Boulder to Betasso Preserve and back

I didn't run yesterday and although I ran 36 miles last week, most of the outings were half an hour or an hour so today I felt up for a longer and hillier run. I dropped Valerie off at the cart and headed out from there. I had heard some talk of the Betasso Preserve. I ran streets and worked my way to the Boulder Creek Path and took it up Boulder Canyon until it ends and then ran about a mile along the narrow edge of the winding heavily holiday-trafficked road before coming to the Betasso Link about 4.1 miles out. It was a little steep but runnable. The 1 1/4 mile link comes out at the Betasso Loop which is 3.3 miles around. There were some hikers and lots of mountain bikers on the trail. Every other month they do the loop in the opposite direction. I chose to run against them to make it easy to see them coming. I think there was about a 1400 foot elevation gain to the loop, but from the point where I entered the loop there was maybe a 500-600 elevation drop before returning back up to the starting point.

The temperature was surely about 85 at the start but with cloud cover in the mountains and the elevation gain the weather was rather tolerable. I had some Malt-o-Meal for breakfast and drank plenty of liquids to be hydrated. Just before starting I drank about 20 ounces of water and carried two 24 ounce water bottles with me. I don't think I touched the water until I had reached the loop. I ate a Clif Bar at that point as well and had a Gu before heading back down to Boulder. I drank the other water on the way down and found the conditions bearable. Once back I found myself disappointed that the run was over already. I had anticipated a more strenuous run but I felt as if I could have easily gone longer.

I wore the Asics 3020 mentioned in the previous post and found them effective on the trail. The real proof will be with how my feet feel in the morning.