beer

Great showing last night. Picked up growlers from Silverton, Horsefly, Gunnison, Amica's, and McClellan's. The Ourayle House was closed (though I did enjoy a bomber of PBR with Ouray hasher 8 Yellow Snow while I was there), Colorado Boy was closed, and the Smuggler's in Montrose didn't sell growlers. Helluva drive back, I think the road between Durango and Ridgeway must be the most beautiful drive in the country.

I plan on doing another one of these types of parties next time I hit Grand Junction. Who knows, maybe a Denver and a Boulder shindig as well.

Speaking of breweries, there's a new one opening up the pass in Woodland Park! See the beta here.

quote of the day

"High octane beer and our high altitude can wreck havoc on a Texan."
-Mitch Kunce, brewer at The Library Sports Grille & Brewery in Laramie, WY

Gonna hit quite a few breweries on my way home. Silverton brewery. Ourayle house. Colorado Boy. Horsefly. Gunnisson. Rumor has it that there is a new brewery in Ridgeway, and I will be looking into that as well.

And, of course, I'll be drinking PBR at Moonlight Pizza.

Life is good.

easy Wednesday

Very short and easy today. 4.1 miles, 34:11. Sub zero temps and heavy snow in Durango. And I forgot to pack long pants. But I can't whine too much, I saw a guy fly fishing in the Animas river!

upcoming races

Lots of good, and thankfully short, races coming up. Hope to get some speed back into my slow twitch legs before Boston. Still looking for a fast 5K to qualify for the A wave if anyone has any suggestions.

October 31, 2009 - not racing in Boulder, as there isn't any racing allowed
November 1, 2009 - Fall Series III (10K-ish)
November 8, 2009 - Canya Canon 6K
November 15, 2009 - Fall Series IV (7 miles)
November 22, 2009 - Route 66 marathon
December 5, 2009 - Rock Canyon half marathon
January 1, 2010 - Rescue Run 10K

Mon/Tues

Monday - easy 8.5 with the Trinity Soul Runners, 1:17:29. I should probably avoid Loaf-n-Jug for a while considering what I did to their bathroom.

Tuesday - 6.6 miles, 1:02:41. Beautiful sunrise in the Garden.

Went over 2600 miles for the year this morning. I need to average a 10K per day for the rest of the year to hit 3000.

urban dictionary

Ultramarathon makes the urban dictionary.

1.) An insanely bad-ass long run that tests the mental toughness of the world's finest athletes; A supreme test for athletic prowess 2.) the hardest thing a human can do 3.) a run longer than 26.2 miles, although most "ultras" are 50 miles, 100 miles or 100+ miles "He ran an ultramarathon, you've only climbed Mt. Everest once" "There are more Harvard Phd's than Ultramarathoners"

It's the first time I've ever gone to urban dictionary for information not related to disgusting stuff to do to the ladies in bed. Like a dirty sanchez, arabian goggles, or the infamous Cleveland steamer.

Not quite an ultramarathon, but kudos to Nick for bustin' out a 2:42 at the Dublin Marathon today!

is it dead or is it Ted?

quote of the day

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

"The only thing more complete than Dave Wannstedt’s mustache might be his football team."

yuppie 911

Good article on the downside of those fancy rescue beacon things can be seen here. "Help, I'm in the middle of the Grand Canyon and I've run out of expensive bottled water! Come get me!" Sheesh.

I had to call 911 on a mountain adventure once. But it was to tell S&R that I'm an idiot and I deserve to spend a miserable night at treeline to pay for my stupidity, I didn't want them to come looking for me. See that post here.

41.9

Pretty low mileage week with two rest days thrown in, this is sorta a short off-season for me. Kept the quality up though. Good run at Trinity on Monday, great quarter workout on Tuesday, and despite the slow time I was happy with the race on Saturday.

My 19:31 qualifies me for the AA wave at Bolder Boulder. But I think I'm gonna start racing the shorter distances a lot more, so I should get an A wave qualifier before too long.

19:31

My quest for the A wave didn't end yesterday. Finished in 19:31. Happy with my effort, I just didn't have the race fitness I needed to finish strong through an uphill and very windy final mile. Hit mile one in 5:50 and mile two in 11:49. Obviously, my third mile was rough. But I pushed hard, and didn't get passed, so I'm happy.

Results are here. I was 15th male, pretty happy with that as a lot of fast guys came out to try and get some prize money. Talked with a lot of them after the race, and all of them said their last mile was really slow due to the conditions.

Kudos to female winner Sarah Haskins for donating her $200 purse back to the Manitou Mineral Springs Foundation!

Big shout out to my buddy Kurt who finished his first race ever! And to Katie, who was goofing off in her costume and still ran her second fastest 5K ever!

Lots of good pics to follow.

slowpokes

Good article in the NY Times on slow runners can be seen here. I'm one of those people who think the marathon has been more hurt than helped by the masses who are running five, six, seven, or even slower marathons. Of course, I've also been called ornery and grumpy. But the average pace of a marathoner has slowed by almost two minutes per mile since 1980. Ugh.

If it were up to me, and someday it will be damnit, I'd make all marathons close after the race clock hits 6:30. That disgustingly slow Oprah-ish time is just under EIB pace, which infantry guys are required to be able to walk while having 50 pounds on their back.

Update: I like this solution a lot better!

gossip

Just talked to the peeps at the Leadville store. I was calling about the pair of Smith Optics shades I retardedly left sitting at Twin Lakes inbound during the run. Hoping they were in the lost and found, but no luck. I blame my stupidity on my pacer, he obviously owes me a new pair of sunglasses. But thanks to Fast Eddy, at least a new pair won't set me back too much.

Anywho, we started talking about the big movie last night and I said I thought a movie on the run would be cool. Obviously I'm biased, but I think there would be just as many characters and much more suffering during the 100 mile run than the 100 mile bike.

No dice on a Pb movie, but the lady said that she talked to Lance last night (in Durango, where the pre and post movie talk was conducted), and he said that "Born to Run" is currently being worked on for the big screen. I told her I hope they get Jessica Alba to play the part of Jen Shelton.

daily haiku - 10/22/09

Since my suggestion of living healthy to have a strong immune system didn't go over very well in a room full of fat and lazy people, I dedicated the recent swine flu meeting to creative writing.

where are you swine flu?
I haven't even missed work
I want some days off!

Thurs AM

Legs were still feeling heavy so even though I dragged my ass out of bed early and showed up to the downtown tempo run, I bagged the hard effort and took it easy. 5.5 miles through Bear Creek Park in 53:23. No run this evening, rest day tomorrow, and then it's time for the 5K!

Wednesday PM

Good run tonight in crappy weather. 7 miles, 60:04. North on Santa Fe to Goose Gossage and back, with a little bit of downtown thrown in. Started out very rough, but things got much better the longer I went. PBR and a growler of Trinity afterwards, courtesy of the Colorado Running Company. Might have something in the legs for tomorrow's Bear Creek tempo run.

Hardrock update

Just got this e-mail concerning Hardrock entry:

We've started to get a bunch of emails asking when the entry applications for next summer's Hardrock Hundred will be available. This email will answer that for everyone at once.

The 2010 Hardrock will start on Friday, July 9. The entry fee will be the same as last year ($250). The weighted lottery algorithm and qualification requirements are the same as last year, and can be found at http://www.run100s.com/HR/entryreq.html We are still considering whether any of the newer hundreds should be added to the qualifier list.

The entry application should be available on the website sometime in early November, and the lottery will be held on the weekend of February 5th.

Now for some differences: We decided that this year we will accept entry applications anytime after they are available, rather than only during the month of January (of course, they still need to be received by the lottery day). Also, you will not need to send a check with your entry. After the lottery, those who make it in will have until the end of the month to send in their entry fee. Runners who later get in off the wait list will have two weeks to send us a check.

The Silverton school gym will be undergoing renovation this summer, so we plan to move the start/finish and run headquarters to the Kendell Mtn Ski Hut on the other side of the river.

movie night

Just got my tickets to see this on Thursday night. I'll be at the Hollywood theater up in Focus country. Yes, I'll be sneaking in PBR. Sure wish they'd have done something like this for the real Leadville event - the 100 mile run - as there was much more drama in that event this year.

Shelled out $29 for two tickets. Ouch! But I'm not sure this one is gonna make it's way to the dollar theater anytime soon.

It's such a star studded event I'm having trouble deciding what to wear. Should I sport my 2007 finisher sweatshirt, my first 100 mile finish, or go with the 2009 hoodie, showing that I got a big buckle? Such pressure, I sure don't want to end up getting ripped by Joan Rivers on her TV show!

barefoot running

Article on barefoot running in the Dallas Morning News can be seen here. I think it's about 14:59 and counting for the barefoot movement.

I must be some freak of nature due to the fact I've gone over 20 years in normal shoes without getting injured.

Wednesday AM

6 miles, 55:05. Included the Manitou 5K route. That course is not flat or fast by any means. I'm still gonna get my Bolder Boulder A wave qual though.

Should hit 2600 miles by the end of the week.

Tuesday PM

4 miles, 41 minutes. These were not the same legs that carried me to a great track workout earlier in the day. 1.5 hours of hot yoga and beers at Murphy's followed.

DD chronicles - Issue III

Night started off real slow. Gave me a chance to check out some bars I normally don't visit.

First trip was to Cowboys East. Holy crap, was I ever out of my element there! Not a big country fan, and certainly not a fan of this bar. I really can't stand places that pay lots of money and go out of their way to look like a dive bar, and that's what this place was. Plus, the music was awful. Maybe next time I'll wear my big belt buckle from Leadville so I'll have some cred. Spent about half an hour here, and if nothing else I felt a lot better about myself after leaving.

Next we headed downtown to Southside Johnny's, probably my second least favorite bar in the Springs. What a cesspool that place is. Lots of dumpy mid-50s divorced women wearing way too little clothing, just like it is every other time I've been forced to go there (usually by dumpy mid-50s divorced hashers who end trail there). Ugh. I needed a shower.

Still no calls, it was now about 11:30PM, so we headed down to Gasoline Alley. Never been here before as it's kinda new. It's sort of the younger rock bar in downtown. Not too shabby, the music was good and the eye candy was all over the place.

Funny thing was happening outside. A group of four high school kids were protesting! Rum Bay is right next door, so there were A LOT of intoxicated people around. One had a big sign that said, "Gays, fornicators, drunkards, you will not inherit the kingdom of the lord." The other three were reading the bible. I need to start bringing my camera on these nights, the scene was unreal.

Soon after this I called dispatch to make sure he had us on the list. I was told to call another number for dispatch. The new number is run by a retired E-6 supply clerk, who doesn't like me because I have long hair and a Dead sticker on my truck. He doesn't know I served and don't have a very high opinion of retired E-6 pogues. He chewed me out for a while about calling the wrong number, which I was never told existed. I think he expected me to be scared of him, so I let the awkward silence go on for a bit before I sarcastically said, "I'm sorry, did you just yell at me?" Then he hung up.

But he called back in a few minutes, acted like nothing happened, and told me a drunkard needed a ride from the Golden Bee. And she was driving a BMW! Woohoo! We roll over to the rich side of town and pick her up. Nice girl, except for the fact that her BMW is one of those station wagon things, and she has Virginia Tech stickers on it. Turns out she was at VT the same time I was at Pitt, so we talk about Michael Vick most of the short drive back to her place. She wasn't too drunk, but she said her husband was a military officer so she didn't want to risk a DUI that could affect his career. Barf.

Next call was to go pick up some drunk GI's in a garage and take them home. Real young, and I find out on the way back they know a hasher friend of mine, who is in the same AF medical unit. So I got some good dirt on her. One of the kids was from Pittsburgh, so we both talked on end, in Pittsburghese, about the greatest city in the world.

Final call of the night is to go grab two more soldiers from downtown. I call one of them when we're in the area and he says he's in a parking garage. We find the garage, but can't find his Saturn. So I call back. I see the back door of a car open and someone falls out. It's our drunks. I get five feet from the car and can smell jager! These two are hammered. It's a short drive to their house and a challenge to keep one awake to give me directions. Finally we make the drop off, and our night is done.

Still haven't developed a very high opinion of the group that does this. They claim the moral high ground, never missing a chance to tell a tearful story about a close and personal drunk driving death. But they also never miss a chance to ask for money. They are doing this to make a living, despite what they tell anyone who will listen. But that's not a bad thing, I guess, as they are getting a lot of drunk people off the roads. But something stinks about the whole operation, I just can't seem to put my finger on what it is.

For the record, I worked from 10PM until 4:20AM, and made $25 in tips.

it's official

Got an e-mail from the Boston Athletic Association this morning!

"This is to notify you that your entry into the 114th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 19, 2010 has been accepted, provided that the information you submitted is accurate."

And don't worry, the information is accurate. The only time I ever lie is when I'm trying to impress women.

back at it...

Back to the grind.

8.5 miles with the Trinity Soul Runners last night, 68:57. Felt good. Amanda was drunk and got talked into writing a story for the Long Run about her recent Cowtown marathon victory, so stay tuned for that.

This morning was a great run - 14 x 400 meters on the CC track, 200 meter recovery jog in between. Hit 89 and 87 for the first two, then stayed between 84 and 86 until the final three, which I crushed in 80, 77, and 76. Felt great! That A wave qualifier might not be such a pipe dream after all!

accolade fitness

Decided to drop the rock gym membership and instead opt for trying out the new Accolade Fitness gym near Trinity. Less than three miles from work, so I can get there over lunch. I'll miss the rock climbing, but the other day Katie called me flabby, and then beat me in an arm wrestling match, so I figured it was time to shake things up.

Seems like a good gym, and a steal at 20 bones a month. Plus, they have tanning beds, so I can keep my golden surfer tan all year long.

Detroit marathon

I think it's been about a decade since I heard any good news at all come from Detroit.

Three deaths in their marathon over the weekend. Yikes.

Mt. Davis

Katie and I took a side trip to Mt. Davis, the state highpoint of Pennsylvania, on the recent trip home. Very beautiful place, though not a hard hike. Nice to know the rednecks of PA wouldn't let the fact that a popular hiking trail lies just behind the sign interfere with their right to bear arms.

My third state highpoint, with Oklahoma coming next month.

blech

Horrible run at today's fall series. Just couldn't find the motivation. To make things even worse, I had to stop to take a crap about 3.5 miles into the race. Bet a good ten runners passed me as I was searching for suitable leaves to wipe my ass with (sorry, Brandon, but I wasn't quite willing to make those sacrifices for this race). 53rd overall. 40:45 for 4.5-ish miles.

Matt C was there and took it out hard. The old guy looks to be in pretty decent shape.

HAIL TO PITT!

Pitt makes a big leap into the polls this week, showing up at #20 in the AP poll and #19 in the coach's poll! Hooray for the mighty wanstache!

off week

Took a well deserved rest week, logging a whopping ten miles (and that's assuming I finish the fall series race this afternoon). Needed the rest, and looking forward to trying to get back some of my old marathon speed.

Tracking BLOS and Brandon at the Denver marathon, their Boston dreams seem to be evaporating over the final miles.

ugh

Get a lot of stats thrown my way at work, but this one kinda jumped out at me:

Colorado now spends more general fund dollars housing 23,000 prison inmates than it does educating approximately 220,000 college students.

Boston hash marathon weekend

Shaping up to be a killer weekend in April, as I'll get to hang with the Boston Hash at their marathon weekend.

And yes, I'm going to hike Mt. Greylock while I'm there!

new bar!

Happy days, happy days!

Had some kind of 24 hour bug yesterday, so I bailed on the Incline and attended to my civic duty of checking on the local parks. While walking past the Cliff House, I happened to notice that their recent renovations included a bar! The Red Mountain Bar & Grill is now open for business!

Little bit fancy for me. The inside reminded me of 15C without all the cigars. And it was a little more expensive than any of the other Manitou pubs. But it's always nice to have new drinking options. Best thing about the place is that on Sunday they have free all-you-can-eat wings for the football games (technically it's not free, since there is a two drink minimum to hit the wing buffet, but still worth it).

It will also improve the quality of Manitou pub crawls, since you can cut through the arcade to get there.

I now have 9 bars I can drink at in Manitou, all within half a mile of my house. The American Legion, Stagecoach Inn, the Keg, Townhouse Lounge, the Royal Tavern, Kinfolk's, the Loop, the Ancient Mariner, and the Red Mountain. And sometimes Venue 515.

balloon boy

Been following this saga all day. Hope the kid is OK.

Heard of this shortly after reading an article about how the gay marriage issue is in court in California. Seems gay marriage would somehow undermine regular marriage. And yet, to my knowledge, nobody cried when ABC aired a reality series called Wife Swap. I've never seen that show, just like I've never watched any reality TV, but I'm assuming it involved dudes trading out wives. And I won't even get into my pet peeves of serial divorce here. Religious right, why are you not yapping about this? Put down your meth, kick out your gay prostitute, catch up on child support to your three wives, and start complaining! The sacred instutution of marriage is at stake here!

Update - the kid was found. In the attic.

Boston or bust!!!!!

Just rego'd for the 2010 Boston marathon! Woohoo!

what's next?

Currently sitting at 2533.7 miles for 2009. Shouldn't be a problem getting to 3000 before new year's eve.

Only real race on the horizon is the Route 66 marathon in November. Gonna take some time off from the super long distance stuff and work on running a fast Salida and Boston marathon. Maybe get a Bolder Boulder A wave qual along the way.

Rocky Mountain Slam goal is off for now. No way I coulda finished the Bear, especially since it was a week earlier. Not sure I could finish Hardrock if I did Bighorn first, they're just too close together. The guys who do that series are on a whole different level than I'm at right now. No big heartbreaker for me, as that would leave the door open to run Jemez Mountain and the San Juan Solstice. The one thing I've learned about running 100 milers is that I really, really love running the 50 mile distance.

catching up

Been offline for a while. Quick update, I'll post pictures and details soon.

-Oil Creek. Not much to say, other than I was way too slow. I knew going in it wouldn't be pretty, but I was confident I'd finish. Dropped after the third loop, 93 miles, after 27.5 hours. Knew I could easily finish the final eight mile loop well under the 32 hour cutoff, but I wasn't sure it would give Katie and I enough time to get down to the Pittsburgh airport for our flight. It sucks, but I had to walk away. Piss poor planning on my part. Though, in my defense, I originally planned on flying back on Monday before work ruined things.

-Mt. Davis. Katie and I hit the state high point of Pennsylvania. Really cool hike, great views. My third state high point.

-I miss Pittsburgh and am looking forward to the day I move back there. Probably within the next five years. I've decided that my first month there will be spent at a rental room at Jack's on the Southside.

-Great to see family and friends that I haven't seen in a long time. My last trip to PA was in 2003 after returning from Iraq.

from the archives...

Oil Creek - DNF

Really weird DNF this morning. Made it through 93 miles. Plenty of time to finish up before cutoff. But due to having to work on Monday, I had to get a flight out of Pittsburgh, and the latest one was kinda early. So I had to drop at 93 miles in order to make my flight. Weird. Not very happy, but it is what it is. Report will follow soon.

PITTSBURG

JT's pre-race ritual of getting fall down stupid drunk before a race made its way to PA.

Oil Creek

JT and Dan at 4:40 this morning before their 100 mile adventure. It rained all night and is drizzling and chilly so far today, so it's one big mud pitt out there. Due to all the bridges in the county being closed for some reason or another, I wasn't able to go to the 15mile aid station. Heard JT made it in 2.5ish hours. Hoping to see him in another hour or so back at the start. Which he will come to and have to leave three more times...yuck!

Oil Creek 100

Chillin' with my dad and Katie at the Blue Canoe brewery in lovely Titusville, PA. They're going to try to update everything live on the web for the race, check it out here if you're interested. And I've also given Katie access to my blog, so check back here for updates.

Pennsylvania

Psyched to be headed back to Pennsylvania. Last time I was there was back in 2004, fresh off a year of searching for WMD's in Iraq.

Tentative schedule:

Tuesday lunch - hot dogs and Old Style in Chicago
Tuesday afternoon - meeting dad and brother at the Cathedral of Learning. Supper at the O. Then driving back to Sunbury.

Wed morning - run. Maybe the dike. Maybe PP&L.
Wed afternoon - back to Pittsburgh to pick up Katie. Drink in South Oakland with Suzy and Layla.

Thurs morning - leave for Mt. Davis, the state highpoint of PA.
Thurs afternoon - leave for Backbone Mountain, the state highpoint of MD.
Thurs evening - back to Sunbury.

Fri morning - run. 4.7.
Fri afternoon - leave for Oil City.
Fri evening - Oil Creek 100 pre race stuff.

Sat 5AM - Oil Creek 100

Sun 2PM - Pittsburgh airport, return to CO.

fat people suck

Another article asking for higher taxes on unhealthy food. Read it here. Johns Hopkins says 75% of Americans will be overweight by 2015 if we don't do something.

PARAB

Went to the Manitou parks and rec board meeting on Tuesday. Working on the budget, fun stuff. But due to upcoming resignations, I'm soon going to be one of the longest serving person on the board (I've been there all of five months) so I had quite the say for the next year. We have a total budget of $200,000. I did get $20,000 put towards finally finishing the hike and bike path, which was the reason I joined in the first place, so the night wasn't a total waste.

Afterwards I went out and got completely shitfaced at the Tavern, Townhouse, and the Keg. That was much more fun than the meeting.

DD chronicles - Issue II

No shit, there I was, in the parking lot at PT's. And Kelly, who I assumed was a dude, was actually one of the strippers. And she hands me the keys to her Porsche. And she says to me, "it's a long way to my house, but I'll make it a fun ride...."

OK, maybe not. Last Friday I was actually the "chaser," or the guy who drives his vehicle following the drunk's car. So it was kinda lonely and boring.

Lots more trips to Carson. I've been on that post more the times I've DD'd than the entire time I've lived in Colorado. One joe told me that the DD of Colorado Springs business card is now an inspectable item. The kid says, "yeah, if we don't have it in our pocket we hafta do push ups." Made me REAL happy not to have to deal with stupid stuff like that anymore, but hopefully it cuts down on soldiers driving drunk.

Got another call from way down south, damn halfway to Pueblo. We pull up to a house and out walks a drunk soldier, his drunk wife, and their two infant kids. Nice.

Visited Stick's up on Austin Bluffs twice. Always a sketchy place, but this was the last night at the current location, they're moving to a new building, under a new name. So every under 21 person in Colorado Springs was in there chain smoking and boozing. Quite the scene. Nice to have a bar smelling like a bar though.

Brian Sell

Awesome interview with Olympic marathoner Brian Sell over here. He mentions PBR and Hines Ward! FYI, my two mile PR in high school was faster than his...

53.2

Sporadic week, getting in 53.2 miles. Think I've screwed up my taper, I really feel like shit right now. Very tight hamstrings and a general feeling of fatigue. Hashing on my rest day probably didn't help. Tried hitting corepower to recover, but 5:15 of hot yoga over four days hasn't done much. But I'm not worried, as there is no problem in the world that an order of O fries can't solve!

happy ending

No, I'm not talking about the $10 special massage from Nacheaux. The llama lost on Pikes Peak has been rescued! See the story here, or follow the much better coverage at the Out There blog.

fall series

Uninspiring effort at yesterday's Fall Series race. 3.5 miles, 27:26. Been having some tight hamstring issues lately, so I didn't wanna push it here and ruin my chances for Oil Creek. 50th overall, 349 finishers. Congrats to Happy Sock, who, in her third race ever, finally didn't finish in last place. And kudos to Laura as well, I believe this was her first race ever!

The hardest effort of my day came from pacing the 1.5 mile middle school race. I had to run a little over a mile in the front so the kiddos wouldn't get lost. Sounds easy, but some of those kids can run! The winner ran 11:51 over hills and trails, and I had to keep in front of him.

Also did an easy four miles through the Garden at the PPRR full moon run.

Great way to spend a Sunday!

PJ at ACL

On a big Pearl Jam kick lately, thought I'd share this pic one of my friends posted on facebook today. It's from last night's Austin City Limits music festival.

morning run

Hungover as hell, but still managed an easy five miles, 52:22. Garden trails.

Off to sweat out the gin at corepower...

da bears

Does a bear shit in the woods?

Who knows. But one took a nice, healthy dump on my front steps this morning. Probably right after he tore through the garbage can. Took me half an hour to clean the mess up.

September

Not too shabby a month. Finished with 261.3 miles, 45:48:11. Included two runs of 25 or more miles. Feel like I'm on the verge of really breaking down, which is a great feeling to have entering a taper. Bring on Oil Creek!

For 2009, I'm sitting at 2415.9. Need to average 6.4 miles per day over the rest of the year, shouldn't be a problem. It's a given that I'm going to win a 12 pack from Wiley, but I might hafta step it up to catch this guy.

quote of the day

A comment on the Out There blog about Manitou's newest celebrity, the Pikes Peak llama:

"During a recent Rebel patrol mission, I was planting life-form sensors along the Summit House perimeter and got caught in a snowstorm. In order to save my hypothermic friend, I had to kill that llama, disembowel it, and shove my friend in it’s abdominal cavity to save his life. But then I realized I could just smash the window to the summit house. So we went in there instead and had a few donuts. My bad…"

The latest on this epic story can be seen here. I'm busy (drinking) this weekend or I'd go up there and capture it. I could keep it at the Royal Tavern, in the fenced in smoker area.

new shoes!

Went with the Nike Pegasus 25. Partly because the last pair of Pegasus I got, which I will still wear, currently have 737.2 miles on 'em and are one of only two pairs of shoes that I have worn to the cost of $.10 per mile (my first pair of La Sportiva Imogene are the other). And, of course, partly because the kind folks at the Colorado Running Company marked the shoes down from $100 to $75 to $60. Not only that, but the CRC then provided PBR for the PPRR newsletter stuffing! Woohoo!

morning intervals

Nice workout at the CC track this morning, despite the chilly weather and annoying wind. 6 x 1000 meters, 200 meters of rest in between. Sucked on the first one, hitting 3:54, but than rattled off 3:40, 3:44, 3:44, 3:43, and 3:40. Please note that this is significantly faster than Mike Safari ran. Warm up and cool down gave me a total of 6.5 miles.