Been Lazy

It's been over 2 weeks since the last time I ran. I really don't have any excuse; I've blamed the weather, my schedule, anything I could. Reality is I've been lazy. And although I already regret not getting in some runs over the past couple weeks, I know that I'm really going to regret it on Saturday, May 26 when I run the Soaring Eagle 50K Trail Run. I am just not trained up for this long race, and it's really too bad because the relatively flat course is conducive to a PR. I use to tell myself that the way to be certain I kept running was to keep signing up for races, I guess that no longer works. I need more than just races, I need real concrete goals like last year when I set (and succeeded in completing) a goal to run 1000 miles.

When the weather is less than ideal, when the schedule is not conducive, when I'm just not feeling like it, that's when I need to just force yourself to get out there and run. Like everyone says, you'll never regret the run you went on.

A Practice Run in Chicago

Just got back yesterday from a few days in Chicago for work. This is my second visit to the second city, and I really enjoy visiting that town. Amazing places to eat, beautiful parks, incredible museums, and as major world cities go, it’s actually really affordable to visit. Last time I visited Chicago it was also because of a work trip, but I decided to stay over the weekend and do as much tourist stuff as I could. One thing I had intended to do, but just didn’t do was to go for a run in the city. However on this trip, knowing that I would be coming back to Chicago for a longer trip in October for the express purpose of running the 2012 Chicago Marathon and doing all things touristy, I took my free time on this trip to go on a good run. Turns out you can’t really run the marathon course, since it is literally down some of the city’s busiest streets (which are obviously closed down for the marathon). It took me a while to get the short 1 mile distance from my hotel to the shore Lake Michigan since I had to stop ever tenth of a mile for a street light, but once I got to the lake I really enjoyed running along Lakefront trail heading south. At some point I figured I would need to turn around since I had plans to meet up with some people for dinner, that’s when I found what the challenge is with running in Chicago. As I had been running south I was running with a decent wind to my back, when I turned to head back up north an ice cold wind was blowing right in my face. I still enjoyed the remainder of my run eventually making my way back up the lake and in along the river and back to my hotel.

Lord Hill 50K Trail Race

Last Sunday I ran the Lord Hill 50K Trail Race; my second trail race and my second ultra marathon . With nothing planned for the start of the year I needed some encouragement to kick start my running in the New Year. In the first few months of the year there are very few organized races, but the Lord Hill race at the end of February seemed like a somewhat aggressive but attainable goal, and despite the fact they offered a 5 mile, 10 mile, 20 mile and 50 kilometer race, I figured I might as well sign up for the full thing and do 50K. I was surprised to find out my wife signed up shortly after me (but for the much more reasonable distance of 10 miles). The course was a 10 mile course with the 50K races doing the 10 mile course 3 times, then a small 1.1 mile loop at the end.

Immediately I discovered my training schedule was going to be very limited with Tuesday’s devoted to City League ski racing and Saturday’s devoted to taking my daughters up skiing for lessons. I tried to get in as many runs as I could with my usual 6.5 mile maintenance and a longer weekend run when I could pull it off. By the time of the race I had only managed 2 runs on trails, and only one run over 10 miles in length. Add to my severe lack of training, the weather forecast was calling for 1 to 2 inches of snow between 10 AM and 4 PM on the day of the race; this would be exactly the time I would be running. I knew I was in trouble.

As the day of the race came around, I tried to reassure myself that I wasn’t trying to set any records with this race, and that I wouldn’t push myself too far and I would drop out if it was no longer prudent to run. On race day I awoke to pretty much blue skies in Seattle, and I figured my concerns about the weather were unwarranted and the forecast (as always in Seattle) was wrong. We drove on out to Lord Hill Park near Monroe, WA but as we neared Monroe the skies suddenly were filled with clouds. Upon arriving at the start of the race, one of the parking volunteers commented that he hoped we had really good mud shoes, and that the race was going to start with a river crossing.

A pre-race briefing was provided to the 20 mile and 50K racers at 8:15, then the 20 mile and 50K race was to begin at 8:30. However, just before the race was to begin it started snowing. As the race kicked off we ran about 100 yards, before crossing the previously mentioned “river”. The river turned out to be little more than a creek that could easily be jumped over; however I found out that as I did my second and third loop of the course the creek became increasingly more difficult to jump over.

The small creek was the least of my worries during the race. After about half a mile the course turned sharply up “Oh Lord Hill”, a steep series of climbs, straight up a hill on a narrow muddy single track trail. The hill was steep enough so that pretty much everyone just walked it. After “Oh Lord Hill” the rest of the course was a beautiful (albeit very muddy) single track course winding though woods, along creeks, and past a large pond. There was an aid station at the 4 mile point on the 10 mile loop, which worked out to be a great spacing as the majority of the effort was put into the first mile of the course as you climbed “Oh Lord Hill”. The first loop was interesting with snow falling and the course receiving a little dusting of snow, but by the second loop the snow had stopped, and by the third loop the sun was out. I now had no excuse not finish this race.

At the end of my third loop I was greeted by my two daughters and wife (who had time after she completed her race to drive an 45 minutes, pick up my daughters, have lunch with them, do some shopping, then drive back 45 minutes to the race course, and wait 45 minutes before I finished loop 3). After thanking them for meeting me I headed out for the final 1.1 miles (and the most difficult 1.1 miles I’ve ever run).

When the race was over I ended up finishing in 7 hours and 29 minutes and coming in 39th place out of 55 racers. Not a ranking that is going to win me any prizes, but one that I am proud of anyways. And now with a couple of days to recover and some time to contemplate the race, I find myself looking on the internet trying to find the next race and a little bit surprised by the fact that I can’t wait to run my next 50K.

The 2011 Portland Marathon

Two minutes, and twenty four seconds. That’s how much time I missed my marathon goal time of sub-four hours by. In all fairness I was trying to cut 44 minutes off my previous marathon PR, but it should have been completely doable. I am pretty psyched that I ran so much faster of a marathon than my last marathon, but the fact that I failed to beat four hours, means I’m going to have to run another marathon. Darn this running addiction.

Overall, the Portland Marathon this year was a much more enjoyable experience than it was last year. The weather was mostly dry with mild temperatures, perfect for running. My strategy for running the marathon was just to come out as fast as I could maintain and then constantly adjust my speed based on how I was feeling, and constantly asking myself if I could run a bit faster. Other than noting the pacers, I really didn't use them at all, I just tried to keep as fast of a pace as I could maintain. My time at the half way point was 1:56:46, which would make it my 3rd fastest half marathon time! I did walk a bit on the climb up to the St John’s bridge. After the St John’s bridge I was dragging a bit, especially though miles 20 and 21 but then I really picked up the pace during the long hill leading down to the Broadway Bridge driven in part by the thought that around mile 23 there would be the beer aid station! After the Broadway Bridge my quads were really hurting, they almost felt like they were cramping. Between the leg pain and exhaustion of having just run 24 miles faster than I had ever run that distance before, I just couldn’t bring myself to push any harder and so I finished pretty slow.

So now nearly a week after the marathon, I’m feeling good enough to take a short run. I do need to get back into training since I have the Salty’s Half Marathon in a few weeks, followed by the Seattle Half Marathon a month after that. Right now I’m thinking about waiting until the packet pickup on the day before the marathon, and if the forecast is for dry weather on the day of the marathon I might just upgrade to the full Seattle Marathon. Other than that I have no other races planned for 2011, with the exception of participating as much as possible as my 8 year old daughter works on completing the Seattle Kids Marathon. However, for 2012 I would really like to run the Chicago Marathon!

Enjoying the Rain

Today I took the bus in; no running, no biking, just fully tapering before Sunday's marathon. As I was walked to the bus in the typical Seattle Autumn drizzle, I was reminded of an incident many years ago, in a different life, when I was a traveling paper salesman. I was in Denver for a trade show, the show was over, and all the sales people were out to dinner together before heading back to their respective towns in the morning. One particular sales guy was trying to mock my hometown of Seattle by describing it as the town that was all about intermittent windshield wipers. His comment was largely ignored, but his point was taken. Seattle is a generally wet city. Not real heavy rain, but sort of an on and off drizzle. In his book Still Life with Woodpecker, Tom Robbins talks of using a canopy of blackberry bushes covering the city to protect us from the rain, but what can you expect, Tom Robbins is a transplant from back East. I don't think the wet bothers true natives, or at least those who were born and raised in Seattle. But it clearly bothers the transplants, which there are so many of. I enjoy the rain, in fact I actually enjoy being out in the rain. What gets me down is the incessant complaining by the transplant. For at least 9 months of the year you hear and read endlessly about how dreary the weather is. It's all the complaining about the weather does get me down; and ultimately it's hard not to get caught up in it and get down on the weather that I would otherwise enjoy. This year I've actively been trying to avoid any talk about weather, or reading anything negative about the weather. Generally my plan to stay positive about the weather seems to be working, although it is early, and summer just ended, but I seem to be happy spending time in the cool gray misty rain. And it's a good thing I enjoy this wet weather because on Sunday I'm likely to spend my second Portland marathon in the rain, feet sloshing, clothes soaked all the way though, running for hours in this, with a big smile on my face.

Everything I knew about hydrating was wrong!

I remember my first real endurance event, the STP (Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic). It is a 200+ mile bike ride that people do over one or two days in the summer. The first time I did the STP I went to several training events, and I remember being told: “drink before you get thirsty, because by the time you’re thirsty it’s too late”. I took this to heart, since the person who was doing the training must clearly be an “expert”.


A few years ago while trying to complete a guided one day summit attempt of the 10,781 foot Mount Baker on skis I completely ran out of steam short of the summit. No matter how much water I drank I couldn’t quench my thirst. We only made it to the crater, several hundred vertical feet of the summit. Later my guide told me that my problem was likely that my body needed electrolytes, and that this could be done easily by using something like Nuun tablets. After that I started adding Nuun to my water for all my endurance events.


Someone I know told me about becoming dehydrated during a marathon and urinating blood. Stop at every single water stop they told me, you do NOT want to become dehydrated. This furthered my belief that I should be drinking constantly during physical activity.

Recently while trying to complete the 93 miles Wonderland Trail that circumnavigates Mount Rainier in three days I wore a 3 Liter Camel Bak bladder in my backpack. I never let it get below 1 liter, and my water always had several Nuun tablets in it.


Hydration and electrolytes have always been central to my physical activities. I’ve preached the importance of hydration and electrolytes to anyone who would listen. It was common knowledge, right? Then I read this article from Adventure Journal and it was like a slap across my face. According to the study, everything I thought I knew is wrong. There are a lot of “experts” out there when it comes to endurance activities, but expertise comes from personal experience, not science.


The article references a recent study by Dr James Winger of Loyola University Medical Center. The study looked at hydration and the performance of marathon runners. What the study found is that we are drinking way too much water. You should only be drinking when you get thirsty. Drinking too much water can be very dangerous; "there have been 12 documented and 8 suspected runners' deaths from hyponatremia". The Adventure Journal article also mentions that Dr Winger says it's unwise to take salt tablets to replace electrolytes. Electrolytes are taken away from the body by drinking too much water, and the only way they are going to be replaced artificially is through an intake of “highly concentrated IV fluids (not normal IV fluids)”.


The first question that popped into my head when reading the article is, "why do I feel so much better after I drink a sports drink?", the article answered that one too. You get that good feeling from the sports drink because you’re "being washed by endorphins when you stop an exercise".

When I find something that completely upsets my belief system citing some “study” but not linking to the actual study I need to do some more research. So I checked the web, and this story is of course all over the place: The Chicago Sun-Times, Science Daily, etc, etc.

I will definitely be looking for more on this study, and asking around anywhere I can get more information on this. Please read the Adventure Journal article as well as the original study yourself, then let me know what you think, will this change your behavior when it comes to hydrating? I've got a marathon in less than 2 weeks and I'm not sure how this news will effect my behavior.

Running in 2011 so far…

At the start of 2011, I set a New Year’s resolution or goal for expanding my new found favorite activity of running. The goal was to run 1000 miles in 2011. At the time it seemed like a pretty lofty goal: average just less than 19.25 miles a week, every week for a year. Then I read about how other runners were shooting for 2011 miles in 2011 (over 38.5 miles a week) and my 1000 mile goal didn't seem like such a big deal. However I am new to running and I want to keep my goals realistic and not overtake my obligations to family and work.

Fast forward to the close of September 2011: I’m currently at 832.25 miles which puts me way ahead schedule, if I look at my total runs for the past 365 days I’m at 992 miles. My resolution that I made back in January should be attainable if I can just keep myself motivated though Autumn in the cold, wet, gray Pacific Northwest. Clearly the amount of running I am doing has dramatically increased since I took up the activity back at the start of 2010. The distances that I can run has also increased from 5K, to 10K, to 1/2 marathon, to full marathon, to 50K ultra-marathon, to 93 miles around Mount Rainier over 3 days.

What hasn’t improved as much is my pace; I did have a few faster paced races in 2011, but nothing close to my little brother Alex is capable of. Then when I get to the marathon distances my pace becomes really slow; the Boston Marathon is not anything that I see myself as ever qualifying for unless I can keep my current pace into my mid 60s. However, I think I’m okay with this. At 40 I know I’ll never be a fast runner, but I do like exploring how far and long I can run, and that exploration should make 2012 an interesting year for my runs.

As I look forward to the rest of 2012 here is what I have left on the agenda:

• I have Portland Marathon in less than 2 weeks my goal for that is to complete it in under 4 hours. No big deal except that my only two marathon experiences were both over 4:45, and last year when I did the Portland Marathon I limped the last several miles.
• Three weeks after that I have the Salty's Half Marathon. This should be a fun, flat, fast half that will be a super small group (it's limited to just 100 participants).
  
•  Then four weeks after that I have the Seattle Half Marathon. Last year I did this pretty much "off the couch". I was pretty apprehensive about this, since it's at the end of November (not a time known for nice dry warm weather in Seattle), and my physician had forbidden me from doing the full (his brother had ended up in the hospital with hypothermia while doing the Seattle Marathon). When I did it, it was a really fun half marathon. Depending on how I'm feeling as the date gets closer and depending on what the rules allow, I might upgrade to the full (just don't tell my doctor).

Then that's it for 2011. For 2012, I think I want to up the game a bit and do more ultras!

Wonderland Trail in 3 days (day 3)

I woke up Monday around 6AM, and laid in bed until 6:30 AM before getting up and heading with the others down to breakfast. I was hoping we could order, eat and go in 30 minutes. But as 7:30 AM became 8 AM, and 8AM became 8:30 AM. We were loosing precious time, and we had 34 miles to go.

I looked at the map for any possible solutions. I had thought that day 3 would be the most isolated section of the trail, but then I noticed the West Side road. The road provided us with a way to skip the first two climbs of the day which covered roughly seven miles and instead trade it for 4 miles of hiking with much less vertical. We would just need Dave drive us up the West Side road to the point where it was closed to traffic and started hiking there. I pitched the idea to Tom S, but he told me at that point was feeling pretty ill, he still hadn't recovered from the previous day. The drive would be about 30 minutes, so it was decided that Tom S would join Tom M, Dave and me and he could decide at the last minute if he really wanted to take on another day with 31 more miles. With a lot of strong encouragement from the rest of us to skip day 3 if he didn’t fully feel up to it, Tom S utltimately decided to back out at the last minute. It was now just Tom M and me.

Dave dropped us off, wished us well, and we headed off hiked along the West Side road from the gate for a couple miles. Tom M and I were enjoying the easy hiking and taking as we hiked at a quick pace, eventually reaching Tahoma Vista. It was there that we realized we missed the trail head for Tahoma Creek trail by at least a mile. We had to backtracked and finally found the trail head hidden behind a barrel that I had previously told Tom M to ignore. The barrel was meant for climbers coming off of the high glaciers to leave their blue bags full of “human waste”.
Before we had started off on this path, Ben had promised the Tahoma Creek trail would be easy. However it didn’t take much hiking before we found the trail to be not in the best condition. As we continued on we moved slowly loosing and then re-finding the trail several times. Finally, 6 miles after leaving the car we caught up with the Wonderland Trail. It was suppose to be 4 miles, but missing our turn off by a mile, then having to hike a mile back had lead us to a bad start for the day. In the end we had given up 7 miles for 6, not really saving much distance.

suspension bridge over Tahoma Creek

Despite being way behind schedule we tracked a short distance just so we could walk the famous high suspension bridge over Tahoma Creek. Then it was back to the trail, only not nearly as quick as the past few days.

As we started our first climb up and over Emerald Ridge and then back down toward the South Puyallup River we were suprised to find far more hikers on this section of the trail than what we had seen on any other part of the trail. At one point we crossed paths with a Ranger who asked to see our backcountry pass. After explaining our plans to make it all the way to Mowich, and yes we realized we wouldn’t be arriving until well after dark, the Ranger told us what sections ahead would be good for running and which sections wouldn’t. He also told us to keep an eye open for the Salmon Berries as we headed down toward the North Puyallup River and make sure to grab a handful or two.

We dropped down to the South Puyallup River and headed back up again. The climb up from the South Puyallup River was pretty difficult, mostly because we had been going hard for so long. We passed a couple of older men who were really huffing and puffing. As I reached the high point before heading down to St. Andrew’s Park I decided to take a bit of a breather. The black flies were quickly finding me and Tom M an interesting target, but we hung out as one of the older men caught up with us there. He said he was 65, and that he started at Longmire. He was on his second day on the trail and was quickly realizing he signed up for a lot more than he was ready for. He said he was going to try and make his way eventually to Mowich, then hitch a ride to Enumclaw, then spend his life savings if necessary for a taxi to take him home. He looked totally defeated. He asked if we had an energy bar to spare saying his were too far in his pack to dig out right now. Tom M offered him one, and we wished him luck and headed on our way.

St Andrews Lake

As we reached St. Andrew’s Lake we found another older man happily swimming in the lake. This guy looked a lot happier. I really wished I could also go for a swim in the very inviting looking lake, but we had far too many miles to cover and far too few hours of daylight left. So we continued on towards the North Puyallup River. As we continued on I asked Tom M if he knew what salmon berries look like. He said he probably couldn’t identify them well enough to feel safe eating them.

view as we headed down to the N. Puyallup

The terrain heading down to the North Puyallup River  was some of the most dramatic on the entire trail. Huge cliff faces, probably a thousand plus feet dropping from the Puyallup Glacier high above on the mountain, with waterfalls dropping many hundreds of feet off of the cliff faces. As we dropped lower and into thicker overgrowth I saw what must have been the salmon berries (looked like a black berry or raspberry only yellow to pink in color), either way it looked good and I was sick of energy food. I ate as many ripe ones as I could find, and they were good!

When we reached the North Puyallup River it was after 6PM. As we took a bit of a break I realized we still had a very long ways to go. I was getting anxious...this was going to be a lot of hours of hiking in the dark. We headed off again up towards Golden Lakes discussing how we would keep our sanity on the miles and hours of travel ahead in the dark. Tom M and I tried to tell stories and stretch them out, anything to keep minds off of the hours left to go. I tried to push for the goal of seeing the sunset from the last high point in the trail, but as we headed up I could occasionally see though the trees the sun getting really low in the sky.

sunset from Sunset Park

Finally as the last bit of the sun was setting, we reached the big open area known as Sunset Park. The setting sun was lighting up the Mowich Glacier on the mountain in a bright orange. Before long we were in complete dark, and this seriously slowed down our pace.

In the open area of Sunset Park the temperature quickly dropped. For the first time on this hike I was actually getting cold. However, as soon as we went back into the protection of the woods the temperature seemed to climb 15 degrees. After about an hour of traveling like this I saw what appeared to be a light in the woods; someone's campsite I thought. As we got closer it became clear that the light was coming from 3 square shaped windows; it was the rangers cabin.

The ranger came out to greet us, and probably question why we were hiking in the dark. We explained our trip to him and that we fully realized what we were in for over the next several hours. He mentioned that the other ranger we had met earlier in the day had radioed him to let him know we would be coming though. The ranger told us we had around 10 miles to go, and that soon the nearly full moon would be rising and possibly lighting up the trail a bit. He wished us luck, and we were off.

The trail went on, up and down, right and left, mostly down toward the Mowich River. Minutes seemed like hours. Everything was darkness. When the moon did rise the thick trees obscured most of the moon light. There were only occasional glimpses of the moon though the tree, but never enough light to help us see our surroundings. I was really hating this.

At 10:45 PM we finally reached the Mowich River. We needed one last refill of water before the last very long push up to Mowich Lake. For the first time since it became dark enough for us to use our headlamps, Tom M and I turned off our lights to sit beside the river lit only by the moonlight for a few minutes. It was almost (almost) enough light to hike by. We got our things together and started our final push of about 4 miles up hill. The crossing of the Mowich River was a bit confusing, because you need to cross 2 forks of the river. In daylight this definitely wouldn't be a problem, but in the middle of the night  your entire world is only what is 10 feet in front of you and everything looks the same. I paused for more than a few moments thinking we had gone in a circle as we crossed the second fork of the Mowich River, but this had to be the right way. We continued on.

Those last miles up hill were pretty bad. I don't think Tom M and I spoke more than a dozen words. We had both been in that world of limited visibility for hours. With our cheap LED headlamps, there was almost no color and very little depth perception. We stopped around 12:30 AM for a break. We had probably been moving at less than a mile an hour. My ankles were really hurting at this point; unable to get any depth perception on the the trail I was constantly misplacing my steps and twisting my ankle, not enough to cause injury, but enough to cause pain when repeated for hours on end.

We decided to really push it until we got to the truck, so we picked up the pace. We were moving much faster than we had in the past 6 or more hours (which probably meant we were moving 2-1/2 miles an hour). Finally at 1:30 AM we reached the parking lot for the Mowich Lake campground. We went straight to the truck. Tom M took a sleeping pad and his sleeping bag and immediately crashed in the bed of the truck. Not wanting to deal with mosquitoes or setting up a tent, I climbed into the passenger seat, moved it back as far as it would go, leaned the seat back as far as it would go, and fell asleep.

early morning moonset on the way home

Five hours later we both got up, and drove back to Seattle. Only stopping once for a much needed Starbucks coffee. As we drove the dirt road heading away from Mowich Lake we saw our one and only bear of the trip. The bear was crossing the road, and he was there and gone too quickly for me to capture a picture. So that I could have one last picture from the trip we stopped on the side of the road so I could take a picture of the low lands around Mount Rainier covered in fog or a low cloud layer. The moon that had provided us so little light was now setting.

When I got home and looked at what my GPS had to report, it ended up shorting me about 10 miles over the entire trip. We had added at least a mile by going over Spray Park instead of Ipsut Pass on day one, then skipped maybe a mile on day two by avoiding Box Canyon and picking up the trail 1/4 mile down the road. Finally we skipped a mile on day three. All things considered I sure felt like I had just gone 93 miles. The trip was incredible, and I would definitely do some variation of it again.

Wonderland Trail in 3 Days?

Wonderland Trail in 3 days (day 1)
 
Wonderland Trail in 3 days (day 2)

All the pictures from the trip

Wonderland Trail in 3 days (day 2)

trail up to Summerland

Our early alarm clock failed to wake us, so we weren’t awoken until 5AM, after which we didn’t get started until 6AM. Again tear down the camp, a breakfast of a hard boiled egg and a banana, and we were off. Today was the climb up to the highest elevation point on the entire trail, Panhandle Gap. However the climb was not too bad as much of the trail seemed to only climb 500 feet a mile. As we headed up toward Panhandle Gap we entered the beautiful open fields of wildflowers found in Summerland.


As we continued to climb fields of wildflowers gave way to fields of snow, making the travel fairly interesting. Tom S and Ben were moving along a ways ahead of Tom M and myself. Tom M and I couldn’t seem to get enough pictures up along this high point. As Tom M and I appraoched and crossed over Panhandle Gap I felt great. Panhandle Gap ws the highest point on the trip and it felt like everything would be down hill from here.

Eventually we reached Ben who had found some shade and was relaxing with his shoes off. As we spoke to him he said he had just started getting some pretty serious pain in his hip, but he felt that after taking a break he would be okay to continue and he would then catch up. A little further down the trail we found Tom S who was coming down the trail towards us. He had lost the trail in the snow. After a bit of looking at the map, we decided the trail headed nearly straight up. We ascended a fair ways before we were able to look back down and see where the trail had actually continued along well below us right after a large patch of snow. At that point Ben had caught up and we directed him which way to go, and Tom S, Tom M and I crossed the snow higher up then dropped down to meet Ben.

crossing fields of snow

Ben was moving pretty slowly at this point down the steeply descending trail. The trail heading down to Indian Bar is a seemingly endless series of steps and not a fun section if you are experiencing any leg pain. I swapped my two poles for Ben's single hiking pole hoping two poles would make it easier for him to continue on, then I headed on down. At the Ohanapecosh River Ben caught up and we all refilled water bottles and rested near the Indian Bar hut. As we soaked our sore feet in the ice cold Ohanapecosh River we discussed how to handle getting us all to Longmire with Ben’s leg problems. Ben decided he would head on at his own pace with his one pole and finish up the day at Box Canyon. At Box Canyon Ben would hitchhike to Longmire. We wished him luck and continued on towards Box Canyon.

down to Indian Bar

Reaching Box Canyon was a real boost to my spirits. The three of us took a short break and tried to figuring out where the trail continued on. After studying the map, we opted not to do the little 0.3 mile loop into Box Canyon, instead headed though a car tunnel at Box Canyon and catch the trail on the other side, continuing on from there.

At this point I really wanted us to make it to the National Park Inn at Longmire. We were staying there for the night, but I believed that the restaurant closed at 8PM, and I wanted a sit down dinner. I began to really encourage the others to move fast “pick up the pace guys, this one is about getting steak dinners or having 3 day old un-refrigerated hotdogs”.

We crossed Stevens Creek, but then right before the trail headed up from Stevens Creek to Reflection Lakes rather suddenly bonked hard. I realized I hadn’t eaten much in at least a couple hours or probably longer. I had to stop and eat. I downed a Cliff Shot Gel, a package of Gummy Bears and a Honey Stinger Waffle; I was getting pretty sick of energy food at this point so I had to force myself to eat everything other than the gummy bears (I love gummy bears).

From here the trail started up though thick overgrowth covering the trail. The travel was slow at this point as I tried to ease my way around nettles. Eventually the overgrowth disappeared as the trail went into the woods and headed on up to Reflection Lakes. After a 1/2 hour or so the food started doing its job I was starting to feel better. I picked up the pace and caught up with Tom S where the trail met the road near Louis Lake. I went ahead to get water, but found myself attacked by black flies at the first water stop so I continued on to another. I quickly filled up my Camel Back and an extra Nalgene for the guys, then waited, and waited. Where were they? I was really wanting to get going, I really wanted that sit down dinner at the lodge. Tom S and Tom M finally caught up, they split the extra liter of water and we were on our way.

Around this point the trail actually went along side the rode for about a half-mile. I was so desperate to get my dinner that I tried to hitchhike, but there were no takers. So I tried push the pace as much as I could once we hit the trail again. The trail dropped down to the Nisqually River, we crossed the river and had 1.7 miles to go. At this point Tom S had to stop and to deal with some painful foot blisters. Tom M and I offered to order him food if necessary. We pushed it as much as we could (but that wasn’t much).

Finally at 7:15 we rolled out of the woods to the sight of the National Park Inn. I was really hooting and hollering, and high-fiveing Tom M. Ben was at the entrance all cleaned up and shiny in fresh cotton clothes. Unfortunately Ben had bad news for us: The kitchen closed at 7PM. But with a little work, Ben was able to convince them to keep the kitchen open a little longer so we could get an order in.

my feet didn't look too bad after day two

The restaurant was still very full as we rolled in stinking and covered in sweat and dirt and sitting down with Ben and Dave. I found the fact that people throughout the restaurant were looking and pointing at us rather amusing. I ordered pot roast and devoured it. Then downed 2 beers. It was all so good. However Tom S and Tom M were having trouble eating. Tom M couldn’t handle the hot restaurant which was making him feel claustrophobic, and had to go sit outside. Tom S was bonking hard and not feeling much like eating. A little later on the both were feeling better and were able to eat. I pretty much crashed in a very comfortable bed after a shower and organizing my gear for the next day. I made the decision that for our last day we would sit down at the restaurant one more time for breakfast even though the restaurant didn’t open until 7AM (much later than we had started the previous days). We would eat and try and get going right after breakfast with the full knowledge that we wouldn’t finish the day until well after dark.

Wonderland Trail in 3 Days?

Wonderland Trail in 3 days (day 1)

Wonderland Trail in 3 days (day 3)

All the pictures from the trip

Wonderland Trail in 3 days (day 1)

As the actual date of to do the Wonderland Trail in 3 day my original group of a dozen or so people became just three, then two: my friends Tom S and Tom M (this was going to be confusing). The week before the trip my friend Ben decided to join us "off the couch". We were now four, with a fifth friend Dave providing support.

Day 0 - Getting to the Trail Head

The trip started off with us all meeting early afternoon on Friday September 9th, and making our way to the to Mowich Lake on the secluded North end of Mount Rainier. After several discussions over the phone with park officials, I had a very real concern about our ability to find a campsite at Mowich Lake which doesn’t take reservations. Because of this I kind of rushed the group to get to the campsite, passing up on the traditional pre-trip big meal for quick sandwiches to go at Subway. When we arrived at Mowich there were in fact quite a few people camping there, but it was by no means full. However, as we set up the tent, it didn’t take long to realize that mosquitos were going to be a real problem, so we ended up eating our sandwhiches in the truck and having pre-trip celebratory Rainier Beer tallboys.

Day 1 - Mowich Lake to White River Campground

sunrise on Mt. Rainier from Spray Park

I didn’t sleep well in the small tent 4 man that all four of us were in (assume any tent size is at least 1/2 a person smaller than described). I was awake well before the first alarm went off at 4:30 AM. Then with the alarm, everyone got up pretty quick and we quietly went to work putting our gear away, taking down the tent, and moving everything we wouldn’t be taking with us to the truck.

For me breakfast was a hard boiled egg and a banana. I wasn’t hungry, but I knew I needed to get some starting calories in me. After we all choked down our breakfast we headed out at 5:25 AM (about 2 hours before the sun would come up).

The night before we had made the decision that rather than head over the quicker and easier route of Ipsut pass, we would go up and over Spray Park. About a mile longer, and much more vertical, but much more scenic, and besides, no one wanted to start off right away with over 5 miles of downhill running in the dark.

crossing the snow at Spray Park

Things were bad for me from the start, as my headlamps batteries were dieing, and I could barely see the trail in the dark woods. Not being able to see I was constantly tripping over roots and trying to keep up with the others who were trying to keep it at a fast hike or slow jog. The others headlamps eventually disappearing in the darkness up ahead. Luckily Tom S stopped to check up on me. He tried to get me some new batteries in the dark, but between fumbling with the batteries and being feasted on by mosquitoes, we gave up and Tom S ended up following right behind me with his much more adequate headlamp.

A few miles of hiking uphill and we reached Spray Park as the first light of morning was making it so that headlamps were no longer needed. At that point we picked the pace up to a slow jog. Up around Spray Park we found quite a bit of snow, but the travel on it was quite easy as it was very consolidated and sun cupped. Crossing the snow that was side lit by the sunrise was pretty cool. Ben really picked up the pace the moment he hit the snow, he was in his element even if he wasn’t wearing skis.

crossing the Carbon River

As we cleared the high point, and started heading down to the Carbon River we were all pretty much moving at a good jogging pace. When we reached the Carbon River we stopped for our first real break of the day. I ate my second and last banana and second and last hard boiled egg. Nothing more for me that day other than energy food. As we headed out we encountered the first of two large foot suspension bridge, this being the one over the Carbon River.. It hangs quite some distance over the Carbon River and ominously warns hikers to only cross one at a time. The crossing provides a bit of a ride, bouncing and rocking.

We headed on up again, this time towards Mystic Lake, climbing along side the Carbon Glacier. An ominous sign told of the dangers of the glacier as we heard giant boulders previously frozen in the glacier breaking off of and falling over a hundred feet to the river below. Once past the the Carbon Glacier the trail weaved up amongst fields of very fragrant wild flowers filled with the constant sound of bees.

From Mystic Lake we headed down past the Winthrop Glacier, over the Winthrop River, then up to a high ridge near Skyscraper Mountain. I was a bit behind, and by the time I reached the high ridge the others were already relaxing a bit and taking a break. I was running low on water so I decided that rather than stopping, I would head on down the trail and take my break where ever I found water.

enjoying a beer at White River at the end of day one

I headed down towards a very unfrozen Frozen Lake to refilled my water at a small creek, then shortly after met Dave who had hiked in from White River to meet us. The others soon caught up, we all gathered in some of the sparse shade to say our hellos, and then took off jogging. Dave and I held back a bit and instead hiked on down towards Sunrise Camp then down to White River where the car that Dave had driven down that morning was located. That night he took over cooking and made us awesome carne asada steak quesadillas. After dinner and a Rainier Beer, it was early to bed, for another early start the next day.

Wonderland Trail in 3 Days?

Wonderland Trail in 3 days (day 2)

Wonderland Trail in 3 days (day 3)

All the pictures from the trip

Wonderland Trail in 3 Days?

On July 27, 2010 around 8:45 AM, I completed a longtime goal of summiting Mount Rainier. Prior to that trip I had set far more grandiose plans for the "next trip"; things like climbing Denali or Aconcagua. However, the trip up Rainier was a big wake-up for me. Climbing Rainier was much more difficult than I had imagined it would be. So I decided to scale down plans for my "next trip", but I wasn't sure what would make a great adventure. It was not until late December of 2010 that I really started formulating an ideal of the "next trip", and my inspiration came from a post I found on the blog "Learning To Do". The post was all about running light and fast around the 93 mile Wonderland Trail that circumnavigates Mount Rainier. (Here is a PDF map of the trail and a PDF trail elevation profile from the National Park Service's web site).

I began talking to and emailing friends about my idea. I read the stories of others who had completed the Wonderland Trail in one, two or three days, and emailed some of them asking for advice. The stories definitely did not make it sound easy, but 93 miles split into 3 days, at an average pace of 3mph, that’s just an average of 11 hours a day. It seemed very reasonable. With a light pack I should easily be able to average 3mph. As time went on my enthusiasm for the trip grew and friends began to sign on to the the idea of joining me on this trip (although other, wiser, friends referred to the trip as tbe "Death March").

I sent a seemingly endless flood of emails to friends who would be interested in joining me on this, but as the time for a possible trip approached my wiser friends began to realize the true scope of what I had proposed. The unusually high snow levels on Mount Rainier in 2011 moved our trip back from the traditional time frame of late July/early August until the snow levels could make the trail passable. So the emails continued, and the trip got built up bigger and bigger.

My friend John suggested that everyone who plans on joining me on this trip should have to prove themselves by hiking or trail running 30 miles in one day. I took John's suggestion to heart and signed up for the Grand Ridge 50K in August. During the 50K trail run, I pretty easily managed 5mph over 31 miles with over 5K’ of elevation gain, so 3mph over that same distance during 3 days should be easy, right? Wrong! As I would later discover the Wonderland Trail is a very different path than a nice single track 50K trail run like Grand Ridge. Some of the climbs are far steeper, some of the descents are also steep traveling across loose rocks along a ledge, and crossing rivers (even though all the actual water is crossed on bridges) is not easy...river rocks do not lend themselves to fast travel. Then of course there is the issue of being more worn out each consecutive day, but of our group of four, two of us managed to finish it with a total time on the trail of just over 40 hours over a period of 3 days, that works out to be around 2-1/3 mph (but it sure felt like we were moving faster than that).

Wonderland Trail in 3 days (day 1)

Wonderland Trail in 3 days (day 2)

Wonderland Trail in 3 days (day 3)

All the pictures from the trip

My First Ultramarathon

Last Saturday I ran the Grand Ridge 50K trail race; my first ultramarathon. An ultramarathon is any running distance greater than the marathon distance of 26.2 miles or 42 kilometers. This was not something I had really planned on or particularly trained for two weeks ago I found the race listed online and thought I'd give it a go.

I had run the National Marathon in Washington DC back in March, and the weekend prior to signing up for the 50K I ran 22 miles, so I figured I could survive the 50K, but I had no idea how long it would take or how hard it would really be. In the back of my mind I thought it would take me at least 6 hours to complete, but I really didn't know.

Completely not knowing what to expect I showed up at the start of the race about 30 minutes early. I was told there were about 300 people running that day, but at different distances. There was a 5 miles trail run, a 1/2 marathon trail run, and a 50K trail run. Only about 30 or so people were running the 50K trail run which involved doing the 1/2 marathon course twice, then doing the 5 mile course. The 50K runners started 1/2 an hour before anyone else, and about 10 minutes prior to the start the race officials gave us a briefing of what to expect on the course and how the course would be marked so we could find our way. As we got ready to start, I moved myself to the back of the group not wanting to hold up the experienced runners, and found myself with a couple other first time 50K runners: Jerry and Stacy.

The race started and we took a very casual pace of about 11 or 12 minutes, then started up our first hill and dropped the pace to a fast hike. Jerry, Stacy and I stuck together for the first 8 miles, then at a turnaround we all took different paces. As the day progressed I would see Jerry and run with him again several times, and cross paths with Stacy. Through the first 10 miles or so of the race I had dreams of finishing in 6 hours, but as the day progressed 6 hours changed to 6-1/2 hours, then as I was completing my last 5 mile loop I realized it would take me at least 7 hours. In the end it took me 7 hours, 7 minutes, and 56.4 seconds. After the race when I looked at the results for the 50K I noticed there were only 2 people who finished in under 6 hours: the winner 4:39:59 and second place 5:18:17. In the end I was 12th place out of 25 finishers.

Running the race was very different that any other race I had done. There was the fact that this was all on trails, mostly single track, which required me to pay very close attention to the trail 5 to 10 feet ahead of me, so no zoning off listening to headphones. In fact everytime I gazed around I would trip, once even taking a big face plant on the trail. Next big difference was the attitude of the runners; all runs that I've done have a very positive attitude, but in this run you never crossed paths with another 50K runner without getting some kind of verbal encouragement. Many of the 50K runners stuck around at the finish to shout encouragement for people finishing up to an hour after them.

Despite being terribly sore the morning after, I think the event overall was a very positive experience and I look forward to having the opportunity to run another 50K!

Blog Resurrection

Sadly it's been 244 days since my last entry here. So what have I been up to all that blogless time? My last post dealt with running the Portland Marathon in October 2010. Since then I've done a fair bit of running. Shortly after my last post I ran the UW Dawg Dash 10K, followed by the Seattle 1/2 Marathon at the end of November (a terrible time to run a race in Seattle), then I kicked up my training though the Winter, in preparation to run another full marathon in March of this year, but before doing the marathon I ran the St Patrick's Day Dash, then it was off to Washington DC for the National Marathon on March 26, followed by the UW Bothell 5K, and my best run to date the Seattle's Best 15K.

So what's the point? I'm certainly not winning any of these races, I'm not even raising money for any of the causes supported by the races (at least not intentionally). All this running is entirely for my own selfish pleasure. But if you back a couple years to 2009, you probably couldn't get me to run more than a couple hundred yards to catch a bus (and in all reality, there will be another bus coming eventually, so why bother).

Originally I would have told you that the point of all this running was to get in shape for my climb up Mount Rainier at the end of July 2010, but as I found out when going up Rainier, running (alone) is an inadequate means of training for mountain climbing. At one point I might have told you that I run because of the health benefits: I went from quarterly visits to the doctor to a much more normal annual doctor visit, I might also try and quote that crazy popular book that is credited with reviving the current running trend (yah, I read it too). Lately one of the reasons I tell myself I do all this running is that it might help to inspire others to start running (I would like to think that it has). However if I'm going to be honest with myself, running has become something of an addiction for me. When I take a day or two off of running, I can feel the withdrawal symptoms kicking in as I see someone running from a car or bus that I might be in. I really want to go run.

So how am I going to feed this addiction? I figure I can just keep pushing myself a little further every year. Maybe next year I'll try an ultra-marathon, the 50K Mount Si Relay & Ultra seems like a good first utlra-marathon to try. Perhaps I'll try gaining membership in Marathon Maniacs. Also, I would also like to do one of the World Marathon Majors, the Chicago Marathon in 2012 might be a good one to do.  Regardless, I'm certain that running is a good thing for me, and I want to stick with it. For this year the only big goal is to run 1000 miles or roughly just less than 20 miles a week. Right now I'm at 462 miles and I would really like to be over 500 miles by the July 1 half way mark, but that's just 38 miles in 2 weeks, shouldn't be a problem.

You ran a marathon? How long was it?

Strangely the question that everyone who does a marathon gets asked by non-marathon runners is, "You ran a marathon? How long was it?".

For the record, a marathon is not less than 26.2 miles, or 26 miles and 365 feet, 42.195 kilometers, and it can not be more than 1% greater than that distance (or roughly more than 42 meters longer).

The mistake that most everyone makes, including many marathon runners is why the distance is 26.2 miles. Most people believe that that is the distance that Pheidippides, a Greek messenger, ran to announce that the Greeks had defeated the Persians in the Battle of Marathon. However, the Greek historian Herodotus mentions Pheidippides ran from Athens to Sparta asking for help, then ran back; 150 miles each way or 300 miles total.

However the distance of the modern marathon was not fixed until May 1921 by the International Amateur Athletic Foundation, prior to that the distance was approximately 25 miles or roughly the distance from Marathon to Athens by the long route. The reason for 26.2 miles: that was the distance set for the marathon in the 1908 Olympics with the dramatic finish by Dorando Pietri.

By the way, all of this was pulled from Wikipedia's article on marathon, if you want to read it all yourself.

What's the Big Picture?

So it's been over 8 months since I've sat down to write anything here. But I suppose that's because I've been busy working on some changes. Last year the big change was massively increase the amount I commuted by bike. This year I decided to kick it up a notch when I realized that it would be my last full year before I turned 40. So I created a kind of 1/2 bucket list (a list of things to do when you're around 1/2 way to the bucket kicking!?). The list went something like this:

1. I was not going to say "no" to any reasonable fun request of my time (my brother always goes on these amazing ski adventures, and I always say, "no, I probably shouldn't go").
2. I would get myself in shape (I've been saying that for over 10 years).
3. I would climb Mt. Rainier.

I kicked off the first item on my list by taking 2 amazing ski trips to Canada. First with a co-worker who invited me for several days of cat-skiing in the Monashee Mountains. Next was a week of skiing in the Selkirk Mountains with my brother; first at Revelstoke, then at Valhalla Mountain Touring.

The next two items on my list were sort of combined. In order to climb Mt. Rainier I would need to get in shape. I started running and hiking as much as my schedule allowed. In May I did my first running race since well before my daughters were born, the UW Bothell 5K. In June I did the Seattle Rock & Roll 1/2 Marathon. At the end of June I made an attempt at climbing Mt. Baker in one day, but fell short of the summit by 1,000 feet. When July rolled around, I thought I was ready for Mt Rainier; I summit-ed, but it kicked my butt. On Sunday I go for the next big step in getting in shape, and I run my first marathon in Portland Oregon. When all is said and done, a guy who couldn't run a mile to catch a bus a little over a year ago, will have run 2 full marathons and 3 1/2 marathons in the span of a year.

So what's this all about anyways? I'm in better shape than I've been in years (or ever), I've found a new activity that I enjoy (running), but now what? What does it all lead to? What does it all ultimately amount to? Running a marathon and climbing Mt Rainier were things that seemed well out my grasp a couple years ago, but I did it (or after Sunday I will have). I know it sounds corny, but I suppose what it all means is that I have proven to myself I can accomplish anything I set out to do. So maybe it's time to set the bar a bit higher...