Marathon Mania, Done

The second phase of my Marathon Mania quest was to run a second marathon within 2 weeks of the first. I finished it today.

My whole schedule was based on marathon availability, but this was a great choice for #2. The race organization runs 4 races simultaneously: 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon. Plus there were some walkers. We shared the first half of our course with the half marathon runners. I gotta tell ya, it was hard to keep on going when they peeled off to finish.

I was a bit concerned about the temperature because it was projected to be as warm as 80° today. That's pretty hot for a Washington west-sider what with our recent highs in the 60s. I just planned to hydrate well during the run.

My motel was about a 12 minute walk from the race finish line. The start line was 13 miles away in the hills to the east of Boise. Since we were bussed to the start from the finish area I picked a motel that would allow me to walk to the start and walk back at the end. And it was a great choice! Nice room, small kitchen, walking distance to food.

I woke up at about 4:45 and it was pitch black outside. Funny how your placement in a time zone affects daylight. Boise is on Mountain time, but must be WAY west in the time zone. By 5:15 it was starting to get light out and by the time I headed over to my bus it was full daylight. Yesterday I picked up my race packet at the finish line area so I knew the route and the time it would take.

The toilets at the finish had no line so I took advantage of that. You just never know how long you're going to have to wait at the start area.

On the bus ride out I had a great conversation with a young man, 'PJ', who was running the half marathon, his second in less than 2 months and his second ever. He's hooked on endorphins!

Driving in to the start area it was clear that we were going to have a chilly start. All the trees were shaking in the wind. The bus dropped us off right at the base of a big earthen dam on the Boise River. Quite a start location. And it was COLD as we stepped off the bus. I felt sorry for PJ as he was wearing only his race togs. I was wearing a lot more clothing to keep my old bones warm. People were huddled in groups in the lee of any shelter: vehicles, buildings, trees. I got right in with them.

Far too soon I had to leave my shelter to go stand in the wind in the toilet line. Thinking I'd be clever I picked a line most downwind hoping to have wind shelter from the other bodies. Fat chance. The wind just whipped through. And my line hardly moved. Somebody must have been hiding out in the can or something. I finally got my chance and was back out into the wind far too soon.

Back to my original shelter and it had cleared out some. At first I was standing with the crowd outside this shed but when I returned room had opened up inside. In I went. The wind died away and it was warm and toasty inside. We even got to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Laurie who was celebrating her birthday by running the half marathon.

I kept checking my watch, not wanting to go out into the wind too soon. But the time drew near. So I stripped out of my warmups, packed everything up, handed my stuff over to the transport crew, and got into the runners pack. Folks were still picking up their race packets so we ended up starting off about 7 minutes late.

The first mile or so was on a road then we were on to a bike/running path that followed the river. Most of our run was on path from this point. There was a section of 1 or 2 miles in the first half where we were on streets and about a 1/2 mile at our turnaround. Otherwise it was all path.

At the 1/2 marathon end point most of the runners peeled off to the finish and I was left in the lonely crowd heading out on the marathon. Our route was spectacular as we wound along the river and past some pretty snazzy houses.

The miles started to drag as the pain in my legs started to build up and the soreness in my hip increased. Funny how one does mental math: figure out the miles left to the turnaround, can I bear twice as much soreness? At the turnaround we popped off the trail and made a little loop through a residential area. By this time I was taking a gel every couple of aid stations trying to stave off exhaustion.

At about mile 20 I had a fun duel with some young buck. As I gradually came up on him he picked up his pace slightly as I moved out to pass. Of course I took the challenge and picked it up just a little more. Within 2 minutes he was back, sliding past me. "Well," I thought to myself, "two can play at this game." So with 5 miles to go I took it up another notch and just held it. I could hear his footsteps behind me, slowly fading out of earshot. Then we came to a bridge with a slight rise to the crossing. I kept up the same pace and he was toast: no more footsteps.

Then I began to notice the mile markers on the path. Every tenth of a mile there was a marker counting down and the countdown was pretty close to the mileage to finish. Oh, cruel world! Every tenth of a mile. Interspersed with chalked mile markers for our race.

With 3 miles to go I was feeling strong but very sore. Mile 26 was just before we turned off the path into Anne Morrison Park to the finish. There was a very large crowd to welcome us home. I really warmed up to the cheering and encouragement and finished strong.

The heat had really sneaked up on me at the end. I sat down in the shade and it was very clear that I'd been working very hard as my body cooled down. Then on to potatoes (after all, this is the Great Potato Marathon!). I limped over to check the marathon results and the posted results weren't up to my finish time yet. So, back to the shade with a chocolate milk to sip, occasionally glancing over at the board to see if another page of results was up.

When I saw the big crowd gathered I figured they were up so off I went, hobbling over. I scanned down the list for my time and there I was: age group first! Oh man, what a finish to a great journey. Two marathons, two weeks, two wins. Both on gorgeous courses.

Marathon maniacs, I hope you will take me.

Cross in the Spring

The sun was out and it felt like short pants day for bike riding. So instead of riding around the south end of Lake Washington I decided to ride my cross bike on the Seattle City Light Powerline right of way. I hadn't been here since last fall when I tried out my 1-speed, home made cross bike.

It was every bit as hard as I remembered.

There's a couple miles of streets to Cheasty Blvd where you can ride a gravelled path all the way up the hill instead of riding the street. It's in great shape with only a couple of street crossings and a handful of weeps so the trail isn't very wet.

Once you get to the top of Beacon Hill there's a 4 or 5 block ride to get on the grass and away you go. There's always a break by using the Chief Sealth Trail. You can see from some of the pictures that it's a continuous set of swales following the power line. So I could pick a line and make it as hard or easy as I wanted.

And the surface was SOOOO hard to ride on. It's this incredibly lumpy grass, like an old pasture, covered with grass. In many places it was mowed to about 4-5 inches in height. Where it wasn't mowed the grass was about 2 feet tall; I avoided those sections.

There were boggy places and hidden holes and ditches at the base of the swales.

I bounced and pedaled and tried to keep my front wheel down on the really steep hills and tried to avoid the boggiest places. My tongue was hanging out and I was working very hard. From time to time there was a street crossing just for interest.

And it was fun! And it was a workout.

Combined with my first lake swim of the season this morning it was a glorious NW spring day.

Brrrr - Early May Lake Swim

It was great to get into Lake Washington early this year. The last couple of years it's been almost June by the time I hit the open water.

My pool was closed today due to Seattle Parks employee furlow, the sun was out, the wind was light - what more could I ask for the first day to dip?

This morning I dug into the closet and pulled out my long sleeve wetsuit, grubbed through a drawer of gloves, hats, etc. to find my neoprene swim cap and I was good to go.

I chose to go to Andrews Bay because it's frequently a teensy bit warmer this time of year and it tends to be sheltered from the prevailing southwesterly winds. Today the wind was coming from the north so there was a slight chop. Not enough to be bothersome, but not smooth water either.

The parking lot was filled with cars when I got there. The loop around the park is a popular walk so I figured these were walkers. In the lee side of the bath house the sun was shining down and warming everything. My bare feet felt warmed by the asphalt of the parking lot. The struggle to stretch the rubber over my body was like an old friend.

Double check to make sure I had my extra car key around my neck before slamming the trunk door shut.

Then off to the water, pulling on my two caps: neoprene first with a brightly covered latex cap over the top. Stepping out from behind the bath house it was clear that the wind blowing up the chop wasn't a balmy summer breeze, but had a late spring bite.

That first step into the water was a BIG one. The last step off the stairway is into water about knee deep. My feet instantly felt the cold. It brought back all those memories of early season swims. But numbness did not immediately set in and the discomfort did not quickly move toward pain.

I waded out and leaned forward into the water to get horizontal. My hands were chilled immediately but I wasn't left gasping when my face went into the water. With that, I settled into an easy free style across the bay to a prominent point. My hands and feet quickly adjusted to the temperature and the only problem I had was leaky goggles.

At the point I turned around and headed back, feeling a bit dizzy from the cold water. This got me to wondering what the water temperature was. The best approximation I could get was from the King County Lake Buoy. Their measurements indicate that the water is probably in the low 50's F (10-11°C).

It's done. Now I can truly feel like another tri-training season is underway and I get to escape the chlorinated monotony of the pool for the pleasure of open water.

The Sunflower Relay

I did it! None of my trepidations came to pass and I completed The Sunflower Relay (iron division) today. This was a new version of the course, extending it to a marathon distance.

My previous 2 runnings of the race gave me some inklings about the course, but I had no idea how the added distance would work out.

This race is run as a relay with teams and iron persons. Most of the racers seem to be iron runners. According to the race website about 170 people signed up to run solo and there were about 75 teams. The race founder's vision was to have a low key race in a beautiful setting and they're continuing to pull it off. The historical teams are the most interesting as the team is required to have a young runner (14 or younger), an older runner (40 or older), and at least 1 female member.

Driving into the valley yesterday I immediately noticed the stiff, cold wind, especially when I got outside my car. At our race briefing this morning, the race director told us that it had rained (and snowed) earlier in the week. However, today started out with blue skies and puffy white clouds.

By the time we got out of the buses at the race start (this is a point-to-point race) the wind had picked up and was blowing something like yesterday. That was to be the theme for the day. There was even a very light sprinkling of rain just before the start. We could look back up the valley toward Washington Pass and see some kind of precipitation coming down.

At the race start I got to see and talk to friends and acquaintances. Earl was here and we rode up to the start on the bus together. After we got out there was Andy and Andrew and Nick and a bunch of Andrew and Nick's friends, all young. There was the usual stripping and hanging out for a few minutes in the raw air before the start and then we were off with a very casual countdown.

The first mile or so was on the paved road then we ducked onto the ski/bike trails. On this leg we got to cross a suspension bridge over the Methow River and boy was that weird! All the heavy footfalls caused waves on the bridge deck that were very weird to run with. The bridge swayed from side-to-side and the waves ran the length of it. More than once I stepped onto the top of a bridge deck wave. Kinda like running on an uneven surface and striking a rock.

This section took us to the 5 mile point and the old starting point and now the first relay exchange point. Then a couple miles on dirt road followed by a lot of twisty-turny stuff on single track and poor quality dirt road. The woods were very open and it was most pleasant to get off the main road as cars were driving along it and kicking up dust.

After aid station #2 we settled in for a long, gradual downhill on good quality dirt road to the river. Then great single and double track through the woods and cattle gates to Wolf Creek Road. This was paved and we ran a couple miles on it to aid station #3 where we left the road again to get back on the trail system.

This took us to the edge of the valley and the half way point - a sign stuck into the ground reading "13.1 miles get ready for up up up". And up it is - just over a mile of steady to steep uphill on a gravel/dirt road eventually leveling out and crossing the highway by Patterson Lake and just downhill from Sun Mountain Lodge.

A couple switchbacks brought us up to the trail along Patterson Lake. This is probably my favorite section of the run. We started out in forest with the lake to our left with the trail undulating and traversing the side of the hill. After a time the forest opens up to give even greater vistas and flowers. Just past the end of the lake is aid station #4.

This next section is nicer than the last time I was here when there had been logging activity. Now the logging scars have kind of healed over and we ran through very open, high altitude pine forest on nice single track. There was a short section on the road then back into the woods for a long downhill finish to aid station #5.

It was in this section that we passed the 17-mile mark and I was amazed at how good my legs felt. At that point I knew that I was going to finish well.

Right out of this aid station we went up a steepish hill maybe a 1/2 mile long - very challenging. After topping this hill we were treated to grand vistas of rolling grassland. Our route followed a descending, rocky road eventually coming out on a better quality dirt road and a high traverse above a lake. This was a long, long downhill and just past the end of the lake was aid station #6.

I had my second GU and refilled my water bottle for the last time. More up, down, up, down to pass the last little lake on the run. The dreaded final downhill was getting closer and closer as the miles ticked by. We crossed a pasture then switch-backed up this old, old 2-lane track to the last aid station, near the top of the run. At this aid station I ate a final GU and downed an electrolyte cap with a couple cups of water.

A bit more descent through a Ponderosa Pine grove and the final drop was visible. I had forgotten how we traversed way around the top of the valley. Today this traverse was into a blustery headwind. Somewhere in this section we had to go through a barbed wire fence. The race folks were kind enough to tie it up for us so I only had to bend over and slip under. Finally there was the technical downhill to the valley where we had a half mile or so of gently descending rocky road in a picturesque little valley.

This opened up to great, open grassy areas with horse tracks where I was really able to pick up my speed. I'd been hoping for a 4:15 finish but at mile 25 I was at 4:08 so it just wasn't gonna be.

The finally 200 meters or so were very welcome. This was a change from previous years as we left the road and ran across a pasture. I was very nervous about the footing as it was pretty uneven. That finish line was very welcome.

My legs held up well and don't feel too dead right now. A bit of ice, on to the awards/swag ceremony then some sleep.

Bring on Boise. I feel like it should be manageable.

Pre-race jitters

Well, it's here. I've been thinking about this for months now and the time has just whipped by. When I made the decision in January to take a run at becoming an official 'Marathon Maniac' it seemed very far away.

Through nothing but chance the Sunflower Relay was changed to a marathon distance this year. It's a race that I love to do so I checked on the web and found the Boise Marathon 2 weeks later!

With that I was off and running.

Now the training is over and I'm supposed to be rested, but, of course, I'm plagued with all kinds of pre-race jitters.

Right now I've got my old guy aches and doubts. What have I got myself into? On the drive over all I could think about was how tired my legs will be at the finish tomorrow. Is that itchiness in the back of my throat a cold coming on? Will I step in a hole or slip on a rock and wrench my back?

O, woe is me!

Let's see how tomorrow goes.

A run at Coal Creek

On the last Sunday of winter I wanted to run the Coal Creek Trail. This trail has a very interesting history: at the turn of the 20th century it was an active coal mining area. Photos posted on an information kiosk show an area that was totally industrialized.

Today the forest has reclaimed most of the land and there are only occasional clues to the past to be seen.

My interest was not historical but was spiritual. The lower section of the trail is almost magical with moss and ferns growing from the trees and the sounds and sight of the creek add to the magical effect. I've been on this trail in the winter after a cold, foggy night and the moss-covered trees have an additional coating of frozen fog.

Spectacular!

This was a much warmer day and I wanted to enjoy the sense of spring in the air.

In addition, I was returning to this trail for the first time since it had been reopened following flood damage repairs.

What a job the Bellevue Parks department has done. The lower section of the trail, where I started has been regravelled and the bridge that washed out has been replaced by a very sturdy structure.

The middle section of the trail is pretty much unchanged. However, the Primrose section of the trail is officially closed. This means that if you want to visit Primrose Falls you'll have to make an unofficial side trip. And there's a new side trail further along that heads off toward Lakemont. I didn't check it out but I assume that it goes to a new trailhead access point.

Much of the upper trail has been widened and barked. This really deals with all the mud that used to be here. I can never get enough of the 2 waterfalls that are just next to the trail in this section. Plus, the information kiosk is located here so that you can read about the history of Coal Creek and see the industrial pictures.

I wanted a teensy bit more mileage than the loop so I crossed the road to the Redtown access point to Cougar Mountain Park and ran a short loop before returning to my car.

This trail is just magical. I can never seem to get enough of it. The fresh forest, the creek, the use of industrial materials in the trail, the mud, the roots: it's all there.

Our January trip to Hawaii...

The weather

Clearly the reason to go to the paradise of Hawaii is the weather. It’s balmy all the time, especially for a northwesterner, with temperatures mostly in the 70s. Never much higher, never much lower. This January we went to Kuaui, the ‘Garden Island’, so named because the central mountain, Mt. Waialeale, gets more than 400 inches of annual rainfall!

Our first week was sunny and warm; the second week brought some rain. We only had heavy rainfall at night, but even the daytime rain that we encountered was warm. However, the rainy period did leave the mountain cloud-shrouded and left us looking for hikes at lower altitude.

More on this later.

The food

One of the high points for us was the food. I, especially, was looking forward to lots of tropical fruits but it turns out that January is an off season so the fruit selection is pretty lame. We just had to make do with papayas, pineapples, and bananas. One of our days we went to a farmers market and bought an UNBELIEVABLY good pineapple – the best we’d ever had.

My friend Gary told us about the Koloa Fish Market and was that ever great advice. The grilled fish was terrific, but we were introduced to poke and just fell in love. Poke is raw fish mixed up with other ingredients: maybe seaweed and sweet onion or Korean flavored. Eaten with rice and some fresh vegetables it’s a meal to die for. You can get it at just about any grocery store, even at Safeway.

Gary also told us about ‘Savage Shrimp’ a roadside vendor of grilled shrimps. This was a van, kind of like a taco wagon, whose sole fare was grilled shrimp served with rice. Turns out this was just around the corner from us so we were able to go out our back door, walk across the street, and order up. The vendor was also kind enough to sell us a 1-1/2 order, just enough for the two of us.

We also found Papaya's natural/organic food store in Kapaa so we could buy organic. On one of our trips a woman just started talking to us in the bulk foods area. She told us about lilikoi chiffon pie at the Hamura Saimin restaurant. We had to check this out and ended up buying a whole pie. It took us several days to eat and every bite was good.

Hiking

Kauai has lots of hiking, from shorelines and beaches to lowland mountains to high mountain ridges. With the moderate weather of our first week on the island we were able to get up high without getting wet. Mt. Waialeale sits on the island like the hub of a wheel and numerous ridges radiate out to the coast. Many of these ridge tops have trails or roads. We chose to hike the Nu'alolo Trail. It went almost straight west and ended on an escarpment 2000 feet above the ocean. We could look down into the lush Nu'alolo Valley and see the surf pounding the Napali coast.

The downside of these ridge hikes is that you have to walk uphill to return. Our return gave back the 1500’ of elevation that we’d lost hiking out.


This trail showed the effects of heavy rainfall but even more dramatic was the Powerline Trail. As one of our guidebooks pointed out, this trail is clear evidence of why you see hunter’s pickup trucks with 4-foot lift kits. In some places the tire ruts were 3-1/2 feet deep!

On a couple of our hikes we were lucky to be able to eat ripe guavas right off the tree. We later found out that the guavas are non-native and are spread by the feral pigs.

Bookending our whole trip was a walk south from the resort strip to Maha'ulepu Beach (a real gem!). I ran part of this shore-side trail on our first day and Janet walked it on the second. It has long, sweeping beaches, dramatic surf, sedimentary (sandstone and limestone) and volcanic cliffs, sighing/breathing rocks, even a sacred Hawaiian heiau. We closed out our trip by taking our last walk in this place, as well. Got a little of that warm, tropical rain and all the drama of this shoreline.

Running

Before leaving home I had checked MapMyRun to see if there were any runs logged for Poipu on Kauai and found only one. My big need was to be able to get in a single long run in final preparation for the Death Valley Marathon. This scarcity of MapMyRun runs left me to my own resources to figure out a route.

My first run was exploratory, heading north from our condo toward the big Poipu hotels. This is when I found the Makawehi cliffs and trail. A great find because I kept coming back to it and liking it more and more. With each excursion it revealed a little more of itself. On my first exploration I was blown away by Shipwreck Beach and the incredible meadows just before …. On later trips I saw the diving board cliffs and the porous cliffs that breathed with the surf.

Gift shopping

The folks in Janet’s office have a tradition of bringing back “gifts” to each other when a team member goes on vacation. Generally these gifts are something that you keep at your desk out of respect to the giver but they’re not something you’d typically get for yourself. She decided to try something different so we went to the Salvation Army and went through their rack of Hawaiian shirts and she got one for everyone.

They loved ‘em and even scheduled a Hawaiian lunch shortly after receiving them.

Sites

Oh, the places to see.

The mountain: Mt. Waialeale, big, rugged, green, rainy, muddy.

The beaches: some with surfers, some with fish, one with glass, one with engine blocks.

The plants: one of a handful of sites with tropical botanical gardens, well worth an afternoon