Rocky Mountain Dirt Running

Week Ending Jan 29

2012-01-30T15:15:00.000-08:00

Mon - 7 miles (1,900') easy. Soderberg - Rock - Wathan - Spring Creek - Falls - home long.

Tues - AM: 8 miles of intervals with Jane's group at the cemetery. Workout was: mile, 3x800, mile, 3x800 on 20 second rest between 800s and 3 min before/after miles. Can't seem to get any turnover going at the moment, but it'll come: 5:25, 2:43, 2:44, 2:46, 5:22, 2:46, 2:46, 2:49.
PM: 6.5 miles (1,700') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Soderberg - Rock - Southridge - Soderberg - home long. Great dusk cruise blowing out some post-work frustrations. Starting to feel like I've found some of that early season hill-cruising fitness. We build from here.

Weds: 8.5 miles (2,100') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Soderberg - Rock - Horsetooth summit - Audra - Southridge - Soderberg - home long. I love the fact that we're stuck in fall-like weather. I don't think we're going to get a winter.

Thurs - AM: 13.5 miles LT. Met Sarah and Mike early for a 2x4 mile LT session on the Spring Creek bike path with 1.5 mile w-u/c-d and two mile jog between 4 milers. Goal was 5:50 pace heading east (on the subtle drop toward the plains) and 6:00 pace coming back up. Out was a total cruise: 5:58, 5:49, 5:53, 5:52; coming back up was more work than I would have liked (and I think breached the lactate threshold): 6:04, 6:01, 5:56, 5:57. Work to be done. Good job it's only January.
PM: 9 miles (1,800') Towers. Beautiful night out with no wind, so decided to try and push out a second tempo-type effort after easing into things on the lower sections of the hill. Up in 32:25 with some nasty ice up above Westridge.

Fri: 7.5 miles (1,100') easy with Brian E. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Towers - Swan Johnson - Shoreline - 38e. A dusting of snow over patches of ice made for some pretty treacherous conditions. Brian took a really bad fall on the Falls trail so we cut things short so he could get home and clean things up and, as it turned out, get stitches to the back of his head. Ouch!

Sat: 10 miles (3,000'). Blue Mountain from Pinewood Reservoir.

Sun: 20.5 miles (1,200') w/5k, 10k double at the Frost Giant in Estes Park. Warmed up with 5.5 on the 5k/10k course, raced 5k, jogged 2, raced 10k, jogged 4.

Total: 90.5 miles (11,900').

A solid week of running without really pushing myself to get out the door. Even though the mileage is a little higher than I had planned for January, it still feels very organic at this stage. I'm definitely a step or two slower than I was last year, but then this time last January I was just about ready to taper for the New Orleans Marathon. Right now I'm just enjoying the mild temperatures, the company of good friends and some new peaks and places in Larimer County.

With all that said, I have been finding the mind wandering to June in the last week or two. The question I keep asking myself is what do I need to do differently to avoid the implosion I suffered over the last 10 miles from Auburn Lake Trails to Placer High? An easier January is, I think, part of the answer, but there will be no shortcuts. There's a lot of hard work ahead and I think I'm just about ready to get started.

On a different note, Pete and I have been blown away by the response to the Quad Rock race here in Fort Collins. The 25 miler is now full (although we do have a waiting list) and there are about 50 spots left in the 50 mile race. We're working hard to make sure we give you the best race experience we can.

Frost Giant 5k/10k Double

2012-01-29T20:15:00.000-08:00

The Frost Giant is a fun bit of wintertime racing up in Estes Park. The morning starts late with an 11:00am kick-off for the 5k, followed by the 10k at noon. The course is a mix of road and heavy cross country, with some good hills and a high point up around 7,800 feet - so not a PR course by any stretch of the imagination.

After a lengthy warm-up and some quality standing around time, we were off to the races. Through the first mile up the hill to MacGregor Ranch we had a lead pack of four, which helped a bit with the blustery headwind. Mark Saunders I knew could win it if he was fit, Rob Kosick looked sharp, and then the guy pulling us all up the hill I didn't recognize.

Frost Giant 5k Start. All pics: Lane Eskew

On the dirt hill to the high point of the course in MacGregor Ranch, I was laboring a bit and lost a few strides on Mark and Rob, with the early leader now considerably off the pace. I was able to bridge back to Mark fairly quickly on the treacherous and clumpy cross country section, but still had a good 10-15 meters to make up on Rob. The headwind running along the Devil's Gulch fence line was fierce so the going was slow despite the downward trajectory of the course.

As we made the turn back onto the road for the last mile or so of the race, Rob, myself and Mark were equally spaced about 20 meters apart. I might have closed a bit on Rob, but never really made much of a dent. Ended up maybe 10 seconds back in 18:22 and 30 seconds back on my time from last year when I was in much better shape getting ready for a February marathon in New Orleans.


Rob with a commanding lead coming into the finish.

And now onto the 10k.

After a bit of jogging and more standing around, I was suitably stiff as the gun went off for round two of a punishing morning. Both Rob and I were slow out of the gate, content to ease into the steep hill that begins the 10k course, letting a couple of guys who were fresh lead the early going. However, after a half mile it was Rob and me off the front again, and this one essentially played out much the same as the 5k.

We ran the road together and then Rob eased into a lead on MacGregor Ranch and proceeded to hold it. The wind was blowing even harder this second time around and I was content to get some harder miles in and not blow a gasket - or an ankle - trying to get back into the race. Rob looked strong enough that I knew it probably would have been futile anyway. I crossed the line a minute or so behind Rob and two minutes back on my time from last year.

Sarah, Slush and I jogged out a further four miles after the race to cap off a full 20 miles on the morning and then it was off to the Estes Park Brewery for beers and burgers with the FoCo gang, Dana and the kids.

Post food, Dana and I took the kids up to Lily Mountain to try and sneak in a summit (it's ranked), but the trail was an ice rink so we aborted half way up, which put me at 2 for 6 on the weekend's attempted summits. Poor.

Green Mountain, Bald Mountain & Blue Mountain

2012-01-28T20:41:00.000-08:00

The unexciting Green Mountain.

The plan for the morning was to hit five summits, four of them ranked, with the centerpiece being Blue Mountain.

A map would have been a good idea.

The frigid pre-dawn jog to summit 7,335' (Green Mountain) was easy enough. It was 700 feet straight up Green Mountain Road from Pinewood Lake in a little over a mile. Unfortunately there was a big house perched right on the summit. And the lights were on. I quickly ran to what looked like the highest point - maybe 100 feet from the house - turned around and headed back down the way I had come.

Back on Pole Hill Road, I jogged eastward for a few hundred meters and then made a right onto another private road, which forked left (hop gate) for the quick jaunt up to my next peak, Bald Mountain (7,098' - not ranked). This one was home to a communication tower. Hmm. It did have some nice views of Blue Mountain and the Divide from the top though, and I wasn't in danger of scaring the crap out of someone enjoying their first brew of the morning from the comfort of their cozy home. But, yeah, more trespassing.

Despite the excessive trespassing, my mental map of this unfamiliar terrain was so far serving me well. Next, if memory served correct, was a retrace halfway down the service road and a spot of cross country before picking up a jeep track that would trace a line around the northeastern flank of Blue Mountain.


Coming down off 7,098'. Longs/Meeker and Indian Peaks with west flank of Blue Mtn in the foreground			.

After what seemed like more cross country than I had remembered planning on, there was still no sign of my forest road, but I had a decent view of what I thought might be the northerly and highest point of Blue Mountain's three tops. Nonetheless, I kept forging on around the side of the mountain because I remember thinking it should have been a good mile and a half before the planned cut to the top. And then I found an old jeep track. I followed that and ran too far, eventually cutting steeply up the hill once I came to yet another gate with an intimidating KEEP OUT sign.

I gained a slight plateau at 7,500 feet, cut across some pretty nasty terrain with plenty of thigh-deep snow drifts before seeing what looked like a summit hill across a gully which dropped a few hundred feet before its steep rise to the top. It seemed totally wrong, but I headed that way anyway. The grunt up was filled with a ton of deadfall, multiple mega posthole punch-throughs, and mental certainty that I was barking up the wrong tree ... er ... mountain.

Blue Mountain from Bald (with another communication tower foreground). True summit: nearest; middle summit: behind; my eventual summit: not in view.

The Continental Divide from top of Blue Mountain.

That was confirmed once I was on top and had the lie of the land. Although my Highgear was reading right at the 7,888' I wanted for the Blue Mountain summit, I was clearly on the southernmost summit, which I would later find out was 14 feet lower than the northern summit (FAIL). The wind had really picked up and I was in danger of a late return home, so I decided not to bother picking my way across the ridge for the true summit, and instead cut a sketchily steep line down the cactus and mountain mahogany infested southwestern slope of Blue.

Cold and pissed off on top of Blue Mountain.

I decided not to bother with point 6930' or 7383', both of which would have required blatant bouts of trespassing with little to no cover. Rather, I put my tail between my legs and ran back to Pinewood Lake on the private ranch road that skirts Blue Mountain's westerly flank - jumping four gates along the way.

Couldn't be bothered with 6,930'

I learned two things today:

Bring the bloody map.
This Larimer County peak-bagging project might just be a bit more trouble than it's worth with all the trespassing that it will evidently require.

Week Ending Jan 22

2012-01-24T13:13:00.000-08:00

Mon - 3 miles (600') easy. Bench loop, home long. Snowy.

Tues - AM: 7.5 miles intervals. Met Jane's group on a very cold morning. With the ground covered in snow and ice and the thermometer reading 5 degrees, this one was just about stretching the legs and busting the holiday rust. Workout was cemetery 2x800, 2xmile, 2x800. Splits: 3:00, 2:49, 5:34, 5:33, 2:49, 2:46. 15 min w-u/c-d on either side.
PM: 7 miles (1,900') easy. Soderberg - Rock - Wathan - Spring Creek - Falls - home long. Felt super smooth aerobically, but sore in the usual places physically. Inch of snow over top of some good stretches of ice, interspersed with dirt and packed snow. Perfect conditions for old school Yaktrax, which people love to hate, but I quite like. In these conditions they are way better than a spiked traction device which are just annoying in mixed conditions.

Weds: 7 miles (1,900') easy. Soderberg - Rock - Wathan - Spring Creek - Falls - home long. Most of the snow from two days ago is essentially gone with the slightly warmer temps. Legs were heavy, but heart and lungs good.

Thurs - AM: 11 miles (1,500') hill tempo. HTH5MO&B. Felt like I went ten rounds with Tyson out there this morning. The wind was swirling like crazy and was highly unpredictable. Rounding the last east-side dam, a massive gust picked up a bunch of gravel and raked us like we'd just been shot in the face by Dick Cheney. That one stopped me and Scott in our tracks and had us whimpering and assuming the crouching position. I think that's the worst I've seen it up there on the ridge. But at least it wasn't too cold. Not surprisingly, performance coming back suffered, despite a pretty hard effort. 39:26 out, 31:26 back (7:00, 6:19, 6:28, 6:17, 5:19). One mile c-d.
PM: 7.5 miles easy with the FCTR crowd at Pineridge.

Fri: 7 miles (1,900') easy. Soderberg - Rock - Wathan - Spring Creek - Falls - home long. Tired of this wind, but as long as the mild temps stick around, I'll take it I guess.

Sat: 3 miles (1,600') hike. Alexander Mtn with Ryan.

Sun: 23.5 miles (3,500') long. Milner Mtn (6,881'), Bobcat Ridge, point 7,124' with Mike H.

Total: 76.5 miles (11,300')

A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of a website called Lists of John the other day. It's an invaluable resource for those into the fine art of peakbaggery, and while I'd visited it before I'd never really perused it fully. Aforementioned friend offered up a link to the 255 ranked peaks in Larimer County (where I reside), the simple act of which finds me getting a little obsessed.

Many of these 'peaks' are peaks in name only. To be ranked, a peak has to have a minimum of 300 feet of climb (or prominence) on any route from a higher peak (or sea level), a rule that means such elegant summits as Arthurs Rock and Comanche Peak are not ranked, but some random hillside above Horsetooth Reservoir is.

This all means that I find myself plotting to hike or run up totally unworthy hillsides simply to check off another ranked Larimer peak. By extension, however, this new-found obsession has also given me a much keener eye for the skyline around me. I see a peak that previously had been just another rise in the endless swell of rises that surround us here in Colorado and I want to know if it's named, what its prominence is and how I'm going to get up it.

I think I've become more familiar with the geography and topography of Larimer County in the last two weeks than I have in the last five years. And that's a good thing. I find myself plotting new routes and getting excited about totally random 8,000 foot peaks.

Anyway, enough of my peakbaggery babble.

What else? Well, we've recently secured a sponsorship from the fine folks at Cornerstone Mortgage Company (my own personal lender and all-around supporter of the Fort Collins running community) for the Quad Rock 50 in May, which now means that we're able to offer up a modest prize purse for the 50 mile race, in addition to some nice product prizes for age group winners (Pearl Izumi shoes for sure in the 50 and hopefully in the 25 too). We're also working on some really neat ideas for finishers' awards and hope to have an announcement on that soon.

I'm also excited about a new flavor of EFS Liquid Shot that Robert over at First Endurance has been working on. I sampled the Kona Mocha, as it will be called, on Sunday during my long run and really enjoyed it. Like all EFS Liquid Shot, the non-viscous nature of the gel means that it goes down easy, but best of all I really think they nailed the flavoring. The blend between coffee and chocolate doesn't leave that cloyingly sweet taste in your mouth; it just tastes good. I think this one is going to be popular. The planned launch date is March, I believe, so I'm really hoping that we'll have some to distribute at the Quad Rock in May.

And now my Larimer peak completion list (seven non-ranked, so 231 ranked boys to go!):

# of Larimer County peaks completed: 31

Name	Elevation	Prominence	Counties	Quadrangle
Hagues Peak	13,560'	2,420'	Larimer	Trail Ridge
Ypsilon Mountain	13,514'	1,116'	Larimer	Trail Ridge
Fairchild Mountain	13,502'	922'	Larimer	Trail Ridge
Mummy Mountain	13,425'	485'	Larimer	Estes Park
McHenrys Peak	13,327'	907'	Grand & Larimer	McHenrys Peak
Taylor Peak	13,153'	413'	Grand & Larimer	McHenrys Peak
Chiquita, Mount	13,069'	283'	Larimer	Trail Ridge
Hallett Peak	12,713'	733'	Grand & Larimer	McHenrys Peak
Comanche Peak	12,709'	209'	Larimer	Comanche Peak
Dunraven, Mount	12,571'	231'	Larimer	Estes Park
Otis Peak	12,486'	426'	Larimer	McHenrys Peak
Chapin, Mount	12,454'	434'	Larimer	Trail Ridge
Flattop Mountain	12,324'	24'	Grand & Larimer	McHenrys Peak
Stormy Peaks	12,148'	488'	Larimer	Pingree Park
Dickinson, Mount	11,831'	171'	Larimer	Estes Park
Twin Sisters Peak East	11,428'	2,298'	Larimer	Longs Peak
Twin Sisters Peak West	11,413'	73'	Larimer	Longs Peak
Twin Sisters Mountain	11,384'	364'	Larimer	Longs Peak
Signal Mountain	11,262'	802'	Larimer	Pingree Park
Lookout Mountain	10,626'	406'	Larimer	Crystal Mountain
West White Pine Mountain	10,305'	1,445'	Larimer	Crystal Mountain
Deer Mountain	10,013'	1,073'	Larimer	Estes Park
Crosier Mountain	9,250'	1,270'	Larimer	Glen Haven
Sheep Mountain	8,450'	1,108'	Larimer	Drake
Palisade Mountain	8,264'	1,084'	Larimer	Drake
McConnel, Mount	8,020'	520'	Larimer	Big Narrows
Greyrock Mountain	7,613'	753'	Larimer	Poudre Park
Horsetooth Mountain	7,255'	595'	Larimer	Horsetooth Reservoir
Alexander Mountain	7,105'	605'	Larimer	Drake
Arthurs Rock	6,780'	80'	Larimer	Horsetooth Reservoir

Milner Mountain

6,881'

1,119'

Larimer

Masonville

Milner Mountain

2012-01-23T10:08:00.000-08:00

Milner Mountain

Milner Mountain (6,881') is a big lump of a mountain with a good rise to the summit and a long southern ridge running for miles down to Loveland. I actually live on the northeastern flank of Milner, but have never taken the time to hoof it to the top, primarily because access requires trespassing over private property; summit included. I was told recently that the summit acreage was up for sale, so figured I'd go take a look to see if I was interested.

There's no great way to get up there from my house, but the route Mike and I chose for this very windy morning was to run the mile to the southern end of my road and then hoof to the summit saddle by way of a small drainage. Halfway up the drainage, we changed tack and decided to cut a line straight up the hillside and into the trees, which provided convenient cover for our trespassing ways, in addition to an expedited climb.

Approaching the Milner summit block

Mike with the camera looking south.

Once on top, it was a toss up as to which rock outcropping was higher, so we tagged both and then headed south to a sub summit, home to a communication tower where we were able to pick up a convenient private service road that headed all the way down to the valley between Milner and Green Ridge (Bobcat Ridge). From there we ran out to the Bobcat Ridge trailhead, completed the 11-mile outer loop with a quick summit detour of an unranked, but sightly peak (7,124') above Mahoney Park on the way.

Milner right, Horsetooth left, ugly mug breaking up the view in the middle.

Heading up we thought it might be Green Ridge - a ranked Larimer County peak - but unfortunately, it was quite evident from our vantage point once atop the summit that we were a peak too far to the south. Not to worry, Green Ridge is easily bagged and can be done so in concert with Spruce Mountain to the west for a good two-bag outing some time here in the near future.

Coming off peak 7,214', we found a decent game trail down through a gully, which hooked back into the DR trail and the traditional Bobcat loop. We finished off our figure eight route by hitting Buckhorn/38e roads for the 5 mile climb back up to my house. All told, we were about 23-24 miles on the morning, with two fun and unusual summits, a fierce lashing on Bobcat Ridge from the strong northwesterly wind, and some quality time-on-feet base building.

Alexander Mountain

2012-01-21T15:33:00.000-08:00

Alexander Mountain (right), the gateway to the Big Thompson Narrows.

Despite it's somewhat diminutive stature, Alexander Mountain (7,105') is a good challenge, with rewarding and unique views of some very familiar terrain from its summit.

If you've ever driven up Hwy 34 through the Narrows of the Big Thompson, then you've undoubtedly seen Alexander, but maybe never known it as such. Alexander Mountain is the first named mountain in the Big Thompson Canyon, but plays little brother to it's better-known neighbors. Both Round Mountain and Palisade Mountain can be seen from the top of Alexander, but neither of them offer the unique views of the Narrows and hogback foothills that their humble sibling does.

As you approach the mouth of the canyon, Alexander Mountain is easily recognizable from its sheer south face. The Big Thompson itself begins its journey from the peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park - viewable to the west from Alexander's summit.

Left to right: Stone, Meeker, Longs, Round.

There are a number of ways to get on top of the mountain, the most direct of which is to ascend a steep, brush-infested gully directly from the canyon floor, soon after Hwy 34 crosses the Big Thompson for the first time. From the summit, Ryan and I spied a longer, but more interesting route that would take you up from the jaws of the canyon on Alexander's long southeastern ridge.

The entry to the gully, right off the Big Thompson.

The southeast ridge of Alexander.

Soon after entering the gully, there is a large boulder plugging up the boxed-in route, which requires some class III maneuvering to get around. Once past the chockstone, it's time to fight with the rough brush that inhabits the dry creek bed.

Tiring of that game, Ryan and I cut a line to the western ridge of the gully and enjoyed some fun class III/IV climbing all the way to the top of a small point from where the best views on Alexander are available. The actual summit is a short hike north on the summit ridge in a forested area of little note.

Chockstone.

Brush, brush and more brush early on.

Out of the weeds...

...and on to some solid rock.

Anticlimactic summit.

After making the requisite summit tag, Ryan and I returned to the slightly lower point that we had gained from the ridge and enjoyed the awesome views for a while. 100 miles to the south, Pikes Peak was visible, with close-ups of Carter Lake, Longs Peak, Mount Meeker, and Round and Stone Mountains in the foreground. Off to the east, there were great views of the foothill hogbacks, including Devil's Backbone, the Bluesky Valley, Eden Valley Reservoir, Horsetooth and Milner Mountain. To the west were good views of the nicely painted Mummies and other RMNP peaks. But perhaps most impressive of all was the view down into the Big Thompson Narrows - a quite unique vantage point to be sure.

Eden Valley Reservoir

Horsetooth (left) & Milner Mountain (right)

Big Thompson Narrows, with hogbacks beyond.

Coming down, we forewent the rocky down-climbing, deciding instead to wage war against the mountain mahogany and other nasty creek brush.

With 20-30 minutes on top, we were up and down in about 2.5 hours. Total climb is in the 1,600 foot range and distance is probably no more than 3 miles. This one comes highly recommended.

Fortnight Ending Jan 15

2012-01-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

Mon - 3.5 miles easy. Two university loops.

Tues - 3.5 miles easy. Two university loops.

Weds - 0 miles. London to Denver by way of manic JFK.

Thurs - Noon: 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop. Insanely warm out.
PM - 6 miles easy on the bike paths with the FCTR crowd. Despite the Jan 6 date and dark of night, we had sports bras and bare midriffs aplenty tonight. Two weeks in the UK and I return home to mid-summer in January.

Fri - PM: 2.5 miles (500') easy with Dylan and Yassine on the Bandera course.

Sat - 62 miles (4,500'). Bandera 100k.

Sun - 0 miles

Total: 82 miles (5,900')

Mon - 0 miles

Tues - 0 miles

Weds - 0 miles

Thurs - AM: 10.5 miles (1,500'). HTH5MO&B with Pete, Celeste, Ziggy (who has big doggy goals for 2012), Slush, Mike, and a very late Sarah. Windy and cold. Out in a sore 45 mins, back in an even sorer ~34.5 mins. Downhills were quite painful on the quads. Took things very easy.
PM: 7 miles (1,700'). First Towers session of the year. Good turnout on what was a pretty nice evening for mid January. Track was dangerously icy in places. Up in an easy 38 mins.

Fri - 5 miles (1,100') easy. Falls long.

Sat - 22 miles (1,800') easy. Horsetooth circumnavigation with Sarah, Alex and Pete. Beautiful morning. Still quite sore in the quads, but just glad to be out.

Sun - AM: 3.5 miles (2,500'). Palisade Mtn (8,264') with Mike and Elijah. Been wanting to get on Palisade Mtn, a prominent and jagged Front Range peak, for quite some time. Palisade is essentially on the opposite side of the Big Thompson from Round Mountain and is visible from many vantage points in Fort Collins and Loveland. From the canyon floor, there are multiple drainages and ridges to choose from in getting up. We ascended a few drainage ribs too far to the east, making our morning a little longer than it would otherwise have been, but we were still up and down in a reasonable 2.5 hours. All bushwhacking, probably a little more class III than necessary, and a ton of cactus. Back home for breakfast and then up Horsetooth with friends and family.

Possibly the largest summit-register canister in the Rockies. All pics: Mike H

Mike with Round Mtn. behind

West up the Big Thompson toward RMNP

PM: 4.5 miles (1,500'). Horsetooth summit with Dana, Alistair, Stella C, Brian, Sandis, Stella W, Rob and Madison.

On H'tooth summit with Great Plains to the east behind.

Looking southwest. Pikes is faintly visible 100 miles south.

Halfway up with my zonked-out baby.

Total: 52.5 miles (10,100')

Bit of this, bit of that and a few days off after Bandera. January will be a very relaxed, run-when-I-want kind of month. There is so little snow around right now, I think I'll take the opportunity to explore locally a bit and get up a few of the lesser visited NoCo Front Range peaks. Palisade was a good start today. Also on the list are Alexander, Storm, Christ, Milner, Goat, Spruce, Buckhorn, and Ethel. Other suggestions welcome.

Registrations for the Quad Rock 50 (aka FoCo 50) are going strong. We're about half full right now, with just 40 spots left in the 25 miler. Pete and I are working hard to make sure that we put on a top-notch event, and we couldn't be happier to be teaming up with some really great local companies, including Pearl Izumi which has just signed on as the shoe and apparel sponsor. This means top-quality, gender-cut race T-shirts for all participants, shoes for age group winners and tons of other great giveaways.

In addition to Pearl, we're working with First Endurance as the fuel sponsor. All participants will receive a 5oz EFS gel flask with their entry and we'll be doing jug refills at the aid stations. If you haven't tried EFS before and want to test it out before the race, we've set up a 20% discount for runners. Visit the race website, nose around a bit and you'll find the coupon code. We're also working with Smith Optics (which means more awesome prizes and giveaways) and Colorado Physical Therapy Specialists (which means free massages and PT after your run). Other relationships are in the works, all of which means more cool stuff for you.

Rick just hosted his first annual VerticALE Beer Mile in North Carolina. I hear there might be one occurring on the Incline soon too. It's sweeping the nation, folks.

Bandera 2012

2012-01-09T14:45:00.000-08:00

Sitting on the plane from Denver to San Antonio, just two days after getting off a plane from London to Denver, I was wondering what on earth I had been thinking in signing up to run the Bandera 100km race out in Hill Country Texas. This would be my second jet-lagged, ultra-distance run in less than three weeks, and I had a crappy gravelly throat to boot.

Nonetheless, signed up and on my way I was, so it was time to think about how I might be able to limit the pain and suffering, while still putting forth a decent effort. Not much was coming to mind, and the thought of 62 miles over rock-littered trail was really quite nauseating.

My mood perked up a bit when I met Dylan and Yassine at the airport, but it was frustrating to be hanging out barely able to talk. Ah, bugger. Maybe things would feel a little better in the morning. I'd only had 4 hours sleep on average the last three nights, so I was almost guaranteed a solid kip. After some pasta and a quick beer courtesy of our very gracious hosts (Mr Wilen and Mr Albert, you are owed) at the formidable hunting cabin at which we were staying, it was time to get the ole' head down for a serious ZED fest.

I could talk in the morning. That was good. But the thought of 62 miles at race pace still sounded terrible, almost like a death sentence hanging over my head. What in God's name was I doing here? I was about to get spanked by course and competition and I knew it.

Stiff upper lip.

Bandera was once again serving as the 100km national trail championship, but probably of more relevance to those in the USAT&F field were the 74 Montrail Ultra Cup points up for grabs, the cheese (a Dylan'ism for cold, hard cash), and the two Western States berths. Or, more euphemistically, the chance to run against competition.

Bandera is run on a repeated 50km route. It offers a limited amount of climbing, but nonetheless is probably harder than Miwok with its 10,000' plus of climbing.

This course is quite capable of bringing you to your knees. The chief culprits are the rocks that litter the opening and closing thirds of the course. On fresh legs and feet, it’s all fun and games. You go out charging up the 200-300 foot mini climbs high-stepping the limestone rock ledges, before descending the marble-, tennis ball- and softball-sized rocks on the backside descents. This is repeated a number of times before you open up the stride and build a head of steam running some of the less technical sections of the course. The middle miles take you over a mixture of open, fast grassland, more gnarl on the crossroad loop, buffed singletrack, a short sharp bop up and down Lucky’s Hill. And then it all ends where you started with punishing rocks and two more climbs, the final one involving a section of ridge running that can seem endless on tired legs.

The conditions for this, the tenth running of Bandera, were unseasonably hot with not a cloud to be seen all day. Between the rocks and the sun, there was some pretty significant carnage, among which I would most definitely include myself.

Dylan and I had discussed our desire to keep things somewhat conservative on the first loop in hopes of mounting a charge on the second go around. From the gun, Timmy Olson and Dave James were immediately off to the races with myself and a pack of guys sitting back in reasonably close pursuit. By the time we hit the first aid station six miles in, Dylan and I were running together in third and fourth with Dave and Timmy a minute or so ahead and a still sizable pack a similar distance behind.

Things would essentially remain this way for the first half of the first lap. However, a few sneaky glances behind on some of the open sections revealed a patiently waiting Dave Mackey, while the gap on Timmy and Dave James appeared to be closing ahead.

By the halfway mark of the first 50k at the Crossroads aid station, Justin Ricks had managed to tag onto Dylan and me and we ran that middle loop together at what seemed like a slightly up-tempo version of what we had previously been pushing out. Not long after leaving Crossroads for the second time, at mile 22, Dylan and I were once again running solo in third and fourth with Justin having fallen off the pace. Dave and Timmy seemed to have rebuilt their lead a bit.

I was hanging on by a thread and I knew it, but I wanted to keep Dylan moving well at least until we finished the first loop. I desperately wanted him to pick up a WS spot.

Working our way up Boyle’s Bump, the final climb of the loop, Mackey suddenly made an appearance and was quickly ahead of us looking strong and in command. Seeing him moving the way he was, I figured he was on his way to bridging the gap to Dave and Timmy and maybe contending for the win. Dylan and I meanwhile had seemed to be dropping the pace ever so slightly. Figuring that Dave and Timmy were gone, it was up to Dylan to pick up Dave James - who I was assuming had a 50-50 chance of finishing - if he wanted that Squaw start.

Dylan was much quicker than me through the turnaround and I knew he was gone for the day. I now had to find the grit to get on with things and stop entertaining the swelling urge to throw in the towel. And so off I jogged back out for another 31 miles of unadulterated torture. I think I saw five guys coming at me on the half mile it took to clear the start/finish out and back, and I assumed that each and every one of them would swallow me up before I was finished. Top ten was starting to look like a good result.

Joe Uhan was the first to emerge, six miles later, just as I was leaving the first aid station. I mumbled some form of unconvincing encouragement and jogged out. Somehow I managed to hold Joe off for five more miles - or I should say, Joe didn't pass me until the next aid station as I certainly wasn't trying to hold position. I wanted to quit there as well, but that would have been embarrassing with a Queen and a Lord in attendance.

I wasn't eating, I felt bloated on fluids and I wanted to puke. Oh, and like everyone else I was cramping like it was secretly in fashion. I literally ate handfuls of E-Caps, but got nothing in return, just more cramps. My system was absorbing nothing. I was on for a death march of epic proportions, and was firmly set on pulling out at Crossroads, the next aid station. But there were Mike and Albert who had so kindly put me up for the weekend, and there was a smiling Darcy telling me that I had nothing more than a lunchtime run to go (14 miles). Good grief Charlie Brown.

Off into the sotol infested jungle I went to receive further lacerations to the legs and increased levels of dehydration under the burning sun. I passed Dave James on the top of some hill and cursed him silently for having the courage to drop out when there really is no point in continued forward movement.

Back to Darcy and more encouragement. She had ice. Sweet baby Jesus, she had ice. Nine more miles. Was I still in fifth? How on earth was I still in fifth? Okay what was the next section again? Oh yeah, moderately rolling, not very technical singletrack, a sharp climb and then half a mile on doubletrack to the last aid station. Get me on that climb - all I want to do is walk and feel sorry for myself.

Olga, sweet Olga. There she was waiting at the last aid station. How did I get there? 55 minutes to the finish if I walked every step of upward facing trail and ran the rest, she told me. That's less than an hour. Should I puke this bloat out of my stomach and start afresh or should I stubbornly keep drinking coke and downing salt caps in the vain hope that my stomach might actually absorb something and stop the horrendous leg cramps. I chose the latter. It continued to be a highly ineffective strategy.

Two more climbs, an endless traverse and then just like that I was done. I sat down and proceeded to feel worse and then worse some more. I was dehydrated, with a touch of sunstroke and some major nausea. Easily the worst I have ever felt post race.

I finally did puke, put I didn't get the window down in time. Sorry multinational rental car agency.

So enough of my self pity. I'm fine.

Congrats to Joe Uhan on running a really gutsy race and claiming that Western States spot. Congrats to Timmy for destroying the field, and to Dave for hanging tough yet again. Dylan, you'll get yours in Sonoma.

I wish I could have been a little more sociable after the race. Or that I had puked sooner. I was like a new man after getting all that junk out of my system. I went on to consume three beers and half a pizza that night, which for as bad as I was feeling for the first two hours post-race is quite a miracle.

Thanks to Joe P for putting on a great event, encouraging fast and slow alike, and gathering together a formidable crew of volunteers. He's got nine more events (he likes to remind people of that). Go check one of them out. You'll be glad you did.

The depressing truth

1st lap: 3:57
2nd lap: 4:57

Week Ending Jan 1

2012-01-05T20:00:00.000-08:00

Mon - 6 miles. Saltwood Boxing Day Run with 3 mile w-u.

Tues - 10 miles easy. Blean Woods black loop.

Weds - 6.5 miles easy. Blean Woods red and green loop.

Thurs - 9.5 miles easy at Bedgebury with Matt in the mud and rain

Fri - 4 miles easy with my brother Matt and nephew William in the leafy Kentish countryside around Horsmonden.

Sat - 9 miles. Whitstable Parkrun 5k with 6 mile run to Jim's house from Canters on the Crab and Winkle.
---------------------------------------------------
January: 440.5 miles (45,850')
February: 304.5 miles (39,200')
March: 469.5 miles (67,100')
April: 427 (62,000')
May: 509.5 (92,500')
June: 323 (54,900')
July: 303.5 (79,700)
August: 297.5 (70,000')
September: 202 (37,500')
October: 373.5 (68,150')
November 377.5 (67,400)
December 236 (45,000')

Total: 4,264 miles (729,400')
Avg: 355 miles (60,783')
---------------------------------------------------

Sun - 5.5 miles easy. Three university loops in Canterbury.

Total: 50.5 miles

Closed the year out with my second-lowest mileage month of the year. However, 4,264 miles on the year is most respectable and an increase of 164 miles on last year. In addition to the linear mileage, I was able to rack 140 miles in the third dimension for an average over the year of 170 feet gained (and lost) per mile run. Two years back to back at over 4,000 miles is good consistency, but I'm on the Nordic 4-year plan. The peak comes in 2013 and then I retire.

Given the relatively low December mileage, it would be reasonable to assume that I'll be nice and rested for Bandera this weekend, but unfortunately I don't feel particularly fresh, especially after a long and stressful flight back from the UK yesterday. But you never know, sometimes you run your best races when you least expect them. As always when I'm toeing a start line, I'll be there to compete, not just go through the motions, so you never know.

Sixty degrees on my lunch run today with clear blue skies. Man I love Colorado.

Whitstable Park Run

2012-01-01T13:44:00.000-08:00

The Parkrun was a new one on me up until this recent trip to the UK. My good friend Jim has been a regular at the Whitstable Parkrun for quite some time now, and he suggested I come down and join him at 9:00 am on New Year's Eve for the run/race that happens every Saturday in the same location year round, and at many other locations around the nation at the same time.

The concept is very simple: a free 5k race open to all, and conducted with the help of regular attendees who take turns volunteering and racing. A slick and simple bar code timing method ensures accurate and timely results which are maintained and uploaded onto a website that put to shame many a paid-for road race. Photos are also uploaded, and geez, I even got a free chocolate bar at the end. You can expect about the same level of service from the New York Marathon in 2012...for $255. I guess all events have their place, but it's great to see grassroots events like this encouraging people to get out and run, because ... well ... running's fun and it's good for you.

The Whitstable run is conducted on the Tankerton Slopes right on the seafront, almost guaranteeing that runners will encounter a significant headwind for more than half the race. The course is a mix of pavement promenade and short-cut grass on a single loop run twice.

Matt and me going coastal at the Parkrun.

William completes lap 1. Running is fun!

For the last event of the year, there were just over 100 assembled. I'd run the six miles from Canterbury to attend, while my brother Matt had driven down from West Kent with William, his middle child, to meet Jim and I on the seafront. A few short words and we were off charging down the promenade.

A 3:10 first kilometer (15:50 pace) almost ensured that the second half of my race was going to be a bust, but I was out chasing heels thinking I could sneak an out-of-shape 5k PR (given that I haven't run one at sea level in donkey's years). However, as soon as we turned around shortly after the 1km mark and began forging our way back up towards the start/finish area on the grass above the promenade into a steady headwind, I gave up on the idea of a PR and just ran for effort.

Three guys had gotten out ahead of me; one came back on the grass, but the other two grew their leads to 20-30 seconds by the time it was all said and done. The second and third kilometers averaged a rather pathetic 7:08, the fourth an equally pathetic 3:30, and then the final km on the second lap a miserable 3:45 for an incredibly lackluster 17:33. I'll put this one down to season excesses, numb feet, and a surprisingly tough course (as 5ks go) with a naughty headwind.

Matt and Jim had equally (self-described) poor performances, so it was great to see the youngest member of our party, 8-year-old William, showing us all how it was supposed to be done with an impressive 24:00 run and 35th place finish overall (out of 105).

Finishing up the last race of the year.

Jim describes that look as 'focused'

William showing his onlooking dad and uncle how it is supposed to be done.

Three Weeks Ending December 25

2011-12-30T12:08:00.000-08:00

Mon - 5.5 miles (800') easy. Quick Milner Mtn loop before flight to NYC. Cold.

Tues - 8 miles easy. North from downtown up west side promenade to 20th street and back. Muggy and warm with a bit of rain.

Weds - 0 miles. Chose sleep over a dreary east side bike path run.

Thurs - AM: 7.5 miles (1,800'). Towers in 35:30 w/Pete, Celeste and Slush. Worked the second half a bit. Beautiful morning.
Noon: 6 miles (1,500') easy. Marked the opening stretch of the Chub course. Some pretty nasty ice up high.
PM: 7 miles easy. Social neighborhood run with the Fort Collins Running Club.

Fri - AM: 6.5 (1,400') easy. Marked Horsetooth - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington section of the Chub with Celeste and Slush. Stunning daybreak with dense clouds over Fort Collins and purple skies behind Horsetooth all against a white ground cover backdrop.
PM: 6.5 (1,200') easy. Marked Sawmill - Loggers - Mill creek intersections. From Soderberg went: Towers - Loggers to Mill Creek - back to Sawmill - Valley - Soderberg.

Sat - AM: 31.5 miles (7,500'). Chubster.

Sun - AM: 7 miles (1,700'). Chub tear down. Southridge - Audra - Rock - Soderberg - Spring Creek - Falls.

Total: 85.5 miles (15,900')

Mon - 6.5 (1,700') easy. South summit of Horsetooth with Sam.

Tues - 9.5 miles intervals. Joined the (early) early session in City Park after some last minute schedule juggling. Workout was 3 x fartlek mile and one 2 mile fartlek. There was a heavy cold fog in town, which made things pretty miserable getting going. In combination with residual fatigue from Saturday's Chubster I decided to go easy: 6:05, 6:05, 5:50, 11:46.
PM - 4.5 miles easy. Social run with FCTR group.

Weds - 6 miles (1,500') easy to top of Horsetooth.

Thurs - Noon: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long.
PM: 4.5 miles (1,300'). VBM

Fri - 12 miles (1,200'). Milner Mtn loop with Redstone to 3 mile o&b tack on. Home long. Ended up going hard to get the miles in before having to take off for the airport.

Sat - 0 miles. Flying to UK.

Sun - 0 miles. As above, followed by my mum's 70th birthday party.

Total: 48 miles (6,700')

Mon - 0 miles. Driving to Lakes.

Tues - 0 miles. Chilling at Wynn's prior to 2:00am Bob Graham start.

Weds - 40 miles (19,500'). Bob Graham Round.

Thurs - 0 miles. Driving back from Lakes.

Fri - 0 miles. Badly swollen right foot.

Sat - 0 miles. See above.

Sun - 0 miles. See above.

Total: 40 miles (19,500')

Bit of catch up here, with the new year almost upon us. So not a whole lot of running really in the three weeks since December 5, but that's okay, it is December after all. Fitness is for the summer.

My legs feel like the Bob Graham is almost out of them, but my toes are still worryingly numb on the right foot. They get a little better each day, but I'm beginning to feel like I may have lost some feeling down there permanently. I'll give it another few weeks before I make a call on that. I don't suppose there is a whole lot I can do about it anyway, so no use worrying, especially as I can still run just fine - although trail feel is a bit of an issue at the moment.

Bandera should be a good race next weekend. Not to sandbag or anything, but I'm picking Tim O, Dylan B and Jason S for the three podium spots. I know each of those guys are in good form right now and undoubtedly fitter than I am. Mackey is the course record holder and he always seems to be ready, but I have no idea what he's been up to recently (other than studying and working hard), so will assume that he's not as fit as the other three. Todd Braje has the talent to win it too, but again no clue on form. Yassine and Joe U are another two guys that will probably beat me, and then there's Justin Ricks who runs a 2:21 marathon in the field too. Not a bad line-up for a race the weekend after the new year.

After Bandera, I think I'm going to continue with some down time and then start the slow build-up for Western States some time in early February. A couple of races in getting ready will likely include Salida (26), Lake Sonoma (50) and Jemez (50), with no doubt some shorter stuff thrown into the mix as well. But for now, just enjoying being lazy.

Saltwood Boxing Day Run 2011

2011-12-27T13:18:00.000-08:00

The Saltwood Boxing Day Run has become something of a tradition for me on my annual Christmas return to Kent. The course, which was probably a touch over 5k this year, is classic cross country: fields, gates, hills, slop, stiles, and grazing farm animals. Race management has always been a bit hatstand, but that has done nothing but add to the general appeal of the event, in my opinion, especially when you consider that they've traditionally kept the cost of racing to a fiver ($8).

That all changed a bit this year. Gone are the self-plasticized bibs, comedic timing methods, and start/finish mayhem on the village green, and in are standard race bibs, chip timing, a 100% price increase, and a new start and finish on the field just outside the village. The course is essentially the same with a quarter mile tack-on at the start.

While the event management is greatly improved and now quite professional, I can't help but feel that the vastly improved organizational methods have taken something special from a very unique race. Ah well.

Ever since first competing in the race five years ago, it has been an ambition to get on the podium, and milling around at the start not recognizing too many fast-looking chaps, I was feeling like this might be the year. However, this would be my first run since the Lake District, and my toes on both feet were still numb and swollen, but there was now enough bend to them almost a week later that after a couple miles of warm up, I felt like I could force the issue for at least three miles without doing too much additional damage.

Love cross country starts.

With the cross-country start, the pace was frenetic off the start. Despite taking a few heel clips I was able to stay upright and then assume a position in eighth or ninth through the first quarter mile. Once the start loop was out of the way, things settled down a bit. It looked like Michael Coleman, multiple-time winner and I am told UK cross country runner, was off the front so there was no chance of the win, but the rest of the guys in front appeared to either be in my pace range or hopelessly optimistic about the pace they could hold for the duration.

By the small footbridge at the end of the big first field, I think I was in fourth. After hurdling the fence and working the short hill to the stile, I think I was still there having passed one and been passed by another. Over the stile, up the rest of the hill and by the time we'd cleared a herd of charging and terrified sheep, I was pulling back around the guy who had gone past me on the steeper section of the hill and then finally the guy in second, with Coleman almost out of sight ahead.

The guys behind gave chase for a while, but by the time I was in the woods and charging down the hill, I had a gap that looked like it would stick. My feet behaved surprisingly well, while my quads were barking by about two miles. Clearly there is still some recovery needed before I'm ready to race Bandera in a couple of weeks.

BDR Hardware finally.

Chip removal. Who'd a thought?

I gave my old buddy Jim a 10-minute handicap on the race, and ended not only claiming my long-wanted hardware from the race, but also a celebratory pint in the always-crowded village pub.

Me and Jim pre race

Another BDR in the books. One of these years, I'm going to win this race.

Results.

A Mid-Winter Bob Graham Round

2011-12-23T15:19:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what I was really expecting going into this obscure, yet not so obscure challenge known as the Bob Graham Round. Having never visited the Lake District before or really run in the fells, I knew nothing of the terrain and quite honestly hadn't given the run a great deal of thought prior to my arrival in the UK, so I was pretty much taking a stab in the dark with this one. Two days later, I'm sitting here feeling like I've come away with one of the most memorable mountain experiences of my year, earning a humbling appreciation for the Lake District terrain, while also gaining an understanding of the deep passion that the local community has for the British fells and the longstanding culture of racing, running and hiking in them.

For those in the US not familiar with the uniquely British activity known as fellrunning, then you should be thinking steep rugged hills on low-lying terrain, likelihood of crap weather and nasty underfoot conditions, trails optional, with maps and compasses very much required. To describe it as the British equivalent of US trail running would be misleading, as it is more of an orientering, mountain running hybrid than it is a trail running experience in the traditional sense of defined and well-flagged courses.

From what I could make out during my three days in the Lakes, the sport of fellrunning is centered on two main activities: Races and rounds. The tradition of the 'round' could be loosely compared to the emerging obsession in US trail running circles of the FKT. The round is a self-timed, honor-based undertaking done for personal challenge and the joy of an aesthetic line through challenging, scenic terrain, and typically undertaken with the help of a bunch of like-minded individuals all hoping to help you get through it in one piece.

The three 'classic' British rounds are based on bagging a pre-determined number of peaks in a looped fashion in under 24 hours. The Bob Graham (42 peaks) is generally considered the easiest round, with the Paddy Buckley in Snowdonia (Wales) conducted on rougher terrain, and the Ramsay Round in the Munros of Scotland (55 miles, 30,000' ascent) run in much more remote and committing terrain than the other two. But make no mistake, the Bob Graham is no walk in the park, especially when done in winter conditions.

A Bob Graham is not typically something that is done solo, especially for those who have never set foot in the Lakes before. And quite frankly, I think I was blessed with perhaps the best crew and hosts a newcomer to the fells could possibly have asked for. Dana, Stella and I were hosted by Wynn Cliff who, while not a runner herself, may well be one of the most passionate members of the running community I have ever met. If ever there was a person that epitomized the spirit of the Bob Graham Round, it is Wynn. She has crewed hundreds of Bob Graham aspirants in the 25 years that she's been involved with fell running, while also managing a successful local race with her husband Steve for the last 17 years.

For my attempt, not only did she create a movable and scrumptious support banquet, but she and Morgan Williams also managed to pull together a cast of unbelievable characters and adventurers from the fellrunning community. All of these people came out to support me - some bloke they had never met before - through god-awful weather in the middle of the night on a weekday a few days before Christmas. I am gob-smacked at the support I received from the community and have a heavy debt to repay.

While not by design, I had chosen the shortest day of the year to get myself around the 42-peak loop, eponymously named after the Keswick flop-house landlord who had originally scouted and completed it some 80 years previously. My start time was scheduled for 2:00 am, with first light coming up around 8:00 am and darkness redescending at 4:00 pm. As it turned out, I wouldn't see the sun all day.

I tried to grab some sleep before my 2:00 am launch, but with my daughter still on Colorado time and my mind racing, there was little point, so I whiled away the time playing with Stella who was quite convinced that late evening was in fact early afternoon. It was reminiscent of waiting for the delayed start of UTMB in August: tick tock.

We did eventually make our way down to Moot Hall in Keswick, the start and end point of the loop. In attendance were Wynn; Ian Roberts, crew member extraordinaire and teller of fell running lore; Yiannis Tridimas, a Greek expat who in his mid-sixties is still knocking out incredible feats of mountain endurance that would make many runners half his age envious; John Fleetwood, probably the toughest and craziest mountaineer I have ever met; and Huw Price, who was volunteered a few hours prior by his wife to come carry my gear for five hours through the night before heading off for his day's work.

As Huw, John and I ascended the 2,500 feet up our first summit of the day, I found myself wondering what all the fuss was about. Yes it was raining and we had very poor visibility, but there was no wind to speak of, very little snow and a gorgeous double-track trail to follow. And the grade really wasn't that steep either. Are these northerners a bit soft in the head? And then we approached Skiddaw ridge ... and all hell broke loose.

John and I had lost Huw on the way up, but because the fog was so heavy there was no way to know if he was ten meters or two miles behind. John assured me that Huw had a map and compass and would be fine. We had already been moving through a fair bit of snow and ice by the time the wind started picking up, and once we gained the summit ridge it became ferocious. Visibility was down to a few feet, the sleet was pummeling us, the rocks were covered in treacherous ice and I was beginning to wonder what in hell's name I had been thinking in signing up for this gig.

Had I been alone I would have been hopelessly lost and probably pretty desperate, but I knew that John was a very experienced mountaineer, so I just made sure to stay close. After gaining the summit, I followed John off the ridge onto a very, very steep and loose hillside. I wanted no part of this route, especially in the dire weather we were experiencing, and thankfully we ended up traversing a bit after the hillside appeared to cliff-off. Eventually we found the fence line we had been looking for and began dropping down a steep and wet snowfield into the boggy mess awaiting us below. I've rarely been more thankful to be off a summit.

The Bob Graham Round has become so popular since Richard Asquith penned Feet in the Clouds (which is to fell running as Born to Run is to ultrarunning) that with all the recce'ing and attempts that have been going on in recent years 'trods' have been worn into many parts of the route. Given the snow cover, we would have none of that advantage.

We slopped through the heather and bogs before re-ascending a couple thousand feet to our second peak (Great Calva): A mercifully cheap tag when compared to the hell that had been the top of Skiddaw. John's stories of being lost for 10 hours in knee-deep snow on a 50-hour mid-winter Munro round made me realise that things could of course be worse. And if his feats weren't impressive enough, then how about his 10-year-old son who at the age of six had completed every top in the Lake District and at the age of 10 had become the youngest ever to complete all the Munros? Astonishing and inspirational stuff.

After another long and wet snow-filled descent, we needed to cross a river in order to gain the northwest flanks of our third and final top of the first leg: Blencathra. However, given all the recent snow and now milder temperatures, there was a rapid thaw ongoing, which of course meant the water was flowing hard and deep. Bugger. Not wanting to get swept downriver, John and I spent a good half hour looking for a safe place to ford, finally finding an old fence line to hang on to for safety. Our trip upriver meant a bit of extra work getting back on course before the slog was back on through the snow on our way up and around Blencathra, where once again the wind was howling with abandon.

The slogging I could deal with, but the wind cutting through waterlogged clothing was downright miserable. I was ready to quit after this second major pummeling and was trying desperately to think of a believable excuse, but there was no way - not when so many people had given up their time and energy to try and get me through this misery. Waiting at the top of Blencathra was Yiannis who was to guide us down the 'parachute drop,' a gully descent that Yiannis had scouted a few years back as a quicker alternative to the traditional rocky descent off Hall's Fell Ridge. As the name suggests, the route is extraordinarily steep. On the wet snow I spent a good portion of it on my arse, but we did finally get down to the waiting crew in Threlkeld for some much needed warm calories, a change of clothes and a pep talk. Seeing Ian Barnes, my second navigator, bundled up and eager to go, I knew there was no way I could bring up my thoughts on dropping out.

Despite already being an hour behind the 24-hour schedule, I was assured that all was well and we would make up time from here on in. John and I did seem to have been dealt a particularly nasty hand on leg one, so perhaps things would get better with daylight. The way up Clough Head was entirely free of snow so Ian and I were able to make quick work of it. The wind was still blowing hard, but the precipitation had all but stopped by this point, making the going bearable. While day didn't really break, things did get lighter as we made our way up Clough Head, so I assume the sun did emerge somewhere high above the fog at the time it was scheduled to.

Ian, being the sociable chap that he is, was full of banter as we made our way up to the long ridge that we would be negotiating for the best part of the second leg. Like John, Ian has an intimate familiarity with the fells of the Lake District, although largely from a climbing background rather than a running background. I had to chuckle to myself when Ian described the visibility that we were dealing with as 'decent.' Sure, it was better than it had been through much of the night, but we were still talking 30 meters of visibility at best once we were on the ridge. I asked about electrical storms, but he assured me that wasn't a concern in the Lakes.

After picking up just three peaks in five hours on the first leg, we were rattling them off machine gun style on leg two. Gaining the ridge and the Clough Head top was definitely some work, but once up, the tops were coming for the price of no more than a few hundred feet of climbing and a half mile of running per bag. The conditions were decent on the ridge, but by no means good - the wind continued to rip; the footing was a mix of snow, slush and ice, the visibility sucked (sorry, was 'decent'); and my feet were in a state of permafrost - but at least we were taking down peaks.

I'm told that the navigation can be tricky up there on the ridge, but with a guy like Ian on your side, you just follow heels. The three Dodds came and went painlessly, we crossed the Sticks Pass four-way which gave access to the two valleys on either side of us (very scenic I was assured), tagged a handsome knoll of a summit called Raise, avoided some heavy cornices off to our left as the ridge tightened up, while gathering in the tops of White Side, Hellvellyn Lower Man, Hellvellyn proper, Nethermost Pike and Dollywagon Pike.

After Dollywagon we found the 'famous fence post' and dropped down a wet snowfield to the shores of Grisedale Tarn, my first body-of-water sighting on the day. We traversed around the eastern slopes of Seat Sandal fell, post-holing the whole way before heading due west and 900 feet straight up for the out and back on Fairfield fell. Barnsie was dropping off the pace a touch here, so I forged on and tagged the summit and then proceeded to miss him in the mist on the way back down. Fortunately I picked up his tracks in the snow, realised that we had missed each other and waited for a bit shivering in the wind while he made his way back down. No harm no foul. Back down to the valley and then straight up the other side onto Seat Sandal for the final top of the leg and a 1,600 foot descent to Dunmail and food.

By this point, I was pretty beaten down. My right knee on the inside tendon was giving me some serious gyp from all the snow work and manic descents, and my feet were of course still frozen. I tried to sell the knee issue to Ian as we descended into Dunmail to see if I might get some sympathy and a possible pass at bailing when we got to the support vehicles. He was having none of it, and I knew nobody else would either.

I mumbled something about a sore knee and poor pitiful me when I assumed the seated position at the side of the A591, but I've never been a very good salesman and I didn't even believe my pitch. However, I knew the next leg was very committing at 16 miles and 6 hours and I also knew that it would take me back into the gloomy dark of night - a place I hadn't much enjoyed just three and a half hours earlier.

Wynn's provisions were outstanding and a massive boost to the system. I think I put away three cups of leek and potato soup, a bunch of chocolate sponge cake, some pasta and a bunch of other fantastically awesome goodness. Ten minutes after stopping, I was ready to let rip. Barnsie had helped me pick up 20 minutes on the clock, I had fresh enthusiasm in the form of Billbo Williamson (navigator) and Richard (carrier) Davies and I could see clear up to the top of our next ridgeline 1,000 feet above. A view, finally! It really is quite amazing what a view can do for the spirits.

Steel Fell top was 1,000' of ascent in about three-quarters of a mile, which is pretty standard stuff in the Lakes. You just go straight up the hillside. I still had plenty of power left so was able to make quick work of the climb before proceeding to enjoy an unparalleled period of actual running. The two and half hours that we spent picking up Steel Fell, Calf Crag, High Raise, Sergeant Man (slight navigational error in heavy fog here), Thunacar Knott, Harrison Stickle, Pike of Stickle and Rossett Pike were far and away my favorite hours of the run. We would get short periods of visibility up to maybe half a mile where I was actually able to take in my surroundings and feed from them.

During this period, I truly thought for the first time since Skiddaw that I was actually going to get around. Standing on top of Harrison Stickle I was treated to a glorious view of (Lake) Windemere down the valley. Whereas previously I had unemotionally been tagging piles of rocks as a formality of the round, I found myself standing on top of Harrison Stickle breathing in the sweet air and basking in the visual feast below me. And wait a minute was that a ray of light poking through the clouds and the sound of angels playing sweet harpsichords to my left? There were reds, deep browns, lush greens and verdant blues - what else had I been missing? This one moment might just have been worth the previous 10 hours of foggy, boggy, soggy torture.

Pike of Stickle stood out like a camel's hump across the ghyll from Harrison, and we got some hands on rock scrambling up to the summit before unleashing an awesomely fun descent into the marshes of Martcrag Moor on our way to Rossett Pike. Yes we still had snow, slush and boggy mush to contend with but at least it was all largely runnable and more importantly, visible.

Of course it didn't last long and by the time we'd made our way around to Rossett Pike we were once again in the clouds and dealing with heavy snow cover. Richard made the executive decision to bail at the Langdale trail junction, assuring us that he would find a way to get back to his car. John (from leg 1) had said that he would meet us there - pretty much the halfway point of the leg - with some hot tea, but he was nowhere to be seen, so Billbo and I forged on, headed for the steep northeastern flanks of Bowfell. And then just like that the slog was back on.

The hillside was absolutely buried in nasty, wet snow. Nonetheless we were able to kick in good steps and despite the hands and feet climbing we were able to make steady, if slow, progress up the mountain. We would intermittently pick up stud tracks and I had my suspicions that John was going to be waiting for us on top of (a very blustery) Bowfell. And indeed by the time we finally got there, he was waiting with a couple of slices of Wynn's chocolate cake and a thermos of hot tea. Awesome.

Bill and I stopped for a few minutes to chat with John and discuss the route a bit. Bowfell had been no fun in the wind, and John was predicting worse on Scafell (the final ascent of the leg). I had already raked both shins numerous times on hidden boulders under snowy thigh-deep sink holes, but worse - much worse - was lying in wait on Scafell. However, before we got to what would be my last test of patience on the day, we had to trudge through the soft snow to pick up Esk Pike, Great End, Ill Crag, Broad Crag and Scafell Pike. I think we lost daylight somewhere in the middle of that section.

By this point, Bill was beginning to drag a bit but he was doing such an excellent job with the navigation that I was sure that we were still well ahead of schedule for this leg. Of course the wind was still howling, visibility was crap and my feet were frozen, but I was still positive about getting the job done. And then we dropped off Scafell Pike into the nastiest snow I've ever had the displeasure of moving over. I am guessing that the ground underneath was largely rock strewn as there was a heavy melt occurring from both the bottom and the top with up to probably three feet of not-quite slush in between.

Coming down off the Pike, Bill poked through up to his waist and let out a massive scream. I was sure he had broken his leg, but was hugely relieved to learn that it was just a severe calf cramp brought on by all the post-holing. We got some electrolytes down him and forged on...slowly. This was not a cushy carpet of pow pow that could be ripped down with careless abandon, it was a dangerous freaking minefield where one wrong step could spell disaster.

It was pitch black out and I was completely disoriented, but I had total faith in Bill's ability to navigate us out of this mess. We traversed across one very steep and particularly sketchy looking gully that was laden with snow. I had thoughts of avalanche just before Bill voiced similar concern. As wet as the snow was, the danger was probably very low, but I was still very relieved to get across that one in search of the gully that we would eventually climb up to get on top of Scafell.

I can't remember the name of our gully, but I do remember vividly how wet, steep and generally sketchy it was. The melt was in full effect and we were climbing up rocky waterfalls, punching through snow up to our waists every fifth kick-in, before the final straw came for me as I dropped through a snow bridge into a snowmelt creek up to my shoulders in snow.

That was it, I was done. This last peak was taking us hours and was quickly becoming quite dangerous. I wanted no more to do with this undertaking. I hauled myself out of my hole, caught up with Bill and re-began the treacherous trudge to the Scafell summit ridge. Finally we got out of our nasty little gully and the going opened up to a steep snowfield with far less melt on it. Now it was just a matter of kicking in the steps and getting up without sliding back down. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally gained the ridge, I tagged the summit block and then we got the hell out of dodge. I can't imagine we ascended much more than a thousand feet to get up Scafell, but I wouldn't be surprised if it took us an hour and half with the descent from the Pike.

The 3,000 foot, 1.5 mile descent over rocky ground to the vehicles at Wasdale was torture on my frozen stumps, but at least I knew that the end was nigh. Nobody was going to talk me into going on, besides we were now an hour back and I was convinced that we couldn't make that time back up, even if I had the will to go on. After 16.5 hours, 40 miles, 30 peaks and close to 20,000 feet of vertical gain I felt like I had put in a day's work that I could be proud of. No, I didn't complete the round, but that's okay. I know that with the right mindset I could have gone on and gotten it done, but I just wasn't mentally committed enough to the round to potentially go through another round of Scafell-type action unfortunately.

I had a fantastic time meeting an incredible cast of characters and really couldn't be more grateful to Bob Graham Club Secretary Morgan Williams for helping put together the contacts that made the experience possible. It's a bummer that we didn't get a chance to run the fifth and final leg together, but there will be other opportunities (in the summer).

I learned after I got home to Canterbury that two mountain rescue guys set out the night after I started and did indeed manage to get the job done just under the cut-off. Huge props to those guys, as I know exactly what they were dealing with. A successful Bob Graham Round done in true winter conditions is definitely more of a mountaineering experience than it is a running one, and therein lies the difference between my failed attempt and the successful one by those lads, I would surmise.

The Lakes may not have the altitude of some of the stuff we play on over in the Mountain West, but believe me they more than compensate in attitude. The British fells and the guys and gals who run on them are tough little buggers.

Bob Graham Round

2011-12-20T06:30:00.000-08:00

I always thought Engand was a bit bigger, but it was ony six and haf hours from the southeast corner in Kent to the nothwest corner in Cumbria, where I am currenty learning what I've gotten mysef in for: Wastach 100 elevation gain in 2/3rds the distance, with 42 'tops' over lots of rocks, snow and bogs. This one could get a little crazy. The weather foreast looks relatively benign, so that's something to be thankful for, but there will udoubtedly be wind to deal with. Kick off is at 2am tomorrow morning (T-11 hours).

The view from Wickersgil, where we are staying.

Crew vehicles

Vertical Beer Mile 2011

2011-12-16T10:07:00.000-08:00

The VBM start line

When you mix a rugby playing background with a hill running present, it would appear that you end up with a vertical beer mile champion. That's right folks, Sir Clark came back to The Hill and proved once again that he can outdrink, outrun and outplay any and all challengers, and we had 22 of them this year.

Dakota Jones may claim some obscure record in the Grand Canyon or a top finish and a bunch of coin from some corporate race out in the wilds of Marin County, but put him on the purest of big stages - one mile, 750 feet of vertical gain and 48 oz of froth - and the kid clearly needs some tutoring. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The sound of the gun had barely finished echoing around the valley floor before I was off and running, Banquet Beer no.1 still finding its way down the pipes. Poof, gone, nobody in front, just footsteps and some loud eruptions behind. Horsecow Lonac was along for the ride, and by beer aid one it looked like it was going to be a two horse race, with Pete and Alex the only other competitors working their second beer as Horsecow and I took off for the second quarter in search of our third beer.

Horsecow looked like he wanted to make a race of it, and we hit beer three together, both taking a few seconds to get our breathing under control before hitting the froth. Again, I was a second or two quicker on the guzzle, even managing to pull away slightly on the flatter section of the third quarter before rescinding the lead on the steep stuff as we drew close to the final beer station. But I was just catching my breath. Guzzling beers while hyperventilating is best avoided if you want to keep the chunks at bay.

Beer three. A two horse (cow) race.

Leaving beer aid three, I had sensed some Horsecow hesitation - maybe even some pain. As we rolled into the final beer stop, the Horsecow banter sounded very much like the flapping of a white flag. Time to twist the knife. My beer was finished before Horsecow had even blown the froth off his beer. The last quarter ended up a victory lap. I hit the tape in 12 minutes and 15 seconds for a six minute PR and CR.

Pulling up the hill I couldn't help but reflect on an awesome season. And the thought came to me that maybe if I could find a way to sell this amazing victory to the ulrarunning world, they might just reconsider propelling me into ultrarunning immortality by lobbying the UROY voters - through the iRunFar discussion forum - to Vote For Nick. I mean, I don't want to toot my own horn, but this VBM defense in course record fashion is huge...HUGE...so come on America, let's make it happen. I've done my part.

Not to get too caught up in the immensity of yesterday's happenings from my own glorious standpoint, I would like to bring attention to the arguably more exciting happenings in the women's race.

Finish line officials: Kristel and Victoria.

Readers of this blog may not be familiar with the name Celeste O'Slusher, but in Fort Collins running and drinking circles the feisty Irish Bostonian is legendary. And lining up at the bottom of the hill, the defending champion was the heavy favorite for the VBM tiara.

But there had been some murmurings from the pack. Another Clark (mispelled with an 'e') had been quietly talking up her drinking powers, while the diminutive Jessie W, a relative newcomer to the Fort Collins trail scene, had been warning anyone who would listen to not underestimate her magical beer consumption prowess. I mean the girl has spent time living and drinking in Hoboken, NJ.

Mindy, Jessie and Lindsay putting away their start line beers.

And so we waited with baited breath and gaseous stomachs at the finish line for lights to emerge.

Would Celeste make the overall podium again?

No, the karmasutra-like grunts coming around the corner were unmistakably Stevensonian. Pete had managed to keep his lunch intact this year for an impressive third-place finish. He was followed a minute later by Mr. Consistency himself, and last year's runner up, Alex May. Seabeck powered across the line another minute in arrears for fifth, and then the excitement hit fever pitch.

Another light, a female form, and...wait...an upset. Mindy came cruising through to pull off an awesome Clark(e) VBM sweep, setting a new female course record in the process. In the close-fought battle for second, Jessie managed to outrun Celeste over the final quarter edging her out of silver by a scant nine seconds. Exciting stuff folks.

The Clark(e) sweep

Silver

The pain and the glory. Celeste gives up the tiara.

What happened to Young Money Jones you ask? Not his day, and clearly not his discipline, but unlike his youthful compatriot, Slow Aaron Marks, he did keep his lunch down. Aaron, in a post-race interview, claimed he was merely exacting some revenge after a year of frustration.

"Towers tortures me every week, so this was my chance to puke all over it."

Tough night for Jones.

"And then I drank another beer..."

Your 2011 VBM results:

Nick: 12:15!
Horsecow: 13:00
Pete: 14:56
Alex: 16:11
Dave: 17:32
Mindy: 17:50!
Jessie: 19:01
Celeste: 19:10
Jesse: 19:30
Kyle: 19:49
Mike: 21:05
Dakota: 21:22
SAM: 28:08
Slush: 31:05
Lindsay: 31:05
Sam: 31:06

Sam may have the Towers FKT, but not when there's beer involved. Last place today, bud.

Relay

Ginny & Jenn: 19:26
Chris & Steph: 22:08
Mary & Marie: 23:28

Marie showing off the little finger technique, a common trait among French beer drinkers.

Chunky Cheeks 2011

2011-12-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

Another Chubster in the books, and another fun day on the trails. We had 60 official finishers and probably another 10 or so who didn't get their name on the finishers' list, but who the hell wants to be credited for an eight hour 50k anyway? The underfoot conditions were certainly challenging, but as we were able to cash in one of our 300 days of annual Front Range sunshine we had a picture perfect bluebird day, so things were just peachy.

In a show of Front Range unity, we had representation from the Colorado Springs CRUDsters, the Denver trail runners, the Longmont trail runner, and geez even some runners from Boulder managed to tear themselves away from The Republic for the day. Oh, and Aspen and Wyoming were represented too. The 7:00 a.m. start was easily the most popular with somewhere in the region of 30 starters, followed closely by the 7:35 crowd (er, duo), the 7:50 crowd (er, duo), the 8:00 am crowd of 10-15 runners and the 20 or so 9:00 am starters.

And then it was off to the top of Horsetooth with D.Bo, Burch, Jason Koop, Dan Vega and Jason Schlarb who was impressively in for the full 50k despite running a hard TNF50 miler the weekend prior. Backtracking off the rock, we caught up with Young Money Jones who was already 10 minutes in arrears, which was cause for extreme question marks regrading his top finish at the TNF50, compounded soon thereafter by an obscene and blatant case of course cutting. Serious questions need to be asked.

And so we rolled on, slipping and sliding our way up Stout and Spring Creek, dropping into the Mill Creek abyss before grinding our way up Howard in search of an Arthur's summit and a stop for views and calories. The Timber descent was snowy but mercifully ice-free. After a quick stop for water at the Lory Visitors Center and a miraculously ice-free ascent of Well Gulch, followed by a slippery crossing of Overlook, we made a quick drop in to visit with Slow Aaron Marks who was manning the Arthurs aid station at mile 21 or so.

With all the snowy cross sliding, my hips and groin were barking by this stage and the thought of Sawmill/Carey/Towers was just heinous, but eventually we left SAM's aid to negotiate the nasty footing on the valley and the fourth and final ascent of the day. My lack of caloric intake caught up with me on the climb and I trudged through a semi bonk before rallying for the final four miles from Wathan back to my house and the finish line.

Thanks to everyone for coming out and sharing the day. And thanks also for leaving so much beer in my fridge. See you next year for the third rendition.

7:00 am

7:35 am

8:00 am

9:00 am

7:00 am runners starting up the Horsetooth Rock trail

South side of the Tooth from Audra

Celeste and Ziggy posing under Horsetooth

Sarah and Alex notch a Horsetooth summit

Longs and Meeker from top H'tooth

Sarah and Rick up Stout

Runners on Mill Creek

Despite our best efforts, Cat still managed to take her mandatory wrong turn

Found wandering around and lost at the base of Arthurs Rock. Kristel, Jenn, Cat.

Cat on the Arthurs descent

Arturo

Sam and Slush. Epic on Arturo

Pete and crew pick their way down Arthurs

Rick Hessek and Brad powering up Mill Creek and Howard on their way to an Arthurs summit

Aaron's back of the car aid station

Running partners for the day: D.Bo, J.Schlar, R.Bur, D.Ve, J.Koo & D.O.G

Wasted on Sawmill, Carey, Towers

Post-race festivities

Your 2011 Chubby Results

Rob tells me that Shannon (pictured) was the winner in the women's 50k with a time of 7 something.

Cheeks

2011-12-08T07:27:00.001-08:00

Banner is up, course is kinda marked, weather forecast looks good, and the trails are buried. The second annual Chub is setting up perfectly.

We'll have a better idea of trail conditions tomorrow, but from what I saw this morning on a jog up Towers, it looks like the more remote trails haven't seen a whole lot of traffic, while the more popular ones are well packed in. Snow depth doesn't look too intimidating - maybe two to five inches of actual sink on virgin snow. There might be a bit of ice in places and some drifts to wade through, but I doubt it will be significant, so I'm actually going to stick my neck out and say that we're probably going to have a relatively decent go of things.

Course will probably be marked a little lighter than it was last year as I've been out of town all week. I'll do what I can today and tomorrow and should hopefully get most of the intersections in Horsetooth tagged. Rob is taking care of Lory, so that will probably be flagged well. Either way, plan on bringing the course map and directions to avoid getting lost. There are two intersections that get crossed twice in different directions, meaning a 50-50 chance of choosing the wrong direction if you don't have a map or prior course knowledge.

There will be three separate starts: 7:00, 8:00, 9:00; and three separate courses: JV (21.5, 5,500'), Marathon (25.5, 6,500'), and El Chubbo Grande (31.5, 7,500'). All courses share the same route for the first 12 miles through the Horsetooth section of the course.

Rules:

No whining
No bitching
No blaming the RD if you get lost.

Run finishes at my house between 2:00 & 3:00 for a post-race pot luck, brew share and Western States lottery look-up.

CRs (I think):

JV Men: Justin Mock (3:25)
JV Women: Marie-Helene Faurie (6:32)

Marathon Men: Tim Long (4:44)
Marathon Women: Darcy Africa (5:10)

Chubster Men: Pete Stevenson (5:44)
Chubster Women: Jenn Malmberg (7:43)

Week Ending December 5

2011-12-04T15:55:00.000-08:00

Mon - 6 miles (700') easy. Valley trails.

Tues - AM: 8 miles intervals. 2.5 miles w-u, 1.5 mile c-d. Cemetery workout. Mile, 800, 880 x 2. Started out stiff as a plank from the weekend. Probably need a good 30-40 minutes to warm up for these, but it's a struggle to get up early enough to get more than 15 mins in. Went super easy on the first mile/800, then upped things a bit once warmed up, but still couldn't get any 800 turnover: 5:36, 2:41, 2:35, 5:14, 2:36, 2:37.
PM: 6.5 miles (1,200') easy. A lap and three-quarters of Reservoir Ridge in the dark on the FCTR social run. This is a terrible route to run in the dark - loose rock everywhere.

Weds - 6 miles (700') easy. Valley trails.

---------------------------------------------------
January: 440.5 miles (45,850')
February: 304.5 miles (39,200')
March: 469.5 miles (67,100')
April: 427 (62,000')
May: 509.5 (92,500')
June: 323 (54,900')
July: 303.5 (79,700)
August: 297.5 (70,000')
September: 202 (37,500')
October: 373.5 (68,150')
November 377.5 (67,400)

Total: 4,028 miles (684,400')
Avg: 366 miles (62,218')
---------------------------------------------------

Thurs - AM: 9 miles (1,100') easy with Slush and Celeste in blinding sideways snow on Centennial. Didn't bother upping the tempo at all coming back. Just ran and got it over with, although once we turned and got the tailwind, it was really quite pleasant.
PM: 8 miles (1,800') Towers. There was some waist-deep drifts in places lower down on the hill and the rest was good old-fashioned trudging in heavy, slippery snow. Ran every step, but still couldn't break 50 minutes. Nonetheless, a great workout. Nine of us out, which given the torturous conditions wasn't half bad.

Fri - 0 miles

Sat - 0 miles

Sun - 0 miles

Total: 43.5 miles (5,500')

Dana has been out of town all weekend, which has meant no running for me the last three days, but that's okay. No Hardrock either, and that's okay too. Glad I signed up for Western States now, I suppose. With no Hardrock, I move on to plan B, which I just made up. I think plan B is going to include a crack at Leadville, in addition to a few other bits and bobs that I've been thinking about for July.

Pieces coming together for the Bob Graham Round, which is now just a couple of weeks away. I've got commitments from some awesome UK-based runners on the pacing side of things, which is apparently a necessity for an official round. Terry Conway, the winner of this year's Lakeland 100 and current Lakeland CR holder, has been kind enough to offer up his services, so I'll probably look to take advantage of that for a few of the early sections, then Clive King - a BGR vet - will likely be picking up some of the tail-end slogging, and then I think I have some pacers ready to run the middle sections thanks to the networking skills of club secretary, Morgan Williams. I am somewhat blown away by all the offers of help from people I have never met, but also highly encouraged to discover that the U.K. trail/fell/ultra community is as supportive and close knit as it is over here in the U.S.

Finally, if you got lucky in the Hardrock lottery and you're looking for an awesome training race, then consider the Fort Collins Quad Rock 50 in May. The unrelenting up and down nature of the course makes it an excellent Hardrock simulator. Pete and I are really excited to be showing off the Horsetooth/Lory trails here in our backyard. We think we have a pretty special course and we're determined to make this a kick-ass, showcase event for Front Range trail running, so come on out and join the fun. Registration opens on Wednesday.

Do you like to run hills?

2011-12-02T12:07:00.001-08:00

Then come on out to Fort Collins on May 12 and run a whole bunch of them.

Registration opens Dec 7.

Week Ending November 27

2011-11-27T19:22:00.000-08:00

Mon - 6 miles (700') easy. Valley Trails. Pretty stiff from the weekend. Went super easy with Sam.

Tues - AM: 7.5 miles. City Park workout: 1,200 x 2, 1,000 x 2, 800 x 2, with second of each 1,200 & 1,000 as fartleks. 800s were actually .6 of a mile. I was feeling stiff and full of leg crud from the weekend, so started out easy and then upped the effort for the last few: 4:23 (5:50 pace), 4:21 (5:48), 3:14 (5:12), 3:22 (5:23), 3:09 (5:15), 3:02 (5:03).
PM: 3.5 miles (700') easy. Reservoir Ridge Loop.

Weds - 6 miles (700') easy. Valley trails with Sam.

Thurs - AM: 11 miles. Thanksgiving 4 Mile Race. 21:38. 5 mile w-u with Slush, 2 mile c-d.
PM: 6.5 miles (1,700') easy. Beautiful afternoon, so snuck out for an easy summit of Horsetooth before cooking T-Day dinner.

Fri - AM: 9.5 miles (3,200') easy. Up Round Mountain with Pete and Alwesir. 38 mins to 3 mile, then notched the effort to get up in under an hour. 58:50.

Sat - AM: 21.5 miles (5,500') easy. With Pete and Alwesir on JV version of El Chub. Windy out and just a little fatigued there towards the end. Fun morning.

Sun - AM: 18.5 (5,800') easy. Double Crosier with Pete, Alex and Eric Lee. From Drake TH to summit, then on to Glen Haven TH, back up to summit and then down to Drake. Legs felt pretty beat up, but still plenty in there to grind on Crosier for a few hours. Beautiful day out, which made the views from the summit even more outstanding than usual. Best 9'ner on the Front Range.

Total: 90 miles (18,300')

Made the last-minute call to register for Western States last night. There goes another $370. Whoosh. Pains me beyond belief to register for these things so far in advance, but I guess it's the nature of the beast. I was going to wait until Bandera - see how things played out there - and maybe take a qualification spot from that, but there are other people running Bandera that I know want to run Western, so I felt guilty potentially taking a spot from the Bandera qualifying pool.

Moving right along. Here's an event that won't break the bank ... coz it's free. December 10. Email, comment, whatever, if you have any questions. But essentially, we will be following exactly the same arrangements as last year (detailed in link above). And of course, this is the free teaser for bigger and better things to come on May 12, 2012. Registration for Fort Collins' first ever 50 miler opens December 7. Website goes live December 1 (or so).

A Horsetooth taster from Saturday:

Stumbled across this vid the other day. Fell running looks like a lot of fun - love those cross country starts.

Thanksgiving Day 4 Mile

2011-11-24T13:55:00.000-08:00

This year is our family's fifth Thanksgiving in Colorado and indeed my fifth consecutive year running the Fort Collins Thanksgiving Day run. This has to be my favorite road race in Colorado, and not just because I've got the streak going, but because it's the largest race in town on a fast course that always attracts a stellar field and loads of my local running buddies. I've even got a simmering rivalry going with the fastest lady in town.

Two years ago, I got caught up in a very close women's race, essentially pacing the lead pack of four through the first 3.9 miles before watching Adriana Nelson produce the strongest kick for the win and the cash, beating me and the other ladies by a second or two. Fast forward a year to 2010 and Adriana won the women's race again. This time, though, I was able to put her away midway through the fourth mile, thereby avoiding the need for any kind of unseemly sprint down the home straight. So the scene was set this year for the rubber match on what was turning out to be a perfect morning for racing.

After a four-mile warm up with Slush and a pause for a very well executed rendition of the national anthem, it was time to race. As always, the field was stacked with many of the state's fastest guys and girls, and it was immediately off to the races. Within 10 strides, it looked like I was about 20 strides back on the lead pack.

The first mile or two of these sprints are just hard for me, and it takes forever for me to get my breathing under control. A half mile in and it looked like I was running in about 30th place. Then just like that Nuta Olaru and Adriana come cruising by - one already an Olympic marathoner (Olaru) and the other looking to qualify for the US team in Houston early next year, after recently being cleared to run for her adopted home country. Watching Adriana cruise effortlessly by me today, it was evident that she's in great form right now.

I got on the train and tried to hang on. The first mile popped at 5:17, which was a touch hot for the 5:20s I was hoping to run, but then the first mile is always hot in this race. Grinding up Mulberry, I slowly watched Adriana pull away and settled into what I thought was a sustainable pace. Brian Goding was in his usual spot watching near City Park, and he jumped in to run with me for a quarter mile or so, just as I was starting to feel a little more comfortable with the pace.

Turning the corner into the park on Bryan Ave, I was starting to reel in and go by a few guys who had pushed by me early in the race. The second mile up the hill came in at 5:22. Feeling strong and finally in control of the run, I thought I might have a shot at my pre-race goal of going under 21:30. Horsecow Lonac, who had gone by me shortly after Adriana, was coming back a bit and I was still passing guys as we made the turn onto Mountain Ave for the long mile and half down to College Ave and the finish. And, wait, maybe Adriana was coming back a bit too, albeit from about 20 meters ahead.

Mile three popped at 5:24, just I was beginning to feel my form break down and the pain set in. I was now firmly stuck in no-man's land and with nobody to race it was time to work on the mental game. I found myself drifting in and out of wanting to keep pushing. I knew I was losing precious seconds. With a half mile to go, it looked like I might be able to reel in Jonathan Garcia - a regular at the Tuesday Night Track workouts - so I made that the motivational goal to keep pushing. With 50 yards to go, on the College Ave turn, I was by Jonathan and ready for the finish line, which came eight seconds late for my goal (5:33 last mile) but was still an 11 second PR at 21:38. Good enough.

Adriana found me soon after the finish to rub a little salt into the wound, informing me that I had been smoked. And indeed I had. Her 21:14 (5:18) at altitude is impressive and a good indication that she has a good chance of being in the mix for one of the three London spots up for grabs next year.

Results.

Week Ending Nov 20

2011-11-20T19:17:00.000-08:00

Mon - 7 miles (1,800') easy with Sam. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Sdoerberg - home long.

Tues - AM: 9 miles intervals. Cemetery work out with the cemetery gang: mile, 800, 1.5 mile, 3x800. 3min rest between first four intervals, then 20 sec between 3x800. Tough workout. I was able to hang on at a decent effort for the most part, but definitely faded on the 3x800 at the end on short rest: 5:16, 2:34, 8:09 (5:18, 2:51 (ugh!)), 2:41, 2:36, 2:42.
PM: 7.5 miles (1,400') easy. Two laps of the Reservoir Ridge route in the dark with a fading light. Easy, easy.

Weds - 7.5 miles (1,800') easy with Sam. Horsetooth summit - Wathan - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home long.

Thurs - AM: 10 miles (1,400') hill tempo. HTH5MO@B. Chilly out, but little to no wind made it bearable. Driving down and jogging out I was feeling supremely unmotivated after a sleepless night of Stella wake-up calls. Out super easy with Pete, Sam, Slush, Celeste and Lisa in 41:45, with the thought to come back at a steady rather than hard effort. Coming up the north dam hill, I was largely able to stick to that plan, then Sam decided to notch up the effort and I couldn't resist tagging along, 10 meters adrift. Bridged the gap through mile two and then pushed past going up the hill on mile three. As usual, Sam blew by me and my short, stubby legs coming down Monster Hill and then it was off to the races for the last mile down to Maxwell. Was happy to keep Sam within 10 seconds by the finish, which popped at 30:20 (6:04). Splits went: 7:45, 6:14, 5:56, 5:34, 4:51.
PM: 7 miles (1,700') Towers steady. Started out conversational with Slush until Herrington and then opened it up a bit as I was feeling surprisingly smooth despite the morning session. Beautiful evening out, and probably 25 degrees warmer than 12 hours earlier. Well over 20 of us on the hill, which is pretty impressive for mid-November. Up in 34:02.

Friday: 8.5 miles (2,100') easy. Soderberg - Spring Creek - Wathan - Rock - Audra - Southridge back up to Rock - Rock - Soderberg - home long.

Saturday: 18.5 miles (6,300') hills. Double Round Mountain. Bit of a sketchy drive out to the Round trailhead with an icy downfall during the night. Trail conditions were decent enough though, with not much more than a skiff of snow, with some ice hidden in places underneath. Ran most of the first climb at a pretty casual pace with Dakota and Slush, then soloed the descent and subsequent ascent/descent. Just managed to sneak under an hour on the first summit (which required an absurd sprint through the last 200 meters), then right on 59 mins for the second climb. Both descents were slow (45, 43) due to the sketchy underfoot conditions, and I was generally feeling tired and a little bonky second time up. Good group out: Kristel, Justin, Toto, Pete, Celeste, Ziggy, Steph, Chris, Pete and Dakota.

Sunday: 27 miles (6,200') long. 4:22. Out with Ryan for an elevation-gain fact-finding mission. Ran the full 25 miles of the May race route, which my Highgear altimeter clocked at a whopping 5,800 feet (11,600' for the full 50). This thing really is going to be a ball buster. After yesterday's Round Mountain session, I was feeling pretty worked towards the end, but by and large was able to maintain a constantly steady and comfortable pace the whole way around. The 25 miles took almost exactly 4 hours, so we're thinking anything under 3:30 in the 25 mile and 7:30 in the 50 mile will be pretty stout, with the 7:30 being the tougher target in my opinion. Ryan thinks we should name the race 'Relentless 50,' as the climbs just keep coming, but we already have a name (and almost a website). Registration opens within the next couple of weeks.

Total: 102 miles (22,700')

Another big weekend in the books. Not sure I can remember my last 6,000'+ double weekend. I certainly didn't feel stellar on either run, but by the same token I was able to run through both runs at a steady effort without feeling a great deal of deterioration, which has me feeling pretty strong if not particularly sharp. Just grinding 'em out and hoping to have some good fitness for Bandera in January.

Thinking I'll put in a mini taper for the Turkey Day race just to rest things up a bit and not get too carried away on the volume front. The summer racing season is still a long way off and I'm no spring chicken. Got to take care of all the moving parts.

UTMB Flash Back

2011-11-18T13:18:00.000-08:00

I had some pretty mixed emotions watching the video below. From a racing perspective the trip to Europe was pretty much a Fail, but as an overall experience it was fantastic.

The race scenes from the video take you from the start to the finish by way of St.Gervais, Courmayeur, La Fouly, Champex Lac, and Trient. The scenes of me are St.Gervais, Courmayeur and then my final implosion on the way up to Col Forclaz just above Trient. I remember the camera guys being on me there and just feeling like I wanted to disappear. I can tell you now that I look way better in that video than I felt, but check out that walking cadence. Barely moving.

Good times. The guys did a great job with this video, and it's awesome to see Scott, Darcy and Richie finish - something I missed on the day.

I know for sure I won't be back next year, but maybe 2013.

Week Ending Nov 13

2011-11-14T08:31:00.000-08:00

Mon - 6.5 miles (1,500') easy with Sam. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg.

Tues - AM: 9 miles intervals. First City Park winter workout of the season. Love these sessions. Warmed up with Sam, Eric, Sarah, Celeste and Kyle, then headed to the cemetery for the workout which went: cemetery mile (.97, but runs like a track mile because of tight turns/footing), fartlek mile from cemetery to Jackson (wheeled mile), fartlek mile on east side of park (.97), 1,200 around Club Tico (.72): 5:24, 5:34, 5:21, 4:00. Ran mostly with Chris Mc, feeling a bit slow so not able or willing to hang on to Sam and Eric.

Weds - Noon: 8.5 miles (1,700') easy with Sam. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg.

Thurs - AM: 11 miles (1,400') hill tempo. HTH5MO@B with Sam, Celeste & Slush. Beautiful morning out with a big full moon to the west and an orange glow to the east. Out easy to the 5 mile in 40:55 feeling like I didn't want to crank the return too hard. Ran the North Dam hill at a good clip with Sam and then decided to latch on and see how things felt. Passed Sam going up the long hill in the third mile and then decided to let things roll from there. Sam blazed by me coming down the last two hills, but I was pretty much able to hang on to his coattails for a 4:55 last mile. Back in a PR of 30:33 (7:28, 6:17, 5:57, 5:53, 4:55).
PM: 6.5 miles easy on the bike path with FCTR crew.

Fri - Noon: 8.5 miles (1,700') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg.

Sat - AM: 18.5 miles (5,100') easy. 3:15. Rock - Horsetooth summit - Wathan - Spring Creek - Mill Creek - Link - Valley - Sawmill - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Westridge - Southridge - home long. Super windy out, but really mild at the same time. Just an easy cruise with three different climbs to the top.

Sun 22.5 (4,000') easy. 3:10. Ring the Rez with Eric: Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Mill Creek - Link - Valley to Lory Visitors Center, then 25G, Centennial, 38e around north, east, and south side of the reservoir. Wind was blowing again - sometimes at our back and then sometimes fiercely in our face, especially on the east side of the reservoir. Went easy to steady for the most part, but pushed the last two hills up to my house.

Total: 91 miles (15,400').

Another good week in the books. Pretty structured again, with an interval-type session on Tuesday morning, a tempo effort Thursday morning and then two longer runs on the weekend. I don't really have much on the calendar to warrant the training, but a few things are starting to line up and, quite frankly, I'm already thinking about that all-important base for next summer.

But before all that happens, I've got the Turkey Day 4 miler here in Fort Collins; probably the most competitive road race in Northern Colorado. I've finished successively faster each of the four times I've run this race since we moved to FoCo, so I hope to keep that streak alive this year. That will require something under 21:49, which shouldn't be too tall of an order.

Speaking of race-improvement streaks and future running plans, a little pattern began to emerge after this year's Western States, where I finished third (15:50) after a fourth (16:04) in 2009. That is enough of a trend to leave me thinking hard about next June. If my calculations are correct (and I'm sure they are), I should be bringing home a cougar in 2013 in something close to a course record. But in order for that to happen, I would need to suffer through another round of cougar-less punishment next summer. Two weeks to make the call on that then.

What else? Well, I hear Dakota's been dishing out some vertical beer mile smack talk, but c'mon, I've got 20 years of drinking experience on the kid (and we will be checking IDs at the trailhead). The Grand Canyon R2R2R record is all good and well, but I feel confident in predicting defeat for the curly headed wunderkid on Dec 15 (and 10th for that matter) .

Planning on taking a crack at the Bob Graham Round when I'm back home this Xmas. It's going to be somewhat weather dependent, but if I get a nice window, then I'm definitely going to give it a shot. The Round is a tour of 47 peaks in the Lake District region of northern England, with a staggering 27,000 feet of vertical over an estimated 70 miles. Throw in some winter gnar, and it promises to be quite the challenge.

Pete and I got approval from Lory State Park for the 25/50 mile race this week, so assuming that the county follows suit with approval for the Horsetooth section of the course, then we're full steam ahead. Mark your calendars for May 12 - it'll be an ass whooping.

Week Ending Nov 6

2011-11-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

Mon - Noon: 9 miles (1,900') fartlek. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home long. Felt good, so pushed hard from Herrington.
---------------------------------------------------
January: 440.5 miles (45,850')
February: 304.5 miles (39,200')
March: 469.5 miles (67,100')
April: 427 (62,000')
May: 509.5 (92,500')
June: 323 (54,900')
July: 303.5 (79,700)
August: 297.5 (70,000')
September: 202 (37,500')
October: 373.5 (68,150')

Total: 3,650.5 miles (617,000')
Avg: 365 miles (61,700')
---------------------------------------------------

Tues - Noon: 5 miles (1,100') easy. Falls long.
PM: 9 miles track. Met Eric, Sam and Kyle at the track feeling like I really didn't want to be there. Plan had been to do 2x3 or 2x4 mile @ 5:40, but that all sounded highly unappetizing. The others really didn't care what we did, so we compromised on the workout with a 1 x 2 x 1 at no particular effort w/400 jog between reps: 5:27, 10:56 (5:30, 5:26), 5:27. Really need to start pushing the envelope a bit on these.

Weds - PM: 5 miles (1,100') easy. Falls long after another big, wet snow dump.

Thurs - AM: 10.5 miles (1,400') hills steady. Out easy (40:22) w/ Slush, Eric, Sam, and Sarah, and then back pretty much solo without really pushing anything (33:58). Considered pacing with Sam at a faster clip, but decided to let him go and save things for Saturday (7:55, 7:03, 6:30, 6:31, 5:55).
PM: 7 miles (1,700') easy. Up (39:40) and down Towers with the group. Conversational both ways. Sloppy at the bottom, trudgy at the top, icy in between.

Friday - 0 miles. Had to work on a rental all day, which a tenant had kindly left in an ungodly state. Didn't even come close to finding time for a run, but made awesome progress on the house. I'll take the trade, plus I'm racing tomorrow, so the down day should be beneficial.

Sat - 19 miles with 13.1 race sandwiched between w-u, c-d. Opened with a 5:38 mile and then kind of faded from there. The mile markers on course were all over the place, so I never really got a sense of where I was on my pacing, but the effort seemed reasonably steady. However, I didn't have any real desire to work too hard once I started getting tired around mile 8/9, which tells me I'm a bit burned out on the racing right now. From the best I could make out, I slipped into the 5:50 range from about half way and stayed there through to the finish for a disappointing 1:17:low

Sun - 12.5 miles (3,100') super easy with Eric and Ryan. Rock Trail to the summit, then Westridge - Mill Creek - Loggers - Sawmill - Stout - Spring Creek - Falls. Felt pretty tired after yesterday's road effort, and found myself on the deck twice. Clumsy.

Total: 77 miles (10,300')

After a really lackluster effort at racing the half marathon distance on Saturday and generally feeling highly unmotivated at the prospect of traveling out to California in December to race myself into the ground, I've decided that I'm going to enjoy Bryon's iRunFar coverage of the TNF 50 miler from the sidelines here in Colorado. However, I am excited about other things.

We had another solid turnout at the Tortoise and Hare race on Sunday, the second in the series, with abilities across a broad spectrum, and enthusiasm for the sport at a general level of stoke. In addition, we had close to 20 runners on the Big Hill Thursday night, despite cold weather and nasty conditions underfoot. I've given up tracking those results on the blog, but we will soon have them up on the Fort Collins Trail Runners website (currently under construction), and that will be the new locale for all things FCTR.

In other news, Pete and I have permit applications in with the state and county for a 25/50 mile race that we hope to host on the trails of Lory State Park and Horsetooth Mountain Park (aka, my backyard) in May. We had a very positive conversation with the manager of Lory early last week and are already on good terms with the county, so I feel confident in making this little pre-announcement.

We are going to use a 25-mile loop of the two parks for a total of 5,500 feet of elevation gain on 90% singletrack terrain. For the full 50 miler, runners will do the second lap in reverse and climb a touch over 11,000 feet once it is all said and done. I'm guessing that anything under 7:30 in the men's race will be pretty stout.

I won't go into too much more detail about what we have planned, but will say that we hope to make this a true celebration of the sport and Front Range trail running in general, rather than an event that people come to in order to score an early season assisted long run. We plan to be online with a website in two weeks (permits pending), and be opening registration in early December for the May 12 race day.

But, before all that happens, I've got to defend my title at the Vertical Beer Mile - perhaps the most important date on my racing calendar. Yes, the race is still over a month away, but believe me the training is well advanced.

Week Ending October 30

2011-10-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

Mon - 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long.

Tues - Noon: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long.
PM: 11 miles track. 2 mile warm up, then 3 x 2 mile with half-mile jog between reps, two mile c-d. Met Brian and jogged out the warm up with him. Sam, a triathlon guy, jumped in on the last couple of warm-up laps looking for a workout, so I ended up running with him. Goal was to run 5:40 pace to see how that felt vis-a-vis a half marathon effort, and the answer is that I ain't there just yet, especially at 5,000 feet. Splits went: 11:05 (5:38, 5:27), 11:01 (5:34, 5:27), 11:09 (5:31, 5:38). First and second intervals were pretty smooth, but last mile of the final one was a big old grind, which was discouraging.

Weds - Noon: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long. First big snow dump of the year, and it was a big one. Ah, yes, the joys of breaking trail.
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long. At least the trail was somewhat broken in.

Thurs - AM: 10 miles (1,800'). Towers with Pete, Slush and Celeste. Towers had been plowed to Westridge which was nice. Last section to the top was pretty hard going, but as always in the snow, a great workout. Clear skies and bright stars as I left the house and then awesome views of the low cloud base over Fort Collins from on top of Towers as day was breaking. As much as I hate getting out of bed at 0 dark 30, the running is nearly always awesome as night turns to day, especially with expansive views to the east.
Noon: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long. Snow looks like it will be gone in a day or two.

Fri - Noon: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long.

Sat - AM: 26 miles (3,400') easy. Ran around the reservoir from my house via 38e, Centennial, Lory Rd to East Valley Trail, then Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Rock - Audra - Southridge - home long. Worked it a bit around the south side of the reservoir after a slow start, then met Pete at the top of the 'A' on Centennial and ran conversationally from there. Dragged arse up Towers. Felt gimpy all the way up my right leg through the second half of the run, from my ankle to my glute, which was pretty unpleasant. Not a great run by any stretch of the imagination.

Sun - AM: 25 miles (6,400') easy. Chubby Cheeks Marathon route: Rock - Southridge - Audra - Rock - Soderberg - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Mill Creek - Howard - Arthurs - Valley - Sawmill - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Secret - Westridge - Wathen - Spring Creeek - Falls. Went easy with my neighbor Mike, and while I dragged a bit on the last big climb up to Westridge, I felt 100% better than I did yesterday, which was a pleasant surprise.

Total: 102 miles (17,600')

Got the email from the folks in San Fran that I'm off the waiting list and free to register for the 50-miler in December. Figured I'd wait until my long runs this weekend to see if I want to commit the time, money, and effort. I've never run the coastal trails in Marin, and I'm sure they are thoroughly breathtaking, but this race is about the competition and the loot. There will be a ton of fast guys there looking for a slice of the $30k that's up for grabs, so there's really no point in heading out there unless I think I've got at least an outside shot of getting on the podium.

While my runs weren't great this weekend, the Sunday run did at least feel easy enough that I think I'm getting to where I need to be with regards to durability. There's still time to work on speed, but this close to the race my legs have to at least feel like they are approaching a state of preparedness to go the distance at a hard effort. Feeling things open up on the second long run of the weekend suggested that I may be getting there, so I guess I'll commit the entry fee funds tonight and then if I have a good weekend next weekend, I'll commit the airfare funds too. It's a roll of the dice with so many talented guys in the field, combined with my sub-optimal build-up, but I'm a gambling man and I guess I'm feeling kinda sorta like I'm ready to let rip.

Week Ending October 23

2011-10-24T16:35:00.000-07:00

Mon - AM: 9 miles (2,100') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home long. Felt some good flow on a windy day.
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long. Took a pretty nasty spill half way around in the fading light. Caught a rock on a short stretch of techy downhill, tried to save it but ended up taking a rock squarely to my right lower back with secondary abrasions to my elbow and lower leg. Had to stop and gather there for a bit.

Tues - Noon: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long. My lower back was thankfully not to sore from yesterday's digger. Run felt good.
PM: 8 miles track with Eric, Brian S and Slush. 5 x 1 mile with quarter mile jog between reps. Mile w-u, then 5:35, 5:25, 5:26, 5:28, 5:26, mile c-d. Ran all of these with Eric, working harder than I would have liked, but pleased to at least run consistently under 5:30.

Weds - noon: 8.5 miles (2,100') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Wathen - Rock Trail - Soderberg - home long. Beautiful and calm fall weather. The running felt effortless today, especially the climbs, with nary a niggle to be felt. Wish they could all be like this.

Thurs - AM: 10 miles hill tempo (1,400'). The HTH5MO&B - or Horsetooth Half 5 Mile Out & Back - was a staple workout last winter, and is now back in the rotation for our little Thursday morning group. For this workout, we typically go out to the 5 mile point of the HTH course at a relatively easy pace and then come back at a half marathon type effort. Centennial, which is the road that rides the east side of the reservoir is perhaps the most scenic paved road in Fort Collins, but what really makes the workout are the hills, which vary from very steep to long and drawn out. The turnaround point is about a half mile north of the north dam, so the return trip at tempo begins with a big, steep climb over the dam, and is followed by a mixture of shorter climbs and descents, a couple of big descents and some longer grinding stuff, with not a whole lot in between. One of the best workouts in town.

Anyway, this morning for the first one of the season we had Pete, Sarah, Eric, Brian, Nicole, Slush and Celeste in attendance. Went out at a social pace with Sarah, Eric and Pete in 39:15 and then came back with Eric in 30:50 (6:10): 7:19, 6:14, 6:32, 5:34, 5:14. I normally come back solo on these workouts, so it was good to have Eric there to keep me honest. I think this is the fastest I've done the return five, but then it's also about as hard as I've worked for them.
PM: 8.5 miles (1,700') easy. Towers in 37:50 with Ryan and Pete. A little gimpy in the right calf from the morning, so just jogged out the climb. Beautiful evening. A total of 16 FCTR on the hill tonight.

Fri - PM: 7 miles (1,600'). Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home long. Another gorgeous evening. Still kind of sore in the lower legs from the Centennial workout Thursday morning. Deer everywhere.

Sat - AM: 19.5 miles (2,700'). Runners Without Borders fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders' work in drought- and famine-stricken Somalia. I pledged .01 per foot of accumulated gain and while my $27 donation was but a drop in the ocean, the combined drops of the 100 or so runners out on the trails of Horsetooth/Lory on Saturday added up to a total of roughly $4,000 (a figure that will be doubled by a matching donation from a wealthy and generous lady who is currently challenging people to give). Consider pledging yourselves if you happen to read this and think you can spare a few dollars to help save lives in the Horn of Africa where literally tens of thousand of people are currently in danger of dying, a fact that for whatever reason is getting zero coverage in today's insane age of 24 hour news. It's not sexy and it's not clever, but it is very real. Scott, thanks for making us think beyond our safe and very comfortable borders!

Sun - 25.5 miles (5,500'). 4:05. AM run with Dakota. Sold this one as a 25 miler at 50-mile pace, but I think we got kinda lazy as the morning rolled on. From my house we went: Rock Trail - Soderberg - Spring Creek - Towers - Stout - Sawmill - Valley - Visitors Center - Timber - Westridge (Lory) - Howard - Mill Creek - Towers - Westridge (H'tooth) - Rock - home. Took a huge digger a few miles in on Stout and ripped up my right side pretty good. I wasn't sure I could continue there for a couple of minutes, thinking that I done damage to my rib cage, but finally got my bearings and headed on. My hip, which took the brunt of the fall was throbbing pretty badly towards the end of the run, so I had to soft step the last few descents and let Dakota take off. This route times two would make for an 11,000 foot 50 miler. Mark your calendars for mid April, it's gonna be a beast (permits pending).

Total: 106 miles (19,300').

Two big falls this week has me all bloodied up, but I'm still running. Despite the skids, I got some good work done, which has me feeling a little like I'm gaining some fitness. Still not sure if I'm going to get to run the NF50 race in December as I'm still on the wait list, but I guess I'll continue to train as if I am. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to pounding out a few road races, including a half marathon down in Loveland in a couple of weeks.

Think there is a little running action down in Boulder this Saturday, but it's looking somewhat doubtful that I'll be able to make it, which is a shame as it's been a while since I've run down in The Republic. Ah well, next time. Anyway, this is but the first in a three-part series of trail-run gatherings. In December, we'll be bringing the Front Range Fat Ass series up to The Fort for the second annual Chubasaurus Maxamaurus. Full details on that to come in a few weeks, but really all you need to know is that it will feature 27 miles of glorious singletrack, 4 miles of dirt road, 100 meters of asphalt, two summits of local peaks, 7,500 feet of vertical gain and even some Pearl Izumi giveaways. Just bring beer!

Week Ending Oct 16

2011-10-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

Mon - Noon: 6.5 miles (1,400') easy. Soderberg - Spring Creek - Herrington - Stout - Spring Creek - Falls.
PM: 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop.

Tues - Noon: 7.5 miles (1,600') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg. Failed to get out of bed for a planned early longer run, so had to settle for a shorter lunch run. Lazy.
PM - 5.5 miles track. End of season relays. 800 open, then 800, 400, 200, 100. 2:38, 2:31, 64, no split for 200, 100.

Weds - AM: 8.5 miles (1,800') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg.
PM - 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop.

Thurs AM- 8.5 miles (2,900') hill repeats. Horsetooth Hill Intervals with Eric, Pete and Sarah. Workout went: 3 x 1/4 (+185' each), 2 x 1/2 (+380'), 1 x 3/4 (+550'). Supposed to finish with a mile and summit of Horsetooth, but short on time, so we had to settle for a steady 1/2 mile climb by going the long way back to my house. First three intervals with headlamp. Splits were: 2:44, 2:44, 2:39, 5:40, 5:43, 8:50. This workout always kills me, but I hope to hit it on a fairly regular basis for the next six or seven weeks to gauge fitness and also as a great strength builder.
PM - 6 miles social run with FCTR group. Downhill trail mile at the end: 5:00.

Fri - Off. Dana in Michigan, so no chance to run.

Sat - Off. See above.

Sun 11 miles (2,600') steady. 1:39. Falls - Spring Creek - Mill Creek - Logger - Sawmill - Stout - Spring Creek - Falls. My neighbor, Brad, kindly offered to watch the kids for an hour and a half so I could get a run in. Given the lack of running the previous two days and my short window, I decided to push a bit on the middle miles up Spring Creek and on the Mill Creek descent. Felt particularly coordinated on the descent which is always a good feeling.

Total: 62.5 miles (12,100')

Two days off this week with Dana in Michigan early Friday to late Sunday. Tried to make up for it by front-loading the week with a bunch of double days, but it was still a pretty light week. Starting to feel some fitness come back, and I always enjoy being able to get out twice a day when the weather is as beautiful as it has been recently. Motivated for a solid four- to five-week training block packed full of quality work and lengthy runs.

Some images from Silent Trails last weekend and a nice piece in the local rag:

It started out innocently enough. Delaney, Mock, Clark, Driver (UoW singlet), Bergman (shades).

Then it just got silly.

Perry Wechsler. A devoted race director. All pics Wendy Perkins.

Week Ending October 9

2011-10-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

Mon - 6.5 miles (1,400') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg.

Tues - 6 miles track. 2 mile w-u, 800 open, then 2x800, 400, 1,600, 2x400: 2:38, 2:37, 2:34, 75, 5:23, 80, 74. This one was a shock to the system. Gonna take a while to get back into the swing of interval work, but it feels good to turn the legs over.

Weds - 28 miles (8,500'). Andrews Peak, Ptarmigan Mountain.

Thurs - AM: 8 miles (800') easy. Bluesky with Brian S, Sarah and Pete.
PM: 7 miles (1,700'). Towers steady (34:50)

Fri - 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop.

Sat - 12 miles (1,300'). 1.5 mile w-u. Silent Trails 10.5 mile race.

Sun - 10 miles (2,000') easy. 38e - Bluesky - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Rock - Soderberg - home. Sore right leg everywhere, but mainly in the groin. Tripping and stumbling like I was drunk.

Total: 82 miles (15,700')

Felt like a decent week getting back into it. Can't say I felt particularly fresh, but I think that would take a month of no running to achieve and I'm not really interested in that at this time of year. The track workout was a rude awakening, with some lung burn on the first couple of 800s, but you've got to start somewhere.

Thinking I might run the Boyd Lake Half Marathon in Loveland next month. If I can run it faster than I did last year - when I was in a similar state of non-preparedness for road racing - then I'm thinking the road marathon might be something worth pursuing early next year. I have little to no interest in running a road marathon for the experience, as they tend to be expensive and not very inspiring, so it would be all about the black and white - a time trial - which means serious work in getting ready. Luckily I have a good Tuesday and Thursday winter group to help with that, so it shouldn't be too painful if I chose to go there.

People are starting to chatter a bit about the upcoming lottery season, a time when racing plans tend to start coming together. Obviously the two big ones in the 100-mile game are Western States and Hardrock. The Hardrock lottery comes after my deadline for committing to or passing on the auto slot I have for WS. I guess I'll wait to see if I get into Hardrock, and then if not look to qualify for Western States at either Bandera or Leona Divide potentially taking a run at the Ultra Cup in the process (should I qualify for WS). Or do something entirely different, like get back into rugby.

This pic popped up on my wife's Facebook the other day. Good times. I think I was younger than Dakota then. Front row, second from left.

Kent College 1st XV (1991, I think).

Silent Trails 2011

2011-10-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

Awesome running conditions. Pic pilfered from J. Mock

I'm usually pretty lucky when it comes to the weather and racing; however, I've had a dry ... er, wet ... spell of fortune the last three outings.

It rained chiens et chats for the first three hours at UTMB in August; while at Steamboat in September it poured, blew and generally sucked for the last three hours; and then this weekend at the Silent Trails 10 miler we were treated to a driving snow storm that began a convenient half hour before the race. But one would expect no less from a race taking place in and around Laramie, Wyoming.

I had few, if any expectations going into this one. I won it last year in blustery, cold conditions, but mainly due to a lack of competition rather than anything outstanding on my part. For this year's rendition, I knew that there was very little chance that I would defend my title, as Wyoming alum and recent 2:20 marathoner Jason Delaney was slated to be there, while an in-form and fit Justin Mock had been planning on it for months. Coming off a long summer season and weeks with little to no training, I was just hoping for a read on my (un) fitness.

By the time we were sent off into the abyss, the snow was coming down pretty hard and there was already a half inch of slick accumulation on the ground. I hung with Justin and Jason for, oh, a quarter mile and then on the slippery first descent decided that I needed to just get through this one, so settled into what felt like a comfortably hard effort.

Three miles into the race, I got my last look at the lead two and was impressed to see Justin hanging with Jason as they crossed the creek before the slow climb up to the big 'Death Crotch Hill' grunt. Me, I was laboring and feeling like I was working entirely too hard for the pitiful output I was producing. A quick look back and I could see the UW cross country shirt of Ragan Driver - a fixture at the Laramie trail events. The fact that I could see Ragan meant that he was definitely close as visibility through the snow was becoming really poor.

Going up Death Crotch, I was hopeless, and Ragan closed to within a switchback. However, I was able to hold onto the lead as we found the top of the climb and began the plunge into the exposed expanses of the course's 9,000+' high meadows. The fine, icy snow was driving straight into our eyes up here and I could barely see through my stinging tears. I dropped my shades to protect my eyes, and even though I could only just see through the icy crust on the lenses, it was better than the stinging eyeball lashing that was the alternative. It was now as much as I could do to make out my next footfalls, many of which went down in blind hope. I caught a ton of rocks and roots and was slipping and tripping all over the place, but miraculously managed to stay on my feet the whole run.

This continued until we were finally back in the trees and enjoying some protection from the elements. Somehow, I had managed to put some time on Ragan up high, and so I was able to cruise it into the finish for third place and a disappointing 1:16, a full five minutes behind my unfit self from last year over the 10.5 mile course. Tough to say if the conditions were worth five minutes, but quite possibly.

Eric and I walking to the awards. Pic: Mock

Nonetheless, another fun morning up in Laramie catching up with the southern Wyoming running crowd and other good friends. While they never make it easy in Wyoming, I wouldn't have it any other way, which is why I'll be back up there in February for the infamous and sadistic Twin Mountain Trudge.

Andrews Pk, Ptarmigan Mtn, But No Dead Buck

2011-10-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

Ptarmigan Mountain

It's almost time for the high alpine to disappear under its snowy canvas for the year, so I took the opportunity for one last trip up high to accompany my friend Eric in the hunt for a dead deer.

Eric researches mortality rates among deer herds around the state, and part of his research involves collaring deer and tracking how, why and at what rate they die in relation to other variables such as buck to doe ratios among the herd. He was telling me the other day that one of his deer collars had been transmitting a mortality signal from a very remote part of Rocky Mountain National Park and that he was planing on retrieving the collar and conducting a post-mortem on the buck.

Knowing that the running season up there would be closing down any day, I was immediately offering company, but suggested we take the longer way in from Bear Lake rather than driving all the way to Long Lake to save a few miles of running. Eric was game and the hunt was on.

Our route went over the Continental Divide by way of Flattop Mountain from Bear Lake, and then all the way down into the North Inlet and partially up the other side to a big basin below Andrews Peak, which shares a ridgeline with the hugely impressive Ptarmigan Mountain. We retraced our steps coming back but cut the Divide just short of Flattop by way of Andrews Pass for the fun glissade down Andrews Glacier.

All told we were 28 miles on the morning with a whopping 8,500 feet of vertical gain between the elevations of 9,400' and 12,300' on what was an awesome, awesome final outing of the season. Ultimately our mission to track down the dead buck was unsuccessful, which was a bummer for Eric, but for me...well I was just along for the ride.

Pristine alpine tundra at about 12,000' on a very windy Flattop. Early morning view of Hallet.

Fog was moving through quickly on Flattop, but the higher clouds seemed fairly benign so we forged on with the planned route. Hallet behind the fog from Flattop Summit.

Andrews (left), unnamed 12k' peak center, Ptarmigan right. From North Inlet Trail on Flattop.

Chiefs Head through the North Inlet Valley from Lake Nanita Trail.

Flattop and Ottis (I think), from Lake Nanita Trail.

The impressive southeast face of Ptarmigan Mtn.

Ptarmigan Mtn across Lake Nanita.

Eric trying (unsuccessfully) to get a location on the dead buck.

Andrews Peak.

The basin below Andrews Peak. The buck was supposed to be in here, but Eric got no signal so surmised that the aerial location he had been given was incorrect and was in fact on the other side of the headwall. We weren't going over that.

The tarn at the base of Andrews Glacier.

Week Ending October 2

2011-10-03T07:24:00.000-07:00

Mon - 4.5 miles (800') easy. Falls loop.

Tues - Off

Weds - 4.5 miles (800') easy. Falls loop.

Thurs - 7.5 miles (700') on Bluesky with Eric. Picked it up coming back from Rim Rock.

Fri - 4.5 miles (800') easy. Falls loop.

---------------------------------------------------
January: 440.5 miles (45,850')
February: 304.5 miles (39,200')
March: 469.5 miles (67,100')
April: 427 (62,000')
May: 509.5 (92,500')
June: 323 (54,900')
July: 303.5 (79,700)
August: 297.5 (70,000')
September: 202 miles (37,500')

Total: 3,277 miles (548,850')
Avg: 364 miles (60,983')
---------------------------------------------------

Sat - AM: 9.5 miles (1,550')easy flagging Horsetooth section of Bluesky Marathon.

PM: 2.5 miles super easy setting up T&H course with Alistair.

Sunday - Off. Busy morning between two races. Stopped in for the start of the Bluesky Marathon, then presided over a busy T&H 4k (yes, 4k) race, before returning to Bluesky to watch and cheer for the finishers there. Blazing hot day, which for the exposed Bluesky Marathon meant punishment for the runners.

Total: 33 miles (4,650')

Another down week, which is just fine. I should be nice and rested for Silent Trails next weekend, where I plan to pull off the double upset by handing it to JM and heavy favorite Jason Delaney, who apparently will also be running.

Signed up for North Face San Fran 50 last week and then also finally got my Hardrock appo in the mail. NF50 is sold out, so I am currently on the wait list. Guess I'll make a final decision on that race should I get bumped up to the start list. Either way, it's time to start building some fitness and mileage.

Interesting 85km (50 mile, essentially) race over in the Pyrenees this weekend. The start line was packed with stars, most of them from the Salomon stable: Kilian, Iker, Heras, Symonds, Gates. Only Heras and Gates finished. Wonder if there'll be the same kind of post mortem on this one as there was after UTMB for the US runners? Probably not.

Per Justin, Kilian dropped because of mental fatigue. Been there. The kid is amazing, but I often wonder where his breaking point is. It would be a great shame to see such a prodigious talent driven into the ground at such a young age. I hope he doesn't feel the pressure to continue with his crazy schedule if he needs a break.

Fortnight Ending September 25

2011-09-27T11:14:00.000-07:00

Mon - 4.5 miles easy

Tues - 6 miles (500') easy. Valley

Weds - 4.5 miles (800') easy. Falls loop.

Thurs - 7.5 miles (700') easy on the Bluesky Trail with Eric

Fri - 4.5 miles (800') easy. Falls loop.

Sat - 50 miles (7,000'). Run Rabbit Run.

Sun - 0 miles.

Total: 72.5 miles (9,800').

Mon - 0 miles

Tues - 0 miles

Weds - 0 miles

Thurs - 7 miles (700') easy with Bryan S on Bluesky.

Fri - 4.5 miles (800') easy. Falls loop.

Sat - 7.5 miles (1,000') easy with Slush. Soderberg TH - Towers - Stout - Loggers - Mill Creek - Link - Valley - Soderberg TH. Measuring Scott's Runners Without Borders course.

Sun - 17 miles (6,700'). Mummy Traverse.

Total: 36 miles (9,200')

Not much going on really on the running front. Took a bunch of days off after Run Rabbit Run 50, and then didn't do much else other than the Mummy Traverse on Sunday, which while a solid butt kicker, felt really good. Probably keep up with this easy theme for at least another week and then start thinking about the North Face 50 in December, which I'm kind of leaning towards doing.

The downside of all this non-focused jogginess is that JM is probably going to give me a severe ass whooping at the Silent Trails 10 miler in a couple of weekends. He claims to be in great shape right now and reckons his 2:27 bid for the Cal International Marathon is on. If I beat him of course, then it will brought up at every possible opportunity for at least the next year. All the pressure is on Justin then - just the way I like it.

Lots of friends running in the local trail marathon this weekend, with lots of predicted finish times and placings to watch out for. I hope to be able to make it up for the finish, but will have to hot foot it from town after presiding over the Rolland Moore 4k, which will kick off the 2011/12 Tortoise and Hare series. So if you're not running or volunteering at Bluesky, consider coming out to run Rolland Moore.

Mummy Mania 2011

2011-09-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

Chapin, Chiquita, Ypsilon, Fairchild

Chiquita, Ypsilon, Fairchild, Hagues (barely visible), Mummy

The stars aligned today for an awesome morning out in one of my favorite mountain ranges. I consider the Mummies my local high alpine playground and today I had them entirely to myself. For the five hours it took me to traverse the six peaks that when connected make up what has come to be known as Mummy Mania or the Mummy Kill, I saw not one soul.

The day began three-quarters of the way up the Old Fall River Road from the Chapin Pass Trailhead at first light, right around 6:30. Two years ago when Chad and I did this route, we managed to run right by Chapin, summiting Chiquita as our first peak, and therefore failing in our mission to establish a fastest time for the route. Today, I was supremely careful to make sure I made the right-hand cut necessary to hit Chapin, the shortest of the day's six peaks at just 12,454 feet.

As with all the Mummy peaks, Chapin has a dramatic cliffed-off southerly face with a more gradual northwestern slope. Chapin's south face drops over 2,500 feet to the Fall River below, and from the top the peak offers immense views of the Longs Peak massif. What Chapin lacks in stature, it makes up for in views. Pretty inspiring stuff with the sun low in the sky and a full morning of peak-bagging ahead.

From Chapin it is a short drop to approximately 12,000 feet along the cliff line between Chapin and Chiquita (13,069'), followed by a stout 1,000 foot hoof up to the Chiquita summit. The route between the two peaks benefits from a faint trail, which makes for reasonably surefooted and fast progress. The rest of the traverse is entirely off trail and littered with rocks - and lots of them.

Ypsilon from Fairchild.

Chaquita to Ypsilon (13,514') is also quite straightforward. A short 400 foot drop to the saddle, again along the southeastern cliff line, and then an 800 foot hoof to the summit. I stopped on top of Ypsilon for a few minutes to get down some calories and admire the awesome ridgelines that surround Spectacle Lakes some 2,000 feet below. And then it was off to Fairchild (13,502'), which for me is the crux of this route.

Ypsilon from en route to Fairchild.

Again, the almost too logical line is to follow the cliff some 700 feet down to the ridge that cuts northeast over to Fairchild. On approaching the ridge, things become a little less obvious, but the route - or the one I take - follows a line at about 12,300 feet on the southern side of the ridge across a large talus field that continues all the way up to the crown of Fairchild. Getting up to Fairchild's benign rounded summit is hard work and a little bit sketchy. The route up is not an obvious one, and really the best course of action is to scramble as best you can up the southern rocks, which is mainly class three terrain, and then follow the ridge up.

By the summit, I was beginning to feel the morning's effort, but still had plenty of perk left in me.

Fairchild from below Ypsilon

Fairchild from halfway up Hagues Peak

It's a long rocky descent off Fairchild down to the saddle between it and Hagues, but with pep still in the legs I was running all of the rocky saddle before dropping into hoof mode for the strenuous 1,200 foot ascent of Hagues (13,560'), the high point of Larimer County and one of Rocky Mountain National Park's more impressive peaks. The ridgeline to the summit, viewed from Fairchild is one of my favorite sights of the whole traverse. I mean, what a line.

Hagues Peak

From Hagues, which involves some class three action near the top, I followed the ridge towards Mummy Mountain (13,425') and then again cut a line a few hundred feet under the ridge for a lengthy period of serious rock hopping. The legs were still good so I was able to make rapid progress to the northwest ridge of Mummy Mountain before getting the head down for the last grunter of the day.

From the summit block, the route off the traverse involves a little more easterly progress on the top of Mummy before a sharp and rocky descent on the southeastern flank of the mountain down to a drainage that leads all the way down to the Black Canyon Trail at 11,000 feet.

The intimidating south face of Mummy Mountain (from Trail Ridge Road)

From there it is a quick right for maybe a half mile before the intersection with the Lawn Lake Trail. A left at Lawn Lake and then it is a touch under six miles downhill to the trailhead and the end of the route. I must have been tired as I tripped and fell twice on the way down, but I got there in one piece in exactly 6:30, a full hour quicker than two years ago even with the addition of an extra summit. A most satisfying morning.

This isn't a hugely traveled route from what I can make out, and when it is, it is not typically done for time. The fastest time I have seen for the route - Peter Bakwin, I believe - is 7:45, so I'll throw that 6:30 out there as a current standard for the trailhead-to-trailhead traverse. With some extra focus, no camera and less lingering on the summits, I'm pretty sure I could take it under 6:00, but that will have to wait for another season.

17 (ish) miles, 6,800 feet of vert and 9,100 feet of descent.

The traffic from Lawn Lake heading up the Old Fall River Road on this beautiful fall day was heavy, so it wasn't long before my thumb procured a lift for the final nine miles back up to the car.

Fall in the Mummies (from the Old Fall River Road).

The route

Splits:

Chapin: 39
Chiquita: 1:03
Ypsilon: 1:34
Fairchild: 2:45
Hagues: 3:57
Mummy: 4:49
Lawn Lake Trail: 5:39
Lawn Lake TH: 6:30

Run Rabbit Run 50

2011-09-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

The man, the myth, the legend: Bill Duper. All race photos: D.Bow.

"What was I thinking?"

I must have said those words to myself 50 times on the outbound section of Saturday's Run Rabbit Run 50 mile r. Once the heavens opened up, 28 miles into the race, I forgot about my stupidity in signing up and focused on surviving the three-hour torrent of freezing, hypothermia-inducing rain.

More than one person I spoke to after the race feared for their life out there this weekend, but thankfully everyone found their way off the mountain safe and sound, testament to the great race direction of Fred Abramowitz and his army of hardy volunteers. Thanks to each and every one of you for being out there under such horrendous conditions.

But for as ugly as it got, the race started out very innocently. Yes the weather forecast was calling for a 50 percent chance of rain, but the conditions at the pre-dawn start at the base of Mount Werner were just about perfect. I know I was fooled into not taking a jacket - a rookie error that almost came back to bite me 30 miles later.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

From the gun, a lead pack of Zeke Tiernan, James Bonnet and Mark (Horsecow) Lonac pushed the early pace as we began the 3,500 foot ascent of Storm Peak. I opted to let them go and settled in with Bill Fanselow. We chatted a bit about the pace off the front as we watched Horsecow drop James and Zeke, both of whom were beginning to come back to us as we transitioned into the steeper second half of the climb.

I know Horsecow from the Fort Collins road running circuit, and I was pretty sure this was his first 50 miler. Given that he typically runs his 5k races in the high 15s to low 16s, I figured that the early 50-mile pace probably felt a little pedestrian, but 50 miles is a long way to run, so I was fully confident that he was coming back. James, I knew, had run a fast 50 miler in winning Leona Divide earlier in the year, while Zeke, a former all-American at Colorado University, had a couple of strong Leadville podium finishes to his name. And with Bill - a former US mountain running team member - for company and Burch and Corey Hanson in close proximity behind, I could sense that this was going to be a tough race requiring a full-on effort for the win. I was already betting against myself.

After topping out on Storm Peak, 6.5 miles into the race, it was time for the real running to begin. Almost immediately the gear changed from grind to freewheel as we made our way down the short descent on the early stretches of the Mountain View Trail. The overnight rain had left the trail a little soggy, but by and large conditions were decent: tacky in places, sloppy in others.

Within minutes I was passing Horsecow, who later dropped with a hip issue. And then I heard the all-too familiar thuds of Ryan's downhill stride behind. I have raced Ryan so many times over the last few years that I know full well how much he loves to rip the descents, especially early in a race, so I was more than content to let him go by, knowing that I would likely be back on him as the course assumed an upward trajectory. Less than a minute after he was by me, Ryan was around Zeke and into the early race lead. A few shoulder checks confirmed that Bill was still in close proximity behind and that, indeed, I was in for a tough, competitive day of racing on a pair of pins that just wanted to go back to bed.

Soon after aid station two at mile 13, I eased past Ryan and assumed a position behind Zeke who appeared to be moving well. I was in absolutely no hurry to assume the lead as the pace was already at the upper end of what I felt I had in the tank for 50 miles on that day. And so we rolled all the way through to Lake Dumont, the mile 22 aid station, where my ever-patient wife handed me a fresh EFS gel flask and a fresh water bottle before telling me to get after it. As nice as it was to hear my wife dishing out race advice, I was generally feeling lackadaisical, sorry for myself and wishing that I wasn't racing. I had no real giddyup and as a result no great desire to follow Dana's directions in getting after it.

Nonetheless, I was quicker than Zeke through the aid and assumed the lead for the 1,000 foot pull up to Rabbit Ears, the rock formation that gives the pass into Steamboat Springs its name. Zeke didn't take long to catch up, but for as crappy as I was feeling, I was mildly energized to hear from his breathing how hard he was working. Rather than try to keep pace, I just let him go, figuring that my one gear was either going to be good enough through the latter stages - or not - but I knew that I didn't want a late-race suffer fest induced by mid-race over exertion.

By the time we were back at Dumont, now mile 28, Zeke was a minute - maybe two up on me. Again I was quicker through transition, and again I got the giddyup order from Dana. Leaving the aid, I was no more than 30 seconds behind in second as we began the 16 miles of rolling singletrack back to the top of Storm Peak. Bill, Burch and James had all been within five minutes at the turn, so there was still plenty of pressure from behind.

Race order coming into Dumont at mile 28. Teirnan, Clark, Fanselow, Burch.

Then the heavens opened up and unleashed a torrent of misery. Immediately I was transported 21 days back in time to the miserable first three hours of UTMB. By the time I got to the Base Camp aid station at mile 32 we were completely socked in and subject to a full-on downpour. The trench-like trails filled instantly with water, the temperatures dropped, and just like that concerns for safety became paramount and the race secondary.

Within minutes my fingers were numb and lifeless. I was forced to tuck my water bottle under my arm so I could get both hands into fists under my drenched gloves. Next to go were my feet and toes. Fortunately my legs responded to the situation by finding a new lease on life, which allowed me to up the tempo the notch or two I needed to get the internal furnace burning a little harder. In combination with my hat and arm panties, the new-found gear was just enough to fend off any serious considerations of hypothermia. Now I was merely cold, wet and miserable.

I caught no sightings of Zeke on the five-mile stretch of singletrack between Base Camp and the Long Lake aid station, but heard very faint cheers as he was (presumably) coming in. I got there about five minutes later, so figured that I was set in second for the rest of the race. However, on the last few miles to the final aid station, I could sense from the ever-fresher footprints that I was catching Zeke and catching him quickly. By mile 42 or 43, the prints were looking really fresh and for as hard as the rain was coming down that meant that I was getting close. And then, at the end of the final godforsaken seven-mile stretch of trail between Long Lake and Storm Peak, just as I caught site of the aid station tent through the mist, I heard the cheers for Zeke.

With 6.5 miles and 3,500 foot of descent left to the finish, we were off to the races. This was going to be painful.

Within the first five or six switchbacks I had caught and passed Zeke, and we were moving. There was no need to look back as I could hear the splosh of Zeke's footfalls. He wasn't capitulating, as I had desperately hoped he would. We were now moving at a highly unsustainable pace - easily sub-six minutes per mile - on fried, cold legs.

And then my left shoelace came untied. Bugger! And then my right. Double bugger!

I figured we had four miles to go. Could I race out four miles with untied shoes? If only I was a believer in - and practitioner of - the barefooting movement. I could just toss the shoes aside and run free. I knew I was going to have to stop and re-tie. But dammit, I had no feeling or dexterity in my fingers. Maybe I could call a timeout?

The day after at Brandon Fuller's house, GZ shows me how I should have tied my laces. Pic: JV

As I fumbled with my laces, Zeke went blasting by. He wasn't interested in a timeout apparently. I took what seemed like forever in getting my shoelaces retied and by the time I was back working with gravity Zeke had disappeared into the mist. I pushed hard for 10 more minutes but never got the visual I wanted. As the base of the ski area came into sight, I slipped it into cruise and reflected on a long, long season of ultra racing.

A well-deserved win and slot at WS100 next summer for Zeke.

It's been a year that I will not soon forget, and Steamboat was a great way to cap it all off. As in all of my races this year, I put forth an effort that I can be proud of. I didn't have a whole lot to work with - clearly fatigued from a long summer and a tough UTMB just three weeks prior - but I did the best with what I had. This year has been an interesting one. I have raced way too much and as a result I have run a lot of races sub-optimally. Some would probably criticize that, but what do I care?

I have fun when I'm at the races and I've been highly fortunate to race in some amazing settings this year. For that, I am indebted to my wonderfully supportive wife, to Pearl for helping me get around the country and across the Atlantic, to all the amazing race directors who work tirelessly to let us romp through the woods and up and down mountains in a controlled and safe manner, and to the thousands of volunteers without whom none of these races would happen. It's time for me to refocus a bit and start repaying some of those debts.

So congratulations to Zeke. From the sounds of it, he'll be claiming his ticket to the Big Dance next June. I think he'll go well there. And congratulations also to everyone who got the job done on Saturday, or indeed to those who had the sense to call it quits when the shivering kicked in. It was a very tough day to be running at 10,000 feet.

The Steamboat 50 is a great race and Fred puts on a really fun event (the post-race beer and pizza party is worth the price of entry alone), but Fred, next time I e-mail you begging for a late entry, please tell me to go take a hike. Or better yet, tell me to come out and volunteer!

Write-up in the local paper.

Splits:

Storm Peak (6.4): 1:07....................Finish (50.6): 7:26:30 (40)
Long Lake (13.4): 2:04 (57)............. Storm Peak (44.2): 6:46 (69)
Base Camp (18.5): 2:45 (41)............. Long Lake (37.2): 5:37 (49)
Dumont (22.3): 3:21 (36).................. Base Camp (32.1): 4:48 (37)
Rabbit Ears (25.3): 3:52 (31) ............ Dumont (28.3): 4:11 (19)

Week Ending September 11

2011-09-13T14:47:00.000-07:00

Mon - 7.5 miles (1,800') easy. Horsetooth summit via hiking trail - then Wathan - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home.

Tues - 10 miles (2,000') easy with Mike E. 38e - Bluesky - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Rock - Soderberg - home. Beautiful sunrise.

Weds - 4.5 miles (700') easy. Falls loop.

Thurs - 10.5 miles (1,200') progression. Bluesky out and back via Indian Summer. Early a.m. with Eric B. Out easy and then tempo over last four from Rim Rock back to the TH.

Fri - 4.5 miles (700') easy. Falls loop.

Sat - 10.5 miles (2,000') easy w/Slush, Sarah, Nicole and Alex. Sunrise from top of Arthurs. Valley - Arthurs TH - Arthurs Rock trail to summit - Howard - Mill Creek Link - Valley - Bluesky.

Sun - 12.5 miles (4,500') easy w/Dakota and Ryan to top of McHenrys from Glacier Gorge TH.

Total: 60 miles (12,900')

Nice easy week enjoying some miles with friends.

Got the Hardrock appo in the mail this week, so we'll see if that bears any fruit come December. Got a feeling that it will be a pretty crowded lottery for next year's race, so I'm definitely not banking on getting picked, but with (I think) four tickets in the lottery my chances are decent. If no Hardrock, then it's on to plan B.

Starting to think a bit about winter races, and the marathon once again seems somewhat appealing. Training to run on roads makes me feel like a 'real' runner, not just a long distance mountain jogger, and while I definitely prefer being the latter, I also enjoy feeling fast (all things of course being relative). I figure that if I can go under 2:30, then I'll finally have the marathon distance expunged from my system and can then go about jogging in peace. New Orleans again might be an option in February, but I guess it would be nice to run a race where I'm more likely to have company to work with. Running solo at New Orleans for 21 miles certainly didn't help my cause. That would probably mean having to run one of the bigger spring marathons, so I guess we'll see on that.

Also looking at the North Face 50 in December, but that would require some pretty focused training to get in shape and I'm just not sure I'm ready for all that yet. I figure I've got until October to make a decision about whether or not I want to commit to the training.

Awesome to see so many friends kicking tail in Albania and The Netherlands this last weekend. Andy Henshaw is a road running monster, and wow, Max King World Mountain Running Champion. Love it.

McHenry's Peak RMNP

2011-09-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

McHenry's. All photos: Burch

It's peak-bagging season up here in the Rockies, and on tap for yesterday was McHenry's Peak (13,327'), with the option for the three other summits that surround and form the Black Lake basin: Arrowhead (12,387'), Chiefs Head (13,579') and Spearhead (12,575').

Macca from Black Lake

Spearhead

The four peaks form part of the headwall of the iconic Glacier Gorge, a rift that lies at the heart of Rocky Mountain National Park. I am yet to summit all ten peaks that make up the full Glacier Gorge Traverse, but yesterday's jaunt up perhaps the most scenic of them all has me hungry for the full link-up: Flattop, Hallett, Otis, Taylor, Powell, McHenry's, Chief's Head, Pagoda, Longs, and Storm.

I've done the first four in a morning, followed by a descent of Andrew's Glacier, but those first four peaks (all walk-ups) are very much the warm-up for the crux sections between Powell and McHenry's, and between Chief's Head and Pagoda.

For the shot up McHerny's, Dakota, Ryan and I had a perfect morning. We were at the Glacier Gorge trailhead (9,200') just after sunup and on our way running by 6:30. We took the shorter climbers' trail up to Mills Lake and hit Black Lake within an hour.

From Black Lake, it is a short 500 foot hoof to the upper section of Glacier Gorge, which sports climbing faces aplenty, jagged ridgelines in abundance, and burly peaks galore. A true alpine gem. The route past Mills Lake (10,000') and Ribbon Falls by way of Glacier Creek ain't too bad either.

Ribbon Falls

Spearhead from Black Lake.

Once above Black Lake, the route hits open tundra with some pretty heavy willow action in and around the drainage. There are routes through the willows by way of game trail and open rock slab, but wrong turns will have you tangled up pretty quick - as I found out coming back.

Stoneman behind Burch and I, with SE Ridge of McHenrys to the right.

Our route took us by way of Stoneman Pass, named after the phallic rock formation that sits at the pass, and then up the south face of McHenry's, which involved about 1,000 feet of class three climbing on pretty solid talus with some class four stuff thrown in depending on route. The views from the summit were, quite simply, astounding. The high points of the Glacier Gorge traverse are nearly all visible from the top, as are the mounds of the mighty Mummies. Two classic and brutal Rocky Mountain traverses in one shot. In fact, just about every peak in the park is visible from the top. Phenomenal.

Given the panorama, the three of us spent a fair bit of time at the top picking out peaks and dreaming of future routes. I was under strict orders to be home by 1:00, so we had to forgo the three heads (Chief, Arrow, Spear), but the single summit was reward enough.

Picking out Peaks.

Fortnight Ending September 4

2011-09-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

Mon - 6 miles easy to Les Bois.

Tues - 6 miles easy to Les Bois.

Weds - Off.

Thurs - 4 miles easy w/Matt, Dakota, and Bryon.

Fri - 90 miles (30,000'). UTMB to Trient.

Sat - As Friday

Sun - Off

Total: 106 miles (30,000')

Mon - Off

Tues - 3.5 miles (800') easy. Social run and beers with the Fort Collins Trail Runners.

Weds - Off

Thurs - 8 miles (1,000') easy with Slush, Sarah and Brian S. Towers - Stout - Sawmill - Loggers - Mill Creek - Arthurs - Valley - Soderberg. It felt so good to be back running at Horsetooth with my Thursday morning crew - it's been too long. We were out and up high in time to see the sunrise over the eastern plains and above the reservoir; it was truly spectacular. The Alps are cool and everything, but (cliche alert) there really is no place like home. Running in familiar places with good friends is fantastic for the soul, I found out today.
---------------------------------------------------
January: 440.5 miles (45,850')
February: 304.5 miles (39,200')
March: 469.5 miles (67,100')
April: 427 (62,000')
May: 509.5 (92,500')
June: 323 (54,900')
July: 303.5 (79,700)
August: 297.5 (70,000')

Total: 3,075 miles (511,350')
Avg: 384 miles (63,918')
---------------------------------------------------
Fri - Off

Sat - 9 miles (1,500') easy. To top of Horsetooth via Hiking Trail and back via Audra/Southridge, then 2 miles hiking with Alistair and Stella to waterfall and back.

Sun - 3.5 miles (1,000') hiking with the family to Gem Lake.

Total: 24 miles (4,300')

Considering how physically defeated I felt at the top of Col Forclaz some 85-90 miles into UTMB, I was pretty surprised to wake up Sunday morning able to walk with relative ease. It's still a little hard for me to believe that I dropped so close to the finish, but that's where it unraveled for me, and so it goes. It's been nice this last week to get out and run as and when the mood dictates. That's how I see the rest of my year going.

Moving right along. So a couple of dates have been finalized for December running fun in The Fort. The Chubster is set for Dec 10, while the year-end Towers finale will happen the following Thursday on Dec 15.

For anyone in the Laramie area on the weekend of October 8, the Silent Trails Memorial race will be taking place then. This is an awesome race in a beautiful location for a very reasonable price ($20). The event is held in remembrance of the 8 University of Wyoming cross country runners killed by a drunk driver on Hwy 287 while on their way to a cross country meet in 2001. The trail running community up in Laramie is very close knit and this is a very special event for everyone involved. This year is the tenth anniversary of the accident (and the race) so it would be great to see as many runners as possible from the local area out supporting.

Hardrock applications went live recently.

I am hearing on the wires that the folks who now own the Leadville 100 will be looking to bolster their field for next year. Considering they are going up against UTMB, I would have to assume that part of the strategy will be a cash purse. If so, I'd be interested to see what kind of field they can put together. Having never raced it, I know I'd be tempted. Leadville has long had the name recognition, especially since The Book was published, but has never really attracted that strong of a field. Not quite sure why. I have also heard that a stretch of singletrack is being constructed to alleviate the nastiness of running to and from the turnaround at Winfield on that horrendously dusty stretch of forest road.

Really been enjoying the cooler weather here in Colorado the last week or so. I heard that the snow was flying up at Cameron Pass a few days ago. Won't be long now until the high country gets shut down for the season. Got to make the most of the next few weeks.

UTMB Race Report

2011-08-31T10:50:00.000-07:00

The Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc is an incredible event, beyond any scale I have witnessed at any other trail gathering, and well beyond that of most big city marathons. Rather than try to capture the atmosphere myself, I thought I'd snatch a couple of paragraphs from Adam Campbell who I thought caught the mood well in his recent blog post about his CCC (100k) second place finish.

It is not a pristine mountain experience, but rather, it's a spectacle of the sport of mountain ultra running. I happen to like this aspect of the race. For a sport that is often niche and very grassroots and an activity that I spent a vast majority of my time doing alone, almost everything about the race is an over-the top, at times kitschy, experience. A true celebratory event.

All week long, the town of Chamonix is abuzz with runners nervously and anxiously waiting around, strolling the cobble-stoned streets, their necks kinked up at the peaks and glaciers that loom over town, eating carb heavy foods, whispering rumours about the weather and course changes, debating who will win, wondering whether they have done enough training and if their bodies and minds are up to the task, comparing gear choices and buying the latest and lightest gear options available at every shop in town. As all the best mountain ultra runners from across 62 countries descended upon Chamonix for that last week in August, it became the hub of world mountain ultra running.

Once the races kick off on Monday, the town is awash in the cacophony of the crackly voice of the race announcer and overly dramatic canned music blaring over the main square and a nervous energy permeates the crowds. The streets are lined with sponsor laden barricades, and big screen TVs, spread across town, play moments of the race on repeat, or show live splits of races underway, as crowds gather around, mesmerised by the self-induced suffering that is happening on the trails and peaks around them.

So there is a lot of anticipation as the week builds toward the big Friday races, with the CCC starting in the morning from Courmayeur on the other side of the mountain and UTMB in the evening from Chamonix. As Adam indicates, there was a lot of gear-related talk (water proof gloves were a particularly fond topic of conversation), some last minute scrambling to shave grams, in addition to media stuff, so things were kept pretty busy as we moved toward Friday.

Team PI Europe/USA

As race day neared and I began to get a little more thoughtful about the race, I found that I was in a pretty neutral emotional state about it, not really wanting to give it too much mental energy. I wanted to run well, sure, but was really not too nervous or anxious about anything. Physically I felt okay. A sore right ankle and achilles tendon, but nothing too far out of the ordinary. I wasn't expecting or hoping for any particular goal, so paid no attention to splits from previous years. I thought a sub-24 hour run and top-ten finish would be more than satisfying, and I had every intention of easing into the race slowly. After learning of the delayed start and shortened course due to the fast and heavy storm coming over the Col du Bonhomme I tried to grab an afternoon nap. Mostly I just lay in bed with the shutters closed, but I may have snagged 20 minutes' sleep.

The wait for the 11:30 start was a long one, but once we got there we were finally in the moment.

It is awesome to look around in the rain and see so many friends and amazingly talented athletes. As cheeseball as the production is, I am really getting into the mood as we await the countdown. Broad grins, lots of hugs and just a bit of shivering. It feels like we're heading off on an adventure.

The start isn't as fast and mad as I was expecting, but there must be 40 to 50 people who get out in front of me, striding early with the energy from the crowds. I slot in with Nerea Martinez, the eventual second place woman, for much of the run to Les Houches, also yo-yoing with Tyoushi Kaburaki, the metronome-like veteran from Japan. I pick up a few places on the way up the first climb from Les Houches in the still steady rain and now patchy fog. I exchange places with Hal and Jez on this section, although I go solo on the long, slippery and foggy descent into St. Gervais.

Up to this point, and despite the rain, I haven't been feeling particularly cold, so I am managing just fine with a light jacket, light gloves and a hat. Thing about waterproof gloves is that they stay wet if water gets in them. Anyway, I hustle through St Gervais after a quick first glance at French aid station fare and a couple shots of coke. According to a guy reading off race positions coming out of the aid station, I am in 23rd or so.

Running out of town, I hook up with a Scottish (I think) Salomon runner and Jez. Seems like decent company for the pouring rain we are all dealing with. By Les Contamines, we catch up to Scott Jurek and he fills me in with a few of the goings on up front, and also the unfortunate news that Joe has twisted his ankle and will likely have to drop. At Les Contamines I spend a couple of minutes unloading grit from my shoes and reloading on gels and Power to Go trail mix with the help of my brother, Matt.

Heading up the valley from Les Contamines, we pass through some small villages and I pass Lizzy Hawker, the lead female, in addition to Hal and some others in the dark of night on a steep doubletrack section of the climb. We hit the small village of La Balme, fuel up, and then begin the serious climbing up the narrowing and increasingly craggy valley towards the Col Du Bonhomme. I pass by Kaburaki as the crag starts and fall in behind the Scots runner, with Scotty J a few strokes behind. We ascend quickly in this order over a skiff of snow to the top of the long 5,600' ascent that began in St. Gervais. At the pass I am with Scott and Karburaki and we run somewhat cautiously in Indian file all the way into Les Chapieux, some 3,300' below.

At Les Chapieux, I check in with Linus from the Euro PI crew and get encouragement from Scott Jamie's wife Nicole. There is a big fire burning at the aid station, so I assume it's pretty cold. I don't really feel it however, as my internal furnace is burning well. After a quick bag check, where they make sure I have a phone, I head out on my way.

On the in-between-graded road out of Chapieux toward Col della Seigne, the Jurker and I assume a pretty strong pace, leaving Kaburaki behind and catching runners in front. Apparently we are running in 16th and 17th and we both seem to feel pretty good about things. Scott takes off on me a bit as we begin the steep two track stuff up to the singletrack that will snake us quickly to the top.

I watch and listen-in a bit as Scott strikes up a conversation with an English speaker in front, but I can't make out who it is. As I go by I realize it's Geoff, which is a major bummer. We chat briefly and then continue with the head-down grunt. Geoff wishes me well. I go by Scott and a couple of others by the top of the pass - a solid but not brutal 3,300' climb - and see that Kaburaki is sitting a few hundred meters behind. Day breaks as we approach the pass and pour into Italy. The hues from the early light on the huge glaciated faces surrounding us are incredible.

While my legs haven't fired that well through the damp and cold of the night, the fact that I've made it through feeling like I'm still on course for a finish is a huge boost. Previously, I had been going back and forth in my mind about how much I really wanted to do this, how much I wanted to get it done. The three hours of heavy rain was a tough way to begin the race, especially beginning at 11:30 at night, but once committed there is nothing to do but accept your fate and move forward. You fight the doubts off, tuck them away and get on with it, running at all opportunities and never dawdling.

Having passed a couple of guys right near the summit, I decide to float the early descent in an attempt to earn some running space behind. I want to run the scenic section to Courmayeur around the Arete Du Mont Favre at a comfortable and unhurried pace.

I drop the 1,600 feet to Lac Combal at a good clip, see Kim Gaylord at the aid and then drop quickly into a strong hike gear for the remount to the stunning Arete du Mont Favre, where the aid station tent looks like it's ready to set sail. The view down Val Feret is gorgeous in the early light, but the running distance it represents is more than a little intimidating.

Shot from both ends coming into Courmayeur.

Cruiser, cruiser to Col Checrouit and then easy on the bomber, but tight descent into Courmayeur, where I arrive in a reported 11th or 12th place. My brother has all my gear laid out on a bench as I arrive, and we go to work on the night-to-day transition. Shoes and socks off, new ones on; jacket, hat, gloves and manpris off; race bib reattached; cap and sunglasses on; gel and Power 2 Go resupplied; and I'm off.

Courmayeur Pit Stop

I decide to run most of the way out of Courmayeur up the steep roads leading to the Bertonne trailhead. And then I drop back to the powerhike. It feels slow. I pass a few hikers and then catch sight of a racer near the top. We come into the summit aid station together, and also leave together. We then proceed to yo-yo at what feels like an up-tempo 'I want to drop you' pace. Back and forth for a few miles. He puts time on me on the downhill rollers and I proceed to make it back with interest as we roll upward. This continues for five miles out to the next aid at the Refugio Bonatti, after which my companion assumes a spot a few hundred meters behind. Right before Bonatti, we pass an ailing Salomon runner, which I figure puts me in tenth place. I am happy to be running in the top ten halfway into the race, while also still feeling decent.

The choppers are whizzing around by this point, steaming up and down the valley getting what looks to be some awesome footage. I get to Arnuva in quick order, enjoying the buffed out sidehill trail and the short, sharp drop down to the valley floor. The Grand Col Feret awaits, so I load up with some bread, three 'goblets' of coke, and some dried meats.

The 2,500' punch up the Grand Col to the course's high point is steep, but I still feel like there is some conviction to my hiking. I am, as Darcy likes to say, hiking with purpose. Looking down, I see Kaburaki about 20 minutes back. The metronome just keeps ticking. At the top, I take some time to banter with the hardy medical and timing volunteers, taking in the breathtaking views. My clumsy French has been terrible the whole trip, but up here on Grand Col Feret I find the fluency and clarity I once enjoyed. I learn that the guy in ninth isn't looking so good and that others are not far ahead. I start wondering if I can score a top-five finish.

I don't pick up anyone on the big descent into Switzerland to the small village of Feret but as I pull into town, a familiar French voice tells me to 'run like an animal.' It's Jean Yves, a local favorite at Sierre-Zinal who I ran with for a good section during that race in the Val d'Anniviers, on the other side of the Rhone Valley and a few more valleys off to the east. He says he's had enough and just like that I move up to ninth.

It's just a short bop over to La Fouly where my brother tries to fix me up a bit and informs me that the next guy is ten minutes or so ahead. I get a nice boost from seeing my parents, brother and nephews and then re-descend into the ultra vortex as I make my way out of town to run alongside the river.

I can sense that my legs are feeling pretty tired by this point, but I also know that the finish line is closer in front than the start line is behind. As tired as my legs feel, I still have good coordination (having yet to fall) and I can run at a good clip on both the rolling ups and rolling downs. A small climb up to Champex and then two more tough climbs over Bovine and Catogne and we're on the Chamonix Valley Express to the finish, I tell myself.

The running is good out of La Fouly, some of the easiest of the entire run in fact. Just a gentle roll down the valley, one short climb and then more descent into the chocolate box Swiss town of Praz de Fort from where I can see a few high rise tourist accommodations sitting on the edge of the high valley that Champex sits at the end of. The route up to Champex' high valley hideout looks decent enough. It will be a hiker for sure, but hiking seems like a nice option after the last 20km of uninterrupted running and 4,700 feet of descending from the top of the Grand Col Feret.

Praz de Fort

The hike up is steady, if not fast, and I opt not to run a few of the sections where I know I should be breaking out the shuffle. The atmosphere is lively in Champex and the big aid tent appears to be a free for all when compared to some of the militantly officiated aid stations from earlier on the course. No one seems to care that my brother, Linus (from Pearl) and my parents are all attending to me. The rules are pretty clear that only one person is supposed to interact with the runner. I express my concern, but Linus tells me they don't care. All the while, the jolly announcer banters on about nothing in particular. People are too damn cheerful, so I go about my business and then get the hell out of dodge.

Linus accompanies me around the paved lake trail. I desperately want to get out of town so I can continue my day of solitude. I'm excited about the climb up Bovine as I know it means I can hike without guilt. I can feel that my legs are still reeling a bit from the long descent from Grand Col Feret.

The route out of town veers left onto hardpack doubletrack and I look around guessing which drainage is going to be my route up Bovine. I know the left turn will come soon, so I feel a bit weird about the continued descent. Two miles later and I run into Mike Wolfe, just as we are getting ready to hang a right onto a ribbon of singletrack. He drops the bomb and explains that we have been rerouted ... to Martigny. I know exactly what that means because I traveled by way of Martigny when arriving in Chamonix. It means a huge descent followed by a huge climb. He tells me it's a 6k detour and an additional 4,000 feet of climbing and descending. My heart sinks.

The descent into the village we hit before Martigny is interminably steep and I am lightfooting at a ridiculously slow pace all the while grumbling and firing daggers. I can see a big vineyard all the way on the other side of the valley thousands of feet below. It looks so far off, and yet I know we'll be climbing back up it. The weather heats up as I descend into the valley and I feel just miserable. One flick of the switch and I go from being driven with a finish line in sight to being defeated with no end in sight. It's taking way too long to get to the bottom of the valley.

I finally get there and spill into town, desperately looking for somewhere to fill up my long-empty bottle. I find a fountain and whisper some words of thanks. I cross under a main road and finally the descent is over. A French runner - Patrick - appears from nowhere and overtakes me. I let him go as we begin to climb the switchbacked road servicing the vineyard. The purple grapes look good, kind of. I look back. Kaburaki, of course. We hit some singletrack and roll a ridge for a while. I'm confused, knowing that we haven't climbed even close to the advertized 4,000 feet; 2,000' tops.

And then we start descending and I catch back up to Patrick and pass, regaining my position in eighth. Salomon team manager Greg Vollet is attending to one of the guys from his stable of runners. I think it's the Scot that I was running with early in the race, but I'm not sure. He looks to be in a very bad place. I move up into seventh. And then we drop into an aid station and confusion reigns. I have absolutely no idea where I am, but vainly hope that it might be Trient. No such luck. I am told that we're in Martigny and that we'll be climbing 4,000 feet up to Col Forclaz to get to Trient and back on course. The news just about kills me. I quickly dismiss thoughts of stopping but take on board a very negative frame of mind, becoming one of those obnoxious ultrarunners that deserves to be put down.

Ugh!

The road out of town is incredibly steep, and then it gets steeper and steeper and, well, you get the picture. We criss-cross the road that leads cars up to the col, passing through small villages, back yards, farmers' fields all on very steep trail. My pace has dropped to somewhere in the realm of pathetic, and when Kaburaki finally goes by me, I am completely emotionless. Patrick, too, is long gone. My legs are now killing me and I start thinking about how on earth I am going to get myself out of this predicament. Thoughts of dropping are now taken seriously and I have trouble fighting them off. I am in abject misery and I just want it to be over. I can barely move now and the pass still seems like it's an eternity away. This is easily the most miserable I have ever been during the course of an ultra.

Three hours after leaving Champex, I finally gain the pass and rejoin the course. It is now cold and I stop to sit down for a few minutes. I tell people that I am done and that I just need to get the hell out of there. Of course, they try to talk me out of it but there is nobody there that I know and am prepared to listen to. I start shivering uncontrollably and I know that I'm running out of time. I try to walk, but my legs refuse. They tell me it's just 600 feet and 3k down to Trient and that I can collect myself there. Some bloke tells me it takes him 10 minutes usually to run down to Trient. I laugh at how irrelevant this piece of information is to me. Three downhill kilometers right now might as well be a full blown mountain marathon. After another failed attempt to walk and more violent shivers, I plead with a volunteer to drive me down to Trient. I am defeated in every sense; mentally, physically and emotionally.

They take care of me in Trient, massaging my tight, torn-up quads. I shiver and shiver some more before the warm blankets raise my body temperature. My race bracelet is cut and my parents drive me back to Chamonix.

According to the new Highgear Axio HR watch that Scotty was wearing, the total climb was in the 35,000 foot range. And then according to a Garmin-clad runner I chatted to at the finish, the route ended up being about 180km long (111 miles). How accurate these readings are I don't know, but the elevation change sounds about right, and I have to say that the reroute felt way longer than the advertized 6km.

So, yeah, it was a tough race, but no tougher than other mountain 100s I have done. I would put it up there with Wasatch and Hardrock. A little tougher than Wasatch, but certainly no tougher than Hardrock.

However, as similar as the Hardrock and UTMB elevation profiles are, they are in fact very different races. Both races offer unique insight into their respective mountain environments and communities; however, at Hardrock you get the sense that you are running in and engaging with the natural environment whereas at UTMB it feels more like you are running over the land, while avoiding the harsher realities of the mountain. Being such a popular route, the UTMB trail is extraordinarily well defined and at no point feels particularly wild or remote. The mountains are simply too developed.

Nowhere are the differences between the two races more apparent than in the way they are directed. At Hardrock, the runner is made explicitly aware of the conditions they can expect to encounter and told to prepare accordingly, but not babied with gear requirements and overly strict rules and regulations. The relationship between organization and runner at Hardrock feels like that between two adults. At UTMB it feels more like a relationship between parent and child. Can I pack surgical gloves as my waterproof gloves? Will they find out, and if they do, will they care and will they punish me? To think that Dale would delay the start of Hardrock because of a storm is borderline preposterous.

I may not get into Hardrock next year because the field is limited to 140 runners, but I am okay with that. We need to keep our wilderness areas wild, and if that means strict caps for races in remote areas, then so be it. The Alps are stunning, no question, but as Dakota likes to say, they 'shit all over their mountains' over there, or certainly that was the case in the areas we visited. The access afforded by cable cars, train lines, roads and mega-trails comes at the severe detriment of the mountain wilderness experience.

I am sure I will be back to UTMB, given the opportunity. I mean how can I not feel like I have unfinished business there? And after all, it is such a grand celebration of our sport, but at the same time I feel that I would like to visit the grassroots flip side of European mountain ultrarunning before I go back to UTMB - maybe try to find something a little more organic.

Any suggestions?

UTMB: DNF

2011-08-28T01:38:00.000-07:00

I dropped out of the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc last night at Trient. The decision wasn't difficult as I couldn't walk, let alone run. Needless to say, I am disappointed. I pride myself on being able to grind all day long, but for some reason I just couldn't keep going last night.

I am still processing my feelings about the run, the race and the organization, but before I get to some of the major shortcomings of this race, I'd first like to say how impressed I am with the guys at the front of the pack yesterday. They are clearly in a different class right now and supported by far and away the best crews in the business. I really do not think there are enough superlatives in the English language to explain how impressive Kilian is in the mountains and for that matter as a person in general.

I'd also like to congratulate teammate Darcy Africa on her huge third-place finish, Mike Foote on his 11th, my young buddy Nick Pedatella for his 14-place finish, and to teammate Scott Jaime for grinding out yet another result. Oh, and not forgetting Mike Wolfe, who I passed on the way down to Martigny and who I was certain would drop, but who still managed to grind out a finish. You guys are awesome and I'm proud to call all of you friends.

Now with regards to the race - and I'm not trying to make excuses here - but I had no idea (not even an inkling) that the course had been changed until I was actually on the re-route (some 125 kilometers in). Coming out of Champex, I was mentally prepared for the 700 meter (2,300 foot) climb up Bovine. I had been climbing well all day and was enjoying the ascents way more than the descents. Nonetheless, I was counting the climbs down. Bovine was to be the second-to-last climb and mentally I had already finished the race coming out of Champex - there was no doubt in my mind as to whether or not I would finish, it was just a matter of working through the remaining hours and climbs.

And then, oddly, I started descending and descending some more all the while waiting for the turn up to Bovine pass. Two miles out of Champex I passed a very pissed off Mike Wolfe. He had learned from his crew at Champex that the race organizers had tacked on the extra distance, climb and descent, and he passed that information on to me. The decision had been made in the wee hours of the morning some twelve (12) hours earlier. According to a post-race interview with Kilian, the Salomon guys knew as the sun was coming up over Col de La Seigne. Why the race organization weren't telling people at Courmayeur is a mystery to me. At Trient, where I dropped, they told me that I had been sent a text informing me of the change! Really?

Strange as it may seem, I am not in the habit of checking my messages when racing.

So anyway, we descended the 3,500 feet down into some village outside of Martigny, climbed another, probably, 1,000 feet and then descended 500 more into the Martigny aid station. I hadn't had water in probably an hour and the sun was burning. I was prepared nutrition and water wise for a one-hour climb to a high, cool pass, not for a two-hour descent into a steamy valley. When they told me that I would have to climb a bonus 3,600 feet to get back on course I was beyond pissed off. I essentially checked out of the race there and then. Nonetheless I hoofed it up to the pass going back and forth in my mind as to what I should do. When I finally did make it up to the pass another 90 minutes later I had lost the mental fortitude to keep my legs from seizing up and the decision to drop was an easy one. What should have been an hour and a half to Trient ended up being closer to three and a half hours, yet I left Champex unaware of that.

As anyone who has raced an endurance event knows, especially one as demanding as a mountain 100-miler, there is a very strong connection between the performance of the mind and the performance of the body. A huge part of being successful in completing these events is an understanding of what lies in front of you. Your mind prepares your body, and your body delivers an output that is sustainable for the mileage and elevation change that remains. If the mind is checked out, the body follows. The unannounced Martigny re-route was just too big of a curveball for me and I lost my mental edge. Had race officials told me that morning in Courmayeur I could have made the necessary mental preparations and I am almost certain that I would have finished.

I am sure that my ramblings here sound like excuses, and I guess they are, but they are at least honest - if maybe a bit raw. I lost the mental battle and my race was over. The race organization did a very poor job in communicating information to runners.

It's funny the juxtaposition between the immense amount of organization that goes into ensuring that there are helicopters and endless video cameras on course to cover the UTMB event and yet they cannot get even the simplest of messages out to runners on course. I come away from this experience with a very mixed bag of emotions. The event is impressive, sure, but behind the grandeur they seem to have lost sight of the very basic elements of putting on a successful race. I could go on, but I won't.

I think if I ever do get to lap Mont Blanc, it will be alone with my kids and wife. We will decide what we want to carry. We will pick a start time and a route. And then we will stick to it.

UTMB

2011-08-25T08:43:00.001-07:00

Fever pitch over here in Chamonix. Check-in: done; drug test: passed; logistics: just about figured out. Time to run!

Fortnight Ending August 14

2011-08-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

Mon - 8.5 miles (1,800') easy with Ryan. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Sawmill - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg.

Tues - 5 miles track. 2.5 mile w-u, then 1,000 open, followed by 6 x 200: 3:16, 31 (low), 32 (high), 33 (high), 33 (low), 33 (mid), 31 (high). Mile c-d. 200s are so far out of my comfort zone right now, these were almost comical. Good to get the turnover in, I guess.

Weds - 0 miles. Travel day to Geneva.

Thurs - 9 (ish) miles (2,200'). Ran along the river from Zinal with Dakota and Scott to a stout climb above the Zinal Valley, which offered majestic views of the Zinal Glacier and the big local peaks: Dent Blanche, Bossu, Pointe Zinal, Weisshorn (4,506m, 4th highest peak in Europe) and other awesomeness. Descended with Scott to the base of the glacier, then back.

Friday - 4 miles (1,500'). Climbed to the 3k-to-go point of the Sierre-Zinal course and back down.

Saturday - 4 miles (500') easy. Ran alongside the river.

Sunday - 20 miles (7,200'). Sierre-Zinal race.

Total: 51 miles (13,000')

Mon - Off

Tues - Off

Weds - 4 miles (700') hiking. A test hike up toward La Flegere after tweaking my knee at Sierre-Zinal. Felt pretty good so decided that Thursday I would resume with some light running.

Thurs - 11 miles easy with Scott. Out and back from Chamonix to Les Houches on lightly rolling double track. Knee felt good, so gave myself the green light for some vertical exploring.

Fri - 10 miles (2,000'). Up to Refugio Elisabetta near Col de La Seigne and then back to Courmayeur with a stop off for lunch at Jacko's refugio just above Courmayeur. Huge pasta/grilled veggie feed followed by a gut wrenching 2,500'/2 mile drop into town. Fun group including Topher and Kim Gaylord (and relatives), Scott J & Scott J, Krissy M, Roch & Cat Horton. Awesome, awesome views of the valley, passes and peaks from the Arete Mont Favre.

Sat - 10 miles (6,000'). Met up with Kilian, Dakota and two others at Les Houches for a run up Mont Blanc from the valley floor. At least that was their plan, I turned at 6k' climbing (9k' elevation), thinking the full 12.5k' up and down might be a bit much a week out from the race. More awesome views of the Chamonix Valley from my turnaround point. Legs felt like bricks.

Sun - 9 miles (2,700'). With Adam Campbell and Radio Joe G FM up Mont Vert to the Mer de Glace Glacier, with an awesome cruise back down. Legs felt way better today than yesterday.

Total: 44 miles (11,400')

It has been a fantastic trip to Switzerland/France/Italy so far. The mountains and valleys have definitely not disappointed, while the food and general ambiance has been equally as great. I feel like a very lucky boy right now and I owe my wife dearly.

The running, to be honest, has not been that great. Sierre-Zinal was a pretty big disappointment, and my continued lack of pep since then has been annoying. Until today, I have been pretty gloomy about my chances at UTMB. However, I got out for a good run with Joe and Adam this morning and felt a little more like my usual self, so that has perked my confidence a bit. US runners have started to file in, so there has been a definite buzz the last couple of days, which has also helped get my mind into race mode. I'm not expecting great things for Friday/Saturday, but I am at least back to thinking that I can fight for a top-10 spot, which - all things considered - is a result I would definitely be happy with.

Not much left to do now. My parents arrive tomorrow and my brother and nephews a few days later, so I'll just do some light jogging and catch up with the family before getting ready for one last bout of extended suffering before I close it down for the season.

Sierre-Zinal

2011-08-17T02:11:00.000-07:00

Sierre-Zinal was a unique and highly enjoyable experience. The extended weekend that is. The race itself was a big old sufferfest, but fun and eye opening nonetheless.

In the days leading up to the race we had been staying in Zinal at the top of the valley (Val d'Anniviers) and so on the morning of the race we were bussed down for the 9am start near Sierre in the Rhone Valley. It was noticeably warmer in Sierre. The bus got us there well over an hour early, so the North American contingent set up camp in the shade and hung around. After a light jog with half an hour to go, it was time to strip down and file over to the start. I assumed a position six or seven rows back, safe in the knowledge that I belonged no closer to the start line on this particular day.

I knew that I had an immediate and almost guaranteed hour of suffering ahead, so I was unusually nervous as the seconds ticked down. Pablo shot the gun and we were off. Shoulders, elbows, a tight turn or two, a couple of trips and finally I found some space to open my stride. A huge lead pack was ahead, with a solitary Glenn Randall in his now customary early-race position: way off the front.

On the opening half mile section of road climbing, I was pacing with the lead two or three women and by the turn onto the trail I would guess that I was running in a position in the mid-20s. And then boom, we were on the steeps and gaining vertical quickly. A mile in and there were still a ton of guys around me. Dakota and Scott were a few meters ahead in a crowd of guys and looking back there were tens of guys waiting to pounce. This was pretty intense, and it hurt.

I don't think I've ever experienced the kind of jostling that I did during Sierre-Zinal. Normally in US trail races, position is established early and there tends to be very little back and forth. At Sierre-Zinal, if you take your foot off the gas for an instant in those early miles hordes of runners go streaming by.

About a half hour into the run, I was gaining familiarity with my partners in pain. There was the guy in the black unitarde who insisted on running absolutely everything. He would get passed by us hikers on the ridiculously steep stuff, and then would pass back ever so slowly on the just plain steep stuff before being buried on the mellower stuff. There was the burly dude in the Spanish colors who was as powerful a hiker as I think I've ever seen, but again a terrible shallower hill runner. There was the old-man Colombian who chugged along in his one and only short-step gear for the whole climb - steady - but looked like he might have been quite a runner back in the day.

I went by Scott about halfway up the climb and locked my sites on Dakota's white and orange singlet. We were moving at pretty much exactly the same (slow) pace. I would try everything to speed up the rate at which I was covering ground. I tried periods where I would run everything regardless of grade, but the minimal increase in speed was not worth the massive uptick in effort; I copied guys around me by dropping into the ugly looking Euro hike: hands on knees, pushing off with each stroke, but didn't like the way that constricted my air flow; so mostly I just focused on big strides, strong push-offs and an angled (rather than bent) forward lean. I felt like a complete novice. And I was.

If I had to guess, I would say that I gave up 10 spots by the top of the climb. I almost immediately dropped the pack I was with as we transitioned into a period of smoother ridge running on a mix of buff trail and hardpack road. At the Chandolin aid station, I stopped for some much needed fluids, popped a gel and got back on track with the pack of three that I was now working with. Jean-Yves was apparently a local favorite as just about every spectator seemed to know his name, offer him a drink or crack a joke. Andrew Peace, a fellow Brit, was also in tow.

I would find out later at the evening after party that Andrew has held the course record (2:46) for the famous Three Peaks race in Britain since 1983. I told him in a drunken haze that I'd be there next year to take it down. Andy responded with a cold stare and a blunt northern: "no f***in' chance," followed by a wry grin.

Some twists, some turns, into and out of a few gullies and then there on the ridge was the famed Hotel Weisshorn. It looked far away and a good 800 feet above me. I knew it would be roughly 50 minutes from Weisshorn to the finish, so I did a quick watch check. If I could get there in 10 minutes, then I might have a shot at 2:50, but there was no way I was getting up there in 10 minutes. Twenty minutes seemed far more likely, and I now realized that the 3-hour mark would be my goal for the rest of the run. Regardless of place, a sub-3 hour run paid out 80 CHF ($110), which I figured would cover my train ride to Chamonix. That seemed worth fighting for. And then I felt my calf muscles begin to cramp and I was forced to ease off the gas.

I arrived at Weisshorn a thirsty and hurting unit. I stopped briefly to take on fluids and a gel, all the while cursing myself for forgetting to bring electrolyte caps. One more little uphill push and we were essentially on the downhill express to Zinal. A quick watch check: 2:08 low. Scott had informed me the day before that Anna Pichtrova's fastest ever time from Weisshorn to the finish was 50 minutes. That was the year she set the women's course record (2:55) and when she was in 2:31 marathon form. I had a little over 51 minutes to close it out. It was going to be touch and go.

The track from Weisshorn gets pretty rocky in places, so the flow gets chopped up. In addition, there are a ton of 'tourist' runners, who had started four hours earlier, to get around on this section. By and large they would get out of the way in time, but there were a couple of occasions where I was brought to a complete standstill.

Twenty minutes out, I took a dive and almost rolled off down the valley. I got up and promptly ran into a tree. Expletives.

I had seen the last three kilometers of the course a few days earlier and knew they would be majorly hurtful. The course drops 1,500 feet in 1.8 miles, and the first kilometer of that drop is not particularly steep. Just as I hit the turn for the last 3km, I felt major quivers of crampiness down in my calf muscles. I ignored them and blazed Euro style, cutting switchbacks like they didn't exist. I went down on my butt a couple of times, but that didn't really slow me down as my butt was essentially on the ground as I was running anyway. I surfed across the field where I'd inspected the line two days earlier and then began the mega-steep shoot to the finish.

Full-on calf cramps. Aghh. The game was up. There was no way three hours was happening now. I was forced to stop and stretch, hobble, stretch, jog. I crossed the finish line in 3:01 in pretty bad shape and then guzzled. Chatting with Kilian at the fluid station afterwards, I quickly learned that Marco had almost taken down Jonathan Wyatt's course record, but not quite, and that Kilian had had a tough race on 'heavy legs.' I found Dakota, and learned that he'd put seven minutes on me from the top of the climb, overtaking Max King along the way. I was suitably impressed.

The post-race festivities were a blast, and quite honestly the whole experience was a lesson in hospitality, generosity and incredible race management. I have to give a sincere thank you here to Pablo Vigil, who acted as the liaison between the US runners and race management in the months leading up to the race, to Alexadra Jodidio - the amazing and multi-talented athlete coordinator in Zinal - and to Jean-Luc Pont who has been directing Sierre-Zinal since its inception in the early 70s. You guys put on an amazing show.

Right now, I am sitting here in Chamonix three days after the race nursing a bit of a dodgy knee. While it's frustrating to be missing running days in this gorgeous location, I think probably it's a blessing in disguise as Sierre-Zinal is a race that really puts some hurt on you, so recovery time is wise. I'm feeling like I'll be good to go by tomorrow, and so look forward to getting out and covering some of the massive Alpine relief that rises for miles around in every direction.

Kilian has invited us to go run up Mont Blanc with him on Saturday, but as tempting as that sounds, it just seems like a terrible idea. It's 12,000 feet up and, more importantly, 12,000' back down. Dakota is hotter on the idea than I am, but then he's also 16 years younger. Might just go part way and be the wise old man who turns early. But you never know, it's all so tempting right now.

Switzerland and some Sierre-Zinal Interviews

2011-08-13T06:41:00.000-07:00

The last (and only) time I was in Switzerland was during my year abroad in France (many moons ago) as a third-year undergraduate student. And what a waste. We drove straight through without stopping, bee-lining it straight for Germany's Black Forest and the steins that awaited us there. This time around we're doing it up proper.

Scott Jaime and I flew out together on Wednesday, arriving to Geneva early Thursday morning. From the plane we had a stunning view of the Geneva valley with snow-capped Alpine peaks and the mighty Mont Blanc standing out in glorious Technicolor against the bluebird skies to the south. The two hour train ride east up the Rhone Valley was even more remarkable. I thought I had it good in Colorado, but wow, these here Alps are pretty spectacular. Jagged angles, burly ridges, huge glaciers, and dreamy amounts of vertical relief. Hog heaven.

And then we hit Sierre, transferred to a bus, and then another bus as we made our way up the tight and Colorado-esque Valais through immaculate Alpine Swiss villages to Zinal. And wow again. The skyline here is just phenomenal.

Before we had time to close our agape jaws we were being whisked off by our incredibly gracious hosts to a Raclette feast with a jazz ensemble, wine, cold cuts and oozing amounts of deliciously runny cheese from cows that had been feeding off the wildflowers 1,000 feet above us. And there was Young Money Dakota Jones putting away a glass of wine and his fair share of the local produce. That afternoon we were off up into the hills for an entirely too-long run, but what can you do when surrounded by such beauty. Another feeding and then we crashed hard for 13 hours.

Friday has been much the same - savoring views, running gorgeous and incredibly steep trails, eating delicious food and just generally having a wonderful time. I don't want to draw unnecessary comparisons between the US and Europe when it comes to putting on races, but let's just say that Scott, Dakota and I have been feeling astoundingly spoiled and incredibly thankful for the honest and gracious hospitality we have received here. Our Swiss hosts are from a different cut.

Anyway, in the two days that we've been here I've also been able to catch up with some of the other members of 'Equipe USA' on behalf of RunColo.com, including Max King, Joe Gray (coming), Glen Randall, Megan Lund, and Brandy Erholtz. Oh, and Ultra Boys Dakota Jones and Scott Jaime, in addition to a ditto with me.

We race tomorrow and then we'll drink and be merry, before we head south into France to assume residence in Chamonix in search of a couple more weeks of Alpine adventures.

One more thing. Here's a recent interview I did with the guys over at InsideTrail, a new site dedicated to trail racing.

Week Ending August 7

2011-08-07T21:10:00.000-07:00

Mon - AM: 8.5 miles (800') easy. Valley. Bluesky to Arthurs and back.
PM: 4.5 miles (700') easy. Falls.

Tues - Noon: 4.5 miles (700') easy. Falls.
PM: 9 miles track w/ Jane's (ridiculously large) TNT group. 3.5 mile w-u, then 1,200 open (4:00), followed by 12x300 on :55 rest (100 jog): 56, 56, 56, 56, 56, 57, 56, 57, 57, 54, 53, 57. Second week back at the track and feeling down right slow.

Weds - 8.5 miles (800') easy. Valley. Bluesky to Arthurs and back.

Thurs - AM: 11.5 miles (3,600') hill ladder intervals with Slush, Shannon and Jeanne. Pete, Victoria and Crystal were also there doing their own version of the workout. Ahem. Beautiful, clear morning with Pikes visible from the top of Horsetooth.

So anyway, this workout hurts. From the intersection with Soderberg, the drill goes 3 x 1/4 mile (+185' each), 2 x 1/2 (+380'), 1 x 3/4 (+550'), 1 x 1 (+680'), finishing with a top out on Horsetooth Rock. Splits: (2:40, 2:44, 2:45); (5:44, 5:49); (8:59); (11:41 w/8:44 split to 3/4). Each and every interval was slower than when I did the exact same workout in late April, suggesting that I have either lost a step since then (likely as I was at the track or doing mile repeats for months before that), or that I am just generally beat up (most definitely the case). Given the double whammy of little to no speedwork in weeks and recovery from Speedgoat/Hardrock/WS, I guess I should be reasonably happy with the outcome.
PM: 6 miles easy. Social run at Pineridge with FCTR.

Fri - 8.5 miles (1,800'). Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Sawmill - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg.

Sat - 17.5 miles (4,000') with Justin. Soderberg - Horsetooth to just below summit - Westridge - secret trail - Towers - Mill Creek - Howard - Arthurs summit - Arthurs trail - Mill Creek Link - Valley/Bluesky - 38e - home. Ran with the recently arrived UTMB pack from UltrAspire on my back. Filled it with all the crap we'll be required to carry for the race and was hating life. Me and backpacks don't get along when running. Dreading hauling that thing around the Alps in three weeks time. What a royal pain in the arse. Dragged on the run - blamed it on the pack.

Sun - 6.5 miles (1,400') easy. Soderberg - Spring Creek - Herrington - Stout - Spring Creek - Falls.

Total: 85 miles (13,800')

Not quite sure what to make of this week. I set a goal at the beginning of the week of getting back up to 100 miles while also working in some quality sessions. A cram week, if you will. With UTMB a little less than three weeks away and Sierre-Zinal next weekend, and recovery surely still ongoing I was all over the map.

I had to grind at the track on Tuesday and came away feeling like I had no pop whatsoever, and then I had a pretty miserable hill workout on Thursday morning, followed by a horribly sluggish longer run on Saturday morning. After drinking too much at Alistair's birthday party later in the afternoon, I failed to get up Sunday morning, so the planned second long run of the weekend never happened and I had to settle for an hour later in the day in the small window I was able to negotiate. I almost bagged the run anyway, as I felt like I couldn't be bothered with it. I finally dragged my sorry arse out and ended up feeling as lively as I have all week. Certainly not fresh, but just a hint of pop in the legs which was good enough for just a smidgen of confidence.

Where this leaves me I have no idea. I feel like Sierre-Zinal is going to be a sub-optimal performance, but I'm just not sure quite how ugly it's going to be. If I can get under 2:50, I'll be over the moon, but I think a sub-3 hour run is a more honest appraisal of my current fitness. Of course those goals and numbers probably mean very little to anyone reading this blog, so as a point of reference the winning time is usually in the 2:33-2:37 range (CR: Jonathan Wyatt, 2:29; 2010 winner: Kilian Jornet, 2:37), so the sub-3 goal is not an especially lofty one. A 2:50 looks like it would place me in the 13-18 range overall based on previous results. I'd be happy with that. Oh, and as a further point of reference, the course climbs about 5,000 feet in the first 7-8 miles, rolls for 4-5 miles, pops up another 800 feet in a mile, maybe two, to Hotel Weisshorn and then drops 2,500 feet into Zinal over the last 4.5 miles. Not entirely sure what the footing is going to look like.

Then I have 12 days to get rested for UTMB. Right now, I am feeling like it's going to be a horror show, but in the back of my mind I'm holding out hope that I can pull off one more decent run before I head off into fall hibernation. Time will tell of course, but I just feel like it's been too long since I've undertaken any real training, and my fitness just feels kind of, well, meh. That and I am definitely a bit beaten down right now.

I think probably the best course of action over the next three weeks is to keep the volume really light and focus on a few quality turnover sessions to try and find a bit of a spark. A rested body will benefit me way more than an extra few ounces of fitness. It's a 100-miler so it's just jogging, right?

Inspired by 2010 Hardrock champ Jared Campbell this weekend:

Speedgoat 50k 2011

2011-08-01T20:20:00.000-07:00

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I really don't think there's a 50k in the country that comes close to Karl's wicked Speedgoat in terms of outright brutality. But then I guess you'd expect no less from The Speedy Goat of the Mountains himself.

Consider the facts. The course ascends a total of 11,500 feet, which averages out to 740 ascending/descending feet per mile; there is a total of perhaps two miles of what one might describe as 'flat' running; the running occurs between the elevations of 8,000 feet and 11,000 feet; and finally the underfoot is a mix of skinny game trail, buff trail, off trail, talus trail, dirt service road, snowfield, and jeep trail that ranges from rocky, to washed out, to creek bed. Some have described the course as a little contrived given the obvious emphasis on vertical gain, but seriously, if you want a Hardrock'esque experience in a smaller package then there really is no better option.

This was my second go at Speedgoat after a less-than-stellar performance last year. As last year, Karl was offering $500 for the win, but this year he'd upped the odds by offering an additional $500 for a new course record. Given that I'd run within five minutes of the course record last year on a sub-par day, I figured that if I won I'd likely go under Kevin's 2010 time. So the stage was set for an awesome long weekend away with the family in beautiful Cottonwood Canyon, with the added bonus of possibly paying the August mortgage if I could run well.

From the off, it was Scott Jaime, myself, Joe Grant, Ben Lewis (husband of speedy Beth Lewis), and A.N. Other forming the lead pack on the 500 foot ascent/descent warm up. Almost immediately I felt like I was in for a long day. My breathing was labored, my legs felt heavy and the pace felt slower than last year when Luke Nelson was charging the early ups and Nico Mermoud the early downs.

And then we ground up to Hidden Peak. I was content to drop in behind Scott as I searched for rhythm, and while I never felt particularly good on the Hidden Peak climb, I was at least happy that my breathing had settled in. Joe and Ben were still in close proximity behind as we hit our first snow patches before the major snowfield in Little Cloud Bowl. Humping up a snowfield with Joe in close proximity brought back very familiar memories from just three weeks prior.

Little Cloud snowfield. Ants marching up to the right. All pics: Steve Pero.

At the summit aid, we were still grouped together as a foursome, but it was Joe who took the initiative on the descent to the saddle between Hidden Peak and Baldy. After running some pretty gnarly terrain with Joe last weekend, I was well aware of his levitation powers on technical descents. Indeed, the nastier it gets the higher he levitates, and there was some pretty nasty - although short-lived - stuff off the two summits. I was content to let Joe go, confident that I'd get him back on the climbs where his levitation skills are not quite as powerful.

A line of sight down Little Cottonwood Canyon to the Salt Lake Valley from Hidden Peak.

Down the washed-out jeep road to the ski-lift at 'Larry's Hole,' Joe continued to build his lead which was in the vicinity of two minutes by the time we hit the aid station. And then the mountain wanderer led us up the garden path and we all followed blindly.

A few hundred meters out of the aid station there was a two way split with markings in both directions. Unfortunately there was nobody in attendance to direct us on the right path. Even more unfortunately, none of us saw the flagging for the correct left-hand turn. So up we went in the direction of the Peruvian Tunnel. Twenty minutes and 500 feet of ascent/descent later, after having been shouted back down, we made the correct turn and went about the business of chasing down the runners that had passed by us as we were off previewing future running. All thoughts of a course record were now gone.

We caught a couple of runners on the way up to the ridge above Mineral Basin and then on the creek-bed descent down to Pacific Mine we caught a few more. All the while Joe was in sight a few meters ahead - both of us seemingly content to cruise the descent rather than push to make up time. On the little uphill blip before the gently rolling mile out and back to the Pacific Mine aid I caught and went by Joe and a couple of other runners. The question now was how many were still ahead and by how much? I figured Nick Pedatella would have the lead, so waited patiently for the man in the green shirt to appear on his way back from the aid station.

Nick ran by a good while into the out and back, followed a minute or two later by a couple of other guys, so I figured the win was still possible with half the course and a ton of climbing left to cover. At the aid Roch Horton filled us in on the news from Karl: a grand to the winner regardless of time. Karl's stand-up decision to assume responsibility for the lack of a course marshal or signage at the earlier junction put some serious pep back in my legs.

And we were off to the races.

Joe and Ben were no more than a minute behind me, with Scott maybe a further two minutes back on them. I figured Nick had a five to six minute lead, but also imagined that the news of the doubled purse had mainlined a similar shot of adrenaline into his stride.

The hot, slow grind back up to the Mineral Basin ridge was as torturous as I remembered it from last year. I knew I was putting some time on Joe and Ben, but the longer view points and shoulder checks revealed that it wasn't a lot of time. I really didn't want this one to come down to a downhill race over the last five miles from Hidden Peak so I continued to push on the slow-motion climb up the rocky jeep road.

Back up to the ridge and it seemed like I had put a bit more time on the guys, but to my surprise Nick had apparently grown his lead to eight or nine minutes, according to a couple of estimates from people on course and the aid station volunteers at Larry's Hole.

And then the climb up to Peruvian Tunnel. This was one of the major re-routes, and the one that we had erroneously previewed earlier. Nick was in sight a few hundred feet above on the exceptionally steep hillside. There was no way to tell what it equaled in minutes. As I gained the trail leading up to the tunnel, he was again out of sight. Joe was still in pursuit behind - maybe four minutes back. Up to the tunnel and Nick was still a reported eight minutes ahead. Really? Wow. Clearly he had a thousand-dollar spark in those legs. I had the Peruvian Ridge left to make it back or it was time to throw in the towel.

The Peruvian Ridge, for me, is easily the most scenic part of the Speedgoat course. The knife-edge ridge offers an amazing and unobscured view of the Hidden Peak summit almost 1,000 feet above. However, with 10k of vert already in the legs, the beauty of the surroundings was somewhat lost and quite honestly the sight of the peak so far off in the distance was more than a little demoralizing. But there was the silhouette of Nick on the ridge. That looked more like a four-minute lead than an eight-minute one. Shoulder check. And there's Joe. Fuel.

Peruvian Ridge

I pushed the ridge as hard as I could, running more than I did last year. I knew I was catching Nick, all the while worried that Joe was catching me. By the summit, Nick was just two minutes up with five miles of descent to race. I got some coke and set off on the 3,200 foot drop.

I could see Nick on the traverse to Little Cloud and from the way he was moving I could tell that he was a hurting unit. I knew then that I was going to win the race. I finally passed him at the top of the glissade, where I jumped on my ass and slid and then ran and then shoe skied and then slid again. I took a peek back up Little Cloud when I was firmly on dirt and could see that I'd already put a good chunk of time on Nick. The rest of the trip down was a steady cruise with frequent shoulder checks to make sure the lead was still secure. Karl thrust ten C-Notes into my palm as I crossed the line and just two minutes later Nick crossed with Joe ten seconds behind him.

Despite the slow-motion nature of the race, it was actually quite exciting with someone to chase in front and a constant push from behind. Sitting here now, it seems like it was a lot of fun, but really it was a big old grind fest. The harder the work though, the sweeter the reward.

Thanks to the Speedgoat crew for an awesome day at the races, and congrats to all finishers. This one is no gimme.

Fortnight Ending July 31

2011-07-31T15:20:00.000-07:00

Mon - 7 miles (1,600') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home long.

Tues - AM: 6.5 miles (1,400') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg.
PM: 3.5 miles (600') easy. Reservoir Ridge social run with FCTR.

Weds - Off.

Thurs - 8 miles easy. Social run at Pineridge with FCTR.

Fri - 7 miles (1,600') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home long.

Sat - 31 miles (8,000'). Pingree Loop.

Sun - 6.5 miles (1,400') easy. Soderberg - Spring Creek - Herrington - Stout - Spring Creek - Falls.

Total: 69.5 miles (14,600').

-------

Mon - 6 miles (600') easy. Valley trails.

Tues - 4 miles track w/Jane's (huge) group. Mile, then 4x800 on 1:20 rest. I figured this one was going to be a shock to the system, but knew that I'd have to bite the bullet sooner rather than later to avoid a complete flop at Sierre-Zinal. Eased back in with a low-intensity effort: 5:40, then 2:40-2:43.

Weds - 2.5 miles (500') easy.

Thurs - 6 miles (900') easy with Scott on the Bonneville-Shoreline trail (first three miles of Wasatch 100 out and back).

Fri - Off

Sat - 31 miles (11,600'). Speedgoat 50k.

Sun - 6.5 miles (1,400') easy. Soderberg - Spring Creek - Herrington - Stout - Spring Creek - Falls.

Total: 56 miles (15,000')

---------------------------------------------------
January: 440.5 miles (45,850')
February: 304.5 miles (39,200')
March: 469.5 miles (67,100')
April: 427 (62,000')
May: 509.5 (92,500')
June: 323 (54,900')
July 303.5 (79,700)

Total: 2,777.5 miles (441,350')
Avg: 397 miles (63,050')
---------------------------------------------------

Catching up here. So the last two weeks have been weeks two and three of recovery from Hardrock. While my legs have essentially been feeling fine, I definitely haven't been feeling much of a running spark. Unless heading into the mountains, I'm pretty much forcing myself out the door in a bid to maintain some level of fitness for France and Switzerland. The heat is not helping.

Just back from an awesome weekend at Snowbird with the family. Camping, swimming, hanging out and a bit of racing too. It's always fun in the Wasatch. So anyway, two easy weeks leading up to Speedgoat, but still kind of blah in the legs. I'll have to up my game a bit in the next couple of weeks before resting up for UTMB, which I think will be my last hard effort of the year.

But before that, I'll be running Sierre-Zinal, an uber-competitive mountain race in Switzerland, which I'm really excited about experiencing. Sierre-Zinal is perhaps the premier mountain race on the European mountain running circuit - and they take their mountain running pretty seriously over there - so it promises to be quite the experience. My friend Pablo Vigil (three time S-Z winner and overall S-Z legend) has been putting together an 'Equipe USA' for the last few years and he's outdone himself his year. I'm intimidated enough by the US contingent alone to know that a top 10 finish in Switzerland will be a huge accomplishment.

Aside from myself, Pablo is bringing over Max King (definite shot at the overall win), Joe Gray (two time US Mountain Runner of the Year), Glen Randall (winner of the Pikes and Evans Ascent races last year, both in eyebrow-raising fashion), Dakota Jones, Scott Jaime. On the women's side, Pablo has rounded up Megan Kimmel, Megan Lund (winner last year), and Brandy Erholtz. From that 'equipe' I am going to say that the US has a pretty legitimate shot at winning both races. Of course, two-time defending champ Kilian Jornet will have something to say about that on the men's side, as will some very other experienced and talented European runners. Me? I'm just excited to be running in such a storied race.

Goat report to come, but a quick tip of the hat to Karl who puts on a great race - easily the toughest 50k in the country (that I know of).

Signal Mtn, Stormy Peak, Rowe Peak/Glacier, Hagues Peak

2011-07-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

Somehow we covered 30 miles this morning. It was slow going, but then it always is when you cover ground off trail and up high in the rocky, tufty tundra that is typical of the Mummies and surrounding peaks. But any time spent in the thin air of Comanche Wilderness and Rocky Mountain National Park is always time well spent.

Joe - on his final weekend in Colorado before jumping ship for pastures and peaks new - spent Friday night at our house in anticipation of the 4:00 AM departure. We picked up Scott and jLu in Masonville and headed up Buckhorn Canyon and Pennock Pass towards Pingree Park and the Signal Mountain trailhead.

Off and running.

From a start point at 8,600 feet it's about six miles and 2,700 feet of climbing to the unfailingly inspiring summit of Signal Mountain (11,262') - one of my all-time favorite peaks.

Whether coming from the north up the Pennock Creek drainage or up Bulwark Ridge from the southeast, the journey to the summit is always a good, challenging climb. And while the mountain's two summits and saddle are just 200 or 300 feet above timberline, the views are simply unsurpassed. The panoramas include the iconic dual peaks of Meeker (13,911') and Longs (14,259'); neighboring South Signal Mountain (11,248'); and summits from the Stormy Peaks Range, Mummy Range, Never Summer Range and northern Comanche Peak Wilderness Area, in addition to the rocky ridges of the Poudre Canyon cleft. It really is a remarkable peak.

South Signal and the Mummies. All pics: Joe Grant. More of his fantastic photography here.

Tip: If you're going to hump a camera and bra strap up a bunch of peaks, charge the battery the night before. Signing in on Signal Summit.

A brief stop to soak in the views and we were off in search of the unmaintained trail that connects the Signal Mountain trail to the Stormy Peaks trail. The trail heads west from the saddle between the two Signal summits, and at the Signal end there is no real trail to speak of, but the route is clearly marked with regular cairns. It becomes a little more apparent as it rolls into and out of the trees towards Stormy. Once on the Stormy Pass trail at a touch over 10,000', it's a good climb up to the craggy pass and then a 400-500' hump up to the higher of the three Stormy summits (12,148').

Signal-Stormy Trail.

Overlooking the North Fork (Big Thompson) valley. Standing on the other side of the valley from last week end.

Joe and I heading up to Stormy Pass. Pic: Jurker. Scott's blog and pics from the morning.

Tag.

Back to the pass and then due west, skirting the rounded summit of Sugarloaf Mountain to the south on a line at about 12,000' towards Icefield Pass. Icefield Pass sits at the bottom of the valley between the northeastern ridgelines of Rowe Mountain and Rowe Peak, and is unique for Fort Collins- Loveland-area dwellers in that it feeds the headwaters of two of the major waterways of the area (the South Fork of the Cache la Poudre River and the North Fork of the Big Thompson).

After a quick bottle fill from the icefield melt, we set about grunting our way up the valley towards Hagues Peak (13,560'), skirting just below and to the west of Rowe Peak (13,404'). The steep valley began out grassy and marshy and then transitioned above the snow to an expansive boulder field, which once again made for very slow going.

Down off Stormy.

Around Sugarloaf.

The headwall of the North Fork of the Big Thompson. Rowe Peak ridgeline.

Running short on time, we turned ourselves around after a short stop at the beautiful lake that sits 400 feet below Hagues Peak, Rowe Peak and Rowe Glacier. A quite stunning spot.

Joe checking out the ice, while I check out the worst possible line back to Mummy Pass. Jurker.

And then we trekked home on perhaps the worst line we could possibly have chosen. Back up to Rowe Peak, down the northern slope of Rowe Mountain on a steep and very precarious boulder field drop, through a swampy thicket of lush and dense brush, across a snowfield, through another thicket (two very large bull moose off to the east), across the Mummy Pass Creek, over a rocky outcropping and down onto the Mummy Pass trail. Phew!

Joe and I descending. Pic: Jurker

Mummy Pass is by way of the grassy patch in the far right-center of the picture.

A short hump up to the pass and then it was 8 or 9 miles (with a frustrating last-minute detour) back to the car at the bottom of Twin Lake Road by way of the Mummy Pass/Emmaline trail.

Ready to be done & looking back at the morning's work. Pic: Jurker

Fortnight Ending July 17

2011-07-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

Mon - 5 miles (500'). With Joe to South Mineral Creek and back on last couple of miles of the Hardrock course.

Tues - 6 miles (1,000'). With Joe from Hwy 550 rock bridge into Ouray and back on Hardrock course.

Weds - 3 miles (500'). Off Engineer with Pete and Joe.

Thurs - 0 miles.

Fri - 104 miles (34,000'). Hardrock 100.

Sat - As Friday.

Sun - Er, no running.

Total: 128 miles (36,000')

Mon - 0 miles

Tues - 0 miles

Weds - 0 miles

Thurs - 7 miles (1,700'). Towers. Legs felt decent, but no power whatsoever. Ran a 36 something to the top on what felt like a 32-something effort.

Fri - 4.5 miles (800') easy. Falls loop. Felt like hard work again.

Sat - 21 miles (5,300'). Lost Lake, Mt Dunraven, Mt Dickinson.

Sun - 6.5 miles (1,500') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg. Went super easy, felt awesome. Great to be back running Horsetooth trail.

Total: 39 miles (9,300')

A big race followed by a recovery week basically.

Recovery from Hardrock has felt a whole lot better than is the case for other 100s I have run, and, quite honestly, some road marathons I have run. Still, I took the first half of the week off, but was feeling decent enough by Thursday that I wanted to get out and run.

Got a couple of comments on my Mt Dunraven/Dickinson post from runners I respect immensely about not rushing back into things, but quite honestly mellow outings like that really help with my recovery. They also serve to remind me why it is that I actually run in the first place. Besides, Dana and the kids were not back from Michigan until the evening, so it would have been criminal to let the free day go without getting out and exploring.

Anyway, the plan going forward is to build back into consistent running with a focus on quality over quantity as the legs allow. If I've lost anything in the netherworld of tapering/racing/recovering/racing, I think it's some aerobic fitness, so that will definitely be my focus as I get ready for Sierre-Zinal and UTMB next month.

Hoping I can sneak out for an early morning in the mountains this weekend. Maybe the five-peak Mummy loop from Pingree Park. A classic that I am yet to do.

Hardrock pacing reports from Brendan and Scott, if you're interested.

Lost Lake, Mt Dunraven, Mt Dickinson

2011-07-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

Dunraven, Mummies, Glacier Gorge peaks (Longs far back left)

I don't get out with Mike too often, but when I do it's usually an adventure. Our plan for this particular (and beautiful) Saturday morning was to tag a couple of the more obscure peaks in the Mummy Range on the north side of Rocky Mountain National Park, by way of scenic Lost Lake.

The plan was pretty simple: cruise up the well-traveled trail to Lost Lake (9.5 miles, 3,200'), cut south and off trail to the summit of Mount Dunraven (12,571'), ride the long east-west ridge to Mount Dickinson (11,831'), and then source a route back to the North Fork of the Big Thompson and the Lost Lake trail for the final run back to the trailhead.

From the Dunraven trailhead (7,800'), west of Drake and east of Glen Haven, the trail to Lost Lake (10,700') climbs at a steady and rarely challenging grade. Lost Lake - which is the lowest of a series of lakes that feed the North Fork of the Big Thompson - is worth the trip alone, with gorgeous views of Mount Dunraven, Sugarloaf Mountain and (I think) Rowe Mountain and Rowe Peak. There are all kinds of peak bagging options from Lost Lake, but today we were headed due south for Dunraven, apparently named after the Irish Earl of Dunraven who settled in the Estes Park area in the late 19th Century.

Rowe Mtn, Rowe Peak from Dunraven summit. All pics: Mike Hinterberg.

From Lost Lake, we followed the westernmost feed of the lake for a short while then cut south, dropping into and crossing the North Fork before heading up Dunraven proper.

Still can't get away from the snow. Approaching Lost Lake.

North Fork crossing.

It was a solid 1,500'+ grunter up the north slope of Dunraven, but without too much rock hopping the going was decent enough. After a short repose on top, and a look at the backsides of Rowe, Hagues and Mummy peaks, we headed due east to the saddle between Dunraven and an unnamed peak (12,305') - which we named Dunraven Knob - skirting it to the south on a line at about 10,900'.

Me and Mike on Dunraven.

Once around The Knob, we cut a line directly for the saddle between Dunraven Knob and Mount Dickinson, soaking in the views of the Glacier Gorge traverse along the way. Glacier Gorge is on the docket for a few weeks hence, so it was great to get a panoramic of the classic alpine line. The 2- to 2.5-mile hike to Dickinson was very pleasant indeed with only intermittent talus to negotiate. According to the log on the summit, we were just the second up there this year, so an obscure peak indeed.

Dickinson summit.

From Dickinson, the options for getting down were not great. All involved significant bushwhacking through dense forest, so we chose the direct line south to southeast to the bottom of the valley on a grade that looked negotiable.

Scoping the descent off Dickinson. Signal Mtn (just popping up above timberline) & Bulwark Ridge on other side of the valley.

It was no more than two miles down to the river, but it probably took us an hour and a half with all the deadfall to get over. We hit the river at a spot that looked reasonable to cross, so just went for it rather than source something tamer.

The early going off Dickinson before it got really dense.

We hit the trail almost immediately once over the river and found ourselves, as planned (amazingly), just slightly west of the Happily Lost backcountry camping area. Six and a half miles back down to the trailhead and we were done.

Recrossing the North Fork. Ankle to knee deep but moving fast.

Total trip was in the 21-mile range, with a touch under 5,500 feet of elevation gain and a whopping 7 hours on our feet. The 15 miles of trail running accounted for less than three hours of that. The last two to three miles dragged, but by and large I felt very little residual from Hardrock/Western States, which was an awesome surprise.

Alpine season is finally here. Go get it!