Active weekend in Denver

We spent this past weekend in Denver celebrating a friend's birthday and using the opportunity to stay in town.  The first part of our trip took place at the Denver Aquarium where our friend's boyfriend launched the initial "surprise" to start the party. Partaking on seafood in the shadow of giant tanks housing multiple relatives of the plated is the only way to go here.  The food was excellent, but you will pay a premium for it.  We found it to be worth the trip due to the quality of the food, the great atmosphere, and the novelty of the mermaid show entertaining those partaking.

After dinner, we enjoyed custom Colorado cocktails on the top of Denver at the Hyatt's Peak Lounge. We were treated to open bar where we enjoyed Colorado specific cocktails with local honey liquors and ginger beers, soft leather couches, delicious deserts including bacon chocolate cupcakes, and beautiful top of the world views of downtown Denver.  It was a great way to start a night on the town with a focus on exploring the very walkable/accessible night life of downtown Denver off the 16th street pedestrian mall.  Living in Colorado Springs we often miss the true city life we grew accustomed to in our past Pittsburgh and Boston stomping grounds; Denver provides an easy return to that style of night-life.

The next day we woke up slowly and, not surprisingly, quite late.  A unique option in the Denver area for concerts is Red Rocks Amphitheater located west of town and supporting a beautiful venue for many of the major performers that come to the region.  It also provides a nice day hike, with similar red sandstone monoliths to those located near our home in Colorado Springs at the Garden of the Gods.   Many cyclists and runners use the roads and surrounding trails for challenging climbs without a trip into the heart of the mountains.


Our final hike for the weekend excursion took place at Mount Falcon, home of the foundation for the Western White House which was never built, and the ruins of the Walker house at the summit of the Castle Trail.  The route we took was a steady climb of 3.9 miles up, and a quick descent while running 3.9 miles down.  It was getting cold quick in mid-November at the top, so we moved on our way down!  It is a well-laid out trail and a nice trail run without much technical issues, besides dodging the occasional descending mountain bike.
At the top the view offered many Rocky peaks and the expansive beauty of the alpine region to the west of Denver.

We would recommend every piece of our trip to Denver and Morrison, Colorado.  In a short period of time, it allows you to experience the many different treats in life.  Enjoy your trip!

Triathlon Race Recap: Ironman 70.3 Texas

This post became lost in an older heap, thought I'd give it a late publish anyways!

Review for an early April start to the triathlon season started in Galveston, Texas at Ironman 70.3.  The race was organized and efficiently run, sadly I can't claim my body copied those attributes!

We took the race weekend as a vacation visiting Austin during our trip to Texas.  I decided due to the time off and proximity that driving would be the best way to transport myself and my bike without worrying about any mechanical needs upon arrival.  From Colorado Springs we headed south where we found an extinct cinder cone volcano, Capulin, existed 3 hours south in New Mexico.  The national monument allows you to drive up the volcano to the rim where you can hike in the basin and along the edges of the once lava built mountain.

Continuing south we headed to our next main stop in Austin.  We had heard good things about Austin: great music, barbecue, trails, and climate.  We stopped at Congress Cafe for breakfast, where the lines are long but the food is excellent.  The wait was 30 minutes on a Thursday morning.  Afterwards we treated ourselves to Stubb's BBQ along the main strip in downtown Austin.  The all you can eat platter of classic Texas BBQ will put you to sleep quickly and happily.

Galveston Beach Before the Race

The next day, we got up early to continue our drive down to Galveston.  It was a hike getting through congested Houston on our way but we were glad to get to the beach during the Colorado Springs winter. Our Galveston hotel, The Inn at the Waterpark, was a cheap motel next to Moody Gardens which was the main hotel for the race.  Sadly, I did not get the sponsor hotel and we dealt with some mediocrity in our stay.  The saving grace was the ability to walk to the start line from our room.  Overall, the location was beautiful at Moody Gardens and we enjoyed the sponsor hotel's grounds.  Our staging area (above right) was the outdoor parking lot for Moody Gardens which ran up against the tarmac for the local airport in Galveston.  This was the first Ironman (TM) Event and my first 70.3 so I appreciated the ease of finding my way around the day before and after the race.

Getting Ready to Hop in the Water

The morning of the race was very comfortable with the expected high of 72 degrees.  After spending multiple mornings running in the dark in the sub-zero windchill temperatures of the Colorado Springs winter, I was a bit concerned what the heat would mean to my race.

Out of the Water in 33 minutes

Most of my race anxiety was instantly removed when I jumped into the salt water and buoyed up to the top easily in my new BlueSeventy Helix wetsuit.  The swim was comfortable except for a few foot grabs and elbows that seem all too common in my age group of late-20's males.  I came out of the water comfortably and was ready for the 56 miles on the bike.

Heading Out on the Bike

The bike course was a slightly rolling out and back that was made difficult due to the exhausting cross-winds.  I covered the half-way point in an 1:10 feeling confident and strong despite some difficulty with my bike saddle.  However, I made a crucial mistake, the same one I made in my first marathon in 2007.  I didn't take my time and eat often.  At mile 40 I hit the biggest wall I can remember, luckly most distance athletes have a short memory about just how terrible that last bonk was.  I began consuming food and gatorade at the heaviest rate I could but would not find my legs again still mile 53 and cost myself 10-15 minutes.  We came cruising into the 2nd transition from the airport and I put on the Saucony A5's for the 3-loop 13.1 mile run course through Moody Gardens.  The support was excellent on the course due to the loop concept and it was easy to track who was ahead of you and thus set your sights on tracking down runners.  Usually the run is my strength in triathlons as it is my original sport.  I ripped through the first 4 mile loop at 6:30 pace feeling very confident I could continue turning up the pace.  But then, it happened again, my muscles said no and my brain couldn't override the misery I was in.  A second bonk, and from this experience, I am sure I'd much rather bonk on the bike than on the run.  For the next 4 miles I demonstrated the "survivor shuffle" while dropping my pace significantly.  During that time, I was consuming anything and everything that people were handing me.  Luckily, I found my savior heading into the last lap.  A delicious Coke.  The sugary sweet drink just felt right and catapulted my pace back to the respectable range for my first half-ironman finish.  I'm glad that's over!

On the 3-Loop Run Course

Dream Catchers Day Out in Colorado Springs

This past weekend we spent our morning running in the Front Range so we could spend our afternoon and evening practicing some of our less common skills.

Jess purchased a Groupon for Dream Catchers, a drink wine and paint outing, located in Downtown Colorado Springs on Wasatch.  She chose "Canoe for Two" a scene of a Rocky Mountain lake and distant background of peaks.  The Downtown Fine Spirits and Wine store located next door also provides a discount to those undertaking the 2 hour painting class.  We chose a nice easy Riesling since it was only 1 pm.  The course was lead by our instructor, Amanda, who provided an easy and positive attitude as well as falsely keeping up my hopes that we were painting a keeper.  Honestly, I don't think she had a choice when dealing with such an art illiterate guy.  Jess provides the artistic side of the relationship; it's never been much of a contest.  She was jealous of my snow-capped peaks, but not so much of my hawks and canoe oars.


Overall, we'd highly recommend trying a drink and paint night out with your friends.  Dream Catchers has a nice twist since they provide free programs for adults with needs and foster children. They are a nice organization to support, and being relatively new, will benefit from you enjoying an art creation and a few drinks.

Afterwards, we spent the evening at a house warming party for our friend, Scott.  A good way to keep the party going a bit.  With the weather getting colder it was a perfect night to spend by a fire; and we ran off for some S'mores as well. Tonight and tomorrow we are waiting on a nice snow which is making us wonder why we didn't take jobs in Austin.  Nevertheless, we are looking for our next big trip, our anniversary trip to Vail.

Cheers!

Cape Cod Marathon

Jess and I ran our 4th and 14th Marathons this past weekend in Falmouth, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

It was absolutely beautiful weather the whole weekend and the town of Falmouth shows obvious reasons why the housing market has tripled over the last couple decades.  Town square and main street reminded us of upscale Wellesley and the small town feel with a 10 minute walk to the beach made us wish we weren't preparing to run 26.2 miles.

Leaving Colorado we thought about how nice it would be to run at Sea Level and on the flat shoreline.  To our surprise, we both found the 2nd half of the course to be very trying and awfully slow!  After a quicker flatter first half the course passes through cranberry bogs and into constantly rolling hills, some of which are quite steep.  We were both begging for our return to the shoreline and were happy to see the lighthouse and downtown.

Overall it was a gorgeous course, albeit sometimes frustrating since it was open to traffic, but our favorite part was the clam chowder at the finish.  Can't go to New England without partaking in Dunkin' Donuts and Clam Chowder!