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.

Just for the sake of updating

Because this has become such a popular blog, now with 5 people reading it, I feel a sense of commitment to update, even if I don't have much to say. If you really want to read something fun, visit Sean Meissner's blog and read how he puked for 50 miles while running Western States.

As for me, training is going well. Fast Forward Andy has me putting in 70+ miles per week with many quality miles. The miles will increase after the Haulin Aspen marathon in 3 weeks as I prepare for Twin Cities in October. Last night Katie and I received an entertaining email from the elite athlete coordinator from Twin Cities in response to our plead to let us into the race. Not only did they grant us each a spot in this year's race, which is full, but they comped our entry and qualified us as elite entrants. We received another email about keeping our schedules open the day before the race for interviews etc. That will be the day! Anyhow, it was a very gracious gesture on their end, and it sets into motion our training plans for the rest of the summer.

Next on tap however is defending our Cascade Lakes Relay title. You never know who will show up, but for now, I think we are the solid favorites. I'm just looking forward to hanging out with our teammates. We all had a blast together last year. As of the date of this post we are searching for another male runner as Mike Condon had to drop due to injury. If you read this and are interested, leave me a comment.

A week after CLR is the Haulin Aspen marathon. I ran what I thought was the upper section of the course the other day and instantly became less excited about the race. What a brutal hill. For those who haven't had the pleasure, it's two miles of horrendous climbing near the top. Not only is it steep, but the footing is poor and there are like 10 false summits. Additionally, this comes after 6 miles of moderate climbing. No wonder 3:00:00 hasn't been broken. Who set this course anyway? We'll see what these aging legs can crank out.

So, if all holds well, Fast Forward Andy will get me trained for a sub 2:30:00 this year at Twin Cities. If I don't, he can consider himself fired. On the other hand, he is one of the five readers of this blog, so maybe I'll keep him. Time will tell.

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.

Two Week Countdown

Here we are, just two weeks out from race day. With the loss of Steve, it's taken awhile to get my mind back into training. The memorial service put on by his family and friends was very nice. It was a great tribute to Steve. Personally it helped to provide some much needed closure. It has allowed me to adjust my frame of mind into making every day count. Steve was lucky to have such a loving family and close network of friends.

As for the Dirty Half, I think it's going to be a fast year. Mike Condon continues to show his fitness, most recently winning the Duel in the Desert duathlon, road bike division and also placing high in the PPP with an awesome 1:51:31. Mike Olsen is also breaking out of his winter hibernation and cranking out some fast TPG workouts and showing his multisport skills, winning the Duel's mt bike division over the weekend. Vegas might have underestimated Olsen's fitness level. He might be someone to bet on, if we were really betting.

This AM I had the opportunity to run with Damon Kluck and he seems to be in great form. He and I cruised to an easy 1:23 training run on the Dirty Half course, dropping Andy Martin by 2 min. Let it be known that Andy hurt his foot last weekend, forcing him to take several days off. He blames me for his foot injury, but really I had nothing to do with it. Anyway, he has tried to make up the missed miles the past two days posting back to back 18 mile days. He was nonetheless a bit fatigued today and couldn't kick the last 2 miles with Damon and I. Regardless, I'm sure Kluck had some fun dropping him, I know I did. You just don't get that type of opportunity very often.

So, let the taper begin. Just some fine tuning over the next two weeks. I'm looking forward to the race and seeing what kind of times these guys are going to run.

Remembrance of a Fallen Competitor

As we are all trying to process the tragic news of Steve Larsen, I just want to pay my respect to Steve and his family. Steve was the ultimate competitor, an extremely gifted athlete with the heart of a champion. Steve always seemed to be amazingly fit despite his busy schedule as husband, father of five young children and business owner. I always wondered how he did it. To me, it displayed his commitment to excellence and discipline. Unfortunately I didn't know Steve on a more personal level aside from the pre and post race interactions, where he was always humble and cordial. I just assumed over time I would get to know Steve better, perhaps even train with him. Steve was the cream of the crop. His early passing is equally confusing as it is sad. I hope somewhere along the line his family can find peace. I can't even begin to imagine their pain. Please join my family in praying for Steve and his family.