Friday, August 27th - off. Family in town. Feeling sluggish.
Saturday, August 28th - 7.13 miles; 1:08. Ran from the house and explored a few neighborhoods between the house and Dedisse Park looking for social trails. Found a good connector trail from Troutdale that runs behind the Evergreen Cemetery into parts of Dedisse I had not explored. Legs felt flat.
Sunday, August 29th - 8 miles; 1:30; 1,537 feet of elevation gain. Headed over to the Mt. Evans State Wildlife Management Area. Felt terrible. Never got into a groove. Every hill was an effort. Not fun. Not sure what was going on.
Monday, August 30th - 5.35 miles; 50 minutes. Ran from home and did 98 percent of the Meadow View Loop in Elk Meadow Open Space. Cut it a bit short by stopping at the kids' school and walking them home. A very nice way to end a run. Felt crappy again on the run. No pep. Fatigued.
Tuesday, August 31st - 11.46 miles; 1:34. Ran from hotel in the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington, VA over Key Bridge and up the "Exorcist stairs" near Georgetown University.
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| Stairs near Georgetown University featured in the movie The Exorcist. Photo by Reznicek11. |
From there, I did a big loop by running up Wisconsin Avenue a couple miles past the National Cathedral, hung a right and eventually made my way to Connecticut Avenue and found the Soapstone Valley Trail which led me into the depths of Rock Creek Park. From here in the upper reaches of the park, I hopped ran on a series of bike paths and singletrack to the spot where the park ends at the mouth of the C&O Canal. I then hung a right and followed the old canal's towpath back to just below Key Bridge. After a quick sprint across the bridge, I was back at the hotel drenched and very, very ready for some food and drink.
Legs felt a bit better today, but still dragging a bit. The high heat and humidity sure didn't help.
Wednesday, September 1 - 10 miles; 1:19 - Another post-work running tour of the Washington, D.C. sites. From the hotel, I ran by the Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, the Lincoln, Vietnam War, Korean War, WWII and Washington Monuments, the Smithsonian Museums, around the U.S. Capitol and back. Another hot, humid night. Tons of people out playing organized ultimate, kickball and softball on the Mall.
Legs were comfortably fatigued tonight. Didn't feel mysteriously wasted, as I did late last week and through the weekend. Still not 100 percent, though.
Hoping to put together a solid rest of the week, with a 10 miler and, perhaps, a 30-miler this weekend. The Steamboat 50 is looming and I haven't run more than 27 miles at a stretch since Lake City in June. That said, the 27 mile Pawnee-Buchanan Pass Loop was solid, as was the Pikes Peak double weekend. Still, I'm feeling the need to get in one more solid long run before the final race o' the season.
If anyone is up for something long, perhaps in the Mt. Evans Wilderness, drop me a line.
I've never run in Arlington, but I've run a bit at the Mall in D.C. What an absolutely great outdoor space that that is, with the huge lawn and the Monument at the end, and all the other historic structures around. Definitely worthy of a national capital.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of social trails in Evergreen, do you happen to know of anything between the town and Pence Park, which don't involve running through Shotgun Willy's backyard? I've had this idea of running from Green Mountain in Lakewood to Evergreen and that's the missing link (vs. running on the highway, which I don't want to do).
I ran in the Marine Corp Marathon with a friend last October. He pointed out those steps when we ran by them.
ReplyDeleteI'm heading to Crested Butte this weekend and hope to get in a 20 miler over there. I'd love to hit up the Mt. Evans area if you ever head back.
MTR2 - I think you could work your way across Pence Park via social trails and route finding to Independence Trail and follow that northwest to Fern Gulch Road. As I recall, Fern Gulch turns into a rough, not-maintained dirt road and snakes down the side of Bear Mountain. You might then be able to work your way to downtown Evergreen via the hodge-podge of roads on the northwest side of the mountain. Google maps also shows that Independence Trail and Hilltop Drive connect to the north side of the mountain above downtown, but I didn't think that went through. Let me know if you piece it together. I assume you're going to run up through Mt. Falcon and through Indian Hills, or do you have another route west planned?
ReplyDeleteWoody - if you're up near Gothic, the Cooper Lake Trail is a personal fave. Leads into the Snowmass-Maroon Bells Wilderness. It's 13.2 miles roundtrip to the lake and back, but the trail continues up to a couple different passes, so you can add more miles and vert there. The views from the lake are fantastic. You also could add miles via the 401 Trail, which intersects w/ the Copper Lake trail at its mouth near Gothic. Enjoy the trip!
> I assume you're going to run up through Mt. Falcon and through Indian Hills
ReplyDeleteExactly, just running down the road from the west Falcon lot to Pence.
But you reminded me of a mention of a connector between Mt. Falcon and O'Fallon or Lair o' the Bear. It might even have been your site, but I can't remember. That would be good too.
I notice on your post "Tour de Bear Canyon Parks" you've had the pleasure of running on highway 74 in the dark. I did that when I ran on the day of the fall time change and I was off by one hour on the sunset time. D'oh. It was either that, or run 6 miles through O'Fallon in the dark.
I think I just need to do some exploring in Pence Park. I'll let you know if I find something.
Thanks!
Thanks for the info about the Cooper Lake Trail. I'll tuck that one away for another trip. We were over off Kebler Pass at Lake Irwin and I wanted to run from the campground. I ended up climbing Ruby Peak, Mt. Owen, and Purple Peak. I'll post a write up shortly, but let's just saying it wasn't the best "running" trail.
ReplyDeleteJim, I know this is an old post, but I just moved to evergreen on Independance trail and I'm trying to find a way of connecting it with Pence Park. Did you have any luck?
ReplyDeleteI haven't been back over there...or examined Google maps...to confirm. I did run from the bottom of Pence Park to the top and found a road, so I presume there's a reasonable way to connect the base of the park w/ the roads that would get you down to Evergreen. I know there's an old, now-unused fire road that descends the west side of Bear Mountain. Drop me a line some time and let's go run!
ReplyDelete