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Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2001 11:16 AM
Subject: Incline Club V5 TH12 LR31
This Sunday six people have the chance to tie the club record of 31 Sundays in a row. This blows me away! Well for that matter the fact that we had 70 people out on Sunday blows me away! Heck, even having club shirts blows me away!
Speaking of shirts — thanks to all of you that are sending in the great comments. We all owe Yvonne C the big “thank you” for taking this project on. As many of you know we have been talking about club shirts for several years but it was Yvonne who turned talk into shirts! It may have appeared easy on the surface but there were 33 size/style combinations and with 247 shirts a boatload of money was involved. In fact 12 of you have yet to pay and this is your warning that if you do not pay Yvonne by next Tuesday when the club mail comes out I will be naming names! Fair is fair — this is not a business for Yvonne or I and it is our money that is being used to buy your shirts. Also we have begun the process of mailing out the 15 orders that requested the mail option. Did I say that the number of shirt orders blows me away? After we get through with this order will we consider doing another order since so many are asking about getting more shirts now that they have seen how neat they are!
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Thursday, June 21, 5:30 p.m. meet at Soda Springs Park.
Warm-up to the Hwy 24 bypass. 10 repeats or 40 minutes whichever comes
first. 4 X 100 yard skips and kneelifts in the grass. Cool-down back to
park.
Sunday, June 24, 7 a.m. meet at the Pikes Peak Hwy Toll Booth.
Carpool to Elk Park. Run over to Barr Camp then up to the top. 2 — 4.5
hours. (Some will still be leaving from Soda Springs Park at 8am)
----
A few notes about Elk Park. I will try to get into the tol lline fairly
early to hand out passes for those that promise to help work on the tail
this season. In general we spend an hour or so working on the trail after we
finish our run. If you can not commit to at least 5 hours over the next 7-8
or so runs please purchase a hwy pass for $50. Also I know some of you want
to keep running from the bottom which is fine. If you are doing the “*” thing just be sure and try to keep me up to date. It gets rather complex
trying to track everyone once we start coming from 3 directions — top,
bottom and middle.
As far as the purpose of the Elk Park runs I have always viewed them as a way to work on the top half of the course while in a pretty fresh state. As you may know the run over to Barr Camp is fairly easy. However, as I have said before I don’t consider Elk Park a substitute for the long runs if you have not been running with the club. But then again if you are just starting your training the Elk Park runs may give you the most bang for the buck this late into the game. Most of us have been busy working the bottom of the course for a long time now and those that have been going to the Bottomless Pit sign or farther have plenty of long runs under our belts. The key is to really work the top miles going a good bit faster than you would be able to if you started from the bottom. Then, in theory, the top feels easier come race day. The theory goes to pot however for those that never took the time to work on the bottom because they are so tired by the time they get to Barr Camp that the top still feels like hell! OK for that matter the top always feels like hell but if you work on the top a lot you will at least know how much hell you have to go before you are done;-)
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Keith G writes:
You can up the record to 70 for Sunday. I did a long run up Rampart,
then Williams Canyon, Waldo, Longs, Bob’s road, then to Barr Camp and back
down. I ran back down with Glenn. I also saw Neal and Teresa T eating
breakfast as I was finishing.
####
Matt C writes:
A huge thanks to the 20 or so people who helped move fence rails on the Barr
Trail last Thursday! Gail and company have been busy putting the new ones up
and they are looking great! I think it is important for the club to go
beyond just being a running club and that again is one of the reasons we
adopted the top mile of the Barr Trail.
####
Tom K writes:
It was nice getting back out this past Sunday for the run after several
weeks recovering from tendentious in my shin/ankle, and “other” little
distractions, even though it was only a token 2 mile run up Ruxton and back.
But this was probably just the right amount, considering the heat. Laura K
(formerly Laura L) and I would have stayed for a few more miles, but had to
get back to clean up our car which was attacked the previous night by a big
bird with moderate digestion distress. This doe-doe bird doo-doo’ed layers
of guano on the outside of the Pathfinder, basically large quantities of
white stuff (got milk?) mixed along with equally large quantities of
undigested bird seed. The poor bird must be lactose intolerant. It’s
aggressive, territorial behavior might also be explained by the nest it
appears to be building in the back of the car, as we discovered many blue
and pink eggs waiting to be hatched. We’re looking forward to getting back
into the training mode, after a nice pre-run breakfast of scrambled doe-doe
bird eggs.
Hugs and kisses, from mister and misses (Tom+Laura K)
####
Steve S writes:
I want my “g.”
I’m glad Kees appreciated the cheers, he was hauling ass uphill in 5th in mile 7 when I went by. It was encouraging to see IC faces at the head of the pack even if they were heading back as we were heading out. As for myself, I took 6:11 off my time from last year (1:26:11 down to 1:20:00). Also, I was 135 people closer to the finish line which means I’m hanging around all the fast women. (My mother always warned me about fast women but it isn’t so bad!) Overall, I was quite happy but my lack of racing experience shows when you look at all my splits. My pacing for the first third of the race was erratic, at best. 7:38,7:26,8:45. Waaay too much adrenaline in mile 2 but during mile 3 I was too conservative running the first hill.
One of my race goals was accomplished... no one passed me on an uphill. That showed me the leg strength I’ve gotten from the IC. On top of that, no pain as compared to last year when I had blisters, dehydration and sore knees. The IC has been great for me in “learning” how to run, what to wear, eat, drink, etc. I’m really starting to look forward to running the Barr Trail Race and PPM instead of dreading the accompanying agony of da feet.
####
“R” reports:
Craig H reports:
Montana Trip Report
Part 2 of 2. As I mentioned last week, the Governor’s Cup in Helena Montana went very well. 3:28 and 30 minutes faster than the previous week. This run was also not quite in the Boston league but compared to WY the week prior, it looked pretty darn good. This is another race where you race directors ought to feel good about your events.
Checked out a good chunk of western Montana. Some OK towns and some awesome views. Not too much to the capital city of Helena however. Pulled into town and saw a huge sign for what I thought read “Helena Visitor Center.” After I finally found a place to park in the crowded little downtown area, I walked into a shop with tons of eyeglasses. I walked back out, took a little closer look at the HUGE sign and realized it read “Helena Vision Center.” (Does this mean I’m entitled to a rebate on my LASIK surgery??)
There was, however, one small older neighborhood that was really neat. The old (late 1800’s old) rich part of town had some very impressive homes. Helena was actually a gold town on the verge of drying up before a very suspect state-wide vote placed the capital in that town to save it from ghost-town status. At one point Helena had the highest per capita number of millionaires in the country during its heyday.
Saw some really beautiful land north of Helena and Missoula. I was looking for property as I’ve said I’m going to retire on big acreage in Montana for 10 years now and up until this trip has never set foot in the state. Some great vistas up there. Still considering it.
Back to the running, I’ll start adding links to the runs for those that want more details. (i.e. The “official” propaganda.) And I’m also going to plug a great race in Ohio...the Air Force Marathon. I ran the inaugural race in 1997 and it was great and it has only improved each year. One of the best mid-sized marathons in the country. Check it out. afmarathon.wpafb.af.mil
I will probably end up in Salt Lake City for my July run. Halfway through the year. Course info follows.
Cheers,
Craig
Montana Marathon — 2 June 01
Entry Fee — $35
Link — www.govcup.bcbsmt.com
Course — Point-to-point. Semi-mapped. Start in the ghost town of
Marysville at 5400 feet and finish in Helena at 4400. First 6 miles were
downhill dirt. (paved within the next few years though.) Hills at miles
13-16. Also a climb 25-26.
Expo — Very Wyoming-like...non-existent. I was handed my race number and my
choice of one Gatorade bar.
Medal — Average.
T-Shirt — Two shirts. (One pretty average, one pretty neat)
Crowds — On the 1 — 10 scale...1. (On the Wyoming 1-10 scale...10!)
GU Stops — 3 (BTW, I am now a total convert from Power Gel to GU.)
Start temp — Cool and overcast. Decent tailwind for about half the run.
Heated up 22-26.
Overall impression — Very respectable small event. The fast ICer’s could
walk away with some hardware. (A nice piece of glass actually.)
####
Jonathon F reports:
Race: Double Trouble Trail Run
Distance: 15k/30k
Locations: French Creek State Park, Morgantown, PA
Date: June 10, 2001
Weather: 75 deg, sunny, light breeze.
This was an interesting race from before the word go! People who planned to run the 15k lined up behind one line on a 1-lane road. People who planned to run the 30k lined up behind another line about 20 yards from the 15k line FACING the 15k runners. Between the two groups was the beginning of the trail that was about 10 feet wide. At the start, both groups funneled onto the trail.
The trail had plenty of rocks and roots to trip over or turn an ankle on and a few brambles just to keep you awake. I saw several people with dirt on their shoulders, and numerous bloody shins, knees and hands. The tree-covered course weaved up and down several hills, some of them quite steep. There were several 1-lane bridges consisting of 2 2x12’s side by side (several boards were broken or had holes in them). There probably wasn’t more than 1-2 miles where you could relax and stretch out your stride. Most of the course was single-track and it was quite risky to run too close behind someone because you couldn’t see the footing. The only thing missing was a water crossing.
A nice thing about this race was that you could change your mind about whether you wanted to do the 15k or 30k. Those choosing to do the 30k just ran a second loop of the 15k course.
The overall winner of the 15k finished in about 1:03. First female was about 1:08. In the 30k, the first male finished in 2:19 and first female in about 2:40.
####
Carol S reports:
Mile High 24-Hour Run
June 9-10
Chatfield State Park
I completed 60 miles, 18.5 hours.
The goal was to complete 100 miles in the 24 hours...but it did not happen.
Things done right:
Pacing through the first 20 miles, right on target.
I was rested and prepared.
Transition preparation was also improved as I had pre-filled bottles with
fueling/hydration mix, in an ice chest.
Things that went wrong:
As near as I can figure, I simply got beat by the heat.
It warmed up to the 90’s, after the first 20 miles. I suffered from both
dehydration and symptoms of heat prostration.
I probably should have pounded down additional H2O, and soaked in an ice
bath, but by the time I figured that out it was too late. I had already
lost too much time, and my body just had enough at the end of mile 60.
It was still a good ‘training run’, for Leadville preparation, so all was not lost.
####
Connilee W reports (for AnneMarie W):
For those of you who know AnneMarie W, you might be interested in this
year’s Comrades Marathon which was run on Saturday June 16. (AnneMarie is
busy sunning herself on some remote South African beach, doesn’t have access
to a phone, much less email, so you’ll have to bear with my rough “R” report). Comrades is a 56 mile (89k) point to point ultra-marathon that
switches beginning and end points each year. This year, a ‘down’ year
(meaning the course has net elevation loss despite being very hilly with 5
major hills), it started in Maritzburg and ran to Durban, South Africa.
AnneMarie has run it twice before finishing in 9:16 (a ‘down’ year) and 9:26 (an ‘up year). Her goal was to run a sub-9 hour, and this year she made it
with a time of 8:37!!! (Anyone breaking the 9 hour mark gets the ‘Bill
Rowan’ medal, maybe she’ll show it off when she comes back to the states in July). By coincidence, I met a man recently who had run Comrades 8 times.
He may have been exaggerating, but he said that Comrades has far more
elevation gain and loss than the Pike’s Peak Marathon! In any case, well
done, AnneMarie!
(An interesting tidbit — Bill Rowan, the namesake of the sub-9 hour medal, was the first ever winner of the Comrades marathon, which was run on a mostly unpaved course, winning in a time of 8:59 in 1921. This year’s male winner, Andrew Kelehe, won the race in 5:25:51.)
Other stuff: I ran on the Elk Park Trail today and it is in very good shape, and no snow on the trail. Should be good to go starting the 24th of June, for the Sunday Club runs on Elk Park. Also, I ran up the Bottomless Pit trail ~ 2 miles, at which point I encountered lots of snow on the trail.
####
WWW Posts:
6/17/2001 The Sunday Club attendance record was smashed when 70 people came
out for the long run. The vast majority started from the bottom but another
8 or so started from either Elk Park or the top so that they could get in
some no air miles. Lots of us got our club shirts today and it was pretty
neat to see them making their way up the Barr Trail. Even in the summit
house tourist were commenting on the shirts! Today 11 of us also started
working on our adopted section of the Barr Trail.
6/13/2001 50 of us met for a 30 minute tempo run up the Barr Trail and there were so many PRs it was unbelievable. Some were getting well over a minute farther up the trail than 3 weeks ago! Things are clicking for many of the ICers for sure. After the main part of the workout about 20 of us helped move new fence rails to various spots along the Barr Trail from No Name down to the top of the Ws. Finally, after a run back down the trail Hydro Street hill repeats finished the workout. Some ICers got their club shirts today:-)
####
Go out hard, when it hurts speed up...
Matt Carpenter
www.skyrunner.com
Barr Trail Mountain Race
www.runpikespeak.com
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