great flood of '06

Finally have a bit of computer access, so here are the flood pics. Can't really tell from the pics how much water there was, but trust me it was way more than you ever want to have covering the floors of your house.

run #25 - great way to end the year

Great run with the Incline Club today. Went for an hour up Barr Trail, making it to the point where a road veers off to take you to the top of the Incline. Here the snow became too deep so I headed back down and over for a big loop around Garden of the Gods. Two of the most beautiful places I've ever run. Perfect run to end the year, followed by lunch at the Purple Castle!

Start time: 8AM
Distance: approx 12.2 miles (Barr Trail/GOTG)
Time: 2:24:05
Pace: 11:48 per mile
Weather: 40F, beautiful Colorado morning

Leadville week #6

Much, much better week than last week, that's for sure. Mileage will once again slip the next two weeks due to a reserve weekend and TexMex, but after that things should start to get interesting, assuming the weather cooperates.

Week #6 distance: 40.4 miles
Week #6 time: 6:07:28
Average week #6 pace: 9:05 per mile

Total quest distance: 145.9 miles
Total quest time: 23:00:09
Average quest pace: 9:27 per mile
Average weekly mileage: 24.3 miles

run #24 - the blizzard wins again

Took me over an hour to do the first five miles of this trek, most of it through at least a foot of snow, with drifts up to my waste at points. Real slow, but it sure was a lot of fun! The five mile point dumps me onto the Monument Creek trail and I did the Jack Quinn's loop, and that was fine, except for a little ice where you go under Uintah. So there should be no lame excuses for the usual suspects to bail out of their Tuesday run.

Assuming I'm not lazy and get out of bed for the Incline Club tomorrow, this'll be my first back-to-back long run in my Leadville training! Great thing to do before my race on Monday!

Start time: 8AM
Distance: 11.5 miles (Monument Creek trails)
Time: 2:06:44
Pace: 11:01 per mile
Weather: 35F, nice and calm morning, lots of snow

run #23 - beating the blizzard

Blizzards are a window into human nature.
When they are predicted and they don't hit, most people grumble.
When they are predicted and they do hit, most people grumble.

Glad I got up early to run today, we're being blasted my more snow. Not that I'm afraid of snow, of course (I'm not afraid of anything).

Start time: 5:15AM
Distance: 5.6 miles (Knob Hill - East)
Time: 47:05
Pace: 8:24 per mile
Weather: 30F, nice and calm morning

run #22

Quick run at the Colorado Running Company last night. Easy first mile as we stayed with a flatlander, but the pace picked up pretty good the final miles.

Start time: 6PM
Distance: 4.2 miles (Fountain Creek trails)
Time: 31:15
Pace: 7:26 per mile
Weather: 37F, clear night

I'll be there someday!

The Colorado Mountain Club reports that over 1200 people have now climbed all of Colorado's 54 (I count 56 but whatever) 14ers. I'll be on that list someday! My current count is twelve, and my count for the centennial list (top 100 peaks) is thirteen.

Read about it here.

miracle in Moab

I try to read as many of these kinds of survival stories as I can, knowing it could be me out there someday. This one involved a local trail runner/adventure racer and will be a favorite of dog lovers.

jihad quote of the week

I was just reading about the mess over in Ethiopia/Somalia, and this quote stuck out for some reason.

"Ethiopia is my enemy, I will not sell bananas any more. I will take my gun and go for jihad. Otherwise I am sure they will kill me in my banana kiosk if I wait for them here."
-Muse Ali Omar, Mogadishu banana seller

Winston Churchill would be so proud.

run #21

Decent run despite all the junk food I ate earlier in the day. Pace suffered due to all the wankers who still haven't shoveled their walks, but at least I got in a good run before heading down to celebrate Christmas at Tony's.

Start time: 5:30PM
Distance: 5.6 miles (Knob Hill - west)
Time: 49:18
Pace: 8:48 per mile
Weather: 30F, high gusts of wind, chilly, icy

flood update

Having to spend Christmas day moving all my crap from the basement to the upstairs apartment. Fun fun. Had the professional cleaners come in and they've done an incredible job. After the bulk of the water had drained, they brought in a huge vacuum cleaner and still sucked up over 200 gallons of water. I immediately asked if the vacuum had a girlfriend and if I could take her on a date. Not there are two huge dehumidifiers and several industrial size fans running nonstop in my apartment.

run #20 - christmas eve

Started off just wanting to get a few miles in, ended up with a pretty good run. Almost nobody on the Fountain Creek trails due to the holiday.

Start time: 3:30PM
Distance: 13.5 miles (Fountain creek to Tejon)
Time: 1:53:06
Pace: 8:22 per mile
Weather: 30F, high gusts of wind, chilly and wet

Leadville week #5

Crappy week due to the holidays, shitty weather, work, and the flood.

Week #5 distance: 9.5 miles
Week #5 time: 1:28:04
Average week #5 pace: 9:16 per mile

Total quest distance: 105.5 miles
Total quest time: 16:52:51
Average quest pace: 9:36 per mile
Average weekly mileage: 21.1 miles

fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck...

Came home from work last night to find my apartment underwater. Seems a pipe broke and the drainage wasn't working. Thanks to Z and Lincoln for helping bring the situation under control.

Merry christmas.

avalanche

First Colorado avalanche death of the season yesterday, read about it here. I think skiiers are dorks, but a lot of my CO friends ski, so as NIPS would say, "Let's be careful out there."

Even under a current avalanche warning for Pikes Peak, which doesn't happen very often.

run #19 - screw the blizzard

You know it's bad when your local weather is the headline on CNN.com. But while I had no problem letting the weather cancel work I wasn't gonna let it derail my training. Conditions made for another slow day, but it was good to get outside.

Start time: 1:30PM
Distance: 4.75 miles (Knob Hill - south)
Time: 42:44
Pace: 8:59 per mile
Weather: 32F, "feels like" 18F, slippery but much better than yesterday

not afraid to whoop a gal's arse!

Late Nite thought she could kick my ass too...until I broke her arm! To add insult to injury I even stole her sling afterwards.

Woohoo!

This is a reminder to all of you summer sports enthusiasts that the shortest day of the year is upon us!!! Yeah!!!!! Summer is just around the corner...well kind of...

Floyd vs Lance

Rumor has it that Floyd Landis has signed up for the Leadville 100 mile mountain bike race. Lance Armstrong has already signed up also. Should be a good race! Of course, if either one of those two had any balls they'd be doing the 100 mile trail run so I could kick both their asses!

Update: not a rumor anymore. Click here for details.

hashing in Runner's World

The latest issue of Runner's World (January '07), their annual new year's motivational issue, has "The Life List," a list of things every lame-ass, dorky road runner should do within their lives. Included in the list are places runners should visit (Oxford's Iffey Road track - site of the first sub-four minute mile), places runners should run (Boston's Heartbreak Hill), books runners should read, even people runners should try to imitate (like Steve Prefontaine - I certainly have the heavy drinking part down!). The best item on the list, though, is "Wear a Red Dress." Quoted from the article:

Running is fun. Beer is fun. Put them together and you have the ridiculuously fun sport of hashing. For the uninitiated, one person (the hare) sets off running and leaves clues (usually sprinkles of flour) for the pack (harriers) to follow. At the end of the trail there's beer, if not an actual bar.

The concept originated in 1938 at Kuala Lumpur's Selangor Club -a.k.a. the Hash House- when a bunch of bored Brits created the first "kennel." There are now more than 1500 kennels around the world. "I've hashed in Belize, London, and Helsinki," says Jay Hopkins, the former editor of the hashing info web site half-mind.com.

A U.S. version came in 1988 in California when a woman joined the previously all-male sport and ran in heels and a red dress. The on-on party after has been memorialzed in song, verse, and Red Dress Runs from San Diego to Cairo. Red dress is mandatory. Hairy legs okay too.

sixty one!

The weekend's activities have brought my Colorado Springs pub list up to 61! With a little effort I'll be able to celebrate #69 on my one year anniversary of being a Coloradian.

mountain rescue

Details of a local rescue from the A-Frame can be found on my Pikes blog. Great to know that people like Teresa and Neil, the El Paso County SAR, and others are out there in case I ever get into trouble on a mountain.

run #18 - winter wonderland

Can't believe I got my arse out to run today, but sometimes you gotta force yourself to deal with shitty conditions to appreciate the good weather even more. Colorado was hit with a massive blizzard late this morning, but it didn't stop me from getting a few miles in. Snow was about six to eight inches and still falling, but there were lots of drifts I had to plow through, some reaching well above my knee. Felt like Rocky when he was gearing up to fight that ugly Russian, even had to stop to push some doc's BMW off the curb over by Memorial Hospital.

Start time: 3PM
Distance: 4.75 miles (Knob Hill - south)
Time: 45:20
Pace: 9:32 per mile
Weather: 23F, "feels like" 7F, low to nil visability

white christmas...

So much for the 80 hour work week. My "real" job has closed it's office until Friday. The Springs is getting hammered, supposed to get up to a foot of snow with winds reaching 60 mph. Woohoo! Great running weather! Especially for some loops around Memorial Lake, where there's nothing to protect me from the wind!

on drinking...

"The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass."
-Martin Mull (1943 - )

Good luck to all the wankers doing the pub run tomorrow. Should be a great mix of runners and hashers. I better see lots of pics posted (most of scantily clad women, of course).

work sucks

Working 7AM to 10:30PM every day this week, so sorry for not updating my blog every 15 minutes like I usually do.

Great alcoholic weekend with the P2H4 and Tejon St. Pub Crawl.

Pics are here.

upcoming races

Gonna give a shot at getting some of my old speed back into my legs, most of which was left behind when I started trail running. Even signed up for a few local races.

On January 1st I'll be doing the Rescue Run over in Palmer Park. 10K. Mostly road, with a few trails thrown in for good measure. I'll be looking to break 43 minutes, though a lot of that will depend on how bad I feel from New Year's Eve.

On January 20th I'll be doing the Cross Country Caper 5K in Bear Creek Park. Might try to go sub-20, but it is a cross-country race so we'll see.

Gonna do some of the Pikes Peak Road Runners winter series. I'll hafta miss two of them, but I'll be able to get to the eight miler and the Black Forest 20K.

On February 17th I'm thinking about taking my mountain bike up to Denver for the Chilly Cheeks Du, a ten mile bike/four mile run.

On February 25th, MeatGazer and I are gonna go up to Denver and Run the Register. 47 floors, 1,014 steps. Put all my Incline training to good use. Hafta check the calendar, hopefully there's a Denver hash that day.

Also looking to get in some snowshoe races.

And that's the current race schedule. Should keep my pretty busy during the winter.

Leadville week #4

Another good week on the road to Leadville.

Week #4 distance: 32.3 miles
Week #4 time: 3:13:12
Average week #4 pace: 10:17 per mile

Total quest distance: 96.0 miles
Total quest time: 15:24:47
Average quest pace: 9:37 per mile
Average weekly mileage: 24.0 miles

run #17 - return to CRUD

Up early for a good run with the guys from Team CRUD. Ran along the Sante Fe trail onto the USAF Academy horse stables and goofed off on some of the trails back there.

Start time: 7AM
Distance: 9.0 miles
Time: 1:20:29
Pace: 8:56 per mile
Weather: great morning, temps pushing 50F. Could be the last of the good weather for Colorado though...

the incline

One of the staples of my training schedule since I moved to Colorado has been the Incline. I've been known for doing some crazy workouts ever since I started running, but this is definitely the hardest workout I've ever done. I could post graphs and pictures all day, but you just don't get a feel for the Incline unless you've done it. To put things into perspective, I have a 4:32 PR for the mile (and could probably run sub 5:30 nowadays) but I have only broken half an hour on the Incline once. In fact, my 5 mile PR (at the T-Cloud Turkey Trot in Austin) is faster than my Incline PR.

The pic below is a shot of the Incline from the start of the Pikes marathon.

To clarify things, the Incline Club, who I run with on Sunday's (and Thursday's come spring), has nothing to do with the Incline, though most all the members do work out on the Incline.

For more info, including the trespassing controversey surrounding the land, click here.

Run #16 - the incline

Good workout at the Incline today. Didn't quite have the charge up the hill like last week, but still broke 32 minutes. Round trip in 57:14, then some good time in the gym at the Y.

Start time: 3PM
Distance: 4.0 miles
Time: 57:14
Pace: 14:18 per mile
Weather: beautiful, clear afternoon, 54F! Mid December and shorts and short sleeved shirt at 9300 feet in Colorado!

Wooohoooo!

Not only is New Monsoon playing the Black Sheep in early January, but Creating a New Sense is opening! And, if that weren't good enough, tix are only eight bucks!

competitive hashing at it's finest!

Davey Crotchit and I made a bet this morning concerning the Asshole trail at TexMex. The loser has to drink a shoe full of beer. I have no worries as there's no way he'll out hash me.



I couldn't find a pic of Davey, so I posted this one. Free beer to the first person to tell me who the old guy is.

Every now and then Net comes up with something funny. (Please note: this post does not apply to beggin' for it or DNA Princess)

CKH3 hasmas party

I know there were several hundred million pictures taken at the recent Kimchi hashmas throwdown at Arctic Brewing, but for whatever reason nobody wants to post 'em. Until then, here's a random shot that includes "The Chandelier," a beer bong that allows four hashers to simultaneously enjoy a pitcher and a half each of Arctic homebrew in just a few seconds.

Run #15 - some homeless chick let me read the "Kimchi Book of Essentials" while she gave me a cleveland steamer in a port-o-john at Boulder park!

OK, that really didn't happen, just trying a trick I learned from Lulu to spice up an otherwise boring post.

What did happen was that, even after a great workout at the gym, I still had some steam to burn off and decided to do a late night run. So I had a few beers and threw on four layers of clothes and took off.

Start time: 10PM
Distance: 4.75 miles (Knob Hill - south)
Time: 34:37
Pace: 7:17 per mile
Weather: beautiful, clear evening, 41F at 10PM!
Number of beers consumed in the twenty minutes prior to this run: 2 (can of PBR and bottle of Breckenridge Vanilla Porter)

Had it not been for the extra layers of clothes which slowed me down towards the end, I coulda kept under seven minutes per mile. Which gave me a goal for my upcoming Rescue Run on January 1st. I'm gonna try to break 43 minutes (i.e., sub seven per mile). If I were doing the Cap 10K or the Great Race this wouldn't be a big deal, but the Rescue loops through extremely hilly Palmer Park. Should be a good challenge.

I'm moving to El Salvador!

Except I'm gonna make sure I always finish 4th!

Grain alcohol is good

happy anniversary!

It was three years ago today that the 4th ID and the SF spooks captured Saddam. It was also the last time I was in a major firefight, in Bayji, north of Tikrit. Nice to see Iraq has become a bastion of democracy since then, eh?

Congrats again to the mighty 4th, who will return home from their second Iraq deployment this week, take some leave, and move up here to Fort Carson. Sorry ladies, but not all the guys in the division are as cool as me.

run #14 - not so lazy after all!

Forgot that my office closed early today. So it wasn't that I was lazy this morning, it was that I wanted to do a daylight run in Palmer Park!

On another note, I mailed in rego for both TexMex and the Rescue Run 10K today. The rescue run will be my first road race in a LONG time.

Also re-joined the YMCA today (with a big, fat military discount!). I liked the city gym I had been going to, but they didn't have basketball courts and my hoops skills were starting to suffer.

Anyways, the stats:

Start time: 2:00PM
Distance: approx 5.9 miles
Time: 60:26
Pace: 10:14 per mile (sounds slow but the Palmer Park trails are super technical)
Weather: beautiful Colorado day, 50F.

I am a pathetic loser.

When my alarm went off at 4:55AM this morning to awake me for my run, I immediately reset it for 6:30AM and went back to bed. I'll never finish Leadville and should stick to the one mile fun run portions of local road 5K's.

run #13 - Ute Pass

Not sure how I was able to get out of bed this morning, but I drug myself to the Incline Club. Ended up doing the Ute Pass out and back. Felt like hell, had nothing in the tank to get me up all the hills, but I stuck it out.

Start time: 8:00AM
Distance: 8.6 miles
Time: 1:39:46
Pace: 11:36 per mile (had to hike up a lot of those hills)
Weather: beautiful Colorado day, 37F.

Leadville - week #3

Missing the Incline Club on Sunday and all the hashmas parties combined to keep my mileage low this week.

Week #3 distance: 20.2 miles
Week #3 time: 3:13:12
Average week #3 pace: 9:33 per mile

Total quest distance: 63.7 miles
Total quest time: 9:52:15
Average quest pace: 9:17 per mile
Average weekly mileage: 21.2 miles

red dress pics

Pics from the Kimchi red dress @ red rocks can be seen here.

run #12 - the Incline breakthrough

After doing the Incline religiously for over a year now, I finally met my goal of a sub-30 minute ascent. Smoked yesterday's trek in 29:34! Ice made the trip back down the Barr Trail a bit treacherous though, and I ended up doing the loop in 57:38. Of course, any health benefits of this run were negated by the damage I did to my liver at the hashmas party.

Start time: 2:30PM
Distance: 4.o miles
Time: 57:38 (including the PR on the Incline)
Pace: 14:24 per mile (highly skewed by the 2000 foot elevation gain of the one mile long Incline)Weather: beautiful Colorado day, 55F.

P2H4 hashmas party

Can someone fill me in on what happened last night? I don't really remember a whole lot...

I moved from Austin because of the cold weather!

It is currently a full ten degrees warmer in Colorado Springs than it is in Austin. I'm off to do the Incline, then it's time to get my drunk on! Woohoo!

for the St. Louis fans...

Seems like a really great town up there.

warm beer sucks

x-mas pub crawl on Dec 17!

Found this on the internet, think I'm gonna do it. You hafta sign up today if any of yunz Coloradians wanna join me.

pub crawl

rest in peace

Listen to the Beatles while having a brew this evening, John Lennon died 26 years ago today.

life is good

Pittsburgh beat the living tar out of the cleveland brownies last night. Don't look now, but my Steelers have won 4 of the past 5 and are getting hot at the right time...

for the record...

1. So I was talking to Tiffany last night, as she'll be visiting the Springs soon and asked me for some cool things to do while she's here. I was suggesting some of the cooler things around here (the hash, several pubs, the Incline, the zoo...) and she blurts out, "So, are you really gay?" I spent the next half hour trying to explain things, and I still don't think she believes I'm straight.

I know a lot of people I never met read this, so just because all my married Kimchi buddies (who are jealous of my freedom) call me gay, I don't really like dudes. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

2. What's up with people having second and third "favorite" teams? DTR, who says he's a UCLA fan, was rooting for USC. Gagger, an A&M grad, roots for UT quite often. By the reasoning given to me, I should be rooting for Penn State (local team) and West Virginia (Big East needs bowl winners) for the upcoming bowl games, which Pitt has decided to stay out of. In actuality, I'm rooting for those two teams' airplanes to collide 30,000 feet up in the sky on their way home from the bowl games, which I hope both teams lost.

run #11

Made it to the happy hour run at the Colorado Running Club tonight. Nice, easy out and back five miler. The snow and ice have finally melted, though running on a trail in the pitch black that now comes with 6PM doesn't make for a fast time. Tried to hit the gym afterwards, but the damn city gym closes at 7:30PM during the holidays. So I went home and drank beer and ate a huge bag of Middleswarth BBQ chips instead. Oh well, it's the thought that counts.

Start time: 6PM
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 42:38
Pace: 8:31 per mile
Weather: beautiful, clear evening, 35F, "feels like" 25F

math sucks

So this chick at work comes up to me today and says, "I need to test out of college math, can you do the exam for me?"

I told her I took lots of calculus and statistics at Pitt, but that was some time ago and I've killed off a brain cell or two since then. But I figured I'd do my good deed and brush up on some stuff and then take the exam for her.

No dice, had to take the test this morning. And I passed! Woohoo, not that I want to go back to school, but if I did I wouldn't hafta take any more math! Can't believe I remembered all that crap, I really gotta increase my drinking.

celebrate your freedom!

Today is a momentus day in American history - the day that the 18th Amendment was repealed and prohibition officially came to an end.

So, raise a toast today to the 21st Amendment and your freedom to drink!

run #10 - faking the all nighter

So last night on my run I saw a frequent visitor to the Knob Hill Lounge heading into the bar. I was running towards the mountains. On this morning's run I saw him again, heading out to work. I ran the opposite direction, so it looked like I was coming from the mountains. On both runs I was wearing the same jogging pants and jacket. I got a really strange look from him. I wonder if he thought I ran all night?

Start time: 5:30AM
Distance: 5.6 miles (Knob Hill - West)
Time: 47:54
Pace: 8:33 per mile
Weather: clear skies, slippery sidewalks, 20F, "feels like" 10F.

run #9

Added a little extra distance to my Knob Hill loop, upped it to 5.6 miles. Snow and ice are still making the going slow. Took me damn near nine minutes to do the first mile, those lazy Knob Hill-ians (espeaially the wankers at the Olympic Training Center) need to shovel their friggin' sidewalks already!

Start time: 7:45PM
Distance: 5.6 miles (Knob Hill - East)
Time: 45:02
Pace: 8:02 per mile
Weather: clear skies, great view of the moon, 15F.

Lance Armstrong is afraid of me!

If he had a full set of cajones, he'd be doing the run instead of the bike. Can't really blame him though, he couldn't beat my road marathon PR so there's no way he could take me on the trails.

support the troops!

There is no truth to the rumor that Davey Crotchit is ghost writing my blog, though a lot of the stuff he sends me ends up on here.

Great stuff by the Asylum Street Spankers! I haven't figured out how to post youtube stuff, so you'll hafta click here to see it.

HAIL TO PITT!!!

Great pic, shows how clearly overmatched the Auburn Tigers were in the game today. #2 Pitt now stands at 8-0!

Leadville week #2

Results for the second week of the Leadville quest. From here 'till March or so the toughest part won't be the running but will be getting out the door into the frigid Colorado winter.

Week #2 distance: 29.25 miles
Week #2 time: 4:49:28
Average week #2 pace: 9:53 per mile

Total quest distance: 43.5 miles
Total quest time: 6:39:03
Average quest pace: 9:10 per mile

Might hafta start playing with the stats a bit, maybe give the Incline it's own category so it doesn't screw up my average pace so much.

for the songmeisters...

Got the latest hashmas hymnal from Davey, always guaranteed to make beer come out of my nose as I read it. I'll start posting some of the tunes, you Kimchi wankers need to learn some of these for the red dress @ red rocks on Saturday!


Joy To The Girls
Melody - Joy to the World
Joy to the girls,
From the Kimchi Hash,
Your present's in my pants.
I had no time to wrap it,
Now hurry up and lap it,
Repeat that bobbing stroke,
Repeat that bobbing stroke,
Repeat, Repeat,
Until you choke.

Joy To The Girls II
Melody - Joy to the World
Joy to the world,
I've finally cum,
A moment I enjoy,
Now get your fucking beanie,
Up off my shriveled weenie,
And call yourself a cab,
And get me one more beer,
And remember, you're doing it,
Again next year.

this ain't the Army anymore...

The tally from my first day with the Air Force Reserve:

Hours worked: 2.5
Pay to be received: $150.00

Thank you for paying your taxes. Oh, and by "work" I don't mean I really did anything, just sat around in a conference room telling war stories to all the newbys. I really appreciate the Air Force because by them flying supplies into Iraq it reduces the need for convoys along the roads, and hence saves lives of Army folks, but sheesh, it's not really the military. However, in those 2.5 hours, I did see more attractive women in BDUs than in my entire time in the Army.

Good news is that I got done in time to make it to the Pikes Peak hash!

HAIL TO PITT!

The Pitt woman's hoops team now stands at 8-0 after their trouncing of Penn State last night! Woohoo! P-E-N-N S-T SUCKS!

run #8 - return to the incline

Back to the Incline this afternoon with Lincoln. Great workout, I really feel bad for serious athletes who don't have access to this gem. Lots of snow and ice, but there was a decent path up the Incline and it didn't slow me down too much. Bombing back down the Barr Trail was great too, having to watch for ice as well as negotiating all the switchbacks in the snow.

Hit the top of the incline in 33 minutes, very surprising to me that I was able to do it that fast since it's been a while since I did this workout. Still, I'm on a personal quest to finally break half an hour, and this was a good start for my assault on that goal.

Start time: 3:45PM
Distance: 4.o miles
Time: 55:57 (not counting the LONG time I had to wait for Lincoln to summit the Incline)
Pace: 13:59 per mile (highly skewed by the 2000 foot elevation gain of the one mile long Incline)
Weather: clear but chilly, 25F, "feels like" 17F.

I'm finally a Coloradian...

Not only did I put on my brand-spankin' new State of Colorado license plates today, I told my landlord I'd be taking my luxorious basement apartment for another year!

Hot Wheeles

Not many Austinites will remember Hot Wheeles, a very good friend of mine from my early hashing days. We kept in touch long after she left Austin for Annapolis and elsewhere in her Navy career. She's even a veteran of the Newport Moose turkey trot 10K and Thanksgiving dinner at the Teisher house in Sunbury.

But over the past year or so she had kinda fallen off the face of the earth, disappointing for me since she was a pretty cool chick (and against my usual SOP I actually didn't do anything to deserve the cold shoulder).

So I asked Lincoln to track her Navy e-mail down for me. He said, "blah, blah, blah, I'm the Navy webmaster, I can do anything computer related, blah, blah, blah...." And of course he couldn't find it.

Anyways, I just got an e-mail from her. She was on a deployment somewhere. She's back in the USA now, safe and sound.

Thought I'd pass this beta along, since there are Austin hashers who have been hashing for more than a few months and might remember her.

run #7

Still chilly, but not nearly as cold or icy as my last run. By far the worst section, which I almost had to walk because the ice was so bad, was the quarter mile or so I run around the U.S. Olympic Training Center. You'd think that would be the last place to impede my training.

Start time: 5:45AM
Distance: 4.75 miles (Knob Hill - South)
Time: 37:04
Pace: 7:48 per mile
Weather: clear, 25F, "feels like" 16F.

Gonna find a way to add on a mile or so to my standard Knob Hill route this weekend, need to bump up these runs to at least 40 minutes.

the first present...

Got one of my coolest gifts ever today, a humongous wall map of Colorado! Woohoo! Yes, I'm quite the map dork. But this is a good one of the mountains, really puts a lot of the peaks I've bagged into perspective and has made my list of mountains to climb while in CO a lot longer.

run #6 and Colorado wine #2

Incredibly cold and icy conditions tonight, hence the slow time. Good effort though. Surprisingly enough, I didn't fall on my ass a single time though the whole route was like an ice skating rink.

Start time: 6:20PM
Distance: 4.75 miles (Knob Hill - north)
Time: 38:49
Pace: 8:10 per mile
Weather: 13F, "feels like" -2F!

Time to reward my effort with a bottle of wine! Tonight is a bottle of "cherries 'n honey" from the Meadery of the Rockies out of Palisade, CO. Cool quote on the side: "To the Norse, Mead was the drink of the gods, to the English, the drink of kings. To you, the drink of the enlightened."

bored at work...

run #5

Knew today would be slow, I was still super sore from the weekend (Sat run, IC run, football game, and two hashes), and I didn't disappoint. Glad I got my lazy ass out of bed though, supposed to be the last of the nice weather for a while.

Start time: 5:20AM
Distance: 4.75 miles (Knob Hill - North)
Time: 39:08
Pace: 8:14 per mile
Weather: clear skies, 41F, "feels like" temp of 33F. To the point now where it stays dark the entire duration of my early morning runs.

Great news!

Found out yesterday that the Purple Castle is going to start staying open late. During the winter they'll be open 'till 10PM Friday through Sunday. In the summer they'll be open 'till 3AM on those days! Woohoo! Can't wait to finally visit the PC while I'm wasted!

no respect...

Pitt ended up staying at #2 in the polls. UCLA jumped over us. Hard to be upset at the Bruins seeing as their coach, Ben Howland, really built up the Panthers program.

HAIL TO PITT!!!

When the new AP college hoops poll comes out later today, guess who is gonna be #1? Yup, the mighty mighty Pitt Panthers! LONG time since Pitt has been #1 in the country at anything, probably back in the early 80s when Danny Marino was leading the football team, and we've never been that high in basketball.

Should be able to keep the ranking too, with such cupcakes as Auburn and Wisconsin coming up.

turkey bowl

Some of the highlights from the trail portion of the turkey bowl. The football game itself was dominated by the Kimchi hash. Rest of the pics are here. A write up of the game can be seen on NBN's blog.

Leadville week #1

Results for the first week of Leadville training (does not include the IC run):

Total distance: 14.25 miles
Total time: 1:49:35
Average pace: 7:41 per mile

Not a bad week considering I had been awfully lazy for the past month. Should be another low mileage week since I gotta play Air Force this weekend, but after that things should get interesting as I'll hit the IC for three weekends in a row.

Run #4 - Incline Club kick off!

"We train hard because there are two ways to get fast... We haven’t found the other!"

First IC run of the season today! Woohoo! My enthusiasm was immediately beaten down by the Ute Pass Trail though, sheesh that's a tough run.

My goal was to run out an hour and then turn around, which was a pretty tall order considering my recent layoff. Figured in that hour I would make it the 4.3 miles to the end of the Ute Pass.

Ended up doing a bit better than I thought. Hit the end of Ute Pass in under 50 minutes and was able to run a good distance into Waldo Canyon. Ran out for 61 minutes, and made the return trip in 57 minutes (it's a bit easier on the way back) for a total time of 1:58:30. Felt really good, and I even thought of doing the entire canyon with Melissa, but I didn't want to push so hard so early in the season.

Start time: 8:10AM
Distance: approx. 11 miles
Time: 1:58:30
Pace: 10:46 per mile (sounds slow, but the Ute Pass ain't no easy run)
Weather: clear skies, 35F, "feels like" temp of 29F. Though it did warm up considerably during the run.

Ended the run with a bacon cheeseburger from the Purple Castle, yum yum!

turkey bowl

I'll do a more complete write up of the turkey bowl, which was dominated by the Kimchi hash, after I get home from the Denver hash. Until then, the pics are here.

Saturday is a hashing day!

It's 9:45AM, and I just poured my first glass of whiskey and put Animal House on. I don't think today is going to be very productive.

chillin' with the CKH3

Stole this pic from NASCOCK. From last night's Kimchi happy hour at Arctic Brewery. Wonder if there's anything the owners won't let us get away with there?

For you wanna-be bounty hunters out there, MILF has paid his fine and is no longer wanted by the law in Texas. Odds are 2-1 he'll be arrested at TexMex though.

Run #3

Very surprised that A) I got out of bed this morning and B) I actually ran pretty well. Kinda got a little drunk last night at the Kimchi happy hour. Very glad I was able to squeeze in one last easy run before the Incline Club starts tomorrow though.

Start time: 8:20AM
Distance: 4.7 miles (Knob Hill - South)
Time: 34:19 (current KHS course record!)
Pace: 7:18 per mile
Weather: clear skies, 40F, "feels like" 35F
Texas tribute: shortly after the corner of Platte and Union, there was an empty bottle of Shiner Bock sitting in the sidewalk!

two more!

Managed to bag 10,073ft Vigil Peak and 10,433 San Luis Peak this morning. Great hike, though it was about as technical a climb as I'll do solo, and wasn't made any easier by the snow that was present. Not sure if I'm just really out of shape from my month off or I've lost my high altitude lungs from sitting in the Springs for so long, but I sure was huffin' and puffin' the entire hike, which took just under four hours.

The climbs were my 21st and 22nd summit of a named peak since I moved to Colorado.

Was hoping to get some good pics of Pikes Peak for my other blog, but Mt. Rosa (which I plan to climb soon) was in the way the entire time.

Did get a good poke in the eye from a branch just before topping San Luis. I was scared for a minute, I felt the branch hit my eyeball (that was gross) and it hurt like hell so I thought I punctured it. Ended up just losing a contact lens, which screwed up my depth perception and made for a much interesting hike back down the mountain.

Pics are here.

Run #2

Having worked back to back 15 hour days and facing a third today, it was pretty hard to crawl out of bed for my run this morning. But I figured I wouldn't be setting a good precedent if I pussied out of my second day back.

Start time: 6AM
Distance: 4.75 miles (Knob Hill - North)
Time: 37:35
Pace: 7:54 per mile
Weather: 48F, "feels like" 44F

Tomorrow morning it's off to the Briargate YMCA to help run the finish line at the Turkey Trot 5K. First non-Iraq Thanksgiving day I've not run some kind of race since I was in high school. Good luck to all those Austinites doing the Turkey Trot 5 miler (where I hold my PR, 29:27, despite several Wild Turkey shots before the race), my dad doing the Newport Moose 10K, and of course all those doing the mother of all races, the Berwick Run for the Diamonds.

woohoo!

New Monsoon will be playing the Black Sheep on Jan 3!

HAIL TO PITT!

Pitt has moved up to #3 in the AP College Hoops poll!

more Palo Duro

The latest issue of the Pikes Peak Road Runners monthly newsletter had a good write up about Palo Duro. My pic is in there, as well as a quote I made when I wasn't feeling my best. Click here and then scroll down to page 19 for the story. The three others in the pic are also hashers (Long Hard One, NIPS, and Strip Me). Please note that I'm wearing a Black Sheep t-shirt and drinking a PBR.

Run #1

Couldn't take being lazy anymore, so I got up at 5AM this morning for the Knob Hill loop. FYI, I never met my goal of hitting 180 pounds during my month off.

Distance: 4.7 miles
Time: 37:41
Weather: mostly clear, 30F, "feels like" temp of 24F.
Wardrobe Malfunction: didn't notice my sweatpants came untied until they were around my knees. Don't get too hot and bothered ladies (and Smut), I had shorts on underneath.

Coach Bell would shit his pants if he knew I ran the 4.7 loop so slow. Quick math tells me that's somewhere about 7:55 per mile, not too horrible for taking time off. Could definitely feel the loss of fitness on the second half of the run though.

Full Sail Wassail and Roadkill Red

Good thing I haven't been slacking on my drinking as much as I have on my promised new booze posts.

Bought some of the Full Sail Brewing Company (out of Hood River, OR) winter ale, Wassail. Getting lots of winter brews into Crown liquor now, and I normally don't like 'em. No difference with the Wassail, which was way too hoppy for my tastes. However, it is a pretty decent seller, so if the winter beers are something you enjoy you might wanna try this.

Also tried my first bottle of non-ghetto wine, Roadkill Red from the Colorado Cellars Winery in Grand Junction, CO. No picture available as I left the bottle at a chick's house. Pretty good wine, I certainly wouldn't mind drinking it again, though it was a bit too sweet for something I'd like to get hammered on. I'm not one to describe wine, so I snagged this off the internet: "Unique, semi-sweet, light red with raspberry overtones. Serve slightly chilled with simple, casual meals or with hamburgers, or fried chicken." And at a steep $12 a bottle, it's over six times as expensive as what I usually pay for wine!

as bad as this season has been...

...at least we're still better than cleveland!

Pittsburgh 24
cleveland 20

I think we played our worst game of the season, too. Big Ben had like 16 interceptions. Yet we're still better than the mistake by the lake!

Oh yeah, and my 4th ranked Pitt Panther hoops squad has bolted out to a 5-0 start, which includes a quality win over UMass.

HAHAHAHAHA!

Hate to give away a secret that has worked so well for me over the years, but this was too good not to share.

Incline Club

Just got the first e-mail of the new season from the Incline Club! First club run, which will be the end of my lazy spell, is next Sunday! Woohoo! Updated my page on their website, you can see it here.

Basically the IC is a group of runners who are either training for the Pikes races or Leadville. The schedule is made up by Matt Carpenter, course record holder on both races (and second place is a LONG way back behind him) and generally regarded as the best high altitude runner on the planet. So it is not easy.

I plan to train a lot more religiously with these guys this season in preparation for the Leadville 100 miler in August. A lot of my weekends will include two or three laps around Rampart Resovoir (30 to 45 miles) on Saturday followed by the IC on Sunday. And of course, all Sunday IC runs are followed up with breakfast at the Purple Castle!

Also gonna start doing some shorter races too, see if I can work on getting a little of my speed back. 10K through half marathon distance.

A few of the locals here have asked me about doing the Pikes Peak Ascent. The IC is definitely the best way to do it. I did a lot their Sunday and Thursday runs and it got me in good enough shape for a top ten Double finish (where I also beat Steve Sisson in the Marathon, FYI).

new hash blogger

Colorado moves further ahead of Austin in the hash blogging world. Of course, Catwoman actually has to post something before we can all tell her how much her blog sucks. And if she types the same way she talks, only TAF will be able to understand it.

prepare your livers...

The next Kimchi beer mile will be on December 23rd. The entire focus of my life will now be towards beating Lauren so she'll hafta shut the hell up. I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!

happy hour and the hash in 'da hood

Going to see the new Bond flick at 6:30 tonight, then I'll be stopping by Arctic.

Also thinking of heading up to Denver for the hash on Sunday. It's being billed as the "hash in 'da hood," so any Kimchis wanna head up and drink some brass monkeys?

the scoop on poop

Bored at work, I googled "poop." Was expecting to find the Kimchi hash at the top of the list, but we were nowhere close. So we have some work to do!

Did find this sweet website dedicated to all things poop though.

POOP

Hey Net...

Fuck you!

HAIL TO PITT

I'm off to the Squatting Chicken to watch the Pitt/WVU game. I predict that Pitt is gonna pull off a huge upset tonight!

don't be too jealous...

...but I'm going to the Purple Castle for lunch today!

barefoot

The "sock half off" comment on the last post reminded me of this pic somebody took of me walking home on the last day after the ridiculuous binge I had at ACL '05. I had just lost a flip flop after a near drowning experience crossing the dog park just outside of Barton Springs. That's a hard crossing after you've been drinking for four days straight!

future goals

Think this is gonna end up being my costume for the P2H4 hashmas party. I know it's not a costume party but that's not gonna stop me!

OK, I'm kidding about the costume, but I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up the next morning, not remembering a thing about the previous evening, and found a similar pic of me on the web.

good finish

I already told everyone that despite tying one on at the Kimchi mallwalker hash, Catwoman was somehow able to get up the next day and complete a very difficult trail race through Palmer Park. I was able to snap this pic of her as she sprinted towards the end. Looked a little worse for the wear after Sat night, but still managed a good finish...

stuff

"Cyclists have a right to the road too, you noisy, polluting, inconsiderate maniacs! I hope gas goes up to eight bucks a gallon!"

Free pint of local microbrew to the first person who can tell me where that quote came from. And yes Smut, I still owe you your pint for the Kelly Bundy trivia. Come to Colorado and the first pint of Arctic is on me.

Rode three times to work last week, taking advantage of the great Colorado weather. In fact, after I got home from work on Tuesday, I didn't move my jeep until Sunday morning, using my bike for runs to work, the gym, the supermarket, and the liquor store. The bike commute should start getting a lot more difficult as we enter winter (cold weather, slippery roads, riding in the dark) but I'm still gonna keep at it. Fuck the middle east and their oil!

Sure do miss running. Taking the month off but it's tough. Went over to Palmer Park for a few hours today to watch the final race in the fall series. Would have been a great run, all technical singletrack, and it was really hard to be on the sidelines. Shitty conditions too, as it started off freezing cold and snowing, but not twenty minutes later the sun popped out and shot up the temperature, leaving all those who had dressed for the cold sweating their asses off. I hiked out on the trails to watch the runners, and I ended up taking a ton of gear back to the start for some of the runners I knew. Some guy I never saw before even gave me his car keys to carry back. Kudos to Catwoman for finishing well despite getting shitty drunk at the Kimchi hash yesterday. Still have two weeks to go 'till I start running again, not sure how I'm gonna make it.

Got my orders for the Air Force Reserve. Assigned to the 310th Security Forces Squadron. That might change, as I thought I was supposed to go to the 50th SFS, but who knows. The welcome letter talks about wings and chiefs and other stuff which I have no idea about. My first day will be Dec 2, though I've been getting credit since mid-October.

mallwalker hash

As you all know, I'm a big fan of shiggy on trails, but last night's mallwalker hash was a blast. About 90% of the hash took place inside the Citadel Mall, not too far from where I live.

From there, it was on to Arctic brewing and then off to Net's house where I proved once again that even with a shitty partner I'm still the Kimchi beirut champ!

Pics are here.

Happy 40th, Slut!

Believe it or not, Slut once gave me advice on women that proved to be invaluable. The age bracket. Half your age plus seven through twice your age minus seven.

By the way, Trish Murphy called me from your party and told me I was doing a heckuva job!

ultimate holiday bender

Hash holiday parties are coming up, and if anybody is looking for a good weekend to visit Colorado this might be a good one.

Dec 8 - Pikes Peak holiday party at the Thirsty Parrot
Dec 9 (afternoon) - CKH3 "lick my brownie" hash at the Red Rocks Lounge
Dec 9 (night) - CKH3 hashmas party at Arctic Brewing
Dec 10 - Denver H3 Trail of Lights hash (starts at the capital)

Of course, the binge will start on the 7th at half price pitcher happy hour at the Knob Hill Lounge.

congrats...

Congrats to my good friend and personal dietician Meredith for her third place finish in the Montrail UltraCup. I'm sure she's gonna use some of that loot to take me out for a burger next time I visit Austin!

Happy Veteran's Day!

Remember to be super nice to people who were in the Infantry and the rest of the soldiers/sailors/airmen/jarheads who support/supported them! And thanks to all the Vets for throwing in their $1.05!

Hashing

Good "you tube" thing posted by the Rumson H3 (the Hells Angels of Hashing) explaining hashing.

RH3

If you could take the Kimchi hash, kick out all the bimbos, and age all the remaining hashers about 40 years, you'd have the Rumson hash.

Rogue - Pikes Peak

Fellow Pikes Peak afficionado John F posted this link on his blog today. It's a great video done by one of my old Austin trail buddies. Watch carefully and you might see a few hashers.

Rogue

The video isn't just of Pikes, it includes the entire Rogue schedule and places like the greenbelt, Bandera, and the Guadalupe Mountains.

happy days!!!

First the elephants get their asses handed to 'em in the election, then I find out Brittney is single. And now CNN is reporting that Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down! Woohoo! Just may have to break out some Boone's tonight!

wed morning

So I went into the local Loaf-n-Jug this morning, as I usually do. But instead of buying just the CS Gazette, I also picked up the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post.

The counter guy, who I see several times a week, says to me, "So what do you think of the big news?"

"You mean the Dems taking over?"

"No, Brittney is getting a divorce..."

full blown wino

So one of the things I'm most looking forward to is getting to discover the world of wine (and no "drink for whining" jokes, that's my line!). I must say, one of the greatest binges I've ever had was during ACL '05, when I spent the entire weekend drinking $24 water bottles full of warm red wine. Impossible to sum it up in just one pic, but here's a try:

True, the great music had something to do with the great time, and I can't really deny that I didn't do any other drugs that weekend, but sheesh...what a blast! [For the bloggers out there, the gal in the red shirt is Firetunnel and the chika in the cowboy hat is Closet Freak. Both of their blogs suck.]

And I've slowly been trying some decent wines (i.e., over $3.oo a bottle) since then, but mostly because of women. Chicks love wine, and wine gets 'em in the mood a hell of a lot quicker than beer, so if a gal wants some wine I'm all for it.

But there's a section of wine at Crown that is just Colorado wines. And I plan to be checking that out in the near future.

Of course, I'll never give up on the old standby, Boone's Farm!

Camo Black Ice

People say I never try new things, but I aim to prove them wrong. After every shift at Crown Liquor I will be sampling a new beverage and reporting on it.

Unfortunately, because of the robbery of my jeep and the insane cost of registering a vehicle in the state of Colorado, I had to pass on the high end shelf and try something a little more cost effective.

Enter Camo Black Ice. Emptying the wallet to the tune of $0.89, it gives me everything I need.

First, hard to tell from the lousy pic, but the can is a work of art. You know it's quality with such slogans as "ice brewed," "high gravity lager beer," "ice brewed for extra smooth taste," and my favorite, "xxXxx." Weighs in at a malt liquor hash acceptable 10.5% ABV. For the record, it is brewed by the Five Star Brewing Company out of Lacrosse, WI. You also get a $0.05 refund for the can in Colorado, which works out to a free beer for every nineteen I buy. I've rarely been treated that well in the pubs I visit!

The taste? Well, lets just say you don't buy this for the taste. Take a can of Schlitz, leave it on your dash for a few days in the Austin summer, return it to the fridge for a few months, and Camo is what you get. And yes, I've done that to a can of Schlitz before. Though, I do think Camo would taste incredible with some orange juice.

There is also a Camo White Ice version. That is "naturally" brewed (as opposed to "ice" brewed) but weighs in at a miniscule 9.5% ABV. I'm not really into that NA crap.

Overall impression is that this is something I"ll buy again. Not gonna win any awards at the GABF anytime soon, but sometimes you just wanna drink beer to get drunk. And for those times, this is the perfect brew.

dream job?

I am now a part time liquor store clerk at Crown Liquor. The owner said I could just work Monday and Tuesday evenings, so I thought I'd try it. Went in for a few hours on Sat morning to meet everyone and see the store, and spent most of the time talking about boxed wine, and the economics of it, and how far it's come in just the past few years. All the other clerks have all been there for over ten years, and have bright red noses and other signs of alcoholics. We all get along just fine.

Monday I spent the night in the cooler, restocking all the beer. Thousands of cases. I thought I was in heaven! Physically draining though, it's rough work throwing around cases of booze for four straight hours. Hopefully it'll get me in great shape though, so when someone asks how I got my guns, I can say, "Booze. Lotsa booze."

The discount kinda sucks, it's only 10%. But that makes it cheaper than Cheer's, so it's better than nothing. I fully expect my entire paycheck from Crown to be put back into the store. And if any of yunz Kimchis need a bottle or six, let me know.

end women's suffrage!

I was reading in today's CS Gazette about some of the history of mudslinging in Colorado elections (I was in line at 8AM to vote today, FYI). Anyways, I thought I'd share this passage, since it deals with two of my favorite things, booze and chicks:


"Young man, if you don't want a female lawyer, doctor, or politician for a wife, but would prefer a woman who will be a good companion, homemaker, wife, and mother, then vote and induce all your friends to vote against equal suffrage," read a flier funded by the Denver Brewers Association. The group also warned that if women could vote, saloons would close.

Backers countered with the rallying cry, "Let the women vote! They can't do it any worse than the men have!"

Apparently, that struck a chord. Colorado became the second state to give women the right to vote.

All women in the United States didn't gain that right until 1920. That same year, prohibition started, and the saloons closed.

HAIL TO PITT!!

My Pitt Panthers are #4 in the AP preseason college hoops poll!

hashing in Runner's World

This was in the latest issue of Runner's World.

Dear Miles,
Why are runners often called "harriers"?

-Matt D., College Point, New York

In the 1830s, English schoolboys developed a game called Hares and Hounds: "Hounds" would chase "hares," who would leave paper trails through woods and hills for the hounds to follow. A group of Londoners took up the game in 1867 as a way to stay in shape and adopted the name Harriers. Since then, the term has become a nickname for cross-country runners. It's also been popularized by the Hash House Harriers - the "drinking club with a running problem." This global network of social runners adds their own twist - beer - the old-school game.

I'm faster than Lance!

Lance Armstrong ran 2:59:35 in today's New York Marathon. Nowhere near my PR of 2:55!

NYC

Didn't quite keep that kind of pace today, but I did do some hiking in Red Rocks Canyon open space and Garden of the Gods. Read about it here.

new blog

Once again, the Kimchi hash pulls ahead of the Austin hash in the blog world, as Lick My Lincoln joins the frey.

Woohoo!

Army Times to call for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld!

The editorial can be read here. I've been reading the Army Times every week for several years now, and it's good to see them take this stand.

"...although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt."

for Easy Access...

...or Just Stephanie as the Austin hashers know her as. This was taken on the last Kimchi trail.

bark

Somewhere, Sherman the barking dog is a little bit confused...

Do as I say, not as I do, New Life Church?

FYI, this guy is one of the sponsors of the upcoming anti-gay marriage amendments to be voted on in Colorado. Not sure, but I don't think there's a meth junkie/gay prostitution issue on the ballot this election.

HAHAHA!

part time job?

So I had been looking for a part time job for the CO winter so I could finance some summer adventures, but that had ended when I decided to join the Air Force reserve. But today a local liquor store called me and wants me to come talk to them about another part time gig. Gonna go in tomorrow to see how much of an employee discount I get...

blog stalker

Just found out that someone who always called me a dork for having a blog actually reads it quite a bit!

Yes folks, Lou Ferigno reads my blog! Probably for the workout advice...

cutting edge

FYI, my post yesterday about the Boulder running scene was on today's front page of the sports section in the Colorado Springs Gazette. Yup, I'm ahead of the curve here in the Springs!

new hash blogger!

Everyone go tell C-4 how much her blog sucks!

C-muthafuckin'-4

And notice that the Kimchi's are quickly overtaking Austin for most hash bloggers.

reserve update

Due to expected temps in the mid-60s for this weekend, the Air Force has cancelled the weekend and I don't hafta report until December.

Actually, they said it was a paperwork SNAFU.

One more month to grow my hair and do all kindsa drugs!

Boulder

Good article about the elite running scene up in Boulder, sent to me by one of the fastest American red-headed female runners in Saudi Arabia, Firetunnel.

Boulder

Makes me glad I'm a trail guy, I can't imagine passing someone I knew, or even didn't know, on a trail and not saying hello. Or saying, as Crabby Cathy said to me at the Pikes marathon, "Fuck you, get fucking moving, you fucking asshole!"

And by the way, congrats to Nicole, who did the Conroe half-Ironman in under six hours. Great job, but I can't imagine how good she'd be if she quit nagging me about my drinking and used all that extra time to train.

Not sure how I'm gonna take a month off, I was getting the itch to hit the Palmer Park trails yesterday. But my laziness is holding steady, and I'm up to 177 pounds! Woohoo! FBAC forever (or at least 'till after Thanksgiving)!

new roof

Ordered a new roof. Everyone keep their fingers, or legs, or labia, or whatever crossed for good (i.e., dry) weather in Colorado these next few days!

Filed a police report. Told the cop there was some guy named Kirk Bigger who was at the bar that night talking about how much money one can get for selling used jeep roofs. Of course, before I called the fuzz, I had to call a bunch of the Kimchi's and say, "did you assholes take my roof?"

And as luck would have it, I'm working in Pueblo today. Time to go put on some extra layers for that drive.

Fuckers!

Some a-hole stole the roof of my jeep last night! I'd be really pissed if it weren't kinda funny.

Cocktoberfest

Think it was a pretty good time at the Kimchi hash yesterday, not that I remember much of it. Pics are here.

Iraq

Was rooting through some boxes today and came across some old Iraq pics. Sheesh, like the folks over there didn't lead miserable enough lives already, now they hafta deal with heavily armed Americans stopping by and taking their food!

The pics didn't turn out too good, they were from a disposable camera, but they're here if you wanna see 'em.

This is my last weekend as a civilian, as next Saturday I report to Peterson AFB to begin my term in the Air Force Reserve.

the Leadville quest

Gonna be taking some time off for a bit. Might try to hike some of the lower peaks around the Front Range, but basically for the next month I'll be sitting around drinking beer and getting fat. Been beating my body up pretty good since I got to Colorado and I think the rest will do me good.

Training for Leadville will start on November 26 when the Incline Club begins it's Sunday runs. Also have a tentative race schedule planned:

March 17 - Zeb Pike Marathon
April 14 - Greenland 50K
June 17 - San Juan Solstice 50 miler
July 1 - Leadville Trail Marathon
July 15 - Grand Canyon Traverse (44 miles)
August 18 - Leadville Trail 100 miler

My goal at Leadville will be for a sub-24, and that's gonna take a lot of hard training. Planning on doing a lot of Saturday runs of 30 to 40 miles with the Incline Club run the next day. Wanna work a bit more on speed this season, so I might throw in a couple of shorter races too.

Unfortunately this will prevent me from doing the Pikes Peak weekend. I'll still get to see all the Austinites though, assuming I'm not in the hospital I'd return to the Springs on Sunday in pleanty of time to mooch free beer off Rogue and watch the Pikes Marathon.

Top 5!

The coaches poll for the upcoming NCAA hoops season came out today, and Pitt is tied with UCLA for #5! We are ahead of all the following teams: Wisconsin, Texas, Texas A&M, Syracuse, Penn State, Notre Dame, Georgetown, and even Bucknell.

Burnet Road Challenge

Good luck to all those participating in tonight's Burnet Road Challenge. Sure wish I could be there. Above are the before and after pics of last year's inagural challenge. To review the rest of my pics, click here.

more snow

Couple more snow pics. Still coming down pretty hard. As you can see, my neighbor's tree hasn't taken well to the storm. Would love to get a shot of Pikes but visibility is nowhere near good enough. Couple more pics are here.

let it snow!

First blizzard of the season! Woohoo! No work!