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Ridgeline Trail

09 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Tags

Castle Rock, half marathon, Ultra

start

On second thought, racing a trail half marathon without proper training might not have been such a good idea.  I wasn’t ready for the Ridgeline Trail in Castle Rock this morning.  At least I wasn’t stupid enough to sign up for the 50K (31 mile) ultra.  Chris did though.  He’s still picking up his feet in this picture above, just starting out at 8am.

final-stretch

Actually, Chris did quite well for his first ultra.  He finished second in his forty year old age division and tenth overall.  He’s still smiling in this photo above, even though it is after the 26 mile (marathon) point.  Although, he was crying “ouchie” as he ran by.  I have to say that the trail rarely looked this nice.  It was mostly rocky with tree roots, a lot like the Picture Rock Trail in Lyons if you’re familiar with that.

last-aid-station

Worse part though wasn’t the technical footing, it was the non-stop undulating elevation. Every ten yards alternated between uphill, then down hill, then uphill.  Think rollercoaster, for thirteen miles.  The foothills themselves were runnable, I didn’t have to walk any, but somehow it contained 3500 feet of elevation gain.  I started out slow but my legs were still mush after six miles.  The course was a loop, but out and back in the sense it climbed over the same hills on the return.  This is Chris at the final ultra aid station, with three more miles to run, taking time out for brunch.

grass

This final photo of Chris is with only two hundred more yards to the finish.  He looks happy.  I only ran a fraction of the distance, and can tell you I’m beat.  I ran 2:06, which might be okay for the course.  Still, I normally run 1:45 for the first half in a full marathon, so sort of slow.  And painful.  Cool training course if you make it down to Castle Rock, but very, very tough.

 

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Kiss the Clouds

28 Saturday Sep 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Boulder Flood, Boulder Res, Denver Marathon, trail running, Ultra

Boulder Valley RanchThis week included a couple of runs in the never-ending rain.  Normally I enjoy the runs where I can literally kiss the low-hanging Colorado clouds.  Ever see the 1983 video of U2 perform at Red Rocks?  It’s like running in some mystical place with unicorns.  This has been all too common place lately.  Today though was clear blue sky and I kissed the clouds goodbye.  Taking a cue from Jabe’s recent facebook update that the Eagle Trail is open, I headed out to the Boulder Valley Ranch set of trails.  I can’t believe I have never run here before.  It’s not exactly exciting.  Very few trees.  But Gadget Girl often runs here with her dog Otis; so does Jabe’s running team.  Given conditions, I’m happy to run out here in the prairie grass.

I need to keep up my trail running.  I signed up this week to run the Durango Double Ultra, a 50K (30 mile) trail run through the San Juans.  My first ever ultra.  This wasn’t on my radar but with my two marquee September runs cancelled, I need to up my game for October.  I’ll follow this ultra the next weekend with the Denver Marathon.  New plans.  Hard to explain but maybe this has happened to you before.  You train hard for a marathon.  Sometimes when an event is cancelled, you feel like you escaped a bullet because you weren’t quite prepared.  I was ready though.  This might have been overly optimistic but I thought I had a chance at an 8 minute pace which would qualify me for Boston.  When you reach that level of fitness, you sort of want a replacement marathon.  Only thing is now I have to maintain this fitness level another month.  I can do that.  If I survive the ultra, I’ll be primed for the marathon.

muddy trailMy Team Naked partners plan to run Eagle Trail tomorrow.  I have to bail on them to drive my in-laws to DIA.  It’s a large trail system.  I parked at the Eagle Trailhead near the Boulder Res.  The first trail here is a 3.7 mile lollipop.  Eagle Trail begins as a half mile stick, then forks left while Sage forks right.  The two forks join up again 1.35 miles later to form the loop.  I forked right onto Sage and then right again onto Cobalt.

Deggee TrailThis led me to North Broadway Road where I returned on yet another fork right called Deggee Trail.  Not sure how you pronounce that.  I could have returned more directly but I wanted to get in a long run so took a number of exploratory trail spurs.  I forked right on Hidden Valley Trail which I could have taken earlier for another loop option.  I also humped up onto Mesa Reservoir on the return.  I think on future runs I’ll make a large loop out of Hidden Valley Trail and the Sage/Eagle combo.  That’s probably good for a 6 mile loop.  Twice makes 12 miles.

Eagle TrailheadMuch of this trail is fairly pedestrian.  In fact, the first loop is double track.  Still, gaiters are a good call to keep the little pebbles out of your shoes.  I think the muddy trail warning sign could be dialed back a bit from poor to fair.  The mud’s not extreme, although sticky in spots.  The trail is nice and soft, feels good on the knees.  Look at that blue sky in this last photo.  About time.  Plus the temperature was a fresh 54°.  Perfect seasonal running conditions have returned to Boulder County.

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CT Cronica: Ultra

07 Thursday Apr 2011

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Colorado Trail, imogene, IPR, la sportiva, South Platte River, trail running shoes, Ultra

You might have started off leading this final leg, you don’t remember.  If you did, A Lo Hawk passed you at some point.  He’s ahead of you with hopefully only a few miles remaining when your feet begin to hurt and you reconsider promoting your shoes with a blog link.  This run brings forth memories of the Imogene Pass Run last September.  The bad part of the IPR – miles 8 and 9 leading up to the peak.  The only thing that kept you running then was the pressure of not forcing the runner behind you, whom you knew was likely to be feeling as tired as you, to have to pass you.  That trail didn’t provide the ability for runners to easily pass, and so you felt obligated to maintain your position and pace.  The CT at this point actually widens to double track, so you run alongside A Lo Hawk.  But that is short lived, you mostly fall behind – even when walking although there isn’t much of that.  The first 4 quarters feel like they were yesterday – this is the ultra quarter.

At some point you carry on a conversation with A Lo Hawk.  Talking is much more rare now too.  One of your chats covers the topic of falling.  You’ve only taken a couple of spills your entire life – both on trails.  The conversation foreshadows a near fall.  You slam the big toe of your right foot into a trail rock so hard you nearly hit the ground.  You scream loud enough to cause A Lo Hawk to turn around.  You don’t know if you were injured, you keep running.  But it hurts.  Bad.  You imagine it as a bloody stub, but the pain gradually subsides and is replaced with the misery afflicted to the soles of your feet which have become tenderized flesh.

It once again occurs to you that you are wearing the right shoes.  The thing about trail running shoes is they have a glob of rubber on the front, not unlike a car bumper.  These shoes re-earned their way back onto honorable mention in your blog.  That bumper clearly saved your big toe from destruction.  Thank you, La Sportiva.  Once you sufficiently recover from the pain and fear of toe loss, you find it ironic, almost irritating, that like the two falls you’d related to A Lo Hawk, this occurred in the last mile of your run.  But that’s probably not coincidence.  No doubt, the end of any run is when you are weakest and most likely to stumble.  Good reason to slow for a cool down.  And A Lo Hawk certainly is shuffling along the trail much slower these last miles.  The final downhill leg resembles the IPR’s 7 mile drop into Telluride.  As was the case then, A Lo Hawk’s and your quads are too weak to push it in.

Upon seeing the trail head, marked by an iron and wood foot bridge crossing the South Platte River, you are ready to simply walk it in.  And A Lo Hawk feigningly slows to meet your expectations.  But then you hear him mumble something and with renewed vigor he kicks in the final stretch.  This is fairly impressive considering the steepness of the trail here, but you feel more like penalizing him for the pitcher’s balk.  Your mind was set for walking, and you almost did.  Instead, you finish the trail running, as you had done for 16 miles; but without any pretense of strength by kicking.  You finish up slow as if running a cool down.  Much like you did during the last half mile of your most recent half marathon.

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