Camp Tahosa #1

I've applied to be a camp counselor at the Camp Tahosa High Adventure Base near Ward, Colorado.
When I was 17, I achieved the rank of Eagle Scout (Boy Scouting's highest honor), something that 3% (or less) of scouts ever do. I've had the honor of leading a National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) course. And  I was sent out to Philmont Scout Ranch by my home council to go through the National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience (NAYLE), which is essentially scouting's ceiling as far as youth leadership training. So, by applying for the position, I can plan on being at Camp Tahosa all summer.

I have an interview on February 18th with the new director of the camp and should be leaving with the formal offer for the job.

My blog is about running though, not scouting, so I'll get to the point. Camp Tahosa is at about 9,000 feet elevation and sits next to the Indian Peaks Wilderness south of Rocky Mountain National Park. The location has miles upon miles of trail and 12,000 foot peaks are as convenient and plentiful as you could ask for. Other just a great opportunity to develop myself as a runner and a human being, it will be a great chance for me to refill my savings account which has dwindled to nothing over the past months. I don't ever plan to be rich, but when my finances are stopping me from racing I know I'm too poor.

http://anodynerunning.blogspot.com/2010/08/pawnee-buchanan-pass-loop-27-miles.html -there's a ton of pictures of the trails I'll be calling home on Jim's page here, thanks for carrying a camera man!

Part two to come after my interview on the 18th

Moving Closer to the Mountians

Thankfully, February marks the end of my lease at The Golden Nugget Apartments. When we (my girlfriend Sabrina and I) moved from Illinois to Colorado six months ago, the only two solid requirements for our place to live were a cheap price and an immediate opening. So Golden Nugget, at Broadway and Belleview Avenue in Englewood, it was. At $555/month and less than two miles from Arapahoe Community College (ACC), it seemed close to perfect.

In May, two months before I eventually moved out to Colorado, I had visited the property and meet the manager. She offered to waive my application fee since I was going to be a student at ACC, which seemed nice but also gave me a pretty sales'y vibe. When I came back in July, she told me that they "can't do that anymore." Ah, sharky sales at its finest.
But I had the money so I payed it. Sleeping in my backpacking tent was getting old for Sabrina. And a place other than the car to keep food was necessary so we could stop eating all of our meals out.
We moved in on July 20th.
By August 20th, we had seen just about every person in our building intoxicated -including our landlady Suzanne. By September 20th, I had seen two people get arrested on our complex.
None of that bothered me in the slightest, but getting bit every night by mystery bugs got a little annoying -they turned out to be bed bugs in case you haven't read my other post about my living conditions. Other than those funny, living-with-the-under-class events, there were dozens of random events that happened almost too quickly to notice how strange they were.
One night a hideous, leather skinned, 40'ish year old woman that we were somewhat familiar with (we'd seen her most nights drinking and smoking in the courtyard) knocked on our door at around 7:00 pm. She stared at me for about five seconds before telling me that she must be at the wrong apartment. Yeah. Sorry. no drugs here.
One of the most quintessential fixtures of the Golden Nugget is the people who sit on the steps all day and night (smoking) and try to make you feel bad for asking for a way past them. There's the woman that came to our door, but also another woman who wears exclusively black pajama pants and a hoodie and sits on the staircase we use most often. Worse even than the smoke, is her backside. Presented to every person bold enough to walk down the stairs past her is her dark, dirty, cellulite clinging, ass crack.
Unfortunately, not all the people are totally benign. Take a minute to read this article, as sad as it is: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_19073450 -Deer Creek, where the body was found, is my favorite place to run. And I've been living here for six months without knowing any of this. I suppose the area turned around a bit after the Englewood Police "established a presence" at the Golden Nugget. -Score one for the good guys.
The worst thing I've had to put up with since moving here has been Suzanne's (my landlady's) male "friends." Just this morning I had a 30-some year old intoxicated man, he said his name was Bull, wanting to come into my apartment to show me where I must be leaking water into the room below me. As it turns out, it wasn't even his room, and he doesn't even live here. He was just there visiting a friend while Suzanne got some work done, and in his drunken mind he felt the need to show me the water dripping into the room below me instead of talking to maintenence about it.
The water was coming from a busted pipe -not my place. And, in my assumtion, the reason his friend, the one who was living in the drippy room, hadn't complained about it earlier is because he couldn't speak english. ...

Anyway, despite all the antics the reason where moving is mostly to get a better location. We're too far from the mountains, too far from work, and too far from our grocery store, and they're all in the same direction. So we're moving to Lakewood, Colorado in a month and I couldn't be more excited.

National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) Certification

A short while back I decided to study and test for another certification to help both my career and my clients.
While I would strongly recommend NPTI (National Personal Training Institute) to anyone who can make it work, and I do believe it to be the best certification program for personal trainers, most people with jobs don't have four days per week to commit to education. Also, the $6000 price tag scares some people off. So for the average person looking to become a personal trainer, or just wanting to learn more about applied exercise science, I recommend NASM.
the online study program is second to none. after reading a chapter in the book, going online to watch the video clips about the material, then taking mini quizzes about what you learned, anyone can learn the information fully and in a short amount of time, no matter what kind of learner you are.

you can follow the new link on the side of my page to see the full details on how you can become a personal trainer (or a better one if you already are one).

-and if you've decided to get certified, do so through the link on the right side of my page to let NASM know that i sent you and to make sure you get the best deal.

The Bear Chase Trail Race 50k

breakfast: 1 hemp waffle with butter (didn't eat all of it due to nerves), a half cup of strong Awake Tea with half cup hemp milk (forgot to add the ginger.)
pre race: sipped water, took Vespa Junior just under 30 mins before the start
the plan: go out hard and see what happens
the course: three loops one small (10k loop), and two big (12.5 mile loops) at Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood, Colorado



the start of the race was fast with three of us pushing for first, and we came through the first 10k in sub-40 minutes. i knew the pace was fast, but sub-20 minute pace for ten 5k's in a row without stopping (and on trails!) is not something I'm ready to do. so i let the duo go and slowed the pace to something that felt more reasonable. just past the 10k mark i made my first attempt to hydrate and was hit with cramps. i only in about two ounces of fluid in the first 8 miles. i knew i should take in more but my stomach wasn't gona have it after the fast start, so i kept on going and hoped for the best.



i have nothing but respect for that guy: he lead it from the start and set a great new course record



i ran 100% of the first 20 miles, including an accent of Mt. Carbon and three water crossings, and didn't feel too bad, although the distance started to stretch out in front of me. after the second accent of Mt. Carbon(around mile 23 i think), i started to realize that walking was inevitable. there was a short, steep hill within a mile of the peak of Carbon and i planned to walk it, hoping that a few moments of walking would help me get my legs back. by that point i was starting to feel achy and just making it to the hill was a challenge. my race was starting to fall apart. after walking the small hill, i walked through each of the three final water crossings. by this point, my stomach felt like it could hold fluid, but i was miles from the next aid station and my ten-ounce water bottle had been empty for atleast a mile. after scooping some water from Bear Creek and bumming some off a nice 50-miler, i could feel how dehydrated i was.






at the top of Mt. Carbon, great spot to drink in the view -since i couldn't drink anything else

   the final six miles of the race had more walking than I'd care to talk discuss. i was in death march mode where even the downhills were miserable to run. my pace for mile 25-29 had to be slower than 18 minutes a mile, but i was atleast able to run it in during the last 2 miles or so and was still able to break five hours.




#1 for pictures of me in pain

 during the race i drank very diluted Ironman Perform (the sports drink offered at the aid stations) and slowly took a strawberry stinger gel from mile 19 until about mile 22, along with plain water. that's it.

finishing in 17th place would discourage me, but a time of 4:50 with a crash like i had is great. i should be able to do a four hour 50k on a similar course in the next 6 months-1 year. this race also let me know that as long as recovery goes well between now and October 8th (Xterra), I'm ready for a really good trail marathon. had i not crashed like i did, i would have run a sub-4:15 50k, so once i dial in my hydration I'm certain that i can break four hours for a moderately difficult 50k. 


not as fast as I'd like to be yet, but it's a work in progress

 looking forward, I'm excited to hopefully (depending on finances) be racing a few more trail marathons before winter comes. -hopefully i can master my race hydration over the course of the next 2 months.