You know that smell that accompanies overheating engines on the Pikes Peaks Highway?  If that's how an engine reacts to the grade and the altitude, just imagine how human quads feel.  I no long need to use my imagination in this situation, because I experienced the real thing this morning.

I parked just before the gate onto the Pikes Peak Highway around 7:45am and got started with my ride around 8.  I had no idea what to expect of this challenge; no idea how long I should expect to…

Check.

I have finally run to the top of Pikes Peak. It was a beautiful Colorado day, a day I have most officially named, The Day of the Marmot. Our furry, mountain friends were my constant companions during the last three miles of the run, cheering me on from the edge of the trail. Here is one of my kind and fearless amigos:

I should note that I…

I recently decided to run my first ultramarathon, which I’ve referred to as “only a 50K” because there are options much longer than that, to which I haven’t been lured yet, even on a careless whim. I blame this endeavor partly on the fact that I’ve spent too much time around some very good, accomplished ultrarunners so that somehow it doesn’t…

After a few days in Breckenridge last week, it was back to our regular lives in Colorado Springs. The kids have less than one month left of their summer vacation, so we are trying to make the most of our time off.



I don't know if it was spending a couple of days living and breathing at 10,000 feet or if I am starting to really recover from chemotherapy, but I felt energetic the first few days of the week I started my running week with a 17 mile run on the Santa Fe trail. This…

Saturday's Classic 10K, part of the Grand Prix Series, was more like a shuffle that landed me at least 10 minutes from my PR.  This is a downhill course on pavement, it should have been an opportunity to set a new PR.  Instead it was an opportunity to dwell on the merits of listening to your body.  When a handful of Advil doesn't make a dent in the nearly nauseating jolt that shoots through your right leg with every step, your body is no longer politely requesting that you reconsider your…

The Ascent is less than a month away.  After my training run to Barr Camp last week, I now have more confidence I can finish the race in the cutoff time.

I usually set three goals for big races:  one I should be able to meet, one that would stretch me a little, and one that is my BIG goal.  Here are my goals for the Ascent:

1. Finish the race before the cutoff times (Barr Camp - 3 hrs, A Frame 4:15, Finish 6:30)
2. Finish in 5:30
3. Finish in…

So on Saturday, 7/19 I ran up the Barr Trail for the first time in a long while...just a couple of miles due to time restrictions but enough to inform me that I am woefully under-prepared for the Ascent. Let me just say that I'm glad they keep a light on all night at the visitors' center so I'll be able to find my way to the finish. I was thinking of incorporating some of teammate Sean O'Day's suggested Lactate Threshold training into my regimen but I think I'm lactate intolerant. Besides I…

Wow! That was a hard 50 mile race. As I mentioned in my race preamble, this was my third weekend in a row racing a 50 mile mtb race. This was the shortest in distance (just over 48 miles) but the longest finish time by 30 minutes. It was 45 minutes longer than it took my last week when I won the Silver Rush 50 in Leadville. Hard day in the saddle at Cheyenne Mountain State Park.

The race was nine laps and the heart of that being nine times grinding up onto Cougar Shadow and bumping…

Pikes training is a blast.  Seriously, it's so much more complex and intricate than your standard 16-week canned marathon plan.  There are so many things one can do to prepare, and so many ways to leave oneself wondering if enough has been done!  It doesn't matter if you're an elite, grizzled middle-of-the-pack vet, or newbie just hoping to hit the cutoffs...there's always something more to be…

With Cheyenne Mountain State Park race promoter Andy Bohlmann will have put on 100 races. That is no small feat and something that I myself am extremely thankful for all his effort. Having lived in Colorado Springs for only four years now I was able to participate in the last part of this run to 100. In the years I have been involved I have had nearly every experience from winning, losing, wrecking, and tons of smiling. The fact that I can have all these rich experiences aboard a bicycle all…

Tomorrow is a big day - for many reasons. First, it's Andy's 100th race. Think about that - 100 races that Sand Creek Sports has either hosted or helped with organization. That's a lot of time, effort and dedication to our sport - with not a lot of return…

So here we are only 4 weeks out from the magnum opus of races and I just took an entire week off.  Crazy, I know, and not really what I'd planned.  I'm now naturally concerned about what that desert of a week has done to my training, how much muscle mass I've obviously lost, and what a week at sea level has done to my red blood cells.  

I wonder these things, but I don't regret the week off from my mad running schedule.  My much-needed break was spent with my family, in the most…

I've heard about going up to Barr Camp for years now.  It's a very common training route for those getting ready for Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon.

But, until today, I had not done the full route from base of mountain to Barr Camp.  I did take the cog once last year to Mountain View, stopped by Barr Camp en route to the Peak.

I've run to the top of the W's several times.  I've done a workout at the top of the Peak to treeline (top 3 miles).  But, I hadn't been…

If you've never had an opportunity to spend the night at Barr Camp, I highly suggest it. Renee and Anthony, the current caretakers were accommodating and friendly. I was planning on meeting up with some friends from Denver and they called saying they were stuck in traffic and would be arriving late. I debated hiking the…

The Saturday before the Summer Roundup I went to the top of Pikes Peak and sat up there for a couple of hours.  Normally I would have ran down some and then back up for some Pikes Peak Ascent training.  However, with the Summer Roundup the next day I just wanted to be on top for some altitude time.

As I sat on top and watched runners going up and down I was sad for a second that I wasn’t running.  Yes, it was only for a second and then I was actually happy I wasn’t running, haha.  As…

I have been toying with running a race this fall. I am still trying to determine what distance I am capable of training for and completing. I will likely either attempt a 50k or a 50 mile. My preference would be the 50 mile because I love that distance. However, I just do not know if I am capable of getting adequate training for a 50 miler between now and race day. This week, I did two medium distance runs a few days apart. I ran a flat 16 miler alone one day, and then a hilly 15 miler in…

At the Church of the Hidden Root. There is no greater soul-cleansing on a Sunday morning than an 8.5 mile run. Did repeats on the service road (pictured here) at Spruce Mountain. Can’t claim to know exactly how the clinometer app on my phone works but I measured this road at a grade of about 23% at one of its steepest parts. I do know that it’s a half mile long. With the repeats it was a nice, 2-hour workout. I ran comfortably in the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Summer Roundup…

It's so easy to sign up for races.  All that's required is a runner's high that erases all hesitation and a willingness to pay $40 for a few hours of torture.  This familiarity with the phrase: "Yes, of course I'll run that!" made me think twice this morning.  It was still dark outside when my alarm woke me up at 4:30am.  That would have allowed me 2:30 to prepare for the Barr Trail Mountain Race.  I rolled out of bed, pulled out my Purple and Gold singlet and was about to down a handful of…