The Westridge Tree is Gone

For those who frequent the Horsetooth trails, or ran Chubby Cheeks last month, you know which tree I am talking about.  It's been 3 or 4 weeks since I passed through this trail, but sometime since then they finally put a chainsaw to it.  It was nice to get back into Horsetooth and Lory parks this morning after a few weeks running elsewhere.  Trail conditions were great.  Other than the typical lingering snow on Mill Creek and Westridge, all other trails were about 80 percent clear and dry.  Very runnable everywhere.  I did have to go pretty slow the first hour and a half or so.  Starting 2 hours before sunrise and having headlamp issues, I ended up running by the moonlight.  This was actually pretty awesome.

Moonlight run along Sawmill Trail.

I'm going to try to tag Arthurs and Horsetooth Rock summits more often than I did last year.  I got Arthurs today, but was a little short on time to tag Horsetooth.  Still got plenty of climbing this morning.

First light of the sun hitting Arthurs Rock.

The view from the top.

Some strong race performances to start the year by our Fort Collins Trail Runners.  Ashley Waddell was one of only about 30 finishers (over 100 started) at the HURT 100 in Hawaii.  Pretty impressive as this is obviously one of the toughest 100s out there.  Pete Stevenson with a great race (2nd overall) down in New Mexico at the GhostTown 38-miler.  Also, several FoCos finishing maybe the toughest Twin Mountain Trudge to date.  Great job guys (and gals)!

Today's Run:
Horsetooth Falls/Spring Creek/Herrington/Stout/Sawmill/Valley/Arthurs Rock (and summit)/Howard/Mill Creek/Westridge/Horsetooth Rock
Start/Finish at Horsetooth Mountain Trailhead.
18.79 miles, 4331 feet climbing (GPS data here)