Holly and the Santa Fe ...Yay!

May 23, 2010
Santa Fe Trail
11.08 miles
1:46:48
9:38 min/mile

Holly called me last night and asked me if I would do an 11 mile run with her on Sunday. Sure! I needed more distance this weekend and had just had a little over 12 miles on Saturday. So we chatted a bit about where the best location would be and I convince her the Santa Fe would be great since I just did Barr Trail on Saturday with the guys. Okay by her and we met at 7am at the North Gate trailhead and elect to run up it to Monument and back.

What a great morning! There's a slight breeze; but, few clouds and a gorgeous view for us to enjoy. Holly said she wanted around 10 minute miles and I was hoping I could deliver after yesterday's run. With gear, gu, and water, we took off up the trail.

The Santa Fe Trail is my default trail. It's relatively flat with twists and turns for about four miles total within the USAF Academy. Other than that, you either are heading up it at a slight, steady, rate of incline or running down and benefiting from the lack of elevation at the same steady rate. In addition, it runs from Palmer Lake all the way down south of Colorado Springs which means I could conceivably run a 50+ mile training run on it -- a thought that has just dawned on me! Back to our morning run.

Running with Holly is quite different from running with the guys. Holly pushes me since she's a girl and can run better than I can. I can't throw down the "girl card" with her; I have to stay up with her. Also, running with Holly, we talk about a lot of things. Things you can't discuss with guys comfortably and things guys just don't get. For example, if you run with Chris -- got to talk bikes; he knows his bikes. Running with F - he's getting his Masters' has a grandkids. Running with Jeff - talk about Mike. Running with Mike - talk about Jeff! However, running with Holly, we talk about houses, kids, our aspirations, even fashion -- okay, that is a reference to a previous run and a discussion of jog bras that really made the guys uncomfortable! The entire run, Holly and I chat and enjoy the time on the trail.

In the middle of Monument, we reach the halfway point (5.5miles) and turn for our return trip down the trail. Of course our pace picks up headed down the trail and we enjoy that; however, continue our discussions about upcoming moves, what Holly will do when she retires (NORBA circuit if you ask me), and Dave's grad school.

After 11 miles, we come to our starting position and call it a day a little before 9am. What a great run! I apologize to Holly and tell her we didn't get 10min/miles ... we actually ran 9:38's. Yay!