Met up with Bob and did the Bismarck. 16.6 miles. I sort of felt like it was going to be a slog towards the start as the 8:45 pace felt much harder than that. We ended up managing just a few clicks over 8 minute pace on relatively easy running. Certainly would not have done that if Bob was not there. Which is part of why I do it.
Started some stuff outside (lettuce, carrots, spinach). Somethings are getting the start indoors. This is all due to the TZ efforts.
Got rid of that Mud, sweat and tears blog reference in the blog reader that was throwing up the malware error. Sorry about that.
Heading up to Leadville this weekend. Brandon is hosting his annual Pb night run event. I will look to help out there, but will also jump into the Leadville burro race on Sunday (part of Leadville Boom Days). Technically, as I am not a Western Pack Burro Association member, I cannot win the Triple Crown. I am not concerned about that. I am just looking for another fun day up in the mountains. I have never taken Mosquito Pass from the west side, even though I have been up there probably some two dozen times. This will be fun.
Thursday night is another BRR track meet, but I am on the fence if I will jump in that or not. It would be fun to do a 1500 – 800 double (“fun”), and maybe even see if the kids want to race. JZ wants to do the steeple, but they don’t have this go around. Biggest issue for me is keeping the grizzle on the back of my lawn mower foot together. Lacing up the flats or spikes ain’t the best way to that.
I am feeling pretty solid on the Enman pick for PPM women in light of this result.
For the first time in my life, I am feeling a bit less than enthusiastic about the Olympics. I dunno. To some extent, I appreciate the stories of the athletes, the drive and commitment it takes to get to that stage – and that hugely tugs at my heart strings… but I am sort of “ho-hum” about much of it. I can’t tell what the difference is between guys on the pommel horse unless they fall off it outright. For years the “judged” events have been less interesting to me, and so I have enjoyed the more outright objective competitions. Yeah, and I realize that comes from a guy who just ran with an equine in the mountains for a half dozen hours. Maybe when the track stuff lights up, I will get a bit more fired up. But even there, I suspect I will feel a bit of an dread of the overhead of doping and PED use. Check out SOS for some decent coverage of these issues.
This just gets dumber and dumber. Now they are imposing a 3 minute penalty on Kilian but he still maintains first place. I get the Skyrunning rules? Again, no beef with anyone personally, it just seems that we are making this way harder than what it should be. No one is going to question how bad ass of a runner KJ is if he gets a DQ here. This seems to me to be a case of looking to find something fair in the spirit of compromise or being nice. From what I read from what Karl stated, even KJ would have got that he might be DQ’d. If you don’t run the same course, or within the same spirit of the course, it is a different thing. Cut the course, DQ. I ain’t expecting Nick or Anton or Rickey or Jason or Dylan to post anything on it because they are all class acts, and they are not going to say anything. I really have no idea how they feel, nor am I asking them to step any say anything about it. But as far as I am concerned, they all can take a –1 to their placing (they move up). I’d like to hear good rationale for why not.
PM – Dirty Bismarck loop, 15 miles.
So much for not blogging …
Eyeballed the reg stats a bit this AM, before things get a bit murkier with the registration tomorrow. Looking at this, it confirms for me something I already know … if you run a time, a place will come. That is not to say you don’t race. Of course you race. But races like that, ultras … your race is more about what you do and less about what you do in regards to your competitors. You do what you can and if the time plays out, the place will come. Run sub 20 at Leadville and you are top 10. Put down an 8:10 IM and chances are you will win (or at least beat Chrissie). Run sub 4:30 at Pikes and you probably “win” the masters for the men (the quotations are there because win is relative here … they take out any masters in the top ten and so that eliminates guys like Carpenter and Boettcher, but that is a separate rant).
I am not sure if I am going to make the choices between now and race day that most effectively set me up to run that sort of time, so … I try not to think about it. I mean, I do think about it, but I realize that thinking about it is probably more of a problem than a solution. If instead I focus on what I can do now or this week, and maximizing that … then it could work. But it might not.
Other various rants and ramblings …(ala Knuckledragger) …
Got this from JT … compression suits going too far? Maybe I need one of these for burro racing?
Boulder is considering adding a test for dogs for their green tag program for off leash use. I want to administer that test. I want to have the dog be off leash, and remain on stay, completely on voice control while I run a gaggle of turkeys in front of the dog. I am pretty sure there will be something like four dogs in all the county that pass the test. These dogs are blind and deaf.
JZ had a Scout meeting last night. He is no longer a Cub Scout, but now a Boy Scout. This was not his first meeting but it was probably their first “regular” meeting. TZ and I were there for some parent orientation, and so I got to watch some of the dynamics of the boys running a meeting. Pretty cool and pretty funny. Loud, but effective. Amazing to see young teens doing project management. Again, I am not sure how far JZ will go with Scouts, but how can you not be in favor of an organization that is looking to foster these ideals in young men? A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent.
I found Lynette Carolla’s rant at the start of her podcast – regarding the “entitlement epidemic” interesting. Got to love her tag line on her podcast: “You’re a parent now. Don’t F it up.”
Summer is shaping up. Some chain saw camp. Maybe a trip with the Scouts to Yellowstone (and probably a bunch of other camping with them as well). PPM. Some burro racing perhaps. I want to get to the track for some BRR races. Spring has some business trips, including one back to Tel Aviv, one to San Fran (never have been there and I want to hit the Marin area for some running but I have no clue about any of that), and Ireland. Maybe some unicycle bagpipes in a kilt in a Darth Vader outfit.
I found Joanna Z’s post particularly close striking to home …
I am still waiting to see Karl’s luge video from this year (2012) … here’s the one from 2011.
Just nmp will groan at another podcast, I found this one interesting: Dave Horton – particularly where he discusses how his run across America put an end to him.
Mid day, 14.5 with Shad and Bob on the Dirty Bismarck out of Superior. Another warm day but I was fairly hydrated going in. Felt comfortable throughout this run, and even put in a few 6:30s towards the end (although down hill)
