Horsetooth Rock

I've been to the top of Horsetooth Rock more times than I can count, but I've only run it as a time trial 4 or 5 times.  All of these times were around 33-34 minutes with my best time being 33:02.  In a break from the usual everyother Thursday run up Towers, we ran a time trial to the top of the rock last night.  This is a shorter climb totaling only 2.4-2.6 miles depending on the chosen route.  There are several different options to get to the top and each runner has the freedom to choose their own route.  I felt pretty confident that I was up for a PR after my good run up Towers two weeks ago, but my legs were pretty tired after the weekend and a tough track workout on Tuesday and an anger at mountain bikers induced tempo run in Pineridge on Wednesday.  I headed up the hiking trail with Brian29 at 6:10 hoping to go under 33 minutes and maybe hit a time in the low 32s.  I took the shorter, but more technical Horsetooth Rock Trail and tried to maintain a steady pace over the rocks and up the steps. At the junction with the South Ridge, I took the service road up past Wathen and on to the final approach up the rock.  I was feeling the fatigue in my legs pretty hard by this point and I walked several of the steeper rocky sections arriving at the final scramble up to the summit in just over 28 minutes.  I usually take the climbing section slowly and carefully, but I knew that I was close to a sub 30 minute ascent which at the start of the run I wouldn't have thought possible.  Thanks the the sticky flat sole of my NB 101s and a new found fearlessness, I scrambled to the top and hit my watch at 29:42 for a 3 minute 21 second PR.