Last weekend was a huge weekend for area trail runners. In fact, I'm almost certain that every person I've met in the running community was involved in either the Pikes Peak races in Manitou, TransRockies, the Leadville Trail 100, or some combination thereof. For myself, after testing the 50 mile waters in 2011 at Lake City and then Pagosa Springs, Leadville was beckoning me to the "hundy" distance.

     For some, having an intricate calorie and hydration plan complete…

Back to the drawing board.  Once again, Pikes handed me my ass on race day.  I’ve run up the mountain faster when I lived at sea level in Austin than I have the last two years.

I was on pace through No Name Creek, but I knew from the moment the course turned onto Ruxton that I wouldn’t be able to execute.  Really struggled between No Name and Barr Camp, and I hiked it in from Barr Camp.  3:28 and change, once again failing miserably in my effort to join the sub three…

I will write about this in more detail soon enough, but for now ... HOLY CRAP I DID IT!

Barb Calder-Durbin of Lincoln, Neb. has perhaps the biggest responsibility of any volunteer at this weekend’s Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon. She makes sure every racer has a chance to pee before the start of the race.

With a line a block long, competitors begin to worry they may miss the start. Calder-Durbin, a volunteer at the races since 1995, makes sure, very sure,…

In a Pikes Peak Ascent competition full of distinguished runners, Windy Creek, Colo. native Rickey Gates, 31, the men’s runner-up on Saturday, stood out for both his achievements and his unusual racing experiences.

The 2008 U.S. champion in trail running and mountain running and five-time member of the national mountain running team (2006-10) holds the distinction of…

PIKES PEAK ASCENT RESULTS HERE

Jason Delaney felt the joy of victory. He already knew the pain of running the 2012 Pikes Peak Ascent all too well.

The Golden resident won the men’s race up America’s Mountain in 2 hours, 13 minutes and 18 seconds for his first victory in his third…

On Sunday, August 12 I joined a handful of other volunteers for a Barr Trail Work Day sponsored by Friends of the Peak. Almost all of us intended to run the Ascent with all but me being veteran runners with at least several or more Ascents under their soles. All of that experience went a long way toward determining just what kind of "improvements" we would make to the trail. That is, we didn't want to sanitize it too much. This is a trail run after all, right? Mostly we took out some nasty…

Ok... so I'm probably one of the last to put up a review for the Vivobarefoot Breatho Trail... but better late than never!  I've had these since late May, and so I've probably logged more miles in them than I normally do…

The Attack Pack and friends ready to take on the Falcon Trail in the dark.

Whenever I sign up for new race distances or athletic endeavors, I always envision feeling far more "ready" when race day/week/month actually arrives. The time between signing up and executing stretches on forever, week upon week of mythical training runs cascading into the future,…

We were busy with back to back gear company appointments at the Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City, UT, and professional cyclist Timmy Duggan was busy training at the Garden of the Gods, but we both somehow found a few minutes to talk over the phone and discuss his recent race in the Olympics as well as his upcoming races in both Utah and…

Finally getting over my post-Hardrock funk.  Took a full week off, and since then I’ve had some trouble getting back into things.  Damn inertia.  Last two weeks have had a few quality workouts though, so maybe I can still salvage a good performance at the Ascent.

I went to lovely Reedsburg, Wisconsin (near Madison) over the weekend to visit my girlfriend’s parents.  Besides drinking a ton of New Glarus and eating my weight in cheese, I managed to prove that every dog has his day.  We…

It's always bittersweet to end a series as fun as the Ascent Cycling series. Throughout the summer, I've been looking forward to 6:15 on Wednesday nights. No matter how crazy the weekend before has been or how hectic the upcoming weekend will be, on Wednesday nights it's been time to race my mountain bike. I've known there will some fast women on the line, plenty of speedy juniors to chase and the possibility that Russel, Cam and the rest of the really speedy local (and national) pros will…

Well I always knew I was the runt of this litter. Last weekend Don does a 9-mile run in the blast-furnace of New Mexico with 4,000 feet of elly gain and JT did some kind of crazoid run in Rock Springs, Wyoming which I can’t find any info on because I don’t think they have internet service in that little whistle-stop. While they were busting butts I was doing a measly walk up South Arapahoe Peak in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, a modest 10-mile (roundtrip) hike with 3,300 feet of gain,…

I am bike racing tomorrow at Bear Creek Park. I am bike racing the series. I am bike racing every chance I get.

‘It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is not effort without error or short coming,…

Okay, so technically these are crit races, but it still feels like a short track race on steroids. That's what I've jokingly called the Ascent Cycling Series in the past. A 2.5 mile lap, repeated for an hour, then the sprint to the line. All out from the gun until the finish. So much different then the cross country races of two to two and a half hours where its a hard start, then settle into a strong…

Ok... time to work on some new posts.  Sorry I've been such a slacker, but it's summer time and I've just been trying to enjoy it.. hope you have too!  Yikes, just looked at my ticker to the right..  one week to my first 1/2 marathon!  Look for a race report here soon :-)



Speaking of enjoying, we took a 2 1/2…

The Summer is flying by, again!  It always does for me, especially the time I spend training for the Triple Crown.  Only one leg left.  My favorite one.  Pikes Peak.

As I have shared this is my 25th year doing the Pikes Peak races..  A handful of those races have been roundtrips.  Every single year the Peak races, even the DNF's (sad face), have all been…

So my training last weekend consisted of a hike up Mount of the Holy Cross, as I hadn’t yet climbed this 14’er (barely making it into the category at 14,005). The roundtrip was 11.5 miles with 5,600 feet of elevation gain (3,700 net) so it was a good workout. I did not run any portion of it. The 1.6 miles of talus at the end of the ascent and conversely, the beginning of the return trip, makes the 16 Golden Stair on Pikes look like a Legos playground. To a person, everyone who has…

http://www.coloradosprings.com/articles/festival-15909-common-art.html

Me and LB on our way up Mount Bierstadt, July 22

During every training cycle, especially for a new distance, I hit the skids mentally. I'm considering the PPM a new distance, even though I've run…