SAR has been keeping me busy. Between Friday evening and Monday evening had a three incline calls, BTMR volunteering, and a CPR class. And another non-SAR trip to Barr Camp on Monday morning to deliver some mail.
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For the week:
run - 41 miles, eight hours
bike - 38 miles, 3.5 hours
hike - 30 miles, eight hours
Down week, been busy with SAR stuff and dogsitting.
Still summer for a while, but given our super early morning dog hikes we can already tell the sun is rising later. Here's Mook checking out the sun at the break of dawn.
While on the subject of good scenery, we caught Samantha Fish last night. Such a great show! She played with Slash and Warren Haynes in Denver last night and is opening for The Rolling Stones this weekend, and still squeezed in a show in COS.
Got the van out this weekend for some good altitude training. Spent Friday and Saturday nights at Hoosier Pass, with a Saturday morning hike of 13,828' Mount Silverheels. Ten mile hike all above 11,500'. Mookie had the time of his life.
Down the pass to Broken Compass Brewing after the climb, dog was thoroughly pooped.
Not a bad week considering the heatwave and weekend trip. The numbers:
run - 41 miles, 7.5 hours
ride - 57 miles, five hours
hike - 34 miles, 16 hours
Things went fairly well for me at the San Juan Solstice. Ran strong for the first 30 miles and thought I might be able to sneak in under twelve hours. Unfortunately, everything started hurting after that and I bet I lost a good 45 minutes due to my failure to attack the downhill portions of the last 20 miles. The last four-ish downhill miles were particularly ugly. But I fought hard to keep moving forward, and I can't be too disappointed with my 12:33 as I predicted something a lot closer to 14 hours.
Yuengling at mile 40, Ska Brewing Rue B. Soho Grapefruit Lager (not a normal pick for me but it tasted wonderful in the heat) at Vickers (mile 46ish) and a tallboy of PBR at the Packer Saloon (mile 49.9). Good times.
Came back home and passed my SAR emergency medical responder exam. Classes are finally over for me.
About to head down to Lake City. Been a long time since I've gone that far and I'm both nervous and excited. Course seems to be in good shape and the weather looks good.
Made the SAR social media rounds the other day.
A few more pics of Hood I came across:
Solid week. Lots of SAR stuff - worked the annual golf tournament, did some dog training up at the Academy on Saturday, and did my first ever incline rescue.
Decent long run on Sunday in the heat, 17 miles up Longs Ranch Road to Barr Camp and back down.
run - 52 miles, 10.5 hours
ride - 23 miles, 2.5 hours
hike - 23 miles, 9.5 hours
Throwing my hat back into the ultra world on Saturday at the San Juan Solstice. Feel pretty good about my chances of a finish there but it's been a long time and you never know. Hoping for a sub 14 hour finish.
Solid week, including a trip to Lulu's to see Austin favorite Bob Schnneider. The next day, though fairly hungover, I got up to Barr Camp via the incline. Then a two hour road run on Saturday. No Garden ten miler for me this year, SAR did a mock missing person mission up on the Pikes Peak Highway so I was up there all morning.
Another highlight for the week: $100 and I are signed up for this in December '25.
For the week:
run - 61 miles, 13 hours
ride - 41 miles, four hours
hike - 28 miles, 11.5 hours
Two weeks until Lake City!
Incredible trip out to Oregon. The mountain was waiting for us even before we landed.
Pretty long day, 11.5 hours total for the climb, plus the early wake up. We headed to Hood River for pizza and beers before finishing up in Portland for the day. Stayed in a great neighborhood there, Ladd's Addition, which had quite a few quality drinking establishments within walking distance.
Took a trip to Eugene on Friday to visit Pre's Rock, Hayward Field, and Track Town Pizza. Got in a nice five mile run on Pre's trail.
Got in a few early morning coffee hikes to explore Mt Tabor Park and the downtown riverwalk in Portland, but most of our two days there was spent exploring all the breweries and dive bars we could.
Landed in COS at 3:30PM on Sunday, and the SAR alarm went out at 4:30PM. Back to the grind.
Solid week.
Tues - bike commute 39, ten miles there and eleven back home. CityRock 65 at lunch.
Wed - run commute 36, six miles each way.
Thurs - took the day off work to join SAR in a missing person search down near Bishop's Castle. The moment we left rescue base the girl turned up. Used the day off to get in a 2.5 hour run over at Section 16.
Fri - bike commute 40, then an easy five miler on the Garden trails in the evening.
Sat - ten miles on the COVID loop, was going to go further but got a SAR call for a broken ankle in Cheyenne Canon.
Sun - awesome long run. Ute, Longs Ranch, Bob's, then Barr Trail up until I hit heavy snow around 11,000 feet. Barr Trail is clear up to half mile past the Bottomless Pitt sign. 20 miles.
For the week:
run - 65 miles, 14 hours
ride - 68 miles, 6.5 hours
hike - 28 miles, 12 hours
On Monday I ran the annual Red Leg 10k. Somehow they messed up the turnaround and I ended up running 6.5 miles, finishing in 47:21. Hit the 10k mark at just under 45.
Been a good stretch for me. In the last 2.5 weeks I have an 18 mile road run, the Colfax 'thon, a 20 miler on Pikes, and a good effort at the 10k. This week will be a bit down as I travel to Portland tomorrow for the Hood attempt.
The time will come when I'm no longer able to run a road marathon hungover, but that day is not here yet!
Annual trip up to run the Colfax 'thon. Marcus King on Saturday night, then up early on Sunday to run the race. Day went much better than expected and I end up finishing in 4:17, including stops at two bars, two lawn parties, and a jello shot.
Saw PG at the Lakeview Lounge right before mile ten.
Got in an unexpected Mike H sighting on Colfax Ave, he was (I think) near mile 18 and I was around mile 12. I believe I was watching his dreams of a sub three die at that point.
$100 and Mookie were spectating the race at Reverence Brewing, it was nice to see the right before mile 25.
For the week:
run - 62 miles, 10.5 hours
ride - 51 miles, five hours
hike - 23 miles, ten hours
Got an early morning SAR call out on Monday. Got to go out with one of the dogs looking for a missing dementia patient. Ended up finding the guy at Wines of Colorado.
Another decent week. On Sunday the Mt Hood team (minus Kircher) got up to St. Mary's Glacier to practice some basic mountaineering stuff. Good times! Two weeks until we fly to Portland to attempt that mountain.
For the week:
run - 52 miles, 9.5 hours
ride - fifty miles, five hours
hike - 25 miles, 9.5 hours
Good long run on Saturday as I got up to Barr Camp. Trail is clear up to that point, lots of snow after that. It's melting fast though.
Had a SAR training on Sunday. My first training as part of the team. Practiced high angle rescue, which is getting to someone stuck on a cliff. Pretty beat after that and spent the rest of the day at Red Leg and Fossil.
For the week:
run - 54 miles, eleven hours
ride - 34 miles, 3.5 hours
hike - 27 miles, twelve hours
Mon - first Monday evening I've had free in quite a while. Went over and hit the incline.
Good day at the dog park on Tuesday!
That's a wrap on April. For the month:
run - 197 miles, 40.5 hours
ride - 223 miles, 23.5 hours
hike - 103 miles, 43 hours
57 trips to CityRock on the year.
Wednesday was SAR graduation. I'm officially on the team now.
Bit of a down week as SAR took up a ton of time.
run - 30 miles, 5.5 hours
ride - 45 miles, five hours
hike - 18.7 miles, eight hours
We had our final SAR class on Saturday over in Cheyenne Canon. Nicely coincided with a fairly heavy snow storm. Wednesday is our graduation and I'll be going out on real world rescues after that. In this pic I'm in the blue coat on the left, standing by the tree, starting to build an anchor to help lower a patient down a steep hill.
We are lucky to get to hang with Salida Fritz for a few days while his owner is out of country. He and Mook get along well. Lots of dog park time.
I was doing some laundry the other day and Mookie figured the dryer looked like a nice place for a nap.
Passed my SAR exam on Wednesday night. All that's left is the mock mission on Saturday and then graduation next Wednesday, May 1. After that I'll be able to head out on real world missions.
SAR took up almost all weekend so not a whole lot of miles. Did get Mook out for a quick five miler on the Garden trails on Saturday afternoon, and we ended up getting caught in a blizzard. Weird weather lately.
For the week:
run - 44 miles, 8.5 hours
ride - 46 miles, 4.5 hours
hike - 23 miles, ten hours
SAR school wraps up this week with a bunch of tests I have to pass. If all goes well I'll officially be on the team beginning May 1.
Tues - bike commute 30, then the Iron/Red/Iron out and back with Mookie after work.
Wed - run commute 26. Six there, four back. SAR in the evening.
Thurs - run commute 27. Four there, six back. Shitty, cold weather made a return.
Fri - bike commute 31. Four there, ten back home.
Last big SAR weekend coming up. Search dogs on Saturday, land nav on Sunday. Wednesday we have our final exam and on Saturday we have the mock mission. Assuming I pass everything, I still have to take an eight week emergency responder medic course before I can go on real world stuff.
Solid week. 50th trip to CityRock and 25th run commute Thursday. Good long run on Sunday in the heat - Iron/Red/Incline/Red/Iron, 15 miles with just over 5000 feet of climbing.
For the week:
run - 51.5 miles, 11.5 hours
ride - 63 miles, 6.5 hours
hike - 26 miles, 10.5 hours
Hit the track on Monday morning before the Boston Marathon came on. Not good, I have a lot of work to do.
Big SAR week, I'll get in the miles when I can.
Solid week, more miles and some significant climbing. Three hour long run in Red Rock Canyon/Section 16 on Sunday afternoon. Hopefully the weather has finally turned a corner and warmer days are here to stay.
run - 54 miles, 10.5 hours
ride - 51 miles, 5.5 hours
hike - 27 miles, 10.5 hours
Believe it or not, but the Pirates currently have the best record in baseball (I give them the tie breaker over the Yankees because fuck the Yankees).
Getting there...
Another busy week. SAR and these dog classes are keeping me busy. Agility just ended for Mook though, so I now have Sunday free again. His nose class ends in mid April, and SAR school winds up at the end of the month.
For the week:
run - 39 miles, 8.5 hours. Snuck in an incline on Sunday, first one in a while.
ride - 32 miles, three hours
hike - 23 miles, nine hours
Sunday was a SAR make up day for rappel practice. We used an abandoned bridge over near REI. I've come a long way over the past few years in dealing with my intense dislike of heights.
The SAR midterm went well. I get to continue on. Even made it onto their social media page, that's me in the middle with the long sleeve green shirt.
After some celebratory Red Leg brews, we headed up to Fort Collins to see moe. Great show! Still haven't seen them play Moth but we got an excellent Happy Hour Hero to make up for it.
