Yuengling vs. Molson

I don't really care about olympic hockey, but it got more interesting for me after reading this.

Black Forest

After my Friday night turned from "just having two drinks" to begging for more booze at 2AM, I wasn't expecting much from my long run. Arrived early enough to get in a crappy 10 miles in 90 minutes, then pinned on my number and ran the PPRR Winter Series race #4, a 20K on the dirt roads of Black Forest. Was running mediocre, just under eight minute pace, until 9 miles or so, when I was struck by the sudden urge to take a dump. I had to walk for over a mile to find a suitable place, which was a group of trees in some random front yard. The rest of the race was slow, I was just out of gas. Still, not too bad a long run at 22 miles, roughly 3:17:27.

Lots of injuries out there. Wiley is down. GZ is hurtin'. Sir Nick isn't at 100%. I have a feeling Brandon is going to face some kind of Tonya Harding-esque freak injury in the next few days that will wreck his Boston training. I've definitely been feeling the effects of all the mileage. Nothing major, but lots of little aches and pains. It's more running than I've ever done in my life - 340 miles in December, 343.8 in January, and after tonights full moon run I'll get another 343 in February. Before that stretch I had never run over 330 miles in a month, and in last years Hardrock training I ran 300+ miles in a month just three times, in March, May, and June. Think I'm gonna get one more week of high mileage in before cutting back during the week of the Salida Marathon. Then it'll be balls out once again until the week before Boston.

Springs in the news

Colorado Springs made CNN.com. See the article here.

hash article

Good read on hashing over here. I love how they describe it as "the time-honored tradition of getting wasted and running places!"

Best. Weekend. Ever.

Just got tix to see the John Butler Trio at Red Rocks, with State Radio and Medeski Martin & Wood!

This is the night before the Big Head Todd & The Monsters show. That show is gonna be epic, as BHT will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of American Radio, probably their best CD. They're gonna play that album in it's entirety!

Sandwiched in between those two shows is the Golden Gate Dirty Thirty 50K!

Hell, I might even drink a beer or two that weekend...

This is going to be the best weekend ever in my life! At least until July 4th weekend, which will include the Leadville Marathon, Leadville Two Mile High Wrestling Club 5K, and Blues Traveler.

Thurs/Fri

Thurs PM - Awesome night for Incline happy hour! As usual, the weather was shitty and I was dreading the workout, but once I got moving up that hill it turned into a great night. Actually had to take some layers off, it was so warm. Still, it was the most snow I've seen on the Incline and Barr Trail all year, and I didn't bring my yaktrax, so it was very slow going. 5.5 miles, 2 hours. Even had to use my flashlight as an ice axe to crawl the last 100 feet to the top. Two thumbs down to Kinfolk's for running out of PBR, but the hottie bartender serving up Kokanee wasn't too bad.

Fri AM - Was supposed to be a rest day but with both Wiley and GZ on the sidelines I had to take advantage of that rare situation. 20 easy miles. OK, just kidding, I slept in and went to C2 yoga. C2 makes me look like a fish out of water since I'm the only non-serious yoga person who goes, but it does wonders for my 75 year old lower back.

Yasso

Really struggled through the run this morning. Didn't want to be out there, physically or mentally. Here are the splits:

1 - 2:56

2 - 2:53

3 - 2:52

4 - 2:52

5 - 2:51

6 - 2:54

7 - 2:55

8 - 2:56

9 - 2:57

10 - 2:56

Averages out to a 2:54, but as you can see I really fell apart in the second half of this workout. Still, I'm pretty happy with how much I suffered out there. I was hurting so bad on the final three that I figured they'd all be over four minutes. This is the second track workout in the past seven days I thought I was gonna throw up afterward. Good times!

Can't let one poor workout get me down. Already at 310 miles for February, and over 55 for the week. Probably take tomorrow off before the dreaded Black Forest double on Saturday.

Wed PM

Easy five miles out and back on the Santa Fe trail with the CRC crew. Felt good. My first run in my new Nike Luner Elites.

Beantown elites

The elite field for Boston is out, see it here. I've e-mailed the RD to let him know he forgot to put me on the list. Nine sub 2:07 guys in the field, really gonna have to work if I want to reach my goal of a top ten finish.

quote of the day

"Don’t let people tell you that the Pirates have a great future, but it’s not today. Today is our future. 2010 is the beginning of the next dynasty of the Pirates."
-Frank Coonelly, president of my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates

I'm not the only one who believes!

How many world series will the Buccos win in a row? Five? Six? Glad we can finally put those 600 straight losing seasons behind us and start winning some titles!

Wed

Didn't think I pushed very hard at the Tuesday morning Bear Creek workout, but last night (4.1 miles, 40 minutes, mostly in lane 6 of the CC track) and this morning (6.8 miles, 1 hour, through Rockledge Ranch and the Garden) had me sore as hell during the first few miles.

Picking out my Boston shoes from the CRC tonight. Probably going with the Nike Lunar Elite, though I'll try on some New Balance and Saucony to make sure. Wish I could make my current Nike Pegasus hold on until April, but those things are coming apart at the seams. After only 563 miles too, good thing I got them on the sale rack for 60 bones.

Heard the next PPRR newsletter is 28 pages. Runner's World is getting scared.

Trinity/sunrise striders

Mon PM - 10.2 miles at Trinity followed by several pints of Soul.

Tues AM - Hit downtown early to get a few bonus miles in, then went over to Bear Creek Park for 2 x 12 minutes hard with 4 minutes RBI. Ended with six 30 second repeats up one of the big hills in the park. Snow and ice made for slow going, but it was still a good effort. 11.8 miles, 1:44.

Incline

Saw a blurb on the USA Woman's Hockey Team where they were hiking the Incline. Tried to find it on youtube but found these instead. Little bit about my favorite workout. Free beer to the first person to tell me the name of the first band in video #1. You must attend an Incline happy hour to claim the beer.

happy anniversary!

Thirty years since the Miracle On Ice. I was four years old and still remember it. Even though USA won yesterday, it doesn't hold anywhere near the excitement for me since the professionals started playing.

Mon AM

Old Colorado City got about five inches of snow last night, which made for some slow running this morning. 5.6 miles in an hour. Really grinding things out in this crappy weather right now. Did go over 600 miles for 2010 this morning though.

HAIL TO PITT!

Pitt knocked off #3 Villanova this afternoon. I thought our triple OT win against WVU last weekend sealed the deal, but after this win I'm pretty sure we're getting into the big dance. Actually, I'm pretty sure we're gonna win the whole damn thing!

Peterson Events Center - where good teams go to die. Pitt is 7-0 against top five teams at home!

Pitt wasn't the only 'burgh team to do the city proud. Watched the mighty Duquesne Dukes edge out Dayton on ESPN2 this morning.

All this Pittsburgh hoops excitement even caused me to check on the nerds from Carnegie Mellon. They ruined the mood, losing to Washington University (the division III version, not the Pac 10 Huskies) 95-58. Fucking dorks.

free food!

During my long run on Saturday I stopped in the bathroom at America the Beautiful Park to refill my water bottle. As I was in there a homeless guy (or a "camper" as referred to by Colorado Springs city council) came out of the shitter and went outside.

I filled my bottle and went out to the picnic table to tie my shoe. I was wearing my usual top of the line athletic gear that I either get at thrift stores or the "get this crap out of my store" sales that John O has at the Colorado Running Company. I must have fit in, because the homeless guy came up to me and said, "Hey, you hungry? 'Cuz they got extra food at the Marian today, it's real good and you should go get yourself some."

He was referring to the Marian House, our local soup kitchen.

83.1

Thurs PM - Incline happy hour. Very slow since I was still hurting from Thurs AM's hard interval run.

Fri AM - 6.8 miles in one hour, to work.

Fri PM - Long way home. 12.1 miles, 1:53:11. Santa Fe, Shooks Run, Bear Creek Park.

Sat AM - Awesome long run. 23 miles, 3:45. Lots of snow and ice to make things fun. The effort was definitely there if the pace wasn't.

Sun AM - Easy 11.2 miles around town, 1:45:29. Saw a robin at the end of the run, hopefully that means warmer days are coming.

Ended up with 83.1 miles. Pretty good week, especially since I lost two runs to drinking. I've now gone over 80 miles in six of eight weeks for 2010.

Here's a shot of Katie and I from the latest Nielson Challenge. She ran a tough race to try to take the kick out of me, but in the end I dusted her. She was a lot closer at the finish than Brandon was when I took him on though.

254.7 miles in February with one week to go. 598.5 miles for 2010.

HA!

Chuck Norris once challenged Lance Armstrong in a "Who has more testicles?" contest. Chuck Norris won by 5.

book #3

Book #3 for the year. I'm way ahead of my goal of ten books in 2010, so I'll probably take a break from reading for a while.

Awesome story though, especially for someone with an interest in the Boston Marathon. Great description of one of the best races of all time as well as some personal stuff both guys went through after the race.

commute #5

Very easy on the Incline last night as I was still feeling it from the track. Ran in from Old Colorado City, getting 7.9 miles in just over two hours.

This morning was the fifth time this year I left the truck at home to run to work. Got an easy 6.8 miles in. Great day to run, as the roads were pretty slick from a minor snowfall. Will hopefully get another 14 in on the long way home - Santa Fe, Shooks, and Bear Creek Park.

This is the final time I'll run to my current office. Next week I'll move over near Memorial Park. I'll probably start running to work once or twice a week, as that location kinda makes it easier to run than drive. All part of my plan to end Kenyan dominance of the distance running world...

Kara is still my favorite Goucher

Most of you have seen the awesome interview Adam Goucher recently gave. I'm a big fan of dropping the f-bomb and waving the middle finger, and apparently so is Mr. Goucher. More importantly, though, is that Runner's World had another cover with Kara Goucher on it! Woohoo! Two thumbs up this month for RW!

And yes, C-4, Kara is still my favorite Cartwright as well.

Silverton 1000

This looks pretty rough. But it would drive me nuts to be in Silverton, with all that mountain beauty and all those great trails around, to run 1000 miles on the same half mile stretch on a dirt road.

hooray for free stuff!

Thanks to the super cool peeps over at runcolo.com, I'll be taking another stab at a Bolder Boulder A wave qualifier at the Running for Rachel 5K on March 27. I think this is the third or fourth free rego I got from those guys, so it's definitely a page worth checking out.

If any out of town challengers think they have the cojones to come challenge me, I'll take 'em on a post race tour of the Falcon Trail (12-ish miles of awesome singletrack around the Air Force Academy) before grabbing lunch at King's Chef...

track

Hard workout this morning. 12 x 400 meters, one minute rest in between. Hit the first one in 74, probably my fastest quarter mile since college. The rest were between 80 and 82, except for a 78 on interval #8 when I had to show Mike Safari that he has a long way to go before he gets the call up for the big leagues. Thought I was gonna puke on my last lap I was running so hard.

The douchebags at Colorado College won't let us shut the fences on the inside laps of the track anymore, so this workout was all done in lane three.

it's over!

Shit like this annoys me to no end. The guy passes out, gets an IV, is carted off the course to an ambulance, and taken to the hospital. What part of that would make you think the race isn't over? And the Austin newspaper makes him out to be some kind of hero??? I can't believe the guy accepted the award, I'd put that right up there with the infamous team in training Marine Corps Marathon shortcuts.

AJW, I would like to hear your thoughts on this guy's non-DNF...

John Butler Trio

Helluva concert last night! Those guys always put on such a great live show!

First weekend of June is going to be epic, as JBT announced they'll be headlining at Red Rocks (with Medeski Martin & Wood and State Radio) on June 4th. So I'll catch that show, run the Golden Gate 50K on Sat morning, then hit Big Head Todd that evening! Woohoo!

Larry & His Flask

These guys rocked the Mariner last night! Do not miss the chance to see 'em if they come to your town!

Silverton Brewery

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of the Silverton Brewery, going there directly after my two Hardrock finishes for a Red Mountain Ale or three. They now have a blog! Check it out here.

Big decision ahead: go to their brew and music fest or stay home for the Garden 10 miler...

another one...

These things keep popping up. Montana now has a 100, read about it here.

82.1

82.1 miles for the week, not too shabby, especially since I didn't run on Saturday. Ended up jacking up my left knee and shin when I took a dive during the hash, lots of blood and bruising, but I shouldn't miss any time from it.

Snowdown

A few pics from Snowdown, courtesy of Nacheaux. Good times!

Mile High Music Festival

Looks like my Leadville taper will be spent at the Mile High Music Festival this year. They moved the date to August 14-15. They're supposed to announce some of the line up in March...

sad day

One of the coolest places in the history of mankind, Baked In Telluride, burned to the ground recently. Katie would have their pizza waiting for me at the Telluride aid station during Hardrock. Not to mention all the Blues & Brews hangovers that placed cured for me and countless others. Read about it here. Be sure to raise a beer for this great institution over the weekend. Sure hope they rebuild.

You can read about my past trips to the place here. I think my favorite blog quote about the place is, "...I think I'll be able to get over it by drinking huge amounts of beer, listening to great music, training on the Hardrock course, and eating three meals a day at Baked in Telluride."

Update: Looks like BIT will rise again! Woohooo!

Rocky Mountain Slam

Just dropped my rego in the mail for Bighorn. Active.com wanted $17 to let me rego online, suddenly the high price of stamps didn't seem so bad.

I'm now signed up for Bighorn, Hardrock, and Leadville. Hopefully I'll do well at all of those and head to the Utah/Idaho border in September for The Bear.

If I finish all those I'll have completed the Rocky Mountain Slam and will enjoy all the money, fame, and beautiful women you get for doing that. Or maybe I'll just get listed on the website, if Mr. Jensen ever decides to update it again...

track

Awesome day on the track. 5 x 1000 meters, 200 meter RBI. Hit 3:47, 3:41, 3:37, 3:36, and 3:38. The track is so much easier with a group than alone.

moving

March 1st will be bringing some changes with it.

I'll be moving into a new house in Old Colorado City near the Red Rock Lounge on the corner of Colorado and 31st. I'm sad to be leaving Manitou but it's only two miles from my old apartment and I'll be much closer to the Garden of the Gods and Red Rock Canyon Open Space. The hike and bike trail connecting Colo Springs and Manitou will run right by the house, and that construction should begin before memorial day. It's a pretty sweet house and there's an extra room if any of you outta towners need crash space, but that's only until Jenny Barringer accepts my offer to live there.

I'll also be moving my work office over near memorial park in the Springs. It'll get me back to my Knob Hill roots. No big issues with that move, just wondering what to do with my gym membership since I won't be able to go over lunch anymore. After this move I'll probably end up running to and from work several times a week, so that'll save me lots of time (and gas).

June 5

Schedule is clearing up a bit and I'm thinking of adding the Golden Gate Dirty Thirty to my list. Been to that park and there seems to be some cool trails back there. As an added bonus, I could go see Big Head Todd & The Monsters at Red Rocks that evening. As an added, added bonus, I could waste several hours between the race and the show drinking on Colfax...

Pre's moustache

Pretty cool blog over here. Lots of cool running related stuff. Though the Carl Lewis singing videos were pretty scary...

Wed AM

Easy run through the Garden, 7.1 miles in 62 minutes. 12F at the start. Really, really looking forward to warmer weather.

11 days in a row, and 25 of the past 26 without a rest day.

more miles

Mon PM - Me and seven others braved the snow and chilly temps for the Soul Runners. The Garden was very beautiful and peaceful, ended up doing an extra loop for 10.2 miles, 1:39.

Tues AM - Snow and a refreshing 9F at 5AM when I left the house. Ran over to the Manitou track and found it covered in snow. Slipped twice during the first 100 meters so I bailed on the speedwork and ran an easy ten through Manitou, the Garden, and Old Colorado City.

Barr Trail

Awesome run last night during the first half of the super bowl. Steve and Phil went up to Barr Camp, I turned around after 3.5 miles so I wouldn't get 90 miles for the week. I ended with 89.5, not too shabby. Here are a few pics that Steve took:

Winfield

Leaving Winfield last year with Mike Safari in tow. I would have run so much faster with better pacers...

Hardrock or bust!

Hardrock lottery live on twitter!

Brooks is in! Neal Taylor is in!

I'm in!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, the Wasatch lottery was yesterday. Nick got in!

Garden

Legs were sore from yesterday, so I did an easy nine on the Garden trails. Felt good, until I read on John O's blog that he averages under nine minutes a mile and I'm usually closer to ten. Or eleven.

Hardrock lottery results should be posted around 1PM today. Wish me luck!

21

Nice long run this morning. Through the Garden to the Sinton Trail, down to the Santa Fe trail, Nielson Challenge in 12:56, then back home through Bear Creek Park. 21 miles, just over three hours.

Dropped by the Colorado Running Company during the run and tried on the Nike Lunar Elite. I was hoping to run Boston in my current Pegasus but the upper is starting to separate from the sole and there's no way they'll last another two months. Anyone hear anything about the Elite? I liked 'em when I tried 'em on, and I got a feeling they'll feel really good after 100-200 miles when they're broke in. But John O said some people have been complaining about the arch in these shoes. Hate to buy another pair of road shoes this year but like I said I don't think I can get through Boston with what I have now.

John O also told me that Jenny Barringer is moving down here! Woohoo! Now if only Kara Goucher would follow...

weekend

Not too much going on this weekend, other than sitting around on the edge of my seat waiting for the Hardrock lottery to happen.

Starting to pack for the move to Old Colorado City tonight. Lotsa shit to move. Might need to get some more PBR to make things a little better. Want to get the apartment empty before the drunks come over for Manitou Mardi Gras.

Long run on Saturday, which I'm doing before and after the Nielson Challenge. Probably about 15 miles before, then the two mile time trial, then another six or so home. Plenty of time to recover in time for the Pikes Peak hash.

Sunday morning is the Incline Club, and then some King's Chef. Then it'll just be staring at the Hardrock web page to see what happens. If I get in, I'm gonna skip the super bowl and go join the 2nd annual super bowl protest run, which heads up to Barr Camp during the game.

woohoo!

Guess who is coming to town on March 28th!

TGIF!

Thurs PM - Incline happy hour. Ran from Katie's, got in 8 miles in 2 hours. Found out Creating a Newsense is playing the Mariner next Saturday after the Mardi Gras parade!

Fri AM - Easy hour, 6.6 miles.

HAIL TO PITT!

I know the hoops squad hasn't even started it's hot run through the Big East and NCAA tourney yet, but it's never too early to look ahead to football season. Here's Pitts non-con schedule:

Sept. 2 —- Thursday — at Utah

Sept. 11 — Saturday — New Hampshire

Sept. 23 —- Thursday —– Miami

Oct. 2 —- Saturday —– FIU

Oct. 9 —— Saturday —- at Notre Dame

All look like easy wins to me.

more miles

Wed PM - 5.2 miles on the Sinton trail, 50 minutes, followed by an hour of hot yoga. Guess Keith G is already in taper mode for Leadman as he bailed on the run.

Thurs AM - Sunrise Striders. Meanest janitor ever kicked us off the CC track, so we did 5 x 5 minutes hard on the Santa Fe trail, 1 minute RBI. Still had some soreness from the Yasso 800s I did on Tuesday, so this workout wasn't all out but still a pretty good effort.

book #2

Book #2 for the year. Think I picked this up at my first Leadville. Not very good, you can find much, much better stuff on blogs nowadays. The guy even rips on Leadville for offering beer at their race festivities, so obviously not the kind of author that will hold my interest. I've read his book on Hardrock and it's not much better.

Wed AM

6.2 miles very easy (72 minutes) in Red Rock Canyon. Legs were tore up from yesterdays Yasso 800s. Hope I'm recovered enough to hang with Keith on the Sinton Trail tonight.

PPRR bored meeting last night. Unbelievable how much non-running crap goes on in a running club. Insurance issues, city and county park fees, volunteer gimmies, advertising, newsletter stuff, various bills, and some other stuff I think I was asleep for. Bad news for anyone thinking they had a chance to beat one of the more impressive records of the sport though - sounds like they're not gonna have the Earth Day 5K anymore. The course record, a blazing 19:12, is held by yours truly. (FYI, I still hold the age 30 record at the Bandera 100K - 12:32:27 - set back in '06).

Springs

Good article from the Denver Post about the dire financial situation of Colorado Springs can be seen here. I used to laugh at their problems since I lived in Manitou, but since Old Colorado City is in Springs city limits maybe I'll start crying. Gonna start hanging with the Friends of Red Rock Canyon since I'll have more time after resigning from PARAB, unfortunately it looks like that time will be spent picking up trash instead of building new trails.

Fear not though! The US Olympic HQ is staying here! I believe the city has now thrown over 30 million at that new downtown building. Who needs public transportation or street lights or police officers, the important thing is keeping the fat ass paper pushers at the olympic bureaucracy happy!

2:54

Awesome workout this morning. 10 x 800m, 400m RBI. Hit the first one in 2:56, then ran between 2:51 and 2:54 for the rest. Fastest two were intervals 9 and 10, in 2:51 and 2:52. This is a friggin' HARD workout if you've never done it. With the warm up and cool down I got in a total of 12 miles.

$2.44

Through today I had run 350.1 miles and spent a total of $853 on running, working out to $2.44 per mile. The bulk of that is on Boston - $130 to rego, $300 for a flight, $30 for the special bus - which was actually paid for in 2009. Also dropped $250 on Leadville and another $85 on new shoes. Take Boston out and Smut would be sweating as I'd be at $1.12 per mile.

oops

Looks like the fancy new Leadville website may have confused some people. Got this e-mail today:

Dear Leadville Trail 100 Family,

Thanks for your registration for the Leadville Trail 100 Run. Your order has been processed. This email is to confirm that you DID intend to enter the LT100 RUN.

There had been some confusion during online registration, so we wanted to confirm that your registration was intended was for the Run Race. Please make this verification process as simple as possible:

If you DID intend to register for theLT100 Run (even if it was one of several that you registered for) – DO NOT respond to this email, do nothing (except get to training!)

If you accidentally registered for the run, email us and let us know, immediately.

Maybe they should raise the rego price so they can get a website that works. Hope the mistake wasn't because Brandon finally realized what he was up against and tried to switch his rego to the 10K...

Hardrock lottery

The lottery is this weekend, starting to get nervous. 409 people are trying to get in so far. After all the automatic guys are accounted for, I figure about 100 slots will be available for almost 400 lottery players. I'll have three tickets, last year that woulda given me a 45% chance of getting in, little bit lower this year since there are more entrants.

January

Pretty good month. 343.8 miles, topping my previous record of 340 set all the way back last decade in December of '09. I only topped 300 miles three times in the run up to last years ultra season, so I'm feeling pretty good about these last two months. Hope to hit 300 in the short month of February. Think I'm gonna start to average between 75 - 80 miles a week. Things start go get hectic once I go over 80 miles.

Did yoga eight times in January for a total of nine hours. Commuted to work three times. Finished one book and started two others. Looking good for my resolutions.

Have to resign from the Manitou parks and rec board tonight due to my upcoming move to Old Colorado City. Served about half my term. Did manage to get ten grand put down on a new trail, so my time there wasn't a total waste.