Denver's Saturday Night at the Museum

Not a bad deal here: 12 museums, 3 free beers and a shuttle for free!

Ky and I met up with Jamie and Patrick to hit up a nice Cafe/Wine Bar called Metropolis http://www.metropolisdenver.com/locations.html

Warrior Dash

http://www.warriordash.com/register2010_rockies.php

Call me crazy if this doesn't sound like fun: A 3.4 mile race at Copper Mountain Ski Resort, Colorado. The gun goes off with 2 huge blasts of fire atop towering scafolding. You and 300 other people in your wave are off and running down the entry driveway to the mountain resort and come to the first of 12 obsticals in your path. You jump over 2 parked cars before making a turn up hill. You summit a inclined plywood wall, and then a 15' hay bail pyramid before manuvering through 50 pairs of tires. All that in the first 400', and since you started at roughly 9,000' elevation you are already out of breath. Prior to now as you stood in the start corral you couldnt understand why people were walking up the mountain face as they followed the zig zaging route. Now you know! Your blood is pumping with adrenaline and you gasp for oxygen. Of course you could have walked out of the gates, but Kylee and I stormed off like warriors in battle screaming "GET SOME" down the opening path. By the time we made it past the first 3 obsticles we had a pace set for others to follow..I was leading, My buddy Chris was 200m behind me and Kylee was about 100m behind him as we made our way up the mountain at roughly a 600ft elevation gain in less than a mile. By the time we got to the top Kylee had started to come into view on the switchbacks about 100m behind me and had moved up into 2nd place. Seeing this I knew I had to put some distance in between us so I bombed down the hill as if I were on wheels knowing that Kylee would be a little less conservative on her decent. At the bottom of the mountain there was a crude pond about 8" deep. I crawled in with one realization in mind, im going to get muddy! I had cought my breath for the most part on the downslope but viscuss mud will get you winded in no time... in this case about 50'. Soiled and winded I struggled to get up the 15' slippery incline keeping me from my next obsticle, the tubes.




25/5237 Dan Simpson 77305 29 M 9 25-29 25:31.10 7:48/M
58/5237 Kylee Schuler 77067 24 F 2 20-24 27:08.15 8:18/M

Roadtrip of a Lifetime

June 17-21, 2010.

I am fully convinced Colorado is a dreamland.

Dan and I set off to go on a 4.5 day road trip to various destinations in Southern Colorado and Eastern Utah armed with the America The Beautiful National Parks Annual Pass. Little did I know, that for me, this would be a road trip of a lifetime.

We left on a Thursday night and headed for Colorado Springs, CO to set up camp at a KOA for the night so that we could have a full day on Friday. I had never been to 'The Springs' except for the Air Force Academy, so it was nice to check it out a bit. One of the themes of this trip was breweries, so we broke out my Brewery Map of Colorado (yes, they make those), and made it in to Trinity Brewing Co. as well as Phantom Canyon Brewing Companies before they closed their doors. With close to 120 breweries in Colorado, it is interesting to check out the different beer selections, as well as hear the stories as to how the breweries got started! Checking out different breweries is a hobby, not an addiction.

After a night filled with train noises and an early morning exploratory run, we headed out towards our first national park: Great Sand Dunes. If you have never been to Great Sand Dunes National Park, you must add this one to your list. It is seriously one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Here you are driving along, with a 14,000 ft mountain to your right and all of a sudden, boom! There is a gigantic sand field right in the Rockies, with dunes as high as mountains. As you approach the main sand dune area, there is an area where run-off from the mountains pools in the sand. A perfect opportunity for sand castles, or a great breeding ground for mosquitoes. Dan and I set out to hike to the top of the dunes, which are deceivingly high! But as we crossed the stream and started climbing, we were pelted by high winds and sand blown in the face. It was like getting a facial, but not nearly as relaxing. New plan, head part way up and jump off some of the smaller dunes to get some quality pictures. As we continued to get blasted, I realized that I cant jump worth anything, and Dan (pole vaulter extraordinaire) made me look like an amateur (although it was funny to see him get sand in the face and pretty much everywhere else sand can go). We hung out for a few, but didnt stick around too long. This trip was not about lounging around and was not for the lazy types. As we drove away, we noticed a huge forest fire had started in the background, but decided to detour anyways to take a short hike to Zapata Falls. We reached the falls after a half a mile hike with no problem, but could not really see them unless we navigated our way up the crevasse and waded into fast flowing 20 degree icy snow melt waters. I headed in to take some pictures, while Dan stayed back with a case of frozen foot.

From the Great Sand Dunes, we decided to alter our plans and make camp in Durango, CO. We stopped at a nice little place tucked back in the woods called Lightner Creek Campground. Although it didn't look to be all that spectacular, at least there were no trains around. Dan and I hit up a nice little brewery called Durango Brewing Company---where I had a great blueberry wheat with real blueberries in the bottom. We headed back to camp and got some shut eye---awakened to very cold temps (for the summer) and both headed out on a brisk and beautifully 6 mile run through the wooded surroundings at 9000 feet.

After a quick shower and loading of the car, we headed toward Four Corners USA, the only place in the US where four states touch (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah). I made state name signs, while Dan drove miles upon end. We reached the four corners site, but to our dismay, it was not what we expected. The area was run down and supposedly under construction (I hope so). It looked as though a hurricane had passed through and destroyed the area. We took some sweet pictures which incorporated our B-plan with the signs and then quickly left, heading for Utah toward Capitol Reef National Park.

Our drive towards Capitol Reef opened my eyes to the terrain in Utah---red rocks, desert-like conditions, and not much civilization. In fact, there was one stretch where Dan and I drove for 120+ miles without seeing even a gas station (watch your gas, keep it above half way if you can). About 30 minutes from the park, we stopped at a random convenience grocery store for some food, and continued the trek onward. We reached Capitol Reef hoping to make camping reservations for the evening. Unfortunately, we failed to realize that this was a weekend day, and it would be hard to get a camping spot even weeks in advance. We made the choice to see Capitol Reef in a few short hours and then would have to head 1.5 hours toward our next park and closest town adding on to the driving for the day. Capitol reef proved to be smaller than we thought, as we hiked to the sunset point, saw the petroglyphs, and did a four mile hike around to pretty much see most of the park. We headed out early evening, satisfied by what we had seen, and made our way to a random area in the middle of no where called Green River. Luckily, we hit the jackpot, and there was a campsite available at the Green River Campground, more like a community park, than a campground but oh well! We had a great dinner with some Luna de Luna wine and naturally decided to do a little exploring. We took an evening stroll to the actual Green River and down the road toward town where we found a local street carnival going on, which turned out to be more of a high school rage than anything. I hadn't been to a carnival in years, but no joke, this thing was one of the worst I have ever seen. haha. Oh well, it was fun to people watch and watching Dan try to take a short cut and almost end up falling in a water channel that he thought was dried up.

The next day, Dan and I were eager to get to Arches National Park, so we headed out bright and early, and successfully, bright and early. Dan absolutely loves Arches and could not stop talking about it until we finally reached the place. I was awestruck at the beauty of the park and could see why it was considered Dan's favorite. Since we had to spread our time between Arches and Canyonlands, we made our way to Dan's favorite arches, balanced rock, delicate, and window. Two of the arches required decent hikes, and with desert conditions, which we naturally ran, leaving me parched, but it was totally worth it.

Following the arch sightings, we headed to Canyonlands National Park---a little over an hour away. Dan had never been here, so we were anxious to compare it to Arches. The park proved to be beautiful with it's vast canyon system that looked like it would continue on forever. We saw the park pretty quickly and following my episode of sitting on a cactus, we decided to head back to Moab for dinner and to set up camp. Canyonlands, although a spectacular place, was not nearly as beautiful as Arches in my opinion.

We made our way back through Moab and set up our dusty camp at the KOA on the outskirts of town. Unfortunately, the place reeked of trash and it was hard to keep the tent down because of the dust and 40 mph winds, but at least the showers were first class! We grabbed a bite to eat at the Moab Brewery, I got an awesome commemorative glass, and we walked downtown Moab for a bit. The downtown reminded me of a smaller Boulder, and had a great, friendly vibe to it.

After a windy, slightly uncomfortable night of sleep, we packed up and headed out on our trek back to Boulder. At this point, I was doing everything possible to keep Dan awake, since he had been doing all the driving (I can't drive stick), so we decided to make a stop at Colorado National Monument Park. We got to use our parks pass again (a plus) and surprisingly, this place was beautiful, with it's tree and rock formations. We took a bunch of great pictures, and headed out. A pit stop or two later in the mountains off I-70, we finally made it back to Boulder, CO. Exhausted, but totally worth it. Never in my life, had I been on a trip like the one I had just experienced. It was a great feeling, and even more gratifying to know that I had done it with my best friend.

4.5 days. 1300 miles. 5 national parks later.

Bolder Boulder 10K

Memorial Day:

When I originally heard about this race and how many people it draws I thought it was going to be a shit show. I mean it cant be easy to organize such an event. However the more and more I heard people talking about it, it turned into a must attend event, and im so glad that I did it.

On Sunday the night before the race I volunteered and helped set up the start line and sound system. It was a little labor intensive moving huge speakers and taking a ride on one of the sketchiest scissor lifts ever in order to get those speakers up on top of the towering scaffolding. All this to earn free entry into the race.

Since I dont have a huge history of road racing, I didnt have a qualifying time to get me into a qualifying wave. To be honest, I did the 2000 Fathers Day 5k in Rochester, the 2008 Montclair 5k and a few sprint triathlons and thats about it! The rest are track meets where I pole vaulted. That's how new I am to racing. That aside I was extremely excited to make my 10k debut and get a time on the board to work off of.

Race Day morning:

I got out to the start line, which is conveniently located less then a block from my house, @6:30 to watch the starting waves and to try to get pictures of Emma and Kylee in the seeded waves A and AA. It was a mad house, I didnt see anyone I knew. They announced that @56,000 runners had signed up for the race, a record year.

There were a few logistical issues that needed to be worked out. First off, I wanted my camera with me at the finish, and Kylee needed her keys in order to grab her car and hit up the post race parties. So, I waited in the mobile locker line for about 30 mins to check the gear that would be transported for me to her at the finish line. Little did I know that they wouldnt even allow her to pick it up even though it was in her name and bib number.

After about an hour of waves going off every 5 mins, It was my turn. I had a short 10 min warm up and stretch and then waited in the mass of bodies for about 20, so that was somewhat useless. I was a little nervous but had rehearsed the race (riding it on my bike a week earlier) and felt rested and ready.

Joining me in my wave was the Denver Nuggets Mascot and 2 CU grads in their cap and gowns. There were a lot of people dressed up and for the most part it was more of a party then an actual race.

The start was announced by bugle and gun and like fox hounds, we were off! The first mile was downhill and it didnt take me more then 800m to catch up with the slower runners from the sequential wave. I started weaving and cutting in wherever I could, aided by a group of polished shirtless runners who lead the way.

At @2 miles was the first water station, I didnt drink but I lost my pack of guys in the mass of people and I was going to have to break through on my own from there. The side lines were strune with fans offering everything from Bacon and Doughnuts to Beer and tots. There was Elvis and other live bands belting out fantastic classic tunes. You couldnt help but feed off all that energy and march on. The Colfax Marathon Relay was sort of like this but not at this magnitude. I mean they had slip and slides, sprinklers, and kiddy pools for those who needed to cool off (Scott took a dive).

My goal for half the race was actually to try to catch up to Chris who was in the first of the G waves (about 15 mins ahead). Mile three down 19th street was my favorite but then getting into all the following turns, the crowd started to bottle neck and I got slowed down considerably. I then heard this pick up line from a hs cheerleader..."how long have you been modeling?" Mile 4 concluded at the course's highest elevation and my plan was to take off at that point. I didnt really reach that point with as much energy as I thought I would have left and I was about 1 min off pace already. I did pick it up coming down the hill but once again with the turns near Pearl St., the crowd began to bottle neck. On top of that we were nearing the later parts of the race an more and more people began walking and not keeping to the sides, nor single file. Yea its safe to say that I worked for my finish time.

Folsom street was inspirational, I started passing out high fives and it really did increase my energy. With the stadium in sight I tried to open up my stride as much as possible, but all the weaving didnt really help. When I got into the stadium there was a huge roar but also familiar voices from the stands. Kylee and Scott were there and I threw up a quick gang sign before turning on the after burners and beating as many 11 yr olds to the finish as possible. They are going to need to get used to disappointment.

Post finish I was happy with my effort, not so much the time but I know I could have at least matched my goal and will definitely get it next time out. By far that was the most fun race I've ever experienced! We were corralled up the hill to tag drop off and snack pack pick up. I downed about 4 cups of water and then walked around for 20 mins looking for any familiar faces, it was a mad house at CU's Folsom Stadium. It reminded me of Penn Relays.

Here are the results:

Dan
Wave: GL
overall place:
1280
division place:
38/481
gender place:
1131/22554
00:43:15.82

*I had passed over 600 people in 6.2 miles and still broke 45 mins.

Kylee
Wave: AA
overall place:
691
division place:
1/686
gender place:
58/26494
time:00:40:47.21

The post race party included a BBQ picnic at Emma's where we had a reunion of the Colfax Marathon Relay team D.I.R.T. that lasted into the night. I survived my first 10k and plan on getting into the seeded waves next year and bettering my time.

Colfax Marathon Relay

http://www.coloradocolfaxmarathon.org/

http://www.coloradocolfaxmarathon.org/CharityPartners/CharityPartnersProgram.aspx

Colfax Marathon Relay D.I.R.T
Got up @5 after not getting much sleep. I guess I was anxious for my first road race in 2 years (not counting Triathlons). I had a bowl of oat meal and a banana for breakfast.

Left the house in Boulder for Denver at 5:45 to drop Emma and Kylee (leg 3 and leg 5) off at their respectable transition zones.

The marathon started with Chris as lead off (3.8 miles) at 6:05am. He made sure to get there early and was rewarded with a great front of the pack starting spot with the 7 min mile pace racers and was accompanied by Full, half and Relay loonies.

Soon after the start I arrived at my T zone which I thought was probably the coolest one. We had 2 live bands playing and a guy in a gorilla suit running around.

Chris handed off to Scott for the 2nd leg of 5 miles after 26 mins of glory and as one of the top 10 teams. Scott had a boring straight shot down Colfax Ave., but wasted no time in collecting colored bib numbers and improved our positioning, set the tone of D.I.R.T with his 33min shift. So fast in fact that Emma was not even ready. She was expecting him 10 mins later and didnt have time to warm up let alone get her warm ups off to show her unique uniform. She jumped to the line and sped away under stress. When she passed my transition zone I hardly recognized her because I was looking for her in blue. We call her leg "incognito" since she passed 2 more teams that didnt even know she was a relay runner (due to the hidden bib number and D.I.R.T uniform). Emma had a leg that would choke a pack mule..7.4 miles out and back with about a 300ft elevation gain. Poor planning by the race committee on that one. Miraculously though she was able to finish in just 47 mins, right on the time I was expecting her.

It was hard for me to see the runners since they had to come into a parking lot to reach the transition. I waited at the road and then ran back to the arch when I saw her. The plan was to hand her the keys to the truck and for her to trade me with a watch (somehow I forgot my watch at home, huge freshman mistake), and I was also supposed to tell her where the truck was while I stomped down on my way. I pretty much went out at the same pace that Emma came in, which was 6:30-7:00 min pace approx.
It was a smooth transition and Scott actually could have been there for it but the race officials told him to walk the wrong way to catch the bus back to the start/finish at City Park.

I passed 2 full marathon runners in the first mile and held one of them off until the conclusion of the second. This is where my calf tightened up and pretty much shut down. My shins also locked up and I ran in the grass for a bit to see if that would help. Leg 4 was included a majestic lake (Sloans Lake) where I could see the next leading relay team of women (I really wanted to pass this team-Team Boulder Express), but she was half way around the lake, and I had no concept of pace or time, so I kept it conservative for probably longer then I should have. I ran from mile 18 to 21, the point in the race that kills the full marathoners, I passed 2 more who just about had it. However with a mile to go I planned on kicking some Lycra and striding out to the finish. I was hindered at that point by a hill that pretty much broke my stride and made me second guess how much I had left in me. The view of Mile High Stadium and the Aquarium summoned what im good at.. kicking a great finish. I guess it didnt hurt that it was mainly downhill either. I passed a member of the Denver Road Runners. 4.7 miles never felt so long!

I saw Kylee rearing to go, I guess after a 2 hour wait you would be that ready too. Not knowing my time exactly but I knew we were still on pace for our goal time of breaking 3 hours. I high fived our anchor leg and she was off after handing me her bag of warm up gear. The Marathon started at 41* but by this time the sun was high (only about 8am still) and more like 46*. Kylee had a smooth 5.3 mile journey about downtown Denver. She got to see all the sights.. city hall, Broadway, and some really sketch areas of dead quiet. What she didnt notice (and what we found out later) was she ran through a gas leak that later on at 9am the fire fighters were called to action for. Race officials were faced with a decision to either let the racers run through it, or divert and add to the course at mile 22. They decided to put the racers in danger. Kylee gunned down an impressive 31 min leg, passing 2 relay teams and finishing us up with a time of 3:54!! Go D.I.R.T!!

Emma picked me up at the Aquarium and we all met up at city park for some BBQ, free beer, energy drinks and good times. For a few of the members of the team this would be the first time they would meet, knowing only that they wore the same shirt. Its great when running can bring people together.

In all the organization of the event wasnt the best and the Colfax course takes a lot of imagination to battle though (pretty boring).

We placed 6th of all 450 relay teams and 1st of 150 teams in the Co-ed/Charity division. We received the great honor of the Colfax cup with a pair of complimentary Native Shades for each member. I want to extend my gratitude to all the volunteers, including the nice old couple at mile 20 that took it upon themselves to set up and fund their own water station. And to the team for getting the job done and coming away with our goal realized and a well deserved win. See ya'll next year when we defend our title, and better our time.

Cub Lake RMNP

The Surprise:

Denver Zoo

http://www.denverzoo.org/


giraffes tongues
camera skills
cold day
Great Divide Brewing http://www.greatdivide.com/