Dances With Dirt 100K Relay!

Mike's Dance Barn (a literal dance barn) was on the side of the road somewhere in Indiana between Bloomington and Nashville. Our rented Chevy Tahoe only had 300 miles on it when we pulled out of the Indianapolis airport, but it was raining and had been raining and the SUV's sparkle was covered in splatter by the time we arrived. We sat in the dirt (mud) parking lot and gazed across the way at the check in tent.  Eventually we all darted through the mud and grass to the check in. There was no room for people under the tent, and we checked in standing under the runoff from the tent roof. A lean forward meant runoff down the back of the neck. A lean back meant runoff on the face. Standing still meant runoff on the top of your head.  I knew then and there that the Dances With Dirt Race organizers had very little regard for the participant's comfort and well being.

The Terrain

The 2009 Gnaw Bone Dances With Dirt 100k Relay is all about stupidity. The waiver mentions death 3 times, not because the waiver is stupid, but the event is about making runners do stupid stuff.  Yes, there is a trail.  But yes, instead of running on it, we bushwhacked through the woods of this Indiana state park through mud, up and down creeks, across rivers, etc. There were 5 of us running 15 legs. Excerpts from the leg descriptions include:

"An aimless trek through the woods with funky footing, thorns and big hills and rivers. Head north back where the previous runner came in, a big climb then run the thorny ridge then a bushwhack down to the river, right in the river a hundred yards or so then to the highway..."

"...down a ton of steps to shatter your quads, then bushwhack up and down a serious hill to a mucked up horse trail filled with horse remnants, muddy hoof prints and several creek crossings (rivers if it rains)."

"... bushwhack 0.4 miles into the woods down to the creek, then, crawl up the creek about 3/4 mile to the CRACK OF DOOM log pile and cliff climb (this will piss you off!)." 

As you can see it is anything but normal trail running. I fell multiple times, as did my teammates. My first leg, which happened to be the start of the race, started out by crossing a creek, running through the muddy marsh with grasses up to your knees, then up a double black diamond ski run... in the mud. At the top was a nice trail, but instead we bushwhacked across about a mile and popped out going down a blue square ski run. Then up a blue square.  Then bushwhack some more, down a black diamond back to a muddy marsh, cross a creek, and then cross back on a bridge, then cross back in the water, and back on a bridge (?). When I finished I think the first words to my teammates were "there was absolutely no point in that run, other than to fall, get lost, and get really dirty. Man was it fun!"

Neil At The Finish Line

The inside of our Chevy Tahoe soon looked like the outside, despite our best efforts to keep it clean. Our team finished in just under 9 hours - 10th overall. My leg is officially shot. I started the event with a strained calf, and now I'm pretty sure I did more damage than just a strain.  As long as it is better by the Pikes Peak Ascent, I'm ok with that. :)

Le Team: Cinco Gringos Locos

Shelley, Me, Dana, John, and Neil

First comes love, then comes marriage (or something like it), then comes a ...

BABY IN THE BABY CARRIAGE!  

After a year and a half of trying on and off, and an equal time of lying to good friends about why she's not drinking and why she's not playing hockey... I am excited to announce Liz is pregnant!!!

She is due October 19.  She's been very nauseated and exhausted for about two months, and as one might expect a bit grouchy because of it.  Understandably so - if I'm sick for two days I'm a nightmare to deal with, I can't imagine two months.  I have all the respect for her in the world for what she's gone through, and she has handled it extremely well. I have nicknamed her "cranky poopy pants" - a term I'm pretty sure she doesn't find endearing but I mean it with the kindness of hearts.  Heehee. 

Luckily she has been feeling better and better every day and soon we can tackle the real stuff... like which room to make the nursery, what child care to consider, and WTF were we thinking when we thought we would make great parents?  :)

What a great adventure life is, and what a great adventure this will be... for the child.  ;)  Growing up with Liz and I as mommies will be quite a roller-coaster ride I'm sure!

El Paso Half Marathon

Last weekend my friend Shelley and I traveled to El Paso, TX to participate in the 3rd annual Michelob Ultra El Paso Half Marathon.  Why you ask? Of all places to run 13.1 miles, why El Paso you wonder?  I don't blame you. 

The answer is the Pikes Peak Ascent.  In order to qualify to run the Pikes Peak Ascent in August, you need to have run a half marathon in the past two years under 2:30.  I have not run any half marathons in the past two years, thus I did not qualify. This case was true for Shelley as well. The registration date for Pikes Peak is coming up fast, and the El Paso Half Marathon was the only one within driving distance we could squeeze in.

The "race" was on Sunday, March 1 and we fled Albuquerque at about 3pm on Saturday.  After a 3 1/2 hour drive we navigated "beautiful historic downtown El Paso" to pick up our race packets.  We found our hotel shortly after, which was conveniently only 1/2 mile from the start. We checked in, got issued a room smaller than we reserved, and went in search of dinner at about 7:30pm.  Turns out we were staying about 3 blocks from the border. No matter how we turned - north, south, east, or west - we kept finding ourselves on one way streets that led to border crossings... and talk about a dodgy neighborhood! 

We eventually found food, settled in for the night and before we knew it we were up and ready to head out the door for our wonderful 13.1 miles.  It was frigid outside so we snuck out some hotel blankets and with our version of the serape we headed to the start line.

It should be noted here that I had done nearly the equivalent of zero training for this event.  I'd run a total of 16 times in the past 3 months.  To add to it, I purchased new shoes only 10 days prior to the run. Shelley was in a similar, if not the same, boat.

The gun fired and off we went.  We had no desire to push it or try and run a PR... only to finish under 2:30 and avoid injury.  Wanting to avoid injury kept our pace reasonable and comfortable.  We thumped through downtown El Paso, traversed through UTEP, and out to the river.  When we reached the river we also reached the 8 mile marker which was the turn around for the half marathoners.  We gracefully took the turn, and wham.  I had realized it was gusty during the first 8 miles, and at this point we realized the entire last 5 miles would be directly into a horrendous headwind!  

We ran along the river ducking behind larger men as best we could, and I took notice of the really large rod iron fence we were running beside.  We are talking 12-15 feet tall.  I peered over the edge and saw underneath it the rolls of barbed wire on top of another 10 foot tall chain-link fence. I realized then that we were running along the US/Mexico border (I also realized that I had not bothered to look at the route map - another indication of lack of preparedness). 

We found ourselves back in "beautiful" downtown El Paso at the finish line in 1:56.  Not too shabby for 80% effort and 20% fitness!  We met our two goals of 1) qualifying for Pikes Peak and 2) avoiding injury.  Oddly enough our blankets were where we left them, and we jogged in warmth back to the hotel.  We left as quickly as we came.

For anyone interested below is a map of the race course.  I do not recommend this event.  The scenery is unremarkable, and the water/aid stations were terrible (no water at the last 3 and no food at any of them). However, if you're squirming for a last minute way to qualify for the Pikes Peak Ascent in future years, go for it!  Just look up where to eat and how to get there before you go.  

Stranded in Colorado Springs!!!

How to make life a little more interesting if you're stuck in Colorado Springs:

I've never been good at following directions!

Winter Wonderland

Ahh, winter.  My bikes are officially "up" for the season.  In fact, last time I biked to work it was 28 degrees in the morning when I left my house.  Halfway down the street I vowed it would be the last bike-to-work day until warmer weather.

This year I've committed to learning to ski.  What a lesson in humility.  I'm days short of 32 years old, and nearly everything I do at this point I've been doing long enough to be fairly good at (like snowboarding for instance). So to pick up skiing at first seemed ridiculous - why suck at skiing when I can already snowboard well?  But so far so good, I actually like it! 

Jenny snowboarding and me skiing

So far this year I've skied/boarded Santa Fe a few times, made several trips to Wolf Creek, and boarded Taos for the first time ever.  Next on the list is the front range in Colorado, perhaps Breck or Monarch in the next few days. 

When the snow stinks for skiing, go snowmobiling!

I hope to give my skis and snowboard several more runs this year, and also want to get out for some snowshoeing and cross country skiing.  We'll see - I seem to have eaten up quite a bit of my vacation time already!