4th of July Weekend.

Hell of a weekend, last week.  One of the best 4ths I have had in years.  Went to The Dead & Company concert (thanks Neal!) and drank $14 beers.  The Dead were so much better than last time I saw them 7 years ago, but any band would be with John Mayer taking the lead.  Followed that up with a Green Mt summit covered in lady bugs with Clyde and a lap of James Peak with Donnie.  Yep I am starting to get back at a little.  Music, mountains, and beer-  I could not have asked for anything else.

Bighorn 100 Photo Blog

Well thought I better at least put something up so at least photos are out there for everyone to see.  It seems to me that it is getting harder and harder to get motivated write race reports anymore.  They seem to all go like this--- I trained, I showed up, weather was either good or bad, I either threw up or didn't throw up, I finished.  I know I am sounding like a grumpy old man right now, it must be the rain this morning keeping from my pre-gym jog.

Anyways a few notes before the photos. 

1. Went into Bighorn with the only goal of finishing to get my Hardrock qualifer, no time goals.
2. Followed my normal 100 mile race plan which you can see here.
3. This was the longest distance that I have done solo in a race before picking up a pacer- 68 miles.
4. Did not have a single episode of bonking or puking.  Just steady forward movement all day/night. which is the first time ever this has happened.
5. Was able to work through any issues that came out without letting it affect my mental outlook, this is key in a 100.
6. I think I might have to rate this as my best 100 yet considering how well it went.
7. Finished in 24:44:53 for 27th place feeling good and never really pushing at all.

I want to thank my crew and pacer.  You guys know who you are and thank you.  Also want to thank the Special Idiots out on the course cheering and providing extra support.  You all make it more fun to be out there.

Photos come from Chippy, Clyde and other random sources.

How far is that race from Denver Metro area?

In full on crew/pacing planning

Start line photos

Off with this weirdo that is always in colorful shirts.  Top notch dude.

Early miles heading to Footbridge, yes the views are this good on the whole course.

Leaving Footbridge inbound (mile 68) with Clyde pacing at about 2:30am (no other photos through the night).

Climbing up to Dry Fork (mile 82ish) to get some breakfast.

Top of the last climb at mile 92 before the bomber downhill to the finish line.

Canyon - 6 miles to the finish.

Breaking out of the canyon and finally off the trail to the only road on the course.  About 4-5 miles left.  Clyde is pacing strong.

Walking across the finish in Dayton.  Now where is a damn chair?

Celebration with some of the Special Idiots late into the night.  Amazing how long one can stay awake and drink after running a 100.

Parting shot.... Thanks for checking out the photo report and until the next one.

Sunday Fun Day....

Pretty awesome day playing in the high country followed by a hike in the Boulder hills, 18 total miles and about 5000ft of vertical between the two.  More than I should have done 5 days before Bighorn but at least it was all at an easy pace and I felt good the whole time. 

I actually took photos during the Mount Evans Ascent this year.  Hung out with Rebecca and drove her nuts with my consent chattering of how awesome the views are.  One of my favorite local races that I do on most years.  I believe this is number 8.  Heck this year we had sunshine, rain, and snow.  Why I love this race.

Then onto a hike in Boulder with a friend to show them some of our local trails followed by some Boulder Ice Cream.  Perfect ending to the day.

Time to put the feet up!

2 Week Catchup

Quick photo catch-up of the last 2 weeks.  Been a crazy last 2 weeks.  Instead of writing race reports I thought I would just do a photo blog post, mostly because I am too lazy to type up race reports right now.  In order, we have Georgetown Burro Race, Bolder Boulder, Flagstaff Mountain morning runs, and 11 Hours of ERock.  Been keeping busy.  Upcoming, Mount Evans Ascent and Bighorn 100 in the next 9 days.  Good times!  Bring on summer!

And that's all folks!

May Numbers

Better month than I expected it be when I ran the report today.  I did not think that I ran that much mileage wise.  Not only was I surprised on the overall mileage number, the vertical was solid too.  Been a challenging month switching from road running to trail running.  That has been the focus with Bighorn 100 looming just 17 days away.  I am kind of already in taper mode but will still try to get in some solid vertical this week and next week.  The only goal at Bighorn is to treat it as a very very long training run and get that finish for my Hardrock qualifer.  I really don't want to race it and spend the rest of summer trying to recover from a hard effort in a 100.  What would be ideal is to be mostly recovered by mid-July and able to put in a solid 6 weeks of training for RRR100 in September so I could race that one hard.  We will see how it all plays out.  Going to be another busy summer!

The numbers.