Milestone Achieved!

I know the loyal fans (thanks Caren!) are eagerly awaiting the full Promise Land report and pictures, and we'll post them soon. But as I filled out the application for MMTR (Mical made me. And I've been drinking homemade wine.) I came to an important realization. Ok, 2 realizations:

Realization 1: Way back in the fall of 2002, my friend Natalie (who just had beautiful baby Sicily on the 24th), asked me to train for a spring marathon with her. I was trying to quit smoking, and a marathon seemed like just a big enough hurdle for me to finally get serious. This was for the March 2003 DC marathon, that turned into the Unofficial DC Marathon after it was cancelled (but we ran anyway). Then Joe wanted to train for a marathon. As we trained for the 2003 Marathon in the Parks, I made a promise to myself that I would run a marathon for each year I smoked: 16.

Then I found ultras. The MMTR application asks number of marathons/ultras and as I tallied them up, I realized I was already at 17. I made my goal, something I originally thought would take a decade, in just 4 years! (And that's not even counting the 50-miler twice.) The best thing is that I very, very rarely crave smoking now. But I better keep running...

Realization 2: What is wrong with me that I sign up for MMTR when I can still barely walk down the steps to the mailbox?

A few pics from Promise Land...

Before (5:00 AM, we have no idea what we're getting into):

After (3:30 PM, sore but happy!):

BRR- Part II

Over a week has passed and now our thoughts are turning to Promise Land, but I thought I'd do an update of my BRR race report. First: everything went just about as perfectly as could be expected/planned. We had awesome weather and an international crew to serve our every needs! I still owe some deities some odes & libations.

Here's my comparison of my training for the 2006 Bull Run compared to the 2007. I think with the hindsight of such a tough, tough rainy course, I worked hard to 'over prepare' for the race this time around.


2006
Seneca Greenway 50k
HAT 50k

2007
Maryland Challenge 40M
Holiday Lake 50k
Mount Mitchell Marathon
Seneca Greenway (marathon)
HAT 50k

I am posting my splits because I am amazed that I could run like this! I would not be surprised if any portions of this pace chart have serious math flaws. (note: I hit the split button AFTER I left an aid station). For pacing, Mical thought 13:10 was realistic. I was unsure if I could go that fast, but I took my HAT average (12:47) and decided to go for it.

The first part of the course, being the more 'flat' section, I was eager to push it in anticipation of the rain starting, which I knew would slow us down. Luckily, Mical was able to restrain us at this point, but I was worried when her knee started bothering her. I kept going, and even though I felt a little guilty leaving her at Hemlock, I knew she would eventually catch up!

We pinned/taped our splits to the water bottle, which really worked out for me, so I could glance down and gauge distance/time easily. I think being aware of the times helped me keep pushing the pace to stay on target. The only time I had a problem was coming out of the Do Loop I thought my 30 min. lead had dropped to 30 min. in the hole, but I was just delirious and was looking at the Fountainhead expected time. For a lot of the course, we were 10-20 min. up until after leaving Wolf Run Shoals, where for me the nausea started to take its toll (more about that later).

I kept to my schedule of gels or clif bloks every 45 min, supplemented by aid station food, tried to avoid eating too much, and have an empty bottle to get a full refill each time. My nausea, however, came from what I now think is a salt management problem exacerbated by oranges. I normally take Succeed, but we were out, so I took Thermotabs -- couldn't be much different, right? HA. They say take 2 - 3 per hour, but I was only taking 1, then I tried to 'catch up' after I felt a BIG cramping pain in my calf. Then I ate about 3 oranges slices into the Do Loop, and 4 more going out -- I think this may have been too acidic. Needless to say, I felt 'puky' as we got to Wolf Run Shoals, and Pam Gowan gave me ginger ale. yay! But being able to eat anything at this point was over. So I made it to Marina where Jeff Reed seemed worried I would stay on the bench! HA! But he gave me some soup, and I drank the broth and having the security of knowing I had a few calories to finish on helped.

Marina to the finish was a really laughable experience in that my legs felt ok! but I wanted to puke. Mical & Erin pulled ahead at one point where I paused in the soccer fields to 'lean against a tree' and see if I could, um, relieve tension, but no go. I even went into the port-a-potties to see if the smell would, um, encourage me. I finally gave up and decided I was just going to have to feel bad and I didn't want it to impact my time any further. So I think without the nausea, I probably could have broken 11 too, but who knows!? But lessons learned and I will probably carry a little crystallized ginger for the future.

Greenhorn Adventure Race Report

Greenhorn Adventure Race Report

Prince William Forest Park, Triangle, VA

Sunday, April 15, 2007

It certainly was an adventure! Our Snakes on Terrain team (Katie Poole, Michelle Price, Megan Carroll) braved the rainy and cold conditions to finish in a PR time of 3 hours 57 minutes, finishing in 7th place out of 10 women's finishing teams; 70th place out of a total of 89 finishing teams (combined of all the women's, men's, co-ed's and master's teams). There were 16 teams that either DNF’d, had unofficial finish times or were disqualified. But numbers only tell part of the story. The rest of the story is a combination of perseverance mixed with newcomer innocence. It's fair to say each of us had some idea of what to expect and that each of our expectations was greatly surpassed!

A bit of background taken verbatim from the race web site: The Greenhorn Adventure Race was created to offer competitors a gateway into the sport of adventure racing. This 2-4 hour sprint adventure race was designed with the beginner in mind. While there is significant challenge built into the event, the navigation will keep racers on the established trails, the mountain biking will be on non-technical fire roads and pavement, and the paddling will take place on a lake.

Positive aspects of the experience: a) We finished. b) We stayed out of physical trouble and probably improved mental toughness. c) We each have a little more experience with the growing sport of adventure racing. And, d) Parts of the race were pretty fun---the canoeing; the race day mystery challenge of getting all 3 team members across a short lake crossing using 2 paddles and 3 inner tubes; planning the race route on Saturday afternoon and hoping we'd picked a winning strategy; blowing by a few other racers on foot as they gingerly picked their way through the abundant mud while we acted like veterans of Bull Run '06/Greenway '07.

Warning: this is the "Wah, wah, wah section." The weather stunk (really rainy throughout the entire race and a bit on the chilly side---in the 40's or so. We were soaked before we even started and only got wetter as we got in the water on inner tubes and ran through some major puddles.) It took us about an hour longer than any of us expected when we began the race so that was a little tiresome by the end. Of course, it was all smiles and high-fives when we crossed the finish line.

Now--on to the silver lining section of the report: At least it wasn't windy! None of us got hurt! (We saw a woman with a nasty face wound from a bike fall about 10 minutes into the race. And another time we saw some racers in the lake after they tipped their canoe. Brrr...) We stayed clear of hypothermia. We didn't get lost or go off course (for more than about 2 minutes. At one point we were flying down a paved road on bikes behind a team of 3 other women when Michelle alertly stopped us, realizing we needed to make a turn on the road. Who knows what happened to those 3 other racers---we never saw them again!) We stayed together as a team and finished with a collective positive attitude. At one of the check points when we arrived and started the transition from biking to running, a volunteer remarked "You guys are so calm. Other teams come in to the check point and start yelling at each other "Get your helmets off. Hurry up!'" Our response? "We're not that kind of team. We're here to have fun." (Or something similarly saintly.)

If you'd like to read more about the Greenhorn Adventure Race, check-out the EX2 Adventures race site.

A rough day with a happy ending

Here's my take on BRR '07!

The day started off well enough- perfect running temps, no threat of rain til later, the course was dry and fast, Lorrin and I were running together, the bluebells were beautiful… but by about 10 miles in, my knee started hurting (IT band? Tweaked in the mud at HAT? Who knows but I’ve never had this problem before). By mile 15, it was really hurting and I knew I couldn’t finish if this continued. At the drop bags at Hemlock (17 mi), I took a major dose of Aleve, wished Lorrin well, and hoped it either worked itself out or the Aleve would kick in. The next aid station was in 4 miles so if it got worse, I could always walk it in, and drop out there. This was probably the worst section for me- pain, getting mad about possibly dropping, wondering if I’m being an idiot if I don’t drop. I also knew that if I went much past 20 miles, I was probably going to push through it to finish, so if I was going to drop, I better do it at the next opportunity. Well, the pain did subside- combo of Aleve and stretching maybe? Also, the rest of the course was more rolling so there was more opportunity to walk, and more varied terrain. The early part of the race is very runnable and we had been really moving along. Also, I was ahead of my 11 hr splits (which were somewhat arbitrary but at least I had something to go on). I ended up hitting 26 mi in 5:30, where one of the aid station volunteers showed me an IT band stretch that really helped.

Miles 27-35 are usually where I’ve fallen apart in a 50 miler. Not today, I was starting to rock this course! This didn’t last real long but I’ll take what I can get! I caught Lorrin on the way into the Do Loop, and she caught me back about 5 miles later. (Note: the quesadilla I had after the Do Loop was awesome, though I didn’t wash it down with a beer as offered!) Lorrin had been running with a girl named Erin who was running her first 50. The 3 of us stayed together and were on the 11 hour pace—the confidence that we’d all finish, and the good conversation, allowed me to ignore the inevitable late-race pains. Plus, the rain was holding off- only drizzling occasionally and really not affecting the race. By mile 40, Lorrin was feeling nauseous but she was still running through it- she was obviously not feeling well, and really toughing it out. The 5 miles until the next aid station (Marina) seemed to go on forever for all of us. At the last aid station, mile 45, we stopped for a few minutes to regroup- plus we got some much appreciated encouragement from Joe and Stephane who had been crewing us at Fountainhead earlier as well. I had a bunch of cookies and some ginger ale, Lorrin tried to settle her stomach with soup and ginger ale. Now, we just had to gut it out for the last 5. There is a lot of up and down for the first few miles out, then it flattens out for a bit. We had 1:20 to make the 5.5 miles to come in right at 11 hours. I really didn’t know if I could move that fast but once we hit the flatter section, I found some energy to try. Erin stayed right with me and we cruised until the last hill, pretty sure we could come in under 11. We power walked up the last big hill, and gave a last push to come in at 10:55!

I’m very happy with a lot of things about this race (my injinji socks, even pacing, trail conditions/luck with the weather, quesadillas, hanging out with friends) but it wasn’t the most “comfortable” I’ve felt in a race and unfortunately that distracted me from enjoying the beautiful trail for part of the race. Still, this is a great race and ultimately, it was a great day!!

Pictures, courtesy of Joe, are here.

Straggling Irregulars Mical, Mark, and Lorrin sport the finisher's jackets!

Plea for Divine Intervention

Uh-oh.

Time for everyone to start praying, making offerings, etc. to their favorite diety/dieties. Wikipedia has a good list.

Check out Tamar, for example: "In Georgian mythology, Tamar was a Georgian sky goddess who controlled the weather patterns. .. . She was an eternal virgin who rode through the air on a serpent saddled and bridled with gold." Surely a lady who is a friend of snakes will help us?

The most local resource I could find is "Atahensic also called Ataensic, an Iroquois sky goddess that fell to the earth at the time of creation."

Regardless, I have to say all you weather gods/goddesses are awesome. In fact, I hear there is a competition for "most mild April weather" over at the Bull Run Stream valley. Extra points if a gentle breeze is always at my back. Winner gets an ode of praise and post-race libations.

Mt. Penn Mudfest

Mark Mckennett sends in this trail report from the Mt. Penn Mudfest:

Well it was my first time running the Mt.Penn Mudfest. And I am really glad I made the 2 1/2 hour drive up to Reading Pa for the race. The funny thing once I finally got there was that I was the only car that still had snow on it. So I got quite a few funny looks until they say my MD plates and realized I was one of those crazies from MD that drove all the way up here for this race. I am sure they were thinking what a dedicated runner hehehe.

I had always heard great things about Ron Horn and all the races that he puts on and is the Race Director for. I will deff be back for more of his races. Well it was a pretty cold morning but it's not like I have not done these cold races before. So ron gives his little pep talk about the races and then shoots his little pig gun off which shoots out a funny looking stuffed pig. It goes up and comes down and we are off. I knew going into this race that it was only a 15k and I wanted to have a good time and get another good trail run in before Bull Run the following weekend.

The Mt.Penn Mudfest course did not disapoint at all. It had a few hills in it that were no fun at all. And we definitely got wet at least 4 times. Not the thigh high water crossing that we had at HAT but pretty close. The course was not as muddy as I was expecting it to be. But I am pretty happy about that. Since the mud really does suck everything out of you. And I did not want to be dead all week leading up to Bull Run.

I got to meet alot of really nice people before,during and after the race. Some of which were running the Mudfest as their first trail race which I thought was awesome. And I did get to see a few familiar faces from VHTRC and the TrailDawgs which was a welcome site. I did finish with a respectable 1:38 for the 15k which is not bad for me considering I was taking it easy the whole way.

After I was done I stayed around for a bit to get some grubb in and actually won a really nice adidas hat in a drawing which was pretty cool. Over all it was a great day running a great race. And I would love to go back again. Now to hopefully relax before BULL RUN. I am excited about this race and can't wait to run it with everyone.

If you have never run any of Ron Horns races then I would deff recommend some of them. Awesome races and very well put together.

Death Valley

Paul and I just got back from a great backpacking/camping trip to Death Valley National Park. I highly recommend this park for anyone looking for solitude, adventure, and incredible scenery! Just don't go in the summer! I'm not sure if trying to keep up with Paul and his brother is the best way to taper for a 50 miler but it sure was fun. A few pics are here!

Weather Watch begins...

Of course, the prediction today can change tomorrow. So many variables: wind speeds, el nino, hot air generated by Washington's unique political climate, whether or not we've suffered enough already (see Greenway, HAT, Bull Run 2006).

Old Cabin for Sale

Bought this 4.5 acre parcel out near Aurora, WV. Most of the property is the side of a hill, with a little bit of flat, but the property boundary is up against the Monagahela. Anyone want to help us with this fixer-upper?