I kid you not

Fortunately, Adrienne spent last night in Denver and this morning is running the Garden of the Gods 10 Miler in Manitou Springs. I’m glad she wasn’t here this morning to see this…

I’m also fortunate that June didn’t feel like weeping like I did. Instead, she was ecstatic about the snowfall. She got right to playing. Jolee was still sleeping or she would have been out there rolling in the wet snow too. I’d be remiss, however, if I didn’t mention that our weather for the past few weeks has been amazing—low 70s and no snow on the trails. Hopefully this will melt by this afternoon… 

 

rocky mountain double

What a difference a month of solid training makes. Yesterday, I ran the Rocky Mountain Double Marathon just outside of Laramie, Wyoming. Molly and Phil graciously let me sleep at their place on Saturday night since their house is two hours closer than ours to Laramie.

At 3 a.m. the alarm sounded, I got dressed, ate some oatmeal, a banana, two bottles of Ensure, and headed on my way to the race. Once I arrived at the race start around 5:15, I quickly got checked-in and then sat in my car until 5:58, two minutes before the start.

The course was a beautiful 26.2 mile roundtrip out-and-back on mostly on dirt and gravel roads. Except for a paved three mile section that ran along I-80, it was really nice running terrain. The race director said afterwards there was 6000 feet of climbing for the Double Marathon, but he wasn’t positive and it felt like less to me, which is a good thing.

I felt good nearly the whole way. I finished the first 26.2 in 4:45; I don’t think I’ve ever felt so good this far into a race. My legs felt really fresh. Around mile 40 I hit a moderate low point. I had blisters on both big toes (I now know what socks I’m definitely not wearing for Leadville), and I wasn’t sure I’d finish in under 10 hours. I started drinking a lot of Gatorade, I survived the final segment along I-80, my spirits lifted, and then I powered through the last 6.5 miles to the finish. My finishing time of 9 hours and 48 minutes was good enough for 8th place overall. Except for painful toes from the blisters, I felt pretty good. I hung around the finish line for about five minutes before continuing the endurance event by jumping in my car and driving for a few hours back to Breckenridge.

Check out the fancy finishers belt buckle…

If there’s one area that I failed miserably with regards to this race, it was my lack of research and preparation for the actual race logistics. I didn’t pack gloves, but it was 32 degrees at the start; my hands were completely numb for the first hour or two. I also assumed I could buy the Snickers Marathon bars I prefer at any grocery store near my sister’s house, but we ended up having to go into three different grocery stores before finding some, albeit in a flavor I had never tried, at Walmart. And finally, I figured the aid stations would be moderately well-stocked. I told my sister the night before that “they’ll at least have bananas.” Nope. No bananas, no potatoes, no peanut butter and jelly. I ended up running the entire 52.4 miles fueled by nothing but potato chips, M&M’s, one Snickers Marathon bar, and Gatorade. Not ideal by a long shot.

a treasonous Easter?

I reveal this information with a great amount of trepidation. For I am a food purist, and I fear I’ll be treated like Hester Prynne should I attempt to cross the border back into North Carolina. Adrienne and I both love (lust after might be more appropriate) Eastern North Carolina style barbecue, and as you might guess, real Eastern NC barbecue is nowhere to be found in these parts. For our friends from Metro Detroit, the Eastern versus Western Carolina barbecue debate is akin to the war between Lafayette and American Coney Island—by the way, don’t you dare go to American. We hadn’t had any proper barbecue since our friend Alyssa brought some with her from North Carolina when she visited us in Denver last April, so we were getting desperate.

I’ll just cut to the chase: we don’t own a smoker, the traditional method for preparing the pork, so I had to look for other techniques to create the magic. After much searching I settled on…hold your breath…state of North Carolina please don’t hate me…using a slow cooker. Yep, a slow cooker. Maybe it’s not as big a crime as I think, but it felt like I was slathering ketchup all over a hot dog. But let me tell you, it could not have been easier and the results were quite stellar. Not as good as Allen and Son, on par with Hog Heaven, and superior to Q-Shack. Here’s the recipe, but don’t blame me if they don’t let you into the Tar Heel State.

the meat…

• 1 (5 pound) bone-in pork shoulder roast
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
• .25 to .5 cup liquid smoke optional (if you want a smoky flavor)

1. Place the pork shoulder into a slow cooker and season with salt and pepper. Pour the vinegar and liquid smoke around the pork. Cover, and cook on Low for 12 hours. Pork should easily pull apart into strands.

2. Remove the pork from the slow cooker and discard any bones. Strain out the liquid. Shred the pork using tongs or two forks.

the sauce…

• I cup white vinegar
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce (I used Frank’s Red Hot Cayenne Pepper Sauce but Tabasco works)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Combine the white vinegar, cider vinegar, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper in a jar or bottle with a tight-fitting lid. Refrigerate for one to two days before using so that the flavors will blend. Shake occasionally and store for up to two months in the refrigerator.

The barbecue was such a treat, we decided to make it for Easter; I think we’ve started a tradition.

fine barbecue deserves nothing less than fine china…

Adrienne really outdid herself. Molly and Phil joined us for the feast…

June and Jolee on the prowl for eggs… Jolee embracing her Easter orange… 

 

 

  

and finally, a post-engorgement walk…

back on track

I intended on running yesterday’s Collegiate Peaks 50 Mile Trail Run in Buena Vista, CO as part of my training for Leadville. My training through mid-March had been quite good, but then it fell off a cliff. Despite several 20+ mile runs and one 32 mile run between January, February, and March, my pathetically sporadic running schedule over the last month and a half didn’t give me a great deal of confidence for completing a demanding 50 miler. The race consists of both 25 mile and 50 mile distances. The course was a single 25 mile loop with 4700 feet of climbing per loop, so after the first loop you can call it a day or head back out and travel the same loop in the opposite direction. Last weekend I told Adrienne with a good degree of certainty that I would just do 25. But for some strange reason, I started to think I could do the 50 as the week went on.

The weather forecast looked hideous. It was calling for snow and 22 degrees at the start with rain, thunderstorms, and 43 degrees by mid-afternoon. Fortunately, the forecast was wrong. We had blue skies the entire day. The course was in perfect condition. There wasn’t even snow on the trail—what a treat. And I’ve run on a lot of pretty courses, but this one took the cake. The mountains here in Breckenridge are beautiful, but the Collegiate Peaks are much more stunning as they abruptly shoot skyward from out of the high plains. If you ever get the chance to run this race and the weather looks decent (twice before they’ve gotten dumped on with three to four feet of snow), then by all means, sign-up.

I smartly ran the first loop very conservatively. I walked the big uphills, drank a lot, and took in some calories (for the day, I ate 2 Snickers Marathon Bars, a ton of M & Ms, potato chips, a chocolate chip cookie, a ridiculous number of bananas and I drank water and Heed). I felt pretty good after a 4 hour and 53 minute first loop, so I decided to go out for the second lap. I stopped at my car, changed my shirt and hat, and took off back up the mountain. After the first lap I actually said to someone that the reported 4700 feet of climb seemed exaggerated. Well, I felt every bit of that 4700 feet and then some on the return trip. My legs and feet really felt pretty good the whole way. Until somewhere around mile 35, I thought I had a chance at breaking 10 hours. My legs were tired, however, so I was happy to slow down and work my way to the finish. I crossed the finish line in 10 hours and 46 minutes. I was extremely pleased with my run and it puts my training right back on track.

catch

One of my favorite activities and fondest memories from my childhood was playing catch in our backyard with my dad. As you might already know, the game of baseball had a very special place in our house. My dad not only played professionally, but he coached all of us for many years in Little League Baseball and Softball. Needless to say, playing catch with June for the first time a few weeks ago was a special moment for me…

on the slopes with my sisters

In March, Katye and her fiancé, Tim, visited us here in Breckenridge. On the Sunday of their visit, Molly and Phil drove up from Broomfield, and we all went skiing and snowboarding for the day. Adrienne generously watched the kids which allowed my sisters and me to ski together for the first time ever. Although they both lived and worked in Beaver Creek for years, I never skied with them because I had given up skiing for fear of a knee injury that could affect my other sports. Well, despite the many year wait to ski together, we had a great day out on the mountain.

The group shot…

Molly and Phil…

Katye and Tim…

Molly and Katye in 1995 in Beaver Creek (I think)…

and the 2010 version. Notice that Molly still has the same pair of mittens…

snow, snow go away

I fear that winter is going to hold on tooth-and-nail and will sadistically morph into next winter, skipping spring, summer, and fall altogether. The locals warned us that the winters are long here in Breckenridge. We know that the geography guarantees as much. And we know that this was considered a mild winter by Breckenridge standards. But seriously, please melt already.

Adrienne and I both made it to mid-March in good spirits, but then I think we reached our tipping point. For me, I can’t overstate how tired I am of running through snow. I can’t remember what it’s like to run without the threat of frozen water bottles, frozen eyelashes, or post-holing (breaking through the uppercrust of snow and sinking down to my knees or hips). Despite all the cold and snowy miles I logged this winter, it wasn’t until the temperatures started to warm up a bit and the dirt started winking at me from beneath the snow covered trails that I suddenly became incredibly impatient for it all to melt away. And naively, I thought it had. In just the last week and a half the several feet of snow on our lawn completely melted. The snow covering the parks where June and Jolee so desperately want to play went away as well. With temperatures in the upper 50s, I thought we had survived winter and lived to tell about it. But alas, I was so pathetically wrong. Starting late Thursday night and continuing through this morning, the snow fell without pause. We now have a fresh foot of snow. I had actually tucked our heavy mittens, hats, and snow boots into the depths of our closet, I nearly removed the screws from my running shoes, and I was just about to put the shovels away until fall. And then this.

We have a bear statue outside that we’ve been using to gauge when spring will arrive. For most of the winter, he was completely buried. Then in late March, his nose emerged…

We backtracked a bit in early April…

But in the last few weeks we resumed our march towards spring…

The snow on the bear and the grass had completely melted—until today…

I have run outdoors through the entire winter. I’m happy to report that I’ve logged precisely zero miles on the treadmill since moving here. Amazingly, today, April 24th, over a month into spring, presented the toughest running conditions so far. In fact, what started as a 16 mile run turned into a 4 mile jog interspersed with 7 miles of a hiking. Once I reached the Sally Barber Mine trailhead three miles in, the running was all but over. The Sally Barber Mine Trail steadily rises for roughly a mile and a half to the mine ruins at an elevation of 10,695 feet. Even through the winter, it’s very runnable. Not today. Despite not starting my ascent until nearly 10am, not a single track had been laid on the trail. This is a very popular trail for snowshoers and x-country skiers, so I expected a path to have already been cut for me. I’ll spare you the details, but if I’m running at a good pace I usually reach the mine ruins 45 minutes into my run and reach the Barney Ford trailhead in 58 minutes; today I reached those landmarks at 1:14 and 1:44 into the run. And for the entire 11 mile loop, I typically finish around 1:45; today I crossed the finish line at 2:44. Brutal. I had planned on adding five miles by heading up Bald Mountain on a trail called Nightmare on Baldy that ascends from the Sally Barber Mine ruins, but I didn’t feel like “running" for what would have been well over four hours today; I simply skipped it.

So pray my brothers and sisters that the snow melts by early September, because that’s when it started snowing here this past fall.          

junie on the slopes

Junie has been doing a lot of late season ski training. She took a lesson back in January, but it wasn't until a visit from my sister Katye and her fiance, Tim, two weeks ago that June's Olympic training began in earnest. Katye used to teach the toddler set how to ski at Beaver Creek, so she dusted off her teaching cap and took Junie to the snow covered trails behind our house. In the two weeks since then, I've taken June to the same trails a time or two more.

With temperatures this weekend in the upper 50s and Adrienne and Jolee in Seattle, June and I took to the slopes. It's amazing how quickly a three-year-old can progress. On Friday, we went to Breckenridge and she took her first ride on the chairlift. I was nervous beforehand, but Junie handled it like she had done it a million times. Katye had recommended I ski backwards down the hill in front of June and forgo all the crazy straps and harnesses you see parents wrapping around their kids. We did, however, use an "Edgie Wedgie" (a small piece of rubber that clamps to both ski tips to keep them together) for the first trip down the mountain. It was slow going, but Junie steadily improved. Being able to make eye contact with June (because I was skiing backwards) was really helpful. We eventually made to the bottom, had some snacks in the resort, and then grabbed some happy hour tacos and lemonades at Lucha, our favorite local cantina.

On Saturday, we followed much of the same routine. This time we only used the Edgie Wedgie for a short while and Junie handled the transition without a hitch. Again, she made steady improvements and by the end of our trip down the mountain she had started to follow me as I skied ahead of her (no longer skiing backwards). Although it was nearly 60, we sat by an outdoor fire and enjoyed some snacks before heading home.

Her progress continued on Sunday. She was able to follow me down the slopes and we made it to the bottom in less than half the time it took us just two days before. We stopped for a snack and even went out for a second run. She honestly started giving me pointers the next time down. "Point your tips like this, Dad!" she told me—several times.

Today, we hit the slopes again. The progress continues. I can't overstate how much fun it is to watch her skills and confidence develop. I think I've had even more fun than her. The really warm temperatures and empty slopes have made our recent skiing adventures that much more enjoyable.

Here is a video that roughly follows chronological order: a few shots from our yard, her lesson at Breck, on the trail with Katye and Tim, and then shots of our skiing and snack breaks from the last few days. Enjoy!

four random links

I think this story is amazing. It helps highlight the minuscule margins of victory in various Olympic events.

I was never especially good at doing tricks on my bike, but I always enjoyed trying. I think this video is amazing...



Another New York Time's article I found interesting. Points out some of the effects of sitting on a couch or at a desk for long periods, even if you exercise regularly.

And finally, a good list of ways to improve your running economy. I like all the points, but I'm an especially big believer in the "Get Centered" idea.

indeed i do

one candle on the cake

It’s hard to believe, a year ago today we welcomed Jolee into the world. She is one sweet, sweet baby. Jolee made today even more significant by really walking for the first time. She took her first steps about two weeks ago and has taken a few steps sporadically since, but this morning she twice strung about 10 consecutive steps together. Certainly a nice way to start her big day.

Birthday breakfast. I think it was a berry-yogurt mashup. A food covered face was the theme for the day…

trying out her new chair from Grandma and Grandpa…

A piece of art. With help from the book Pie in the Sky (I’m pretty sure Adrienne would recommend the book for any high-altitude chef), Adrienne made a magnificent carrot cake…

hat is in place. time to start the party…

Unfortunately, this picture doesn’t capture our wonderful singing…

cake in her left hand, ice cream in her right…

Telling me to not even think about stealing her cake…

creating a magical hairdo with the help of some frosting…

looks pretty sharp, eh?…

Junie enjoying the festivities…

now that’s what I call a party…

it took her awhile, but she eventually figured out the unwrapping thing…

then to the bath for some much needed cleanup. here’s Junie using a vegetable scrubber to help the cause…

and Jolee playing with a whisk and a potato scrubber. what great bath toys we have…

Jolee went off to bed, but June and Rover kept the party rolling into the wee hours…

We’re going to have another birthday party for Jolee next week with some family and friends, so there should be more party photos to follow.