Enjoying the Colorado Summer!

I've been slower with the updates on the posts lately due to some fun time with more friends visiting. Here's a few highlights...














Here, Sean and I stand at 14,063 feet on top of Mt. Bierstadt.



















In the above picture, we are beginning to make our way across the sawtooth over to Mt. Evans. This was a little scary and precarious in places, but definitely doable without ropes. Just takes a lot of nerve.














Above is me perched on one part of the sawtooth. Below is a weasel that was curious about us. Cute little guy that followed us for a minute. Probably wanted to see if we had any food.

















Below is a view from atop Mt. Evans. In the bottom of the picture, you can see the parking lot for the folks who like to take an easier route up to 14000 feet. The peak of this one is at 14,264 feet above sea level.














Below, you can see one of the few animals able to survive in the tundra climate of the upper Rocky Mountain peaks. The Rocky Mountain Goat. This guy was a little shy and didn't want us coming too close. It's amazing how agile they are on the side of the mountain.


















Sean and I made the ~10 mile trip in about 9 hours. We had thought we would be faster than that, but it seems we underestimated the conditions. That being said, we were just happy to be done safely. During the trip, we were snowed and sleeted on a couple of times by an approaching storm front that closed the road to Mt. Evans on Friday. The day after we were there, it snowed over half a foot on both mountains. Looks like our timing was just right.

Recent photos

This is from when Shane and I climed Mt. Bierstadt after biking.














We also got to visit Lee and Monique and Connor while they were camping outside of Georgetown.















After hanging around the campfire for a while, we decided to go for a hike near Mt. Bierstadt.















Isabella had fun and stayed awake the whole time.

Slacking

Yeah I've been a slacker lately on the updates. A lot has been going on and I haven't been very good about having the camera at the ready to capture all the fun moments.
My sister came to visit as a last minute trip courtesy of a birthday present from my Mom and Grandmother. During her visit, we also had a visit from our friends the Jones family from KC. That visit was a little last minute as well, but we were glad to see them again and to get to spend some time with them. See more about those visits on Isabella's blog here.
During their visits, I wanted to help them explore and enjoy the wonders of living in CO as much as possible and since that means getting outdoors, I was able to get in some good training. My knee is now paying the price for all that activity with the tendonitis on the right knee and the ongoing LCL issues on the left knee. A doctor's visit is in the near future for me!
Here's a summary of recent activities since the Firecracker 50 race:
Biked a little over 230 miles on trails
Ran with my sister on local trails














Climbed/ran Mt. Bierstadt <-- yes actually made it to the summit!
Went to a Police concert.




























Hiked part of Mt Bierstadt and Deer Creek Canyon twice with Isabella in the backpack.

Gotta figure something out

This past weekend, was fun, but it was also an eye-opener for me.

I need to pick something and do it whole-heartedly. No more of this dabbling in this and that and trying to be above average at everything. This goes for most aspects of my life and it's becoming more and more dis-satisfying. I have the ambition to be really good at most things I apply myself to, but since I try to do so many things, I'm not as good as I know I can be at anything.

Last week, we learned that Allison's Grandfather Smith had passed away at his home during the night. This meant we needed to get a last minute ticket back to NC for the funeral. While in the midst of planning, I wasn't sure I'd be able to go due to work obligations and upcoming changes. (more on that later) Our friends Brian and Nicole helped us get a buddy pass (Nicole works for Delta) which got Allison to Atlanta for free based on standby availability. Once in Atlanta, she caught a ride with her cousin Eric on his way to NC. At the last minute at Allison's request, I got a ticket to NC through priceline that left Denver 1 hour later than the flight she and Isabella were able to get on. Mine went all the way to NC so I beat them there by a day.
Once there, everything went smoothly and I returned home on Sunday afternoon while Allison stayed behind for a few more days. Her return trip to Denver was supposed to be on Wed afternoon so instead of driving back to ATL from Fayetteville, her sister Amy bought her a ticket from Raleigh to ATL stopping over in Charlotte. However, once in Atlanta, she was unable to make it on any of the overbooked flights and kept getting bumped. She and Isabella were both exhausted from the trips and we had no idea when she would be able to come back. Frustrated with the whole mess, I just bought them a ticket from ATL to DEN for the next afternoon and put them in a hotel so they could both get a good nights sleep and be home at a definite time on Thursday.
On Thursday, I picked up Allison, Isabella, Mark Koester, and his girlfriend Katie at the airport and brought them all home. Later that afternoon, Mark, Katie and I went to the Rockies game losing 1 extra ticket we'd purchased for Allison because she was too tired to go and we didn't want to add any more confusion to Isabella's already crazy world now that she was finally home.
We had a good time at the game. It went extra innings against the FL Marlins, but the Rockies were able to win it at the bottom of the 12th.
THEN we were dazzled with a very cool fireworks display at the stadium.














While at the game, Chris Locke and Eric Tiffany arrived at the house. They had been driving from KC all day and were staying with us since we all were doing the Firecracker 50 mountain bike race in Breckenridge on Friday July 4th.

We got up early (5:30) and hit the road around 7 am for the 1.5-2 hour drive over to Breckenridge for the race. This was the National Marathon MTB Championship race so we knew it would be a packed race full of talent. We had read the course description, but I don't think it really sank in with either of us just how much climbing there would be.














The race consisted of 2x25 mile loops. The course was BRUTAL and very technical on some of the descents. There was ~1000 racers that started and I have no idea how many finished, but the finish rate was MUCH lower than the start total. Of the 45 pro riders, only 32 of them finished. Many dropped out during the first lap from exhaustion and/or mechanical failures.

My age group started several minutes behind the elites and the beginning was a lot of fun. The bike race was the kick off to the parade in the middle of town and we were part of it. We had to ride an enforced 10 mph behind a course marshal until we were outside the outskirts of town at which time the marshal peeled off to the left and we began racing in earnest.
The first 6.5 miles was all uphill and seemed more like one of the mountain stages in the Tour De France than a mtb race.














Several of the downhill sections were very steep and technical and many riders experienced multiple flats and some race ending crashes. During the first big decent, the rebound adjustment valve on my Fox 32 F80RL front shock blew off due to the rough terrain and this left the inside of my shock wide open. This was not a good thing as dirt can get in and all of the oil was getting out. And every time the fork would compress, it would shoot oil all over the right side of my body. I had shock oil from my helmet all the way down my right leg pooling in my shoe. This was a yucky situation made worse by the super dry conditions which caused all the dust to stick to the oily part of me. The busted front shock also meant that I had to ride more carefully through the rough stuff (couldn't ride race pace) because it was destroying my bike.

I completed the loop more tired and beat up than I should have been due to the mechanical issue, but it also made me realize how much fitness I've lost with my lack of focused training.














The next day (Saturday July 5) we rode part of the Colorado trail and then did the trails close by my house. Chris and Eric were both tired too, but they wanted to get in as much Colorado biking as they could. Great training weekend for me. Now I need to pick a race to train for and apply myself.

muddling along and learning the hard way

The last few weeks, I've really missed running. My mileage has dropped off and am only running MAYBE once a week. The knee pain is my current reason/excuse, but it hasn't kept me from biking. In fact, Chris Locke and I are considering doing the Firecracker 50 mtn bike race in Breckenridge on July 5th.
I'm considering changing jobs again. I have an opportunity to stay with the company and change positions again to something that I think I'll like better, but am not sure. I've been in telecom so long that I think I'm getting burned out on it. Although I still love technology, it might be a good thing to change industries completely. We'll see.
Got a call late last night that Allison's Grandfather passed away. Her Grandmother (his wife) died February of 07 and he has been getting weaker ever since. Still, no one thought it was his time just yet.
A couple of weeks ago, Lee and I tried to summit Mt Bierstadt. It's one of the 14ers out here and I thought it would be a good one to try first.














really didn't think that climbing a 14er in the summer would be much of a big deal. We hike up there, struggle with a little breathlessness and then hike back down in a couple of hours and then say we did it. Not that easy at all.



















We made it within 500 feet of the summit, but had to turn back due to weather and me being very unprepared. The weather forecast that day was for a high of 45 and sunny so I had three shirts on and compression shorts under hiking shorts. Other than a numb face, I was fine until my foot punched through the snow and got wet and subsequently numb. The higher we went, the colder it was and with the wind at a constant ~30-50 mph, and snow blowing, we decided to turn back instead of pushing it to the danger limit.















The video was taken somewhere around 12,800 to 13000 feet.


We'll be going back VERY soon to do it again and will be successful next time.

Tag, I'm it!

I've been tagged by Bad Ben.

1- How would you describe your running 10 years ago?

Most of my running was for triathlons or adventure races and training for them was done on pavement! YUCK! Even though the adventure races running events were on trails, I still trained on the roads. Most of my runs were 6 miles or less and usually no more than 3 days per week.

2-What is your best and worst run/race experience?

Sorry, but I don't feel like sharing my worst run experience in a public forum such as this. If you really want to know, ask me in person. Needless to say, it ain't pretty! There are several runs that stand out in my mind as being memorable in a positive way. A few of them involve races, but most of them are long runs with good friends.

3- Why do you run?

Stress relief, fitness, because "Fat Ben" is constantly chasing me, and I like to push/test my limits.

4- What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running?

The best advice I've been given is to listen to your body. A strong mind can push the body to previously unthought of levels sometimes, but it takes experience to know when to listen to the body's pleas for mercy.

5- Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.

I was a paratrooper and an intelligence analyst in the Army for a few years and in my spare time, I troll online forums on philosophy.

Now I'm supposed to tag some other people so these are the people whose answers I'd really like to read:

Chris Locke

Matt Hart

Jamie Donaldson

Here are the rules guidelines:
If you have been tagged, you will find your name at the end of this post. You should then, copy the rules (or your version of them), and the set of questions onto your blog post, provide your own answers, and then tag 5 new people.

Just to be sure that everyone tagged knows they have been invited to play, go to their blogs and leave them a special comment letting them know, and refer them to your blog for details.

One more thing, once they've answered the questions on their own blog, they should come back to yours to tell you.

Biking the Colorado Trail

Since I've run part of this first section of the CO trail, Ive been wanting to do the whole first section of it. It would be nice if I could incorporate it into my running routine, but work has put a HUGE dent in the training. Last week I was in Dallas, next week I'm in NJ and the week after that I'll be back in Dallas again.














Just before I began all this traveling for work, I was able to get in a good long ride on the aforementioned first leg of the CO Trail. It was fantastic! A bit more climbing than I thought and parts weren't ridable, but it was all definitely worth doing. In all, it was a little over 30 miles round trip and just over 5200 feet of climbing.














Along the way, I encountered one runner training for the Leadville 100 and two riders (guy and girl) from the Czech Republic beginning their attempt to do the whole Trail system one weekend at a time! They'll have to hike parts of it and they're figuring out the logistics along the way. Good luck with that. An admirable undertaking for sure, but a bit ambitious to try to wing it.

Lots of wildlife along the way. There were Elk, lots of deer, Bighorn Sheep and several other critters making sounds in the woods. Most of the snow had melted off, but there were still patches here and there.




























In retrospect, I think I would have felt safer doing this with someone else, but I didn't have anyone willing to do this ride with me just yet.

lately...

We just got back from a short trip to NC. The family got to meet Isabella and I was able to spend some time with my Mom and my 95 year old Grandmother who flew up from Pensacola.

































The day before we left CO, it snowed about 7 inches, but was 78 degrees the day before. During the winter, the snow was pretty cool and seasonably aesthetic. Snow during Spring just looks strange.














I'm hoping to be able to start running again. Haven't done much since the race. Travelling, the new job, and lack of motivation have all conspired against me. I've been on the bike a couple of times and the bike legs are still feeling good. I love my Giant Anthem! Although out here, I often wish I had about 100 mm of travel instead of the 80 on my current setup.

AXS Moab

The short version is we DNF. My first in an Adventure Race.
Anyone who knows me knows how I feel about that.



















The race was divided into classes and each was given a separate stagger start time. The 4-person Co-ed teams began at 7:30. Our division (4-person open/single gender) began at 7:45 am. The rest of the course started 15 and 30 minutes after we did. The race began at a river campground with a 7 mile kayak leg. We were still scrambling to get our PFDs, hydration packs, and happy to be starting this adventure in such a beautiful place. We had paddles together when the start was issued. We were second to last in the frigid water, but discussed potentially lashing the boats together if they didn't track well, but we soon got into a rhythm and were able to keep them straight without having to tie them together. The Colorado River was higher than normal from a larger than normal snow pack melting in the Rockies to the East. The current was swift and helped make the paddle cold, but quick. We did a little over 7 miles in about and hour and 15 or 20 minutes. Once out of the water, we headed over to our transition area where we shed some wet clothes and changed into bike shoes, gloves, and grabbed the gear we would have to carry for the remainder of the race.
Transitions have never been my strong point, but I guess that experience has taught me that time wasted in a TA is hard to make up if you're going to be pushing yourself through the rest of the race.
Once on the bikes, we had a short 3 mile stretch on the paved road before heading into a LONG climb up a canyon on a technical 4x4 road. I figured that while on the pavement, we could hammer a little to get the legs warmed up and try to make up some lost time. My teammates didn't subscribe to this idea. We started off in the back of the pack and kept falling even further back for the rest of the course.




























During the climb, we caught up to several teams unable to ride the steep terrain. Many were walking their bikes up the canyon climb and we soon joined them. We were also caught and passed by many of the remaining teams that started after us. Once at the top of the canyon, we were on a more gradual uphill climb on an easy dirt road which led to another 4 mile stretch of paved road. Much of the paved portion was downhill and we were able to rest the legs and coast down. Then it was a right turn onto another 4x4 road leading to the next phase of the race. This bike leg was ~25 miles with the last 5 miles consisting mostly of deep sand that had to be pushed through.
Once to the bottom of a canyon, we dropped our bikes, put on our running/trekking shoes and began the ascent back up the 5 miles of sand we had just pushed our bikes through on the way there. This led us up to the top of Gemini Bridges where we were to rappel down 300 vertical feet to the bottom of the canyon which is where our bikes were stashed. After a 2 hour hike uphill to the rappel, we were told that we were past the cut-off time to continue the race officially. We begged and pleaded our case and although declared officially a DNF at that point, we were the last team allowed to do the rappel back down to our equipment since it was faster than walking back around again. It was a fun rappel that I'm sure tested the nerves of a few people.


































From here, our race was over and I guess I let my disappointment take control of me. We had to get back up the canyon to the race course officials who would determine if we could continue unofficially or if we would have to hitch a ride back to the start/finish line. I never said much to the rest of the team, but instead, just rode up by myself. I had plenty of energy and was still feeling fresh and wanted to finish even though it was starting to get cold and dark and we didn't bring lights. The race officials said that I couldn't go by myself so I waited for an hour and 20 minutes for my teammates to arrive. Eventually, I just caught a ride back to the start so I could put Allison's anxious mind at ease. She always worries about me if I'm not in within 2 hours of when I estimate I'll finish. We were WAY overdue and I knew she would be worried.
I didn't start out biking that last time with the intent of leaving my teammates behind. While alone with my thoughts and too much energy, it just sort of happened. Apparently, this denotes a lack of commitment to the team, but the race was over and they all had food and water and were only 5 miles away from the race course officials who eventually came to pick them up anyway. I don't know if it was my competitiveness that took over or my desire to just finish that led me away. Logistically, I knew I had to hurry if I was to make it back to the long canyon for the fast downhill (which we'd struggled up earlier) by dark. Once I reached the course officials, I found out that this would not be possible and I was now not ONLY a DNF officially, but wouldn't be allowed to finish UNofficially either.
My teammates were pissed. Rightfully so. I had acted selfishly. It was demoralizing and rude to them and after some internalizing, I decided to apologize sincerely to each of them separately and then to them all as a whole. Two of them graciously accepted my apology and the third decided that holding a grudge and giving me the silent treatment was the best way for him to deal with his anger and frustration towards me. That's fine.
Lessons learned all around. I made many mistakes before and during this race.
In a race this long (~12 hours) it is necessary to have a "go go go!" type mentality just to make the safety based cut-off times. My teammates had no such sense of urgency.
Warning flags were all over the place, but I dismissed them as minor issues that wouldn't be a problem. Some of the warning signs were as follows:
- Teammates had limited experience in Adventure Racing. (usually not a big deal as everyone has to start somewhere/sprint races are better suited for first timers)
- Teammates not making concerted effort to make training together a priority.
- Teammates' lack of enthusiasm for the pending adventure. (maybe I'm reading too much into this, but they just didn't seem very pumped up about it)
- Teammates wanting to carry enough food for several days out in the wilderness. This is not a good strategy for speed.
- Teammates not having a sense of urgency for getting set up in TA and getting to start line on time for race start.
Yes, it seems that I'm pointing the finger completely at my teammates when the problem was (is?) MY expectations, attitude, and choices. I should have done this race solo or chosen teammates with similar goals in mind for a race. As it is, there are now 3 guys who think I'm a hyper-competitive, insensitive jerk.
But as I contemplate the root cause of this negative human interaction, I can't help but continue in a certain (selfish?) line of thought. I volunteer for certain programs and organizations that benefit others. I put my own time and money into helping others for no tangible gain in return. Adventure racing is what I do FOR ME. It's what I have to myself as a positive, healthy outlet for stress which encompasses several different things that I love about outdoor activities.
In this situation, I think I just chose poorly in teammates who had different goals and motivations. It's not that they are bad athletes or poor competitors, but they have different personalities and experience levels and thus, had different objectives than I did this time.
Hopefully, I haven't made any enemies for life. I like for all personal interactions with other people to be a positive experience overall.

Tagged

I was tagged by "Shane Jones" to play a little game called "six word memoir".

Here are the rules:
1) Write your own six word memoir
2) Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want
3) Link to the person that tagged you in your post, and to the original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4) Tag at least five more blogs with links
5) Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

Here is my six word memoir:

"Have meaningful interaction. Leave no trace."

Feeling good!

The weather around here has been pretty nice lately. Occasionally, the temps will drop with a cold front, we'll get some more snow and then it'll be nice again for a few days. The snow melts off quickly and with the dry air, the ground stays dry as well.
What all this means for me is that I've been able to get in some good training lately! Today being the first day of Spring, I decided it was time to break out the sleeveless jersey for the bike ride and got a little sun on the shoulders. Went for a run as well and the legs are feeling great. My biking has really improved lately and my cardio is still improving so I'm looking forward to keeping that progression going. I've dropped my running mileage back a little as it had gotten up to around 35-50 miles per week.
Once the race is over, I'll resume the running regimen again and am REALLY looking forward to a new route I've found on the Colorado Trail. To be fair, I guess I shouldn't say that I found it. Jamie Donaldson told me about it since she uses it for training runs. Hopefully, it's been warm enough lately to have melted most of the snow so the trail can be runnable. In driving around on some country back roads, I've discovered where the CO trail crosses some dirt roads and can use these as mileage markers and resupply points for long training runs. I can get in a one way trail marathon run, a 16 miler one way run, a 50k round trip training run, or even a 52 mile training run depending on how the training goes. It's all within short driving distance and I'm looking forward to running and biking it soon.
This Saturday, I'm heading down to CO Springs for a full day of training. First, I have to do a climbing certification which is required for the race. Then, we'll do some navigation, biking, and finish up with a run before heading home. The high on Saturday is supposed to be 46 with a rain/snow mix. It's been in the 50s and 60s all week and now this.

Trip to Monterey

Allison, Isabella and I all went to Monterey, CA for my friend Freddy's retirement from the Army. His family is all from Monterey and when you have the connections that Freddy does, you can pull some strings to make things happen so he was able to have his retirement ceremony in his hometown.













Freddy and I met at Ft. Bragg when I had just come back from Korea and he had just returned from DLI (Defense Language Institute) out in Monterey where he had learned Hatian Creole. As a linguist, Freddy speaks 6 languages fluently and is teaching many of them to his kids. We've been friends ever since we met in May of 95. We've both been through a lot of changes and I've seen him through some rough times since then, but there have been many great times as well. He's one of those low maintenance friends that you can always count on and lives a great example of how to love others unconditionally.














The trip was short, but we were able to get to see a good bit of Monterey, Carmel, and the surrounding area. It's a beautiful part of CA and seems to be largely unspoiled by over development unlike the rest of CA and much of the US. Even so, it's not a cheap place to live by any stretch of the imagination.














Isabella did great on the trip. She slept through the night every night were were there in the hotel room and she was a perfect angel on the plane ride there and back. She is such a good baby. She was even happy amongst all the chaos of his family and the retirement party and tons of overstimulation. She took it all in stride her mommy and daddy were happy to have her along with us on the trip.

WARNING! Stupidity ahead.

Yesterday (Sunday) I had planned to get in some good training in the morning before taking Allison to the Home and Garden show in Denver. Lee and Monique were going to meet us there too. I headed down to Waterton Canyon and had planned to run the 7+ mile dirt road up the canyon and back and then bike it. Since I started out running, I took 2 bottles of Accelerade with me to stay fueled for the run and bike and paced myself easily.
The uphill run didn't take long or much energy so since I was feeling so good, I decided to hit the single track trail at the top of the canyon. This trail is the beginning of the Colorado Trail but it has a loop that comes back around to the canyon road. The single track loop is a little over 3 miles of beautiful scenery and I knew the way having biked it before. The first mile was great, but steep and I was still feeling good.
Most of the snow I encountered on this 45+ degree (in the mntns.-60 in Denver) day was packed down by hikers and there were little patches of ice that were easy to avoid. I was wearing my Continental Divides and shorts with 2 shirts and my carried water bottles. As I got to the trail split where it leads on to the Colorado Trail or circles back around to the road, I took the loop since that's what I was familiar with. All of the foot traffic that I had seen up to that point had abruptly stopped so apparently everyone had been doing an out and back instead of taking the scenic loop. Wonder why?
After a little more climbing and some muddy sections, I hit the back side of the mountain where it stays shaded and the snow was still pretty deep on most of the trail. The wind and sun had caused it to crust over making it a thin shell of rough ice on top of deep snow. I was making fresh tracks and not minding the first section of 6-8 inches of untrodden snow when I came upon a section wherein I sank up to my waist! Not only that, but the crust on top had cut my exposed legs once my foot broke through the top layer. It cut me going in and again when pulling my leg out. This was a little uncomfortable, but I was not to be deterred from this picturesque training opportunity. It was a minor annoyance, but anyone who knows me knows that little cuts and scratches mean nothing to me. As I continued forward, I kept thinking, "This deep stuff probably won't last for long." Each step, I lost more skin and was beginning to bleed pretty steadily. I was still fairly warm although my skin was starting to get numb from being encased in snow from the hips down. It's an odd feeling to have good bloodflow and to be warm despite being soaking wet and covered in ice. As long as I kept moving forward, I knew I'd be ok. The deep stuff continued. Then got a little better for a few feet, but overall I stupidly forced myself through about 1.25 miles of that painful experience. A couple of times, I was unable to maintain my balance and toppled over into the snow at which point I'm sitting (in shorts) in a snowbank up to my neck. My first thought was to sit there for a moment and catch my breath and take a short rest, but the reality of my situation kicked in quickly and I realized that was NOT a good idea. 10 miles away from civilization and being on foot is definitely not a good place to tempt hypothermia. It transitioned from being an amusing novelty at first, to being an annoyance, to being an uncomfortable test of will power, to being an slightly frightening challenge from which I have quickly learned.
My original plan was to run 12-14 miles and then bike the same, but my curiosity got the better of me and it turned into the hardest 17+ I've ever done. Besides the snow fiasco, the mountainous terrain was a little steeper than I was prepared for at that distance.



















In the end, I toughed it out and made it back to my car in 3 hours and 40 mins missing some skin and a little blood. What doesn't kill you, only makes you tougher.... right? I realized when I got back to the car, that I had only drank 1 and 1/3 of my 2 bottles. I don't think I was dehydrated, but I'm going to have to start paying better attention to my fueling, my surroundings, and learn to keep my sense of adventure in check.

Groovy blisters and a selfish daddy?

For the past few weeks, I've been doing some weight training and riding my bike on the trainer in between runs. Haven't been able to be very consistent on the runs, but every one has felt good so far. I've had to incorporate some road running back into the routines due to necessity, but that's ok for now. Surprised myself and did a 15k route in 1 hour and 18 mins with some BIG hills the other day. Since I've had to take so much time off running because of the surgery, moving, new baby, and numerous other reasons, my feet have lost the callouses and become tender. This has led to blisters where the callouses used to be and now I'm left trying to figure out the best way to manage them until I can get the base/regular mileage back up again. I've found a few routes that I can get in some long runs on the trails and will hopefully get to those soon.

Allison also started running again lately and I gladly take my turn keeping Isabella occupied while she gets back into the swing of things. She's aiming for the Denver Half marathon in June and I've just about got her talked into doing the Leadville heavy Half in July. It's cool because I can tell she's doing it because she wants to and not because she thinks I want her to. That's an important distinction for anyone who knows us. She continues to make me proud!

Being a daddy gets better every day. The little things that only mommies and daddies get to be a part of are becoming more and more special all the time. Parenthood can be such a soul searching task sometimes. I've thought to myself that I should have had kids sooner and not wasted so much of my life on myself. When I go running though, I realize that the act of running is for me only and that makes me feel a little selfish. This leads me to wonder how much and at what level I should train and indulge my love of competition as well as my love of activity in the outdoors. How do you balance/reconcile selfish desires with the selflessness of parenthood? It hasn't been much of a direct conflict yet, but I can see that it might be one day. I just want to avoid regret and bitterness if at all possible, but I'm sure that some is inevitable. Just thinking out loud.

feeling the need

Last weekend (12-13th) I got in back to back runs on Sat and Sun. This past weekend, I got back to back couch sits with the littlest lady. Today, (Monday) I went for a frigid 5 miler in the light snow/freezing fog. Was a little under dressed for it, but I made it ok. The route I took was 2.5 miles uphill and back down for another 2.5. I was surprised when I got back in 43 mins. Although it's a very gradual climb, (500 feet total) I felt very slow on the way out and only moderately consistent on the way back. Still, I felt good and cold, but energized and glad that I made the effort. My Continental Divides did great in the snow despite the lack of additional traction. Hoping to start picking up the mileage again soon. I really miss running with the Trail Nerds! They are great company, motivation, and a good source of accountability when you need it.

lately...

training hasn't been going very well. It's pretty much been non-existent. I've been running twice in the past 3 weeks and I'm feeling my fitness leaving me by the day. The lack of sleep, family visiting, and various other things have all been taking priority instead of getting in some exercise. That really needs to change.
Recently, I've been given a pair of the Salomon XT Wings to try out on the trails. The pair I have are very red and I like the sensifit lacing system initially. We'll see how they fare on some runs. They're also comfortable upon initial wearing, but once again, we'll have to put them to the trail running test.





























Allison and I were at the Columbia outlet the other day and noticed that they're carrying Montrail shoes now. We each picked up a pair of trail runners (not that we REALLY NEEDED them) for $10!!! That right, I said TEN (10) bucks! Couldn't pass that deal up! She picked up a pair of CTCs and I got another pair of the venerable Hardrocks.
The plan is to start back with low to moderate mileage within the next two weeks and gradually work my way up from there. I NEED to get back into it for several reasons. Not the least of which is my health. I've got a cold or sinus infection which has hung around for WAY too long and it's frustrating because I haven't been sick in over 2 years. I'm pretty sure it's due to the lack of exercise.














The hand is still healing ok I guess. Rehab is off and on and it's my fault for not being more on top of it. I just hope it's fully functional by spring time. The baby is starting to sleep a little better so I think I should be able to find some time and energy soon to get back on track.

stuff about stuff

Matt Hart just recently posted a link to this site about consumerism. Be sure to watch The Story of Stuff when you get a chance.
Unfortunately, our country doesn't have a good track record when it comes to consuming less. Our capitalistic society has glorified consumerism because of our collective love of the almighty dollar and it's coming around to bite us in the butt.
It reminds me of this:

Big Box Mart | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Much of Western culture takes the path of less resistance or the path of perceived greatest pleasure. This is evident in our rising obesity epidemic, the constant commercials for more luxurious cars, and the current market conditions in the housing/mortgage sector. People get in over their head because they're convinced that they NEED more luxury or more space. Why do we allow this to go on?
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for progress and technological advancement, but it has to be SUSTAINABLE progress. Newer and better gets shoved at us so fast now that we don't have time to fully utilize and appreciate what we currently have. When is the last time you repaired a hole in a pair of socks or mended something on your clothes? We've become so accustomed to everything being disposable because the price of consumables is low enough we don't give it a second thought. This also speaks to our lack of discipline. We seek the quickest or easiest way to achieve what we think we want. Instant gratification is rarely productive in the long run.
Have you noticed that the quality of most things has dropped substantially in the last 20 years? Computers/parts/peripherals, etc, don't last as long. Cars aren't driven as long as they used to be. Phone and/or cable service gets changed every few months now because we can save money by switching to something else, or because the service sucks. How many of you would rather go get another new printer or just buy new ink cartridges which cost almost as much?
Why don't we wake up and see that our love of money (corporate greed/ personal wealth and perceived status) is what is driving this? We need to start shifting our values to more substantial ones which will HAVE to start with taking our focus off of ourselves.

First time away

alright, once again, the obligatory baby updates (pics and vid) can be found HERE! (http://ben-reeves.blogspot.com/)
Saturday night/Sunday morning I got in from Brian's wedding in Atlanta. We had a good time and it was a beautiful wedding and another eligible bachelor is off the market. I'm glad I was able to be a part of it.










































While there, Allison sent me pictures of Isabella from her phone every morning. That really made me miss them both even more. It was strange for me. I'm used to being self sufficient while on the road and this time, although I was glad to be spending time with Brian, I really missed holding my little girl. Maybe that means I'll be a good daddy.