The Sabbath

Sunday Church run Boulder
Started at Sunny Saddle and ran to Jamestown, stopped at the Merc and got a bagel and coffee and ran back. The bigger, real breakfast platters looked so so good but being short on time, we opted to make it a simple turn around. The initial plan was for a 30 mile day but with the snow conditions and the amount of time it takes to break trail in knee deep powder, plans are subject to change and ended with 16 miles. I fell on some ice, jammed my middle, ring and pinky finger on the left hand. The ring finger is about as big as my thumb with limited range of motion, landed on my back and cracked my cranium, what came from all this is the question should I wear a helmet while running? After the run, I headed to Denver as I had dinner plans. Duck Condit and cassoulet at ROAM, which is a newer restaurant where Wild Catch use to be, everything was delicious and looking forward to dining there again. Food was excellent, service was great in a modern stylish place with great people. Monday I was feeling under the weather and opted to take a three hour nap. Wonderful. Sleeping is great. After snapping a few pics during the run, I looked at the mountain lion sign. Do Not run or jog in this area. Running may stimulate a lion's instinct to chase and attack. This I believe answers my above question. Why wear a helmet if I am not going to use what is in my head. Looking forward to running those trails when the snow melts a little.










pretty deep

wifi and white stuff

Finally got my desktop computer up and working with wifi. The directions for my wireless adapter stated an approximate 10 minute installation. Eight hours later and three different phone calls to an IT help desk, I fixed it myself. This means I can enter the 20th century and upload photos and videos to this blog. yeah.
Got up early Thursday morning to seven inches of snow and headed out for my morning run up Evergreen Mountain. Got to see an Elk herd and made fresh tracks all the way up and all the way down.





This is a trail. POW

After my run, I headed to Keystone which was windy, icy and whiteout conditions.
Friday was more of the same but ran roads since my legs were a little tired from the deep powder and then spent the day at Breck. I plan on staying away from the major resorts on the weekends to avoid the mass of people and long lift lines, unless it is a crazy powder day.

Vail week

Picked up the crew at DIA on Friday night, packed up my car and their rental car and headed to Frisco for the night.   Saturday met up with Bob and Shames and the 9 of us stayed in Vail,  we disbanded into smaller groups as it is hard for that many people to stay together all day on a mountain.  Sunday was beaver creek and into a routine Monday through Thursday was Vail.  Up at 8ish, big breakfast, shuttle to the mountain, board all day, hot tub and pool, dinner, game time and bed.   Repeat. We found powder everyday.  Friday we headed back to Beaver Creek to avoid the long lines that Vail will get on a holiday week.   With my daily change in hair and beard styles, they nicknamed me snowflake, since no two are the same.  
Best quote from an 8 year old that got on a lift with me was " to be honest sir, ski school is way better than real school". True that little boy except for the part of me being a sir.  
It is a small world after all.  
Hung out in the pool and hot tub with four homeboys from THE Ohio state university.  Two med students, two MBA students who majored in finance, fun group.  
The boys were dropped off at the airport and I'm back in evergreen, back to some serious running on some tired legs but it is supposed to snow Sunday night and Monday morning.  This probably puts me on a mountain as I chase the powder.  

You are in Boulder, run like it

Bob Combs and i Met up with Mike Keller in Boulder to run up and down Green mountain.  It was a fun, snowy day on the trails.  Went off piste a few times to find waist deep snow.  Bombing the downhills, slightly out of control, hootin and hollerin like a bunch of pre adolescent children.  Micro spikes are the way to go as I was slipping and sliding all over, in a lunatic fringe kind of way.  Afterwards, a stop at backcountry pizza and tap house seemed fitting.  Awesome choice, great selection.  
Picking the cincy boys up at the airport and off to Vail for a week.  Powder, bowls, tree runs, jumps, hot tub and pool time. My life is a struggle.  Get out and play.  

paradoxical sleep

Finally back into a normal sleep pattern.  The vivid, wake you up out of REM,dead sleep dreams continue.  Not nightmares just very real dreams and  continue as  I get back to being  acclimatized.   they always occur after leaving high elevations for periods of a time when i return to my oxygen deprived living. My encephalic  states of excitement is off the chart, for me at least.  They normally only last a few days but this time it is taking longer.   The dreams are pretty amazing and I wish I could record and watch them.    I need to drink more water.   

Don't eat yellow snow

Echo mountain
Played in the terrain park, boxes, jumps and rails for most of every run.  Fell on one box and jammed my right thumb into the metal side as I was falling off.  I think something in their is broken, no hitchhiking for me. Knee deep to waist powder day.  Continue to learn more tricks and feeling more confident on the bigger jumps.

Eldora mountain.
Double black diamonds and tree boarding was how the day was spent.  Two back to back fun days in the mountains.  
With forty plus inches of snow, it has been hard to run outside.  Indoor running on a treadmill is a travesty and mind numbing, at least I can see the mountains

I have an addiction to the show criminal minds.  Season 6 was started yesterday and I'm dreading the day I reach the end of the episodes.  Like any great addiction I will soon be going through withdrawal.

Wankers

They misplaced my luggage. It won't arrive til a day later so I was stuck in the same clothes, feeling dirty and it cost  me an extra 75 to ride the tube to gatwick express the next day to go pick up my bags.  Ate fish and chips, had a pint.  Saw the mosque that was responsible for the 2006 bombing of London rail system.  Lots and lots  of Muslims.  
Saw big Ben, parliament and walked around Oxford circus, Piccadilly square and Trafalgar square.  Hung out and watched Chinese entertainers during a celebration of the new year,  the year of the dragon.  Xin Nian Kuai Lei.  Went shopping for an Arsenal f.c. Jersey at the official Arsenal store for my nephew.  

Back to the states
Medical emergency aboard our plane during taxi to the runway, they turned the plane around and headed back to the gate, delaying us about two hours. Flew from heathrow to Philadelphia, Philly to Denver.  the plus middle row, four chairs no one sitting next to me.  Slept four hours watched black swan, date night and Midnight in Paris. Philly travel with U.S. Air, more of the same.  We boarded the plane, no pilot and were delayed one hour. The pilots arrive and tell us we have to exit the plane due to an electrical issue.  Another hour delay.  This has been one long trip home, beginning at 6:00 am and making it home in the bright morning hours of the next day.  11 hours on a plane.  Ouch.

Pretty much tipping is not a common practice among Europeans.  They are extremely surprised and grateful.  
It is hard to say which place on my European tour I liked the best, each had something to offer. Really would return to Paris though.
The food, being so fresh and from scratch I was able to eat smaller portions and not feel hungry or bloated to the point of obesity, unlike in the U.S.   London was a little different story as the food was more processed but the bacon in London was 10x better than the thin strips of we find in the states.

I have a return ticket to London in March but doubt I will use it at that time.  When buying my return ticket to the states, a one way from heathrow to Denver was about $800 and change.  A roundtrip was $650. This makes no sense but whatever, heathrow is a grand airport and most destinations out of this airport are rather cheap although the pound is crazy expensive as is most things British.  

So as great as it is to be headed home to the mountains, trails and snowboarding, a part of my brain is itching and thinking about all things Asia.  

Florence Italy not Florence y'all

Wonderful, clean, lovely 5 star hotel. Polite people. Booming night life, great view. Great restaurants.  Saw Michealangelos David, paintings and sculptures  from da Vinci and Botticello among others.  Spent the day at the Galleria degli Uffizi and the Duomo.   Highly recommended if you are ever in Florence.
Spent my last night hanging out with a rag tag bunch. Ate. Dinner with 4 college girls from Loyola Chicago who were studying in Rome and took a weekend trip to Florence.  Then we were joined by a rabbi and his wife from new York city and a doctor and his wife from Rome.  Obscenely crazy fun night.  My 5:30 am wake up call came way to early, I misplaced my glasses, which were later found at the hotel and I hope are now in route to Colorado.  London bridges falling down.  

When in Rome

Arrived in Rome via the euro rail and then jumped onto the train to get closer to my sleeping accommodations.  Got lost( misplaced) for a little while trying to find the monastery turned hotel where I was staying.  This monastery was emporer constantines mothers house and site of the first mass legal Christian ceremony back in the day, just after Christianity was made legal by her son.  A large chapel and museo was part of the grounds which contained one of the original spikes used to hang Jesus on the cross as well as two thorns from his crown of thorns.  Walked around town Sunday evening, very little was open late.  
Monday Rome 
Spent the day at the Colosseum and had some more great food for lunch and dinner.  Walked around all day.
Tuesday Rome 
Spent the day touring the Vatican and Sistine chapel. After reading the signs/rules/regulations I misunderstood the rules for picture taking and decided to check my camera with my bag at bag check upon entering the Vatican.  What i I thought I read was no pics at all, what it really  read was  no pics inside the Sistine chapel.    Ate dinner at the same restaurant as monday night. It was that good.  The theme was truffle, ate a lot of pastas and pizzas that contained truffles.  Rome itself was dirty and the people were not all that friendly, except at the restaurant where I ate twice and the area near the Spanish steps.  The history and ruins are staggering.  Lots of history and I now understand that Rome was not built in a day.  
Wednesday travel day from Rome to Florence via euro rail.