Coming Up for Air

So let's get caught up here a bit on some lingering laundry.  This past couple months has been a bit of a kick in the pants - not in a majorly severe sort of way, but more like - "Can I buy a break here for a minute?" kind of way.  The whole deal with Kathleen having Graves has been, and probably will be from time to time, a setback for our "normal" lifestyle.  I think we will manage that fine and do whatever it takes to keep her leveled out.  To add insult to our already peachy Spring fun, I found a tumor on my chest May 12.  Just so no one hyperventilates prematurely, you're stuck with me.  (I will also warn you ahead of time that there is a potentially gross photograph somewhere in this post...)

Anyway, I did the rational, well adjusted, emotionally stable thing and started going through the checklist of all the heinous scenarios represented by this little ball of unwelcomed joy residing without request on my chest - typical reaction for a sane adult I'm sure.  But, it gets even better than that, when the doc says "blah, blah ... family history of breast cancer, blah, blah...  you get to go have a mammogram and ultrasound ...blah, blah".  What????????????  Guys don't have that stuff done???????????    So on the 23rd, I'm getting smashed, poked, prodded, and ultrasounded (yeah, it's a word if you're playing Scrabble with me)  Next stop on this parade is the surgeon - May 23 I get a nice 2 cm cut in the chest and he "pops out" this guy through the nice little hole:

Say Hello to my Little Friend

I named it Elvis, by the way - and it has left the building.  And the surgeon didn't flinch when I asked him to have the nurse take a pic with my phone before my pal got shipped off to the laboratory.  I wanted the jar on the mantle but he wouldn't go for that....  So to get on with this before you go read something interesting, stitches are now long gone, Graceland is healing fine, and pathology is GOOD - nothing bad, nothing close to bad, just a "plain old Lipoma, or fatty tumor"  in his words.  Back in business and time to COME.UP.FOR.AIR. !!!!!!!!!!!!!  So it is now time for summer FUN.  And no doctors offices.  And more trails. LOTS of trails.  In the mountains.  Including pictures of said trails.  Is that OK???  And if you ever need advice on running 19 miles on trails with a Nathan pack and stitches in your chest 3 days after surgery, drop me a line.  Just don't tell your surgeon - they get a little weird about that.  :)

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So after all that "fun" was behind us, we had family travels to get after.  Kathleen's dad got married Saturday in Iowa, so we had some road trip activity this week.  Sweltering, steamy hot back there in Iowa - you people that run in that slimy humidity in summer deserve some props - I will take altitude and lots of hills over that.  Got in a 9 and 13 mile run (K felt good and got in 9 and 9 - woo-hoo) while there but no pics.  Kind of weird, too, to be getting ready for a parent's marriage...  If you have read our blog for more than a few days, you may remember that Kathleen lost her mom to a long battle with cancer last year.  It just so happened that dad met a lady in his town who had lost her husband to ALS two years back.  So they had some things in common right off with watching their spouse be stripped of life by heinous diseases.  One thing led to another, and they decided they did not want to be lonely, so at the tender young age of 70, dad is now married again.  We liked the analogy their pastor used - that they both have been through a  long season of winter and now it is a new season of spring and renewed life. We had spent a wee bit of time with the new bride back in the fall when we were on an emergency visit after an operation landed dad in the hospital.  We spent as much time as we could with her this week as well and could not have picked a better person.  We are so happy that they found each other and wish them many years of health and happiness together.  There was also lots of fun family time with K's brother, sister, spouses, and kiddos (and met the new 'family' who all seem real and nice).  We are thankful everyone gets along well and we all had a great time together.

Happy Trails incognito ~ Photo op with the new bride!  
Hanging out at dad's house before the wedding 

So now we're looking to get back in the saddle with some good old trail running.  Hopefully we'll be back on track with scenic trail photos next week. Summer is here and it's time to get after it!  Happy Trails!

Where to begin...?

It has been a while since there was a sighting on this blog.  If I had a good place to begin, I would have posted earlier, but real life has conspired heavily against trail life for the past month.  First off, Kathleen is not running much.  Kind of a mystery as there was no injury,  doesn't seem running induced, but something structural going on that has caused most runs to come to a halt prematurely.  The past two weeks, she hasn't been able to go more than 4 miles.  So our chiropractor thinks he is on to something but it is frustrating for her because she feels her fitness, and the awesome fall weather, slipping away. So I have been doing long runs solo, which I don't like.  After all, we got into biking and running to share outdoor time together....

Garden of the Gods beauty

So two weekends ago got in an 18 miler, starting in Ute Valley Park with Kathleen, then ran over to Garden of the Gods for a couple loops and home.  It was a great run and it was cool to link multiple areas together.  Six months ago, I would not have thought of running to GOG and then running loops - normally we drive to the visitor's center.  Long runs that cover seemingly disconnected areas open up your mind to the freedom that long distance running affords you.  It was cool.

18 miles, 2550' elevation gain

Shoes - Pearl Izumi SyncroFuel XC

Remember me???

So you remember Yogi  from our Limbaugh Canyon run?  Well, he has been busy.  My sister's boss called her that Tuesday morning and said, "Hey, your brother's bear is on my patio looking in the window..."  Since when is he my bear?  Then our friend Jon, who lives adjacent to the park where we saw him, sends this photo that his neighbor took.  Sir Yogi allowed himself into the garage, found some snacks, and headed out to the driveway to eat...  

Stable Road - USAFA

 Kathleen's fine Italian bike slippers!

So Kathleen has been experimenting on the mountain bike to see if she can tolerate longer rides while we figure out her musculoskeletal issue.  Not to worry, we have MORE than enough places to ride!!  She took a nice Monday mountain bike ride two weeks ago over to the Air Force Academy.  Fall colors really starting to show, which makes everything more scenic!  She was able to ride 28 miles and enjoy some great Colorado fall warmth!

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Next up on real world distractions, on September 15 we get a call that Kathleen's dad is on a helicopter to Sioux City and they don't think he'll survive the flight.  Massive aneurysm on his Aorta.  A normal aorta is 2.5 cm, at 5 cm it is considered life threatening and warrants emergency surgery.  His was 22.5 cm - WOW!  Long story short, he survived a risky surgery, which was a miracle.  So we were off to Iowa when he got out of the hospital. 

 The only game in town

So not much to choose from for trail running in this little Iowa town, if you recall from past visits.  Made use of the Puddle Jumper "trail" and a bunch of asphalt, but managed an 11 miler and a 7 miler while we were there.  We also did tractor duty - each of us on a riding mower, drag racing to get  the 2 acre lawn at dad's house mowed - cross training, right? We drove back home from Iowa Tuesday and were glad to be back in Colorado.

 Ridge trail, looking over to the bluffs of Ute Valley Park

 Fall colors in Ute

Saturday morning, headed over to Ute Valley Park for some cool trail running weather.  Gone are our unseasonable 80 degree days, replaced by 46 degree start and warming into the upper 50's.  But it is still good (and it beats snow...)

 Trickle of stream left

 Favorite arch

 Pikes Peak - snow from Thursday melted

 Fall is in full swing

 Trail through the trees

It was a great day to be out running.  I was able to get in 11 miles and had some kinks to work out of the legs from the two 12 hour driving days on our trip.  Once the legs got turning over though, it was good to be on familiar trails and getting into a comfortable rhythm.  Maybe Happy Trails are returning....

11 miles, 1600' elevation gain

Shoes - Pearl Izumi SyncroFuel XC

Shoe Love

I don't normally give much in the way of shoe reviews, but wanted to give a shout out to Pearl Izumi's SyncroFuel XC.  I have crappy feet.  There, I said it.  So what works for me may or may not work for anyone else.  But this shoe has a little for everyone.  I started with the green pair and they have worked so well, I welcomed the red pair out on their maiden run today.  The shoe is fairly light (sub 11 ounces in 9.5) but does not suffer from a lack of stability on the trails.  These have been on some gnarly terrain and are rock solid.  There is a slight amount of stability added for minimal pronation control, which is perfect for me.  The seamless upper is a dream - these puppies feel like your favorite slipper when you put them on.  NO hot spots from day one, and the upper conforms to your foot immediately.  This means the shoe will fit a variety of shapes of feet, and it also has an open toe box to allow your piggies some freedom when they start to swell.  I have only found a couple minor things I would change.  The outsole is a bit lacking in traction on loose surfaces, so they require a little care on steep downs or ups when loose surface is present.  I know most companies are going away from this, but I also would not mind a little forefoot rock protection in the midsole.  All told, a great shoe in my book.  Best I have run in in a couple years.

Road trip!

Act One

We had some time off from work and hit the road for some summer down time last week. We shuffled our recreational plans a bit to make a "quick" dash over to Iowa to visit Kathleen's folks. Kathleen's mom is battling cancer and was just home from a third operation in a year. Not fun. But we had a good visit and got to spend a little time with her brother, sister in law and the two nieces.

Here we are enjoying some nasty ice cream goodies.

If you are ever in Sheldon, Iowa you must visit Dairy Dandy. They have some spectacular ice cream and make a wicked chili dog - available in regular or foot-long depending on your running/caloric intake needs!!!

When you have ice cream, you must balance it out - right?!?!

The ONLY trail in the surrounding area - the Puddle Jumper. Two miles of dirt oasis in the middle of farmland USA. We sometimes take our plethora of public access land in Colorado for granted.

Finishing a run with two things we are not accustomed to - Oxygen (good) and humidity (bad)!
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Act Two

After spending some time with the family, we headed out on the highway for some down time in the mountains. Fourteen hours in the car, touching 5 states and we were ready to be rid of driving for a while. However, that little trip landed us in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, one of our favorite mountain towns. We headed up Rabbit Ears Pass in the morning to catch some trail on the Continental Divide.

Wildflowers galore and the Rabbit Ears - remnants of a volcanic plug on the Divide.

We ran parts of the Wyoming Trail and Base Camp Trail, both are on the Continental Divide Trail route. Both are also part of the Run Rabbit Run 50 mile race - anyone interested in that would have some unreal scenery to distract you from the elevation gain and lack of oxygen! We have biked or run most of the route at different times and it is a whale of a course.

Steve on one of the smoother sections of the Wyoming trail.

Fishhook Lake - unspoiled, high alpine beauty!

Kathleen on a more "rustic" piece of trail coming to a water crossing.

Stopping for a quick group photo at Lost Lake.

Another view of Lost Lake - of course, we found it!

Amazing wildflowers still going strong in August!

High alpine meadow surrounding Dumont Lake - closest Lake to the pass. We ended up with a 13 mile run and some great scenic memories - we will be back to explore more on the pass.

Mr J from Montana.

We met J while we were out on the run - he is through hiking the Continental Divide Trail this summer from Encampment Wyoming down to Mexico. Steamboat was his resupply and "connect to civilization" spot for the week, so we gave him a lift back down to town, showed him where the post office was and dropped him off at the library to do some email. Good luck on your hike!

Stay Tuned ... To Be Continued ...

Iowa trail running???!!!

This past week, we loaded up Sage in the truck and headed off to northwestern Iowa to visit my family (Kathleen's). My mom was recently diagnosed with appendix cancer, a vicious and little known cancer. Mom had a related major surgery about 4 weeks ago and will have another, what some people have described as M.O.A.S. (Mother of All Surgeries), the first part of November. She is feeling good so we wanted to spend some fun time with everybody before that surgery comes around. Of course we packed our running shoes intending to check out all the trails that had to weave in and around the corn and soybean fields. We Googled trails in their area and found one (ONE??????????????? How is that even survivable????????? We are so spoiled!) - the mighty Puddle Jumper Trail. It was, ahem, a 2 mile long flat gravel path that travelled between the corn and soybean fields. Seriously, though, it was a very lovely trail and we were thankful it was available for our perusal!
One of the trailheads started through this beautiful canopy of big, shady trees. After this canopy, it was out in the open bordering the corn and soybean fields. I thought the soybean fields were particularly beautiful. Everything was so green and lush compared to our dry and dusty high desert of Colorado. It was refreshing to see the green and a reminder of how dry our climate really is in Colorado. Sometimes we forget.
Did I mention we had oxygen??? We haven't been at low altitude in years. Orange City, IA sits at 1400 feet above sea level. Our house in Colorado sits at 6800 feet above sea level and we frequently go above 9000 when we head to the mountains to run, bike, and snowshoe. Coupled with the FLAT Puddle Jumper, we eeked out our fastest run average EVER!!! Even pushing it, we weren't out of breath - our problem was that our legs didn't know how to go fast!!! :-) Weird. Flat, fast, and extra oxygen - what more could we ask for? It was fun!
Here I am with our two nieces, Heidi and Gracie. We are sitting in the dark on Mom and Dad's back porch watching the fire flies. Very cool. You can see Sage peeking out from behind the girls on the bench - she didn't want to be left out! We enjoyed our wonderful visit to the beautiful (and green) state of Iowa. The endless rolling hills of tall corn stalks and the lushness of the soybeans, although not our beloved Rocky Mountains, certainly have their own refreshing magnificence. It was great to see Mom feeling well and preparing for her M.O.A.S., Dad doing well, and visit with my brother, his wife, and our sweet nieces. And don't forget, getting to sample the mighty Puddle Jumper - it made for a blessed and memorable few days!