Collegiate Peaks

No goals at all for Collegiate Peaks, treating it as a long run to test out the glute, which I think is finally back to 100%. Calling for crappy weather, so it should be fun out there.

The run I'm looking forward to is next weekend, and I wanna make sure I'm healthy for that one.

incline/April

Incline happy hour, 8 miles in 1:53:14.

April is done. 193.1 miles, about 40% of what I had bee doing over the past four months. Of course, bad race or not, I did finish the Boston marathon, something that had been on my bucket list for 20 years.

Not quite in panic mode yet. The first third of April was solid. May offers a chance to get back into shape quickly, with Collegiate Peaks, the Grand Canyon, Jemez Mountain, and hopefully the beginning of 14er season...

next year?

If I can somehow manage to finish the Rocky Mountain slam this year, which isn't looking too promising right now, maybe I'll try this one in 2011.

CRC happy hour

First hour long run since Beantown. Not back to 100%, but I'm getting there. Felt better than this morning's run. 6.9 miles.

Another quality PPRR newsletter is on the way...

Leadville

Anything goes in the rematch!

commute #9

Easy run to work, 5 miles, 44:21. Glute is still sore but at least I'm running. Saw Rick H headed to work, he says there's nobody who will be able to stay with him this weekend at Collegiate Peaks.

PPRR full moon run

Good times at the Pikes Peak Road Runners full moon run! We start over in Red Rock Canyon now that nicer weather is here. Ran with Dan V around the perimeter of the park, cutting back across the quarry. 4.5 miles in 48:14. Glute was sore but manageable.

Katie brought a growler of Trinity brew, but nobody had any cups. So we made due with bowls.

Garden party

Thinking of having some kind of shindig at the new house after the Garden 10 miler. Invite to be sent out soon...

even better joke of the day!

Today's joke of the day award goes to Springs city council and CS utilities, neither of which has ever given me one reason to believe they're not retarded. Everyone knows the story of the turned off streetlights, but I guess they're only doing that in the poorer sections of town! I couldn't make this stuff up.

FYI, they have turned off a bunch of lights in the lovely Pleasant Valley neighborhood, probably because ruffians like Muzzy, Jillian, and Jimmy Bucket live there. I thought about adopting a light, but I don't want to give utilities any more money than I have to.

Some of the better comments from gazette.com:


There are only three feasible causes for this:
A. Springs Utilities is incompetent.
B. Springs Utilities is fabricating.
C. BOTH A & B.


"Why all this brouhaha over rich neighborhoods having their street lights left on? As the only wealth creators they deserve to be treated differently than the middle and lower classes.

In any event should the lights be turned off how will they find their houses in the night hours coming from social events and more importantly would you want all the ruffians from the lower classes invade their turf if the lights are off, placing them in severe danger.

The Upper Class is more than entitled to its privilege and special treatments, being that they trickle down a portion of their wealth to the lower classes, classes that contribute little or nothing to the city welfare et al.

Let's stop this class envy and give the rich the respect they deserve, peasants!"

joke of the day!

From the cnn.com message boards, no less!

What's the difference between a catholic priest and acne?

Acne doesn't come on your face until you're 14.

PPRR @ Boston

Taken the evening before my epic meltdown, the last time I could talk down my nose at slowpoke runners like Brandon and Wiley and that blind 12 year old girl who crushed me. I think Mike Safari had to shell out an extra 25 bones to get the banner on the plane.

Wonder if there's any connection between my "improved" diet and the fact that for the first time in decades I'm injured and running poorly?

books #5, 6, & 7!

Been trying to clean up my diet, hence the recent selections. I’ll definitely get the most out of Racing Weight and Food Rules (which was more of a pamphlet than a book, but I’m counting it anyways). Once the prospect of eating nothing but burgers and bacon proved impossible, the Primal Blueprint wasn’t really worth reading for either the diet or workout portions. I’m sure it works for some people, but it couldn’t support the endurance based lifestyle I live.

I have been eating more fruits and veggies recently, and much less processed foods. So at least the books accomplished something.

FYI, it's been over four months since I ate fast food.

2.7 miles

Very easy 25 minutes out and back through Rockledge Ranch. Hip/glute is still sore but I'm not getting shots of pain every time my right foot hits the ground, so things might be getting better.

another one...

Boston pics

My official Boston pics can be seen here. Some of them show me doing pretty well and some are painful to look at, which really sums up the race.

jacked up

Went for an easy 30 minutes at the CRC yesterday. I can feel something is still wrong with my glute, though it is much better than pre-Boston. I'm gonna take off 'till Sunday and see how it feels then, but there's a good possibility I won't run anymore this month.

Me and Josh enjoyin' some "finally done with Boston" celebratory brews.

3:49:45

It is what it is.

Certainly not my best day. Was on PR pace through 16-ish miles. Then the wheeles came off. Had all kinds of problems all day long - had to hit the port-o-crappers three times in the first twelve miles (and still hit the halfway mark in 1:29:36, so at least I was trying), and three more times after that. Every time I came out of the shitter my hamstrings, glute, and lower back seemed to get stiffer and stiffer. Also got a huge blister on my left foot. You can see from my splits that I didn't just slow down, I suffered an implosion of epic proportions. Had this been any other marathon I may have dropped out. And I'll be able to live with the fact that I gave it what I could and it didn't work out much more than had I showed up and sandbagged a 3:29 lame effort.

During the race I could feel my doom approaching, and in races past that feeling has always caused me to find religion, go vegan, quit drinking, give up sex, become a monk, train harder, and do whatever else it would take to get a faster time, and that always makes for a horrible experience. On Monday I told myself to suffer, but to at least enjoy the experience and take in the sights and sounds of the day. So overall, the race, and the entire weekend, was a lot of fun and something I'll never forget (though there are parts of the hash I can't remember!). For the record, anytime there was an uphill, I at least maintained the old standby airborne shuffle no matter how bad it hurt.

Kudos to Brandon and Wiley for not only PRing, but breaking the three hour barrier! Yunz guys better watch your backs at Leadville though...

Fenway!

hell yeah!

3484!

If you want to track me on Monday, go here. My bib number is 3484.

No more talk of injury on this blog. Until Monday afternoon, when the only thing injured will be Brandon and Wiley's ego!

Best of luck to the crew headed down to the Grand Canyon this weekend. Their run will be much more epic than mine, except for perhaps the Wellesley section. I'll be doing the same trail in a few weeks though, hopefully with a lot less snow!

still not going so well...

30 minutes easy this morning. Getting better, but I'm still feeling some pain in my right glute. Ugh. Nothing that will keep me from finishing Boston, but if the race were today there's no way I'd be near three hours. Felt invincible when I was running high mileage, and now that I'm keeping it to 30 minutes a day I feel like hell. Still have four days 'till the race though, so I'll hang in there.

not going so well...

Things have been pretty awful, running wise, since Friday afternoon. 3.7 painful miles on Saturday, nothing on Sunday, 4.2 miles on Monday, and three miles yesterday. Nothing today. In the past five days, I haven't even equalled the average daily mileage I've had over the past four months.

But one shitty week can't take away that much fitness. The glute is feeling better. I'll be 100% by Monday.

the media blitz begins!

RunColo has their Colorado Boston breakdown up. You have to scroll through the bums to get to the real meat and potatos of the article, the breakdown of brownie vs. Brandon...

Has anyone picked Brandon?

70

Hit 70 miles the last serious week before Boston. Friday (April 9th) I knocked out two hours and it was one of my worst runs ever. Felt horrible the entire way, and even though I didn't fall anywhere by the time I was finished my right ankle and right hip/butt hurt like hell. My ass still hurts (yeah, I know, insert fag joke here...), it feels like a huge charley horse back there. Only ran 3.5 miles on Saturday, rested on Sunday, did four miles yesterday, and when I set out to run this morning I took a few steps and stopped. Weird.

so close!

Kudos to Gazette reported Dave Philipps for being named a Pulitzer finalist! No, not for the Hardrock article he did on me a while back, but for his work on the local Fort Carson peeps who got into a lot of trouble after serving in Iraq. See part I of that story here and part II here.

Dave is also the defending San Juan Solstice 50 miler champion.

Best quote so far from gazette.com on Dave's honor:

Mr. Phillips, you have two choices.

One, stay with the Gazette and get demoted (The Gazette does not foster progressive journalism).

Or....

Two, use the Gazette as a stepping stone to a brighter future (i.e. leave now with this feather in your cap).

I use the Gazette to line my cat's litter box. It does a great job soaking up cat urine that leaks through the cheap litter I buy.

Panic!

weekend

Ended up volunteering for the duration of the Tortoise & Hare 5K so I didn't get to run. I'm sure I would have broke 13 minutes...

Awesome weekend. New Cheyenne hash, lots of bars and breweries, and Rocky Mountain National Park. Updates coming soon.

Since someone asked:

The Trinity Soul Runners leave Trinity at 6PM-ish on Monday evenings. Lots of different distances from an out and back along the Sinton Trail, which can be as long as 4.5 miles or as short as anyone wants to make it, to the 10.2 mile loop through the Garden a few of us do. $3 pints of house beer following the run.

Incline Happy Hour doesn't have a start time. We all meet at Kinfolk's between 7:30PM and 8PM, so however fast or slow it takes you to get up and down the hill determines when you start. Please don't park on Ruxton as this group shuns anyone who drives up there and contributes to the parking problem. There is plenty of parking at Soda Springs Park or Memorial Park, or even at my place in Old Colorado City. Josh drove up there last week and we punished him by making him sign up for the Mt. Lemmon Marathon from the bar.

commute #8

Easy run to work, 5.5 miles, 52:23. Should be at least up to #10 by the time the month is out. I'll do two hours home tonight for my last real effort before Boston.

Running the Tortoise and Hare 5K tomorrow, but no records will be broken. Hope to run 19:59. I also have the horrible job of having to weigh everyone, hope some chick doesn't slug me when she doesn't agree with the scale.

After the race it's up to check out some Fort Collins breweries before heading to Cheyenne to knock Wyoming off my "hash in every state" goal.

Taking a rest day Sunday so Katie and I can explore Rocky Mountain National Park. I currently have 28 days straight of running.

Incline happy hour

Quite possibly our highest turnout ever! 8.2 miles, 1:51:42. And we got Josh drunk and talked him into signing up for the Mt. Lemmon Marathon, which he did from the computer at Kinfolk's. He's gonna be pissed at us this morning!

Thurs AM

5 x 4 minutes up Rampart Range Road with the PPRR Sunrise Striders this morning. 8 miles total, 1:16:16. Feeling pretty beat down right now. Lots of soreness. My bum ankle feels worse than normal. Smashed a knuckle or two at the rock gym yesterday. Should probably start my taper after tonights Incline happy hour and tomorrows long run.

On the way down the hill I had to pick up an empty bottle of Flying Dog Tire Bite Golden Ale. Can't believe someone would litter up there, and the only people who drink that stuff are cyclists. I think Leadman Larry should buy me a beer to improve relations between mountain bikers and trail runners...

Had a long talk with my dietician last night. She doesn't like me eating so much bacon. Ugh. At least she didn't harp about my boozing. For the record, yesterday I ate a strawberry (the first time in my life), some broccoli, celery, carrots, a banana, and an apple. I've even had spinach this past week (also for the first time in my life). Except for the apple and banana, I didn't enjoy any of it.

hell yeah!

really?

Snow at 5:30AM. Ugh. Nothing much, it'll all be melted by noon, but I was hoping we'd seen the last of the crappy white stuff this season. And who the hell left the fan on? It's been windy as hell the past week around here.

Easy hour through Rockledge Ranch and Old Colorado City, 7.2 miles.

Love this pic, courtesy of Pre's Moustache:

boner time!

New Hardrock website can be seen here.

miles...

Mon PM - 10.2 miles with the Soul Runners, 1:23. Crushed Brooks up the big hill in the Garden.

Tues AM - First PPRR Garden training run! 122 people showed up, a new record. 7.1 miles, 67 minutes, sort of a tempo/fartlek thing, but the trail sure was crowded.

No double today, hafta hit the PPRR bored meeting tonight...

Trinity Soul Runners

Group shot from the latest Trinity Soul Runners Monday night run. Thanks to John O from the Colorado Running Company for the shirts!

Mile High?

Other than Dave, I think it's a pretty blah line up. Maybe I'll just save the money and hit this one instead. Can't believe Jack Johnson is headlining Saturday night. I've seen him several times and although I like his music, his live shows are pretty boring.

Mon AM

Easy 7.6 miles, 1:11:29. Out and back to Manitou.

Low mileage coming this week. Have the PPRR bored meeting on Tuesday and only doing a 5K on Saturday. Guess the Boston taper starts early...

Incline happy hour

From Thursday's Incline happy hour.

104.6

Pretty solid week. My most mileage in a week outside other than when I've finished a hundred miler. The breakdown:

Mon AM - 6.1 miles easy in Red Rock Canyon, 66:10.

Mon PM - 10.2 miles, 1:27 with the Trinity Soul Runners.

Tues AM - 10.2 miles, 1:27, 5 x 5 minutes hard with one minute RBI in Bear Creek Park.

Tues PM - Easy 8.3 miles, 1:22, with the PPRR full mooners. Very windy.

Wed AM - 5.8 miles to work, 51 minutes.

Wed PM - 9.4 miles with the CRC happy hour crew, 1:21.

Thurs AM - 2 x 12 minute tempo run on the Santa Fe trail, 11.1 miles, 1:36.

Thurs PM- Incline happy hour, 8.3 miles, 2:06.

Fri - 2.1 miles, 20 minutes. Weak, but had to work late and this was all I could squeeze in before yoga.

Sat - 23.1 miles, 3:20.

Sun - 10 miles, 1:56. Hungover from chugging white russians every time they said "fuck" during The Big Lebowski. Ouch.

Not quite Tony-ish miles. But at least I crushed this guy for the week.

Cool article on Evan can be read on his blog. Love his low key attitude on trail running, but if he were to run with CRUD he'd only be third in a "most homeless looking" dress contest, behind me and Muzzy.

quote of the day

"A man's health can be judged by which he takes two at a time - pills or stairs."
-Joan Welsh

hash mentioned in TrailRunner

Article in the latest TrailRunner magazine mentions three iconic aid stations, including Brown's Bar and the hashers. The author describes the WS aid station as "...a scene from Alice in Wonderland, if Alice were a man and the Mad Hatter served tequila shots."

The other two aid stations? Kroger's Canteen, where I've had tequila shots, and Hopeless, where I've never drank, though I have had PBR at Winfield and Twin Lakes.

369.6

Pretty epic month for me. Only one rest day, and I ended up with 369.6 miles. Weeks of 64.9, 80.4, 91.7, and 82.6.

April will be a down month, mileage wise, as I'll be using half of it on taper/recovery for Boston. But I've now gone four months in a row with at least 340 miles, and I think I've laid down a pretty good base to have some fun this summer.

Added another 5K to the list, the Tortise and Hare next Saturday. Offered to volunteer, and I was placed in a position where I could volunteer and run. It's a free race if you're a PPRR member, and only $3 if you're not. I'd challenge Brandon, but he's down to 98 pounds and I'm in the clydesdale division, so he'd probably be done with the race before I started.

Currently at 24 yoga classes (29 hours), right on pace to hit triple digits by years end.

Off to climb the Incline...