Pikes

Another good weekend on the mountain.  Sunday was my 28th finish between the two races.

The Ascent on Saturday went really well.  I was solid and consistent the entire climb.  Got to the summit in 3:41:33.  228th overall and 9th in the 50-54 age group.  Pretty happy with this race.

I'm a bit too old now for the days of not feeling the Ascent on Marathon day.  Not nearly as good a day on Sunday but I kept moving forward and got the job done.  4:02 to the summit, which was a lot slower than I wanted but was what I had on the day.  Then an uninspiring downhill to finish in 6:34:08.  180th overall and sixth in my age group.

Great to see so many friends out there challenging themselves.  Always a great weekend here in our little running community.

summits on the air

Happy Pikes week to those who celebrate!

Lets get the bad news out of the way: neither my Panthers or Steelers are undefeated any more.

We took a very quick overnight van trip, leaving Saturday evening for the Crags trailhead over in Teller County.  On Sunday we headed up Pikes.  A little chilly, a bit of snow, but we were prepared for much worse.  Great family hike.  The humans went 15 miles, the dog was well over 20.  My 44th full summit (using the 3000 foot rule) of America's mountain.

Something different on the summit, I hauled a small ham radio to the top and was able to activate the peak, meaning I made at least four contacts.  My first successful Summits On The Air exercise.  I had tried this once before on Pennsylvania Mountain but failed miserably.  Having a city of 500,000 within line of sight made things a bit easier.

Another uninspiring week, though I did get an incline and a Pikes summit in.

run - 23 miles, 4.5 hours

hike - 40 miles, 19.5 hours

bike - 36 miles, 3.5 hours

Not expecting much for Pikes, which I deserve for the lack of training since Rio Grande.  Sub four for the Ascent, maybe 6:40 for the 'thon.  Excited to get out there though.

getting fat

Been fairly lazy and uninspired since Rio Grande.  In my defense, this was a big SAR week so a lot of my time was spent in that world.

And we also caught the Weird Al show up at Ford Amphitheater.  Incredible concert.

For the week:

run - 20 miles, 3.7 hours

hike - 32 miles, 16 hours

ride - 27 miles, two hours

Both my Panthers and Steelers are still undefeated!

21:03

Recovering well from Rio Grande.  Jumped into a local 5k on Sunday and gave it a shot.  Physically and mentally I just didn't have it.  And my middle mile (I split 6:32, 7:06, 6:52) was hot garbage.  Also not the fastest course, the first mile is mostly on grass, the rest of the race is on the sidewalks of the balloon festival and you have to weave in and out of thousands of people.  Work to do but I think I still have a sub 20 in these old legs.

For the week:

run - 26 miles, five hours

hike - 19 miles, nine hours

For August:

run - 260 miles, 70.5 miles

hike - 106 miles, 46 hours

Rio Grande

Another hundo in the books.  Made the short drive down to South Fork this weekend for the Rio Grande 100.  Typical Tempest Adventure gig, extremely hard course but marked well.   A part of the San Juans I hadn't spent any time in, so that was cool.  I was slow but steady and crossed the line in just over 34 hours.  Second straight hundred without pacers.  Ten hours before I got there a chick won the overall race.

Biggest disappointment for me was getting trounced in the mile 21 Pool Table aid station push up contest.  Whoever did the most push ups there won $50.  I was a very distant third place.

dog rescue

Another decent week in the books.  Mountain fitness is coming around.

run - 51 miles, eleven hours

hike - 32 miles, 13 hours

More importantly, I had my first dog rescue.  Whiskey was hit by a rock and really messed up his front paw.  SAR hiked back in and carried him out.  We've been updated and the pup is going to be fine.  You can read the details over here on the pup's GoFundMe.

catching up

Been a hot minute.

Another successful van trip in the books.  Headed north through Spearfish, SD, to Medora, ND.  Got to take in the geographical center of the USA in Belle Forche, SD.

I ran the Maah Daah Hey trail 58 miler, a chunk of the 150+ mile trail through the badlands of North Dakota.  Nice run but Jesus Christ it was hot.  At 4PM I was at mile 40 and it was still 105F.  Was not ready for those conditions but I survived.  State number 32.

After that we headed south to Sheridan and visited some old favorites, including the Crazy Woman Saloon near the Bighorn finish and The Mint Bar.  

Sheridan is a great town, but after a long morning dog hike we were on the road again.  Ended up in Winter Park, doing some brewery visits before heading out Vasquez Road for the night.  Next day was down to Salida to see some friends, then Creede for the next night.

From Creede it was over to Del Norte for the Rhythms on the Rio festival.  This was a fantastic time, and we'll hit this up for the next few years before it becomes too big.  Highlights included Frasco, Magoo, Jeremy Garret, and the Kitchen Dwellers.  Dog friendly, awesome camping venue, easy access to the river, and nice hiking on Lookout Mountain.  Loving the valley more and more each time we visit.

Came home and officially became a grumpy old man, turning 50.  For my birthday I ran up Pikes from the house, ending at WestFax Brewing.  50k on the day.  Believe me, I noticed the much slower time up the Peak.

Then caught King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at Ford Amphitheater.  Great time!

BTMR

Low running week, mostly due to a Big Richard concert, the WestFax one year anniversary shenanigans, and lots of time spent helping with the Barr Trail Mountain Race for SAR.  Did get in 13 miles of hiking up to Barr Camp and back on race day with a 50+ pound pack.  Good times.

run - 28 miles, 5.5 hours

hike - 43 miles, 17.5 hours

ride - four miles, 25 minutes

Seeing Cake on Wednesday evening, then it's off on the annual van trip.  Headed up to North Dakota to run a chunk of the Maah Daah Hey trail, then slowly making our way down south to Del Norte for the Rhythms on the Rio festival.

Barr Camp

SAR kept me busy but I still got some miles in, including a good long run on Sunday where I ran up to Barr Camp, returned, and then did the incline.  Hot as balls that day and I was pretty wiped afterwards.

run - 60 miles, 15.5 hours

hike - 23.5 miles, ten hours

bike - 26 miles, two hours

July 4

Pretty decent July 4th week.

run - 40 miles, eight hours

hike - 31 miles, 13.5 hours

ride - 44 miles, four hours

Trying to have Monday, which is my work from home day, have a track workout in the morning and an incline in the evening.  Given the summer weather I've been biking over to the incline, going straight up and down, then biking home.

On Friday (July 4th) I ran the Palmer Lake fun run, a slightly downhill four miler from Palmer Lake to Monument.  I finished in 26:02, pretty happy with the effort.  63rd place out of 687 finishers.  Top three all went sub 20.

Been slammed with SAR stuff as well, from dog training to holiday parades to regular training to actual rescues.  Getting in all the hours I can right now as we're off on a two week van trip starting later this month.

June

Pretty big month as I ran a marathon and two fifties.

run - 229 miles, 56 hours

hike - 105 miles, 57 hours

ride  - 54 miles, 5.5 hours

Riding is just commuting nowadays, big runs coming up so I'm spending my time on that mode of travel.

Halfway through the year, here are the numbers.

run - 1124 miles, 226.5 hours; 52 run commutes

hike - 724 miles, 316 hours; 26 summits of Iron Mountain with the dog

ride - 500 miles, 48 hours; 26 bike commutes

Plus 52 trips to CityRock.

And I just went over 300 hours on the year for search & rescue.  

catching up

Been a while.

Got my tenth finish down in Lake City at the San Juan Solstice.  Decent race, I was steady if not fast.  13:48.  Probably a little too close to my last big run two weeks ago which crushed me.

Not sure if it's my last SJS, but I won't be there next year as I'm committed to the Rachel Carson Challenge in Piittsburgh.

Took me a bit to recover from that.  Then on Friday I went over to Ute Valley Park for the second race of the Blue Moon series.  Ran well for the 8k, taking second overall in a VERY limited field.  It was a completely different crowd than in the first race, and it sucks that I'll miss the final race as I'm winning the overall series right now.   Again, the W is not due to any speedy performances but to nobody showing up.

On top of the running, SAR has been keeping me busy as everyone is hanging outside during the summer.  Good times.  

Kudos to Shad for getting it done at Western States!

SAR

Wasn't planning on a down week but I was crushed for a few days after Mace's and then SAR took up all my weekend time.

Good news: I was running up to Barr Camp on Saturday and a call came in for a hiker who was lost just off Barr Trail near Barr Camp.  He wasn't injured, so I got the go-ahead to go look for him.  I found him about 60 feet off Barr Trail, a little bit below the trail that heads over to the Cog Railway.  That incident is mentioned here.

Bad news:  A guy from New Hampshire came out here to hike Pikes Peak and it didn't end well.  I spent a good chunk of Saturday evening, most of Sunday, and a few hours on Monday looking for him.  All of that time was with a heavy pack above 13,000 feet.  That story is here.  

There was a little bit of running in there.  For the week:

run - 34 miles, eight hours

hike - 27 miles, 14 hours