And there goes May!

May is done and what an up and down month it has been.  302 miles for the month and that is with six days off for an average of just a little over 12 miles a day.  The grand total for 2012 now sits at 1356 miles.

The three days before today were just a huge push to get the miles in before the end of the month and to load up at the beginning of the week...  Also doing two twenty milers and one ten miler in the span of three days always works to let me know exactly where I am fitness wise.  I would have to say judging by the way things have gone the past week or so, that everything is definitely looking up.

Today however was just a super, super, super easy recovery day.  I am going to take tomorrow easy as well in anticipation of the RTP run, well the second half of it that I will be doing on Saturday.

Monday

Today was an awesome day.  Kicked out a solid 20 miler more or less on a whim to see if it would be there and it was.  You know it is going to be a good run when you are on mile seven in a 20 miler and you start kicking around the idea of stretching it out to a 30 miler just for the hell of it.  Honestly it felt like I was running in somebody else's body today.  The beginning couple of miles was rough but then it just kept getting better.

Saw MIB 3 today... The Dictator was a much better movie, trust me.

Finished the day with a couple of good cigars on the patio... a great way to close out the weekend.

Everyone have a good week!

A play on one of my favorite songs... let's see if anyone gets it.  :)

Saturday's Trip

Yesterday was just an amazing day all around.  FINALLY!  And I definitely learned a couple of things in the process.  First of all, man I must have really been sick these past few weeks.  It is amazing how much better I feel now compared to just last weekend.  Being able to fully breathe again without the overall feeling of exhaustion all of the time just makes everything so much easier.  Not to mention I am not running around sounding like a two pack a day smoker all the time either.

The run, while not fast by any stretch was steady, consistent and strong throughout.  I started off slow keeping in mind it was a training run and maintained that level of effort through the day.  My goals were to cover some miles, get in a lot of time on my feet, massive elevation gains and spend as much time above 10,000 feet as I could.  All of these were met successfully.

Originally the plan was to summit the peak then drop down to the Crags then back up and over.  Once at the top though the winds made going down the back slope almost impossible.  No problem I had a plan b that I had concocted earlier in the week which was to drop back down the east side of the Peak to Barr Camp, head out towards Elk Park then come back the same way to Barr Camp then drop on down to to Manitou.    While I didn't get to do the double crossing, this was a great run and being able to hit Barr Camp every six or seven miles or so to top off water bottles etc, really made it easier.

Manitou at 5:00 a.m.  Perfectly still.

I could tell in the dark that morning that it was extremely hazy out.  What I didn't realize was that it was actually smoke.  The wind hadn't really picked up yet so the smoke remained thick throughout most of the morning.

You can see the sun burning through the smoke as it was rising.

My first real landmark when climbing Barr Trail is this rock and tree which has been there for a long as I can remember and by that I mean the 90's.  I call it Sasquatch Rock cause at low light when you first see it, it appears to be a Sasquatch peering down as a sentinel on the trail. Someday I hope to see a real one still...

Bigfoot!

The haze from the fires and smoke persisted throughout the morning.  At times the peak was hard to see.

One of the best views of the summit from the trail.

Above Barr Camp it is obvious that spring has not arrived to higher regions of the mountain yet. These aspens have yet to bud and leaf out.

No aspen leaves yet.

 Once above treline is was impossible to see Colorado Springs which was kind of neat in a way.  It made it seem like I could be on any mountaintop anywhere else in the world instead of just miles from the city.  Also as I got higher, there was more ice on the trail and I mean large sheets of ice.

Lots of ice on the trail like this.  The funny thing is that i see ice up there regardless of the time of the year, even in July.

After making the summit and deciding to bail down the east side it was nice to be out of the wind.  It was blowing so hard that just under the summit where it blocked the wind coming out of the SW, it seriously sounded like a jet roaring overhead.  I had no doubts that I made the right decision.

The run out to Elk Park was almost disturbingly clear for this time of the year/early in the season.  Where the creek flowing out of Ghost Town Hollow is usually out of its banks and you are forced to wade across or jump from clump of dry ground to another it was more that easily fordable across the small log bridge.

The effort then up to Elk Park was just a steady grind like usual with the trip after that back to Barr Camp seeming to take a lot of time as well.  When I made my final stop at Barr Camp to top off one water bottle, I got a Pepsi and sat in the rocking chair and relaxed a bit.  I only had 7.5 miles to go back down the trail to the Jeep at Memorial Park but it seemed like a really long way especially knowing that it would get warmer the further down the trail I descended.

With only about four miles left I had a quick check-in with Melissa on the phone and I started running again.  Even with 30+ miles under my belt for the day I was amazed at just how great everything felt.  Sure I was tired, no doubt but damn it if I didn't feel stronger.  I was also moving at a pace that surprised me but then again, the lower I got, with more oxygen,  it was almost effortless.  Again, I contemplated how shitty I felt when I was sick most of the month to how well I felt yesterday and the contrast was startling.

I am not feeling too trashed today so I will do some miles, easy effort to finish out the week.  All in all I have to say that my confidence is really starting to shoot up.  I don't have my speed back but I know that it will come back especially given how well a day like yesterday went.  Sub 12 in the San Juan Solstice while still not highly probable, definitely seems more possible to me today.

The course from Saturday.  Manitou to the summit. Back down to Barr Camp.  Out to Elk Park, then all the way out and back down to Manitou.  38.17 miles 13,843 feet in total elevation gain.

All of this was followed by a great dinner out downtown and wonderful night's stay at the Antler's to get away.  How is that for the first half of a three day weekend?! 

38.17 Miles... Big Day.

Manitou to the Pikes Peak Summit, back down to Barr Camp then out to Elk Park and then back to Manitou.

73 Miles

73 miles... that is how many miles I am ahead this year from this day last year.  Actually I find that statistic sorta funny considering how many days off I have been taking the past couple of months.  1258 miles this year to to date, compared to 1185 last year.   It is going to be damned tough to top out over 300 miles for May but I am going to give it my all.

Had a good run at lunch today.  A little faster than usual especially for the past two months.  It didn't feel any easier, just a touch faster.  I think that with all of the breathing issues that I have had the past two months I had really compensated by running much slower (as if that were possible) and now, that I can breathe again, I just don't have the leg speed that I was used to before.  I am not too worried about it.  I am sure it will come back. 

Should be a great weekend.  Lots of fun stuff planned.

Wyatt posted this video link on his FB page.  It is a pretty good series if you have the time for it.  You can find it here. 

I need to find another decent track that is close to home now since the CC track is so trashed.   I miss the speed workouts.  I just don't want to drive to a track... :)

Tomorrow, regardless of what I decide to run will be a huge day.  I will report on that later.

Have a good night1

Running and Faith?

Anyone who knows me or reads my blog or runs with me knows that for some strange reason this year has been full of challenges for me running wise.  The equation has been lopsided at best... lots of effort in... not so great performances out.  There have been family, pet, personal, career and a myriad of other things interfering as well.  In a nutshell that is just life, it happens.

But lately especially with this last respiratory thing I had had going on and my slow recovery out of that it has given me time to think of this year and the past few weeks and in a way marvel at how or why I have just kept at it.  To what end am I am motivated?  Why haven't I just given up when a lot of times it even appears that is the best course of action if for no other reason for my sanity and self preservation?  What is it that as runners, really keeps us going when things get tough?

I think it has to be faith... pure and simple.  Not faith in god or a deity or anything like that but just faith that our toil will pay off in the end.  Period.  Of course that payoff is different for each runner I suppose but that mystical carrot, whatever it may be has to be out there.

For some runners, it is finishing a race of X distance for the first time. For others it is just being faster than they were a week or a season or a year ago.  For others it is possibly the chance of increasing their longevity and quality of life.  Regardless of the reason though, I don't think that we can lace up our shoes every day like we do without having at least a particle of faith that we are achieving and indeed traveling towards our goals and desired results.

Even though my progress has been stagnated this year I still believe that I am doing the good work that will someday pay off.  Be it keeping my blood pressure down, or my weight or just keeping me sane overall.  I have to believe yet that the work now will eventually lend itself to progress and improvement and I just have to accept, for now that is a slow process.  One of the largest aspects of running and faith for me is that running is truly my fountain of youth.  Sure I am getting older but as long as I can run I can still have those rare moments where I can still feel that vitality, that energy and optimism of youth.  Most of the time it is that sense of optimism that I treasure the most.  The days when everything feels great and I dare to dream the dreams that border on the impossible... Those are the rare moments that I often seek and long for.  Maybe that is MY runners high, if there really is such a thing.  And trust me... NOT getting old is very, very important to me too.  Getting older is inevitable but I never want to get old.  

I still believe that I have races and times and performances that I am still capable of and when they happen, myself and a lot of people are going to be pleasantly surprised.  The key point here is that I still believe that I can improve in one way or the other.

But I have to be realistic.  In a few years, (hopefully in quite a few years) I won't be able to improve.  It will just be impossible.  What then?  If I had to guess, I will still be able to have attainable goals, but they will just be slightly different.

It's gonna be easier later on to win first in my age group when, well... I am the only one in my age group that shows up that day!  How is that for a long-view based on faith?  :) 

This is sort of what I am referring to.  Talk about never giving up!  I've seen this video floating around a bit the past few weeks and what this guy did was nothing short of a miracle in my opinion.

Three Days and $15.80

$15.00 co-pay for my Dr. and .80 cents for the prescription and three days later I feel like an entirely new person!  No coughing and I don't  feel like I am completely drained all the time.  I am sleeping better and waking up in the mornings feeling rested.  Amazing! I knew that things were turning around later on Monday night when I was feeling more energized and not dragging ass like I had been for so long. 

I bought mom a pair of Hoka's for a late Mother's Day present when they got here on Monday.  I had to wait until she got here to have her fitted and she is loving them!  I hope they help her knees.  Have to give her props, she is 64 years old and basically runs a half marathon just about every weekend.... no joke! 

I plan to get out today and get a decent run in later in the afternoon.   Actually I felt like I could have ran yesterday but I figured another day off would not hurt.  I'll get back at it this week and next week should be 100%, finally!

Annie's graduation and everything else yesterday went very well.  It is so nice having Melissa home on vacation this week and on top of that having my parents visiting.  We had a nice dinner out on the patio last night and were able to enjoy the evening outside.

My parents are at the USFA Graduation today courtesy of JT who had a couple of extra tickets.  I hope they got there in time and are enjoying the day.

Had a huge haul of Non-Cuban smokes come in the mail the other day.  I finally decided enough was enough and it was time to restock the humidors!  Now I am working on procuring a couple boxes of Cohiba's and Montecristo's for the Cuban collection.  

Here is a picture of my "Cuban Humidor" which was taken the first week of November, 2008.  Basically 25 Montecristo #4's. 25 Cohiba Siglo IV's and 25 Cohiba Siglo VI's.  Lots of cigars.  Of course I have emptied it and refilled it plenty of times since then but this was basically the best inventory that this particular humidor has held.  I will probably never stock up on Siglo VI's again but I'd like to have the same quantities as before but just have Siglo II's instead of the VI's...

From left to right, Cohiba Siglo IV's, Montecristo #4's, and Cohiba Siglo VI's.

Personally there are many cigars that I think are better in quality and everything else than Cuban's, like anything from the Padron 1926 series but be that as it may Cubans just have a unique character that others just don't have.  It is almost indescribable.

Starting to get excited about San Juan... The snow meter shows no snow now at Slumgullion.  My guess is that the creeks will have already crested and receded by race day.  The only two things to maybe be concerned about now will be either heat or a storm that day.  Regardless I can't wait to get on the course again in a few weeks.