2010, Race Round-up

I've had a pretty busy year.  In 2010, I completed two sprint triathlons, two half marathons, one 10k, one 8-mile running race, two duathlons, one 109-mile bike race, and was a part of a 12-person team in a 24-hour, 202-mile running relay.  Considering that up until a year and a half ago I had never run more than a mile at a time, nor ridden a bicycle more than 10 miles... I'll admit, I'm pretty proud of myself.

I really enjoy racing.  Though I never expect to win any of the races I enter, there is something really exciting about being out there with other motivated people, everybody pushing themselves to the limit.  The adrenaline rush is pretty awesome.  There's also something huge to be said for finding out what you're capable of.  A year ago, I certainly never would have guessed that I could ride 109 miles on my bike and not only feel great, but truly enjoy myself while doing it.

I think I'm going to scale things back a little bit for 2011.  I'm definitely going to race, but I think I may stick to focusing on my cycling more than anything else.  I would really love to dedicate more time to riding my bike and see where I can go with it.  I'm even thinking about maybe joining a cycling team here in Tucson.  I need to get more experience riding in groups, and it would be great to have a group of people to ride (and race) with on a regular basis... so we'll see.  But I'll definitely be doing more bike races.  Aside from that, I'll try to maintain rock climbing at least twice each week, yoga class when I'm able to squeeze it in, and I'm going to be getting into a regular schedule at the CrossFit gym as well.  Probably not any less busy than last year (maybe even busier!), but hopefully a bit less hectic.

2010 Race Reports:
Sun Run 10k  (no report)
Ragnar Relay del Sol
Gladden Farms Duathlon
Las Palomas Sprint Triathlon
Mountain Man Sprint Triathlon
Saguaro Nat'l Park 8-miler
Mount Lemmon Half Marathon
Desert Grande Duathlon
El Tour de Tucson
Damascus Bakeries Half Marathon

Damascus Bakeries Half Marathon

This race is primarily downhill, with a net elevation loss of about one thousand feet.  After completing the Mount Lemmon Half Marathon, I signed up for this race simply because it was the complete opposite of Mount Lemmon, and because I knew I was guaranteed to significantly improve my half marathon time.  (Josh did the full marathon, and for the same reasons.)  Improve my time I certainly did, and I mostly managed to enjoy myself as well, but I was pretty shocked to find that my legs were WAY unhappier after 13.1 miles of downhill than they had been after the same uphill distance.  Wow, talk about sore muscles... it took me two full days to stop waddling around like an arthritic duck.

Being only two weeks away from Christmas, I decided that I would wear a Santa hat for this race.  I've been to plenty of races in the past where people had dressed up, and I figured there would be quite a few people donning festive gear for this one as well.  I wore a fuzzy Santa hat, a bright green shirt, and snowflake-covered, knee-high red socks.  I must say, at 5:30am before the sun had risen, that fuzzy hat really helped to keep me warmer as I huddled in the darkness with all of the other runners.  By 7am when the race started, the sun had just barely topped out over the mountains, and by about 15 minutes into the run, things started to warm up considerably.

Compared to other races I've done, there really isn't a whole lot to talk about here.  The race started off easily, I managed to keep a steady pace without walking for almost the entire race, and things generally went very smoothly.  Not too long after starting the run, I realized that out of more than a thousand people running the half marathon, it seemed that I was in fact the only person wearing any sort of costume.  I got lots of comments by runners passing me, and it kept my spirits up to know that other people were cheered up by my Santa hat.  As I ran further along and the sun rose higher, the hat got to be ridiculously warm and gross, but I managed to keep the thing on for the entire race.

My goal time going into this was 2:30.  I ran a 2:55 on Mount Lemmon, and I knew that a 2:30 was well within my limits, as long as I was able to avoid walking too much.  At the halfway point into the race, I was at 1:04.  I was actually very surprised with this number, as I've never run a 10k that fast before.  I knew right then that I'd be able to hit 2:30 for sure, and that was a huge boost of energy.  I was still feeling pretty good up through mile 8, especially considering I had yet to stop and walk and before this race the longest distance I'd ever run without walking was only 5 miles.  I started to get a little tired during mile 8, so I ate the GU that I had brought with me.  The calories seemed to help a little bit to pick me up, but around this time my legs were starting to feel the downhill slant and the constant pounding of the pavement.  I convinced myself that I had already run this far without stopping, why not try to make it the whole way?  I knew there was a decent uphill on the last mile, and figured I would probably have to walk part of that, but the least I could do was try to run all the way up to the point.

 

My legs were really starting to hurt in the last quarter of the run.  My quads were really tight and my calves were letting me know that they were unhappy every time my feet hit the ground.  But I kept running.  I got passed by a lot of people here, and I know my pace had slowed a bit from where I had started, but I didn't want to walk.  In reality, I may have finished faster if I had taken a few walk breaks to rest my legs and attempt to stretch out a bit... but oh well.

I finally made the turn off of Oracle and started the final uphill portion.  I ran as far as I could up the first hill, but had to switch to walking about halfway up the hill.  Once at the crest, I forced myself to run to the bottom of the next hill, which I then walked up.  And I think there was one more hill after that.  I don't remember for sure, it's kind of a fog in my mind.  All I know is that the hardest part of this race for me was convincing my legs to start running again after walking up those damn hills.  My legs were killing me.  It was only another mile to the finish, and I managed to run all of it into the chute, but... ouch.  But hey, I finished!  And I beat my goal time!  My official finish time was 2:23:13, and I'm pretty thrilled with that.

I could tell as soon as I came to a stop that I was going to be seriously hurting, and even just walking around the finish area to get food and my bag was hard.  Even after two short massages, I could barely sit and stand without wincing.  I guess there could be multiple factors contributing to my soreness after this race, but I'm blaming it mostly on the downhill course.  Not as fun )or fast) as I'd expected it to be.

When I crossed the finish line, a reporter from one of the local papers came up and asked me a few questions.  Apparently my hat grabbed his attention.  The next morning this wonderful piece of journalistic excellence was published.  I guess I'm famous now.  Oh, and Josh finished his full marathon in 5:09, which was almost two full hours faster than his Mount Lemmon time.

This was my last race of 2010.  I'm not registered for anything else right now, and think I'm going to take some time to not worry about upcoming events and just to enjoy doing other active things- climbing, hiking, yoga, biking for fun, and hopefully some skiing.  I've started working out with Josh at a CrossFit gym, which is something totally different than what I'm used to.  I'll explain that more later.

... oh, and for the record:  I still hate running.

Decking the halls, as well as everything else.

It's December!  Which means it's the holiday season!  Which also means I get to decorate all kinds of things, such as:

A Christmas Tree!

The House!

 

Cookies!

Dogs!

El Tour Photos

Proof that I really did enjoy myself!!

El Tour de Tucson

I signed up for this race early last spring, and had been looking forward to it ever since.  Every now and then I would get small panics about the distance, and I would worry about not training enough... but for the most part, I knew that I could finish the distance, and even though I had no idea how long it would take me or how hard it would actually be, and I was excited.  I really love riding my bike.  I knew that even if this was going to be really difficult, I was going to enjoy it.

I have a few friends who I had also conned into signing up for this race (including Josh), so it was nice to have people to go on training rides with over the last couple of months.  As of a week before the race, I had completed a number of 60 and 70-mile training rides, and was planning to finish one more 80-mile ride the weekend before the race.  Of course as my luck would have it, I woke up the morning of my planned ride with a nasty head cold, and was unable to ride that day, or any other day in the week preceding the race.  I was sad to have missed my longest training ride, but mostly was concerned with getting rid of my cold.  I remained snotty and congested all week long, and even though I still had quite a bit of drainage (sexy, I know), my head was feeling quite a bit better by Friday night.  We went out for a big pasta dinner the night before the race with Megan, Liz, and Justin (who were all also racing), and got to bed early in prep for the big day.

Josh and I had planned to arrive early to the start line because I wanted to be sure to get a spot relatively close to the front of the pack.  I figured, the further up we were, the more likely we were to be surrounded by faster and more experienced riders, and the less likely we would have to deal with nervous people or people crashing into each other, and the less likely we would have to worry about having to pass a lot of slower riders.  This all turned out to be true, and I'm really glad we showed up to the start line early.  We were also able to save space so that Megan could join us in our primo spot towards the front of the pack.

Did I mention that were almost 9,000 cyclists doing this race?  Yes, almost 9,000.  There are four different distances available to race, 109 being the longest, and there were about 4,200 people in the 109-miler.  Seeing this many people with bicycles all in one place, and knowing that you will be sharing the road with this many bicycles... well, it's kind of crazy.  Once the race started, there were stretches of road where you could see an endless line of bicyclists for many miles ahead and behind you.

Also, 109 miles is a lot.  To put it in perspective for you, here is the route map.  This route literally circles the entire city of Tucson.  Luckily, the elevations gains are not too terrible... but really, after you've already ridden 70 miles, any significant gain in elevation is not very much fun.  (Here is the elevation profile.)

So, the race started right at 7am, and we surged ahead with the crowd of bikes.  The first few miles were kind of surreal- there were SO many cyclists.  And it was really chilly, as the sun hadn't really come up over the mountains yet.  I went out going faster than I normally would because I was surrounded by so many fast people, but I was feeling great and just taking in the semi-surreal experience of being in the middle of such a  massive event.  Josh started off ahead of us and I assumed I might not see him again until the end of the race, but Megan and I stuck together for the first bit of the ride.

About seven miles into the ride, the route crosses over a sandy wash where all cyclists have to dismount and carry their bikes to the other side.  Of course, as soon as I picked up my bike to put it over my shoulder, I broke one of my water bottle cages.  Luckily it didn't completely break off, but I realized that I'd have to be extra careful with my back bottle, since it was now pretty loosely attached.  On the far side of the wash, there was a Mariachi band playing music and singing.  They were really good, and this was also the first place on the course where lots of spectators were gathered to cheer, so the energy level was great.  I stopped for a moment to see if I could find Megan behind me, but didn't see her and started riding again.

To be honest, large chunks of this ride are kind of a blur in my mind.  I guess that's what happens when you're on your bicycle for almost 8 straight hours.  I stopped for the first time around mile 30 to eat a little bit and to blow my poor snotty nose (some super awesome volunteer actually grabbed a whole box of tissue from his car for me!), and then kept pedaling along.  Meredith caught up to me somewhere along Houghton Rd, and we were able to chat a little bit up until Freeman Rd where I passed by her on the nice big downhill.  I knew that there would be an aid station after the second wash crossing, so I decided not to stop again until that point.  Around mile 40-45, I started to hurt.  My legs were feeling heavy and my saddle was really starting to bother me, and I was beginning to worry a bit about how I'd finish another 70 miles.  I kept plugging away, forcing myself to drink and eat even though I wasn't hungry at all, and eventually made it to the second wash crossing at mile 47.

Just as I was starting the second wash crossing (which was really long, like 3/4 of a mile), I got a text from Josh saying that he was also at the wash.  I was able to call him and figure out that he had just finished walking through the wash, and he waited for me on the other side.  I was really pleased to know that I had been so close behind him, and it was also nice to stop for a minute and talk.  I think walking across the wash gave my legs just the break they needed, because I felt much better after trudging through all that sand, surprisingly enough. Within the first mile after the wash, there is a purely awful hill on Snyder Rd.  I made it to the top and pushed through, but man, this killed my legs.  I was happy to coast down a few hills after that.

I lost Josh again soon after the Snyder Rd hill, and tried to keep thinking about how nice it would be once I had finished all of the uphills along Sunrise and Oracle and could finally enjoy the awesome downhill on Tangerine.  I was doing fine, pedaling and spinning my legs as fast as I could, but I always seemed to be all by myself on the road, with big packs of people behind me and in front of me, but never with me.  Oh well.  Probably for the best, as big packs kind of freak me out anyway.  I passed by all of the aid stations because I felt like I had plenty of water and I had eaten a good bit at the wash, but this turned out to be a bad idea.  After the turn onto Oracle, I soon realized that I only had a couple more sips of water in my bottles.  I definitely should have refilled them back at the Snyder wash.  Oracle Rd is a bitch no matter what, but this was especially rough for me.  I was riding all by myself (or felt like it, anyway), the wind was starting to really pick up, I was concerned about saving my last bit of water, and I didn't know when the next aid station was.  I had a horrible feeling that I wouldn't be able to get more water until after the last steep hill on Oracle, which was going to suck.

Justin caught me about halfway up Oracle, and chatting briefly with him was enough to temporarily take my mind off of the dreaded upcoming hill, which was good.  He passed me after a short while, and I was back on my own.  Just as I was starting to see the hill nearing me, I noticed an aid station on the side of the road- I was so happy to see that damn aid station.  I pulled off and dropped my bike, and as I walked to refill my bottles, ran into Josh again.  We talked about the wind and the hills and ate a bunch of fruit, and he reminded me to take some Advil, which I'm convinced was a lifesaver.  From this point on, Josh and I remained pretty close and leaped back and forth with each other for the rest of the race.  This water stop was JUST what I needed, because I totally got a second wind after leaving.  We tackled the Oracle hill, then the rolling hills in Rancho Vistoso, and then we were off to the lovely 5-mile downhill at Tangerine Rd.

The wind had picked up considerably as we rode through Rancho Vistoso, and we were all beginning to dread the final 15 miles of the race, which we knew would be directly into a headwind.  I had not been expecting the crazy crosswinds on Tangerine though.  On a normal day, I can coast down Tangerine at approximately 27mph, but on this day, I had to pedal pretty hard to keep up a pace of about 24mph.  Talk about frustrating!  This was not the free speed I had been looking forward to at all.  Feeling dejected, we stopped at the bottom of the hill to stretch and eat a bit.  I was feeling surprisingly good, and at this same time I looked at my watch and realized that I could most likely beat 8 hours for the whole ride!!  I had some new enthusiasm towards getting this thing finished, and I was ready to push on.

From here (~85 miles) on, the wind was just terrible.  Mostly, it was straight in our faces.  Sometimes, it would gust to the side and make us swerve.  It was devastating.  In situations like this though, I really do take solace in knowing that no matter how bad I'm suffering, there are thousands of other people suffering right along with me. I'm not sure why that makes me feel so much better, but it does.  I don't have much to say about the final 30 miles of the route... they were long, and slow, and painful.  Josh was starting to hurt in the last 20 miles or so, so we leap-frogged each other quite a few times.  We stopped for one final time about 11 miles from the finish line, and he sat down to rest his back.  I was definitely starting to hit a wall and get very tired, but I knew that I was close to the end and I really just wanted to finish, so I told him that I would see him at the finish line and I went off with a mission to get this thing done.

I pushed through the last miles, watching my odometer count off every tenth of a mile and trying my best to keep a steady pace.  When I finally reached the turn on Congress Rd towards the finish line, I stood up on my pedals and sprinted past the two ladies next to me towards the line.  My watch said 2:42- so my time was 7 hours and 42 minutes.  I crossed with a huge smile and even choked back some tears that popped up when I thought about what I had just done... I mean, this was pretty awesome.  Not only had I never ridden more than 70 miles before, but I had been sick all week, and I still beat my goal time by 17 minutes?!  Yeah, I was psyched. (I had a secret goal of 8 hours which I hadn't told anyone about, and wasn't entirely sure that I could actually pull off.)

Josh came through the finish just a few minutes after me, and then Megan and Liz both also crossed within the next 15 minutes.  I think we may have all surprised ourselves a little bit, and having talked since then, we're all ready to do it again.  :)  

I absolutely love riding my bike.  I was already online searching for future bike races within hours of returning home from the El Tour finish line.  Although I'm not sure that many can beat the atmosphere of this race.  El Tour is run very smoothly, the participants are so encouraging and (for the most part) friendly, the volunteers are incredible, the events are well organized, the spectator support is awesome, the scenery is beautiful, and it's just a hell of a lot of fun.  I will absolutely do this race again-- without a doubt, my favorite race thus far.

I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!

I admit it, I'm a bit of a sucker for all of the holiday buzz.  While I agree with most reasonable people that the holiday decor popping up in retail stores as early as mid-October is a bit excessive... I have to say that I am eagerly awaiting the passage of Thanksgiving so that I can pull out the decorations and holiday music without feeling like a crazy person.  The other day I almost bought a new skirt for the Christmas tree, but had to restrain myself.  Must.. wait.. until November 26th...

As much as I enjoy other holidays (see Meggopotamus), I have to say that Christmas is by far my favorite.  Or, better yet, the weeks leading up to and surrounding Christmas are my favorite.  It's not so much the holiday itself (to be honest, the religious underpinnings are of no real significance to me), but it's the buzz around it.  It's holiday parties and warm slippers and enjoying and appreciating the people around us.  And dressing dogs up in reindeer antlers.

I know it's not very hip of me, but I love Christmas music.  My iTunes library boasts more Christmas-themed selections than it does cheesy 80's songs... and trust me, that's really saying something about quantity.  I love decorating the house with lights and shiny ornaments.  I love the smell of hot chocolate and honeybaked ham and cinnamon rolls.  I love those damned Mint Chocolate M&Ms that are only available during this time of year.  I love coming up with offbeat and thoughtful gifts for people.  I love watching Christmas movies (both the good ones and the horrible ones).  I love wrapping presents.  I love making fun of Delilah's ridiculously sappy Christmas radio broadcasts.  And I love remembering all of these things from every past holiday season, and looking forward to them for the next.

So c'mon, Black Friday, I need you to hurry up and be my excuse to let my holiday cheer spill forth!

Bicycle, thy name is...

For a while now, I've been trying to come up with a name for my bicycle.  He (yes, he) has sexy black and red coloring, French wheels and a French frame, and an Italian drive train and saddle.  Very European.  He is fast, strong, responsive, and quite attractive.  When we are out together, he is openly admired by women and men alike.

My bike and I logged many hours this past weekend, riding 135 miles over the course of 4 days... and in less than two weeks, I will ride 109 miles in one day for the El Tour de Tucson.  It was time to finally decide on a name so that he and I might be completely comfortable with each other come race day.

I am pleased to introduce Gustavo.

Desert Grande Duathlon

Another fun race!  I'm on a roll!  Despite technical difficulties (see below), I had a really great time at this race.  I said a while back that I was going to take a break from triathlons, mainly because the swim portion of the race always puts me in a sour mood for the rest of the day.  Since I've been running a lot more lately, and have been putting in tons of miles on the bike, it only made sense to sign up for this short duathlon.  Duathlons replace the swim portion of a tri with an extra run, so this race consisted of a 1.5 mile run, a 10.3 mile bike, and a 3 mile run.

We arrived to the race site before sunrise, so it was still quite chilly outside.  I knew it would warm up as soon as the sun rose, but I wasn't ready to part with my sweats until just before the gun went off.  I found a good spot in transition, picked up my number, set up my stuff, and wandered around a bit waiting for 7:30 to roll around.  Luckily, the sun was completely up by the time the race started, and it had already started to get a lot warmer.

The first run was pretty uneventful.  I started off a bit too fast and had to slow my pace a little bit, but otherwise felt pretty good.  The 1.5 mile course was a boring dirt loop, so there wasn't really much to look at and people were pretty spaced out.  I knew I was right in the middle of the pack, which was fine by me, so I was pretty happy when I made it back to transition.  My transition was pretty quick, shoes went off and on easily, and I was off running with my bike.

I felt terrific for this bike segment, and I was ready to hammer it full throttle.  I knew that I didn't really care what my run times would be, but I was really hoping to get a great time on the bike.  For the first two miles of the bike course, I was averaging well over 20mph, passing people, and feeling awesome.  I got to the first turn, leaned into the corner, and suddenly felt my front rim scraping the road, almost causing me to spill sideways.  My front tire was flat.  ARGH.  I kept riding, trying to decide if it was worth the time and effort to stop and replace my tube on such a short ride.  The course was really flat and the roads were pretty good, so as long as I was riding straight and watching closely for rocks, I decided I would keep going.  I rounded another corner with similar uneasy results, and kept riding, but between the extra friction on my tire and my nervousness about potential crashes, I couldn't go faster than 16mph anymore.  By the time I got to 4.5 miles in, I decided that I need to try something... I pulled over and filled up my tire with a CO2 cartridge, not taking the time to replace the actual tube (replacing the tube would take me probably 4-5 minutes, whereas just refilling the tube took only about 30 seconds).  The extra air helped a little bit, and for a short while I was able to get my speed back up, but it didn't last.  By mile 6 my front tire was completely flat again, and I decided just to push it as hard as I was comfortable with and to get the ride finished.  Riding that far and fast with a flat tire is almost akin to riding standing up, and boy, my legs were feeling it.  I finished the bike leg five minutes slower than I had originally hoped for, and I honestly believe that without the flat tire I might have finished a full 10 minutes faster than what I did.  Oh well, considering the circumstances, I'm still happy with my time.

Screaming, "My tire has been flat for SEVEN damn miles!!"

My legs were pretty spent when I ran into transition the second time.  I stopped for a minute to drink some fluids and stretch my calf, then I was off again.  The second run course was really nice- it was a dirt trail with a few small rolling hills that went up towards the foothills of some small mountains.  At one point we passed by a fire station where a bunch of full-uniformed firefighters were running drills- kind of random, but interesting to watch for a few minutes.  My left calf was really tight for the entire run, obviously a result of the rough bike ride.  I walked only a few steps at each water station on the run course, but otherwise ran the entire thing.  I got passed by a ton of people, which wasn't too surprising and I was too concerned about the pain in my legs to care anyway.  I was finally able to pick up my pace a bit when I could see the finish line, and finished the race in 1 hour and 28 minutes.  My goal time for the race had been 1:30, so I was happy to meet that goal... but thinking about how much faster I would have been without that flat tire (and tired legs as a result of the flat tire) was pretty frustrating.

The fact that I managed to finish the race and enjoy myself despite my troubles makes me feel pretty good.  And once again, Josh proved to be quite the race photographer.  It was perfect weather, the course was really nice, the race was well organized, and everybody there seemed to have a great time.   I may very well have to do this race again next year to get my revenge on the bike course...

Meggopotamus

Man, I love Halloween so much!

Also, there is no shame in being 26 years old and having your mother sew your Halloween costume.  

My mission for Halloween this year:  a costume that was easily identifiable yet completely unexpected, unoffensive, and humorous.  So naturally, I decided to dress as a hippo.  It was a massive success.  The general reaction I received was one of uncontrollable laughter, with a bit of incredulous head shaking and chuckling.  I mean, really, if you're going to dress up for a party, you might as well be 100% certain that you won't be dressed the same as anyone else, right?

Josh has been out of town for work for the last week, so he unfortunately had to miss all of the holiday excitement.  I took the liberty of carving a mustached pumpkin for him in his absence.

I didn't get very many trick-or-treaters at the house, but there were a few.  Callie and Sienna were very excited to have so many little people to poke them in the face, although it got pretty old trying to hold back both dogs away from the door with one hand while giving out candy with the other.  Although she didn't wear it while the kids were coming by, Callie sported her awesome land shark costume earlier in the day:

Sienna is too cool for costumes.  But, she does enjoy her stylish silk scarf.

So, another memorable costumed year.  I've had a pretty good run over the last half decade (see this, this, and this)!  In other events, my Halloweek also included an epic 60 mile bike ride, a hike up Picacho Peak, some intensive backyard cleaning, and some rock climbing.  Pretty good!

Mt Lemmon Race Photos

Squinty, but smiling!

FINISHED!!

Mount Lemmon Half Marathon

Yes, I've said it before:  I hate running.  Up to this point, I've yet to enjoy any running race (including the 3rd part of my 3 triathlons) and I typically come in very close to last in every attempt.  I signed up for the Mount Lemmon Half many months ago, thinking that it would force me to seriously train and get better at running.  In the last few months, my running has been very sporadic.  I've run a hilly 8 mile course only twice, with shorter runs on a not-very-regular basis.  For about 3 weeks over the course of the last month, I was in New Mexico for work and couldn't run at all- but, I was hiking 7+ hours each day at elevations around 7000ft.  I honestly believe that the hiking for work did more for my training than any of my runs back home.  

Anyway, long story short, I LOVED this race and was shocked at the fact that not only did I do much better than expected, but I truly enjoyed myself as well.

Josh asked me in the car on the way to the shuttles if I was aiming for a specific time.  I said no, that I only wanted to finish.  In my head, I was thinking that I'd be pretty happy if I managed to finish the race in 4 hours, but I wasn't even sure if that would be doable.  I just had absolutely no idea what to expect.


The race started with only a little bit of light in the sky- it would be a few miles before we ever actually hit any spots of sunlight.  I took off at my normal running pace, just trying to stay comfortable and not let myself get pulled into the pack.  As it turns out, quite a lot of people started walking from the very start of the race- maybe they never had any intentions of running, I don't know.  But, it was great for my morale to know that I was ahead of a lot of people right from the start.  It's not often that I get to look behind me and see more than a few people.  We rounded the first couple of corners away from Windy Point and had a gorgeous view of the sunrise over the San Pedro Valley... completely breathtaking.  I was so wrapped up in the scenery that I was shocked when the Mile 1 sign suddenly appeared- how could that have happened so fast??  I had run the first mile in 12 minutes.  It was an incredible way to start off my morning, and I was feeling great.


The first 7 miles of the half marathon were basically uphill, but there were a few nice spots of flat land.  I really hammered all of the short downhills and flat spots, and tried to slowly jog the uphills when possible.  After a while I realized that my uphill walk is actually faster than a lot of people's uphill jog, so I decided to speed walk the uphills.  When I passed the Mile 4 sign, I looked at my watch and saw it read 50 minutes.  50 minutes??!  That's way less than a 15min pace!  I was originally thinking that I'd be lucky to finish this race in 4 hours, but if I can keep this up, is it really possible that I can finish in 3?  I had a new boost to my stride, I was feeling tremendous.  And the best part?  I WAS PASSING PEOPLE.  I don't pass people, ever!  What was going on with me?


I took a cup or two of water at every aid station, but never stopped.  I was carrying a bottle of Cytomax with me, so it was good to mix in some water every few miles.  I was see-sawing back and forth with a few of the same people for the entire race, so it was fun to chat and joke with them.  The Blue Bell ice cream truck passed us at one point and I yelled, "Follow that truck!", even though nobody was really even near me at the time.  It was just fun.  Every time I saw a photographer, I gave them a big smile.  I couldn't believe this was going so well.


Around mile 7, we had a really nice long downhill.  I pushed my pace pretty hard and enjoyed letting gravity help me.  The downhill lasted more than a mile, and when it finally started go back uphill, I could really feel my legs starting to twinge a bit.  I think most everybody walked a good section of this uphill, as the long downhill had really done a number on us.  My hip flexors were feeling pretty tight, but I was still moving along at the same pace and still happy to be there.  I looked at my watch at Mile 9, and it said 1:55.  All I had to do was run 15min/miles for the last 4 miles, and I could break 3 hours!  I was hurting a little, but having such a goal made this easier.  In my other races, I've just been trying to survive- but this was a real finish goal!  I knew that the last third of the race was more rolling than uphill, and that meant that the worst was over!  Funny, at this point it actually felt better on my legs and hips to run than to walk.


At mile 10 we had another good downhill, heading straight towards Summerhaven.  I was blasting down the hill, I started to hear the music at the finish line and got really excited that it was close to being over... then I saw the aid station that was near Mile 11.  Wait, that doesn't compute!  A volunteer pointed to the right, and I looked up and saw the final hill.  UGH.  We had a mile straight up the Ski Run Rd, then a mile back down before heading in to the finish chute.  This was the steepest hill we'd had on the race, and it sucked big time.  I tried hard to keep my walking pace up on this hill, but it hurt.  I slowed quite a bit.  This was also the only part of the entire race when I felt like I was having a hard time taking deep breaths- I walked with my hands on my hips, just focusing on breathing for a while.  When I FINALLY reached the top of the hill I only had a little more than a mile to go, and it was all downhill.  I knew I was going to break 3 hours and I was stoked.  My hips were screaming a bit, so I couldn't take the downhill as fast as I'd wanted, but when I finally turned that last corner and saw everybody pointing me towards the finish line, man, I let my legs fly.  I sprinted straight down the hill with a big goofy smile on my face and saw the clock that said 2:55 right as I crossed the line... it was the best feeling ever.  This was by far my best race to date- in every way.  A perfect first half-marathon.



After crossing the line, I grabbed my medal, tshirt, and headed straight for the ice cream table.  Oh, Blue Bell, I love you so much.  I sat around and stretched my legs for a while, found a restroom, and watched some finishers while I tried to drink the Gatorade Recovery I had packed (I had been drinking sweet sport drinks all day, so it took me forever to finish two bottles of that stuff).  I took inventory of the damage and was shocked-- no blisters, no hot spots, no really bad pains, only slightly achey hips... wow!

After a while I realized that there was a massage tent, so I waited to get a short massage, watched some more finishers, and just hung out while waiting for Josh to finish.  He texted to say that he was cramping up around mile 22, so I hiked up a mile or so to go meet him and ran with him (in my flip-flops!) for a bit to help motivate.  He ended up finishing the full marathon in just over 7 hours, pretty beat up and fully spent.  I gave him hell for not being trained properly, but it was pretty incredible that he pushed himself all the way to the end despite having a really hard time.  I was definitely a happier finish-line-crosser than he was, but I think we were both very happy with our accomplishments at the end of the day.

Final Time:  2:54:54
Overall Place:  234/390
Gender Place:  102/203
Age Group Place:  18/33

This was the first year for this race, and they have some kinks to work out.  The transportation for athletes to get back down the mountain after the race was a big mess, and the athlete 'perks' (goody bags, medals, post-race food) left much to be desired... but that being said, I would do it again.  The race course itself was absolutely spectacular.  This race has quite possibly even made me hate running a little bit less.

El Malpais, Session 2

Our second session out at El Malpais involved much less lava-hiking, but I have to admit that after a few days of sitting around on a site and not moving very much, I sort of started to miss the unforgiving black rocks.  I ended up with about equal time spent between the sandstone bluffs and the lava this time around, and got lots more time to enjoy pretty pottery and hanging out around a PII period great house.  

We spent a few days trying to get a handle on the layout of a large great house which is situated right near the edge of the lava flow.  This site had been mapped and recorded previously, but there were many discrepancies that we wanted to clear up.  A lot of our time was put towards to understanding the features across this site, reconciling previous maps with what we were seeing, and collecting artifact data to go along with our maps.  Man, I love great house middens.  So much neat pottery!  And cool stuff like beads and pendants!

We did go back out onto the lava for the last few days of the session, to finish up some of the trails we had started during the first session.  On the very last day, we came across a very well-defined trail that appeared to have been kept-up pretty well (so maybe it has been recently active).  This trail had a bit of pottery randomly dropped along the path, lots of rock cairns, and eventually led up a rocky ridge directly to a very large shrine.  We recorded the shrine and kept going, but on our way back to the shrine to head in the opposite direction, we stopped to record a large rock cairn right next to a large collapsed lava tube.  There was a pot drop next to the tube, and upon further inspection there was even what looked like a ramp built into the side of the tube.  Obviously people have used this place for some sort of ritual activity- maybe giving offerings, who knows.  After climbing around the tube to look for other artifacts, I just happened to notice the edge of something sticking out from under a large rock slab... it was four HUGE sherds of a beautiful black-on-white jar, hidden out of sight from anyone just travelling along the trail.  What I think happened is that this pot was dropped on the surface (the aforementioned pot drop), which resulted in a bunch of small broken sherds all over the ground, and then somebody picked up these four large pieces and hid them nearby.  Pretty awesome.

 

This was a fun project.  I would happily work in El Malpais again- it's a really neat and beautiful area.  I loved being in the field here, and the work was super interesting... although I also must say that it's nice to be back in Tucson and to know that I don't have to worry about an out-of-town schedule again for a while.

Oh, and by the way... This is what 2 weeks of hiking in lava flows will do to your boots:

Fall!

I don't want to jinx anything, but I think we may have finally turned a seasonal corner in Tucson.  The daily temperatures have finally dropped below 95 degrees!  (Yes, I realize that this is an absurd thing to say in regards to a Summer-to-Fall transition, but seriously, this is a big deal here in the desert.)  We had a lovely few days of thunderstorms and cool breeze earlier this week, and I am supremely looking forward to the increasingly cooler evenings and mornings.

I feel like I got a good dose of Fall this past Sunday.  There was a nice 50-mile bike ride in the morning [Josh only got in 40 miles though, as after his fifth flat tire he was forced to stop riding and wait for me to finish biking home and then come pick him up in the car], and then we visited the apple orchard down in Willcox with Meredith and Angela to pick apples, eat pie, and browse fresh veggies.  We unfortunately we not able to tackle the corn maze due to a big storm, but the thunder, lightning, and rain were really pretty awesome.  And Josh caught some nice photos.

This week, I'm back in New Mexico.  The daytime temps are in the 70s and the nighttime temps are in the 40s.  I am highly enjoying the ability to wear long sleeves and my fleece vest when I leave the hotel in the mornings.

If I had a pony, I'd ride it on my boat.

We are now the proud owners of an inflatable tandem kayak!  (It's just like the kind we rented for the San Juan trip last month.)  Expect multiple lake and/or river trips in the near future!  Hooray!

El Malpais, Session 1

This has been the roughest survey I've ever done, by far.  I knew that the project in El Malpais would be very different from what I'm used to, and I knew that we'd be hiking on lava flows... but until I got out there, I don't think I really understood just how different it is.  This was pretty brutal.

(See that black stuff?  It's lava.  All lava.)

Our survey area was determined primarily by proximity of previously-unrecorded areas to an important great house site.  Our goal was to survey this area and document other archaeological features in the area and to determine their potential association to the great house.  As it turns out, the previously-unrecorded area of land is composed almost entirely of lava flow surfaces.  (Gee, I can't imagine why no one has wanted to walk transects over this stuff before!)

It shouldn't be too surprising that there aren't really any habitation sites on this stuff, so the vast majority of features that we were finding consisted of rock cairns and bridges, which were all linked to a system of trails across the lava.  Some of the trails probably cross the entire lava flow and come out on the other side, whereas some of the trails appear to lead to specific places on the landscape, such as caves or certain ridgetop shrines.  We spent one day attempting to run straight transects over the lava, but quickly decided that our time would be better spent simply finding a trail and following it as far as possible.  So we started with a cairn, and looked for the next cairn.  Find cairn, look for bridge.  Find bridge, look for next bridge and/or cairn.  So on and so forth.  Every now and then we would find pottery along the trails, but mostly it was just rocks... rocks everywhere.

(For scale... some of those Juniper bushes were as tall as I am.)

For a full week, we chased rock cairns and bridges, climbed up and down ridges, jumped over crevices, skirted around collapsed lava tubes, hopped over unstable rocks, and ripped our boots to shreds on the sharp and jagged rocks.  It was harsh hiking, and our feet felt the wrath of the lava.

(I'm not sure if this will work or not, but I took a video while we were hiking... to give you an idea of how crappy this surface is for "hiking".)

Our second session starts later this week.  There should be a bit less lava-hiking, and a bit more site-mapping (of normal sites which are located on non-lava rocks... sandstone never looked so good!).  Which means that I will probably get the chance to spend more time playing with pretty pottery and less time trying not to fall on my face.  Not that I'd complain if I had to spend another 8 days hiking across the lava fields... it's bizarrely beautiful, and definitely a unique experience, and quite the workout!

AND it's October... which in New Mexico, is almost like a real autumnal season!