Friday, September 27, 2019

Kings Peak

Got my 18th state highpoint on the trip, Kings Peak.  The thing is so far north in Utah that you have to go to Wyoming to get there.  The most committed highpoint I've done, as the total hike is 30+ miles.  We ended up doing it in two days, hitting the summit and then coming back down for an 18 mile day one before setting up camp, then doing the final twelve miles on day two.

Snowed/rained/hailed pretty good after we got the tent set up.  We bought our Marmot Force from Sierra Trading Post for 100 bones almost two years ago and used it in the lead up and during our Colorado Trail hike.  Thing is pretty beat up, and I thought she might not make it through the night.  But she held up, keeping us warm and dry until morning.









Thursday, September 26, 2019

Muscoco microadventure

Been wanting to do this for a while now, but last night I finally got out and spent the night on Muscoco Mountain.  Kircher was in town so I drug him along.  We hit Fossil for dinner and beers, then it took us two hours in the dark to pedal seven miles to the base and hike two miles to the summit.  Bunch of beers up top and then a great night of sleep.  Woke up at 6:30AM, hiked back down and rode to CityRock for a quick shower before getting to my desk at 7:57AM.  Great way to take advantage of the 5PM to 9AM.


Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Dinosaur/Vernal

We left on Thursday after work and made it to Breckenridge.  We weren't planning on closing down Broken Compass, but when the bartender said it was cool to sleep in the parking lot we decided to stay a while.  I got up to walk the dog the next morning and it was 30F.  I am not ready for winter yet.

The idea for this trip started with the urge to visit Dinosaur National Monument.  It sits there way up in NW Colorado and crosses the border into Utah, and nobody I know has ever been there.  The Colorado side is super cool, though we couldn't explore much in our van.  The Utah side is where they have all the dinosaur bones.  We ended up finding BLM land just outside the monument to crash for the night.  We hope to return someday to raft through the park, which seems much cooler than exploring by foot.

There is not much in the town of Dinosaur.  A liquor store, the last one before Utah, two gas stations, and a bar.  The Highway Bar.  Had some good beer from Steamboat Springs and a surprisingly good bacon cheeseburger.





We went to Vernal, UT, for night number three.  It kicked off a period of huge failures of finding decent beer.  I didn't even buy any from Vernal Brewing to bring home to give away.  We stayed this night at the BLM land known as McCoy Flats.  Great camping and lots of trails.  $100 biked here and I took the dog hiking and later went for a run.  Not worth making this area a trip in itself, but if you ever find yourself in Vernal you should check out these trails.



The next day we started to make our way to the Kings Peak trail head, which is so far north in Utah you have to go to Wyoming to get there.  Drove the Flaming Gorge scenic route along the way.


Tuesday, September 24, 2019

home again

Back in the Springs after our big road trip.  Had a blast.  I'll try to get up some stories from the road once I get some time.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Friday, September 13, 2019

Thursday, September 12, 2019

run commute 57

Monday - bike commute 55, straight to and from work.  CityRock 103 at lunch.  Not crushed, but feeling the effects of the work I did over the weekend.

Tuesday - run commute 56.  Four miles to and four miles back.  Two of the miles on the way to work were below 7:15 pace.

Wednesday - bike commute 56.  Ten miles to work and ten miles back home. 

Thursday - run commute 57.  Five miles in 39 minutes.  Middle 5K all at sub seven pace.

Headed out in the van after work.  Broken Compass Brewing tonight, then off to Dinosaur tomorrow.  Back home on Sept 23.  Might send a few pics back to the blog, but other than that this place will go dark for a bit.

Monday, September 09, 2019

long run

Good first weekend of 'thon training.  The track on Saturday followed by a good MAF run on Sunday.  13.6 miles on my Santa Fe/Sinton loop in 2:03.  Keep the heart rate at or below 140 for most of it.

We are getting ready for the biggest van trip yet.  Leaving Thursday evening for Breckenridge.  Then Dinosaur National Monument, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Kings Peak (high point of Utah), Moab, Telluride, and all points in between.  Home on Monday the 23rd.  Then we leave on the 27th again for the 14er fest in Buena Vista.

Sunday, September 08, 2019

Saturday, September 07, 2019

track

First time on the track in a long time.  6 x 800m, 400m RBI.  Goal was to start at 3:15 and work down to 3:10, but I surprised myself by going 3:04, 3:00. 2:57, 2:57, 2:56, 2:53.  A little rusty, these were not the best paced intervals, but I was super happy with the times.  Needs to be noted that due to rain I went to the Manitou track instead of the usual Holmes oval.  These repeats at Homes would have been several seconds slower.

Thursday, September 05, 2019

CityRock 100

Back to the grind on Wednesday as my Phish hangover had finally gone away.

Next up on the docket is the Soldier Marathon in Fort Benning in November.  I would like to run 3:10 there, and that means a lot of faster stuff.  Tempos, fartleks, long runs, and even a return to the track.

But hump day wasn't for the fast stuff as I had on a heavy backpack and I was still sweating out some toxins from the weekend.  Five miles to work in 44:39, with the middle three miles all sub eight.  Four miles back home racing a very slow moving thunderstorm.  The rain won.

Solid climb at CityRock for lunch.  My 100th trip of the year.

Tuesday, September 03, 2019

Phish

Man I am getting too old to be doing three day benders but if this was my last one I made it count.

The shows were fantastic.  Really couldn't have asked for better setlists.  Even transportation to/from downtown was not quite the pain in the ass I was expecting.  Lots of time at Sancho's during the day where everyone was listening to the Dead and discussing Phish.  Such a good weekend.

Also, as far as I know, I did not get the plague.