Pikes

Another good weekend on the mountain.  Sunday was my 28th finish between the two races.

The Ascent on Saturday went really well.  I was solid and consistent the entire climb.  Got to the summit in 3:41:33.  228th overall and 9th in the 50-54 age group.  Pretty happy with this race.

I'm a bit too old now for the days of not feeling the Ascent on Marathon day.  Not nearly as good a day on Sunday but I kept moving forward and got the job done.  4:02 to the summit, which was a lot slower than I wanted but was what I had on the day.  Then an uninspiring downhill to finish in 6:34:08.  180th overall and sixth in my age group.

Great to see so many friends out there challenging themselves.  Always a great weekend here in our little running community.

summits on the air

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.

Something different on the summit, I hauled a small ham radio to the top and was able to activate the peak, meaning I made at least four contacts.  My first successful Summits On The Air exercise.  I had tried this once before on Pennsylvania Mountain but failed miserably.  Having a city of 500,000 within line of sight made things a bit easier.

Another uninspiring week, though I did get an incline and a Pikes summit in.

run - 23 miles, 4.5 hours

hike - 40 miles, 19.5 hours

bike - 36 miles, 3.5 hours

Not expecting much for Pikes, which I deserve for the lack of training since Rio Grande.  Sub four for the Ascent, maybe 6:40 for the 'thon.  Excited to get out there though.

getting fat

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!

21:03

Recovering well from Rio Grande.  Jumped into a local 5k on Sunday and gave it a shot.  Physically and mentally I just didn't have it.  And my middle mile (I split 6:32, 7:06, 6:52) was hot garbage.  Also not the fastest course, the first mile is mostly on grass, the rest of the race is on the sidewalks of the balloon festival and you have to weave in and out of thousands of people.  Work to do but I think I still have a sub 20 in these old legs.

For the week:

run - 26 miles, five hours

hike - 19 miles, nine hours

For August:

run - 260 miles, 70.5 miles

hike - 106 miles, 46 hours