Sunday, July 7, 2013

Trail #5--Peaks Trail and a weekly recap

Last Sunday, Adam and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. Since we traveled to Michigan the week before, we didn't take a trip or anything, but went out to dinner in downtown Denver at a nice restaurant I've been wanting to try for awhile.  Maybe next year we will rent a house in Breckenridge for a few days to celebrate.
1 year ago in Breckenridge, CO
We also spent Saturday and Monday-Wednesday looking at a lot of houses.  The first house we looked at on Saturday was great--huge private back yard, updated, good price.  Unfortunately there were already 4 offers on it and the sellers were making their decision 1 hour after we saw it.  I need a little more time to make a decision than that.  We saw a couple other houses we really liked and one was also quickly under contract while another we thought about overnight and it went under contract too.  

On Wednesday, Adam saw a house he liked in the morning, so I left work to go look at it and a few other houses.  We put in an offer and by Wednesday night we were under contract.  So, we started the process on Saturday and were done by Wednesday (well at least with the search assuming all goes well).  

I ran a mile race on Thursday and relaxed most of the 4 day weekend if you can call racing a mile and trail running "relaxing".

On Friday, I took Mickey up to Frisco to run the Peaks trail.  It's an 8 or so mile trail that runs from Frisco to Breckenridge and I've been wanting to run or mountain bike it for awhile.  We got a late start, but thankfully it was cool (low 60's) and cloudy so it wasn't too hot.  

The plan was to start in Frisco and run to Breckenridge and back.  It seemed like the trail was going to be pretty easy to follow, so I didn't bring any map or directions.  I got off course early on and ended up running quite a bit out of the way.  After that I found the trail and stayed on it pretty well the rest of the way through until another wrong turn at the end. With my extra running in the beginning I didn't make it all the way to Breck.  I turned around at Cucumber Creek, which it turned out was only .6 miles from the Breck trailhead, but I didn't know that at the time and I was already 1:20 into the run and 5 mins past the time when I said I absolutely was going to turn around.

The trail was really nice--shaded a lot of the way and followed/crossed creeks which was great for Mickey to cool off and drink from.  It was really pretty and not super rocky. The elevation gain on the run was around 1700ft and most of that was on the way out, so the run back was mostly downhill and  the whole run was mostly gradual inclines and declines.  I'd like to go back and finish the whole run, but there are so many trails in the area that I want to explore, it may be awhile before I get back to it.

5 miles back to Frisco--I wasn't quite tired yet, but I was getting there!

There were so many beautiful wildflowers along the trail.

Mickey kept splashing in the creek to the left of the trail

This was my favorite part of the trail

Some of the peaks along the trail

One of the many bridges along the trail




The columbines were my favorite flower along the trail

Mickey leading the way

It only took 2 hours 40 minutes of running, but I finally wore out Mickey for a day
I got back to my car and was exhausted and frustrated after getting lost for awhile within a mile of the car.  I hadn't really planned on running more than 2:15, but I got caught up in the trails and the goal of making it all the way to Breck.  I opened the back door of the truck to let Mickey in and the wind caught the door, blew it all the way open and into the car next to me.  The car door blew into the handle of the car next to me and was stuck.  Seriously, what are the chances of this happening?  I was so tired and just wanted to go home and now I was stuck to another car!  I called Adam and he called the local Sheriff's Dept and after waiting awhile, two Sheriffs showed up.  They laughed at the situation, then they and another guy in the parking lot tipped the other car enough so that I could close the door.  I'm glad I finally got to leave with neither car damaged, but it was just so random at the end of a long hard day.
My door wedged into the other car's door handle.
On Saturday, Adam and I took Frito and Mickey up to Lair o' the Bear which is one of my favorite parks.  I ran with Frito and Adam played fetch with Mickey in the creek.
Running with Mr. Frito
Mickey waiting for a stick to be thrown.
The 4 day weekend went by way too fast.  

Friday, July 5, 2013

2013 Superior Downhill Mile Race Report

I decided to race a road mile on 4th of July because I'd never done a mile on the road before and it sounded like fun.  I haven't been doing much short speed work (or enough longer speed work while were on the subject), so I wasn't really sure what to expect in terms of time.  I ran a 5k in this area back in December and the start and part of the first mile was along this course and I ran the first mile in 5:55.  So I figured since I didn't have to keep running after the mile was over a 5:35-5:40 would be a good guess for my time.

I got in around a 3.25 mile warmup with part of it being a run down the course and then back up.  It was a nice gradual downhill most of the way.  As I was running back up to the start, I was running a little short on time.  I had to push the pace a bit to get back to my car, have my gu, change into my racing flats, and wait in one of two very slow moving bathroom lines.  After waiting for 10+ minutes in a bathroom line, it was a couple minutes to the start and so everyone in the line bailed and ran to the start.  I wish I hadn't wasted all that time in line when I could have been doing some strides/jogging some more.

I wasn't quite sure where to line up.  There were a lot of fast guys and girls there.  In the end, 3 guys went under 4 and 4 women were under 4:45.  I ended up lining up 4-5 rows back, behind several faster looking people, but ahead of the really small children and next to a fast looking 12 year old and some guys that were probably around my speed.

The gun went off and my legs just didn't turnover as fast as I wanted.  Several people ran past me and I just kept trying to convince my legs to move. After 300 meters or so I started passing a lot of people that started out too fast (a problem I don't have in a race this short).  I never felt like I was moving very fast, I was just going along with the flow of the crowd, which was fun!  I passed a traffic light in the middle of the course at 3:15 which I knew was probably around 650m or less to go.  Not long after this a woman (a coach I'm guessing) started screaming from the sidelines and then I heard her jump into the race behind me and keep screaming at a woman behind me.  She ran at least a quarter mile with the woman until 100m or so to go (after they had passed me) when she jumped off the course.   I got a little distracted by it. I probably should have focused ahead on keeping contact with the high school and junior high girls ahead of me and letting them pull me to a faster time instead of letting that distract me.

I finished with a gun time of 5:33 and a chip time of 5:31.5 and 17th overall female and 9th in the 20-39 age group. A little better time than I expected so I'm happy with it.

It was really fun because it was over so quick.  I don't have the leg speed yet to really hurt in a mile, so once I got to the finish I felt like I could have run another mile at the same pace.  At least that's what I like to tell myself :)  I'd like to do another mile race after I am in a little speedier shape.  There is one next Wednesday in Boulder, but that doesn't give me time to get in shape.  After that I only know of 1500's on the track, so I may just do one of those.  I definitely liked the feel of the road mile with all the people around.


Looking cool and calm heading to the finish.  

And then the ugly pain face going to the finish. Maybe I couldn't have run another mile after all :)