Autumn has arrived in the Rockies!

...and when autumn has arrived in the Rockies, the grasses weave bronze and the aspen quiver gold - phenomena worth enjoying.  So I did!

South Boulder Creek - autumn sunrise

First order of business:  a run along the South Boulder Creek trail where the grasses have grown long over the summer and wave in their full bronzed glory in the autumn.  My first-day-of-autumn run was aglow with the rising sun and rustic colors waving at my feet.








Next order of business: a drive to the high country where we were fortunate enough to cruise the Peak to Peak highway just when the colors were at their glorious golden peak.  What a show!

Aspen and Taz posing for photographer Devon

Better than drugs

Amie at the Bluestem-Greenbriar Connector trail junction

In a funk today.
Almost too grumpy to run.
Went out anyway.
Rendezvous with Amie.
Running buddy.  Trails.  Two hours.  All good.

2000!

Devil's Thumb and Flatirons from Enchanted Mesa Trail.  Outside time is easy on the eyes in Boulder!

 

The third Abert's Squirrel I've seen this month!

Despite protests from every corner of my body, I logged the miles this past week to reach my goal of 2000 (actually 2000.5) miles for the year.  The week's runs ran the gamut, fitting my I-hate-being-in-a-rut personality quite nicely:
Monday: run to my volunteer job and back (standard Monday fare).
Tuesday: run around the CU cross-country property, meet up with running buddy Amie, run to our exercise class, spot a bear in a tree, spend an hour+ in class, then run home.
Wednesday: 2 1/2 hour run with Amie starting just as our all-night, very welcome rain showers were tapering off.  Delightfully wet run!
Thursday: run to exercise class, exercise, run home from exercise class, drive out to the Boulder Rez, and run around the Rez with a friend visiting from Estes Park.
Friday: easy run with my rambunctious Taz in the morning and a quick run to/fro the neighborhood library in the afternoon.
Saturday: a run out to Teller Farms, meet up with running buddy Joe for a run out/back along the Teller Farms trail accompanied by balloons, horses, dog walkers, and a high school cross country team.
Sunday: a very tired run which I had to talk myself into continuing, rendezvousing with running buds Connie & Anita for the middle bit of the run, then trot trot trot on home.

Colleen, pjv & Taz on Enchanted Mesa Trail

Yes, very tired after all that.  But!  Post-run Sunday, quick hopped into the shower then scurried into the kitchen to prep for a dinner with Colleen, my cousin Jim's daughter...only about the third time we've met eachother and the first time she's been to our home.  Shortly after she arrived at the house, she, Paul, Taz and I set out for a hike up behind NIST and onto Kohler Mesa, Enchanted Mesa, and Chautauqua followed by a delightful visit and dinner upon returning to the house.  After saying our farewells, I cleaned up the kitchen and was about to settle down for the evening when I realized I had nary an twinge in my entire body.  Further proof, I do believe, that to keep the aches and pains of running big miles away, one must continually be on the move.  It's sitting around that makes you hurt!

Well-deserved post-run, post-hike dinner with cousin Colleen, brother Dave, hubby Kendall & sons Paul & Devon

Frivolous goals

After adding up my miles from last week, then calculating my year-to-date total, my thought process went something like this:
Huh! 1,933.5  How 'bout that.
2,000 - 1,933.5 = about 70 (ok, it was early in the morning and my math chip was not fully charged)
I should be able to do 70 this week.  Wouldn't it be fun to get to 2000 by the middle of September?!

So that's what this week has been about: running 70, getting to 2000.

Of course, I haven't run 70 miles in a week since my birthday 60k (and the weeks leading up to it).  In fact, I've only been running in the 40s and 50s lately.  My body seems to be reminding me of that as we approach the end of this week and its frivolous goal.  I'm sitting at 47 miles for the week right now, so need only a mere 23 over the weekend to get my hastily calculated 70, and an even mere-er 19.5 to get to 2000 for the year.  Do-able, ya?

This is what 70 miles into my Boulder-to-Petoskey run looked like, day 3 of the run, June 9, 2007 (near Wiggins, CO)

Where has the summer gone?

Today: RAIN!  Last night: RAIN!  All night!!    It's been months since we've had this much rain.  A big yahoo to all the moisture.  And a bit of a startled bonk to the brain over the inkling that autumn must be fast approaching - for not only is it raining, but the nights are cooling, the darkness of the night is creeping further into the morning hours and, lordy lordy, the leaves are beginning to turn.

It turns out it has also been months since I've posted to this blog.  So just what has been keeping me so busy that I couldn't sit down in front of the computer and write a bit.  Well, not terribly busy, but definitely enjoying the balmy (perhaps a bit too balmy) days of summer .  Here's a quick synopsis:

  June started with a trip to Petoskey to visit mom and the oh-so-fabulous Great Lakes.  As an added bonus, we were able to watch the transit of Venus as it crossed the setting sun over Little Traverse Bay.  Spectacular!

 After our return to Boulder, we experienced the hottest June on record.  Whew.  The heat seemed to slow everyone down. Feeling blah, feeling cranky.  What a person to do?  Well!  In the VaughanMiller household we decided to have an Iron Chef competition.  Kendall and Devon were the competing chefs, Paul & I were the judges and the selectors of the Secret Ingredient:  Pineapple!  The kitchen was humming, the house was abuzz, and boy-oh-boy did we eat well that night!  Pineapple salsas, chicken pineapple soft shelled tacos, pineapple kabobs and the piece de resistance: dessert pizza (shortbread 'crust', strawberry 'sauce', pineapple, marscapone cheese, and shaved pineapple granita 'parmesan'.  Our new Iron Chef: Devon!

 July's highlight was the Miller family rendezvous in Cody, Wyoming & Yellowstone.

 Kendall and siblings and most of the offspring were there for campfires, hiking, running, cycling (hooray for K's brother Andy and his patient willingness to cycle with me as we explored trails near our campground), and a whole lot of laughing and talking and general frivolity that seems to permeate every Miller gathering!

The Miller siblings: Steve, Andy, Kendall & Cheryl at Yellowstone Lake

Hangin' at the campground (Tara, Kitty, Steve, Kendall, Paul)

Just about the whole gang...lots to keep track of, lots of fun

August was a hodgepodge:

Paul on his party porch

Mister Taz cruising Paul's backyard

• I was training hard for the Heart & Sole Half Marathon. 
  It turned out to not be my day for racing - but a glorious day for a long run, one of the coolest days of the summer.
  Definitely an enjoyable day for a run around the rez and environs.
• Paul had his official housewarming party. 
  It seems he has a mighty fine party house.  We'll have to keep that in mind for future festivities!
• The fabulous RazamaTaz had his first birthday.   We sure are a lucky family to have been adopted by this most excellent pupster!

September got off and running full speed ahead.

September 1: CU loses to CSU in our first football game of the season.  Sigh.

September 2: President Obama visits the CU campus.  So very glad I could be there to hear him speak.

 

Quiet beauty of a Mesa Trail run

Now we are heading into autumn.  Given my disappointing race, the general fatigue of eight solid months of hard training (first for the birthday 60k, then for May's Bolder Boulder, followed immediately by half-marathon training for August's race), and that I simply love love love running footloose and fancy free in the autumn, I've backed off focused training and simply go out to enjoy the day.  So far it's been a delightful plan.  Sightings of heron, hawks, albert squirrels, deer, my first Boulder bear!, and moments of silence that only wilderness can provide.  'Tis a good life!

Bear in a tree.  I saw him; the Daily Camera took the pic

Another Bolder Boulder! Another Road Trip!

Made it through this year's Bolder Boulder 10k in 55:11.  One minute 48 seconds faster than last year.  Sixth in my age group (60-year-old women) just like last year.  However, if I had run last year's time this year, I would have only placed tenth in my age.  Four of the five ahead of me this year were also ahead of me last year but those breathing down my heels were new to the list.  I'd best keep training hard if I want to keep placing high, eh?!

Now that the racing festivities are over, it's road trip time!  Tomorrow morning the VaughanMiller family (including the pup) climb in the van and head for Michigan.  Weehaww!  Given all the bodies, luggage, backpacks, and distractions I feel rather like the Beverly Hillbillies.  I wonder what we'll all be humming as we head out of town!

[Note: We are driving, not running, to Michigan this year.  Methinks, however, a lot of running will be involved to help Mister Taz burn off his cattle dog puppy energy.  A lot of running.  Often.]

First state crossing on the road to Michigan from Colorado.

Bolder Boulder Eve

Just how fast will I be able to run the 34th annual Bolder Boulder 10k after 3 months of huge base building followed by 2 months of 10k-specific training?  By 8:30 a.m. tomorrow, the answer should be revealed!  And by noon tomorrow, roughly 50,000 people will know how quickly they can cover 10 kilometers through run-crazy Boulder.

Twenty-seven years ago, the Bolder Boulder was not yet the behemoth event that it is today with just 16,826 finishers (only 5,570 women) in 1985.  I was one of those runners, pushing four-month old Devon in his first Bolder Boulder (rules were looser in those days).  We covered the course in 55:49 by my watch - a time I would be quite pleased with tomorrow ...after months of hard training vs. 9 months of pregnancy followed by recovery from c-section...  Ah the joys of aging!




Photo: Paula with pigtails flying, Devon in stroller,
brother-in-law Andy running on my shoulder.

Cownundrum!

 photo from funwithgravity.blogspot.com

The plan for today was mile repeats at our favorite speed-work running venue: the South Boulder Creek Trail - almost flat, soft even surface, pastoral...  It is also open space grazing land - and today "grazing" was in full swing.  Cows, bulls, calves.  Many protective mama cows, very frisky and somewhat cranky bulls, and lots and lots of frolicking calves.  Cows and calves blocking the gate.  Bulls snorting and looking for their next ...uh... partner.  Packs of calves trotting like preschoolers following their cow leader.  Mile repeats at 10k pace just weren't going to happen today out on South Boulder Creek.

We ended up easing our way through the bovines, then ran west to the CU cross-country property and did 10-minute surges there.  Workout done, but potential mile pace remains a mystery.  It's getting pretty close to Bolder Boulder day so I am increasingly curious about what pace I might reasonably expect to run.  Quantifiable clues so far:

• April 4th: 2x5k, 1x2k workout with 5k's at 28:54 and 28:41 and 2k at 11:32 (avg 9:17 pace)
• April 11: .5, 1.5, .5, 1.5, .5 mile interval workout (avg. 9:03 pace)
• April 14: 5k race, 26:07 (avg. 8:23 pace, possibly short course)
• April 18: 5x1k workout (avg. 8:29 pace)
• April 28: 15k race (on trails and dirt roads), 85:38 (avg 9:12 pace, 2:04 faster than my 2011 time - in fact the fastest I've ever run it, having run it in 2007, '10 and '11)
• May 2: 1x2k, 2x1k, 4x500 workout (avg. 8:39 pace)

So.... what pace might I expect to run for this Memorial Day's Bolder Boulder????  Last year I ran 56:59, the year before 57:02 (roughly 9:11 pace).  I think I can beat that.  But by how much?  No doubt about it, I need to fit in a mile repeat session!

You can't run all the time

Sometimes one must do something other than run.  For example, go see the President of the United States speak at the University of Colorado!  That's just what Paul and I did yesterday.  Two things:

• The president is not a punctual man.
• Having the chance to hear Barack Obama speak is worth the wait.

 Another take away:  we are all in this together; let's all put forth the effort to make the world a better place!

April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!

...from Boulder's trails...