What does not kill you, makes you stronger

Saturday morning we (me and the running group) were greeted by balmy temperatures for our last run of the session.  Location: Green Mountain Trail.  Distance: 12 miles.  Temps: upper 20s, low 30s.  And glorious sunshine! 

It was a noticeably smaller group then most runs.  The route included an "easy" option (out and back on the southwest side of Green Mountain Trail) or a "hard" option of taking the entire loop.  In my innocence of not having run the route before, I opted for the "hard" option. 

The south western side had awesome views.

Little did I know that the hard route's profile looked like this...

Only the big hill, also known as Green Mountain, occurred at around mile 8.5.  I spent more time than I should looking down and wondering if I should turn around and do the easy route.

Did I mention that I spent a lot of time looking down and wondering really if I had taken on too much?

But the views on the top - at around 6800 feet were awesome.  You can see some 14ers in the distance.

And the City of Denver.

The downhill section was challenging.  A mix of ice, rocks, snow, slush and MUD!  I can't recall the last time I felt so relieved to see my car in the parking lot!  I don't regret taking on the hard route.  But it makes me wonder if I'm ready for Little Rock.  More and more I'm thinking I should target a later spring marathon.  That will be my task for the week - figure this out.  Is it the best decision or is it a decision I'm making out of fear?

Have a great evening.  I'm going to try hit the sack early.  This is a big date week - four dates, Monday - Thursday.  I'm tired already.

Laura