August 12, 2008 |

Stormed off

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Pain is inevitable, suffering optional. ~ Haruki Murakami


Well, my last two efforts have been less than stellar but that is just how it goes sometimes. I felt awesome for the first half of a 13-miler on Saturday but then hit the wall pretty hard. I didn’t really eat well beforehand, which screwed me up. It was a fun run nonetheless. I headed down the Beav then up my super-secret cut-off trail that leads to the bottom of Raccoon Trail in GGCSP. I then ran (did the whole thing!) up up up to Panorama Point and over to Mule Deer. It rained on me pretty much the whole time then tapered off as I turned onto Coyote Trail. This is where I started bonking. Not cool. I struggled back up Elk then managed to run at a fairly decent pace back home. Not my best run ever but whatchagonnado? Running in the rain was a nice treat for sure.


Today, I headed up to do the Devil’s Thumb/King Lake loop above Hessie. I really suffered on the way up (man, that trail is steep and technical) then storms rolled in. I didn’t really feel like being above treeline in a thunderstorm so I headed back down after only about 4.5 miles or so. Not a big deal. Got in about 9.5 or 10 total so that was cool.


I am looking forward to getting a marathon running book that Caleb recommended. It should be here tomorrow. I am hoping to run a 3:30 at Las Vegas (this may be ambitious) and need to figure out how to best train for this accelerated speed. I know I can do the distance but really think that if I can nail down the fluidity and speed of a sub 4/sub 3:30 marathon, it will help me a lot for ultras. We’ll see how that goes. Most programs I have looked at lately have one running daily with really short runs during the week and one longer effort on the weekend. A 3-mile run just seems silly to me at this point but I’m going to give it a shot.


Other than that, I have just been working and hanging with my special lady. She is the best. We are trying to figure out how to get tickets for Obama’s speech at Mile High but apparently there have been 80,000 ticket requests from Colorado residents and only 75,000 seats. So I am guessing that is a no-go. Oh well.


We are also suffering a plague of humming birds right now. Seriously dozens at a time visiting our feeders which we have to fill twice a day. This happens every year but it is still amazing to watch. Rach likes to joke that our sugar bill is going to put us in the poor house. Guess we’ll just have to start selling off the kitties.



Oh. I am now the proud former owner of a Yukon XL. Holmsey was finally sold today. Even got a decent price. Not what he was worth but as Rach’s brother Brian says, “You can’t give those things away right now.” He will be missed. Lots of fun adventures were had in that truck. Hopefully the new owners will enjoy him just as much.

RIP Isaac, Bernie and Spencer.


Thoughtful strategy. Practical execution.

Clear thinking, honest perspectives, and experience shaped by years of doing the work. No shortcuts, no borrowed opinions, just lessons learned by showing up, solving problems, and following ideas all the way through.

Four hikers with backpacks walking along a rocky mountain ridge under a blue sky
May 8, 2026
We are each our own greatest inhibitor. People don’t want to do new things if they think they’re going to be bad at them or people are going to laugh at them. You have to be willing to subject yourself to failure, to be bad, to fall on your head and do it again, and try stuff that you’ve never done in order to be the best you can be. ~ Laird Hamilton Yesterday: Hit Range Balls/Hike – Casa del Critters, 1:15 Today: Run – GGCSP, ~2 hours Tomorrow: Ride – Somewhere singlespeedy, ~2 hours Yesterday, Rach and I took a nice stroll in the woods around our house. The songbirds were going crazy-nuts and surprisingly, we only saw one other person walking his dog. I love where we live – close proximity to fun trails and the ability to get away from it all in just a short walk from our house. During lunch yesterday, I went to the driving range to get a few cuts in before playing a round of golf with my dad next week. I don’t get to play very often so need to brush up on my skills (or lack thereof) whenever I can. I am looking forward to playing with my pops and hope to break 100. I shot a 102 the last time I played so I am within striking distance of the sub-triple-digit score. We’ll see how things go. I usually do okay for most of the round and then fall apart on a couple of holes pushing my score way up. Dad shoots in the low 80s usually (I think). I am not sure I will ever play enough to be that good but it is fun to get out on the course now and again. I also went to see Dr. Paul yesterday for my ankle problem (which seems to have been resolved) and my knee (which is still a bit swollen but has decreased in size markedly over the past several days). The knee stems from my unscheduled nose-dive back in May (see this post for details). The shot some pictures and believe that everything is a-ok so that was good news. I just need to select better places for splashdowns in the future. And today is Luke’s birthday. Age is one place where I will always beat him but visit his blog to congratulate him on trying to catch up. Until next time…
Runner silhouetted at sunset on a rocky trail, mid-stride between hills.
May 8, 2026
Progress comes from the intelligent use of experience. ~ Elbert Hubbard Yesterday: Run – Casa del Critters/Flume, 1 hour 15 minutes Today: Ride/Hike/Relax Tomorrow: Run/Hike – Pawnee/Buchanan Passes, 6 hours? Yesterday I ran around the house. Not literally, mind you, but in the neighborhood. It was a gorgeous evening – calm, cool. Perfect. The wildflowers are really starting to take off up here and I was treated with a bold display of color throughout my run. Tons of Columbine lined the trailside as I ran on old mining roads and singletrack trails. It is really fun to see how much differently I am able to handle familiar terrain. I used to have difficulties running this loop and would have to walk major sections. Last night, I ran the entire loop without trouble and was able to moderate my speed to maintain a steady cadence through the run. Good times. Contracting is staying steady. A bit of a drop-off this week given the holiday but I am still managing to put in a decent number of hours. I picked up another new project today and will need to get started immediately to ensure that it gets completed on time.  Tomorrow, we are going to head up Pawnee Pass and loop back around to Buchanan Pass in the northern Indian Peaks Wilderness. This should be a fun challenge as we’ll get up pretty high, have to navigate some snow (most likely) and will be out for quite awhile. I am looking forward to it for sure . Movie time: I forgot to mention Shopgirl, a Steve Martin vehicle, we watched the other night. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but found this to be a charming film about loneliness. It was well acted and would recommend it for sure. The pacing is steady throughout and some might find it a little on the slow side but it was an engaging film that had a lot to say without being overly sappy.
Hands holding a tablet displaying a video player interface. The video is paused.
February 20, 2026
In case you hadn’t seen these (and also for my friends at Adventure Film ), here are a couple of must-see running movies from Joel Wolpert:  Geoff Roes: Slogging to the Top