run commute 7

Had a fantastic time down in Austin and I've been a bit slow to adjust back to the normal routine of life.  On top of travel, our bathroom is currently being remodeled, which has us sleeping in the guest room, trying to keep dust off everything in the house, and having to shuttle the dog back and forth to/from Cark & Amanda's house everyday.

Up earlier than usual today to hike the dog and run to work.  Did throw in 3 x 1 mile with half a mile RBI.  6:28, 6:40, 7:07.  That last one about broke my soul as it was uphill into a strong headwind.  I almost gave up a few times but I kept at it.  Those times aren't good, but I'll take the effort for early February.

Still trying to catch up on sleep, but I'm glad we went to the Little London Show party at the Burrowing Owl last night.  $100 won a bottle of vodka from the Wild Goose.

incline 11

Shitty weather here in town, but I got myself over to the incline anyways.  And it was awesome.  I did it during the dark so I couldn't see anything, but BStap was doing laps and took this pic about an hour before I got to the summit.  44:28.

Panic released a new (old) show today, and that made the climb even more enjoyable.

Got out early Friday for a hike with $100 and the dog over at Red Rock Canyon.  Now it's off to Austin to listen to some music and visit some new breweries!

CityRock 9

Morning climb at CityRock.  Had to drive today as I took the fatbike to the Hub for a long overdue tune up.

This is turning into one helluva year for live music.  Got good seats this morning for Blues Traveler down in Pueblo.

$100 took part in dryuanuary, a terrible event sponsored by The Little London Show.  In response, I'm taking part in February, put on by local beer blog Focus On The Beer.  My first brew was the Mammoth IPA from Fossil.

January recap

Pretty good month after a few months of laziness.

Running - 200 miles even.  Some solid workouts, including two 20 milers and a few times of trying to pick up the pace a bit.  Ran to work five times.  Ten trips up the Incline.

Biking - low month, 160 miles, but that will pick up once we start seeing warmer weather.  Biked to work eight times.

Hiking - good month for me and the dog, she enjoyed 62 miles with me and a bunch more with $100.

Also made a good commitment to the gym, hitting Accolade five times and CityRock seven times.  Definitely making some gains on the climbing front.

Got to help out with the annual count 'o the homeless once again last week.  Joined the police in finding some of the hard to reach camps.  This was the day after the AFC championship, and I swear every single homeless person I saw talked shit on the Steelers.

bike commute 8/CityRock 8/incline 10

Not too shabby for a Tuesday.  Early morning ride to CityRock for a good climb, then the ride home followed by a trip up the Incline.  40:44 for the incline in the pitch black as there was no moon tonight.

Finished up Phish's Mexico run and I'm caught up on all the Mule and Phish shows.  No Mule shows until early March, and Phish is off for a while.  Think I'll use the time to stay on top of the Railroad Earth shows.

Mule has announced their annual Red Rocks show and it's smack between the Ascent and the Marathon.  Definitely in for the Ascent and the concert, I have some time to think on whether or not to do the Marathon.

Of course the big news in the Phish world was the announcement of the Baker's Dozen.  13 straight shows at Madison Square Garden!

incline 9

Went out and ran the fat ass course on Sunday, which will probably be my go-to long run until Pikes starts melting.  Struggled on the incline, but the rest of the run was good.  Don't think I've ever put in two 20 milers in January, even during my Hardrock days.

Not a bad day to spend outside.

incline 8

Friday night with $100.  41:25.  Followed by a dip in Sunwater Spa.

CityRock 7

Quick trip to the climbing gym over lunch on Friday.  Rumors are swiriling about my office moving back downtown, so getting to CityRock might become a lot easier.

CityRock 6

16F this morning so after the short dog walk I drove to CityRock.  Very committed to the rock gym the next two months as I've signed up to take a weekly class and I'm back in the Thursday night Adult Bouldering Series.

Railroad Earth, Leftover Salmon, and Keller at Red Rocks?  Yes please!  This time of year is always difficult on the budget as a lot of concerts and races go on sale now.

Bookface informed me that three years ago today the El Mariachi came into my life:

Leadman, Old Pueblo, GJOR, Bailey Hundo, Kanza, 11 of 12 Cup 'o Dirt rides, countless rides to work, maybe a trip to a brewery or two.  Lots of good times on this bike.  She shows no signs of slowing down, which is good since Salsa stopped making the El Mar this year.

Larry

Larry & His Flask are coming back to the Springs!  Easter Sunday!  Been a while since we've seen these guys.

catching up

Good 20 miler at the Fat Ass on Saturday.  Garden, Incline, Barr, Intemann, Red Rock Canyon.  Such an awesome loop, right from my front door.

Pretty beat up on Sunday, but I got out for incline #7.  Weather was great, so later in the day I took the fat bike over to Red Rock Canyon for 90 minutes.  After that ride I got to watch the Steelers get crushed.

Easy five miles on Monday morning, including some 200m sprints up on the track.  Followed up with bike commute five.

Tuesday morning I biked over to CityRock (five).  Then biked home just in time to see Pitt get absolutely destroyed by Louisville.  So one-sided it felt like I was watching a women's UConn hoops game.

Wednesday was a six mile run to work with some easy fartleks thrown in for good measure.  Run commute five.

cup 'o dirt

Finally got my Cup 'o Dirt Challenge schwag!

I had not planned on doing this again, but now I'm thinking I might sign up.  The challenge definitely motivated me to get out there on the bike to explore.  No bike races on the 2017 docket, but I do have some plans for some big rides once the weather warms up.

incline 5

Friday night trip up the Incline.  41:13 up.  Finished up the January 15 Mule show from Jaimica.

run commute 4

Missed the damn bus this morning, so my early CityRock climb was a no-go.  Caught the next bus but I had to head straight to work.

About a mile into my run home I ran into $100, Holly Human (Brooks' wife), and Holly Dog on the Santa Fe trail.  They were finishing up a 3.5 mile run.  I took the dog and ran another 4.5 miles with her home.  The dog is going to sleep for a while.

After the run I was able to get over to Pure Boulder for some climbing with Team RWB.

nice beaver

On my run home this evening I was crossing the bridge at Colorado College to go over Monument Creek.  Something down in the creek caught my eye, and no shit there were two beavers down there.  I had only seen a beaver in city limits once before, way back during the floods we had the year after the Waldo Canyon fire.

If that wasn't enough wildlife, two miles later after the sun had set I damn near ran into a raccoon.

Here you go, 90 seconds of wet beaver action.  I should be charging yunz guys for this!

bike commute 4/run commute 3

Back from Pittsburgh.  Long day of travel on Monday.  Biked to work on Tuesday, ran on Wednesday.

My "concert a day" streak ended over the trip as I listen to as much WDVE as possible when I'm back in western PA.  But I did listen to the first Mule show of 2017 - Jan 14th from Runaway Bay in Jamaica.  I've started trying to convince $100 to go to Island Exodus next year.  

Went to the Fossil Caveman club last night.  Good stuff.  I now have my own mug at the place.  20oz for the price of 16oz.  And a bottle from the place, the first non-growler beer to leave the brewery.  I keep hearing they are looking into getting cans and I hope that happens soon.

On that note I enjoyed this blog post.  My parents both ended their lives too early (mom is still here but the end is coming soon), much of that having to do with alcohol.  With the addition of an iPhone to my life, I have been tracking my alcohol consumption and it's been eye-opening.  Mostly due to the fact that I used to mentally keep track, counting one drink as one drink, regardless of the size.  Like last night, when I told myself I only had three beers, when the iPhone tells me I drank 60 ounces which is actually five beers.  Just collecting data, certainly not committing to cutting back.  I love drinking beer and whiskey, that's been an enjoyable part of my life since I was 13 (I started the same time I started running) and if the only reward of drinking less is a 10% improvement in running times than that's not even close to worth it for me.  But I also don't want to go out like my mom.

bike commute 3

Thurs AM - Easy five mile run on the Garden roads early Thursday morning.

15 miles to and from work on the El Mar.  They have routed the Sinton trail under Chestnut street, which makes my bike up to Pikes Peak Brewing much safer.

Thurs PM - Four miles up to Carson Pass and back, dropping by Fossil at the end.  The view of my village coming back down the pass:

Off to Pennsylvania early Friday.  Titusville on Fri and Sat, back to the 'burgh on Sunday to watch the Steelers crush the Chiefs.

run commute 2

Tues PM - Windy AF.  Ran up to Carson Pass, and the wind was blowing so hard it almost knocked me over a few times.  Wanted to go a few more miles but it started to feel unsafe out there so I bailed after 4.7 miles.  Daily concert was Dave Matthews Band live from Wrigley Field back in 2011.

Wed AM - Morning 2.5 mile hike with the dog followed by a six mile run to work.  Concert for today was Twiddle, December 31 from the Palace Theater in Albany.

bike commute 1 & 2

Lots of wind yesterday.  Trees down, tons of damage.  One of O'Day's huge trees toppled, luckily the direction it fell was probably the best of lots of bad options as it missed his garage and his house.

No running on Monday due to the hangover.  Did bike to work and got the dog out for some good hiking.  Nice to see Clemson take down 'bama last night.  Free beer to the first person to tell everyone who was the one team to beat Clemson this year... 

Tuesday was another good hike with the dog, followed by a bike to CityRock before work.

Incline 3 & 4

Good weather this weekend and I used it to climb some steps.  Saturday was a longer run that included a loop through the Garden.  15 miles, longest I've gone in a while.  Sunday was the quick 10K loop from Memorial Park in Manitou.  46:01 on Saturday and 40:33 on Sunday.

Been listening to a concert a day so far this year.  So far:

1 - Phish, Dec 29 from Madison Square Garden
2 - Phish, NYE from Madison Square Garden
3 - Phish, Dec 30 from Madison Square Garden
4 - Lettuce livestream from The Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY
5 - Lettuce livestream from The Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY
6 - Moe., NYE from Missoula
7 - Gov't Mule, NYE from The Beacon Theater in NY.
8 - Widespread Panic, NYE from Nashville
9 - Twiddle, Live at Nectars

Biked to a bunch of breweries yesterday, hitting Triple S, Bristol, Gold Camp, Iron Bird, and Fieldhouse.  14 miles total.

Crazy wind this morning.  The dog and I were dodging garbage the entire two mile hike.