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Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 10:09 PM
Subject: Incline Club News V13 LR #16 — PPA/PPM Reg, Photos
Good Evening Incline Club!
It's the biggest race of the year.... That right, the PPM/PPA registration is tomorrow! We also have a ton of race reports for your reading pleasure as well as photos of Barr Trail above 10,200ft.
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NEXT RUN: Barr Camp
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Sunday, March 15, 8:00AM — Memorial Park
Run to Barr Camp and back via the Barr Trail.
Screw Shoes recommended!
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THIS WEEK’S QUOTE:
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Leadership ... the ability to see what no one else sees, to listen when others talk and the ability to be optimistic when others are pessimistic.
-- George W. Cummings
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PPA / PPM Registration :
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Its the day we have all been waiting for.... the PPA/PPM registration is tomorrow (or today, depending on when you read this), March 11th.
See http://www.pikespeakmarathon.org/entry.htm for qualifications, times and registration links.
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Barr Trail Above 10,200ft:
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Steve Bremner declares the Barr Trail runnable to the A-Frame (with screw shoes). See his photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/swbremner/20090301RunToAFrame
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Fall forward or backward?:
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Thanks to the few dozen folks who caught my case of wishful thinking last week. 60 folks still managed to make it to the Waldo/Longs double on time, so it appears that most figured it out. The award for the first to note the error goes to Roger Reese. At least now I know folks are actually reading the newsletter :~)
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Weekend Weather Report:
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Given how far out this is you can take it with a grain of salt: The NWS is calling for starting temps in the low 30’s, with 50% sky cover and 15-20mph winds. Once you get up to Barr Camp expect it to be in the upper 20’s with even more wind.
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Race Reports:
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This week, Shawn Erchinger reports that 1,098 steps is harder than it sounds, Andy Kovats takes up XC Skiing, Charles Scheibe goes south, Greg and Jennifer Stock discover that there are good places to go running in Florida and Anita Bower regains the lead vs Mike Sandlin with her 6th race report of the year.
Run The Republic — Denver, CO — 02/22/09
American Birkebeiner XC Ski Marathon — Cable to Hayward Wisconsin — 02/21/2009
Gasparilla Marathon — Tampa, Fl — 03/01/2009
Gasparilla Marathon — Tampa, Fl — 03/01/2009
Houston-Chevron Marathon — Houston, Texas — 01/18/2009
Carl Touchstone 50 miler — Laurel MS — 03/07/09
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Run The Republic — Denver, CO — 02/22/09
Shawn Erchinger reports:
Distance: Unknown
Goal: Run 5:59
Results: Ran 6:20
Website: http://www.runtherepublic.com
General Summary:
The race is held in Denver’s tallest building and you race up to the 53rd floor of the 56 story building as fast as you can. Runners/Walkers are allowed to start in 8 second intervals.
Our team “The Colorado Springs Incline Fanatics” raced last year for the first time and placed second in the team competition. We had hoped to win the team competition last year but lost by several minutes to some young guys. This year we “recruited” some of our fellow ICers and with the increase in numbers we won the team competition handily. We even managed to smoke the winning time from last year also.
Things Done Right:
I ran a good pace for me and didn’t “bonk” until after the 40th floor so I was able to struggle on to the finish.
Training with Eddie and Fred Baxter and climbing the Incline about 100 times per year really helped me.
We also recruited some fast women:)... (Thanks Cindy and Jill...you ladies ROCK!)... and some very fast masters runners. 3 of our winning team members were over 55!
Things Done Wrong:
I didn’t prepare properly for a stair climb. By only “running” stairs one time two days before the race for less than 10 minutes I wasn’t as prepared to “run” 53 flights of stairs and decided to just power hike like I do when I’m on the Incline.
Any Other Stuff:
It was awesome getting to race against Rickey Gates. Not quite as awesome as getting to train regularly with Eddie and Fred Baxter and all my Incline buddies but it was nice to meet one of America’s best mountain runners none the less.
Rickey set a new course record and made the climb up 1,098 steps in 5:50 seconds. It made my 6:20 effort seem a bit slow:)
It’s really a fun race and being part of the winning team makes it even funner.
Cindy O’Neill won the overall women’s race in a course record time of 8:04 or 8:05.
I plan to run the race next year with the goal to run a sub 6 minute race and hopefully get the chance to actually “race” Rickey Gates or at least race against his course record and set a new PR.
MAYBE MATT WILL JOIN OUR TEAM AND BECOME THE ONLY PERSON IN HISTORY EVER TO RUN THE COURSE IN UNDER 5 MINUTES:) Pretty please Matt? Eddie and Fred will buy you all the Pizza you can eat after the race!
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American Birkebeiner XC Ski Marathon — Cable to Hayward Wisconsin — 02/21/2009
Andy Kovats reports:
Distance: 50Km
Goal: 1) Top 400 Men, 2) Improve over past races 3) Have Fun 4) Place in top 300 men 5) (fantasy) top 200
Results: Placed 375 among men, best relative time ever, had fun
Website: http://www.birkie.com
General Summary:
General Info: The Birkebeiner is N. America’s largest cross country ski race with about 7500 participants this year in the full and half length events. Bjorn Daehlie, generally considered the greatest XC skier of all time participated in the 54Km striding marathon and placed a close second even though he retired from competition some years ago. I opted for the 50K skate event which was run in relatively warm conditions (16F start, ~19F at finish). The course is very hilly with the only significant flat spot being the last 2km across a lake before the finish.
Things Done Right:
Kept to my training plan for 6-8 weeks prior to race, hydrated a lot before and during the race by hitting all aid stations after 10Km (where does it go, seems hard to believe one could sweat that much on a windy day in the mid teens?), didn’t fall or break any equipment though I had my poles stepped on a few times and almost did a bear hug with a telephone pole while trying to move up during the first 5km, ate dinner early and must have carbo loaded about right as I did not bonk and felt pretty good after the race vs. my usual stiff zombie imitation from years past.
Things Done Wrong:
The first half of my 26 week training season was a disaster with multiple business trips abroad. Fortunately for my training the 2nd half there is nothing like a severe recession to induce travel interruptions. The travel was replaced with late night calls resulting in many nights of reduced sleep including 3 nights in a row the week of the race (but I’m not complaining, I’d rather have a little extra challenge to my training and be employed, which is getting tougher in the semiconductor business these days). Apparently I woke up and took my stupid pills or maybe just never woke up as I totally spaced putting on my timing chip and didn’t even think of it till about 35K. Then I worried about possibly being DQ’d and might have lost a little motivation the last 10K, but fortunately they included my results, which makes sense as many people have chips that malfunction or are worn improperly and fail to work anyway. I got a terrible start due to waiting too long to get my warmups off, so I miss
ed the mad dash to get one’s skis staged at the start area and then had to fight my way through the crowd most of the first half of the race.
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Gasparilla Marathon — Tampa, Fl — 03/01/2009
Greg Stock reports:
Distance: 26.2 miles
Goal: 3:40
Results: 3:38:47
Website: http://www.tampabayrun.com
General Summary:
Overall, a good race. There were about 1300 finishers in the marathon. The course was completely flat, but the weather was not good — chilly, rainy, and very windy (20-30 mph). Jennifer (my wife) and I had planned to run this one last year but got sick a week before the race, so this was a “make-up” race for us. With good weather, this could be a very fast race.
Things Done Right:
Got to the starting line on time.
Didn’t start out too fast, and didn’t try to fight the wind too much.
Finished strong.
Negative split — 1:52 first half, 1:46 second half.
Things Done Wrong:
Not much.
Should have trained on pavement more. My back seized up at about mile 19, which I think was caused by the hard surface.
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Gasparilla Marathon — Tampa, FL — 03/01/2009
Jennifer Stock reports:
Distance: 26.2 miles
Goal: 3:45
Results: 3:48
General Summary:
Flat road race. The first half consists of a couple of loops, the first of which runs out onto Davis Island. The second half is an out and back along the bay. Lots of nice houses along the course. Generally there is some wind because of the coastline, but this year a storm came in about an hour after we started, making wind a bigger issue than normal.
Things Done Right:
I did not run out too fast which so many people around me seemed to do. Due to the high wind, I had decided to just try and run a steady pace and try to keep it as even as I could with the strong wind, which I was able to accomplish.
Things Done Wrong:
Did not run enough miles on my long runs. However, I think training on serious uphills compensated a bit because my legs felt relatively strong the entire race.
Any Other Stuff:
Training here is very different from the flat lands of Illinois from which I moved last year. I had no idea how I would do in a flat marathon since my pace has slowed down considerably running up mountains. This race was a good gauge of where I am in my adapting/training out here. I felt good and recovered quickly, and my time is right about where I should be for a race that I ran at an easy pace. This marathon is usually run in early February, but because the Super Bowl was held in Tampa this year, the marathon was pushed to the beginning of March. It could have been too hot, so fortunately the rain kept things cool.
Houston-Chevron Marathon — Houston, Texas — 01/18/2009
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Charles Scheibe reports:
Distance: 26.2 miles
Goal: sub-4:30
Results: 4:35:47
Website: http://www.chevronhoustonmarathon.com/Marathon.htm
General Summary:
Flat, single-loop course through the streets (mostly concrete) of the 4th largest city in US, starting and finishing downtown.
Things Done Right:
Visited with family and friends before, during, and after race. Escaped the pounding ordeal on the concrete without any residual damage. Completed my 21st Houston Marathon, including a current streak of 10.
Things Done Wrong:
Under-prepared ... what’s new?
Any Other Stuff:
Very well-organized race, plenty of aid stations and port-a-potties. Post-race breakfast, 2 shirts — entrant and finisher, medal and mug.
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Carl Touchstone 50 miler — Laurel MS — 03/07/09
Anita Bower reports:
Distance: 50 miles
Goal: sub 8 1/2 hours
Results: 8:57:17 6th woman/13th overall
Website: http://www.ms50.com
General Summary:
Long, hot humid day. Temperatures in the mid 80’s and humidity to match made this a lot harder than when I ran it in 07. The course had a lot of mud bogs to trudge through, and numerous stream crossings and was harder than years before, due to a course change. Hopefully am one R ahead of Mike Sandlin now.
Things Done Right:
Took in lots of electrolytes. About a third of the folks who planned on running the 50km switched to the 50km option. I soon realized that my goal of breaking 8 1/2 hours wasn’t going to happen, so I quickly lowered my standards, I mean “adjusted” my goal for a sub 9 hour race. Hydrated well, and ran the last two laps consistently.
Things Done Wrong:
Not enough sleep the night before. An early 6 am flight screwed up my sleep, which impacts my races. My legs still felt tired and heavy from my FL debacle two weeks earlier. It’s always nerve wracking starting another race after a failure, and this was no exception.
Any Other Stuff:
The course was changed due to a controlled forest burn, so no pretty green or flowers to look at like in 07. Still love the way those southern boys talk, and learned a new “word": hootananny. Or something like that.
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IC BIRTHDAYS: 3/11/2009 — 3/17/2009
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Alisa Holden:
http://www.inclineclub.com/show.asp?name=Alisa%20Holden
Charlie Snyder:
http://www.inclineclub.com/show.asp?name=Charlie%20Snyder
David Steadman:
http://www.inclineclub.com/show.asp?name=David%20Steadman
Jessica Griffiths:
http://www.inclineclub.com/show.asp?name=Jessica%20Griffiths
Lisa Hubchik:
http://www.inclineclub.com/show.asp?name=Lisa%20Hubchik
Marny Scalard:
http://www.inclineclub.com/show.asp?name=Marny%20Scalard
Michelle Kuster:
http://www.inclineclub.com/show.asp?name=Michelle%20Kuster
Patrick Barrett:
http://www.inclineclub.com/show.asp?name=Patrick%20Barrett
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NEW IC MEMBERS: 3/4/2009 — 3/9/2009
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Kelly Small:
http://www.inclineclub.com/show.asp?name=Kelly%20Small
Norman Eubanks:
http://www.inclineclub.com/show.asp?name=Norman%20Eubanks
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UPDATED ABOUT ME PAGES: 3/4/2009 — 3/9/2009
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Richard Bennett:
http://www.inclineclub.com/show.asp?name=Richard%20Bennett
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