Father's Day Hike

My Father's Day was awesome! The day started with Kashi Autumn Wheat cereal with blueberries, that stuff is great! Then we were all off to Mt. Falcon for a family hike. I had run Mt. Falcon last weekend and thought that if we drove up to the upper parking lot and did the Parmalee trail that would be a good hike. Unfortunately what I thought was a mile and a half was actually closer to two and a half, so there was some dissension among the ranks. But we all made it through and the kids seemed to have a good time. They certainly napped well when we got home!


The kids are actually pretty good hikers! Their shoes aren't so good, so they were slipping around on the steep sections which resulted in some skinned knees. But they were troopers and they gave it their all. I only carried Miles for about half the hike, and he would go through spurts where he wanted to walk so it was not contiguous. I was very proud of my family as I tend to forget that not everyone is used to 2+ hours of physical activity.

My Father's Day ended with some bicycle maintenance and a tasty fish dinner! All in all I can't think of any way I would have rather spent my day.

Falling in love with running all over again!

After a pretty intense 2 month race season, I'm taking a bit of a break from hardcore training. Ironically I'm feeling almost as tired and sore this week than I was after the marathon. The reason is that I am transitioning more into trail running. During the past week I have run trails in Boulder twice, the second of which was a pretty intense hill climb. Although my quads are sore from Tuesday's descent, I am still fired up to spend time in the foothills again. Trail running is a totally different experience than my usual training. There is an ebb and flow to it, hard climbs, majestic vistas, crushing descents, calm meadows. I take time to absorb my surroundings in a way that I do not get to experience when I am road training. When I do speedwork, the only motivation is the potential for a faster race. When I'm cranking up a trail, the view at the top offers an immediate and tangible reward for the exertion.

Despite my physical weariness I feel rejuvenated in my running. When I arrived in Boulder on Tuesday it was pouring rain and 40 degrees outside, yet I eagerly bounded out the door to tackle Mt. Flagstaff. By the time I finished I was soaked to the bone and covered in mud, grinning from ear to ear. The only other person I saw the whole time was a park ranger who remarked on what a beautiful day it was. He understood what we were both experiencing. Shrouded in clouds, I could only catch glimpses of Boulder below, and at many times I forgot it was even there. All that remained was my struggle with the mountain in the rain.