I ran this morning with a group of people at Betasso Preserve outside of Boulder. http://www.bouldercounty.org/play/recreation/pages/betassopreserve.aspx
Betasso Preserve is a 3.3 mile loop that makes for great trail running. Last week the city opened the new Benjamin Loop which is another 3.1 mile loop added to the current trail. In a few months, they will open a link to Fourmile Canyon, where we live.
This was not my usual group of runners. I was invited to the group by my friend Eric when I asked if he wanted to do a bike ride. He is a member of a trail running group that I was a member of a few years ago. I left the group because I really wasn’t a very good trail runner and I wanted to run roads and triathlons again, not because I didn’t like the group. It was good to see them again. One woman who was there was in one of my first Bolder Boulder training groups. Another couple just came from Missouri and they will be the honored guests at a baby shower tomorrow which we will be attending and used to be coaches in the running group I was in. The leader of the group, a guy they call Mountain Dave, was in my former trail running group. He is now the coach and I bet he is a good one. He seemed to recognize me from a few years ago and was very welcoming.
I haven’t run many trails lately. It felt great to get out. After our last week of rain and more rain, I was hoping that the trail wasn’t a mudfest that would stick to the bottom of shoes and make them heavier and heavier. It wasn’t. The trail was packed down. Even though there were some puddles to avoid, for the most part it was just simply wet. Since the trail just opened this week, there were very few people on it. The group stopped and regrouped a lot which was good because I was toward the rear. We also stopped to look out over the Fourmile Fire area. I couldn’t see my house, but I could clearly see a couple of the neighborhood houses. It’s hard to believe that this wonderful 7 mile trail will soon be walking distance from my house. What a luxury.
Running trails is harder than running on roads but the scenery is prettier (when I am not making sure that I am going to trip over rocks). I loved being out there again. After the 7 miles, the group got more water and food from cars and got ready to head out for the 3 mile loop again. My watch said that we had already been out for an hour and forty minutes and I was feeling tired so I decided to stop.
