Wonderland Trail around Mt Rainier - Aug08

One of the potential downsides to completing a season's "A" race, is the anticlimactic void that can occur once it is over. You spend a lot of physical and mental energy on the Big Event, and if you have nothing to focus on afterwards, you can drift a fair bit.

So, not wanting that to happen, and also because summer is the best time to get out in the PacNW, it was with great enthusiasm that I took up an offer from my pals Sue and Chris to join them on a circumnavigation of Mt. Rainer on the 93-mile Wonderland Trail over three days. Chris was up for a business trip to Seattle, so it was a prefect chance to spend some trail time with my friends from California. The idea was for Sue and I to run segments of the trail, with Chris driving ahead and setting up camp for the night; repeat for three days. Additionally, since I had signed up for my first multi-day stage run at the MOOSE, this would be a perfect opportunity to try out some food, gear, and pacing in a similar format (though the MOOSE staff wouldn't wear the funny hats that Chris does...)

After a loooong drive through border lineups, downtown Seattle at rush hour (had to drop by the nuun offices to say hi), and then some navigational challenges on the way, I finally met up with Sue and Chris at Cougar Rock campsite near our start point of Longmire. I barely had time to scarf a sandwich and down a fabulous Pyramid Thunderhead IPA before jumping into the tent for the night. And what a night - it RAI-HEY-HEY-HEY-NED like the dickens, playing along with our "summer" weather so far, and really giving a nice Pacific NorthWest welcome to the Californians in the crowd.




Day 1: Longmire to Mowich Lake - 10:03, 34.2 miles, 10390' ascent, 8390' descent

In the morning, after some quick oatmeal, packing up wet tents, and arranging supplies into one car, we ventured down to the Longmire Ranger Station to check in when they opened. The guys there were helpful and encouraging, and the trail conditions sounded like they would be OK for us. In the previous weeks, we were concerned about lingering snow conditions on the trail that would add to our challenge. The first hikers were able to get around just the previous week, although we would not be burdened with 60-lb packs, being lightweight- and fleet-of-foot ultrarunners ("they were wearing t-shirts and running shoes!").

And then it started to rain. Ah, the Wet Coast. We shuffled to the "Wonderland Trail" sign, gave a smooch to Chris (well, Sue did, but I declined) and with a quick wave, were off on the adventure. Once in the trees, the rain wasn't too bad, and the temperature was comfortable. We didn't feel in any hurry, but jogged along, taking in the forest sights and scents. We knew this was going to be a long day, based on the estimated mileage and also the trail profile between Longmire and our first camp at Mowich Lake.

We had our first little challenge within about five miles, as the trail ended at a cliff that resulted from a massive creek blowout that scoured a huge swath out of the forest. There was some incredible flooding in many areas here back in 2006 that caused an amazing amount of damage as creeks became rivers and eroded their banks or established new courses. The damage was evident in numerous places around the mountain. There was a vague trail off to the left, and we followed it, hoping it would end up somewhere a little more accessible than a sheer gravel face. Eventually, it did end up skirting down to the riverbed, where a path had been cleared through the rocks (who does that?) that led up to a log bridge over the actual water. This was to be a recurring scene in many areas, an indication that this geography is a dynamic, evolving landscape.

The trail followed a similar pattern through this first day, basically climbing a couple of thousand feet up to a ridge that formed as an arm off the mountain, traversed the top a bit, then dropped down to the next river valley. Repeat. The rain came and went through most of the day, and unfortunately embedded us in cloud/fog much of the time as well. The high pionts would generally get a bit cool as we were above treeline and exposed to the wind as well, but we soon warmed up as we descended into the trees again. There was no view of the mountain at any time whatsoever. We had occasional glimpses of rocky faces, but not the brilliant white peak you see in postcards. Eventually, however, the sun started poking out a bit, and by our last climb up to Mowich Lake, it was blue sky above us (though still no perspective on the mountain).

Chris had the tents set up to dry out, and met us with a bowl each of warm instant mashed potatoes. It was a nice way to end the day and stay warm before the chills set in. It was quite cool up at the campsite, and we were bundled up with almost everything we had. There was still a fair bit of snow around, but at least our tents were on the ground. We even had a glimpse of Rainier's white peak poking above a nearby hill - so there WAS a mountain there!







Day 2: Mowich Lake to White River - 7:34, 24.8 miles, 6850' asc, 7730' dec

It was mostly blue sky in the morning, but there were patchy clouds forming here and there in the higher elevations as the air crossed the ridges and peaks. It was also pretty cool out. Breakfast consisted of standard instant oatmeal, as well as some coffee that I insisted on making. Despite the fact that it was darned chilly, the lake was a very lovely campsite. We eventually found the trailhead somewhere on some snowbank, and carefully navigated our way over the crusty snow along a vague route between the lake and the road out. We kept seeing Chris in the car every once in a while - he looked like some stalker following us. We dropped a bit of elevation, and it became noticeably warmer. For our route today, we elected to follow the true Wonderland Trail through Ipsut Pass down to the Carbon River, rather than the alternative Spray Park section through the highlands.

Ipsut Pass was pretty cool - a sheer rock face that dropped into the valley below. We switchbacked down beneath the massive rock, and eventually popped onto a gorgeous, wide trail that descended and descended down through different vegetation zones all the way to the river valley at the bottom. Despite the pristine forest, we occassionally saw what we thought was old telegraph wire strung along some trees, with ceramic insulators. Maybe for old ranger stations or lookouts? We only saw these when we had a pee break - otherwise our eyes were mostly on the trail :-) I really enjoyed this section of trail, it was very beautiful, and quite fascinating seeing the trees change on the way down.



We then faced the longest climb of the entire route, heading up the Carbon River to the Carbon Glacier, then traversing along at higher elevation after that. The glacier was fascinating, I have never really seen a glacier up close like this. It was totally covered in rocks and gravel that it had scraped away on its journey down the valley, and Sue and I stopped for a little bit to watch some rocks falling off the side (never the "big ones", though). Erosion happens!



As we climbed, we entered into a fog belt that unfortunately, we never left for the rest of the day's run. It didn't rain, but the cloud was cool, and got extremely thick at some points, severely limiting our visibility. So, once again, we didn't see the main mountain at all! This section sure had some fascinating geology, though. We went across on area that reminded me of Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings: fog, all rock and gravel, scrub trees, and occasional tufts of greenery. I am sure it would be a spectacular area on a clear day.

There were more hikers that we encountered as we approached the trails close to the Sunrise lodge and camping area - it was such a contract to being out in the wilderness all alone, and suddenly being near crowds of people. We skirted by them, and fortunately turned away from the main routes they were on.

We rounded a corner with a tree, and I was surprised to see Chris standing there! He was freezing in the fog, and chastised us in a good-natured way for taking so damned long. He had driven up from the campsite in the valley bottom, and now it was left to be seen who would get back down first - Chris in the car, or us running. It didn't seem much of a contest, as we got there well ahead of Chris. So much before him, in fact, that Sue had to wrap herself in the tent fly to keep warm since he had all the clothing in the car. It wasn't a big deal, and Chris was quick to make up some more mashed potatoes for us once he got there. What a guy.

We got some firewood and had a dandy campfire that night. As we were huddling around keeping warm, I had the idea to warm up a jar of Nutella close to the fire. Yummy - but how to eat it? Ah ha! How about a banana in the molten Nutella? And a new campfire treat was invented!







Day 3: White River to Longmire - 8:43, 30.7 miles, 6590' ascent, 8050' descent

Sun!! Wow, finally, we awoke to clear, blue skies. And good thing, too - this proved to be the most fantastic scenery of the tour (well, considering we didn't see anything the previous days) since were at high elevation above treeline for most of it, including reaching the high point of the loop at Panhandle Gap between Summerland and Indian Bar camps. I loooove alpine areas like this, with the flowers, the rocks, the stunted trees, and the views. All day we had the peak of the mountain above us and to the right, it was spectacular. We tried to spot some climbers heading up, but couldn't see any. Sue had climbed and summitted the mountain in the couple of days preceding our running loop - so she went up and around the whole mountain in the time she was there. (actually, it probably equalised our legs: her with the summit climb, and me just two weeks after Hardrock and still a bit rubbery).


The view when we crossed Panhandle Gap was amazing - up to now, we had views of local valleys nearby, but this high point provided a view south to Mt St Helens and Mt Hood, with all the rolling peaks in between. Wow. The trail crossed a number of snowfields through this section, before dropping down a bit through some amazing wildflowers. It was really one of the most spectacular bits of trail I have been on.


We dropped into the trees and passed the Indian Bar campsite before climbing back up to another ridge. [Note to anyone doing this section: get water at Indian Bar, it is dry all the way to the next camp towards Box Canyon!] We ran along the undulating ridge for miles, and could occasionally see in the distance to the west where we would eventually be headed. We stopped and talked to a couple of hikers sitting on a log who asked us if we had seen the bear just back from where we had come. Nope. We went back with them, but no bear. Too bad, it would have made Sue's trip complete and maybe would have stopped her whining "I want to see a bear! I want to see a bear". Jeesh - tourists. She would have to be happy with a marmot.

The trail went down, down, down.....down from there towards the highway and Box Canyon. Chris had parked there and climbed up a bit to meet us. It was kind of disappointing coming out onto the highway, we could smell the exhaust and cigarette smoke well up the trail before we came out. There was a parking area for people to check out Box canyon, and most of those who did were huge tubs of lard. Yuk. Anyways, we ate some Cheetos and got more water before heading off from Chris again, this time to unfortunately go along 4.5 miles of highway: there was a slide on the real trail that made it impassable, so we were forced to take this detour. We actually saw the slide section and some people working on it - it apparently opened a few days later. The road section was dull and hot, but we did have some entertainment when we were able to take some pictures of us in a big front-end loader parked beside the road (it is a "heavy equipment" joke amongst C4P scrub runners).

The trail got a bit funky to follow up at the pass near some nice lakes by the road, there were some more short road section as well as snow that covered the trail, so it wasn't always clear where it went. Eventually we found it when it dropped down over the valley on the other side and dropped towards Longmire. It was mostly a cruising downhill towards the end. Chris met us at one point for some photos, and then we continued the last couple of miles to the end. Best of all, Chris had packed a cooler with some snow and embedded a couple of beer in there, so we had a crisp cool one to end the run with.

We had dinner at a local restaurant, of which the highlight was watching the lone waitress frantically deal with a sudden rush of people that filled the place - she was totally freaking out. Good thing we got there a bit early and at least had our food, although I had to get going home and leave Chris and Sue to deal with the bill whenever it eventually showed up.

It was an awesome trip and a really enjoyable route. I have wanted to do the WT for some time, and it was a real pleasure to be able to run it with Sue and have Chris meet us at the campsites and occasionally along the route. Thanks for having me along, guys! Next time, maybe just one day to do it all? ;-)


Total time: 27:23
Total climb: 23840'

Hardrock photos are up!

I posted my photos from Hardrock up on my Flickr site. Feel free to check them out!

Hardrock preliminary report

Finish time: 35:03
Placing: 14th / 98 finishers / 140 starters

I wrote this up in the car in my Blackberry as Martha and I were heading back to SLC to fly home. I will put a more detailed report and pictures up here in the coming days, but here is a quick recap:

I was happy with the run overall, making some good time on the flats
and downhills. The steep, STEEP climbs just ate my legs to the point
where I was staggering like a drunk going up. It may have been the
altitude, but my climbing legs just weren't what I wanted them to be.
I am very happy with the overall result, though I feel I did not run
optimally nor did I reach my time goal of 32 hours (and hopefully, top-10). These are,
however, trivialities compared to being lucky enough to participate
in this magnificent event.

No rain! We got lucky on that count.. Despite no rain, the course was
very wet, and we had soaked feet from mile 2 to the end. Can you say
trench foot? There were very strong winds at night heading over 14000'
Handies Peak that frosted us, but the snow had melted a lot leaving
only a few spans we had to cross.

I got off course heading down a road at night, costing me about an
hour and a quarter, as well as another 1000' of climbing. There were
a lot of people who made the same mistake, but it is our
responsibility to know the course, so I was bummed but sucked it up
and kept going.

Martha was just awesome as my crew once again, providing much-valued
cheer, encouragement and smooches. I felt good all race, so she did
not need to dig into her bag of motivational, first-aid, or
psychoanalysis tricks.

Overall, we had a wonderful time hanging out with old friends and new,
and revelled in the cool environment of Silverton, Ouray, and the
mountains. It was great to see my old friend Howard and new friend Kim
finish their first Hardrocks, ands also to share the race completion
of our other cabin-mates Phill and Dave, among many others too.

And hey, what about that Kyle Skaggs and his 23:23 finish! Holy crap! :-)

Got tons of pictures out on the course, so will let you know when I
get those up too.

Thanks again for your interest and good wishes!

Bruce


To keep me going, I sucked down:

34 NUUN electolyte tablets
65 CarbBoom gels
4 1/2 PB&J sandwiches
1 quinoa/lentil wrap
2 bananas
1 popsicle
2 cups chicken soup (which I puked up intermittently for 2 hours from
Virginius Pass to Ouray...)
3 saltine crackers

Gear:
ENDoutdoor Stumptown 10 shoes (9.5 ozs!)
Nathan HPL008 hydration pack
Nathan X-trainer Mutation bottle belt
Team NUUN Patagonia silkweight shirt
Dahlgren Outdoor XT wool/alpaca socks
Patagonia Spectre jacket
Patagonia wool R3 jersey
Patagonia ultra shorts
Patagonia Aerius bucket hat
YakTrax
Trek 7 green LED flashlight
Black Diamond headlight
DirtyGirl gaiters
Arm warmers
Native sunglasses
iPod nano

Scorched Sole 50k

The Scorched Sole this year more accurately should have been called the Swamped Sole. With a late snow melt and rainy conditions up here in BC over the extended spring, the normally blazing temperatures were cool, overcast, and the trail was worthy in parts of taking on monster trucks in the Giant Mud Pits (you have to say that with the right tone of voice and add an echo to "pits").

I was feeling pretty good heading into this run, but wasn't sure what to expect with my inconsistent results so far this year, and being just two weeks off a mediocre performance 100k at Blackfoot. But, I love this course, and the race directors put on a superb event so it is a must-do on my calendar. I really wanted to push as much as I could and get a good, final speed effort in before Hardrock, but also was willing to sit back a bit and take it as it came.

So, at the gun I moved off at a reasonable pace and through the first little warm-up loop before heading into the larger main run loop. It was interesting that the top racers all bunched by the end of the loop, and separated themeselves from the rest of the pack. Fortunately, I was in this group :-) We started heading up the long hill towards the 12k point, and I found that I was feeling very steady and smooth on the hill. Though some others took off quite strongly (notably Ellie Greenwood and Mel Bos), I kept to my own pace. I actually felt really good and motored up the hill using my "diesel" legs (high power, low revs, steady pace) eventually pulling away from a couple of guys behind me. Once we hit the high point of the course and tipped downhill, I took off and hammered, catching up to Mel and, to my surprise, Ellie as well. I led a small group of us into the half-way aid station, filled up another bottle of nuun, and hit the trail again with Ellie hot on my heels.

Ellie once again pulled away from me on the uphill, and I was pushing the pace at the point to try and catch her, but also hold off a very strong Mel behind me. I knew that if I could hold my positioning or minimise any losses on the uphill, my strength on the downhill would allow me to make up some time. In one of those "hey, I'm actually doing pretty well" kind of days, I kept up the pace for the entire uphill grind - harder in this reverse direction of the same first loop - quickly topped my nuun bottle at the top, and kicked it into high gear for the long downhill stretch.

While aware that Mel wasn't too far behind me, I knew I had a bit of an edge on her on the downhills, so my main concern was hammering to try and catch up to Ellie. The trail is literally almost all downhill for the last 8-10km, so you can just fly if you still have legs left. I flew down the track, through the mud, and along the gravel. I blew past the mid-point aid station with a smile and blurted "thank you!" to the ladies helping out there. And, to Ellie's absolute credit - I didn't even see her, all I got was her footprints in the mud. I was amased to have been within sniffing distance of her at the end, since she is such a phenomenal runner; normally we chat at the start, and then I see her at the finish. Mel charged down the hill as well, but I did manage to keep my space from her. Still, we were all close and it made for an interesting race for all of us, pushing each other to either catch or stay away.

I ended up with a 4:43:04 time, good for 3rd place overall and 1st in my age group!
This was also my first race in the new ENDoutdoor Stumptown 10's, and they really performed well - super light for the hill climbing, great traction in the mud, and nice cushioning on the downhills. They look like keepers!

(photo - Mel Bos and I with our 1st place age group awards)


After a great run in the race, I followed up the nexy day by doing a long, 6-hour loop around and over Okanagan Mountain Park through the Wildhorse Canyon. Though this area suffered terribly from the large forest fire that swept through the area in 2003, I love getting back to it because it was the site of my very first ultra race, the defunct Wildhorse 50k. And, in keeping with the cool and erratic weather that we have been having this spring, I got snowed on at the top of Okanagan Mountain :-) Anyways, that was incentive to run hard on the way down, and I packed in an excellent back-to-back weekend in some of my favourite running terrain in BC.

END//outdoor shoes are here!!!

Yah! The new shoes have arrived!

Earlier this year, I had an offer to become an ambassador for a fantastic new brand of shoe: END//outdoor
The company was taking a different approach toward design and construction, focusing on minimising the environmental impact of production. The result are some of the lightest shoes I have ever run in, which still provide comfort, protection, support and traction. And, as time will hopefully tell, durability. I received some of an early production run, and the full retail release is scheduled for Fall 08. They launched at the Winter Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City, and apparently generated a ton of interest.

END//outdoor is an Oregon-based company, and the name comes for "Environmentally Neutral Design". While no production can be entirely neutral just yet, they are pushing their designs and their producers towards it, but for now have ended up with models that apparently contain 30%-50% less material than many other shoes on the market.

But what about where the rubber literally hits the dirt?

Out of the compostable plastic bag they ship in, the shoes are immediately different than any thing I had seen before. Light, light, light, with nylon fabric uppers, a minimum of straps and doo-dads, no heel cup, and an aggressive outsole.

No heel cup - really? There was just an embedded stabiliser at the very back, about 1cm wide that supported the fabric. Ah, but the feel on the trail was amazing - my heel was stable enough with no rocking on hard corners, no sliding out of place, and no typical blistering on my heel bump just beside my achilles insertion (there's a name for that...retrocalcaneal bursitis?). I amost felt like I was wearing sandals with a free heel, although though my heel was definitely not pulling out of the shoe. It all begs the question of why every single other shoe out there has a hard cup that wraps right around the heel?

The outsole is aggressive, as mentioned, and has done well through everything that I have been running over: mud, wet west coast slop, loose rocks, cross-country alpine, spring snow, and sweet packed single track. I feel confident in my stride, which is essential for the way I like to hammer the downhills :-) There is a light protection panel between the outsole and midsole that protects the base of the foot from poking rocks and bruising, and serves a dual function in providing structure and torsional rigidity to the entire base of the shoe - without being too stiff.

Midsole is cushy and comfortable, but I almost found it too soft. I would prefer something just a tad firmer for more stability when taking sharp corners.

I received two models of shoes: the Stumptown 10, and Stumptown 12. They are built on the same midsole/outsole, but the uppers are slightly different. The numbers are meant to reflect their respective weights, yet I found the ST 10 to measure 9.75 oz, and the ST 12 to come in at 10.5 oz. Interesting.

Overall fit is very comfortable, with no bits poking into the foot, a neutral last, and flexible uppers that fit your foot (instead of the opposite!). I will note that I have not had one blister over the course of the 200+ miles I have run in them so far.

And I have to rave about the light weight. I have been wearing Montrail Hardrocks for years, and they have served me very well. But the END shoes save a third of the weight from a pair of Hardrocks - think of what this means when running a 100 mile race!! I have always been sceptical about such light shoes, but I am defintely converted. I have raced a 50km and put in multiple 6+ hour runs on them so far and have been very comfortable, but it will be interesting to see how both they and my feet fare when I take them to the actual Hardrock 100-mile race in a few weeks, certainly a true test.

Thanks so much to END//outdoor and Insport Fashions for having me be part of their team!

(photo - Stumptown 12's)

Blackfoot 100k

I had signed up for the Blackfoot 100k in Edmonton last year, but unfortunately got quite sick a couple of days before the event and had to cancel out. Fortunately, WestJet credited me for the flight so I had some WestJet dollars to burn, I still wanted to get back to Edmonton, and needed a long race to get more mileage in. I sent a note to Gary Poloquin, the RD and an old acquaintance from when we ran the Canadian Death Race a few years ago back in 02, asking if he might be able to roll my entry over to this year. Being the great guy he is, Gary said no problem. So, I could go do the run for a sum total of less than $100 including food, camping and car rental - almost cheaper than racing at home!

I had never been to Edmonton before, so wasn't sure what to expect. My friends Gail and George had run the course before, and said it was rolling, mostly grass-covered cross-country skiing trails around small lakes. And so it was - I found it a very pretty course, and entirely different than anything I have run on before.

The Alberta crowd seems pretty cool and friendly, and a couple of guys I was running near quickly started chatting to me. I quickly became identified as "The Nuun Guy" due to my jersey, bottles, and tube of tablets :-) The three of us ran together through the first loop of the four-loop course, and headed out as a unit though the second one as well. Towards the end of loop two, though, I was feeling strained and just couldn't keep up with the others. I was still close after we left the start/finish aid station, but soon got dropped by them as I struggled on.

I was enjoying the course, but there was a lot of running. I mean, you could run the entire thing if the small rolling hills didn't eat you as they were apparently doing to me. To be honest, I am just not used to running so much for so long with all the hills we have here in BC, so my hip adductors started to feel really strained and eventually very sore. My pace slowed more and more, and I was passed by a couple of others along the way.

The last loop was a bit excruciating for me, and I just plodded along, walking all those little rollers that I was running up not so long ago. I don't know why I had such a tough time, it was just one of those off days. Still, with Hardrock on the horizon and the shame of one DNF already this year, there was no way I was going to stop, so I kept on cruising. (As an aside on this theme, Jack Cook, one of Canada's best 100k runners and a couple of weeks off a 7:45 run at Elk/Beaver in Victoria, had some back spasms and walked in for a 13:36 finish - that is tough).

And so, I crossed the line in 10:45 and 7th place overall. I seem to be really challenged at the 100k distance, and have never had a good one; I should be able to be in the 9-hour range, but just haven't been able to get things together to ever finish one under 10 hours. Just another challenge for me to overcome!

To cap the day off, wearing a t-shirt and shorts, I locked myself out of my rental car with everything else I owned inside - in a park out in the boonies, not sure of where I am, and not really knowing anybody there. I am glad the Edmonton people were so darned nice, as I chatted up one of the guys I was running with and his wife lent me her AMA card and her cell phone to call a tow truck. To make a long, 3 hour story short, people kep going home and I had to borrow three different people's phones to call AMA again to see what was going on (the truck got lost and went home), I was writing towing company phone numbers in the dirt with a stick, and getting eaten by mosquitoes. Eventually, it was me and a game warden who was there helping the race left in the parking lot with everyone else gone. We were about five minutes away from smashing a window when the tow truck came roaring up, and within a minute or two, I was on my way. After waking up at 4:30 AM, I rolled back to my campsite at 9:30 PM . Good thing my flight wasn't until the next morning...

Zane Grey 50-miler

Zane Grey is self-billed as "the toughest 50-miler in America", and there is no doubt that the rocky, stoney, bouldered, sandstoned, gravelled, baby-headed, toe-mashing, ankle-wrenching route is indeed quite a challenge. The hot desert-like temperatures and 3% humidity just make it a bit tougher to manage. I have had the pleasure of running this course twice before back in 2003 and 2004, accompanied by my good friend Art. Art is always more than happy to regale anyone who enquires about how, after the race in 04, I was dehydrated and passed out on the floor of the bus on the way back to town, followed by some puking, then being curled up in a fetal position in the hotel bed while he made me suck pretzels and drink Pedialyte, as all the while MTV was on featuring a KISS concert and then a profile of Aerosmith. Pictures of Steven Tyler did not help the puking, btw. (moral - do not stop eating and drinking after a long hot race while waiting for your friend to finish)

So, when discussions this spring with my other buddy Wade turned from casual interest into "I'll do it if you do it", we both signed up and I headed to Phoenix armed with copious amounts of nuun to keep me from falling over again. Wade's friends Geoff and Julie Cleveland were fantastically generous in hosting us at their home in Phoenix and their gorgeous cabin on the Mogollon Rim, 40 min up the road from the race start. I am hugely grateful for their hospitality - being ensconced in a home made for a significantly better experience than staying in a hotel.

So let's be obvious - Arizona is freaking hot. All the time. Stupid hot. I mean, how can anyone live there? Really...
Race morning we got up at 3AM, and it is 0 CELCIUS (32 DEGREES) outside. Holy doodle, what to wear? Fortunately, the temperature went up a bunch of degrees by the time we got to the race start - about 1200' lower in elevation than the cabin.





Anton Krupicka was there this year and dressed in his usual race uniform: shoes, shorts and a water bottle. And perky nibs in the brisk air. (digression - I had a secret challenge to Anton for this race, that he would not be able to kick my butt by more than three hours. If I was within three hours of his finish time, I won and he owed me his leftover gel packs. If he won, well too bad because be never knew about the challenge anyways). As usual, that was the last time I saw Anton, but I headed off at what I thought was a modest pace. Wade was one person behind me in the train, and I expected my sandbagging-but-very fast friend to be with me for a while before dropping me and racing to glory. The Wade disappeared and I didn't see him until the finish; apparently he got lost with a bunch of others near the start, and then later on had some knee issues that caused him to pull out at the 50km point (so he wasn't sandbagging at all....this time!)

I cruised on and ensured that I was drinking a lot, never minding whenever I had to stop for a pee break. I found within an hour that there wasn't anyone else behind me whenever I stopped, so the small group I was near had apparently made a bit of a break. I passed a couple of guys, and caught some more at the first aid station. I stuck with these guys for a bit, then backed off the pace since one of them was pushing a bit too hard. The other guy and I carried on, and caught up to one other fellow as well. I felt really good after moderating my pace, and knew I was up on my hydration and energy. Before I knew it, three of us came into the 24 mile aid station at 5 hours on the nose. Wow - that was a great pace so far, but the hard part was the entire second half!

I took off from the aid station, looked back to see who else was coming....and that was the last time I saw another racer for the next 6 1/2 hours of the race. Weird. I totally dropped those guys. I was feeling great and moving at a really solid pace, but it was so odd not to see anyone ever again on the course. I just kept cruising and thought I moved quite well up the hills and over the rocks. This part of the course was totally exposed, though, and I think I was getting a little bit dehydrated even though I was chugging the nuun back. I also noticed that the visor I was wearing on my head wasn't proving to be all that cool, and that my scalp was frying. It ended up feeling like it was sizzling, and was beet red under my stubbly hair after the race. It ended up peeling dime-sized flecks of skin after a few days - that was some dandruff! Unfortunately, unlike in the first 24 miles, there were no creeks anywhere in the last 26 miles, so nowhere I could dunk into to cool down.

Despite all the rocks and tough footing, it was in a grassy section of trail where I tripped and went down. I sidestepped one of those pesky attacking bushes beside the trail (an unprovoked pre-emptive attack by a Bush! ha, that one kept me snickering for miles!) and toed right into a grass tuft which sent me down hard. Fortunately, it was grass I landed on and not rocks, but it really shook me up - one of those ones where you hit the ground and stay put for a couple of seconds wondering if anything is broken. I got back up and shook myself off, then headed off once more. This particular section was a really long 14 miles, and I was grateful for the third water bottle I picked up from Geoff at the last AS at Fish Hatchery. Still, I found that I had run dry in the afternoon heat, and could feel the effects of light dehydration taking a toll on my pace.



Eventually I rolled into the last AS, and had six miles to go. I was typically running 6 miles an hour for a lot of the race, so even accounting for general fatigue, I figured that refreshed and re-energised I might be able to pull another quick section off here.

Ha.
I blasted out of the AS down a short hill, and had to pause while a family with four kids crossed the log bridge at the creek just out of the station. I'm in a race here....do de dooo do doooo....take care, don't you kiddies slip...no, don't freeze up there....OK, all off, let's go. And then the trail turned uphill for three miles.
Right. I forgot about that.

So I'm trudging up in speed-hike mode, and quite suddenly I notice that my left leg feels....odd. It was a very strange sensation and in a few more steps I found my foot was swinging and hitting my other ankle in the foreswing, and the leg was planting short of my intended stride. I would look at a gap in the rocks to plant my foot, and the foot would plant...on or into the rock. What the - ? I stopped, stretched, and started again OK, but in a few strides it came back. It was like I had a partial paralysis of my leg: I could not control the plane of the stride forward nor the extension. It was also proving to be a bit dangerous, in that, as mentioned above, my foot was not ending up where I wanted it to go and I was stumbling a fair bit. I have never had this happen to me. I drank more to get more fluid and salt in me, and took more gel to ensure my energy was up as well - all with no results. And so, with four miles left to go, I had to hobble the rest of the way in, always expecting someone to come running by me.
Eventually after a gruelling few miles, I came to a familiar view, and sure enough, there were Wade (agh, too bad, he had to stop at 50k) Geoff and Julie around the corner, with the finish just beyond them.

Whew! I made it in 11:19:42. Unfortunately, my earlier thoughts of speedy times and a PR were dashed with this leg thing, and I missed my previous record by 8 minutes. Nevertheless, I placed 6th overall, and was identified as the first male 40+ finisher*. Bedecked in a finisher's folding chair, mini backpack, and a gym bag as a prize for first master's, I jumped in the truck with Wade, Geoff and Julie to retire to the cabin for beers and a yummy dinner.

I did not pass out in the truck, nor was any Aerosmith played. My leg was fine after I finished, and it has never bothered me since then.

Anton continued his string of crushing victories over me by finishing in a zippy 8:02 - more than the three hours in front of me as allotted in my challenge. Til next time, Anton - train hard, you'll need it! Muah-ah-ahhh!

*seems the result was preliminary, the website indicates someone else in front of me now.

u hydration and new nuun flavours/size!

when Matt Hart came up to stay with me for Diez Vista, he brought some sampler packs of the new nuun product called 'u' in goji berry, lemon chai, and tangerine ginger flavours.

u is a natural hydration drink for active folks like us, with nutrients and light electrolytes to rehydrate and recharge with during a regular day. Instead of drinking sugar-loaded fruity juices or soda, pop a u into your refillable water bottle for a refreshing, thirst-quenching and rehydrating drink at the office, on the go, with meals, wherever. The nuun-type tablets and tube are easy to have in a desk drawer, in your bag, or at home. My personal favourite is the lemon-chai, but maybe that's today and tomorrow it will be goji berry again.

On the nuun front, they will have bigger, double-size tablets available soon. They are geared towards use in higher-volume hydration bladders, and I can see carrying these on multi-day backpacking excursions and epic training runs with a pack.

And yummy - orange ginger flavoured nuun! I love the regular citrus, but the ginger in this one is really nice. It will be quite welcome on longer runs where stomach issues can be a factor.

Diez Vista 50k - back in the groove

After an ignoble DNF at C2M two weeks prior to this year's Diez Vista, I was hoping to redeem myself here and have a decent race. I was feeling pretty good after C2M, since I held off there in order to not damage myself, and the training effects of the 85 miles I put in there were making themselves felt in my legs too (yes, 85 miles can be considered "training"!). Another perk was that my nuun buddy and fast dude Matt Hart wanted to run too, so he was up from Seattle and staying with us for the weekend.

Matt and I headed out to the race and got checked in, and had a few minutes to shmooze with everyone there. DV is an absolute classic, and everyone comes out for it, so there was a lot of catching up with friends there. Additionally, we had a few guest appearances from a few more of our southern brothers including fellow nuun teammate Brian Morrison, WS winner Hal Koerner, and multi-time Cascade Crest winner Jamie Gifford. With these top runners as well as Matt from the US here, local speedsters like Gary Robbins, Darin Bentley, Aaron Pitt and Matt Sessions were also signed up, making it look like this year's DV would shape up to be a real race for the top placings. Things looked pretty competitive on the women's side too, with speedstress Ellie Greenwald toeing the line with Chuckanut 07 winner Mel Bos from Kamloops and Penny Plamondon too (making her first appearance on the course in five years!).

I started off easy, and watched Matt take off with his pace peers. I really wanted to monitor my effort today, and not blow by thinking I was a big dog too. Later, maybe, but not this time :-) The 20-odd thousand feet of climb I put in at C2M showed in my legs as I kept a solid pace up the first major climb and over the top Diez Vista ridge - I felt really steady and strong, and actually caught up with Jamie and a couple of others while putting a bit of a gap on a few behind me. When we hit the top, though, we were met with SNOW - a bit on the ground, and more coming down from the sky. Brrr. It made for some slippery roots on this very technical part of the course. Once the slope turned downhill, I accelerated and put a bit of time on the guys behind me. I kept it comfortable and in the aerobic zone, sticking to my plan of being comfortable and steady. The downhill was a made challenging not only with the footing, but the cool air kept making my eyes water, so my vision was obscured or blurry a lot of the time. I ended up on my butt a couple of times, but no damage was incurred.

I caught up to Penny at this point, and we shared a bit of deja-vu, since it was at the exact same spot five years before that we ran together in the race and first met, talking about Ironman, running, trails, etc. (Penny and Paul Slaymaker operate The Runner's Den store, and also RD the DV race after taking it over from George and Gail Forshaw.) Penny and I were running close together for quite a while, until she unfortunately got really cold in the rain/sleet and wind that we had later on in the run, and she dropped back a little.

I was feeling really good as I hit the trail around Buntzen Lake, and was on a nice, solid pace. Despite the cool temperatures, I was still downing a bottle of nuun per hour, and holy cow, I don't think I have ever been so hydrated in a race before :-) but like I always say, there is always time to stop for a pee in a race, as opposed to being dehydrated and suffering.

It just kept on being steady for me as we went on the out-and-back power line section, and since I was feeling good, for a change it felt short instead of the long drawn-out torture that section usually is. It is always fun to see who is coming the other way, and how well - or not - people are looking. I was surprised not to see Matt or Hal on the way back at all, Gary was smoking in 2nd, Darin looked a bit off but was running 4th, and Ellie was flying well ahead of any other women. I seemed to have a gap on anyone behind me, but Jamie was not too far, and he always comes on strong later in races. I always like running with Jamie, but hey, it is friendly competition and all :-)

I cruised around the lake and into the final climb up to the Diez saddle. This hill has been a huge undoing of many a runner (me included), but this year I kept with the steady pace and cruised up it. It is almost all downhill and flat for the last 5k, so I hammered into the slope knowing that Jamie wasn't too far behind. As it turned out, both he and Mel were coming on strong but remaining just out of my view, so it was a good thing I didn't lolligag too much! I crossed the finish in 5:24:48, with Jamie less than a minute behind (told you he comes on strong later on!). It was hardly my best effort at that course, but in light of the season so far, I was pretty happy with how I felt and the consistent pace I ran at for the whole run.

Unfortunately, Matt had to drop just past half way with some pain in his hip from an old bike injury. I was sorry that he didn't get to complete the whole race, but he did get the most scenic and challenging section in, and was wise in a decision not to carry on an aggravate the injury further. It was great having him stay with us, and it really motivated me talking to him about general running stuff and ideas for some epic training routes.

Coyote 2 Moon 100(ish) miler

So the run didn't quite go as planned with a DNF at 80 miles...but otherwise we had a great holiday in California with old and new friends. Overall, I got what I wanted out of the trip, which was to have fun, get out of the rain here, and get a decent training run in. I also managed to get the most Bonus Minutes of anyone, although my DNF at negated any benefit I might have gained.

(photo - Sue and Bruce rip it down Ray Miller trail on a pre-race run)

The absolute highlight of our trip was spending a bunch of time with Derrick and Jayne Carr. Derrick has been racing for ton of years, and though we met in past C4P's, this was the first opportunity we had to hang out for a while. Jayne and Martha are both teachers as well, so they had a lot to chat about too. Furthermore, Derrick and I were in the same start group for the actual race, and we ran the first 50 miles together until I cracked and fell back. Anyways, the Carrs are super people, we are fortunate to get to know them.

(photo - Derrick on top of Topa Topa ridge just after sunrise)



It was also wonderful to see our friends Chris and Sue, who are now married. I couldn't help but notice the rings at dinner the first night we were there, and eventually the story came out. Those guys are so cute together, being quite smitten with each other. It is nice to see friends happy. Chris is the RD for C2M, and Sue naturally gets sucked along to help along with him, so a huge amount of thanks are due them both for all the thought, effort, work, and sleeplessness that they contributed to making this such a great event.

H'ard Cohen was also there manning the start/finish area, and though I always like sharing trail time with my buddy, he put in a ton of valuable work for everyone instead. He probably would have dropped my sorry ass if he had run, he's been doing a tone of training these days with an eye to playing down at Hardrock this year as well. Maybe I'll be in better shape by then so he won't kick my butt there too badly, either! Howard brought his wife Jeanne and daughter Rachel out to lend a hand as well. It was Jeanne's first time out at a race and though she seemed a bit amazed at the craziness of it all, she really helped the runners out a lot. I appreciated her bringing me the blanket and cup of soup by the fire when I got in at 2:30 AM when it was so darned cold out!

So...... yes, that was a "DNF" that I mentioned above.

I pride myself on being tough and sticking things out, but there were a couple of issues I had here. Firstly, I was sadly, sadly not in anywhere the shape I need to have been for a 100 mile run. I was still crawling back from the slow start this year, and this race came up too quiclky for me to get the mileage in the bank that I should have had. I was pretty good through 50 miles, and then declined rapidly. The heat played a part as well and I got a touch dehydrated, but though that contributed to my downward spiral, the real cause was lack of preparation. Secondly, I did not approach this as a "race" and thus didn't take it seriously enough. This contributed to the lack of mental fortitude and resilience that would normally carry me through a 100, making it easy to stop when I did. I was just not mentally prepared to manage the suffering of sore legs and sloooowwww pace that I was doing then for another 20 miles and, probably, 10-12 hours more.

So I jammed out at 80 miles, leaving out the final 4000' descent and return climb back (sometimes knowing the course can be a detriment!). Martha was at the Gridley Top aid station where I stopped - perhaps another minor contributor to the decision - and we walked back the remaining 5-ish miles to the camp.

(photo - Bruce and Martha at the Ridge AS, 9 miles)

Of course it is a bummer not finishing, but there were a number of positives from the trip overall:

• hanging out with Derrick and Jayne
• seeing our good friends Sue, Chris and Howard again
• seeing lots of other Coyote friends
  
• seeing Deb Askew and Gene Thebault as well
  
• a solid 80-mile training run
• managing a 2AM race start with no problem :-)
• visiting the Ojai Olive Oil plantation and production facility
• awesome breakfasts at Mrs Olson's
  
• buying some incredible strawberries and avocados at the Oxnerd farmers market
• niiiice beer at the Anacapa brewpub in Ventura
• touchy-feely at Patagonia headquarters
• winning his'n'hers bowling balls and carrying cases for being the lowest-scoring couple on bowling night!
  
• a DNF means I have to back again next year :-)
  

Huge thanks again to Chris, Sue, Howard, Bill and the JABOYS for putting on such a fine event!