Divide and Conquer : San Juan Solstice 50M

Lake San Cristobol.  Lake City, CO

Over the past few years, I have transitioned from road racing to almost exclusively racing on the trails.  There are multiple reasons for this, but one of the primary factors was my achilles/heels have gotten to the point where I can not train adequately for road races and stay healthy.  And the races themselves would beat my achilles up so much, I wouldn't be able to walk afterwards.  But the slower pace of trail races without the harsh flat concrete/asphalt surfaces, allowed me to continue to race hard but be able to run the next day.

Last year, I completed 2 50K's plus paced a friend 30+ miles in a 100 miler and stayed relatively injury free.  I was ready to make my next step down the ultra running path, complete a 50 miler.   This past January, I entered the lottery for a spot in the San Juan Solstice 50M.  I was excited.  Then I got in and I began to think this wasn't such a good idea.  My first go at 50 miles would be on one of the toughest 50M courses, with over 12 000 vertical feet of climbing and at an average altitude of 11 100 feet, topping out at over 13 000 feet.  It was the equivalent of running Imogene Pass Run two times in a row, then running another 16 miles.  Yikes

As prep for this race, I ran the Desert Rats Trail Marathon in Fruita in April, then the Jemez Mountain 50K in Los Alamos in May.  I felt going into both of those races I was slightly under trained for the distances.  For the marathon, I felt ready for 20-22 miles, not 26, and for the 50K, I felt ready for 28-30 miles, not the 34 I would end up running.   As SJS approached that same slightly under trained feeling arose. I felt my training was adequate to get me through 40 miles, not 50.  I just hadn't gotten in any 5 to 6 hour runs in, besides the 50K.  And with a very wet spring, that brought a lot of snow to the mountains, I also hadn't gotten in any time at altitude.

So my apprehension grew as race day approached.  My one security blanket was that my friend Greg (who I pace in his 100 mile last year) was entered in SJS as well.  He had run extraordinarily well at SJS last year. Since he knew the course, I could pace off of him and hopefully run with him at least the first half and then see how things would go.  He wasn't at the same fitness as last year, so I thought this would work.  Then, with just a few days to go, he bailed on the race to do a run in La Sal Mountains, in Utah, instead.  Now I was on my own.

My co-workers would ask, what was my goal.  Primary goal was to finish.  But now I really had to think about what I was shooting for.  I would say "Anything under 11 hours and I would be ecstatic.  If it is over 12 hours, I am worried it has turned into a death march."   I kinda figured sub 12 hours would be a good goal, and since the race gave finishing awards based on the following categories: sub 16, sub 12, sub 10 and sub 8, this would be a motivating factor.

I would have a small crew.  Andrew planned on pacing me the last 10 miles and John would make the trip as well.  On Friday, Andrew and I drove down to Lake City (John was going to drive down separately and meet up with us.  He ended up driving Saturday morning, meeting up with Andrew after I had started).   Lake City is great little town.  Very underrated among Colorado mountain towns.  We found a fantastic campsite right on Lake San Cristobol.

Campsite on Lake San Cristobol

Hammock is all set for post race beers and recovery

We headed into town to check in and have some dinner while watching the US WMNT beat China in their World Cup quarterfinal.

Finish Line, the night before the race.

At 3:40 am, I woke up to a starred filled sky.  It was a chilly but not cold.  After making some breakfast, I got ready to go and discovered neither one of us had the car key.  I remained calm.  No need to panic.  After a 10-15 minute search, I found it had fallen on the ground and slid underneath the edge of the tent.  Just enough to be out of sight at first glance.  All was well.  Made the 10 minute drive to the start line, going just a bit over the speed limit.

I had enough time to get make a stop at the port o potty and get my stuff on, but was rushed just enough that I forgot a few things.  I had meant to put a few ibuprofen tablets in my running vest, along with my phone to take a few pics.  And I forgot sunscreen.  It also meant I didn't really get a chance to look around a see who I might know that was running.  I basically walked up to the start line and the race went off.

Since my "goal" was 11-12 hours, I figured I would try to pace off the lead females.  The typical winning women's time is just under 11 hours.   As we ran up the road that leads to Engineer Pass, I settled in with what appeared to be the lead pack of ladies.  After 3 miles, we made the turn off the road and onto the Alpine Gulch trail.  The 2015 San Juan Solstice 50M was now truly about to begin.

Over the next 2.5 miles, we would only climb about 700 vertical feet, but would have to cross a raging creek, swollen from snowmelt, around 10 times.  This would be knee deep to thigh deep in spots.  It was cold.  At some of the crossings there were ropes to hold onto, so you wouldn't be swept away.  It never felt cold when I actually was in it, but it was right after getting out that the frigid feeling would hit.  The feet would be numb and for the next few minutes it would feel like running on stumps.  About the time feeling would come back in the feet, it was time for another crossing and immediately the feet would go numb again.  It was a ton of fun.

One of the creek crossings.  As I forgot my phone for pics, these random race pics are courtesy of Wouter van Tiel, posted on SJS Facebook page.

I kept contact with that lead pack of ladies all through the first climb, which topped out at 12 800 feet.  The sun was now up and the first spectacular views of the day were had.  I also was surprised how easy the climb had felt and how little the high altitude was effecting me.  I felt very comfortable.

Near top of first climb.  Photo courtesy of van Tiel

On the descent I lost contact with the group I had climbed with.  It took me a little while to find a rhythm on the steep downhills.  As I was about to hit the first major aid station, we had one last creek crossing.  Just to get the shoes all wet again.

Coming into the Williams Aid station at mile 16.5.  Photo courtesy San Juan Solstice

I met Andrew at the Williams Aid station at mile 16.5.  Split was 3:26 (12:32 pace).  Pretty much exactly what I wanted.  I felt good.  Changed shoes and socks.  Put on calf sleeves (for snowfields to come).  Got my sunglasses and visor.  Forgot sunscreen and ibuprofen.   Thanked Andrew and the volunteers and headed on my way.  Pit time : 5 minutes 12 seconds.

The first few miles after Williams were on a flat dirt road.  I ran both in about 9:00 pace.  I felt good.  Then the second climb began.  This one would be a doozy.  4 000 vertical feet over 8 miles.  The tagline for SJS is Divide and Conquer.  It's a play on the fact much of the race is run along the Continental Divide Trail.  It also is how you have to attack this race.  Just think about conquering each section between aid stations.  My thoughts were just getting to Carson, the next aid station.  It would be halfway through the climb.  My goal here was to keep my hiking to under 20 minutes per mile.  I had passed a couple of people right before the climb began and put a good distance on them during the initial ascent.  Then I caught a few more folks a mile or so into the climb. When I came into Carson at 22.4 miles, I was feeling strong mentally and decent physically.  Split to Carson was 1:29 (15:05 pace).  This also was around what I thought I could do.

I had a drop bag at Carson.  The weather would be good, so didn't need the rain jacket I left in it.  Feet were good, so didn't need fresh socks.  Grabbed some more nutrition.  Again forgot sunscreen.  Thanked the volunteers and continued on.  The next section would be long and tough.   Pit time : 1 minute 58 seconds.

The climb continued for another 3 miles.  The climb up from Williams to Carson was all on a 4x4 jeep road.  A really rough road in spots, but a road.  This continued another 1.5 miles after Carson, before it turned off onto a singletrack trail for the final 1.5 miles to the top.  From here, we would spend the next 2 hours running along rolling terrain above 12 000 feet, across high alpine terrain.  There were talus fields, snowfields, and many spots where there was no trail at all.  The snowfields weren't too bad as by now 40 to 50 people had gone through, post holing a route that I could follow. But in some cases, I glissaded down them on my butt.  The calf sleeves came in handy, keeping my legs from getting scrapped up by the snow.  There were spots where someone must have gone waist deep when they broke trail.

Runners on the Divide.  van Tiel

Trail along divide. van Tiel

Follow the flags. van Tiel

I wouldn't say altitude was really effecting me, but I knew this was going slowly.  I wasn't running as much.  While the snowfields weren't awful, at times I was gingerly crossing them.  I had taken in most of my fluids.  It just was slow go.  My achilles were beginning to hurt on the uphills. Eventually we began descending into trees, indicating lower altitude and that the next aid station was nearby.  But not before having to run through a hundred yard stretch of mud.  Then to just make things more difficult, had to climb a 80 feet or so up to the Divide Aid station at the Colorado Trail Yurt.  Ugh.

I ran from Carson at 22.4 miles to Divide at 32.3 miles in 3:01 (18:16 pace).  That was at least a half hour longer than I had thought it would take.  I had lost a bunch of time.  I was feeling a bit low mentally and physically.  The idea of a 11 hour or 11:30 race finish was now out of the question.  Sub 12 still wasn't.  I took in a lot of food here.  Eating some ham and cheese tortilla wraps. Mmmm...good.  Bunch of coke.  Refilled all my bottles.  Chatted a bit with other runners and volunteers.  Felt better.  Thanked everyone and was on my way again.  Pit time : 5 minutes 3 seconds.

The next section to the Slumgullion Aid station at 40 miles was mostly flat to downhill.  Initially, there was the small descent out of the Divide Aid station which helped get me running again.  A small climb of 400 vertical feet was followed by one of the more lonely sections of the race.  The trail looks out over high alpine meadows and you feel very isolated.  But it was flat to easy downhill, on defined trail, so I found a good rhythm again.

Running along the Continental Divide Trail.  Photo courtesy of Gunnison Times

Then it began a steep descent on another 4x4 road.  I was able to run down this fairly well, passing a few folks for the first time since getting on the divide.  The previous 4 hours, many people had passed my by.  When I came into the Slumgullion Aid station and saw Andrew again, I felt rejuvenated and not only believed I would finish without any problems, but still had a shot at sub 12 hours.  It took me 1:51 to go from Divide at 32.3 miles to Slumgullion at 40.1 (14:05 pace).  This was around what I had thought I could do and left me about 2 hours to run the last 10 miles.  I thought there was 2 miles more of climbing, followed by a long downhill to the finish.  If I could kick out that climb in 40 minutes (20 min pace) then I would have to run the 8 miles in 80 minutes.  Maybe I could do it. Changed shoes and socks.  Since I was feeling good, I again forgot to get ibuprofen from my bag and forgot bug spray.  During the descending my achilles didn't bother me and on the divide there weren't any mosquitos.  So I was off again, this time with Andrew accompanying me for the last 10 miles.  But Pit time: 8 minutes 46 seconds.

The first mile out of Slumgullion continued downhill.  I felt great.  There was a little bushwacking required to follow the race course as it ran through what appeared to be an area washed out by runoff.  Then the climb began.  At first I was okay.  But as it progressed, my achilles really began to have shooting pain on each push off.  The lower elevation meant higher temps and the heat began to set in on me.  My lack of long training runs meant I wasn't ready for this after 40 miles and fatigue really set in.  Mentally I cracked.  I just didn't feel like I could go any further.  I cursed myself for forgetting the ibuprofen.  If it weren't for Andrew being with me in this section, I might still be there.  At one point I stopped and sat down.  Two runners came by and encouraged me to keep going.  "Always Be Moving"  That's the mantra I have said to myself in my down periods in the 50K's I did in 2014.  Even if it is a shuffle, it still means you are closer to the finish line than you were 5, 10, 15 minutes ago.  But it was slow going.  The climb seemed to go on forever.  It actually was 2.3 miles with a gain of 1500 vertical feet.  My watch would register one section with a gain of 725 feet in a mile.  Near the top, it crossed through a meadow, where the mosquito's were out in force.  Anytime I stopped, they would swarm.  Another motivating factor to keep moving.  Somehow I kept moving along, and when we finally began to level out and even descend a bit, I was surprised to find myself able to run again.

We rolled into Vicker's Aid station at 45.5 miles having "run" the last 5.4 miles in 1:46 (19:53 pace).  I was able to get some bug spray here.  Took in some food along with M+M's.  Refilled bottles, as I had dumped one on me at one point to cool off just a little.  4.5 miles to the finish.  There sign said 3.5 miles, but based on what Greg had told me and what my watch said, I believed it was likely 4.5 miles.  Sub 12 was out of the question.  Now the goal was sub 13.

The course had a few more little hills, before descending steeply into town.

Descent through the aspens.  Photo courtesy of Andrew Armiger.

The descent reminded me a bit of Imogene Pass Run, in that you were looking down on the town, but still had a ways to go to the finish.  I wasn't going to fall for that siren song of "look you are almost done."  It was going to be longer than it looked.  Obviously tired and hot, I just focused on trying to run the rest of the way.  The last mile through town is so tough as it is so flat.  I haven't run on anything this flat in hours.  The clock was ticking.  I tried to sprint it in, but photo shows it was just a fast shuffle.

Coming into the finish.  Photo courtesy of Andrew Armiger.

Finish!

12:56:49.  84th out of 182 finishers.  The race is limited to 250 people.  Not sure how many actually started, but likely 225-240 started.  All in all I am happy with the race.  Primary goal was to finish, and I did.  I felt like I kept a good, consistent effort throughout the nearly 13 hours.  I was able to regroup a couple of times during the race when I felt low, especially after I cracked on the last major climb.  I ended up running in the last 4.5 miles (13:29 pace) and finished "strong."  It was a great experience.  The first 15 miles were worth the price of admission.  The area is so amazingly beautiful.  The folks who put on the race are great. The town really embraces the race. The next day there was free breakfast for all runners and support crews. Every finisher is announced and given their appropriate award.  I gladly accepted my white hat for sub 16 hours.  It is a great race and some day I will be back, because I know I can get that red hat for sub 12 hours.

Lake San Cristobol as we returned post race.

The next day after the award ceremony, drove to the top of Engineer Pass to take in the alpine views.

Snow melt means Waterfalls.

Atop Engineer Pass

So it was another great weekend in Lake City.  I can't wait to go back.

Link to all the numbers from my GPS.

4 Days to Go ....

Early on at Jemez Mountain Trail Run 50K

With San Juan Solstice 50 Miler just days away, I figured I would write a little recap on how my training has progressed, or more how it hasn't progressed as much as I would like.

After running the marathon at the Desert Rats Trail Festival in Fruita in April, I felt pretty good and overdid it.  I tweaked my hamstring.  Heather North at Redhammer Rehab did some fine work, painful as always, but I was back running with only a few days off.  My running had gotten very consistent, averaging 50 miles a week through May.

Memorial Day weekend, I drove down to Los Alamos, NM, to camp and run the Jemez Mountain Trail Race.  This event features a 50 miler, a 50K and a 1/2 marathon.  I was running the 50K and had in my mind a goal time around 6 hours.  I would be ecstatic if I got under 6.  Over 7 would be disappointing.

Race start of 50K

Saturday: Race day was perfect.  Temps around 45 at 6am at the start, with partly cloudy sky.  I got into a nice rhythm early on, and the first 10 miles went by smoothly (minus one missed turn.  Once again, course was marked with red-orange flagging, which I don't pick up very well.)

Around mile 5

 After 10 mile aid station, is the major climb, from 8000 ft up to the top of Pajarito Mtn at 10,400 ft.  I felt like I kept a good tempo on the climb, mixing in power hiking with running in a efficient manner.   The 50 mile race started at 5 am and I began to catch the back end of that race on this climb.  This was nice as the 50K had begun to spread out and I had found myself running alone.  Now I had people to chase after.

After 10 mile aid station

This was an eerily beautiful area.  The Los Alamos region has suffered through a number of forest fires over the past decade, one of which nearly reached the town and the National Lab.  But life is coming back, so this trail climb through dead, burnt trees, mixed with green grass and young aspens.

View of burn area looking up towards Pajarito Mountain.

I missed a turn on the descent down the mountain.  Luckily, this descent was down the Pajarito Ski Resort.  I knew the next aid station was at the lodge at the bottom of the resort and the resort wasn't that big. I just needed to find the bottom. So I bushwhacked through some trees, across a ski run, and found the actual course again.  This added on maybe a 1/2 mile.

Coming into aid station at 19 miles.

I felt pretty good at this point.  The climb up to the aid station at 22 miles went okay.  At this point the 50 milers went a different direction from the 50 K, so I was once again alone.  The next stretch of 2 miles was a bit of a struggle.  It was on a wide jeep road with a steady climb.  But when it turned onto a single track trail again and began descending, I felt much better.

My major mistake of the day was to not completely re-fill/re-stock at the aid station at 25 miles.  A few miles later, I ran out of water.  I thought I only had about 3 miles left and didn't take one last gel before running out of water, thinking I could make it those last 3 miles.  I mistakenly had not checked the actual distance of the race, assuming it was 31 miles when it actually was 32.2.  And even that came with a caveat.  The organizers stated it probably is 0.3 miles to 0.5 miles longer due to one of the segments in the burn area being recently refurbished.  Along with my wrong turns, the actual distance was going to be over 33 miles.  So around mile 30, I bonked.  I was right, I had about 2-3 miles left in me, I just didn't realize at the time I would need to get through another 3 miles.  I had been trying to hold off a couple of runners on the long descent back into town, but at this point gave up and let them by.  An aid station at 1.9 miles to go was a godsend.  And I trudged to finish in 6:43:17 and in 19th place.

Overall I was happy with me effort. My watch clocked 33.5 miles which seems about right.  If I hadn't been stupid and had stopped and refilled at that aid station at 25, I don't think I would have bonked and been about 10-15 minutes faster.

Link to my GPS data for the race, including map and splits.

I would highly recommend this race to anyone.  Great course.  Perfect for me.  Fun trails without a lot of technical, rocky trails.  Post race spread was fantastic.  The race volunteers prepared a potluck New-Mexican buffet complete with taco bar.  There also were grilling green chili cheeseburgers along with plenty of beer and drinks.

This was my first time to Los Alamos.  It is an interesting town.  I really liked it many ways.  Great trails.  Bandelier National Monument is nearby along with great a National Forest area.  But because of its unique history the town is a bit curious.  Since there was no town there when the Lab was established, the town didn't evolve like a normal town.  So unlike most other towns in New Mexico there isn't a traditional town square.  There is a "downtown" area but it lacks something and over all the place is very sleepy.  Considering the recreation opportunities surrounding it, I would have expected it to be more a outdoorsy town, but there really only was one outdoor type shop.  Bathtub Row Brewing Coop was cool.  Besides it, there was really only one other pub/brewery in town.

View of Los Alamos and the National Laboratory from the hillsides above town.

Sunday: I traveled around and found an arts and crafts fair put on by the residents of the Jemez Pueblo.  Stopped by Jemez Springs.  Some cool little art studios in this very small town.  Unfortunately wasn't able to get into the hot springs.  Did very short hike to Jemez Falls.

Jemez Falls

Monday: I hiked about Bandelier National Monument.  Due to the fires, there has been some severe flash flooding along the creeks in the Monument, leaving behind huge log jams.

Log Jam along the Rito de los Frijoles

The monument contains some very cool pueblo ruins.

The sign warning about 140 vertical feet ascent made me laugh, having run 6200 vert feet two days before.

Ended the day hiking down to Upper Falls on the "Little River of Beans"

Upper Falls on the Rito de los Frijoles

Link to all my pictures from Los Alamos / Bandalier / travels through Colorado/NM

All in all it was a good weekend.  I came out of it pretty healthy and two weeks later was in Vail for the GoPro Mountains Games.  This is always one my favorite weekends of the year.  I doubled, running the Vail Pass 1/2 Marathon on Saturday and then the 10K Spring Runoff on Sunday.

I was happy with both efforts.  Ran 1:52:44 in the 1/2 marathon up Vail Pass, finishing in 24th.  In 2013, when I previously ran this race, and not coming off a 50K, I ran 1:50:04.   My 10K on Sunday was 58:46, good for 27th.   I felt tired on the initial climb, but then found my legs and really felt good the remainder of the race.  This encourages me.  I previously have run 57:18 and 57:15 on this course, once fresh and once coming off the half the day before.  Considering all I had done leading into the 10K, to run about the same as I always do here, makes me feel like I am fit.

Climb near the 3 mile mark of the 10K Spring Runoff

Splits/GPS for 1/2 Marathon

Splits/GPS for 10 K 

Of course, San Juan is a whole different animal.  As June rolled on, I felt like my fitness was just coming into perfect timing to actually train for a 50 miler.  I wish I had 3 to 4 more weeks.  One, I only have gotten in one really good weekend, with back to back long runs.  And two, with our very wet spring, I haven't gotten in anytime above 11000 feet due to the high snow pack.  It will be interesting.  I love the Lake City area.  I love the San Juan Mountains.  I am excited to run the course.  It will be beautiful.  But it will be tough.  Multiple creek crossings that will be running high and fast due to late snow melt.  And there will be large snowfields on the higher elevations that will make for some slow going.  I just don't know what to expect.  This is my first 50 miler and I picked one of the hardest ones to debut at.  This is going to be interesting.

New Mud Fest 2015. Otherwise known as New Brew Fest 2015

Time to talk about some beer.  Along with exciting adventures on the trails, spring starts the outdoor beer fest season.  This past Saturday (May 9), was New Brew Fest in Niwot.  Last year was the inaugural fest, so this year is the 2nd Annual.  Remember you can not have a 1st Annual event.  This was a fun time last year and is super convenient.  Held at Whistle Stop Park, I can hop on the Bolt around the corner from my house and get dropped off right at the park.  The idea of this beer tasting fest is to showcase Boulder County brewers who are less than 5 years old.  Which is a lot.  I like this fest as it wasn't super crowded last year, includes a large number of good brewers, has generous pours, is reasonably priced and gives me a chance to check out the ever growing number of new breweries I haven't had a chance to taste yet.

Unfortunately, the weather leading up to Saturday wasn't great.  Rain everyday of the week and some chilly temps.  Not exactly the type of weather you want to stand around outside for 5 hours in.  When I woke up Saturday morning, it was raining hard.  But at 11 it stopped and began to clear out.  By noon, the Fest opened to a little bit of sun.  There was quite a bit of mud but most everyone there was prepared to deal with it.  At about 12:15 my friends and I had entered and started tasting some fine brews.  Again, likely due to the weather, it wasn't super crowded, so you could quickly get a beer.

The wind picked up around 2 and the temps began to drop.  By 3 it was starting to get cold.  Then it began to rain/sleet.  It felt more like football tailgating weather (if you are from the midwest), then a brew fest (or maybe more like the infield at Pimlico).  But those tailgating experiences make you hardy, and we held out till about 4, when we bailed to head over to Bootstrap.  I would say most everyone else had bailed long before then.  I doubt many people made it to the 5 o'clock closing time.

Mud and Beers.  Mmm .... tasty.

A few breweries bailed out and were no shows.  Here are the highlights and lowlights from those brave souls who risked frostbitten fingers to pour us some beers.

Best Beer:  Blond Stout, Industrial Revolution Brewing Co., Erie

Judged strictly on the merits of a tasty stout, this was incredible.  Good coffee flavor without being overpowering, some vanilla notes in there and a smooth chocolatey finish.   Just a great stout.  But the kicker is that it is the same color as a pale ale or wheat ale as it is brewed without any roasted barley.  Your mind becomes confused as it can't process what your eyes see and your mouth tastes.  So instead of trying to figure it out, you just drink more, which with this stout is a good thing.

Best New Brewery I Haven't Tried Yet:  Grossen Bart Brewery, Longmont

Last year's New Brew Fest introduced me to Powderkeg. They weren't even open yet, so I was in anticipation until they opened a few months later.  This year, Grossen Bart made a great first impression.  I will definitely stopped in sometime soon.  They were serving Walrus Oatmeal Stout and Soul Patch Porter (catch their theme yet.  Grossen Bart is German for "Big Beard")
I started the day with the stout and was pretty happy with it.  I went back later for the Porter.  Both were solid beers.   Looking at their website, they seem to have a good selection of beers and a couple that are intriguing, like the Soul Patch Smoked Morita Chili Porter.

Great Beer From Place I Have Only Had Once or So : Wee Rauchy Scottish Strong Ale, 

Liquid Mechanics Brewing, Lafayette

Brewed as a collaboration with Grimm Brothers Brewery (Loveland), I really liked this beer.  It had a very unique but balanced taste.  I have had Liquid Mech brew last year at New Brew and at Colorado Brewer's Rendezvous, but haven't been in their taproom yet.  Will now be more interested in stopping by.

Still Tastes Great.  Best Old Standby:  #42 Poblano Stout, Big Choice Brewing, Broomfield

On a chilly day, it was a perfect choice.  Great taste.  Smokey.  Chili flavor but doesn't hit you with the chili heat.  I don't regularly seek out Big Choice, but when I see the Poblano Stout, I usually grab a pint.

Other Breweries I Hadn't Been To, but left good impression:

Front Range Brewing Co., Lafayette

Skeye Brewing, Longmont

Front Range is nearly 2 years old, but I haven't had anything from them yet (that I remember).  Skeye hasn't opened yet.  Both had good beers.  They weren't, OMG this is the best beer EVER!!!, but they were good beers.  Will try to make an effort to check out their taprooms.  Plus, Skeye has one of the better logos out there.  That might be another blog.  Best Brewery Logos.

               

Disappointing No Shows: Odd 13 Brewing, Lafayette and Wibby Brewing, Longmont

I love Odd 13's Eric the Red.  Love it.  Looked forward to having it only to be left disappointed that Odd 13 wasn't there.  As for Wibby, they are opening this summer so haven't had their beer at all.  But was interested in trying them out.  Tasteful lagers are their specialty.  I am glad they are keeping things tasteful, just wish I could have tried them.

Disappointing Did Show: Shoes and Brews, Longmont

A shoe store and a micro-brewery taproom all under the same roof.  Why didn't I think of that?  Oh wait I did, but just didn't follow through.  When they opened last year, I was excited to try them out.  This was my first time I had any of their brews.  Unfortunately the Pale Ale tasted like it was fermented in shoes and the Imperial IPA didn't have much aroma and instead had disappointing taste.  I usually give a new brewery a couple of chances as I have seen quality vary from batch to batch early on, so I'll try Shoes and Brews again.  One caveat is that when you are tasting a bunch of different beers, it can lead you to have a beer taste weird when it otherwise doesn't.  But my friends were also not impressed.  So S and B, I'll give you another chance, but in this state, there are too many good beers around to keep drinking something less than good.  I do hear they have a great selection of other Colorado beers on tap, so at least it wouldn't hurt to stop in and see their setup.

And as this is both a beer and running blog, I got up the next morning to 4-5 inches fresh snow and did 17 miles.  Oddly didn't feel all that bad.  Took a couple hour nap that afternoon, but didn't feel that bad.  http://www.movescount.com/moves/move61941712

Beginning of Build Up to San Juan Solstice : A weekend in Fruita

Winter is over and spring has arrived, along with the opening of my trail racing season.  It was a bit of an odd winter for me.  I did get in 8 snowshoe races in this winter: Five (3-4K's) at the Eldora Nighthawk series and three (10Ks) at the BeaverCreek Snowshoe series.  So that was pretty solid.  But I can't say I felt like I was running that much.

As for skiing, I ended up logging 16 days skiing, at 8 resorts in 3 states, including one day of back country skiing above Moffat Tunnel.  But the skiing was very hit and miss, to the point I only had a half day at the Beave this winter and no days at Vail.  I did have an epic day at the Canyons, a solid day at Copper, a couple of fun days at Jackson Hole (can't not have fun in Jackson), along with some nice snow that day above Moffat.

Always a good time at Jackson Hole

The unusually dry March here in Colorado left me not skiing much, so I starting to get back into a consistent running schedule.  This was good as I had entered the lottery for San Juan Solstice 50 miler and had "won", thus earning an entry into the late June race.  I needed March to get up to a decent fitness level, to allow me to start putting on miles in April.

All was going to plan until I got a death cold at the end of March.  It knocked me out, leaving me unable to run for a full week.  The next week I was able to get slightly back on track, but ended every run with a coughing fit.

This was my build up to the Desert Rats Trail Running Festival in Fruita, the weekend of April 18-19.  Put on by Gemini Adventures, the Saturday schedule included a marathon, 50K and double marathon.  I was signed up for the marathon.  I probably only ran over 2 hours once this calendar year, and that had to be a couple months ago.  Expectations for this race were low.  Basically I was using it as a long run and a jump start to getting in longer long runs.

Winter decided to reappear the week of the race and I-70 was shut down Friday morning due to heavy springs snow and multiple accidents.  With rain predicted for Friday night on the Western Slope, it didn't seem like ideal conditions for a weekend of camping/racing/hanging out.  Because of that, a couple of friends bailed on me, and I was left doing the drive and weekend solo.

View of Eldorado Canyon as I was leaving Boulder Friday afternoon.

I-70 re-opened shortly before I left work Friday afternoon and the drive started off remarkably pleasant.  There wasn't much traffic or weather and the roads were pretty clear and dry through the tunnels and over Vail Pass. At this point I thought it would be smooth sailing to Fruita until I hit heavy snow in Glenwood Springs and then had rain the rest of the drive to Grand Junction and Fruita.  Since I now was flying solo, I decided against finding a place to set up camp Friday night and just slept in the Xterra near the start/finish line.

Woke up Saturday morning to chilly temps and overcast skis, but no rain.  Because of all the precipitation, some of the trails on the normal course were not in good condition, and a course change was made.  The course is run on the Kokopelli Trail system in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area and the BLM is sensitive to their condition as it is a very heavily used mountain biking area.  Instead of one big 26.2 mile loop, we would now be running a 10.4 mile loop twice, then adding on a 3 mile out and back section.  The 50K folks would be doing the loop 3 times and the double marathon pain junkies would be doing the loop 5 times.  At 6:30 AM, we all went off together.

The first few miles were now run on the dirt frontage road that runs parallel to I-70.  This was muddy.  Everyone was trying to pick the best line that had the most solid footing.  Around 4 miles, I was sitting around 7th.  I tried not going out to fast but still ended up averaging about 30 seconds faster than I wanted.  I was trying to ease up a bit when things went awry.  I swear there was an arrow and was following that along with the folks ahead of me, when they stopped.  There was confusion on if we were on course.  I thought I heard someone yelling in the distance.  We were told we were going to run Mary's Loop.  It had been a couple of years since I had been on these trails and only remembered bits and pieces of them.  One guy was saying we weren't on Mary's, that this was wrong.  I thought since there was no course marshal pointing out a turn, and there was an arrow, and there were markings on this trail, we must be in the right place.  So myself and a few others continued running.  I think a couple of guys did turn around, but when I looked back, I saw a string of runners following us.

Now I found myself in the lead and on a superb single track trail in fantastic condition, so my next few miles were still a little too fast.  Then at 6.5 miles I missed a turn and ran the wrong way for about 200 yards till the trail came to a dead end at a bluff.  A little irked that wasn't marked well, I backtracked and got back on course.  But I was relived that I no longer was leading and could finally relax.  About a half mile later I no longer was irked by that little wrong turn, as it was apparent that we had all gone the wrong way back at the 4 mile point.  As we were running along the base of some cliffs, people could be seen on top the cliffs running in the opposite direction.  At 8 miles in, I was back to the point of the missed turn.  I had added 4 miles my race.  I now was totally relaxed.  Instead of getting upset, I forgot all about racing and just was going to enjoy this beautiful scenery.  I also told myself, it doesn't matter what the race officials think, I am just running 26.2 miles.  I am not in shape to do a 50K today.

Now back on course, I eased into a comfortable pace.  The trails were in pretty decent condition with some mud, until miles 13 and 14.  This section was really muddy.  It was ironic that the best trail conditions were on the trail we weren't supposed to be on.  (I would later realize that section, Rustler's Loop, was part of the original 50K course, hence why there were markings on it.  Since the course change was done late Friday night, they hadn't had a chance to remove the markings from this section).

Me, somewhere around 11 miles into my run.  Entry fee includes gorgeous views.  Glen Delman Photography.

As we came through the start/finish area after our first loop, the race director had become aware of the mistake early on.  He apologized, stating that someone was supposed to be at the turn and got there late.  I felt like most everyone was okay with the situation.  I felt pretty good when I headed out for the 2nd lap.  I still was planning on just doing 26 miles.

The muddy frontage road was drying out a bit and didn't seem quite as bad as the first time, but now running alone, it felt like a slog.   I made the correct turn this time around, although I had to yell at the guy in front of me as he was about to miss it.  The arrow was there this time.  So either we all missed it the first time round, or it was moved to its proper place.  It didn't really matter, but gave me something to ponder for a few miles.  Around mile 20 I was beginning to feel like crap.  Due to a lack of mileage, I knew this would happen.  I was curious how I would respond.  I felt like I chugged along pretty well.  Miles 23 and 24, with the uphill and mud, were not great, but I got through them.  Mile 25 felt awfully slow, but it wasn't any slower than the first time I ran through this part.  As I came through the finish line, I was told that there were course volunteers about three quarters of a mile down the road and that if I had run the wrong loop, I could turn around at them and come back, instead of doing the full 3 miles out.  I continued to chug along.  For the first time since about mile 4, I could figure out where I stood in the race.  On this short out and back section, I saw 2 or 3 guys ahead of me.  When I got to the volunteers, they asked me if I had gone the wrong way early in the race.  I said yes.  They said I could turn around here.  I told them, I was going to turn around here regardless of whether or not they were here or said I could.  There was no way I was going to do 30+ miles today.  As one of the volunteers was friend of mine from Boulder, they trusted I that I did indeed done the extra loop early on.

Turning around, the last 0.75 miles back to the finish were uphill, and I had very little incentive to go fast.  I just plodded back to the finish, ultimately running 26.86 miles (based on my GPS) in 3:57:06.  Based on everything that happened, I was impressed the race director was able to change things up on the fly.  Now that worked well for the marathon folks, as for the 50K and double people, I'm not sure if there was anyway to correct for the extra mileage.

I ended up finishing 5th overall and as has been my luck of late, still couldn't end up on the podium in my age division.  Even with the overall winner not being considered in age group awards (even though he was in my age group), I still finished outside the top three 30-39 year olds.  All four guys ahead of me were in my age group.  It isn't a big deal, as I had few expectations for this race, but it was a bit funny as this seems to have happened frequently the last two years, finish high in the standings, but still not get an age group award.

Overall I am happy with the effort.  I did feel pretty tired at the end, but rebounded quickly.  The following week was probably my best week of training in months.  That is one big reason I am happy with the race, it shows my fitness is getting to a good spot where I can start getting in the bigger runs and mountains.  The other thing I was pleased about was my stomach.  Last year, after my gallbladder removal, I was continually having issues on long runs and races with keeping food in me.  I took the advice of a friend and took some Imodium before this race.  Either my stomach has found a new balance over the winter while I wasn't training as hard, or the Imodium did indeed work, but I had no issues out there this day.

Going forward I know I still have a lot of work to do.  This race was right in my happy zone.  The original course would have suited me, but the revised course was definitely easier.  While there is a lot of single track, there is very little technical, rocky sections to navigate.  Total elevation gain was 2000 feet, not that large amount for a marathon.  And no major climbs.  I don't think any climb was more than a mile or with more than 300 feet of elevation gain.  It fits into what I do well.  Now the Jemez 50K I am signed up for in May is a different story. It has a 3000 foot climb over 7 miles in the middle of the course.  I felt good about my marathon for 3 days, then looked at the Jemez course profile and no longer felt that good.

All the nitty gritty details, like pace and splits can be found here:

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move59691750

This was the first time I used my new Suunto Ambit3 Peak.  I am quite happy with it so far.  Battery life has been fantastic.  I fully charged it the first time on Friday.  Including the marathon and other training runs in the next 10 days, it has been GPS active for a total of 12 hrs since I first charged it.  Plus just normal time keeping over these 11 days and it still is reading 30% battery left.   The GPS signal is quick to acquire and seems very accurate.  (everything my old watch wasn't.  Poor battery, slow acquisition of signal, and seemingly a bit inaccurate.  I went cheap on it.  Not worth it.  Two years later I splurged and am already wishing I did this two years ago.)

Post Race Highlights.

After racing, grabbed lunch at the Hot Tomato Cafe in Fruita.  Highly recommend for some tasty pizza.  Beer tap was primarily New Belgium, but they did have Slap and Tickle ESB from Copper Club Brewery, which is basically their neighbor (just around the corner).  That went down nicely with the pizza.  Great spot to refuel.

I then headed out to Rabbit Valley to find a spot set up camp for Saturday night.  Rabbit Valley is cool area right on Colorado / Utah border.  During the summer it probably is unbearably hot, but early Spring, it was perfect.

On drive thru valley, came head on to a herd of cattle. Living in Colorado, there is a lot of wildlife and animals to worry about.  But I don't really worry about most of them.  Except cows.  They are the one thing that freak me out.  Bears, I think, can be reasoned with.  They don't want trouble.  By the time mountain lions are going to let you know they are around, it's probably to late.  Coyotes are a little sketchy, but not a big deal.  But cows always weird me out.  I don't trust them.  They might do anything.  I hate when I have to run by them on Boulder Open Space.  So when I drove into this:

I got a little nervous.  Until I saw the cowboy driving the herd along, with a coffee in his hand.

Ultimately I found a place to camp, at the Knowles Canyon Overlook.  Might be the best campsite I have ever had.  Too bad I was just there for one night.

View of Colorado River from campsite.

Had a few beers, read a book, and took a nap (not necessarily in that order, and cycle was repeated again in a different order) at the campsite before heading to Grand Junction Saturday evening. The post-race party/awards was hosted by Kannah Creek Brewing Co.  It actually was at their new restaurant/brewery, Edgewater, along the Colorado River as it flows through Grand Junction.  They were serving Lands End Amber free along with wings.  It was a solid beer and nice spot.  While I didn't win any age group awards I did win trivia, earning a canister of Hammer Heed mix.  The question : "In 1910, at the Paris Motor Show, Georges Claude publicly debuted his light containing what noble gas?"  That made up for the not getting an age group award.

I had a lazy Sunday morning.  Slept in.  Took time making/eating breakfast.  Enjoyed the views.  Had a beer when I finally got around to breaking down camp.  Turns out the weekend was Free National Park weekend, so after packing up,  I checked out Colorado National Monument for the first time.

I have been wanting to road bike the loop through the Monument for some time.  After visiting, I definitely will come back and do that at some point.  It was nice to get out and stretch the legs.  Drove the loop, stopping multiple times at the overlooks, doing some short little walks.  Then near the Grand Junction entrance, stopped at the Devil's Kitchen Trailhead and did a couple hour hike up and back down, No Throughfare Canyon.

A mile into the hike there was a nice pool, than it was about 2 miles up to a waterfall.  Just a trickle right now.  In late May, early June, with runoff, probably is a better sight.

The trail continues past the waterfall but becomes more bushwacking than hiking.  I wasn't quite in the mood for that, so only traversed a little beyond the waterfall before turning back.

It was a nice way to spend Sunday afternoon before heading back to Boulder.

All in all, a good weekend.  All my pictures from weekend can be found here :

https://plus.google.com/photos/106597417627187460452/albums/6139645996391725249