100k #10

Had the hump day off, so after a good hike with the dog I headed up to Greenland Open Space on the bike.  From my house, up to Greenland with a lap around the park, and back to Red Leg is exactly 62.1 miles.  Only two more long rides to squeeze into 2016 before I get my coffee mug.

As a Pittsburgher I'm obligated to root against Cleveland in any sport (sorry, Wyatt), so I was happy to see them lose more than I was happy to see the Cubbies win.  But holy shit, I have seen a lot of folks jump on that Chicago bandwagon over the past week.  I think I knew two Cubs fans before mid-October, but today it seems I'm the only person not wearing a Cubs hat.

October

Pretty good month for the off-season.  Been spending lots of time in the gym, be that CityRock or Bon Fitness or Accolade, so I'm not getting too fat with the decreased aerobic stuff.

Running - 152 miles
Biking - 278 miles
Hiking - 67 miles

Up to commute 111 on the year.  Eleven on the month, not too shabby considering I was in Maine for a week.

Recently noticed that I wore a hole right through my current road shoes - the Altra Instinct 3.5.  Luckily, I had this e-mail appear in my inbox yesterday:

Ordered up a pair of NB Fresh Foam 1080.  Didn't have to pay a penny for the $150 shoes. 

Went for a walk over lunch, trying to spend as much time outside as possible before the cold weather arrives.  Wish Pikes would stay like this all year long.

Palmer Park

Despite the very late night on Saturday, I had a good day over at Palmer Park on Sunday for the Fall Series.  7.5 miles of technical trails in 62 minutes.  Physically the cankle is 100%, but mentally I'm just not ready to push on technical downhill trails yet.  Might have been able to crack an hour if I hadn't been such a pussy on the downhills.

Photo stolen from Pikes Peak Sports.

Barr Island

Some good time spent over on Bar Island while visiting Bar Harbor.  Most of the time, getting to the island would require a swim.  However, you can walk there 90 minutes before and after low tide.  $100 and I hiked over to spend an evening, then the next morning I got up early and went for a run to the high point of the island, 175 feet above sea level.  On Strava it looks like you run across the water.  And it really confused google maps when we were on the island trying to figure out which route we were going to use to drive to Portland.

Thunder Hole

One of the more famous places in Acadia.  It's not really a hike, as the parking lot is less than 100 feet from Thunder Hole.  And folks show up here by the bus load, literally, as every tour bus makes a stop.  Do a longer hike, then grab a beer and check this place out.

Jordan Pond

Another great loop hike in Acadia.  5K around Jordan Pond.  Crowded at the main trail head, but we didn't see very many folks away from that.  Shows you the difference water makes in the west vs. the east.  This would be a huge lake by Colorado standards, in Maine it's just an overlooked pond.

There is a restaurant, the Jordan Pond House, at the trail head.  Mediocre food at high prices, I would recommend skipping this place and heading back to Bar Harbor to eat.

humpday update

Monday - Five miles in the morning over on the Garden roads.  Bike commute 107.  Was going to do hot yoga after work but the weather was nice and the dog talked me into doing our 5K trail loop in the Garden instead. 

Tuesday - Commute 108, including a stop at morning climb at CityRock.

Wednesday AM - Five mile run down to Cerberus and back, two mile hike with the dog, commute 109.

Going to stick with running every other day at least until the Incline club starts back up in December.  And instead of my usual 60 minutes, I've been getting out for 40-45.  Good time of the year to back off and enjoy some other stuff.

I dropped almost $900 on a new phone, mostly so I could take better pics of my dog and whatever beer I happen to be drinking.  I'll be sending out info on the new number to folks soon, but if I happen to miss someone and you want the new number, get in touch with me.

precipice

Another one of the Acadia classics.  This one is known for exposure, but as a guy afraid of heights I wasn't too scared shitless on this hike.  You need to be careful though, there are definitely places where a fall could lead to a bad injury or worse.

When we were on top we saw some folks heading down this route.  Wouldn't recommend that.  We ended up taking some easier singletrack down the other side of the mountain, then hitching a ride back to our car.

Cheyenne Mountain

On Friday we took the van over to Cheyenne Mountain State Park for night out number ten.  Bit pricey, $28 for a tent only spot, plus having to pay another $7 since our state park pass is on a different vehicle, but it was nice to pull out of the driveway at 6PM and be drinking beer around a fire at 6:30.

Pretty good run on Saturday at the Cheyenne Mountain race.  Really happy with my up, not really happy with my down.  The first 1.5 down was due to being careful not to re-injure the cankle while dealing with a technical trail and two way traffic.  The last three down was probably me just being out of shape.  It is what it is.

Had a good race with Hessik.  I figured if I could beat him to the top I could hold him off.  Around mile three (it was 4.5 miles up) I made a move and gapped him pretty good.  Had a good minute on him at the top, but he really crushed it on the downhill and not only caught me but put another minute on me by the finish.

The trail to the top of Cheyenne Mountain is going to be another gem for this area.  Can't wait until it's finished!

Photo by Nancy Hobbs, who won the 5K and then came back out to cheer on the nine milers.

beehive

Our first hike in Acadia was the park classic Beehive.  Good pick to tackle on the day before a marathon.  There is definitely some exposure, but as a guy who is afraid of heights I can say this wasn't too bad.  Lots of fun though, and the scenery was outstanding.

The hike is only a 1.5 mile lolipop with 500 feet of elevation gain, but it took us 80 minutes due to stopping to goof off and take pictures and drink beer.

Mt. Desert Island

Pretty decent marathon for the (lack of) work I've been putting in lately.  Officially finished in 3:46:55, running the first half in 1:59:59 and coming back with a 1:47:23.  My 19th state.  Since my goal was to run the first half in two hours and then negative split, I'm pretty happy.  And I wasn't sore after the run so I was able to hike the shit out of Acadia Nat'l Park over the next few days.

The MDI race is fantastic.  The course is beautiful, skirting between Acadia and the Atlantic (technically it might be a bay) at a time of the season when the leaves are exploding in color.  Not really a PR course though - had I been pushing the limit, there were hills at mile 20 and mile 23+ that might have broke me.  They have good beer from Atlantic Brewing and food at the finish line, and if you don't want to be among the crowd there are several pubs in the small town of Northeast Harbor.  We went to one such place and $100 had a lobster so fresh that it had to have been crawling around happily on the ocean floor around the time I passed the halfway point.  I had a hot dog and fries at this place, and that was a damn good lunch!

I've notified Strava, we'll see if I really do get a pair of shoes.

he's back...

Lots to post about the Maine trip.  We had an awesome time and it would have been a lot harder to come back if we weren't missing our dog so much.  I'll post about everything in the coming days.

We had a 6AM flight out of Denver on Friday.  Normally that would have meant getting a hotel room on Thursday.  But since we now have a second home on wheels, we just parked in the Pikes Peak lot and slept there.  But not before hitting two new breweries on Colfax.

Both were good, but not good enough to keep me from my usual Colfax hangout, Sancho's.

We checked Argonaut, and they now sell Surly.

Whiskey #41

Whiskey #40

Whiskey #39

Woodford Reserve

Whiskey #38

Leary's Landing, the closest Irish pub to Ireland in the US.

#37