A three hour tour....until the weather started getting rough!

Mary and Renae with packs on getting ready to start up the Hunter Creek trail.

All three of us before we start going.

Hunter Creek

We stopped for lunch around 1330 (Mary is eating cheetos)

About an hour later after passing the observation deck above Aspen.

So in February this year I joined the 10th Mountain Hut Organization in the hopes of doing a winter hut trip. After looking at all the options I decided on the Fabi Benedict Hut because it only holds 6 people and I couldn't stand the thought of sharing a hut with 16 strangers. So we reserved the hut for the 10-12 of December, this past weekend. All year long I looked forward to this trip. Of course Renae was in and we invited Mary Lasley, Karyn Franklin, and Cheryl. Cheryl couldn't make it because of her work schedule and Karyn broke her back 6 weeks before the trip (bummer). Mary and I had a planning meeting about a week before the trip and decided on what food to bring and other various necessities. We decided to start out from Grand Junction at 0900 on Friday morning.

Friday morning rolls around and Renae and I pack our bags and make sure we have everything we need or might need. I commented that RJ would be laughing at us because we were bringing things we probably wouldn't need. We left the house around 0830 to go pick up Mary in Palisade and hit the road for Aspen shortly after 0900. We seemed all pretty stoked about the trip and talked about all sorts of things on the way up. We found the Hunter Creek Trailhead fairly easily and Renae dropped Mary and I off with all the gear and went and parked the car. We decided not to cross country ski because it seemed there wasn't that much snow. We were all glad we made that decision because the trail gained almost 2,000 feet of elevation and it would have sucked to be on cc skis.

Once Renae got up to us we put on our packs oriented the map turned on the spot and headed up the trail. We saw quite a few people walking and made sure we were headed in the right direction and hiked on. We came to a fork in the trail where we could go towards Smuggler Mountain or continue on the Hunter Creek Trail. The map didn't show a fork in the trail so we asked a hiker that had come along and she indicated the huts were up on Smuggler Mountain. So we took the fork in the road. We soon began hiking up a couple of switchbacks in which we gained about 300 feet of elevation. We stopped around 130 to eat lunch. We had been hiking about 1 1/2 hours by the time we stopped. I estimated that we had gone about 1 3/4 mile only 4 more miles to go.

After lunch we continued on and the sun had come out. Up until this point it had been lightly snowing and cloudy. I had been leading the crew at this point and we were still going up switchbacks gaining probably another 400-500 feet to the Observation Deck above Aspen. It was about 2 1/2 miles into the trail with meant we had about another 3 1/4 to go. We had thought it somewhat steep to this point but we had no idea that it was about to get much steeper. I would say it was about 230pm by the time we hit the observation deck and I was somewhat concerned that we would make it to the cabin before the sun set but if we didn't we all had headlamps. The trail was marked with intermittent blue blazes. Which were pretty easy to follow.

We started up a steep grade that proceeded up Smuggler Mountain Road. We hiked for about another 1 1/2 hours before the terrain got really steep and I would take 25 steps and stop for 45 secs then another 25 steps and rest for 45 secs. When we started doing the above I guessed that we had another 1 to 1 1/2 miles to go and it was almost 4pm. Renae had started falling behind because she was she was wearing her hunting boots which were rubbing her heels. We stopped long enough for her to put her snow shoes on which seemed to help. We made it to the top of the mountain right at 445pm and it looked like on the map that we should be seeing the turn off for the cabin which was good because I was pretty exhausted as were the other two.

We continued looking for the blue blazes and were still seeing them however it was now almost dark and I was beat. I tossed my pack off for about 5 min and walked ahead to see if I could see the cabin which I couldn't. I dreaded putting my pack back on but did anyway. Renae then took the lead because I had been breaking snow for about an hour and I was in hiking boots and couldn't do it anymore. We all kept thinking that we would be at the hut shortly. By 530pm I was concerned and kept saying I could only make it 5 to 15 more minutes before I thought I would collapse.

Renae gave was able to push me on until about 615pm at that point I was totally exhausted and was ready just to stop. I mentioned several times we should press the SOS button on the spot but the group kept thinking we were around the corner from the cabin. Renae gave me some trail mix which I threw up about 45 min later. At this point my lucidity was fading fast and I told Renae we needed to have a plan. At 640pm we decided to turn around and head back down the way we had come in the hopes that we would see the cabin marker. By now it had been snowing hard for about 15-30. Mary took the lead and had worked way ahead of us. Renae and I stopped around 715pm because I wasn't able to go as fast I kept postholing and why I didn't put on my snowshoes I'll never know. I told Renae we need to press the SOS on the spot because we are headed for trouble if we don't. So Renae got the Spot off my pack and I pressed the SOS button.

At 728pm I got a text from my sister asking if we were alive. I didn't know we had cell service so was really surprised. I texted her back that we needed help and then Renae took my phone because I was really out of it. I held the Spot in my hand and watched the green blinks thinking it was going to transport me some place warm. There were several texts and phone calls from my sister which Renae answered. Christi was coordinating with I guess Colorado State Patrol at first until they could determine our coordinates and get connected to the correct SAR team.

I'm not sure about the time frame but at some point the Aspen Mountain Rescue SAR team contacted my phone and Renae gave them the information they needed, after all we weren't lost because we knew exactly where we were we just didn't know where the cabin/hut was. At several points I thought I was in Alaska, I didn't know why Mary was with us, the snow falling in my headlamp light was pretty, and I knew I quit shivering at 730pm. Being a Kinesiology Student and having just finished A&P I knew that was bad because shivering is the body's way of putting the body back into homeostasis. Renae said that SAR was on their way with snow mobiles.

We connected back with Mary sometime in the 7 o' clock hour and Renae told her to stay behind me because I kept asking to just sit down. We made pretty good time back down the mountain. I would estimate that it had snowed anywhere from 8-12 inches in an hour making following our tracks back down quite difficult. Renae did an awesome job of locating her snowshoe tracks from the way up.

We had to get past a downed tree that we had crawled under on the way up in order to meet the snow mobiles. Which we made it to and beyond when the SAR team reached us. Renae had been telling them over the phone my condition which apparently every one thought was I was in trouble but in my head I was warm, in Alaska, and just ready to go to sleep, geez. So when we reached the team Renae gave them report, like the excellent nurse she is, and one of the guys took my pack off my back. Once the load was off my back I immediately fell face flat into the snow and began rolling down the mountain. John, the SAR team member, was like holy crap whats wrong, and Renae in her best non-sarcastic voice said, "she's disoriented" like hello silly.

I was loaded onto the first snow mobile and they took me down to the ambulance who was waiting at the bottom of smuggler road. I fell again getting off the snow mobile I remember that. The EMT took my shoes and socks of and my feet were blotchy and he wrung about 2 cups of water out of my socks. I was hooked up to a blood pressure cuff and O2 Sat monitor and my blood pressure was 150/100 and my O2 levels were between 86-88. He then took my temp and said crap. My temp was 94.6. He kept calling me Emily and I wasn't sure if I gave him that name or he just couldn't remember Julie.

I don't remember a lot of the ride to the ER in Aspen other than he stuck me with a IV. The two nurses at the ER were great, Jill and I don't remember the other nurses name, but they got my snow gear off without cutting off any of it. They put warm blankets on me and I started shivering. I looked up at the clock on the wall and it said it was after 11pm. The doctor was cool and wanted to know about the Spot and I started getting a little more with it. He told me I had Acute Hypothermia, Hypoxia, and Frost Nip. They put two bags of warm Normal Saline into me and discharged me around 0230 on Saturday morning.

While I was getting a ride to the hospital Renae was still having to walk down the trail because they had put Mary on the other snow mobile but the one that had taken me down wasn't back up there yet. So Renae was trudging down the trail. Once the other driver got back up there they got them down and the Sheriff's Deputy drove them over to the car and they came to the ER.

The head of SAR Hugh something was having a local restaurant open their kitchen so his team could get something to eat. Renae asked if she and Mary could go with them and he said he would take them. Apparently they got served petite steaks and potatoes. The SAR team was awesome. I told them I had a COSAR card and they asked if I could get them the number so they could be reimbursed. Not only did I do that but went onto their website and made a donation to their organization. Aspenmountainrescue.org

What a crazy adventure. The SAR team indicated to Renae that the hut we were headed to was the hardest hut to find in the Aspen area and that they have missed the hut turn off at least three separate times. The were happy that the rescue turned out well because they had been bummed about not being able to find a Snowmass worker how had taken a wrong turn 14 days ago. I'm glad the adventure is over and not sure I will attempt another hut trip.

Jingle Bell 5K at Canyon View Park

Well the Jingle Bell 5K was really a last minute thought considering we normally register for our events at least 5 weeks ahead of time. This one we registered 4 days before the run. We decided to have the kids run with us since Kaleb is always saying he likes to run. We kept the kids overnight on Friday and got up bright and early (seems like they get up before 7 am now instead of sleeping in until 8 or 9 like their parents). So we got all ready to go and dressed in layers since the forcast was for 40 degrees but it was overcast so a little bit chilly.

We took two separate cars as Renae wanted to go do stuff after the run and I had other stuff I needed to do. So I got to the park first and picked up our packets. The Byrds were 215, 216 and 217. I was 227 and Kaleb couldn't understand why I wasn't 214 or 218. We sat in the car and put on numbers and the jingle bells that came in the packet. About 7 min before the race start we got out and listened to the instructions for the run and then lined up. Kaleb would be running with me and Katie with Renae.

When the horn went off I talked with Kaleb about pacing ourselves and what that meant. Meanwhile Katie thought she needed to keep up with the front runners and so running was struggling to keep up with her. Luckily she is 5 and was only able to hold that pace for less than a 1/4 mile. Kaleb kept asking why Katie was running so fast and I told him not to worry because she will be walking shortly and we will pass her. No sooner did I say that then Katie turned around while running and then fell and hit her head (I am sorry but it made me giggle). We passed by Katie and Renae and Kaleb turned around as if showing off to Katie and ran backwards (again that made me giggle).

I had Kaleb run with Katie and Renae so I could get a couple of pictures of them running together. Kaleb and I then headed off and Katie and Renae kept up with us for about 1/2 mile before they really dropped back. Kaleb talked about running and school. After about a mile into the 5K we started passing a few walkers and that got Kaleb excited again. However, he was running in brand new shoes that we had just purchased the night before and so he was saying his feet were hurting. I put him on my back for about 150 yards and ran with him on my back. Once he was back down running he did alright. We passed a couple of more people so now each time Kaleb had to stop running and walk he would look behind to make sure the people we passed weren't going to pass us. If he thought they were then we would start running again.

Around 2 1/4 miles through Kaleb started saying his feet were hurting again and we had just passed another run/walker. Once we reached the top of the softball fields I bent down and he jumped on my back again. I ran another 150 yards or so with him on my back and then put him back down. I timed our next walk so that we could sprint to the finish. We finished in 40m40s. We waited and yelled for Katie and Renae and they finished about 5 min after us. Amazingly they were not last there were a couple more walkers that finished after they did.

I stayed around for the raffle. And won the very last prize a pair of XS Pearl Izumi running shorts which couldn't be exchanged at the the Bike Shop. So Merry Christmas Christina.

Turkey Trots in Kansas and Colorado

The dogs trying to warm themselves after the run.

Bethany finishing the 5k.

Bethany half way through the 5k.

Renae with the dogs before the race.

Renae and mom heading for one last bathroom trip before the run.

Renae and mom at the start line.

Me and mom finishing.

All three of us and the turkey.

So I decided to travel back home to Kansas before the holidays and picked the weekend before Thanksgiving. Renae (travel and best friend) decided to go with and we noticed that Wichita's Turkey Trot was that weekend. We discussed running the 10 mile but as it came time to register and we hadn't done much running down graded to the 2 mile. Since my mom had such a funny reaction to me buying hot pink vibram running shoes at the Air Force marathon I decided to start training in them so that I could wear them during the Turkey Trot. We arrived in Wichita late Thursday night and stayed at the airport hotel and met Tarra for breakfast the next morning at the Beacon. We goofed around in Wichita with mom and Bud and then headed to El Dorado to get our feet rubbed at Heads-N-Toes. Grandma was getting her hair done at the same time so we sat and talked with her for a bit. After a grand day in El Dorado we headed to Grandma Fuller's house.

After getting up at 7am the next morning (race day) we headed to pick mom up in Augusta at 0715. The race started at 0930 and we weren't sure about parking or anything so headed in to Wichita around 0740 and got to the run start around 0800. It was pretty freak'n cold (around 25-30 degrees and by comparison to the Grand Junction Turkey Trot was a tropical heat wave) so we stayed in the car for a while and discussed our strategy. We got our race packet and discussed the awesomeness of the long sleeve shirt. We decided to start warming up around 0900. I got lots of odd looks when I was walking around in my vibrams, one guy even asked, "Are you going to run in those?"

We found out that the 2 mile started at 0940 after the 10 milers started at 0930. So after the 10 milers started we worked our way from sunny spot to sunny spot until we reached the start line. So with about a minute to start I looked over and couldn't find mom and Renae said she moved to the back of the pack. Then the gun went off and I sprinted off feeling pretty good. Of course there were tons of kids in this race who thought there place to start was at the very front. So the first mile or so I spent a good deal of time avoiding kids who would stop right in front of me or would run 4 or 5 across on the sidewalk. I checked my IPOD and it said I was just at a mile and running around 8 min miles. I thought holy crap I'm fast. I was able to keep that pace for only another 1/2 mile or so and had to slow down because I was nearly out of breath. Once I was within 400 yards of the finish I kicked back up and crossed at 19.03 which I thought was awesome.

I started walking back along the course so I could get pictures of Renae and mom. Renae was only a couple of minutes behind me. I think she finished around 23 min. Mom was a couple of minutes behind her and I ran with her the rest of the way in. She finished in 26 min I think. I was really proud of her because she hadn't run in a long time and she said she ran the whole thing. She was so inspired that she said she is going to sign up for the Jingle Bell 5k, awesome job mom.

So by the end of the trip to Kansas I had developed a cold and humidity induced water retention. So slept the entire trip back to Colorado. Fast forward four days and it is time for the Grand Junction Turkey Trot benefiting the firefighters.

Renae worked the night before so I told her I would wake her up at 0830 so she could roll out of bed, get dressed, and get in the car and I would have everything else ready (or at least I hoped). Naturally it's the coldest day to date of the year a whopping 5 degrees when I wake up. What to wear what to wear. I decided on running tights with shorts over them and my really cool new running shirt that my mom got me but covered that with a sweatshirt and what Renae has now termed my "chemo hat", nursing humor I just don't know about it.

So I get the dogs stuff ready, put bottles of water in the car, start the car (after all it is only 7 degrees now), put some breakfast in the car and head to wake Renae. Although asleep manages to dress in record time so I load the dogs and we are out the door. Oh yeah did I mention this was a dog friendly run and somewhere in our screwed up head we thought it would be nice to bring them. We got parked at Albertson's and got the dogs leashed and out of the vehicle and started walking to the race start. Well the dogs needed to poop in the bank grassy area. What is the one thing Julie forgot about, that's right poop bags. I managed to find a trash bag in my car (I don't know why it was there but thankful it was) and Renae scooped up the poop and ran it over the trash can at the gas station.

By now it had warmed up to a balmy 9 degrees. My face hurt like no tomorrow. We walked to the start line managing to avoid about 60 other dogs and 900 people. We stood up on the side walk as the race started because I wasn't sure how the dogs would do. While we were waiting I managed to throw my camera on the ground, dislodge my earphone plug from my IPOD, get tangled with Kyrie's leash, and almost kick someone. I got myself all put back together and looked up and the walkers were already passing us. I told Renae that I didn't want to pass all the walkers because I PLANNED to run so we jumped into the fray and began weaving through strollers, kids, and dogs.

Now those of you who know the dogs know that Zeus is a people greeter and Kyrie, well Kyrie needs to be on heavy doses of Xanex. I wished I had horse blinders on her she yanked, pulled, and skitted every which way while we were trying to weave through the traffic of people. A stroller would go by, she was off this way, then a runner with a dog would go by and she was off that way. Maybe a 1/4 mile into the thing I told Renae I couldn't do this and started walking so Renae who had Zeus, who was running like he had been doing it for years on a leash, was right beside her. I walked maybe 100 yards and stopped on the side of the road trying to decide whether to turn around or continue. I had this little mental debate going on when alas I saw Bethany trotting towards me. The pain in my head said turn around and wait at the finish line, however, the competitor inside me said you can do this. So I sidled up to Bethany and we walked together for about a mile. During this mile Kyrie tried tripping me twice and tried ripping my shoulder out of the socket at least 1/2 dozen times. It's a good thing animal cruelty laws are more severe then child abuse because I'm sure I thought about hanging her from a tree a time or two (just kidding, but not really). I saw Renae on the trip back down the River Trail and decided to jog a little to see if I could catch up. I bid ado to Bethany and Kyrie and I were on our way.

At this point Kyrie was doing really well until we reach the turn around point. I made the turn Kyrie failed to yield the right of way and we got tangled again. I'm sure this was somewhat comical to watch and several people commented that it wasn't the dogs fault. Well of course it wasn't it was her parents fault we all know that. Anywho, I trotted along until Kyrie tripped me and then we walked again. This whole thing seemed to take forever and I wished I were done because my head hurt. Finally, finally I saw Renae and Zeus and just let go of Kyrie's leash so Renae could deal with her while I finished. I crossed the finish line handed them my running number thingy and waited for Bethany to cross the finish line.

On the way back to the car I told Renae that Kyrie couldn't come on any more group runs without being heavily drugged. I checked the temp 15 degrees. Definitely the coldest temp I've run in. We swung by Starbucks on the way home and as I was sitting in the drive through watched as my windshield finished cracking all the way down, fascinating to watch expensive to fix. Oh well.

Once we got home I was dead quite literally. I laid down for a 3 hour recovery nap. Sucks being sick.

VA Sponsored Deer Hunt and Separate Elk Trip

The vets on the VA Hunt (Matt Lucas, John, Darryl, Me, and Riff)

Myself, my deer, and Ryan my guide.

Sunrise one morning on the ranch.

Renae from last weekend. Check out the hi speed hi tech shoe covers.

Sunrise up on the Mesa while hunting elk.

I was approved to go along on the RecreationTherapy and Butch Lowery Disabled Veteran Hunt the last weekend of October. I was super stoked because I've not been hunting since I left Liberal, KS oh so many years ago. I was also a little nervous because there were supposed to be a bunch of people there and I only knew Matt Lucas. I quickly calmed my fears with the help of Glenn White who helped me sight in my brand new 1 year old 30-06. It only took about 12 rounds to get me sighted in at 100 yards. So Friday the 29th of October I headed to the Stop-N-Save in Clifton which is where we were meeting everyone since no weapons can be brought onto VA property. I was transporting Darryl's weapon as he was riding with Matt in the government vehicle.

We got up to the ranch which is 10 miles north of Rifle and waited while D came down to unlock the gate. Then we parked the cars and some of the guys rode up in vehicles while Matt, Vance, and I walked the 1 1/2 miles up to the camp. Nothing like getting the heart pumping. Once we got there we (Matt, Vance, and I) began setting up camp. Matt didn't want any of the other vets to help for fear of getting hurt (lots of paperwork). Matt then headed back down to Junction because he had a funeral to attend and the guides took the vets out around 1530 hours. My guide was Ryan. We walked to our blind which was set up over looking a ravine and two ridges. We sat and talked for several hours before getting restless. We snuck out of the blind (which I didn't realize was that difficult but they are noisy) and walked further up onto one of the ridges so we could see better down in the ravine.

After walking for about 5 minutes Ryan stopped and lifted his binoculars then handed them to me. He pointed to a group of trees where a doe was laying down. I saw the doe and then looked over to the right and there was a 3x3 buck just standing there looking at me. Ryan told me I needed to take the shot even though it was downhill and about 175 yards away and I was unsupported. He handed me this monopod which I put my rifle on. I'm sure someone looking at this spectacle would have thought I was drunk the way my rifle was waving around on that monopod. Thank gosh when I chambered a round into the rifle it didn't load because I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to hit the broad side of a barn using that dang thing. So when I pulled the trigger it just went click. So I reloaded and told Ryan I didn't think I could take the shot from here. All the while my buck just stood there watching this whole thing play out. Ryan and I maneuvered around so that I would have a better vantage point while sitting on a bucket. Needless to say the buck was still there when I got settled. This time I was sitting and unsupported from about 160 yards with the sun setting fast. I locked in the buck in my sights right behind the shoulder and pulled the trigger. I immediately chambered another round but lost the buck in my sights. Ryan said he jumped up and initially thought I hit him so we waited then went to investigate. By the time we got down to where the buck had been standing it was dark and Ryan and D looked around a bit but didn't see a blood trail.

I was disappointed but one of the other veterans got a buck so I went with the guys to learn how to field dress. We picked up the buck and took it out to clean it and brought it back and hung it so it could cool down over night. We then ate and I headed to bed as I was exhausted.

The next morning I got up and Ryan and I headed out to our blind. All morning long we watched three does dance around the area but never saw my buck. However, as the morning progressed we watched a gaggle of magpie's scavenge at something over in the oakbrush about 50 yards away from where I shot at the buck. Soon a coyote joined them and I noted that it was odd that a coyote would come out in the middle of the morning to eat on something. I got a sinking feeling in my gut and we decided to go over and investigate. Sure enough there was the buck which I shot. I started crying but quickly sucked it up because all of this was very anti climatic. It wasn't until D came down and told me it was a hell of a shot to make and that we could save some of the meat that I felt better about the whole situation. So I helped field dress my animal and we took it up to camp to hang. The rest of the day was pretty much just hanging out. The next morning the other two veterans went out. Around 0730 we heard a couple of shots but apparently everyone who went out forgot to take radio's. So at 0930 we went to pick up Darryl and Vance (Darryl is blind) and Darryl was sitting there by himself. He had shot a deer at 0730 and Vance was out tracking it. So we called for reinforcements and D, Matt, and Vance went to track it and they were soon joined by Randy. Thankfully within a couple of hours they located the animal and were able to bring it down from the mountain it decided to climb. Darryl was pretty happy as this was the first time that he had been hunting since he lost his sight 5 years ago.

I got back and picked up Renae and we headed to Old World Meats to get my deer processed. I turned in 55 lbs and have gotten back hamburger and steaks. Still waiting for my sausage and sticks.

Renae got pretty stoked and asked if I wanted to go elk hunting with her during the next weekend. I was pretty game for it so we went to the DOW and pulled some left over tags for the Collbran side of the Mesa. I looked on-line to see where the migration trends were for that area and we decided to hunt near Atkinson lake were we have previously camped. We headed up on Nov 6th after the Veterans Parade and got there around 5pm and so sat underneath a clump of trees where there were lots of tracks. We never saw anything. The next morning we got up and headed to a place that was down from that first evening and sat and watched. Renae went off down the road to see if she could scare anything up but never did. She got back and said she found fresh poop and lots of tracks. We decided that we would sit there that evening to see if we saw anything. So we picked our firing positions and went back to the motel.

We returned later that afternoon and heard lots of things moving around us but never saw anything. We came back the next morning to watch a more open field and never saw anything. I was a little disappointed but since I didn't know how to hunt elk felt pretty successful in just being out in the snow and not getting frostbite.

We went out the next weekend as well and saw a herd of elk down on private property but never saw any up in the elevation in which we were hunting. But I took some nice pictures of the sunrise.

Rantings from a Maniacal Wanna-be Athlete

Well ever since the Air Force Half Marathon on Sept 18th my running has taken a downword spiral to say the least. For most people they might say, "oh well you need to recover from the half" I say maybe. But I think I've ran a total of maybe 20 miles since the half marathon which was now a month ago. With the longest of that 20 miles being a little over 4 miles on hills. I can't really seem to click back into it. My breathing gets weird and it feels like my lungs are coming out of my chest or I feel sluggish like I haven't been nutritionally sound (which in reality I haven't been as good).

Needless to say the last couple of weeks have been especially frustrating because my mind is ready to get back into running it just seems my body isn't. Maybe it's because I need the thrill of the crowd or the competitiveness of running next to someone who is maybe going a little bit faster. I went for a run yesterday on the River Trail and I even pushed myself up the Broadway hill on the first section of my run. Wanted to do between 6 and 7 miles so I set my ipod for a 10k. Well the first 5K was really no problem but then I felt really sluggish like I needed fuel but I'd only been running 40 min. By the time I hit 6K I had to walk and that was frustrating. So I checked my knees, fine, ankles, fine, feet, a little sore but fine, what then what the frick.

Maybe it's what I'm fueling my body with before my run; to many simple sugars. Well I did eat Cap't Crunch for breakfast that morning. Plus my post run recovery has slipped some so maybe I go back to the drawing board and eat my banana and bagel with peanut butter before my runs and after my runs go back to drinking my recoverite.

I've been doing circuit training at the gym on Tues and Thurs to help build muscle strength and endurance. Plus then going for a stationary bike ride for 30 min to work some of my other leg muscles. Next semester I am taking Biomechanics and Physiology of Exercise at Mesa so hopefully that will give more insight as well.

Perhaps it is my up bringing and being told I wasn't as good as so and so or I wasn't smart enough. While I've overcome this in other parts of my life maybe it hasn't hit home yet in physical activity. Maybe I've lost my inner drill Sergeant as my friend Bethany calls her inner voice. But I shouldn't have to dig deep to run 6 miles for crying out loud I ran a PR in the half.
We haven't covered the brain yet in A&P so I can't tell which part of my brain helps with motivation and "digging deep" but I sure has hell can tell you which muscles are activated when I run and how to make fast twitch muscle fibers respond more like slow twitch muscle fibers.

Bowha ha ha ha ha (I am Maniacal which is my word of the day).

The Royal Gorge "Rim to Rim" 10k ummm I mean 5K

Several weeks ago Renae and I signed up for the "Rim to Rim" Royal Gorge 10k outside of Canon City. We thought it would be a nice follow-up to the Air Force 1/2 marathon and I'd never been to the Royal Gorge (another Canyon). So we headed out Friday late afternoon and meandered down 50 to Montrose then Gunnison. Then we headed to Salida and ate at my most favoritest Mexican eatery. First thing I ordered were fire roasted jalapeno's. After setting my mouth on fire we finished eating and headed out to Canon City. It was dark now and supposedly deer were everywhere even though I didn't see any. However, the corners were tight and the traffic was intermittent with their dang bright lights on. We got in around 830 pm and got situated before going to sleep. We got up the next morning and decided to leave around 7am since we were n't sure of the parking and how long it would take us to pick up our packets. We drove into the park and watched the deer along side the road eating breakfast it was very surreal. We picked up our race packets and I was pretty jazzed because the t-shirt (cotton) was a burnt orange color. Happy because orange is my favorite color and because most race t-shirts I've gotten lately have been dark colors like black or navy blue. We then parked and slowly took our time getting ready as it was only 725 and the race didn't start until 0830. I sat in the back of my car and watched people which is something I am really good at until about 0750. We then headed over to the start line to do the prerace things like go to the bathroom and stretch. We talked to a couple of different runners from Colorado Springs who talked about the running clubs there. Renae and tried to decide which way we would be running to start the race. Since we were standing on an incline for the start I hoped it was downhill but we were wrong and it started up the incline. Dang....I'm really starting to take my sister's philosophy on hills. As the race director explained the route there were three different loops for the 10k all of which required up hill running before returning down hill on the way back, then up hill, down hill, up hill then way way down hill and across the Royal Gorge bridge to the finish. Then the race director stated that if we switched from the 10k to the 5k to let them know at the finish line which set the tone in my head of opting for a out. So we were off Renae and I both running together, Renae lasted longer running up the hill than I did but not by much. We both ran about a 1/4 of a mile before I was huffing so hard I could see the air racing into my lungs as I swallowed all of the oxygen that surrounded me. We walked the next 1/4 mile and started running again. I was a little bit ahead of Renae because she hadn't yet been able to relax into a stride. Shortly I found myself at the 5k turn around and decided that my lungs nor my legs could take a lot more up hill running. So turned at the 5k turnaround and saw Renae was right behind me she too turned around at the 5k and caught up with me in a couple of minutes on the down hill. This was on one of the camp ground loops and we soon hit the pavement headed back down to the bridge. Now I hadn't noticed it when we drove in but this road was a pretty good incline, I would say 8 or 9%, enough that I had to drop down into a lower gear when driving in. So that said it sucked running up and was awesome running down. Renae and I were running together at this point. Renae with her long strides and me with my littler strides at one point we stopped to walk for about 45 sec and then started running again. These are my favorite routes because I can just release my body and let it fall forward. The second half of the 5k my average pace was probably between 9-10 min miles which is about 2-3 min faster than I normally run. As we got to the bridge Renae needed to walk again but alas I was already on the bridge. With my fear of heights I was only able to turn around and take a picture of her, I had been carrying my camera the entire way as I had no pockets, and turn back around and run like some wild man was chasing me. Now it was probably only 400 meters across the bridge but it was my fastest 400 meters I've ever run. Renae finished about 1 min behind me. It was my fastest 5k despite all the walking it seemed I did...I came in at 36'52, which was 15 out of 24 in my age group.

For lunch we tried a brewpub in Canon City called McClellans which served the most disgusting nastiest tasting draft beer on the face of the solar system. I watched several people sample the beers and then laughed as they nearly threw it up and Renae who I've never seen not finish a beer ordered a stout and took three drinks and that was all. I ordered a homemade root beer and it tasted like anis straight from an anus. Lol sorry that made me laugh. After drinking and then eating at the pub we had to stop by the candy store and get some real food. The candy store made Jalapeno Fudge which was really good but I ended up getting my old standby Amaretto Fudge.

That evening I had booked reservations on the Royal Gorge train for a murder mystery dinner. Lets just say it was only slightly better than the melodrama in Durango. But the food was to die for. Overall it was a great weekend. Will post pictures soon. I promise.

"Ay I'm Walk'n Here" in Boston

Well as luck would have it I was recently selected to be on the Disabled Veterans Working Group at work and just in the nick of time. On the first conference call I was on they discussed having a Working Group Meeting in New Hampshire. That excited me because I had never been to New Hampshire, but then it changed to Boston. Yeah, it had been 17 years since I last visited Boston, during the Army AIT training. My luck continued as they week that was booked was the week after the Air Force Marathon, this was lucky only until I found out the protocol of Government travel from point to point destination. So after much negotiation with our employee travel person at the VA I bought a ticket from Dayton, OH to Boston, MA with the understanding that I would be at least partially reimbursed for the ticket. Renae was also excited because she had never been to Boston and decided to come visit Thursday and then I would stay two additional days and we would fly home on Sunday. As I got there the Sunday after the Air Force Half Marathon I was ready to crash, but I walked around the hotel a bit to get my bearings. Ate at PF Changs and watched some football on TV. The next day, Monday, was our travel day and as I was already there decided to go get my Hard Rock Cafe pin. But before I headed off downtown I asked the front desk at the hotel if there was a running route that she could point me to. Wow, they actually had a 4 mile and 6 mile route that she gave me. I ate breakfast and headed off for a 4 mile run. Truly Boston is a running and cycling city. Most of my run was along sidewalks and I met no less than 100 people out running too. As I really didn't know where I was going and was reading the directions as I ran, not to mention jumping around people exiting buildings I walked some and ran some. I nearly managed to end up in the Charles River while reading my directions. But I found my way around the loop and made it back to the hotel. I showered and headed off for adventure. I managed to get my mass transit ticket with a little help from the transit guy and was on my way. The hotel, Sheraton Boston Hotel, gave me general directions to HRC. So I got to Gov't Center, Quincy Market, and Fanueil Hall and was overwhelmed by the number of people on a Monday wandering around. Needless to say while the HRC was in the general area I had some difficulties finding it but was not afraid to ask directions. I was only a block off and was soon siting down to Hawaiian Chicken and picking out my guitar pins.
I got back to the hotel and started looking for things to do once Renae got into town on Thursday. She said she had wanted to go to a comedy show so I found a show at the Comedy Vault off of Boylston across from Boston Common. I pretty much rested the rest of Monday so that I would be with it on Tuesday for our meeting.

Tuesday morning I was at the appointed place at the appointed time and met the rest of my group. It was great meeting these people as it felt like the group was alive which is more than I can say for several meetings I've gone to. Several of them wanted to go to a Red Sox game that evening and initially I declined, I mean really I don't know these people. But then I was like, "What the hell, they are veterans too and they seem fun." So I took off with them walking to Fenway Park after our work day had ended. They were funny guys I bought my ticket off a authorized scalper (not sure what that meant, but Fenway actually had a spot for those who were approved to resell their tickets) for a standing room only nonseat. We ate at one of the street vendors in which I managed to get mustard all over Harvey's hotdog, that will probably be the last time he asks me to help him, lol. We headed off to find our seats and I was going to hang with the guys until the game started then head off to find my seat. We were right above the Orioles pitching dugout and I ended up just sitting in an empty seat with the guys. Funny thing is they paid 38 dollars for their tickets and I paid 20 dollars. I didn't much pay attention to the guy except when Bill kept yelling "He is going to hit the ball right to us" then Ed would say "Every man and woman for themselves". So obviously I got ready to knock the old man down to catch a ball, but a ball was never hit to us. That was a fun night but really late, Ed then started a joke that I ate all the time because every time he looked over at me I was eating something plus everyone piled their trash in front of my feet. So the next couple of days we worked on what we wanted the group to accomplish. Then it was Thursday and Renae was scheduled to get into town at 415pm. We had tickets to the Comedy Vault at 8 so when she got in we headed downtown to walk around a bit. I was now a pro at hoping on and off the subway knowing which direction I was going. We ate at Remingtons on Boylston as the Comedy Vault was in the basement. That was the first bad sign, not good enough to be on the main floor. Renae enjoyed her clam chowda' and we walked around the area waiting until we could be seated. The Comedy Vault probably seated 40 people maximum and as we had reservations and were the first ones there they asked if we wanted to sit alone or with a group, alone, hello. So the guy at the door pointed us in a general direction and we sat down, he then got in trouble for not "front loading" the seating area as we sat two tables back from the stage, red flag number two. Red flag number 3 is there was only one local patron of the club that night and 22 out of staters. So the show got started and the Emcee announced the main guy who came out and every other word was "Fu**". I nearly stroked out watching a girl from Connecticut and a girl from Georgia, that was funny. The guy not so much, well really not at all. They had like 5 people do stand up and only one of them was funny. I tried to escape to the bathroom but as I was walking back up the hall they opened the curtain and ushered me back in, blasted. So it got done around 930pm and we made it back to the hotel by about 1030p.

Friday morning we decided to go for a run on the 4 mile loop that I had found. But because of the condition of the path we were using Renae wasn't able to relax so we decided to walk. When we got back to the hotel it was near lunch time so I took Renae over to McGreevey's an awesome Irish Sports Bar. Once finished with lunch we headed to the Wharf area where we thought we might get some seafood. We walked past the old YMCA where as a young soldier we would stay when visiting Boston. That was on the way to where the Cassin Young and "Old Iron Sides" is moored. We toured around there and decided instead of walking back we would take a water taxi to the Aquarium which was back down by Fanueil Hall. While waiting for the evening to progress so we could eat supper we found a fruit/veg market and got some fruits. Earlier in the day we had also booked a performance at the Boston Center for Arts called the "Real Inspector Hound". We ate supper at the Charter House and I was able to eat crab and Renae had another cup of Chowda'. It was then 10 till 7pm and our performance started at 8pm. Luckily we decided to head back to the hotel before going to the show because it wasn't where I thought the Center was located. It was instead a 15-20 min walk from the hotel not close to any subway station. So with it being 720pm we walked with a purpose to the Center. This show must have been aimed at those brainy types because I didn't get most of the humor and dialogue of the play. But it was awesome watching the audience. We then walked back to the hotel and it was 10pm. We passed a spooky looking church and made up some stories.....awesome way to pass time at 10pm when it dark out.

Saturday we decided to hit the pool and hot tub first before venturing out into the city. It was nice to soak the feet and legs after two days of walking around. We decided to hit some of the parks and Little Italy today so headed off seeking adventure and boy did we find some. We watched people sunbath in a park, played in a fountain, and found the most wonderful Italian eating place called L'Conte which I would recommend 100 times over. I believe it is on Salem street. We then partook in some Gelato I got Snicker and Renae got German Chocolate Cake. We wondered around and found some churches to look at and then started walking to the subway station to go to the Public Gardens. Outside Little Italy was a bicycle rickshaw and we asked how much it would cost for a ride to the Garden and decided to do it. What fun that was he was weaving in and out of traffic like we owned the road, a couple of times I thought we might have to get out and push, but he made it fine. We walked into the Gardens and literally saw 9 weddings or wedding parties going on, it was funny. Renae and I tried to get into as many wedding photo's as possible, lol. We turned in early on this date we were full and exhausted. We got back to the hotel around 7pm. Our flight was to leave at 3pm on Sunday.

We didn't do to much on Sunday another dip in the hot tub and then Brunch at McGreevey's. Renae was disappointed they weren't serving lunch because she wanted to try their Bangers and Mash but now she will have to wait till Ireland next year. It was an awesome trip and I will get pictures posted later.

Air Force Half Marathon Sept 18th, 2010

All of us after the run, nice compression socks, I want some.

Renae near the end of the half marathon.

Last Wednesday Renae and I flew to Canton, OH in prep for the Air Force Half Marathon in which my sister and brother in law would be running the full marathon. I got to spend some much needed time with my niece and nephew. Thursday after they got out of school Renae and I took them to Build-a-Bear, then Cold Stone for some ice cream, Borders (got some books), and then Chuck'E Cheese. What a fun night.

We headed to Dayton after walking the kids to school, mom came with us to Dayton. We got to eat at Cracker Barrel and I stopped by my house in Grove City outside of Columbus. We got checked into the hotel and then headed to Wright Pat to get our race packets and Renae was running the 5K. I know, crazy, huh the day before running a half marathon. I bought some Vibram fivefingers at the expo, mom didn't like the color of them but they go with my running gear.

We watched the Air Force Drill Team perform and the posting of colors. There were 1800 registered runners for the 5K, yet they still had to make announcements that kids needed to move to the rear of the pack. With that being said when the base commander said racers to the ready, a 70 something year old lady lined up in the front line in a racing position with her fingers on her watch just like everyone else in the front line, however, when the commander said go the old lady don't drilled, smashed, and crushed. I almost laughed if it weren't sad that a 70 year old lady thought she should be up front with the 5 min per mile runners. Anyway I predicted that Renae would be in around 40 min or later so mom and I lined up at the finish line and watched people finish the race. The first runner came in at 16'37' crazy I tell you. Not to long after that mom said, "I see Renae". I looked up and saw the time was 35 min and I said no way, but then here came Renae running towards the finish line. She crossed at like 36,45". She said she would have been sooner except a lady collapsed in front of her and she had to help her down to the ground. When I asked how long she was with the lady she said about 3 minutes. Yeah Renae.

So we met up with Jeff after they got into town and decided that we would leave for the base at 0530 in the morning. We followed the directions given to us at the race expo which was given to 8000 other people. We made it to Hartman Road just fine but then ran into the a line of traffic within a mile and sat there until about 0635. Jeff and Christi rightfully got anzy and decided to bail. They started walking to the base and called and told us what was going on. We got onto the base and got parked about 0700 hours. We made it up close to the start line and heard the gun go off signalling the start of the marathon. We hoped that Christi and Jeff made it to the start before the marathon started. We waited in line for the bathrooms about 40 minutes.

Renae and I then made our way over to our start line and found our pacing team leader Kristen from Columbus, OH. She said she had run 26 marathons. We were in the 2h30min pace group. We started way back in the pack and didn't cross the start line for 5 min or so after the gun went off. It's been a long time since I've run in a pack that had no real formation, matter of fact I don't remember the last time I felt like a gazelle running in a herd. But quite literally for the first 3 miles we were grouped so tightly that it was hard to not get stepped on I hopped and slide and did a tango with 250 other people. It would have been much easier had we been running in formation to a cadence. Our pace group in the first three miles was averaging between 10 and 11 min miles. I managed to stay with the pace group until about mile 4.8 when I was exhausted. I walked and ate/drank a gel and then started running again. I finished 5 miles under 55 min so knew that I was on pace to finish under 3 hours if I could keep forcing myself to run when I wanted to walk. I was able to reach mile 9 by 1h50m so had 70 min to finish 4 miles. Mile 9 I'm not sure where we were in relation to the base but it seemed like we were running on a highway right in side the gate (which gate I'm not sure but it had a beat the gate sign). This hill was incredible and I walked the entire way up but then was able to run down it. At mile 9 they had orange halves and that kinda revived me. By the time I hit mile 10 I was seeing some of the people from my pace group so was feeling a little bit better. There was another hill shortly after mile 10 and I just put my head down and powered/willed myself running up it. We then ran back onto base around mile 11 and I knew I was almost there. I started looking for Christi as she was scheduled to finish right around the same time I would if I kept up my pace. When I was at mile 11 I was like 2h20min into my run. I had aspirations to finish at 2h45m at this time but wasn't sure if I could keep running as fast as I had been. As we rounded into the runway area around mile 12 was getting more and more energy even bending over a couple of times to pick up whole gel packs that people had dropped. I saw mom and the kids at mile 12.25 and ran over to give them hugs. I then started running harder because I knew I was almost done.

The last 3/4 of a mile was killer for me because we were on the tarmac and it was hot and falsely marked. As I hit the sign that said mile 13 I started running harder but realized that the sign was wrong because I ran another 4/10 of a mile after that sign. There were thousands of people cheering on the runners as we got to the finish line. I crossed at 2h50m15s and a full bird colonel placed my medal around my neck and then suddenly I saw my sister. She asked if I had seen Jeff, but I pretty much ran with my head down for the last 2 miles at least. I went and got some water and then stood with Christi waiting for Renae and Jeff. It seemed like it was forever that we were waiting but in reality Renae came in 13 min after I did. I needed to go use the bathroom so Renae and I sat down on the grass near the porta janes and waited for Jeff to come in. Jeff finished about 30 min after Renae.

Next was the process of hooking back up with mom and the kids and walking the 1.2 miles from the finish to where the car was parked, YIKES. I send Jeff and Christi off to catch up with mom as they needed to check out of the hotel. Renae and I walked/shuffled/zombied to the car and eventually found our way to the car and made it off the base. Yeah.

The San Rafael Swell in Utah

Renae at Temple Mountain Mine Town

Renae in Bell Canyon

Renae rock climbing in Bell Canyon

Renae playing in the trees.

Again playing in trees.

Coming out to the trailhead

Me working my way up a ledge in Bell Canyon.

In the canyon

Hopefully it doesn't start raining.

Which way do we go.

A couple weeks ago we decided, weather permitting, that we would go hike around in Utah. Last week we decided we would head towards Green River and hike in the San Rafael Swell. We watched the weather closely and decided we could go based on the weather report. Since the Swell is pretty much slot canyons you don't want to get caught in a flash flood. So we headed out early Sunday morning and got to Goblin Valley around 10 am and of course it was overcast and hasn't really stopped raining. The person working the BLM office suggested we not hike there because it hadn't stopped raining and is forcasted to rain all day. We kind of hemhawed around a little and headed to the trailhead to just check it out. There was a man and his daughter that just came out and indicated it was really dry. So we decided to a check it out walk for about 30 and then come back out. What a blast, really looking forward to returning here to hike. We got back to the car around noon and decided to drive around a little bit. We found some really awesome camping and hiking places further up the swell on BLM land.