2014 Year In Review

total miles: 1970  per week: 37.88  per day 5.41

ultras:

6/14 kettle moraine 50k

8/14 howl at the moon 8 hour, 33.11 miles

9/14 evergreen lake 50 mile

10/14 farmdale 30 mile

2015:  more miles!?!

ultra wish list:

4/15 6 hour siltman beer run
5/15 berryman marathon
6/15 north fork 50k
8/15 howl at the moon 8 hr
10/15  farmdale hundo??

Evergreen Lake Trail Run 51 Mile

three 17 mile loops around lake evergreen.  first 50 since 2009, so i'm pumped.  came off a solid summer of volume, for me anyways, and was using howl 8 as a long run for leg strength.  smartly and rightly took the early start at 3:30 a.m., projecting 13+ hrs to finish. nice and cool, 40s to start, some really great night running under a clear and starry sky.  there are few things better.  kept a steady power hiking pace, with some running of the downs, made good time in the dark.  i did stupidly veer off course at one turn, probably cost myself 10 min. or so.

loop one ended in the morning sun.  quick removal of long sleeve to short, kept moving.  second loop was solid, good, consistent fueling strategy throughout the day, didn't have super dramatic energy lulls.  this is not a tough course, so hills not a factor, able to grind my pace pretty much the entire time.

loops two ends, not sure the time, but sub 9 hours, on pace.  lube up, change shoes into montrails, fuel, and go.  last loop was in the heat of the day, although really really nice in the 60s.  i did get some posterior knee pain in both knees, that i think was due to the higher profile of the montrails, vs. the old, beat up vasques i wore for 34 miles.  took the pain of the newer shoes to absorb more of the trail punishment of the latter part of the race.  i think this was the right choice.  honestly, mostly power hiked the last 10 miles or so, came off pace a little, but not horribly.  finished in 13:28.  really happy with that, didn't suffer mightily and generally executed my race plan, although i would have liked to have felt a little better in the late stages to push a bit more running.  ah well.  great swag, hand-carved walking stick and necklace, a couple of ipas at the finish.  another beautiful day on the trails. 

recovery has gone pretty well.  have been generally tired, to be expected, and dropped mileage a bit. eased back into some more normal days this week and am contemplating the farmdale 30 to finish out the season.

howl at the moon 8 hour ultra marathon--2014 edition

howl at the moon 8 hour

i suppose howl has become a quadrennial even for me ('06, '10, '14) but it really needs to be something more frequent than that.  if you haven't been to howl, you're missing oh-so-much, a real old-school ultra, really more a party that celebrates moving over distance than a race per se.  for my part, i was reminded just much dang FUN this event is. 

drove down morning of, grabbed a coffee, arrived at the race site around 6:30 a.m.  set up my chair and junk and immediately engaged in conversations with: a.  interesting guy from muscatine, ia b. 75-year old running his bazillionth ultra and has done a marathon in all 50 states TWICE  c. local doing his 22nd consecutive howl--doesn't train and only does this one even all year.  that's what i'm talkin' bout.

my event: the nuts and bolts of the run itself were fairly uneventful and really not the point, but since you asked, i was able to grind out 30.11 miles, feeling good most of the time.  never had any structural issues, only some minor stomach issues from 20-25 miles that i attribute to over-hydrating.  howl is a not tough course, but it is open, and on hot, sunny days, can be brutal.  this day was mostly cloud covered, yet i failed to hydrate properly considering the conditions.  some extra salt and pretzels settled the stomach before the stretch run.

postrace:  beer.  i mean good beer.  this is one of the cool things about howl.  killian's and sam adams summer ale.  had a great 30 minute conversation with legendary rob apple (679th ultra finish, thank you very much) over at the beer trailer, gathered my award, talked civil war history with a couple from kentucky in their 70s while i was packing up, then headed for b/n to meet the family for thai food. 

yeah, really need to make this more than a quadrennial thing.

Colorado Vacation Journal 2014

7/3 fly to denver/highlands ranch to stay with doug, lisa, and fam

7/4 2:10 run/hike in waterton canyon, dinner at ted turner's, rockies/dodgers game with doug and lisa followed by incredible fireworks

7/5 hike/run 2:10 deer creek canyon to red mesa.  swim and hang out.

7/6 hike run 2:15 mt. falcon to summer house peak (failed attempt to construct a castle home for the american presidents in early 20th century--weird.

7/7 travel to san juans via 285 and the always scenic route 50--lunch in gunnison, love that town.

7/8 hike/run 2:10 ouray perimeter trail and camp bird road.  hung out in silverton (love that town), andrew to the san juan county mining museum (awesome), kilian jornet sighting in cafe mobius.  back to ouray via million $$ highway, swim in hot springs pool for afternoon.

7/9 jeep up to imogene pass, four hour round trip.  incredible views of sneffels, telluride, and the red mts. swim in hot springs pool, evening gently hike to cascade falls area with kids.

7/10 travel to vail via route 50 and 24.  stop off at black canyon national park, seriously underrated place, 2000+ side wall canyon, dramatic.  someday might have time to stay in area and hike down to river.  dicey driving in afternoon around minturn, low tire pressure, winding road, heavy rain, falling rocks, meh.  made it to vail for dinner and hang out.

7/11  bike 2:00 with kids in vail, up gore valley trail and vail proper.  lunch in vail, drive to highlands ranch.

7/12 fly back to former tallgrass prairie

correspondence chess win...

not a bad win, playing as white:


1.    e4    c5
2.    d4    cxd4
3.    Ng1f3    Nb8c6
4.    Bf1b5    a6
5.    Bb5a4    b5
6.    Ba4b3    e5
7.    O-O    Ng8f6
8.    Rf1e1    h6
9.    c3    dxc3
10.    Nb1xc3    Bf8b4
11.    Bc1d2    O-O
12.    a3    Bb4c5
13.    Nc3d5    Bc8b7
14.    Qd1c1    Bc5a7
15.    Bd2xh6    Nc6d4
16.    Bh6xg7    Nf6xd5
17.    Qc1h6    resign