CRUD run up Mt Baldy, 12,600'

Run to the snow

Boston Marathon

In the last 22 years I’ve run 127 marathons. I’ve run the Boston Marathon three times, the last time on April 15^th, 2013, when a celebration of life and community turned into a horrible nightmare. I had finished a little less than an hour before the bombs went off, and was walking across the Boston Commons towards my rental car, having just connected by cell phone with my friend Jose Aponte who finished a little after me. We had traveled together. Though he now lives in California, we had synched flights and shared a rental car and hotel, and now we were trying to link up in order to go to the airport, go home, and go to work the next day. While we were talking Jose exclaimed that two large explosions had gone off and he could see white smoke rising from near the finish line. He said they sounded like ordinance from Camp Pendleton. I waited for him to join me on the Boston Commons and we continued to the rental car, while we picked up conversations, watched every ambulance and fire truck and police car in Boston drive to the scene, all the while my cell phone filled up with text messages and voice mails from concerned friends, family, and colleagues.

I didn’t go to run Boston this year for a PR or even to run a fast marathon.  Indeed my time that day was my slowest road marathon ever. I wanted to run Boston this year for the Boston experience. That experience includes the spectacle of the expo, one of the largest and most exciting of any marathon. I bought a Boston Marathon jacket for $100 even though I surely don’t need any more jackets. As I waited for the race to start in the school grounds in Hopkinton I looked at the thousands of fellow runners and I thought “this is my tribe.” I had a pretty good seed, based on my qualifying time, so I started with the first wave. I knew though that I would not be running very fast because of some health problems that have affected my training, so I settled in to enjoy the day.

Everybody knows about Heartbreak Hill. Well, there are actually a series of three hills with the finale being Heartbreak Hill. Having run Boston twice before I knew what to expect and being from Colorado the hills were not an issue. It’s the five miles after Heartbreak that always kicks my ass. Muscles cramping, quads screaming, all while running downhill and the flats to the finish line, but every step of the way you’re running with your tribe, your friends. And spectators and supporters line every street and sidewalk to the finish at Copley Square.

There are more than 25,000 runners running Boston, and everyone has to qualify with a pretty decent time to run the event. In the 55-59 year age group I had run 3:17 at the Aspen Valley Marathon in order to qualify--the only road marathon I could squeeze into my schedule for a Boston qualifier was sandwiched between the Leadville Trail Marathon the preceding weekend and both the Hardrock 100 and Leadville 50 in the next weekend. But there are five times as many supporters, volunteers, cheerers; the entire race course is a festival. The Boston Marathon has been crafted by the citizens of Boston over 117 years. It is a uniquely Boston event and the entire city comes alive to celebrate life and community.

Why was this happy, joyful event attacked so brutally? We know who the perpetrators are, but we don’t know the answer to that question. Even if we were to get an answer, it wouldn’t help.

To overcome this kind of trauma takes time, time during which we need to look ahead positively. Revenge and scape-goating won’t lead to any real solution. We will remember the pain, and we will continue in our lives, accumulating the miles and the distance from that day as it recedes on the time horizon.  It will take time, but time is our ally.

We’ll remember those who lost limbs and life on Boylston Street by running.  The Boston Marathon will recover from its wounds, and soon those twenty-six miles will again be beautiful, natural, and joyous.

Salida Trail Marathon

My excellent year of running Pikes Peak

Kill The Messenger - Sibel Edmonds - Full film - YouTube

Kill The Messenger - Sibel Edmonds - Full film - YouTube:

'via Blog this'

Sibel Edmonds interviewed by Michael Rivero 2012-05-17 - YouTube

Sibel Edmonds interviewed by Michael Rivero 2012-05-17 - YouTube:

'via Blog this'

December Ascent of Pikes Peak via the Watergate

November Ascent of Pikes Peak

Climbed the mountain via an obscure seldom traveled trail on the SW slopes.

October Ascent of Pikes Peak

September 30th Ascent of Pikes Peak

My Epic Weekend

My plan for the epic weekend was to run the Hardrock 100 starting at 6 AM on Friday morning the 13th of July and finish in about 36 hours: in time to drive (ride) six hours to Leadville in time to show up at the starting line for the Leadville Silver Rush 50 at 6 AM on Sunday the 15th so I could keep on track for a Leadman finish for 2012. I fell short of that goal.

Hardrock is hard! To reach 60 miles at Grouse Gulch (where I dropped) you have to go over five Hope Passes on steroids!! I was unable to hold down calories, vomiting up any calories I had taken in plus all my water every time I went over 12,000' in elevation. The last 15 miles took me and my pacer, John Courtney 10 hours to complete. Do the math. I was running on empty. I first took a 20 minute nap at Grouse, then I took an hour and a half nap. I was no better able to continue after that rest than when I first plodded into the aide station. Harry Harcrow had been at the Grouse Gulch aide station for eight hours getting sick and sleeping. I talked him into getting back on the course, which he did, finishing in 41 hours. He tried to talk me into getting back on the course too, but I was too weak and I still couldn't eat. I felt bad for Rick Hessek who had driven all the way down from Colorado Springs to pace me for the final 40 miles, but I just didn't have it.

I withdrew and we drove back to Silverton for breakfast. I ate only four bites of the food I got from the buffet, I felt so nauseous. 

Rebekka drove us to our room in Twin Lakes where we got a gourmet meal from the proprietors of the Twin Lakes Roadhouse. Really very well done! The gourmet meal was only for guests of the hotel. We went to bed at 7:30 and I just thought that I would show up at the starting line and see what happened.

Well, what happened is I started off slowly in the 50 miler then I accelerated to the turn around. I saw Clark Sundahl was about 200 yards ahead of me at the turn around and I got a little fire in my eyes. I kept him in sight until I finally reeled him at mile 35 and I just kept pounding it. Ran up the long hill passing another dozen or so runners and finally finished in 9 hours 7 minutes. Not bad for an old fart who struggled through 60 miles the previous day!

Tour de Pikes Peak, June 17, 2012

Last Sunday Larry DeWitt and I ran to the summit of Pikes Peak via the Barr Trail. We descended on the Cog tracks to just above Windy Point, where we dropped down to an old toll road that took us down to Boehmer Reservoir and lower lakes and eventually back to the Barr Trail.

Ring the Peak June 2nd, 2012

Born to Run 50K, May 19th, 2012

Los Olivos, California

“The fog is welcome. Hope it lingers.” I offered as small talk in the early miles. “I grew up in Lompoc. I’ve got a love hate relationship with the fog.” Was the response from the guy running next to me. On the central California coast a few miles inland and north of Santa Barbara, on an 8,000 acre ranch, several hundred ultra runners competed on a 20 mile figure eight course. I ran the 50K which was one complete figure eight, followed by a repeat of the first ten miles and finishing with an out and back to round it up to 31 miles. The other races were a ten-miler, a 100K, and a 100 miler.

The race director, Luis Escobar is a mini-celebrity in the ultra community, having been featured in the popular “Born to Run” book. A month before the race ultra legend Micah True went on a run from his hotel room in New Mexico and didn’t return. He was found a couple days later dead beside a creek. When this series of runs in California were re-dedicated to his memory I made a snap decision to go run the 50K. Rebekka and I bought plane tickets, reserved hotel rooms, rental car and made it happen.

The first loop of ten miles included runners running only ten miles. Ten or more runners spurted out in front of me for an early lead and after five miles about four more passed me. I had no idea how many of them would be running the 50K or longer. I finished the first ten miles of trail in 1:18 and saw quite a few runners who had cashed it in after 10 miles. I asked someone how many were ahead of me, but they didn’t know. A couple miles later on the second loop at the first aide station I learned that only two runners were ahead of me. One of them was running the 100K.

For the remainder of the run, over twenty miles, I ran by myself ultimately finishing second in the 50K with a time of 4:16. The final 10 mile loop was identical to the first 10 mile loop. I ran the first loop in 1:18 and the last in 1:21. The last mile, an out and back, I ran in seven minutes. The winner ran 4:02.

 Along the way I saw about a dozen wild turkeys, a couple rabbits, and a recently dead cow with buzzards all over it. The cow had a dead calf half emerged from its birth canal and blood flowing from its mouth, so its death was quite recent. Eerie.

May Ascent of Pikes Peak

This time I did it from the Southwest side of the Peak, on an obscure trail that goes up from Bison Reservoir.

April ascent of Pikes Peak

Saturday, March 17 Ascent of Pikes Peak

Salida "Run Through Time" Trail Marathon

UPT, Waldo, Cascade Trail Run by stevebremner at Garmin Connect - Details

UPT, Waldo, Cascade Trail Run by stevebremner at Garmin Connect - Details

Moab Red Hot 55K Trail Run

Pikes Peak Summit Run

My 2012 project is to run to the top of Pikes Peak every month of 2012. January and February are done, ten more months to go.

When Jerry Springer Came to Fox News

Coastal Challenge, Costa Rica, Day one

New Year's Day Ascent of Pikes Peak

Why Bike to Work?

Created by: Healthcare Management Degree

Hardrock 100 Lottery

I got into the 2012 Hardrock 100 mile fun run after trying for the last ten years.

Mt Buckskin Trip Report

Climbed Mt Buckskin yesterday, #84 in my quest to climb the highest 100 peaks in Colorado.

Nixon tries to form a "Silent Majority"

Early Morning: Garden of the Gods

 

On the Barr Trail

 

Ring the Peak attempt October 2009

Bear 100 Race Report

Bear 100