Over the past two months I’ve been to Moab twice and Mississippi once so it’s been nice the past several weekends to be able to hang out closer to home and enjoy all the great things the backyard has to offer. From running and climbing in the local hills, to BBQ with friends, to relaxing at home with a good movie and most of all enjoying all of this with minimal vehicle travel time. It’s also allowed me to get back to a much more consistent and focused training routine.
Bogie and Amanda heading in a very green Horsetooth Mountain Park. 4/13/13.
With the Boulder hills being a bit muddy and snowy, this weekend I was able to convince my friends Bogie and Amanda to head North to Loveland for a run of the Blue Sky trail. For those unfamiliar, the Blue Sky trail is a wonderful 10.5-11.5mile long trail that stretches from Hwy 34 in Loveland to Horsetooth Reservoir in Fort Collins. A mix of rolling single track, wide double track, and a few technical sections, it offers a nice day of runnable terrain (also bike friendly). Saturday’s weather was looking promising ahead of the snow storm that was supposed to hit Monday-Wednesday so we made the trek out of the bubble to the Devil’s Backbone trailhead, where our adventure would begin.
The trail was smooth and dry, and it felt great just to get out and run again after having slogged through the snow and mud all week long in the Boulder hills. We saw a few friendly Fort Collins faces, but the trail was surprisingly quiet for a 60F Saturday in April, no complaints here. In addition to our run on the Blue Sky trail we added the Indian Summer loop both ways and another loop up Towers Rd and down Stout in Horsetooth Mt Park bringing our daily total to 30miles/4600ft in just under six hours. Sometimes it’s nice to venture a little ways from home, but not too far, as a reminder of how many great places the Colorado Front range has to offer.
Ascending Fern canyon to Bear Peak, frosty trail and trees ahead. 4/14/13.
View from the summit of Green Mt looking toward downtown Boulder. 4/14/13.
On Sunday 4/14/13 I went back to my old hometown favorite, a combination of BearPeak and GreenMountain. My systems were a little off Sunday morning, something that would unfortunately stick with me through the whole run. As I climbed up FernCanyon toward BearPeak I found a fresh coat of snow and ice frosting the very top of the peak. The lightly frosted trees made for a nice contrast against the green valley below. I kept plugging along, occasionally fighting the bitter cold wind that was gusting out of the west. My body finally eased into the run on the downhill, allowing me to move a little faster across the West ridge and back up Green-Bear to the summit of Green Mt. The sun was finally starting to warm the air and melt some of the fresh snow as I made my way down BearCanyon back home. I’d only covered 13miles/4000ft on Sunday’s run, but it was a decent effort after the long day on Saturday and put me right at my weekly goal of 70miles/14000ft.
With four weeks until Quarock, I’ve got two more weeks of hard training before a nice little slow down. Then its ramp back up in hopeful preparation for Hardrock (now 4th on the waitlist!). While I wouldn’t consider myself a home body, its been really nice the past few weeks to adventure closer to home. I am due for a mountainous adventure though, so I expect a little skiing or mountaineering in my near future. Even though I (like most) love to travel and adventure, its nice to know that when I come home there is no shortage of great places right in my own backyard. I’d implore all of you out there in interweb land to look around for the same. No matter where you live there is something unique and different nearby, embrace it for what it is, and get out and enjoy the experiences your hometown has to offer. Run fast, run healthy, but mostly run happy.
Evening run up Bear Canyon. Snow pounding Colorado, over a foot and still coming down, 4/15/13 7pm.