Saturday Green Mtn Lakewood Short Run

I decided to sleep in on Saturday and move my long run to Sunday, as I really needed the sleep and just ignored the alarm and got up when I felt rested.

I was contemplating a Boulder day, but didn't really want the 1:20 total drive time that would require, and wanted to try something new, so I rolled over the the Berkeley neighborhood in Denver to Hops and Pie for lunch. Good beer, and really good pizza. Had the Hops and IPA beer made at Strange Brewing, and it was great. My pepperoni, Kalamata olive and mushroom pie was awesome, great crust.

Speaking of beer, I really like this informative graphic. Followed Western States on Twitter today, and I still can't believe anyone can run 100 miles in 15 hours and change (let alone faster).

After lunch, skies were stormy, so I went back home to do some things around the house and later go for a run. I worked on some shoes, and I realized I'm modifying three different pieces of gear at the moment:

1. I heated and shaped the ear pieces on my Smith sunglasses to fit me better.
2. I cut the "panties" out of my North Face running shorts because I already wear compression briefs when I run.
3. I am in the process of cutting the hard heel cup out of my brand-new Altra Lone Peak 1.5 shoes, to make them soft like my prior Altra shoes. They killed my heels on the Berthoud Pass run.

I will let Altra know about the heels, because I don't know if my mod will even work, and I don't know if I will buy more shoes if they keep that hard heel in them. Version 1.0 has a softer heel cup with no rigid support, and it really makes a difference in break-in time and running uphill.

So, I hit the neighborhood mountain for a short run. On the way up, there were some folks paused on the ridge I was going to ascend. I didn't get it, until I got closer and saw the coyote below them and heard the yipping. I took a different trail to give the animal some space. Plenty of trails for everyone here.

After a few hot days, this evening was really cool and comfortable, and it was a pleasure to be out there running with the trails practically to myself.

Bats were flying overhead as I descended, and I kept hearing something buzzing in the grass, and it turned out to be some beetles I hadn't seen before, but that looked like lightning bugs. I don't think I've seen lightning bugs in Colorado, so they were probably just relatives. Some shiny spots on the trail were the eyes of spiders reflecting my headlamp. Another group of coyotes were howling farther downhill, in the area I call Glamorous Gulch (an overgrown, abandoned part of the neighborhood that was never developed, with some phone poles running down the middle). A relaxed run down familiar trails, towards the golden street lights of Denver.

Distance was 5.50 miles, time 1:21 (moving 1:09), elevation gain/loss 909 feet, avg. pace 14:53 (moving 12:37), and best pace 8:21.