Treadmill Games

I am loving the fact that Spring is upon us and today holds the best 2014 weather yet.  It has been a long winter here with record amounts of snow and days of sub-zero cold.  This has all but forced my winter running regiment to be conducted entirely inside on what many runners have not-so-lovingly dubbed the "deathmill".  

Running on a treadmill is no one's favorite way to run, but sometimes its just the only feasible option.  There are ways to at least make it tolerable, however, and that is what I intend to share today.  I racked up over 250 miles on the treadmill over the past few months and in that time I got creative in ways to make the time pass.

Here are my "Treadmill Games":

Dehydrated Christians?

3rd Sunday in Lent -- March 23, 2014

John 4:5-26 - The Woman at the Well

Brothers and sisters in Christ, peace be with you, Amen.

You have heard before, that at high elevations its harder to breathe and there is less oxygen in the air?  Now, if you haven't heard this, that's okay, just fly out to Denver or somewhere in the mountains some time and try walking up a flight of stairs.  Its almost an exercise in futility on your first go, as you're huffing and puffing just trying to catch your breath.

But my first comment is true only in part.  It is much harder to breathe, the body must work overtime to survive and function properly at high elevations, but oddly enough, its not because there is less oxygen.  That's actually a common misunderstanding.  Scientists tell us that the concentration of oxygen at sea level and at high elevation is relatively constant at around 20%.  The big challenge to our health comes because the air pressure is lower at higher elevations.  And because of that our bodies cannot absorb the oxygen so easily in the lower pressure.

Which Came First? Death or Man?

Sermon -- Lent 1A -- March 9, 2014
Texts: Genesis 3:1-21, Romans 5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11


Brothers and sisters in Christ, God's peace be with you, Amen.

From Alpha to Omega, the beginning to the end, from everlasting to everlasting, the Bible is God’s Word. I think that’ll be a good starting point for us, and not a bad ending point either, for us this morning.

Here is where the wheels fell off on this whole journey that we call life, it happened with our first parents. Adam and Eve. They had it all. They were the only humans in history to literally know paradise on earth. They were made in God’s image. They were perfectly holy, perfectly righteous, perfectly perfect.

But, they blew it all up in one singular problem that has since plagued every last soul to walk this earth, less just one, named Jesus, and that problem was: they didn’t listen to God’s Word. Plain and simple. What had God told them? Just one Law we are told they were given. Don’t eat from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That’s it.

Pikes Peak Barr Trail Winter Expedition

Route: Barr Trail, East Slopes
Trailhead Elevation: 6,700 ft.
Barr Camp Elevation: 10,200 ft.
Summit Elevation: 14,110 ft.
Hike Elevation Total: 7400 ft.
Hike Mileage Total: 22.55 mi. (my GPS)

Trip Report

Thursday, February 27

Start Time: 8:14am

Barr Camp Time: 12:35pm

Mileage: 6.22 miles

Elevation Gain: 3500 ft.

We went through some excellent discussion this winter as to which mountains to tackle during our quick 4-day trip.  In the past we have hiked on some of the easiest winter 14ers: Quandary, Sherman, and Elbert.  One of our initial thoughts this year was to step it up a notch and go after one like La Plata Peak.  Its still relatively safe from avalanche danger if you follow the right route.  But then we stumbled upon this idea of hitting the Barr Trail in winter.  Its a route that rarely has avalanche danger, and though it is long, an overnight stay at Barr Camp in the middle makes it into a manageable hike.  And thus, we settled on Pikes Peak for this year's winter climb.

Prepping a Winter Mountain Ascent

Its one thing to go out for a fun hike on a nice summer day.  Its a good thing for us all.  Find a trail, watch for rain, and just go for it.  Heading for a mountain summit is even a fun and very achievable summer objective for the physically fit.  But how about in the middle of winter?  Well, that's a whole different ballgame.

My hiking partners, that is, my father and brother and I asked that question back in 2010.  How about a winter summit?  Why not?  We had already begun to accumulate some of the necessary gear from when we'd encountered snow on our summer hikes and so it came down then to a matter of planning.

This year I'm making plans for my 4th winter ascent and its still just as fun as the first.  As I've worked my way through plans for this year's hike it seemed appropriate to share some of our tips and tidbits of learning. While there are a great many much more learned and experienced individuals than myself in the realm of winter mountaineering, I do have the privilege of having an audience of fellow flatlanders who are curious about what this is all like.  Our experience is we found it is possible to live near sea level and visit the mountains once or twice a year and still make the mountain tops, even in winter, accessible to us.

Using pictures and experience I've gained I want to share with you some of the biggest concerns we deal with when going from your average summer dayhike into a full-blown winter mountain hike.