commuter challenge

Beginning October 1st, I have a bet with Jeremy as to who can commute to work the most during the month. Run, bike, bus, it all counts as long as you don't take your vehicle to work. No way I'm losing this, as the loser has to pony up a growler of brew.

$0.98

Added in the costs for the Bear and Mt. Lemmon. Currently at $2773 spent on the year, and as of today I've covered 2818 miles. Lemmon is my last big expense for the year so it looks as though I'll meet my goal of dipping under a buck a mile...

Rocky Mountain Slam final tally is up over here. One of the guys in the running to join the club didn't finish at the Bear.

catching up

Way behind on posting and reading blogs. Hope to catch up sometime this weekend. Thanks to everyone for all the kind words before, during, and after the Bear.

Finally the offseason for me, though I am racing twice this weekend - the Royal Gorge 10K on Saturday and the Fall Series on Sunday. Not expecting any PR's...

Rocky Mountain Slammers

Delicate Pabst

recovery, part II

BEAR

Spent the night in our Logan, UT vacation home;) aka parking lot near the race start. Woke up about 5 for the start at 6. Very low key race...which I'm loving!! Finally, a race that doesn't care about beer at the finish line. Here are the Colorado boys before the start of the race. JT has a double or nothing bet with Scott.....6hrs and 45min....is the differential. As many of you remember JT crushed the bet at Hardrock and Scott needed a second chance to redeem himself because that's how nocrud rolls.

Next update on the blog probably won't be until Salt Lake City on Sunday.

on-out...

Heading out to the Bear soon. Driving halfway tonight, finishing up the miles tomorrow morning.

Katie will have my phone and will be updating my facebook page as much as possible. Finally over that feeling of dread and am now thinking that good things are gonna happen this weekend.

Good luck to everyone running this weekend!

Bear or bust!

Been fairly solid since Leadville. After taking a recovery week (21.6 miles), I had weeks of 73, 70.6, and 76.7 miles. I think (and hope) that's enough to get my ass through these last 100 miles. As much as I'm looking forward to checking out some new mountain trails, I really can't wait for this to be over. Will be nice to take a month or two to just goof off, and not have some epic run hanging over my head...

Going very light with this one. No pacer (though Katie may jump in at mile 93 to finish with me). I'm 0-2 in hundred milers that I've tried without a pacer, but it's always been a goal of mine to get through one solo. Thinking of going with just one drop bag as well - which sounds HFC but I'll get to see Katie and the truck quite a bit over the race.

Pony Express

Nice shot by JG, one of the few parts of the course I didn't hike.

Pony Express happy hour

Man, what a great day to run some singletrack and drink some brews!

Castle Peak

That's me on top of Castle Peak. My 28th 14er. Great views all around, including the Maroon Bells, which I saw for the first time.

catching up...

Bit behind on the blogging after the trip to Grand Junction.

Forgot to mention that last Saturday I ran two races - a one mile fun run in 5:45 followed a few minutes later with a 19:45 5K. Not my best ever, but still a decent workout. The Giant Killer was less interested in an ass kicking than he was in training with inferior competition, I guess.

Lots of pics to post about my runs on the Kokopelli trail and through Colorado National Monument. As well as my hike up Castle Peak yesterday.

Should be a decent weekend running wise. Easy run at the Air Force Academy on Saturday, and the Pony Express trail run on Sunday. Pony Express will be followed by some beers at the new Woodland Park brewery, BierWerks. Anything to take my mind off the fact that I'm not at the Telluride Blues & Brews festival...

Not sure how I feel about the Bear. Haven't done any long runs since Leadville (though Castle was a good six hours of time on my feet). But I feel pretty good, and really, how long does it take to work yourself out of shape after PRing your third hundred miler of the summer?

quote of the day

"He thinks his shit doesn't stink because he has 119 million in the bank. I knew I shouldn't have fucked him."

-some drunk old chick at the Aspen Brewery.

There were only three people in the bar at the time, and she said it more than loud enough for me to hear. Only in Aspen, I guess.

Aspen Brewing!

Hooray for beer and guns!

Mike the Headless Chicken

Grand Junction

Hanging Lake

Had to drive to Grand Junction for work today, took a long lunch and hiked back to Hanging Lake. It's a two beer hike - one for Spouting Rock and one for the lake itself. About half a mile from the parking lot to the trailhead, then another 1.2 miles to the lake. Steep at points, but nothing a runner will worry about. Similar to the Incline in that lots of out of shape people are trying to do this, I bet the local search and rescue keeps busy.

Bierstadt keg stand

don't feed the wildlife...

The scene on top of Mt. Bierstadt on Saturday afternoon. There's a pony keg somewhere in there...

great pic!

Nice shot to celebrate commute #25. Though I've been into a bike shop lately, and I'm sure that running to work is saving a lot more money than running to work. Today, I wore my Saucony trail shoes that I used at the Austin marathon in February 2009.

Great thread on Tony over here.

Pretty good weekend in store. Headed up to Guanella Pass tonight for some drinking/camping. Tomorrow it's up Bierstadt with former GZ-killer (former, because his time from A Frame to the Peak was slower than GZ's entire marathon time) O'Day. It's O'Day's final 14er.

Sunday I'll be volunteering and running the Great Race 5K. My PR at that distance, 15:45, was run at the Pittsburgh Great Race, FYI. Stinky will be there. I've never beaten him at a race, but he's been training with a slacker lately so maybe this will be the day...

Bristol!

commute 23 & 24

Am I a full blown weirdo now that I find it easier to run to work than to drive?

7 miles to work and 11.5 home yesterday. 5.5 to work this morning, and who knows how far home. The route today goes past Bristol Brewing (need those aid stations!), looking forward to some Laughing Lab.

Speaking of labs, I filled out an application today with the Mile High Weimaraner Rescue. Looking for a good running partner who won't whine and bitch as much as all my other panzee running friends.

Stole this from Wiley's blog:

tentative Bear splits...

Very early guess. Don't really know much about this course, but looking over the past results of the Rocky Mountain Slam, peeps tend to run the Bear about 3.5 hours slower than Leadville. I'm very worried about this race, but I'd be a lot more scared if they had a 30 hour cutoff. Luckily, the cutoff is 36 hours.

The big thing will be getting to Tony Grove in 12 to 13 hours. That will give me A LOT of time to get to the finish under the cutoff. The other big thing will be getting to Gibson Basin. That's the first aid station in Idaho, and the race instructions specifically say to celebrate if you like beer. I like beer, and will definitely be having one there...

Here's the course profile:



And here's my guess on splits:

Start to Logan Peak (10.5 miles)- 2.5 hours - 8:30AM
Logan Peak to Leatham Hollow (19.7 miles) - 2 hours - 10:30AM
Leatham Hollow to Cowley Canyon (30 miles) - 2 hours - 12:30PM
Cowley Canyon to Right Hand Fork (37 miles) - 1.5 hours - 2PM
Right Hand Fork to Temple Fork (45.2 miles) - 2 hours - 4PM
Temple Fork to Tony Grove (52 miles) - 2 hours - 6PM
Tony Grove to Franklin TH (61.5 miles) - 3 hours - 9PM
Franklin to Logan River (69 miles) - 2.5 hours - 11:30PM
Logan River to Beaver Lodge (76 miles) -2.5 hours - 2AM
Beaver Lodge to Gibson Basin (81.2 miles) - 2.5 hours - 4:30AM
Gibson Basin to Beaver Creek (85.3 miles) - 1.5 hours - 6AM
Beaver Creek to Ranger Dip (92.2 miles) - 3 hours - 9AM
Ranger Dip to Finish - 1 hour 59 minutes - 10:59AM

Puts me across the line just under 29 hours.

Thoughts?

Purple Castle in the news...

Letter to the editor in the Gazette today concerning King's Chef:

"Coloradans are pigs

Is it the altitude or what? I just read The Gazette’s food section and saw King Chef and their nomination for Colorado’s best breakfast in Foodnet’s magazine.

I am appalled. How horrible is the Colorado palate that this greasy abomination slathered on a plate has Colorado raving? Well I say shame on you Colorado Springs. How can you let this represent us as a whole when there is so much better out there? I mean even a national corporation can produce better slop. Are we feeding a bunch of brainwashed, easily impressed pigs? Or are we feeding the proud distinguished citizens of Colorado?

All I see from this situation is that quantity overrides quality. For example, I can cook up a bunch of burnt Russet potatoes and you people think I’m a professional chef. If I put my heart and soul into a dish that bursts with flavor yet is slightly small, I’m nobody. You see, Coloradans have been set into the corporate fling: Value.

If you can get more for your buck it wins awards, but if you can cook with outstanding ingredients and produce an outstanding product customers say “$7.99 for a zucchini sandwich? Well, I can get more elsewhere...”

You, Colorado, have lost your love of flavor, impressive ingredients and bold presentation. You have given in to a family-sized platter of flavorless mush, over-spicy chili, and burnt over-buttered potatoes. Why? Because it’s more food for less money. I can out-cook King Chef and Nosh, and I can prove it. So I say shame on you Colorado Springs, for sacrificing your palates to save money."

If I ever go for a zucchini sandwich over a bacon cheeseburger, someone please douse me with gasoline and light me on fire.

Best comment so far on the letter:

"She's just mightily upset that there's bacon or sausage on the plate, and that the poor little piggies have to suffer. In celebration, lets all have steak for breakfast. With bacon and sausage."

new CO relay

Always wanted to run one of those long relay races, and this one looks like I can squeeze it into my schedule next year. Woodland Park to Crested Butte.

Yonder!

Me and Vanilla, down front for Yonder Mountain String Band!

slackline crazies...

Caught this pic at the Amphitheater on my way up Green Mountain a few weeks ago.

proper wear of a DNF race shirt

Fellow Sunrise Strider Brandon, sporting the Pb DNF shirt. He dropped at Fish Hatchery due to a stress fracture in his foot.

Yonder!!!!!

Two Buck Chuck!

Taos!

commute #22

Easy seven miles before work today. Very productive run as I also hit Safeway for breakfast and returned some CD's to the library (Medeski Martin & Wood, Jane's Addiction, and Wolfmother).

Quick route home and then it's off to Taos...

stuff...

Still here, been working down in Pueblo the past few days so internet access has been spotty.

2+ hours on the trails on both Wednesday and Thursday, feeling pretty decent. Would like to get a good 200 miles in before resting up for the Bear.

Off to Taos this weekend for the Mountain Music Festival. Helping set things up on Saturday, then working security for the show (my shift ends early enough to catch Yonder and Mule). Hope to get some decent running in while down there, maybe another trip up Wheeler Peak or some miles in down at the Rio Grande Gorge. And after seeing Wiley's new header pic, I've been itching to get back to Zapata Lake, so that may be in order on Monday.

Bingo Burger, Pueblo