Hardrock is a-coming

Since the 20th Century 100k, I’ve been tapering quite a bit for Hardrock. I was tempted last week into some fun Carkeek loops with friend Jonathan, but I don’t think I did too many. I was having so much fun though, I honestly lost count of my loops and have no idea how far I went. Ah well.

This weekend I went out and cheered at the inaugural RNR Seattle event. My wife did the half-marathon after getting a friend’s spot the day before (funny, last minute race entries run in the family I guess…), so I was her transportation and cheering section. She ran a great race and it was fun to be out there for the event and kind of be on the other side of things (i.e., not running). I bumped into multiple folks that wondered why I wasn’t running, but I was more than happy to skip the road and go home for some nice afternoon trail running.

I was also following along (along with the rest of the ultrarunning world apparently) with the WS100 updates and cheering everybody on from Seattle. It was an awesome day, and super fun to follow the updates. Congratulations to all who toed the starting line and laid it all out there this weekend. Congratulations especially to Hal and Anita who ran spectacular races! Also big congrats to friends Kobaraki from Japan, Krissy Moehl, Nikki Kimball, Sean Meissner, JB Benna, and others that I’m sure I’m forgetting. Congrats to teammates Leigh Schmitt and Mike Wardian too. Like I said, thanks to all of you for running great and giving me some fun entertainment all day Saturday!

I’m headed out to Durango, CO this Thursday to get acclimated to the CO elevation and get tuned up for Hardrock next week! I decided to start my CO trip by finishing something I started last year. You may recall that I made a speed record attempt on the CO Trail last summer and we ended up having to throw in the towel at Molas Pass (only about 70 miles from the end). Well, I’m going back. Not for a speed record attempt or anything- but just to finish what I started. On Thursday after I fly in to Durango, I’m going to hitchhike out to Molas Pass, and have a leisurely hike/run from there down to Durango over the next 2-3 days. I’m super excited to be back out in CO and back on the CO Trail, and I feel like I have unfinished business with that trail. Finishing those last miles will give me great satisfaction and put my mind even more at ease going into Hardrock. I know a 70 mile jaunt through the San Juans the week before the toughest 100 miler in the country isn’t most peoples’ idea of a “taper,” but this is what I’ve got to do, and I think it’ll all work out.

I’m packing up now and will report back after I finish my CO Trail adventure! Have a great week!

20th Century 100k and Beyond

I’ve definitely begun tapering for Hardrock at this point, but I guess tapering is all relative. After maxing at about a 250 mile week, I was itching for another long run, so I decided a few days prior to the race to do the 20th Century 100k last week. Because this is a very easy course as far as 100k trail races go, I figured it would be a great way to get in a solid long run mileage-wise without a ton of time on my feet (the best of both worlds!). I know hindsight’s 20/20, but I’m happy to say that my foresight for once matches my hindsight in this situation, so I’m really happy it all worked out well.

It’s kind of fun to sign up for a race at the last minute and to go into it with the total mindset of it being a training run. I felt zero pressure and had a really fun time all day long. Race day itself began with beautiful weather and nice cool temps. I rode out to the start with my friend Lindsay and we were definitely running a bit late. We parked at the finish in Carnation, WA and were fortunate enough to barely catch one of the RD’s leaving the parking lot as we arrived, so we bummed a ride to the start out in Easton, WA with him. Whew! The course itself is pretty straightforward. There’s an old rails to trails railroad grade (the John Wayne trail) that runs roughly East/West from somewhere around North Bend to somewhere else pretty far away (Vantage maybe?). Anyway, it goes a long way and it’s a very moderate grade, and basically feels like you’re running on pancake flat ground the whole time. The course essentially follows that from Easton west to Carnation. However, due to a tunnel closure through Snoqualmie Pass, there was a fortuitous reroute on the course this year up and around Snoqualmie Pass. This meant an additional 1,000 or so feet of climbing and a section of some of my favorite single track trail from the Cascade Crest 100 course. This section came somewhere around the 15-20 mile mark if I remember correctly, and was a very welcome change after a quick warmup on the railroad grade. I wasn’t sure who was registered for the race, but knew it was a fairly small crowd and sort of expected to be running alone for most of the day. However, I was pleasantly surprised to have company right from the start. A guy I hadn’t meant before (Shawn Bussert) hung right with me for quite a while. It was fun having him there to push the pace a bit and not let me slack off, and it was fun chatting with him a bit here and there too. He’s new to ultrarunning, and a great runner already, and this was his first go at the 100k distance. Needless to say, he ran a great race. We came into the 50k aid station (and halfway mark) right together at right about 4:30, and then pressed on down the railroad grade. Not too much to report other than I was really tempted to go off on many side trips to mix it up a bit (specifically, I wanted to turn off on the McClellan Butte trail for some nice single track and a fun summit, I wanted to join the folks we saw climbing for a quick up and down, I wanted to turn off and run a quick time up and down Mt. Si…), but I abstained and stayed on course. My pace stayed pretty steady and by mile 40 or so I was running alone and would be for the rest of the day. The last 6 or 8 miles seemed super long, but the finish line eventually came into sight, and a really fun 100k came to an end. The race directors (Michael Cartwright and Scott Krell) spare no effort in putting on a race and truly put on a tremendous event. The course was incredibly thoroughly marked, the aid stations well stocked, the volunteers amazing, the finish line extravaganza unmatched. I feasted on a fully loaded hot dog, and Scott’s wife made me a fresh strong cup of coffee (with the beans ground right there!). I don’t know that I’ve ever been to a race with delicious on demand espresso drinks available post-race- wow! This was a super fun day out on the trails, and I’m really glad I made the call to go out and do this one. A huge thanks to all the volunteers and to Michael and Scott!

A Case of the Mondays...

Recap from TNF Endurance Challenge 50 Miler

Here's a short recap I wrote on the sweet 50 miler last week in Bellingham. Super fun race, and amazing course!

http://www2.thenorthface.com/endurancechallenge/highlights/2009/wa_review.html

Mt. Adams Recap

This weekend’s adventure proved to be a particularly spectacular one. Often one has a few niceties or worldly luxuries sprinkled in with an arduous trek like this. For example, on an ultra-run, you might revel in the momentary solace of some peanut M&M’s at an aid station or a hot cheeseburger that your crew brings you. Or maybe you’re on a weekend camping trip with friends and you suffer through the extra pounds of a few bottles of wine in your pack for enjoying a few glasses around the campfire that night... Let me just say that this excursion involved no such luxuries of any sort. Though the views were spectacular and the conditions ideal, this was a hard push in its most simplest form.

We headed out of Seattle late evening on Friday, opting to cram 4 fairly good sized men with a ton of gear into one very small car. Unable to move in the back seat, our adventure began by mistakenly getting on the express lanes and being forced north out of downtown (Mt. Adams is south…). We eventually got turned around and headed back south toward Portland. The trip was long and cramped, but the Pearl Jam was good. After about 5 hours we got in the vicinity of Mt Adams. Since our trip began in the wrong direction, it was only fitting that it ended with a missed turn and plenty of confusion amongst 4 very tired guys arguing over a map. After much back and forth, hunting for the right road, mistaken bear sightings, etc. we eventually found ourselves on the proper road for the summit route trail head. We had heard the snow level was so low that we’d have to stop about 3 miles short of the trailhead. The 2 ultrarunners in the car loved the idea of 6 bonus miles, while the 2 climbers were not so excited. The reality ended up being that we parked a good 5 miles short of the normal trailhead, making for a sweet 10 mile bonus.

We parked around 1 or 2am and decided to lay down for an hour or so to regroup. We just lay under the stars in the woods for about an hour, but no one actually slept. Then we were back up around 3 to get packed up and ready to roll. Brock cooked up some fresh Caffe Vita coffee to get us going (ok, our one luxury of the trip), and we shared some Red Bulls for an extra boost out of the gates. We hiked up the snowed in road all geared up and the first 5 or so miles to the trailhead proper went by relatively quickly by headlamp. The sun was up then and we made a few adjustments before heading up. Quigley, Dan, and Brock all put on their skis/skins, but I had no such gear (oops) and just bootpacked it up. It was a challenge keeping up with them to say the least, but it all worked out. The climb was long, fun, and tough, and eventually we got up to the headwall. There were a surprising number of folks out there, but it was by no means crowded. Up the headwall we went and onto the false summit. Dan was having a little altitude issue and I was moving slow with all the extra weight, so Quigley and Brock got a good bit ahead of us. They headed up for the short extra shot up to the true summit. As Dan and I sat on the false summit we knew the view would be the same from up there and decided our best bet was just to hang there and save what was left of our legs for the trip down. Eventually Brock and Quigley reappeared and we all strapped on our skis and took off down the headwall in picture perfect snow. The trip down was incredible and we managed to stay on course (fortunately) and eventually found ourselves skiing back down the snowed in road. We soon took off our skis though and hiked in the rest of the way. I was tired of banging my calves on my skis hanging too low off my ill-equipped pack though and opted to just carry my skis, etc. the rest of the way. We were a motley, haggard crew arriving back at the car, but we made it and it felt great. We loaded all the gear back in, wedged our bodies back into the sardine can, and headed back to Seattle. Again, the trip was long and had few stops and no luxuries, but the Pearl Jam was good and we eventually got back to town late on Saturday night. Our creaky bodies emerged from the car and all the suffering of the day was well worth it for a picture perfect blue bird Pac NW day on the mountain.

Mt. Adams

This evening I'm headed out for an assault on Mt. Adams with a few friends. It's the 2nd highest mountain in Washington (behind Rainier) at 12,281 ft, and the conditions should be spectacular. We'll get down there and start our push around midnight tonight with a summit hopefully sometime around sunrise. Should be ideal Hardrock training and a super fun time!

Hope everyone is able to get outside and enjoy the weather this weekend!

Redmond Watershed 12 Hour Recap

Well, there's honestly not a ton to recap from a loop race I guess. The loop doesn't change much over the course of the day- just the way your body feels. I finally put together a strong run on race day though, and it felt amazing and was a great confidence booster for Hardrock.

I shaved myself a Prefontaine-esque mustache prior to the race and went off the starting line accordingly (hard and fast). I just kept plowing on for quite a while with a marathon split right around 3:20 and 50k right around 4 hours. I kept eating and drinking consistently and really stayed on top of my calorie intake, which definitely helped me stay fairly steady throughout the day. Around 6-7 hours I hit a bit of a low point, stopped at the aid station to change socks, but kept on moving, albeit not quite so fast. My pacer unfortunately didn't show up, so that was a bit mentally tough. However, then my wife Kirsten showed up, and she volunteered to come out for some loops with me as she saw I was in a low point. I am one lucky lucky man. Brian Morrison caught me right around the 7 hour mark and passed me pretty easily. I tried to stay with him, but it just wasn't happening right then. I lost sight of him and kept on moving. When Kirsten showed up, my 2nd wind started to kick in, and we started cranking out loops at a quicker pace again. She pushed through 4 loops with me and kept me focused and on pace. We caught Brian again right around the 9 hour mark, and I was feeling strong so pushed on ahead. After 13 big loops, I had about 1:30 left in the race and opted to go ahead and shift to running the short loop (.7 miles) for the rest of the race. That was a really good choice, as it was much easier to stay focused and keep my spirits up. Fortunately another friend Jonathan had arrived at the race then too after putting in a lot of miles on Cougar/Squak Mts. earlier in the day. He gamely jumped in to pace me in for the rest of the race. He pushed me hard and we were able to hammer out 14 more little loops- just enough to break the course record by .7 miles. Wow, talk about close! It felt amazing and was a really great day.

A huge thank you to all the volunteers and sponsors of the race- I am always amazed at all the work that goes into putting on an event like this, and this is definitely a first class race. Great job to all the other runners out there too and congratulations on whatever you achieved- I talked to many folks who ran their first ultra, first 50 miler, etc., etc. Pushing your own limits is so awesome to see, so congrats to all and see you back on the trails again somewhere soon!

Oh, I also put together a very rough simple video from the race- see it below. Not much photo/video from the race seeing as how my wife ended up being one of my pacers extraordinaire! You never know what a day will bring.