April

Decent month considering all the other crap that kept me from getting the miles in.

For April:

run - 182.5 miles, 34.5 hours, 14383 feet of climbing

hike - 126 miles, 53 hours, 14401 feet of climbing

nate

Good weekend up in Larimer County, but damn were they long days.  Attended my first SAR recertification, something EPCSAR will be doing next year.  Good to get the experience.

On Tuesday when made a rare trip to the World Arena to see Nate Bargatze.  Turns out he is next door neighbors in Nashville with my cadet.  He hooked us up with great seats and we got to meet Nate.  First time I ever got to meet a famous person.

Running has been hit or miss lately and I didn't run at all over the weekend.  Back to the grind soon, including the Denver Beer Co 50k on Saturday.

Larimer County

Mon - 7.4 miles on the Garden trails in the AM, incline 14 in the evening.  Perfectly timed SAR mission on Barr Trail for lunch.

Tues - the rare bike to work day.  Had too much crap to haul to work in my running pack.

Wed - run commute 43.  Five there, five back.

Thurs - we are watching Kircher's dog while he is over running the London marathon.  Hit the dog park before run commute 44.

Fri - Iron 18 on the year with Mookie, Ollie, and Hiccup.  Then run commute 45.

I'm off to Larimer County this week for some SAR stuff.  Lots of hiking, probably not much running.

St Louis

Great trip.

Day one was the long slog of a drive to Emporia.  Damn near ten years to the day I finished the Dirty Kanza 200 in front of Mulready's Pub, I took my finishers pint glass into the bar and they filled it.  I took that same pint back and of course they filled it again.

Next day was off to St Louis.  Hotel check in, packet pick up, and a quick tour of some local breweries.  The race was Saturday morning, and it went about as well as I thought it would.  After two long days of driving I did not have the fortitude to push through the final miles and I slowed greatly, running the first half in 1:45 and finishing in 3:44.  Did stop for two cans of beer in the final six miles, which didn't help my time.

Spent the rest of the day in St Louis, visiting a bunch of breweries and bars within walking distance of the hotel.  Next day, which happened to be National Weimaraner Day, included a long dog hike at Gateway Arch, then a short drive south to Taum Sauk mountain.  Not a huge climb, but the trails in the state park we stayed at were awesome and we got a ton of hiking in.

Then it was two long days of driving back home.  Stopped for the night at Happy Basset Brewing in Topeka.  Had to be the most dog friendly brewery I've ever been at.  There was a huge storm while we were there and a nearby tornado, but nobody at the bar was worried so I just kept drinking.  That evening I got to sip my last beer of the trip at the van door watching an incredible lightning storm.  

16 more states to go.  Des Moines in October, probably the last state I'll be able to road trip to.  

Missouri or bust!

Mon - incline 13 in the evening.

Tues - run commute 39.  Five there, 6.4 back home.

Wed - run commute 40.  Five there.  Started to run home when the SAR pager started chirping, so I jumped on a PikeRide to get home quicker.  Then the call got stood down.  Spent the extra time finishing up my wilderness first responder recert, I'm officially a Wilderness EMT now.

Off to St. Louis tomorrow.  Emporia on Thursday night, damn near ten years to the day since I somehow finished the Dirty Kanza.  Then downtown STL for a few days, then back.  Hoping to get state marathon number 34 and state high point number 28.

fine art

Mon - incline 12

Tues - run commute 35.  Took the bus to work, 6.4 miles back home.  The number three bus which runs from downtown COS to Manitou and back is free now!

Wed - run commute 36.  Five there, 3.6 back home.

Thurs - run commute 37.  Bus to work, four miles back home.

Fri - run commute 38.  Five there, five back.

Sat - the 'ol COVID loop with the Nielsen Challenge in the middle.  Timing was a bit off and showed up two minutes late for the Nielsen, but still managed to barely crack 14 for the two mile run.  15 miles on the day.  Late night SAR training was a mock mission up in Fox Run park.

Sun - big plans for a trip to Barr Camp, but instead I got stuck on cadet taxi duty.  Ran around for an hour unsuccessfully searching for some hidden brewery Easter eggs before hanging at Fossil.

We took part in a fundraiser for the Ark Valley Humane Society where they assigned a rando to draw your dog.  Our artist was some kid from Whitewater high school in Wisconsin and it turned out really good.

For the week:

run - 56 miles, 11 hourss

hike - 35 miles, 15 hours

Where's My Mule?

Mon - good 3 x 1 mile workout up at the John Holmes track.

Tues - run commute 31.  Five there and five back.  CityRock 16 at lunch.

Wed - easy day.  Run commute 32, four miles there.  Took a PikeRide home after work.

Thurs - run commute 33.  Five there, four back.

Fri - Iron 13 in the early morning, then an easy four miles to work.  Later in the day $100 picked me up and we headed to Denver for the Gov't Mule concert.  Excellent show!

Sat - Solid day drinking in Denver, hitting the Lakeview Lounge, WestFax, and the Sit n Bull Saloon.  Then lots of Buff Creek hiking.  

Sun - drank a lot of beers on Saturday night but still got in a good two hour hike with the dogs followed by a two hour run on the Colorado trail.  Then headed to Crazy Mountain Brewing to spend the night.  Sunday was a good day!

For the week:

run - 50 miles, 9.5 hours

hike - 37 miles, 14 hours

4900 feet of climbing

I'll just go ahead and throw in March mileage here.  Pretty solid month with the Little Rock and Salida marathons.

run - 237 miles, 44 hours

hike - 131 miles, 51 hours

35,383 feet of climbing

recovery

Mon - nice 3.5 mile hike around Salida, including Duke's memorial, before heading back to COS.  Incline eleven after work.  Always takes a few days to recover after Salida marathon weekend.

Tues - run commute 28.  Five there, 6.4 back.

Wed - run commute 29.  Five there, 3.5 back.  Blizzard training at SAR even though temps will be hitting the 80s soon.

Thurs - five mile ruck with the dog in the AM, 4.3 mile run in the PM.

Fri - Iron 12 in the AM, then run commute 30.  

Sat - AM training with the SAR dogs followed by a six mile run.

On Saturday night we headed over to our old stomping grounds in Knob Hill to see the Dave Matthews Tribute Band.  Had a blast!  Ended the night at the Skybox.

Still managed to get up early enough for some high angle SAR training.  Lots going on above and below that you can't see in this pic.

For the week:

run - 51 miles, ten hours

hike - 32 miles, 12.5 hours

4:54:55

Solid day at the Run Through Time.  Could tell I haven't been running on trails lately as I struggled on the techy downhills of the second half, but I hung on to get my first sub five hour finish in a long time.  Rest of the weekend was spent hiking with dogs and drinking local brews.  Always a great time hanging in Salida.

For the week:

run - 68 miles, 13 hours

hike - 34 miles, 13.5 hours

I am signed up for the San Juan Softie.

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.