Year End Numbers 2025

Obligatory EOY post with numbers

Connect puts me at 2197.4 of running.   Strava has me at 2194.

  

This came on the "back nine" - with almost no miles in January.

Signing up for Pikes, motivated by nudge from Don S if I am honest, got me moving a bit in June.   It was a good nudge.  More that at some point.  

December was the highest volume month in terms of miles, but it actually was about level in terms of time (the last months of the year were around 39 hours a month) - coming in with less than 10k of vert (CA travel to the Bay there). 

Apparently last year I did 2300 miles ... 

I walked a lot ... I actually measured it this year.  Shaking my head at how much I walked in January.  For interest I eyeballed steps.  That came at just under 19k a day.  

Week ending 28DEC2025

60 miles on the week

Mon - 9 miles with about 5 of it with GW
Tue - 9 miles down through Holmberg / Roberts
Wed - 9.4 miles down through Holmberg / Roberts
Thu - 9 miles on the warmest day recorded for Christmas in Denver.  A loop with JZ (absolutely wonderful
Fri - 7.2 miles including about 5 of it with GW
Sat - 9.1 miles, a mile starting with TZ and then the rest around the Lake Link / Ridgeview loop
Sun - with JZ on the ditch path up into Interlocken.  7.2 miles

Another 10.8 miles of walking (at least) as well.  

2164.4 miles of running on the year according Strava, 2167.8 according to Garmin C.  Walking is at 766 miles on the year.  

Sunday 17AUG2025

Back to Green.  It was a train wreck.  I went up the middle out of Gregory and managed to average under twenty minutes a mile for each of the miles except the last.  I was falling a lot though and cracked my knee pretty good on the way in the boulder field on Greenman.  

I got a call about 2 minutes from the summit by TZ that she was heading down so I flipped.  I thought I'd get down in about 40 minutes.  I was wrong.  I was moving at 2mph (27 min/mile) on the down.   Even on the runable sections, I was flopping at 15 minutes a mile.  I was a hurting dog.  

5.5 miles, with about 2200 feet of climbing.  

I was cooked for a bit post.  Afternoon nap helped.

50.5 miles on the week, with close to 5k of vert.  It started as a solid week but sorta came off the rails by the weekend.  1160 something on the year.

Saturday 16AUG2025

Didn't get out until the evening.  Was dragging for sure.  

7.3 slooooow.

Friday 15AUG2025

 3 miles with GW and then another four easy on my own

Thursday 14AUG2025

With LF early, slow and easy. 10.5 miles before it got stupid hot.  

Wendnesday 13AUG2025

Up early with LF's crew at BHMS track.  4 x 800-400 and then an extra 400 for good measure. 

Fairly convinced the track work is abusing my left ankle some.

10 miles on the morning. 

Tuesday 12AUG2025

TZ and I got up early to hit Chaut, but then sat in traffic on 36 for 45 minutes.  The accident looked pretty bad as we rolled by it.  Given the shorter window we had, we opted for NCAR instead.  Got a little over an hour there for 4.4 and about 1000 feet of up.

Monday 11AUG2025

Mid day, listening to a work call.  6 miles.  Did the Ditch Lac Amora Lake Link Loop.

Sunday 10AUG2025

10 years ago this weekend, Jack and I won at BV, and with that became a Triple Crown winner in Pack Burro Racing.  Like many things in the past, it seems like yesterday and more than 10 years ago at the same time.

FWIW - the burro we raced against, Yukon, is still a force on the pack burro racing circuit

8 miles today.  Climbed out of Cragmoor and up to the climb wall and then wandered around a bit.  Got me to 56 and change on the week with over 5k on the week.  It felt like it has been 10 years since I did something like that.  

It was slow.

Saturday 09AUG2025

Again ... it has been a bit.  Based on labels on this blog, I have not been up Green since October of 2023.  That seems too long to be true, but I guess it could make sense.  That would mean I didn't get on it for all of 2024.  Sheesh.

I was mildly surprised at some trail reroutes and new connectors.  Again, I guess that is what happens when you don't go there for almost 2 years.  I meandered around, actually coming down after being halfway up, before heading back up to the summit.  

The lady bugs were back too.

I zapped myself pretty good over 9 miles, 3k+ of vert.  Legs were beat.  It has probably been that long since I have had that much of a vert day.  

Friday 08AUG2025

Seven in the AM.  Dragging again.  

Gigged at Rails in the evening with The Pinebox Sleepers for their 9th birthday party.   I'll say it was our best outing yet.  Probably not a pic or video to be found of course.

Inched through 1100 miles on the year today.  If I can maintain the knee and some fair habits, a 2K year could be doable.  

Thursday 07AUG2025

7 miles, out and back along the ditch out into Interlocken and back.  Fartlek'd the return.  It was hot as I didn't get out until the midday, but not oppressive.  

Wednesday 06AUG2025

Dragger day, but moved through 9 miles before it got too hot.  

Just heavy legged the entire time.  

61 miles over the last seven days so that might have something to do with it. 

Tuesday 05AUG2025

Got up early and ran with the group that hits the MS track.  I have no specific aspirations for time or pace when running with this group.  Instead I focus on "breathing hard."  Today they did 5 x 4 minutes on 1 minute off ... so a broken tempo.  I was covering a little over 900 meters in each of the reps.  8 miles on the day.  

Smoke is starting to blow in

Monday 04AUG2025

The adult off spring required a ride back from the airport at 2AM, so I ended up sleeping in a bit.  The AM run was only four miles and so I dragged back out at 8:30PM for another four.  

Sunday 03AUG2025

Yeesh.  It has been a month?

Caamp concert in there.  Rockygrass festival in there.  Bob winning Fairplay in there.  Bob getting second at Leadville in there.  I did an 800 meter race in there.  I have been at war with the Japanese B's.  A gig in there with TPBS at a library for the summer reading program.

So I have stuff to blog about if there is anything worth blogging about. 

A flipping 16 year old kid ran 1:42 for the 800 meters.  What the actual F?    

Managing 50 miles a week.  Last couple of weeks have been on six days v. seven because life has tended to deal with an off day.  Has often meant catch up on the weekends and even some double digit runs.  I also tend to get a day a week where I am doing something where I am having to breathe a little harder.  

I eyeballed where I am at with miles on the year.  1061.  If I can keep the bone and sinew together and maintain some level of regular habits, 2k on the year could be a possibility.

Week ending 13JUL2025

56 something mile week, with a workout in the middle of the week with GW.  We did 7 x 200m in 43" on 200m recovery.   Most work I have done like that in a bit.  

Ok - why are we doing this?  Because we decided, on the whim of his kid, to jump into the BRR track 4x8 next week.  I am guessing I am in about 3:15 shape, but figured to do a few reps to get used to a little of that coordination.  

Some recent pictures ... 

Week ending 06JUL2025

57 mile week.  

Nothing particular incredible about this week from a running perspective but kept plugging.  Got in a 10 miler (+) on Sunday and did some work on the track on Tuesday with the early morning crew that meets out there.  I do not worry about splits or racing anyone in those sessions but rather just focus on effort and breathing hard.   57 is the biggest volume week I have had in a year and I can say - I am feeling it:  both the good and the bad.  The good being I can feel that fitness that comes following fatigue.  The bad being the fatigue.  

Got in another 15 miles of walking.  It is something. It definitely helps.  Clears the head, settles the body in the evening before heading to bed.  

Still alcohol free.  

Saw Phish at Folsom on Thursday.   I am not a Phish phan but man, those boys can play.  And their light show is sick.

Played a gig on Friday.  It was a marathon of four hours of playing, so another four on top of that with set up, break down, etc.  It was a tad warm.  I was knackered at the end of the day and nearly passed out by the time the fireworks went off. 

Otherwise, it is the nice buzz of summer.  Getting outside, working the yard, trying to stay cool. lots of vitamin D and naps whenever I can.

First half 2025 wrap up

It has been a month since I posted.   Any week in that month would be about the same:  50 something, miles a week, some quality, fighting if my knee is kaput, band and music gigs, work and family.  

It is a good life.  

With a day left in June, Strava tells me the last five weeks have been 52, 54, 54, 54 and 50.  I missed one day in there (this past week - travel).  Walking was another 12, 13, 14, 14 and six (again travel).  Strava also says I have 803 miles on the year as of today for running.  Connect tells me I have been averaging 20k plus steps a day, the last four weeks were 213 miles, 48 of walking, average RHR is 46.  

Have remained alcohol free for over 7 months now.  Really not much of a thing there.  

I can feel my limiters.  My knee is often feeling shitty.  Not as a bad as it was prior to the Duralone shot but I know I am grinding crap in there.  My lungs often are hacking - a remnant from the scarring from the embolisms I guess.  I am generally weak in almost all other functional movement because I don't do diddly for ancillary exercise.  

But I am happy to be jogging.  

Been getting some kayaking in too.  

I estimate to be in about 6:30 mile shape.  I hate that it is that, but recognize someday I'll look at that as something far out of reach.  I occasionally get the itch to race ... maybe a mile.  Then I think a 50 mile.  Nothing with a significant climb as I just don't have that.  I wonder if I can keep doing 200 miles a month for the rest of the year and maybe get 2k on the year.  I wonder why I wonder that.  Watching races, be it collegiate track or WS, definitely gets the itch going a bit.  

If you have read this far and are so incline - and are doing nothing on the 4th - come check us out at Prost in Northglenn, 2-6.  

Week ending 25MAY2025

47 plus miles on the week, including some work Thursday AM doing kilo repeats at 7:15 pace.  Yeah.

Yeah.  

Yeah.  7:15.  Lol.  It is what it is.  Wondering if I can grumble the body up to take a run at a mid six minute mile soon, lung scarring and arthritic knee be damned.  

Got in other 12 plus miles of walking, including a sunrise walk at Sanitas.

Caught Spare Change Saturday night at Mother Tucker's.  Apparently the place is shutting down.  It was their 38th show there.  From what I heard they the first act there and now they are the last.  I am guessing I had 15-20 shows with them there. 

May in the Front Range is great.  Almost as good as September in Dillon.

Week ending 18MAY2025

Another shameless shot from last week.

 

Back home for the week and the weather was pretty good.  47.2 miles on the week, another almost 12 miles of walking.  Even did a track workout Thursday AM - 3 x a mile.  Decided I was just gonna breathe hard and not worry about time.  They ended up being 7:20s.  Given I haven't been faster than 7:50 on anything in a long ass time, I figure that is about right.  And I did breathe hard.  Coming up on about 500 miles on the year.

Nothing huge to report.  Grinding with work, doing the spring yard thing, contemplating the death and life of my father, watching the youngun's become old ones, running, music, etc. 

Two weeks ending 11MAY2025

This weekend represents a bit of a milestone for me.  It has been almost a year to the day since I left my consulting business as a partner and went back to the corporate world.  That alone has been a whirlwind of change.  

The past year has been a lot of change though.  Our youngest graduated from college.  Our oldest returned from Japan.  TZ's parents moved from the high mountains of Park County to the desert of Arizona.  My father passed.  I quit a band.  I joined a band.  I ended my involvement with Scouts, and high school coaching.  I went to China twice, Vietnam once.  I took two months off running after struggling with an achy knee for 8 months.  I read more books last year than I probably did in the prior three collectively.  I gave up alcohol.  

To an outsider, it probably looked the same - a middle aged privileged white blue eyed male doing all right.  I agree.  I am doing all right.  A fair amount of ups and downs, but I am doing pretty damn well.  

I was thinking as I was coming home from the Bay this past week that I have a place I can go where there are people who are going to be genuinely happy to see me, give me shit, spend time with me and care.  That is pretty flippin' awesome

Last week was 46 miles.  Probably a bit more than my knee likes and definitely makes me feel the limits of my fitness and current lifestyle.  This past week was 42 miles - and even had a quality session with LF while in Burlingame (hills at Coyote Point).  

The Pinebox Sleepers had a gig at Prost on Friday.  Four hours of a gig.  That is a lot of music.  49 songs - about 2/3rds originals.  It is challenging for sure.  It would be different if this was my full time thing but we only practice collectively like 3 or 4 times a month.  It is a big lift - and so inevitably, I see the errors we make when playing.  The audience rarely sees these - unless they are HUGE gaffs or someone is paying attention really well.   But we on the stage do.  And so like a race, afterwards I reflect on what could have been better or what went well.  

People have told me that I am too self critical but I don't see it that way.  It is definitely a both things are true - I have a blast playing this music.  But I want to be better.  

It has me thinking a bit as of late - the struggle is the necessary for the joy.  And with that, I have wondered if the struggle is the joy itself.  I am not saying that is true with actual trauma - but rather we must have some challenging force on us to grow and see the positive.  

Week ending 27APR2025

I missed Friday - work day got away from me and then I was feeling lazy in the evening.  The cold mist of rain kept me uninspired to get out.  But I ended up with 44 on the week.  On Thursday I even managed a workout of 4 x 2, 4 x 4 and then 4 X 4.  I didn't really keep watch - just pushed the gas a bit.  I did notice afterwards a few 45 seconds on the 2s.

I have described the knee as being "novicaned."  By that I mean that I can feel it is still fucked up but that the pain is under ... under something, under water, under ... just numbed.  But 44 miles with a workout is probably too much a beating for it in a week right now.  

Caught another Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers show on Thursday night.

For the first time I thought ... "hmm ... that was not an A+ show."  They played a few less songs than typical.  They had some problems with their sound (a bit of the outcome of the feedback thing they do now).  They did some choruses a bit too many times in a song.  They leaned heavily on the Refreshments roots more than anything newer.  There was hardly any in-tween song banter.

That said, an RCPM show is still 100x better than most bands for me.  I always have a good time and I always learn something.  Was my criticism of them based on the fact that I was not drinking at the show?   Or was it that I got a slightly less than awesome night I have become accustomed to.  Arguably if this was the first time I had ever seen them I'd have been blown away.  Guess I have become a bit of that kind of fan.  

 

Love that Gretsch that Roger has with the ripped out pickups.  

Oh yeah, 13.3 miles of walking.  I think that was all dog walking.

Week ending 20APR2025

The shot to the knee kept me from running for 2 days.  By Thursday the swelling had subsided enough that I was able to jog on it a little to get some blood flow going.  Ended up with 30.x miles on the week. 

For a moment on Friday I felt good enough that I was thinking about racing in 2025.  Wow.  There would need to be a lot of changes to get to that but the thought was entertaining.  We'll see.  Fairly certain I could do that "beat your age" thing at that 10k on Memorial Day if I wanted to lay out that much cash for a run.

I had a laugh at a memory of my younger ego self.  I recently came across a guy sharing that he had run a mile at the age of 70 in 5:46.  I remember when he did it.  I remember I thought "cool," but I really didn't appreciate the magnitude of that sort of thing.  I have a different perspective now.  

Boston tomorrow.  I know some folks running.  Some asked if I ever ran it.  Yeah, I did - but it was when a.)  you didn't really do marathons unless you were running 100 miles a week b.) you could run Boston bandit and it was not only not a big deal but sorta cool and c.) I was convinced to do so by a pretty girl each time (not a good idea fwiw).  So I don't really have a road marathon time even though I have done a bunch of marathons (at least PPM 10 times).  

I hope all of ya' running tomorrow have a blast, run fast and get everything you went for.  It is truly an amazing race - and I even got that when I did it in the 90s as a bandit.  

Ouch

I took a step backwards in hopes that it would be a longer term step forward.

In October I got a cortisone shot.  I worked well, but it had pretty much wore off by December.  I then took most of December and January off in hopes that a full rest could help address issues with the knee.  They didn't. 

I started slow jogging again towards the end of January, and have been doing about 30 miles a week.  That has crept up a bit to even north of 40.  I have issues with the knee but have negotiated with myself that as I am not training for anything pace doesn't matter.  So my runs have been slow, with frequent stops to take pictures or make calls.  It is really just about being outside, moving a bit.  I am sure I am not helping the knee with that but I am doing the runs more for the limited muscles above my neck.

I did talk to the doc who gave me the shot in October and proposed a treatment of Duralone - a hyraulic acid.  I got that shot on Tuesday.  

By Tuesday night my knee was grapefruit swollen and so I was more than gimpy.  I had difficulty sleeping most of Tuesday night.  So no running Tuesday or Wednesday.

By Thursday, it had subsided some but I was still pretty sore and stiff.  But it was enough in that place that I thought some movement would help.  I eeked out a slow 3 miles.   I think it helped even though it seems like a day of rest would have been fine too.  

Apparently, the amount of fluid injected can cause this reaction.  Fingers crossed it moves the whole thing in the right direction

Consequences

When TZ and I decided to marry, my father informed me that he and my mother would not attend our wedding.   She was not for me according to him.

Our relationship had been rocky, arguably broken by those who could observe it, but that edict put a nail in the door that closed things pretty hard.  He'd apologize years later, and with those recants we'd still have relations, conversations, and even laughs with each other, but that exchange left a hard long standing scar among other paper cut wounds.  

I am not sure what he had hoped to accomplish with that play.  It wasn't like I was in a book, walking away to be a baron of some land trust, forgoing that to marry some girl of non-royal stock.  "Yeah Dad, you are right - I decided to tell her we won't marry, but perhaps she could be my concubine."  Instead, it left me angry and my wife with a resentment.  

Even years later, when I'd try to explain the good he had done in my life, that choice by him was a bold-italicized-underline that was impossible to overlook.  I wonder if I ever got to truly forgiving him.  Or if I should have.  Or if I held that interaction as a way to keep him at arms length.  Perhaps that was appropriate anyway.   While there is nothing I can do about that with him now, I look at relations I have now where I have placed a person in the so called "penalty box" ... 

His choice on that matter of our wedding, and other decisions he made planted a seed in me that became a principle in how I approach our children (now adults) ... and that is to let them live their lives.  I recognize it sounds basic, but I have seen that it is one of those things that is "simple but not easy."

Week ending 13APR2025

Unexpectedly got a few more miles than "planned" and ended up with 43.  The knee seemed to handle that well but the "twinge" factor was up.  

I spent a chunk of time in Seattle.  Well, technically Bellevue.  

It was nice to come home and catch some of the first buds of spring.  Got in another dozen plus miles of walking too.

Week ending 06APR2025

More pix over on IG.

Started the week in Weifang.  I found a nice little set of inner city trails to run, and was not alone in the wee hours of the morning.  The early jogs did establish a good cadence for the day for me.   The runs were slow, meandering with stops for pictures, and with little concern for anything other than checking out where I was at.  

There is a lot to these trips.  Visiting the groups I work with over there, connecting with people I otherwise only interact with electronically, seeing how product is actually manufactured, and coming away with a feeling of gratefulness ... of the opportunity to be a part of it and to have the life I have there and at home.  It is basic but hard to explain ... seeing the broader world in this regard is eye and heart opening for me.  I learn a lot technically, but that is often washed over by a wave of recognition that there are a lot of people on this planet ... and most of us go home and want to just share a good laugh with friends and family at the end of the day.  

After a couple of days in Weifang (that was DEN-LAX-HKG-TAO to get there) we headed to Hanoi (that was TAO-ICN-HAN).  Weifang was huge city, but Hanoi was massive - or at least where I was.  

Similar running.  

And then the trip back home.  That was HAN-NRT-SFO-DEN.

Got some jogging back when I got home to shake the cobwebs and fight the jet lag.  And to recognize the insanity of world travel and the basic joy of your own place.  

I jogged with GW Sunday morning to get caught up.

39 miles on the week.  Probably another 9 of measured walking.