rest day

Easy morning walk with the dog down to the library to return The Green Lantern.  Horrible movie.  These superhero/comic book movies aren't even trying anymore.

Finished The Long Walk.  Loved it, whether it was true or not.  With all the whining that goes on at ultras over minute shit, it was fun to read about this guy being happy when he only had to go five days without food.  Dude friggin' walked across the Golbi desert without water!

Picked up Basketball Junkie yesterday.  I faintly remember Herren from the Tark the Shark days at Fresno State.  No idea he had the issues heroin though.  I take flack for drinking a beer during a race, but this guy was shooting up during Celtics games.

quarters

One mile warm up, 10 x 400m with 200m RBI, one mile cool down.  86, 83, then 79 the rest of the way, with a last lap of 77.  Getting hard to get out of bed for these early morning runs, I'm really sick of winter.  23F to start the workout, warmed all the way up to 25F once the sun came out.  Today is my last run of February (Incline tonight with the dog), hopefully March starts ushering in the warmer temps.

Signed up for the Jersey Marathon today.  I heard they give you a jean jacket instead of a tech tee.  I'm going to find the parking lot where Rob was conceived and drink a beer there.

AJW finally picks a decent beer of the week!  Good question posed about breweries sponsoring ultra races, and why the hell doesn't it happen?

week in review

79.3 miles on the week.  Good long run in Pueblo on Sunday, other than that just lots of pounding the pavement with the LSD stuff.

Took Jan and Feb pretty easy, 300 miles both months just to get a training base in.  Once the snow starts melting and the temps start rising, I think I'll be in pretty good shape to start getting ready for Hardrock.  Will keep things around 300 miles per month, just cut off some of the garbage mile runs and add that mileage to the long runs.  Think I have 32 races scheduled for May and June, so like it or not I should show up to Silverton in fairly good shape.

Leadville Pacing

Felt a bit behind the eight ball once I found out Natalee had been studying.  So I figured I should do some research into what it's gonna be like to pace Brandon up and over Powerline.  Found this video, I think it sums up what the experience is going to be like.

Pueblo

The highly anticipated Mesa Trail Double Crossing was cancelled due to ice, so I took off to Lake Pueblo State Park instead.  Aaah, Pueblo, the armpit of Colorado.  20 miles on the muddy singletrack, 4 hours.  Pretty solid run, I'll definitely go back down there when the place dries out, which won't take long with the high temps down there.

Found out the hard way that both Bingo Burger and the Gold Dust Saloon are closed on Sunday.  We ended up heading to a bar called 3 Below for some PBR and some god awful burgers.  Definitely never again for that place.

Post run beers (and sloppers) for the Spring Runoff will be at Gray's Coors Tavern.



Unfortunately, you have to pay extra for the Urban Dictionary version of the Slopper War.

commute #9

Work on a Saturday, blech.  Easy five miles to work, 46 minutes.

Happy Nat'l Run To Work Day!

5.6 miles to work, 51:10.  Have to work on Saturday, and I'll probably just run to work then.  Plus the car pool yesterday.  Al Gore would be so proud.

I have given up facebook for lent.  That ends March 1st, right?  I always give up something for lent, as a joke.  I did quit FB until March though.  And on the 1st, I will be defriending any folks who post stupid political pictures/statements and any Colorado Springs resident who brags about doing the Incline.  The Incline thing is my new pet peeve.  Over half a million people do the Incline every year, quit acting like you just summited Everest.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival is sold out here in the Springs.

run 'till death!

Looks like PG might have some competition for parent of the year.  Nice way to punish a child.  That will teach her not to eat those candy bars!

Update from CNN.

The embarrassing part for me is that the girl went through the marathon split in 2:49...

Barr Trail/Incline pay-to-play

Barr Trail in the snow, with Andy and the dog.  25 minutes up, 45 minutes total, 3.0 miles.  Snowing like crazy in Manitou.

You just knew that once politicians got into it, this would happen.  I know a good chunk of Manitou City Council and it's sad that they will now be seen as money grabbers, since as individuals they're all pretty cool people.  If you're compared to Colorado Springs City Council and you look like the bad guy, you are definitely doing something wrong.  But hey, I don't like all the folks who drive through Old Colorado City on their way to the Incline, so maybe I should get some money out of it.  And then there's that pesky El Paso County Search & Rescue, who uses 31st street to get to Manitou.  I can't tell you how many times I've been inconvenienced by that truck of theirs, with the bright and loud sirens, making me get up off the couch to look out my window and say, "ha, some idiot fell down the Incline again."  Some kind of kickback to Pleasant Valley residents for all our suffering is in order.  I still get a smile out of the Manitoids who complain about tourist traffic.  Maybe they should have done some research before moving there?

I believe the Incline as we know it is going away.  Between the politicians and the Friends club, within a few years the Incline will be about as exciting as the stair step machine at your local gym.

Just a little warning to Manitou City Council: city hall can burn!

Not to be outdone, Springs City Council had to piss someone off today.  Personally, I'm fine with not having several thousand spandex clad road bikers in town.

In other news, roads are crazy bad today.  Lots of accidents.  I carpooled with $100, her Outback rocks the snow.

Garden

AM - Damn, it was f'n windy this morning.  9.2 miles easy on the Garden roads, 1:25.  First mile was directly into the wind, a blazing 11:15.

PM - Almost had to bad this run due to the wind.  Twice in the first mile, it stopped me in my tracks.  Gusting up to 60mph.  But once I got to the trails things improved a bit.  Usual Garden trail loop, 7.5 miles, 1:25.

Jersey Marathon

Rest day today.  Been wondering when to take a day off, worried that Ryan might actually be right for once when telling me Friday is National Run To Work Day.  Jacked up my ankle on my Friday long run and was still feeling it a bit this morning, so I made the safe choice.

Been wanting to go back to Pennsylvania for a visit to the folks, and noticed that one of the few long weekends I have left coincides with the New Jersey Marathon.  So I'll probably knock that one off the 50 states list in May.  The course goes through Ashbury Park, so I'm guessing I just might hear "Born To Run" while I'm there.  Nothing like a hard road marathon to leave me feeling fresh for the Quad Rock 50.  Hope to also bag the highpoints of Delaware and New Jersey while I'm back east.  Go ahead and make fun of Delaware, but the Jersey HP can include a long run on the Appalachian Trail.

Don't worry, I'll visit a lot of shitty eastern PA dive bars while I'm there.  And even the brewery.

I believe!

Great find by Brandon on conclusive, unquestionable evidence of Bigfoot hanging around Hardrock country.  Lots of folks headed down to the San Juan Solstice this year, and Bigfoot attacks will not be an acceptable excuse for a poor performance.

Hopefully this spurs a new exhibit at the Silverton Bigfoot Museum (yes, I've been there!).

Monday Dog Jog

Easy 4.5 miles with the dog in Red Rock Canyon, 45 minutes.  Still hungover from Saturday.

week in review

71.8 miles.  Little weird since Manitou Mardi Gras pretty much rendered my weekend worthless, running wise.  Good long run on Friday, nice hill workout on Barr Trail on Thursday.  Ran to work on Tuesday and took a rest day Saturday, so I'm still on the weekly schedule there.

Only one day at the regular gym, zero trips to the rock gym.

Also got in 2.5 hours of hot yoga.  Think I got a few people drunk off the gin fumes tonight.

Waldo Canyon

Hungover as hell but the dog wanted a good run.  7.5 miles in Waldo.  Didn't wear a watch, so I'll give myself a 1:20.

Dead!

Popo

7AM! Manitou Mardi Gras!

Lunchbox @ Murphy's!

Friday

22 rough miles today.  Battling a cold and had issues breating (good Hardrock training!), so the pace was pretty slow, even by my standards.  Garden trails, up Rampart Range Road, down Williams Canyon, then Intemann all the way home.  Lots of climbing.  Good times.

Booked the campsite for Havasupai Falls today.

Got my first pair of tix for Red Rocks as well.  Blues Traveler with Fitz & The Tantrums.  This will be the sixth consecutive July 4th I'm at the Traveler show.

W's

The dog and I had a nice run from the start line of the BTMR to the top of the W's (ran the entire way up Barr Trail from the TH, not the usual Pikes Peak/BTMR route all the way up Ruxton).  31:20 up.  Good jog, though certainly not a PR type effort.  4.1 miles on the run, one hour.

I last ran BTMR in 2007, and hit the top of the W's in 23:17, on my way to Barr Camp in just under 1:17.  My time that year was 2:01:11, so I'd like to drop 1:12 off that time this year.

Pueblo

Bingo Burger!

Noakes has changed his views on carbs.  This is my third massive bacon cheeseburger in less than 24 hours, does this make me a paleo guy?

dog jog

AM - Beautiful morning in Red Rock Canyon.  Easy six with the dog, 62 minutes.

PM - Night run on the Garden roads.  9.1 miles, 1:25.

commute #7

7.4 miles, 64 minutes.  Hated to skip the track, but today was the only day I could run to work.  Pueblo (Bingo Burger!) tomorrow and I'm off on Friday.

creekfront property

Just found out the big concrete bayou thing that divides 31st Street has a name.  Camp Creek.  A reporter from KRCC is poking around about the dry waterway.  His e-mail said he is "interested in its history, its lore (car crashes, wildlife, sightings, etc.), and it's future."  In the summer, we use the ditch to get to and from the Red Rock Lounge, including the three block long tunnel that dumps you out into Fountain Creek.  And we did run laps around the north part of the ditch for the CRUD Krispy Kreme Challenge.  But other than that I can't imagine anything exciting has ever happened regarding the creek.

The machete drama is over.  Or is it?

More talk on the high fee of NYC over here.  I feel it's a fair cost, considering they close off the biggest city in the world for you.  But hey, if you want to give it up, like that New York chick who really sticks it to the RD by  doing CIM ($85) instead, be my guest.  FYI, the Marine Corps Marthon, which I hope to do someday, is definitely not the only marathon in the country with an entry fee below 100 bones.

No Name Creek

Took the dog up to No Name Creek.  Pushed hard on the way up, but it still took me an hour.  I need to get into climbing shape, that run killed me.  Didn't help that I dressed like it was 15F, but it was probably mid-40s in Manitou today.  Easy run back down, with some bonus mileage on the Ute Pass trail to get to two hours.

week in review

Sunday - 14.5 miles, three hours.  I heard I passed out on the kitchen floor Saturday night, so the hangover slowed me down a bit.

70.9 miles on the week.  Little lower than I wanted, thanks to mother nature reminding us that the Front Range can still get some winter weather.

This week will be a bit low as well.  $100 is being selfish and forcing me into some non-running activities on Tuesday, and of course Manitou Mardi Gras never helps me on the long runs.

Worked a shift at Trinity last night.  Got to try some stuff from Crooked Stave, and I even got to drink a pint of Buddha Nuvo, which is normally a bit out of my price range at $38 a bottle (less than two pints in a bottle, FYI).  Meh.  I know a lot of brewer types get boners over stuff like that, but I like beers that taste like beer, not wine.  As usual, Urban Dictionary puts it best:

Those individuals who regard any beer that they do not drink as piss. Completely ignorant of climate, context, and social class, beer snobs are contemptuously dismissive of any beer that a mortal cannot walk across like Jesus Christ did across the water. Beer snobs are tedious bores, assuming that any beer which doesn't meet their definition of "adequately pretentious" is drunk out of ignorance. "Here, have this Pacifico." "I don't drink goat piss. Give me a Schteupereiner - warm! With a fork and knife!" "It's 104 degrees out." "So?" "We don't have any Schteupereiner. All we have is this, which our daughter brought home from college. It's some kind of microbrew from Oregon, something called "Neu Dungcastle Pine Chocolate Honey Garlic Walnut Porter." "Does it cost at least $12.00 for a six pack?" "I don't know. It looks like she just bought the bottle for...it looks like $8.00." "Yeah, gimme that. You are philistines, the lot of you! And make sure you give me a room temperature glass! I don't want any condensation on those chilled glasses you keep around watering down my beer!" "Here you go!" "THAT....is a PILSENER GLASS. Are you trying to start shit?" "You sir, are a motherfucking beer snob - a relentless elitist of poor character and abject dicketry. And now, you die. ENGARDE!"

Saturday

Friggin' cold yesterday.  16F.  With some wind.  Two hour run, 12.4 miles on the Santa Fe trail.

They caught the machete guy.

Friday the 13th part XXV, Jason Takes Pleasant Valley

Believe it or not, there are reports of a machete toting psycho loose in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood.

First this.  And then this, with pics that look suspiciously like Muzz.  And then this morning there were reports of a the guy, with a machete, near Amanda's Fonda.  Police searched the area but didn't find him.

Sorry $100, no sex for a while.  Because that's when you get killed!

And, for more shits and giggles at our expense, this crap is also going on.

elite CRUD training

Here we are, tearing it up at the Air Force Academy last week.  I'm actually moving faster than Andy W was during his last lap at Rocky...

Cheyenne Canon

Late start, so I could only go up to the green gate at High Drive.  Hit the gate at 35 minutes, so no record was gonna be set even had I gone up to the top of High Drive.  Six miles, just over one hour.

Switching to Barr Trail for the Thursday morning workout.  The Canon workouts just don't quite fit.  To make it work, I need to get up at 4:30AM, and that just isn't going to happen.  Besides, the dog has been asking for more miles, and she'll be able to tag along on Barr Trail.

Started reading The Long Walk last night.  Pretty solid book so far, and I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more notice among the ultrarunning crowd.  There is actually some debate over whether or not the story is true.  The Lance lovers are saying, "Rawicz has done more for Siberian gulag victim awareness than anyone else, so he should get a free pass to lie" while everyone else is just enjoying a good book.

Commute #6

AM - Easy 6.4 miles to work, one hour.  Very productive, I returned a library book, dropped a netflix movie at the post office, and paid the interweb bill while on the run.

PM - 7.0 miles home, 68 minutes.  Stays light enough now that I can get a lap around Prospect Lake before heading home.  At least if I'm attacked I'll be able to get a description of the perp.

Beer saves a big run.  Mmmmm, beer.

Think I got all of the four people who read this blog on the new reader thing.  Let me know if I'm missing anyone.  I do most of my blog reading on google now (it gets through the filter at work), so that's the reason my smart ass comments have been lacking the past few months.

HAIL TO PITT!

Two more Pitt grads admitted to the NFL Hall of Fame, Curtis Martin and Chris Doleman.  Check out this stat:

Hall of Famers by School:

Southern Cal   11
Notre Dame    10
Pitt                   8
Michigan          8
Ohio  State       8
Alabama           7

Rock Encore!

Didn't even race today and I still racked up the awards!

Super Half pics

Couple 'o pics from yesterday.  Ended up outkicking the dude in the bright coat over the final quarter mile.

Super Half

1:28:17.  Blech.  I'm never too upset with a sub 90, but disappointed in how I raced today.  Was on pace for a PR at mile five, 32:30, and in 5th place there.  But mentally I pussed out between mile five and mile eleven.  Was running a lot closer to seven minute miles than six thirty miles.  Was passed at mile eleven to fall back to 10th place, but finally the sand all fell out of my vag and I rallied back to 9th.

I think I'm pretty close to a big half marathon PR though.  A few more races and I'll be there.  Hoping to PR twice in April, at Platte River and then the next week at the Free State 100K.

80 miles on the week, with one rest day.  Was going to get more at the Barr Trail run on Sunday night, but since it was already a big mileage week I got drunk instead.  To show how much I care about football when the Steelers aren't in it, I watched Shameless instead of the Super Bowl.

This morning was an easy three miles with $100 and the dog in Red Rock Canyon.

Big kudos to the Rocky folks, CO did pretty well out there.  Think Andy W is still on his last lap though...

Alberto Contador, guilty.  He should start hashing, "Tainted Beef" would make a great hash name.  Loser.

Falcon Trail

Awesome 17 miler with CRUD this morning.  Love the Air Force Academy Falcon Trail, even when it's covered with snow.  3.5 hours.

top 20...

...thousand!

My PR 2:53:10 was the 19,083rd fastest men's marathon of 2011.  No wonder I get free shoes now.  Ultrarunning superstar Nick's 2:36:11 at the same race didn't even get him in the top five grand, he was good for 5287th place.

Seriously, there's a list.  See it here.  Every marathon below 3:30:00.  Ryan Hall is #7.

Thanks to Wiley (unranked) for the tip.

new kicks

Best shoes ever (i.e., they were free). We'll see how that weird tread fares against a snowy/icy incline tonight...

Canon

Little slow this week.  Andy wasn't there to pull me along (he was in bed) and it was pitch black outside (forgot a flashlignt).  And my vagina hurt.  45:50 to the top, 1:26 for the 8.2 mile out-and-back.

Supposed to snow somethin' fierce while I'm on the Incline tonight.  Good times!

Stole this off facebook.

local shit

Easy 5.3 miles home from work.  Finally recovered from the Monday long run.

Couple 'o e-mails concerning the recent crime wave near Red Rock Lounge.  Some of the quotes:

"Just left Safeway and noticed that they have officers on HORSES over there today.  Another thing that I thought of when I was in the bathroom at Safeway was the attempted rape in THAT bathroom a few weeks ago."

"I was just at the Safeway in Red Rocks.  As I left, two horse mounted Sheriff's deputies were visiting with people who appeared to be loitering there.  We can be grateful for their presence."

So I guess I'll have to watch out for horse shit when stumbling to/from the Lounge.  We even got an official reply from COS Police:

"We are currently working on issues around Red Rocks Shopping Center.  The Homeless Outreach Team has been in the area a good deal, and the Motorcycle Unit will be sending Officers to work in the area.  In reference to panhandling, if the person is on the sidewalk, they are not violating any laws and we cannot do anything about them being there.  Case law has dictated that panhandling is protected as Freedom of Speech."

Again, this is a pretty safe neighborhood.  My guess, knowing the folks around here, is that they are more worried about having, gasp, homeless people in the vicinity, then they are worried about crime.  The baseball bat thing was the first violent crime in the area since I've been here.

And this is the first I've heard about the Safeway rape, and I couldn't dig up anything about it on the Gazette.  Was probably just O'Day hitting on some fat chick...

January

Easy Incline last night, ended the month with 305.5 miles.  Just over 59 hours of running.  Four rest days, one per week.  Nice, solid month to ease back into things.

Hoping for a similar effort for February.  Will shoot for another 300 miles, then start the big Hardrock buildup.

Started the month off with commute #5.  Five miles in 44:06, not too shabby coming off a blazing 10:02 first mile.