It may have been considered balmy (around 30 degrees) compared to previous 10-kilometer Tortoise & Hare races, but there were a couple early-morning signs that this winter’s Lee Martinez Park 10k would be no cakewalk. First was the way my all-wheel-drive roadster went around a corner onto snow-covered College Avenue: a four-wheel slide, Steve McQueen style, but at at 10 mph. Second was the sight of two race participants abruptly quitting the race after only 1.5 miles. One of them was ambling back to the staging area not long after I commenced this fastest-people-start-last race, and he yelled, “ice beyond the [something that sounded like ‘ramp’].” Continue reading »

“What do the beer fairy, the queen of Wal-Mart, and Spiderman have in common? And what was this odd assortment of characters doing running down the streets of Old Town Fort Collins today?”

These are questions Alene posed in her ultrarunning blog. The explanation is that it was the 3rd Annual Human Powered Brewery Tour — as organized by Scott and Celeste — and this year, a bunch of us wore costumes to draw greater attention to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. We hoped that people who saw superheroes and cowgirls running or biking down the street would ask us what we were doing and offer to make a contribution to the ALS Association. Continue reading »

Many running experts and shoe companies recommend replacing your running shoes after, say, 400 miles, but that is for shoes with support and cushioning that degrade over time. For runners like myself who prefer to run in glorified socks in order to mimic barefoot running — which has been proven to cause less impact than running in cushioned shoes — shoes can be replaced less often as there is no cushioning or support to break down to begin with. Continue reading »

This winter along the Front Range we have received record-setting dustings of snow that began as early as October. While we never received any massing dumpings like in the Colorado Blizzard of 2006, snow has fallen with enough regularity to keep Fort Collins looking like a Winter Wonderland well into the New Year. In contrast, the mountains directly to the west of my hometown have received less snow than usual.

This did not stop Lisa, Rob, Tori and I from stomping around in deep snow with shoes befitting of Big Foot. Rather, it just meant that we had to drive further up into the mountains to find ample powder. Continue reading »

Even among best friends it is hard to predict the future. I was reminded of this one fine evening when Lisa, Tori and I were at Charis and Chris’ and marveled about how 10 years ago none of us could have ever guessed we would all be sitting around a dining table in Fort Collins. Continue reading »

Today is January 5th, or the day after the expiration date of General Motors’ offer to dealers of $7,000 for every new Pontiac or Saturn that is moved to rental-vehicle or service-vehicle fleets. What does this mean? It signifies that now there should be no more Pontiacs or Saturns for sale that aren’t classified as “used” — even if the dealers end up reselling undriven vehicles from those fleets — as the dealers would technically be the first owners.

In other words, Pontiac and Saturn are essentially dead. Kaput. Gone. No más. Continue reading »