It was a good idea to take Saturday off. I had a strong 39 mile run today, steady and consistent all the way to the end, I was running a decent pace. I didn't feel wiped out when I was done, either.
I thought about doing more miles with the daylight that was left, but decided I should stop while I was still fresh and expedite my recovery. I don't need to be doing junk miles.
I used the day as a mental training run, I tried to focus and be consistent in my pace and my run-walk-run transitions. I had the wind to challenge me in all directions. I was running quite a bit faster than I'll need to at Across the Years, and it helped me figure out how much slower of a pace I'll want to keep during the 48 hours.
It was an interesting day with the weather. It started out as a nice morning, the day became clear, calm and warm. About halfway through my run I saw a front moving in over the mountains. Suddenly a big bank of dark gray clouds moved in, the wind started howling, and Longs Peak was obscured under the storm. There were a few cold raindrops stinging my face but not enough to get wet.
At one point there was a huge dust storm on the west side of the lake. It looked like one of those dust devils in Death Valley except it was about 80 degrees cooler. I had to wrap my jacket around my face to get through it. I was prepared for almost any weather, but I didn't bring my swim goggles on this run.
Within 2 hours, the clouds moved over, Longs Peak and the Mummy range had fresh snow, and the sun was starting to shine on the foothills. In the last hour and a half of my run it was sunny, clear, and warm but still windy.
Looks like we have one more day of beautiful fall weather according to the forecast, and then we have to pay for this extended summer. The first snow could fall this week. Perfect timing, this is my easy week!
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