Human Powered Brewery Tour 2018: Metal

The eleventh annual Human Powered Brewery Tour was a "Goes to Eleven" success. It was held February 17, 2018, which is when I originally wrote this post, but I didn't get around to adding the pictures until today.

My pogo stick is always part of my Human Powered Tour costume, regardless of the theme. This year it became my guitar. I made my guitar from cardboard, wire, some metal brackets, and lots of super glue and duct tape. I tried using velcro to attach it to the pogo stick but it didn't work, so I used more duct tape. It held up extremely well- still intact by the end of the day with minimal re-taping. The girls watched me with curiosity.

The event is a fundraiser for ALS. Celeste O'Connor is the founder of the event, along with her husband Scott Slusher.

Celeste has lost two of her family members to ALS, her cousins Bob and Annie, and they are the reason why she started the Tour 11 years ago.

That morning I knew I needed to get a run in because the Tour is not very long and it's hard to run in a costume, carrying a 20+ pound pogo stick, along with drinking beer. I went out and actually ran hill repeats on the Power Trail- just a few short ones, but it was a real workout.

I drank more than I wanted to. I had a taster of Raspberry Lime Tartastic at New Belgium, then drank about half of my pint of Blonde Ale plus a small taster of Chocolate Cherry Stout at Snowbank, then a 12 oz glass of Levity at Odell. And by then we were starving so Cat's husband Dave bought us all fish & chips from the food truck. I am not used to eating stuff like that but I scarfed it. Then I felt really gross the rest of the day.

Dennis brought the girls to Odell and they were very well-behaved, didn't try to steal anyone's food or beer like last year. They got all kinds of attention and compliments and they loved every minute. Chick magnets.

So then this morning I ran 13 miles with Cathy on the Power Trail and I felt like I got a real run in, again. It got up to 66 degrees today and felt like spring. I ran in shorts and a t-shirt this morning! This afternoon Dennis and I went walking along the Poudre River which gave me a few more miles, I ended up with nearly 50 miles this week. It's been a while. I feel like I am finally starting to make progress with building my mileage, except this coming week it's supposed to get cold and snowy again, maybe even single digit temperatures or below. Typical Colorado.

Vicarious Vlogs: Human Powered Brewery Tour 2016

Today was the ninth annual Human Powered Brewery Tour.

A fundraiser for Rocky Mountain ALS, the tour was started by Celeste O'Connor and Scott Slusher in honor of Celeste's two cousins who died from the disease.

The theme was "The Life Aquatic" based on the movie...which I and apparently most other people have not seen...

But we can Google on it. I made my costume easily, I already own a lot of light blue and aqua colored items, like my old Pearl Izumi team jacket, and a pair of girls leggings from Target. I made my hat from an old red t-shirt I never wear, so I cut it up and sewed it together, and printed the traffic light patch from my laptop at home, and covered it with clear tape to keep it water resistant, and stapled it onto the hat. I made an extra traffic light patch for my pogo stick.

I only went to four breweries, that was all the energy I had. This was my day I promised to myself to get away from work, I SO NEEDED IT!

The plan was New Belgium, Odell, Horse & Dragon, and Snowbank. The group would go on to Pateros Creek and a couple of other breweries but I was toast, and toasted enough after those four.

This morning there was a thick fog, it was cool and it didn't look like we would have the kind of sunny day we've been having all this past week.

I got dressed in my costume with extra layers underneath. I took my pogo stick but my plan was to park at Odell and ditch the pogo stick in the car after we finished there, it's a long way to Horse & Dragon carrying that thing. I ran to New Belgium from Odell, where I parked in the empty lot that is usually jammed once they open.

We all met at New Belgium before they opened the doors at 11, took pictures in costume, and it was great to see a lot of my old running friends, I have been so out of the loop for a long time. I didn't drink at New Belgium, mostly talked with people, catching up and shooting video.

After about 45 minutes it was time to move on to Odell...I jumped on my pogo stick and pogoed to the street, then ran with the big heavy thing all the way to Odell. What a workout! The sun was starting to come out and the fog was burning off.

I had a taster tray at Odell, I wanted to try one of the beers in there, a pale ale I'd never heard of, and I knew I liked most of the others. Horse & Dragon and Snowbank were my first time visits. I'll definitely go back to Horse & Dragon. I had a Picnic Rock Pale Ale there and it was good. Then at Snowbank I had a taster of the chocolate cherry stout which was also really good, but I'm not too big a fan of dark heavy beers. And the alcohol content was more like wine...

It was a good call to leave the pogo stick early, the beer was strong, even in small doses.

Everyone stayed at Horse & Dragon a long time and the bike group went on to Funkwerks, but I wanted to check out the ones I haven't been to. Betsy and I took off for Snowbank and we sat there with our chocolate cherry stouts talking, and eventually the bike group showed up. By 3:00 I was done and headed home.

It was a nice day, was fun and a great distraction from the endless piles of paper in which I am currently drowning.

Last I heard they raised over $3000 for Rocky Mountain ALS. I did the best I could with the video. Hope you enjoy it, consider joining us next year for the tenth anniversary.

Seventh Annual Human Powered Brewery Tour

video courtesy of Dan McGlothlin

The 70s themed 7th annual HPBT turned out to be another successful and fun-filled event.

There were hippie chicks, leisure suits and hot pink pants suits, Bobby Riggs tennis attire, Andy Warhol and Mr. Green Jeans, dangling beads and bangles, big hair, afros, flower power, and 70s culture everywhere. The only giveaway was the frequent use of iphones, very un 70s like, but after a few beers, no one notices.

We started out an hour later this year, at New Belgium brewery. The weather was supposed to be a lot nicer than it was, but it turned out to be cool and windy, around 36 degrees, but nothing wet was coming down from the sky and it wasn't terribly cold as long as you were either moving or indoors.

From there we went on to Fort Collins Brewery. I didn't drink at the first two stops. I have tasted most of the New Belgium brews. I like them, but I wanted to save it for the ones I haven't tried. I am not a big fan of Fort Collins brewery's offerings myself. I decided to save myself for Funkwerks and Odell, my favorite ones.

I brought my pogo stick along, figuring it would be a fun addition to my costume. The pogo stick brings out the 70s chick in me, that was my claim to fame in those days, according to my dad. I ran from brewery to brewery with the pogo stick. It wasn't too bad, my arms did get a little tired but the longest stretch to run was about a mile at a time.

The only time I ditched the pogo stick was on the way to Funkwerks from Fort Collins Brewery, I tucked it behind a tree off the shoulder along Lincoln Drive and it was safe there until I came back to get it on the way to Odell.

Groovy, man!

At Funkwerks I decided to try the raspberry provincial. I got a half glass of that. It wasn't that great, it was a bit sour and didn't taste much like fruit.

My arms were pretty tired from carrying that pogo stick while running, by the time we got to Odell. I happen to enjoy their beers the most.

I ordered a pilot tray and the first three beers on the left were all awesome.

But my favorite beer of the day was the "Obvious Pale Ale" which happens to be a beer developed by Odell and New Belgium together. Far out!

At the raffle outside on the patio I dazzled the crowd with 5 minutes of my pogosticking excellence, even after tasting all those beers. I surprised myself! Neato!

This cat who was dressed like Mr. Green Jeans was calling out the numbers for the raffle.

I didn't stick around for Pateros Creek or Equinox this year, as I was just too wiped out by mid-afternoon. I apologize for the partial report. But it was fun, and people seemed to be having a good time, and the last I heard they were up to $1800 raised for ALS and still counting. Can you dig it?

The other cool thing that happened was getting carded, being asked for my ID in two of the breweries was a big deal to me. Of course my gray hair was all covered up by my headscarf.

I got home around 3:30, starving. I ate leftovers and took a shower, and called it a day. Tomorrow, Maniac hills and more at Horsetooth. Gotta put all those carbs to work. Catch you on the flip side!

First Day of Spring 5K

Happy new year, happy January 1st, and happy first day of spring!

When I first looked out the window this morning at 6:30, the wind was howling and snow was flying in all directions. My first thought was that I was excited about the weather for the 5K, because I love bad weather! I was thinking I'm probably the only runner who is excited about running a 5K in this crap.

I signed Dennis up and told him he was running, whether he likes it or not. He always talks about running more consistently so I was just helping him with his New Years resolution. He drank his coffee and I convinced him to get his running stuff on and we drove over to Runners' Roost.

We saw a lot of people, there was a pretty good turnout. After a little socializing and a trip to the bathroom, we did a warm up run with Josh, and checked out the first mile of the course. It was slick and icy in a lot of places, and the first two tenths of a mile were as slick as a skating rink, not because of ice, but because if the surface of the road with melted snow on it.

I jumped in the crowd and got next to the curb, my strategy was to keep from slipping or injuring myself and stay near the parked cars as we took off from the start. Fortunately it worked, and the footing didn't improve much until after mile 1. I got to the first mile in 8:09, which actually surprised me because I thought I was going much slower and running flatfooted in the slick areas.

I caught up to Dennis shortly after the first turn and we ran together for about 2 miles, until he got bored or something...

I reached mile 2 in 15:57 which means it was a 7:48 mile, a little better with the footing. I could see a couple of people ahead of me I could focus on passing. I tried picking it up in the last mile but it didn't take much to feel like I was going too fast. So I settled back into that pace, maybe 7:45ish. Ended up finishing in 24:26, which is still a slow time for me but better than the last 5K I ran in the beginning of November in 25:42.

For fun, I looked at the age group placings. I was 5th in my age group today, but in 10 weeks I'll be in the next age group, and would have placed first by a long shot.

Saw my buddy Nick Clark this morning, he watched the race with his son Alistair. They just got back from the UK so he was jet lagged. He's turning 40 this year. I'm turning 50. Two runners I know are turning 60.

Should be a good year for celebrating milestone birthdays, which reminds me, I need to get my butt in gear to figure out the birthday run agenda. Hint: there might have to be some pogo stick involvement in this one.

Afterwards we hung out and socialized for a while but it was getting cold in our damp clothes, so we came home to our Buffaloes, and now I'm waiting around and doing some stuff here until later when I go out for round two, another run. And this Sunday I'll be running the Edora Park 8K with the running club.

I bought a parks pass online this morning, for Larimer County parks, which will motivate me to drag my butt up to the trailheads and start doing Rock Repeats and get back to a little trail running this year, which I'm hoping I can tolerate with my ankle.

Lots of fun things to look forward to. Happy new year!

Pogo Into the New Year!

Final run of 2013. Ten miles, super easy. My legs are tired. I took yesterday off and they're still tired.

Looking back at this year, it had it's moments. Good ones and not so good ones, but the sum of it all was really good. I can definitely say I am happier today than I was most of the year.

I started the year puking and ended it pogoing. Literally started it out at Across the Years in the medical tent puking into a trash can. And then some stuff happened in the middle, until I got on my pogo stick today, after my 10 mile run. And that about sums up my year.

You can see me pogo sticking with the Buffaloes here. I did this selfie video of pogosticking because another runner I know from the east coast, Christian, posted a video of himself today on Facebook, on his new pogo stick. It inspired me.

This morning I took Iris out for a couple of miles and then brought her home. Iris was enjoying the goose poop...Isabelle usually waits until later in the day to get going, so I went out to finish up on my own. About a mile into my own run, I ran into a friend out walking her dog, and we talked for a while.

It ended up being about health care politics and generally awful things but it was good to see her and hear some good news, which is that her husband, who has cancer, is feeling better right now.

After I got going again I ran into another longtime running friend and I ran fast with him for about a half mile while we talked, that is, he talked and I gasped, and then we parted ways. He runs the pace I should be able to run, but cannot sustain, due to the big truck tire between my waist and hips.

Plus I need to save something for tomorrow's 5K. I already can tell it will hurt. The strategy there will be to hang on for dear life until I can collapse at the finish line. Please don't do CPR. I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing when I die than running.

I usually scoff at New Years resolutions. This year, I am in serious need of following through with my own, especially the first one. I am sick of hearing myself whine about how slow I am with all this extra weight. I have great leg speed underneath all this lead.

Resolutions:

1. Lose at least 10 of the 9 pounds I packed on in the past 8 months. Preferably 15 pounds. I'd like to lose most of it by my birthday in March. That means I need to get serious and I might not be so fun to be around for the next few weeks.

2. Regain adequate ultra speed in my legs without injuring myself.

3. PR at the 24 hour timed event.

4. Figure out what I'm going to do for my birthday theme run. I only have 10 more weeks!

Happy New Year!