Bob Graham Round

I always thought Engand was a bit bigger, but it was ony six and haf hours from the southeast corner in Kent to the nothwest corner in Cumbria, where I am currenty learning what I've gotten mysef in for: Wastach 100 elevation gain in 2/3rds the distance, with 42 'tops' over lots of rocks, snow and bogs. This one could get a little crazy. The weather foreast looks relatively benign, so that's something to be thankful for, but there will udoubtedly be wind to deal with. Kick off is at 2am tomorrow morning (T-11 hours).

The view from Wickersgil, where we are staying.

Crew vehicles

Vertical Beer Mile 2011

The VBM start line

When you mix a rugby playing background with a hill running present, it would appear that you end up with a vertical beer mile champion. That's right folks, Sir Clark came back to The Hill and proved once again that he can outdrink, outrun and outplay any and all challengers, and we had 22 of them this year.

Dakota Jones may claim some obscure record in the Grand Canyon or a top finish and a bunch of coin from some corporate race out in the wilds of Marin County, but put him on the purest of big stages - one mile, 750 feet of vertical gain and 48 oz of froth - and the kid clearly needs some tutoring. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The sound of the gun had barely finished echoing around the valley floor before I was off and running, Banquet Beer no.1 still finding its way down the pipes. Poof, gone, nobody in front, just footsteps and some loud eruptions behind. Horsecow Lonac was along for the ride, and by beer aid one it looked like it was going to be a two horse race, with Pete and Alex the only other competitors working their second beer as Horsecow and I took off for the second quarter in search of our third beer.

Horsecow looked like he wanted to make a race of it, and we hit beer three together, both taking a few seconds to get our breathing under control before hitting the froth. Again, I was a second or two quicker on the guzzle, even managing to pull away slightly on the flatter section of the third quarter before rescinding the lead on the steep stuff as we drew close to the final beer station. But I was just catching my breath. Guzzling beers while hyperventilating is best avoided if you want to keep the chunks at bay.

Leaving beer aid three, I had sensed some Horsecow hesitation - maybe even some pain. As we rolled into the final beer stop, the Horsecow banter sounded very much like the flapping of a white flag. Time to twist the knife. My beer was finished before Horsecow had even blown the froth off his beer. The last quarter ended up a victory lap. I hit the tape in 12 minutes and 15 seconds for a six minute PR and CR.

Pulling up the hill I couldn't help but reflect on an awesome season. And the thought came to me that maybe if I could find a way to sell this amazing victory to the ulrarunning world, they might just reconsider propelling me into ultrarunning immortality by lobbying the UROY voters - through the iRunFar discussion forum - to Vote For Nick. I mean, I don't want to toot my own horn, but this VBM defense in course record fashion is huge...HUGE...so come on America, let's make it happen. I've done my part.

Not to get too caught up in the immensity of yesterday's happenings from my own glorious standpoint, I would like to bring attention to the arguably more exciting happenings in the women's race.

Finish line officials: Kristel and Victoria.

Readers of this blog may not be familiar with the name Celeste O'Slusher, but in Fort Collins running and drinking circles the feisty Irish Bostonian is legendary. And lining up at the bottom of the hill, the defending champion was the heavy favorite for the VBM tiara.

But there had been some murmurings from the pack. Another Clark (mispelled with an 'e') had been quietly talking up her drinking powers, while the diminutive Jessie W, a relative newcomer to the Fort Collins trail scene, had been warning anyone who would listen to not underestimate her magical beer consumption prowess. I mean the girl has spent time living and drinking in Hoboken, NJ.

Mindy, Jessie and Lindsay putting away their start line beers.

And so we waited with baited breath and gaseous stomachs at the finish line for lights to emerge.

Would Celeste make the overall podium again?

No, the karmasutra-like grunts coming around the corner were unmistakably Stevensonian. Pete had managed to keep his lunch intact this year for an impressive third-place finish. He was followed a minute later by Mr. Consistency himself, and last year's runner up, Alex May. Seabeck powered across the line another minute in arrears for fifth, and then the excitement hit fever pitch.

Another light, a female form, and...wait...an upset. Mindy came cruising through to pull off an awesome Clark(e) VBM sweep, setting a new female course record in the process. In the close-fought battle for second, Jessie managed to outrun Celeste over the final quarter edging her out of silver by a scant nine seconds. Exciting stuff folks.

The Clark(e) sweep

Silver

The pain and the glory. Celeste gives up the tiara.

What happened to Young Money Jones you ask? Not his day, and clearly not his discipline, but unlike his youthful compatriot, Slow Aaron Marks, he did keep his lunch down. Aaron, in a post-race interview, claimed he was merely exacting some revenge after a year of frustration.

"Towers tortures me every week, so this was my chance to puke all over it."

Tough night for Jones.

"And then I drank another beer..."

Your 2011 VBM results:

Nick: 12:15!
Horsecow: 13:00
Pete: 14:56
Alex: 16:11
Dave: 17:32
Mindy: 17:50!
Jessie: 19:01
Celeste: 19:10
Jesse: 19:30
Kyle: 19:49
Mike: 21:05
Dakota: 21:22
SAM: 28:08
Slush: 31:05
Lindsay: 31:05
Sam: 31:06

Sam may have the Towers FKT, but not when there's beer involved. Last place today, bud.

Relay

Ginny & Jenn: 19:26
Chris & Steph: 22:08
Mary & Marie: 23:28

Marie showing off the little finger technique, a common trait among French beer drinkers.

Chunky Cheeks 2011

Another Chubster in the books, and another fun day on the trails. We had 60 official finishers and probably another 10 or so who didn't get their name on the finishers' list, but who the hell wants to be credited for an eight hour 50k anyway? The underfoot conditions were certainly challenging, but as we were able to cash in one of our 300 days of annual Front Range sunshine we had a picture perfect bluebird day, so things were just peachy.

In a show of Front Range unity, we had representation from the Colorado Springs CRUDsters, the Denver trail runners, the Longmont trail runner, and geez even some runners from Boulder managed to tear themselves away from The Republic for the day. Oh, and Aspen and Wyoming were represented too. The 7:00 a.m. start was easily the most popular with somewhere in the region of 30 starters, followed closely by the 7:35 crowd (er, duo), the 7:50 crowd (er, duo), the 8:00 am crowd of 10-15 runners and the 20 or so 9:00 am starters.

And then it was off to the top of Horsetooth with D.Bo, Burch, Jason Koop, Dan Vega and Jason Schlarb who was impressively in for the full 50k despite running a hard TNF50 miler the weekend prior. Backtracking off the rock, we caught up with Young Money Jones who was already 10 minutes in arrears, which was cause for extreme question marks regrading his top finish at the TNF50, compounded soon thereafter by an obscene and blatant case of course cutting. Serious questions need to be asked.

And so we rolled on, slipping and sliding our way up Stout and Spring Creek, dropping into the Mill Creek abyss before grinding our way up Howard in search of an Arthur's summit and a stop for views and calories. The Timber descent was snowy but mercifully ice-free. After a quick stop for water at the Lory Visitors Center and a miraculously ice-free ascent of Well Gulch, followed by a slippery crossing of Overlook, we made a quick drop in to visit with Slow Aaron Marks who was manning the Arthurs aid station at mile 21 or so.

With all the snowy cross sliding, my hips and groin were barking by this stage and the thought of Sawmill/Carey/Towers was just heinous, but eventually we left SAM's aid to negotiate the nasty footing on the valley and the fourth and final ascent of the day. My lack of caloric intake caught up with me on the climb and I trudged through a semi bonk before rallying for the final four miles from Wathan back to my house and the finish line.

Thanks to everyone for coming out and sharing the day. And thanks also for leaving so much beer in my fridge. See you next year for the third rendition.

7:00 am

7:35 am

8:00 am

9:00 am

7:00 am runners starting up the Horsetooth Rock trail

South side of the Tooth from Audra

Celeste and Ziggy posing under Horsetooth

Sarah and Alex notch a Horsetooth summit

Longs and Meeker from top H'tooth

Sarah and Rick up Stout

Runners on Mill Creek

Despite our best efforts, Cat still managed to take her mandatory wrong turn

Found wandering around and lost at the base of Arthurs Rock. Kristel, Jenn, Cat.

Cat on the Arthurs descent

Arturo

Sam and Slush. Epic on Arturo

Pete and crew pick their way down Arthurs

Rick Hessek and Brad powering up Mill Creek and Howard on their way to an Arthurs summit

Aaron's back of the car aid station



Running partners for the day: D.Bo, J.Schlar, R.Bur, D.Ve, J.Koo & D.O.G



Wasted on Sawmill, Carey, Towers

Post-race festivities

Your 2011 Chubby Results

Rob tells me that Shannon (pictured) was the winner in the women's 50k with a time of 7 something.

Cheeks

Banner is up, course is kinda marked, weather forecast looks good, and the trails are buried. The second annual Chub is setting up perfectly.

We'll have a better idea of trail conditions tomorrow, but from what I saw this morning on a jog up Towers, it looks like the more remote trails haven't seen a whole lot of traffic, while the more popular ones are well packed in. Snow depth doesn't look too intimidating - maybe two to five inches of actual sink on virgin snow. There might be a bit of ice in places and some drifts to wade through, but I doubt it will be significant, so I'm actually going to stick my neck out and say that we're probably going to have a relatively decent go of things.

Course will probably be marked a little lighter than it was last year as I've been out of town all week. I'll do what I can today and tomorrow and should hopefully get most of the intersections in Horsetooth tagged. Rob is taking care of Lory, so that will probably be flagged well. Either way, plan on bringing the course map and directions to avoid getting lost. There are two intersections that get crossed twice in different directions, meaning a 50-50 chance of choosing the wrong direction if you don't have a map or prior course knowledge.

There will be three separate starts: 7:00, 8:00, 9:00; and three separate courses: JV (21.5, 5,500'), Marathon (25.5, 6,500'), and El Chubbo Grande (31.5, 7,500'). All courses share the same route for the first 12 miles through the Horsetooth section of the course.

Rules:

No whining
No bitching
No blaming the RD if you get lost.

Run finishes at my house between 2:00 & 3:00 for a post-race pot luck, brew share and Western States lottery look-up.

CRs (I think):

JV Men: Justin Mock (3:25)
JV Women: Marie-Helene Faurie (6:32)

Marathon Men: Tim Long (4:44)
Marathon Women: Darcy Africa (5:10)

Chubster Men: Pete Stevenson (5:44)
Chubster Women: Jenn Malmberg (7:43)

Week Ending December 5

Mon - 6 miles (700') easy. Valley trails.

Tues - AM: 8 miles intervals. 2.5 miles w-u, 1.5 mile c-d. Cemetery workout. Mile, 800, 880 x 2. Started out stiff as a plank from the weekend. Probably need a good 30-40 minutes to warm up for these, but it's a struggle to get up early enough to get more than 15 mins in. Went super easy on the first mile/800, then upped things a bit once warmed up, but still couldn't get any 800 turnover: 5:36, 2:41, 2:35, 5:14, 2:36, 2:37.
PM: 6.5 miles (1,200') easy. A lap and three-quarters of Reservoir Ridge in the dark on the FCTR social run. This is a terrible route to run in the dark - loose rock everywhere.

Weds - 6 miles (700') easy. Valley trails.

---------------------------------------------------
January: 440.5 miles (45,850')
February: 304.5 miles (39,200')
March: 469.5 miles (67,100')
April: 427 (62,000')
May: 509.5 (92,500')
June: 323 (54,900')
July: 303.5 (79,700)
August: 297.5 (70,000')
September: 202 (37,500')
October: 373.5 (68,150')
November 377.5 (67,400)

Total: 4,028 miles (684,400')
Avg: 366 miles (62,218')
---------------------------------------------------

Thurs - AM: 9 miles (1,100') easy with Slush and Celeste in blinding sideways snow on Centennial. Didn't bother upping the tempo at all coming back. Just ran and got it over with, although once we turned and got the tailwind, it was really quite pleasant.
PM: 8 miles (1,800') Towers. There was some waist-deep drifts in places lower down on the hill and the rest was good old-fashioned trudging in heavy, slippery snow. Ran every step, but still couldn't break 50 minutes. Nonetheless, a great workout. Nine of us out, which given the torturous conditions wasn't half bad.

Fri - 0 miles

Sat - 0 miles

Sun - 0 miles

Total: 43.5 miles (5,500')

Dana has been out of town all weekend, which has meant no running for me the last three days, but that's okay. No Hardrock either, and that's okay too. Glad I signed up for Western States now, I suppose. With no Hardrock, I move on to plan B, which I just made up. I think plan B is going to include a crack at Leadville, in addition to a few other bits and bobs that I've been thinking about for July.

Pieces coming together for the Bob Graham Round, which is now just a couple of weeks away. I've got commitments from some awesome UK-based runners on the pacing side of things, which is apparently a necessity for an official round. Terry Conway, the winner of this year's Lakeland 100 and current Lakeland CR holder, has been kind enough to offer up his services, so I'll probably look to take advantage of that for a few of the early sections, then Clive King - a BGR vet - will likely be picking up some of the tail-end slogging, and then I think I have some pacers ready to run the middle sections thanks to the networking skills of club secretary, Morgan Williams. I am somewhat blown away by all the offers of help from people I have never met, but also highly encouraged to discover that the U.K. trail/fell/ultra community is as supportive and close knit as it is over here in the U.S.

Finally, if you got lucky in the Hardrock lottery and you're looking for an awesome training race, then consider the Fort Collins Quad Rock 50 in May. The unrelenting up and down nature of the course makes it an excellent Hardrock simulator. Pete and I are really excited to be showing off the Horsetooth/Lory trails here in our backyard. We think we have a pretty special course and we're determined to make this a kick-ass, showcase event for Front Range trail running, so come on out and join the fun. Registration opens on Wednesday.

Do you like to run hills?

Then come on out to Fort Collins on May 12 and run a whole bunch of them.

Registration opens Dec 7.

Week Ending November 27

Mon - 6 miles (700') easy. Valley Trails. Pretty stiff from the weekend. Went super easy with Sam.

Tues - AM: 7.5 miles. City Park workout: 1,200 x 2, 1,000 x 2, 800 x 2, with second of each 1,200 & 1,000 as fartleks. 800s were actually .6 of a mile. I was feeling stiff and full of leg crud from the weekend, so started out easy and then upped the effort for the last few: 4:23 (5:50 pace), 4:21 (5:48), 3:14 (5:12), 3:22 (5:23), 3:09 (5:15), 3:02 (5:03).
PM: 3.5 miles (700') easy. Reservoir Ridge Loop.

Weds - 6 miles (700') easy. Valley trails with Sam.

Thurs - AM: 11 miles. Thanksgiving 4 Mile Race. 21:38. 5 mile w-u with Slush, 2 mile c-d.
PM: 6.5 miles (1,700') easy. Beautiful afternoon, so snuck out for an easy summit of Horsetooth before cooking T-Day dinner.

Fri - AM: 9.5 miles (3,200') easy. Up Round Mountain with Pete and Alwesir. 38 mins to 3 mile, then notched the effort to get up in under an hour. 58:50.

Sat - AM: 21.5 miles (5,500') easy. With Pete and Alwesir on JV version of El Chub. Windy out and just a little fatigued there towards the end. Fun morning.

Sun - AM: 18.5 (5,800') easy. Double Crosier with Pete, Alex and Eric Lee. From Drake TH to summit, then on to Glen Haven TH, back up to summit and then down to Drake. Legs felt pretty beat up, but still plenty in there to grind on Crosier for a few hours. Beautiful day out, which made the views from the summit even more outstanding than usual. Best 9'ner on the Front Range.

Total: 90 miles (18,300')

Made the last-minute call to register for Western States last night. There goes another $370. Whoosh. Pains me beyond belief to register for these things so far in advance, but I guess it's the nature of the beast. I was going to wait until Bandera - see how things played out there - and maybe take a qualification spot from that, but there are other people running Bandera that I know want to run Western, so I felt guilty potentially taking a spot from the Bandera qualifying pool.

Moving right along. Here's an event that won't break the bank ... coz it's free. December 10. Email, comment, whatever, if you have any questions. But essentially, we will be following exactly the same arrangements as last year (detailed in link above). And of course, this is the free teaser for bigger and better things to come on May 12, 2012. Registration for Fort Collins' first ever 50 miler opens December 7. Website goes live December 1 (or so).

A Horsetooth taster from Saturday:

Stumbled across this vid the other day. Fell running looks like a lot of fun - love those cross country starts.

Thanksgiving Day 4 Mile

This year is our family's fifth Thanksgiving in Colorado and indeed my fifth consecutive year running the Fort Collins Thanksgiving Day run. This has to be my favorite road race in Colorado, and not just because I've got the streak going, but because it's the largest race in town on a fast course that always attracts a stellar field and loads of my local running buddies. I've even got a simmering rivalry going with the fastest lady in town.

Two years ago, I got caught up in a very close women's race, essentially pacing the lead pack of four through the first 3.9 miles before watching Adriana Nelson produce the strongest kick for the win and the cash, beating me and the other ladies by a second or two. Fast forward a year to 2010 and Adriana won the women's race again. This time, though, I was able to put her away midway through the fourth mile, thereby avoiding the need for any kind of unseemly sprint down the home straight. So the scene was set this year for the rubber match on what was turning out to be a perfect morning for racing.

After a four-mile warm up with Slush and a pause for a very well executed rendition of the national anthem, it was time to race. As always, the field was stacked with many of the state's fastest guys and girls, and it was immediately off to the races. Within 10 strides, it looked like I was about 20 strides back on the lead pack.

The first mile or two of these sprints are just hard for me, and it takes forever for me to get my breathing under control. A half mile in and it looked like I was running in about 30th place. Then just like that Nuta Olaru and Adriana come cruising by - one already an Olympic marathoner (Olaru) and the other looking to qualify for the US team in Houston early next year, after recently being cleared to run for her adopted home country. Watching Adriana cruise effortlessly by me today, it was evident that she's in great form right now.

I got on the train and tried to hang on. The first mile popped at 5:17, which was a touch hot for the 5:20s I was hoping to run, but then the first mile is always hot in this race. Grinding up Mulberry, I slowly watched Adriana pull away and settled into what I thought was a sustainable pace. Brian Goding was in his usual spot watching near City Park, and he jumped in to run with me for a quarter mile or so, just as I was starting to feel a little more comfortable with the pace.

Turning the corner into the park on Bryan Ave, I was starting to reel in and go by a few guys who had pushed by me early in the race. The second mile up the hill came in at 5:22. Feeling strong and finally in control of the run, I thought I might have a shot at my pre-race goal of going under 21:30. Horsecow Lonac, who had gone by me shortly after Adriana, was coming back a bit and I was still passing guys as we made the turn onto Mountain Ave for the long mile and half down to College Ave and the finish. And, wait, maybe Adriana was coming back a bit too, albeit from about 20 meters ahead.

Mile three popped at 5:24, just I was beginning to feel my form break down and the pain set in. I was now firmly stuck in no-man's land and with nobody to race it was time to work on the mental game. I found myself drifting in and out of wanting to keep pushing. I knew I was losing precious seconds. With a half mile to go, it looked like I might be able to reel in Jonathan Garcia - a regular at the Tuesday Night Track workouts - so I made that the motivational goal to keep pushing. With 50 yards to go, on the College Ave turn, I was by Jonathan and ready for the finish line, which came eight seconds late for my goal (5:33 last mile) but was still an 11 second PR at 21:38. Good enough.

Adriana found me soon after the finish to rub a little salt into the wound, informing me that I had been smoked. And indeed I had. Her 21:14 (5:18) at altitude is impressive and a good indication that she has a good chance of being in the mix for one of the three London spots up for grabs next year.

Results.

Week Ending Nov 20

Mon - 7 miles (1,800') easy with Sam. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Sdoerberg - home long.

Tues - AM: 9 miles intervals. Cemetery work out with the cemetery gang: mile, 800, 1.5 mile, 3x800. 3min rest between first four intervals, then 20 sec between 3x800. Tough workout. I was able to hang on at a decent effort for the most part, but definitely faded on the 3x800 at the end on short rest: 5:16, 2:34, 8:09 (5:18, 2:51 (ugh!)), 2:41, 2:36, 2:42.
PM: 7.5 miles (1,400') easy. Two laps of the Reservoir Ridge route in the dark with a fading light. Easy, easy.

Weds - 7.5 miles (1,800') easy with Sam. Horsetooth summit - Wathan - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home long.

Thurs - AM: 10 miles (1,400') hill tempo. HTH5MO@B. Chilly out, but little to no wind made it bearable. Driving down and jogging out I was feeling supremely unmotivated after a sleepless night of Stella wake-up calls. Out super easy with Pete, Sam, Slush, Celeste and Lisa in 41:45, with the thought to come back at a steady rather than hard effort. Coming up the north dam hill, I was largely able to stick to that plan, then Sam decided to notch up the effort and I couldn't resist tagging along, 10 meters adrift. Bridged the gap through mile two and then pushed past going up the hill on mile three. As usual, Sam blew by me and my short, stubby legs coming down Monster Hill and then it was off to the races for the last mile down to Maxwell. Was happy to keep Sam within 10 seconds by the finish, which popped at 30:20 (6:04). Splits went: 7:45, 6:14, 5:56, 5:34, 4:51.
PM: 7 miles (1,700') Towers steady. Started out conversational with Slush until Herrington and then opened it up a bit as I was feeling surprisingly smooth despite the morning session. Beautiful evening out, and probably 25 degrees warmer than 12 hours earlier. Well over 20 of us on the hill, which is pretty impressive for mid-November. Up in 34:02.

Friday: 8.5 miles (2,100') easy. Soderberg - Spring Creek - Wathan - Rock - Audra - Southridge back up to Rock - Rock - Soderberg - home long.

Saturday: 18.5 miles (6,300') hills. Double Round Mountain. Bit of a sketchy drive out to the Round trailhead with an icy downfall during the night. Trail conditions were decent enough though, with not much more than a skiff of snow, with some ice hidden in places underneath. Ran most of the first climb at a pretty casual pace with Dakota and Slush, then soloed the descent and subsequent ascent/descent. Just managed to sneak under an hour on the first summit (which required an absurd sprint through the last 200 meters), then right on 59 mins for the second climb. Both descents were slow (45, 43) due to the sketchy underfoot conditions, and I was generally feeling tired and a little bonky second time up. Good group out: Kristel, Justin, Toto, Pete, Celeste, Ziggy, Steph, Chris, Pete and Dakota.

Sunday: 27 miles (6,200') long. 4:22. Out with Ryan for an elevation-gain fact-finding mission. Ran the full 25 miles of the May race route, which my Highgear altimeter clocked at a whopping 5,800 feet (11,600' for the full 50). This thing really is going to be a ball buster. After yesterday's Round Mountain session, I was feeling pretty worked towards the end, but by and large was able to maintain a constantly steady and comfortable pace the whole way around. The 25 miles took almost exactly 4 hours, so we're thinking anything under 3:30 in the 25 mile and 7:30 in the 50 mile will be pretty stout, with the 7:30 being the tougher target in my opinion. Ryan thinks we should name the race 'Relentless 50,' as the climbs just keep coming, but we already have a name (and almost a website). Registration opens within the next couple of weeks.

Total: 102 miles (22,700')

Another big weekend in the books. Not sure I can remember my last 6,000'+ double weekend. I certainly didn't feel stellar on either run, but by the same token I was able to run through both runs at a steady effort without feeling a great deal of deterioration, which has me feeling pretty strong if not particularly sharp. Just grinding 'em out and hoping to have some good fitness for Bandera in January.

Thinking I'll put in a mini taper for the Turkey Day race just to rest things up a bit and not get too carried away on the volume front. The summer racing season is still a long way off and I'm no spring chicken. Got to take care of all the moving parts.

UTMB Flash Back

I had some pretty mixed emotions watching the video below. From a racing perspective the trip to Europe was pretty much a Fail, but as an overall experience it was fantastic.

The race scenes from the video take you from the start to the finish by way of St.Gervais, Courmayeur, La Fouly, Champex Lac, and Trient. The scenes of me are St.Gervais, Courmayeur and then my final implosion on the way up to Col Forclaz just above Trient. I remember the camera guys being on me there and just feeling like I wanted to disappear. I can tell you now that I look way better in that video than I felt, but check out that walking cadence. Barely moving.

Good times. The guys did a great job with this video, and it's awesome to see Scott, Darcy and Richie finish - something I missed on the day.

I know for sure I won't be back next year, but maybe 2013.

Week Ending Nov 13

Mon - 6.5 miles (1,500') easy with Sam. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg.

Tues - AM: 9 miles intervals. First City Park winter workout of the season. Love these sessions. Warmed up with Sam, Eric, Sarah, Celeste and Kyle, then headed to the cemetery for the workout which went: cemetery mile (.97, but runs like a track mile because of tight turns/footing), fartlek mile from cemetery to Jackson (wheeled mile), fartlek mile on east side of park (.97), 1,200 around Club Tico (.72): 5:24, 5:34, 5:21, 4:00. Ran mostly with Chris Mc, feeling a bit slow so not able or willing to hang on to Sam and Eric.

Weds - Noon: 8.5 miles (1,700') easy with Sam. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg.

Thurs - AM: 11 miles (1,400') hill tempo. HTH5MO@B with Sam, Celeste & Slush. Beautiful morning out with a big full moon to the west and an orange glow to the east. Out easy to the 5 mile in 40:55 feeling like I didn't want to crank the return too hard. Ran the North Dam hill at a good clip with Sam and then decided to latch on and see how things felt. Passed Sam going up the long hill in the third mile and then decided to let things roll from there. Sam blazed by me coming down the last two hills, but I was pretty much able to hang on to his coattails for a 4:55 last mile. Back in a PR of 30:33 (7:28, 6:17, 5:57, 5:53, 4:55).
PM: 6.5 miles easy on the bike path with FCTR crew.

Fri - Noon: 8.5 miles (1,700') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg.

Sat - AM: 18.5 miles (5,100') easy. 3:15. Rock - Horsetooth summit - Wathan - Spring Creek - Mill Creek - Link - Valley - Sawmill - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Westridge - Southridge - home long. Super windy out, but really mild at the same time. Just an easy cruise with three different climbs to the top.

Sun 22.5 (4,000') easy. 3:10. Ring the Rez with Eric: Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Mill Creek - Link - Valley to Lory Visitors Center, then 25G, Centennial, 38e around north, east, and south side of the reservoir. Wind was blowing again - sometimes at our back and then sometimes fiercely in our face, especially on the east side of the reservoir. Went easy to steady for the most part, but pushed the last two hills up to my house.

Total: 91 miles (15,400').

Another good week in the books. Pretty structured again, with an interval-type session on Tuesday morning, a tempo effort Thursday morning and then two longer runs on the weekend. I don't really have much on the calendar to warrant the training, but a few things are starting to line up and, quite frankly, I'm already thinking about that all-important base for next summer.

But before all that happens, I've got the Turkey Day 4 miler here in Fort Collins; probably the most competitive road race in Northern Colorado. I've finished successively faster each of the four times I've run this race since we moved to FoCo, so I hope to keep that streak alive this year. That will require something under 21:49, which shouldn't be too tall of an order.

Speaking of race-improvement streaks and future running plans, a little pattern began to emerge after this year's Western States, where I finished third (15:50) after a fourth (16:04) in 2009. That is enough of a trend to leave me thinking hard about next June. If my calculations are correct (and I'm sure they are), I should be bringing home a cougar in 2013 in something close to a course record. But in order for that to happen, I would need to suffer through another round of cougar-less punishment next summer. Two weeks to make the call on that then.

What else? Well, I hear Dakota's been dishing out some vertical beer mile smack talk, but c'mon, I've got 20 years of drinking experience on the kid (and we will be checking IDs at the trailhead). The Grand Canyon R2R2R record is all good and well, but I feel confident in predicting defeat for the curly headed wunderkid on Dec 15 (and 10th for that matter) .

Planning on taking a crack at the Bob Graham Round when I'm back home this Xmas. It's going to be somewhat weather dependent, but if I get a nice window, then I'm definitely going to give it a shot. The Round is a tour of 47 peaks in the Lake District region of northern England, with a staggering 27,000 feet of vertical over an estimated 70 miles. Throw in some winter gnar, and it promises to be quite the challenge.

Pete and I got approval from Lory State Park for the 25/50 mile race this week, so assuming that the county follows suit with approval for the Horsetooth section of the course, then we're full steam ahead. Mark your calendars for May 12 - it'll be an ass whooping.

Week Ending Nov 6

Mon - Noon: 9 miles (1,900') fartlek. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home long. Felt good, so pushed hard from Herrington.
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January: 440.5 miles (45,850')
February: 304.5 miles (39,200')
March: 469.5 miles (67,100')
April: 427 (62,000')
May: 509.5 (92,500')
June: 323 (54,900')
July: 303.5 (79,700)
August: 297.5 (70,000')
September: 202 (37,500')
October: 373.5 (68,150')

Total: 3,650.5 miles (617,000')
Avg: 365 miles (61,700')
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Tues - Noon: 5 miles (1,100') easy. Falls long.
PM: 9 miles track. Met Eric, Sam and Kyle at the track feeling like I really didn't want to be there. Plan had been to do 2x3 or 2x4 mile @ 5:40, but that all sounded highly unappetizing. The others really didn't care what we did, so we compromised on the workout with a 1 x 2 x 1 at no particular effort w/400 jog between reps: 5:27, 10:56 (5:30, 5:26), 5:27. Really need to start pushing the envelope a bit on these.

Weds - PM: 5 miles (1,100') easy. Falls long after another big, wet snow dump.

Thurs - AM: 10.5 miles (1,400') hills steady. Out easy (40:22) w/ Slush, Eric, Sam, and Sarah, and then back pretty much solo without really pushing anything (33:58). Considered pacing with Sam at a faster clip, but decided to let him go and save things for Saturday (7:55, 7:03, 6:30, 6:31, 5:55).
PM: 7 miles (1,700') easy. Up (39:40) and down Towers with the group. Conversational both ways. Sloppy at the bottom, trudgy at the top, icy in between.

Friday - 0 miles. Had to work on a rental all day, which a tenant had kindly left in an ungodly state. Didn't even come close to finding time for a run, but made awesome progress on the house. I'll take the trade, plus I'm racing tomorrow, so the down day should be beneficial.

Sat - 19 miles with 13.1 race sandwiched between w-u, c-d. Opened with a 5:38 mile and then kind of faded from there. The mile markers on course were all over the place, so I never really got a sense of where I was on my pacing, but the effort seemed reasonably steady. However, I didn't have any real desire to work too hard once I started getting tired around mile 8/9, which tells me I'm a bit burned out on the racing right now. From the best I could make out, I slipped into the 5:50 range from about half way and stayed there through to the finish for a disappointing 1:17:low

Sun - 12.5 miles (3,100') super easy with Eric and Ryan. Rock Trail to the summit, then Westridge - Mill Creek - Loggers - Sawmill - Stout - Spring Creek - Falls. Felt pretty tired after yesterday's road effort, and found myself on the deck twice. Clumsy.

Total: 77 miles (10,300')

After a really lackluster effort at racing the half marathon distance on Saturday and generally feeling highly unmotivated at the prospect of traveling out to California in December to race myself into the ground, I've decided that I'm going to enjoy Bryon's iRunFar coverage of the TNF 50 miler from the sidelines here in Colorado. However, I am excited about other things.

We had another solid turnout at the Tortoise and Hare race on Sunday, the second in the series, with abilities across a broad spectrum, and enthusiasm for the sport at a general level of stoke. In addition, we had close to 20 runners on the Big Hill Thursday night, despite cold weather and nasty conditions underfoot. I've given up tracking those results on the blog, but we will soon have them up on the Fort Collins Trail Runners website (currently under construction), and that will be the new locale for all things FCTR.

In other news, Pete and I have permit applications in with the state and county for a 25/50 mile race that we hope to host on the trails of Lory State Park and Horsetooth Mountain Park (aka, my backyard) in May. We had a very positive conversation with the manager of Lory early last week and are already on good terms with the county, so I feel confident in making this little pre-announcement.

We are going to use a 25-mile loop of the two parks for a total of 5,500 feet of elevation gain on 90% singletrack terrain. For the full 50 miler, runners will do the second lap in reverse and climb a touch over 11,000 feet once it is all said and done. I'm guessing that anything under 7:30 in the men's race will be pretty stout.

I won't go into too much more detail about what we have planned, but will say that we hope to make this a true celebration of the sport and Front Range trail running in general, rather than an event that people come to in order to score an early season assisted long run. We plan to be online with a website in two weeks (permits pending), and be opening registration in early December for the May 12 race day.

But, before all that happens, I've got to defend my title at the Vertical Beer Mile - perhaps the most important date on my racing calendar. Yes, the race is still over a month away, but believe me the training is well advanced.