Winfield

Leaving Winfield last year with Mike Safari in tow. I would have run so much faster with better pacers...

Hardrock or bust!

Hardrock lottery live on twitter!

Brooks is in! Neal Taylor is in!

I'm in!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, the Wasatch lottery was yesterday. Nick got in!

Garden

Legs were sore from yesterday, so I did an easy nine on the Garden trails. Felt good, until I read on John O's blog that he averages under nine minutes a mile and I'm usually closer to ten. Or eleven.

Hardrock lottery results should be posted around 1PM today. Wish me luck!

21

Nice long run this morning. Through the Garden to the Sinton Trail, down to the Santa Fe trail, Nielson Challenge in 12:56, then back home through Bear Creek Park. 21 miles, just over three hours.

Dropped by the Colorado Running Company during the run and tried on the Nike Lunar Elite. I was hoping to run Boston in my current Pegasus but the upper is starting to separate from the sole and there's no way they'll last another two months. Anyone hear anything about the Elite? I liked 'em when I tried 'em on, and I got a feeling they'll feel really good after 100-200 miles when they're broke in. But John O said some people have been complaining about the arch in these shoes. Hate to buy another pair of road shoes this year but like I said I don't think I can get through Boston with what I have now.

John O also told me that Jenny Barringer is moving down here! Woohoo! Now if only Kara Goucher would follow...

weekend

Not too much going on this weekend, other than sitting around on the edge of my seat waiting for the Hardrock lottery to happen.

Starting to pack for the move to Old Colorado City tonight. Lotsa shit to move. Might need to get some more PBR to make things a little better. Want to get the apartment empty before the drunks come over for Manitou Mardi Gras.

Long run on Saturday, which I'm doing before and after the Nielson Challenge. Probably about 15 miles before, then the two mile time trial, then another six or so home. Plenty of time to recover in time for the Pikes Peak hash.

Sunday morning is the Incline Club, and then some King's Chef. Then it'll just be staring at the Hardrock web page to see what happens. If I get in, I'm gonna skip the super bowl and go join the 2nd annual super bowl protest run, which heads up to Barr Camp during the game.

woohoo!

Guess who is coming to town on March 28th!

TGIF!

Thurs PM - Incline happy hour. Ran from Katie's, got in 8 miles in 2 hours. Found out Creating a Newsense is playing the Mariner next Saturday after the Mardi Gras parade!

Fri AM - Easy hour, 6.6 miles.

HAIL TO PITT!

I know the hoops squad hasn't even started it's hot run through the Big East and NCAA tourney yet, but it's never too early to look ahead to football season. Here's Pitts non-con schedule:

Sept. 2 —- Thursday — at Utah

Sept. 11 — Saturday — New Hampshire

Sept. 23 —- Thursday —– Miami

Oct. 2 —- Saturday —– FIU

Oct. 9 —— Saturday —- at Notre Dame

All look like easy wins to me.

more miles

Wed PM - 5.2 miles on the Sinton trail, 50 minutes, followed by an hour of hot yoga. Guess Keith G is already in taper mode for Leadman as he bailed on the run.

Thurs AM - Sunrise Striders. Meanest janitor ever kicked us off the CC track, so we did 5 x 5 minutes hard on the Santa Fe trail, 1 minute RBI. Still had some soreness from the Yasso 800s I did on Tuesday, so this workout wasn't all out but still a pretty good effort.

book #2

Book #2 for the year. Think I picked this up at my first Leadville. Not very good, you can find much, much better stuff on blogs nowadays. The guy even rips on Leadville for offering beer at their race festivities, so obviously not the kind of author that will hold my interest. I've read his book on Hardrock and it's not much better.

Wed AM

6.2 miles very easy (72 minutes) in Red Rock Canyon. Legs were tore up from yesterdays Yasso 800s. Hope I'm recovered enough to hang with Keith on the Sinton Trail tonight.

PPRR bored meeting last night. Unbelievable how much non-running crap goes on in a running club. Insurance issues, city and county park fees, volunteer gimmies, advertising, newsletter stuff, various bills, and some other stuff I think I was asleep for. Bad news for anyone thinking they had a chance to beat one of the more impressive records of the sport though - sounds like they're not gonna have the Earth Day 5K anymore. The course record, a blazing 19:12, is held by yours truly. (FYI, I still hold the age 30 record at the Bandera 100K - 12:32:27 - set back in '06).

Springs

Good article from the Denver Post about the dire financial situation of Colorado Springs can be seen here. I used to laugh at their problems since I lived in Manitou, but since Old Colorado City is in Springs city limits maybe I'll start crying. Gonna start hanging with the Friends of Red Rock Canyon since I'll have more time after resigning from PARAB, unfortunately it looks like that time will be spent picking up trash instead of building new trails.

Fear not though! The US Olympic HQ is staying here! I believe the city has now thrown over 30 million at that new downtown building. Who needs public transportation or street lights or police officers, the important thing is keeping the fat ass paper pushers at the olympic bureaucracy happy!

2:54

Awesome workout this morning. 10 x 800m, 400m RBI. Hit the first one in 2:56, then ran between 2:51 and 2:54 for the rest. Fastest two were intervals 9 and 10, in 2:51 and 2:52. This is a friggin' HARD workout if you've never done it. With the warm up and cool down I got in a total of 12 miles.

$2.44

Through today I had run 350.1 miles and spent a total of $853 on running, working out to $2.44 per mile. The bulk of that is on Boston - $130 to rego, $300 for a flight, $30 for the special bus - which was actually paid for in 2009. Also dropped $250 on Leadville and another $85 on new shoes. Take Boston out and Smut would be sweating as I'd be at $1.12 per mile.

oops

Looks like the fancy new Leadville website may have confused some people. Got this e-mail today:

Dear Leadville Trail 100 Family,

Thanks for your registration for the Leadville Trail 100 Run. Your order has been processed. This email is to confirm that you DID intend to enter the LT100 RUN.

There had been some confusion during online registration, so we wanted to confirm that your registration was intended was for the Run Race. Please make this verification process as simple as possible:

If you DID intend to register for theLT100 Run (even if it was one of several that you registered for) – DO NOT respond to this email, do nothing (except get to training!)

If you accidentally registered for the run, email us and let us know, immediately.

Maybe they should raise the rego price so they can get a website that works. Hope the mistake wasn't because Brandon finally realized what he was up against and tried to switch his rego to the 10K...

Hardrock lottery

The lottery is this weekend, starting to get nervous. 409 people are trying to get in so far. After all the automatic guys are accounted for, I figure about 100 slots will be available for almost 400 lottery players. I'll have three tickets, last year that woulda given me a 45% chance of getting in, little bit lower this year since there are more entrants.

January

Pretty good month. 343.8 miles, topping my previous record of 340 set all the way back last decade in December of '09. I only topped 300 miles three times in the run up to last years ultra season, so I'm feeling pretty good about these last two months. Hope to hit 300 in the short month of February. Think I'm gonna start to average between 75 - 80 miles a week. Things start go get hectic once I go over 80 miles.

Did yoga eight times in January for a total of nine hours. Commuted to work three times. Finished one book and started two others. Looking good for my resolutions.

Have to resign from the Manitou parks and rec board tonight due to my upcoming move to Old Colorado City. Served about half my term. Did manage to get ten grand put down on a new trail, so my time there wasn't a total waste.

Guess what I had to drink?

quote of the day

Another good one from the "I Love to Run" facebook page.

Some think guts is sprinting at the end of a race. But guts is what got you there to begin with. Guts start back in the hills with 6 miles to go and you're thinking of how you can get out of this race without anyone noticing. Guts begin when you still have forty minutes of torture left and you're already hurting more than you ever remember.

- George Sheehan

Hell yeah, anything to take the focus off the last 100 meters of a race, as sprinting ain't exactly my strong point.

commute #3

Ahead of schedule on my goal of using alternate transportation to get to work 20 times this year. Took the long way to work for a nice 10 miles, 92 minutes. Taking the super long way home.

Also got in 3.3 miles last night before the PPRR newsletter stuffing.

Wed AM

Easy 8.5 in the Garden, 1:20:16. 307.4 miles for the year. Running to and from work tomorrow, then taking a little break for Durango. Was hoping to get a good run on the CO trail down there, but they've been shelled with snow the past few days, so I'll just drink instead.

Tues PM

Nothing cures a case of the slowpokes like a run with the legend, Keith G! We hammered out and back along the Sinton trail, 4.6 miles in 51 minutes. Not too shabby for having to stop at Valero twice to crap. I guess Keith brings out the best in me.

Keith is in double secret training mode, but look for him to bust a 2:37:48 soon.

Leadville course change?

Looks like they're gonna stick with the course from last year at Leadville. I liked it much better, if only because I've dropped out at treeline before and it's fine with me to avoid it.

send it in, jerome!!!!!

Happy 22nd anniversary to one of the greatest things that ever happened! Damn, I sure miss those old cursive Pitt jerseys!

slow

Mon PM - 8.5 miles with the Trinity Soul Runners. 1:16. Had to stop and take a leak, and when I returned the main pack had left me. Unable to catch up.

Tues AM - 7 miles with the PPRR Sunrise Striders. 63 minutes total. 4 miles of tempo in Bear Creek Park. Guys I normally beat crushed me today. Hell, girls who never beat me crushed me today. Yeti even finished in front of me. Thank gawd John O didn't show up, he probably would have beaten me as well.

These two stinkers on top of a sub par race on Saturday. Been running a ton of miles, for me anyways, and it's leaving me stale on the faster paced stuff. 340 miles in December was my biggest month ever, and it looks like I'll top that this month. Probably go for another huge month in February before backing off to work on my sub-three speed for Boston. Might have to hit the track a little more often though, while I'm happy to be building a great base for the upcoming summer, I don't want to go getting too slow.

stay at the start

What an awesome idea! I'll be crashing with hashers but this is a good way to save about a grand if you're going to Boston. If anyone wants more info leave me a comment and I can e-mail it.

"Stay at the Start" has established a network of just over 40 families in Hopkinton (where the 26 mile Boston Marathon starts) that want to provide accommodations in their home during Boston Marathon weekend to registered marathon runners. “Stay at the Start” is matching registered runners interested in staying in Hopkinton with these host families.

There is no charge to stay in a host family’s home as a guest. In exchange for a stay of up to 4 nights, “Stay at the Start” is asking for a donation to help support the community based Hopkinton Food Pantry that services families in need.

“Stay at the Start” is an all volunteer, not-for-profit organization. “Stay at the Start” is about building community. Our goal is for both the runners and host families to have an enhanced marathon experience, for this to become part of the Boston Marathon tradition, and to raise much needed money for the Hopkinton Food Pantry.

south slope to open?!?!?

Wow, Colorado Springs Utilities may actually open the south slope of Pikes Peak! CSU is run by the Springs city council, so I just assumed either A) the place would never, ever open up to public use; or B) the place would be given to the US olympic committee as a gift. Read the story here. This is fantastic news for trail lovers. But, given that it is the city running things, I'm not holding my breath as to when this will happen.

Forgot to mention that at the last PPRR bored meeting, Mailman John raised the possibility of having an ultra on the Ring the Peak trail. We're gonna have meetings 'n shit (hopefully at a bar) to discuss it. Any thoughts on this?

Not related to the south slope, but more good reading from the Gazette here. Aren't these guys up in GZ's neck of the woods?

winter series II

No, that's not Dathan Ritzenhein running another sub 13, but me at the Winter Series II. The homeless guys along the Santa Fe trail were telling me I dress like a bum.

Mon AM

Easy 90 minutes, 9.2 miles. Out and back along 31st, Rockledge Ranch, and Centennial. 20F and very windy.

my hero!

Just found out about drunken high jumper Ivan Ukhov. See the story here. The guy recently cleared 7' 9.3". I was standing very close to a high jump pit and watched a guy clear seven feet in high school. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

86.7

Easy 14.5 miles in the Garden this morning. 86.7 miles for the week. 269.6 miles for 2010. No long run coming up this week due to the Durango hash weekend, but after that I might start pushing the weekly mileage into the 90s.

new addition to my trophy case!

more miles...

Friday PM - 6.1 miles, 69 minutes, exploring some new trails out in Red Rock Canyon. Ended at my new local pub, the Red Rock Lounge. No shit, the place was recently hit by a meteorite.

Saturday - 15.1 miles on the Santa Fe trail, followed by the PPRR Winter Series race #2. Lousy race, but an excellent long run. 23.1 miles total, 3:08:54. Blazing fast for me, since my long runs are usually above ten minutes per mile.

FYI, you can now rego for the Pikes Peak Road Runners online. Click here for more info. Worth the 15 bones just for the newsletter!

quote of the day

From the I Love To Run facebook page:

"Let's have a moment of silence for all those who are stuck in traffic on their way to the gym to ride the stationary bicycle."

Today's quote is dedicated to Lulu.

new shoes!

Went with another pair of the Wildcats, since I loved the last pair. Only difference is the Pittsburgh themed color scheme. Looking at using these for Salida and Bighorn, so I probably won't break 'em out 'till mid February or so. Besides, I think I have a few hundred more miles to get out of the old pair.

Thanks to the Colorado Running Company for getting these in. When I started begging John O for these they weren't available to the public yet. Then I waited so long to go pick 'em up they're everywhere now.

Ozomatli!

Hell yeah! Ozomatli, who were once arrested at SXSW in Austin for having fun in (and out) of a bar, are coming to the Black Sheep on March 9th!

18 x 200

Good track workout this morning. 1.5 mile warmup, then 18 x 200 meters, with 30 seconds RBI. Hit the first two intervals in 41 and 40, then hit all the rest between 37 and 38. If I can just keep that pace at Boston I'll run 2:09:41.

My Sportiva Wildcats went over 1100 miles on this run.

quote of the day

"At age 70, I'd like to avoid two things as I give it a try this year: throwing up and dying. Especially dying."
-author/professor RICHARD PETERSON

Great article by Mr. Peterson about the Pirates, anabolic steroid use among masters runners, Gene Kelly, the Pittsburgh Marathon and more can be seen here.

red rocks

Spring must be close, just heard a show announced for Red Rocks. Big Head Todd & The Monsters on June 5, 2010!

Wed

4.6 miles before yoga yesterday. Dropped an epic shit bomb at the starbucks on GOG and Centennial, think I psychologically damaged the poor employee who was in there cleaning up. 8.8 miles easy this morning in Red Rock Canyon.

BLOS has his Disney report up. Great job by lots of locals down there. But you couldn't pay me enough to visit Disney World. When I do my Florida marathon, which I'm in no rush to do, I'll probably hit Miami so I can also go for a run with this guy.

Gaylord is in for the Salida Marathon. I'll bring extra PBR to the finish line, since it's gonna take him a long time to run that course.

$.50

IRS has dropped their mileage rate to fifty cents. Makes it that much easier to win my beer from Smut since that'll help me keep running costs under a buck a mile.

Currently at $3.74 per mile. Trying to get in a bunch more miles before I have to drop $30 for the Boston "special bus" and another $80 on a new pair of Sportiva Wildcats.

Yasso 800s

I was shamed when Katie got up earlier than I did, so instead of waiting around for the Sunrise Striders I crawled out of bed and was out the door by 5:15AM. Two miles to the Manitou track, 8 x 800m repeats, 400m RBI. Was all over the place with the times, running between 2:52 and 2:59, but the important thing is they were all under three. My last five repeats were 2:55 or below.

Boston colors look pretty sweet this year. See the jacket here. I was really conflicted on whether or not I'd wear the schwag if it were a flamer color like last year. Looks like that won't be an issue since they went with Pittsburgh colors for 2010.

ultra stages

Stole this off facebook. If they had a guy in the fetal position around 94 miles trying to drop out it would be a perfect representation of my last Leadville.

jug wine

Yuppie practice at Brooks' house Saturday night. I have a long way to go, but check out the extended pinky...

still climbing

Pitt is now ranked 9th in the AP poll and 11th in the Coaches' poll. It's the 9th consecutive season we've cracked the top 10 in the AP poll.

Next up for an ass kicking: Georgetown!

sunday

Sore as hell from yesterday, so I did an easy 8.8 miles on the Garden trails. 1:38:21. Ended up with 84.7 miles for the week. 182.9 so far in 2010.

still rolling...

Pitt - 82
Louisville - 77

at least I won't finish last...

Just announced that Valerie Bertinelli will be running Boston. Read about it here. Of course, she's getting in the panzy way and raising money for charity. Heaven forbid a celebrity have to work hard and run their ass off to get into Beantown. Still, she doesn't look too bad for being older than dirt (I think she's almost 50...).

2010 commute #2

Stuck at work today. Not too horrible, since I'll now get an extra day off for Durango Snowdown. But I'm still trying to make it a productive Saturday, as I ran 20.1 miles to work this morning. Probably get another 7 or so in on the way to the Kimchi hash afterwords.

Thinking of heading up to Barr Camp tomorrow. Haven't seen Neil and Teresa in a while. Plus, it'll make GZ insanely jealous if I get up that high in January.

Rego info for the Pikes Peak Ascent/Marathon is over here. For most people the date to sign up is March 17. I love, Love, LOVE the fact that the Ascent costs more than the Marathon!

Hardrock pics

Just found some more pics from my rookie year at Hardrock. The top one is the first water crossing, about two miles into the race. The second is me coming into the Telluride aid station.



Here's a great shot of Joe P out on the course.

HAIL TO PITT!

Stole this nugget from Luke Winn's power rankings. Mr. Winn has the mighty Panthers at #6.

Quality road wins* by AP top 25 teams not named Pitt: Eight

Quality road wins by Pitt: Three

(* I'm defining a quality road win as one against a top-60 team in the Pomeroy Ratings, in that team's home gym.)

Incline happy hour

5.5 miles, 1:39:58. Legs were dead, so I decided to take a rest day on Friday.

Matt's recent Incline Club speech. I was there!

Leadville or bust!

Just rego'd for Leadville! Some day that 1,000 mile buckle will be mine...

$738 spent on running so far this year. 145.9 miles so far this year. $5.06 per mile.

quote of the day

"Praying is by far the most cost-effective way of doing absolutely nothing for those in need."

-Comment from CNN about Pat Robertson story.

HAIL TO PITT!

How 'bout them Pitt Panthers! Knocked off the UConn Huskies earlier tonight, once again proving that A) we're the better basketball team, and B) Pitt grads are just better people than UConn grads.

I thought this was gonna be a rebuilding year for the Panthers, what a nice surprise this season is turning out to be.

In other Pitt news, DeJuan Blair of the San Antonio Spurs had 28 points and 21 rebounds against the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight.

Wed PM

Easy 4.5 miles with a few striders thrown in for good measure. Then an hour of hot yoga.

25

25 days 'till the real selection Sunday - the Hardrock lottery! I feel pretty good about my chances this year with three tickets, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

miles

Tuesday PM - 8 x 200 meters, 200m RBI, at the Colorado College track. Didn't time these but I'm guessing they were in the 43 second area. Total 4.1 miles, 40 minutes.

Wed AM - Easy run in the Garden. 8.2 miles, 1:15.

Finally hit yoga for the first time this year. 1.5 hours. It had been three weeks since I went and I could tell, the heat crushed me. Little bit behind on my goal of 100 times this year but I'll catch up.

It's been over two weeks since I've had fast food. I don't feel any better or any worse. My blood pressure is still the same. I am down about two or three pounds this year, but that might be more from running (averaging over 10 miles a day so far this year) than the diet. Have a hash weekend coming up at the end of the month (Durango Snowdown) and I'm sure I'll be tested down there. Might have to get Nacheaux to make another Bacon Explosion to keep my stomach full. Or maybe take the long way down through Salida and pick up a few Caveman pizzas!

cost of running...

I'm currently at $4.04 per mile. Which will go up greatly very soon, as I have Salida ($40), Bighorn ($225), Leadville ($250), and Hardrock ($250) to rego for. Plus, I hear my new Sportiva Wildcats are in at the CRC ($80).

FYI, my current Wildcats went over 1000 miles last night at the Trinity run. As of now they have 1015.0 miles logged on 'em. A whopping $.08 per mile.

still here...

70.5 miles last week. Not too shabby considering I lost Monday and Tuesday evening to PARAB and PPRR meetings and had some Austin friends staying over.

Shaping up to be a much better week as I already have 22.5 miles in, with a few more to come tonight before yoga. Good run this morning, 5 x 5 minutes hard with 2:30 RBI on the Santa Fe trail.

Looks like my days in Manitou are numbered. Katie is close to buying a house on 31st street. Hate to leave Manitou but I'll be much closer to the Garden and Red Rock Canyon, as well as closer to a bar (.25 miles from the front porch to the Red Rock Lounge). Still within running distance of Memorial Park (about 2.5 miles) and biking distance of the Townhouse/Royal/Kinfolk's.

winter series I

Started a bit too slow and couldn't really run for the first half of the race. Still had a blast though, great trails out there at Cheyenne Mountain State Park! 6.7 miles, 53:26. 27th overall.

books

Finished book #1 for 2010. Good read if you're into outdoor stuff. Also a good glimpse into the search & rescue process. Nine more to go for the year...

congrats!

Nick Clark wins the badass of the day award! Course record at Bandera! I'm gonna go get drunk at Kinfolk's in his honor!

trail finder

The guys at the Gazette Out There blog published their local trail finder. It's like porn for a trail runner. See it here. Really, really, really makes me wish spring would get here and melt all that snow.

cold

The weather has been killing me lately. I hate the cold. But Boston could give a shit less, so out the door I go...

Thurs PM - Incline happy hour. 5.5 miles, almost two hours due to trying to come down Barr Trail on two broken yaktrax. Well below zero at the summit.

Fri AM - Very easy three miles out to the skate park and back. Legs were very heavy due to Wed and Thurs workouts. -4F with a wind chill of -16 in Manitou.

I'm going to have heat stroke this weekend, it's supposed to get up to 50F.

Kudos to PPRR Sunrise Strider Kerry Page for winning the Disney 5K this morning.

HAIL TO PITT!

Pitt finished 15th in both the AP and Coaches' Poll. Our best finish in a LONG time.

hill climb

From this mornings hill climb. Notice that A) there's lots of ice on me; and B) Mountain Man Steve is behind me.

BCS title game

Spent a good chunk of my life down in Austin and still have a lot of friends there. For their sake I hope UT wins tonight, though I don't care about the game since Pitt was robbed out of it. Since I'll have the Incline all alone tonight, might hafta crank up the Monte Montgomery or Bob Schneider for the trip. I'll catch the second half at the Townhouse, since the Jason is a HUGE Alabama fan. Think I have an orange Crown & Anchor shirt somewhere...

Anywho, this is one of the funniest sports signs I've ever seen. It's at the El Arroyo on 5th, near MOPAC. Nothing makes me hungrier for Mexican food than talking about a gal's period.

CRUD hill climb

Really suffered out there this morning. A brisk 3F at the start. Legs were heavy from yesterday so I fell off the pace right away. Up in 47 minutes, down for a total of 1:26:38. 8.4 miles total.

Lots of talk about the Ultra Runner of the Year. Geoff (yes, he's fast), and Karl (yes, he wins a lot) are up there, but in my book neither of them can hold a candle to John DeWalt! Watching him finish Hardrock, hunched over in pain and using a tree limb to keep from falling over, was probably the most inspirational running moment I've ever seen. And the guy is in his mid-70s!

another ten

Ten more miles on the way home, 1:38:55. Bitter cold out, probably below 0F by the time I finished. Very miserable, but I toughed it out. I'd usually make fun of the people who retreat indoors to train at times like this, but in honor of the complaint lodged against GZ I'm taking 24 hours off from any smack talking towards the treadmill peeps.

a run through time

Salida marathon rego is now up, get it here. It's the 5th annual, and I've done them all. Still a steal at $40, but I remember the good 'ol days when it was only $35...

Little different this year, as they have you meet at the Salida steamworks instead of the park. The start of the race is in the same place, not sure if the finish is in the park or the steamworks. Either way, it's close to the bars so I'm not worried.

one less car!

First non-truck commute of the year. 10.0 miles to work, 1:29:47. Probably take the long way home...

the price is right

Stealing a great idea from Nick and tracking the cost of my running this year. Here's what I got so far:

Rescue Run - $18
Winter Series (4 races) - $40
Boston Marathon - $130
Boston airfare - $300

Counting Boston even though I paid for it last year, and the plane ticket was actually my christmas present from my folks, but I'm curious to see what a year of this hobby costs. Does anyone know if that's the correct price to rego for Beantown?

Not doing too well so far. Spent $488 to run 45.0 miles, or $10.84 a mile. That will go up significantly once I start shelling out the loot for the 2010 ultras. I guess I should go run more to make this sport appear more affordable.

Try to keep it specifically on running expenses. Won't count yoga ($90 a month) or the gym ($25 a month), even though if it weren't for running I wouldn't do those. Also won't count the distance I drive to the Tues/Thurs workouts, since those miles are not significantly farther than driving to work, and I'll recoup those costs by alternative transportation at least 20 times this year. Also won't be counting alcohol, which is a big part of my running but is something I'd be doing regardless.

Doing very well on the shoe front, which my training log at runner's world tracks. I'm currently rotating between two pairs of shoes that have serious mileage on them. My Sportiva Wildcats are currently at 939.8 miles on 'em (picked these up at CRC for 80 bucks, currently running $.09 per mile). The Saucony Progrid Guide Trail, which I bought for the Austin marathon last February, cost me $72 and have 678.7 logged miles ($.11 per mile). I also have one Imogene (one shoe, not one pair) that only has 523.1 miles on it, and when I find the other one I'll start using those for a few hundred more miles. And I still have high hopes for the Nike Pegasus I got on the bargain rack at CRC for $60. They're practically brand new at 278.7 miles.

goodbye fatties!

This article is so great that you would think it was in The Onion. An internet dating website that says it's for "beautiful people" only is kicking members (mostly Americans, no surprise there) off the site for gaining too much weight over the holidays! Love it!

Of course, if the people still on the dating site were so beautiful, they wouldn't need internet dating, but I digress...

intervals

Nice workout this morning with the Sunrise Striders. 10 x 90 seconds hard, 45 seconds of rest in between. Ran this one hard. 7 miles in just over an hour.

HAIL TO PITT!

With college football and the NFL now officially over, I can concentrate on college hoops. Pitt entered the AP poll this week at #23 after thumping then #5 Syracuse. The Big East currently has six teams in the top 25!

Pitt is on ESPN at 5PM mountain time, taking on Cincy.

Monday

Nice run this morning. 100 minutes, 10.3 miles in the Garden. Cold outside at 9F, but nowhere near the chill in my tiny apartment with my two guests not talking to each other anymore. Wow, a hash romance turned sour, I've certainly never seen that before!

Started a new routine at the gym, only using dumbbells. I have to constantly change the routine in there, as I hate working out indoors. One thing I did think about is that I've already slipped on my resolution to do 100 push ups a day. I've done 50 today so far, but it's the first time this year I pushed the ground. I'll catch up.

Jillian from the Colorado Running Company started a new photo blog over here. Unfortunately, after today's super awesome picture, the thing can only go downhill. Unless she manages a picture of plastic gin, but I doubt she's that kind of gal.

2009, part I

Another awesome year in the books. A few of the highlights from the first half:

January - Great trip to Hueco Tanks, bagged Guadalupe Peak, survived TexMex, nearly froze to death at the Leadville snowshoe run and high altitude MOPP hash. Also drank a lot of beer. Great kickoff to the year!

February - Highlighted by my 3:04 at Austin, qualifying for Boston (and beating Wiley!) despite training in Colorado at 10 minutes per mile pace. Also had a retardedly great time hanging and drinking with old friends at great places in A-town.

March - Lots of running, lots of drinking, and my fourth Salida marathon.

April - Kicked off the month by running a course record at the Earth Day 5K, won two passes to the Mile High Music Festival, was named to PARAB, ran the Desert R.A.T.S. 50 miler, completed the Grand Canyon R2R2R, and went to a bunch of mountain breweries. And yelled at my computer screen while watching Kara Goucher's heroic effort at Boston.

May - Hot date with Mrs. Arizona. Blazed 1:31:29 at my first Bolder Boulder. Finished Jemez Mountain. Saw Bob Schneider at Santa Fe Brewing. Busted out an 18:40 at the Alex Hoag 5K. Finished Collegiate Peaks in 9:13. Also saw a lot of live music and drank a lot of beer.

June - A Sand Dunes hash weekend that included another 14er and fucking turtles. I married someone. Big Sam's Funky Nation. Got my new truck. I read a book. Big Head Todd at Red Rocks. Almost froze on the Mt. Evans road. Oh yeah, and I got drunk a lot.

new CO ultra

New 50 miler/50K in Colorado, starting in lovely Pine, CO. The North Fork 50. Falls on a bad day for me, July 17. One week after Hardrock. I'll either be volunteering at the Barr Trail Mountain Race or rocking out at the Mile High Music Festival.

new CRUD website

The new Team CRUD website is up and running. Thanks, Harsha! See it here.

83

Another solid week, 83 miles. Good long run yesterday as well. Taking today off, don't want to push to 90 miles yet.

rescue run

42:34 at the Rescue Run. 14th overall. Basically jogged the first 4.5 miles, then saw that Shelby wasn't very far in front of me and Brooks wasn't very far behind me, so picked it up. The gal behind me in the pic is the first female, so I have yet to get chicked in 2010. Great seeing so many friends to start the new year.

The shirt musta been good luck - Pitt upset #5 Syracuse last night!

Great day for CRUD, placing four guys in the top 14.

20

Nice 20 miler this morning. 9 miles down 24 to Santa Fe, then over to the start of the Neilson Challenge. Ran 12:44 there, then ran back to Manitou. Felt good. Now, it's off to refuel at King's Chef and then the Kimchi hash!

Rescue Run

Horribly hungover, but still managed to run 42:34. My buddy Shelby from Austin is in town and it will forever haunt him that I beat him.

Finished 2009 with 3200.7 miles.

Report will follow later, I'm off to the Townhouse...

mmm...bacon...

Nacheaux is currently preparing the infamous bacon explosion. Can't friggin' wait to try it tonight after the Incline!

almost there...

Easy 6.4 miles in the Garden this morning, just over an hour. The blazing speed got my pace down to 11:59 for my 3194.7 miles this year. But the last 5.5 miles up and down the Incline tonight will push me back over the twelve minute mark.

75

Went back and counted all the rest days I took in 2009. 75. What a slacker I am, that's almost 1.5 a week!

higher math

I've always known this, but now it's been proven via mathematical formula:

Beer -> vitamin B6 -> more available iron -> more hemoglobin -> more oxygen -> PRs

Good stuff over at the Beer Runner, who also told me that I can have 142.8 cans of PBR after Hardrock next year and I won't gain any weight.

another one

Another day, another bar hosting a running club in the Springs! Mr. Biggs now has a running club as well. Thursday nights at 6PM. No worries on them competing with the ultimate running/drinking happy hour, the Incline happy hour, since the kind of peeps who climb and drink in Manitou aren't exactly the kind of family oriented people who go to Mr. Biggs. 5K run on the Santa Fe trail, then $2 Laughing Labs and $2 PBR.

almost there...

Easy 10K on the streets of Manitou, 60:03. Brings me to 3188.3 for the year. Two more workouts scheduled for the year, the sunrise striders tomorrow morning (usually go between 7 and 8 there) and the 5.5 mile Incline loop tomorrow night.

bye bye fast food!

It's on, I've given up fast food for 2010. See the bet here.

test

trying to learn how to blog from my G-phone...

test

trying to learn how to blog from my G-phone...

as the world turns...

Trouble in Mayberry. Read about it here. I'm not a big fan of Manitou's finest, mostly because I can't stand how all of them hang out on duty at 7-11 eating donuts and getting fatter. But hopefully this Mason clown loses his badge. I run past his house all the time, and his dog always comes at me. There's a fence in between us, but I'm certain that if the dog ever got out it would lock down on my arm.

Best Gazette comment so far: "What "Daddy Mason" forgot to mention in this "heartbreaking" story was how many late night alcohol fueled blowout fights this officer had with his wife while his "son" sat outside barking all night long-I know this because I was fortunate enough to be one of this man's neighbors-we really miss having you in the hood, almost as much as we miss having you on the force."

Unfortunately, sometimes violence against a woman is justified, and Katie is gonna get pistol whipped when I get home tonight for trying to sneak seafood into my lasagne. Sometimes you just gotta put a bitch in her place, yo!

Mon PM - 8.5 miles at Trinity, 1:22:13. Totaled 20.5 miles on Monday.

Tues AM - 4 x 8 minutes, 4 minutes rest in between. Tired legs but still got in 8.1 miles.

Sitting at 3174 miles for the year. Still have a good shot at 3200. Also at 313.3 for the month. My highest month for '09 is 313.5. If I were Wiley I'd go run around my building for .21 miles right now, but I'll just wait 'till after work and get a few more miles in.

booze and guns

Becoming less and less a fan of the city liquor license people every day. They recently played the part of Mr. Tough Guy by shutting Trinity down for two days for the heinous crime of selling beer at a brewery (most employees there don't have the luxury of a decent job like I do, so special thanks to those assholes for denting paychecks so close to x-mas). Yet, a downtown club called 13 Pure continues to be open for business. I don't think a month has passed since I've moved here that someone hasn't been shot or stabbed at that shithole. See the latest here. The name changes, as before it was called Eden and before that it was something else, but the trouble always remains.

This is what has happened there just in the past month: "In early December, a man was almost hit in the face by a bullet that went through his windshield. Less than a week before that, police arrested a 23-year-old man for allegedly threatening the club’s security guard with a knife. On Nov. 29, two men were stabbed during a large disturbance outside the club just after closing time."

Garbage. Why is that place still open? Oh yeah, because it's downtown. Cowboy's, RumBay, Blondie's (which has also recently changed it's name). Violently horrible shit happens at those places every weekend, and yet nothing ever happens. Guess the owners of those joints know the right people to bribe.

Not that downtown offers the only violent bars in the Springs. The Golden Cue has been in the news quite a bit recently for all the wrong reasons, this being the latest. Funny, the owner of that place continues to say the police have it in for him.

Monday

Up at 4:30AM today to crank out 12 miles in the garden. 1:54:15. It's friggin' cold in the Garden that early in the morning, the wind chill was -8F. Is it July yet?

quote of the day

"A man must love a thing very much if he not only practices it without any hope of fame and money, but even practices it without any hope of doing it well."

Not sure who said this, I stole it off the "I Love To Run" facebook page. Rings true to a MOP guy like me. I was just checking out last year's Boston results. 1000th place ran 2:57:24 (FYI, he was outsprinted at the finish line by a dude from Denver who finished 999th in the same time). I figure to be around that time. So, if I train my ass off over the next four months, and run 'till near death on race day, maybe less than 1,000 people will beat me. What a sport!

Check out the Denver guy's splits by plugging bib number 2316 into the link above. That's how you run a marathon!