trail run: stone creek loop

With a few 10k runs sneaking up on me I should probably be doing more trail running than mtn biking right now. I don't care though- I love both! (especially when it's 65 and sunny) One thing I need to get used to is building my mileage very slowly at this altitude (8,000 ft.); you can't just crank out a 10k on no training like you can at sea-level... even if you did ski for a season... I'm learning this the hard way...

I love the circle of life out here... biking, running and hiking get you ready for winter. Skiing and snowshoeing get you ready for summer. AND, all of it is awesome and out your back door!

The Dirty Dets

- Basics: 3.8mi loop starting/ending at my house

- Surface: about half of it is on a trail on the back side of Beaver Creek, the rest just neighborhood roads through the Eagle-Vail Golf Course

- Pitch: it's pretty intense (or I'm just very out of shape!) because the first mile is all uphill and reasonably steep before flattening out for a little bit then rolling up and down before flats

- Scenery: Aspens have their baby leaves, the creek and streams (2 little guys) are raging with all the snow melt (if you fell into the creek you'd definitely do some damage to yourself), the shrubbery is coming back to life and fortunately I've yet to have to run away from a bear!

- How'd I do? Ehh... 48mins... I feel sad just typing that but only because I'm comparing my time to a flat, sea-level run so I'll cut myself a bit of slack. I can feel myself getting better lung capacity by the day though so that's exciting!