Had someone had a microphone in front of me for the last leg of the Fat Dog 100 it would have recorded mostly expletives and curses. Ask my pacer, Scott Corsie. After coming so far and being out there so long only to encounter the last bunch of miles up Skyline trail was my breaking point. But not to get ahead of myself. I could bitch and moan about all the little things that I think can be changed but I think race director Heather Macdonald has heard it all and I hope she takes it all in to make it a better event next year. I'm just going to tell the story of how my day (and a half) went.
I was a little nervous about this race even before my stress fracture back in April. I've only run one other 100 mile trail race two years ago and that ended with me walking the last 5 or 6 miles on feet that got pretty chewed up with blisters. Since then I've come up with ways to avoid the same thing, on shorter courses, though. The feet were my biggest concern for the race, not the stress fracture I had months ago. Of course I wondered about my endurance as well but I'd done a few five to six hour runs in the last month with some gnarly climbing so I figured I'd be ready for any bit hills. Turns out I would need every bit of "power-walking" practice I'd done.
The family and I stayed with our friends Scott and Michele in Penticton from Tuesday until race day. Before that we camped in Fintry for three days so my pre-race diet consisted of lots of camping food and my favourite - ice cream.
Scott and Michele treated us like royalty and it was awesome to sleep in a bed before the race instead of a tent. Scott would be accompanying Carrie and the kids around the course to help crew for me and I was grateful that Carrie would have some help to take a bit of the pressure off. Having a crew was the best thing as it made life so much easier when I pulled into a station.
We all woke at 1:30 Friday morning and hurried out the door around 2. We followed the directions to the start line but where it said Lakewood Trail Head there was supposed to be a small parking lot. Turns out you had to go off a gravel road to the left to reach the small parking lot. There was another car there with two girls wondering where to go as well. We said we'd go down and if we didn't come back in a few minutes that they should follow. We went down the bumpy gravel road and eventually came across the lot where a few other cars were. The good thing was there was a men's and women's outhouse. The bad thing was that the men's had no toilet paper and the women's only had half a roll. Seeing as no one was waiting, into the women's I went.
We all started crossing a small bridge which was about two people wide and stopped halfway across. Peter Watson counted down and at 4am shot off a starter's pistol and anyone camping within a mile knew we were starting as well.
I was stuck almost at the back as we all slowly started up some single track switchbacks. It took about twenty minutes and I was able to scoot past a few people then it opened up somewhat and I could move a little faster. Eventually I was with Brian Morrison, a very accomplished trail runner, and Hassan Lofti-Pour, also a great runner and World 100k Championship teammate in England last year. We did a lot of climbing the first portion of the first leg and arrived pretty much at the same time at Cathedral aid station at 12km. After that there were a bunch of switchbacks leading up to the treeline and the alpine. I could see the lead relay runner off in the distance and used him to find the trail more easily. If not for the flagging I don't know how anyone could have followed the 'trail' because often I was running over a field of rocks or small shrubbery from one flag to the next. To the credit of the organisers the route was extremely well marked for the first few legs. Hassan caught up to me and we caught up to the lead relay guy, Peter from Langley, but he was soon off flying on the downhill while I went at my own pedestrian pace to save my quads. It couldn't come soon enough because at that time of day it was pretty chilly up there with a nice wind blowing. It would have been good to have arm warmers and light gloves.
I pulled into the first crewed aid station, Trapper, at 27km (according to the route maps) after 3:30 of running to find the gang there, chair waiting. I fell into it and immediately took off my left shoe and applied a blister pad on a hot spot I felt forming on my instep. A note about my shoes: In the pre-race meeting they mentioned the river crossing at 54km and it was suggested to change shoes after. I figured I'd use my older, crappier shoes until the river then change right after (I figured it'd be about 4-5 hours on my old shoes so no problem, right? Little did I realise the course was longer than advertised and I'd be in those shoes for over eight hours). Carrie was trying to fill my camelbak with me bent over tying my shoes but it wasn't working. I stood and she was filling it and that's when I noticed the little black flies or whatever they were feasting on my legs and arms. I could barely stand still while she re-filled my pack without doing a dance to get rid of the bugs.
Hassan and I left at the same time and we began running up a gravel forestry road. He suddenly remembered he didn't take off his long-sleeved shirt so went back to the aid station to drop it off. I continued on at my slow pace knowing he'd catch up soon enough. I saw a relay runner ahead of my up a trail and set off after him. Higher up I looked down and saw Hassan about to go past the trail leading up to where I was so I called to him. I figure I saved his whole race right then and there and he should give me the North Face jacket he received for winning the race. We went up a bunch more switchbacks (sounding repetitive yet?) to another gravel road and this was where I led us wrong. We went about ten minutes on the road when it started going downhill. I was pretty sure on the maps that this section was another long climb up to the alpine again. We backtracked and couldn't believe we missed the trail.
Up we went until the next alpine section where we came to a beautiful lake and kept running only to realise we'd run out of flagging tape again. We searched another ten minutes until we went back and, again, saw how obvious the Centennial trailhead was.
We were supposed to run into a water station and it just never came. Finally after three and a half hours and no water remaining, we found the small Calcite station. It was supposed to be at 40km, but, really, 3.5 hours to do 13km from the Trapper station?? After we filled up we headed for the river crossing, the 50k mark, and ran down the trail Elias and I had marked months ago. The grass had grown up substantially and I hardly recognised the trail. There were some steep downhills to the river and we set across. We should have gone one at a time because the current was moving fast at waist level and us losing our balance and grabbing the rope was causing the other guy to be thrown around as well. I tell you, if either of us had lost our grip on the rope it would have been damn hard to stop ourselves from being carried downstream. The rocks were very slippery and it would have been tough to stand up and walk the rest of the way without the rope.
On to Bonnevier station where Hassan and I each changed shoes and socks. Over eight hours to do 54k seemed not quite right. Peter, the relay guy from Langley from the first leg, came up to me and asked if he had seen the guy on his team that left after him and was ahead of us. I said no and that he must have taken a wrong turn, something I heard a fair bit during and after the race.
Up we went again along a gravel road and finally out of the sun down some more trails. When we started climbing again it was evident I didn't have the power-walking ability that Hassan had so I said for him to go on. From this point I was walking most uphills. I figured it was the elevation because after this every time we went up to the alpine my legs had no gas and felt pretty weak. At some point along there the "overflagging" became "few and far between flagging" because at one spot I ran back five minutes thinking I'd missed a turn but saw I hadn't. Back forward I went until I finally saw another piece. From here on it was best just to keep going straight and eventually there would be more tape. Once at the top in the meadows again it got pretty hot and it seemed forever until I reached the Heather station (70k). The volleys there were awesome as they filled my bottles and even made me a grilled cheese sandwich. The bugs were atrocious again and I commend the people who were up there for long periods of time. I nibbled on the sandwich for the next few kms and along this high trail were some of the best looking viewpoints.
I finally started going down eventually hitting the water drop at Nicomen Lake. After another nasty uphill I headed down some long switchbacks until finally running into Scott before the aid station. Turns out a relay runner had twisted and probably broken his ankle and Scott (ex-firefighter) headed out to ice and bandage him up. We ran back to the aid station, Cayuse, at 100km.
Scott figured to join me so he changed into his running attire and off we went, headlamps at the ready. There was another aid station at 106km (an hour of running from the Cayuse station), and Nicola Gildersleeve's and Peter Watson's station at 109km, Sumallo Grove. It was pretty much dark here but I could see the impressive spread of food they had there. Had I not been running I'd have camped out there eating everything in sight! Because of the dark and the trail being quite overgrown in places, Scott and I decided it wasn't worth the risk of injury to go headlong down the trail so we walked a fair amount of this section. It was here I noticed my hands looked very Mickey Mouse-like in that they were swollen. I felt like a cartoon character with these huge hands but could hardly form a fist.
It was along this stretch that kept going and going where I decided that I wanted to save Scott, Carrie and the kids more aggravation and time wasted by dropping out. I really thought it would be better for everyone to pack it up and go get some real sleep and save them more hours of waiting for me. Scott said he would stand by any decision I would make. When we got to the 26 mile bridge station at 121km, we realised it was near impossible to drop here because of the 1.5km hike to the road which was deserted of traffic anyways. We decided to get to Gary Robbins' Skyline trail station at 136km and decide there what to do. Plus that's where Carrie would be (sleeping) waiting for us.
On we went for two and a half more hours through the same type of hard-to-run-in-the-dark trails. There were some ups and downs emotionally but when we got to the next station I knew we'd go on. A very tired Carrie said that we've come this far and it would be kind of a waste not to go on and finish the bloody thing. We figured about 4 hours to the finish but Gary slapped us with reality when he said more like 6 hours. Well to try and cap this report soon, it took Scott and I 3.5 hours of solid climbing of switchbacks to reach the Lightning Lakes signpost. Thinking we would be heading down to the lakes soon, we high-fived and congratulated ourselves. Little did we know this was only the start of another hellish section. The hallucinations were in full swing as I called out "there's the water jugs" only to get closer and see they were a bunch of logs. I kept my comments to myself until I was sure what I saw after that. When we eventually saw the jugs at the top of a hill, we were both hesitant to believe what we were seeing. We filled up our containers while fighting off the bugs and headed, where else, up. Thinking again that one more climb and we'd see the lakes and start heading down, we went on. Of course it was too much to hope for when we ended up climbing another 6 peaks!! Some of the goat paths were quite dangerous at this point due to our tiredness and disorientation. Some slopes were so steep that if one of us slipped, it would be hours to get back up to where we fell, as long as we were uninjured and able to get there. At the top of the last peak we saw a couple hiking the other way and knew we were almost there. They were nice and told us it had taken them an hour and a half to walk up and gave us a pretty accurate description (for a change) of what we could expect on the way down. On the descent a huge bug (at least if felt like it was huge) flew into my eye and I couldn't get it out. I thought my water bottle had just water in it and so spilled some on my hand and rubbed it in my eye. It was then I realised it was CarboPro and my hand and face were now very sticky. Scott caught up to me and promptly removed the carcass from my eye, totally above and beyond the duties of a pacer. When you sign on to pace someone, you don't expect to be out there for 16 hours, which he was. He was in bad shape like me but never complained about it.
We finally reached lake level and started on the road around the lake. Hannah and Elias met us a few hundred metres from the end and ran us both in. Carrie was there with the camera but I pulled her through the finish line with us. No runner can finish without their crew is what I always say.
So it was the end of a very, very, long run, the longest I've ever been on my feet - 31:45 (although the time on the website states 32:34). After talking with people who had GPSs along some parts of the route, it was determined the 100km race was actually 120km, and the 100mile was anywhere from 115 to 120 miles. The elevation was 15,000' for the 100k race and 23,000 for the 100mile. Full credit for the family for having the patience to wait all those hours for me and for Scott for gutting out a crazy 70 or 80k with me. I couldn't have done it without all of them.
As for what's next I believe that this event has given me insight into what UTMB will be like so for that I am grateful. As for next year I hope Heather takes the suggestions that people have made in how to make the race better in the future.
Pictures to follow soon.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Lost Lake 50k route and Buntzen
So, yes, I went down to Chuckanut again and ran some of the race route but with a small twist this time: I did the race route of the Lost Lake 50k. The website touts an elevation gain of 8000' and it didn't disappoint (unless you're asking my quads). The worst part was the Pine and Cedar Lake trail that I'd never gone on before which involves a steep descent of 1.6 miles and 1500'. When you reach the parking lot at the bottom, you turn around and go straight back up again. Call me stubborn but it didn't occur to me until I could actually see the parking lot at the bottom that I could have turned around anywhere on this trail and avoided the painful uphill on the way back. Like I said: stubborn.
My plan for this run was to a) do 6 hours, b) get to know the Lost Lake route so I could do it again, and c) get a lot of climbing in the legs at my snail pace to build up those muscles for the races to come. I ended up doing 5:10 for the day, I figured out the route nicely, and definitely got the climbing in. I realised how accurate my Garmin was by following the direction and distance signs for trails and it was pretty much bang on every time.
So today I went to Buntzen Lake to go around there and do the Diez trail as another attempt to hammer my legs. I got there kinda early, 5:30, to find the gates don't open up until 8am. 8am!! "Fitness doesn't sleep in", I cried out. Of course you think you could park on the streets anywhere within a half-mile radius of the gates? Not a chance. I guess when the parking lots are full the locals don't like the out-of-towners abandoning their cars in front of their houses to walk to the beach. I literally parked a half-mile away and started my run from there.
You ever start a run and you haven't even gone twenty minutes and your guts start telling you that you better find a bathroom soon? Well it happened to me today. Luckily there are bathrooms right near the lake. Unluckily they were as locked as the gates. No problem, I thought, I can keep running until 8 when they open up and use them then. Wrong. I started scouting places I could go and which sort of leaves looked the most attractive in lieu of paper. Luckily I got to the north end of the lake and encountered some outhouses that were unlocked and stocked with real paper. Whew.
I did over two and a half hours(running)before going up the Diez trail which was good to do tired because it made it plain for anyone to see (and luckily there wasn't anyone around) that I am woefully underprepared for UTMB at this point. Hopefully I should be able to these trails a few more times before the end of August, and with poles. Ended up with 5:20 and almost 30 miles. The last "luckily" was that my car was still there when I went to leave to go home!
My plan for this run was to a) do 6 hours, b) get to know the Lost Lake route so I could do it again, and c) get a lot of climbing in the legs at my snail pace to build up those muscles for the races to come. I ended up doing 5:10 for the day, I figured out the route nicely, and definitely got the climbing in. I realised how accurate my Garmin was by following the direction and distance signs for trails and it was pretty much bang on every time.
So today I went to Buntzen Lake to go around there and do the Diez trail as another attempt to hammer my legs. I got there kinda early, 5:30, to find the gates don't open up until 8am. 8am!! "Fitness doesn't sleep in", I cried out. Of course you think you could park on the streets anywhere within a half-mile radius of the gates? Not a chance. I guess when the parking lots are full the locals don't like the out-of-towners abandoning their cars in front of their houses to walk to the beach. I literally parked a half-mile away and started my run from there.
You ever start a run and you haven't even gone twenty minutes and your guts start telling you that you better find a bathroom soon? Well it happened to me today. Luckily there are bathrooms right near the lake. Unluckily they were as locked as the gates. No problem, I thought, I can keep running until 8 when they open up and use them then. Wrong. I started scouting places I could go and which sort of leaves looked the most attractive in lieu of paper. Luckily I got to the north end of the lake and encountered some outhouses that were unlocked and stocked with real paper. Whew.
I did over two and a half hours(running)before going up the Diez trail which was good to do tired because it made it plain for anyone to see (and luckily there wasn't anyone around) that I am woefully underprepared for UTMB at this point. Hopefully I should be able to these trails a few more times before the end of August, and with poles. Ended up with 5:20 and almost 30 miles. The last "luckily" was that my car was still there when I went to leave to go home!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The Scorched Sole (almost) 50k
Normally a 50k race, this trail run was cut down a few kilometres due to snow at the top of Little White mountain. Snow! At the end of June! What is this craziness?? According to my Garmin watch after the race I had travelled 28.18 miles but it's been known to tell the odd little white lie especially with elevation. After this race it read 7500' of climbing which I think is highly suspect. Anyways, it was long and up, then it was quick and down.
850k of driving, then the run, all in 24 hours. Carrie picked me up from work on Friday and we arrived in Penticton at 10pm at fellow ultrarunner Scott Corsie's house (he now has strep throat). He and his wife, Michele, graciously donated their basement bedroom for us on the night before the run. After a whopping six hours of sleep we were up and heading to Kelowna. Cutting it somewhat close getting there 30 minutes before start time, things were a little tense because Scott, who was doing the 50 mile race and arrived there before us, had locked his keys in his car with his drop bag supplies and was waiting for BCAA. Seeing as the 50 milers started at 6am, we knew he wouldn't be doing that one. As it was he ended up doing the 50k starting about 15 minutes after everyone else.
It was nice to catch up briefly with Bruce Grant whom I haven't seen in a long time, only knowing what he's up to by reading his blog. He formally presented me with my age group prize for the BC Ultra Trailrunning Series a couple years ago: a cool Nathan backpack. Okay he basically gave it to Carrie as I was walking into the port-a-potty for some pre-race business to take care of.
I told a few people that this was only a training run and honestly that's what I did. I knew the course was mostly uphill to the turnaround so I told myself to work pretty hard on the up and to take it easy on the downhills. It truly was a lot of climbing at the start so I tried to keep my breathing as easy as I could and when it got heavier I slowed down even more (if that was possible). At about the six mile mark I blew my nose runner/cyclist-style and felt right after a fast trickle of something come out. I touched my hand to it and, as I suspected, I had a bleeding nose. It seems when I leave the moisture-laden air of the coast to hit the dry interior I get one of these. What was I to do but pinch the nostrils and carry on, right? By now my hand and nose were covered in red and I was hoping I'd hit the second aid station soon and that they'd have something more absorbent than the leaves I was wiping it with.
I arrived at the second aid station sooner than I thought I would, thankfully, and was greeted by a volunteer saying, "Wow, did you fall?" I guess my face looked worse than it was. Luckily they had paper towel and I cleaned up as best as I could. Off I went down the flat KVR trail hoping it wouldn't happen again.
After the third aid station the trail went up again and where it turned into more or less a fast flowing creek coming towards me. There wasn't a lot of room on the sides to run so basically I stuck to walk/running up the middle, picking my steps carefully.
There was one more small water station before the ascent to the top of Little White. I didn't bother filling my bottles, knowing there would be water up at the turnaround. That was a bit of a mistake because I had to start rationing my water after basically walking the next half hour. The trail running turned into more of a post-holing adventure as the snow got deeper and deeper. At this point I thought I was in second place and so was waiting for number one to come down the trail the other way after hitting the half-way point. I guess whoever was in front of me was doing the 50 mile because I reached the post indicating it was now time to start the crazy descent with no one coming back the other way. Now it was time for the taking it easy part.
Again, because it was a training run and knowing that the downhills are prone to hurting my legs, took it fairly easy on the way back. It was pretty fun running back through all the mud and water that I tried to avoid on the way up. It was easier to go right through it than avoid it. Next along the KVR trail again which had seemed flat going the other way but turned out to be a slight incline. It was tough mentally because it was a few kilometres in length with nothing to look at but the long straightaways. I reached end of the KVR and back into the trails which were mostly down again with a few flats thrown in.
Now, at this point I still told myself that if someone passed me now I wouldn't care and tried to stick to that story. I ended up coming in at a pretty relaxed time of 4:33. 2:43 going up, 1:50 coming down. Crazy.
My legs felt really good right after the race, not too knackered at all, which was good because Carrie and I had to drive me back home to go to work that night. Speaking of Carrie, she did the 25k in 3:06 without doing a lot of training the last few weeks.
It was quite a whirlwind trip but worth doing for a training run in a different type of terrain and area.
Thanks are in order to race director Dan Crockett and all the volunteers who did a great job on this low key and fun race. Here are just a few of the 1000 pictures Dirk Handke took of the race:
Tim Weins, Bruce Grant, and me
Me with Dirk Handke
Race Director Dan Crockett
Carrie's finish
850k of driving, then the run, all in 24 hours. Carrie picked me up from work on Friday and we arrived in Penticton at 10pm at fellow ultrarunner Scott Corsie's house (he now has strep throat). He and his wife, Michele, graciously donated their basement bedroom for us on the night before the run. After a whopping six hours of sleep we were up and heading to Kelowna. Cutting it somewhat close getting there 30 minutes before start time, things were a little tense because Scott, who was doing the 50 mile race and arrived there before us, had locked his keys in his car with his drop bag supplies and was waiting for BCAA. Seeing as the 50 milers started at 6am, we knew he wouldn't be doing that one. As it was he ended up doing the 50k starting about 15 minutes after everyone else.
It was nice to catch up briefly with Bruce Grant whom I haven't seen in a long time, only knowing what he's up to by reading his blog. He formally presented me with my age group prize for the BC Ultra Trailrunning Series a couple years ago: a cool Nathan backpack. Okay he basically gave it to Carrie as I was walking into the port-a-potty for some pre-race business to take care of.
I told a few people that this was only a training run and honestly that's what I did. I knew the course was mostly uphill to the turnaround so I told myself to work pretty hard on the up and to take it easy on the downhills. It truly was a lot of climbing at the start so I tried to keep my breathing as easy as I could and when it got heavier I slowed down even more (if that was possible). At about the six mile mark I blew my nose runner/cyclist-style and felt right after a fast trickle of something come out. I touched my hand to it and, as I suspected, I had a bleeding nose. It seems when I leave the moisture-laden air of the coast to hit the dry interior I get one of these. What was I to do but pinch the nostrils and carry on, right? By now my hand and nose were covered in red and I was hoping I'd hit the second aid station soon and that they'd have something more absorbent than the leaves I was wiping it with.
I arrived at the second aid station sooner than I thought I would, thankfully, and was greeted by a volunteer saying, "Wow, did you fall?" I guess my face looked worse than it was. Luckily they had paper towel and I cleaned up as best as I could. Off I went down the flat KVR trail hoping it wouldn't happen again.
After the third aid station the trail went up again and where it turned into more or less a fast flowing creek coming towards me. There wasn't a lot of room on the sides to run so basically I stuck to walk/running up the middle, picking my steps carefully.
There was one more small water station before the ascent to the top of Little White. I didn't bother filling my bottles, knowing there would be water up at the turnaround. That was a bit of a mistake because I had to start rationing my water after basically walking the next half hour. The trail running turned into more of a post-holing adventure as the snow got deeper and deeper. At this point I thought I was in second place and so was waiting for number one to come down the trail the other way after hitting the half-way point. I guess whoever was in front of me was doing the 50 mile because I reached the post indicating it was now time to start the crazy descent with no one coming back the other way. Now it was time for the taking it easy part.
Again, because it was a training run and knowing that the downhills are prone to hurting my legs, took it fairly easy on the way back. It was pretty fun running back through all the mud and water that I tried to avoid on the way up. It was easier to go right through it than avoid it. Next along the KVR trail again which had seemed flat going the other way but turned out to be a slight incline. It was tough mentally because it was a few kilometres in length with nothing to look at but the long straightaways. I reached end of the KVR and back into the trails which were mostly down again with a few flats thrown in.
Now, at this point I still told myself that if someone passed me now I wouldn't care and tried to stick to that story. I ended up coming in at a pretty relaxed time of 4:33. 2:43 going up, 1:50 coming down. Crazy.
My legs felt really good right after the race, not too knackered at all, which was good because Carrie and I had to drive me back home to go to work that night. Speaking of Carrie, she did the 25k in 3:06 without doing a lot of training the last few weeks.
It was quite a whirlwind trip but worth doing for a training run in a different type of terrain and area.
Thanks are in order to race director Dan Crockett and all the volunteers who did a great job on this low key and fun race. Here are just a few of the 1000 pictures Dirk Handke took of the race:
Tim Weins, Bruce Grant, and me
Me with Dirk Handke
Race Director Dan Crockett
Carrie's finish
Thursday, June 24, 2010
A Good Couple Weeks
So I've been back at it for a while now. The longest training run before last weekend was 2:30 in the trails. I even made it up to SFU to run the 5 Peaks course finally. I had meant to go up there on race day a few and leave twenty minutes early and run the course twice (a total of 20km). I thought of myself as a bit of a bandit but seeing as I've never "bandited" a race before, I had to consider exactly what the definition is. I've done some searching and it usually ends up coming down to robbing or cheating or living outside the law. Well if I had done that course before the start without paying for it, I don't think any of those would have applied. To me, a bandit is someone who lines up at a race like every other paying competitor, races with them, and uses the supplies at the aid station. I've seen some pull out at the end without crossing the line/timing chip mat. I was planning on being self-sufficient fuel-wise and wouldn't have influenced anyone's race by being so far in front hopefully no one would have caught me. Therefore I would not technically, in my world, not be a bandit.
This past Sunday was the Summer Solstice 25k run on the North Shore that I did as an easy training run. It was definitely harder than I would have done a 25k training run. It's been a while since I've ran over there and forgot how technical everything was: the roots, the rocks, the uphills, the downhills. As I'm 'gradually' building up the mileage so I hopefully don't break myself again, I wanted to take it pretty easy which I did. The crazy part was the steep downhills that took their toll. My foot was sore for a couple days and only today ran 45 minutes since the race. To 'ease' back into it I'll do the Scorched Sole 50k (as an easy training run) this Saturday to make sure everything is good. Or I could hurt myself and be out of Fat Dog and maybe even UTMB. What will it be? Stay tuned.
This past Sunday was the Summer Solstice 25k run on the North Shore that I did as an easy training run. It was definitely harder than I would have done a 25k training run. It's been a while since I've ran over there and forgot how technical everything was: the roots, the rocks, the uphills, the downhills. As I'm 'gradually' building up the mileage so I hopefully don't break myself again, I wanted to take it pretty easy which I did. The crazy part was the steep downhills that took their toll. My foot was sore for a couple days and only today ran 45 minutes since the race. To 'ease' back into it I'll do the Scorched Sole 50k (as an easy training run) this Saturday to make sure everything is good. Or I could hurt myself and be out of Fat Dog and maybe even UTMB. What will it be? Stay tuned.
Friday, June 11, 2010
2 Hours in the 'Nut
Yesterday I returned to the mountain where I started all my trail experiences: Chuckanut. I know people are probably getting tired of me saying that I ran in these trails (again and again) but that's exactly what I did. It's close, no traffic, easy drive, and, oh, yeah, no traffic.
It has been three months since I tiptoed through these trails it felt great. Slow, but great. I didn't know I could shift into such a low gear going up hill. I was going slightly quicker than walking and I managed to keep moving the whole time except for the really steep stuff.
I knew it would happen: today my legs are trashed. No matter how slow I go or for how little time, I can't escape the next day's tragedy that are my legs. It always happens when I'm not in the trails for a while. Kind of like not swimming for a month. It's gonna suck. The running was fun but today not so much. I feel like I've run a road marathon. The only consolation is that I've gone through this so many times before that I can tell myself that in only two or three more outings there will be no pain or suffering. At least that's what I tell myself now.
It has been three months since I tiptoed through these trails it felt great. Slow, but great. I didn't know I could shift into such a low gear going up hill. I was going slightly quicker than walking and I managed to keep moving the whole time except for the really steep stuff.
I knew it would happen: today my legs are trashed. No matter how slow I go or for how little time, I can't escape the next day's tragedy that are my legs. It always happens when I'm not in the trails for a while. Kind of like not swimming for a month. It's gonna suck. The running was fun but today not so much. I feel like I've run a road marathon. The only consolation is that I've gone through this so many times before that I can tell myself that in only two or three more outings there will be no pain or suffering. At least that's what I tell myself now.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
1:20 Look At Me Go!
Okay I was going to write the other day about the 1:10 run I did and how excited I was and how glorious it was to be back on my feet. Today, though, I did a whopping 1:20 all on the road with no discomfort or pain or otherwise. Everything was good. Everything, that is, except the weather which was very Haney to Harrison-ish: rainy, windy, but not overly cold.
Doing my 1:10 was the first time in almost two months I've run outside listening to music while running and I realised how much I miss the tunes. I always thought I would never listen to music on the bike but over the past couple months of riding and no running I was a little lonely for my ipod. I would ride out and when I was on the rural roads I would plug in and was quite surprised how well I could still hear cars coming up from behind me. I only got freaked out once when one surprised me. I felt guilty because I was of the opinion that it wasn't safe to ride with headphones and used to think riders like that were asking for trouble. I forgot how boring it can sometimes be riding for hours on end with the same song going around and around in my head.
Anyways, going to try and build up slowly the time on my feet for the next few weeks starting in Chuckanut tomorrow for two hours - less than 10% of what I'll be running for Fat Dog.
On the weekend the boy (Elias) and I drove out to Manning Park to do my trail maintenance for Fat Dog. Little did he (and me actually) know what he was getting himself into. It involved driving to Manning and meeting with about ten people including Heather the race director, driving another 20k down the highway, and another 20k up a gnarly forest service road. My van still hasn't forgiven me for that trip. We walked a pretty rough trail flagging and clearing branches and obstacles. It ended at an incredibly steep decent down to a river that we'll be crossing during the race. Heather says they'll have to go back and make switchbacks and or stairs to make it a little less difficult. No arguments from me. All in all it was a good but tiring day. We even managed to rush home and be ten minutes early for Elias' hockey game. As tired as he was he had a great game.
Doing my 1:10 was the first time in almost two months I've run outside listening to music while running and I realised how much I miss the tunes. I always thought I would never listen to music on the bike but over the past couple months of riding and no running I was a little lonely for my ipod. I would ride out and when I was on the rural roads I would plug in and was quite surprised how well I could still hear cars coming up from behind me. I only got freaked out once when one surprised me. I felt guilty because I was of the opinion that it wasn't safe to ride with headphones and used to think riders like that were asking for trouble. I forgot how boring it can sometimes be riding for hours on end with the same song going around and around in my head.
Anyways, going to try and build up slowly the time on my feet for the next few weeks starting in Chuckanut tomorrow for two hours - less than 10% of what I'll be running for Fat Dog.
On the weekend the boy (Elias) and I drove out to Manning Park to do my trail maintenance for Fat Dog. Little did he (and me actually) know what he was getting himself into. It involved driving to Manning and meeting with about ten people including Heather the race director, driving another 20k down the highway, and another 20k up a gnarly forest service road. My van still hasn't forgiven me for that trip. We walked a pretty rough trail flagging and clearing branches and obstacles. It ended at an incredibly steep decent down to a river that we'll be crossing during the race. Heather says they'll have to go back and make switchbacks and or stairs to make it a little less difficult. No arguments from me. All in all it was a good but tiring day. We even managed to rush home and be ten minutes early for Elias' hockey game. As tired as he was he had a great game.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Old and New Articles about a Comrades Runner
I thought this was a pretty funny story. We've all wanted to do this at some point during a hard race, it's just that we're all not blessed with an identical twin.
TRACK AND FIELD; Deception in Marathon Has Race Officials Seeing Double
By DONALD G. McNEIL JR.
Published: July 22, 1999
JOHANNESBURG, July 21— One of the top finishers in South Africa's most famous road race admitted today that he had cheated by running it in relays with his virtually identical brother.
Sergio Motsoeneng, 21 years old, and his brother, Fika, 19, were desperate for prize money, their lawyer said, and gave the $1,000 Sergio won to their father, who lives in Qwa Qwa, a depressed former black homeland, with 11 children. The lawyer added that the family had been on the verge of selling the $85 gold medal Sergio received for finishing in the top 10.
The Comrades Marathon, first run in 1921 by 34 men raising money for a veterans group known as the League of Comrades of the Great War, has grown into South Africa's biggest road race, with nearly 15,000 entrants of all ages. Each year, it reverses direction between two cities, Pietermaritzburg in the Drakensberg Mountains and Durban on the coast.
This year, on June 16, it was the downhill run, which is 89.9 kilometers long (about 56 miles), for which the record is 5 hours 24 minutes 7 seconds. But watching the winner finish is less entertaining than the bitter end of the race. It is considered a great shame to be among the last 1,500 competitors who fail to finish in 11 hours and are ''swept up by the broom wagon,'' sometimes paralyzed by cramps and clawing at the rescue vehicles.
The whole race is covered on national television, and most of the runners finish in the last hour, staggering into the stadium, collapsing at the finish line, crawling or carrying each other over it.
According to an account by the South African Press Association, Nick Bester, a former champion who finished 15th this year, had complained that something was wrong with Sergio Motsoeneng's ninth-place finish. Bester had counted everyone who passed him in the final miles and there was one too many -- and electronic-race records showed Sergio was behind him earlier.
Sergio confessed through his lawyer today after Beeld, an Afrikaans-language newspaper, published pictures of both brothers in the race wearing the same number. They looked very much alike, but their watches were on different hands, and one runner had a scarred shin.
Apparently, Sergio began the race and ducked into a mobile toilet after 45 minutes to change shirts and shoes with Fika. Fika ran the next 30 kilometers, and they changed again at least once. Changing shoes was necessary because microchips in each runner's shoelaces and sensors allowed constant tracking of every entrant. South Africans across the country were able to log on to a Web site and find out exactly where their favorite racers were at any moment.
Clem Harrington, a lawyer who has run in 21 Comrades, said Sergio Motsoeneng was a desperate young man from a poor family. He and his unemployed client, both from the town of Bethlehem, will meet with the Comrades Marathon Association on Saturday to return the medal and negotiate repayment of the $1,000.
This has not been a great year for the Comrades. Motsoeneng is the third runner to be dropped from the list of top-10 finishers. Viktor Zhdanov, from Russia, who finished second, was disqualified after testing positive for ephedrine, and Mahlala (Rasta) Mohloli, the sixth-place finisher and a popular local runner in the same club as as Motsoeneng, tested positive for nandrolone, a strength-building steroid.
The Comrades prize money is so low that it attracts few world-class entrants, but many runners from the former Soviet Union participate and do well.
''This is a tragic story,'' the press association quoted Harrington as saying. ''Hopefully, Sergio will not be lost to the sport because he is a highly talented runner. If he harnessed the energy he put into cheating into rather running the race properly, who knows, he might have finished among the top five.''
'He didn't need to cheat'
Iqbal Khan
May 31 2010 at 01:56PM Get IOL on your
mobile at m.iol.co.za
Sergio Motsoeneng has paid his dues and has started a new life in his road-running career.
The man who finished third in Sunday's 85th edition of the Comrades Marathon was reluctant at first to speak of his antics in 1999 when he was found guilty of cheating after being placed ninth in that year's race.
Motsoeneng twice swopped clothes with his younger brother but was eventually found out after newspaper photographs showed the runners wearing different watches.
"It's been a long time now and I have come through a tough time in life. I have suffered the embarrassment. I'd rather not talk about it as it's in the past," he said on Sunday night after his outstanding run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban's Sahara Stadium Kingsmead.
"I know I should not have done that - I was a young man then and when the idea was thrown at me I went with the flow. It's now history.
"I'm a family man now and I'm a grown man at 33. I realised that one makes mistakes in life. I came through a tough five-year period of suspension and want to look ahead.
"I knew this would crop up again when I got close to winning the race. It has to come back to haunt me but I appeal to all to leave it at that - it's really the past. It's finished and I look ahead all the time."
Cheryl Winn, who was chief executive of the Comrades Marathon Association at the time Motsoeneng was bust, said he should have had faith in his running ability.
"It just goes to show he did not have to do what he did in 1999. He has great ability in running ultra-marathons - his third-place finish proves just that," she said.
Motsoeneng was in his early 20s when he ran the 1999 Comrades and was slapped with a five-year ban by the Comrades Marathon Association. He was also stripped of his ninth place after he admitted cheating.
An investigation was launched after a runner further back in the field complained that Motsoeneng had not overtaken him.
After examining time sheets and data from the computer timing system, race referees initially cleared him of cheating.
The lookalike brothers' plan was only foiled because photographs of the race published in Beeld showed runner number 13018 at one stage wearing a yellow watch on his left wrist. At another stage the runner with that number was wearing a pink watch on his right wrist.
Other photos later revealed Sergio twice swopping clothes with his 19-year-old brother, Arnold, in portable lavatories.
"I was naive at the time. I did not think we would get caught but we did. I lived through hell for the five years - tried to keep my mind on running by helping youngsters and coaching development kids," he said. "I've turned to God and I'm guided by him. I feel I have paid my dues for my mistakes and want to look to the future rather than look back in life."
Motsoeneng returned to road running in the 2006 Soweto Marathon. Last year he finished 29th in the Comrades.
TRACK AND FIELD; Deception in Marathon Has Race Officials Seeing Double
By DONALD G. McNEIL JR.
Published: July 22, 1999
JOHANNESBURG, July 21— One of the top finishers in South Africa's most famous road race admitted today that he had cheated by running it in relays with his virtually identical brother.
Sergio Motsoeneng, 21 years old, and his brother, Fika, 19, were desperate for prize money, their lawyer said, and gave the $1,000 Sergio won to their father, who lives in Qwa Qwa, a depressed former black homeland, with 11 children. The lawyer added that the family had been on the verge of selling the $85 gold medal Sergio received for finishing in the top 10.
The Comrades Marathon, first run in 1921 by 34 men raising money for a veterans group known as the League of Comrades of the Great War, has grown into South Africa's biggest road race, with nearly 15,000 entrants of all ages. Each year, it reverses direction between two cities, Pietermaritzburg in the Drakensberg Mountains and Durban on the coast.
This year, on June 16, it was the downhill run, which is 89.9 kilometers long (about 56 miles), for which the record is 5 hours 24 minutes 7 seconds. But watching the winner finish is less entertaining than the bitter end of the race. It is considered a great shame to be among the last 1,500 competitors who fail to finish in 11 hours and are ''swept up by the broom wagon,'' sometimes paralyzed by cramps and clawing at the rescue vehicles.
The whole race is covered on national television, and most of the runners finish in the last hour, staggering into the stadium, collapsing at the finish line, crawling or carrying each other over it.
According to an account by the South African Press Association, Nick Bester, a former champion who finished 15th this year, had complained that something was wrong with Sergio Motsoeneng's ninth-place finish. Bester had counted everyone who passed him in the final miles and there was one too many -- and electronic-race records showed Sergio was behind him earlier.
Sergio confessed through his lawyer today after Beeld, an Afrikaans-language newspaper, published pictures of both brothers in the race wearing the same number. They looked very much alike, but their watches were on different hands, and one runner had a scarred shin.
Apparently, Sergio began the race and ducked into a mobile toilet after 45 minutes to change shirts and shoes with Fika. Fika ran the next 30 kilometers, and they changed again at least once. Changing shoes was necessary because microchips in each runner's shoelaces and sensors allowed constant tracking of every entrant. South Africans across the country were able to log on to a Web site and find out exactly where their favorite racers were at any moment.
Clem Harrington, a lawyer who has run in 21 Comrades, said Sergio Motsoeneng was a desperate young man from a poor family. He and his unemployed client, both from the town of Bethlehem, will meet with the Comrades Marathon Association on Saturday to return the medal and negotiate repayment of the $1,000.
This has not been a great year for the Comrades. Motsoeneng is the third runner to be dropped from the list of top-10 finishers. Viktor Zhdanov, from Russia, who finished second, was disqualified after testing positive for ephedrine, and Mahlala (Rasta) Mohloli, the sixth-place finisher and a popular local runner in the same club as as Motsoeneng, tested positive for nandrolone, a strength-building steroid.
The Comrades prize money is so low that it attracts few world-class entrants, but many runners from the former Soviet Union participate and do well.
''This is a tragic story,'' the press association quoted Harrington as saying. ''Hopefully, Sergio will not be lost to the sport because he is a highly talented runner. If he harnessed the energy he put into cheating into rather running the race properly, who knows, he might have finished among the top five.''
'He didn't need to cheat'
Iqbal Khan
May 31 2010 at 01:56PM Get IOL on your
mobile at m.iol.co.za
Sergio Motsoeneng has paid his dues and has started a new life in his road-running career.
The man who finished third in Sunday's 85th edition of the Comrades Marathon was reluctant at first to speak of his antics in 1999 when he was found guilty of cheating after being placed ninth in that year's race.
Motsoeneng twice swopped clothes with his younger brother but was eventually found out after newspaper photographs showed the runners wearing different watches.
"It's been a long time now and I have come through a tough time in life. I have suffered the embarrassment. I'd rather not talk about it as it's in the past," he said on Sunday night after his outstanding run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban's Sahara Stadium Kingsmead.
"I know I should not have done that - I was a young man then and when the idea was thrown at me I went with the flow. It's now history.
"I'm a family man now and I'm a grown man at 33. I realised that one makes mistakes in life. I came through a tough five-year period of suspension and want to look ahead.
"I knew this would crop up again when I got close to winning the race. It has to come back to haunt me but I appeal to all to leave it at that - it's really the past. It's finished and I look ahead all the time."
Cheryl Winn, who was chief executive of the Comrades Marathon Association at the time Motsoeneng was bust, said he should have had faith in his running ability.
"It just goes to show he did not have to do what he did in 1999. He has great ability in running ultra-marathons - his third-place finish proves just that," she said.
Motsoeneng was in his early 20s when he ran the 1999 Comrades and was slapped with a five-year ban by the Comrades Marathon Association. He was also stripped of his ninth place after he admitted cheating.
An investigation was launched after a runner further back in the field complained that Motsoeneng had not overtaken him.
After examining time sheets and data from the computer timing system, race referees initially cleared him of cheating.
The lookalike brothers' plan was only foiled because photographs of the race published in Beeld showed runner number 13018 at one stage wearing a yellow watch on his left wrist. At another stage the runner with that number was wearing a pink watch on his right wrist.
Other photos later revealed Sergio twice swopping clothes with his 19-year-old brother, Arnold, in portable lavatories.
"I was naive at the time. I did not think we would get caught but we did. I lived through hell for the five years - tried to keep my mind on running by helping youngsters and coaching development kids," he said. "I've turned to God and I'm guided by him. I feel I have paid my dues for my mistakes and want to look to the future rather than look back in life."
Motsoeneng returned to road running in the 2006 Soweto Marathon. Last year he finished 29th in the Comrades.
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