Chubby '11, WS '12 and beyond

It was a wonderful weekend for running in Fort Collins.  On Saturday, I spent the whole day out on the local trails with 60+ runners from the Front Range and beyond at the 2nd running of the Chubby Cheeks 50K, marathon and 22 miler.  I opted for the marathon route this year due to slow going on snowy and icy trails.  Even though this route was 5 miles shorter than the route I ran last year, it took me 20+ minutes longer so I still feel like I got my money's worth.  I ran most of the way with Celeste and Ziggy and was treated to a full day of singing, taunting and threats of being bowled over.  It was great.  We were joined at mile 15 by Mindy and Lindsay and at mile 24 by Brian and Marie.  We all made it back to Nick's place well over 7 hours after we started and had a great time eating, drinking and hearing everyone's stories of snow and ice and getting lost and being tired and being glad to be part of a great sport and an even better community.

One big climb down, three to go

Ziggy checking out the view from the top of Arthur's Rock

Nick pulled up the results of the Western States lottery and called out the names of Colorado winners.  I was glad to hear Mike got in, but unfortunately my name was not on the list.  Well, maybe next year.  As for this summer, not racing a 100 in June frees me up to do some pacing which will be a lot of fun too.  I will be pacing Kyle in his first 100 at Big Horn on June 15 and maybe I'll make the trip to California the next weekend to do some pacing, crewing, and cheering out there too.

I was pretty sore today from yesterday's fun in the snow.  While Maddie was at ice skating practice this afternoon, Ean and I ran in to Mike at EPIC and we went for a very relaxed 8 miler in the sunshine on the Spring Creek, Poudre and Power Trails.