Thru Endurance We Conquer!

Step two in the Triple Crown of Moab. Thanks to tightened down COVID restrictions, this race was tiny by Mad Moose standards. They'd had to limit the entire field to 250 runners - across all the distances! That didn't mean the competition was any less impressive though. An entire distance team from San Francisco had decided that Arches sounded like a great first ultra and about time for some live racing. I have to admit, they picked a good one! We decided to just camp in the little campground near the start/finish this time. Nothing glamorous - just a place to park the van pretty much. Since this was a short trip, there was no sense in heading up to the top for just one day, then driving back down. Wasn't as quiet as we would have liked, but it was convenient for sure! All I would have to do would be roll out of bed and stroll to the start in the morning. If only running worked like that.... We watched the clouds drop lower and lower as we ate dinner, then crawled in to the...

 There's a informal trail system just near the house. It's a small area on one of the mesas south of the river. While the land is privately owned (and will get developed over then next 20 years) the people who live around it have created a literal maze of trails. So for one of my long runs, I got into my head that I would try to run it all. Yep - try to run every trail in the park. And all on the same day! I know most people do a "run it all" project for their zip code and take a few months to do it. It seemed like a perfect way to cover some miles, stay close to house if the weather warmed up and the trails got muddy and do something different.  In prep for the run it all challenge, I studied my Gaia and Strava -looking at all the social trails and how to connect them. It quickly became apparent that I wouldn't have any issues getting all the miles I wanted for the day. In fact, I might be running into doing more miles then I wanted. I started trying to plot out ...

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...