Cripple Creek Ice Fest

As much as I hated to bail on the Pueblo Marathon it allowed $100 and I the chance to head up to the Cripple Creek Ice Festival.  This was the first time in years that I've driven to Cripple Creek, usually when I go there I'm on a bike.

The ice festival was OK.  Cripple Creek is a strange town.  There's not much to do there if you're not there to gamble. 

Manitou Mardi Gras

Another great Manitou Mardi Gras in the books.  Rode bikes over there in time to catch the parade, then hit up Manitou Brewing, the Royal, Kinfolks, and even Pikes Peak Pub.  Saw some amazing music at Kinfolks and drank way too many beers.  Good times!

the comeback is on hold...

It was very easy to talk myself into taking the morning off from running.  Slept in for another half hour and then hit Accolade instead.  As a further kick in the balls my wife just texted me from Florida and said it was 82F.

Going strong in the latest season of the adult bouldering league.  Got in a good workout last night before heading over to Fossil for the Oreo Stout.

4

Put the cankle back to work this morning.  Easy four mile run on the Garden roads followed by a 40 minute hike with the dog.  It's still sore, but I'm not damaging it so it looks like I'll start running again.

Getting some good snow right now here in COS.  As much as I love the warm temps and cheer for global warming, I was starting to worry about this place burning down.  Hopefully this helps prevent that.

CityRock 13 & 14

Been a slothy week.  Between the cankle, transport of the dog to/from Chez Ewing every day, and now $100 leaving for Orlando, there hasn't been much aerobic work going on.  Have been climbing though, and today I nailed a V3.  Only the second time I've climbed a V3.  Luckily someone was there to take a picture of me halfway through the problem:

I am planning on going for a short run on Friday morning to test the cankle, we'll see how that goes.  Still a tiny bit of soreness there, but I've been hiking and climbing on it so hopefully things are good to go.

Austin

Figured I'd dump all this pics before I forget.  Had a blast, as usual, down in Austin.  Drank a bunch of beers, ran some great trails, saw some great friends, and even went swimming.  Good times!  Not that I can complain about Colorado, but there are times I miss living in Texas.

valentines day

Hot date on V-Day this year as $100 and I went to Pure Boulder.

Don't laugh, they had a chocolate fountain!

Pueblo no-go

Decided to play it safe and bail on Pueblo.  The ankle is not as bad as the last two injuries, I think it will take a few days to recover instead of a few weeks, but pounding it on concrete for 26 miles didn't sound very appealing.  My last two marathons have now been a DNF and DNS, hopefully Salida next month gets me back on track.

I'm still able to bike and hike, and I got the dog out this morning for this view:

I am slowly starting to update my Pikes blog again if anyone is interested.

bike commute 11/incline 13

Solid Friday.  Though coming down Barr Trail after the Incline I once again jacked up my cankle.  Not nearly as bad as in the past, but it's pretty stiff right now (Saturday morning).  Hopefully I can still squeeze in the Pueblo Marathon tomorrow.

night outside number one

Last Friday we jumped in the van and took off for Canon City.  The road to Oil Well Flats was closed to vehicle traffic (the trails are open though) so we headed three miles up the road to Red Canyon Park.  Gorgeous night to sit around a fire drinking beer and watching the dogs have a blast.  Saturday morning we knocked out a good hike, then I went out for a 13 mile run.  Awesome dirt road that runs at least 12 miles from Red Canyon Park over to near where Skyline Drive pops out on HWY 50.

Thought about staying Saturday night as well, but with a lot of travel and the remodel, it felt like we hadn't been home in a while.  Of course the shitty weather report helped us make a decision.  So we hit Florence Brewing and then made the drive back to the Springs.

Pearl

Seems like it's been nothing but bad news everywhere you turn nowadays. 

Unless you've been following the saga of Pearl, Tom's dog who got loose 22+ months ago.

Guess who came back this past weekend?

run commute 8

Battling some kind of low grade crud which made the run to/from work suck.  4.2 miles there, 5.5 miles back.

Austin: getting there

I'm usually a big fan of flying out of Colorado Springs instead of Denver.  15 minute drive compared to 90+ minutes and very easy security.  And we get to drop by this place on the way to the airport:

But for my first time ever it was quite the shitshow when we were flying out to Austin.  Turns out they overbooked the flight, and $100 and I got bumped.  Two of our group (BLOS and Nacheaux) got on the plane, but the rental car was in my name, and the folks we were crashing with all weekend were my buddies. 

I immediately started texting with a pilot buddy who coached me in what to do.  Ended up getting two $300 travel vouchers (the entire travel cost of the trip, two flights and a car, was $420), a $250 taxi voucher to get to DIA, and two $10 drink vouchers.  And we were only two hours later getting to Austin.  Worked out pretty well, though there was a short period where we wondered if we were going to get there at all.

Did I mention COS has an airport bar?

By the way, $20 in drink vouchers BARELY covered the cost of two pints of New Belgium brews at DIA.  I think each beer was $9.80. 

incline 12

I took the dogs to Stratton this morning for a 4.7 mile loop.  I've been lugging around a 40 pound pack during my dog hikes lately, and today the pack made me feel my age.  That continued on my slog up the Incline.  Saw BStap there and he was doing the thing five times today.

So slow on the incline loop I was able to listen to the entire Widespread Panic show from Jackson Hole, 2/6/96.

bike commute 9/skunk

On a Thursday morning early Garden hike with the dog, she was off leash and took off running towards something.  Not unusual, as there are tons of rabbits over there.  Heard a scuffle, then the dog continued running away from me.  Then a skunk came running towards me.  Once the fart squirrel saw me, he blasted me, then darted into the bushes.  The dog and I both stunk up the Garden the rest of our hike.  The dog had two showers yesterday and wasn't happy about that.  But she doesn't stink anymore.  I see skunks quite often here, but usually in the urban environment and not on the trails.

And speaking of things that smell like shit, our new shitter has a pretty thick manual.  We got two of these, one in English and one in French.  It takes a plumber and an electrician to install.  And probably a computer programmer.

Good seven mile run early Friday AM on the Garden roads.  60F at 5AM.

Taking the van and the dogs down to Canon City the next two nights.  Trying to get the most out of this summer weather.

Thanks for the brews, Bob!