Thursday, April 14, 2011

Timing is Everything

Easy jog/slog in the snow/slush on the backside route up Boulder's Green Mountain.


Time: 1:18
Distance: 5.43 miles
Effort: Easy
Weather: Sunny and cool

An hour or so post-lunch, I started thinking about running. Maya was with me at the office this morning, so I had to find a place where dogs could run off-leash and wouldn't be too muddy. The location also had to be in town, since JP and I commuted together this morning so she could attend a symposium at CU.

I dropped JV a note, since I knew he regularly runs the peaks with his dog, Sierra. Was the backside route on Green Mountain a designated off-leash area?  He quickly wrote back confirming that it, indeed, was and he and Scott Jurek were planning on running that route at exactly the same time I was hoping to get out. A plan was quickly hatched. Timing is everything.

Forty minutes later, JV, Maya and I were waiting at the mouth of Gregory Canyon for Scott to show up, which he did within minutes of my arrival.

After introductions, the leash came off and we headed up. Maya didn't know what to make of the group run vibe. She's never run with more than one person. Should I run up front? Should I run in front of Jim? How about brining up the rear?  She decided on all three, plus a lot of exuberant dashing up snowy hills. Her favorite spot, though, appeared to be right on Scott's heels.

There was a lot of heavy, slushy snow left on the trail as we splashed our way up at an easy pace, which was more than fine with me as I was still feeling yesterday evening's Mesa-Bear Canyon-Green run.  We hit the summit at around 44 minutes and spent five or six minutes chatting atop the summit rock.

Soon, we were splashing our way back down, with globs of slush splattering left and right with every step.  Good times.

2,388 feet o' elevation gain

5 comments:

  1. >Her favorite spot, though, appeared to be right on Scott's heels

    lol. He must be a dog person... or else he had food in his pocket ;)

    Must be great to be back out there on normal trail outings. I'm hoping to start up again soon, slowly.

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  2. Very cool you get to bring Maya to the office. I miss those days when I use to do that with Bisbee.

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  3. I guess it's an ok local scene when your lunch run is with JV and SJ.

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  5. MTR2 - Scott was sporting some sweet-looking new low-profile Brooks trail racer test shoes. Maybe she likes the smell of new shoes...?

    Jaime - I'm definitely practicing the "better to seek forgiveness later than ask permission today" thing w/ regard to dogs in the office. All my cubemates dig it...so, so far, so good.

    PG - Only in Boulder, eh

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