Ah Mags, we meet again

Up past one of the steepest paved roads in Boulder County is a long, hilly run on the gravel and dirt of Magnolia Rd.

Magnolia, or Mags, was made popular to local runners by the CU Varsity Runners who used this constantly rolling route as their weekly high altitude tempo run. The run starts where the pavement ends, 4.5 miles after zig zagging up paved switchbacks, and goes out 7.25 miles to the Peak to Peak Highway before doubling back for the roundtrip effort. Starting at over 8,000-feet elevation, the run maxes out at ov 8,500-ft with constant rollers.

Em won the pre-run debate not to ride the motorcycle up the canyon, so we drove the V-wagon up the 7-13% switchbacks to get to Mags.

We eased into the first few miles together before splitting off at our own paces. The out section has more uphills then the return and today I managed to complete the return leg from the Peak to Peak seven minutes faster than the out portion.

Em looked strong, and very tan (I'm losing the tan battle so far this summer), and we both voted for a quick drive back down the canyon to get some water before hitting up the Boulder Creek to cool down the legs. The purpose is to simulate an ice bath with the creek, but Boulder Creek has warmed up now this summer.

Earlier this morning, Em and I picked up Tobias Wohlfert, a friend of ours from Germany, who is spending about 20 days of his vacation in Boulder training for his upcoming Ironman Wisconsin in September. We took him up Lefthand Canyon to Ward. He did very well for his first climb in town but reported earlier tonight he had slept the better part of the afternoon as he was wiped out from the thin air in Ward.