couch tour

Lots of good shows streaming over the next week.  We caught one of $100s favorite bands, O.A.R., last night from the comfort of our living room.

whiskey #50

Pendleton. The bartender at Woody's in Moab knew nothing bout it.

12 days of x-mas: days eight and nine

Good climb at CityRock on Thurs morning.  Off to Moab early Friday.  Fruita on Sunday.  Lots of hiking and biking.  Can't wait!

I will go over 3650 miles on the bike for 2016 on Saturday.  Ten miles a day.  My running was way down this year due to age and injury, but I still averaged over five miles a day.  Think that will be my goal for next year: 3650 bike miles and 1825 run miles.  Also trying to talk some old dude from up north to throw down in the Double.  I'm halfway there.

Days eight and nine.  My niner was the Eddyline, which was good.  Can't say I didn't steal some of $100's nine.

12 days of x-mas: day seven

Loved this article.  It's from a bike magazine, but it's about runners as well.

Good day yesterday.  Got out in the AM for a five miler, then biked to work.  After work, I took the dog over to Red Rock Canyon for a short run.  About a mile into the run she took off, and I couldn't find her.  I looked for about ten minutes, which felt like ten days, and no luck.  Then by chance I caught her light off in the distance.  When I finally got to her, she was chowing down on a deer that looked like she had been torn apart by coyotes not long before.  I could have left the dog overnight and she still would have been eating when I came back this morning.

Ran to work this morning.  Six miles.  Threw in some two minutes on/two minutes off, doing the best I could on our sidewalks which are still icy (I blame the ice, but being fat and out of shape doesn't help either).

summer is here!

I used to believe the unofficial end of winter was when I started hording tickets for the upcoming season at Red Rocks.  But christ, last month they announced a late August date for Nathaniel Rateliff, and by the time Kircher and I got on the same page about going the show was sold out.

So I didn't hesitate to grab the next show that came up:

Oddly enough, I have seen Collective Soul at Red Rocks more than I have seen Widespread Panic there.

Speaking of Todd and the Monster, and Night Sweats, and Red Rocks, last night I headed over to Red Rock Canyon with Todd and Amber on fat bikes.  Great two hours of goofing off over there.

Followed that ride with beer number six of the twelve days:

And just to get caught up, beer number five during the start of a TV binge:

Whiskey #49

Old Grand Dads

Whiskey #48

12 days of x-mas: day four

Drank this in the shower at 4AM before catching my flight to Pittsburgh.

Glad I'm not running today as it's f'ing 11F out right now.

12 days of x-mas: day three

Nice hour run on my Mesa Loop this morning despite the frigid temps.  This route goes by the overlook responsible for perhaps one of the most popular photos in the country:

Of course when I run by at 5:30AM on a cold December morning the place is empty and depressing.

Red Leg has redone the cans for their Howitzer Amber Ale to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 4th ID.  I spent most of my time in the Army in the 4th ID.



Day three of the beer exchange.  I'm a few days ahead, but my trip to western PA will fix that.

12 days of x-mas: day two

Good seven miler this morning on the Garden roads.  Bike commute 122.  Then a nice 3.6 mile run/hike in Red Rock Canyon under the full moon with $100 and the dog.  Great day.

Some old favorites for day two.  Drank this while watching the 30 for 30 episode of Catholics vs Convicts.

week in review

Terrible week on the workout front.  Frigid weather, holiday happy hours and parties, junk food galore, my mom in the hospital and trying to deal with that from two time zones away.  23 miles running, even less biking.  Did get to the gym a few times, and at least I finally went sub 20 in the 5k.

The twelve beers of christmas has started.  We choose yesterday at Marc & Amanda's annual shindig.  Number one for me was a twofer:

18:50/19:15

Chasing Santa 5K down the highway in Fountain on Saturday morning.  Went well.  Crossed the finish line in 18:50, but my watch read 3.07 miles.  So I walked the other .03 to get a full 5K, finishing in 19:15.

Split 6:01, 6:07, and 6:15.  Much better than my last two 5k's.  Was barely holding on for that last mile though.

Thanks to Pikes Peak Sports for the pics.

whiskey #47

2017

A bit different for the upcoming year as I won't be trying to reach some arbitrary goal at a race.  None of the races will require that much more than my usual hour of jogging before work.  A lot less running, giving me more time to do other stuff.  Some live music, van camping, exploring a few sections of the Colorado Trail, hiking some more 14ers, climbing, mountain biking, visiting some new breweries.  Instead of just sucking at running, I'll suck at a bunch of different things, but at least it will be fun.

The highlights:

Feb 3 to 6 - Austin
March 3-5 - McDowell Mountain Music Festival
March 18 - Salida Marathon
April 20-23  - 5 Point Film Festival
May - Bikepack the White Rim Trail
June - Burning Can
June 24 - San Juan Solstice
Aug 19/20 - Pikes Double
Sept - Crested Butte One Good Weekend
Sept 30 - Monument Marathon
October - Zion/Vegas

winter

Not much going on here as winter has arrived.  It's been below 20F for a few days now, so I haven't been outside much.  Did go on a nice 2.5 mile hike with $100 and the dog at Stratton on Wednesday, but other than that it's been the gym and the treadmill.

The dog is not excited about winter either.

Don't feel too bad for me though.  I did get to visit two of my favorite local breweries yesterday.  It's always warm inside a brewery!

whiskey #46

Only $3.99 for the bottle, and that included a dog biscuit the cashier gave to hollydog.  And it wasn't that bad, definitely worth the four bones.

whiskey #45

A favorite of my dad's back when he was a big drinker.  Decent stuff for the price.  Notice the ball ice that I now have the capability to make at my house!

night outside #14

Saturday was global fat bike day, so after the 5K I took the fattie over to Red Rock Canyon for a few miles.

After that we decided to take the van out for what will probably be the last time this year.  Back to Canon City, though instead of hitting up Oil Well Flats again we tried somewhere new, on the other side of town near the Royal Gorge.  Of course we dropped by Florence Brewing on the way.

It was dark by the time we pulled in, so we set up camp and chilled around the fire.  Cold night, well below freezing.  For those who think the van thing is all cush, we had a water bottle next to the bed and it was frozen solid the next morning.

Sunday morning we did some hiking along the Rim Trail.  Awesome views of the Gorge.

Back by noon on Sunday, and headed out for a ten miler on the Garden roads.  40 miles on the week.  Starting to show some consistency on the workout front, but it's all for waste as my diet and alcohol consumption during these holidays has been pretty crazy. 

20:45

Still chasing a sub-20.  Should have done it on Saturday.  But at the halfway point of the race there was an intersection with no sign of where to go.  Wasn't sure if we should head forward, turn around, or take a left turn.  So we stopped and waited for a while.  Then I started jogging back the way we came, assuming it was an out and back.  After 25 meters or so a volunteer drives up and tells us we should have gone left, so I turn back around to finish the course.  Pretty sure that took at least a minute off my final time.

Oh yeah, I was dressed as Santa for the thing.

Last Thursday the brewers' cup (thankfully) ended.  Red Leg won.

All photos ripped from Pikes Peak Sports.

incline #40

The Incline is back, baby!

Terrible weather in COS yesterday afternoon, but I got over for a good post-work climb.  Forgot my watch, but I saw my buddy Josh just above the halfway point for verification.  As usual, even though the weather had plunged the city into chaos, once on the Incline life became awesome again.

Remember the strava negative split challenge?  Josh ran some podunk marathon in Kansas, negative split by one second, and gets free shoes!

Barr Trail

Zero physical activity on Friday and Saturday due to the long nights of drinking that have been going on.

On Sunday I went over to Manitou to run with the Incline Club.  I went up Barr Trail for five miles and came back down.  Went better than expected, and I was able to run most of it.

Did an hour of hot yoga on Sunday night.  As I was there, the dog got into some food not meant for her, and she has been puking all over the place since.  Yuk.  That made for a shitty night of sleep, but I still got out for an easy five miler on Monday morning.  And then another hour in Red Rock Canyon after work. 

21F on Tuesday morning for the bike to work.  Joy.  We did set a new record today however, this is the longest the Springs has gone without measurable snow.

whiskey #44

Our pooch let us know we were running low on dog food, so $100 and I had to head to Costco on Sunday.  Which was an absolute terrible experience.  We needed a drink after that trip, so we headed over to the relatively new Cockpit Craft Distillery.  I had the P-51 Whiskey and it was delicious.  I will definitely be back.

20:01

Terrible all around.  It's a slow course, it was cold, very windy, I'm out of shape, and I was hungover.  But I still hoped to at least go sub 20.  Not to be.

Ran 6:31, 6:32, 6:10 (first two miles are uphill, last mile is downhill).

Meh.

whiskey #43

Going to try to make a dent in the whiskey goal over the turkey weekend.  Started last night with Bulleit.  Dropped by the Muff after a few pints at Fossil Brewing.

I always enjoy drinking Shiner as it reminds me of the good years I spent in Texas, but man is the new (to me, at least) Shiner IPA is pretty awful, though at $2 a can it's drinkable.

weekend update

Another solid weekend in the books.

Saturday was (finally) the end of the brewers' cup with the Turkey Trot Predict.  I predicted 19:59 and was probably close to that pace.  But with half a mile to go the newly crowned champions, Red Leg Brewing, all waited for each other to finish together.  These pics were either stolen from Tim B or Katie Schwing.

After the 5K, we loaded up the van and headed up to Buff Creek.  Left early enough to try the new brewery in Bailey, Mad Jack's.  It was alright.  Definitely drop by if you happen to be in Bailey, definitely don't drive to Bailey just to go here.

After a few beers we found a spot to park the van for the night.  Buff Creek is still in great shape and there is hardly any snow there.  We took the dog on a night hike, enjoyed a few more beers, and then racked out.  Sunday morning we got up early for a two hour hike on the Colorado Trail.

On the way back we made sure to stop by the Donut Mill up in Woody Park.

Decent week for the offseason.  34 miles running, 88 miles on the bike, including finishing off the Cup 'o Dirt challenge.  The Incline club starts on Sunday, so maybe it's time to start thinking about trying to get back into some kind of running shape again.

Thursday

Monday- Easy five miler in the AM.  After work I shot over to Whistle Pig for the PPRR full moon run.  The beer at Whistle Pig is absolutely terrible and I'm not sure how those guys stay in business.  After one pint there it was back across town to Shae's for the final DIM hash of the year.  Easy trail as we went from Shae's to Alchemy to my garage.

Tuesday - Pretty hungover all day and all I was able to get done on the workout front was a three mile hike with the dog.  I thought of it as a lost day, she thought it was the best thing to ever happen in the history of the world.

Good ride yesterday up to Greenland, and that caps off my finish in the Cup 'O Dirt Challenge.  Glad to have that out of the way as at some point it is supposed to start getting cold and snowy here in Colorado.  But Wednesday it was 70F.

Wednesday evening I went over to Manitou Brewing for their run club.  Four mile run through the Garden, followed by cheap wings and their delicious High Ground IPA.  Also had the Trinity Chilly Water there, it's a yearly release and once again they nailed it.

Not a big Carmello fan, mostly due to his ties to the evil empire of Syracuse, but I loved this commercial: