Getting back out there...

Look at me, I'm Peter Pantsless! ~ Homer Simpson

Let's see... where to start? I suppose I'll lead off with Sunday's run -- the infamous Double Mesa. '

Bob decided it was time to get out there and grind out a half marathon on some of Boulder's finest terrain. The Mesa Trail (for those unfamiliar with the more popular area runs) rolls along the foot of the Flatirons and spans about 7 miles from central Boulder to Eldorado Springs (almost). This is a great run and often times one can take on a large chunk of the course without seeing any other runners or hikers. The middle section is particularly devoid of the crowds that can plague other Boulder-area trails. Good stuff.

Bob put together a great group of guys for this outing and a total of six of us headed out from the Ranger Station at shortly after 10 in the morning. The group was fairly well balanced with everyone from seasoned marathon runners to "longest evers". We maintained a solid pace throughout and it was good to be back on Mesa. Still one of my favorites. This was my longest run since the event and we finished in about 2:40. Not blazing, by any stretch of the imagination, but not too shabby (actually on par with the last time I ran the Double Mesa). (Check out the full album.)

I was pretty sore the following day. Given my activity levels of late (or lack thereof), I wasn't surprised but recovered quickly. All in all, this was a good run for me and it reminded me why I do this stuff. I need to set aside time to get out in the wilderness more often. Put that on my list.

So I took it easy the next couple of days. Back to the grind. Today I waffled about whether or not to go up to A-Basin for some more early season turns and finally decided to give it a shot about 9:00. I needed to get to the bank anyway and this was a good excuse to get out. We got about 3 inches of snow last night which also helped to motivate me for the drive. I was hoping to drag Luke or Pete into the fray but neither was able to make it up so I headed out solo.

Everything was splendid until about 5 miles from Eisenhower Tunnel when traffic came to a standstill. Unfortunately there is a dead zone right there so I was unable to get a signal to check to see what the hell was going on up the road. After about 30 minutes of sitting at a virtual standstill punctuated with periodic 1-2 mile and hour surges up the hill, I got a signal and discovered that the tunnel was closed due to wrecks on the West side. Super. I stuck with things until the next exit then bailed back to Golden, a quick jaunt to the bank and grocery store then back home. Took the skis for a drive. Always a joy. Oh well.... Can't win every day.

Oh yeah. I also lost a toenail. Two more are looking suspicious. My feet are still just hammered from Leadville.

Movie time:
We have been spending a lot of time with Robot Chicken of late. Great show if you have never seen it. Seth Green cracks me up. Essentially, this is stop-action animation with action figures and dolls and whatnot. Very funny.

We also watched Spiderman 3 and Harsh Times. Neither is worth the effort, really. S3 had some great special effects but for some reason Sam Raimi decided it would be a good idea to show the softer side of Spidey in the third installment. Um... no one wants to watch a super-hero bawl all the time. Trust me. Plus, it just wasn't that great. There was this space goo that was never really explained and just seemed like an afterthought. "Well, we have to get Spiderman to get infected by this gunk to show his alter-ego. Ah hell, I'm lazy, let's just send it in on a meteor and call it good." In any event, I wasn't particularly impressed.

Harsh Times was a Christian Bale/Freddy Rodriguez vehicle that just didn't draw me in at all. Both characters were just not sympathetic. Being what I like to call a "Steve" (Straight To Video), I am not sure what I expected. Don't rush out to put this one on you list.

Okay... that's all I have for now.

~stubert.

Laggin'...

So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it. ~ Willy Wonka

Yesterday: Ski - A Basin, 2 hours (day 2)
Today: Hike
Tomorrow: ???

So I guess I just haven't been in the blogging mood of late. Lots to talk about, not a lot of time or energy available to put it out there. My apologies.

In the past few weeks I have been staying busy working (which is good). We settled down a bit from September and have launched several sites including Weekends and Lion Equity. Good stuff. Still cranking with Quintess as well. This month has flown by.

I was all set to tell you about my first day on the slopes but then we had some bad news. Our beloved bunny, Rockshot, passed away. He was a very special little guy and will be greatly missed. Here is his story...

Rockshot (expertly demonstrating "top-bunny" posture in the above photo) came to us through the shelter where he was delivered with his partner, Houdini, in a terrible state. They had been rescued from some horrible conditions and were both malnourished and filthy but happy to be in a loving home. After some initial tests, it was determined that Rockshot had some serious health problems that would probably take him from us in just a few short months. Apparently he didn't get the memo and was quickly racing around the house being a goofy, splendid bunny. Both Rocker and Houdini (actually discovered to be Mrs. Houdini) put on weight and quickly became part of the crew. Rockshot was with us for over a year and was awesome to the very end. He will be sorely missed.

On a lighter note, I have gotten up to the slopes twice now. The first day was cold and snowy. The second, um... not. Yesterday, it was 55 degrees at the base and the Basin was in full springtime mode. T-shirts and bikinis were in full effect (I opted for my hoodie, which was a bit of a mistake). Not a cloud to be seen. Normally, that would be a good thing but damn... we need some cold weather and snow.

Lots more to tell you but I'll have to catch up later.

~stubert.

Let it snow (repeat x3)...

Don't mess with the fantasy, okay? ~ Gary Wallace

Yesterday: Beer Festival
Today: Run - Towards Ned, 1.5 hours
Tomorrow: Off

Ever have a hot chick drive by and ask you if you want a ride? Normally I don't just hop into cars with strangers, no matter how smokin' they may be but today it just felt right. Plus she wasn't a stranger. Rach had come to rescue me. But I thought I'd string you along for a little while there.

So I left my car in Ned yesterday so I could take the bus down to Denver. Today's mission... run to Ned to pick the bad boy up. One minor complication -- it snowed about 6 inches overnight. This makes for good times.

I headed out about noon towards Ned. Mostly sticking to main roads, I slogged through the slush fairly quickly though I still can't seem to keep my heartrate down to normal levels. I am guessing this is a double-whammy combo special of still being fatigued from the race and sitting on my butt for the past 6 weeks. In any event, I actually felt okay today. Not great but okay.

Shortly after passing through Rollinsville, I headed west along a fairly well-established trail. This eventually hooks up with the WestMag trail system from which I can just head down to Nederland. Not today, however.

After following the trail for about a half a mile, it cuts into the woods. This is the point at which Senor Trail and I parted ways as it was impossible to find it with the fresh snow and tight trees. So I stumbled around for about 45 minutes -- crossing several fences, dodging cattle and generally not knowing where the hell I was. Eventually I jogged into a clearing just west of Kelly Dahl park and jumped back on the Peak to Peak roughly 1/2 mile from where I left the pavement. Awesome. At least I knew where I was finally.

I jogged along the highway for another mile or so until I was propositioned by the aforementioned hottie and jumped in Rach's warm Subaru for a ride on in to Nederland. All in all a good day in the woods. Or close to the woods as the case may be.

Once home, I got some work done and should be able to launch the Lion Equity site on Tuesday.

All in all we got at least 6 inches of snow and it continued to fall all day. The temperature is dropping now so we should see some additional accumulation overnight if this keeps up. I am sensing an A-Basin outing in my near future. Wednesday, anyone?

Rach spent the day in a significantly more productive (and charitable) manner wrangling critters at Bleating Heart Animal Sanctuary. This is a yearly event (that always seems to coincide with the first major snowstorm of the year) during which volunteers catch sanctuary bunnies, goats, turkeys and other assorted critters; make certain they are in good health; and release them back to the sanctuary grounds. Good stuff. This is the second or third year Rach has participated in the round-up. She has mad critter catching skills.

Movies:

Last night, we took a trip down memory lane and watched Do the Right Thing. Still a decent flick. I had forgotten that Martin Lawrence was in it. There are some classic lines in this one. Good stuff.

Your homework for the next few days: Go play in the snow.

~stubert.

Busy bee...

No, that's a bear in a, in a bee costume. ~ Meg Swan

Yesterday: Run - Neighborhood jaunt, 1 hour 15 minutes
Today: Beer Festival
Tomorrow: Run - Nederland, 2 hours

Wow. It has been a long time since I last posted. Sorry for the lack of updates. I have simply been swamped.

As you might have guessed the new biz is going well. We have a steady stream of work and it appears that we will continue to be busy for the coming months. Can't really ask for more than that. We launched the Weekends Boulder site this week, the Quintess site last week and are teed up to launch Lion Equity and Colorado Garden & Home Show next week. Good stuff. I'll post more links when they are available.

Needless to say, I have been logging a ton of time in front of the computer which is not doing much for my fitness, to say the least. I went for a run yesterday, and like most of my recent outings, I couldn't settle into a nice pace without my heartrate being through the roof. I am not sure if this is a normal sort of response to pounding out 73 miles in a day two months ago (yup, it has been that long) or if it is just a result of too much ass-sitting. Either way, it doesn't really make me feel super awesome. I plan to try to train my way out of this if at all possible. I just have to get better at taking breaks for much-needed exercise.

Today, I went to Denver to attend the Great American Beer Festival with Rach's brother, Todd and his friend Jason. I got to sample a boat load of different beers which was entertaining. Both Todd and Jason home-brew so it was cool to listen to them talk about the different types of brews and how to make them. The most interesting beer I tried was a Vanilla Java Porter. Pretty yummy but not something you would probably want to consume on a regular basis. After awhile, pretty much everything started to taste the same to me but again, I am not really a connoisseur so who am I to judge? Rach came down afterwards and we went to the Watercourse. We haven't been there in awhile but it was as good as ever. Great veggie food if you are in Denver.

I took the bus down to the Festival so I drove to Ned and left my car there. My plan is to run to Ned tomorrow morning to pick it up but we'll see if the weather cooperates. It is snowing up here now so I plan to evaluate things in the morning. I'll definitely keep you posted.

Movie stuff:

I have managed to take in a few flicks over the past couple of weeks. Here are my super mini reviews:

• The Machinist: Christian Bale pulls a reverse DeNiro. Extremely watchable.
• Why We Fight: Reinforcement of the fact that we are basically just a bunch of jerks. If you are wanting that push over the cliff to move to Canada, watch this.
  
• Idiocracy: Unwatchable. I believe I made it all of 15 minutes into this mess. Luke Wilson is the new Christopher Walken. Any role, any time.
• I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco: Not really a Wilco fan but this was a decent documentary.
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Significantly more watchable than all its predecessors combined.
• Knocked Up: My belief was not even remotely suspended. So glad I didn't pay to see this in theaters. Turned it off about 30 minutes in.

So there you have it.

~stubert.

We'll count it...

No fair! You changed the results by measuring it! ~ Professor Farnsworth

Yesterday: Lumberjackin' - Mi casa, 1 hour
Today: Run/Hike - GGCSP, 2 hours
Tomorrow: Golf - Winter Park, 5 hours

I didn't notice right away with the gale-force winds we are experiencing today, but last night we received our first dusting of snow this season. Actually, as I look out the window, it appears to be snowing lightly now though this may be just residual flakes that have somehow managed to cling to the trees. Not sure how they are doing that but good for them.

I am not a big fan of the wind. Last year we experienced some amazing storm cycles which characterized themselves by depositing large amounts of snow in the area (feet) then quickly following these most welcome dumps with triple-digit windstorms which cooked the fresh pow into something that resembled set concrete. (By the way, it is snowing now. Good stuff!) Hopefully this season, we'll see more of the dumpage and less of the windage. But I am not complaining.

I didn't do much yesterday aside from working. I did get out briefly to shuttle some logs to my neighbors as the trailer was hooked up and Joe had some time to help me unload. They have twin boys who are about 18 months old now which makes life interesting for them, for sure. Joe had just put the critters down for a nap when I called to see if he had a spot where he would like for me to put the logs so I got some help unloading, which was awesome.

Today I have a couple of meetings and have a bunch of work to push through. Getting it all figured out, though. September was nuts and I have a couple of outside projects which I am hoping to start in October so it will probably be nuts too. As long as I can get things to settle into a steady rhythm by ski season, I'll be happy.

Gotta run to prepare for this call. Don't you go changin'.

~stubert.

PS ~ I have the WORST friggin' song in my head right now and I fear it will drive me insane. I am not even sure how it got there unless it was some evil little seed planted by the IMDb. I think it was Julie Andrews' birthday yesterday (or the day before) and now I have that damned yodeling song from The Sound of Music spinning loops in my brain. Hopefully now I have given it to you so it will leave me alone (or at least torment someone else so I can share my pain). Enjoy.