Another 5K20

I didn't even make 4K vertical feet for my 31-miler last Sunday, so I picked the vertical back up this morning in Horsetooth and Lory Parks.  Over 5K vertical in a little under 22 miles (another 5K20 workout).  Some pretty significant "luge runs" made things a little cumbersome in places, but 95% of the trails are in really good shape.  I got an Arthurs Rock summit, but was short on time for Horsetooth Rock this time.  I also experimented with Honey Stinger energy chews instead of my normal GU gels.  I actually was enjoying them the entire run (Pomegranate Passion, yummy), which I could never really say for GU.  I hope these can help me fuel myself better at Black Hills than I did at Bighorn last year.

So I know of at least 6 wildlife cameras situated on the trails of Horsetooth and Lory now.  I ran by all 6 of them this morning, setting off the flashes on 3 of them as I was running by in the early morning darkness.  It makes me wonder what the researchers are doing with all their trail runner pictures and/or videos.  Maybe we could talk them into forwarding them to the FCTR group and we could have a monthly contest on who gets caught on camera the most times.  Great stuff here from the camera project at nearby Bobcat Ridge, but I am not aware of any public postings from the Horsetooth and Lory cameras.  It's pretty amazing to see the diversity of wildlife we have in these hills.

Today's run:
Horsetooth Falls/Spring Creek/Herrington/Stout/Sawmill/Valley/Overlook/Well Gulch/Timber/Westridge/Howard/Arthurs Rock (with summit)/Mill Creek/Spring Creek/Soderberg/Horsetooth Rock

21.65 miles with 5167 feet of climbing (GPS data here)

Sunrise from Well Gulch Trail.

Scramble to Arthurs Rock summit.