7/22 - Rest.
7/23 - Rest.
7/24 - Rest.
7/25 - 1 mile. Walking with Katy.
7/26 - A couple miles. Stagecoach. No watch. Just shaking things out a bit.
7/27 - Rest.
7/28 - 10.66 miles. 1:59:19. 700'v. Stagecoach. Some trail and alot of dirt road for this casual morning run. The weather was pretty clear but humid when I set out down the dirt road on my way to Sarvis Creek Trail. After a 2 mile warm up on the road I was ready to run some single track but only made it about a half mile up Sarvis Creek before running into two, dog-sized bear cubs. One bolted down the trail, FAST! and the smaller one tried to climb up an aspen tree. I immediately turned around, afraid that I would frighten the two bears into losing each other. It also crossed my mind that Mama Bear was probably within earshot of her cubs and wouldn't appreciate me bugging them. No worries, they were there first. I decided to run the road again for a while and saw a few guys fishing and three runners also enjoying the morning. I hiked quite a few hills on the way back as my legs seemed to lack some pep.
7/29 - 11.26 miles. 3:01:25. Gilpin Lake Trail (1161) - Gold Creek Trail (1150). Finally, I can check the famous "Zirkel Circle" off my list after wanting to do this route for over two years. My first attempt, two summers ago with Katy, ended rather abruptly when a rogue tree branch nearly scalped my then-girlfriend. This time I ran it with Richard Williams and we didn't run Mica Lake Trail, opting to do just the classic North Routt County mountain loop. It looked like it might rain all morning but we didn't get wet until the final two miles and, by then, it was a pleasant, light rain that cooled us off. The hike up was steady and relaxed for the first 3 miles and we didn't run a whole lot. There were many, many people on the trail and even more sitting at Gilpin Lake when we finally arrived there. I'm not used to sharing the trail with so many people (unless it's a race!) but I love seeing people getting out in the woods so it was cool to exchange greetings with them. Gilpin Lake was incredible and I can really see why it is such a popular destination. After leaving the lake, we climbed up and over a saddle and enjoyed 5 glorious miles of downhill all the way back to the trail head. The single track trail was both runnable and fairly technical but we were feeling good on the return so we kept up a pretty brisk pace most of the way down. Gorgeous track!
Two good runs on the weekend although I lacked a couple of maintenance runs during the week. Overall, feeling very good and looking forward to a few more wilderness runs with Richard in August. Right now, the only race I'm considering for next month is Continental Divide Trail Run on the 18th. Richard and I are planning to do an out-and-back run on the entire Mad Creek (Swamp Park) Trail in mid-August as a final long run (44 miles) before the RRR100. Next Sunday, I am planning on taking him to Sheriff Reservoir to check out the Black Mountain Trail.
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