Thursday 060415

AM – 5.7 miles with JV, Skurka and Roche.  I had been trying to get together with Dave for sometime and it worked out that I was able to connect this up with Jeff and Andrew as well.  Just an awesome crew – good conversation on running, life … well, if you can get a word in while heading up Green.  Just incredibly passionate and positive people …
A little debate on the trail on poles … some say they work wonders.  Others say they keep you from running and encourage you to hike.  And some say they make you a hiker anyway.  I got them in an Amazon order today and intend to start test driving them soon.  I do expect to use them. 

I had intended to do a dental cleaning and then swing back to Chautauqua after a bit of office work for a  longer effort.  But I got word from Dave Mackey that he had a window for visitation and I headed down to Denver Health to see him.

Dave talked me through the accident, the rescue, his current situation and what is projected to come up next with surgeries, rehab, etc.  It will be a tough road.  I will admit it: it is hard to see Dave like this.  Every other time I have seen him he has been a powerful athlete moving through a race, with determination and focus.  He is powerful, determined and focused still but fighting a very different battle of endurance, and probably easily argued the toughest one he has ever faced.   Still, you (and he) see that and you realize how lucky he was/is.  I don’t think you can really think about that and not be moved emotionally.  I certainly was.

So a day of inspiring people … I mean really inspiring people.  The universe speaks.

I am heading up to Laughing Valley Ranch tomorrow night for a burro run with Jack.  If interested in joining, give me a shout.

Late afternoon – 7.3 miles.  Hot. 

Evening – the Pumpkin took a nice tag.  As far as car accidents go, this is about as take as you can get.  I was at a light, making a right on red, signal on.  Someone tried to slip up around me in the bike lane (in their car) and when I made the turn … crunch.  Basically there is no turn lane for them, they tried to make one.  Bummer is that it looks to be three panels that will need to be dealt with.

Sunday 113014 – JV’s 1000th Ascent of Green.

I had the privilege of joining JV for his 1000th summit of Green Mountain this AM.  Arguably Jeff did this months ago, as he had some additional 100 summits or so before he started formally keeping track.  In any case, today was his count of the 1000th.  A small crew of us gathered to join him on his trek, and the mountaineering experience was off the charts:  Skurka, Homie, Ralston, Bruce, and then we met Tony and Joe at the top. 

I did a short jog with TZ in the AM and thought conditions would be great.  I went out with her around 8 and it was in the 50s. At 9, as I was prepping to head out, I noticed that the temp was dropping and I could see the haze coming in from the west.  It got colder still.  By the time I was leaving the house around 30, it had dropped probably 20 degrees and it would be in the 20s by the time I got to Boulder.  A haze locked in the Flatirons – but this would set up for a beautiful inversion view from the summit.

We hung at the summit for a bit taking in what Jeff has hundreds of times before, and enjoying the moment.  The inversion was pretty amazing.
We headed back down into the cloud (where it was colder too), casually and carefully as there were sections with socked in ice.  Once at the bottom I was able to entice JV into one of his favorite pre/post race treats – a bowl of cereal.  An amazing day for a great guy with an incredible crew.  I had a blast.  Thanks for sharing it Jeff!

Side note – there was a lot of chatter as to how quickly the weather turned.  I found this graphic from the local wunderground web site that reflects how quick the temps dropped.

8:45, 54 degrees.

 
9:30, 24 degrees – and still dropping.

So 30 degrees in 45 minutes.  Amazing!

I ended up with 5.6 on the day (4.6 on the Green RT), and 101 and change on the week. Largest week of the year – but again, just grabbing it while I can.   In general, I held it together fairly well, but it was a little bit of edge island.  I could feel the calf having issues in the front of the week, but it let up.  I did some squats in the middle of the week and I could feel that niggling in the right side for the rest of the week.  Green today was not too bad, but admittedly the effort was very light for these guys.    Leadville lottery opens this week and I expect to throw my name in the hat.

November was a month that I had hoped to get back at it a bit more after the travel month in October.  As it turns out, the months were nearly the same – in October I had 271.7 miles.  November I had 274.4.  34.8 hours in October, and 38.2 in November.  8 days off in October and 5 in November.  In part I think this was because while I was traveling in October, I could commit to a schedule when not working of getting runs done (when just on work travel).  In November, I had a set back at the start of the month with the calf spinning up a bit … so it took me some to work through that.