The Bloody Incline

January 16, 2010

The Incline and Barr Trail

5.89 miles

1:24 hours

I'm going to kill F. Truly. "Wanna run the Incline?" was the email sent out Friday night. Sure. Why not? It's not like I'm still so darn tired. Jeff, Mike and I took F up on his offer. To be fair, he gave us the option of Incline or Barr Trail. Well, I'm supposed to run the Barr Trail tomorrow with the Incline Club so Incline it is.

Instead of meeting them at the start of the Incline, I decided to park in Manitou and run up Ruxton to get my legs warmed up and ready. I cut the distance in half from where the Incline Club parks (Memorial Park) on Sundays just to be nice to myself.

Once at the bottom of the Incline, I met F going back to his car for his Yakx. Thank goodness I carried my micro spikes with me. Jeff and Mike had their screw shoes on so finally, all of us were ready for the Incline when F returned.

My best time thus far (only twice before) has been 46 minutes. That was my goal today given the snow and ice on the incline. I hit the start button on my garmin and started my slow slog up. Some military guys started about the same time as I and they bounded up past me. That's okay. About half way up the Incline, I passed the leader of them. After passing a couple of them, I overhead one say to the other, "This is worse than Afghanistan." You betcha.

I tried to keep my pace steady and paused only once to chat with two other hikers who wanted to know how far up to the top.

After reaching the top; I checked my garmin: 44:20. Yess! A new PR on that sucker; and this time, I didn't feel like puking. Probably means I didn't push it hard enough; but I got what I wanted, a better time.

After catching our breath, we headed up the trail to catch the Barr Trail proper. Once on it, the guys were flabbergasted - I was running fast, downhill, on ice! Yup, those micro spikes are a godsend. I actually enjoyed it and never slipped or felt out of control. Of course, with injury constantly in the back of my mind, I didn't open it to full throttle either. I just don't want to do something stupid that slide lines me for six weeks and cramps my training.

Once we hit the bottom, I continued down to my car while the guys peeled off below the Cog Railway for their vehicles. We met for breakfast at La Casita and was treated to a great Mexican breakfast, courtesy of Jeff. I guess it will be my turn next time!