Racing Weekend

Well not for me but for friends.

Olga at Bighorn
Parts of the Bighorn course is under a lot of snow. According to the website the ranger station for the 100m turnaround and the 50-mile race start is under 3 feet of snow and will be unaccessible for the race, course changes are in effect. We ran the race together last year, pacing each other, almost a similar set up to Bob and Tom's race plan for KM100 this year. It was as painful as it was beautiful. I still remember telling her something like, "90+ miles and I am still in awe of how beautiful this place is but I feel like sh*t and my feet are trashed yet again!" It's the longest I've been out on a race course (30.5 hours) and the only race where after I finished I just wanted to curl up in a hole for 24 hours or more. Here's our photos and the report from last year, it really is a beautiful course but hard. Wet and muddy it can be heinous especially if your feet are like mine, sensitive to blistering when wet. The Russian Ultra Gal will be at it again on the course. You crazy lady, you crazy! I called her this afternoon and I had caught her at dinner with some of the runners including Steve Ansell. The other big news besides the course changes is that they are giving out buckles this year. Last year they gave out watches and a large Asics duffel bag with "Finisher Bighorn 100-miler" on it. The bag has gotten a lot of use but I'd go back for a buckle.

Where'd the trail go? We were actually lost at this point and saved by runners yelling at us from the proper trail. This is 90+ miles into the race. Dirty, smelly, beaten and blistered but still laughing and smiling. It was what it was.

IMCDA
Jessica, Brian, Jennie, Chris, Malik, Kara, and a bunch of other friends at Ironman Coeur d'Alene in Idaho.

"I get to the airport and NOW I am nervous and/or excited.
I need a drink."

I got this text yesterday afternoon from my good friend Jessica. A big group from our club is going, so many friends, so many people in one race. Most of them are already there with parents, significant others and friends arriving today for the big weekend. For those of you not familiar with the Ironman distance format it's a; 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a marathon for the run which is 26.2 miles. For you folks who like it in kilometers, multiply the distance by 1.6.

Left to right: Kara, Brian, Chris, Jennie, Jessica and Malik at the IMCDA send off dinner last Saturday night.

PCTR's Pacifica 50k
I'll be here as a volunteer and will be cheering on my friend Eddie Swanson. He succeeded me as our triathlon club's volunteer run director (thanks for taking the job Ed!) and is running his first ultra. He's working himself up to 50 miles so he can run a 50-miler when he turns 50 this coming January. Ed's tough and has been active all his life. Last year he did the Vineman Ironman with two sore shoulders and sore ribs from two separate bike crashes. I think he even had a modified swimming stroke to get him through the 2.4 miles of swimming. He'll be fine in ultra. I can't imagine swimming with sore shoulders and ribs for 2.4 miles, then riding a bike, the run must have been the least painful of all the events.

So there you have it. I will be busy looking up results this weekend, both for Bighorn and IMCDA. At some point in the weekend I'll see about getting a 6 hour run in.

Nothing crazy here, just breaking in a pair of Vasque Amps. I've never had them and they are a discontinued line but the $30 price tag was hard to resist. Thanks Chihping Fu for the heads up on the sale. If I get 200 miles out of them it will be worth it, something tells me I'll get more than that though. Lighter than my beloved Velocity's but surprisingly it requires more break in time.