Week ending 03MAR2024

A blur of a week in Westport, then Galway for a couple of days.  Lower miles than typical but some quality.  

Monday AM - explored Westport for 4 dark miles.  Felt pretty good even with the long run in the legs.

Evening - 4.2 miles, headed out on the Greenway trail up to Newport but that got dark real quick.  The trails in town are well lit, but that one had no lighting.

Tuesday - similar exploring.  4 miles.

Evening - 4.1 miles, including exploring the Col. Woods area.

Wednesday - got in seven, very slow on a rainy afternoon before getting TZ at the train station.  I was a soaked rat at the end of it.  Headed out to Clew Bay and back on the rail line.

Thursday - got in 6.3 in the afternoon.  Managed to do some of this a bit up tempo.  

Friday - very easy six

Saturday - jumped in the local Parkrun at Willie K's urging.  It was on the rail line.  It was a colder and nearly wet start but the real stuff held off.  I had pretty low expectations - as I have not really done anything in a bit.  The first mile drops 70 feet and so was quicker - 6:30.  I actually didn't start too fast, and synched up off of what Willie was doing (although I think we was just relaxing).  Once we got to the bay (maybe 1.3 out?) we flipped around started the climb back.  Willie gapped me here but only by about 10 yards.  The second mile was a 6:48.  I could definitely feel that lack of this sort of work in the last mile and the gap grew to 20 seconds.  6:58 - breaking 7 was a chore for me on that one.  20:52 for the finish - better than I expected and got me thinking about the work to break 20.

We took to Galway on Saturday, and then did Cliffs of Moher, etc on Sunday.  I managed 5.2 mile in Galway on Sunday, picking it up here and there - feeling pretty good.  And then I tripped on my shoe lace and cut open my left knee.  Just a scrape. 

Went through 500 miles sometime on this week.  

Ton of pix to post, but I will do that in a separate one.  

Pikes Peak Marathon 2023 Report (17SEP2023)

6:28:50, with a 3:58:36 ascent and 2:30:14 descent.

I gave myself a lose predictor last week of a seven hour round trip.  It wasn't sandbagging in as much as I really didn't know what I could do.  I knew I was a far way from any sort of 5 hour attempt given recent runs and ... well, lack of training.  I hadn't run more than a dozen miles on any single run this year and the most vertical I got on any day was around 3k feet.  A 26 mile affair with 7800 feet of climbing was even questionable to finish.  

I had friends tell me I ought not to do it, but I felt I had to do it, simply to show I still could and I was not sure when, if ever, if I could do this again.  The goal was to finish.  And then from there, if I could make some sort of arbitrary goals while enroute, I'd do that.  But even race day, I was wondering if I'd be racing the cutoffs to just finish.

I will come back with what my splits were, but they are nothing stellar.  Pretty sure I got to Ruxton around 4 and change, and Hydro around 12.  I took no shame in going to the walk early and often - I didn't want to be worked over by the time I got to Barr Camp.  I got to the top of the Ws in just under 43 minutes and to No Name in about 63.  

It is a different dynamic in the race in this space.  I was getting passed by a lot of walkers who could just power by.  It was pretty amazing to see these tiny women with powerful glutes just kill the climb with a walk that looked like a Sunday afternoon stroll while I was trying to keep up with a sort walk-run-shuffle ... and I'd lose ground to them.  

With the wave start too you get passed by later starters (I was wave 1, but I am sure that is from old day times and it won't be the case if I return).  The trail is much more crowded at the start ... it is not a problem unto itself, but you can find your mindset tricked into doing things based on what is around you with other racers versus doing what you should.  You may want to walk because the others around you are when you should run ... and you may want to pass hard when you ought to chill.  

I did get to Barr Camp in about 1:50.  I was not overly worked but I knew I was working.  And then I almost didn't run another step the rest of the race.  I could feel the hamstrings starting to sing on the climb to A-Frame.  So, it was just moving forward.

The altitude became noticeable to me too.  I felt there were sections I could run from a leg perspective, but I'd be spiking my HR quickly when I did because I was not breathing great.   Probably a lack of time up high, hanging out at sea level last week, and some of the scarring from the PE.  And age, getting fat, etc.  I'd get waves of the "you are up high buddy" headache but was able to shake those with some adjustment.  

Somewhere around A-Frame I started doing the math for my predicted 4:20 climb.  It seemed very reasonable, but then I started thinking about it being quicker, and if I could pull a sub 4:00.  I knew it would be very close.  The miles before Barr were well on target but I knew it would be slower going, close to 2mph up high.  

It got challenging with the runners coming down too.  This has always been the case with the leaders coming down, but obviously the farther you are back in the pack - the more you have to deal with that.  And when you are dealing with it with people who are slower, they are more naturally going to come to a complete stop and wait for the downhiller to pass, versus just going to the side and still moving.  In some cases I'd stop, but in other cases, I'd just keep moving by the person who stopped.  It irritated a couple for sure ... 

Of course, on the up I saw JV coming down, JT as well.  It was good to see them having good races.  

The hammies were starting their cramping through the Golden Stairs, but I managed to walk it out a bit carefully.  As we crested that little ridge, I was around 3:55 so I was pretty sure I could get the sub 4, but also knew it would be tight.  I managed to gimp across at 3:58 and change.  I took some liquids and started the slow gimp down.  

I guess that means I did from Barr to the top in about 1:58.  Not an equal split, but pretty good for the type of work I had done.  

The game then shifted to if I could still get under 7 for a round trip.  I was moving VERY slowly through the rocks.  I could feel with any sort of curl to my leg the hammies start to yell and so I'd go to a walk to work that out.   I think my first mile down was like 18 minutes.   Of course, it starts to smooth out a little and you can get to running but it was careful and slow.  Really slow.   Saw Don S and gave him a high five - just love sharing the hill with that guy over the years.  

The run down is a constant monitoring the dashboard for me:  do I need fluids?  should I take a gel?  can I run?  watch those rocks!  hey there is a guy up there can we catch them?  oh shit the legs are cramping again!  ... etc, and adjusting.  I'd lose focus for a second and almost inevitably I'd almost take a digger.  Amazingly I didn't.  

And I was calculating:  could I still get a sub 2:40 on the down?  I know the signs down indicate a slightly greater distance to the finish then they actually are and I was thinking that would help me for four or five minutes.  

Once you get to Barr Camp ... the down seems almost like punishment for the sake of punishment.  You have done the thing, but you have a half dozen miles to still put it all to bed.  It is hot, you are tired, and the downs seem almost even more steep than they were on the way up.  

Somewhere in the Ws I knew I was going to break the 2:40 down and so it became a new adjustment to 2:30 it.  I got passed by three in the last 300 yards but I managed a 2:30:14 down for a total of 6:28:50.   9th in the age group and 175 overall.  

I am aware my down is nearly the same time I used to go up.  I am aware that sort of decline is inevitable.  But I am also aware of what I may still be capable of if I am willing to dedicate to it.  But I am mostly aware that I am happy that I got this done this time.  I could have easily not done this, but it was important to prove I still could and make it hurt a bit.  My brain is naturally thinking about what is next ... but any longer term aspirations are trumped by a short term understanding that I need to recover from this.

Week ending 16OCT2022

Monday - just four miles squeezed in but managed some 800s at six minute ish pace and then some 200s faster.  Got my doors blown in by the Eagle ladies.  

Tuesday - a touch sore-tired but to be expected.  Coughing my brains out from yesterday's work.  8.1 miles easy.  

Wednesday - AM 3 miles.
PM - 6 miles.

Thursday - not much running as was supporting the TT for the Eagles.  Biked some, walked some when flagging the course and then got in 3 miles.

Friday - easy nine.  Probably too much for a day before a harder effort.

Saturday - up to CSU for the Parents Weekend and Homecoming thing.  JZ talked us into to doing the 5k.  I wasn't wholly sure what sort of shape I was in - it could be 23 or 20 minutes.  I figured it wasn't 20 because I hadn't done much since the PE's and I was running about 20 before that.  After a 1.5 mile warm up I gave myself the pep talk to not go out too fast, and to build into it.  So, of course, I botched that.  I was out in 6:20 and I am sure most of that came in the first kilo.  Legit - like everyone - it felt fine until it didn't.  I was fading after that, both physically and mentally I could see how my focus / ability to press was shit.  A 7 minute second mile and then a 6:52 third brought me for the 5K at 20:48.  I was nicely surprised at that and felt the post race motivation of thinking about getting back at training and actually executing.  Great event.  7.5 ish on the day.

Sunday - travel to Puerto Rico - so that was an all day affair.  Managed to get out for 3 after dark.  I thought the beach jogging would be the shizzle but it wasn't great on the soft stuff with the slope in the dark.  

Miles will be rough this week given the schedule, and the humidity will be my typical kryptonite.  I'll try to get on a higher intensity lower quantity week in light of that.  

Week ending 05DEC2021

Monday AM - with GW in little circles on the infield of the track.  5 miles.  Strava tells me I ticked 2400 on the year yesterday. 

PM - 4 miles on Lake Link with strides embedded.  

Tuesday AM - 8.3 miles with 2 miles of fartlek, 200m on, 200 off.   Was hitting 41,42 on the 200s.

239 miles in November, 10k feet of climb, 2 races, and a day off.  Meh, but better than it has been.

Been digging Bruce lately.

Wednesday AM - 8 miles with GW around practice.  Easy and felt pretty good.  

Thursday dusk - 7.5 miles, Ditch to Commons to Ridgeview loop.  

Friday afternoon  - 4.3 miles on the ditch.  Strides to round it out.  A "pre-meet" in light of Park Run on Saturday.  

Saturday AM - another crack at the South Boulder Creek Park Run.  Two weeks ago here I went 6:29, 6:45, 6:42, for a 20:50, or averaging 6:38 pace.  Encouraged by a 6:31 pace for something just shy of 5k on Thanksgiving I had hoped for something averaging at or better than that pace.  I also knew a couple of weeks ago, I ditched a race plan about 2 minutes into the race and went ahead of a couple of guys who then caught me around 2 and quarter in.  I didn't want that to happen again.

But it nearly did, exactly.  But not quite.  

I got out more carefully - 6:34, which is not a lot different but it was much better balanced (I think I hit a half in about 3:10 two weeks ago).  But I found it difficult to sit behind a competitor who blew me up a couple of weeks back, and so after some mental debate, I again ditched the race plan and left him (yes, he caught me again with about a mile to go and beat me by about 30 seconds).  

I struggled again on the stretch to the south, posting a a 6:47 this go around.  In the virtual race against myself, I would be 50 yards behind me this week at 2 miles.  I did manage to do a bit better in the last mile 6:37 and finished again in 20:50 (maybe 20:49 but Parkrun put me at 20:50).  I was a bit disappointed but I guess it is not greatly surprising.  

I checked on Strava how the guy who whipped up on me in the last mile over the last two weeks did it and I determined - yes he is going very slow in the first mile (6:48 two weeks ago, 6:45 this go around) and really picks it up the last mile (6:15, 6:14 over the last two weeks).  I am not going to subscribe to that much of a shift in a negative split.  

10 and change on the day.  

Sunday - coordinated with Syd Kid and we got in 9 plus miles at sunrise.  

56 high something on the week.  It is getting where I probably need to be a bit more detailed in training to expect a shift in results (v. exercising).   

It has been a ridiculously warm and easy to train in December.  The Sunday AM run was in t-shirt and shorts at 6:30 in the morning.  There has only been one spit of snow this "winter" to speak of.  While it is nice, it does not bode well.  

Oh yeah, so all those videos of me doing music?  Yeah, they are all loaded over on YouTube.  They each get like 10 hits.  Maybe 30 if they sort of take off.  I have one I did of "Maggie's Song" that has oddly got like 800.  But this one where I video'd the band doing "Joy of My Life"  ... 17,000 and climbing.  

And from the time flies meme ... this was five years ago now.

Week ending 28NOV2021

Monday afternoon - delightful weather but not the kind of stuff we ought to be experiencing in late November ... 70 plus degrees.  9.1 miles, interrupted with too much work stuff (I let that happen).

Tuesday AM - 9.2 miles around practice - super easy.  Dumb sore still from Sunday.

Wednesday AM - 4 miles with a few strides.  

Wednesday night ... had a gig at Mother Tucker's.  

Thursday AM - the obligatory Turkey Day 5k.  I was not feeling overly confident in this, so I had low expectations.  Given I hadn't raced until this past Saturday in over 2 years, and that I was racing twice in a week ... well, I started to line up excuses:  it snowed the night before, it was cold, and I was still (!) feeling a bit sore from Green.  

But it went ok.  6:27 for the first mile.  That is as quick as last week, but I started it a lot smarter in the first couple of minutes (and it is slightly down to start).  I was feeling soft in the second mile which seemed to climb way more than I remembered - 6:47 (with about a quarter in there over 7, ugly).  Got going a bit on the downhill back into town for a 6:22.  I had 19:57 on the phone as I crossed the line but it took me a bit to get it to stop/register.  But - nearly everyone agreed its probably 100 meters short (I had 3.07).  I averaged 6:30 so I just chalk that up as an improvement over last week.  8.7 miles on the day.

Pace calculators put that pace at about 20:10-15 for 5k.  That would have been a nice improvement over last week's 20:50.  Age grading that puts that at 73.3 percent, also a bit of an improvement over last week.  All that said, I need to get back at least into some 19s so PB talks a bit less shit.  

Friday - up at ABC.  Day got away with various work on things.  Thought about a jog at the tail of the day but was sorta fried and gave myself the "this won't advance fitness" excuse.

Saturday AM - 8 miles easy with GW around practice.  

Sunday AM with Syd Kid and GW.  11 for me on total.  I was tired.  Right leg felt wonky, more worked than the left.  Just did 11 to get 50 and to get in a bit more a longer run than I have been getting.  

Week ending 21NOV2021

Monday - full day on a local engagement.  Didn't get out until the near evening, dark.  5.1 miles.  

Tuesday AM - 5 miles easy with GW and Syd Kid before heading into work.

Tuesday PM - 5.1 miles on the sunset on the Ditch/Lake Link loop. Meant to be easy, and it sorta was but I was moving unexpectedly quicker than I thought.  

Wednesday AM - 8 miles around practice.  Super easy.

Thursday AM - chilly (20 degrees).  5 miles easy.  

Friday AM - 6.1 miles.  Jumped in a lap or so every once in a bit of Syd kid's workout.

Saturday AM - been toying with the idea that I have to actually get back to some sort of racing so I headed over to Park Run this AM.  Good news:  I raced.  Bad news:  I am not that fit.  Good news:  I am not as bad off as I thought I might be.  Bad news:  I am sorta mentally soft right now.  Good news:  Nothing completely fell apart for me.  Bad news:  I was an idiot and went out too fast.

20:50.  Told myself going into the race I'd be super chill the first mile and them figure it out.  A group of guys made for a little pack at 100 yards in and I told myself to hang with them.  But 200 yards later I dropped because I had convinced myself they were going to slow.  And they caught me at 2 and quarter miles.  Good stuff.  Some things don't change.

Parkrun does really have their shit together.   You register, show up with your barcode, they scan that post your finish and its good to go.  Nice little email and results are sent over and they keep a database of your results over the years.

They also send age graded results.  While, I am not a proponent of age group ratings to identify who "won" a race outright, I recognize some value in considering those metrics.  When I consider my best times at various distances in my very late 20s, I would have posted a 80+% for those performances.  My Parkruns here (3 prior to the Saturday effort) ranked at 73% and my performance yesterday was at 71+%.  It gives me a bit of a pseudo objective view of where I was, how age versus focus may have shifted that some.  And a bit of a something in addition to times to chase.  

Oh yeah, first Parkrun since December of 2018, and first race since Pikes 2019.  It has been a while.  

10.2 miles on the day with the race, warm up and cool down.

Sunday AM - two super easy flat miles and then over to Green Mountain.  I think it has been since July of 2020 since I did a round trip on this.  Again, it has been a while.  I ended up going up ASG and then down the backroute.  Whole thing was slow but I expected that.  8.1 miles on the day.

56 miles on the week - a good one for me for sure with a Green, a Parkrun and some fair miles along the way.  

Crazy light lately on the bookends. 

Pikes Peak Marathon 2019

Bullet list race report for now.
- 5:25:53 off a 3:22:16 ascent and a 2:03:33 descent.  Got 67th overall, and 3rd in men's 44-49 AG.
- I forgot how tough this race was.  I mean, it is hard, and I knew that but I sort of forgot how stupid hard it is to run a marathon up a 14er.
- I had come in thinking that if I broke 5:30, that would be a good day.  So with that, I had a good day.  My descent was pretty rough ... I was struggling to run any significant pace, often getting the hamstring "shooters" up the inside back of each leg.  I had to stop and gingerly walk twice to manage this on the down. 
- This is my slowest finish at Pikes by a handful of minutes (2013, every other time has been a sub 5 - and this was my 9th marathon.  I have to be okay with it though when I consider how I prepared, other priorities in life ...
- It was hot today.  Some folks said 97 down low.  I dunno if it was that hot, but it was a pretty hot day below Barr Camp, and especially below No Name Creek.
- Got to chat with some cool folks (Wendy, Dagmar, and Gene - all from out of state) before the race.   Also chatted it up a bit with Max K and JV and Corey D.  And also got to chat with Don S and Don B post.  The community of this race (and ones like it) just can't be beat.
- I was probably out too fast, but I still find it nearly impossible not to be.  I jogged to Ruxton in 3:20.  Given road training and lack of hill, it is just going to be that way.  But I was probably in over my head even by the Top of the Ws.  I just have not prepared for that sort climbing and I was feeling it.  There was a LOT of walking today - up and down.  I made it to Barr Camp in 93, but the lack of specific training then hit me.  It was another 1:53 to the top ... and I was really tenuous on the down all day.  Altitude was a factor for me too ... I got to the summit and actually sat on a rock for 15 second to take a drink and eat a few grapes ... I was getting dizzy and tunnel visioned and realized I needed to get the hell out of there. 
- Saw Bill Lee below Barr Camp and gave him a hug. 
- A lot has changed at this race.  Of course, it is the same race, but there is a shift in the things around it - the shutdown of Manitou Avenue, the big screen as you come in, hard to find race day parking, the post race party, the wave start, etc.  You can really feel the impact of the Golden Trail series.
- Matt's record lives another year.  I am not surprised.  There was some post race chatter that the record won't be broken because the course has degraded too much for someone to make a good run at it.  I am not sure I can buy that ... 8 minutes of course degradation for the Ascent?  I really don't think folks can appreciate how good a sub 2:10 is ... and each minute below that is another crazy layer of stratosphere ... 2:01? 
- on the women's side, there is a new CR of 4:02.  That is ridiculous and is likely to stand as long if not longer than Matt's record.  By the way ... that sort of blows up the course has degraded thing since the women's CR has fallen twice in the last two years.
- had to hang out in medical for about a half an hour, maybe more with my typical set up - on my back, ice on the chest and legs up on a chair ... just to flip the BP.
- slipped ahead of JT, but I feel fortunate I caught him on a Double.
- this was my first time back to the race since 2014.  I won't absolutely commit to saying I am back to doing this every year now, but I am still in love with this race (and its grueling cruelty).


More later this week.

Weekend 10-11AUG2019 and Gold Rush Days Pack Burro Race

Saturday - 5.6 easy miles with the team in the AM.

Saturday night I went to Railsend to play an open mic.  Sign up was supposed to happen at 6:30. I got there at 6:15 and got a 10PM slot - as the earlier slots were already filled (!)  I was not overly stoked about the late start ... it would mean my sleep for the Buena Vista Pack Burro Race would be short and I was already looking at 5AM start of drive to get there.

When 10:20 hit and the guy who was supposed to play at 9 had not yet played - I bagged it.  I was looking at a midnight gig.  I was getting tired, cranky and not really in the moody to play.  Yeah, as a rock and roller, I'd have a tough go of it I guess, but I had to make that call if I was going to go to BV.

Rolled into BV around 8 after dropping TZ off in Fairplay.  I did the typical setup and was ready all set to go under a lightly rainy set of skies by 9 and change.  We wandered up for the 10AM start ...

Jack and I rolled out of town with the leaders and as we turned north to head to the hair pin before the bridge, he eased into the lead.  I was stoked.   A lead position before hitting the single track and the bridge would be perfect - to assure at least we were in the mix for all of it ... just before making the hairpin back, a donkey came up behind me, clipped my legs and I went down.  I was able to manage to keep the rope, but I was banged up pretty good - although thankfully not trampled on.  I am sure I will be able to post pix of this soon.

We bounced up, ignoring the sting of the road rash and trying to assert some surge of adrenaline in the mix.  We had slipped quickly to fourth but it was not overly concerning if we could stay in the lead group.  Anytime third began to slip the pace from 1, 2 (Marvin, Louise teams) I'd yell a bit to get going or to let us by.  As we came into the open space around the bridge entrance, I made a go to get around two of the teams and move into second.  As I came by Pandora/Louise on the bridge, I got caught squeezed between Jack, Pandora and a barricade post crotch high.  I had made this error forgetting the post and turned sharply to not do real serious organ damage.  I went down again - and this time I lost the rope for 10 yards.  I retrieved Jack and now had to bring him back against teams trying to go upstream.  We slipped to ninth.  The lead group pulled away.

And that was pretty much it.  Hal and I worked together to move to sixth and seventh.  We made ground on the lead pack of five, maybe even getting within 100 yards of them on the climb to the highest point on the course, but then we ended up moving slowly behind Hal and FTB and lost four minutes ... We ended up seventh in 1:59 on the nose.

It was a fun day to run with Jack, we just had some bad luck and a few errors that added up.  It happens.

I was reminded burro racing is a contact sport.  The cuts and road rash I have today are less troubling than the throbbing left hip I am currently managing.  Hope that clears in the next day or two ...

That is pretty much a wrap on the burro racing season.  We didn't win any Triple Crown races but we did manage a win in Georgetown and in Creede - two races we had never won before.  Not bad but not the big games that we used to take.

13.6 miles

Leadville Boom Days Race 2019

Pic taken by Peak Focus Photography.

Jack has won the Leadville race six times, with five of those times coming with me at the end of the tether.  We didn't compete in it last year as I only did the Fairplay race with him.  Neither of us are the runners we were even a few years ago when we secured the Triple Crown in Leadville in 2015, but we had managed a fair number of good days in Leadville by taking advantage of the smooth road finish coming down the last few miles of California Gulch.  There was some question as to if we could improve on our fourth place finish from Fairplay the week before, and maybe play the spoil sport to Leadville hometown favorites, Marvin and Buttercup in their bid for the Triple Crown.

I got up to Leadville with TZ early - like 7AM - coming up from Fairplay.  We did the typical donkey prep, race day reg, fiddling with the saddle, but I was feeling the early rise.  As the race approached, I tried to get my mind right, or dial in the power of magical thinking.  Meaning, imagining stuff that might occur if I think about it like it is really going to happen.  There is nothing really to this approach, but it beats the alternative - thinking you can't.  Because if you believe that you are truly screwed.

We got out well, with the leaders and started the long climb up.  Jack was in no mood to lead this group but we settled into a pack of about 8 teams.  It would stretch, collapse, repeat.  I had no real concerns here because as long as we were in contact, we were not losing anything.  You are unlikely to win the race here, but you can lose it.

As we started the first descent, it was still the same crew.  No big moves, and nothing fast.  But as the climb out of checkpoint three started, the race really set.  Hal / FTB and Marvin / Buttercup put a clinic on of getting away a little by little.  Jack and I fell way way back - even far back from the 3-7 positions as if we were getting dropped.  It took most of the climb to fight our way back into the pack and then all the way back up to nose to nose with Louise in third place.  Hal and Marvin had probably a four or five minute lead on us coming off the pass, and they would slowly extend on that over the day.

As has been the case in past years, Jack carefully picked his way down through the rocky mining road, and now we don't run those ups much.  We were able to get away from some Tracy and Kirt, but we established a pack of Bob/Yukon, Joel/Jake, Louise/Pandora and me and Jack.  It stayed this way - sometimes stretching out as much as 200 yards between us.  As we hit the road, Bob and Joel had separated significantly but I knew Jack and I would roll that up.  Louise caught up to the crew and we got a good little set of movement going - still not 2012 speed, but fair enough.  We shook Joel but we didn't have the wheels to break Bob or Louise.  I knew what the outcome was going to be coming into town even as we turned onto a traffic busy, rainy Harrison with its cones and loud people but tried to make a fight of it anyway.  We ended up fifth behind Louise (3rd) and Bob (4th) in about 3:55.  Marvin had won in a time of about 3:45, about the typical time it takes to win.  Hal had come in a few minutes later in second.

It was a good day and a good run for a couple of guys who still think they got it.

What a week ...

Let's see ... no update in a while but it ain't for lack of activity.

Friday 26JUL2019 - Teller Farm easy with the Eagles.  7 miles.


Saturday 27JUL2019 - up to Fairplay on Friday night.  Did my usual easy run down through the mine and the reeds to dial that in.  Headed over to the Fairgrounds afterwards to get a bit of check in with the donks.  3.7 miles.



Sunday - 28JUL2019 - yeah the big one, or the World Championships of Pack Burro Racing.  It was a different year in that we would not go across American Flats or even to Mosquito Pass because of high snow and the run off, but instead stay on the north side of the London Mine in an out and back fashion.  It was thought the course was going to be 25 miles rather than the typical 29 and change.  And it also was going to be a split start with long course runners starting about 10 minutes before short coursers.

JZ and KZ did the short course, and so getting them on and going was fun (images by John B)






As far as a race report - there is not much to really report other than this:  a group of eight teams got out and ran together, switching positions for the first 8 or so miles.  The running was not particularly fast and there was no one team really driving the lead any more than any other.








Then it was seven teams up past the fork (going to the right this time).  I had predicted that we'd probably go faster through the course given we were not covering the typically slow American Flats.  But it seemed that the donkeys were not going to have any of that and they slowed even on the road - almost in a collective union unspoken sort of fashion.  No one was really breaking away.


The climb on the rocky part to the London Mine was really slow - a walk, with Bob and Kirt getting slightly ahead of the remainder of us.  Jack and I were in close proximity but not enough to get the substitute First Ass to the Pass (a post at the London Mine in which Bob and Kirt "tied").  It was only nominally better on the down rocky  part.

Joel and Hal fell off and so it was down to five teams - Bob/Yukon, Marvin/Buttercup, Louise/Pandora, Kirt/Ricky Bobby and Jack and me.  It would stay this way all the way down the Mosquito Pass Road.  The donks were running but not quick enough to take away the legs from anyone.  The pack would taffy but then pack back up.  I knew any chance we had for a win would diminish the longer this played out and tried to get Jack to up the pace even slightly, but we are not the runners we were nearly a decade ago.

We came into the last five mile stretch with Bob, Marvin and I holding a slight lead over Kirt and Louise.  I thought this might be a place where Jack and I could get a bit of a lead but we couldn't manage it.  I even took a face plant spill (nice rope burn holding that rope!).

I took the lead into the mine, and even on the last climb and down through the South Park City Museum, but soon as we crossed the gate into town, Jack wanted to avoid the noise and crowds and turned to the left.  Marvin edged Bob for the win, and a late charging Louise came by Jack and I for third.  We were fourth on the 26.4 mile course just a few clicks under five hours.




No time to really celebrate a fair run in which we were in the mix all day or to mourn coming so close again for the fourth year in a row - turned around and headed back down to Broomfield to get ready for XC camp up at Tahosa with the HS team.

Guest speaker this year was a former marathon world record holder.







Awesome running with the kids for a few days at altitude.  It always sets the tone for the season in terms of goal setting, commitment, and what fun is for us.

I kept most the efforts light in light of recovering from the marathon effort on Sunday, but still jumped in the relay on Wednesday morning.  That left my lungs with the post workout hack.  All good.

Again, a quick turn around from that - and I was off to DC Wednesday afternoon for a couple of days of work.  I got tied up on Thursday and missed a day, but got out to the Mall on Friday before heading back.  I hit a new memorial:  FDR.  (8.6 miles in the humidity!)




Back home Friday night.  Colorado put on its typical night time light show for the evening dog walk.





And for Saturday ... a little run on the trails near Eldo before heading up to Leadville for Boom Days race tomorrow (6.6 miles).




So a busy week.  More to come.