Denied

The 35th running of the Western States 100 is not to be.  I have always had the upmost respect for mother nature, critters, lightening, avalanches, etc.  They say that there are over 800 fires burning in No. California and the smoke is thick.  It is a probably a good thing that there was an official cancellation of the race because knowing me, I would have gone out because “I....must....finish........the ......race”.

We made it as far as Elko, NV Wed. night, planned to stay there overnight and make it to Squaw valley the following day.  As there was now no use to continue on, we are headed home.  Our pets will be happy to see us early.  The smoke is apparent even on our return home from Elko.

I am feeling sorry for myself, but I can imagine there are folks worse off than me.  The race directors had to make the tough call and they will be under even more fire about the entry for the 2009 race.  Apparently they will make a decision on next years entry/lottery in 10 days.  Runners come from afar, lots of time and cost for travel, I feel fortunate that we live so close and only wasted a few hours driving plus we were planning on staying at a friends condo.  My poor friend Colleen is in Squaw Valley, surrounded by other mourning runners, and she can’t even go for a run.  She said the smoke is bad.  She will pick up my goodie bag, and head home Friday.  The preparation, physically, mentally, and emotionally I know it will get better but I feel like I cheated my family, my friends, and myself. 

Let’s look at the brighter side:

1.  I have a legitimate reason why I didn’t run Western States..... and a much better reason than a DNF (missed cutoffs or injury). 

2.  Shorter drive, we only made it to Elko, less than half way to Squaw Valley. 

3.  I am essentially packed for Vermont

4.  I am looking forward to painting our living room, since our new couch has arrived and the reupholstered chairs will be ready in a week or so.

5.  The pressure of the grand slam is off, at least for now.  I feel like I can do the other runs without pressure.  There are 34 other Grand Slammers in my same boat....there has to be some consolation prize.

6.  There is a trail run in Logan, UT on Saturday!  28 miles and heads up to Logan Peak @ 9,700 ft.  Could be snow but Peter is game to go, he could ride his mountain bike.  I put a call into the race director, hopefully they will let me in.  Will keep ya posted on that one.  

Looking back, there were a couple of signs that things just weren’t working out:

1.  Last Halloween, I was at a party and there was a fortune teller.  We went around the room asking her questions.  I asked “if I was going to be able to run a race that was difficult to get into”  she answered “Yes”, then I asked her “there are 5 races that I really want to finish this year, will I finish all five”, she said “No, but you will complete 4”.  Quite eerie....I got into Western States, but I thought that I would forego the Speedgoat or I thought I wouldn’t make it through a Leadville cutoff.  Hmmmm, we will see if I finish the other races, was my destiny told that Hallows-eve?

2.  Sophie had a dream last week, she said that I didn’t make it through an aid station.

3.  Last minute, my pacer’s stepmother passed away, and she went to be with her family in Portugal.

4.  My massage therapist had foot surgery and was supposed to be back for my pre-race massage, but he wasn’t.

5.  I forgot my sleeping pill when packing for WS.  I have a terrible time sleeping before a race and I have a secret stash of Ambien that I only use the night before a race.  I remembered ~1hour out of Salt Lake and there was no chance Peter would turn around. I quickly perseverated over lying in bed Friday night, sweating, looking at my watch, and thinking I could never run the race if I didn’t sleep.  Over the counter meds don’t work for me, the Benedryl makes me groggy for 3 days.

So what now?  I will run Vermont and Leadville and Wasatch, plus the speedgoat in July and maybe Logan this weekend.  I am also considering the Bear 100, which is 3 weeks after Wasatch.  The Bear is located near Preston, Idaho (Napoleon Dynamite country).  I paced Colleen last year, beautiful course not well marked we got lost twice it rained and snowed but she finished and we had fun.... well at least I did but I was the pacer.  This year there is a new course and it ends at Bear Lake.

As we are driving, we see firefighting vehicles headed to California, we are now in Wendover and there is still smoky haze in the air.........

Sputnik soothed my sorrows with a nice cuddle on the King Tempurpedic

Keep your fingers crossed that the WS race committee makes amends (ie automatic entry for 2009) to all of us denied 'year of the smoke' runners!

Western States Runner #271

Attempting the Grand Slam was an idea last fall.  The first step in the Grand Slam is getting into Western States.  It is difficult, because of so many applicants, that the process has been:  enter the lottery and if you don't make it the first year then apply again the second year, if you don't get in the second year then you are an automatic entry for the first year.  So I thought it would take me years to get in.  I knew I wanted to do the Grand Slam at some point so I thought I better start the process for Western States.  So I sent in my application October 2007.

Some time in December the lottery was held.  It was a Saturday and we were, of course, skiing.  When I got home, I got the message from Colleen........ with an 18% chance, I won the Western States Lottery on my first attempt!  She was a two time lottery loser and so she was an automatic entry.  Yeehaw, California here we come.  

Vermont and Leadville are not competitive to get into.  Wasatch had to start the lottery system last year, but the odds are better.

So I was in....next decision was to commit to the Grand Slam.  I knew I wanted to do it at some point in my life.  I had only done one 100 miler in a year, four seemed like a big jump, but this was my opportunity and I felt like I had to go for it.  

There are 35 Slammers this year, 8 are female.  Ages 31-63, most are in their 40's.  Check out my fellow adrenaline junkies on the Grand Slam website.

FYI, For 2009 it appears that there are too many two time lottery losers, so they are changing the process to open lottery.  If you don't make it in, then the next year you get two tickets, and so on.

Well there has been a major turn of events..... Skip forward to the next post for the next episode of rungeerun. 

I wasn't going to publish this post but I thought what the heck, it does contain some info.  I had intended to finish the post with exciting race preparation photos and details.  Here is a photo of the madness.  

Ooooh, idea, let's identify what goes into the drop bags (pile of 9 bags on lower left), start bag and finish bag.  Gray shoes with glo-green laces are the new laces that are like bungee.  Called Yanz, I was trying them out as I like my shoes loose which means I have to make tiny bows and knots with regular laces.  Antlers, check.  Nathan running pack, lower and upper screen.  Hold 1.5 liters water and has a zipper pouch on back plus two pouches on front, love my Nathan pack.  3 hats, options in drop bags along the trail.  Thin white silky shirt for the expected high temps plus a couple of shirts and one long sleeve for options.  Target shorts, cheap and love them.  Sport bras and sport panties (good luck charms during races).  Bandanas/snot rags, my nose runs a lot.  Socks, again, option to change along the race.  New gaitors, lighter/cooler by Dirty Girl but if they don't work then the old tried and true REI type.  Glide anti chaffing sticks.  Headlamps x3 with extra batteries.  Sunglasses (I did forget my clear lenses for running at night, that is now on my packing list).  Luggage tags to mark each drop bag.  Sunscreen, bug stuff.  Drugs (tylenol, motrin, tums, pepto,) usually don't need them but I have in the past.  Emergency rain poncho, hat, gloves after all these races are in the mountains.  Gum, not during the race but helps with nerves before and after.  Anti-blister powder, haven't ever tried it.  Empty clear plastic flasks are for mixing the Perpetuem, big jug behind them.  Yellow bottles are for extra electrolyte fluid during high temperatures.  Red Bull for most aid stations, magic potion.  Light blue oblong things are refillable ice bags,  aaah nice at the finish line.  Bottle of salt tabs, take one to 2 tabs per hour.  And, a gel or shot block for each drop bag.   

Lucky Charms

Over the past several years I have found good luck charms while running the trails.  Typically I find one a year and that item sets the theme for the year.  I started noticing this trend a few years back when I found an empty rattle from a growing snake while I was running up the pavement on Little Mountain in Emigration Canyon.  I was training for the St. George Marathon.  I took it home to Sophie, she was in first grade, and she thought it was pretty cool.  I guess the significance of the shedded rattle was that I was coming out of my shell and becoming a runner (weak explanation but read on, it gets better).

I like to think that I have recieved my annual “sign from the running Gods”, probably I was just not aware this phenomenon until three years ago.....and here’s how it goes:

2006 Snake Karma:  I was running down Dry Creek and heard the infamous “che-che-che-rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”  I responded with this amazing quantam leap forward and yes, doing the big girlie scream, and I avoided the viper.  When I landed and I knew that I was in safe distance, I started to walk as I shook off the embarassment of the scream.  But then I thought, I want to see the snake.  So I turned around and gingerly snuck back up the trail.  I caught glimpse of the asp, it was just off the trail, hidden in the short foliage.  Curious..... it was not coiled.  I continued towards the viper and it rattled again, but all I could tell was that it was not coiled....was it injured?  I looked all around, slowly creaped and then I finally got close enough to see the tail.....and then the head....but the head was oddly shaped.  Eeeeewwww, the snake was mid-snack.  It had a mouse (head in, tail out) in its mouth.  I couldn’t tell if the mouse tail was still moving.   Thoughts were flying through my head “he’s committed, he can’t spit that thing out” “no wonder why he wasn’t coiling” and finally I realized “I could walk up to that snake and pet it”.  Hmmmm, then I immediately felt sorry for the poor beast, what a bad place for the snake to have such a fine catch, lots of running and

 biking traffic.  I just felt it would be wrong.  The snake should enjoy his snack.  

Pretty much think that incident has brought me good Snake Karma.  Since then I have seen snakes, heard the rattles, but not even a close call.  Running in the Wasatch there are certain creatures you have to be worried about, rattle snakes, cougars, bears, and human weirdos.  I think I am most afraid of a snake bite.  The other day I was running and I saw a snake head in the grass (black, no rattles attached) and its tongue was popping out.  I did a girlie scream and then just laughed, I think the snake was a sideline fan just cheering me on.

2007 Lucky Horse Shoe:  This time I was doing one of my favorite training runs for the Wasatch 100, up Catherines, down Dry Fork, up Ant Knoll,

 out to 

Pole line, down to campground and climbing up Mineral Basin.  In the summertime there is a horse corral near the base of the ski lift.  As I was

 marching up I found a horse shoe, cool, I threw it in my pack.  

Not long after I came upon the wrangler.  My conscience got the best of me and I offered the shoe back to the cowboy.  He took it but

 

acted not as if I had returned his lucky horse shoe, rats, should have kept it.  

Later on that summer I was running an Ultra ( I will not disclose which one for fear that the cowboy in those parts does care that he lost his lucky horseshoe).  So I saw a shoe on the trail, picked it up, and when I saw Peter at the next aid station I said “don’t need to restock my pack but here, take this”.  Of course he made some comment of 'why are you weighing down your pack', blah, blah, blah.  I was just happy to have my lucky horse shoe thrown back to me by the running Gods, you think the second time they would have clocked me on the head.

This horse shoe was truely lucky.  Last year I bested my Wasatch time by 4 hours, I won the Western States lottery (18% chance of winning), and I won the Wasatch lottery, going for buckle #4.

2008 The Rack:  This spring weather has been tough on ultrarunners in the Wasatch.  It is June and most of my favorite trails are still 

under snow.  So I have spent a lot of time on the Bonneville shoreline trail and all the side options from the zoo to city creek.  The biggest elevation in this section is to climb up to Black Mountain.  I like this run because once you get off the shoreline, you don’t see a lot of traffic (bikes).  One day in April as I neared the level of the pine trees (where the steep section

 starts) here were two mountain bikers, sitting in those soft crazy creek chairs with a cooler and empty beer cans surrounding them.  It was like an oasis (except that the guy wasn't Peter), one of them jumped up and offered me a brew.  Kinda freaked me out.  I declined the offer, can’t drink beer mid-run.  One of them had pulled the cooler of beer up on a little bike trailer.  I chatted with them for a while, I have never seen mtn bikes up this high however they told me that they bike to the top of Black Mtn at least a couple times a year.  

The guys were at the level of the snow line and the trail above them was covered by windblown-punch through-inconsistant snow (yuk), so I opted to turn around and go back down.  I happened to walk over to a snow bank, I looked down and saw a set of antlers coming out of the snowbank.  I reached down and grabbed them, not thinking they could still be attached to something.  The rack came as a unit, 2 antlers attached to a piece of skull.  Cool.  The guys were impressed and if I wasn’t such a tough looking ultra runner, they probably would have taken the horns away (sometimes I just like to think I am tough).  So I ran home with them.  The whole way I didn’t think of the consequences of stealing wildlife (was this illegal?), I just thought of the consequence of tripping and impaling myself with the horn.  Many people I passed were sure checking me out, rack envy, alas I arrived home safely.

Now I say “rack” but that is subjective.  Who or what were they attached to?  What is the meaning from this sign from the running gods?  I firmly believe that this rack comes from the all-mythical Jack-a-lope.  This summer I am supposed to “Run Rabbit Run”. 

 RUN RABBIT RUN

STRIKE OUT BOYS, FOR THE HILLS -the Clash

Sorry, no photo of a Jack-a-lope, BUT thanks to extreme photographer Peter Thurston, you are now privy to this rare creature.....the Cat-a-lope.  Super difficult to find a sleeping one and risky to sneak up on one with such gleaming eyes.

I'm off for a couple days before Western States, I'll be packing my bags, loading up on fluids and carbs, and figuring out how and where to mount the rack and the lucky horse shoe on the Eurovan.

Race Report: Squaw Peak 50 mile

I predict that there will never be another Squaw Peak 50 like 2008.  Zhow, it prepared me for the Grand Slam with multiple weather patterns including rain, slippery mud, falling snow, packed snow, sun, and a tiche of humidity.  I am sorry that I didn't bring my camera during the run, didn't think it would really happen with the conditions, but Peter and my trail work friend Greg Norrander captured some memories.

The race is held ~ 1 hour south of my house....south to Provo and then east up Provo canyon to Vivian Park.  Peter had just returned from a business trip to a mine project (nickel) outside of Duluth, poor guy still wanted to get up and drive.  I always seem to time it to arrive just before the race start and sure enough, I checked in, grabbed my number and barely put out my drop bags when the race started (last year I arrived 20 minutes late for the start, it was weird to start running  alone).  Weather report was for rain and cool temps in the morning breaking to partly cloudy in the afternoon.  The first part of the race heads west on a paved path following the Provo river, passing Bridal Veil falls.  A lot of people bring head lamps, I don’t, I just poach their light.  This hasn’t been a problem in the past, but this year when I turned off the path and headed up the trail, I wasn’t with a luminous runner and I bumped my toes and tripped all over until the sunlight brightened the trail.  It didn’t help matters that the sky was overcast, nevertheless, note to self:  bring headlamp next year.  

After the first couple of miles the hard packed rocky trail, which is minimally affected by rain, turns into a dirt steep trail.  This section was tough because of slippery thick mud... just like at Bishop, one step forward and a 1/4 slide back.  The rain continued and temperatures were dropping.  Right before we left 

home Peter talked me into grabbing a fleece ski cap, thank you Peter!  I also had my lightweight, not meant for running, rain jacket and a pair of fleece gloves.  I was toasty.  We continued up to a ridge enduring the lack of traction, it is pretty steep in some short sections and that basically sucked.  Greg was in a great position for muddy shots.  And then the rain turned to snow, which made the grass on the side of the trail slippery.  I thank every little bush that sacrificed their branches to help me pull myself up the hill.  I was listening to my shuffle tunes and the song “Look at Little Sister” by Stevie Ray Vaughn played.  I always think of my sisters during that song.  At that point of tough times, I thought of how we have all had our challenges in life and, well, my sisters are a huge inspiration to me.  They have endured much more, with more grace, and why should a little mud and cold ruin my spirit.  That was all I needed.....and I was fired up.  Oh, and it just happened that on the next song, Sheryl Crow belted out “If it makes you happy, then why are you so sad”, and that put the nail on the SP50 ‘08 coffin.  So, Stevie and Sheryl, you share song of the run honors.  FYI, I neglected to put in my Bishop race report that the song of the run was “Hotel California” by the Eagles, the acoustics really put a positive spin on the relentless heat at the end of that race.  So with this new attitude I reached the ridge and then headed down this nice dirt trail through a meadow to the Squaw Peak road.  With the current conditions, the trail was so slick that people were sliding and falling all over.  And this is where my post race soreness comes from, quick body jerks to save myself from falling, but I fell anyway.   At the next AS, Rock Canyon mile 11,  I stopped briefly to mix more Perpetuem potion.  A volunteer helped me and as I was rezipping my coat, he took over and put on the hood and then zipped my coat all the way.....very sweet.  As I left the AS, I quickly realized how fast my core temp dropped, I am forever grateful to that volunteer for that act of kindness!

The road up to the Horse Mtn AS, mile 15, was quite runable and eerie with lots of fog, then we start  the long descent.  Most of the downhill to Hobble creek canyon is on a gravel road.  The precip. stopped just as forecasted.  Right past Pole Heaven AS ( mile 21

@bottom of the descent) I saw Peter.  This year it was too muddy for him to pace me on his mountain bike, so he snapped some photos and said “see ya at the bottom of Windy Pass”.  From here to Left Fork Hobble Creek AS is almost 4 miles on pavement.  It wasn’t too bad this time but in years past I reach this point ~11am and it is scorching on the pavement.  You pass by this ginormous ranch that is way too much.... outrageous..... yuck.  One entry, not the fancy gated one, has a log pole frame and a saddle on top.  I would like to ride it, maybe for my 10th Squaw Peak.... giddy up.  

From the top of the pavement, mile 26.5, starts the big daddy climb.  I think of it in three s

ections.  The first is an ATV road that follows a creek.  Usually I am dipping into the creek to cool off but obviously no need.  Over one wide creek area is a single log bridge.  I knew I was doing well as I walked over the log without problems.  If I am dehydrated or bonking I have a hard time with balance.  The boy scouts man the Rattlesnake AS, mile 30, at the top of this section.  They had snow in the morning but it was dry and sunny by the time I got there, they are always a cheery AS group.  The second section starts out by going up a creek bed.  Usually I can do this without

 getting my feet wet, but today it would have been more time consuming jumping between dry spots and rocks so I just forged straight up the stream bed, which was super fun and a quickie ice bath for the lower legs.  Then the trail goes thru this small hill sagebrush area.  I always envision sheep grazing here.  The trail winds thru a beautiful aspen grove to a steep climb to the ridge.  There is a quick descent (term quick also includes untintential sliding in mud) crossing a stream a few times to the Little Valley AS, mile 33.

Little Valley AS, the point of contention.  Here you decide how you will go to the finish line, trail or truck.  A lot of people pull out here because if you continue 

but can’t make it, you are screwed and you risk being hauled out by search and rescue. 

 At this AS I always fill up with max water and the weather is not predictable so at the very least, take an

 emergency poncho.  Respecting mother nature, I chose to keep my rain coat and swapped for a fresh pair of gloves out of my drop bag.

  Ready for the third section of the climb, this is where I shine as I tend to motor right up.  

First you wind thru aspens, jumping over or walking thru streams, then you switch 

back on a south facing slope.....which again normally is a scorcher but this day no prob.  The trail crests 

two saddles and then you start a runable contour around the mountain.  This is my favorite place to stop and enjoy the view.  

I say stop because if you take your eyes off the trail, a root will reach up, grab your ankle and take you down 

before you can say “Aaahhh Timpanogas” (which is the mountain to gawk at). 

 At a certain point you can see the steep climb, marked by what looks like a trail of ants but is actually runners.  

I was running low on fuel,

 so I stopped to

 mix up more potion and enjoy the view :)  

I was now ready for the last grunt climb.  This is pretty straight up. 

 

Without snow the route snakes along like an animal trail.  This time with snow 

you go

 straight up, then across to another saddle, then up and over a peak looking down to the Windy pass AS, mile 40.   

 As I started downhill (photo above) I noticed a familiar blue fleeced photographer and was so stoked that Peter had climbed up to Windy Pass, his first time.  Not only did he snap pics but he wanted to try running with me down to the next AS.  A future pacer?

The Windy Pass AS people are tough.  They haul up all the gear, camp 2 nights, then haul it down.  They melt snow or get water from a spring for the runners.  Awesome.    

On the start of the 10 mile downhill to the finish, there was snow to negotiate ~3 miles, then lots of rocks.  I was quite slow on this part, quite technical and very frustrating as I do well on the climb and lose it going down.  The trail goes thru a couple of avalanche slide paths that have really ripped over the past years.  Peter did great, no surprise to me, and we talked about him pacing me up and over Hope pass at Leadville.  Once we got to the less technical section my pace improved down thru switchbacks, over the open field and when I got to the last AS mile 46.5, I was completely out of water, which is good because that means I was hydrating well.  My pacer would leave me here and drive our Eurovan to the finish.  The last 3.5 miles of the course is a paved road, yuck.  I really have to entertain myself to get thru it.  I goes like this....... first I look for this gazebo groomed lawn place, which I have run by in the middle of a wedding ceremony (no wedding today, rats), then the vegetable gardens, then the busy park and people in the parking lot query about what we are running, then a gross pond, two out turns, the electrical lines, and when you see the houses it is time to really crank it to the finish.  I finished @ 14:18, which is not my best (12:56 in 2003), unfortunately because without the conditions I think I could have had a PB.  My friend Allen Belshaw won!  Strong work Allen.  The RD said that with the challenging trail conditions Allen’s time was slower by an hour, so with that in mind, I may not have done that bad.  My friend Colleen got her 10 year award, a cougar trophy....Way to go Colleen, one tough cookie.  Not far behind me was my friend Lori.  She gets the quote of the day......  When Peter and I ran over to snap a pic of Lori as she cornered to the park, she said to us “I just passed Karl Meltzer” (for those of you who have not heard of the infamous Karl, he is a local superhuman ultra runner aka SpeedGoat..... who was pacing his wife).

I had a good post race night and I am recovering well.  As I unpacked my gear, all I could think was......Western States.....3 weeks.

Check out more photos on Peter's Photo Gallery link under Cool Stuff.  Give him a couple of days as he is getting ready for a boys trip to Alaska.  He and Ron are joining Steve for a fishing adventure.  Good Luck boys.....I hope to pick up a cooler of Salmon along with Peter.