It's all about Pace

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

RATS Part 2

When we left off on our story… the situation was a bit bleak…

I basically spent 12ish hours straight in my tent…

Seldom moving and cramping more often than not when I dared do so.

Day 3 (9 miles):

In the grey before dawn I finally had to exit the tent to pee… at this point I had the distinct revelation that I was not dead.

When Judi woke she asked "If we don't get a ride back to Moab, what do you want to do?"

I answered "Run, I guess, what else would we do?"

I did feel a bit better and managed to eat something…

We started the stage at a brisk walk… ran the downhills… walked the uphills and even jogged some of the flats. I still felt weak and decidedly "un-fabulous"

At one point along the river is some pretty cool single-track… lush and sandy… and not unlike home… I love single-track and love to run it like a wild indian… so I took off… I ran just enough get out of sight of Judi… and… nothing… empty… check engine light on… at mile 4 of the shortest day… there comes a point in just about every ultra… that I get the "what the f#@% am I doing this for" feeling … this was that moment. Oh, it was still beautiful… it was still our honeymoon so to speak.. but I was having the feeling that we might have chosen a better activity…. Been better prepared… the next 4 miles did nothing to improve my physical weakness or feeling sorry for myself.

but we finished the stage in not-last-place.

After the stage I still felt a bit nauseous and week… I wanted to lay down but it was way too hot in the tent… so I sat around camp.

Now camp on the short day is an interesting place… everyone is a bit tired and somewhat banged up… and looking forward to the 52 miles the following day with some level of trepidation… we certainly fell into both of these categories… and fell into conversation with our fellow competitors…

Over the next 5 hours I ate… and drank… made new friends… renewed old acquaintances… ate… drank.. dozed and quite simply had a fabulous time… by suppertime I was feeling much, much better… planning to run again and had all but forgotten to be bothered about my DNF.

At suppertime I ate again… 2 plates full… Got my feet taped by the excellent camp Docs… then headed to the tent where the temperature had plummeted in the hour since darkness arrived. As I lay down to go to sleep… I reflected on the day… I was happy… Judi was happy… it had been a very good day…. And having done this race twice now… the 9 mile day is the best I think… a little run… and then a nice reprieve… and in that a chance to build camaraderie

Day 4 (52 miles)

I had talked to Reid, our race director, the day before we had decided that planning to do from the mile 9 aid station to the 27 mile aid station would be the best option for us. I felt odd, awkward, and antsy when the other racers headed to the start… after helping out a bit around camp we headed to the aid station to await the leaders…. When the first two runners came into view… I was a bit surprised at how excited I was to be watching the race… Jason and Mike came in together both looking strong… Judi and I stood on the side of the road cheering for each runner as they came in over the next 45 minutes

We hopped into the race a bit behind mid-pack… and ended up sticking with Paul G from Colorado for an hour or so…. After a couple of hours we reached to top of the first climb of the day… the view was spectacular

I think Judi was happy to reach the top.

From the top of that climb to the Aid station is the most rugged and remote part of the course… we took it easy for the most part and just enjoyed being out there. But it was rugged and hot… once we worked our way down into the canyons the breeze disappeared and the rocks seemed to radiate heat… we knew that this would be a long stretch without water… we carried extra but still ran out.

I now know what an oasis looks like

I had told Judi earlier that I was thinking of going on after the 27 mile Aid Station… especially if I continued to feel good… and even more so if someone needed a pacer.

And that's what happened.

Jess O (pictured far right) and me (far left below) at the mile 27 aid station

Photo: Glen Delman

Jess and I decided to stick together for the last 25 miles…

I felt pretty good still… I just ate a bit too much too quickly at the aid but within 30 minutes my stomach settled.

And so did we… into a routine where we would put our headphones on and just go for a mile or so then regroup and check in… all the while I continued to look around… just saying "wow" it is simply so awesomely beautiful out there… it was just getting dark as we approached the water drop between aid stations 2 and 3… I had run ahead of Jess a bit… I looked back over my shoulder to see if she was back there and was treated to a crescent moon rising over the mountains in the distance…

Photo: Glen Delman

And inexplicably… not for the first time… and not for the last either… I started to cry… just tired… and overcome with emotion I guess… and I hauled azs to the water drop… loving every step

And I was in some kind of weird euphoric state for the rest of the stage… and it really is kind of a blur… but here are a few things I remember

The grilled cheese sandwich I had at the last aid station (2 slices of heaven with cheddar)

Cresting the final climb and thinking that someone was on the side of the road with bright lights only to discover later that those were stars…

Finding the 5 miles to go mark that Kurt and Shelley drew on the road.

Turning off my headlamp.. standing in the middle of the road and seeing so many stars so close… and seeing the Milky Way with naked eyes.

Seeing 2 green lights that looked eerily like eyes… pointing this out to Jess… then realizing that they were eyes…. And those eyes belonged to a cow 8 ft or so away.

We finished about 1AM with battered feet and huge smiles… then waited up for the last couple of folks to come in.

Day 5 Rest Day

On the rest day we had a sandstorm… and while there is much that I could say about the day but I think that this will sum it up… it sucked… everything in camp from my underbritches to all the pots and pans they used to cook our food were covered in sand… and no matter where we tried to go we constantly battled the sand and wind to keep it out of our eyes and mouth.

And we did complain… a bit… good naturedly, tho… and really… nobody out of all of these tired and worn down people let it get to them… we all just kinda took it with a grain of salt… um… er… "sand"

With one exception maybe… at one point Kurt E got up from the table and started yelling "C'MON WIND! IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT? I'VE STILL GOT ONE ORIFICE THAT IS NOT FULL OF SAND…. BRING IT ON!"

Day 6 Marathon Day

And sadly the last day.

The marathon stage is basically broken into 4 parts

Six miles uphill on pavement

A nice start really for my sore feet… we could see folks ahead and behind on the switchbacks

Seven miles down

Single-track for a while then jeeptrack… Judi actually dropped me on this section. My blisters had me softstepping where I could.

5 miles out and back on Porcupine Rim

Really cool… basically we get a chance to see/greet/encourage each other in passing… but it's pretty hot on the rim

6 miles to the finish

Judi and I kinda soaked this up… mostly running…

And finished hand in hand….

I'll be back with an Epilogue and more pictures

Friday, June 29, 2012

RATS - Part 1

It is Sunday night… June 24 2012

In 40 minutes we will take flight for Jacksonville Florida… home

During our upcoming flight we will celebrate our 2 month anniversary of being married

And that… is what is really important.

I expected to be here… with the one I love… flying home from the greatest race there is… with a battered body… blistered feet… I did not expect that she would be my wife…

But that dear reader is *not* what this story is about... this story is about a group of people I call my friends.... a place of beauty and magic... and a race that brings them together to create something so special that it brings tears to my eyes, while I'm there, everytime I leave, and even now when I remember good times and bad.

Preface:

How we came to be here

Training… adventures…. Injury… shortcomings… and yes a wedding followed by moving 2 houses into one…

All fairly well chronicled on this blog… starting back in January

Here:

http://allaboutpace.blogspot.com/2012/01/adventure.html

Day R-3

Us… leaving Jax

this is how cool this race is…

meet Leslie H in the Denver airport…

Now I have known Leslie for 14 years but I have never met her in person… ya see… back before blogs, Facebook and even MySpace… there was social networking via newsgroups and listservs…

Leslie, Joel, Kurt, Pressler, and I all showed up for RATS this year having previously been acquainted on the Tri-DRS Listserv

Leslie was kind enough to let us ride to Moab with her and spend a night at her (and her husband Drew's) lovely home in the mountains of Pine, CO

The view out their guest room window:

Day R-1

Porcupine Rim

We went out on Sunday to preview the biggest challenge of the final stage… a little trail along a cliff in the Slickrock canyon.

There was a rule… if someone said porcupine rim… someone else would have to throw in the word "JOB!"

Because that is the kind of classy friends I have….

Here is a picture that sums up how mature these guys are:

And another that shows that our ladies have class even though we don't

We ran (gaggled) out onto the trail… and sat around and told stories for 30 minutes then ran back… a golden hour.. With some of my favorite people…

That was followed by showers…. More packing… then gear check…. We had all of our required gear… got our numbers etc….

Then headed out to dinner at an Italian restaurant.

Others had the same idea and we ended up sharing our last supper with about a dozen of our fellow competitors.

After dinner we hustled back to the host hotel for the prerace meeting…

All that taken care of we were left to our own devices until 1000 MDT

Day 1 (19ish miles)

We left Moab in a tour bus at 1100 and made a modern approximation of the reverse journey that we would undertake.

We arrived in Fruita just before 1300 and the race got underway 45 minutes later.

Gemini Adventures… and Kokopelli himself did not design a course that would ease the traveler into their new environment and circumstances… oh, no… the temperature at the start was above 100 F and the course becomes brutal quickly.

The rock strewn path made for tricky footing and in the end we barely made the cutoff… the terrain… some of the most rugged we would face all week, was a bit more than Judi was prepared for…

But we made it… a highlight was climbing down to and into Salt Creek… the cold water felt good in the 105F heat.

When we finished it was past 2000hrs MDT which gave us but a few hours to rest up for…

Day 2 (40ish miles)

I knew that this was the day… long, hot and a relatively tight cutoff. We made excellent progress for the first 3 hours… just over 12 miles and still felt pretty fresh… the air temp, however, reached 105F by 1030 and things went south quickly…

Judi really struggled on the day's biggest climb. She told me that she was going to drop at the Aid station about 2 miles later…. I was pretty upset… for her… and for feeling that I got her in over her head…

Judi… being Judi… took it in stride and was at peace with her decision immediately.

At this point I started doing math.. I realized that anyone behind us (there were 4 or 5) had basically zero chance of making the cutoff and we were kinda on the edge ourselves. I decided to run on ahead to the aid station to eat and get ready for the rest of the stage and I would proceed alone when Judi got there.

As I jogged down to the aid station I stopped to pee… it was brownish… not good

But… 30 minutes later I was off and confident that I could finish the stage easily… just 22 more miles.

And they clicked off quickly… at first… but I found that if I ran my heart rate skyrocketed… no problem I can walk this mother…

By the time I got to the mile 30 aid station I was dizzy, disoriented, and cramping… I tried to will my legs to continue but… alas I failed and had to pull the plug at mile 31.

I found out an hour later that I'd lost 20 pounds during the stage…

The rest of the night I was worthless… I couldn't eat… tried to drink.. felt nauseous and cramped every time I moved…

I did not take my weakness or my DNF too well…. I even tried to get us a ride to Moab… just go do something else… but it was to no avail

I'll be back later to finish the story.

part 2 --> http://allaboutpace.blogspot.com/2012/07/rats-part-2.html

Part 3 --->

http://allaboutpace.blogspot.com/2012/07/rats-part-3-epilogue.html

now this is a load of crap...

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

10 more reasons we hate to taper

These are from my old freind Lee C:

11. My spouse gets sick of seeing me,

12. My stress levels go up with the race approaching but with too little training to bleed off the stress.

13. I start to enjoy sleep but worry that it might become a habit tough to break.

14. With time on my hands I discover people unlike me who are not obsessed with training and it scares me.

15. With all my friends out training I have no one to talk to who understands me.

16. Crosswords are boring!

17. And what the heck is this sex stuff?

18. I have time to add to top 10 lists online. Bah!

19. My monthly log totals will be too low.

20. I feel like a poseur parading around in my running/biking clothing without having broken a sweat.

And one more...

21. Three mile easy run. 'nuf said!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

the top 10 reasons I hate to taper

1 1. I really like to train

2. I just don't feel right if I'm not exhausted

3. If I'm not training… I'm eating or thinking about eating… that can only lead to weight gain… the last thing I need when I'm getting ready for a big race

4. I spend time planning my training for after the race

5. I get excited about #4

6. I look outside (like now) and it's raining… which makes me want to run around in the mud

7. All my friends are doing it (training)

8. My old injuries don't seem to be healing any faster

9. I inexplicably feel new aches and pains

10. I think I just have an internal metronome that just needs to run for about an hour a day

We leave for Colorado in 3 days….

Monday, June 4, 2012

what we are going to do on our summer vacation

No description of this race could do it justice like this article has.

http://www.utahadvjournal.com/index.php/desert-r-a-t-s-a-running-race-of-heat-sand-slickrock-and-solidarity

a quick sample from my friends Kurt and Shelley Egli:

For Kurt and his wife, Shelley, who will run the race for the fourth time in 2012, the challenge is also usurped by the camaraderie that develops among runners over a week of racing and camping together. Kurt explains, "Every year, we create lifelong friendships. When you take away the distractions of daily life, it happens so fast. The concept and the experience are very simple, but simple is, I guess, where the good stuff happens."