Rantings and Ramblings Of A Bigfooted Ultrarunner

A Journey to Heaven Through Hell, or, Vince Gerber Sucks Old Man Balls

2011-08-09T09:10:00.028-06:00

Much to my chagrin, I got hooked on the “Badwater Experience” four years ago when my running friend Nattu asked me to be on his crew. I swore I’d never do this race, but I agreed to help him out because, well, I was curious about this Death Valley run and wanted to see up close what it was all about. But at the time, I said I would never want to do it. After Nattu’s finish, I told him this was something I wanted to do in the near future, and he said he would be there to help as crew/pacer. The following year, I was back out to help Bob Becker, who was on Nattu’s crew the previous year. Two years later I went out to help Paul Grimm. At the pre-race meeting before Paul’s run, Marshall Ulrich asked me point blank “When are you going to run this Dale?” Who can refuse a comment like that? So I decided I was going to do it next year.

When information came out on the 2011 Badwater run, I had second thoughts due to the steep entry fee. The $1000.00 fee really put me off, and frankly, I didn’t want to spend that kind of money for a race. Yes there are benefits in doing the race (camaraderie, medical access on the course, well run event, etc.) but I felt a Grand was too much for me to outlay at this time. Not long after this decision, I saw a posting on the UltraList by Marcia Rasmussen about the “Badwater Solo” soliciting for anyone who might want to do the independent version of Badwater instead of the “Big Race”. I thought “why not?” and so I e-mailed her and got the details. So now my race was back on, just a bit different in format.

I came to find out that there is no “organized” Solo run for Badwater due to Parks Service regulations concerning group size. As an individual with a crew compliment, this however would pose no problem in doing the run as long as the runner/crew don’t make a huge production out of the run or cause safety concerns for the Park Service (e.g. getting in the way of regular tourists, unsafe crewing along the road). Therefore no permit for running the Solo would be required. The Solo tries to follow in the footsteps of the early crossings, starting with Al Arnold’s first successful Death Valley crossing in 1977 (after three attempts), covering the 146 mile traverse from Badwater, the lowest point of the contiguous United States (elev. -282 feet) to the summit of Mt Whitney, the highest point at 14, 505 feet above sea level. The window established for doing the Solo is from July 1 through August 31. No time limit is imposed in completion of the Solo. Like in the Big Race, the runner can “stake out” their position along the course to leave for whatever reason, as long as the runner returns to that spot when the course was left. The clock doesn’t stop for stake outs.

Once I decided that this was what I was going to do, I had several things to consider: whether or not to summit Mt Whitney, size and compliment of crew, date of my run, making reservations for lodging, and training. I decided on having a six-person crew compliment broken up into two shifts of 8-hours in length (which was changed during the run to six hour shifts during the day and 8-hour shifts at night, mutually agreed upon by the crew). I ended up with a fantastic crew with nearly 15 year’s Badwater experience between all (Nattu Natraj, Phil Rosenstein, Paul Grimm, Karen Bonnett, Vince Gerber and Ken Grimm). I had crewed Nattu and Paul at Badwater previously, and Vince and Ken were also on Paul’s crew. Having these friends involved in my Solo made all the difference in my confidence that I could get this done without serious issues. I was in excellent hands. Also, I knew they would all get along with each other, which is vital to any crew makeup at Badwater, particularly in larger crew compliments. Based upon input from my crew, I picked my Solo date of Saturday, 16 July, 2011. This was a strategic decision as three of my crew (Nattu, Karen and Phil) were going to be at the Big Race earlier that week, making it easier for them to help me on my run.

Having a date set, I had to decide on a Mt Whitney summit and when that would be. I planned on a sub-48 hour finish, coupled with some recovery time would set the date for Mt Whitney the following Tuesday. Even if I was slower I could still, in theory, make the summit with some rest time in between. I had to wait until February 1 to submit my request for 7 permits to the Inyo National Forest for the Mt Whitney lottery. I ended up getting the permits for the requested day.

I made lodging reservations for Stovepipe Wells (through the US Park Service) for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I made lodging reservations at the Lone Pine Hostel for the next three nights. I got creative on the number of rooms for Stovepipe since two of my crew wouldn’t be arriving until Friday prior, and during my run we only needed one room versus three (since myself and 3 crew people would not be needing rooms). Since Paul, Vince and I were flying to Vegas, plus Ken driving out (meeting us at the SquawMart in Pahrump), and Phil waiting for us at Stovepipe Wells necessitated making two room reservations for Thursday night. Nattu and Karen would join us on Friday, which added another room. For Saturday, since 4 of us would be out on the course, we only needed one room for Saturday night. This saved me a lot of money (6 room reservations vs. 9 rooms). For the Lone Pine end of the route, I picked the Lone Pine Hostel with the most beds per room for the final 3 nights. Again, this saved me some significant money for one room vs. 3 or 4 at a local hotel.

I decided to only rent a full size cargo van for the crew vehicle instead of an SUV. Having dealt with both types of vehicles in the past, the cargo van is a much better crew vehicle, size wise, than an SUV. Cargo vans afford lots of room to organize coolers, clothes, water, food, etc. in an efficient manner. We had issues on Paul’s run last year with an SUV as things got cluttered, hard to find during the course of the run, due to entropy-like conditions during the course of many hours. Since Nattu and Karen were driving out on Friday, their vehicle would be used as a crew shuttle between shifts.

As time drew closer for my run, Marcia kept in contact with me regarding various issues, most importantly was documentation of my crossing. She was going to need my splits at the Big Race checkpoints (Badwater, Furnace Creek, Stovepipe Wells, Darwin, Lone Pine, and Portal Road) as well as any photographic evidence I was there and doing the crossing. The more, the merrier. This would include any write-ups I or my crew may provide. I would end up e-mailing her my splits and photos. I also sent these along to Ben Jones, as he is the official record keeper for all Death Valley crossings.

For the training aspect of this run, I went back to predominantly roads, asphalt preferable, and some trails. I wanted to get in some hot road miles this year, but our unusually late summer made that difficult to come by on a regular basis. My first hot run (in the upper 80’s) in May really took a toll on me. But later on I was fine with the hot runs, but again, it never got above mid-90 for these. The wonderful thing with this was I never had to go far to get in some road miles. Where I live, there is an excellent route I took in and around Carter Lake and points east with lots of rolling roads and wide open spaces. I also was very close to a monster road climb section, which started down our road and summited 4 miles and 1600 feet of elevation gain. I tried to incorporate this climb either at the start, middle or end of my long runs. One day all I did was hill repeats up and down this section. I knew this would help on the many climbs at Badwater, particularly Townes Pass, Father Crowley’s, and of course the Portal Road up towards Mt Whitney. While this section wasn’t near as long as any of these climbs during the race, it would have to suffice. I also did a few ascents of Mt Evans, a 14’er near Denver which is entirely on road surface. If I was going to be able to climb Whitney, I needed some high-altitude training to get me there. This also afforded me some rather long uphill grinds in the process. I ended up doing an ascent with Vince one weekend, followed up with another the following weekend with Paul and Ken.

For the bulk of my heat training, I had to rely mostly on sauna training, since the local weather wasn’t going to be sufficient for any heat-related runs. I detest running in multilayer clothes for running, and chose to rely on the sauna for the bulk of this part of my training. I spent a total of nearly 3 months of sauna sweating to get ready. I started off easy, about 20 minutes at 160 degrees. With each successive visit, I would increment my time in the sauna by 5 minutes. I eventually worked up to just over 2 hours just a few weeks prior to my run with the temp inside hovering between 140 and 150 degrees. Due to time constraints, I was only able to average three visits/week. My focus on the sauna sessions was getting my body used to the heat, but more importantly, getting it used to processing fluids. Initially I just brought in ice cold water or Gatorade, but as the sessions went longer, I had to bring in more to last the duration. I ended up bringing in one quart bottle of ice water, another of Gatorade, and a frozen quart bottle of water. By the time I got through the first two bottles, the frozen one was thawed out enough for use. I knew this training was being effective when I went out on some “hot” runs and didn’t really feel the heat as some of my other running friends were feeling. I did do a trail 50K in early June, and while it wasn’t super warm, it was sunny and warm and I heard from several runners that it was hot for them. I didn’t really notice it that much.

I did my normal two-week taper, both from running and heat training, to let the body recover and be fully rested for the big day.

Vince and I drove to DIA to catch our Vegas flight early Thursday AM. We met Paul, who was taking an earlier flight, before heading to our gate. We got to Vegas, picked up our bags and eventually found Paul waiting for us. We took a shuttle ride to the car rental agency, who then called out to their fleet services desk for the cargo van. I got a ride over to pick up the van, drove back and picked up Paul and Vince. It was then off to Pahrump, NV for a WalMart run for supplies. I had talked to Ken earlier in the week and asked him if he could meet us at Pahrump, since I was concerned with the California law mandating all passengers in vehicles must have a seat with a seatbelt. Nattu gave me a heads up on this law prior to coming out. As the cargo van only has two seats, I didn’t want to risk a ticket before the race. For crewing this wasn’t going to be a problem either, especially at the start, since I had decided a few months prior that I was going to have pacers from the start, versus during the Big Race pacers only from Furnace Creek, mile 18. Why not?

We all met in Pahrump, and after having a nice lunch we set about getting the stuff we needed for the run. Nattu phoned earlier that he had about 22 gallons of water left over from his crewing gig during the race earlier that week. We decided to get a few gallons just in case though. Since Nattu and Karen were bringing out coolers for my run, I decided we needed some for cold food items that would spoil in the heat getting there and lasting until they got there the next day. We picked up 3 cheapo Styrofoam coolers to handle that task.

After getting everything (food, drinks, ice and other sundries) we loaded up the van and headed to Death Valley. Paul rode with Ken in his BMW Supermobile convertible, complete with ejector seat.

On the way out, we stopped for a group pose in front of the “Entering Death Valley” sign. We took a side trip up to Dante’s View, which overlooks the Badwater Basin area some 5800 feet above the salt flats below. We walked up the nearby trail which afforded better views. These were awesome to say the least. It was stunning to see how expansive the really Basin is. On the way out there we got a call from Ed Green and Alene Nitzky, who was on the return trip for her Badwater Double. As cell coverage was spotty, we were able to determine they were heading towards Keeler from Lone Pine. I asked Alene when she thought she would be done, and she was saying sometime late Saturday afternoon. I told her we would see her out there on my way out towards Stovepipe Wells on her way back to Badwater.

We got to Stovepipe Wells late in the afternoon and met up with Phil, who had been there since late morning lounging by the pool. He had with him yet more leftover food items and such, including 9 gallons of water. I guess we didn’t need to get the water at WalMart after all. We checked into the two rooms for 5 of us (Paul would elect to sleep on his sleeping pad on the floor). We brought in the groceries, relaxed a bit before we all settled over for dinner.

Paul, Phil and Ken decided they wanted to head over to the Sand Dunes before sunrise. Vince and I decided we wanted to sleep in. Vince and I got up and milled around and took a dip in the pool.

Vince also took it upon himself to decorate the crew van with blue painter’s tape. One side said “Dale Perry Sasquatch”. The other side said “Richard Cranium” By the time we got done the rest of the gang were back, so we headed over for breakfast. Vince, Paul and Ken finished decorating the van. Ken put on the finishing touch on the van roof. Sort of a reference to Richard Cranium.

Friday's plan was to relax as much as possible, but I wanted to go out and walk a bit. Vince and I headed out (the other guys were sacked out from their early morning romp in the sand) for what was originally going to be a walk up to Mosaic Canyon, but after seeing all the dust being kicked up by cars on the road leading up there, we decided to just stay on the main highway and walk. I wanted about 45 minutes and that is about what we did. Got back and saw Nattu driving up. Karen had decided she wanted to ride her bike from Lone Pine to Stovepipe Wells. Phil mentioned that he would be interested in going to Panamint Springs for dinner, and we all agreed that was a great idea.

On the way to Panamint, we ran into Alene and Ed, along with the remainder of her crew (Felix Wong and Stephanie Willingham) on her way up towards Townes Pass. She was looking awesome! We had a brief moment of revelry before we parted ways; she on her mission to Badwater, ours on our mission for food. We ended up having a nice dinner and talked a bit about what was to happen over the next few days. I got to ride back to Stovepipe in Ken’s Super Bimmer. What a ride!

When we got back to the rooms, I settled in on the bed and watched TV, drank my ritual pre-run beer, and watched Nattu and Phil orchestrate the organization of the crew van. It was nice not having to worry about this task, and everyone pitched in and had the van all set up and organized in around an hour. Since I was not going to be crewing this one, I figured they needed to set it up. As the one guy in the Brooks running ad says when his colleague asks how he’s doing (click on embedded video link), “I don’t go messing around in your garbage!” Exactly. What he said.

Around 4:30 AM I got up and got ready for my run. While I was eating, drinking, dressing, and doing some last minute stuff, the crew loaded up the coolers into the van. I packed up the remaining stuff I had (non-running related) so the crew can transport it to the end. I was wanting to get on the road to Badwater around 5:15 AM, but we didn’t get going until after 5:30 AM. Vince and I headed to the start in the crew van, while everyone else headed to the start in Nattu’s vehicle. My plan was to have everyone at the start, even though only 3 of them would be crewing me. If this was the Big Race, I wouldn’t have been able to have all my crew there to see me off. We finally got to Badwater around 6:15. So much for the 6:00 AM start. Oh well, it’s my run, who cares?

Before it was time to go, we all milled around, taking last minute potty breaks. I got weighed by my crew (weighed in at 213 lbs.). After a bit of talking and joking around, it was time for me to be on my way. So I was off at 6:47 AM, Saturday, July 16, 2011. The start of what was to become one of my most memorable and ultimately enjoyable runs; the culmination of 3 years of crewing at Badwater. I had a pretty good idea as to what to expect, but I did get some practical learning out there as well.

Basically my run plan was pretty simple: go out easy (walk the hills, run the flats and downs) until it gets hot, and go easier. My first goal was to get to Stovepipe Wells, mile 42, feeling good and not trashed. My reward to myself for following this rule was a dip in the pool at Stovepipe. As I had pacers from the start, they would keep me honest within my goals. I started off with Paul, who would keep me moving well. He and Vince would trade off every 4 miles or so. The beginning miles are fairly nice as the shadow of the adjacent mountains provided a nice shady avenue to run in. It also wasn’t as hot (mid-80’s) as it can be along here. The full moon was still above the mountains and provided a nice backdrop. Unfortunately, it was a bit hazy due to the relatively higher humidity (I guess around 20% or so) so the mountains further out were somewhat obscured.

Once I got out of the shadows and into the sun, it started warming up dramatically. I decided to change into a sleeveless shirt at this point. At one point along the route, Vince and I spotted Ken on the side of the road taking one of his many pictures of my journey. I told Vince we needed to give Ken a special greeting. As we got closer I yelled out “Hey Ken! Just look at that double full moon over Badwater!” as Vince and I turned around and dropped our shorts for a double moon. You gotta have fun out there. Later on I probably won’t be as prone to humor.

Vince and Paul did a great job pacing me, keeping me moving. Also getting crewed every mile helped too. I was doing pretty good on fluids and eating. I did stop to pee a number of times the first few miles, but now I seemed to be pretty regular at around once an hour. Vince and Paul were also good at monitoring my salt intake, and per my instructions, reminded me to take a salt tab at 45 minute intervals. Before I knew it, I was approaching the Badwater/Furnace Creek road junction. After pausing a few seconds to take a picture of me alongside the “Elevation Sea Level” sign, I jogged it in towards Furnace Creek just a mile distant.

My crew was waiting for me there and had a chair set up in the shade. I got there in 4:06. I was planning on a 3:45 to 4:00 hour arrival, so I felt pretty good about my progress so far, some 17+ miles in. I sat down and took care of several things. It was time to change my socks and re-goop my feet. Ken brought me out a great ice cream sandwich. Between that, a PB&J sandwich, a can of Mango juice, and an Ensure, I felt pretty full when I did leave. For the moment, it was nice to take a short break (about 15 minutes) and refuel and hydrate before heading out for the next hurdle: the 24 mile segment to Stovepipe Wells and into the heart of Death Valley.

To be honest, I was more worried about this next section than any other: it’s hot, it’s fairly flat, and it is seemingly long. I kept telling myself, “Just stick to your plan and it will be okay.” A few miles out of Furnace Creek I remembered I was supposed to call my wife Lorraine and give her an update. Since cell service is virtually non-existent, except around Furnace Creek, I needed to take a short break and give her a call. When I got to the crew van, I still had cell reception and made the call. Unfortunately, she was out (buying a new horse) and I left her a message.

I was amazed that this section went well, and seemed to flash by rather quickly. I was still jogging, but only the downhills. Not long after my phone call, it was time for a crew shift change. Nattu, Phil and Karen would take over crewing responsibilities from Vince, Paul and Ken.

After a weight check (up 7 pounds) Karen started off with me, and I kept the plan going, walking the inclines and running the downs. Not long after, we ran into Alene and her crew. After a bit of hugging and talking, we wished each other a good journey and went our separate ways. Then it was Phil’s turn to pace. Running with Phil is always a treat, as he always has endless stories to tell, which makes for interesting conversation and takes the mind off the long straight road ahead. He did mention one story that was most amusing: he talked about his pacing from earlier in the week. As he and his runner were approaching Lone Pine the runner was needing to relieve himself. Phil mentioned that the gas station at the edge of town had a place to go and so he went for it. Apparently as he was unloading he let out a loud scream. The people outside were concerned and not long after the runner emerged with a big smile and they continued on. We both laughed at that and I told Phil when we get into Lone Pine he can take me to the same place and I’ll scream too. He said they will probably want to put a wanted poster with Phil’s face on it as a warning. For the time being, Nattu was sitting out the pacing for now, leaving most of it to Karen and Phil.

Before I knew it, we had made the sharp turn to the left and Stovepipe Wells in the far distance could be seen. I commented to Phil at the time that I was happy with my progress so far, and not feeling trashed. I told him the pool at Stovepipe is my carrot on the stick to get me there in reasonably good condition. As a reward for sticking to my plan, the pool was calling. He said he would like to join me in that dip as well. Karen took over and we had a long, nice descent as we approached the Sand Dunes. It was reassuring to see the reflective rooftops of Stovepipe Wells in the distance getting closer and closer as we made our way along highway 190. We saw Ken’s BMW in the distance, so he must have been bored and decided to take some photos along this stretch of road. He would try to hide among the shrubs in the desert and take some candid shots. One thing I was amazed at was that it didn’t seem all that hot, even though it was around 110 degrees. Granted I had a hat full of ice and ice in my water bottle, but still it didn’t seem all that unbearable to me. Phil picked me up again a few miles from Stovepipe Wells and we ambled our way towards that pool. On the outskirts of the resort, he ran ahead to meet the van (getting refueled at the gas station across the street from the resort) to let them know our plans. We did have a rather brisk wind at our backs which made it easier for me to get through this section. I got to the pool, took off my shirt, shoes and socks and jumped in. Phil went to the shower house and then joined me. I told him I didn’t bother with a shower. He said, “Don’t worry. None of the other runners do either. They jump in with urine-soaked shorts, barf stained shirts, etc.” After floating around for about 5 minutes, I got out, put on my shoes and walked to the room with Phil. Man, that felt great! I got to Stovepipe Wells, mile 42 in 10 hours, 54 minutes, about 50 minutes later than my best time scenario, but well under my 13 hour worse case time.

I spent about an hour in the room (which was the time allotted in my plan) taking care of re-gooping the feet, changing socks and running clothes. No blisters! I just sat on the bed, eating a great bowl of mashed potatoes prepared by Karen, drinking juice, Gatorade, water, etc. and just chilling out. But eventually, all good things must come to an end and it was time to get back out there and tackle the next hurdle: the long 18 mile climb up to Townes Pass, elevation 4956 ft. By this time, the crew had cleaned out the crew van, restocked it with food and ice, and were ready to go. Phil mentioned that they were going to send out e-mails to friends on my progress. I forgot to have Phil e-mail Lorraine, and mentioned this to Vince on the way out, so he drove back to Stovepipe to relay my request to Phil.

The crew decided to take this time and location the crew change point (after spending an hour here) so it was now Vince, Paul and Ken in charge of my wellbeing. Paul started off with me as we made our way up the long climb ahead of us. A few miles out we were met by one of Danny Westergaard’s crewperson, Jennifer, who was finding out for Danny who was running the solo. Danny was coming back on his Badwater Double through Stovepipe and saw our van and wanted to know who “Richard Cranium” was. Jennifer saw Ken’s artwork on the roof of the van as well, and wished us well.

As usual, it was windy going up to the Pass. At times, I had to stop and sit on the back of the van’s cargo area to just a break from the headwind. The only way I knew I was making headway was when I would see the elevation signs along the road: 1000 ft., 2000 ft., etc. Soon the sun set and there was a brief time of total darkness before the moon rise. I decided I wasn’t going to use a flashlight and just rely on my pacer’s headlight to guide the way. When the moon did finally rise, there was no need for lights at all. It was so bright I could see every feature on the road and the landscape on both sides of us. Only when we spotted a vehicle’s lights ahead did we turn on the head light. We were wearing reflective vests with the fore and aft red blinking lights for safety reasons, but the headlight gave the motorists enough warning that we were out there.

We got to the big parking area that denotes the top of Townes Pass a little after midnight (under 18 hours, still within my plan schedule). I was here for about 30 minutes. I sat down, re-gooped the feet and changed socks, and changed into a long-sleeve shirt as it was cooler and I was getting a bit chilled. I was handed some mashed potatoes but they tasted like shit. No flavor at all. I asked them why it was so bland, and it was the box of instant taters we got at WalMart, and the stuff I got at Stovepipe was some leftover from Phil’s crew. I told them to throw the rest of it away. I ate and drank, and decided it was time to move on down the hill towards Panamint Sprints, some 11 miles distant. I weighed in again and no change from the last weigh in. Just prior to Townes, I was fretting about not having peed since Stovepipe, about 6 hours prior. I finally let loose a huge stream which indicated I was okay.

Paul picked me up here and as it was a nice downhill, I told Paul that for now let’s try doing two-mile interval crewing as I was not needing any crewing the first mile after Towne’s. I was moving well, not incredibly fast, but it was faster than a walk. The moonlight lit up the way very nice as we made our way down. At some point, I was getting hot (lower elevation) and switched into a short sleeved shirt again. I had some great conversations with both Vince and Paul as we made our way down into the Panamint Valley. Early on we could see the lights of Panamint from above, but we were still 8 miles away. Once we hit the valley floor, the lights made it seem like it was uphill to Panamint. It wasn’t but it was an illusion and I already knew of this before I got there so it wasn’t disconcerting to me at all. About a few miles from Panamint Nattu, Karen and Phil caught up with us and it was time to change crews.

Karen took the reins and brought me into Panamint, mile 72.3. I got here in 22 hours and 12 minutes, still well within my plan. I wanted to take a short break and deal with my feet again, take a short nap and to change into some larger shoes as I wanted a break for my feet. They had been in the first pair from the start, some 72 miles ago. It was here when I decided I need to take dump, my first since I started the run. I used one of the Whitney waste bags (from prior visits here) to crap in and it worked great. For Phil’s benefit, I screamed out loud when I took my dump. As there was nobody around except us, it was a bit of fun. All started laughing

Nattu left with me as we left Panamint for the next hurdle: climbing to Father Crowley’s Point some 8 miles distant, and an elevation of 4000 ft. The climb up was tough as the road winded its way up. I kept thinking of all those hill repeats I did during training as well as the climbs up to Mt. Evans to keep me going. Phil, Nattu and Karen all took turns as we made our way to the parking lot at Father Crowley’s. I wasn’t sure if it was before or after here that Phil found a toy person along the side of the road. This became the crew mascot as it was taped to the front of the crew van, seemingly guiding us all along the way. I took a short break here. Phil was talking to the Ranger and other visitors who were asking who I was and what was going on. Phil later told me they were in awe of what I was doing. This was a constant theme whenever we met anyone along the way. It made me feel proud of what I was doing and gave me motivation to keep it moving.

Even though Father Crowley’s is a major landmark, the road still climbs another 1000 feet to Darwin 10 miles up the road. By now it was starting to get hot (it was after 8:00 AM by now) and I was needing my ice hat again. We finally got to the Death Valley park boundary and I told my pacer I wanted to take a group photo here. There was a European family there as well and they took a shot of us. I also wanted to change into another pair of shoes, the ones that Ken had removed the toe box from. The family was amazed at this and took a photo of my feet sticking out of the front of the shoes. Having not run in these before I was a bit leery of them but I needed something as the earlier shoes were getting tight. I ended up wearing them for the remainder of my run, some 45 miles. Obviously it wasn’t an issue.

Before I knew it, it was 11:20 AM and time for a shift change. Vince, Paul and Ken met us just short of Darwin, mile 89. Paul picked me up and we made our way to Darwin. It was there I wanted to take a short break and weigh in, change socks and eat. As I was taking off my socks, Ken noticed I had a blister on the bottom of my right big toe. I asked him if he would be able to lance it in such a way that it wouldn’t reseal and blister again. He did a great job at it. After that, I re-gooped the feet (the nice thing about this stuff is that it has healing properties in it so I don’t need to tape up the blister just apply the goop and that’s it). At this point Danny Westergaard and his crew pulled up and talked with us a bit. Danny finished his Double and was heading back home when he saw us pulled off the road. Ken offered me an ice cream they had gotten back in Stovepipe before heading out here. It was soft but still incredibly cold and yummy. Thanks Ken!

Vince took over pacing and we got to the actual Darwin turnoff point in 30 hours and 40 minutes, mile 90. Still well within my plan schedule, although a bit slower. The next hurdle is the ungodly segment from Darwin to Lone Pine: 30 miles of long asphalt descent past Keeler to the Junction that marks a right turn into Lone Pine. I’ve heard from all my runners I’ve crewed that this is a horrible stretch. They were right. Even though the temperatures are cooler here (about 20 degrees) and it is a descent (albeit gradual) it is still hell. Having crewed here before it didn’t seem all that bad, but I got a far different perspective on this as the runner.

On the descent from Darwin, I did manage to jog the downhill bits. But I was noticing something else: the back of my calves were burning hot looking beet red. Vince was concerned that I was getting a sunburn there, but I had already applied sunscreen only a few hours earlier. I surmised it was heat radiating off the asphalt, coupled with the hot tailwind contributing to this. I recommended cooling down the calves to offset this discomfort. Paul and Ken ended up putting ice in zip lock baggies and icing them down. We decided that we needed to crew every ½ mile at this point.

This did help, but Vince, Paul and Ken were concerned about me overheating, much like Paul did last year on his run in this very same section. I ended up getting crewed every ¼ mile, and had a new ice hat, bandana, as well as an ice water-soaked shirt exchanged at each crew point. They later mentioned that they noticed that the calves didn’t seem as red looking or as hot to the touch as they were earlier.

So as we made our way slowly towards Keeler (mile 107), I dealt with the heat as best as I could. It was a walk to be sure. This was not what I was hoping for here but you deal with the cards you’re dealt with. To take my attention away from my current misery, Vince and I noticed the steady stream of dust devils that were making their way across the valley and crossing the road ahead of us. I told Vince this must be the Superhighway of Dust Devils. One particularly large one was growing and moving to what looked just ahead of the crew van. These were pretty impressive to watch, and I definitely didn’t want to get caught in one as it crossed the highway.

When I approached the 100 mile mark, I wanted a photo taken of me at the INYO 27.5 mile mark post on the side of the road. Not long after, the other crew met us for a crew change. I was a bit dismayed at this point because I wanted to be further along (at least to Keeler) before the shift change. Nattu, Phil and Karen were supportive and continued on the crewing every ¼ mile as before. Karen was asking me how I was doing, what was going on, etc. Vince and Paul made a surprise crew visit and brought out some food items I may need: mashed potatoes, chocolate pudding and other stuff. By the time the sun set, it was much cooler and we went back to ½ mile crewing. But now I was facing another hurdle: lack of sleep. Yes, I was going on a second night of running, but I think the bulk of this was related to my body reacting to being nearly overheated. Once the sun started setting, I also started to pee more frequently (about once every 15 minutes) and in gushers. There were lots going on with my body system. I ended up taking a 20 minute nap, and then another near Keeler. Before all this was going on, I mentioned to Nattu that I was feeling weird, like my head was going to explode and I was fuzzy in my thinking. I think this was the onset of my sleep deprivation, but I was too goofy to realize what it really was. I tried drinking more Mtn Dew, more food, etc. to stave off the sleepiness. Marcia and John Rasmussen caught up with us at this point. However it was very difficult for me to focus, and the moonlight was casting weird shadows among the roadside shrubs and such forcing to comment to Phil at one point what all the roadside machinery was all about. He said there were none only bushes. I finally ended up telling Nattu I really needed another nap. This was around after midnight. He said what I really need is at least 3 hours of sleep at the hostel ahead in Lone Pine. My pace was pretty slow at this point (>30 minute miles) and I was a bit staggery in my walk. Despite the earlier naps and pushing of food and sugar, I just couldn’t keep my focus going. It was decided then that I would stack out my spot along the road and head up to town for some sleep.

I fell asleep in the van immediately, and once I got to my bed I was out. I woke up 4.5 hours later in a panic. Where was I? Oh, yeah I’m still trying to finish this thing. I got up, went to the bathroom, and cleaned up a bit. By this time everyone else was getting up. After a few minutes of eating and getting a new set of running clothes on, Vince, Paul and Ken took over crewing as we headed back out to the stake out point where I bailed hours earlier. We were told it was 7 miles out from the Lone Pine turnoff. It was getting near dawn, and we saw the stake tied to a mileage marker.

Since I was now cooled off and rested, we resumed the 1 mile interval crewing. I didn’t run much but the walking was brisk, at least for me. It was probably slow for Vince and Paul though. It was now 6:30 AM. At 8:05 AM we made it to the road intersection of Highways 136 and 395, marking the turn and the 2 mile stretch into Lone Pine. I asked Ken if he would like to walk into town with me. We were joined by Karen, and Nattu followed in his vehicle. Unfortunately, in my slow state of progress, Karen and Nattu would have to leave us once we got to the hostel, due to prior engagements they had made.

We got back to the hostel in 30 minutes and I took some time to eat more and drink. Phil was there to join us after catching up on some much needed sleep. I gave Karen and Nattu a hug and said goodbye and many thanks for being out there with me. After taking another bathroom break and some more food to consume, we were off for the final 13.5 miles up the Portal Road to the finish line and the trailhead to Mt Whitney. It was now 9:08 AM.

Phil had told me earlier in the run that the final miles up the Portal Road are the victory lap miles. I must totally agree with that assessment. While it is an unrelenting upward grind, from an elevation of 3610 feet in Lone Pine to nearly 8360 feet at the trailhead, it felt very satisfying to get to this point and all I had to do now is keep putting one foot in front of the other and it will be done. At this point, I really didn’t care what the pace was, and was totally relaxed in the climb.

There were some humorous moments thrown in as well. One was when Vince and I spotted a wooden sign on the side of the road which read “3.2 miles to Whitney Portal”. This was in reference to last year’s run with Paul, when he kept asking us how far it is to the finish. Not really knowing the exact distance, I told him “3.2 miles”. A little later, he asked the same thing, and we gave him the standard answer “3.2 miles” until he got to the end. As we walked by the sign Vince turned around and started yelling. On the other side of the sign it read “Vince Gerber Sucks Old Man Balls”.

Not long after this, as Phil was parking the crew van for a crew stop, he got the left rear tire stuck in the loose dirt. Ken got out the jack and was attempting to raise the van so they could put rocks in the bottom of the hole to get out. Soon, a man driving a Jeep stopped and offered to pull the van out. In the meantime, Vince grabbed extra bottles and food for me to use in case they were late in getting out. Turns out the Jeep did a great job and we were back on schedule. The bad thing was Ken never got a picture of the buried wheel in the dirt. It was rather impressive.

Vince and Paul and/or Phil were walking the road with me as I continued to ascend. I made a comment I wanted to get to the start of the switchbacks ahead, marking the final few miles to the end. Before long, we were there and the start of the steeper climb to the end. Ken would pull the van whenever he found a spot. This varied from a ¼ mile to ½ mile at any given time. If this was during the Big Race, it would have been nearly impossible to pull off like he did, what with all the crew vehicles making the ascent with their runners. Another plus of doing the Solo. Once we got up into the forest did I really feel great and feeling good that this was about over. We got to the family campsites sign which meant only 1 mile to go. I looked around and took in the scenery here. What a contrast: from the flat salt plains of Badwater, the mind-numbingly boring stretch from Darwin to Keeler, to the high alpine forest approaching 8300 feet in elevation. It was cooler once we got more and more into the forest.

I then spotted a makeshift finish line: toilet paper stretched out across the road. I then mustered up the energy to run (actually more of a jog) with all my remaining crew people to run it in with me: Paul, Ken, Vince and Phil. Marcia and John were there waiting and cheering. After giving everyone a finish hug, Marcia handed me the best looking piece of race hardware I’ve ever seen: a belt buckle with “Badwater Solo” engraved on it.

I sat down and proceeded to take off my shoes and socks. I was surprised to find that the one blister Ken had lanced way back at Darwin never reformed. On the other foot, everyone was talking about the other blister (which I didn’t know I even had, except it felt like a hot spot) that had popped earlier and was noticeably bigger. I asked for my post-race beer and enjoyed the moment. I was finally done. Paul told me the finish time was 56 hours and 12 minutes, about 30 minutes later than Paul’s time of last year. Who cares? I survived, I was talking, smiling and drinking a damn cold beer and feeling great.

After sitting there for about 30 minutes it was time to head down and clean up. We ate burgers at the Mt Whitney Inn across the street. Once back, everyone was talking about the early morning get up and go for the Whitney climb. I was undecided on whether I was going to go or not. My feet were pretty achy and I hadn’t gotten much sleep. Marcia dropped by and asked if she could tag along.

Alarms went off the next morning and I decided I was going to give it a try after all. I pulled out my Whitney gear (Camelback, warm clothes, gloves, hat, and trekking poles). We got a fairly late start, and arrived at the trailhead around 4:30 AM. Phil decided he wanted to catch up on sleep so he stayed behind. We made our way up the trail (slowly) and encountered many stream crossings.

About several miles in we saw the sunrise. Right after the Mt Whitney permit area sign, we put on warmer clothing as the wind was pretty stiff and it was rather cold. I felt like a slug going up the trail. That and achy feet. Remarkably my legs felt great, I was just tired and slow. I had forgotten how rocky it was going up, and was getting rather annoyed at them. We did encounter a few snow fields to traverse.

By the time we got to Trail Camp, elevation 12,000 feet, it was already 10:30 AM! Six hours! Fuck! At this rate, it would be another 5 at least to get to the top. That makes it 11 hours. Then at least an 8 hour descent makes for nearly 20 hours on the mountain. I decided then and there that this was as far as I wanted to go, time-wise. I could have made it up to the summit, but I was just too slow. Vince and I were also concerned about the trail leading up to Ridge Crest, 13,600 feet. It looked like there was a snow trail, fairly steep, leading up to the notch. I wasn’t interested in doing any of that. Vince wasn’t either, so Vince and I decided to head back. Paul and Marcia wanted to summit, so we said goodbye and we would meet them back below. Turns out that the snow field Vince and I saw was the earlier route climbers were using when the switchbacks were covered in snow. Paul said that the switchbacks were clear of snow.

It was slow going on the way down. Towards the end, I fell on my ass in the last creek crossing. Vince failed to get a shot of that, me up to my elbows in cold water. We got down to the parking lot and met up with John. He got a phone call from Marcia saying they summited around 1:30 or so. Marcia was also tending to a young man who had some edema issues and getting him down to lower altitude. It was around 4:00 PM, and I told Vince they probably won’t be back until 6 or so, and I wanted to go down to the room, shower up and get all my stuff organized and packed for the next day. I got to the room and Phil was there, and as Vince was going back up to get Paul, Phil went along. It took me about an hour to get all my stuff organized and packed. Vince, Paul and Phil got back around 7:00 PM. We all went across the street to the Pizza Factory and sat outside and ate two pizzas. This was probably the most relaxing moment of the whole week: eating pizza and talking about the previous days’ activities.

Went back to the room and fell asleep. Woke up the next morning, Ken was getting his car loaded for the road trip back. I thanked Ken for being out there and helping me get to the finish line. He was a big part of it all, and a great asset to have out there. We went back to the room and finished packing before heading across the street for breakfast. As we were waiting for our breakfast, we saw Ben Jones walk by and stopped in to say hello and asked me how things were. I told him about the journey, he told us some of the history of the Death Valley crossings. When we were done eating, we got some photo ops with him and us in front of The Duke (John Wayne cutout).

Checked out, and headed off to Vegas. Dropped Paul and Phil off at Paul’s rental car (as he was heading back to L.A. for Angeles Crest 100 in a few days). Vince and I dropped off the cargo van and got a shuttle ride to the airport.

Any lessons learned from all this? Well, here are 10 items I can take away from all this:

1. 1. I probably could have done with more long run training. The longest training run I did was a 50K in early June. I did do several back-to-back long runs, but my longest training run averaged around 23 miles. I should have done some that were longer, on roads. The weather and my schedule just didn’t allow it this year.

2. 2. Wear sun protection on the lower legs. I did try to find some SPF long pants, but that was several weeks before I was heading out to DV. The longest pants I found in local stores and on the internet was a 34” inseam. I need a 36” inseam minimum. Next time, I’ll get the longest pant I can buy and sew on a few inches of material on the cuffs to cover my ankles. Either that or wear compression socks. I just need something to protect the lower legs, which really caused issues on the second day. I’ll try not to do it at the last minute.

3. 3. I could have done with longer hill climbs with more frequency. While my local hill had a good amount of climb, it wasn’t enough by itself to mimic what I would face on the course. Perhaps more Mt Evans road ascents, starting from the very bottom to the top? I really didn’t have any problems with this per se, but I could have benefitted with longer sessions and therefore I might have been a bit quicker on the ups, particularly Townes and the Portal Road.

4. 4. The sauna sessions were a hit, at least in dealing with the heat. It didn’t take long for me to feel the effects of these sessions during many of my lunch time runs when temps were in the upper-80’s to lower-90’s just before the run. I felt that my fluid intake during the run was pretty good, and the sauna sessions helped me get ready for this in DV. This was a very effective method in getting ready for DV heat.

wi5. The wider shoes at the start were a big hit, and the cut out toe boxes went better in the latter part of race than I thought. I would not hesitate to do this again.

6. 6. A six person crew complement worked great. The key factor in this number of crew is picking the right people who get along with each other. I’ve heard numerous stories of crews that were disasters due to clashing personalities and goals.

7. 7. Cargo van, cargo van, cargo van. Enough said on this one.

8. 8. Listen to your crew. I wasn’t happy on Day Two with the increased crewing and subsequent slowing of my pace. However, it was the right thing to do to prevent over heating issues later on. I put my run in their hands and they got me through it. That’s why picking the right people for the crew is so critical. And more importantly, everyone had a blast, even me.

9. 9. Employing the road/crew safety rules was very important. There was a lot of traffic on the road screaming by at 60 mph. There were no near misses, but adhering to basic common sense safety while crewing was paramount to all concerned.

10. 10. The Badwater Solo is the way to go, in my opinion. Many added benefits over the Big Race itself. Not that the Big Race is a bad scene, it just isn’t my cup of tea. Which leads me to……

Several people have asked me what the pros and cons of doing the Solo over the Big Race. Here’s my take on that question:

Pros: no entry fee; not a lot of other crew vehicles on the road, making crew pull off spots to crew much easier (especially going up Townes Pass, Father Crowley’s, and the portal road); less stress worrying about making cutoffs; not having to worry about a lot of asinine rules (unrelated to safety issues); having pacers from the start.

Cons: no access to race medical personnel (in my case not an issue but is something to think about if this is); garnering energy from other runners and crews on the course (nothing like having other crew members cheering you on for motivation); more attention to details concerning documentation, etc.

All in all, I tried my best to stay within the spirit of the Big Race but took advantage of being on my own. We observed all the safety rules that have been established for the Big Race for my Solo run. It was nice not having the crew to worry about the race marshals out there gigging all the runners for minor infractions. This certainly added to the low-stress level of the run and allowed everyone to concentrate on the task at hand, namely getting me to the end in one piece.

This Solo run was undoubtedly one the most fulfilling endeavors I have done as an ultrarunner, and I would not hesitate to do it again. My crew was paramount in my finish, and we all had a great time through the process of going from Badwater to halfway up Mt Whitney. I was sorry Nattu and Karen weren’t there for the finish, but their spirit was there with us as we made our way up to the Portals of Mt Whitney.

I owe my race to my crew. Every one of them stepped up to the plate and did what was needed to help me along the way, keeping me fueled, hydrated, motivated, whatever all the way to finish line. Several of them told me I was easy to crew: I never gave them a hard time when told to eat, drink or take salt. I think the second day was the toughest on them, and they certainly got me through a wickedly tough patch. They made me feel like a rock star, but in the end, they were the rock stars.

Like I said, I will be back, if only to get my time under 48 hours which was my original goal. It’ll be a few years, but I will be back. What a ride!

Ready To Go!

2011-07-13T09:54:00.003-06:00

Well, one more day until I arrive in Death Valley and get ready to roll through the Desert on my two big feet. Starting to get antsy about all of this, but that's normal for any ultra.

I got a last minute pre-race massage last night, and everything is fine in that regard. Believe it or not, I got all my stuff packed into two suitcases and a backpack (carry on). One last thing to do before heading home this afternoon.

I'm meeting Vince at the Loveland Park and Ride bright and early tomorrow AM to meet our 7:15 flight to Vegas. I contacted Ken Grimm, already on his way out there via car, to meet us in Pahrump. Either myself, Vince or Paul will ride to DV with Ken to avoid a possible California traffic violation of not having one person in a seat with a seatbelt.

Saw the latest update on Mt Whitney conditions: looks like the snow is melting fast and the trail along the switchback section is now passable on well-worn snow. I expect most of that will be gone by the time we make our ascent to the summit on Tuesday.

Looking at the weather forecast for DV it looks to be a little cooler: only 110 degrees on the first day, and mid- to upper-80's on day 2. Mostly clear skies, little wind and no precip. Looks rather ideal for a DV run in July.

Wish me luck.

Less Than A Week To Go For Badwater Solo

2011-07-11T09:09:00.006-06:00

Less than a week away until I start my journey through Death Valley, starting at Badwater, the lowest elevation in the lower 48 (-282 ft) to Mt Whitney, the highest elevation in the lower 48 (14,505 ft). Actually, my first goal is to reach the Mt Whitney trailhead (elev 8,360 ft) which maps out to be 135 miles total from Badwater. The Big Race of Badwater starts and ends at these locations, but some runners want to go with the original format of the race years ago and summit Whitney, thereby going from the lowest point to the highest point in the U.S. in one journey. That ended years ago when the Inyo National Forest required permits for summitting Whitney. i want to go with the original format, so I applied for permits (and got them through a lottery process) to give it a go.

This of course predicates that my feet and legs aren't chewed up in the 135 mile process of crossing the desert and climbing to the trailhead of Whitney. As of last week, Whitney was looking questionable: lots of snow above Trail Camp on the 97 Switchback section and along the cables leading up to Trail Crest Ridge. I'm hoping this snow melts away by the time we get there. I won't be in any condition to do anything technical, which is otherwise a very easy route to summit. We will have to wait and see how that goes.

I started my training back in early April staying on paved roads around my place, since this is what I will be running on in DV. I started my heat training regimen in mid-May, consisting of dry sauna sessions which ultimately lasted for several hours at a time. My goal with this was to be able to train my body to process the fluids needed to sustain myself at high temperatures in the desert, which can reach up to 130 degrees. I started out slow and easy, and as I increased the time I also increased the fluids (water, Gatorade, frozen water) I brought in to keep me going. I think this has worked out for me rather well, as I have done some relatively hot runs (90's) with little ill effects.

I have my crew ready consisting of six selfless individuals who will dedicate 3-4 days of their lives to see me through my journey. They consist of Nattu Natraj, whom I crewed for back in 2007; his girlfriend Karen Bonnett; good running friend Phil Rosenstein, another Badwater veteran of running and crewing; Paul Grimm whom I crewed for last year; his brother Ken who crewed last year for Paul; as well as good friend Vince Gerber, another Paul Grimm crewperson from last year. I will be in good hands.

In addition to doing a lot of road running around where I live (which is ideal for the terrain I will face in DV), I did a couple of weekends ascending Mt Evans, a 14'er near Denver. I originally planned on doing a different 14'er, Greys, but too much snow up high prevented a summit of that. Turns out the Mt Evans, which is all on paved road, was great Portal Road training for the last 13 miles of my DV journey. Vince joined me on the first ascent (and descent) and Paul and Ken for the second.

As the above most picture shows, I have most of what I will need out there ready to pack and take with me. This will in clude 4 pairs of shoes of varying sizes and widths to accommodate my swelling feet, multitudes of clothes, accessories, Whitney gear, etc..

Vince, Paul and I fly out to Lost Wages early Thursday morning, pick up the rental van for crewing, and head out to DV after a WalMart run in Pahrump, NV to purchase needed items, like water, ice, coolers, food, drinks, etc.. Ken will be meeting us either there or in DV (Stovepipe Wells). Nattu, Karen and Phil will already be at the Big Race crewing. Phil will meet us at Stovepipe Wells sometime Thursday, while Nattu and Karen sometime on Friday.

I plan on starting at 6:00 AM Saturday, July 16 at Badwater. I'm hoping for a finish time at the Mt Whitney Trailhead (Portals) in around 42 to 46 hours (midnight to 4 AM Monday AM). Then I head back to the hotel room and get some rest before heading up to Mt Whitney early the next morning. Vince and I fly back to Denver on Wednesday. The rest of the crew will go their ways (Paul will head to L.A. for a 100 mile run Angeles Crest).

Thursday Threesomes

2011-03-25T09:08:00.009-06:00

The final two ewes had their lambs on Thursday (Mar 24): Bunny had her twins, Morgana and Morgause. Winnifred had her ewe lamb just a few hours later, Lady Larkin.

Morgause came first, out in the pasture. Lorraine was getting ready to do some things around the house when she decided she had better check on Bunny and Fred. She found Morgause had already been born, and Big Mac the llama was there licking her off. Big Mac was enamored with her.

Lorraine found Bunny struggling with Morgana and had to help her along. Good thing Lorraine decided to check as Bunny was having difficulty with the last one.

Lorraine decided to bring in the rest of the flock. Not long after, Winnifred delivered her ewe lamb, Lady Larkin.

All lambs are doing well, as well as the moms. Morgana was having difficulty standing up, but once she was set on her pins she latches on just fine. Unfortunately, Lorraine had to check on her every few hours into this morning. The good news is that as of this morning, when Lorraine went out to check on her at 6:30 AM, Morgana was already on her feet and had a full belly. This is a big relief as Lorraine was not looking forward to having to check on her through the day and possibly the weekend.

So the grand total of lambs for this season is four: Shamus the ram lamb, Morgana and Morgause, the twins, and Lady Larkin. Unfortunately, the first lamb wasn't viable and died on the second day. Mom ewe had no milk to give and the lamb just couldn't keep up, even with the tube feeding. It was sad, but it happens.

Shamus is doing very well and is learning to run around and jump.

More updates later.

Erin Go Shamus - It's a Boy!

2011-03-18T07:37:00.005-06:00

Another lamb, this time a ram, popped out. This time on St Paddy's day. Lorraine came up with a name, Paddy. I suggested Shamus. His father is named Roderick, so Shamus from Roderick sounded good.

Unlike the last lamb, he was up immediately and eager to find mom for food. After Lorraine showed him where to go for that, he latched on and has been fine ever since.

I think Lorraine is relieved that she won't have to bottle feed.

Two more ewe's to go, probably early next week.

It's Spring Lambing Time!

2011-03-14T08:04:00.004-06:00

Yesterday (Sunday, March 13, 2011) marked the first day of Spring Lambs at our home. Lorraine has bred four ewes for this season, all are due during the next few weeks. The first one to lamb was the one we thought would be last, as her udder was pretty small.

We were checking out the indoor security cameras we set up last week as we knew we had a ewe who was close to labor, but couldn't get the cameras to sync up right. So we went out to the barn to check on them. As soon as we got out there we realized that one of her ewes, Emily, was in labor and was about to give birth. So we ended up watching the whole process from beginning to end. Three minutes later out it popped and mom was immediately cleaning her up.

Unfortunately, the small udder has produced a problem: mom ewe can't nurse her baby. This means we now have a bottle baby lamb to nurture along. The poor thing was shivering due to lack of milk, so Lorraine had to tube feed her. In fact, she tube fed her the rest of the day and this morning. We ended up bringing her inside the house to warm her up, much to the dismay of mother Emily. Sorry, but if you can't feed her, you lose her.

Lorraine took a class last summer at a wool show from a vet who talked about numerous things, one amongst them was tube feeding a lamb. Lorraine said it was the best $40 she ever spent. It went pretty well, and although the lamb doesn't like it (who wouldn't?) she gets her milk pretty easy. Lorraine is trying to get her to suckle more and use a bottle, as it takes two of us to do it.

Lorraine will be taking her to work this afternoon as they have a light schedule at the office.

More updates later, but enjoy this little movie I took of mom Emily cleaning up her baby just minutes after birth.

Sept 11-12 2010 Weekend --- The Good and The Bad

2010-09-20T10:53:00.002-06:00

I signed up for the American Heroes Run to be held on September 11 to commemorate those who died during 9/11, and to honor those living today to keep us safe. Little did I know how close this would come to my life.

But first, the run. It was a nine hour and eleven minute event held in Rogers Grove Park in Longmont on a 1 mile loop around Fairground Lake. I was surprised when I got an e-mail the day before from Mike Melton Timing explaining to all of us how the chip timing was to work. This wasn't the same Mike Melton from Florida I knew from earlier runs (Javelina, Across the Years, Motherroad) was it? Turned out it was. When I turned up Saturday morning to check in with the RD David Clark, there was Mike (aka as Dr. Seymour Bush, Gen Patten, the Red Dress Lady, etc.). Also saw some old friends (Alene Nitzky, Tom Hamilton) and made some new ones David Clark, Jeff O’Reilly, etc.).

My goal was to try for 40+ miles but I was in no hurry and would just use this as an opportunity for a long, supported run for my upcoming 100 milers in a few months. My last long run was pacing at Leadville (28 miles) so this was going to be slow and steady.

After listening to the Star Spangled Banner on sax, we were off like a flock of geese around the lake, which started at 8:46 AM to commemorate the time the first tower was hit in NY. I ran with Jeff on the first loop, which we did in 9:25 or so. This was too fast so I decided to back off and do my 8 minute run/2 minute walk regimen for awhile. This was giving me 11-12 minute miles per loop. I was able to keep this up for a few hours, and soon got into a "walk the inclines and run the flats and downs" routine. Being how my car was right off of the course near the timing chute, I made use of my little aid station to change clothes and change bottles as needed. Before I knew it, it was lunchtime. I sat for about 30 minutes eating my sandwich and talking with Alene, watching the other runners go by.

Soon it was time for me to get back up and continue on. It was getting hot, and the cloudless sky was starting to wear on me a bit. I got into a routine where each section of a loop would be a walk or run. The last few hours was mostly a walk, along with Jeff and we made for interesting conversation. As time for the race was drawing near we were wondering if we could get in one final lap. It was taking us 15 minutes and change to do a loop, and we got in at 8:55. Jeff decided to go on, while I had enough thinking I wouldn't have time for another. My feet were killing me at this point so I had no more motivation to go on. I ended up doing 37.15 miles in 8 hours and 55 minutes. I was very happy with my distance.

David Clark put on an excellent event, and it was cool to see his son & father out there participating, and the rest of his family helping out.

I finally got home around 7 PM, tired and dirty. Took a shower and vegged out.

Then came Sunday.......

View of the fire from the evacuation point.

I was feeling sore and tired. I was hobbling around doing stuff around the house (laundry, cleaning up and unpacking my stuff from the previous days' run). I was outside hanging up laundry when Lorraine came out in a hurry: "We just got a reverse 911 call about a fire in the area and evacuation is advised!" I decided to drive down the hill to see how bad it was since I didn't see any smoke or smell any. When I drove down I saw what looked like a plume, but it was hard to make out above the ridgeline to the east and north. I finally got to the overlook and saw a huge plume of smoke just east and north. This was about 5 miles east of us. I drove back home and told Lorraine we needed to get the sheep back in the barn from the pasture turnout in prep to load them out for an evacuation. I did stop at our neighbors Al and Sandy's house down the road, as they have no phone and told them about the reverse 911 call. Lorraine came by as well to warn them too. They have 3 horses, and would trailer out two and Sandy would ride out the 3rd one. At the time the fire wasn't huge but things could change (and did). Lorraine had already gathered up three of the cats and they were in their cat kennels, howling when I got back up to the house. The sheep, goats and Llama were already turned in and haltered, ready to go.

After getting home, I raced inside to get some suitcases for clothes, toiletries, etc.. Lorraine grabbed our photo albums, I grabbed our important documents, and started working on deciding what to bring and what to leave. What a hard situation this was. How does one decide what to take along in limited space and time? I was thinking of little stuff, but didn’t think too much at the time (although it hit me later) about all the furniture my dad had made, which was passed down to us when he and mom died a few years ago. I’m sure Lorraine was thinking of some stuff she has had since she was a child. Man, this is tough! Lorraine got the dogs collared and gathered their leashes. I was grabbing stuff and hauling them out to the SUV, leaving room for the cats. Lorraine had her truck and was getting it ready to load sheep. I was upstairs when the dogs started barking wildly. I went downstairs and saw the ranger's truck outside. He suggested we leave now. I asked if we had time to load our sheep, about 30 minutes. He said he couldn't force us to leave, but we needed to leave NOW. We said okay. He took note of what vehicles were going to be left behind (both of our Audi's). Lorraine and I talked about what to do with the sheep, and we decided they would be okay for the time being, considering the urgency of us getting out at all. This was a tough decision for Lorraine. She has ten years invested in the breeding and so forth of her flock, guiding them towards certain traits for the breed (Jacobs) and the fleece characteristics. I figured they would be safer inside the barn than outside, due to smoke inhalation and all. I went in and got the last load. I checked the house and closed the remaining windows, and locked the doors. When I got to the car I realized I didn't have my keys, so I went back inside. I did another quick walkthrough. We had to leave one cat as she is hard to get a hold of, and thought she would be better off here than at Lorraine's parent’s house in Estes Park. We had an evacuation plan, but ended up missing items anyway.

Got my keys and headed out. Lorraine was already in the truck ready to head down our driveway. As we left we saw Al and Sandy loading up and getting ready to leave. After turning off our road onto the main road, the row of mailboxes belonging to all the residents on our road had yellow police tape across them. I guess this meant everyone has been contacted. The next sight I saw while leaving scared the crap out of me: as we turned onto the main road heading east, the ridge just to our north and east had tons of smoke billowing out along the ridgeline into the sky. It reminded me of the underwater views of the BP oil spill in the gulf a few months ago. In the span of 45 minutes, this thing had really blown up!

This is the Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter, which there were 4 operating to control the fire and protect structures. These monsters hold 2500 gallons, and it took about 20 seconds for the helicopter to fill up. These guys were constantly coming and going, filling from Flatiron Reservoir here. There were two more up at Pinewood.

We got down the hill, watching the flames and smoke billow up, and fire trucks, aircraft all over the place working it. We got to the rally point at the Bison Visitor Center near Flatiron Res. We were there about an hour, watching the helicopters, slurry planes attack the hillsides trying to save homes. Containment at this point was moot....the mission was to save homes. The hillside was completely covered in smoke and it was hard to see any houses on the hill, but they were trying their best to save what they could. Several times we saw the smoke change color from a dirty cream color to a dark black. Either a house was just consumed or more trees caught fire. The pilots were amazing in their precision, but at this time the fire was so fast and furious it was hard for them to keep up. Two houses, several outbuildings and an RV were lost during this time. When we realized we were not going to be able to go back up, we decided to head on up to Estes Park and get the animals settled in. It was hot and the loud noise of the helicopters dipping into Flatiron Reservoir was stressing them out. So time to go.

The fire had grown westward and you can see the new burning behind the original burn area.

We got up to Estes Park, got the cars out of the garage and let loose the cats. The dogs ended up staying on their deck during the day. I was watching the news coverage of the fire. The news helicopter was showing closeups of a house totally engulfed in flames, the Christiansons. Later on, they showed the efforts of trying to save a small A-Frame cabin, but eventually they lost the cabin as it was ablaze. What really hit me while watching all of this is when they showed a helicopter readying a drop of its load of water onto a hillside to extinguish the blaze below. I then realized this was the hillside on the west side of Pinewood Reservoir dam, just 1 mile east of our place!

Watching the news, showing places ablaze you drive by each and every day was sobering. Lorraine and I didn’t get much sleep that night. I ended up getting up around 1 AM and watching TV the rest of the night (Fox News, old Twilight Zone episodes). The next morning we ate breakfast and headed back down the hill to get any news and hope we could get back home. We spent the morning at the evacuation center (The Church at Loveland) and signed in with the Red Cross. We talked with the US Forest Service Information Officer to get any tidbits of info we could get. Lorraine was concerned about her sheep, goats and Llama. The issue now was getting them some food, as they cannot go long without food. We voiced our concerns with the CIO there, and she put us on a list for the Humane Society who were making plans to go up there to take care of left behind animals. Lorraine also found a neighbor whose husband decided to stay behind. She would contact him as well to look in an feed, water the sheep.

It was time for the 10 AM press briefing and it was on a big screen in the auditorium. We sat with other neighbors and watched the briefing. We ate some lunch and decided to head over to the Bison Center for the afternoon briefing to press and residents. Perhaps we would hear if we could at least go up to check on things. Alas, we weren’t allowed. We checked again with the Humane Society POC there and she said they had groups up there taking care of animals, and we were on the list. The smoke today wasn’t as bad as the previous’ day, but the Sikorsky Skycranes were working hard on dousing a lot of areas. It looked like a lot of the fire had moved further north and west, so it was hard to see anything from behind the front ridges. Lorraine’s friend from Fort Collins came down to help us either feed or bring down the animals. Instead, she was good company for Lorraine as they watched the helicopters through binoculars work the fire.

There was lots of this going on....waiting. Waiting to hear any news about going home or making a visit.

Once we knew for sure we were not going to be allowed up, we decided it was time to leave. We headed back up the canyon to Estes Park to take care of the cats and dogs. This time, I had no problem getting to sleep that night. Got up around 7 AM and watched for any additional news on TV. Nothing was mentioned of a briefing, so I assumed it would be held again at 10 AM. Lorraine decided to stay up in Estes, as waiting around in town was too stressful. Driving down the canyon was a nightmare: slow RVs, tourists, etc. made for an excruciating drive, in hopes of making it in time. I got to the Bison Center around 9:30, and the resident briefing was winding up. There was a chance we might get to go up later in the day, but we wouldn’t know until 11 AM. Someone mentioned a wind change, but no details. I then decided to call work and get some weather information. As there was no cell coverage here I would have to go into Loveland to make those calls. Unfortunately, no one was available to talk to (there was a campus wide briefing at the time). I ended up calling a co-worker who telecommutes to get some weather updates.

The lined up convoy of group 3 to make a 30 minute visit to homes beyond the burn area.

Headed back and was a bit late for the briefing, but found out we were going to be allowed back up later this afternoon around 3 PM. I then headed back into town to call Lorraine. She had already heard this on the news and was planning on coming down this afternoon. I then ate lunch, did some errands in town, and got back to the Bison Center around 2:00 PM. Lorraine was already there. We would have to check in and get a resident pass. Lorraine wanted to take her truck up there, leave it and swap it for her more economical Audi. I was going to take the Pathfinder up and load it up with stuff we forgot. At 3 PM we found out when we might be going. We were in group 3 initially. Then a neighbor said we were actually in group 2, which meant we would be going earlier. Then we later found out we were back in group 3. In hindsight, I really didn’t think they knew where our road (Lonewolf) was. Turned out we probably should have been in group 2 all along, as when it came to our turn (around 6:30) they wanted us meet up with the escort rangers at the base of Quillen Gulch, but that was 2 miles west of us. After we informed them of this issue, they changed the rally point to the base of Lonewolf Rd.

We were told they wanted us off the mountain by dark, but we all groaned at this as this would only give us about 20 minutes or so before heading down. Lorraine and I talked about it and she said we would leave when we were ready, and I wasn’t fair we got short on the time. The escort drive up the hill, with about 20 cars was surreal. Lots of firefighters staged along the road going up. When we got to the dam, I noticed a big elk buck running up the hillside. Then it hit us: the charred ground to our right was rightup against the road. The trees were charred and the grass was all black. This ended just 50 feet from the first house on the right. Man this was close!

We headed up Lonewolf and I pulled in and started through my list of items to do. First off, turn off the propane. As I grabbed stuff, loaded it in the car, Lorraine was in the barn tending to her animals. Turned out they had plenty of hay over the course of the last few days: ankle deep. They were in desperate need of water, and she filled up their buckets twice as they all fought for water. As we were off grid, we had power to turn on the lights. Looking over to the next ridge, it was total darkness as power was shut off. While other residents had to deal with spoiled food in their refrigerators, we didn’t have to worry about that. Lorraine lost her 4 pounds of homegrown green beans she just harvested and were soaking in the sink when we left. They were now rotten. We also had a pound of frozen ground beef thawing on the counter when we left. It was thawed, but had a big pool of congealed blood around it. I picked up the ground beef and cleaned up the counter. Lorraine put more food down for the cat, and water. We did a last minute check and it was time to go. As it was total darkness now, we could see the flashing lights of the sheriff’s vehicles at the bottom of Lonewolf. We checked out with them. We also checked out with other sheriff’s deputies near Flatiron. Time to head back up to Estes and unload and unwind. We got up there around 9 PM.

I got up the next morning, thinking I might go into work, depending on what was said in the morning briefing. Lorraine made plans to go to work as well. We went to the briefing and it was mentioned we might be able to go home later in the day. With that in mind, Lorraine wanted to go in to work. I decided to stay and not go in, as the next briefing was at 2 PM and the 2 hour roundtrip drive to Boulder wouldn’t allow much time to get anything done anyway. I did more errands, met Lorraine for lunch at the evacuation center. I hung around there for awhile and saw our neighbors Mike and Peggy Flood, so I chatted with them a bit. We all headed over to the Bison Center for hopefully good news.

The fire had reached the lip of our main road, just beyond the dam of Pinewood Reservoir. This area is a mile east of our house.

An old fire road used by the firefighters to access the west edge fo the fire, up along the ridgeline to the north. Before this was an overgrown road barely discernable from the road.

A view just west of the old fire road showing how charred the landscape is.

Red vegetation indicative of a slurry drop in this area. This was on the lip of the other side of the main road, which is evident from the next picture....

The fire had just made it across the road. They got to this just in time as this could have surely gotten out of control real fast, and put more homes (and ours) in jeopardy.

I never knew there was a Tuffshed up on the ridge, but you can really see it now.

We were told that the fire was 100% mitigated against structure damage, and that “The hotshots have strangled the fire such that it is now gasping for air”. We were going to be able to go home starting at 3 PM. As I was getting into my car a reporter wanted to know if I had a few minutes for him. I said sure. After the interview, I headed out, but noticed that a line of cars was already forming back to the parking lot. It was 2:30 PM. Rather than wait to make a right turn I went left up the hill towards Carter Lake to make a call to Lorraine. Called her, and she said she was going to get off work at 3:30. I told her I would meet her up in Estes.
Got the car packed, the cats crated and the dogs leashed. After eating a nice meal with the in-laws, we headed down the canyon one last time to head home.
Man, what a sweet feeling to be home again. Never again will we take things for granted living up in the wonderful foothills of Colorado.

This was our first full blown evacuation, but probably won’t be out last. Hopefully not for a long time.

A Wonderful Day in the Park

2010-06-23T12:35:00.013-06:00

Attempted my first run/hike/slog up at altitude over the weekend (June 19) up in Rocky Mountain National Park. I originally had signed up for the San Juan Solstice this weekend, but the lack of altitude training and long miles under my feet forced me to reconsider that. So I decided to not go to Lake City and do this little loop instead.

I started doing this loop years ago as a prelude to Leadville 100. I have since introduced it to many of my running friends (Scott Olmer, Vince Gerber, et. al.) in the years since. The loop starts at the Long's Peak Trailhead (elev 9404') and heads up the Long's Peak trail towards Chasm Lake. It then cuts to the north on the way to The Boulder Field via Granite Pass. In earlier years I have gone up to the Boulder Field and returned to Granite Pass, but I felt it would be too snowy and wet to do this, so I opted to head down from Granite Pass towards Bear Lake. Over to Bear Lake and back a short distance to the Sprague Lake trail that takes one over Storm Pass, near Estes Cone, and eventually back to the Long's Peak trailhead Ranger Station. 22 miles in length, and two major climbs to 12K and 10K.

The weather was exceptional, although when I woke up early Saturday morning to head up there it was humid and overcast. "Shit!" I thought, as I really wasn't in the mood for yet another crappy, rainy weekend washout. I decided to head on up anyway and make the most of it. By the time I got to the Long's Peak Trailhead, it was clear skies and a bit mild. I was surprised when I got to the trailhead parking lot at 6:00 AM that it wasn't 10% full. I guess it's too early for the Long's Peak crowd.

This training run was going to be my decision maker on whether or not Grand Mesa 100 will be a go/no go. I'm happy to say it's a go, after this run. This being my first time at high altitude all season, I was a bit anxious as to how it will go.

Headed up the trail at a leisurely pace, noticing the abundance of fast moving and relatively full streams. There were bridges over the major players (good thing as it would have been dicey to wade through these monsters). I hit the first snow at around 10,000', with red flags marking the trail over the mound of hardpacked snow. Before I knew it I was at 11K and the field of view opened up all around me, with Long's and Meeker staring me in the face. I was feeling pretty good (yeah, I was going easy here) and managed to pass a number of hikers on the way to Chasm Lake.

After a brief look see here, I took the right turn back on to the trail leading up to Granite Pass. I got around the next hill and spied a significant snow traverse just ahead, about 100 yards wide. By now the sun was softening up the snow so it shouldn't be too tough to cross. After a number of shorter snow crossings and a pretty wet trail (at one point the trail was completely under 6 inches of water) I made my way up to Granite Pass, elev 12,124'. So far, so good.

Talked with a couple of hikers resting at the pass before they headed up to the Boulder Field and The Keyhole. I made my way down the rocky trail towards the valley below. I stopped a few times to catch the view of Long's behind me, as well as Bear Lake and the parking lot down below in the distance. There were some clouds spilling over the north rim of the Park, but nothing came of that.

This trail is really nice: a nice downhill run, not too steep and not too rocky. After about 5.5 miles I started seeing a bit more civilization: hikers, campers, etc. from around the Alberta Falls/Bear Lake area. The lower part of the trail was fairly wet with runoff and springs gushing forth from the ground adjacent to the trail. Some of the trail was underwater, but not like it was way up high earlier. As I was using a Camelback I decided to continue on for half a mile past the Sprague Lake turnoff (and all the tourists blocking the trail taking pictures or totally oblivious to those around them using the trails) and go to the Bear Lake area and refill. Much to my chagrin (but not totally surprised) I found the water source was "Out of Order". I have yet to see this fully operational over the many years I have done this run.

I stopped here anyway to change out of my long sleeve shirt and gloves as it was now getting warm. I has a nice chat with a couple of hikers who were amazed anyone would be stupid enough to do 22 miles in the Park. Just then, a runner came up wearing a Leadville 100 shirt. I asked him if he was training for Leadville. He said not this year, he was training for Hardrock. He told me his name (Roger) and said he was doing two out and backs on the trail segments I just did. He was a bit pissed that the water was turned off. I offered him a suggestion of instead going back up the trail from where he came from, that he use my route, with a stop off at Sprague Lake campground just 3 miles up the trail. I guess I wasn't convincing enough as he said he had tablets to use with all the stream water available.

I spent about 20 minutes eating and taking a break, then it was time to go. The trail to the trail turnoff was a nice downhill. Saw the sign for Sprague Lake and took a left. I had to stop a second as not far after this, there was a fork in the trail (left for the shuttles, right for the trail). For the next few miles it is a very gentle, rolling downhill to the campground. I knew I best do my running here as it will soon be an uphill grind to Storm Pass. Got to the campground turnoff and took a left jog. 3/4 of a mile later I hit the campground. I spent about 30 minutes here eating, refilling my Camelback, using the facilities, etc..

Headed back out the way I came in, hit the trail intersection and made my way up the trail towards Storm Pass. This part always sucks: all uphill, some steep sections, and heavily treed. This is perfect Leadville training as it so reminds me of the north side ascent of Hope Pass (just not as high but just as long). I was starting to feel the day on me and stopped a number of times to catch a breath or take a moment to pull out something to eat. Thank God for my GPS as it told me I was getting closer and closer to the the pass ahead. I had to rely on distance here alone as the trees were dense enough to prevent a 3-satellite lock to get a decent altitude reading. My altitude was stuck on 8952' for a LONG time, but the distance was still increasing (only needs two satellites for a distance fix).

Got to the top of Storm Pass, elev 10,179'. Now it was a steep, rocky descent out of there back to the Long's Peak trailhead. After the descent, it was a series of ups and downs. Hit the intersection of the trail that takes one down to the ranger station or back up to Chasm. A nice 3/4 mile descent back to the car.

While not a PR (6:50) from earlier attempts, my time of 7:43 was good nonetheless.

I was tired, but none the worse for wear and not sore.

I'm ready for more. Looks like Grand Mesa is a go. This upcoming weekend will be another high altitude romp, just haven't totally decided where yet: Loveland Pass to Grizzly Peak and around, or Greys/Torreys Peaks.

Summer and Fall Racing Plans

2010-05-14T08:32:00.016-06:00

With Collegiate Peaks now out of the way, time to start hunkering down and getting in some training for the upcoming summer/fall slugfest.

Unfortunately, the weather of late has not been kind....11 inches of Global Warming dumped on our doorstep last Wednesday (May 12) doesn't help. The good news, a massive warmup is just around the corner and will hopefully harbor good training in the coming weeks ahead.

I'm taking Monday, May 17 off to, well, celebrate 53 years of existence on Earth. Since the weather is going to be stellar on this hallowed day, I'd thought I would try to get in my age (or close to it) in kilometers on a run. I think a jaunt up to Devil's Backbone/Blue Sky Trail in Loveland/Ft Fun is in order. I asked my running buddy Vince "666" Gerber to join me.

So what's in store for me, in pain, misery and suffering this summer?

The San Juan Solstice, formally known as Lake City 50, has drawn me back for a third time. This is truly a scenic and tough run. Three major kickass climbs: the first one hits you after a few miles of road, then about a dozen stream crossings (ranging from minor to major) with a huge climb up to 13,000'. Then a nice descent to the valley below, then another climb up to 12,000'+ to the Continental Divide. From here you meander along the Divide for 11 miles and 12,000' before heading back down to a gully, followed by one last climb up to 11,000' through a dense aspen forest. Then a nice steep descent back to Lake City. The first year I did this it rained right after I got off of the Divide which provided slick mud to run/slog through. The second time it was bone dry and hot, little snow on the Divide to get through. What will this year bring? Hopefully not last year's blizzard that caught many runners unprepared for the wind, cold and heavy snow.

Haven't decided on the Leadville Marathon, but will do so before the end of the month. This is a tough run which takes you up to 13,100' (Mosquito Pass). Good trail and altitude training.

No, I'm not running Badwater this year, but will be crewing and pacing running friend Paul Grimm. This will be my third year there as a crew/pacer role. You can read my earlier post on Badwater here.

Grand Mesa 100 is a new 100 miler in the Grand Mesa area of Colorado. It looks to be a very low-key, scenic event. Having decided against dong a repeat of Leanhorse this year, and since Leadville 100 is not in the game plan this year, I'd thought I'd give this one a whirl. It looks to be a very interesting event.

Yep, another romp in the desert, this time in mid-October to accompany the full moon. This promises to be a hot one, as in years past held during this time. This will be my 8th visit there, for hopefully a 7th finish. Master Slacker "666" Gerber will also be there. I wish he'd quit following me around.

I'll be back to Oklahoma on Route 66 in mid-November for what will probably be the last installment of the Route 66 in Oklahoma - Motherroad III. Last time (Motherroad II in 2008) was an adventure, got lost and barely made it in for the final cutoff. Hopefully I won't be that close at the end. That was not fun. Unlike last time, I plan on having a crew there. I only made it last year due to the good graces of other crews help and assistance.

I made it through the lottery process (a first for me) for Across The Years. I had the choice of 3 venues, so I picked the 48 hour run starting on Dec 30 or Dec 29, and the 24 hour starting Dec 31. I got my first pick, so we'll see how the 48 hour goes for me. Last time I was there, I tried for 72 hours and had to deal with sore quads on day 2 and 3, only ending up doing 154 miles total, with lots of sleep and massage sessions during those last two days. Hopefully 48 hours will go better on me than 72 hours.

There may be some others that get my attention (Silverton 24 hour, et. al.) but I'll have to wait and see how things unfold during the summer/fall.

Collegiate Peaks 50, Uh 25 Miler

2010-05-05T13:14:00.008-06:00

Mt Princeton - photo by Tad Nordstrom

I kicked off my Spring/Summer running season by signing up for Collegiate Peaks 50 mile run. Held in and around the Buena Vista, CO area, it offers breathtaking views of the Collegiate Peaks (Mt Yale, Mt Princeton, Mt Harvard) Wilderness. The race this year was held on May 1st, 2010 and the weather was looking reasonable, but cool. Ron Wright and I had to deal with shitty road conditions on the way down Friday afternoon on the east side of Eisenhower tunnel, and over Fremont Pass. When we got to the Copper Mountain/Leadville exit, they had a snowplow blocking the interstate diverting all traffic off onto the Copper Mountain exit due to multiple accidents on Vail Pass. It was white out on Fremont Pass, with the winds kicking up the snow and blowing it across the road. Ron was hesitant to pass some semis ahead due to the wind, snow and poor visibility. By the time was got to Leadville, it was just flurrying and soon it was sunny and void of any snow all the way to Buena Vista.

We rolled into town around 4 PM, so we decided to check in to our hotel first before heading to the packet pickup at the BV Community Center, where the race starts and ends. Picked up our packets and met Pat Homelvig and Karen Pate, and we sat with them while they ate their prerace meal. Ron and I opted out this year to find something else. Not long after, Rick and Jill Hessek showed up. After a bit, Ron and I decided to head over to the new brewpub just south of the community center. There we ran into Bill and Sue Hintze, sat with them, ordered some beer and had a nice conversation. Bob called a bit later saying he was in Leadville. I told him where we were and made a table reservation for all of us for dinner. Ed Green, Michele and Adam Bierstedt showed up with Bob, and we sat down for eats.

Ron and I went back to the room and got stuff ready for next day. Bob showed up not long after. After doing some pre-race stuff we hit the sheets.

Ron and I headed over to the race start, got primo parking right out front so as have easy access for the second loop. Went inside and mingled with old friends, met new ones until it was time to line up outside for the fun to start. It was fairly cold at the start (upper 20’s) so I was bundled up: two short sleeves, a long sleeve and a fleece long sleeve (my RR100 shirt from this year), a face buff, thin beanie with ball hat and gloves. It turned out to be just right during the run.
With the words “GO!” we were all off like turtles in the early morning light. The first ½ mile is on single track, so it is hard to get around the throng of runners. It then hits the city streets and more open to run. I was running with Bob’s friend Tad Nordstrom but we lost sight of Bob behind us. The next few miles are on pavement then dirt road and fairly rolling, so it’s an easy effort to run. I did walk a few of the shorter hills. I hit the trailhead and that’s when it hit me: my breathing sucks. It was all I could do to walk the hills as my breathing was pretty labored. Yep, my old friend Mr. Asthma has made an unwelcome visit. I suspect the cold temps at the start played into that as well. I ran some but walked more of the trails. After about a mile or so of this nonsense, the trails lead to a dirt road and is more flat and runable. Bob and PumpMeHarder caught up with me and I told Bob it’s gonna be a slog, as my breathing is becoming more and more difficult. Soon after Anita Fromm caught up with me and we talked a bit, then she pulled away as well. I got to the first aid station, mile 5.8 and kept going, as I still had plenty of water to go on. I took a couple more hits on the albuterol, that made it 6 since the race started.

Runners On Trail - photo by Tad Nordstrom

The next section is fairly rolling: runable on the flats and downs and a walk on the ups. Soon the rollers became roller coasters: short but steep climbs and moderate downs. I got to the next aid station, 5.6 miles distant in about an hour. From here, it continues to roll. But, then a miracle happened: I started feeling better, I was running more consistently now, and it was warming up. By the time I got to the next aid station I was really feeling great. Once again, I decided to not stop and hunker down to the 3.5 mile climb to the top, mile 17.8.

I walked the whole way along the sandy trail. People were running past, but I kept the walking going. It took 60 minutes to trudge up the hill to the aid station at the top, elevation 9400’. It was fairly breezy and cold up here. I stopped to fill bottles and thanked the aid station volunteers for hanging out. I was looking forward to doing some downhill running, since the past hour was spent walking and gasping.

From here to the end is mostly downhill, 8 miles of rocky trails to an old narrow gauge railway bed, then along a slightly downhill dirt road (part of the old railroad up here). The road section can be a bear at times, 2 miles of fairly boring downhills overlooking the valley below and of Buena Vista and the state prison facility. This year, I was able to run most of this part, walked a few bits, until the final downhill trail descent to the river and into town.

It was along the road that I decided that 50 miles wasn’t going to happen today. I got to the top of the course in 4 hours, and it would take about 1.5 hours to get to the finish line. That makes for a pretty tight cutoff, and with my breathing as it was, I didn’t want to deal with the 8.5 miles of uphill grind.

I saw Ed Green starting the big climb up the trail and told him I was done. I had no energy (or desire) to run the last ½ mile in so I walked it. Finished 25 miles in 5:23:35. Ironically, this was only a few seconds slower than last year’s effort, and I seemed to be struggling more this year than last. Last year I seemed to not be such a slug, but with the time difference of 26 seconds, I’m not sure what to make of that.

Yours Truly Trucking On In - photo by Bill Blasek

I got my finisher’s medal, said hello to Michele and Adam, sat down next to Tad and his wife and waited for Bob to come in. I would leave it up to Bob to tell me if he was interested in going back out for some extra miles. Frankly at this point, I was good either way. Bob finally made it in over 6 hours, and said that was it. Great! Time to break out the beer!

Well, not the race I had hoped for, but this race is always good in that it tells me what I need to work on (or not work on) for the coming summer races. I only had 5 weeks of good training to get ready for this, as I was sick for 6 weeks following Rocky Raccoon. This was also my first time at altitude this year, so that was a factor as well.

Now I know what I need to work on (more hills, more climbs, and more altitude) before San Juan Solstice in mid-June. I only hope it starts warming up soon and the snow starts melting up high so I can get in a few high-altitude runs before then.

Six for Sixty Nine and Six Six Six

2009-11-17T12:08:00.023-07:00

Tres Amigos

Taggart: I got it! I got it!
Hedley Lamarr: You do?
Taggart: We'll work up a Number 6 on 'em.
Hedley Lamarr: "Number 6"? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that one.
Taggart: Well, that's where we go a-ridin' into town, a-whompin' and a-whumpin' every livin' thing that moves within an inch of its life. Except the women folks, of course.
Hedley Lamarr: You spare the women?
Taggart: Naw, we rape the shit out of them at the Number Six Dance later on.
Hedley Lamarr: Marvelous! – Blazing Saddles

Once again, I ventured out to Phoenix for another foray in the desert: Javelina Jundred. While this would be my 7th visit here, my plan was to get finish number 6 here. Last year I was fighting a cold and managed to get in 71 miles and the 100K consolation prize of a 100K buckle. I didn’t want to wind up going home with my tail between my legs again.

Photo by Will Lafollette

Something about this race that keeps me coming back. The race is held at McDowell Mountain State Park just outside of Fountain Hills. The race consists of 6 loops of 15.4 miles on a mix of sand, dirt, rocks and dirt road, each consecutive loop in reverse. The first loop is clockwise, then counter-clockwise, then clockwise, etc. until 6 loops are complete. The final 7th loop, or half a loop, goes out clockwise to the first aid station, Coyote Camp, then takes a nice shortcut descent on a nicely groomed trail that takes the runner back down to the bottom, and a nice left turn and a mile later to the finish line. The first time I was here I was taken aback by the desert scenery, so desolate but pretty in a way. Each consecutive visit here makes it much more scenic. I guess it grows on you after awhile. The nice thing about the washing machine loops is that it allows everyone to see each other criss-crossing back and forth as we all progress along the course.

Slacker 666

Richard Cranium 69

I drove out to DIA with Scott Olmer and met Vince Gerber, another 6 for 7 finisher at the gate. We were leaving the 2 feet of snow and cold of Colorado for the warmer climes of Phoenix. This would turn out to be one of the cooler years there. We left Denver and 20 degrees and arrived in Phoenix at 60 degrees. Some of the locals were griping that it was cold. I thought it was great. Highs looked to be cooler than usual, in the mid-80’s both Saturday and Sunday. After eating and having a beer at a local sports bar, we headed out to the park to check in, get out race packets, and (a first) weigh in. I weighed in my heaviest ever for a race, 213 lbs. Everyone complained that the weights were 5 lbs heavy. I would concur with that. I looked in my bag for my bib. I requested the traditional number 69 race number, with my alter ego “Richard Cranium” boldly written on the front of the bib. Makes for interesting conversation out there on the course. Vince’s bib had the number 666 and “Slacker” on his. Vince did get a lot of reaction from other runners during the course of the race. After mingling about for awhile and talking to old friends, we decided to hit the local Safeway, and then check in to the hotel.

Phil Rosenstein

Lyle: [after the farting] How 'bout some more beans, Mr. Taggart?
Taggart: [fans his hat in the air] I'd say you've had enough! -- Blazing Saddles

After watching TV for a bit, it was time to get some dinner at the pizzeria across the street. We’ve eaten here every year and it seems to satisfy. Went back after dinner and got ready for the next day’s run. Scott was in normal form sharing with us his “Butterfly Kisses”. At least Ron Wright wasn’t here to stink up the room in unison.

Sergeant Hulka: You better hit those bunks my little babies, or Sergeant Hulka with the "big toe" is gonna see how far he can stick it up your ass. -- Stripes

After watching a few episodes of “The Family Guy”, it was time to hit the sheets and try to get some sleep. Surprisingly, I got to sleep rather quickly and had a good sound sleep in the process.

John Winger: Oh, it's not the speed really so much, I just wish I hadn't drunk all that cough syrup this morning. -- Stripes

Got up early, ate breakfast, readied my pack, and it was time to go to the park and start some fun in the sun. We got to the race start fairly early. I tried to get some rest, but was too antsy. So I got up and visited the PortaPot, then walked around talking with everyone. Caught up with Nattu and his girlfriend Karen. Soon it was time to get to the starting line, and we were off.

Tripper: And even if we win, if we win, HAH! Even if we win! Even if we play so far above our heads that our noses bleed for a week to ten days; even if God in Heaven above comes down and points his hand at our side of the field; even if every man woman and child held hands together and prayed for us to win, it just wouldn't matter because all the really good looking girls would still go out with the guys from Mohawk because they've got all the money! It just doesn't matter if we win or we lose. IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER! – Meatballs

I tried to settle in for a nice pace, but the many throngs of runners were driving me crazy. Vince and I decided to sprint a bit to get ahead of the traffic jam. Only then were we able to settle in on a nice pace. My goal for the first loop was around 3 hours and change. Vince and I were being our normal chatty selves. We befriended a young lady Anna who was running her first 100. She seemed to take our ribbing and joshing in stride. We would end up playing leap frog with her for about 5 loops.

We got to the first aid station, Coyote Camp, at mile 5.5 in 1:03. Just right. I didn’t need anything on this go around so I went on through. Vince caught up with me soon after as we made our way around the back side of the loop towards the next aid station at Jackass Junction, 5.4 miles distant. This is my favorite part of the course, lots of ups and downs and nice single track trail. Just before coming off the trail and onto the dirt road, Will Lafollette was there taking pictures. Pretty soon we made a right turn that meant the next aid station was only 1.5 miles away. Got here, refilled a bottle, grabbed some food and coke, and made our way out.

Photo by Will Lafollette

Olson Johnson: Never mind that shit! Here comes Mongo! -- Blazing Saddles

Vince and I headed down the dirt road making good time, joking to anyone who would care to listen. Then we headed back on single track trail. Just before the paved road crossing signaling just 2.5 miles to the end of this loop, Robert Andrullis was there taking pics of runners. I yelled out “Mongo!”. Crossed the road and hit more single-track trail. Another favorite section, as it gently meanders and rolls to the end. Before we knew it, we were rolling into the main aid station and crossed the timing mat for the completion of loop 1, in 2:49! Way better than either Vince or I had hoped for. I leaned over to Dave Combs who was running the timing area and yelled out “Fuckin’ Awesome!”

Fezzik: Inigo?
Inigo Montoya: What?
Fezzik: I hope we win. – The Princess Bride

I went over to my drop bag area on the other side of the pavilion. Ditched my jacket, flashlight and hat, got a new hat, sunglasses, refilled my pack and got outta there. Went over to the aid area and refilled my bottles, grabbed a sandwich and a coke, and was ready to go. I spied Vince making out with one of the aid station tarts and we both headed out, this time going counter-clockwise.

Matt "Rustpicker" Sandlin

Photo by Will Lafollette

I think I like this direction more. It’s a gradual uphill to the road, and more uphill beyond Jackass Junction aid, but much more runnable after that. I don’t know, it just seems to be more enjoyable this way. Some like the other direction better. On the way up to Jackass, Vince and I ran with a navy guy from Twenty-nine Palms, Matt Sandlin. In our usual obnoxious banter, we traded insults back and forth, usually consisting of Navy and Air Force sorts of stuff.

Sergeant Hulka: Soldier, I've noticed that you're always last.
John Winger: I'm pacing myself, Sergeant. – Stripes

We checked into Jackass and refilled a bottle and grabbed a sandwich and headed out. I ran into Steve Peterson from CA and we had a nice chat. By this time, Matt and Vince went on ahead. I tried to keep them in sight and pull me along. It was starting to get warmer out and I wasn’t too keen on going real fast right now. I pulled into Coyote Camp aid station right behind Matt and Vince and filled bottles and left immediately, as the bees were starting to get annoying.

Scott and Phil Sharing Butterfly Kisses

Photo by Will Lafollette

Taggart: "LePetomaine Thruway"? Now what'll that asshole think of next?
Taggart: Has anybody got a dime?
Taggart: Somebody's gotta go back and get a shitload of dimes! -- Blazing Saddles

I left out of there ahead of the guys and made my way along the trail, waiting to get annoyed by the rocky section ahead. The 1.5 miles of rocks really get annoying after 4 loops, but early on they aren’t so bad. Somehow, they didn’t seem to be so bad this year as in the past. Vince and Matt caught up with me as we picked our way around the rocks. Then a nice descent to the sand wash below. Only 1.5 miles to go for the completion of loop 2. Saw Scott coming up the wash towards the rock hill looking good. Both Vince and I commented how well Scott was doing. We were figuring a sub-24 hour finish for him. Crossed the timing mat again, with a loop time of 3:21. I was pretty pleased with this, and I think the lower temps this year was playing a factor in my pace. Again, I leaned over to Dave Combs and yelled “Totally Fuckin’ Awesome!”. I went over to my self-aid station and took care of the usual business. On this loop I wanted to bring along my camera and take the time to snap some shots of the course, something I’ve never done the 6 times prior. It would also force me to slow the pace down a bit as this loop is traditionally the hottest loop of the run. I changed out my hat for my ice hat and ice bandana to cool me off for the hottest part of the day. I filled the hat and bandana with ice, sucked down a couple of Mtn Dews, grabbed a sandwich and headed out with Vince.

Lyle: Come on, boys! The way you're lollygaggin' around here with them picks and them shovels, you'd think it was a hundert an' twenty degree. Can't be more than a hundert an' fourteen. -- Blazing Saddles

A Rocky Uphill Climb

Taking in the rocky view

The Fountain of Fountain Hills

Vince and I made our way out and through the sand washes. Along the way I was taking pics of the scenery. We made our way up the steep but short hill to the rock quarry. We jogged some but it was mostly a walk. By this time we saw the fountain of Fountain Hills spurting to our left a few miles distant. I was going to take a photo of it and Vince beckoned me further up the trail to get it between two Saguaro cacti. Got into Coyote Camp and spent minimal time here, as the bees were really bad here.

The ice was really making both Vince and I feel energetic, so we decided to run some of the next bit. Ran the downs and walked the rest were the rules of this loop. Spotted the road ahead signaling about 2 miles to the Jackass aid station. We ran more of this, and soon met up with Bobby Keogh and Paul Grimm’s fiancée Karla. Bobby was running great, even with major knee surgery a few months earlier. He wasn’t sure if he was going to do the whole 100 miler or just 100K. Right now he was moving along just great.

Nattu and Karen

We all rolled into Jackass, took care of business, and left in minimal time. We all were having a great time along here, talking and joking around. Soon Karla, who had just done 93 miles of a 24 hour run the previous weekend took off down the road. It was hot out, but not as hot as previous years. I was amazed at how well I was dealing with the warm temps, having just left frigid Colorado with little heat training in me leading up to the race. In fact, since Heartland 3 weeks prior, it had been rather cool. I decided to sprint ahead a bit on the single-track trail, but soon Vince and Bobby caught up with me. Rolled across the timing mat in 10:14 time, with a loop 3 time of 4:04. This was at least 30 minutes faster than in previous hot years. Saw Dave at the timing computer and yelled out “Unbelievably Totally Fuckin’ Awesome!”.

Hedley Lamarr: Gentlemen, please rest your sphincters. -- Blazing Saddles

I decided I wanted to take a little more time at my drop bag area and just relax a bit. I decided to change shirts, hats, etc.. I also picked up my flashlight from the morning as it will get dark sometime on the next loop. I drank a bottle of Ensure, replenished my electrolytes, made sure I had enough drugs in case of later aches. Bobby was lying down on the concrete and mentioned it felt great. I decided I was going to try for Best Ass again and picked up my joy whistle for the added special effect that goes along with my moon to Jamil, the RD. After spending about 15 minutes here I decided it was time to get going. Vince was already up and taking care of his needs at the aid station tables. I went over and grabbed a slice of pizza. Man that tasted great!

Russell Ziskey: I think you're ready for the Special Olympics... -- Stripes

The hard part being over (the hot part anyway) Vince and I headed out knowing that the heat of the day has passed and it will get more pleasant as we head out for loop 4. It was mainly a walk up the hill and to the road. I looked at my GPS for mile 50, and we hit it in under 11 hours. Pretty good pace so far. It was a mix of running and walking up to Jackass. Got there in good time, ate some pumpkin pie and drank a few cokes. I left there before Vince, but he ended up catching up with me. I tend to walk the 1.5 mile section of road at this point, Vince was running it. So be it. Blake Wood and his daughter Heather caught up with me and I had a nice exchange with Blake as he was walking and eating. Soon he decided he better catch up with Heather who was ahead at this point. It got dark a few miles out from Jackass, and I decided since I was now alone to switch on the mp3 and just zone out for awhile. Again, this being my favorite direction I was running a bit more than before (but not any faster). I rolled in Coyote Camp and caught up with Vince there. Refilled bottles and grabbed some food and left.

Vince was running with Anna from earlier in the day and they passed me on the rocky part. I decided to turn off the flashlight as the moonlight was very bright. I usually don’t rely on the moon light in this section due to the rocks, but I came to the conclusion they had done some trail maintenance along here and the rocks were not an annoyance as in previous years. I mean it was relatively smooth. I looked off to my right and did notice a semblance of the old trail through a very rocky part and realized my theory was true. I did have to switch it back on at the bottom in the washes. I did see Vince and Anna up ahead a ways and decided to see if I could catch up with them. As I crossed the road marking ¾ mile to the end of the loop, I managed to run past them and cross the timing mat in 14:26, for a loop time of 4:12. I was simply amazed at how close I was keeping my lap times together. Again, I leaned to Dave and yelled “Really Fuckin’ Awesome!” I asked him who I needed to notify of my moon, and he said he was one of the judges. Dave gathered up Jamil and I serenaded them all and showed them mine. Since I was the only one to have mooned it was too early to tell if I won. Went over to my drop bag area and grabbed a long sleeve shirt, changed my hat out and exchanged flashlights for my bigger and brighter Gerber light.

Tripper: Attention. Here's an update on tonight's dinner. It was veal. I repeat, veal. The winner of tonight's mystery meat contest is Jeffrey Corbin who guessed "some kind of beef." – Meatballs

I went over to the aid tables and grabbed a hot dog, sucked down more cokes and headed out for loop 5. Vince was still hanging around and wanted to take care of some issues before heading out. I was feeling pretty good and was picking up the pace a bit, passing runners along the way. I caught up with Theresa Daus-Weber who was pacing Lorraine Gersitz. I ran the rock section (albeit slowly) and got to Coyote Camp. I spent very little time here as I wanted to take advantage of the moment and keep going until I would eventually start fading. Made my way over to Jackass Junction, again spending little time, and left running down the road. I turned off the flashlight and just went with the moonlight. It was amazing how lit up the landscape was. I did turn it back on once I hit the single-track trail again. Rolled into the pavilion for the completion of loop 5 in a time of 18:55, loop time of 4:19! Again, I was amazed at how close I was keeping the times between loops. Again I leaned over to Dave and yelled “Fuckin’ Awesome!”. Headed over to my aid area and refilled. Vince rolled in just after I did. Paul Grimm was there and offered to pace Vince the rest of the race since Karla decided to drop after 4 loops.

Carr: Any man playing grabass or fightin' in the building spends a night in the box. – Cool Hand Luke

I was spending a bit of time here, more than I wanted, but I wanted to eat before heading out. Vince and Paul already were heading out. I decided it was time to leave as well, and I tried to keep them in sight up ahead. I did manage to catch up to them about halfway up the climb, and passed them in the process. I wanted to keep the momentum going while I can and did a lot of jogging and walking up the road leading up to Jackass. Got here and ate some food and had my bottle refilled and left in short order.

I knew I was going to now finish the race this year so I decided to just have some fun and ease back a bit as I was starting to fade some. I got to Coyote and ate a little, but decided to get a’ going as I wanted to make some time. I did manage to jog a bit through the rocky section but it was mostly a walk now. I rolled into the pavilion with a time of 23:35, loop time of 4:40. Yep, I’ve slowed down some but was still happy with my progress. I was trying to figure out what my finish time might be, and figured 26 hours was probably not going to happen, but 27 hours was very doable. I went over to the drop bag area and grabbed a few things, and Jamil came over to give my glow in the dark necklace indicating I only had a half loop to do.

Inigo Montoya: He's dead. He can't talk.
Miracle Max: Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do. – The Princess Bride

I decided to take a short break before heading out one last time. I figured at least 3 hours and that would get me in just under 27 hours, so I thought a short break might do me some good. I finally got up and left and headed back out on the final leg.

I saw Vince and Paul coming in as I was heading out. About a mile and a half out I decided I didn’t need the flashlight any longer, and enjoyed the sunrise. I realized then that I forgot to bring my sunglasses along, and hoped it wouldn’t be an issue heading down the Tonto Tank trail with the sun potentially in my eyes.

I was pretty much power walking at this point, so I made the most of it. I got to Coyote Camp in 90 minutes. Since I didn’t need anything I quickly checked in and out, this time heading back the way I came and made a sharp left turn to take me down the 2.5 mile descent on the Tonto Tank trail to the last mile in at the bottom. Not long after I was passed by Matt and his wife. I have never been able to run this section down and this year was no exception. I took solace in that it isn’t very long to the bottom. I got down to the bottom and made a left turn on the trail meaning only 1 mile to go.

I tried to run some, but mostly it was a walk. Once I got within eyesight of the main road did I muster up enough energy to run (jog, slog, crawl) it in. I crossed the timing mat for the 7th and final time, with a finish time of 26:27:18, loop time of 2:52. One of my better times for the final lap. I told Dave it was fucking awesome to be here, got my belt buckle and headed over to my drop area to sit down.

Dewey Oxburger: Sergeant, does this mean we're through for the day? -- Stripes

I didn’t win the mooning, as some guy came in with a thong and won. How could I beat that? Whatever. Scott walked over and congratulated me on my finish. He finished in 23:19. He ended up with a bigger buckle that said “under 24 hours”, something new to the race this year.

I was sitting there finding some food to eat when Vince and Paul came in, in 26:39. I congratulated Vince on our 6th finish there. This means that Vince, myself and Dan Brendan are the only ones to finish 6 here. As Vince said later, we were fucked and will have to come back to keep the streak for 10 alive.

Photo by Will Lafollette

For now, I was content to stroll over to the car and have a brew. Will Lafollette came over and we offered him a brew. After that, we headed over to the showers to clean up before coming back to the finish line to watch some runners come in before heading out for the airport.

Yep, I’ll be back. I gotta keep it alive now. I’m screwed.

2009 Heartland 100: It Really Blows in Kansas

2009-11-16T12:35:00.010-07:00

All photos courtesy of Gary Henry

Another year at Heartland, my fourth visit, brought with it not so pleasant conditions as in the past. But having lived there during my formative years I know what to expect from Kansas weather: anything. The weather forecast looked gloomy at first, with some improvements as each forecast model package came in as the week leading up to the race drew close. First, it looked to be windy, cold, and rainy. Then it looked like it would be windy and cool, mostly sunny with the weather coming in during the night. It turned out to be a mixed blessing: no precip, but it was windy and very cool. The afternoon highs were in the low-40’s, but with the wind blowing from the north and west, it seemed to be in the low-30’s. At the pre-race briefing, the RD Randy Albrecht asked me for what seems to be my role for Heartland: the official weather forecast for the weekend. Friday was very pleasant, little wind, sunny skies, and fairly warm. I told everyone to “remember the weather for today, ‘cause that will be the only thing keeping you alive tomorrow.” Heartland was going to be my 25th 100 mile finish, and it looked like number 25 wasn’t going to be so easy.

I brought more cold weather running gear than usual, but also, just in case, some warm weather gear. Never used the latter. At the start, I decided to wear long running pants and keep them on all throughout the race. I also had 4 layers on my upper body at the start, my face buff, gloves, and a thin beanie for the head topped off with a baseball style running hat. I never took off the gloves. I added a wool hat at 50 miles and left the baseball hat. I added more layers later at night as it got colder, ending the race with 6 layers on. At least I was comfortable.

The course is a 50 mile out and back on backcountry farm roads in the Flint Hills Region of Kansas, also called the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. It is not uncommon to see livestock near the course, or on the course, at any time. Prairie chickens also rule the area. Cassoday isn’t called the Prairie Chicken Capitol of the World for nothing. During the day they are rare to see, but at night they incessantly fly up in front of you (since they like to roost on the ground) and ahead like the stupid fowl they are only to be startled again a few seconds later as you make your way along the road. This process can continue for quite some time. In earlier years they scared the shit out of me at night making lots of noise. This year, my mp3 player a ‘blazing it wasn’t as annoying.

At the start of the race, the weather was remarkably pleasant: calm winds, starry skies, a bit crisp (39 degrees). Soon, we were herded together like cattle for the start, and with the word “GO!” we were off into the darkness. The 50 milers started a few 100 yards ahead of us, but soon we all started merging together. I wanted to keep the pace reasonable and with little effort, as I knew the later part of the race is where it can get really gnarly, particularly if one goes out too hard at the start. The weather was also nice, so why spoil it? It took me about 1:29 to get to the first manned aid station, Battle Creek, at mile 8.2. As the weather was particularly pleasant, I knew it had to change. Coming into the aid station, the winds had picked up considerably, and the once clear skies were now filled with low clouds streaming in from the north. Yep, the good weather was over guys. Time to suck it up.

I spent little time at Battle Creek, and headed on out to the next aid station Lapland at mile 16.8. This part of the course is a serious set of ups and downs. It seems easier this way than coming back. Of course the crosswind didn’t make for an easy go of it either. Once I got to the unmanned aid station at 13 miles, it is a fairly easy downhill to Lapland. I rolled into Lapland in 3:11, with a leg time of 1:42. So far, I was 2 minutes ahead of my projected splits. It wouldn’t last.

Again, I spent minimal time here refilling bottles and grabbing a PB&J sandwich. From here to Teterville, the next aid station at 25 miles consists of some rolling hills but with a lot of meandering through the tall grass prairie, one of my favorite sections. Making the final turn towards Teterville took us right into the wind. It was tough to get any running in, but we all managed somehow. By now the 50 milers were returning and it looked like the tailwind behind them was making them happy. Got into Teterville in 4:49, a bit off my projected splits but not by much. The headwinds were starting to take a toll. So I sat down on the back of a pickup truck’s tailgate and rummaged through my drop bag for food and whatever suited my fancy. One of the aid station workers recognized me for the weather forecast at the pre-race briefing, and thanked me for the wind. I said “Happy to satisfy.” I was only here a few minutes and I decided to head on out for my least favorite section, here to Ridgeline Aid Station 11.5 miles distant. Best get it over with, I thought.

Made my way down the road for a mile, and then turned right up a rutty, dried up formally muddy unimproved road. It was here that Dan Brendan caught up with me, and we both made the most of the 2 mile climb up to the rolling roads that will take us to Texaco Hill Aid Station (mile 31) all the way to Ridgeline.

It was great running with Dan, at least to Texaco Hill. We both were taking it easy with the headwinds, and were mystified as other runners were running the hills AND bracing the headwinds. Whatever trips their triggers I thought. Dan and I made for conversation, which was great as it really passed the time quickly to Texaco Hill. Got to Texaco Hill in 6:18, about 24 minutes slower than predicted. The winds were taking a toll. Stacy Sheridan was here and greeted all the runners coming in and leaving. I ate a few PB&J sandwiches and sucked down some cokes and refilled my bottles before heading out. Dan spent little time here and was already gone.

As I was leaving, I saw Dan just ahead. I kept Dan in my sights all the way to Ridgeline, but never managed to catch up to him. At least this way, he was pulling me along when I needed the pulling. He would run, so I would run. He would walk, and so would I. This kept me focused on one of the worse sections (at least for me) and got me to Ridgeline in a little over an hour (7:26 running time). Rolled into the aid station tent and chatted it up with Dave Dinkel, who offered me his patented Prairie Power Pellets ™. I declined but promised to indulge myself on the way back. I had a drop bag here but didn’t need it this time around. I refilled my bottle, grabbed some food to eat and sucked down more coke. But then it hit me: I had to use the PortaPot ASAP. So I ran outta there and into the PP. It took me longer than I wanted, and some runners were cussing me up to hurry up. I finally was able to get out of there and apologized to the waiting runner for making her wait. All in all, I spent about 10 minutes here.

The next section is one of my favs: a very rolling terrain and generally downhill for the next 6 miles to Matfield Green, my next port of call at mile 42.5. It is usually in this section that I meet cows in the road or alongside. This year, there were none, in both directions. This section really seems to fly time wise, and I arrived at Matfield in 9:01. Part of this was due to running with Barb Elias and Nick Bassett, which provided some nice diverting conversation along the way. Right before the right turn onto the road that takes you to the aid station, the two front running males were heading out. I pulled in, refilled my bottles and had a wonderful sloppy Joe sandwich. Sucked down a few cokes, and headed back out.

A lot of people complain about this next section, which takes you up a longish hill to what seems like a faraway transmission tower, but I find it a nice change and allows one to walk for a bit. The problem is that tower never seems to get any closer and it is staring you right in the face the whole way. By the time you get up to the tower, you have 2.5 miles of mostly flat to downhill to the 50 mile turnaround. About a mile from the turnaround, the runners were greeted by Burma Shave-type signs; one I particularly liked said “This seemed like such a good idea a week ago”. I finally rolled in the 50 mile turnaround aid station in 10:40, which I was pretty happy with time wise. I decided to spend a bit of time here, as I needed to change shoes, hat, eat, drink and be otherwise merry. I picked up some batteries for my flashlight and mp3 player, sucked down an Ensure, restocked on electrolytes and was ready to go. Unfortunately, I spent about 20 minutes here. Time well spent.

On the way back, you get to see all your running friends, and most important of all, the cessation of wind in your face, now at my back. What a relief! I did a lot of jogging/running with walks mixed in for good measure. Got back to Matfield Green in 12:33. Spent very little time here except to eat and refill. I wanted to get out of here and on the road to Ridgeline before it got dark. I finally had to pull my light out about halfway. I saw Barb and Nick just ahead and used their lights to pull me along. I got into Ridgeline in 14:18, and it was getting colder. I decided I needed to add a layer here and change into a warmer wool hat. After spending about 5 minutes digging around my drop bag (and grabbing my better Gerber light) I headed next door for some hot chow. Dave was there serving up his beans and weenies and it really tasted great! I drank a couple cups of coke and figured it was time to head out.

Unfortunately, we now had to face a significant crosswind all the way to Teterville. It was along this section to Texaco Hill that the prairie chickens were having a little fun with me. All part of the Heartland Experience ™. It seemed like a slow slog to Texaco Hill, and I ended up walking more than jogging. It took me 1:47 to get to Texaco, or 15:55 for 69 miles. I spent some time here trying to warm up and eat more. After spending about 10 minutes here it was time to leave. I didn’t want to spend lots of time at the aid stations and taking some time here was not in my plan. The good thing about leaving here is that is mostly downhill and seems to go rather quickly. I managed to get into Teterville (mile 75) in 17:54. I did plan on spending some time here to regroup and warm up. Digging around in my drop bag I replenished my electrolytes and sucked down a couple of caffeine pills as I was starting to get a bit drowsy. I left here happy knowing the crosswinds were over and the wind at my back.

This year the segment between Teterville and Lapland went relatively quick than recent years. However, I was pretty dead when I rolled into Lapland in 20:49. Unfortunately I spent about 30 minutes here trying to wake up and get warm. Gary Henry and his pacer arrived, tried to talk with me but I was rather non-responsive. They left. It wasn’t long after that I decided to just get it done.

My next goal was to get to the Battle Creek Aid Station before sunrise. Last year I was hit with sunrise a few miles before Battle Creek and the hills spreading out before me made me want to cry. What I can’t see won’t hurt me, so I wanted to get there in the dark. Thankfully, I was able to do just that by mostly walking. I got there just after 6:08 in the morning (24:07 race time). I spent very little time here and left trying to make the most of the pre-sunrise darkness. By the time the sun was rising, I was over the hilly part. I also felt rejuvenated (amazing how the sun can do that) and started jogging, then running. I had some good tunes on the player and it really got me moving. I saw a couple of runners ahead and I made it my goal to try to catch them. Not long after, I rolled into the Mirage Aid Station run by Trail nerd Ben Holmes with his wonderful homebrew. I immediately asked for a brew, and chitchatted with Ben about some new trail shoes he would recommend. I traditionally have used Montrail Hardrocks, but have grown disappointed over the last few years with the changes they have made making them pretty much unusable for me. He offered a few suggestions as alternatives which I will look into, as the Hardrocks I currently have will soon be worn out and better left dead. The beer was very tasty (an IPA I believe) and I left somewhat perkier and rejuvenated than when I arrived. Isn’t that what aid stations should do?

I now only had 5 miles to go. But a long 5 miles, as you can see the water tower of Cassoday in the distance that seems so close, but is yet so far. I was still feeling good and running more than I was walking. I soon caught up with the runners ahead of me and it turned out it was Gary and his pacer who left me for dead at Lapland many hours ago. Gary was walking. I offered him encouraging words and made my way towards the finish line several miles away. Soon, I hit the pavement and made a right turn, with the finish line just ¾ mile ahead. I rolled into the finish line, cowbells a blazing, with a total time of 27:00:48! I had hoped for 26-27 hours, so I was very happy.

As usual for Heartland, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I must have, as this was my fourth time there. The RDs, Randy and Jim Davis, put on a hell of a show. Well run, excellent aid stations, and a great pre- and post-race feed. I’ll definitely be back for another.

Heartland 100 This Weekend

2009-10-06T10:41:00.002-06:00

Just a few days away and I'll be on the road to Kansas for my fourth visit to Heartland. Looks like the weather will be sunny, but cool and cold. Highs in the mid to upper 50's, and overnight lows in the low to mid 30's. According to Randy Albrecht, the RD, Heartland has the highest finishing rates when it is cold. My goal there this year is to avoid the usual nightly hangout at the aid stations. While the aid station tents will undoubtedly be heated, it's the hot-to-cold contrast when walking out that will be a killer. I plan on making my visits short and sweet.

Hopefully the cold won't affect my asthma too much, but I'll be bundled up and have my face wrap to keep the cold at bay. Also looking forward to a beer at the Mirage Aid Station (mile 95) to numb things up a bit as well.

Of course, the pre- and post-race feeds are to die for. As well as during the race at the various aid stations too. Those Ridgeline Prairie Power Pellets (TM) are wonderful on the way back.

Race report next week.

A Different Kind of Ultra

2009-09-07T20:13:00.012-06:00

I decided to tackle a different sort of ultramarathon, replacing the heater core on my 1995 Audi 90 Quattro. Normally, I would have taken it to the mechanic and let him have the fun, but the timing of the heater core failing was bad: just 1 week prior I had the timing belt replaced on my 98 Pathfinder. A week later, the heater core went out in my Audi. I knew it was this as I was smelling anti-freeze inside the car and not out, and when I turned on the heat, I got a huge misty cloud of vapor instead. I was going to wait a week and have it done when the wife’s 92 Audi 100 crapped out in town due to a failed fuel pump, I knew I had spent enough money on two cars ($2000) and didn’t want to spend another grand for my car. So I decided to try it myself.

I did a lot of researching on the web (thank god for Google) and found a number of sites with the needed information, but the following link was the best…..and with pics:

http://forums.audiworld.com/showthread.php?p=18463995

Since it was the start of August, I figured I had plenty of time to get it done before winter. It took me a month to get it done, but this was working weekends, with two weekends off (working at the Leadville Bike race, and the following week running Lean Horse 100 in South Dakota).

For the start, it was fairly easy. I started with taking out the center consoles. Then the driver’s side kick panel under the dash, then the glove compartment. In order to remove the driver’s airbag, I had to go into town to get a set of torx screwdrivers, as the horn/airbag is attached with these nuts. Once I had the airbag off, it was fairly easy to get the wheel off. I made a mark on the wheel and the hub in order to align it all up. I then removed the turn signal/cruise control/wipers/headlight switch from the column, and it was easy to take out the instrument cluster. It was then on to the passenger airbag. When I looked at it from underneath, all I saw was one torx bolt and a metal bracket. But I couldn’t figure out how to remove the bracket to get to the airbag. Turns out it was only the torx bolt holding it in. I found this out when I had both side dash bolts off and began to wiggle the dash, and noticed the airbag moved out as well. It slipped right out. The heater controls, CD player, ashtray all came out fairly easy from the center console. The hazard/seat heater/fog lights/rear defroster switches were a bit of a challenge to remove.

I then moved inside the engine compartment to remove the hoses to the heater core and the two bolts holding it onto the firewall. In the process of removing the two hoses, I accidently broke a line to the PCV valve. I’ll have to deal with that later. The lower bolt was tight and a bit tricky, but I got it off, and the hoses along with the gasket. No coolant leaked when I pulled the hoses.

Once the passenger airbag was removed, there were four bolts on a bracket holding the dash in. Once undone, it took some wrestling of the dash to get it removed. The ducting was in place and it took some wrangling to get it off. Once off, there it was, staring at me with all its glory: the heater box. There were clips holding it onto the evaporator housing. The top and bottom clips came off easily, as well as the two front clips. This left two clips from behind. Based on the instructions from above, it was going to take some work to get the bottom one off. I had to go back into town and get a mechanics mirror on a wand. Using this as well as a flashlight, I was able to see the clip that needed removing. It took me the better part of a week to get the clip off. I ended up getting some small etching tools, with various bent tips to get at the clip. I ended up cutting off half of the tool as there was very little room to get at it. I'm not very good at using mirrors for such things, as I have trouble dealing with the reverse image. But it didn't take long to master the technique. What a relief to finally get the lower clip off. All it took now was some back and forth motion of the heater box and the remaining clip let loose.

Now that the box was off, all I had to do was remove the old heater core. There was antifreeze on the top of the floor vent housing just below the heater box, as well as inside the box. After cleaning up inside the box and wiping up all the antifreeze, I was able to put the new core in and screw it in place.

The reassembly of dash parts was fairly easy. I ended up having to undo the dash bolts about 3 times to get stuff to line up right though. The hazard switches were a bitch to replace. Not a lot of room and the switch plugs were hard to get at. Somehow in the process, the hazard switch went inop. I’ll have to take it by the mechanic to fix, as well as the PCV valve that broke.

When I was installing the driver’s kick panel in, I found out I forgot to put some of the wiring harness back in place, as it was preventing me from getting the panel back in properly. I really didn’t want to take out the dash again, so I brute forced the wiring harness back under the dash lip. It wasn’t completely in, but enough to get the panel back on and bolted. The glove compartment was fairly easy. I had to replace the disk changer underneath the glove box, but that went pretty smooth.

I ended up with two leftover bolts (from the kick panel) and two bolts that mated the center console to the lower support bracket. As there were originally four of these mounting bolts, two on each side, I ended up bolting on one bolt each side. I doubt this will present a problem. I was damned if I was going to undo the dash yet again for these two little bolts.

In the end, the car started right up. The only thing not working are the blinkers, which may be related to the faulty hazard switch. I drove it into town to make sure everything was working, and the low coolant idiot light came on. After stopping at the store for antifreeze, the coolant reservoir was nearly empty. So I filled it up, and drove back home. I again checked the reservoir tank level, and it was still full. Must have been from the new heater core getting filled up with coolant.
Well, I saved a lot of coin, but I really don’t want to do that kind of job again, unless I have lots of time on my hands. It was a learning experience to be sure.

But, once is enough. I'm a happy camper.

It Sucks to be Me at Lean Horse 100

2009-09-07T18:07:00.003-06:00

So I took another stab at Lean Horse 100. I ended up getting 50% more done this year than last. Unfortunately, 76 miles doesn’t cut the mustard. I ended up dropping out at 76 miles and 21 hours of running. I wish I could say I was injured, sick, or otherwise incapacitated, but I’d be lying. I dropped out of sheer opportunity. Sucks to be me.

I drove up to Hot Springs, SD on Friday with a co-worker of Pat Homelvig at Google, Dale Hawkins. Dale was eager to get a 100 mile finish in with this race, which he managed to do quite well. This was his first 100 mile finish. We got up to Hot Springs around 1:00 PM. Dale needed to find some Starbucks in a can for the night portion of the run. We stopped at one grocery store, Dakotamart, and the clerks there thought we were from Mars. “Starbucks, in a CAN? Whaaa?” So we decided to head over to the check in at the Mueller Center and pick up our race packets. We asked the nice volunteers there if they knew of another store in town that might have what Dale was looking for. They suggested Sonny’s. After milling around a bit we decided to try to get a few last minute things at the store, check into the hotel and get back for the 3 PM race briefing.

Dale didn’t have any luck with the can Starbucks, but found some in a glass jar. That will have to do. Checked in, relaxed a bit, and then headed back for the briefing and pre-race food. We got there and saw the usual gang of suspects. I saw Matt and Anne Watts, Joe Judd from Salida, Ulli Kamm, among others. Listened to Jerry’s talk about the race. Pretty much the same as last year. There are cutoffs at the inbound legs of the course, but not really enforced. There would be ice out there (nice, as it was hot). Dale and I went back to the check in area after the talk, milling around and talking, when dinner was served was announced. Grabbed a table and ate. Matt, Anne, David Hughes from Indiana joined us, Long Vu from Oklahoma. When I was done, I looked up and saw James Mercer from St Louis, so I decided to go say hi to him and his wife Vicki. Talked with them a bit, then it was time to leave.

Relaxed at the hotel, and got to sleep around 9:30 PM. Woke up in plenty of time to get put together and meet Dale for breakfast in the lobby around 4:20 AM. Met Darwin from Canada, doing his first 100. Saw Long Vu as well. Dale and I checked out and left for the race around 5:20 AM. Got to the start and hardly anybody was there. Checked in, and sat around waiting for others to show up. I saw James and Vicki come in, so I went over and chatted with them for a bit. Before long it was time to line up outside for the start. With a 10 second count down and the word “GO!” we were all off for the start of a long and hopefully successful journey this weekend.

Dale and I were running together for about the first mile or so, trying to keep the pace reasonable. As soon as we were out of town and the road turned to dirt, Dale picked it up a bit and I said “Good luck”. I wanted to take it easy for at least the first 16 miles. The road consists of series of many ups and downs, some major, some not so. Last year I did the first 16.5 miles in 3:07, and felt increasingly tired as the first 50 miles went on. This year I wanted to do the road in 3:30, and feel relaxed and not overdo it. This meant I was going to walk the hills. I was already getting warmed up and feeling the morning heat by the time I got to the first aid station, Coldbrook, mile 4 in 43:29. So far right on target.
After Coldbrook, you head across a meadow for about ¾ of a mile, which connects us with the Argyle Road and a right turn. From here to the next aid station, it is a pretty hilly stretch of road. I walked the uphills. It was in here I met up with a running buddy from Rocky Raccoon, Charlie Leonard from NY. He was running with a gal from New Jersey, Jenny. We talked a bit and before we knew it, we were at the Morph aid station, mile 10.7. I got here in 2:05, so my plan on making it to the Argyle aid station in 3.5 hours was looking fine. Filled a bottle and grabbed a coke and left. Soon Charlie caught up with me, but I ended up letting him go as he was running more of the hills than I wanted. From here, it was a lot of ups and downs, walking the ups, and running the flats and downs. I spied the Argyle aid station ahead, at the top of a lengthy hill. I ended up getting here in 3:15. I spent about 5 minutes changing into a lighter shirt, filled up my bottles, and grabbed some food and left.

It was starting to get hot by now, and my stomach was feeling a bit uneasy. It was here I decided to just stick with water for the time being. I wouldn’t use any of my energy mix until sundown. Surprisingly, I started feeling fine again, and got to the Lime Kiln aid station and 21 miles. It took 45 minutes to go the 4 miles from Argyle. I walked and ran with a mix of 4 minutes running and 1 minute walking. I grabbed some fruit and stuck it in my pack, refilled a bottle with ice water, and left. The next 4 miles to Pringle aid station was fairly downhill and I ran most of it. I got to Pringle in 59 minutes, with a total time of 5:05. Still on target. It was here I decided to spend a bit of time and grab stuff for the hot afternoon: ice hat, ice bandana, food, water, coke. As I was coming in, I met up with Phil Rosenstein. He was in walk mode. By the time I was finished taking care of my needs, Phil was walking out as well. We decided to stick with each other for a bit and see how it goes.

The next section between Pringle and Carroll Creek (mile 31) is fairly long. I erred in not bringing an extra bottle for this stretch. Luckily, Phil and I ran into a crew along the highway next to the trail, and we asked them if they had any extra water to spare. They did, which saved my bacon. By the time I got to Carroll Creek I was nearly out. Phil and I did a lot of talking, mostly about Badwater and his thoughts on crewing, running the race, etc. and I found the talk great and most of all, the time went by quickly. We had caught up to two Canadian gals who were stopped by the side of the trail, and Phil wanted to stick with them for a bit as our power walking was a bit too brisk and he wanted to take it easy for awhile. So I pushed on ahead, power walking out 12 minute miles on a fairly easy stretch of trail. Before long, Carroll Creek aid station was just ahead. It was now 6:57 into the race, and it was quite hot. Phil and the girls from Canada caught up with me as I was walking into the aid station. I got my hat and bandana refilled with ice, as well as iced water for my bottles. I sucked down a couple of cokes, and grabbed more grapes to stick in my pack and nibble on the way. I did manage to gulp down an entire PB&J sandwich and more water to wash it down.

I waited a few seconds for Phil to walk out with me. I loaded up on water and food at Carroll Creek, as this was another 6 mile stretch until Custer. Phil and I did a nice power walk, and even managed to run some of the downhills. Phil wanted to spend some time at the next aid station, so he wanted to run ahead while I walked. It was pretty hot out and the sun was beating down on me, so I stuck with my plan and walked most of the remaining 2 miles until Custer. I did jog some of the trail, as it was a mellow downhill and pretty even. I kept Phil in my sights. I got to Harbach Park in Custer, mile 37, in 8:33. Phil was already taking a breather and eating and drinking. I refilled my hat and bandana with ice, more ice water in the bottles, more food. I again grabbed more fruit to stick in my pack. Soon it was time to go. I headed out with Phil, and about 100 yards out I realized I left my ice hat on the table back at Custer. I ran back and got it, and ran back to Phil. It was nice to run, but even nicer to walk with Phil. The next stretch is more shaded, and is only 5 miles. Phil and I walked and ran off and on until the next aid station, Mountain Aid, at mile 42. It took us 9:55 to get here (1:21 for this segment).

Again, the usual routine, and after spending about 5 minutes it was time to leave. It was another 1.5 of an uphill towards Crazy Horse, and then a nice 3.5 mile descent to the next aid station at mile 47. Phil took off running the downhill, and I ran as well but as it was still hot I decided to jog it. Towards the bottom of the hill, I caught up with James Mercer from St Louis, he was walking and limping. I walked with him for about 5 minutes, and after suggesting he should continue on, I decided to leave and run the rest of the way to the aid station. He was in good spirits, but his knee was hurting and he said he was coming off dehydration. I knew his wife Vicki was ahead at the next aid station so he was going to be in good hands. This was the last I saw of James, as I assumed he dropped at the next aid station.

I got to mile 47 aid, grabbed some water and food and left fairly quickly. Pretty soon, I reached the Turnaround aid station, mile 49, in 11:55. I quickly refilled a bottle and left for the 1 mile turnaround ahead signaling halfway. I got there in 12:09. I got back to Turnaround and spent about 20 minutes here taking care of various stuff: I wanted to change shoes. My feet were starting to hurt and there were hot spots developing. As I massaged my feet, and put on a new pair of shoes, they felt a lot better. I also refilled my pack, ditched my ice bandana as I wouldn’t need it now. Relubed under the shorts to take care of some minor chafing. I refilled my bottles, one with mix and the other with water, ate a sandwich and decided it was time to leave. From here on it would be more miles here than previous the year. I was happy my stomach was feeling fine, and despite my feet and knees hurting, I started running more. I ran pretty much to the base of the 3.5 mile hill climb up to Crazy Horse. I had to pull out the flashlight about ½ mile from the Crazy Horse road. I finally got to Mountain aid station in a time of 15:03. I took a few minutes to eat, rest, and refill bottles. I ended up only spending about 3 minutes here, and left.

It was dark now and I was using the lights from runners ahead to pull me along. I jogged the bulk of it, as it felt much easier and better on my feet to run rather than walk. It wasn’t fast (about 12-13 minute miles) but I was making progress. I did manage to pass a few runners who were walking. This made me feel pretty good. I got to Harbach Aid station in 16:49, feeling rather tired and almost ready to drop. I got into my drop bag and sucked down a Starbucks. Grabbed some food and just sat there and ate. I came pretty close to dropping. Jerry Dunn, the RD, came into the aid station saying he was leaving in about 10 minutes. It took all I had to walk out of there and continue on.

After about a few minutes, I started feeling better and jogged more and more. Again I used the lights of runners ahead to pull me along, and again I passed some runners walking. Soon, I got to Carroll Creek, in 18:42. By now they had grilled cheese sandwiches nice and hot to eat. I grabbed two halves, ate one on the go and put the other in my pack to eat later. I left here in short order. Between here and Pringle aid station, mile 76, I started to feel more and more tired and sleepy. The Starbucks was wearing off, and I was faced with the impending crash of caffeine. I found myself weaving on the trail, half asleep. I finally got to Pringle in 21 hours, 3 AM (cutoff time). I asked the kind person at the aid station if I decided to drop here, how long to get a ride out. He told me quite a while as a guy left some minutes ago with runners. So I decided to get my drop bag and get some things out (Starbucks, mix, a warmer shirt) when a guy walks in saying he has room for one more runner as he is going back to town. I was screwed! I took him up on his offer.

This was a pretty bad decision on my part. I had plenty of time to finish. I figured about 2 hours to Argyle aid station (5 AM) and 16 miles more for a finish, probably in around 28 hours. The caffeine crash was horrendous, and I had a hard time focusing on the task at hand. If that guy would have been 5 minutes earlier or later, I would have been continuing on and probably a finish. Who knows? It was my own fault to quit, and I could have continued on.

Well, I was hoping not to “HAVE” to come back after this year, but it looks like that isn’t going to happen. I’ll be back, but it won’t be next year as I have other fish to fry next summer, and Lean Horse isn’t on my plan.
I will be back.

2009-07-17T13:47:00.011-06:00

Well, if at first you don't succeed.........have a beer!

After last year's 50% completion of my Fall Mini-Slam (DNF'd Lean Horse and Javelina), I decided that I would like to give it another whirl, but with a change. Since Motherroad is not offered this year, I would have to substitute another for a retry at a back-to-back 100 mile attempt. So like last year, I'm going to start it all off with Lean Horse in August, then Heartland 100 in early October, Javelina in late October and a new 100 miler in Missouri called The Ozark 100 the following weekend.

I have been intrigued by Lean Horse since it started a few years ago, but it conflicted with the Leadville 100. This year, it is on the same weekend, and since I was unable to get the second half done last year, it's time to "Get my mind right" and get it done this year. Since I now know what happened to me last year, I have since (hopefully) corrected the stomach issue and should be able to get this one done. The course is mostly on the Mickelson Trail in SD, a “trails-to-rails” project that is a gradual up to the 50 mile turnaround and back to the start in Hot Springs, SD. The first and last 13 miles are on a rolling, meandering dirt road. Hopefully this year, I'll have my head out of my ass and not overdo it with the calories, which was the reason for my stomach issues last year. It seems my training of late has had no complications, so time to "Git 'er Dun!". Unfortunately, I will be missing Leadville this year. The first time in 13 years I haven't been up there in a running or crew/pacer capacity. My good friend Bob Rayburn will be there running it this year, so I'm bummed I can't help him there.

Heartland, Oct 10-11, is an old favorite. This will be my fourth time there, and I always love the support and venue. Having grown up in the area as a lad also brings to me a special appeal. I ran it last year and ended up listing to the starboard side towards the end. Only after consuming some of Bad Ben's Homebrew (TM) did it fix that up somewhat. Though it wasn't my fastest time (slowest in fact) it was still a good time. I got to see some of the hilly parts of the course on the way back during the early sunrise bits, which normally were shrouded in darkness. Gawd, those hills are long! And who sez Kansas is flat?

Javelina Jundred, Oct 31 and Nov 1 (Halloween). Last year this was the last race in my series, and ended up going out there with a cold from Motherroad II the previous weekend (thank you Oklahoma!) and having to bail out after 70 miles. Congestion and breathing don't get along too well. My first DNF there. This year will be my 7th visit, and hopefully my 6th finish there. My race plan for this is simple: run easy, run slow, and have fun. So, no PR’s or visions of great times are in my strategy here. Like last year, I will try to save myself for two weekends, since the next race is.....

.....Ozark 100, Nov 7-8. This is a totally new 100 put on by my favorite group of runners, the SLUGs (St Louis Ultrarunning Group). The cutoff time is 32 hours, so a bit more time than conventional 100 time limits of 30 hours. I've run in Missouri before, but not in the Ozarks. They are hilly, but nothing like Leadville, Wasatch, or Hardrock. I'm looking forward to something new. Like Javelina the week before, I plan on going slow and easy and just finish. I don't want a repeat of last year. I'm counting on not getting a cold at Javelina (it'll be hot and dry there) so all I have to do is hang in there. Javelina would have been number 6 if not for the breathing issues. My legs were fine and able to continue. I'm hoping that will be the case here as well.

Not Quite Gray's and Torrey's Summits, June 28, 2009

2009-07-01T14:23:00.017-06:00

Bob Rayburn and I arranged to climb up to Gray's Peak (14,240') and the adjacent Torrey's Peak (14,267') the last weekend in June, where the chance of snow on the trail is likely to be minimal. Well, we were wrong. The late snows this season didn't melt away quite yet and provided us with some challenges we were unaware of when we started our journey.

Drove up to Bakersville off of I-70 to access Steven's Gulch Road with Bob, myself, and Bob's wife Jana. The plan was for Jana to drop off Bob and I at the bottom of the road, which is a 3 mile hike up to the trailhead leading to Gray's Peak, and Jana would drive up the road to the trailhead and hopefully we would catch up with her somewhere along the trail. Bob and I were initially running up the road, then it turned into a walk. Not long after, Jana came by. But just a few feet ahead, she stopped in the road due to a large washout. Unfortunately, Jana's SUV is not a 4WD, and there were cars parked just to the right of the washout, thereby blocking the only way around the huge washout. Bob offered to try to drive it through the rut, but the tires were slipping. So he had to back it up a bit and park it along the side of the road. Jana was going to have to walk the road with us.

After about an hour's worth of hiking on the road we finally get up to the trailhead. After dealing with a few last minute issues, we all headed up the trail and Gray's Peak 3.5 miles distant. Jana, being a recent resident of Colorado from Arkansas, wasn't used to the altitude. Bob and I tried to cheer her up and joke around and such to take her mind off the slog up the trail. I scared her a few times yelling "What an AWESOME view!".

After about a mile hike up the trail, we got up to a fairly large stream crossing around 12,000', and Jana decided she had had enough and decided to turn around, and wait for us back at the trailhead. Bob and I continued on. A bit up the trail, we ran into Marshall Ulrich and Theresa Daus-Weber making their way down from the summit. We talked a bit and continued on our separate ways. We came to a fairly large and deep snow crossing, with lots of foot holes from previous hikers postholing through the deep, crusty snow. Bob got across with no issues, but I was a bit concerned of falling through, being 200+ lbs of weight on the snow. Amazingly, I didn't post hole through it.

Intermittent patches of snow now dotted the trail along the way up. At around 12,700', we came to a fairly long and narrow snow patch. I looked at the snow and determined that it was fairly hard, crusty, and slick. Going up wasn't an issue, but I was very concerned about the way down. I decided, since I didn't bring any trax with me that I would go no further. I offered to wait there for Bob if he wanted to go on and summit. The thought of beer consumption was stronger than the desire to summit, so we both decided to turn around and head back down. Bummer.

This time upon reaching the snow field, I did manage to post hole on the far side up to my knees. As the trail got smoother, we were able to run more. Bob, being Bob, took off down the trail in his usual fast manner. I tried to keep up, and ended up turning my ankles a bit and decided to just go easy and not screw them up big time.

I got back to the trailhead and saw Bob and Jana waiting there. After a bit of taking care of some personal issues, we headed on down the road back towards the car. We all started jogging a bit, and feeling like I didn't get to accomplish what I wanted today, started running down the road at a fairly decent pace (at least for me). Not long afterward, I caught up with Marshall and Theresa and decided to walk the road down with them (and Toasty the dog). When we got to the car we bid each other well, and soon after Bob and Jana came in.

This was to Bob and I's last chance of some decent altitude training before our pacing duties at Hardrock in a few weeks. Bob and I are doing different legs there for Scott Olmer, who will be running his fifth Hardrock. We did get some altitude training in, it just wasn't what we really wanted. It'll have to do.

Fort Collins Hash - Crosier Mountain Trail - June 27, 2009

2009-07-01T09:17:00.030-06:00

Snowjob, Shoefucker, and I (Dick With A Bitch With A Dick – DWABWAD) laid the best ever trail for the Fort Collins Hash, which was described as “..flat as Lay Me Over’s chest, short as Felipenis, and as beautiful as Tick Dick’s.....whatever”. Trust the hares, as they never lie. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Turned out the weather was ideal for such a great hash.

LAND OF THE LOST HASHER
(this is LMO's version of the story and this is exactly what happened)

Nine hashers gathered at Crozier trailhead in Glen Haven for Dick With a B*tch With a Dick's, Snow Job's, and Shoe F*cker's Ft. Collins hash that was not in Ft. Collins. Those who had trouble finding the start needed only to listen for Shoe F*cker's laugh to steer them in the right direction. It was a small and humble group that day but it was the cream of the crop (with the exception of four or five of them). Even two 'Too Longs' showed up; Sp*rmes and Rin Tin T*ts.

As the hashers began to look for the first mark, a concerned Just Forrest questioned DWAB at length.
"About how long will this trail be?" he asked.
"Hell if I know but I can tell you how flat it will be," said DWAB.
Shoe F*cker laughed uproariously.
"Do you think I will need sunscreen?" asked Just Forrest. "How about a cap?"
"I don't know but I can tell you how flat it will be," said DWAB.
Shoe F*cker laughed again uproariously.
Just Forrest scratched his chin. "I better go get my cap. Oh, and my lip balm!"

Shortly after the hashers ascended the winding flower - laden trail up Crozier Mountain which so far did not seem all that flat, PileOn spotted a horse pasture then suddenly cried, "I am going to live my fantasy!" With that he ripped off his clothes, jumped over the fence, climbed onto a horse and rode it across the pasture screaming, "My name is Nuwanda!" Then both horse and n*ked rider collided into the fence on the other side and wood went flying in all directions as the other hashers watched dumbfounded.

"But I thought I did that at last month's hash," PileOn later said to Lay Me Over.
"I don't think so," she responded. "Nothing was ever mentioned about it last month which must mean that you did it today."

The owner of the horse came running out of his house with raised middle finger and shouted, "Hey!! What the %#$@! is wrong with you?! Who do you %#$@! think you are? You %#$@! %#$@!"

But PileOn has a different version of the story. According to him, the man was actually cheering him on while he rode, shouting, "God speed! Hey look out for the fence!! Oh that's ok. Don't worry about it. I'll fix it. Are you it? Nobody else wants a try? Come on, I love n*ked trespassers! Bring 'em on!"

The actual truth is somewhere in between the two versions (but before PileOn's version).

The hashers continued on but they kept hearing a strange noise; 'Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing!" It was coming from Rin Tin T*ts' dangling Achilles heel.
"Can you shut it the hell up?" yelled Raggedy An*s.
"I can't help it," whined Rin Tin.

Then they heard a whistle far behind them and an "On! On!"
Low and behold it was Tick Dick and Little Head making their way up the trail, fashionably late as always. The hashers soon lost true trail when Sp*rmes turned around and hollered to the bunch that there was a false up ahead. So they searched the other directions but found nothing. Finally Tick Dick decided to reinvestigate Sp*rmes' findings and discovered that several yards before the false was a gigantic check with Sp*rmes footprints all over it. At last, true trail was found again and Sp*rmes continued on now ostracized from the group.

Soon after this, Raggedy An*s spotted a chewed deer leg at the side of the trail and picked it up to give to Krabs R' Us for her eccentric wardrobe of dead animal parts. The thirsty, weary, and gasping hashers had not seen a beer check for quite some time and many couldn't even talk anymore because their dried and shriveled tongues were stuck to the roofs of their mouths. Just Forrest tried to help by offering them his lip balm.
"You think you're hurting now?" Raggedy coached the group, "Just remember that somewhere out there is a poor three - legged deer hobbling around wondering where its leg is!"

Finally after they painstakingly climbed up a dangerous rock embankment they found a beer check that featured warm Genuine Miller Light. Nothing could have been more splendid to drink at that precise moment and they pounced upon the cans so eagerly that one would have thought they had just discovered Pabst Blue Ribbon.

As the hashers replenished their thirst, Just Marie complained, "I thought the hares said this trail was going to be very flat and very short."
"Lip balm?" Just Forrest offered.
Little Head never showed up for the beer check.
"Has anyone seen him?" inquired Tick Dick.
"The last time I saw him was in that meadow down below," said Krabs.
"That's where you last saw him?! You mean where those vultures are circling right now?"
"Oh God," said P*ssy Dominatrix. "Vultures?! This doesn't look good. We can't let them attack Little Head! His skin would be like poison to those poor defenseless birds."

Despite her concerns, the hashers continued on but just in case Little Head showed, they left a half a can of beer behind along with a quarter of a can of beer depending on how thirsty he would be. Both had part of PileOn's sneeze mixed in with it for an added pick-me-up. Once the group made it back down the mountain for the on-after they waited for Little Head but he never appeared.

"Oh no," whimpered LMO. "Guys this is serious. I think that he might be dead."
"Relax LMO," said Sp*rmes. "I know how to do Circle. Ok everyone Circle up!"

After the hares were called up to drink because they were the hares, they were called up again because they kept grabbing the good beer for their down-downs. Tick Dick and Rin Tin T*ts had to drink for wearing ugly frayed baseball caps. Raggedy An*s had to drink because he remained seated during the entire Circle. Then he handed Krabs the chewed deer leg and said, "Now Krabs has a boner." After several songs were sung, Little Head still had not arrived.

"Should we start to worry about him?" asked Just Marie.
"Everything will work out ok," said Krabs as she waved around her chewed deer leg like it was a wand. "We'll set up a little memorial service for him after Circle."
More songs were sung and Snow Job even mimicked a trombone for the finale of several of them and threw in a few 'Boom Chugga Lugga Luggas' for good measure.

Then it was time for Just Forrest to be named. Due to his chronic bicycle racing, the hashers focused on the bike theme to come up with their ideas. Somebody said, "Hey how about 'Huffy Goes Down?'" The hashers nodded their heads and said, "Yeah, oh yeah that's a good one."
"Cliterium," someone else suggested. The hashers nodded their heads again saying, "Oh yeah that's a good one... yeah that might work."
"Crit B*tch!" The hashers nodded, "Yeah that would work, yeah , yeah."
"Clit B*tch!" More approval. "Yeah, yeah!"

Then Raggedy An*s while still sitting cross-legged on the ground said, "Hey how about 'Scratch n' Sniff?"
There was dead silence as the hares stared at him blankly. Crickets sounded in the distance.
Thankfully DWAB broke the awkward lull and hollered, "Hey why don't we just give him Little Head's name and be done with it?" The hashers looked at each other, pondered that awhile then nodded in approval. "Yeah that works. Ok, sure!"
"How about 'Dick Derailleur'," someone else suggested. The hashers cheered and high-fived each other. "Yaaaa! That's it! Whooeee!" "Good one!"
And so it was that Just Forrest's name became Dick Derailleur.

Just then Krabs cried out, "Look everyone! It's Little Head!" And out of the bushes stepped Little Head with a feasting vulture still clinging to his hair and barbed wire sticking out of his cheek. Everyone hugged and kissed him and told him how worried they were. Then he whipped out a cigarette, took a couple puffs and began to sing, "I used to work in Chicago.......!" And everyone danced around and rejoiced.

At hearing the lyrics to the 'Jesus Saves' song, P*ssy Dominatrix and Just Marie clutched their stomachs and doubled over in fits of laughter with tears streaming down their faces. The longer the song continued the harder they laughed until they passed out. Later, after Just Marie came to, she took out her camera and began showing everyone her photos of warthog testicles. Then Snow Job said, "I don't know if I can make it to my mom's birthday because it's the Red Dress Run next week and I already made reservations for the bus from Boulder!"
Then Tick Dick picked up Krabs' chewed deer leg, studied it for awhile and said, "Hey! This deer leg has DWAB's teeth marks all over it!"
Shoe F*cker laughed uproariously.

A good time was had by all.

Lay Me Over

Twin Sisters Summit, June 13, 2009

2009-07-01T08:52:00.018-06:00

What is now becoming an annual tradition, climbing Twin Sisters this year was pure joy. I traditionally climb this during the Estes Park Wool Market (which my wife Lorraine is very active), so this year I did the climb on Saturday, June 13, 2009 with my running buddy Vince “Master Slacker” Gerber. It took some goading to get Vince to want to do it, but I finally was able to overcome his slacker ways and get him to commit, like last year. This year the weather was superb: sunny, cool, and no wind.

Vince and I met at the trailhead (about a mile up the road from the Lily Lake parking area) around 7:30 AM. I figured around 3 to 3.5 hours for the 7.5 mile out and back journey. The trail starts out rather benignly, but then gets steeper as you go up. The trail itself is pretty nice, some rocks. But the uphill forces us to walk.

There was very little snow to contend with, with only one little patch that we had to walk on to continue on trail.

Vince and I stopped a couple of times to eat and take pictures. We stopped around 11,000 feet elevation to overlook the Estes Park valley below. Up ahead, the trail became more rocky and a little more steep, but we could now see the objective ahead, looming at 11,435’ elevation.

Before long we arrived at the radio tower and shed, about 11,300’ and took a brief break to look around. We then had a short 100+’ climb to the top of one of the Twin Sisters. Got to the top and took in the views of Long’s Peak and Mt Meeker to our immediate west, and the valley floor below. We looked east and it looked socked in down below in the St Vrain Valley into Longmont.

This run always amazes me how easy it is to get up here and the views it affords. And today no wind to buffet us around as well, and made for a very enjoyable pause at the top.

After a bit, we decided to head back down, picking our way along the boulders and rocks, until the trail became more runnable. Now we were able to run the trail. Met a lot of people coming up, and passed quite a few going down. I was wanting that beer at the end, so I tried to keep the pace going.
All in all, a nice little climb and run at elevation, the first for this season. I have upcoming Hardrock pacing duties looming on the horizon, so this was a nice entry to some altitude training. And I didn’t get an altitude headache and felt great the whole time.

I'll Make You Squaw Peak 50 Mile Report

2009-06-18T20:18:00.013-06:00

My first 50 miler for the year went fairly well, not a PR (actually a PW), but the weather was stellar and not much snow on the course this year.

Squaw Peak 50 Mile near Orem, Utah is probably the third hardest 50 in the US, behind Lake City (San Juan Solstice) and Jemez. I used to list it behind Zane Grey as well, but upon further reflection, it is probably harder than ZG now, since I hear the course there is better marked and not as apt to get lost as in the early years. The race starts and ends at Vivian Park, just a few miles south of where the Wasatch Front 100 race ends. Same mountains, different scenery. We start and end at Vivian Park, but the course goes counter-clockwise in a loop. The race filled up in 1 day this year, and it was a lottery! I had signed up for this race last year but had to withdraw a few weeks before. The race director, John, does a nice thing for those who sign up but can’t make it: he carries them over for the following year. I still had to apply, but didn’t have to shell out the $$$ this time. When the lottery results came out in early November, my name wasn’t among the lucky entrants. I wasn’t even on the waiting list! I eventually fired off an e-mail to John asking what happens to those who were carried over but didn’t get on either list. A few weeks later, he added more runners to the wait list. I was third from the bottom. Now I had to wait and hope I can get off the wait list and into the run. On my birthday this year (May 17) John let everyone on the wait list join in with the other runners. I was officially in the race. I had a contingency plan in case I wouldn’t get to run: I’d pace my friend Bob Rayburn (who was also a carryover from last year) the last 25 miles. Either way, I was going. Now it was official.

As mentioned at the beginning, the weather was great this year. It was a bit coolish at the start, and I was wearing several layers with a long sleeve shirt and gloves. It warmed up enough during the day though that allowed me strip off those layers and wear a short sleeve for the rest of the run. It was fairly warm on the Hobble Creek Road (mile 22-26) but not as hot as it usually is. It did sprinkle on me during the last few miles of the run, but nothing to worry about.

At 5:00 AM we were all off at the start, and I ended up running with Bob and Matt Watts along the 2 miles of bike path leading to the trailhead that would start us on our first of several long climbs during the day. By the time we started on the dirt trail, Matt took off and left Bob and I eating his dust. Bob and I enjoyed a relaxed pace and made conversation as we ambled our way on the many little ascents and dips that gradually then abruptly took us up to the first aid station at mile 5.5 and 1:23 into the race. I stopped briefly to swill some coke offered by the nice Boy Scouts who traditionally run this aid station. They also have pancakes, sausage, etc. but I declined as I wasn’t all that hungry.

After this aid, you continue on single track trail and meander through some meadow like areas until you reach a road. Once I got on the road I was able to run more, but I still walked the hills. Bob and I got to the next aid station at mile 10.8 in 2:49, a bit slower than two years ago when I was here. I decided to strip off the layers here as I wouldn’t get to my next drop bag until mile 22 and it was getting warmer. I put on a short sleeve, refilled my bottles and grabbed some food and left. Bob was right there with me.

There were several turnoffs from the road onto single track trails (which shortcut the winding road sections). Several people didn’t see the flagging indicating a turn, and I ended up catching up to those who didn’t see the turn. One gal realized it was a bad turn, but saw runners up ahead and continued on. I told her watch out for other turns are there are several more. I ended up pulling ahead of her. Bob caught up with me and we leapfrogged each other on the road. By the time we got to the second turnoff, Bob told me he was going to back off on the pace a bit. Being the asshole I am, I said okay and pulled on ahead of him. I wouldn’t see him until the finish line.

The trail was fairly short and we ended up back on the road again. The pace was nice and moderate along the ridgeline road, and I was able to get to the next aid station at Kolob Basin (mile 14.8) in 3:59. I refilled my bottles, grabbed some melon and headed out. I looked back down the road leading up to the aid station I saw Bob coming up the road. I guess it was time for me to leave so I thanked the aid station workers as I left and headed down a nice, rocky trail.

The trail eventually led to another dirt road (probably the same one we were on earlier) that rolled up and down gradually for about a mile. The road eventually turned off to the left and I ran the road down from here all the way to mile 22 aid station. I wasn't hammering it, but the pace felt good and relaxed. As usual with this segment I passed a ton of people here. Some were early starters but a lot were people I was running with earlier. I didn't walk one step these 6 miles. I got to the 21.8 mile point in 5:17. I took a minute to refill and eat. I got into my drop bag and sucked down an Ensure, changed hats, refilled my pack with drink mix and food and made my way out. This year, we had to continue on the dirt road about a mile before hitting the paved road known as Hobble Creek Road. In the past, the aid station was right at Hobble Creek, but due to an asshole property owner the aid was moved up the dirt road a mile. This is by far one of the worse sections of the race: it's paved, it's usually hot, and it's straight and boring. But it didn't go badly here at all. It was warm here, but with the breeze we had along the road made it feel very bearable this year. I ran the flats and downs, walked the ups here. No sense in overdoing it as I knew the next climbs after 26 miles are energy sappers. I ended up running most of the ¾ mile of road leading up to the next aid station at mile 26.3. Before I knew it, there it was, 6 hours and 17 minutes into the run. John was there and threw on a nice, cool towellette behind my neck to cool me off some. I grabbed some melon, coke, refilled my bottles and headed out with a popsicle in my hand up the dusty dirt road.

This section usually kicks my ass so I went easy here but kept the walking brisk. The first 3.5 miles are on dusty jeep, 4x4 roads. About a mile up we had a stream crossing to deal with. There was a log there, but being my balance is shitty, I opted to walk on through it as it wasn’t very deep. The water felt good on my feet! More uphills on the road, and eventually I got to the next aid station at mile 30.1 in 7:29. Again, slower than last time by about 20 minutes, but who cares? Grabbed some more food, got my bottles and sat down to access my last drop bag. I’ve had a history with turned ankles of late, so I put on some ankle braces here to help me down the last 8 miles of steep rocky trail of the race. I also changed shoes, ones that were a little bigger (as my feet swell up) and had a more aggressive tread on the sole to deal with the snow and rocks on the descent in 10 miles. I also grabbed on extra bottle, as I would need it for the 33 to 41 mile segment of the run heading up to Windy Pass. I spent about 10 minutes here but it was time well spent. I got up and left.

This next section really kicks your butt. Right off the bat we had to go along a minor stream which was also a trail leading up to the start of our big climb through a huge meadow. Pretty much an uphill grunt until the last .8 miles leading to the next aid station is all downhill. Got to the 33 mile aid station in 8:40, about 50 minutes before the cutoff. Sweet! Now I knew I had a finish in, as there is no final cutoff for a finish. At this point, everyone who makes it here in time is committed to a finish, no matter how long it takes to get to the end. I like this aspect of the race, since the pressure is off in getting done by a set time and you can concentrate on other things, like tackling the big climb up to Windy Pass at mile 40.

After sucking down a root beer and some fruit, I took off down the trail. A runner up ahead was asking how far it was to the big climb, and I told him about 6 miles ahead. I ended up running with him and talking with him until that climb. Wally Heseltine was his name, and we had a nice chat along the way. Another runner, Andrew Barney, a local, caught up with us and we talked and made the miles go quicker. We got about 2 miles out of the aid station when I realized I forgot to fill up my 3rd bottle. Shit!! Too late to go back now. My mission was to find some goodhearted runner with extra water to lend me, as my 2 bottles weren’t going to last long enough until the next aid station. At one point, the trail headed down and I picked up the pace, as I was watching the clouds overhead build up and I wanted to get off the high point before the lightning hit. I did pass several other runners and asked if they had any extra water, but not enough to spare for me.

After about 2 hours, the big climb was upon me. I now made my way slowly up the rocky trail (no snow here as in the past) and would aim to walk about a 100 feet or so and stop to catch a breath. This was a mile long climb gaining about 1200 feet in elevation along the way. I eventually caught up with an older runner who was bent over catching a breath. I asked him if he was okay, and he mentioned his heart was racing and causing his finger to throb. He then showed my bandaged finger which he sliced upon falling just before Hobble Creek. As he said, “...sliced it open to the bone”! He said he was okay but was going to take it easy going up. I noticed he had two full bottles in his pack. Feeling a bit guilty as to his condition and to what I was going to ask next, I asked if he had any spare water as I was about out. He gladly offered me as much as I wanted. I ended up only taking half a bottle, as I figured this would get me to the next aid station. I also didn’t want to be greedy and take a lot of his water. I thanked him and continued on my way up to the top.

It took about 40 minutes for me to reach the top, and by that time it was much less steep and runnable. The high point, at mile 40.8, topped out on my GPS at 9450’. I looked off to my right and down the valley below and saw the building for the last aid station before the last paved road section to the end. I had to traverse some snow fields on the way down to the next aid station a mile distant. I finally rolled into the aid station, mile 41.8, at 12:18 into the race. It took me 3 hours and 17 minutes to get here from the previous aid station.

I refilled my bottles (all of them this time, although it wasn’t really needed), grabbed some food and thanked the aid station workers for coming out here helping. These guys (gals) had to hike up the trail I was about to run down for the next 6 miles: steep, rocky, and twisty. They also had to haul up all their gear, supplies as well. They had a spring nearby as to fill water containers. I’m always in awe of these folks!

Made the descent down the hill, with a few patches of snow near the top to get over. I kept tripping on rocks as I made my way down the steep and rocky trail. This was getting annoying and after the 3rd trip, I yelled out “Goddammit Dale! Pick up yer fucking feet!!” It didn’t help, but it made me feel better until the next trip. Finally, after about 4.5 miles the trail mellowed out and was more runnable. Hot damn! I can run more now, and got to the open meadow which was a nice paced run now. More dirt road and then the last aid station, at mile 47, was just ahead. I stopped and filled one bottle of ice water, grabbed a coke, and left. It was 13:41 into the run now, and knew a sub-14 hour finish was impossible, so I just jogged the last 3 miles of paved road to the finish. Except for one brief uphill section, I ran the bulk of it. When I saw the houses just ahead and to my left, I knew I was less than ¾ mile from the end. I picked up the pace a bit and ran it in for the finish in 14:20. It took me 39 minutes to run the last 3.5 miles of road, pretty good time for me this long into the run.

While I didn't get a PR this year, I was extremely pleased with how I ran the race, and not be totally trashed at the end.

As I crossed the finish line Matt and Ed Green were there to offer congrats. I was a bit bummed when I went to the food table that most of the food was gone. I sat down and ate a popsicle and chatted with Matt, Ed, Wally, and others I met during the day, waiting for Bob. I was hoping he had made the final cutoff. I checked with the finish line crew who were tracking runners and they said he had just left the last aid station. Bob finally ran in at 15:20, apparently doing 3 extra miles in the process. He made a wrong turn after the 33 mile aid station and had to go back to where he missed a turn to proceed on. If he hadn’t of made that wrong turn I suspect he would have caught up with me on the steep downhill and we could have finished together.

I followed my plan for the most part: take advantage of the cool at the start, go slow and easy while it's warm, and walk the hills easy and run the downhills.
This was number four for me at Squaw Peak.

I'll be back, hopefully, next year for number 5.

2009 Rocky “You’re So Screwed Dale” Raccoon

2009-02-23T19:35:00.009-07:00

Lt. Muldoon: You want the story? I'll spin it for you quick. – Deathproof

Despite misgivings and hoping for a sub 28 hour finish, I finished in 26:43.

Thanksgiving' Announcer: White meat, dark meat. All will be carved. THANKSGIVING. – Grindhouse

Yet another trip to Huntsville, Texas for more romping at Huntsville State Park and the 2009 Rocky Raccoon 100 mile run. This year, my eighth visit to the race, I flew out with Colorado buddy Scott Olmer. At the airport gate, we met up with Matt and Anne Watts who were doing the 100 miler, and later Dan Schmidt, Carol Gerber, both doing the 50 miler. This year, the RD Joe Prusaitis, made some significant changes to the course. I was anxious to try out the new course. It looked like it might be a bit faster than before. It turned out with the more single track trails, it was a bit slower than before. More on this later.

Scott and I arrived in Houston, got the rental car, and headed out for Huntsville. After the obligatory traffic jam north of Houston, we stopped at a Taco Bell for some food to hold us over until dinner. Got to the park around 4 PM, picked up our race packets and spent some time talking to old running friends (Phil Rosenstein, Beth Simpson, Ben Holmes, Larry Hall, Dennis Drey, and many others) and catching up. We decided to leave just before the race brief and check into the hotel.

While Scott took a short nap, I unpacked and got most of my stuff ready, organized and sorted for the weekend’s journey. We’d be going to our car at the end of each 20 mile loop and I wanted to have everything in some semblance of order as to minimize time at the car. I had more clothes than I probably needed, as the temperatures were going to be in the upper-70’s during the day and mid-50’s at night. But you never know, so just in case I had more wintertime gear if needed.

J.T.: Hey, hey. You want some barbeque? Best in Texas.
Cherry: Oh, no thanks.
J.T.: What's the matter? You don't eat meat?
Cherry: Oh, I eat meat. I also eat lots of shit. – Planet Terror

It was now time to go eat, and Scott and I headed off to town in search of BBQ. Scott stumbled on this place a few years back with another running friend, Ed Green, and it sounded like a good place to try out. It was! For $12 we got a huge helping of brisket, sausage, potato salad, beans, and pecan cobbler. I’m not knocking Joe’s pre-race feed of pasta, but this was far better! We’ll have to keep this one for next year as well. On the way back to the hotel, picked up some brews.

Went back to the hotel sated, relaxed and after a beer finally hit the sheets around 10 PM.

Hanging Lady: Nervous?
Ted Striker: Yes.
Hanging Lady: First time?
Ted Striker: No, I've been nervous lots of times. – Airplane!

Scott and I woke up around 3:30 AM, did the usual pre-race rituals and got the car loaded and on the road by 4:15 AM. We wanted to get there early enough for a close-in parking spot to the start-finish area. Got to the park and the gates were closed, and 5 other cars ahead of us waiting to get in as well. After a few minutes, the gates were opened. Ended up parking off the main road right across the start/finish tent. Not ideal, but better than other locations. I tried to nap, but was too jittery so got up and used the porta john, and ended up talking to Jean-Jacques d’Aquin for a bit. Got back to the car and did a last minute lookover before heading over to the tent to check in.

Newscaster: I'm not wearing any pants. Film at eleven. – Kentucky Fried Movie

Union Army officer: Now get back in line before I kick you so hard you'll be wearin' your ass for a hat. – The Outlaw Josey Wales

Ended up being the first one to check in, but the line quickly grew behind me. Stood around waiting for the race to start, talking with other runners. Finally, it was time to line up and wait for the start. After Joe yelled “GO!” we were off into the darkness. Scott and I ended up running together from the start, and we soon started singing hash songs:

“There was a little bird….”

“I used to work in Chicago in an old department store…..”

“Hitler! He only had one ball…..”

Asshole, asshole, a soldier I will be. …..”

Steve McCroskey: Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines. – Airplane!

About a half mile into the run, we made a left turn, signaling the beginning of the new course. I was pretty disoriented at this point due to the darkness and not really knowing where we will go. The trail did a lot of meandering and turning, but it was well marked and easy to follow. It wasn’t until the sun started breaking when we got to Amy’s Crossing that it started to make sense. Up to that point, however, I hadn’t a clue as to where we went or how we got here. Even here though, we weren’t too sure about the trail until we came up to the dam road when it really hit us where we were. Not long after we hit the second aid station, Dam Road, 6.1 miles into the race. I was still good on fluids so I just yelled out my race number and continued on. It was sometime during this segment that Scott and I decided to hit the afterburners to get away from a couple of chattering guys citing research results from the Harvard Law Review and some such drivel.

Stuntman Mike: Ladies, we're gonna have some fun.
– Deathproof

We progressed up what used to be called the Farside Loop, but instead of turning around at an aid station 2.5 miles up the trail, we continued on trail for a bit and came up to a checkpoint where they all tried to keep everyone straight and no cheating. We then continued on and headed back on a different trail, through what I call the “enchanted forest” of tripping roots and ups and downs. This was in reverse direction of what we ran in previous years. We got to the dam, and headed down the spillway and not long after we took a right turn which brought us back to the road leading to the Dam Aid Station we just came from 6 miles previous, but in the opposite direction and avoiding the Farside rebound section. Much improved, in my opinion.

Josey Wales: You have any food here?
Lone Watie: All I have is a piece of hard rock candy. But it's not for eatin'. It's just for lookin' through. – The Outlaw Josey Wales

Refilled my bottles and grabbed a coke, and headed out in the direction back towards Amy’s Crossing. Once there, we made a left turn and headed up the road which used to be the location of the first aid station. We continued on around and about 200 yards later we came to the main park road and the aid station there, called Park Road. Once again, filled my bottles and grabbed a coke and some oranges.

The next mile or so of new course trail turns into one of my favorites: rolling hills, fairly straight and no roots to trip on. Very nice. We then turned off back onto the trail we started out at the beginning of the loop which meanders for a few miles before connecting the path along the main road.

Ted Striker: It was a rough place - the seediest dive on the wharf. Populated with every reject and cutthroat from Bombay to Calcutta. It's worse than Detroit.
– Airplane!

Before long, we made our last left turn and down the hill was the aid station. Somehow, I figured it was further down, but this is a great location now. Scott and I both chipped in on the scanning mat for the first loop time of 3:50, and we headed over to the car to change clothes and refill our packs.

Narrator: Brutal! Savage! Beyond Perversion! – Kentucky Fried Movie

One loop down, four to go! So far, so good. I ended up spending a bit more time at the car changing out of my wet long sleeve and opted into a more cooler sleeveless SLUG shirt as it was starting to get warm out. Scott told me he had to hit the head. By the time I got back to the start tent, I didn’t see him so I figured he went on ahead.

First Jive Dude: Pray to J I get the same ol' same ol'.
Second Jive Dude: Eh. Yo knock yourself a pro slick, gray matter live performas down now take TCB'in man.
First Jive Dude: Hey, you know what they say... See a broad, to get that booty yak 'em.
First Jive Dude, Second Jive Dude: Leg 'er down 'n smack 'em yak 'em
First Jive Dude: Cold got to be. You know? Shiiiiit. - Airplane!

Now we got to see the course we missed at night. It all fit together now. We ended up taking parts of the old course that took us along the shoreline to the old 174 aid station and meandered around a bit back to the Interpretive Center (now an aid station). Crossed the road and back on the same old familiar trail to Amy’s Crossing. By about this time, Scott caught up to me and we ran together for most of the remainder of the loop. We were joined a bit later along the road climbing up the last aid station by Charlie Leonard from NY.

Trailer voiceover: You'll come home for the holidays... in a body bag.
– Grindhouse

Got to the Park Road Aid Station and had a small bit of ice cream! Man, that sure hit the spot. As we were leaving,we saw Phil Rosenstein lying on the ground with an ice pack on his lower back. Apparently he twisted it as he stumbled on some roots earlier. This was his second and last lap. I felt bad for him as he was on an awesome pace.

Captain Oveur: You ever seen a grown man naked? – Airplane!

Captain Oveur: Joey, have you ever been to a Turkish prison? – Airplane!

Captain Oveur: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? – Airplane!

We continued our way down the straight rolling trail and caught up to a group of runners, one of them wearing a blue SLUG shirt. I asked him his name, David Yak (I think). They were doing the 50 miler. Scott and I started into Airplane! quotes and one of them responded “Airplane!”. Soon we made the last right turn onto the bike path leading back to the turnaround. Got here in 8:07, or a 4:17 loop time. Went to the car and refilled and put on the headphones for the ipod. Time for distractions of music to get me through the next loops. It’s getting hotter out and nothing like some tunes to distract you from your environment. Scott left the car before I did and I figured I catch up to him later.

Hornung: Your Honor, I object to this line of questioning.
Judge: Overruled.
Hornung: Very well, then; I'd like some time to go over my briefs.
Judge: Please.
Hornung: [inspects his underwear] They're fine. – Kentucky Fried Movie

So here I was starting loop 3 and I started to feel some chaffing in the shorts. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice it back at the car and take care of it (via the old trusty A&D Ointment application) so I’d have to remember to use Vaseline at the next station. Other than that, I was feeling pretty good and moving well. It was noticeably warmer now so I decided to back off on the pace a bit and go easy. Better to go a little slower now versus dying later. I was also noticing my stomach was getting a bit uneasy and got that old familiar bloating sensation I got at Lean Horse last year. I decided I’d better start alternating energy drink and water in my bottles. For now, I decided to back off the calories and go straight water for at least the next hour. Too many calories going in as I was drinking more in the heat. I’d take in cups of Coke to supplement the loss and eat more solid food.

Announcer: [voiceover] But they soon realize...
The Boss: He's coming after *us*!
[cut to Machete opening his jacket to reveal an arsenal of machetes]
Announcer: They just fucked with the wrong Mexican! – Grindhouse

Charlie caught up with me and we ran together talking about various stuff that under normal circumstances would be boring. Yet somehow, during a run it gets very interesting. I was trying to figure out where the 50 mile point is and decided it was somewhere near the bench at the top of the climb into the Enchanged Forest. Close enough anyway, as it was 10:35 on my watch at this point. Got back to the Dam aid station before I knew it, refilled with water, grabbed some fruit and a sandwich, and got outta there. Charlie was ahead a bit but I ended up catching up to him on the road up to the last aid station. Then I saw Scott ahead, so I decided to run a bit more and catch up to him, Charlie in tow. Got to the aid station and they offered more ice cream. This time I took a whole cup full. Man, this tasted great! Scott took some apple pie slices with his ice cream. This became my favorite aid station.

Warden Samuel Norton: Lord! It's a miracle! Man up and vanished like a fart in the wind! – Shawshank Redemption

We all got back to the turnaround in 12:55 for 60 miles, or a 4:52 time for loop 3. Again, I meandered my way back to the car, but spent more time here. The sun had set by now and I wanted to make sure I had my good light with me, change into a different short-sleeved shirt, sucked down a Starbucks Double Shot, A&D, etc. Scott was already gone. This would be the last I would see of him, except on the out and backs. No worries, I just wanted a finish and a sub-24 hour, while nice, wasn’t in the plan for this weekend.

[Thinking to himself]
Ted Striker: I've got to concentrate...
[his thoughts echo]
Ted Striker: concentrate... concentrate... I've got to concentrate... concentrate... concentrate... Hello?... hello... hello... Echo... echo... echo... Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbon... Manny Mota... Mota... Mota... – Airplane!

So here I was starting my fourth loop, which typically is my toughest loop, mentally, to get through. IT was now totally dark, although there was a full moon, but the heavy forest canopy prevented much of that moonlight from reaching the trails. Full illumination was needed to avoid a trip or fall. All in all, a fairly good pace considering, and I was passing people here and there (although I was being passed by the faster runners, more than likely lapped by the front runners). Remarkably, I was able to get through the roots in the Enchanted Forest without tripping. Still passing runners, who were walking by now, and I would see more lights ahead and try to catch up. Got to the Park Road aid station, and opting out of ice cream now took some hot soup instead. It was starting to get cooler now and I was going to need to change into a long-sleeved shirt back at the car. Crossed the timing mat in 18:39, or a 5:43 loop.

Rumack: What was it we had for dinner tonight?
Elaine Dickinson: Well, we had a choice of steak or fish.
Rumack: Yes, yes, I remember, I had lasagna. - Airplane!

Got back to the car and reapplied A&D as I was really starting to fart more with the dreaded chafed cheek syndrome. Changed into a long-sleeved shirt, sucked down another Starbucks and refilled my pack. I was starting to feel pretty tired by now, but that was probably more to the lack of sleep than anything else. Got back to the turnaround tent and saw Anne Watts there waiting for Matt. Larry Hall came up to me and told me “git going!”. I replied “Sir Yes Sir!” It was now shortly before 1 AM, and decided that a sub-24 hour time is not reasonable so I decided to walk a bit now as I was fairly tired.

Rex Kramer: Our only hope is to build this man up. We gotta give him all the confidence we can.
Rex Kramer: Striker, have you ever flown a multi-engine plane before?
Ted Striker: No, never.
Rex Kramer: [with the microphone still on] Shit. This is a God damn waste of time. There's no way he can land this plane. – Airplane!

So it was walk mode for me. I was doing some mental math in my head, and figured that if I could walk this in 6 hours then I’d have 25 hour finish. Or perhaps a 26 hour finish. In any event, it looked like I would be able to finish so I decided to take my time.

Lone Watie: Get ready, little lady. Hell is coming to breakfast.
– The Outlaw Josey Wales

Got to the first aid station and grabbed a coke. I took solace in the fact this is the last time through here. This perked me up some and I actually picked up the pace a bit, still walking. Got to Amy’s Crossing and made my way onto the trail leading to the Dam aid station. It was getting a bit chilly here and there, so I was glad I had my long-sleever on. Got to the aid station and sat down in front of the heater and asked for some hot chocolate. I was probably here for about 10 minutes. Reluctantly I got up, but had to in order to finish. As I was making my way out I spotted Scott coming in. He was hoping for a negative split on this loop versus the previous loop, so we didn’t talk too long. Looked like he was on pace for a sub-24 hour time.

Mrs. Geline: I haven't felt this awful since we saw that Ronald Reagan film.
– Airplane!

It was a slow trudge up the Farside trail, and having to dodge the roots was a royal pain. Again, I told myself this was last time I’d see it this year so it made me feel a bit better. As I was nearing the Farside checkpoint, Beth Simpson passed me. She told me this was here 6th time here, and probably her last for awhile. She figured she was far enough away from the 1000 mile jacket that not coming back wouldn’t hurt do much. She asked me how many finishes for me. I told her this will be my 7th. Her response was priceless: “You’re so screwed Dale!” We both laughed at that and she went on ahead. When I got to the checkpoint I thanked them for being out here.

Henry Gibson: Although, so far there's no known treatment for death's crippling effects, still everyone can acquaint himself with the three early warning signs of death: one, rigor mortis; two, a rotting smell; three, occasional drowsiness.
– Kentucky Fried Movie

There were some places I tried to run, but couldn’t muster it. My legs were too stiff and my feet were starting to ache some. Got back to the Dam aid station and again sat down and asked for hot chocolate. A nice lady came up to me and asked if I needed some work on my legs. I said that would be nice. It felt great, until she moved up to my shoulders and I winced at that, saying let’s forget that for awhile. I only had 8 more miles to go so it wasn’t that important. I was here about 15 minutes, and decided I better get up and get going.

Controller: Bad news. The fog's getting thicker.
Johnny: [jumps to an overweight controller] And Leon is getting laaaaarrrrrger.
- Airplane!

Made my way up down the road, back onto the trail towards Amy’s Crossing. By this time it was starting to get light. As I was making my way back up the road to Park Road aid, I heard water dripping on the trees and ferns. It wasn’t raining, but rather foggy. When I got to the top of the road overlooking the Interstate just feet ahead, there was a heavy mist in the air. Luckily it was just that and no rain as I didn’t bring along my jacket.

Captain Oveur: What is it, Doctor? What's going on?
Rumack: I'm not sure. I haven't seen anything like this since the Anita Bryant concert. – Airplane!

Got to the Park Road aid station and just refilled a bottle, grabbed a coke and put away the flashlight. Just a little over 3 miles to go now. It was a serious trudge now. It seemed like an eternity since I began this last loop. I was looking for now familiar landmarks marking my progress. 2.5 miles, 2 miles, 1 mile. Marty Fritzhand and Dennis Drey passed me with about a mile to go. Marty asked if there was anything he could do for me (as I was walking). I said softly “A blowjob would be nice.” His son was pacing him just ahead and overheard and broke up laughing. We all started laughing and they picked up the pace with a jog. I tried to follow suit but couldn’t muster it. Pity. I would have enjoyed finishing along with Marty and Dennis. Not long to go though until the end.

I made my final turn out of the forest and onto the bike path, just a half mile to go. Then my last left turn towards the finish line. Lots of people there were cheering. Scott was there, as well as Ben Holmes. Not sure why, but my eyes welled up and I was weeping as I crossed the finish line. 26:43! I was very happy with that time. I saw Joe Prusaitis and thanked him for another great run, and a great new course. A lower than normal finishing rate this year, primarily due to the warm temps: 68%. I think the new revised course is a lot better, and is probably a bit slower than in the past with more singletrack trail to run on versus dirt roads. I’ll take this negative aspect over not having to do those bloody Farside out and backs any time.

Henry Gibson: It is also important to know what to do you when you die.
1) Don't try to drive a car.
2) Do not operate heavy machinery.
3) Do not talk. – Kentucky Fried Movie

I sat down and Scott came up and said congrats, as well as Ben. Ben had to drop after 3 loops due to plantar issues in his feet. Been there, done that, totally understood. Man, I was beat. After a few minutes of sitting I got up and Scott and I headed back to the car for a little sleep.

Taking a shower was a major effort, slow and awkward, but I felt great at the end of it. We made our way over to the lodge waiting for breakfast. They weren’t quite ready yet, so we all waited, Scott, Marty and myself. But it was worth it and it tasted great. I had a great a great catchup conversation with my SLUG friend Jan Ryerse at the breakfast. He had a good finish as well. Scott and I then decided to head to the airport after the awards ceremony.

Another Rocky in the books, number 7. Yep. Beth was right on: I’m so screwed!

Prognosis: Good

2008-09-19T09:39:00.005-06:00

I saw my foot doctor yesterday, and he was very happy with the progress over the last two weeks. Instead of a 4 inch wide area of tenderness with my tendonitis (Posterior Tibial Tendonitis), it is focused on a very small area, about an inch. He told me that means it's healing up very well, and that this tender area is focused on where I did the tear. I'm still going to have to live in the ankle brace for another 3-4 weeks, and he showed me how to tape the ankle for added support. It will help at Heartland, just 3 weeks away. I wanted to get his opinion on whether I needed to cancel the run, or go as planned. He told me if it hadn't improved much from two weeks ago, he would have advised against running it. He believes I will be fine. But I'll have to 'baby' it for awhile still, and I'll need to avoid rough and rocky trails for the time being, at least until it's healed enough to deal with the uneven side-to-side terrain of trails. Looks like more boring flat dirt and rolling dirt roads at least until Heartland.

At least I can still proceed with focusing on the 3 100's scheduled the next few months for my Fall of Pain Series: Heartland, Motherroad II and Javelina.

Pain In My Foot

2008-09-08T12:24:00.004-06:00

It seems I have a sprain in my right foot, on the left side this time. I've had it for awhile now, I just didn't realize it. In fact, I had it while running Lean Horse a few weeks ago. Originally I thought it was Plantar Fasciitis, but it seemed a little higher up than usual. I wrapped my foot with tape for the run for plantar type issues. I was a bit alarmed when I took off the tape and saw it slightly swollen and some bruising, down along my big toe.

I finally got to see my podiatrist to take a look at it, and he was puzzled as to why I had it. I didn't feel a pop, hear a pop, or hit it on anything. He told me to wear a brace for two weeks 24/7 and see how it feels then. He allowed me to go back to normal running (good thing, as I was going to anyway) but take notice of any pain in that area. This is a little more serious than my other sprains of late, which are usually on the anterior (outward) side of my foot and are easily braced. This sprain could lead to fallen arches and surgery if the tendon does rupture away from the talus of my foot. Since I've been running on it for the past 3 weeks (albeit taped) I'm not overly concerned. The pain is also not a lot (a 2 on a 1 to 10 scale). He thinks I'll be okay in a few weeks. I already feel a lot better with the brace supporting it. I was going to run this past weekend, but I opted to let the foot heal up a bit and besides, I had a ton of shit to do around the house this weekend anyway that had a higher calling and larger pull on me. I was going to run today but it's raining and cool out, so I'll opt to run tomorrow when it's supposed to be back into the 70's and sunny again.

Lean Horse Came Up Skinny

2008-08-29T13:22:00.013-06:00

Not an auspicious start to my fall slam. In fact, you can say it’s over.

“Over?! Did you say ‘over’?! Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?” -– Animal House

Okay, I didn’t manage to finish Lean Horse, the first leg of my four 100 miler slam this year. I still have three to go. So it ain’t over yet.

I had a lofty goal of finishing in under 24 hours, but realistically was hoping for a finish under 28 hours. I haven’t done the kind of training of late needed to finish a 100 miler. Although Lean Horse is not an overly difficult 100, it’s still a 100 miles and, as I know all too well, anything can happen over the course of something like this. I was about to experience something new on the journey that I have never had to deal with before, but have heard about from a lot from other 100 milers: stomach bloating. Severe stomach distress. Dry heaves.

I drove up to Hot Springs SD early Friday morning and got there around 1 in the afternoon. Checked in and got my race packet, talked with Ulli Kamm and his wife Traudl, and met up with Pat standing in the doorway. So I went out and met his mom Mazie and Karen. They would meet me after the pre-race briefing and we would go out for dinner in town. Got to the hotel room and started sorting out stuff. Eventually I left for the briefing. Dropped off my four drop bags and talked to several people before going into the auditorium for the briefing: very low key and it was mostly a question and answer format. The RD Jerry mentioned that although cutoffs are published for the latter aid stations, he wasn’t going to enforce them too severely. “You guys came here to run so why should I stand in your way”. At the end, met up with Pat, Karen and Mazie and we did a brief tour of the first 16 miles of the course, which is in town and eventually along a rolling dirt road that takes us to the Mickelson Trail, a “rails to trails” trail which is very smooth and a gradual uphill.

Along the way we saw a wild turkey with her chicks. I hurried to get out of the car and snap a picture, and managed to get the chicks in mid-flight. After that we headed back to town and we picked up Pat’s brother Mike and we all went to the Mammoth Grille for dinner. Dinner was okay, and I got dropped off at my hotel to get ready for the next days’ run.

Got up early and did the usual pre-race stuff. It was a bit cool out, so I opted to layer: a short sleeve under a long sleeve shirt. I decided not to bring gloves or a warm hat, as I knew I would warm up quickly once started. Put on my regular ball cap, and was ready to roll. Filled up my two bottles with my energy drink, and stashed another bag of mix in my waist pack that should get me to the first drop bag at the Argyle Road aid station 16 miles in. Drove over to the race start and hung out and talked to various runners. Soon we were herded outside and behind the civic center building for the start. I tried to position myself towards the back so as to not get swept up in the early fury of the start.

Then we were off with the word “GO!” from Jerry. The first mile and change took us through town. I looked at my watch at various times and saw the pace was about 10:30. Not overly fast, but not slow either. It felt good so I kept it there for a while. We then made it onto a dirt road and the start of many rolling hills. I opted to walk the hills, as it afforded me the opportunity to take it easy early and not shoot my wad early. I was amazed though at the number of runner, most of them 50 milers, but there were a good number of 100 milers, who were running the hills. I thought to myself more power to them, as I’m going to run my race, and not theirs. I had written down splits for what I thought would be a sub-24 hour pace, and I hit the first aid station at Coldbrook at 4.1 miles in 42:39. This was right on the split I projected. So far so good. Not needing anything I breezed on through.

We soon came to a nice open meadow that connected us from the dirt road we were on to the Argyle Road that would take us to the Mickelson Trail ahead. Jerry had mentioned that there was one less aid station on the road, making the aid station distances around 4 miles, 10 miles, and 16 miles. At this point the road meandered through open country of farms and neighborhoods. It really reminded me a lot of Heartland, in that the road was a constant up and down of rolling hills, nothing steep and long, but without Heartland’s rocks and lack of trees.

I had projected a time to the next aid station of around 1:48. I hit it in 2:01, 10 miles into the run. I was okay with that, as it was starting to get warmer and I was walking more of the hills. I did take off my long sleeve shirt by this time. I got to the aid station and refilled both of my bottles, figuring an hour to the next one.

I was glad I scouted out the road with Pat and Karen the day before as I was able to get a better feel for this part of the course knowing where the end was. I was now in my run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute mode for nearly an hour. Unfortunately, the hills made it difficult to stick to it too rigorously, as I wanted to walk the hills, not run them. With each hill being completed, I would switch back to running and run for either 4 minutes or the next hill. This seemed to work out fine.

I reached the Argyle aid station, mile 15.7, in 3:06, just 6 minutes behind my split. I spent about 5 minutes here, changing into dry clothes, refilling bottles, refilling my pack, downing an Ensure, etc. until ready to go. It was getting hot by now. I didn’t have my ice hat or bandana until the next drop bag at the Pringle aid station 8 miles distant. I’d be okay until then. Bobby Keough was here helping out so he helped refill bottles for me.

I returned my drop bag and headed out onto the Mickelson. It was a gradual up and so I walked it a bit, then started running. The section between here and the next aid station at Lime Kiln Road was fairly rolling. I ran most of it, but was able to stick to the 4/1 plan easier here as the uphills were very slight. Got to Lime Kiln in 45 minutes, 12 minutes behind my splits. Still okay. Refilled my bottle and went out on my way to Pringle.

I got to Pringle in 4:42, still behind a bit, but feeling pretty good about my pace and hoping I would be able to keep this up, but I knew I was going to slow it down some as it was getting warmer out and the sun was unrelenting by now. Bobby was here to help me and I gave him my ice hat to fill up with ice. I probably spent about 5 minutes here changing stuff and refilling.

“A man drink like that and he don’t eat, he is going to DIE!” -– Blazing Saddles

The next few miles were pretty boring, as the trail was parallel to the main highway leading up to Hill City. I was running with another runner who asked me if I was doing the 50 miler or 100 miler. I said 100. He was doing the 50 and upon reaching the 25 mile mark, he jumped up in the air and came back at me as I cruised on through.

Soon the trail veered off to the left and into the farmland, and I found myself walking more and more due to the heat. I was feeling great but feeling the heat so I wanted to take it easy during the rest of the day.

“How about a Fresca?” -- Caddyshack

Got to the next aid station at Carroll Creek (mile 30) in 6:16, about 25 minutes behind. Bobby was here waiting for his runner Dennis Drey and I decided to sit down and get some ice cold beverages, refill the ice hat and bandana, and ate a sandwich. I think I was here about 10 minutes, so I decided it was time to head on out.

From here on, it was mostly a walk. I kept looking at my watch for the pace and I was hovering around 14:30 minute miles, so not too bad. It took me about an hour and a half to get to Custer and the next aid station, at mile 36. I was here about 10 minutes, getting my hat and bandana refilled with ice, sucked down a few ice cokes and refilled my bottles with mix. Got up and headed out through town.

“Am I going mad, or did the work ‘think’ escape your lips?” -– Princess Bride

The next 5 miles to the Mountain aid station was all walking, although I was able to keep up with a few runners ahead (who were jogging) and passed several people walking. I guess my forward progress is okay. I had been doing a lot of powerwalking on my training runs this year to try to improve my walking. I guess that was paying off. By the time I got to the Mountain aid station at mile 41, I was starting to feel a little off. Not sure what it was, so I sat down and downed a few ice cokes, had my hat and bandana refilled with ice. The aid station volunteer was really taken with my hat and bandana. The hat has a zipper compartment that allows you to add ice to it, so the ice stays in the hat and doesn’t fall out over your head. The bandana is a specially made item that is a bandana sewn together in half, with a chamois inside and little openings on either side to add ice. So again, the ice doesn’t fall out and stays inside. I decided to use one bottle of mix and one bottle of ice water at this point.

It was now 9:05 into the race, and I was hoping to be able to make the 50 mile turnaround in under 11 hours now. As we left, we had another mile or so of uphill, then a nice gradual downhill for several miles until the next aid station. As I was walking up to the top, I noticed Crazy Horse Monument to my right. Pretty cool sight. As my eyes were a little dry and fuzzy, I couldn’t make out the intricate details, but enough to see what it was. I also kept seeing helicopters flying back and forth overhead, which I found out later was a helicopter tour over the area.

“A Man’s got to know his limitations.” -– Dirty Harry

By now I realized I may be having some trouble. I couldn’t run much of the downhill, and my belly felt really full land bloated. I looked down and noticed it was a bit distended and sloshy. Shit! I have been electrolytes regularly every hour, and was peeing about once every 1.5 to 2 hours, so normal for me. I wasn’t sure what was going on here, but it was pissing me off as I couldn’t run much here. I’d run, but only for a minute or so and had to revert back to walking. So I resigned myself to walking for awhile. I was hoping I would feel better and be able to run more as the daytime sun started setting and it got a little cooler.

“I guess sometimes the past just catches up with you, whether you want it or not.” -– The Green Mile

I got to the next aid station at mile 47 in 10:38. I was really feeling bad by now, I saw Bobby and he offered me some ginger to try. I took it but it didn’t really help. I sat down for a bit and took in some ice coke. I asked the aid station people what mile it was and they said 45 miles. My GPS said 47.2. Shit! So I got up and left thinking it was going to take another 90 minutes to the turnaround (12 hours). To my surprise there was the last aid station in this direction just ahead. I looked at my GPS and it read 49.7. It was only 2.5 miles, not 4! I got here in 55 minutes, or 11:34 total running time.

“Wipe your face before you get up Dean.” -– The Green Mile

I sat down and was really feeling like shit. They offered me a Sprite and a cracker to help settle the stomach. I took them, and not long after I had the urge to vomit. I ran over to the side of the road and puked a ton of liquid out and some chunks of potato I had eaten at the Mountain aid station 2.5 hours earlier. Fuck! I wasn’t processing anything I was eating for at least 3 hours. No wonder I felt like shit. I was going on no calories and just burning my glycogen and fat stores. I sat here for about 23 minutes farting and hoping to feel better with each one, but it wasn’t, so I decided to try to go out and go to the turnaround ¾ mile down. I was hoping I might start feeling better and be able to finish this journey.

“Hey! Did somebody step on a duck?” -– Caddyshack

I got up among much cheering from the aid station folks (who were witnessing my condition) and walked out. I actually was feeling okay, but slow. Got to the turnaround and headed back, then I started getting sick again. More puking. I laid down on the trail for a minute or so hoping the cramping would stop. I even stepped off trail to take a dump. Still didn’t feel good. About 20 feet from the aid station, the cramps were unbearable and I started dry heaving. I don’t like dry heaves, as they really take all your energy away from you. I hunched over the fence for about a minute and decided this was it. This was as far as I can go.

My race was done.

“Percy fucked up, Hal. Pure and simple.
Is that your official position?
Don’t you think it should be?” -– The Green Mile

I finally got a ride out of there with one of the aid station volunteers with another runner who had also dropped. I got back to Hot Springs and my car, and spied the Dairy Queen next door. So I limped on inside in my smelly dirty clothes and ordered a large chocolate malt and a regular cheeseburger. Took them back to the hotel room just a block away and fell on the bed. Man, that malt and burger tasted so good! To my surprise, I kept it all down.

Pat called me not long after wanting to know where I was. I told them I was back at the hotel. They were waiting for me at the Mountain aid station on the return leg. He said they would be there shortly with beer. I got up and took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and waited. They arrived and we took our beers over to the picnic table by the river and talked about the days events, while watching runners come in for their finish.

So…..what went wrong? It took me awhile to figure this out, and I may be wrong, but I believe my problem was too much energy/calorie drinks per hour during the run. What a stupid mistake. This was something I’ve never done before, and knew better. I think the scenario was this: at the start I was drinking a bottle an hour while it was cool. This consisted of my energy/calorie drink mix, which I have used for over a year now, with no problems. Well, as it got warmer, I was drinking about 1.5 to 2 bottles an hour, all energy/calorie drink. My normal routine for hot runs is to alternate my mix with water. So I’d have one bottle of my energy/calorie mix and then I’d have a bottle of water, and I’d continue this routine until it got cooler and I was down to 1 bottle an hour and I’d either go with the energy mix or still alternate, depending on how things were going. I didn’t do that here. It was all energy mix. I did switch to water late in the race (at Mountain) but it was too late by then. All the stuff I had taken in was just sitting in my stomach and not getting processed. The body is an amazing thing. If it gets too much of something it just shuts off and waits to get rid of it via drastic means. All things being equal, this is the only logical explanation as it was something that I normally don’t do but I did. Other than that, at the end and afterward I was feeling alright: no aches, no soreness (except for the feet), no blisters. Just the stomach issues. Like they say, never do anything during the run unless you've trained for it on your training runs. Doh!

In any event, at least I got a good lesson in not what to do, and got in a nice 51 mile training run. I now have 6 weeks to get ready for Heartland, which should be enough time to work out the issues and get back in the swing of training.

One thing’s for sure: next year “I’ll be back” -– The Terminator

Off To South Dakota

2008-08-21T15:01:00.003-06:00

I'll be heading out to South Dakota Friday morning to start my Fall Odyssey Slam with Lean Horse 100. I'm as trained as I'll ever be, so I hope it's enough. I did 40 minutes on the stairmonster Sunday afternoon after the Leadville Rainfest, and I did an easy hour on trails Tuesday, and about 35 minutes on trails and dirt roads Wednesday. Since it was in the 80's both days I wanted to get some acclimatization done before the weekend race, which looks to be in the low-80's as well. At least no rain, according to the latest forecasts for the area. I need to get a few last minute items from the store so I can throw them into my various drop bags for the race. Perhaps tonight I can actually watch some Olympics instead of packing things for the trip. Hopefully my race plan is good and I can get in a decent finish there.

Git 'Er Dunn!

2008-08-20T10:34:00.016-06:00

It was a wet and wild weekend up in Leadville this past weekend: snow, thunderstorms, hail, rain, wind, rain, thunderstorms, hail, rain. Did I mention rain? Oh, it was also cold.

Vince Gerber and I went up to Leadville this year to help our good buddy Ron get a tenth finish in. Along with his crew: Norma, his wife, and Jan and Chris (loyal crew members for years) we all wanted and said one thing: “Dammit Ron! Get that big 1000 mile buckle!” In other words, ‘Git ‘er’dunn’.

This was one year I was hoping my weather forecast during the race would be wrong. Actually, I thought there would be snow at the start, and it was quite nice for the start of the race, where 452 hardy souls took off into the cold dark. From then on, it rained off and on all morning and into the afternoon. There were periods of breaking clouds and blue skies, and it wasn’t until Saturday afternoon that it finally cleared up enough to make a favorable impression of all involved.

I got up to Leadville Thursday afternoon in time for the pasta dinner, but no Ron to be found. So I went ahead and got my dinner and ate, talking to some familiar faces (Larry Hall, Beth Simpson-Hall, Paul Schoenlaub, to name a few). Finally Ron, Norma, Chris and Jan show up and we have a nice conversation. I notice Ron is coughing a bit, remnants from a cold he caught a few weeks earlier. I was hoping it wouldn’t be a problem come race day.

We got back to the RV and found the digs I would be using for the weekend: a smallish tent. At least I would be dry. Ron was supposed to bring up his big family tent for Vince and I were to share. He forgot. So after a few beers and talking, it was time to get some sleep. Got in the tent and found myself fast asleep. I woke up around midnight feeling very cold. I awoke to find the tent door flapping in my face and my head partially stuck outside. Thankfully no rain. I discovered the zipper had failed and the door came apart. I tried to fasten it together with safety pins, but found that wouldn’t keep the rain out, so I decided to take all my stuff into my Pathfinder and sleep in the back. Ron would hear no end of this all weekend.

I got up around 5:30 and took a shower and noticed Jan was up so I decided to go to the RV and see what’s happening. Norma was up making breakfast but Ron was still asleep. Not for long as Norma set off the smoke alarm in the RV getting a pan ready for eggs. After breakfast Ron and I went over to the race check in for the runners medical baseline measurements and such. We ran into Scott Olmer while waiting in line. After Ron and Scott were done, Ron wanted to go back and get some sleep. I went over to Scott and Steph’s Café for breakfast with Scott. We then went driving around afterward, Scott in search of a new housing development in town. We ended up taking a tour of the old mining roads and abandoned mines before finding the new development on the south part of town, located near the town landfill.

Got to the pre-race talk with Scott. Couldn’t find Ron. We were sitting in front of Scott Snyder and John Hobbs. Scott Snyder just coming off a great Badwater run, and John is here for his 13th finish (unlucky 13?). After the talk, went back to Ron’s RV and waited for Vince to show up. He was stuck in traffic on I-70 towards the tunnel due to an accident and crappy weather. The weather here was improving, and sunny so Ron and I ate lunch outside on the picnic table waiting for Vince. Vince finally showed up (bringing the rain with him) and the fun began. Vince gave Norma some zucchini bread his wife Karen made, vowing Vince to let only Norma have any. We then went to Quincy’s for dinner. I had already made alternate means for housing, having begged Karen Pate and Pat Homelvig to allow me a place to stay for the night(s) ahead. I took solace in that I was much more warmer, and comfortable, than Vince in his little one-man tent he brought up.

Went over to Pat and Karen’s around 8:00 PM, Karen and I went over to Rosie’s for takeout waiting for Pat, then went back to the house. I got up around 2:30 and headed over to Ron and Norma’s at 3:00 AM, trying to get some positive vibes in Ron’s direction while he ate breakfast. So far, no rain. Ron, Vince and I walked to the starting line at 3:20. Saw lots of people and made the social rounds with everyone. Soon it was time to start the race, and with the blast of the shotgun, all 452 runners were off. Vince, Norma and I headed back to the trailer for breakfast.

Jan took off for the Fish Hatchery, and Norma left for Twin Lakes around 6:30. Vince and I hung around until 7:30 before heading over to Fish Hatchery to meet Ron, 24 miles into his journey. His estimated time of arrival here was 8:45. While we were waiting, Vince and I had fun calling all the runners going in by nicknames. “Way to go green Mohawk!”, “Looking good tank top!”, etc.. Scott Olmer runs by calling us the ‘Banana Boys’ with our yellow rain jackets on. Scott Snyder comes by, with his wife Katie next to him, and I yell out “Scott! You are looking like shit!” I later checked with Katie if he was okay with that, and she assured me he’d much rather hear stuff like that rather than ‘looking good’ comments. In fact, he actually looked quite good. It was now after 9:00 AM and we were a bit worried. We heard from Jan that Chris saw him at Mayqueen 13 miles in and he was muddy, some blood on his knee and a lost flashlight after a good tumble along the Boulevard 3 miles in to the run.

Vince and I keep our eyes out for Ron. We saw a guy coming in who had on the same shorts, jacket and ugly floppy hat Ron has and so go running up to him and find out: not Ron! Man, it’s daunting to realize there are people out there who look like Ron, much so in the same race! Finally, Ron shows up at around 9:30 AM. I take his empty bottles and Vince goes up to the aid station with him. I grab a rain poncho and some filled bottles and run up there to meet him. I put his bottles into his fanny pack and off he goes after a change of jackets.

Vince and I decided earlier that we would go to Treeline to meet Ron while Jan goes on to Twin Lakes. Vince remembers he left his jacket at the RV, but we dedide to get it after we see Ron at Treeline since it is such a short distance. I have never been here crewing for someone so I was happy to go and see all the runners go through this unofficial aid area, that through the years has become a crewing area and a tradition. After getting lucky and finding a close parking spot, we head up to Halfmoon Road and wait. Soon Ron comes flying by looking great (the break in the weather helped too) and declining any help. So we head back to the RV, get Vince’s jacket, and head on out to Twin Lakes.

We got there around 11:00, and Ron’s expected arrival time of around 12:45 gave us time to take it easy and relax a bit. Vince decided he was going to get his pacing clothes on so when he goes to Winfield to pick up Ron he’d be ready. I find Norma, Jan and Chris hanging out under a canopy they put up near the trailhead and over a picnic table. I’m hungry, so Jan cooks up some burgers for all of us. Now it’s wait time. Since Ron was late getting into Fish, I figured 1:30 PM was our window for his arrival. Well, when it came to 2:00 PM, we were a bit worried. Looking at my watch, I figured Ron’s chances of finishing in time were evaporating which each passing minute. Ron projected a 7.5 hour out to Winfield and back to Twin Lakes. With his slowness and the weather, I figured 8 hours minimum. That put Ron into Twin Lakes after the 9:45 PM cutoff. And the cutoff for coming into Twin Lakes at 2:30 PM was not far.

Ron showed up at around 2:20, so we hustled him through the aid station and to the crew area where we had food ready for him. Molly Barnes was there helping as well, and after Ron sat down to eat she told Ron to get up and take his burger with him. Ron got up without complaint and headed out, in what was probably the quickest rest break for Ron here, about 3 minutes.

Chris was anxious to go to Winfield after Ron left, and he and Vince left about 30 minutes later. I opted to stay behind at Twin Lakes and keep the crew company. While waiting, there was an obnoxious crew person on some other crew who'd yell out "Git 'er Dunn!" each time a runner came by. I wasn't annoyed with it but Jan and Norma were getting tired of hearing it constantly. Finally, Rickie Redland runs by and starts yelling "I'll get it done when I get it done!". At the time I didn't make the connection, but later it became apparent she was rather annoyed with this guy. Runners can get pretty cranky during these things. It did shut him up for some time, but then we had a chuckle when he started back up with it later in the evening. Matt and Anne Watts showed up that afternoon to watch the festivities and wait for their runner Beth Simpson to come in, and I had a nice chat with them while enjoying the now sunny weather. Turned out Beth dropped out at Winfield and Matt ended up pacing Davy Crockett to Fish Hatchery, where he had issues with the rain and cold and dropped as well. It wasn't a pretty sight for seasoned runners this year.

When Ron left Twin Lakes, the weather improved dramatically enough to allow us to see Hope Pass. It stayed fairly clear in that direction for the remainder of the afternoon and evening. Norma, Jan and I made a decision to tear down the canopy after 7:30, since if Ron did make it to Winfield in time, Chris would be back by then and we’d know whether or not to tear down. We finally made the decision around 7:30 PM to take it down. We were bummed but not surprised, since the weather took a toll on Ron’s breathing. Ron soon showed up around 8:30.

Bummed, we headed back to the RV and had some champagne and zucchini bread while watching Michael Phelps win his eighth gold medal. Ron was getting sleepy, so I decided to head over to Pat and Karen’s and Joann Beine arrived and we had a nice conversation till 10:00 PM. Got up early, took a shower and went over to the RV around 6:45 for breakfast. By 8:00 AM we headed over to the finish line to see the last runners come in. The last runner crossed the red carpet in 29:59:35 with much commotion and shouts of “GO! GO! GO!”

Vince, Ron and I went back to the RV and talked a bit, and I decided to head on back before traffic gets too heavy. It was a fun weekend, although bittersweet, but I know Ron will come back to get his 10th finish in. It may not be next year, but I’ll be there and ready whenever he decides to do it, whenever that may be.

Addendum To My Global Cooling Post Below

2008-08-18T14:50:00.005-06:00

The photos were from a training run with Ron last year in prep for last year's run (which was an utter failure for both of us). Some other slacker, who will remain nameless, managed to ike out a finish by running over everyone's backs in the process. So much for "sportsmanship".