Been way off my usual routine lately and it's showing up in the human powered numbers.
Went to Franktown for three straight days for some EMT classes, on top of dog sitting anywhere from one to three extra pups. Plus a heavy SAR week. On top of that, I got a shingles shot which knocked me on my ass for a full day. Oof. Good thing it's the offseason.
Happy eleventh anniversary to Fossil Brewing. Good times over there on Saturday.
For the week:
run - 19 miles, four hours
hike - 16.5 miles, eight hours
Not much going on fitness wise. Did get up Mt. Herman for a SOTA activation on Saturday, and made the trek up to Barr Camp on Sunday with Mookie.
Get to hang out with Kircher's dog Ollie for a bit. Lots of dog park hikes in the near future.
We will be making our first, and probably last, trip to the Sphere this May.
For the week:
run - 48 miles, eleven hours
hike - 30 miles, 15 hours
bike - 41 miles, 3.5 hours
Been pretty lazy since Pikes, allowing life to get in the way of miles. Had a nice trip down to Florida for the in-laws 50th wedding anniversary, saw some cool birds and got to drink a ton of Yuengling.
For September:
run - 134 miles, 27.5 hours
hike - 125 miles, 60 hours
ride - 88 miles, eight hours
Definitely need to nudge those higher this month.
Barely October but the '26 travel schedule is already taking shape. Looking to add three more states to the marathon total - Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa.
Happy Pikes week to those who celebrate!
Lets get the bad news out of the way: neither my Panthers or Steelers are undefeated any more.
We took a very quick overnight van trip, leaving Saturday evening for the Crags trailhead over in Teller County. On Sunday we headed up Pikes. A little chilly, a bit of snow, but we were prepared for much worse. Great family hike. The humans went 15 miles, the dog was well over 20. My 44th full summit (using the 3000 foot rule) of America's mountain.
Been fairly lazy and uninspired since Rio Grande. In my defense, this was a big SAR week so a lot of my time was spent in that world.
And we also caught the Weird Al show up at Ford Amphitheater. Incredible concert.
For the week:
run - 20 miles, 3.7 hours
hike - 32 miles, 16 hours
ride - 27 miles, two hours
Both my Panthers and Steelers are still undefeated!
Another hundo in the books. Made the short drive down to South Fork this weekend for the Rio Grande 100. Typical Tempest Adventure gig, extremely hard course but marked well. A part of the San Juans I hadn't spent any time in, so that was cool. I was slow but steady and crossed the line in just over 34 hours. Second straight hundred without pacers. Ten hours before I got there a chick won the overall race.
Biggest disappointment for me was getting trounced in the mile 21 Pool Table aid station push up contest. Whoever did the most push ups there won $50. I was a very distant third place.
Another decent week in the books. Mountain fitness is coming around.
run - 51 miles, eleven hours
hike - 32 miles, 13 hours
More importantly, I had my first dog rescue. Whiskey was hit by a rock and really messed up his front paw. SAR hiked back in and carried him out. We've been updated and the pup is going to be fine. You can read the details over here on the pup's GoFundMe.
Been a hot minute.
Another successful van trip in the books. Headed north through Spearfish, SD, to Medora, ND. Got to take in the geographical center of the USA in Belle Forche, SD.
I ran the Maah Daah Hey trail 58 miler, a chunk of the 150+ mile trail through the badlands of North Dakota. Nice run but Jesus Christ it was hot. At 4PM I was at mile 40 and it was still 105F. Was not ready for those conditions but I survived. State number 32.
After that we headed south to Sheridan and visited some old favorites, including the Crazy Woman Saloon near the Bighorn finish and The Mint Bar.
Low running week, mostly due to a Big Richard concert, the WestFax one year anniversary shenanigans, and lots of time spent helping with the Barr Trail Mountain Race for SAR. Did get in 13 miles of hiking up to Barr Camp and back on race day with a 50+ pound pack. Good times.
run - 28 miles, 5.5 hours
hike - 43 miles, 17.5 hours
ride - four miles, 25 minutes
Seeing Cake on Wednesday evening, then it's off on the annual van trip. Headed up to North Dakota to run a chunk of the Maah Daah Hey trail, then slowly making our way down south to Del Norte for the Rhythms on the Rio festival.
SAR kept me busy but I still got some miles in, including a good long run on Sunday where I ran up to Barr Camp, returned, and then did the incline. Hot as balls that day and I was pretty wiped afterwards.
run - 60 miles, 15.5 hours
hike - 23.5 miles, ten hours
bike - 26 miles, two hours
Wasn't planning on a down week but I was crushed for a few days after Mace's and then SAR took up all my weekend time.
Good news: I was running up to Barr Camp on Saturday and a call came in for a hiker who was lost just off Barr Trail near Barr Camp. He wasn't injured, so I got the go-ahead to go look for him. I found him about 60 feet off Barr Trail, a little bit below the trail that heads over to the Cog Railway. That incident is mentioned here.
Bad news: A guy from New Hampshire came out here to hike Pikes Peak and it didn't end well. I spent a good chunk of Saturday evening, most of Sunday, and a few hours on Monday looking for him. All of that time was with a heavy pack above 13,000 feet. That story is here.
There was a little bit of running in there. For the week:
run - 34 miles, eight hours
hike - 27 miles, 14 hours
Tempest Adventures is now two for two in thoroughly kicking my ass. I did their Mace's Hideout 50 miler down in Beulah and holy hell was it rough. First four miles are on a dirt road but after that it's nothing but technical trails and lots of climbing and descending. I ran pretty well, or at least I kept moving forward all day, but I found myself pushing the overall cutoff of 16 hours. Rallied over the last three miles, which included climbing up a waterfall, and finished in 15:58:30. Pic below is at the finish, those other two runners and I worked together to barely beat the cutoff.
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I had planned on getting back home on Saturday after the race, maybe even early enough to hit WestFax for last call. But I finished at midnight and was wrecked. Ended up spending the night in the parking lot. Good times. I have some work to do before Rio Grande.
On Sunday after SAR training we headed up to Red Rocks for Big Head Todd's 40th anniversary show. Saw Bill Murray and Warren Haynes open up. Great time.
For the week:
run - 81 miles, 21.5 hours
hike - 19 miles, nine hours
4:27:30. Gave up quickly and just jogged to get another state. Over 90F during the race and I just wasn't ready to deal with that. Live to fight another day.
Great van trip though. Visited some Rapid City breweries, slept at Crow Peak Brewing in Spearfish, visited the Moonshine Gulch Saloon, and spent a quiet night in Sturgis.
Rough week as I got bogged down with a lot.
run - 35 miles, six hours
hike - 27 miles, ten hours
A lot to catch up on.
The Pittsburgh trip was a blast. Got to see some friends/family and Pearl Jam brought the heat. I sure do miss that town.
Back from the 'burgh, quick week until Katie left to climb Mt. Shasta. I was flying solo and spent my Friday night racing a trail 5K over in Ute Valley Park. Saturday was some SAR dog training. But on Sunday I went up to the new-ish Ford Amphitheater to see the Black Keys.
I was worried that my days of being able to throw down a sub 20 5k were gone, but as Lee Corso would say, not so fast my friend!
On Sunday I went up to Niwot for the Frank Shorter track classic and ran the 5000 meters. First time in my life I was the oldest guy in the field, seven years older than the next guy. I was clearly in over my head and right from the gun I was in last place. Spent five laps in the back but then did end up passing a female and holding her off. Very painful and for a bit I wasn't sure I'd keep up the pace, but happy to have made the trip north. Finished eighth out of nine runners. Hoping to break 20 once I turn 50 in August, and this gives me hope.
Got to meet Edna Kiplagat after my race.
Finished the week with 40 miles (seven hours) of running and 25 miles (ten hours) of hiking. Biking is basically nothing but commuting nowadays, nine miles in just under an hour.
I've always liked Denver Beer Company, specifically their Incredible Pedal IPA. So when word came out about a 50k run that visited all five of their taprooms, I thought it was a great idea.
And it was a great time! Marc made the trip up, and we saw Kircher and PG and even a rare appearance from BFish.
The run went 31+ miles to each DBC taprooms. Pint of beer at each. Plus I took a Colfax detour and was able to hit Velvet Banjo and Cerebral Brewing. Needless to say I suffered pretty heavily the last five or so miles when the temps climbed above 80F. But I made it with lots of time to spare. Great event and I'll be back next year.
For the week:
run - 49 miles, eleven hours
hike - 29 miles, twelve hours
ride - 27 miles, 2.5 hours
Eugene weekend in the books.
Started off terrible enough as our flight there got jacked up due to weather. Was supposed to arrive at 3PM with plenty of time to grab a few beers before seeing the Warren Haynes Band. Ended up arriving at 10PM and unfortunately no show. At least the brewery next to our VRBO was open until midnight.
On Saturday we ran the Duck Dash 5k then headed up to Silver Falls State Park for a hike with some old Austin friends who now live in Portland. Saw some cool waterfalls and grabbed a late lunch at the Silver Falls Brewery in Silverton, OR.
The marathon on Sunday went exactly how I thought it would go. Sub eight minutes miles for the first 19 miles, (3:29 pace), then the legs blew up and I limped to a 3:48 finish. You get the race you trained for. Even with the struggles over the final miles, I managed to at least appreciate the awesomeness of finishing on historic Hayward Field, a highlight of a long running career. State marathon number 30 in the books.
Went from the finish over to the Wild Duck for beers, then Track Town Pizza for pizza and more beers, then toured a bunch of dive bars and breweries. Sunday was a good day.
Visited Pre's Rock on Sunday, then jumped a plane to come home. Flight back to Colorado was much easier than the way out.
Legs are still sore AF as I write this on Tuesday.
For the week:
run - 58 miles, 9.5 hours
hike - 23 miles, nine hours
ride - 18 miles, two hours
For the month of April-
run - 166 miles, 32 hours
hike - 127 miles, 53 hours
ride - 124 miles, 12 hours
And hell, year to date since we're a third of the way through:
run - 743 miles, 141 hours
hike - 501 miles, 210 hours
ride - 372 miles, 35.5 hours
Currently up to 39 run commutes, 19 bike commutes, 37 CityRock trips, and 19 Iron Mountain summits.
