Saturday's Run

December 5, 2009 / 8:00am
Distance: 5.46 miles
Time: 48:46

Santa Fe Trail from Cache Le Poudre up and back

A flurry of emails the night before from my ad hoc running friends and a set time and place for Saturday's run finalized. It's agreed; meet at Cache at 8am and run.

The temperature outside was 22 degrees; a virtual heatwave compared to two days ago. I wore two thin layers; this time with a fleece overall. My quads were still a little tight from the Incline two days ago; but overall, not feeling too bad.

Finally, Bob, Mike, Chris and I opened the car doors and headed out for our run. Our group has changed over the years. I've only started running with these guys two years ago; and a couple more have come on board since I've started with others leaving. The core group of guys have known each other for a long time and have run various races together throughout the years. The stories they tell of when they were in their "prime" are hilarious. Of course, Bob later pointed out over bagels, coffee and chocolate milk that they never had a "prime!"

Back to the run. We started slow, going up behind Colorado College, past Unitah and around the soccer field to the second bridge by the railroad track. There we stopped, stretched and enjoyed the break. Chris asked if I was out of sorts since I didn't say much on the way out. Nope, just can't talk and run and keep up with you guys at the same time.

The run down was very nice. No jack rabbits today and we all ran together, something I really like. The pace was smooth and the trail had been graded recently so no major bike ruts. A really, very, nice run overall. The marathon a month ago helped me keep a pretty even pace throughout and I was pleased I was able to rejoin the guys without difficulty when we divided for fellow runners on the trail.

We finished with one final loop back to the parking lot and were pleasantly surprised to find out the overall pace was sub nine; even with the increased grade on the way out. The weather was absolutely perfect; or maybe I was dressed just right.

Afterwards, bagels on Bob and story time! Chris once again told me he's in as a pacer for Leadville. Mike stated I could keep him in the back pocket as an alternate if need be, and Bob; well, Bob can't decide yet if he's running the Ascent or the Pikes Peak Marathon yet. If he does the Ascent, he said he would pace me up Hope Pass and then Chris would get me over Sugarloaf. We have time to clean up the details and think about all that later.

Tomorrow, the forecast is for snow and Tracey wants to do 14 miles. Maybe I'll take my ski gloves!