Early Rising

I was out the door this morning at 5:25 for a nice run through the neighborhood. It was a gorgeous day, about 59 degrees when I left the house and about 10 degrees warmer by the time I finished an hour later. Sun shining, and lots of people out running, which is always great to see.

Fundraising update - we are up to $550 collected, and I am confident by the time I am finished we will have well exceeded $1000 raised. It might not sound like much, but to these kids that is an unfathomable amount of money, and buys a great deal of necessities.

Today's statistics - 8 miles, 700 feet elevation gain, all before work!

Thanks to all!!
Scott

Stretch the legs

Took the dog out for a quick three miles tonight. Was not going to run, but felt good to limber up the legs, as I was quite sore today from yesterday's run. The dog appreciated it as well.

"2 miles to Summit"

Today I ran on the famous Barr Trail, starting out of Manitou Springs, Co. This is the 13 mile trail that summits Pikes Peak. This time of year the trail can get very crowded, as folks ramp up their training for the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon in August.

Just to add to the chaos, the Bacon Brothers (as in Kevin Bacon) were playing a concert at the summit of Pikes Peak today as a charity event. No one has ever done this before, for more reasons than I can list here. Regardless, there were many folks trying to hike up to see the show, most of whom did not appear to be fully prepared for a 13 mile hike to 14,100 feet. Let's just say that I was asked more than once by Passersby "how much further". I am not sure what is worse, lying to them and telling them they are almost there, or telling them the truth.

For those familiar with this trail, there are several well known markers that help you gage your progress. My plans today were to run to either "bottomless pit" or "A Frame". I ended up running to the "2 miles to summit" sign, which means I went 11 miles up, then proceeded 11 miles down. From the car to where I turned was a 6500' climb over 11 miles. I really would have liked to summit today, as I was keeping a good pace. But duty calls, and I had promissed Jen I would be home by 11:30. Not every wife let's their husband play in the mountains for 5 hours at a time, it is not a good idea to be late!

Overall statistics, 22 miles, 6500 feet elevation gain, 12,718 feet peak elevation. Great weather, and no, I did not see Kevin Bacon.

Home Sweet Home

You know, as much as I enjoy travel, there is nothing better than getting home. I spent the first three days of the week in Roswell, NM for work. Due to the difficulty of finding flights in and out of town, we drive, 6 1/2 hours each way, to get there.

The weather was good, and I got in 2 runs for a total of 12 miles. I was hoping for more but we had meetings all days and dinner each night, not to mention trying to find time to do actual work in between.

Fortunately, I was able to avoid any alien abductions, as I am sure that would have hampered my training.

Later -

Scott

Father's Day

We had a good time camping this weekend in Chalk Canyon, on the creek right next to the lake. Hiking, Fishing, Eating, Exploring... good times. Of course, we are excluding the details like the 5 straight hours of rain Saturday. Minor setback. We did wake up to a beautiful Sunday where we ate Breakfast Burritos, soaked in Hot Springs and headed home.

Mason did great on his first camping excursion. He slept great Friday night and hardly at all on Saturday night, which we think was as much about teething as anything.

You will notice I did not mention much about running, as with the poor weather Saturday it really made it impossible for me to get out while we were in the mountains. Sometimes life gets in the way, I guess I am just fortunate it is a really good life.

Once we got home, unpacked (almost) and took out time to celebrate Alice's birthday (tomorrow, Daddy will be traveling) my wife sent me out for a father's day run. Seven miles of hills, trails, and perfect weather, just as the sun was setting behind the mountains.

More miles will come this week, as I usually manage pretty good mileage when I am on the road.

Besides, what else is there to do in Roswell, NM???

Scott

Dangers of Early Morning Running

I generally run before work during the week, which means out the door by 5:30 am most mornings. The challenge to this, of course, is DO NOT wake any children. Running as much as I do is hard enough on my beautiful wife, leaving her at 5:30 am with a screaming toddler is not a part of the reality I enjoy.

This morning, I was going through my normal routine. Out of bed, head to the office in my jammies to put on my running clothes that were left there the night before, down a slimfast (cheap, easily digestible calories at 5am) and head out the door. Except, this morning, as soon as my hand hit the door knob, I heard it.... Mason started screaming. This is not good. I hate to miss a run, but I cannot leave, or I better be prepared to not come back. As I was heading to Mason's room to get him before he woke the rest of the herd, Jen followed me up the stairs, and said to just go. She must have detected my fear that I was going to miss a run (I really do not hide it well). She rocks.

This project is definitely not something I am doing alone, there should really be more credit to Jen than myself. She is the one with the kids when I am out training. For me, the training is easy, I love to run. Don't forget, Jen is also training for a major event. She will be running the Pikes Peak Ascent the weekend before my race. This is a half marathon (13.1 miles) with a little twist. You ascend 7800 feet up Pikes Peak on rocky singletrack to a summit elevation of 14,100 feet. She is superwoman, huh?

Well, it was a beautiful morning, I got in a nice 7 miles, mostly on singletrack, and some great hills. In fact, I had a total of 1168 feet elevation gain today. Pretty good for just a run through the neighborhood, of course I have a very cool neighborhood!!

Off to pack for camping this weekend!!

Fast Progress - Fast Company

Well, it has not even been a week since we kicked off the fundraiser, and we were approaching $400 as of yesterday morning!! That is outstanding.

I was invited to lunch yesterday by my LT100 partner to join a local Colorado Springs woman who holds the distinguished title of 3 time "Leadwoman". This essentially means that three different times (2004, 2006 and 2008) she completed the 5 Leadville events, a 10k run, a mountain marathon, a 50 mile run, a 100 mile Mountain Bike, and the 100 mile run. Pretty amazing. Kim was a wealth of information, and we scored major veteran advice, well worth the price of lunch.

I did get out for a 6 mile run this morning, pretty slow with a lot of hills. Goods news is my tightness in my back is almost totally gone, and I can get back to normal. Should be able to get in a solid 90 minute run tomorrow morning before work, then we are off to camping in the mountains (maybe I can sneak away for a bit of real mountain running).

Thanks again all, and I will get some pictures up real soon.