British Columbia Pictures

Pictures from April running trips between Vancouver & Whistler. Stanley Park in Vancouver was a great accessible park in the middle of the city with huge old growth trees. It poured on me at Lynn Canyon, north of Vancouver & was my least favorite run of the trip, but I felt rushed, Wren & Jennifer got lost and the trail was flooded. North to Whistler was absolutely beautiful! We had considered cutting this part of the trip because the weather was supposed to be bad, but it was the best part and the weather was great.

I intentionally didn't plan a running route for the day in Squamish because I knew the weather may dictate where I could and couldn't run. Quite a bit of snow at high elevations. Coming into town, there was a huge rock face- Stawamus Chief. Apparently, it's the world's 2nd largest granite monolith. I asked a woman at our hotel where would be a good, picturesque place to get a challenging 2-3 hour run in. She suggested "The Chief." Run? She must've been joking. The Chief tried to kill me.

I woke up before the sun came up and it had just risen when I looked at the park sign. "Let's see, the 3rd peak is the highest and longest trail. That should be the best one. Then, I can add on with other trails." I knew it would be difficult, but sheesh! Trail up is only 1.8K (just over a mile) but has 800m of vertical climb. Math & science whiz Mr. Jeff Wnek tells me that's 26.4% grade. It was also over some very unfriendly boulders and, after I got about half way up, over 2" of snow. I kept climbing & climbing and knew coming back down, scaling rocks in the snow was going to be impossible. I was also running out of time from when I told Jennifer to expect me. I turned around at what I imagine was about 20 minutes from the top and I heard the view from 3rd peak isn't that great anyway. It took me 20 minutes longer getting down than it did to climb up. I ran almost none of this trail. Impossible. Had a great time though!

More Olympic National Park

Ran an hour on the Hoh Rainforest Trail. It was an easy run, but the trail is 17 miles one way and gets up to Mt. Olympus and glaciers eventually. I didn't get nearly that far. Amazing old growth forest where I was. Green everywhere. Hiked 45 minutes with the family. They turned back and I started running. Worked out well. Hoh gets more rain (140'/year!) than anywhere else in the continental US, but it was sunny for us. Rained later in the day when we went to Rialto Beach. Took our time on a 3 hour walk on the beach. Fun day.

Seattle Area Running!

Flew out to Seattle Friday with Wren & Jennifer. It was a long day that ended at eating at a fantastic Morroccan restuarant. Never had Morroccan food before. Good. In fact, we've had several good meals so far... Ethiopian & Thai too.

After a long day of sightseeing Saturday we decided to go out Discovery Park since we had a little extra time. Very pleasant surprise. Finished the run just before sunset and had a good time. What a great urban park! Big trees, beaches, meadows, hills. Felt like it was miles away from the city. Friday & Saturday were both about 44 and rainy. I'm not sure Jennifer & Wren liked their hike as much as I enjoyed the run. I only ran for 45 minutes, but they were in the car when I got back, staying dry. Today was warmer at first but we got some heavy rain in the evening.

Took a ferry over to Bainbridge Island & then over to Olympic National Park. The road to Hurricane Ridge was closed because of snow but we drove up to the Lake Mills area, up to a ridge at 4,000', looking down at the lake which was 400'. Beautiful. I had wanted to run from there to Lake Crescent but couldn't because of the snow. I ran 2 hours around Lake Crescent to Marymere Falls and up to Mt. Storm King. Native American legend states that the Storm King got angry at warring tribes and tossed a huge boulder to seperate Lake Crescent and Lake Sutherland. The Storm King must not like people running on him either. Man, that was tough! Over 2,100' of elevation gain in the 1.9 miles to the top. I stopped often to take pictures. Couldn't make it quite to the top. I turned around when I got to 2" of slushy snow. I don't know how much worse it got, but it was so steep when I turned around that I literally had to get on my hands and knees for a 30'. I didn't notice it being particularly treacherous going up, but if I had slipped, I could've dropped well over 50'. Figured all fours was the best bet. Never had to crawl through snow before! The water in the lakes and rivers in the area are amazingly clear and bright green-blue. Standing on the dock at Lake Crescent, you can easily see the bottom, maybe 20' deep. Saw Pacific Loons & 4 female Roosevelt Elk today (2 young ones in one location and 2 adult females in another). The Storm King Trail goes through an old-growth forest of Western Red Cedar and Douglas Fir. Trees maybe 8' in diameter and 500+ years old. Driving through the area, we also saw a lot of unsightly clearcuts.

We've had a wonderful time so far. Hoh Rainforest run in the morning, Beach at La Push tomorrow afternoon. British Columbia the following day for the rest of the week.

Mt. Mitchell Picture. Yowza.

Crowder's Mountain 50K

So I guess I'm headed to an informal little 50K group run at Crowder's Mountain Saturday. Should be fun. 12-15 people are confirmed. Things have been going pretty well.

Girls Indoor Track team came in 2nd in the state a few weeks ago, which was exciting. 3 points away from winning it. Outdoor Track has started and is rolling right along. Our first real meet was yesterday & I was pleased with the progress we're making.

Time for bed.

Mt. Mitchell Challenge--- COLD

The Mt. Mitchell Challenge is normally a 40 mile race from the town of Black Mountain, NC (elevation 2,405) to the top of Mt. Mitchell (elevation 6,684) and back. Mt. Mitchell is the highest peak east of the Mississippi. This year, parts were cut out because of 58" of snow on the ground with 10 foot snow drifts, but it still went to to top and back. We used more road than usual, but there was still a good chunk of snowy trail.

My camera batteries were dead. Here are pictures from Asheville Citizen-Times. Really amusing pictures of freezing cold people and worth a look. I do have a picture that's pretty funny from my phone, but I don't know how to get it off my phone and on here.

So yeah, it was cold. Thinking about it though, I can't remember actually being cold. I had more clothes with me that I didn't put on. At 9 degrees and 30-35 mph winds, we had a wind chill factor of -15 or so. Brrr. But I expected much more snow. It caused some problems, but I anticipating post-holing through the 24" deep snow. There was only one section like that and it was only 1/4 mile at the top. I had been worried for weeks about this. Last week, they said they were re-routing the course to avoid the deepest snow, but we should still anticipate 2 foot snow. The day before the race they said the worst mile had been scraped, so I felt better about it. Also, the Challenge had been shortened to 35 miles & the marathon was shortened to 23.

So it was easier than I thought, but it was not easy. Not close.

2.5 miles in the town of Black Mountain with an incredibly steep paved hill at the end of the section. Then 9 miles of snowy fire road. There were ATV tracks you ran through. Otherwise, it was 8-16" or so of snow. But staying in the narrow tracks was tough. This section was certainly harder than usual with the snow but it was runnable. I was happy last year that this section is much more gradual than I expected. I felt tired and my hips hurt literally from the first half mile. Worried me. My hips hurt the whole way.

There was a 3 hour cutoff at the 11.5 mile mark, which sounds easy to hit, but I didn't know what to expect. I passed a guy with a GPS watch at the 7 mile mark and eased up when I realized it was in the bag. When I started passing people going back down from the marathon, I asked people how much to the cutoff and when I realized making the cutoff was still in the bag, I eased up again. I was just trying to make the cutoff and have fun with the race. There were about a dozen who didn't make the cutoff and some who voluntarily turned back to finish the marathon & not continue on with the Challenge.

At 11.5, we hit the Blue Ridge Parkway and 45 mph winds! Wow! 1/2 mile later, we turned on the Mt. Mitchell entrance road and ran about 4-5 miles to the top. It gradually got colder. The road was steep. People I was around walked the whole way. I'd pick out landmarks and run about 50m and walk 50m. I passed 6-8 people on the road up and no one passed me. I noticed runners coming back down with frozen hair & eyelashes. How bad was it up there?? I'd soon find out. Of course, Byron Backer came down with shorts on! Ouch!

A mile from the top, it got bitterly cold. -15 wind chill cold. My mom called me near the top. I could barely talk. It was like a scene from a movie about Antartica. "I'm... I'm... O... K..." Ice all over me. Gloves, jacket, hat, eyelashes. Sheesh! I remembered reading about people's eyeballs freezing at the Hellgate 100K & would close my eyes for 3 steps and open them for 3 steps.

At the very top, we trudged through knee-deep snow to the tower, about 1/4 mile total. Highest peak east of the Mississippi. All downhill from there, so it's easy, right? Not exactly.

At the aid station, someone announced there were only about 20 people behind me, which was humbling & got in my head a little bit.

I thought I'd fly down and really pass people- and at times, I did, but it wasn't as simple as that. Almost all of the road was clear of snow & ice, but there were patches. Not enough to warrant YakTrax. After turning around, I just didn't feel great. My hips hurt more pounding down the asphalt. About 1/2 mile from the top, I slipped on ice and banged my knee up. Falling also made my hamstring cramp up and I pulled a muscle in my back. That wasn't fun. It would be the first of my 3 falls. It took me 2-3 miles to feel better and I flew down the last 2 miles of the road, passing 4-5 people.

A couple of people passed me when I put on YakTrax before going down the fire road. The 4-5 minute break didn't serve me well & I started feeling bad again right after that. It was strange. My mood and the way I felt were clearly defined and changed quickly. There was no reason for the way I felt. Just simple fatigue. "Man, I'm tired." A couple of people passed me in the upper part of the fire road and I was fine letting them go. About half way down the fire road, I turned around and saw a guy in a very noticeable outfit. I told myself 90 mintues earlier there was no way that guy was going to beat me and there he was right on my tail. I picked it up and lost him and in the process, passed some people. I started feeling very good and flew down the mountain. People commented, "Dang, you are really moving!" But I also stopped a lot. To take pants off (Hey, I had short on!), take YakTrax off, go to the bathroom, etc. so I didn't make up as much ground as I could've. Passed more going down the big paved hill and one in town and felt great the last 7 miles. I love feeling good at the end of a race.

I finished in 87th place out of 121 finishers, which is disappointing. 7:48. My training has been garbage though. Getting through a race this hard is an accomplishment given what I've put in in training (or regardless of training, I guess). I know I'm crummy climbing mountains too. My buddy Kevin beat me by 1:05- Over an hour! Yeah, he's faster than me, but I thought he'd beat my by 30-45 minutes & I didn't expect him to create more distance on me on the way down. But when I was feeling kinda down for my poor performance, I remembered that the race was capped at 200 or 250(can't remember). So a lot of people got turned around, decided to turn around, or didn't start. I'd be fine with 87th out of 250. I guess the moral of the story is to train harder.

It was fun though... and quite an experience! The course was absolutely beautiful (so silent and frozen), I met some nice folks, and I pushed through some brutal conditions. Looking forward to next year!

Oww- Mt. Mitchell

I made it. 9 degrees & 30-35 mph winds at the top. I was never really cold though. Snow was an issue, but not nearly as bad as expected. We had to be re-routed on the road up to the top instead of the trails, avoiding the 5-10 feet of snow, but there was 18 miles or snow of snowy trails. I felt generally fatigued & hips hurt the entire way. Finished strong. Really made up ground the last 6 miles or so.

More later after a shower & stuff. I smell awful.

Seriously? How?

Mount Mitchell Challenge is coming up in 36 hours. This is a 40 mile trail race from Black Mountain to Mount Mitchell & back. In good weather, it's a very tough course (at least the first half). Last year, I ran the marathon that covers most of the course, but not the top part. They only let about 1/3 of the 40 mile runners to the top and then shut it down. I think something like 2/3 of those who went up were treated with hypothermia. It was pouring rain and 38ish on the lower trails & then got colder, windier & snowy up at higher elevations. But there was only a dusting of snow on the ground.

This year... UGH... 10 FOOT snow drifts at the top!! ...and it's currently snowing. I think just to the north of there, there's a Blizzard Warning in effect, but maybe not as bad at Mt. Mitchell. They re-routed the course so it "only" covers trails that had about 2 feet of snow on them before this recent snow. That's still knee deep. The upper trails have been replaced snowy roads, but it will still go to the top of Mt. Mitchell. They've taken out some aid stations because they simply can't get there. The forecast for race day isn't brutally cold. Hard to say what the actual conditions will be at nearly 7,000' but I'm guessing we'll have a wind chill in the teens.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't very worried. But I'm also very excited. This is why I signed up. Could be more about survival than running this time. I think I may be running in the same pack I took for 3 days of camping- a very small one for backpacking, but a very big one for running a race in. I'm overpacking. Better safe than sorry. YakTrax go with saying. Also foil space blanket, cell phone (do they work there?), gaiters, extra clothes, etc.

There's also a cutoff of 3 hours to a certain spot. I'm not sure how far it is with the re-rout- maybe 12 miles? The website says with the change, runners "have a reasonable chance" to make the cutoff. That doesn't sound incredibly promising. It sounds like there's a good chance that in the deep snow, getting to the cutoff in 3 hours will be pretty difficult. If it is 12 miles, I don't think I can run 15:00 miles up a mountain in deep snow. We'll see.

I've looked forward to this race for a long time. Hope it goes as well as possible. Sheesh. Worried.

Nice Week

Nothing epic this past week, but it was a nice one...

Last weekend, I thought about running a 1/2 marathon at the Whitewater Center, but we got a lot of rain, it was kinda pricey & I was still having hip flexor problems from the New Year's race. If I had been registered, I would've run it, but decided to stay home. Instead, on Sunday, I went out to a new park for me- North Mecklenburg Park in Huntersville. It's near my parents' house. I ran two 4 mile loops and went pretty hard the first loop & ran as fast as I could the 2nd loop. Second loop was 4:00 faster than the first. Felt good to go at race pace. Made me want to do some shorter distance races. I really never ever run local road or trail races. North Meck Park was fun. Fairly technical with some roots but not bad. Roots seemed to pop up more quickly on the faster loop!

Good results from our track meet this week, with our boys 4x800 finally qualifying for the state meet & our girls 4x400 and 1000m individuals running some impressive times.

We got about 2" of snow & ice Friday night. Had some enjoyable, crunchy runs on trails. So quiet & beautiful out. Ankle deep creek crossing in the first mile this morning at 23 degrees was a little chilly!

Best & Worst of 2009

I thought I'd already posted this. Not too late is it?

Best Race: Hinson Lake 24 Hour Run. 90 Miles feeling pretty fresh. Was really moving for a few hours through the night. 7th place male.

Worst Race: I'm happy to say I didn't have any terrible races! There's a first. Things went bad at Rocky Raccoon, but geez, it was 100 miles & I finished. A few so so races, but no disasterous ones. SweetH2O 50K my worst & I attribute that to the heat.

Favorite Training Week: I love the trails we ran at camp in Brevard. The 3 day self supported solo trip on the Appalachian Trail with a cracked rib was a memorable one. Some misery involved, but character building and something I really appreciated. Not like, "Woo hoo, this is fun!" but enjoyable in a different way.

Highest Weekly Training Mileage: How many did I get in the week of Rocky Raccoon? 120? Many around 85.

Total Yearly Mileage: Right at 2,000. 500 less than last year, which was a little disappointing. I enjoy long training runs and missed some due to mild injury, recovery, illness and laziness. 22% of my mileage was in races, which is way more than ever before. Seems very strange.

Best Route: Ran a lot of good trails- Art Loeb Trail in Pisgah National Forest, DuPont State Forest, Caesar's Head, GA section of the Appalachian Trail... Hard to pick one.

Greatest Acheivement: Hard to beat making it through a 100.

Biggest Disappointment: Rough period of training in October & November.

Longest Injury-Free Stretch: I didn't have many problems this year, but my sciatic nerve problem flared up a bit this fall.

Worst Injury: See above.

Most Memorable Moment: After puking for 20 miles, not having any fluid or calories in my system & having to walk almost all of the last 20 miles at Rocky Raccoon, thinking, "OK, I have to run across the finish line. I'll run the last 200 meters in," but not being able to run more than 2 steps. But boy did I walk fast across the line!

Best Run Shared with Someone: Several. 25 miles or so with Konrad at Hinson Lake. He totally saved my race. Running just about the whole time with Kevin at Black Mountain Marathon. 2 hours in the slush with Hannah. Cedar Rock Mountain with the team.

Best Shoe: Brooks Cascadia 4s. Wait- did I say I liked them better than the Cascadia 2s?? I'm not sure. I ran out of my stockpile of the Cascadia 2s so I moved over to the 4s. I haven't put in any really long runs in them yet. Ran in the Brooks Adrenaline ASR at Rocky Raccoon and Freedom Park with no complaints.

Worst Shoe: I didn't wear any shoes I didn't like. Tried Saucony Xodus. I wasn't crazy about them but can't say anything bad about them. Snug in the arch for me. Tried out the END Stumptown 10 oz. They're different. I liked them for running, but if I were running a long race and doing any walking I'd be in trouble with the collapsable heel. Also, they completely fell apart! Sole off the upper, stitching unravelled, hole in the fabric...

Something I Never Thought I'd Do: I ran 3 races of 70 or more miles this year.

Race I Enjoyed Most Watching: Boys Wendy's XC race. Girls Regional XC race.

Most Important Lesson Learned: GOT TO run more during the week. Don't want to just get by running 4 runs a week, as I did often this year. It's hard for me to get motivated to go out for 5 miles or something, but I need to be more consistant.

Thing I'm Looking Forward to Most in 2010: Hmm... I think this will be a good year for me. I am really excited about Mt. Mitchell 40 & will go for 100 at Hinson Lake.