Mesa Plus

I did end up doing the Mesa Trail last Saturday. My brother is town, so I took off a little earlier than usual and headed out on the full trail.

I've done pieces of this one before, but never the whole thing at once. In particular, I had never done the approach into Eldorado Springs before. So when I crested the ridge and looked at the broad, dirt road of a trail heading down, down, down into the canyon, awe at the view vied with despair at the downhill to come.

I was maybe 6 miles into the run at this point, not yet an hour of running, and most people might wonder at feeling despair at a downhill. However, it was a mile and a half of downhill which I would have to come back up on the way back to Chautauqua. Out and back runs make you dread the downhills as much as you do the uphill.

In any case, at 1:07, I reached the car park at the Eldorado Springs trailhead, and after a brief pause at the outhouse, I tapped the lap button on my watch and headed back towards Boulder and my car.

By the 11 or 12 mile mark, I was somewhat the worse for ware, no longer as adept at avoiding obstacles on the trail in front of my feet. Despite all that, I managed to pick up my heels and sprint down to my car at Chautauqua. The final time on my watch: 2:12. I took two minutes off my time on the way out, on the way back. That deduction despite the fact that the way back is in fact a net uphill.

I had hoped for a time of 2 hours or so for about 13 miles. While I didn't quite make that time, looking later I found that the full trail is in fact more than a half marathon. It is in fact a bit over 14 miles round trip. So I didn't quite make my goal pace, but it was a decent effort.

It took me a while to recover from that one.

As a side note, these are the records for Boulder Trails.