2015- A Quick Review

What a year it was on the playing and racing front.  I owe so many people a thanks many times over for the support that I was given this year I don't even know where to begin.  Thank you!  You know who you are.  So a quick breakdown on the racing and playing front.

Training:
Even though my total running mileage numbers were down this year, my total hours were up big time.  Guess signing up for Leadman will do that to you.  Here is how 2015 breaks down.

How does that compare to the past years?  Well this is an interesting view.  Now you can see what I mean by total hours being up big time.  This is comparing the last 8 years in total hours in the top and total miles in the bottom.

Races:
Solid year of racing with Leadman being the focus of the whole first 8 months of the year then onto cyclocross.  You can go back and read all the race reports on the year, I am not going to get into them all here.  This was my biggest year yet racing also.  Anyways here is the list of all the organized races and/or events from the year.  Lots of great times and memories this year.

2015 Races

• Here Comes the Sun Run 3/21 (20miles in 2:45:00)
• Behind the Rocks 50K 3/28 (6:04:00)
• Crossfit Games 2/27-3/27 (Painful yet lots of fun)
• Rattler 50K 4/18 (5:52:51)
• Ridgeline Rampage 50 mile MTB 4/25 (5:15:00)
• Greenland 50K 5/2 (5:02:57)
• Colfax Marathon 5/17 (3:11:44)
• Bolder Boulder 5/25 (38:07)
• Dirty Thirty 50K 5/30 (DNF- Got lost because I am a dumbass)
•  Erock Sunrise to Sunset 6/6 (74 miles of MTB fun)
• Mount Evans Ascent 6/13 (2:12:04)
• Leadville Marathon 6/20 (4:42:44)
• Siver Rush 50 MTB 7/11 (5:04:25)
• Silver Rush 50 Run 7/12 (8:50:03)
• Fairmount 5K 8/5 (18:19)
• Pacing Silverheels 100 8/8 (Got Clyde across the finish!)
• Leadville 100 MTB 8/15 (9:29:45)
•  Leadville 10K 8/16 (42:55)
•  Leadville 100 Run 8/22 (24:00:36)
• Amy D CX 10/3 (7.4 miles/4 laps- First Cyclocross race ever)
• Cross of the North Day 1 10/9 (7.7 miles/5 laps- Cyclocross)
• Cross of the North Day 2 10/10 (7.6 miles/5 laps- Cyclocross)
• US Open of Cyclocross 10/18 (7.4 miles/4.5 laps- Cyclocross)
• Cyclo X-Flatirons 10/25 (6.2 miles/4 laps- Cyclocross)
• Schoolyard Cross 10/31 (7.9 miles/3 laps- Cyclocross)
• Feedback Cup 11/1 (7.9 miles/4 laps- Cyclocross)
• Cyclo X-Interlocken 11/7 (7.8 miles/5 laps- Cyclocross)
• Cyclo X-Sienna Lake 11/14 (8 miles/5 laps- Cyclocross)
• Colorado XC Club Championship 6k 11/21 (4.1 miles in 26:48)
• SOCO Parker CX 11/28 (7.4 miles/4 laps)- Cyclocross
• Rocky Mt CX Championship 12/5 (7.6 miles/4 laps- Cyclocross)
• Sawmill 17miler 12/12 (17 miles of fun in the snow with Rebecca and Donald)
• Mile High Urban CX C1 12/13 (3.8 miles/2 laps - blew tires so ran it- Cyclocross)
• Mile High Urban CX Fat Bike 12/13 (7.7 miles/4 laps- Cyclocross)
• 3rd Solstice Grog Slog 12/19 (23miles, 7 breweries, 1 distillery, good times)

Couple of my favorite race shots from the year

Books:  
I did not read as many as this guy but still got in a solid 33 books.  Of course half of them were zombie apocalypse themed books that that same guy turned me onto back in June.  Plan of finishing out the series that I am currently reading, on book 3 of 8 then moving onto something new for a while, just not sure what yet.  Thinking of getting into the Jack Reacher books next.

2015 Books Read
1. Ready to Run*
2. 80/20 Running
3. Hal Koerner's Field Guide to Ultrarunning
4. Unbreakable: Navy Seal Way of Life *
5. Wild*
6.  RACING THE WORLD'S TOUGHEST ADVENTURE RACE
7.  The Boys in the Boat* -awesome read
8.  Kiss or Kill Confessions of a Serial Climber*
9.  Killer Athletes
10. Power, Speed, Endurance 
11. Unbeatable Mind
12. Embrace the Suck
13. Natural Born Heroes*
14. Arisen, Book One Fortress Britain* 
15. Arisen, Book Two Mogadishu of the Dead*
16. Arisen, Book Three- Three Parts Dead*
17. Arisen, Book Four- Maximum Violence*
18. Arisen Book Five- Exodus*
19. Arisen Book Six- The Horizon*
20. Arisen Book Seven- Death of Empires *
21. Arisen Book Eight- Empire of the Dead *
22. Arisen- Genesis*
23. Arisen- Nemesis*
24. Arisen Book Nine- Cataclysm*
25. My Fight/Your Fight*
26. Arisen Book Ten- The Flood*
27. D-Boys
28. Counter-Assault (2nd D-Boys)
29. How to Avoid Dying - For as Long as Possible
30. Trudge: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse
31. Boulder Running Journal*
32. Daniels' Running Formula
33. Soldier On: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse





Now on to some loose top 10 goals for 2016.
Goals for 2016:
1. Boston Marathon (Shoot for sub 3 hours? Maybe depending on how training goes.)
2. Bighorn 100
3. Finish the 14ers or at least put a dent in it (11 left)
4. Visit my 100th Colorado brewery
5.  Read at least 30 books
6.  Pure fall focus on Cyclocross racing, meaning actually train for it starting in August
7.  Leadville 100 Mountain Bike if I make it through the lottery
8. Support a certain someone at Leadman anyway I can
9. Get a passport, yes I have never had a passport.  I know sad.
10.  Another year of over 2,000 miles running and 3,000 miles cycling

HAPPY NEW YEARS AND MAY 2016 BE YOUR BEST YET!

World War 2 in Numbers

Well worth the 18 minutes to watch this.


The Fallen of World War II from Neil Halloran on Vimeo.

3rd Annual Solstice Grog Slog

Another winter solstice is approaching so that means that it is time for the Annual Solstice Grog Slog.  Another great day out running and drinking with friends.  This year came in at about 25 miles with 7 breweries and a distillery.  Largest group yet, we keep saying that this will be the last year we do this jog but every year it grows.   Go figures.  Think this year we ended up with about a dozen people through out the day, some did the shorter version and some did the whole thing.  We are now down to only 2 people who have completed all 3 of these runs, but I am considering giving someone credit due to him not knowing about the 1st year we held this jog.  That will be for future discussion.

Click here for the write up by GZ along with bunch of photos.   Thanks for putting this together GZ!

Upgraded!

Finally turned in my paperwork to get upgraded to the next level in Cyclocross which is a good thing.  Next year I can start the year out racing in the Cat 4 Masters Mens now and race against guys my own age instead of young kids and pro triathletes that decide to do a race here and there.  Racing one more time this Sunday at National Western Complex then I think I will be missing the final race of the season next weekend in Castlerock due to the brewery run we do every year, I still might sneak in one last race on Sunday after the brewery run if I am not to hung over.  Such a fun fall doing these races, think next year I will actually train for them and not just ride on the weekends when I race.

So It Was Decided

With striking out at the Hardrock 100 lottery, again, 2016 main goal has been decided for me.  Back to Bighorn it is to keep my name in the Hardrock lottery for another 2 years.  One of these days I will get into Hardrock so I can retire from ultrarunning. 

Did a great run today covering from Boulder to Nederland ending at Wild Mountain Brewery.  One of my favorite runs, I try to do this at least once a year.  There is something cool about running somewhere, drinking a beer, then having to ride the bus to get back to your car.  24.7 miles with 6,000 feet of climb, solid day.  Even brought home a growler with me.

Rocky Mountain Cyclocross Championships

Another weekend, another CX race!  Fun morning up in Longmont racing the Rocky Mountain CX Champs.  Only 2 more weeks left in the season and you will stop seeing all these biking updates from me and it will turn back to a running blog again.  Thanks again for the awesome photos Bryan!

Nov Numbers & Another Race sign up

November has been a month of returning to feeling somewhat physically normal since Leadville.  It has been a struggle as you might have read in GZ's blog, he is not the only one that has been struggling for a few months.  Anyways with that said here are the numbers for November.  There is also 4 cyclocross races and one 6K cross country race included in these numbers so a solid month on the racing side. 

It has been a very challenging month for me on in my personal and work life so I am very pleased with the work that I was able to put in this month.  I struggle with wanting to include stuff from my personal and work life on this blog and start blogging everyday or two but I am just not there.  Maybe someday.  One thing I do want to share is that I am very thankful for the friends and family that I do have in my life, they have helped me more than they will ever know.  They know who they are.  Thank you.

So anyways back to the important stuff!

I think November was a good stepping stone to rebuilding the deep base that I had this summer.  Originally the plan for 2016 was to race Cross Country Nationals in Bend OR in Feb, then Boston in April, then onto whatever 100 I picked for the summer.  Now that has changed due to life.  It was just to hard to get a group of at least 5 guys over the age of 40 to commit to Bend.  Just a challenge with work, families, ect.  So with that I am re-looking at the first 3 months of 2016 and how I was going to approach training.  I did start following a pretty intense 10k training program a few weeks ago to get ready for Cross Country Nationals in Bend but with that now being scrapped, I am thinking I am just going to go back to pure base work with lots of weights thrown in between now and mid February.  Then come mid February switch over to a pure focus on Boston.  Depending on how that training goes will decide what goals at shoot for at Boston, right now I am pondering if I can break 3 hours or not.  So with that thought process and being talked into it by a certain someone (you know who you are), I have decided to end my base phase by doing this as a long training run.

 This is such a fun run even though I remember when it was a hell of a lot cheaper but I love it.  I love going to Moab, one of my favorite places within easy half day drive.

After this weekend I will be able to lay out the rest of 2016 I think, so more to come.

Couldn't Resist - LT100 MTB

Got invited into a group that needed 1 more person to fill out their lottery group and I could not resist.  I really want to give getting the big buckle a shot by going sub 9 hours and think it is doable, I did 9:28 during Leadman. But if a certain someone signs up for Leadman I will be out there in a support roll.  We will see.