Menan Butte Challenge, Finally Back At It

Me running near Macchu Picchu near the end of a Humanitarian trip to Peru- Photo Zach Allen

Well it is about time I write something here, the electronic cobwebs were getting pretty thick, not to mention the digital dust bunnies! Yesterday marked my first trail race of the year, the Run Around The Rim which used to be called the Menan Butte Challenge. It has been a couple of months since I wrote anything here, but I have been posting some over on The White Room. Honestly the ski mountaineering race season took a pretty heavy toll on me this year and it has taken a while to come back. Actually I am not sure if I have fully recovered even now.

I have been spending a fair bit of time running trying to switch from skimo fitness to trail racing fitness, which has proved to be fairly difficult. All of the high intensity training on skis left my tendons pretty soft since there wasn't any "pounding". As I have spent more time on the trails it shows that although my cardio motor is ready to rock, the legs are not quite ready. I have had to deal with several minor issues that border-lined on injury.

Picture form the start of last year's race the first climb is a doozy! Photo Tanae Nelson

I was very tentative going into the Menan Race this year. The course favors my strengths as a trail runner and I have always had pretty good results. I showed up for the race a little early and was delighted to see many familiar faces. I even had the chance to warm-up with Chris Lundberg from Jackson, who is always a strong competitor. He mentioned that he was also a bit nervous about how the race would go as he had just gotten back from running Boston a few days prior! In the last minute briefing before the start the race director added a bit more pressure by introducing me and talking about some of the running I had been doing over the last couple of years.

Chris was rocking a beard again this year, but last year's was more intimidating- Photo Tanae Nelson

I was surprised to have a very lean college aged runner holding on during the entire first ascent. Normally I can get away from the crowd on the way up the Butte, but this guy was stride for stride until nearly the top. Just after the crest I couldn't hear him anymore and so I put the hammer down trying to gain some ground. It worked since I ran pretty much the rest of the race all alone. On a small out and back I saw Chris and Eric (the lean guy) duking it out on the descent to the turn around, but at that point I had a pretty solid lead. I still pushed hard trying to reel in any runners ahead of me on the shorter course, I did pass a couple on the last descent to the finish line. I crossed the finish line in 42:09 for what was thought to be a 12k, although it felt a bit shorter.

I am very content with how things went in the race, it felt really good to push my body to a hard effort. I hung around for the awards and things then as runners packed up and headed out, I grabbed my Ultraspire Surge and headed back up the Butte to get the long run miles in for the week. Since I had raced hard for 6 of the miles I felt pretty content with an additional 14 on the butte, especially since I totaled out just shy of 6000' of ascent for the day (1500' in the race and 4482 after). Final Results Here

Gear for the race:

La Sportiva Crosslite 2.0

Green Layer La Sportiva Race long sleeve

Patagonia Long Haulers

First Endurance EFS (with half a scoop of First Endurance Prerace).

After the race I dropped to a green layer t-shirt and grabbed the UltraSpire Surge, I fueled with 1 EFS liquid shot and plain water.

Hopefully this race was enough of a confidence booster that I can break out of the slump that I have been in for the last month or so, that coupled with some big plans for this summer should give me the motivation to train hard and keep this blog updated with some quality content. If there is anything trail or skimo related that you would like to hear about leave a comment below. I am thinking of doing some gear/nutrition reviews as well as some training info in the near future.

Bonus pic- Running along Lake Barcis in Italy as a way to "shake out" between the World Cup Races-Self Portrait

US Ski Mountaineering Championships- Full Race Report

I finally have found a few moments to put together this race report. After this past weekend of racing things have been crazy. Its been a busy week at work, I had a ski patrol training, a couple of meetings for Idaho Condor, and I have been trying to get things ready for a trip to Italy in a few weeks.

Some of you reading this may be not really have any idea what Ski Mountaineering Racing is. In a nutshell you climb up mountains with your skis on your feet (with the help of climbing skins) and when you get up there a ways you take the skins of, lock your boots and ski down. Then, repeat. Below is the course map to the US Championships race which took place on Saturday. It turned out to have around 7800' of vertical ascent and pretty much the same descent.
Going into the race I was feeling pretty good. I was well rested, injury free and had put together a pretty solid block of training. Although I felt good I was very nervous, I wanted to qualify to go to Italy very badly, but I knew that the competition would be very fierce. From past experience in the few races that I have done I was certain that to finish any where near the top would require a prefect day.

After an uneventful trip to Jackson from Driggs, I got checked in and went outside to warm-up for the dance. Normally I can get a really good idea of how things are going to go during a race within the first few minutes of a warm-up, Saturday was different. My body felt good but didn't seem really peppy, I was able to easily knock out a few short hard sprints, though I felt a bit off. Nerves were quite high as a tremendous amount of lycra lined up at the line drawn in the snow, I did my best to keep my mind clear and calm.

The countdown...3.2.1..and we all charged off of the line, immediately I caught myself and forced myself to pull back. There is always a mad dash at the beginning but getting caught up in it can lead to blowing up far too early in the race. I settled in the middle to back of the lead pack. The pace at this point felt strangely easy, something I could surely maintain. Without increasing pace too much I found myself in about 5th as we hit the 1st transition. I made a quick transition to DH mode and hopped out of the transition in to the Alta Chute in 1st. Within a couple of turns I realized that I had left my ski legs back in Pocatello as I floundered my way down the steep chute, I crashed, lost several places to skiers having a better descent, then collected myself and charged on to the next transition.

Again I had a quick transition and pulled out right behind Brandon and Reiner, the second climb went by quite quickly and once again I found myself struggling to ski well as we descended the Tower 3 chute. Again we transitioned, this time I found myself in 4th, right behind Pete Swenson (past national champion), and I figured I was in a good place tuck in and follow his pace for a bit. The large lead pack had kind of broken up, but nearly all pack was strung out within a few seconds of the racer ahead an behind. Again the climb seemed short as we hit the top of the Gondola, and transitioned to the 1st of 2 bootpacks. I held onto my 4th place, this time right behind Reiner.

The pace up the bootpack seemed very easy, "too easy" I thought to myself several times and I began to plot some strategy for the next booter. At the top of the booter I tucked in behind Brandon, Reiner and Pete for a short traverse and speedy descent down the Coombs Chute. As we transitioned to uphill I made my move and pulled out first into Tensleep bowl on the way to the infamous Corbet's Couloir.

You see my plan at this point was to skin hard to the base of the booter up Corbet's hammer the climb and hopefully buy myself a bit of a lead for the big descent. I felt I needed a lead at this point to stay in the top 5 due to my poor skiing skills of the day. Things worked out just as I planned and as I started hammering up the booter I began to distance myself from the lead pack. I had probably gained 20 seconds or so until just before the bottom of the aluminum ladder that climbs the final 6o feet of Corbet's.

I struggled for a few seconds to get onto the ladder, then rallied up as fast as I could, I tried my best not to squander the small lead as I skinned the last bit to Corbet's Cabin at the top of Teton Village and I managed to tranisition and head out as Pete, Brandon and Reiner were pulling in.

The DH went pretty well, all things considered. My legs felt pretty trashed so I tried to conserve energy as much as possible while skiing just beyond the edge of control. Pete and Reiner past me on a straight line groomer and Brandon (I think that was the order at least) past me in the icy bumps nearer the bottom. Everyone was still in the transition as I rolled in and after a quick change I managed to leave in 3rd behind Brandon and Reiner with Pete hot on my heels. After a few minutes of ascent I had a skin start to fail, my heart sunk this could blow the whole race, but I kept my composure, scraped the snow off and put my head down to catch back up. About 3/4 of the way up the final climb I past Pete and held him off to the transition. Just as I pulled into the transition, Reiner left in the lead. Brandon left right on his tail and I left a few seconds back. I pulled out all the stops on the final descent to make up ground and hold onto 3rd place. I wasn't able to catch anyone, but I didn't get caught either.

The three of us posed for a picture by the Race Organizer, and threw a round of high fives as the rest of the competitors started rolling in. It took a few minutes but it started to set in that I had managed to not only qualify for Italy but was able to finish second US racer only 32 seconds behind the new national champion Brandon French. Reiner had finished first a few seconds ahead of Brandon, but since he is Canadian he can't be the US champ or be on the US team.

I continue to be blown away with how well things went during the race and even as I write this am still totally out of my mind with excitement. After the awards we headed back to our friends house over in Driggs to rest and get ready for the Grand Targhee Ski Mountaineering Classic the very next day....

In the next couple of days I will post a race report about Targhee, and a post about the equipment I am racing on. If you are reading this and are at all interested in helping me get to Italy and represent the US at the World Championships please leave a comment below and I will get back to you.

Also here are some interesting links, videos and articles about the US Championships:

The race website has links to Powder Magazine's coverage, Outside Magazine, and a couple of YouTube videos.

The Idaho State Journal Wrote this about me. This article was picked up by the Associated Press and has appeared in at least 6 papers/websites in the last couple of days.

And Montana Snowsports wrote this.

There are also upcoming interviews from RestWise, First Endurance, and La Sportiva which I will link to this report when they are published.

Gear I raced on this weekend that I feel contributed heavily to my success:

Boots: La Sportiva Stratos

Skis: Ski Trab Duo Race World Cup, with Trab race binding

Nutrition: First Endurance EFS (fruit punch) and EFS liquid Shot

El Vaquero Loco

Let me start this post by saying that El Vaquero Loco is still my favorite Ultra that I have run to date. It is an event that our family looks forward to all year long, and this year we got to enjoy it even more than normal because a bunch of our friends from Pocatello joined us for the race this year. We went to Star Valley early the day before the race to make sure we could get a good campsite and the Start/Finish. By the time night fell we were surrounded by many of friends and families enjoying a wonderful summer night in the mountains together. There was a pack of little girls running around getting into things and having a ton of fun while the rest of us took it easy and got prepped for the race the next morning. After roasting marshmallows with the kids and eating enough s'mores to get a solid sugar buzz I went to bed to try to sleep a bit before the race.

the girls having too much fun

Race morning came early but I felt ready to get after it, although it was a bit cool it was perfect temps for running hard. In the initial minutes of the race I could tell it was going to be the day that I had hoped for and I put the hammer down from the start. When I crested the top of the first major climb I was greeted with one of the most amazing views of the sun on the high peaks, and a low cloud layer filling the valley giving the appearance of islands in the sky. I savored the view as I descended towards the mist. I was running alone out front enjoying my time out the miles came and went as I passed the major landmarks of the course including my favorite high mountain lake of all time. I was eagerly greeted by the kids that were helping out at the swift creek aid station who seemed a bit surprised that I had arrived as quick as I did. I didn't linger as I had the goal of hitting the midway point before the 25k runners started, in hopes of avoiding the congestion of passing them on their way out and then passing them again on my return.

I did make it to the turn around a few minutes before the start, was able to swap my bottles and grab sunglasses faster than a Nascar pit stop thanks to the attentiveness of my wife who is a super crewer. I charged back out of the turn around, noted the time on my watch and rode the adrenaline wave away from all of the people. Jon Allen and I crossed paths about 7 minutes after I left the aid station so I knew I had a bit of a cushion, but I knew I had to keep pushing so he couldn't reel me in, and so I could stay ahead of the fresh legs of the 25k runners. I was still in the lead as I a passed the swift creek aid station, and was again stoked by the kids who were happy to see me still in first. Just out of the aid station I got caught by super strong ski mountaineering racing champion Pete Swenson. I am convinced that Pete is just legs and lungs and he hammered past, I kept with my plan of constant forward motion and let him go. He was running the 25k so I was still in a good place. I passed my favorite lake and the aid station folks told me I was the first runner back, which meant that Pete must have gotten off course. Suer enough about 10 minutes after the lake Pete caught me again, but this time we ran together for I while. I knew we were getting close to being done so it was time to bury the needle a bit. Pete finally broke me and pulled away at the bottom of the two huge switchbacks that make the climb up balls pass. He got ahead some but not out of sight and just after cresting the hill I was able to start reeling him in on the final descent to the finish. I passed Pete about 3/4 of the way down the hill and try to hammer to stay ahead. I hit the campground still in the lead and about 100 yards from the finish I spotted my 3 year old daughter Brynlee cheering my in. In a split second decision I scooped her up and started carrying her towards the finish, her extra weight made my calfs cramp and freak out with the extra load, but I hunkered down and finished just seconds ahead of Pete.

Bryn and I finish the 50k together!

I had the perfect race again at the vaquero. I finished in a time of 5:12:50 taking 11 minutes off of my old course record, I had met the goal of hitting the turn around before the 25k start, got to carry my daughter across the finish, and I was able to spend an amazing weekend in the Salt River Range with my family and close friends. We had friends finish the 25k and the 50k, for some it was the farthest they had run, for others it was a huge challenge just to finish, and finish they did. We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying Huckleberry sodas and burgers at the finish line, cheering in runners and swapping war stories. It was one of the best weekends of my life!!

My friend Missy posted some great pictures of the race here.

Gear:

La Sportiva Crosslites

Brooks Sherpa short

Green Layer long sleeve and t-shirt La Sportiva kit

Smith Pivlocks

Ultimate Direction hand helds

Kona Kola Nuun

EFS liquid shot

Nuun Headsweats visor

Outdoor Retailer Summer Market

For many years I attended several trade shows a year when I was working as a buyer for an Scotts Ski and Sports, a specialty outdoor retailer in Pocatello, Idaho. That kind of event gets into your blood. When I decided to go back to school for to become a PA I wasn't able to attend for a couple of years. This year I was able to get down to SLC, not as a buyer, but as an athlete ambassador for La Sportiva and Nuun. I was invited by Trail Runner Magazine to participate in the Uphill Challenge. Apart from the Challenge I was able to check out what La Sportiva has coming down the pipe for next spring, catch up with a lot of friends who work in the industry, and see other friends who had come as athletes. One highlight for me came when I has hanging out with Krissy Moehl and she introduced me to Kelly Cordes. Kelly is a Patagonia Alpine Climbing Ambassador and has been a hero of mine for quite some time. Turns out he is a really cool guy and super friendly!

The Uphill Challenge is a timed event where two athletes hop on a treadmill, side by side, set at 10% incline and they have 15 minutes to go as far as possible by controlling their own speed. In short it is 15 minutes deep in the back of the pain cave. I had done this event a few years ago as a retailer and faired pretty good but this time would be different. Several top ultra and mountain runners were signed up for their 15 minutes of fun, including some of the people I admire and look up to most in the sport- Krissy Moehl, Roch Horton, Anton Krupicka, Scott Jurek, Ricky Gates and Max King to name a few.

I was assigned a time fairly late in the day which gives you the advantage of knowing what you are up against but the disadvantage of waiting and watching people throw down. When my turn came around I was paired with Dan Dehlin who runs for Vasque and was putting the final touches on his prep for the Leadville 100. We were actually very well matched and pushed each other very hard from the start. When the "dust" settled and the blurry vision went away I had covered 1.99 miles, at the time putting me in 2nd place. The last two competitors of the day were Ricky Gates and Max King, two of the strongest trail runners in the US. They both went super hard and finished ahead of me, but not too far. I finished 4th overall, and was super stoked about the results, even though it is only a short 15 minutes on a dreadmill, it helped me to feel pretty good about my current fitness. I took a picture of the results if you are interested to see how some of the superstars of trail running did, and if you want to test yourself go find a treadmill, set it at 10%, set a stop watch for 15 minutes and see what you can do!

Wahsatch Steeplechase 2010- Race Report

Just posted my report of the 2010 Wahsatch Steeplechase over on the La Sportiva Mountain Running Blog- check it out here.

The quick report- 1st place 2:16:00, but check out the report for the details and pics.

2010 Pocatello 50

My legs after 34 Miles of awesomeness at the finish area of the 2010 Pocatello 50. Photo by Tanae Nelson

Well it would be a gross understatement to stay that this year's Pocatello 50 was a difficult run. As many have already reported the race was called off early because of arctic weather conditions including rain, snow, sleet, gusting winds (some estimated 40-50 mph), and very poor visibility on the high mountain ridges (of which this race has many). The start of the race was some of the most pleasant weather of the run, about 35 degrees with a very light drizzle. After the short section of pavement from the start to the Slate mountain trail the lead pack formed, Brad Mitchell and another relay runner were putting down a blistering pace and before the top of the first climb (about 3 miles into the race) they were out of sight not to be seen again. Joe Grant and Scott Jaime were right on my heels and commented that I would be their tour guide for the day to keep them on track. At this point in the race it started to rain a little harder and the trails quickly got greasier and greasier, by the time we descended dry creek towards the Gibson Jack Aid Station it was downright difficult to stay on your feet, the once pristine ribbon of smooth single track became a virtually frictionless slice of slimy mud.

The three of us went through the Gibson Jack Aid station with Joe in the lead, then me followed by Scott. We were all right together when we started to ascend the Wild Mountain climb and the wind started to blow, the rain also turned into a very solid gropple (think micro-hail). I pulled ahead of Joe as did Scott as we switched from run to power hike up the steep off-trail section. With every step the conditions deteriorated, the wind blew stronger and the visibility lessened, by the time we summited it was difficult for me to get on route and I probably know this section of trail better than the back of my hand. It was so cold rime ice was forming on all of the sage brush and on our bare legs, my hands went numb and it quickly became impossible to open a gel or drink out of my now frozen hand bottle. Joe pulled ahead a little on the descent down Cusick creek, but I pulled in to the City Creek Aid station within a minute or so with Scott right on my heels. It was much warmer at the low elevation aid station but still raining and as I passed race director Jared Campbell on my way out of the aid station he asked how it was and all I could think to say is that is was "for real up high". I then charged out of the aid area looking to catch Joe before he put too much ground on me. Before the top of the City Creek trail I had caught and passed Joe, as did Scott who stayed glued to me on the ascent up the downhill course. As we topped out we were once again in the epic wintery conditions, but I knew this time would be worse; we stayed above treeline for longer and we were running straight into the wind, it was very hard to keep positive about how it felt. Scott passed me on the descent into Midnight Creek and commented "it is a different world up here". I ran consistent down Midnight, but started to bonk a little because I was unable to open the gels that I had in my pockets, in desperation I started to squeeze them until they were pressurized and then bite into the package. This would cause them to burst open and I think I probably was able to get a little more than half of the gel in my mouth. At the remote Midnight Creek Aid Station I sipped a little warm Ramen broth and set to work to try to reel in Scott.

Just out of the aid station I had to stop to relieve myself and when I started to run again the bonk came on in full force, since we had been out of the wind for a while now my hands functioned enough to open two gels which shortly after consuming I came around very quickly. In the midst of the bonk though, Joe passed me. Now I had two guys that I needed to catch. Once I topped out of the Monument climb my legs started to feel much better and I began to move really well. I worked very hard to gain back the lost ground, I could tell that I was getting some of it back because both Scott, and Joe's footprints (easily separated by distinct tread and knowledge of sponsors) were getting clearer in the nearly 2 inches of newly fallen snow. As the descent continued the snow turned into 2 inches of super slush and then more sloppy mud trails. About 300 yards before the Mink Creek aid station I was told by a volunteer that the race had been shut down by the race directors and the 34ish mile mark of the Mink Creek aid station would be the finish, seconds later I was caught and passed by a relay runner. It was just after 11:00 am.

At about 10:30 in the morning the race directors made the decision to stop runners at their next major checkpoint. Ryan Mcdermott one of the RD's had been on course on Wild Mountain and saw first hand the carnage that the weather was dishing out to runners, people were very quickly getting hypothermic, disoriented and lost in the area above treeline. After helping several people get back on course and leading some back to the Gibson Jack Aid Station he got into a car and drove around to City Creek Aid Station to speak with Jared Campbell the other RD about stopping the race. Jared wasn't there though, he had gone up on a 4-wheeler the other way to help out runners after hearing reports from people coming into the aid station that runners were in a bad way. Ryan was able to call Jared on a cell phone while Jared was up high and a mutual decision to stop the race was made. I am sure it was a difficult decision to make, but it was absolutely the right decision. Runners were held at the next major aid station after that point.

I ran into the Mink Creek aid station finish line in 5:12:00, just a few minutes back from Scott who finished the Pocatello 50k first, and Joe who finished about a minute behind Scott. All in all I am very pleased with how the race turned out for me. I ran the first 34 miles almost 50 minutes faster than last year and was still feeling very good. My strategy in the race was to run the first two legs fast but save some for the last leg were I had planned to leave it all on the course. I was still within striking distance of both Scott and Joe and feel like there was still a lot of racing to be done. A friend who emailed me a few days before the race said this would be "a great race to compare year-over-year" and I couldn't agree more. There has been substantial improvement and I am nothing but optimistic about what is to come for the rest of the year. A huge thank you needs to go out to my wife Tanae who did an amazing job crewing for me at City Creek, my daughter Brynlee who was an awesome cheerleader and a full-on trooper as she endured the whole day we spent in the mountains, and all my friends and local runners who volunteered to go out on an unplanned sweep carrying clothes and food to help out any runners that may have been in need- thanks Andy, Dave, Jenna, Joe, Cory, and Kevin. On a final note all runners were quickly and efficiently accounted for by the Amateur HAM radio operator group that Ryan and Jared had brought in to help with the event. There were some really cold people out there and runners really worked together to take care of each other during the event. The camaraderie after the event was at a level much higher than I have seen at any other race before, epic adventures have a way of bringing people together, and this year's Pocatello 50(k) was nothing short of EPIC.

Gear:

La Sportiva Green Layer long sleeve race shirt

La Sportiva Fireblades (Crosslites would have done better in conditions, but my neuroma responds better to the fireblade)

La Sportiva headsweats visor

Ultimate Direction Handheld bottle (only drank one all day-no refills)

Nuun- Kona Cola

Sugoi gloves

brooks HVAC synergy short

Finally I didn't get many pictures of the race, if you are reading this and would like to share some of yours please leave a comment.

Pocatello 50 in 2 Days

Well, it has finally arrived. With just two days to go I am very optimistic that my foot has turned the corner, I am well rested, and it is time to race! Pocatello 50 is one of my favorite races to do because it gives me a chance to race in my backyard and show off my stomping rounds to a lot of other runners. It is a difficult course and the weather may be sub-optimal but regardless I am pretty amped for the race and ready to see what dividends training will pay out this year. There is some stout competition coming including but not limited to Karl Meltzer, Scott Jaime, Matt Hart, Sean Meissner, Joe Grant, AJW, Ty Draney, and a whole lot of other guys/gals that on any given day could throw down. I am pretty excited to get back to my cozy corner in the deep dark corner of the pain cave! I'll post a full report after the race.

My Running Tour of Idaho

Well in typical fashion I am way behind in updating this blog. I am working on a post about my trip to Peru, but since I still have a lot to write about I am posting this in the interim. This past week I had the opportunity to go to Sun Valley for the Idaho Academy of Physician Assistants annual conference. I decided to take advantage of the trip so I left my rotation a couple hours early so I could get in some quality runs in on the way.

First stop was in the middle of the desert, the Big Southern Butte. Having grown up in Blackfoot, Idaho the Big Southern was something that has dominated the horizon for a good portion of my life, but I have never been out to or up it. After a couple of quick calls on the way out of town I got decent directions on how to access it and some beta about the route itself. Getting there does require traveling very close to the highly secure Idaho National Lab, but even with its proximity to the lab there weren't any guards in Humvees chasing me down while I past by. I parked at the French Cabin and ran the summit road from there. There was a lot of snow on the road but it was pretty frozen which made travel pretty easy with the exception of the occasional surprise of a hip deep post hole step. The view from the abandoned fire lookout on the top is absolutely amazing and something that should not be missed. All in all round trip is 10 miles with 2700' of gain.

View from where I parked the car, the route goes up the middle and wraps up to the left to the summit that is out of sight in this photo.

I hopped back in the car, drove to just outside of Arco, Idaho and then ran up another area that I had driven by but never been to. Just behind the town of Arco is a dramatic ridge line that has a whole lot of graffiti on it. I ran another 10 miles with 2800' of gain to access a high point then doubled back. The trails covered some amazing terrain that I really wished I had taken the camera for, but that just means that I have to go back again! After the run I jumped in the car and finished the drive to Sun Valley arriving just after dark in time to participate in the pre-conference festivities.

I snuck in an early morning run before the conference on Thursday and then met Hank Dart, Brad Mitchell (teammate on the La Sportiva Team) and a whole crew of other Sun Valley runners at the track in Hailey for "speed work". I had never done a track workout before and although running in circles felt strange I ended up getting a great workout that I would pay for the rest of the weekend. Friday I met Brad Mitchell over lunch to put down the Elkhorn Loop (?) a solid 8 miles in under an hour, Brad went back to work and I tacked on a few extra miles to get closer to the mileage goals of the week. I hurried back to make it to the afternoon classes of the conference while stuffing in some delicious calories (in form of a wrap from Wrapcity in Ketchum) in as fast as I could.

With the conference coming to a close the festivities made it hard to get much sleep that night and although I really needed it, I ended up only sleeping a few hours before I got up to meet Hank, Brad, and AJW for some morning laps on their beloved Carbonate before the final session of the conference. Pictured below, Carbonate is a wonderful ridge line near Hailey that is the host to the only available dirt to be ran in the valley. Starved after a long snowy winter these Sun Valley super stars run laps on Carbo to get miles and vertical on dirt. I indulged in a humble two laps that morning because of time constraints but, AJW had plans of four! Each lap is just over five miles with about 1300' of gain each lap. It is an awesome run! I am very grateful for Brad, Hank, and AJW's hospitality in letting me tag along for some great workouts while I was in town.

Carbonate Ridge as seen from Hailey, the trail climbs from the left to the windsock/pole about where the snow starts on the ridgeline.

I made it back to the conference just in time to catch some amazing lectures on orthopedic injuries and bring the IAPA conference to a close. I had planned to meet my friend Andy in Twin Falls to get in some running in the South Hills that he has been telling me about, but he had a change in plans and wasn't going to be able to make it. Still short on my weekly mileage goals I decided to try to give it a go with out a local trail guide. I drove to Twin without telling Andy I planned on going anyways, I had stopped in Hansen to get gas in my car and while I was pumping a very familiar looking Subaru pulled into the gas station. It was Andy whose change of plans had changed and he was on his way out to get in a mountain bike ride. We were both pretty surprised to see each other and he agreed to show me where to start to get a run in. Well it turns out that with the mix of ascent and descent that the trails in the South Hills of Twin it is a pretty good match for a biker and runner to travel together. We took turns beating on each other for about 18 miles of killer dry single track. I got back to the car with that great feeling of being totally worked!

By the end of my tour of running I was pretty tired but extremely pleased with the things I had been able to see and to experience, as well as being in some pretty amazing company while doing so. I can't wait to get out and visit some of those areas again and look forward to more "running tours" of Idaho and beyond!

2010 La Sportiva Mountain Cup

Announcing the 2010 La Sportiva Mountain Cup Schedule, below is the press release:

La Sportiva brings you the 2010 premier trail race series, highlighting 10 of the best trail races in North America. Whether you are a middle-of-the-pack runner or a podium finisher, this series is for you! You might win, you will have fun!

Get details and sign up at www.mountaincup.com

Race Schedule

4/3/10 Mt. Penn Mudfest 15 km

Reading, PA

5/22/10 Jemez Mountain Half Marathon 13.1 mi

Los Alamos, NM

5/28/10 Rock2Rock Run 10 km

Asheville, NC

6/5/10 RothRock Challenge 30km

State College, PA

07/18/10 Barr Trail Mountain Race 12 mi

Manitou Springs, CO

08/07/10 Squaw Valley Mountain Run 3.6 mi

Squaw Valley, CA

08/07/10 Jupiter Peak Steeplechase 16 mi

Park City, UT

08/08/10 La Sportiva Eldora Trail Race 11 km

Nederland, CO

8/7/10 Mt. Ashland Hill Climb 13.3 mi

Ashland. OR

8/21/10 Up and Over 10 km

Taos, NM

http://mountaincup.com

February Flying By

Family Backcountry Tour

Another month has pretty much flown by, I am not updating as much as regularly as I had hoped for this year. Something to work on for sure. This post is going to be somewhat of a hodge-podge because there are a lot of things that have happened in the last couple of weeks that I need to report on.

First something that is coming up this weekend. One of my favorite events of the year is coming up this Sunday, the Matt Barrett Memorial Telemark Festival and Randonee Race. I am not much of a Teleskier but I thoroughly enjoy a good ski mountaineering race beat down. The race this year will have a long course option that hasn't existed in the past. The course will roughly have 3000' of climbing and 3000' of descent. It will travel over groomed, untracked, off-piste and will have a brutal boot pack to really make your lungs scream. Please tell anyone you think that might be interested, we need good attendance so we can continue to have this event in the future. For those a little less adventurous there will be a short course option about 1200' less climbing/descent on mostly groomed runs. Cost is $25 and race starts promptly at 8:00.

Red Hot 50k

A couple of weeks ago I made the trek down to Moab, Utah for my first race of the year. As I rode down with my good frien Ryan Mcdermott, I realized with each passing mile that it wasn't going to be the race that I had hoped for. I wanted to go down south to get a nice warm run on dirt. Well there was snow all the way to Moab, and the thermometer in the car never topped higher than 35 and that was in Salt Lake when we left. We has dinner that night at Eddie Mcstiffs with Karl and Cheryl Meltzer, Matt Hart, Jared Campbell and Mindy Knoles. We got to enjoy each others company for quite a while because our waiter forgot to put our order in the system and he didn't even offer a discount even though we waited over 2 hours for our food.

The race itself started cold 16 degrees. There was some confusion when the gun (yell) went off because we weren't sure if it was the real one or not. The pace from the start was brisk but manageable on the snow covered road. There were areas of the trail that had snow a little over knee deep which slowed the pace and increased the difficulty. When the 50k course joined up the the 33k course things dried out and the pace again picked up. At this point I had fallen off the lead pack was getting caught by some of the racers that were smarter from the start, including Ty Draney. We finally started climbing again which permitted me to start pulling away again as I am a much stronger climber than flat runner. When I hit the top of Golden Spike I was starting to slip into the cave, so I stopped filled my one hand bottle and then took off again. Shortly there after I got caught by Anita Ortiz, I tried my best to hang on to here but my legs couldn't do it and the extra effort put me deep in the cave. Ty Draney caught me again and proded me to go with him but I just didn't have it and watched him go. I hit two gels in a row and finished my water figuring the aid station should be pretty close. I then got some bad news, the aid station was two miles further away than planned because the jeeps couldn't get in as far as they thought, luckily there was still lots of snow in the vicinity so I started eating as much as I could. After about 15 minutes I started to come around and set my sites on hammering to the finish. I finished in 4:53:00 in 9th which is a 50k PR for me. I was glad I hadn't gone with Ty because he got off course and ended up finishing 11th about 7 minutes behind me. I convinced Matt Hart after the finish to go soak legs in the Colorado river (which had snow on the banks and ice floating down it. He manned up and soaked for about 5 minutes I could only manage about 2 minutes. Ryan had a rough race, finishing a couple of hours after me. Shortly after he finished we hopped in the car and drove to SLC, I then got in my car and drove to Pocatello. I got home around 1:00 am, the next morning I had to go to Pebble to ski patrol, which was pretty rough since I was probably undertrained for the race. It took a couple of days for my legs to come around but all in all I was pretty happy with where I was fitness wise, it also jumped started my training helping to spur motivation to train harder.

I am going to finish off this post with a bit of sad news. Last Sunday a good friend and amazing athlete Wray Landon was killed in an avalanche while skiing the South Teton. Big Wray was an outstanding guy that always managed to to work me over whenever we met up for a run or a race. He never boasted about his accomplishments even though he was phenomenol at nearly everything her did. Wray I'll miss you man! Steve Romeo did a great write up and report on Big Wray over at Tetonat.com (Click Here for the link)

Wray and I on the Podium after Menan Butte Challenge

Wray and I enjoying the beat-down together

Bear 100 Gear and update since race

Well it is about time that I get around to posting what I said I would in the Bear report. If you want to go straight to the gear scroll past this paragraph, otherwise I'd like to take a second to fill you all in on what has been going on since the Bear. I went back to work/school at the Midtown clinic in Ogden where I am doing my second rotation for PA school on Monday. Interestingly enough I saw several patients on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday that were diagnosed with the infamous H1N1 flu. I was starting to feel pretty good, the soreness was almost gone, the one blister I had during the race was nearly healed, a couple ugly toenails had fallen off, when on Wednesday night after work I started to cough... well I got sick, Thursday I woke up with a fever of 103, that climbed to 104 accompanied with vomiting. By 6:00 that night I was on my deathbed, and the wonderful Hall family that I am staying with took me to the Emergency room , where they gave my IV fluids, anti-emetics, pain killers, and anti- fever drugs. A couple of hours and a couple of liters of fluid later I felt a lot better. Sadly the sickness overcame the meds and Friday night I ended up back in the ER for another round of fluids, my blood tests from the day before came back and my flu test which was positive for H1N1, thanks patients at Midtown! My wonderful wife met me at the hospital on Friday night and took me to her cousins house outside of Park City and she nursed me back to health over the weekend. I stayed at the cousins until Wednesday when I felt I had enough strength to go back to the clinic for a half day. During the flu I lost 15 lbs and was lighter than when I started High School, I was pretty weak, but gratefully I was on the mend. I went for a very easy run on Thursday night just to stretch my legs, it didn't feel very good at all like I had hoped that it would. Last weekend I went back to Pocatello and being at home for the first time in 3 weeks was what I needed to get things back together, I went for a 3 hour mountain bike ride on Saturday, got plenty of rest and came back to Ogden Monday for another week at the clinic. This week I got out twice on my bike and tonight went for an hour long run on the Shoreline trail and up Taylor Canyon, I finally felt like a runner again, and man it is good to be on the run!

So after the update here is the gear list from the Bear 100 (with hyperlinks if you want more info on the gear):

Shoes: La Sportiva Fireblade

Socks: Defeet Trail 19 (2 pairs)

Clothes: Sugui 42k split short, La Sportiva Race Singlet and Tee shirt (both sugoi brand), Sugoi Icon armwarmers, La Sportiva team jacket by Sugoi as well.

Hydration: Ultimate Direction Fast Draw extreme hand bottles (4-my crew would have two ready for me at each aid station). During the night I used the Ultimate Direction Wasp pack.

Headlamp: Special make-up Ultrarunning Black Diamond Icon- Thanks Roch! In the morning I used a Black Diamond Ion so I would run slower and could stow it easily once it got light.

To Drink: I used Nuun in both hand bottles all day and at the aid stations at night. I used a lot of different flavors but prefered the Orange Ginger and Kona Cola (on the rocks is the best thing ever!). I also had a couple of Red Bulls, and 2 ensure protein drinks.

Food: I ate mostly gels for the first 60 miles, I had 1 flask of First Endurance EFS Liquid shot, and the entire flavor rainbow of Gu (37 of them throughout the race). During the night I sucked down another EFS flask. I also ate 6 or so Turkey avocado sliders, lots of orange slices, chicken noodle soup, one potato, some very smoked lentils (I ate them in the middle of the night, they had been cooked over the fire and you could taste the smoke), and two bottles of First Endurance Ultragen Recovery drink at the finish. In addition to food I also took about 12 Sportiene chews that were recommended by ultra-running super star Krissy Moehl, it is a type

of herbal anti-inflammatory (no ibuprofen induced kidney failure for me!) it really seemed to help keep the edge off of pain during the race.

Music: ipod shuffle from mile 19 to 60 (ironically I grabbed my wife's without noticing and listened to a little more pop than I would have preferred), once I picked up my pack at Beaver Ski area I switched to Ipod Nano with a pretty heavy metal mix that I used off and on to help fire me up to push hard in the last 25 miles.

Pacers: The Legendary Ryan Mcdermott, and "Fast" Evan Honeyfield.

Crew: My outstanding Parents, Steve and Diane Nelson, for the whole race, my brother in law Casey during the afternoon, my lovely wife Tanae for the evening and night section, and my beautiful daughter Brynlee for 3 aid stations in the evening.

The look I made after running a 50 mile Pr and realizing I still had 50 more to go!

I really can't believe the logistics that it took me to get everything ready for this race, if you have any questions about the gear that I used or if you would like me to do a full on review of any of it just drop a comment and I'll get you all the info I can. I am just finishing gathering pictures of the race and should post a bunch the first part of next week. Thanks for reading!

The Bear 100 Mile Endurance Run- The Full Monty Report

Disclaimer: this is a very long and detailed report, if you just want the finish details scroll down to the last paragraph, also over the next couple of weeks I will be posting photos, gear lists, and other thoughts about the running of my first (but definitely not last) 100 mile ultra.

Well it has been a little over 48 hours since I finished running the Bear 100, and it really hasn't settled in yet. I don't think I ever had my mind fully wrapped around the task of running that kind of distance. Actually I still don't think I have my mind wrapped around it, I mean 100 MILES! That is pretty darn far to cover on your own two feet, let alone doing it in one push. I have to admit that several times (too many to count) before the race I openly admitted that it was a crazy thing to attempt, but I felt justification in the fact that 100's of other people run these every year.

Fast forward to Thursday night before the race, I went to the pre-race meeting to get the info on the course. When I was dropping off my drop bags I joked with Leland Barker the race director that I wasn't sure if I would be capable of finishing, to which he threatened "if you don't I'll have to kick your butt!" I wasn't entirely convinced that he was joking so I made sure to deepen my resolve to finish. To those of you who have been around me much during the last two summers since I started trail racing you know very well how nervous I am the day before the race, well this was no exception, the butterflies were in full effect from the moment I woke up on Thursday until I trotted off of the line on Friday morning. I slept poorly, I had a hard time eating, I was anxious, my resting heart rate was up- frankly I was a mess. All I wanted to do was start running so I could get to the task at hand.

Considering the race as a whole I had an absolutely awesome day overall, I got a little queasy a couple of times but never threw up, even at the thought of downing another gel after having eaten 40+ I was able to keep my stomach contents down. I suffered for a while when I got too hot and couldn't cool down, but none of this really brought me down too far.

I had the opportunity to run the first 9ish miles with ultra-running hot shot Geoff Roes, who turns out to be a pretty nice guy. Geoff, Eric from Montana and I ran together behind a small lead pack, we went pretty conservative and enjoyed the steady climb up and out of the dark while chatting about other races and fun runs that we have done. Just before the Logan Peak aid station Geoff pulled ahead and that would be the last time I would see him. I think Eric stopped at the aid station, and I didn't, so I was alone. As a matter of fact, that was pretty much the last time I saw any other runner on the course. I cruised into the Leatham Hollow aid station a few minutes off of the split that I had hoped for, but given my number one goal was to finish the race I didn't let it get to me. I was glad to see my mom and dad just before the aid station ready to try there hand at crewing for the first time. The had everything ready for me to switch shirts, drop my headlamp, grab my ipod shuffle, switch bottles and be on my way. It was energizing to see so many familiar faces and have them cheer for me as I went by. Things were pretty unremarkable through the next aid station. At the Richards Hollow aid station Pat took good care of me and hurried me on my way.

Just after the aid I caught another runner, he wasn't carrying any water, pack or anything, I don't think he even had socks on, and honestly he didn't look real well. He surged a few times but I eventually passed him and didn't see him again. This section of the course was beautiful, the temps were nice, and the trail very runnable. There was a pretty long section of dirt road that had pretty deep moon-dust that I didn't love but it went by pretty quick. At the Cowley aid station I took a couple extra minutes to try to get some food down, as well as extra water because it was starting to get hot, again my parents took awesome care of me. I cruised out of the aid pretty fired up to push for a while. There was not a lot of shade for the next several miles and my stomach started to complain a little about how I was hitting it with gels so regularly, I slowed a little to try to get it to settle down which it did. As I approached the start of the out and back coming into Right hand Fork I saw Troy Howard just finishing that section meaning he was about a mile ahead. I quickly got to the aid, ate, poured water on my to try to cool off, and just before I left, Casey (my wife's brother who lives in Logan) warned it was a tough section ahead. Great, I thought, a tough section in the hottest part of the day- this is going to be awesome!

Casey was right, it was a pretty tough section, there was very little shade, and my body was starting to complain a little about what I was doing to it. This was pretty much the hardest part of the race for me physically, I was bonking and had a hard time getting things back under control. I ended up jumping in a beaver pond at the top of Temple fork to cool off, and then tempted fate by drinking out of the same creek because I had ran out of water and needed more fluid. I had to dig pretty deep to keep running to the Temple Fork aid Station. Once again my parents were awesome, crewing me like experienced pro's, and with a little extra help from Karl Meltzer about what I needed to be eating I started out feeling a little better. The climb from Temple to Tony Grove was more difficult than I expected and this is probably the lowest point of the race for me, I let things get to me mentally, and really fell of the wagon for a while. It ended up being pretty emotional for me coming into the Tony Grove aid station, I guess for a couple of reasons: I had just gotten over a tough stretch, my feet hurt, I had just broken my PR for the furthest I had ran (previously it was 50 miles in 10:13) now at 51 miles that I covered in 10:13 meaning I also PR'd for a 50 as well, and also my wife and daughter had now joined my folks as my crew. There is nothing quite as awesome as having your 2 1/2 year old daughter say "daddy runnin' fast" as you hobble into an aid station. After a few minutes of foot repair, eating and drinking I headed out, eager to get to the next aid to pick up Ryan Mcdermott who would be pacing me.

The run from Tony Grove to Franklin Basin was gorgeous, I was feeling pretty good, and was super stoked to see Ryan waiting for me just outside of the aid station. Ryan quickly took inventory of how I was doing, and started lining things up to make a quick aid station that would meet all of my needs. I can't express how grateful I was to have Ryan to run with for the next fifteen miles, he was very energetic, extremely supportive, and really helped me to get my head back in the game to start moving quickly again. He snapped things into place at the Logan River aid station, making sure I ate enough, and then hurried me on towards Beaver Mountain Ski area. Ryan's continuous support and watchful eye got things in place and trending the right direction to make the last part of the race a success.

My super crew was ready to rock again at Beaver, they had things already for me, they even rubbed vaseline on some hot spots on my feet while I sucked down some chicken noodle soup- they were awesome. Before I knew it I had left Ryan behind and started out on the last 25 miles with "Fast Evan Honeyfield". I had told Evan before the race that when I got to him we would be leaving it all out on the trail, he had some mercy at first and let me move slow to get my stomach under control from the soup and things that I had eaten at Beaver, but before too long we were pushing right along. We made pretty good time to Gibson Basin, where we were treated to smoked lentil soup, but we didn't stop for long. Just outside of the aid I thought I saw lights coming up on us, and the hammer went down. We ran every step to Beaver Creek aid, where my dad and wife were still diligently crewing, at this aid station we were in and out, I made the mental decision that everything hurt as bad as it was going to so I might as well push. We made good time running and power-hiking pretty quickly to the final aid station- ranger dip.

This time a sucked down soup, tucked a red bull into my Ultimate Direction Pack, and went out ready to bring it home. Evan did an awesome job pulling me forward in this section. He would run just a little ahead, if I sped up, so would he, always just pulling me along. When we crested the hill and looked into the valley one thought came into my mind-shit- it was a long ways down and my legs were trashed. As we came out of the trees Evan spotted a light moving down the trail a ways ahead, without saying a word it was obvious we were going to try to catch up, again Evan led , pulling me on as I tried to keep my sore legs turning over. The descent was long, steep, and loose, but we motored right along.

Just as the trail turned and leveled out, we rounded a corner to come upon a runner with a hand held light- it was Leland. I was glad to see a familiar face, and as we all pushed down the atv trail together he turned to me and said " well I guess I don't have to kick your butt!" I was so happy to hear him say that, it lifted my spirits and tired legs. Leland took point for our running group and led us to the stream crossing just before the finish. As we crossed the river we saw another set of lights ahead, the three of us all sped up a little and in short time we caught up to Phil, who was pushing along having an out-of body-experiencing and on his way to crushing his 100 mile PR. We ran past Phil, he called to Leland who dropped back for a minute then caught back on. As we got to the corner 100 yards or so before the finish line, Leland said his foot started to hurt and he dropped back, my dad was waiting at the corner and he ran the last 1/4 mile in with Evan and I. I was stunned that I had finished 100 miles and all I could really do was sit down on the grass exhausted.

I finished at 3:55:19 am or in 21:55:19 good enough for fourth place. I am very happy that I never threw up, didn't get lost, and not once did I ever think of quitting. My crew-my dad, mom, Tanae, and Casey were the best I could have asked for, THANK YOU. Ryan and Evan were amazing pacers, I am sure that I wouldn't have done it without their support and encouragement. I owe a special thank you to my wife for putting up with all of my eccentricities as I trained and prepared for this, and for my daughter for always being excited for dad to go running. There are so many people from the ultra-running community that shared very valuable advice and encouragement- you know who you are- thank you. I need to also thank all my friends and training partners in Pocatello and beyond who supported me and ran with me this summer, including those who came out to the Tuesday night runs on a regular basis. Also thanks goes out to all of the cool people I met at all the races we went to this summer, thank you for making us part of your extended running family. Finally, I send a huge thank you out to Buzz Burrell, and Laura Fryer at LaSportiva who took a chance on a kid from Idaho and provided amazing sponsorship throughout this summer. Look for more info and pictures from the Bear 100, as well as some fall adventure runs that are in the works in the near future.

Jupiter Peak Steeplechase

First I have to apologize for the blog silence, since school broke for summer (10 days) I have been away from my computer and technology in general at my parents house in Northern New Mexico, I have a lot of pictures and video to post on that later. First things first though- yesterday's race in Park City- the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase. This race is part of the La Sportiva Mountain Cup, and because of that it is a big deal. I had the awesome opporunity to meet some of my Sportiva Team mates- Jason Bryant, Megan Kimmel, Catilin Smith, and Bernie Boetcher plus two other that I already knew- Brad Mitchell and Karl Metzler. Apart from the large number of La Sportiva athletes there were also a lot of other sponsored runners from all over the US.

Ok, there were a lot of big names at the race, "stop freaking out" I told myself, but it wasn't easy, I look up soo much to a lot of these runners and I felt like just walking around with my mouth gaping wide open asking for autographs or something. Also given the concentration of talent I knew that the race was going to be tough, lots of very strong runners. The course itself was right up my alley, it had 3307' of elevation gain/loss in 16 miles, the first half up and the second half down. I enjoy running uphill, I tend to be pretty good at it especially if it is technical, the only downfall to the race is the downhill, I don't love to run down but was hoping to hold my own.

Warming Up with La Sportiva Team mates- Photo Tanae Nelson

I warmed up with a Jason, Caitlin, Brad, Bryon Powell (irunfar.com), and Shiloh Meilke (Vasque). It was cool to be with lots of other people in yellow. After about 15 minutes of warming up I stripped down to the Sugoi La Sportiva Race singlet, Sugoi 42 k shorts and grabbed my Ultimate Direction hand bottle filled with EFS and headed to the starting line.

The race started at a reasonable pace with a lead pack somewhat quickly separating from the rest, as the climb continued the pack kind of exploded with a couple of runners pulling away and the rest of us stringing out behind them. I held about 6th until Bernie Boetcher fellow Sportiva runner hammered by about 1/2 up the climb. Just before the top on the very steep scramble section I passed one runner, who mumbled something about this being a "running race" as we power hiked up the steep section, I pulled back into 6th, but knew it probably wouldn't last because of my marginal descending skills. I have found through this summer of racing that I am much better and enjoy ascending quiet a bit more than it's downhill counterpart. I ran past the false summit and the real summit still in 6th and started the descent, the course wasn't marked really well at this point and I held back a little to make sure I wasn't pulling a repeat of the Speedgoat by getting off course. As soon as I spotted the runner I passed on the last ascent headed the same way I was I turned it up hoping to hold him off at least for a while. I wasn't able to hold him off too long and he passed me going very fast.

After seeing all of the runners at the start I told myself " make sure you finish top ten", I figured that was a pretty reasonable goal, and when I was passed I fell into 7th and felt a little discouraged it didn't leave a lot of room for error. I poured down the hills as fast as I could, but to no avail was passed again, this time by Jon Allen from Logan who is a very talented runner. Okay I said to myself that is it, it is time to hurt and hold 8th. I shifted gears, to a somewhat painful pace and pushed with all my tired legs could do, near the end we turned on to the Spiro trail which has lots of switchbacks and out of the corner of my eye I spotted Brad Mitchell creeping up on me, I opened it up as much as a I could knowing it wasn't far to the finish. I managed to hold him and finished 8th overall in 2:03:01, Brad finished 12 seconds behind me, if he had a little more distance he would have caught me for sure.

The La Sportiva Mountain Running Team- Photo Tanae Nelson

Considering all of the running and road biking I did during my vacation last week, I was very happy with my overall time and effort. The field was very deep, deeper than any other race I have done this year and I feel like 8th was pretty solid. I also had the great opportunity to cool down with the other runners on the La Sportiva Team, getting to know the people you admire as runners is pretty awesome! I am trying to get a post put together of the runs I did in New Mexico while on vacation, including some pics and video from the new flip camera we just bought. Check back soon! Also check out El Vaquero Loco 50k- my wife and I will both be headed to Star Valley Wyoming to race in that this weekend to celebrate her 29th birthday. She will be running the 25 k her furthest distance yet- she is going to do great!