Week Ending March 29

Mon - 7 miles on the mill.

Tues - 8 miles easy on Horestooth trails (1,650 feet). Super slow due to nasty cold.

Weds - 9 miles at Horsetooth (1,200 feet). Really fatigued/sick on this run. Probably should have just stayed in bed.

Thurs - 8 miles on the mill. Felt much better, although anything in the sixes was still very labored.

Fri - 8 miles. 0:56. On the bike paths in town. Able to run a few faster miles.

Sat - 21 miles (1,300 feet) on the road. 2:44. Down to JJs, then north on Taft to Mulberry, west to Overland and back south to the stadium, up over the dam back to 38E and home.

Felt much better on this run. Bumped into Corey H as I was cresting the dam on the way home and we ran together for a bit. He had already been out for four hours when I saw him, with one more hour to get home. He's all paid up to do Leadman this year (Leadville 100 (bike and run), marathon, 10k, and Silver Rush 50) and looks to be depositing some serious training into the bank. Hopefully he'll have enough withdrawals available this summer to get him through. Thirty minutes later, on my final climb home, I bumped into Bryan G. Funny to see both these trail guys on the roads after having seen nothing of them on the trails all winter.

Sun - 14 road miles (700 feet). 1:46. Met a group from the Fort Collins Trail Runners at Maxwell. Ran the first eight miles of the Horsetooth Half Marathon course, looping back around on Overland to Maxwell for 14 miles with 700-800 feet of climbing through the opening couple of hills, and on Bingham. I'm always blown away by the views up on the northeast side of the reservoir. Today it was crystal clear out, the sun was blazing and the foothills looked beautiful blanketed in snow. Legs felt good from Saturday, so pushed a bit up the hills and in places elsewhere. Paced with Victoria F up the hills and on much of the flats. She's training for the half in three weeks and the Fort Collins Marathon in early May. I'd say she has a decent shot at winning one or both races. She was in the middle of a 20 miler and running strong.

Total: 75 miles (4,850 feet of vertical)

Although the weather and my health were conspiring against me this week, I still managed to get decent mileage in. For the same reasons, I didn't do much climbing, which is probably a good thing as I was able to up the pace a bit with road and treadmill runs. Beginning to feel like I am getting some leg speed back. The treadmill remains a chore, but it felt good to run roads and be able to open up a bit.

Running through a nasty cold is not a whole lot of fun, but on balance I would say it was worth it, especially in terms of building mental and intestinal fortitude. Sometimes the most rewarding runs are those that you get done despite major internal protest.