tough one on Tuesday

i did a lap early am (although not leaving the house til 6am felt kinda late) on the F50 course, and sure enough I was reminded how difficult it will be on the fourth. One lap, going about 80-85% was 2hr18min. How the hell did I ever pull a 4:17 two years ago? I think the splits were a 2:06 and a 2:11. The more I ride the course the more I realize that I must have had the perfect race on a perfect day. I'd be ecstatic with a sub 4:20 this year. And probably okay (not happy) with a sub 4:30. But I don't want to set myself up for disappointment, as a 4:17 is remarkably hard to achieve. I think riding up Boreas on the first lap will be much faster during the race, as I will be sucked into riding hard with the group of locals that will form early in the race. The key is to pull off a 2:10 or less on the 1st lap, and just hope I eat and drink well, and have no mechanicals on the 2nd lap. As much as I will suffer (prob the most suffering in one day all year for me), the beer afterwards in Carter Park will taste great!
Helen's got a 10K hill climb in Vail Sunday. Alina and I are excited to ride the gondola up to Eagle's Nest to check out the finish. I think Helen will do well, as she is a great uphill runner.

a lot going on, that's good, I guess; and more freakin' links

work is really picking up steam. We roll into the Fourth of July this weekend. I am sure town will be packed. If you want ribs, ground meat, hamburger buns, or BBQ sauce on Sunday or Monday upcoming, you'd better hit the store before Friday. I'd guess by Tuesday it'll look like the Great Depression on the store shelves.
The Firecracker 50 is next week. Not sure how well I've trained my endurance, but I think the intensity is up there. Regardless of how one trains, the 2nd lap on that course is brutal. I don't see how Faia and Devin do it on a singlespeed.
Alina is doing well. She had a good night of sleep last night, only waking once. Helen and I are getting scared and excited about a potentially big living change. Hopefully I have something concrete to write about in the near future. Still lots of research and planning needs to take place.
I have to work Sat, so I can take off Tuesday for the race. But Sunday we're going to go over to Vail for the Teva Vail Hill Climb running race. About 7.5mi and 2500' of pain for Helen. sounds fun, huh? Alina and I will get more fun time together. We can go check out the birds at Larkspur Lodge, and the nice lush rich-town flowers they have over there.

night ride

did a pretty sweet night ride tonight. saw 2 porcupines and a pine marten, I think. it certainly wasn't a fox, and not a mountain lion or coyote either. I think a pine marten is similar to a weasel. it was small and grayish black. its eyes were reflecting green in my head lamp. kinda spooky out there by yourself, if you let yourself think about it too long. then I turned my music on. it was even scarier, b/c I couldn't hear whatever imaginary things were behind me. so i submerged myself in fear, and soon I wasn't really thinking about anything, so the fear vanished. that's good. I was able to continue my ride and descend down Pence Miller and the nordic center. kinda weird back there at night too.

alright, alright....just 2 more

 
  

more family pics

I just can't get enough of these...

 
 
  

family photos

 
  

more Alina

 
  

Alina's photo shoot

these are some pics taken by Helen's friend, Kate Lapides. she took some nice ones, considering it was the end of day and Alina wasn't entirely cooperative. I will post some more in the next couple of posts.

 
  

F50

well, I am now almost committed to doing the whole Firecarcker 50 thing. After all, this will be my 5th year in a row, if I continue the tradition. this Gold Run rush race tomorrow will probably go well, but it is more so a tune-up for the suffering on the 4th of July. After tomorrow I will devote all of my off-road miles to some course re-con.

Alina at her aunt Diana's wedding

 
 
  

Diana's wedding

I didn't shoot nearly the pics I thought I would. I especially didn't get any good ones of Josh & Diana together. Guess that's what happens when Helen is in the wedding, and I am with Alina most of the time! more still to come...

 
 
 
  

Diana's wedding

Diana's wedding was incredible at the Shadows Ranch outside of Georgetown. we were lucky with nice weather, and the venue was beautiful. We are excited to have Josh officially part of the extended family. More pics coming soon...

 
 
 
  

san juan 50 miler

Helen won!! her first victory in a big ultra down in Lake City, at the San Juan Solstice 50 Mile Run. she had the lead for most of the race. her lead over the 2nd place woman was only 4min at the Slumgullion aid station, which is at the 40-mile point. She held her off strong for the last 10 miles to win by 50 secs, in an 11+hr race with over 11,000' of climbing! I got some great pics of Helen nursing Alina at 2 of the aid stations. If she hadn't, perhaps her margin of victory would have been larger! Alina and I are so proud of Helen. she seems to have recovered well for Diana's wedding on Sunday.

 
 
 
  

tunnel vision

driving up through the tunnel Sunday morning. looks like the speed of light with this crappy cell phone camera, but I'm only doin' about 60.

brick

yesterday I had a unique opportunity to do a 5K trail running race, and also do about 75min on the road bike, pulling Alina. The ride up to the gate on Boreas Pass Rd. wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, considering I'd be pulling the trailer. luckily it was a pretty mellow grade. needless to say, when I pulled up to registration, I didn't need much of a warm-up. But I did jog about 1/2 mi up the road to remember how much it was going to hurt. The first 1.5mi or so were on the road, and I wasn't feeling so hot from the start. Luckily no cramps or side stitches developed, and soon we were cruising up to the singletrack and the flats and downhills. Running down a trail I know so well from mountain biking had its advantage for sure. I passed about 5 people on the way down, and didn't even seem like I was losing my footing. Some idiot passed me right at the finish line. Other than that, I did well. Then riding back down to the house with Alina after was a great reward and cool down. Surprisingly, my legs feel damn good today. I did a 5:20am ride, along with a lunch time ride. The only indication that I ran last night (and that I never run otherwise) is that my right knee is a little bit sore. No problem. Maybe if I can do one of these every 3-4 weeks, or at least in the late summer and fall, I might be in better running-shape for cross.

Helen's 10K

Did I forget to mention earlier that Helen won the Vail 10K on Saturday? It was a funky race b/c a course marker fell down, but most everyone else got lost too.

another beautiful sunset...

  

helen's 10k in Vail

afterwards Alina and Helen enjoyed the inflatable pool in the sun.

 
 
 
  

new pj's for alina

 
 
  

stranded truck

i saw this dodge stranded on the upper portion of american gulch rd. looks like a hevay rain could even dislodge it and see it tumble down into the valley.

too bad the lens in these cell phone digi cameras is crappy.

weekend at home

it was nice to enjoy the warm weather at home this weekend. with Mary coming up to watch Alina on Monday, I was able to take off Saturday with Helen too. pretty nice to have a weekend off together, without having to take any vaca time. hopefully we can do more of these this summer. yesterday we went shopping, and bought some perrenials for our garden also. we'll see how many come back next spring. we enjoyed the evening home together, and this morning we drove over to Vail for a 10K in their trail series. although the course was poorly marked, Helen won! Alina and I got to hang out at Larkspur, and then see Helen come in to finish. it's nice to see how much more lush and green everything is in Vail. amazing what a 1000' elevation differnce will do for the trees and plants. when we got back I went out for a nice big ride. the Colorado Trail is in great shape already. Helen's runs today will set her off for a good taper week until San Juan on Saturday.

grocery trip

our weekly trip to City Market. this time Alina is big enough to sit in the basket like a big kid. she was pretty happy about it.

Baldy Mt.

on top of Humbug Hill, looking towards the backside of Baldy Mt. Dust from the ATVs is in the bottom of the photo.