I LOVE the farmers market here in Boulder. I was feeling just a little bit down for no reason, but a quick trip down to the Wednesday market really lifted my spirits. Though I don't know most of the vendors by name, I've made a lot of great connections with many after interacting (and buying TONS of produce) 2x a week from them. It's nice when you can just hand someone an empty bag, and without saying a word they know EXACTLY what you want. And when someone has a minute to breathe, on an otherwise hectic night, and they strike up a conversation with you. It's kind of odd, you know each others face well, but with just a few words exchanged, you really get to know someone many times better. It's small, but meaningful. Those distant, yet intimate connections. Tonight just felt great too, it just had that sting of fall in the air. I LOVE fall. Much Love.

It's always great to have a local race, but since I've been here in Boulder, local takes on a whole new meaning. First off, any number of olympians or world champions may show up to the local events. Retired or not, these guys are incredibly fast. Then there's the fact that there is a local bike or running race AT LEAST once a week. Sometimes more. Heck, I even had to decide between some upcoming events because they happened on the same day. But this particular race was more than local, it started just 5 blocs from my house. Between my morning run, and pre-race warm up, I got in a good 18k and was raring to go when the gun went off. I've been feeling great running lately, but 3k was still going to feel like an all out sprint for my endurance focused legs. The pre-game plan I made in my head seemed to work out well. Start fast, but not too fast, and up the tempo at the end. I ran a strong opening 1500m, then equaled the time for the last half. Its always great mentally to catch people, and I picked runners off one at a time the entire 2nd half. I finished in 10:10.0, a massive 1:40 behind the winner, but good enough for a spot in the top 30. Usually not such a good placing, but in a race this short, against an internationally talented field, I'll take it. I really hope to do more "hometown" races like this. The large crowds were great, and we even got encouragement from the pro woman who ran earlier in the night. The best part was I getting to jog home at the end, no "stuff" to bring or worry about.

With less than 24 hours warning, I found out I would be taking a 3 day "business trip" to Orange County California. While this may seem like a great opportunity to get in some beach time and relax, it was 3 of the more stressful days I've had this decade. The goal was to fix 2 bikes which were out there, and then visit one of our vendors. Well, I accomplished two out of the 3 goals, albeit with a lot of effort- and in the end I had to bring one of the bikes back with me since the problem was much worse than we originally thought, and I lacked the required tools. Now these aren't just regular bikes, as you can see in the picture- they have an electric motor, and a quite a bit of wires , batteries, and circuitry to make them go. All of this stuff is housed inside, which makes it great for the user, but not so easy for the mechanic (me) and builder (also me). I split a little bit from my planned training schedule, but I did manage to get in a really rejuvenating run along a beach. It was so peaceful striding full speed along the coast, chasing the waves in and out. Eventually they got the better of me, and dropped a lot of sand into my shoes, but it was worth it none the less. I like Boulder, a lot, but I was never so happy to return after spending a hectic weekend in crowded SoCal.

With all these running races I've been doing, I needed a little inspiration. So I shaved off my mountain man beard, and donned a mustache. It worked for Steve Prefontaine, so why not me. He was pretty bad ass, and incredibly fast. Here are some of my favorite quotes from 'pre': "A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more. Nobody is going to win a 5,000 meter race after running an easy 2 miles. Not with me. If I lose forcing the pace all the way, well, at least I can live with myself." Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, 'I've never seen anyone run like that before.' It's more than just a race, it's a style. It's doing something better than anyone else. It's being creative." "Somebody may beat me, but they are going to have to bleed to do it." "I'm going to work so that it's a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it."

10 years ago was the last time I toed the start line of a running track. In high school I ran one season, doing both the 1 and 2 mile, in addition to the Javelin and High Jump. I was pretty bad at the running, and I often got lapped multiple times. But this was my first foray into competitive endurance sports, and spurred me on to race my bike. Funny enough, I was a rather lean 140 lbs then, and couldn't run too well. Yet my skinny arms could chuck a 800 gram Javelin far enough to go to states. Weird. After a hustling to make it to the track on time and hastily warming up, I lined up for the Mile. There were about 40 entrants, so they divided us into 2 heats. Lucky me, I got to run with the fast boys in the first one. I'd been feeling great running all week, but the mile is a pretty quick event, and I wondered what kind of speed I might have, since I've done exactly zero running intervals this year. After the gun went off, I just tried to concentrate on running a steady race, and found my self tucked behind a young Swedish stud from Stockholm. 4 laps just flew by, and I even managed to out kick a few guys at the end (Including my Scandinavian friend). I ran pretty even splits to finish in 10th place, with a time of 5:18.8. Not great, but too bad. I'm not training to be a miler, and in fact, just started running again around 3 weeks ago. I'm excited to see how much my times might drop in only a few weeks. I was planning on running the 5000m later in the evening, but it was postponed a little too long for me to just hang around. So instead I jumped (literally) into the 3000m Steeplechase. If you're unfamiliar with this event, it places 5 solid (ie immobile) hurdles around the track. One of which is a water jump- a triangular wedge of water ~10 feet long which directly follows hurdle. While not the most popular event in track history, it tends to draw a crowd, especially around the water jump. The hurdles aren't huge, 48" or so, but 5 a lap x 7.5 laps = 38... all while trying to run fast. This being my first attempt at the event, I felt pretty comfortable all considered. I easily slipped into the lead pack early on, thinking this would be a race of fatigue and attrition. While I was easily clearing the regular hurdles, the water jump kept throwing me off. It plays a visual trick when you land, and I was crashing into the water with the finesse of a stone. I ran most the race in 3rd or 4th position, knowing I can always muster a finishing kick. With one lap to go I started getting a little cross eyed from the effort, which was making it difficult to judge distance. Kind of important when running full speed at a wooden bar. Coming around the last turn I surged into the final hurdle, and kicked as hard as I could to blast past the 3rd place runner at the line. Except, the officials made an error, and we still had one lap to go....crap. To the cheers of the crowd I ran back on the track, and had to literally crawl over the first barrier. I quickly re-grouped, and ran steady to the finish in 4th place. Not bad for my first crack at this event, and I had a blast in the meantime. I'm feeling stronger day by day, and I can't wait until the next meet.

On the schedule for today was a 75 minute endurance run. Considering it was close to 100 F when I headed out in the early afternoon, I decided to run up into Boulder Canyon on the creek trail, in order to find some shade. Well, I lost that battle, as I as pelted by the intense sun and heat nearly the entire time. Maybe I should have joined the hundreds of people IN the creek today. Considering the heat and elevation change, I had a pretty good run. Since I'm geeking out these days with a polar heart rate monitor complete with a shoe pod, here are the stats- Elapsed Time: 1:19.21 Distance: 9.5 Miles Average HR: 166 BPM Max HR: 178 BPM Avg Pace: 8:20/Mile Max Pace: 6:16/Mile Elevation Change: 1040 Feet Calories Burned: 1343 Water Weight Lost: 4.4 Lbs. After returning home, I made a much needed trip to the store to replenish the fruit basket. Throw in some (a lot) of tasty greens for dinner and I was a happy man today.

This weekend I tackled my first serious running race since placing 6th on New Years day at the Chilly Chili Run. It was a 5.4 mile trail race called the Salomon Trespass Trail Challenge. The race started at 8 am, in the funky mountain village of Nederland,CO. But as with most of my life, everything was a little complicated- including getting there. Being that "Ned" is almost 20 miles away, and 3000' higher than my house, I opted for taking the bus over my bike. However, the first bus didn't get there until 7:40, which left me 20 minutes to get my bike off the bus, ride another 2 miles uphill, register, warm-up, pin my number...you get the idea. However rushed I was to get ready, I could do nothing but relax when I got to the starting line. I was confident, and looking for a good result despite the fact that I've only been training again for a week. But then one must remember that in the Boulder area, anyone and everyone can show up to the local races. Like the 1993 World Champion in the Marathon, in addition to several pro and ex-pro runners. Looking up their Bios after the race, some have won major races, and all of them have incredible PR's in distance events. So of course, after the gun goes off I don't take it easy, and I'm in the lead pack with guys capable of running 2:10 marathons. This didn't last too long however, and I just blew up spectacularly on the first major uphill. I tried to recover and pace myself, but the steep downhills were even harder than the ups. On one particularly precarious decent I was just completely out of control, doing everything I could to not face-plant as I flew past other runners. After having such a good week of training, I was a little dejected at my slow mile splits. Especially considering I was running over a minute a mile FASTER on my long EASY runs. So I just tried to run strong and steady to the finish. However, I probably should have considered the altitude (over 9000'), and the fact that there was 600' of ascent in a relatively short race. The race as a whole flew by, which speaks well for my training that 5.4 miles at altitude felt short and easy. Checking the results at the finish, I was pleasantly surprised that I finished in 7th place overall, and first in my age group. I also scored my first pay-out of the year. The best surprise awaited at the food table. Usually these things are stocked with bagels, breads, junk food, and even pizza. But this one had piles of oranges, bananas, and watermelon. I was in heaven. While stuffing my face with fruit, I had several people come up to me asking about OA, and telling me they were vegetarian. These are things I love talking about, and I was reminded that this was the whole point of what I'm trying to do.

One word could sum up the past 5-10 years of my athletic endeavors, POTENTIAL. I've gone through so many phases- being fast, fit, fat, slow, yet always coming back with a drive to succeed. And that's how this year started, on an upswing with a drive to get back into bike racing. And this ( www.organicathlete.org) is the big reason why. It's not that I don't have personal ambitions, but riding as a vegan, with other vegans would be something special. With only a few days of road riding in my legs, I hastily entered my first race in early March. The result was promising; 2nd place after not racing for over 3 years. The season got rolling, and I excitedly jumped head first into any race I could get to. I felt better each time, and though the big "W" eluded me, I was always up there at the finish. I even took a trip out to California for the official launch of the Organic Athlete Elite Team, and some left coast racing. After throwing down with some tanned and fit Cat. 1's, I felt confident some good results would come this year. However, I just felt empty racing when I got back. The fitness was there, but not the mental side I needed. So I just stopped- no racing, no training, no riding all together. In this time I found a new job, one I actually like, and I started running again. There's just something about running I love- it is literally in my blood. But there is also something about bike racing, I didn't grow up around it like I did running, but it's my own thing, and a huge part of who I am. I always thought it be nice to train "like" a duathlete, yet somehow I never really thought of becoming one. It combines two of the sports I love the most, and I wouldn't need to give up one for the other. Plus I could always still do separate bike and running races when I desire. So this is it, I'm finally committing to something whole heartedly in my athletic career. I've hired a coach, and started training like it is my job- because I want it to be my job. Sure, maybe I'll switch to cycling or running if I can really excel in one of those. However I think this duathlon thing is a good place for me to start. My goal is to be competitive amongst the best by next summer. No second guessing, no regrets, no excuses. This is my chance, and I'm grabbing it (compassionately) with two hands.

Luckily time erases pain and poor judgment rather quickly. A few local vegan athletes and I had a nice little pre-race dinner at V.G. Burgers. Everything there was vegan/ organic /compost-able/ wind-powered. My only disappointment being the "Family Size" salad I ordered was about 1/5 the amount of my "Normal Size". Food aside, the race day itself was beautiful with a great turnout. Since the course was run over mostly dirt roads, I opted for my 'cross bike- full 32mm knobbies and all. It wasn't so much that the roads were dirt, but that I had absolutely no money left to replace my cracked, balding, and puncture prone road tires. I knew this would be a faithful decision, thinking I'd either solo off the front or be pummeled off the back as a result. At the start line I glanced around at our sizable field and realized I was the only one running tread wider than 25mm. Then things got a little more interesting- They announced our race would be lengthened by 9 miles. Great. Oh, and the "Neutral Feeding" they advertised turned out to not be true. So I faced a 64 mile road race with no water (being a thoroughbred my 'cross bike has zero bottle mounts). Well my race was fairly uneventful, a lot of negative racing was going on. Other than an early flier I took on the first lap, nothing got any distance all day. So as I became more and more dehydrated, our pack kept shrinking, and I began cursing my fat knobbies. Eventually I got that feeling like my brakes were dragging. So realizing my body was shutting down, I hung on the back to finish S.T. as the winner. They listed 42 in the lead group at the end, but we had only about half the numbers we did at the start. After, I spun my rear wheel just for shits and giggles only to realize my rear brakes actually were dragging! I was getting no more than 1/2 a revolution before it stopped. Oh well. By the final lap I started getting some comments from the other racers like "Man, I can't believe you hung on with those tires!"- at least some noticed my unintentional attempt at non-conformity. After riding the 10 miles home in a bit of a daze, I stepped on the scale. I was 6 lbs. lighter than in the morning, and this was AFTER downing 12 oranges, 5 bananas, a lot of dates, and some H20. I think next time I'll be a little more pro-active about making sure I can get a feed when needed. It could make all the difference in the world, even when I pick the wrong bike for the job.

My favorite conditions greeted Boulder County Saturday morning- cold, raining, and windy. The course was a personal favorite as well- rolling, exposed, and about 50% dirt farm roads. I felt fast and strong. All was going well, and less than 20 miles in (out of 60) we already lost more than 2/3 of the field, leaving a front group of 15 or so. I was super pumped, but coming out of one of the Paris-Roubaix esque sections I tagged a pothole, and my victory hopes deflated along with my tube. Unfortunately there was no neutral support, so, dirty, wet, and disappointed I unceremoniously climbed in the sag-wagon. On a positive note this gives me more motivation for the upcoming Boulder-Roubaix- literally that's the name of the race and its 75% dirt roads this time. Plus I've got a beautiful set of Vittoria cyclocross sew-ups stored away somewhere which are narrow enough to clear road caliper brakes- and more importantly not able to pinch flat.