Bonkfest

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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,