Author: admin

WTF…

Apparently, nicotine products are exempt.

Cigarette sales would drop to zero overnight if the warning said “CIGARETTES CONTAIN FAT.” ~ Dave Barry

Anyone who has spent more than 30 seconds with me knows my disdain for littering in any form. I have a particularly venomous attitude toward those who toss cigarettes out the window because a) it appears these idiots feel that it isn’t littering, b) it is actually WORSE than littering in that it causes fires which endanger lives (human and critter) and property and c) is completely preventable since every goddamned car on the market comes with this crazy thing called an ash tray (or has “ashtray” as an option that one can add for a small sum of money).

Regardless, when some dipshit feels the need to throw their smokes out the window, I get infuriated. So much so that I almost got into a fistfight over it once. True story.

I was coming home from somewhere and forgot about the weekly jackass parade from Denver to the casinos in Black Hawk. So I was stuck in traffic… for a long time. So I am not a happy Stu to begin with then Señor Asshat in the car in front of me decides the dry grass to the right of his car is where cigarettes go. I laid on my horn and shouted at him to pick up his cigarette at which point f-bombs were hurled and fortunately for I don’t know who, the parking lot began to move and I was unable to do the horrible things that were coursing through my very imaginative mind. And to top it off, that car from which the butt was tossed was sporting a volunteer firefighter bumper sticker. I shit you not.

I have promised Rach I will no longer confront jackassery done in my direct line of sight but my blood still boils when I see people using our roadsides as their personal ashtrays.

So tonight, Rach found some litter in our driveway… tossed there, I’m sure, by one of the many douchenozzles who speed up and down our road on a regular basis (don’t get me started). Lo and behold the litter wasn’t a cigarette, but a nicotine gum package. I am not sure if this is a step in the right direction or not.

~stubert.

Spectating is hard…

Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes, well, he eats you. ~ The Stranger

Headed up to the LT100 on Saturday to do some spectating intervals. Needless to say, that was a bit more difficult than I thought it would be and I ended up dropping out after Tony came back through Twin Lakes (mile 60). I feel pretty good about the effort, however. It was quite warm, I was on the dirt bike and I managed to get a little run in there somewhere. I have to give a special shout out to my Patagonia Nano Puff Pullover for keeping me from freezing on my way to the race. Funny how cold it is at 6:00 in the morning on a motorcycle.

I was really pulling for Anton to win the thing in record style and thought he was still looking solid in Twin Lakes. He ended up dropping out at Fish Hatchery (about mile 75) due to severe cramping and intestinal issues. Read all about it here. Tim Parr took the reigns and finished up strongly with an overall time of 17:27:23. Way to go, Tim! Lynette Clemons took the women’s title in 20:58:01 and I even ran with her briefly as she left Twin Lakes and I was trying to get some real training in.

So I jammed back to the Front Range and Rach and I went to see Ponyo, Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film. As usual, he delivers the goods and it was fun to see in a theater full of munchkins.

Sunday, I went out for what is supposed to be my long, slow run but I turned it into a medium, fast run. Go figure. I was feeling super awesome so just thought I’d see how much I could turn on the heat. Ended up spinning 9.6 miles in 1:26. Good stuff.

Waiting for a break in the weather now to get in a short run with some speedwork then I’ll try to get the shed roof dried in. Should be a productive afternoon.

~stubert.

And the trend continues…

What am I supposed to do? Just sit on my ass and watch TV? That ain’t my style, man. ~ Homer Simpson

Missed my run on Tuesday due to extended work wackiness but did make it out on Wednesday for a great run in the woods with some tempo thrown in for good measure. 7.3 in 1:10 on technical trails with 15 minutes of tempo really satisfied.

Thursday I did a short recovery run and today I worked and hammered some nails. The shed is really taking shape and I expect to have the roof on in the next few days. Good stuff.

I am heading up to Pbville tomorrow to spectate and get in a little run somewhere on the course if possible. Hoping to see Tony Krupicka crush the course record. Sounds like he is flying right now.

I’ll try to post from the race.

~stubert.

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.