Week of August 20 to August 26

SUNDAY

Fun day for Hud at Dry Creek - a later start so many dogs to play with

Went to Eldorado SP after to run the Rattlesnake course. Was over 2 minutes behind last run after the first climb so picked it up and ended up less than a minute off. Good course and friendly people

We headed to SW Denver today so we decided to swing by Roxborough State Park and do a short run. Hot but a nice change




Week ending Sunday August 26
Hudson 10.6 miles
Chris 52.1 miles with 10,585' with 7.6 miles on the bike. A good week!


SATURDAY

Jog with Hud at Dry Creek. Bike ride on a perfect fall morning after


FRIDAY

Gave Hud the day off as he was a little sick yesterday. Took a half day off work and headed to Breckenridge to run the half-marathon course (more or less). 14.3 miles with 3,011'


THURSDAY

Dry Creek with Hud. A nice run with several stops - Tumbles, some sprints with Kingston, Preston and Kingston again (with Parker)

Last night I signed up for the Rattlesnake Ramble, a small race (limited to 100) that seems to attract fast Boulder runners - including some local legends



So...went to Eldorado to run the course. 4.25 miles with 825' over two separate climbs


WEDNESDAY

Dry Creek early am with Hud. We did the 2.1 mile loop with Tumbles

Green Mountain after breakfast and another mellow bear encounter at the TH. Legs were heavy going up but happy coming down. 80:59

MapMyRun today said the run was 5.06 miles. Monday it was 5.30 miles. The very first time it was 5.81 miles. Puzzling


TUESDAY

Gave a very tired Hud the day off

Went to South Boulder Creek in mid-morning. Headed out Towhee / Homestead to Mesa and back up towards Shadow Canyon. As I was running on a section of single-track I noticed a lot of bear scat - and then noticed some folks on large rocks by the miner's shack 50 yards across a ravine talking. As I got closer they told me I ran directly underneath a bear who was up in an apple tree and that they were yelling to warn me

Here is the tree with the bear circled. You can just see the trail in front and to the left



The close-up is not great - iPhones are convenient and solid enough but not for zooming. The bear doesn't have a white nose - just sunlight on foliage



After waiting and watching I assumed the bear may have fallen asleep up in the tree so continued on my way back - only to see my first rattlesnake about 3 inches away. I did not stop to take pics and was not pleased...

5.9 miles with 950'


MONDAY

Dry Creek with Hud. Walked with Preston. Some "lard-ass" (quote from Barb) complained about Hudson coming up to her dog and growling. You know...like how dogs interact...never seen her before, hopefully never will again

Green Mountain after all my morning meetings were cancelled - wahoo! Fastest time (82:07) since before Jemez Half

Week of August 13 to August 19

SUNDAY

Another good sleep. Dry Creek with Hud. Jogged until we ran into Preston and walked with him and Barb

Went to Eldorado Canyon State Park and ran to the Walker Ranch trail. 6.3 miles with 1,350' at good pace

Before we headed to Eldorado Canyon saw that Leadville Chuck completed his second consecutive Leadville 100 - an hour quicker even though the race is a 5K longer. Truly amazing

10.3 mile bike ride in the afternoon on Boulder's excellent bike trail system




Week ending Sunday August 19
Hudson 12.7 miles
Chris 41.6 miles with 5,223' with 1 summit, a good race and 15.5 miles on the bike


SATURDAY

Slept awesome. Went with Hud to Betasso Preserve for a 3.5 mile loop with 425'

Took rest of day off to ensure no re-injuries - been running "fast" lately which tends to be more stressful on the nerves & muscles

FRIDAY

Dry Creek with Hud but turned back to the TH when we ran into Tumbles - decided after to go to the school and hit some tennis balls instead for a change. Feels like fall - it was 48F

Leadville Chuck is heading up to Leadville today for the Leadville Trail 103 (they added 3 more miles this week). Not pacing this year - his neighbour offered free housing in Breckenridge to pace whereas I was only able to offer 20 minutes worth of witty stories

Went to Doudy Draw and went off exploring fun new trails - Spring Brook Loop and Fowler. 7.2 miles with 900'


THURSDAY

Dry Creek with Hud, 2.1 miles. Walked it as I woke up too early - although a nap later in the morning would help. The Llamas were watching the dogs



Eldorado Springs 4-miler at 6:30pm. Last year I came in 15th and won $15 with a 30:09. This year I ran a 29:58 but came in 20th and no prize money! Free beer & pasta and 2 free jackets (for everyone) in an awesome setting meant a good time



It was a fast field this year. I assumed I was running poorly as there were more people ahead of me than expected - but at 1 mile I looked and was at a 6:30 pace! Totally unsustainable. At 2 miles I was at 13:45. The first 2 miles were 90% downhill - so the last 2 miles were 90% uphill. Good mix of suffering and satisfaction


WEDNESDAY

Dry Creek with Hud, 2.1 miles. Taz and Kingston again

Green Mountain after. I didn't feel fast or slow - kind of spaced out going up and made it sub-49. Paid attention going down - going down is easy to fall. 85 minute RT

Exciting times near the trailhead - Bear season!






TUESDAY

Dry Creek with Hud - 1.8 miles as he skipped a section chasing a bunny. Saw Kingston and Taz, who was walking with a 10 foot branch in his mouth

Ran 4 miles at Bobolink at race speed. Miles were done in 7:37 / 7:42 / 7:08 / 7:00

I think MapMyRun called the last mile too early


MONDAY

Dry Creek with Hud - after the bridge he turned around

5.2 mile bike ride with 150' in the morning, 2 x 1 miles running in the afternoon. Giving the ankle a break - can't tell if it's sore from overuse or from kicking rocks yesterday (likely). Faster mile was 7:46

Week of August 06 to August 12

SUNDAY

Dry Creek with Hud before sunrise - got to run with my headlamp

Mount Audubon after - a strong smooth run/hike up, a little klutzy on the way down

Week ending Sunday August 12
Hudson 12.5 miles
Chris 44.3 miles with 6,062' with 2 summits and a good race plus 30 miles on the bike

Next week is the Eldorado Springs 4M night race on Thursday - with free beer


SATURDAY

A good time in Westminster. A good race - 47:43 for a pleasantly surprising 7:41 pace. Good for 20th place. Plenty of food and drink after. Sadly did not place top 3 in my age group as the medals were cowbells

Did a short run on this random trail while we were looking at a house - the Goat Trail. Short as in under a mile but over 600' of gain. This includes me going the wrong way up a very sketchy side trail




FRIDAY

Dry Creek with Hud. We ran a loop but then walked back to the bridge with Kingston the Collie. As we got to the parking lot Dick and Trouble were coming in so we went to the bridge and back with them. 3.1 miles

Went to the track before work for 5 laps - 2 "fast" but sadly the "fastest" was a 7:36 pace. Goal for tomorrow is 55:51 (just under a 9-minute pace). I assume one day this summer I'll be able to run fast again...


THURSDAY

Dry Creek at a nice 9-minute pace with Hud

5.75 mile bike ride with 250' in the evening to check out a possible house


WEDNESDAY

Dry Creek early am - a slow jog on a surprisingly cool morning. 2.1 miles

An intentionally slow jog on Bobolink before the heat. 3.2 miles

Signed up for Saturday's 20th Annual Holy Cow Stampede 10K today. I can only hope the shirt has a logo as cool as 2007's:



7.7 mile bike ride in the evening with 175'

TUESDAY

Dry Creek with Hud early am but he was tired and ended up playing with a good stick. Tumbles stole it for awhile but Hud set him straight

Green Mountain after - finally broke 90 minutes for first time since June 14th. Positive - but 20 minutes back of May 13th's sub-70 minute run. Oh well...

Here's my buddy the Chipmunk on the summit again



9 mile bike ride in the evening with the missus

MONDAY

Dry Creek with Hud early am. Warm and he was lolly-gagging. 2.1 miles

Bobolink just after 9am and my car was 96F at the end. 6.85 miles with 140' at a decent (of late) 9-minute pace

Official pic from the Eldora 10K - suffice to say I will not be purchasing



8 mile bike ride with the missus in the evening

Week of July 30 to August 05

SUNDAY

Great sleep. Dry Creek with Hud - walked a loop with Preston and Barb. After Hud jumped out of the car to walk a mile with a white lab and then went back in a third time to wander. 3.5 miles

21 mile bike ride around town with 600' afterwards in perfect weather

Week ending Sunday August 5
Hudson 16.8 miles
Chris 51.3 miles with 7,437' plus 39 miles on the bike with 1,100'

A good week and back to "racing" - next week will likely be the Holy Cow Trail Stampede 10K in Westminster. Worth it to get a race shirt with a cow


SATURDAY

Eldora Trail 10K this morning. Raccoon family was out on the back porch at 4am - making lots of noise and sleep impossible. Even came down the chimney flue. Hud started barking - 3 of them were running around

Got up to Nederland just after 7am. It was 43F. The race went well - I was able to run almost all the hills (900' of gain) and finished at 58:47. Good for 66/185. I was dying over the last mile, not having run hard in over a month. At 9,000' I was worried they were going to call an ambulance I was sucking so much wind



Good food at the end. We then watched the swimmers at a triathalon that just started - although it was delayed as they had to shoo away a moose that was trying to swim in the lake. We then went for celebratory donuts and milkshakes in Nederland


FRIDAY

Hud was a jackass this morning, waking me by 5am. In return I made him do Dry Creek 2x - the first at a 10-minute pace and the second walking with Preston. Hahaha!

Went to Bobolink to see if I could run fast and not hurt. 2 miles - 1 at 8:52 and 1 at 7:49. All pretty good so went to Fleet Feet and signed up for tomorrow's Eldora 10K in Nederland - first race in 43 days. Yikes. I'm not 100% sure how to feel about the pink in the shirt




THURSDAY

Went to Dry Creek but as expected Hud wanted the day off. We turned around after a short walk

Thought about going to Mount Falcon in Morrison but decided after 3 heavy days to run Bobolink (the 3.2 mile version). Was paying attention to how the back and leg felt, running only as fast as was pain free - which turned out to be a 9:59 pace

7.2 mile bike ride with 220' at noon


WEDNESDAY

Dry Creek with Hud early am. He has run at least 2 miles for 14 straight days and is ready for a day off

Met up with Leadville Chuck at 7am and we did Mt Sanitas. ProTrails.com says it is a 3.1 mile loop with 1,357' - MapMyRun app said it was 3.4 miles with 1,102'

It doesn't matter but on the mountain runs MapMyRun seems to be a little long and a little light on elevation

We then headed over to Green Mountain. I told him to head to the summit as I didn't want to hold him back as he's 17 days away from Leadville 100. He pulled away but after 20 minutes we joined up - it was hot and he had only a donut. We slogged to the summit and coasted down. 5.3 miles and 2,344' gain

I was beat and even caught a quick 20 minutes of sleep. Not working is the good life


TUESDAY

Dry Creek with Hud early am. He ran around crazy with Kingston the Collie and then with whatever remaining energy he had with Connor the Lab

Headed up to Bergen Peak in Evergreen to see how the back would hold up. It went well - actually, it turned completely pain-free after 7 miles for some unknown reason. 9.4 miles with 1,800' per GPS

Driving back through Evergreen came across a lot of female elk and youngsters



July
Hudson 58.4 miles for the superstar
Chris 123.9 miles with 14,799' - no comment


MONDAY

No evil work this week - vacation!

Hud and I went to the Quandary Peak trailhead and ran McCullough Gulch Road. 4.2 miles with 575' - and Hud hit 500 miles for the year! (our year starts October 1st). You can tell he's pretty excited at this epic milestone



After we got back to Boulder hustled to Marshall Mesa for a 5.25 mile jog before the heavy storms rolled in

After the storms - which caused flooding - got out for a 9-mile evening bike ride