Running

I'm not a graceful runner...by any stretch of the imagination.  I probably look like a gorilla running. But sometimes (rarely) I get that flow - that effortless glide - like you get on a bike on smooth singletrack or on skis on any given powder day.  That feeling, and covering such cool terrain, makes running fun. There's no better way to experience the foothills of Flatrock than running (no bikes allowed).  Like my girl says, even though mountain biking isn't allowed, that doesn't mean that YOU aren't allowed!  So out on foot I go each fall, taking a different and longer loop each time, leaf peeping all the aspen, sumac, cottonwood, chokecherry, willow et al that I can see.  Years ago, it used to be a tour-de-Mtn Parks after each summer race season - the off-season cross-training with the fellow racer geeks. Start off at the coffee shop, then plan the route, 3-4 hours each time, with each peak - Bear, Green, S.Bldr being a race to the top - a KOM with no holds barred but all in good fun.  But now i  go solo and enjoy the sound of feet on fallen leaves, slapping shoes on crunchy snow, contrasting the silence of the woods.  I try to stay focused on the trail, as there are millions of rocks waiting to twist my weak ankles, but the sights of fall are too enticing so I look around and stop more than someone who is actually "training" should or would do.  It's just being out there in cool new places that makes me run (and suffer).