Met up with Brandon at Chautauqua and we had a nice warm-up over to the base of Flag, catching up on things as it seems like a while since we have run together.
Started our watches at the bridge and within a few strides, I knew I was going to have a great run. I started off fairly hard, but never really felt as though as I was over-extending myself, just took a few minutes for everything to start to sync up. I focused on fast cadence and consistency and was doing my best to use the entire road as traffic dictated.
Around the halfway point, my quads were starting to feel the effort, but I think it was more to do with running on pavement and not having taken a down day for a while, but my cardiovascular system was feeling excellent, especially in the cool, overcast and somewhat humid conditions. I knew I would be close to PR, so I kept slowly upping the tempo, until I was hitting a full on sprint past the final swichback. I stopped my watch at the "Leaving Boulder Open Space" sign at 37:41, gasping for air, but feeling that absolute highest of runners highs.
I jogged back down to meet Brandon, who was not far back and accompanied him back up to the top. From there, we jogged at a moderate pace over to Green, down Greenman/NE Ridge/Saddle Rock (all the way skipping Amphi), then back to Chautauqua.
This was one of those runs where I just felt great and everything was just clicking.
Splits: SuperFlag 37:41 (avg HR 172/max 183)
Green from SuperFlag: 16:36 (avg HR 157/max 175)
Descent back to Chautauqua: 34:00 (avg HR 127/max 163)
