Thru Endurance We Conquer!

Also known as Arizona riding! Outside of trails like Bunny Loop, most every trail in Arizona is full of chunk. Rocks of all sizes, just waiting to slice tires or shred skin. Just the kind of riding I needed after over three months off the bike... This was the only plan that we had - camping at Gilbert Ray in Tuscon Mountain Park for a few nights. Sure, it was a ways from the last camping location and on the other side of town as our eventual destination. But it's a nice place with good trail access and we thought it would be quiet based on prior stays. Still has the good trail access, but not so quiet anymore! That place was hopping! I think the entire campground was filled both night we stayed. One of the reasons Nick really wanted to stay at Gilbert Ray was Brown Mountain. It's a short loop trail that starts and finishes right by the campground. The bottom of the loop parallels the road and is pretty fun. There's some punchy climbs, a few little rock gardens and plent...

Maybe the timing wasn’t the best for a week long trip. But it was past time for some sunshine, dry trails and actually getting to ride my bike! So we turned the van southward to Arizona. Come what may, it was vacation time! First we had to get out of Colorado... Something we haven’t had to deal with since the Turtle! But when we pulled back onto the interstate just north of Walsenburg, there was a pause. Nick, staring at the dash, saying “I’m not getting any charge!” I had no clue what he was talking about, but when he told me to google part stores in Walsenburg, I knew it was serious. The O’Rielly Auto Part parking lot wasn’t our first choice for camping that night, but it worked. And after we had the new alternator installed, we were motoring again! Just a little behind schedule. Although, since we were on vacation we really didn’t have a schedule. We just wanted to get to Arizona!  After brief stop to stretch our legs and make some turns at Angle Fire (warm, windy and sl...

Last year, I wrote about the volunteers at Stories - doing the course marking the day before the race and then the volunteers staying up all night to help the runners. Granted, I didn’t really visit the aid station last year because I was focused on my goals and I had the best crew possible. But I could image the loneliness of the volunteers - bundled up against the chill, huddled around the fire, waiting for that lone headlamp to appear in the darkness. This year? I was on the other end. Doing the six hour race allowed me the time to give back to the runners braving the darkness and cold of the overnight hours. We got the watch the 15 hour racers complete their last laps on the Golden Loop. And then it was time to settle in... With just the 30 hour racers on course, there were long stretches of quiet, when it was just us trying to stoke the fire and stay warm. We knew that the runners would want warm food or drink when they came in from the darkness. We didn’t know how long people...

Even before my crash in November, I’d been planning on doing the 6 hour race at Stories Ultra. I wanted to be able to volunteer and running the 6 hour seemed to be the best way to make it a great weekend of both racing and giving back. I knew I’d miss the fun of Blue and Purple, but that wasn’t the point. After my crash and the subsequent (and still in progress) process of recovery, I was happy to be doing the the six hour. I was hoping to just be able to keep moving for the entire six hours! I’d had some solid runs in January, with two over 20 days. So I knew I was at a point to be able to keep moving - I just didn’t knew how fast I’d be able to push it. My training runs in CMSP had yielded mixed results in terms of lap times. So I decided a reasonable goal would be a 50k - or pretty close. After all, I’ve done two 50ks in the park under 6 hours with more elevation then the multiple laps of Red and Green. It would be a challenging, conditions dependent goal - but a good goal for a reb...

When I left work on Thursday the 6th, it had just started snowing. Big, fluffy flakes drifting lazily from the sky. When I got home, there was already an inch in the ground and it was falling hard. Nick shoveled at least four inches off the sidewalk when he got home later that evening. I thought we were only supposed to get an inch or two! Something John reiterated on his pre-race update - that the park was only supposed to get a few inches of snow. Enough to make things interesting for sure! Friday when I woke up, there was almost six inches. I shoveled again, watching the snow pile up almost a quickly as I shoveled it off. Huh. Now things were getting even more interesting. I was supposed to mark Purple later that day - the longest and highest loop on the Stories course. Jokingly, I posted on Facebook that I might need my snowshoes for doing course marking! Throughout the day, as I was finishing my packing and pre-race weekend prep, that joke started looking more and more like a ...

The Super Half Marathon is usually my jam on that first Sunday of February. An early season test of fitness, speed and sometimes adversity with the weather conditions! This year was a return to the Game Day 5k - for a variety of reasons. I knew after my crash that I wouldn’t be ready for a half marathon I would be happy with. I also wanted to put my focus on the 6 hour race the following weekend and running the Super Half might have taken a bit too much out of me. And there was this little thing called work! The 5k was a great compromise. I’d be able to work, still run a hard race and support all my friends. But that meant I had to run a 5k! Even before, when I was really fast - the 5k distance was my least favorite. All in from the gun, very little time for strategy and so easy to make a mistake with pacing. And that was when I was healthy! I was definitely regretting my choices when I ran over from work. A 5k without any speed work or training was sounding more and more painful. ...