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.

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