Week thirteen was my biggest week yet. I did a non-hilly speed workout on the dirt trails of Pineridge Natural Area, an uphill workout on Towers Trail, a tempo run at Maxwell, and two long runs on the weekend. I didn't feel great Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, but exceptionally nice running weather helped me survive the weekend miles.

• 12 hours, 15 minutes

• 57.0 miles

• 7,664 ft D+

I didn't take any photos during my runs this week. I'll try to do better this week.

In my training program the last week of every four week block is dedicated to rest and recovery. I did much less running in week twelve, more bike riding, and some yoga. I did more household stuff, re-watched Stranger Things season three and started season four with my family, and got some excellent nights of sleep. Here are the running numbers.

• 3 hours, 12 minutes

• 15.0 miles

• 2,231 ft D+

My Saturday run at Lory State Park unexpectedly coincided with the XTERRA Lory Triathlon but I did manage to find a parking spot at Arthur's Rock trailhead and do a loop that only barely intersected the mountain bike portion of the event. A lot of local runners were in Wyoming for the Bighorn Trail Run, so I had the remote parts of the park all to myself.

Once again I've fallen behind on blogging about running, but will catch up. Week ten started out pretty well, but hay fever and lethargy were dragging me down at the end. I struggled on steep trails at Greyrock Saturday and then opted for more mellow long miles on Sunday. I've blogged about the route to Greyrock before, it's amazing.

• 9 hours, 33 minutes

• 44.0 miles

• 6,932 ft D+

I felt much better in week eleven. I did some hard hill intervals on Wednesday and back-to-back long runs with plenty of climbing on the weekend.

• 11 hours, 45 minutes

• 50.0 miles

• 9,633 ft D+

Saturday I ran in toasty warm conditions at Lory and Horsetooth. Even though I cut it short, this run had the most elevation gain of my season. After I got home and saw that more hot weather was in store for Sunday, I decided to head to the high country on Sunday. I succeeded in getting a timed entry reservation for Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), an hour away by car, and did a long loop from the Cub Lake trailhead.

Sunday's run didn't have as much D+ as Saturday's, but it did start above 8,000 ft and went for more than 3 miles above 10,000 ft. I was traveling exclusively on snow for about two hours. Very comfortable, but very slow, and in one spot a bit sketchy. On the descent to Odessa Lake, the well-engineered trail crosses a steep gully, no problem in summer, but in spring the gully and trail are completely covered with snow and a slip on this traverse could result in a long downhill ride. It was exciting! The party ahead of me on the trail almost turned back.

In the last mile of the run I saw a big ole male moose just a few yards off the trail. This is normal for an outing in Moraine Park. On the drive home I saw a chonky black bear on the right bank of the Big Thompson River. I would have pulled over to get a photo to share here except the shoulder was completely filled with cars and my phone was dead.

In a 12-hour race I will expend much more energy than I store in my body in the form of glycogen. I continue to work on training my body to digest solid food that has a good mix of carbs, fat, and protein while on the go. In a race I'll eat pieces of a ham and cheese wrap, a quesadilla, or even bacon when it's available. On my long weekend runs, which are now up to three hours or more, each, I'm taking a big peanut butter and honey sandwich. The ingredients:

• 2 slices whole wheat bread (Dave's Good Seed (TM))

• A generous spread of peanut butter, same weight as a slice of bread

• More honey, 50% more than the weight of a slice of bread. Slightly crystalized honey is good because it doesn't immediately run off the slice.

This makes a sandwich containing about 700 calories. I cut it into four pieces and stuff all into a small rectangular ziploc container the night before. Each piece has ~20 more calories than a Honey Stinger waffle and zero waste per serving.

I've been eating peanut butter and honey sandwiches for over 50 years, as long as I can remember. It was always honey in my family, not jam or jelly, though I love that as well. And when I was a kid it was always Miller's Honey.

With the help of his pioneer father, Nephi exchanged five bags of oats for seven colonies of bees. This was the beginning of Miller's Honey Company.

What a crappy week for America, a country where half the residents think that the root of the school shooting crisis is not guns, but too many school entrances and exits. America is sick and it feels like it's getting worse, not better. I escaped into trail running: six runs on six days, one hill interval workout on Towers Trail, and back-to-back long runs in the foothills of the Rockies on Saturday and Sunday. Here are the numbers.

• 11 hours, 5 minutes

• 50.5 miles

• 8,582 ft D+

Saturday I went out intending to do two and a half climbs of Horsetooth and Arthurs Rock. After about seven miles I started feeling pain in my right shin, just above my ankle. It gradually increased and so I stopped at 13 miles and skipped the last climb. Evidently it was not a stress fracture because I was able to hike and run with no pain today. Only an irritated tendon, I think. My new-ish Speedgoat 5s are not a great fit my slightly smaller right foot, perhaps my ankle tendons were fighting a loose fit.

Today I wore my newest pair of the Speedgoat 4, deployed my hiking sticks, and reached the summit of Crosier Mountain (9,257 ft) just before the first thunderstorms developed. I've never been up this trail before. It's a wonderful mix of steep switchbacks and highly runnable singletrack. There's not a lot of shade and no water to speak of, so it could be grueling on a hotter day. I felt great and got to the top in a respectable time. This was my first run over 8,000 ft in 2022. I'll be doing more of this as the snow recedes. There's still quite a bit above 10,000 ft.

Week eight was a rest week. Only four runs, none longer than 7.5 miles. I hope the small numbers this week don't come back to haunt me as I ramp up again.

• 3 hours, 58 minutes

• 21.5 miles

• 2,260 ft D+

I didn't sleep well this week and despite some good meals got into a poor mood by Friday. Hitting the trail both days this weekend lifted my spirits a lot. Unlike Boulder and Denver, Fort Collins got very little precipitation from Friday's snowstorm, so the trails were dry as usual. Today I ran to the summit of Arthur's Rock, which I usually pass by, during the only overcast hours of the day.

Next week I'm doing my first uphill workout. My body felt good on the climb today and I'm looking forward to pushing it more on Tuesday.

I told my kids about my plans to become a part-time sandwich influencer and made crispy, not fried, chicken sandwiches for all three of us after my trail run. I love fried chicken, but I don't feel like becoming the owner of a jar of used oil right now, so I baked the chicken with a crispy coating on a sheet pan. The chicken was served hot, but was not Hot Chicken, not by a mile.

Each sandwich had one boneless, skinless chicken thigh at its core. I dredged the meat in a mixture of white flour, Kashmiri chile powder, and salt; dipped it egg white left over from making garlic aioli a couple days ago; then dredged it again in a mix of panko breadcrumbs, dried thyme, and olive oil. I baked these on a piece of parchment paper in my oven at 400 °F for 25 minutes.

While the chicken was baking, I sliced a small red onion and a large jalapeño, and made a small batch of coleslaw: thinly sliced green cabbage and grated carrot tossed with salt, caraway seeds, garlic aioli, yogurt, and rice wine vinegar. When the chicken was done, we put it on a basic hamburger bun and topped it with onion and coleslaw. I added a lot of fresh jalapeño, while the kids opted for sprinkling Cholula onto the crispy chicken.

The sandwiches were delicious. The meat was thoroughly cooked, but still moist, and the coating had a nice crunch. We all agreed that we could have made the meat spicier by adding cayenne to the first dredging mix and to the crumbs. When I do this again, I might add apple to the coleslaw, making it more like the Bird's sweeter slaw.

While prepping, I listened to "Return to Hot Chicken" from Yo La Tengo's 1997 album I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One. There's a fun story about eating at Prince's Hot Chicken restaurant (and more) in an interview of James McNew by Aquarium Drunkard.

I didn't make a sandwich today, but I found another sandwich photo on my phone. This one is from January, when I was working through a large batch of homemade red cabbage (with apple and carrot) kimchi.

Ruth is traveling all next week and I will be busy holding down the fort and going to end-of-year school activities. Forgive me if I'm slow to reply to emails and open source issues and pull requests.

Here are the numbers for week seven.

• 10 hours, 7 minutes

• 50 miles

• 5564 ft D+

Six days of running in a row, two speed workouts, and back-to-back weekend long runs. Next week is a rest week with less running and more biking, yoga, and weight lifting.