Friday, November 29, 2019

incline 23

Streaking.  Pretty hungover but still got out. 

Thursday, November 28, 2019

incline 22

Was signed up for the local Turkey Trot 5k but the recent snow/ice storm still has our roads quite a mess.  Saw a bunch of pics of the 5k course and decided to bail.  If I'm going to futz around on ice and snow I'll do it on the Incline.  It had been a while since I made that climb.  August 9th, to be correct.  Very casual pace but it was a good time out there.


Wednesday, November 27, 2019

run commute 73

We got a ton of snow here in Pleasant Valley, quite possibly the most since I've lived here.  The Air Force Academy announced on Monday afternoon that they would be closed on Tuesday, so our cadet was excited to chill at our house an extra day before her flight home for turkey break.  But I informed her that this was an Army house, and we do PT at 5AM regardless of the weather.  I think she thought I was joking, but her and the dog and I did a 45 minute slog through a good eight inches of snow in the Garden before the sun came up.

Wednesday - some drunko might have left the jeep at Red Leg last night, so I had to run to work despite it being 3F when I left.  All the roads in COS are a hot mess, or icy mess, right now.

A few extra pics from the Soldier Marathon:




Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Georgia (and a tiny bit of Alabama)

The Georgia recap before I forget everything.  Atlanta is a great trip to make from COS as it's one of our few direct flights.  Hopped off the plane and started heading down to Fort Benning, but $100 found a brewery along the way.  Beacon Brewing in La Grange, GA.  Good brews.


Beacon also does a collaboration with the Clermont Lounge in Atlanta.


After that stop it was off to the Infantry Museum to pick up our race packets. 


Driving down Victory Drive to Fort Benning definitely brought back some memories.  I was an infantryman during my Army days, and went to basic training and airborne school at Benning. 

We walked through the museum and it turns out the vehicle they have on display for the Iraq section was the actual vehicle I spent a lot of time on during my deployment.  I was one of the grunts who would walk alongside this vehicle, which I was fine with as it made me a much smaller target.  But at the end of the day it was always nice to get a ride back.




The bar at the museum had an 11B themed IPA.


Already covered my mediocre race so I won't rehash that.  I should point out that $100 PR'd in the half marathon, running 2:04.

After the race we walked over to the Chattahoochee Brewing Company in Phenix City, Alabama.  In this part of the world the Chattahoochee River not only serves as the border between Georgia and Alabama, but it's also the boundary between time zones.  It's also very deep in SEC country, which is absolutely ridiculous if you've never experienced it.  Auburn is only 40 miles away, but the Tua injury was definitely the talk of the weekend.

Columbus, GA, as seen from Alabama:



We then humped back across the river and hit a bunch of bars in Columbus.  Tried a lot of new beers but still made room for an old favorite:


We left early Sunday for the long drive to Atlanta.  Lots of extra miles to hit two more state high points. 


Sweetwater had been on our list for a long time, and $100 and I finally got to visit the brewery.  Back when $100 and I started dating we "discovered" Sweetwater at  Telluride Blues & Brews and they've been a favorite of ours ever since.  We usually only find it in airports, so it was nice to enjoy some pints that didn't cost $12.


We stayed at the Clermont Hotel which is literally on top of the Clermont Lounge.  But it was Sunday, and the Lounge was closed.  Super bummed about that but I'm headed back to the ATL to watch the Olympic trials so I'll visit then.  The hotel had a rooftop bar and lots of bars in the area, and we visited quite a few of those.


On Monday we went down to olympic centennial park and then ended up taking the tour of CNN.


Be advised: damn near everything in Atlanta is closed on Monday.  Luckily, the one brewery that was open was one we wanted to visit, Scofflaw Brewing.  Great beers but they can't handle my game!



And after Scofflaw it was back to the airport.  Awesome trip and I can't wait to go back!

Thursday, November 21, 2019

run commute 72

Easy half hour to work this morning.  Haven't done much since the marathon.  Well, not much healthy anyways.  Lot of drinking, lot of laziness, lot of junk food.  Which is typically the case for me during the holidays.  Starting to put together the schedule for '20 though, and at some point I'll have to start doing work again.

Last night I finished all the booze at Murphy's and only have some repeat bottles remaining.

Also I want to mention that on my Tuesday morning dog hike I found $11!  Second highest amount I've ever found at once.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

3:16

Good race through mile 19, and then a switch flipped and suddenly it wasn't a good race anymore.  Not sure what happened, just had nothing left physically or mentally after that point.  Didn't let things get too far out of control as I tend to do, at my advanced age I can get into Chicago with a sub 3:20  and that is a possible option for next year.

Enjoyed the course and the trip.  Besides the marathon and two state points we got to check out the Infantry museum and a few cool spots in Atlanta.  I'll get a few pics from the rest of the trip up when I get caught up with life.




Friday, November 15, 2019

Thursday, November 14, 2019

run commute 71

Easy week and I'm feeling pretty good for the Soldier Marathon on Saturday.  I guestimate I have an 80% chance of running 3:10, which is about as good of a chance as I can give myself nowadays.

Mon - pretty sore from Canya Canon so I took the day off.  Nice hike with the dog and CityRock 119.

Tues - run commute 70.  Four miles to work, 3.5 back.  Trails End in the evening.

Wed - no biking or running but it was a hard day at CityRock. 

Thurs - run commute 71.  3.5 miles to work.  CityRock 122 at lunch.

Pic stolen from Tim B, roughly mile 4.5 on Sunday:


Monday, November 11, 2019

update

Monday - bike commute 67.  Ten miles to work, eleven miles home.

Tuesday - run commute 69.  Four miles to work, four miles home.  CityRock 116 at lunch.

Wednesday - bike commute 68.  Straight to and from work.  CityRock 117 at lunch.

Thursday - bike commute 69, straight there and back.  CityRock 118 at lunch.  Dropped by Fossil after work.

Friday - had the day off so got out for 13.5 miles on the Midland, Santa Fe, and Sinton trails.  1:54.  Later in the afternoon I biked over to Red Leg for a ton of beers, then hit Trinity Brewing on the way home.  The beginning of a pretty solid weekend bender for me.

Saturday - brewery half marathon.  13 miles of both running and using Pike Ride.  Trails End, Fossil, Cerberus, Goat Patch, Murphy's, Brass, the Triple Nickel, and Iron Bird for me before my liver tapped out.


Sunday - the annual Canya Canon five miler.  Despite being terribly hungover I ran well.  I can tell I haven't been doing much hill work lately.  Ran 42:46, beating last years time of 43:26.

Relive 'Canya Canon'


       

This will be a weird week as I have to go to Buena Vista on Tuesday, then we're off to Georgia on Friday.

Saturday, November 09, 2019

varsity club

34. Blue Caracao

varsity club

33. Apple schnapps.

Monday, November 04, 2019

weekend update

Bit hungover on Saturday but I still hit the track.  Kind of comical as the Holmes track was pretty messed up.  Ran eight quarters, though they were all in lanes two and three, plus having to swing out to lane six on the south turn.  Still averaged 93 on these, happy with the effort.

After the track we headed up to the Academy for the Army game.  Pretty good game, though I was rooting for Army and they were just a little behind all day, including the end.


But I did score a pretty sweet hat.


Eventually we got home and headed back out to the Colorado Mountain Club annual dinner.  The speaker was none other than Matt Carpenter. 


I've picked up on Matt's story bit by bit over the dozen plus years I've lived in the area.  But it was cool to hear him tell the whole thing.  He doesn't race anymore but he has covered at least an hour each day for the last six years.  The dog and I will see him once every blue moon, and the dude still moves.  He told me if he had to go run the race today he could go 2:29.  He also had good things to say about Killian, though he was critical of an 18 minute incline Killian ran the Friday before marathon Sunday.  He finally added that he believes all his records will be broken, and he said he looks forward to asking the new record holder how he trained to run so fast.

On Sunday I got up and watched the NYC marathon.  $100 was watching and must have been motivated as she put herself into the lottery for Chicago.  After the race I got out for my last long run before Benning, 21.6 miles in just over three hours.  Pretty wrecked afterwards, but I got my ass over to hot yoga and that helped with recovery.