Skiing at Breck!

So, not much truly exciting has been taking place recently besides paling around with Kristen. Until yesterday, that is!

My first visit to Breckenridge was on a trip with some fellow Clara Vista workers back in the mid-90s. The first day was blech -- snowy, cold, and zero visibility. The next day was at Vail, with perfect weather and skiing. However, the altitude and dryness kicked my ass and I didn't ski the last day back at Breck.

My next visit to Breck was awesome. While I was doing some consulting work in Colorado Springs a few years ago, Mike and I accidentally met up with Mitchell and Sue and had an one of my best days of skiing.

Yesterday was a great, first day of the ski season for me. So far this season Breckenridge appears to have the most snow of the Colorado ski resorts, plus it is a little farther away so the crowds were non-existent. Most of the double diamonds were closed, so I wasn't tempted to risk injury. The few difficult runs I did reminded me how much my legs muscles have atrophied. What I love about Breck is the plethora of long, intermediate runs where you can go fast and work on technique.

Of course, the views from Breckenridge are quite amazing.


You can check out my latest photo set from my trip to Breckenridge yesterday. I've added my most recent photostream pics to the top of the blog.

For inquiring minds...

Blog updates have been few and far between. Part of this is due to working on lots of stuff, and since I tend to work on things in parallel, nothing gets done timely. Working on it...

Anyway, I've been working with Pat on Sneaq/Blurt/<name still to be determined>, a fast and loose blogging engine, and spending too much time debugging all the stupid little problems I seem to encounter.

Oh, and I met an absolutely wonderful girl here in Colorado Springs. Here's a couple pics of Kristen and I while hiking Seven Bridges...


On the downside, I just found out how bad Colorado is for consulting rates. Oh well, time to write the killer iPhone application and just let the money roll in...

Jack Quinn's Runners Club

Yesterday I ran 5K with Jack Quinn's Runners Club. It's more of a drinking club with a running problem as it's sponsored by a great Irish bar in downtown Colorado Springs, with free appetizers and 2.50 Odell beers. The beer is actually really good, my favorite so far is their 90 Shilling (a Scottish ale), but in September they should have the seasonal Extra Special Red.

This club is a really big deal, at least in terms of participant numbers. 628 ran yesterday -- yes, they keep attendance, and after 10 runs you get a really nice shirt. Most people stick around afterwards, either upstairs where the food is, or outside spilling onto the sidewalk.

Out of the 627 other people, I met two: Colb (sp?) who was volunteering to bus the tables, and Sue, an English woman who's been here for 21 (23?) years and participates in half Iron Mans. Both were really nice and fun. Time for me to volunteer and meet some more people...

My two goals were accomplished: meeting some new people and not stopping to suck wind during the run. Yay for me!