30 Sunday Jun 2019
Posted in Colorado Trail, Ellie Rose
Tags
The only two things a girl needs when hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park is water and her smartphone.
This is what we saw at the end of our hike in Wild Basin. Sandbeach Lake is considered deep at fifty feet, and it has a deep-blue reflection.
Two girls eating a sandwich, after a couple of hours of hiking, is basically the goal of hiking.
23 Sunday Jun 2019
Posted in Running
The first days of summer have been full of winter in Colorado, but I love watching a front come in while running the East Boulder hills. There’s no better feeling than running into the oncoming weather. Summer rain dropping the chill of mountain snowmelt.
I’m doing all my runs lately on the East Boulder Trail. It’s nostalgic for me. I ran this trail daily, nearly thirty years ago when I lived in the Gunbarrel Country Club area, across 75th from Heatherwood.
I was in my upper twenties and I acclimated to high altitude running on that trail. I ran a 41 minute Bolder Boulder that year – 1990. A decent time for that course. I ran 43 minutes, twenty-five years later. I still plan to break 40 minutes. I like the idea of getting back into shape on this trail.
The grasses along the East Boulder Trail have grown quickly with all the moisture this spring. The stems are waist high and my fingers brush through the spikelets as I run. I think their lushness makes the trail cozy. I like the experience. It feels early in the season for the grasses to be so tall. I hope they keep growing.
I remember running this trail in 1990, when I found my high altitude speed. Half a year earlier, I’d lived at sea level. I always launched my runs from the west side of 75th and my first mile took me to the top of the water tower hill. The water tower is the high point and is a half mile climb, then a quarter mile flat stretch across the top, and a quarter mile drop into the hills.
I found my speed when another runner, young twenties, probably in college, passed me from behind on the far-side downhill. He’d passed me on other days and I always let him go. This time though, warmed up from the hill, I chased after him once he gained a good fifty meters lead. I caught him easily and we ran together, chatting, for a couple of miles. We were easily running a six minute pace, maybe faster, through the hills. It felt good.
I rediscovered my speed on that run and I’ll never forget it. I maintained my fitness for the rest of the year, until I got a job downtown and had to start commuting. Then I had kids. It would be another twenty-five years before I would run this trail fast again.
I’m not running fast now, but I can run the hills without walking. That will get me back in shape. Eventually. The hills on the East Boulder Trail never disappoint.
15 Saturday Jun 2019
Posted in Running
This is a photo of today’s foot bridge, taken earlier this spring. No one was standing on it then, like today. And yes, those are road apples in the middle of the bridge.
The East Boulder Trail had some runners on it today. A young girl passed by me early on with elite form. Then another guy, weight-lifter for sure, shirtless of course. On my return, five and a half miles into an eight miler, I was crossing this bridge with some momentum. Unlike in this photo, it was nearly crowded with hikers and runners. And as I reached the apex, as if in a zombie movie, a lady jumped out at me, her hands reaching for my throat.
Too late to perform the move well, I understood the outstretched arms to be an attempt for dual fist bumps. I figured I must know this person and bumped her fists, if that’s in fact what we were doing. But I made no attempt to slow down. I continued running past her. I needed that momentum to take me into the next hill.
Two steps past Jen, I recognized her and stopped. I turned around and saw that the guy with her was Bob. They were training for a literary hike through the Scottish Highlands. One stop is on the path of Diana Galbadon, another on the passage to J.K. Rowling.
I’ve heard Galbadon talk at a RMFW’s Colorado Gold workshop. The woman is bawdy. Our coversation on the bridge deviated from The Outlander series to NetFlix porn. I would say the current crown of Netflix porn goes to Tales of the City. It’s in that porn with plot and dialog genre, Porn Plus. I swear, I was searching for the Father Brown Mysteries, and I stumbled onto Tales of the City.
The fit, shirtless runner crossed the bridge on his return. Jen did more than notice, she commented. Even I was a bit envious of the guy. We all started back on our runs, in opposite directions. Jen and Bob headed for Valmont Road. I headed for the hills.
07 Friday Jun 2019
Posted in Geek Horror
I’m sitting in an ATX bar drinking 512 IPA near gate 23, listening to live music. If that makes you jealous, I won’t get home before midnight. But what a week.
I was a booth babe for my company at the Palo Alto Networks Ignite 2019 User Conference. It was a cool setup because it was less booth and more coffee shop slash drinks after five. If that wasn’t enough to draw people in, and it was, I was signing promotional copies of Full Spectrum Cyberwar.
If it confuses you that I would be both working for my firm and at the same time self-promoting my book, I can explain the joint-marketing/co-branding concept to you in one word – LinkedIn. If you need more words, my original content drew people into the booth. My authenticity with a signed book increases customers and potential customers’ commitment to my firm. It also lubed the conversational skids. That helps my firm and for me, hopefully, a percentage of them will buy my first or future-3rd book.
The vendor took care of me and my crew with an over-abundance of high-quality meals near the Austin Convention Center. And when it was all done, I met my friend and neighbor, Steve Wolfe, also working in Austin at the time, and my brother-in-law Steve Collier, at Tomos for the best sushi on Parmer Lane.
I’m exhausted and won’t get home before midnight, but I’m drinking 512 IPA, listening to live music, and I’m good.
02 Sunday Jun 2019
Posted in Novel
PING is one of the best acronyms ever. It’s a tech spec, RFC 1739, that means Packet InterNetwork Groper. It references when you validate the online existence of an IP address. You ping it. Techies also use the term colloquially in place of the word contact, as in ping me instead of contact me. And, Ping is the name of the firm I sat down in Friday afternoon to be interviewed for the Colorado=Security podcast, by Robb Reck.
I drew a pint of the Codename: Superfan IPA by Odd13 Brewing. At 6.5% ABV, it contains the hops Simcoe, Citra, Amarillo and Equinox. I then ensconced myself in Robb’s office to be interviewed for my cyberwar tech thriller, Full Spectrum Cyberwar.
The talk was a lot of fun. I forget which parts were recorded, but inevitably, when two old tech guys sit down to talk, the conversation turns to who they’ve worked with and where. It’s nostaligic and fun, and then of course, what writer doesn’t like to talk about his book?
Being the CISO of Ping, Robb gave me grief over my storyline that characterized a CISO as the first bad guy. Technically, I say Claire was an unwitting bad guy. And I feel I should score points for representing women in tech. You read it and tell me what you think.
Saturday night was even better. The Jaggers hosted performer Jill Sobule at the house. Jill was highly entertaining, and had us all singing along with her. I just downloaded her latest album, Nostalgia Kills, because I liked her music that much. Before the performance, Jabe passed around a hat for a young girlfriend with stage 4 cancer. Jabe gave an impassioned plea that would have won the war for the allies. Hoping the best for Sara.
I’m currently sitting at DIA, waiting for my delayed flight that I woke up for at 5am. If any of my tech buddies are attending the Palo Alto Ignite User Conference this week, look for me at the CenturyLink Cafe. I’ll sign a copy of my book for you.
A Runner's Story 