Last year I helped out at the Olympia Traverse, a multi sport event that includes a mountain bike leg, road bike, kayak, and running. It's a relay race but individuals can do the whole thing. It looked like everyone was having a great time, so this year I decided to do the whole thing myself. This was going to be a fun event since I had only been on my road bike twice this year, never have mountain biked before, and haven't kayaked either. But each leg would take about an hour so how bad could it be? I had an old mountain bike with cracks in the tires and no shocks, my road bike was ok, and I could borrow my brother in law's kayak. I took a test run on the mountain bike and the vibration was so bad it shook the bottle cage off. Not a good sign. My bother in law gave me a 10 minute lesson on kayaking and I was ready to go.

On race day, Dave, Matt and I showed up for battle. Dave was in about the same situation as me except he rented a nice mountain bike. Matt was a mountain biker so we knew he would get a big lead on us at the start. The mountain bike leg went as feared. My bike was hard to control and I couldn;t shift into the low chain ring on the climbs so I got passed by alot of bikers. Then I hit a stump and went over the handlebars but landed softly! I finished near the end of the pack and tried to make up time on the road bike. I passed a few people but I definitely was not in biking form. At the kayak, I found I was only a few minutes behind Dave and I could see him way in the distance. My kayak was fast, so I started passing people and catching Dave. I landed at the dock right behind Dave and immediately took off on the run since Dave runs twice as fast as me. But the other legs had taken there toll and I was just plodding along. After a few minutes, Dave caught up to me but with the same problem, just shuffling along. After the turn around, Dave waited for me but then took off since I was going to slow. Just before the finish, I finally caught Matt, and all three of use finished within a couple of minutes of each other. Glad for it to be over, but I will do it again next year, but I think I will train a bit first!

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With the Capitol Peak Fat Ass canceled due to snow, I was feeling a little too well rested and unprepared for Orcas. Rob and I were the only ones making the trip this year with Dave coming along to help out with the race. We had a good trip up, made the 4:00 ferry and arrived at the lodge in daylight. We had a quiet evening and bedded down early in the bunk house with Eric and Jenny and a couple of others. The weather was so nice that I decided to run without a backpack, just a few gels in my pockets and a couple of handhelds. I started a little fast to get warmed up and settled down to a comfortable pace. I felt I did the first 10 miles too slow, but I was only about 6mins. behind Eric at that point. I was real good about staying hydrated and fueled prior to the long grunt up the power line trail, but as I started the hike up, I felt my calves starting to tighten up which was a new problem for me. Just before I crested the top, my lower back muscles spasm-ed nearly stopping me in my tracks. This happened to me last year midway through the Capitol City Marathon with the same results. I tried running down the gently sloping trail and was slowed by pain. Here was one of the fastest portions of the course and I could only move along at half speed! I tried more fluids and electrolytes but to no avail. As runners streamed past me I just chugged along in low gear. I found that by run/walking I could keep moving but I would need to drop. I caught up to early starters George and Karen Wiggins and Karen offered me some perscription pain killers but I had nothing to prove and didn't want to injure myself more. It was such a nice day, I decided to not drop at the water aid station but go ahead and do the hike up to the top of Mt Constitution so I could get some hill work and enjoy the great view up there. I made it to the top of the mountain about an hour later than I normally would, but felt great to be finished on a sunny day on such a scenic spot. The best part was the car that was leaving right then to go back to the lodge, so I got a ride down before I got too cold up there. I mostly felt bad about not getting enough mileage in.

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It's been almost a year since my last post. Last year was good. I felt stronger than ever after several weeks of hill training at Rock Candy Mt.

I had a pretty good White River 50miler, fell down running uphill at about mile 17 and lost all my electrolytes. I finally made it out of the flat section at the half way point feeling great, but dehydration set in  during the next climb and it took me awhile to overcome. Ended up finishing just off my PR, but I was hoping to beat it by an half hour at least.

Cascade Crest was fun, then disappointing. I managed to fry my quads on the steep downhill before the tunnel at the half way point. Really hit me hard at mile 80 right after the No Name ridge aid station. I could barely walk on part of the fastest trail on the course. To make matters worse, Kris Ryding paced me from there, so she didn't get much of a run in but was very inspiring to have along. Again no PR as planned, took an hour longer!

I have an ambitious year planned with an early 100 miler at Badger Mt. Really looking forward to the Rainshadow runs in the North Cascades this summer.

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Another great time at Orcas. It started out a little slow, Kris and I missed the 4:00 ferry and had to wait 3 hours till the next one. Fortunately I had an audio book "4 Fish" and learned about the extermination of Atlantic salmon and the successful domestication that brought them back, a little genetically altered. Friday night at the lodge was fun seeing everyone show up, getting something to eat, then the Oly crowd headed to our bunkhouse. I scored a lower bunk with drawers so I was very happy. By 10:30 lights were out and we all konked out. Kris, Heidi, and I woke everyone up at 5:30 in the morning. Kris and Heidi were doing a super early start since they had to leave early afternoon and they wouldn't just run the 25K. I got up early to cut bagels and muffins for the breakfast I host every year. Breakfast went great, John and Alex (won the ultra series last year but now injured) helped alot. We were all bad at making coffee. At the start of the 50K, I ran into Glen but didn't catch up to him till about 3 miles in. We ran the first loop together until the downhill when Bushwaker showed up and I took off. I felt great after the first loop, and had a good climb up the powerline, Bushwaker passed me right away, good training for Hard Rock! I topped the powerline and had a great downhill chasing Joesph down to the lake. But I hadn't been drinking enough and I was about out of water for the loop around the lake. I stumbled through this bad patch, mad at my poor planning. I started to recover after the water stop and climbed the 3 miles to the top of Constitution with Joesph. It was great to see Glen near the top taking pictures and even better seeing the aid station at the top. I chugged down some fluids, ate some food, grabbed a cookie and headed down. My dehydration showed on the downhill. I just couldn't get the wheels turning. But I felt good so as it started to level out, I ran better. When I got down to the last lake loop, it looked like I might be able to finish under 7hrs.
I was running strong, but at the back end of the lake, we were sent on a new trail so the finish was farther away than I thought. I didn't care, I was happy I was running strong at the end especially after not training much before the race. I finished in 7:07, sixth in my age group, a half hour slower than last year. I guess the course was a little harder and longer than last year and I was a little bit slower. As usual, great food, music, beer, and bonfire after the race.
It was a great start for what I hope is a fun ultra season!

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We had a very successful Capitol Peak Mega Fat Ass. Last week I marked the upper part of the course, on race day I was going to sweep with Kris. The morning started with me watching the start, then heading up to Falls Creek to set up the turnaround aid station with Glen Rodgers. We then headed up to the peak where Glen would be stationed. I ran down the course to Falls Creek to meet Kris. It was a great warm-up run and I got to see most of the long course runners heading up the hill before I got to the 17 mile turnaround. It was unseasonably warm and dry and everyone was in good spirits. I didn't have to wait long for Kris sweeping behind the last long course runner, who promptly dropped! The last runners left about 10 min prior so I knew we would catch them before the top. We headed up at a steady pace and it began to rain. I ran into Seth in first place bombing down past the trail 50 intersection, he only had a couple of minutes on Yassine though. It would prove not to be enough. By the time we reached the top, we had caught the last runner, the temperature dropped 10 degrees, the wind was blowing and we were in full rain gear. The last guy was 61 years old and just plodding along. As Kris and I followed him, we started to get cold, and he started to have problems. Half way up the steep grunt, we decided I should run ahead and get the search and rescue to drive up to the peak and pick him up. I ran up and over the peak and down to the search and rescue and rode with them back up to the top to pick up the runner. Then I ran back down to the aid station with Kris and grabbed my insulated vest to stay warm. The last runners were now a 1/2 hour ahead of us, but we make up 15 mins on them by the time we reached Fall Creek. Boy it was wet, I've never seen it that wet up there and the trails were raging creeks. It was slow going picking up the flagging and all the water and mud. We never caught up to the last runners and finished just as it got dark. We were both totally soaked and tired but it was a good experience and I got 30miles in!

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There are so many to thank for this weekend's Capitol Peak 50 miler. First of all, thanks to John for despite many obsticles, put on a fantastic race on a great course with great weather and thanks for letting me run it this year. After hurting my hamstring 2 weeks ago at Peterson Ridge 60K, thanks to Ted from Integrated Sports Therapy for getting me back on the trail with no pain. Thanks to Kris and James for most excellent trail marking, aid stations and everything else. Thanks to tall Dave and Jim for chopping that tree across the road like busy beavers. Thanks to Wayne for not being 20mins late picking me up for the start. Thanks for Racheal for hopefully accepting my apology. Thanks to tall Dave and Wayne for starting slow and running steady with me. Thanks to Clem for giving me tips about the Swan Crest trail. Thanks to Kent Holder for showing us how it's done when you're over 70. Thanks to Bill and Jenifer for running the Mt. Molly aid station all day. Thanks to Dave and Terry for standing in the middle of no where and pointing us up the grunt. Thanks to Ulrike for sweeping though I never saw you. Thanks to Laura for helping Kris sweep. Thanks to Heidi for finishing strong. Thanks to Rob for finishing 6th in his first ultra. And finally, thanks to Wayne for finishing his first 50 miler!

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This is going to be a very interesting year. It all started out with a notification that I was selected to be a Hammer Nutrition sponsored athlete for 2010! I thought it was worth applying for since I had quite a few podium finishes in my age group, but I think they were most impressed with the number of referrals from my website. I get some free stuff to hand out and deep discounts so it will be alot of fun. The other exciting news is I'm going to do the Swan Crest 100 in Montana at the end of July, should be an incredible course as a point to point along the Swan Crest range. Hopefully I will also be able to do the Waldo 100K again and get an age group award.
I had mixed results at our first event this year, the Capitol Peak Mega Fat Ass. I normally only do the 25K, but this year I went for the 50K distance. Unfortunately, I came down with some stomach flu and turned around early a couple of miles short of the summit. I still got in about a 24 mile run, but I really wanted to run the whole thing. At least I got back in under 5 hours and got to watch most people finish. Next is Orcas 50K, fun time but hard course.

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