Rebuilding.

In the distance, my home under the Arapahoe Glacier.

This was my first week of longer runs since completing the Colorado Half Marathon. The long run today was prescribed by Coach to be 11 or 12 miles, the latter if everything felt ok.

Not only did 12 feel good, I had enough left in me to run the last 1.5 mi at a pace under 11:00 min, with plenty left over when I arrived at my pickup.

To test the waters for the long run I returned to one of my flat courses, this time at Boulder White Rocks / Teller Farm.

This area is beautiful in the winter, beautiful in the late spring. The grasses are coming in now, and the air is fragrant with their growth and that of the nearby renegade Russian Olive trees. We've had abundant snowfall in the mountains this season, and it's now melting its way to the fertile valley soils. The running trail meanders its way through it all.

Forcing myself to stay with my prescribed pace of 11:30-12:30 min for long runs, I settled quickly today into an effortless, smooth jaunt at 12:00 min pace. At that pace my HR is in the 115-120 range, a place my present level of conditioning would allow me to maintain for a long, long run.

Reading through a past blog entry and studying my running log, I see a run last season at the same area where my pace was 12:30 min, HR ave 140 over the same distance, same route. Noticeable improvement.

I've broken down and replaced my 1980s era fannypack with a Nathan Elite 1 Plus running pack, with padded/ventilated waistband and integrated waterbottle holder. No more carrying two small water bottles wrapped in plastic sandwich baggies.

I started out with my SPOT tracking unit clipped to my belt. It didn't like the jiggling around--couldn't lock into a GPS signal. So I strapped it into the shock cords, a perfect fit, a stable platform it loved. Worked flawlessly.

I'd thought the energy-pack holder would work for my Canon G10. It doesn't. But in my preparations for the run I'd discovered Claudia's Canon SD890 slipped right in, and she was generous enough to allow me to run with it today. Problem: about 100 meters down the trail on first starting out, it bounced out. I didn't discover it until about 10 minutes later, when I stopped to take a picture of the winter wheat harvest. No camera. Had to back track to locate it, anxious the entire distance that someone else would have found it and I'd have to explain to Claudia why I was replacing her fine birthday gift that she has grown to love so much.

When I found it I tied it in. This inhibited the free holster-style use of it, but better that than losing it every 100 meters.

With the SPOT Messenger and the camera, with my Road ID medical bracelet and my Nathan waist pack--I felt like quite the moving techie. Only thing I lacked was an iPhone and internet connection so I could text-mail while I ran.

Thank God that's not in my future.

Whatever happened to the idea that running is a simple activity, just strap on some shoes and hit the trail?

I tell myself that all the stuff is in service of the run itself, and I do believe that. Given medical issues I'd rather Claudia know where I am and how I'm doing. And I can't imagine running without a camera in this spectacular creation I live and breathe in.

Great run today, and I'm blessed to be able to do it.

This sage is becoming something of a totem for me, across the seasons.