Buena Vista Gold Rush Days

And like that – Pack Burro Racing season is effectively done.  Yeah, there is maybe one more race and I will be jogging with Jack but the primary race season, that being the Triple Crown is done.

Short version:  Jack and I struck our consistent gear that is great for long hauls in the mountains but is not enough to pull in a win in the short flat stuff.  We came in fifth.  I am really happy with the how the season played out.  Over the course of the season, no burro ran the three long races better than Jack. 

A bit longer:  I approached the race free of anxiety and expectation, knowing our capabilities and without pressure to “win” a Triple Crown.  Our strategy would be as it has been:  roll with what we are given and stick in it as long as we can.  This is important in all the races, but it probably gets exaggerated at BV as the race gets out quick, and given its short nature gaps (like what we had in Leadville last week) don’t have as many miles to cover.

We got out at a pretty good clip, and while Jack and I were about 40 meters down as we turned towards the the river, we slowly were able to bridge up as the pace became a bit more sane.  Photo by J Doke.



We worked our way up the Midline trail.  I have come to see how folks get particularly anxious here, one way or the other.  You can want to drive hard in here to get away or to cover a move but my experience is that if you keep basic contact with the lead group here, you are okay.  Jack and I were doing that from second to eighth.  

A good group emerged onto the road.  There were eight teams in the mix, including 3 mini teams.  The mini teams are a bit of a threat that are unknown to the longer racers as this is a bit more their bread and butter.  They don’t race with the same weight requirements as the full size donks, and are a bit fresher from not having done 29 and 20 miles in the weeks prior.  And Joel and Jon V do a damn good job of keeping those little buggers moving (Crazyhorse and Buckwheat).

In past years we were able to pick which direction we did the Gentleman’s Loop lollipop.  I had always gone CCW on it because that is the direction the group of us elected to go when we got there (keep the donks moving together).  This year, at the start line they told us we’d have to all go left there for safety reasons.  We did this and I found myself annoyed it.  Rather than jumping on the more challenging single track early and getting the big smooth road drops late, it was reversed and it seemed like it was slower and keeping more teams in the mix.  I could see no safety issue really and I was a bit irked.  And then I was irked at the fact that I was irked because in reality we were all doing the same damn race anyway. 

As we went through the rolling roads, the mini teams got a 40 yard or so advantage and then the next near half dozen teams grouped.  But as the road dropped into single track, Justin / Yukon and Bob / Alice made a big jump of a move.  Jack was bit cautious as he has been on the down and we could not cover it.  The guys were not getting away super fast, but over a minute it was 10 yards, and then 20 and then 50.  It was a great little squeezing of the trigger on a gear that no one else was going to be able to cover.

Kirt K/Mary Margaret and Louise K/Pandora and I formed our own little pack through the single track.  We passed by the minis well, but we could not cover the distance the others were making.  As we came onto the main road again, Kirt drove out a bit faster than us.  After we crossed the bridge, Louise / Pandora made a strong drive up the finish street.  Jack and I quietly slipped up into fifth.  Photo by JT.

At the front there was apparently a helluva race between Bob and Justin and their burros.  Photo by Justin (somehow).


In the end, Justin nosed out the win.  I was genuinely stoked for both of these guys because Justin has had a tough season after being second in all the TC races last year.  And Bob has poured a lot of time, energy, effort and money into jumping into this sport his rookie year.  A lot of rookies show up and swing the rope and hope for some fun and success.  Bob has been down at the farm working with burros more days a week than not.  And even getting them up to altitude.  Photo by Bob.

Seeing them take 1-2 … well, while I would have loved to have been up there, I am glad those two guys got it … Laughing Valley Ranch stacking the podium so to speak.

In addition to regular prizes, we were laughing at the fact that we all got a bag of screwdrivers.  Only in burro racing.

Oh, as we wound through the serpentine trails on the way back I found myself wondering if there had been some changes to the course.  It seemed like we were switching around a lot more than memory had served … but I was not sure if that was a trick of seeing the course the other direction.  At the finish, I found others wondering the same.  A little GPS comparison from this year to past years cleared it up. 

The first pic is my GPS track from this year. The second is the one from last year.  I think this makes the run about a half mile longer (about 13 v. 12.5). No worries really as well had to run the same course ... but it might help explain the slower times on whole (about 10 minutes ish).  I do – on a more subjective front – think the CW direction is slower and that there is no real safety issue there (and I grumped about that to a few folks that probably did not want to really hear it so I clammed up after a minute of it) … but again, it sort of does not matter as we all had the same race.

Again, a great season – a ton of people and things to be thankful and grateful for.  My family, the Wann clan, Bill Lee, Bob Sweeney and the Sweeney clan, and so many others in the “community.”  I am incredibly lucky. 

And this guy. 

Sunday 02AUG2015 Gold Rush Days Pack Burro Race

Jack and I have twice toed (hooved?) the line at the pack burro race in Buena Vista’s Gold Rush Days.  On both occasions it was the last race of the “Triple Crown” of the World Pack Burro Racing’s summer racing events.  The races that make up the crown (drummed up by folks in the late 70s, including current racer Curtis Imrie) are the Fairplay, Leadville and Buena Vista races.

BV’s race is unique compared to the Fairplay and Leadville races.  In addition to being shorter in its history as compared to those – its actual race distance is shorter.  BV runs about 12 miles while the Leadville race goes 21 and the Fairplay race does a pseudo ultra thing at 29.  BV’s highest elevation (8800 feet at best) is lower than the lowest elevations at the other towns.  Both Fairplay and Leadville are known for their long climbs to the 13k+ foot Mosquito Pass and long drops back into town while BV rolls up and down, but never gaining more than 1500 feet of climb. 

Because of this, some argue that BV is a fabulous addition to the Triple Crown because it challenges burro racing teams in a very different fashion than the other races.  It is hard to argue with that logic, but given in our first two attempts in the race, Jack and I came up short of a win, I was less than enamored with its layout.

Because of that lower altitude, shorter duration, and lesser vertical – the race is significantly faster than the other two.  In our prior two outings (2012, 2014), we came to the race needing a “W” to secure the Triple Crown, but could not run away from the competition like we had in the other longer races.  In 2012 we were caught at the line by two other racers and took 3rd.  In 2014 we never really got in the lead pack and ended up 6th. 

Of course, it was a bit disappointing to come up short in the Triple Crown, but I also realized how difficult it was to win ONE of these races.  Winning three with the same burro seems like a ridiculously tall order.  I was happy to walk away from the experience with some great times in the hills, the joy of a few wins and some insight on how charmed a life I led with family, friends, the burro racing and running community. 

Coming into this year, I had not even planned to run BV.  In fact, after getting the win in Fairplay I felt beat up enough that I thought it might be a very bad idea to even run this race.  I told Brad Wann and Bill Lee (Jack’s owners) that I probably would skip racing to heal up for PPM and Leadville.  Adding to my hesitation was that I actually doubted that Jack and I could win this race.  Jack’s strength seemed to be a solid trot off the top of Mosquito Pass, and the BV race seemed to demand burros that were willing to sprint into the finish.  Jumping into BV seemed to be setting us up for a sure loss and aggravation of an already angry hammy.

My mind changed over the week though.  My legs seemed to come around and Brad told me that he thought Jack was ready and probably in better shape to run BV than past years.  BV fell as the second race in the TC this year where as in past years it was the finale.  Leadville had moved its Boom Day race a week out and so BV slipped into the number 2 slot.  Perhaps Jack would be better equipped for BV without a 29 and 22 miler under his legs in the 2 weeks before.

I decided to give it a shot.  I figured that as a mid distance run, it would give me some good work, I’d have fun with Jack and the burro racing family and that we’d probably come up a bit short of a win.  This would free me from considering additional Triple Crown racing – meaning I would not need to race the Leadville race and I could go ahead and rest up for my goal races of PPM and the LT100.

I never go into a burro race expecting a win – or any particular result.  I have in the past and there are too many things that can go wrong.  I could run poorly.  The burro could decide not to run.  I could get hurt or the burro could pull up lame.  And someone can just run faster and better than you.  Or it can come down to a sprint at the line and it is never really clear how those will play out. 

But I recognized that we could win, and if that happened – then I had a Triple Crown possibility knocking on the door.  In light of that, I decided if such a wonderful consequence presented itself, I would run the Leadville race to take advantage of that opportunity, but then consider pulling from Pikes to assure that I was most ready for LT100.

The race, as I knew it would got out fast.  Justin has made it a habit over the last three weeks to to take the race out hard.  While this was not largely concerning to me at Fairplay as there was lots of time to catch up to him, I knew that if I let him slip out of sight that Jack and I would have no shot.  I figured the run would go out hot for the first 10 minutes, settle down a bit and then turn into a grind and move making over the last half an hour.  In other words, I thought you could not win the race in the first mile, but you certainly could set yourself up to lose it.  Pic by Ken Scar.

We hit the first mile in 6:10, but it was much quicker than that to start.  Probably a quarter mile of that was on the Whipple Trail after we crossed the bridge.  I settled in to a pack of five:  Justin and Yukon, Matt and Mary Margaret (last week’s short course winner), Joel with the mini Crazy Horse (who has won a lot of short races with John Vincent) and Hal with Full Tilt Boogie (the pair who out sprinted us to the line in Fairplay in 2013).  Pic by Kelly Jole Doke. 

Once we got up on the trail, there was a little bit of jockeying between the five of us for place, but I was content to be in sight of the pack.  I knew that being 1st or 5th here really did not matter – as long we kept general contact and made no mistakes.  The pace got a lot more reasonable through the climb up to the old rail bed road (thankfully!).  Once we got on the road though, Justin / Yukon  and Hal / Boogie put about 100 yards on the rest of us in about a third of a mile.  The thought crossed my mind that perhaps this was it:  if those guys were going to run that well and that fast then that was probably a gear we did not have. 

But then, over the next mile and a half the trailing three pair of us inched our way back up and as we got from the old rail bed / mining road into the single track we bunched together.  We’d spread a bit over 40 yards for a bit, and then bunch back up.  Positions would change.

As these sort of races progress, there is a silent gamemanship afoot with the racers.  They are seeing if they can get a slight break that might be enough for them to get away from their competition.  But then at the same time, you see slight breaks and remain calm because all of these fail and the groups come back.  Except that time when they don’t.  You try to break countless times, but then you hold your cards carefully because you know you still have 7 miles left to address the race.  And behind all of this are these powerful animals that seem to barely care about the whims of their two legged counterparts that are creating all these self imposed problems.  Pic by Kelly Jole Doke.

My goal in this part was to be positive, keep contact, and not make any mistakes.  That worked.  Pic by Kelly Jole Doke.

We hit a long stretch of downhill and Justin, who seemed to be stuck with us to this point decided to take advantage.  He tore down the hill and I figured we better stick with it just to be sure.  And that got us away from the other three racing teams for the remainder of the race (although you never really know until it is over!).  Pic by Kelly Jole Doke.

The pace varied as we got back towards town from low 9s but with sections of 6:30.  Justin and Yukon would get up on it and then … amazingly and much to my surprise Jack would just start to gallop away from Yukon.  Justin and I looked at each other and laughed.  He has raced next to Jack nearly as much as I have and we were frankly surprised that this donkey could suddenly pull down a low six minute pace. 

And as almost to toy with us, he’d then suddenly go to the left and force me off the side of the road and wait for Yukon.  He has done this tons of times before so I figured I’d look to just have us run with Yukon for as long as possible.  We got a slight advantage coming back into the Whipple Trail and so had the lead there.  I was really happy for this because I knew that passing would be a big time issue while in this mile or so section.  \

Jack continued to amaze because suddenly he seemed to dance over the rocks and the bends of the trail.  Yukon and Justin were just on our heels, but then after a minute they were a few yards back.  And then a little more.  And then a little more.  I figured we’d need all the lead we could get because there was at least a half mile of road that with grass and crowds and all sorts of other distractions that could change things up.  In other words, even though we may have gained some lead on the trail, I knew that we’d have to battle through the finish because there was enough run way there that the race outcome coming out of the woods may not be the outcome at the finish line.

We came off the bridge and Jack seemed to know that we had to navigate to the paved road, but from there we still had about 300 yards.  At this point my head was on a swivel between navigating Jack, looking to the finish that seemed forever ahead, and looking behind to see when Justin would appear.  We halved the distance to the line when Justin and Yukon showed up, but it was clear they were moving better than us and I was just towing Jack along.  As it turned out, I had enough of a lead to get to the line first with Jack, but if we had to go all the way to the US24 traffic light we would have been caught. 

And with that, we got our first win in BV.  This guy seems to never stop surprising me.  Pic by Matt Curtis.

Pic by Shelly Hall

This is certainly one of the coolest awards I have ever got. 

Again, I feel incredibly lucky that I get to do this, that I am supported by family and loved ones, that friends support me, that community of burro racers (and those around them) and runners are willing to cheer for me, and that there is this four legged wonderful creature named Jack that seems to enjoy these games we play.  I can’t thank you all enough.  Pics by Ken Scar. 

In regards to future plans … well, I cover that a bit here.  I will go to Leadville next week.  Pikes is a question mark at this point, depending on how Leadville goes.

Tuesday 121614

A good read on PEDs.

Great stuff from Jack Daniels.

This is my boss.  Sort of.

I have been trying to read a thing about Leadville each day … just to learn shit.  Google lessons learned Leadville 100 and you get a ton of hits.  Success stories and a ton of failure stories. 

A recent interview with PPA legend Dobson.

Music …

“There is a zero chance of taking the marathon seriously. I only decided on Friday that I was going to run the full distance.” Kevin Sullivan, 40yo 2:40 guy (who was a 3:50 guy … in the mile)

I am a bit disappointed the Bekele is gonna go race Dubai.  I am sure he will post some redonkulus time there but I rather see him go head to head with Kimetto, Kebede, Mutai, and Kipsang. 

I generally found the Rich Roll interview with Dean-o to be good.  I think Dean gets a bit of an underserved bad rap by some in the ultra world.  There is a lot of good stuff in this cast, including Dean addressing some of those concerns.  … that said, there is a little bit of the “drop what you are doing and follow your dream” theme in there that I cringe at.  I see this message as a bit … well, wrong.  I mean, outright, it is not wrong, but it seems to get wrapped in this idea that “if you do what you love you will never work a day in your life” craptastic message that makes no sense.  In fact, the people who are doing what they love seem to be working their ass off doing it.   But there has to be a space for your vocation not being what you love, but something else you do to support who or what you love otherwise.  I feel this message of “do what you love” slips into some sort of broader narcissism but that might become a bigger #GOM rant that is not well stated.

In any case, I am pretty sure that is not what Dean intended in the interview, but I have become a bit sensitive to that sort of messaging. 

25 who influence more … Justin Mock (image from Colorad.

Top American at London in 2010, sub 40 in the Bolder Boulder 10k in a gorilla suit, regular Pack Burro Racer (and finally securing a win this year at BV), 4th at PPM in a sub 4:10 performance.  Dude has wheels (even if his mile and 5k PRs are soft, I don’t think he ever really went after those the way he could).  Occasionally he races those little dogs he has too, but that will probably be forgotten once he gets a World Championship in Fairplay next year.  Well, that is assuming he actually runs and can hold onto his burro.  ;)

But seriously his influence to the running community in Colorado is not about that.  It is really about his writing.  He contributes regularly to Running Times (as in what seems every week) with thoughtful articles and interviews, as well as consistently and more locally to RunColo.  In terms of both local and national coverage of the MUT scene, I cannot think of anyone who has been a more influential journalist.  

Late afternoon – 9 miles with some pick ups, strides.  I thought I’d do something structured, but I felt a bit fried in the head.  I hit my downhill near 1500 meter stretch in 4:40, so not bad but I was not feeling a lot of fight.  I felt cold out there today too and was not enjoying that and then I saw the guy running in the sandals … damn it.

Thursday 073114

I took a goose egg yesterday.  I felt lethargic and the consistent rain tempered any motivation I might of had.  It was easy to let the day fill with other things:  work, and a guitar session with Steve G in the evening. 

Afternoon – 7.1 miles with quarters on the track.  75-76 (73 on the last, 77 on the first).  Legs feel okay, and not really worked over from the weekend.  Mentally, I am a bit tired though.  Took me a bit to get up for this one, but I was fine once I got rolling.

Might need to consider this – the Quandary Crusher.  Got me thinking there are only a few “official” races up 14ers in Colorado.  Pikes, the Mount Evans race, and I think the Kite Lake Triple thing are the only ones I am aware of … and now this one.  Not a 14er but another climb to think about.

News stuff:  Olsen got his HR report up (and an outsider view follow up), you actually get to hear Kilian suffer in this video, nice read on Coburn and Simpson, whatever happened to Steidl,

3 in the evening with burros, and Dave P, Justiin M, Nella, and JZ – up at LVR.  Tried the EZ boots with Jack and … they are just Jacked. 

I was fried tired at the end of the night.

Saturday 102712

Headed out for a run this AM and had the great luck and fortune to bump into Buzz, Bill, Jeff V, Tony K, Burch, Mike H, Brandon F, Tim L, Rob T, Basit, Dave M, Justin M, Homie, Sandrock, Wes T, Kendrick C.  Crazy how that is in here… you can’t head out for a run and throw a rock without hitting someone in the face.  Just another day in this wonderful place we live.


               

I clearly and quickly knew that I had not visited the hills as of late.  I could feel the small of my back give off its tell tale “bark” when I have been away from them (the snow seems to magnify this, along with yesterday’s workout).  No bother at this point.  Flagstaff and Green for the front half and then coming down via Bear Canyon to round it out to 11.5 miles.

All that however was really the footnote to this run.  It was great to share a few strides with so many of the wonderful people in this community.  Common topic that comes up is how folks’ heads are churning on their ‘13 plans.  Interesting to hear the different takes. There are so many wonderful stories.  Yeah, cheesy as Swiss, but it lifts me up.  It might be that I don’t do a lot of it and so it is a novel thing, but it leaves me buzzing for hours afterwards.  I probably am buzzing too much during these sort of runs too, feeling like a kid at Christmas, and talking too dang much.

Couple of shots from a Halloween gig we went to last night.  What is scary is that I actually use to sort of look like this when I had hair.  No, seriously …

Off to Seattle tonight.  Listened to the Endurance Planet show, Ask The Coaches.  This show by Lucho and Tawnee, along with TalkUltra are pretty much the only two fitness, endurance, ultra, training podcasts that I listen to anymore (although occasionally I will queue up Marathon Talk. .  It has been fun to hear how this show has matured, being a bit of ultra, a bit of marathon, a bit of tri, a bit of all the stuff “we” talk about.  I dig it.   When not listening to this “genre” I go with Carolla’s stuff for laughs.  Most the time though, it is purely music – everything from Winston to Foo Fighters to stuff KZ turns me onto.  Go to Pandora when stuck.
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Solid post by Ian S regarding flat 100s.  Without a doubt, I am still thinking about the 100, but I am not focusing on it in 13 (given my Pikes goals).  And without a doubt, I am still amazed at what Bob did at the Boulder 100 in his last lap.  Reading Ian’s post leaves me nodding my head, because it is clearly not how you run the first half but how you can run that damn second half – and really how much from 70 miles to the finish.  As I was crushed to a point of “running” a 17 minute mile in my last couple of laps, I clearly have a lot of possible improvement …
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Started getting back to a little bit of core work.  Mostly push ups, planks and reverse crunches.  I have not done them in a bit so it is leaving me a bit sore.  I imagine that as the weather starts to degrade a bit, I will look to get into the gym a bit more.  Maybe some rope work.  I tend to get a bit nutty with bench press and that sort of stuff when I go to the gym.  It is a left over from the AF days I guess.  I can’t say that I will totally eschew that stuff, but I think I will try to focus a bit more on some core and leg work (dead lifts, squats).  Eh, easily said.   
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While I will be focused on Pikes in 2013, I am pondering the burro thing again.  And I’d like to finally coordinate a Fairplay to Leadville run (and back) with Fuller.  And I am thinking of hosting up a FA type event … my house to Bear and back … whatever route you want with a few checkpoints along the way.  Not the cup of tea for everyone with the flat before the climb, but a good 35 miler (ish).  Pancakes galore at the finish.  Maybe in March. 
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I saw a commercial today while on the plane for testosterone applied via a stick to the arm pit.  Of course there was the list of all the possible side effects at the end of the commercial.   When driving into work, I hear commercials on the sports radio all the time about “low T” this and that.  "Are you a middle aged man who is tired of being tired?”   This is not new of course, but it seems that this stuff is nearly as readily available as coffee (when is Starbucks gonna provide the Low T Latte?).   The question that I am trying to get out of my head (kind of like a bad song that gets stuck in there) is this:  with this stuff apparently being so available, is it really okay if someone just gets a  therapeutic use exemption (TUE)?   Apparently I don’t have low T (but I have not been tested), but if I suddenly did and I got some prescription to bring my levels to some “normal” range, would it be doping if I competed with an appropriate TUE?   According to what I understand from USADA, the answer is no – that would not be doping.  

This sort of sounds like an argument that I hear pro’s who have been caught making:  “I did not use it to enhance my performance, but just to recover.”  Uh, enhancing your recovery is enhancing your performance.   The guy taking testosterone to get it to some level within his TUE is doing it “to just be normal” – but he is also enhancing my performance.   Then again, I enhance my performance too – I drink coffee and I know it will help my performance so it is obviously a performance enhancer … just happens to be legal when I have my two cups in the AM

This leaves me a bit stuck with the conundrum of how everything is a drug of some sort (uuh, yeah, I), and how we legislate and regulate what is normal.  And that is sort of arbitrary.

Burro Training in Arvada

Got together with Justin M and Bill Lee over at the stable in Arvada.  We got in a little bit of training with Jack and Willy.  JZ ran with a burro for a bit as well (he also brought a buddy along to introduce him to the sport).  If Justin runs the way he did on some stretches tonight, it is only a race for second place at BV.


       

Good night catching up with Justin (had not seen him since HR … and that is such a blur to me I almost forgot that I saw him there) and Bill.  Talking running, burros, shooting the breeze on a beautiful Colorado night.  Justin wants to set up a wager on the race.  His thought is that if he wins, I’d have to shave my chest “rug” and run shirtless in Pikes.  I could probably deal with that if I lost, but Ms. GZ might be upset for a bit.    But on that front, on my side, I’d think that if I won, Justin would have to pace Nick Clark at Leadville shirtless with HANG NINE written in eye black or something like that on his chest.  I’d have him shave but it does not count if it is three hairs.

Seriously, the shirtless thing is actually a bigger deal as it could be a major issue on race weekend (reference 2008).  Suggestions on such a wager on both sides are welcome. 

JZ was all about burros, but then saw the pole vault as part of the decathlon in the Olympics tonight and says he wants to do that.  Steeple decathlon “double” perhaps? (I’d have to say “these go to 11” then)

Tuesday 080712

Justin announced to me that he is gonna come race in Buena Vista!

Should be a good time.  You all ought to come down.

Great post by Tracy L on her run in Leadville with Spike: You MUST HAVE PATIENCE WHEN RUNNING WITH A JACKASS. PATIENCE. Just because he stops one second, doesn’t mean he won’t win the race, or come from behind, or decide he now wants to be the competitive animal in the bunch. There is no rhyme or reason to the sport of burro racing and that’s just the way it is; it is also the appeal of it for me.

Results from Boom Days.

There is an article up on LeadvilleToday.com.  In a Finish Line announcement that sounded more nursery rhyme than burro race, George Zack and his Burro Jack took first place in Leadville’s International Pack Burro Race on Sunday, August 5. Zack & Jack came across the finish line at 3 hours 42 minutes 52 seconds and 4 tenths (3:42:52.4), nearly 20 minutes ahead of the second place finishers, Hal Walter and Laredo at 4:01:33.  The Women’s Division of the International Pack Burro Race saw 12 teams cross the Finish Line.In the women’s race, it was Diane Vander Hoven with Stash who were first welcomed home by the cheering crowds. Their winning time was 2:32:42:43, nearly 25 minutes ahead of competitor Mary Kuester at 2:57:14:03.

Some vid with Leadville Race Director David Teneyck. 

Mid day … 11 miles.  A little bit here with this guy from work, and then a bit more with this other guy and then a bit more.  Pretty warm.