Jon Teisher's Blog (19)

After a disaster of a 2013 Pikes Peak Ascent, Tim has brought me back on board for the 2014 PikesPeakSports.us Triple Crown Team.  You can go here to see my intro from last year.  Since I can’t figure out how to run the Ascent without getting embarrassed, I’m just going to settle for a full weekend of throttling from the mountain as I signed up for the Double.

Of course, there’s a…

Katie and I were recently given a late wedding gift that was about the most awesome thing ever:

A buddy of mine swiped this off the wall of an Old Colorado City pub some 20+ years ago.  The sign hung out collecting dust in his basement until he decided I could give it the proper respect. …

Two of the bucket lists I’m working on as I stumble through life are the 50 states marathon thing and the 49 state highpoints.  I realize there are actually 50 state highpoints, but I read too much about folks losing fingers or feet or their life up in Alaska so I’ve decided to skip The Last Frontier.  Anywho, a few years ago I read about a race called the Mt.…

Results from the Ponderous Posterior Fat Ass trail marathon.  I'm guessing about half the field didn't bother to write their time down.

Photos: Start of the…

My 2013 running schedule was laid out recently when I was (un)lucky enough to have my name pulled in the Hardrock lottery.  I’ve been picked five out of six times now and have become the subject of various conspiracy theories on how I continue to beat the ever increasing odds of running that race.  I’ll never share those secrets.

But I will share what goes into getting ready for a race like that.  It’s a pretty huge undertaking for a mediocre athlete such as myself.  Hardrock is a 100…

By now everyone has heard that the New York City marathon was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy.  Yes, it sucks to train your ass off only to have your goal race kiboshed at the last minute.  But I suppose it would suck a lot more to have your house destroyed or a friend killed, so I can’t complain.

I’ve been waiting to post this until I could say what I would do for 2013.  I loved New York and definitely want to go back.  I’d like to know if I get an entry into the ’13 race since this…

Sure has been a while since I’ve updated things here.  The upcoming New York City Marathon has taken a back seat to some other recent developments in my life.  I’m still super excited to be headed to the Big Apple, but anything near a PR is out the window.

Took five days off for a Phish show last month.  One of my favorite bands, and it was my first time seeing them live.  The show was only three days long, but it took another two days to recover from the experience.  Taking nearly a…

It is with a heavy heart that I report the loss of an old friend.

On September 4, between 7:30AM and 4PM, someone entered my house, through the garage, and was able to make off with a laptop computer, a half full (or half empty) bottle of cheap gin, and my beloved fixed gear bike.  Luckily the dog…

I held out as long as I could, but it was bound to happen sooner or later...

I’ve lived with Katie for the past three years in a great house on the west side, near an endless amount of trails and fine drinking establishments.  She has always signed off on my goofy adventures, often…

Back to the drawing board.  Once again, Pikes handed me my ass on race day.  I’ve run up the mountain faster when I lived at sea level in Austin than I have the last two years.

I was on pace through No Name Creek, but I knew from the moment the course turned onto Ruxton that I wouldn’t be able to execute.  Really struggled between No Name and Barr Camp, and I hiked it in from Barr Camp.  3:28 and change, once again failing miserably in my effort to join the sub three…

Finally getting over my post-Hardrock funk.  Took a full week off, and since then I’ve had some trouble getting back into things.  Damn inertia.  Last two weeks have had a few quality workouts though, so maybe I can still salvage a good performance at the Ascent.

I went to lovely Reedsburg, Wisconsin (near Madison) over the weekend to visit my girlfriend’s parents.  Besides drinking a ton of New Glarus and eating my weight in cheese, I managed to prove that every dog has his day.  We…

Another successful Hardrock is in the books.  For those unaware of this event, here’s the story in picture form:

Due to some property issues near Telluride, the course was a whopping 102.5 miles long this year, the farthest I’ve ever ran, and hopefully the farthest I ever have to run.  The…

Despite Ryan Hafer out leaning me at the tape by just over a dozen minutes, it wasn’t a bad day at the Roundup.  I went in hoping for a decent but controlled effort, and figured that would net me a time in the low 58s.  Ended up crossing the finish line in just under 54 minutes (really thankful for that new fancy styrofoam chip timing thing, as my watch read 54:01).  Pooped at the end, but I felt I had another gear I could have gone to had an Olympic birth or a date with Jessica Alba been on…

What a week it’s been.  My heart goes out to all those affected by the fire, especially those who lost their house.  Really puts my problems of finding open trails to run on this weekend in perspective.  And of course a huge kudos to all the first responders who are just kicking ass and taking names.  Can’t imagine how horrible this fire would have been without those guys and gals out there working their tails off.

I first heard about the fire on Saturday while down in Lake City,…

I remember my first visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (which for some weird reason nobody quite understands is located in Cleveland) and I saw a t-shirt that said, “If it’s too loud, you’re too old.”  That t-shirt is what comes to mind whenever somebody complains about music.  Like when my parents called my beloved Pearl Jam and the whole grunge thing garbage, but which they said was totally different from when my grandparents said the same thing about the Beatles and Led Zeppelin and…

Such a fantastic weekend of running!  With all due respect to the winter sports crowd (I hate being cold and don’t even like to get out of bed if there is snow on the ground) this is by far the best time of the year to live on the Front Range.

Friday after work I made the short drive up to Lewis-Palmer high school for an all-comers track meet.  My first track race in over 15 years, I attempted the 1500m/3000m double.  Forgot how painful racing on the track can be, but now…

June is when Colorado celebrates National Bike Month, and June 27^th marks bike-to-work day in the Springs. That’s the one day of the year I'll pull my mountain bike out of the garage.  There isn’t much I won’t do for free food, even if it means seeing the mayor in spandex.

A lesser celebrated alternate form of transportation is the run to work method.  Over the past two years I’ve made this my preferred way of travel to and from work at least once a week.  No free…

Oh, Salida.  My favorite mountain town in the world, except during races.  

I always sell myself on the need to get to town the night before a race.  You know, it makes things less stressful on race morning.  They have a fantastic hostel that's still pretty cheap.  It's nice to get out of the big city for an extra night.  I have all kinds of justifications, but as soon as my girlfriend hears any of them she just rolls her eyes, knowing that the…

The disappointment over not being picked for the Kenyan Olympic marathon team (it was political!) has been eased a bit by my selection to the PikesPeakSports.us Triple Crown Running Team.  This will be my first time running the full series, although I've done each race in the past so I know what I'm in for.

The Triple Crown races are a huge challenge for me in a different way.  I'm currently training for my fourth Hardrock.  Within…