Granny Nanny and the Old Goat

Ponderous Posterior fat ass 50K

2012-01-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

Bird's eye view of the course

We had heard about this run from some friends and decided to make a trip up to Manitou Springs, Colorado to enjoy the surrounding Pikes Peak area trails. We made the plans and Garry Harrington invited us up to stay at his and Nancy (Hobbs) house, which we did, but because we had to go home to be there early to enter San Juan Solstice 50 and bottle my first beer batch, we did just that, getting home around 1am, staying up to unwind until 2am, then getting up at 6:30 to warm up the PC to be one of the first to get into SJS50. (What a crazy sport this is).

After a wonderful dinner at Garry and Nancy's fave Mexican food joint and several brews, we hit the hay for the 5:30am wakeup. We arrived at JT's house, who was the host of the run, around 6:45 and we were running down the road a little after 7 with a large group of what seemed like 50 runners...and this was only the 7am group, there was also going to be an 8am group start and a 9am start.

7AM runners starting

Heading to those mountains in the distance

The course was basically the Red Rock Open Space, the Intemann Trail, Red Mountain, the Incline, Longs Ranch Rd, Waldo Canyon, Williams Canyon, Rampart Range Rd, and finally the Garden of the Gods and to and from JT's house.

Coloradans Running Ultra Distances

JT's house, the start/finish in Manitou Springs

Our plan was to take out time and just run by a low HR, I wore a monitor and tried to keep it around 130 all day and Deb just stayed with me or I with her, however you want to look at it. This wasn't a race, so why hurt? Our first race will be the Salida Marathon in March.
Joining us all day were Kevin Z. and Garry H., both who also wanted to have an easy training day. It was a fine group and at times we split up (like on the Incline), but most of the day we just ran or hiked together.

Early on were some nice single track, which was icy in spots, but mostly dirt, rolling trails with great views. Garry gave us the tour of where we were and what we were looking at in the distance. "See that brown scar on the side of that mountain in front of us? We go up that" Was an example of Garry's tour.

The Incline is that brown scar on the right mountain

2000' of climb in one mile

After the trails, we ended up running down a road into Manitou Springs, where I was sure we lost the course, but we then saw a marker which lead us into the cemetery. Through the cemetery and onto some more great single track trails that were even icier than earlier. We had traction devices, but opted to not put them on as the patches were sparse.

Course marking was great

Nearing the top of Red

KZ hitting on a female in the group

A left turn up the OaB to the Red Mountain summit was nice and then dumped as at the bottom of the Incline. The 8am group was summiting Red as we were heading down and they caught and passed us for good at the road leading to the Incline.

Getting caught by the 8AM group just before the Incline

Dakota Jones and Scott Jaime running together to the left

Looking up the Incline

OK, this deserves a section and mention of it's own. We had heard of this infamous climb and even set foot on it many years ago, but had never done the whole thing. WOW! I wish I had this in MY backyard! Hardrock would be a piece of cake....I can see a Sunday after a long run spending all day going up and down this beaut.

Brandon T. coming up behind us

I began easy with Deb, then Brendan T. caught up to us and I latched onto him as we talked about things. Looking down and seeing 160bpm on my watch made me realize it was time to let this young pup go and settle back down to where I wanted to be....but hey, Deb and KZ are way behind now and Garry is about 100 yards ahead, lets see what I can do this in! So I began cranking up....never caught Brendan again (well, of course not!), but passed by runner after obese hiker after dog and as I neared the top went by Garry, but he jumped onto my pace and we touched the top together in about 35 minutes. Garry said this wasn't bad for someone who had never done it and at age 60. Let's just say I'd like to improve my time...

Garry (blue shirt) right behind me

Garry and me after the Incline climb with Pikes Peak in behind us
Kevin Z photo

At the top we waited for Kev and Deb to summit and we continued on up and up, then onto some real snowy trails/roads. This was my least favorite part of the day as we run in snow all the time down in NM (we live at 8200' in the Jemez) and I cam "North" to get away from the snow! ;-)

Deb running up ahead in the snow

Anyway, this brought us down to the aid station and because we were so freakin' slow, the water was gone, luckily we wore our backpack hydration and still had plenty....good thing it wasn't a hot day. Next year I'm bringing some water to add to the station, I should have done that this year.

Kevin getting aided

Some nice single track coming out of Waldo Canyon

The Waldo trail was nice into Waldo Canyon and (I think) Williams Canyon and eventually we popped out onto the Rampart Range Road, which Garry told us we took all the way down. I forget what time it was, but I think it was 7 hours into the run and we needed to pick up our dogs from the kennel before they closed, so Deb and I agreed that I was to hammer down, go get the dogs and meet her back at the house. Garry came with me and KZ stayed at the more comfy pace. It felt like we were in a race, running at what felt like top speed forever, Garry right on my shoulder. At times he'd go ahead, then I'd take the lead, faster and faster until we reached the bottom....and saw no markers. Hmmm, must have missed a turn! Luckily Garry knows the area and I followed him through town to the wrong end of 31st street and to the house in 8:54. I went and got the dogs and only minutes after I got there, Deb and KZ came running in "the correct way" in 9:21.

Rampart Range Road

Downhill for about 6 miles at a 7 mpm pace...

Fat as means no entry fee, no aid, no course marking and no awards. We had all of it...

No results link, but here is the host's blog post

Here is another write-up...

Here is a link to the rest of my pics...

It was to be a whirlwind night, no time to have a beer, maybe next year the run won't be the night before SJS entry ;-) We drove back to Garry and Nancy's house, showered quickly and were at the local McDonald's to fill our bellies with Angus burgers and shakes. I also got a super huge Mountain Dew for the caffeine to keep me awake for the 5 hour drive south back to the Jemez.

A huge thank you to JT and his many volunteers for the course marking, it was better than most races. Next year I'll be more prepared and bring water and maybe a box o' Joe of the house. Hope you enjoyed those Santa Fe Brewery Java Stouts! ;-)

Now for the sponsor bit...
Ran in the La Sportiva Crosslites and drank mucho EFS Liquid Shot...as a matter of fact other than 2 tiny Snickers, all I had were gels and felt great all day.

Up next, possibly the Durango fat ass 50K on Feb 4th and then onto the Salida Marathon in mid March.

Until next time, happy training!
Steve (and Deb)

...and we're back!

2012-01-04T14:09:00.000-07:00

Based on the news Deb and I got yesterday that we are back on the Wasatch Speedgoat Mountain Racing Team roster, I am bringing this blog back to life...for the team and sponsors, of which aren't nailed down yet, other than Backcountry.com, which is a sure thing. I'll update the sidebar when these get nailed down.

Back in the goat skin for 2012

This is at Salida, Steve mid race and Deb winning her AG

The posts I publish will be mainly centered around the races we run. Deb's about to have some shoulder surgery, which will take her out for a little bit, but not for long. She should be ready for these.
As of now the tentative schedule is:

1. Salida Marathon - March.
2. Collegiate Peaks 50 mile - April
3. Jemez 50 - May (Deb's running and I am an aid station captain)
4. San Juan Solstice 50 mile - June (Hardcore final long run for Hardrock)
5. Hardrock 100 - July (This is not tentative and we've decided to run this together)
6. Speedgoat 50K - July (depends on if we can walk after Hardrock)
7. Wasatch 100- September (Deb, depending on lottery)
7. Bear 100 - September (Steve, and Deb if she doesn't get into Wasatch)

That's it for now and will probably be it, depending on which ones we get into...after all I am now 60 and Deb will be 58 in August! Sprinkled in there here and there are the many NM MTNRNR trail series, which we will either RD or run as training.

Glad to be back and here's wishing everyone out there a fantastic 2012 and that you get into the races you want to get in!
Steve and Deb

Steve at Hardrock

4th in line with orange WSMRT shirt on

(photo by Jason Halladay, this is the 2012 finisher's poster print)

Final post

2011-09-20T14:48:00.001-06:00

Deb and I last year about to go on a 35 mile run on the Monadnock Sunapee Greenway Trail in Washington, NH.

Back awhile ago when I started writing this blog, it was only because we were asked to be on a running team, the Wasatch Speedgoat Mountain Racing Team. One of the requirements was to maintain a blog for the purpose of discussing our training and racing, but most of all to get the sponsors logos and websites out there to the readers. It was a fun time being on the team....I was on the initial team that was formed early in 2008 and Deb was added in July of that year. We were the first of several married couples on the team.

As time goes on things always change and recently the team was suspended until further notice, due to many things that I won't get into. I always felt privileged to be on the team and we did get some minor perks from the sponsors...not so much free, but healthy discounts.

Let's face it...Deb and I are mid to back of the pack and other than age group, we'd not win a thing. I'm going to be 60 in several weeks and Deb's 57, we're not anywhere near the front. I also always felt like I didn't belong on any sponsored team because of that, we had Olga who was winning races and several other standouts, while Deb and I were just and happily in the mid to back of most races.

So without going on and on, I just wanted to say that one thing I've always said was that when I was no longer on the team, this blog would die. I have not been told that we are not on the team, but it's in hibernation, a new roster will be announced next year and I might want to move on. I don't have time to write it and also feel that blogging is sort of bragging about what you have done and I by no means fit that description. So that ends it...

Deb and I at the 2010 VHTRC Ring with the colors on

Several other bits of news is that the Bear is this weekend and no, there won't be a race report here. Deb is not running and had to withdraw from Wasatch due to some issues related to her truck accident back in December, but she'll be back. I will go back to what I did pre blog and just tell my buds how it went by email. At the Bear I will be wearing the blue train colors of my club, the VHTRC...which is what I did pre Goats ;-)

Mount Monadnock, Jaffrey, NH.

Where Deb and I were married in 2001, 10 years ago this October,

fittingly shown in Winter, which it is for most of the year there

On another note, Deb and I discussed moving back to New Hampshire someday and initially I didn't want to think of it, but the more I do, the more I feel that is home. Deb really misses the area, her artist friends and the grand daughters and I wouldn't be unhappy to move back. It won't happen for a few years and may not, but the discussion has begun.

So that's it...life goes on and after this weekend I'll know whether I'm ever running another 100 mile race again, this is what I'm hoping to see before 30 hours has elapsed ;-)

Speedgoat!

2011-08-02T13:19:00.000-06:00

Yes, Speedgoat...that is the one and only above

This year because Deb and I now live in New Mexico, we decided to run the Speedgoat 50K at the Snowbird ski area in Utah instead of the usual MMD50K that we run this time of year. Deb had run it last year because she moved to NM sooner than I had and raved about it. I had my doubts and was convinced that Speedgoat was not the "Toughest 50K in the country" that Karl Meltzer proclaimed. MMD had to be, after all I had finished tied for 2nd at MMD last Summer with Howie Brienan in a time of 12:24 while Deb finished in the back of Speedgoat 2 hours quicker!

Profile of the Speedgoat 50K

Well, guess what? Speedgoat wins! I have run (and am the only one) to have run 6 MMD 50K's, where the course is tougher every year. The name says it all More and More Difficult....but enough of that run (hike), let me get to the subject of this post.

Speedgoat is tougher than MMD! Yes, I said it and told Karl at the finish that I was wrong, his race is more difficult and the only way I can explain the faster time is the 5 mile downhill runnable sections and the reason I am so sore today! Runnable? Well, if you don't mind picking your way through fist and head sized boulders that are strewn about the road.

The climbs at Speedgoat easily match the hardest I've ever climbed and this includes Hardrock. You not only have the long and steep climbs, but also the altitude as this run goes up over 11,000 feet twice! On top of that we had the snow to deal with, which was tough to get up, but fun going down.

Typical Speedgoat climb

On to my race...I started in the back of the pack with my New England friends, Michelle and Kevin to insure a slow start. Not knowing this course, I didn't want to be brazen enough to start out running at a quick pace, then die later on, so we started out hiking, then slow jogging until we reached the first climb.

The course is designed to allow some thinning of the herd so that we didn't get stuck behind a congo line of runners.

Not too bad a conga line

We seemed to climb forever and it felt easy to me, so I hiked past many runners who were not having it as easy. We soon reached the snowfields, which were soft enough to get some good grip with my LaSportiva Crosslites, while watching all of the Hoka wearers, slip and fall. I clawed my way past them and was soon in the Hidden Peak aid station at around mile 7.7. I didn't bother with how long it was taking me because I had no idea where I should be when because this was my first Speedgoat. I just moved at a comfortable pace and made sure I was draining at least one bottle between aid station and eating a mouthful of EFS Liquid Shot every 45 min's to an hour to keep the head in the game.

One of the steeper snow sections

Runners (hikers) coming up behind me

More coming up behind me, showing the steepness of the snowfields

After checking in at the aid station and drinking a cup of Coke, we blasted down the hill to Larry's Hole at 9.9. Because it was all downhill, I barely touched my water, so just ran through making sure to check out.

That's me coming down one of the gnarlier downhills

So steep we needed a rope!

Pacific Mine was next at mile 14.4, which was Roch Horton's aid station and this one was the winner. We were all weary after the near 4 mile downhill run on boulders. On the short road into the aid station, I did a gel, followed by some Gu Crumbles and it picked me up enough to allow me to run almost all of the slightly uphill road into the aid station. It being an out and back, we saw many of the runners ahead of us. Some looked tired, while others looked great.

Roch Horton, captain of the Pacific Mine aid station

Once there Roch said hi and placed an ice water cloth on the back of my neck while I ate some watermelon. He had Popsicles there, but I passed not wanting to dump all that sugar in my stomach after the Gel and crumbles I just ate...I was trying my best to not get sick, which always seems to happen to me in races. I also made sure to grab a Saltstick cap in most of the aid stations I passed through.

Cody climbing up ahead of me towards Larry's Hole

It was warm down in the aid station and now we had a really long and sometimes steep climb back up to Larry's Hole at mile 19.4. The 5 mile climb actually seemed easy, which I shared with Cody from Logan and I made sure to eat on the way up. I went through more gels at this race than at any other, but it was working. I also drank most of my 2 bottles and refilled one of them as it was only a couple of miles to the next aid station. I also grabbed another Saltstick capsule.

The "Grunt"

Up next was possibly the most difficult section of the course...it was a steep grassy slope with no trail, just straight up. Memories of the Putnam and Green Mountain sections at Hardrock were all I could remember doing anything like this. What a grunt up it was...I could feel things in the back of my legs stretching beyond where they had been stretched before. The calf muscles were burning and my lungs were filling and emptying really fast as my body screamed for oxygen at this over 10,000 foot elevation. Once at the top, we got on a nice runnable trail but there was no way I could run, so I hiked along, even the downhill across a snowfield and then up to the Tunnel aid station at mile 21.5.

Looking into the tunnel before running through it

Standing before the Tunnel after getting my bottle filled and eating some more fuel, I took inventory of how I felt and realized I felt pretty damn good with 10 miles to go! As I entered the tunnel, Bryon Powell of irunfar was sitting in the cool shade taking a short break. Bryon has had an incredible summer, running a sub 20 at Western States and then training and pacing at Hardrock during the past three weeks and knowing that he had UTMB in France coming up, was backing off wisely.

I told Bryon that I felt good and it was time to try and make up some time from the climbs and outside of the other side of the tunnel I couldn't find any markers and while standing there Bryon came along and spotted them down the hill and around the corner. Karl, you need some flour arrows there. Bryon and I ran down the road from the tunnel, which had recently been plowed.

Bryon Powell ahead of me on the other side of the tunnel

Again I left Bryon to make up some time and started picking up the pace down the hill, mindful of the course markers. I didn't want to go off course now! Spotting the course markers taking a left off the road, I followed them through the woods and onto the trail that would take me along the ridge back up to Hidden Peak.

It was getting hot in the sun now, but I still felt good. I think doing some training in Albuquerque in the mid 90's since early June has helped and I soon went by a couple of guys that were struggling up the trail. One guy was screaming in pain, sitting on the trail from cramps. This is a tough race!

The ridge to Hidden Peak

The trail went along that ridge-line to the top

On the final climb up to the aid station it was a dusty single track trail, which was causing the front of my shins to cramp a bit. I think this was due to fatigued muscles and not electrolytes, but to be sure and to make the run down as fast as possible, I ate 2 caps and drank 2 cups of Coke once I got there. This was the last aid station, Hidden Peak at over 11,000 feet and mile 26.5.

We now had 5 miles of downhill to the finish. I looked at my watch and saw 1:47, which was 7:17. If I could get down in 45 minutes (9mpm), I'd be able to get in under 8 hours...but I forgot about the snowfields, which were a lot softer now and also didn't really know what to expect once down in the trees, near the finish.

Starting the run down to the finish with Cody ahead

I started to run down hard, right behind Cody and with Troy behind me. We reached the snow and ran through it the best we could and glissaded down the two steep pitches. I stopped to get a great shot of Troy glissading behind me.

Troy behind me glissading down the snowfield

After the snow and a couple of trail sections, we had a great road to run down....I ran as hard as I could and went by Cody and Coni from Switzerland and a runner she was with. I had been back and forth with her all day long. Troy went flying by me and that was the position we held. It was defeating once down below because what I was hoping for was a direct run into the finish, it wound around, up and down through the trees while listening to the crowd at the finish cheer when runners came in. My legs were now shot, but I did all I could to keep running, not wanting to look at my watch. After all, what difference did it make? I was sure I wouldn't break 8 hours and once I crossed the finish line, Scott Mason said "Baaa" and Karl put a medal around my neck, then pointed to the cooler of PBR beer. I asked my time and Scott said 8:07. Official time is 8:07.53 in 63rd place. There were 297 entrants and 188 finishers, so I felt good about my time and place. One of my goals in races is to not have anyone older than me in front of me, which I succeeded in doing. So next year I hope to get in under 8 hours at the age of 60...

Karl and Scott about to greet my friend Michelle from Ma.

This is a really well run race and great course, it is my new favorite. My fave until this was the San Juan Solstice 50, but I actually think this one might be harder! As I write this I am contemplating whether I'll be able to run today on my still sore legs...it's Tuesday, 3 days since the race and I'm still sore! Awesome!

Karl, you have a winner here, I'll be back...

To see the rest of my pictures, go to this link. https://picasaweb.google.com/ultrastevep/2011Speedgoat50K#
The results can be found here: http://ultrasignup.com/results_event.aspx?did=11805

Now it's time to start thinking about the next race, the Bear 100, which is 7 weeks from Friday. I plan to spend a couple of weekends in Silverton, Colorado doing some training on the Hardrock course to get some finishing work for the Bear, then will start to back off. Deb is going to do some grandchildren visiting in TX and NH, so it'll just be me and the dogs.

So until next post, happy training!
Steve

2011 Hardrock Hundred...or 42!

2011-07-14T09:14:00.004-06:00

What can I say....another Hardrock, another DNF. This one really tested me and like my friend Garry Harrington said to me last year after pacing Mike Bur "Wow, I felt like I was in the ring with Mike Tyson. One jab after another, then the knockout punch".

The day started well, as I started out at what I thought was last person to "walk" out of town. After all, most "runners" walk more than 50% of Hardrock, so why not start out walking to keep the heart rate low and not burn up glycogen unnecessarily. I have learned over the years while training per the Maffetone method that the best way to get through one of these difficult endurance events is to get into a fat burning mode immediately, so is what I do. It has worked off and on for me, mostly on since 2004 and I expected it to this weekend as well. I look back and see Roy Heger yelling at me that I'm not last! ;-)

Walking from the start backwards

As we made our way along the beaver pond trail behind the Lackawanna Mine, I noticed ahead of me were Kathy Lang, Jennifer Roach, Marcy Beard and Deb. Perfect! But as the miles went by, I eased my way forward without any effort as the body warmed up, climbing the road up to Dives/Little Giant pass. This is where in the runner's manual it states "Someone could die here" or something like that. Well, I think the more dangerous sections were coming, but more on that later.

Mark Heaphy on the Dives/Little Giant Pass

At the top of the pass, I hooked up with Mark Heaphy for the run down. Thinking back, I now wish I ran down a little easier, but knew that Joe Prusiatis would be barreling down soon and was trying to hold that off as late as possible. Joe usually thunders past in the other direction on the hill down into KT, so this would be the appropriate place and soon I heard the footsteps and ground shake and told Mark he had better step aside. We stepped aside, Joe went by, but soon we reached a conga line of walkers that was impassable with Greg Loomis on the rear of the line, so we just followed behind across the creek into the Cunningham aid station in around 3 hours from the start, which was just about right on for a 40 hour finish.

The creek crossing going in the Cunningham Aid Station

In the aid station, I got my drop bag, which had a gel flask and a chocolate soy milk. I started using this last year and it tastes good, keeps the stomach settled and provided 150 calories, not as much as an Ensure, but too much usually makes me sick. In and out in about 5 minutes, high fiving my buddies and up into the Green Mountain section we go.

Looking back down at the aid station after climbing a bit

Bob Combs coming up behind me

Luckily it wasn't too hot, I seem to remember the last time I ran in this direction that it was hot on the first climb, but today was a cool day. I easily climbed up with Bob Combs behind me and at the top stopped to get some rocks out of my shoes. This was a trick Dennis Herr taught me in 2003...stop every now and then to dump debris out of the shoes, look around and enjoy the beauty, letting your heart rate come down a bit...while sitting there, Rick Hodges and Stan Ferguson hiked past. Once I got going again, I got past Rick and hooked up with Stan. Stan and I stayed together until Maggie aid station.

The beauty of the Green Mountain section

Here I am climbing up in the Green Mountain section
(photo by Jason Halladay)

The Green Mountain section just might be the prettiest section on the route. Green fields, lots of flowers and meadows with majestic mountain views all around. Once up the top of the steep grass hillside, there's some good running until over Stony Pass. You then climb again up Canby Mountain and it was here that Stan and I passed Chris Twiggs, who was dry heaving from the altitude. Chris lives in Florida and always has this trouble, but he's tough, he always finishes!

Stan Ferguson heading down in the Maggie aid station

On the trail down off of Canby, I watched Stan begin to continue on the trail down into Buffalo Boy Mine. I yelled to him to come back and we went the way the route usually goes, but there were no course markers. They had marked it up high to the right to avoid a steep snow cornice on the usual route. Chris came along, plunged over the cornice while we were standing there trying to figure it out and just slid over the edge following Chris. We hooked up with the marked route after going down the hill a little bit. This is where it's both good and bad to know the route. I know the whole route well and rarely look for course markers, but because of this I missed the markers going off to the right up on the top f the mountain. Rick Hodges yelled down to us that they marked the route off a bit.

Chris Twiggs coming up behind me after Maggie aid station

Now on the long downhill into Maggie Gulch, I let Stan go and backed off the pace a bit. I wanted to eat here and did, grabbing a handful of grapes after eating some watermelon, also grabbing a tomato/lettuce, cheese and mayo wrap and ate it on the climb out of Maggie into the Pole Creek section of the course.

One of the poles of Pole Creek, Stan pulling away

Up on this section Stan took off and I climbed up with Chris along the trail and into the Pole Creek aid station. The first rainstorm hit us here and I had to take my jacket on and off several times. Into the aid station, the storm hit harder with high winds, hail and rain. I looked at the table and nothing interested me until one of the volunteers mentioned they had soup. Yeah, soup sounds good! I grabbed a cup of soup, ate it on the downhill and stuffed the cup into my jacket pocket. I think Deb did the laundry this week with that cup still in the pocket ;-)

Jeff List and I did most of the Pole Creek section together

Now we're on the Pole Creek section of the course. I had to be careful of my pace here as it is mostly above 12,000' for several miles and usually hot...so I decided to mostly walk this section, drinking water along the way, hopefully emptying my 2 bottles before we reach Sherman aid. I hiked strong and soon saw a runner ahead, walking. It looked like my friend from New England, Jeff List, who I soon caught up to. I told him that using poles this year must be slowing him down because I can't catch him otherwise. He's a really strong hiker. Jeff and I hiked as powerfully as possible with short jogs on the downhill sections and it again began to rain with lightening and wind coming from in behind us. It was so wet in here, our feet were soaked! But I was still feeling really good and Jeff mentioned that we were on a sub 39 hour pace, which is what he ran in 2009.

Jeff pulling away with Cataract Lake alongside

After going by Cataract Lake, I started to feel the first signs of my Vertigo that I've been getting off and on the past couple of years. What happens is if I turn my head to the right or left or up to drink from my bottle, the whole world spins. It has something to do with crystals in the ear moving or not moving or something. My 84 year old mom has it and I guess I'm getting it to. I talked with my doc in NH about it and he said "Welcome to old age!" Not sure that was the right answer to get, but I'll look into it further. One day on a training run about a month ago with Deb going up Santa Fe Baldy, I fell three times in 10 minutes and though it was the dogs getting under my feet, but thinking back I remember being dizzy that day and many times when I go to bed I get the spins when I lie down, so this isn't something new to me...just something new in a race.

So I let Jeff go and again saw Stan up ahead, who Jeff eased by just before the creek crossing. This was about the location of Deb's poster. At the creek crossing, the water was flowing fast and the ledge under the water was slick, so I walked along the log for a brace in case I slipped.

Dropping into Cataract Falls section

Cataract Falls

You don't want to slip and go over this

As I started to jog down the hill, my vertigo kicked in again, so I walked down the long switchback trail into the Sherman aid station, about mile 25. As I did Mark Heaphy and Kris Kern ran past, I walked on. One year I ran down this with Jeff Wilbur and was wasted in the Sherman aid station, puking my way up Handies...so this year I eased down , mostly walking due to the spins and got into the aid station with my drop bag dumped out on the table for me. I again wanted some calories before this long 13 mile section over Handies Peak, the one 14,000' peak. So I drank my soy milk, had a little bit of mac and cheese and washed that down with a cup of soup. I stayed here for awhile to let the vertigo settle down, along with my stomach, which the vertigo causes to be a little nauseous. By the time I left the aid station after talking some pictures, I completely forgot about the dizziness, felt good and hoped it was gone for the day.

Me fueling up in Sherman

Roger Wrublik leaving Sherman ahead of me

As I left the aid station with Rodger Wrublik in front and Robert Andrulis in behind, I was feeling good now and cranked up the trail. Rodger stepped aside saying I was climbing better than he was. Nearing the top, Ken Ward went by my and I mumbled something about getting old, but once up on the road I reeled him in by off and on jogging and also caught up to Mark Heaphy and Chris Twiggs at the Grizzly Gulch trail head up to Handies Peak. Looking back I probably pushed this section too hard, but it felt easy. Should have worn my HR monitor, which I'll do at the Bear in September like I did last year.

The dusty Burrow Park Road

My last photo

As soon as I started up, I felt the dizziness return, so sat on a log to dump out my shoes again and while doing so Marcy Beard cranked on by. Man, she looked strong as I was starting to feel weaker. So while sitting there I ate some Gu Crumbles and polished off a bottle of water. Again as I started I felt dizzy, so tried to walk up the trail without turning my head to the side and when I took a drink from my bottle, I tried to not tip my head up much. Several times I fell to the side, losing my balance and had to sit down for a bit. Up near the top Rick Hodges, then Robert Andrulis went by. When Chris Twiggs went by I told him to let the aid station know I was having some vertigo, but would be there as soon as I could. I knew they'd be wondering when I wasn't there in the right time. Roger came along and we hiked up the final climb together, he again let me lead and Chris and Bob Combs were taking breaks behind us. The weather was moving in with lightening, high winds and rain, so I put my jacket on...all my really warm clothes were in the next aid station, Grouse Gulch.

Handies Peak up ahead

(Bill Geist photo)

Once we reached the summit of Handies, my fellow runners made sure that I would be alright and I told them to go on with their races and I'd be in the aid station as soon as I could get there. This is where the fun begins!

That bowl in the center with all the snow is American Basin

(Bill Geist photo)

The steep trail off of Handies

(Bill Geist photo)

The snowfields on the other side of Handies were crumbling from the rain and every time I stepped into a footstep, it broke loose on the downhill side of the hillside, causing me to fall and with the vertigo, keeping my balance was near impossible. I immediately turned my light on, even though it was still daylight, in case I did slip down one of the snowfields and could be rescued. I tried running down the loose dirt of the mountain, but was slipping and couldn't look down without the world spinning. The trail at the top was very steep and loose and all I could do was walk while my buds ran off down the trail. After several snowfields I was in the bowl that was the American Basin section and all the way to the top of Grouse-American was snow and most of it was walking alongside a hill at an angle with the snow breaking free with each footstep. The conditions were not good and getting worse. Next up was a flash of light and a boom right above my head. The flash caused the snow to light up brighter than I'd ever seen. There were three flashes and booms, followed by heavy hail.

What it felt like was above me

The clothing I had on was two thin nylon shirts, one long and one short sleeve, a pair of nylon shorts and my Marmot Precip jacket. The jacket was the only thing really keeping in any body heat, but the muscles were starting to clench into shivering and if I didn't move quicker would be shivering. I looked up and saw no lights, I looked back and saw a few a ways back, it was now dark. All I saw ahead of me was a steep snowfield that seemed to go up unending, but knowing the course, I knew that there was a top to this and it would be sooner than later. I was having trouble finding the course markers, but just walked up where I knew I needed to go....more flashes and booms, hail bouncing off my head and bare legs. I had my hood up, tied tightly to keep in some heat and walked up as hard as I could. I also put my aluminum Fenix flashlight inside my jacket sleeve with the front peaking out, worried about a lightening hit.

This is very similar to the snowfield we had to traverse

I soon reached the top and followed the course markers over the top and down the steep scree trail, luckily the vertigo wasn't bothering me right now. I saw a figure in the dark ahead walking down the trail with no light. I thought bear, but it was a runner I caught up to who hadn't gotten his light out yet, he did and followed me down the rocky trail. A couple of nasty snowfields to go down that had no footsteps anymore, so I stepped to the side of them and side stepped down to not slip, fall, get wet and cold. I was exhausted now...and the aid station couldn't come sooner. Once I got back on the trail, me and my now trail companion had two creek crossings that I knew would be raging with all this rain and melting snow. The first one wasn't bad, but the second one was just scary to look at. The water was roaring down the side of the mountain, hitting some boulders and flying up in the air right where we had to cross. I stopped to evaluate my choices and there was only one, right through the middle. I told my companion behind me that I was having vertigo issues and to watch to make sure I kept my footing. I stepped into the water, making sure I braced my foot against a boulder downstream in order to not slip and then jumped across with the water hitting me on my side, pushing me onto the trail, instead of down the waterfall. I looked back to make sure he made it across, I let him by and continued down the now switchbacks.

Yeah I still had some dizziness, the trail was moving not only underneath my feet, but also every now and then it would go sideways and I'd almost fall. WTF!

I got down to the road and into the aid station, they asked if I was alright, I mentioned the Vertigo and they had been waiting for me. Seems that when it was mentioned that a runner on Handies had vertigo, they were discussing a rescue down in Silverton, but the docs at the Grouse Gulch know me from all my years of running this and after talking with Chris Twiggs felt like I'd make it down safely.

I got in the tent, they insisted I lie down and asked what I thought. I mentioned that I was concerned about going down the Bear Creek trail (a shelf trail cut into the side of a cliff with a 400 foot drop to a river) in this condition and thought I should stop rather than put anyone in danger. They were hoping I'd agree to that decision.

The Bear Creek trail

Not a good place to be dizzy

So my race was over....another Hardrock failure. What does it take to get through this run? I did all the training that I knew I needed to do in the past 6 months (averaging well over 50MPW), I was living at 8100' and regularly going above 10, 11 and 12,000' in training with Deb. My weekly training in Albuquerque in the 90's had me heat trained, but that I didn't need this year, I never felt hot at all. I was hoping that Deb stopped at Sherman so that she wouldn't have to go through what I just went through on Handies...turns out she was right on the other side of the mountain coming up, going through her own struggles with the weather, along with Joe Prusaitis, Greg Loomis, Marty Fritzhand and Rick Pearcy, who got really hypothermic.

Once done I was able to get a ride into town by Chris Twiggs' parents along with Jeff Heasley, there was a lot of shivering in the heated jeep. Thanks for that ride!

Now I look ahead to next year...should I try again? Initial thoughts say no, but that always changes in time. I'm thinking I can always enter and if I don't get in, the decision is made for me, if I do get in I then have 6 months to decide.

I'm now in the process of recovery....42 miles at Hardrock takes more out of me than most completed 100's. That was 42 miles in 16 hours! 16 hours of climbing and descending, battling the cold hail and rain and fighting with the spins. I'm also going to have this vertigo checked out, because if it continues, Hardrock will not be attempted again...it's just too dangerous and I'm putting others at risk if I had to be rescued.
I've been running Hardrock since 2000 in one form or another and these were the worst conditions I have ever seen. One of the officials said they were the worst conditions since 1997.
Several people have asked if I am disappointed, but really neither of us are because Hardrock isn't about the race....it's about the 2 weeks spent with our Hardrock family doing the course marking, marching in the parade, watching the fireworks. I could not have asked for a better vacation. Besides, what a great training run for the Bear! :-)

So in three weeks Deb and I are running the Speedgoat 50K and in 9 weeks, the Bear 100. Deb's running Wasatch in 7 weeks.
Our forests in NM are closed, so there will be no trail training until those open again and that won't happen until the monsoons come. We may occasionally go up to Colorado to do some long runs, it's only a 4 hour drive.

So that's it, Hardrock is history. The weather caused 60 runners to drop from the race, the officials feel lucky that they had no casualties and could easily have had some if the field of Hardrock weren't so well accomplished in running mountain in all kinds of weather, this is one of the reasons for the strict qualifications.

I did take some pictures until the vertigo got worse after Burrows road and those can be seen here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/ultrastevep/2011HardrockHundredTheRace
If you back up to my album you can view the photos I took during course marking and also some videos of the fireworks on July 4th from the Avon Hotel back porch. Great memories :-)
For complete results go here:
http://ultrarun.net/HR100/CourseRunRank/Live

For shoes I wore my LaSportiva Crosslite 2.0's. They had good grip, but the comfort went away after about 20 miles. I was going to wear the more cushioned LaSportiva Quantums, but the wave sole would not have worked on the snow.
For fuel I started with some EFS Liquid Shot, which I used to compliment the food I was eating. That and my chocolate Soymilk that I put in all my drop bags. I need to eat more during these events, but just can't or I'll get sick so I'm always on the edge of bonking.
Socks were Drymax Trail Lite, I love these socks.
Nathan 2 bottle waist pack
Fenix LD20 handheld was my light with a Petzl Tikka plus as a backup.

As for Deb she was recovering from a truck accident from back in December and was having some issues still, but felt ready to give it a go. The weather is what knocked her out, not the injuries. I think the weather knocked out the majority of the 60 runners who did not make it to the finish.

See you on the trails!
Steve

San Juan Solstice 50 mile....year of the alternate course

2011-06-20T12:47:00.001-06:00

Yeah...alternate course. Many of us were thinking...easier, not going up over 13,000 feet, less snow, most likely personal bests on this "easier" course. Well, it was anything but! The consensus of most runners, including David Coblentz, who has run this 10 times, that this alternate route was for sure more difficult. Look at the profile above.

David Coblentz, Brian Crone and Tom Stockton from Los Alamos, NM.

The race went pretty much as planned for me eventually....but I sortof got pulled into an early quick pace for a couple of reasons. One, as we ran through the streets of Lake City heading to the trails, I noticed I was breathing quite hard at this elevation of 8800+ feet, not what I was expecting after having lived at 8100' for the past 5 months, but running along with Bogie I was charged, felt great and ready to roll. We powered up the first climb and once was able to, I dieseled up ahead of many, with a complaining Bogie all the way to the top ;-). Then after we crested the first climb and started to run down, I saw a bunch of chatting runners coming out of the woods to my upper right and I could see that the course markers were clearly going down through a field to the left. Immediately after merging with these runners, I got sucked into their pace and saw Charles Corfield directly in front of me. We started to talk (Charles would normally already be well ahead of me) and I learned that they went off course for about a half mile. Once at the bottom of a way too fast downhill, I stepped aside and saw Tom Stockton fly by me, too. Poor Tom got sucked into the herd that went off course, too. Then as we were running down another hill, we all almost went off again, until Tom caught the right turn into the woods and up a small hill. We all ran into the mile 11 aid station together.

Christine Coblentz and Marge Stockton were a lot of help during the day

They took this photo of me

Me showing my new Wasatch Speedgoat skin

Next section was possibly the most difficult of the race. It was an 11 mile loop that started with a steep 4 mile climb from below 9000' to above 12,000'. I was climbing up with a great group of runners and made several new friends as we talked and chugged up the climb. At the top the climb seemed to double in steepness for the final 100 yards to the point that traction was difficult! But we were rewarded with a wonderful ridge run that led to a much too fast 4.5 mile downhill on a dirt jeep road. At the bottom of his downhill run was where I decided that things were going just a little too fast with Hardrock less than 3 weeks away. Time to back off and back off is what I did, all the way to what felt like a Hardrock pace. Walk anything that resembled an uphill, jog and walk any flat sections and jog easily down the hills. This decision was made after coming into the mile 22 aid station feeling a little fried with legs starting to feel it, much too early for that!

Running across a snowfield near the 12,000+' summit

Awesome ridge running up high, this was the highlight of the day

Annette up ahead, 7 time finisher!

From there we entered the section we all dreaded, the road section around Lake San Christobal. What made that section enjoyable was the awesome views all the way around the lake. What made it bad was all the vehicles going by and kicking up the dust. Most of this section, which must have been around 7 miles long, I just got into a rhythm of walking/running until it was over. While walking one of the uphill long stretches, Scott Eppleman of Texas came flying by us. He had gone off course for about 2 miles and was now trying to get back to where he should have been in the field.

Lake San Christobal with Sunshine and Redcloud in the distance

This was the river we were running alongside, it was rough and fast

Glad we didn't have to cross the rivers this year!

At the end of this road stretch, we had a small aid station where I sat down and dumped some rocks out of my shoes. I needed this short break because this was climb #3, which rivaled #2 in that it was long, steep and went up over 12,000 feet. The early fast pace was starting to take it's toll and my tummy wasn't feeling too good all of a sudden, so I took 2 electrolyte caps with some water and ate a package of Honey Stinger chews. Most of the day I had been consuming First Endurance EFS Liquid Shot, but didn't think I was going to get any more of that down, so had to try different things now. The climb didn't seem as bad as the last one after mile 11, but man it was long...and as we neared the top and got on the Colorado Trail, I was starting to hurt from the altitude, getting a headache and breathing real hard. The headache was mild, but close to the one I got up on Santa Fe Baldy (12,600+') last weekend. Guess I'm still not acclimated with only 5 months under my belt of living and training at altitude.

Up around 12K for the 2nd time, this time around 30 miles or so

Some of the views up here, which were incredible

Breathtaking country

We reached the Divide aid station at around mile 35 and I sat down and had some soup for the first time. Good Ramen noodles, washed that down with a cup of Coke and headed out. I was there for maybe 5 minutes only, I don't like spending much time in aid stations, it can be your undoing. I headed out and remembering this section from when I ran this in 2007, it's a long time up high on a rutted jeep road. It wasn't a fun stretch, but the reward at the end of it is a general downhill to the finish.

The road to Slumgullion, it went on and on...

There was another small aid station before we reached the start of the downhill and I just grabbed a couple of cups of Coke and kept going. Before I was at the start of the downhill I heard a call out behind me and looked back to see Jody, my Wasatch Speedgoat teammate coming towards me. At this point Jody should be well ahead of me, so I knew something had gone wrong and sure enough, like many, she went off course. I will add here that the course was well marked, more of us did not go off course than did. It's easy to just follow the runners in front of you, especially when you're starting to feel tired and I'll bet this is what happened to these runners who went off. Jody and I hung out for a bit, as we began the rocky downhill, but I told her to go on because I needed to back off for Hardrock, can't even pound the downhills like I usually do. She went on and I didn't see her again until back at the house after the race. She finished about 15 minutes ahead of me.

Jody coming up from behind

At the bottom of the hill is the Slumgullion aid station at mile 40. Here I again sat down and had a cup of Ramen, followed by a couple of cups of Coke. I then asked to have Coke in one of my bottles to help fuel these final 10 miles because there were no more gels going into this tummy! What I forgot was to get ice in the bottle, warm Coke = yuck! But I did sip it to keep the stream of calories coming in because coming up was difficult climb #4!

Controlled mayhem at Slumgullion, mile 40.

Jerry Gray, RD in the gray cap and red shirt observing

Once leaving the aid station, it goes downhill for a bit which I couldn't run much of because my bottle of Coke kept popping open and spraying sticky sugar on me. At the bottom of the hill you have a somewhat difficult stream crossing and several areas where you had to go across some dirt hills, not on the top, but on the side. I was hoping there'd be no cramps, because it would be disaster here. At the side of the dirt hill I came upon a woman who had no idea what to do, so I scrambled across it pushing against some trees to keep from falling down the side of the hill into the woods and said "There you go, that's how you do it!" She wasn't impressed ;-)

After that the climb began through a beautiful stand of Aspens and I just had no climbing left. I was barely moving, but kept putting once step in front of the other. One guy slowly went by me and mentioned that he was going full throttle, but then I noticed I was gaining on him. It was comical because here we are yo-yo-ing back and forth and we were probably moving at 1 mph ;-)

The Aspens took my mind off of how lousy I felt during this climb

Near the top of the climb I heard Bogie behind me. Bogie and I had started together, but when I had to stop to make a pit stop early after the first climb, I lost him and figured I wouldn't see him again, but guess what? He went off course and was now catching this slow slug. He asked what my plans were and I told him #1 priority was to not get hurt or too beat up for Hardrock and he asked if he could join me, so we did our easy walking jogging thing talking all the way about many different things.

Bogie at Vicker's aid, mile 46

This sign at Vicker's was good to finally see

We soon came to the final aid station, Vicker's at mile 46, got some ice in my bottle of now half gone Coke and moved on. Time to get this thing done!

Goodbye to the views

Hello to Lake City !

First sighting of Lake City since 5am...

I remembered this section from 2007 as being a pleasant rolling downhill until the last bit of trail, which is really rocky and easily a place you can get injured if you try to slam it. In 2007 I did fly down it and ran hard through town, but this year I was being very careful, so just jogged down the trail with Bogie in tow...once we hit the road into town we ran a little harder, but then once we reached the paved road that is ever so slightly uphill, we walked. I saw a guy jog by us that looked like he was in my age group, was tempted to go after him but laziness took over and I really just didn't care at this point. Turns out he took 3rd in my age group of 55-59, so I could have easily had a small slice of tree if I wanted it ;-)

Bogie and I crossed the finish line together in 13:34, two minutes faster than I ran it in 2007 when I did finish 3rd in this same age group. This was done with several handicaps...a more difficult route, less time living at altitude (5 months vs a year in '07) and having gone out too fast, which usually crushes me in a race. So all in all good and I'm on track for somewhere around 40 hours at Hardrock. It's a common known thing that you generally triple your SJS50 time to get an approximation of your Hardrock time.

Awards ceremony the next morning is always a good time

Yesterday I really felt lousy, my stomach was messed up and my legs felt really beat up, but last night I had a steak, some ice cream and a couple of Guinness and all is well today. My legs feel a lot better and I'm ready for the big dance. The highlight of the weekend was getting a text from Deb on the drive home that I got into Hardrock. Happy Father's Day it was! :-)

Up next!!

Shoes: La Sportiva Crosslites (feet felt beat up a little after the run, but are fine today)

Fuel: 4 flasks of 1st Endurance EFS Liquid Shot, one pkg of Honey Stinger chews, maybe about 5 electrolyte caps (not enough), several cups of Ramen and lots of Coke.

To see the rest of my pictures go here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/ultrastevep/2011SanJuanSolstice50#

Results will eventually be posted here:

http://web.me.com/grayj923/San_Juan_Solstice_50_Mile_Race/Welcome.html

So now it's on to Hardrock! Until next time...

Steve

Last Chance Saloon at the Jemez Mountain Trail Runs

2011-05-23T11:08:00.003-06:00

This past Saturday was the Jemez Mountain Trail Races, which included a 1/2 marathon, 50K and 50 mile trail race. This being a local race, Deb and I decided to volunteer and give back to the sport, rather than run it. We have plenty of opportunities to run other races, but the local races need volunteers as much as they need runners, so that was how we spent this past Saturday, as captains of the last aid station, which was 1.9 miles from the finish. We saw the runners at their worst, patched them up and sent them in to the finish.

Here are your hosts of the Last Chance Saloon

Steve "Gringo" Pero

Deb "Tex" Pero

The theme was the "Last Chance Saloon" and the signs leading into the station told the runners it was their Last Chance to eat, Last chance to drink, Last Chance to get a beer and their Last Chance to whine. We even had a bottle of Jim Beam at the exit of the station in case anyone wanted to ease their pains.

We dared ya'....and had many takers!

(Notice it is with the first aid)

Originally we were to be the 50 mile sweeps, but the race committee had that covered by a couple of Los Alamos high schoolers on bikes who did that last year, so were asked if we'd be up for the final aid station captainship, which we took on not knowing what we were getting ourselves into. Last year's captain of this aid station moved up to being the co-aid station coordinator.

Alan, our radio guy joined us for a photo op.

Taken by Michelle B of Dailymile

Turns out, other than the hauling and and even worse, the hauling out of supplies in darkness with headlamps, we had a lot of fun and hope we helped some runners have a better day and get to the finish line.
It was about a half mile in and out of the canyon to the aid station site and around 60 gallons of water, tables, chairs, tent, sleeping bags and all the other food and drink had to be carried in by hand due to the rough nature of the rocky and sandy canyon floor. The carrying in we did over two different Fridays, but the hauling out at 10:30PM after a long day was not easy. Our day began at 4am when the alarm sounded and at 1am when we finally got to bed in our cabin in the Jemez Mountains, about 35 minutes west of Los Alamos, where we had several runners staying over the weekend.

Rendija Canyon trail leading into the aid station, where we had to go to and from a half mile each way with supplies

All in all we had a great time....the weather was perfect, a little chilly for the volunteers, but good for the runners. Following are some photos I took during the day when I wasn't driving back and forth to the store getting ice, Coke and other supplies we ran out of during the heat of the middle of the day. We made many new friends and mentioned my idea of a Texas BBQ at the station for next year, which got a unanimous approval! There were no major injuries or issues, just the usual vomiting and some chair sitting just a little too long before we kicked them out.

The men responsible for the pain you are feeling

Here are the all the photos I took during the day https://picasaweb.google.com/ultrastevep/LastChanceSaloonAidStationJMTR#
Many runners were missed because I was out running errands off and on.

Results can be found here:
http://www.highaltitudeathletics.org/results.htm

For us it's on to the San Juan Solstice 50 mile trail race on June 18th, but first we work another aid station at the Run the Caldera Marathon on June 11th and last we heard we're #'s 8 and 10 on the wait list for the Hardrock 100, so we're hopeful on getting into that.

Until next time,
Steve and Deb

La Sportiva Crosslite mountain running shoe

2011-03-30T10:00:00.000-06:00

One of the most important parts of the wardrobe of a trail and mountain runner is the shoes...and as a member of the Wasatch Speedgoat Mountain Racing Team I was introduced to the La Sportiva brand of trail running shoes. If we didn't have them as one of our sponsors, I may never have tried them, but I'm glad I did.

Back about 2 year's ago, I decided to try this minimalist craze to see if I could help rid myself of a nasty case of Patella Tendinitis. I had read Chirunning and learned of landing directly underneath your center of gravity and how to "push off" less and keep your legs more relaxed. Along with this style of running was the recommended shoes that have a lower heel than most, which claims have been made that point to these "higher heeled" shoes creating more heel landing and shock being sent up your legs. So, with this in mind, I looked at LaSportiva's lineup and saw the Crosslite running shoe. Lower heel, less cushion, lighter shoe...this sounded exactly what I needed...so I ordered a pair.

Original and new 2.0 version of Crosslites

The first thing I noticed is that they had this cloth covering over the laces and that they were a little narrow on my wide forefeet that have been smashed flat and wide from 36 years of running, many of those miles on the roads. So I thought that maybe if I removed that cloth covering I could get to the laces in order to do my magic that I have to do with all my running shoes.

So I did the following steps to make these narrower shoes a much better fit for my feet and I hope it can help some of you, too.

Before and after

The first step and the most important one, I think is to remove that corset over the laces. I understand LaSportiva's reasoning behind this, which is to keep grit out of the shoe, but if I can't wear them, then what's the point. A little trick I learned from Dennis "The Animal" Herr during one year (2003) at Hardrock after surfing the scree down Grant Swamp Pass was it's a good thing to sit down now and then, take off your shoes, dump out the grit, take a drink and take in the beauty surrounding you. From that day on I never wore gaiters and enjoy my sits during the race. If I feel a stone in there, it's good to take a break, let your heart rate drop a little and continue on.

So with that in mind, I took a pair of scissors and cut down through the center of the corset, shown in the photos above. When I did that, it was like a spring had spring loose, the shoes exploded in width! I put them on to feel and they felt like slippers!

Next step is to trim away the excess material with a blade of some sort by just following the stitching on the edge of the material. Here is the finished product...

After the material is removed

Before and after

The shoes now fit my feet really well and probably increased a half inch in width without that material pulling the sides in.

I also do several other things, one is tying a knot up around three loops up to prevent the forefoot of the shoes from tightening up continually every time you tighten them. One thing I also do is take out the midsole and shove a tennis ball into the front of the shoe and leave it there for several days to stretch it out even more. I take out the insoles in order to not leave a permanent impression in that....I want my feet to leave that impression, not a round tennis ball!

That's it! The shoes then only get better with wearing them. I'm on my third pair now and in the Crosslite 2.0, which I like even better. They are no different to modify, even though they look different at first. Cut the corset down the middle and trim off the excess. It does no damage to the shoe at all.

I can't say enough good things about this shoe, they served me well all last year, with a slight tryout of the discontinued Skylite, which I wore at the Bear 100 last fall and the recent Salida Trail Marathon. The latest version, the Crosslite 2.0 feel even better with only an 8mm drop from the heel to toe (26mm/18mm) and are about as light as the earlier version at 295 grams. The rugged lugged outsole grips really well on my local Elk trails I run on in New Mexico in the Jemez Mountains...and the more stable, lower to the trail shoe keeps my feet planted well on the trail. Rocks? Don't feel them at all...

So if your feet are triangle shaped like mine are, narrow heel and wide forefoot, try the mods and let me know if they helped! Oh and my Patella Tendinitis? I think it's gone :-)

Until next time,

Steve

Salida "Run Through Time" Trail Marathon

2011-03-14T09:49:00.003-06:00

Town of Salida, Colorado

The Salida Marathon was one of many things....it was our first race of the year, which is always difficult, is at altitude and I've only been here for 8 weeks, not nearly enough to be racing up over 9000' and it was also what will most likely be our shortest and fastest race of the year! All negatives, but this turned out to be an extremely positive experience!

Runners gathering for the start

First of all, the race just gets better the further into it you go. It begins in the small town of Salida, Colorado, which is about 4.5 hours north of our home in Jemez Springs, NM. The running surface starts as an asphalt road for a few miles, which then becomes a dirt road (this has been all uphill, btw), which then becomes a steeper uphill trail to the turnaround and highest point at around 9100' and a little over 10 miles. You then go back down for a bit, take a left onto a jeep road at 13 miles, which eventually becomes a rugged, gnarly and rocky downhill road, some sandy trails, then the final downhill, twisty, turny trail named Li'l Rattler down to the finish. So instead of it's real name, I think it should be named the Salida "it gets better 'n better" Trail Marathon.

One of the many nice sections, this around mile 9

As for my race, I decided to start out at a brisk, but comfortable pace. I wasn't sure how I would react to the altitude at a racing pace having just moved here from NH just 8 weeks ago, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I knew from past higher races, that I'd have no trouble running down, just on the ups...and the only real issue I had was from around 7 miles to 13 miles when it was up higher than where I live and have been training. My breathing was real heavy and my legs felt like jelly...so I just went with it and did what I could. One thing this did do was allow me to really crank the pace on the downhills and catch many runners who had gone out too fast early on.

But not all of the course was nice smooth road

Hunter Swenson from Los Alamos, running his longest race

I did get to spend some trail time with Hunter, who I had just met at the pre-race checkin. Hunter is a local Los Alamos runner who I hadn't met yet and Jason Halladay introduced me and Deb to. Hunter was pushing the ups a little harder than I could handle, but I soon re-caught him around mile 18 on a beautiful downhill section of the course. I just told him to keep drinking and stay ahead of the gels and he'd be fine. Before I moved on down the hill he took this photo of me.

Photo of me with Salida and the mountains in behind

This is around mile 18

Just after passing Hunter on an extremely steep and rocky downhill section, my toe caught something and I did a good Superman impression, actually flying with my arms outstretched, but tucked them under me as I landed, remembering the broken arm I got 11 years ago. It's always a shock to faceplant on flat terrain, but on a steep and rocky downhill, it always messes with your head. I got up as quickly as I could, knowing runners would be coming down behind me and made sure nothing was broken. My arms, hand and knees were scraped up with the palm of my left hand taking the full impact and I scraped a good chunk of skin off of it. With blood dripping down off my hand, I started to walk, then jog and within a few minutes could start running again....but I don't think I dared to fly down like I was again in the race.

Right around this corner, I played Superman

Or maybe it was here....

From this point on, I felt great.... catching runners and just flowing down the hills. My goal was to run under 5 hours and if I could keep this pace up, it would be close, but should get it done. I always wonder what surprises would come and at one point in the last 5 miles when I was sure I'd cruise in for that sub 5, we hit a steep and sandy uphill on a hot section. I walked by several runners just bent over at the knees alongside the trail. The warmer (60 degreeish) temps in this canyon section and steeper trail had gotten to them. I had run out of water and the previous aid station (20 miles) only had Gatorade, which my tummy doesn't like, but I took a half bottle with the promise that there was another aid station 3 miles out.

One of the sandy sections in the canyon

What was working really well for me was the First Endurance EFS wild berry liquid shot. It tasted better than the vanilla to me and was watery enough that I didn't need any water to get it down...I just had one flask with me today, which had 400 calories and some electrolytes. I never did sweat much during the race, so didn't need to take any electrolyte caps.

Ahhh, finally some water!

Mile 23ish...

At 23ish miles and near the top of the "S" hill up above Salida I reached the final aid station and yes, she had water...delicious water. The woman that was manning the aid station handed me the bottle and I drank a good half of it right there, knowing that I wouldn't be drinking much more....had to start cranking again to see if there were any more runners I could pass.

This is what running down to the finish looked like on Li'l Rattler

As I made my way down the hill and around the corner, I was able to pass several runners who were just getting it done. In the distance I saw Tom Sobal struggling a bit and stepped the pace up a bit. I knew Tom had won the over 50 division last year and is a legend in trailrunning, snowshoe racing and burro racing, but also knew that 55 year old Steve Bremner from Colorado Springs was probably enjoying his first beer by now... We had maybe a mile to go and Tom stepped aside to allow me to pass on the final narrow single track and at the bottom by the railroad tracks I pushed the pace some more, about as fast as I could manage now, passing yet another struggling runner. I then heard footsteps and with about a 1/4 mile to go and just before the turn under the bridge, Tom went by me like I was standing still....I tried to react, but the legs just couldn't turn over any faster. I pushed down the hill under the bridge, but ran out of real estate...crossing the finish in 4:52. Goal accomplished, but why does there always have to be something that you wished hadn't happened? ;-) It would have been sweet to re-catch Tom and outkick my fellow senior runner to the finish line, but it's just too early in the year for that kind of stuff for this 59 year old runner. And yeah, it will be nice to run next year and maybe be the first over 60, but there was a 62 year old runner just 1 minute and 2 places behind me...so next year I might have to do some hill repeats with the Los Alamos runners before returning here. ;-)

Shoes - La Sportiva Skylites
Fuel - First Endurance EFS Liquid Shot and water
Weather - 30's-60's and sunny, slight breeze
Altitude - 7100' to 9100' and back
Attitude - Felt great, it was a good effort for race #1.

Deb said her race was a fair one, but considering the fact that just 9 weeks ago she was in a serious truck accident, she's lucky to be running at all. She always has trouble going out quickly and needs a long warm up, which is why she does so well in 100 mile races. Here she had to get going right from the start to avoid the tight cutoffs at every aid station, so she pushed it a bit and ended up in a little deficit at mile 18 and it took her until mile 23 to feel like a runner again. Once she regrouped, she was able to get running again and brought it in just over 6 hours in first in her age group... according to the RD, Jon McManus, but looking at the results it shows a woman ahead of her at age 54, so we don't know what happened. There seems to be many misprints in the results, so maybe this is one of those. Regardless, her race was a success considering the accident. She figures she lost a good 30 minutes during her down period.

Deb getting it done...

So #1 of the year in the books...and it went well for both of us considering. After many years of racing in the East, it is going to be fun running against most of who are Coloradans, or so it seems. Maybe in a few more months my lungs will cooperate a little better in the thinner air.

For results go here:
http://www.salidarec.com/ccrc/run-through-time-photos/2011-Run-Through-Time-Race%20Results-Marathon.pdf

For the rest of my pictures I took during the race go here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/ultrastevep/2011SalidaRunThroughTimeMarathon#

We were thinking of the Collegiate Peaks 50 as our next race, but May is so heavy with miles planned and our first big race being in June (San Juan Solstice 50 miler), that we are reconsidering and just going to stay home and train. We have the wonderful MTNRNR series to run every weekend and also will be sweeping the Jemez 50 mile, which is about 40 miles and that would be the weekend after CP50, so possibly too much. We've moved up to #'s 18 and 20 in the Hardrock Hundred wait list, so we're still hopeful for that and will train as if we are in the race.

So with that the race schedule is:
June - San Juan Solstice 50 mile
July - Hardrock (hopefully) and Speedgoat 50K
August - nothing (yet)
Sept - Wasatch 100 (Deb) and Bear 100 (Me)
Oct - Nothing planned yet, but hopefully a Grand Canyon R2R2R
Nov - I turn 60, so will find something ;-)

So that's it and until the next post....Happy trails!
Steve and Deb

This is me the next morning on a hike with Deb and the dogs....

....all bandaged up from the fall.

Here we go again!

2011-02-08T07:52:00.003-07:00

One of the many beautiful scenes at the Hardrock 100

Since my first running of Hardrock in 2001, I have been on the wait list 6 of 8 times...and all but once I got in. In 2009 I ended up 77th on the list and never got in. This year I am 23rd and Deb is 25th....how the heck that happened, no one knows.

One of the many views from the summit of Handies Peak

In 2001 Deb got in and I was last on the wait list because I didn't have an official qualifier, so Dale allowed me into the lottery because I had paced Sue Johnston the year before over some of the tougher sections of the course. If I remember correctly, I was 38th and got into the race 2 weeks before the start. I finished, Deb didn't. We announced our engagement at the Virginius aid station that year.

2002 no race because of the Missionary Ridge forest fire.

Top of the first climb after leaving Grouse Gulch aid

2003, I was in the top 5 on the wait list and Deb was around 48th. I asked Dale to move me down with Deb so that if one got in, hopefully we both got in. We had no plans on going out, figuring we had no chance...when Dale had sent out an email about a month before to the HRH list saying he was looking forward to seeing everyone. I replied to him saying "Thanks for rubbing it in" and he said back "What are you talking about, you and Deb are next to get in! Deb and I talked about it, talked to work for the time off, booked our flights and when we arrived on the 4th of July, Carolyn Erdman rushed up and gave us both a hug telling us we had gotten into the race! Deb finished, I didn't...

2004 through 2007 I honestly don't remember the details, but one or the other was on the wait list and we always got in, but didn't finish. It was not a good period...

Deb climbing up from Grouse Gulch towards American Basin during last year's run

2008 I got in, Deb was on the wait list...I finished, Deb didn't.

2009 I was 77th on the wait list, Deb was in...knowing that I didn't have a chance to get in, Deb withdrew so we could focus on selling our house to move back to NM permanently.

Last year just as Deb found out she was running

All the women were crying, and some of the men!

2010 I got in, Deb was 28th on the wait list...race morning Deb was next in line to get into the race and when it didn't look like there'd be any withdrawals, I withdrew so she could run in my place. The reasons were simple....I had 2 finishes in that direction and she didn't have one. She was in the best shape for Hardrock she'd ever been in, so there was no choice. Deb ran and I paced her from Ouray, unfortunately she got Hyponatremia and was timed out at Sherman around mile 75, not able to eat a thing. I was ready to bring her up into the Pole Creek section of the course, but didn't want to have to carry her out if she collapsed, so the decision was made.

Looking towards Silverton from Grouse Gulch

2011, I'm 23rd and Deb is 25th on the list....history shows that we "should" both get to participate, but this year also saw the largest entry field in the history of the event and with that each slot is much more valuable. I'm thinking that people will be more willing to "try" to run it even if injured because they may never get a chance to run it again. So the wait list may not get eaten up as deeply in the past....I hope my thinking is wrong, because we sure would love to be on the starting line on July 8th!

Hope I get to experience this again this year

*******************************************************************************

NM State flag...Zuni sun symbol

On another note, I am loving living in New Mexico! I am training at altitude and getting re-acquainted with our old running routes we ran back in 2006-2007. One thing that's making it so much fun is our new family....meet Gibbs and Marley!

Meet Gibbs....he's a little bigger now

Gibbs is a pup that Deb got at a rescue shelter in Pueblo, Colorado. He was 4 months and about 40 pounds when she got him and now the dog who wasn't supposed to be much larger than 50 pounds according to his vet, is weighing in at around 75 pounds and can put his front paws on my shoulders when he greets me. Gibbs is now 9 months and still growing! Gibbs has German Shepherd coloring, a Rottweiler body and the disposition of a Lab. He's just the best dog in the world...but he has a slight limp that gets worse after running more than a few hours. Deb thinks he had a little bit of a limp before the truck accident, but it's definitely worse since then...so rolling around the cab of the truck didn't help him any.

...and here's Marley, our little girl

We got Marley at a German Shepherd rescue foster home in Albuquerque. She's most likely 99% German Shepherd and was found with her brother in a ditch alongside the highway at 4 weeks old. When we got her at 7 weeks old, she weighed 14 pounds, now at 10-11 weeks, she's weighing in at 25 pounds and very much looks like German Shepherd. She's a sweet little girl who looks up to her big brother a lot, even while biting down on his ear with her needle teeth ;-)

Both Gibbs and Marley will be at the Hardrock course marking, so you'll get your chance to meet them if you're there.

Our race schedule is coming together finally...

On March 12th we are running the Salida Trail Marathon
April will be long training at altitude, taking in most if not all the MTNRNR series of runs.
May we are planning on Collegiate Peaks 50 miler, then sweeping the 50 mile race at the Jemez 50 the week after.
June we'll be at the San Juan Solstice 50 in Lake City, Colorado.
July will be Hardrock (regardless of whether we get in or not) and the Speedgoat 50K in Utah.
August will be more MTNRNR series runs and recovery
September Deb is running Wasatch 100 and I will be running the Bear 100.
October I hope for a Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim or the Cactus Rose 100 in Texas .
November may possibly be the Chimera 100K in Ca., my first race as a 60 year old!

Guess that's it! Deb's recovering nicely from her truck accident, the clavicle is healed and her lung contusion seems to be improving slowly...and just the fact that she's now training at around 40 mpw is an improvement. We will gradually be increasing our training miles in the coming weeks.

Next post will most likely be the Salida race report!
Steve and Deb (and Gibbs, Marley, Harley, Murphy [cat] and Thor [canary])

This is the day!

2011-01-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

I'm going to make this short and sweet....it being the off season, not much has been written here in awhile.

Today is the day I move home! Home to New Mexico with my lovely wife, Deb....who's been living there alone since June...I begin my drive out at 3PM after a work get together/sendoff. I should arrive on Saturday sometime and my move will bring me from living here at around 350' above sea level to 8200', where our cabin in the woods is. There will not be much running in the immediate future, but after a few weeks Hardrock training begins!

Home Sweet Home

Our cabin in the Jemez Mountains in New Mexico

The Hardrock lottery is in three weeks and once we know where we stand, we can plan the rest of the year's races. We are planning on entering San Juan Solstice 50 on Saturday.

So, see you all soon somewhere....Happy New Year and may 2011 be your very best year yet!

Our new dog Gibbs is happy I'm coming home

9 great years as a married couple!

2010-10-13T12:44:00.002-06:00

Nothing much to do about running or racing in this post.....but just had to post that 9 years ago today at approx 10am Deb and I were wed on top of Mount Monadnock in Jaffrey, NH.
These have been my most wonderful years with the best mom, grammy, daughter, sister, wife and my best friend. Yeah she has many roles and fills them very well.
On that day we had Sue Johnston as Deb's matron of honor and Bert Meyer as my best man. Many, many friends joined us on the mountain, as well as Deb's son Josh.

Today we spend our 9th anniversary apart, as Deb is in New Mexico caring for our home and new Pup, Gibbs. As well as our two cats, Harley and Murphy and a new addition....a canary that remains unnamed as of yet, but I'm thinking Monadnock (or Alfred) might be a good name ;-) I miss her a lot....I'm still in New Hampshire, thinking I might go visit the mountain this weekend. It's as close to Deb as I can get without being with her.

That's about it....enjoy the following photos I snagged from a Monadnock blog.

Here we are getting hitched on top of Mount Monadnock

Notice Bert Meyer to the left and Craig Wilson to the right, we called the Justice of the Peace, Alfred because he reminded us of Alfred the butler in Batman. Alfred hiked up in his NH Forest Ranger uniform and at the top changed into a suit. Deb and I did the same, but notice our shoes ;-)

It's official! I'm now married to the love of my life!

With "Just" on Deb's back and "Married" on my back we began our run down the White Dot trail.

These photos were all taken for an article that was in the Keene Sentinel and written by Garry Harrington, yes that Garry Harrington! We've been friends ever since!

That's all, back to your regularly scheduled program...

Steve and Deb

Addition (Saturday, Oct 16th): I hiked up the mountain as we try to do annually to revisit the sight of our wedding. Deb's in NM so couldn't join me this year, so I went for both of us. In 2001 the weather was 70's, balmy and sunny....today at almost the same time (one hour later, 11am) I was standing on the summit, or trying to stand in 70 mph winds, ankle deep snow and freezing temps. The wind was trying to blow me off the flat rock spot we stood on during our ceremony 9 years ago, but I held firm and whispered "I do" once again... New England weather, you just never know what you're going to get!

2010 Bear 100

2010-10-01T09:05:00.001-06:00

Let's see, how to begin this.....

Way back before Hardrock I entered Deb and I in the Bear to get in before the entry fee increased and forgot about it. Then at Hardrock I decided to give up my spot for Deb, which left me fit and wanting a 100....the Bear!
So I returned to New Hampshire, while Deb returned New Mexico. The training this Summer in the White Mountains in New Hampshire was great, while Deb was busy with moving into our new house and tending to the granddaughters, so her training wasn't as robust as mine was...but that didn't matter, she was as strong, if not stronger than I was, as was evident at the Ring three weeks before the Bear.

At the Ring we decided to use it as a test run for the Bear, by running by my low aerobic heart rate of 135 or lower, which for me is around 65% of my max. It worked great, we ran together all day and moved up through the field to finish tied for 4th. (Some runners in front of us took a minor wrong turn and were dq'd and we were told we were 1st, but we really finished 4th).

Cory, David, Deb, Steve and Paul at the Ring Finish

So at the Bear we decided to do the same thing....no racing, have fun and follow the low heart rate. Again it worked great and we went from running (walking) in last place at one point which was around 170th to finishing in 78th overall.

On to the run....at 6AM we gathered at Hyrum Park in Logan, Utah for the 100 miles of trails through the northern Wasatch mountains. It was chilly, but not as bad as they were talking about, so I went with my short sleeve Wasatch Speedgoat shirt and my long sleeve WSMRT shirt over that, with a light windbreaker tied around my waist. We got going right at 6 and I began by videoing the start....this was all about having fun today and getting a finish!

Runner's gathering at the start close to 6am

After about a half mile or so of local roads, we started on the trail and the climb up the first hill. At this point I can't say much about the course or the race because nothing much happened. At one point one of us stopped for a pit stop and we were in last place...no lights behind us. But I had confidence in the fact that we would move up through the field as the run went on, if we could keep fueling and drinking, we certainly wouldn't be going out too fast!

Deb climbing up that first climb

The day rolled on and we made sure to stay under the 135 heart rate and at some places it felt like we were at a standstill going up some of the climbs, but we stuck with it. Even the long downhill into Leatham Hollow, we held back our downhill run to maintain the HR. I think in future races, we'll try to bump it up to 140 just to see....I do really thing at many places we could have gone a lot quicker without going "too" hard. This is a lesson we are learning and we have to try different things.

The plunge into Leatham Hollow

The interesting thing about the heart rate....it only works for about half way or until dark. Usually by then I can't seem to keep the heart rate high enough no matter how hard we try, whether this is physiological in the heart or what, my theory is that once the legs begin to tire you can't move fast enough to get the HR up to where you want it to be. So at Tony Grove I took it off...many things happened at Tony Grove, but I'll get to that in a moment.

Here we are at Temple Fork, still feeling great

At Temple Fork, mile 45, I ate a ton and that was a mistake. I don't have a good stomach and filling it with food is never a good thing, but I never feel this good late in a 100 and knew I had a 5 mile climb up to Tony Grove. Up to this point I ate lots of fruit and had a container of chocolate soymilk or about 130 calories, plus maybe 50 more calories from the fruit got me close to 200 in the aid station. This time EFS Liquid Shot didn't work for me, I was gagging on it so never got another one from my drop bags. I did do some Clif Shot Blocks between aid, some Endurolytes or Succeed Caps and the tummy felt great and I had a lot of energy. Deb did her usual Ensures (gag) and anything else she could put down...I wish I had her stomach!

Free range cattle in the night on the climb up to Tony Grove

Back to Temple Fork and the climb up to Tony Grove...at Temple Fork I had my milk (130 cal's), a can of V-8 (maybe 50 calories), some fruit (50) and a large cup full of southwest vegetable soup. I was stuffed! During the climb up to Tony Grove, mile 51, I started to get lethargic as nighttime started to fall. I usually just take a No-Doz, but this time I decided to try a 5 hour energy. I drank it and it just did not taste good to me. Very acidic tasting...yuck! We kept climbing and had been passing runners all day long, but went into TG alone in the dark and checked in. Here while sitting in our chairs and having some soup, Sue Johnston comes up to us with her hubby, Chris Scott and says she was going to drop due to gagging and dry heaving earlier, but asked if she could come with us and run the 2nd half with us.. I said we'd be honored and once she was ready, off we went. We left with a friend of hers, Sandy, and immediate went off course out of the aid station. There was a split in the trail and no course marker there. We went left when we were supposed to go right and only went about a half mile and realized something wasn't right, so we all turned around and got back on the right trail. Between this and one other place we got off course, we lost about 30 minutes total, not as bad as some others...

Sue, Steve, Sandy and Deb about to head out of Tony Grove and get lost

I made some comment about my harem or many wives here in Utah

I absolutely do not remember the next section, it was dark and we did a lot of talking and laughing...but what I do remember is that when we got into the aid station and took a seat, my stomach didn't feel great. So I went over by some horses standing in the darkness (they didn't seem to mind) and emptied my stomach...I immediately felt better, but this meant that I most likely wouldn't be able to eat much for the remainder of the race. This is just what happened to me, but we were going at such a slow pace that I knew I could move forward without bonking and putting minimal calories in my stomach, which means soup and soup only. What this does is "guarantee" that I will not be able to move quickly...

We crossed into Idaho sometime during the night

Let's see, what's next....climbing, downhills, more climbing, more downhills, darkness and more darkness. In Beaver Lodge we had some soup and some potatoes and got out of there fast. It was cold here....some told us it was around 22 degrees. I didn't really have enough warm clothes and had to keep pushing the pace a bit to warm up and when I did this, I'd leave Sue and Deb back aways, but always waited for them. The table turned, though, as daylight came. We got to Beaver Creek, around mile 85 and had some more soup...Deb tried to gag down some Ensure, but couldn't do more than a couple of sips...yes it's late in a 100 and there's not much fueling going on.

Sue, Steve and Deb about to leave Beaver Creek

Do we look tired?

Chris Scott photo

The climb up out of Beaver Creek killed me...Sue and Deb were both leaving me in the dust, I couldn't breathe up here at around 8500"+. Deb's been living at 8000' and Sue spent a couple of weeks at snowbird for some acclimating, while I lived at around 500'. I was sucking wind and also low on fuel, so could barely move. We struggled to Ranger Dip aid and Sue waited for us there (Deb was nice to wait up for me, too). I tried to eat some saltines and was gagging on them, so I just filled my bottle with Coke like I've been doing since around mile 65. Deb was telling me I had to eat something, but there was now way....I know me and I know I can get in on fumes, I've done it at Hardrock! Sue was able to eat something and drink a Coke....and on we went after a few minutes up the really steep climb up to over 9000'. It was an awful struggle, but I knew at the top all the hard climbing was done, so grunt up we did. Somewhere along the way George caught up to us and the four of us worked our way down to Bear Lake, which we could see to our right.

Beautiful Bear Lake to our right

Down, down we went and at one point I decided to get in the lead in an attempt to pull us in under 32 hours, but it just didn't happen. We were all tired and doing the best we could on this awful, sandy and bouldery jeep road. At one point somehow some ATV's came and Deb and I had to step aside and we lost contact with Sue....there were 6 ATV's kicking up the dust and we just couldn't go until they went by....by the time we hit the gravel road to the Lake with 2 miles to go, Sue was out of sight...so we jogged as much as we could and got to the final turn to the finish. I was about to finish the Bear for my first time in three tries and Deb was about to take over an hour off her time of last year....I guess the low HR thing worked!
We finished in 78th overall in 32:06...Sue finished with George 5 minutes before us.

Deb and Steve finishing together...Woohoo!

Chris Scott photo

So what did I learn? That pacing does work, we went from last to 78th...if we had gone just a little quicker in the beginning, which we are easily capable of, we'd most likely have taken another hour or so off of our time, but the best thing was that this was the first time Deb and I were able to run the whole 100 together and finish hand in hand. That was worth our going slower if that made it happen.

The Bear has become a special race for me....I like its laid back attitude, I like the course difficulty and most of all I like the people involved. We will be back next year...

To see the rest of my photos, go here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ultrastevep/2010Bear100#

Facts...
Shoes worn...LaSportiva Skylites for 45 miles, LaSportiva Imogenes the rest of the way. Deb wore her LaSportiva Wildcats.
Packs: Nathan 2V Plus waist pack
Fuel: See above...everything and anything.

Until next time,
Steve and Deb....

Massanutten Ring...what a difference a pace makes!

2010-09-10T06:36:00.000-06:00

This one surprised me...it surprised Deb! We went down to Virginia to run the annual MMT Ring for the 2nd time and our plan was to enjoy ourselves, follow a (my) low heart rate of sub 135, which is between 60 and 65% of my max...in other words really low, which means slow. We did that and although it was a very comfortable pace, we ended up tying for first place in 21:14, an hour off of our best that we ran back in 2003.

Back to the Ring and what it is....it is basically the complete Massanutten trail that is used for the 100 mile race, minus the road sections to some of the aid stations. Plus we get to do some trail that isn't run in the 100. The Ring is 71 miles of rocky, hilly trails. It began in 2002 by Anstr Davidson and Chris Scott, who were the first to do the complete Ring of the Massanuttens. Several years later the RD baton was handed over to Mike Bur and Quatro Hubbard. To see the whole story, go to the website for that.

Deb is ready!

We gathered at the Signal Knob parking lot for the start at 7am and with a "go" and some accordion music, off we went into the Massanutten mountains for at least the next full day...or that was the plan. The best we had hoped would be to run under 24 hours, which is still a great time at the Ring. Of course before we could start up the trail Deb had to warm up by dancing to the accordion...this wasn't a serious event for us, after all, it was meant to be fun! We started the run in dead last after this...

Deb had great fun warming up for the Ring

After Deb's dance and after sending some runners off in the right direction, we started hiking up the trail. I spent most of the day glancing at my watch to keep the effort below 135, but didn't miss the views and birds up on the ridge. I really don't remember much of the day other than the great aid stations.

Only a few miles in, our Horton shot with our friend the orange blaze

The first official aid station isn't until mile 25 at Camp Roosevelt, but we had a earlier aid station set up at Milford Gap, thanks to the 2 great guys who brought all that food and drink up on the ridge. Also this aid station was called the "top off" aid station and was just to top off your bottles or bladders. We had planned on this being an unmanned aid station and were going to take our shirts off and take a picture (Deb would wear her Nathan Hydration pack with the front pouches carefully placed) but when we got there and saw the two volunteers and about 6 runners there grazing, we decided not to. Coming into it, we had passed 7 runners and there were 6 more in the aid station that we soon went by after the stop. Here we filled our bottles and grabbed some Oreo cookies and continued up the trail. This was fun! The weather helped, also....it may have been nearing 80 degrees, but it was not humid and the sunshine all day felt great! On to Camp Roosevelt...

One of the many great views we saw in this section

The Shenandoah River as seen from the Massanutten Ridge

This stretch passed by quite event-less and as in the 100, I was looking for the Stephen's Trail off to the right down to Camp Roosevelt. When we did finally reach it, the trail in front of us was blocked by horses and their riders. I instinctively started to go right down the Stephen's, but Deb corrected me saying we stay straight towards the orange blaze. The one rule was to always follow orange, but it's easy to get confused if you know the 100 mile course heads down here. One of the riders showed me his map, showing that the MMT trail does, in fact also go to Camp Roosevelt. Some of the runners took the Stephen's trail down and were DQ'd. So on we went, passing a couple of other runners just as we reached the road into Camp Roosevelt. We felt great and couldn't believe how easy this all felt! It's all about the pace!

Camp Roosevelt aid station, mile 25

In CR, we ate and drank heartily (well, as vegetarians we didn't eat the meat sandwiches). I ate a banana and a handful of Fig Newtons and a couple of cups of Cola and headed out within 15 minutes. Next up is Crisman Hollow Rd aid!

No, Deb wasn't fueling with Gatorade....

...at Crisman Hollow aid station, mile 34.3

Somewhere in here we did Waterfall Mountain, which was tough. It was steep, long and it was getting hot. Behind me I had David Snipes yelling out " What's your heart rate now, Steve?" I'd yell back that it was 129 or 133. Once we reached the top, David took off, but I wanted to stay the course so we decided to just stay relaxed after the climb...

I don't remember much about Crisman Hollow, we didn't spend a lot of time there and I seem to remember eating a banana and some cookies, washed down with some cola, filled up my bottles with water and headed out. Next up was Moreland Gap, which was one of my favorties because of the fruit!

Moreland Gap aid station, mile 40.7

Soon we were in Moreland and caught up to Zsuzanna Carlson, who was leading the woman's race, but ended up with a tendon injury in her ankle/foot and had to stop. Here we again ate up and caught up to Paul Crickard and David Snipes and his merry band of followers. We would see a lot of these runners the rest of the run. Here I again had a banana and some cookies and Vicki Kendall, who fell on some rocks and busted up her knees, gave me some yummy bean dip with chips. What's this? I'm eating food in the Massanuttens? Usually I'm baaaarfing! In Moreland I was happy to see lots of fruit on the table, so I gorged myself on watermelon, grapes and whatever else I could find because I knew coming up was the Short Mountain section.The climbs, twisting and turning around the knobs on the ridge and the rocks of the Short Mountain section, notorious for bringing runners to their knees in the 100. We just stayed the course or heart rate and we knew that this section it would be getting dark on us, so I was planning on dropping the HR transmitter at the next one, which is Edinburgh Gap, so on we go!

Sunset from the Short Mountain ridge

Deb having some corn chowdah at Edinburgh Gap, mile 48.7

Reaching Edinburgh Gap at night was nice because they had some really good corn chowder there, which was a necessity because up next is the Powell ridge, another section like the Short mountain section. So here we sat for the first time all day, had two cups of soup, filled one of our bottles with cola, grabbed a 5 hour energy (that we never needed) and headed out. This section seemed to go on and on and unlike at the 100, we had no glow sticks to help guide our way. We had to keep looking for the orange blazes to be sure we were always on course. Soon we heard voices and to the left saw the aid station. Now I just wanted to get this thing done, so just grabbed my bottle, filled it with Coke and made sure to drink a whole bottle before refilling it and moving onto the next aid station...the final one, Powell's Fort! As I yelled to Deb that we had to get going, Snipes jumped up to continue with us. We somehow lost Paul, but knew he'd be back....he always seemed to pass us on each section like we were standing still. Snipes on the other hand, either got in the aid stations just ahead of or just behind us, so we always seems to be close by. It felt like a race...On to Powell's...

Eva Pastlkova solos the late night Powell's Fort aid station, mile 62.7

On this section between Woodstock and Powell's Fort, it is an easy section. Some uphills, but mostly a nice downhill on mostly runnable trail. Brittany, one of David's followers, was losing her voice and having breathing difficulties, so David feeling responsible for her, waited and we got into Powell's ahead of him and Paul. We filled up with cola again and just kept going, saying hi to Eva before doing so. It was quite cold at the aid station, so on our way out Deb stopped to put on her long sleeve shirt, I stayed in my short sleeve even though I was cold, too. We jogged and walked the road until coming to the trail section to the left. We were commenting to each other about how many miss this and don't even realize it because you come back out on the road again up near the top. We headed up the trail and saw lights coming on us as we stopped to take some prophylactic Tylenol in prep for the Signal knob rocks that nearly killed us in 2003. While we did this, David, Paul and David's pacer, Cory caught up to us and that was how it stayed to the finish. At the top on the outlook trail, we took a short break and looked at the fantastic view of the city lights below....it was magical. I wish I had taken a photo of this view. But without wasting much more time, we started down.

My light died not far from the top, so I stopped and got out my backup and while doing so they got a bit ahead of me...but I ran to catch them and did very quickly and made mention of that and the fact that we could possibly get in under 21 hours if we worked through the rocks a little bit. We then started discussing times, etc. and just settled in to a fast walk/jog down to the finish. I was yelling out at David that the only reason he worked so hard to stay with us was that he didn't want to get chicked by a 57 year old woman. He yelled back that if he was going to get chicked, he would want it to be Deb...so when we got to the finish line, he pushed Deb ahead of him. Little did he know that what he did was make Deb the first "official" runner to cross the line.

Cory, David, Deb, Steve and Paul

1st place

Unfortunately for Jim Harris, Cam Baker and Keith Moore, they missed the turn onto the trail going up to Signal Knob...but they still finished the Ring, although unofficially. When we finished, Quatro told us we were tied for 4th with Deb being the first female finisher. That was better than we could have ever hoped for, considering how easy we were planning on doing this. The next morning at Portobello he got an email from Mike Bur that Jim and Cam were dq'd for missing that critical turn, then on the drive home on Monday we received a text message from Quatro that Keith Moore had also missed that turn. So we actually went from last to first! So one of my mantras when doing ultras is to always keep moving because "You just never know", worked in our favor...but we know that some fine runners did in fact finish in front of us...and behind us!

So that's it, probably my most enjoyable event of the year. I not only got to spend over 21 hours with Deb, but a whole weekend with some of my best friends in the world. When we were leaving Portobello on Monday morning for the drive home, Deb mentioned that these freinds are more family than our family is....that's the VHTRC, who we have been a member of for all of the 2000's after coming and running the MMT 100 and finding these great folks.

I want to thank Quatro Hubbard and Mike Bur for putting up with us all weekend and Kerry for her hospitality at Portobello. I also want to thank the many volunteers at the aid stations and the many running friends we shared the trail with that day.

So we started last and ended up first...what a great weekend. We now feel ready for the Bear 100, which is in 3 weeks!

As I always do, here is the list of what got me through this event...
Shoes: LaSportiva Imogenes
Socks: Drymax Trail Lite
Pack: Nathan 2 bottle waist pack
Fuel: Some EFS Liquid Shot, lots of Coke, several bananas, grapes, watermelon and many cookies.
Hydration: Water and Coke

To see the rest of my photos, go here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ultrastevep/2010Ring#
To see the results, go here: http://www.vhtrc.org/results/ring10.htm

As I said, up next is the final big event of the year, the Bear 100 on Sept 24th.
Until the next post,
Steve

No, you're going the wrong way!

2010-08-23T07:46:00.002-06:00

That's what Brian Rusiecki said to our group of three as we ran down towards Carter Hut on the Carter Moriah Trail and he was running towards us. Back to that after a few words...

This was the 2010 MMD 50K in the White Mountains in New Hampshire...a gnarly, rocky run and hike of about 33 miles with at least 13,000 feet of climb. It just so happens to be one of my favorite runs of the year and after have run it now for 6 times out of 7 years (I was in NM one year), I feel I own this race. It's just too bad I'm 58 now and can't get out of my own way.

From about top Center is where the S/F is. Follow what looks like a ring, first on the right, that's Carter Ridge, travel along that top to bottom, then cross over the ribbon going down the center near Wildcat, climb up to the ridge on the left and go bottom to top along the ridge to Madison, back down to the S/F.

This year the race had Brian Rusieki and his girlfriend, Amy Lane running to give this event some credibility. In past years the only superstar we had run with us was Sue Johnston, but she now lives in Ca. Sue was in the area this year, but instead of running MMD, she set a new women's 48 4000 footer speed record in 4+ days. Incredible.

Here's the route I borrowed from Larisa Dannis' post on Views From The Top.
The Route: Barnes Field > Route 16 > Imp trail > North Carter trail > Carter-Moriah trail > Wildcat Ridge trail > Polecat trail > Crew-cut trail > Old Jackson Road > Tuckerman Ravine trail > Huntington Ravine trail > Nelson Crag trail > Gulfside trail > Clay Loop > Gulfside trail > Jefferson Loop > Gulfside trail > Lowe's Path > Star Lake trail > Osgood trail > Daniel Webster Scout trail > Barnes Field.

Now for the longer version... Starting at two minutes after midnight on Friday, I downed a 5 hour energy and we shot down the road at what felt like a 5K pace. As my breathing got heavier, I slowed the pace down and settled in with Larisa and between breaths we discussed ultras, fuel and that sort of thing. Soon we reached the Imp Trail and started up the long climb. Now we are on my type of terrain and I made short work of catching up to those ahead....Amy, then Howie Brienan and Rob Lanas all with Dima Fienhaus in tow. Dima's breathing got quieter as he fell back from my pace and now there was only one ahead of me, but I wasn't planning on ever catching Brian. Brian is one of the better ultrarunners on the Eastern side of the country and his light was already gone from view as he tore up the steep trail.

Now that I was clear of the runners, I stopped to remove a layer as I warmed up. So I was now in a short sleeve shirt on this 40 degree night with a sky full of stars and started cranking up the trail again as I heard Howie and Rob's voices getting closer again. I like running this ridgeline at night alone and is one of the reasons I pulled ahead...that and I wanted to show I meant business this year. My goal? Sub 13 hours...last year Jeff List and I ran together all day and I came in at 3rd in 13:20....I wanted to better that. I had been training hard all summer with weekly mileage peaking at 81 a few weeks ago.

As I ran along the boardwalk once up on the ridge, I thought of Deb and how she would thank God for our opportunity to be in such a wonderful place with such great friends. So I did that for her this year...it was absolutely glorious up there. A sky full of stars, dry rocks and cool temps. I cruised along almost effortlessly, thanks to the miles I have been putting in all summer up here in the Whites every weekend. I figured that soon I'd be coming to the Zeta Pass trail that would take me up to Mount Hight, but I came to an intersection of trails that made me think that I had somehow slipped by the trail...so I ran back knowing that Howie and Rob were not far behind me and within 5 minutes they came along and said we were still good. Next thing you know there it is, so we worked together up to and over Mount Hight after stopping to look at the setting moon and stars, but not for too long because it was cold up there!

As we made our way along the Carter Moriah trail towards Carter Dome we came upon Craig Wilson who had started 5 hours before we did so he wouldn't be out there all night and day and night again. We stopped, said hi and continued on our way and this is where the title of this post comes in. Running towards us is a runner with a light, just zipping along and over the rocks. We stepped aside and I jokingly said "You're going the wrong way!" And he said back, "No, you're going the wrong way!" It didn't even dawn on me that it was one of ours, Howie said how weird it was to see a runner out there training while we were out there. Then Rob said that he thought that was the guy who took the lead at the beginning mile on the road. Sure enough, a few minutes later Brian comes up behind us and said "You were right!, somehow I got turned around out here!" Seems at the Wildcat ski lift building he went around it looking for the ski slope and ended up running down the way he came, thinking he was continuing on the trail he was on. Strange things happen on the trail in the middle of the night!

A few minutes later we finally reach the top of Wildcat Mountain and looked for the Catapult slope, which Jeff told us earlier in the day was a good choice to run down. Was he ever wrong! The growth on the slope was neck deep in spots....no on most of it! It was at least waist deep and everywhere were these big fat yellow spiders sitting in the middle of their webs. I took the lead avoiding the spiders and holes in the ground that were hidden beneath the growth when all of a sudden in front of me was a huge mommy moose and her two babies. Never get close to any wild animal when they have their babies with them. Momma was huge, babies were horse size! I stopped in my tracks and yelled back "MOOSE!". As we all were standing there staring at her, she began to charge towards us. She was maybe 20 feet away and getting close fast. Brian was hiding behind a huge boulder, so I jumped behind him and Howie and Rob jumped behind us. She came as close as 10 feet, the turned quickly into the woods with babies in tow. We went to the far side of the slope in case she was watching us from the edge of the woods and headed down. We took a better route down then to get away from growth and spiders and there standing smack in front of us was a huge bull Moose the size of an elephant with a rack that must have spanned 10 feet!

This looks similar to the guy we saw without exaggeration

He was right in the middle of the slope and we had nowhere to go but wait, so it was now moose delay #2. Howie was thinking we could maybe go into the woods and bushwhack by the huge moose and as he went in the back of the moose, that was keeping his now glowing eyes on us, I was worried he would charge...but instead he cantered off to the other side and up a hill. We looked down and the trail/ski slope was all deep weeds, so we had to go up where the moose went to get on a better trail. We did and Bullwinkle was gone, or watching from the side. He wanted nothing to do with us nor we with him. He could probably kill all four of us with one charge with that large rack. We got down finally to the bottom and ran to the one aid station. We are at about mile 15, it is 5:10 AM and it took us 1 hour and ten minutes to get down 2+ miles because of all that I mentioned above. This is a typical instance at the MMD 50K ;-)

Not much time was spent at the aid station and when I saw that Brian was ready to go, I grabbed my pack and we headed out. Howie followed right behind us as we went on the Crew Cut trail across Rte 16, which will take us to Old Jackson Road to Tuckerman Ravine trail and the climb up to Mount Washington. The Crew Cut trail was just not good at all. I was leading and could barely find the trail in the early dawn hours, there were no markers, just what seemed like a once used foot path that went up steep hills and never seemed to come back down. Soon we reached Old Jackson Road, which is an easy jog down to the intersection with the Tuckerman Ravine Trail.
As we walked up Tuckerman, the pace seemed a bit too fast for me, so I backed off to try to stay within myself and save this race of mine. Go too fast now and there's be no sub 13 hours.

Lower Huntington Ravine

It seemed to be taking an awfully long time to reach the right turn onto the Huntington Ravine trail, but I was just here training a couple of weeks ago and I remembered it seeming long then, too and because I was beginning to feel the pace and difficulty of the race, that alone made it seem longer, also...and within minutes, I heard their voices off to the right and I knew the trail junction was close. I took a few hits of my First Endurance EFS Liquid Shot, which is all I was using for fuel today and started the climb. My shoe choice today was for this trail and this trail only. The Huntington Ravine trail is considered the most dangerous trail in the Whites. It's sheer rock-face that must be climbed like a rock climber was why I chose to wear the LaSportiva Raptors with the sticky sole...and they worked like a charm, no slipping at all. But I was beginning to have issues with my legs cramping, most likely due to the faster pace than I am used to in the first half and also just plain old fatigue from the constant climbing and jumping down off of boulders. I kept sucking on the Liquid Shot to get the electrolytes to help and it would work for awhile, but then the cramping would start again. I learned during the day how to place my legs when climbing in order to keep them from cramping and it mostly worked along with the Liquid Shot. A flask of it has not only 400 calories, but 1500 MG's of electrolytes and Amino Acids. It worked for me all day long and I would occasionally get a little nauseous and would pull out a little baggie of chia seeds I brought along, chug them, chase with water and within minutes my stomach would feel better. Chia seeds absorb 9 times their weight in whatever fluid they are in and that includes stomach acid!

Starting up the steep ledge of Huntington Ravine

The Belly of the Huntington Ravine Trail
(photo of Jeff List during last years MMD)

Looking back into Huntington Ravine

Back to the race...I finally reach the top of Huntington and head towards the Nelson Crag trail which will take me to the 6,288 foot Mount Washington. I would occasionally catch a glimpse of Howie, but not Brian, so I assumed he took off on his own to go win the race. I also occasionally would look back to see if Rob was coming, but never saw him. Up on Washington it was wild with bumper to bumper traffic on the auto Rd we had to cross because today, as it is every year during MMD, was the annual bicycle race up the auto road to the summit. I reached the summit exactly at 8:00AM and as I walked into the restaurant at the top to refill my bladder, Howie was leaving. He wished me well and off he went. I went in, filled my bladder and bought a bottle of Coke to give me a pickup for the Presidential section of the race. I sucked it down and headed out and was there for maybe only 10 minutes.

I headed up and over the official summit as it was race rules to touch the summits and headed down the Gulfside trail, following Howie who I could see in the distance. I was getting tired, my stomach didn't feel too good and my feet were getting sore from the rocks...so I stopped and downed a couple of IBU's to help ward off the discomfort. I should have changed my socks at the aid station, my feet were soaked and whenever that happens something makes them hurt on the balls of my feet. Maybe the skin gets irritated, then all the rock hopping aggravates them. Oh, well nothing I can do about it now.

The rest of the Presidentials passed without issue other than the usual struggles with the cramps, fatigue, mild nausea and sore feet, but this is an ultrarace and everyone is most likely hurting just as much this deep into the run. I am not alone. I climbed up and over Clay, then Jefferson, struggling to the rock pile that claims to be the summit, the on to Lowe's Path and Adams Summit. Going up Lowe's I stumbled and went down chest first into the rocks, almost crushing my Liquid Shot flask I was sucking on, but it luckily didn't puncture, as it is my last one that I just opened and I have about 6 miles of difficult trail to go! On the top of Adams we have to go down the Star Lake trail...it is one mile of huge boulders, a very difficult trail that I remember struggling down last year...and did again this year. Once I finally got down to the bottom I washed my sticky hands in the small lake from the fall earlier when I got some Liquid Shot on them, then just went on by the Madison Hut. Last year at this point it was much hotter and I had to stop for some lemonade, but this year I had plenty of water, felt well fueled and still had a half of a flask left.

Star Lake at the base of Mount Madison

Larisa Dannis photo

Up the Osgood trail to the Summit of Madison I went trying to keep the cramps at bay. The Ibu's were working for the feet and the fuel was keeping me alert. Get up over this pile of rocks they call a mountain and get down to the final trail. This all happened quite quickly, I looked at my watch and it showed 11:15, I had an hour 45 minutes to do 4.5 miles. Seems easy enough right? Well, the final trail, the Daniel Webster Scout trail is nothing but huge boulders facing in different directions from one another. You have no where to place your feet and slipping off one, causing injury is a huge risk I can't take right now and also the trail was barely marked with Blue fading paint...or was it orange? I remembered from last year that once below tree line it did get better and more runnable, so I decided that no matter how bad I felt I was going to hammer as best I can down this thing to keep Rob and/or Amy from catching me and also to do my best to get under 13 hours. I refused to look at my watch for the remainder of the downhill and just ran as fast as I could without tripping. I also noticed that occasionally I would see a wet shoe-print on the rocks and I then thought that maybe I was also closing in on Howie, who had told me earlier that the downhills were bothering his knee. Now this was fun! ...and then I caught a glimpse of a light colored shirt ahead. It was Howie, I had caught up to him and as I ran even faster to close the distance he turned and saw me, picking up the pace. Man, just what I needed...after running for over 30 miles and almost 12 hours, I am in a race with a guy almost 20 years younger than I am...and only 1.5miles from the finish! It was here that I saw RD's Jon and Rick along with Kevin Z. who flashed a camera as I passed by them. As I continued to close in on Howie I said that if I caught him I wasn't planning on passing him. I could sense he then relaxed a bit and I just said that it was stupid to race each other after being back and forth all day (plus I really knew in a man to an race, he'd kick my butt). So we jogged up the final mile tar road, Howie slowing down every now and then to stay together and we got back to camp at 12:20PM, which translates to a 12:18 finish. I just took 1 hour and 16 minutes off of last year's time. Pat Wheatley who greeted us, was the official time keeper and beer keep cold person ;-)

Sitting in camp washing off a bad gash on his leg was Brian, who finished in 11:45 and we all sat waiting to see who was next and within 10 minutes, Rob came running into camp. This was his first MMD and he did fantastic. Next up was the first woman, Amy Lane in around 13 hours, followed by Dima and then Larisa, who came in at 14:33, and was hoping for a sub 15. Larisa is an up and coming and very enthusiastic young ultrarunner, we will be hearing lots from her in the future of Ultrarunning. That's about all I remember and as soon as the official results are posted, I'll add them here.

From memory, it's possible I forgot someone and all times I do not know:

1. Brian Rusiecki 11:45
2. Howie Brienan and Steve Pero 12:18
3. Rob Lanas 12:35
4. Amy Lane ??
5. Dima Feinhaus 14:28
6. Larisa Dannis 14:33
7. Patty Duffy ??
8. Laurel Cox (Valley) ??
9. Jen Erickson, Laura Dewald and Fred Kirby 22:18
10. Craig Wilson 27:00

Every year many want in, but many either don't show up or don't make it all the way through the course, it's one of the hardest runs one can attempt.

It was a great day, possibly the best weather we've ever had for MMD. I just finished my 6th and most likley last as I am moving to NM soon.

Gear list:
Shoes: LaSportiva Raptors
Socks: Drymax trail lite
Pack: Nathan HPL #020 hydration vest
Shirt: Greenlayer Wasatch Speedgoat
Fuel: First Endurance EFS Liquid Shot, 4 flasks, 1600 calories. One Coke in there.

Most of the photos here are from last year, other than Larisa's...if you would like to see the rest of last year's photos go here.

To read Larisa's report on Views from the Top go here.

I Guess that's it for this time, up next the 71 mile Massanutten Ring in Virginia on Labor Day weekend, our final long run for the Bear 100, which is on September 25th.

Until Next time,
Steve

Catching up...

2010-07-26T08:41:00.002-06:00

Hardrock

One of my favorite photos of the 2 weeks in Silverton.

Looking out our bedroom window in the Avon Hotel

with the Christ of the Mines statue front and center

Well I generally don't write on these pages unless I have run a race and many of you know the story of what happened at the Hardrock 100, I gave up my spot to Deb with minutes to go before the start.

Deb didn't know yet what I had planned

It was a no brainer....I already had 2 finishes in this direction, Deb was talking like she doesn't have many Hardrock chances left in her body and she was #1 on the wait list. At around 5:30AM (race start is 6), I went over and told Rebecca Clark, who was at the registration table, that if no one withdrew by 5:45, the close of check in, that I am officially withdrawing to let Deb run. We told Blake Wood, who was getting ready to run himself and was acting race director and at just before 5:45 he said "Go get her".

Deb gets her official wristband

Rebecca looking on very emotionally

It was very emotional in the Silverton Gym, tears all around. Deb at first refused to take my spot, but I told her that I had officially withdrawn to let her in and if she didn't run, the spot would go to the next person on the wait list. So She reluctantly took the spot.

It all worked out so perfectly!

Next up was Deb having a great run, but not taking in enough electrolytes, she ended up Hyponatremic and had to stop at Sherman after spending 2+ hours at Grouse Gulch aid station. She refused to drop out with 10 minutes to go, so was timed out officially. So she didn't quit!

Deb getting herself ready for the night

This is Ouray, about mile 47

Heading up the Bear Creek trail out of Ouray

Deb heading up out of Grouse Gulch

Running down into American Basin

This was the last climb, 14K'er Handies

Deb was here going up the last pitch

The best of the story is she came out of the race this year for the first time thinking that she can finish it again! Nice thing is we got to spend hours together on some of our favorite trails :-)

So let's hope we both get in next year!!!

To view the rest of my photos I took during the two weeks, which included course marking day by day reports and trail work, go here... http://picasaweb.google.com/ultrastevep

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Vermont

The following weekend I was to Pace Bob Dunfey again at the Vermont 100. Bob ran into some trouble early on in the heat and had to drop (along with 45% of the starters!). So while standing in Ten Bear #1 a runner overheard me say that my runner had dropped and he said "I'd LOVE a pacer!". Enter Phil Rice from Fredricksburg, Va. A big brute of a guy, weighing in at 206 pounds and chewing tobacco while running. This ought to be fun!

Phil before the race

And it was! Phil was great and once we hooked up, passed people all night long with the original goal of a sub 24....as that slipped away we shot for a sub 25 and settled for pushing it in for a sub 26 in 25:53.
Looking at these splits you can see he moved up through the field all day long. From Ten Bear where I picked him up, he went from 123rd place to finishing in 85th, passing 38 runners during the night.

Vermont is always so much fun and is one of the races I'll miss being at when I finally do move to NM. On that note, we close on the house I showed in the last post on July 31st, Deb moves in without my help on August 4th and after having the granddaughters visit for a couple of weeks, will fly to New England to spend a week with me before we drive down to run the Massannuten Ring, a 72 mile tour of the Massannuten Mountains on most of the same trails as the 100.

Up next, MMD50K in the White Mountains! Then the Bear 100 late September.

Until then, Happy Trails out there!
Steve

Hardrock training in the Whites, take two!

2010-06-23T13:33:00.000-06:00

So this past weekend, June 19th, I decided to do my last long back to back training weekend in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. If you read last week's blog post, you saw that Jeff List and I had a great back to back workout on no sleep, this weekend I drove up on Friday after work and made it to Bob Najar's cookout just before it was ending....after one relaxing beer, Jeanne Peckiconis, Craig Wilson and I headed over to his house in Conway to get a good night's sleep before the 2 days of fun began.

The group starting on day 1

Chris, Christine, Bob and Bodie in front, Steve, Garry, Craig Rich and Mike in back

Day 1...Starting at Pinkham Notch at 8:20AM, we climbed up Tuckerman Ravine Trail to Huntington Ravine Trail to Nelson Crag to the summit of Mount Washington to watch the road race. The climb was fun as usual and it was even more fun seeing the expression on Chris and Christine's faces when they saw Huntington ravine headwall from lower down the trail. We reached the Mount Washington Summit at around 10:35am, so a little over 2 hours into our workout.

Chris and Christine coming up Huntington Ravine trail

Chris, me and Garry on the Auto Road

Photo by Christine

After watching the race we went to the summit for some pizza and coke, then started down the Great Gulf Trail around 12:30, which is about as dangerous going down as Huntington is going up, maybe more-so! It is a near cliff with loose boulders and rocks, following a trickle of water that would become the river we would follow most of the afternoon.

Looking over the abyss of the Great Gulf Trail we're about to descend

Garry sits on a log and rests feet when we cross the river

As the afternoon continued we reached the Madison Gulf Trail, which turns in the direction of Pinkham and our end of the day. Garry and I had stopped waiting for Chris and Christine after they told us they would easily find their way back....Garry started in cruise mode and living in Colorado makes it such that I am struggling to keep up with him, so I backed it off a notch, saving something for tomorrow's Presidential Traverse.

1.9 miles to go!

I soon reached the Auto road, which is the start of the Old Jackson Road, where we can cruise into Pinkham. Garry looked beat and said he was....soon I was not hearing his footsteps behind me as I cruised the road in full flight, for me. I felt great.

I reached Pinkham at 3:55 and Garry was just a few minutes behind me. We showered, I dropped him off with his girlfriend, Nancy at the base of the auto road and went back to find Chris and Christine. I did and we talked for a bit, but i was hungry....time to get to Bob's for the eats and drinks!

Total for the day was around 12.5 miles in 5.5 hours. My guess is around 5,000' of climb give or take a little.

At Bob's "Robin's Nest" in Jackson I had a great meal of salad and a Ziti dish that Bob Dunfey made, all good washed down with a few beers and great conversation after which Craig and I headed back to his place for a good night's sleep.

Day 2, up at 4:30am for some eggs and bagels for breakfast, then head over to Crawford to drop the car off. Along the way we saw a huge bear strolling through someone's front yard looking for something to eat. Craig guesstimated it at about 250 lbs.

Start of day 2

Bob Najar, Charlie, Me, Craig, Kim Goff and Bob Dunfey

After getting a ride over to our start at the Pine Link Trail, we began around 7:10AM. It was my hope to do this Prezi as fast as I could, finishing around 4PM. Bob Dunfey and Kim Goff took off with me after I enjoyed some of the climb with Craig and Bob Najar.

Some of the terrain we ran along

This is Madison to Adams

We weren't quite sure of the route and actually missed the Madison Summit, taking a trail that skirted around it up high, taking us to the Madison Hut. Oh, well....I've been up there before and the around trail was a little longer than going directly up and over. At the hut we ate some of the leftover breakfast waffles and pancakes, filled our bottles and headed out. Bob and Kim kept falling behind me as I was a stronger downhill runner on the rocks. We went up Adams together and I waited for them down at the Gulfside trail, which we were running to Mount Washington. After that I didn't see them again until the top of Mount Jefferson. I was talking to a hiker when Bob's head came over the horizon. Again we started together, but within minutes they were nowhere in sight, so I ran on in the hope to just stop quickly at Washington, fill my bottles and keep going. After going over Mount Clay, the sunshine was warm and the trail was dry, but I heard rumbling to the Northwest...

Snowfield we had to cross just before Jefferson

The fog was incredible now and off and on during the day. I reached one sign to see which way to go and standing in front of it I still couldn't see it without putting my nose right up against it. It said Mt Washington .5 Miles. I followed the direction it sent me, but something wasn't right, the auto road was in front of me....so I jogged up the auto road only about 100 yards to the Nelson Crag Trail and took it to the summit. I went into the summit building at 12:30 and had a slice of pizza and a coke because the ranger said a bad storm cell was moving in...and bad it was. 70 MPH winds, hail and lightening. I soon saw Bob and Kim inside and they were drenched, having been caught in the storm. They were not letting anyone out of the building at this time and the Cog railroad was shut down until the storm passed, which took a good hour and 40 minutes before we could leave.
So what else to do but eat some more! We were concerned for the rest of our group, Bob Najar, Craig and Mike.

Soon Bob and Kim were getting warm and drier and the green light was on to leave the building and the decision had been made to stick together because the conditions outside were still pretty bad. I checked my watch, it was 2:10PM. Near zero visibility and high winds nearly blew us over. In the thick fog it took us awhile to find the actual Crawford Path we would run to the end, we finally did and ran on as best we could. at this point it was mostly hiking because of the wind and wet rocks. The trail was a river.

I eventually realized that no matter how slow I went, I would still pull ahead of Bob and Kim, but waited for them at critical intersections and would then move on. I had to move at my own pace to try to keep warm until we reached the Lake of the Clouds Hut, which I did reach soon. And when I did open the door, there's Craig standing there stretching! They had made the very wise decision to bypass Washington during the storm and just plow on through to LOC Hut.

Group shot before leaving Lake of the Clouds Hut

Me, Bob, Bob, Kim Craig and Mike.

We soon got going and split into 2 groups, Bob Najar, Bob Dunfey and I would go hit all the summits, while Kim, Craig and Bill would stay on the Crawford Path. To hit the summits you just had to do the small loops from the Path, so it wasn't much longer than staying lower.

Me and Bob soaked

I'm pacing Bob at the Vermont 100 again this year

Not much more to say other than fog, off and on wind and never finding a sign leading us to Pierce....The downhill trail went on and on and I was getting tired and hungry. We finally reached the right turn to the road to the cars and we ended around 6:15PM.

So I figured that the day was around 20 miles and the total time was 11:05 with the running time being around 9 hours, taking out all the time spent at Mount Washington and the huts, climb was around 9,000'.
I was satisfied with that.

One thing I'll mention is the shoes....my bombproof LaSportiva Imogene's passed the test and will be escorting me through Hardrock in 2.5 weeks.

Equipment used:
Shoes: LaSportiva Imogenes
Socks: Drymax Trail Lite
Pack: Nathan Elite 2V Plus
Shorts: Patagonia Long Trail
Shirt: Hardrock shirt, of course!
Fuel: Eggs in the AM, Pancakes at Madison and 2 slices of Pizza, a coke and hot chocolate at Washington. No gels, bars or anything like that.

To view all of my photos I took on day 1 go here
To View Chris and Christine's photos of day 1 go here
To view Bob Najar's photos of the Prezi go here

That's it, all the hard work is done! On to the big one!

This will be my last post until after Hardrock...
Steve

Hardrock training in the Whites

2010-06-16T12:32:00.002-06:00

This past weekend I met a couple of buds, Jeff List and Greg Stone, for my last big training weekend for Hardrock, it being one month from the race. Jeff was doing his last training run for Western States 100 and Greg just wanted to see what it was like to run and hike through the night in the White Mountains.

The Joe Dodge Lodge at Pinkham, home sweet home

The plan was to run all night Friday and get back in time for the big breakfast at the lodge, sleep a little and go do repeats on Wildcat Mountain ski slopes. Lots of climbing involved here!

We met at Pinkham Notch Lodge after work and began our hike up Glen Boulder Trail at 7:30 PM while it was still light out. Glen Boulder we were very familiar with from prior hikes and also the MMD 50K, which went up this baby some years. It's a steep hike with great views...this is a description from Summitpost:

This route leaves Pinkham Notch and ascends past the famous Glen Boulder. The trail starts from the parking area and heads up around a cliff band on the mountain side. You will meet up to intersections with a couple different trails and also you will get some nice views over to Wildcat Mountain from certain points below treeline. The trail then starts to climb up the Gulf of Slides which is one of Mt. Washington's minor ravines on the southeast side.
At 1.6 miles you will reach the Glen Boulder and pop out of treeline with fantastic views west to the Carter Range and views within the Mt. Washington area. From here, the main trail continues over the alpine terrain and over a subpeak known as Slide Peak. Continue hiking until you reach the Davis Path.

Glen Boulder, next to the cairn

Wildcat across the way

That said it all...The views were incredible and we were beginning to see the signs of sunset, which you only get to see by climbing up there at night.

We followed the Davis Path to our first destination, which was Mount Isolation. The Davis Path early on is above treeline and just a jumble of rocks, so no running just yet. We were able to run on the occasional dirt sections, but these were short lived. Plus it was getting dark and Greg was the first to put his light on as he was having trouble with some dizziness and wanted to turn back, but we wouldn't let him. The White Mountains are no place to be alone, especially at night, so we agreed to slow down a bit and make it a fun night. Jeff and I held off putting our lights on as it was a clear night and we were getting enough residual light from the sky, but soon our lights came on once we dropped back into the trees.

Davis Trail intersection

The Davis path was a mess in places! Trees down from avalanches made passing near impossible. There were several areas where we had to have one person stay put while another went in search of the trail on the other side of the jumble of trees. Climbing up and over and around huge trees that mother nature throw to the ground, some places the jumble blocked 10-15 feet of trail. This slowed us down incredibly as we picked our way through the mess. We also encountered many large blowdowns blocking the trail....it reminded me of Barkley!

Sample of what we encountered, only at night

With persistence we finally found the trail up to Mount Isolation. It was a short out and back to reach the summit, but on wet and large rock slabs. It was quiet up on this summit that was just over 4000 feet and we had a beautiful view of a star filled sky.

Summit cairn of Mount Isolation

Mount Washington in the far distance, that's the ridgeline we followed

Back down to the Davis Path and in search of the Isolation West trail down into the Dry River Wilderness, which would bring us to the Mizpah Hut. We were worried that the trail, which we didn't see on the way to Mount Isolation, was in the middle of one of the avalanche areas and if so, we'd never find it. So Jeff studied his map and figured out that we needed to climb about 300 feet from the Isolation East trail (which we did see), so I took a reading on my altimeter and kept an eye on that. We reached the mess (to climb through again) and we had only gone about 200 feet, but we still watched for the trail...which we found right after the messy jumble of twisted trees.

This trail was no better....it looked like it hadn't been cleared and trimmed in years. The spruce trees grew into each other making the trail barely seen and you absolutely could not see where you were putting your feet down, so the going was slow yet again. We were also getting soaked from the trees holding dew, which would not be good when up above tree line again. We could hear the wind up there and feared that.

The map told us that the trail crossed a river at it's base, so we listened for that...but what made it hard was the river or brook to our left all the way down...which was not on the map, so we feared that the river at the bottom would be a roaring thunder of water that would be impassible. No, there are no bridges out here...
We also realized that the going was so slow we were going to have to alter our route or not make it back in time for breakfast!

Soon we reached the river and it was roaring, but shallow roaring...in the middle it was maybe mid thigh deep and cold. The crossing may have been around 20 feet long and Jeff got in first and helped me and Greg get across. Next up was the decision....continue on to Mizpah or head up the Eisenhower Trail, which we had reached. Hunger told us to start climbing, so up the Eisenhower we went. Next up, treeline and it's wind!

Just before we reached treeline we stopped and put some warm clothes on, jackets and hoods. It was cold up there and the wind was a gentle, but good breeze. One could easily get into trouble if not dressed properly. We bounced around all the rocks and got a good amount of running in up above treeline and soon reached the Lake of the Clouds Hut.

Lake of the Clouds and Hut

Mt Washington on the horizon, we would climb up that smaller hill to the right and head down

We went into the hut and if I remember right, it was around 3am so we walked silently inside, refilled our water, grabbed a delicious cheese cake brownie (left some money, of course) and headed back out. It was 3 hours to breakfast and we had a ways to go. Up the trail from the hut to the Tuckerman Connector trail and it was now getting light out, so off with the lights. We followed that trail to Tuckerman's, but at the headwall it was closed due to ice and snow breaking away from the cliffs.
From Tuckerman's, we took the Alpine Garden trail to Lion's head.

Down to Lion's Head

Lion's head is a good, rocky descent....very steep in parts, but it does get you down quickly. Greg was having trouble with the rocks, so Jeff and I waited for him on occasion and the break was nice....but the clock was ticking! Once we reached the Tuckerman's Ravine trail again below the headwall, we ran. We ran as fast as we could on that rocky road and got back to the lodge at 6:45 am.

Now for a quick shower and a fantastic breakfast of eggs and pancakes, then a short 3 hour nap after saying bye to Greg, who had to go home.

After our nap, we got dressed for the next adventure....some repeats on Wildcat Mountain with tired legs!

Wildcat is awesome...it is about 2 miles up the ski slope we took up, which was the Catapult. Lower, middle and upper. As we began we enjoyed watching the people riding the zipline over our heads, screaming like little kids. On up the slope, which was tough and I struggled to keep up with Jeff, who is a great climber. We reached the first summit in about 48 minutes, stopped for a minute to take a picture of a couple on top with their camera and started the jog down Polecat, which is more like 2.5 miles down. I've always been a better downhiller than a climber, so left Jeff in my wake and waited for him at the bottom. The run down took about 20 minutes and once Jeff got down, a couple of minutes after I did, we started over to Catapult again, which is one of the steeper slopes on the mountain. I need the climbing for Hardrock and Jeff needs the downhill for western, so it worked out well for us.

The 2nd climb really hurt...and Jeff easily pulled away from me and waited on the summit, watching me suck wind on the last really steep pitch. It did hurt, but parts of Hardrock will hurt even more, so this was good!

Down Polecat one more time and we're done for the day....as I pulled away from Jeff and at a place where the trail turns hard left, a Moose ran across my path. It was awesome as I had not ever seen a Moose while out running. As I turned the corner, I saw he was standing there just staring, so I stopped knowing what these guys can do if they want and yelled up to Jeff "MOOSE!" Jeff didn't hear me, but I scared the critter and it ran down into the trees. I continued on and waited for Jeff at the bottom where we jogged the half mile back to the lodge.

Very similar to what I saw

So it was a great training day and after dinner we figured out the distance on an online map they had in the lodge. Our overnight trek was about 21 miles with 8000' of climb and took us 11:15. The Wildcat repeats were about 9 miles with about 4200' of climb and took 3 hours, so the day was a total of 29 miles, 12,200' of climb in 14 hours. Good workout!

Next Saturday I'm going back up while Jeff is in the middle of his taper. I'll meet some friends at Pinkham Lodge again and we hike up Lion's Head to the summit of Mt Washington, watch some of the the Mount Washington road race and run back down into the Great Gulf Wilderness or maybe to Madison down Osgood back to the lodge. After the post race party, I'll drive to Adams, Ma. for a night's sleep to run the Greylock Half Marathon on Sunday to put the icing on my Hardrock training cake!

One thing I'd like to mention is I've been trying to find "the" shoes for Hardrock. My team, the Wasatch Speedgoat Mountain Racing team, is sponsored by LaSportiva so they are going to be LaSportivas. The Crosslites I love but they just don't have enough under foot for the long haul, so I tried out some Imogenes and they passed the test, these are my shoes for Hardrock! So I wore the Imogenes on the overnight run/hike and the Crosslites on the Wildcat repeats.
I also used my Nathan HPL #020 backpack for the overnight to carry more water and clothes.

*********************************************************************************

On another note I wanted to mention that Deb and I are well on our way to moving to New Mexico. We sold the house in NH and looked at several, made an offer on one which was accepted. Here is what will be our new home in the Jemez Mountains.

It's a Log home sitting pretty at 8200 feet, just 35 minutes West of Los Alamos, not far from Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Taos.

Deb has already moved out there and I will, too as soon as I find a good job that equals what I have here in NH. I will be there by the fall, the latest.

I fly out next Thursday for the 2 week acclimating for Hardrock and return on the 12th and will be pacing Bob Dunfey again at the Vermont 100 the following weekend.

So until next time....maybe see some of you at Hardrock or Vermont!

Wapack 50

2010-05-11T11:37:00.010-06:00

The Wapack trail is one of my favorite trails....it is not far from where I live, it is all single track with roots and tons of rocks, views all around on the peaks and it is one of the hillier trails around here. It has been my go to trail when I was preparing for the Massanutten 100, as the trails are very similar in rocky footing and never ending climbs. Copied from the Wapack Wiki website is the following:

The range is oriented north-south and is located in the towns of New Ipswich, Temple, Sharon, Peterborough, and Greenfield, New Hampshire; and in Massachusetts, the towns of Ashburnham and Ashby.
Notable peaks include, from south to north, Mount Watatic, Pratt Mountain, New Ipswich Mountain, Barrett Mountain, Kidder Mountain, Temple Mountain, Pack Monadnock and North Pack Monadnock.

Wapack Trail Map and Profile

This past Saturday was the 4th running of the Wapack Trail Race, which is a Grand Tree circuit end to end 21.5 miles, a 43 mile end to end to end and for the real sick, the 50 mile where they have you go back out on the trail for 3.5 miles out and back. This last out and back begins with one of the longest climbs on the course, the climbing of Mount Watatic in Ashburnham, Ma. This steep grind saps anything you might have left in your legs and you still have 6 miles to go!

One particular rocky section on the Wapack

(Race day was not a good day for photos, so I took some shots that I took in the past)

On to the race...at 5AM and with the crack of lightening and pouring rain with temps in the low 40's, 40 ultrarunners started up the trail in the dark. Lights bobbing in front and back, I find Deb and wish her luck with a kiss and start to climb up Watatic. I'm glad I didn't have my HR monitor on because it would surely have been yelling at me, but I have to move to keep from getting too cold. Up front is Dima Feinhaus, a friend who just ran sub 3 hours at Boston and right directly in front of me is leggy Jeff List who always seems to find a way to kick my butt in these tougher trail races. I try to maintain contact with Jeff and am able to until Pratt Mountain, the 2nd long climb. Nature calls and time to stop....seems I'm peeing way more than usual this morning. Anyway, I don't see Dima and Jeff until they turn around and I'm happy to see they are only a few minutes in front of me.
Around this time, Bogie joins me and he prefers it hot is not a happy runner today in the cold wet rain. He has a hood on and gets jumpy whenever I stop to pee and re-catch him because he couldn't hear me coming....I decide to play with this and said "Boo!" once and he nearly jumped out of his clothes, but got a little irritated with me so I stopped playing with him and instead tried to drop him ;-)
When I run races, I generally like to be alone to get into my head and think the whole day out....drink, sip on my Liquid Shot, drink, Etc. Speaking of Liquid Shot, this is all I used all day, other than one small piece of banana and then a cup of soup at mile 43, but otherwise just kept switching out the flasks of shot.

After the Windblown aid station, Bogie got ahead of me a bit, so I hung back for awhile, but we soon hooked up again but then while peeing again, he got ahead and didn't see him again until the turnaround. On the climb up Pack, the highest peak on the trail, I caught up to Stas, another friend of mine. Stas seemed out of it from time to time, stopping on the trail and just standing there. So I went by him and next thing you know I hear behind me "Since when have you started kicking my a** on the downhills?" It was Stas and he was back....I'll mention that the rain was getting harder and it was real windy on top of the ridge and summits making it really cold. It was hard to stay warm!

The trail leading up to Pack Monadnock

After Pack there was North Pack, where we saw the 50 mile leader, closely followed by Ryan Welts, then the 21 milers started to come in droves...down North Pack and I'm at the turnaround and there at the aid station is Bogie looking at me and saying "I thought you were ahead of me?" Nope, too much peeing!
I filled my bottles with water and started the grind back up North Pack with Bogie in tow. Now I am focused on trying to catch Jeff and Dima who I saw heading up North Pack just before I reached the turnaround. It's always good to have something to keep pushing you and this time I had them in front and Bogie right behind me...and Stas coming soon, I was sure. I am in a race...

Heading North from North Pack

This climb and the one up Pack just after this is tough, especially now that we are in the 2nd half and running in the mid 20 miles. If you don't keep up with your fueling, bad things can happen. I kept diligently sipping on my water and EFS Liquid Shot and felt strong, occasionally getting complaints from Bogie behind me of the pace I was setting. By the time I reached the Summit of Pack, I was along and I found out later Bogie fell victim to the fueling thing. He bonked and had to drop off the pace. I'm now alone, how I prefer to be and keep pushing down into Miller aid station, just before crossing Rte 101. Because I had all my own fuel, I was in and out, just filled one bottle and got out while several runners were standing there looking at the table of goodies in zombie mode.

Mount Monadnock from Pack Monadnock

Across the highway and up Temple....this next section of the trail I know the best, this is where Deb, Tucker and I had done most of our running on the weekends once the snow melted. Temple is another long grind, maybe 15 minutes up a mostly dirt road and now I continued to push the pace to not only try to keep ahead of Bogie and Stas, but also try and gain some ground on Jeff and Dima. I love this climb and push it hard up it, cutting the corners tight to not be seen by those behind me to make them think I am further ahead. Yeah, generally strategies used by those trying to win the race, but we have our own mini strategies behind the leaders, too...and in this race you never know. The cold rain pummeling us can play games with your head and make runners decide to stop at 43 miles ;-)

This is a section of trail just south of Temple Mountain

I know this section well, and know that once you get up over Holt Peak, it is mostly downhill to Temple Rd., about 10 miles or so from the S/F or 43 mile point. As I cruised along this stretch, Stas caught up....he obviously was feeling better and was making his own push. We ran together for awhile and talked about things. At one point I managed to pull ahead and blasted down the hill to Temple Rd., but had to pee again and while doing this about 5 runners went flying past me!

This is in that section before Temple Rd.

OK, back to work....but need do it slowly, don't panic. This is where experience pays off. Keep eating and drinking and move as best I can and maybe some will come back to me. I will make a note that the first thing that goes when you are in your late 50's is the climbing legs....no matter how many hill repeats I do or leg presses/squats...toe raises, the muscles are getting old and all those who went by me are in their 20's and 30's, not good this late in the race. But this is a difficult 50 mile race and I'm going after them ALL!

...and it worked. By the time I got through Windblown, picked up another much needed flask because I ran out and had to eat some CliFShot blocks (yuck), I started to see the runners getting closer after the new section of the trail, which I liked. At Windblown I changed my shoes from my LaSportiva Crosslites to my LaSportiva Wildcats because my feet were soaked and sore, this is the only place I spent any time at all.

Binney Pond from the top of Pratt Mountain

(Tucker loved this trail)

The new section out of Windblown is mostly a really long climb up a grassy, muddy slope for about a mile and I just kept sipping and pushing. On this section I always feel like hitting Pratt Mountain and then Binney Pond is a good landmark. After Binney Pond you climb up to Nutting, then Watatic and the plunge down to the S/F. Good thing is during this segment I gradually reeled in all the runners that passed me and only Stas joined me. Going down Pratt I caught up to and passed Damon and Justin, two young guys running their first 50 miler and my guess is their downhill legs were shot, so I stepped around them and we had a nice talk going past the pond.

Binney Pond from trailside

Stas and two other guys went by me again on a small uphill on Watatic (those old legs again), but I re-caught Stas and saw the other two not far ahead, stumbling cautiously down the very steep Mount Watatic. Aha! One thing I still have is my downhill legs, so I blast by Stas and the other two and keep pushing right on through to the aid station at mile 43. Along the way we saw a runner coming back out and congratulated him. Little did we realize that Ryan had already done the last out and back to win the race before we even finished the 43!

I came in and saw all the runners that were ahead of me standing there soaking wet.....Jeff shaking his head, Dima telling me I need to be weak, too, like he was being. I tried ot talk Dima into coming back out with me, but he had already talked himself into being done...Stas walking back to his car and said he was done. I never had any intent of stopping and would not let that idea get into my head, so I grabbed a cup of noodle soup and walked back up the road to the climb up Mount Watatic, which I dreaded. But I have to say I still felt pretty good and was now in third place and just had to keep pushing in case anyone else comes back out!

This is typical of the trail going up Mount Watatic

(This is either Watatic's trail or Pack's)

As I near the summit I hear voices and see Justin and his brother pacer closing in on me....DAMN! I really just wanted to cruise this last 7 miles, but I guess it's going to be work all the way home. So I started to push again and the voices faded....I remembered that his downhill legs were shot, so I pushed all the downhills and did the best I could on the ups. On the dirt road section leading to the turnaround aid station at Binney, I saw the lead woman coming in and Deb only five minutes behind her. I gave Deb a good luck kiss and told her how close she was and start pushing ever so slightly to gain some before the turnaround. She looked great and ready to battle to the finish if necessary.

Back to my race....I reached the aid station and Pam Dolan was there talking. I knew I had to keep moving so just asked what I needed to touch to make it official and he high fived my hand and off I went. Pam wanted to join me, but I was on a mission to get this done...and good thing because not five minutes behind came Damon and right behind him Justin and right behind him another two runners!

I pushed on, not able to enjoy this last section, but knew I'd be done sooner if I pushed. I never saw or heard anyone and soon was at the summit of Watatic. I knew if I could get there I could crank down and no one would catch me....down, down....there's the small uphill before the road, there's the road....and push it in to the finish in 3rd overall in 12:40.26, a 36 minute improvement over two years ago. I was also again the oldest finisher in the race and all those around me 20-30 years younger.

So all in all I had a good, fun race...Deb and the lead woman unfortunately got stopped at 43 miles even though they were both doing very well. Rules are rules! Deb got herself a good 12.5 hour training run on a tough course, not bad for a 56 year old grammy! ;-) Wapack is without a doubt one of the most difficult trail 50 milers in the country...and I've run Zane Gray, San Juan Solstice (my absolute favorite), Jemez, Bel Monte and Pittsfield Peaks for comparison.

Nice view from the trail

Details:
Fuel was the important part of my race. Other than the two Clif Shot blocks I ate an the 1/4 of a banana, all I did was consume 4 flasks of First Endurance liquid Shot. With the 1500mg of electrolytes in this and 400 calories per flask, I was all set all day long. So maybe a total of 1700 calories all day and my stomach always felt great and I never bonked.

Shoes: I started in my LaSportiva Crosslites, that I love...but my feet still aren't used to this minimalist shoe yet, but I'm getting better. At around 38 miles I switched into my cushier LaSportiva Wildcats and they were good for about an hour. I realized afterwards that my feet weren't sore so much from the Crosslites, but because they were soaking wet. Once they got wet in the Wildcats, they started to hurt on the bottoms again, so I took some aspirin to help me finish.

Socks: Drymax Lite Trail Awesome sock, I love them!

Pack: Nathan Elite 2V Plus waist pack....love this pack.

Clothing: I wore my Wasatch Speedgoat shirts, singlet underneath, long sleeve on top of that and jacket when the rain and wind were hard. The clothes are made by Greenlayer and you never feel them on, so I guess they worked. My shorts are the Patagonia Long Hauls.

That's about it....no more racing until Hardrock so that I can spend the next 6 weeks doing specific training, upping the mileage and lots of long hills possibly in the White Mountains, unfortunetly without Deb because
on June 4th I move Deb out to NM and I fly back here because of no job yet...I'm hoping that when I come out for Hardrock for the course marking that I don't have to return to NH.

In summary it was a good Spring of racing and stepping stones to Hardrock. I'm running better than I was in 2008 when I last finished Hardrock, so things are looking good for that. My hope and goal this year is to finally finish in the daylight on day two, which is around 39 hours before I get too old to be able to accomplish that...the other hope is that Deb gets into Hardrock, with 8 weeks to go we don't know where she is on the wait list, but on March 23rd, she was 25th. There are usually a lot of movement after Western States, so we'll be hopeful.

Until then...Happy training!
Steve

I'd like to thank Norm Sheppard for taking over the race after Bogie could not direct it this year. Bogie was a very important part of this race's existence and if Norm didn't step up, it would have died. Deb and I used to put this run on years ago, named the Wapack Flashback, but it was not an organized race, just a fat ass and we used it mainly as a training run for Massanutten and welcomed others to join in.
Also many, many thanks to all the volunteers who stood out in the rain all day to serve us racers.

Results and Norm's race report below...

The Wapack and Back 50 is run on the 21.5 mile Wapack Trail, which travels N/S across the Massachusetts - New Hampshire border. The fourth running was held on Saturday May 8. A flash of lightning and clap of thunder sent the runners on their way in a torrential downpour at the 5 AM start. Rain and wind continued throughout the day, slicking the rocky, rooty trail. Ryan Welts of Milford, NH ran to the win in an impressive 10:09.

Norm Sheppard, RD

Morfun Wapack and Back Trail Races
May 8, 2010
40 starters, 31 finishers

50 mile results
Place First Last M/F Age Town State Time
1 Ryan Welts M 29 Milford NH 10:09
2 Dana Royer M 34 Middletown CT 12:19
3 Steve Pero M 58 Jaffrey NH 12:41
4 Justin Contois M 30 Holden MA 12:43
5 Damon Steed M 34 Wilton NH 12:45
6 Shad Hansen M 39 Milford NH 12:53
7 Bogie Dumitrescu M 35 Woburn MA 13:18
8 Joel O'bryan M 48 Northborough MA 13:49
9 Craig Bennett M 39 Lunenburg MA 14:00

43 mile finishers
Place First Last M/F Age Town State Time
1 Joe Carrara M 47 Charlotte VT 8:50
2 Matthew Davenport M 32 Framingham MA 9:43
3 Greg Veltkamp M 38 Winooski VT 9:43
4 Mike Weigand M 36 Middlebury VT 10:16
5 David Boudreau M 38 Brookline NH 10:19
6 Neil Feldman M 39 Boylston MA 10:40
7 Dima Feinhaus M 47 Newton MA 10:44
8 Jeff List M 50 East Falmouth MA 10:47
9 Scott Patnode M 29 Marlboro MA 10:47
10 Davey Edwards M 38 South Glastonbury CT 11:44
11 Brad Overturf M 43 Norwich CT 11:44
12 Paul Lahham M 30 Cambridge MA 11:54
13 Bill Butcher M 45 Fairview NC 12:23
14 Tammy Godin F 46 North Grafton MA 12:23
15 Julian Jamison M 37 Cambridge MA 12:36
16 Deb Pero F 55 Jaffrey NH 12:38
17 Pam Dolan F 43 Mystic CT 12:54
18 Jeff Godin M 42 North Grafton MA 13:10
19 Al Catalano M 57 Newbury MA 14:02
20 Charles Therriault M 25 Newmarket NH 14:12
21 Claire Martin F 46 Newbury NH 14:26
22 Eric Winn M 55 Charlestown RI 14:26

DRB 50K and Tucker

2010-04-19T11:03:00.010-06:00

This post is going to be a short and sad one....

First up is that we ran the DRB 50k yesterday. It was my 13th (out of 14 runnings) and Deb has run around 10-11, having to stay home with the granddaughters some years, but letting me come down and run it.
The trail is incredibly rocky and hilly and is a true test of endurance and strength.
We both had good runs...I ran 6:06 and finished 3rd place with two guys that I ran with all day. They were staying with me because I know the course and do not have to stop to look at the map at all. Paul Funch and Bogie were good companions throughout the day and I'm sure they're thankful for the great finish time and not needing to ever look at the map.
Deb ran with several people during the day, but finished with Rich Collins of Maine in 7:27 and was the first woman finisher overall at the tender age of 56.
The talk of the day was the overall 50 mile finisher, Josh Katzman. I held the 50k course record of 5:39 for 9 years until last year when Josh and Garry Harrington worked together to take the record down to 5:18. This year on the way in the 50, Josh ran 4:57 for the 50K and finished the 50 mile in 8:44 after getting lost in the last section.

Results and report by Josh can be found here http://www.trailanimals.com/index.php/?p=445

Deb and I both ran in LaSportiva trail shoes, I started in the Crosslites and switched to the Wildcats at 16 miles because the rocks were beating up my feet in those minimalist racing shoes. Deb wore her Wildcats all day.
Drymax socks were between the hooves and shoes...
The biggest thing was using the First Endurance Liquid Shot for our fuel. I used 2 full flasks and part of another for about 1000 calories and it again like last year felt like rocket fuel. Every time Bogie saw me pull my flask out of it's holder and take a shot, he said "Oh no!", because he knew it meant a quicker pace was coming. Deb also used 2 flasks and never had an issue. This is great stuff!

So that's the story of this year's DRB 50K...and until the Wapack 50 in three weeks, that's it.

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Now about Tucker....while we were at the race, we had him in a kennel and due to his separation anxiety, he tore apart his cage and shredded his paws. Deb said they looked like he had run them through a meat grinder.

For several years now Tucker's vet has been telling us that due to this mental illness of his, we were not doing him any good keeping him for our companionship. He was in constant torment unless Deb was with him. He even got anxious when with me, but he was "OK". So this morning Deb brought him with his bleeding paws and most certainly in a lot of pain to the vet to discuss this with her and the vet said it was the only right thing to do. Deb said it was peaceful and he just closed his eyes and went to sleep.

So Tucker is gone, we will miss him but he is now in a better place. We had 8 years with him, some good, some very difficult...but one thing for sure is he was the best trail running companion we could ever have had.

Here is Deb's tribute to Tuck on her blog
http://debpero.blogspot.com/2010/04/not-about-painting.html

And here is a video that Deb created last night...

It's a very sad day in the Pero household....goodbye, Tuck...

Here we are with Tucker on the Summit of Mount Elbert in Colorado

Tucker loved the mountains

Bel Monte Endurance Runs

2010-03-30T10:37:00.004-06:00

Well, there were some firsts this weekend for sure....for one thing it is the first time I was "the" oldest finisher in a race. I also finished first in my age group (50-59) and Deb finished first in her age group (50-59), but not in the race she was hoping to do that in!

Welcome to the Bel Monte Endurance Runs, which is a 25K, 50K and 50 mile trail race run in the George Washington National forest in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Sherando, Virginia.
Some good things were had here and this is a wonderful series of trail races! The trails were beautiful, the climbs were what we expected and the volunteers and aid stations were great. The 50 miler has 11,000 feet of climb, it was hard, but good training!

Runners coming up the first real climb of the day

Let me get to our race...
The race started at 6:30 AM on top of a dam at Sherando lake in 24 degrees under clear, star filled skies. We lined up where we figured slower 50 milers should line up, a little forward of the back of the pack. What we didn't think of is that there are also slower 50K and 25K runners that we should have been ahead, so the first several miles were slow, as in real slow. In some places on flat trail we were at a complete standstill waiting for some "new" trail runner who didn't want to get her shoes muddy at the first creek crossing! Anyway, this cost us a lot of time and after hiking along some gorgeous trails as the sun came up, we reached Camp Marty, the first aid station at 7.3 miles in about 2:15. That's about a 19mpm pace. I wouldn't have minded, but even though there were some climbs in that section, particularly towards the end of those first 7.3 miles, most of it was flat to rolling in the beginning. The final climb I was able to crank up no problem as the field began to thin out. Here I refilled my bottles (water only for me), dropped my heavier long sleeve goat skin in my drop bag and grabbed a fresh flask of First Endurance Liquid Shot. I love this stuff and can usually down this for 30-40 miles before my stomach say no more. FE shot gives me lots of energy and electrolytes per flask, which lasts me about 3-4 hours...and this is basically all I need along with my water.

Marty and Deb goofing early in the race

Next up after Camp Marty was a great downhill section where I could make up a little time. Our friend, Bogie, didn't make the mistake we made at the start and was ahead somewhere. This section was a nice mostly jeep road and steep downhill, I passed a lot of people here as I can crank downhills pretty good after all these years of trailrunning. Many were tiptoeing their way down to avoid rocks and holes and I was able to fly by then. I was wearing my LaSportiva Crosslite trail shoes, which are their lightest and lowest shoes made. The foot turnover wearing these was great!

One of the many views we had during the day

At the bottom of the hill we came to the Kennedy Ridge aid station , mile 13.1 and because it was starting to warm up, I stripped off my 2nd layer of goat skin down to my singlet and tied it around my waist for later use. We had drop bags here, but because I was mostly running hard downhill, I never drank any of the liquid shot, just drank water, so I didn't need a replacement flask. With the next section being about 4 miles of rolling dirt road, I could catch up on my calorie consumption here, which is what I did. I really didn't like the road section, it felt hard with my light shoes, but it was a great place to try to make up some more time that I lost in those first few miles.

Next up was the Turkey Pen aid station and is where we split with the rest of the field. The 50 milers took a left on a wonderful single track, that climbed up for maybe a mile, then back down to a self serve aid station where we had to punch our number to prove we had done that section. Not far before I reached the station, I took a nasty header on a steep section of downhill and slid in the dirt. Other than some scrapes, all was fine. I also saw Bogie coming up as I went down and he told me I had 15 minutes to the turnaround, which means I am running around 30-40 minutes behind him. I lost THAT much time? So I punched my number, filled my bottle, took a hit of shot and started the climb. This is where I saw Deb coming down and she looked great, then not far behind her was Michelle Roy, our friend from Mass. Michelle was acting goofy, as usual, making a face at me, but she also looked great and I knew she and Deb would hook up and work together soon.

Deb coming down to the turnaround on the out and back section

Me coming up

Michelle coming down in her red hot pants

The climb back up was steep and it was getting warm, so I just kept drinking and taking hits from my flask of Liquid Shot and I had no trouble, as a matter of fact I felt better than I did all day. Soon I reached Turkey Pen again and made the left back towards Camp Marty to complete the out loop.

Bogie coming down from Marty's....look at the heel striking!

Bogie wins the "most gear" award...

I cranked up the steep climb up to Marty, thinking of how much this training will help at Hardrock, which just made me crank even more. The climb was long after a rolling trail section of multiple creek and river crossings. They weren't bad, maybe ankle to knee deep in spots, but the water felt great on my feet, which were starting to ache a little from the rocks and my shoe choice. I saw Bogie again on the way up and he said I had about 12 minutes to the top (Ah, I'm gaining on him). At the top of the climb it was all business, take a couple of pictures, grab a fresh flask, fill my bottles and head down hard. Now I feel like I'm heading home. This was the 27 mile mark.

Typical creek crossing on this section

The trail at the turnaround at Marty's to head back around

As I headed down I was now seeing the hurting runners....people just standing, looking not good at all. Some were even sitting by the side of the trail and I felt great! I guess training pays off. The runners were all asking me how far to the top, so I just started rattling off 2 minutes to the top, 5 minutes to the top, occasionally I'd come upon a runner running down slow from sore quads and would step around them and continue flying. As I was rattling off times, I then came upon Deb and Michelle, who were working together, I looked at my watch and said about 15 minutes walking to the top. I know how well Deb finishes ultra races and figured she'd finish within 30 minutes of me. More on that later...Grrrrrr.

Now it's just all business, like Karl Meltzer says, another day at the office....I wasn't seeing any runners anymore along the trails. I came to the Turkey Pen aid station and told the woman there I was all set and would be running through to get this thing done, she said I looked strong, which helped my attitude. About 1 mile to the road, then back up the road to Kennedy. Along the road I passed a couple of guys walking, asked if they needed anything and continued on my walk/jog effort on this rolling dirt road. Occasionally cars would drive by yelling out cheers to me, but otherwise it was a quiet journey. Now the road did feel real hard and the bottom of both feet were sore, they felt bruised...but I knew there was no relief until I finished, so for the first time all day I popped a couple of enteric coated aspirin, which didn't seem to do anything at all.

Sign welcoming me at Kennedy, mile 37.1!

I finally reached Kennedy aid at mile 37 and totally forgot that I had a drop bag and flask there, took a picture of the volunteers and started the long grind up to Camp Marty again. I think this climb was around 3 miles long, I know it took me about an hour to reach the top. I was still trying to push the pace, thinking back to those treadmill uphill walking sessions I did over the Winter, but this was much steeper than 15% and I did get a little fuzzy in the head, slammed the rest of my flask of Liquid Shot and started munching on some Clif Shot blocks I had in my pack. This helped to keep me thinking good and soon I heard the cheers at Camp Marty. This was mile 43...

Finally reached Camp Marty for the 3rd and final time, mile 42.9!

At Camp Marty I had some soup, filled my bottles, grabbed the last flask of shot and started up the road to the final couple of trails to the finish. I left with another guy who seemed to be hurting more than I was and while I was leading, we walked right by the orange flagging marking the left turn onto the Torry Ridge Trail back to Sherando Lake. It was only for a minute though as three runners were walking back towards us and said they couldn't find the trail. I looked back and there was the flagging going off to the left. Our brains now aren't the same brains we started with!

This next trail was tough on my sore feet....it was off and on extremely rocky and steep in spots. To keep my mind off of my feet, I though about Bogie who was up ahead and would I be able to catch him if I kept pushing....and if I didn't keep pushing would Deb catch up to me, like she does in many races. I had no idea where I was in the field or in my age group. I didn't see too many gray haired men since mid day, even with the out and backs, but that doesn't always mean anything.

Typical downhill rocky section on one of the last trails...ouch!

I had left all the runners behind when I plunged down the trail, except for one younger guy who went by me, but he all of a sudden stopped and I went by never seeing him again.

That's the guy on the Torry Ridge trail

I remembered from reading the trail description that we went by a blue marked trail and not too far from that was the other blue marked trail that we took down to the finish. Just before reaching that trail I ran into Abi Meadows, who I remember from her running Barkley last year and also from her occasional posts on the ultra list. She was very pleasant (and pretty) and mentioned to me that she had run the Terrapin 50K earlier that day and was heading out to sweep the last runner in. After that small greeting, I plunged as best I could down the rocky and steep trail to the road at the bottom, along the way passing a young guy who was having a lot of trouble getting down the trail.

At the bottom there was a small aid station and a woman told me to run up the road and the finish was in 2.4 miles. I looked at my watch and made a note of the time, which was 5:52PM. I needed to keep moving to try and break 11.5 hours! Where it was all road, even though it was all uphill, I figured it should be a piece of cake. but then I see the trail markers taking us uphill on a trail....Oh well, forget sub 11:30! I walked as best I could and at the top stopped to take a photo of Sherando Lake where we had started earlier that morning.

Sherando Lake, about a mile to go!

I now recognized where I was, it was the road where we drove in that morning, so it's not far at all. Then I hear footsteps behind me and look and see that young guy running up the road trying to catch me. Man, I didn't need this, but if it's going to force me to work harder than I felt like working, so be it. I ran everything, all the uphills and blasted the downhills. I saw Deb, asked what happened, she missed the cutoff at Marty's. What? You were right behind me!!! She joined me and we ran together to the finish, everyone yelling at me to move because someone was trying to catch me. My old road racing legs kicked into action to keep the distance.

I crossed the line at 11:33, 32nd overall and first over 50. Mission accomplished! And I have to say, other than my sore feet, I felt pretty good, so the training's working. Bring on Hardrock!

Some post race thoughts...
I should not have worn the LaSportiva Crosslites on these trails, they are racing flats. I should have worn my LaSportiva Wildcats, which have a bit more protection.
The First Endurance Liquid shot came through for me again, other than that one moment climbing up to Marty's, I never bonked or even felt sick. I almost always get sick, but one thing I've learned is I can get away with taking in less than what we think we need. I used three flasks (400 calories each), one pack of Clif blocks (100 calories) and a small cup of soup, that might have been 100 (a guess) for a total fuel consumption of about 1400 calories. That's about 120 calories an hour, no where near the 250 that's recommended. When I train I use no fuel and I also run mostly low heart rate, which supposedly teaches your muscles to use fat for fuel more efficiently. Anyway, it works for me!

OK, now for my biggest gripe and I will write Gill (RD) about this once the dust settles...The cutoffs. Several runners that I was with were concerned about them, I said don't worry about it just run. When I saw Deb coming up to Marty's as I was going down, she said she was worried about the cutoff. I said there's nothing you can do about it, so just keep moving and you'll be fine. Well, was I ever shocked to see her at the finish line when I finished! She and Michelle were about 15 minutes behind me, so let's say 20 minutes total after having some soup and filling their bottles. Deb runs the 2nd half of ultras like I do, she cranks as best she can and sometimes catches me. When she got up there, Marty just said I can't let you go on, you missed the cutoff. Deb tried to explain, but he wouldn't listen....which is the right thing to do as an aid captain. So she and Michelle had to return the way the 50 K runners went back (the way I went back after reaching Marty's the 3rd time) and ended up winning the over 50 women's race even though she ran an additional 5 miles, which was the out and back we did near Turkey Pen. I am pretty sure Deb would have finished under 12 hours, an hour under the cutoff.

So that's it, training race #2 for Hardrock is history...we had a great weekend with friends, Bogie had a great race, possibly his best effort yet after we ridiculed him all week about "taking it easy".

My gear:
LaSportiva Crosslite shoes
Drymax Trail Lite socks
Nathan Elite 2V Plus waist pack
Goat Skins: Greenlayer singlet and Longsleeve
Raceready shorts

Fuel:
First Endurance EFS Liquid Shot, 3 flasks, 1200 calories
1 pkg of Margherita flavor Clif Shot Blocks, 180 calories
1 cup of chicken noodle soup, 100 calories

To see the results go here...

To see my photos I took go here...

Up next is the DRB 50K in Mass. on April 18th...

Until the next race and post...
Steve and Deb

Reverse Ring....not!

2010-03-02T11:44:00.002-07:00

The Massanutten Ring

This past Saturday and Sunday Deb and I was part of an event called the Reverse Ring. The Reverse Ring is the winter version of the Ring, which is the 71 mile loop or ring of the Massanutten trail that makes up what is most of the Massanutten 100 in May. The Ring and gniR eliminates all the road sections for aid station access and just stays up on the trail. Where it crosses roads is where we get aid. These two runs are part of the wonderful Virginia Happy Trails Running Club annual series of runs they put on.

Due to all the snowfall, we weren't sure that the gniR would be held at all....Virginia got dumped with feet of snow just a couple of weeks ago, but Mike Bur and Quatro Hubbard, rd's for the event made the decision to go on with the event even with some unknowns. There were parts of the trail where no one had been since the big snowstorm.

Mike Dobies and Jim Harris, race morning....donuts and Knob Creek

The weekend began at Kerry's Portobella house in Front Royal with many certain beverages consumed....this year Deb was a good girl and was careful of her consumed beverages, but Jim Harris decided that it wouldn't be the Reverse Ring without having the fun the night before, so he stayed up until around 3am and consumed several growlers of beer and some Knob Creek bourbon, maybe almost the whole bottle. Yeah, the run begins at 7AM....we tried to wake Jim up once, twice, then finally one last call before the drive down to Signal Knob and he finally got up. he was in no condition to drive, so caught a ride with Mike Dobies. On the way Mike looked over and saw that Jim was in his jeans, so they had to turn around so Jim could get into running clothes. Oh, Jim was the first runner in....more on that later.

The start is always uneventful because there just aren't many who desire to do this crazy event. There were more volunteers at the start than runners!

The group of runners who hadn't started early

The trails all day were about the same....clear down low, just rocks and leaves, but the higher you went the more snow there was....and as the day progressed it warmed up to where you sunk in deeper and had no traction. Our hope all day was that once it got dark and things got cold, it would firm up (joke of the day) and the going would be great....but it almost never happened. If you tried to run on top of the frozen snow, about every third footfall you would posthole. Once while running downhill behind Deb I did this, face planted scraping my face in the frozen snow. When I got up my face was numb and wet, I feared a big scrape and the wetness being blood, but it wasn't. At one point I stepped alongside one of what I called the log drifts, fallen trees that were covered with snow, and my foot got lost as I went in up to my hip!

Steve and Deb on a tree drift

Suzanne Carlson photo

After a great day of sunshine off and on and warmth with great views, we reached Moreland Gap, mile 30.4 and found out that everyone in front of us decided to call it a day....just couldn't take the deep snow anymore and only one person was up ahead...Jim Harris! Smart ones stopped....we weren't smart, just wanting that stupid T-Shirt! ;-)

One of the many views from the trail

Some Massanutten rocks poking out through the snow

The next section was horrible, that's all I can say. It was almost 16 miles, unaided, snow that wasn't yet firm enough to support you so you could not trust it enough to do much running. Up high it was windy and cold. I was freezing, Deb and I both had everything on we had with us including our Marmot jackets with hoods up and we were still cold. Somewhere on the trail after Waterfall and leading up to the Gap Creek trail I looked at my watch and realized we weren't going to get to Camp Roosevelt by midnight, which was my cutoff in order to be able to pick up Tucker in the morning from the kennel and drive home so I can be at work Monday morning. Once the decision was made that we were going to stop, we both deflated about the same time and had no drive to keep pushing the pace...or eat...or even drink! Deb slipped and fell in a creek and now her mitten was dripping wet, so she had to remove it and wrap her head bandanna around her hand. All desire to continue was squashed like a bug on the trail. Suzanna and Paul caught up and we stepped aside to let them by. It was dark....it was cold....it was windy.

Now we finally reached the Gap Creek Trail, which will take us to Camp Roosevelt where we can end the day. Up, up we climb in the now freezing snow that breaks through every third step, then up top the wind was howling and on the way down you could not avoid getting your feet wet....the trail "was" a creek.

Where we just came from....that ridegeline

The longest section of the day was after we saw the sign that told us it was 3 miles to the road, where Camp Roosevelt was. I said to Deb the way we are moving, that's three hours more to go...I think it actually took longer. We kept stopping to look for the orange blazes, now that our tired brains were no longer confident that we were on trail, even though we've both been on this trail plenty of times in the Ring, gniR and MMT100. Soon we saw a campfire and thought it was the volunteers at Camp Roosevelt, but we went right by it. Then Deb thought we were supposed to go straight when the trail turned right and I was being stubborn saying that the instructions were to never leave the orange blazed Massanutten trail. She came along with me, still thinking we were wrong when all of a sudden and after many stream crossings that you could only just plunge on through, we saw some flashlights. I was not hopeful and thought it was some hikers....but sure enough it was Quatro, Mike Bur and Carolyn Gernard. Finally! We're done! When we said we were stopping, they said "No, No, you can't" but Q was saying to himself "Thank you". Everyone was accounted for except for caroline, who was still on her was to Camp Roosevelt.

3-4 foot round tree blocking the trail

Now that's it's done I can look back and be glad we did it....yeah I'm still not a Master and now probably never will be, but I never really second guessed stopping. Most likely it would have been 15 hours or so for the last 25 unaided miles. I would be in worse shape right now than I am in, we would have been late getting Tucker, meaning more money for another day and I would have had to take another valuable vacation day at work on Monday that I need for Hardrock.

The condition of my body is that of one who ran the whole Massanutten 100. My feet are swollen, they hurt, my toes are still numb from being frozen and wet for 20 hours (well actually 19:05 was our finishing time), my lower back is achy and my legs are trashed. Here it is Tuesday and I have not run yet and I am someone who runs every day of the year, if I can. Deb has two spots of frostbite on her toes, which she is prone to get due to her Renaud's syndrome. So, just over 19 hours for 46 miles! Results are here.

A snowier section....leaving Woodstock aid

We both wore our LaSportiva Wildcat running shoes, which may or may not have been a good choice with the mesh uppers, but they did fine on the trail for traction. We dropped off the Yaktrax early figuring we'd not need them and never really did. One equipment problem we both had was the nozzle on our Nathan packs, which just seemed to freeze...Deb's eventually broke and we were both wishing we had just worn our Nathan two bottle packs and will from now on.

A huge thanks to Mike Bur and Quatro Hubbard for putting on the Reverse Ring and also to all the volunteers who helped at various points along the way. The highlight of the day was certainly the corn chowder that Dan Pesta had at Edinburgh Gap (at least I think that was where he was).
The highlight of the weekend was running and hiking for all that time with Deb and also hooking up with several of the other runners along the way.
Great time for sure!

So that's it....my quest for a Mastership of the Ring is probably not going to happen due to the weather. Deb and I will hopefully be moving back to New Mexico before the year is out and I won't come back for it. Damn, I wanted one of those shirts ;-)

We're coming back down to Virginia in 3 weeks for the Bel Monte 50 mile trail race, can't wait! We are certainly better prepared now than we were last week!

To view all the photos and videos I took during the run go here.

See some of you out there at some trail run in the future!
Steve and Deb

HARDROCK!!!!

2010-02-08T07:17:00.005-07:00

Yes, this is it....the big one, the race I wait to see if I get in before I decide on my races for the year. In yesterday's lottery, I got in and Deb is #28 on the wait list, which doesn't insure an entry, but it's highly likely.

I have gotten in the race after being on the wait list around #40 several times. One year (2003) when Deb was around 48th on the list and I was in the top 5, I asked Dale to move me down in the list with Deb so that either we both get in or not, which would decide whether we make the trip out. I completely forgot about the race and didn't follow what was going on, when Dale sent a message out to the Hardrock email group that soon we will be getting together and how much he was looking forward to it. I asked him to stop rubbing it in and he said "What are you talking about? You and Deb are next to get in!" In shock and just 3 weeks before the race we bought air fare and got in the day we arrived. That year Deb finished and I got taken out by the incredible heat we had that year.

All you need to do is look around this blog and you will see what Deb and I feel about Hardrock. We were engaged officially up at 13,000' at the Virginius Aid Station, now called Kroger's Canteen.

The Toast with chicken broth at the Virginius aid station (2001)

So this is it, 2010 is all set...All races will point to a Hardrock finish in July. Generally beginning in April, I will run a race a month, starting with a 50K and building up the distance to where I race a hard 50 mile effort in June. All depends on where we're living....out west, it'll be some race at some altitude, back here, most likely the Peaks 50 in Vermont, which I feel helped me get a Hardrock finish in 2008.

I am always happy when I'm on the Hardrock Course

this is up above Cataract Falls during course marking

Our schedule is taking shape and it's supposed to begin with the Reverse Ring 71 miles on the Massanutten trails in Virginia in 3 weeks, but the word is that there is several feet of snow up on the ridge and the RD's can't say yet what is going to happen. We are also planning on running the Bear 100 in September, but that's a long way off. We are hoping we sell our house soon, so we can get back living at altitude in New Mexico to help us better prepare by running the MTNRNR series of unofficial races each week. If not, we'll run the usual DRB 50K in April, May is not set yet but we'll find something, possibly the Hump 50K in PA, June may be the PP54 as I mentioned above, then we travel to Colorado for the course marking and acclimating.

Me and Deb coming off of Nute Chute in 2001

I am planning on training harder than I ever have for this year's race to get that valuable point for next year's lottery and because we will be there, we'll do the trail work to get yet another point. That would give me five points and Deb, four. Notice I am already planning for next year's lottery, this is a year long event in one form or another! I secretly would like to train for a sub 40 hour run, which I know I can do and I'm not getting any younger so this might be the year. I've just got to be mentally ready to abort that and do lots of walking if I run into trouble during the race....especially if it's hot, like it has been most years.

Can't wait to kiss this in July!

So that's about it, I just wanted to jump for joy publicly! :-)

'til next time (possibly the day after the Reverse ring on Feb 26th,

Steve

2208 in 2009

2010-01-04T09:52:00.000-07:00

Because I have been in Texas the past week and a half, I haven't been able to post my usual running summary post until now. After just viewing AJW's post on his mileage I thought I'd write this short summary of 2009.

Here is an image from my log for last year...notice the spike in the Spring, then backing off while racing, then backing off again in the Fall after the Bear. Nov and Dec I felt inspired to train for the upcoming season.

I finished up with 2208 miles for the year, which is an average of 42.5 miles per week, which is about my usual mileage. My goal is always around 2600, which is an average of 50 mpw, but there are always setbacks here and there. I guess in order to hit that number, I'll have to run more 70-80 mile weeks. Deb's training is a lot like mine, but due to her art responsibilities, she probably only gets about half of what I reach. She's not as anal as I am about getting a run in every day of every week. I like to run every day (if i can) and most of it at a low heart rate or easy conversational pace. I like to begin hill repeats in March on a hill that takes about 1.5 minutes to crest at a very fast pace, maybe about a 5K effort. I'll do that for about 6 week, starting with 6 reps and building up to 12. Sometimes I keep those up well into May, sometimes not. It's all about Hardrock and what will better prepare me and then be able to recover from.

After those, I start the tempo runs, which are simply inserting a 20-30 minute pickup in the middle of an hour run. I'll do that once a week, usually 2-3 days after my hills. The prep for the race period in the summer begins by first dropping the hills, then dropping the tempos a couple of weeks before my first race. Year round I like to insert short 30 second pickups into my runs several days a week.
I like to log my miles on Running Ahead because of it's ease of use and data it provides.Here is a summary page from my log, showing all the days I missed while in Texas and before when I was fighting a cold.

I have tried logging my miles in Daily Mile, but the social side of it turns me off a bit. I'm not anti social, but having people commenting on my logged run for any day seems kind of weird. Maybe I'm weird ;-)
I plan on checking out Attack Point, which is what AJW and several others use....but I'll probably stay on RA, where I've been now since 2006.

Now the list....
What was the worst experiences I had?
#1 Not getting into the Hardrock 100. This is my race....it is what the whole year revolves around. Deb got in, but because I didn't and we were trying to sell our house, we didn't even go out to Silverton. That was a real bummer.
#2 Not finishing the Bear 100.
It was really hot and I got sick. After puking from mile 30 until mile 51, I stopped. Shouldn't have but I did. I was a wimp that day, but Deb wasn't as she pushed through the heat to a 33 hour finish at 56 year's old.
#3 Running the Cigna 5K road race in Manchester, NH. with 4999 other runners on a hot and humid day in August. The only bright side was that I finished first for my company team in 20:06 at 58 year's old.

Best experiences?
#1 Course marking at the Massanutten 100 in May. Especially when Karl Meltzer began to catch up to us and we had to race to keep ahead of him.
#2 Pacing my friend Bob Dunfey at the Vermont 100 in July. It should have been Patty Duffy, but her injuries prevented that from happening. Bob asked when he found out I was available and I agreed. I hope Patty's injuries are getting better and she can return to the fine running form she was showing last Spring.
#3 Working the finish line at the Wapack trail race in June.
#4 Running the Pack Monadnock 10 mile road race....it has one hill, but it's many miles long and runs to the summit of Pack Monadnock. It was fun seeing many of my old Cambridge Sports Union friends that I hadn't seen for many years.
#5 Beginning to see results from the Pose/Chi running style. A knee injury I've had for over 25 years is finally going away!

So that's it....for 2010 I have 3 wishes.
#1 That our house sells so we can get back to New Mexico
#2 That we both get into Hardrock.
#3 To continue my training and attempt to maintain my running fitness as I get closer to the age of 60.
#4 That my marriage to Deb continues to grow stronger every day.

On to my next post....TEXAS!
Steve

Larry the Legend

2009-12-10T11:03:00.008-07:00

Typical Larry Olsen leaving nothing on the road at some steamy NE Road Race

Like many are doing this week, I am writing about Larry Olsen, Larry the Legend....or just Larry as we knew him here in the New England racing scene.

Larry passed away this past Sunday doing what he loved, running with friends in his Tri Valley area of Milford, Ma. You can read the whole story here in a fitting memorial article by Mario Fraioli, who just wrote a profile piece on him in that same magazine, Running Times.

Here is the Boston Globe obituary

...and a discussion on Letsrun with respects from some great runners like Amby Burfoot and Bob Hodge.

Larry is one of those who you just expected to always be there....always be toeing the line. I met Larry back in the 80's when one of my training partners was one of his rivals. Bob and I were at the Newburyport 10 miler in the early 80's and I asked Bob, (who was one of the top masters in the area) what he though about his upcoming race....his answer was almost always "Larry's here". Which most times meant he was not going to win his age group.

Larry was 5 years older than me and I never, repeat...never finished in front of him. And I was a pretty good runner myself back then, having run 33 minute 10K's and 16 minute 5K's...Larry was not only a good runner, he was a really tough competitor, which is what usually pushed him ahead of whoever he was running with.

Deb even has a connection to Larry. When she began running in the late 90's while living in the Tri Valley area, she ran for the Tri Valley Frontrunners of which Larry was the creator and coach. Larry guided Deb to her first Boston marathon finish in the late 90's. She told me that she bought her first pair of running shoes from Larry at his running shoe store, the FrontRunner in Milford, Ma.

Larry, hope the races are as good up there as they are down here....run on in peace.

Ramblings....

2009-11-16T12:59:00.015-07:00

It's been awhile since I've written here, so here's what's been going on...after reading Bryon Powell's IRUNFAR blog post this morning on road running, it inspired me to write this post.

First and foremost, I said all year I would do something about my knee ache, which is really the Patella Tendinitis I have had since my fast road days with the Cambridge Sports Union back in the 80's and early 90's. I trained and raced my way to this debilitating injury that got much better when I walked away from the roads in 1997 and started to run trails, which I had strictly done from then until about 2 years ago. My last road race back then was the 1997 Stu's 30K, which I ran in around 2 hours. One month later I ran the first DRB 50K instead of the Boston Marathon and tied for first place...I was hooked on trails.

After deciding to enter a 5k race on a whim when I was living in New Mexico, after having not run a road race in 10 years, I entered the world of injury again. The faster pounding on the roads started the ache all over again that had all but left me since I left the roads...but I felt alive again! Running fast on the roads amongst others was a thrill that I missed and when Deb and I moved back to NH, I decided to work on getting back to "some" road racing. That first Fall back I entered the Applefest Half Marathon after running several local 5k's. I ran 1:42, which wasn't too bad considering my age of 56...but my best was 1:16 back in 1981 and I wanted to try to get as close to that time as I could (what I didn't realize was that I got old and slow)....but what happened instead was the old PT coming back. I entered the Manchester Marathon not long after the half and ran a very frustrating 3:45, barely qualifying for Boston. I knew I had slowed down, but that much? My best was 2:49, run back in 1979...I figured I should at least run a 3:30 and that without much effort. Was I wrong! Plus the training for it brought my knee to it's knees.

The knee has been a constant aggravation since then and just wouldn't go away and a lot of that was partly because I refused to surrender like I did before. Then my 58th birthday came....and with it a gift that Deb gave me. The book Born To Run, by Christopher McDougall.

During this past Summer I had decided to try this minimalist thing to see if it could help, so I took my La Sportivas and took out the midsole and ran lower to the ground. This helped "some", but every now and then the knee would throb after running...after reading the book, I decided to run once or twice a week in my racing flats and try to mimic the barefoot style of running. I was a little familiar with this from attempting ChiRunning last year (which didn't help do to my not doing it correctly and not wearing the right shoes).

I got excited about this....and started running with this barefoot/ChiRunning/Pose style of faster cadence, landing under the center of gravity with a midfoot/forefoot landing...and it started to work! I am now up to running near 50 mpw again at a quicker pace than before, almost all on roads and my knee is doing fine! All I do is when I feel a little knee ache, I adjust my running form and it immediately goes away and I then know I'm using the correct form. I am hoping this will lead to faster times all around for 2010...

Deb and I also started adding Chia seeds to our food, which we also read about in the book as being a regular food used by the Raramuri to increase endurance, and we are trying to switch yet again to being vegetarians. With these additions as well as the faster tempo running, my weight is down to my old racing weight of 155 and I'm feeling better than ever.

My next pair of shoes will be the ever skimpy LaSportiva Skylites, the lightest trail racing flat they make and I'm hoping to make these my every day trainers, as I switch back and forth between trails and roads. I will wear these on my road runs as well as the trails.
Goals for 2010...

Here is what I want for Christmas...

My house sells so that I can move back to the Jemez in New Mexico and live at altitude so I can run the following...

San Juan Solstice 50 miler, my favorite ultra race on the planet. Think Hardrock without the night.

Hardrock 100....maybe I'll get in this year? Maybe we'll BOTH get in this year?

Leadville 100...I've been wanting to run this for years and never did, if I'm living at altitude, this will be the year. I have a sortof long range goal of running under 25 hours there at age 60 (2012) and would like to use the next 2 years to learn how to best run the course.

The Bear 100...I have unfinished business there ;-) But in actuality, what I found at the Bear was a nice small low key 100 miler, very enjoyable. This may be an annual.

I'll also run a road marathon somewhere....wherever it fits in best, along with many shorter road races to maintain speed.

So those are the big ones...but all depends on where we're living. I can't afford to acclimate for Hardrock AND Leadville if we're still living here in NH.

Another thing....if you haven't seen the movie Food, Inc. I highly recommend it. It's not as bad as some people told me it was regarding the animal slaughter houses. Yes there are things in there you don't want to see, but you SHOULD see these things. It's also not just about the animals, but grains, dairy and everything we consume on a daily basis. Your body will thank you for it.

I also would like to thank the Wasatch Speedgoat Mountain Racing team for including Deb and I on the team the past three years. It's a great bunch of people who love doing what we love to do. The team has changed up a bit over the years, but we now have three married ultra couples on the team with the addition of Rob Youngren's wife, Kathy. Scott Mason's done a great job with the team and we are now getting noticed around the country!

Up next is the Fells Trail race (well, after a 5K on Thanksgiving day)...I haven't decided what distance to run, but most likely will be at least 50K and if I'm feeling OK will do one more loop to complete the 40 miler. The Fells is always fun to return to because when I lived in Medford, Ma. just outside of Boston, this is where I trained every weekend. These trails are where I first started trail running!

See some of you there! Deb won't be there, but will be showing some of her art at an art show she is part of in Peterborough, NH.

See you on the trails....or roads ;-)
Steve

SMUT 50

2009-10-20T06:36:00.028-06:00

View from the top of Bird Knob

This past weekend we traveled down to Virginia for a fat ass style 50 miler that is called the SMUT 50. It is run on the Southern Massanutten (Ultra) Trails and is how it's name came about....it has nothing to do with TWOT, which is another run put on by Dennis Herr a week earlier.
Do you think there's something going on with these naming conventions??? One can only imagine what the VHTRC might come up with in future runs...and I won't go there.

Deb and I decided that even though we had just returned from the Bear 100, we wanted one more run with our friends of the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club to end the year just in case our house did sell and we weren't coming back down to VHTRC land. I always bring something down with me to share and this time it made perfect sense to bring some SMUTtynose beer, brewed in Portsmouth, NH. It was enjoyed by those who stayed at Kerry's Portobello house in Front Royal.

For our return to VHTRC land one last time this year, I immediately thought of TWOT (The Wild Oak Trail 25, 50, 75 and 100), but this new run was announced and it gave us more recovery time after the Bear! It was actually Vicki Kendall's fault we came, she talked me into it in an email ;-)

SMUT 50 is (and we found this out the morning of the run) actually 54 miles of some of the toughest trails in the Massanutten Mountains. Lots of climb, more rocks that move than you can imagine, leaves covering those rocks, rain to make the leaves and rocks like ice and a cold biting wind up high in the 40 degree temps. It was wonderful!

We started on Saturday morning at 7AM...Deb and I had decided beforehand to not run together and she had decided to bring Tucker along to keep her company, not that she needs it.
Tucker had run 39 miles with us in Maine which was his longest run/hike so far. So with the weather being cool and there being plenty of water, he went along. Deb also knew she could leave him at one of the aid stations if he wasn't having fun and pick him up on the way back because this was sortof like an out and back, even though you were rarely on the same trail twice, just small sections of them.

Keith in the dark giving us our final battle instructions

So at 7 o'dark in the morning, Keith Knipling sent us off after a short trail briefing. I took it out a little harder than usual just to get ahead of the crowd of runners. Initially we had 40 entrants, but only 27 hardy runners and many volunteers showed up. As a matter of fact, the aid station tables and volunteers at this "unofficial" event was better than most official events I've run!

Once we got going up the trail to the Wildflower trail to the Bird Knob Trail, I settled in with Marlin Yoder, who seemed to be running a pace I was comfortable with. Tucker joined us for a bit, but not liking the pace, dropped back with Deb.

Marlin Yoder and Steve Pero at the Catherine Furnace aid station

Marlin and I stayed together until the Fridley Gap aid station with the nice creek running alongside the trail. Marlin had to stop for a minute as we came down into the aid station and I left shortly before he got in. He then hooked up with Jamie Groff and that was the end of that! I would see them in the aid stations, but could no longer and didn't care to stay on the pace they were running...plus I found out that they were only going part of the way, so I "should' back off. My plans were to finish.

Marlin and Jamie go by on the steep climb out of the Fridley Gap aid station

Just before going up the road to the Vista aid station, I ran into Dennis Herr, who was there helping out and ridding his bike around. It was great to see Dennis and I followed him up the steep road to the Vista aid station, which was run by Sophie and her daughter, Virginia.

Dennis, Quatro, Sophie, Marlin, Gary and Jamie at the Vista aid station

Somewhere after the Vista aid station my stomach started to do it's usual thing, so I immediately ate a gel, which can sometimes make it not feel as bad and it worked. The trail after the Vista to the next aid station was really a nice one, even though it was cold and windy up there. I had to put my gloves on for the first time today.

Coming into the next aid (2nd to last) I again ran into Marlin and Jamie standing there eating. Jamie knew Marlin was leaving to go home soon and was planning on hooking up with me, but I was beginning to get tired and had no desire to push the pace anymore...it's time to enjoy myself, so I held back a bit taking pictures while they "ran" up the road. I walked....fast mind you, but I did walk that long uphill.

Next up was the purple trail, which after a steep climb, showed some great views of the Shenandoah Valley that Keith mentioned to me while he was running down the road. So when I reached the top of the climb I turned around and saw this.

The Shenandoah Valley as viewed from the top of the purple blazed trail

Then it was time to run down the Purple to the Fridley Gap aid station again, the purple trail seemed to go on longer than I expected, but I was getting tired and that is to be expected. When I got in to the aid station, I drank another Ensure (actually the maltodextrin based Glucerna) and headed out. I was ready to get this thing done!

Wendy and Pam at the Fridley Gap aid station
(thanks for the pickles)

Up and then down the Massanutten (Orange) trail to the Bird Knob Road, then to Catherine's aid station, which is the last one. But just as I reach the road at the foot of the Massanutten trail, I slipped on some mud and went down on my back, hitting my head on a boulder. I was seeing stars! Then when I got up and started running, my bottle was splashing all over my back from the cap partially popping off, so after fixing that I headed down the road, running as much of it as I felt like, which was almost the whole thing. My stomach was really not feeling well now after the fall and didn't feel like being nauseous for the last 11 miles. Thinking of what I could do about that, I remembered I stashed some of the Zombie ginger chews I got with our last order. Let me say up front that I absolutely despise the taste of raw ginger and when I put it in my mouth to me it tasted like a piece of soap. Not something you'd want in your mouth....but I went with it, running down the road, letting the ginger melt slowly. And you know what? It worked! By the time I reached the aid station, my stomach was feeling better, but I still didn't want to put anything in my stomach, much to Gary's insisting. "You can't make it on no carbs, Steve!" I told him I finished the last 25 miles of Hardrock on fat fuel alone just by slowing the pace down and that was my plan here. I didn't want to puke up any food I took in. Mike Bur (fellow Hardrocker) agreed and off I went...

After reaching the top of the Purple trail and down the other side, this is a left turn we couldn't miss

So off I went, 9.2 miles to go, Gary telling me to be sure to not miss the pink trail near the top of the climb. So I watched for the pink trail with intent and got on it. Here it started to rain and soon it got dark, so out with the light. Dave had told me back at the aid station that the pink trail was a "sweet" trail. Well maybe when you haven't run 45 miles....and it wasn't dark....and wasn't raining...and your feet didn't hurt....and your stomach felt like puking. Oh yeah, that was back, too. but I knew it wasn't too far, so I plugged along and when I reached the top of that climb I ran and ran the best I could. I wanted to finish under 14 hours (9PM) and according to my watch, I had plenty of time to do that!

The last shot I took before it began to rain hard and got dark
Yes, this is the trail...

Next up to look for is the Orange blazed Massanutten trail again...I ran down, down, slipped on the steep parts, in the mud. Every now and then there was a real rocky section, so I'd walk those. Then I came to a road, I heard cars, I saw lights. I kept going....Sonny's Place? WTF! I looked at my map and it sure looked like at the bottom of the pink trail you came to a road and then took a right on the Orange trail, so I walked back up and saw an orange blaze to my right and one ahead of me , so I took the right turn thinking it was the way to the Rte 211 parking area and finish. I went up this trail, folowing the orange blazes when all of a sudden they turned white! So I turned around again until I saw Orange and saw that it went up to the right...and I know we don't go uphill that much to the finish, so I looked at the map and saw the mention of the Wildflower white blazed trail and in my tired head thought that meant to follow that, so I did....all the way to the Visitor's center. NOW I know where I am, I recognize this from the 100!! Oh, crap!

The Massanutten Visitor Center

No, I didn't take this photo, it was too dark, all MMT100 vets will recognize this

So I turned around, knowing now that sub 14 is gone and people are coming in while I stumble around in the dark and cold and rain. I then decided that the only thing to do is to go all the way back to the pink trail. That's what we as trailrunners know is the thing to do if you lose your way, go back to where you still knew you were going right....so I did. And there it was! The Orange blaze on the left (as I was coming up the wrong way on the pink trail), but it was hidden on the other side of the tree from the way we were coming. I should have known to look more intently on anything that looked like a trail. My stupid....

I went down the trail and ended up in the thick woods....missed a turn again. This is getting frustrating. I see the trail dropping down into the woods and follow that and end up off trail again. This trail is hard to follow on a good day in the light when it's marked, I remember that from marking it for the 100 last May, so I marked it extra special for the last runners.

I finally make it to the finish to find that I had lost at least 40 minutes, maybe more and was lucky in that only 4 runners had come in while I was wandering up near the Visitor's center.
Well, I know I had a good day running and it would have been somewhere under 14 hours in 4th place. I can't complain about that....and besides, this wasn't a race, right? It was a fat Ass ;-)

A worried Gary Knipling welcoming me back home

(Quatro Hubbard photo)

That's it, we're done for the year....time to recover, rest for Hardrock training which begins after Jan 1st with some easy and shorter training runs. I'll finish up by saying that this course is without a doubt "the" hardest 50 mile course I have ever run. I always thought that San Juan Solstice 50 in Colorado was it, but that took me 13:20...the Wapack 50 in NH last Summer took me 13:15, the Pittsfield Peaks 53 in Vermont last Summer took me 12:55. Even the MMD 50K in the White Mountains in NH took me over 13 hours! SMUT 50 took me 14:35!!!! Even if I had come in when I thought it would have been around 13:55!!!! nuff said!

Deb and Tucker (yes, he ran the full distance, too) stayed together all day and finished feeling strong all day long. This was a distance record for the boy...

Deb and Tucker leaving the Vista aid station

You can view the rest of my pictures here...

The race link and eventual results you can view here...

Here are the unofficial results:
29 starters, 17 finishers.

Brad Hinton 11:23
Vince Bowman 11:24
Karsten Brown 12:04
David Snipes 14:23
Jim Daniels 14:24
Michele Harmon 14:30 (1st female)
Joe Clapper 14:30
Steve Pero 14:35
John Nelson 14:57
Steve Boutilier 15:41
Beth Weisenborn 15:41
Alan Gowen 15:41
Tucker Pero 15:43 (1st dog)
Debra Pero 15:44
Paul Sherlock 15:50
Barbara Isom 16:16
Vicki Kendall 16:16
Gary Lukacs 16:16

So that's it....I'll be writing a small year end report before starting next year's posts.
Until then, have a great Fall!
Steve, Deb and Tucker

Bear 100

2009-09-29T13:34:00.026-06:00

The Bear 100 finish line banner

GROOOOWWWWLLL!

For starters let me say that the Bear is a fantastic 100 mile trail race. The trail is challenging with around 22,000 feet of climb, most single track, but does have some nice dirt road sections just when you want them. Leland Barker, RD...along with Errol Jones and Phil Lowry put on this classic in the northern Wasatch mountains. Aid stations did a great job this year. I would have liked to have seen more soup out there - it was mentioned in the pre-race briefing, but only one aid station had any when we arrived. That was disappointing, as soup is one thing both Deb and I count on during a run like this.

I didn't get to see the whole course, unfortunately. It turned out to be a very warm day, which my stomach never has liked. The one mistake I made was not to bring my maltodextrin, which I use as my fuel. Flying to races I always bring less and thought I could get by on water and Ensure, but it didn't work out. When it's hot, everything has to go right for me to finish.

As race week approached while still in New Hampshire, the weather forecast was for upper 60's in the mountains during the day and low 40's/upper 30's at night, which is perfect! When we watched the news wed night in our hotel (more on that later), the talk was of a return to summer! Now mid 80's during the day were predicted....and some told me it got near 90 degrees in the middle of the day. See how pathetic I am in the heat.....

Steve's not having a very good day

Back to the hotel....and I am only mentioning this as a warning to future Bear runners. Before making reservations, I asked a fellow Wasatch Speedgoat Mountain Running teammate where they would recommend and he said he stayed at the Econolodge and it was fine. The morning of the race as we were packing the car to drive to the start, a runner who I don't know came by me with a small cup in his hand screaming about bedbugs and blood all over his sheets! Deb went up in our room and saw nothing anywhere, but we only had about 2 min. to check, and the bad infestation in that one room leads to the very possible infestation in other rooms as well. We are being safe rather than sorry, and she's now in the process of washing everything in our bags in hot water with extra soap and drying in high heat in the dryer. We're also fumigating the luggage and the car. Since a call to the hotel produced no response, we called the Board of Health.
So remember this if you go next year....Don't stay at the Econolodge in Logan, Utah!

On to the race...The race began right on time at 6AM in front of the Hyrum Gibbons State Park where we all left our vehicles to return to on Saturday night. As I have started to do since losing my speed to older age, I start by walking, letting the field run away from me. Deb and Robert Andrulis joined me. It's such a nice relaxing way to begin. After maybe a mile on local neighborhood roads, we hit the trail. It started flat, but soon was climbing....up, up for about 3 miles. It was fun running along with Ed Furtaw and Rick Valentine talking about races we had been at. We were in the middle of a long congo line of runners with no chance of passing on the narrow trail, so the speed was set. The turn at the top put us on the Syncline Trail, which wandered up and down around and about and eventually at the top we reached a nice runnable jeep road which brought us to the first aid station at around mile 10.

Congo line and Deb reaching the top of the first climb

We were having fun still and joined Barb Sorrell out of the aid station, but soon the sun came up and with it the beginning of the end for me. There was one really fantastic bit of runnable trail in here somewhere where we went downhill for 10 miles....10 miles! It was on a beautiful single track trail with hardly a boulder or root to trip on. Deb and I both ran this a little too aggressively and felt a need to take a small break at aid #2, about 20 miles. The 2nd and 3rd aid stations came quickly and we were still doing OK, going back and forth with Ed Furtaw but by the 3rd aid station, it was flat out sunny and hot. From #2 to #3 was only a 3 mile slightly uphill road and I walked and jogged from shade patch to shade patch. Here I was really beginning to come undone...and the next stretch was a long uphill, 5 miles if I remember right, so we both loaded up with Cokes and Ensure and started the hike up.

Barb Sorrell coming into aid station #3, about mile 25

Much of the rest of it was a struggle for me and I think Deb knew it...saying things like "How are you doing, you're getting quiet". I actually tend to do better when I'm alone and is why we usually don't stay together in these things, but we were hoping to finish together as we neared our 8th anniversary.

A lot of this section I was with Deb and Robert Andrulis, both who were doing fine, so I try to move a little quicker as to not hold them back. Last year at Hardrock, I did my own thing and after Ouray around mile 50 I was flying up the trail. Here, trying to stay with others, Deb because that was the plan and Robert because he's a good friend made me move quicker, overheat more and stupidly drink less because I was getting overheated, along with the slight nausea that always comes with running in the heat. At Hardrock, Robert was the first runner I went by in the dark heading up to Engineer's. Hardrock was also cooler last year.

Deb obviously feeling great and having fun

At the next aid station, which I think was around mile 30 it was now brutally hot for me. I filled my bottles with water, but scowled at the Ensure Deb was wanting me to take. Robert's crew gave me some ice to put under my hat and away we went. Robert eventually pulled away as I was really slowing down now, dragging Deb back with me. By the time we reached the miles 38 aid, I was really a mess. Sick, feeling weak and I just walked over to the river and sat in it until I started to shiver. I then told Deb to go and I would catch her later after it cools down.

So after some convincing, Deb moved on to catch up with our teammate, Beth Simpson Hall...but not before taking care of me. She brought me some Coke and a cup of Alka Seltzer, which I gagged down and got some more Coke before leaving. I was still a little woozy when I left, but needed to keep moving even if just slow walking. I left the aid station, knowing I shouldn't just yet and started up the hill. I struggled up even the smallest climb as the body was just too overheated and I had only taken in a small amount of calories the past several hours in the form of Coke and even that was only a few small cups. The one bad thing about not taking in calories is your don't think straight...if I had been thinking wisely I would have stayed at the aid station until my stomach was better and my head clear.

Some beautiful section of the Bear 100

This next section to the 45 mile aid station was not a good one. I saw no runners until we reached a road and had taken no calories with me, so I'm basically a sinking ship. I was trying my hardest to sip my water, but even that was causing me to gag....not good. I reached a road, which was actually a pleasure in the waning sunlight. It was cooling down, the sun was going behind the ridge and an aid station with hopefully some much needed soup would be coming up soon. Along here at the bottom of the road I caught up to Chuck Wilson, who was out of water and having his own problems. I offered him some of my water because I was having trouble getting it down anyway and he took a half bottle of warm water. I mentioned that the river looked mighty fine and he later told me he took my advice and drank from the river, which helped him recover.

The sun is going down around mile 43

In to the aid station I go, feeling like the world wanted to come out of my stomach and the as it did it was also spinning. I was in trouble and knew it, but I have a knack of being able to hide it, which isn't always good. I walked up to the table to see if they had some soup and a smiling Karl Meltzer said "Steve, how about some soup?" Oh, man do I ever want that! This is like a dream come true for me...it's cooling down, it's dusk and I now have soup! And it's my favorite....Campbell's chicken noodle! I sat down in front of Karl's table and as soon as I emptied the cup, would hand it back to Karl, who's fill it up for me. I think I had four little mini cups, sat for maybe 20 minutes, filled my bottles with water and headed out with Robert Andrulis and Chuck Wilson and his pacer. Something I was forgetting to do is to dump some electrolytes into my bottles, but figured the soup would take care of it, but I still should have dumped the caps in the bottle because I was so far behind.

The sun is gone, coolness is setting in...

Hiking up the steep 3 miles was a real struggle and until the soup kicked in, it would be. Chuck pulled away, then Barb went by and before you know it, it happened. My stomach reeled and up came all the soup and any water I had in my stomach. Not good...

From here on in it was just an awful struggle, but one thing did happen that took my mind off of it.

Just after I stepped across a small creek, I heard a noise in the woods to the right. I ignored it, then heard a branch crack and some snorting. WTF! I turned my light, a wonderfully bright Fenix LED light over my shoulder and saw 2 eyes at eye level with me about maybe 50 yards or so. The eyes were walking towards me at a steady clip and with each step I heard a snort, like real heavy breathing. All I could think of that might be that large on all fours was a grizzly bear. My heart raced and I turned my light away from the beast and started to hike up the hill as fast as I could.(stupid, if it was a bear, but who's thinking straight at that point?) It was pitch dark and all I could see was what my light was shining on. I had visions of being mauled on the side of the trail and no one finding me until the next morning... and then the beast spoke ........mmmmmoooOOOOOOO!

It was some free range cow that was not very happy that these bright lights were going by. She may have been as scared as I was! The good news was, I was going to live. The bad news was,

I was going to live.....

But of course, then it brought me back to the race and the climb and how I was feeling and then BARF! It happened again....walk take a sip of water and BARF! This continued all the way up and then back down this 8800 foot climb. I also had a splitting headache and at this time realized that it is not my day....yeah if I was thinking right, I probably would have talked myself into sitting for a bit and going on, but all I wanted was relief from the stomach reeling and retching. On the way up and down the hill I had to sit down on the side of the trail many times as many runners went by, all stopping to make sure I was alright. What a fantastic sport this is...it's a stupid sport, but the best people in any sport are ultrarunners. I walked into the aid station after getting a little confused going through a camp ground and stepped up to the table and told the timer I was not going on.

So the next day I asked Deb....so what did I miss? Her words were that the views were much nicer, but it also got even hotter and the climbs were steeper and higher. She hooked up with Beth Simpson-Hall and together they made their way into the morning and to Deb's first 100 mile finish since 2003 Hardrock.

A smiling and happy Beth and Deb after their finish

The finishing touch of the Bear is enjoying Leland's trout on the grill, along with some shrimp on the barbie, veggie burgers and veggie soup.

Thanks to Leland, Phil, Errol and the many volunteers working the aid stations and timers calling in the times all day long. The Bear is one fine and unique 100 mile race and I highly recommend it. I hope that I get in next year because this race is becoming so popular that I see a lottery in it's future. Hope not...

Deb's Race Report

(Steve had the camera, so I have no photos, just song lyrics )

Life is Good

Life is good, the grass is green
The good Lord smilin' on you and me
Gonna knock on wood
Sweet sunshine everywhere I look
You love me like no one could
Life is good

For the first 38 miles, I had the pleasure of Steve's company. We had no goal but to finish, so were not pushing the pace, just enjoying being together in those mountains. The morning was cool, scenery was great, legs were fresh, life was good.

Stuck in the Middle With You....

I don't know why I came here tonight,

I got the feeling that something ain't right...

Okay, this is just plain dumb. I made a pit stop along the way while Steve waited on the road.

Ducking behind some weeds, I suddenly realized they weren't weeds... they were some kind of burr - and they had attached themselves all over the inside and outside of the little spanky pants that I wear under my skirt. You guys, never mind. It's a girl thing. well, seeing as these little buggers are the inspiration for the guy who invented velcro, they weren't just attached, they were STUCK. I had to pluck them off one by one by one... I think there must have been near 100 of them. Steve is out on the road calling, "Deb, are you okay in there?" I don't think I ever got all of them, because I sure did feel them the rest of the race.

You Say Goodbye, and I say Hello.

I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello..

Once Steve got sick, and insisted I go on without him, I sadly left the aid station alone, but learned that fellow Nanny Beth Simpson-Hall wasn't long gone from the aid station, so I set out hoping I might catch her, thinking it'd be way fun to run with a fellow goat. I did finally see her on a trail across the draw, and caught up eventually.

Running on Empty

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends that I used to turn to, to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too

Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I'm running behind

Beth had a pacer for the night section, a friend of fellow goat Corey (who was working an aid station at mile 62). Jim McGregor was just the nicest guy, and he just took me under his pacing wing too... and was like a crew at the aid stations, helping both of us and staying positive and upbeat and steady. We picked up another newbie hundred miler, Barry, along the trail, but Beth led the parade the whole way. She is strong and steady, that gal! Running with Beth and gang made my race.

We travelled well at night, a good long section of downhill running and we hiked strong on the ups. We hop scotched with several runners, Duane Nelson and gang, Matt, David, and several others, and at one point passed Chuck Wilson barfing on the trail and Tim Seminoff pausing to put on some extra layers in the nightime chill. We knew that seeing Tim meant he was not having a good day, but he was pretty quiet so we travelled on.

Here Comes the Sun

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Barry, doing his first 100, was having a low point during the night and talked of dropping out at the next aid. Jim wisely counseled him to wait for the morning, as those "witching hours" before dawn see us all having doubts . "Nobody is allowed to drop at night. You'll feel 100% better when the sun comes up", he said. It's just always true, isn't it? Barry hung in there, and did indeed make a comeback.. Yay, Barry!

Love or Confusion?

O-oh, my mind is so messed up -uh, goin' round and round

Must there be all the colors - uh,

Without names, without sound, baby?

My heart burns with feeling, but, uh

Woe, but my mind, its cold and reeling

Is this love, baby, or uh-huh, or is it confusion?

Leaving the aid station at the ski lodge, we simply could not find the trail out, and the directions were confusing too. It was morning, the glow sticks were not glowing, and we couldn't find markers. After about 15 minutes of frustration, we finally got on track. Maddening!

Here Comes the Sun... with a Vengeance...

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

Man, did it get hot quick that second day! The last 20 miles got nasty hot, often exposed on those ridges. There was no soup at the aid station, and I was barely able to get down any calories by this point. Not drinking much either. I have figured that I only drank about 1 bottle every three hours on average. Yes, I was dehydrated. These last miles would be a grind.

Cowboys Like Us

Cowboys like us sure do have fun
Racin' the wind, chasin' the sun
Take the long way around back to square one
Today we're just outlaws out on the run
There'll be no regrets, no worries and such
For cowboys like us

At one point, I was briefly ahead of Beth and gang, and met a cowboy on horseback, who offered to give me a ride up to the top of the hill. Maybe I looked extra pathetic. But that would have been cheating, wouldn't it?

Lost Without You

I'm lost without you
Can't help myself

Okay, this was plain maddening. On that last downhill, just a few miles to the finish, I had to make yet another pitstop! (I think there were dozens). I had no toilet paper. But, I did have a glove. Don't ask.

Happy Trails!

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.

Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.

Is that corny enough for you? I was very happy to get to that park. It's been 5 years since I have gotten to the end of a 100, and I was beginning to think I just didn't have it in me anymore. I needed this finish. I was glad to have shared the trail with friends new and old, glad to have witnessed the Bear, glad to hang out in the sunshine and finally SIT DOWN, and especially glad to throw away that glove....

To view all the photos & videos I took go here...

To see the results go here...

For the equipment, I started in my LaSportiva Fireblades, knowing that I'd be running more in the first half (little did i know I wouldn't be) and had planned on switching into the softer and more comfortable LaSportiva Wildcats. Deb did switch to her Wildcats at mile 51 and said the shoes were great.

We both went with our Nathan Elite 2V bottle packs instead of the Nathan HPL #020 hydration packs because of the amount of good aid stations. I also don't like the backpack when it's hot, so it was a good choice.

For fuel, we chose a variety of things....Glucerna meal replacement drink, Gu Crumbles and First Endurance Liquid Shot...none of those things worked after awhile. I usually use plain maltodextrin, but didn't bring it. Big mistake.

In three weeks we're running a 50 mile race in the Massanutten Mountains in Virginia and it will be nice to be down there with our VHTRC friends one more before the winter sets in.

Until then, have a great fall!

Steve & Deb