Quad Rock 50 mile

All in all an amazing race!  It was one of those weird Colorado days where the weather strangely resembled Seattle.  With a constant cloud hanging over Horsetooth reservoir and a high of 55 it made for some perfect running conditions.  As soon as I was finished though I felt a bit hypothermic as I drank a beer and listened to the band.... so unfortunately we didn't stick around long.  Nick Clark puts on one hell of a race, it was hands down the best marked course i've ever run.  The band and beer at the end were awesome it just wasn't good hanging out weather.

So a bit about the course... It was tough!  with 11,000 ft of vertical I knew it would be.  My feet and ankles took the brunt of the abuse but my legs felt great and i was able to run it in strong at the end.  I was happy with my results, I think i came in 27th with a time of ~9:56.  10 hrs was a rough goal so i can't complain there, I just wish i could have let loose on some of those steep downhills.

It was great seeing everyone and meeting new folks, but the highlight of the race for me was getting to see my girlfriend about 30 miles into the course, she was finishing up her 25 mile race and i was just getting into the interesting part of mine.  It was great to see her smiling face and get a quick smooch before getting into the "hard" miles.

Every time i go to Fort Collins i come back to Denver threatening to move up there.  They have such amazing trails and the running community seems so great. I was happy to be a guinea pig in the inaugural race and i'm looking forward to next year!

Brainard lake Backcountry Ski

What a better way to take advantage of a Martin Luther King day of than a little Backcountry ski adventure in the Indian peaks wilderness above Boulder.  I'm pretty sure it's what Dr. king would have wanted.  The day started early with my Brother, his Girlfriend Hanna, and Greg.  It was super windy out when we reached the Brainard lake trailhead and they were calling for some snow throughout the day.  For those who haven't ever been and live in the area it is a pretty incredible network of trails although not the best for a full on backcountry setup as we learned. Ok i'll admit it, I've been a bad ski bum and this was my first day strapping skis to me feet all year so i was really looking forward to it.

My bro, Greg and myself all had our full backcountry set up while Hanna had a lighter cross country set up.  It quickly became obvious though that because of the poor snow conditions Hanna's fish scale skis weren't going to cut it. She was a great sport about it and was able to keep up for a while by just walking, but eventually had to turn around because the snow got to deep.  It's been a really weird winter and the lack of snow combined with really hot days and cold nights haven't made for great backcounty skiing conditions.  I just listened to podcast that said back country ice skating conditions were amazing though... that's right backcountry ice skating.

This is what we would have been skiing if conditions
had been better

The goal was to skin up the trail to lake Isabelle, roughly 5 miles and from there assess the conditions and decide if we wanted to make some turns on steeper terrain.  By the time we go to lake Isabelle roughly 4hrs had already elapsed, skinning is slow going with a full on backcountry setup. It had been a long day, we were pretty tired and ready to turn around.

I'm not sure who mentioned it but we decided to stop and dig a snow pit. Greg is a pretty experienced backcountry skier who lived in Aspen for several years, i'm always trying to learn as much as i can and my brother is fairly new to the whole thing so it was the perfect time for a little education.  It quickly became evident that there was a weak layer about two below the surface.  It was like frozen sand, I think they call it the depth hoar and it can be extremely dangerous.  Check out the video!.  After Greg posted it to Facebook CAIC somehow got a hold of it and posted it on their FB page. We're sorta famous!

This was my first backcountry trip where i felt like we skinned up hill both ways.  A 10 mile skin makes for a long day and if i did this route again i'd like to find a way to get closer to ski able terrain.  Nevertheless it wa a lot of fun and we were exhausted by the time we got back to the car.  The only cure we could come up with for our exhaustion was pizza and a stop at Avery brewery for some high abv beer.

Ponderous Posterior Pikes Peak 50K

To sum it up, it was an amazing way to spend a Saturday!  Woke up early and met Donny Leila, and Joe Z in Morrison to cruise down to the 8 am start of the last of the front range fat ass series in Colorado springs.  For those who don't know there are a series of unofficial races that occur throughout the front range around the holidays hence the fat ass part.  To insinuate that a bunch of super fit ultra running folks are fat is crazy, but it get the point across.

This was my second time down in the springs and both times had been blessed with amazing weather, this time around it topped out around 55-60.  That's shorts and tee shirt whether out here in Colorado!  Pretty much the same course this year except we ran it backwards and added in the dreaded  manitou incline (its supposedly illegal to climb but you wouldn't know it, there were at least 50 people on it)

Manitou Incline

We arrived at JT's house to be greeted by no less than 30 runners and promptly got on our way.  Just as we were leaving I saw a keg being brought in, so naturally i wanted to hurry up and get this run over with so i could get back to spend the afternoon drinking beer in the Colorado sun.  It was a good thing that my friend Ryan had stashed a few pbr's in his pack and was willing to share.  The beginning of the run was mostly uneventful, but it was nice to talk with folks and hear out how their race schedules were shaping up.


The first climb was up red mountain and at the top there was a pretty awesome view of the city in one direction and the incline and pikes peak in the other.  The sun had come up and it was shaping up to be a beautiful day.  We reveled in it's beauty as Ryan drank his first beer of the day.  We got to the base of the incline at about mile 10 I had heard stories, but it's definitely an impressive site.  It was slow going, nothing more than a fast hike, but I stayed steady at it.  It was funny to me how many children, dogs and overweight people were attempting to climb to the top.  I guess in CO springs it's something of a right of passage or something akin to a ride at an amusement park.  I just lowered my head and before I knew it I was at the top.  I had been warned about a false summit, but i guess i missed it because i was kinda surprised when I reach the summit right around a half an hour..  When i got to the top it was crowded with kids, dogs and there was a group smoking cigarettes.  Ryan was already drinking a beer.

We got a nice 3 mile down hill section which could only be described as a mix between skiing and hiking.  We reached the halfway point where there was a truck with drop bags, water and you guessed it pbr.  I had a beer at this point and i got to say I think Ryan is on to something.  Not only did i feel hydrated but any pain incurred from the incline seemed to disappear.  The last half was entirely run-able, I tried my best to follow/catch up to Leila as we made our way through Waldo & Williams canyon.  I'm not sure if it was pbr or the fact that these places were so much fun to run but it seemed like before i knew it we were at rampart range road.  I knew from last year that it was mostly downhill from this point back to the keg, so Ryan I cruised down the road ( I think there may have been a 7 minute mile in there).

The trail took us into the garden of the gods park where there were hoards of people out enjoying the beautiful whether.  It's really great that CO Springs has several amazing parks within city limits.  Ryan and I each drank a beer, it felt a little weird to be drinking beer in a park wearing spandex, 28 miles into a run while families walked by.... but nonetheless i thoroughly enjoyed it.  We made a slight wrong turn here but didn't add or detract from any miles, just added a little extra road miles.  We reached JT's house & the party about about 6hr 30 minutes from when we started obviously including beer breaks.  Great times and i'm already looking forward to next year!

New to this Blogging Thing

Well this seems like the thing to do especially if you're a runner so here is my shot at.  A few things i'd like to  accomplish with this blog include:

- a way to stave off the boredom that is my job
- document some pretty exciting adventures (not only running)
- a way to keep track of my races and document how my
   running is progressing (hopefully)
- vocalize some of my inner ramblings during my runs
- motivation to take more pictures

I'm a nerdy scientist so I may comment on tree and animal species, soil types, weather patterns or geek out on maps... so consider yourself warned.  I also enjoy humor so hopefully you'll get a chuckle at some of the posts.

I've got some fun adventures already planned for the summer and looking forward to the ones that haven't been planned yet.  Let the adventure documentation begin!