Black and Blue

If you told me I could not run for a set peroid of time I really wouldn't know what to do with myself.  I love to run, if I can not run I feel lost, like I am missing something.  Running makes me a better person, it helps me think thru tough decisions, it allows me to release all my tensions, sometimes I run until I am completely empty and all I feel is the earth beneath my feet and the wind wrapping their arms around me.

On Sunday I almost took a good digger coming down Barr Trail.  I was able to catch myself and keep going, but the stress that I put on my left knee was more then it could handle.  I am usually pretty cautious when it comes to my knees.  I have already had knee surgery and I really don't want to repeat it. 

I woke up this morning and had noticed that my LT knee was a shade darker then it was the day before.  Feeling a little nervous about the potential of hurting my knee again I thought it would be a good idea to swing into the athletic trainers office and have him take a look at it.  One of the perks of working in  a High School, besides having access to an ice bath whenever I need it.


After a bit of poking, pulling and pushing he told me that I have a bruised patella tendon.  Everything is well intact which I was happy to hear and I thought that was the case.  He told me that I can keep my mileage the where it but I just need to keep an eye on it.  If I start to feel pain then I need to back off on my run.  So basically just baby the thing I should be back to normal in two to three weeks.

I took a picture of my knee this morning and you can see the shade of purple that it has become.

Wow! I really need to get some sun my legs! I have a run tonight at Red Rock Open Spaces which I am looking forward to.  So, I hope my knee can keep up.  Saturday is my first race of the Summer Series, fingers crossed that I am back to my normal self sooner than later!

”I run in the snow, rain, wind and heat. I run until I cannot run anymore then I run some more. I run thru the blur of tears, the aches and pains and then I keep going. I have more running clothes than some running stores, I know Fartklet does not mean like it sounds. I go to bed at 9pm; I get up early just to do it all over again. Why do I do this? Because I am a runner and that's who I am"

Barr Camp

Today my running partner Kim and I made plans to hike to Barr Camp.  Since this was my first time up to Barr Camp, I found it to be an interesting hike.

Kim and I planed to meet at 7am.  We ended up parking together and gearing up at the cars. Very glad I decided to bring my layers.

As you can see it is sunny my Jeep said it was 40 degrees out.  We started out to Barr Camp via the Incline. 

It was a little crowded today even at 7am, but we made our way up.  Today I got to the top in 59 minutes. Kimmy was not to far behind me.  I ran into an old coworker and he took a picture for us, to document our journey.

On the way to Barr Camp after going the extended route. Four miles to go, sounds easy right? Pfh, did I mention that you gain another 1,800 feet in elevation?

Almost there! Why am I doing squats? I only have another 1.5 miles to go till we get to Barr Camp.

At last! Barr Camp covers 2 acres and has a small house that has snacks and drinks for purchase.  After Kim and I had a snickers bar some water and a trip to the Loo, we headed back down.

I decided that I wanted to climb on top of this rock and pose. I must say that this picture rocks!



”I run in the snow, rain, wind and heat. I run until I cannot run anymore then I run some more. I run thru the blur of tears, the aches and pains and then I keep going. I have more running clothes than some running stores, I know Fartklet does not mean like it sounds. I go to bed at 9pm; I get up early just to do it all over again. Why do I do this? Because I am a runner and that's who I am"

My First Time

I will admit I was a little hesitant about "it".  I've thought about "it" a few times.  Most of the time it was the heat of the moment on a trail or on a hike when I wished I would have done "it" already.

I was told that I should give it a try and see what I think about it. I was warned to start out slow and to only do it for a short time, because I might be sore for a little bit; but the more I do it the less it will hurt.  So after checking out a few different ones, I decided that I was finally ready to do "it".  Now I can finally understand what everyone is talking about.  I don't know what I was holding out for?  It wasn't that bad at all.

What is it that I am talking about?

The all mighty pair of trail running shoes!

Aren't these the sexiest pair of shoes you have ever seen?

I gave em' a spin the other day and I was highly impressed with the over all traction of these bad boys. The trail I was on had a few tight switchbacks that were going down hill.  I mean one wrong slip and I would have fallen down and gotten hurt pretty bad.  I wouldn't have died or anything, but I wouldn't have been happy.

Some specs on these Salomon Speedcross 3 Trail Running shoes for Women.  The shoes are pretty flexible and light weight.  They weigh 9.2 oz which happen to be slightly lighter then my Brooks.  I felt like my foot "stuck" to the trail even in the loose gravel sections.  Before I got to the trail I tested them out on hard surfaces.  I do not recommend this, mostly because you will wear out the soles of the shoes and when you are dropping a bit of cash on shoes you want them to last!

These happen to be my first pair of quick lace shoes.  I was a little worried that the lace would give out and the shoe would loosen.  The lace stayed tight and the "hugging" feeling I got from the lace was great. My other shoes are good too, but I never had the hug that these shoes give you.

I plan to taken these out this weekend and give em a go on the Incline.  I have a feeling that I will get way better traction on the Barr Trail then I did in my Brooks, good bye slipping and sliding hello traction!

So Jeff I  may have just officially crossed over and joined the trail running community.  You can thank Kim for that, she said I would covert soon enough. 

 

”I run in the snow, rain, wind and heat. I run until I cannot run anymore then I run some more. I run thru the blur of tears, the aches and pains and then I keep going. I have more running clothes than some running stores, I know Fartklet does not mean like it sounds. I go to bed at 9pm; I get up early just to do it all over again. Why do I do this? Because I am a runner and that's who I am"

Catamount Trail

After spending some time looking at trails in the Colorado area, I came across Catamount Trail.  The trail is located in the little town of Green mountain Falls, CO.  Pass. The trail took me 3 1/2 hours to complete the 6 mile round trip only stopping for picture and a snack stop. Elevation gain of 1,700 ft the highest point being 9,200ft at Catamount Reservoir.

The trail was rebuilt in 1997 and rated "moderate".   To get to the trail head you will need to park on Hondo road and hike about 3/4th of a mile to get to the trail head.

The trail head starts out a bit rocky with a few tight switchbacks and scales up the side wall of Slot Canyon.

The first mile up the side wall was a little bit of a work out.  If you can scale up the Incline then this would be just fine for you, but the steps are a little steeper.

You can see Ute Pass just thru the trees right before you get to the top.  Which will slope downwards toward the Garden of Eden. 

There is a little stream that you will pass by just before the Garden of Eden.  I saw little fish swimming down stream. 

Since it is still very early spring, the meadow was not in blum, I would like to go back and see it in full blum.  The meadow is sourded heavy rock walls of granite boulders.  It was windy, but down in the medow the rock walls kept the wind out.

Rock walls in the Garden of Eden

 After you pass thru the Garden of Eden you will find yourself passing thru some large boulders along the stream.

You will approach a dirt path, you will want to take the trail that leads slightly down wards then up to the Catamount Reservoir.

The reservoir was still slightly frozen over but the views were still stunning. You are looking at the back side of Pikes Peak. If you look very carefully you are able to see the house on top of Barr Trail

”I run in the snow, rain, wind and heat. I run until I cannot run anymore then I run some more. I run thru the blur of tears, the aches and pains and then I keep going. I have more running clothes than some running stores, I know Fartklet does not mean like it sounds. I go to bed at 9pm; I get up early just to do it all over again. Why do I do this? Because I am a runner and that's who I am"

Manitou Incline

Today I met up with Kim to do the Manitou Incline. It has been a while since I have last done the Incline and frankly I have been a little hesitant since the last time I did it I couldn't finish it.  When you look up, you see this:

Little intimidatinging huh?

BTW.... there is only one way up once you start.

The base sits at 6,530ft and the top is 8,550ft. The climb up is just about one mile so your quads and lungs get quite the work out.

As I took on the climb, first thing I noticed, is that I was able to keep a pretty good pace, just stopping to take a drink of water and take pictures. I can tell the spin classes and the hill runs, have made my legs so much stronger. That and I am in much better physical shape then I was the first time I did this.  There were some people that passed me on the way up, but thank goodness I did not get lapped like my first time.

Once I got to the top, I was hot and sweaty. As I waited for Kim to finish coming up, the wind started up and that started to chill me. We do our usual photo pose at everything we do.

We decided that we would do the extended loop and run down the Barr Trail. The trail had an icy spot between some rocks that startled me a little, but over all the Trail was pretty clean and free from snow. Few loose rocks here and there but over all a nice jog down.

Time to get up 00:50:18
Total time with the extended loop 1:58:43


”I run in the snow, rain, wind and heat. I run until I cannot run anymore then I run some more. I run thru the blur of tears, the aches and pains and then I keep going. I have more running clothes than some running stores, I know Fartklet does not mean like it sounds. I go to bed at 9pm; I get up early just to do it all over again. Why do I do this? Because I am a runner and that's who I am"