55 miles, 10 hours.  I was hoping for 70, but some sucky legs and a weekend of work took care of that idea.  Man, I had some horrible runs this week.  Bleh.

I am getting up at 5:05 (because 05:00 is way too close to 04:59) and am on the treadmill by 5:10.  Typically only for a mile to a mile and a half, hiking at a steep grade.  Aiming to do that 4-5x a week to build some uphill fitness and also get my calves stretched out a little.

Saw a red tailed hawk with one only leg.  Crappy cell phone pic, but you can see it dangling:

I managed to sneak in a little mountain bike safari late Saturday afternoon and tracked down the sheep herd:

Final week of gluttony.  Good thing, too.  My belt is getting tight.

The rib feels 100% now.  Hurts if I push on it, but I don’t think of it otherwise and don’t feel any more breathing restriction.  Nice.

As I’ve been waiting for the cracked rib to heal, and eating everything in sight, I’ve still managed to do a little running.  The past two months have been all about training to handle the training.  I’m feeling ready to get back to work now.

Monday
10.6 miles

Good steady run.  Was feeling like getting after it part way trough the run, and I diverted from my route and attacked this hill.  Got shut down by the slick mud and slid backwards for 20+ feet shaking my head the whole way as a lady walking her dog strolled past.  It was a good balancing act!

Tuesday
7.8 miles

Ran with Stu at a good clip on the Highline Canal.

Wishing I had a nickel for every time I had to contend with this situation out on the paths.  I would save them up and buy a pair of scissors so I could cut all of the retractable leashes in half!  #grumpyoldman #thispathisyourpath #thispathismypath #thispathwasmadeforyouandme

Not really.  I love dogs.  Their owners exasperate me at times, though.

Wednesday
5.2 miles

Disaster.  Calves were so angry.  Had to stop many times, and ended up doing the walk of shame for the final mile.

Thursday
6.5 miles

Turkey Rock Trot 5K in Castle Rock.

Headed out later in the day to take some pictures of the sunset.  They didn’t pan out, so I switched to B&W.

I am getting decent at certain aspects of photography, but am weak sauce when it comes to working with a flash.  Decided to practice on myself a bit.  Shot this in tight with a 35mm prime and bounced the flash at 1/2 power off the ceiling.  Then I lightened the eyes in post-processing.  I thought it turned out cool.  My girls think otherwise.

Friday
0 miles

Spent all day working in the yard.  Filled 12 contractor bags with sticks and cut up branches.  I. Hate. Poplars.

Had an enjoyable late afternoon up in the state park.

Saturday
10.2 miles

Another horrible run.  Bad calves and a very tight back from all of the yard work made things pretty miserable.  Went up Waterton Canyon and was treated to a cool show with some Bighorns cracking each other’s skulls.  I only had a little camera and the pics turned out dark and blurry.  Just too far away and not enough light.

I reproduced the scene here for your enjoyment:

Hiked back up the canyon with my wife late that afternoon and located the herd high up on a ridge.  We scrambled way up above them and spent about an hour in the warm evening light (the only time the sun had shown itself all day) watching them feed and take turns knocking their heads together.  I had the right gear this time and got several good shots.

Sunday
0 miles

No run.  Drove Malcolm back up to Leadville and got some amazing moon and sunset shots on the way back.  Will post those later.

Total: 44 miles / 7:42

My cracked rib made a lot of progress this week and has been feeling much better.  It’s nice to be working my way back into some regular training again.  The second half of the week was going to be full with work, so I front-loaded as much running as I could early on.

Monday
21 miles

Had the day off from work, and only intended to do around 10 miles after dropping the kids off at school. I was thinking 15 would be a stretch, but then kept on rolling for 21. Very cold, but sunny day on the backcountry trails.

Tuesday
6.6 miles

Easy recovery run after yesterday’s longer effort.

Wednesday
14.3 miles

Wanted to do a longer tempo, ended up with 13.1 in 1:39. Pleased with that, the rib felt quite good today. Definitely noticing an improvement there.

This has been out for a few weeks, and I finally got around to watching it today.  I loved last year’s, and I think I like this one even better.  The production quality rocks and the music/action interplay is outstanding.  I have watched the :45 – 1:30 segment so many times, I think there is a hard drive buried in the YouTube server farm with a massive groove worn in it.

Thursday
6.6 miles

I work using a command-line and have wanted to try using a monitor in portrait mode for a few years now, but have been too lazy to set it up.  Finally got around to it last night.  It was quite the attention getter for some reason.  I guess it does look quite unusual to the passer-by.

The enterprising smartass in me couldn’t resist making this sign:

It was a big hit.  I collected $2.16, a piece of candy, Powerball tickets, and a share of $42 million from a nice banker in Nigeria.

Friday
7 miles

Tired.

Saturday
0 miles

Worked a good chunk of the day.  Traffic jam on my commute:

Diverted up to Roxborough State Park in the late afternoon when I was supposed to be making a trip to the grocery store.  Sometimes I just like taking the long way.

There is a spot on the dirt road that gives a gool perspective of downtown Denver.  It is about 22 miles away.

Then I took my daughter and her friends out for a birthday celebration.  Sweet 16.

Took this pic of Orion while waiting to pick them up.

Sunday
0 miles

No run.  More work, then crashed for a hour or so.

Took LJ on a late afternoon drive so she could get some hours in.  She drove everything from dirt roads into the blinding sun to 75 mph freeway at night.  We stopped at the halfway point and got out of the car to watch the sunset.

Total: 55 miles / 8:42