Monday, 12/17/12 Update and RMNP Pics

Not much new here to report. I have been getting out on occasion, just a few casual laps on Green per week, maybe a baby jogger run or two, but have generally been taking things very easy as of late. My left Achilles was a bit twingy after Thanksgiving (probably from stupidly running part of a turkey trot a bit too fast with the baby jogger). On a pain scale of 0-10, it was a very occasional 2, but have been through similar things enough times, I figured I would take that as a sign to get in a little downtime.

After about a week mostly off and wearing a night splint, I felt as though I had it beat and was eager to get back at it, then I got sick and have felt mostly lousy the last 2 weeks. Being sick zapped my energy and motivation a bit, mostly from the interruption of my sleep. This is all fine though, as things have been extremely busy at home and work, so even though it is quite difficult for me to refrain from getting on the trails, it has been (and continues to be) a welcome change of pace which I will just give in to for the remainder of the year (or until I feel otherwise). I am chomping at the bit to get back at it, but am also being patient at the same time.

Normally, by this time of year, I know exactly where I am at in terms of vertical, miles, # or peaks climbed etc… and tend to chase some stupid arbitrary numbers that not even I really care about any more.  This year however, I have resolved to not even tally it up until the last day of the year, or the first of next.


Over the weekend, Allison and I had a rare night away from the kids (our second time away together in nearly 3 years), so we headed up to Grand Lake for some hiking (not quite enough snow yet for snowshoeing) and a lot of eating. I had secretly hoped to get in a few peaks and went prepared for anything, but the weather was not great and we were not particularly goal driven, so we took things pretty easy and just enjoyed our time away with no real plan. It was cool driving into RMNP this time of year, as the snowpacked, but plowed road was open for 10 miles or so to the bottom of Trail Ridge Road. It was so quiet and peaceful, as we were the only humans out there on the unbroken trail toward Timber Lake.

The second day, we headed up toward Lone Pine Lake from the East Inlet trailhead. We had only planned on 2 or 3 hours, but ended up being out for a bit longer. We almost made it to Lone Pine Lake, but we had long surpassed our turnaround deadline and reluctantly had to call it a day. Referring to Google Earth when I returned home revealed that we were only a few hundred yards from the lake. A bit disappointing to have come so close, but still ended up being a very nice 10+ mile hike in the snow.

The snowpack in the mountains is quite thin, but seems like it might be starting up, at least a little bit.

Mountain Lion tracks?  I can't imagine what other large cat might be out there roaming.

Never Summer Range

Impressive land slide (slump)

More Mountain Lion tracks after the moose tracks ended.

Snowy after dinner walk around Grand Lake

East Inlet hike toward Lone Pine Lake

Starting to look like Winter

Adams Falls

Friday, 11/16/12 Three Peaks Plus One

Green/Bear/SOmelittlepeakIcan'tBOothertorememberthenameof/Green Again

10.28 miles
5,256 (dang it, just 24 ft. shy of a vertical mile)
2:49

I had a surprise and very rare morning to do as I pleased, with no real pressure to get home anytime soon, so I headed into Boulder to get in some leisurely hill running.

Headed up A/S/G on Green in an easy 38, down to the 4-way, got a little confused here and ended up on some hardly recognizable trail.  Miraculously, this trail dumped me off right where I had hoped, at the start of the West Ridge trail for Bear, which just opened a few days ago after being closed since the Flagstaff Fire in June.

**Side note, I was expecting total devastation on the W. Ridge, as it looks pretty wiped out from afar and heck, it was closed for 5 months, so it must be really bad right?  I was shocked to observe that, though burnt, it was not nearly as bad as I expected.  It is absolutely ridiculous that this was closed for 5 months.  2 or 3 weeks may have been more appropriate, then a simple "proceed at your own risk" sign, would have been more than sufficient.  All the trail work?  I noticed they minorly reworked/rerouted the trail in at least one spot, some nice steps, but 5 months?  Really?**

Back to the run, I again got a little disoriented, but I could eventually hear voices on Bear, as SOmeBOdy was talking loudly and I eventually topped out and enjoyed the views.  Looking over to South Boulder Peak, it looked pretty bad, IS pretty bad (from what I hear).  Sure wish they would open that soon, I am really itching to go check it out myself.

From Bear, I headed down W. Ridge which was really good to get re-acquainted with after not having run through there since before the fire.  Once back to Bear Canyon, I again got a little disoriented, but soon found myself back at the 4 Way and then headed up to tag Green once again.  Bumped into Ben K and Johannes R, so we stopped to chat for a bit.

On Green, I was feeling awesome and seriously considered tacking on Flagstaff and possibly Sanitas, but then 5 minutes into the descent, I bonked bad, probably my worst bonk in many years, as the early breakfast and lack of fueling caught up to me.  I was a stumbling fool and what is normally a 20 minute cruise, ended up being a 27 minute struggle to not trip and fall.

It was awesome to get out for a little longer run than the norm and I really hope I can do this again on Thanksgiving if I can talk the in-laws into watching the girls (if anybody wants to join, gotta earn that Turkey and those measly 5 or 10ks just do not cut it ;)).

Saturday, 10/27/12 Basic Boulder Mountain 14.22 miler

Flagstaff/Green/Bear
14.22 miles
5,330 vert.
3:06
Avg. HR 161

Photo copied without permission from GZ's fine blog

Was going to write something up, but don't really feel like it, so I'll just list a few highlights/details in no particular order.

• Fresh snow added to the challenge, yet made for an amazingly beautiful day.
• Had a great time catching up (if only briefly) with many good friends and acquaintences.
• Regretted not being able to socialize more with those I only said hi to, or missed seeing altogether.
• Pace was super easy up Flagstaff.
• Homie attacked hard above the Ranger Cabin and we were impressed.
• Homie blew up hard and bailed at the Ranger/Greenman jct. and we gave him crap ;)
• Ran with Dave for the remainder of the run.
• Johannes, Gavin and Andrew Skurka joined us for Bear Canyon descent, before continuing on the prescribed route.
• Dave and I wanted to get home to our families, so we amended our route to include Bear first, then head home.
• Gavin joined us for Bear.
• They kicked my ass up Bear above the saddle while I was sucking wind.  I managed to keep them in sight, but then stopped to put on my tangled jacket in the wind and they were gone.  Fortunately, they were nice enough to wait at the post while I quickly tagged the summit.
• Icebug shoes were great all day, but Microspikes would have been way better descending Fern (though I was more than happy to not carry them for the entire run).
• Dave had no traction, yet he was hard to keep up with going down Fern.
• Many people opted for Bear first instead of heading over to Shadow, as we bumped into Sage and a stream of others behind.
• It was wicked mucky and sloppy heading back on Mesa, but was fun once I gave in to getting dirty.
• Dave seems to be super fit and it was not easy keeping up (and I am sure he was taking it easy on me much of the time).
• Be careful around Rob when he has a camera handy.
• Impressed that Tony went easy and kept his run short.  This is more impressive than if he had dusted us all.
• Though I am normally the warmest dressed, I was in the minority wearing shorts.  I was fine all day, but froze on Bear above the saddle in the wind and snow.
• Even though we cut the run short, it was still double the time of my next longest run since Pikes in August.
• This morphed into writing something up.

Saturday, 10/06/12 Bear Peak

Bear Peak via Fern Canyon
4.65 miles/2,700 vert./1:45 RT

Long anticipated plans for a quarterly free day in the mountains fell through, so I shifted gears and figured a couple hour run over multiple Boulder peaks and possibly some exploring would be a decent plan b.  Sent out a few invites and Tim was on board right away.  Morning arrived and the day was quickly filling with family obligations and my chances of pinpointing a start time diminished to about 0.  Not to mention, it was in the 30's and rainy, so I bailed on Tim.

I am rarely ever dissuaded by the weather, at least for non high country stuff, if I have the opportunity and desire, it never matters to me whether it is 100 degrees or below 0 and blizzard conditions, I enjoy it, but the weather today was not particularly motivating.  As the morning progressed though, I was able to fit in some time to get out and fortunately, I was able to save Tim in time from going on a road run.

Met up at Cragmoor at 10:45 and started up the hill.  I was wearing my heavy waterproof Sauconys, heaviest Winter running pants, long sleeved Smartwool shirt, long sleeve REI hoodie shirt and then my waterproof Patagonia hooded shell, beanie and thick gloves.  Of course within minutes, I announced that I was hot and had to shed a layer.  Tim on the other hand, was in shorts and a light windbreaker and seemed to be quite comfortable.

In Fern Canyon, the rocks started to become coated with ice and we commented on being careful coming down.  Above the saddle, everything was coated with an increasingly thick and solid layer of ice, the rocks, dirt, grass, pine needles, trees, us.

The going was slow, but it was bearable, until we got to the final stretch of talus to the summit.  This is where Tim (smartly) called it a day, but I was determined to make the top, so I continued on, crawling much of the way.  Once at the post, the normal route along the ridge seemed to be a sure way to really get injured, so I carefully navigated some of the alternative routes I use on the West side, but as I got to within 10 or so vertical feet of the summit, I was stymied no matter how hard I tried.  It was just too slick and the chance of really getting hurt was significant.

I eventually backed off, then it took me longer to just crabwalk back down to the bottom of the talus field than it normally takes me to get to the bottom of Fern Canyon on a dry day.  The remainder of the descent to the saddle was really slow and deliberate, but was able to get down unscathed.  Conditions improved and I upped the pace trying to catch Tim, but he had gotten cold and had to keep moving, so had a pretty good gap on me.  When I finished, he was in the car trying to salvage his hands.

Tough conditions for early October and I really wished I had wore my Ice Bugs (considered it, but figured it would just be wet up there with a little fresh snow).  Still a great time and was good to catch up with Tim, it had been way too long.

Saturday, 09/22/12 Crater Lakes

6  miles/1,400 vert.

Had a great casual hike with the family up to Crater Lakes from the Moffat Tunnel.  Was a perfect fall day and the leaves are near/at/slightly past peak.

As an aside, as we got within about a half mile of the trailhead on the return trip, we could hear a loud siren repeating at regular intervals with some sort of announcement being made.  As we got closer, we could tell that the announcement was being made in (non-discernible from afar) English, as well as a host of foreign languages.  French, Spanish, Arabic, German, Italian, perhaps one or two others and we could not figure out what was going on.  A derailed train?  A crazed gunman?  Terrorists?

As we got to the lot, it became obvious that somebody (or perhaps wildlife) got too close to the tunnel opening and triggered the alarm that consequently ran for who knows how long.  It was ear splitting and was quite the dose of noise pollution in an otherwise tranquil area, just so extremely out of the realm of ones expectations to finish up a hike in the Colorado Mountains, having "WARNING!!!  ACHTUNG!!!  AVISO!!!" screamed at you.  It was also a bit nerve wracking not knowing what this was about as we approached the lot.  The dog was really sketched out, our 2 year old twins were a little disturbed and we were annoyed.  What a great way to finish a nice hike (OK, we got over it quick, it was otherwise such a perfect day).

I did not get any recording, but found this on youtube:

So, I have to ask, why the alarm?  Avoiding the tunnel falls into the category of no shit.  If you walk in there and get nailed by a train, you sort of have it coming.  It is pretty obvious.  If this is some sort of post 9/11 anti terrorist thing, then I have my doubts that this alarm will deter them.  Since the alarm is known to run for hours, or even days (as suggested in the comments associated with the youtube video), what good is it?  Which authorities are being alerted to come check whether or not something has really happened?  Clearly, nobody is paying close attention and if I had to guess, I'll bet this happens too often to follow up on every time.

Saturday, 09/15/2012 Rattlesnake Ramble

2012 Rattlesnake Ramble

4.2 miles/957 vert./30:55/7:22 pace/avg. HR 175

5th place overall
1st Master (2nd really, but Andy Ames was 2nd overall)
Results

I ran Bill's race back in 2005 and had an awesome time, but unfortunately, every year since has fallen on (or too close to) my anniversary and I have not been able to participate since.

This year, the race was scheduled a few days before, so I was good to go.  Except, I was on baby duty.  I waffled as to whether or not I wanted to try and find somebody to watch them for 30 or so minutes while I ran, or just head over and spectate and take pictures, but on the day before the race, I got 3 separate offers.

In the middle of the night last night though, in my sleepy stupor, I double checked the race start time and realized that it was 8am instead of 8:30am as I had been thinking all along.  I opted to just bail on the whole thing, as often times the girls sleep until 7am and it can be a real struggle to quickly mobilize two 2 year olds.

I had shut off my alarm and awoke at 6:45am and heard at least one of the girls making noise, so I popped up, got dressed, ate and we were out the door by 7:15am which was quite the race in and of itself.  Definitely a PR.

Arrived at 7:32am and coincidentally parked very close to Joey and Heidi, where Heidi and her mom would be babysitting for me.  They immediately jumped into baby sitting mode while I went to register and get my number.  I had just enough time to obtain my tech race tee, pin my number on, pee and warm up for a few minutes.

Homie was the official honorary starter and before I knew it, we were sprinting up the road into a bit of a headwind.  I might have been in 10th or 11th position for what seemed like an eternity, but was really only a few minutes.  This section was really painful, as I had not warmed up nearly sufficiently enough and I was half tempted to just peel off.  I passed a few people as I started to get into a bit of a groove and was in 6th by the time we entered the steeper technical singletrack of the Eldorado Trail.  About 1/3 of the way up, I passed 2 more guys, moving into 4th place and was in close proximity to Andy Ames in 2nd and Toby ? in 3rd.  John Tribbia was long gone.  I was maybe 20 seconds back on 2nd/3rd at the turn around (12:55) and then eased into the fast and technical descent.  I was soon pushing very hard, more trying to hold onto 4th than I was trying to move up places and was surprised to catch Andy and Toby about half way down.

I was going a bit faster on the descent than Andy and Toby, but once I caught them, the trail was not quite wide enough to easily get by and I did not want to ask them if I could pass (though in retrospect should have, because the pace then seemed too easy and I definitely lost some time here).  Once back on the road (17:??), Andy and Toby really gassed it and started getting ahead of me (as I suspected they might), where I was just hanging on for dear life at that point.

By the next turnaround at the end of the Fowler Trail, I could hear 5th place breathing down my neck and he soon passed me.  It was then I regretted not building more of a cushion on the technical descent of the Eldorado Trail.  I kept him close for a while heading toward the finish, but once the trail smoothed out and then really dropped down the steep road, he was outstriding me and I knew then that I was now fighting to hold 5th.

I glanced back once along the road and did not see anybody, so now I was just pushing to beat my 31:27 PR from 2005, but I was secretly hoping to go under 30.  It was not to be though, as the second hand on my watch was running way quicker than I, but was able to sneak in just under 31 minutes for a 32 second PR.

Though I made the mistake of not passing on the down and quite possibly lost that one placing from behind, I was pretty happy with my result, as I gave it my all the entire time, was able to PR, take the Masters win and thus get an early pick at the loaded prize table.  It was a toss up between Microspikes and a free pair of La Sportiva shoes, but I ultimately opted for the shoes, as I can let Allison pick out a nice pair of trail shoes.

Post race, I was able to chat with quite a few friends and acquaintances which was a great time.  It was awesome to race on a trail so close to home, quite a rare opportunity.  If you have never done this one before, I can't say enough good things and I highly encourage you to run it next year.

• It is a trail race in Boulder
• Bill puts on an amazing event
• The money goes to a good cause
• It has a small race feel
• The course is really fun
• The shirts are always cool
• It is just a great time 
• And there are TONS of great prizes for the top finishers and for the raffle afterwards
• You are almost guaranteed to come out ahead

Oh yeah, HUGE thanks to Joey's wife Heidi and Heidi's mom for watching the girls while I raced.  It was comforting knowing they were in such good hands.

Congrats to Tribs for rocking a 27:10 and taking down the course record (yet again).

Awesome special edition shirt

House Renovation

We have been renting a house in Louisville for 4 years and have been looking to buy in Louisville for much of that time with varying degress of seriousness.  In early June, with an inside tip from somebody we met at the park (who would later become our friend and neighbor), we checked out a house very nearby that was for sale by owner. 

It had been cleaned up a little bit after being a rental property for ~10 years, but was still in pretty rough condition and clearly needed some significant remodeling/renovation that required an open mind and vision to get past its deficiencies.  On the plus side, the location is good, the house is the right size/layout that we were looking for and the yard, though in tough shape on the surface, has a lot of potential.  Because of its rough condition and lack of updating, we were able to purchase the house for a reasonable price, realizing that we would be needing to budget well to get the house up to our specs.  It would consume our entire summer, but we were confident that it would all be worthwhile in the end.

After a lot of work with inspections, negotiations, finding the right mortgage and all of the work that goes along with buying a house, we finally closed on July 20th.  Then the real work began.

My dad flew out, I took 2 weeks off from work and we tore into it with gusto, working most days from sunrise to sunset.  We ripped out the old kitchen, knocked down a wall, moved the access door for the garage toward the front of the house, added a sliding glass door, pulled out all of the old carpets and flooring, baseboards, etc...

We added/replaced drywall throughout the kitchen, did some of our own electrical work (though ran out of time to do all that we intended and had to hire an electrician), replaced baseboards, built new bannisters/railings, built a small back deck, pulled thousands of carpet staples out of the floor and then sanded all of the floors, replaced broken stairs, patched holes, installed ceiling fans and the list goes on and on.

One of the most frustrating aspects of this project were the daily, often twice daily and occasional thrice daily trips to Home Depot or Lowes.  A few hundred dollars here, five hundred there, returning this, trading out that, oops, forgot this one little item.  Ughhh.

Adding to the stress, all the while we had to adhere to tight timeframes based on when the cabinet/floor/counter people were coming, coordinating our electrician, carpet guys, selecting appliances, delivery dates, packing up our existing house, arranging movers.  Not to mention take care of our twin daughters.

We still have a lot of work to do, trim, painting, new interior doors, new blinds, bathroom improvements, decorating, organizing etc..., then there is the yard, which will be an ongoing project.  All of that stuff we can chip away at our leisure though and it is somewhat of a relief to just be moved in and have the hardest part behind us.

None of this would have possible without my dad's huge amount of work, advice and expertise, help from Allison's parents with watching the girls when possible, help painting from Allison's brother David and his friend Sheri and the understanding/flexibility from my boss Leah.





Before Pictures:

Very small galley kitchen

A terrible place for a garage access door

That window back there just has to be a slider.  Otherwise the only way to the back yard is through the garage.

Master Bedroom

Office

Old beat up metal rail has to go

We'll eventually put in a gas fireplace in the family room and do something with that brick

During Renovation:

Nice old linoleum from the 70s that was a real job to scrape up

This part was actually pretty fun.  I did it all with a hammer and my foot

I took a trip to home depot, came back and my dad had opened up the back wall for the slider

Dad about to frame in the slider.  His work was is impressively precise, literally a millimeter gap around the edges, pretty much fit perfectly.  He has spent his life doing carpentry, general contracting, home repair, electrician etc... and really knows this stuff.

Rough shape, but I cleaned this up pretty good.

Removing the carpet revealed 1x1 tiles glued to the floor that needed to be scraped up.

Was able to sell the old appliance on Craigslist (except for the dishwasher which was new and I was able to talk Lowes into giving me store credit to put toward a better one)

My outift for crawling around in the attic.  It was quite hot up there and I could only last 5-10 minutes at a time, not to mention the contorting became difficult.

With a little guidance from my dad, I built this small deck.

My little Home Depot helpers

Allison starting the painting

David cutting in

Sheri rolling out the kitchen

Putting in new baseboards turned out to be more of a job than I anticipated.  I had to complete this project after my dad had left in the evenings after work racing darkness (very limited lighting and electricity at the time)

After Pictures: