Loveland Turkey Trot

This post comes a few days late as I've been bitch slapped by a stomach flu.

Two weeks prior to the Turkey Trot, I tweaked my right calf. Had it not been for the upcoming Turkey Trot, I would have taken some time off. Instead I continued to play havoc on that same calf and messing it up even more during runs around Wash Park and up and down Green Mt in Boulder. Two weeks were summed up with low mileage and little intensity.

I woke up Thursday morning to some very cold temps. 6 degrees is what read at the house just 1/3 of a mile away from the start/finish line. I had yet to pick up my race packet so an hour plus before the start, I went for a really easy 3 mile warm up run, picked up my bib and headed back to the house for one last bathroom break.

15 minutes before the race I headed back to the start. Still bitterly cold, the calm morning and sun rays made the conditions much easier to stomach.

Mile 1.0: 5min 48secs
Mile 2.0: 6min 03secs
Mile 3.0: 6min 25secs (Garmin had 1.05miles)
Mile 0.1: 0min 35secs (5:21 pace)
5K of 18mins 53 secs (officially 18:51 at maybe a bit longer course?)

As with any 5K, this race started out hectic with numerous kids no taller then my waist blazing off only to come to a complete stop 50 yards later. Weaving around early wasn't a big deal and found a stride and effort I thought I could hold. As I neared Mile 1, I could feel the calf tighten up.

By mile 1, all those who were going to pass me had already done so. I was able to pick off a few young folks thru the finish. However none of that mattered as my calf continued to tighten up and on occasion lock up on me. Mile 2 was completely impacted by the calf. I held back a bit just in hopes to not derail and walk it in.

About a minute after mile 2, the calf full on hurt. Pushing off hurt. Striding thru a slight incline hurt. Anything I did hurt and my time suffered. Mile 3 of this route is easily the slowest mile on course with a few very sharp turns as you approach the finish line but this thankfully gave my calf relief with less effort exerted. The last stretch is flat and straight and I some how got thru it without getting caught by the small group of local high school cross county kids.

(High School bullies chasing me down)

Races like this are usually a blur for me as they start and end so quickly. However, Thanksgiving's journey was painfully memorable. As soon as I crossed the finish line, my calf was just throbbing, my walk was a pathetic limp. All the stretching and icing afterwards did nothing and the pain got worse as the day went on.

By Friday morning the calf muscle had swollen up a bit and hurt just as much. It was finally time to admit to myself that I had a pulled muscle down there. No stranger to pulled or strained muscles, I thankfully know what to do next. Rest and recover SLOWLY over the next few weeks. At least I placed in my age group. Not a big deal but my father in law volunteers at the Banner Health McKee Med Center. Monies raised from this event go towards the Adult Day Care at the center. So giving him my award as a gift is only fitting.

Green Mt, Boulder - w/ Animal Viewing

My last 800 Thursday was my 6th and fastest of the night. It also left me with a strained right calf muscle.

The wife was up most of Friday night sick to the stomach so my Saturday morning run started later then normal. My initial goal was a Green/Bear/SoBo/Mesa Trail loop from Chautauqua Park. As I made my way to Ranger, the calf wasn't going to allow me to do much. As I started up Ranger, the snow and occasional ice thankfully restricted me to not doing much.

The effort up was honest. Twice my feet just slipped out from underneath me on some of the steeper sections. Thankfully the snow offered up a good cushion. I was surprised that snow dominated most of the trail from bottom to top. No biggie though.

As I got to the top, I reevaluated thoughts of heading up Bear & SoBo. After 5 minutes of enjoying the views, 2 other runners came cruising up. Come to find out that I was chatting with Homie and JV. Now I don't know much about either other then both of them straight getting after it on trails. Something I find extremely cool. And to think I asked JV prior to introduction if he climbs Green much. HA! Both were really cool folks. However someone must have forgot to tell them there was snow and ice on the decent cause those two were gone QUICK!

So my decent was slow as I have a fear of busting my ass while running downhill on snow and ice. Before long I was at the junction of Bear Canyon and the West Ridge. Not wanting to deal with more snow and ice, I headed down Bear Canyon.

(Bear and SoBo from Bear Canyon)

About 10 yards into this section, it dawned on me that I had never run the Bear Canyon trail. Wow, what a great section of trail. Amazing views, beautiful single track almost all covered in snow. Before long I was merging onto the Mesa Trail and that's when I saw....wait for it....another beaver. Seriously, what is up with that.

I might be 50 yards from the Mesa Trail, just focusing on the rocky trail in front of me. I look up as I make myself around a bend and I see this lady bent over, with pants around her ankles and getting reading to squat. I just froze and then blurted out "Yo, you got company. Please don't grow a tail!" I know, classy. The lady, in full stream just responds with an "oops" while her 3 friends to feet from her are cracking up. As I pass them one of them asks "did you really think she was going taking a dump?" I just responded with something like "I honestly don't know what to think right now." as I headed off.

I proceeded onto Mesa and just roamed the trail here and there and finished up my run. Forget the details but something like 11 on the day in 2hrs 15mins. Felt fine the whole time and it was nice to get a big climb into the training equation.

Lastly, a pic of my most recent purchases.

The book I'm halfway thru. The shoes have been worn once Friday at the office. I'll comment on both some time soon.

San Francisco

One 4-day packed trip that included catching up with old friends, showing mom a 25 week pregnant Michele and celebrating our one year anniversary. Had we arrived one day earlier, we would have witnessed mayhem in the streets of San Francisco.

(Brian Wilson at his best - Rocking the crowd)

It's been well over 11 years since I moved out the 415, yet I always feel at home when visiting. While moving to Colorado is one of the best things I've ever done in my life, San Francisco will always have a special place in my heart. So yeah, it's always great going back home even if the visits are short and infrequent.

A mid day Thursday arrival allowed for a low key evening of catching up with my mother and hitting up Noe Valley for one of my favorite places to get a burrito. A city with so many awesome burrito joints thankfully has it's own website. Sad to think that outside of Illegal Pete's (which is way overrated), no burrito place in the Denver area would compete with even the worst places listed in the website.

Friday morning greeted me with a chance to get a run in from the mothers house. Living on a hill side offered up 7 miles of running with little flat terrain. In fact the hills are so steep at times that my shins were sore for days to come. Clear days offer up fantastic views of the financial district and the Golden Gate Bridge. Today they offered up heaps of fog.

With most of the day to ourselves, I decided to take Michele to the Upper Sunset for some lunch followed by a visit to the California Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park. I hadn't been to anything like this since I was a kid but the exhibits and layout of the place was great.





Dinner was spent with our dear friend Lisa as we ate some mighty tasty Cajun food in San Mateo.

Sunday morning was spent in Marin County as we visited the best man at my wedding. It still blows my mind that San Francisco can be in the mid 50's, foggy and cold. Drive 15 minutes across the Golden Gate Bridge and you likely experience a calm sunny mid 70's day. Guess it explains why it's so damn expensive to live up there.

Back in the city by lunch with a nice detour to AT&T park.

(The wife and I in front of McCovy Cove)

Then Michele and I were off to celebrate our one year anniversary together. Nothing special planned. Just a low key dinner in North Beach and a very plush night at the Argonaut Hotel near the Wharf. Michele enjoyed the location more for the Hot Fudge Ice Scream Sunday at Ghiradelli Sq then the stunning views of the bay.

Sunday we awoke to the only crappy weather of the weekend. Wind and heavy rain that fell sideways. The options to either run or lounging around with the wife was an extremely easy call for me to make. Hell, it could have been calm and sunny and I still would have opted for the laid back approach with the wife. She was the reason I was here this weekend and there's no other person I'd rather spend the day with.

By lunch time the rain had stopped and the sun rays were breaking through the sky. A few hours later we were heading back home to a much colder Denver with one little side trip.

Years ago an old friend found out he was having a child with his girlfriend. So thrilled he ran out and bought an outfit for her. More specifically he bought her a tiny t-shirt with the Beastie Boys "License To Ill" album cover on it. I've always thought about that thru the years. Getting my child something to wear that I truly love. Something that helped define who I am now as an adult. Do I choose the music route? Tribe Called Quest, The Doors, Bob Marley. Do I choose a city I've lived in or visited? Galway, Ireland, Bisbee, AZ or Melbourne, Australia. So many options.

Then it dawned on me. The San Francisco Giants just won their first World Series in San Francisco. I've been going to Giants game since the late 70's. I've been playing baseball from Little League thru College. Baseball is a sport I truly love that helped define who I am today. So it was a no brainer on what to get my daughter. I can't wait for the day to see her wear this proudly.

October Summary

Runs - 20
Work Outs - 8
Injured - 0

The Bad: Being sick for well over two weeks. What started out as a cold led to a hearty sinus congestion for 4 days. While I ran thru most of this sickness, rarely were any of my runs strong. Miles were short, quality left a lot to be desired. Most of my runs were simply one foot in front of the other till I was done.

During the last few weeks, I've had a crew in the house remodeling our master bedroom and what will be the babies room right next to us. Knocking down walls, putting in new windows, refinishing hardwood floors and painting more then I really ever care too. The past few weeks I've been inhaling all this crap while living in the basement in a complete mess. The wife was a few blocks away in a much calmer environment at her sisters. All this probably didn't help me get over my cold. But I'm fine with it. The wife and I now have a bigger bedroom and we now have a babies room in the making.

The Good: While my mileage for the month was relatively low compared to prior months, I did experience some solid fall running. Apex, 3 Sisters, Bergin Pk and Mt Falcon to name a few of the trails I ran on over the weekends. Even got my first taste of Green Mt in Lakewood thanks to an invite by a pretty sold dude in Patrick. I don't have any one favorite season but running in the fall when the leaves are falling does not suck one single bit.

The early part of the month yeilded some solid speedwork. Something I was hoping to build upon throughout the month but will refocus on once the lungs decide not to yak out snot.

The gym finally became part of my routine. Eight solid workouts this month which could easily have been more had I not been sick. Loved getting back in the gym and pushing weights and look forward to doing this a lot in the upcoming months.

Lastly, and I realize this technically falls on the first day of November, but my beloved San Francisco Giants just pulled off something I waited patiently for my whole life. I was at all the 1987 NLCS games against the St. Louis Cards. I was at every single home game of the 1989 World Series run. Yup I gave Jose Canseco the bird as the earthquake hit. My last playoff game I attended was the Giants getting swept by the Florida Marlins. All these games at Candlestick Park and then I was off to Colorado and missed the past 4 playoff runs with two of them leading to the World Series. Heartbreak in 1992. World Fucking Champions in 2010!!!!

I Hate Being Sick!

Last Thursday afternoon I received my first Flu shot ever. Apparently it's required since I'm a future parent. Last Friday I started to feel off my game. Last Saturday my body was just tired and sore and my 10 mile trail run extremely sluggish. By Saturday night I had a full on cold. Monday and Tuesday I left work early. Wednesday I didn't even bother going in.

Yet through all this I tried to run. The miles were slow and painful. On Monday for example, I made it 5 blocks away from the house when I made every effort to cough up my lungs. Instead of going back home, I finished my sloppy lap around Wash Park. Wednesdays climb of Green Mt in Boulder consisted of breathing thru a plugged nose and constant clearing of the throat. Yet I painfully forged on.

You see, when I get sick, I know the best thing for me to do is simply lay down to relax and catch up on some sleep. But my attention span is short. I sit around for an hour and I get bored. I get this build up of energy (mind you very little energy) and feel the need to release it right away. A walk around the block with the dog would be suffice but in my mind, that's not good enough. So on goes the running gear, the wife shaking her head in disagreement with my plan, yet I proceed on.

Every run during this span has ended with me wondering "what the hell was I thinking!" as I hit stop on my Garmin. In all my years of running while sick, rarely have I felt better afterwards. Yet I continue with this foolish pattern.

Part of me is writing this in hopes that one day I'll be smart enough to not run while I'm sick. Maybe I'll read this the next time I'm sick as a reminder that running while under the weather can be pretty unproductive.

But seriously, who am I kidding. I've proven my stubbornness for years now and I won't be change my mindset. As far as I'm concerned, if I'm sick, I should run. Not because it's going to heal me quicker, but because it's the only way I know how to deal with my hatred of being sick.

Fans on the Field 10K

Literally hours after not finishing Steamboat, I wanted sign up for something. The Bear Chase 50K in Lakewood and the Denver Marathon quickly crossed my mind. Thankfully I listened to the much more rational sounding wife and gave it a week before pulling the trigger on either. That week was enough time to realize that I was both physically and mentally tired to put myself thru another 3 to 4 plus hour race.

With the short term goal of trying to get fast again, I decided to sign up for the Fans on the Field 10K.

Going into this race, I knew I had little speed in my body. Based on my training runs over the past few months, I was figuring I had run my in-town 6 mile distances around 45 minutes on average. While the average time didn't bother as it hasn't been my focus, not knowing what my body could handle at a fast pace did. It had been well over a year since I tried running fast on pavement for anything greater then 3 miles.

I picked up my race packed Saturday afternoon just to get a feel of the parking situation as some 3K plus were expected to partake in the races. On Sunday morning, Michele and I arrived to a very packed parking lot some 30 minutes before start time. This gave me enough time water a few plants, get in a solid warm up and place myself near the front of the pack.

(Pre-race crowds)

The race start was delayed some 10 minutes due to long lines at packet pick up. As I waited near the start, it dawned on me that I've only run this distance once before. The 05 or 06 Bolder Boulder. I had an "A" wave start and I also had a long weekend of booze in me. I recall my first mile coming in at 6 flat followed by a decent vomit in my mouth. Yes I vomited in my mouth. I think I finished that race in like 37/38 minutes.

The race got underway and was pretty congested on the tight Platte River Trail. I just settled into a pace I felt was very controlled for the next 3 miles. Coors Field came and went and there I saw the 3 mile marker at something like 19:30/45. Not much effort exerted to reach this time. At this point I had the intentions to pick it up for the second half of the race but for some reason held back till I reached mile 4. Mile 4 and I kicked into another gear.

Kicking it into another gear was short lived as it was at this point that we merged with the untimed 5K race that started 15 minutes after the 10K race. The next 1/3 of a mile consisted of merging thru strollers, kids and Bronco jersey wearing folks. Then to further slow things down we entered the Pepsi Center. The amount of running spent on the court was short lived and most of the journey thru The Can consisted of running up and down hallways and opened doors.

Finally we exited and an open spaced road led us to and thru Invesco and to the finish line.

40 minutes and 15 seconds. The course per my Garmin, along with a few other peeps Garmins indicated the route a bit longer then 6.2. I saw everything from 6.35 to 6.55.

(My gosh I dislike the Broncos so much!)

I found Michele quickly after crossing the finish line. Instead of getting some food into my system, I headed straight for the Avery tent and threw down an IPA before 10am. It wasn't a Dale's but I wasn't picky. We waited around an hour so I could pick up this gem.

The race itself was interesting I guess but not a race I'd run again. I hardly noticed Coors or Mile High as I was just focused on running. I did notice The Can due to all the sharp right and left turns. The merger with the 5K runners could have been set up better to avoid all the criss-crossing that occurred.

As for my time, I was very content with it. Initially, I wasn't sure if a 40 minute time was possible. In hindsight, I could have easily ran the first 3 miles 30 seconds quicker without it impacting my next 3 miles. I could have also red lined it more over the last 1.2 miles. Biggest plus was how good I felt right after the race. As dumb and obvious as this may sound, it was shocking to see how quickly the mile markers come and go compared to all these longer races I've been running. It's like I had this mind set that I was at either 10,000 feet in elevation or that I had 800 feet of climbing to do over the next mile.

These shorter races really do nothing for me, but I do love training for them. So I'll continue to focus more on speed and try to knock out a few more shorter before a Thanksgiving race.

September Summary

Runs - 15
W/O's - 1
Injured - 0

The Bad: DNFing at Run Rabbit Run. Enough said on this matter.

The Good: My taper which started about two weeks before Steamboat went about as well as I could have hoped for. Enough focused runs, mixed in with rest days went great and had me feeling sharp race day. My diet during this same time frame was on point.

The first 32+ miles of Steamboat were ran pretty damn solidly. I could feel the crash coming as I approached the last few miles but I'm taking whatever positives I can out of this race.

My initial goal was to take the rest of the month of after Steamboat. However record high temps and beautiful sunsets made that impossible. So the rest period consisted of a handful of 4 to 5 mile easy runs around Wash Park.

Going Forward: Get back to the gym and hit it hard. I love pushing weights while logging in miles. What better time to refocus on this as the days get colder and shorter. Plus the wife likes me more with a bit more bulk.

Plyometrics. It's been a while since my body was able to do quick strong explosive movements. The kind of movements needed as you approach a steep and deep face sprinkled with aspens and cliff bands. These type of workouts focus on other muscle groups within my legs and pay huge dividends when I start up a new training cycle.

Shorter distances. Specifically a Turkey Trot in either Loveland or Ft. Collins. I do enjoy running these races but the last few years have seen my times bounce around the 18 minute range. A far cry from that one time I almost broke 17 minutes. It would be nice to break 18 in a few months. Plus it's a good reason to try out that new track at South High only blocks away from the house.

Continue enjoying the trails during this amazing time of year. Just not for 6 hour at a time like I have over the past few months.

(Oh how Bisbee misses SW Colorado)