Run, ski, ski, run...

Frickin' marvelous. ~ Steve Willett

Sun: 1:00, 6 miles, treadmill
Mon: 4:00, ski @ Crested Butte
Tues: 4:00, ski @ Crested Butte
Wed: 1:19:14, 9.5 miles, treadmill/track tempo run

Instead of trying to cram a bunch of running in at the end of the year to reach some arbitrary yearly mileage (don't hold me to not doing that in the future, however), I decided some skiing was in order. After getting in a nice recovery run on Sunday (and feeling pretty great, actually, after Saturday's effort), I jammed over to Gunny early Monday morning and met up with Dad, Donna and my cousins David, Dianne and their daughter Reagan. (Wow, that was a lot of Ds.) The skiing wasn't particularly awesome but it was good to see everyone. I then gorged myself at Donita's, hung out with Dad a little bit (Donna was wiped out after chasing Dad and me around all day), then did it again on Tuesday. Slightly better conditions on Tuesday and a storm rolled in late in the day so hopefully conditions improve.

I jammed back home Tuesday evening and was greeted to an awesome dinner/snack made by Rach. Too awesome.

I had a bunch of work on which to catch up today so just hit the gym late to do a quick tempo run. Felt great to get back with the program (albeit somewhat abbreviated). Looking forward to starting the year off with some skiing and then have a long run planned for Sunday. As always, frickin' marvelous.

~stubert.

Sage Burner race report...

Yeah, I finished.

I huuuurt. ~ John D. Roach

Today I ran the Sage Burner 25K in Gunnison. I am hurting WAY more than I should for a 15-miler but I think there might have been one flat spot on that course. It was technical and tough. Good stuff.

The weather report said cold and rainy for the start but the weather was actually perfect. Cool and overcast. Great running weather. I started in a t-shirt and gloves and that was more than enough for this course.

There were about 200 starters, nearly triple the number who ran last year. Being one of the newcomers, I was familiar with parts of the course but definitely found myself just following vs. knowing what to expect around the next bend or steep uphill. Subsequently, I just followed the pace which probably resulted in a better finishing time but man, I was hurtin' by the time I was done.

We started at 8:00 and quickly made our way up, up, up into the Hartman Rocks recreation area. This was my haunting grounds as a highschooler - THE place to ride, hike and (ahem) throw the more than occasional party. The course then followed familiar mountain biking trails (98% singletrack) in a clockwise direction for a nice tour of the Hartman Rocks area.

The pace was pretty quick to start and stayed that way for most of the race. (For me, at least.) The first four miles wound through technical rocky sections and sage brush. I was in decent shape early on, running with a good group, then I stopped to take a leak and found myself running with another group who had someone in it who would NOT shut up. Here I am suffering up steep inclines and she just kept talking. I could have possibly communicated in hand-gestures and grunts at this point so I felt she was adding insult to injury. Makin' a brotha look bad...

So when she and her crew stopped at the first aid station, I just blasted right through with a solid half-bottle to spare. A couple miles later they snuck back up on me briefly, then I put the hammer down on a long downhill section and my ears (and ego) were given a break. Whew!

The course just kept rolling and rolling. After the second aid station (about mile 7.5) I started really feeling it and started trying to focus on staying smooth, with good form. Easier said than done. My abs started really bugging me shortly thereafter so I just tried to settle in and keep up my mantra of "Most Guts". Ironic? Perhaps.

I did manage to pick off a few people in the last 5 miles but things were pretty strung out at that point. I was also passed by one woman who really put on the heat in the last climb/descent. I should feel bad but by this point, I was pretty ready for the finish. The last mile or so featured a brutal downhill (down Collarbone Alley). Not really my idea of good times in the last miles but I wasn't consulted. I blame Wiensie (Dave Wiens, mountain bike legend and all-around nice guy.) I did manage to turn it over pretty well in the last few hundred meters, so that felt pretty good. I finished right in the middle of my desired range of 2:30-3:00 with a 2:45. Not blazing, but I'll take it. My GPS said it was 16.17 miles, for an average pace of 10:15 mpm. Not too shabby.

Afterward, I was really pretty jacked up. I tried to sit in the creek for a bit but my feet were having none of that. Way too cold. I probably should have stuck it out but damn... my toes were unhappy. I took a quick shower and actually thought I was going blind for a bit (yikes!) so I wacked down a thing of Pedialyte and felt much better thereafter but still a lot more hurtin' than I should have been for a race of this distance. I attribute this to a few things:

1. Fast pace: I really wanted to run a 50K pace but mixing the 25K and 50K participants made that more than a little tough
2. Electrolyte imbalance: I need to get back in touch with my Salt-Stick habit
3. Ambitious shoe selection: I am too heavy for flats. The Peak XC is a great shoe but at 180, I am just too heavy to run long distances in this set-up. Hey, I tried, it didn't work for me.
4. Wicked hard course: As I said before, this course was tough. Not a lot of sustained climbing (like wicked high passes with 3 miles of uphill), but tough nonetheless. Made it tough to get into a sustained groove but hey, that's racing.

I don't have results just yet but will let you know how I did in relation to others soon.

Speaking of not keeping score and comparing myself to other golfers ("Height."), Dad and I hit the links about an hour and a half after I got home from the race. Needless to say, I was a little wrecked at the start but still managed to hit some decent shots. I had some crappy holes for sure but overall, played better than usual. I guess I need to run a boatload of miles before I play. I still logged triple-digits (a completely honest 108 with no Mulligans) but overall, I played much better than normal and considering that was the first time I lifted a club this year, ran 16+ hard miles beforehand, and generally suck at golf, it wasn't too shabby.

Dad and I capped off the day with some killer grub from the always awesome Donita's Cantina in Crested Butte. If you are in the area, get your ass in there. Then be prepared to haul an ass and a half out of there.

~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.

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.