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

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.

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

Wasatch Speedgoat- A lesson from the Pain Cave

What a beautiful morning, Snowbird Tram- Photo Greg Norrander

Saturday I toed the line for the Wasatch Speedgoat 50k, the brain child of superstar ultra-runner Karl Metzler. I have an attraction to technical, elevation laden races and with Karl's claim of the "the toughest 50k in the land", I expected a fun filled day in the pain cave. The race starts at the tram deck at Snowbird ski area, where I think 126 of us lined up, heard some brief instructions from Karl and then were sent off into the first of many ascents. Right from the start one runner took off at what seemed to be a totally unsustainable pace- it was less then five minutes later I caught and passed the runner, pulling into the lead. Sometimes after lots of training and racing it all falls into place, Saturday was shaping up to be that day for me. I felt outstanding- strong legs, controlled breathing, quick pace- it was starting out as one of the best runs I had ever had. After the first climb-descent-climb combination I ran into a speed bump in the form of a moose w/a small calf. Immediately my mind shot to the mental picture of Karl getting chased at Hardrock and I stopped dead in my tracks. I yelled, waved my arms and did all I could to try to get her moving, but all she did was look annoyed. Within a minute or so Christian caught up to me and together we were able to scare her off... frustrated that I had lost the lead I had built I pushed the pace a little to try to get it back, Christian had been training for Hardrock and was FIT! He was on the waiting list and unfortunately didn't get in , but he was clearly ready for this race. It took a while but I eventually I pulled away and put some distance between us. I pulled pretty hard the rest of the way up the climb to the top of the tram, hit the aid station, and hammered on towards the climb over Baldy.

Feeling good at the top of the the first major climb near the tram- Photo Greg Norrander

At this point I was feeling awesome, moving quickly I continued to distance myself from the crowd over Baldy and down towards Mineral Basin, the flags were set clearly but I thought I had read that the course went over the front so I delayed a minute until I could see Christian make the turn as well, to which I promptly charged towards Larry's aid station at the bottom of Mineral Basin.

I hit the aid station, asked for a bottle refill and was told, " go down the road a little ways and turn right", cool I thought let's make this lead bigger, I hit the split button on my watch and I turned it up, striding out down the road, I noticed that the strap on my handheld had come undone when it was filled and fiddled with it to get it re-threaded and then opened it up down the road. After a few minutes of running I started to notice that I hadn't seen a marker in a while and got a BAD feeling, I ran a little further-still nothing then I came across a mess of intersections all unmarked, panic set in, I tried right- it looped right back to where I was-CRAP I missed the turn, I turned around started up the hill only to see Christian coming at me, he was having the same bad feeling and we turned around climbing back towards the aid station. Well about 30 feet from the aid station was the right turn we had missed, I hit the split on my watch it read 18:30- we lost nearly 20 minutes and now I was in around 11th. While fiddling with my handheld I had ran right passed the well marked corner, Christian had dropped a bottle about the same spot and must have done the same.

As you might expect I was mad, mostly at my self for not seeing the corner, I tried not to dwell on it, and put my focus into catching Eric Storheim who was now in the lead. I passed several runners on the climb up sinners pass, and several more on the descent into Mary Ellen Gulch, by the time I hit the double track I was back into third and running hard. I passed Krissy Moehl, who was checking course markers- she told me to "run smart" which actually made me reflect for a second on the pace I was pushing to catch up- I backed off just a little. I rolled into Roch Horton's aid station where Eric and Jay were still fueling up. Roch sprayed me down with cold water and scolded me for not drinking enough out of my bottle's- he was right I had been so focused on catching up I was blowing eating and drinking. I drank some red bull cola, got sprayed again and headed out about 2 min behind the leaders. I knew a big climb was coming and put the mantra of "come on back to me" in my mind. It took a mile or so but I eventually reeled them in, and chose to hang with them for a bit to recover from the effort I had just put in to catch up.

When I figured we were pretty close to the top I made a move to pull into the lead, Eric and Jay dropped in right behind me, we passed Krissy again, just before the top, as we started down the hill I remembered Krissy's advice from the Pocatello 50-"Just let it roll on the downhill", which I did, I pulled into Larry's aid station in the lead, but barely, I grabbed an S-cap and glass of water and headed out right behind Eric who didn't stop at the aid at all. About 100 feet from the aid station the wheels came off my bus, I got really hot, dizzy, and began to have tunnel vision. I stopped running and started walking slowly-I was in trouble. Jay zipped by and I got cozy deep in the pain cave.

Digging deep in the dark part of the pain cave- Photo Greg Norrander

All I could muster out on the climb out of Mineral towards the tunnel was a walk-a slow walk in the park kind of walk. The perfect race was over. I had pushed too hard to catch up and was paying the price. I got to the tunnel aid station had some more coke and hopped into the tunnel-it was cool in there and was a great relief from the heat, I kind of just wanted to lay down in the tunnel where it was cold, but embraced the dark end of the pain cave and started digging to see if I could reel the leaders back in. I let the next descent roll, and hit the climb up the ridge under the tram feeling better- not great but better.

Near the top of the second to last climb-Photo Greg Norrander

I put that climb behind me, descended into little cloud bowl(?) and started up the snow. I was getting real hot again so I stuffed my shorts w/snow and packed handfuls into my armpits to try to cool down, it worked and also kept me moving. Just pass the top of the snow Jay and Eric passed me on their way down a solid 15-20 minutes ahead of where I was. I put my head down and once again started digging in the pain cave. I got some words of encouragement at the top from Jared Campbell, Missy Berkel, and Sarah and Sterling Acree as I turned down the final descent. I pushed with all that I had left down the descent but was unable to catch Eric who finished 1st and Jay 2nd, I finished in 3rd, and after all was said and done was very happy with my effort and how the day ended up.

A few thoughts on the Speedgoat- Karl is sick, he managed to squeeze in 10,748' of gain and the same loss in the course, just when you thought you were done climbing, he sent you down and up again to make sure you were getting your money's worth. Moral of the story, don't get off course, it nearly guarantees a visit to the deep recesses of the pain cave. I loved the race- for some reason I enjoy a good suffer, it really makes you feel complete when you have to push harder than you think you might be able. Can't wait for next year's race-hopefully no scenic detours next time!

Full Results Here

Great Pics by Jared Campbell and Greg Norrander

As Promised.... The La Sportiva Crosslite Review

I said at the end if my last post that there would be forthcoming reviews of some of the quality products I used during the Pocatello 50, well I am going to make good on my word, here you go:

The La Sportiva Crosslite

I have put about 200 miles in my first pair of Crosslites this year, and I am totally impressed. Granted it is not my everyday training shoe,

but I do most of my long mountain runs in them. The fit is nothing short of magic out of the box, I have never been able to pull a pair of shoes out of the box, lace them up and run 20 plus miles in them without a blister, that is until the Crosslite. The have a nice tight heel cup and plenty of room for my toes, the lacing is a little tricky to figure out the first time lacing them up because of the mesh cover, but this is pretty easy to get used. The mesh lace cover really helps keep little rocks and things out of the shoes on loose terrain, which turns out to be a major bonus. The part of the Crosslites that I love the most is the aggressive lugs. They provide tons of traction on snow, mud, scree, and in addition to that they cushion the ride making it a very versatile shoe. In the P50 I was able to charge up the muddy climb (creek bed) on leg two without any difficulties, as well as the snow on leg three without slipping at all (except when I wanted to during the glissade). The shoe drains water and dries very quickly which tops of the features that make this shoe an ideal ealy season and winter trail shoe in Idaho. The shoe is also very light for how burly it is (12.3 oz), I really love how light they are, they are running shoes not hiking boots like

many other "trail running" shoe companies make. The Crosslite is the best trail running shoe I have ever ran in!

As things dry out in Idaho I am going to transition to the Crosslite's trimmed down brother- the Skylite. The Skylite fits pretty much identical to the Crosslite but has a trimmed down sole and only weighs 9.45 oz, they feel like racing flats, the traction is a little lacking for mud and snow but on the hardpack of mid summer it is perfect. For the perfect footwear combo try the Defeet Trail 19 sock coupled with the svelt fit of the Crosslite or Skylite.

La Sportiva Sky Lite

+

Defeet Trail 19

Now go RUN!

Pocatello 50 Tomorrow

Well the big race finally arrived. I am trying to get myself to wind down enough to sleep before the showdown in my backyard tomorrow. It is the first time this year that I have gotten really worked up about a race. This type of anxiety is not healthy, I am a wreck. On the other hand I am confident; I am confident in my training and my ability to gut it out. There are some pretty serious names in the ultrarunning community in Pocatello for the race, including Sean Messner, Krissy Moehl, and some mysterious guy from Connecticut. I am stoked to get out with some of these folks and see what I can do. I have thought and agonized over setting up splits for the race, and I have a general idea, but at this point all I am going to do is listen to my body, be patient (thanks Ty) and run MY race tomorrow. In the end it doesn't matter who wins really, what matters is I give it my best performance and hopefully with all the work that is enough to pull in a good fast finish time and who knows maybe end up on the podium. I am finally getting a little drowsy and this is probably just rambling so I am going to call it a night and try to rest for the big day tomorrow.

The rando race season is on

The last two weekends I have been able to compete in 2 ski mountaineering races; last weekend the Pebble Creek Rando Rally and yesterday the Wasatch Powderkeg. If you aren't sure what randonee (ski mountaineering) races are, they are the purest form of endurance suffering there is. They involve using you skis with climbing skins on them to climb up a mountain then skiing back down said mountain, and then repeat. Depending on the race you may repeat multiple times and maybe even strap your skis to a pack and bootpack up... awesome.

The Pebble Creek race is always a big one for me because it is on my home turf and I am somewhat protective of it, so when a bunch of guys (all of whom looked very fit and had the gear to prove that they were serious) showed up I was a little disheartened. I was glad to see some familiar faces like Zahan Billimoria, but at the same time I was certain that it was going to be a much faster race than I had anticipated. The

course at pebble is very steep, involves two climbs and is relatively short compared to other races. Most of the serious racers aren't really accustomed to the steep climbs so I knew I had that advantage. Right from the beginning we went out very fast and I was able to hold onto the lead until we hit the cat track were Zahan and Scott pulled ahead of me, the rest of the first climb I was redlined trying to make up the ground I had lost. The first transition went very well and the ski was quick. At the bottom once again I had problems getting one of my boot s into hike mode and Troy Barry from Driggs caught up to me as I struggled. The first half of the second climb is very steep, and I knew I had the advantage here because I regularly do interval workouts on the slope, I gained ground on Z and Scott Coldiron steadily and caught Scott right at the top. I could tell he was struggling and pushed as hard as I could to get the leg up, shortly after I passed him I couldn't hear anymore but didn't dare look back. Nearer the top of the second climb I sneaked a peak and saw Troy about 100 yards back but no Scott. I regained focus pushed hard to the top, quick transitioned and pulled into the finish just over a minute behind Z, Troy finished just 3 minutes later. Race stats 2200' of climbing and descent my time 39:56.

Yesterday was the Powderkeg... more on that later today