In Transition

Yesterday evening I finally escaped for a run. I ran the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day and was content with 49:22 for the 10K. I had done a lot of hill work prior to the race which evidently is not the same as speed work so I was a little slower than I had hoped. We have been busy with one priority or another for days and we also spent four days in a heavy haze from the Arizona wildfire so it was just as well I didn't run. The day after the race I got out with Alex for a 4 mile run and the only other run before last night was a three mile jog with Elliott in the running stroller so when I hopped off the motorcycle to run with the Boulder Trail Runners I felt like a race horse when the gates are opened.

There were about 20 runners ready to go at the Fowler Trailhead in Eldorado Springs when I pulled up. As soon as I was out of my motorcycle clothes the group took of uphill. I took off and soon found myself running at the head of the group. I stayed at the front for the first mile which was all uphill and continued there for the next half mile or so which was flat. We stopped at the base of the Rattlesnake Gulch trail. Some of the runners had never been there before; I knew I would have to pace myself up the mile and a half 9 percent grade so I waited until the most enthusiastic had bolted up the trail.

I've never run the entire route without walking some sections and last night was no different, but the walks were fewer and shorter. It seemed that in no time we were up to the railroad tracks. It was a somewhat eerie scene at the mouth of the tunnel with low clouds that had us all in a fog. On the return I started out in the with the faster third of the group and held on at the back for most of the speedy mogul-bashing descent. Toward the end where the descent was more gradual and the trail smoother I was dropped by the lead group but finished maybe 20 seconds behind them.

My legs had all kinds of strange cramps in the night. I've never had cramps in the muscles on the front side of my lower legs. The muscles clenching at the shins was excruciating as I tried massaging them. Everything seems fine this morning. I'm ready to resume my summer regimen of amassing mileage.