February

Here are February's running highlights.

Feb. 1: Took the day off work and ran the Horsetooth Reservoir Circumnavigation with Ean.  22 miles, nice day, last long training run for Moab.

Feb. 3: Snow Day!!! No school.  Went for a snowshoe run in Pineridge with Ean and Maddie on skis.

Feb. 4: Scott and Celeste's Human Powered Brewery Tour.  7 Breweries, lots of friends, beer, costumes (I represented Team Ireland and took home a medal) , and good times.  I ran home too giving me 15 miles for the day.

Feb. 5: Tortoise and Hare 8K in 33:03- not too bad.

Feb. 8: Went to Boulder for a Bolder Boulder 10K Middle School Challenge coaches meeting and got in to town early enough to take my first run on Green.  Gave me the chance to test my new Microspikes that I bought for the Vail Uphill at the Teva Winter Mountain Games.  Ran out of time and had to turn back before reaching the summit.  Wow, that is quite a hill.  Can't wait to go back and run the whole thing.

Feb. 9: Towers in ridiculous snow conditions.  Took me an hour to get to the top and I was working for it.

Feb. 10: Drove to Vail after work with snow falling over Vail Pass.  It was 10:00 pm before I realized I hadn't gone for a run yet.  After 126 days, I couldn't let the streak go, so I put on running clothes, ignored Celeste's disapproving remarks and headed out in to the snow for a run.

Feb. 11: Teva Winter Mountain Games 10K Snowshoe Race.  Fun race at night on the Vail slopes with a few good climbs and mostly groomed trails.  Took me 1:07:48 (I missed 3rd in my age group by 16 seconds)  Ean finished strong soon behind me.  Micah raced the 5K, did awesome and came home with the gold medal for 1st place in the 19 and under age group.

Our gang at the TWMG- Maddie and Celeste are about to compete in the Boot Run

Feb 12:  Teva Winter Mountain Games Vail Hill Climb.  Course went straight up the mountain from Golden Peak to Eagle's Nest 2400+ feet of climbing in 2 miles.  This race was a lot of fun.  Racers wore snowshoes, skis, and shoes with traction.  I was happy with the Microspikes and I ended up getting to the top faster than I expected- 47:15 (I was thinking it might take and hour).

We love the Teva Mountain Games in June and a year always seems to long to wait for the one.  The winter edition has solved that.  We had a great weekend playing in the snow.  Ean has a complete slide show here.

Scott, Chris and I -- ready to run up the mountain at the Vail Hill Climb

Feb. 18: Moab Red Hot 55K.  This was my 4th time running this race and once again, I went out fast, ran great for the first 20 miles and then struggled through the final 13 miles of slickrock.  I didn't run as fast as I had hoped to, but it was my fastest time on this course by just under a minute.  Pete had a fantastic race with another big PR finishing 5th overall.  The race of the day in my opinion went to my amazing wife who ran her longest race ever, ran faster than predicted and finished with a smile.  There were 40+  from the FoCo/Boulder crowd and we had a great time running together in the desert.

Maddie runs Ean in to the finish at the Red Hot 55K

Feb. 24: Run to Work Day- organized by FCTR Shannon Price.  I ran to work and then ran home.  I decided to make this a weekly thing.

Feb. 25:  Twin Mountain Trudge was postponed to the following due to severe winds and dangerous road conditions, so I joined Nick, Scott, Sarah, Brian S., and Kyle for two loops of the Bacon Strip 10 mile course.  Fun run on the rolling dirt roads east of I25, keeping up a steady 8 min/mile pace.  Definitely not the trudge, but a good run.

Feb. 28:  Ran to work via the longer route through Rolland Moore Park.  Ran home the long route through Maxwell to make cake and birthday dinner for Micah's 15th birthday.

Feb. 29:  Rode to school then ran home through Maxwell, up to the A, south on Centennial to Piano Boulders then down to Pineridge and home.  Beautiful day- felt like spring - made up the run as I went 9 miles with some climbing.



All in all a good month with 240 miles of running with 21,000 feet of vertical.

My goals for March are to run 400 miles with lots of vertical and post to the blog daily (for you Kyle).

Days are getting longer, weather is getting warmer and spring break is just over a week away.