Bobolink Trail and Ozo Coffee

It was another Bobolink Trail sort of day.  Old Man Winter dumped a few inches on Colorado this past week, and the temps have been in the 20’s and 30’s.  I have to say, I’m getting a little tired of the persistent cold.  Any time Spring wants to come and hang out in the Foothills of Colorado, I’ll be here with a big ol’ Welcome sign!

Bobolink is our “go-to” trail this winter.  It’s a flat out-and-back, totaling 6.6 miles.  There’s nothing exciting about this trail, but it’s perfect for trail-runners who don’t want to risk broken bones on treacherous trails.

Elizabeth took this picture of the sunrise.  Isn’t it beautiful???

Sunrise at the Bobolink Trail 2-13-2010, photo taken by Elizabeth Hagen

Kathy was able to run a little this week after taking several weeks off due to a knee sprain.  I ran with her, Elizabeth and Marcia for about twenty minutes before we all noticed that Sarah had taken off; she was far ahead of us.  I decided to see what she was up to and sprinted ahead, focusing all my energy on trying not to DIE on the vast tracts of ice that covered the passable parts of the wide trail.  Since I was wearing my trusty Nike trail shoes, I didn’t slip too much, but enough to know that I needed to keep my stride short.

Keeping my stride short and fast became the name of my game for the next mile.  I was gaining on Sarah, but finally had to call out to her because I couldn’t navigate another 50 feet of ice quickly.

We ran together to the “end of the line”, touched the gate (I’ve been told that you HAVE to touch the gate for it to count) and headed back.  Somehow, with a friend running beside me, the ice fields didn’t seem as bad.  I checked our pace a few times on the Garmin and noted that we were doing a decent tempo run (8:15/mile), considering the ice mine-fields we had to navigate.

After crossing over South Boulder Road and getting onto the cleared sidewalk, we pushed pace a little more and held steady at 7:45/mile.  This was the edge of Sarah’s “talk-able” pace; any faster and I would be having a conversation with myself, so we held it there.  Granted, I was doing a lot of the talking anyway, but Sarah was an angel and contributed to the discussion so I wouldn’t feel like I was holding her hostage to my verbal diarrhea.  Just kidding, it wasn’t really that bad.

Back at the trailhead we did some serious stretching while we waited for the group to congregate.  Sarah has these amazingly long legs that easily hook over the top rail of the fence.  She worked her hamstrings and calves, while I hooked my feet over the middle rung of the fence and did the best I could with my 5’6” body.  I’ve been really good about stretching every day since I mentioned it in my stretching post a few days ago, and I’ve really felt a difference.

The rest of the group joined us and for some reason we all stood around talking for another five or ten minutes.  It was a good twenty minutes after Sarah and I finished running that we all headed out to the coffee shop, which meant that I was good and cold by that point.

Let me take a minute to mention one of the best coffee shops in Boulder; Ozo Coffee, right near 55^th and Arapaho.  The coffee is amazing, the baristas are talented and friendly, and there are even GLUTEN-FREE baked goods!  This is a very popular gathering place; when we arrived at 8:30 on Saturday morning there was room for our group of nine; by the time we left, each table had hosted two or three different groups of people.  If you’re ever in Boulder, take time to stop for a coffee treat from Ozo Coffee!  (No, I don’t get paid to say this.)