30JUL2017 Burro Days 2017

Burro Days in Fairplay.  The big race day or the so called World Championships.  The past five years here have been incredible with 3 wins and 2 second places.  Coming into the season, I had doubts as to how Jack and I could perform because we are both a step slower than we used to be.  As the season progressed, and with some slight success at Georgetown (2nd) and Idaho Springs (3rd), I gained some confidence in our chances.  I knew that Curt/Mary Margaret would be a challenge, and that 7 time champ Hal Walter/Full Tilt would also keep us honest (those two teams represented our last two losses for here in the last handful of years).  There was of course chatter that Ryan Sandes/Scratch and Max King/Earl as very accomplished runners would challenge, but I felt that their inexperience with donkeys would rule them out.  At the same time I recognized they could catch “lightning in a bottle” and be in the hunt.

That is how it is in burro racing – you can have expectations but you really need to be willing to forget them all.  Make a plan, execute the plan, watch the plan go off the rails, and then roll with a new plan… “no donkey wakes up thinking, ‘I want to climb a 13000 foot mountain pass today’” so you better be willing to go with what you get dealt.

Race morning was typical, weigh in, saddle up, connecting with folks, going to the bathroom 4000 times and watching how you have plenty of time go before the race disappear to no time before the race.  Amazingly the clouds seemed to be holding and we were getting a little sun.

We took off and I actually felt that the starting pace was slower than in past years.  The start usually wrecks me as the donks roll out hard.  The stiffer pace at the start combined with a 10000 foot starting line leaves me wondering how I can handle the whole affair.  This go around it seemed pretty relaxed.  Curt / Mary Margaret and some of the mini donkey teams were at the front and we were right in the mix as we rolled over the Route 9 road and into the “field” sections.  I looked back and was surprised as how many were “right there.”  Having been back a bit in the field in past years (we left town in nearly last place in 2014 but rallied for a win over the race), I knew that any number of these folks could be a strong contender if still in touch.  I was surprised to see Max only 30 yards back and made a note that my dismissing him was a possible mistake.  I recognized that a good number of the racers were probably 15 milers (short course runners versus long course 29 mile runners) but I was still amazed at how many were in the mix.

Curt seemed driven to lead the course and going through the fields was occasionally unsure of some of the turns.  I gave him a cue or two but also gave him a little verbal jab in saying, “hey if you are the current champ you should know the course.”  He didn’t respond and I got the message he was not interested in such small talk during the race.

We rolled past the power station and it was pretty much Curt /MM and me/Jack but no more than 15 yards ahead of any pursuers.  Again, the pace was not particularly quick.

The race always changes on the Mosquito Pass Road at the 7.5 (7.25?) mile turn around for the 15 miler folks.  Suddenly Kurt/MM and Jack/I were almost alone.  We were quickly joined by Hal/FTBoogie and Catelyn Jones/Titus.  We worked together at a slower pace up though the “V” and then the more challenging road climbs up to American Flats.  Hal and I got away a bit from the other two teams and built a fair lead over them over the very slow American Flats.  As we progressed, we could see the lead we had generated was slipping a bit but we clearly were going to make it to the pass first.  Hal and I enjoyed what I called “my annual therapy session with Hal on American Flats” conversation.  We yapped about XC, the ultra guys in the race, the film makers (and Hal’s annoyance with drones), and the like. 

I made the typical push for the pass to get the “First Ass to the Pass” award (now called the “Curtis Imrie First Ass to the Pass” award) and got it by about 30 yards over Hal.  I gave Hal a hug I could clearly see that the other teams were catching up and I began to think that the race to the finish would not necessarily be between Hal /FTB and Jack/me but that Curt/MM would be on us quickly.  Historically no on has caught Jack and me on a drop but I could tell by the way they were moving and some of Jack’s tenuous nature on the rocks that we were going to have our hands full.

The traffic on the upper Mosquito Pass Road was ridiculous.  There were no less than 25 jeeps parked on the side of the road – annoyingly taking the best line for the donks and with people saying all the typical cliche donkey things.  Sorry – hearing a grown man bray at you as they lean out of their jeep at 13000 feet is a bit annoying as you are in the midst of a 29 mile race. 

Hal/FTB and we moved down and then right below the London Mine there was Curt/MM.  He quickly passed us.  Jack covered the move but I suddenly knew Hal was likely to be out of the mix and that I’d be looking at MM’s tail the remainder of the race.  Curt /MM would get slightly ahead but Jack would cover that.  Jack would come even with MM and MM would try to cut him off on occasion.  I got fed up enough with this behavior that I ran between the two of them to keep her from pushing him off – but the message was set – she was going to lead.

At the V, Kurt paused for water and Jack and I got another significant lead.  But within a mile our slow pace allowed them to catch up.  Jack fell into line and we were just in second again. I concluded that I could force Jack around her but that I’d only be stressing him and myself and that he’d only be all to willing to relinquish the lead.  I decided I had to go with what I was being dealt and that I had to be content to follow today.  It meant that we’d either finish like this or that perhaps I could make a strong play coming into town and Jack could get around.  It was pretty much like that for a quiet clip clop 10 miles.

We came into town the play for a sprint finish – which is not our strong suit ever – never really played out.  Curt / MM pulled a 30 yard win.  The faster donk on the day won the race. 

I was disappointed of course, but Jack ran nearly how he had run for the last six years – first three times, second three times, and nearly all of those in 5:20 to 5:40.  We have lost a step but not much.  No donkey has performed better at this race in the last half dozen years as Jack has 3 wins and 3 seconds (along with 5 Leadville wins and a Triple Crown in 2015).  And at the finish, I was surrounded by friends, family and donkey lovers.  I enjoyed some fun with Jack for crowd playing at the finish.
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For me the bigger story on the day was that KZ jumped into the 15 mile course about 2 minutes before the race actually started.  It was her first burro race, and her longest day of running in her life.  This kid loves adventure way more than I do … spontaneous for sure.  Really proud of her, even though I was concerned with the idea getting pitched at me at the start line. 





For first ass up the pass, we landed a pretty sweet mug.  Here I am with its potter – Renee Fischer. 


Ryan ended up sixth with Scratch in about six and a half hours.  It started to rain (we had no rain all day before that).  And the time kept ticking … no Max or Earl.  His film crew started to look worried.  Around 8 PM (9.5 hours into the race), I called him and asked him how he was doing.  “ah, you know.  I am walking a donkey in the rain.  And it is almost dark.” 

JZ headed out through the reeds to get him and caught him in the mine.  We got him back in as it got dark.  Seemed most his day was fighting to keep Earl on the course.

Nothing but respect for Ryan and Max coming and doing this race.  And sticking it out.  Those guys could stick with events they are great at and do just fine by that, but they elected to be a part of this nuttiness and gut it out.  They are more than all right by me.

Saturday 29JUL2017

Headed up to Fairplay Friday night to get some altitude sleep in and to get some donkey prep time in before the race on Saturday.  There was the typical set of donks, related donk community over at the Fairgrounds as Brad and his team set up saddles, etc.

It was pouring hard most of the morning.  It had me seriously wondering how challenging the Sunday race was going to be as folks were predicting an all day rain fest.  The rain did break a bit mid morning and that gave the llama racers a bit of break. 
 

I did a short jog through the willows / reeds (the last mile of the course coming out of the mine area near the creek) to dial that section of the course.  3.1 miles. 

Friday 28JUL2017

AM – 7 miles, easy, with the XC squad.

Thursday 27JUL2017

5.2 miles with the team in the AM. 

I’ll drop miles and effort over the next couple of days in an effort to rest up a bit before the big day at Fairplay. 

Wednesday 26JUL2017

AM – the XC team has been really only doing easy runs and strides as build over the summer.  Today was a little different in that we tossed in a light workout of some threshold work.  I did 2 miles at threshold (6:20 pace average over a slightly hilly route) and then 4 x 200 at mile pace on 200 recovery.  The kids did similar – it was a good workout as it got the kids to move a bit more out of their comfort zone, do a little assessment where they are, learn a different effort, a bit of learning about pace (hey don’t go out too fast).  7.6 miles.

Later in the afternoon – another 3 miles.

Tuesday 25JUL2017

AM – 5.5 miles.  Tired and tired. 

PPA/M Men’s predictions … well sort of a starter:  I have no idea how he is racing these days but Weldemariam for the marathon and Gray for the Ascent.  Now that said … Weldermariam is listed in the Ascent as well … if he is doubling … not sure. I’ll need to research that a bit.  For some guys (ahem Carpenter) they are just stronger than everyone that the Double does not impact their ability to perform on day 2. 

On the marathon side, it would seem the regulars of Beck, Spillman, O’Brien and Dobson are in the mix.  Solberg should still be a strong contender on the masters side.  Actually just typing that has me itching a little bit.

As crazy as it sounds, Ortiz could win the women’s marathon at the age of 53. 

Bracy for the women’s win of the Ascent.

Thoughts anyone?  Dobson, what say you?  How about you Spillman?

Afternoon- five and change in the rain.  A little less tired.

Sunday 23JUL2017 Idaho Springs Pack Burro Race

Headed up to Idaho Springs for a short (5 miles) but challenging Pack Burro Race with Jack.

Jack got out well, and we were in the mix of the top 5 right away.  Sometimes we were leading, sometimes we were fifth and sometimes we were in the middle on the climb up the Oh My God Road.  As we neared the top of the climb, Jack slowed a bit and the group of three minis got about a 100 yard gap on us pretty quickly.  But as we hit the downhill Jack brought them back into the mix as quick as we hit some sections at sub 5 pace. 

There is then a REALLY stupid steep driveway and everyone was back in the mix (well the 5 of us).  And again, sometimes we were leading but then on the singletrack, Jack pulled up to the side and we let a couple of the mini teams and Roger Wright with Willie go by. 

The ravine down is borderline stupid with there being several high log leaps, weird turns tight trail and a small scree field.  I took a light tumble on that part with Jack as I lost my footing but we bounced up and were back at it pretty quick.  I gained some nice raspberries for my efforts. 

The five of us came out of the woods at the Argo Mine together, and as often is the case with these short races it came down to who had the best kick in the last 200 yards. Wright and Willie cantered away, Jon V and Crazy Horse did what they do and moved well in the last 75 yards and Jack and I got third.

It was a good day – a win at this would have been a bit of a steal as these shorter events play well to the quick kickers and the minis (minis took 3 of the top five spots).  Jack looks to be in good shape for the events to come.  Anything can happen.

Yeah, so he is pretty awesome.  Like really awesome.

Evening – 5.2 miles to workout some of the kinks from the spill.  Only minor oozing.

70 miles on the week, 9.5 hours, 4075 of climbing.  A race, some fartlek, some travel.  Bumped through 2100 miles on the year this week. 

Saturday 22JUL2017

AM – 8.7 with the team.

Friday 21JUL2017

I only have so much tolerance regarding bitching about flights.  Even from myself.  It is never a far stretch to think of set of circumstances that are significantly worse than a flight delay or seat that won’t recline one inch or late luggage. 

Nonetheless, I am on a good streak of bad flight luck.  In the past week I have had at least five flight delays, with one that turned into an outright cancellation.  This week it was one of those affairs where you get on the plane, and then are told to get off the plane to go to the other end of the airport for a delayed flight.  Last night I got the message my flight out of DCA was delayed by two hours, and then got word it was cancelled.  As I was in the DC area, I was able to get rerouted out of IAD (Dulles), but that too was delayed.  Then we sat in the plane as for an additional half an hour as we waited for passengers making a connection.  And then when we got in we waited another 15 minutes for someone to come out and connect the jet bridge. 

All this sort of thing goes with the travel for business territory.  It’s not a big deal but getting in at 2AM was a bit on my mind as I departed for the morning XC practice that was a trail run out of NCAR.

It was good to be home.

I could grumble about my Garmin, but that falls into the same category of “really, if that is your gripe, you are doing pretty well.”

4 and change miles on the Mesa trail.

The good man Lucho and I put out a podcast on the EP network.  It is not quite ATC, but more a chat between TL and myself.  About half way through it I realized we were talking more like we would in a regular phone call to each other rather than us doing a show.  In any case, I’d welcome feedback … topic suggestions, name of the show, questions, and input on my performance.  I am a bit annoyed with my interrupting of Lucho that I seem to do and I will work on that (I think it is a bit of a cadence thing with VOIP calls, but given that I do that all day I should know better).

Afternoon – 5.8 miles, with some fartlek to beat the rain

Max King Burro Challenge

So this got posted today:  https://www.facebook.com/max.king.9828/videos/1236437436501619/

To be clear I am a Max King fan.  I have always enjoyed his “any distance, any medium” sort of approach to running.   The guy is ridiculously versatile.  He made the Olympic Trials in the steeple and the marathon.  He won a World Mountain Running Championship.  He won some Warrior Dash thing that landed him 50k in cash.  I recall seeing him run some obstacle course thing where folks had to jump through a tire and Max went horizontal laying it out to get through it.  He took a great shot at Western.  He went after it at Leadville last year. 

I think I have only raced him once directly.  It was a USATF XC affair in NY over a decade ago.  Max made the US world XC team.  I think I was third to last in that.  But even beyond that, Max was the only guy in the field that wore only a shirt, shorts and running shoes and nothing else.  Normally that is not a big deal but this day at Van Cortlland it was single digit temps.  The entire field was in hats, gloves, long sleeve shirts, and even some had tights.  Not Max.  Apparently while he was at Cornell he used to actually pin his bib to his chest.  LIKE HIS ACTUAL SKIN.

So Max is a bit of a bad ass legend.

Now to be clear – IN 2015 (not 3 weeks ago), a bit high off winning the Triple Crown with Jack, I posted this video.

Thursday 20JUL2017

Got out about 6AM.  It was 80.  With 80 degrees of humidity. 

Or better simply described as gross.  I connected up with CO local Jenni K who also happened to be out here.  We did about a half an hour on the mall, catching up, taking pix, and violently agreeing that this humidity was way more challenging than any altitude issues we face in the mountains.

I looked like I had gone for a swim.  Gross.  But the scenery was good. 

8.3 miles.  Pretty cooked at the end.

Flight back after my day of meetings was … if you guessed delayed you are wrong.  BECAUSE IT WAS JUST CANCELLED.  But I caught a reroute (or I am trying to) out of Dulles.  Good times lately with flights.

Wednesday 19JUL2017

JZ was successfully deployed to the New Mexico backcountry at the Philmont Scout Ranch this AM.  His delay was a bummer but it was good that we were able to find a way to get him off.

I headed off to D.C. for a couple of days of meetings.  I got hit again with a flight delay … this one was a 2 hour delay so it got me to D.C around 6PM.  I decided to head out for a jog but rather than hit the mall, I went up the Rock Creek Trail after passing the White House.

I was moving pretty well but then the heat and the holy hell humidity hit me and zapped me pretty damn hard.  The shoes were squishing pretty bad. 

10.5 miles.

Tuesday 18JUL2017

AM – we got JZ casted.

With that, he and TZ headed down towards Philmont in NM.  We have been in touch with the Logistics team down there and the hope is that all goes well with in processing tomorrow AM and then he can get out with a ranger to connect with his crew tomorrow.  If all runs well at this point he will miss about a day and half of the trek and maybe a bit more than 10 miles of it.  Wrist bones crossed so to speak.

Before TZ and JZ headed south, I did a couple of miles with her and then a few on my own with a few fartlek efforts – playing with some local Strava segments, as they run 1-3 minutes and keep me a bit motivated.

Afternoon – good roaster of a July afternoon in the typical mid 90s.  Got out and felt the itch to get after a bit and did several hills on the backside of the Ridgeview loop (the so called Yoga Bridge Climb).  Heading east is a bit longer than the hill coming back west so it was a mix of length and speed.  I could definitely start to feel the “wobble” coming on towards the end of some of these.  There is that point in a hill where I can feel my arms pumping and going all over the place and the legs just seem to be swimming in concrete.  Good stuff – mostly trying to learn to get out of the comfort zone again.  5.3 miles.

Monday 17JUL2017

AM – 10 miles plus with the team and some with TZ.

No casting for JZ today … so we will see a orthopedist tomorrow.  Given when his crew will be with this timing change, it seems our best bet now to connect him up with his buddies is on Wednesday. 

Sunday 16JUL2017

AM – even though JZ was not heading out with them at crack of dawn, we were up early to see his Scout buddies off to Philmont.  With some luck he will be able to join them later in the week.  As I was up early, I decided to get a run in.  I have totally dropped the early AM running, and I realized that is pretty unfortunate … it is so nice to see the sun rise, enjoy the cooler temps, and quiet roads. 10 miles.

I grabbed a quick bite and then headed to Idaho Springs to get some burro running in.  I did the burro hill loop with Jack, not pressing him but just working on some basic stuff. 

66 on the week … it was a bit of a mess of a week with travel, travel delays, uber humidity, a broken wrist.  But that is all part of the good life.  I attempted some faster work in Alabama but I could not seem to put it together.  On the good news front, it seems that the icky sticky crap that was in my lungs and nose have finally passed out of me.  Blowing my nose this past week was a lot of this:

Saturday 15JUL2017

Day was slightly off kilter … JZ took a spill in a typical teenage game of tag (or whatever they call it these days) and had a pretty sore wrist this AM.  He was treating it gingerly, and so after XC practice (5 miles) (of course) we went and had it looked at:

If you look carefully on the left hand side of the pic, there is a little shadow on the bone to the left of the mouse cursor.  That is a slight fracture of the scaphoid bone – apparently the most common break in the wrist. 

So it was into a splint, and casting to occur later this week.

Small problem with that though is he was to leave on a backpacking trip on Sunday AM.  So now he is not.  We’ll see what we can do with casting and if we can catch him up to his Scout buds in NM later in the week. 

Friday 14JUL2017

AM – 5.7 with the XC team on the Josh’s Pond out and back and some strides.

PM – Lac Amora loop CW, 7.7.

Thursday 13JUL2017

Back home … 10.2 miles in the afternoon.  Hot.  But not humid.

Wednesday 12JUL2017

AM – I had an early call before heading into  the office and my tolerance to get up at 4AM is weak … so it was a short run.  But I attempted to get rolling anyway.  I thought that I’d do 10 x a minute on, minute off but after a handful of minutes on where the pace was not so great, I just kept on that pace anyway.  4.2 miles. 

And rather than crossing highways, I just stuck to the 1.1 mile loop around the hotel.  Not bad really.

Something seriously voluminous came out of my nose last night when I blew it.  I guess that is a good sign.  It seems at least the fever stuff has passed and not I am just working out the last remnants of the sticky stuff.

Business travel fun … I was supposed to fly out today.  I hit the Huntsville airport and the idiot dance started with me getting a text that my flight was delayed by 20 minutes.  Any seasoned traveler knows this typically marks a series of texts every 20 minutes that your flight is further delayed.  So I started looking for other options.  Sure enough 20 minutes later I got the next text that things were delayed a bit further.  Now my later connection / layover time was down to 10 minutes.  Given my connection was going to be at opposite ends of the Houston airport, and that was the last flight from Houston to Denver, it was time to figure out if I was staying Houston, Huntsville or if I could jump onto a different carrier’s flight.  I ended up staying the extra night in Huntsville as my team was here anyway and I could get a direct to Denver in the AM. 

Huntsville – as I sat outside with my team at a dinner that I had not expected to be at, I could feel the humidity just cranking up.  It was 85 degrees and the dew point had climbed to 75.  Not my favorite.

Monday 10JUL2017

AM – a slow wake up six miles before heading to the airport.

Dropped JZ off for XC practice on the way out.  The FB squad was having fun.

Traveled to Huntsville AL before.  I had never been to Alabama before today.  The run once I got settled off the plane was pretty warm (93) and humid but I kept it short (5.2) and slow enough that it didn’t seem too bad. 

Sunday 10JUL2017

AM – slow 4 miles.

PM – cloud cover cooled things a bit and I got out around 6.  This was a short run  (3.6) but it had several hard hill strides in it over in the park.

Tired this week.  This sickness is kicking my butt a bit and I need to shake this before burro fun in a few weeks.

Next week I am traveling to Alabama … and I expect with the heat, time change, long work days, running is likely to take more of a back seat.  I am going to see if I can drive a bit more quality out of the efforts rather than quantity. 

Also looking ahead it seems that I won’t make the July 20 BRR meet as I will need to be in DC that day.  Next race is likely to be Idaho Springs Burro Race, then Fairplay, with some mile races back again in August.

Saturday 08JUL2017

PM – 10.1 miles back in Broomstock nice and easy (8:12 pace today).  I was a touch fatigued from yesterday’s volume but not bad really. 

Friday 07JUL2017

AM – 6 miles with Greg and the team before heading up to Fairplay.

Afternoon – the upper loop of the Fairplay Burro Days course.  It was a slow day on whole with the snow crossings, helping people with river crossings, etc.  Nonetheless, a fun day up high in July.  The course has more snow on it than I think I have seen at this time in the year compared to past years.

Tagged on a few miles at the end with Jz to take the 10 mile loop to a 13 mile set.  Bigger day for me but I probably need that with a 29er on the calendar in 3 weeks.

Thursday 06JUL2017

Still expelling a lot of snot, etc and so I decided not to race today.  Actually it helped that Greg said, “what would you tell you if you were your coach?”

AM – four with GW to Josh’s Pond.  Already hot. 

I was going to go in the evening but the persistent hack had TZ insist otherwise. 

A coach for the coaches:

Wednesday 05JUL2017

This cough is wrecking me.  I definitely aggravated the heck out of my lungs by racing with this cold and I am paying the price yesterday after the race and today.   It is bad enough that I am seriously contemplating not racing at the BRR Thursday night.  In addition to this illness probably impacting the race, I am more concerned about how the race would impact the illness.

AM – easy 5.2 miles with the XC team.

Evening – 5 miles.  Super easy.

Superior Downhill Mile 04JUL2017

AM – out way too late last night with family friends, eating and drinking too well.  Slept poorly but forced a wake up at 5 to get some coffee in me before the Superior Downhill Mile.  I knew in the early steps of the warm up this was not going to be great.  I was feeling heavy, snotty and tired.  Ah, screw it … just got to roll with that sometimes, and heck … it is a downhill mile on the 4th of July – how hard is that really?

I got about two and a half of a warm up in that seemed constantly interrupted with hacks and snot blows.  It was a really slow warm up … like 10 minute pace and I was sweating like I was at Badwater even though it was relatively cool.  With my excuses lined up, I exchanged pleasantries with a few folks I know (Straka, Femmer), got in a few strides and lined up.

Again I was surprised at how quick folks got off the line.  I guess I need to work on that.  I got rolling okay after about 50 yards but there were people crushing it from the get go (and I am not just talking about the guys who’d run over a minute faster than me).

Once I got rolling people started to come back some while others pulled away slightly.  I didn’t get passed but I never felt like I was really able to dig into the next gear.  Thing about this race is that it starts, and then it is done.  5:05 (although I am guessing I will get a 5:07 via the Durden conversion).  Given this seems to run about like a 1500 that seems about right (apparently in 2012 I did a 4:47).  But more than the last two races at this distance, I felt positive after the finish in regards to potential improvement.

(basically with that statement I am saying “gee not bad for not sleeping well, eating and drinking too much the night before, having a sinus infection and not doing any real intensity – think about what you might do if you actually tried”)

I got in a longer warm down, some of it with fellow BrHS coach Ryan to end up wit 10.1 on the day.  I probably grossed more than a few folks out with my cough hacking and blowing out of snot post race.  Parker’s mom wondered if I was asthmatic.  Maybe I am but I’d rather not know. 

Monday 03JUL2017

Registered for the Superior Downhill Mile.  Given the last couple of go’s at it have been 5:30s, it will be a see if I can get under 5:20 affair. 

AM – 5 miles and change with strides at the end with the XC squad.

Afternoon – 3.6 along the ditch to shake out a bit. 

Sunday 02JUL2017

10.2 miles, sloppy and snotty … blowing crud out of my head.  Ick.  My head just aches from all the blowing and coughing I am doing to move this schtuff. 

80 point on the week over 10.5 hours.  The travel this week helped the cause as I was able to sneak in a couple of longer doubles.  Ticked over 1900 miles on the year today. Nothing fast but some of those runs in Pitt were pushing the strength a bit.

If I can get my head to stop pounding from this crud, I’ll take a shot at the Superior Downhill Mile on Tuesday AM.  And I am fairly likely to jump in the BRR meet on Thursday night.

I don’t post a lot of thoughts regarding races in the MUT community anymore.  I think it represents the continued mindset that I am more interested in what people that I actually know are doing than someone who I am only connected through in hearing about via the internet.  This is not to say that I don’t have some level of interest on how MUT races go, but I feel a bit less compelled to spout off about it here.  I am not sure if that is maturity or just laziness.  That said, if you were to jog with me, I’d probably offer an opinion on some result (or lack of a result).  You’d probably have to hear me talk about several HS athletes I know first, but I’d get to it …

But a guy I know … and thus someone I can blog about and yip yap about  …Lucho … I have to say I really admire how he has taken to this 400 meter thing.  Or dash.  I guess its a dash and not a run. 

I can’t help but finish a mile race and look at it and think “gee that would have been a bad mile in the midst of a 10k” rather than just seeing it is where I am now.  I am not sure that sets up to be the most appropriate or healthy mindset.  Lucho on the other hand … he seems wonderfully accepting of where he is and just improving on that, even though his 400s would be considered “too slow” splits enroute to a 1000 meters (which is way more different than just 600 meters more) not so long ago.  That sort of “agnostic” nature to older success might seem obvious, but I think it is harder for masters athletes than it sounds.

He has put the chips in on this and is really going for it – and I love that.  I am loving to see the enthusiasm he has for it, his geekery he is pumping for in the event on his blog and his pursuit for improvement in it.  I admire that and I am glad to see the fire stoked in him that way again. 

Saturday 01JUL2017

Picked up JZ from Tahosa.  I got there a little early and got in 5.1 on the St. Vrain trail.

Afternoon – a quick five.  Slow to start and hot but I got rolling at low sevens once I “woke up” a bit. 

Evening – we had some fun at Standley Lake.