MIA!!

I find myself hiding from another torrential downpour in my house just a mere 14 days (OMG) from what might be the hardest thing I have ever attempted.  Ok, it WILL absolutely be the hardest challenge I have ever signed up for without a doubt!  Where has the time gone?  I’m a bit behind in the updates so grab some sports beans and an electrolyte enhanced sports drink that only kind of tastes good…

I've heard you can ride the Pikes Peak Cog Railway up to Mountain View, hike about a mile and be on Barr Trail. That sounds alot easier to me than running all the way to A Frame just to get some altitude training in. So I thought I'd investigate. My half baked plan is to ride up late in the day, run to the top and hitch hike down to Manitou. With this little scheme in mind, I called the Cog Railway operator to discuss my ride options. This conversation ensued: 

Me: I'd like…

So it's almost tapering time again....The days are getting shorter, you've been training for months, and the big local and statewide races are growing near.  Whether you are doing one, two or three of the Peak races, Leadville, Imogene, one or more of many road or mountain bike races, or some other competition, the racing season is hitting it's peak and starting to slow down soon.  One of the most important things to do to prepare for a race is to taper.  All that training you have done in…

All weekend I was Thinking about a long run. Thinking though doesn't get me any further along the training continuum. So late Sunday I snatched the few hours of weekend that were left and headed for Barr Trail. With just a couple of "honey do" stops between my house and the trailhead I thought I'd still get a good workout in before dark. I was partially right.



I took off from Ruxton at 6. Hit shuffle on the IPhone and cranked the tunes. I've recently synced my home computer with my…

     I'm not a Colorado native. So as a North Carolinian by birth, who claims the mountains of Asheville as my first real "home", the word summertime conjures up warm east coast memories. Memories of firefly shows in a meadow at dusk, testing my bravery on a rope swing that drops into a cool swimming hole, hunting berries- black, red, and blue on Black Balsam Knob, and leisurely tubing down the meandering Davidson River. Later in grad school, summertime in Johnson City Tennessee (apart from…

My Pikes Peak Sports teammate Brandon Stapanowich played mind games in the Summer Stampede 12K. I'm playing mind games now with my training. Everyday I'm trying to figure out ways to get up the Peak. Last week I couldn't make it above tree line but every hill I ran I envisioned was a piece of Barr Trail on the way up Pikes Peak.

Wednesday morning I ran the…

By Jen Shotwell

PikesPeakSports.us Triple Crown Runners race team

My hubby and I have different approaches for preparing for the Triple Crown of Running race events.

Mine involves running and the many activities I participate in during my work…

Silent home. Cat sleeps. Dog sleeps. Cancer sleeps.

PET scan came back with NED (no evidenve of disease). Yet I am aware, so keenly aware that cancer can sleep and hide and edge forward when it choses.

I dance on the abyss. Stare down its dark face, find my fear, and move on the edge. I will always be moving on its edge. Whatever my choices now, they are made facing the ebony abyss.

Light givers come in many forms. Son and daughter, friends and family. They chose to be here with…

A friend of mine was talking to me recently about coming down the Incline with his son and how he felt by the end of it, having not done the Incline in over a year.  He said his knees where killing him and toward the bottom where the Incline's grade decreases slightly and he could keep up a slow run he could feel every foot strike.  Now let me start by saying I do not condone…

So I'm starting up jogging again since my teenage years.  That's about 27 years ago.  Now that I'm older and more prone to injuries, I stumbled upon this running technique called chi running on Youtube.  It's based on tai chi and it teaches you to land on your mid-section of your foot instead of your heel.  By aligning your body and head in the most upright position with a forward tilt from the chest, you begin running.  It's how a baby learns to walk - the most natural and efficient way. …

Friday night I was debating - 6 a.m. start in Manitou - all the to the top of Pikes Peak or an 8 a.m. start at the Cog Railway taking it half way and then running to the top. Either way, a hard workout was in store. I had friends and acquaintances going on both trips so I was debating if I wanted to leave my wife home with the kids and for how long. 

My wife asks: "Are your friends training to win this race?" 

"No," I replied. 

"Have they run this race before?" she…

     I enjoyed some real solid training under my feet during this past week and have had a nice streak of running since the SUMMER ROUNDUP. For the Tuesday/Thursday Sunrise Strider tempo runs and interval workouts, I'm happily welcoming the return of my pre San Juan 50 form. Riding this high, I was also able to work in a great running weekend around Pikes Peak. Saturday offered some good time on the backside as I knocked out 21 miles with CRUD as we tagged the PANCAKE ROCKS and then…

Many people base their health and physical well being on their body mass index.  Although this measurement can help you to see if you are overweight, average or underweight and help you to track your progress towards a weight loss or fitness goal the B.M.I. can be misleading and inaccurate.  If you want a more accurate measurement, that is just as easy to obtain, if not easier, use your waist/hip ratio.  This measurement takes into account your body size and proportions, which have been…

I hit a low at the 2011 Summer Roundup Trail Run 12K. It happened about 20 seconds after the compacted dirt became asphalt and the course rocketed skyward. I had to walk. Walking isn't the end of the world. Lots of runners consider walking up hill (especially in the Pikes Peak Ascent) more efficient than running. But for me, I was walking because I felt defeated. The course beat me that Sunday.

Maybe it's for the best. As runners passed me and my time began to look like the elevation…

Sunday's heat melted the asphalt and the runners. I ran clipped corners and kept sipping water. Two Sundays and two races, The Summer Roundup and the Zooma Colorado half. At each finish line my daughter waited. She smiled, cheered, and brought the dog up to great my finish.  This past Sunday, moving across the finish line, I remebered  the times I waited for her, supported her, was cheering her finishes and performances. The role reversal is not quite new.A few years ago, when she was…

It has taken me a while to get this out.  But after a few days recovery and a vacation I am ready to write.

The week of my tri, I had gone to Michigan for training (which as suppose to be in April but dates had got moved).  It was everything wrong to do before a tri.  I went to sea level. Didn't sleep well, and didn't eat the best.  I was to return to Colorado Friday afternoon, and the tri was Saturday morning.  That Friday, my flight from one airport was delayed, I ended up…

     I really wasn't sure I was ready for this. My training leading up to the July 10th Roundup had been even less regimented and more haphazard than usual. I'd found reaching a "recovered state" whatever that meant, was as elusive as reaching enlightenment or Nirvana. Even if I had reached this heralded state of recuperation, racing a 12k requires a tremendously different mindset than what I'd been accustomed to over the past months. It meant efforting up 3.6ish miles of climbing and…

For the past few weeks I have been laboring over something interesting and hopefully informative to blog about - something that someone (even one person!), particularly as we get older, might find helpful in their running/racing travails.

First, a few pertinent comments: 1) I am a geologist, not a medical doctor; 2) I am 78 years old; 3) for the past 20-25 years my total cholesterol readings have been in the 260-320 range. …