Blodgett Peak or bust!

Off for a quick attempt at Blodgett Peak before work. Just over 9400 feet, supposed to be a pretty good workout.

By the way, I broke my phone last night at the Black Sheep PBR drunk fest, so I'll be unreachable for a while. I must have dropped it when the bartender told me that from now on every non-music night at the Sheep will be $7 all-you-can-drink Pabst!

finally!

One down, 55 more to go in my quest to drink a PBR and smoke a stogie on top of all of Colorado's 14ers.

Set off at 5:30AM on the Barr Trail. Weather report was good, trail reports were positive, and I wasn't too hungover, so I figured I'd have a pretty good chance of a summit.

Folks, including myself, always say that Pikes Peak is an "easy" fourteener. And it is, in the sense that there is a well beaten trail from the bottom to the top. No navigation, no bushwacking, a refuel point halfway up. But it's still a rough hike, about twelve miles and a 7400 foot climb to the top, and then you hafta get back down (right, Melissa!).

Made good time on the way up. Did stop to take a ton of pictures and had a nice break at Barr Camp. Still made it up in just under six hours, pretty good for hiking the entire thing. And after busting my ass for six hours and finally bagging my first fourteener, what is awaiting me at the top?



Yup, Asian tourists! There's actually a mall on top of Pikes Peak, and lazy tourists can get there via road or the Cog Railway. There was a trainload of folks up there when I arrived, and I was like a celebrity since I was the only one who hiked up. The gals in this pic were actually from Thailand, and they said they knew Free Meat and she was a big, huge wanker!

A beer, a stog, and a cup of coffee later (about 45 minutes) I was on my way back down. Saw a few dark clouds rolling in so I had to bust ass down to treeline. I was motivated by the plaque dedicated to an 88 year old woman who was struck by lightening on her 14th summit of Pikes. That's how I wanna go. Except I didn't want to do it today.

Took a long break at the treeline shelter, then took a longer break at Barr Camp. Still made it down in just under twelve hours. Think if I was going for time I could hike the entire thing in sub-ten hours, but I was in no hurry today.

ugh...

Currnently stuck on the graveyard (10PM 'till 8AM) shift at work. Not complaining too much right now because I have a lot of reading to catch up on, but if they keep me here too long I'll be looking for a new job once again. The good news is that it's a four days on-three days off schedule, so I should be able to finally get some climbing in. Gonna try for Pikes this Thursday so I can celebrate at the Black Sheep drunkfest that evening!

Rocky Mountain high

Decided to bail on Barr Camp this morning and instead finally make an attempt on Rocky Mountain. The decision was a good one, as I was rewarded with a fun climb, another bagged peak, and the coolest view of Pikes Peak I've had since I moved here. Lots of fun bouldering after the incline, and then some very hairy moments as you have to climb up a huge boulder to get to the high point of RM. I'll do this one again and bring a camera.

Off to the Denver hash!

stuff

Was reviewing my pre-CP50 training and decided to make some changes. Came up with a new plan that has me running 3-4 days a week. Cuts out a lot of the shorter runs I had been doing. Basically now anytime I run it'll be for at least two hours, usually more. Probably run every other Saturday to get in some back to back long runs. Plan goes something like this:

Mon - off/mountain bike/peak bag
Tues - Palmer Park fartleks
Wed - Incline/Mt Manitou hike
Thurs - Barr Trail tempo run
Fri - off/mountain bike/moonhike
Sat - off/CRUD run
Sun - Incline Club run

Still hitting the gym when I can, it's just tough for me to stay holed up inside when there's so much outdoor stuff to do up here.

As much as I was bitching about my performance at CP, looking back it might not have been too bad. I was only an hour slower than my 50 miler at Sunmart, and the Colorado course was a heckuva lot harder. I also had roughly the same pace as my 100K at Bandera. Hard to say which course was harder but the CP course was definitely slower.

Also drooling over Pikes Peak, seems the last of the snow is melting. Gonna take a scouting trip up to treeline on Sunday, check out the condition of the trail. A summit attempt could follow shortly. From what I'm hearing there are several other 14ers I could have already done, I just want to make Pikes my first one. Once I bag Pikes the floodgates should open to other 14ers.

Work is going well. Have to turn in my "wilderness resume" today so they can figure out if I'm good to travel with the groups on their outdoor activities. I think I'll be OK. Upcoming trips include trailbuilding at the Garden of the Gods, an alpine restoration project in the Sangre de Cristo wilderness area, a Mount Sherman peak attempt, and a canyoneering trip to Grand Gulch in Utah. Good stuff.

LVH3

The Lehigh Valley H3 (I'm part of their mismanagement!) made the news this week. Check it out here.
I swear I'll get back to hash with those wankers someday.

pub run

Next Austin Duathlete pub run is on Thursday, May 18th. Start at the downtown RunTex at 6PM. Five miles, three pubs. Be there or be square.

get uppity!

I swiped this off my friend suzy's my space page. She sent me something about my beloved Pirates that made me cry, and this cheered me up a bit, thought I'd share it.

Was out the door just after dawn this morning for my run to the Y. Was greeted with this sight (yes, this is my luxourious back yard). Mid-May, and it's still snowing. Haven't been able to get a glimpse of the Peak, but I hope it's not too bad as I'm hoping for another summit attempt on Monday or Tuesday. As much as I'd love for it to warm up and melt all the snow, I'm glad for the precipitation, Colorado has been under some major forest fire conditions lately.

baaaarrrrrryyyyy...

I hate Barry Bonds. Mostly from his days as a post-season choke artist with the Pirates, and to a lesser degree from the recent steroid mess. And I usually hate Philly fans too, though I thought this sign was pretty good.

Palmer Park

I've always had great times at city parks. Schenley and Frick Parks in Pittsburgh, Fairmount Park in Philly, Walnut Creek Park in Austin.

Found out about a gem of a city park here in Colorado Springs, Palmer Park. Took a recovery hike there today, seems to be tons of great, technical trails. And it's only three miles from my house, so I can ride my bike there (fuck you and your dirty oil money, Saudi Arabia!)!

Anyways, it'll be a great place to train for both running and mountain biking. Reminded me a lot of the BMX loop at Walnut Creek, but with a lot more hills. Might even have to start up the night workouts again, this park would be a great place for those! They have bears in the park though, guess I should also work on my tree climbing skills, or at least always bring someone slower along for the workout (one of the reason's I always let Troy tag along on our night workouts at Walnut Creek).

Already feel fairly recovered from the CP50. Felt like hell on Saturday evening, not much better on Sunday. But after today's hike I'm planning on finally climbing Rocky Mountain via the Incline tomorrow, possibly with Batt (and Slut's shirt).

I took a few pics of various trails in the park, they're available here. The green shirt among those pics is for Melissa, I was complaining to her about forking out $55 for a lousy piece of schwag that I'd never wear.

reach out and lick someone

Just thought I'd share this, it's a pic of Meat making out with her phone. And I'm not making anything up, she really was getting it on with a cell phone. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose.

Just Melissa

Some of yunz might remember Melissa, survivor of the Burnet Road Challenge and veteran of a few Austin hashes. She now has a blog so go tell her how much it sucks, if you're able to read it.

In what is starting to become a regular occurance for attractive, single Austin females, she will be moving to Colorado (Denver) soon. Conviently a week after the Barr Mountain Trail Race, since she knows I'd kick her ass there.

finally over

Finished, with an unofficial time of 9:54:16. Hardest run I've done, seriously considered dropping out at the 50K mark and again at 36 miles. Good to have my first CO ultra out of the way though. More info once I feel up to it.

Collegiate Peaks or bust!

Off to the Collegiate Peaks 50 miler soon. Kinda worried about it, as I'm not in the best shape of my life. But for me CP is actually just an epic training run for the upcoming San Juan Solstice, so that takes a bit of the pressure off. I figure I'll be good for about 35 miles and that's when the fun will start. I'll be happy to get my first Colorado ultra out of the way though. Detailed race report should be posted tomorrow.

new job

New gig at the Griffith Center is working out great. Definitely made the right choice bailing on the Cedar Springs job and taking this one. Besides the better pay and close location, I now get to wear jeans to work! Sneakers too, just in case I have to run an escapee down. And the people I work with seem pretty cool too. It's also rare to find anyone who has been there for less than two years and most have been there significantly longer, so maybe I'll actually keep this job for a while. Even have great medical benefits now, right in time for 14er season!

The actual work part has me as a counselor on a sexual offense unit. The unit currently has about a dozen kids, ages 12 to 17, most convicted of a crime and sent here for rehab. A lot of these kids are such sad cases, I can't imagine they'll ever get over the trauma they've faced. But we do what we can to help 'em out. A team (the therapist and counselors) figures out a treatment plan for each kid, then the counselors implement the plan.

The Griffith Center owns a school across the street, so the kids can continue their education while they're here. There are also other units on the "campus" (the whole campus is about a city block) such as abuse and high risk (violent).

Work trip coming up in a few month to the Slot Canyons of Utah, hoping to get in on that. Missed the mountain bike trip to Moab already, which sucks. Oh well, next year.

he dresses funny too...

This is the current state of the Iraq war, seems it has reverted to name calling. Maybe GW will go on TV soon and talk about how his dad could beat up Zarqawi's dad.

cnn

If he's so incompetent why can't we catch him?

update

Too much crap to do this weekend, so I ended up bailing on the Sand Dunes.

Was rewarded with two great long runs. Saturday was a climb up Rampart Range Road, then down through the Cave of the Winds. As an added bonus I finally found the path that leads from the Cave over to Waldo Canyon. Got in a good four hours.

Sunday was also an awesome run, with the Incline Club up to Barr Camp and back. For the first time I was able to run the entire thing without stopping. Made it to Barr Camp in 98 minutes, a personal best by several minutes. Decided to go ahead and enter the Barr Trail Mountain Race in July, and if I keep improving like I have been I should do pretty good.

Glad I got these runs in, give me a bit of confidence heading into Collegiate Peaks this weekend.

After the Barr Camp run it was straight off to Denver for the second annual Lone Tree Invihash. Basically just a trail laid by some of the DH3s more active hashers. Awesome trail, lots of shiggy and killer falses. Had shiggy, creek crossings, tunnels under major highways, golf courses, I think all we were missing were some railroad tracks.

Even managed to hit my first DIM (Damn, It's Monday) hash. I like the DIM, it's usually a longer trail, the beer checks are quick, the circle doesn't go on forever. So you get in a good trail in a short amount of time.

That's it for now. New job is going great. I'll post an update on that later.

2400 U.S. soldiers have now given their life to rid Iraq of WMDs. Or to rid Iraq of an "evil tyrant (woohoo 4th ID!)." Or to bring democracy to Iraq. Or to deny a safe haven to terrorists. Or whatever the hell we're over there for nowadays. Luckily, outside of a few hard-to-answer questions from the press, the civilian leadership of this country won't have their lives affected by the mess they've caused. Go ahead and take another hard earned vacation, GW.

happy birthday, eeyore!

Missing one of my favorite Austin holidays today, hope everyone has a good time at the party!

new job (again)

Latest job lasted a whole week, as I have just resigned from Cedar Springs in order to accept a job as a counselor with the Griffith Center. Interviewed with both companies at the same time, and I really wanted the counseling job but didn't think they were gonna hire me. The Griffith job is better for me in such ways as A) it pays more; B) I can walk to work and spend the saved gas money at Platte Road pubs on the way home; and C) they work with less mentally challenged kiddos and as such they can do more cool stuff.

One of the questions at the interview was, "Sometimes the therapy involves outdoor activities such as mountain biking in Moab or climbing some of Colorado's fourteeners. Would you be able to tag along on these outings?"

My response: "You mean you'll pay me to mountain bike and climb 14ers!?!"

Other than the outdoors stuff the jobs seem quite similar.

coffee makes you fat!

So I've been going through training for my new job with a few other folks. One of the perks of the job is the free coffee from the cafeteria, which I've been taking full advantage of.

Anyways, today I was talking to two of my fellow rookies, one of whom was humongously obese (i.e, could lose 200 pounds and still be way overweight) and the other was a bit lighter, but still at least 50 pounds on the wrong side of healthy.

Anyways, the huge one says to me, "I see you drink a lot of coffee." I replied, "Yeah, at least two pots a day, but more if I don't have to pay for it."

I was stunned as to what happened next, as both heavyweights started telling me about how too much coffee affects insulin levels and causes one to gain weight. I was so taken aback by the comments I wasn't even sure what to say, so I politely excused myself from the conversation, using, of course, the excuse that I had to go get more coffee.

Tuck It/DOF

Was looking forward to seeing Cleetus and Day Old Fish this weekend. Then they found out it was the Sand Dunes Hash Campout, not the Sand Dudes Hash Campout, so they cancelled their roadtrip. Oh well, I'm sure they'll have fun at Oil Can Harry's.

Thanks, jenni...

Not usually into these, but since my cousin is going to send me a dozen Eat & Park Smiley Cookies with the new Clarks CD I thought I'd give it a shot.

The Rules:

1. Go write 6 weird facts/things/etc. about yourself on your blog, then tag six more people!

2. Then leave a comment that says 'You are tagged' in their comments telling them to read your blog.


1. I spent a year in podiatry school.

2. In 1989 I finished dead last in the District 4 cross-country meet; returned in 1992 to finish first and lead the Shikellamy Braves to the championship (which kicked off a 13+ year dynasty, FYI).

3. On a drunken night in downtown Philly I pissed on the Madden-cruiser.

4. Wearing only a pair of Saucony Jazz and waving a Terrible Towel, I was chased through South Oakland for a quarter mile by a PGH cop.

5. I played the drums for three years in middle school band.

6. I was, and am, ridiculoulsly opposed to the event (Iraq war) that gave me my life's greatest honor (Combat Infantryman Badge).

Tag, you're it: TAF, Centipede, Firetunnel, Chlamydia, MeatGazer, and Sammy the Weiner Dog!

latest Niall pic...

Starting him early! I bet he can already outdrink Firetunnel!

pub run

FYI, next Austin Duathletes pub run is Thursday, May 18th. 6PM, Runtex parking lot.

new job

Not to be outdone by Squeezin' or Cleetus, I have recently added a second job to my schedule. Now also working as a lackey at the Cedar Springs looney bin. Kinda want to get back into the psych world, which I enjoyed while at Pitt but haven't had much contact with since I left. It'll also be nice to have health insurance once again. Several of my CO adventures have already left me thinking, "it would really suck to have to let a broken bone heal on it's own 'cuz you couldn't afford to go to the hospital."

This job, if nothing else, will be entertaining. Lotsa crazies here. Mostly adolescent males, many of whom are here because it's part of their probation, and if they screw up it's back to jail for them. It's also a TRICARE facility, so they've been getting a lot of the Iraq vets who lost it during their tour. But Fort Carson isn't a big combat arms post (yet - much of the 4th ID is moving up there from Fort Hood once they return from Iraq next year), so I'm looking forward to hearing all the war stories from the cooks and clerks and (I really can't wait to hear these!) the Air Force folks.

support local trail running!

Hey, instead of talking about running at Walnut Creek some hashers actually went out and did just that this weekend! Lovebite shoulda saved some of his energy though, Emily ended up beating him! Congrats to all those AH3ers who went out and supported local trail running!
Congrats also to the hashers who had the only acceptable excuse for bailing on the rogue race, those who did the MS150: Padre, Ballsac, Squeeky Cheeks, Just Nicole, Tarantula Fucker, and Dirty Sanchez (who, along with JohnBoy, did the entire thing in one day).

And even though I couldn't be in Austin to win the 30K, I'm still keepin' busy up here. Check out the stud on page 9 (the Volunteer Corner) of the latest Pikes Peak Road Runner newsletter!

Sirius radio

Thinking of breaking down and subscribing to Sirius radio. In the middle of a three day free trial, and I'm loving Channel 17 - Jam On. Dead, Phish, Umphrey's McGee, Robert Randolph, String Cheese, Panic, Mule, Keller, and a bunch of other jambands I listen to. Think they also have most of the major sports too.

Anyone ever use this? Is it worth twelve bucks a month? What kind of receiver should I get?

A Bit Of Both You are 40% Calvin and 60% Hobbes

Calvin & Hobbes, like a scruffy yin and yang, are in perfect balance within you. Like Calvin, you're weird, a bit insecure, and can be a trouble-maker. But like Hobbes, you're down to earth and sensitive. It's a risk to say it here, after just a ten question test, but I'll bet you're smarter than most. Both Calvin and Hobbes are crafty, clever characters, and any one made from equal parts of each is a force to be reckoned with.

Good luck...

...to all the Barfly Racing Team members doing something this weekend. I know the TIT girls and their mascot Troy are in the MS150. Lovebite is doing the Rogue Maze. Hopefully we'll have a lot more representation at the Maze, in case anyone has forgotten that was a blast last year! And remember, someone else has to bring beer, I won't be there.

Happy 4:20!

What time does the safety committee meet? Who's bringing the cheetos?

new hash blog!

Everyone welcome the Big Heads H3 resident wanker Hung Like A Centipede. Looking forward to kicking his ass in a song-off this weekend!

Mt. Manitou (again!)

Tail tucked firmly between my legs after having Pikes kick my ass, decided to try something a bit smaller. On my regular Tuesday incline climb, made a last second decision to go ahead and climb Mt. Manitou. No map, no compass, no GPS, just going up until I couldn't climb any higher.

Summitted Mt. Manitou in 69 minutes. Made the round trip in just over two hours. Great workout. Checked the summit log, nobody had signed in since my last visit a week ago. Think the incline/Manitou summit is gonna be my regular Tuesday workout from now on.

Not that you could put a price on my awesomeness...

Pikes Peak or bust...BUST!

"I'd rather be in the mountains contemplating God, than in church contemplating the mountains." The quote from an unknown member of the Incline Club, trying to comfort those who felt guilty bailing on church this past Easter morning.

Not that I felt bad. I've always hated church, stemming from the days when my parents used to force me to go twice a year (we were a C&E family). Even back in my kiddo days I had a distaste for religion. Like Gov. Jesse Ventura said, "Religion is a crutch for the weak, for those who need strength in numbers."

Anyways...the workout was up to Barr Camp and back, but I had notions of going higher, perhaps even to the summit of Pikes. Made great time and was feeling awesome well past Barr Camp, up to Bottomless Pitt, and I thought I just might make it.

Shortly after the Pitt, though, trail started to turn ugly. Still a lot of snow and ice up around 11,000 feet. As I approached treeline I was having trouble staying on the trail and started slipping all over the place. I decided to call it a day and turn around.

Glad I did too. Stopped by the Barr Camp on the way down to talk to fellow ultrarunners Teresa and Neil (who have the best job in the world as caretakers of the Barr Camp). They said that above treeline the trail gets really nasty, with some places having waist deep snow.

Even after spending 20 minutes at Barr Camp shooting the shit, I made treeline and back in just over five hours. Not too shabby.

As a reward to myself for the effort, I enjoyed a great Easter feast at Purple Castle!

Rusted Root!

Despite not getting to bed until 4:30AM on Saturday, I soon awoke to take off to Copper Mountain for a FREE Rusted Root show!

Love this band, even more so because they were cutting their teeth back on the Pittsburgh local music scene while I was at Pitt. Never forget the time I saw Dave Matthews Band open up for Root at the AJ Palumbo Center for $10.

Anyways, it was a great show. The crowd was kinda lame, mostly because it was 90% skiiers and snowboarders. I'm not swayed by all the Mountain Dew commercials, and the crowd certainly did nothing to change my opinion that downhill skiiers and snowboarders are posers. And the weather wasn't cooperating, it was friggin' cold out. And all I had on was a long sleeve t-shirt with my Clemente jersey. But I'm not a wus ass, I ignored the misery of the weather for the entire concert.

Root was awesome! Played mostly stuff from their first two albums. The highlight of the show was when Root started playing "Back to the Earth" and everybody started throwing snowballs. Good times!

Sure nice to see a ton of Pittsburghers in the crowd, too. Lots of Steeler clothing, even a big sign that said, "How Yunz Guys Doin'!" Was waiting for someone to bust out the Iron City and pierogies!

SaudiTunnel

Like that shitty music of the 80s, FireTunnel has made a miraculous comeback. Check out her new blog at:

http://sauditunnel.blogspot.com/

pub run

Latest news from the Austin Duathletes:

Just a reminder that tomorrow, Thursday, April 20, is our monthly pub run.

We'll meet at the Runtex Riverside Annex at 6:00, as always. The stops will be the Tavern, the Driscoll, and Doc's.

Niall Rourke Pelton-Moore

Talked to wANNker this morning, she seems to be doing fine. Her and the kiddo might come visit CO during her maternity leave, I'm gonna make him climb Pikes Peak with me.

17 April 06

Have a few updates to post (more adventures in bartending, Rusted Root concert, failed attempt on Pikes, Easter feast at the Purple Castle) but I don't feel very creative right now. So here were the highlights of my Monday:

1) My beloved Pirates moved up THREE spots in this week's cnn/si power poll. The Nationals, Marlins, and Royals are now ranked below us. This is probably the best ball we've played in the last decade.

2) Due to a big sale at REI my yearly dividend was able to get me a brand-spankin' new pair of Vasque Velocity, the greatest trail running/hashing shoe ever, without me having to hand over any cash.

3) Thanks to that extra cash, I was able to pick up a 30 pack of PBR on the way home. It's currently down to 27 cans.

hash article

The following was a letter to the editor of the Boulder Daily Camera a few days ago.


MYSTERY

Why did runner leave white stuff?

I'm hoping some readers might be able to clarify or explain what I just witnessed.

My home backs up to the wetlands in south Boulder. My back yard is essentially a field of cattails, grasses, willows, shrubs and a lake. There are geese, ducks, coyotes, raccoons, skunks and birds that live here, and this is their home.

Today I saw a man running along the trail that winds through the open space property behind my house. He was holding a plastic bag filled with something white. Every 20 feet or so he would dip into the bag and deposit a pile of whatever this white powdery substance is onto the trail. He didn't break stride; he just dropped this stuff as he was running.

My neighbors and I are protective of the wildlife that live next to us, as often there are kids etc. who throw things at the waterfowl or harass them in some way. Others let their dogs off the leash to run amok among the grasses, oblivious that geese are nesting there. Seeing a man drop piles of white powder throughout the wetlands trail raised concern. Obviously it couldn't be something that toxic as he was handling it himself; however, I am concerned that the ducks and geese might eat it, whatever it is, and get sick.

Does anyone have any idea why a runner would be depositing piles of white powder all along a trail? I'm not a runner, so I don't know if this is some kind of game of follow the leader, or if he wasn't a runner at all and had other motives.

I appreciate anyone who can explain!

MAXINE DUNN
Boulder

Nickel Creek

Went down to the Pikes Peak Center for the Nickel Creek show last night. Fantastic concert! Extremely talented musicians, definitely catch these guys when they come to town. They play Austin quite a bit, in fact the first time I ever saw 'em was in Waterloo Records.

Except for talking about the "Clog Railway" the show was awesome. Played all their radio hits and had tons of long solos. Also jammed to Cripple Creek (less than an hour away from the Springs, FYI) and covered "Short People" by Randy Newman. BATT and I have a new short person dance to go along with our condiment dance now.

Ex-Sergeant calls for Rumsfeld's resignation

Colorado Springs (AP) - A Sergeant who led nightly patrols in search of Saddam Hussein has joined a growing chorus of retired generals calling for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

"The guy is such a fucking arrogant asshole," said recently separated E-5 Jon Teisher. "Him and his boss W too. It's gotten so bad that not even Troy sticks up for those clowns anymore."

Teisher joins a growing crowd of ex-military personnel criticizing the current administration. But his criticism doesn't stop at the top.

"Seriously, all these retired high ranking folks are dickheads too. Where was all your bitching while you were in uniform?" Teisher said. "You might have been able to change something back then. Well over 2200 mostly low ranking military kids dead, but at least you're drawing higher retirement pay you pussies."

In the White House briefing Thursday, spokesman Scott McClellan said Rumsfeld has the full support of the president. "Seriously, the press only reports the bad stuff. Iraq is a much better place now than three years ago. All is good."

the birth of brownie and jizm taster

So believe it or not I was actually somewhat quite my first few weeks hashing. Was trying my hardest not to get a name. And I probably got away with it for two or three months.

But on one hash the trail ended at Roll Me Over's house, near the Barfly. I had done trail, but had planned on bailing early to watch the Steelers/Brown's game. It was the first game between the two teams since Cleveland had lost their team to Baltimore, so I couldn't miss it. Turns out this chick named Twin Peaks lived right around the corner, and she gave me the keys to her house so I could go watch it (I think I still have those keys!). I watched the game, and it was great, and the Steelers beat the shit out of the browns. So I went back over to the hash to celebrate some more.

Circle was over by the time I arrived, but immediately as I got there everyone jumped back into a semi-circle. Turns out they had named me while I was away. Just to piss me off, they named me after Cleveland. Slumbag, at that time an Austin harriette, had done her best to get me the moniker "Dog Pound," but with all the hash hippies at that time I guess brownie won out.

Sometime around this period, I found out there was a Killeen hash. Known at the time as the Heart of Texas H3, they had trail every other Saturday at 10AM. At the time there were some great hounds here. Caveman, Ranger Smurf, Sizzler, Pap Smear, a few others. Not a big kennel, but it was a lot of fun.

Anyways, for a while I refused to answer to the name brownie, since it had to do with Cleveland. And I never told the HOTH3 I had got a name in Austin, I was still going by Just JT up in Killeen. So on my 5th run, when it was time to name me, the only thing they could come up with was Jizm Taster. Caveman still calls me that name when we see each other. Ranger does too, until I remind him that the HOTH3 named him Barely Touches Bottom.

Chlamydia actually tells the Sprinkles story somewhat correctly. It was at the used-to-be-annual Kurt Cobain hash, live hared by myself and Will Work For Pants. And there really is a harriette in Arkansas named Sprinkles (or is it Sparkles?), and I pissed her off at the San Antonio TXIH when I was too fast for her to catch (I was FRB on the ballbuster, she finished right behind me).

Lots of scorned harriettes have other names for me too, but that's for another blog.

My virgin Austin hash

Since Chlamydia doesn't know what he's talking about...

Being that I started running and drinking about the same time, age 13, I had always wanted to hash. I knew Pittsburgh and Philly had great kennels, but I never had any transportation while I was there, so I was unable to join them.

Finally, after enlisting in the Army, someone was dumb enough to loan me the money for a vehicle. And of course my first trip was to Austin to hash!

The Sunday hash I went to was way out of town, at a joint called Laga Vista. Remember meeting GloWorm, Cherry Popper, IDJM, and a few others. Two other hashers would be heavily involved in the Austin hash scene for the next few years also had their virgin hash that day, Grabber and PP Longstocking. Chuckles was the hare, probably the first out of the closet gay guy I ever met.

But it was a great trail, and I was already hooked on hashing. Heard there was gonna be a full moon hash during the week, and I decided to make the drive down from Killeen.

Hash started at a bar called Oil Can Harry's. Time was 7PM or so, and I figured I'd head down early to enjoy a few beers and hang out with the hash before the start of trail. So I got there around 6PM. Of course, it was the boxer shorts hash, and I was all decked out.

So I'm sitting in the bar, the only guy there wearing boxers, and did notice that everyone in the place was being very friendly. On my second beer a light went off in my head, and I figured out what the deal was. I finished my beer and went outside to wait for some female hashers to show up, and that's how I originally met Swallowmander (who was still Just Bonnie at the time).

So yeah, my first two trips to Austin gave me more exposure to homos than the first 25 years of my life had.

Ended up being a great trail though. Smeg hared. Met Hot Wheeles for the first time. Downtown trail, which was all new to me at the time. Even hashed by the state building, never thought I'd end up working there one day.

stats

Latest word on Twin Peaks. This is a quote from an e-mail I got from a chick, I don't use the word "cute."

"Little Niall was born at 2:04am this morning via c-section. He is 8 pounds, 2 ounces, and 22 inches. Ann and Niall are doing great but tired (Matt is good too). Niall is about the cutest thing I have ever seen!"

Twin Peaks

Ann had her kiddo at 2:04AM, shortly after the Barfly closed.

don't look now...

...but the mighty Pirates are riding high on a two game win streak! Only 3.5 games behind the 'stros!

Mount Manitou

Decided to add on a bit to my usual Tuesday incline workout by attempting Mount Manitou. Was told it was an easy peak, and it was. The incline still sucked, but once that was over it was a quick jog around Long's Ranch Road, about a quarter mile of bushwacking, some fun rock scrambling, and presto - another bagged peak.

Easy climb, but the peak of Mt. Manitou is a pretty cool place. Lots of rocks to sit on, lots of trees for shade. And it's far enough out of the way that you don't get the massive amounts of people on the Barr trail. I can't wait to do this hike again, maybe bring a few beers with me to go with my cigar.

Total time was 2:50. A good chunk of that was spent chilling on the peak, as well as shooting the shit with folks along the incline. Think I'll add this to my usual Tuesday workout, I'll be able to do the whole thing under two hours eventually.

Took a few pics, you can see 'em here.

start: 4PM
top of incline: 4:36PM
summit: 5:15PM (9,429 feet)
finish: 6:50PM
distance: approx 6 miles

Cameron's Cone!

Made a solo attempt at Cameron's Cone last Saturday. Wasn't sure what to expect, it was my first attempt at a trail-less climb where I'd hafta navigate instead of just follow the beaten path.

Thanks to the internet, I had a decent idea of where to go, and more importantly, where not to go. The hike went very well. Had some troubles right off the bat after crossing the cog railway. Couldn't find the path and I ended up doing some serious bushwacking. But I kept at it, and slowly made my way up the mountain.

The bushwacking took forever, but eventually I found myself on Magog Ridge and I was able to pick up the pace a bit. Beautiful rock formations, and incredible views of Pikes from the ridge. Continued up the ridge, then circled around to the southeast face as to avoid the more serious climbs. Eventually I decided to attack and before I knew it I was at the peak.

Figured going down would be fast and easy, but I actually got into a little trouble. Ended up going too far east before descending, and I got stuck in a deep ravine. I crawled over and around a bunch of house sized boulders, and knew that there was no way I could retreat if I had to. Not the kind of position I wanted to get myself into on my first real peak attempt, but oh well.

Ended up pushing ahead and eventually ended up at the Cog Railway, where my jeep was parked. Though it took me a lot longer than I thought it would, and physically I was wiped out by the time it was all finished, overall it was a successful outing.

start: 11AM
10,000 feet: 2:20PM
peak: 2:45PM (10,707 feet)
finish: 6:15PM
total distance: approx 8 miles

Colorado Springs

I've been super giddy lately because Colorado Springs finally got some respect from Craig's List. Someone on the rants & raves section described the town as:

"a godawful reactionary militaristic hyperchristian hellhole."

Good stuff!

Hidy Ho!

New blog covering the bid and (hopefully, assuming we win) preparation for CoTex. My goal through the process is to piss Meat off more than the Austin H3 pissed off Squeeze Box!

CoTex VIII

my virgin peak!

Made it up and back down Cameron's Cone this afternoon. Round trip took me 7.5 hours, it was about eight miles. Needless to say I'm beat. Write up will follow shortly, until then here's the pics.

Off for an attempt at Cameron's Cone today. Shouldn't be too difficult, but if my loyal readers check back tomorrow morning and nothing else has been posted, I'm either lost, got struck by lightening, or got eaten by a mountain lion. Probably lost.

FYI, the red rock formation in this pic is the Kissing Camels from Garden of the Gods park.

one more Chuck-ism...

Even though John Rambo would kick Chuck Norris's ass, I thought this one was pretty funny:

If Chuck Norris is running late, time better slow the fuck down!

Penile Probe...

...has a new mailing address.

SSG Dennis A. Lockert
HHC 1-4 AVN Regt, CAB, 4 ID (M)
Unit# 50010
APO AE 09378-0010

nice shirt

Start training!

The second annual Burnet Road Challenge has been tentatively scheduled for Friday, October 27th, 2006.

Happy HNT!

I'm not desperate enough to put half nekkid pics of me on the internet, but I'll sure as hell embarass others! This was at the Asian hash, FYI. Same one Squeeky Cheeks pushed Tuck It into the pool, still one of my all time favorite hash moments!

Kandahar H3

I've kept in touch with quite a few of the Chattahoochee Valley hashers I met while I was at airborne school a while back. Pierce It, the guy in the black shirt, is currently in Afghanistan (yes, that is EOD holding the cannon wheel). His address is below if anyone wants to drop him a post card. I realize none of yunz know him, and realize most (not all - and thanks to those of you who do) of you don't even bother to write to the hashers overseas that you actually do know. But it really lifts the spirits of those guys to get a card from a fellow hasher. So for once, do something above and beyond talk or a stupid yellow magnet and drop these guys a line!

SFC Patrick Birman
TF MED
APO AE 09355

Since most of my loyal readers were barely hashing back then, my airborne pics are here. I call them airborne pics, but they're actually pics of my time with the CVH3 and Auburn H3, with a few from the Austin hash upon my return.

For actual Army pics, click here.

GOTG/Incline +/CO Running Club happy hour

Training has been going great. When I first arrived in CO, I gave myself until the clocks moved ahead to get used to the hills and altitude. Was probably a smart move, and this week I've really upped my training.

Tuesday morning I was at the Garden of the Gods at 6AM for a training run with the Pikes Peak Road Runners. Never found the parking lot they were at, but I got in a great run nonetheless. I was lost for about 45 minutes, but there's probably no better place to be lost than GOTG. Very beautiful, getting to watch the sunrise over all those rocks. Got a good hour run in before heading home.

Tuesday evening a CRUD buddy and I did our weekly incline workout. Did the "long" version, which adds about 90 seconds from my usual route, and still broke 33 minutes. One of my best times. At the top of the incline Paul suggested taking a longer way down, and we ended up exploring Rocky Mountain for about 70 minutes. Great workout.

Tonight was the happy hour run at Colorado Running Company. I always go to this saying I'm gonna take it easy, but I never do. Hard for 30 minutes out, turn around and race back to the beer.

Tomorrow morning it's an early lap around Memorial Park (about an hour). Later that evening is the weekly CRUD hill climb, up Barr Trail to No Name Creek.

Good luck to all the Austinites who begin training for the Pikes Ascent/Marathon this week. I have a newfound respect for flatlanders who attempt this race. All this crazy mountain training I'm doing, that race is still gonna hand me my ass.

Gonna try to get in a few minor climbs soon, since the weather below 10,000 feet has been fantastic lately. Cameron's Cone (10,707 ft), Rocky Mountain (9,250 ft), and Mount Manitou (9,429 ft) are all hikable right now. Should give me a good workout and let me brush up on my map skills, which I haven't used since my infantry days.

GO BUCS!

Only two days into the MLB season, and my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates already are in sole possession of last place in the NL central. Gonna be a long season. Too bad I'm not an Astros fan, I could just bail and root for someone else! Well, at least now I can brag and say that we're only two games out of first place.

pubs

Been keeping track of all the bars I've been to in the Colorado/Manitou Springs areas since I arrived. Here's the list:

Ancient Mariner
Benny's
Black Sheep
Finish Line Lounge
Irish House IV
Jack Quinn's
Keg
Kinfolk's
Knob Hill Lounge
Mission Inn
Old Mill Tavern
Old School Tavern
Oscar's
Overtime
Phantom Canyon Brewery
Red Rock Lounge
Rumbay
Sam's - The World's Smallest Bar
Sharky's
Shot's
Southside Johnny's
Thirsty Parrot
Thunder & Buttons
Tony's
Townhouse Lounge
Triple Nickel
Walkabout
Wayfarer

28 bars. I moved to Colorado 72 days ago. Pretty good stats alone, but in reality most of the bars on the list I've been to several times. And the great thing about Colorado Springs is that I've not even made a tiny dent in visiting all the dive bars the city has to offer. Hell, there are still at least ten that I know of within two miles of my house. Viva la drunkardness!

tragedy

For some unknown reason, my entire music library, some ten straight days of tunes, was erased from iTunes. So I no longer have any music. This sucks.

Can someone help me get the music back? Is it possible the tunes are somewhere else on my computer? Some hidden Apple backup space?

Very sad day for me, I'll miss all that great music. Donations, in the form of CDs, can be sent to:

Jon Teisher
623 Alexander Road
Apt B
Colorado Springs, CO 80909

Yamaho

Most of you rookie hashers probably don't know this San Antonio harriette. She had a stroke a while ago, and she seems to be recovering slowly but surely. Anyways, I know she likes getting mail from hashers, so drop her a line sometime.

Becky "Yamaho" Lecompte
Meridian Care
7181 crestway drive
Room 212
San Antonio, Tejas
78239

Waldo Canyon

Due to weather issues, had to bail on Pikes today. Instead, after a quick jog downtown to pick up my jeep, and two hours with the Pikes Peak Road Runners for trail clean up, Meat, Midnight Stroker, and I went for a hike in Waldo Canyon.

2.5 hour hike, about 7 miles. Some awesome views of a snow covered Pikes Peak.

Pics are here.

Ugh...

On a day I told myself I wasn't going to drink, I ended up going to the following bars:

Red Rock Lounge
Benny's
Old Mill Tavern
Oscar's
Rumbay
Tony's

Needless to say, I have another hangover.

Woohoo!

Less than two hours 'till total wastardedness!

txih pics

Since I lost my camera very early into the weekend, there aren't too many pics. Here's what I have.

txih pics

I'm just really happy to have my camera back!

I'm too lazy to post my trash, you'll hafta read other peoples. I did piss on Ass Gagger, and got credit for pissing on BATT, so that was definitely a highlight.

hash article

I'm completely drained from the weekend and will post some TXIH stories once I recover, which might take a few days.

Until then, go get your fill of hash trash here.

fourteener plan

Hopefully the weather will start warming up fairly soon, and with that in mind I figured out my upcoming fourteener plan.

Hope to hit all six of the front range 14ers:

Longs Peak 14,255
Grays Peak 14,270
Torreys Peak 14,267
Mount Evans 14,264
Mount Bierstadt 14,060
Pikes Peak 14,110

And of course I'm still planning on doing the peak baggers delight, four summits in one day:

Mount Lincoln 14,286
Mount Cameron 14,238
Mount Bross 14,172
Mount Democrat 14,148

These, along with my trail race and hash schedules, should keep me pretty busy this summer, as well as slowly getting me some mountaineering experience so I can attempt some of the more technical peaks soon.

Having evil thoughts for the super ballbuster at CoTex South Park. Several 14ers are close to that area...

CoTex VIII - South Park!

I bitch slapped Meat around a bit and told her how it's gonna be - we're gonna bid South Park for the next CoTex. I will be in charge of trails and will head up the complaint department, as well as have the authority to deny anyone a rego. Meat will do gimmies and give everyone who regos early a blow job.

The area seems pretty sweet for a hash. Located at 10,000 feet and right smack in the middle of the San Juan mountain range, near such trail races as the Leadville 100 miler and the San Juan Solstice 50 miler and close to tons of mountain bike courses. So trails are gonna rock! Plus there are lots of hot springs in the area, which should be fun on a hash weekend.

We still have to actually win the bid, at this year's CoTex in Ruidoso. But I'm not sure of anyone else running. Still, all my loyal readers should sign up so they can come vote for our bid!

CoTex IX - Roswell or South Park?

MeatGazer and I have been talking about possibly running a future CoTex. Our original intention was to have it in Roswell, NM, which would of course have an alien theme. Now we've been thinking it would be cool to do it in South Park, Colorado.

Your thoughts?

By the way, nice to see all the Austinites rego'd for CoTex. Wankers! Someone from A-town has gotta represent, since the Founder is Pumper Up The Butt! So go here and sign up! Fly into El Paso and rent a car, or catch a ride with the EPH3ers who will be making the trip.

Jungle Pussy

Everyone welcome JP to the world of hash blogging! Hell, most of the Austin hash bloggers probably don't even know who this hasher is, but I was sad to see her leave San Antonio.

Jungle Pussy

Let it snow!

Colorado Springs got about four inches of snow overnight. Not a lot, but it made for shitty conditions outside on the roads. Most schools were closed and a lot of folks stayed home today. Police aren't even responding to accidents unless someone is killed, since there are so many.

Not supposed to snow much more this week, but it will remain cold. Checking the extended forecast, the high for Colorado Springs during the TXIH journey is gonna be 55. That's probably what the low temps will be at TXIH!

A run through time

This weekend's adventures took Rebekah and I to the tiny ski town of Salida. Some of you readers who pretend to ski may have heard of Monarch, Salida sits very close to there. Also sits close to Leadville and Buena Vista, home to some very tough upcomming trail runs for me.

Anyways, it was one of the most beautiful drives I've ever done. About two hours from the Springs, driving directly into the Rocky Mountains. On the way there we stopped by the Royal Gorge, a ginormous canyon and suspension bridge. I was standing behind a very secure fence but still scared shitless at how deep this canyon was. Great stuff though, and I can't wait to return to take a train ride through it.

We drove into Salida hoping to find a cheap hotel for Fri night, and we stumbled onto some sweet rental cabins, less than $40 a night! Great mountain views, plus it had a liquor store on the property. Went into town for some grub at Amicas Pizza & Microbrewery, yum yum. Try the Porter, it rocked!

Back to the hotel for some college hoops, good and bad to see Bradley upset Kansas. Good, 'cuz Pitt will have an easy time with them. Bad, 'cuz I'd have loved to see them whoop Kansas.

Up and at 'em early the next morning. Rebekah was running her first half marathon, and I was in the marathon, and both started at 9AM. Races were started by a direct descendent of Zebulon Pike, which was pretty cool.

I went into this race thinking it was gonna be pretty easy. Dirt roads, only 26 miles, how bad could it be? Damn, was I in for a surprise.

The first quarter of the race was a steady climb that gained about 2000 feet. The race started around 7500 feet, so oxygen was already pretty scarce. Still, I started slow and was feeling pretty well as the 6.5 mile aid station came and went.

The course continued on the dirt road, but as the altitude got higher the conditions got worse. Lots of snow and ice. I'm sure it would have been a spectacular view of the Rocky Mountains, but they were invisible due to all the storm clouds enveloping them. But that was off in the distance, and here in Salida the sun had came out and warmed everything up. So the ice began to melt, which would make the second half miserable.

Anyways, the run went out to the ghost town of Turrett. Only one road in, very far from civilization. No electricity or running water. No cable TV. Needless to say, nobody lives here in the winter. There was a small aid station at the turnaround, hosted by the local cycling club. Had some homemade chocholate chip and rasin cookies, good stuff!

During the first 13 miles I had been constantly out of breath, been hot, been freezing, slipped on ice, and got my shoes soaked when that ice melted. So yeah, I was having a good time. And I was also keeping a decent pace, hitting the halfway point in about two hours. Thought I'd easily break four hours, as I figured since the first half was all uphill, the second half would be all down hill.

Even kept up a killer pace through the 17 mile aid station. Not only was I sure I was gonna go under four hours, but I thought I might even catch Rebekah. Then the aid station worker told me that the course was a little different, and pointed me off on a rugged jeep road.

That's where the fun really began. The sun had beaten down on this trail all day, and it was muddy as hell. The kind of mud that your shoes would get sucked down a few inches with each step. And the entire stretch was tough, rolling hills. And then, after a few miles on the trail, as if conditions hadn't been weird enough, it started snowing. My pace was suffering, as I had added about five minutes per mile through the shiggy, and I was sucking due to the hard effort and lack of oxygen, but I was having a blast.

With about five miles to go I started worrying about the five hour mark, and how I better get going so as to not have a slower time then High Beams (who ran 4:55 at Austin). Yes, she looks for the most pansy, easy, lame-o, downhill marathons out there and I look for the most difficult mountain runs I can find, but on principle I had to make sure I beat her time. And I was worried for a bit, as the drop from the altitude back to Salida-level was a very technical and long downhill, reminded me a lot of the Hill of Life, but about three miles long. I suck at running that kind of stuff, but I soldiered on. And the last mile was back on a dirt road, so I was able to pick up the pace and finish with a blistering 4:47, nearly a full two hours off my PR, and still well ahead of HB.

So a great run, in shitty conditions, half of it between nine and ten thousand feet. Good times! And Rebekah also kicked ass, finishing her first half marathon in 3:20. About 40 minutes faster than I thought she'd finish. The farthest she's ever run, and it didn't come under easy conditions.

On the drive home we stopped in Canon City to check out the prison museum. Great stuff! Saw the gas chamber, lots of contraband, learned about the high security Super Max prison in CO that houses Tim McVeigh and the Unibomber and a bunch of other questionable folks.

Can't get stupid Blogger to upload photos, so you'll just hafta go here and see 'em for yourself. I'm off to bed, need my rest for tomorrow's tomfoolery with the Denver hash!

See Rebekah's race photos here.

View brownie's race pics here.

Pikes Peak's TXIH schedule...

This is tentative and subject to change, so don't yell at me.

Wednesday
5:00 PM - Pub crawl along Platte Road; convince MeatGazer not to go home with the guy at Knob Hill Lounge who hasn't showered in three days; convinve brownie not to go home with the Asian bartender at Irish House IV

Thursday
11:00 AM - Beers at the Thirsty Turtle (SA hash bar)

2:00 PM - Burgers and beers at the Crown & Wanker.

5:45 PM - Hit the beginning of the pub run at Runtex (not a hash event, just a good excuse to drink beer)

6:00 PM - Lovejoy's. May or may not do the entire pub crawl, since Fish is behind it and he'll try to be creative and it'll turn out gay. Will definitely hit LJ's and Mugshot's and maybe some of the Red River dives, then find out where the trail ends.

Friday
9:30 AM - 60 minute run on the Barton Creek Greenbelt trails.
Noonish - Head down to Llano. Stops at roadside pubs as needed.

Saturday
All day - SPLORK! entire Austin hash at least twice; dominate 3Man; run the ballbuster in less than 45 minutes; draw on Ass Gagger with sharpies; tell everyone in a very loud voice that this is the worst TXIH ever; convince Tuck It to play Late Night Drive Thru in our skit entitled, "here's how LNDT broke her arm"; mooch jager off of everyone; throw up on Chlamydia; call Firetunnel every 15 minutes to tell her she's a wanker for bailing on TXIH;

Sunday
2:00 PM - Chickenshit bingo? Lala's?

Monday
Noonish - Lunch at Rebekah's ranch; return to Colorado

Been pretty busy this week, here's the update you've all been waiting for.

Two Austin buddies, Pete and Melissa, came in for a visit. It was great seeing them. Got in quite a few good workouts. On Monday morning we got lost out at Waldo Canyon, ended up running around for over two hours. Great way to start the week! Showed those two a bunch of the trails up here and a bunch of the dive bars.

Found out that MeatGazer will not come to Platte Road to drink. Called her from the Knob Hill Lounge on Wed night, and she said, "oh, I don't drink in that part of town." Which was good that night, since she was with some of her Air Force friends who I don't necessairly think too highly of. And I think it was more of the AF people who wouldn't come to Platte Road. Which is just one of the many reasons I like that part of town! No chain bars either, so all yunz Hooters fans will hafta make the long drive up north if you come to visit.

Pete and Melissa had to bolt last night, so I'm by myself for the Salida Marathon tomorrow. I'm now to the point where running 26.2 miles isn't anything of a big deal anymore, just a quick training run. Of course tomorrow might be a quick training run where I throw up some green beer, but oh well. Rebekah will be trying her first half marathon tomorrow, everyone wish her luck.

Been getting bombarded with all the bracketology bitching about Air Force making the tourney, since the school is about ten miles from my house. As I've said before, I have yet to be impressed with any of the Air Force folks I've met up here, so I hope the Falcons lose big. I'm really, really glad that in case our country needed defended, the Army, Marines, Navy, and Coast Guard would be called before the USAF.

Hmmm...what else. Got Nickel Creek tix, they're coming to Colorado Springs next month. Also off to see the Keller Williams show in less than a month, woohoo! I must say the music scene in the Springs ain't much, but the scene in Denver seems pretty cool.

Time to get some work done before I head out to Salida. Happy St. Pat's day, everyone! Remember, you don't have to be Irish to throw up on St. Patrick's Day!

upset special...

Big upset of the first round is gonna be Penn over Texas! You heard it here first.

Congrats to the Big East for getting an NCAA record eight teams in the tourney! Pitt as a 5 seed sucks, but I still think they have a few easy games off the bat, could be a good run for the Panthers. Kansas in the second round, woohoo!

Ute Pass/Waldo/Long's Ranch Road

Dog bites aside, had a great run today. From Memorial Park, we went out Ruxton Ave to the Ute Pass. Over to Waldo Canyon. Back up Long's Ranch Road. Long's Ranch was a killer, like walking up steps for three or four miles. I basically had to hike the entire thing. Tough run, and I'm hurting like hell now. But a great five hours, the longest I've gone since Bandera.

Looking forward to this week, as two trail running buddies of mine, Melissa and Pete, are coming in for some altitude training. Week will cap off with the Salida marathon! Woohoo!

Off to see game three of the Colorado College hockey game tonight. Playoffs, so this game is win or go home.

When Animals Attack

Less than ten minutes into a five hour run this morning, some little shit dog took a nice chunk out of my leg. My first thought was "OK, time to crush this asshole dog's skull" but I got away from the dog and took a few moments to collect my thoughts. My favorite pair of running pants were ruined, but the injury to my leg wasn't bad. The lady who had the dog, on a leash, was freaking out. Of course, this was the first time her dog had ever done this and blah, blah, blah. Didn't feel like turning around, but I gave her my number and told her that I expect her to replace the pants but that I was gonna live.

I've had several close calls with dogs, as most runners have. Of course, every time I'm bitten it's always the dog's first time ever doing that...whatever. Anyways, if you have a dog, and have that dog around people, keep control of your fucking mutt!

Made for a great quote though. One of my fellow ICers passed by as I was talking to the dog's owner and said, "screw the mountain lions, it's those minature collies you gotta watch out for!"

5K on St. Pat's Day

Saturday morning it was off to Old Colorado City to help out with the St. Pat's 5K. I was volunteering, ended up working the late registration table and then helping round up all the shoe chips at the finish line. Rego was pretty hectic, lots and lots of folks waited 'till the last possible moment to register for this one. Race went off pretty smoothly though, over 1000 finishers. Chip collection was pretty easy, they used the velcro wraps which are much easier to remove than the zip-ties that most races use.

Rebekah ran the race, and did pretty well. Just over 31 minutes, a solid MOP performance. Real good for her just moving up here.

Figure I could run about 19 minutes for a 5K nowadays. Not too shabby, but nowhere near the front. So I'll probably just start volunteering for all the 5K and 10Ks around here, since it just doesn't interest me in the least about running that distance anymore. Good way to give back to the running community, which frees my conscience so I can go run the ultra distances without volunteering at those!

the Asians are coming!

Not sure if you can call her an Austin hasher, since she never hashes. And not really sure if she's new to the blogging world, since she's been lurking for so long. Anyways, Free Meat now keeps a blog.

Ruv you wrong time

LET'S GO PITT!

Woohoo! Everyone catch the Panther's dismantling of Villanova last night? 'Nova came into the game as the #2 ranked team in the country, FYI. Great game, typical Big East game, very physical. How hoops should be played!

Tonight is the Big East Championship game, Pitt vs. Syracuse. We beat up on 'cuse pretty badly earlier this season, hopefully we have a repeat performance tonight.

HAIL TO PITT!

I was pretty worried as Pitt seemed to falter down the stretch of the regular season, but it seems the fire is back. We whooped up on arch-rival West Virginia last night! Tonight it's Villanova who gets their ass handed to 'em. The game is on ESPN and I expect everyone to watch.

Looks like Temple (I went there for a year) could also make the tourney. They're still alive in the Atlantic 10 shindig after a big upset of George Washington. You gotta love coach John Cheney, who once threatened to kill an opposing coach on live TV. Makes it a great year for PA as Bucknell, Villanova, and Penn are also gonna get in. Maybe someday Duquesne will rise again for a big March Madness run. And hopefully Penn State hoops just continues to suck ass.

BATT...

...got drunk and farted on me last night. Her ass friggin' stinks!

Damn YMCA chicks...

So I've volunteered a couple of hours to help out with the St. Pat's 5K this Saturday in Old Colorado City. Yesterday I spent my lunch hour putting together packets for race rego, and on Sat I'm gonna help out with race day rego and at the finish line. The RD gave me a race t-shirt for my efforts.

So last night I was wearing the shirt at the Y. The chick at the front desk sees the shirt and says, "You got your shirt already?"

"Yeah, I helped them get ready for the race so they gave me one" I replied.

She asks, "But you're running on Saturday, right?"

"No, I'm helping with pre-race stuff and doing the finish chute."

"Oh, so you can't run a 5K?"

OUCH! Damn friggin' YMCA bitches!

Bandera 100 miler!

As much as I've wanted to do the Western States 100 miler as my first hundred, there may be a change in plans. Rumor has it that in the fall of '07 there will finally be a Bandera 100 miler. I love it down in Bandera, and wouldn't mind making that my first shot at the century.

Been running very well lately. Between workouts with Team CRUD and the Incline Club, I've been working the hills and altitude really hard. Race season is coming up, should be fun. Next weekend Melissa, Pete, and I are doing the Zebulon Pike marathon. Dirt roads, 3800 feet of elevation gain, run out to the ghost town of Turret and turn around. The climbing doesn't seem too bad but Salida is at 8000 feet so the air should be pretty thin.

Also lookin' forward to the start of fourteener season. Was hoping that this recent warm weather would be melting all the ice and snow from the mountains, but it looks like we're gonna get hit with some shitty weather soon. Still, I'll probably summit Pikes fairly soon. Thinking of making an attempt at Long's Peak early next month. Also, once the weather is warmer, wanna take a weekend to do the Lincoln Group (Mts Lincoln, Cameron, Bross, and Democrat), four fourteeners you can knock out on a single hike.

Beggin' For It alive and well...

Got an e-mail from my sis, she's doing well over in Korea. If any of yunz wants to drop her a line, here's her address. It's not like sending mail to Iraq (which, from what I hear, not many of you are doing anyways), you hafta go to the post office for special stamps. It's her work address, so don't mail her anything too offensive.

Wonderland
c/o Jessica Teisher
5F Kwangyoung B/D, #348-135
Sindang 3 - dong
Jung-gu
Seoul, South Korea

I don't know, hard to believe any school is called "Wonderland" but I'm not asking any questions.

Austin Duathletes

More news from the Austin Duathletes, including info on the next pub run. Show up and make sure this non-drinking kick Panther is on doesn't continue...

-------------

"Kill all the accountants."

I'd like to talk about peace and love and how it somehow relates to duathlon and our club, but I recently cut way back on my drinking and did my taxes. So, I'll save all that shiny happy people crap for next time.

In the meantime, I DO have some announcements:

--The next Pub Run is Thursday, March 23rd. DON'T WORRY! We'll stay away from downtown, this time.

--Club jerseys are coming soon! I know I've been saying this for a while, but I'm way behind, what with not drinking and doing my taxes and all.

--RANDOM PLUG OF THE MONTH: THANKS TO KNEADZ! Carmen, Lisa, and Martin will cure what ails ya and hurt you in a good way! Check them out at www.kneadz.com, or call them at 443-6400.

--Here's my monthly plea to REUP your membership or BECOME a member. It's your duty as an American. Dues are only $15 a year, which is less than 5 Starbuck's grande caramel macchiatos.

--Just a reminder that club board positions will be up again, soon. If you're interested in a board position (preferably President), please let me know, so that we can put you on a ballot. I think we're going to add a Secretary position and a few non-board positions, like Editor of our non-existent newsletter, "DUly Noted." The current issue has a fascinating article on how "electronic mail" is going to revolutionize the way we communicate, and there's a cutting-edge interview with Curt Cobain about Nirvana's latest album.

--Austin Duathletes Club Picture Album: I thought it might be nice to have a board where we put up pictures of ourselves, so that we all know who each other is. So, to get us started, I've attached a picture of myself, just after a recent race. I think this was taken right after Freescale. Please send in pictures of you, too, so that we can put them up on the site!

That's all the news that's fit. See you soon!

Phil Carmical
President
Austin Duathletes

on-on to Texas Interhash!

Got airline tix for TXIH today! Woohoo! Austin has big shoes to fill as last year's TXIH was unbelievable!

Arriving in San Antonio at 9AM on Thurs, March 23. Heading immediately to Austin! Not leaving 'till Monday at 7PM.

Banana Cream Pie still has an apartment on campus. It's empty, but if folks bring sleeping bags they are welcome to crash there.

Barr Camp and beyond...

After a late night last night I got up at 6:30AM to meet up with the Incline Club. Today's run was to be up to Barr Camp and back. I was in somewhat of a hurry as I had an interview for another bartending gig at 2:30PM, so my plan was to run up the hill for two hours and turn around.

Last time I ran to Barr Camp, two hours wouldn't have gotten me there. It took me about 2:05 or so, and it was painful. I must be getting used to the altitude however, as I was able to hit the Camp at 1:45 today! And in fact, I didn't stop. I contunued on another mile up the trail, to the Bottomless Pitt. Trail got very icy above 10,000 feet, and the lack of oxygen was making me dizzy. Hence, I was hurtin' pretty bad. I even took a five minute break at the Pit, trying to catch my breath, but in the low O2 I felt like I was slowly drowning. I went back down to Barr Camp for some water and some home made cookies, and then contunued back to Manitou.

Even with the five minute break at the Pit, and a ten minute break at Barr Camp, I still made it down in 1:45, a pretty good negative split for me as I'm a shitty downhill runner.

I did gain a new respect for all the Austinites who do the Ascent/Marathon/Double. This was a great workout, a combined long run with a near-race effort, much of it up hill in the altitude. The kind of workout that'll get me up Pikes quickly on race day. And the kind of workout you just can't do in Austin. So kudos to all the Austinites who had the balls to sign up!

Saturday...

Blew off my Saturday long run to go and help out the Pikes Peak Road Runners with their monthly clean up of a local trail. Figured it was about time I help put something back into the trails I usually tear up. Eight of us showed, and in two hours we had gathered a dozen full trash bags. No, the Springs ain't that dirty, but this section of the trail collects a lot of trash blown off of I-25.


My good deed for the year accomplished, it was off to the Cheyanne Canyon Zoo! Pretty cool place! Got to pet some giraffes, saw a Pitt Panther, some tigers, some big snakes. The zoo recently had a gorilla give birth, and the mother had rejected the baby. So a human zookeeper stays with the baby gorilla constantly, 24/7. Pretty weird.


















Another highlight was the hippo cage. We arrived just as a zookeeper was gonna brush their teeth. Hippos are like a lot of women I've slept with, enormously fat with bad oral hygiene!

After the zoo, it was off to Cheyanne Canyon for a quick hike up Helen Hunt falls. Great trail system at this park. This is where I do my Thurs hill workouts with CRUD, and there are still tons of trails I haven't explored. Helen Hunt wasn't too bad a hike, but it was some beautiful scenery. And no, these trails aren't named for that Helen Hunt.

So after a dinner at a local pizza joint, Rebekah and I decide to try to catch the mountain film festival over in Manitou Springs. Call MeatGazer, but of course she's too lame to do anything. We hurry over to Manitou only to find out the festival is sold out. Bummer. Oh well, off to Kinfolk's for some beers and singer/songwriter Tiffany Kimble. A little mellow for me, but a pretty talented chick.

After that, it was one last stop, at the Triple Nickel! $5.55 pitchers of PBR, yummy!

Anyways, a great, great, great way to spend a Saturday! Yunz can view the zoo/hike pics here.

PBR night joke

Don't remember much from last night's debacle, but this was pretty funny:

What do you get when you stick a fork in a fetus?




An erection!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ass Gagger...

...has moved into my top ten psycho chicks list. And it takes a lot to make my top ten, that's for sure. She's either PMSing, or has syphillis (the disease that makes you go crazy, not the hasher), or probably both.

Pikes rego stats

Congrats to the city of Austin, with 74 rego'd for Pikes weekend. This puts the city third overall in total numbers, behind only Denver (92 regos) and my new town, Colorado Springs (909 regos). Austin even has 14 people doing the double, more than Denver (5).

And, of course, 5 Austin hashers and 2 AH3 alumni!

all the cool people are doing it!

I'm rego'd for the double! Woohoo! The following Austin wankers are also in:

Nicole (Ascent)
Rebekah (Ascent)
Tiffany (Ascent)
Emily (Marathon!)
Evan (Ascent)
Abe (Double!)
Steph (Ascent)
Lovebite (Ascent)

Anyone else? TJ? Brandon? Raf?

There's only three things you need to know about training for this race in Austin:

1. Hill of Life repeats
2. Hill of Life repeats
3. Hill of Life repeats

Everything else is just Sisson trying to make you think you got a deal for signing up for his training group!