3:47:55

Meh.

Not good.  Not bad.  Got what I deserved.

Looking forward to getting after it again tomorrow!

Samantha

Training has not been super great since the Softie.  But there has been lots of SAR action, including high up on the peak, so maybe that will carry me through the Double.  No big goals, but I'd like for both races to take me less than ten hours if possible.

Caught Samantha Fish here in COS on her way to Telluride.  The girl still crushes onstage.

san juan softie

Good times down in the San Juans with a big loop starting/ending at Purgatory, a ski resort just north of Durango.  I had a pretty rough patch from mile 80 to 95 but other than that the 105 miles went pretty well.  Was running around a 30 hour finish until mile 80 before that hot mess of a stretch did me in.  Overall I'd say I had a great race, moved well for most of the loop.  No pacer.  Possibly my last one unless I can somehow get into High Lonesome next year, just not enjoying the time it takes to train for these hundos anymore.  Highly recommend this race, do it soon before it turns into an influencer convention like so many other Colorado races have become.

We stuck around Durango for a few days after the run, spending lots of time at the dog park and various breweries and bars around town.

Then it was off to the Grand Canyon.  My first time ever visiting as a tourist and not running R2R2R.  It was quite nice.  Parked the van at the Mather campground for a few days and just hung out at the campsite and around the rim.  Such a magical place.

Then Flagstaff for a night.  Lots of great breweries.  Even accidentally found the other Absolute Bikes.

Next planned stop was Taos, but it was a long drive so we overnighted at a brewery in Grants, NM.  Grants was the site of my biggest endurance failure when I pulled the plug on a disaster of a bike trip along the Continental Divide trail.  The town hasn't changed much since then. though the new (to me) Mt. Taylor coffee shop was a nice stop before heading down the road.

Next day was the trip to Taos, taking a break at the Santa Fe Brewing Company.  We hit Taos and immediately went out the van friendly Hotel Luna Mystica, conveniently located a short walk from Taos Mesa Brewing.  Saw formerly local COS band Steely Dead and had a blast that night.

Could have made the trip home after Taos, but as is usual for us we got sidelined in Salida.  Was a nice way to spend the last night of our road trip.

Great trip, took a while to adjust back to normal life after this one.

For the month of August I turned 51, ran my 14th hundo, and put up the following numbers:

run - 213 miles, 52 hours, 27444 feet of climbing

hike - 125 miles, 56 hours, 12431 feet of climbing

Softie bound

Headed off in the van for a bit.  

Down to Durango for the San Juan Softie.  Pretty excited for that, even with a less than stellar forecast.  I think you should be able to track me here if you have nothing better to do with your life.  Starts Friday at 6AM and I'm shooting for a 33 hour finish.  

Potentially my last hundo.  Takes too much time to train for anymore.  I'd like to go out with High Lonesome but I don't see myself ever getting into that race unfortunately.

Durango for a few days after that race, then we aren't sure where we'll go.  If the weather is dog friendly, we'll head down to Flagstaff via the Grand Canyon.  If it's too hot in AZ, we'll bum around the San Juans for a few days.  Either way I'm looking forward to some down time after the race.

Shot of me from the Pony Express last Saturday:

51

Lots to catch up on.

Returned from a big van trip down to Creede and Del Norte.  Ran well at the Creede 50, finishing the tough course in 13:59:01.  Tempest Adventures once again delivered a nice ass kicking, low key run.  Then the next day I got up and ran the San Juan Sports local race, a 5.8 miler on the Shallow Creek Trail.  Took the next day off but got right back at it with a summit of Phoenix Peak, a Colorado Centennial and the 73rd highest peak in the state.  Mookie loved it.

Lots of other great hikes/runs in Creede while we were there, including Inspiration Point and Up & Over.  Plus lots of visits to Sunnyside, Kip's, and the Tommyknocker.  And two showers in a bar!

After Creede we made our way over to Del Norte for Rhythms on the Rio.  Such a great event and it killed yet again this year!  Mornings were a big hike up Lookout Mountain and a dip in the Rio Grande with the pup, afternoons were spent at Three Barrel and hanging in the river, and fantastic music the rest of the day.  Even ran the Bee's Knees 5k, a local trail race benefiting the high school cross country team.

July was a big month for me.

run - 310 miles, 69 hours, 40000 feet of vert

hike - 180 miles, 78 hours, 28000 feet of climbing.

I turned 51 in early August on a late night SAR mission up at Rampart Range.  Hit the Sublime show later that day to celebrate.

more SAR

Little low on the running miles but such is life.  Still a good week as most of those hiking miles involved a pretty heavy pack.

Big SAR week with training and missions and hanging out at the Barr Trail Mountain Race.  

SAR Dog training on Saturday, some urban stuff up in Monument.  Just as we ended a mission kicked off.  Some kid had a really bad bike wreck near Barr Camp that required a helicopter evac.  In case the chopper couldn't make it I got to drive the ORV up Longs Ranch Road to Bob's Road.

Luckily it was a pretty uneventful day for BTMR, no serious runner issues.  I left the TH at 4AM to hike up to Barr Camp and hang out.

For the week:

run - 58 miles, ten hours, 3200 feet of climbing

hike - 40 miles, 17 hours, 6700 feet of climbing

keepin' on

Got some miles in over the past week despite SAR attempting to steal all my time.  Up to 72 run commutes, 22 inclines, 69 trips to Planet Fitness, and 30 Iron Mountain summits.

For the week ending July 12:

run - 72 miles, 17.5 hours, 9900 feet of climbing

hike - 50 miles, 20 hours, 5600 feet of climbing (see above comment about SAR)

Things caught up with me on Monday as I was fairly under the weather.  Keeping with the SAR theme I did respond to an Incline mission (patient ended up hiking down before SAR arrived) and recertified my BLS/CPR.

Had Hiccup duty the past few days.  The dogs are not enjoying this heat, but I do what I can to make them happy.

Palmer Lake Fun Run

Hope to up the mileage this month to prep for the San Juan Softie.  

Big run on Friday, heading up Barr Trail to Barr Camp to say hello to the new caretakers.  Came back down for an incline trip during the heat of the day.  Six hours and 6000 feet of climbing on the day.

On Saturday I headed up north to Palmer Lake for their annual four mile run.  Decent run for me, got off to a slow start due to so many people but steadily working up through the field.  Splits were 7:05: 6:47, 6:34, and 6:25 for the downhill course.  Solid effort.  Kind of a new tradition for me as I'm able to sneak this in before helping with SAR duties at the Monument parade.

SAR training on Sunday morning, then as I was headed over to the Incline the pager went off.  It was for a dehydrated/exhausted dog so of course I responded.  The dog ended up being fine, but the rescue took a chunk of my day and I ended up with zero miles.

For the week:

run - 74 miles, 17 hours, 12700 feet of vert

hike - 36 miles, 14 hours, 43200 feet of climbing

June

Pretty big month considering I basically missed a week due to eyeball surgery.  Nice to get in long runs at the Great Divide 100k and Rachel Carson.

run - 277 miles, 61.5 hours, 37811 feet of climbing

hike - 139 miles, 58 hours, 16660 feet of vert

Up to 67 run commutes, 29 trips to CityRock, and 67 visits to Planet Fitness, including one in Pittsburgh.

low numbers

Not a great week as I took most of it off due to eye surgery.  Kept busy with SAR though, we've been getting a lot of calls lately.

run - 15 miles, 2.5 hours, a whopping 858 feet of ascent

hike - 36 miles, 17 hours, 5k of climbing

Took Mook and Millie up to Monument to hike with my SAR dog friends Sora and Boomer.  Good times!

Rachel Carson

Been talking about this for years now, nice to finally get the thing done.  Crazy that the city of Pittsburgh has a 37 mile trail that's mostly singletrack that cruises the north side of town.  Ran well, loved every minute of the day.  Predicted nine hours, ended up running 8:52.

Rest of the trip was fantastic, as Pittsburgh always is.  Saw some old friends, visited some old bars, hung out at Pitt for a while.  Always miss that place.

For the week:

run - 82 miles, 18 hours, 12k of climbing

hike - 31 miles, 14 hours, 2125 feet of climbing

Back home on Monday, eye surgery on Tuesday.  Hopefully my farsightedness gets much better after this.  No strenuous activity for a week.

Hiccup

Mon - easy five miles in the AM, pretty sore from the Garden.  Incline 18 after work.

Tues - run commute 63.  Five there, 6.4 back.  CityRock for lunch.

Wed - run commute 64.  Five there, 4.2 back.  SAR training in the evening.

Thurs - early morning Iron Mountain with the dogs, then run commute 65.  7.5 there, five back.

We've been dogsitting our friend Hiccup for the past week while his owners are in Alaska.  Been a great time!

Off to Pittsburgh tomorrow.  Finally running the Rachel Carson Trail Challenge I've been talking about for years now.  Very excited, for the run and for all the Yuengling and Iron City I'm going to get to drink.

Springs Downhill Mile/Garden 10

Mon - incline 17.

Tues - run commute 61, five there and six back.

Wed - run commute 62, five there and six back.

Thurs - run commute 63.  Planned for a longer run home but I ran into Tremboli and Carson on the Santa Fe trail.  They were on their way to Goat Patch Brewing so I joined them.

Fri - nice 7.5 miler on the Garden trails in the AM.  Was planning on an evening incline but as I was leaving the house the SAR alarm went off and I headed up to Palmer Lake to help find a lost hiker.

Sat - Springs Downhill Mile.  Officially 5:46, my Garmin had my mile at 5:38 with a long course.  Solid effort, I was hurting really bad the last quarter mile.  Then off to hang with the SAR dogs.  After that I was on my way over to the incline when the damn SAR alarm went off again.  Did end up at the top of the Incline, but I got a ride up.  Ended up getting to drive our off road vehicle back down Longs Ranch Road which was fun.

Sun - Garden 10 miler.  1:13:31.  Love this race.  Ran smart and pushed hard.  Saw a buddy a ways up at the Balanced Rock turnaround and I spent the next 2.5 miles trying to catch him.  Was really in the hurt locker the final three miles of the race.  On the last steep hill he caught a peek of me sneaking up on him and he surged and got a little gap on me, and that was enough that I couldn't catch him over the final miles.  

Decent week.  Wanted a few more miles and a bit more vert, but SAR fucked things up on that front.

run - 61 miles, 12 hours, 6900 feet of climbing

hike - 31 miles, 14 hours, 4500 feet of climbing