Welcome! Here’s How to Get Dirty

Help me run for a good cause. My Dad passed away last October, the result of complications from leukemia, a cancer of the blood. I’ll be racing in his memory at the Denver Marathon this October. Since his death, I’d been looking for ways to help other families confronting the same challenges my family faced during my Dad’s illness. When I moved to Denver I found Team In Training, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s nationwide program that helps participants train for, and compete in endurance events. My commitment to the team includes raising money and support for the LLS to help them fund cancer research and provide assistance to families coping with the difficulties along the way. This is where you can help! Please consider a donation to my effort. My goal is to raise $2,500 towards our ultimate goal- a cure for blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. Any contribution helps (and it’s tax deductible!). Aside from the sense of satisfaction and fulfillment that you’ll feel when you contribute (scientists have proved this!), you’ll be making a real difference to the patients and families that get support from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. To donate, click on the link to the right below the Team In Training logo. To find out more about Team In Training, click here: http://www.teamintraining.org/.

You’ll also be able to keep track of my successes and setbacks over the coming months by following the blog. Take a look around. I hope you’ll find some inspiration and humor in my reports. Aside from the regular updates, I’ll post info about some of the best runs on the planet in my “Run of the Week” area and a playlist of songs to keep the energy high. I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences with you and I welcome your input too. You can comment on any post, but the “Get Dirty” page of the blog is specifically designed to collect your stories, thoughts and contributions. You can navigate there through the tabs along the upper right border of the site. Share stories of inspiration, suggest songs for training, offer a nutritious recipe, recommend a practice run. Anything goes.  Thanks for checking out the site and helping me put an end to blood cancer.

Get dirty for good.

David

Wildflowers, Pickaxes, and Family Torture

“My family is torturing me.” -six year old girl

Butter-And-Eggs

Today’s run at Mount Galbraith Park in Jefferson County was full of the unexpected. The speaker muttered the above quote to me near the end of my run as I slowed to move around her. I doubted I could help. Just to cover myself though, I checked her siblings for any devices that could be used to administer pain and suffering. Do sippy cups count? Well actually, it seems that the pastime of meandering across wildflower-speckled hillsides on sumer mornings qualified as torture in this young lady’s book. I wondered briefly how she’d do at Gitmo…

I hadn’t been to this park before and the four-mile hikers-only loop is a standout run for Denverites-only 25 minutes from downtown to the trailhead. The crux of Front Range runs is that you have to earn it. The first third of this run is all up; a common trait of runs in the region. But after the 1,000-foot ascent, the grade levels and the loop that circles Mount Galbraith is excellent for running with a tread that is rocky, but not rough. The north side of the mountain is shaded by a pine forest and here the single-track crests the ridge before relenting and providing a fast cruising descent with views of Golden, Colorado and the Coors Brewery below. Wildflowers filled the slopes including Butter-And-Eggs, Indian Paintbrush; Subalpine Larkspur, and Parry Primrose. Upon descending into an open gulch I encountered the family of torturers and then, just above the trailhead, a line of about 60 yellow-shirted high-schoolers. They were part of the JeffCo Youth Corps and each had a pickaxe, mattock (combination adze/pick), bucket, or McCloed tool (combination hoe/rake). They stretched along the trail for a hundred yards or so, and toiled to widen it, hacking and pulling at the slope above the trail, then dragging it to the downslope side. I paused to thank them for their work. As I resumed my run they started shouting “Trail!” , a cue to clear the way ahead. Finishing a run in this way, with a line of brightly colored servants bearing hand tools, moving aside and cheering as I passed made me feel a little imperial. Thanks again crew.