This past weekend we travelled to the western slope of Colorado to the small town of Fruita to run in the Fruita Trail Running Festival. They had a 25 mile loop course with two distances in which you could run one 25 mile loop of two loops for a 50 mile race. I chose the 25 mile loop. I was running this race as a training run for my upcoming 50 mile race in Buena Vista in May which meant I didn't want to kill myself in trying to run too fast plus I would be putting over 60 miles in for the week. I had never spent any time in Fruita but heard the trails were beautiful and great for mountain biking and running and better than Moab. April and May is a popular time of year for people to head to this area because it is the desert and the temperatures are not too hot yet. The race started at 630am and temperatures were supposed to get in the 60's by the middle of the day. The course was beautiful with awesome views of the the canyons and the colorado river. Most of the loop was single track and fairly technical which meant your head had to be down most of the time looking at your feet rather than enjoying the scenery. I did stop to take a few photos.
Early in the race. The sunlight was great for photos.
Aid station #2.
I chatted with a bunch of different people during the race and ended running most of the race with a couple different women. It sure made the race go by fast when you have someone to chat with. In the end I made some great friends that I hope to run with again in the future!
This shot was taken with about 3 miles to go! Probably some of the prettiest views on the course.
I finished the race in just under 5 hours and couldn't have imagined going back out to run another loop. John met me at the finish with the dogs but we didn't stick around too long because I wanted to get out of the sun. We drove into old town Fruita and found a yummy pizza place to grab some food called the Hot Tomato Cafe. The pizza was delicious. I scarfed down three pieces plus a beer. Perfect post race meal! We then hit the road for the two hours trek back to Carbondale. It was a restful evening with more food and a trip to the Glenwood Hot Springs to loosen the legs.
This past weekend we travelled to the western slope of Colorado to the small town of Fruita to run in the Fruita Trail Running Festival. They had a 25 mile loop course with two distances in which you could run one 25 mile loop of two loops for a 50 mile race. I chose the 25 mile loop. I was running this race as a training run for my upcoming 50 mile race in Buena Vista in May which meant I didn't want to kill myself in trying to run too fast plus I would be putting over 60 miles in for the week. I had never spent any time in Fruita but heard the trails were beautiful and great for mountain biking and running and better than Moab. April and May is a popular time of year for people to head to this area because it is the desert and the temperatures are not too hot yet. The race started at 630am and temperatures were supposed to get in the 60's by the middle of the day. The course was beautiful with awesome views of the the canyons and the colorado river. Most of the loop was single track and fairly technical which meant your head had to be down most of the time looking at your feet rather than enjoying the scenery. I did stop to take a few photos.
Early in the race. The sunlight was great for photos.
Aid station #2.
I chatted with a bunch of different people during the race and ended running most of the race with a couple different women. It sure made the race go by fast when you have someone to chat with. In the end I made some great friends that I hope to run with again in the future!
This shot was taken with about 3 miles to go! Probably some of the prettiest views on the course.
I finished the race in just under 5 hours and couldn't have imagined going back out to run another loop. John met me at the finish with the dogs but we didn't stick around too long because I wanted to get out of the sun. We drove into old town Fruita and found a yummy pizza place to grab some food called the Hot Tomato Cafe. The pizza was delicious. I scarfed down three pieces plus a beer. Perfect post race meal! We then hit the road for the two hours trek back to Carbondale. It was a restful evening with more food and a trip to the Glenwood Hot Springs to loosen the legs.
