Time to bang out another 100

Well, the time has come once again for another 100 miler. Tomorrow is the Cascade Crest 100- definitely one of my favorite races out there. The scenery is absolutely breathtakingly amazing, the course really challenging and fun, the volunteers and race organization, etc. is fantastic. This will be my 3rd run in as many years at Cascade Crest, and I'm really hoping the 3rd time's the charm. My first year I ran a really smart first half, and found myself with a healthy lead around mile 45. Then I ended up getting really lost in the mountains due to a mismarked turn, ended up spending about 45 minutes- 1 hour off course, and then once I finally got back on, I had to spend well over an hour in our car at the next aid station recovering from mild hypothermia. Fortunately Kirsten (my wife), eventually kicked me out of the car and made me keep going. My buddy Brock and I powered through eventually to the end and I ultimately managed to finish 7th.

Then last year I probably was a bit over-ambitious even toeing the starting line so soon after my CO Trail record attempt, but I love the course so much I just couldn't stay away. After severe cases of trench foot in both feet, my feet still weren't recovered for the race, and though I felt good for a while, the crippling pain in my feet caused me to call it a day at mile 80 at No Name Ridge. Again, my buddy Brock powered through with me from Hyak, and it was a tough call to stop, but also surprisingly easy given the circumstances.

So, enter this year. 3rd time's the charm, right? Haha, I hope so. I am just hoping to go out, run the very best I can, have a super fun time out there, and enjoy an amazing jaunt through the beautiful Cascades. This year Brock is battling injury, so he'll be out there supporting and cheering folks on (and even joining another friend for a 20 mile section), but another buddy of mine is flying in tonight from St. Louis to pace me from Hyak (the last 46 miles or so). Carl is a friend I met several years ago while doing the 51 marathons in 50 days adventure. Carl was incredibly supportive during that journey and ran a handful of the marathons with me. After joining me in Omaha (where he's from) for the marathon, he then wanted to attempt his first back to back double with me, so flew out again a little later and met up with us again. He cruised strong with me in Delaware and New Jersey, and it was awesome having his company and smiling face. He and his girlfriend Ashlee are flying in tonight, and Ashlee is going to join Kirsten as faithful crew support during the race. This'll be Carl's longest run ever, but I'm confident in him. He's been training really hard, doing lots of trail work, and longer mileage training runs. My slow poke night time pace should be a cake-walk for him!

Alrighty, well best of luck to everyone out there tomorrow, and above all enjoy the journey and have fun in the mountains! Can't wait to see everyone smiling at the finish line in Easton Sunday morning.

Hardrock Video

Here's a quick video recap of my Hardrock race; big thanks to Kirsten and Kevin for their master video/photo skills! There's a longer written recap in the post below.

Hardrock Heaven

I’ve been focused on Hardrock and training specifically for it ever since I got the wonderful surprise that I made it in back in February. All these months of crazy miles, mountain climbing, very little sleep, etc. have been a whirlwind, but it’s been so fun having a singular focus. Now Hardrock is over and I’ve had a few days to reflect, and I can say without hesitation that Hardrock was everything I’d hoped it would be and more, and I literally cannot wait to be back again. The bug has bitten and I like the venom.

There’s something about the CO mountains that draws me in and makes me feel at home. I can’t put my finger on what exactly it is, but I think it’s everything all rolled into one- the thin air, the spectacular wildflowers, the gorgeous high tundra flora and fauna, the bear tracks, the glorious untouched beauty of God’s creation- maybe it really does just feel like I’m about as close to heaven as I can get here. So that draw to the mountains continues, perhaps stronger than ever after another amazing few weeks in the San Juans. After starting my journey right off the bat finishing up the last 75 miles of the CO Trail (Molas Pass to Durango), I rested well for about 5 days in Durango and Silverton with just a few short mountain runs thrown in. In retrospect, doing those miles certainly wasn’t the smartest thing to do the week of Hardrock, the hardest 100 mile race on the planet, but it was nonetheless what I needed to do. Finishing what I started put my mind at ease and made me fully at peace going into Hardrock.

I’ll spare the boring details of buildup to the race and just give a quick play by play. Wednesday- picked up friend and teammate Diane Van Deren (awesome NY Times cover article) in Durango, headed to Silverton. Registered, felt the race magic begin to build. Got the news my pacer bailed on me and wasn’t coming after all. Began to put out feelers in every direction for new pacer. Met Kevin from The North Face, he was awesome and totally on board to help Kirsten crew- sweet! Back to Durango to pick up Kirsten. Flight delayed by 3 hours, picked her up at 1:30AM. Slept. Back to Silverton for pre-race briefing at noon. The magic builds. Delicious dinner, gathering all my gear, resigned to having no pacer, ready to roll for my first HR100!

Friday, July 10 – I woke early, headed down to San Juan Grille for an amazing banana pancake breakfast and much coffee. (I’d been off caffeine for about a week to prep for HR, and that juice tasted so good.) Relaxed, checked in for race, and I was on the starting line before I knew it. Great to see teammates Diane and Helen Cospolich and wish everyone the best. Then we were off into the mountains. The first climb began promptly and I felt good, but not great. The get up and go I’d hoped for just wasn’t in my legs today and I knew it early on. This was I knew thanks to my CO Trail jaunt, and an unfortunate realization on the first climb. However, it also made the rest of the race perhaps even more fun. I was just going to go as fast as I could go and enjoy this time to the utmost. And enjoy it I did. Wow, what a day. I ran with Diana Finkel for a short time following the Cunningham Gulch aid station, but she pulled away and I would never see her again as she embarked on a tremendous race. I ran with a few other folks here and there, but for the most part was alone. It took me a while to get accustomed to the markers on the course, especially when the course would jut off what seemed to be a perfectly fine trail into the great unknown up and over the side of a mountain with no visible trail. I literally laughed out loud more times than I can remember as the trail twisted and turned through the San Juans. I got lost a few brief times between here and Sherman, but eventually got myself into there. On the descent into Sherman, Andy Jones-Wilkins passed me looking fresh as a daisy coming off his great WS100 run. He, too, went on to a stellar run here at HR. I fueled up well at Sherman and was on my way up and out. As I climbed, I looked at the time and realized there was a very real possibility of the clockwork afternoon thunderstorms coming in as I went up and over the biggest climb of the course (Handies Peak at over 14,000 ft). Indeed, as I climbed higher I saw the black clouds coming in, and the rain began. I slipped on my rain jacket, and was thankful to have it as the pouring rain quickly began large hail. I thought to myself, “this is just plain foolish” many times as I went up and over the bald peak of Handies, and was extremely grateful to be sprinting down the other side when I got there. I took a tumble on this descent and drew some nice blood from my hand, but nothing major. Soon, I came into Grouse Gulch. I ate, got bandaged up, and headed out. They asked if I had a pacer. My response- “nope, I’m flying solo this time!” The climb up Engineer’s was really nice and felt great. Coming out of the Engineer aid station, the descent through the canyon cliffs was breathtaking, spectacular, and maybe even a little scary at times.

I made it in to Ouray just as dark was coming in, and was met with a great surprise! Kirsten and Kevin had connected with Bruce here, and Bruce was game to pace me through the night. He was first on the waiting list to get in, and was really bummed not to be in the race, but he graciously stepped in the join me for the night section. Though I was mentally prepared for cruising through the night solo, it was a really great surprise to have Bruce’s company. We kept a nice steady pace up and over Virginius pass (which was definitely gnarly), then cruised down into Telluride. There were some very confused drunken townfolk on the street as we ran through town around 2am. I saw my amazing crew of Kirsten and Kevin one last time, refueled, and was soon back out for the next climb. As we climbed, I told Bruce that I didn’t think I had ever said this at mile 73 of a 100 miler before, but mentally I really felt like I was on the home stretch now. So, up we went on a climb that truly seemed to never end, but it eventually did of course, and we began scrambling down and into Chapman Gulch. I had an amazing breakfast burrito here, and then we were off as the sun was just coming up. The sun gave me new life and I started clicking away at a steady strong pace up and out of there. I looked back and saw that Bruce was no longer in sight and was a little uncertain how to proceed. We had fortunately talked about it though, and I figured it was alright for me to just keep going at my pace. So onward I went up and over Grant Swamp Pass. This seemingly vertical scree scramble to the top was a heart-stopping climb, but amazing as usual. Down into the lush valley below, and soon I was in at KT aid station. I could feel Roch Horton chasing me down and had been seeing his headlight right behind me since Telluride. With only 11 miles to go, I put my head down and powered through. As I got to the final pitch of the last climb, I noticed Ricky Denesik in front of me, which motivated me to keep my pace up and keep pushing on. I passed Ricky at the top, and then pushed on into Putnam. A few quick cookies and some Coke, and I was headed down for the final stretch. These last miles were a bit surreal, and I just kept cruising down the valley.

Crossing the final river, and then doing the last 2 or so mile traverse in to Silverton, I felt like I was floating. It’s probably safe to say that these were my fastest miles of the day. Coming in the final stretch down the streets of Silverton brought the end of a very long, spectacular journey to a very special finish. I kissed the rock, kissed my wife, and couldn’t have felt more at home. 31:03, not bad for my first trot out on the Hardrock course. I never had a low throughout the entire time, other than feeling a bit sleepy at night. It was a truly joy-filled, fun, and incredible experience, and I cannot wait to be back. I saw countless marmots throughout the day. They scurried about the mountain in and out of their holes, over and around the rocks, seemingly enjoying the wildflowers and sunshine. They were incredibly cute and just seemed to be so happy. I caught their spirit out there I think, and felt like a happy little marmot scurrying around through the mountains for a day. There are never any guarantees, but I look forward to being back at Hardrock sometime soon for another amazing time. Thank you thank you to Kirsten (my wife), Kevin for crewing, Bruce for jumping in to pace me, Dale and all the amazing Hardrock volunteers, and to everybody that was following along live and cheering throughout the day! See you on the trails soon.

Hardrock Time

Well, the time has come! I'm pacer-less but am ok with that at this point and am feeling mentally and physically totally ready to roll. I've got an awesome crew and I know I'll be well taken care of. Follow live online tomorrow here;

http://www.hardrock100.com/

CO Trail Finally Done!

Hardrock is a-coming

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

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

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

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

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

20th Century 100k and Beyond

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

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