Weekly Roundup - May 29 - June 4th

Frustratingly complex work/family schedule combined with available "beginning-a-taper" excuse led to a pretty damn lame week o' running. Still searching for my running mojo. If you've seen it anywhere, let me know.

Wait...is that my running mojo standing on an Evergreen street corner?

Sunday - Off

Monday - Alderfer-Three Sisters: 6 miles; 1:01; 1,000 feet o' elevation gain. Nice dog jog from the park's upper parking lot. Ran down through Alderfer, around the rocks on the Secret Trail, then down into Blair Ranch. Took a detour to explore a well-trod social trail that headed off to the west. Beautiful terrain over there.

Tuesday - Elk Meadow: 4.51 miles; 36:27, 626 feet o' elevation gain. Squeezed in a brief birthday jog between kids and work.

Wednesday - Errands:  3.58 miles; 29 minutes, 344 feet o' elevation gain. Dropped off the car at a local shop for some repairs. Chased jP on his mountain bike all the way home. The kid can cruise on the downhills.

Thursday - Bergen Peak Trail Out-and-Back: AM - 7.03 miles; 1:17; 1,533 feet o' elevation gain. Pressed for time (again), ran from the house up the Bergen Peak Trail at Elk Meadow Open Space. Cruised up to the intersection with the Summit Trail. Finally...some heat, and a whole lot of wind howling in from the west. Maya was dragging in the heat.

PM - 4 miles, 45 minutes: Drove out to Nathrop, Colorado (between Buena Vista and Poncha Springs in the Arkansas Valley) to meet up with some friends to celebrate Stevie's 50th b-day. Got out with the crew for a four-mile run up a dirt road near the rental house. Everyone else, including jP and CP, were on mountain bikes. Ran a bunch of the ups with hands on jP's and CP's backs, pushing 120+ pounds up the steeper stuff. Good Hard workout. Not sure how JV and TW do it!

The driveway leading to the Nathrop rental house with the Collegiate Peaks in the distance.

Friday - Off  (Drive home from Arkansas Valley)

Saturday - Bergen Peak Summit: 11.01 miles; 1:54, 2,211 feet o' elevation gain. Ran again from the house and took the Bergen Peak and Summit Trails up to the summit. Felt great on this run...just cruising with no leg fatigue. Lots of people on the trail, which kept the run interesting. Even saw a handful of runners on the Summit Trail leg...not a usual experience. Chatted at the summit with a Denver guy wearing a Sageburner 50 shirt. Maya had a blast on this run...just trotting along. Two springs were still running on northeast side of the peak along the Too Long Trail, so between the water I brought and the springs, she was well sated.  Once down from the peak, we ran over to the mechanic's place and picked up the car I dropped off on Wednesday.

Spent the evening in Boulder with good friends. Great meal at Salt and a groovy ethereal vibe at the Boulder Theater watching Iron and Wine.

Reflections:  Pretty lame week with a whopping 36.1 miles in 6:05 with 7,323 feet o' elevation gain. A couple of decent days, but mostly low-mileage junk. I had planned an easy week with the San Juan Solstice 50 coming up on June 18th. Probably took it too easy, though. Had a hard time getting out as much as I wanted to since this is a week between the end of school for the kids and the start of camp. So, I could only get out in very limited windows.