Tag Archives: White Rock Trail

Foot Bridge

15 Saturday Jun 2019

Posted by in Running

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

IMG_2861

This is a photo of today’s foot bridge, taken earlier this spring.  No one was standing on it then, like today.  And yes, those are road apples in the middle of the bridge.

The East Boulder Trail had some runners on it today.  A young girl passed by me early on with elite form.  Then another guy, weight-lifter for sure, shirtless of course.  On my return, five and a half miles into an eight miler, I was crossing this bridge with some momentum.  Unlike in this photo, it was nearly crowded with hikers and runners.  And as I reached the apex, as if in a zombie movie, a lady jumped out at me, her hands reaching for my throat.

Too late to perform the move well, I understood the outstretched arms to be an attempt for dual fist bumps.  I figured I must know this person and bumped her fists, if that’s in fact what we were doing.  But I made no attempt to slow down.  I continued running past her.  I needed that momentum to take me into the next hill.

Two steps past Jen, I recognized her and stopped.  I turned around and saw that the guy with her was Bob.  They were training for a literary hike through the Scottish Highlands. One stop is on the path of Diana Galbadon, another on the passage to J.K. Rowling.

I’ve heard Galbadon talk at a RMFW’s Colorado Gold workshop.  The woman is bawdy.  Our coversation on the bridge deviated from The Outlander series to NetFlix porn.  I would say the current crown of Netflix porn goes to Tales of the City.  It’s in that porn with plot and dialog genre, Porn Plus.  I swear, I was searching for the Father Brown Mysteries, and I stumbled onto Tales of the City.

The fit, shirtless runner crossed the bridge on his return.  Jen did more than notice, she commented.  Even I was a bit envious of the guy.  We all started back on our runs, in opposite directions.  Jen and Bob headed for Valmont Road.  I headed for the hills.

Cairn

31 Sunday Mar 2019

Posted by in Running

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

,

IMG_2878

There’s a heap of stones piled up on the East Boulder Trail that I haven’t noticed before.  Probably because I haven’t run this far on the trail yet this year. In trumpian fashion, I didn’t intend to run this far today.  Maybe I was into a song, but I ran past my turn-around target, which was a couple hundred meters above this hill.  Seeing this cairn direct my flight toward the newer southeastern path, woke me up.  I stayed the course and ran down the hill.

 

IMG_2864

I knew that, in my current state of fitness, running down that hill might be a mistake.  Odds very much are that I’ll have to return back up that same hill.  By the photo above, not only is it clear that I made it another quarter mile, but the footbridge has finally been repaired after the last big flood.

IMG_2870

I did make it back up that hill.  I’m not saying I didn’t walk a bit of it.  I will say that I took both the downhill and uphill pictures together, on my return.

IMG_2901

I made it back to my car, feeling like I just experienced my best run of the year.  Not only did I best a recent-distance metric, but my confidence level was boosted by the accomplishment.  Accidental or not.

IMG_2879

I pronounce cairn like my wife’s name, Karen, but with an Irish lilt that moves the second vowel ahead of the”r”.  Some pronounce it like the word farm.  It’s Scottish-Celtic for a heap of rocks with a meaning.  A monument, if not a landmark.  Cairns are one of the best forms of aesthetic function you’ll ever come across.

A Good Sign

19 Sunday May 2013

Posted by in Running

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Jabe kissThe best thing I can say about my runs this weekend is that I got a haircut.  After letting my hair grow long over the winter, I’m back to short.  Not quite my typical buzz cut, but feels good running in the hot air.  I believe my running hat fits better too.

My pace hasn’t improved though.  I don’t know what happened but I slowed down a week and a half ago and can’t seem to get my speed back.  I can’t say for sure if it’s this little abdominal injury.  The pain from that recedes within the first mile to where I don’t notice it.  Being my core though it might be stealing my strength.  I don’t generally consider any issues above the knee to even be a running injury.  I have my PT visit scheduled for Monday.  It’ll be interesting to find out some details.  He’ll likely tell me it’s from turning 51.

I squeezed 3 quarter mile fartleks into my 7 miler Saturday.  Ran them in under a 6:30 mile pace.  I felt like I was nearly sprinting.  Hoping that will help my legs break out of this slow funk.  I have some tightness in my right hamstring now.  That’s something I’ve had before in some marathons so I need to stretch that puppy out.  A few other areas hurt too after those fartleks.  Interesting how running fast can highlight problem areas.

I ran the White Rock Trail this morning.  I literally ran into Keith on the trail, after having told him to run without me when he pinged me around 8am.  Pretty funny since we don’t normally run that trail.  Not sure why I wanted to run by myself today.  Maybe because I knew I’d be running so slow.  I maintained a decent pace though – 9:18 per mile for 12 miles.  What really felt good though was how strong I felt running up the hills.  My heart was never pounding like a drum and I was quick to recover after reaching the top of each hill.  This is a really good sign that I’m in good shape.  That’s what I like about this course.  After running this trail for 24 years, it serves as an indicator of my conditioning.  I have to be in half way decent shape just to complete the course without walking.

I’m kissing Jabe in this pic at the Left Hand Brewery to celebrate the completion of her USATF running coach certification.  And because I’d quaffed a few beers by that point.  This is my last weekend of prep for the Bolder Boulder 10K on Memorial Day.  I suspect I’ll start to taper next weekend.  I don’t know that I’m ready for the Steamboat Marathon the following weekend.  I’ll just run it slow.  I’m good at that.  My buddy Chris Price ran his first ever marathon today – the Colfax Marathon.  He ran it in 3:46 – an 8:40 pace.  Pretty impressive.

Imaginary Trail Race

22 Wednesday Aug 2012

Posted by in Running

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

The day after climbing Mount Audubon, I ran my usual 8 miles on the East Boulder Trail.  I start with the half mile hill climb to the water tower and turn around just past Valmont Road.  I cross the road and run to the first gate which is where I figure the 4 mile point is.  A few feet beyond the Teller Farm – North parking lot.  I then turn around for another mile of flat running before climbing back up the rolling hills that lead back to the water tower.

On Sunday’s return I passed up a young woman runner who was waiting for traffic at the Valmont Road cross walk.  I didn’t wait.  I darted across forcing the traffic to friggin stop.  It’s a cross walk.  It appeared this girl had just started her run from the parking lot.  A mile later I hit the first hill.  It’s brutally long.  It starts steep for about 200 yards and then stretches out with a continuous ascent for another quarter mile.  It turns 90° right (east) at the summit and holds essentially flat for nearly a quarter mile, before turning north again through yet more hills.

About three quarters through this flat section the girl (I can say girl because she’s at least half my age) passes by me.  It’s not unusual for other runners to pass me regardless of sex although they are typically younger.  This was odd in that I had passed her a mile and a half earlier as she was apparently warming up.  That might have been what woke me up from my recovery pace.  Whatever, the point is what I did next.  I determined I wasn’t as tired as my speed indicated.  I picked up my pace and passed her back within the next 200 yards.

I didn’t pass her so fast that she couldn’t have fended me off.  But I did begin to unwind and put some distance between us.  Turning to look over my shoulder at a bend a half mile later I noted that I had the same 50 yards on her that she had on me initially.  This means she let me gain a little ground but then picked up her pace to match mine.  With a mile and a half to go, and a monster hill, the question was would she try to retake me.  We had ourselves a little trail race.  How fun is that?

I was feeling and running strong.  I couldn’t stop her from catching me but I wasn’t going to let her pass.  I was confident I could hold her off.  That is until we reached the big final hill.  All bets were off then.  I couldn’t race that hill.  Most days I’m lucky to make it up without walking.  So I resigned myself to let her pass me on the hill if she was set on making her move then.  I know my limits.

Turns out she turned back around before the bottom of the hill.  She was evidently running 6 miles and avoiding the monster hill.  Just as well.  I was still racing her in my mind as I climbed it because I didn’t turn around to look for her until I reached the top.  She might not have ever been trying to catch me period but I was having a blast imagining she was.  Racing is a kick.

Hilltop High-Five

07 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by in Running

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

I ran ten miles today on a hilly trail without stopping.  That felt good.  What a difference 25° make.  Talk about feeling good though.  I ran up the hill that begins after 7 miles.  Something I couldn’t do without walking a couple of weeks ago in 100° heat.  This is a 150 foot elevation gain over a half mile.  The first half is about 100 of those feet, then it continues for another quarter mile with a more gradual climb.

This pretty girl running down from the other direction had a view of me running this second half.  This picture is a fairly accurate iStockPhoto.com representation of her, down to the gear and ponytail.  I generally wave at other runners and bikers with about a 30% wave back ratio.  This honey waved first with an unusually high wave.

I waved back – breathing too hard to say hi.  As my arm retreated I understood she wasn’t waving but rather she was going for a high five.  I rushed my arm back up in the air.  High fives can be hit and miss in a standing position – this took focus.  We were moving toward one another at probably a combined 14 miles per hour.  Given my fatigue and ethnicity, this had the odds of the bullets from two gunslingers colliding in the middle.  Slap!  This was possibly my best high five ever.

The girl had a huge smile and I got the impression she was saluting my efforts up the hill.  What a nice gesture.  What a coach!  Thank you to the pretty girl handing out high fives in the hills east of Boulder today.

La Sportiva

21 Sunday Aug 2011

Posted by in Running

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

New trail shoes.  My old ones died on the Colorado Trail.  I liked them so much though I bought the same pair again.  It was tempting to buy something different.  Something with some color.  But these La Sportivas have such good stability.  And the Gore-Tex really works to keep my feet dry – very important.  And for trail shoes, I don’t feel they are overly heavy.  I broke them in Saturday with a 13 mile run on the East Boulder/White Rock Trail.  I’m considering hanging the old ones on my office wall after I complete the CT in October.  A self-awarded trophy of sorts.  That’ll dress up the home office.