Gearing Up For My First Ultramarathon

In the words of someone famous, "On to the next one". If you read my last blog post about the Burn Your Lungs Run, you know that it is now over and I finally feel free to pursue the next thing on my calendar. Which happens to be a vacation to Jackson Hole, Wyoming with Audrey's sister Amy and her family.

At the end of the vacation week, I will be doing my first ultra marathon. For you newbies out there, an ultra marathon is any distance over 26.2 miles (the official distance of every marathon). The lucky race that just so happens to be my first is called, "El Vaquero Loco" (not in Espanol - "The Crazy Cowboy"), and it is held in the Salt River Mountain Range in northern Lincoln County, Wyoming about 2 hours from home.

From what I can tell this will be a tough mountain race. It boasts over 9,000 ft. of elevation gain for the 50k (31 miles) and lots of single track trails past high alpine lakes, with the race starting around 7,000 ft. and getting up to 10,000. It's an out and back course. This year is a little bit different because of all the snow and late summer rain the road into the original starting point (Cottonwood Lake) is washed out. So, I along with all the other 50k runners will start at Intermittent Spring and run the course backwards.

I have been training for this race in Brooks Cascadia 6's that I purchased back in March. I haven't really fell in love with these shoes like I wanted to. They have hurt my feet in different places, and feel really heavy after running about 6 miles in them. On Friday, Audrey and I went down to Salt Lake Running Co. and I picked up a pair of Pearl Izumi Peak II's.

I actually have already ran a race in these shoes. The Park City Mini Trail Series 5k. Click here for my race report. I liked them then, and liked them again in the store. I will be trying them for the first time tomorrow, only 6 days before my ultra. I will decide if I am going to wear the Peak II's or my Cascadia's for the race probably on Saturday morning. Right now I am leaning towards the Peak's and hopefully putting my Cascadia's in a drop bag somewhere along the course if I get blisters from the newness. We'll see. I'm just ready to run in the mountains.

The 2011 Burn Your Lungs Run Is Officially Over!

I have successfully completed directing my 2nd race ever. On Saturday, July 31, the 2nd Annual Burn Your Lungs Run was held at the South Lincoln Training and Events Center. Since this is my personal blog, I will tell about my day for the race, and give some behind the scenes looks into what it takes to direct a race.

Quick recap of the week: Tuesday night - Volunteer Meeting, Thursday morning - Ran Half Marathon Course marking it with spray paint, Thursday evening - Stuffed Race Bags, Friday morning - Ran 5k Course marking it with spray paint, Friday evening - Registration and Packet Pickup at the Triangle.

My Saturday started around 4:30 a.m. Showered, had breakfast, and rounded up everything at the house that I needed to take down to the race start. At 6:00 a.m. I met Nelson at the Church to load up all the tables, chairs, and trash cans for the aid stations. 6:15 a.m. I was as the Events Center unloading the rest of the Race Bags and other stuff out of the Tahoe. Lincoln County Search and Rescue came to help out and I directed them to fill up all the coolers with ice and then take them out to all the aid stations.

About 6:30 a.m. all of my other volunteers showed up, huge thanks to them! We had all the race bags, shirts, registration forms, and everything else all ready to go. The timing system we used this year was technically for Cross Country Meets, but it worked good to have it all on the computer. Only 2 problems with it. 1 - I had to have a different computer for each race (for the built in timer) since all three races started at different times. and 2 - The timer froze up after an hour of use. Good thing I planned for something like that to happen and brought back up stop watches for each race.

7:00 a.m. we had people start showing up to get their bags and register. We set up a small tent and table by the start/finish line for the computers. I was also directing other volunteers out to their aid stations with food and GU's. That hour flew by in a hurry making sure everything was in place and answering lots of questions about the course, etc...

At 8:00 a.m. the half marathoners took off. I felt a little bit of relief here. Then I started gathering the 10k runners to the line. Gave them their instructions and sent them off. Next, the 5k'ers. This is was the largest group by far - upwards of 90 runners. Once they all left, I felt really good.

From there it was making sure the timing systems were working, that we had volunteers in place for the bib numbers, stickers, and water bottles. I took some pictures as the finishers were coming in. Once the races were over it was time to move everyone inside for the awards and our small little raffle. Hopefully next year we can have a bunch of stuff to raffle off, but I think everyone got some good free stuff in their race bags.

After all the awards and everyone left it was clean up time. Had some great helpers there too!

Overall I feel like it was a very successful event, and looking forward to next year!

Carte Blanche Book Review

I just finished up reading the new James Bond novel by Jeffery Deaver. I have loved watching the James Bond movies since I was a kid, but this is the first book that I have read. It was a good read, and followed in the James Bond theme of things. Which, I am glad that the author didn't go changing a lot of what makes James Bond, James Bond.
One of the things that can happen with a novel as opposed to a movie is there can be more internal thought and feelings produced by the characters. I liked that aspect of this book, because with the Bond movies you don't really get a look into what Bond is thinking or feeling. The book had a good plot and a few good twists to keep you guessing as to what is really going on.
Overall, I enjoyed it, and can't wait until they make the next Bond movie out of it.

Update for the week

Since it is Friday evening I guess I'll give you an update for the week.

I am running my first Ultra Marathon on August 13th in the mountains outside of Afton, Wyoming. It is 31 miles with lots of climbing and descending. So in preparation for this upcoming race my training goal for the week was to run a total of 40 miles with one long run on Friday. And I did it!
Monday - 5 Miles
Tuesday - 5 Miles
Wednesday - 6 Miles in the a.m. and 2.5 miles in the p.m.
Thursday - 2 Miles
Friday - 19.5 Miles
My run today was all done on trails around Kemmerer. I linked up a bunch of different trails that Audrey and I have ran on to complete that distance. It felt pretty good to do it and especially to be done with it. I'm hoping that it translates into doing well in the race.

The shirts for the Burn Your Lungs Run got ordered this week.
I did some premarital counseling
Got my hair cut
We sold our white car!
Biked Maya & Mountie for exercise
Planned out Sunday
Worked on stuff for the BYLR on July 30 - Got a great ad in the paper
Had a date with Audrey

So there you have it.... my week not in a nut shell, but in a blog post.

Friends Of Animals 5k-9 Fun Run Race Report

On Saturday we ran in the FOA 5k-9 Fun Run in Park City Utah. The run was part of the "Bark In The Park" event. One of the reasons that we decided to run this race was because you could run with your dog. Audrey has been wanting to run a race with Maya for a long time, and we thought it would be hilarious to be a part of. 

They had the runners with no dogs start first, and then the runners with dogs start 15-30 seconds afterwards. I opted to not run with Mountie because in dog years he is equivalent to an old man, and he can only last about 1 mile at a good pace. So I took off with the non-dog runners. I settled into third place at a pretty decent pace, not really wanting to kill myself early on because 1st and 2nd place were still within distance of catching and passing. 

I was gaining ground on the 2nd place runner and passed him in a rural area of the course where the road was doing some winding. I was probably about 50 yards behind first place with about a mile and a quarter to go. Plenty of time to catch him. But as soon as I passed the guy who was in 2nd I noticed his shadow and his arm was waving up and down. So I looked up and off to the right where it looked like he was pointing and there was an arrow telling us to turn. 1st place missed the turn so he was disqualified. I left the guy who was now in 2nd behind and basically died the last 1/2 mile into the finish, but finished 1st place overall!! In 19:13 no less! A new personal record for the 5k!

After about a minute Audrey and Maya came flying across the finish line, which was a total surprise because I thought they would be farther back. 1st Female overall (she even beat the girls who were running without a dog and they got a head start) 1st place overall runner with a dog, and a PR for her too. 20:12!

Once we got a drink and got Maya a drink we let Mountie out of the car and explored the other 100 dogs that were at the park. We hung around till we got our awards: $50.00 each to JANS Sporting Goods Store, $25.00 each to the Tanger Outlet Mall, and a huge winner's medal. 

After that we went and ate lunch, then spent some of our winnings! We each got a pair of sandals at JANS, and then I got 3 pairs of socks and Audrey got a TRI suit at the Pearl Izumi store at Tanger. 

All in all a great day!!!

My race results - the guy in front of me was the one who got DQ'd

Audrey's Results

Audrey and Maya after winning their race!

Giving Maya a little love for running so well!

My winning bib number!

Cooling off after the race for Maya - Cooling off after sitting in the hot Tahoe for Mountie.

They had booths with free stuff for dogs

Posing with the pups

Here we are!

Claiming my first place prize

Bling Bling

Audrey & Maya getting their prize

Winners!

Our new Sanuk Sandals - amazingly comfortable

Our Pearl Izumi loot.

Audrey's new TRI suit

The Hunger Games Book Review

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a young adult novel, geared more towards high school and college age students, but I had heard that the storyline was a pretty good one and that it was a good book... So, I checked it out. And I was pleasantly surprised. The Hunger Games is the first book in a trilogy, and all the books are currently published, so you can go straight from one to the next without having to wait a long time.
A quick bare bones premise of the book is that every year the people in charge at the "Capitol" require 2 teenagers from each of the 12 districts to participate in what is called the Hunger Games. This tournament was born out of a rebellion that was squashed when the 12 districts tried to overthrow the "Capitol". And in retaliation the "Capitol" reminds all 12 districts who is in charge through the games. The 24 teenagers get thrown into an area of land and the last one standing wins. They have to fight, outwit, and stay alive.
The story follows one main character Katniss Everdeen and her journey through all that happens with the games.
It is a quick read, I finished it in about a week. A good book if you are looking for something easy and entertaining.

Wild Iris 21k Trail Run In Lander, WY

The Wild Iris 21k Trail Run was part of the International Climber's Festival held in Lander, WY during the 2nd week of July. The race is held in the foothills of the Wind River Mountains, and it was one of our favorite races from last year. This year didn't disappoint either. The trip started Friday morning when Audrey and I loaded up the Tahoe and took off for Lander. We shopped at an entirely gluten free store in Riverton for Audrey, picked up our race bags, walked around downtown, checked into a cheap motel, got some sleep, and headed up to the Wild Iris area outside of Lander.
The race started at 7:00 a.m. with only a handful of runners (maybe 30 max). We took off and just cruised along not really pushing hard, but just enjoying the beauty of it all. After about 7 or 8 miles Audrey wasn't feeling too hot, a little bit of sickness or flu or hitting the dreaded "wall". So we power hiked, jogged our way back to the finish, which is no small task since the last half of the race is all uphill. I'm talking 2,000 ft. of elevation uphill.
So we finished, had a great time in beautiful country, headed back and showered, ate at Gannett Grill (I got the Bansai Burger - grilled pineapple on it), enjoyed some good conversation over lunch, then headed back to Kemmerer to get ready for Sunday.
All in all it was a good trip!
Pictures will be posted soon!