I am good for about 30 minutes in the heat of PHX. At least today, when I ran mid day it was 102. I was fine for the first few miles and then for whatever reason there was the slow click of “yeah, this is not going to keep up like this.”
I like the allure of the desert but I imagine it would get old pretty quick to be dealing with three digit temps for months on end. Nice to visit, no so much to live with.
Back to CO. Should be snowing there pretty soon.
Did Camelback from the southeast side in the AM and the north side in the evening. It is a fun little climb – short (2-4 miles and about 1500 feet of climbing) with the first half on both sides being pretty run-able but then the last half being a bit of a class 3 scramble.
Came across this Camelback Chuckwallah lizard on the run back down. He was over a foot in length. Not poisonous like the Gila monster he disappeared under some rocks shortly after this pic,
We got to recognize the winners of the state track meet (2018) at a high school assembly today. It is always fun to be a part of these assemblies at the school – recognizing the hard work of these kids.
Today the school recognized the girls 4 x 800 state squad (Maddie, Lauren and Sydney – Katie was already at school), and 300 meter hurdler state champ Gorman (also set the school record). Mike Mooney who won the 1600 and 3200 at state was off at CSU.
My friend and our head coach Greg said it well: This morning, BHS honored these State Champions from the spring sports season. They exemplify what it means to be a Broomfield student-athlete: focused, determined, humble, and displaying a fiery competitive spirit. I am really fortunate to be able to work with these young people. Lauren Felknor, Sydney Swanker, and Madison Mooney were here to accept the honor in front of the student body today. Missing today were Katelyn Mitchem (4x8) and Michael Mooney (1600 and 3200), who have left for college, but were there in spirit! Good day to be an Eagle!
If you have talked me about high school cross country at length, you inevitably hear me mutter about how some of the structure of it that in place today is not my favorite. This is usually preceded with me grumbling a “back in my day” prefix to the #GOM rant.
Mostly my beef is that all the kids run these days are 5ks. Nearly every race is set to this exact distance. “Back in the day” we had variability in that courses were varied from week to week … one week you might run 2.5 miles, another you might run 4. I think our home course at my high school was 2.78 or some other odd ball distance like that.
With every course being a 5k, and the ubiquitous nature of the internet, every performance is recorded – and thus kids get hyper focused on time and PR’ing every week. Anyone who has run cross a bit, you recognize that times are a secondary or even lower level concern and it is all about place in the race for points. And with different courses throwing different challenges – one week being deep grass that sucks up your strides, the next being a cinder gravel zippy affair, and then another week being a hilly affair, or maybe even a road race that they call a cross country race – the idea of PRing week over week is folly.
So when we had the opportunity to run the Jack and Jill relays at Barr Lake, I was pretty enthused. The race format was that of a relay, with teams of four being all boys, or all girls or a mix of 2 each. Each leg was 2 miles run on grass, crusher fine, bridges and boardwalks and in a figure 8 fashion. And oh yeah, you had to wear a timing chip on your ankle that you exchanged at the end/start of each relay leg.
Which meant an off distance, weird course turns, different terrain, some other ridiculous logistics and a team building event … plenty of other times to run super fast on a 5k course in my mind – bring this thing on. I loved it.
Plus the whole thing was at Barr Lake – a state park I had not been to before. Some cool wildlife out there,
Oh yeah, one more fun shot from last week’s mile.
So, five guys went sub 3:40 at the Pikes Marathon. That is not normal, as in many years a sub 3:50 would outright win the race.
And Dakota Jones ran the fastest descent recorded – breaking Carpenter’s downhill mark of 1:15:33 by posting a 1:13:53 bomb en route to the win.
Bjorklund’s female marathon record from 1981 – 4:15.18 – was broken by Megan Kimmel with a 4:15:04.
Krar ran Leadville for the win in the second fastest time ever at that race in 15:51 (yes, again we talk of Carpenter holding a record – his being 15:42 – and yes, feel free to start course differences over the years discussions and debates).
Dave Mackey ran sub 25 for a big buckle at Leadville. Coming off Leadman. And Dave runs on a prosthetic leg below the knee after losing the leg due a few years ago post a rock crushing it on a mountain jog.
And the Ascent was cut short to a race to just to Barr Camp rather than to the summit because of weather. It left folks contemplating or being upset over decisions regarding safety in an event which by its definition is “America’s Ultimate Challenge.” (search Mike Rowe and safety first to those that say that)
Which is to say …
WTF.
Those are the headline stories. Along with those come countless stories from these two race events that almost coincide every 3rd weekend in August (the two races at Pikes and the Leadville race).
Since 2007 I have been at one of these events every time they occur. Over the last four years, I have been at Pikes, either running the race, stumbling out of Periodic Brewing to watch the finish or pacing. This past weekend I paced Eric Strand from Twin Lakes to Mayqueen. Eric got his seventh finish there.
The human energy at these events is palatable. And they have become a Christmas in Colorado in August for me … and apparently many others … every year.
As I waited to pace Eric at Twin this weekend, the otherwise sleepy village had become a epicenter of people – crews, runners, pacers, fans, vendors. I’d say rock concert, but you’d be hard pressed to find a cigarette at this show (why burn your tightly sewn puffy down coat?). It was big and loud and buzzing with the energy of people doing stuff that was not that special but rather ridiculous and special … running a 100 miles through the heart of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.
As I paced Eric through the night, we turned up the infamous Powerline Climb shortly after 2AM. This 3 and a half mile 1500 climb comes at mile 80ish in Leadville. It is a fairly stout climb but placing it at this point in a 100 mile race actually has made or broken many a racer and sets up for what fish story they will tell later.
I looked up the scar on the hill that is the climb and I could see hundreds of headlamps. Nearly all were moving, at some slow imperceptible pace. Some, as I would see as we made the climb, were stopped, with racers hunched over poles vomiting, or huddling under a blanket as they came to terms with what they were going to do in this event. As Eric and I made the climb, this view flipped – I could see the rush hour of lights behind us, grinding through each of their stories of their race.
These events and their stories come with a scene, a vibe, the victories, the defeats, a camaraderie, a sense of competition, disappointment and disgust, tears and laughter, heat exhaustion and hypothermia, connection to friends and families and a connection to each other and the land we love here in Colorado. They are exhausting and exhilarating.
I had no plans to run Pikes or Leadville this year. I was not even on the calendar to pace this past weekend until Wednesday of this past week. I had forgotten how much I love this weekend. It is as a friend of mine put it, “the most wonderful time of the year.”
I’ll be back.
The last of the BRR summer All Comers Track Meets was last night. During the day I was exchanging texts with Greg to prepare for practice and he nudged me into jumping into the mile race. Greg was gunning for a sub five and since I was going to go to see that and check out Lucho’s 200 meters, I was going to be there anyway …
Admittedly, I was not overly eager to humiliate myself with another race where I felt I performed poor by my own expectations, and feeling like I was just lumbering for 2 and half of the four plus laps. Those feelings don’t go away but they are somewhat combated by the consistent thoughts of “well, if I give up to that, it ain’t gonna get better.”
So I signed up to race.
This rendition of the summer series meet also set up to be the “Mile High Mile.” Todd Straka set up a set of local elite miles with some of the local club / post collegiate guys and girls. Sub 4 was not going to be in danger in this dance but it was going to be a fun affair to see some of the local dudes/dudettes slug it out a bit.
I got to the meet and settled down in the infield and relaxed a bit. It was a beautiful night. I got to watch an impressive 200 meters by Lucho (24.7!) – and one he was pretty stoked with. His goal has been to break 25 this year and he absolutely nailed that after fighting that time barrier all summer. I was super happy for him. Video of his race is here.
With the elite miles being the top billing of the night, the meet organizers shifted the schedule around so that they were the last events of the meet. This set up for some “interesting” logistics. The final mile was supposed to go off at 8:30 and the all comers waves were supposed to be at 7:45. At this time of the year, that is dusk at the front end and just dark at the back end. And here is the interesting part: Potts Field has no overhead lights. It was going to be dark on almost all the track with a bit of light provided by the meet organizers at the start and finish.
To give a bit of perspective, my mile race took off at 8:15. It was not pitch black but I noticed I could not read the display on my watch 200 meters into the race. Later races were just black. This created an unexpected “crowd sourcing” of light - the near 50 people out watching were in an unorganized fashion holding up cell phone lights around the track to provide some illumination. It was a bit surreal to see people come through those lights like that, but at the same time it was a bit sketchy: you lose a sense of depth perception in that light and you either back off the competitors in front of you to adjust for that, or you increase the risk of clipping them. It was amazing and a bit dangerous at the same time (but as far as I know, no one took a tumble).
My race: I ended up in the second of the open heats (which was either exactly where I was supposed to be or in the last of the open heats which was the fastest of them – more on that in a bit). I gave myself a 5:45 seed time, which put me (listed as George Zaele) as sixth in the heat. Our gun went off and a group of five accelerated ahead of me. I slid up into fourth around 200 meters and decided to get on the shoulder of the top three as we came back into the home straight. I don’t have formal “splits” but what I can derive from Strava it was about 85.
The group splintered a bit and I sat in the back of it. There were now three of us and we came through in 2:48-2:50 (although Greg thought I was at 2:44). As we came into this home straight I could hear Greg yelling for me to be patient. He was right – I was sitting in a good group for my abilities and there was no need to take it hard at this point even though my initial instincts were thinking to do so. We came through three laps in about 4:15 (? again a Strava guess) and it began to wind up. The tall leader started a push, and we gapped a girl in our group. A young woman came from behind us and took the lead at 300 to go and I decided it was time. I found a gear that seems to have alluded me as of late – I had a slightly different speed and was able to push. I broke away and found the line in 5:34 for the heat win.
Ok – so who gives a crap? I mean why all that detail for a run that would have been the opener of a slower 10k for me none too long ago? Because for a brief five and a half minutes … it felt like it used to. Sure the watch reflected a slower time but the the event felt the same. It was fun. It was putting your nose in it with competitors, riding a line, racing and finding a gear at the end when your body is not wanting to. It was feeling a bit of the wind at your ears. And that was nice even if the clock ran faster than it used to. I need to remember that.
Congrats to Kirt and Mary Margaret for completing a winning tour of the Triple Crown. As far as I know this makes them the sixth team with a male human runner to do that since 1978 (the others being Tom Sobol – I don’t know the burro, Ardel “Oscar” Boes – here I also don’t know the burro and an additional side note these two guys may have won the TC multiple times, Bobby Lewis and Wellstone, Hal Walter and Full Tilt Boogie and Jack with me at the other end of the rope.
Well earned Kirt and Mary Margaret – it ain’t easy to pull that off!
71 miles this week. It sort of felt like progress.
On my run today, it sort of felt slow and sluggish (and it was) – probably because we did a forced wake up just past midnight to watch the Perseids for about an hour (worth it) … but I managed to end up averaging better than 8 minute pace by the end. It sort of felt like progress.
I passed through 2k miles on the year sometime this past week. It is not really a grand accomplishment, especially since in recent years I have been more likely to come around on this number somewhere in July (in 2017, I finished July with 2200 plus miles).
I was actively discussing with GW this week that I’d probably be better off doing something like 50-55 a week and taking the time that I use for the other 10-15 miles a week and getting into the gym to do strength work, particularly leg stuff. I am a big chicken s**t at that when it comes to that sort of discipline though.
The last few days back home have been nicely solid, rolling around 11 miles around 7 minutes and change.
Quick trip to Queens for a day meeting. Got a run in here when I got in at night and then another one the next morning.
NY is a mega city. And with it, comes rats, trash, puke, piss, and the underbelly of our society. But I can say every person I talked to in Queens was ridiculously polite – and almost seemed to be reaching to connect and be kind.
The Leadville Boom Days race was won by Kirt and Mary Margaret. Jack and Jeff Bennett were second.
But That shows a couple of things. The first of which is … no, I did not go up to race Leadville. I made a decision this year for a variety of reasons not to do all the Triple Crown races. I am good with that. It was a bunch of little things that drove me to to that and it was the right thing for me this year.
That said, I sort of feel I might do the long course at Fairplay as long as they will let me.
The other thing is that KC/MM with wins in the last two weeks are teed up to be the sixth male team to win the Triple Crown if they can pull off a victory at Buena Vista. KC/MM have been clearly a formidable team the last few years, grabbing the wins at Fairplay the last three years but unable to secure a second win in the run for the “crown.”
I wish them luck, recognizing it requires a bit of lightning in a bottle to win three races in three weeks with the same burro over vastly different conditions – and BV might be the most different of those (it took Jack and I also three tries at the TC before we got the BV race).
Touched the gas a bit on a run at Teller Farm today. I used to go there all the time when we lived up in Erie, but I seem to make it out there only once a year now.
It is fairly stupid that they have that washed out bridge that is not really an issue to cross as something that is off limits. It has been that way now for a half dozen years …
Anyway, this is a great place for a bunch of the big sky views you get just east of the mountains. Lovely stuff.
It was a good day for me out there … quiet, some work, old trails, the smell of the engine smoldering … About sixty miles on the week, with recovery from Fairplay in the mix and XC camp. I’m on target to break 2k miles on the year this week.
We just did our annual summer mountain camp for the Broomfield HS XC team. The goal for camp is always to set the foundation for the season … we collect the kids that have been most committed to the program over the summer, use the camp to set their goals and objectives for the season as a team and how they can contribute to that as individuals, and to be clear on what our path is for our culture.
We sought a different venue this year (recent past years have been at Golden Gate State Park) to get a different environment and mix things up. I reached out to the Denver Area Council Boy Scout Camp outside of Ward – Camp Tahosa. I have been up there dozens of times with the Scouts but this was my first foray into doing something up there that was outside of Scouting.
It worked out great. We had great trails, great facilities, great guest speakers, great food, great team building, great weather, and lots of laughs.
