Not Quite Hannibal

After the Boston Marathon in April I decided that I would give running a break and focus on triathlon for the remainder of the 2010 season. I was so enjoying the break from running, especially the bike rides up and down the foothills of Boulder and the swim practice at Flatirons Athletic Club, until I met up for coffee in Boulder one Friday with Scott Surface from Outside PR and Roman Mica of EverymanTri.com.

Turns out Scott and his company are involved with the TransRockies race and within 35 minutes of meeting him, I was already day-dreaming about the exciting adventure of the Trans Rockies event.

Truth be told, I had seriously looked at entering the race two years ago with my crazy friend Ambrose Fischer who competed in the Marathon de Sables in 2008. Ambrose and I never got past the initial discussions, so it dropped off my radar until this recent meeting.

Hannibal marched an army and its war elephants over the Alps and Pyrenees in the times before Christ, so running 125 miles in 6 days over a bunch of 12,000 ft Rocky Mountains is certainly something we could tackle in these modern times!

After a few cups of java, the deal was sealed. Myself and teammate, Paul Mandel, would test some of the coolest running and outdoor gear in this epic adventure. I will cover this event with daily reports and product tests for EverymanTri.com and CNN. Bring it On!!

I went for my first high altitude training run this weekend. I knew it was high altitude because I was running in snow, yes snow in late spring. It was between 9,000 and 10,000 ft elevation and raining down in Boulder, so I kind of expected it. I was wearing the Gore Windstopper soft shell, with a polyester running T under it. The temp was in the region of 34F and I felt dry and comfy for the entire 12 miles I traversed. This is the shell I will be using for the big race, so I was happy to get to really test it in advance! Nice job on this Gore!