New Mud Fest 2015. Otherwise known as New Brew Fest 2015

Time to talk about some beer.  Along with exciting adventures on the trails, spring starts the outdoor beer fest season.  This past Saturday (May 9), was New Brew Fest in Niwot.  Last year was the inaugural fest, so this year is the 2nd Annual.  Remember you can not have a 1st Annual event.  This was a fun time last year and is super convenient.  Held at Whistle Stop Park, I can hop on the Bolt around the corner from my house and get dropped off right at the park.  The idea of this beer tasting fest is to showcase Boulder County brewers who are less than 5 years old.  Which is a lot.  I like this fest as it wasn't super crowded last year, includes a large number of good brewers, has generous pours, is reasonably priced and gives me a chance to check out the ever growing number of new breweries I haven't had a chance to taste yet.

Unfortunately, the weather leading up to Saturday wasn't great.  Rain everyday of the week and some chilly temps.  Not exactly the type of weather you want to stand around outside for 5 hours in.  When I woke up Saturday morning, it was raining hard.  But at 11 it stopped and began to clear out.  By noon, the Fest opened to a little bit of sun.  There was quite a bit of mud but most everyone there was prepared to deal with it.  At about 12:15 my friends and I had entered and started tasting some fine brews.  Again, likely due to the weather, it wasn't super crowded, so you could quickly get a beer.

The wind picked up around 2 and the temps began to drop.  By 3 it was starting to get cold.  Then it began to rain/sleet.  It felt more like football tailgating weather (if you are from the midwest), then a brew fest (or maybe more like the infield at Pimlico).  But those tailgating experiences make you hardy, and we held out till about 4, when we bailed to head over to Bootstrap.  I would say most everyone else had bailed long before then.  I doubt many people made it to the 5 o'clock closing time.

Mud and Beers.  Mmm .... tasty.

A few breweries bailed out and were no shows.  Here are the highlights and lowlights from those brave souls who risked frostbitten fingers to pour us some beers.

Best Beer:  Blond Stout, Industrial Revolution Brewing Co., Erie

Judged strictly on the merits of a tasty stout, this was incredible.  Good coffee flavor without being overpowering, some vanilla notes in there and a smooth chocolatey finish.   Just a great stout.  But the kicker is that it is the same color as a pale ale or wheat ale as it is brewed without any roasted barley.  Your mind becomes confused as it can't process what your eyes see and your mouth tastes.  So instead of trying to figure it out, you just drink more, which with this stout is a good thing.

Best New Brewery I Haven't Tried Yet:  Grossen Bart Brewery, Longmont

Last year's New Brew Fest introduced me to Powderkeg. They weren't even open yet, so I was in anticipation until they opened a few months later.  This year, Grossen Bart made a great first impression.  I will definitely stopped in sometime soon.  They were serving Walrus Oatmeal Stout and Soul Patch Porter (catch their theme yet.  Grossen Bart is German for "Big Beard")
I started the day with the stout and was pretty happy with it.  I went back later for the Porter.  Both were solid beers.   Looking at their website, they seem to have a good selection of beers and a couple that are intriguing, like the Soul Patch Smoked Morita Chili Porter.

Great Beer From Place I Have Only Had Once or So : Wee Rauchy Scottish Strong Ale, 

Liquid Mechanics Brewing, Lafayette

Brewed as a collaboration with Grimm Brothers Brewery (Loveland), I really liked this beer.  It had a very unique but balanced taste.  I have had Liquid Mech brew last year at New Brew and at Colorado Brewer's Rendezvous, but haven't been in their taproom yet.  Will now be more interested in stopping by.

Still Tastes Great.  Best Old Standby:  #42 Poblano Stout, Big Choice Brewing, Broomfield

On a chilly day, it was a perfect choice.  Great taste.  Smokey.  Chili flavor but doesn't hit you with the chili heat.  I don't regularly seek out Big Choice, but when I see the Poblano Stout, I usually grab a pint.

Other Breweries I Hadn't Been To, but left good impression:

Front Range Brewing Co., Lafayette

Skeye Brewing, Longmont

Front Range is nearly 2 years old, but I haven't had anything from them yet (that I remember).  Skeye hasn't opened yet.  Both had good beers.  They weren't, OMG this is the best beer EVER!!!, but they were good beers.  Will try to make an effort to check out their taprooms.  Plus, Skeye has one of the better logos out there.  That might be another blog.  Best Brewery Logos.

               

Disappointing No Shows: Odd 13 Brewing, Lafayette and Wibby Brewing, Longmont

I love Odd 13's Eric the Red.  Love it.  Looked forward to having it only to be left disappointed that Odd 13 wasn't there.  As for Wibby, they are opening this summer so haven't had their beer at all.  But was interested in trying them out.  Tasteful lagers are their specialty.  I am glad they are keeping things tasteful, just wish I could have tried them.

Disappointing Did Show: Shoes and Brews, Longmont

A shoe store and a micro-brewery taproom all under the same roof.  Why didn't I think of that?  Oh wait I did, but just didn't follow through.  When they opened last year, I was excited to try them out.  This was my first time I had any of their brews.  Unfortunately the Pale Ale tasted like it was fermented in shoes and the Imperial IPA didn't have much aroma and instead had disappointing taste.  I usually give a new brewery a couple of chances as I have seen quality vary from batch to batch early on, so I'll try Shoes and Brews again.  One caveat is that when you are tasting a bunch of different beers, it can lead you to have a beer taste weird when it otherwise doesn't.  But my friends were also not impressed.  So S and B, I'll give you another chance, but in this state, there are too many good beers around to keep drinking something less than good.  I do hear they have a great selection of other Colorado beers on tap, so at least it wouldn't hurt to stop in and see their setup.

And as this is both a beer and running blog, I got up the next morning to 4-5 inches fresh snow and did 17 miles.  Oddly didn't feel all that bad.  Took a couple hour nap that afternoon, but didn't feel that bad.  http://www.movescount.com/moves/move61941712

Beginning of Build Up to San Juan Solstice : A weekend in Fruita

Winter is over and spring has arrived, along with the opening of my trail racing season.  It was a bit of an odd winter for me.  I did get in 8 snowshoe races in this winter: Five (3-4K's) at the Eldora Nighthawk series and three (10Ks) at the BeaverCreek Snowshoe series.  So that was pretty solid.  But I can't say I felt like I was running that much.

As for skiing, I ended up logging 16 days skiing, at 8 resorts in 3 states, including one day of back country skiing above Moffat Tunnel.  But the skiing was very hit and miss, to the point I only had a half day at the Beave this winter and no days at Vail.  I did have an epic day at the Canyons, a solid day at Copper, a couple of fun days at Jackson Hole (can't not have fun in Jackson), along with some nice snow that day above Moffat.

Always a good time at Jackson Hole

The unusually dry March here in Colorado left me not skiing much, so I starting to get back into a consistent running schedule.  This was good as I had entered the lottery for San Juan Solstice 50 miler and had "won", thus earning an entry into the late June race.  I needed March to get up to a decent fitness level, to allow me to start putting on miles in April.

All was going to plan until I got a death cold at the end of March.  It knocked me out, leaving me unable to run for a full week.  The next week I was able to get slightly back on track, but ended every run with a coughing fit.

This was my build up to the Desert Rats Trail Running Festival in Fruita, the weekend of April 18-19.  Put on by Gemini Adventures, the Saturday schedule included a marathon, 50K and double marathon.  I was signed up for the marathon.  I probably only ran over 2 hours once this calendar year, and that had to be a couple months ago.  Expectations for this race were low.  Basically I was using it as a long run and a jump start to getting in longer long runs.

Winter decided to reappear the week of the race and I-70 was shut down Friday morning due to heavy springs snow and multiple accidents.  With rain predicted for Friday night on the Western Slope, it didn't seem like ideal conditions for a weekend of camping/racing/hanging out.  Because of that, a couple of friends bailed on me, and I was left doing the drive and weekend solo.

View of Eldorado Canyon as I was leaving Boulder Friday afternoon.

I-70 re-opened shortly before I left work Friday afternoon and the drive started off remarkably pleasant.  There wasn't much traffic or weather and the roads were pretty clear and dry through the tunnels and over Vail Pass. At this point I thought it would be smooth sailing to Fruita until I hit heavy snow in Glenwood Springs and then had rain the rest of the drive to Grand Junction and Fruita.  Since I now was flying solo, I decided against finding a place to set up camp Friday night and just slept in the Xterra near the start/finish line.

Woke up Saturday morning to chilly temps and overcast skis, but no rain.  Because of all the precipitation, some of the trails on the normal course were not in good condition, and a course change was made.  The course is run on the Kokopelli Trail system in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area and the BLM is sensitive to their condition as it is a very heavily used mountain biking area.  Instead of one big 26.2 mile loop, we would now be running a 10.4 mile loop twice, then adding on a 3 mile out and back section.  The 50K folks would be doing the loop 3 times and the double marathon pain junkies would be doing the loop 5 times.  At 6:30 AM, we all went off together.

The first few miles were now run on the dirt frontage road that runs parallel to I-70.  This was muddy.  Everyone was trying to pick the best line that had the most solid footing.  Around 4 miles, I was sitting around 7th.  I tried not going out to fast but still ended up averaging about 30 seconds faster than I wanted.  I was trying to ease up a bit when things went awry.  I swear there was an arrow and was following that along with the folks ahead of me, when they stopped.  There was confusion on if we were on course.  I thought I heard someone yelling in the distance.  We were told we were going to run Mary's Loop.  It had been a couple of years since I had been on these trails and only remembered bits and pieces of them.  One guy was saying we weren't on Mary's, that this was wrong.  I thought since there was no course marshal pointing out a turn, and there was an arrow, and there were markings on this trail, we must be in the right place.  So myself and a few others continued running.  I think a couple of guys did turn around, but when I looked back, I saw a string of runners following us.

Now I found myself in the lead and on a superb single track trail in fantastic condition, so my next few miles were still a little too fast.  Then at 6.5 miles I missed a turn and ran the wrong way for about 200 yards till the trail came to a dead end at a bluff.  A little irked that wasn't marked well, I backtracked and got back on course.  But I was relived that I no longer was leading and could finally relax.  About a half mile later I no longer was irked by that little wrong turn, as it was apparent that we had all gone the wrong way back at the 4 mile point.  As we were running along the base of some cliffs, people could be seen on top the cliffs running in the opposite direction.  At 8 miles in, I was back to the point of the missed turn.  I had added 4 miles my race.  I now was totally relaxed.  Instead of getting upset, I forgot all about racing and just was going to enjoy this beautiful scenery.  I also told myself, it doesn't matter what the race officials think, I am just running 26.2 miles.  I am not in shape to do a 50K today.

Now back on course, I eased into a comfortable pace.  The trails were in pretty decent condition with some mud, until miles 13 and 14.  This section was really muddy.  It was ironic that the best trail conditions were on the trail we weren't supposed to be on.  (I would later realize that section, Rustler's Loop, was part of the original 50K course, hence why there were markings on it.  Since the course change was done late Friday night, they hadn't had a chance to remove the markings from this section).

Me, somewhere around 11 miles into my run.  Entry fee includes gorgeous views.  Glen Delman Photography.

As we came through the start/finish area after our first loop, the race director had become aware of the mistake early on.  He apologized, stating that someone was supposed to be at the turn and got there late.  I felt like most everyone was okay with the situation.  I felt pretty good when I headed out for the 2nd lap.  I still was planning on just doing 26 miles.

The muddy frontage road was drying out a bit and didn't seem quite as bad as the first time, but now running alone, it felt like a slog.   I made the correct turn this time around, although I had to yell at the guy in front of me as he was about to miss it.  The arrow was there this time.  So either we all missed it the first time round, or it was moved to its proper place.  It didn't really matter, but gave me something to ponder for a few miles.  Around mile 20 I was beginning to feel like crap.  Due to a lack of mileage, I knew this would happen.  I was curious how I would respond.  I felt like I chugged along pretty well.  Miles 23 and 24, with the uphill and mud, were not great, but I got through them.  Mile 25 felt awfully slow, but it wasn't any slower than the first time I ran through this part.  As I came through the finish line, I was told that there were course volunteers about three quarters of a mile down the road and that if I had run the wrong loop, I could turn around at them and come back, instead of doing the full 3 miles out.  I continued to chug along.  For the first time since about mile 4, I could figure out where I stood in the race.  On this short out and back section, I saw 2 or 3 guys ahead of me.  When I got to the volunteers, they asked me if I had gone the wrong way early in the race.  I said yes.  They said I could turn around here.  I told them, I was going to turn around here regardless of whether or not they were here or said I could.  There was no way I was going to do 30+ miles today.  As one of the volunteers was friend of mine from Boulder, they trusted I that I did indeed done the extra loop early on.

Turning around, the last 0.75 miles back to the finish were uphill, and I had very little incentive to go fast.  I just plodded back to the finish, ultimately running 26.86 miles (based on my GPS) in 3:57:06.  Based on everything that happened, I was impressed the race director was able to change things up on the fly.  Now that worked well for the marathon folks, as for the 50K and double people, I'm not sure if there was anyway to correct for the extra mileage.

I ended up finishing 5th overall and as has been my luck of late, still couldn't end up on the podium in my age division.  Even with the overall winner not being considered in age group awards (even though he was in my age group), I still finished outside the top three 30-39 year olds.  All four guys ahead of me were in my age group.  It isn't a big deal, as I had few expectations for this race, but it was a bit funny as this seems to have happened frequently the last two years, finish high in the standings, but still not get an age group award.

Overall I am happy with the effort.  I did feel pretty tired at the end, but rebounded quickly.  The following week was probably my best week of training in months.  That is one big reason I am happy with the race, it shows my fitness is getting to a good spot where I can start getting in the bigger runs and mountains.  The other thing I was pleased about was my stomach.  Last year, after my gallbladder removal, I was continually having issues on long runs and races with keeping food in me.  I took the advice of a friend and took some Imodium before this race.  Either my stomach has found a new balance over the winter while I wasn't training as hard, or the Imodium did indeed work, but I had no issues out there this day.

Going forward I know I still have a lot of work to do.  This race was right in my happy zone.  The original course would have suited me, but the revised course was definitely easier.  While there is a lot of single track, there is very little technical, rocky sections to navigate.  Total elevation gain was 2000 feet, not that large amount for a marathon.  And no major climbs.  I don't think any climb was more than a mile or with more than 300 feet of elevation gain.  It fits into what I do well.  Now the Jemez 50K I am signed up for in May is a different story. It has a 3000 foot climb over 7 miles in the middle of the course.  I felt good about my marathon for 3 days, then looked at the Jemez course profile and no longer felt that good.

All the nitty gritty details, like pace and splits can be found here:

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move59691750

This was the first time I used my new Suunto Ambit3 Peak.  I am quite happy with it so far.  Battery life has been fantastic.  I fully charged it the first time on Friday.  Including the marathon and other training runs in the next 10 days, it has been GPS active for a total of 12 hrs since I first charged it.  Plus just normal time keeping over these 11 days and it still is reading 30% battery left.   The GPS signal is quick to acquire and seems very accurate.  (everything my old watch wasn't.  Poor battery, slow acquisition of signal, and seemingly a bit inaccurate.  I went cheap on it.  Not worth it.  Two years later I splurged and am already wishing I did this two years ago.)

Post Race Highlights.

After racing, grabbed lunch at the Hot Tomato Cafe in Fruita.  Highly recommend for some tasty pizza.  Beer tap was primarily New Belgium, but they did have Slap and Tickle ESB from Copper Club Brewery, which is basically their neighbor (just around the corner).  That went down nicely with the pizza.  Great spot to refuel.

I then headed out to Rabbit Valley to find a spot set up camp for Saturday night.  Rabbit Valley is cool area right on Colorado / Utah border.  During the summer it probably is unbearably hot, but early Spring, it was perfect.

On drive thru valley, came head on to a herd of cattle. Living in Colorado, there is a lot of wildlife and animals to worry about.  But I don't really worry about most of them.  Except cows.  They are the one thing that freak me out.  Bears, I think, can be reasoned with.  They don't want trouble.  By the time mountain lions are going to let you know they are around, it's probably to late.  Coyotes are a little sketchy, but not a big deal.  But cows always weird me out.  I don't trust them.  They might do anything.  I hate when I have to run by them on Boulder Open Space.  So when I drove into this:

I got a little nervous.  Until I saw the cowboy driving the herd along, with a coffee in his hand.

Ultimately I found a place to camp, at the Knowles Canyon Overlook.  Might be the best campsite I have ever had.  Too bad I was just there for one night.

View of Colorado River from campsite.

Had a few beers, read a book, and took a nap (not necessarily in that order, and cycle was repeated again in a different order) at the campsite before heading to Grand Junction Saturday evening. The post-race party/awards was hosted by Kannah Creek Brewing Co.  It actually was at their new restaurant/brewery, Edgewater, along the Colorado River as it flows through Grand Junction.  They were serving Lands End Amber free along with wings.  It was a solid beer and nice spot.  While I didn't win any age group awards I did win trivia, earning a canister of Hammer Heed mix.  The question : "In 1910, at the Paris Motor Show, Georges Claude publicly debuted his light containing what noble gas?"  That made up for the not getting an age group award.

I had a lazy Sunday morning.  Slept in.  Took time making/eating breakfast.  Enjoyed the views.  Had a beer when I finally got around to breaking down camp.  Turns out the weekend was Free National Park weekend, so after packing up,  I checked out Colorado National Monument for the first time.

I have been wanting to road bike the loop through the Monument for some time.  After visiting, I definitely will come back and do that at some point.  It was nice to get out and stretch the legs.  Drove the loop, stopping multiple times at the overlooks, doing some short little walks.  Then near the Grand Junction entrance, stopped at the Devil's Kitchen Trailhead and did a couple hour hike up and back down, No Throughfare Canyon.

A mile into the hike there was a nice pool, than it was about 2 miles up to a waterfall.  Just a trickle right now.  In late May, early June, with runoff, probably is a better sight.

The trail continues past the waterfall but becomes more bushwacking than hiking.  I wasn't quite in the mood for that, so only traversed a little beyond the waterfall before turning back.

It was a nice way to spend Sunday afternoon before heading back to Boulder.

All in all, a good weekend.  All my pictures from weekend can be found here :

https://plus.google.com/photos/106597417627187460452/albums/6139645996391725249

Mmmmm.....Beeeeeer! A Review of 2014 GABF

When I started this little side project I had planned on writing more about beer.  But I haven't.  I also haven't written that much about running either.  So to quickly make up for a lack of running updates, will make quick note about Imogene Pass Run on September 6th.  Been awhile since I have raced at Imogene.  Might have taken the first few miles a little to slow.  Reached Upper Camp Bird 4 minutes slower than previous races.  Ultimately, topped out nearly 7 minutes behind fastest ascent.  Race was over at that point.  Ran hard down, but not all out.  Finished 2:52:12.  36th overall and once again outside the age group awards.  But a bluebird day in the mountain is never all that bad.

Link to Splits/Map/Course Profile (Watch didn't get started until 300 to 400m into the race)

Descending Imogene Pass.  Pic courtesy of Elevation Imagining.

The following week after Imogene, was happy to drive up to Steamboat and pace my friend, Greg, in his first 100 miler, at the Run, Rabbit, Run.  This was a blast.  It is always fun to be at these types of events, it is even more enjoyable to see someone put together a great race plan and succeed.  I paced Greg the last 31 miles-ish.  He was cruising along the whole time.  In fact, I really only ran 25 miles with him as he dropped me with 5 to go on the descent of Mt Werner.  In my defense, my downhill legs were shot from the downhill at Imogene the week before, and also the fact he did average 7:50 mile pace the last 6 miles, the 3rd fastest descent of anyone at Run Rabbit Run.  He finished 6th overall in the tortoise category with a time of 24:40.

Link to Splits/Map/Profile (Note : after he dropped me with 6 to go, I just turned off the watch.)

So after those two weekends, I was sort of beat up running wise and with the cool weather signaling the arrival of fall, was ready for some beers.  Great time for the Great American Beer Festival.  To make up for the lack of beer updates here is a ranking of all 39 beers I tried at this year's GABF.  They are ranked using the Brisco's 5 Tail Wag system.  5 Tail Wags is out of control tail wagging, butt shaking, oh my god, I am so happy to see you.  1 Tail Wag is tail tucked between legs, thunderstorm raging, find a closet to hide in.  

Here we go!

Gold Medal Winners (5 Tail Wags)

#1) Gourdgeous  :  Hangar 24 Craft Brewery, Redlands, CA

I had a few pumpkin beers before this one, a bad one and a decent one, but nothing that wowed.  Then this was WOW.  Ended up being my favorite beer of the day.  The name is probably what gave it a slight edge over everyone else.  What a great name.

#2) Peanut Butter Milk Stout  :  Belching Beaver Brewery,  Vista, CA

A friend who went to the Thursday night session gave me a heads up on this beer.  Boy am I glad she did.  Fantastic.  Might have ended up #1, but the lack of name for the beer drops it to #2.  But the brewery name, which is great, almost made up for the laziness in not naming their beer.  

#3) Mexican Chocolate Stout :  Copper Kettle Brewing, Denver, CO

A longtime favorite that never disappoints.  This beer has so much going on, malty chocolate flavor, with cinnamon and spices, finishing with a kick from the chili peppers.  Oh so good.  I have noticed the kick from the peppers can vary a bit from batch to batch, but it is never so hot that it ruins the beer.  I discovered this beer at 2012 GABF .  I hadn't realized it had won the GABF gold medal the year before in the spice/herb beer category.  If I see this beer anywhere, I will order it.

Silver Medal Winners (4.5 Tail Wags)

#4) Last Snow  :  Funky Buddha Brewery, Oakland Park, FL

A GABF veteran gave me the hint to check out Funky Buddha's No Crust last year.  The best beer I ever tasted.  It taste just like eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  To tell you how good this beer was; I don't even like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  If they tasted like this, I would eat them all the time.  It was fantastic.  Unfortunately, they had run out by the Saturday afternoon session, which is odd as most breweries usually hold back a keg of their best beers for Saturday afternoon.  Last Snow Porter nearly made up for the unavailability of No Crusts.  Last Snow has chocolate, coffee and coconut blended so well, that it just melted in the mouth.  I'm knocking off a half a tail wag for the disappointment in not having No Crust available.

#5) Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter  :  Willoughby Brewing, Willoughby, OH

I stumbled upon this beer at 2012 GABF.  Willoughby Brewing didn't even have their own booth.  This beer was being offered at the Ohio Brewer's Guild booth.  I had it 3 or 4 times.  Anytime I walked by that booth.  But no one else was ever in line.  Last year, Willoughby Brewing had a booth.  But again no line.  This year there was a line as it had won the gold medal at the World Beer Cup for Specialty Beer back in the spring.  I feel cool to be in before it got famous, and happy to see the brewers getting their due for making such a great beer.

Bronze Medal Winners (4 Tail Wags)

#6) Bourbon County Coffee Stout  :  Goose Island Beer Company, Chicago, IL

It is too bad Goose Island got bought up by AB-InBev.  But thankfully, the corporate masters have not messed with this brewery.  They continue to put out great stuff.  This was a strong (13% ABV) beer.  You could taste the alcohol at bit, but it worked with the bourbon flavor and coffee.  With the strong flavor and high ABV, a one ounce pour was really all you need.

#7) Hazelnut Brown Nectar : Rogue Ales, Newport, OR

Might just be my favorite brown out there. First found this at 2012 GABF.  Have bought a bomber or three over the past few years.  Still as good as I remember the first time.

#8) Frog's Hollow Double Pumpkin Ale

#9) Barrel Aged B.O.R.I.S the Crusher Oatmeal Imperial Stout  :  Hoppin' Frog Brewing Co, Akron, OH

This is not my Buckeye bias.  Hoppin' Frog just makes some good beers.  The pumpkin ale had a nice level of spice.  The stout didn't overpower with bourbon from the aging, one could still taste the oatmealy-ness of the beer.

#10) Black IPA  :  Cannonball Creek Brewing Co, Golden, CO

I generally stayed away from IPA's this GABF (had plenty at summer fests), but did grab this one almost as a lark.  Was by Cannonball's booth with an empty glass.  While deciding where to go next, grabbed a beer from this brewery as I do like most of their stuff.  This had nice aroma, good hops, with the darker malt flavor.  Turns out it would end up winning the 2014 GABF gold medal in the American-Style Black Ale category.

#11)  Demshitz Brown  :  Bonfire Brewing, Eagle, CO

This brown is giving Rogue's Hazelnut Nectar a run for its money for my favorite brown.  The brewers feel that it doesn't quite fit into either brown category that GABF judges.  I don't know exactly what category I would put it in, other then the damn good beer category.  A good name is an added plus.

#12)  Xocoveza Mexican Mocha Milk Stout  :  Chris Banker / Stone Brewing Co, Escondido, CA Pro-Am entry.
This was a Pro-Am entry.  This is fun little section to taste.  Breweries around the country hold homebrewing competitions.  Winners get their beer made at scale at the brewery and entered into the GABF.  This one was a lot like Copper Kettle's Mexican Chocolate Stout, but without the chile kick at the end.  A really solid pro-am entry.

#13) Salted Beglian Chocolate Stout :  New Belgium Brewing Co, Ft. Collins, CO

Oddly, I don't really drink New Belgium much anymore.  But every now and then I do have something from their Lips of Faith series and remember why they got so big, they have good beer.  This was a really nice beer.

Good Beers, but can't give medals to everyone (3.5 Tail Wags)

#14)  Stone Coffee Milk Stout  :  Stone Brewing Co, Escondido, CA

I'll put Stone's actual beer right here.  As with everything from Stone, it was a well done beer.  

#15)  Pumpkin  Patch Ale  :  Eddyline Brewing, Buena Vista, CO

It is fall, time for pumpkin beers.  I searched out a few.  This one was solid.  

#16)  Shake Chocolate Porter  :  Boulder Beer Company, Boulder, CO

This beer was first released last year.  Taste just like chocolate milk.  I am still amazed that Boulder Beer actually made something so good.  As their brewery is only 100 yards from my work, it actually is to my benefit they are long down the list of my rankings of Boulder brewers, but this beer might make me cross the street more often.

Nice Beers (3 Tail Wags) 

#17) Beavers Milk Stout  :  Belching Beaver Brewery, Vista, CA

The peanut butter cup might have been so good it over-shadowed this solid but not great beer.

#18) Barrel Aged Triple Exultation  :  Eel River Brewing Co, Fortuna, CA

#19) Shipyard Bourbon Barrel Aged Double Scottish  : Shipyard Brewing Co, Portland ME

#20) Blarney Sisters Dry Irish Stout  :  Third Street Aleworks, Santa Rosa, CA

#21) The Good, The Bad and The Red  :  Elysian Brewing Co, Seattle, WA

This was nice red with some good hoppiness.

#22) Red Right 88  :  Great Lakes Brewing Co, Cleveland, OH

Got to give a shout out to Great Lakes.  First time I have had this, might be one of the few GLB beers I hadn't tried yet.  

#23) Georgia Brown :  Sweetwater Brewing Co, Atlanta, GA
A really nice brown.  There are better browns, but I will gladly drink this if it is available.

#24) Heirloom Pumpkin  :  Almanac Beer Co, San Francisco, CA

Ehh.

#25) Solana Beach- May The Port Be With You  :  Pizza Port Breweries, Carsbad, CA

Ehh. Seconded. 

#26) Allagash Saison  :  Allagash Brewing Co, Portland, ME

Ehh.  Motion Passed.

#27) Bell's Porter  :  Bell's Brewery Inc., Kalamazoo, MI

Was expecting more from Bell's, slightly underwelmed.

#28) Scream  :  New Glarus Brewing Co, New Glarus, WI

Ditto for this from New Glarus.

#29) Bourbon Barrel Aged Nikolai Vorlauf  :  Funky Buddha Brewery, Oakland Park, FL

No Crusts and Last Snow are the best beers out there.  This one didn't quite hit the same level as what else they put out there.

Blah (2 Tail Wags) : In no particular order

#30) Crossroads  :  Gerry Lynch / Verboten Brewing, Loveland, CO Pro-Am entry 

A scotch ale that was ok.  

#31) BrickStone Witching Hour  :  BrickStone Brewery, Bourbonnais, IL

An overly hopped beer for the sake of being hoppy.  Forgot about the whole taste thing.

#32) 10 Ton Oatmeal Stout  :  Warped Wing Brewing Co., Dayton, OH

This came after a couple of very good and strong beers, so taste may have gotten lost, but not much going on here.  

#33) Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale  :  Shipyard Brewing Co, Portland, ME

Nice beer if it were just an ale, but had too little pumpkin/spice flavor.  Almost tasted flat.

#34) The Dread  :  Elysian Brewing Co, Seattle, WA

Disappointed in Elysian.  Remember their beers being better.  They have a number of awards at this GABF and previous GABFs, but this beer didn't do much for me.  The red (#21) I had was good, but not great.

#35)  Bayou City Brown  :  Texas Beer Refinery, League City, TX

One of those, I need a beer late, what do you have? Might have been better trying the next booth down.

#36) Stoup Northwest Red  :  Stoup Brewing, Seattle, WA

Don't even remember this beer.

#37) Tunguska English-Style Imperial Stout  :  The Brew Kettle, Strongsville, OH

Nothing special

Stay away (1 Tail Wag)

#38) Cinnamon Roll Chickow!  :  Triple Digit Brewing, Cincinnati, OH

To show I don't have a Buckeye bias, notice my #32, #37, and #38 ratings.  The Cinnamon Roll Chickow really earned this nearly last place spot.  While it smelled fantastic, just like a cinnamon roll, it didn't taste anywhere nearly like a cinnamon roll or even a good beer.  Blah.

#39)  Tres Amigos IPA :  Tom Charters / Ram Restaurant and Brewing, Boise, ID Pro-Am entry

This was a tequila barrel aged IPA.  This wasn't bad for the reasons you might expect, the tequila.  It was bad for all sorts of other reasons, in fact I didn't taste the tequila.  The other two folks I was with weren't very impressed either, in fact, one of them spit it back out.  Couldn't even swallow an ounce.  

Still Learning How This Whole Ultra Thing Works.

Classroom : Steamboat Ski Resort
Teacher : Mt Werner Classic
Lesson : How to Race a 50K
Grade : Incomplete

When I ran my first marathon, everything went perfectly.  In fact, I made no real mistakes and the race went so well, I was afraid to do another one, because I wasn't sure if I had learned anything or was just lucky.  I did learn one thin at Chicago in 2000, which I will get to later.

But racing the marathon actually was very easy for me.  Running and racing in grade school, high school, college, then post-college,  I knew what I could run for a 5K, 8K, 10K.  When I ran my first half marathon, the pace I needed to run was just a slightly easier effort than a 10K,  a pace that was pretty much already ingrained in my legs.  So the marathon was easy.  Just plug in numbers into Jack Daniels VDOT tables, or PR's into any of a number of other tables, and your expected time is easily calculated.  These tables are based on thousands of data points collected over the years.  Once I knew my expected time, I could train for that pace.  Then on race day, just run that pace.  And I am really good at feeling what is the correct pace and not getting caught up in what others are doing.  Case in point, at Berlin Marathon in 2005, I started immediately behind the elites.  I could touch them at the start line.  Half a mile into the race, I felt like a thousand people were ahead of me.  But it didn't matter.  I was going to run my first few miles in 6:00-6:05 pace and not worry about them.  By the end, I would pass nearly all them back.  I can chug out miles right on pace.  It is why nearly all my "raced" marathons went very well.  (In the only "bad" one, I knew early on I wasn't feeling right, but decided to chance it and stay on planned pace knowing a blow up might occur.  Sure enough, I knew my body well enough and unfortunately was right, a blow up did occur at 20 miles or so).

But the ultra thing is totally different.  Courses from one race to another are totally different.  What should I expect to run a 50K in at an altitude of 10 000 feet with 5 400 vert feet of climbing?  There is no table to plug in numbers.  What pace should I go out in?  How does that pace feel?  In a road marathon, in the first few miles, I can feel the difference between 5:40 (which might be too fast), 6:00 (which was roughly just right for most of my races) and 6:30 (which would have been a bit too slow).  In an ultra, 9:00 per mile to start feels really easy, but if I should be doing 10:00 or even 11:00, I can't tell the difference between them.  I already feel like I am running easy.  And since I am still getting to know the ultra community, I don't necessarily know who to key off of.  Ultimately I don't exactly know what I should realistically run, so I don't know if I should go out in 9:00 minute pace or 11:00 minute pace. There is just a whole lot more variables that road racing just doesn't have.

This all is a prelude to my recap of the Mt Werner Classic 50K this past Saturday in Steamboat Springs. My second ultra effort, having debuted with the Moab RedHot 55K back in February. It was a perfect morning to race.  A light rain had fallen the night before, cooling temps down.  The clouds never cleared out and it remained overcast for at least the first half the race.  Looking at the registered starters, I only recognized a couple of names.  One, I would have like to keyed off of, but since she was coming off of injury, I didn't think she would be up to speed.  Based on previous year's results and my fitness, I guessed I should be in the top 10.   That was roughly a finish time of 5:30.  I thought I could do that, or if all went well, 5:20, which was 7th.  So when the race went off, and I found myself running at the back of a group of 3 other guys, putting me 7th, I figured this was appropriate.  Now, a few days before the race I felt like I was coming down with a head cold.  Had a slightly sore throat.  Some head congestion.  A bit of a sluggish feeling.  I didn't run Wed, Thurs or Fri and just rested as much as possible and popped zinc tablets.  Saturday morning I felt okay.  I went ahead with my race plan, as much as I could call it one.  And during those first few miles, running with that group, nothing seemed obvious that I might not be up to speed.  But again, here is the difference between an ultra and say a road race.  Going out at 9-10 min pace is going to feel pretty easy, unless someone is desperately ill.  But in a road race, if you are feeling a little under the weather, you can tell, either the miles are a few seconds slower than you want, or they are on pace, but you can tell you are working a bit too hard.

The course starts with a roughly 10 mile climb up from the base of the Steamboat Ski Resort to the top of Mt Werner.   It's a gain of 3500 vert feet.  So it doesn't run straight up the ski slopes, but meanders up and across the mountain, before getting a bit steeper near the top.  At Moab Red Hot 55K, I felt like I went out to quick the first half, partially due to it being a relatively easy the first 10 miles.  I wasn't able to handle the hard parts of the course to be found in the second half.  Here, with the climb right at the start, I would be able to stay in check.  And I felt like I did.  One of the guys asked if I wanted to pass and I declined even though I did feel like I was clipping their heels.  I didn't want to make the same mistake as Moab.

Initially, the course ran through the aspens trees that make help make Steamboat such a fun place to ski.  As we got higher, the trail came out of the trees and started running up the slopes themselves.  The upper parts of the ski slopes were completely full of wildflowers and we ran a singletrack trail that zig-zagged up the slope through the flowers.  It was a beautiful scene.  My only complaint, once again a race director decided to mark the course with colored flags, that as a Red-Green colorblind person, don't stick out well against the green backdrop of grass.  This time it was orange and pink.  Add in thousands of blooming flowers and they all but disappear to me.  Luckily the course was pretty straight forward and hard to get lost on, but once I did have to ask the guy I was running with, which way to turn.   Would someone just use yellow or maybe yellow/black striped markings.  I can see those.  Anything with red in it, not so much.

Early on into the race.  Photographer caught me just as I was grabbing a gel from my back pocket.  Makes for a great photo.  Photo by Joel Reichenberger. 

Anyway, the climb went pretty much as I had planned.  I struggled a bit near the top, losing touch with the guys I had been running with, but still reached the aid station at 9.5 miles in 1:47.  I was shooting for somewhere between 1:40 and 1:50, so this was about perfect.  I didn't feel like it was too fast or too hard an effort.  I took my time at the top, grabbing some chips, M&M's, and downing some Coke, plus refilling my water bottle.  I had refilled it at the 5.5 mile aid station as well, so figured I was drinking appropriate amount of fluid.

From here the course rolls along at 10 000 feet.  You gain a hundred feet over a mile, lose a hundred, gain 150,  then ultimately lose about 200 feet as you hit the turnaround point on the edge of Long Lake at 16 miles.  Then head back on those same 6.5 miles to get back to the top of the ski slopes.  On the way out, the group I had been with pulled away I was pretty much alone this whole time.  I felt like I could average 10 minute pace in this section, and make it from the Storm King aid station at 9.5 miles to the Long Lake aid station at 16 miles in about 1:10.  This was based on splits posted from the previous year.  And pretty much that is what I did.  I came into Long Lake at 2:55, in about 11th position.  The group of guys in 7th, 8th, and 9th had about 10 minutes on me.  They were still in range.

Again I took my time at the aid station.  I had a gel (which was my 4th for the day, having already taken 3 while running.)  I grabbed some more potato chips for salt.  Downed some more Coke.  Refilled my bottle.  Then headed out.  This was the point of the race that concerned me.  My training this summer actually has been going well.  My climbing, which in many ways is a weak point, had gotten better.  I felt pretty fit.  But I know I hadn't done enough long, long runs.  I really only had a couple of runs of 14-16 miles, or  3 to 4 hours, in this summer.  I wondered if I could make it 31 miles, without having done any 20+ mile runs.  I kinda figured, I just needed to make it back to the Storm King aid station (on the return trip it would be at 22 miles) and then I could just stumble downhill the last 9 miles.

On the return, I felt like I was slowing up.  And I was.  This initially wasn't too concerning as, ultimately, I had to regain a bit of elevation that was lost running down to Long Lake.  But a number of people were passing me easily, and I couldn't really match their efforts.  This was a little frustrating.  I was running closer to 12 minute pace.  I tried to stay positive, because my math said, if I could make the return trip in 1:20, I would be at 4:15 at Storm King.  Surely I could descend in 8 or 9 minute pace and run around 5:30.

The clouds were breaking up and sun was coming out.  But at 10 000 feet, it still was a really comfortable temperature for running.  Yet I was beginning to feel bad.  Not a specific bad, but a general, I don't feel right, bad.  I have felt like this running over Imogene Pass or the last few miles of Pike's Peak Ascent.  I didn't think 10 000 feet elevation would effect me, but I had been running at this elevation for over 2 hours.  This is where potentially, with my body just being slightly off from the mild cold I had, I was not able to handle this elevation.  The last half mile or so back to the Storm King aid station felt endless.  It just never seemed to end.  This is where I cracked.  When the trail meets back up with the ski area, there is a little hill up to the aid station at the top of the Storm King lift.  It kicked my ass.  I arrived at 4:24.  Return trip was 1:29.  I really did fall apart the last mile or so.

When I got too the aid station, they asked how I felt. "Bad" is all I could say.  Just felt bad.  Drank a bunch of Coke.  More chips.  Took my time.  Refilled my water bottle.  Then walked away.  I slowly got into a shuffle.  In my head I thought, "I have been here before."  Every Imogene Run, I feel like death at the top of the pass, and the first mile or so of the descent are hell, but as I get lower, I feel better, and end up hauling ass.  I thought today would be the same.  Once I got going, and got a little lower, I would start to feel better and roll through the last 5 miles.  I was few minutes behind goal pace, but still thought a pretty good time was in grasp.

Alas, that was not the case.  With the sun out, the temps were rising as I descended.  It started to get plain hot.  In the trees it was very still, no breeze to cool things.  And as I descended my stomach began to have issues.  Before having my gallbladder removed in April, I could get away with a lot.  I could eat pretty much anything.  I could run on anything.  Since Dirty Thirty 12 miler at end of May, my digestive system has been very finicky.  And on a couple of long runs, this has shown up on long descents.  So 2 or 3 miles into the descent, I had to stop and step off the trail.  Explosive diarrhea is the best description without being to graphic.

Then I had a couple other issues.  I was wearing short tights.  I had pinned my race number to my shorts.  Well, I hadn't realized that I had also pinned through the tights and into underwear as well.  So as I was trying to pull my underwear and then my shorts back up, I initially couldn't figure why it was so weird.  This took a few seconds to get straightened out.  The second issue I had was my shorts had started to rip along the inseam in the crotch.  This had been going on for a number of miles and was creating some chafing issues, as my skin was exposed on my inner thigh and was rubbing on the loose fabric.  I had found a way to adjust my shorts to minimize this, but now had to figure out how to get back to the sweet spot where it wouldn't bug me.

With that behind me, I thought maybe I would start feeling better again.  I didn't really, but continued shuffling along.  I reached the aid station with 5.5 miles to go, feeling like death.  It was still a long way down this mountain and I just wanted off of it.  I had some more Coke, but didn't feel like eating anything.  I didn't know how I would react.  They were cooking bratwurst at the aid station and normally I would had some along with the beer they were offering.  I just didn't think any of it would stay in my system long.  But I did take them up on the cornhole challenge.  They had a cornhole setup, and were offering $5 if you got a beanbag in the hole.  4 attempts.  This I thought was money in the bank.  I might not finish top 10.  At this point I felt like I was 50th with the amount of folks who had slowly gone by the past few miles.  But I am pretty damn good at drinking sports: darts, horseshoes, and cornhole.  I will at least win a few bucks.

My first toss was perfect distance, but 2 feet to the right of the board, into the dirt.  Okay, just adjust aim.  Second toss, perfect distance, 2 feet to the right of the board, into the dirt, basically on top the 1st bag.  Okay.  Relax.  Just a little to the left.  Third toss, a little long and about 1 foot to the right of the board, into the dirt.  Seriously, I felt like I knew exactly what I needed to do, but couldn't get my body to do.  Fourth toss, about right distance, hit the right edge of the board and off into the dirt.  No money.  And great experiment showing how mental and physical fatigue effect you.

With that behind me, I shuffled along.  Not 10 minutes away and stomach was all out of whack again.  I remember passing an outhouse on the climb up (one of those ones that are on ski resorts in out of the way places).  I couldn't remember exactly how far it was from the aid station to the outhouse.  I hoped I could make it.  Alas, this struck me hard and quickly, and I was back off the trail.  I had gotten rid of the offending safety pin that had caused my issues the first time, so getting shorts and underwear down wasn't a problem.  Which was good as this came quickly and more explosively.  Soon I was back on the trail.  And trying to get my shorts arranged as to not aggravate the chafing.  It really is telling how quickly these two incidents came on me and passed thru, that looking back at my splits, it is hard to tell in which miles I stopped for these incidents.

Now I have 4 miles to go and I am thinking it is going to take me over an hour to get down.  This sucks.  It is hot.  I feel like crap.  I want off this damn mountain.  I was thinking of ways to shortcut it down.  The gondola might have a mid-loading station I can get on and go down that way.  I am pretty much just walking.  But I am still moving forward.

As I eluded to way at the beginning of this rambling recap, I did learn one thing at 2000 Chicago Marathon.  As it was my first marathon, I was worried about the dreaded wall.  And at mile 22, I thought I had hit it.  I had been running 6:10-6:15 pace for the last few miles.  I was starting to feel bad.  I went through the 22 mile point and saw I had run like 6:50 or something.  I thought, well I guess that's the wall.  My primary goal was sub 2:45.  I was closer to 2:40 pace at the time.  I just told myself to hold on.  If I just run 7 minute pace, I can get my primary goal.  When I went through mile 23, my split was sub 6, like 5:50.  Right away I recognized that mile 22 was mis-marked.  I was angry.  How could a major marathon do that.  Over the next half mile (mind wasn't working well.  Another experiment with mental faculties when physically fatigued) I calculated that my average pace for the past two miles was 6:20.  I hadn't really hit that wall at all.  I was still fine.  I might feel like crap, but I actually was still running a good pace.  Had I let the "bad" split at mile 22 effect me mentally, I would have slowed up and then when I realized the mistake a mile later, I might not have been able to get back into the groove.

So with 4 miles to go at Steamboat, I just kept chugging.  On the slight downhills, I could get into a decent shuffle.  The more extreme downhills were harder, more like a survival walk.  Any uphill was definitely a walk.  The flats were a mix, walk/shuffle.  It wasn't fast by any means, but after awhile I had chugged through a couple of miles.   I am now coming up on the gondola.  I am also approaching the 2.2 mile to go aid station, which is just tables with water jugs on them.  I drench myself with water.  Chugged a bunch of cold water, and realize, its only 2 miles now.  I can do this.  This is less than a half an hour.

I can't say it was a remarkable transformation, but I did run (ie shuffle quickly) the vast majority of the last 2 miles.  More so than I had the previous 2 miles.  Finishing in 36th place with a time of 6:23:56, nearly an hour slower than I thought I would run, wouldn't seem fulfilling.  But somehow, grinding out those last 5 miles, really made finishing feel like a major accomplishment.  Almost better than if I had finished in 5:20 and in 8th spot.  But than again I don't know what that feels like yet.

It took me a little while to feel slightly normal.  At this point I would be remiss in not giving a shout out to all the volunteers.  The aid station people were great.  And at the finish, I had sought out shade to lie down and put my feet up.  A volunteer, seeing me hobble then crash, asked if I wanted any food.  She would gladly bring some over.  I declined.  But when I asked if there was any Coke, she said she was sorry, but it was back at the finish line.  Seeing my crestfallen face, she sent her daughter (probably 9 or 10 years old) to go fetch some.  I am forever grateful.  It got me feeling better, than I did eat a little food.  I was going to stick around for awards, but decided I probably only had a small window of feeling okay before I would crash, so I headed back to my campsite.  A nap in the hammock was start of recovery.  Then back into town for dinner and a beer.   Finished recovery by heading to Strawberry Park Hot Springs, my favorite hot springs in Colorado.  Under a moonless sky, filled with stars and the Milky Way, relaxing in the hot springs, is really the best post-race recovery there is.

So what are my grand takeaways from this race, i.e why did the last 1/3 of the race turn into a death march, much like Moab Red Hot 55K.

There are a few things that probably caused this.  I can't definitively point to any one as being the singular reason, but they all probably contributed.

1: Slight cold I had few days before hand.  I didn't notice it race day, but it is hard to quantify how that effected my body along with the altitude.  See 3 as to how this might have been corrected

2: More important the 1, and probably biggest factor, lack of long runs.  Only having a few 15-17 mile runs, covering 2.5-4 hours isn't enough.  I thought I could get away with it on this race as the last 9 miles were mostly downhill.  But it may have started to catch up to me at 19, 20, 21 miles, before I even got to the downhill.

3:  I need to lose the competitiveness.  I know I am not going to win any races.  I know my talent level. But I still want to do well and I thought I could finish top 10.  But my next 50K, I am going to have to put that completely aside and do the first third super easy, even if that means I am 50th.  Because I would like to run a race where I pass people the 2nd half as oppose to watching a train of people go by me.  When I can finish a 50K running, I know I won't feel good, but running versus death marching, will go along way to figuring out how hard I can go out.  In the case of Mt Werner Classic, knowing I was a bit under the weather the few days before, meant I should have been a bit more conservative going out.  Instead, I couldn't let go of the top 10 group.  I easily let go of the top 3, because they obviously were faster.  It was that 2nd group I might also needed to let go as well.

4: Stomach.  This obviously was a big problem the last 8 miles.  What is hard to quantify is how much it might actually been a factor before that.  Was I really digesting everything I took down.  I would think gels would get absorbed quickly, but maybe I wasn't actually getting as many calories as I thought.  Going forward this is my biggest worry, because it might be the hardest to control.  I can run more in training.  I can run smarter in races.  But if stomach doesn't cooperate, there isn't much I can do.  Paying closer attention to diet likely is the biggest key.  And taking something like Imodium as a precautionary measure before/during a race might be something else I need to do.

Here all the nitty gritty's of my race, course, profile, splits, pace, etc.  http://www.mapmyrun.com/workout/664692481#

Full race results:
http://www.runningseries.com/sites/ssrs.signup4races.com/files/u4/2014_mt._werner_classic_50k_trail_run_-_final_race_results_with_splits.pdf

I would highly recommend Mt Werner Classic.  Volunteers are great.  Course is nice.  Very runnable, not technical, which I like.  Wildflowers at the top are beautiful.  Nice mix of trees and more open exposed areas.  Not amazing alpine views like other courses in Colorado, but still some pretty views.  And Steamboat is a cool town, and the hot springs afterwards are huge plus.

Running through the wildflowers at mile 24ish.  Photo by Joel Reichenberger.

Next up is Imogene Pass Run in September.  I know how to run that.  The climb up Mt Werner did give me a good feeling about IPR.  That my climbing, for me anyways, is in a good spot.  Goal there is to be competitive and finally make the podium in my age group after finishing 4th in my age group each of the three times I have run IPR.  It is my favorite race and I look forward to getting back there after not being able to run it for a few years.