Seriously messed up...

Today, Caleb and I were going to meet at Eldora to make some turns. It has been really warm up here the last couple of days so we weren't really expecting anything good but we were pretty psyched to get in a few hours of fun and/or games on the recently opened Westwall area.

I was actually on time for once and was about 3 miles south of Nederland when I came across a road closure. Bummer. I assumed that a tree had blown down across the Peak to Peak or something so I headed down to CR97 then up to Magnolia to try to circumvent the closure. Upon getting back on the P2P, I was quickly diverted again. Plus traffic was being allowed to move back on the P2P to the south, the very section I was not allowed to travel. Something was amiss...

So I made my way through Big Springs to Ned and then was turned around at the turn-off to Eldora. Apparently there had been some sort of incident and the area was to be closed for the day. Wondering what was going on, I headed back into Ned to see if I could find Caleb and when that was unsuccessful, bought some groceries and started asking about what was going on.

The details are coming in bit by bit but apparently an employee entered the Pump House at the ski area base, made some threatening proclamations, fatally shot the General Manager, Brian Mahon, then fled. He was pulled over about a mile south of Ned at which point he opened fire on the officer who returned fire. There may have been a second officer involved as well but the suspect was killed. [edit - Reports state now there was only one officer involved in the shooting.] What a total drag.

Rach got a message from Caleb where he mentioned the shooting so needless to say, she was a bit concerned. Cell coverage is crap up here too so there was no way for me to let her know I was okay. I have been following the story pretty closely but details are still a little sketchy. What a horrible way to end the year. My heart goes out to all those touched by this tragedy.

Read the full story.

~stubert.

Day 17...

Pete and Caleb styin' at the Basin.

When in doubt, straighten 'em out. ~ Scary Gary

Rocked the Basin today with Caleb and Pete. They only called in 1" but if that was an inch, I am like 17 feet tall. Lots of blow-in on the Spine, Pali Face and the Rock Garden. Really good times.

Pete tearing it up in the Rock Garden Chutes.

Caleb and I sussed out the rock drop at the top of the Spine and were able to make that go without too much effort, which was pretty cool. All three of us spun Pali laps all day and were rolling into the Bear Trap straight run at speed which was simply awesome. I even saw Pete straighten the planks a couple of times. Even the top of Bear Trap was skiing really well. (Which is a miracle, if you know the Basin at all.)

I bailed after 17 runs as my psoas muscles are still bugging me quite a lot and Pete joined me shortly thereafter. Caleb stayed out for the magic 20 (magic at least for him) and was pretty whooped afterwards. All in all, a great 17th day.

~stubert.

An open letter to the lazy douchebags who left all their crap on their table at A-Basin today...

A+++ for Douchebaggery

Dear A-Basin Trash-Leaving Douchebags,

Was it really too much to ask for you to clear your table and not leave a trail of trash and discarded food products strewn about? Seriously, I measured and the nearest garbage bin was only 15 feet from your table. You do realize that is where food items and other assorted refuse is to be placed when you are done with it, right? Or did you grow up in some sort of Jetson's-esque universe where robotic vacuum devices descend upon your eating station to suck up all your waste when you have finished lunch?

I understand that you were probably trying to conserve your energy since you are deathly ill or incapacitated in some way and couldn't carry your trash all the way over to the garbage bin. On second thought, I suspect you were at the ski area to participate in voluntary outdoor recreation and therefore probably had sufficient energy to accomplish the arduous task of cleaning your table. I also noticed that the mess you made did happen to be on the upper floor of the warming house. Given that there is no elevator in A-Basin's lodge, I am wondering how you managed to get up that flight of stairs in your weakened state? And descending must have taken courage as well. All those stairs... and so very, very steep.

You are also aware that people other than yourselves enjoy using the facilities, correct? Or are you somehow unable to sense the presence of others in any way? If so, what lonely lives you must live. And I wonder how you keep from having auto accidents and the like since there are, in fact, quite a few people out there milling about from time to time. Or are you just so self-centered that you feel the rules of common courtesy don't apply to you? Well guess what... they do. And your lack of concern for others makes you the winner of the December 28, 2008 Gigantic Asshole Award for Outstanding Douchebaggery. Congratulations.

~stubert.

Now give us some attitude...

Just one shot of me not looking like I am about to die.
(Believe it or not, there are more!)

(Burp) Why not? ~ John "Bluto" Blutarsky

Just got a CD of shots of me from the 2008 Las Vegas marathon. Good times. Frankly, I am pretty psyched that I don't look like too much of a lump and like I am about to die or go on a brain eating rampage in these. The Denver marathon was another story entirely.

~stubert.

Mid-teens...

Witness my crazy pow face.

Said the F-word - seven pounds, four ounces - now he says the F-word at the dinner table. ~ Bob's mom

Days 15 and 16 on the slopes crashed through the door, scattered their crap all over the house and then plopped down on the couch with tons of attitude, raging hormones and eardrum shattering music. Or were spent with ample fresh pow turns and some challenging terrain at Crested Butte. Just thought I'd work that mid-teens analogy for a bit.

I drove over in a snowstorm on Wednesday to reports of a lot of fresh and more on the way at my "home" mountain. Traffic was light so I made good time getting over to Gunnison where I picked up my dad and we headed up the hill. Lots more snow greeted us upon arrival then we made a couple of runs then met my cousin, Jayne and her kids Tyler and Tanner for lunch.

Not a lot of new stuff was open so I decided to spend the remainder of the day with Dad and Tyler, spinning laps on Paradise. Fortunately, the snow was awesome and Horseshoe was open so I was able to make some more technical turns up there. I gave Tyler and Dad some pointers then we called it a day around 3:30 and headed to my Aunt and Uncle's for dinner. My other cousin, David, and his family were there as well as Jayne's husband, Gary. It was great to see everyone and hear stories of skiing in the late 50s from my Uncle Dale and Aunt Betty. Good times.

The next morning, Dad and I embarked on our traditional Xmas day ski around 8:30. We jetted back up to the Butte where it was absolutely puking snow. Even more terrain (Westwall) was open so I was fairly content to spin laps from the top of Paradise to Westwall to Horseshoe for most of the day. The conditions were awesome and it dumped all day. In the (roughly) 4 hours we were there it probably snowed 6 inches. Champagne pow. I needed to get home to my sweet Rach so we pulled the plug around 2 and headed back to Gunnison. I then drove back over to the Front Range on marginal roads but the traffic was fairly light so it only took about 4 hours. Not too bad.

Pete and Caleb invited me to go to A-Basin today but the thought of getting up early and driving I-70 again made me opt for sleeping in and maybe heading up to Eldora in the afternoon.

All in all a great few days. I was skiing well, the snow was awesome and I was on my favorite mountain so who's to complain? Not dis guy, that's for sure.

~stubert.

Day fourteen...

A bad day of fishing beats a good day of working. ~ Bumper Sticker (see above)

I must confess that I don't like it when I don't ski well. But you know, I am one lucky bastard to be fortunate enough to live in a place with awesome snow, good friends and killer terrain in which to play. So really, I should just shut the hell up about not feeling on my game today and feeling tired and a little beaten up. My only regret is making Caleb wait around for me while I made my way more slowly down A-Basin's awesome slopes.

What a great day to be out there. Great company, great conditions, awesome fun.

(I just wish I hadn't been skiing like such a spaz.)

~stubert.

Note: For the record, I do not necessarily agree with the bumper sticker displayed above. But I do understand the sentiment.

Lucky thirteen...

Dylan being an under-the-covers kitty.

Thirteen is an unlucky number. If thirteen is unlucky, then so should the letter "B" be. 'Cause "B" looks like a scrunched together "13". Hello, what is your name? Bob. Get the hell away. ~ Mitch Hedberg (link)

Day thirteen on the slopes today at Eldora with Caleb and Pete. Blue skies and actually not-too-frigid temps greeted us with very little wind. So we bombed down to Corona lift to get our non-stoppers on.

Brian Glades opened up after a few cycles down Corona (which featured "variable" snow conditions, to say the least). The far left side of Corona was actually decent but Brian Glades was actually pretty soft with some fresh turns to be had. It got skied out fairly quickly so we went back over to Corona for some more high-speed laps.

No photos from me as I forgot my camera and the lag on the iPhone is so extreme, it makes shooting any action other than straight-on virtually impossible. Pete and Caleb got some shots so hopefully they will share.

Friday, our big, old kitty, Dylan, died (no, that isn't some morbid shot... he actually liked sleeping like that). He was 17 and a half years old and was the purriest fella you would ever like to meet for all of it. He was adopted as a kitten from the Humane Society as a pet for our other cat at the time, Oliver. After a day or so of establishing that Oliver was going to be top-cat, they got along splendidly. Lately, Dylan had become the favorite pillow of Molly, who spent countless hours a day lounging on Dylan to soak up his over-abundant warmth. He didn't seem to mind. He will be missed by all.

On that light note, I am now getting some work done now then I'll be in Boulder all day tomorrow (probably) for car repair and hopefully a couple of meetings. Tentatively planning to go to Vail again on Tuesday then to Gunnison on Wednesday for at least one day at the Butte then back home on Thursday or Friday. Whew.

Get your shortest day of the year on (or longest, for all you south of the equator-types) and if you have a chance to see Thaïs in the theater (re-broadcast from The Met), I highly recommend it. Rach and I got to see the live broadcast yesterday and it was excellent.

~stubert.

An even dozen...

Stormin'.

A person shall not drive a motor vehicle in the passing lane of a highway if the speed limit is sixty-five miles per hour or more unless such person is passing other motor vehicles that are in a nonpassing lane or turning left, or unless the volume of traffic does not permit the motor vehicle to safely merge into a nonpassing lane. ~ CRS 42-4-1013

Day 12 was the best thus far. Snowing all day. Lots of great, untracked pow. Tomorrow is going to just be fabulous. And no... people still haven't learned how to drive.

~stubert.

Feel the burn...

Bad shot of my in-car thermometer on the way home from Gunny.

One. ~ Neal Page

Days 9 and 10: Back from a couple of good days at the Butte. Skied with my pops on Saturday for a bit until he got tired. Then I hooked up with Rossi tele dude, Max Mancini, for a bunch of fun-filled runs. The day was pretty great, lots of fresh, some fun runs open and, frankly, blast-able due to the soft conditions. Twister was skiing like a dream with giant, bump-smashing GS turns and following Max off some of the cat-walk jumps that aren't usually huck-friendly due to the Volkswagen-sized bumps that form up. I am definitely still recovering from Vegas as my quads were screaming at me towards the end of the day. Definitely not back in top form just yet but that is okay. Post-skiing, Dad and I went to see Quantum Solace (could have used some story-line editing but was okay) then hit my favorite restaurant, Donita's Cantina. Go there immediately if you are anywhere near Crested Butte.

Sunday, CB called in 10 so I was super excited for a big pow day but in my enthusiasm, I mis-interpreted that figure and was a bit bummed to find out they really only got about 2 and the other 8 accumulated the previous day. Oh well. It was really cold and I had to go in for more layers after my first run then spun laps on Twister and Paradise. There was some more terrain open (compared with Saturday) but the coverage was still a bit thin to get anything good opened up. I had to take a break a couple hours in to warm up then managed to meet up with Max, Jen and Drew again for some fun nuker runs. We took a break after a few to warm up then spun a few more before calling it a day as it was about 8 degrees out. Not the coldest day I have had at the Butte by a long shot (I recall a -20 day in High School that was particularly chilly) but definitely not warm.

Jammed back home on snowpacked roads. It never ceases to amaze me how many shitty drivers there are out there. Driving slowly in the fast lane seems to be a bad-weather favorite. Jackasses. In any event, it was an enjoyable weekend but I am very happy to be home with my sweetie. She even baked me more yummy brownies while I was away!

~stubert.

The dreaded snowman...

Obviously, you're not a golfer. ~ Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski

Well, I could wait no longer and hit the Rock today for a few runs. It was absolutely vacant up there so I strapped on the Antis and let 'em run. Test drove the new knee braces too. I think after some adjustments, they are going to be quite nice.

Post Vegas, I was really sore. Sunday, after the race, I dreaded stairs in any form and even stepping down a curb was quite painful. Monday, things were a bit better and by Tuesday, going up stairs was okay but going back down was still a bit of a challenge. I actually felt okay today. A little more thigh burn than normal but overall not too shabby. Recovery is an incredible thing.

So I head over to Gunnison tomorrow to kick it with my dad for a couple nights and will probably try to make a few turns on the way over and some on Saturday at the Butte. They still don't have much open but it will be fun to ski with my dad a bit. He took all last year off to take care of my mom so I am sure he is excited to get back out there on the slopes.

Rach and I are just kicking it. She has been taking good care of me post-race and made some of the yummiest brownies I have ever tasted. Vegan, of course. I think they are for my dad but there may not be any left by the time I make it over to the 'sack. I think they are filled with crack or chocolate chips or chocolate-infused crack or something. I think I'll go eat another one now, in fact. BRB.

Oh man, that is soooooo good.

~stubert.

Vegas race report...

No making it rain. ~ Shana Mac

Ah, Vegas. Home of the $3 Prime Rib special and all-nude review. Gotta love it when 20,000 runner dorks descend on the city of vice.

So what a weekend. Here is the short version:

• Got up too early.
• Slept through my whole flight
• Warm up run
• Wonderful dinner at Nora's
• Wu Tang Clan
• Bed too late
• Up too early
• Lost my gels
• Ran too fast
• Second half was kinda crappy
• Finished strong
• 3:24:35, 231 232 overall, 42 in class (official results)
  
• Pretty whooped after
• Great dinner at Spago
• Way sore on Monday
• Vegan Donuts at Ronald's
• Checked out Vegas
• Back to airport

Now, for those braver souls... here is the full deal.

Saturday:

Apparently, I am no longer able to add as I got up at 4:15 for a 8:55 flight out of DIA. I could have slept another hour but I suppose for flights, it is better to be early than late. So I tried to read a little but was way too tired so I just napped in the airport instead. Other than snapping awake to the panic that my laptop was gone, it was all good. I pretty much slept the whole flight to Vegas which was packed with cowboys and runner dorks who would not shut up. Thank you iPod and Shure ear-pods!

Got to Vegas and met up with Carissa from GroundFloor Media and her husband, Zack. We grabbed a shuttle to the hotel (Mandalay Bay/THEhotel) and then I checked my bag and walked down to the Expo to pick up my race pack. Vegas never disappoints when it comes to an eclectic mix of people and this weekend was host to not only the marathon, but National Finals Rodeo and the De La Hoya/Pacquiao fight. Cowboys, fight fans and runners mixed with the usual Vegas crowd. Great people watching for sure. I had not been seeded (bummer) but I was able to sweet-talk my way into the corral (yes!), which was pretty cool.

We grabbed some lunch with Amy Claire from GFM at the Noodle Shop (not so good) and then I got into my room and went for a quick run. Running on the Strip is interesting to say the least and I occasionally found myself running in the gutter having been cordoned off from the main sidewalk. I quickly figured out this was not the best idea in the whole world and ran east, off the strip then hit the pool for a cool-down. I would say that I felt, okay... not great but given the last couple of weeks, that was pretty much what I expected.

John rolled in from LaQuinta later that day and we met up with the GFM crew for dinner at Nora's. Laura, Ramonna, Amy Claire, Carissa, Zack, John and I were joined by three of Carissa's friends from New York and we had a great time. Nora's accommodated my wacky Vegan-ness without troubles and I wolfed down a pizza with glee.

John and I drove the New york friends back to their hotel then decided it would be a good idea to wander around the casino for a bit. Once we hit the floor, I noticed that the Wu Tang Clan was playing at the House of Blues and so we went over to see if the show was sold out or over. No to each question, so John splurged for tickets and we hit the show. How often do you get the chance to check out the Wu?

So the first act finally came on (a local hip-hop act that wasn't bad at all), then a horrendous rapper named Queen Shalika or something, then a worse group called Ice Cold. At this point, I was really getting tired and needed to get to bed but wanted to at least see a little bit of the Wu Tang Clan. They finally came on at about 10:45 so I stayed for a few songs then hit the sack. John stayed for the remainder of the show which he indicated was pretty good.

Sunday:

I was up early (4:30) for the race and definitely didn't get as much sleep as I would have preferred but whatchagonnado? I stretched a bit, ate a sandwich, and got all my stuff together then headed down to the start line. I had heard that one needed to get there early but since I was seeded, I could have slept for at least another 30 minutes. Live and learn. I followed a HUGE group of Elvi out to the event (yes, people dressed like Elvis) and then headed for the corral. At Denver, we were seeded according to approximate pace but at the Vegas event, it was more of a free-for all (not particularly chaotic in the corral) so I just took my time warming up, stretching, etc. until they started the wheelchair event at which point everyone behind the corral rushed forward. Fortunately, this was about 2 minutes to the start so I was in a really great position for the gun. Unfortunately, I lost two of my Clif Shots, which was a bit disconcerting and annoying but there really wasn't anything I could do at that point so I just went with the flow.

At about 6:05 we were off, accompanied by a fireworks show and we headed North up the Strip. There were no problems with congestion since I started way up front and we had 4-lanes and a straight course ahead of us. We ran all the way up the Strip, which was actually pretty cool, and I settled into a steady 7:45ish pace that fluctuated a bit (7:15-8:00). I had the idea that I might actually qualify for Boston so I decided to push it to see what I could do. Probably not the best plan but I figured, "What the hell," and just motored along the Strip, checking out the landmarks.

We started at the south end, which is much newer and more populated and worked our way north to the seedier end of the Strip. So the sites became danker and danker as we moved along the first 5-6 miles of the course. Shortly after turning off the Strip, the half-marathon runners took a different route so the full-marathon peeps were on their own. We worked our way into North Vegas which became a bit sketchy and devoid of attractions to draw the eye. It was interesting, to say the least. I kept up a pretty solid pace for the first half (1:39 at the mid-way point) but wasn't really feeling very well. I just tried to keep up the 7:30 pace for as long as possible and eventually was really suffering. I had a few decent miles in the last half, usually when I would latch onto a faster runner and try to hang on for as long as possible.

Towards the end, I started walking through the aid stations to really get some liquids down and was able to pick up three more Shots at about mile 16 which I readily slugged down. Unfortunately, I gobbled one at about mile 16.8, thinking there would actually be water available at mile 17 but that station was non-existent so I was really hurting for liquids by mile 18. Oh well. I had some really bad miles in the last half but was able to finish much more strongly than Denver so that felt pretty good. I came into the final few hundred meters and really just focused on running fast and strong and finished with a chip time of 3:24:35. This beat my top-end goal by about 5:30 and was a full 17-minutes faster than my Denver finish. I finished 42nd in my class and 231st 232nd overall. That puts me in the top 5%! Really, really satisfying.

Immediately afterward, I felt a lot better than Denver but my legs were really sore. I also had to pee like crazy and noticed that I had some blood in my urine. Having not experienced this in the past (but not terribly concerned because I vaguely remembered reading something about this), I headed to the medical tent to be sure and the doc confirmed that due to the muscle breakdown, it is pretty common to have that happen after an event of this type. So I ate some more food, drank lots of water, took a cool-down dip in the pool then headed back to my room for a much-needed soak. I pretty immediately started peeing normally, so that was nice.

I just kicked it for the remainder of the morning then met up with the GFM crew for a Coke. John and I then sought out more Stu-friendly food at the Border Grill. They were friendly and accommodated my wackiness with a tasty chop salad. Good stuff. We didn't do much the rest of the day until later when we headed down the Strip to check out Planet Hollywood to find some food. I was feeling really sore and woozy by the time we finally landed at Spago. They were great and made me a special, off-menu, vegan pizza which was quite tasty. I felt better after eating and getting some more liquids then we headed back to THEhotel and I hit the sack.

Monday:
Today, I woke up really sore. Much more sore than post-Denver but without some of the more long-term ouchiness (toes) that accompanied my Denver experience. My right index toe is pretty tender but everything else seems ok. My quads are most sore and I definitely noticed them tightening up and suffering during the event so that makes sense.

I took a swim in the morning then John and I checked out and headed off the strip for vegan donuts at Ronald's. Definitely yummy but I now know why donuts are not on my list of "missed foods". Just not my bag for a breakfast chow-down. Very tasty, though. John and I then just dinked around Vegas for a bit then he dropped me off at the airport. My flight is now about to start boarding so I'll wrap things up...

Overall, this was a great time and a fun event. I wish they had been a bit more organized, particularly at the start, and wish all the aid stations had been where they said they would be. There were restrooms all along the route, which was nice, but there were a lot of other advertised amenities that did not materialize and overall, I think that they over-sold the event in their marketing materials. Not like that was a big deal to me, but I can see some people being a little pissed.

The accommodations at THEhotel were top-notch and restaurants really went out of their way to try to set me up with food I could eat, so overall, though Vegas is just completely ridiculous, it was great to be there this weekend. Not sure I would do this event again or not but I did have a great time.

I'll probably have more thoughts later but for now, that's all I have.

~stubert.

[edited for creative spelling and overall place adjustment]

3:24 something...

Not sure what my chip time was but my watch said 3:24:58. Super sweet.

~:~:~:~:~:~
via mobile

I'm up...

Maybe, we're asses to elbows back here. Why don't you sit on your
cousin's lap? ~ Tobias Funke

Getting ready to head down to the start. Just whacking down some food
and stretching. It's on.

~ stubert.

~:~:~:~:~:~
via mobile

Protect your neck...

...he put a coat hanger pm the stove for like 40 minutes... ~ Wu Tang
Clan

So John and I were walking by the House of Blues and the Wu Tang Clan
were playing tonite. So of course, we HAD to go in. Gotta love the
randomness of Vegas. RIP ODB.

~:~:~:~:~:~
via mobile

Gettin' ready...

My wrist, it hurt so bad. ~ Jose

Hit the track again today for a quick, fast 3-miler. Warmed up for a mile then blasted for a mile then warmed down. 22:20 or something like that. That is pretty quick for a Stu on a very short track.

Anyway, felt okay. Not super but definitely not too shabby. That is my last "fast" run before the race. Should be in decent shape to give it a serious go.

Post run, I hit the pool for a bit to cool down then fell on my ass on some ice outside as I was going to the car. Stupid exhaust condensation. So now my left palm has a cut on it and my right wrist hurts like a mofo. Oh well. I won't be using them much during the race unless things go REALLY wrong.

Rach and I are heading out tonight to see Faust in an encore Met performance screening at a local theater. Should be a lot of fun and good to get out. I have been working stupid hours and need to be sure I start taking some time to just chill.

Working tomorrow, then Friday is going to suck as I am attending the funeral of a college friend who was killed along with his entire family (wife, two kids) over the Thanksgiving Day break. They were staying in a house in Aspen that apparently had a malfunction in either the snow removal system or the boiler and was leaking carbon monoxide. Just really, really horrible and tragic. Ugh.

I fly to Vegas Saturday morning, will get in a short run then grab my race packet and hang out with friends. Sunday the race starts at 6:07 for whatever reason and I am hoping to be done by about 9:37. As always, I'll keep you posted.

~stubert.