Summer is here...

We have had an action packed June so far. Amazingly, we have only slept under our roof for 5 nights the entire month. Our travels to the midwest were great and a weekend in Vail for Father's Day was really fun. But the realization that my Leadville Journey is only a few weeks away adds an amazing amount of angst in my life. No way am I ready to tackle the 50m bike, 50m run in July. Or am I?

Fitness Highlights from the last few weeks -

Memorial Weekend was pretty big. Big time friend, Jason Tischer, an old college roommate of my brother Jared, made it to CO and we lit up the mountain biking and trail running like no other. My plan was to beat his fitness and legs into the ground so that there was no way he could PR and surpass my marathon best time the next weekend. I had been consulting his fitness, nutrition and marathon-ing for the past several months. Jason lost nearly 20 pounds this winter, began running faster than he ever had, survived his CO weekend of over 15 hours of training in 4 days and one week later, ran a 2:55 marathon in Minneapolis (3rd Place Overall). Huge props to Tish!

Taking off to Minnesota for a wedding and family time in Wisconsin was a difficult juggling act for the upcoming races. While in Duluth, I hit some gravel running at the Barn, scoping out the wild turkeys and a nosy bear, Nicole and I were able to have a fun run on the Duluth-Superior Trail (narrowly avoiding a porcupine) and some additional runs along the waterfront. In WI, the events, family functions, working remotely, upgrading my parents' technology, left a small amount of time for training. In those small windows, I was able to run and mountain bike nearly everyday. Hitting some great runs with my old friend Ryan and twisting the insanely tight single track with my brother Matt and cousin Tony. So much fun to see how I have personally impacted those 3 guys and their most recent journey to fitness and racing. They have all dropped weight and are running/riding better than they have in years. Keep it up boys!

The Bellin Run 10k in Green Bay celebrated its 35th Anniversary and had a record number of runners at nearly 18,500. It was such a cool event and I had a lot of fun. I have not run a 10k in over 10 years, but I am quite sure my 37:42 was a personal best. Maintaining that speed is not terribly hard for me right now, but attempting to go much faster would have been quite difficult. I am so proud of Nicole for her fastest 10k, she was fired up and ready for her next big event (tbd)!

Our weekend in Vail with the Koski Family was relaxing and laid back. Jeff and I got out for an amazing 90 minute trail run on the North Trail system in Vail. Too many Aspen trees to count with spectacular views throughout, this run gave me some elevation trail running confidence as I felt like I was floating up the steep inclines from 8100 to 9800 feet. Finding that trail running nirvana is pretty easy in Colorado. And once you work at it for a year or so, being able to stride so smoothly at 9,000 feet is an unbelievable high.

Now back to the reality of trying to run and bike as much as I humanly can.

Crazy how fast time flies, Nicole and I are celebrating our 10th Wedding Anniversary this week. She has been the most amazing wife and my best friend. She has always supported my wild plans and her ability to keep me grounded while understanding what drives me is why I am here today. Love you!