Driving to Boulder, I was feeling sluggish, low on energy and lacking sleep. I was mentally into getting out for a run, but my body was just not feeling all that into it. As soon as I laced up my shoes and got on the trail though, everything seemed better and I was feeling springy. I headed up Gregory/Crown Rock up to the Flagstaff trail at a quick pace, but not really digging too deep. Once at the top of Flagstaff, I looped around on the Ute trail, crossed Flagstaff road and then over to the Ranger Cabin. I hung a right up the Long Canyon Trail, SuperFlag, W. Ridge to the top of Green and was just feeling really solid.
Feeling great at this point, I was itching to crank it down Bear Canyon and Mesa Trail back to Chautauqua. My footwork was spot on and I was in that zen like state of focus and concentration, feeling as though I was flowing down the trail like water. As I got to the Bear Canyon/Mesa Junction, I could see a runner going fast a minute or so down the trail and in an instant, I got that competetive surge of adreneline and was in chase mode. I had already been going near my limit on the descent, but I upped the intensity even more and caught the runner just before the Mallory Cave jct. and kept pushing the pace even higher, dropped quickly across Skunk Canyon and punched it up the other side. I could see the runner hanging tough just seconds back, but I was on a mission to crack him and push to a PR descent back to Chautauqua. I could see I was opening a gap and just kept rolling it, gaining a few minutes by the end.
I hung out until until he rolled in and we exchanged compliments on a job well done and chatted for a while. He admitted that I spooked him, kicking him into competition mode, but he blew on the climb out of Skunk Canyon. I gave him credit for a good fight and he certainly pressed me into giving it all I had. All in all, an awesome day out and I felt spot on, totally in the groove.
Splits:
Gregory TH to Flag: 17:20
Ranger Cabin: 26:04
SuperFlag: 43:08
Green: 57:43
Green to Bear W. Ridge jct.: 8:24
Wood Bridge getting into Bear Canyon: 11
Mesa Trail: 23:04
Finish at Chautauqua: 42:13
RT: 1:39:56 (plus ~7 minutes of warm up/cool down)
