Mexico

Great time down in Mexico with Alpenglow Expeditions.   So nice having hotels and transportation all lined up.

Flew into Mexico City, and on my early morning walk I found a 10k.  I guess Sears is still alive and well down south.

Rest of the trip was travel around to the two big climbs.  First up was La Malinche, a 14,640 foot beast of a hike.  At the time, it was the highest peak $100 and I had ever climbed.

Lots of random dogs on the hike, all of which we made friends with.

Then it was off towards Orizaba.  We got our first look at the mountain from the hostel.

Took a day to acclimate, going on a nice four hour hike from the hostel.

Next it was off to the Piedra Grande hut.  Somewhat famous in the mountaineering world.  It was packed so we ended up sleeping in tents.

Here's me at the highest shitter I've ever been to.

Midnight wake up, 1am start.  Seven hours later we were at the summit!  18, 490 feet.  Incredible experience.  Up and down in just under twelve hours.

After the climb we went back to Puebla to celebrate.  Next day it was back to Mexico City.  We had an extra day there so we caught some Mexican wrestling!

Such a great trip.  $100 was motivated enough to sign up for a trip to Kilamanjaro.  I've been eyeballing some bigger stuff as well.

20:35

Chip time of 20:35 at the Ugly Sweater Run  5k at Wash Park in Denver yesterday.  OK with that as I didn't run at all while we were in Mexico, but obviously I still have some work to do.  Went for it, and while it wasn't a total disaster I definitely showed down a bit the second half of the race.  Miles were 6:28, 6:42, and 6:44.

The Mexico trip was a total success and I'll get some pics up from that soon.

holiday weekend

The usual for me - drank too much but did get in two inclines.  Including the first run of the season for the Incline Club, which now starts just after Thanksgiving due to the September date for Pikes.

All packed for Mexico!

The blog will go silent for a bit as $100 and I head down south to take a crack at Pico de Orizaba.

turkey trot

Solid run at the annual Turkey Trot over in the northeast part of town.  A few too many beers on Wednesday didn't help, but I ran smart, holding a little back on the uphill first half and passing quite a few folks on the second half.  21:06 officially on a slow course.  I finished around a few people who can go sub 20, so that gives me hope.

Shout out to my dog Mookie for finishing his second turkey trot!

Moab

Good times down in Moab!

Left on Thursday after work, stopping for the night at Broken Compass in Breck.  One of Mookie's favorite breweries.

Next day it was off to Moab.  Did the van life thing and I ran the Dead Horse 50k.  The run went well, the camping was great, the hiking was fantastic.  Such a great time!  Just under six hours for the race.

Stayed in Moab until Monday morning, then we went back east to Fruita and spent the night at 18 Road.  

On Tuesday, after another great AM hike, we made the trip home.  Stopped by Angry James brewing, who is giving a chunk of change from their winter ale to the Mile High Weim Rescue.  We got our first dog, Holly, from those guys.  Support your local dog rescue!

For the week:

run - 59 miles, 12 hours

hike - 20 miles, nine hours

Kokopelli XC

Took me a bit to recover from the long day with Gnar, but still a decent week.

Jumped into a rare 3PM cross country race down south at El Pomar.  5k course, mixture of dirt and grass, but flat.  Was hoping to hit the sub 20 goal but once again came up short, crossing the line in 20:16.  From the satellite watch and talking to folks after the race, I think the course was about 30 seconds short.  Hot damn I was falling apart the second half of the race.  I will take another crack at a sub 20 on December 21st at the Ugly Sweater 5k in Denver's Wash Park.  Flat and fast, I'll have no excuses.  Also doing our local Turkey Trot, but I won't go sub 20 on that course.

For the week:

run - 33 miles, six hours

hike - 30 miles, 14 hours

Taking the van out to Moab for a few days towards the end of the week.  Excited to get back out there, it's been a while.  Mookie's first time to Utah.

24 Hours of Gnar

Another year of running a bunch of loops on a dirt road up in Fort Collins.  Went up Friday evening to join some friends at Intersect Brewing, and then at 8AM on Saturday I started running one mile laps at some youth school just east of the highway.  I ran really well for the first twelve hours, then hiked mildly OK for the last twelve hours, though the breaks at the van got longer and longer as the time passed.  Ended up with 76 loops.  Great event but next year I'm only doing the twelve hour run.

Caught up with Kircher at Denver Beer Company on the way home.  DBC no longer has this brew on tap but holy hell I wish I could have tried some.

Monday was a big, fat zero day as I was super sore.  Four miles on Tuesday on the Garden trails, still sore but improving.

On Sunday a great friend and stalwart of the Pikes Peak Road Runners passed away.  Not sure how the local running community will replace her.

Franktown

Been way off my usual routine lately and it's showing up in the human powered numbers.  

Went to Franktown for three straight days for some EMT classes, on top of dog sitting anywhere from one to three extra pups.  Plus a heavy SAR week.  On top of that, I got a shingles shot which knocked me on my ass for a full day.  Oof.  Good thing it's the offseason.

Happy eleventh anniversary to Fossil Brewing.  Good times over there on Saturday.

For the week:

run - 19 miles, four hours

hike - 16.5 miles, eight hours

No Doubt

Not much going on fitness wise.  Did get up Mt. Herman for a SOTA activation on Saturday, and made the trek up to Barr Camp on Sunday with Mookie.

Get to hang out with Kircher's dog Ollie for a bit.  Lots of dog park hikes in the near future.

We will be making our first, and probably last, trip to the Sphere this May.

For the week:

run - 48 miles, eleven hours

hike - 30 miles, 15 hours

bike - 41 miles, 3.5 hours

September

Been pretty lazy since Pikes, allowing life to get in the way of miles.  Had a nice trip down to Florida for the in-laws 50th wedding anniversary, saw some cool birds and got to drink a ton of Yuengling.

For September:

run - 134 miles, 27.5 hours

hike - 125 miles, 60 hours

ride -  88 miles, eight hours

Definitely need to nudge those higher this month.

Barely October but the '26 travel schedule is already taking shape.  Looking to add three more states to the marathon total - Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa.  

Pikes

Another good weekend on the mountain.  Sunday was my 28th finish between the two races.

The Ascent on Saturday went really well.  I was solid and consistent the entire climb.  Got to the summit in 3:41:33.  228th overall and 9th in the 50-54 age group.  Pretty happy with this race.

I'm a bit too old now for the days of not feeling the Ascent on Marathon day.  Not nearly as good a day on Sunday but I kept moving forward and got the job done.  4:02 to the summit, which was a lot slower than I wanted but was what I had on the day.  Then an uninspiring downhill to finish in 6:34:08.  180th overall and sixth in my age group.

Great to see so many friends out there challenging themselves.  Always a great weekend here in our little running community.

summits on the air

Happy Pikes week to those who celebrate!

Lets get the bad news out of the way: neither my Panthers or Steelers are undefeated any more.

We took a very quick overnight van trip, leaving Saturday evening for the Crags trailhead over in Teller County.  On Sunday we headed up Pikes.  A little chilly, a bit of snow, but we were prepared for much worse.  Great family hike.  The humans went 15 miles, the dog was well over 20.  My 44th full summit (using the 3000 foot rule) of America's mountain.

Something different on the summit, I hauled a small ham radio to the top and was able to activate the peak, meaning I made at least four contacts.  My first successful Summits On The Air exercise.  I had tried this once before on Pennsylvania Mountain but failed miserably.  Having a city of 500,000 within line of sight made things a bit easier.

Another uninspiring week, though I did get an incline and a Pikes summit in.

run - 23 miles, 4.5 hours

hike - 40 miles, 19.5 hours

bike - 36 miles, 3.5 hours

Not expecting much for Pikes, which I deserve for the lack of training since Rio Grande.  Sub four for the Ascent, maybe 6:40 for the 'thon.  Excited to get out there though.

getting fat

Been fairly lazy and uninspired since Rio Grande.  In my defense, this was a big SAR week so a lot of my time was spent in that world.

And we also caught the Weird Al show up at Ford Amphitheater.  Incredible concert.

For the week:

run - 20 miles, 3.7 hours

hike - 32 miles, 16 hours

ride - 27 miles, two hours

Both my Panthers and Steelers are still undefeated!