AVOID THE BUMMER LIFE

Outliving the bastards one hard-earned beer at time.

Category: running

  • Pullman Winter Ultras

    Pullman Winter Ultras

    Every December/January, the Palouse Road Runners hosts two free “ultra” marathons we affectionately title the Pullman Winter Ultras. It’s a simple and relatively hands-off premise: you sign up for free and run anywhere between 1-4 eight-mile laps around town, no matter the weather.

    And the weather in Pullman this time of year can be heinous.

    I race-directed this event but because it was minimal support, I basically hung out at a coffee shop all day and gave some check-in props to runners as they came by every hour or so.

    This was my first year directing the thing and we had a solid turnout of about 30 participants. The weather was relatively prime until rain started at around hour five. Everyone had a solid time and I’m stoked to see who returns for the January edition.

  • Dicks-A-Thon

    Dicks-A-Thon

    Nearly every year, I meet up with my college buddies somewhere and we go to an Arizona State football game. This year we met up in Seattle and, true to my nature, I found a running event to do. The Dicks-a-Thon is a 26 or 14 mile run around hilly Seattle where you go navigate from one Dicks Drive In to another, eating burgers along the way. I opted for the half-marathon route as, it was a game day with friends and I had places to be (and more beers to drink).

    As if that didn’t sound like enough of a digestive challenge, we all arrived in town the night before and were out drinking until about 1am. That didn’t make the run particularly amazing, but it surprisingly wasn’t too bad.

    Pretty sure I’m gonna do it again next year!

  • Le Tour de Seattle

    Le Tour de Seattle

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    This was hashed out over several cups of coffee. I’ll be remote in the Seattle area for a couple of weeks in July and had an open weekend to fill. Rough-cut of the itinerary, starting just outside of Carnation, WA:

    Friday 7/22

    3:00pm – ride to Mill Creek

    Saturday 7/23

    6:00am – Mill Creek to the ferry station in Seattle

    11:25am – take ferry to Bainbridge Island

    12:00pm – check out the bike shop/museum and probably grab a bite

    1:00pm – ride a section of the Chilly Hilly route up to Eleven Winery

    ??:??pm – easy 4 mile cruise to the hotel

    Sunday 7/24

    7:00am – another section of the Chilly Hilly route towards the ferry station

    8:30am – breakfast at Blackbird Bakery

    9:45am – ferry back to Seattle

    10:15am – Seattle to Element Cycles in Redmond

    12:00pm – RAMROD packet pickup & BBQ

    1:30pm – back to Carnation

    +++

    July 30 Update:

    And like that, it’s all over. A lot of solo time on the bike; burning through miles, thinking about life and thinking about nothing. Drinking wine by myself in a hotel room while my bibs dry in the bathroom shower. Being honked at. Getting waves. Sweating the days crashing and nights.

    The front-end of this trip was a RAGNAR run north of Seattle where I did 28 miles within a 24 hour span. The backend was the RAMROD where the ride was something like 150 miles with 11,000 ft of elevation.

    I’m cooked.