Thru Endurance We Conquer!

I ran the Dead Horse 50k back in 2018 - kinda my year of returning to running. I had pondered upgrading to the 50 mile race after the Vapor Trail 125 mountain bike race was cancelled. I opted to stick with the 50k that year since I really wasn't running all that much and I wasn't sure about running on slick rock for 50 miles. At that point, it was the right choice - I wasn't ready for a 50 mile race by any means. I fell apart in the last 6 miles of the race, the slick rock beating me up and leaving me humbled. So humbled that I'd sworn off distance running on slick rock at that time. But as with anything, things change I was more then a little worried going into Dead Horse this year. While I've been running many more miles on similar terrain, I haven't been running nearly as fast as I was back in 2018. Much slower in fact. Haven't seen a 6 in front of any mile split for a while. How would that affect me going into the fastest race of the Triple Crown? One th...

After moving to Grand Junction, doing the entire Triple Crown of Moab made perfect sense. Drive 5 hours total, I race, Nick gets to ride his bike and it's a fast, fun weekend trip - unlike from Colorado Springs. It's three of Mad Moose Events' Moab races - Dead Horse Ultras, Arches Ultra, Red Hot and finally the Behind the Rock Ultras. For the ultra series it's two 50ks and one 50 miler - doesn't matter which of the races you chose for the different distances. You can do two of the first three, but everyone has to finish with Behind the Rocks. Of course, I had to go and make things difficult with my version of the Triple Crown.  Instead of being smart about it and picking the fastest race for the 50 mile, I went off "which race will have trails I don't want to ride?" as my criteria for picking my longest race. Makes perfect sense to me! But maybe not the smartest for the racing aspect of the series.  Dead Horse - this would be one of the 50ks. Why? Bec...

Now that Nick is finally here in Grand Junction, we've been able to do some fun exploring weekends. Lots of miles running and riding. One of the adventures I've been eyeing is the kinda thing that takes those long weekends of learning the trails and roads. With that in mind, there have been more then a few times where Nick has kicked me out of the van and I've run to the final destination. No better way to learn then actually running! The first day was just an out and back while Nick rode with the guys. The first section of trail, and what might be the busiest chunk. My goal was to turn from the Loma Trailhead to the Salt Creek bridge and then back. I wanted about 20 miles and the Koko was the kind of terrain I needed for that day. Lots of runnable miles, but with some good climbing. As expected, it was quiet on Mary's out to Pizza Point. I met a few mountain bikers, but not to many. That stretch was also really fast - after the initial climb, a gradual downhill with ju...

There is something about the Rainbow Trail that just draws me in. In 2018, it was a spur of the moment 50k that found me running under a canopy of gold, among a community of runners that really spurred my rebirth as a runner. In 2019, it was (almost) the culmination of a dream year with all the highs and lows that come with a 100 mile race. This year? Maybe a titch of redemption with a lot of learning involved. Redemption from Silverheels - saying that I could go out and run 60 miles hard and feel good afterwards. Learning is always a given at these events - from all aspects, mental, physical and preparation wise.  There is also something about Music Meadows that calls the wind. All three years it's been windy. This year, the wind kicked up about 1:00, gusting around the parked cars. Guess that good night of sleep before the race was not going to happen! It was a restless night, listening to the wind and wondering if I was really ready for the upcoming miles. Soon enough, it was ti...

 I love volunteering for races - it's hard work but rewarding to man a water station, mark the course or do sweep. Every runner should do one or all of those three jobs at some point. But when I’m doing the race, it's hard to get out and do the physical tasks that are required for this areas. Which brings me back to the equally important, ultra social position of packet pickup and runner check in. I think that's my favorite thing to do really - you are the face of the race, the reassuring smile (if you can see behind the mask...) that your training has gone just fine and you are ready to take on the day. Or vice versa - as a nervous  runner, not sure about the miles ahead, it’s a great way to chill out and forget about the worries. Hard to be worried about your own races when there’s so many other people around! I’ve been doing packet pickup for enough races now that I’m familiar with the questions people will ask. It’s a good fit for me because I’m the kinda person who usu...

It's not how anyone imagines a race ending. We always visualize crossing the finish line triumphantly, achieving our goals on the day. We see friends and family joining us for the last lap on the track, buoying us to the end. The alternative endings are never entertained. It just won’t happen. That finish line will be reached. We don’t think about having to walk to the volunteers and say that the day is done. We never in our wildest dreams imagine the race ending sitting on the cooler in the van, sobbing. And yet.... Rewind 17 hours. John sent final starting wave at Silverheels 100 into the darkness and I was off on my journey to attempt my third 100 race. I settled into an easy pace, repeating my early day mantra - if it feels comfortable, it’s too hard. Keep it easy and breath. Don’t race, stay in your mind and focus where you need to be. It was five miles of mostly climbing on dirt road to the first check point and it would be easy to go too hard in those first miles. I shifted ...

Way back in February, I signed up for the newest race in the Mad Moose Events line up - the Bears Ears Ultra. I’d toyed with the 50 miler, but with the timing being two weeks before Silverheels didn't make sense. Then all things COVID happened and the race itself was even in question! Luckily, things fell into place for Mad Moose before the race and we were back in action for the brand new race. Just the 50k and 30k this year - with new precautions in place to help keep us safe. So I loaded my camping gear into my Subaru, packed up my food and running gear and hit the road.  After a short run at Moab Brands, I was heading south again. It's an amazing drive from Moab down to Monticello - the glimpse of the canyons, then huge walls of red rocks and finally the mountain rising up from the terrain. It was those mountains we would be facing then next day. The Abajo mountains. I got my bib number from Denise and did some social distanced socializing. It did feel odd to be around that...

I'll be honest. At the end of February and beginning of March - even into April I was struggling. I just did not have the motivation to get out and my long trail runs finished. I wanted to run, but once I got to about 15-20 miles, I just shut down. I didn't want to be out there, didn't want to push to keep going. Part of the lack of motivation was watching race after race get canceled and wondering if my race was next. After all, why bother with the big mile weeks and long runs if there's no race? It was even worse for cycling - the only race I had on the calendar for mountain biking was Growler and I was pretty confident it wasn't happening due to everything going on. I would get to about 90 minutes and go bleh...  I just didn't feel like dealing with the people or the kitty litter.  While the cycling motivation hasn't changed much, I've found some new motivation for the running through the virtual world. Hilarious for me - I used to deride the virtual ...

What a roller coaster. Every day in the last few weeks has brought new data sets, new restrictions and plenty of reactions to those restrictions. The first step was closing stores and services that bought people in close contact - like gyms and movie theaters and such. I’ll admit, I was a little annoyed when the pool closed! I’m not swimming for competition anymore, but I do love the active recovery provided by time in the water. Next thought was to get my new tattoo while the pools were closed. I want to get a dragonfly and a butterfly on my ribs and back. Well.... that was the next thing! So much for using my time out of the water wisely. And then, as various counties around the state issued stay at home orders the governor finally followed suite. The entire state of Colorado placed under a stay at home order - try not to leave the house unless it’s for essential business. That’s where it gets tricky. Denver originally didn’t include some stores in the essential order and there wer...

No matter how hard we try to see things through a nationalistic view, the world is completely interconnected. We are just now watching as something that started in China, as a whisper on the wind, the next epidemic. Right now, it's impossible to know how far reaching this will be - just that it's a daily conversation on the national news. Can it get worse? Who knows. It does feel like every other year, something comes up from the jungle and the news presents it as a pandemic. New viruses make for easy reporting, especially when there's an explosion of cases in various countries and plenty of grim photos to show. But for now, it feels so far away - something that we won't have to deal with. Until we do. And the first indication that we are going to have to deal with? The cancellations  of many many races as the CDC and other organizations start recommending  limiting group sizes. I know many races are under 250 in entrants, but that doesn't include all the voluntee...