Summer Roundup is just around the corner!!

I had a great time this past weekend at the Palmer Lake 4th of July 4 Miler. I ran with so many other happy running souls and it was just lovely! Now that my ankle is holding up better, I am really focusing on quality of training, and getting some time up in the higher elevations, more to come on that later!

The biggest thing that has made my training extremely creative this year is my work location. I work out of Denver,  the great mile high city, and trying to find trails that are somewhat close to the awesomeness that the trails in Colorado Springs offers has been a little challenging. Between location and time I have found a few places that are quite lovely in the Denver area.  Green Mountain is closest to my job, and is a great trail for hill work and the trail itself isn't super technical.

 I really "enjoy" doing hill repeats at the Castle Trail in Morrison at Mt. Falcon. Castle Trail in particular has one really great hill that I can suffer up and down over and over. The one draw back to this trail, and Green Mountain for that matter, is lack of any type of shade.  The trees are sparse so it gets hot very quickly. I prefer to do these runs as early as possible, so I usually try to get to them right after I take my kiddo to camp in the morning. 

My very most favorite trail in Denver, well, actually this one is in Golden-so we will call it the "Denver area", is the Apex Trail in Jeffco Open space. It's right next to Heritage Square Amusement park. I've been hiking this trail for years, but this year I've been running it and really enjoying it. The Actual Apex trail is pretty technical, and then it connects to my favorite trail, Enchanted Forest. I run a very happy 5 mile loop there, and its just lovely. Lots and lots of people enjoy that trail though, so I find that it is best to get there on a random weekday afternoon before most people get off work. I don't always have that option, but when I do, I can be by myself and just enjoy running away from the city. It completely looks like I am running away from the city and it is just lovely.  

While my heart and soul is with the trails in Colorado Springs, I'm finding more and more that there are quaint, challenging, and exciting trails just around the corner of my work location in Denver and I get excited to explore more things up here. I am very much looking forward to running the Summer Roundup with you all this weekend!!! If you are in the Denver area and want to get together for a run, or need suggestions on places, let me know!

Cheers for Sunday!!!