Talisman

A couple of years ago, when I was over in Germany traveling with my brother, Stefan, and sister-in-law, Abigail, my brother gave me a very special gift ~ a talisman!  A special little "good luck charm" that I carry with me often.  We were at a little souvenir shop in a little town, and while Abigail and I were inside looking at postcards, my brother was dumping all of his small change on the lady at the small shop and gathering up little gifts to give out to folks back home.  Little did I know, he was getting me a little something too!

My good luck charm is hooked to my key chain and I often take it with me when I am running as well as when I'm in the car.  I actually carried it with me through Colorado on the TransRockies course!  It was hooked inside a pocket in my pack.  Indeed, on Stage 5 when I got my asthma inhaler out for a friend who was having trouble breathing because of all of the dust, I ran the last mile with that pocket unzipped and open, and did not lose it (whew).

The significance of the talisman is this:  it features St. Christopher, who is the patron saint of travelers and children.  Well, I'm not a child, but I fell like a kid at heart.  And I travel often, and on foot, so a little looking after by good St. Christopher is much appreciated by myself.  On the back of the medallion, it says, "God protects you" in German. You can read more about the saint here.


If you are traveling in Europe, and especially in southern Germany, you will notice that the taxi drivers and even some of the buses, and many of the private citizens have St. Christopher medallions mounted on the dashboard of their vehicles or carry a St. Christopher key chain.  Someone asked me if this was strange, because he thought Germany was more of a Protestant country, when in fact southern Germany is predominantly Catholic.

My talisman has worked its way loose a couple of times and fallen off of my keychain, but it's always happened in an area where I see it and have been able to pick it up again, which I find curious and am wondering if it is the saint hinting to me to just pay a little more attention to things around me.  I think it's a very good sign that it has fallen off and I have immediately found it has come loose ~ does it mean that St. Christopher is really watching?  I hope so...  and I will continue to carry my talisman!

Keeping Things In Perspective

After I finished TransRockies almost a month ago, which is hard to believe, I felt like a million bucks.  I felt strong and practically invincible on the trail.  I felt fast and everything felt easy.  I had this little voice in the back of my head telling me to be careful ~ it would be too easy to suddenly feel overtrained and tired.

And guess what?  That's exactly what happened.  After a couple of weeks of strong, nearly-effortless running, my body told me to stop.  I kept running last week, but didn't feel right.  Little things were suddenly hurting a lot.  I went and got a massage and felt a little better, but still things were not quite right.  I think I've narrowed it down~ my quads got so strong that they have pulled my pelvis out of alignment, tipping it forward, which puts strain on my hips, lower back, and upper hamstrings attachment.

So I decided to take a bit of my own advice.  Which is tough, because I've committed to running the Bear 100 on September 28th, just two weeks away.  What would I tell one of my patients, if they came to me with the same complaints?  I would tell them to back off, literally.

So now I find myself doing easy dog walks both in the city and in the foothills.  Mostly flat terrain, and mostly at three miles per hour.  I'm using the foam roller daily, taking ibuprofen three times per day, and stretching.  I have two more massages booked before the race.  The one thing I could improve upon is drinking more water ~ I need to drink at least 3 liters per day and I'm probably drinking one and a half.

Now the little voice in the back of my head is telling me, "Don't worry.  The hay is in the barn and you have plenty of training miles banked up from a great summer of running, without injury.  Don't blow it!  Take this time to enjoy the scenery and keep things in perspective."

So that's what I'm doing.  Dog walks, no running for the last three days, and enjoying the scenery.  I'm keeping things in perspective and looking forward to my event two weeks from today.

Triple Duty at Wasatch 100

Always a welcoming sight:  Big Mountain aid station
was Olympic theme this year ~
I kind of missed the pink flamingosfrom years past.

This past weekend I did triple duty at the Wasatch 100.  In the days leading up to the race, I started getting really nervous (mostly upset stomach) thinking of the gravity of what so many of my friends would be accomplishing this weekend.  Some of them finished, and some of them did not.  But all of them had an epic adventure in the Wasatch mountains, and I was lucky enough to be there to witness it.

Kim's crew boss, Ann

I wanted to put up a post on Facebook and "tag" all of my friends who were running.  But as I scrolled through the start list of over 300 racers, I realized that I actually knew (not just acquainted with, but face-to-face knew) about 40 people who were racing.  I have some pretty amazing friends.  Unfortunately, Facebook didn't want me to tag that many folks in one status update, so it would have to suffice to post a generalized statement wishing everyone luck.

Ants on a ridge top ~ Bald Mountain

First duty:  pacing my friend Kim.  I met up with crew chief Ann on race day, and after a quick trip down the canyon to get a fresh coke Slurpee for Kim, we met her at Big Mountain.  I ran with her for about 13 miles over the ridge tops, stopping briefly at Alexander Spring aid station (she wanted to sit down, but I wouldn't let her.  She squatted near the aid station while I got her a ham sandwich which I pretty much force-fed her as we walked down the trail away from the aid station).  Things got dark, fast.  Coming around the corner, about two miles outside of the Lamb's Canyon aid station, we saw the lit-up tents in the distance.  It was like a desert oasis, waiting for us... a mirage.

We laughed and told stories all along the way, and I recited tales from my TransRockies adventure and clips from Modern Family television episodes.  We had a really great time.  We got to Lamb's, and met up again with Ann, crew boss, and the night pacer, Janice.  After getting Kim changed into warmer clothes and force-fed some mashed potatoes, they went on their way towards Millcreek and Brighton, off in the night...

Looking down at Little Dell Reservoir

Then came duty #2:  volunteer at Lamb's Canyon.  It was about 10pm when I started my volunteer duties for the night, mostly hanging out with Matthew and Naomi on the soup station, but also cleaning up random trash and straightening up.  As it got closer to the midnight cut-off, I had a couple of medical consults:  one person falling asleep with very low blood sugar and another with major muscle spasms and cramping from electrolyte disturbance.  Getting them hydrated and talking them out of puking for an hour or so worked wonders for their conditions.  And although they both ended up dropping out of the race, I felt like I had served a real purpose and kept some people a bit safer.  Their families were very gracious and thankful, and it really made my night when I heard their kind words, after spending time with their loved-ones to get them feeling a bit better.

Holla!  Kim coming down Bald Mountain

After the midnight cut-off, those of us left at the aid station (I was impressed that there were about a dozen of us who had stayed until about 1am) were left with clean-up duty.  This meant cleaning up and loading everything into a UHaul moving truck:  all of the food tables, soup station, tables, chairs, water jugs, and the biggest task:  taking down Jim Skagg's big white (wedding) tents that we had borrowed from the Antelope Island races.  Wow, they came down systematically and relatively quickly.  Jim had bins labeled for each section of tent or piece of metal tubing, and hopefully we didn't mix things up too much.  It all seemed pretty organized to me, and I thought we worked really well as a team to get things taken down.  A highway patrolman stopped by about midway through the tent-disassembly process, and was surprised to find a bunch of stand-up citizens such as ourselves and not a bunch of rowdy drunks on the side of the highway.  We offered to let him help with the tents, but he declined and continued on his peacekeeping rounds.

Just a pacer ~ me on Bald Mountain

After driving down Parley's Canyon at about 2am, I got home, showered, and ate some scrambled eggs and toast and hit the hay.  I'd had a long day and needed some rest.  The dogs woke me up at 7am wanting their breakfast, and I fed them and went back to bed for a bit.  I woke at about 10:30 and after drinking a half a pot of coffee and catching up with runner positions on the Wasatch 100 website, I found the motivation to move on to duty #3:

Finish line duty.  I drove up to Midway, Utah to the Homestead, site of the race finish festivities.  Just missed a couple of friends finishing due to construction traffic in Parley's Canyon, but saw a whole bunch of other friends finish, and those whom I did not see finish I was able to hang out with and listen to their stories.  I ate one of the best cheeseburgers of my life, worth every penny of the $13 I spent on it and a bunch of fries, and drank a few PBRs as well.  So many smiles there at the Wasatch 100 finish line, and I was so thankful that I already had my own buckle (from last year) that I won't have to run that race anytime soon ~ it's a doozy.

Girls with smiles ~

Watching my friends finish and listening to them tell their stories really got me excited for the Bear 100, coming up in three weeks.  Because of the fortunate timing (sometimes these two races are only two weeks apart) many of my friends will be racing the Bear 100 up in Logan, Utah as well.  I couldn't be more amazed and proud to call them my friends.

After triple duty at Wasatch 100, I'm looking forward to running my own race at the Bear.  It will be another great dance in the mountains with friends.

Kim was bathed in golden light coming
into Alexander aid station

TransRockies Run ~ not just a vacation in the mountains

At the final finish line, Stage 6 ~ photo by Klaus Fengler.

My friend Sue Lee and I travelled to Colorado a couple of weeks ago to settle in and prepare ourselves for the ultimate "vacation" for ultrarunners ~ the Gore-Tex TransRockies Run.  Many of the folks at TransRockies call this "summer camp for adults", and we were hoping to have an enlightening experience.

After driving about 5 hours in the car, we reached Grand Junction, and decided to stop for gelato (we needed to fuel up on pre-race calories since we would be in calorie deficit for the upcoming week of racing).  After consulting the gear list and Sue sent a couple of emails, we stopped by Summit Canyon Mountaineering store to pick up a camp towel for me (no towels would be provided by the race, and "towel" was not listed on the gear checklist).  Unfortunately, Summit Canyon Grand Junction only had small towels, so they called ahead to the Glenwood store, and set aside an extra-large towel for me.  Crisis averted.

We made the quick stop in Glenwood at the store, then settled in to the Comfort Inn in Beaver Creek for the night. A rain shower had passed through in the afternoon, and the temperature was a cool 70 degrees.  Delightful.

Start of Stage 1 in Buena Vista, CO

We woke the next morning, ate breakfast at the Avon Bakery (amazing!) and proceeded up the hill to Beaver Creek to catch our shuttle to Buena Vista (the race start was in Buena Vista, and we would leave our car at the parking garage at the Beaver Creek resort so that we would have it at the finish).  Much to our despair, no one in the town of Avon or at the resort (we asked about 5 people) knew where the "Centennial Bus Station" was.  The resort garbage man was out best resource and he pointed us further up the hill to the base of the Centennial ski lift.  We unloaded our gear on the sidewalk (creating an obstacle that many of the mountain bikers were not sure how to deal with getting around) and I made a call to Marit Fischer from the Backcountry.com team to see if she knew where the meeting point was.

Above Buena Vista, Stage 1

Marit had gotten off the freeway at Lionshead, Vail, or thereabouts, and I directed her up the hill to where we were waiting.  At least if we were in the wrong place, we could all wait together.

The shuttle did come, and the driver of the van had been a bit confused about the location as well, but we all got packed into the van:  me, Sue, Adam, Karmen, Cathy, and Marit, and our driver "Turbo" drove us not so smoothly on Highway 24 south to Buena Vista.  Marit and I had some car-sickness issues in the back of the van, as it is a really windy road...  thankfully Turbo let us all out in Leadville for a quick bathroom break and some fresh air.

Sue on the false-flat, final miles of Stage 1

After a bit of confusion about how and wear to drop us all off at our respective accommodations for the night, Sue and I got settled in to the Lakeside Motel in Buena Vista.  We hung out in Buena Vista for a couple of days and rested, took a couple of short runs in the trails east of town above the Arkansas River, were graced with a visit by our coach, Ian Torrence.

Check-in on Monday at the museum went well enough, and we picked up our gear bags and booked our massages for the upcoming week of racing.  We had dinner with the other racers at the elementary school gym on Monday night and watched slideshows and videos to get us pumped up for the race.

Race start came dark and early Tuesday morning.  We set our bags out at the motel office for the luggage van to pick up and take to our finish camp later in the afternoon.  I'm sure we were both nervous about how the day would proceed, but Sue and I had an understanding that we would both race within our limits, kind of get a feel for the whole thing, and not get too worked up about things.  After all, we were on vacation, summer camp for adults, right?

Stage 2, nearing Hope Pass

Breakfast at the school gym, and several bathroom breaks later, we were ready to start the race.  Stage 1 ~ Buena Vista to Railroad Bridge, 20.8 miles, 2,400 ft elevation gain.  It took us 4 hours and 14 minutes to run this stage.  Along the way, we met a lot of really great people.  The aid stations were totally stocked, efficient, and supportive.  Stage 1 is notoriously a "hot" one, because it is lower in elevation compared to all of the other stages, but we lucked out and I felt like it was actually quite cool out there (which was false ~ the temps had actually reached into the low 90s...  well, it was cooler than running in the heat of the day in Salt Lake City, anyway).

Sue and I were happy with our time and happy with how we felt (other than the last 3.9 miles of the course which was a false-flat on a dirt road... but I just put my head down and pretended that I was doing an interval workout in Liberty Park to get through it.  Sue said her hamstring was seizing up, and so we backed off the pace a bit for the last couple of miles.)  Wow, was I excited when we came around the corner to the finish chute by the Railroad Bridge.  Cynthia, from the Gore-Tex sponsor team greeted us into the finish with cups of cold water and electrolyte drink (GU Brew) and after chilling out at the finish with some ice packs for a few minutes, we went down for a soak in the Arkansas River.

Sue killing the downhill off Hope Pass
to Twin Lakes, Stage 2

While waiting for the shuttle van to take us to Arrowhead Camp for the night, Karmen (from the pre-race shuttle) had to move off to the side to puke (ugh, the heat had gotten to her) so we didn't ride with her and Adam.  After settling into camp and having a nice hot shower in the shower trailer (a full-sized semi trailer with a dozen showers powered by propane) we waited what seemed like an eternity for dinner to start (it started at 5pm).  TransRockies did a great job to give us lots of healthy snacks and drinks while we waited though, and if you were game, there was all of the Micholob Ultra that you could consume.

Start of Stage 4, the lake at Camp Hale

Sue heard a rumor that we had finished in second place, so I went to the results board up the hill to confirm.  Yes, indeed.  "Running within our limits" and at our own pace had earned us a second-place finish for the Womens' 80+ Division.  Not bad for two ladies on vacation.  After dinner we were called to the podium when our turn came and received our prizes ~ new Nathan vest-packs.  I was pretty psyched because I had gifted my previous Nathan pack to my pacer from Wasatch 100 last year, Ashley, so now I had a replacement.

Sue at start of Stage 4, Camp Hale to Red Cliff

To cut to the chase and as to not let this blogpost get too lengthy, I'm going to summarize the next five stages for you.  Suffice it to say, that this was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I reached and attained running goals far beyond what I thought my limits were going into it.  The level of camaraderie was unbelievable, and people that I didn't even know were cheering me up the hill.  I have no doubt that the support of my race partner, Sue, and the support of the race volunteers, along with the incredible positive energy of the other racers, propelled me to three stage victories and second-place overall in our division.  We were visited by friends who were not racing (Billy Simpson and Ian Torrence) along the course, and their happy dispositions helped to take some of the pressure off of racing.  And each night that we reached the podium, we got sweet prizes from LaSportiva, Gore Running Wear, YurBuds, and Rudy Project to name a few.

Sue and I went into the event thinking we would just run our own race, and honestly that's what we did (except for the end of Stage 3 where we over-took the French ladies in the last 2 miles of the day's 23 mile-course.  That was a race!).  I felt like I ran at red-line several days, and we avoided major injury (we both had injuries, it's just a matter of dealing with them appropriately so as not to make them worse).  We had daily massages each afternoon which helped us immensely to recover.  We were fed delicious, nutritious food every morning and every evening.  We even had ice cream one night for desert!  Watching the slide shows and videos in the evenings was one of my favorite parts of the event. Every night, we sat by friends and would "Ooh" and "Aah" at the scenes of the day:  "There you are!" and "There I am!" each night.  It was a fabulous way to end each evening.

Finish of Stage 4, start of Stage 5, Red Cliff

Being on the winners' podium each night was an unexpected surprise.  I knew I was a strong runner, but I didn't know that I was a strong, good runner.  The winning team was a pair of ladies who were officers in the French military, Valerie and Marielle.  Each morning we would greet each other at the start line and wish each other good luck (the hugs got more numerous as the days went on).  And each evening, we would congratulate each other in camp and on the podium.  If we passed each other during the race, we would give each other thumbs-up and encouragement, telling each other "good job" and "magnifique".  It was really amazing to be battling it out with two women who were so gracious.  I would have loved to just run with them all day too.

It's not to say that I didn't have some difficulties along the way.  After our strong finishes winning Stages 2 and 3, I pulled a groin muscle on Stage 4 running down into Red Cliff.  Massage that night hurt like hell, and I was really afraid of what day 5 would bring.  I had a really tough start to the day on Stage 5, and found myself, although dressed in the overall leader's jersey, falling far off the pace.  I got really frustrated with the 8-mile climb on the dirt road.  The more frustrated I got with myself and my hurt leg, the slower I got.  Then I saw a smiling face bouncing down the road ~ it was Adam from the pre-race shuttle!  Karmen had sent him back down the route to pick me up and pace me back up to Sue (a good mile ahead of me by now... ) and that is exactly what I did.  I couldn't talk, and my breathing was so labored that I'm sure some of the other racers thought I was going to have a seizure and pass out.  They cheered me on anyway, "Go get 'em, Missy!  You can do it!"  They believed in me, and I started to believe in myself.  By the time we got to the first aid station, I had caught up to Sue, and Adam had re-joined Karmen.  I really couldn't have gotten there without the help of Adam.  Sue and I reached the top of Vail Mountain, and I found myself rejuvenated and running strong at 11,000 ft elevation.  We pounded down to the finish and found ourselves only 5 minutes behind the French ladies for the day.

Atop Vail Mountain, the Back Bowls, Stage 5

Our stages went back and forth like that with the French ladies.  Although we won three stages, we only got to wear the leaders' jerseys for one day (Stage 5).  There were days that our teams were only separated by two and a half minutes for the overall time.  By the end, we finished 19 minutes behind the French ladies for all six days and 120 miles.  The third-place team was almost three hours behind us, and the fourth place team was three and a half hours behind.  At the final dinner party at Beaver Creek, surrounded by about 300 of our newest, closest friends, we got up on the winners' podium for the last time.  The French ladies gave us their bottle of champagne from the finish line, another example of their gracious generosity, and congratulated us on giving them a good race.

Missy's got her groove back,
Stage 5 on Vail Mountain, 11,000 ft

Will I do it again, the TransRockies?  I'd like to think that I would.  But honestly, I don't think I could ever duplicate what a dream of a week this first TransRockies, my rookie stage event was.  Sue and I went into it thinking we would go on a running vacation and it turned into a real race and a battle.  The good part is, that although I was racing and winning, and feeling the pressure of being on the podium and holding our place each night, I was not overwhelmed with the pressure of competition, probably because the support of everyone around us was so immense.  I think I will bask in the glow for a while before I decide.

Finish line of Stage 5 ~ Vail Resort

On the week:
Stage 1: Buena Vista to Railroad Bridge:  20.8 miles, 4 hr 14 min, 2,400ft gain:  2nd place finish
Stage 2: Vicksburg (over Hope Pass) to Twin Lakes:  13.23mi, 3 hr 16 min, 3,110ft:  1st place finish
Stage 3: Leadville to Nova Guides, Camp Hale:  24.23mi, 4 hr 53 min, 2,550 ft gain:  1st place finish
Stage 4: Camp Hale to Red Cliff: 14.03mi, 3hrs 1 min, 2,746 ft gain: 1st place, attained leaders' jerseys
Stage 5: Red Cliff to Vail Resort: 23.9mi, 5hr 14min, 4,200ft gain: 2nd place finish, lost leaders' jerseys
Stage 6: Vail Resort to Beaver Creek Resort: 23.1mi, 5hr 22min, 5,150ft gain, 2nd place, 2nd overall

Total:  ~123 miles, 26hr 3min, ~20,500 ft vertical gain

Final podium at Beaver Creek ~ (l to r):
3rd place Cathy and Verna "MAD",
1st place Marielle and Valerie "Resilience",
2nd place Missy and Sue "Titanium"
(and Cynthia from Gore-Tex cheers us on)

Dream Loop

I had the day off from work on Thursday, and decided to take the opportunity to run a loop that has been brewing in the back of my mind for several years now.

Mile 23 ~ top of the Pinecone Trail.

A few years ago, I rode mountain bikes with a friend from the Guard Road near Brighton, Utah on the Crest Trail (well known in the Wasatch as one of the ultimate must-do trails) over to the Canyons Resort near Park City, then on the Mid-Mountain Trail, a trail that follows the 8,000 ft elevation line over to Park City, then up over the ridge back to the car.  We got waylaid in Park City Mountain Resort by a hail and lightening storm, and it turned into quite the epic adventure.  Thankfully, we both had jackets with us, but after huddling under a metal roof near the yurt half-way up the mountain in Park City, I talked my friend into continuing, for fear of being struck by lightening.

As we rode up the trail the final 5 miles or so, lightening cracked overhead and I remember my friend whimpering behind me something about, "We're gonna die out here... " and I called back over my shoulder to her, "At least we will die doing something that we love."  She was not impressed nor convinced.  I rode faster so that I would be out of earshot of her complaints.

When we finally got back to the car, we were quite frozen, and I recall fondly that we ate meatloaf, french fries and mashed potatoes with bottomless cups of coffee at the Silver Fork Lodge in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

I think that ride must have taken us the majority of the day, and honestly after running a similar route this past Thursday, I can't for the life of me figure out what took us so long, except for the fact that we must have been waiting out the thunderstorm for a good 45 minutes or so.

I ran the first 6 miles on Thursday with my friend Liz, who coached the Girls on the Run program with me this past Spring.  She also just ran the Speedgoat 50k race, a race that I helped organize this year and the previous 5 years, which is well know as a really tough trail race up at Snowbird, Utah.

Obviously Liz was not tired after her race last weekend, because we chatted easily moving up the trail, and I felt as though I might be holding her back!  Ahh, to have 20-something legs again.

After the trail split above Desolation Lake, I said goodbye to Liz because she needed to get to the airport to pick up her sister who was coming into town for a visit.  I spied a couple more runners moving up the ridge in the direction that I was going, and quickly caught them.  We ran together for the next three miles or so, until they headed back down into Millcreek Canyon, and I headed down to the Canyons Resort.  It turned out that they were training for the TransAlpine stage race, a sister race to the TransRockies that I will be doing next week with my friend, Sue.

The descent down into the Canyons seemed shorter to me than it had the previous trip several years ago, and I was happy to look at my watch see that I had averaged 13 minute-miles up until this point (about 9 miles).  Things started to get a bit warm on the east-facing Mid-Mountain trail moving across the Canyons, but I kept my thoughts on the fact that I would soon be at the Red Pine Lodge to refill my water bottles with cool water.

As I was running along this section of trail, I was passed from behind by a summer Patroller, out for a ride on his mountain bike with his yellow lab.  He would pass me again about 30 minutes later, and I decided that he must be doing laps with the dog with the aid of either the gondola or the chairlift.  His dog was really cute and well-behaved, and the patroller wished me a good run as he went past.

I got to Red Pine Lodge (mile 11.2) and dodged the walkers and hikers there (it's a popular stepping-off point for folks who don't have a lot of miles planned for the day, but want to take in the scenery) and bummed not only some water from the drinking fountain in the lodge, but talked the cashier into letting me fill a couple of my bottles with ice.  Aaaah... the cool water tasted really good.

Several miles down the trail, I was passed by a forty-something father (with a distinctive "Texas" riding kit on) and his tween-aged son.  We talked the local trails (they were visiting from Texas) and the heat, which he said "compared to Houston" was not really that bad.  I told him that I was at mile 16 of my 24, so was heading into the home-stretch.

We ended up leap-frogging each other for probably about 5 or six miles on the trail, and it was at about this point that I realized that since I had ridden the trail approximately 5 years ago, a newer section of the Mid-Mountain has been built, taking out the more technical ascent of Iron Mountain from the northwest.  Bummer that I realized this change in the trail only after passing the trail junction, because the east-facing Mid-Mountain trail was really starting to heat up (around noon).

I toughed it out, and also gave the Texas-tween a little pep talk too, because he was starting to whimper a little bit on the last climb up to the Iron Mountain junction.  The only sympathy he got from his dad was that he was allowed to walk his bike up the hill if he couldn't stay on (he did).  That kid was tough!  I don't think I could have done what he was doing when I was his age.  Of course, we didn't have bikes quite that nice when I was a kid, either.

I was really bummed that this new(er) section of the Mid-Mountain Trail bypasses the nice meadow at the south Iron Mountain pass, but was happy to experience an absence of crazed sage-grouse, who in years past have attacked my ankles and made me scream like a little girl to outrun them.

I got to the junction of Armstrong Trail and the Mid-Mountain just to the north of Park City Mountain Resort, and decided that it would soon be time to make up my mind on how I was going to ascent PCMR to get back over to the Guard Road.  It was my original intention to go past the yurt (the same one I had huddled under those years ago in the thunderstorm) and then proceed up to Shadow Lake near Jupiter, but then I passed the junction to the new Pinecone Trail (dubbed "the Gem of the Wasatch") and decided to check it out.

Before proceeding up Pinecone Trail I again met up with the Texas father-son duo, and a 50-something man from Missouri, who was on vacation and on a mountain bike rental.  The fellow from Missouri was super-psyched to be out on the trail and was proud to tell me of his health and strength compared to his overweight, smoker friends back home who "couldn't walk from their cars in the parking lot into the Post Office".  I was truly impressed by his good-nature, and after explaining a couple of his trail options to him, wished him well on the day.

I soon met up with a couple more bikers, one who was late 40s or so and one 50-something (it seemed to be a trend... ) who also seemed to be content to ride in his granny gear, staring at my ass, and asking me questions as I tried to find the strength to continue running up the 6% grade of the Pinecone Trail.

After a mile or so, I sent him on his way (politely, mind you) and put my head down for the climb.  Pinecone is, indeed a gem of a trail, but I couldn't help but think how nice it would be to ride *down* it on a mountain bike, rather than hike *up* it after 18 miles of running, especially after two ladies passed me going the other direction doing just that ~ biking downhill.

The climb is approximately 4 miles in length and tops out on the Crest Trail at the top of "Puke Hill".  About a half-mile from the top, a cute 30-something mountain biker came up from behind and said hello; asked me if I was training for something.  I told him about my TransRockies race in a week or so, and he knew it and sounded genuinely excited for me.  He told me I was looking strong and that I would certainly do well at my race.  His confidence in me helped give me the strength to run the last couple-hundred yards up to the top of the hill.

At the top, I saw the two guys from the start of the Pinecone Trail (the one who had been staring at my ass) taking a break in the sunshine.  The talker wished me well on my downhill back to the car and assured me that I was almost there.  I replied, "I can't wait! [to be back at the car]".  Indeed, one mile later, I was stopping my watch for the final stats...

On the day ~ 5hr 55 min, 24 miles (exactly), 3,940 ft elevation gain.

It was the perfect distance, speed, and amount of elevation gain to prep me for the TransRockies which starts on August 14th.  I was so happy to be able to do this loop that I had been thinking about for several years, and finish it strong.  It really is a Dream Loop with some tough climbs, smooth descents, and rolling single track nearly the entire way.  I felt so fortunate to meet so many great people on the trail this day.  I will fondly look back on this day for so many reasons, and for many years to come.

GPS link to my route and stats is here.

While you were sleeping...

I ran the Millcreek 50k this past weekend.  You may be thinking, "Oh, no big deal for Missy B.  She runs all the time."  But alas, this was a really big deal for me.  Several times I have backed out of this event, because the thought of running 31 miles at night was too much for me to handle.  You see, first off, I don't like moose very much whether it's day or night.  They are simply too unpredictable in their behavior.  Second, the Millcreek 50k route goes right through a lot of moose territory.  And third the event is at night.  Moose + night time running (could quite possibly) = unfriendly moose.

I talked my friend Liz into running it with me, and then at the last moment another friend, Amy (whom I ran the 22 miles from Big Mountain to Millcreek with last week) decided to run too.  As we were ascending the first 6 miles of the course, we were joined by Betsy Johnson, so we had a really great group of four badass ladies.

I didn't take a lot of photos during the race because, well to put it plainly, it was at night and it was dark.  The views of the Park City lights from the Crest Trail were really fabulous and could not be captured accurately by photography.

I really didn't think much of the animals that might be on the trail, because we were having such a great time running along.  I did spend a lot of time thinking of my stomach though, which had been doing flips and twists all day long leading up to the event.  I thought it was just nerves, but by 2am when I was halfway through the race and my stomach was still tweaking hard and starting to affect my running, I realized that maybe I had caught a stomach bug that had been going around.  Amy and her mom had it last week, and Liz was having some stomach troubles on the run as well.  There were some emergency pit-stops that were made along the way...  sorry!  But when you got to go, you got to go.

Here it is 36 hours after the event, and my stomach is still not quite right.  It's a bummer, because the rest of the event went really well.  I was pretty wide-awake the entire time, and told and listened to lots of stories with the girls.  We really had a great time.

After running the Crest Trail from Millcreek and passing Deso Lake, we put our heads down and ground up Blunder Fork to Dog Lake.  I really rallied on this and caught up to the other three, as I had hung back on the downhill from Lake Desolation for fear that I was going to fall on the water bars (my depth perception is not really very good on that section at night, I've decided).  There was an aid station set up at Dog Lake and we were joined by Amy B., Emily B., and Jeremy S.

I found myself in the lead across the Desolation trail from Dog Lake to Mill A basin, and hoped that I wasn't slowing the group down.  It's really a rough trail at that point, with lots of roots and branches and things to trip you up.  I called back to the group a few times, and was reassured that I was running a good pace, and enjoyed listening to the chatter of Amy and Jeremy behind me.

As we got to Mill A, Lizzie and I both needed a pit stop, so we slowed and let the group run past.  It was quite a change in atmosphere as things quieted down without the spirited group of runners right behind us.  Unfortunately, not having the distraction of other runners chatting, I focused in on my stomach pain as a result, and I think it's the reason why I slowed down quite a bit at this point.  I never threw up, but had a low level of nausea the entire time, and had an empty pain in my stomach that was difficult to pin down as to whether it was nausea or hunger.  Each time I ate, I got a little more nauseated, but if I didn't eat, the pain would grow as well.  It was really strange.

When we reached Baker Pass between Gobbler's Knob and Mt Raymond, Liz and Betsy had gone ahead and I hung back with Amy.  Thankfully, Amy stuck with me after my 10 minute bout of moaning due to stomach pain (sometimes it just feels better to moan out loud.  It dissipates the pain to a certain extent).  I told Amy I thought it was one of her strengths, that she doesn't let others know what is bothering her and that she might be uncomfortable.  She complimented me on my ability to be honest and verbalize my feelings.  We really do make a good running pair, the two of us!

So Lizzie and Betsy had gone ahead, and Amy and I concentrated on running a nice, moderate, comfortable pace down Bowman Fork Canyon.  We got to the turn off to Terraces and found some water jugs at the side of the trail and refilled a bit.  We didn't want to take the last of the water, because there were still some folks behind us who might need some.

The climb up Terraces trail to Elbow Fork went really easily, and seemed less steep than it usually does in the daylight hours.  We both commented on the fact that it was really warm in the canyon and on the ridge tops.  Warmer than we both would have expected.  We were both very comfortable running in shorts and short-sleeved shirts.

Greg Norrander styled us out with drinks and snacks at Elbow Fork, and even filled my handheld water bottle with ice cubes and coke.  Several minutes of sipping on the coke and my stomach felt tons better.  It really is magic for my tummy!  Amy and I averaged 13 minute miles down the Pipeline trail (from mile 20 to 25) which was really quite remarkable considering the amount of climbing and the stage in the race that it was.  When we got near Church Fork, I convinced Amy that we could get up and down Grandeur Peak in the next 2 hours (our other option was to go straight down Church Fork and end the event with a marathon finish instead of a 50k).  She took the bait, and we started up the climb.

Sunrise from Grandeur Peak

Salt Lake City sleeps below.

Delirious at mile 27, Grandeur Peak

Nice views once the sun came up.

Amy needed to stop for a snack, and my stomach was barely tolerating Honey Stinger caffeinated chews at this point, so I popped a couple of chews and told her that I was going to keep climbing.  As I neared the ridge, dawn broke, and I found myself not needing my headlamp for the first time all night.  A few runners passed me on their way down to the finish (one of whom was Lizzie, who gave me a hug as she went past ~ which helped motivate me to get to the top!), and I joked with one runner that I had timed things just right to catch sunrise on the peak.

After I summited and took photos with another runner, Jeff, I turned to descend back down the mountain to the finish.  I was wondering where Amy was and if she had maybe bailed on the climb, because she had been wanting to be back at her house at 7am to meet some other folks for a run on the Wasatch 100 course that same morning (crazy, I know!) so I was thinking she had made a phone call and was going to get picked up by her boyfriend, Bryce.

Just as I rounded the corner of the false summit, there she was with my friend Dee!  She had a smile on her face, as always, and I told her she was 5 minutes from the summit and she should go "Git it!"

I made steady pace down to the Church Fork picnic grounds, and when I hit the pavement down the Church Fork road, I wasn't even thinking of my stomach anymore.  I made it to the finish as planned, 2 hours and 5 min from the point where we had debated whether we could get up and down in two hours or not.

Amy had stopped to make a call to Bryce at the top and she came in a few minutes later.  I was really glad to see that she wasn't upset with me for misjudging the amount of time it would take her to do the last 5 or 6 miles.  I had chatted with race organizer Ken Jensen while I was waiting for Amy, and it was really nice to catch up with him after not seeing him in several years.

Amy and I went to McDonald's and got sausage McMuffin with egg value meals, and my stomach felt the best it had over the preceding 24 hours.  Strange how a gut-bomb breakfast can somehow have that comforting effect!  Amy forewent her previous plan to run the first part of the Wasatch course that morning, and fell asleep on the floor of her home for several hours.  I mustered the strength to take a shower before I went to bed for the day.

An amazing day and an amazing event.  I'm not sure if I would have been so wiped out all weekend if I hadn't had the stomach issues.  It was a pretty good exercise in perseverance, that's for sure.  I have also decided that I'm not the fastest runner out there, by any means, but it's really nice to be able to run with a friend at a moderate pace and tell stories and laugh for nearly 10 hours straight.  There was one point where Amy and I both got really quiet, but every so often I would say, "Great job, Amy!"  and she would reply with, "Hey, you too, Missy!"  and it really was just one of the nicest things I think I have ever heard in my life.

Thankfully, we didn't see any moose along the trail all night.  But we did see plenty of creepy-crawlies.  There were literally thousands of millipedes along the Terraces trail and hundreds of banana slugs in Bowman Fork.  By the time we got to Pipeline, the trail was all a-glitter with the twinkling eyes of spiders hiding in the rocks.  It was surreal.  As we turned the corner above the Millcreek Inn and the Church Fork junction, a bat flew up off of the trail and hovered above our heads, with its orange eyes glowing in the light from our headlamps.

I have had a great time eating, napping, and recuperating all weekend.  Next year, the course will reverse and it will be an "uphill year" with more elevation gain, which almost seems unfathomable.  Maybe I'll wait and do it again two years from now when it returns to the downhill direction!

While you were sleeping:
On the day (night) ~ 31 miles, 9,700ft elevation gain, 9 hours 47 minutes.

Warm up for Wasatch 100

No, I'm not racing Wasatch 100 this year.  I did it last year.  After three DNFs, I finally got my belt buckle.  I don't ever want to see the last 25 of that course again unless I'm racing, and I'm not sure when I will be racing Wasatch again ~  yeah, it's that good.  That's not to say that I won't try and do 100 miles again, but maybe just not that particular 100 miles.

Needless to say after that many times out on the course I know the first 75 miles of the Wasatch course really well.  So when my friend Amy emailed me Wednesday afternoon and asked if I might want to join her on part of the course the next morning, I decided to help her out.  You see, Amy is just a little bit, uh ~ how shall I put it and be all politically correct about it?  She is map-challenged.  I think she is the type of person who can look at a map and make just about any location on said map fit where she is standing at any point in time.  But she would likely be wrong.  She did show me this sweet map-App on the iPhone (called "Peaks") which helps as a locator.  You could also use Google Earth, but if you don't have cell service, you're kind of SOL.  And a lot of the course is out of cell service.

Amy had planned to run from the Bountiful B to the Big Water trailhead in Millcreek Canyon (38 miles).  I wasn't planning on doing that much for my long run this week, but I told her that I would plan on picking her up at Big Mountain and running the rest with her (22 miles).  The pace would be conversational and easy.  We planned for a hot day.  I think we were both a bit nervous about her running the first bit on her own, but thankfully at the last moment, another friend (Steve) stepped up and decided to run the first 16 with her.  I also told her that she could call me at any point along the way and I would try and talk her through it.

As it turned out, she did call me at one point, and we had a discussion about Hardscrabble Canyon, and after figuring out that they were not actually in Hardscrabble, but that it was below them to the left, it turned out they were in the right place.

I drove up to Big Mountain at about 8:30 am, after missing my chance to shuttle up there with Amy's boyfriend Bryce (who was sick the entire day with a virus, and when I stopped by Amy's house to meet Bryce he was conked out in a febrile state and didn't hear me at the door).  Just as well, Amy's first pacer Steve took my car home to his house, which is my neighborhood and it was easy enough to get back.

So I hung out with Bryce at Big Mountain once he arrived, and once Amy and Steve got there, I surprised Amy with a fried egg sandwich and some fresh coffee (those would be the first brownie points of our day together).

We headed up the ridge towards Bald Mountain, and I kept thinking to myself that the turn-off to the west should be coming along "any minute" and it's kind of easy to miss if you are not paying attention (and we were chatting along happily, so I was thinking that the chances of missing the turn-off were actually quite high... ) but after seeing a guy running with his two standard poodles, we confirmed that the turn-off was actually a bit farther, and past Horney Toad ridge.

We found it easily and cruised along down to Alexander Spring, and I pointed out to Amy that this is where one of the aid stations on race-day is.  Then we started the endless climb up the pipeline double track.  The endless, hot climb.  Thankfully there was a bit of a breeze (as oftentimes it can be dead calm).  To say this section was hot is an understatement.  We could feel the waves of heat radiating off of the ground.  It was, in fact, one of the hottest experiences of my entire 40 years.  We had been sucking down our water steadily, and thankfully I had the foresight to call Bryce just before Alexander Springs and report that we were about halfway to Lamb's from Big Mountain, and asked him to meet us at the Lamb's Canyon exit with cold drinks, ice, and snacks.  All I could think about for the entire section was how good my ice-cold Coke was going to taste.  I think it's what got me through.

It was so hot in this 4-mile section that we almost didn't even talk about the heat for fear that it would make us want to give up.  Instead, I told stories of my recent trip to Scotland and of Wasatch races past, and I don't know what all else.  Suffice it to say that when I have a captive audience, I come up with a lot of witty babble that makes the time and the miles go by more quickly.  (Not once was I asked to be quiet, and that is my evidence attesting to the fact that my stories were much appreciated!)

We got to the land-bridge just before the trail parallels I-80 and gave Bryce the "heads up" call that we were getting close.  He wasn't quite at the underpass when we got there, so we sucked down the last few drops of our water and waited patiently in the shade while semi-trucks rumbled over our heads on the bridge above (freaky).  But at least we were in the shade now instead of the full sun, and it was probably about 10 degrees cooler there.  Right on schedule, we made it from Big Mountain to Lamb's in exactly 4 hours.

Bryce came and surprised us with club-soda, Pearson's Nut Rolls, Salsa Sun Chips, lots of ice (lots), and best of all (for me) Coke!  Oh, it tasted so good.  I filled up my hand-held water bottle with ice cubes and coke, filled up the other water bottle with club soda and ice, filled my water bladder with ice and water... ooh, sweet ice!  I scarfed down about a quarter of the bag of Sun Chips and after 15 minutes or so, we decided we had better get moseying up the Lamb's Canyon road.

There is a God in Heaven who blessed us with some clouds that built steadily as we climbed up out of Lamb's Canyon to Bare-Ass Pass.  We stopped about halfway up to take a snack break, and I was stopped on a nice flat section of trail.  I asked Amy to come around the switchback that she was on because it was a really nice place to stand.  We ate our snacks for about 5 minutes and then Amy looked over my shoulder and said, "Oh, my Gosh.  Turn around.  There's a mother moose and her baby right behind you."  And sure enough, about 50 yards away stood a mother moose, looking right at us, munching on some leaves.  Her baby was a softer shade of brown and was nuzzled right under her chest.  What a magical moment.  We quietly crept up the trail and hoped that mother moose would not find us threatening, as we didn't really have the energy to be chased by a moose at that point.

We continued up the trail and almost without even realizing what was happening, we became increasingly aware of the plethora of butterflies in the flowers on the sides of the trail.  Talk about magical moments!  There were hundreds if not thousands of them.  We didn't take many pictures along the day, but we did stop to take photos of the butterflies.  It was awe-inspiring and incredible.  We couldn't believe our eyes.

We got to the top of Lamb's Canyon at one and a half hours, and only had about one and a half hours to go!  (Just as I predicted!)  I love that section of the trail when you top out at Lamb's and see the Salt Lake Valley below.  You run down through the aspens and into the cooler air of Millcreek.

Before long we were at Elbow Fork at the Millcreek Road.  We had mentioned in passing to Bryce that "when we walk up the Millcreek Road... " and he replied with, "What?  You're not going to run up it?"  and we looked at him with dull stares.  As it turned out, we did run a little bit of the road up to the Big Water trailhead, but mostly we speed walked it.  I looked down at my pace clock on my watch a couple of times, and we were walking 4 miles per hour.  I was pretty impressed with us for walking that fast after so long and hot of a day!

We passed some road bikers on the road who were debating quitting before the end, and Amy shouted some encouragement to them.  I told them how far Amy and I had come today (38 and 22 miles, respectively) and they looked at us like we were, oh, I don't even know what.  It's almost like it didn't even register to them what we were doing.

We reached the end of the road, literally, at the Big Water trailhead.  Bryce was not there to meet us to pick us up yet, so after congratulating each other, Amy said, "Well, should we start walking down?"  Amazing.  Here she is, after 38 miles and she wants to keep going.  I have got to tell you, I was really impressed.  She didn't complain about aches and pains or being tired or anything the entire way.

Bryce came hauling up the road and we waved him down and quickly jumped in the car, because there was another car hot on his tail trying to get (too) quickly up the canyon.  Bryce drove us back down and after dropping him off to get some much needed rest (he really was looking pretty sick, and we were so lucky to have him helping us out even though he felt awful) we went to Este Pizza in Sugarhouse for some slices.

We sat inside in the cool air conditioning and complemented each other on our badassery.  What amazing girls we are.  What an amazing place we live in, and what an amazing community of runners in this town that, as Amy pointed out, we can email someone the night before a big run, and not one, but two people step up to come along for the run.

Warm up for Wasatch ~ the fun has only just begun.

On the day (for me) 6 hours 51 min, 22 miles, 5500 feet elevation gain.
On the day (for Amy) ~12 hours, 38 miles, and a lot more gain.