Its beeen a great few weeks . Spent a lot of time on trails. Each day has found me spending at least a few hours on a trail.  Trails on Pikes, going up, coming down, going up...., trails in the canons, trails in the parks. Ran into a few friendly faces, some known (Brandon, Aaron, Amy) and some just breezing by me, often sharing smiles, words of encouragement, or pats to the dog.  I enjoy the trail . Quiet engaged movement, with the dog trotting, running, and casually peering down at me…

I am extremely fortunate to be surrounded by so many people that I am confident under any circumstance would do just about anything for me.  I am even more fortunate that so many of them share my love of early morning trail runs for nothing more than the enjoyment of getting out there, putting one foot in front of the other and sharing a bit more of their lives with each…

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…