4th of July in Montana

MORE ON THE FUN WESTERN STATES WEEKEND

This will be a quick and dirty summary of the weekend, but I figure there's no need to bore you with the blow by blow. This will be more of a "highlights" type post. Sooooooooooo let's begin with the fact that the RD filled the weekend with activities that kept us busy and made us feel like we were still part of the race. There was packet pickup and the WS Store, run by the uber-cool Zombie Runners , was open for business. I even received my bracelet from Stan Jensen (there's a picture down there somewhere). I was not forced to weigh-in, which was a blessing considering the beer and pizza consumption the previous night.

This picture below is from one of the two nights that we all sat around the "campfire" (fire pit in the fancy Squaw village) and laughed and had a great time.
Here's the picture of Stan Jensen giving me my bracelet.
On Friday a group of us "ran" the first miles of the Western States course. It was pretty tough. Pictured below is Cheryl making her way up the steepest part of the section.
This is the monument at the top. It was bittersweet to be here but mostly sweet. It was a beautiful morning and the "run" (i.e. hike) was exhilirating.

On Saturday, a huge group of folks ran on the Tahoe Rim Trail. Paul Charteris, the funniest coolest Kiwi you'll ever meet, organized the group and we had a blast running the high elevation Tahoe Rim Trail. The field was filled with superstars and pacers and foreigners and I have to say I ran ahead of Nikki and the Abbs for about 20 feet or so :-)

Saturday night Cheryl and I drove to Napa where we had a delicious fancy dinner (fancy by Montana standards) and some wine. Sunday we visited the Berzinger winery, which was pretty cool.


Sunday night we went to Jennifer's party in Sacramento, which was a blast. I had the chance to chat with a lot of new friends, including Nikki Kimball and her aunt Mary who are two of the coolest people you will ever meet. Also, below is Paul and he made us laugh so hard we were crying.


Monday, way too early, Cheryl flew out of Sac and I headed back to the nastiness called Reno. It's only today that I feel like I'm recovering from the weekend.

I registered for Headlands 100 which is August 9-10. It will be more mellow and will probably be a better first 100 mile race than WS would have been. I'm getting geared back up!!!

QUICK WORDS ABOUT WESTERN STATES RELATED STUFF

Thanks everyone for all the support both before and during my training. The love I feel for my friends and family is difficult for me to put into words, much less coherent words, but suffice it to say that I am well aware of how lucky I am and how super duper awesome said friends and family are.

Above is a picture of Cheryl and Chris, critical Western States team-Danni members, and I would say we had a great weekend regardless of the non-occurance of a race. We did run though. Just not 100 miles.

I will post more pictures later, and share more about my fun weekend, but I wanted to check in and send out a huge thank you. I think I am possibly more exhausted than I would have been had I run the race. We packed a lot into four days!

I'm thinking that I will attempt the Headlands 100 in the Marin Headlands in the Bay area as a substitute. I am not 100% sure though. I need to get to KCMO this summer as well and all this travelling is overwhelming physically, mentally, professionally and financially!!! But of course running comes first.

KIDDING!!!

WESTERN STATES CANCELLED!!! We were scheduled to leave tomorrow morning, early, but learned that due to the fire situation the run has been cancelled. I'll still go to northern California and enjoy a "girls weekend" with Cheryl:

I am obviously a little stunned by this development. I have been training since December and have been singularly focused on this event. Quite suddenly it's off.

However, quite suddenly, I get to start over in my race planning, training and refocusing. I get to pick a new goal race -- I'd like to run 100 miles this year. Also, I get to take full advantage of the best trail-running season here in northwest Montana and am perhaps getting the chance to be even better trained. It's disappointing but not the end of the world. And my thoughts are with all the people affected by the fires more meaningfully. :-)

35th Western States Endurance Run has been Cancelled.

Dear Western States Runners,
It is with deep regret that we announce today that the 35th running of the Western States 100-mile Endurance Run has been cancelled, due to the unprecedented amount of wildfires that have struck northern California in recent days and the health risks that have been associated with these wildfires. The Board of Trustees of the Western States Endurance Run has consulted with many of our local and state race partners, including the U.S. Forest Service and the Placer County Air Pollution Control District, in coming to this decision. We apologize to our runners for any inconvenience this decision has created.

The race's organizers are currently working on a revised schedule of runner activities for Thursday and Friday in Squaw Valley, and these details will be made available soon. Although there will be no race for the first time in our 35-year history, we still wish to make this experience as meaningful as possible for our runners. Activities will include annual events such as runner check-in for goodie bag pickup on Friday morning, the pre-race briefing and raffle on Friday afternoon, the showing of Western States documentaries on Friday night, and a special gathering of runners commemorating the race's start on Saturday.

Since the beginning of more than 840 wildfires statewide, 312 wildfires in northern California and more than 3,200 lightning strikes in the Tahoe National Forest alone on June 21, the race's organizers have worked closely with a variety local, county and state agencies in determining the best course of action for our race. It has become apparent that given our race's paramount concern - the safety or our runners - holding this year's race would pose too great a risk to our runners, to our aid station personnel and to our volunteers. Given the close proximity of at least two fires that are within two miles of our race course and a critical access road, as well as the deteriorating air quality stretching from our start in Squaw Valley to Auburn, Calif., the board has determined that cancellation, rather than postponement or the use of an alternative course, represents the safest and most prudent decision for our 2008 event.

Our decision was based on three factors:

1. Proximity of the fire to the race course, which has the potential to impact the safety of runners, aid station personnel and volunteers at any point during the race.

Fire projections indicate that the Westville Fire has the potential to reach the Foresthill Divide Road by the weekend; in addition, the Peavine Fire could reach Last Chance and Mosquito Ridge Road, possibly compromising access in and out of these areas. In a statement, Jan Cutts, District Ranger for the American River Ranger District, said, "In addition to the potential direct impact by the fires, (the race's cancellation) is based on safety concerns surrounding the increased number of vehicles on the road and congestion associated with the Run. We see hundreds of vehicles on the Foresthill Divide Road and Mosquito Ridge Road for this event each year. That's just too many additional vehicles when we've got fire-fighting equipment and personnel using the same roads for fire suppression operations. … Safety is our overriding concern and we felt we could not provide a safe environment for this year's Run because of the unprecedented fire activity in the area."

2. Air quality deterioration.

Placer County Air Pollution Control District officials have issued an air-quality advisory. Air quality specialists with Placer County are advising individuals to reduce their exposure to the unhealthy air, and that includes vigorous outdoor activities. Medical representatives from the Western States Board have consulted with several physicians regarding their expert opinion on running a 100-mile trail race through rugged country through such unhealthy air; the consensus has been that such an activity would not be recommended, with the potential for serious health risks - even for the most highly trained of athletes. As a point of reference, a high level of pollution is 35 micrograms of material; in Auburn on Wednesday the level was 10 times that amount, according to figures from Placer County. In addition, Placer County Air Pollution Control District officials have characterized the air conditions as extremely hazardous and the worst recordings the area has had in more than 10 years.

In a statement, the Placer County Public Health Officer, Air Pollution Control Officer and Director of the Office of Emergency Services, all concurred with the decision to cancel this year's run:

"The current situation in Northern California with respect to poor air quality and active fire danger is unprecedented. Within Placer County there are three active fires burning in the American River watershed, two of which have potential to impact the Western States Trail directly. These fires, as well as ones burning outside of the American River watershed to the west and north are creating unhealthy smoke concentrations throughout the foothills. This has necessitated county public health officials to issue advisories recommending a curtailment of voluntary outdoor activities that include strenuous physical exertion. These recommendations include reducing exposure to smoke." Added Tom Christofk, Placer County Air Pollution Officer: "The widespread smoke throughout Northern California is forecasted to remain as long as the wildfires continue to burn and the weather conditions do not substantially change. The poor air quality conditions being experienced in Placer County are expected to persist through the weekend and impact elevations from the valley to Tahoe. High particulate matter concentrations affect respiratory and cardiovascular systems negatively, and I concur with the decision to cancel the Run from a public health perspective as we have been issuing health advisories recommending the limiting of outdoor physical exercise until conditions improve."

3. Safety of our runners.

For 35 years, the Western States 100 has been predicated on our runner's safety. As stewards of the race, the Western States Board has always recognized that running 100 miles over snow, through high elevations, into infernal canyons and through the dark of night can pose great challenges for even the most skilled of runners. Couple the challenging nature of our run with the existing combination of close proximity of wildfire, potential volatile fire activity that could cut off key access points to the course as well as some of the most unhealthy air the region has seen this decade, and the decision was made in recognition of our preeminent goal - the safety of our runners.

For all of you, today's news is disappointing. Since the lottery was held in December, you have trained with remarkable diligence and focus to get to this day. You have dreamed big and made countless personal sacrifices to prepare for one of the greatest days any trail runner can ever have. As a group, the Western States Board would like to commend you for your dedication and devotion not only to the preparation that is required for our race, but to the community of trail runners of which we are all a part. You are members of a special group, one that relishes challenge, constantly strives to improve the limits of what is believed possible, and seeks the special kindred spirits of others who revel in the beauty of our sport. We have been honored to have your name as part of our race's start list this year.

We would be remiss if we did not publicly thank the men and women of the American River Ranger District, particularly Jan Cutts and Ed Moore, for their consultation and constant flow of updated information regarding this very challenging fire situation. The City of Auburn, City Manager Bob Richardson, and officials from Placer County, in particular Tom Christofk, Placer County Air Pollution Control Officer, and Dr. Richard Burton, Placer County Public Health Officer, have also been invaluable sources of information and advisement. Thanks to all of these trail partners.

In the coming days, we will announce details regarding entries for next year's race, which will be determined in a fair and equitable manner. It should be noted that per our race rules, all race entries are non-refundable.

Thank you again for your participation and interest in the Western States 100. We hope that we will see you in 2009.

Sincerely,

Tim Twietmeyer
Western States Board President

Greg Soderlund
Race Director

MISSILE MANIA

(Misc.) The Herron Hustle was a total success. We had perfect weather, no complaints, happy people and I think we raised awareness and some cash for Foys to Blacktail Trails. I had awesome volunteers (thanks Iris, Deb, Ruth, Callie et al.!), awesome runners, and am just giddy.

The Ironman went really well. Last year we sat on the bottom of the lake while the swimmers swam, but this year visibility was terrible in the lake and the water temperature was coooooold so we hung out on a dock waiting to be deployed if needed. The unfortunate thing about it was that our deployment would likely be more of a recovery than a rescue given the timing that would be involved -- but with murky water what can you do really. They have lots of folks on the course though so it's as safe as it can be. The upshot of it is that we did not need to be deployed and we neither rescued nor recovered. There were many cold souls, some of whom were in stage 1 of hypothermia, being pulled out. My heart broke for them. And my friend Leslie did not finish the bike, which is heartbreaking because she has been preparing for years. Ugh.

Finally, for those who were wondering about race day tracking for my upcoming "dance" -- here is the link:

WS webcast link

I will post some Herron Hustle pictures once I locate my camera.

I can't believe we leave town Thursday -- I have so much to do at work! I'm really glad I packed my drop bags last week!!!!

Danni's Kitchen

I really have no clue why the pictures below uploaded sideways. But these are my cupcakes. Rather than relaxing and eating well for my taper it has been a crazy week and I have been a little piggie. I'm not looking forward to being weighed repeatedly and having the circumference of my thighs measured by the Western States medical research team endeavoring to prove the obvious -- that people who eat too many cupcakes in relation to the amount of training they do fail to perform as well as those who know how to turn down free beer and stay svelte.

I had to go to Bozeman this week, which was great in some ways but exhausting in others. I met up with a friend and had a great time with her. However, I have become pretty stressed about the Herron Hustle and haven't been able to sleep and haven't been eating well. But at least these cupcakes are an old Weight Watchers secret recipe, which I could tell you but it might make you feel as nauseous as I do right now from eating cake batter and frosting by the spoonful tonight. In the sugar rush, however, I accomplished a freakishly huge amount. I stuffed goodie bags, prepared bibs for the pre-registered, made the trail markers (Iris and I will mark the course tomorrow night) and, of course, "baked" (though Ted had to make the real frosting, it was complicated :p).

(above, the yellow brick road leads to Bozo, below, my run while in Bozeman -- only 2.5 miles but 1500 feet of climb in ONE MILE (5,000 to 6,500!))

Like Night and Day

Last night (Friday night) Leanne, Iris, Iris' coworker Gretchen and I did a night run. We went out to the "Pig Farm" figuring there would be a lower chance of an animal encounter of the bad kind. When we first arrived, we found this sign posted on a tree in the parking area:

If you can't read it, it says that they were charged by a "brown furry mother bear with cuddly cub" on the southern end of the stateland area and then they ask: "do you think it was heading to Farm-to-Market Pork for dinner?" I really liked the description of the bear as "furry" and the cub as "cuddly." We did not see the furry mamma nor her cub, nor did we see any other animals. No surprise since there were four of us with lights -- none of us using our inside voices.
I realized that running at night really is quite different than running in the dark of the morning. Rather than beginning to get light, it gets darker and darker. Running single track in the dark dark is a very surreal experience. It was almost trance-like. I can see how easy it would be to trip and fall or even fall asleep while running. I really enjoyed our run and very much look forward to running at night in a couple of weeks in California. I did learn that my Fenix flashlight is VERY bright. I will keep it in my waist pack and pull it out when the ground is especially tricky or to wake myself up. I also learned that my Brunton headlamp needs new batteries. The waist headlamp was awesome. Whoever thought of that is smart. (Wasn't me obviously.)

The best part about night running is that the timing is just right for a cold brew afterwards. We enjoyed the peaceful darkness while drinking like bad high school kids in the woods.

Today Iris and I ran in Glacier National Park -- the first "summer" experience of the year. The weather was absoultely perfect -- a welcome relief after a snowy dreary misery-inducing week of yuck. It was also very busy -- I forgot how busy it gets if you wait until afternoon to visit. We ran the trail that parallels Going to the Sun Road until it hit the Avalanche Lake trail -- which we followed to Avalanche Lake. There were so many people on the trail, it reminded me of Chicago a little. On a nice day in Chicago, the parks are so packed with folks it's like a festival. I don't think we were in much danger of grizzly action today.

This has been a nice weekend. Tomorrow I am going to distribute Foys to Blacktail Trails propeganda at the triathlon, cheer on Sharon and Rebecca and hand out Herron Hustle brochures. I am getting more pre-registrations and think the race will easily exceed my modest goal of 50 entrants. Yay!

HERRON HUSTLE GETS LOCAL PRESS

Great writeup! Of course, people don't HAVE to register AT 6:30 for race day registration, but I don't mind people believing that they do :-) I'm getting excited about the big day -- especially about it being over with. Afterwards Ted and I hustle to Coeur D'Alene to volunteer on the Dive Team at Ironman CDA. It will be a fun weekend chock-full-o-volunteering.

LINK TO ARTICLE

LINK TO RACE WEBSITE

JUNE 10, 2008

Gosh, I know I'm being a big whiner, but my poor peonies!!! It hovered around 34 all day yesterday, and this morning I ran in 34 degree temperatures -- I wore gloves and even a hat. The hat was overkill, but I figured it would be good heat training. ;) Speaking of which, last night I spent 45 minutes in the sauna and was much sweatier than the prior day. I really enjoy sitting in the sauna. I want one!!!

In other news, there really is no other news. Tapering is pretty boring and uneventful -- I just have to try to maintain good nutrition and all that good stuff. Barrack Obama registered online for the Herron Hustle. I have a sneaking suspicion that someone else in Chicago registered as Obama. ;)

I just want you all to know that it is SNOWING out right now. It is June 10. SNOW. So much for heat training! (I would snap a photo but I left my camera AND phone at home :( )

Western States Training Takes a New Turn

Today after work I dutifully went to the gym. . . and sat on my butt in the sauna. The temperature was around 140-150 (it went up and down) and I sat in there for about 30 minutes or so. There is a stereo system in there which was pretty cool. It was very relaxing and I kind of enjoyed it. I didn't sweat too much, which is probably a bad sign -- or a good sign that I need the training -- and instead got little rashes on my legs. The sauna is not even big enough to lie down in much less do any sort of exercise -- so please no one tell me to stuff in there :p I'm skeptical but hopefully this will help me prepare for the heat of the race. If nothing else it will force me to spend some time each evening relaxing, listening to music and maybe reading. I will try a couple runs ridiculously overdressed too -- I've been told that's a good approach. I feel a little silly doing this -- like I'm pretending to be hardcore or maybe like I'm an insane person -- but I would hate for my unwillingness to try this stuff to be my downfall.

Three weeks from now I will be en route home. It will all be over. Weird.

Thank you all so much for your input on lights!!! I can't even believe how fortunate I am to be getting input from such seasoned and/or successful ultrarunners. I genuinely appreciate it.

So while I'm in "gear" mode, below is the prototype of my drop bag. Yeah, I'm getting way carried away -- but even if my race is a disaster I will have had a lot of fun planning. So the idea is that the bag is small but big enough for all the stuff I might have in one bag (shoes, socks, l/s shirt, gels etc.) but wide so I can easily see what's inside without digging around. For the draw string I will probably use brightly colored cord rather than the ribbon used below, but I don't have any cord right now. I also have reflective tape to use for the "night" bags. I will need to put some sort of patch on it so I can write my number or whatever identifying info they need. Or maybe something like a luggage tag (?)

I'm not even tapering yet and I'm acting like I'm in taper madness. Ha ha I'm just this way all the time.

NIGHT RUNNING

Now I have that REM song in my head "Nightswimming." Anyhow, I have been thinking about this since yesterday and am reminded today by another blog that I really need to get a night run in -- to test my lights and stuff. Please sign up! Leanne? Deb? Iris? I'm told it would be better to start before it's totally dark so I can experience the transition time. Unfortunately, that means I need to start around 10:00 p.m. -- it doesn't have to be long. Maybe the weekend after this one? I am too scared to go alone. The mountain lions will surely eat me.

So below, check out my lighting plan! Overkill???

P.S. All those boxes are the pint glasses for the Herron Hustle (www.herronhustle.com). I have a lot to do still to get ready for the race. Ack. Stressing me out.

AN ADVENTURE

Yesterday Leanne and Iris were willing companions in a real Danni-style adventure. Last summer our buddy Jandy took us up to Blacktail mountain from Herron Park (i.e. Foys to Blacktail) but I have no idea how we got there. I am not really the type who "pays attention." I decided that for my run I was going to run Foys to Blacktail to Foys, which would be around 26-28 miles by my calculation, based on the assumption that somehow we would find the route. I had no idea where to go, but Leanne and Iris knew this and neither of them knew either. Ty, Leanne's husband, was behind us a ways on his mountain bike following our markings, and he didn't know the way either.

I had been told that if you stay on this main logging road you can get there and find the decomissioned Forest Service trail that takes you to the top of Blacktail Mountain, which is a ski resort. Iris was pretty sure that the road ends, which may be true, so we took a single-track from the logging road to another logging road which took us to another single-track which took us to a giant pile of what can only be described as "logging mess." I'm pretty sure that's the technical term in fact. After about 10 miles we hit a whole lot of logging mess. Most of this run is across Plum Creek property (timber/logging company) but they have a generous open lands policy and are granting an easement to FTBT so we can actually sign the "trail" (wherever it is) to Blacktail Mountain and everyone can adventure for all of eternity.

ANYHOW. Back to the adventure. We ran into a couple folks on horseback who told us that if he "hugged the ridge" we could find our way to Blacktail Mountain. In effort to hug the ridge and not stray the "wrong" direction, we climbed up a steep (i.e. straight up) trail mess path. This took us to another logging road and another pile of mess. You see, when Plum Creek timbers, they obliterate the trail and leave massive piles of wood and woodchips everywhere and since it has been rainy, it looked like someone got drunk and drove a giant bulldozer around pushing mud far and wide and leaving huge crazy tracks all over. We couldn't find the trail and felt very sad. Below is a picture, taken by Iris, as all these pictures were, of Leanne talking to Ty who had given up since he was "lost as &%$!*" while my heart cried a little. We conferenced a lot about our options and all but gave up.

We decided to take one more look for trail and we found one which soon took us to the Forest Service bounday -- the yellow sign marks the bounday. We knew at this point that we were on THE trail that would take us where we needed to go. Hence the rejoicing. In fact, we thought we were home free. Especially since this was mile 11 or so and we thought it would only be 13-14 miles to the top.
We soon encountered a whole lot of fallen trees. This was pretty exciting. A lot of straddling trees, trying not to be inappropriately and uncomfortably poked by rogue branches. Iris, who is a WFA grad (Wilderness First Aid or something) told us all about puncture wounds from sticks and how they're common. That's all I could think about!!!
Iris is a champ. She went ahead so we would know whether to go her way or not. If we heard profanity we knew not to follow. If it seemed to go ok we followed. Perfect!
We cleared the downed trees and again rejoiced that we were "home free" when we came upon snow. Now, the horse people told us "you will hit snow." But see we're smarter than them because we just sort of thought, based on glancing up from town, that the snow was mostly melted. . .
Iris did an amazing job of staying on the trail (we're pretty sure we stayed on the trail) despite steady deep snow for about the last half mile. This picture below doesn't even show how deep this snow could be -- one step and I'm on top of the snow. One step and the other leg is completely in the snow and I'm sitting, despite standing. . . if that makes sense!!! Somewhere at this point we saw mountain lion tracks in the snow. At that point I made the decision that I was not going to run back alone (Leanne's car was at the top and though Iris had intended to run back with me, it became clear that our 13-14 mile run was 18-19 miles instead).
Iris got a bit ahead of Leanne and I and we heard her yelling. . . YEAH!!! Ahhhhhhh we made it. Leanne is quite relieved.
I was dragging. . . and although I wish I could tell you I was sad no one would run back with me I was very happy to be done. There was no way I was going back across the snow alone. And down the steep timber mess. If I could even remember the way we came. . .

Man what a good time!!! I wanted an adventure and an adventure I got. And no one got hurt. We did run out of water a little too soon for our liking, but it was really fun to play with my friends. I decided the shorter distance was ok since last weekend was such a heavy training weekend. Next weekend, my last and PEAK weekend, I'll do 30+. . . today I was a slacker too and did a 5 mile run up Columbia Mountain with Deb and Sonja. That was really nice and still a good hike. The first mile climbs nearly 1,000 feet so it's sort of like Devil's Thumb I think. . . except with great weather :p