hoops

Mon - wanted to hit the track but everything is muddy right now.  So I hit the Garden roads for an hour, with some four minutes on/two minutes off stuff thrown in.

Tues - run commute 25.  Five there, four back.  Went down to Mountain Chalet in the evening to hear a talk by Will Gadd.  

Wed - run commute 26.  Five there, with the middle three miles pretty hard, and five home.  CityRock for lunch.

Thurs - Been messing around with the routine lately, and am going to start a longer ruck on Thursday mornings.  Mookie is 100% behind this.  Went over to Balanced Rock and lugged the 45 pound ruck 2.5 miles up, then back.  Almost two hours.  Then snuck in a quick four mile run before work.  After work was the annual SAR vs Pine Creek basketball game.  It did not go well.

Fri - Iron 11 in the AM with Mook then run commute 27, easy five to work.  Off to Salida for the weekend.  I haven't broke five at the marathon since 2018 but with conditions looking pretty good that is the goal this year.  The other goals are to drink a ton of IPAs and PBR and to eat a lot of pizza.

Glen Cove

Mon - nice hike along the Arkansas river in Little Rock before heading home.  Yes, the same Arkansas that starts up near Leadville and I'll be hanging around all weekend in Salida.

Tues - run commute 22.  Four there and four back.  Still a bit sore.

Wed - run commute 23.  Four there and 3.6 back, had to get to SAR training.  Signed up for another year at CityRock over lunch.

Thurs - another easy day.  Four miles on the Garden trails after work.

Fri - Iron number 9 in the morning as snow started to fall.  Run commute 24.  We ended up getting a decent amount of snow during the morning.  Four inches at the house, much more up high.

Sat - Nielsen Challenge.  Santa Fe trail was a shitshow of ice and snow so I ran a mediocre 14:38.

I spent Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning up at Glen Cove.  It's been a rough year for snow all over Colorado but Pikes got a good dump on Friday.  Did some snow movement and snow anchors, then spent the night in a tent at 12k.  Good times.

Sun - got back from the campout and was preparing for a run but the SAR beeper went off.  Hustled over to Barr Trail to help carry out a guy with a dislocated knee.  Then it was off to the PPA/M board meeting before hitting Manitou Brewing and WestFax to end the week.

Wasn't planning on a down week but stupid life got in the way.  For the week:

run - 28 miles, five hours

hike - 25 miles, 10.5 hours

Good week for strength training with four trips to Planet Fitness and three lunches at CityRock.

3:27:21

Solid day at the Little Rock marathon.  Was hoping for a sub 3:30 and stayed at that pace all day.  Hit the halfway point at 1:44:19 and despite a very hilly second half I managed a slight negative split.  Was hurting like hell the last five miles but I was able to hold it together.  

Had a great trip.  Found some good breweries and burgers and pizza, visited the Bill Clinton library, and met some great people.

17 more states to go.  Missouri up next.

Daisy

Mon - old man track club up at Holmes.  3 x 800m, 400m RBI.  5.3 miles total.  Got my 30th trip to Planet Fitness in as well.

Tues - busy week.  Mook hurt his paw so we had a vet visit and we're dealing with that.  Nothing serious, but my hiking miles will be down this week with my partner out.  Did get in a quick four miler on the Garden trails in the evening.

Wed - run commute 20.  Five there, four back. Spent the evening at SAR Base helping the newbies.

Thurs - been a big dog week.  Mook is injured, we're dog sitting Barry, and on Mook's early, short walk around the block with $100 they found this guy.

Good thing we keep a sweet Pearl Jam dog leash in the car at all times!  Thanks to the wonders of modern technology we were able to reunite Daisy with her owner.  After that, run commute 21.

Leaving for Little Rock on Friday.  State number 33 if things go well.

EMT

Mon - had the day off work and made the most of it.  Early AM dog park hike, then went and passed the NREMT, then completed the latest Alpenglow challenge with a double incline (eight and nine on the year).  Officially an EMT now, my SAR paycheck goes up accordingly.  

Tues - iron number seven in the AM with Mookie, then nothing as between work and SAR I didn't have w whole lot of time.  Needed a good rest day after the past few big mileage days though.

Wed - run commute 18.  5.2 there, 3.6 back.  Then another SAR meeting in the evening.

Thurs - old man track club.  Two by 2000m.  Solid effort but I've gotten slow as fuck in my old age.

Fri - iron eight followed by run commute 19.  4.5 there, 4.3 home.  Same course except I went a bit extra on the way there for a breakfast burrito.

Sat - 13 mile run on the old COVID loop followed by a quick trip to Planet Fitness.  Then spent the rest of the morning preparing for the SAR winter overnight.  Which ended up getting cancelled due to the Pikes Peak Highway being closed.  Was supposed to drop down to 5F up at 12k, so I can't say I was too disappointed.

Sun - regular AM SAR training followed by an easy ten miler in the Garden.

For the week:

run - 57 miles, 11.5 hours

hike - 22.5 miles, nine hours

Little Rock 'thon up this week.  I've put in a fair amount of work for it and I'm hoping to run around 3:30.

Hot Buttered Rum

Mon - pretty sore from the super half, so an easy 4.7 miles on the local bike path in the evening.

Tues - run commute 15.  5.2 there, 6.4 home.

Wed - run commute 16.  4.5 there, 6.9 home.

Thurs - 5.6 miles in the AM, including two miles hard up at the Holmes track.  

Fri - very early (3AM) SAR mission to help the dogs search for a middle school kid.  Searched for an hour, then the kid was found several miles away.  Still got home in time to run 4.5 miles to work.  Friday evening was the Hot Buttered Rum show at Lulu's.  As usual, they put on a great show!  Then Benny's afterwards. 

Sat - I was pretty worked on Saturday morning, but still got up to get the dogs (we're dog sitting Millie) to the dog park.  Then off to Winter Series III to volunteer with SAR.  Managed to get out for a five miler on the Garden trails in the evening.

Sun - Iron Mountain number six on the year with the dogs, followed by a 22.7 mile run through the Garden and around the old COVID loop.  Last long run before Little Rock.

For the week:

run - 65 miles, 11.5 hours

hike - 36 miles, 14 hours

7233 feet of climbing

1:39:27

Mon - easy four miles run around OCC with the dog.

Tues - run commute 12.  Five there, 6.3 back home.

Wed - run commute 13.  Five there, 3.6 home.  Spent the evening helping the SAR new member class learn to tie knots.

Thurs - Old Man Track Club.  Ten laps hard up on the mesa.  Good effort.

Fri - fifth Iron Mountain of the year for Mookie and I, then run commute 14.

Sat - long morning helping with the SAR new member class, then over to Manitou for incline number seven on the year.

Sun - Super Half.  Downtown, north on the Santa Fe trail, then back down to America The Beautiful park.  Went in wanting a 1:45, came away with a 1:39:27.  Easy effort up until mile nine or so, hanging around 7:45 pace, then the thought of a sub 1:40 crept in.  Went 7:16, 7:16, 7:17, 6:52 after that.  Some quality time in the hurt locker there.  Sets me up nicely to run around 3:30 at Little Rock in a few weeks.  Of course I represented my favorite sportsball team at the run:

For the week:

hike - 35 miles, 13 hours

run - 55.5 miles, ten hours

week/month in review

Mon - still cold as fuck in the AM.  Was -4F at the dog park at 5AM, we only made it half an hour.  Definitely our shortest dog park outing ever.  Warmed up well though, and it was quite pleasant in the evening when I got in incline number four on the year.

Tues - run commute ten.  Five there, 3.6 back.  Tried to get some quicker stuff going in the AM, but it was rough with the Midland Trail still having sections of ice.  CityRock six at lunch.  I'm the new SAR rep on the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon board of directors, hit up my first meeting on Tuesday evening.

Wed - run commute eleven.  Five there, 6.3 back.

Thurs - track!  6 x 400m up at Holmes Middle School.  Been a while since I'd run around in ovals.

Fri - incline 5 & 6.  Alpenglow Expeditions threw down a Cotopaxi challenge to climb 4000 feet in one push, so I headed over to Manitou.  When I was done I found out the challenge didn't start until Sunday.  Guess I'll be going back.

Sat - back with the SAR dogs for the first time in a while.  Good to see everyone, both human and canine.  These things always tire me out even though it's nothing big physically, but all I had left in me the rest of the day was my 7.5 mile Garden trail loop.  Did throw some weight into my new pack to try out so it was a decent workout. 

Got up at midnight and signed up for the Devil on the Divide 50k.  Will make a good van trip out of it, Mook loves the Winter Park area.  Big year of racing coming up for me.

Sun - a few hours of SAR winter driving training, then got the dog out for a 30 minute jog before celebrating the end of dry January over at Fossil and WestFax.  

For the week:

run - 51 miles, 13.5 hours

hike - 35 miles, 14 hours

13,000 feet of vert

For January:

run - 226 miles, 47.5 hours

hike - 122 miles, 51 hours

39,559 feet of climbing

Returned to the gym in a big way, hitting the brand spankin' new Planet Fitness 21 times on the month.  With the lack of drinking, a decent effort to cut down on junk food, and a big boost in working out, I ended the month eight pounds lighter.

cold

Shitty week as the latter part brought some super cold temps that made going outside pretty awful.  Got in a good 20 miler on Monday but the mileage tapered off after that.  Did spend a lot of that time at Planet Fitness, so not a total waste.

For the week:

run - 43 miles, 7.5 hours

hike - 22 miles, 9.5 hours

Dry January came to an end for me on Friday the 23rd.  We had a bunch of people over to the house to watch the Alex Honnold climb, and he ended up postponing that to Saturday.  I had a bunch of Yuenglings anyways.

dry January

Mon - incline number three on the year.  Trying for 52 of those in 2026.

Tues - run commute five.  Five miles there, five back.  Ran the middle three miles of the AM commute pretty hard.  CityRock four at lunch.

Wed - run commute six.  Five there, five back.  

Thurs - work from home in the AM, so after a Red Rock Canyon dog hike I got up to Sondermann Park for a few miles.

Fri - run commute seven.  Five there, 3.6 back.  Watched the High Lonesome lottery in the evening.  For the third year in a row, not only was I not selected to run, I didn't even make it on to the 125 person wait list.  Working on a back up plan now.

Sat - super cold temps, it was 12F when I got the dogs over to the dog park.  Not very motivated to run, managed 3.4 miles in half an hour before heading over to Planet Fitness.

Sun - nada.  Did a 12 hour shift with the Security Fire Department, riding along in the ambulance.  Finished my EMT class, now all that's left is passing the national exam and I'll be an EMT.

I have once again made an attempt at dry January and am still going strong, my longest effort yet.  I should be able to make it at least until the 21st, three full weeks, before giving in.  My biggest break from alcohol since 2003 when Iraq made it slightly more difficult to get beer.  I wish I could report back on great health benefits or feelings of euphoria, but I feel the same as when I'm having a few beers a week.  Only now I'm more bored on weekends.

For the week:

run - 47 miles, 9.5 hours

hike - 33 miles, 13.5 hours

7457 feet of climbing.

snow

Mon - easy four miler on the Garden trails in the AM, second incline of the year in the evening.

Tues - run commute two.  Five there, six back.

Wed - run commute three.  Five there, 3.5 back.

Thurs - Five miles on the Garden trails in the AM.  Looks like winter might finally be making an appearance this evening.

Fri - no AM dog hike as I had to dig out our house.  8.5 inches of snow, which is a lot here in the city.  Run commute four, four miles there and 3.5 back.  CityRock at lunch.  Caught Adam Carolla at our local comedy club in the evening, he's a little more right wing than I remembered but he was funny as hell nonetheless.

Sat - up early to volunteer with SAR at the Winter Series.  The wife has been sick lately so instead of heading out for a run afterwards I took the dogs (we're also watching Millie right now) over to the dog park to run some energy out of them.  

Sun - Dog park in the early morning, SAR training in Red Rock Canyon, then 14 miles on the road through the Garden and Manitou.  

For the week:

run - 51 miles, 9.5 hours

hike - 25 miles, 11.5 hours

9187 feet of climbing on the week.

2025

I got older and slower.  Yay.

The numbers for 2025:

run - 2150 miles, 467 hours, 221,450 feet of elevation gain

hike - 1468 miles, 698 hours, 204,907 feet of elevation gain

bike - 835 miles, 78 hours, 37,499 feet of elevation gain

102 run commutes.  39 bike commutes.  87 trips to CityRock.

Just over 600 hours for SAR.  About half of those hours are missions, which can happen at anytime and make regular training difficult nowadays.  

But I got another hundo in, and another San Juan Solstice, and a few more state marathons.  And a big honkin' mountain.  I ain't quite dead yet.

In '26 I'm signed up for the Little Rock, Salida, and St. Louis marathons.  Possibly Des Moines later this year.  Pondering some new to me races this summer, though I'm sure I'll end up at Pikes again.  And we just had a Planet Fitness open across the street, so I'll probably spend some time there fighting this old age thing.

For the first week of 2026:

run - 54 miles, 10.5 hours

hike - 12.5 miles, 5.5 hours

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.