“I’m 29,” my friend Cat declared. “Again!”

Today was her birthday in which she decided to celebrate by running her age. Naturally I thought that was a great idea — having run my age in kilometers just a few weeks ago — but instead of running it metrically she insisted on the whole she-bang in miles. Less wimpy, you see.

I was a little puzzled, then, about why we were going to run 46 miles today instead of 29. It seemed like 17 extra-credit miles were a bit excessive. Continue reading »

It was the second year in a row that the Fourth of July fell on a weekend and the Colorado skies were uncharacteristically rainy. But like last year, a little moisture did nothing to dampen the fun. Continue reading »

Last month’s Tour de Coop was so fun and educational that Charis, Chris, Leah, Tori and I pounced on the opportunity to do a similar bike ride featuring trees. It seemed like a particularly good idea considering how I’m a self-professed lover of the Great Outdoors, but am even more of an ignoramus about leafy barky objects than edible feathered friends. Continue reading »

Blasting music from one’s college days at home all day might not seem all that remarkable, even if the songs became popular around the time of Bill Clinton’s presidential inauguration and Miley Cyrus had just popped out of some woman’s womb. But what is noteworthy in my case is that I had only discovered these “ancient” bands very recently, even though I should have been bobbing my head up and down to their beat in my old dorm room as a frosh. You can call it “music Felix should have been listening to in college if he had not been so busy studying and working every moment of the day that he forgot how to turn on the radio.” Continue reading »

My friend Tori was out of town for a week and needed me to take care of her cats daily, so naturally I looked at this as a training opportunity. We live on opposite ends of Fort Collins, meaning that a trip to her place and back is a good 29 miles — a good distance for cycling or ultra-running practice. The key, then, was to find a good route because the most-direct car route on Shields St. — while doable on foot or two skinny tires — isn’t exactly the most pleasant with cars whizzing by all the time.

An inspection of Google Maps turned up an alternative, including several roads with wide bike lanes and even a few recreational trails. The highlight of these was the Mason Trail. I had last ridden this three years ago when writing it up for a now defunct local publication, so I looked forward to revisiting it. Continue reading »

One of the great things about Memorial Day Weekend — aside from being a tribute to America’s fallen heroes and having three days off work — is that one can almost count on gorgeous weather, especially here in northern Colorado. So to kick off the traditional start of the summer season, Leah and I went for a hike and had a picnic atop of an icon of Fort Collins — Horsetooth Rock. Continue reading »