Runnin'

On several weekday mornings I strap Andi into her stroller, and together with Sage we head out for a run. We have several routes through the neighborhoods we take, depending on what mileage I feel like that day. Andi is comfy in her ride with some juice and snacks, and Sage usually trots some 10 yards behind me, tongue dragging, but still I think she enjoys it as well.

Then on the weekends, either Saturday morning, or Sunday before church, Ben watches Andi, giving me some time to do something alone, and them some quality father-daughter time. Yes, I could go back to bed with a book, take a bath, or go shopping or whatever, but, you guessed it, that's when I head out for my solo long runs. I love it.

Depending on the weekend, this can be about 6 miles, or sometimes 8-10 miles. Sage can't make it that far (I know, lame excuse for a lab!), so either I bring her home about half way through, or I just go out completely solo. Taking advantage of being strollerless, I usually pick a route that includes the field by our house, or the area behind the golfcourse.
Last Saturday however, I got the ultimate strollerless experience, running a 10 mile race over some beautiful, mountainous trails at Happy Jack! Katie convinced me to do it, and I'm happy she did! It was a gorgeous Wyoming fall day, sunny and slightly brisk and windy.

* Some gorgeous fall running, ~ mile 3 (picture courtesy of Katie)

Since the course has a decent climb between miles 4 and 5, and I'm not used to running hills that much, I figured I'd pace myself for the first couple of miles, wanting this race to be an enjoyable experience.

* elevation map


* course map

I got to chat with Katie and Jason those first couple of miles, until nature called Jason to take a wee bit of a break, and Katie decided to stay back and stick with her man (cudos!).


(picture courtesy of Katie)

At mile 4 there was a little aid station with refreshments, and then the uphill fun began. Though it punished the buns a bit, it wasn't too bad :)


Beautiful views from the top (picture courtesy of Katie).

A little after mile 6 there was another aid station where I grabbed me a fruit bar to munch on, and realized that this run was going great, completely enjoyable and easy, and that I should probably increase pace a bit. After passing my old PhD advisor on another uphill section around mile 7 I was just having way too much fun, and decided to take off the breaks and open up those engines some more :) The last 3ish miles were pretty much all downhill, and I later described this to Ben (he declared me crazy) as the best roller coaster ride ever: running downhill over some beautiful rocky trails, underneath gorgous fall aspen trees....woheee! There weren't any other runners around me, so I was just having a blast! Yes, there are indeed people out running with a huge grin on their face, even when no-one is watching. :)
When I crossed the finishline in 1:43:50, I wished there was more of the course left.

I like me some runnin' ... always have, always will :)