January 24, 2010

Ute, Waldo, Longs Ranch, Barr Trail

19 miles

4.40 hours

What a long run and what a long time since I posted. I'll catch you all up with the last long run and then a summary of the last two weeks.

Sunday after the second winter series run was the Incline Club and the infamous double. Ute Pass Trail was great, icy after half way and then Waldo was pretty good on the way to the loop. The loop was icy and thank goodness I had my microspikes.

After Waldo, I headed up Longs Ranch Road and what a long road that really is. I knew I was one of the last ones attempting the double and therefore, I was out on that blinking long, uphill road all by myself, for a long, long, time.

Tracey told me a couple of weeks ago that I needed to look for the third J-pipe, that's where the trail back to Barr Trail was. Holy Cow!! Those J-pipes were further apart than I remembered and it was getting cooler the higher up I got.

Finally, after power hiking most of Longs Ranch Road I spotted the infamous 3rd J-pipe. Once there, I stopped to take a picture and low and behold, a runner and his dog came down Longs Ranch. He had gone up Barr Trail and was making a loop out of it. Thank goodness for me since after on the spur trail a bit, he came back toward me and told me there were two sets of prints and he wanted to make sure I got on the right trail. What a guy! It was the first time I had taken that trail and I would have been lost up there after 4 hours of uphill and ice.

He and his dog led me to safety and the Barr Trail. I was really surprised at myself. After two hours (I think) on LRR, I was able to run on the spur trail and ran down the entire Barr Trail. I decided not to jump trail at Hydro and take the Barr all the way down. Won't do that again. A whole lot of dog legs and some steps actually.

Ruxton and down to Memorial was slow but I was running! Whew. Finally at Memorial park and it was 19 miles and 4 hours and 40 minutes. Really long, long day.

After that long run, I have had some slow weeks. I hit Fox Run Park on Wednesday, January 27. I did not have my microspikes and I really should have, it was very, very icy. It was a slow run for about an hour.

Saturday, January 30 was an hour on the treadmill before 6 am just so I could make my Regis faculty meeting.

Sunday, another slow day with being prepared.

From there, last week was terrible. Lower back pain knocked me out and has kept me side-lined all week. Muscle relaxers are my new best friend! Actually, I have been really bummed this week because I have not been able to run. I know, I know, one week, even two, will not kill me but my body is telling me "I've gotta run, I've gotta run;" but the back says, walk like an old lady. Don't worry, actually called the chiro and my masseuse and hopefully between the two, I'll be back and running before Saturday's third Winter Series run. Hopefully.

There you are, a bad, bad ten days and I'm seriously bummed. Good news, last year, I did not hit 4.5 hours until March so I guess I'm not too far off the plan. I just really wanted to be better and stronger than last year. In the infamous words of Scarlett O'Hara, "AS God is my witness ..." I'll run harder and more this year!