Old Man Still running

Recovery going amazing!  Feels like I can run again tomorrow.  I think I'm proving out my theory that if you do very, very long weekend runs consitently instead of running nearly every day, that 100s are easier on you and you recover faster.  However, the trade-off is probably speed.

The New Balance Leadville 1200's performed very, very well.  No foot fatigue, just like Hokas. I could run over rocks with no problem. But, no Hoka blisters!  I didn't even tape any toes.  My feet came out in great shape, just a few rubbing marks from the sand in the socks, and one toe had problems, I think because of a seam inside that I can cut down.   I'm sold on these shoes for mountain 100s. The lugs have to wear at all.

Bighorn 100 in 11 days.  I'm excited to return for my 7th finish.   I also read a book recently on Custer, so I hope to visit the Little Bighorn site again.

One of these 100s this summer will come together well.  The odds are in my favor.  In the meantime, I'll just pile up finishes.

I was lazy this week, just didn't feel like running so I decided to do something crazy.  I went and ran the Squaw Peak 50 course unsupported because I missed it last week since it was on the same weekend as Bryce 100 this year.

I started at Vivian Park, the normal start of the race at about 6:30 p.m.  I was bothered by some bloating issues which slowed me down and almost made me turn back, but I got through it.   Since I was hauling all my food and extra water, the initial big climb was about 15 minutes slower than if I was racing it.  I ran into a moose about mile 3 and the silly beast just kept running ahead of me on the trail for a half mile.  It finally went downhill.   Above Rock Canyon, a guy on a motorcycle came up to me and told me just down the road was recent Bear sign and they had just set a Bear trap.  He seemed concerned about me. 

 Dark came around mile 10 above Rock Canyon.  A car was coming down and it saw me green light and waited as I came up.  "Are you OK? asked the guy."   "Yep, I'm doing fine."   He just couldn't understand why I was heading up in this remote area in the dark.  I just ran on.

It really was a different perspective running the course in the dark.  Most of the course flagging was still up which helped me a bunch, but you have to wonder why they don't take it down.  There were section where it was down and I just had to trust my memory of all the turns.  I've run the course 6-7 times.   I never took a wrong turn.  I did backtrack once, thinking I was going the wrong way through the bushwack section above Rock Canyon, but I was indeed doing it right.

I hit the Hobble Creek road about midnight and I'm sure the couple cars that went by thought I was nuts.  I really took the road run easy and reached the top of the road about 60-90 minutes slower than normal, but I was having a good time.

I got my water from the streams and for some of them treated in with iodine.  Hopefully I won't get any nasties. At mile 30 I stopped to eat a buritto and other stuff.  After that I had amazing strength and speed.   I ran fast into Little Valley and felt better than I ever have running into that section.  I ran most of the trail up to Bald Knoll, feeling great.

Dawn arrived as I finished going around Bald Knoll, making my approach to Bozung Hill.  I had traveled about 28 miles during the very short night.  The climb up the steep hill wasn't a big deal.  I didn't feel the altitude at all.  I looked to the east and thought about the Utah Valley Marathon starting just over the mountain in Wallsburg.

The morning at the top was spectacular as the sun started to peak over the mountains.  It was so cool to be up there.   I ran down to Windy Pass.  The trail for the entire course was in better shape than I have ever seen.  The major factor is that last week 200+ runners pounded it down for me.  It was nice and smooth in many sections.  I normally didn't see footprints left from last week, but the wear on the trail was very evident, and easy indicator that I was on the right route.

It started to get warm as I made the huge descent into South Fork.  But the sun was still low so there was plenty of cool shade spots.  I never saw a single person on the trail and I had to do all the spider web breaking for the day and night.

I finally hit the South Fork Road and enjoyed the morning run down the road.  It is so much more pleasant finishing in the morning instead of the hot afternoon.   I finished in about 14:30 to zero fan fair....quite satisfied.  It was a great experience, glad I did it.   When I reached home my wife commented that I didn't look tired.  I really wasn't.  Funny how a 50-mile run is no big deal now.

This was my 7th finish at Bighorn.  I was amazed how more competitive the field is now compared to my first time there in 2006.   I started slow, felt really slow, but I was just about 5 minutes slower on the first huge climb compared to my best year in 2010.  What is nice is that with my recent training, I could run on demand throughout the entire race.   My stomach generally behaved and I had a great time.   I had a bad sore foot (sesimoids) throughout much of the race that really slowed me down at times until it got wet and cold during the night.  After that I discovered that it felt fine if I kept soaking it in passing streams clear to the finish.   I also spent way too much time enjoying the aid stations and talking to other runners.   My finish time was OK, about two hours slower than my best time on the standard course.   But, there were several split times along the way that were my best ever.   I loved running up the hills and could do that in sections where the other runners around me were walking.   And on the downhills, I had my best time ever running the long 18-mile downhill from the turnaround, passing a ton of runners during the night. But my proudest moment, and funnest time was running miles 87.5 to 92.5, a tough climb followed by huge 3,000+ three-mile descent.   I crushed it in 1:05, just three minutes slower than my best in 2010 when I used a front-running 50K runner to pace me.   This time I did it by myself but stayed ahead of front-running 50-mile runners.   I was pleased to finally have my downhill speed back.

So, I finished strong.  No, I didn't crush it, didn't really try to, but it was a good solid race on a tough course.

Recover will be very fast, not very sore.

Speedy recovery....wow!  Just about ready to run again.   I guess I'll have to go find another long run for the weekend especially since my wife is out of town.

With so many friends going off to do the Ragnar thing, I thought I needed to also run during the night.  I had recovered well from Big Horn 100 last week, so I decided to go run the very tough Kat'cina Mosa 100K course with it's 17,000 feet of climbing. 20 or so miles are the same as Squaw Peak 50 but in the opposite the direction.

The official race starts in Hobble Creek Canyon.  I started at Big Spring in South Fork Provo Canyon.  This would mean that the toughest climb and descent would be in the final miles.  

I started at about 4 p.m.  My pace was pretty easy, just enjoying the run. The climb up to Windy Pass was fine.  The brush has really grown since two weeks ago and now is a bother on the single track sections, really slowing things down.   I was able to stay on course the entire way.  I run the race once and paced 25-40 miles three other times so I knew the course pretty well.  But also, there is still flagging up from past years in several sections.

Dusk hit me about a mile after Little Valley and right at that point a big black bear ran across the dirt road ahead of me about only 30 yards.  It must have heard or seen me coming.  Wow!  That is the first bear I've run into while running in Utah.   As it got darker I kept looking behind me, fearing that the bear could be tracking me.  But it wasn't. 

In about another mile, I ran into a massive sheep herd.  I no longer worried about the bear.  If it was hungry, it would snag a sheep.   The herd covered about a half mile and they weren't very happy about my green light.  Soon dog barked.  Great.   I didn't notice them coming, but soon I was nudged from behind.  There were two big white dogs who looked friendly.  They kept nudging me, maybe herding me.  But then one of them kept trying to nudge my left pocket.  Then it clicked.  That pocket had bacon in it.   The dogs kept following me until I reached the edge of the herd and then they stopped to stay with their charges.

As I passed the bath tub spring around 11 p.m. a family was camping nearby with a huge bon fire.  They called out greetings.  I'm sure they wondered what I was doing.   I filled up and continued on.

All was pretty uneventful until I started descending the narrow Dry canyon.  It had been taken over by cattle and they were destroying the nice trail.  They didn't like my light and would run down the trail ahead up me stirring up a massive cloud of dust.  Most of the cattle eventually left the trail but not a cow with two calves.  They insisted on staying on the trail.  It was a real bother, constant dust cloud and I just couldn't get around them.  After 1.5 miles, they finally became tired and stopped running.  I tried to prod them off the trail, but the cow started to get protective and made movements to go after me.  So we were at a standoff, they were just walking down the trail slowly.  Finally the cow left the trail.  The calves didn't want to, but finally followed the mom.   I eventually reach Hobble Creek road.  My shoes were full of dust.  The cows had chewed the trail into soft dust.   I had to stop for 15 minutes to clean the feet well. Because it hasn't rained in quite awhile, the course was very dusty.  I would have to stop four times to clean my feet.

Dawn arrived as I was climbing the road that goes to the top. I had only covered 25 miles during the shortest night of the year.   The nearly full moon sure was great.  But it was nice to have the sun rising.   I was getting chilled and drowsy.  I stopped twice to take short naps.

The morning was beautiful and I was in no hurry.  I enjoyed the morning and all the sights.  I enjoyed the very tough climb up to the highest ridge above Big Spring Canyon, about 9,700 feet.   The steep descent was tough on my tired legs but I finally made it back to my car, accomplishing the 100K+   It was a great adventure.  I sure love running at night but can do with out the wildlife and farm stock.