Softie bound

Headed off in the van for a bit.  

Down to Durango for the San Juan Softie.  Pretty excited for that, even with a less than stellar forecast.  I think you should be able to track me here if you have nothing better to do with your life.  Starts Friday at 6AM and I'm shooting for a 33 hour finish.  

Potentially my last hundo.  Takes too much time to train for anymore.  I'd like to go out with High Lonesome but I don't see myself ever getting into that race unfortunately.

Durango for a few days after that race, then we aren't sure where we'll go.  If the weather is dog friendly, we'll head down to Flagstaff via the Grand Canyon.  If it's too hot in AZ, we'll bum around the San Juans for a few days.  Either way I'm looking forward to some down time after the race.

Shot of me from the Pony Express last Saturday:

51

Lots to catch up on.

Returned from a big van trip down to Creede and Del Norte.  Ran well at the Creede 50, finishing the tough course in 13:59:01.  Tempest Adventures once again delivered a nice ass kicking, low key run.  Then the next day I got up and ran the San Juan Sports local race, a 5.8 miler on the Shallow Creek Trail.  Took the next day off but got right back at it with a summit of Phoenix Peak, a Colorado Centennial and the 73rd highest peak in the state.  Mookie loved it.

Lots of other great hikes/runs in Creede while we were there, including Inspiration Point and Up & Over.  Plus lots of visits to Sunnyside, Kip's, and the Tommyknocker.  And two showers in a bar!

After Creede we made our way over to Del Norte for Rhythms on the Rio.  Such a great event and it killed yet again this year!  Mornings were a big hike up Lookout Mountain and a dip in the Rio Grande with the pup, afternoons were spent at Three Barrel and hanging in the river, and fantastic music the rest of the day.  Even ran the Bee's Knees 5k, a local trail race benefiting the high school cross country team.

July was a big month for me.

run - 310 miles, 69 hours, 40000 feet of vert

hike - 180 miles, 78 hours, 28000 feet of climbing.

I turned 51 in early August on a late night SAR mission up at Rampart Range.  Hit the Sublime show later that day to celebrate.