Waldo Fire (Day 1-5)

LAST UPDATED: Thurs 6/28 7AM -  Newest info at the bottom.

As you may or may not know my wife Ashley is a firefighter for Manitou Springs fire.  She was called in on Saturday morning to work Hwy 24 and try to keep the fire from jumping the highway and head into Manitou Springs.

Here is a pretty cool map of all the fire activity in the country that I found.  http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~starbird/TtT_Fires_map_byEvent.html

Anyway I thought I would share a couple of pictures, the first two are from unknown source the last 4 she took with her iPhone.   Hopefully they contain this soon so she can come home this week sometime.

I am adding pictures and video to this post as she sends them to me to keep checking back.

Saturday night

Saturday night

Saturday afternoon on the drive in

Sunday afternoon

Sunday Night looking up the canyon from Manitou

 

Monday mid-day

Monday mid-day

Monday mid-day, same for the video below.

 

Monday afternoon

Smoke is knocking everything down from the sky

Monday afternoon

 

Monday afternoon

 

Loner truck from another dept that Ashley is using

 Tuesday lunch- thought she was coming home today but the fire grew to the south and is threating Cave of the Winds.  This is the parking lot, she is on structure protection there now.

 Off the back deck at Cave of the Winds Tuesday 1pm

 2 pictures above are off the back deck at Cave of the Winds Tuesday about 1pm, you can see the slurry bomber heading in on the 1st photo.  This is about 1/4 of a mile from Cave of the Winds.



Slurry bombers Tuesday 3pm trying to protect Cave of the Winds

Taken 4pm Tuesday, location unknown

So about 8pm last night my wife called and she got pulled from Cave of the Winds and sent up to the northside with 4 trucks to try and save some homes.  LOTS of homes were lost as you most likely saw on the news.  

 View of the fire coming down into the neighborhood about 7-8pm

 Stopped on her way to the northside of the fire in Colorado Springs to pick up more help.  Lots of firefighters but no trucks or equipment for them to help.

 No words for the rest of the photos as it goes through the neighborhoods

Wednesday 7/24:  My wife was sent back into the neighborhoods about 1pm to try and save some houses.  She was hoping to come home today for a break but they needed the truck that she drives.

 Pump baby pump!!!!

 The fire is about 30-50 feet behind this house, they were losing the battle as the flames were rushing up the hill towards the house when a helicopter came over and dumped its load on the fire right in front of them.

Taken from the Colorado Springs Newspaper Facebook feed, just thought it was a cool photo.

 Sad

Wednesday Morning

Thursday AM:  So last night Ashley was released last night and headed home.  Much deserved break for her!  She is off until Sunday 7/1 when she goes in for her normal shift of Sun/Mon.  Hopefully by then the fire will be more under control and not threatening any structures so she does not get pulled into it again.  If she does get pulled back into the fire I will start a new blog post, this will be the last update on this one.  Below are a couple more things to share.

This helicopter drop saved this house, they were about to lose the house when it just showed up.  This happened on Wed and is the same neighborhood as photo above the firefighter and deer.

  

Manitou Springs Fire in action

Maybe money can buy happiness

Prototype Shuttle in the Hood

On my way home from work yesterday there was this cool prototype shuttle sitting in the field across the street from my neighborhood.  The news article on it can be found here.  Pretty freaking cool!

Time flies...

Today is Ashley and I's 2nd wedding anniversary and on June 1st we will be together for 5 years.  Man time flies.  Here are some photos of us over the past couple of years in no special order.  Looking forward to many more adventures in the years to come.

Kauai 2012

Broncos verse Jets 2011

Start of Leadville 100 2010

Our small wedding @ Garden of the Gods 2010

Sliding down 14er Castle 2009

 Democrat 14er Loop 2009

Democrat 14er Loop 2009

Breckenridge Christmas 2008

Mount Sherman 14er 2008

Playing with Dragon @ family reunion 2008

James Peak 13er 2008

Trying to keep me moving and warm Leadville 100 2008

Supporting me at my first ultra (50K) 2007

On our second or third date I took her to a family wedding. 2007

Road Runner Sports 2nd Thursday Adventure Run

The family went last night to do this Adventure Run together at Road Runners Sports in Westminster.  It was a blast.  You check in between 5-6 at Road Runners Sports where if you pre-signed up you get tickets for free beer afterwards from a local microbrew.  Then you cruise the vendor booths until 6 pm.  If you chat with the vendors you get raffle tickets for later, you will see the point of the raffle tickets in a bit.

At 6 pm a huge map is shown with 12 check points that are businesses in the area on it.  You have until 7pm to visit as many as possible and get back to Road Runners Sports.  We (wife, 11 year old, and myself) were able to hit up 4 check points covering about 3.5 miles.  You lose lots of time at the beginning writing down the 12 locations and at the check points getting your paper signed.  At each check point you collect more raffle tickets.  The further way the check point the more tickets you get.

Here is a picture of the map.

When you return to Road Runners Sports before 7pm, you throw all your raffle tickets (we had about 25 between the 3 of us) into a pot for a raffle of about $1000 worth of prizes.

We had a blast, this was a great family event for us.  I was surprised how much fun Braden and Ashley had with it.  We plan on going again next month if Braden does not have a baseball game.

Greenlands Trail 50K Ultramarathon May 5 2012

Well another 50K that sucked ass....... Ran the Greenland Trail 50K south of Denver for a big fat DNF.

Here is a breakdown of what happened. It was pretty warm in the upper 70s to lower 80s with what felt like just dead hot air.   The course is basically 4 laps with about 500-600 feet of climbing and downhill in each lap.

Started the race with 1 bottle of Carboplex/Gatorade mix. The goal was to try to drink one bottle or more per lap which would give me about 250 calories with 20oz of fluid.  I put bags of my powdered mix at the turn around so all I would have to do is dump it in the bottle, top with water from the aid station and go. 

Lap 1: Time 1:00- I just settled into a pace that felt comfortable and just cruised along with the people around me. Feeling good for was the same pace (7:30-8 mins per mile) that I have been doing all my long runs at. 
Total input for lap: 1 bottle of Carboplex/Gatorade mix

Lap 2: Time 1:02- Refilled one bottle with the mix and water at the turn around but only drank half of it on this lap.  Looking back this was dumb, I should have forced it down even if I did not want it.
Total input for lap: 1/2 bottle of Carboplex/Gatorade mix

Lap 3: Time 1:29-At the turn around I noticed that I was feeling woozy and weak.  Topped off my half drank bottle with just water and popped one salt tab.   About 1-1.5 miles from leaving the turn around I puked and started cramping up in the mid section.  Lots of walking to come.  I just walked/jog this lap hoping I would start feeling better once the salt kicked in but that never happened.  On the downhill going to the end of the lap I was even walking because every time I started jogging I would cramp up in the mid section and want to puke.
Total input for lap:  1 bottle of half strength Carboplex/Gatorade mix
Salt tabs- 1

Lap 4: Time DNF- When I got to the turn around to start lap 4 I  decided that I was not in the mood for an 8 mile death march to the end since all the race was for me was a long training run so I dropped. 

Total time: DNF

I know that in the eyes of some this was a pussy move to drop with 8 miles to go but I am trying to keep the big picture in mind this year.  By not putting myself into a deep hole, recovery has been quick and back to normal training within 2 days.  Hell, I went for a 30 mile/2000ft bike ride the next day.  I know if I would have pushed that last lap out it might have taken me a week or more to recover back to normal.  I am happy OK with my choice and this has been my longest run year to date which is just plan sad.  Now I truly know how much work I have to do before Leadville,  a F'ing LOT!

Weight Check In

Ever since this post right after the Red Hot 33K I have been keeping a food journal using LiveStrong.com on the web and the App on the IPhone in an attempt to get the weight down a bit.  I am getting close to what I had in mind when I started this process, 165lbs.  This morning I weighed in at 168, down 10 pounds since mid-Feb.   Here is a chart from LiveStrong.com of my progress.

Hopefully this will help shave some time off at upcoming races as long as I don't loss any strength.  It has been a challenge to train hard, lose weight, and fell good at the same time.  Basically I never really feel good.  That should change as I get to my goal weight and up my daily calories just to maintain.  Really looking forward to that. 

If your interested here is the link to my food journal, I still eat like crap a lot.

http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/diary/who/shadmika/

Post about my Greenland 50K meltdown will follow in the next couple of days.

Nora Mae Schmitt

New family member has arrived!!!  My sister had her 3rd child and 1st girl!  Nora Mae Schmitt was born May 1st around 10:30pm at just over 10lbs and 22 inches long.

Welcome Nora!  Your uncle Shad and aunt Ashley love you already!

Running on Water

I know that Crossfit is not high on people's list who read this blog due to how it can interfere with running but here is a great post here that can easily be applied to running and ultrarunning. Shawn (the writer) is the owner and coach of the Crossfit gym my wife loves and goes too.

Great video with the post also.

Northfork Fire

Sorry been kinda of quite lately. Just been plugging along training and dealing with wiggles trying to keep from becoming hurt.

Anyways been thinking a lot about the fires the past few days. This is the big news here in Colorado. A dry past few months has created very very high fire danger. My wife found this article and video, just nuts. Have to remember when watching the video that it is in the middle of a sunny afternoon.

You can find the article here: http://kdvr.com/2012/03/27/video-from-inside-the-fire-family-flees-the-flames/

Red Hot Finish Photo

Found this photo at the Colorado Runner website here. This photo makes me realize that I have some work to do and weight to lose. Leadville training/diet starts today.

Red Hot 33K

Went off to Moab again this past weekend for the Red Hot 55K. At the race check in I downgraded to the 33K because of the injury that I had through January and the mouth ache from the root canal 2 days earlier. This also allowed me to enjoy the best part of the course. In years past I would be suffering through this section in the 55K which makes it hard to take in the awesome views like this.



Not really a lot to say about the race but the fact that I did get chicked by a minute or so. Bummed about that. I ran in 6-7th place most of the race but stopped at the last aid station to get water and piss only to be passed. I tried to close and catch up but just did not have it in me. My quads were shot for some reason. Anyways 2:47:00 for 20 miles with 3300 feet of gain for 10th overall. The race was a lot faster this year than years past due to it now being part of the LaSportiva Mountain Cup Series. There was some seriously fast dudes there.

Here are some photos that I stole from other people. Enjoy.

Yes Colorado runners took over the whole hotel



Start line




Awesome rocks!



Where is the trail?



More great views!



Runners going across the Slickrock.



Special Idiots and FCTR groups.