The week ending Dec. 14

Monday -- 6.5 miles up and down Horsetooth. Decided to go tempo once I hit the park. 55 mins total. I think this is a PR over this route; however, only the second time I have timed it (~1,500 elev gain).

Tues -- Off

Weds -- 9.5 miles. Horsetooth Trail Half course, with Spring Creek down from Towers (~2,000 elev gain). 8:58 up Horsetooth Trail.

Thurs -- 6.5 miles. As Monday, except all at easy pace.

Friday -- 23 miles. The Twin Peaks Challenge. Up to Horsetooth and around to Mill Creek along HTH course. Mill Creek into Lory State Park and up to Arthur's Rock. Took Timber Trail to the Lory Visitor Center and decided to run the road back to Arthur's trail head because the trails were so sloppy. Nomad to Towers, to Stout, to Spring Creek, to Horsetooth Falls to parking lot and home. Felt pretty good the whole way around. Much, much better than the one previous time I ran this route earlier in the summer, which ended in a dehydrated plod home. Total run time was 3:40 or so. Elevation gain was probably in the 3,500-4,000 range.

Saturday -- 9 miles (2,500 elevation gain). Climbed to Twin Sisters Peak in Estes with Chad. We had originally planned to do Estes Cone as well, but the weather on top of Twin Sisters was so vicious (winds must have been a steady 70 mph, and without eye protection that hurts) we settled for a warm-down jog around the picturesque Lily Lake.

Sunday -- Christmas Classic 4 miler (26:14). With fresh powder on the roads and temperatures in the low single digits the conditions were trying to say the least. Ended up running three minutes slower than over the same distance on Thanksgving. By beating Santa across the finish line, I snagged a pair of running socks. I also won a large pizza from Panhandlers in the post-race lottery, and picked up a pair of tiger-striped (!) running spikes for $10 on clearance from Foot of the Rockies, the store that put on the race. The spikes will be perfect for the Saltwood Boxing Day run, a 3-mile race that is fast becoming a tradition for the Clark family annual Christmas gathering. The run starts and ends in the village of Saltwood by way of hilly fields, which invariably are very sloppy.

Total: 58.5 miles and 9,000-10,000 total elevation gain.