Incline Club Run

January 3, 2010 / 8:00 am

Ute Pass, Longs Ranch, Barr Trail

11.6 miles

2:46 hours

Today I ran with the Incline Club. I wanted some distance; however Tracey needed 18 miles and I did not feel up to that distance after the previous two days. So I declined to run the Santa Fe with Tracey and Louisa and braved the Incline Club by myself. Overall, I have been pleasantly surprised at how nice everyone is and how much flexibility you have in the runs. It's quite nice to pick which distance you want to run and know that whatever you pick, you will not be the only one to run it or on that trail.

Today, however, I was virtually by myself for most of the run with the exception of the run up and out of Manitou when there are quite a few runners heading up hill. By Ute Pass, we stretched out with some tackling the Barr Trail and others slugging up Ute Pass. Today, the snow was much nicer and easier to run on than 3 weeks ago on Ute Pass. I hated Ute Pass then, today, I merely disliked it.

At the Y, or decision point, I decided to continue up Longs Ranch Road, the first time I've done this particular run, instead of turning right and doing the Waldo loop. Tracey gave me the low down the night before regarding LRR on what to look out for and when to turn. Despite her excellent directions complete with, "The second J pipe is not the third even though it has a 3 on it," I still messed up and turned too soon at the top!

Once I turned on LRR, I chatted briefly with John (I believe) who turned with me. He ran the Leadville 100 this past year and finished, evidenced by a very cool tattoo on his calf. He told me once you think LRR isn't so bad, it gets worse. I thanked him for the heads up and began my slog up this road.

Thank goodness others had gone before me and mushed the snow down some; however, the snow on the road was very similar to Ute Pass 3 wks ago. Yuck. I ran when I could; but, I must admit, most of this road was power hiking for me. I just kept thinking what Hope Pass would be like in August and that kept me motivated.

After the third J pipe, I stopped and waited for another runner behind me to catch up. He had two doggies with him and they had boundless energy. Once he drew abreast, I asked where the trail led that was off to the left and how far up LRR was Bob's cutoff. He told me I had less than a mile to climb to the next trail down to the Barr Trail. I thought that must be Bob's so I thanked him and continued up the road.

The picture at the top is Longs Ranch Road. This was one of two I took; however, the other one came out pretty bad since the camera on my phone kind of froze up at this point on the road. Yup, it was pretty cold up there. Thank goodness the sun was out.

Since Ute Pass, I was behind three runners who had continued up; however, because I waited at the third J pipe, they pulled away and I never made contact again with them. Rats, It was kind of nice coming around a dog leg every now and then and seeing them ahead of me. In addition, I was fielding phone calls trying to coordinate the cadets waiting at the airport with my husband who went in my stead to pick them up and had to pull my phone out each time. Poor Rick, he made 3 trips to the airport in toto.

After cresting LRR, I had a wonderful view of snow covered Pikes Peak and a nice flat piece to run. I saw a pretty well-defined trail branch off to the left after about a mile or less and thought I'd better take it since this was a new run for me and now I was pretty much on my own. I was also running low on my gel blasts (1 left) and thought, all things considered, it was the wiser move to make.

The run down was snowy and slightly steep and pretty soon I popped out at No Name on the Barr Trail and chatted with a hiker named Clyde waiting for his party to catch up with him. He plans to summit the Peak next weekend. This weekend, he and his friends were going to Barr Camp and then turning around. Next week, Barr Camp on the first day and hiking to the top on the second day.

After making sure which branch was the Barr Trail and saying goodbye, I began the wonderful run down the Barr Trail. I took it a slower than usual since there were some icy spots on it and I'm a virtual Chicken when it comes to ice. I've done 180's and Hamil Camels on ice in runs in the past. Finally past the icy parts, I stretched my legs and allowed gravity to do its work.

I don't consider this running. I liken it to floating, I float down the trail and enjoy it. Yes, I know, I could run it; but it's so much fun to just float down.

I took the Hydro branch and slowed again when I hit pavement. At Ruxton I saw another runner ahead of me and made him my goal. Whew! It took me all of Ruxton and almost to Memorial Park before I caught him. Poor guy, my spikes on my shoes just clicked away behind him the whole time. Yes, I did run down Ruxton. I used my arms, my legs, everything - I was beat by the end of the run.

At Memorial, I saw John again who was behind me on LRR. He explained he took the spur at the 3rd J pipe. After stretching, drinking my Ensure, grabbing fries and a diet coke at McDonald's, I drove home -- a hot bath awaited!