Category Archives for "Running"
4 The Chuck-n-Gorge Double (Gorge Waterfalls 50K)
PHOTO: Yeah, nice waterfalls. Photo by Glenn Tachiyama
I decided to combo Chuckanut 50k and Gorge Waterfalls 50k, since they’re back to back weekends—coining it the “Chuck-n-Gorge Double.” Coming off Chuckanut, I wasn’t sure how my legs would do going into Gorge Wateralls eight days later, but since I have San Diego 100 coming up beginning of June, I thought it a good idea to get some back to back training in and hammer my legs a bit.
With my wife and kids visiting family in Washington, I drove up to the gorge on Saturday evening and crashed in my car the night before Ainsworth State Park, just east of the race start off I-84. It was pretty darn warm the night before (48 and overcast).
On race morning, James (the RD) got a flat tire and was late getting set up for check-in. So, we got started about a 1/2 hour late. Which gave it a little longer to warm up. I didn’t mind. 30 more minutes of recovery from Chuckanut, right?
This course is beautiful. Even though James had to reroute some and make it a bit shorter this year due to snow and other issues out of his control. The normal course is 7000+ feet of climbing, but the revised course this year was a bit short, maybe 29 miles and 5000+ feet of climbing. So, times overall were much faster.
However, the aesthetics of this course is spectacular. Running by so many waterfalls, quite impressive. I believe it’s the highest concentration of waterfall in the United States. It does not disappoint.
The course is fairly technical and you have to be focused and engaged while on the trail. One of my favorite aspects of trail running anyway so the miles just flew by. Surprisingly, my legs felt pretty good and when we hit the road section, I was able to clip off 6:30s.
I had no serious expectations for this one, just get it under the belt for training. And, the last climb ended up being a bit of a struggle for me and I was forced to hike most of it. I bonked a little. I needed to eat more calories coming off a 50k the weakend before. I was tapped out sooner than normal and my Chuckanut legs felt the final 5 or 6 miles. Luckily the last few miles are mostly downhill and I could just let gravity do the work. I ended up 3:55 in 10th overall, 1st masters. The Chuck-n-Gorge Double is highly recommended.
GEAR: Patagonia Forerunner Long Sleeve Jersey, Patagonia Merino Wool gloves, Patagonia Nine Trails short, Old Skool Patagonia hat (circa 2004), Ultraspire Isomeric Pocket handheld, Rudy Project Rx Noyz Frames glasses, RecoFit Calf Compression.
2 2012 Chuckanut 50K
PHOTO: Mile 10, little wet, little slippery. Photo by Glenn Tachiyama
This was my third trip to Krissy’s race. This course is always hard and fun. A fast 10k, 4500 feet of climbing sandwiched in 18 miles on Chuckanut Ridge and a fast 10k at the end back to Fairhaven Park on a gravel pathway.
Bellingham is a such a great town to visit too. I’m always excited to go back—cool little college town. We stayed in the Fairhaven within jog of the start and finish. I brought the brood, so the family could wonder around with out driving or messing with parking. Since Patagonia is a sponsor of the race, a bunch of my teammates and reps made the trip. A few of the Patagonia boys ran too. Shout out to Walker, Josh and Surf Monkey. Way to buck up boys. Plus Luke Nelson, Jenn Shelton, Rocho, Padre, and Tylote made the trek. Good to catch up with the crew.
So, Chuckanut. Definitely not my ideal course, as I tend to do much better the longer the distance, so I’ve never been especially strong at 50Ks, just consistent. So, this one is always fun to get those ultra legs turnin’ over. Plus, over the past few years, this race has become the premiere March 50K with regard to the elite field. It was stacked this year.
Morning of the race dawned to rain and 38 degrees. We took off at the expected quick clip this race is known for and JB (famous for only being the ninth person to finish The Barkley Marathons 100 miler in 2010 and hold Long Trail speed record). Good old southern boy. We talked and I settled into 6:30s with people surging past us. We were hoping our experience would pay off later by throttling the effort. At a couple of miles in, Padre rolls up next to me and says, “How’s it feel to be running 6:30s and be in 40th?” (Uh, ouch). Man, the ultra scene had been changing the past few years. More fast folks, more numbers, filled races. Crazy. Exciting too. This race got out over 300 first time 50Ks. Growing for sure.
Soon Ellie Greenwood and another girl passed us. We let them go. World 100k runner but I was hoping to reel her in in the technical stuff later—fat chance.
Padre and I and few other guys stayed in a loose group through the first trail climb up into the couple inches of snow on the top half of the ridge and reeled a few guys in. Then descended back down into the rain. The group started breaking up on the gravel road climb before Chuckanut Ridge Trail, where Padre and I passed a few more guys.
I lost sight of Padre and just settled into steady race pace and dealing with crazy footing on Chuckanut Ridge. In the snow and mud beneath, I had a few hands and feet slides down rock slabs. Did have some trouble with gel getting too cold in my flasks and couldn’t get last bit out, no matter if I mixed water…nothing worked. Note to self, packets when it’s cold, no flasks.
Once I hit the slushy, muddy climb up to the base of Chinscraper I caught back up to Padre, then he picked it up again and gapped me again and I didn’t see him rest of the race. I soon caught the 2nd place girl who looked like the early fast pace was coming back to haunt her a little.
I was soon jamming up Chinscraper climb, which is basically a bunch of grunt steep pitches with runnable small sections in between. It was slippery in a few spots with all the snow and looked up to see Ellie dup ahead. I was gaining on her in the technical stuff. I was right behind her at the top and came out onto the gravel road to start the almost 3 mile drop to the pathway. Ellie took OFF. Seriously, I was running 5:40 pace on my Garmin and she dropped me like a bad habit. Had to be runnin’ 5s. This old man still has some leg speed, but not that fast. Some times it’s nice to be humbled. Ellie went on to break her own course record and just out distance Padre in 4:09.
Running down the lower part of the road, I was surprised to catch Max. He said he’d missed the hard left off the first road descent as a volunteer apparently had trouble getting up to manage the course markings and that critical turn and he and the Sage, the dude in 2nd, missed it. Luckily, Sage only missed it by 1/2 mile before one of the back of the packers kindly told him he was not on course. He was then in 4th and rallied to 2nd. Strong work. Sadly, Max, because he’s so dang fast, had to have a car chase him down to turn him around. He ran 1.5 miles down hill before he turned back. Extra credit. I gotta respect him though, he took it like a champ, wasn’t mad and still cruised to a finish. Nice work Maximus.
I hit the Interurban Trail for the final 6.5 miles and concentrated on arm swing and heal kick and got in the zone and knocked off sub 7s all the way back to town. I passed a few more folks and finished in 25th in 4:12…and 3rd Masters behind Mackey and Gellin. Gary did the Way Too Cool/Chuckanut double. He won Cool last weekend and ran strong today. I’m hitting’ the double this week too. Chuckanut then Gorge Waterfalls 50k 8 days later on Sunday. I’m coining, “The Chuck-n-Gorge Double”…Giddyup.
GEAR: Patagonia Cap 1 Long Sleeve Jersey, Patagonia Houdini Jacket, Patagonia 5″ Strider short, Patagonia gloves, Old Skool Patagonia hat (circa 1999), Ultraspire Isomeric Race handheld, Ultraspire Melecular Belt System (MBS) with Atom front and Nerve single water bottle holder on the back. Rudy Project Rx Noyz Frames glasses.
Chuckanut 50k open registration to 1,000 runners!
Chuckanut 50k is celebrating 20 years in 2012. The race is Saturday, March 17, and is poised to be the biggest 50k in the nation. Krissy Moehl has also been at the helm and race directing for 10 years. This is a very “dialed” race and has arguably the best field of any 50k in the nation. It’s a NW classic. Bellingham is an awesome town to come visit and hang out for the weekend. This race has been filling up the past few years. Now that she’s been allowed to open it up to more runners, there’s no reason to ski it. Get on it folks, there’s less than 350 spots left last I heard.
Registration at UltraSignUp.com. Giddyup!
2012 Orcas Island 50k
Photo Courtesy: Glenn Tachiyama
This was a quick power trip to Orcas solo. It was good to get back to James’ race, it’s a killer course. Hard, tons of climbing…7500 ft and a great scene. I took off Thursday night after my kids were in bed and crashed in the Gorge. Got up early Friday, hit Seattle at lunch and hung with my brother-in-law, Andrew before pushing on to Anacortes to catch the ferry to Orcas Island.
This year I opted to crash in my rig. After a good night’s sleep, I got up, ate and did a short warm up before toeing the line. I knew going into this I was not in top form. After the broken rib and hand in November/December, I just hadn’t put in the volume I normally have on my legs by this time. Add to the mix that I (and my whole family) got the flu on Monday (5 days prior) and I knew I was in for a challenging day, especially the latter miles.
The weather was just gorgeous this year. Clear, sunny and brisk at the start, but it warmed up quickly and by 10 miles in I was down to light gloves and sleeveless jersey. Nice. The course was in stellar shape and I went out a little hot given my fitness level, but oh well.
I did pay for that “oh well” around 25 or 26 miles when my wheels came off. I was in 5th and 1st masters, but Adam Hewey, another strong master’s runner, came rolling up on me at 26ish closing strong like he always does. I immediately tried to suck on his heels for 100 meters or so, but couldn’t match his pace. Just wasn’t there. So, I just maintained the pace I was holding and hoped nobody else was bringing it home hard. I ended up staying in that position the rest of the race and rolling in for 6th place 17 minutes faster than last year in 4:55. Great race once again. James really knows how to put on a race. I highly recommend one of his races (rainshadowrunning.com).
Also, found out I got chosen in the Wasatch 100 lottery. So, September 100 is chosen. Giddyup.
Out of hybernation
Phew. It’s been a busy 6 months since Leadville. Here’s a recap of my last 6 months to catch up…
Flagline 50k start
September
Ran Flagline 50k (USATF 50k National Trail Championship). I just turned 40 in August, so went into it gunning for the master’s title and got it by just a few minutes. Battled Mark Lundblad and pulled it out by 2 minutes after rolling my ankle badly in the last mile and hobbling across the finish in 4:02. Good day.
October
Laid low, took some time off and let my ankle heal from Flagline. Took a family vacation to the Redwoods in Northern California. Was super bummed my ankle was mangled, as the trails there would be off the hook. Took another trip to see family in Seattle durning the month. Also was able to squeeze in some late season mountain biking before the snow started flying.
Bronco vs. SUV = 3 pins
November
Had just started training again when I was had a bike wreck commuting to work. I was commuting to work on my bicycle early morning on Nov. 10 following traffic (2 vehicles) in the roundabout, when a car did not yield entering the roundabout. I was one car length behind the SUV when the 2 vehicles in front of me came to a screeching halt to avoid hitting the person that did not yield (pulled in front of them). I crashed into the back of the SUV in front of me at 20 mph. My left hand hit first and broke plastic off the back of the SUV, jack-knifing my bike front end and slamming left ribs/shoulder into the back of the SUV. I broke my left hand and cracked a rib. The hand required surgery and 3 pins and a cast. While I was on the pavement, everyone in the line, drove off. Thankfully, 2 super cool fireman on their way to work pulled over and helped me.
December
Still dealing with broken hand and rib. Slowly able to start running again, after 5 weeks on stationery bike and treadmill. Nice to be back outside running.
Leadville Trail 100 Race Report
Here’s a little video highlight of the race. Thanks Angie for capturing video. Leadville Video
Man oh man, where to start. This was an epic adventure for my 12th 100 miler. I’ve had Leadville on my list for several years and just hadn’t been able to make it back to Colorado to run it. I knew about it back when I lived in Denver in the late 90s but was only a recreational runner back then and thought it was CRAZY. I was mainly a mountain biker back then. Fast forward 13 years and I don’t think these things are so crazy any more. Funny where life leads you.
Pre-race Build Up: Lots of Balls in the Air
This season has been my most hectic yet. Not only did I turn 40 in August, my wife and I welcomed our third child into the world in May. Needless to say, my life is busier than a one-armed paper hanger. Being a working and family man, coming out to Colorado early to acclimate was definitely not an option, so, I opted to sleep in an altitude tent for 6 weeks leading up to the race. This proved somewhat challenging and I thank my patient wife, as having a new baby in the house made any thought of extra sleep this entire summer simply not an option. Pile on the fact that I took a graphic design director position at a local internet company and still have my graphic design consulting business, I’ve basically been working two jobs this entire summer. Working 4 full days (Mon-Thurs), then Sunday through Thursday nights catching up on my consulting projects after the kids are in bed, made for a challenging summer. According to my training log, my average sleep for the entire summer is 6.2 hours/night. Not the best for recovery when putting in 12-16 hours of training a week. There were times when my work and family responsibilities just didn’t allow me to run, so I would cram in a night run at midnight and sacrifice sleep. So now that you get the snapshot of my crazy life, I’m blessed just to get to the start line in one piece.
Travel Mishaps: Learning to Roll With It
The plan was to fly into Denver Thursday morning, have my folks pick me up at the airport (they were driving from NW Missouri) and be in Leadville by late afternoon. No problem right? Wrong. After hitting Whole Foods in west Denver on the way, we started to drive up out of Golden into the mountains. Less than 10 miles up out of Golden, my Dad’s car overheated and we pulled off, called AAA, waited. That’s okay, Jeff, just roll with it, man.
After 30 minutes, the car had cooled down. We cancelled AAA tow, drove back to Golden and dropped the car at a local repair shop and planned to rent a car. To our dismay, NO ONE in ALL of Denver had rentals available. Finally, I reserved a rental car at Denver Airport through Expedia on my smartphone, 40 miles in the wrong direction. 80 miles extra driving. Yep, just roll with it.
Luckily, my cousin, Angie, lives in Denver and picked us up, drove us to DIA to pick up the rental and by 6pm we were on the road to Leadville. We arrived about 9:30pm Thursday night, checked into the Timberline Motel, hung out a bit and then went to bed. My father, who is 64 and pretty darn out of shape started coughing and hacking about 11pm. The coughing got worse and by midnight, he couldn’t lay down, and was almost constantly coughing til he gagged and hacked up stuff. His left lung had fluid in it. The start of Pulmonary Edema. Leadville, at 10,200 feet, was proving just to high for his body to handle. Uh, still rollin’ with it.
I woke my Mom up and sadly informed her that she had to drive Dad back to Denver to lower elevation immediately. So, after reloading the rental car, I sent my folks back to Denver about 12:30am to find a hotel. I laid down and slept soundly that night. It actually was a blessing in disguise, as my Father’s snore is louder than a 747 (no offense, Dad), so, having a completely peaceful motel room to myself was nice. Silver lining.
At the pre-race meeting on Friday, it really started to hit me how deep in tradition Leadville is with regard to this race. The race started in 1983 and would be the 29th running of the event in 2011. Cool. Over 800 people had entered and 640 showed up to toe the line at 4am on Saturday morning. The biggest 100 miler in the U.S. and the 2nd oldest. Very, very cool.
My cousin Angie stepped up to take my folks spot for driving and crewing, while my buddy, Dave Bowman, drove up Friday from Glenwood Springs to crew and pace the last 23 miles to the finish. Note to self, roll with it.
Grabbing some quick calories at first aid station, May Queen, mile 13.5
The Race
I got to the line Saturday morning about 5 minutes before the start and squeezed my way up front. For an ultra, it felt more like a marathon start with so many runners. With a shot of the shotgun to signify the start and the Leadville Police car escorting us down 6th, we began. I settled into a group of 12 runners, slightly behind 3 guys who shot off the front. My garmin showed us running conistently 7-7:20 pace for the first 5 miles and our group quickly gapped the remainder of the field. This start is pretty unique for a 100 mile trail race, as you are on a gravel, double track then, pavement for most of the first 7 miles before hitting Turquoise Lake trail. We all were chatting and joking and as I took inventory of the runners in the group, it really dawned on my how deep the field was this year. The deepest in Leadville’s history for sure. Lots of fast, solid elite runners.
After cruising the north shore of Turquoise Lake on the technical singletrack we popped out at the campground and through the May Queen aid station at mile 13.5 at 5:45am. I was surprised at how packed it was. Tons of spectators. After May Queen, you run up a road and into the Colorado Trail and climb up to a gravel road, then onto rough double track up and over Power Lines and Sugarloaf Pass at 11,100 feet. I started settling in and arrived at Fish Hatchery at 7:22am, swapped bottles and gel flasks with Dave and hit the highway, then Halfmoon Road section to Half Pipe aid. I started catching a few guys in this section and moved onto the Colorado Trail up and over and down to Twin Lakes at mile 40. About here I started to get a little dehydrated more and more at each aid station. I made the mistake of not drinking an extra bottle at the aid station, then topping my bottles. This mistake started to add up with the long sections between aid at Leadville. NOTE: Leadville has some of the longest sections at any 100 miler, with 9-10 mile sections between water. I carried two 24 oz. bottles and drained them dry on several sections before getting to the next aid station.
So, as I launched into the section across the marsh and creek crossing from Twin Lakes to the start of the Hope Pass climb, I really was progressively getting farther and farther behind on drinking. Not my normal thing. I’m usually good at catching it, but I was for some reason lazy this time. I rushed through aid stations when I should have stayed an extra 30 seconds and got more water down. That’s okay, Jeff, just roll with it, man.
Crossing creek at mile 41, on my way to Hope Pass
I got up and over Hope Pass at 12,600 feet and up to the ghost town of Winfield and the half way point in 9th place. I got into Winfield pretty dehydrated. Dave ran with me about a mile out of Winfield to check in and see how I was feeling. Not good. I got to the Hope Pass trailhead 3 miles down the gravel road from Winfield and had already almost drained both bottles. Luckily, Sean Meissner was sitting on a rock (he was passing through on his way to TransRockies Stage Race, which started the next day) and had a big jug of water. I bummed some water off him. Chugged a bottle and refilled and got power hiking up Hope Pass again. I got over the top and down to the aid station just above treeline and refilled and got moving down the big descent to Twin Lakes at 9,200 feet. About halfway down, I had already almost drained both bottles again. Still several miles from the aid station at Twin Lakes, I opted to dip out of the fast rushing creek that paralleled the trail coming off Hope Pass. I chugged a bottle, dipped and got going again. I was starting to feel better on the marshy swampy section over to Twin Lakes and came into Twin Lakes at mile 60 and met Dave to swap bottles and gels. We walked and he had a Nalgene Bottle with water. Again, I chugged about 25 ounces and dumped the rest over my head and shoulders. 8th place was 15 minutes ahead of me when I left Twin Lakes—pretty sloshy in the belly from all the water. I had downed over a gallon of water in less than an hour. It took me most of the climb up and out of Twin Lakes to get my electrolytes and salt levels back balanced with all the water I’d consumed. But about 45 minutes out of Twin Lakes I started feeling better, which in turn meant moving better. About 66 ot 67 mile mark I caught 8th place and kept plugging away.
I arrived at Half Pipe aid, mile 70 and asked how far up the next guy was…30 minutes. Dang. I figured I was now racing for 8th place. 30 minutes up meant I needed to run 1 min per mile faster over the next 30 miles in order to catch him. I kind of accepted my fate at that point and trudged the road section over to Fish Hatchery to pick up Dave as my pacer.
I arrived at Fish Hatchery feeling, well, less than motivated. At this point, with little incentive, I just wanted to get finished. So, that’s easy, just kept moving. Dave offered me my Yerba Mate special concoction (I call Giddyup juice), I declined. Was kinda in a funk. So, Dave and I slowly but surely got up and over Sugarload again, with all it’s false summits and cruised down the double track to the Colorado Trail section. This section we hit right before dark and I was starting to feel pretty good. I wanted to get through this technical trail section to May Queen before dark so I picked up the pace here and ran that pretty quickly. And sure enough, we made it to May Queen right at dark.
When we got in, my dad, mom and Angie were there to greet me. They asked if I wanted the Giddyup juice. No. Just tryin’ to get ‘er done. But, to my surprise, I was informed that 7th place was only 5 min in front of me. That kind of lit a fire under me and I looked at Dave and said, “get the Giddyup Juice, dude!” He smiled, turned and ran back to my folks and Angie and grabbed the 6 ounces of Giddyup juice. I chugged and we flipped on our lights and headed into the 6 mile Turquoise Lake trail section. This section is pretty technical and undulating along the North Shore of the lake. This is the kind of trail conditions I thrive in and really started to click.
Within 15 or 20 minutes we saw lights ahead. Sweet. It was Montrails’ Ryan Burch and his pacer. We went by them and I kept pushing to gap them. Within a few more minutes, more light and we blew by Duncan Callahan and his pacer. At this point, I was pumped, I had moved up two places in about 15 minutes and felt pretty good. I kept pushing low 8 min/miles and to my even greater surprise came upon Timmy Parr sitting on a rock, looking rather white. That put us in 5th and I just kept plugging away with the goal to hold my position.
We were getting near the end of the Lake trail when Dave informed me he couldn’t keep up the pace anymore. So, he stuffed 3 gels in a pocket of my Ultraspire handheld and said “Go!” I left Dave and soon was on the road making the final slog back to town. This section is REALLY long. It feels like it takes forever. But, I soon was on the outskirts of Leadville and onto the pavement of 6th and topped the hill and could see the finish line. I crossed in 18 hours, 27 minutes for 5th place. Solid day, even though is wasn’t an “A” performance with the massive bonk I had over Hope, but all in all a good day. The buckle is HUGE. Leadville style. Giddyup.
Thanks to my family, crew, friends for all your love and support. Also, thanks to Patagonia, Ultraspire, Black Diamond and FootZone of Bend. All your generous help. You all are awesome. Thanks.
The "Dinner Plate" Buckle
2 Leadville 100 Pre Race — the “old guy” perspective
Hydrating at Tennessee Pass Cafe in downtown Leadville
Ten hours to race start. Tons of chatter on the race this year, who’s gonna run what and how fast and who is the favorite…thanks Rod for keeping me abreast of the gossip. 🙂 What are my thoughts? Well, it’s simple…
It’s 100 miles. No matter how you cut it, it’s a long way. I know who’s running it, but I don’t worry about other runners or who’s who. I’ve always seen it as me against the course. It’s a distance that has to be respected. I don’t have any predictions or grand plans, except to run my own race and let the chips fall where they may. Do I do everything that is within my power to get ready. I’ve been sleeping in an altitude tent for 6 weeks…so, heck yeah.
I’ve trained…but to be honest, I really haven’t had much time to dwell on this race until today (not as much as past races). Life is just too busy right now. I have 3 kids (one is 13 1/2 weeks old today) and a beautiful wife who give me just enough hall passes to race these crazy adventures. So, dwelling on running has not been an option. Period. And that’s okay. Family is always going to be more important than running…and it should be, otherwise life is out of whack.
Will I run hard tomorrow. Yep. Will I leave it all out there. Yep. I owe it to my family to run hard and finish with no regrets. Anything less would be an insult to them. I’ve taken precious time away from them to train. I’ve sacrificed 6 weeks in a tent at night with a baby in the house. (Luckily my wife has been a saint about that part.) I’ve put in the training for this distance. Same volume that I have in the past. That’s all I can do. This will be my 12th hundred miler. I love this distance. It’s hard, it’s complicated, but yet so brutally simple—one foot in front of the other.
I’m honored to be running in the 2nd oldest 100 miler in the country. The pre-race meeting was inspirational. To be in a town that so revolves around this event. So embraces it. The tradition runs deep—it’s oozing from the town. I dig it. The energy is good. I’m stoked to be back in the Rockies and running in the footsteps of all the previous runners that have run this race for almost 3 decades. Cool to be here and the best way I know how to respect that tradition is to run smart, run hard, and leave it all on the course. Giddyup!
Leadville 100 pre-race meeting in the 6th St gym. Standing room only. 29 years of tradition.