great flood of '06

Finally have a bit of computer access, so here are the flood pics. Can't really tell from the pics how much water there was, but trust me it was way more than you ever want to have covering the floors of your house.

run #25 - great way to end the year

Great run with the Incline Club today. Went for an hour up Barr Trail, making it to the point where a road veers off to take you to the top of the Incline. Here the snow became too deep so I headed back down and over for a big loop around Garden of the Gods. Two of the most beautiful places I've ever run. Perfect run to end the year, followed by lunch at the Purple Castle!

Start time: 8AM
Distance: approx 12.2 miles (Barr Trail/GOTG)
Time: 2:24:05
Pace: 11:48 per mile
Weather: 40F, beautiful Colorado morning

Leadville week #6

Much, much better week than last week, that's for sure. Mileage will once again slip the next two weeks due to a reserve weekend and TexMex, but after that things should start to get interesting, assuming the weather cooperates.

Week #6 distance: 40.4 miles
Week #6 time: 6:07:28
Average week #6 pace: 9:05 per mile

Total quest distance: 145.9 miles
Total quest time: 23:00:09
Average quest pace: 9:27 per mile
Average weekly mileage: 24.3 miles

run #24 - the blizzard wins again

Took me over an hour to do the first five miles of this trek, most of it through at least a foot of snow, with drifts up to my waste at points. Real slow, but it sure was a lot of fun! The five mile point dumps me onto the Monument Creek trail and I did the Jack Quinn's loop, and that was fine, except for a little ice where you go under Uintah. So there should be no lame excuses for the usual suspects to bail out of their Tuesday run.

Assuming I'm not lazy and get out of bed for the Incline Club tomorrow, this'll be my first back-to-back long run in my Leadville training! Great thing to do before my race on Monday!

Start time: 8AM
Distance: 11.5 miles (Monument Creek trails)
Time: 2:06:44
Pace: 11:01 per mile
Weather: 35F, nice and calm morning, lots of snow

run #23 - beating the blizzard

Blizzards are a window into human nature.
When they are predicted and they don't hit, most people grumble.
When they are predicted and they do hit, most people grumble.

Glad I got up early to run today, we're being blasted my more snow. Not that I'm afraid of snow, of course (I'm not afraid of anything).

Start time: 5:15AM
Distance: 5.6 miles (Knob Hill - East)
Time: 47:05
Pace: 8:24 per mile
Weather: 30F, nice and calm morning

run #22

Quick run at the Colorado Running Company last night. Easy first mile as we stayed with a flatlander, but the pace picked up pretty good the final miles.

Start time: 6PM
Distance: 4.2 miles (Fountain Creek trails)
Time: 31:15
Pace: 7:26 per mile
Weather: 37F, clear night

I'll be there someday!

The Colorado Mountain Club reports that over 1200 people have now climbed all of Colorado's 54 (I count 56 but whatever) 14ers. I'll be on that list someday! My current count is twelve, and my count for the centennial list (top 100 peaks) is thirteen.

Read about it here.

miracle in Moab

I try to read as many of these kinds of survival stories as I can, knowing it could be me out there someday. This one involved a local trail runner/adventure racer and will be a favorite of dog lovers.

jihad quote of the week

I was just reading about the mess over in Ethiopia/Somalia, and this quote stuck out for some reason.

"Ethiopia is my enemy, I will not sell bananas any more. I will take my gun and go for jihad. Otherwise I am sure they will kill me in my banana kiosk if I wait for them here."
-Muse Ali Omar, Mogadishu banana seller

Winston Churchill would be so proud.

run #21

Decent run despite all the junk food I ate earlier in the day. Pace suffered due to all the wankers who still haven't shoveled their walks, but at least I got in a good run before heading down to celebrate Christmas at Tony's.

Start time: 5:30PM
Distance: 5.6 miles (Knob Hill - west)
Time: 49:18
Pace: 8:48 per mile
Weather: 30F, high gusts of wind, chilly, icy

flood update

Having to spend Christmas day moving all my crap from the basement to the upstairs apartment. Fun fun. Had the professional cleaners come in and they've done an incredible job. After the bulk of the water had drained, they brought in a huge vacuum cleaner and still sucked up over 200 gallons of water. I immediately asked if the vacuum had a girlfriend and if I could take her on a date. Not there are two huge dehumidifiers and several industrial size fans running nonstop in my apartment.

run #20 - christmas eve

Started off just wanting to get a few miles in, ended up with a pretty good run. Almost nobody on the Fountain Creek trails due to the holiday.

Start time: 3:30PM
Distance: 13.5 miles (Fountain creek to Tejon)
Time: 1:53:06
Pace: 8:22 per mile
Weather: 30F, high gusts of wind, chilly and wet

Leadville week #5

Crappy week due to the holidays, shitty weather, work, and the flood.

Week #5 distance: 9.5 miles
Week #5 time: 1:28:04
Average week #5 pace: 9:16 per mile

Total quest distance: 105.5 miles
Total quest time: 16:52:51
Average quest pace: 9:36 per mile
Average weekly mileage: 21.1 miles

fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck...

Came home from work last night to find my apartment underwater. Seems a pipe broke and the drainage wasn't working. Thanks to Z and Lincoln for helping bring the situation under control.

Merry christmas.

avalanche

First Colorado avalanche death of the season yesterday, read about it here. I think skiiers are dorks, but a lot of my CO friends ski, so as NIPS would say, "Let's be careful out there."

Even under a current avalanche warning for Pikes Peak, which doesn't happen very often.

run #19 - screw the blizzard

You know it's bad when your local weather is the headline on CNN.com. But while I had no problem letting the weather cancel work I wasn't gonna let it derail my training. Conditions made for another slow day, but it was good to get outside.

Start time: 1:30PM
Distance: 4.75 miles (Knob Hill - south)
Time: 42:44
Pace: 8:59 per mile
Weather: 32F, "feels like" 18F, slippery but much better than yesterday

not afraid to whoop a gal's arse!

Late Nite thought she could kick my ass too...until I broke her arm! To add insult to injury I even stole her sling afterwards.

Woohoo!

This is a reminder to all of you summer sports enthusiasts that the shortest day of the year is upon us!!! Yeah!!!!! Summer is just around the corner...well kind of...

Floyd vs Lance

Rumor has it that Floyd Landis has signed up for the Leadville 100 mile mountain bike race. Lance Armstrong has already signed up also. Should be a good race! Of course, if either one of those two had any balls they'd be doing the 100 mile trail run so I could kick both their asses!

Update: not a rumor anymore. Click here for details.

hashing in Runner's World

The latest issue of Runner's World (January '07), their annual new year's motivational issue, has "The Life List," a list of things every lame-ass, dorky road runner should do within their lives. Included in the list are places runners should visit (Oxford's Iffey Road track - site of the first sub-four minute mile), places runners should run (Boston's Heartbreak Hill), books runners should read, even people runners should try to imitate (like Steve Prefontaine - I certainly have the heavy drinking part down!). The best item on the list, though, is "Wear a Red Dress." Quoted from the article:

Running is fun. Beer is fun. Put them together and you have the ridiculuously fun sport of hashing. For the uninitiated, one person (the hare) sets off running and leaves clues (usually sprinkles of flour) for the pack (harriers) to follow. At the end of the trail there's beer, if not an actual bar.

The concept originated in 1938 at Kuala Lumpur's Selangor Club -a.k.a. the Hash House- when a bunch of bored Brits created the first "kennel." There are now more than 1500 kennels around the world. "I've hashed in Belize, London, and Helsinki," says Jay Hopkins, the former editor of the hashing info web site half-mind.com.

A U.S. version came in 1988 in California when a woman joined the previously all-male sport and ran in heels and a red dress. The on-on party after has been memorialzed in song, verse, and Red Dress Runs from San Diego to Cairo. Red dress is mandatory. Hairy legs okay too.