Elk Park

3.65 Miles
8:00 am) Sunny and warm
Short run today as all 4 of us are tapering. We went to Oil Creek
and back. We stopped at oil creek and enjoyed the views. Just an
amazing day! The beauty is breath taking you have to see it to
truly appreciate it. I do have some pictures that will have to
do until you see it for yourself.

Memorial Park to No Name Creek & Back

8.5 Miles 1:18:50 9:16 average per mile
9:50 am) Sunny & Warm 70's
Took off yesterday was exhausted after work. I even took a nap.
Still pretty tired today after work but not as bad as yesterday
so decided to run on Barr trail. Legs felt very heavy for the
first 15 minutes. Felt pretty strong the rest of the run.
Ruxton 3:27
Hydro St. 10:29
Top of W's 33:34
No Name Creek 48:40
I was pretty tired when I got to no name. I don't plan on
pushing that hard on race day. I think I still should run about
these times on race day with fresh legs.

B/TB/252

Manitou Incline & Barr Trail

5.85 Miles Total
1 Miles Incline 25:53
Didn't get started till 9:00 am. It was pretty hot on the Incline
by 9:00. Plus tons of people to get around again. Not near my
fastest time but considering the heat and that I worked last
night not bad I guess.
Felt pretty good going down Barr trail. I had a 6:09 mile on the
pavement part on Ruxton.

Red Rock Canyon

6 Miles 50:49 8:27 average per mile
9:00 am) Sunny & Nice!
Legs felt great no soreness to speak of. I didn't feel great energy
wise but not bad.
Started at Red Rock Canyon parking lot off 26th st. Not many
people start from this parking lot which I like. I then ran the
trails down to Section 16 trail head and then back. Wore new shoes
today Inov8 Rocklite 315. I got these shoes for free for winning
my age group at Barr Trail Mountain Race. I just had to pay the
shipping. Only thing I didn't like was how much mud got caught
in the sole of the shoes. Shoes became pretty heavy at times when
I had to run through the mud.
Been going to the library a lot lately and checking out DVD's.
Watched a couple good movies yesterday. The Town with Ben
Affleck and Knowing with Nick Cage. I recommend both of them. I
don't have cable tv so this is a nice option and it's free!

Memorial Park to A-Frame & Back

20 Miles 3:30:11
8:20 am) 60's - 70's Sunny!
Last long run this morning. I was just about to start my run and
this guy comes up to me and ask if I'm running up Barr trail.
I say yes to A-Frame and he says I'm going to the summit do you
want to run together. I was a bit hesitant as I wanted to really
push this run as it was my last long run. I chatted a bit with
him and found out he was a pretty good runner. Also he is from
Wisconsin as well. He moved here 3 years ago.
So Joseph and I headed out. We ran a pretty good pace but I knew
it was going to be a bit slower than I had planned. I was okay
with this as it was nice to have company.
Here is my splits up to A-Frame. Joseph and I ran together almost
to Barr Camp before I pushed on ahead of him.
Ruxton 3:34
Hydro St 10:45
Top of W's 35:59
No Name 52:34
7.8 Sign 1:10:34
Barr Camp 1:29:22
Bottomless Pit Sign 1:42:45
A-Frame 2:06:39
I hoped my splits would be better after Barr Camp as I went slower
than planned at the start. Didn't really help though I still
was slow after Barr Camp. So on race day I'm not going to hold
back too much. I'm going to go pretty hard up to Bottomless Pit
sign. I'm going to be slow after that anyways so I'm going to bank
some time. This might be a mistake but I'm going to give it a shot.
Today's run indicates around a 4:55-5:00 marathon. I think I can
do a bit better on race day and plan on 4:45 or better.
On my way down just after my turn around at A-Frame I almost
ran into another runner. He was flying up the mountain. As I
passed him I realized it was Matt Carpenter. I said hi Matt at
the last second. Of course he doesn't know me though. I'm starting
to think he just might be running the marathon after all. He
looked strong and he's out running some serious miles on Barr
trail. So don't be to surprised if you see him on race day.

B/TB/243

Elk Park

7.25 Miles
8:00 am) upper 50's cloudy
Plan was to go to the summit this morning with Mike & Roger.
Mike suggested we run Elk Park trail. Well Roger and myself
had never been on this trail and we said lets do it.
Elk Park is a trail off the Pikes Peak highway on the way
up to the summit. It's over 11,000 ft so still good altitude
training. The trail goes around 6.5 miles to Barr Camp.
We didn't have the time to run all the way to Barr Camp so we
went 3.6 miles before turning around. The trail is not to
steep but does have a half mile section that was very steep.
The views were awesome and I soaked it all in. I really
enjoyed this trail and plan on going back next Tuesday.
No pictures today as I forgot my camera. Will take next time.

B/TB/223

Pikes Peak Greenway

7 Miles 45:45 6:32 average per mile
12:00 pm) upper 80's Sunny! Hot!
First mile was pretty quick so decided to make this a harder run.
The heat didn't really affect me first 4 miles. Last 3 miles I
felt it and slowed down some. Was nice to get a little bit of
speed work in.