Troegs!

Nice morning run up to Carson Pass in Red Rock Canyon on Wednesday.  4.7 miles before the sun came up.

Big props to Bob for sending me some delicious Pennsylvania brews.  Perpetual is one of my all time favorite IPAs, and the Nugget Nectar was pretty awesome as well.  Troegs is officially my favorite non-Colorado brewery.

Peter's moustache is so fine tuned it can pick up signals when his friends are drinking good beer.  So of course he magically showed up at my door as I was opening a brew.

One week since surgery, and the dog continues to improve by leaps and bounds.  I swore she was going to lose a leg by the looks of things right after surgery, but she is healing quickly.  And most importantly, she has her old personality back.

I live here!  Stole this off facebook.  My apologies to Timko who bitches about this kind of stuff, I'll give the photographer 1000% of all profits off this blog and I'll buy Timko a stout next month and that should make things all better.  I always say there's nothing good about the east side of Colorado Springs but I gotta give it this - it sure is a great place to take pics of the Westside.

Tuesday

Easy five miles this morning, over in the Garden.  Decided to take this week easy as my monthly mileage is a bit high.  Five miles each morning, nothing more the rest of the day.  I'll use the extra time to hit the climbing gym and some bars.  Hope to get some kind of ride in on Saturday if the weather cooperates.

Dog is doing much better.  She's upgraded from the cone-of-shame to the life jacket.  I come home at lunch to check on her, which means I've put off the bike-to-work thing for a bit.  So of course the temps during the day have ballooned to 70F here in the Springs.  I guarantee a cold front blows through when she is finally able to stay at home alone all day.

These came the other day.  Hot damn I can't wait to visit NOLA again!

Thinking of riding this if the weather is decent enough to drive up there.  They must be hurting for bodies as there are discount codes all over the place.  Would make for a great week of riding as I'd hit the 50K here and then head down for a few laps at Old Pueblo.

Speaking of Old Pueblo, they put out this PSA a few days ago.  I've been doing it all wrong!

weekend

Solid weekend given all the dog duty I had.

Didn't get much sleep on Thursday evening as our dog was a hot mess.  Stayed with her all day Friday as well.  She went Thurs and Fri without drinking or eating or not crying, we're guessing due to all the pain meds she was given.  That was starting to worry us, but on Saturday she began eating and today she was getting annoying with all her begging.  Today (Sunday) is the first day she's been a normal dog.  The challenge now is keeping her off her feet.  Was tough being outside this weekend seeing everyone with their dogs, I'm definitely missing my favorite outdoors buddy.  So she is definitely getting better, and I appreciate all the kind and caring words you folks have offered.

$100 let me out on Friday evening to catch the grand opening of The Ute and Yeti, the new bar at my climbing gym.  Great turnout.

After the Ute we headed across the street to Brewer's Republic for a bit and then hit up Benny's for a few more beers and shots.

On Saturday I hit up the Pikes Peak Winter Series race over in Bear Creek.  I was exhausted from two consecutive nights with crappy sleep, so I took things pretty easy.  3.5 mile warm up followed by the four mile race.  Professional photographer Rick H was out there and grabbed this shot of me.  Looks like I was hurting, but I was bitching to Hessek about having got into the San Juan Solstice and having to train for that.  I'll be shooting for my sixth finish of that race.

Had feeding duty for my other dog, Meesha, who stays with Marc & Amanda.  So I fed the dog three times her normal limit and raided Marc's beer fridge.  Those two are in for San Juan as well, so I left them a note.

Decent long run on Sunday afternoon.  14 miles on the local hike and bike paths.  Awesome weather.  Allowed me to get to 50 miles on the week.

Dealing with a sharp pain on the fat pad just below the big toe on my left foot, not sure what to do about that.  Been slightly since Leadville, not sure if I should do something about it or just hope it goes away.  Not enough pain to keep me from running, but it gets pretty annoying after 60 minutes of running.

Signed up for the Super Half this Sunday, will take another shot at a sub 90 after failing in Pueblo last month.

Garden

Took this a few days ago on an early evening run.  This view is about 2.6 miles from my house, after starting through Pleasant Valley and the hike and bike trail through Rock Ledge Ranch.  This place never gets old.

life

Running, or any physical activity for that matter, has definitely taken a back seat to life lately.  A visit from the in-laws, some crappy winter weather, some travelers from the warmshowers site, the weekly brewery visits, and an injured dog have all conspired against me.  Maybe I was too quick to call out my out-of-shape co-workers for having to huff it up the mini-incline, at this rate they'll be beating me in no time.

Had a goal of keeping 50 mile weeks until the Salida marathon.  Only got in 40 last week so that's out the window.  Hope to squeeze in 50 somehow this week if I'm able to get more than three feet away from my ailing dog.

Not too worried about it though.  My two big goal runs this year will (hopefully) last less than three hours.  This week I signed up for the NYC marathon (yes, for the second time).  I'll head there with a goal of 2:59, a time I haven't run in a while.  I'll definitely need to change up the training from the past few years when I was concentrating on surviving Hardrock or finishing Leadman.  And I hope to do it on 50 miles per week, giving me more time to ride the bike.

And of course I'll be taking my annual shot at a sub three Pikes ascent.  On paper this shouldn't be too hard for me but I've never got my shit together on race day.  I have added motivation, GZ recently called Pitt a community college so I'll be looking to crush him on America's mountain as well.

Two or three months ago we noticed our dog starting to limp a bit.  We didn't think much of it because when we went on long hikes or runs the limp went away.  But it continued to get worse, especially when she would get up from sleeping, so we finally took her to the vet.  Fears confirmed, she tore a ligament in a back paw and would require surgery.  Surgery went well and she will be back to normal in ten weeks.  This first night/day has been rough though.  She's coming down off a lot of pain medicine and she has definitely had a bad trip.  Here's what I've been dealing with constantly since 5PM on Thursday:



Probably going to be rough throughout the weekend, and then the big challenge of keeping her off her legs begins.  Going to be rough for me to go the next few months without my favorite hiking partner.

Black Sky Brewery

Also hit Colorado brewery #111 on Saturday.  Black Sky Brewery, just down the street a bit from Stranahan's.  This is a metal bar.  Don't take your in-laws there (unless they're into metal, I guess).  Not that the folks there weren't nice.  Can't say I was too excited over their beer (I had the Demonseed IPA and the Krampus Ale), but they did have an awesome guest tap list.

Stranahan's

Still kickin'.  The in-laws were in visiting over the weekend, had a blast right up 'till the last few minutes of that Packers/Seahawks game. 

$100's dad is a huge fan of Stranahan's whiskey.  So we headed up there to tour the distillery.  That stuff is sooooo good!  Highly recommend this tour, almost as much as I recommend dropping by the distillery lounge for a few Colorado Mules.

Castle Rock

Wednesday and Thursday had me in Castle Rock and Denver for various work meetings.  Used the Castle Rock trip to goad the office into trying the new mini-Incline.  Pretty cool park they have there.  Runners often cry over bring out of shape, definitely myself included.  "Christ, I went 19:45 for that 5K, I'm so out of shape."  Or, "I really struggled on that 20 miler, I need to get my ass back in shape."  But you do the Incline with office folks who really are out of shape, like no-physical-activity-whatsoever-for-decades out of shape, and it puts things in perspective.  Anywho, I went 2:25 for a slow walk up the thing.  200 steps, compared to 2000+ for the Manitou Incline.  Could be the new mascot for North CRUD, it really makes the effort but it's just not close to the badassery we have down here in the Springs.

  

Thursday evening a bunch of us headed over to Fossil Brewing.  $100 was super stoked for the release of a small batch of the Strata Stout, a milk stout aged on peanut butter.  Pretty solid brew, though after a few I switched back to the Mammoth IPA.

Once again there was no FKT set for the Fossil-to-brownie's house route.  Too much time spent at the Red Rock Lounge aid station.

Thursday

Been horrible for running lately.  Those who didn't bother to shovel their sidewalk when it snowed (O'Day, Carson, probably Caughlin even though I don't go near his part of the 'hood...) now have ice rinks out there, and the part of the road I would run on is a mess.  Plus it's dark, and cold, and obviously my vagina really hurts this time of year.

Making it happen as best I can, though, getting out for quick runs of 30-45 minutes when I can, supplementing that with trips to the gym.  Took this morning off from running and hit the weight room.  Should be sunny and in the 50s today, so hopefully all this stuff melts.

Stole this off the interwebs.  Most mornings, this is the 1.1 mile mark for me.  It's in Rock Ledge Ranch, which I run through right before I get to the Garden.

Had a Fixie Dave sighting while driving home last night:

Dude rides NO MATTER WHAT!  Not even sure he owns a car.  I would have rode yesterday, but I had to go to Castle Rock for a meeting (which allowed me to drop by Pikes Peak Brewing on the way home!).  But Fixie Dave doesn't even use that as an excuse, as he quite often rides from the Springs to Denver.  HFC.

My rock gym, CityRock, got a bar!  It will definitely cause me to head to the gym more often.  Not sure how much it will help me become a better rock climber, however.  Official name of the bar is The Ute & Yeti.

I Hate Winter

Awful blast of winter we're having.  Lots of snow and ice and cold temps.  Got out for half an hour yesterday and 45 minutes this morning.  All I can stand of this shitty weather.

Looks like there's a new 50K in town.  That distance in Palmer Park is going to be rough.

Jazz Fest lineup released.  I'll be down there for the second weekend!

Ponderous Posterior Fat Ass

Team CRUD will be hosting the 5th annual Ponderous Posterior Fat Ass on Saturday, January 17th. Come enjoy some snowy trail running and then a pot-luck afterwards. We will provide some food and non-alcoholic drinks, but don't let that stop you from bringing your own dish to share along with some beer. Please car-pool if you can; parking is limited right by our house.

 

Start times: 7AM and 8AM.

 

Location: 523 South Fork, Palmer Lake, CO 80133 (Paul and Judy DeWitt's house). If planning on parking at our house, please carpool. Parking is very limited here. Here is a map showing how to get to our house. Follow these directions and then turn right on South Fork. It is a dead-end dirt road. We are the 2nd house on the right. https://goo.gl/maps/lTuea

 

Alternatively, there is plenty of parking along Lovers Lane. As you are driving down Spring Street, instead of turning left to go towards our house, turn right and there are several small parking areas along the road both before and after the tennis courts. The course goes past these tennis courts at .5M, so you can also start here at about 7:05AM / 8:05AM as the main group of runners come by. Or better yet, since you are ultrarunners, park down by the tennis courts and then walk to the house to stay warm before the start.

 

Map to the tennis courts: https://goo.gl/maps/8CSzJ 

 

Short Course:

 

 - 16.6M

 

 - 3481 feet climbing, 3481 feet descending

 

 - elevation range 7090 - 8439

 

 - Lollipop shape; out-and-back with a large loop

 

Here is the Garmin Connect entry for the Short Course:

 

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/671727747 

And here is the kml file overlayed on Google Maps for more detail:

 

http://tinyurl.com/ke2f9rf 

 

Long Course:

 

 - 26M and is the short course plus 3 side loops that will be clearly marked

 

No matter which you are planning on running, I highly recommend traction devices - expect snow or ice on most of the course. I'll have some extra sheet metal screws here for last minute shoe modifications.

 

Aid Station:

 

There will be just one aid station at approx 12M on the long course. This will be at the Monument Preserve parking area off lower Mt. Herman Road. If you have anything you want to be there, bring to the house before the start and we'll have a vehicle to put it in.

weekend

Good weekend on the running front.  Kircher came down on Saturday and we got up to No Name Creek and followed that up with a trip up the Incline.  Total shitshow on Barr Trail with all the ice.  We saw a disturbingly large amount of blood on both the Incline and Barr Trail.  Here's a pic of me bombing back down the hill.  13 miles on the day, just over four hours.

As I was approaching the false summit on the Incline, I saw some kid, shirtless and in road running shoes, flying down the Incline.  I thought to myself, "if he doesn't slow down immediately, he's in trouble."  Sure enough, dude hits some ice and loses control.  Slides pretty far down before he's able to stop, lots of blood on his hands.  He got up and continued down so I didn't think much of it.  Then on my way back down Barr, I see the guy on the side of the trail, waiting for the firefighters/SAR guys to come get him.  Turns out he separated his shoulder.

Manitou Brewing post run, followed by a hike with the dog in Red Rock Canyon and a trip to Fossil Brewing, then $100's graduation party at Red Leg.  Not a bad Saturday.  $100 got to do a keg stand.

Of course I was hungover as hell on Sunday, but still got a good dog hike in over in the Garden, before a very slow ten miler which included my first trip back to Rampart Range Road since the Waldo fire.  50 miles on the week, which included two rest days.

Semi-Rad always writes good stuff, but sometimes I swear he's writing about me.  Most people who read his blog think the same thing, he just has a gift that allows him to relate to a lot of the outdoorsy type folk.  I've had a similar Pearl Jam experience over the past 2+ decades.  I got into running right at the time Ten was released (and ran many, many miles listening to the album on my sony cassette walkman), and PJ is a band that has had a profound effect on my life.  Read the Eddie Vedder essay here.

Friday

Ice age is here.  No running on Friday.  Everything was covered in ice, and I knew that any run I went on would involve falling. So I threw around some weights in the home gym and later hit Pure Bouldering for some hard climbing.

Not going out to Cheyenne Mountain State Park on Saturday morning as the PPRR folks have decided not to time the race due to all the ice.

I'm ready for summer.

still here

Monday - Six miles in the AM, five in the PM, over in the Garden.  Rode to work.

Tuesday - Five in the AM, four in the PM, again in the Garden.  Rode to work.  Y at lunch.

Wednesday - Weird weather in Colorado.  Shorts on Tuesday, too cold on Wednesday.  Stayed inside all day, hitting the Y and CityRock.  Super important meeting of the Old Pueblo team at Red Leg in the evening.  That is going to be one helluva weekend.

Thursday - 5.5 miles on the Garden roads in the AM.  Pure Bouldering with Team RWB in the evening, followed by some recovery beverages at Fossil Brewing.  Speaking of Fossil, I'm going to check out this event next Thursday.

I was told the talk would only be 20ish minutes long, just enough time to be interesting and not get super boring.  Plus, I can't wait to try the peanut butter stout!

Friday - nothing yet.  Was about to head out to run, and when I checked the weather it was 8F with freezing rain.  I confirmed this by looking out the window.  So I went back to bed for half an hour and am currently updating my blog and chugging coffee instead of running.  Rio '16 here I come!

Signed up for another bike race this morning.  ERock Sunrise to Sunset.  Different venue this year, at that new fandangled park they built in Castle Rock.  Had a lot of fun at this last year, and it was the first time I covered 100 miles on a bike.  The goal this year will be to ride longer than I ever have before (104 miles at Leadville)  BEAT SHAD!

It also looks like I kinda might be in for the Bailey Hundo?  They don't make it very clear, but I think as long as I keep throwing money at them I should be good to go.  Seems like a fun race not too far from the house so I'm pretty psyched for this one.

Good weekend coming up.  Winter Series I is Saturday morning at Cheyenne Mountain State Park.  Think Kircher and I are going to get together for some pre-race miles if anyone is interested in joing us.  Saturday evening is $100s graduation party at Red Leg.  All are welcome, show up around 7:30PM if you want to drink some beers.  We have a keg of the Howitzer Amber, but with our friends that won't last long and then you'll be on your own for brews.

weekend

Two solid runs this weekend.  Ten miler on the Garden roads on Saturday, then my first trip up the Incline on Sunday.  Cold and lots of ice so the pace was on the slow side, but it was nice to get out for more than an hour, which I haven't been doing much of since August.  90 minutes on Saturday and 2.5 hours on Sunday.  Also hit hot yoga on both weekend days.

Have a few new beer challenges for '15, but nothing like last year.  I'm going to take at least all of January off from worrying about posting beer to facebook.  I don't have FB on my phone to keep me from constantly staring at it when I'm out and about, so it's kind of a pain in the ass getting a photo from my phone to social media.  I know, first world problems.  Pretty happy that this is currently one of the biggest issues I face in life.

Friday we hit the new Gold Camp Brewing Company on South Tejon and then went over to Fieldhouse Brewing.  On Saturday I had a few beers at Red Leg and then hit Fossil Brewing.  As I type this I'm enjoying a growler from the Ouray Brewery.  So don't fear that my lack of beer pictures means I'm giving up the sauce.

Also hit Manitou on Friday for a Dead cover band.  Had one of these at Kinfolk's pre-show:

beer 365

Finished up the year classy as always.



Devil Dog Stout 5K on NYE.  Good times with good people and good beer.  Easy 21:45ish.

On Thursday morning I ran the annual Rescue Run 10K.  Damn, it was cold.  Sat at the registration table freezing my ass off until the starting gun went off, so no major effort on the run.  Good to see everyone and continue the tradition though.  First year in a while I haven't seen Chris B here, guess he's getting lazy in '14.  52 flat on the run.  Nice article on Simon and Donna over here.

Turns out that dude who was killed in an avalanche on Torreys was a member of the local Team RWB.  RIP.  Let's be careful out there.

$100 and I checked out another new brewery in the 'hood.  Gold Camp Brewing, down on South Tejon about half a mile from Bristol.  Really solid Black IPA.  Colorado brewery number 110 for me.