Well that was satisfying...

I haven't felt that good since Archie Gemmill scored against Holland in 1978! ~ Mark "Rent-boy" Renton

Two good runs in a row. That must be some sort of record.

Yesterday I got out early which was, I must admit, highly refreshing. Morning in the mountains is just different somehow. Anywhere, really. Things are more calm, collected. The quiet envelops you. And you can just settle into what you are doing without distractions found the rest of the day.

I headed out for a quick warm up on trails followed by several surges. I must admit, my abs have been bothersome of late but not so much that I can't enjoy myself and I have managed to finally get a tentative grip on running relaxed. By the time I hit the pavement for my first of 4 surges, I still felt fresh, fast. I spun nearly 5 miles in 40 minutes total with a good warm up and cool down. Pretty happy with that.

Today I headed out for my "long" run. The target was 1:20 and how I got there was really up to me. I selected one of my favorite routes with lots of hills and technical trails and told myself I would be happy if I ended up with 7 miles at the end of it all. I ran down the Beav then up into the forest that makes up what I like to call "the Triangle". This area represents part of the Roosevelt National Forest broken up by South Boulder Creek, Highway 119 and South Beaver Creek Road and is home to some of my favorite local trails – a couple of which I created. After climbing up Creekwood and heading out Judges, I dropped down Little Hope to Ski Thing and then climbed back up to Funky Boss via Sofa Spring. From there, I headed back up to Diver Down and then finished up by reversing my normal route on the Casa Trails and back home. Felt really great for most of the run with a couple of places I power hiked and went way anaerobic on one of the climbs before saying "screw this" and hiking. I have run everything on this route at one time or another but some sections are STEEP and I am working on hiking big ups but hammering the downs. In any event, I finished up with 8 miles in 1:20 on the nose for an average of 10-minute miles. VERY happy with that result.

I also made some progress on the shed over the weekend and just need to get a few more things in order to finish it up. Qwest comes tomorrow morning to fix our phone line and install a new modem for the office so that should make working in the studio a lot better and I have a meeting in Idaho Springs in the afternoon which should be productive. Rach hits the shelter on Monday so I'll be taking care of the critters at home while she is away as well. She has been staying down there Monday nights to give Nancy a break... which is just awesome of her.

I tuned into the Leadville 100 mountain bike race on Saturday as well and wish to congratulate Lance Armstrong on his record-breaking win. I was pulling for Dave Wiens but an in-shape Lance is a tough cookie to break. Dave took second (reversed the order from last year) and it sounded like an exciting race. I am looking forward to heading up next weekend to check out some of the run and hope to be back in there next year!

Also, if you have seen a shoe, Cort's was stolen last night by a fox so keep your eyes open for a stinky, fox-chewed Merrill clog-type thing. Not sure if we are looking for a left or a right but if you see something, let me know.

~stubert.