Visit to Steamboat Springs with Aunt Debbie and Uncle Kirk

Up at Fish Creek Falls

Downtown Steamboat

Renae goofing off

On the Rotary Club's raised walkway

The Yampa River

Howdy Howdy
Aunt Debbie and Uncle Kirk happened to be in Colorado for 10 days or so and we decided to meet in Steamboat Springs as they were staying in Estes Park and I had outreach I needed to do in Steamboat. So we drove up there on Friday afternoon and did a little outreach before meeting them at the hotel. By the way the road through Rocky Mountain National Park closes after the first snowfall (which means if you are trying to get west from Estes you need to go down to Denver or up to Wyoming). Needless to say it took them quite a bit longer to reach Steamboat than they thought it would.

For dinner we headed to the Ore House (would highly recommend this eating establishment and ask for Emmert to be your waiter). Their sweet rolls are to die for. Very fun and social atmosphere. We decided to walk into town the next morning and conduct my outreach business.

We met at breakfast around 730 and headed out around 0800. It was mighty chilly. We stopped off at the Rotary Park raised walkway to look at the views and then marched on until I had to go to the bathroom. Unfortunately there were no public bathrooms in sight but luckily it was a wooded area and near the railroad so did my thing. The Botanical Garden was on the walk so we stopped in and looked around. The flowers were still in bloom and very pretty. I liked the Autumn Crocus best. We then stopped at the Car Wash and ate an ice cream cone and rested. (3 miles in). By this time Uncle Kirk was on a mission to find all the places I needed to hit for outreach and by golly he found all of them. The library was the furthest out (6 miles in) and headed to the Smokehouse for lunch.

We then worked our way back towards the hotel. Across from the Hot Springs we stopped at the river and soaked our feet in the warm water as it was flowing into the Yampa River. It was a nice little diversion. Soon we were off again and several started wondering if the car could come get us or maybe Sherpa boy would show up. But if you talk while you walk you don't realize how bad your feet hurt. We made it back to the hotel (12 miles later) and Renae and I went to the pool and hot tub to stretch our weary legs. He went to Mazzoles for supper (it was ok, very high priced for food).

Somehow Renae and I talked Uncle Kirk into going for a run with us Sunday morning. So we met each other in the lobby. Renae and I in fleece, shorts, running shoes, etc. poor Uncle Kirk in jeans, Reebok's, and a rain jacket. We started walking for 5 min and then began our run. Uncle Kirk was so funny he was breathing hard and kept asking if I was or was sweating. I asked if he needed water and he said no just air. He did good and ran the whole 30 min with me at a 11:12 per mile pace. He kept saying there wasn't enough air up here for running. We all walked back to the hotel and met with Aunt Debbie. (Trying to talk him into a Tri in Colorado next year) We then headed to Christy Sports and the Fish Creek Trail. Hiked around a little then had breakfast/lunch at Freshies on Lincoln and Trafalger (very good food, not so fast service).

Then we all headed our separate ways. It was a great time. The colors were very pretty and we got lots of exercise.

(I'll load pics tonight)

Quarry Trail Run Marble, Colorado Sept 20, 2009

Cheryl receiving her 2nd place finish for age category award.

Kristen receiving her 1st place finish age category award.

Roby receiving his 2nd place age category award.

RJ receiving his 1st place age category award.

Me hauling during the first 1/2 mile of the race.

Kristen and Renae at the half way point.

Roby cruising down the hill around mile 5 1/2.

Cheryl thankful that she was now going downhill.

RJ almost at the turn around point.

Me being cheesy before the race.

Well race day was quite dramatic with weather conditions, start time changes, 6 people trying to get organized to run, and packing all at the same time. Renae wanted to start early so that she and I could run with the kids (adult) a little during the run. I told her I would if we got official times. The race organizer said that he would keep official time for us and that we would be eligible for awards if we earned them, so I agreed to start early. We started at 9:09am 21 min before the race started. The first mile went through the town of Marble and through a Marble pit for lack of a better description. Then we started heading up hill 1200 feet in 3 miles. We ran the first 200 feet and then started walking but kept a 15 min pace at walking. I judged that the race group would start catching up with us around 0945. But it wasn't until about 3 1/2 miles and 0953 that the first runner passed us. Kristen caught up with us right around the 4 mile mark and Renae who was a little ahead of me ran with her at the turn around point for about 15 seconds. RJ was the next to reach us he was probably 2 min behind Kristen and Renae and I were already headed back down. Cheryl was next about 2 min behind RJ and then Roby was probably 5 min behind Cheryl. It was nice getting pictures of everyone. Cheryl caught up with me on the downhill section and took some pictures of me running. Downhill was definitely better, I probably was down 8:30 min miles on the downhill section. Although it took me a while to catch up with Renae. I caught her about mile 6 and we ran together until she had to empty her shoe. I cruised on down to mile 7 then decided to walk for 30 seconds, bad idea. My legs were all wobbly and I thought I was going to fall over. Renae caught back up with me and we ran the rest of the way to the finish line together and crossed at the same time. They had our official time as 1:31:33 but since we started 21 min earlier it was actually 1:52:??. Not bad considering 1/3 of the race was going up hill. Renae and I each won places in our age category. Side note there were only 2 people in my age category, 3 in Renae's, 2 in Kristen and Cheryl's, 3 in RJ and Roby's. But still something to be proud of.

8 1 M20 Rj Byrd, 26 1:13:16.14
4 1 W20 Kristen Denney, 24*, Grand Junction, CO 1:13:42.95
10 2 W20 Cheryl Catlett, 25*, Grand Junction, CO 1:18:52.29
12 2 M20 Roby Byrd, 22, Grand Junction, CO 1:22:43.212
24 12W40 Renae Byrd, 48* 1:52:01.225
25 2 W30 Julie Fuller, 38* 1:55:33.0

The above are the offical times however, Renae and I crossed the finish line at the same time so both of our times are 1:52:01.225. The numbers in front of all the names are the place of finish within the Mens or Women's category and then the place within the age category. So RJ was the 8th man across the finish line and he was 1st in his age category.

Mary's Loop 8 mile Race

Renae coming across the finish line.

Here comes Renae, Yeah.

Self-portrait at mile 6.5.

Renae at the start of the race. The blonde in front of her fell and broke her wrist at mile 2..75 - 3.25.

Roby and Renae before the race.

We got started yesterday morning a little bit latter that what I would have liked but it all turned out good. We carpooled with Roby so headed over to his house at 0650 in the morning. We all got to the Trailhead around 0735 and the race started at 0800. I only got to go to the bathroom twice instead of my standard 5 times, lol. There were probably 75-100 people there. The start and finish of the race was in the parking lot by the restrooms. We all lined up and we were off. Of course Renae and I were at the end and right in front of me were my three targets to beat this race: a 70 something man with a lot of wrinkles and a leg brace and two women who said they were injured. I know that's preying on the old and injured but hey. When we started Renae had quite a bit of difficulty with her technical shirt which she shed and her iPod. But we plugged along and actually until the incident stayed together pretty much. I passed my first target within 1.5 miles or so. Soon we came upon the first aide station this is where I caught back up with Renae, as she got water. My next sight was on the two women who we were closing in on. We soon passed the spot where we turned around for our pre-run and all of a sudden I see one of the two women running back towards us and the other one is sitting on the ground holding her wrist. The first lady said she was running back about 1.5 miles to the first aide station to get help (in the back of my mind I knew the people at that aide station would have left to go back down the hill). We got to the second lady sitting on the ground and she had tripped, fallen and broke her wrist (Renae said it looked like my wrist when I broke it snowboarding). Renae immediately splinted her arm with her running pack which was still full of ice/water. I stopped long enough to make sure Renae had her and told her I would run ahead to the next aide station which conceivably should be within 1 or 2 miles, which it probably was. I started off running not jogging mind you but running, because I knew the search and rescue people from the 1st aide station wouldn't be there (Oh by the way did I mention this was a charity event for Mesa County Search and Rescue so they were the ones staffing the aide stations). I burned up any reserves I had getting to the next aide station as the trail was probably the toughest section of the run between the two aide stations. I got to the aide station in about 15-20 min trying to wave them down before having to run up on hell of an incline, but never got there attention. So I got there out of breath. I told them about the accident and indeed was the only one to reach help, they called in a jeep. Renae said she was there about 30 min before they got the lady loaded into the jeep and on her way out of the trail. I probably stayed at that aide station 7-10 min trying to catch my breath. Man it was hard to get started back jogging at my pace because I was bonked. I had another 4 miles or so to go. But I started plugging away walking more than I would have liked to but needed to because my muscles were cramping. Along the way I wondered if Renae were going to continue along the race or head out with the injured person (apparently she knew her and had coached her daughter in soccer). I ran all the flat or downhill parts and fast walked up the hills. I came to the next aide station and asked if they got the injured out. They said yes. As soon as I knew out safe I was secretly glad I had beaten the three people I set out to for this race (two by default but beggars can't be choosers). The next little section was mostly up hill back up the the backside of the trail and road leading back down to the parking lot. Mostly I was delirious for this next 2-2.5 mile section. For some reason I was thinking the end was a lot closer than it was. I actually got my hopes that I would make my 1hour 46min goal for finish. Each time I rounded a corner or up over a hill I would think the parking lot would be there so I would speed up a bit and it wasn't there. I started thinking that I had to pee ever since we started but now I was running a road that was quite near I-70 with no cover. Then I was thinking my gel bottle was really heavy and I needed to toss it to the side of the road and come get it later. It's interesting what the mind thinks about when it is exhausted. I had already used my gel around 1 1/2 hours in...didn't have another I thought because I didn't plan to be sidelined doing evacuation for 20 min, but I actually had another gel pack in my pack. Soon a couple of the 16 mile racers passed me and I speeded up again thinking they were running fast because they knew the finish was just RIGHT THERE, but it wasn't. So then I'd run 3 or 4 min and then walk a minute. I also found out how seriously off my Nike + was and will need to be recalibrated. Soon I crested a hill and could see the parking lot. This sparked life back into my feet and legs. I kept looking behind me because I could feel Renae was coming. She actually said she saw me on the road when she was running down it. I sped up the last 400 yards and crossed the finish line in 2'12"40. Just 7 min slower than my 10K several weeks ago and this one was almost 2 miles longer. Renae came in less than 4 min behind me. She was booking to make up the time. And Roby finished at 1'32" so quite abit earlier than we did. Overall we were pretty happy with our times knowing that we could have easily come in under two hours. And today I feel so much better than after I did on the Powderhorn race. I was able to ice my legs and feet and take some recovery stuff, plus we ate at Judy's within 1 hour after the race. I don't know about Renae but I was able to run/jog about 6 miles of the run. Next stop Marble Colorado (roughly 9,000 feet of elevation) for the Lead King Loop 12.5 mile run on Sept 20th. Then Oct 24th is the Goblin Valley Run in Green River Utah a 15 mile race (by then I should be able to run at least 10 miles). Today recalibrating my Nike +.