Michael Franti and Spearhead

Holy fucking crap, that was one helluva Spearhead show last night!

HPb 2 - Incline Club #1

First run of the Incline Club season!  After plowing up Rampart Range yesterday and not getting to bed 'till well past 3AM last night I was just happy to show up.  Had an uninspiring effort around the Garden 10 mile course.  My fitness is definitely lagging well behind my motivation for the Hardrock/Leadville adventure, hopefully that'll change soon.

Start time - 8AM

Distance - 10 miles

Time - 1:32:55

Pace - 9:18 per mile

Weather - wet and slippery, start temp of 27

Weight - 175 pounds

HPb 1 - Rampart Range Road/Quarry Trail

Met up with Rick and Harsha at Memorial Park for the weekly CRUD run.  Checked weather.com right before I left and they reported the temp as "19F, feels like 9F".  But it turned out to be a good run.  Never takes long to warm up going up to Balanced Rock and then Rampart Range.  Rick said he knew a cool trail to take instead of the usual Williams Canyon.  Of course, whenever Rick says this it usually involves jumping a fence with multiple "No Trespassing" signs, and this was no different.  Awesome trail though, lots of snow covered singletrack and a traverse around an old rock quarry.

Start time - 7AM

Distance - 9.0 miles

Time - 1:50:13

Pace - 12:15 per mile

Weather - chilly, 19F; fresh snow

Weight - 175 pounds

HAIL TO PITT!

Incline happy hour!

Good times for the turkey day edition of the Incline happy hour!  My first time ever puking on the Incline, the first snow angel of the season, and lots of turkey, mac & cheese, gin & tonic, and jager at the Royal Tavern!  We also FINALLY nailed the synchronized drinking photo, only took us seven weeks of practice...

the jack trades

The Jack Trades at Trinity, photo courtesy of Randi.

good luck turkey trotters!

Lots of friends out there doing their annual tradition of running the local Turkey Trot. I started running every turkey day at the Run for the Diamonds, the nation's second oldest race behind the Boston marathon, way back around 1991. It was one of the only things that could get me to travel back to visit the family when I was at Pitt. I've also done turkey trots in Philadelphia and Austin. I've never actually run the Briargate YMCA Turkey Trot 5K here in Colorado, though I have volunteered there at both Thanksgiving days I've been here (counting tomorrow - where I'll be helping run the finish line).

Some of you are trying for PR's and some of you only run one day each year, but good luck to everyone. Tried to google a good pic of a turkey running, but I couldn't find any decent ones. So instead, here's a pic of Jessica Alba:

as much as I hate kids...

...welcome to the world Devin Quin Pelton-Moore, born at 12:30PM Austin time. Now Twin Peaks has no lame excuse not to come out drinking when I visit in February!

woohooo!

Every Wednesday KRCC has "All Sounds Considered," a recorded live show they play over the airwaves.

For the next 90 minutes or so, I'll be listening to The Black Keys live from the 930 Club in DC!

Woohooo!

hell yeah!

I now stand corrected for saying that Colorado Springs has no good bands.

The Jack Trades friggin' rock!

Reminded me a lot of the Black Keys, but a little dirtier.

Unfortunately they'll never be a big draw in CSCO, since bands there are judged on whether or not they're an 80s cover band. But that's fine with me, gives 'em more open dates to come to Manitou (and they have future gigs at Kinfolk's!).

more good news for Pitt fans!

Besides having a bye week coming up (WVU), Shady McCoy, the best running back in the country, said today he will not be leaving for the NFL draft after this season! Heisman trophy next year, baby!

here we go again...

The last four weeks have seen me average almost 50 miles per, though very few of those miles are anything to brag about (only the CRUD hill climbs, the Incline, and Rim Rock were worth mentioning). It's been rough holding back, especially due to some of my friends still hard at it with races.

But, that all changes this weekend!

Saturday is the CRUD long run and Sunday is the first Incline Club run of the season, and I plan to be at both of 'em. I'd like to bump the mileage up over the next few weeks and stay between 80 and 90 per week until the Colorado winter starts to leave, hopefully mid-March or so. I'll have a few races in there to keep me motivated through the crappy weather, though this time of year will be devoted to building a good base for the fun stuff in the summer.

I'll also start trying to watch my diet somewhat, though this always seems to be a losing battle for me (note: this does not start 'till Saturday, so 'till then the mozzarella cheetos are fair game!). I've ballooned up to about 177 pounds. I'd like to drop down to about 170 for the winter and then 160 for the planned HR/Pb double.

My beer drinking habits, of course, will remain unchanged.

tonight!

Woohoo! Live music at Trinity tonight! I'll be running the Sinton loop (about 4.5 miles) starting at 5:30PM if anyone wants to get a workout in before the show.

HAIL TO PITT!

Pitt is currently ranked #4 in the AP college hoops poll. Three of the top four teams in the poll are from the Big East.

Since I'm on the topic of my Panthers, my prediction for the Backyard Brawl:

Pitt - 49
wvu - 14

Banff

The Banff Mountain Film Festival returns to Colorado Springs on February 28, 2009!

on-on

The few, the proud, the ones who actually stop to drink beer while hashing!

today's HFC award...

...goes to this lady. While she's no John DeWalt, it's always nice to see examples like this to show me that you don't have to become lame once you get old.

the invasion gets stronger...

Gordo is in for the Austin marathon!

people watching

I used to think Acacia Park was the best place to people watch in Colorado Springs, but I'm starting to think the downtown bus station would be just as good. The big problem there is the security, it'd be a lot harder to drink a bag of bum wine without being noticed by The Man.