Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim 11/3/2012

After my last race, I resigned myself to two weeks off to let my body recover from a year of training.  I switched my focus to climbing, however I realized I had a three day weekend with nothing planned.  Craving a little adventure, and some exercise I decided to drive to the Grand Canyon and run rim to rim to rim in a day.  I think deep down I really want to be an ultrarunner instead of an ironman athlete.  However, I really want to qualify for Kona, so will probably try working on qualifying for a few more years before switching... I don't think I could have chosen a better time to run rim to rim to rim. There were few mules, few hikers, cooler weather, the north rim road was open, and water was still turned on at Cottonwood Campground, Bright Angel Campground and Indian Gardens. I borrowed an ultraaspire trail running pack, from my friend Leslie on Friday and headed out to the Grand Canyon.  The drive was long, but entertained myself, listening to some Japanese CDs I checked out from the library.  There was a prescribed fire on the North Rim, diminishing the road visibility the last half hour of the drive.  Finally, arrived at the trailhead around at 1030pm and crashed in the back of my car. 

 At 3:40 am I decided to wake up.  For breakfast I had a peanutbutter, honey and banana sandwiches and an ensure.  Then I stuffed the pack with fuel, water, climbing tape, my phone, waterpurifying pills and chapstick.  Finally convinced myself, to leave the comfort of my heated car around 4am.  At 8241 feet on the North Rim it was freezing cold 27 degrees.  Good thing I had a longsleeve shirt, jacket, hat, gloves, should have brought some tights.   For inspiration I wore the shirt of a cancer patient who is an amazing person and ultrarunner.

I loved the sense of freedom!  No pacing, no mile markers, just a little explorer in an amazing place. The North Kaibab trail descended steeply down some dirt switchbacks. I focused on holding myself back to save energy for the full day ahead.  At one point the switchbacks continued along some massive cliffs, I couldn't wait to see this on the way back in the daylight.  I forced a few gus as I descended down the trail.  At the Cottonwood Campground (4080 feet) I had a granola bar, and after searching in the dark for some water unsuccessfully.  I still had some water in my pack, so I decided to continue on for another 7miles to Bright Anel Campground.    The grade was more mild and the canyon narrowed.  I loved running along this part of the trail, winding through the canyon alongside a river.  I  Arrived at the Bright Angel Campground (2480 ft) as the sun was rising.

Some people pointed me to the direction of water, I filled my pack up, and had a mini snickers bar.
I saw some other crazy trail runners headed the opposite direction which was fun. 14 miles completed  having dropping about 5,729 feet.  

From Bright Angel Campround it is about 9.5miles to the South Rim.  I started running again and reached the spectacular colorado river. 

      

After Crossing the silver Bridge, the trail continued along a sandy trail next to the river.

The trail eventually departed the river and meandered through a gully of sculpted sandstone.

Reached the Indian Gardens (3800 ft) and filled up on water.  The water was right on the trail.  Now for the uphill grind for 4.5miles.  I had another snickers bar and continued onward, from Indian Gardens to the rim I beleive I walked most of the way. 



The veiws down into the canyon, were a little blurry because of the smoke from the prescribed fire on the North Rim.  Below is a picture of the trail on a smokeless day

The upper trail was steep.  There were some fun rock arches to hike through. I struggled taking a picture of myself in one of the tunnels and somebody graciously offered to snap a picture. Traveling up to rim I only passed five mules.   I also saw some mountain goats.

I finally arrived to the South Rim, 6869ft! The South Rim temperature was perfect! I gulfed down my pb/honey/banana sandwhich enjoying the magnificent panoramic view. I also had a few peices of beef jerkey and a snickers. Unfortunately I lost my visor, somewhere along the trail.

I searched for a place to refill my water, and then looked for the South Kaibab Trail.  I should have studied this area on a map beforehand.  This was confusing, there were no signs, and being stubborn I didnt ask for directions.  After walking a while, I stopped at some building and asked if I had passed the south kaibab trailhead,  the lady working told me it was a ways and there was a shuttle that I could take.  Then I started breaking down mentally.  Maybe I should just take a shuttle, how far is this trail. While walking and thinking things through in my head I ran into a ranger, I asked how far the trail was and she told me 3.5 miles.   





Sweet! 3.5 miles much better than 10...Now I had a reasonable number to focus on.  The south rim was warm, and my legs, were tired, and my visor was missing.  Was I really going to run another 25miles?  Yes, no worries I can do this I told myself.  For being flat and paved, this section of the trail seemed difficult.  Somebody passed me on a bike, and it is the first time since my race 2 weeks ago, I really wanted to bike.  Looking at maps afterwards, it looks like I walked about 6.5 miles. I enjoyed the spectacular view points along the rim trail. 

After the longest 6 miles, I finally reached the trailhead at 7260 feet.  I refilled my water pack, grabbed a gu and headed down the steep switch backs.  Once on the trail, my energy rejuvinated! So once again meandered down the grand  canyon, on multiple switchbacks.  My aches in my legs vanished, as I passed multiple hiking parties.  Mentally I was back into my little adventure.












The South Kaibab trail provided a sense of exposure and vastness. Below is a picture of Cedar Ridge on a clear day.
 

From Ooh Aah Point, the trail continued downward along a rideline to Cedar Ridge.  Cedar Ridge is point protruding out of the smoke.  The section of the trail was exposed, but not too bad without a visor. 









 From Cedar Ridge, the trail had a short section without switchbacks, but don't worry that only lasted for a breif amount of time.  The trail approached an amazing section next to limestone cliffs.  Winding down I finally reached the Colorado River again, and crossed a different bridge (a black suspension bridge).  I met a few runners here that I had met earlier in the am heading in the opposite direction.  We exchanged greetings, and I continued on the the Bright Angel Campground/Phantom Ranch at 2480 feet.  From the South Rim to the Bright Angel Campground via the South Kaibab trail is about 7 miles.   At this point, my body was tired, but still had energy.  37 miles down, only 14 miles left.  I hoped to reach th North Rim for the sunset.  Therefore, took a short break, refilled my water had a gu and started on a slow jog.

 From Bright Angel Campground, the trail was slightly uphill, so I was able to jog along the river. I loved running in the narrow canyon, across bridges and took a lot of pictures.

Unfortanately, the trail left this shaded narrow canyon and headed up a sunny dry dirt trail to cottonwood campground.  I ran out of water, hiking to the campground.  If I ever do this little adventure again I will have to make sure I drink plenty of water at the Bright Angel Campground and make sure that my pack is filled full of water.  At the Cottonwood Campground my legs were definitely fatigued.  Maybe I should have hiked down the South Kaibab Trail, instead of jogging.  In the daylight, it was obvious where the water was to refill my hydration pack.  I think from this campground, I walked most of the way up to the North Rim.  The trail  stayed in the valley and slowly approahed the red cliffs. 

 The trail continued by a beautiful river, eventhough the canyon was opening up

 I loved when the trail reached the red Limestone cliffs. I had to take pictures before the sunset. My back starte bugging me a little from my pack, so I carried the pack in different ways to give my back a break.  I pushed through a bunch of little nags from the beginning of the run.  Sometimes the nags would come and go.  Hopefully, I didn't do any major dammage. 

 Almost made it to the top before sunset.  Ran into a hiker, that went from south rim to the north rim in a day who graciously took a photo.  Love the photo because it shows the Johnny shirt.

 So from the North Rim to the South Rim I consumed about 4 gus, 2 snickers, 2 granola bars.  On the South rim I had some jerky, pb/honey sandwhich, a couple fig newtons, and a snickers.  From the South Rim to the North rim I had 2 snickers, 2 granola bars, 4 gus, and some organic energy sport chews.  I think I did a good job, fueling.  I started getting a little naseau near the end of the day.  It would have been nice to have something other than water.

Only 15 minutes to the top of the rim, I found a great spot to watch the end of the sunset. Yay!  Ran into some hikers, who took my picture. After watching the sunset from here, it started to be chilly, so I put on my jacket again.   I arrived at the North Rim around 7pm.  At the top of the rim I talked with the hikers who took my photo as they waited for some others in their hiking group.  They were from Saint George.  I loved what one of them told me.  She said she wanted to live her life so that she could say, "Wow what a ride."  What a great way to describe my little adventurous day.  They told me about Jacobs Inn. 

Jacobs Inn is about 40 miles from the North Rim.  I was psyched, real food!  And it didn't disappoint!  So delicous!!!!! However, after 50 miles I think everything tastes delicious.  It was a little pricy, but I was starving.  I had the best soup, and crackers as well as a steak, vegetables, and a potato.   They had 14 different types of cookies.  I ordered a chocolate chip cookie with walnuts.  After dinner I sat by a fireplace for a half hour, then decided to look for a camping spot. 

Found a free place to camp close by.  In the morning went back to Jacob's inn for a few cookies.  My whole body was sore.  Next time I attempt hiking 50 miles, maybe I will hike a little more, to prepare my legs.  My comfortable asics running shoes treated me well with no blisters!  My body was tired. Started the beautiful drive home, and decided to take a small detour to Bryce Canyon.  What a beautiful place!   What a great trip!   

Pumpkinman 10/20/2012

Last race of the season!  I left Salt Lake Friday afternoon, with my packed car, excited to race a hilly course in Vegas!  Well actually I was excited for the bike ride anyway, I still struggle on hilly runs.  But I was hoping to have a good run with all the track work I put in this year.  I wanted to participate in this race to help me for the Saint George Half Ironman and IM CDA next year, both of which are hilly courses.  I stayed the night in Saint George with my GT mom, who always makes me feel special.

The next day before the race drove to Lake Mead for a swim, bike and run.  The water was warm, which for some reason I really hadn't planned for.  Somebody told me the water temp was in the 80's, so I was a little worried, about the swim.  My tri shorts are loose, and the bottom of my tri kit is loose too, which would cause a lot of drag.  So I was thinking of wearing my swimsuit over my tri kit. 

Picked up my race packet, which included a water bottle!  I love when longer races give you a water bottle, I wish they would do this for Ironman races!   Then I can abandon an old, mildew stained water bottle at the first aide station :)   I ate a delicious salmon dinner at the Cheese Cake Factory in Henderson. I found a great place to camp in Boot Leg Canyon, not really sure if it was legal. Watched the stars, and listened to some coyotes before falling asleep. I slept great except having to urinate in the middle of the night. The unpleasant fortune of being hydrated for a race. Woke up at 5 to eat a banana a bar and an ensure.  Then preparation for the race...I think I will do another post about this later.  Before the race started I met Dan from St George which was fun.  We always seem to run into eachother at events in Vegas and St George.  I was excited to know somebody who was racing!

SWIM

We swam in Lake Mead, starting and finishing at the Boulder Beach south access ramp. Turned out the race was wetsuit legal. Yay! Actually I like not swimming with a wetsuit, if I would have bought a speed suit.  The swim was a little hot in a wetsuit, but not too bad.  The female wave was small, so felt lonely on the swim, which is kind of unusual.   My hips really bothered me on the swim for some reason, I think it might be related to my tight hips.  This happens all the time to me in open water though.  I felt like I stayed on course for the most part.  Althought with the lack of swimmers, I felt I had to sight more frequently.  The swim was uneventful except for a foot cramp near the end of the swim...Which is kind of random, because I hydrated well for the race with gatorade.  My swim time was 33:40. 

T1
Struggled with my wetsuit like usual.  So thankful for flip flops, to run on the chip seal road, we probably ran a quarter mile uphill to the bikes. My feet are very sensitive so sometimes I even bring socks to the beginning of races so I don't have to walk to the water bare foot.

BIKE

The Bike course was definitely not the easiest, but I actually loved the hills.!  There was a little wind too, but I think we kind of lucked out.  When I did silverman, once I was blown off the road.  I have been working on hills a lot this summer. After exiting transition we turned right onto  the chip sealed Lakeshore Drive, making the course even more challenging.  Not sure when, but caught up with Amy, the first place woman.  We kept playing leap frog for a while.  We finally turned off the chip sealed road around mile 10.  The rest of the ride had smooth roads!  What a great place to bike!   We biked 14 miles out along the Northshore road and then turned back, so we could see our competition.  It seemed like I had gained some ground on Amy, but she was not too far behind.  No males passed me during the bike :) 

The racers were spread out.  I picked a guy in the distance and tried to catch him, which eventually seemed to happen.  The bike ride was a little lonely.  However, I actually saw this awesome spider in the road, I think it was a tarantula.  We finally rode by Boulder Beach, and turned onto the River Mountain Loop Trail.  For about 5.5 miles we biked up a 4.3% grade, then a 6% climb for about a mile.  I felt strong and pushed hard.  The three aid station were perfect for me to stay hydrated.   My stomach felt good on my bike, so I was hopeful that on the run the same would happen.  Bike time was 3:00:39 (I was psyched last year I did almost the same course at Showdown at Sunset where the swim was cancelled and my bike time was 30 minutes slower)

Here is the elevation map of the bike course...












T2-When I was almost ready to leave transition I noticed, Amy had just biked into transition...She must have been right behind me the whole bike ride.  Great, bring on the run.  Grabbed a small container of pepto chewable tablets just in case...

RUN

 

 

So the run course was a out and back loop twice.  So basically we ran down for three miles, up three miles, down three miles and ended up with about a three mile climb.. 

 

 

The first few miles I felt solid.  But now looking at the paces, looks like maybe I went out too fast.  First mile was a 7:22. I carried some peptobismo tablets, which I took at mile one, because my stomach started gurgling. I ended up taking a few at mile 2 and prayed I wouldn't have a problem.  I knew if I used the restroom Amy (runner on the right) would catch me. 

A little after mile 3 I saw Amy was not far behind me, and keeping up with me.   At all the aide stations, I could her asking for nutrition. When I turned around to go uphill I gave her a thumbs up.  Oh boy now for the uphill.  If I push hard uphill I might be able to gain some ground I told myself.  My friend Jen's saying, "you rock at hills" I kept repeating in my head.  My miles were around 8 minute miles uphill, so not too bad for me.  However,  I could tell Amy, on the right was gaining on me when I turned around, the aide stations were great!   I only wish they had everything ready to hand to me.  I think I am spoiled :)  Most of the volunteers were teenagers.  So thankful for the volunteers who make these events possible!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I was still leading and told myself to just keep up the good work, but it was tiring even on the downhill.  I struggled knowing there was an athlete right behind me hunting me down.  I saw Dan who I cheered on and he told me I looked strong, which made my day, because I wasn't feeling strong.   I kept hoping I was gaining ground, but to no avail.  Amy passed me around mile 10, which was a little rough mentally, especially because it was right before the uphill, I tried focusing on my form, making quick strides, swinging my arms.  However, my body just didn't want to go..  My slowest mile was 8:55.  Near the end of the race I could still see Amy in the distance.  I thought maybe the last mile I could push myself hard, where the course flattens. Gained a little momentum when the course flattened out, near the end of the race, but to no avail.  Great job Amy!  She was so kind to me after the race.  I love when that happens!  I am happy with my run even though it wasn't spectacular.  I felt I pushed myself hard on all three events.  My Run time was 1:45:14.   

 

 

 

Only 7 males beat me ended up with an overall time of 5:24.  I ended up not having to use the restroom during the race!  But had to immediately afterwards. I don't understand why race directors don't put the portapotties, closer to the finish line!  Probably for the spectators :) 

 

After the race took the shuttle back to Lake Mead, and picked up my belongings and drove to GT mom's house in Saint George.   In Saint George I was getting ready to shower, and realised my jersey was on backwards all day!  How funny, nobody said anything to me all day...I guess that is one con to camping out before a race, you might put your jersey on backwards in the dark...

 

Thanks to all my friends who wished me luck before my race, and trained with me!!!!!  Thanks to Mill Creek Cyclery for tuning up my bike, and thanks to my coach for helping me improve throughout the year!

Red Rock Relay 9/7-9/8

When 5 of some of my favorite coworkers, invited me to do a relay race, it was hard to hold back my reservations.  The race began at 11,000 feet at Brian Head Ski resort then traveled through Dixie Nat’l Forest, Cedar Breaks, Snow Canyon, St. George, and ended at the entrance to Zion National Park.  I loved working as a forester in southern utah and attending SUU, so I was excited about the course.  A beautiful 187 mile 2 day adventure.  If you have never run a relay this youtube video might help explain the rely race. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL1hLU_LBvs  

Well actually our adventure started on Thursday afternoon at Devonee's place.  Once we managed to fit all our gear, including Dev's big old sleeping bag, and Heather's air matress we had to stop and eat at Costa Vida.  The perfect way to start out an adventure-good food!  So on the way down we listened to some good music, and some country.  But the most entertaing was the you tube video I need to poop. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_I4yHAQGJ8   Six nurses listening to pooping jokes, turned into a great time by all...However, the driver was a little distracted and forgot her speed.  Unfortunately the cop thought we were headed to Vegas.. He delivered a 15 minute lecture about being safe was more important than holding our bladders...  We finally found the little cabin, were we met the other half of our team.   Jen, a great organizer,was in a van with 5 guys for 2 days.  Lucky or unlucky depending on how you look at it.  The 5 guys were super kind and helped us open our luggage container on top of our van.  They proved to be some of the best cheerers on the course.

The Cabin was great and close to the start of the race.  There were tons of stars, so nice to be away from Salt Lake City.  We were all ready for bed when we finally decided where to sleep and Kirsten (Momma K) had her Teddy bear, and big purse.  We woke up early, took some photos at the race start of our team Double Slap.


Brooke was our first runner, and missed her morning coffee.  She was amazing working a night shift Thursday and then running Friday morning.  I ran with here for the first mile, and then rode the ski lift at Brian Head.  The lift was a little chilly, but provided beautiful scenery.  Unfortunately Brooke had a little altitude sickness and threw up near the end of the ride.  Quite the trooper.  She ran downhill on a trail and passed off the slap stick to me.   Here is Karen and Devonee, waiting to cheer me on.

For my first ran I ran 3 miles uphill from Brian Head.  First of all I don't really like running uphill, and I think the altitude made the run some really tough.  My second mile was 11:25 pace.  Averaged a 9:43 pace.  Then I handed off the slap stick to Dev who had an 8.4 mile run, thankfully her knee did very well.  The Aspen leaves were just beggining to change colors, which made for beautiful scenery.  We saw this amazing runner carrying a flag, for the whole 8.4 miles.  Our pharmacist Karen was able to provide him with some drugs...
 
We also saw a hot dog guy multiple times



We went to see cedar breaks, which was breathtaking. 




Kirsten's turn, somehow she managed to run without her purse. we drove through some beautiful lava fields, and our other van found us in the lava fields. The other van had an awesome blow horn to cheer the runners on...And there is our pharmacist K with some pills and sunscreen, or maybe just markers for our van. 





Then pharmacist K, with an amazing running form ran through some Aspens...Here she is taking a water break with Momma K
  

Coach Heather always wrote down our splits and recalculating our estimated finish times.  She finished our last leg of the run and passed the slapt stick to the other van. 



Drove Down the beautiful Canyon to Cedar City, we could see Zion in the distance...


Found some time to swim in the awesome gym at SUU, that had an indoor climbing gym.  Man why didn't they have this gym when I went to SUU.... I saw my good friend Liz outside the gym and talked to her for a while.  My second run started at 6:18 pm.  It consisted of a fairly flat 4 miles (7:17 pace) Here I am hydrating before my run, next to my sexy coach ;)

Mile 1 was easy and then I turned into the wind for mile 2 and mile 3, the last half mile was uphill.  My van was amazing with their support at every mile.  I wish every training run I had a support crew to hand me water, and cheer me on!  Had to run in a sports bra, I just hate being hot when I run...




The sunset was amazing!  We watched Kirsten run the long dirt road while we took pictures. 


Thankfully I didn't have to run on the dusty road.  After we finished up our second leg we found some flat grass by a church to sleep for a few hours.  I managed a night of camping without my Bivy.

The other team called us when they were 10 minutes out, so Brooke had no time to get ready. But she looks perky despite not having coffee.


 I started my third leg at 3:42am.  The 10k was uphill and then most of the run was downhill so I had a fast pace (6:54), despite having a broken head lamp.   When we finally met up with our other team, we found out their bare foot runner had twisted his ankle.  So I volunteered to run his leg.  Inwardly,  I was kind of excited, because then I would almost have run a marathon with in a few days, and I like a challenge...Around 8 am, I ran 7 miles and at 7:43 pace...


Below is Heather waiting to hand me my water bottle, and Kirsten drinking her Target health drink to stay strong and slim.


Then we went to kneaders for a delicious all you can eat french toast!   Afterwards we drove to the finish.  Our team finished in the heat of the day.  The other van was smart and bought a hose to keep their runners cool.


 We finished in about 30 hours.  Here is our stinky running vehicle, that we decorated the last day.  As you can see we were very creative :)

We received these super cool black marks on the back of our legs whenever we finished a section, because it is so much fun!


We received these unique knecklace medals.  And of course took photos at the finish line. 



We had to do a picture with our Johnny shirts we received from a patient who inspires us all. 



 Somehow I convinced my teammates to go for a little hike through narrows in Zion!  Then took the bus through Zion and I tried to convince them to do Angels Landing, but it was hot and we were exhausted and hungry! So the narrows was a perfect ending, to a relay race...





We had some delicious mexican food, and then crashed at Devonee's grandfather's place in St George..  Sunday we had an uneventful drive home, staying awake with caffeine...Momma K drove the the whole way back.  Turned out to be a fun little weekend adventure, filled with laughter.  I work with some amazing nurses!