2:58:02!

Me & Snoop

quote of the day

"I knew a few guys who couldn't break 3:00 in the marathon and I just couldn't even imagine how anyone could possibly be that slow."

-Amby Burfoot

Tough competition today, as there is a great Kenyan letsrun thread which includes gems like this:

"I am 5-7, weigh 97 pounds and only run 2:09 for a marathon. Am I fat? Should I drop five more pounds, or throw in the towel, bulk up and try for the completion of five unassisted push-ups?"

Mon

AM - easy dog jog. 4.5 miles, 45 minutes.

PM - nine miles on the Garden roads, 1:20. Pitch dark by 7PM nowadays.

bling

That's me with my fancy 3rd place overall medal. Nick and PG had made the third place finish quite popular, but with GZ's second place performance I may have to step up my game.

Think that's the 1000th pic I ripped from Pikes Peak Sports this year.

recycling

Put out the recycling bins this morning. One was overflowing with beer bottles and cans (not ususual). The other was packed solid with Krispy Kreme donut boxes. Not sure what the garbage guys think of us.

Twisted Pine - Boulder

17:20!

Just dropped a 17:20 at the Peace Officer Memorial 5K!

Think the course was about 150 meters short. Still, I think it's a legit 17:45.

More pleased with the actual race I ran. The guys who finished 4th and 5th regularly kick my ass at the local short stuff. But at the 1.5 mile turnaround I was close to them, and I threw in a surge that broke them both. Almost cost me my race by going so early, as I really struggled to hold it together between mile 2 and 2.75ish. But somehow I held on.

Capitol Reef

Bryce

Flying Monkey

Wiley and I, the night before the Zion Traverse. I highly suggest that any Zion trip have the base camp at Springdale, so you can go to the Flying Monkey. Much better than going to Cedar City and having to decide between Chili's and Applebee's as your social outlet.

Here's a shot of the Monkey parking lot. Not sure why all this is underlined.

Das Boot!

Before:

After:

Canya Canon

Rego for the Canya Canon 6K is over here. For $25 you get a great run, t-shirt, and all the Bristol beer you can drink.

2012

Here's what I'm looking at in 2012:

March 17 - Salida Marathon

April 21 - Free State 100K

May 5 - Collegiate Peaks

May 19 - Jemez Mountain

June 23 - San Juan Solstice

July 14 - Hardrock (fingers crossed!)

Aug 18 - Pikes Peak Ascent

Sept - Run Rabbit Run

Oct - Moab 100

Subject to change, as I still need to wedge another trip to the Grand Canyon in there. Thinking of hitting Havasupai Falls and the Under The Rim Trail at Bryce in the same trip...

Little less travel, and only one state (Kansas) off the list. Will use the time to (hopefully, and yes I know I said the same thing for this year) finally finish off all the Colorado 14ers.

Not even close to being finished with 2011 though. Wisconsin Dells coming up in two weeks, and then Vegas, baby!

Thurs

5:15AM start for the Cheyenne Canyon run. Legs are still heavy from Zion, so I was a bit surprised that I went sub 48 for the climb, despite the easy effort. I really think I'll be able to take down Mr. Elite at the upcoming hill climb*.

Think we have eight brave souls in for the Krispy Kreme Challenge this Saturday.

Congrats to King's Chef for kicking ass in the "Best Of" edition of the CS Indy. Four gold medals! Best Bang-for-Your-Buck Restaurant, Best Diner, Best Green Chili, and Best Late-Nite Dining. I think they should have been Best Burger as well, though not too many folks go there for the burger.

Hope to get a Zion report posted on Friday...

*PG has said he will be pushing a baby stroller during the race.

Colorado College/Wisconsin

Since it's been a big Wisconsin year for me, we're thinking of getting a group together for the Colorado College/Wisconsin hockey game down here. Games are November 18th and 19th. I don't know much about hockey, but this sounds like a great excuse to drink some brews. I know there are a few Wisco fans who read this, if you're interested in joining us at the game let me know.

Wed PM

Seven miles from work to Manitou, then an extra 3.5 miles in the Garden with $100 and the dog at the PPRR Full Moon Run. Beautiful night.

happy birthday!

We got the dog one year ago today!

2010 Rocky Mountain Slam

Finally posted a finisher pic on the website.

Only one guy finished the Rocky Mountain Slam in 2011.

run to work

Easy 5.1 miles to work, 47:44. Included a few minutes talking with the folks at the Occupy Colorado Springs protest down at Acacia Park. They were supposed to be arrested last night for violating the city camping ordinance, but the fuzz never showed. I don't know what the hell is up with the whole Occupy Wall Street thing, and most of the Springs protesters don't either, but they're friendly enough. Tough situation for the Springs cops, so I fully expect them to fuck it up in as bad a way as possible.

Can someone explain Occupy Wall Street in 100 words or less? I haven't been watching much news lately.

Zion Traverse

Knocked off the Zion Traverse in 13:17. I'll work on posting some more stuff over the next few days, until then you can check out Wiley's blog.

Awesome road trip:

1800+ miles

3 National Parks (Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches)

2 breweries (Palisade Brewing, Glenwood Canyon Brewing)

1 distillery (Peach Street)

Zion!

Cheyenne Canon

Rick H and I were at the parking lot at 5:15AM. No snow yet, so we continue to do the Canya Canon 6K hill climb. Soon enough we'll be sticking to the paved road up to the top of High Drive.

I forgot my watch and Rick was still being lazy after his 50 miler, so I'm sure no records were set. Parts of this are so steep that I was running and Rick was catching me while walking.

Last run before Zion!

run to work

AM - Left the house late, so had to go straight to the office. 4.7 miles, 39:51.

PM - Long way home. Damn, it sure is getting dark early. 12.2 miles, 2:09. Listened to Living Colour Live at CBGB's. Almost forgot how awesome that band was.

Goucher coming to Colorado!

Kara Goucher is moving to Colorado Springs! Woot woot! Kara, if you're reading this, there's an extra room in the house. Only sleeps one though, Adam and Colt will have to live with someone else.

Gonna be a great weekend!

track

AM - The morning mile workout has been more trouble than it's worth since I moved to a 7:30AM start at work. Decided to try running some quarters before heading to the office. 10 x 400m, 200m RBI. Pretty solid day:

84, 82, 81, 82, 81, 80, 79, 79, 79, 76.

The first couple were spent weaving in and out of all the crossfit folks on the track, so these times could have been even faster.

PM - was hoping to find a nice, fast track at Coronado High. But it's just as crappy as the middle school across the street. Two mile warm up, 2 x 1600m (5:47, 5:45), 1.6 mile cool down. Decent workout after a long day at work.

Devil Mountain 50

Everyone continues to whine about top Europeans, but I don't think they could hang with South CRUD. Exhibit A.

This guy says they're currently accepting applications for the South CRUD AAA squad, also known as the Pearl Izumi ultrarunning team.

Tim lied, he didn't delete the pic...

PPRR Fall Series I

Ran great for the first 1.5 miles. Solid start over the first half mile, then I ever-so-slowly started creeping up on Gerald. Hit the water probably in 10th place, only a few seconds behind Gerald. Was another upset on the way?

Nope. Walked most of the creek, which was about 3/4 of a mile. Thought my old Saucony Kilkenny would do the trick, but they got no traction at all. I bet 20 people passed me in the creek. To make things worse, I had to stop at the end of the creek to empty the rocks from my shoes. Ugh. Thanks to Pikes Peak Sports (who took the pic below) for deleting the pic they had of me falling completely underwater. Stupid creeks.

Passed a few guys over the final mile to finish in 28:39 (3.6ish miles?), 24th overall. I also crushed this ten year old chick:

Still in decent shape after the low month. Running a local 5K on October 15th, and I'll be looking to get that Boulder Bolder A wave qual out of the way early.

Justin R, the Pride of Pueblo, ran away with the win despite being almost as clueless in the river as I was. Good luck to him as he tries to go sub 2:19 in Chicago.

75

Ended September with 75 Green Monsters. Looks like I'm back on track to get my goal of 100 in 2011.

mmmm...

Barr Camp

Took advantage of the awesome weather to head up to Barr Camp. Pike National Forest is starting to change color, so if you live in this area you might wanna head up Barr to check it out. 14.3 miles in three hours. Barr Camp in 1:45, not much slower than when I ran the Ascent.

Neil doesn't know where his 1000 mile Leadville buckle is. He thinks it's either hidden away in all the crap up at Barr Camp or somewhere down in his storage shed. He didn't seem to care too much. Pretty funny considering all the buckle mania this summer down here in civilization.

September

Pretty much an off month. 185.4 miles, most of those in the first two weeks of the month. Only ran six days between the 15th and the 30th. The down time is nice, but I think it's time to get back at it.

cross-country!

I'll be headed back to the Twin Peaks Rotary XC Challenge again this year. Had a blast there last time. Cheap ($18), lots of fun, and a great workout. Hopefully some of my rivals man up and toe the line this year...

Only 109 entrants on the Hardrock list so far. Everybody gets in!!!

Big East Showdown

Be sure to watch ESPN tonight to check out the heavyweight Big East match, Pitt vs South Florida.

My prediction:

Pitt - 67

USF - 3

High octane football, damnit!

run to work

Starting the detox from all the beer and cheese.

AM - Easy 6.6 to the office, 56:36.

PM - Back home the long way, 12.2 miles, 2:01.

Thinking of running Pikes on Saturday if anyone wants to join me. Will be slow.

Pirates win!

just another Sunday night in Madison...

CPT Frederick Pabst

public transportation

Paradise Lounge

Old Fashioned

quote of the day

From the wall at Ale Asylum:

"Beer makes you feel the way you ought to feel without beer"

Ale Asylum

Thurs

Easy PM run on the Garden roads. 4.1 miles, 36 minutes. Not sure where that blazing speed came from, I was running at my usual 10 mpm effort.

Time to pack for Wisconsin. My next PBR (not counting the few I drink tonight) will be chugged in the badger state...

Zion

Starting to get excited about the Zion run. Haven't done much in a long time, save for the 4 pass/4 beers FKT run (can't believe Tony didn't mention that in his post), so it could be interesting.

Wiley did a nice piece on the run over here.

mmmm...donuts...

Looks like this year's CRUD eating contest will be the Krispy Kreme Challenge. 2 mile run, one dozen donuts, 2 mile run. Details TBA shortly...

Garden/track

AM - Back at it. Garden roads. 8.5 miles, 1:18.

PM - Holmes middle school track. 1.5 mile warm up, 8 x 400m with 200m RBI. 1.5 mile cool down. Short break halfway to chat with Andy. First lap in 84, then hit the next six in 79/80, then busted out a 77 on the bell lap. Body probably took that week off as a taper, and this will be the final decent athletic performance for the year.

Telluride weekend

Another T-Ride weekend in the books. Incredible time. Even with the shitty weather.

No running, or even anything resembling healthy behavior, since Wednesday morning. Still going to head out to Wisconsin Dells, but any thoughts of a PR or even a sub three are gone. Maybe I can get there before Vegas. But it's starting to look like I won't get any motivation back until the Hardrock lottery.

Lots of blogs to catch up on. Looks like I missed quite the weekend on the ultrarunning blogosphere. But I am beating GZ in AJW's poll. I'm also beating AJW, Karl Meltzer, Fast Eddy, and Geoff Roes. Gotta love the interweb.

Other sports news I missed this weekend: Pitt is headed to the ACC. I'm more of a college hoops fan than a football guy, so the thought of playing Duke and Carolina every year kicks ass!

No rest for the weary. Friday I'm off to Madison, Wisconsin. Gonna try to get some good running in out there, as they do have a pretty sweet running community. But I'm guessing that my first trip to Wisconsin will be spent drinking a crapton of cheap, yellow beer. Monday we're going to Milwaukee to tour the Pabst facilities and catch the Brewers/Pirates game!

Flaming Lips

Fitz!

why I need to get in better shape...

Quote from an article in the latest Outside magazine:

"On dry land, it moves inland at a speed of 11 miles an hour. To outpace the tsunami, you'd have to run at least a 5:30 mile."

My current Colorado PR? 5:31.

Not that I'm worried about a tsunami hitting the Pikes Peak region. And not that I don't think I could rise to the occassion in that circumstance. But I'd rather not chance it.

Tuesday

Still sore from Aspen, so I skipped the track for an easy 45 minutes with the dog. 4.7 miles.

Four Pass Loop

Ryan and I ran the Four Pass Loop around the Maroon Bells yesterday. We are claiming a new FKT for that loop while drinking a PBR on top of each pass. 8:58:43. Awesome run, and I'm finally feeling somewhat confident that next month's Zion adventure won't be a total debacle.

daily haiku

Homeless people suck

I'll never support those jerks

Even for free beer

Not my best work, but I only had about 30 seconds to come up with it. I work with lots of homeless peeps and not all of them suck. And there's nothing I won't support if it involves free beer.

Incline last night, with $100 and the dog. Damn dark when we got up to the top, so it was slow going back down the Barr Trail.

Aspen Four Pass loop is on for Sunday. Maroon Lake TH at 6:30am if you wanna join Ryan K and I. Bring four beers.

Cheyenne Canyon

Nice hill workout with Rick H this morning. Ran the 6k Canya Canon route, 51:20 to the top. Total of 6.7 miles in 1:13. Getting pretty chilly in the morning around here, though I can finally see Pikes Peak and it's surprisingly still snow free.

No-go on the Mt. Mitchell lottery. Disappointed, but it does put an extra $110 in my pocket to blow in Telluride next weekend. Any ideas for some early 2012 trail races to keep me motivated this winter? Or maybe I'll just shoot for a fast marathon again...

run to work

AM - Easy run to work. 5.2 miles, 47:10. Been pretty good about a non-vehicle commute once a week for a while now.

PM - Great run home. Santa Fe, Bear Creek Park, Section 16, Intemann, Red Rock Canyon. 12.3 miles, two hours.

The Gazette deal of the day is for a $1 large pizza from Louie's. Check it out here. Real good pizza, and the Tejon location means I can stumble over to Tony's for dessert.

Tues

Finally had a decent day at the track. One mile warm up, 3 x 1600m with 400m RBI, one mile cool down. 5:55, 5:45, 5:37.

Got a $65 check from the San Francisco Marathon today. Guess it was to cover my appearance fee. Hope it doesn't mess up my amateur status for the London games.

yell fire!

You can see the building I used to work at when I lived in Austin. The fire is burning Bastrop State Park, a great place where I've covered many, many miles. Hope they get it under control soon.

monday

AM - Three miles easy with the dog on the Garden trails. 30 minutes.

PM - 7.5 miles on the Garden trails. 1:19.

CRUD party is October 15th. All are welcome. Not sure what time we'll start the festivities, but it'll be late enough that any of yunz northerners can come down and get in a good run beforehand.

Rumor has it the Canya Canon 6K is on November 6th. Come get in a great workout and then watch Rick H try to go pint for pint with me.

Aspen four pass loop

Thinking of camping at the trailhead Sat night and running the thing on Sunday. Anyone wanna join me?

This guy did it, so how hard can it be?

run

Two decent runs this weekend.

Saturday I met up with Josh J at the CC track and we hit a nice out-and-back north on the Santa Fe trail. Ended with the Nielson two mile challenge. 17 miles total, 2:24. The wind kicked my ass on the way out and I struggled all day, managing only to put out a 14:30 for the final two miler. Was I just feeling off, or was I setting myself up to win next month's Nielson since my handicap will be rock solid?

Easy two hours this morning. Red Rock Canyon, Intemann, over to the Manitou Mesa. 11ish miles, two hours. Someday the Intemann will be completed all the way to the Mesa, and the crappy Crystal Park road section will be cut completely from the Ponderous Posterior fat ass.

fat ass

Tentative, subject to change, absolutely set in stone dates for the front range fat ass series:

December 10th - El Chubbo Grande

January 14th - Ponderous Posterior

Thinking of running the Posterior backwards this year and including the Incline as part of the course. Any thoughts on that?

My finishing kick takes no prisoners!

if it ain't one thing it's another...

Still failing miserably at trying to get back on a routine. Wednesday is my normal run to work day. Got up early enough. Took the dog out for a walk before the run. Then right behind out house, about 30 seconds before the walk ended, the dog took off after a skunk. So I spent the time I would have used to run to work showering the dog instead.

At least I got in green monster #61.

60

Just finished green monster #60 on the year. Still on pace to hit 100 in 2012.

Nice shot of Upadowna and the Runcolo team from the Mango's throwdown at the finish of stage four.

2012?

Already starting to think about 2012 and what it's gonna hold. On Thursday I'll be entering the lottery for the Mount Mitchell Challenge. If I get in it'll provide plenty of motivation for the shitty winter running months. Besides the race, I'd be able to knock out four state highpoints on that trip.

Then I'll be returning to the usual awesome weekends - Salida, Jemez, San Juan, and the Grand Canyon. Think we're gonna do a different take on the Canyon this year, over on the Havasupai Falls side.

Will be looking to run two hundreds as well. Hardrock and Moab.

track FAIL!

Ugh. Horrible workout. 10 minute warm up, 2 x 1 mile with 400m RBI, 10 minute cool down. 5:53, 6:05. Thought it would be a great workout after the first mile. Then Darrold came to watch, so mile #2 was all done in lane six. I'd like to think I bailed to avoid any problems with the caretaker, but in reality I just pussed out today. Gor blimey, I'm a long way off from challenging that marathon PR.

hash article

Good article over here on hashing in San Francisco. Hung out with those guys during my last visit, great bunch of peeps!

Mon

AM - Three miles with the dog, 30 minutes. She didn't feel like running and that always makes for a very slow morning.

Pretty heartbroken over Bolt's false start. First time I've ever seen the guy fail.

Looks like the Springs Fat Ass will be on January 14, 2012.

This pic has been making the rounds. Maybe by posting it Nick will swear never to talk to me again, and I can get out of buying him that beer I owe him from the NOLA/Salida bet. Still waiting for the letsrun post of "those guys all suck and if Sammy Wanjiru were alive he'd run UTMB in four hours."

the crime wave continues...

Just got this in an e-mail:

"Letting everyone know that my car was vandalized last night (Saturday, the 27th). There was what looked like a can of tomato sauce poured over the back window and sugar poured into the gas tank. We're at Pike and Water. Very discouraging..."

Gangsta rappers are gonna start writing songs about life in the 'hood of Pleasant Valley!

Off to an end-of-season runners party. Hopefully there isn't a drive by shooting...

life in Pleasant Valley

Ass early this morning the dog started going nuts. Usually means there's a bear outside. So of course I got up to go check it out. Out to the back yard and nothing. But something is going on, as all of the dogs were barking.

On my way to bed I noticed some cars out front across the street. Very unusual for this time of night. I look closer, and there are three cop cars out there, as well as an SUV in the yard of the house directly across from mine. Read the police blotter here.

I'm pretty sure the dogs were barking at the perp in question as he fled. Given the layout of the area, the dude ran down around Sean's house, then up the alley past this house.

I'm not worried about the shotgun toting lunatic, but I'm fairly upset that there was a party in the neighborhood and I wasn't invited!

pacing Footfeathers

FootFeathers's report can be seen here. And lots of stuff from the crew can be seen here.

Little more enjoyable this time around. FF was having a slightly better day at Leadville than at Hardrock. I picked him up at Twin Lakes inbound and handed him off to Lucho at Mayqueen, about a marathon worth of running. We were pretty steady the entire way. Tim had gone through a rough stretch coming back over Hope Pass and was well behind his goal of a sub 20 when I picked him up. Tried to get him back on track, but he was just in too big a hole. Still, during the 26 miles we ran together, he did make up some of that time. And he really killed it during one of the most boring stretches of the course, from Treeline to Fish Hatchery. Really solid climb up Powerline too, holding off what we then believed to be a hard charging Dan V. And on the final few miles on the Colorado Trail leading to Mayqueen, I had to run my ass off to avoid being dropped.

Got to Mayqueen and Lucho handed me a pounder of PBR and I collapsed into a chair, fully spent. Really glad that he jumped in so I didn't have to take Tim to Tabor Boat Ramp, not sure I could have kept up. Though it would have been fun to see Brooks curled up in the fetal position, throwing up all over himself.

FF finished in 20:59. It's an incredible time, even more unbelievable when you see it was his fourth hundred miler in two months.

Got to spend a little time at the finish line, lucky enough to see Brendan, PG, and Brooks finish. Still catching up on all the stories, lots of heroics and heartbreak out there. Big kudos to all who got after it!

Pikes Peak Ascent

Not what I wanted. Was on 2:59 pace to the top of the W's, but for some reason I was spent already. Weird, since I've been running that pace during workouts for the past few weeks. I started hiking, and probably walked 85% of the trail between the W's and mile eleven. Ran almost all of the final two miles, due to the fact that I caught a pack of Josh J, Mike Safari, and Amanda. Poor race but passing those three shit talkers and crushing them up the rest of the mountain took some of the sting away. Like my hero and mentor Keith says, "It's not always about how good you do, but how shitty your friends do."

3:21:xx. Will be back next year to go sub three, hopefully twice in the same weekend.

Sunrise Striders have a new website over here.

alive

Still here. Yeti and I finished TransRockies. Great time. Felt more like a hash weekend with a few epic ballbuster trails than an actual race. Will do an in-depth report soon. Incredible week, with the Ascent, pacing Footfeathers, and TR. Met a ton of great people along the way.

Still need to catch up on all the Leadville and Pikes Peak results. For those who didn't hear, I crushed Amanda at the Ascent.

Ended the stage yesterday in Vail, grabbed some brew, then watched the big cycling race up Vail Pass. Awesome, awesome day!

Pikes!

I guess I've made it big time - they're selling Pikes Peak Ascent floppy hats now...

smack

Good thread on the letsrun boards over here. Much more interesting than trying to figure out what fast guys are running the Ascent on Saturday.

track

1.5 mile warm up, 6 x 800m with 400m RBI, 1.5 mile cool down. 2:58, 54, 53, 48, 44, 44. Ran into one of the lane closure fences and took a nice chunk out of my elbow. That's how we roll down here at South CRUD - two days before the biggest race weekend of the year and we're still leaving blood on the track!

upcoming

Really just started planning for the next weekend. Should be pretty fun:

Sat 7AM: Pikes Peak Ascent

Sat noon: head for Leadville, with Eddyline Brewing serving as aid station

Sat 2:30PM: arrive Twin Lakes to pace Footfeathers

Sat early enough to drink at the Pb bars: watch FF finish

Sun 3:41AM: watch Brandon finish

Sun 7AM: arrive in Buena Vista to start TransRockies

About 170 miles in one week!

run to work

Easy run to work. 5.7 miles, 54:18. Very productive run - dropped some clothes in the donation bin, returned a library book, and picked up breakfast along the way.

5.7 miles home, 53 minutes.

68:22

Forget all that stuff about my running being in a funk. Just PR'd on my Garden loop by over a minute. 7.5 miles on muddy trails.

Got my tix to Madison today. My first trip to Wisconsin. Gonna catch the Pirates/Brewers, and maybe find some cheap yellow beer to drink.

Snow on Pikes Peak tonight!

still here...

The lack of a big race has definitely messed with my running. The last five weeks have seen mileage of 38, 47, 48, 50, and 54. Ugh. Still have a shot at a Pikes PR since that's a fairly soft time for me.

Also looking at a 120 mile week at TransRockies to jump start things. But Yeti has been using crossfit to train, so I have a feeling I'll be longing for the day FootFeathers and I averaged a speedy 1.5 mph in the mountains.

Starting to look into some big things for next year, which hopefully end with another shot at Hardrock...

Barr Trail

Thurs PM - 45 minutes up Barr Trail. Wanted to make it to the 7.8 sign but lightning chased me back down. 37 flat to the top of the W's, slightly over three hour Ascent pace. Felt pretty easy. Then hit Kinfolk's, the Royal Tavern, and Red Rock Lounge. Bit hungover today.

Be sure to vote over here.

John Butler Trio at Red Rocks Tonight!

no more texting

I believe my phone will receive text messages, but will not send them. That's what you get for $35 a month nowadays. Going to try to hold out until t-mobile gets the iPhone...

Final Incline Club Thursday workout of the year, a time check to either Ruxton or Hydro. Big anniversary, as three years ago I actually beat Matt at this workout. Yes, if I'm all out 120% and he's cruising around 40%, and the distance is under a mile long, and it's not too hilly, I can take down the King.

healthy habits of runners

Think I smoked an entire pack during the San Fran trip. The high cost of cigarettes doesn't hurt so much when you bum 100% of your smokes off BLOS.

The bottom pic is us in the old smoking yard at Alcatraz. When The Rock was open, inmates would get two packs of cigarettes a week regardless of whether they smoked or not.

miles

Tues PM - 1.5 mile warm up, 10 x 400m, 1.5 mile cool down. Sore from the morning, so I took it easy. First quarter in 91, the rest in 88-89. Easy effort, figured it was better to do this than just go slog out an hour at ten minute miles. Beats what my neighbor was doing - sitting on the porch pretending to not be gay.

Wed AM - Didn't have to get to work until late, so I ran the half marathon route from my house. Hike and bike to downtown, north on Santa Fe to Sinton, than back through the Garden. 13.1 miles, 1:52.

Pirates winning streak is over.

bear

Heard a ruckus around 3AM this morning in the backyard. The dog started going apeshit. Went outside ready to kick some ass and found a bear going through the neighbor's garbage. I spared him the ass whooping since I'm such a nice guy.

10 minute warm up, 3 x 1 mile, 400m RBI. Need to get up earlier so I can get the usual four repeats in. 5:51, 5:48, 5:58. Fell apart after the second one, not sure I could have gone sub six for one more.

Pirates are on a one game winning streak!

Monday

6.2 miles in an hour this morning. Nice, easy stuff around Old Colorado City. The body is feeling good after so much rest, hopefully my liver can catch up sometime this week.

2.5 months until the Wisconsin Dells marathon. Really going to try to bear down and work hard to run fast there. Quit laughing. Serious training starts tomorrow morning with some mile repeats at the Manitou track.

College football starts today! My prediction: Pitt is going to average 50+ points a game and win the national championship. High octane, baby!

catching up...

Lots to catch up on. Six national parks in the past week. Another marathon, another state highpoint, another hash. Multiple breweries (very disappointed I didn't run into Ryan or Meb when we were at Mammoth Brewing) and dive bars. Awesome goofing off in San Fran, including a bench clearing brawl at the Phillies/Giants game.

It was my 22nd marathon. My 12th state. See the race photos here. Not really impressive considering I ran into a guy at the In-N-Out Burger who had completed the 50 states and said San Fran was his 151st marathon. Damn, I'm not even the top dawg at a fast food restaurant.

Badwater and the JMT are on my to-do list now.

More later, $100 is yelling at me to unpack.

highs and lows...

marathon

First mile in seven flat. Second mile at 14 minutes. Third mile in 25 minutes. Ouch. Wasted four minutes in the crapper there and after that I didn't go after a great time. Still had a lot of fun touring San Francisco on an awesome (and difficult) course. Drank two beers and quite a bit of whiskey during the second half. Stepped on Barry Bonds's head in the final mile just behind Candlestick Park. I hate Barry, but even if I tried my stride isn't long enough to get around that enormous steroid exploded noggin. 3:20:59 officially. Without the crapping and drinking I'm close to 3:09 with a minimal effort. Lots of work to do before Wisconsin Dells...

And yes, that is a tie-dyed Haight-Ashbury finisher medal!