You pick the winner

Shawarmas and night running

Today started out every bit as dreary as the past two have been, but then around noon time our famous Colorado sun came out to and allowed us to play. Chris Lieto flew into town for a 3D bike fit with Todd Carver today at our Retül studio in Boulder and after three hours of fitting with his Trek TTX and Madone 5.5, it was time to show him Flatiron's outdoor heated pool. By chance, Dave Scott was catching some rays and hitting the laps hard, and assigned he and Chris a 20x100 set. I did my thing, which usually consists of a mixture of 100 and 200 IM's. We were budgeting our time as Chris needed to get out to the airport to catch his afternoon flight but once they had completed their set, Franko showed up with video camera and me, Laura Tingle, Dennis Meeker and Lieto all raced a 50 freestyle to cap it off. I'll let the suspense build as to who won this hotly contested race, but to find out the winner, check over at the new Retül blog later this week (http://retul.blogspot.com).

The days continue to get lighter but I was on grocery duty tonight, so after Emily and Thor got back from a short run, I took off for an out and back on the Wonderland trail. I truly love doing this one in pitch black and letting my eyes adjust to the dark. Once that happens, it's like running in the middle of the day. Well, except all other senses are also on high alert. We've had a few mountain lion spottings in North Boulder lately so I made sure to run on the crunchy part of the trails and not the packed down snow, but if a hungry cat was out there preying I'm sure that wouldn't have stop it from striking. Running at night usually also motivates me to work in a series of harder intervals too (pretending to run away from mountain critters, etc).

We capped the night off with our most recent favorite meal, shawarmas! Growing up in Saudi Arabia, my parents would always treat us to chicken shawarmas in Khobar on the weekends after baseball games or even during the week in the neighboring town of Rahyimah. In fact, Em and I are looking into a reunion trip of sorts back to Saudi early in March so I can try to explain to her a bit more in depth as to why I am the way I am:) All kidding aside, my best friends from childhood, the Benchich brother's will be going back as well, so we are looking to take a trip down memory lane!

more snow

lots of running this weekend since we've been getting a nice dumping of snow and i couldn't get myself to hop onto the trainer. instead ran a 4-mile XC race, 1 hr afternoon recovery run, and a long run today.

i've been sitting on the downstairs couch watching cycling and flipping through a few movies on the boob tube since my day started early. Em is upstairs doing a yoga program on the tv (it's hard...i tried it yesterday).

a 1.5 hour run this morning over in south Boulder, on the trails i ran at lunchtimes when i worked for Inside Tri, and then Em & i swam at Jane Scott's 10AM sunday master's class at Flatirons. it's always surreal swimming outdoors while getting snowed on with only a few feet visibility. the main reason i'm motivated to get through these 1.5 hour sunday swims is our habitual stop to boulder's best eatery, Big Daddy's Bagels!

trying to be a runner

this morning i tested my running mettle and entered the Fast & Flurry-ous 4-miler at Harlow Platts Park in South Boulder. i figured i needed some work on my high end and what better way than to enter a running race against real runners.

a few negative observations first:
- at 180 lbs, i usually have a 30 lb weight disadvantage over the others on the starting line. in other words, i always joke that i could eat my fellow competitors (see the above pic from Laguna Phuket 6k fun run to see what i mean!). i shadowed the Thai guy in the Herbalife jersey for the first 2k and finally went around him when i concluded he was not providing even the slightest draft for me.

- the course was three loops with lots of twists, turns, ducking under trees, dancing over roots, climbing up short steep hills, and was 90% on grass and dirt. this meant, i had to be nimble and agile, again, a disadvantage against the 130 lb wafers (competitors)

a few positives:
- no pressure. it was a good test of fitness and not knowing or caring who the competition was meant i could run my own race and see how i ended up

- 25 degrees-F at the start which meant there would be no chance of overheating (even wearing a stocking cap, gloves, and shorts)

- racing on grass meant i raced in spikes for the first time since '02 when i ran St. Olaf Cross Country my senior year of college

- free winter stocking cap for signing up (a real runners kind from Boulder Running Co)

- listening to JP Henry scream out "Warrior Power" seconds before the race start on the start line brought back memories of high school and college races. NICE, JP!

- having a cheering squad: Emmy and the two pups.

- only getting passed by one person, Darin DeRueck (yeah, i know he's 40-somethin'...but he gets faster as the race goes on)

- passing four runners who went out to fast and moving up from 18th or 19th or so into the top 15

- all the pain was over in less than 25 minutes (22:50 was my watch time). i haven't worked that out yet but it should be 5:43 or 5:44 pace per mile.

- watching Thor almost chew off Colleen DeRueck's baby girl's fingers because she was holding a stick (Thor LOVES sticks)

- coffee time now sitting inside the house!

Here's a report from the Daily Camera: http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/jan/24/cabada-de-reuck-claim-fast-and-flurry-ous-titles/

New Retül video

Just finished a video on Tim DeBoom's visit to our Retül studio. My Suzuki SV650 makes a guest appearance but Tim opted to cruise around on Franko's Ducati superbike instead. Wonder why?

sun on these pale bones

while the rest of the country is suffering through sub-zero, freezing temperatures, here on Colorado's Front Range we are in the middle of a string of sunny and warm days. that means it's time to log some hours in the saddle.

okay, the picture above is not exactly from outside our window, but from our recent tropical vacation to the phi phi islands off the coast of thailand.

early season flagstaff mtn

well, i have some work to do. after a fairly easy two hour ride with neighbor John Shippey in the flats around town, we finished the ride with an effort up Flagstaff Mtn to the Amphitheater. the roads were clear of all ice and snow and the temp was cold but bearable for still being January. the effort up to the Amphitheater was a reminder of why training in winter sucks. it was a reminder that the body is coming out of hibernation and needs to adapt slowly to these efforts. it hurt bad, the whole 15 minutes of climbing, but it left me hungry to get recovered so next week i can shoot for a faster time or go another mile further up the mountain. hopefully by early February i'll be able to get in the ballpark of my usual timed efforts up Super Flag. for those who don't live in Boulder, that's our 4.7-mile mountain with some steep sections that weigh in at 17% grade - the halfway point in called the Amphitheater.

a tour of boulder's hwy 36 - post wildfire

Wildfires hit between Lee Hill Rd and Lefthand Canyon in North Boulder County




North Boulder towards Lyons was hit hard





This photo is two miles east of the Lefthand & Hwy 36 intersection





A barn and a horse farm were both lost to the flames after the fire jumped over the hwy







Heading down the roller coaster section towards the Neva Rd intersection





Pushed all the way up to the popular riding intersection, Neva Rd.







Looking up towards the Hogbacks running/hiking trail bordering Dakota Ridge





This is taken from our friend's porch in Dakota Ridge. The fire stopped about 30 meters in front of Diane's front yard.





The popular and heavily traveled Dakota Ridge running/hiking trail





Fence outside of our condos knocked over by the intense, 55mph winds on Wednesday

gå på ski Eldora

a few days ago Eldora was dealt a blow when a resort employee shot dead the resort manager. signs around the mountain resort list a memorial service for the manager tomorrow at Eldora. the staff made the decision the day after the shooting to keep the lifts running as they felt the manager would have wished them to do this. today, a sunday, Eldora was a bustling with both cross country and downhill skiing.



Em & i dusted off our skinny skis this morning and drove up Boulder Canyon. it was 10-F on the mountain, which felt warm since there was no wind present.



we got in a solid 1.5-hours on the trails, tasted that distinctive steel



that captures your throat when your working hard, and clumsily, up rolling hills and in the cold that tends to happen often at Eldora.

family time

We've had a good time these last few days with Em's parents here in Boulder. After driving up from Texas last Tuesday and spending the New Year with us, they are starting the long haul back home tomorrow morning. They witnessed their daughter (Kendra) and son-in-law race the Boulder Beer Mile on New Year's Eve and Captain Bill decided he had better practice a little for next year's race.

Here in the photo, he proved that ex-college lacrosse players are also lifelong brew chuggers. Bill put me to shame with a chug in easily less than ten seconds.