Soda Creek/ Green Lakes Assault

If you ever want to feel slow and out of shape, I have the perfect outing for you. Invite Max King and Andy Martin along for a tempo run on the Soda Creek Trail/ Green Lakes loop. This was actually Andy's idea, and I think I was brought along for one of three reasons: 1) Give them someone to drop, 2) Make certain I know I only won Haulin A because they didn't enter, or 3) Cougar bait.

The three of us headed out at 7AM, chauffeured to the trail head by Andy in his new (used) Mercedes, which has been rightfully nicknamed Princess. Little did I know the ride up would be the last time I would see these guys until the ride back down. Also it would be the last time I would have enough air to speak a full sentence. After a couple of minutes of stretching at the trail head, it was on. Martin took off like a 100m sprinter. Max insisted I follow, which meant not only did I have the pressure of keeping up with Martin, I also had Max on my heels. The first two miles went quick. My heart rate monitor was flipping out because my heart was beating through my chest. I think it was measuring each beat and the lasting vibrations/aftershocks from the beat. At first I wrote off the 186 as a fictitious read, but after two miles unchanged I started to believe it. Then all of a sudden, my legs became deprived of oxygen. Uh oh, we're only two miles into this 13 mile loop. At this point I stepped off the trail and encouraged Max to continue on by. At first he declined, but a few minutes later when he realized I was essentially running in place, he decided to go on through. I eventually reached mile three- 9:40 pace. This was 2:40 slower than my first two miles. Granted the hills got a bit steeper but still, it was like a punch in the gut. I figured now I was going to have to resort to survival mode. I trudged along putting forth a good effort, but comfortably within my limits. I began to ponder about all the possibilities for my abrupt collapse. Thyroid? Anemia? Sinus infection? Tired legs from last week's marathon? They all had merit. Eventually mile 4 passed and I was sub 9:00! Miles 5-8 were a bit better as the terrain flattened out giving me a little reprieve. I eventually reached the turn around at Green Lakes at 1:01:13, nearly 4 minutes after "the others," who kindly waited for me.

After knocking down a gel, it was time to finish up the run. Before the outing started, the goal was to break 1:30:00. This gave me 28:47 to complete somewhere around 4.5-5 miles. They let me lead the way down, I think so they could pass me again. We took off fast, hitting the first two miles at 5:44 avg pace. I once again stepped aside to let them pass and we finished up the last 2-3 at about the same pace. My final time was 1:27:39. "The others" finished in 1:23:44. I did take the liberty to age adjust our times, hoping it would help me out, but I still took last... Andy 1:23:24, Max 1:23:44, Jeff 1:24:48.

The good part of this run is that it was a PR for me. It was awesome to get up in the mountains and hit the trail hard with these guys. The bad, I ran a beautiful 13 mile loop and paid more attention to the rocks, tree roots and horse poop than I did the awesome mountain setting, beautiful lakes and tumbling creek. Overall, it was a great day though. I'm incredibly thankful to have these spectacular trails to run and fortunate to have great people to run them with.

Haulin A at Haulin Aspen

Another race in the books, this one with a happy ending. My first victory on home soil in a race not categorized as a trot (I won the Turkey trot in 2008, which was my first ever victory in Bend).

Well today I wasn't stellar but had a pretty good race. I was able to finish the difficult course (2500 ft elevation gain) in 2:51:19 and actually set a course record, which I'm pretty certain will last until next year when it is broken. Timewise I had hoped to break the 3 hour barrier as it hadn't been done before, and ultimately had hoped to run a sub 2:55:00. I accomplished both, but was a bit disappointed how lousy I felt the last 4-5 miles. I had this vision in my head I would be charging towards the finish line over the downhill and flats, but somewhere around mile 20-21 my quads disagreed with the plan. I started to worry the second place runner was going to swallow me up, but apparently he was also hurting a bit.

The race actually started great. My legs felt nice and fresh and I was able to run a relaxed pace while distancing myself from the field. I thought I had a huge lead on the pack only to realize at mile 12 that someone was only 1-2 minutes back. I caught a glimpse of him on the massive mile 12 hill climb and was convinced he was catching me. I didn't panic though and continued to run as relaxed as possible up the hill. For those who haven't experienced this hill, it is punishing. I whined about it in an earlier post and I will whine about it again in this post. I fortunately today was ready for the multiple false summits and kept plugging away, trying to save something in my legs for the downhill portion. When I reached the top, I was able to change gears and start running some decent miles. I did have a quick spill at the mile 14 aid station, but was able to get back up with only a few scrapes on my hand and leg. Really the next 6 miles of single track were great. I knew I was in for it however because any little rise in the terrain fatigued my quads. By 20-21 the lactic acid set in and even the sharp turns began to bother my legs a bit. I had a little reprieve when I came upon the half marathoners. It at least made me feel fast again as I passed the walkers. Then the fast half-marthoners, Santi, Jeff Matson, and Martin flew by me making me feel slow again. I normally am able to fly down the technical rock section, but today I was slow. Just ask Santi, who I had to pull off the trail for so he could pass me. As each half marathoner passed me, I made certain to check there were no marathoners on my heels. Even though each told me nobody was in sight, I couldn't convince myself of it, so kept pushing on. Eventually I reached the flats and labored through the park for a couple miles before seeing my family, which gave me energy for about 5 seconds. I knew I was close to the finish by that time and that I had enough in the tank to not get passed. I eased up so I could look nice and fresh for my finish line photo and smiled as I crossed the line.

After the race Andy and I were able to enjoy a soak in Tumalo Creek. I swear that can't be much over 32 degrees. As a huge bonus, my sister in law Jeannie and her husband Shay watched our kids for a few hours so I was able to rest while Katie went on a 3 hour run at Tumalo Falls. I actually feel pretty good right now. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Coach Andy has given me a light recovery week before we get back on it. By the way, a little plug for Andy. If anyone is considering a coach, Andy is really good and I would highly recommend him.

jc

Cascade Lakes Relay

CLR 2009 is in the books. Once again, an instant classic. I really seem to enjoy this race. I'm definitely paying for it today though. I can hardly stay awake to write this blog. Having van#2 full of fast ladies definitely has its consequences. On the other hand, it's always fun to win a race!

This year added the new challenge of heat. We were welcomed into the race by mother nature's version of hell. I don't know what the official max temp was, but I think we could build a case for triple digits.

Lets just dissect this picture for a moment:

Note the smoldering heat waves in the background along this unprotected stretch of pavement. This fit athlete is suffering to complete a 7.5 mile, gradual downhill run. If you were to zoom in on him, you would note his skin is bone dry as he lost his ability to sweat about 2 miles back. He refused a rectal temp after his run, so we'll never know his official core temp, but it was up there. OK, so it was hot. Admittedly it probably taxed us a bit, but it also gave us something to rally around.

The guys were great about supporting each other on the course...and at the same time laughing about how miserable the runner looked while in the van. The heat also made for exceptional middle of the night running. How often do you have the opportunity to run in a singlet in the middle of the night in Central Oregon? Actually I've never been awake to know, but guess that it is rare.

We had first class support from some volunteers at one of our checkpoints. For some reason James seemed to attract most of the support. He was definitely our rock star. After already being groped and nicknamed Mr. Goodbody by a 62 year old woman at the first checkpoint, he was treated like a king. Note Martin also enjoying a fan down by Shay. Heck, I even got fanned and shaded during the interview. Awesome!

It was a sight for sore eyes meeting up with the ladies. We were able to whine and cry to them while they politely listened. I think Jill and Laura were able to enjoy the heat a bit before the sun started to set. The rest of the ladies had awesome twilight running. While they pounded out the miles into Silver Lake, we enjoyed the sunset.

After some time hanging out and a much needed mug of coffee, it was our turn again. The next stretch of running was on dirt and cinder roads. Martin drew the short straw and was dealt the ankle breaking wash board section of road. Aside from James ripping his hamstring, I think the rest of us all enjoyed this section of running. I know I did.

After again meeting with the ladies, who graciously ran in the wee hours of the night, we booked to La Pine with the hope of catching some sleep. We were able to see that we had already caught most of the teams running. We were surprised to see however there was a team way out in front of us. They began the race four hours before us, so we weren't threatened by their overall time, however we hoped to cross the finish line 1st. After a somewhat fruitless attempt at sleep, the phone rang with the ladies on their way. Time to rally again. I was really happy that just hours before, I switched legs with Teague, so now he was running the first leg. He definitely stepped up and ran a nice section. Andy and I ran the next two legs before handing off to Ryan, who was able to take a short break from the Honey Bucket to pound out a 6.1 mile uphill section. This was just a warm up for the real show that took place on the now famous, somewhat tarnished leg 29. Lets just say a picture is worth 1,000 words....
For the truly daring, video of this event is available upon request. Huge kudos to Michael for being a gamer. The Coors Light drinking male volunteers were really impressed.

Well, we gave it our all, but never did catch the group in front of us. The ladies were able to close the gap but ultimately we crossed the line about 10 minutes behind. Nonetheless, another victory in the CLR. What a great experience with a great group of people. Thanks to all my teammates for the good times. Special thanks to Footzone and Rebound for the sponsorships. Look forward to next year.