catching up

Been a hot minute.

Another successful van trip in the books.  Headed north through Spearfish, SD, to Medora, ND.  Got to take in the geographical center of the USA in Belle Forche, SD.

I ran the Maah Daah Hey trail 58 miler, a chunk of the 150+ mile trail through the badlands of North Dakota.  Nice run but Jesus Christ it was hot.  At 4PM I was at mile 40 and it was still 105F.  Was not ready for those conditions but I survived.  State number 32.

After that we headed south to Sheridan and visited some old favorites, including the Crazy Woman Saloon near the Bighorn finish and The Mint Bar.  

Sheridan is a great town, but after a long morning dog hike we were on the road again.  Ended up in Winter Park, doing some brewery visits before heading out Vasquez Road for the night.  Next day was down to Salida to see some friends, then Creede for the next night.

From Creede it was over to Del Norte for the Rhythms on the Rio festival.  This was a fantastic time, and we'll hit this up for the next few years before it becomes too big.  Highlights included Frasco, Magoo, Jeremy Garret, and the Kitchen Dwellers.  Dog friendly, awesome camping venue, easy access to the river, and nice hiking on Lookout Mountain.  Loving the valley more and more each time we visit.

Came home and officially became a grumpy old man, turning 50.  For my birthday I ran up Pikes from the house, ending at WestFax Brewing.  50k on the day.  Believe me, I noticed the much slower time up the Peak.

Then caught King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at Ford Amphitheater.  Great time!

BTMR

Low running week, mostly due to a Big Richard concert, the WestFax one year anniversary shenanigans, and lots of time spent helping with the Barr Trail Mountain Race for SAR.  Did get in 13 miles of hiking up to Barr Camp and back on race day with a 50+ pound pack.  Good times.

run - 28 miles, 5.5 hours

hike - 43 miles, 17.5 hours

ride - four miles, 25 minutes

Seeing Cake on Wednesday evening, then it's off on the annual van trip.  Headed up to North Dakota to run a chunk of the Maah Daah Hey trail, then slowly making our way down south to Del Norte for the Rhythms on the Rio festival.

Barr Camp

SAR kept me busy but I still got some miles in, including a good long run on Sunday where I ran up to Barr Camp, returned, and then did the incline.  Hot as balls that day and I was pretty wiped afterwards.

run - 60 miles, 15.5 hours

hike - 23.5 miles, ten hours

bike - 26 miles, two hours

July 4

Pretty decent July 4th week.

run - 40 miles, eight hours

hike - 31 miles, 13.5 hours

ride - 44 miles, four hours

Trying to have Monday, which is my work from home day, have a track workout in the morning and an incline in the evening.  Given the summer weather I've been biking over to the incline, going straight up and down, then biking home.

On Friday (July 4th) I ran the Palmer Lake fun run, a slightly downhill four miler from Palmer Lake to Monument.  I finished in 26:02, pretty happy with the effort.  63rd place out of 687 finishers.  Top three all went sub 20.

Been slammed with SAR stuff as well, from dog training to holiday parades to regular training to actual rescues.  Getting in all the hours I can right now as we're off on a two week van trip starting later this month.

June

Pretty big month as I ran a marathon and two fifties.

run - 229 miles, 56 hours

hike - 105 miles, 57 hours

ride  - 54 miles, 5.5 hours

Riding is just commuting nowadays, big runs coming up so I'm spending my time on that mode of travel.

Halfway through the year, here are the numbers.

run - 1124 miles, 226.5 hours; 52 run commutes

hike - 724 miles, 316 hours; 26 summits of Iron Mountain with the dog

ride - 500 miles, 48 hours; 26 bike commutes

Plus 52 trips to CityRock.

And I just went over 300 hours on the year for search & rescue.  

catching up

Been a while.

Got my tenth finish down in Lake City at the San Juan Solstice.  Decent race, I was steady if not fast.  13:48.  Probably a little too close to my last big run two weeks ago which crushed me.

Not sure if it's my last SJS, but I won't be there next year as I'm committed to the Rachel Carson Challenge in Piittsburgh.

Took me a bit to recover from that.  Then on Friday I went over to Ute Valley Park for the second race of the Blue Moon series.  Ran well for the 8k, taking second overall in a VERY limited field.  It was a completely different crowd than in the first race, and it sucks that I'll miss the final race as I'm winning the overall series right now.   Again, the W is not due to any speedy performances but to nobody showing up.

On top of the running, SAR has been keeping me busy as everyone is hanging outside during the summer.  Good times.  

Kudos to Shad for getting it done at Western States!

SAR

Wasn't planning on a down week but I was crushed for a few days after Mace's and then SAR took up all my weekend time.

Good news: I was running up to Barr Camp on Saturday and a call came in for a hiker who was lost just off Barr Trail near Barr Camp.  He wasn't injured, so I got the go-ahead to go look for him.  I found him about 60 feet off Barr Trail, a little bit below the trail that heads over to the Cog Railway.  That incident is mentioned here.

Bad news:  A guy from New Hampshire came out here to hike Pikes Peak and it didn't end well.  I spent a good chunk of Saturday evening, most of Sunday, and a few hours on Monday looking for him.  All of that time was with a heavy pack above 13,000 feet.  That story is here.  

There was a little bit of running in there.  For the week:

run - 34 miles, eight hours

hike - 27 miles, 14 hours

Mace's Hideout

Tempest Adventures is now two for two in thoroughly kicking my ass.  I did their Mace's Hideout 50 miler down in Beulah and holy hell was it rough.  First four miles are on a dirt road but after that it's nothing but technical trails and lots of climbing and descending.  I ran pretty well, or at least I kept moving forward all day, but I found myself pushing the overall cutoff of 16 hours.  Rallied over the last three miles, which included climbing up a waterfall, and finished in 15:58:30.  Pic below is at the finish, those other two runners and I worked together to barely beat the cutoff.

I had planned on getting back home on Saturday after the race, maybe even early enough to hit WestFax for last call.  But I finished at midnight and was wrecked.  Ended up spending the night in the parking lot.  Good times.  I have some work to do before Rio Grande.

On Sunday after SAR training we headed up to Red Rocks for Big Head Todd's 40th anniversary show.  Saw Bill Murray and Warren Haynes open up.  Great time.

For the week:

run - 81 miles, 21.5 hours

hike - 19 miles, nine hours

South Dakota

4:27:30.  Gave up quickly and just jogged to get another state.  Over 90F during the race and I just wasn't ready to deal with that.  Live to fight another day.

Great van trip though.  Visited some Rapid City breweries, slept at Crow Peak Brewing in Spearfish, visited the Moonshine Gulch Saloon, and spent a quiet night in Sturgis.

Rough week as I got bogged down with a lot.

run - 35 miles, six hours

hike - 27 miles, ten hours

Pitt/PJ/Red Leg

A lot to catch up on.

The Pittsburgh trip was a blast.  Got to see some friends/family and Pearl Jam brought the heat.  I sure do miss that town.

Back from the 'burgh, quick week until Katie left to climb Mt. Shasta.  I was flying solo and spent my Friday night racing a trail 5K over in Ute Valley Park.  Saturday was some SAR dog training.  But on Sunday I went up to the new-ish Ford Amphitheater to see the Black Keys.

Monday was the annual Red Leg 10K.  I was a bit beat up from the concert but I still ran fairly decent.  Plus, I got to meet Miss Pikes Peak at the finish line.

Another short week and then it's off to South Dakota for state marathon number 31.

5:50.72

Tuesday night shenanigans as I went over to Cheyenne Mountain High School for their annual mile fest.  Mostly high school kids but they let some old farts join in.  Was hoping to go at least sub 5:45 but I never got into a rhythm and ran just under 5:51.  There were 24 runners in my heat so while that was fun to deal with it didn't make for running fast.

Not a great pic but Mookie and I saw our first bears of the season this morning, over in the Garden.  Momma and two cubs.  Luckily quite a distance away.

Off for a long overdue trip to the 'burgh.  Pearl Jam on Friday, then visiting some friends and familiar places.  Looking forward to it.

19:32

I was worried that my days of being able to throw down a sub 20 5k were gone, but as Lee Corso would say, not so fast my friend!

On Sunday I went up to Niwot for the Frank Shorter track classic and ran the 5000 meters.  First time in my life I was the oldest guy in the field, seven years older than the next guy.  I was clearly in over my head and right from the gun I was in last place.  Spent five laps in the back but then did end up passing a female and holding her off.  Very painful and for a bit I wasn't sure I'd keep up the pace, but happy to have made the trip north.  Finished eighth out of nine runners.  Hoping to break 20 once I turn 50 in August, and this gives me hope.

Got to meet Edna Kiplagat after my race.  

Finished the week with 40 miles (seven hours) of running and 25 miles (ten hours) of hiking.  Biking is basically nothing but commuting nowadays, nine miles in just under an hour.

Denver Beer Company

I've always liked Denver Beer Company, specifically their Incredible Pedal IPA.  So when word came out about a 50k run that visited all five of their taprooms, I thought it was a great idea.

And it was a great time!  Marc made the trip up, and we saw Kircher and PG and even a rare appearance from BFish.

The run went 31+ miles to each DBC taprooms.  Pint of beer at each.  Plus I took a Colfax detour and was able to hit Velvet Banjo and Cerebral Brewing.  Needless to say I suffered pretty heavily the last five or so miles when the temps climbed above 80F.  But I made it with lots of time to spare.  Great event and I'll be back next year.

For the week:

run - 49 miles, eleven hours

hike - 29 miles, twelve hours

ride - 27 miles, 2.5 hours