2014 MFer ("Mostly Flat") 200-mile ride

Completed the 2014 MFer ("mostly flat") ride on Saturday along with Dennis Regelsperger, Beth Sanborn and Mike Bangert. Only did the 200-mile route from Columbia, IL to Grand Tower and back. No takers for really big miles this year,

Dennis Regelsperger, Beth Sanborn, Mike Bangert and Aaron Fanetti

Kayaking the Mississippi

Completed a one-day, 60-mile kayak trip from Winfield, MO to downtown St. Louis on Sunday with Brian Looper. Got to go through the lock at Alton, IL - an interesting experience on a kayak surrounded by massive barges.

2014 Alpine Shop Spring Trail Run Series

Completed the 4 races of the 2014 Alpine Shop's Spring Train Run Series at Castlewood State Park.

• Race 1: 8/154; 7:28 pace
• Race 2: 7/141; 7:38 pace
• Race 3: 10/151; 7:17 pace
• Race 4: 5/143; 7:17 pace

Winter Summit of Mt. Washington, 2014

Spent New Year's with Vanessa McKenzie playing in White Mountain National Park up in New Hampshire. Lucked out and had a clear day when we summited Mt. Washington. Temps on the summit were roughly 20 below with winds at around 80 mph. Brrr.

Pere Marquette Trail Run, 2013

Ran the Pere Marquette trail run on Saturday. Very snowy and icy day. Due to the weather it took much longer to drive over there than anticipated - and I missed my start time. I ended up having to run in the last heat which made it a bit more difficult because I had to navigate through quite a bit of traffic during the race. Finished in 1:13. Fun day regardless.

Castlewood 8 Hour, 2013

Ran the Castlewood 8 Hour Adventure Race yesterday with Clayton Cummings. Cold day. My gloves were frozen stiff and was covered in ice after the paddle down the Meramec. We came in 3rd place in our division.

Hiking the Buffalo River Trail

Spent a few days down in Arkansas hiking the Buffalo River Trail. The first part of the trail was very overgrown - we were trudging through tick-laden grass up to our waist. Not a lot of fun. After a few miles things opened up and hiking was more enjoyable.

Decent trail, but I think next time I'll go back to paddling it.

Whistler, BC

Went to watch Vanessa McKenzie compete at Ironman Whistler last week. Spent remainder of the week playing in the mountains.

On Saturday I did an out-and-back trail run from Nita Lake Lodge through the Whistler village and up to Russet Lake. After Vanessa had (very little) rest from the race, we loaded up the backpacks and headed up to Garibaldi Lake. A very rainy night. We intended to climb Black Tusk the following morning, but it was so overcast there wouldn't have been much to see. Instead, we headed back down the mountain. Beautiful views all the way back.

The next two days we spent mountain biking the cross-country park. It was rainy, but the trails handled it well. Great trails and a lot of fun. After finishing the XC trails, we hopped on the Sea-to-Sky trail and attempted to make it down to Brandywine Falls. Unfortunately, we left too late in the day and lost daylight by the time we arrived. Lacking headlamps, we decided to turn around early and forgo seeing the falls. Next time.

The last day, we grabbed a day pack and made the hike from Nita Lake up to Wedgemount Lake. Long day with a fair amount a vertical - scrambling up a steep boulder field to reach the top. Exhausting week, but totally worth it. Looking forward to going back.