Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Voyageur 50 mile run

It's been a roller coaster of a summer, lots of new and exciting things, some very difficult and low points.  I had the good fortune of spending almost 10 days in Minnesota and Wisconsin with Amie and running the Voyageur 50 mile trail ultra.  During my time on the course, i did a bit of reflecting over the past few months.


When i first signed up for the run, i knew i wasn't in any kind of condition to do well for 50 miles, what i did not realize was just how ill prepared i actually was.  Friday afternoon, Amie and I packed up her car and headed north.

Saturday morning rolled around after a particularly poor night of sleep (I'd call it a series of very short naps before i'd call it sleep).  Amie and i finally gave up on feigning sleep and headed towards Carlton high school for preparations and the start.  We had some oatmeal and prepped our nutrition for the day.

I'd be trying out a water bottle filled with roughly 2500 calories of diluted peanut and almond butter (about 12 oz of nut butter and 12 oz of water).  It seemed to mix all right, and tasted ok, though a bit thick, at least walking over to the start.

The run began in a pretty standard fashion.  way too many people crowded together loping down the street.  We soon turned onto a bike path and after about 0.5 miles were onto trail.  The typical single file procession started.

I did what i could to exercise some patience and sit back early.  While crossing a muddy section, my shoe got stuck in the mud and pulled off.  After fishing it out of the mud and putting it back on, i rejoined the procession.  I grabbed a cup of water at the first aid station and carried on.

Things were moving pretty well at the time, Amie began pulling away and before long had disappeared off into the distance only to be seen briefly several hours later on her way back from the turn around.  I continued to move slowly forward, hoping to conserve some energy and ambition for the return trip.

The aid stations were all fairly close, i believe the longest distance between aid stations was just under 4 miles.  This would turn out to be key on my return trip.  After the 2nd aid station, i realized i hadn't taken in any calories, and that i would need to before long.  I took a pull of my nut butter concoction.   mmmm, this might not work as well in reality as it seemed it would on paper:  it was a bit thick and well, like peanut/almond butter.  fortunately i had a small flask of water with which i was able to rinse my mouth a bit.  Maybe i just need to dilute it more.  I took a couple more pulls before the 3rd aid station, and added more water at the 3rd aid station.

The mixture was still too thick.  Not to worry i'd pour a bit out and dilute it some more in 3 miles. This turned out to be too thick still, so i dumped the entire contents, and resorted to getting calories at the aid stations.  I grabbed some pickles, slim jims, and a handful of potatoes and carried on my way.

there was some pretty fun single track sections, and some long drawn out paved sections (both road and bike path).  I decided to enjoy what i could and continue moving as consistently as i could throughout the day.  A couple aid stations before the turn around, i began to lose interest and motivation.  by mile 18 I was contemplating dropping and getting a ride back to the high school.  what point is there to this endeavor: continue slogging along for 10 hours +/- and wind up back where i started.  My legs were fading.

At the turn around, i grabbed some berries, watermelon, cantaloupe, nuts, a couple gels, and refilled my water bottle and started the short climb up and back towards the start.  There was a huge mental shift at that moment, i decided i was going to do what i could and move as consistently as i could, jogging whenever i could and otherwise doing what i could to stay moving.

The day was warming up by now, and i was feeling the heat.  There were 4 or 5 creek crossings, each of which i stopped at and completely submerged myself for several minutes to cool down.  It worked, i was definitely moving better right after each of the immersions, and felt things slow as i dried off and the evaporative cooling slowed.

with about 20 miles left, i started on the coke, taking 1 - 2 cups at each aid station with potatoes and any other calories i could swallow.  i filled my water bottle with coke and would use that to keep the calories flowing between aid stations.  I continued this for the next 3 hours.  In total, i consumed nearly 1 gallon of coke that day, probably more than i've consumed in the last decade, maybe 2.

About 4 miles from the finish, there is an intersection in the course, with a 1 mile loop to the right, and the finish line to the left.  As i approached this section, i was contemplating going right at the intersection and cutting out 1 mile.  really what is the point of dragging this out?  i'm clearly not prepared for 50 miles.

than again, what is the point of cutting out that 1 mile?  is 49 miles really that much easier than 50?  the entire thing is pretty contrived, and that's what i signed up for, so right i went, around the 1 mile loop before heading towards the finish line.

another 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile along the river and through the final aid station and then back onto some fun technical single track, though i didn't have much in me to enjoy it.  i was happy to be closing in on the end, and content with a decent day out.

I was not physically ready for the day.  Mentally it took me sometime to sort through things, and once i finally did, i was able to press things where i would normally have sat back and walked.  In the days since the run, i've made a couple attempts to get back out and run a bit.

i definitely have some fatigue left in my legs and a good bit of tightness.  today (wendesday), after 4 miles, things finally started to loosen up, and i felt as though i could move fairly well (at least on the descents and flats).  I feel a bit of the spark coming back.

It yet remains to be seen where that spark goes.  for now, i'm going to continue to enjoy being outside and following my inner child.


RETROSPECTIVE: upon reflecting on the days events and thinking back, i wondered how prepared i was on paper, so decided to review things since early may.  Here is what i found:  i ran a 50 miler on may 3rd, and since then, haven't run more than 40 miles in a single week, until the week of voyageur.  definitely not a recipe for success.  On average, i have run 30 miles a week since may, though my consistency has been lacking.

Week Ending Activities Total Distance Total Time Elevation Gain Avg Speed





 04/28/2014 5 67.03 12:44:19 7,196 5.3
 05/05/2014 8 35.22 5:36:15 3,098 6.3
 05/12/2014 2 11.65 2:03:23 1,218 5.7
 05/19/2014 4 23.91 4:54:06 4,272 4.9
 05/26/2014 6 39.69 6:33:40 2,721 6.1
 06/02/2014 5 32.28 6:00:34 4,597 5.4
 06/09/2014 2 9.39 1:39:06 703 5.7
 06/16/2014 2 11.62 1:44:30 815 6.7
 06/23/2014 2 16.77 8:06:12 6,628 2.1
 06/30/2014 3 33 9:30:00 -- 3.7
 07/07/2014 3 36.37 8:19:33 8,002 4.4
 07/14/2014 2 7.75 1:20:50 1,448 5.8
 07/21/2014 3 64.64 12:10:13 4,465 5.3
 Summary 47 389.32 80:42:41 13,915

Sunday, July 13, 2014

2014 Alaska Mountain Ultrarunning Camp

After attending Geoff Roes Alaksa Mountain Ultrarunning Camp the previous 2 years and having a difficult time leaving Juneau after each visit, I decided it was time for some changes. 

A few days before I was to leave Leadville, I said goodbye to the best friend I've ever known: Sirius.  We spent just shy of 11 years together.  He was always there for me, and nearly always super happy to see me (he could be spiteful, though it took a lot to push him that far, I managed on several occasions, and deserved every bit of the attitude he mustered during those times).  I have a plethora of incredible memories, and will cherish them.  It was with a heavy heart I said goodbye, and it still weighs on me.  Fortunately this sadness is quickly chased away by the memories of all the good times we shared.

having said goodbye, I set to work finishing up the remodeling project and packing my things.  The last 3 nights were pretty lonely without the clicking of his nails as he wandered from one room to the next, and I was all to happy to leave early Saturday morning.  I was off to san diego for a week of work, then to Juneau for another edition of Geoff's camp, after which I would settle in to Juneau for the next year.

on the ferry ride into Juneau, I received a text from Geoff inviting me to dinner, unfortunately the ferry wouldn't arrive in time to join them for dinner.  Geoff and Corle were kind enough to share some left overs when I arrived at the mendenhall campgrounds.  We chatted for a bit before retiring to the tents.

Day 0
The next morning Geoff and I picked up Amie at the airport, she spent the previous night in the mediation room at the seattle airport, apparently a popular place, and for good reason.  We then went and picked up Jim (he had been at Geoff's camp a week earlier, and decided to stay for another edition).

Jen and Kevin would arrive a bit later in the day, after which we grabbed a quick lunch and headed over to the mendenhall glacier in search of the ice caves.  It was a great start to camp, some fun explorations:  clambering around the glacier and exploring a couple ice caves we were fortunate enough to find:



Melanie (she was at Geoff's camp in august of 2013 with Jen and myself) was scheduled to arrive a little after 9pm that evening.  Between the ice caves and Melanie's arrival, the rest of us hung out at camp chatting about the coming adventures, and the ice caves.

Day 1
When I woke the following morning, I was pleased to find Amie up as well.  we made a small fire and enjoyed the stillness of the early hours before the others began to stir.

When the rest of the group had emerged from the tents, we started laying out the requisite supplies for our planned 4 days and 3 nights in the mountains.  divvying up the food and shared items and cramming everything into our packs.  The merits of external pockets and stretchable material was quickly noted, and very appreciated by all fortunate enough to have a pack so equipped.  Everyone's pack was thoroughly stuffed.

We loaded up our packs and headed to the breeze in for one last lunch (the best burrito in town). Juneau is a bit peculiar, the breeze in (a gas station) has the best burrito in town, the hardware store has camping supplies, and I'm sure there are a number of other oddities i'll discover over the next 12 months.  Burritos in hand we headed over to a park for our parting lunch.

After lunch we headed to the basin road trailhead for Roberts, and Amie, Corle, Jim, Kevin, and Melanie started up. Geoff and I were to shuttle my truck around to the blackerby ridge trailhead where we were scheduled to drop down in 4 days.

We started the hike up Roberts, hoping to catch up with the group by goldridge.  it became evident that our fast packing wasn't very fast with the amount of weight we were carrying, especially on the climbs.  We took solace in the fact that with each meal and passing day our packs would grow lighter, and we would have the good fortune of being able to send any unneeded supplies down with Corle tomorrow.

Just as we were getting up to goldridge, Geoff and I caught up with Jen.  Everybody was settled in for a bit of a snack and taking in the views:

Melanie, Jim, Geoff, Amie, and Jen 

We clambered along the ridge, over Robert's, Gastineau, Sheep, and Clark, regrouping periodically to eat, and revisit what happened over the previous segment.  Apparently Kevin had a bid of an undoin when he went down during one of the glissades, sending most of his pack contents across the snowfield, the thermarest borrowed from Geoff would spend the next 5 or 6 nights somewhere between sheep and clark's before being rescued by one of the locals. 

After descending off sheep, it was becoming obvious the miles were wearing on people, Geoff started to push the pace a little bit, anxious to find a suitable camp site (one large enough to accommodate 4 mountain hardware supermegaUL 2 (quite a nice little tent, though as tent's go, it's the only one I've used in the last 20 years, and the only one I've backpacked with).



We found a suitable spot on the backside overlooking a river some distance below.  It was starting to rain lightly.  A quick meal and a short bit of revisiting the days events and we were off to bed.  I had the privilege of sharing a tent with Amie (a super cool and very adventurous lass living in Minnesota)  Us being tent mates would turn out to be very fitting as we are both early to wake and quick to get moving on the day. 

Day 2
Both Amie and I were up pretty early the first morning, and gathered some water and got started on breakfast.  As the first pot of water was coming to a boil (or at least as close an approximation thereof we would see for much of the trip), I knocked it over spilling most of the contents.  bummer, we started another pot, and before long were eating some re-hydrated eggs and enjoying warm liquieds. 

After a little while others began emerging, and we continued cooking.  Amie too knocked over one of the near boiling pots, only she somehow managed to spill virtually none of the water. I attribute this to her being a more experienced camper than I.  Shortly after finishing breakfast, we broke camp, and made our way towards olds, one of the two big ascents we would do on the day (observation to come later on)

We made good time over olds, encountering 1 pretty interesting section that required a little creative route making on our part.  Made especially adventurous by the fact that each of us had some 20 pounds or so of gear on our backs.  After summiting Olds and enjoying a fun buit of glissading we ran into Bryan and his buddy coming up to Observation.  Geoff and Bryan discussed the approach to observation, and how western states was unfolding before we continued on and began ascending. 

The clouds were coming up pretty quickly, and about 300' below the summit we were enveloped.  They would pass as we approached the summit, and provide some incredible views, as well as a good chance for Geoff to check on western states, Kevin to check on the world cup, and a group photo:

myself, Jen, Melanie, Amie, Geoff, Jim, Kevin atop Observation


After another fun little glissade and crossing of the snowfield between observation and camp 17, we followed the ridge up to vesper peak and set up camp.  This was to be our home for the next 2 nights, allowing for a fun little excursion the following day with only what you needed for a 6 hour outing.

We setup camp, while Melanie, Jen, and Jim backtracked to restock our water levels.  After taking stock of the fuel and our remaining meals it was decided the lavish behavior of last nights dinner and this mornings breakfast was not going to work, we were on fuel rations in order to have warm meals the remainder of the trip.  Amie proved to be very diligent with her fuel allowances, ensuring we had enough the final morning for a luxurious round of warm breakfast and multiple servings of semi hot liquids.  Though there was a bit of grumbling about the stinginess early on.

Day 3
Today was to be our day with minimal gear, just what you needed to enjoy 5 - 6 hours out in the mountains.  again, Amie, and I were up early, and began preparing breakfast, Geoff and Jim followed by Kevin, and in time Jen and Melanie joined us for morning rations - tepid oatmeal, and a few lucky ones got tepid drinks too.

No amount of pleading would get you additional fuel cubes.  If you are going to be in a life or death situation with limited supplies, Amie is the person you want in charge of distributing stuff.  Where I am perfectly willing and all to happy to give you what you ask for, there are consequences, you are an adult, if you want to use 2 of your 3 remaining fuel cubes tonight, and only have 1 left for the last 2 days, go for it. Amie on the other hand will not budge, if it's over the allotted amount, you cannot have it.  wait for the next round of distributions.

we all had some good laughs about this, especially on the final morning when the hot liquids were flowing freely:)

enough of that, today we were off for nugget peak, a fun little day outing.  we started with a fun little descent and proceeded to cross lemon creek glacier???  climb up to a ridge which we followed briefly before side hilling around and over some more snowfields overlooking the Juneau ice fields and former home to some dog sledding outfits. 

There was a good bit of cloud cover which forced Geoff to navigate using some top maps on his iPhone (making for an interesting excursion).  at the base of the climb up to nugget peak, we regrouped, discussed our options, and chose to stay with the exposed rock as long as we could comfortably walk up it.  several hundred feet from the peak, to our left dropped off precipitously, and our current route promised for a steep ascent in pretty limited visibility, so we opted to skirt around to the right and try our approach from that direction.

we trudged through snow for a good bit, climbing up and skirting around for a better approach.  within about 100 vertical feet of the summit, things proceeded to get steep, and a bit more precarious.  As we were wrapping around and pressing up, I looked off to our right and saw the edge of snow, to our left was a steep section that funneled down and leveled out pretty quickly.  with each step, I was starting to push mini snow slides down to our left.  Geoff paused, and I asked what was to our right.  he pulled out his iPhone and scrolled around briefly before replying about 1000' drop. 

sold, I was quite ok being within 50 ish vertical feet of the summit and calling it good, I voted to turn around, though I was happy to wait for Geoff to summit and come back down if that was his wish.  He chuckled a bit and said it was a bit more sketchy as it continued up, so was going to save the summit for another day.  We all turned around and began back tracking.  Enjoying the lightness there was a good bit of running going on.

On the return trip we opted to descent down and climb up lemon creek glacier, avoiding the sidehill.  On the way down to the glacier, Jim took a good tumble, scraping his knee and hand pretty good and landing on his chin/jaw.  after a quick cleaning and bandaging of his hand we were on our way again.  The trek up the glacier passed quickly, and before long we were heading back across lemon glacier towards vesper peak.

After a long and tired climb up, we were back at camp with the promise of luke warm dehydrated meals, Melanie and I set off to fill our water supplies.  again we had dinner and enjoyed recounting the days events before heading off to sleep.

it rained pretty well through the night, making for a very chilly and restless sleep.

Day 4
We woke to more rain, and the promise of real food for lunch.  Again, Amie and I were up and had our breakfast before the rest of camp began to stir.  we prepared breakfast and enjoyed our final warm meal and liquids.  thanks to Amie's steadfastness there was plenty of warm liquid to go around, 3 and even 4 rounds of warm drinks for those interested, and all the re-hydrated scrambled eggs any of us cared for and more.

we wrapped up breakfast and broke down camp.  It was chilly, largely due to the cloud cover and drizzle that was coming down.  after the last of the tents was packed up, and the final bits of remaining food and fuel (yes we had 1 fuel cube to spare, Kudos to Amie for exceeding expectations, though in reality, i'm not sure anybody would have been too disappointed if there were only enough fuel cubes to heat up 1 pot of water for warm drinks on the final morning:)

we headed down, through camp 17, over cairns peak and along blackerby ridge.  Things got a bit strung out as the past 4 days were wearing more heavily on some than others.  Everybody was in good spirits, we just proceeded at varying paces on the descent.

Upon reaching the final meadow before the descent got really technical and steep, Geoff spoke with Corle, and agreed to meet her at the bottom of blackerby in 20 minutes to be shuttled off to get his car.  Geoff took off, and the rest of us proceeded to follow as fast as our technical abilities (or rather lack there-of on such terrain) would allow.  The last of us popped out at the trailhead as Geoff was pulling up.

Each of us stripped out of the clothes we'd been traveling in for the better part of 4 days, and piled them in a trash bag, donning new "clean" clothes for our trip to the Laundromat and the sandpiper for a hot meal.

we gathered at the sandpiper, sat down, picked out our orders, and recounted the past 4 days.  Chatting until the food arrived, at which time, it grew quite other than the sound of utensils against plates, and that o so faint sound of one (or 8) thoroughly enjoying their meal.

I'll save the remaining adventures for my next post.  and will leave you with some pictures from the first 2 days of our fastpack adventure: 

My Photos
Photos from Melanie


Friday, July 11, 2014

20140711 - Catching up

It's been sometime since I put anything up.  I've thought about writing on several occasions, unfortunately it just hasn't been a priority.  It's been a busy couple months, lots of new things and big changes since Collegiate peaks, though not a lot of running.  the good news is I've been turning that around and have spend a good part of the last 2 weeks out in the mountains enjoying fresh air, incredible views, and time with some truly good people.

Since finishing collegiate peaks in early may, it's been a lot of shorter runs and really buckling down and focusing my energies on finishing up the house in Leadville so I can cleanly move onto my next venture:  exploring the mountains around Juneau.

Randy came out to Leadville to work on the house for 1 week.  we were able to get a huge amount completed in that time:  new granite tile counters, touch up paint, replace the front door, and install several new light fixtures.  Once Randy left, I took a short break from house work and spent sometime exploring the trails as they were starting to thaw out and the weather was pretty incredible.

I did several runs with Jamie and Mike on some trails i'd never been on before, attended several dinners and bbq's with Mike and Stephanie.  The irony doesn't escape me:  here I am in the last few weeks of my stay in Leadville, preparing to leave because I wasn't able to get out and be very social, and over my final 3 - 4 weeks in Leadville, I'm spending more time running with others and attending get togethers than I did the during the first year in Leadville.

The good news is I have some good connections, and expect to stay in touch with them for some time.

The most difficult part of this time was watching Sirius' health continue to deteriorate.  Over the course of a few weeks we went from walking a couple miles a day to barely walking a couple hundred feet at a time.  I've dedicated more to this in a separate post, which you can read through if so desired.

Over the course of 1 week, I was able to finish the mountain room floor, hang the last of the baseboard and door casings, repair the laundry room floor, tile and grout it, tile and grout the sunken living room, and paint the sunken living room.

The last 2 days I had some additional help from a couple of Mike's friends that were in town visiting, and looking for something to pass the time.  With their help I finished painting the closets, the laundry room, and caulk the baseboard, door casings, and bathtub, as well as construct a cover for the buried gas canister in the back yard.

With all this wrapped up, I had one final dinner with Stephanie, Mike and his friends.  They came by and helped me load up my truck.  I spent one final night in the house before heading to san diego.

I spent the next week in san diego, mainly working, and was able to squeeze in some time catching up with family and friends before heading north.  I did get in a handful of shorter runs, though nothing to long.  Probably a good thing, as my body was a bit tired.

I headed north from san diego, making a couple day stop outside fresno to hang out at spurlarosa ranch and spend some time with more family.  after a couple days on the ranch looking for hogs and enjoying a mellow weekend, I proceeded heading towards the Canadian border.

I left sunday evening, and reached the Canadian border around noon on Monday, after a bit of an ordeal getting things sorted out I was able to cross into Canada and begin working my way east so I could finally go west towards Alaska.

I spent the better part of Monday and Tuesday driving across Canada before crossing back into the US and entering Skagway.  I spent Tuesday night in Skagway and was on the 3pm ferry to Juneau (a 6 hour trip).  I took this opportunity to catch up on some sleep and relax in general.

Upon disembarking from the ferry, it was off to the mendenhall campground to meet up with Geoff and Corle.  They had some left over Thai food from dinner which I happily accepted.  We chatted for a bit before it was off to bed.

Sirius Dog thank you

It was a long and wonderful journey, i'm incredibly grateful and a better person for the time we shared.





we spent almost 11 years together.  Though i'm not ready to say goodbye, I know it's time.  I've asked a lot of you, and you've done far more than was reasonable to expect.

I hope I've been able to bring you as much joy as you've brought me.  I sometimes worry that I've been too short tempered with you (I know I had several occasions, for which i'm sorry) and thank you for being pure enough at heart to forgive my shortcomings.

I hope you enjoyed our time together and feel you had a good life. 

I apologize for the ridiculous temperatures you had to endure while in el cajon.

I often think of our mexico and other desert trips looking back with great happiness remembering you wandering around Bahia los angeles, laguna hanson, ocotillo, and many others.

In hind sight, I don't think you enjoyed much of the driving, for that I am sorry, I was led to believe "dogs love trucks"

I am grateful that you were always eager to get in the truck and embark on our next adventure.

I apologize for not stopping more frequently, I get too caught up in the destination and lose sight of the journey.  though it's a bit late to benefit you, it will be a great way for me to remember you and all the love we shared.

it brings a smile to my face and tears to my eyes every time i remember your first visit to snow.  again, another long road trip, we drove to flagstaff and i actually made time to stop to just enjoy the quiet.  i remember you jumping out of the bed of the truck and being super excited to discover this incredible substance which offered welcome relief from the sweltering temps of southerm California

i learned so many things along our journey.  some at your expense, again i'm sorry.  here are a few of the valuable lessons you taught me:
  • be always grateful
  • touch is an incredible healer
  • be tenacious
  • be honest
  • be open
  • be slow to anger
  • be quick to forgive
  • treat each adventure as your last
  • save the good times
  • learn from the bad and let them go
  • attitude is everything:  have a positive one
i know one day i will wake up and you will not be there waiting for our morning walk.  the thought of this pains me deeply.

i hope you enjoyed your time at the kennel as much as they seemed to enjoy having you there.  every time i left you there a little piece of me died.  every time i picked you up there and you would run in circles like a crazed pup slipping all over the place, that piece of me was resuscitated. 

i hope you enjoyed our time in Colorado and the little bit of additional freedom it offers.
i hope you enjoyed our walks as much as i did
i hope to live as you do:  embracing the positive
i hope to learn patience as much as you have

"when you are Real you don't mind being hurt"

and a trip through our photographic history: