Dirty Half...Almost Epic

Organizers of the Dirty Half once again put on an amazing race. Thanks to the Footzone crew, volunteers, and all of the sponsors. This race just keeps getting better. Admittedly I was a bit disappointed to not have the stomach for a Down and Dirty IPA after the race, but did enjoy a Taco Stand burrito and Jamba Juice.

As for the actual race, it was almost epic for the Cabas. My wife Katie did her part by cruising to victory in 1:25:27. Her goal was to break 1:26, which she did easily. Her top competitor was to be Lisa Nye, who apparently was sick and wasn't able to race. With Lisa out of the picture, it was Katie vs the clock. Or should I say Katie vs Jeff Browning who battled her the entire way and ended up in an official dead heat. The photo finish showed Browning outleaning Katie at the line. I think Browning was just pacing her to victory, much like he did for Lisa Nye last year. What a gentleman.

As above, I mentioned the race was almost epic. The weather was nice, trail conditions perfect, and legs felt great. Unfortunatley Santi Ocariz showed up and crushed us all. Since the race, as is customary with my neurotic behavior, I have googled Mr. Ocariz to see who this guy was that flew by me, uphill, running a sub 6 minute pace. Turns out he is a nordic skiier for University Wisconsin Green Bay, and also a pretty good runner. All I could dig up was his high school mile time of 4:37. Anyway, he was fit and strong and did a great job posting a 1:17:05.

For me, I was still happy with my 1:18:00 but really wanted to go sub 1:18. Amazing what a difference 1 second makes on your race perspective. I did have a good battle with Mike Condon, Damon Kluck and Nick Miller through 7 miles though. Those guys pushed me hard. I then set my sight on Santi, who I seemed to be reeling in and was within 15 seconds of at mile 8. Come to find out, he had a side stitch that allowed me to gain on him. Once his side stitch resolved at mile 9, he took off again and beat me soundly. Guess I just have to go faster next year.

As for the oddsmaker, he did pretty well with the ladies, but not so well with the men. Top three ladies, Katie Caba, Kristen Riley (1:33:31) and Ahna Jura were all favorites going in and did their job to hold down podium spots. Nice PR for Ahna at 1:34:05. On the men's side, only Caba finished on the podium. Ocariz and Nick Miller (1:18:58) somehow dodged my internet search. They will definitely not be overlooked next year. Nice job guys. Regarding the master's division, there were no surprises with the women, with top honors going to Amy Peterson (1:39:38), followed by Laura Fritz (1:40:56) and Chris Vergona (1:41:48). The men's masters went down totally different than expected. Kevin Hutchins, an apparent ringer from Salem finished first with a 1:23:19, followed by JC Callans (1:25:06) and Jeff Spangler (1:29:10). As for the over/under on Teague Hatfield's quest for 1:30:00, he easily was under with a 1:28:44.

Nice job to all finishers. I talked with many runners following the race. I heard about many new PRs, many off days, some really bad days, but everyone had a good story and another experience to reflect on. Ultimately everyone seemed to have a good time, which is why we do this in the first place.

Now back to training for Cascade Lakes Relay and Haulin Aspen Marathon in August.

Who's in, who's out?

As the Dirty Half approaches, serious questions are swirling. Is Andy Martin's toe really broken? What's all that tape doing on Max King's leg? Are either of them going to run? Is J. Caba really running sub 5 min/mile tempos? Well ladies and gentlemen, the answers are yes, not certain, I don't know, and definitely not. However, Andy unfortunately did reinjure his toe last night, and to say the least won't be 100% if he, shall I say, toes the line. I did also run into Max today at Rebound and he seemed unsure, but leaning towards not. Thing is, even at 50% they would still go 1-2. As for the rest of the heap, I haven't heard of any injuries, and I'm really not in the loop to know if there have been any new additions. In other words, I don't have any useful information to provide. I did find it interesting in my recent blog scan however to find that Sean Meissner just put in approximately 150 miles per week over the past 2 weeks. For those competing with Sean, this can be taken one of two ways. Either he is fit and primed for a stellar race, or he now has massive quads and calves that will demand too much oxygen at a fast pace. Either way, kudos to Sean for his impressive training.

As for the women, I think everything remains the same. I guess they are just tougher.

Look forward to seeing you all at the Dirty Half.