This weekend was filled with quite a few things I MUST do.  I try to do this work/life balance thing and I think I do it pretty well.  I try not to over commit, and I try to prioritize the important things and get them done.  This weekend, these were my priorities: The OC 500, Drums Along the Rockies, The Summer roundup Trail Race.  This was a lot to cram in to one weekend, but I was determined, so I made things work.

Let's start with Saturday morning.  Erin O'Connor, AKA "OC," is a man I met on the Incline about a year ago.  He put in his head that he was going to join the 500 club.  This is a club of now 8 people 

that I know of who have climbed the Incline 500 or more times in one calendar year.  The members: Roger Austin, Greg Cummings, Dave Romero, Joe Monger, Thayer Mayer, Wade Garner, Steve Stermer, and now Erin O'Connor.

Knowing that I had a race on Sunday, I decided I would join the fray, but only go halfway up the big hill and then head back.  I had a great time, and OC finished with a bunch of other Incline nuts to nail down number 500 on July 9.  So, in little more than 6 months, this guy climbed 500 times.  That was multiple doubles and triples, and one Inclinathon-13 round trips in one day, a marathon on the Incline.  His average for this year is 2.6 per day.  Hot or cold, snow, ice, rain, you name it, he plowed up and down the trail virtually every day.

The 500 Club (Dave Romero was missing) 

Saturday night, my daughter and I headed to Denver for Drums Along the Rockies.  I was really 

apprehensive about this after I was selected to be a Marmot because I knew we would be out until at least midnight and I would have to race the next day.  My daughter is an awesome kid, so I stuck to my commitment.  We decided we would leave at 3 PM to get to Denver in plenty of time for me to eat a good Pasta meal, and then head over to the stadium for the show.  Well, that didn't work. We got stuck in traffic and that meant we had to go directly to the stadium or miss part of the show.  So, crappy, greasy pizza at the stadium for dinner was the pre-race meal. But, I gotta say, that Drum & Bugle Corps show was fan-damn-tastic!  We had a blast.  

Marg & Dad enjoying the show

I returned home at midnight and was in bed by 12:30 with the alarm set for 4:30 AM.  I might have slept for 3 hours as I tossed and turned and sweated in the heat of the night.  The alarm rang way too quickly.  I rolled out of bed and put on my race clothes and headed to John and Re's house for a ride to the Summer Roundup.  How the hell am I going to run this thing????  Well, I warmed up and figured I just slam the hammer down and get done as fast as I could.  I'd either blow up or go fast.  The race went pretty well outside of the last 1.5 miles, and I finished very well.  I checked results and I was 37th overall, 31st male, and 3rd in my age group.  Maybe all this pre-race ritual stuff is overrated.

Just show up and run...Then go home and CRASH!!

Richard Demming (1st AG), me (3rd), and Chris Reed (2nd)