part 5 - Divide to Slumgullion

After leaving the Divide aid station you climb for another mile and a half or so. I hike this section to give my stomach time to digest all the junk food I just ate. I begin running shortly before the top of the hill. Just before I get out of sight of the aid station, I see Rich trucking in. I don't think he saw me, which is good, as it may have motivated him to come after me a little harder.

The trail is muddy, just like last year when I fell down and just laid in the mud for about five minutes, too tired to get up. What a difference a year makes, as I run the rest of the downhill section to the Slumgullion aid station. Two strong runners do pass me on this section, and I don't go with them. Still, the fact that I'm still running and still feeling good at this point makes me smile. Would I have challenged the two had San Juan been my goal race? Probably. But in hindsight I may have made a good decision not to lay everything on the line.

Coming into Slum was a blast, thanks to all the CRUD support. Paul S was about half a mile out from the aid station, yelling for me. I told him to trip Rich, who I thought was right behind me. Cereta already had my bag waiting for me and Katie was there with a cold Pabst. My chugging of a PBR dropped the jaws of some of the aid station volunteers, pretty funny stuff. Jaws dropped even further when I told them it was my second one of the day.

Another great thing about the Slum aid station - they had popcicles! I fell in love with those at last years Slacker half marathon, and always crave one when the heat is making things rough. If you run and haven't tried this, you need to.

I dropped my camelbak here and went with a handheld water bottle. Nice to lose all that weight. Left Slum at 9:45, and even though I had one more rough climb I was confident I was gonna get that cannibal hat...

belford/oxford/missouri

I'll be hiking three more 14ers this Friday if anyone can get off work...

part 4 - Carson to Divide

Leaving Carson it's still three miles to the high point of the course, Coney Peak. With some more of the terrifying snow crossings, though they're not so bad anymore since the sun had finally heated things up. I continue upward, still kicking ass on this huge climb.

Finally, after six hours of playing in the mountains, I reach the top of Coney. And I still feel real strong. I think back to last year, when I was basically dead in the water at this point of the race (it took me 15:47 to finish last year - 118th place out of 120 finishers). Feels real good that all the hard training I've been doing over the last several months is paying off - just in time.

I take a moment at Coney to check out the surroundings. It's a beautiful day and all I can see around me are more mountains. Life is good.

My goal heading into this race was to get a Cannibal hat - a blue rimmed finishers hat given to those who break twelve hours. The past two years I had gotten the green rimmed Survivor hat (finishing between 12 and 16 hours - in 2006 I ran 13:30 here) and I thought it was time to upgrade. And even though I would have to pull a negative split to reach that goal, I thought I had a good chance to do just that - I was feeling strong and the two biggest climbs of the race were behind me.

I took off running along the continental divide. You run for a few miles along the divide here before dropping down a big hill into the Divide aid station. Last year along the divide I was reduced to a slow walk through a bad lightning storm, not my proudest moment.

It struck me here that even though I was well above treeline, the high altitude was having no effect on me at all. Guess all those trips up Pikes Peak were worth it.

Finally hitting the Divide aid station, I force myself to eat. And I eat a ton - ham and cheese sandwiches, twix and snickers bars, chips, pickles, and wash it down with several cups of mountain dew. Yum yum.

part 3 - Williams Creek to Carson

Shot out of the WC aid station just behind Rich. It's about two miles along a jeep road to the next climb, the longest and steepest of the course. I ran those two miles pretty fast, passing quite a few people, including Rich.

But then the fun started. The climb up to the Divide starts about mile 17 and takes you from approx. 9300 feet back up over 13000 feet. In seven miles. It reminds me a lot of Longs Ranch Road here in Manitou, but much longer. I attack the hill hard, hiking as fast as I can. Picked up my iPod at WC and was listening to the Widespread Panic Red Rocks show I saw last year, and it was helping ease the pain of the climb.

Pass a few more people on the climb into the Carson aid station (22 miles). Carson is an abandoned mine city, with some of the buildings still standing. Once again, I'm in such a hurry to exit the aid station that I forget to eat.

part 2 - Alpine Gulch to Williams Creek

Didn't see the blow up doll they had at AG last year, so I didn't waste too much time there. Kept continuing up, up, up. The climb out of AG went another three miles and took me above 13000ft. Along the way we had to cross some sketchy snow/ice areas. A fall here would have meant some real bad news, with only some rocks several hundred feet below available to stop your slide. I didn't look down.

Kept moving at a pretty good clip. Rich M caught up to me here and we would spend the next few miles together. I had never beaten Rich before and thought today might be the day.

Finally at the top of the climb, I started gaining some feeling back in my feet and toes. I noticed that my shoes, a beaten up pair of La Sportiva Imogene, were literally falling apart. I had logged over 800 miles in them, probably more than 1000 miles if you include bumming around and hashing, and they weren't going to go much further. Not good when you're looking at a five mile technical descent that drops about 4000 feet.

Though the battered shoes slowed me down a bit, I still came into the Williams Creek aid station (15.7 miles) feeling strong. Katie was waiting here with a new pair of shoes, so I survived that possible disaster. In hindsight, one of my few mistakes was made at that aid station, as in my rush to get out ahead of Rich (and, unknown to us, a hard charging Gordo) I forgot to eat.

part 1 - Lake City to Alpine Gulch

Feeling great after a breakfast of cold Moonlight Pizza and a huge cup of joe from the Mocha Moose, I start a little quicker than usual. From all the warnings over the past ten days about the stream crossings, I assume that I'll die instantly upon getting wet and then my corpse will be violated by Pirate ships trolling the swollen Hensen Creek. But I don't want to be waiting in line for this, so I get out ahead of the main pack.

About 2.5 miles in, I hit the first stream crossing. It's thigh deep, flowing very fast, and well below freezing. My legs and feet are numb before I get across the first water crossing. Over the next mile or so we'll cross the creek about half a dozen times. The ropes put up by the awesome volunteers make things a lot easier. At one point early on my race almost ends, as the rope knocks off my beloved floppy hat and it lands in the water. It took a heroic leap to save my hat, but that got my balls and cotton gloves wet, making the while experience suck that much more.

After the creek crossings the course starts to climb. Normally this early in an ultra I would hike the hills, but I was so friggin' cold I continued running up the mountain, trying to generate some heat. It's a helluva climb too, going from 9000ft up to the Alpine Gulch aid station above 11000ft.

Lots of cool stuff to see along this stretch once the sun finally came up. The area shortly after the creek crossings had been blown up by a recent avalanche. Downed trees and debris everywhere, can't begin to imagine the power of that huge snowfall.

Alpine Gulch is my favorite aid station in the race. It's so isolated that the volunteers have to hump everything in the day before and camp out overnight. And it's obvious they spend the night drinking. About a mile before the aid station the course is marked with empty cans of Guinness and Pabst. The volunteers are drinking when I arrive, and they have a can of PBR for me! Can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning, and I had my first beer at approximately 6:45AM.

CRUD

Great showing by Team CRUD down at San Juan. Had a couple of guys bike there from Colorado Springs, about 230 miles. Had a bunch of course PR's. Nobody had to put on their Incline Club shirt (i.e., no DNFs). Had a great crew. Drank a ton of beer after the race. And some of us even bagged some 14ers on Sunday.

good times!

Great weekend down in Lake City! Ran an awesome race at the San Juan Solstice, finishing in 11:53. Almost 100 minutes better than my previous best there. And I held a little something back for my race next month.

Had enough in my legs on Sunday morning to add two more 14ers to my list, Redcloud and Sunshine Peaks. I'm up to 20 now. Even got some good "crappy weather" training as a storm came in from nowhere while Katie and I were on Sunshine. We had to come down off Sunshine, traverse a mile long ridge, summit Redcloud, and then get back down to treeline while trying to avoid getting struck by lightening.

Even got to eat at Moonlight Pizza in Salida not once, but twice!

Woohoo! Colorado summer weekends rock!

More tomorrow, I should probably get some sleep before the week begins. Until then, you can see the pics here.

on-on...

...to another great weekend in the mountains! Lake City or bust!

good luck!

Big weekend on the ultra scene with San Juan and the Bighorn 100. Lots of CRUD guys and HCTR members out there on the trails, good luck to all of 'em!

Silverton to Lake City?

Was looking at a map this morning, thinking of driving through Silverton (start/finish of Hardrock), since it's close to Lake City. Turns out the two towns are only 30 miles apart. However, since the San Juan mountains separate them, the dirt road is kind of sketchy. To get to Silverton via a paved road, it's over 130 miles.

Somebody on the Hardrock e-mail list was thinking about taking the mountain road with a 2WD vehicle. Prompted several responses, including this gem:

"They say the best offroad vehicle is a rental car. I say go for it. We need more good stories!"

more on San Juan

This just keeps getting better and better! Sure getting my moneys worth from this race. From the RD:

"Alpine Creek crossings will be high, fast and brutally cold in the early morning shadows of Alpine Gulch; we are roping the first 8 and will have crossing guards at each of those. Be patient, the moments you save by trying to jump around the runners using the rope may cost you the race or your life. You will not feel the sun's warming light until the Alpine Aid Station. Neoprene socks might be a good idea. Neoprene gaiters... anybody make those? Copious Vaseline or similar water-seal for your poor feet and lower legs HIGHLY recommended before putting on your socks that morning. Avoid being a contestant in the Ugly Feet Contest Sunday morning.
Steep snowfields will be encountered. EXPOSURE/ACROPHOBIA in Hardrock terms. Carrying a tent stake or two to Williams Aid Station may be worth consideration, otherwise grabbing a couple similarly sized and sturdy sticks before leaving timberline and carrying them until you decide if you need them or not will work just as well and grabbing a couple appropriate rocks ( if available) on one side of a snowfield and dropping them on the other side is not as effective in a self arrest but is the most efficient."

it's on like donkey kong!

From the folks who put on the San Juan Solstice:

"We will run the regular course. Snow levels will not be unusually high, BUT crews today describe Alpine Creek crossings as "epic". There will be volunteers at all crossings, but racers must be prepared for high, cold, rushing water early in the race."

Hell yeah! I love it when it sucks!

the streak...

...is up to 12 days. Probably my highest ever.

San Juan pics

Couple 'o pics I dug up on the San Juan website from 2007. I had a horrible race last year, barely beating the cutoff times at the last few aid stations and almost finishing in last place. While I'm always happy to finish a race like this one, I plan on having a much better showing this year.

I believe that's me leading the way in this top picture:

streaking

Today marked ten straight days of running for me, haven't taken a rest day since before the Garden 10 miler. Averaging a cool 12.8 miles per day. Thinking of continuing the streak right in to July, resting only when I begin my taper for Hardrock...

Collegiate Peaks results

The optimists out at Buena Vista have finally posted the results for the Collegiate Peaks 50 miler. I finished 6th out of 43 finishers in a PR of 8:34:36. Full results can be seen here.

101.1!

Woohoo! My first ever 100 mile week! Struggled on tired legs over the Ute Pass/Waldo loop this afternoon, but finally finished with a well deserved ice bath in Fountain Creek. Real good week, with my big Pikes run yesterday and a 3+ hour run today. If I were beginning my taper for Hardrock today, I'd feel pretty good about my chances as I've been working my ass off since January. Luckily for me though, I have two more weeks of hard training - including the San Juan Solstice on Saturday, two 14ers on Sunday, and the Leadville training camp the weekend after that.

My goal for San Juan is to break 12 hours - this gets one the cannibal award (a different colored hat). My two previous San Juans have netted me the survivor award - finishing from 12 hours to 16 hours. I'm not tapering for this race and the course is going to be rough with all the snow, but I'm in much better shape than I have been since I moved to Colorado, so I'm gonna go for it.

Psyched about my run yesterday, a solid 8.5 hours "time on my feet" with a good chunk of altitude thrown in. If I can get 14 miles in today I'll break 100 miles for the week for the first time ever, not counting Leadville. The motivation just ain't there right now. Can't cheat and do a double either, too much music tonignt in Manitou.

My house to Barr Camp - 1:55

My house to the summit doughnut bucket - 4:07

Neil really turned this one around, pushed me a lot harder on the oil tunnel section than I would have gone alone. Hell, I probably would have hiked most of it had he not been along, instead it turned into a pretty quick section.

Real good news on the ankle front too. I twisted it pretty bad twice on the run (once at the timberline shelter - not a good place to get injured on Pikes Peak) but the cankle recovered really quickly. It'll never be 100% but it's healthy enough that I'm not worried about it anymore.

Oh yeah, the 37 miles were in brand new shoes! Got a new pair of La Sportiva Imogene, starting to break 'em in for San Juan, Hardrock and Leadville!

Posted a few more pics on my Pikes blog.

37!

Got in a good 37 miles today! From my house, up Pikes Peak, back down to Barr Camp. At BC I was hurtin', and thinking of heading straight down, when I suggested to Neil that he accompany me out to the Oil Tunnel. Figured he'd have some lame excuse, but in about two seconds he had his shoes on and was ready to go. Fuck, couldn't back out of that one. We had a good run, which added ten miles on to the Barr Trail, and he pushed me a lot harder than I would have done by myself (had I done any of it). Ran a little extra down in Manitou to make it an even 37 miles. Over 8.5 hours of running, most of it above 10,000 feet! Woohoo! More later, I'm gonna go eat a cow now...

Pikes Peak or bust!

I'm off to the top of Pikes Peak via the Barr Trail, which should finally be cleared of snow. If there's no new post by this time Sunday, call search-and-rescue. Taking my camera, so I should have some good pics for my Pikes blog later on.

woohooo!

Latest news on the San Juan Solstice:

Scouts on the Divide today report better than expected conditions, and so we are fairly certain we will be running the regular course. Crews going up over the weekend to the Divide and Alpine will give us a definitive answer by Monday, but it looks good!

caffeine

I'm constatntly looking for good news about caffeine, since I use so much of the stuff. And here is some more info on the benefits. Turns out taking caffeine after a workout may help speed up recovery. Though I don't like them bad-mouthing my current post-long run recovery drink, chocolate milk (and Pabst, of course).

Please note the part about caffeine not causing dehydration! In fact, here's the quote:

"Heat and hydration expert Larry Armstrong several years ago disproved the old notion that coffee/caffeine is a diuretic."

It's not even lunchtime, and I've had 1.5 pots of coffee already!

two years

Today marks two years that I've been in my current job. I was a dishwasher for three years in high school, a delivery guy/produce stud for the GreenGrocer my final two years in Pittsburgh, and spent just over six years as an Infantryman, but this is the longest I've ever held a real job. To celebrate, I think I'll bail on work early today to do the Incline.

Kobe

As I've said before, it's no secret that I'm not a big Kobe Bryant fan. But he has some great quotes at the post-game press conference last night. Including these gems:

"Whine about it tonight, a lot of wine, a lot of beer, a couple shots, maybe like 20 of them, digest it, get back to work tomorrow. Nothing you can do."

His reaction to a question about the Celtics going in "for the kill" and how the Lakers reacted:

"Nothing. We just wet the bed. A nice big one, too, one of the ones you can't put a towel over. It was terrible."

Somebody send this guy a Kimchi shirt! Hell, he might have provided material for a future CKH3 shirt.

traveler!

Just got my tix for the annual Blues Traveler show at Red Rocks on July 4! I've always been a huge Traveler fan and I used to dream of going to this show, now I've lucked out and get to go every year! Woohoo!

The 4th of July is shaping up to be pretty epic. The schedule so far:

10AM - Leadville parade
10:30AM - Firecracker 5K in Leadville
11:30AM - nine holes at the Mt. Massive golf course (highest golf course in North America)
1:30PM - lunch at Rosie's (highest brewpub in the country - they even make malt liquor!)
4PM - tailgating at Red Rocks
7PM - Live, Collective Soul, and Blues Traveler!

i'm too sexy for my blog...

Couple 'o race pics from the Garden ten miler. Still waiting for Paul to post the pic of me drinking Pabst, since nobody believes there was a beer check out there. Forgot to mention that my fastest two miles of the race were my final two, and I did my final half mile in 2:57, including outsprinting several runners over the final 100 meters. Provisional qualification to the Eugene track trials are pending...

creating a newsense

Woohoo! Their new album is out! And it's a live one, from Pine Gables up in Green Mountain Falls. I'll pick up a copy at their show at Benny's this Friday. It will be burned and mailed out soon after.

good day!

Before I arrived at work at 8AM, I had already ran for an hour (which included a summit of Red Mountain) and biked for 30 minutes! Woohoo!

more bike crap

Barack Obama peddlin' around the Chicago area this past weekend. He's also had his pic posted on my blog drinking Pabst. I'll put the rumors to rest now - we are not the same person. However, I can neither confirm nor deny any reports that he is considering me to be the next vice-president...

bike to work

June is "bike month" here in Colorado Springs and Wednesday, June 11, is the actual bike to work day. Excuses abound (wahhh, it's too far; wahhh, it makes me too tired; wahhh, I don't want to be sweaty; wahhh, I need to get in better shape first) but please take a second to remember that American troops are dying every day over oil. So if you can't or won't bike to work tomorrow, at least be considerate of those of us who will ride and give us some space on the road.

more Garden crap

I'd like to congratulate Cheyenne Mountain High School for winning the aid station challenge at the Garden of the Gods. I tried to write in the CRUD Pabst stop for best aid station, but when that wasn't allowed I cast my vote for CMHS, obviously because they were the best at handing out water.Also, not to be outdone by Ritz, I was on the newscast about the race. See it here. I'm about 1:20 into the segment, and you hafta look quick as it's a shot of me running!

Hardrock update

Hard to believe, but I'm barely a month away from Hardrock. Just finished up a low mileage week with the Garden run, and it's three more weeks of hard training before the big weekend. Highlights of the remaining time:

June 14-15 : this Saturday I'm gonna head up Pikes Peak via Barr Trail. On the way down I'll cut across to Elk Park and back. From my house and ending at Kinfolk's it's about a 38 mile run, a good chunk of which is above 10,000 feet. Sunday I'm gonna bug someone to drive me to the Crags trailhead, then run up and over Pikes Peak and back to Manitou, about 20 miles.

June 21-22 : headed out to Lake City for the San Juan Solstice 50 miler. My last big test before HR. Still some confusion as to whether or not the real course will be run due to all the snow. Sunday morning will be a hike to bag Redcloud and Sunshine, a twelve mile round trip that I've said I'd do the past two years and haven't. I mean it this time!

June 28-29 : off to Leadville for their training camp. Supported runs along the Leadville Trail 100 course, including the Hope Pass double crossing. Plus, drinking at the country's highest brewpub is always a great thing.

Still a lot of work to be done, and all this will leave me two full weeks to taper. Looking at cutting back my mileage during the week, but working on picking up the pace of those runs. A little less pounding on the body, but still working hard. I feel like my body is right on the edge of breaking down, if I can keep skirting that line for the next three weeks I should be good to go come race day.

front page

This picture was on the front page of today's sports section of the Gazette. See anyone who may need to drink for it?The accompanying article can be read here.

Garden pics

Didn't get too many pics at the ten miler this morning, here's the "best of" that I did capture:

BLOS, who finished in 1:13:04-

Former Pikes Peak hasher and sometimes current Boulder hasher, Bungholio (1:22:11) -

$100 Fuck, who kept whining about something lame all morning, finishing in 1:52:25 -


Boulder harriette Facial, wondering how I had time to finish, grab a PBR, change, and still meet her at the finish line to get this picture. She won some lame hardware for her 1:15:00 finish -


P2H4 wanker and full time Kimchi hater Midnite Stroker, finishing her very first competitive event ever (1:40:30) -

Ritz, finishing in a solid 1:47:13 -

NASCOCK, who took some time off from waging the war on terror via TDY trips to Hawaii to get his ass handed to him by a 50+ year old P2H3 harriette. MAJ Cock finished in 1:44:33 -

Can't remember the last time Hoover Damn was at a hash, but she showed up today and ran 1:52:01:

Think we all had a good time. Sorry to those hashers I didn't get a photo of, next time don't finish the race at the same time I'm opening another brew.

Garden 10 miler

Managed to go 1:07:59 at the Garden 10 miler this morning. That course sure kicked my ass, can't believe how hard I pushed to get a time barely below seven minute miles. Finished 55th overall out of 1597 finishers, so not too shabby. Even managed to place 4th in my age group, netting me a small but sweet trophy.

Congrats to all the hashers who finished: Midnite Stroker, I Blow, Facial, $100, Chinwacker, BLOS, IDH, Long Hard One, Ritz, Nibbles, Hoover Damn, NASCOCK, and Runs With Beaver.

More on the race later, I hafta go drink some beer.

royal gorge

Had a blast rafting the Royal Gorge this morning. Good group of 11 locals took the early trip. High waters, great weather. Came super close to flipping our boat once, Charlie and I were actually in the water but somehow managed to rebound quickly and get back into the raft. Later, our guide let Broken Rubber and I jump out of the boat to swim some easy class II stuff. Good times!

Robert Gates

As much as I hate to say anything decent about an A&M guy, it's nice to see Secretary of Defense Robert Gates kicking ass and taking names. Yesterday he tossed the two top dogs of the Air Force to the curb. Not too long ago he fired the Secretary of the Army for shoddy medical treatment of wounded soldiers. Remember when Abu Gharib broke and a buck sergeant was gonna get demoted to E-1 and two specialists were gonna be kicked out of the military? Nice to see the higher ups are finally being held accountable.


The Air Force really failed to impress me about anything (well, they do have good looking women...) while I was there, and I think it's horrible how little of the burden they fill in the current scheme of things. Hopefully the new guy for the job lights a fire under the entire Air Force and they start shaping up. Barring that, he should put NASCOCK in charge so the Kimchi hash can give away nuclear weapons at a future trail. The "Get Bombed With The Kimchi H3" would be huge!


I wonder how much different things would be today had W picked Gates from the beginning? OK, I should think of something else before I start to cry...

heckling

Turns out Kobe Bryant has been banging some 19 year old Laker girl.

So when Kobe's wife finds out, she goes to a game and berates this girl from the stands. Laker management immediately removes the Laker girl to avoid further embarassment.

Turns out a Boston newspaper found out about this. They printed life size pictures of the Laker girl's face in a recent edition. At the Garden last night fans had the cut out face in the stands and were chanting, "No Means No!"

HAHAHAHAHA!

Still, as much as I can't stand Kobe, I really can't blame the guy:

morning bike commute

Took a new route to work today. Through the Garden of the Gods, down 31st street, then down Garden of the Gods road to the Sinton Trail. Takes a little longer (40 minutes vs 28 minutes on my normal route) but there's much less traffic and much more scenery so I'll probably use this route from now on. That time will drop to around 36 minutes once I get into a little better biking shape and Sinton trail is open the entire way. A lot more climbing makes for a better workout, which I'm not really looking for on my way to work but I shouldn't whine about that. The real bonus will be on the way home, when the route takes me directly past Trinity Brewing (brownie - 1, yeti - 0) and then past some sweet bouldering spots in the Garden!

probably a woman driver

This pic has been making the rounds on the internet recently. A drunk fell asleep and veered into the peleton of a bike race. 1 dead, 14 injured. Give me the trails anyday.

I was once hit by a car while on a bike - during the infamous tour de donut which visited all the Dunkin' Donuts in the Sunbury/Danville/Lewisburg area. Ruined my bike, I was OK. The driver of the car and the cop who showed up blamed me. And people wonder why I never go back to Central PA. Though maybe the cop was just pissed because I was eating all the donuts.

almost famous

Meeting Dave Phillips from the Colorado Springs Gazette at Tony's tomorrow for an interview about Hardrock. Two locals (Neil from Barr Camp being the other) are running the race and Dave wants to follow us through the process. So I'll be talking about Hardrock and trying to outdrink the local DA, which shouldn't be a problem. Don't worry, I'll be on my bike.

Autographed copies of the article will be available, for a small fee.

My friends and reletives better hang out with me now, because the first thing I'm doing when I'm rich and famous is dropping you all!

Dave also keeps a sweet blog of local outdoor stuff, see it here.

Imogene shirt update

performance review

Just got my annual performance review, and somehow I still have my job of trying to keep jailbirds from not drinking and doing drugs. Only negative thing I received was when my boss wrote, "outside activities sometimes interfere with ability to be present the next day." Turns out almost all of my sick days fall on Friday or Monday. Oops.

Imogene hash shirts

Rough draft of the shirt design being thrown out. I had heard Nacheaux Ass wasn't talented at anything, but I guess she can draw somewhat.

good news!

Rumors are starting to float out of Lake City that the snow is melting fast enough to have the San Juan Solstice on the regular course! There's been a lot of whining on some blogs lately about how it's just as good to not push yourself, take short cuts, find the easy way out, etc, etc.... But some of us actually look forward to the challenge of finding where our limits are and seeing if we can push them even farther out there. And the San Juan Solstice is the kind of race that allows you to do just that!

My goal will be to break twelve hours, assuming they run the old course. Bring on the Continental Divide!

Also wanna bag Redcloud and Sunshine Peak while I'm down there. Add two more 14ers to my list. Of course, both years I've done San Juan I've said that, and when Sunday morning comes I can't even move, let alone mountain climb.

Imogene

The current list of hashers headed out to do Imogene Pass:

brownie
$100 Fuck
BLOS
Ritz
LUMP
Nacueaux Ass
Peace O'Chum
Pete

Saturday night could see the biggest Ouray hash ever! Still time to rego, should be open for another day or two.

best of Austin

There's a poll going on with the Hill Country Trail Runners (of which I am still a member), thought I'd share my answers since a few of my readers are from A-town. Results should be in an upcoming issue of TrailRunner magazine. For the HCTR guys who read this, write in the Burnet Road Challenge. It'd be awesome to see that listed in a trail running magazine!

TRAILS:
1. Barton Creek Greenbelt - endless technical trails within a few miles of downtown
2. Walnut Creek - knew it like the back of my hand and still got lost all the time
3. Town Lake - never know what you'll see on that easy ten mile loop

Restaurants:
1. Crown & Anchor - best bacon cheeseburgers in TX
2. Hyde Park Bar & Grill - awesome fries
3. Deep Eddy's - not sure if they even serve food, but they always had half price Lone Star pitchers after Hill of Life repeats

Races:
1. Burnet Road Challenge - only the strong survive!
2. Bandera 100k - even people from Colorado bitch about how hard that race is (not me, of course)
3. Rogue Trail Series - always had a blast at these

manitou wine festival

It's this Saturday, wankers! Details can be seen here. Gonna hit this after spending the morning whitewater rafting the Royal Gorge! Woohoo Manitou!

316.6

Finished up May with 316.6 miles, easily the most miles I've ever done in a one month period. That's averaging 10.2 miles a day even counting the seven rest days I took. The month included three races (Collegiate Peaks, Salida Spiral Drive, and the Law Day 10k) and two trips up Pikes Peak. Taking things easy this week to recover as my plans for the next three weekends include a Pikes Peak/Elk Park run, the San Juan Solstice, and Leadville training camp. And then just like that, it's time to taper for Hardrock...

weekend update

Colorado summer weekends rock! Packed about as much as possible into this last one. Played hookey from work on Friday so I could chill in Manitou all day. Then stunk it up at the Law Day 10K, though it was good to see some old friends out there. BLOS continues to improve, as he was beating me through the first mile. And even beating me through mile 5.5, though that was due to his navigation skills (or lack thereof) more than his fitness. Kudos to him for being a good sport and not crossing the finish line until he put in more distance.

Saturday morning it was up and down America's mountain with Melissa, her last mountain adventure as a Coloradan.

Saturday night it was out to BFE to see Net as I've never seen him before. Lots of great pics to be posted soon. Thanks to Humidor and Lip Lock Me for opening up their ranch to the Kimchi and friends.

Bailed on BFE early on Sunday to get home to rego for Imogene Pass. That's gonna be a fun race. The hash afterwards should be good to as we have me, $100, Ritz, LUMP, Nacheaux Ass (DFW), Pete, and maybe a few others headed out to Ouray. Plus 8 Yellow Snow at one of the aid stations.

After that I went up to Boulder. Body was hurting from Saturday's activities, so I did a nice, easy run along the Mesa Trail before heading to the hash. Figured the hash would be easy since the hare, Dr. Slow Ride, was an outta towner visiting from Tuscon. Damn, was I wrong. After nearly summiting Mt. Sanitas in the first few miles, we headed out to Sunshine Canyon. Tons of climbing and decending which left many of the actual Boulder hashers leaving trail halfway because it was too difficult. Had a great beer check by a whitewater river and then bolted back into the city for the end at a great dive bar, the Sundown Saloon. Good times!

More of the same this week. Gonna slack of the running for the week, as I've been beating myself up pretty good lately. Saturday it's off to the Royal Gorge for some sweet whitewater rafting. Hoping to return in time for the Colorado Wine Festival in Manitou. Sunday it's the Garden 10 miler, should be quite a few people at my party after the race. Hoping to run under 66 in that race, though that's pushing it for a tough course.

one less car!

Finally got my lazy ass motivated enough to bike to work today. First time riding there from Manitou. About the same distance from when I lived in Knob Hill, though it's a much harder course due to hills. Especially the climb up to Coronado High School, that hill is a burner. Got a huge boner on it today though as I passed a road biker on the way up! Took me just under 28 minutes to make the trip, not much longer than driving in.

law day 10k pics

#12

Melissa and I made it up Pikes Peak for my 12th ascent of the mountain. Took the Cog route but by my next attempt, in two weeks, Barr Trail should be good to go all the way up. Might have been the best weather for any of my hikes up there.

Now it's time to head out to BFE!

Law Day 10K

Totally bombed at the Law Day 10K yesterday. Went in with hopes of a sub-40 minute finish, but a horrible hangover (even at 6PM) let to a disappointing 42:45. Damn you Arctic milk stout! Not all of that was my fault, as the twisting and turning course was poorly marked and at one point I had to come to a stop to ask a volunteer which way to go. And he didn't know. Was running good early, and thought I finally had a chance to beat my buddy 1SG Sowers (good luck at Bighorn, top!), but I really faltered between miles 3 and 5 and wasn't able to hold the early lead. Good race to cherry pick, as even though I ran shitty I was still 4th overall.

Body is starting to feel really broken down, may hafta back off this next week. June is a big month for me with the San Juan Solstice and Leadville training camp looming...

it's gotta be the shoes...

Way back towards the end of January I blogged about trying out a new pair of shoes. Read the post here. I have spent the last four months pounding these shoes into the ground while training for Hardrock. On this Saturday's epic run with Melissa the shoes will surpass 700 miles. And this figure is only the miles I've logged with rw.com, it doesn't include the days I wore the shoes to work or hashed in them, which would probably bring the total close to, if not over, 1000 miles. And they're only $74 at the Colorado Running Company (works out to $0.11 per mile so far - probably get that number below a dime before I'm done).

Last year at San Juan I retired a beloved pair of Montrail Hardrocks at an aid station. The shoes had literally fallen apart over the first 20 miles of the race and I couldn't bring myself to throw them in the trash. So shortly after puking my guts out at the Carson aid station, I changed shoes and left my old Montrails sitting on an aid station table, almost in tears as I ran away from them. I could almost hear them crying as I left them behind for the nine mile stretch atop the continental divide. I think it will be a fitting tribute to retire the Imogenes in this same way (minus the puking part, hopefully)...

Imogene Pass!

Sign up is this weekend, bitches! More importantly, the actual race is only 100 days away!

Click here for more info on the race. I have a campsite picked out and there will be a Bandito hash in Ouray the evening after the race.

going away present

My good friend and future Hardrock pacer Melissa will be moving back to Austin next week. I think the standard protocol would call for a gift of somekind. I offered to take her on one last Colorado mountain run. Check out this route:

My house to the top of Red Mountain. Back down Red and over to Ute Pass. Ute Pass to Longs Ranch and then up, up, up Longs 'till it hits Barr Trail. Up Barr Trail to Barr Camp. Then over to the Cog Railway and up to the top of Pikes Peak for a beer and a cigar. Back down Pikes via the Cog until we cut back over to Barr Camp. Return to Manitou via Barr Trail. End the run at Kinfolk's.

Approximately 33 miles. Not much of that is flat. Good times! I'll hafta figure out the elevation gain and see how many Hill of Life repeats it would equal.

Melissa has been a great friend and we've run a lot of miles together, it'll be sad to see her go.

nash hash!

75.2

Really good week despite heading up to South Dakota for the long weekend. Highlight was finally getting up Pikes Peak again, followed a few hours later by the Incline Club hill climb. The total doesn't count the 20+ miles of hashing I did at Nash Hash.

Crazy Horse marathon

Unfortunately I didn't have enough time in South Dakota to do everything I wanted to do. Was hoping to bag Harney Peak as well as do some bouldering in the Needles. So I talked to some of the Big Heads wankers about making another trip back sometime. And they told me about the Crazy Horse marathon on October 4. Think I'm gonna go up for it, as any marathon named after a malt liquor is OK with me!

Due to PC issues, Crazy Horse malt liquor is not sold in South Dakota. Which means I'll hafta buy it in Colorado. But yeah, my goal will be to qualify for Boston and then down a 40oz of Crazy Horse at the finish. I may get scalped for this stunt in that part of the country, Crazy Horse is kinda a big deal up there.

So of any of the more athletic hashers out there are looking for a roadtrip in October, get in touch with me. Climbing, hiking, hashing, and of course the marathon, should be a good trip.

creating a newsense!

Figured I'd just chill at home last night to recover from the long weekend, but I found out that Manitou's very own Creating a Newsense was playing at the Mariner. About the only thing missing from the past few days was some good live music, so I caught the show. Good times!

good times!

Had a blast out at Nash Hash! Highlight was getting to co-hare a 12+ mile ballbuster live with Stevie Gay Gone, but the entire weekend rocked! Great trail, unlimited Pabst, old and new friends, a beautiful area, all added up for a great Memorial Day weekend. I'll post more later, gotta go sit in the shower for a few hours to get cleaned up.

FYI, the next Nash Hash is in Wisconsin!

Nash Hash!

Easy run to Rainbow Falls and back this morning, about to head over to Purple Castle for breakfast, then it's off to South Dakota for some debauchery with the Big Heads! Woohoo! Granny, Davey, all the other hashers stuck in far off lands serving in our military, I'll drink one in your honor this weekend!

Pikes Peak

I've been itchin' to get up a 14er for a few weeks now, especially with the great weather we've been having along the front range. Problem was, we had record snowfall here in Colorado and it's gonna take some time for it all to melt. But I kept hearing wispers of folks climbing Pikes via the Cog Railway route, so I figured I'd give it a go.

First, a little bit of personal history. My very first trip to the summit of Pikes Peak was via the train, with MeatGazer when I was in town on vacation. Kinda fell in love with the mountains that day, and I vowed I'd come back to hike up the hill. Never knew I'd make it my backyard. Oh yeah, my second time up the mountain was the 50th anniversary of the Pikes Peak Ascent. Ran 3:18, not too shabby for living in Austin at the time.

I left my front door at 5:45AM. By 6AM there was a Cog employee raising the Americal flag, so I had to continue all the way up Ruxton to the gate where I jumped a stream and hit the railroad tracks.

For the next few hours I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. Damn, that track is steep in some places. It blows my mind how those trains can carry all those overweight tourists up that hill.

About halfway up, at the Mountain View station (just over 10,000 feet), two trains carrying workers came by. I hid in the woods and let them pass. Onward and upward.

Was working real hard in the thin air. But I kept to the ultra mantra "relentless forward motion" and things were going well. Around 11,000 feet the weather started to get finicky. Strong winds, snow, and dark clouds replaced the mild weather that had been the norm. Started to wonder if I'd make it.

Shortly after 12,000 feet (there's a shelter there - was it Whispering Winds?) I noticed the two trains that had passed me earlier had stopped, and the crew was out working on the tracks. I knew any of the passenger trains wouldn't stop to yell at me for trespassing, but I wasn't sure about the workers. So I bailed off the tracks for some good class four scrambling, then ran across a nice open field. Probably added a mile onto the route, but it was nice to get some good running in at such an altitude. Weather started getting real nasty here. Plus, the scramble back up to the tracks really took a lot out of me, probably because I was nearing 13,000 feet.

Back on the tracks I guestimated I had another 1.5 miles to go. Had to keep moving because the dark clouds were coming after me. After another half mile, the hail started getting real bad, and I stopped, telling myself, "teish, you need to turn around, you're not gonna make it to the mall before this storm hits." Then, I thought I heard the faintest voice. Went up about 50 meters around a bend, and lo and behold it's the summit house! Woulda sucked to have turned around, but I thought I had a lot longer to go. Slammed a can of Arctic while being pelted by hail and went inside for some coffee and a doughnut.

Had to sit in the summit house for an hour before the storm cleared. Hated to sit still for so long, but I told myself it was good altitude training. As soon as the storm cleared I was bolting back down the mountain. The hail returned for about 20 minutes and, using the strong winds, hurt like a bitch while it was constantly pelting my face, but soon it was smooth sailing and once I got below 12,000 feet it got quite nice again.

At mountain view I hooked a left and went over to Barr Camp to visit Teresa and Neil. Always great to see those two. Had a cup of joe while shooting the shit and then left to finish the rest of Barr Trail and get back to my house.

All in all, a great run. Nice to finally get some altitude in, not to mention the almost-7 hours of time on my feet. Add the Incline Club run I'd do later and it adds up to over an entire work day of mountain running. Good times! And it's only Thursday, the weekend hasn't even begun yet!

Final splits:

My house to Summit House (about 11+ miles with my added foray through the field): 4:15
Summit House to Barr Camp: 1:11
Barr Camp to Casa de brownie: 1:21
Total time: 6:47:32, not including the time spent at the summit house or Barr Camp. Roughly 25 miles. Yeah, it's slow going up the Cog.

I love it on top!

Made it to the top, barely. My 11th summit of America's mountain. Weird weather today, had to wait an hour at the top for a big storm to blow over. Almost turned around with about a hundred meters more to go, thought I had another mile. Anyone who thinks hiking up the Cog is cheating obviously hasn't taken this route. Better write up later, gotta go rest up for the Incline Club workout tonight.

By the way, I became the first person to drink a can of Arctic On-On ale on the Peak, and also became the first person wearing a Kimchi tab shirt to take a dookie above 14,000 feet! Just two more notches on my bedpost on the way to the CKH3 hall of fame...

Pikes Peak or bust!

Off for my first attempt of the year on the summit! Wish me luck! Have a can of on-on ale in my backpack for the top...

my first traverse!

Finally made it the entire route around the perimeter of the rock gym today! My arms were shot afterwards and the rest of the workout was worthless, but the chance for glory presented itself and I went after it. Hopefully I recover in time to rub one out before the Spurs game tonight, I hate having to call Net's mom since she always wants to talk afterwards...

the race is on...

...for me to get in my first 14er of the season. Might happen tomorrow!

sorry, Pete

Just got an e-mail from the Imogene Pass RD that included this paragraph:

"One more important change to the race is the cutoff times. The cutoff time for the upper camp bird aid station at 7.6 mile HAS BEEN REDUCED TO 2.5 HOURS. If you cannot maintain a pace of 3.04 miles per hour at elevations above 8000’ while climbing 3000+ feet please reconsider your registration."

Pete, just because you can't enter the race doesn't mean you don't still owe me that Tito's!

bad day

Sheesh, this guy was just trying to enjoy the outdoors! Bees! Your weapons are useless against them!

cold shower

Not sure what it is with me and broken pipes, but it happened again last night. And while a flooded basement doesn't have the same urgency when you live on the second floor, taking a freezing cold shower after my ten miler this morning was not the most pleasant thing I've ever done.

Hardrock update

Good news, looks like the race is on! Woohoo! Got the e-mail right after I got back from my first trip up to Barr Camp! Up in 1:45, down in time to watch the 4th quarter of the Spurs game. Good times!

"Hi Everybody,
Although there is still a lot of snow on the course (thanks Blake for those great pictures), we are putting all the pieces in place for this years run.I'd like to remind everyone that is on the entrants list that Sunday, June 1st is the deadline for receiving a full refund on your entry if you should decide to drop from this years run. I know there a a few people who will be willing to take your place!
Dale Garland,RD, HRH"

73.1

Got in a pretty good week considering I spent the weekend at a hash campout. Highlight was getting in 10.5 hours of hard trails on Thurs/Fri/Sat. Don't count the hash in my total mileage, but having to lay that trail on Saturday after a three hour run on sand was a killer workout.

Hardrock update

Been waiting on the edge of my seat since I got home yesterday for any word on Hardrock. Just got the following e-mail from the race director:

"I put up a few photos showing the snow cover yesterday around Silverton at http://www.run100s.com/HR/hardrocksnowpack.html

There's a lot of snow in the high country, but it's melting fast - it was T-shirt weather in Silverton and 85F in Durango.

More in a day or two on the official status of Hardrock. My personal opinion is that there is very little chance that the run won't go forward as planned, although there will probably be lots of snow on the course and what isn't snowy up high will be very marshy."

it's back!

The Pittsburgh Marathon is back! Start training, you have less than one year until May 3rd. Read about it here. Hopefully they have the old course, and it's looking like they will:

"The course is not yet final. But it is expected to start in front of the City-County Building, Downtown, pass through the North Side, South Side, Oakland, Shadyside, Point Breeze, Homewood, East Liberty, Bloomfield, Highland Park and the Strip District before finishing in the renovated Point State Park."

woo-muthafucking-hooo!

Lineup for Telluride Blues and Brews was just announced! Gov't Mule, G Love, John Butler Trio, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Blind Boys of Alabama, and a ton of others. Read about the show here, tix are still available. Sure gonna be one epic roadtrip!

sand dunes

Great times down at the Sand Dunes hash! Pics can be seen here. Visited the UFO watchtower, laid a killer trail with over 1000 feet of vertical gain, drank a ton of Pabst and bum wine, got an awesome three hour run in, tasted the Alamosa Amber from San Luis Valley brewing, took my first dip in hot springs, and even got to dine on Moonlight Pizza when we took the scenic way home. Woohoo! on-on to Nash Hash!