B-17 wreckage

For Saturday, first, Anita, Paul, and I were maybe going to climb Handies down in the San Juans. But Paul and I were wanting to do Sopris near Carbondale instead, and we never heard from Anita. Then my brothers, who I've been putting on hold all summer long said they wanted to go to an old B-17 crash site. So I bailed on Paul and then my brothers bailed on me!
Then, at the last minute, they un-bailed on me.
So we went.

I Googled and found the Pingree B-17, but my brother didn't know about it. He had been talking about the Crown Point crash site not far away, both north of Rocky Mountain National Park. Pingree was closer.
Also, the Pingree site is one of the few that the Civil Air Patrol hadn't used thermite grenades on. When a plane went down, they had to retrieve the top-secret Norton bomb sights, the radio gear, the .50 caliber machine guns, and of course the bodies of the crew. Just in case they miss anything, they nuked the remains with white phosphorous/thermite. So there isn't usually much left of these planes but some old radial engines.

I plugged the coordinates into Google Earth, tilted the map, spun it around, and looked at it from several angles. It would be easy.
When we headed out, though, my brother - the only one with a GPS - said he didn't bring it. Okay, we left the trail and were bushwhacking straight up the mountain towards treeline, with the forest littered with criss-crossing tree-fall, and our one source of pin-pointing it is gone.
I got a tiny peek at a ridge opposite from where the crash was supposed to be, though, and I was fairly certain of my bearings. Sure enough, I spotted half of a wing less than 100 feet to my right.

This crash occurred at 10:45pm, Oct. 20, 1943 - 64 years ago.

Wow, what a horrible way to go. We couldn't figure out the whole story. One wing got ripped off and didn't burn, but it burst its fuel load all over the place. The rest of the plane went into the mountain with the remaining wing above the fuselage. The upper wing impacted the mountain and exploded so loud it was heard 7 miles away. Everyone had to have died instantly, and I wonder if any bodies were even found. Molten aluminum was everywhere. My research had stated that there was no torching of this site because there was no need to - it had incinerated itself.
There was no sign of the distinctive B-17 tail, nor any sign of any of the fuselage. Hard to believe, but the entire fuselage was gone. There were parts that were taken away, but as rugged and remote as this crash was, nothing of any great size or weight could have been removed.

We found something very bizarre. One of the radial engines had been blown outward from inside. The aluminum head was gone, with the valves and ports. The rest of the steal or iron cylinder was cracked down the front, and blown out with such force that the metal curled outward and around. It was as if some C4 had detonated from within. We couldn't fathom any fuel/air mixture having enough force to do this, but it is a turbocharged engine, and the Civil Air Patrol didn't have C4 back then (not even C3!), nor would there be any motive to use any inside this one engine cylinder. So we wondered if somehow this cylinder did exploded in-flight and caused the whole crash?

Check this post tomorrow for a few photos (edit - added above). My camera batteries ran out so I didn't get many. Until then I found these, and these, and these on Webshots.

Urban Jungle

This week:
Tuesday run, 5.2 miles as fast and hard as I could
Wed. foot/ankle work at Peter Szymanski's Catalyst Therapies
Thurs. 7.6 mile trail run - moderate

I took a three-day class downtown. Parking is so bad I decided to park miles away and walk. This gave me some decent time-on-my-feet, but I had to pass a hundred panhandlers, muggers, prostitutes, drug dealers, and even a handful of regular citizens.
There were some notable things...
Everyone's different in what works, but for me, I treat muggers and that sort totally differently than, say, a grizzly. I tend to cross the street towards them and make direct eye contact as I walk by. That let's them see the glint of insanity in my eyes at close range. They're cowards and tend to gather in twos and threes and strike only when they think the odds are in their favor. They don't want to actually WORK for the rewards.
Something else is - there must be ten times as many smokers downtown as in the 'burbs. Not sure why unhealthy lifestyles are so popular there.
People tend to walk fast and never make eye-contact. They're strictly antisocial. This is because of all the panhandlers. Acknowledging their existence opens the door for peddling.
But black people are immune to this. No matter if they wear a suit of regular jeans, they don't seem to have a problem being friendly and sociable. It reminds me of the movie Ghost where Swayze gets acknowledged by another ghost and it freaks him out because he's so used to being invisible. When I saw a black person, I could count on a warm greeting.

Dick Cheney was in town today. His presence brought in some out-of-towners. At lunch, I saw three husky guys who looked like ex-Special Forces. One had the tip of a very small machinegun poking out the bottom side of his T-shirt. I know virtually every gun there is, but this one was not one I recognized. It was either a very large pistol heavily modified, or a very small mini-machine-pistol. It had a threaded barrel and tiny folding wrist-stock. Not what you're normally used to seeing in a Kokoro over salmon and brown rice. They looked like private contract security, not government, because their radios were large and old, and no one was wearing the comical-standard black spook glasses that they really do, in real-life, like to wear if they work directly for the feds.

Vasque Golden Leaf Half

I didn't take photos this year because nothing compares to the snowy adventure of last year.
The only other photo-worthy subjects were a plethora of comely lasses. OMG! The longer the ultra, the fewer women show up. Looking purely at percentages of male/female in races, 10K's in cities are swarmed with women - usually 60-70% female. Hundred-ultras out in the boondocks are down to about 10% female. You could argue this shows how much smarter women are, and I'm afraid I'd have a hard time gathering an argument in that arena, but I'm certainly not used to having so many women around me.

I met my peeps in Aspen Friday night. There were 17 of us! We all left at different times, between about 6 vehicles. (Cell phones have revolutionized social lives, for sure.) I slept at Difficult Campground east of Aspen with John and Naz, but I slept outdoors under the stars.
Saturday morning, we drove to Snowmass and got our packets, coffee, warmed-up, and I mingled with other people.

This half-marathon was the shortest race of 2007, for me. There were about 600 registered and 550 people started the race. Like the last two races, this one started out by going straight up. The difference was this one didn't climb for 5-6 miles! This one was EASY!

I didn't want to blow myself on the initial climb, up a ski slope access-road. I wanted to have an impressive time starting with the downhill, which this course mostly is since we start miles away from and above Aspen. Unfortunately, with more people in this race than ever before - by far - there was nothing but traffic-jam for the vast majority of people. There were some times I jumped-trail and passed beside the single-track, but mostly I was just plain stuck.
Then ahead of me a woman wiped-out catastrophically, tumbling ass-over-tea-kettle so bad, I hope she didn't break something. I stopped to help, taking off one of the Ace bandages from my knees to clean her wounds.
After that, I'd lost so much time, and it was futile anyways with the traffic-jams, that I resigned myself to enjoying the fantastic Fall colors, perfect weather, beautiful women, and making sure all my tweaks don't explode. I only passed when it was easy and convenient.

I met a few fun women along the way, and lacking competitive spirit, the most aggressive thing I did was fly through the creek-crossings. This freaked the women out. There were a few women who run across, but the majority were stopping and tip-toeing across the rocks so as not to get wet or gooey. I tried not to splash them, but come on - was it a "trail race" or what? I've found in the past that it is safer to ignore the water and step the safest places. Varying speed is more hazardous, not less. Keep the momentum and GO! So sometimes I step on dry rocks and sometimes I plow through the deep waters.
There was one woman who wiped-out gracefully in front of me and I helped her back on the trail in front of me. Not sure if that was chauvinism or camaraderie, but it felt good.

My right ankle tweak didn't start to unravel until about the 11th mile. There wasn't enough miles left to worry about disaster, so I just kept up a steady pace until I finished. A dismal 2:31 and 231st place (odd coincidental 2-3-1 combo).

They had gourmet food for us at the finish. Very good and lots of it.

I was like a kid in a candy-shop, meeting so many women. Too bad there weren't many my age. Since there usually aren't quite so many women at my races, I worked the crowd more diligently.

I won another Ultimate-Direction bottle in the raffle, and a subscription to Trail Runner mag, which is the only subscription I lacked.

John, Naz, and I hooked-up afterwards for BBQ & beer at the Hickory House. These guys are hilarious to the extreme and we were admittedly crude, but we didn't inflict our behavior on anyone else.

After retrieving my CR-V from Snowmass, we headed back to the campground. We headed down to the river to soak our legs. John did a total submerge. That's when his new Crock sandal came off and floated down the river. I went after it, which wasn't easy with the rocks being covered in slippery moss.
You had to be there. We were all laughing hysterically. I was practically naked wearing nothing but my tighty-blacky underwear and sandals working my way down the river after a floating crock. Hikers walked by gawking, dogs on each bank stopped to cheer me on - what a complete circus! But I did save the Crock!

The ice-cold water felt great, and we all felt rejuvenated.
The entire group gathered one more time over dinner at an Italian restaurant.

A very fun weekend. In fact, I haven't had that much fun in DAYS! You'd have to go waaaay back to last weekend to find so much fun!

Toe Surgery

No gory photos.
Last night's toes surgery went okay. The patient is feeling okay and has a band-aid on it.
It was not a run-away infection, but it was slightly infected. The entire toenail was raised with a blister-like fluid filling the void. I think massaging it with peroxide and dabbing Neomycin on it helped, but it wasn't enough to fix it. I used a sterile scalpel to open up the front and empty the fluid. Then I used a sterile syringe to inject peroxide into the void.
I have some Bausch & Lomb neomycin in a water/saline solution for eyes. I injected some of this anti-biotic fluid.
Then I cut much of the nail away. The edges were still attached very securely, so I couldn't just yank the whole nail off, but only the edges are attached. The entire rest of the nail is detached and mostly not even touching the tissue underneath.

After taking a small rasp file and smoothing things out, I rinsed one more time with peroxide, injected more liquid neomycin, and slapped a small bandaid on it. The bandaid is too small to keep it from breathing. Mostly it's to insure my socks don't catch on the nail when sliding over it.
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My right ankle feels okay. Not great, but okay. I think I'll allow myself to run at the Golden Leaf, but we'll see. I still have the option of starting out with the runners, and if it feels bad, I'll walk - just like I did at Lead King. I'm not going to let my pride and testoserone destroy my body when I've been doing so well.

This is definitely about time on my feet. Every race is just a supported training run. If everything happens to align for a particular race, that's when I'll do fantastic. No race - no matter how badly my time or even if I DNF - is a waste, unless I destroy myself during the race. So that can't be allowed. Everything I do must be done in a way that makes me stronger. A DNF, or reverting to walking, are just tools in my toolbox that can be used in my training to insure I get faster and stronger.
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Last night I went to see Peter Szymanski at Catalyst Therapies. I have some pronation problems that are minor on my left and significant on my right. I guess Peter has seen much worse, so he didn't seem to think it was severe.
My right ankle tilts in. My right arch is flattened out because my forefoot is twisted with the big toe too high.
I have tried to compensate by tilting out. This has made me suseptible to spraining outward.
Peter is having me do some arch exercises to shorten my arch and bring the big toe down into it's proper position.

Lead King Loop

After the Run Rabbit Run 50, Paul G and I left late - it was after sundown but not yet dark.
We never actually went into Steamboat Springs. We had gone only to the ski resort where the race was held and were now leaving. After a couple of years of running in the Steamboat Marathon and then lounging for hours at Strawberry Park Hot Springs, it seemed a travesty to have to leave.
I was hurting. More accurately, I was a train-wreck! My lungs were constantly filling with phlegm sending me into hacking fits. My quads were blown. Both ankles and both knees and my right hip were hurting.
Then I started saying how stupid I was and how doing that weekend was the dumbest thing I could think of doing. I'm old - maybe I should act like it!
Paul just said, "You'll be amazed at how much better you'll feel after a few hours of sleep.
Problem was, hacking the way I was, and sore like I was, I don't normally sleep at all - no matter how tired and sleepy I am.
I just kept nursing myself with Muscle Milk, Gatorade, beef jerky, pizza, water, vitamin I (ibuprofen), and ice. I stretched some and massaged and moaned and groaned.

We got to our camping spot around 11pm north of Marble. Lightening was all around us and the ground was very moist, but not muddy. We laid our sleeping bags out and were fast asleep. So much for me not being able to sleep - I died - slept like a corpse for 5 hours.
Then a particularly loud explosion woke me up. It was thunder, but it didn't rain.
The night was warm. It was too warm to zip up my sleeping bag. I had to have one leg out to keep from overheating. I never have had trouble with cold legs when running or otherwise. My legs are always hot, especially after a run. I'm sure that if looked at with infrared goggles, my legs would show up like white phosphorous.

At 5am, we rolled up our sleeping bags and got ready for the race. By 6am, we were in Marble at the Beaver Lake Lodge as the Lead King Loop RD was getting things set up. We were the first ones there - even the runners who stayed in the lodge weren't out yet.
We grabbed our packets and pinned our numbers with over an hour to spare. While we were doing that, it started to rain for a few minutes but stopped.
With so much time left, we sat in Paul's truck and fell asleep for another hour and woke 30 minutes before race start.

Again, in spite of all the rain, it wasn't cold. I think the rain was coming from the leftovers from the hurricane that hit Mexico the week before, so it was a warm system.
Runners gathered and I recognized quite a few faces. Tim and Anita had followed from Steamboat, so we had no monopoly on insanity. Bernie Boetcher was there, and several people who's names escaped me. Kasandra from Leadville had run a half marathon the day before and was also doing a double.
Standing there a minute before the start, I lifted my left knee, which hurt. I said, "Ow," quietly and Kassandra started laughing. It really was funny how Anita, Paul, Kasandra and I were all lined up like walking wounded and the race hadn't even started.

The race started and I tried to keep up with Anita and Paul but my ribcage felt awful. After half a mile I said, "Screw this," and started walking. Paul and everyone else soon was out of sight ahead. Anita slowed and I caught up after a mile. We walked together for a few miles as the course got steeper. Like Run Rabbit, the first 5.5 to 6 miles were up, up, and away.

It was beautiful! So sorry, but I forgot my camera! Burn me at the stake for that - the scenery at the Lead king Loop is the best of ANY race I've ever done! The Fall colors were starting to come out, there were curtains of rain clouds sweeping across us, there were greens, golds, grays, blacks, whites, blues, browns, etc.

With all the climbing done, and me pulling ahead of Anita, she told me not to let her hold me up. It took a full mile of downhill for my legs to finally get some circulation going. Then I was cruising at nearly full speed - but doing so with several miles of deficit. Kasandra, Anita, Paul, myself, and a couple of older women were the last 6 runners strung out behind the others.

Since I was so far back, and had forgotten my camera, I really didn't care. I took a side-trip to see a waterfall and the rapids next to the road. Later, we passed the famous Crystal Mill. I spent nearly 4 minutes there talking to a couple of hikers. The two older women passed by as I spoke and I didn't even care. Wow, that mill is bigger than I thought and it's been worked on to stablize it. The singles are kept in good shape.

On I went, finally, until I got to Lizard Lake. Wow again. This lake is beautiful! It was glassy and clear with tons of seaweed growing in it. Not the gross green mossy stuff but healthy light-brown water weed. There was a camp site next to it. I'd love to return later this year - maybe in Winter - to camp there.

The aid stations were great. I especially liked the mom and her young daughters. Very cute.

At the finish, I won a pair of Brooks Cascadias. There were three tables full of food that we attacked.
Paul G and I before leaving for Denver

Bernie Boetcher told me he came in 2nd, and pointed out the guy who won. I guess it was a 3-second difference. Our conversation was abruptly ended by a powerful gust. Without hesitating I ran for Paul's truck and got there the instant the hail and rain started. The very last person had crossed the finish seconds before, so I think the Creator was watching.

Another beer glass, another great tech shirt, trail mix, etc. A very good time.

A good thing I went slow - it ended up being a recovery hike/run instead of adding to my misery. Still, I ended up with my left ankle swelling from the rock that bashed me during the Leadville 100, my right ankle hurt even though I never twisted it or bashed it, both knees hurt, and my right hip hurts.
I've been doing lots of sleeping. Haven't had much time. Busy, busy, busy. Running around hither and yon. I did manage to walk 2.6 miles at Wash. Park while everyone else ran two laps.

Tuesday I had an appointment with Lucy where she spent 90 minutes working on me - mostly my legs. Ouch, she hurts me so good. I love Lucy 'cause she kneeds me so.

My left big toe nail has been hurting since the 50. Now the nail is rising. An infection has developed underneath and is starting to run away and push it up. I've soaked it twice in a mixture of hydrogen-peroxide and alcohol, plus this morning I spread Neomycin around it before putting my sock on. Tonight I need to do surgery with scalpel, syringe, and saline solution. I'm not looking forward to it. Either I do it now, or a doctor will have to do it later.

Walk Wabbit Walk 50

The Run Rabbit Run 50 was fun! Paul G and I left Denver just before 8pm Friday and were sacked-out on the ground by 11pm 10 miles from the race start.
There was considerable lightening and thunder in every direction. Hope as we did, the rain didn't pass us by. We ended up sitting in Paul's truck sleeping as best we could.

At the race, we found convenient parking at the Sheraton parking garage, and there was coffee and bagles at the runner check-in. We checked in and pinned our numbers.

I carried too much stuff. Since it was a first-time race, I brought extra. It was for nothing - these people are pros who've been involved in races across Colorado, from Silverton to Steamboat, for many years.

The race started on time, in the dark, and headed up a murderously steep ski-slope maintenance road. At least the road was smooth, but it kept going up for 6 miles until it topped-out on Mt. Werner. Then it headed east along the ridge towards the Rabbit Ears.
It was partly cloudy and warm. The views were great. The aid stations were well-stocked and the volunteers were the best!
Running the ridge, it rolled along up and down on singletrack, then dipped down and down to a half-dry lake where the 2nd aid station was tucked into the trees. A very wild bunch of volunteers cheered us in and out.
The hardest portion to me was between the 2nd and third aid stations, both coming and going. This felt like the longest distance between aid on the course, but I don't know - I didn't bring my GPS. I decided to go light and only fill my hydration bladder half-way. This was a minor miscalculation. I had to run several miles dry when I anticipated only about a mile or less.

Ever since the first aid station, I kept seeing Susan. We'd occasionally lose sight of each other, but between the 2nd and 3rd aid stations we paced each other. In fact, we were within eyesight of each other for about 80% of the race, even though we were not particularly trying to do that. I guess we were kind of gaging our progress against each other, and somewhat pushing and being pushed by each other, even if unconsciously. It was one of the impromptu situations that develop during trail races that adds enjoyment to an otherwise monotonous slog.
We had to do lots of climbing to reach that 3rd aid station, and when they told me it was only nineteen-point-something miles, I thought, "No freakin' way! This is killing me!"
Onward and upward with the Rabbit Ears in sight. We dropped, then traversed, then dropped and traversed, and every time we dropped I kept thinking, damn we'll have to climb this sumbich again.
Nearing the turn-around at 25+miles, we were able to see the placement of all the leaders. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th were strung out so extremely far that there was basically no contests up there. Everyone after that was up for grabs.
I could see I was doing terrible - for me. I was dead-center of the pack and that never improved. My left leg - and the rest of me - still isn't recovered from Leadville. But who cares? It was so fun! And there were so many other end-of-season zombie-runners out there I had plenty of company!
At the turn-around, I took the "wet" option down a steep embankment and across a muddy creek, somehow managing not to get "wet". I tanked and checked-out, but this time I went the dry way.
Up and up, as the day grew temporarily hot, and my butt got soaked with sweat and started to chafe. The salt didn't feel good in the wounds.
Then returning down to the 5th (3rd) aid station where I filled all the way for the long slog to the 6th (2nd) aid station.
And there was Susan again. I was her ghost and she was my shadow.
There were two beautiful lakes between these aid stations that were full of water lilies. They looked so serene.

At the next aid station, I turned-through very quickly and ended up well ahead of my "trailers". I should've worn my Solomon's because my La Sportiva UltraNords have a gaiter that is too stiff. If you cinch the gaiter top all the way against your skin, the folds will saw through your flesh. So without tightening it up, I ended up having to stop and empty my shoes. By the time I finished, my "trailers" had me in sight and passed me. We all kept trading places, though, until I finally took the lead for quite a while.

Finally, the last aid station! Six more miles falling like a rock, trying not to put on the brakes, but my feet were hurting. Ultra Nords don't compare to Solomon XC Pros - sorry.
But I had to crap. I had toilet paper but didn't want to stop this close to the end. So instead of stopping, and instead of listening to the pain and slowing down, I went as fast as I could on the balls of my feet.
My left knee was wrapped so my Leadville injuries wouldn't blow, but my right knee started hurting sharply. My left ankle was swelling where I kicked the rock on Sugarloaf the month before, but I just ran. I passed a guy feeling more misery than I and got passed easily by a guy sprinting like a gazelle (Kent F).
Very near the end, a guy came up behind me from nowhere and asked me how much further. I didn't know and said so, but I knew it was close and didn't want to lose another place. I heard him back there and figured he'd be hanging back there at a strategic distance to sprint past me, but I knew I could out-sprint him so I hung in there. I turned the last corner onto the grass and burst into a sprint. I stopped under the tent and the RD said, "I don't know what that was all about." So I looked back and the guy wasn't there.
I was hunched over with my hands on my knees and they asked me how I felt. I answered, "Like I need to shit." Totally without class or grace.
Then the crowd cheers and I look back. The guy grabbed his toddler and they were trotting across the finish. Oh well - we each had a good finish.
My time sucked, but I didn't care. It was good training for my next 100.

Free beer and pizza for all of us, a beer mug with a rabbits foot, and a great long-sleeve tech shirt. Lots of fun, great people - what more could you want?
Maybe more time to lounge with them?
But Paul and I had to leave for Marble for the next day's race.

Lazy Unto Death

Wow, people would rather die than exercise. Since most of the funnest things you can do in life require physical exersion, I'm confused how this can be so.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6994632.stm
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Race reports coming.

Busy Schedule

No gross photos for you today - sorry.

Starting in a couple of days...

Th evening, Sept 13 - party
Fri evening, Sept 14 - party
Sat morning, Sept 15 - 50-mile run, 156 miles from Denver, maybe a few hours of sleep before this
Sun morning, Sept 16 - 15.5 miles, 155 miles from Steamboat
Mon, Sept 17 - probably collapse into a pile of #!@$.
Tues, Sept 18 - massage
Wed, Sept 19 - foot and stride analysis #1 (There will be about four more clinics scheduled in the week(s) after this.)

Sat, Sept 22 - Half-marathon, Aspen

Then two whole weekends to potentially rest (but somehow these end up getting things scheduled into them!)

Fri, Oct. 12 - packet pickup and stay at brother's house in Lafayette
Sat, Oct. 13-14 - Boulder 100

More unscheduled weekends.

Nov 5-8 - Convention in LasVegas
Sat, Nov 10 - Rim Rock Run $50

BBQ Camp-out

Another gross photo...

I was about to leave for the BBQ camp-out and I looked at my two dead pinky-toe nails. The left one seemed deader than the right, so I rubbed it. The end came up. So I worked it around and there was no pain. I started pulling and it came right off, leaving a clean, oval crater. I can't tell if there's any nail-root left to grow a new one. I'd rather my nails would just give up the fight and quit trying to grow. They just get in the way.

John, Christine, Diane
The BBQ camp-out was very fun. A few people were no-shows, but there were still four of us.
My burgers are sprinkled with seasoned salt, Spike, and black pepper. Then the burger buns are adorned with jalapeños, cheese, and BBQ sauce. Not for vegans - sorry. I ate more meat this weekend than I normally eat in a month! Somehow my stomach and gut had no issues. Maybe all the beer helped get it down. We had Becks Dark, Breckenridge Avalanche, and Sam Adams Boston Ale, plus some Cabernet.
We also had corn-on-the-cob that I baked on the grill while constantly spritzing with water.
We all stank of wood smoke and body sweat, but it was worth it. We sat around the fire until 9:30pm. That seems late now, but in the old days before I began running, that was the start of the evening.

Breakfast was very healthy, uh, except for those donuts. (Hey, who brought those?)
This morning, Sunday, we all started up Bierstadt until the clouds moved in. We probably would've made it okay, but we turned back at about 12,800ft. It was still some good altitude and time with friends.
We ate a late lunch at the Happy Cooker in Georgetown before we said our good-byes and went home.
It was a very relaxing and fun weekend.

Javelina or Boulder100?

My Excel running log graph looks pathetic. I'm not back into my groove.
I ran 8.8 miles on the Apex trails near Golden on Thursday. That was a very good run. I made it hurt and kept it hurting. I took the jagged, relentless uphill towards the north. Then back around to the main trail, Enchanted Forest, then the spur that heads up to Lookout Mtn Rd, then back down through the middle. I don't ever remember going so strong in the past on the uphills. Because of my knees not being 100%, and I forgot to wrap them, I had to go pretty slow on the downhills. My IT-Band feels okay, but all the ligaments need this next week to firm-up.
I ran about 5.4 miles today, Saturday.

One week to the Steamboat Springs first annual Run Rabbit Run 50M. That'll be my first race since Leadville.
The next day, down near Marble, we have the Lead King Loop 25K.
Because of obligations Friday evening, I will get about 3-4 hours of sleep before the 50M race. A good training weekend for 100-mile events. I will not be completely recovered from Leadville, but mostly. I'll be racing sleepy and tired. Expect lousy times, maybe even some hiking.

I've had plenty of training at 50M or less. If I'm ever going to force this body into the kind of conditioning it needs to be in to finish Leadville and Hard Rock, I need training beyond 60M, at altitude, with plenty of climbing.
My friend Paul G said he has a history of problems at about 85 miles. That would seem to make sense if you look at any ultra-runner's training. We practically never reach 85 miles except when actually doing 100M races. We're usually good for about 15M beyond what we're used to. So if we run plenty of short stuff, 100K or less, or "doubles" adding up to that much, then we'll start having severe issues after 80M.

I need "double" training weekends that occasionally take me to 80-85M.
Ouch.

I told Amber D that I would run her 50K Oct. 14. This is looking to be increasingly ridiculous. I need a 100M event, and Boulder is next-door. It's ridiculous that I'm trying to cram in a 700-800 mile trip to AZ to do Javelina just because I told Amber three times that I'd do her 50K. Maybe she would understand? Communication is a good thing. I need to just write her and stop this guessing. If it puts her in a bind because of permits, etc. she already bought, then I'll still run her 50K. If it's no big deal, then screw Javelina - I'll do Boulder.

Be Still, My Eating Hearts

Today's photo is from the 24Hr Triathlon. I was sitting waiting on Paul G to get done with his swim when I saw her stub the SH!!!!T out of her toe on a rock. Broke two toes. Continued to do her part for her 24Hr relay team for the next 15-17 hours. "Tough" is an understatement.

I haven't been running, so there hasn't been anything to post.
Since Leadville, I've ridden my bike twice, and run once.

My shortcomings are going to become more obvious if I don't shore-up some areas...
Situps - I need tons of them. Since quiting Matrix gym, I haven't been consistent. I had some great 6-pack going on. Time is wearing it down slowly because trail running helps slow the decay, but I need to get back to this basic.
Pushups - I used to do killer pushups. My toes on the biggest Bosu-ball for instability while dipping down with my face alternating between left and right. 4 sets of 10 had me about to puke, with the other exercises I did. This helped beef up my shoulders for those eventual nasty falls on the trail where the strength of my shoulders controls and absorbs the crunch. So far I've fallen several times and rolled through them with virtually no abrasion to show for it. Total wipe-outs that somehow ended gracefully. I can't count on that if my shoulders weaken.

I need to buy a Bosu-ball and a situp bench.

My knees are tweaked from Leadville. I have a 50M race in little more than a week. My knees will have to be wrapped pro-actively. The very next day is a 15.5M race miles away. This scheduled weekend won't allow much sleeping or resting. A great "double" for 100M training.

Did I ever say I was just going to run Leadville and get it over with? If I had finished, maybe I would have. Now I feel totally sucked-in, though. I'm obsessed with ultras.

However, I plan to DNF with more ease in the future. I want to stack as many 50+M events into my schedule as I can stand to drive to. I don't intend to fly to any race. I hate paying massive amounts for a flight that may not ever take off and you have to go through security treated like a criminal. I'll drive - thanks. If I can't drive there, it's too far away. I live in Colorado, close to Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, and I don't see why I should have to fly. I'm dead-center in paradise (eat your hearts out folks).