• Home
  • About

A Runner's Story

A Runner's Story

Tag Archives: cottonwood

Sunrise Stampede

20 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

10K, cottonwood, Longmont Sunrise Stampede, race results, Shoes and Brews

leadville halfBeth (aka ShutUpAndRun) invited me to run the Leadville Heavy Half Marathon this weekend.  With over 3700 feet of elevation gain, who wouldn’t want to run that?  Here’s a photo of the organizers scooping the snow off the trail in preparation for the race.  They spent 6 hours per day for 6 days digging this four foot wide, two mile path to the summit.  They broke 6 shovels.  There seriously is a part of me that wanted to run this half marathon.  As much as I appreciate the invite, I instead chose to run local this weekend.  This will give me time to attend yet another graduation party.  I also planned to sneak in Jurassic World but my family couldn’t wait and we saw that Thursday night.  Epic Dinosaur movie – well done.

I don’t intend to race this 10K hard, but I am looking to get in a strong workout.  Occasionally I treat these races as premiere events, like the Bolder Boulder a few weeks ago.  Others I simply consider to be a good workout opportunity knowing that, by running with a group of people, I’ll run harder.  So I’m not looking to PR but hope to run about a 7:30 pace.  I run closer to an 8 minute pace in workouts alone.  Sometimes in these no-stress events, I find that I run quite strong after loosening up the first one or two miles.  I do hope to find some part of this run where I fall into race mode.  Running two or three miles at an uber elevated pace would be ideal.  Maybe the first two miles slow, the next three miles under 7, then cool down with an 8 minute mile.  That’s my plan as I warm up.

My concerns are that one, the Cottonwood pollen has been killing my breathing lately – literally choking me.  And two, I couldn’t find an elevation chart for this course.  Elevation charts are fairly critical for establishing pre-race plans in Colorado.  Altitude can make the smallest slopes feel like mountains.  But I can wing that by surging on down slopes when I notice them.  While I’m not familiar with running on these streets, I don’t expect any major hills.  This is very likely a faster course than the Bolder Boulder.  I run into Ashlee – of Shoes & Brews.  Colin and her are running the 10K.  She tells me this is about as hilly as the Bolder Boulder, mostly in the first half.  Although it will finish downhill so nothing like climbing up Folsom in the BB.  So maybe I’ll run the first half slow.  I guess I really don’t have a race plan.

I warmup well enough so that I don’t go out too slowly.  This works as I go out a bit faster than expected with a 7:03 first mile.  At least it isn’t under 7 minutes.  The hills increase from here and I keep a steady pace, possibly slowing down a bit.  In fact, I do run slower as the second mile comes in at 7:12.  This feels comfortable and I hope to just keep this pace the rest of the course.  I’m running strong but well enough under my aerobic threshold.  I surge into a short downhill at 2.5 miles, near MacIntosh Lake, but start to cough hard from the Cottonwood.  This is exactly when I start to cough during my workouts.  It nearly stops me for a minute but I recover and take some water at an aid station.  I’m bummed because it slows me down as I am gaining momentum.  I complete the third mile in 7:28.  A good workout pace.

Into the fourth mile I start to race another runner.  I learn later that his name is PJ (40 year old Patrick Schrodt).  Although I might have him confused with 44 year old Bill Depaemelaere.  These young guys all look the same to me.  I catch him and we switch taking leads the rest of the race.  My fourth mile is almost identical to the third, at 7:32.  This is also a high point for the course and it’s mostly downhill from here. Just as I begin to unwind, I have to stop to retie my right shoe.  Dammit!   I lose a half minute for this.  I ordered some new shoes earlier this week online but they don’t arrive until Monday.  They will have speed laces, so I won’t run into this issue again.

I keep PJ in my sites and am close behind him.  Despite the shoe lace issue I run the fifth mile faster in 7:09.  I feel good, aided by the down slope.  I keep this pace for the final mile rather than cool down since it feels good.  I slow down marginally as we near the Longmont High School stadium because I don’t care to put on a kick.  Still, I pass PJ during this slow down.  He passes me back once we are on the track.  The course finishes with a quarter mile lap around the track.  PJ puts on a bit of a kick and finishes 30 meters ahead of me.  I’m content running behind another guy, but pass him with a kick of my own the last 100 meters.  I think I decided to kick past him because he looks my age with a gray crew cut.  And because I am barely breathing hard.  He had passed me the first half mile and it felt good to catch him.  I learn afterward his name is Paul Colvin and is 45 years old.

Sunrise StampedeI run my sixth mile in 6:58, the fastest pace of the entire run.  Surprising but then it is downhill vs uphill for the first mile.  I cross the finish line in 45:32 for 2nd place in my age group, which is about what I was hoping to run.  I run into Jill, one of my teammates from the Snowmass Trail Relay, at the finish.  She ran the two mile course with her daughter.  Her husband is still out running the 10K.  This photo captures PJ in the middle, and another guy, 43 yr old James Vardas, whom we passed back and forth throughout the run.  I think he’s the guy PJ kicked in with at the end.  The race results suggest I confused PJ with Bill.  This race was tougher than I anticipated.  Hot with no clouds, hilly, and strong competition.  Good way to start the morning.  Next is a graduation party for Ken Farmer’s son, Ben.  I expect good eats and beer.

Like this:

Like Loading...

Search this blog

  • Boulder Marathon
  • Britt&Eric
  • Colorado Trail
  • Covid-19
  • covid-noir
  • cyber war
  • Ellie Rose
  • Geek Horror
  • Marathons
  • Margot
  • Medical Files
  • Novel
  • Other Stories
  • Politics
  • ReBlog
  • Running
  • Snowboard
  • Snowshoe
  • Storytelling
  • training plan
  • Victoria BC

Buy Full Spectrum Cyberwar at Amazon

Buy Cyber War I at Amazon

Buy on Amazon India for ₹99

Buy on Amazon U.K. for £2.27

English Edition on Amazon Germany

Buy on Amazon Brazil for R$11.29

Archives

Blog Stats

  • 134,558 hits

Girlfriend Cult

Recent Comments

Ed Mahoney on Adelsverein
Cynthia L Finney on Adelsverein
Ed Mahoney on Adelsverein
Ed Mahoney on Adelsverein
A lo Hawk on Adelsverein

Recent Posts

  • Adelsverein January 28, 2023
  • A Runner’s Day January 7, 2023
  • Last Run of the Year December 31, 2022
  • Christmas, for me… December 26, 2022
  • Craft Shopping for Christmas December 10, 2022
  • A Slow, Late Fall Run November 25, 2022
  • November Runs November 20, 2022
  • Tech Debt November 19, 2022
  • The Runner’s Field of Battle November 13, 2022
  • Stealin’ from God October 24, 2022
  • A New Start October 23, 2022
  • Baby Margot Birthday October 9, 2022
  • The City of Flowers September 24, 2022
  • Dog Park by the Sea September 19, 2022
  • The Lane of Pain September 17, 2022
  • Run Rabbit Run August 28, 2022
  • Wild Horses August 21, 2022
  • The Day Running Died August 17, 2022
  • Boulder Marathon Training – Week One August 7, 2022
  • Mount Sanitas July 30, 2022
  • The Trail and Me July 23, 2022
  • Mount Zirkel Wilderness July 13, 2022
  • Full Team Hike July 4, 2022
  • Village to Village July 3, 2022
  • Beaver Creek July 2, 2022
  • Summer is Here June 12, 2022
  • Birthdays May 22, 2022
  • Fall River Road March 25, 2022
  • A Tale of Two Gerasimov’s March 11, 2022
  • The Hero February 26, 2022
  • Full Spectrum Cyberwar February 24, 2022
  • Run Nan, Run February 20, 2022
  • Running Sunrise to Sunset February 13, 2022
  • Cyberpunk Runner February 5, 2022
  • A Winter’s Run January 15, 2022
  • Turkmenistan January 2, 2022
  • Counting Families at Christmas December 26, 2021
  • Austin Boardwalk December 23, 2021
  • Like Christmas for the First Time December 19, 2021
  • Restoration November 27, 2021
  • India Kinks November 15, 2021
  • Run a Little, Write a Little November 6, 2021
  • Horizons October 30, 2021
  • The Vitality Kick and other Abnormal Obsessive Behaviors October 19, 2021
  • The Ten Week Plan October 11, 2021
  • Pearl Street Marathon October 10, 2021
  • Confidence Builder October 2, 2021
  • Margot Faye September 25, 2021
  • Due Day September 12, 2021
  • Beats per Minute September 6, 2021

Colorado=Security

Blogroll

  • Alohawk's Blog
  • Barbie's Blog
  • Boggy Creek Lumpster
  • George Schools Blog
  • I, Cringely
  • Prostate Chronicles
  • Shut Up + Run
  • Sustainable Sunrise
  • The Rogue Botanist

Web Sites

  • Amazon Author Page
  • Austin Marathon
  • Bolder Boulder
  • Brit's YouTube Songs
  • Colorado Marathon
  • Colorado Runner Magazine
  • Colorado Trail
  • Girlfriend Cult
  • Lobo Media Ltd
  • My YouTube Site
  • Race Pace Calculator
  • Shoes & Brews
  • Trail Runner Magazine
  • Zaremba Graphic & Web Solutions

Goodreads

Top Posts & Pages

  • Day 1
  • Day 3
  • Winter Secret
  • Foot Fetish
  • Adelsverein

Top Clicks

  • prospectisart.wordpress.c…
  • amazon.com/gp/product/B07…

RSS Feed

  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • A Runner's Story
    • Join 246 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • A Runner's Story
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: