Weekend thoughts

After fighting a virus through most of December and falling straight down on my tailbone on Christmas Day, it seems like I've pretty much lost all of the muscle, lung capacity, endurance, and thinness that I gained during the preparation for and completion of my summer run. One thing I did not lose, however, is the knowledge that I have the ability to achieve that level of fitness. This weekend's running brought me closer to that mindset.

Yesterday I ran on the in-town portion of the South Boulder Creek trail. While out there running along the creek and amidst the grazing cows it felt like I had slid on a favorite pair of comfy old shoes....cruising along, taking in the sights (two coyotes trotting through the herd of cows), enjoying the mild weather and peaceful trail. Ahhhh.

Today I ran the Bluestem trail on the west side of town. Of any of the local trails, this is the one that comes closest to what a poster of Alan Culpepper's encourages: "Choose a course you can love. Make it your own. Put your name on it every day. On the trail, the path, the street, track, or wherever your road is. It will always be there for you. It's there for you now. You should be there too."
Bluestem offers a lot of variations - but one thing is guaranteed, you're going to climb, and you're going to descend. You'll work your butt off going up, you'll stretch it out coming home. Heading west, you'll have fantastic views of the flatirons - glowing at sunrise, frosty in winter, rock-solid year around; and on the east-bound trip, the town and prairie seem to stretch all the way to Nebraska. I've run this at the top of my game when it felt like my feet barely touched the ground and I've tackled it when my legs felt like concrete. Today, I was simply pleased to be out there.