The Spring Spree 10k and 20 Miler #1

I suppose the 10k went as well as you could expect. I wasn't fully recovered from the 45 miles the previous Saturday.
I started with the top 10 guys and got sucked in to there pace for the first quarter mile before slowing to my own pace and coming through the first mile around 5:40. At this point I realized that holding that pace and PR'ing wasn't looking good. The next two miles were right around 6:00 pace but I could feel my pace fluctuating from about 5:30 to 6:30. Obviously some runs at race pace would have helped immensely. During those miles I was able to catch and pass three people who had started out way to fast, putting me somewhere near 8th place.
The forth mile is the toughest one for pretty much everyone and I ran it in 6:30 -what should be marathon pace not 10k pace. Even with the slow down, I was gaining ground on everyone I could see and knew that I'd pass another two or three people in the last two miles. But by that point I was ready for it to be over. 38:00 finish time on a flat, pretty fast course. Not a good day, but moving on.

At the last minute I decided I would join the Rocky Mountain Road Runners for their Marathon Training Series 20 miler. So I checked online how far the race was from home and set my alarm.
My body didn't seem to feel the previous day's race when I woke up and that got me excited. I got in the car and started driving toward the race. After about 15 minutes, I realized that I missed a turn somewhere, so I turned on my GPS and tried to get directions -I still had more than half an hour until the race would start. My Magellan had no idea what I wanted based on "Twin Lakes Park" and all I knew was the park's name. But I knew I had to be close, so I went into a gas station to ask for directions. The manager called a woman who "would know if anyone would" where the park was. She had no clue either. So I went elsewhere and eventually went into a small, local diner figuring that was my last hope. The owner greeted me began to take me to a table while I explained my situation. He then walked me around to just about every person in the building trying to find someone who could offer me directions. A bit awkward, but the race was due to start in less than 20 minutes and I wasn't going to miss it.
The only problem was the park didn't seem to exist. Atleast no one knew anything about it. So that was that.

I then figured I would just run my own 20, since I wasn't planning to eat or drink anything during the race, it would make little difference. But with the letdown and stress of missing the planned race I didn't make it far before I called it. I'd just have to get back out later to get my miles.

I did just that. At around 4:00 I left the house and took off up Alameda toward Green Mountain, summitting Green about an hour later: 6'ish miles away and 1300 net feet up. I then followed the trails to the false-summit to the north and tagged it as well before dropping down the steep west side of Green Mountain.

A shot of the Front Range from Green, pictures from Fun With Gravity

With a decline that must be more than 20% average for half a mile, the descent was fun after all the slow climbing of the first 7 miles. Crossing over highway 470 at around mile 8 I realized that this was looking like one of the best training runs of my life and I'd be hitting 20 for sure.
The path I followed  to the next two mini-peaks is a classic Front Range trail, called "Zorro" due to the switchbacks. The trail lead to the top of two Hogbacks. The accent was short and steep and brought me to my turn-around point of 10 miles. Already at the half-way point this was possibly the most elevation change I'd ever done in a training run.

Green Mountain from Zorro Trail

 My favorite thing about Zorro is the smell: the Rocky Mountains have an extremely distinct smell and Zorro reeks of it. It's a dry, sandy, smell, that's earthy without smelling green. Being the strongest sense tied to memory, I get goosebumps and think about my first trail runs here in Colorado every time I smell it.. just a side-note.

Heading back down the switchbacks toward Green

The way back was almost as incredible as the way out. The accent up the west slope of Green was fun in a five-minutes-of-hell way. But knowing that it was literally all downhill from the peak was enough to make me push hard up it.
After the hitting the peak for a second time it was 1300 feet net loss and about 6 miles to home, with the last 4.5'ish on road. The moment I got home I became self-aware of my own bona fide mountain-runner-ness, and it felt right. I've been in Colorado for 9 months, and I'm starting to really feel like a Colorado runner.
Although I was more sore the next day then I was after the 45 miles the previous Saturday..