commute #7

7.4 miles, 64 minutes.  Hated to skip the track, but today was the only day I could run to work.  Pueblo (Bingo Burger!) tomorrow and I'm off on Friday.

creekfront property

Just found out the big concrete bayou thing that divides 31st Street has a name.  Camp Creek.  A reporter from KRCC is poking around about the dry waterway.  His e-mail said he is "interested in its history, its lore (car crashes, wildlife, sightings, etc.), and it's future."  In the summer, we use the ditch to get to and from the Red Rock Lounge, including the three block long tunnel that dumps you out into Fountain Creek.  And we did run laps around the north part of the ditch for the CRUD Krispy Kreme Challenge.  But other than that I can't imagine anything exciting has ever happened regarding the creek.

The machete drama is over.  Or is it?

More talk on the high fee of NYC over here.  I feel it's a fair cost, considering they close off the biggest city in the world for you.  But hey, if you want to give it up, like that New York chick who really sticks it to the RD by  doing CIM ($85) instead, be my guest.  FYI, the Marine Corps Marthon, which I hope to do someday, is definitely not the only marathon in the country with an entry fee below 100 bones.

No Name Creek

Took the dog up to No Name Creek.  Pushed hard on the way up, but it still took me an hour.  I need to get into climbing shape, that run killed me.  Didn't help that I dressed like it was 15F, but it was probably mid-40s in Manitou today.  Easy run back down, with some bonus mileage on the Ute Pass trail to get to two hours.

week in review

Sunday - 14.5 miles, three hours.  I heard I passed out on the kitchen floor Saturday night, so the hangover slowed me down a bit.

70.9 miles on the week.  Little lower than I wanted, thanks to mother nature reminding us that the Front Range can still get some winter weather.

This week will be a bit low as well.  $100 is being selfish and forcing me into some non-running activities on Tuesday, and of course Manitou Mardi Gras never helps me on the long runs.

Worked a shift at Trinity last night.  Got to try some stuff from Crooked Stave, and I even got to drink a pint of Buddha Nuvo, which is normally a bit out of my price range at $38 a bottle (less than two pints in a bottle, FYI).  Meh.  I know a lot of brewer types get boners over stuff like that, but I like beers that taste like beer, not wine.  As usual, Urban Dictionary puts it best:

Those individuals who regard any beer that they do not drink as piss. Completely ignorant of climate, context, and social class, beer snobs are contemptuously dismissive of any beer that a mortal cannot walk across like Jesus Christ did across the water. Beer snobs are tedious bores, assuming that any beer which doesn't meet their definition of "adequately pretentious" is drunk out of ignorance. "Here, have this Pacifico." "I don't drink goat piss. Give me a Schteupereiner - warm! With a fork and knife!" "It's 104 degrees out." "So?" "We don't have any Schteupereiner. All we have is this, which our daughter brought home from college. It's some kind of microbrew from Oregon, something called "Neu Dungcastle Pine Chocolate Honey Garlic Walnut Porter." "Does it cost at least $12.00 for a six pack?" "I don't know. It looks like she just bought the bottle for...it looks like $8.00." "Yeah, gimme that. You are philistines, the lot of you! And make sure you give me a room temperature glass! I don't want any condensation on those chilled glasses you keep around watering down my beer!" "Here you go!" "THAT....is a PILSENER GLASS. Are you trying to start shit?" "You sir, are a motherfucking beer snob - a relentless elitist of poor character and abject dicketry. And now, you die. ENGARDE!"

Saturday

Friggin' cold yesterday.  16F.  With some wind.  Two hour run, 12.4 miles on the Santa Fe trail.

They caught the machete guy.

Friday the 13th part XXV, Jason Takes Pleasant Valley

Believe it or not, there are reports of a machete toting psycho loose in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood.

First this.  And then this, with pics that look suspiciously like Muzz.  And then this morning there were reports of a the guy, with a machete, near Amanda's Fonda.  Police searched the area but didn't find him.

Sorry $100, no sex for a while.  Because that's when you get killed!

And, for more shits and giggles at our expense, this crap is also going on.

elite CRUD training

Here we are, tearing it up at the Air Force Academy last week.  I'm actually moving faster than Andy W was during his last lap at Rocky...

Cheyenne Canon

Late start, so I could only go up to the green gate at High Drive.  Hit the gate at 35 minutes, so no record was gonna be set even had I gone up to the top of High Drive.  Six miles, just over one hour.

Switching to Barr Trail for the Thursday morning workout.  The Canon workouts just don't quite fit.  To make it work, I need to get up at 4:30AM, and that just isn't going to happen.  Besides, the dog has been asking for more miles, and she'll be able to tag along on Barr Trail.

Started reading The Long Walk last night.  Pretty solid book so far, and I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more notice among the ultrarunning crowd.  There is actually some debate over whether or not the story is true.  The Lance lovers are saying, "Rawicz has done more for Siberian gulag victim awareness than anyone else, so he should get a free pass to lie" while everyone else is just enjoying a good book.

Commute #6

AM - Easy 6.4 miles to work, one hour.  Very productive, I returned a library book, dropped a netflix movie at the post office, and paid the interweb bill while on the run.

PM - 7.0 miles home, 68 minutes.  Stays light enough now that I can get a lap around Prospect Lake before heading home.  At least if I'm attacked I'll be able to get a description of the perp.

Beer saves a big run.  Mmmmm, beer.

Think I got all of the four people who read this blog on the new reader thing.  Let me know if I'm missing anyone.  I do most of my blog reading on google now (it gets through the filter at work), so that's the reason my smart ass comments have been lacking the past few months.

HAIL TO PITT!

Two more Pitt grads admitted to the NFL Hall of Fame, Curtis Martin and Chris Doleman.  Check out this stat:

Hall of Famers by School:

Southern Cal   11
Notre Dame    10
Pitt                   8
Michigan          8
Ohio  State       8
Alabama           7

Rock Encore!

Didn't even race today and I still racked up the awards!

Super Half pics

Couple 'o pics from yesterday.  Ended up outkicking the dude in the bright coat over the final quarter mile.

Super Half

1:28:17.  Blech.  I'm never too upset with a sub 90, but disappointed in how I raced today.  Was on pace for a PR at mile five, 32:30, and in 5th place there.  But mentally I pussed out between mile five and mile eleven.  Was running a lot closer to seven minute miles than six thirty miles.  Was passed at mile eleven to fall back to 10th place, but finally the sand all fell out of my vag and I rallied back to 9th.

I think I'm pretty close to a big half marathon PR though.  A few more races and I'll be there.  Hoping to PR twice in April, at Platte River and then the next week at the Free State 100K.

80 miles on the week, with one rest day.  Was going to get more at the Barr Trail run on Sunday night, but since it was already a big mileage week I got drunk instead.  To show how much I care about football when the Steelers aren't in it, I watched Shameless instead of the Super Bowl.

This morning was an easy three miles with $100 and the dog in Red Rock Canyon.

Big kudos to the Rocky folks, CO did pretty well out there.  Think Andy W is still on his last lap though...

Alberto Contador, guilty.  He should start hashing, "Tainted Beef" would make a great hash name.  Loser.

Falcon Trail

Awesome 17 miler with CRUD this morning.  Love the Air Force Academy Falcon Trail, even when it's covered with snow.  3.5 hours.

top 20...

...thousand!

My PR 2:53:10 was the 19,083rd fastest men's marathon of 2011.  No wonder I get free shoes now.  Ultrarunning superstar Nick's 2:36:11 at the same race didn't even get him in the top five grand, he was good for 5287th place.

Seriously, there's a list.  See it here.  Every marathon below 3:30:00.  Ryan Hall is #7.

Thanks to Wiley (unranked) for the tip.

new kicks

Best shoes ever (i.e., they were free). We'll see how that weird tread fares against a snowy/icy incline tonight...

Canon

Little slow this week.  Andy wasn't there to pull me along (he was in bed) and it was pitch black outside (forgot a flashlignt).  And my vagina hurt.  45:50 to the top, 1:26 for the 8.2 mile out-and-back.

Supposed to snow somethin' fierce while I'm on the Incline tonight.  Good times!

Stole this off facebook.

local shit

Easy 5.3 miles home from work.  Finally recovered from the Monday long run.

Couple 'o e-mails concerning the recent crime wave near Red Rock Lounge.  Some of the quotes:

"Just left Safeway and noticed that they have officers on HORSES over there today.  Another thing that I thought of when I was in the bathroom at Safeway was the attempted rape in THAT bathroom a few weeks ago."

"I was just at the Safeway in Red Rocks.  As I left, two horse mounted Sheriff's deputies were visiting with people who appeared to be loitering there.  We can be grateful for their presence."

So I guess I'll have to watch out for horse shit when stumbling to/from the Lounge.  We even got an official reply from COS Police:

"We are currently working on issues around Red Rocks Shopping Center.  The Homeless Outreach Team has been in the area a good deal, and the Motorcycle Unit will be sending Officers to work in the area.  In reference to panhandling, if the person is on the sidewalk, they are not violating any laws and we cannot do anything about them being there.  Case law has dictated that panhandling is protected as Freedom of Speech."

Again, this is a pretty safe neighborhood.  My guess, knowing the folks around here, is that they are more worried about having, gasp, homeless people in the vicinity, then they are worried about crime.  The baseball bat thing was the first violent crime in the area since I've been here.

And this is the first I've heard about the Safeway rape, and I couldn't dig up anything about it on the Gazette.  Was probably just O'Day hitting on some fat chick...

January

Easy Incline last night, ended the month with 305.5 miles.  Just over 59 hours of running.  Four rest days, one per week.  Nice, solid month to ease back into things.

Hoping for a similar effort for February.  Will shoot for another 300 miles, then start the big Hardrock buildup.

Started the month off with commute #5.  Five miles in 44:06, not too shabby coming off a blazing 10:02 first mile.