Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Bear 100, mile 30-ish


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Sunday, September 25, 2011

2011 Bear 100 Race Report

This morning I'm sore... but in a good way. Friday morning the alarm went off at 0400 and I dressed and loaded up the truck, and my wife (and crew chief) drove us from Bear Lake down to Logan. The temperature was chilly, but perfect for the 4000' climb to the 10 mile aid station.

The scene at the start was the usual craziness, but event amidst the 234 starters, I ran into several running buddies just prior to the start. Ultra-running is a small community.

The climb to Logan Peak was consistently steep, but has a couple great, runnable sections and some killer views. I passed through the Logan Peak aid station in 3 minutes, and headed out for the next 9 mile leg to the Leatham Hollow aid station. The last 3 miles of this leg are great single-track running and I was "in the zone" when I was suddenly brought back to reality when I found myself stopped with my eye only an inch away from a sharp broken branch on an overhead deadfall. It had been flagged, but I didn't see it. I became more attentive when running single-track from then on.

I arrived at the Leatham Hollow aid station about 10 minutes ahead of my 27 hour pace, and I was feeling great.

Chriss met me there and helped me through a quick re-fuel and I was off on the next leg which included a 3 mile run up a low-incline dirt road to the next Aid Station, and then a 7.8 mile climb to Cowley Canyon Aid station, and then another climb and subsequent descent to Right-Hand Fork aid station at 36 miles. I usually have a little stomach distress after an aid station as my body tries to adapt to having food in my stomach again. Same situation here, but I pressed through it and still maintained my pace.

I arrived at the third aid station, grabbed a quick snack and headed out for the climb to Cowley. This climb has minimal shade, and is consistently steep the whole way. I was feeling pretty good however, and I managed to arrive at Cowley still ahead of my 27 hour pace. I took a few extra minutes to cool down in the shade they had under a canopy there, and then headed out again for the next climb.

As I ascended the steep dirt road I took notice of the extremely fine dust that sat several inches deep in places on this road. Then the first of several trucks approached from above... and I realized I was going to be sucking in a TON of that dust as they passed. I pulled my shirt up over my mouth as the first one passed, but the filtering effect was limited, and I spent the next 30 minutes coughing and sputtering trying to get that stuff out of my lungs. Fortunately, I topped out and started the long descent into Right Hand Fork aid station about the time the coughing fits ended and was able to crank out the descent at a great pace.

Chriss met me at Right Hand Fork and I again refueled and headed out. The climb was hot in the late afternoon sun, and I struggled to keep my pace going strong. This section of the course climbs up single track to meet a dirt road in a wide mountain pass, and follows this road down to Temple Fork aid station at Highway 89. Fortunately, in the middle of the descent, RD Leland opts to have us run a beautiful section of single track past some beaver dams and an awesome stream. This is one of the most best sections as it's totally runnable and visually amazing.

At temple fork, I took advantage of the facilities there for a nature break, and then picked up my first pacer, Bastian Cowsert. Bastian is a young, enthusiastic "newbie" to the world of Ultra-running. He's extremely fit, and I sense he's going to do amazing things. This was his first experience pacing, so we spent a lot of time talking about the process associated with pacing and crewing, as well as running. My goal was to make it to Tony Grove aid station before dark (because I only had my mini-headlamp with me as a "just in case"). I had a serious bout of stomach distress going, but again, just pressed through it and pushed as hard as I could up the long climb to the short descent into Tony Grove. We hit the downhill as the sun was setting, and ran the last section into Tony Grove aid station in the last of twighlight.

At Tony Grove I again used the facilities, ate some soup, and geared up for the night session with my high-powered headlamp, long-sleeve shirt, beanie cap and running gloves.

We headed out on another long climb which linked to a long, rocky single-track descent to Franklin Basin aid station. Bastian did a great job of reminding me to take my electrolytes on schedule, and we made great time. We got to the descent, and with my "uber headlamp", we able to run at almost a daylight pace. Very shortly into the descent, running at that "daylight" pace, I slammed my foot full-force into a large rock. I immediately knew I'd broken the small toe on my left foot. The pain was incredibly sharp and shocking, and even setting my foot down on the ground fired that same pain shooting through me again.

I had nothing with me to deal with the break, so I changed up my stride by riding the inside of my left foot and trying not to put any weight on the outside of that foot at all. This would come back to haunt me, but at least it let me get to the Franklin Basin aid station at slightly better than a snail's pace. Arriving at the aid station, everyone kicked into gear to get me "repaired" and back out on the trail.

Bastian was trading off pacing duties with Steve Proffit here, and as Paislee started getting ready to work on my toe Steve jumped in to help as well. Paislee started removing my shoe so she could tape my little toe tightly to the adjacent toe. Pulling off my socks, she saw the effect of my adjustmented weighting of my feet. I had developed a huge blood blister on my left big toe, and my right big toenail was totally black. Steve lanced the blood blister and Paislee drained it, applied antibiotic and a bandaid. She then taped my left little to it's neighbor, and taped up my right big toe to hold the nail on for the rest of the run.

I ate some soup, and headed out with Steve for the next 15 miles. Paislee's work on my toes was perfect. I could run normally with only nominal discomfort. I felt confident I could finish, and might be able to still finish in under 30 hours. Steve and I put the hammer down and pushed on to the Logan River aid station. As usual, there is a long climb followed by a downhill into the aid station. This year, the aid station was moved to be near the river crossing. The river was still quite high, but the crossing looked like it could be done without getting wet... almost. I made it to the last 6 feet, stepped on a moss-covered rock (that simply looked black) and in I went. Both feet soaked in ice-cold water, I continued on into the night.

The cold water actually may have done some good, as it may have reduced the swelling from all the damage. Steve pushed me through the tough climb up to the steep descent down the ski slopes of Beaver Mountain where I picked up my last pacer, Sean Housel.

Sean is an experienced pacer and would take me the remaining 24.3 miles into the finish. I had some significant GI distress at this point, so I took two Imodium, and after a couple sessions with the bathroom at the aid station, we headed out. The climb up to Gibson Basin aid station is only 5 miles, but it's all steep. Sean kept on me to keep the pace up, and by the time we hit Gibson basin, we were still on track to be under 30 hours.

From Gibson, we traversed the mile long basin (in some seriously cold temperatures) and climbed up an ATV trail to the summit where we started our descent into Beaver Creek aid station. Leland calls this descent "The Teeth of The Bear", as it's super rocky, steep, and with my toes in the shape they were in, painful. With the water at such a high level, this crossing was even more sketchy than Logan River. The aid station crew had laid a log across a 10' gap, and had found some long branches that served as "balance poles" we used to maintain an upright position as we crossed the frost-covered log. Both Sean and I nearly went in, but we somehow made it across dry... many others were not so lucky, with a few actually getting completely submerged after falling off the log.

I again made use of the facilities at the aid station, ate a little soup, and Sean and I headed out for the last 16 miles of the race. This section has a long climb up to a summit (where you catch a glimpse of Bear Lake), a descent to the Ranger Dip aid station, and then the last climb (also the steepest of the race) up to the 4 mile descent into the finish. I was struggling at this point to keep my pace up, and Sean was constantly checking his GPS and then telling me to increase my pace... I was obviously falling behind my sub-30-hour goal. As we came into the Ranger Dip aid station, I knew I was in risk of missing that goal. I knew the climb out of Ranger Dip would be a big factor.

We left Ranger Dip, and I steeled myself for the 800'-in-0.8 mile climb out of the basin. As we hit the climb, I focused on simply pressing without resting. I had to rest for about 30 seconds four times, so only lost about 4 minutes or so to resting, and crested the top with 70 minutes remaining to finish a 4 mile descent... sounded simple enough. However, this descent has several "special circumstances", including it being too steep for me to run most of it. It was exceptionally painful on the toes as each step is a "decelleration", and by the time I'd reached the point where it leveled off enough to actually run again, I was in serious danger of missing the 30 hour mark.

The descent was hard on Sean as well, and he'd fallen well behind me on the descent. I figured once it leveled out he'd catch me so I checked my watch, put my head down and started running as hard as I could. Sean caught up with me about a mile from the finish on the gravel road leading to the main highway. We were keeping about a 9:45 min/mile pace at this point, and as we crossed the highway over to the side where the turn to the finish area was located, I could hear Steve Proffit yelling.

He was standing at the turn into the finish area, which is about 100 yards from the actual finish line. As I made the turn, I finally understood what Steve was saying. He was yelling "less than a minute left!" Suddenly adrenalin took over, and I broke into a full sprint for the finish.

I came through the finish totally blown out. Leland was standing there and grabbed me and told me "you're under 30 hours!".
I stumbled and fell down onto the grass, completely exhausted and simultaneously elated.

Somehow, with the broken toe, and the GI issues, we managed to get me through the finish in 29 hrs, 58 min, 12 sec. A new personal record for 100 miles!

This event totally proved how much of a team event a 100 miler is for me. Without Chriss and Paislee as my crew/medical team,

and without Bastian, Steve, and Sean being outstanding pacers, I wouldn't have made the 30 hour cutoff.

I can't thank them enough for all they did this weekend! As usual, Leland put on a first-class event, and it was a great experience! It won't be long and he'll have to go to a lottery!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The OZONE Experiment

So two weeks ago, I tore the anterior capsule in my left knee. Fortunately, this is a "minor" injury compared to ligament or cartilage damage, but it was still painful and temporarily debilitating. Not a good situation in light of the fact that the BEAR 100 is only 4 weeks away! I went to my doc, who happens to be a very progressive D.O. and a fellow athlete for some advice. He suggested injecting Ozone (yes, three oxygen atoms) into the knee. Apparently, this technique has been pioneered in Europe and used to treat similar injury in Professional Football (Soccer) players.

Ozone injection has been investigated and shown to have therapeutic effects on inter-articular joints affected by Rheumatoid Arthritis, and the effects are apparently similar with injured health joints. Today was the first time I've run since the injection four days ago, and I have to admit I'm extremely impressed with the results. I did a short five mile run to "test" it out, and I had no pain, no discomfort, and no post-run swelling.

I'll do seven miles tomorrow and see how that fares, and then ease into my normal training program and build up to the Bear with hopefully minimal degradation in my performance... here's to progressive medicine!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

SpeedGoat 50K 2011 Race Report

Another SpeedGoat 50K is complete, and I finished this time! 2009 I injured my knee, 2010, I got incredibly sick and puked for 22 miles only to miss the cutoff at Peruvian Tunnel by 10 minutes... so I was pretty determined to finish this time :) The morning was overcast and cool, so the weather for the climb to Hidden Peak was ideal. Karl kicked things off at 6:30 AM as usual, and we headed out for a "nice walk in the woods". The course was as normal for the first several miles, but due to the snow the climb up to Road To Provo was simply "straight up" the snow field with a couple hand lines anchored to help out. I chose to run with trekking poles this year due to having some significant Patellar Tendinitis in my left knee and figured they'd help me on the downhills to limit the impact to that knee... turns out they were pretty darn handy climbing up the snow field, and very helpful throughout the day due to the incredibly steep climbs and descents that make up virtually the entire course.

I made hidden peak at 9:02 (2hrs and 32 min), so well within my expectations, fueled up and got out of there four minutes later. The descent to the saddle, and subsequent climb to Mt. Baldy went well, but I was definitely "babying" my knee and so the descent off Baldy and down to "Larrys Hole" aid station at the bottom of Mineral Basin was a little slow and I got passed by several folks, but was still feeling really good. From Larry's hole up to the saddle, and then down to Pacific Mine was pretty punishing, and as steep as that descent is, I found myself having to slow way down to keep my knee from protesting too much.

Again, I was passed by several runners, but my goal was to simply finish this year so I kept my pace where it was despite my desire to keep up. Once down in the basin where Pacific Mine sits, there's a couple of rolling miles along the foothill to the aid station which aren't too steep, and I reeled a couple of them back in :) At the Pacific Mine Aid Station I think I "over indulged", as I felt like "Thanksgiving Aftermath" and had some significant pain in my stomach. Also not helping at all was the stagnant air, lack of cloud cover, and ever-increasing heat on the hike out to the ridge above Mineral Basin. Heading up the climb, I began to feel increasingly uncomfortable and slowed down considerably. As I neared the ridge above Mineral Basin, I decided I needed a push, and so I took a 200mg, time-release caffeine pill, along with some Motrin to limit the swelling in my left knee. This was the ticket!
I took a picture of myself with Mt. Timpanogos in the background, started to have some increased energy, and as a friend caught up with me I was able to hang with him along the ridge, and on the descent into Mineral and up to Larrys Hole Aid Station.


I did decide to "wallow in some mud" on the way down from the ridge, as we were essentially running in a stream from the melt-off, and I slipped and went down hard in the mud and rocks. I popped up and kept running, but knew I was going to feel this one. ;)

At Larrys I chowed on some watermelon and ginger ale, a banana, and some s-caps, and then headed out. Due to the snow, Karl decided just to set a bunch of flags straight up the 40-45 degree slope,
and it was PUNISHING! I arrived at the cat-track at the top, and headed across to the Peruvian Tunnel Aid station. I arrived at 2:14, 46 min ahead of the cuttoff. One point here... this is an AGGRESSIVE cutoff. Many folks miss this cutoff each year. It's just another part of what makes the SpeedGoat the most difficult 50K in North America. From a pure-effort standpoint, it's harder than most 50 Milers.

I felt great heading down the Peruvian Gulch, and the climb up the Cirque was super tough, but it was fun to pass some hikers who were struggling along the trail; they were only 2.5 miles into their hike ;) I also managed to pass a couple of the guys who had passed me on the climb out of Pacific Mine. I arrived at Hidden Peak again at 3:15, and left at 3:20 for the 5.5 mile descent to the finish.

The run to the finish was really sweet, as I managed to keep my knee from arguing too much, and made good time... and passed 6 more people who had passed me earlier. I finished feeling really strong at 4:44 (10 hrs and 14 min elapsed time). Not super fast, but I felt great about it considering the circumstances. A great day in the mountains!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay #5

Another year of the venerable Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay has come and gone, and yet again I found myself joining my wonderful wife on a team experiencing the “party in a van”. The Ragnar relay series is the only event my wife and I both participate in, and is less a running race and more a social event with a running component. Don’t get me wrong, there are some VERY competitive teams, including the BYU Cross Country team who finished the 191 miles in 18:38:18, taking first place… not exactly a casual jog in the park.

However, for the most part the teams entered in the Ragnar relays are groups of friends, work associates, and occasionally strangers who’ve connected through word of mouth or online to fill vacancies in existing teams, and they participate for the “experience” of the event. Personally, I find it amazing to see the diversity of participants who found the event accessible enough to join a team and run three legs of between 3 and 10 miles within a 36 hour period. From the members of University and High-School Track and Field teams pounding out sub-6 minute miles, to clinically obese walkers pushing themselves to simply complete their longest leg of just over 5 miles, the broad range of participants demonstrates the appeal of the Ragnar Relay series. It’s attainable by nearly everyone, but challenging enough to draw elite athletes.

My personal experience this year was consistent with my previous several Ragnar events. I ran a reasonably quick 3.9 mile leg keeping a 7:24 pace, followed by a 3AM 7.6 mile leg at a slow 8:54 pace, and then the upper “Ragnar” climb (4 miles, 1800ft of elevation gain), with a decent 12:00 pace. All things considered, I had a reasonable showing this year and came away from the event smiling. There’s no doubt that the running was a key element to that, but the “van” was filled with fun people, and 36 hours with fun people is always worth a smile.

If you've never participated in one of these events, put it on your calendar. It's definitely unique, and for a lot of us, it's a "not to miss" event.

Monday, June 6, 2011

2011 Squaw Peak 50 Mile Race Report





The 15th Annual Squaw Peak 50 Mile Endurance Run is in the bag, and what an epic it was! John Bozung did an amazing job re-routing the entire course to accommodate the fact that everything above 8500 feet was buried in snow, and created a punishing out-and-back course that had minimal flat sections linked by serious climbs and descents, all of which we had the pleasure of running on the first hot, muggy day of the entire year. AWESOME!

The morning started with a 3:30 AM alarm, and the subsequent disoriented attempt to gather everything, get into the car, and get to the start on time. I arrived at Vivian Park 15 minutes before the start, and realized that I’d forgotten my Bib! Without an official bib, I would not be counted at the aid stations, nor at the finish, so I asked my wife to drive back to the house, and then meet me at Aid 2 (the first check-in) where I could pin it on and continue on. I arrived at Aid 2 at 6:15, waited a few minutes for Chriss to arrive, and by 6:28 I was on my way again.

I hammered it up the familiar course to the summit above Rock Creek Canyon, and then ran at a good pace down to where the course left it’s traditional route and descended all the way down Rock Canyon to it’s mouth. Arriving at Rock Canyon Aid Station at 7:43 (mile 11.88), I quickly stripped off my turtleneck, ate some melon, re-watered and was out my 7:46. I was feeling pretty good, and kept up a solid pace as we ran along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Where ever possible, John took the opportunity to put us up on the single-track segments of trail that climbed and descended the foothills along the Provo valley, proving he was steadfast in keeping his reputation alive and well… the Bozung Hill was there, it was just broken up into 100 short, punishing, steep climbs.

I arrived at Aid 4 (mile 15.45), Buckley Draw at 8:38, and was out at 8:41, refueled, but feeling a little rough. I tried to keep up an aggressive pace, but could feel myself slipping a little bit. By the time I arrived at Aid 5 (Spring Creek, mile 20.65) it was 9:55, so my pace had definitely faltered a bit. I left Buckley draw at 10:00, and headed up the steep climb to the pass where I’d be able to descend to Pole Heaven Gate Aid station, and the turn-around.

The climb was steep and rocky, and about half way up, the leader came racing down the canyon and passed me. He was flying, and I yelled out encouragement as he blew past me… at least someone was feeling strong at this point. Several other leaders passed me on their return leg while I continued to struggle up the climb, and by the summit I was feeling pretty low. Even the descent down to the turn-around Aid station was painful, so when I finally arrived at 11:23, I took some time to truly refresh, and fully grazed the buffet eating everything that was cold and wet.

I ate several pieces of melon, cantaloupe, and watermelon, some banana, drank some coke and redbull, and enjoyed a cold towel which I placed on my head under my hat. At 11:32 I finally left the aid station and headed back up towards the pass to begin my descent back down to the Provo valley. As I neared the pass, I started to feel my energy returning, and I began running hard again. I arrived at Spring Creek (Aid 7, mile 29.8) at 12:34, refilled my water and fuel, and headed out at 12:39. I was feeling really good as I left the aid station, but the exposed trail had no shade, and the sun was full-bore.

The sun seemed to actively avoid the sparse clouds, and the green ragweed next to the trail exuded hot, humid air. I began to feel sick from the heat, and I really started to slow down. I pushed myself as hard as I could through the pain and nausea, and made it to Aid 8 (mile 33.52) by 13:53. Again, I took the time to try to cool down at the Aid Station, and finally pulled away at 13:59. The heat at this point was unbearable, and even running the downhills was punishing as I was beginning to weaken on top of just feeling ill.

It was only about 85F, but that was plenty hot considering the warmest it had been on any training day to that date was about 65F. By the time I pulled into Aid 9 (38.9 miles) at 15:10, my face and arms were flushed and I was really feeling torched. I told myself I would move quickly through this Aid Station, as I’d spent way too much time at the previous few aid stations. I found my drop bag, poured my fuel into my hand-bottle, and handed off my Nathan pack to get refilled with ice and water. The MD at Aid 9 came up and said “You are standing at rest and your heart rate is at max. You need to promise me you’re going to walk slowly up the canyon until your heart rate lowers, ok?”. He really didn’t need to tell me that, because I was definitely not ready to hammer 3.5 miles of steep canyon trails. I left Aid 9 at 15:14, having only spent 4 minutes there and began what would be a VERY long walk up Rock Canyon.

My heart rate never did slow down, at least until I began the descent from the summit at the top of Rock Canyon. It’s been a while since I’ve felt that beaten down, but for some reason I simply wasn’t recovering. I felt like I was crawling by the time I reached the summit, and I just couldn’t persuade myself to start running on the downhill into Aid 10. After a couple miles of downhill walking, I ran into an guy hiking up the trail. He told me he was working the Aid Station, and it was only ¾ of a mile further down the trail and there was Ginger Ale there. That little bit of hope started me feeling human again and I started into a slow paced run, and in a few minutes I found myself at Aid 10 (mile 44.8) at 17:42.

At the aid station I drank a cup of Ginger Ale, a ½ can of Coke, had some melon, and ate a candy orange slice and best of all, they had big towels drenched in ice water. That was HUGE! I felt great to have that cold water over my head, neck and back. While I stood there, Tony Christensen showed up as he’d been just a few minutes behind me. He and I finished up at the aid station at the same time, and we decided to run the last 6 miles into the finish together.

We had a great time chatting off and on while we ran to the pavement of the canyon walking path, where we turned up canyon and walked the next mile and a half. As we saw the signage indicating we were coming up to Vivian Park, we went back into a run and finished together at 19:11:35. 14 hrs and 11 minutes isn’t exactly fast, but on this day, and this course, I was more than happy to have simply finished.

I was not the only person who underestimated this course. Many people were completely surprised by the intensity of the climbs and descents, and I don’t think any of the runners were happy with the searing sun bearing down on us as we ran the roughly 10 miles along the foothills of Provo. On that section of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, no tree cover, bright sunlight, and high humidity did their damage, as we struggled to regulate our core temperature while pressing to keep a decent pace along the undulating single-track course.

The rest of the course was no cake-walk either. One runner broke his leg on the upper part of Rock Canyon, while another took a tumble and broke his nose in lower Rock Canyon. Many runners simply dropped out of the run. There is no doubt this was a VERY tough course, and everyone who finished should feel a great sense of accomplishment. I definitely feel like I earned this "Wooden Nickel".

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Leaving aid 8


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Turnaround

Left aid 6 at 1140


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Location:Aid 6

16 miles in


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Location:Aid 4

Friday, June 3, 2011

Squaw Peak 50 (but not quite?)

Well, the Squaw Peak 50 Mile Endurance Run starts tomorrow at 5AM, and I'm shooting for a sub-11 hour finish... but it's not really the Squaw Peak 50 this year. Due to the record-setting snow fall this winter, more than 20 miles of the original course is under several feet of snow, making it impossible to support the runners, let alone actually run the course.

So the race direcor John Bozung spent many sleepless nights and tiring days figuring out an alternative route that kept the runners and crews at lower elevations so we could at least still pull off a "one-off" version of the Squaw Peak this year. I'm still approaching this with the idea that I'm going for a "personal best", but not a Squaw Peak personal best... just a 50 mile personal best. I'm shooting for a sub-11 hour finish tomorrow, which means maintaining a better than 14 minute-per-mile pace including Aid Station stops. Doesn't sound like much, but over 50 miles of mountainous terrain, it's a legitimate challenge and I'm going to be pressing right up to the edge of my conditioning to pull it off.

If you're at all interested in following this folly, John has set up a site where you can see the real-time results as I pass through the Aid Stations at http://sp50.kd7bbc.org. See you at the finish!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

1st Annual Salt Flats 100 is "in the bag"!


The first ever Salt Flats 100 has successfully completed, and as the organizer and Race Director, I've learned a LOT! With a ton of help from great friends and a patient family, in a short two months the event was concieved and organized in two months. Friday at 7AM, 8 of us lined up at the "Bonneville Dike" that runs from a point about 18 miles from Wendover on I-80 out to Floating Island. The weather forecast was for snow and high winds, but at 7AM it was slightly overcast and a stiff breeze kept us extra-chilled as we prepared to run. We posed for a quick photo, and then I blew the starting horn and we headed up the dike road.

Jay Aldous and Davy Crockett shot out in front, followed by Andre Cojocaru and Emmanuelle Dudon, then Heidi Bennett and myself, and Ben Benjamin. Shortly after the start, the sun came out briefly and Heidi pulled ahead of me as I held to my planned 11 minute/mile pace. The wind never dropped below a 15-20 mph breeze, and often approached 40 mph. Floating Island is about 13 miles up the dike road, and it never seemed to get any closer as I ran. Ultimately, Aid station 1 (self serve water and goodies brought by all the runners) came into view at 9.75 miles. As I finished up fueling, Ben arrived, we exchanged a few words, and I headed out again. The running around Floating Island was great, as the winds died down and the sun came out again.

The crossing from Floating Island to Silver Island is long and straight, again deceptive in its appearance, but after about 5 miles having still not arrived at the junction with Silver Island road, I was reminded of the scale of this area. The scenery is amazing, with the salt desert off to the side, and the steep cliffs of the Silver Island mountains ahead. I stayed with my pace even as the weather started to close in and the winds picked up significantly... and finally hit the Silver Island road, and Aid 2 at 20.5 miles. Aid 2 is again a self serve station, and here Ben caught up with me much sooner than at Aid 1.

As I left Aid 1, I sensed Ben gaining on me, and right before the historical sign-post indicating our intersection with the Hastings Crossing trail, Ben passed me up. I was now officially in both the worst position (last) and best position (8th) that I've ever been in in an Ultra :) It was also at this point that the first of several storms hit with a vengence. The snow was being driven by 40-50 mph winds, and all I could do was hunker down and run harder into the wind. This lasted for about 45 minutes, and by the time it ended, I could see in the distance the saddle between Silver Island and Crater Island, where Aid 3 was located. I was actually ahead of my pace at this point, and feeling pretty good. One thing was nagging me pretty hard though, and that was the fact that after hitting the Silver Island road, I hadn't seen ANY of the course flagging I'd put up the weekend prior.

I came into Aid 3 (30 miles) at 6:01, which was an hour ahead of my pace, and I was feeling really solid... however, my wife told me that on her drive in on the other side of Silver Island Road, she had not seen any flagging either, and it was painfully evident that someone had pulled all of our flagging. I was now faced with a significant dilemma. As lean as we were with volunteers, nobody could go reflag the course, and with the additional issue that I was really the only person who knew the entire course, I made the decision to drop out of the run, jump in the car, and start reflagging the course.

I started just ahead of Jay and completed the Cobb Peak loop keeping just ahead of Jay as he maintained his incredible pace, and getting all the other issues handled. After completing the re-flagging the loop, I got a flat tire on the Trooper, and after securing a jack (yep, my jack was missing a piece), I got it changed and went out and after 6 more hours had the whole course re-flagged. Lesson learned here... I need to have a race director "second", who knows as much about the course, preparations, and scheduling as I do, so that as I run in the event, they can handle any unforseen issues while I get to continue the run.

After reflagging the course, I ended up manning an aid station due to a cancellation by a volunteer group. The weather was basically back-to-back storms until about 10PM, when it started back off, and by 4AM even the winds calmed down.

The results of the event are as follows:

Jay: 15:36:04 for 97.72 miles / 100 mile of 15:57:24 (penalty of 1.0228)
Davy: 21:36:10 for 98 miles / 100 mile of 22:22:05 (penalty of 1.02)
Heidi: 25:16:46 for 97.72 miles / 100 mile of 25:51:20 (penalty of 1.0228)
Andre and Emmanuelle: 26:53:33 for 97.72 miles / 100 mile of 27:50:21
(penalty of 1.0228)
Ben: 28:29:46 for 95.22 miles / 100 mile of 30:08:36 (penalty of 1.0578)

All told, it was a very successful event with all the runners commenting on the amazing terrain and views, and the challenging conditions. It's definitely a "keeper"! Please take a look at Jay Aldous's blog as well, for his perspective on the run as well http://mrc-ultra.blogspot.com/. Thanks to EVERYONE who helped out, and to the runners for putting up with the first year challenges!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Nearing Silver island




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Going out now!

Here's the start!!!! Wish us luck!



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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Salt Flats 100!

In two days I'll embark on what should prove to be an epic adventure... running, and "running" the Salt Flats 100. Conceived through perceived neccessity, and executed on an extremely contracted time-frame, this event didn't even exist two months ago, and on Friday, at 0700, 8 of us crazies will head out on a snowy, windy, blustery day in the salty deserts of the Great Basin and start what should prove to be a great, if not epic run.

As usual, I'll be posting to the blog, twitter, and facebook from the course (about 50% of the course has cell reception) and will update both my progress along the course and my deterioration from functional human to incoherent and numb mass of jello. This run will be complicated by forecasted snow and sub-freezing temperatures, so the fun-meter will definitely be pegged!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Reality Bites... Sometimes for the Better!

The cliché that “life happens” is certainly true. So is Steinbeck’s famous line “the best laid plans of mice and men, gang aft agley”. So it is with running the Moab 100 this year. The scheduling of the Moab 100 fell on the same weekend as ski-racing event for which I had the responsibility for providing the timing, and unfortunately the person I was planning on being able to do that timing for me ended up not being able to. So, no dice!

HOWEVER, out of crisis rises opportunity (aren’t I just the king of cliché?)! I have decided to start my own 100 mile event in April! Currently, April is devoid of any 100 Milers anywhere near Utah, so starting at 0700, in Grantsville, UT, I’ll start running along the Hastings Cutoff trail and Donner-Reed road across the Bonneville Salt Flats to Donner Spring, UT. I figure if those stalwart folks working their way to the riches of California could brave that stretch, I can do it too! Hopefully, so will some of my Ultra-running buddies!

This inaugural event will be a benefit for both the Crossroads chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association and the MORE Project charity, and each year we’ll dedicate the race proceeds to these non-profit organizations. This terrain should prove uniquely challenging, despite the course being predominantly flat, it is relentless!

I’m hoping that this will become a regular for many in the Ultra running community, and will provide a great benefit to the OCTA and MORE organizations. Stay tuned!

Monday, March 7, 2011

I'm Wearing Clown Shoes!

Just about a year ago, a new shoe entered the trail running world... the Hoka One One Mafate. This shoe went the opposite direction of the current trend towards "minimalist" shoes.

Minimalist shoes promote the concept of running a "barefoot" technique, which most ultra-runners use by default as it's really the only technique that can be sustained for 20+ hours. However, the Mafate flies in the face of minimalist shoes.



In fact, they are so cushioned, that running downhill is pretty much a party on legs! At the end of the Bear 100 last year, the steep descent into the Bear Lake valley was nothing but punishment, but with these, I'm pretty sure I would have been in a LOT less pain. Obviously, those looking at them on my feet would have experienced some pain, but that's their problem ;)

So, this year, I'll be wearing my clown shoes on the Moab 100! It'll be super easy to pick me out in the photos and videos I'll post from the race, just look for the lime-green clown shoes and that'll be me! As always, donate to The MORE Project Expedition if you can at the link on my blog, and most importantly, stay tuned!

Monday, February 28, 2011

Moab 100 fast approaches!

In just 26 days, I'll embark on the first of 18 5.37 mile loops on the Monitor and Merrimac trail 16 miles north of Moab in an attempt to do my first sub-30 hour 100 mile run, and at the same time once again assist my daughter Paislee in raising funds for a service expedition to Brazil.

The realities of "normal" life always make me question the training I've been able to do leading up to an event like this... was it enough, was it the right kind, etc. However, it ends up being the training I did regardless, and therefore it's what I enter the event with and I always hope it was "enough".

For this event, I'm hoping my new "clown shoes" (www.hokaoneone.com) will give me just a little advantage when running across the off-angle, hard-as-concrete sandstone mountain that makes up the trail. This stuff is brutal on the legs, and over the period of 100 miles, having a little extra cushion can't be a bad thing!
An ultra-runner friend of mine commented "welcome do the dark side!" when he found out I bought my first pair of Hoka's, so I have to assume good things!

So, in the coming three weeks I'm tyring to get in a few good long runs 20-30 miles, a bunch of short runs (6-10 miles), and get limbered up for some serious abuse! Stay tuned to the blog during the event, as I'll be posting from the trail wherever possible, and Paislee will be posting from the base-station. Happy Running!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

The Wasatch 100 Draw: NOT!


I attended the "draw" for the Wasatch 100 Mile Run today, held at the Homestead Resort in Midway, UT. This is the location where the race ends, a serene and pleasant location that belies the torment and pain the most runners experience in the 20-30 hours previous to thier arrival.

The Race Director told us that there were 500+ applicants, and after taking into account the "guaranteed runners", and the "Grand Slammers", the percentage of success in the draw was going to be around 65%.

The process was pretty sterile, with occasional outbursts of cheering when one of the attendees was selected. The Race Director would draw out a name, and his assistants would confirm that name was properly registered and paid in, and then they'd check off the name and record it as an official entry.

All the way up to today, I had assumed that I was going to draw out, but as the names kept being read, and my name became increasingly absent, I realized there was a strong chance that I was going to go home empty-handed. Several of us in attendance eneded up leaving with the knowledge we were not going to run the Wasatch 100 this year, and to say were weren't disappointed would be a lie, but there are many races to run, and many years of running ahead of me, so I'm not too torn up. ;)

September will be a repeat of the Bear 100, and October will be my first Pony Express 100, so I'll still get three 100's this year. Gotta love the process!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Happy New (running) Year!

The 2011 running season is fast approaching! I looked at my race schedule, and I only have seven weeks till the Red Hot 50K… and my “holiday break” consisted of eating, hosting family parties, eating, attending family and work parties, eating, a couple ski days, eating, and then just generally eating. I didn’t run for 10 days, so I’m paying for that now! Enough said about that!

I hit it on Monday, and have laid out my training schedule to get me back to reality by the Red Hot, and then four weeks later I’m doing the Moab 100 Mile Endurance Run, so I have to treat the Red Hot 50k as just a long training day (i.e. no resting afterwards).

This year I’m using the Moab 100 to raise funds for my daughter Paislee to be able to return to Brazil as a volunteer for the MORE Project. A donation “per mile” completed up to the 100 is the idea, but obviously she’ll be grateful for anything at all. She went last year and became very attached to the children she helped in the “Favelas” there, and seeing the drug wars and poverty surrounding them she has decided she can make a significant difference by going there again. If you are inclined to help, you can click the link at the top of my blog page and donate to her account with the MORE Project.

Lastly, I have “put in” for the Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance Run, and if I draw out for it, that will obviously change my September schedule. I REALLY want to run the Wasatch this year, as it’s part of the “Grand Slam” of endurance runs (the Vermont 100, the Leadville 100, the Wasatch 100, and the Western States 100), and I’m contemplating taking a whack at the Grand Slam in 2012. More on that insanity later.

As always, I’ll attempt to blog from the actual races where connectivity allows, and will post race reports after each event. Happy New Year!