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!