Incredible time out in Tempe for the Innings Festival. We might be back, as it's super easy to get to from our house and a near guaranteed warm weekend in late February. Highlights were the Offspring, Weezer, the Black Crowes, Umphrey's, and of course Eddie Vedder.
For the week:
run - 28 miles, five hours
ride - 48 miles, 4.5 hours
hike - 25 miles, nine hours
We ran into some shitty weather with snow and super cold temps, so it was an up and down week.
run - 32 miles, six hours
ride - 37 miles, 3.5 hours
hike - 21 miles, nine hours
Sunday was a track meet up at UCCS. I was a bit hungover from Manitou Mardi Gras on Saturday, but I still ran fairly well. 11:15.22 for the 3000m and then I doubled back to go 5:17.81 in the 1500m. Did not finish last in either event, and in fact I won the slow heat of my 1500m. Track is now over for a while.
Decent weekend on the mileage front. On Saturday I got out for a 45 mile ride. Was hoping for a bit more but the Santa Fe trail kept getting soggier and soggier the more north I went. Had the Wings of Blue doing some training overhead while I was on the Academy.
Ran up to Barr Camp on Sunday. Lots of snow and ice which made things slow, but it was good to get out for four hours.
For the week -
run - 34 miles, eight hours
ride - 110 miles, 10.5 hours
hike - 22 miles, eight hours
Good Monday as I got in a 7.5 mile Garden road run in the AM, then a 24 mile ride in the evening. On Tuesday I woke up with some form of crud, so I only got in the minimum Toby miles with a four miler with Mook. Supposed to get a ton of snow tonight so Wednesday might be limited as well.
Mon - four mile Garden trail run with the Mook, 14 mile COVID loop on the bike.
Tues - bike commute 14. Went over 500 bike miles on the year. Applied for my passport, which I'll need to get into Canada this July. Guy beside me was getting his passport to begin the Seven Summits. Four mile trail run with Mook in the evening. Then watched Pitt destroy Louisville to move into a tie for first place in the ACC.
Wed - bike commute 15, 25 miles on the day. Good guitar session in the evening. Lithium by Nirvana. I still suck at barer chords.
Thurs - woke up to snow, so I got to do some shoveling. Then ran to work. CityRock 15 at lunch.
Fri - five friggin' degrees this morning. Very chilly bike commute 16.
Supposed to warm up a bit this weekend, hoping for a long ride on Saturday and a run up to Barr Camp on Sunday.
We hosted the CRUD fat ass on Saturday. Solid turnout, saw some folks I haven't seen in a while. I ran two hours, some went as far as 30 miles.
On Sunday I ran a mile at the UCCS indoor track. Officially 5:37.13. Went much better than the 1500m a few weeks ago. I have one more indoor meet on the schedule, I think I'm gonna try for a sub 5:30. Nine fellow old farts in my heat, and it was nice to not finish last for once (I was 7th).
Mon - very cold, but I got out for a five miler on the Garden trails.
Tues - very cold, but I got in bike commute 11 and a four mile run with Mookie on the Garden trails.
Wed - very cold, but I got in run commute five. Guitar lesson in the evening.
Thurs - finally a break in the weather. It was still cold, but not so much that I was worried about frostbite. Bike commute 12, four mile run with Mookie in the evening.
Fri - it hit 50 today! Global warming FTW! Bike commute 13.
Busy weekend. We're watching two other dogs, hosting the Fat Ass, track meet/Mook school/Fossil happy hour on Sunday.
Pitt hoops looking more and more like a lock for the Big Dance!
Pretty good month given two trips and some really sub par weather.
run - 137 miles, 27.5 hours
ride - 421 miles, 44 hours
hike - 108 miles, 43 hours
Plus ten trips to the climbing gym.
None of the bike miles were spectacular. Just grinding away on slippery trails, trying to keep my fingers and toes from going numb. But it was a lot of time in the saddle for me, and it sets me up nicely to start getting my ass ready for the Divide.
Dry January went alright for me. I knew the trips to the Fort and Wisconsin wouldn't be beer free. And the shitty winter weather broke me the final weekend of the month, when I visited Fossil on Saturday and Sunday. But I did go 23 days of the month without any alcohol. I don't feel any better or worse. Even when I ran off twelve straight booze free days to start the year, I didn't feel any different. As a bonus, drinking this past Sunday allowed me to meet a wolf.
Not a bad week with the travel and Wisco recovery and shitty weather.
run - 31 miles, six hours
ride - 72 miles, 7.5 hours
hike - 27 miles, ten hours
About over this recent cold snap. A bunch of days with snow and temps below 0F. Monday evening it was 5F after work when I headed out for five miles in the Garden. This has been a much colder winter than usual for us here in the Springs.
Incredible time out in Madison. Fried cheese, Paradise Lounge, the Rigby, the Old Fashioned, dive bars, tons of new breweries. The beer and cheese fest was fantastic. So was the Nirvana cover band.
Mon - off of work so I got in a good four hour ride, covering 44 miles on the mostly clear Santa Fe and Cottonwood bike paths. Easy five mile run over on the Garden trails with Mookie in the evening. Saw some kids practicing baseball, can warmer weather be far behind?
Tues - bike commute six. Ten there, eleven back. Despite the crappy weather and conditions, I'm at least getting my ass on the bike saddle as I went over 300 miles on the year today. Another five miler with Mookie over in the Garden as the snow started to fall. He's turning into a good running partner.
Wed - run commute three. More snow and cold weather. Yay. Four there and four back. Guitar in the evening, worked on the opening riff of Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi.
Thurs - bike commute seven. Balls-out cold again this morning.
Getting on a plane early Friday morning. My dreams may not be big or complicated, but at least I will accomplish one of them this weekend - the Isthmus Beer & Cheese festival. This whole long weekend will be nothing but cheese curds and Wisconsin beer.
Fun weekend up in the Fort.
Lettuce was incredible, as usual. Got right up front for the show.
Visited a ton of breweries and, of course, the Town Pump.
At some point I got talked into signing up for a local Tortoise and Hare 5k. Glad I did as I ended up running fairly well. Ran 6:24, 6:15, and 6:10. Officially finished in 19:19 but my watch had 3.08 miles, so I walked for another .02 miles to get the full sub 20 5k experience.
For the week:
run - 30 miles, six hours
ride - 112 miles, 11.5 hours
hike - 20 miles, 8.5 hours
Update: 5:32.77 was my official 1500m time. Converts to a 5:58 mile. But the way I was suffering at the end, the 104 or whatever extra meters might have taken me a full minute.
Mon - easy 7.5 mile run in the morning, 25 mile ride in the evening.
Tues - bike commute four. Ten there and 20 back.
Wed - bike commute five. Crazy windy today. Ten there and seven back. Quick four mile run before my guitar lesson. These four milers are what I call "Toby runs" just to get a minimal amount of mileage in. At least they are outside and not on a treadmill.
Thurs - dogsitting, so all morning was spent at the dog park. Nice 20 mile ride in the evening. After that $100 and I took the dogs for a hike up Iron Mountain.
Fri - more dog park and then run commute two. Four miles.
I made it through twelve days of a dry January attempt, knowing all along I'd fail due to a Lettuce show tonight in Fort Collins and a beer festival in Wisconsin next week. The breaks are probably good for me but I never feel that much better than when I'm keeping the binge drinking to a minimum.
Solid weekend.
On Saturday I got in a good ten miler on the Garden roads, then jumped on the bike for 25 miles.
Sunday took me up to the Academy to run the 1500m in an open meet. Not the smoothest run meet, including the bell lap being rung one lap too early. I was quite a ways behind the lead, but when I heard the bell I figured I had less than 1.5 laps to go, and I went. I actually had closer to 2.5 laps to go. Oof. Finished in roughly 5:33, which might come down once official results are posted as I didn't glance at the clock until a few steps after the finish. Ran as hard as I could, I'm just so far removed from this kind of racing this is about the best I can hope for.
For the week:
run - 34 miles, seven hours
ride - 109 miles, 12.5 hours
hike - 26 miles, eleven hours
Forgot to mention the commute numbers for 2022:
run commutes - 71
bike commutes - 88
And 120 sessions over at CityRock.
Mon - crappy conditions but still got in a bit of everything on the day off. 3.7 mile hike with Mookie, 5 mile run on the Garden trails, an hour of yoga, and a 14.8 mile ride on the COVID loop, almost crashing several times despite being sober. Unfortunately spent the end of the day hoping for the best for Pitt guy Damar Hamlin.
Tues - still shitty outside with ice and snow. Run commute one. CityRock one, me and approximately 40,000 folks who I've never seen before kicking off the new year.
Wed - bike commute one. Lots of slow miles on the fat bike so far this year, as the side roads and bike trails have been in fairly rough shape. Good guitar session in the PM.
Thurs - this shit is never gonna melt. Bike commute two. Easy four mile run in the evening.
Fri - bike commute three. Nice full moon run with $100 and Mookie up Iron Mountain after work.
Was going to run the Nielsen Challenge on Saturday, but found out it's a brewer's cup event and over 300 are registered. I'll stick to a Garden run and long ride instead. Track meet at USAFA on Sunday, that's going to be a disaster.
Another year, another list of shit I hope to get done.
The attention for me will be on the bike tour. Goal is to get from Mexico to Canada and I'll try to follow the Tour Divide route as best I can. I'll only get one shot at this, so I need to make it count. Definite concentration on biking the first seven months of the year.
Then in mid July I'll switch gears and start getting ready for Pikes. No big goals there, just want to finish the Double.
The hoped for numbers in the year:
ride - 5000 miles
run - 1000 miles
hike - 1000 miles
Good first day as I got in a 3.8 mile hike, 5.9 mile run, and 22 mile ride in despite crappy trail conditions. Knee is nowhere close to 100% but I'm not doing any damage, so I'm gonna trudge through it.
Two trips coming up - the Isthmus Beer & Cheese festival in Madison in a few weeks, then the Innings Festival in Phoenix in late February. Then a van trip home from Banff. After that I won't have any vacation for a while.
On x-mas day I hit a patch of ice on my bike and ended up landing on my knee. Alcohol may have been involved as well. So I'm basically down to just run/wobbling four milers to stay in the bet with Toby. I can take Saturday off so I'll take a full rest day to get this thing healed. Nothing long term, it just hurts like a bitch.
For the year:
run - 1652 miles, 337 hours
ride - 3002 miles, 295 hours
hike - 1381 miles, 576 hours
Not a big year, but I had some good highlights. Rainier, a bunch of 14ers, another state marathon, a new dog.
The 14er monthly streak came to an end this month. Still hoping to get some winter 14ers in over the next few months.
Pitt ended the year on a high note: big hoops win this morning over North Carolina, then a great game and a win over UCLA in the Sun Bowl. HAIL TO PITT!!!
Weighed my bike over the weekend, came in at a svelte 65 pounds.
Decent week despite plenty of holiday beers.
run - 40 miles, eight hours
ride - 78 miles, 7.5 miles
hike - 14 miles, 6.5 hours
Tues - bike commute 86, ten there and eleven back. Five mile run on the Garden trails in the evening.
Wed - Five mile Garden trail run with Mookie before bike commute 87. Ten there, four back as I had to get home to get the car for a quick trip up to Pikes Peak Brewing to pick up Kircher's dog. Watching Ollie while he and his family visit South Dakota over xmas.
Thurs - a crazy cold front blew in late Wednesday. National Weather Service reported that as it rolled through Cheyenne the temp dropped 32 degrees in nine minutes. Not the best conditions for run commute 70.
But I got it done. Four there and four back. It had warmed up to 0F for the slog back. Oof. When does summer get here???
Nice to watch Air Force beat Baylor in the Armed Forces bowl. Them Texas boys from Baylor really struggled with the cold temps.
Fri - run commute 71. A balmy -1F with no wind for the four miles in. Ten whole degrees for the run home.
Not much planned for Christmas. Some dog hikes, some running, some biking (temps return to our normal winter mid 40s to mid 50s on Saturday), maybe some beer drinking thrown in there. Looking at an attempt on Mt. Sherman on Monday to keep the 14er streak alive.
Good weekend down in Salida. $100 ended up getting an All City Space Horse and has already put quite a few miles on it.
Took a bit of much needed downtime after Seattle. Now as I'm trying to get back into it, the weather is making things difficult. Dreaming of warmer days already.
run - 35 miles, seven hours
ride - 68 miles, 6.5 hours
hike - 21 miles, nine hours
Had lunch with our cadet, she has finals this week before heading home to Texas for a while. She said she will be back next semester. She seems to be taking to the Academy life quite well.
We now get to see hollydog whenever we head out the front door for our dog hikes.
Not a whole lot after the Seattle Marathon. Was pretty tore up after the race, and $100 and I spent the rest of our time there exploring the city. Bunch of breweries and dive bars, the Space Needle, and of course the Pearl Jam and Nirvana exhibits at the museum of pop culture. Seems like a cool city.
I took the next week off of any physical activity. $100 was in Chicago for work most of the week, so it was just long dog hikes with Mookie. Needed the rest as it took me a while to recover from the 'thon.
Did catch Nims Purja up in Boulder for a talk. Incredible dude.
On Friday we went up to Denver and caught Doom Flamingo/Andy Frasco & The UN at the Ogden. Some of our favorites, and both shows were fantastic.
As it is every year, I had long forgotten about the Rock Canyon half down in Pueblo until race weekend. Came close to bailing on this, but in the end I was glad I went. Nothing special, I kept things at MAF pace, but it ended up being a pleasant run and it kind of broke me out of a funk.
Might have found a new Monday night activity. Love doing the Incline, but I'd like to get Mookie out with me. Doing the Iron/Red/Iron out and back gets you the same amount of climbing over seven miles, plus none of the whiny anti-dog bitches who think they own the Incline. And no idiot city employees asking you for your reservation to visit public lands.
Tuesday was bike commute 81, my first ride in a while, and CityRock 112.
Very sad news but Holly recently passed away. She hadn't been doing very well, then one morning she didn't wake up. Gonna miss that pup.
Not pretty. And it went exactly as I planned - a good first 16-17 miles, then I fell apart. 3:30 pace until then, ended up finishing in 3:50. Halfway done with my 50 state challenge.
Had fun exploring Seattle. Checked out the Space Needle, the Museum of Pop Culture (lots of Pearl Jam and Nirvana stuff), a bunch of breweries, and some dive bars. Very cool city.
A few too many beers on Wednesday night, then it was frigid cold with crazy winds at race start. So I just jogged the Turkey Trot.
Off to Seattle on Friday morning.
Had big goals of a sub 19 at the Pumpkin Pie 5k in Denver yesterday. Got up there and it was cold AF and the entire course was covered in ice. Hate to make excuses but the course just kept me from going all out, each step worrying me about a fall and injury. Still a solid run for me though. Lots of fast dudes as this was the Colorado 5k road champs. 32 dudes and two chicks crushed me, but they were all young and somehow I came away with the age group win. Saw some good peeps at the race and caught up with Shad at Over Yonder after the run.
Turkey Trot on Thursday, which will be a jog for me as I have the Seattle 'thon on Saturday. If all goes well I'll get state number 25 in the books. Going to go out at 3:30 pace, but give my lack of long runs I'll probably start falling apart around 18 miles. Only goal is to get to the finish line.
Successful Pikes hike via the Crags yesterday, my 35th round trip on Pikes and my 18th straight month of a 14er summit. Balls cold at the TH, -1F, but it warmed up quickly and was actually a pleasant day.
Debating on whether or not to keep the 14er streak going. We'll see.
Mon - 7.5 mile trail run in the AM, four miles straight up and down the Incline in the PM. It gets dark early now if you haven't noticed.
Tues - bike commute 76. Ten there, eleven back. Decided it had been way too long since I slept in a tent so I found a nice undisclosed location very close to my house. No, this was not due to $100 kicking me out of the house.
Another cross country race up in Boulder on Saturday. We took the van up to the Front Range Inn in Lakewood as they let you park overnight in the lot. Boulder early Saturday morning, greeted by significant snow still on the ground and high winds.
It was a successful day even before the race started as I got to meet one of my all time favorite runners:
I ran a good race, starting a bit slower and moving up through the field over the final half of the race. The conditions were crazy - slippery snow the whole way - so not a fast day but I still managed a 20:49 off miles of 6:59, 6:48, and 6:46.
Another bonus was that I got to run the masters race and then watch the open race. BStap usually doesn't bother with a run unless it's at least 30 miles but he did pretty well, dueling and then outkicking the top female.
Carson did not do pretty well, dueling with nobody and definitely not outkicking anybody.
After everyone was done running we headed up to Nederland. We had planned to sleep up there, but there was a ton of snow, and it was snowing, so we hit Very Nice Brewing before heading back down to the Front Range Inn for the night.
Solid week for me. At some point I'll start biking a lot more.
run - 38 miles, 6.5 hours
ride - 25 miles, 2.5 hours
hike - 24 miles, ten hours
Got in my 17th consecutive calendar month with a 14er on Friday with PT and Mookie. Already quite a bit of snow up high.
Mook and I drove out Thursday evening for some quality van time. We were greeted by a bunch of weird signs, which weren't there when I last hiked Q in February.
A shift in work location, a weeknight show up in Denver, then caught some kind of flu like crud, then had to unexpectedly watch some dogs over the weekend. Not a whole lot of miles. The near-puke effort on Saturday hopefully saved some of my fitness.
run - 13 miles, 2.5 hours
ride - 38.5 miles, four hours
hike - 29 miles, 13 hours
Good times up in Boulder for the masters 5k cross country race. I had not run an XC race since high school and I forgot how much suffering was involved. Less than a mile into the race you hit the big climb, a short but steep stretch you run twice, and I was completely gassed. From there it was all about hanging on and not imploding too much. 6:26, 6:55, and 7:07 for the mile splits, finishing in 21:15. Not a great race for me, but not a disaster. My earlier statement of a possible sub 19 was not a realistic goal for this course. Results aren't posted yet and I'm interested in seeing how I did versus all these old people.
So much fun and I'm looking forward to more of this kind of stuff in the near future.
Thanks to Shad and Amy for the pics.
Got up to the Mission Ballroom to catch the Marcus King Band on Tuesday. I've seen a lot of good guitar players over the years but this kid is right up there. Such a good live show!
Good times down in Trinidad. I had a solid ride, covering the 100 mile course in just under eight hours. I handicapped myself real good - I had a very heavy bike and I refused to utilize pace lines. But I got the job done in time to enjoy some of the finer joints of T-dad. Grandma's, Sexy Pizza, Moose's, and the Dad Lounge among them.
Not much during the week but I did have a solid fall series race on Sunday. I'm in a battle for an age group award, and the other guy and I ran together for the first two miles. I put in a good surge and got away from him, hitting 5k in 19:34, but I barely hung on. Good tune up for the masters cross country race this Saturday, thinking I might go sub 19 there.
For the week:
run - 31 miles, 5.5 hours
ride - 26 miles, 2.5 hours
hike - 24 miles, 9.5 hours
Good week of recovery after Pikes, then it was back to the grind.
Solid week except for maybe Saturday which included a 10AM kickoff for AF/Navy and Andy's birthday party at Fossil afterwards. The Falcons did squeak by Navy which is always fantastic.
Pitt shit the bed on Saturday evening and we won't mention that anymore. And the Steelers aren't doing well but it looks like the Kenny Pickett era has begun!
I'm running the PPRR Fall Series this year and race number one was on Sunday at Bear Creek Park. I ran well despite trying to drink all the beer on Saturday. 3.3 miles with some steep hills in 22:15, fared pretty well against the usual suspects who show up to these things.
For the week:
run - 44 miles, 8.5 hours
ride - 50 miles, five hours
hike - 27 miles, eleven hours
The last of our "COVID tickets," that is tickets we bought way back in 2020 before the 'VID cancelled everything will be used Wednesday evening to see Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
I have decided to ride the 100 miler this weekend in Trinidad, dropping down from the planned 160. I believe I could have grunted out the full distance, but the post race party would have ended and all the pubs would have been closed by the time I finished.
Wednesday was my 100th trip to CityRock this year.
