Thursday 031215

The world of anti PED enforcement is interesting.  Folks are for it of course, but then there seems to be a backlash when folks like Kristi get busted at Pikes (why is USADA wasting resources on that?) and there is general discontent with “whereabouts” considerations (as penned by Greenwood this week).

And meanwhile we continue to make race decisions based on uniform design in the HS ranks.

And a 55 year old runs a 4:34.  And a 10 yo ran a 91 minute half.  I think everyone has seen the vid of a 95 year old running a 55 200 meter. 

Interview with Anita Ortiz.

I find it funny that I cannot get a Murphy’s on tap in Dublin (it is a Guinness town) but I can one at a secret spot four miles from my house (and an Old Speckled Hen as well).  Murphy’s and Beamish are far superior stouts to Guinness.

Afternoon –  Got in a half dozen, and then another seven and change with Adam B and then rounded out to 15 miles. I was a bit tired, probably more from the week of work than any recent running effort.

Listened to the Lee Troop interview from Jay Johnson.

I occasionally think I can run.  Like I am pretty good at it.  Then I see something like XC Nationals and remember what I really am.   In a similar fashion … I sometimes think I can sing.  Then I see and hear this and realize I can’t really.

Tuesday 021715

Minimalist, maximalist, whatever.  Find a shoe that works for you.

14.3 miles.  Did a few (5) runs up Simms Hill to get back into a bit of vert (4:01, 3:44r, 3:54, 3:43r, 3:54, 3:43r, 3:51, 3:45r,.3:42, 3:18r)  I did these steady, not looking to outright tag them yet, but building into them a bit.  I’ll be back.  I added on another 10k afterwards with Adam B.

This helicopter was around during the run.  Just cool to see one of those dual prop ones.  It looked a lot closer, but I couldn’t get the craptastic iphone camera out quick enough to get it while running.

Monday 031714

10.5 miles today, most of it with Adam B at work.  We got out before the winds picked up, but they were starting to drive a bit as we finished up.  Adam is heading to the Grand Canyon on May for a R2R2R run, and then Northfork 50 later this summer.   I took him up to the greatest pull up bar in the world as he had never been over to that (I managed 10). 

Still not verified really at PPM.

RRR:

• Salida results are up.  Sort of.  There are NO times!!
• Wyatt gives my post yesterday a nod. 
• This sort of read aint’t something I wish on any parent… .
• Runners, cyclists … how are we different?  No need to look any farther than this past weekend’s NY half marathon.  Billed as a prelude to next month’s London marathon, it included the showdown between arguably the world’s current best at the distance, Mutai, against the double Olympic gold champ, Farrah.  Farrah fell mid race and the response from Mutai?  Gun it baby.  None of this thing you see in cycling of waiting up for everyone to catch up.  On that, “easy pace theoretically should be 5:30 to 6 minutes per mile.”
• Training weight, racing weight … again.
• According to Ross Tucker … the list of all time marathon peformances … “99 of 100 are African-born. 58 KEN, 35 ETH, 6 MAR, 1 USA” … what I find most amazing about that is that despite having those crazy depth numbers in marathons and half marathons – NO JAPAN.  So there you clearly have a culture that has embraced distance running and going fast, but they have just not put it together in terms of top performances.  And remember in the 80s and 90s when MEXICO was in the mix quite a bit?
• Dakota sez that he needs a coach so that he won’t be an idiot.
• In checking some of the weekend results, I came across Aish’s pre-race interview.  Love the smack talk he tosses in there (as light as it is) about him versus Sage (calling him predictable).  Of course, Sage won the race and Aish ended up off the podium.  I have a sense that Leadville could be Aish’s if he can turn the muscle above his neck off for a bit.

NRR:

• It is music like this – stuff my daughter shoves my way – that makes me feel really old (even though I like some of the stuff by Daft Punk) (by the way how did Cameron Clayton make it into that video?). She just PUMPS that stuff into the walls of the house until I think it is going to fall down.
• Apparently CO is no longer the least obese state (that title goes now to Montanna).  Any guesses as to why?
• Hitler meme … now on Agile development.  Awesome.
• Alex Honnold … his life.

Wednesday 121813

There has been some back and forth about the closure of Gregory Canyon.  The closure there is just past Crown Rock trail junction at the bottom all the way up to just below the old closed Ranger cottage (at the top).  From what I have heard and been shown in photos, the lower steeper section is in pretty much the same shape it was pre-flood but the the lower bridge (JV called it five minute bridge, I called it six minute bridge) was washed out.  This is easily navigated through however as there is no running creek there(at current).  The upper section from what I understand, (where it flattens out below the cottage and is the old road) is REALLY washed out.  It is rather amazing as to how much earth was moved out of there.

Folks are now saying that OSMP has kept the closure on this area (with the back and forth tactics of signs going up, signs going down,  increasingly harden barricades going up – including ones made of local live trees being cut down, barricades coming down) is because it is a potential Preble Mouse habitat.  The mouse is listed as threatened, and so once it gets listed as a habitat of the mouse, the Feds move in and pretty much determine what the locals can do with the trail.  OSMP might want to do something about the trail, but now they can’t.

Here is where things get potentially sticky:  this designation seemed to come about post the flooding.  So did the mouse move into this area post flood?  There seems to be some thought that even if there is NO evidence that the mouse was/is in the area, the area can be treated by federal regulations related to threatened species even if local authorities deem the area to be a potential  habitat for the mouse. 

I am not sure how much of this all is really true facts (sorry, this ain’t the NYT so my research is not paid for), but given the apparent historical agenda of some to do whatever they can to deny access to trails, and the sudden closure of this space in the name of a mouse, it is hard to believe that this is truly intended to protect it.  Blamin the Feds seems to be the same sort of cry that OSMP put up when the other trails were closed – we can’t open them because our lawyers said we can’t .  Ugh.

Bitchin’ about the Bend XC course being too hard got the attention of its men’s winner: 

Amazing how quick a muscle will atrophy when not used.

Help me understand this list … it is all time bests but then it seems sort of mostly North American based except when it is not.  Other thoughts … women’s 50k is soft, Gardner’s efforts at 49 are nuts.

NRR:  this photo testimony … damn, that stuff scares me.

More news from Laughing Valley.

Other performances of endurance and of note from the year that you might have missed.

Green, #53 on the year.  This round trip with JV, his 170th or 270th or 370th.  Something nutty like that.  5.5 miles.  Gorgeous day out there – we were enjoying shorts only 3 days out of the Solstice!  Jeff still just floats up that stuff, and I am working to keep up with his easy pace.  We got up in 53, my fastest since getting back at the hill this early winter.  Tacked on 7.1 with Adam B at work.  Longest day in the last since an 18 miler I did on November 3, and I was feeling it.  But it was good. 

Wednesday 110613

Boys all state XC.  Glad to see Ethan G made that.

Election day stuff:  the pot tax passed, the education tax failed, chickens in the back yard in Broomfield passed and the fracking moratorium was too close to call (it will recount). 

Roes articulates well why I think Olsen’s sick 100 mile run won’t get some respect in some circles.

Could be ACA I guess, but for the same exact plan next year I shell out 11.6% more.

I probably would have taken time off today.  I feel particularly beat up, and the sickness is in my chest with a good hack.  The cooler temps and the seasonal 20 mph afternoon winds did little to motivate me to run.  Nonetheless, I had previously agreed to meet with Adam B for run – and stuck to that.  10.4 miles easy.  Finished in the dark.  Would have loved to get after it today, but I am just up for that these days.  Probably talked Adam’s ear off.  Poor kid having to hear it all from a grumpy old man.

Today’s NSFW listening on the ride home.

Robert put up this interesting read on gender differences in competitiveness based on marathon performances. 

Wednesday 092513

Awesome read.  Not related to running as much as hunting but awesome nonetheless. 

Sometimes I don’t know what to say.

Everyone getting a trophy is bad.  When children make mistakes, our job should not be to spin those losses into decorated victories. Instead, our job is to help kids overcome setbacks, to help them see that progress over time is more important than a particular win or loss, and to help them graciously congratulate the child who succeeded when they failed. To do that, we need to refuse all the meaningless plastic and tin destined for landfills. We have to stop letting the Trophy-Industrial Complex run our children’s lives.

Dogs …

Today’s listening included Dream Theatre and Buckethead.  Here are some covers that are pretty good …

I’d say #awesomekidmusicians but …

8.5 miles with Adam B at work.  Easy but occasionally touching steady.