HAIL TO PITT!

Pretty good pic I saw on CNNSI.com. Funny, since we've had Georgetown's number the past few years.

Leadville weather

First peak at the race day forecast for Leadville: high of 68, low of 39, 60% chance of showers.

woohoo!

Final plans for this weekend. Nothing about this schedule will ever change. For at least 20 minutes, anyways.

Sat AM - Depart Colorado Springs at 4AM for Mt. Princeton, near Buena Vista. Details on the Mt. Princeton Road trailhead can be seen here:

http://www.14ers.com/routemain.php?route=prin1&peak=Mt.%20Princeton

I hope to drive up to the radio towers to begin the trek.

Sat PM - head up to Alma and out to Kite Lake to set up camp. The beta on Kite Lake, as well as a description of the next day's DeCaLiBro hike, can be found here:

http://www.14ers.com/routemain.php?route=bros6&peak=Democrat,%20Lincoln,%20Bross

I'll actually set up camp just outside the boundary of Kite Lake so I can avoid the $7 fee. Screw the man! But if you're driving up the road you'll see me. I'll probably already be drunk, boozing it up at 12,000 feet rocks! Just be sure to save four cans of beer for the hike. And bring firewood, campfires are still allowed.

I know that doing four 14ers in one day might seem a bit much for some of yunz, but it's actually a somewhat easy hike. Most of the single 14ers I've done were much harder than doing all four around Kite Lake. Last year I took a sea level Austinite on the hike, and she did just fine. Details of that hike are on my blog at:

http://pittbrownie.blogspot.com/2006/08/decalibro.html

Plan to start the Sunday hike at 6:30AM.

Let me know if you plan on joining me for any or all of the weekend. And let me know by Friday, I'm not sure my cell phone will work out in the mountains.

PS - also plan a summit of Rocky Mountain on Thursday. RM is about a half hour hike from the top of the Incline. Probably start the Incline around 5:30PM. Again, let me know if you wanna join me.

Mount Rosa

Took a sick day today, bit hungover after hitting Tony's last night, and used the free time to bag Mt. Rosa with Ritz. Great hike with outstanding views in every direction. Also saw about a million ladybugs, they were everywhere up there. Took a few pics, they can be seen here.

Morrisson

Had to hit Denver for work last Thursday and Friday, took advantage of that time to head out to Morrisson for some bouldering. Most of the stuff was a bit too difficult for me, though I did manage to scale this rock:
Looks easy enough, but I was alone and had I taken a fall, it woulda been a long time before anyone came by to find me. After that I goofed off on this rock for a bit:

Definitely getting better at the sport, enough so that I'll probably find a rock gym in San Antonio to go so I don't lose everything I've gained.

new hash blogger!!!

Everyone go tell Happy Sock how much her blog sucks!

next season

Pretty booked up for the rest of this year, with Leadville and Cactus Rose fast approaching. Next year my plan was to do some shorter events, like the Pikes Peak marathon, which would give me more time to finish climbing all the 14ers. But now I'm leaning towards doing the Nolans 14er route. 100 miles, 14 14ers! Woohoo!

DIM 122

Maybe I'm just a little biased, but last night's DIM rocked!

happy anniversary!

14er article

Decent article about climbing 14ers in today's Austin American Statesman. Read it here. A guy on the hike, Richard Viktorin, and I hiked Mt. Bierstadt together last year.

first of many...

As a Pittsburgh fan, for the last decade and a half baseball season has basically ended when football season starts. And last night the Steelers kicked the crap out of the New Orleans Saints in the Hall of Fame game, the first win for new coach Mike Tomlin and their first win on their way to the Super Bowl this season.



Just a reminder, I know it's still politically incorrect to say anything bad about New Orleans, but the Saints suck ass. Same with Virginia Tech, I hope their football team goes 0-12 this year.

*

Fuck Barry Bonds.

give me tapers!

Did my last long run before Leadville today, putting in four and a half house over Ute Pass, around Waldo Canyon, and up the Incline. Raining for most of the run, and I had some way-too-close calls with lightening on the Barr Trail, but overall I felt really strong. Not it'll be short but faster runs every other day, with some 14er hikes this weekend to get some altitude training. Bring on Leadville!

RIP

Raise a pint at your hash this weekend for Palmer Princess, who was killed this week when he was hit on his motorcycle. Kinda spooky, I saw him at Kinfolk's on Tuesday and had a few pints with him, then I come back on Friday to check e-mail and find out he's dead. Good guy, huge fan of outdoor activities involving beer, he'll be missed.

18

Tonight's CRC happy hour will mark my 18th anniversary of running. Started on August 1, 1989, the first day of Shikellamy High School cross-country practice. Made it about 200 meters before I had to stop and sit on the curb to catch my breath. Something made me go back the next day, and it's been pretty much non-stop since then. I still remember my first real pair of running shoes, the Nike Air Max (back in 1989 they were a HUGE deal), and the arguments I had to go through with my dad, he didn't want to pay $100 for running shoes for me because he said it was just a fad I was going through. FYI, my dad, who started running several years after me, somehow claims he has been running for 22 years. Go figure.

Anywho, since that day I've run races from 400 meters (PR of 55.0!) to 100K, and of course am about to tackle my first 100 miler. Finished 9 marathons (first one was the Chambersburg Marathon during my junior year of high school), and 13 races over the marathon distance. And I'm still undefeated in international competition, winning the Guantanamo Bay 5K while I was over there.

Didn't have a digital camera for the early years, but below are some of my more recent running pics.

happy birthday!

Two of my favorites celebrate a birthday today!

Colorado became the 38th state of the union way back on August 1, 1876.

And, as I'm sure everyone already knew, Jerry Garcia was brought into the world on August 1, 1942. Everyone come out and celebrate with me at the DIM hash on Monday.

my virgin outdoor climb

Went over to the Garden of the Gods yesterday for my first outdoor bouldering experience. Found out quite a bit about the sport, such as the outdoor stuff is a lot different than the gym stuff. Gonna have to learn to use my feet a lot more on the outside stuff. Plus, the holds are a lot different when they're dirty, likely to break off, and are crawling with bugs. Anyways, after an hour or so of goofing around, I did climb my first rock:

Yeah, it looks easy, but it's kinda nervewracking when you're up there without a spotter or a pad. Only about eight or nine feet tall, but a fall woulda fucked me up pretty good. I was treated to a pretty cool view of the Garden from the top:

Then it was off to a different section of the Garden looking for a rock to traverse so I could get some good training in. Found a great rock right near the main entrance. Get a great workout without ever being over two feet off the ground. The pucker factor is still pretty high though, you get into some weird angles and a fall is gonna have your back hitting some jagged rocks pretty hard.

Stayed on the traverse rock for another 45 minutes 'till it got too dark. Great workout! Then it was off to Kinfolk's to celebrate.

reason #641 why I'm gonna live forever...

Screw all you people who are always nagging me about sunscreen! Looks like the best defense against skin cancer is caffeine and exercise, two areas where I'm not lagging whatsoever. That's probably the reason why I was able to fight off my bout with skin cancer a few years ago!

Cross Country Caper

Did this 5K last winter, it was one of the more miserable weather days of the entire year. Didn't stop me from wearing shorts and a tank top though, as you can see from the pictures.

Fart Collins H3

Had a blast up at the Fort Collins bars, breweries, and brats hash! Trail included booze at the Pickle Barrell, O'Dell brewing, Lucky Joe's, and the Town Pump. Also got to do a rope swing into the Poudre river, I was the only hasher of the day brave enough to do that. Wussies, I tell ya. Thanks to Free Bus(c)h for the crash space, sorry we almost killed your hubby last night...

Pics can be seen here.

mug fiasco

Guess drinking and running isn't enough anymore, always has to be some drama over hash activities nowadays. For those who may have heard I scammed the mug order so I could take a paid four month vacation to San Antonio, please note the following:

I took in $485 for mugs. This accounts for 21 mugs minus the $25 that Late Night owes me, minus the $5 that Net paid me in beer, and minus $10 that I gave Lincoln to start up the Kimchi website. So even with that money I took in $525. This also includes me paying my $25, it's not like I got a freebee or anything. The bill from the the mug guy was $584.85, which I had to pay before he would ship the mugs. It was my error in guesstimating shipping costs, and I was way off, and I didn't think I should penalize those who had already paid me for my mistake.

Warning was posted to both my blog and the Kimchi blog several times in the past month, as well as announced at Kimchi circles. Warning such as "if you paid me for a mug and you are not on this list you need to let me know ASAP." Nobody let me know.

Most people were also smart enough to let me know via e-mail if they paid me at Arctic. Just quick notes such as, "hey drunkard, I gave you the ducats for a mug last night." There were times when I went to Arctic with $20, yet when my hungover ass woke up the next morning I had $50 in my pocket. I know I'll never leave Arctic with more money than I came in with, so of course when I checked my e-mail there were messages from the hashers who paid me.

Anyways, that's all I'm gonna say on the matter. I'd pull a SMB "I hate you fuckers - I quit the hash!" except that today is the Fort Collins H3's annual Bars, Breweries, and Brats hash! Woohoo!

low altitude running schedule

Put up my ideal running schedule for my time in Texas, it can be viewed on the right. It's subject to change, and of course it's all dependent on my living through Leadville in a few weeks. If anyone has any info on the Dirty Du, send it to me, I'd like to do some more of those too.

official stats

Official time for the Paint Mines was 23:35, averaging 6:20 per mile. Not too shabby for the slow course. Finished eighth overall out of 69 finishers. $100 finished 47th in 38:33 and is still so sore she refuses to talk to me.

lame SWF seeks anything with a pulse...

So the very same day I tell her I'm going to Texas for a few months, Nappy gets herself a match.com account. What the hell!

Crab Hash

So who's in for the Crab Hash? Done this a few times and it's always a blast!

my kind of place...

A couple of hashers didn't believe me that this park in Monument actually existed, but here's a pic of the sign I took on my way up to Mount Herman.

Paint Mines 6K

Good run out in Calhan tonight. Fun course, reminded me a lot of my days as a Shikellamy cross-country runner. Lots of tight turns, lots of loose sand, lots of waist high weeds, a few long hills thrown in for good measure. Supposidly there was some really beautiful scenery too, but I was too busy putting the hammer down to notice. Hit the finish around 23:38, and I think I heard the guy call out my 5K split as 19:48. Unfortunately I finished in sixth place, the top five got Teva sandals. Bummer. Katie also had a good run, finishing around 34 minutes.
After downing a few post-race PBRs, Dani, Katie, and I headed over to the El Paso County fair, where I accomplished my day's main goal of finally riding a camel.

kimchi pics

Happy Sock's hash flash from the last Kimchi trail can be seen here.

Tejas here I come...

Just got Air Force orders to report to San Antonio on September 4th...

Vinokourov tests positive...

I'm not really big into cycling, but I'm always intrigued by the endurance factor of riders in the long tours. I'm starting to think the only way they're able to do it is by drug use. The sport just has zero credibility left anymore. I believe now that the only reason Lance never tested positive was that he had more money than the labs trying to catch him.

W's

They finally posted the final split of the BTMR, and I lowered my PR to the top of the W's to 23:17 (from 23:50). Would have been way under 23 minutes had I not had to navigate around all the people who started out too fast.

So during the race I posted PR's to all points except for No Name Creek. Still, my inability to break the two hour barrier in that race will taunt me for another year.

upcoming PR

I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict a PR at tonight's Paint Mines 6K out in Calhan. The reasons:

A) I feel like I've put in the required distance to complete the race;
B) I've never run a 6K before.

Wish me luck! Believe Tits and $100 are going too, but with chicks you just never know.

kimchi hash

Good times at the last Kimchi hash! The list:

1. Still in shock that Granny bailed on his promise to get a keg of PBR!

2. For those who weren't there or were too drunk to remember, Fun Tina finally got named, Happy Sock! One of the better Kimchi names we've done in a long time!

3. I have finally given up my title as Kimchi GM, all your complaints and bitches should now be directed at MILF.

4. The new Purple Rain flavor of MD 20/20 is ridonkulously awesome!

5. If you bailed on the first beer check, you're a fucking lame-o. Real hashers would never pass up a giant BN leading to a cooler of cold beer and MD sitting in the middle of a nasty cesspool. Go run around a track somewhere if you're that concerned with finishing first.

6. Despite being drunk off my ass, I became the first Kimchi hasher to make a behind-the-back beer pong throw. Not only that, but I bounced it in. One of the highlights of my guaranteed hall of fame career.

roadtrip

Had a good run with Melissa up to Mount Manitou via the Incline yesterday, and we began planning a roadtrip down to the Sangre de Cristo area for some good hiking.

Trip will include camping at the Sand Dunes (and hikes up Star and High Dune), hiking back to Zapata Falls, several 14ers (Lindsey, Little Bear, Blanca, and Ellingwood are in that area), possibly some of the centennial 13ers, and a stay overnight at the nearby UFO watchtower.

Date is not final yet, but it's looking like the weekend of August 24th to the 26th. Just wanted to get the info out there in case anyone wants to join us. Yes, it will be a physically demanding weekend, so whiners should just stay at home.

Antero

Anyone up for hiking Mt. Antero next Sunday? Post-hike munchies will be solved at Moonlight Pizza!!!

Barr Trail PRs

Splits from the BTMR are slowly being posted, I've lowered my PRs to the following points along the Barr Trail:

7.8 sign - 56:59 (old PR was 57:44)
Barr Camp - 1:16:56 (old PR was 1:17:05)

Strangely, I was 38:56 to No Name Creek. My PR to that point is 38:40. Musta been a rough stretch. They still have to post the splits to the top of the W's, but I think I got a PR there too.

dog vs. bike

Pretty cool wreck at the Tour this week, looks like the dog got the best of the rider. When a guy wears spandex, guess you fall below yellow labs on the scale of toughness.

See the video here.

good luck

Don't know much about having a kid, but Chucky Cheeks and All Nighter are going through the motions as you read this. Wish them luck.

great quote

I often read the cnn.si column of Don Banks, and recently he had a great article with words from one of his sources about the whole Mike Vick debacle:

"He's not very bright at all,'' the source said of Vick. "And that's a big part of his problems. He's a very unintelligent person and he makes poor decisions because of it. It's not a white or black thing. Paris Hilton is an idiot, too. Mike Tyson was totally dumb, but for a long time his trainer kept him protected from his worst mistakes. You have to have someone around you who can protect you from yourself at times.''

Sometimes the simplest answers are the most correct.

two thumbs up!...

...for the Rocket Room!

I had to hold back tears! Imagine if Lovejoy's and the Carousel Lounge went to TexMex in El Paso as friends. Then they flitred all weekend long. Then, after becoming severely dehydrated after completing the entire asshole trail, they both started pounding Jager. And then they fucked, uprooting trees, and shrubs, and flowers...and because birth control is for wussies, the Carousel Lounge got knocked up.

Anyways, yeah, the Rocket Room is like a cross between two great AH3 bars. Literally, imagine taking Lovejoy's and stretching it out a bit so you could fit the stage and dance floor of Carousel Lounge in there.

Luckily for me, who is in shape and really has no life, the scant 2.5 miles between my house and the Rocket is within walking distance! Woohoo!

should I stay or should I go?

Have an opportunity to get out of my current lease. Was ready to bail just a few weeks ago due to some issues with my apartment, but due a magical cleaning performance (we're talking almost on C-4 level here) those problems seem to have gone away.

I really like it where I live, but I'd really love to live over in Manitou. And there are some places available along Ruxton Ave (yeah, I could do the Incline every morning before work).

What to do?

special edition CRC happy hour!

wednesday Wednesday WEDNESDAY

After I've ran a few miles and had a few beers (and glasses of wine) at the Colorado Running Company tomorrow, I'm gonna head over to check out the Rocket Room. I know it's a school night, but anyone is welcome to join me.

Barr Camp splits

They're getting the splits onto the BTMR website. I made it to Barr Camp in 1:16:56, beating my PR set at last year's race by nine whole seconds. Made it down the mountain in 44:15, once again topping last year's time of 44:52.

pub update

Haven't posted a Colorado Springs pub update in a while, thought I'd let everyone know that I've been to 75 different bars since I moved here about a year and a half ago. Tried to hit #76 earlier tonight, but the Rocket Room is closed on Monday's. Ended up hitting an old standby, the Triple Nickle, for a few pints of PBR and a shot of whiskey.

If anyone wants to join me, I'll be trying out the Rocket Room on Wednesday after the CRC happy hour. They have $2 pints of Red Rocket all the time! However, it's a true dive, and they have local bands that don't play covers of '80s songs, so unfortunately the place probably won't survive here in the Springs. Visit it while you still can!

ouch!

Hardrock had a guy run 48:00:28. The cutoff time is 48 hours. They didn't give him an official finish. I couldn't imagine the heartbreak!!!

upcoming runs

For the ladies out there, come out to the Women's Distance Festival 5K being held this Saturday in North Monument Valley Park. I'll be out there volunteering, 'cuz it's all about helping out the ladies! Well, that, and I want my free Colorado Running Company "I love fast women" t-shirt...

Also, next Tuesday is the Paint Mines 6K out in Calhan (about half an hour from the Springs). Low key event, and everyone is pretty much guaranteed a PR since there ain't many 6K races out there. You can rego at the Colorado Running Company and it's $20 if you get it in before July 23. No shirt, but you get a music CD and some other schwag, and since Teva is a sponsor of the race there will probably be some good door prizes. Let me know if anyone is interested, we can work out carpooling.

hahahahahahaha!!!!!

Q: What's the difference between your mom and a washing machine?


A: When I drop a load into the washing machine, it doesn't follow me around for a week!

BTMR

Had a decent day at the Barr Trail Mountain Race this morning. A horrible start made me play catch up all day and I wasn't able to crack the two hour barrier, but I gave it my best shot. Beat my time from last year by 46 seconds so I can't be too disappointed.

Had a really tough time getting up the W's due to all the slowpokes starting out too fast. Takes a lot of effort to go around people on the Barr Trail. Was already smoked by the time I got to the top of the W's, luckily I was able to recover by the time I got to No Name Creek. Shortly after No Name the trail flattens out somewhat and I can usually pick up the pace, but today I wasn't able to respond like I normally do. Wonder if climbin' 14ers takes more out of me than I like to admit? Oh well, better to discover that now than at Leadville.


Congrats to Boobs, QnA, and Tits for their finishes! 100% finish rate for the hashers!


Pics of the race and the Manitou pub crawl that followed can be seen here.

finally!

Finally bagger Quandry today! Woohoo! Report will follow later, until then the pics can be seen here.

time to go

Looks like it's all good over in Iraq, their prime minister says local troops are all good to take over. After his comments, we should be out of there by tomorrow. Petraeus should put a bullet in this guy's head, can't believe that piece of shit has the gall to criticize US troops.