Baldwin's On and Off Trail Misadventures

Hundred (+3) in the Hood: Part 5

2009-10-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay, been going through some post traumatic race depression issues in the past two weeks and haven't been motivated to do anything, let alone blog.

Anyways, after finally having worked my way through 4 packets of prunes, I felt much better (and lighter) but was now short one race chart. Fortunately I was just running my way back to the finish line and I knew I only had one aid station left, Red Wolf Pass before the long downhill home. Getting to Red Wolf proved to be a huge challenge as I was fighting exhaustion and hallucinations all the way up the PCT. The hallucinations were just freaky: leaves became faces, boulders became Samsonite suitcases, trees became race marshals and adding to this I was starting to get tired from lack of caffeine. I think I traded places with Kate, Mcmuff and Thumper at least 4 times as I would go out for a quick 8 minute burst, but slow down and have one of them (with their respective pacer) catch and pass me again. Finally as I sat down on one of the less jagged rocks, I think Kate had caught up to me and said in what I perceived to be a sympathetic tone, "Do you need a hug?" and as I was left sitting there, it was like something in my mind just snapped. I slapped myself in the face twice and that woke me up. I ran the last 3/4 mile up to Red Wolf (Mi 96.9) and saw Kate getting food, Thumper was just leaving and McMuff was only 2 minutes behind me. I got both bottles filled up and grabbed a Hammer gel for the last six miles, I left at 26:55. I soon caught up to Thumper and then Mark. I asked about Nic and he said that Nic was spending a little more time at Warm Springs. For some reason, I had a lot of energy and it wasn't the gel because I never touched it, but I wanted to finish strong so I just took off.

That downhill stretch was a blast! My mind flashed back to Mountain Highway Madness where I ran the 4.5 mile downhill in 35 minutes. While the PCT wasn't as steep, it was continuous. I'm fairly sure that if I tripped on any section, that would've been the end of my race, but the trail gods were with me that morning. And what a cold morning it was! I think I was running way too hard just to get my body temperature up, maybe I should have kept the jacket on, oh well. Two more road kills later, I finally cross the fire road with more downhill and catch Perry for the last time. He graciously steps off trail and gives me a round of applause. I finally hit the "flat" section and I'm using all the momentum to maintain my speed. I hear some coughing ahead of me and I bag another kill, I keep running and running and finally see Gilles who's walking. Gilles has gotten completely frustrated with the course markings (or lack thereof), the guesstimation of the distances between aid stations and is in a fairly bad mood. We walk for a little bit, until I can feel his mood getting contagious and I decide to run ahead. I spot the newly laid flour arrows (on-on?) and yell back to Gilles that we're on trail. A turn left and then I start climbing for a few minutes before reaching the peak, then some rolling singletrack and back onto Miller's trail. I bag my last kill just before I make it back to the road. Apparently the guy had tripped and landed on his face, dusted himself off and kept on going. That's ultra.

With a whoop I run to the finish line and momentarily hesitate as I see my car on the right side, but decide to just power sprint to the left and cross the finish line in 27:46:52! Goddamn! I ran the last six (or seven, no one's really sure) miles in under 52 minutes! I also bagged ten road kills. Everyone's huddled in warm blankets surrounding two fire pits. Olga congratulates me and gives me a finisher's cap with a light in it. That's peachy keen. She later gives me a bottle of Hammer electrotabs and some dirty girl gaiters so not too bad (although I still have not gotten my Hundred in the Hood souvenir shirt back. Paul, if you're reading this, please give it back, I'll take it unwashed!)

Compared to how I felt exact two months before at PCT50 mile, the post race feeling was indescribable. I wasn't overheated, nauseated, pukey, or even defeated. The adrenaline of my run was pumping at an all time high, with my time in the Hood, I ran 1 hour and 43 minutes faster than Stormy and I ran without crew and the Hood was 3 miles longer! I downed a fresh can of coconut water to get some much needed electrolytes and was encouraged to get warm quick. I remember my drop bag had some dry clothing for just such a situation. I was under a blanket and in front of some flames quickly. Told Lucinda that Gilles was just behind me and sure enough, he finished ten minutes later. I saw Anil and congratulated him, before he told me he had dropped at Warm Springs, as did Russ. I wasn't really tired, but I was starting to get hungry. Fortunately there was about twenty pounds of roast/pulled pork on the BBQ grill and I loaded up a big bowl and chowed down. I may have scared a few ladies with my eating habits. Sorry. More runners began trickling in. I decided to clean myself up a bit before settling in for a snooze. Lucinda and Gilles left and I said my goodbyes, I never saw Karl, but Kirsten and Chad did make a post race appearance. I saw their nifty buckles and was jealous but resolved to come back next year to get a buckle as well. Fairly uneventful drive home, although I did stop twice: a seven hour rest stop in Oregon and a two hour stop at the Tulalip Casino in Washington where I won $85 playing the slots. A rewarding weekend in the States in more ways than one.

Cursing in the 'Hood: Part 4

2009-10-11T09:57:00.000-07:00

There was still a little daylight left so I didnt bother turning on the headlamp quite yet. Nic had gone ahead of me but was walking when I caught up to him. The trail switched from smooth singletrack to rocky (and I do mean rocky) terrain after about 1/2 mile. Saw a few more front runners including Chad and Kirsten coming back from Breitenbush, they looked focused but still was present enough to say Hi to me. I was having not the best time going up this part and me and Nic shared a laugh about this. I wasnt really pushing it, but I feel this is the part of the race website where it let the runners down. I know we're still on the PCT, but there was no course description at least warning what runners would have to go through, and given the fact that we were now running at night with no glowsticks, markings, flagging made it an overall frustrating experience. A bunch of the guys in front of me took a moment to appreciate the view of Mt Hood and the surrounding peaks, I gave it two seconds. It was now me, Nic and Mark running in a little conga line. I took a potty break and both Nic and Mark scooted ahead of me, when I caught up I was at a fork, Mark was standing around and Nic was on the right. Mark asked if Nic was on trail and Nic soon confirmed. We started running a little quicker as it started to cool off and then I turned on my headlamp at 8:30pm. Nic and Mark got ahead of me here and I was by myself again. I didn't really know where the trail was, I just ran towards oncoming headlamps and flashlights. Soon I was coming to a long uphill and I bumped into Karl. He said it was about an hour away and I was worried, if it was an hour downhill, it would be longer uphill. He assured me the trail was rolling and Gilles was only 10 minutes ahead of me. I was walking up and then I met a trio of runners including John who described the trail as more climbing, some flat and a wicked downhill. I finally reached the flat section and did some easy jogging to unkink my quads and then the trail turned back to rocks briefly. I was passed by a few people here. Shawn had passed earlier and now Tony had caught up and passed me, telling me to hang in there. It was really exposed and windy before I made it to the downhill switchbacks. Kate has caught me now in a dazzling "V" LED vest and I finally spot the first glowstick. I do some more running and note that my headlamp is not doing a great job. I hear more voices and I know I'm getting closer, Tony and Shawn are now returning from Breitenbush, followed quickly by Gilles. Gilles and I exchange pleasantries and I turn the corner to Breitenbush A/S (Mile 65).

Wow. There is a lot of collective misery here. All the vollies are standing and all the racers are sitting down. I retrieve my drop bag and spot McMuff off to my right. Where's Thumper, I asked. Right here, she said, huddled under a blanket and grabbing her pacer for warmth. I finish off my last thermos of ice cold chicken noodle mush, a bottle of G2, some coconut water, and more ramen. And this is where I make a tactical error. I decided to go with one handheld bottle and opted for my flashlight which is way brighter than my headlamp. I figured I drank a lot already and I had enough calories to get back to Ollalie, but I took the wrong handheld. The handheld I took had nothing in the pouch, the handheld I left behind had all my saltstick caps, ibuprofen and most importantly, caffeine pills. I really missed those. Of course, I didnt realize this until I was going up the third switchback,by that time it was too late and then my tummy starting going south. I grabbed my secret weapon: A Payday bar, two chews later and everything was fine again. I caught up to Nic and Mark and we updated each other on our progress. Nic was good enough to stop and pull out an ibuprofen for me and this worked out great. I felt really good and ran some more downhill but lack of caffeine was starting to get to me again and my pace slowed down. In fact I was walking and was waiting for a GU to take effect when I was caught by 7 runners (three of them had pacers) which included Anil, Thumper, McMuff, Glen, and Kate. My pride took a little bit of a hit here and after I picked myself up, I chased after them. That sudden kick of caffeinated gel really helped too as I overtook many of those same runners and then there was one left who I initially thought was McMuff but turned out to be Anil who was just rocking the downhill. All the while I'm chasing a flashlight and I am moving well. I didnt like running to Breitenbush, but I sure loved running away from it. Finally I hit the base of the hill and there's Anil who's lost the trail and is wandering aimlessly to the left when I remembered we have to go right. Anil gets ahead of me again and the chase is on. We do a little climbing and then some rocky descent but my flashlight's working great here. All too soon I can see the glowsticks and some very familiar and welcome guitar playing. I make it back to Ollalie lake aid station in just over 5 hours. Three hours there,two hours back. I get some more food and soup, I beg for an ibuprofen for just in case and soon notice that Thumper and McMuff have arrived. It's getting cold and I need to warm up quickly. I ask Show N Tell to play the Harriettes a slow song and I get the hell outta there. I do some climbing and once the downhill starts, I go. I pass a few runners here and then I catch a slow moving duo: Russ and Gary. They move aside and I run past encouraged by their words. But I have to pull off to the side of the trail for a long overdue pee break. It's so long in fact that Russ and Gary have caught up to me. I move in behind them and we're talking about the nightmare that was the run to Breitenbush. Russ' tummy is off so I offer some candied ginger. It offers him some relief and I move on ahead. I catch up to another runner and we're trying to find the aid station, looking for the Ollalie CG sign and we soon find it, make the turn up and then a helpful and bundled up vollie directs us to the left. I still have some speed left and I run into the aid station (Mile 75) and am greeted by a curious sight. About four racers including Gilles, Tony and Shawn are huddled by a propane heater, then I notice it is getting COLDER in this section. I get my drop bag, switch to waistpack as I want my hands free and some more gels, some soup. Gilles, Shawn and Tony take this as their cue to move, Everyone's commenting on my ability to come back, I just wanted to leave asap as the mood was contagious. On my way out I bumped into Gary and Russ who picked up his pacer Bud. I move up towards the PCT and notice Shawn and Tony have pulled off to the side and are rooting around for some more warm gear. More runners are filtering down to Ollalie. I say all the right things that ultras say to each other, knowing full well they are going to be running you down. I catch up to Gilles who had a pit stop as we make our way to Lemti Creek. My race is going great, my energy levels are flagging a little bit from lack of caffeine but I'm still moving forward when suddenly I feel some movement. Flashback to package pickup on Friday, Olga said help yourself to the freebies which included some Nuun tabs, Sunsweet apricots and pitted cherry prunes. I had four packs of the prunes hoping it would work on race morning. Well, technically it did work on race morning, but I guess I miscalculated which morning it was supposed to work. Fortunately I still had all the unused paper towels so it was all good. Going into Lemti Creek was frustrating as I lost my bearings and didnt remember where the trail was leading into even though I saw other runners going that way, I remained unconvinced. I actually sat down on a log and dozed for 2 minutes because I didnt know if I was on the right path or not. Another runner caught me and that spurred me on and much to my surprise and disgust there was the radio operator not 200 feet away from me who redirected me back on trail to Pinheads. A little bit more climbing and a nice downhill to Pinheads (Mile 85). Calories were taken but nothing seemed too appetizing so I hustled out of there ever mindful that it was getting colder. Gary, Russ and Bud caught me shortly afterwards, but Russ looked a little out of it. Bud let me go, but I had no energy and was trying to regroup. My flashlight also kept winking out at inopportune times. I was sitting down and Thumper and her pacer Darcy gave me an energy bar, but it wasnt working well, then Gary comes tearing down and bumps into my leg and that ironically got me going. I don't see Russ anywhere, so I figured he must be ahead. Warm Springs (Mile 91)was a comparative oasis after enduring cold temperatures and general fatigue, it was about 24:20 into the run and for the first time I sat down at an aid station trying to get warm. I accepted a cup of broth and slowly let the liquid envelop my core. Miraclously there was still a few slivers of pumpkin bread were left and I snarfed them down. Thumper and her pacer, got up and moved down the trail. I finally got out of the chair when I saw McMuff come in. I started running down the long downhill but I didnt go more than 20 minutes when I felt those prunes work their magic yet again.

The only problem was I had no more paper towels left, there was some soft leaves/ferns but those were in groups of three so I decided to play it safe. I was in a panic and every person that passed me had no tp. Finally McMuff and her pacer came down and although she did stop and root around for some tp she remember she lost it eight miles ago. She takes off down the trail and I can feel the turtle's head. Then I remember, I do have paper: my pace chart, it's in a baggie and it's dry. Two small problems, if I use it, I won't know how far's the next station and the other problem, it has edges. Oh well, necessity vs practicality. Practicality wins every time!

To be concluded....

Cruising in the Hood: Part 3

2009-10-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

I left Horse Camp at 12:05pm with both bottles full plus a handheld and walked a few minutes just to let the salt and all the calories kick in. As I begin jogging, I realize this is not the same course I ran the PCT 50 miler last July. For one thing, the course is initially flat and very runnable. In fact, I make really good time and hit the first fire road crossing after a few minor hills. I make a mental note of the course as I had passed Miller trail about 1.5 miles before the fire road. I feel really good all the way up to Red Wolf Pass and even though I get passed by Anil (who I met on the last 25 miles of Tahoe Rim 100), I'm okay with it. I drink, eat ginger and pee regularly. Get to the aid station in just a little over an hour and think I see Gilles leaving, but I take my time getting bottles refilled. I know I have 69 miles to catch him, so I'm not worried. It's starting to get warm so I hustle back on the PCT because I know I have 2 miles of shaded downhill singletrack in front of me.

I remember how good it felt the last time I did the section two months ago and with no sour stomach it was even better. I let gravity take over and pass another runner who I thought was Gillles, but some other guy. Hmmph. I guess like me, Gilles wants to redeem himself after Cascade Crest. Hit a fireroad, slight right and back on the PCT. More downhill and the temperature's a little cool which just encourages me to speed up. I'm actually feeling good and take advantage of this mood to pick it up. I hit the first patch of exposed trail which I know is the prelude to the little creek with a log bridge. No sooner do I hit the bridge, I see three of the six racers who I will spend the next 20 hours with leapfrogging each other for most of the race: Anil, Glen and Kate. As soon as they see me at the other end of the log bridge, they started running up to Warm Springs. By the time I get to the other side of the bridge, they have vanished, but I catch them pretty easily as I know it's a steady hike to the aid. Soon it's just the four of us in a conga line going up, mostly walking with a little running here and there. We come up to another runner Perry with red shoes and matching socks even though that was a coincidence or so Perry claimed. Most of the runners scoot ahead as I take a pee break, (damn proper hydration!) and when I catch up we're at Warm Springs (Mile 38.5) where the most delightful little guy asked for bib number and in almost hushed tones said there was possibly some pumpkin bread available. Sure enough, the little guy's mum was slicing up a loaf and if Iwanted some. "Bread? I'll have some of that. And I did and it was good and there was much rejoicing....." I also spot Gilles here who's just leaving. I get my bottles refilled,take some cookies and more pumpkin bread,mumble "Thanghk yaew." And I starting climbing with the Party of 5. We do a fair bit of walking here ,picking Gilles up along the way and then see a nice little dusty descent. As Gilles, Glen and Kate take off, I spend a little time soaking my bandana, and tying it around my mouth as a makeshift dust mask and it feels good for about 20 seconds. Then I have to stop and dump out all the accumulated pebbles and grit out of my shoes. Perry passes me here as I had passed him doing the same thing that I was doing now. I put away the bandana and haul ass down the trail leaving Anil in my proverbial and literal dust. I catch up to Perry, then Gilles who lets me pass, I'm still running downhill when I spot a curious sight. A runner (#12) has taken off his waistpack and is lying down on the incline on the right side of the trail and I think he's taking a nap! I ask him if he's okay and he's fine, just laying in the shade. I resume my run and not less than half a mile later I see pictures of Pinheads. A little bit of a run and I make it to the Pinheads aid station (Mile 44.4). I take some hot chicken noodle soup from the really helpful and attentive volunteers. I soon see Gilles and I ask him about the napping racer. He couldn't believe it either. Now we get told that there may not be any aid at Lemti Creek because the guy is currently walking there hauling 4 jugs of water as we speak, so I immediately refill all three bottles as the sun is out in full force. I finish the rest of the soup and see the candy table, snag a Kit Kat bar and notice the three bottles of Jack Daniels, rum and decide to make a move out of there before temptation kicks in. We (Glen, Kate, Gilles and I ) climb again for about 5 minutes and then starting running a moderate downhill. About ?minutes later I see water jugs on the side of the trail. Was that really four miles we just ran? Are we at Lemti already?" Nope, it was barely two miles." said Glen. Kate refilled her bottle,letting Glen off the hook. I run with Gilles as we take the lead on Glen and Kate. Perry and Anil are about 5 minutes behind them. Gilles and I take turns leading/setting the pace onthe flats. We still walk anything that resembles an uphill. We both figure that a sub 24 is out of reachbut maybe a PR for Gilles sub 26:30 is very doable. As for me, I was happy just running, taking care of any issues before they flared up. There was a little bit of confusion as we lost the PCT on our way to Lemti Creek,but we just followed all the shoe prints on the trail. I mean what were the odds there was another race going on. I consulted the aid station chart and figured we were another 1.25 miles away from the aid station. Some nice cruisy singletrack was ahead and while I was looking for some skin lube in my pack, Gilles took off like a man possessed. I got my gear sorted and spotted Glen and Kate coming around the corner. That spurred me on and I was quickly back on Gilles footsteps. Now there was apparently some issue with the Ollalie Campground aid station. It was all sorted out by the time we got there but there were rumors going around that the race leaders had ran past the previously unmarked station and followed a different set of markings alltogether. Oh, well. Soon we came to a volunteer who directed us to the 3/8 of a mile that led to the campground. This was a little more technical trail and a welcome relief after all the running we were doing. Gilles got ahead of me at this point and was first in the aid station 55 mile mark. It was about 5:40pm, so 12:40 total time to run 55 miles and I was feeling pretty good compared to Cascade Crest,where I had to drop out at 53 miles in 16:45. There were various volunteers milling about,the racers were all sitting down. I pointed out my drop bag to a vollie and sat down and retrieved my 2nd handheld, reflective jacket, Runners Den longsleeve thermal shirt, dry shorts. I made my way behind a car and quickly changed. I spent a few extra minutes waiting for some ramen noodle soup. Gilles went on ahead and I wouldn't see him again until Mile 65 Breitenbush a/s. I dropped the waistpack (minor mistake here),opting for the double handheld for the night section. Grabbed some extra paper towels for "just in case" .

I was a little slow doing the 3/8 back to the PCT, waiting for the calories to kick in, by the time I startedthe hike up to rejoin the PCT,the leaders were coming back into Ollalie and headed back home. They were already twenty miles ahead of me. Well, so much for going for the win,but as Karl once said, "Without big dreams, you wouldn't have spectacular failures." Small little climb and as my right achilles is starting to make its presence known and my left foot with the plantar fascia occasionally screaming at me, I decide to just walk a little bit. I make it to the top of the hill and everything is fine again which is weird considering I havent taken any ibuprofen yet. I still concentrate on drinking and eating when I can, it's just hard as I only have so many pockets and I wearing this jacket for the first time so I'mtrying to get comfortable. Terry comes running the other way, pacing Shawna who looks really strong. We say hi to each other and I soon find a rhythm balancing my bottles, headlamp in one pocket, gels and ginger in another all the while running down the trail.Everything is very peaceful, the sun is setting, I'm just rolling along. I come to a volunteer who's hanging up glowsticks for the night section. I pick up my pace as I think the aid station is close by. Then I hear it. Is someone playing a guitar? Now who could be playing a guitar around here? Holy crap, it's Show N Tell fromthe Portland Humpin Hash! We greet each other as only hashers can and I make my way down to Ollalie Lake, 58.6 miles. Grab some more soup and spot Nic Plemel who was sitting down adjusting his pack. Glen has arrived with his pacer and we're all refuelling ready for the night section going into Breitenbush. As I'mheading out with Nic, I ask the vollie what's the course leading up to Breitenbush like. Well, the vollie said, the leaders are running the out and back in under 3 hours . Oh, okay. That's like 14:30/mi pace. That's sounds reasonable. If the trail is anything like what we just ran over the last 59 miles, it should take me about 4 hours and it'll be easier because it'll be cooler.

It did not take me 4 hours.

Whooping it up in the Hood: Part 2

2009-10-04T02:19:00.000-07:00

I walked up the short incline and started to descend through the singletrack that is the PCT and was immediately struck by how dusty it was. Apparently all the frontrunners were trying to warm up by going a wee bit too fast. Now my night running and early morning running is pretty similar in the fact that I suck at both. The little headlamp I had was doing a piss poor job of illuminating the trail and I was already starting to trip on a few rocks and slopes. I decided to go fairly conservative to start, 14 min/mile pace: just enough to keep warm without going nuts and having a really good first 1/4 and then a disastrous 3/4 later on. It was only 12 minutes in when I saw Lorie heading back towards me. Lorie had the flu and had already puked twice, before the race started. She decided to drop as she couldnt keep food or drink down.

As I said before I dropped out of Cascade because of nausea and stomach issues, which I believe was caused by my Nathan bladder pack, so this race I opted for the double waterbottle waistpack, which was great as it had two side pouches stuffed with peanut butter on white superstore bread,gels and candied ginger. At various points on the run I would trade places with a couple of runners as each of us were just trying to find our own pace and rhythm. Finally after the Little Crater Lake aid station, which I ran through, I was warmed up enough and moved on. It was also here that I got caught by Lorie who sat on a rock for 10 minutes and decided to "undrop" herself. We leapfrogged each other for 5 minutes until I took the lead for good. Dawn started around 7am and it's here where I started to catch runners who may have gone out too hard,too fast. Except in this case I caught up to Tony and Shawn who were two weeks after running Plain 100, Shawn in fact was 1st woman! I turned off my light at this point but they still had their lights on. We chatted briefly and they graciously moved aside for me on this uphill portion of the PCT. Passed two more runners leading into Hwy 58 aid station. Took some salt tabs as I had actually put them in my other drop bags and was warned about the potential for wasps and such. Funny thing was during the whole race, I didn't get stung or even get close to a wasp/bee. I guess being in the back of the pack does have its advantages.

About 3 minutes after leaving the aid station,the first male was already on his way back. He looked really strong and the course conditions definitely were favoring him. Heading into Frog Lake, there was a more steady trickle of runners coming towards me. For the most part, everybody was looking really good even running up the trail as I was running down. There were a few runners who may have gone out a little hard, but it was a little early in the day for me to even consider catching them seeing as they were at least two miles ahead and I hadn't even hit the turnaround yet. I saw more Club Fat Assers at this point with Chad and Kirsten running side by side like they were doing at Stormy two months ago. I saw Karl, John and then Gilles on the ascent just before the Hwy crossing. Gilles' words to me, "I love this trail, Baldwin." I also ran into two Hashers one from Ashland, OR: Thumper Humper/Annie and McMuff the Crime Pussy/Lynette from Boise. McMuff was wearing this little skirt composed of ribbons. I made up a little more time on this section and I hit Frog Lake aid station at 3:08. I saw Jerry and Paul Heffernan, both completed Cascade Crest this year, manning this aid station, refilling bottles and stuff. Paul and I exchanged hellos. At this point, it was already starting to warm up and I decided to lose my souvenir shirt to Paul who was going to be sweeping the course, so he could give it back to me later. Turns out he was actually sweeping the first half and I never saw him again that day. He emailed me after the race and will mail the shirt back to me. He'll even wash it.

I exit the aid station at3:10 and begin the trek back to Horse Camp. A few more runners are coming in including Tony and Shawn and now I'm starting to run in earnest. I take advantage of the shade where I can and just run as best I can. All too soon, I make it back to Hwy58 and then Little Crater Lake, everything's feeling okay, but I can already tell that I have two hotspots developing on both big toes that already are starting to blister. My heels are fine, really taped them well and I don't want to take off my shoes so I just concentrate on the trail. I catch and pass more runners in singles and twos, with about 3 miles to go I pull off for a pit stop and then am passed by all those I just passed. The 5 minutes I spend here are well worth it and as I am lighter, I easily regain the lead on 3 of the racers including Danielle who had taken a little bit of time sitting down. Beware the chair!

About 1.5 miles to go and both toes are throbbing, particularly the right one. I make the turn on a really tight switchback and my right blister pops! I felt like I got shot in the foot, the pain was so intense but because I'm wearing Drymax socks, all the fluid got absorbed through the sock and it stopped hurting quickly. I can hear the highway and soon arrive to Horse Camp at 5:55. A 25 minute negative split. I grab my drop bag and quickly change into a dry shirt and downing a thermos of now cold chicken noodle soup. Salt is good. Sean, who was crewing Kirsten and would be pacing her for the last 25 miles, helps me out here. I take all my gels and refill my pouches with food. Kirsten got to Horse Camp at 5:00, Sean tells me. I confide in Sean that I think everyone started too fast. Kirsten said the same thing, said Sean. I posed for a picture under the PCT sign for Lucinda using the horse poop as a prop and told Barry that Lorie was still on the course. I found out later she dropped out for good at Horse Camp having run 28 miles on an empty stomach.

Refuelled and renewed I enter the PCT for the 2nd out and back to Breitenbush.

Hangin' in the 'Hood: Part 1

2009-10-02T22:11:00.000-07:00

So there I was: It was a very cold Saturday morning last week where I found myself at my car, directly across from the start line, with two minutes to go, pulling on the souvenir long sleeve tech shirt over two t-shirts and Moeben arm sleeves with this single thought going through my head: "What the !@#$% am I doing here?"

Of course I knew what I was doing here, having DNF'd Cascade Crest 1 month earlier and running over 11 hours at Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) 50 mile left me very few options to requalify for Western States (two time loser + fire rules!). I only had two more chances: Hundred in the Hood and Haney 2 Harrison 100km. I was not looking forward to running 100km on the road in November so the Hood was my best option. 12,000 ft of climb spread out over 101.9 mi. That's right. We'd be running over 100 miles, which was fine, this being a first annual race and all, I'd much rather it be overdistance than under. I want to get my money's worth. I was even okay with the fact that I would not be getting a buckle as the race website clearly stated, had to run sub 24. Since I dropped out at Cascade at the 53 mile mark (Hyak) at 16:45 with a queasy stomach only 30 short days ago, I was just looking to finish under 30 hours. Up to this point my previous best time for 100 miles was 29:29:59 at Stormy.

Cue Saturday at 4:20am, I'm up and trying to stay warm as it was a very cold night to sleep in my car even though it was my best sleep ever before a race. The three IPA's helped, I guess. There's an endless row of cars looking for parking on Hwy 42 and I walked amongst the racers huddled by the heaters for the race briefing by the RD Olga. There were a few important changes on the course on race day which differed from the website. Little Crater Lake was no longer an aid station. For those of you reading this who ran the PCT 50 mile in July, you may remember going out on to a boardwalk/plank trail to a parking lot/trailhead. This was no longer possible. I think the out and back to Little Crater Lk was at the most 1 mile, and seeing as we would skip it on the way back, meant to me, the first outnback was two miles short at 26 miles long leaving 76 miles for the 2nd loop.

Also, the night section would not be marked (reflective tape, glowsticks). This was to test our confidence. As you'll read later, a lot more than our confidence was being tested during the night. Furthermore, the Ollallie Campground aid station would be the only deviation off the PCT, we would be going 3/8 of a mile to the aid station. And because we would hit that station twice the total distance off the PCT would be 12/8 of a mile or 1.5 miles. Also no official clock, except on the watch of the RD which was 3 minutes faster than mine. Of course all this new info meant nothing to me as my brain was starting to freeze without the assistance of a Slurpee. Since I had packed all my longsleeves in my dropbags, I decided to break with tradition/race taboo and put on my souvenir Hundred in the Hood shirt. I had one minute to spare and dashed my way to the back of the pack, but because of the extra shirt, my Nathan two bottle waistpack no longer fit. "Two...one...GO!" I spent another twenty seconds tightening straps, shifting bottles around and briskly walked out of the start/finish area and onto the Hwy.

"Where did everybody go? " Then I saw a stream of headlamps and flashlights round the curve going toward the trailhead. I jogged after them knowing full well what was to come having done the same thing two months earlier. Logjam at the trailhead. I walked up the hill following the conga line towards Frog Lake and was one of the last participants to enter the narrow, dark trail. "Well," I thought to myself, "here we go."

I'm 3 for 4 in 100 milers.

2009-09-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

I know, I haven't blogged since March, six whole months, but I haven't been doing much....except last weekend where I ran the first annual Hundred in the Hood 103 miler in 27:46:52. That's about 105 minute personal best from Stormy. A full report to be posted when I can find time.

On the road again

2009-03-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not going to Chuckanut this year to see if I can better my 50k time. I've got an 18 mile training run with my 4:15-4:45 group tomorrow morning. My group is expecting 17 miles, but they're getting 18 because it's Saturday, normally my day of rest and hashing but both are now in jeopardy. It's almost 9pm which means there's 4 more hours to go before the CFA Fools (Barbeau, Jensen, Hyson and subbing in for Machray - Alexander!) start on the Coyote Two Moon 1oo miler in Ojai, California. That's right. They're starting at 1am. I believe that's the Sandbagger wave start as per the controversy last year. The only problem is I don't think they've had enough training as the weather conditions have been absolutely horrendous here in Vancouver. Not that there's any actual running involved, Go up a hill, go down a hill spread out over 100 miles. Joy.

I'm at the end of Week 7 and I've just realized I still have 41 days to go with 10 minute trainer. My core is really strong, I can see a hint of abs, and I have to go shopping for new jeans as there's more room in the back end. My speed workouts have really picked up from last week, I wasnt really pushing it on last Thurs' workout: 4* 2km at 3km time trial pace (6:40/mi). 2km = 5 laps of a 400m track. I was only putting in my effort on the last lap rather than being consistent on all 5 laps. My coach called me on my bullshit so I was really resolved to work a lot harder for yesterday's workout: 5 * 800m, 30 sec rest, then 400m, 90 sec rest btw sets. I was with a group of 3 other runners who were in my pace group: 3:20/800m, sub 1:40/400m. First 800m was a solid 3:20, 30 sec rest, then a very fast 1:20/400m. 90 quick secs later and we went again. And then I was alone for the last 3 repeats. My 800ms were consistent 3:20 and my 400ms were 1:30-1:35. My breaks were the same 30/90 sec. Turns out the other 3 were taking longer recovery breaks although they said they were getting faster after each repeat, whatever.

My long runs are also improving although I hope that my group can make it to the start line. Some have voiced concerns that they can't make the distance at the pace that we're running which is slow 11-12min/mile.
But that's kinda the point, we don't do race pace on our long runs, cause the body would simply break down. Last week was funny, my group is 85% women and there were no available washrooms for 11 miles, so they had to go without a bathroom break for over 2 hours. Tomorrow, I think the first washroom is at 1.5 and next at nine mile mark. Gotta remember to bring tp, you never know...

Later tomorrow, if I can make it to North Van for the St Paddy's day Hash, green beer and Irish stew, it's magically delicious!

On a hash related note, just received some bad news from the Ashland H3 in Oregon. Baggy Organ is in very ill health and right now all the docs can do is make his remaining hours comfortable. Cheers, Baggy.

Off Trail for a while, but I'm back!

2009-02-25T19:15:00.001-08:00

Did you miss me? I really missed the three of you that actually read my blog, so a quick 3 month recap...
Late December: The Triple Century run really kicked the crap out of me mostly in terms of drinking, I really didn't appreciate the enormity of drinking 100 beers, I ended up finishing 40 of them. Running, which is normally my strength, 100 miles during the Xmas holidays was extremely difficult given the freak snowstorm that Vancouver received. I ended up doing the majority of the miles on a dreadmill, the 7 mile loop trail that I picked was taking me two hours to run a lap. Also, not much in the way of support as everybody was snowed in. I put on a ton of weight and catching a cold bug didnt really help matters.
January: The first three weeks really sucked. I was out of shape, still feeling the lingering effects of my cold and I was also leading the 4:15-4:45 marathon group for the Runners Den in Port Moody. There was still so much snow on the roads that we ended up doing some of our mileage on the trails. I have 12 runners in my group that I co-lead. Starting the fourth week of January, I finally succumbed to buying the 10 minute trainer workout DVD. You may have seen the infomercials at 2am and wondered,"Can this really work?" I'll try anything once...although looking at the program, it has me working out between 10 to 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week.
February: Decided to sign up for the Vancouver Marathon, May 3rd. I don't think I'll qualify for Boston, my BQ is sub 3:15 but I'd like to see if I can run 3:45. Also registered for Cascade Crest 100 mile Aug 29-30, (sorry, Brownie. I'm sure this ranks pretty high on the Bogusity scale.) PCT 50 miler July 25, Knee Knacker if I get in and I'm flipping between Scorched Sole 50 mile in Kelowna, San Diego 100 miler and Vancouver 100 which all take place on June 6. My road running has really improved, unfortunately my trail running has suffered. The only trail runs I do nowadays are either with the Vancouver Hash or Club Fat Ass. I'm also in the middle of Week 5 of the Ten Minute trainer. I'm just as surprised as you are. These workouts are intense and I am doing 30 minutes or three workouts a day, six days a week. Today (Wed) happens to be a rest day, only 10 minute Cardio, but I can't believe the results I'm getting. Now if only I could stick to the eating plan...
Tomorrow is the Marathon clinic's track workout, 3 km time trial, followed by 4 * 200 m. Let's hope the track is clear of snow. Gotta go do Cardio now, "Lost" is on at 9pm.

Triple Century: Day 3

2008-12-28T09:40:00.001-08:00

This is just not happening. Ran 20 miles on the dreadmill and only finished 6 beers.
58 miles, 30 beers.

Triple Century: Day 2

2008-12-27T11:47:00.000-08:00

Only 10 miles yesterday, but I did manage to finish a case of PBR. That's noteworthy right?
Total so far, 38 miles, 24 beers.

Triple Century: Day 1

2008-12-26T09:15:00.000-08:00

28 miles, 13 beers. 75 hours and 44 minutes left. Oh, look, it has started to snow.

Conditions for Triple Century: Expect snow. Lots.

2008-12-24T13:30:00.000-08:00

So here's the view from the balcony of my condo and the place where I'll be doing most of my beverage consumption for Triple Century which is only 18 hours away! Metro Vancouver has experienced QUITE a bit of snowfall over the past 10 days making travel and training somewhat difficult. The roads are quite slick and my 11km course has an increased degree of difficulty of 2.
I am not looking forward to the next 100 hours, it's gonna be hard enough to run a 100 miles without blowing snow in my face. I may pride myself on being a cold runner, but this is ridiculous. If you squint a little bit, the building behind the three picnic tables houses our fitness area, which has two treadmills. Hmmm.

Western Bound

2008-11-16T23:22:00.000-08:00

Yay, I finally got in as a two time loser for Western States...in 2010. So I still have to re-qualify in 2009 and I decided not to do Coyote 2 Moon as I simply cannot afford the entry fee and take vacation time off work. So Tahoe, Leadville, Cascade, and the Hood are all still viable options. I would like to tackle Tahoe again and see if I improve on my 34 hour finish from 2007.

Triple Century is still a go. I bought another 24 pack of PBR. Getting ready to close out 2008 with a bang.

H2H Leg 8: Captain Dave and his Angels

2008-11-10T08:43:00.000-08:00

Blame Canada! M'Alice en route to a 36:47 finish, 9/82 in his division!

Coyote2Moon Spring 100?

2008-10-30T23:50:00.000-07:00

So I'm looking at possible 100 milers to do next year and I stumbled on the Coyote 2 Moons 100 in Ojai, CA. Here's the quick and dirty stats: 26,000 feet gain and descent, 40 hour cutoff. This could be doable and you get 40 hours to run this! It has possiblities, but I better make my mind up soon...the deadline is November 15th and there are only 59 entries left.

This Week in Training or TWIT

2008-10-26T19:32:00.000-07:00

Monday: 100 situps/100 pushups
Tuesday: long intervals with the Den, 8:45/mi pace. Decent effort, made a young guy drop after he was trying to match me on the first 5 laps, but he was done on the 6th. He should've stayed in the slower group. 125 situps
Wednesday: 100 pushups
Thursday: 60 minute night trail run, 125 situps
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Morning, Buntzen Lake/Lakeview Trail run, 2:20. Afternoon, VH3, 1:20
Sunday: 100 situps, 100 pushups

Denied for Western States 2009

2008-10-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't get an e-mail from the RD of Western States 100 confirming I was one of 54 Two Time Losers that were picked from the TTL list to run in the 2009 version. My TTL status will now be rolled over to 2010 or 2011. So I can at least plan what my summer and fall 100 milers are going to be. Yes, you read right, I will be attempting TWO 100 milers in 2009.

Better start saving up and hope the Canadian $ recovers in time.....

My first 36 mile marathon: Golden Hills Trail

2008-10-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, i ran the Golden Hills trail marathon, my 2nd marathon in 6 days. Since I had already PR'd in Portland, I was running this for fun and get a chance to check out some California trails. The race starts at Lone Oak Rd in Tilden Park in Berkeley and is in conjunction with the Firetrails 50 miler. It ends at Lake Chabot Marina and there was a shuttle bus at the finish line to take entrants to Lone Oak as parking is limited, this shuttle leaves at 7:15am. Sharp. I decided to save on a taxi and would run from my motel to the Marina (mapquest said 3 miles) This was a huge mistake as I accidentally ran the other way (east) and got to Pleasanton which was 7 miles from Castro Valley! I really should've picked up on the obvious clues like increasing house numbers, the fact that I was running solid for 40 minutes and was still in the residential part of town. I ran another 3 miles looking for a BART station, took the Bart to Berkeley, took a taxi to the start and got there at 10:05am (race started at 9am). I don't actually have a bib on me as I was not mailed one, but I'm not banditing per se as I did register and pay for this race. I dropped off my warmup gear at the start which would be shuttled to the finish line. I briefly considered volunteering for the ultra to get some hours for Western, but the aid personnel said I could still run as the cutoff was at 7pm which gave me 9 hours to finish. It took me 6:45 although the results say 7:45 cause the clock doesn't stop for anybody least of those who ran the wrong way. Stll, I passed 5 marathoners on the course who had the hour "headstart" so that was pretty nice and my story provided a lot of hilarity for all the aid station vollies. So it all worked out. Next time, I'm gonna get a cab.

Travel Day - Golden Hills

2008-10-09T23:04:00.000-07:00

Well, after a successful and soggy Sunday in Portland where I finally ran under 4:00 with a 3:57:40, that's a 16 minute PR from 2005! It's off to Oakland tomorrow where I will be running my second marathon in less than a week. It's not much time to recover, but I didn't get to be where I am worrying about the long term effects on multiple races with little rest time. I wonder if this makes me a maniac....

Travel Day

2008-10-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I make my way down to Portland via Amtrak for the marathon. I'm looking for redemption and a PB. Let's do it.

Still a two time loser...

2008-09-30T23:16:00.001-07:00

Just re-confirmed my status as a two-time loser for Western States 100 miler 2009. I'll be very lucky to get in next year due to this year's cancellation and the automatic re-entry of this year's start list. Well, if I don't get in, there's always 2010 or 2011.

PNWIH

2008-09-18T23:25:00.001-07:00

So, it's off to Goldendale, WA for Pacific North West Interhash at Brooks Memorial State Park. Being from BC, I'm guessing I'm the Pacific part. Should be decent trails in Washington, and with a quick stop to REI will get all my last minute camping essentials.

Hopefully my marathon training won't be too derailed by this weekend. And I got on a team for Haney 2 Harrison 100k http://www.bcathletics.org/H2H/! Woo-hoo! I asked for and hopefully I will get Leg 8, it's the shortest, flattest, fastest leg there is. No pressure!

WWR: Leg 23 - The beaver sleeps tonight

2008-09-15T23:08:00.000-07:00

Quite a bit of roadkill along the highway, this little number happened to be outside the portapottie on one of the legs...so that's what that smell was....

After tagging Snatch, we got in the car to crew for him, I needed to get away from the damn bugs. So off we drove downhill, ever mindful of all the dust we were kicking out. Snatch had his best leg here, but of course he did, it's cooler and he's going downhill! It was dark when he tagged off Erik who blazed on the road. We met up with Van# 2 and picked up Guiness. We drove nonstop to where Creampuff was supposed to start his leg (21), got Bridget's tent and after assembling it, got in a 3 hour nap. All too soon, it was time for CP's leg to start, so we disassembled in an orderly fashion and wait for Amazon to tag him in.

CP had a great run down a road section, the clouds parted and he was seeing stars and constellations and meteor showers and things normally associated with a Grateful Dead concert.

Waited with Bridget at Leg 22 who confided to us that she was feeling nervous about the night run and also that she hadn't use the portapotty yet. Advised her that if her stomach is feeling like that and she hasn't use the toilet all day, then it was a pretty good sign that it wasn't nerves, it was something more pressing. She took the hint and afterwards felt way better. Bridget tagged CP and it was off to my Leg 24. By the time Bridget tagged me it was around 4:30am. I was cold standing around the handoff area so I kept my KK jacket on underneath my reflective vest. This was in addition to the longsleeve and gloves and toque. Overkill, I know. Tagged Bridget and I was off. Had my lamp pulled down to my waist so the light was closer to my feet. I had to dodge a few cars still pulling into the checkpoint, then be very careful on the cattle guard, a turned ankle would not be fun. It's cold initially but I started to warm up very quickly, around the 2 mile mark, CP gets me a drink and I take off the jacket and just run with the longsleeve. I ask that they give some more aid at the 4 mile mark. They agree or so I thought. I'm picking up speed and catch two runners on this section, I'm nearing the 4 mile mark just over the next hill and I actually see the1 mile to go mark and THEY'RE NOT HERE! My leg is 4.9 miles so knowing them they felt it was more important that the runner be there to be tagged rather than me being crewed but not having anyone to tag when I got there because they were too busy to find parking. Just don't let it happen again, 'kay? So now there's no one to aid me I use my righteous indignation to catch three more runners, and another one at the transition area. Tagged Snatch who starts to go. It's official, every member of Beaver's Gone Wild got to run in the dark! Dawn's just starting to break. Time for a cold beverage and a nap. Only 6 hours to go before my last leg. Yay!

Speed work @ the RD

2008-09-09T22:09:00.000-07:00

Today was the start of theTuesday night clinic at the Runners Den. I got there pretty late, damn Port Moody rush hour traffic, but as it's the first night, it's usually delayed with all the new sign-ins.

It was intervals today and I slotted myself in the 8:00 min/mile group based on the fact that I ran a 47:07 at the Nike Human Race 10k last Sunday. It was my 3rd run of that day and I held off on my kick until the last kilometre which just happened to end up a slight hill. Over 5000 people ran this event.

The workout was (90 seconds hard, 60 sec easy, 60 sec hard, 30 sec easy, 30 sec hard, 60 sec easy) x 7 at 6 minute/mi pace. The first 4 were tough but manageable. After the 5th, my left shin was seizing up and I wanted to drop out, but somebody else beat me to it. The weird part was he came from the 8:30 group who were only doing 5 reps and when he saw that they had finished, he jumped ship back to that group even though he was kicked out from the 8:30's because he was sandbagging. Wimp.

The 6th and 7th reps felt better as it had cooled down and I was able to suck it up for the finish.

I was glad I didn't bail. However, I think I found my pace group for the foreseeable future.

Great.

I am number 0612602

2008-08-31T13:34:00.000-07:00

Just picked up my race package for Nike's Human Race, got my chip, and my shirt with ironed on bib number. Start time's at 7pm, then it's off to the races. Should be crazy running in downtown Vancouver. Apparently there's some sort of bus my local running store has got organized. I'm an alternate, so it's not actually confirmed I'll get a spot. Worst case, I'll skytrain to the start, then we'll see what happens. I don't know if this will be as big as the Vancouver Sun Run and I don't know if this is Nike's core audience. But we'll see.

WWR: Leg 14 - Sea level is for Sissies.

2008-08-26T23:22:00.001-07:00

Well, here I am waiting on Matt again and I can't believe I'm getting altitude sickness at 9494 feet. Geez, I need to suck it up, because I'll be hitting 10,300 feet at the 6.5 mile mark of my 8.5 mile leg. It's past 6:15pm and I've already told Creampuff that I'll probably be 90 minutes on this leg. The trail is dirt road and dusty, more runnable trail except for that 4.5 mile section climbing up 1200 feet. Finally, Matt comes into view and we tag off at 6:30pm .I have my big floppy hat on and a bandana to keep out the dust. Both become pointless very early on. I start with a strong jog but not less than 2 min later I have to stop and adjust the damn bandana! In that time, I got chicked by a 40ish east indian woman and struggle to catch her. She takes the descents fairly easy and I'm trying to keep up. About the 18 minute mark we hit a brief flat stretch, I was keeping her in sight and then I looked past and saw the hill. Dammit. Those were a lot of switchbacks. Now it was just a grind battling the elevation and the terrain. Dirt road may be runnable but when it's climbing for 4 miles it was a little tedious. Too often I felt I was sliding uphill as the dirt made it hard to get a solid footing for me to push off for the next step. The runner ahead of me had similar problems and was looking for the best line to run up. I found tracks made by some heavy duty construction equipment and ran on the side of the road. It helped a lot as I played leapfrog with her. I would get aid from Van1, she'd pass me. She was getting aid from her Van, I'd pass her. This went on for 3 miles. Most of the time, we were just powerwalking the hill as it was just the same pace as running. Near the top we were getting passed by a bunch of ubermountain runners. Finally we hit the crest and I've been passed 4 more times with a few more gaining. One of the crew of the guy who just passed me jokingly offers me a gel cause I musta looked bad. Well, I do like them downhills....because I starting picking up the pace. Not because of the gel, but the advil/e-cap combo I just swigged down with the last of my water. I catch east indian woman, the guy with the helpful crew and two more runners. There was a brief 3 minute section where I was the only guy on the trail and this was a little worrisome because I didn't know where the course went! I was following the dust cloud ahead of me but then the trail went left and I wasn't sure if I should go left. I look behind me and everybody I just passed are barreling straight toward me. That answers that question. I put the hammer down and see the orange pylons ahead. I tag off Snatch who continues down the trail. Take a few brief minutes to cool down (mindful of the mosquitos) and check out the awesome views at Deadman.I turn around and congratulate all those chasing me for the last two miles. Sure enough, I did run my leg in 90 minutes and good thing too, cause we had only 50 minutes before the exchange closed and we would've been disqualified! Two down, two more to go. time for a little sleep before my leg as we are now down to nine runners as Matt dropped out after two legs as he had a wedding to go to the next day. Up next, a little night running. Perfect.

WWR: Leg 4 - Burning, Man.

2008-08-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

It's is unbelievably hot waiting for Matt. It's almost noon and the temperature reads 100 degrees F. I find a place for a quick pitstop before my leg starts and I get the handoff. My leg is 4.3 miles and is rated easy, it's flat, dirt road and is completely runnable. And it is, for the first 300 feet, then the heat hits me and the fact that I'm wearing a heavy kilt doesn't help. I'm still givin'er and it's not too bad, there is some initial cloud cover, but that gets burned off really quick. I soon find myself chasing a patch of shade, but by the time I close in, it moves west and I have to go east. There's 179 feet of elevation on this particular leg, but it's deceptively over 3 miles of uphill. I see people in the distance, but they're too far ahead of me to make any sort of ground on them. (thanks a bunch, Matt!) Get a brief breeze from a little lake and that eases the heat. Clock into mile 3 and Van#1 is helping Matt recover and ask if I need anything before I cross Owl Canyon Rd. "Ice!" Snatch grabs a handful and jams it into my bottle. I break into a hard run now and see the 1 mile to go mark. My handheld is freezing cold, then it becomes cool, then rapidly lukewarm in the space of 5 minutes! Damn! I grab sips when I can and sprint the last half mile. Take my wristband and hand off to Snatch at 37 minutes! I strip off my tshirt and blind half of the spectators with my pasty white torso. Call shotgun, get in the car and turn up the AC, baby! One down, three to go!

How the Wild West Relay was won and lost

2008-08-22T00:03:00.001-07:00

I've never been to Colorado, but when the call came out for hashers for the Wild West Relay from Ft Collins to Steamboat Springs on the Beavers Gone Wild team, I answered! I also enlisted another Vancouver Hasher, Creampuff (he's the one in the red dress) because I didn't want to be the only guy from sea level suffering.
As it turns out, the co-captains are from Portland: Amazon.cum and Nice Snatch and their buddy, Rainer Queer from New York who picked us up from the airport after an ill advised day of trying to acclimate to the elevation and heat by climbing Beerstat three hours before!

So there would only be 5 visiting hashers and 5 locals: (it was supposed to be 7 locals, but 2 got deployed at the last minute!) Bridget, Matt, Clint, Eric and Thea. I 've done relays before, but only at 100km, this was a whole different event. Considering I was tapering for Stormy 100 mile, I saw an opportunity to get elevation and heat training in. And damn if I didn't pick the right day to do heat training. Friday temperatures were forecast to be a record high of 105 degrees F! Now given that there were only 10 relay runners and Matt had to drop out after his second leg, some of us had to run 4 times. It was me, Creampuff, Snatch, Matt and Bridget (bro & sis) in Van 1 taking the first 5 legs and everybody else in Van 2 taking the next 5 legs. Since I'm not psychic, I don't know how everybody was feeling on their individual legs, so this is the story of how all four legs went.

Stormy 100

2008-08-10T07:43:00.000-07:00

Despite bloody blisters, stomach issues and a course that unintentionally lived up to its name, at 29:33,I became the last official finisher of Stormy 100 miler in Squamish yesbterday. I was able to finish largely due to two crews, my provider of hot n spicy pot noodles and fellow Club Fat Ass and Hasher, Rob and Lucinda blister care nurse extraordinarre! Without the assistance of these two, I would not have finished and more likely dropped out at 17-18 hours.

Talk about dropouts - there were 10 of them in a field of 30. Those that could make it through the bad patches finished, it was just that simple.

I learned so much from Tahoe and was able to apply it to Stormy. However I did spend a lot of time sitting down at Aid stations, but I was wolfing down the noodles so it was worth it. I might opt for the kimchi flavor next time.

Funniest moment - Entering Powerhouse for the first time, whipped out the cell, called Rob and put in a pot noodle order that was ready when I came in. Nice!

Dumbest call - Having a beer at Mile 50, which may have led to some sleepy moments at Alice Lake night section.

I'll have a detailed report on CFA soon. Coincidentally the finish time for Stormy was the same time as our Wild West relay team in Colorado. Cool, I can cover half as much distance in the same amount of time as a team of 10 runners.

I'm hungry again.

Havent been posting in a while...

2008-07-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

Too busy ramping up the miles before Stormy 100 miler in Squamish.

So a quick recap: Kneeknacker 30 miler: 9:16, 15 minutes faster than last year, but took a fall and a bee sting to my left eye 5 minutes before the finish line. (Fortunately not at the same time)

Long run today for some heat training then it's off to Colorado for the Wild West Relay for heat and elevation training. My 2nd, 3rd, and 4th legs are gonna be over 8000 feet! Hoo-boy.

Then back to Vancouver to detox from all the Fat Tire that I drank during that weekend to prep for Stormy.

A more detailed race report for Kneeknacker, Wild West Relay and Stormy will be forthcoming...pinky swear.

Jogging for Jugs, 24 Hours with Team Mudd and Ranting in Squamish

2008-06-16T22:25:00.001-07:00

So after spending last weekend pacing for 9 hours in the less than stellar conditions at Vancouver 100. I decided to have a "fun" weekend. Now my definition of fun may not quite match normal definitions, but if the looks on my co-workers faces are of any indication after telling them what crazy run I did the previous weekend, it's a pretty safe bet that it's not going to be pretty.

Saturday morning we (Doug, Cat and I) went to Point Roberts for Jog for a Jug. Basically a run around the town of Point Roberts starting and ending at the Reef Tavern. It's 11.2km of rolling hills and flat sections and instead of a finisher's medal, you get a jug (pitcher) of beer. The run wasn't too bad, although I hadn't run road in a while and certainly not anything approaching speedwork. Being a visitor, i wore my Captain Canuck top to show 'em how we roll in Vancouver.

The run started at 11:10am (I'm guessing this was to allow the Reef time to actually start serving beer at the conclusion of the race). Small uphill and then a flat road to a right handed turn. I may have started a little too fast on this section. This was confirmed as I made the turn and started sweating buckets. A little climb, crossed the border lineup, then a sudden descent. Made up some time here but I was going really hard down this section. Saw a water stop and walked through it downing a cup of cold water. Another flat section and another right turn. Turned left after an exposed road section. I'm really starting to feel the heat, maybe this jersey wasn't a good idea after all. A water stop later and the sun is out in full force. Finally I'm 100m to the finish line and I resolve to finish strong. This resolve lasts about two seconds as Doug has snuck up behind me and puts on the jets. Damn it! I elbow him in the throat, but he just shrugged it off. I guess he smelled more than the barn, he smelled the beer! I

I cross the finish line about a quarter of a second after Doug does (51:26) and I think I'm gonna hit the puke zone. This is a first, I'm gonna hurl before I even have the beer. Fortunately I was able to recover and graciously hand Doug a straw (all the better to drink with) to get our pitchers and pictures taken. We secure some lawn chairs in the patio section of the tavern and wait for friends who show up about 10 - 15 minutes later. Some friends can't stay the whole time and gave us their pitchers of beer. Well, if you insist! I think I consumed 2.5 pitchers and Doug had 3.5, but my memory is a little hazy at that point.

From Jog for a Jug, Doug and I went to the Easters Seals 24 Hour Relay at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, but not before getting something to eat at Subway. Doug was running with his corporate team BLG and I was to be pacing some of the ultras Glenn aka Mudrunner and Barb Owen, both very accomplished endurance athletes. We got to the track around 4pm, so they were running for about 6 hours (started at 10am) and it was starting to get even warmer. Mudrunner looked good, Barb, less so. Both had their aid/crew tents next to each other. I ran with Barb for a lap and then with Remax because they offered me a T-shirt and beer (no,I haven't had enough).
Went home and tried to rest, slept for a fair bit and got up around 4:30am. Damn it! I was supposed to be pacing Muddy for the night section (fortunately he had lucked out and Sukhi paced him from 8pm onwards or 50 miles!). When I got to the stadium at 5:20, Muddy was at Mile 95 and needed two laps to go to get his goal of a sub 24 hour 100 miler. In addition to Sukhi, Mike Wardas and Jen from North Shore Athletics had joined the fun as well. So with 4 pacers providing positive reinforcement, Glenn started Lap 39. We walked up the first hill exiting the stadium, past the porta potties, Glenn picked the best terrain for his feet which in this case was the grass and singletrack instead of pavement. It was a little cool but we warmed up quickly. Along the way Glenn regaled us with tales from the trail, trying to dodge frisbees, soccer balls, footballs, and drunk relay runners. We finished the penultimate lap in 32 minutes. Final lap and we're moving along at a decent clip. It was almost like Glenn was trying to drop his pacer?!? I voiced my concerns and had them confirmed. Glenn was going hard for the last little bit and rounded the track and finished in 20:36! Glenn ran a sub 24 100 miler and celebrated his birthday in grand style. Technically Glenn still had 3:24 to run additional laps, but he was having none of that! We settled into some easy camp chairs and snuggled under some sleeping bags and took a well deserved break waiting for the sun to come out.

Barb was just 1 lap shy of her 100 mile goal and the other ultrarunner, the Lone Wolf called it after 80 miles. There was a brief panic when the race organizer and the lap counters at Money Mart only had Glenn at 75 miles, but Mrs Mud produced the log book with every lap split written down to the second.

After the award ceremonies and the 24 hour relay had concluded, I decided to head out to Squamish for Bonkfest II: The revenge! I got to the Powerhouse loop around 12:40pm and the sun was really bearing down. I knew that since Bonkfest started at 7:30 - 8:00am, that they had completed one lap and were well on their way for Lap 2. So I headed out with my Nathan Pack and started climbing Nine Mile Hill. Now on Saturday, there was the Test of Metal Bike race which is about 67km long and has some of the top mountain bikers from North America competing in it. I was continually reminded about this race going up Nine Mile Hill as I kept seeing discarded used gel packets along the trail. Ring Creek rip was somwhat worse as there were quite a few water bottles left.I picked up as many as I could find, but this proved futile as now my hands were covered in strawberrybananachocolateorangemochavanilla gooey sticky gel. For all the bikers who couldn't be bothered to stash their empty gel packets in their spare pocket, please refer to the second picture. Nuff said.

Next week is the Brick workout in Squamish again, where we will run on the Test of Metal course for about 38 km on Saturday and 28km on Sunday. Should be a blast, I think everybody will get bonus points for garbage collection if last Sunday was any indication.

Later,

Vancouver 100

2008-06-09T23:18:00.000-07:00

So long day and night this past Saturday. Got a 3 hour 15 min training run on the Stormy 100 mile course, granted I was only on course for 1:45, but it was good runnable trail. Then I found out the RD has to change the course due to the actions of some relay members from last year's running. Sigh. Hopefully not too much has changed.

After finishing at 11:30am, drove back from Squamish to Horseshoe Bay to see the winner of the Vancouver 100km, Bill Dagg, at the halfway point. After he refueled after seeing his crew, I ran with him for a little while until we saw the next runner. This turned out to be 40 minutes later! I ran back with two more runners, Neil and Mike. (whose gel flask had blown up and leaked its contents all over his shorts, eeeew) I relaxed and got some food and then after hanging out for a bit, headed back home to get ready to pace my friend Jess for the last quarter of the 100km.

I met Jess and her other pacer Michelle at 1am Sunday morning at Cleveland Dam. Jess had some knee problems and had to change into her road shoes as her trail runners were giving her too much grief. This had reduced Jess to a walk. A strong purposeful walk, but a walk all the same. It took over nine hours in wet miserable conditions but Jess finished with a smile on her face and a song in her heart. Well, okay, maybe not a song per se.

Next up for me is Jog for a Jug in Point Roberts, WA, then it's back to more night running at the 24 hour relay this coming Saturday.

Bonkfest

2008-05-29T23:11:00.001-07:00

So the inaugural running of Bonkfest was a moderate success! 8 fearless souls or is that 16 calloused soles(?) started at 7:08 am Saturday, May 31. We were supposed to be starting at 7:00am but due to unforeseen circumstances (grandma's unscheduled ER visit) I arrived a little late for my own event.

A full write-up can be seen at :http://www.clubfatass.com/blog/baldwin-lee/bonkfest-report

Tomorrow, I and a bunch of likeminded individuals will be hitting the Baden Powell Trail from Grouse to Deep Cove for some night time training. The first 10km is the most technical part of the trail and would be a challenge in the day time, much less at night. I need to do some trail running/walking for my upcoming 100 miler in Squamish:

http://homepage.mac.com/designr2/stormy/index.html

Later.

Bonkfest preview

2008-05-16T21:27:00.001-07:00

Didn't get to make it to SF this weekend for Bay 2 Breakers for some great trails, beer, and old friends. So I did the drive to Squamish for a pre Stormy training tun, specifically Bonkfest which I'm hosting as a Flash event with Club Fat Ass next Saturday. Bonkfest is essentially multiple loops of Powerhouse which goes up Nine Mile hill via Mamquam Forest Service Road, up Lava Flow trail, down Ring Creek Rip , down Powerhouse Plunge and back down to Powerhouse Aid Station. Stormy 100 miler will require you go up this section twice. Trail was in decent shape, granted, 7.5 miles is a fire road, but 6 miles of that is a hill. Lava Flow trail is very rocky, and Ring Creek Rip was a blast of shaded downhill singletrack. The initial Powerhouse plunge isn't that bad, even though it's rated most difficult for Mountain bikers, for trail runners, it's a lot of fun. But crossing the road to the second part of the Plunge is very fast downhill switchback running with the usual mountainbike obstacles. A little crushed gravel road to the Powerhouse falls and you're back. 3:14 for me, but I did start at 1pm and I took a lot of pictures. Hopefully Ring Creek Rip will be a little more cleared come race day.

My ego and my noggin took a bruising at Miwok

2008-05-05T23:11:00.000-07:00

But I did end up finishing in 15:20 so it's not all bad news. Short story: I couldn't keep anything down and relied on water and nuun for the last 20 miles. My sodium levels were dangerously low and I had multiple full blown cramping sessions that oddly came after going up a long hill. My only bright spot was that my pacer, Yvette from SF, wouldn't let me quit. Unfortunately she had to go to a party in Oakland at mile 58 and I was alone again for 4 super slow miles. Fortunately there was no one on the course I could actually drop to so I had to suck it up to the finish line.

I got this little bump at the 22 mile mark, soon after leaving Pan Toll Ridge Aid Station. I hit a low tree branch and knocked myself loopy for a minute. Oh, well. I'll do better next time and you better believe there's going to be a next time!

Getting Race ready

2008-04-30T22:28:00.000-07:00

Bags are packed, race gear in tow. Now all I have to do is survive the drive to SeaTac airport to catch my flight tomorrow. I've just shaved my head to the scalp to be more "aerodynamic" on the trail.

My back feels a little tight and I'm not sure why. A good reason why I'm not taking my Nathan 2l pack with me. 2 handhelds in my dropbag will have to do at Pantoll. I have a pacer at Mile 49.5 who is supposed to meet me at 2pm (8:20), hopefully I'll meet her there.

Club Fat Ass should do okay at this race. Gary, the Repta Bros should finish in the top 25%. I'm hoping for a sub 14, sub 12. We'll see.

Going to hang out with the Gypsies H3 while I'm in SF Thursday. One day to recover and shop for some coconut juice and I'll be good to go.

Send me your positive deep thoughts...

Navigating the Suburban Rush

2008-04-28T22:58:00.000-07:00

So last Saturday I volunteered on the navigation section of the Suburban Rush in Port Moody. While this could be considered to be an entry level adventure race, there were quite a few experienced teams out there who are sponsored by Helly Hansen, Steed Cycles and other outdoor brand names. We (Jordy and me) were in charge of marking trail (mini green road flags and green ribbon) and 7 markers each with its own distinctive stamp. Racers were given a map where each of the markers were laid out and it was up to them how they were to approach each marker. Our job was to be creative enough to lead them to the marker, but not be completely obvious. Since I had a week to go before Miwok (more on this later) and I knew some of the side trails around Buntzen Lake I was given a few markers to set as I saw fit as long as I stuck to the map. Our first mark was #3 which was through a little bushwack and popped out into a little alcove near the lake. I ended up getting poked in the eyebrow by an errant branch. #6 was easily the roughest one as it involved clambering over a slippery log section, through a few downed trees and very narrow singletrack with steep switchbacks. Jordy had prelaid #5, #4 (which was on the FU George trail) which 4 teams and 2 solo runners missed completely. I suggested Mark#1 be in the middle of several uphill log sections that you had to scramble up, but if racers could see beyond the flags, they could bypass the trail and climb up a small fireroad and access the mark that way. By far the most frustrating and easily missed mark was #2. I placed it on the right side of a steep downhill with flags clearly pointing upwards, I designed it so that if someone was going downhill, they'd get tunnel vision and would miss it, but if you were going uphill, you would easily see it because you would be walking this section. Good times. It was a lot of fun directing racers all over the course and looking out for them as well. The only gripe I have was we were not able to assess penalties as quite a few teams did not follow the "You must be within sight of your team member at all times" rule. So for example, on Marker 6, the slower member of the team would wait at the bottom of the hill, while the stronger or less fatigued member would power up the hilly switchbacks and the way the marker was placed, they were more than 10 feet apart. Unfortunately we didn't have team numbers or a camera to take pictures for evidence. I think we should go on a yellow card, red card system for rule infractions. A ten minute penalty may not seem like much, but when the difference between 3rd and 4th place is 7 minutes, I think it'd be a good idea. Okay, rant over.

Miwok is only 5 days away! And I still don't have a plan! Well, other than running it.

More running than I'm used to...

2008-04-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a somewhat successful weekend. Had a great time with the Seattle H3 and managed to score a place to sleep but completed Mt Si 50 mile, my first 50 miler of the year!

I was supposed to run it in my Streaks, but 10 minutes before race start I changed into my Asics 2120s because the trail was essentially either fireroad or crushed gravel. I was hoping for a 10-11 hour effort but I ended up with 8:39:47!

This was a very fast course and very, very runnable. Too much so, that because I wasnt wearing a watch, I had no idea how fast I was actually running until the 27 mile when a woman I was running with clocked us at 4:15 for 27 miles! Oops! I'm running faster than my normal marathon times but I still have 23 miles to go! I was sure I was going to bonk, but it didn't happen. My quads were tightening a lot on the turnaround, but I made sure once I had my food and electrolytes I was moving again.

Made new friends with Pocahomo and got reacquainted with Linda Barton, a girl I was playing leapfrog with at Chuckanut. As it turns out, I'll see her again at Miwok!

Speaking of which...I got my race bib in the mail today! I'm number 200.

Well, time to rest up and get some more calories. Hopefully I'll figure out this blogging thing soon.

Going in blind

2008-04-11T22:56:00.001-07:00

Well, it's travel day tomorrow. I'm off to Seattle, well Redmond, WA to pick up my race package and find a place to stay for the Mt Si 5o miler. I'll think I'll check out the Seattle Hash if I can make it in time. But shelter tops my priority list right now.

I have never run this race before. I don't really have a strategy per se, reports on this race are few. I'm bringing pb sandwiches, Nuun, my GUs and coconut juice. I hope that's enough to sustain me.

The race should be very runnable as the course appears to be a mix of road and crushed gravel so it'll be the Streaks race day.

Later,

Diez Vista 50k - Musings

2008-04-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

Okay,

I actually did my report on DV on another blog posting, in case you haven't seen it yet:
http://www.clubfatass.com/blog/baldwin-lee/diez-vista-50k-youve-got-hail

So now that's it has only been 4 days since the race was completed, I thought I'd have a few comments, random deep thoughts:

Maybe next year there could be a more indepth course description on the website, pictures, maps, elevation chart, that sorta thing.
speaking of pictures, did you see the guy filming the whole race on various sections of the course? Hopefully there will be some finish line photos.
The Montrail Streaks worked great....on the rocky, bare sections. Not so much on the slick roots and rocks. Not that I was racing really hard in those sections.
Nutrition worked great, only had used 2 aid stations and even then it was just to grab M&M's and water.
Volunteers rocked! Especially taking care of those that had to drop out of the race.
Everyone keeps asking me, "Where did you get the gaiters from? Dirty Girl Gaiters. I was trolling the internet looking for Dirty Girls and I found this website, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
My running has improved a lot from last year. Setting a PR by an hour is huge. I'm very happy with my performance.
Okay, next time is Mt Si 50 mile in Snoqualmie, WA. I have not done a strategy for this race, I've never done this race before. I'm not sure I should be doing this race. But since I already paid my fee...I may DNF a race, but I try not to DNS.

Trying new things-just before a race

2008-04-03T23:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm mostly over my cold. Got two decent days of bed rest out of it. Came to a decision today. Last Saturday, I bought a pair of Montrail Streaks, they're a streamlined trail running shoe. Normally I've been running in Hardrocks and Continental Divides, but they seem really burly and they're fairly heavy. The Streaks have all the protection and support that I've come to expect from Montrail, but I swear, they're lighter than my road shoes. I wore them on Sunday on a 20 mile road/crushed gravel trail and they worked great. I took a few side detours onto some singletrack and they really responded well. I was thinking I would wear them on the 2nd half of DV and stash them in my drop bag. Do the technical part on my Continentals and then cruise with the Streaks.

However, on Wed I ran with the "unofficial" Knee Knacker training group going out for its first run of the season. Damn, there were at least 15 or so out there - the biggest on record for a first day. This course went out on the Baden Powell Trail - which is usually the benchmark for all my trail runs. Train on the BP, everything else will feel like a bike path. The shoes worked great for the trail, I was sliding a bit in the shoe, but I hadn't tightened them from Sunday. There was a little slippage on the terrain, thankfully no one saw me as I slid twice on two separate logs. I'm blaming the ice and snow. Thursday I ran from Sasamat Lake up towards the DV ridge and had no problems at all, especially coming back down.

So instead of changing them at 25k, I'll wear my Streaks for the full 50k. I can also minimize my drop bag.

So my goals for DV are to PB, which would mean running faster than 7:38 and to DNF (DO NOTHING FATAL) after all, I still have to run 15 miles the next morning and I've got a 50 miler the next Sunday!

Pre race handicapping

2008-03-31T23:05:00.000-07:00

Around 2:30pm today, I noticed a tickle in my throat that was not going away. Damn. Took a cough drop, but that only temporarily alleviated the suffering. Not good for someone who has to talk on the phone all day, but I managed to get through it. I think I'm coming down with a cold, that 21 mile road/trail run I did yesterday probably brought my immune system down and I was more susceptible for any kind of nasty bug lurking around.

Fast forward nine hours, my throat has swelled up and swallowing is very painful. I might need some bed rest and plenty of fluids. This doesn't look good for Diez Vista 50km on Saturday, but it might be a blessing in disguise.

In previous races, I started out too fast, felt okay in the middle and then faded near the end, my pace degenerating into the "zombie shuffle". This year I've adopted an initial slower pace at the start, gradually increasing my pace and going all out in the end has yielded some impressive results.

I was treating this race as a training run (although it's one in which I would like to set a PB!) for Miwok 100km in May and also tempered by the knowledge that I have a 50 miler the next Sunday after Diez Vista will mean that I have to readjust my goals.

Well, I'll know more depending on how I feel tomorrow.

G'night.

My first posting

2008-03-31T22:47:00.000-07:00

Hey, everybody!

This is a little surreal. Early in my running life, I've written updates, stories, recaps etc on all the crazy races and runs that I do and have sent them to all my friends who, by now, must have regretted giving their e-mail address to me.

As I kept evolving as a runner and as an individual, the stories kinda dropped off as I found other things to occupy my time.

But now that I've discovered (okay, lurked for years) blogging, I now have a creative outlet to express my thoughts, my fears, my demons and maybe try to figure out exactly why I keep going when every fiber of my being is screaming at me to stop!

This probably isn't going to end well. So let's begin.