Tuesday - work. Snow. Band practice. Day off from running.
Wednesday - exhausted. Was out late with band practice, and then back at early on ET for work. Gritted through it over course, but was ready to fall asleep at the dinner table. Managed 8 miles. That was the best part of the day.
Thursday and Friday - nothing, - walloped with work, and more snow and then Friday night I had a gig on my own at Mother Tucker's in Louisville. It was good. SG did bass on a few tunes, but I pretty much handled the 30 or so on my own in probably my best individual show yet. And then Bill Lee showed up and that completely threw me.
Saturday - am Eagle practice. 10.3 miles with some harder 150s in there with the kids. Then off to a full Spare Change gig. Here is some vid from the 2nd and 3rd sets.
Sunday - I was just exhausted. 6 ugly miles even though it was beautiful weather. It just felt awful.
I ended up in the Dispatch Radio podcast with Bob Sweeney and Travis Macy.
A train wreck of an exercise week with just 32 something miles on the 4 days I ran ... but that is the price of the rock and roll life style and working a big gig.
Wednesday - cold and freezing fog. Was tired from a great band practice that ran late last night. Stepped outside and nearly fell on my ass walking to the mailbox and decided breaking my wrist was not something I was up for so I took the zero.
Thursday - afternoon 3 miles. Day got ate up with work and then I spend some time with this new addition,
Friday - ugh. A rough start and cold but managed 6.1 at Eagle practice with a 3-2-1xx cut down (4 sets with 200 on everything). Got my arse whipped by the PTA (pony tailed assassins).
Gigged at Front Range on Friday night - some solo, some with the boys.
Saturday - a bit beat down from the gig last night but managed an easy 8.1 with Greg and some with Syd Kid and her sis.
Sunday- 12.3, with the last 10 under 79. About 48 on the week with the day off. Not surprising that it was down with the weather, work and gig stuff.
Monday mid day - On a remote from Singapore gig this week. That means I started it Sunday night, and get on the horn from 4 to midnight. Then I am dumb and work most of the regular work day as well. But it did give me a nice mid day window to get out. 10.5 out and back heading up to 128. Clicked nicely on the way back.
Looked a while over towards Louisville and you could just see black black black. Moving.
Tuesday mid day - a half dozen with JZ and then a couple more on my own. Legs a bit tired from yesterday (where I end up moving pretty well) but held okay today. Strides with JZ at the track before I dropped him off at the house. 8.3 miles.
Wednesday mid day - pressed for time. 8 miles. There is ash in the front yard that I am now finding as the snow melts. Strides embedded in the last kilo,
Third day where I averaged sub 8 for the run - which ain't a lot to brag about, but I'll take it. It sorta reflects the kinder weather over the last few days.
I see some interesting stuff when running.
Thursday - mid day, not feeling great but the weather was nice. 8.2 miles, easy.
Friday - this one ticked me at 100 on the year. AM Eagle practice - a very easy 5.7 miles with GW as we worked the watch.
Friday PM - afternoon ditchin' - 3.8 miles.
Saturday AM - Eagle practice. 8 miles slow with GW out into Holmberg. Or Roberts. I don't recall which is which. Headed over to the CU IPF and caught the miles where I got to watch several Eagle alum race with JZ.
We drove back through Louisville. It is horrible. Pictures really can't do it justice.
Sunday AM - got out with Greg, Eryn, Syd Kid and Gabby from Metzger onto Big Dry Creek. Ended up with 11.2 and it was sub 7:50 average - so decent for a longer run for me these days.
Week was just under 64 miles.
Hair is getting long. I don't wear it like this on the regular but KZ had fun with it. Yes, high fashion on the shoes.
Cover for the week and announcing some upcoming gigs.
Sunday night we got out to recognize Dan V for over 2 decades of coaching service to BrHS.
Monday AM - Eagle practice. 6.6 with Syd kid and GW. Icy.
I guess it would be appropriate to list some running goals for 2022 in this post. One will be to get back under 20 (geez) for 5k. Another is a return to the PPM in September. I am not sure I should establish any sort of goal for that other than finishing at this point. Those goals are basic enough that it drives a training plan that requires quantity, quality, hill climbs, altitude work, and general strength. It is pretty simple. But, as they say, not easy.
Tuesday AM - Eagle practice. Kids had a workout so I ran around on watch. 6.6 miles. Windy again. Lack of sleep because of a late band jam thingy.
This drone video that was taken the AM after the fire is also mind blowing.
Tuesday afternoon - the ditch except on the sidewalks and roads because the trail / rider road is a mess. 3.6 miles. This wasn't great either given the icy and snowy conditions. I am fine with the fact that the pace on most of this stuff is just a mess with the slip.
Wednesday AM - early. Eagle practice but the kiddos are back to school so we were at it by 6:30. Cold (13 at the start with a breeze). I just did laps on the track. 5 miles.
Contemplated a run in the afternoon in the mile chase, but by the time I broke away from the desk significant snow blew in and I decided not to risk my arse on new snow with underlying ice.
Thursday afternoon - Eagle practice. Just damn cold. 7.5 miles really slow in the new snow.
Obviously the colder temps, and more importantly the snow, is welcomed after such a long dry season - one which we felt I felt an odd combination of enjoyment of the kinder temps, but also a fear of what it could mean. One meaning came about last week with the devastation the fires left.
Friday AM - Eagle Practice, 6.1 miles. Slow with GW in the snow.
Saturday AM - Eagle Practice. Seven miles. Shoveled track for about an hour too.
Sunday afternoon - 7.2 with JZ which kept me somewhat honest even though I felt crummy.
Monday AM - Eagle practice. Actually cold again. 5 miles grumbling with Greg, while Syd and Matt listened in.
Tuesday AM - was thinking I'd get out for some easy stuff yesterday afternoon but it seemed to be setting up for a slog. I rationalized that away by thinking I'd get a workout in this AM. 3 and a half for a warm up, then threshold for 4k, and then 2 and change to warm down as a part of Eagle practice with GW. 8.2 on the day.
Wednesday AM - Eagle practice. Chilly. Jumped in some stuff various people were doing so a fartlek of sorts I guess. 8.7 miles.
Thursday - got out with Matt and GW as a part of Eagle practice. The winds were ok at the start but even a short time into our run, it was so windy that we didn't even bother talking (we wouldn't be able to hear each other). I ended up with 6.1 miles but it was slow. I felt sluggish.
As is well known now, the winds (in excess of 100 mph) continued to pummel the area, and a grass fire took off in the towns of Superior and Louisville. I got word of it mid day and did the typical assuming it would be handled quickly. But by early afternoon, there was significant smoke in Broomfield. Word was out that Superior and Louisville were being evacuated. The sky to the north turned a gray black.
You can see the line of car lights on 287 in that photo right above.
If that wasn't enough to make it abundantly clear that this was not some quick stomp it out grass fire, the large pieces of ash in the front yard hammered the message home. These were not pieces of grass.
We were not in the evacuation zone, but were very tuned to how close it was. We prepared and started some car packing in case we had to roll out. Obviously this is no where near the level of stress that one undergoes when they have to leave instantly, or if they have only 15 minutes to get out. But for a couple of hours, even though I was pretty confident in my mind that we had nothing to worry about, there was the impending thought of ... well, what if this all goes? What do you take? What do you leave behind?
We live in the area of Broomfield just to the east of the Carolyn Holmberg Open Space. We headed up the hill to see if what we could see. It was shocking. From the near the south end of our view to the near north end, there were no less than a dozen large fires we could see (and we can't see over the Davidson Mesa ridge into Superior). It was moving. You could hear sirens, and see emergency vehicles all along the horizon. I guessed the closest fire was around 3 miles as the crow flies. The air still smelled of smoke, but it was not wood smoke - it was pungent and stinging with a plastic chemical smell. The flames in the distance built with intensity as the winds gusted. It looked like a war zone to me where a bomb run had just occurred.
In the midst of all this, my phone was blowing up, from friends near and far ... some I had not heard from in years: "Are you ok? Do you need a place to stay? How close are you to those fires?" It was very grounding and not lost on me - while there was this structure around me that could disappear quickly but there were people who would be there for us. That ... that there.
Friday - I was sorta mentally cooked. So I just put my head down and worked on the current floor project. Got most of the bedroom done. It just gave me a mental space to disconnect for a bit. I got to a point where I thought about going for a run. But then I just committed to get a chunk done and the snow came in. So, nada on the day.
Oh yeah, got word on Thursday that our NYE show for Spare Change at Mother Tuckers that it was going to be delayed because of COVID. Around 9:00 I decided to stream to play some guitar anyway.
Finished the year with (according to Strava) 2625 something miles. I may do a post separate retrospective of 2021 and tossing out some possibilities for 2022.
Saturday - probably 8 inches of snow. Got out with GW for just over an hour mid day for a slow slog. We determined the back alley off Kohl over to Main parallel to Midway was clear enough that we did back and forths on that. 7.1 miles. Reset the counter.
Sunday 8 miles, Mid day. As soon as I saw the smoke from the fire looming over Sterns Lake, I wondered how the eagles were doing down there. I ran down there today, dealing with the mid shoe deep snow and slop to check. I was stoked to see they were still there.
It was a real slow run. The snow sorta took it outta me. And while the skies were blue, the smell of smoke was still slightly present in the air.
