Sunday 21JAN2024

Sunday - met Don and Shad over at the Costco and we ran the Marshall Road segment.  They continued up to NCAR, and I flipped at the underpass on Broadway.  10.1 miles and I averaged sub 8s for the run, but it was a bit of work.

Earlier in the AM I got an easy 1.9 with TZ.  Ended up with 56 plus on the week, with two workouts in there (hills on Main and 8 x 90' earlier in the week).

Started the writing project for the Big Book of Broomfield Running.  I will let you read about that there if you are interested versus replicating it all here.  

Week ending 24DEC2023

It was a good week.  60 miles plus of running, with a couple of days over 10 (doubles) and some fartlek stuff.  I almost felt like I was "getting ready to get ready" again.  

Most the runs were AM outings with the kiddos at BHS. 

Highlight run of the week of course was the Solstice Slog.  Has to be at least 10 years since we started this thing.  We kept is shorter and more tame on the miles and the stops this year but it was still an epic great conversation with the boys.

With stupidity following ...

KZ (who adamantly refuses to allow social media pix to be posted) got home on Saturday from Japan.  She will be here (ish) for two weeks before returning.  It is nice to have her home.

Got in a good Sunday AM run with Greg as the snow came in.

Week ending 17DEC2023

A little less than I would have liked to have got this week, but that seems to come a bit with some travel trips.  The long work days, combined with the short light days, being in a tech park with highways around me ... it made for less of a running week.  I even did some stuff this week on the treadmill.  It has been a minute since I have done that.  

So, Deerfield for a good part of the week with runs of 3-5 in the AM and/or evening. 

Got back Friday and hit Rails to catch some Slyjax.  

Then bolted over to the HS to participate in the basketball game half time recognition of the 2016 XC girl team getting into the Broomfield HS Sports Hall of Fame.  They get inducted on Sunday.

Saturday was more music - Off the Rail at Rails End, the Jons as the opener at the Gothic - and then of course another Roger Clyne show.  

Sunday included a 7 miler, part of Donnie B's 30 over at McKay Lake for his birthday (48k for 48 years).  Great to shoot the shit with the boys and clip off a few laps.  Need to do more of this.  

Sunday evening was the Broomfield High School Athletic Hall of Fame.  Fun to catch up with folks at this event.

Starting the New Year right

Got out for 10k wiith Shad, Bob, Don and Neeraj.  Special guest was JZ – which was a nice addition.  Guess which one he is in this shot?

Spotted an eagle down on the bend on past the lake on the Lac Amora loop.

It was chilly enough to flush out some ice beards too. 

Great way to start the New Year – good jog,with great guys.

2019 Race Plans

I got out with Shad and Bob last night.

It was a rare “3-fer” day … meaning I ran three times in the day.  It felt fine but that right foot is still feeling like I stepped on a rock hard on its bottom and bruised it (even though I did not step on a rock and bruise it).

We later connected up with Donnie and Neeraj for some catching up.  It was a blast.  Anyone who watched us probably thought we ready to break into a fight while also watching the best comedy we had ever seen – just a bunch of brothers giving each other well positioned crap while supporting each other.  I love it. 

Of course, we also discussed what potential plans there were for 2019 … there was a broad swath from almost declaring nothing to putting up that line of fourteen 14ers in about a 100 mile line. 

For me, and I recognize it might be just December arm chair quarterbacking … it seems like I’d play it like this:

- various mile and 5k efforts
- potentially the Leadville Trail Marathon
- potentially the Barr Trail Mountain Race
- Fairplay Pack Burro Race World Championship
- Pikes Peak Marathon
- California International Marathon

The thinking on this is that I would use the shorter stuff as part of overall development and bridge to the longer stuff in the summer.  Leadville Trail Marathon was not on the list before last night but then became an agreed upon possible show down between the old dogs who still think they have it.  I also have never done that one so it is interesting.  The Barr Trail Mountain Race is a good run as prep for Pikes.  Pikes is of course the bomb, and then there is CIM.  The draw there is I’d be 50, it would serve as my first official road marathon (that’s right – I have never done one but I did bandit Boston back in the 90s before it was considered some sort of mortal sin to do so) and I’d take a crack at breaking 3 – a time goal that has a window that seems to be closing on me quickly. 

Of course the World Championship of Pack Burro Racing in Fairplay is in there too.  I feel that is a race that I might just do for the rest of my life – but such things are easily said.  The trick with this race is that is could lead to a bunch of other races if you get on the “Triple Crown” train. 

I may also do some pacing at Leadville, which is now a week before Pikes, but that is tentative. 

I have a couple of weeks here to contemplate this further but I need to get on the mouse click trigger soon as registrations are coming up.

Weekend 15DEC-17DEC

Fri – it was a long day of travel after a morning at the job site:  Cleveland MS to Memphis TN across the cotton fields of northern Mississippi and the upper delta via car.  Then a flight from Memphis to Chicago and then from Chicago to Denver and then the ride home. 

I hit the door at 11PM.  TZ was out at a concert, JZ was out with friends and so I did what was necessary:  laced them up for five miles.

Sat – nice sunrise – good to be home.  The Lac Amora loop in the afternoon (7.7 miles)


Enjoyed a little hometown hoops with the Eagles taking on HF in the evening.  Eagles win!

Sunday was the Slog.  It is the fifth running of this affair.  We did a different route than past years, hitting a bunch of new places in Louisville and Lafayette.  We ended up getting in 23 plus miles.  It was a smaller crew and we limited the time we spent at any stop so the whole affair was done by 7.  It helped that we did not have to jump any fences this year.  Nonetheless, names will be kept confidential and we limit the photo evidence by design so that those with interviews for jobs Monday morning are not incriminated. 
 

The bigger run on Sunday bumped me over 80 miles on the week – the first time I have seen that since June.  My legs were pretty beat most of the day on the Slog, but it is a gift to be able to get around like that in any case and share some laughs, some ridicule and sarcasm with great guys.

Solstice Slog IV

So this idea of a run that hits several of the local establishments that first started in 2013 has continued on for its fourth year.  Each year gets a little bigger in regards to participation.  We had as many as 18 folks in the mix this year.

Thankfully, nobody lost their phone or got stuck in trying to climb a link fence or was hit by a car (it was close) or passed out in a bathroom.  There was a dog found and returned to its an owner, a pull up contest where a Nolans finisher could not do a single pull up, and a showing of donkeys.  The round trip of 20 miles and 7 stops was finished by four.  Along the way there was the usual good dishing of trash talk, laughs, surges, discussion on how I have an old man stride, consideration of next summer race plans and memory of races long ago. 

I feel pretty fortunate to know so many wonderful people that I can share some miles and beverages with.  Chatter is that there could be a summer edition of this event, but it seems the desire there is with less miles but more stops per mile.  Hoo boy.

Friday 01JAN16

Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.    - Charles Dickens

I am digging this post by Kyle Merber.  I get the “be safe, listen to your body” mantra that is consistently drummed in conversations about training.  When I give training advice I generally sing the same tune.  I probably would for the most part if I were a coach.   I see that this sort of advice often comes from folks who have had periods in their career where they said “screw it, I am going to go for it.”  They elect to move from the safe and try to find their edge.  In fact, aren’t you looking to do something at the limits of your abilities in a race anyway?  There is something to be said for those sort of periods of training to give you perspective, find your limits, and see what you are really made of.

I also appreciate that Merber makes all training a simple thing:  stress and recovery.  For all the chatter about different types of training or whose method is best, the reality of it is that it is all finding the way to most effectively stress your body and then get it to recovery so that you improve.  That stress might be different for a 46yo male who has run for 30 plus years than what it is for a 15yo teenage boy who has done very little running because the strengths and weaknesses are pretty different and what they are each training for might be pretty different (e.g. a 100 miler versus a half mile).

So in that regard, here is a link to Scott Jaime’s training for Hardrock.

I am gonna see if I can drop some of the podcasts I listen to and pick up some ItunesU stuff.  Any recommendations?  I was considering this as I was kicking around some college talk – resource items with KZ.  Of course, my thinking of immersing myself in that comes after a couple of weeks of being off.  Once the grind starts again next week, I am sure it will be on the back burner.  Way back.

Lots of projects are drumming in my head right now … not so much because of the New Year and doing it because it is 2016 but because I have some time to noodle on them now.  Hunting trips, mods to the ABCabin, donkey running and hiking, fishing, Scout camping trips, etc. 

Afternoon – Shad threw up the signal and Don and I jumped on it.  I managed to get everyone to agree to head over to the Commons, so I double dipped by getting JZ to agree to jog over there with me for his run.  He doubled back once we got there and then I met Shad.  Don caught up to us a little later. 



So I was the old man of the runners today (Bob usually gets this title).  We had one training for a mile, one training for Boston and one training for Hardrock.  Apparently if training for Hardrock you have to wear shorty shorts and compression socks. 12.7 miles when done.  Great way to kick of the year.