CREWING/PACING THE BEAR

(pictured above is the view of Bear Lake, near the end of the Bear 100)

This weekend I drove to the Cache National Forest in Northern Utah to crew and pace my friend Craig, who was running the Bear 100. You may recall that Craig paced me to my 100 mile finish at the Headlands 100. I figured it would be good to repay my karmic debt and that it would be fun to be a part of the event without having to run 100 miles. Indeed it was a much less painful way to partake in the excitement.

(pictured above is an example of the beautiful fall colors that were typical of the course)

I left Kalispell Friday morning at about 3:00 and drove straight to the "Cowley Canyon" aid station where I awaited the arrival of what is known among crew as "my runner." I quickly met some fun and cool folks whom I would see on and off for the next 24 hours. I was really nervous at first because I wasn't sure what Craig would want in terms of help, but I quickly realized he's pretty easy to crew since he can live off Sprite, ginger cookies, water and hot soup. I was pleased that he enjoyed the plain cheese tortellini I am now so fond of while running.

(pictured above is the part of the race where you cross into Idaho from Utah - me being a dork)

At mile 75 I got to take off my crewing hat and put on my pacing hat (or bandana as the case may be). Pacing is the best way I think to enjoy these events -- you get to run a substantial part of the course while enjoying it fully on fresh legs. Above all, you get to enjoy aid station food without being sick from having 75 miles under your belt. Or at least I felt that way. The course is beautiful with gazillions of aspens changing colors. The 25 miles was mostly very easy (weary runner = nice easy pace ;)) but near the end Craig just started bombing this long downhill and we ran fast to the finish. Craig finished strong in 30:47.
Crewing and pacing gave me a much better idea of what's involved and leaves me with some ideas for how to best use my peeps at Western States. For one thing, I know Cheryl gets sleepy without sleep and so I will make sure she gets sleep at some point.

Pictured above is the descent to the finish -- I have never run so fast downhill before. I felt like I learned to just fly and hope for the best. Had I run down Danni-style Craig would have been a mile ahead of me in the blink of an eye. My quads and ankles are very sore -- but at least my knees aren't sore which I consider to be a good sign.
Above is the proud finisher!!!

In other running news, I'm signed up for Le Grizz -- a 50 mile road race basically -- and will probably show up on race day. I'm in better shape than I was last year and am a bit thinner -- so I'd better PR if I run it. I hope so at least.

THE LATEST AND GREATEST

Isn't this a neat picture? Brad Lamson took it and the third one -- I believe Shane McMillen took the one below. These are from Swan Crest a couple weeks back.

So, I signed up for Western States. When I told Martin from Helena this today (he ran the Two Bear Marathon -- more on that below) he was laughing about my proclamations of "never again" and left me feeling that it is normal to recant. . . I also signed up for LeGrizz, and I'm hoping my fitness from this summer will be good enough to get me through. I haven't been running a whole lot. Nonetheless, I'm beating last year's time or bust.

I have joined "Crossfit" which is a strength and speed type type gym thingie. I'd love to get fit -- like be able to do more than just run slowly forever without stopping. I'd love to be able to do REAL pullups like Rooster!

This morning Ruth got second in her AG at the Two Bear, and Rebecca and Deb finished in good spirits despite constant rain and mud. Martin had a great race too. Julie won her AG in the half! I'm proud of these guys.

Speaking of proud, Cheryl rocked Ironman Wisconsin a couple weeks back. She's really improving on the bike and I honestly think she's Kona material.

I think that's sort of it in a nutshell. I've been busy.

Brad is pretty funny. In case you forgot who the stunning chica is I was running with it's Twila Moon.

GLORIOUS FALL MONTANA DAY

Today Ted, Zeke, Sonja and I hiked the "Danny On" trail up at Big Mountain. It was a perfect day. Well, minus the Costco trip. . . an otherwise perfect day.

Above, the dogs rally for lead dog on the trail. Zeke likes to be in front.
The view to the east/northeast. A little hazy but pretty clear.
Trail above, below is Sonja and me. She is hiding I guess.

Below are a few pictures from Ruth and Jerry's party last Sunday. They have a beautiful house on Flathead Lake and any they are amazing hosts to boot. As you can see, Ted didn't mind one bit.

I could just move into their house. Seriously. Look out guys :p

In other news, I'm kind of sick of running and am unmotivated to run. I've done almost no running this week. I have, by contrast, done a lot of eating. . .

ONLY IN AN ULTRAMARATHON. . .

. . .is it entirely possible to beat a finish time from one year prior by over 3 hours (I finished in 9:45 this year -- last year a lot of issues slowed Iris and I down). At the Swan Crest 57k, which was actually 36 miles, I finished much better than last year. Above all, I felt really good and finished strong.

This year both Iris and Callie came, which was a lot of fun. Although Iris totalled her hip and didn't finish, and although Callie didn't finish due to knee troubles, I was glad they came. I wish they weren't hurt though. Here we are before the race:

Callie was nice enough to drive us down in her camper where we slept in relative luxury and comfort. Nonetheless, I didn't sleep very well. My watch alarm went off at 4:30 but we ended up sleeping until 5:00. We loaded up in vehicles and drove to the start at Napa Point, which is somewhere around 6300 feet. After a nice tribute by Brad Lamson to his late friend Cal, he said "start" and start we did.

The early morning saw a lot of cold fog:

But then it warmed up. For much of the first 8 or so miles, Twila Moon was in sight, and I'd chatted with her briefly prior to the start and knew she was super cool so I really wanted to catch her so that I could run with her a bit. I did finally catch her and we ran together until the top of 6 mile mountain. I really enjoyed running with her. She was having a bit of trouble on the downhill, something I know nothing about :p, so I took off and sprinted to the finish. Below are more "view" pics I took:




Below is the view of Swan Lake in the foreground and Flathead Lake behind. It was cloudy but due to the lack of smoke, the views were somewhat better than last year.
Heading up to the top of Six Mile Mountain, we saw one of the strangest animals I've ever seen while out running trails. It looked an awful lot like the RD, Brad Lamson, wearing a blonde wig, crouching behind rocks. But surely that would be too bizarre to be true.
Below is Twila heading down Six Mile Mountain. From here to the finish is 9 miles of downhill. It's funny to think that the 8,000 or so feet of climbing is all packed into 27 miles. Ouch! No wonder it takes so long to do those 27 miles.

I will have to get Brad's pics, which include the "costume" portion of the event at the finish. All in all, I had a lovely day and am pretty sure that's my favorite event, plain and simple. There's a ridiculous quantity and quality of schwag and a keg at the finish to boot. I left with a tech shirt courtesy of LaSportiva, a ton of Hammer Nutrition stuff, a Kleen Kanteen courtesy of Big Sky Brewing, along with several pint glasses and a belly full of delicious brew. This is a top notch event -- self supported, casual, festive, fun and totally worth while. This is one NOT to miss.

Tomorrow is the Swan Crest Run, which is one of my favorite events ever. I like it because it's not really a race as much as it's an organized run/fundraiser. It is a "57k" with roughly 8k elevation gain and 11k loss. I haven't been running much since Headlands, and have instead been eating and drinking copious amounts of junk and am feeling rather soft and out of shape. My original goal was to make a solid effort at this run, and that goal hasn't changed. However, my expectations regarding the outcome of that solid effort have changed considerably. Above all, I'd really like to finish in time to have beers and watch at least a couple other people finish. I'll bring my camera -- last year was sunny but smokey. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy. Oh well!

I am so in love!!!

With little Stella my niece. Here we are in Stella's first live-action movie (the voice you hear is my brother Dave, aka baby Daddy, who accidenally made this rather than snapping a photo):

Notice that on cue she performs. I think she's thinking "hey hey hey!" as she waves her little hand!!!

So, this weekend I went home to Kansas City and finally met little Miss Stella Rand – my beautiful and teeny niece. It’s incredible that people are so little in their early days. I held her at various points and looked deep into her eyes, which were somewhat vacantly half-focused on something that could be me or could be something beyond me. I could understand why some people and some entire cultures believe teeny babies are other worldly, like angels or little gods. But I think it’s because you know that in the very near future they will be talking and interacting and that they really do have personalities lurking somewhere beneath their vacant stares, but they’re not yet really participating. Babies are masters of looking simultaneously wise and vegetable-y. Obviously I was fascinated by my little blood-line.

I gave her (or rather my brother and SIL) the quilt I made for her. The quilt is a mess, since I’m a highly unskilled and hasty sewer, but my embarrassment was belied by the fact that I kept talking about my quilt and taking pictures of it. I was pretty proud even if it was sort of a mess upon close inspection.

Saturday I went to my little brother, who is a junior in HS, Steve’s cross-country meet. It was actually a time-trial, and he did pretty decently for a relative of mine. His program has more than 80 kids but he was number 24. That should solidly put him on the JV team, steps above the other team he was on for the past two years. It was fun to see a bunch of High School cross-country kids. I was glad to no longer be in HS cross-country. Nothing more horrifying than lining up and sprinting off in those first 100 yards of mortifying slowness. Well, that was my experience anyhow :p

Saturday night I went with my SIL and her friend Shiela to Shiela’s friend’s comedy show/fundraiser. Unbeknownst to Tina or me, it was a “black comedy show” – and we were the only three white folks there. It was pretty odd to be the center of so many jokes at a comedy show. None of them clean enough to repeat here. It was actually refreshing after being in Montana for so long, where diversity is being from Butte, or even weirder, Anaconda.

Monday we attended my parents’ friends’ neighborhood annual water-balloon war. This was a serious event involving a lot of preparation. Hundreds of water balloons were filled in advance. I avoided getting wet and took pictures. Then Barb and I did a little shopping and I flew home.



It was a short but nice trip. One of the things that struck me was how I hadn’t appreciated the lack of cicadas and fireflies in Montana. My Midwestern upbringing means I strongly associate summer with those sounds and sights. But I sure don’t miss the heat and humidity. These two things made me feel really nostalgic