annual pilgrimage

Here's the tentative schedule for my yearly roadtrip to Hueco Tanks and TexMex:

Tuesday night - after work, drive to Albuquerque. Sharpie Kitty Fucker while he sleeps
Wednesday morning - drive to Guadalupe Peak. Hike up it. Drink PBR on top. Drive to the Mesa Inn
Thursday - Hueco Tanks all day, King's X all night
Friday - Hueco Tanks all day, hash pub crawl all night
Saturday - Juarez hash
Sunday - Asshole Trail!
Monday - go the fuck home

Would like to add a visit to Carlsbad Caverns in there, just not sure where I can fit it.

leadville

Woohoo! Just made reservations at the Leadville hostel for the snowshoe race/MOPP hash (staying Friday and Saturday night) and the Leadville marathon (just staying Friday night, as the next night will be spent at Red Rocks seeing Blues Traveller).

2009 is already shaping up to be an awesome year!

being dumb

So I says to this kid, "You don't look like a hardened criminal, how'd you get such a long record?"

His reply: "I had a real bad being dumb problem."

woohoo!

Just scored tickets for this weekend's Colorado College/Denver University hockey game. All you huge college hockey fans out there of course realize these are the top two ranked teams in the country. Hopefully CC finally breaks their streak - I've never seen them win a game, they always suck when I'm watching them live. If they win, I'm gonna riot and light C-4's brand new mini-van on fire!

the pole of shame!

This kinda brings a tear to my eye, seeing as how they've re-painted the pole and are closed on weekends now...

HAIL TO PITT!

Woohoo! My Pitt Panthers are ranked #6 in the ESPN/USA Today poll! Should be a fun year to watch Big East hoops, as there are four teams in the top 10 and seven in the top 25. Please note that we are ahead of the following teams: Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Texas A&M, West Virginia, Cedar Crest, Old Dominion, and UCCS.

woohoo!

Just heard that Cheyenne Mountain State Park has finally bought Cheyenne Mountain! Means there should be a trail built up there somewhere down the line. I've bagged that peak before, but it's not the most pleasant hike, not made any better by the fact that $100 kicked a beehive on the way down.

hooray for nice weather!

Been having a late summer here lately, I've taken advantage of it to get some good runs in. I've spent the last three mornings in Red Rock Canyon, and also tackeled Palmer Park and Section 16, with the Incline happy hour coming up tonight. I didn't want to go over 50 miles in a week until the Incline Club starts (late November) but I might hit that number this week, as I have to do at least a 15 miler on Saturday and the fall series 6 miler is on Sunday.

coffin pics

More pics from the Manitou coffin races can be seen here.

Section 16

It's still too nice to do my usual Wed night CRC run up and down the Sante Fe trail, so I'm off to Section 16. Woohooo!

Can't believe somebody dressed up as C-4 at the coffin races!

Purple Castle!

Nice review of the King's Chef Diner in today's Gazette can be seen here. A write-up of their famous green chili can be seen here.

May have to head down to the original Purple Castle later this week!

FYI, BBC and I are still the only ones I know of who have ever gotten a sticker by polishing off double bacon cheeseburgers!

the trails win again!

I'm off to Palmer Park. The track never really had a chance.

what to do?

I'm supposed to hit the track and run a few 1200s after work today, but the nice weather (it's currently 79 and sunny outside) is telling me to hit the trails. And even though I thought I was through with Palmer Park, the last two hashes I've done took me through there, and I've started missing her. Sure would like a good hour or two on those rocky trails. But I have a big race in about ten days, and some speedwork would probably help me quite a bit. We'll see what happens...

uh-on...

...only 255 more days 'till Hardrock. I should probably get my fat ass into gear one of these days.

Red Rock Canyon

Despite winning the "best hiking trails" category in the recent CS Independent "best of" issue (Palmer Park was second and the Garden third, that's some pretty tough competition!), I don't think I've ever seen another person during my morning runs through Red Rock Canyon. This morning was more of the same, just me and my green flashlight and a ton of deer. Left at 5:20AM, made my way over to the contemplative trail, then cut over to the Quarry. Continued on past the pond and over to the Hogback trailhead and back home. Super dark in the canyon but you get great views of Colorado Springs slowly waking up. Perfect way to start the day!

Start time - 5:20 AM
Distance - 5.1 miles
Time - 46:26
Pace - 9:07 minutes per mile
Weather - clear, starry skies, upper 30s
Weight - 173 pounds

Jemez Mountain Trail Run

Not gonna be able to make it down to the San Juan Solstice this year, so I'm thinking I'll try the Jemez Mountain 50 miler instead. Looks fun. It's a long ways off, but May could see me running two 50 milers and a 50K. Woohoo!

not too shabby!

We ended up 7th overall, out of 49 coffins.

Salida hash #2

Small but feisty turnout for the second Salida hash. Nice trail by Glittoris, it was the first time I had ever explored the area south of HWY 50. Fun trail, lots of cool shiggy over there. Pics can be seen here. Salida hash #3 will be held on November 30, be there or be square!

incline

Courtesy of BLOS. It actually doesn't look too tough from this picture.

Garden

Josh bailed on me this morning because he couldn't get his lazy ass out of bed, but I was still greeted on my porch by someone.

I'm anti-American so I didn't exercise my second amendment rights but I did have an early morning pursuit of happiness on the Garden ten miler course. Nice to get a decent run in before I drink myself into oblivion at the coffin races today.

Start time: 7 AM

Distance: 10.0 miles

Time: 1:22:41

Pace: 8:17 minutes per mile

Weather: upper 40s, clear skies

Weight: 172.0 pounds

July 4, 2009...

...is going to be fucking spectacular! Woohooo!

mmmmm...

Just had mac & cheese and a side order of bacon from Trinity. And a pint of Awaken, of course. Good stuff!

good luck!

Bunch of hashers running the Marine Corps marathon this weekend, good luck to all of 'em! I know Chum, Late Nite, and Hoover (I think - she's not allowed to talk to me anymore so I haven't heard if she's still in - though she was in decent shape at the Garden 10 miler) will all be there. My big run will be about 150 meters long down Manitou Ave, but I'll be thinking of yunz guys.

BLOS and Josh have put in a ton of hard work and will soon begin their taper for the San Antonio marathon in November and Tucson marathon in December, so good luck to those guys too. They've really worked themselves into shape, I actually have to break a sweat now when I run them into the ground.

"If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do...the body is never tired if the mind is not tired."
-General George S. Patton

what would jesus brew?

Good article on Jesus themed beers at the GABF can be seen here. I'm still working on the guys at Trinity to brew the FSM lager. It would, of course, come out of a beer volcano and be served by strippers.

new hash blogger!

Everyone go tell future Manitard Nacheaux how much her blog sucks!

Incline #3

Good effort up the big hill last night. Got to the bottom in 11 flat, up to the top in 35:15, and back down in a painfully slow 49:46 (had to slow to a near walk since it got so dark and I forgot my flashlight). Good turnout for the happy hour, as you can see here:

We even spilled over to the Royal Tavern and the Townhouse Lounge. Can you believe Josh had never had a gin and tonic? We took care of that.

Start time: 5:50 PM

Distance: 6.0 miles

Time: 1:36:01

Pace: 16:01 minutes per mile

Weather: mid/lower 30s, clear skies

Weight: 172.4 pounds

Incline happy hour tonight!

Woohoo! Can't wait! Do the Incline and try to end at Kinfolk's between 7PM and 7:15PM. We should have a record turnout tonight. The current record is two (me and Gordo).

"It's no coincidence that people who run ultramarathons are a little wacky; the sheer enormity of the distance requires a mind at odds with reality."
-Bart Yasso

maybe I am stupid...

...but I'm going to keep doing it anyways! FYI, Acute Mountain Sickness is just another name for MPH.

religious persecution!

Being a blonde, blue eyed, white male, I've never really been exposed to the feeling of discrimination. Last night was the very first time - and it was over religion!

I went into Barnes & Noble (I checked to see if Black Cat Books in Manitou had the book and they didn't and CSCO has no local bookstore) to pick up a copy of "The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster." I checked the bible section, and it wasn't there. I then scanned the religion and christianity sections, and it wasn't there either. Finally I asked a clerk if they had it, and she told me it was in the humor section! Can you believe that! Imagine if they put the holy bible or the Qur'an in that section! Sheesh!

Anyhow, I didn't blow up the store, I'm not putting out a death threat against peeps who work at B&N, not gonna picket or boycott the place. Pastafarians know that it is what it is, and it's all good, so I bought the book and went home and read it while downing a few cans of PBR.

Also picked up a copy of Bart Yasso's new book, "My Life On The Run." It's pretty good so far, though I think a lot of the running blogs I read daily are just as good.

snow

It sucks. And it's here.

CC Hockey

Kudos to the Colorado College Tigers hockey team, currently ranked #1 in the nation!

Hueco Tanks

Man, I can't wait to get back here!

morning run

Super lazy this morning as I hit the snooze button a lot more than I should have, still had a nice, super easy half hour run through the streets of Manitou. I've now run 13 of the last 15 days and I can definitely feel a difference. Stupid work function keeps me late tonight so I'll hafta miss my track workout, but I'll east that pain with a nice nighttime run through Red Rock Canyon.

Start time: 6 AM
Distance: 3.4 miles
Time: 30:09
Pace: 8:53 minutes per mile
Weather: upper 30s, clear skies
Weight: 172.4 pounds

evening run

Nice, easy Sinton loop starting and ending at corepower, followed by an hour of yoga. Did 6 x 1 minute pick ups on the Sinton trail. No soreness from yesterday's race. Four decent workouts today, not too shabby for the offseason.

Start time: 5:30 PM
Distance: 4.0 miles
Time: 33:14
Pace: 8:19 minutes per mile
Weather: mid 40s, cloudy skies, slight drizzle
Weight: 172.0 pounds

ban republican marriage

Everytime I end my run at the corner of Manitou Ave and Deer Path, the car parked on the corner has this bumper sticker and it makes me laugh. I'm sure Palin would definitely consider Manitou as one of those "anti-American" places, but it's a great town to live in.

poop

Just heard on the radio that the average American will spend three years of his life sitting on the toilet. Bring something good to read!

morning run

Was about two inches from resetting my alarm clock instead of heading out for a recovery run, glad I didn't. Chilly outside (upper 30s), but once I warmed up it was a real nice. Out and back along El Paso/Pikes Peak down to Katie's house. For some reason, Stop Sign Hill always kicks my ass, no matter how slow I take her.

Start time: 5:30 AM
Distance: 4.9 miles
Time: 41:59
Pace: 8:35 minutes per mile
Weather: upper 30s, clear skies
Weight: 172.4 pounds

17!

Pitt is up to #17 in the latest AP poll!

fall series #2 - Bear Creek Park

Ran much, much better today, mostly due to controlling myself over the first mile or so. Great course - lots of short, steep stuff, lots of creek crossings, lots of twisty singletrack, and even a rope climb. The hash teams didn't have too great of a showing, as Team PBR was disqualified for not having enough finishers (though IDH and I both crossed the finish line with an open Pabst in hand) and Team Kimchi fell back to third place. But we still had fun.

My finishing position (at least among the dudes - the results are split on the PPRR website) was a much more acceptable 32nd (out of 447 male finishers). Overall in the series I'm 45th out of 200. Probably would have had a shot at top 20 had I not stunk up the joint at Monument Valley.

After the race, I had to pace the kiddos two mile "fun run." Real fun, the 12 year old I had to stay in front of ran 13:13, a real good time for how difficult a course it was. And I was sore from my race effort and half drunk, but I still kicked his ass. Also had to run the two mile course once again to clean up all the flour marking the course. So I may not offically hit 40 miles this week, but with my four unofficial miles today and the DIM hash on Monday and the Pikes Peak hash yesterday (I don't count hashes on my training log, even when I actually run hard), it was a good week.

Start time: 11:30 AM

Distance: 5.0 miles

Time: 35:59

Pace: 7:12 minutes per mile

Weather: mid 70s, clear skies

Weight: 170.0 pounds

Garden ten miler

Beautiful weather for a run through the Garden today. Did the ten miler course, felt real good. Was gonna add the Incline but with Charlie smoked from Chicago I figured Team PBR would need a good performance from me at the fall series tomorrow to keep us out of last place.

Saw Tony out there, good to see him back on the trails

Might get 40 miles this week, if I do it'll be the first time since mid-June (not counting the weeks where I did Hardrock and Leadville) I hit that mark.

Start time: 9:00 AM
Distance: 10.0 miles
Time: 1:24:27
Pace: 8:27 minutes per mile
Weather: mid 60s, clear skies
Weight: 169.6 pounds

update

Not too long ago I wrote about two local cyclists who were killed. The women who hit them ended up showing barbiturates and morphine in her system, as well as not wearing required prescription glasses. She'll be facing two counts of vehicular homicide and driving under the influence of drugs. She has pleaded not guilty and is currently free on bond (hopefully they've at least revoked her license). Lots of soap opera stuff involved with the lady, read the Gazette's write up here.

lead climbing

Woohoo! Had my first crack at lead climbing today at the gym! Not the most beautiful sight ever, but I did get better each time I tried clipping in. Thanks to Paul for all the help with climbing he's given me over the past few weeks.

My gal wasn't there and the kid working the desk played Weezer most of the day. I didn't go near the cave since I was afraid Squeezin' was in there jerking off to a pic of Rivers Cuomo.

Salida hash #2

Sunday October 26th at 2PM. Start time TBA. Glittoris is haring.

Incline #2

Beautiful day on the Incline, reminds me of why I decided to move here a few years ago. 11 minutes from my house to the Cog parking lot, 32:45 to the top of the Incline, 37:11 back down to Kinfolk's. Total trip was 1:20:56, a huge improvement from my debacle with the Incline Club just a few days ago.

Gonna start tracking the number of times I do the Incline between now and my return (hopefully - I'm still at the mercy of the lottery) to the Hardrock/Leadville double. I was more worried about getting bulk miles in last year, I think I'll be better served with more trips up and down Rocky Mountain this time.

Only two showed for the happy hour, myself and Gordo, but the amount of beer we drank made it seem like more. It will be a weekly event, so feel free to show up next Thursday. Everyone who didn't show is a huge, giant pussy, especially Pete.

Start time: 5:45 PM
Distance: 6.0 miles
Time: 1:20:56
Pace: 13:30 minutes per mile
Weather: low 50s, clear skies
Weight: 174.0 pounds

Incline happy hour

Gonna start doing the Incline every Thursday, ending at Kinfolk's for some carb replenishment.

Here's the kicker - there is no start time, but the finish time is 7:15PM.

Figure out how long it will take you to do the Incline, then start so you get to Kinfolk's around 7:15. I know it takes me about 90 minutes to get from my house to the top of the Incline and back down to Kinfolk's, so I'll start at 5:45PM. Someone like BLOS will have to start around 4PM.

Tonight is gonna be a great time to start. Warm weather, clear skies, damn near a full moon. Hope to see some of yunz out there.

lunch

Had a killer workout over lunch. Felt like my arms were gonna burst out of my skin. They've completed the new traverse wall all around the gym, so I just played around on that for an hour.

My hippie girl was lookin' good, and she played the entire Pearl Jam Vs. album. Holy crap, I forgot how good that record was. Hadn't heard "Rats" or "Leash" in years, really gave me some motivation to push myself on that wall.

my 2000th post!

Huh?

CRC happy hour

Good run from the CRC north on the Sante Fe trail last night. Jammed out to Gov't Mule and kept a decent pace going. Slowly starting to work my way back into shape.

Start time: 5:45 PM
Distance: 7.9 miles
Time: 59:54
Pace: 7:35 minutes per mile
Weather: low 40s, clear skies
Weight: 173.4 pounds

last night's run

denver hash

Good times up at the Denver hash! Pics can be seen here.

full moon run

Good times at the Pikes Peak Road Runners full moon run! Nice jaunt through the Garden of the Gods under the big moon and temps in the mid 30s.

Start time: 7:07 PM
Distance: 5.2 miles
Time: 37:59
Pace: 7:30 minutes per mile
Weather: mid 30s, cloudy
Weight: 173.4 pounds

hooray pabst!

Dave Wiens

Stole this NY Times article off the Gazette Out There blog. Good article on Dave Wiens, who showed us that just because a 'roided up Texan can have his own way in France, things are a bit different when you come to the Colorado mountains!

upcoming upsets

Pay attention this weekend:

Missouri over Texas
Michigan over Penn State

fall series

Nice shot of the slog through the creek at the last fall series race. I should do much better at this Sunday's race at Bear Creek Park. It's longer, and I've actually worked out somewhat regularly, unlike the two weeks prior to the first race. So look for Team PBR to move up in the standings, or at least hold off the Austin Triathletes, who are stuck in last place.

5.7

Woohoo! Nailed a 5.7 route at the rock gym today! Chris Sharma is probably worried I'll be taking his endorsements away soon!

boooo!

The unofficial start of winter begins tomorrow, as A-basin will be open for business. Is it April yet?

senile?

On Saturday I forgot my phone in Net's mini-van (yes, I now have friends who own mini-vans). This morning I left my wallet in $100's car. I left my lunch, yummy mac & cheese, on my counter. When I got to the rock gym today I remembered my climbing shoes were in my messenger bag which, of course, was not in my jeep.

Am I getting old?

happy anniversary!

36 years ago today, Uruguayan Air Force flight 571 crashed into the Andes mountains, beginning one of the greatest survival tales of all time, slightly more uncomfortable than my recent debacle on Mt. of the Holy Cross. It would eventually become the story of a kick ass movie - Alive. Remember, no matter how bad your day is going, things could always be worse!

Denver hash

Good times up at the Denver hash! The CKH3 actually ended up with a decent turnout to support our Jewish friends, as Juicy Pearl showed up and I Got Nothing was sportin' the Bumbles happy coat.

My hash onslaught continues this week, as the DIM hash will mark three consecutive days of trail, I might be able to hit the full moon hash on Thursday, and the Pikes Peak hash on Saturday! Woohooo!

almost time!

College hoops season is getting closer! ESPN.com ranks my Panthers at #2! Woohoo!

I used to work in Chicago...

Kudos to Charlie (known to hashers as Impotent Dry Humper) for his 3:28 finish at Chicago! He's in the Quinn's shirt getting outkicked by a chemotherapy patient in this pic.

.6

My weight before pooping out yesterday's hash: 167.8
My weight after pooping out yesterday's hash: 167.2

Not bad. Anything over half a pound is worth being proud of though. Not sure how I lost ten pounds over four days. $100 is pissed about it though.

woohoo!

Hard workout for the day? Check - Incline.
Good deed for the day? Check - helped the TCR move.

Time to get wasted!

return to the Incline

Been awhile since I did the Incline, and it showed today. 14 minutes flat to get there, a lame 40:23 to get to the top, and 38:26 back down. Think I'm gonna start doing this twice a week during the offseason and three times a week come crunch time.

Start time: 8:00AM
Distance: 6.0 miles
Time: 1:32:49
Pace: 15:29 minutes per mile
Weather: upper 30s, cloudy and wet down below, but nice and blue skies on top if the Incline!
Weight: 171.6 pounds
First PBR: 10:28AM

jager!

today was a good day...

...I didn't even hafta use my AK!

Well, the day ain't over yet. But it's been sweet so far. Woke up next to a hot chick, had a real good run, biked to work without getting hit. Over lunch I rode over to the rock gym and discovered they had completely redone their traverse wall! Woohoo! Plus, they played Jane's Addiction the entire time I was there. In less than two hours I'll be free from this desk job, and off to Trinity to slave away for minimum wage. There's something about working so hard for so little pay that reminds me of my college days at the GreenGrocer, it's almost like cheap therapy for me. Of course, the fact that I don't have to support myself on minimum wage and I usually drink about $40 worth of beer for free doesn't hurt. After Trinity it'll be a nighttime drunken light's out ride through the Garden, always a blast having that area all to myself.

morning run

Good run early this morning. Down around Soda Springs park, up and through Balanced Rock, and back down to the skate park. Legs are finally starting to feel decent.

Start time: 5:30AM
Distance: 5.0 miles
Time: 42:36
Pace: 8:32 minutes per mile
Weather: upper 30s, clear skies
Weight: 176.2 pounds

evening run

Horribly hungover, still managed an easy four miles before doing an hour of yoga.

Start time: 5:30PM
Distance: 4.0 miles
Time: 34:00
Pace: 8:30 minutes per mile
Weather: mid 50s, clear skies
Weight: 176.4 pounds

yuk!

The hangover has arrived, and it isn't pretty. And my office smells like beer farts.

fake rocks

Was having a horrible day at the gym over lunch. The hippie girl gave me a weird "I never knew what a hangover smelled like until you walked in" look, and I was just doing some very uninspiring traverse work, just phoning things in for this workout. Then I took a few minutes to watch this tiny asian chick climb. Besides being smokin' hot, this gal can flat out climb. You see me boulder, and you can tell I just power through every move. This girl flows over everything, and it's really beautiful to watch. Human movement at it's finest. Inspired me to tackle a new route, and -BAM- I nailed it! Woohoo!

ugh

When I finally sober up I'm gonna have one hell of a hangover.

December 24, 2008; 12:01AM

That's when I will begin my quest to join the triple century club, attempting to run 100 miles and drink 100 cans of Pabst in 100 hours. Great way to spend Christmas! Several hashers around the country are trying this around the same time, but most of their plans end in, "this will be great, all I hafta do is run it by my wife..." so there aren't a whole lot with a decent chance to finish.

afternoon workout

Whenever Katie starts getting dumpy on me, I make her take up a new hobby. Last time it was marathoning, today it was rock climbing! If she doesn't get with the program soon, next it's gonna be a new sport called "not eating for a week."


Anywho, I ditched my usual routine to help her learn the basics. And she did pretty well, obviously falling a lot but showing no fear up on that wall. And it wasn't a total waste for me, with her watching I moved right up the new route that I failed on yesterday.

hooray for pork!

It's not an eight zillion dollar bridge to nowhere, but somewhere deep within the anals of the bailout there's a $20 tax break for employers of cool peeps who bike to work. Read about it here.

morning run

Nice, easy run down El Paso and the Pikes Peak bikeway and back. Legs are still tight for some reason, but they felt better after a few miles. Had a nice run in with a skunk on the way out. On the way back I almost ran into a deer, which spooked the both of us. I'm being drug into winter kicking and screaming, sadly today's run was entirely in the dark.

Start time: 5:33AM
Distance: 4.7 miles
Time: 40:09
Pace: 8:33 minutes per mile
Weather: low 40s, clear skies
Weight: 177.8 pounds

manitou track

Hit the local track after work tonight. Pretty sore after the race on Sunday and a hard workout yesterday, ended up doing 3 x 1200m repeats, with a four minute rest in between. Hit 4:43, 4:29, and 4:27. Not my greatest workout by any means, but it was my first time on a track in a while so I took it pretty easy.

My weight is now up to 178, significantly fatter than the 165 I was at for Hardrock.

woohoo!

Ladies and gentleman, for the first time ever, I nailed a new problem at the rock gym on my very first try! Woot woot! And if that wasn't enough, I damn near nailed another new route on that first try, though due to fatigue my attempt at the final move was somewhat lame. Luckily the hot chick who works there was off today and didn't have to see that. Off to the Manitou track after work today in an attempt to improve my 88 minute per mile pace at the next fall series run, then it's a trip to the swimming pool.

thank you!

Just wanna give a shout out to all the peeps with Obama signs in their front yard. Glad to see that some people in Colorado Springs see the light and will be voting for the correct candidate!

Damn, of all the days to forget my camera!

woohoo manitou!

Manitou Springs makes the list of the ten coolest small towns! See the story here! I've been drunk at two of the towns on the list, the other being Truth or Consequences, NM.

fall series

Good shot by Jim K from yesterday's fall series. I'm not going to do a race report because I stunk up the joint so bad. Needless to say, I have a lot of work to do before the next one.

Denver hash

I'll be headed up to the Denver hash on Sunday to show some love for the biggest group of Jewish Kimch lovers. Anyone interested in riding along?

#24

Pitt moved back into the AP rankings with their huge win over South Florida. Stupid Bowling Green, if it weren't for them we'd be in the top 10 right now. Still, it's real nice to be ahead of Wisconsin!

don't drink and trike!

Haha, good stuff. See the story here.

fall series

The local hash contingent at the Pikes Peak Road Runners fall series. Team Kimchi (All-Nighter, $100, Ritz, and STD Bitch) are currently in second place and could very well win the whole thing. Team PBR (Dave, Warren, IDH, and I) aren't quite faring so well, though we are kicking the crap out of the Austin Triathlete's team.

incline news

More news about the incline can be seen here. Looks like it's slowly moving along towards being legal. I hope they charge folks out the whazoo to park on Ruxton, since I'm able to run there from my house. Doesn't have a fancy name and a marketing department like CrossFit, but I heard that if you go up and down it a bunch of times you'll get into decent shape.

college football

Who should I root for tomorrow?
	Colorado
	Texas
Free polls from Pollhost.com

afternoon workout

Rode my bike from work to the rock gym today. Was hoping to impress granola girl by showing her that I put action behind all my enviornmentalism talk, but she wasn't there. Good thing too, as I had forgot my climbing shoes and looked like an ass clown trying to move along the wall wearing mountain bike shoes. But I got in my RDA for push-ups (100), crunches (100), pull-ups (as many as I can, unfortunately it's nowhere near 100), and ankle alphabet things (3), so the workout wasn't a total waste.

victory is mine!

I just snagged the last donut from the parole office. Hard to do with all the cops around here.

hell yeah!

HAIL TO PITT!

Woohoo! We're going to win the Big East and go to a BCS bowl!

low mileage

Got this e-mail from Matt Mahoney, who gained infamy two years ago when he missed the 48 hour finish line cutoff at Hardrock by 17 seconds. He lives in Florida and always takes on Colorado's toughest runs, sometimes doing hill training in parking garages because the terrain is so flat where he runs. He is 0-2 in his past two Hardrock attempts, but has finished it before with mileage like this:

A typical week for me is 20 miles running (including races), usually with a 10 mile road run on Sunday in 6 oz. shoes (7-8 min/mile pace), a 5K race in 4 oz. flats on Saturday (6:30 pace), an interval workout (e.g. 10 x 100 yd or 6 x 400 yd at 4-6 min/mile pace) barefoot on grass in the middle of the week, plus about 10 miles of walking (about half barefoot on grass or roads), 80 miles biking and one or two weight lifting sessions. About 10-12 times a year I substitute a marathon or ultra for my long run, or if there isn't one scheduled, I'll do a 28-30 mile run. I am male, age 53, 6 ft 0 in, 163 lbs. My best times in the last 2 years are are 5K in 19:15, half marathon in 1:32, marathon in 3:25, and 118 miles in 26:55 (wearing 5 oz racing flats without socks).

finished

Former Hardrock king Karl Meltzer finished his trek across the Appalachion Trail recently. Due to injuries suffered along the way he wasn't able to set the record, but still made quite the speedy journey. Got this e-mail:


"Karl is done. Monday at 4:20 a.m., he completed his speed hike of theAppalachian Trail reaching the summit of Mt. Springer, Georgia 54days 21 hours and 12 minutes after starting out from Mt. Katahdin,Maine. As many of you know, Karl's time was not a new record. But enduring to the end, after injury and setbacks, without any chance of being the fastest? That's impressive."

Picked the perfect time to finish. Is it me or does the time 4:20 creep into the ultra world quite often?

Someday when I win the lottery, after I've bought houses in Leadville and Bandera, I'm going to hike the Appalachion, Continental Divide, and Pacific Crest trails. With an RV stocked with booze waiting for me at every trailhead, of course.

HAIL TO PITT!

Our drive to the national championship gets a boost tonight when we whoop it up on South Florida on ESPN! Game starts at 5:30PM here in Colorado.

no more jeep

My jeep is currently laying in a million pieces in C-4's garage. It took Lincoln and I three hours to get the dash off, I swear there was a tiny screw every half inch or so. So until Sunday at the earliest I'll be relying on my bike for transportation!

return to the gym

Finally got my lazy ass back to the rock gym today. I had to renew my membership, and this next stretch will take me up to my yearly pilgrimmage to Hueco Tanks, so that should give me some motivation.

It's amazing how much strength I've lost over the past few weeks. I was never he-man by any means, but I had worked myself up to the point where 100 push-ups, a ton of pull-ups, and crawling around on the walls like spider man wasn't a big deal for me. Not anymore! Guess it doesn't help that I'm lugging around an extra ten pounds on my frame. Hopefully it doesn't take me too long to regain my old form.

Big update on my stalker girl - she got her hair cut. Looks real good. She hooked me up with a free copy of Urban Climber when I got a new membership too. You can't put a price on true love, but the magazine does sell for $4.99. She also played Dispatch today, even more cool points for her.

Been talking to several peeps about CrossFit lately. Don't think it even comes close to what I do over lunch. I think it's just the latest fitness fad, like the thighmaster or the Atkins Diet. I love how in the propaganda for CrossFit they advertise, "used by military and police forces." They use that for most fitness products, I guess that makes it sound like it's HFC or something. I know a ton of cops and military types around here. Folks, whatever they're doing to stay in shape, you probably want to avoid!

Anywho, it's back to the grind for me. Just need to stay in basic shape for a few months. Incline Club starts around turkey day and I'm signed up for the Rim Rock Run in Grand Junction in November. Probably do a lot of speedwork, long fartleks and maybe some 10k's, and keep the long stuff to a minimum (no more than 20 miles). Take a short break around Christmas and then gear up for another attempt at the Hardrock/Leadville double.

morning run

Out the door at 5:20AM, nice run from Katie's house up Ridge Road and around the Garden for a bit. Slowly easing back into things, so I only went for thirty minutes. Even after the run, it was still dark out. That sucks.

happy birthday!

Ritz turns 34 today!