Sunday Funday!

Thursday

Thurs AM - 5.5 miles around Old Colorado City.  Probably my last run before the Marathon.  Even drove to work today so I could get home in time to watch the Pitt game, which is on ESPN at 5PM. 

CRUD party is on November 14 at noon.  Hot dog eating contest this year.  All are welcome.

The dog was super excited to get a surprise afternoon walk yesterday:

Wednesday

Wed AM - Five miles easy on the Garden roads.

Today is the 120th time I've commuted to work by bike this year.

Looks like Katrina Bowden is running NYC.  She is apparently on TV, according to google.  Hopefully she runs 2:59 pace and wears something similar to one of these outfits.

track

Monday - slept like shit so I bailed on the run and stayed in bed for an extra hour.  Cut me some slack, it's taper week!

Tuesday - Morning trip to the track.  4 x 400m, 200m RBI.  89 on the first, worked down to 84.

Got to see this guy give a talk yesterday.  Drives me mad that Utah has been able to do this while Colorado hasn't.  Apparently these segments on the Daily Show are only scripted for the interviewer, the interviewee has no idea on the questions asked and is allowed to answer any way he wants.

weekend update

The hay is in the barn for NYC.  If shit goes south early, I may just bail and do the Five Boroughs Five Beers challenge.  I will have ID and loot on me just in case.

Fantastic weather this weekend and I spent as much time outside as possible.  On Saturday I ran in the new Cheyenne Mountain Run, an awesome race that will soon become an area classic.  Ran pretty hard the way up, then slacked off a bit coming down.  Some pics, courtesy of Pikes Peak Sports:

Right after the run I headed over to Fossil Brewing to help them celebrate their one year anniversary.  Great to see those guys going strong after twelve month in the business.  After that, it was over to Manitou for the Coffin Races.  Good times!  $100 and I dressed to the nines for the event:

Easy hour on the Garden roads on Sunday morning, followed by a bacon cheeseburger from King's Chef.  Yummy.

Also got the dog out quite a bit over the weekend.  The Garden, Red Rock Canyon, and Stratton Open Space.  The dog sure is pooped tonight.

Pikes

It had been a good two days since I'd seen the mountain due to the shitty weather.  Here's what she looked like this morning.  Winter is coming.

Here's a much better picture, stolen from bookface:

As much as I hate winter, I find myself actually looking forward to the first snowfall in town so I can try out the fatbike in it's natural habitat.

track

Monday - easy five miles in the AM.  Was going to run again Monday evening, but I ran into some old friends and we went to Brewer's Republic instead.  One of the gals in this pic owns Springs In Bloom, which was named the best flower shop in the Springs today.

Tues - had to work early so no morning run.  Can't remember the last time I didn't run on a Tuesday morning.  Got out for seven miles on the Garden roads in the evening.

Wed AM - track.  4 x 800m.  2:59, 58, 55, 55.  You can tell the weather took a turn for the worse this morning, it was chilly and there was some god awful rain/snow mix falling.  Ugh.  Not my best effort ever, but I don't know if I've ever gone sub three on the first 800m interval, so there's that.

Has everyone noticed that Pitt is ranked in the top 25 this week!

Fossil Brewing (now called Fossil Craft Beer thanks to lawyers) turns one year old this weekend.  I will definitely be getting one of the new t-shirts!

Fall Series II

Last weekend of training before NYC.  Saturday's long run didn't go as planned and I bailed after 17 miles.  Not too worried as I've had quite a few 20 milers and two hour runs recently.  Ran the second fall series race on Sunday, went as hard as I could for the first 1.5 miles then walked it in, not wanting to risk injury in the nasty cesspool we call Monument Creek.  I still scraped my shin on a rock in the creek and I'm worried I'll have to get my leg removed soon.  Photos stolen from Pikes Peak Sports.

shifting gears

We were lucky enough to be in Wisky while the local Wisconsin Museum had an exhibit on the history of bicycling in the Badger State.  Mostly just a bunch of real old bikes, but it was cool to see. 

The previous day, $100 and I found ourselves with some free time and decided to rent some cruisers to explore Madison.  Riding in Madison is AMAZING and it's the first time I've ever rode a bike where you could tell the powers that be really thought about allowing biking to be a serious means of transportation.  Unlike COS, where city hall throws down a half assed bike lane here and there and thinks things are all swell.  We rode all over town and rarely had to deal with traffic.  Explored the campus a bit, then headed up to Ale Asylum.  On our way back the bike path took us right by the Ohio Street Tavern and we had to check it out.  Such a classic dive bar!  Just check out this yelp review of the joint:

This place SUCKS!  Every time I go in here it depresses the shit out of me.  People say it's haunted and I would agree - haunted by degenerates and meth heads.  I always say I'll never go back but that never happens...

Anywho, great times in Madison, as usual.  Going to try to talk some folks into making a very quick trip to the Isthmus Beer & Cheese Festival, I think Madison would be lovely to visit in January.

World Dairy Expo

My in-laws have made quite a living from selling cow waterbeds.  I still barely believe it even though I've seen it with my own eyes.  And while we were down in Wisconsin it was during the World Dairy Expo, which apparently is a big deal.  I got to go for a day and check it out.  I saw farm equipment that I had no idea what it was used for, got a free John Deer hat, saw a bunch of cows, and ate a ton of ice cream and cheese.  I also learned there's quite the cutthroat market for bull semen.

track

Bit behind on the blogging front.  Still have some Wisconsin posts to put up, and of course the awesome Pittsburgh trip.  Maybe I'll get to those someday.

Two solid track workouts this week so far.  4 x 800m on Tuesday averaging 2:58 (pretty wore out from the weekend trip) and then 6 x 400m averaging 87 this morning.  Would like to be doing more but that's all I can cram into the 60 minutes available to me in the morning.  Last long run before NYC is scheduled for this Saturday.

she's here!!!!!

Red Rock Canyon

A few pics from Red Rock Canyon made the interwebs today.  The dog and I ran four miles here yesterday.  Love this place.

Seven miles on the Benny's loop this morning.  Threw in six three on/three off efforts for good measure.

Wednesday

Final numbers for September ain't too great.  185 miles running and 240 miles biking.  Some travel, some illness, and just some plain laziness all conspired to keep the numbers low. 

Easy 10K on the Garden roads this morning.

Downtown Springs got a new brewery on Tuesday as Triple S Brewing opened her doors.  I had the IPA and American Pale and both were solid brews.  I'll give the place another try, but the joint seemed a bit too sterile for me and probably won't be able to pull from my usual downtown hangouts like McCabe's or Fieldhouse.  Not that I go downtown a lot.

Speaking of Fieldhouse Brewing, looks like they will be bottling their beer soon. 

All this beer news, plus the music scene in our village has been pretty impressive lately.  On top of the recent Mac Sabbath show, we learned that The Brothers Comatose will be returning to Bristol!

Recently discovered a pretty awesome diner near my office, the Shopper's Grill.  Solid burger at a cheap price.  I'll need this place now that the Tasty Freeze has closed for the season.

catching up

Pretty good week with just over 50 miles.  Wanted a bit harder effort on Sunday at the Fall Series #1 but after back to back binges (Mac Sabbath on Friday, Manitou Beer Festival on Saturday) I just couldn't summon much.  I'm starting to show my age in that I'm absolutely worthless as a runner when I'm hungover.  In awesome Fall Series news, three local breweries are sporting various teams this year - Manitou Brewing, Fossil Brewing, and Red Leg.

Pics stolen from Pikes Peak Sports.

Tuesday track this morning.  5 x 800m, 400m RBI.  2: 58, 55, 55, 54, 51.  I don't have time to do the full yasso workout in the morning, but I believe I could average significantly under three flat right now.

September

Low numbers due to a lot of bullshit excuses (mostly sickness and travel).  184 miles running, 241 on the bike.  Some quality in there though.  A few races, some trips to the track, sufficient long runs.  Really on the fence on whether or not I'll be able to chase a sub three at NYC.  Sure wish my goal was just to BQ.  But, three more weeks of hard work remains, and I'm not giving up on that goal yet.

Mac Sabbath tonight, Manitou beer fest tomorrow.  Surely this weekend will be full of great running.

the rumors are true

I had heard that Surly beer had finally started selling outside Minnesota, but I had been burned on those rumors before so I wanted to see first hand.  And it is true, you can now buy Surly in Wisconsin.  I spend a great chunk of the weekend drinking it in multiple bars and found that many liquor stores had it in stock.  Hopefully it's not long until this stuff is available in Colorado!

Timms Hill

The in-laws are preparing to retire and move to Florida, so this may have been my last trip to Wisconsin for a while.  $100 and I took advantage of some free time on Saturday to hike Timms Hill, the state highpoint.  At 1951 feet, it ain't exactly Pikes Peak, but the area surrounding the place was beautiful.

Parched from the quarter mile hike, we dropped by the Stevens Point Brewery on the way home.  Another classic in the long line of yellow Wisconsin beers.

And at the end of the trip we drove through the Dells, which obviously means we stopped to have a swig with Nig.  Last time I was at Nig's I watched golden boy Galen Rupp win the sliver medal at the Olympics, losing only to that drug fueled foreigner with the shady coach.