Fit-Pic: What Your Legs Look Like After a Trail Run

It was a tough choice, but my dirty legs won over my Tyrannosaurus Rex-looking arms (apparently my arms don't look normal when I run trails) when it comes to the image I'd prefer to remember in conjunction with today's 10K Spring Runoff. Not that I expected to be clean after running 6.8 miles across Vail's trails, but I never thought my legs would be covered with so much dirt. That was what last week's Mudderella was for--when I still found mud all over my body after splashing into the Hat Trick obstacle's pool and after showering in the Rinse & Revive area.

The Runoff's course didn't even seem that muddy, dusty or dirty--plus I'm so slow when it comes to running down the trail that I couldn't have been kicking up that much dirt. But one glance at my lower half at the finish line and I was sorely mistaken. Instead of being sweaty, and caked in the white salty residue I'm accustomed to after most warm-day races, my legs had acquired a shade of brown that no summer tan could ever match.

Do your legs look this dirty after you've been running on the trail?

As for my T-Rex arms, I'm the poster child for those T-Rex Hates Pushups T-shirts. You'll have to come back to see those because I'm too embarrassed to post them anywhere but a race report.

Fit-Pic: Vail Pass Here We Come

Talk about some serious bragging rights these runners are attempting to earn. They're just steps into the Vail Pass Half Marathon, one of the three running-centered events--the Badass Dash and the Spring Run-off are the others--that takes place during the GoPro Mountain Games, held at Vail from June 5 to 8, 2014. With a name like the Vail Pass Half Marathon, you'd be correct if you guessed runners would be running (or walking, stumbling, dragging their legs, etc.) up Vail Pass, whose summit is roughly 13 miles east of the Golden Peak start line.

I Want America's Best Summer Job in Vail!

Hanging creekside at the 2013 GoPro Mountain Games

It might be one of the most overused phrases about Vail: "You come for the winters but stay for the summers." I've heard it, I've had it repeated to me at media events, I've read it, I've even experienced a weekend of it at last summer's GoPro Mountain Games. But what's so appealing about a place that was built specifically for skiing during the one season that's not for skiing?

There must be something special about that mountain flora and fauna that makes those snow seekers stay. And Vail wants one person to find out this summer and share those experiences--and get paid for it--in 10 weeks at America's Best Summer Job.

A Run on Vail's Trails

I'm no stranger to running around Vail, Colo. Thanks to an unseasonably warm winter in 2012, I ran almost as much as I skied that April, exploring the path along Gore Creek and checking out some hiking trails on the north side of I-70.

But there's way more to running Vail that just the route I took from West Vail into Vail Village. That's child's play compared to the trails that are covered with snow most times I'm at the mountain--the ones that are open for hiking, biking and trail running in the summer months. Try running those and you're dodging tree roots, creating dust clouds, killing your quads on the downhills and catching your breath on the uphills.

Had I known that before running the 10K Spring Runoff at the GoPro Mountain Games in Vail last weekend, I may have reconsidered registering. I would have been better suited for the Vail Pass Half Marathon, which was basically 13.5 miles entirely uphill, even though I could barely run 10 miles two weekends ago. But the scenery in the mountains makes any trail run worth it, even if you're sucking wind like me (those Colorado trail runners can RUN!). These pictures are only part of the race's excitement--I'll have to capture the rest when I'm hiking because I made the wise choice to run light.

The 10K Spring Runoff started in the heart of Vail Village (and wouldn't you know, the exact spot where I had stopped documenting my last Vail run) and headed east toward the Golden Peak base.

If you look really close, you can see me in the blue tank top, sporting my media team gear since I couldn't run with them Saturday night at the Balmoral 5K.

This is the Golden Peak ski area and those huge mounds of snow were even larger during the ski season when they were making snow and filling the terrain park. If you squint (or click on the image to make it a little bigger) you can see three runners beneath the right snow lump. On the left is the tunnel under the skiable terrain that we ran through near the start of the run to reach an uphill climb and then we ran through it again near the race's end. And that uphill climb? You can see it by the clump of trees on the right--and it doesn't look, or ski, nearly as steep as it felt climbing up.

That tunnel I was referring to? It's just behind those trees. And again, if you squint you can see some of the trail speedsters (not me) about to run under the Riva Bahn chair lift.

Some of the pretty mountainside and real estate that I don't remember seeing in the race's final mile (I'll blame it on being too focused running toward the finish line). You can barely see me, but I'm slowly but surely running down the dirt path.

More of that pretty mountainside I was talking about, and some of those speedier runners making the final stretch of dirt look easy.

 Phew, I finished! Heat, winding trail, dizzying downhills and all.

The trail's aftermath: dirty legs. Check out that awesome sock line!

Have you run the trails on Vail mountain? Which ones are your favorite? Did you run the 10K Spring Runoff? You probably finished faster than me!

Vail on Dwellable

Fit-Pic: The Mountain Games 10K Spring Run-Off

It could be muddy, it could be snowy, it could be wet. Anything goes at the 10K Spring Runoff at the GoPro Mountain Games at Vail. That also applies to the course's design, which wrapped up, down and across the lower half of Vail Mountain.

Whether you're sloshing through mud and wearing warm layers or you're brushing dust from your eyes and sweating from the start, this race has one constant. It sure is picturesque.

And I thought the Vail Pass Half Marathon had a pretty course, judging from the mile I walked along it. Less mileage doesn't compromise the views, nor is it much easier on the lungs (that's my argument anyway since I ran the 10K and my husband ran the half). Stay tuned for more on these races, I'm still catching my breath and adjusting to the altitude.

Fit-Pic: Vail Pass Half Marathon

And this was only the start of Saturday's festivities at the GoPro Mountain Games in Vail. Runners toed the line at the annual 1st Bank Vail Pass Half Marathon, a race that makes you earn every one of those miles underfoot. For starters, you're running slightly more than your typical 13.1 miles of a half marathon: it's designed to be 13.7 miles, according to the race description, and today's route is 13.5 miles, according to the race announcer.

You're already at 8,225 feet above sea level when you start running at Golden Peak, and you're climbing your way to a 10,600-foot finish at the top of Vail Pass. Lung burn, quad burn, all-out aches and pains. Yeah, you gain bragging rights--and the excuse to do nothing but lounge around the rest of the day--when you finish this run.