy will begin at 8000 feet and rise to 9200 feet after 10 miles.  Then it drops back down to 8400 feet only to rise yet again to 9400 feet at 18 miles.  By contrast, Moab only changed 100 feet in elevation – several times – but hardly the same as this.  The Collegiate Peaks are awesome.  I hiked this area for the first time last summer as part of the Colorado Trail.  These trails will be different, east of Buena Vista, but I’m excited to get back out there.  I’ll be blogging more on this over the next month as I train for my first big run of the year.