Collegiate Peaks 50

Wow what a weekend. I did it! I am officially an ultra runner now. Yes I have done a few 50K's (about 31 miles) but in the ultrarunning world that doesn't really count. I have now completed 50 miles! So to briefly recap the weekend, here we go. After several changes on who would be traveling to Buena Vista with me to support me, a final decision was made, and in the end, it was Melissa and three dogs who would make the journey with me. We were lucky enough to have a free place to stay in BV only 5 minutes from the start. It had been my first week of my new job but I was still able to take Friday off to get organized, try to say off my feet and not be stressed by the craziness of a new job. We left town late afternoon and arrived in BV around 6 just in time to find the house, then head to the start to pick my race packet up and listen to any last minute instructions for the next morning.
The race would be a 25 mile loop on forest service and BLM just east of BV with lots of great views of the collegiate peaks. It follows mostly jeep road and some single track that is not too technical with some climbing and descending in each loop. I believe the couple of high points max out at about 9200 feet and we start just short of 8000. I ran the 25 mile course last year and enjoyed it so much I felt like I could comfortably and confidently sign up for the 50 this year. The 50 would involve looping back to the start and then heading back out on the same course but in the opposite direction. We are allowed access to support at the turnaround point but cannot accept aid from anyone else besides the aid stations anywhere else. And you have the option of dropping out and becoming a 25 miler if you want.
So we arrived at the start just after 6 for a 630am start. It wasn't too chilly compared to last year when it was in the lower 20's at the start and didn't get above the 40's. This morning it was in the 30's and it would get into the 70's during the course of the day. The above picture is all the runners waiting at the start line. Everyone started together. There were about 300 25 milers and 100 50 milers.
I just barely made it to the start. I think the RD started it about 3 minutes early. Oh well, off we were. I started with my light wind jacket on and gloves but soon shed that and wouldn't need it the rest of the day. I settled into a very conservative pace as I didn't know what to expect on my first 50. I ran last year's 25 in 4:15 but I that was fast for me and I was exhausted at the end of that. So I knew it had to be slower than that in order to succeed. Many of the 25 milers raced ahead so it was easy to get caught up in the moment but I felt I did a pretty good job of not. The other important part of succeeding in the race was making sure to stay hydrated and fueled properly. I decided to carry a handheld water bottle instead of my usual waterbottle in my waistpack. This proved to be a great decision as I had easy access to sipping often. When I carry my bottle on my waist I tend to forget to drink and when you are running shorter distances you can do that but not when you run 50 miles. I ran most of the 1st lap and walked a few of the uphills. And I ended up running with a girl for about 10 miles of the lap. She was a local but was only doing the 25. It was nice chatting with her and it broke up some of the race as I knew I probably would be out doing the second lap completely by myself with not too many fellow runners with me. I ended up finishing the first lap in about 4:40. Melissa, Joanne, and the three dogs were waiting for me at the turnaround.

Joanne running next to me taking pictures of Melissa while she was taking pictures of us. Sorta funny.

At the car, changing shoes and sports bra, getting more food and water while the dogs stared at me wondering what was going on and wondering why they weren't running with me. It would have been too hot for them anyway. I reapplied sunscreen and grabbed my ipod which was turn out to be my savior in finishing the second lap. I don't normally run with music.
Melissa was awesome and kind enough to have everything laid out for me despite being sick with chills, sore throat and aches. She also updated mostly my mom on my progress as she couldn't be there because she was in California visiting my brother. She was a trooper. Thanks also to Joanne for driving up from the Springs for the day to cheer me on. It would have been a lot harder to finish without support there. Thanks so much!

Just about the head out for the second lap.
On my way out with very mixed emotions on how I was going to do this.

Crossing the bridge over the Arkansas river.

The dogs patiently waiting.
Melissa drove out to on of the aid stations which turned out to be a perfect spot as it was the end of a long 7 mile climb with 18 miles to go. I am just cresting the hill in the above pick as she is trying to take a picture and control three big dogs who are pulling like mad men to get to me.
Taking a brief break with 18 miles to go. Luckily I had some downhill in the shade from here until the next aid station. Overall the second lap was slow as it took me 6 hrs. I walked alot of it, mainly the up hills. There were really two big climbs with the first being the longest one. I just kept telling myself to keep my legs moving and in general except the uphills it felt to run than to walk as my tired legs were more in a fluid motion. The volunteers at each aid station were very helpful although as I got closer to the finish there was less and less food. I had a few sips of coke at each aid station which is quite the wonder fuel. I also carried my own eating clif bloks, gu's, hammer gels, and power bars. Overall my stomach did fairly well in my opinion. Only had one pit stop along the way.
Heading back out. Mile 32. Wish me luck.
One last goodbye before close to the finish.
Melissa met me at one more spot before the finish. This was about 3.5 miles from the end but it was the toughest part. It was flat road which is killer on tired legs. I probably would have been better with a hill. I was pretty slow and had to walk most of the last mile.
There I am on the lonely, miserable road to the finish. This was mentally the longest part of the race.
And I finished finally. Had some tears in my eyes. I had done it!
And immediately had to get off my feet and lay in agony for a short while. I couldn't do much else...no talking, no eating or drinking. Eventually I was able to my protein drink down. Melissa pulled off my compression socks and instantly my calf cramped! They definitely helped with muscle fatgiue.

A cool group of spectators. These were all rescue huskies, and they were very well behaved.
My finisher medal, time, distance and elevation. According to my watch I was 1/4 mile short of 50! We hung around the finish area for about an hr watching the rest of the finishers come in. The cut off time was 12 hrs. The winning time for the men was 6:37:10 which was a course record by quite a bit and the female winning time was 7:59:19. There were only 21 females that did the 50! I finished right in the middle.

After Melissa had to pry my crippled body off the grass, I hobbled to the car and we meandered back to the house. It was already 7pm by the time we got back. We both had no energy and felt pretty cruddy. There was no way we were going out to celebrate. So I picked up a giant pizza, salad and ice cream. We plopped ourselves on the couch and watched a movie. I didn't have the ravenous food cravings I usually have after a long race. Quite the opposite. My stomach really didn't want to anything and it was very grumbily. I had to eat slow bits at a time. I slept fairly decently and woke up much better but still tired.

We had a lazy morning sitting outside being entertained by the dogs, cleaned the house and then drove the 1 1/2 back down the pass! I was pretty exhausted by the time we got home.

It was quite a weekend that I will never forget. A great learning experience and I look forward to the next one.

Fruita Trail Running Festival

This past weekend we travelled to the western slope of Colorado to the small town of Fruita to run in the Fruita Trail Running Festival. They had a 25 mile loop course with two distances in which you could run one 25 mile loop of two loops for a 50 mile race. I chose the 25 mile loop. I was running this race as a training run for my upcoming 50 mile race in Buena Vista in May which meant I didn't want to kill myself in trying to run too fast plus I would be putting over 60 miles in for the week. I had never spent any time in Fruita but heard the trails were beautiful and great for mountain biking and running and better than Moab. April and May is a popular time of year for people to head to this area because it is the desert and the temperatures are not too hot yet. The race started at 630am and temperatures were supposed to get in the 60's by the middle of the day. The course was beautiful with awesome views of the the canyons and the colorado river. Most of the loop was single track and fairly technical which meant your head had to be down most of the time looking at your feet rather than enjoying the scenery. I did stop to take a few photos.

Early in the race. The sunlight was great for photos.
Aid station #2.
I chatted with a bunch of different people during the race and ended running most of the race with a couple different women. It sure made the race go by fast when you have someone to chat with. In the end I made some great friends that I hope to run with again in the future!
This shot was taken with about 3 miles to go! Probably some of the prettiest views on the course.
I finished the race in just under 5 hours and couldn't have imagined going back out to run another loop. John met me at the finish with the dogs but we didn't stick around too long because I wanted to get out of the sun. We drove into old town Fruita and found a yummy pizza place to grab some food called the Hot Tomato Cafe. The pizza was delicious. I scarfed down three pieces plus a beer. Perfect post race meal! We then hit the road for the two hours trek back to Carbondale. It was a restful evening with more food and a trip to the Glenwood Hot Springs to loosen the legs.

32nd Birthday Celebration Weekend

Wow! What a big and fun weekend I just had. What could be better than celebrating a birthday with outdoor adventures with family and friends and yummy meals. My birthday weekend started out with having some happy hour drinks with friends from work on friday at Nosh followed by John making a yummy pizza dinner for me at home. Saturday was a ski day at A-Basin. Mel and I drove up early and had beautiful views of Buffalo Peaks coming over Wilkerson Pass and across South Park (see pic above). We met Wendy at the Basin and has a great morning of power skiing and boarding until we called it quits about 1pm. We were quite the threesome with me on alpine skiis, Wendy on telemarks and Mel on her board.
The morning brought blue skies but unfortunately it did not last long as the clouds rolled in late morning but the snow as great.


After a great day, we said goodbye to Wendy and headed back to the Springs where my mom was preparing a feast of fish tacos for me and my friends. Very kind of her. Some friends from Boulder as made the trek down south to join in the celebration.
The beautiful spread as always! After packing in the calories and getting a good night's sleep, we all geared up to go up to Barr Camp. The weather was perfect for a mid-January day.
The entire crew minus my mom who was taking this picture! We are halfway up the W's at this point!
The ladies!
John working on his barefoot walking. It didn't last long though.
The summit comes into view but we would not see the top today!
The dogs patiently waiting while we were warming inside Barr Camp before heading back down.
What a crew!

View point from Lightening Point on the way down. We took it easy coming down and was uneventful until Tom got a little friendly with a dog at No Name Creek! Actually he was minding his own business when a mtn biker and his dog were coming up and the dog bit Tom on the bottom and broke some skin. Not sure why he did it but he was a puppy which is no excuse. Tom survived!
The tired dogs waiting to go home! After saying goodbye to my Boulder friends, we got cleaned up and continued our celebration at the Blue Star with my parents.
Some happy smiley faces!

It was a fun weekend. Thanks so much to all my family and friends for joining me in the celebration of my 32nd birthday. I am looking forward to the year to come!

Austin, Texas and the Bandera 50K

This past weekend I flew down to Austin Texas to visit my good friend Jen. She has been living there for almost a year now but will probably be moving back to Colorado soon. I had never been to Austin and wanted to make a visit before she moved away. We decided to incorporate a running race while I was visiting too! Thus, most of the trip was revolved around running the Bandera 50K in the Hill Country of Texas and was about 2 hr drive away from Austin. Jen had never run this distance before and it would be my second time. I had a day before the race and a day after the race to explore Austin. The first day we went on a mellow 3 mile run down by Town Lake and near Zilker Park followed by a rather large yummy breakfast at Magnolia Cafe. After that we headed downtown, did some shopping and spent a good chunk of time at the flagship Whole Foods store.
Town Lake Run.

Yummy breakfast at Magnolia Cafe!
Inside Whole Foods. They have there own Dessert Bar! This place is huge and have every type of prepared food you could think of!
Then it was off to San Antonio to be closer to Bandera. We stopped at another Whole Foods in San Antonio before checking into the hotel to pick up our spaghetti pre race dinner.
Sunset on the way to San Antonio.
It was early to bed and early to rise to get to the start of the race at 630am. We just barely had enough time to park, pick up our bib number, t-shirt, wait in line for the port-o-pottie, figure out what clothes were appropriate and get our butts to the start. The above picture is right at the start 730am. There was also a 25K and 100K race and the 100k race was a 100K National Trail Championship.
The sun was just coming up as we started the race.

The course was mostly single track with a mix of dirt roads. Much of the single track especially in the beginning was very technical and rocky. The course had some hills but nothing too significant. Jen and I stayed together the entire race which helped keep the motivation and legs going.

Looking ahead to a minor climb. Jen in front.


It was very desert like with lots of cacti.
With large needles.
At aid station. Mile 15. Looking good. Aid stations were very well stocked with anything and everything. This aid station had ramen noodles and waffles. Jen had a waffle with peanut butter.
This guy in the cowboy hat was with us off and on for most of the race! We did however pass and beat him in the last mile.
At aid station mile 20.
The vicious sotol cactus. They were everywhere and were overgrown on the trail and unavoidable. My legs got quite torn up from hip to ankle from these guys. Jen told me a lot of runners from Texas where these guards to protect there legs from them.
More sotol cactus.

Mile 23
Almost to the end!
We finished in one piece. Little disappointed in the activities at the finish however. The race commitee seemed to be more focused on the 100K runners. There was an aid station at the finish because it was the turn around for the 100K runners to head out for another lap. We were not allowed to have any of that food which was ridiculous as there was plenty. And the only food they had for us 50K runners was a can of pringles, water and a few orange slices. Pretty sad. We would have stayed longer to hang out but we were starving and had to go find food.

Battle wounds included holes in socks, blisters and scraps all over the legs. But we both managed to stay upright the entire run although there were some close calls.
The trickster dog that was near our car before we left. His owner was squirting water in the air for him and he was doing leaps to eat it. Shortly thereafter, we left to start our two hr drive back to Austin and find food. The town of Bandera was about 10 miles away and we ended buying 12 tamales from a guy on the side of the road and just inhaled them. They definitely hit the spot. We got back to Austin and both were very slow in getting out of the car. We showered and headed out to dinner in downtown Austin. We feasted on a giant pizza, salad and a bottle of wine. It was a perfect celebration dinner. The next day was pretty mellow and unfortunately it rained all day. We did manage to get out for a short walk and Jen took me to the highest point in Austin. See pictures below.
It took a bit of an effort to walk up the steps with sore legs.
The views.
A little deary but a great view.
We stopped for coffee and scones to warm up afterwards. The day finished with a yummy dinner at a Mexican restaurant where we had authentic Mexican food (no tex mex) and avocado margaritas! I flew out very early the next morning back to Denver where I was greeted with lots of fresh snow!
It took a while to uncover my car and warm up especially since it was only 7 degrees!

It was a great trip. Thanks Jen!