Lots of details on the Burro Race in Fairplay over here. 
Not expecting to be in the prize money but given the purse is decent I am surprised there is not a bit more a draw to this race. Interestingly, the registration form for the 2010 race is not even up yet.
Expecting to meet up with Bill Lee for a burro first date on July 15. If interested let me know and we can go together. I do intend to bring flowers. Seriously.
AM – 10 miles. AM listening included a wrap up on Endurance Planet re: WS100, with Bryon Powell from irunfar.
PM – hot. Probably 95? 12 miles easy and slow.
Mileage for June looks comes in at 392 miles on over 57.75 hours. 2124 miles over 336 hours on the year. Where you at for the half way post on ‘10?
For comparison purposes I checked my entry at the close of June last year. I found three things … (with some notes)
1.) A snippet from the rollup from later year - June rollup … ran all 30 days with a high of 20.5 on June 28, and a low of 1 on June 19. 333 miles on the month. Halfway through the year, with 1680 miles. 14235 minutes on the year, 2734 minutes on the month. Okay – I am hopeful that the additional miles (about 500 so far on the year) will be beneficial later this summer, but I recognize they may not make that much of a difference. I guess this also means that I ended up with just under 2000 miles for the remainder of ‘09. I guess that means, I have about 4000 miles over the last 12 months.
2.) I repeat myself a lot. I started to troll through some of the entries from June of last year, and a lot of that stuff I posted I could have posted yesterday: sleeping in, kids’ ball games, a feeling that I need to do more in terms of diet, core, etc. Some things don’t change much.
3.) Some things change significantly. In the comments from that end of June post, there is some chatter about the WS100. I indicate some hesitancy about the ultra distances in there. I still have a healthy hesitancy, maybe more of a respect of those distances – but I can feel myself embracing that culture, the desire to do ultras much more now than I was a year ago. Started squinting at this calendar.
Anyway, I think in this latest Kilian crosses the Pyrenees video, he is meeting up with Paula R.
Pacer report from Scott J … love the vomitus euphoritus reference.
Max King on a podcast at Running Times. On that front, I saw a copy of Running Times in the grocery and was flipping through it. Saw Scott Elliott featured in a hill climb section. Not sure how recent the pix are, but maybe Scott is getting out there? I’d love to see that. Can’t find the article on line … yet.
Just noticed that Eric Blake, and Rickey Gates are on the competitive entry list for Pikes. (ascent) So I did a quick glance and I see … Tommy Manning, Fruedenberg, Maksimow, Gutierrez, Tilton also up there so quite a few USMRT runners (current and past). Cox is also on the list, and Mike Kloser (who blows my mind every year as to how well he does). DON’T SEE PARR THERE YET. I see a competitive entry for Paul Raistrick but he is predicting a 3:39 ascent. The wild card is the Kenyan Chemweno, but this guy actually appears to have some mountain running experience.
Course on the PPM side there is Carpenter, Parker, Mock Parr, Sir Nick Clark, Burch, Fain, Boettcher, and a guy with a really cool running name: Rickey Lightfoot. Hope to see Tony’s name there soon too.
Apparently Barringer’s season is done with a stress fracture.
Dig this story on runners doing right … in a sport that often gets more headlines for cheats.
Apparently Wardian is going to try to break the indoor marathon record. That is a lot of 200 meter laps!
Anton has posted some excellent shots from some nutty run he did this past weekend. There is an interview with Roes post race over here.
Yesterday washed out with work, etc, and ended up being a day off. Up early and over to the track. 2 mile warm up, 3 x 1 mile at 5k pace (currently 5:45 pace) with 400 in between, then 8 x 200 with 200 in between. Miles 5:44, 5:43, 5:38 – all starting pretty slowly (87, 88). The 200s were all in 35 and were more “fun” than the miles. 10 miles total.
Karl’s thread re: WS …
More good stuff over at Bryon’s site. Kilian - “the course was very very flat … next year, it is important to run with water … Anton, he never stopped, he was very constant in his effort … no, I am not the favorite for UTMB.” Anton –“next up for me is either Pikes Peak or Leadville.” (okay, that got my pulse up a bit).
Nick Clark’s report. NOTE TO SELF, A QUOTE TO REMEMBER: So while I was there to be competitive, I had decided in the weeks leading up to the event to focus entirely and unreservedly on my own race, and let the chips fall where they may, regardless of what was going on around me.
I didn't care about the pain any more. I had 10 kilometers worth of hurting left to endure and I had the chance to track down and pass one of the most respected endurance runners in the world on the most storied trail course in the country in the toughest 100-mile field ever assembled. That kind of stuff may not do it for you, but it was doing it for me. I was hammering with everything I had left.
Got this tip from JT: an follow up re Tony.
Afternoon – warm (90+) but got out for an easy 9 miles (just under 8m/m pace).
Evening – 4 miles, easy.
After some prodding by JM, I am pretty sure I will do the Burro Days Race in Fairplay on the weekend of July 24. I am meeting up with Bill Lee in Idaho Springs, on July 15th to get a training run in with a burro. If interested, contact me and we can arrange for a few runners to get up there. More on Burro Racing here. Next up I will work through registration and the like.
Side note, this is my last week of training before heading out on a week long trip on the San Juan. If things play out right, I might get in a race this weekend. Not sure if that will be a local 4/5k race on the 4th or in the mountains running the Vail Hill Climb or one of the more expensive Leadville races.
AM – slept in.
Holy crap this climbing report is scary.
Kevin Tilton’s MW report. On that note, DD lists guys who are over 45 and have broken 75. Matt Russell also has a report. DD also has posted the 2010 age graded men that team Andy Ames gets a nod on.
Very pretty up high, west end of Boulder County.
If I were still living in the east, I think I’d be loving the mountain circuit there, including this gem.
The WS reports are starting to come out. Geoff has a tiny one, AJW has one. Bryon’s site has some cool vids. Some nice shots of the awards assembly over at Jean P’s post. Justin has put up one from a pacer’s perspective.
Spent the day at Jackson State Park, and water skied for the first time in 15 or so years. Was glad that I did not embarrass myself in front of the kids, as I was able to get up on the first go.
Tail of the day, a bit burnt (literally), but got out anyway. Easy 11 miles.
Week was 100miles, 16 hours (but with a good chunk of that coming with the fun and games last night). 11.5 hours for the week. 347 miles on over 51.25 hours in June. 2079 miles over 330 hours on the year. Fair week with 2 sessions of climbing (over 9000 on the week), a session of some turn over on the track, some true speed with co worker Steve at the front of the week, and decent consistency.
Mount Washington, Evans, San Juan last week. WS this week. If you ain’t motivated, you are dead.
Way behind on typical blogs though …
This is what winning your 7th 100 miler in 7 attempts with 7 course records looks like and hence always putting yourself into the conversation of the best ultra runner of all time discussions (while your pacer is a legend himself – umm, did anyone have a better seat than Dave?). Letsrun bashers unite and talk about how slow this guy is! It feels good, but, haha, I’m in pain.
Met up with umm … met up with some guys for an evening mountain run – more specifically, the so called Skyline Traverse. I’d tell you who they are, but just in case the race-Gestapo are watching, I won’t. Those who were scared off by the early rain – your loss. Those who came and ran, well done, well sung. Doing the traverse in the dark is quite a treat. Got to meet some new folks – always a treat - and catch up with some old dawgs as well.
In any case, as the sun was setting, we headed south out towards the Mesa, then up South Boulder. After a bit of time on the summit (where we checked on WS100 results), it was dim enough that we had to fire up the torches (really, we did not carry torches, but I think UK folks call headlamps and flashlights “torches” and I am so damn impressed with Nick Clark today, I am going to try to use British slang).
Over to Bear, where we sat and watched the sky turn from purple to black. Beautiful. Then in total darkness, the run over to Green. After a short stint on Green, we headed down over to Flag. I rolled my right ankle/foot again before the four way junction. This makes downhill running very careful and slow. Any sort of odd side to side lateral motion on it in the right combination sets me up for wincing, gimping, and walking funny for about 2 minutes. Up, because the foot plant is more passive, is not nearly as bad.
Then Flag. I gimped down off of this, and while the rest of my parts were feeling great, i was glad to drop Sanitas from the agenda because of the bad wheel. In past years, this run itself would leave me worked, but I felt fine (other than the foot).
I think my GPS data is a little off because mine came up short (I think I turned it off for some segment). Based on what I am reading from the other mountain secret service agents it was about 14.25 miles, with about 4500 feet of climbing. A bit more than a half mile to jog to the headquarters / start – so I will take this as 15.
Up the Bluestem trail 
A very green basin with runners in it. 
Getting ready to check WS100 results – really!
Long’s Peak in the distance
A portrait of the whole crew on the top of Green
I’d like to write what I did today. Compared to most days, in terms of training, it was pretty impressive for me.
But I can’t write it. It simply pales in comparison to what the folks at Western States did – particularly a couple of Colorado guys I have had the honor to share a couple of strides with.
Huge congrats to Tony and Nick. You guys are inspiring, and motivating. Well done in preparation, execution, and this day at Squaw. Soak it up gents, you deserve it.
I am an idiot when it comes to predicting races. My track record speaks to that on such matters.
In any case, I have put in that I think Jornet wins WS100. I have also said that I think at least one of the top four will not finish. That is not to wish bad karma on anyone – but simply, that is the nature of mountain running – and particularly hundred milers. And even more so those in the heat.
In fact, when I think about it, it is about the dumbest sport to try to pick because there are so many stray factors that can screw your picks up. It is worst than trying in April to pick what baseball team will win the World Series in October. So many things can happen along the way. Or maybe that makes it a great sport to try to do picks in.
In any case, Jornet interview. Western links if you want to follow it … Ultralive.net twitter feed and Ultranet in general
He is getting interviewed a lot lately … another one with Mr. Jurek.
AM – 15 miles easy. Bonked well at the end … it started to get a little warm.
Ultramarathon basics … true basics.
Video from yesterday’s snake …
Interesting miles and MW correlations (and age) from DD.
I have often said how much nicer a 90 something degree day is in Colorado than an cooler day someplace else. Comparing similar temps between Broomfield and where a lot of my co workers are in Atlanta today. Notice the heat index.
I had my second Broomfield Open Space and Trail Advisory Committee tonight.
We did a tour of the Metzger Farm (co owned between the City/County of Broomfield and the City of Westminster). What a beautiful property, and I am eager to see the day that the Big Dry Creek Trails connect into this gorgeous piece. I could spend hours being lost at the lake there, watching the herons.
After this tour, we went back to the City/County building for our monthly meeting, which included a review of the history of Open Space and Trails in Broomfield. The Mayor, who was once an OSTAC member (before becoming Mayor) was there, along with the Mayor Pro Tem, the asst. City / County Planner and a prior board member. Simply, it was great to hear the history, the perspective, the balance, the stories these folks had to tell. I really enjoyed getting educated, and – at the risk of gushing a bit – I felt a new sense of patriotism to this town I live in. Knowing some of the effort that people have put into the trails that I run on – and not just the effort to shovel that trail – is a new found appreciation and perspective.
AM – tired this morning and I probably should have slept in, but I am looking to bury myself a little here right now. 8 miles easy. The AM listening … AHR = 138, max =150.
WS chatter is certainly flying now. I like Matt’s write up. Predictions based on group voting.
I am not a big tennis fan, but this endurance event is crazy.
I find cutting the lawn to be meditative. And it is a reel mower.
I am getting a nudge to consider the burro race thing at the end of July. If I can secure an ass, I think I will do it. In an effort to encourage more participation in the historic Fairplay Long Course, Dale and Kathy Fitting (owners of the historic Hand Hotel) have decided to sponsor some very cool prizes for the Fairplay race. These are in addition to the prizes offered by the Burro Days Committee. The Hand Hotel Purse will consist of (3)$500 prizes awarded randomly to those teams finishing the Long Course of the Fairplay race. Every team finishing the long course has a shot at claiming one of these prizes, so start training! In addition, they will also institute the "Champion's Challenge" which will be an additional $500 prize if the Long Course winner breaks the all-time record for the current Mosquito Pass out and back course. The record time of 3:44:18 is currently held by Tom Sobal and Maynard and was set in 1989. $500 will be added yearly until the all-time record is broken. $500 will be awarded if the Long Course winner beats the winning time from the previous year (but not the all-time record). This prize will also accumulate from year to year until the prize is won. Think of it as the burro racing powerball!
Yet another article on how Solinsky really is not fat. Training partners like Tegenkamp and Bairu will purposely avoid Solinsky on these easy days because Solinsky inevitably turns the runs into death matches. "I'll be sitting around the house thinking everybody is running alone,'' says Solinsky. "Then I'll find out they all ran together, but just didn't call me.''
PM – south Boulder Peak, 7 miles easy. It was hot.
2800 feet vertical. Even though I was casual, I was faster than last week where I felt pretty worked (but not by much).
Ran into this bad boy just above the Mesa cutoff. 
Other shots 
The scramble to the top of SoBo.
This guy had a tough day.
AM – not super sharp this AM, but got out and down to the track. Was not sure what I was going to do – even as I started to run my first lap of work. I settled on doing the 1600-1200-800-400-200 ladder (same as last week). Felt a bit off to start (stiff, and some acid reflux) and it showed on the first lap (87, ugh), but then I opened up. 5:36, 4:09, 2:38, 76, 35. The first two felt much more relaxed than last week. 7 miles.
Another Jurek interview off of the Kathleen show.
WS interview with Koerner. Good read on how to follow WS.
Bad fires in the Flagstaff area.
PM – 8 easy miles with Jayson
I am expecting that I won’t be able to do any significant running on our river trip on the San Juan in a couple of weeks. First, we will be on a river. Second, we will be in the desert and taking off for a two hour run when potable water is at a premium will not be desirable. In some regard, the down week will probably be good, but I will look to keep some level of fitness with plyos, stretching, core work and jump rope. Will also look to race right before the trip (4th of July weekend).
Looks like a group run coming on Saturday night.
AM – little stiffness from yesterdays harder efforts (good!). 7 miles, easy. AHR = 139, max = 148, pace averaged just under 8s.
Coworker who chases storms rhino-lined his vehicle and set it up with bullet proof glass. You can see why.
More Mount Washington reports: Jim Johnson (There is probably no other time that going out conservatively will benefit you more, than at Mount Washington), Scott Mason, Jim P. … Photos by Kristen W and Photos by Scott Mason
More Mount Evans – Jim Mallory.
Bucks on the line for records at WS. Funny thing is when I look at Meltzer’s odds there is a theme to be successful: run your own run, and guys slugging it out with each other or the watch are almost prescribed to fail.
PM – easy 8 miles. Warm.
Archiving this poll … Gates, Blake, Gray make the team. I did not even have Siemers on the list. Few folks picked Manning (I did …).
Evening walk with KZ
AM – easy five miles.
Weekend write up by the ever reliable Justin M. (who got two wins this weekend)
San Juan reports (in no order than what I got to first): Brandon, Scott J (who is officially now in HR), Jim P., Brett. Yeah … I think it is on the list now.
Mount Evans – new FF team mate Chris reports
Mount Washington – Caitlyn Smith, Tim Parr
Timmy G – getting back at it. Watch out.
In town for running … David R, and apparently Jurek. (an interview with him recently posted)
Meanwhile, Skurka still is navigating Alaska.
A week to the track meet.
PM - got out with co-worker Steve under a cooler, but suspicious looking sky.. Steve is training to improve his 800 time. He mentioned he was doing 150 strides today at his 800 pace, so I was glad to join. It was definitely a bit faster than I have run lately, and it was nice to get the push from having somewhere there. This was definitely closer to true speed work than anything I have done in a while. Good stuff. 10 miles.
We had a long great day in the mountains, and physically I felt lethargic most of the day. I even had TZ manage half the drive home while I zonked in the back of the van (before this, we got out towards Lost Park … a region I expect to explore some more). 
In the evening, I managed an easy four miles with JZ – as he did a checkout bike ride before his “Biking and Birding” camp tomorrow. I contemplated tacking on another hour on this run, just to round out weekly mileage, and just to tough it out. But I bagged, rationalizing little benefit, while doubting that was true. The stomach dropping out sealed the deal.
Week was 74 miles, but 62 came on days not starting with S. Not a great week, but not a bad one. 11.5 hours for the week. 247 miles on over 35.25 hours in June. 1979 miles over 314 hours on the year. The weekend in the mountains just did not set up well for miles (this time). Had thoughts going in of the Decalibron, but ended up playing at a campfire instead. In any case, it was 8800 feet of vertical, mostly off of three runs. Got some good climbing, and some turn over.
Looking over results (Mount Washington, Mount Evans, San Juan Solstice to name a few) and I can’t help but noticing both some great finishes by some, and others not meeting their own expectations … a theme I am all to familiar with. In fact, I am reading more reports of disappointment than success from this weekend. That either means I am attracted to reading about failures, people who fail, or we are more likely to fail in these endurance events than succeed. I believe it is the last, but I still remain a bit befuddled at how some guys run at the top of their game nearly every time, but the most of us encounter the mystical random “bad day” that throws our entire game for a loop.
In fact it drives me crazy.
Bobby talks about it a bit. The one thing that few of us ever want to face is the truth behind what holds us back.
We are at ABC – or the so called “altitude base camp” for the weekend.
Self portrait 
Bristlecone pine … a very old tree 
JZ was impressed with the purple pine cone
KZ loves to kick back and read here
TZ and Lucy 
Prepped fire for tonight and sleeping at 10.1 kfeet.
The camp 
This Bristlecone fell on its side. And now still grows.
KZ makes baked potatoes 
Sun setting over the Rockies
Dinner 
One tired puppy 
Late afternoon … got out for some hill work. Everything here is hill work actually. 2 mile warm up, then 5 x a half mile (+) with a half mile recovery with the hard part being up at 7 and a half percent grade, the easy part being down (Platte River Drive) Very much Linden like, except at 10000 plus feet. Hard segments were about 8:20 to 8:40 pace. I could tell I was at altitude and working hard because I could not do math for shit. Good run. 8 miles total.
In the mountains, and so on limited (by design) connectivity, but I can see the USMRT selectees from the MW race here … http://www.comfortinc.com/cgi-bin/mwresults … looks like the women’s record was destroyed. Lots to guess at with the results. Curious to hear race reports and how things played out.
Some kid ran 1:44ish at Mount Evans, (results are up off a link there) and Bob was second in 1:54.
unrelated side note … I found this picture on the Mount Evans site that captures Carpenter’s football technique with a water bottle pretty well.
I love sleep, I hate sleep.
I love sleeping in (oh, 6:30) and getting that additional hour and a half of rest, and how it makes me feel: rested, rejuvenated, more whole and ready to roll.
I hate it because I miss in June, July – getting out in the first of the morning is incredibly glorious and amongst some of the best time of the day to run. The sun rises, it is cool and you get the work done for the day and that is intensely satisfying.
This morning I slept in.
I paid for my indulgence in the afternoon. As I headed out of the South Mesa Trailhead, I could feel the heat – and was already pining for the shade of, well of course, Shadow Canyon – even though that would bring its own flavor of heat. I had contemplated a So-Bo, Bear, Green excursion but I knew by the saddle of So-Bo Bear I had better cut it short (particularly since I went low gear … umm waterless and without other fuel). As the summit of So Bo, I took notice of how uncharacteristically wet I was … hmmm … yeah, a bit humid for Colorado. And the sky showed it as the Denver skyline was lost in a haze.
With the big work done, I made way over to Bear, and then down West Bear to Bear Creek. About halfway, oh maybe 2/3rds down – I noticed that there had been some trail work. Wait, nope – not just trail work but a significant trail reroute. Where the trail would typically hang on the south side of the creek, it was now routed (and more smooth actually) on the north side into a single track (although some of the switchbacks are about as tight as I have ever seen them made).
I was clearly cooked by the time I reached the Mesa and even the smallest climbs zap me. All good. 11 miles, 3300 + feet.
Some pix … Climbing up Towhee, towards Shadow Canyon, and then via the Mesa Trail 
Looking over Walker Ranch
Looking towards Longs … notice the haze.
Looking south and east from South Boulder Peak. Typically, you can see Pikes from there but not with today’s haze.
The nuttiness that is scaling towards the top of Bear. I just noticed today that there are actually to survey markers at the top.
Looking at SoBo from Bear.
Looking at Green (on the left) via the West Bear ridge.
