Running in the Rockies

13.04 in 10:36 avg pace.

 Ran along Boulder Creek Path and attemped to keep my heart rate between 140-150 bpm. This was a LOT harder to do than I thought it would be. Every few steps I'd look at my watch and realize my heart rate had crept back up and I'd tell myself to slow down. On the way back it was even more difficult because there is a very slight elevation gain as the path approaches the flatirons and boulder canyon. It was painfully slow, I think I approached a 12 minute mile during some sections. Ugh.  I'm not sure I could do all my runs following the heart rate method or not. I suppose it's good to do a few runs a week attempting to keep it lower, but I think that will only be possible to do if I run down in Boulder. The ~8,500' and hills make it very difficult for me to keep any type of consistent heart rate on my normal routes.

 But, when not concentrating on trying to run slower, it was nice to look around and take in the scenery, I saw many prairie dogs and even a fox. The temps weren't bad either and I got a little time to stretch afterwards by the creek. Everything else felt great.

3.4 trail run in ~11 min avg pace. 

I think I may have bruised the ball of my right foot yesterday running on the concrete for 13. I usually do longer runs on the roads because the concrete is so unforgiving for me. It was either that, or the fact that I wore 'nice' shoes to work after my run.. with smallish heels. I'm not good at walking in heels.. so maybe it was wearing those that bruised my foot. Not really sure. It's not too bad, slightly tender. But I thought it was a good enough reason for a trail run. We've been watching our friend's dogs for a few weeks and will have them until Oct. 15th or so (they are in africa-so jealous), so I took them, plus my pup, and we headed out to the trails near our house. My pup did his usually- take off at mach 5, until just out of sight and then come racing back when I called him- so much energy! The other two move more at their own pace.. and get side tracked by smells, sticks, squirrels, etc. But we all managed to stay together pretty well.

 About half way through our excursion, we found a leg of an elk or very large deer laid over the trail. It was much larger than a normal deer leg, and had a much deeper brown colored fur. Looked pretty 'fresh' still had some skin on it. The pups of course were overly interested, but luckily I got them to leave it after yelling at them each a few times. Yuck. It could have been road kill and something carried it back to the trails (a dirt road where people drive WAY too fast isn't too far away and I've sadly seen many creatures killed as they attempt a crossing), or it could have been a mountain lion or beer. Made me realize that it's probably not a good season to go out running alone in the early morning or late afternoon.. at least not in the woods- too many creatures trying to gather 'food' for the winter. I'd rather not be dinner for someone just yet.

 Anyways, around mile 3, I realized that the older of the pups (~9-10 yrs old) was breathing very fast and somewhat shallow.. he's a bit overweight and although I know his people take him out running pretty regularly, I didn't want to push him. I would feel terrible if something happened to him. So we stopped for a short rest and then just continued on home. I think maybe walks with the pups is in order for the next week or so. After we got home, it took him almost an hour to stop panting so heavily..but now he's sleeping soundly (they all are), so I think he's probably okay. Poor old guy. But an inspiration nonetheless. I hope that I am as happy as he is and still willing to give that solid of an effort in my older years.

Garmin was dead so I ran without a watch- it was a great run. I'm sure I ran too fast, but I felt great- so I just went with it. Nice and cool as well- gorgeous fall day. About 7 miles in I'm guessing 9:30 avg pace. 

Hiked ~3.4 miles with the pups and hubby. Nice cool autumn day, the last of the aspen are turning and starting to fall- the trail looked golden from all the leaves. Very pretty. The pups had a great time and no one seemed to get too tired. 

Later, we went to collect firewood in the national forest. The USFS is incredibly civilized when it comes to allowing citizens to cut down and collect dead trees for firewood- a permit for a cord is only 20$! There have been more and more trees killed from the pine bark and ips beetles in our area, so taking down the dead or infected trees is actually fire mitigation (in addition to helping lessen the spread of beetles)- and we get firewood for pretty cheap.  I hope more people take advantage of this and help protect the mountain communities.

At any rate- I think we took down about 5 big trees (bases ~15-22" in diameter and 50-70' tall?) and cut them into ~4-5' logs and then carried them on our shoulders down a pretty steep slope to our truck. They probably weighed anywhere from 20- 80 lbs and maybe 2-3 at 90-100 lbs- I struggled with the really heavy ones this year. Once we unloaded them in our driveway, we had to carry them around the back of the house to our cutting and chopping area. We spent about 4-5 hours on the wood and I got about an hour of actual chopping in. The only thing that was sore was my shoulders- they are pretty bruised from carrying the logs. Now we only need to repeat this about 7-8 more times and we'll be ready for winter!