Monday, September 28, 2009

Santa Cruz 50K-ish

102 degrees in the East Bay (brazenracing.com photo)

After a few months of transition in the move to Nor Cal this summer, I have found a bit of time to slot in a couple of races. After Western States, I needed some time to decompress and let that 100 mile bug drift away for awhile. I sincerely wasn't that bummed about my result there. I put a ton of focus on running well at Western, maybe more than any other race. I am happy that I have reached the point in my racing where I am able to control most variables of my racing, yet I realize that sometimes there is nothing you can do about unforeseen or uncontrollable variables in ultrarunning or adventure racing (it's not like I am adventure racing now anyway). Getting a summer cold before Western was one of these variables that just happens. Oh well.. give it your best and move on. I feel like I left everything I had out there on the WS course but was too drained to follow through after the first 55 miles. Maybe next year...but if I never run 100 miles that is fine with me. I am not as obsessed about the distance as most 100 miler runners are and can easily let it go if it comes to that.
So anyway, the first race back was the Bear Creek Canyon Half Trail Marathon, back in the beginning of September. This was after the first week of school, and with luck, two other of my classmates at Touro and I found ourselves with the gift of a light weekend of studies. I took this opportunity to contact Sam at Brazen Racing to run his half marathon in the hills just east of the Bay Area, near Pinole.
This race was chill; not competitive in the least, but super hot in the physical sense. I didn't think this race would be competitive, but competive or not I just wanted to run a good effort somewhere as I hadn't done any serious races in a couple months. (I forgot though that the day I drove out of Colorado, I ran the Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon as a tempo run..)
The Bear Creek Half was 90 degrees on the course at the start and 102 at one time according to Sam, the RD of Brazen Events. I went out a pretty low key, comfortable pace, and in 30 minutes knew it would be a day running solo. The next while I had a nice time cruising through the hills of the East Bay, checking out new terrain and views and giving a good effort. The course was one big loop, the second best layout of a course after a point to point. New stuff to see all the time in a new place, not too far from where I'd be living for 30 months. The temperatures fooled me though, as my unstated goal of a 7 minute mile pace with about 3600 vertical went out the window as mile 9 approached and the heat started to take it's toll. I finished in a respectable 1:40 and change for the day, and got a gift cert for a free pair of shoes from the local Fleet Feet stores, which I promptly gave to my wife, Ellen, like any good runner boy would do (thanks for giving me the hall pass, Elle!) Sam the RD put on a good race with many of excellent organizational details that make for an excellent event.

Three weeks later, fast forward to yesterday, I partook in the Santa Cruz 50 trail race. At this point I think I'll jump to the "lessons learned" section of the monologue;

1) Re-read the race description at least twice.

2) Take with a grain of salt what other racers tell you when it comes to course directions; everyone's hypoxic out there.

3) Listen to the pre-race briefing!

4) Sometimes the RD is even wrong!

That said, take what wrote about how I have learned to "control variables" and toss it out the window!
So, I cruised to Santa Cruz later Saturday evening, after getting Ava to bed, and crashed out in a Santa Cruz hotel to get a dcent night rest. I woke up early to do my usual two-hours-before-racing-warm-up jog, ate bananas, some coffee and water, then T Footfeathers showed up on his crotch rocket Ducati at my hotel (freezing cold too; his fingers were literally white-knuckeled), we loaded into my old Subaru and headed to the start.
After not paying attention to the RD give his speech (see 1st mistake) and thinking I knew the course and foolishly assuming, like most races, that there would be course marshalls at critical junctures of the race I started off. The lead pack of four quickly turned into Tim, two other races who were running the 29k version of the races, and me. I felt in the groove and was running well, keeping pace comfortably with the 29K runners, and for some reason it seemed like everyone was pacing off me. I have a bad habit of trying to run every tangent (straight-lining to every corner up ahead), so in a pack running situation it may seem to others like I am trying to cut them off. This isnt the case though, as I try to run my own race pace, but I must run the tangents because to do otherwise is really foolish and I'd end up racing further than I need to race. Makes sense, eh? So if you see me cutting you off in a race don't take it personally. Cool? Cool.
So anyway, since I need to get to bed, I am going to cut to the abbreviated version of the race. At the 8k or so point in the we come to a turn that is flagged in two directions. I thought this was the side loop we were supposed to add to the out and back (kind of like a intestinal hernation, only on a trail race) and thought we should take a right tuen onto the side 7 k loop The one 29 k dude said Yes that is correct and the other 29k guy did the same, so off we went. Off we go, we run the very nice 7 K single track herniation, and back to the main out and back section. Uhhh.Oops. Here are dozens of runner sat this intersection running the main out and back, and we three knew we'd fubar-ed the run. We keep going as a threesome to the end of the out and back aid station, took some aid and headed back. It's complicated to describe this course layout and what we had run, but on the way back to the start/finish turn around, I reckoned I needed to keep racing and clarify with the RD as what to do next to rectify my error.
At the turn around, I asked the RD, Wendell, if I could run the steep 1K section near the base of the loop to correct my running error and make up the distance I had missed. "Yes, that will work." Cool..game on, lets keep racing. So I turn around, turn it up a notch, still feeling good, run all the way, about 10k, back to the far aid station in about 43 minutes, come back, re-run what I thought was the steepest section at the base of the loop, and bust it back to the finish in 3:38. Awesome, I thought! I ran a fast 50k and felt like I could do it again right then and there! Got my simple award mug and drink coaster prize, talked with the RD and a few folks at the spartan finishing scene, jogged a mile cool down, Tim and I hooked back up, and back to the Subaru.
As Tim and I rehashed the race day, I told him about my snafu in the course, how I'd neatly corrected my error mid-race, feeling all proud of myself. Luckily for me he told me that I was supposed to go all the way back to the aid station for a third time to correct my mistake. Darn!
With that I turned the car around, went back to the start, told Wendell how we had screwed up our miscommunication in mid-race, gave my mug back (kept the coaster though), and got back in the car.
Whatever, I say.. besides not setting a course record, I had a good time, loved the course terrain, redwoods and the four waist deep river crossings (I could do definitely without four out and backs though), and gave good effort and feel fit. The upside is that this fall now I feel obligated to find another ultra to make up for it!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Western States quick and dirty


Pre-race, post-crime mug shot taken by Western States 100 Police Chief, Greg Soderlund. (I stole an extra packet of Green Foods dried wheat grass from the race expo tent, and was busted by Scottie J, who was working undercover.)

Quick and dirty:
I just flew home last night after a whirl-wind 6 day trip, part of which included running 78 miles of the WS 100 race. I spent Sunday evening through Tuesday finding a place to live in Vallejo or Benicia, and I am toasted. Sorry for the lack of correspondence.

In a nutshell, hats off to Hal Koerner and Anita Ortz for running smart races. I am especially impressed with Anita's race. For us entering our 40's, she is yet another piece of evidence that your running does not have to "go downhill". Here is Colorado there are ample numbers of master's elites winning races in running and biking. That said, given time to train next spring 2010, I will be back to run Western States.

Physically, I am worse for wear with a head and throat cold, but I have fine spirits about the entire experience. Much was out of my control as far as my condition starting the race, so what's the use in dwelling over it. I could have had it way worse; Scott was running with plantar fasciitis. Hats off to him for giving it a go.

Thanks to Mark Richtman for his remarkably patient pacing on Cal Street. He was a pleasure to hang with on that section as I stumbled ever step. Dan Brillon was a excellent travel companion and teammate; sorry you didn't get to pace the last 20. Devin, Tom, Christina, Dean and Otis were fine crew, and Vicki Richtman too. Peter Franks made the trip from Phoenix just to see the race and solo crew Dusty Corners and Duncan canyon. Thanks you guys!!

I will post a full report on the Team Pearl Izumi-Smith site this week. I promise.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Rickey Gates takes Mount Washington Hill Climb

International mountain running superstar won the Mt Washington Hill Climb today in a time of 59:58. Congrats Rickey!

Overall results are here http://www.newenglandregisters.com/results.aspx

Rickey is one of my running heros. His ability to perform at the international mountain running level is astounding. He races back to back days and weekends all summer, taking the time to enjoy bike touring, a bit of wine, and occasional videography.

Other top 10 runners for the women include Lisa Goldsmith for the women and my UNH college buddy Tara Breed was right up there too. Congrats ladies. Many Coloradans like Goerge Zack and John Tribbia ran as well.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Boulder Peaks Mountain Time Trials



The past three weeks I have been organizing, with Jeff Valliere and George Zack, a small series of time trials up the local 8000 + foot peaks. First it was Green Mt, then Bear Peak, and the South Boulder peak. Above is the pre-run gathering, with a pretty darn good turnout! Buzz B and I were reminiscing about the old days when we used to hammer So Bo Peak with a pretty regular gang of dudes (and an occasional lady runner); those days are now known as the Boulder Trail Runner's Tuesday Tempo.
I won't go into too many details as I am getting crunched for time these days and nights as we get ready to move and I finish my last class. Green Mt was the starter with about 12 folks showing their faces (and remarkably muscular thighs, as you can see from the So Bo TT photo above). Rickey Gates crushed it and ran an FKT (Fastest Known Time) of roughly 28:38. I ran 31:28.
Below is Jeff Valliere's write up about Bear Peak. I made the silly mistake of fighting sleep deprivation by downing a Diet Mt Dew right before the run, thinking carbonated caffeine is the way to get all ready to run hard; I am re-evaluating that position as my stomach knotted up hard and I suffered for it.
JV's words:
"We had another great turnout for the Bear Peak TT, the second installment of the TT series Dave and I conjured up a few weeks ago.Since Dave kicked my butt on Green last week, I insisted that he take pole position after offering it to me. It felt like a somewhat controlled start and I was tempted at first to make conversation, but soon I was breathing hard enough that it was not an option. TT and conversation just do not mix. We made the Cragmoor/Shanahan junction ahead of PR pace and I was able to stay on Dave's heels to the doggy pond junction, but he slowly started to pull away. I could have dug a bit more and stuck with him, but that would have meant impending doom, as I was trying not to completely blow it too soon and save some energy for the upper sections.I was surprised to keep Dave in sight for the most part, I was sure that he would be steadily putting time into me. As we ascended Fern Canyon, I could see that I was slowly gaining and was quite surprised by this. I was nearly a minute ahead of PR by the saddle and was confident I could keep up the effort to the top and set a PR. I reeled Dave in about half way from the saddle to the summit and was reluctant to pass as I feared that I might be biting off more than I could chew. I could tell Dave was not having his best day, otherwise I doubt I would be passing him.This uppermost section was mostly a hands on the knees powerhike, but I was able to muster something vaguely resembling a run in a few spots.I passed the summit post 6 seconds slower than PR and then made my way to the true summit. Dave was about 15 or so seconds back and I was surprised that I held him off (I later found out he had a bad cramp which explained my stroke of luck ;).Scott Elliott finished next (stopping at the post), followed by Stefan Gabriel, Tara Breed, Bill Wright, Charlie Nuttleman, Homie Prater, Christian Griffith and Heather Swallow (I think in that order). Please correct me if I left anyone out or screwed up the order.My splits were:Cragmoor connector/Shanahan 2:25Dog Pond Jct. 4:00Mesa Trail 8:54Slab (where trail crests) 13:03Saddle 24:34? (could be off by a few seconds, I was preoccupied with the prospect of catching Dave)Post near summit 37:31 (previous PR is 37:25)True summit 38:13Dave was about 15 seconds back, Scott was 39:?? at the post. After that others times are fuzzy. "
Here's my post from the So Bo Peak TT last week:
"For the last run in the 8000 foot peak series, South Boulder Peak, we had an excellent turnout with about 20 hearty souls attending under perfect running conditions. Dave Mackey (44:46) managed to hold off Jeff Valliere (46:..) to take the men's title (Jeff 2nd overall in the series), while Heather Swallow took the women's race and series (1:03), with Tara Breed 2nd overall. If you like, send your times and our trained statisticans will compile the final standings, graphs and charts. That was a fun time and maybe these series can be a regular event. It is motivating to do runs like this. Feel free to post as you like for similar trainings, hill repeats, speed work. "
Overall, I can't believe I ran 44:46 on So Bo peak. For this I am thrilled with my fitness and how I ran smart by pacign off JV. I have been time trialing So Bo for years and couldn't break 46 minutes, and many fast mt guys have run 45 and change, but this 44 minutes is out of the blue. This is somewhat worrying b/c WS 100 is in <>
The other reason I may have PR'ed on So Bo Peak is that I have been trainig extensively with Charle's Corfield "Rocket Fuel" mix. This is a simple suspension of amylopectin (waxy maize) and maltodextrin. In the past I have been erratic in my fueling training, just winging it on race days, but this spring is different as I run with the RF every day and feel it treats my tummy right.
The other difference in my training is that I now weigh less than 160 lbs. which I havent been at since I graduated from college. The lack of rock climbing and upper body has finally trimmed me up. I was 164 when I toed the line at WS 5 years ago; 5 lbs is a big difference of roughly 2 percent. I can see how I could shave 4 percent off my SoBo peak time now that I carry less to get up there. It'd be nice to hit the WS scales in Squaw Valley at a nice 158, so I better stop hitting the raw cookie dough at night I reckon.
Anyway, this little series was motivating, for myself and from other runners have said and written, it was motivating for them as well.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Jonny Copp


Sadly, Jonny Copp was found dead in China, probably due to an avalanche. He was such an excellent all-around person who exuded positive energy every time I interacted with him. He contributed to his community, to his friends, and to climbing in countless ways. Jonny wasn't a close friend of mine, but we knew each other for many years and always had a nice chat when we crossed paths.

Searchers are looking for his climbing mates, Micah Dash and Wade Johnson. Please consider donating to this search effort at this link to the Adventure Film site.



Local article;
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/jun/08/jonny-copp-micah-dash-climbers-missing-china/

See you around Jonny!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Western State(s) Course

How many "States" does the WS race cover? One, I thought..

This past weekend I flew out to California for 48 + hours to spend a bit of time training on the WS course, but also to spend a day looking for a place for the brood to live for the next few years.

I flew in around 11 am Saturday, and proceeded to grab a rental car. (don't use Payless Cars: they're like the sore tooth you just can't not keep touching. Ouch. I should have learned my lesson last time I was out there.) Headed right up through the city, stopped in the Mission to grab a tuna sandwich to go, almost was run over on 19th st, then across the Golden Gate bridge. I had a about 30 minutes to kill I reckoned, so I did what I'd always dreamed of; I stopped on the other side of the bridge in the packed tourist lot, changed stealthily into my running clothes in the rental, and ran back across the GG bridge. Dodging many tourists of many nationalities, I made it across in the thick fog, turned around at the tolls and came back. I'm glad I finally did it! It took about 30 minutes RT and felt somewhat like a christening in the fog coming to our new home.

Popped back in the car and headed up to San Rafael, saw one potential rental, then on to Novato, where I saw about 6 places, then on to American Canyon and Vallejo to see some more and drive through campus. We are still deciding what town to live in, as Vallejo is where school is, but Marin rules all trail-creation (besides Colorado, of course), so the Marin towns of Novato and San Rafael are in the housing lead for us.

Being very sleep deprived in the afternoon, I kept going East on I-80 ("the 80" they call it out there for some reason; how cute) past Auburn and parked at the famed Hwy 49 crossing on the State trail. Having made plans with Mark Richtman to pick me up in Auburn, I ran the final 7 miles of the Western State course to meet him at Robie Pt.. It was very nice that the run was flagged already for the race 1 month ahead of time. Anywhere else, especially in Boulder, those flags would have been pulled down faster than you can say OSMP. I had a good tempo run on those 7 miles mostly in the dark and refamiliarized myself with the course. I sure don't plan on running that section, or any section for that matter, in the dark during the race.

Mark Richtman, my pacer, who is a a fantastic runner and great guy, met me at Robie Pt and followed me up the mile hill to the Auburn track, where I proceeded to run a 45 second lap...well, 2/3 lap.. of the track in the dark. He shuttled me down to my car, then we drove up to Driver's flat, which is 3 miles walk above the Rucky chucky rapids (mile 82 of the WS course), where we bivied for the night in the grass.

Next AM, we hooked up with Erik Skaden and Mark Lantz and shuttled a car up to Michigan Bluff (after coffee in Foresthill (mile 62), and started running. It was nice and cool at first in the morning, and these awesome tour guides showed me the course that I hadn't seen in 5 years. We had a fun time getting to Foresthill, and could feel the temps rising as we got there in about 1 hour (7 miles).

Topping off our bottles at the car we'd left there, we headed down the hill into what I see as the crux of the course; Cal Street. 5 years ago, I had hard time after Foresthill, given the heat I wasn't ready for and the wrong diet of high protein and fat. I lost an hour to Jurek on that section and don't want to make that mistke this year. My race fuel is completely different this year, and I hope I can heat-train these coming weeks.

So, we had an excellent time running the 16 miles down to the river. It is so cruiser on that section, with enough hills to make it interesting and break up the muscle groups a bit when your downhill muscles get tired of the repetitiveness.

After a 15 minute soak in the river, we walked up. Richtman had disappeared, ahead of us we thought, but after 15 minutes of walking up driver's flat, make comes by in a tourist SUV car going up. Sandbagger!

Anyway, a fun weekend and I think the first place I found in San Rafael will work well for us. I don't care where we live as long as there are trails!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Bolder Boulder



Overall, I have been trying to get life lined up to be fit for Western States, trying to find a new place (and town) to live in California, taking care of Ava, finishing the last class for school, etc. (Ava in the pool is a way cuter opening than my ugly mug shot.)


Of note:



I ran the Bolder Boulder yesterday. I came in with little expectation of a fast time as my training in May has been all about volume with little speedwork. For the last month, I have been running about 1.5 hours on easy days, and between 2-4 hours on longer days, usually on 2 runs per day. I took it somewhat easy after American River 50 for 2 weeks, ran the Earthday 5 k in Boulder 2 weeks later with a time of 16:47. This 2 weeks was keys to laddering into the bulk of my WS training mileage in May.



Like most runners, I use races as stepping stones for the harder A races, so to run the Red Hot 50k, then American River, and then do longer mileage recently has set me up to peak at WS in June. I topped off my higher volume monthwith 4 hours of running on this past Saturday (1 hour early am, 2+ hours in the peaks with Jeff Valliere midday, then about 45 minutes plus some biking with Ava and the kiddie Chariot). I ran easy on Sunday for 1:40 on flat stuff with Bryan Dayton for very short taper to the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day.



Back to the BB, I had low expectations as leg speed hadn't been a priority in training, so I picked a rough, easily attainable time of 36 minutes as a goal, as I suspected the BB would be a tempo workout rather than a race for me. 36 minutes would mean I wouldn't get beat up too badly and still have a quality training week this week.



As it turned out, I got to the start on time and planned on entering the start gate from the front where the race goes off, but they had it blocked off this year so I had to follow the other A wave runners, including Matt Reed the ex-pat Olympic triathlon athlete and George Zack, through the AB, AC, etc etc waves to make it to the A section. After this mad shuffle and after stealing one of GZ's safety pins for my bib, through all the nervous energy that pervades the A wave, like a nervous teenager, the gun finally went off prematurely by 30 seconds, but we were off..



Being stuck in the middle of the A waves pack actually worked in my favor this time, unlike past years when I usually could pick hair off the guy in the gorilla suit behind the front row. Most every A waver goes off too fast, except for the %5 who are smart. Having made this mistake in the past and not having an ambitious goal this year I settled into the first K at whatever the guys near me were running. This led to a slow 5:46 first mile. This first mile had several eager beaver A wavers try to squeeze past each other, leading to two bike race style wipe outs in front of me. Luckily I didnt get clipped and pulled free of the nervous ninnies and settled in. I didnt record my splits after that as my watch battery died the night before, so I didn't wear a watch anyway, and this turned out to be a blessing.



I ran easy and comfortable after that, and like always, I was only passed by about 10 runners after the first mile, and I end up passing about 50 of them by the end. By chance,the first citizen's woman was near me last year and the same again this year (and in retrospect this has happened to me several other years at the BB as well.)I really don't care if I get beat by a woman at this race as I try to run my own race no matter who's around me. But last year the woman made a comment in the local paper about how she gets satisfaction from kicking guys butts at the end, so since I found the women's leader near me this year I thought I wouldn't let this happen. Plus last year I was in the local terrible newspaper; a photo of me running next to the women;s winner made it look like I was trying to race her. Another reason to race ahead or far behind, so I chose to finish ahead this year

So, after a mildly uncomfortable race pace, I found myself able to kick the last hill in good style given the recent high training mileage, and crossed the line in 34:13. A respectable time at this race, and 30 seconds faster than last year.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Pearl Izumi-Smith



I am running for team Pearl Izumi-Smith! Now I get to race even more in fast and light Peak XC trail shoes I ran several races in the Peak XCs over the last year, most notably the Miwok 100k and the Moab Red Hot 50k, and set CR's in both. I also ran this past summer's super-snowy Pike's Peak Marathon in the Peak XC's and was 2nd.

Here's the link to the team site: http://www.teampearlizumi-smith.com/
-Miwok was this past weekend and my pick of Todd Braje didn't pan out, but my second pick of Eric Grossman did. Scott Jaime was third for the guys. Congrats to Anita Ortiz for almost taking the W from Kami Semick. Three of the top 6 from Colorado..
-The local Greenland Trail Races here in Colorado today. For locals here whp know who's know, the 25K race was stacked and must have played out fast. Justin Ricks took the new Course record win, Peter Vail 2nd , then Jason Saitta, and Daryn Parker in 4th. These are all top Colorado talent and these are very fast times at 7000 feet.
Boulderite Bronwyn Morrisey won the women's 50k option. Nice Bronwyn!

Friday, April 17, 2009

PA school


(This photo has nothing to do with this post, but I love this shot (courtesy of le Buzz himself) from the Flatiron scramble series this past fall. We all had La Sportiva's, which are the BEST shoes for running the Flatirons series. Ava though had onher comfy wool knicker-socks and couldn't have been cuter!)

A couple weeks I got a call from the program director one of the physician assistant programs I'd interviewed at this past winter. 1.5 years ago, I'd picked up where I'd left off during college with medicine and biology and hammered out the remaining pre-requisite sciences to apply to PA schools..and I got the call I'd wanted for so long!
For those who know me, professionally it's been a long haul to decide what I want to be when I grow up. I was an EMT and WFR for several years, rode on an ambulance, and used wilderness medicine often in the experiential education courses I led. I taught at a bunch of different schools from public and private to Outward Bound courses, and, besides maintaining CPR certification, left the emergency medicine side of me behind in the 1990's. The past 7 years have been, for the most part besides medical and classroom experience, written off as a loss in terms of professional development; I worked as a footwear testing coordinator for Salomon, then worked in residential real estate (which was at best mildly satisfying). But for running and adventure racing and general adventuringI have had a blast and I did have excellent support from several companies, notably GoLite (http://www.golite.com/), so there was a financial incentive to put the hours in everyday to training and race focus.

Anyway.. studying medicine and its applications to public health is where I am headed and am happy as my dog rolling on his back in the dirt. They had 1400 applicants for 40 spots; lucky me.
Now we are heading into massive school loans and transition, it will be a long hard road (and I still will race trail and ultras on some of the country's best dirt), but we'll get through it all. It may be harder on Ellen than me. Through the last seven years Ellen has been a SAINT through my job turns in the road and now I am dragging her and Ava further West..thank you Ellen and Ava! School itself will be even more challenging than getting into school, but I am ready and focused. Now those loan apps..

From the Touro Website, the program mission and curriculum. Touro University (www.tu.edu) is on Mare Island in San Pablo Bay in Vallejo, CA. The Marin trails are only 20 minutes away!

"The Joint MSPAS/MPH Curriculum is an integrated, graduate-level curriculum that consists of instruction and clinical experiences in both the medical and public health disciplines. The program is 32 months in length (8 academic sessions) in which the first four sessions are didactic (pre-clinical). The clinical year spans 54 weeks (sessions five – seven) and students return to campus for their eighth and final, post-rotation academic session. Session 8 coursework consists of mostly public health courses and one physician assistant summative course. Graduates of the program receive a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies and a Master of Public Health. As a physician assistant, graduates are eligible for licensure to practice in all 50 states and Washington, DC. The Master of Public Health degree prepares the graduate by developing public health knowledge and principles including disease prevention, health promotion, epidemiology, biostatistics, health care administration, and research study and design. The combined curriculum prepares graduates to better understand the link between an individual's health and their environment. It is with this foundation that the program’s mission is founded upon.
Year 1 Session I August – December Basic Science Foundations/Principles of Pharmacology Anatomy w/Lab Microbiology/Laboratory Medicine Biostatistics Behavioral and Social Aspects of Public Health
Session II: January – April Clinical Medicine I Clinical Applications I w/Lab Pharmacology I Health Education and Promotion Medical Ethics Epidemiology
Session III: May – August Clinical Applications II Pharmacology II Clinical Medicine II Behavioral Medicine Program Evaluation & Needs Assessment Health Disparities & Community Organizing
Year 2 Session IV: August - December Pediatrics/Geriatrics Emergency Medicine Pharmacology III Clinical Medicine III Clinical Applications III Surgical and Clinical Skills w/Lab Research Methods
Session V-VII: January – January Public Health Field Experience Family Practice (12 weeks) Internal Medicine OB/GYN Emergency Medicine Surgery Pediatrics Elective (With the exception of Family Practice, each of the rotations are six-weeks in length for a total of 54 weeks)
Year 3 Session VIII: January – April MSPAS Summative Course MPH Capstone Health Services Administration Environmental Health
Internal Medicine?? What's that?

Sunday, April 5, 2009

American River 50

Here is the very quick and dirty from me.
What a rough day out there.
1) It helps to train on the black stuff if you want to perform on the black stuff.
2) Not good to race in 7 oz Mizunos on black stuff if you got them 1 week before the race.
3) Ibuprofen. I should have carried some as it completely rejuvenated my trashed quads at mile 40.
4) They added 2+ miles to the course this year, maybe with more and with more technical/rocky single track than last year according those who have run it in the past, hence the slower overall times.
5) Max King ran strong considering he was 30-something place at the World XC race ...last weekend!
6) The NorCal ultra running scene is excellent and I would recommend running out there when you get the chance. I'll be running more out there for sure as my little brood is moving out there this summer!
I'll try to post something more this week..results are at..
http://www.run100s.com/results/ar50_2009.html

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Peru




Bill Jacox (you out there Bill?) wrote this about 10 years ago when we went climbing in Peru in between leading Outward Bound trips out of Leadville..
We had an awesome trip , ran the Inca trail (as I posted last spring), and climbed a couple mountains in the Cordillera Blanca. We also spent a couple weeks in Cusco and took Spanish classes and experinced what we could of live in the old Incan capital.
So, this is the truncated version of his story; after it sits in your email inbox for 10 years yahoo accounts will clip your messages short; serves me right for not cleaing my inbox out for 10 years!

Bill's writing below...(apologies for the formatting)

Tired, sore, beaten, and bruised, i sit pressed against the side of the rattle-trap mini-mini-micro van. i am one of four crammed into the back seat, both knees pressing hard against the seat in front where Dave sits. my left foot up on the wheel-well and my left elbow out the window. i grip the window pane with the still numb fingers tips of my right hand in an effort to keep from crushing the freshly scrubbed peruvian woman on my right. my right hand keeps pulling in reflexively on the window pane as if on a door ajar. i must keep reminding myself that the looseness i feel is not a partially opendoor but that the entire vehicle risks "opening" and, thus, spilling me onto the dusty road. as we pass within inches of cactus, burros, telephone poles, embankments, and buildings, i wonder what it would feel like to shatter my elbow in such a manner. occasionally i remember where i am and reflexively jerk my elbow inside, almost punching the unlucky lady next to the big, dirty, and smelly gringo climber. occasionally, i see the van's shadow and wonder what has fallen from my packunnoticed. i feel my tired body, chapped lips, sunburned nose and tongue (you don't believe me?). i look ahead at dave's red and> white blistered neck and reflect on the last five days.......




we got to a later start than we had intended out of huaraz on tuesday (we were both waiting for the internet place to open to check for expected messages which neither of us received). we chose one of the many minivans (combis) headed to our destination of caraz and hopped inside. along the way we picked up other passengers and at one point heard our driver coax an undecided passenger into our van by telling him there was "more love" in our van. convinced, he hopped in and off we went.




at caraz we had to switch to a different van headed to cashapampa. unbeknownst to us at the time was the driver's need to fill the van fully before actually starting up the road. consequently, we drove around and around one particular block easily 15times looking for other prospective riders. we eventually headed out and soon found ourselves on a very bad and dusty road. i tried to plug a large hole in the floor with my day pack but we arrived in cashapampa decadeslater completely covered in dust. enroute we stopped to pick up a guy with a bag of live chickens (which he put on the floor next to my feet)and a very loud boom box (which he insisted on playing the rest of the time). we eventually began to hike at 3:00 p.m.under very heavy packs. why didn't we hire mules to carry our gear up to the glacier? no comment...




as we hiked up the trail gaining thousands of feet as the sweat poured unabated, i had two voices going through my head (when i wasn't singing ani difranco lyrics to myself): my friend helen saying that guys don't know how to take care of themselves (no lunch, no mules), and friend dr. ed telling me that dave and i are an orthopaedic surgeon's dream. as darkness fell, we made camp, made dinner, and hit the sack. at this point, my small, two-person tent seemed plenty big> > for two.....> >> > we got up and headed out expecting a long, full day> > of hiking up to the> > toe of the glacier. we gain another 3,000 ft.> and> > stop and chat with> > two other yankees coming down after being weathered> > away from a summit> > attempt. we finally arrive at our next camp and> > find part of the> > austrian team, one sick austrian and their peruvian> > cook who had just> > killed, plucked, and boiled a chicken for dinner> > that night. no> > comment.... apparently, the other two austrians had> > been at the col> > camp at 19,000 feet two nights already and were> > expected back that> > night. we had another good night's sleep (the> last> > for me) and dreamt> > of climbing mountains.> >> > we arose early thursday morning and headed up the> > moraine. we reached> > the glacier and pulled out all the gear necessary> > for glacial travel> > and set ourselves up. we met the two austrians> > heading down after> > having spent three nights at 19,000 ft. they> hung> > out in bad weather> > for two days and gave alpamayo a go the day before.> > it sounded like a> > long epic and they didn't even reach the summit.> > they said they had to> > leave pleny of gear behind on their late descent.> > dave and i look at> > each other briefly. we are both thinking the> same> > thing (what is> > another word for pirate's treasure?). we> continue> > on up the glacier in> > variable weather and finally arrive at the col in> > whiteout conditions.> > we are both pretty spent (dehydrated, exhausted, and> > suffering from the> > altitude) and it is all we can do to set up the tent> > and start melting> > snow for water and dinner. later that night it> > clears and we are able> > to catch a good view of our route on alpamayo under> > moonlight. we> > decide to go for it the next morning. we are> all> > alone at 19,000 ft.> >> > NOTE: at altitutdes over 18,500 ft. (the "death> > zone") the human body> > cannot regenerate itself. technically, what> that> > means is that your> > body starts to slowly die. practically, what> that> > means is that you> > are pretty miserable: no appetite, no sleep,> slow> > brain function, fast> > pulse rate, nausea, headache, constant dry throat> > from forcing in and> > out dry rarified air....sound fun? but, boy, is> it> > beautiful up there!> >> > we wake up, melt some snow, prepare our frozen> > things and start walking> > toward the mountain. it takes us one and a half> > hours of soft snow> > glacier travel to reach the bergschrund (don't worry> > if you don't know> > what "col" and "bergschrund" mean. it doesn't> > matter.) and decide to> > just stay roped up and simul-climb the beginning of> > the route and> > change that plan as conditions dictate. so we> > frontpoint for two solid> > hours up 2,000 ft. of 45 and 50 degree snow and ice> > to the ridge. we> > placed no gear and never stopped (as if there was> > any place to stop)> > until we reached the summit ridge. it took us 2> > hours to climb the> > ferrari route on the sw face of alpamayo and we> > reached the summit> > ridge at 9:30 a.m. we sat for a spell and then> > continued on the> > knife-edge ridge to the true summit. with such> > exposure on both sides> > we had to straddle the ridge and "shimmy-slide" part> > of the way.> > nothing quite like straddling the "most beautiful> > mountain in the> > world" at 5,947 meters at just before 10:00 a.m. on> > friday morning.> > what were you doing then? as the clouds started> to> > roll in we knew we> > had the bigger part of the job ahead of us: getting> > down.> >> > we start our descent with one rope between us and> > take our time (we> > still have plenty of daylight). we use natural> > features where we can> > and make natural features with our ice tools where> > there is nothing> > else. we do not want to leave any of our gear> > behind (it is expensive> > to replace) and we don't want to use any of the> > recovered> === message truncated ===



Dave's writing.. So in esseance we got off the mountain with multiple rappels with various "creative" techniques that saved us a few bucks, but in hindsight was somewhat unsafe and stoopid. ..actuallyu it wasn't even in hindsight.. at the times I think we knew we were being stupid but didn't want to lose the $5 ice screws!


At the times, I was sponsored by Montrail for ultrarunning and I had some nice climbing boots (the Couloir, it is called) they gave me for the trip; I still have them and use them every other year when I go ice climbing. My feet swelled so much on this trip that my toes got hammered on the descent and destroyed by feet. It was so worth it though!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Inca Trail 1999


I found this story I wrote way back in 1999 when my co-instructor from Outward Bound, Bill Jacox, and I went down to Peru to run the Inca Trail Race and to climb Alpamayo. We had an excellent run and an even better climb ( I may have the Alpamayo story somewhere, whcih I will try to dig up.)

I believe that these days a runner needs to be accompanied by a local outfit or guide service in order to run the Inca Trail from Kilometer 82 to Machu Picchu. I know there are some gringos who lead running trips down there though.


Here 's the story of the run.


Full of eager, excited runners, all ready to tackle what would turn out to be among their most memorable and exotic runs. We took a bumpy ride over dirt roads to kilometer 82 of the railway line which follows the Urubamba River Valley. After pre-race pictures with some of the race sponsors's banners, Cusquena Beer, Smartwool, and Odwalla, we jounced over the Urubamba River on a rickety footbridge onto the first 8kilometers of rolling dirt and rock trail. The start was located at just under 8000ft in elevation, an altitude to which Bill and I were well acclimatized, having been in the ancient Incn city of Cusco (11000 ft) for over a week. Living in Colorado helps too. There were some runners who live at elevations under 5000ft who did very well, though.There were 20 people running the race; an Austrian, 13 Front Range Coloradans, Bill and I, and 3 Peruvians, including a national steeplechase champion named Marco, and a national Inca Trail legend named Edgar Rodriguez who holds the record for racing the trail in 3 hours and 50 minutes. This was an enthusiastic, outgoing bunch of ultrarunners with respectable resumes of races they´d completed in Colorado and around the world. Some of them were perennial Leadville 100 runners. The Austrian fella, Carl, was completing the Inca Trail run as his 96th marathon or ultrarun, and afterward was heading off to Huaraz, Peru for a multi-day 190 kilometer race. They all held with a passion for the ultrarunning that is more a lifestyle than actually asport. For any person who had only run the Boston or Grandma's Marathon, this was not a good race to start ultrarunning.Edgar, Bill and I ran for the first 2 kilometers together, taking some action photos, skipping over rocks and roots, chatting, etc. Edgar said in Spanish that we were going out too fast, and that we should relax a bit, but I felt good and felt I knew what I was doing so I went ahead a bit. There were a few minor snafus in the run, some things that are only are learned by experience in peruvian culture. Things that are planned with Peruvians only happen when they are meant to happen rather than when one may want them to happen. Unknown to me, Edgar was the trail marker, therefore the pace-setter. The first 10 kilometers of the run through beautiful campesino(a Peruvian country person) farms and several drainages that empty in the sizable Rio Urubamba. It is a steep walled valley on one side covered with lush vegetation, and our side had many side trails that led to the farms and rural homes along the trail. I had almost gotten myself through the rolling, mazey first 10k until I took one wrong turn over a pile of cow pies on a trail that led to a farm. Through the bushes, retracing a few game trails, over some barbed wire, under some logs. Yikes! I bushwacked along another game and cow trail for 5 minutes until I got back to the main trail. I was a bit perplexed from there, so I stopped and decided to wait for the rest of the front of the pack Bill turned a corner near some bushes, running along in his longstrided way, power hiking up the short, steep section to where I was waiting, followed a few minutes later by Edgar. We called out to Edgar,40 feet behind "Que camino?!" No response. I really think he may have been trying to help us slow down to conserve our energy for the next 42 kilometers. Bill decided to keep going the way which we thought the trail went and I decided to wait for a response from Edgar. After thoughtfully marking the trail so the next runners would know where to go, he gestured vaguely in the direction that Bill went. Back in run mode finally!I caught up to Bill in a few minutes, talked shop for a few minutes and then kept going. The trail was pretty well defined it seemed from there. At about kilo 14 the trail did a sharp left and headed up the switch backs. Here is also where I thought that I´d find an aid station and having drank the last of my H2O out of the hydration system I carried on my waist, I yearned to down a quart or two. The aid stations, 3 total in the run, were to be attended by some Cusquenos(people from Cusco, a few hours away) who had hiked out days ahead of time. This was a lesson in how "time" is perceived in Peru and much of Latin America; things happen at a different pace here, and reliable workers can be hard to find. Bananas, water, energy drink, bars(not the alcoholic kind of bar), shelter and radios were to be at each feed station. This is where is the first ascent to the 1st of 3 passes starts, a 6000 ft climb over the top of Dead Woman Pass (Hmmm..Interesting name). The climb started on loose dirt and rocks, and after a half hour of huffing, power-hiking, and feeling "a bit dry", I was caught up to by a running Edgar, and he offered a few words of encouragement. "Mas Rapido!" he said. I thought, "Great. Yeah. I'll..uh..be right along. Go ahead without me." Was this the same Edgar who seemed to be taking his sweet time only 1/2 hour ago? Amazingly, the rest of the way up, he was just ahead of me as the trail turned to the stone steps that the Inca Trail is known for. We entered the clouds and a semi-tropical lush forest. Astonished European, Peruvian, and North American hikers, as well as porters carrying giant loads stopped to let us pass. "Are you guys running some kind of race?" they asked. "You guys are loco!" Given that most people take four days rather than four to 12 hours, I guess these kind of runners were loco.Now in mountain running, the reality is for most of us that on the steep ascents, it is not at all "running". It is surviving. And the only consolation for most is that what goes up must come down. And even then the stark reality still exists that knees are joints that can cry out real loudly when compressed. There are only 3 runners I have ever seen run ascents like that, Edgar being one of them, and myself not one of them. The guy is built like most Peruvians in size, about 5 ft 5 or 6 in , only he has powerfully built legs under him. A couple of those porters decided to race me up the hill and actually kept up for awhile...with a monstrous load of tourist trekkers' gear on their backs! Some of the racers were passed by loaded porters on the descents too!Still ascending to the saddle of the pass, the clouds thickened. There were silhouettes on a flat looking area maybe a mile ahead. "Goats, burros, Peruvian yetis, but those aren't people, are they?" I thought, knowing the legacy of false summits that comes with going up mountains. A bottle neck of hikers on the trail appeared before the silhouettes. The trail was steepest here , and Edgar was still in sight as he topped out. Finally the pass, situated near the silhouettes was a tent was set up with water, Odwalla bars, coca tea, Edgar and the small aid crew. After a few minutes of recharging, I said my thanks to the crew and Edgar and started down the steep descent, with a very full, watered and Odwallaed belly. The steps were works of art. Evenly spaced Incan carved, placed meticulously centuries before. I love going down hill, and some times letting gravity take over with some speed is best for the knees and legs. 3000 or so feet down, and at the base of the next pass I pit stopped in some grass, took care of business, and Edgar cruised by. I managed to catch him up before the next aid station, and after that never saw any other runners for until Machu Picchu hours later. The rest of the run was dotted with ruins here and there. Walls of precisely carved granite that must have taken years to build were the foundation for these ruins. With all the tectonic activity in the Andes, these walls and ruins have stood the test of time. Huaraz, where I am now, has been destoyed several times by earthquakes, and Incan walls from before the conquistadors are one of the only constants. Alluviones, walls of mud, rock, ice and snow, that crash out of the mountains from collapsed glacial lakes, happen every few decades. The Andes are a geologically dynamic range only rivalled by the Himalayas. A local Peruvian guide and his charges of American trekkers steered me the right way when I took a wrong turn into a particularly large ruin. Usually in the US if you get lost in a mountain race it's because you either spaced out while racing, the race director screwed up marking the course, or you got stuck in the trees. Only in Peru will you get sidetracked in archaeological wonders. The last aid station actually was a mobile aid station. Juan, the man in charge of the feed station was completely flabbergasted when I ran up behind him before the 3rd pass. He hustled along, his pack full runners' aid, asking questions about where I'd come from. He never believed that anyone would be there cso fast. I was one of the lucky ones though who found him. Turns out that other runners who arrived at the 3rd pass aid station never even saw him nor an aid station. I guess Juan found other things to do that day. From there, the water, or lack thereof, left my body. It is really hard to stay hydrated, if not impossible, on these long runs. It was a long haul into Machu Picchu. The trail went through a gorgeous ruin in the clouds, and after getting pointed in the right direction again by some hikers, I started the long, long descent down from 12500 ft to 8000ft. The sun started to shine in the hot and steamy lower elevation. I preferred the damp mist that fell up high at that point. A mud puddle started looking like a delicious thing to drink. I stooped over to sip, and then saw the tracks and a bit of the remains from a burro's standing in the same spot. I stood up to plod through the last 8 K. Finally, up over a rise and through the ancient gates of Machu Picchu!
(For some reason the last bit of this story got clipped but I recall getting to Machu Picchu and there was no finish line there! The organizers had misjudged how quickly we would finish the run and arrived wayyyy late. I had no money to buy a drink from the gift shop and wondered if I had misunderstood that the finish was in Aquas Calientes, a few kilometers downhill from Macchu Picchu. I ended up hiking all the way down to AC and then back up to MP, to find that the finish line had indeed finally arrived to MP! I was so wasted by then.)

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Mini Documentary / Mackumentary

Since Western States is my objective this year, I thought it's be cool to document something building up to the race. Here is the link to the mini-version of what I am working on with Bill Hanson, local Boulder film guy.
Since I am looking for a new sponsor, feel free to contact me as we are tying in a sponsor to this project, which may become something something bigger and longer. I am notorious for being low-key about my sports but for some reason I am more motivated to being "out there" this year.
http://virb.com/2373471696717503/videos/2353145

"Training" this week thus far

March 26Today - Dumping snow- Easy 1.5 hours with dogs in 1.5 ft feet snow
Goal: recovery/taper. Miles, about 5 -6

March 25 Yesterday; AM: 45 minutes easy pace on Vail Gore Creek Path with Tanker. Goal: get energy flowing for evening mile repeats and drive home.
PM 6 x 1 mile repeats at 5:30-6:15 pace, 5 minutes easy jog in between. From Marshall rd, South Boulder creek path to 55th back to Marshall RD ia Gravel pits/Buffalo Ranch. 1:05 total; about 10 miles

March 24 In Vail: (free 2 nights lodging and skiing)
AM: Tele skied in 2 ft dump in back bowls. Bad for leg speed but good for soul and skied with Ellen. Good for leg strength though if done in moderation.
PM: 1 hour easy. Goal recovery

March 23. AM 1.5 hours easy. Goal; recovery from 2 hoyr road run day before. Feel a bit sore and will lose right big toenail due to road run.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Tanker



Here's the dog I refer to, Tanker. He rocks, especially in winter.

Eldora skating



Here are a couple photos from last weekend when we were at Eldora skate skiing with Ava in the towable Chariot bike/jogger/ski-thing. She is warmer and happier than she looks in the photos. Ellen is also warm and happy.

I woke up super early yesterday morning, like at 2 am, and started thinking about PA school and whether I will be be accepted. I am on the wait lists of 2 programs in the Bay Area, and pretty high up on the list of one of those programs, Touro University. I really want to get in, and Ellen, my wife, REALLY wants me to be accepted too. Ellen has been a saint in tolerating my career changes and the 1.5 years of the latest science pre-req classes that have dominated my life. I am committed to this professional path though and love studying again (unlike my undergrad at UNH 1000 years ago) and am psyched for grad school to start.
Anyway, I was thinking about school when I wass awake and at 4 am decided this was a waste of time to be sitting in bed and jumped up and in 10 minutes wss in the cara heading up to Eldora to skate ski. 30 minutes later I had my headlamp on and did a long loop through the nordic trails in Buckeye basin, then skated and herringboned right up the Jolly Jug trail past the top of Cannonball lift to the top of the Eldora ridge. There is a nice groomed wide ski trail and is relatively flat that crosses the top of the mountain for a mile or so to top of Corona and to the West ridge section of the ski mountian. It was freshly groomed from the night snowcat guys made for excellent skating in the dawn light and from a fingernail moon. A great workout at 10k feet! It isnt running training but close enough and skate skiiing only last a couple months near Boulder so you gotta do it when you can...or when you are laying in bed at 2 am.
After 30 minutes of ridge skating I passed a couple snowcats who were headed out to the Corona top of the lift and the cabin. This made for a great ski run back the 1000feet to the bottom of the mountain in 3 minutes, which is super fun in skate skis! Then back to the car for a quick banana and drink then another hour of skating. All told about 2 hours of skating, then back down to Boulder to be home at 8am.
I like skate skiing as cross training not only because it is a blast but also because it builds aerobic fitness, upper body strength, and most importantly core strength. In running the core muscle groups are used more than runners tend to believe, and those who do core strengthening on a regular basis help their running immensely, be it for a 100m sprinter or dirtbag ultrarunner like me.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Bear Peak RT <1 hour RT



This winter I'd been up Bear Peak two or three times per week, and almost daily in December with Kevin and Nico, and I'd been thinking that this would be entirely possible to hit Bear Peak and back to a trailhead in less than one hour. I'd tempo run it in 42 minutes from trail head to summit recently without too much effort, so I reckoned that I could get under 40 minutes pretty easily on the ascent. If that were the case I would need a sub 20 minute descent back to the TH, which also was reasonable.

I had a stomach bug last week from Ava, so I pulled an unplanned taper for a few days. After one harder run earlier this week I took another mellow 2 days to get my legs back under me and on Weds am felt great. For a week, Bill Hanson and I have been working on this mini-mackumentary about my upcoming Western States run, so we shot about 15 minutes of me jogging in the morning as my warmup. I didnt plan on running Bear peak that day, but felt so refreshed that morning I decided to time trial the peak in the afternoon with no real expectation of trying the sub 1 hour RT.

After a few hours at the library working on my microbiology class, I took a lunchbreak and headed over to the Cragmoor trailhead, jogged for 5 minutes, took a leak in the trees, then hit the start at the signpost and headed up! I decided to see how I felt at the summit before I committed to racing the downhill for the sub 1 hour RT.
The Cragmoor TH is the start and finish of Bill Wright's Fall Flatirons scramble of the Slab, so I'd been used to time trialing this trail before and knew how to pace up to the Slab (which is located where the Shanahan trail dips down to hit the Fern Canyon trail). I knew I couldn't go out too fast as the real "race" starts up at the Nebel Horn Saddle, much like the Pikes Peak ascent doesn't really start until A frame 3 miles below the summit.
I hit the top of the stairs where the trail joins the Shanahan trail in 2:41 and liked my conservative paced thus far. It was cool out but plenty warm, so after ditching my shirt under the Shanahan power lines to be picked up on the return, I kept on. At the Mesa Trail I was at 9:43, almost a minute slower than when we run the Slab race in the fall. I hit the Slab in 13:00(or so..I forgot this split)I thought I should start to pick up the pace as I felt very comfortable so as the trail dropped quickly down 60 feet into the ditch by the north side of the Slab and I used this drop to pick up momentum on the uphill on the other side. I hit the Fern Canyon trail post at 15:07, and reached the top of the first rockclimb/top of first steep steps (where Jeff and Allison almost got clobbered by ice this winter) in 18:41. The ascent to the Nebel Horn saddle felt good like I wasn't curshing myself, and I passed a few hikers coming down and a couple who were sitting in the trail eating. Of course they displayed amazement at running this trail, by saying "wow" and "nice work", but this is Boulder of course where we basically do this before breakfast every day.
I reached the saddle at 24:26 and decided to ramp it up from there to about %95 effort level to the summit. I power hiked a good part of the way on the lower steep slopes above the saddle as this is the steepest part of the whole climb and it felt more efficient than running, and this section only lasts about 250 feet. The angle eased off a bit and I was able to run/power hike alternately til the trail pops out on the ridge and I ran most of it from there.
Coming out to the summit cone I knew I was well within sub 40 minute range. The last ridge scramble I have so wired that I basically run along the top of the ridge to the summit. I was wearing Pearl Izumi shoes that Bob Africa gacve me, so there isnt any sticky rubber but it is enough traction to run well on the rough summit ridge sandstone. I stepped on top of the summit rock with my feet actually on the summit in 37;43, turned right around and ran the ridge back to the trail.
The descent was a blur (as it always is!) but I didnt race it too hard to blow my legs out and risk a fall. Nebel horn saddle I reacehd in 45:17. On the way past the steep steps/first rock climb, of all people of course but here comes Scott Elliott chugging up the hill with Tara Breed just behind. I said a quick Hey and kept cruising. I used the momentum down to the ditch by the Slab to power up the other side and down to hit the Mesa Trail again in 52:31. I knew sub 1 hour was in the bag at this point so I tempo'ed it down Shanahan and hit the finish post in 57:39.
That evening I still felt good so before going to my 6 pm micro class in Westminster, I did a few mile repeats at 6 minute pace to get the speed back in the legs. Weds was the best workout day I'd had in a few months! (And I paid the price as I am sore 2 days later!)
All in all I know may guys out there can go faster. I think Jeff Valliere has run close to 35 minutes on the ascent and Scott Elliot when he is fit can go faster. I think I can knock 2 minutes off this RT time with some focus by taking another minute off the ascent and one on the descent, and also doing it with a couple guys to push the pace may drop the overall time by another minute. No plans to pursue this at this point though as it is ultrarunning season for me with Western States as the overall goal.