San Juan Solstice weekend is upon thee

The wife and I leave tomorrow morning for Lake City, CO. Yup, the time has come the walrus said. Thankfully, it is to run, to challenge thyself physically more so than I ever have before. It is the weekend of the San Juan Solstice. (almost anyway). Here is a snapshot of what I am up against:


My fears and anxiety have gracefully and thankfully given way to hope, excitement, and understanding. A clear picture of what I should do, but not necessarily what I will do. Always the dilemma to what is and what should be. The weather looks normal and reasonable for this time of year. The support and inquiries I've been receiving have been great and MOST welcome. All that's left is to execute.

And that's all I ask of myself. Try hard, run easy, execute properly. I will have an Experience Report up next week sometime (I shan't dare say a Race Report for this one). I expect to be quite humbled, somewhat dizzy, always amazed, and absolutely accomplished. I look forward to what greets me, no matter the ease or difficulty of the situation.

BTW, looks like they'll have live results available starting Saturday afternoon, HERE.

I'm off to the races.........

A New Beginning, to Prevail

So, I've been a work in progress the last several months, not to mention this little blog thing I got going here. Hence, no time, no energy for this kind of thing. But there should be, right?!? There has to be. Work and life can be all-consuming, so what happens when an example for a creative outlet (this) also tends to become all work and life? I dunno. Perhaps it's a question that shouldn't even be posed.

Regardless, I have decided to ditch all the "works-in-progress" - save a few for potential future consumption and revision - and simply not stress about them. But more race reports, adventures, and soapbox-y type are to follow.

Over the last many months since I have seriously written anything, many things have happened. Only some are worth mentioning. And without belittling life's lessons and many curve balls, I shall attempt to bring you up to speed on me, and hopefully this boring, but truthful, outpouring may inspire my brain to spew some stuff over the next few months and years. Unfortunately, it will only cover one topic, OK 2 - death and cancer.

Cancer, cancer, cancer. The word alone never agreed with me, but now it's personal. As many of you know, I lost my father to cancer just over 5 years ago, in May 2004. He was on the wrong side of 70 years young. I wrote about him earlier on, many times, and you can find one here. But love prevailed. We lost our dear, sweet feline Stink, last October 2008. She was on the wrong side of 10 years young. We found out she had lymphoma last August and she did not even make it three months. Watching a poor defenseless, sweet creature like a house cat suffer for even three months is brutal. It made me wonder, over and over again, how my mother took such incredible care of my Dad. And love prevailed. My dear friend Stuart Kent, who I used to work with at may last job at Earth Tech, passed in late January after a 5+ year battle with renal cancer. He was on the wrong side of 50 years young. He was the kindest, gentlest soul imaginable. He was also a Baltimore Orioles fan, which I will never hold against him :) In fact that was a basis for our friendship, baseball. He will be missed by all that knew and loved him. So, love prevailed.

Cancer has now taken my Dad, one of my first 2 cats, a dear friend, my paternal grandpa, aunts, uncles, other friends and neighbors, and countless others who I never knew, nor ever will. But should we get mad or angry? It seems as if we can be more constructive working with passion as opposed to anger or frustration. Donate, volunteer, work with others, take care of yourself, and let love prevail.

And lastly, thankfully not a death, or a cancer, but a life and a tribute to a good, long, healthy life: 109 years ago today, my maternal grandfather was born. Joe Sheehan was born on May 14, 1900 and what a dude he was. When he passed away in March 1996, many, many lives - young and old - were affected. Family, friends, neighbors, etc. But it comes down to good people and good healthy, fulfilling lives. Can we all strive for more? Perhaps. But have that good effect on your human cohorts at the very least.

While I mainly speak of cancer here, do what you can to combat anything that can have a negative or detrimental, a stressful or dire impact, on your life. Do it now, take a stand, be one of the good ones, let a new beginning, and life, to prevail.

Optimism

Perhaps a new year brings a renewed interest? I dunno. I'm still here, just been a bit too busy and genuine lack of creativity. I know, blogs don't have to be creative. But at the same time, I'd rather not throw simple statements and general trash up all over the internet.

For now, just enjoying the weather and looking forward to getting into serious training for my first 50-mile trail race. Details here:
http://www.lakecity50.com/

In the meantime, I have about a half-dozen threads/stories to finish up (or trash) from last year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Cheers everyone,
Dave

the (over) 2-month hiatus

So........ all's OK. Not great, not terrible. But all-in-all, it's all too busy and too much. Lots of work and related travel, a bit of fun travel, running and biking, etc. Due to a whole crapload of obligations, I simply have made no time over the last couple months for this creative outlet. I hope before the end of September I will be back in action.

In the meantime, apologies for the hiatus. Hope all's well with everyone.

Dave

On the eve of our MS-150 (or 173) Ride

Hey all--so the wife and I are getting ready for our big weekend with the Left Hand Brewing Team riding in the MS-150 (or the MS-173 with the Century Option on Sunday. Please keep all the folks out there suffering from MS in your thoughts this weekend and in the future. I'll have some semblance of an account up about the ride by next week. Cheers!

Joe Colton 10-miler - RACE REPORT

Howdy peoples! What's happenin'? I realized last week that I overlooked my latest race report from the Joe Colton's Off Road Adventure Run on Saturday, June 14. It was really more to be a state-of-my-legs run as opposed to a race as I was only a week removed from my first 50-K'er. Plus, the current program that I'm participating in through Fast Forward Sports is a summer trails and racing program. Joe Colton was on their suggestion list. It's a nicely different twist than building up to one specific race a few weeks or months down the road. It rocks actually. I feel as if I'm finally building up to some more speed-on-the-trails work rather than the golden target a few months down the road or longer and longer distances (though I'm trying to build on that as well).

Anyway, the Joe Colton race is one I've done 2 years-in-a-row now. It's superb and the epitome of a Colorado community coming together. It takes place in Rollinsville, CO every Father's Day Weekend. Joe Colton was a young Rollinsville boy who passed away at the age of 6 from the flu back in 2001. As tragic as that story is, the community has pulled together and amongst other things, they do this race every year to keep a positive memory alive and give back to all involved. As usual, the race is superbly organized, holding a 5K, a 10K, a 10-miler, and a 15-miler, all starting at the same time. And to keep the families involved and going, there is a 1-mile family fun run that starts about 2 hours after the main races. It's always great seeing familes and friends, new and old, conversing and interacting before, during, and after. So, instead of going into the self-indulgent details of my race, I will simply summarize by saying, I ran the 10-miler almost 6 minutes faster than last year, I enjoyed myself immensely, and every mile or so, I thought about a young boy I never knew, Joe Colton.



Having spent his 6 years of life in a place as beautiful as Colorado is amazing enough. Having got to relax and live in Rollinsville and have the spectacular views and access to trails and outdoors as they do up there...... wow. While the premature ending to his life was undoubtedly sad, shocking, terrible, etc., the way the community has come out to not let his memory fade is wonderful. Way to go Rollinsville! And thanks to the memory of Joe Colton for starting such positive events around his beloved hometown.