Lion Runner

26 Saturday Mar 2016

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LoBo Bridge

In like a lion, out like a lamb. That phrase doesn’t really apply to Colorado. I know some parts of the country are planting their gardens. I ran today in four inches of fresh snow, piled on top of what’s left to melt from the previous two feet of powder, wearing gaiters, gloves and ski hat. And shoes still wet from this week’s previous runs.

Let me tell you something about winter running. Avoiding shallow puddles of water for what looks like snow on the edge of the trail, but is really mostly slush, is a mistake. Slush is quite literally standing water. In my experience, it’s typically much deeper than the puddle I’ve rounded. It’s most certainly colder, that’s why it’s still slush and not yet water. The best advice I can give you is to run straight through any puddles and avoid slush at all cost. Should you forget this advice and errantly choose the deeper standing slush over puddles on the trail, weep for yourself, my lion runner. You’ll never have a dry pair of shoes.

Cyber Terrorism

24 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in cyber war

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Bowman Avenue Dam, cyber war

iStock cyber warfare

The Department of Justice announced charges against seven Iranian hackers today for launching cyber attacks against the U.S. financial system and a dam in New York. There is no question, these events were malicious cyber attacks. But when is it cyber crime and when is it cyber war? Apparently, sometimes never. Loretta Lynch is calling this cyber terrorism, because also this week the Justice Department announced they have changed their approach and now treat nation-state affiliated hacking attacks like terrorism threats.

Lest you think everything is now clear, in the same statement, Loretta said, “In unsealing this indictment, the Department of Justice is sending a powerful message: that we will not allow any individual, group, or nation to sabotage American financial institutions or undermine the integrity of fair competition in the operation of the free market,” Really? How powerful! I imagine then the State Department, in coordination with the Department of Justice, will now approve travel visas for these seven terrorists so that we might possibly arrest them after stepping onto U.S. soil.

Here’s my disconnect. I understand terrorism to be used to classify harmful acts that are attributed to stateless warriors. The circumstances around terrorism differ from crime and war such that we have this third category of aggression. Hence, we have tribunals in Gitmo. I sort of understand it. Cyber Security experts have coined unique terms for hacking to categorize attacks as militaristic or criminal. Fairly intuitive. War is when we’re attacked by a government-attached army and crime is when we’re attacked by a civilian. I would then think that cyber terrorism is when we’re attacked by a stateless army, but I’m wrong. It means when we are attacked by real countries, namely China and Iran, but electronically rather than by arms. Maybe there is additional criteria, such as the attack is against a corporation or citizen rather than against our military?

So if Iran blows up Wall Street, that’s war. If Iran only electronically implodes Wall Street, then that is terrorism by the individuals working for the Iranian government. Not sure how to classify the dam attack. We need to stop pussy-footing around and call it what it is. Cyber War!

Antelope Trail

19 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Hall Ranch, Here Kitty Kitty

Rafe 2

Rafe came up from from Albuquerque to watch some March Madness games this weekend with his buddy Brian. This prompted Eve to host a Here Kitty Kitty relay team reunion, which culminated this morning in a trail run at Hall Ranch.

Brian Summit

Eve skipped the run, but her husband Brian, pictured here on the Nelson Loop Trail, braved the elements. Actually the weather could not have been more perfect. I started out in three shirts, tights and gloves. I shed the gloves after a mile, tied my long sleeved shirt around my waist at the summit, and didn’t really need the tights. 20° in full Colorado sun and snow can be quite pleasant. With zero wind, the conditions were unreal.

Beth Summit 2

Thursday dropped a half foot of fresh snow and running through Hall Ranch felt like being painted into a scene alongside Burl Ives in the 1964 movie Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The snow crystals glistened like diamonds. This is Beth pictured above in her own personal post card.

Beth and Brian Bridge

This was my first time running Hall Ranch. We started on the Antelope Trail, intersected with Bitterbrush Trail after the first uphill mile, and circled around Nelson Loop before returning. My nano spikes came in handy on the initial climb but things warmed up quickly. Fat tire bikes cut the lower trail for us but not even rabbit tracks disturbed the powder higher up. This was my first challenging hill run since my hamstring injury and I felt pretty good. I credit squats for my leg strength. My lungs were spewing exhaust like a steaming locomotive, but it felt great to be back out on a mountain trail.

Farm Roads

12 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Boulder Backroads, Moab, New Braunfels, wedding

In honor of the political campaign season, this photo above is a lie. I didn’t run Moab today. This photo is from 2011. But I wanted to be there with my friends, oh so bad. Running that half marathon alongside the Colorado River through the canyon is one of this country’s best experiences ever. Hope my friends enjoyed themselves this weekend. Wish I were there.

Instead, I ran my own half marathon on the Boulder backroads. My week was too busy for travel as I just returned, close to midnight Monday, from my Niece Christi’s wedding in New Braunfels, Texas. This is Christi, pictured above, with her father Mike, sister Mindi and mother, my sister Nancy. Christi is a school teacher in San Antonio. Mindi is an officer with the Hays County Sheriff’s Department.

It was a happy day for my mother too. While she’s appreciative of her ten grandchildren, only three great grandchildren aren’t enough and she’d like to have more of those.

I was pleased to see my sisters as well. They all live a thousand miles from me and we don’t get together often enough. I hope they were surprised to discover that my bangs are longer than all of theirs’. I also saw some nieces whom I haven’t seen in decades. Such a great trip.

Clearly though, my little sister was the happiest of us all. Mother and daughter were beautiful walking down the aisle. The wedding was held outside and the Central Texas skies held back the flood waters just long enough to pull off this wedding Sunday evening.

Okay, maybe the bride and groom were the happiest. Kevin is also a teacher at the same elementary school as Christi. They coordinated their wedding date with spring break. But enough about all these shiny, happy people. This is a running blog.

Today’s run may have equalled Moab in awesomeness. I run so often on the little LoBo Trail outside my door and I don’t get out to the Boulder backroads enough. The hard-packed clay, with streaks of rich brown and slate, is ideal for long runs. I eschewed my Hokas for my old running shoes and felt like myself again. My hamstring injuries are fading. My old Salomon trail shoes have over 2000 miles on them, but give me a responsiveness on the dirt that I’ve missed. My overly-cushioned Hokas are deaf by comparison.

North of the Boulder Res, I ran past fields of hops ready to grow for the local brewpubs, equine facilities, polo ranches, and over quaint bridges arched across Left Hand Creek. It was 50° around noon with late winter sunlight filtering down through leafless Cottonwood. An absolute runners dream for thirteen miles. I came up behind another runner, over-dressed in tights and jacket, as we both left the road for a section of trail. A garbage truck was nearly blocking the opening in the fence to the trail. He took a less confrontational route around the far side. I was enjoying my downhill stride too much to be bothered and darted between the busy sanitation worker and his monster truck, threading the needle to reach the trail. I didn’t slow down or go wide. Every run is a race. I couldn’t be in Moab this weekend, but I had a good run.

Weekend in Texas

05 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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BCRT, Faust Brewing Company, New Braunfels

BCRT mile marker

I arrived at ATX last night a little before midnight. The car rental desk at Budget was unmanned. There were no signs with instructions but I got lucky somehow by asking the staff at the Avis desk for help. I seem to recall those firms merging a few years back. Not sure but Avis did indeed have my rental. Got a Jeep Patriot for $12 a day. First they upgraded me for free. Then they pitched about $70 dollars in various options for insurance coverage, which I suspect was more expensive for my upgrade. I declined everything. I was too tired to understand anything being said and it felt like such a scam. Not happy with the Patriot. Big box with low visibility. Handles speed bumps well though.

Got in 13 miles on the Brushy Creek Regional Trail this morning. Weather Channel called for a 10% chance of rain. That would be an all out rain shower in Colorado but it translates to clear skies in Central Texas. After a half mile, mold spores began to form under the brim of my cap. Before a full mile, the mold dropped from my hat and dammed up on my eyebrows. By two miles, sweat was streaming across my face like the river over the spillway at Perdernales Falls. I don’t know how people live here. Many other runners were shirtless. Not me. A 53 year old running shirtless is like Trump referencing his penis at a GOP Debate. People aren’t asking to see my white belly. I suspect when we do see Trump’s tax returns, we’ll find out he’s been exaggerating the size of all his assets.

BCRT Sign

A half marathon is as much as I get from the BCRT. 6.75 miles one way but I run out and back from the east end along Harry Man Road. I’m down here for my niece’s wedding tomorrow. Thought I could squeeze in another run but I’ve since been tasked with some Uncle duties driving people around. That’s fine. The wedding is in New Braunfels and I’ve already set plans for lunch at the Faust Brewpub. The day will be full of reuniting with sisters and family whom I don’t often see. Looking forward to it.

Running Bums

01 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Buena Vista, BV, Daughters of Distance, retirement, Texas State, Vanessa Runs

You’ve heard of ski bums. Maybe you were one. It never ceases to amaze me how many people I meet in Colorado who tell me they originally moved here as a ski bum. This photo captures running bums. I grabbed it from Vanessa Run‘s FB site, hope she doesn’t mind. Vanessa refers to such runners as dirtbag runners. She actually co-hosts a site for dirtbag runners, so I’m not making this up. Their Instagram site has some awesome running photos. Vanessa is a classic running bum herself. She lives out of an RV, runs trail races all over the continent, and writes the occasional running book like The Summit Seeker or Daughter’s of Distance. She’s wearing the sunglasses.

I started thinking of running bums when my Austin running buddy Ken used the term to describe Jon as he caught me up-to-date on some guys we both used to run with back in the day. Jon was one of my college cross country coaches at Texas State. One of those coaches who runs with his charges. He was only a few years older than the rest of us. He was such a running bum. He ate grass-fed smoothies decades before they were in vogue. I never, ever saw him wear anything other than running sweats. To his credit, they were fashionable and not some Chariots of Fire gray cotton sweats. To our dismay, he never washed them. Jon smelled so bad, the entire team would have tears in our eyes when trapped in a van with him. We drove once together from Central Texas all the way to Kansas. Brutal.

Still, Jon was such a pleasant person. He could talk about anything. I imagine he still can. He became a letter carrier in Austin. Ken brought him up to let me know Jon recently received a hip replacement and can no longer run. Nightmare scenario for me. I can’t imagine the impact on Jon. He was such a running bum. I don’t know that he ever won any of the big races but he was an elite athlete. Running with him was an honor. Bummer.

I wouldn’t mind becoming a running bum. Not now, too many bills and commitments. But in retirement. I’ve been working on Karen to warm her up to the idea of moving to somewhere like Buena Vista. That would put the Colorado Trail and the Collegiates at my doorstep. Some of the finest trail running to be found anywhere in the world. I could retire there. Karen points out the tough winters and lack of nearby medical facilities at a time in our lives we might visit doctors more regularly. I don’t know. Fairly certain old people live there. Old running bums.