Palmer Park

February 20, 2010

Palmer Park

5.1 miles

54:12 minutes

Finally! I get to run with the guys! It's been a coon's age and I was really excited to meet up with them. A wrong turn and a little lost; but I finally made it to the meet point.

Palmer Park is great! It's in the middle of Colorado Springs; yet it is wild and has wonderful trails that are fantastic for running or mountain biking. I guess you could hike them as well!

We started at the Maizeland entrance to Palmer Park and took a series of trails looping the park. F took the lead because he actually got on line the night before to get the trail names. At each trail intersection point, he knocked the snow off the sign to see if we were heading in the right direction. I pulled in behind Dano and Mike, Jeff, and Bob followed.

After a few false trails, unfamiliar snow covered terrain, we managed to loop the park pretty successfully. It was great! Beautiful after last night's snow and it was still cold enough that the trees were encrusted with ice. Absolutely fantastic running -- quiet, few people, up and downs, and great friends.

My back was great. My legs were a little tired and the hamstring twinged a bit at the beginning but seemed to calm down; that is, until I stretched it on a wonderful, long, downhill section that just begged me to run.

After I hit the end of that stretch and started up the next rise, my hamstring told me in no uncertain terms how much it hated me. I had to shorten my stride, even on the downward sloping parts of the trail. Serious pain here; but hey, almost done with the run and it was virtually all downhill. Me, not take advantage of that? Ha!

At the end of the trail, F gave me a serious run for the money and pulled ahead of me until I caught my breath and told my legs to stretch it out. I did have an unfair advantage though over the guys -- I had my microspikes on and they are my "magic shoes" when running snow-covered, ice-encrusted, mountain bike-rutted trails.

At the end of the run, I walked the last tenth to try and stretch that hamstring. It was in the parking area and flat across the grassy field, not on the trail! That would be wrong!

Afterwards, breakfast and serious anniversary gift-giving advice for F who ran on his anniversary with us! If you ask me, dog-house if he doesn't go home with jewelry!