Bolder Boulder

This is the third time that I've done Bolder Boulder. However, it is the first time that I have run it. I first did Bolder Boulder in 1999 and walked it. I probably could not have run the whole distance if I tried. Last year, I also walked it. I could have run it but walked it with my sister and her kids. This year, it was a training run so no walking.

As usual, a warm-up run was scheduled before the race. This time, the warm-up was four miles, which meant getting to the race early. Other than getting up very early, this worked out well since it was easy to drive to Boulder and find parking. After arriving in Boulder, I ran from the stadium area towards the start line.

I did not feel good during the warm-up. It took about 3 miles to start feeling okay, and even then my running still felt off. I was a bit worried about the sluggishness but tried to be positive. I also recalled Andrea commenting that the warm up before a track workout does not always provide a good indication of how the track workout will go so I hoped the same would apply to this race.

I finished a little early so I walked around the start area and watched other runners warming up. After walking around for about twenty minutes, I found my wave, which was heading towards the start line. Because I wanted to try to start slow, I stayed towards the back of the my wave. I did not want to get caught up in the surge that seems to happen at the start of running races.

For the first mile, I tried to take it easy. The race starts downhill so it is a bit hard to hold back. As I crossed the first mile marker, my time seemed a bit fast. So I tried to ease up a little for the next mile. The course starts to go slightly uphill for the second mile. Easing up seemed to help as I felt good at mile marker 2. The only downside was my split for the second mile was slower than the first mile.

For the third mile, the course continues uphill. This may be the toughest mile on the course, and my split time reflected it as it was the slowest of all of my mile splits. As I passed the 5 km banner, I was still feeling pretty good. Since the race was half over and still feeling good, I decided that I could pick up the effort a little. The increased effort lead to the fastest split of the race at the 4 mile marker. Even better, the course is primarily downhill from mile 4 to 5. This downhill section combined with a little more effort resulted in my fastest split for the entire race at mile 5. Unfortunately, just after mile 5, the course again starts to go uphill.

The unfavorable change in slope lead to a slower last mile. However, the time for this last mile was almost exactly the same as the time for the fourth mile. In fact, it was a little faster. It also meant that I easily negative split the race, which was a goal heading into the race. The icing on the cake was I set a PR for a 10K race with a time of 49:21.

Here are some things that I took away from the race:

1) It was good getting to the race very early. Parking was easy to find, which reduced a lot of stress. I had plenty of time to do a warm-up without feeling rushed.

2) If you are going to run the Bolder Boulder and can do it in less than 62 minutes, then sign up for a qualified wave. Having started in non-qualified waves in the past and seeing how hard it is to get around people, it is much easier running with a group of people who run at about your same speed.

3) I still need to figure out the right level of effort for 10K races. I am not sure whether I can go a little harder at the start and still have enough left at the end to pick up the pace.

Terrible Track

Today's track workout, not so good. The workout was a 2 mile warm up, followed by 6x1 mile repeats with full recovery and a 1 mile cool down. Although the workout didn't say anything, I know Steve wants the times to decrease for each successive mile. I did just the opposite today.

The workout started out well. The two mile warm went fine. At the end, I was ready to do the track portion. In fact, I probably felt too good. I ran the first mile. I thought that I was going slow. However, for my typical pace, I was not. When I finished the first mile, I stopped my watch and checked the time: 7:15. Uh, oh, I knew this was bad. My fastest mile at track this year is 7:33, This was 18 seconds faster than my fastest mile to date, and there were still five more miles to go.

I tried to go a bit easier on the second one. The time was slower than the first one: 7:25. This was still too fast, though. Already, I had done two mile splits faster than any previous mile split this year, and I was only 1/3 done with the workout.

The third mile was tough. Surprisingly, I did it at 7:27, which was almost the same as the second mile. However, I was really beginning to notice the headwind through a portion of each 400. It seemed to be getting stronger but it probably only felt this way because I was getting tired.

My times starting falling apart on mile 4. I seemed to be going much slower, and it was getting more difficult to maintain the pace earlier in the repeat. The watch confirmed what I was experiencing: 7:47. This was going in the wrong direction. Mile 5 was a little better: 7:43. By this point, I felt mentally done. I was just hoping to survive the final lap.

The last lap, I didn't have much left. I felt like I was plodding. And who turned up the wind? Actually, I don't think the wind was any different, it was probably me being tired. Again, the stopwatch confirmed my feeling: 7:53. In short, a total disaster since this lap should have been the fastest and not the slowest. After the last lap, I did the one mile cool down. It felt good to go slow.

As I was doing the cool down, I wondered if I had fought hard enough on that last mile. When I got home, however, I was somewhat surprised by the data from my heart rate monitor. At the end of the first lap, my heart rate was 185. At the end of the sixth lap, my heart rate was 192. So, maybe I was trying hard but I just don't have the stamina to do six of these repeats yet. Also, I made a huge mistake by going too fast in the beginning that I paid for at the end. I need to work on starting off easier when I am running alone. This seems to be less of this problem when I am running at track with others. Well, hopefully I will learn from this experience and do better next time.

Cinco de Mayo 10K

Earlier this week, Steve asked whether I was interested in doing the Bolder Boulder 10K. I'm glad he asked because I had been thinking about asking him whether I could do this race. There was only one problem. I wanted to start in one of the qualifying time waves but did not have a 10K qualifying time since I had no results from Rage in the Sage (more on that in a future post). I could have used one of my 5K times from the previous year. However, I wanted a more accurate 10K time to reflect what I am currently running since I am not running as fast as I was in July 2008 when I ran the Highlands Ranch July 4th 5K but I seem to be running faster than in November and December 2008 when I ran the Turkey Trot 5K and the Jingle Bells 5K. The solution: Steve wrote the Highlands Ranch Cinco de Mayo 10K into my training schedule.

Steve and I did not talk did about goals before this race. However, I am beginning to develop a feel for how Steve wants me to approach races. So, I set the following goals:

1) Finish in less than 62 minutes (okay, probably not a goal Steve would approve but the whole point of doing this race was to get a qualifying time for Bolder Boulder);

2) Start slow and build through the race; and

3) Have enough left at the end to pick up the pace.

As has been the case for the last month, the weather turned bad again this weekend. Last night, it rained. This morning, it was overcast and a cool 40 or so degrees. The poor weather may have kept some people away as something like 65 runners were listed as finishing this race. I am kind of surpised since the weather was nice running weather.

Despite the nasty looking conditions, Brenda and I headed up to the race site early so that I could join Laura for a 2 mile warm-up run. Brenda decided to walk the 5K since she plans to walk Bolder Boulder with her friends. After she has signed up for the 5K earlier this week, she was informed by a friend in Highlands Ranch that no one walks the Highlands Ranch races. I immediately received an email asking me why I didn't give her this information because she did not want to finish last. I didn't tell her because I didn't know this information. When I told her that I didn't know, she informed me that she should've known better because I'm a terrible observer. Later, she told me that I must buy her an expensive dinner if she finished last. Fortunately, she did not finish last as she kicked butt and walked the course in sub-15 minute miles.

After arriving at the race site, I picked up my race number and timing chip. Laura and I then went on a slow two mile run to warm up. Andrea wanted me to run with Laura to keep me from going to hard during warm-up. We ended with some striders and headed back to the race start. After jogging for a few minutes with Brenda and using the restroom in the Southridge recreation, I got to the start line about one minute before the 10K race. There were so few people running the race that I did not have a hard time finding a start position. I try to position myself more towards the back of the small pack so that I would not start too fast.

The gun sounded and we were off. As is typical in Highlands Ranch races, the first portion of the course (maybe first 1/2 mile) was downhill. This seemed to spur people to go out fast, which resulted in me being towards the back 1/3 of the group. It was difficult to hold back but I was pretty sure the course would eventually go uphill so I tried to conserve energy. I settled into was seemed to be a comfortable pace for me. As the road began to go slightly uphill after about the first 1/2 mile, I started catching and passing people ahead of me on the course. The uphill was short and turned back into a downhill. However, I continued to pass people who seemed to be struggling as we approached the first mile.

At mile one, I caught up with a guy running in an orange race shirt. There was also a water station at mile 1. As we passed it, the volunteers asked if we wanted water. The guy said no but he would take a beer if they had one. I commented that a beer sounded good but would probably be better after the race. He agreed, and we exchanged small talk for the next 1/4 mile. At this point, the course was still downhill. I was feeling good and started to pull away from him. However, he picked up the pace and stayed just behind me. As we continued towards mile 2, we passed a few more people.

After mile 2, the course continued to be slightly downhill. I started to open up a gap between me and the orange shirt guy. About half-way to mile 3, however, the course began to go uphill again. The orange shirt guy caught and passed me. It is not for long, however, as the course just as quickly turned back downhill which allowed me to catch and pass him. Of course, this being Highlands Ranch the course once again started to go uphill as we approach mile 3. The orange shirt guy passed me again and opened up a gap on me. Meanwhile, we were both catching up with and passing about two or three other people ahead of us on the course.

As we continued climbing uphill, I thought that it strange I had seen no one running back the other way since the I knew the turn-around was coming up. Finally, there was one guy running back. Then, just behind him a pack of three people. There was a couple of more and then I started to lose count. I need to do better job of counting the number of people ahead of me. In my defense, usually there are so many that I can't keep track. As I crested the top of the hill, I thought I could see the turn-around. I was kind of surprised since not much time had passed since I had seen the first runner heading back (at the end, not really surprising since I think his pace was around 7:12 min/miles - where were all of the fast runners?). Anyway, the turn-around came pretty quick. At that point, I would guess there were about 20 or so people (maybe 25) ahead of me on the course.

As I headed back, the course again went downhill. I quickly caught the guy in the orange shirt. He was clearly a bit stronger than me on uphills but I was faster on the more flat and downhill sections. As I caught him, I told him that he was strong on the hills. He agreed but pointed out that it wasn't doing him any good since I was catching and passing him on the downhills. I laughed and told him not to worry because there were plenty of uphill portions left for him to catch me on. In truth, I was thinking that I had been holding back a little on the downhill and uphill portions and that I had no intent of letting him pass me again on an uphill portion since the race was more than half over.

I slowly started to pull away from him on the downhill. I could tell since I could no longer hear his footsteps or his breathing. After opening up a gap on him. I began focusing on trying to catch people ahead of me on the course. When I passed a person, I would then focus on the next person that I could see.

As I passed mile 4, the course again turned uphill. This actually proved to be helpful as I would slowly but steadily closed the gap between me and the person just ahead of me as the course went uphill. Just before mile 5, the course reached a peak. I could see the 5k and 10K course below. From this vantage point, I observed the course went downhill for a short distance and the headed uphill again. I also thought that I saw Brenda walking on the 5K course. I was excited to see her since I knew that I would pass her as we headed towards the finish.

Once I past mile 5, the course again started uphill again. I saw two woman and a man just ahead of me. One by one, I caught each one of them and passed them. Then I saw Brenda just ahead. As I went past her, I said hi. There were two guys ahead of me but they had a fairly large gap on me. As we neared mile 6, the uphill got fairly steep. While I was making up ground, it wasn't fast enough. Once we got to the top of the hill, the last 0.2 miles was pretty much downhill. Although I picked up the pace, they also picked up the pace. In the end, they finished about fifteen seconds ahead of me. As for the orange shirt guy, he never caught me again once I passed him for good on the downhill section just after the turn-around.

After finishing the race, I got some water and waited for Brenda to finish. She came through at around 45 minutes. She actually walked faster than some of the people who jogged/walked the 5K. I was very proud of her. Plus, since she was not last, I was off the hook for buying her an expensive dinner.

Overall, I was pleased with this race. I felt strong enough at the end of the race to run another mile. Also, other than the early back and forth with the orange shirt guy, I was never passed in the race. I also was continually improving my place as the race progressed. The results showed that I finished 12th out of 66 participants. Best of all, I got my wave qualifying time as I finished in well under 72 minutes with a time of 51:36. In short, it was a very fun and successful training race.

Rain, Rain Go Away (and Take the Wind with You)

What happened to Spring? Okay, Spring is the time for rain. But why on the weekend, especially when a two hour bike ride followed by a 30 minute run is on the training schedule? Yes, today's workout involved riding and running in the rain. Even better, it was also windy with the temperature in the low 40s. Despite the less than ideal conditions, the workout was kind of fun. However, if given a choice, I would prefer working out in the sunny sixty degree weather predicted for tomorrow.

The fun part of the workout was testing out the new aero bars. This was the first time I have used aero bars when riding. Initially, I was a little shaky but became more comfortable as I rode longer. I wish that I had them installed earlier so that I could have practiced more with them before the race this Saturday. However, I will have another chance to try them out on Wednesday.

As for the race, hopefully the weather will be better in Vegas. If not, then at least today was good practice for dealing with poor weather conditions.

Lots of Running

It seems like there has been quite a bit of running on my schedule recently. It started last Saturday with a 12+ mile run up Deer Creek Canyon. This was not the original plan. The Saturday workout should have been a bike City View/run 8 mile brick. However, a blizzard on Thursday resulted in a last minute change of plans.

Because of the last minute nature of the workout, I didn't have time to think too much about what I had agreed to do. It turned out to be a great run. Steve paired me with Sarah and started us up the canyon ahead of the rest of the group. We ran at a constant pace up High Grade towards the school. I kept expecting to see Troy, Sonja's awesome husband who provided support for our run, pass us in the truck, which would indicate that Steve's group was not too far behind us. It didn't happen. We actually had to wait for Troy for about 5 or so minutes at the school to replenish our water.

After getting more water from Troy, we then continued on from the school toward City View. Again, I was expecting Troy to pass us before we reached City View but it didn't happen. It turns out that Steve had given us too much of a head start. Since Troy was not there, Sarah and I decided to keep on running. We continued running along the road until we could see Denver from City View. We then turned around and headed back to the meeting point to see if Troy was there. He still wasn't there, so for some unexplained reason we decided to run back from where we had just come to see Denver again.

After seeing Denver again, we again headed back to the meeting point. Just as we started back, we saw Troy driving towards us. We gladly accepted a ride from Troy back to the meeting point, where we waited for Steve and the others to arrive. We ended up running 12.75 miles. When I realized that we were just short of 13.1 miles, I was kind of disappointed since it would have been cool to have run a half-marathon uphill. However, I was happy about the run because I felt that I could have gone farther. Plus, it was the second farthest distance that I have ever run with most of the run being uphill.

On Tuesday, I had an 8 mile, no speed run on the schedule. After the long run on Saturday, it actually seemed easy. I felt especially strong the last 5 miles.

Today was a 10+ mile run around Chatfield. This was the same run that I had done earlier in March. The run seemed much easier today. In early March, I was barely hanging on for the last two miles. Today, I could have kept on going at the end of the run even though the time it took me to do the run was almost 14 minutes faster than the same run in March.

What surprises me is how good the last three runs have felt even though this is by far the most running that I have ever done in one week. I am kind of interested in how my body will respond to the scheduled 12 mile, no speed run scheduled for this Saturday.

Getting Better?

Last week, not so good. This week seems to be going better.

I was scheduled to do a snowshoe race at Beaver Creek on Sunday. I decided not to do it. It was a tough decision. In the end, I couldn't mentally handle spending hours in a car to maybe race 1 mile or less if my leg kept me from being able to run. Instead, I did the swim that was scheduled for Monday.

Swimming on Sunday rather than Monday was a good call. When I saw the swim, I knew it would take a long time for me to do it. As expected, it was long. If I had done it on Monday, I would have felt rushed. Doing it on Sunday allowed me to focus on swimming rather than worrying about how long it was taking to do the swim. The swim itself went well. At the end, my back muscles were sore, but it was the good kind of sore after a quality workout.

On Monday, I ended up taking an unscheduled rest day. I had planned to do an hour elliptical workout to make up for the missed BC race. However, I was unable to find time to make it to the gym so it didn't happen.

I had an option on Tuesday: 30 minute run or 30 minutes on an elliptical. I elected to do 30 minutes on the elliptical. My leg was a little sore after the elliptical workout but much better than if I would have run. Further, I was able to walk without limping. It was nice to get in a good cardio workout and be able to walk normal after it.

Today was 2 hours on the trainer. It was a great workout. In fact, it was the best trainer workout that I have had in a few months. Even better, my calf felt the best that it has in the last few weeks.

Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day. I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and taking it easy. This has been a good week so far.

Ugh

This week has not been a good week training or otherwise. It started great on Monday and has gone downhill since then.

On Monday, I swam. Although it was a long swim, it was probably one of the best swim workouts ever for me. I felt strong and relaxed in the water. The swim was going so well that I was kind of disappointed when the workout ended. This is unusual as typically I am glad when the swim workout is done. If it is possible, I may have been on a swimmer's high. Despite the great swim, work quickly killed my motivation for the day. It was such a struggle that I barely billed six hours for the day, which was not a good start to the month.

On Tuesday, I was scheduled to run six miles. I say scheduled to run because the run did not actually happen. The day before, I had discussed this run with Steve. I was concerned about it because of my left calf. For the last month or so, every time I have run, there is a dull pain in my left calf. After a run, I typically limp around for a day or two. Because of this injury, I've not been running much lately. Thus, for this run, Steve wanted me start off very slowly to see if I could avoid the calf pain. If not, we agreed that I should stop the run.

As discussed with Steve, I started slowly. It didn't matter. Less than a few minutes into the run, the dull ache was back. I tried to give it a go for about a mile but the pain didn't go away. At that point, I just ended the run. I'm probably could have done the run but it wasn't worth it. I knew that I would just end up limping around. Later in the day I talked to Steve about the run. Steve suggested that I do a workout on an elliptical to see if there was still pain. That evening, I did exercised on an elliptical. The ache was still there although it was not as bad as it is during running.

Work was not much better than the run. Once again I didn't come close to billing the number of hours that I need to bill each day.

Wednesday was another swim. The swim was 50 continuous minutes of pulling. During this swim, I tried doing flip turns at both ends of the pool. Other than trying something new, the swim was uneventful. Work, from a billing standpoint, was a bit better than Monday and Tuesday as I least I hit the target number of billable hours.

On Thursday, Andrea once again worked on my calf. At times, it was painful as my left calf lit up each time she worked the inside of it. Afterwards, the leg felt better. Because I didn't feel like going to work, I talked with Andrea after the massage much longer than I should have. The end result was that I got into work after noon. While talking to Andrea, I also found that I was scheduled to ride 1.5 hours on the trainer. Knowing that I had to ride the trainer after work, I left work early even though I had billed less than five hours. This was the worst billing day of the week. Even worse, I already need to make up like five hours just for this month.

When I got home, Brenda wanted to go out to eat. So instead of getting on the trainer, we went to dinner. By the time we got back, it was almost nine. I really didn't feel like riding the training but did it anyway. I'm pretty sure the workout was not that great. Even though I had the bike on low resistance, I had no motivation to spin at a high cadence. After an hour, I just wanted off the bike. However, I struggled through another 30 minutes of riding.

Today was another long swim. This swim was not so good. During the swim, I felt anything but strong and smooth. In fact, I felt like a lead weight in the water, and flip turns were not going much better. It started with coming up short once at the wall. I then started to over think the flip turns and had numerous other almost not reaching the wall turns. At one point, it got so bad that I didn't do a flip. Instead, I ended up diving to the bottom of the pool, which I am sure was very funny to the watching lifeguards. Needless to say, the swim couldn't end fast enough. After the swim, I was very tired and my back muscles were fatigued.

Fortunately, I decided to work from home today. It was a good decision since I didn't get home from the swim until around 11;00. Despite the late start, I actually had a good work day. I completed a new project and got my required hours in for the day. Unfortunately, I will probably have to work either tomorrow and/or Sunday just to catch up on the other hours that I missed this week.

Running with the Big Dogs

Today's scheduled group run was a 46 mile trek from Highlands Ranch to Boulder. Actually, it was a 46 mile run for Steve, Anthony and Sonja. For the rest of us, we were invited to join and run with them for as much or as little as we wanted. On Thursday, Steve told me that he wanted me to run between 8 and 9 miles. So, my plan was to join the group at Kipling and run to the Conoco station in Morrison. The plan did not quite unfold as anticipated.

I estimated that the group would be at Kipling around 8:30 am. As usual, I was running late. As I drove along C-470 towards Kipling I kept an eye out for the group. Just before Kipling, I saw Steve, Anthony and Sonja. I realized that I would not have time to park the car and join them. So I changed my plan: I decided to start at Ken Caryl and run towards Kipling until I joined them.

As I drove to Ken Caryl, I start thinking about how the group was only Steve, Anthony and Sonja. I was kind of surprised because I expected at least one or two other team members to be running with them. Then I started thinking about turning around and not running with them; all three are fantastic runners and I was uncertain that I could keep pace with them. However, I knew that they planned to go at a relatively slow pace (10 min miles) because of the long distance. At worst, they would drop me, and I would just run alone to the Conoco station.

I parked my car and decided to try my new Yak Traks since there was a little snow on the C-470 trail. As I got out of the car, I was pleasantly surprised that it was not too cold. I ran on the C-470 trail towards Kipling. I tried to focus on kicking my butt. It was difficult because my leg muscles were still a little sore from the Thursday run with Steve. After about 8 minutes, I saw the group. When we met, I turned around and began running with them in the other direction on the C-470 trail. As we went past Ken Caryl, I pointed out where I had parked. I had arranged for Brenda to pick me up at the Conoco and drive me back to my car.

As I ran with the group, my legs started to warm up. We headed towards Bowles Ave. This stretch of the C-470 trail is not too fun as it primarily goes up as you head towards Bowles. As the grade increased, I started feeling it aerobically. The hill did not seem to bother Steve, Anthony or Sonja as all seemed strong as we went up. This relatively high effort for me would have been a problem if I was running the entire distance. Fortunately, I was only going around 8 miles.

As we got near Bowles, we saw two figures standing on the trail: one tall and one short. They were Troy, Sonja's husband, and Annie, her daughter. Troy was providing support to the group for the entire run. Annie was dressed in a cute pink outfit. When we got to Troy, we followed him over a fence and climbed up a wall to reach the car. Steve, Anthony, and Sonja refueled and added water to the water bottles that they were carrying. I didn't plan on taking any nutrition other than water since it would only be around an hour and half run for me.

After refueling and restocking, we got back on the trail and headed towards the next rest stop: the Conoco station. The next portion was fairly nice as it was slightly downhill. I was feeling pretty good. The weather was also great. The sun was out and the sky was a beautiful blue. As we approached Bear Creek Lake Park, the trail started back uphill. I was glad that it was gentle as I was struggling a little when the trail started to go up.

We entered Bear Creek Lake Park. Fortunately, the entry into the park was downhill so I was able to recover a little. I was still trying to kick my butt but it was getting harder. After a while, the trail started to slope up again. I was not happy about this as I was starting to struggle to keep pace with the group. However, I could see the Conoco so I knew it was not much further. As we ran under C-470 along Morrison Road, Steve asked me how I was doing. I told him that I was struggling to stay with them. Steve encouraged me by pointing out that I didn't have much further to go.

We reached the parking lot. Again, Troy and Annie were waiting for us. Tyler was also there. He planned to join the group at Alameda and run the last 26 miles with them. Way to go Tyler. I said goodbye to Steve, Anthony and Sonja and watched them run up the road. All them still seemed strong after 17+ miles. It was awesome to run with them for a portion of the distance. Maybe one day my fitness will be at a point where I can run the full distance with them. For today, however, my limit was around 8 miles. I found Brenda, and we drove back to my car.

Kicking My Butt

Yesterday, I ran with Coach Steve. I picked Steve up just after 6:30 am. The night before, Steve said he had a surprise. Steve directed me where to go, which turned out to be a parking lot just outside Chatfield State Park. The surprise was a flat stretch of trail, which is highly unusual to find in the area. The trail was built on top of Chatfield dam. Thank you, Corps of Engineers.

As we ran, Steve wanted me to work on form. Specifically, he want me to kick my butt with the heels of my shoe. At first, it was fun. After a few minutes, it became tiring as I was using muscles that I typically do not use when I run. We ran towards a parking lot on top of the dam. During the run, Steve would occasionally stop and discuss form with me and why I need to work on lifting my lower leg to kick my butt. He also showed me the hill where he made the group do hill run repeats, undoubtedly foreshadowing a run workout in the future. He also spent some time discussing race strategy, including visualizing running past the finish line. To emphasize the point, he told me that we were running to the stop sign in the parking lot. However, halfway through the parking lot, we stopped and discussed how to approach doing bicycle hill repeats on a road that goes over the dam. We never did go to the stop sign.

The run was not all serious. At one point, Steve told me he would like to organize a one mile race on the trail so that he could call the event "The Dam Mile". He also volunteered to go to Mexico for me in January. He backed away from the offer when I told him that he would have to spend time with my girlfriend's mother.

On the way back to the car from the parking lot, the view was gorgeous. The lake was to the right, partially covered in ice, and the sun was coming up in front of us. It is incredible how fast the sun grows in size as it comes over the horizon. I wish that I had a camera to take a picture. It was also amazingly quiet except for the sound of my breathing and Steve occasionally talking to me - Steve was hardly breathing as the pace was easy for him.

As we retraced our steps, Steve pointed out my footprints in the snow. At first, I thought the footprints were his because of how far apart they were spaced. However, they were indeed my footprints. A little butt kicking (or at least trying to kick your butt) apparently increases the distance you travel with each stride. We ended the run by slowing down and really focusing on trying to kick our butts.

Today, I have some soreness in my leg muscles. However, it is the good type of soreness that comes from a butt kicking workout.