Salida marathon - prelube March 11-12, 2010

Well, the day finally arrived and I jetted off to Colorado Springs to meet up with a few hashers and get ready for the Salida "Run through time" Marathon, in...where else, Salida, Co.

Nacheux was there to pick me up, PBR in hand, righteous. After downing it, we stopped by her place to grab some stuff, and then we were off to Knob Hill (if I remember correctly) for some beers and to meet the rest of the PPH3 guys.


1st pic: myself, Meatgazer, Tonka Butt & Brownie.
Lots of PBR was drank here. I think we cleared 26 tall boys (24oz) of PBR. :D at the 1st bar, hahaha
3rd pic: The hashers in front of the wall of fame!

After which we rolled over to the Black Sheep to watch a band, that never arrived. We figure, as much as we can remember, that we left there about 11pm to the next bar. I think. :D maybe the Irish #4 bar?! who knows. I know I passed out in the truck, and then passed out at Katies, after stopping at the Kings Chef for dinner, passing out in the booth and telling Nacheux that we should leave.

Everyone had a blast at the Black Sheep, even though we didn't get to see the band.
The next day, I needed to get my legs loose, as I hadn't really run...in a while. haha
So Katie, Nacheux and myself went over to the Garden of the Gods, for a quick run, and to feel the altitude.


This is a pretty scenic section, where everyone comes to get a photo, so I obliged as well. You can see Pikes Peak (snow capped) in the background, and the small line going diagnoally to the right, is "the incline".

This was a good day to be out. We waited for wanker to be done with work so we could drive out to Salida.

I have to admit, I was getting a little nervous about the run. It had been weighing on my brain for a few weeks now. Especially since I didn't have the miles under me that I should have. Nonetheless, tenacity, stubborness and the will to keep moving forward would have to carry me through.

The Wall, Oakland Hills, Ca. 3-20-10

So this past weekend was great. 3 days off, the weather was sunny and mid 60's to low 70's all weekend long. What better than to spend a few days exploring and getting outside. With a few runs over the weekend, I put in some miles and was happy about that. Saturday we rode out to "The Wall" in the Oakland Hills for some scenery and to run into a few friends.

Ran into Ben, Katia, Kurt and Jeff up there, as 2 of them were out riding and stopped in, and the other 2 were riding home from work, the long way. Good times, I enjoyed a nice chelada, great conversation, weather, and scenery. The ride home was spirited, as well as the jaunt across the bay bridge. :D as per usual.

A shot of the bike, right off the edge of "the wall", overlooking Oakland, the bay and SF.

Sunset in SF. (spring has returned)

Friday night, last week, I had the day off and spent it with a good friend. We ran around town on the motorcycle and seeing the fog coming in, we went to Treasure Island to watch the sunset, and down a couple 40's on the rocks. Pretty cool site.
After a while, we got bored, and I decided we should try and make it to the other side of town and see what the sunset looked like from Ocean Beach. A quick ride across the city breaking minimum traffic laws and we were here. as seen in photo.

great time. great sunset, and so glad to see that Spring is back in the bay. :D

Snoop-a-loop, at the Fillmore, 3/3/10

Went to see Snoop Dogg at the Fillmore in SF. He was 2 1/2 hours late for his start, and had a bunch of music and rappers jumping on and off stage before he came on. They played his movie "Malice in Wonderland", and I guess it was to make it seem like the concert was long, when in reality, he just played 50 minutes worth of a show when he finally came on.

Don't get me wrong, once he played, he rocked it...or is that rapped it...but damn, if I'd known that was his schtick, I woulda shown up 2 hours later. cool poster though, and at least I can say I saw Snoop D.O. double G.

Austin fun. Feb 27th, 2010

What happens when you go out for drinks with co-workers on your last night in Austin? Well, for one, I realize that I went to a bbq truck on the corner of Red River and 7th st. mostly because I woke up with an empty plate of BBQ in my bed with me, and this picture in my phone. LOL

What's even better, is that I looked over on my mantel and saw this beautiful and probably priceless painting sitting there. wtf?! oh yeah, I remembered later, that I apparently bought this painting off the wall at Mugshots bar. HAHAHAHAHA I love Star Wars and this just looked right. The bartender made it so easy when he said he could just add it to my bartab. heh. how easy is that. :D 50 bucks later, this gem is now a part of my collection. LOL

what a great night out in Austin, with a fun crowd of co-workers. I think I have more pics somewhere about it too. I think I miss the going away parties and the welcome back parties the most.

The Tank!

Doing his best Zoolander impression. hahahahaha This kid is getting huge. Hadn't seen my nephew since the day he was born. He's huge now. :D spent a good evening with them on the 2nd of March, right before flying back to SF, and right after finishing up my contract in Austin, Tx.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday...

.....enjoying a free day off in SF today. It's a bit overcast with haze, but hell, still warm enough to go out and ride.

Having a blast the last 3 days off. Riding about the city. hit the wall yesterday in Oakland, and some lane splitting fun, chasing down bikes. :D

time to explore the city some more.

what neighborhood?!
(keep your mouth shut about the Castro, Brownie. Already checked it.) LOL

coffee is good.

New Orleans Marathon

Registered for the New Orleans Marathon, February 2011. hahaha
no turning back.

this will be a good "recovery" run, as I am planning on signing up for the
Catalina 50miler....better known as the "Avalon 50", right around January 15-16, 2011. :D Which will be my first 50 miler.

Salida Marathon - Check

Start time 9am, in Salida, Colorado

Running through time...and SNOW! wtf?! hahaha

Finish line pic, with our obligatory PBR. and a google earth gps mapping of our run.

That was the hardest race I've run...yet. :D But it was worth every bit of the pain, hangover, soreness.

I'll have a proper race report in a day or two. Have to get back to work, but feeling really good despite the race stats.

Start at: 7400 feet

Peak at: 9100 feet

Finished in: 6:47

Distance 26.3 miles

Between the altitude and minimal miles run, it all worked against me. But it was a perfect way to test myself and see what I can do. For now, I've decided to set my eyes on my first 50 miler in January 2011. Yes, I plan on doing some 30's before that, and another couple of marathons, but that will be my biggest leap in miles.

I think the biggest reason it was so fun and tolerable this weekend is that I did it with a good bunch of friends/retards. We drank a lot, we laughed a lot, and we ran a lot. Eating at Moonlight Pizza was phenomenal.

Earning 2 "Clean Plate Stickers" at Kings Chef in Colorado Springs was also a highlight of the visit.

Running through Red Rock Canyon and the Garden of the Gods was simply breathtaking. Especially with the fresh snow and sunny skies contrasted with the red canyon walls.

be back soon. with even more photos. :D

To Pop or not to Pop...it....

stupid blister on the heel of my left foot. pretty good one too. got it, breaking in some new runners on a walk. bah. not what I want right before flying out to Colorado to trapse around in the snow and mountains for the Salida Marathon. hahaha

Flight leaves this morning, hoping to get out of work early for a couple hours of zzzz's.

looking forward to visiting Colorado again, it's been too long.

dammit, I promise to get pictures up soon. when I get back, I have a few days off, and I will sit down and post up from the trip to California, then Salt Lake City, back to Austin and some fun here in San Francisco...and and and.....then the Colorado pics. haha

be back in few days. ciao

Snowboarding the weekend away.

Spent the weekend in Reno, and went up to Squaw Valley Olympic Mountain resort for some fun with my brother in law, while my sister is laid up resting. We had a great day and ran into some friends from the bay area. We were in line prior to the lifts opening, and kicked it over some crazy stuff. It's definitely more intense here than at, say, Northstar or Mt. Rose mountains.

A week ago C.R. Johnson was killed coming off one of the faces, and fell and hit his head on a rock. Breaking his helmet. He was a local, a pro, and X-games medalist, and seemed to be wearing all of his protection possible. Sometimes, shit just happens.

Nonetheless, we had a great time, and the weather was very cooperative.

Spent the weekend catching up with family, and Chris and I are signing up for two triathlons this year. the Graeagle Tri and the Donner Lake Triathlon. The first one is a repeat of what we did last year, after camping on the lake near Susanville last July 4th weekend. This year the plan is to actually swim properly (with training LOL) and also to bring road bikes. :D

The Donner Tri is about twice as long, but I think we can knock it out. We'll see. haha
The plan is also to sign up for the SF marathon and actually be sober enough to make it to the start. haha

as well as another ultra. we'll see if I go to 50 miles this year.

packing up to hit the road.

It's strange, but anytime I know I'm coming to an end of a contract, I seem to get more accelerated in my purposes and in getting things done. The thing I have a hard time doing, is packing up. haha not cause there is a lot to do, but because it takes me a fairly short time to do, and I can be in and out of a residence I have in roughly 2 hours. so, I guess I procrastinate. But then again, if I had packed things up days ago, I'd be sitting around bored, and with nothing to do. get it? haha

but now I'm awake and nearly 4am, and thinking of what I can load up now in the truck, I'll load the motorcycle early this morning, get some coffee and start the arduous journey to McAllen, where I'll leave my stuff before flying to SF tomorrow morning super early.

I'm so used to going through larce city airports, that I need to remember, that going through security in McAllen, might take all of 10 minutes or less. haha

anyway, I'll be in Colorado in about 2 weeks for some running and beer. and apparently I'm haring a run. which is even cooler.

on on

BLAST OFF!!!

Well, that rounds out a 4 month contract at Dell Childrens MC in Austin. I can't say enough good things about this hospital and it's staff in the Peds e.r. They are the most fun I've had in a job in more than 5 years. We worked hard, saw some crazy shit and partied harder, together, as a cohesive group from the same unit.
Most I have in California was random people getting to know each other, as the unit there tends to more isolation between staff, due to the nature of the childrens illness. (Usually, 1 RN per patient)

It's sunny outside this morning, as I took a deep breath and walked out of the hosp. We had a blast last night, loads of fun, with the wide range of patients. Lots of food on accountant of it being my last day, which was great. And a bunch of us went over to Amaya's Cafe for breakfast and beer.
The girls gave me a box of Frosted Flakes cereal, in honor of our conversation earlier that night about what breast milk tasted like, and since they had both nursed, they said they'd both tasted their own breast milk. hahaha in and of itself awesomely hot!!!! hahahha So I asked what it tasted like, and they said, mildly sweet milk.....kinda like the milk in a bowl of Frosted Flakes. hahahaha

The days are gonna fly over the next week. A supposed Full Moon Hash tonight in Austin, the regular AH3 tomorrow, and the guys from work wanna get some beers tonight, probably after the full moon H3.

it's going to be nice out, in Austin today. Gonna wake up early and see what's going on.

Dear Leuk,

Skin so soft on her head
color is blue
vomit on bed
meds are given
no more twitching
just another day
working in the kitchin


bleh night at work.

countdown continues: 1

BRASS MONKEY H3

HAHAHAHAHAHA this photo cracks me up so much. A few weekends ago with some great friends and hashers in Houston for the inaugaral Brass Monkey H3. goofing for the camera, I got this picture sent back with a messed up caption. LOL

Is it me, or

...is it my imagination?

The over reactive white parents come to the e.r. at 5am with c/o of kid moaning. Kid looks phenomenal on arrival, and gets blood work.

Mexican family comes in, fevers and same chief complaint...and off you go with a "viral infection", no treatment other than tylenol and motrin.

weird, cause assuming that all those kids aren't sick, has bitten people in the ass before.

sunny day in Austin today, nice cool weather this morning, took a deep breath as I walked out the e.r. doors, as per usual, and was in a good mood today. jamming to some cool jams now, as I fight the sleep, jazzed up as I count down to 2 more shifts at work here in Austin.

This contract has been amazingly fun. Lots of people that I got to meet, and some fun and drunk times here. I'm going to miss the dim witted, window lickers that I work with here, as they were all super fun, annoying, helpful, funny and loudmouthed, all rolled up into one.

countdown on days to go: 2

Snowpocalypse?! or.....

.....the storm that wasn't?!

Who knows, I heard about it, but never saw it. :(

From what friends were saying, it was snowing like crazy in Austin, blanketing the ground. hahaha strange for this area, but not unheard of. Unfortunately, by the time I flew back into town, it seems any proof of it was gone from the ground. There seemed to be a bit of "snow" on my windshield. but alas, no sign of it.

I heard all kinds of stories from friends who immediately called work to see if they were cancelled. Driving in the snow is not a habit around here, and people were freaking. Luckily I don't think there was too much to it, as crashes seemed light.

ah well, one more week here, then back out to Ca. for some work before flying to Colorado Springs for some beer drinking and slow running. :D hahaha

almost. time.

flying back to Austin in about 5 hours. off of work in about 2 hours. some packing, some breakfast, and I promise I'll update photos tonight when I get home...hahaha after some much needed Texas BBQ and a good beer at Lovejoys.

training...oh yeah, some hill sprints tomorrow before work. where? well, somewhere in Austin that has more than a 500 ft elevation change....possible? not that i know of! hahaha

re-activated my membership to the SF climbing gym, as I'll be here more in March and can get some good workouts running to the gym and climbing.

sickest kid in the unit

guess it's fine for me. as it has kept me busy all night till right about now. 9 hrs into my shift, and getting a chance to sit down. I kinda like it, but not so good for the kid.

anyway, I'm far behind on my updates and photos.

will do asap. got tons from SLC, where we had a blast.
photos from Austin and my trip out to the BMH3 in The Woodlands (Houston, Tx)

and I still need to book tickets to Colorado for the marathon in Salida. where to fly into?

I think I'll fly in a few days early to try and acclimate! hahahahaha not that it will do much good.
running and drinking beer, that will be the plan in Colorado.

My contract in Texas is just about up, and it's back to the bay area for more work. Finally signed up for a full schedule for the month of March at LPCH, which should be some good dough. Much needed for my shopping habit. lol

signing up for the SF marathon in a couple days as well.

back to work. :D

Austin Marathon

couldn't get in, as it's sold out, as is the half. (for training purposes) hahahaha

went for drinks last night at Lovejoys with a co-worker and ran into Ass Gagger and Blos (colorado hasher) and we drank good and heavy. after which we grabbed some pizza and stumbled over to Mugshots for car bombs, tequila and PBR tall boys...as well as a photo booth shoot. hahaha

when he put on my female co-workers jacket and pranced/modeled around in it at Mugshots, that was f*cking hilarious.

long night, with harsh hangover. wtf?!?
but breakfast chilaquiles at Trudy's with some hair o' da dog made it all better.

time for a run

sprints

Not much time to run today, so went out and ran sprints around Oakwood Cemetary. :)

into the new house for the next month, and it's definitely a better place.

need to start planning trip to Salida for the marathon...at which I will probably puke and finish last. but what the hell. hahahaha

beer, pizza, hashers and adventure. what could be better.

Brass Monkey H3 - in the Woodlands

Well, screw it. I'm outta here. I was going to wait till tomorrow, but after the rousing fun we had with Net this morning, I'm all jacked up and ready to run.

so off to San Antonio for a run and some beer drinking.

meeting with KOA tomorrow afternoon.

Riding to Houston hopefully after that meeting.

BMH3 all weekend.

Sunday, ride home...maybe make the Austin H3.

Rock climbing, somewhere in there.

hahahaha

on on to another great weekend of ....uh...... training. :D

SLC rocks!!!....or should I say sucks?

First and foremost I have to say. stay away from salt lake city. don't go. it sucks. the snow sucks and the people suck. :D

with that said. I landed in SLC and we went straight to the climbing gym. for a couple hours of climbing and to meet some of Jaspers friends.

After climbing it was out for dinner at Bayou's where we drank a lot of beer, and had shots of scotch prior to arriving. Not sure why everyone always cries about the 3.2 % beer alcohol content...it's not per can, it's per volume, and at 6k plus elevation, you are still going to get drunk. besides, there is Jack and Jim to help out. And little known truth is that you can get normal beer at liquor stores...it's just not cold. Hell, I throw my beer in the fridge anyway.

After a long night at the W lounge where Jasper got hit on by 3 dudes. hahahahaha I blame the shirt, or maybe it was his leadville finisher buckle that brought them in. Later, the girls tried to say he wouldn't stand around in jock strap, boots, and belt buckle with pinstripe gay shirt...he did. at his house. disturbing is the only word I have for that. hahahahaha we watched some movies while in the hot tub, and finally passed out about 4:30am.

After not making our snow shoe race, which was only a 10 k in a golf course, we decided to one up it.

Went for a 7 mile snow shoe hike in Mill Creek Canyon. An ascent for the first 4 miles..and 2:40 later,we were back at the truck. some amazing views up in the mountains. I felt surprisingly well, seeing as how I'm from the flat lands, and here I was in the 7k ft elevation range. I have better than average hopes for Salida. We did manage to find some moose tracks. That was cool.

Afterwards, we hit the hot tub again, and drank more pbr's. We ended up at some bar for a long time, and then back to the house.

Sunday, a lazy morning, and then we snowboarded the afternoon at Brighton. Some sick times with light snow falling all afternoon.

Monday was supposed to be a half day, but then the girls called and said they'd pick me up at 9am for a full day of snowboarding. hahaha apparently, they didn't believe that I could keep going at their local pace.
Snowboarded all day, and got some cool action photos.
After which, we went to the climbing gym and rounded out the day with a long session of climbing, followed by dinner.

My flight was out on Tuesday morning.

Like I said, SLC sucked, don't go there, Brighton does not have good snow, etc. Pics to come. :D haha

SLC

here I come!!! time for some fun in Utah...is that an oxymoron? hahaha who knows.

flying out tomorrow after a few awesome days in the bay area. some fun last night at our motorcycle meet, saw a bunch of good friends. had a huge bike presence as the weather cleared up, and the streets dried up. lol yep, fair weather riders. pshhhh. it's ALWAYS riding weather. hahaha

one mishap on the way out, someone got frisky with the throttle making a right into the tunnel and highsided their bike into the tunnel. Hilarity ensued and he was fine. bike was rideable, in 1st gear, all the way home, no left side footpeg though, oil leaking from clutch master cylinder.

all in all a long night.

back with photos in a few days.

city bound

flying west to San Francisco, for some running in the rain. Sounds like they've been having a deluge over there. goodbye warm (62 deg) and clear days in Austin.....for a couple weeks anyway. :D

Salida, Co.

Salida marathon rego sent out. Yes, I upgraded from the half to the full. what the hell am I thinking?

fu brownie, fu. hahahahaha

Rain rain...so awesome.

Raining cats and dogs in Austin today. Pretty nice, especially since it isn't really freezing cold either.

decisions decisions. lol

The carbon based maternal unit is enroute to Austin, gonna hang out and catch up. Should be fun, having dinner tonight with some co-workers, and then a country drive tomorrow. Hope it clears up a bit.

race rego's

Sending out registration forms for hashes and races throughout.

Gonna try and do a couple of the warriordash events, even the one in Colorado, at the Copper Mtn Resort. :D

AFM Race license application is going out, and thinking I'll get my white plates this year.

BBQ

After a few errands and washing clothes, I decided to go out for a quick ride around the area. Decided that I wanted to try out a new BBQ joint in Lockhart. I've been here before, but it's been too long.

Kreuz Market (Since 1900) is one of the first ones you come across when you first roll into Lockhart from the North. Distinguishable by the huge red barn building that it is housed in.

This sign is particularly helpful. LOL

runnin...with the Austin H3

Running by the Capitol on 11th St.

Nice run to the start of the hash yesterday(about 2.5 miles), and then a good run through west Austin, (well, west of downtown). Not too bad, with the on after at the crown and anchor.

Good to see a bunch of people, and then ran home from their through the U.T. campus.

The sunset was nice, with the U.T. clocktower in the background. Some Hooters wings later, and all was right in the world. :D