reason #641 why I'm gonna live forever...

Screw all you people who are always nagging me about sunscreen! Looks like the best defense against skin cancer is caffeine and exercise, two areas where I'm not lagging whatsoever. That's probably the reason why I was able to fight off my bout with skin cancer a few years ago!

Cross Country Caper

Did this 5K last winter, it was one of the more miserable weather days of the entire year. Didn't stop me from wearing shorts and a tank top though, as you can see from the pictures.

Fart Collins H3

Had a blast up at the Fort Collins bars, breweries, and brats hash! Trail included booze at the Pickle Barrell, O'Dell brewing, Lucky Joe's, and the Town Pump. Also got to do a rope swing into the Poudre river, I was the only hasher of the day brave enough to do that. Wussies, I tell ya. Thanks to Free Bus(c)h for the crash space, sorry we almost killed your hubby last night...

Pics can be seen here.

mug fiasco

Guess drinking and running isn't enough anymore, always has to be some drama over hash activities nowadays. For those who may have heard I scammed the mug order so I could take a paid four month vacation to San Antonio, please note the following:

I took in $485 for mugs. This accounts for 21 mugs minus the $25 that Late Night owes me, minus the $5 that Net paid me in beer, and minus $10 that I gave Lincoln to start up the Kimchi website. So even with that money I took in $525. This also includes me paying my $25, it's not like I got a freebee or anything. The bill from the the mug guy was $584.85, which I had to pay before he would ship the mugs. It was my error in guesstimating shipping costs, and I was way off, and I didn't think I should penalize those who had already paid me for my mistake.

Warning was posted to both my blog and the Kimchi blog several times in the past month, as well as announced at Kimchi circles. Warning such as "if you paid me for a mug and you are not on this list you need to let me know ASAP." Nobody let me know.

Most people were also smart enough to let me know via e-mail if they paid me at Arctic. Just quick notes such as, "hey drunkard, I gave you the ducats for a mug last night." There were times when I went to Arctic with $20, yet when my hungover ass woke up the next morning I had $50 in my pocket. I know I'll never leave Arctic with more money than I came in with, so of course when I checked my e-mail there were messages from the hashers who paid me.

Anyways, that's all I'm gonna say on the matter. I'd pull a SMB "I hate you fuckers - I quit the hash!" except that today is the Fort Collins H3's annual Bars, Breweries, and Brats hash! Woohoo!

low altitude running schedule

Put up my ideal running schedule for my time in Texas, it can be viewed on the right. It's subject to change, and of course it's all dependent on my living through Leadville in a few weeks. If anyone has any info on the Dirty Du, send it to me, I'd like to do some more of those too.

official stats

Official time for the Paint Mines was 23:35, averaging 6:20 per mile. Not too shabby for the slow course. Finished eighth overall out of 69 finishers. $100 finished 47th in 38:33 and is still so sore she refuses to talk to me.

lame SWF seeks anything with a pulse...

So the very same day I tell her I'm going to Texas for a few months, Nappy gets herself a match.com account. What the hell!

Crab Hash

So who's in for the Crab Hash? Done this a few times and it's always a blast!

my kind of place...

A couple of hashers didn't believe me that this park in Monument actually existed, but here's a pic of the sign I took on my way up to Mount Herman.

Paint Mines 6K

Good run out in Calhan tonight. Fun course, reminded me a lot of my days as a Shikellamy cross-country runner. Lots of tight turns, lots of loose sand, lots of waist high weeds, a few long hills thrown in for good measure. Supposidly there was some really beautiful scenery too, but I was too busy putting the hammer down to notice. Hit the finish around 23:38, and I think I heard the guy call out my 5K split as 19:48. Unfortunately I finished in sixth place, the top five got Teva sandals. Bummer. Katie also had a good run, finishing around 34 minutes.
After downing a few post-race PBRs, Dani, Katie, and I headed over to the El Paso County fair, where I accomplished my day's main goal of finally riding a camel.

kimchi pics

Happy Sock's hash flash from the last Kimchi trail can be seen here.

Tejas here I come...

Just got Air Force orders to report to San Antonio on September 4th...

Vinokourov tests positive...

I'm not really big into cycling, but I'm always intrigued by the endurance factor of riders in the long tours. I'm starting to think the only way they're able to do it is by drug use. The sport just has zero credibility left anymore. I believe now that the only reason Lance never tested positive was that he had more money than the labs trying to catch him.

W's

They finally posted the final split of the BTMR, and I lowered my PR to the top of the W's to 23:17 (from 23:50). Would have been way under 23 minutes had I not had to navigate around all the people who started out too fast.

So during the race I posted PR's to all points except for No Name Creek. Still, my inability to break the two hour barrier in that race will taunt me for another year.

upcoming PR

I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict a PR at tonight's Paint Mines 6K out in Calhan. The reasons:

A) I feel like I've put in the required distance to complete the race;
B) I've never run a 6K before.

Wish me luck! Believe Tits and $100 are going too, but with chicks you just never know.

kimchi hash

Good times at the last Kimchi hash! The list:

1. Still in shock that Granny bailed on his promise to get a keg of PBR!

2. For those who weren't there or were too drunk to remember, Fun Tina finally got named, Happy Sock! One of the better Kimchi names we've done in a long time!

3. I have finally given up my title as Kimchi GM, all your complaints and bitches should now be directed at MILF.

4. The new Purple Rain flavor of MD 20/20 is ridonkulously awesome!

5. If you bailed on the first beer check, you're a fucking lame-o. Real hashers would never pass up a giant BN leading to a cooler of cold beer and MD sitting in the middle of a nasty cesspool. Go run around a track somewhere if you're that concerned with finishing first.

6. Despite being drunk off my ass, I became the first Kimchi hasher to make a behind-the-back beer pong throw. Not only that, but I bounced it in. One of the highlights of my guaranteed hall of fame career.

roadtrip

Had a good run with Melissa up to Mount Manitou via the Incline yesterday, and we began planning a roadtrip down to the Sangre de Cristo area for some good hiking.

Trip will include camping at the Sand Dunes (and hikes up Star and High Dune), hiking back to Zapata Falls, several 14ers (Lindsey, Little Bear, Blanca, and Ellingwood are in that area), possibly some of the centennial 13ers, and a stay overnight at the nearby UFO watchtower.

Date is not final yet, but it's looking like the weekend of August 24th to the 26th. Just wanted to get the info out there in case anyone wants to join us. Yes, it will be a physically demanding weekend, so whiners should just stay at home.

Antero

Anyone up for hiking Mt. Antero next Sunday? Post-hike munchies will be solved at Moonlight Pizza!!!

Barr Trail PRs

Splits from the BTMR are slowly being posted, I've lowered my PRs to the following points along the Barr Trail:

7.8 sign - 56:59 (old PR was 57:44)
Barr Camp - 1:16:56 (old PR was 1:17:05)

Strangely, I was 38:56 to No Name Creek. My PR to that point is 38:40. Musta been a rough stretch. They still have to post the splits to the top of the W's, but I think I got a PR there too.

dog vs. bike

Pretty cool wreck at the Tour this week, looks like the dog got the best of the rider. When a guy wears spandex, guess you fall below yellow labs on the scale of toughness.

See the video here.

good luck

Don't know much about having a kid, but Chucky Cheeks and All Nighter are going through the motions as you read this. Wish them luck.

great quote

I often read the cnn.si column of Don Banks, and recently he had a great article with words from one of his sources about the whole Mike Vick debacle:

"He's not very bright at all,'' the source said of Vick. "And that's a big part of his problems. He's a very unintelligent person and he makes poor decisions because of it. It's not a white or black thing. Paris Hilton is an idiot, too. Mike Tyson was totally dumb, but for a long time his trainer kept him protected from his worst mistakes. You have to have someone around you who can protect you from yourself at times.''

Sometimes the simplest answers are the most correct.

two thumbs up!...

...for the Rocket Room!

I had to hold back tears! Imagine if Lovejoy's and the Carousel Lounge went to TexMex in El Paso as friends. Then they flitred all weekend long. Then, after becoming severely dehydrated after completing the entire asshole trail, they both started pounding Jager. And then they fucked, uprooting trees, and shrubs, and flowers...and because birth control is for wussies, the Carousel Lounge got knocked up.

Anyways, yeah, the Rocket Room is like a cross between two great AH3 bars. Literally, imagine taking Lovejoy's and stretching it out a bit so you could fit the stage and dance floor of Carousel Lounge in there.

Luckily for me, who is in shape and really has no life, the scant 2.5 miles between my house and the Rocket is within walking distance! Woohoo!

should I stay or should I go?

Have an opportunity to get out of my current lease. Was ready to bail just a few weeks ago due to some issues with my apartment, but due a magical cleaning performance (we're talking almost on C-4 level here) those problems seem to have gone away.

I really like it where I live, but I'd really love to live over in Manitou. And there are some places available along Ruxton Ave (yeah, I could do the Incline every morning before work).

What to do?

special edition CRC happy hour!

wednesday Wednesday WEDNESDAY

After I've ran a few miles and had a few beers (and glasses of wine) at the Colorado Running Company tomorrow, I'm gonna head over to check out the Rocket Room. I know it's a school night, but anyone is welcome to join me.

Barr Camp splits

They're getting the splits onto the BTMR website. I made it to Barr Camp in 1:16:56, beating my PR set at last year's race by nine whole seconds. Made it down the mountain in 44:15, once again topping last year's time of 44:52.

pub update

Haven't posted a Colorado Springs pub update in a while, thought I'd let everyone know that I've been to 75 different bars since I moved here about a year and a half ago. Tried to hit #76 earlier tonight, but the Rocket Room is closed on Monday's. Ended up hitting an old standby, the Triple Nickle, for a few pints of PBR and a shot of whiskey.

If anyone wants to join me, I'll be trying out the Rocket Room on Wednesday after the CRC happy hour. They have $2 pints of Red Rocket all the time! However, it's a true dive, and they have local bands that don't play covers of '80s songs, so unfortunately the place probably won't survive here in the Springs. Visit it while you still can!

ouch!

Hardrock had a guy run 48:00:28. The cutoff time is 48 hours. They didn't give him an official finish. I couldn't imagine the heartbreak!!!

upcoming runs

For the ladies out there, come out to the Women's Distance Festival 5K being held this Saturday in North Monument Valley Park. I'll be out there volunteering, 'cuz it's all about helping out the ladies! Well, that, and I want my free Colorado Running Company "I love fast women" t-shirt...

Also, next Tuesday is the Paint Mines 6K out in Calhan (about half an hour from the Springs). Low key event, and everyone is pretty much guaranteed a PR since there ain't many 6K races out there. You can rego at the Colorado Running Company and it's $20 if you get it in before July 23. No shirt, but you get a music CD and some other schwag, and since Teva is a sponsor of the race there will probably be some good door prizes. Let me know if anyone is interested, we can work out carpooling.

hahahahahahaha!!!!!

Q: What's the difference between your mom and a washing machine?


A: When I drop a load into the washing machine, it doesn't follow me around for a week!

BTMR

Had a decent day at the Barr Trail Mountain Race this morning. A horrible start made me play catch up all day and I wasn't able to crack the two hour barrier, but I gave it my best shot. Beat my time from last year by 46 seconds so I can't be too disappointed.

Had a really tough time getting up the W's due to all the slowpokes starting out too fast. Takes a lot of effort to go around people on the Barr Trail. Was already smoked by the time I got to the top of the W's, luckily I was able to recover by the time I got to No Name Creek. Shortly after No Name the trail flattens out somewhat and I can usually pick up the pace, but today I wasn't able to respond like I normally do. Wonder if climbin' 14ers takes more out of me than I like to admit? Oh well, better to discover that now than at Leadville.


Congrats to Boobs, QnA, and Tits for their finishes! 100% finish rate for the hashers!


Pics of the race and the Manitou pub crawl that followed can be seen here.

finally!

Finally bagger Quandry today! Woohoo! Report will follow later, until then the pics can be seen here.

time to go

Looks like it's all good over in Iraq, their prime minister says local troops are all good to take over. After his comments, we should be out of there by tomorrow. Petraeus should put a bullet in this guy's head, can't believe that piece of shit has the gall to criticize US troops.

screw the tour de france...

...the real bike racing action is in Leadville!

I love this description of the Leadville trail run:

"The Leadville Trail 100, an athletic endeavor beyond most of our aspirations or tolerance for suffering..."

to the victors go the spoils...

Special awards going to anyone this Sunday who can complete the Barr Trail Mountain Race and the Manitou Springs pub crawl. FYI, it's fucking hard to find glue that will hold a patch to an aluminum can.

Since most people who read this couldn't even fathom making up to Barr Camp in the alloted time (good luck to Boobs, QnA, and Tits!) here are the details for the pub crawl:

The crawl will start at Soda Springs Park in Manitou at 11AM. This is the awards ceremony for the BTMR. It is a stong possibility that I'll get some hardware (I placed in my age group last year and plan to run faster this year). BYOB here, but you must have at least one brew to count for the crawl. And if you only have one you're a panzee.

Around noon-ish we'll start crawling down Mantiou Ave to the following bars: Ancient Mariner, Kinfolk's, Royal Tavern, Townhouse Lounge, and the Keg.

Be advised that parking will be retarded on Sunday morning. Park at Memorial Park (by the train just as you come into Manitou) and walk down to Soda Springs.

it's on like donkey kong!

I've gained a lot of knowledge and experience concerning high altitude hiking during my 1.5 years in Colorado (32 named peaks, many of them more than once, 15 of those being over 14,000 feet). But I'm throwing it all out the window this Saturday, and I'm making the summit of Quandry at any cost!

Dark clouds? Who cares. Lightening? I'm not scared. Bigfoot armed with an AK-47? Bring it on! Getting to the top is my only concern, I'll worry about getting down later.

Free pitcher of Pearl to the first person who can tell me how I got that blue shirt in the pic.

go get 'em, joe!

Joe Prusaitis, one of my mentors of trail running, will be attempting his sixth consecutive Hardrock 100 miler tomorrow. For those not in the loop, Hardrock is considered the hardest ultra out there, one of the toughest physical challenges in the world. How folks from sea level can come up to Colorado and finish this race is beyond me. Anywho, Joe can be followed live right here beginning at 6AM Colorado time. Also lookin' forward to the Scott Jurek/Karl Meltzer battle, that should be one for the ages!

Good pic of Niall enjoying his first ever jello shot. I heard he can already drink his wanker mom under the table.

Manitou Pub Crawl!

Yup, Manitou Springs Pub Crawl this Sunday. Details TBA. Sometimes Boobs really isn't as dumb as he looks.

support the troops!

Thanks, gagger!

happy 7-11

Be sure to stop by 7-11 for your free slurpee today!

Quandry

The chick in this pic is Lowlife from the Boulder hash, on top of Quandry Peak. With an IAH - Austin gimmie too! Not sure how old she is, but she still climbs 14ers on a regular basis. Part of it is because she keeps herself in decent shape, but most of it is because she's fearless and refuses to admit that there are physical efforts out there that she shouldn't be taking part in, no matter what her age is. Unfortunately, most of my friends my age can't keep up with her.

Anywho, the following are in for the Quandry hike this Sat:

brownie
Nappy
Free Bus(c)h
Knees Up
(Chinwacker and Pays For Bus(c)h included in that???)

The following have excused absences:
Katie (working)
Tits (BTMR)
Boobs (BTMR)

The BTMR is barely an excused absence. I'm doing it too. I hope to win some hareware in a very competitive age group, yet I'm still going.

Most of the others I e-mailed have given LAME excuses and I won't embarass them by mentioning their names here. Wussies.

"Troop levels will be decided by our commanders on the ground, not by political figures in Washington, D.C."

-W

Somewhere, Eric Shinseki is pulling his hair out...

I will be boycotting Quinn's tonight and not wearing my shirt on Sunday due to their raising of beer prices. And when they start charging a cover, which I believe will happen soon, I will no longer go to that yuppie bar.

let's be careful out there

Sad day for the Austin trail running community as the search for a missing HCTR member has turned out for the worst. Great to see the club respond in such a big way to help with the search, unfortunately everyone was hoping for better results. Read about it here.

Way too many recreational athletes meeting an early end lately.

shivano/tabeguache

I could bitch about the cost of gas and getting to Salida, the physical effort requited to get up and down these mountains, the 3AM start and how it made me super tired for an entire week, having to buy pizza and beer for some chick I'm not even sleeping with, 2nd degree burns from the sun with lots of blisters, and tons of other stuff. But I can take a beating. And mountains, like life, sometimes reward hard work with simple pleasures that just can't be described.

back to Iraq

Received word today of a possible deployment back to Iraq. Don't want to say too much about it on my blog, it's not comming up super soon, but let's just say that it's borderline if I'll be able to make next year's Traveler show at the Rocks. I'm kinda excited to get the call again, though I was hoping to get to go to Afghanistan.

For what it's worth, I would offer my life for the chance to go hunt Osama in the mountains in Afghanistan/Pakistan. In fact, even if they told me there's a 100% chance I wouldn't come back and a .001% chance I'd be able to be the one to put a bullet in his head, I'd go without taking a moment to think about it. Concerning Iraq, I'm kinda upset I'll hafta get a buzz cut to go. I'll still go, 'cuz that's what I signed up for, but it's kinda obvious that 'ol W and I differ on our thoughts concerning the national security of this country.

million dollar client!!!

I'm invoking the "million dollar client" rule on Nappy and Net.

Nobody at the hash cares:

A)whether it's harder to raise a child or raise a dog;

B)whether being single or married makes life more difficult;

C)what community college classes you're currently taking are any harder than any other classes that same community college offers.

Seriously, as far as I'm concerned, everyone I enjoy hanging out at the hash with is Paris Hilton. No job, endless bar tab, no reprocussions on your behavior.

So fuck both of yunz for putting me in the middle of a stupid argument. As a matter of principle, I'd take Net's side, though that doesn't mean he's any more right than Dani.

Both Net and Dani live in, while not quite the Broadmoor section of town, pretty nice neighborhoods, and both are doing pretty well for themselves, and they need to take a step back and realize how good they have it before the next time of the month rolls around.

hahahahahahaha!!!!!

What has seven arms and sucks?


Def Leppard!!!!


Yeah, I tell that one all the time, but I'm always reminded of it when they're on the radio and that joke never seems to grow old.

hell yeah!

Unfortunately it'll cause me to miss the Kimchi hash, but Saturday's training for my Air Force unit is in using a collapsible baton! Not quite as cool as the elite ATV training we did last time, but still pretty cool.

let's be careful out there...

Lulu recently posted about a cyclist killed in Austin, and we had one over in Manitou Springs last night. As I was headed back to the COG railway for my Thursday Barr Trail workout, I passed a downed cyclist who was surrounded by EMT's and police. I saw the bottom half of the biker and got that weird feeling you get when you see a dead person. Ruxton Ave is always crazy with runners and hikers and bikers and tourists, it was an unfortunate reminder to be alert back there.

To end this post on a good note, congratulations to QnA for making his first trip up to Barr Camp!

summer tour

Completed my summer tour at Old Chicago's by downing an oil can of Foster's. Foster's was the only beer out of eleven that I really enjoyed drinking, just don't have a taste for the summer brews. But I got the shirt, and got it much quicker than Nappy or Ritz, who all started on the same day as me. I'm currently at 22 beers on my tour. Probably won't be back to OC's until their next short tour, as I'm now going to concentrate on finally getting to #100 on my list of Colorado Springs pubs I've been at.

FYI, the OC's on Tejon here in the Springs was the second Old Chicago's to open, behind only the original one up in Boulder.

Wed run

Great run to start off the 4th of July. Was supposed to meet some of the CRUD guys, but I got there a bit late so I was chasing them the entire way.

First part went up the Barr Trail to Barr Camp. Needless to say, I'm pretty sure I'm ready for the upcoming BTMR. Checked in with Neil and Teresa and they said the CRUDers had left less than ten minutes before. So I quickly wrote "Wisconson Sucks!" by Katie's entry in the log (she had been there earlier and was on her way to her first summit of Pikes) and took off down the Elk Park trail.

The Elk Park trail reminds me of why it's so great to be a trail runner. It's a beautiful trail that runs from Barr Camp out to Elk Park along the Pikes Peak summit highway. Some of the best views of Pikes, but most people won't ever get to check it out since it involves a hard physical effort. Great workout to go along with the views, since the entire six miles out is above 10,000 feet.

Finally caught up to some of the CRUD guys just in time to go check out the Oil Creek tunnel. Had heard about it before and wanted to see it. Next time I'll hafta bring a flashlight so I can go deeper into the tunnel.

Anyways, back at Barr Camp I realized I was running out of time so I couldn't join the group for their run up to A-Frame. So I went back down the Barr Trail. Figured I ran a marathon, and I felt really good afterwards.

For those keeping score at home, that's two really good long runs in a row. Starting to get a little bit of my swagger back after the ass thumpin' I took at San Juan.

friday climb

A bunch of us are gonna meet at the climbing gym this Friday, around 6PM-ish, for some goofing off time. So if anyone wants to join us, feel free. Think it's around $15 for a day pass and shoe rental, or since it's college night if you have a student ID it's only $12. Rumor has it that Nappy is gonna throw a party at her place afterwards...

efficient machines!

Someone handed this bit of info to me at work this morning:

A 2006 study by Texas A&M found that the average American walks about 900 miles per year.

Another study by the American Beer Instutute found that Americans drink an average of 22 gallons of beer a year.

This means, on average, Americans get approximately 41 miles per gallon!

mountain pics

Pics from the big weekend hike can be seen here.

public service announcement

If you're outside in Colorado during the summer, wear sunscreen.

Between Friday and Sunday I bagged three 14ers and hared a shadeless trail up in Golden. Most of it without a shirt. Most of it without using sunscreen.

I'm now a deep shade of red with blisters all over my shoulders, back, and arms. And it hurts just to have a shirt on.

Should be all healed by Wed though, so it looks like another run up Pikes before the Traveler show! Woohoo!

shivano & tabeguache

Friggin' great climb today! Katie and I bagged two 14ers, Mt. Shivano and Tabeguache Peak, down near Salida. Perfect weather, friendly people on the trails, a difficult but rewarding climb, all added up to an outstanding day.

Total time for the hike was just under eight hours, but that included long breaks on top of the peaks. Pretty technical and steep terrain out there, which made the going somewhat slow. Highlights included seeing a weiner dog on top of Shivano, a stranger asking for my picture because he couldn't believe I was drinking PBR on a 14er, and Katie making a snow angel on the Angel of Shivano.

With the two peaks, I now have 15 14ers on my list. Katie is up to five, and yes she has drank a PBR on all of them.

Ofoto is giving me issues downloading pics, so hopefully they'll be up sometime tomorrow.

We weren't the only hashers climbing, I heard Free Bus(c)h made it up Grays and Torreys. Woohoo! Heard Knees Up was gonna attempt a high peak in preparation for the Leadville marathon next weekend, hopefully she was successful too.

By the way, it's no secret that it doesn't take much to get me to head down to Salida, but I finally got to eat at Moonlight Pizza, and holy cow was it delicious! I really like Amica's grub, but the Moon buries it. Defititely try it out if you're ever down there.