Squinty, but smiling!
FINISHED!!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
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.
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.
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.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
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:
Friday, October 8, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, October 1, 2010
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!
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