Saturday 08AUG2015

After a morning at the Fairgrounds in Leadville doing some work and jogging with the LVR donks (maybe a mile), TZ and I drove through most of the Leadville course.  The objective was to dial in the crew sections and continue the prep conversation from that.   We checked out MayQueen, Outward Bound, Pipeline, Twin, and of course this place.

Friday 07AUG2015

Shad has a good post regarding the “did we do enough?” mentality we all tend to get at this time of the season.  It is hard to say.  I was talking with my Winfield to Twin Pacer Tim G on the phone last week and covering what I thought I had done right and where I was lacking. 

I think in terms of overall consistency and pure mileage over the last four years, few folks will toe the line with a better track record than me.  I have in excess of 3000 miles a year in that period.  That is a check in the plus column.  I get some points for living in an area with pseudo altitude, and getting up occasionally to higher altitude.  I have some runs of length – probably more over 2 hours in the last six months than any other period of my life.

So that is the cup half full.  Half empty would say that despite my consistency I have not had enough long runs (regardless of the number of miles I have had) and I have very few experiences at runs longer than six hours or 45 miles.  The latter half of this run, where stuff happens to make or break the race is largely an unknown for me.

And it is true.  And so it could be a dream day where I PR in the 100 or it could be a flop where I don’t finish because I am staving off some injury or other significant harm.  It could be a sprint at the very end to make sure I break 25 hours or it could be a walk in to get a finish under 30.  And frankly when I look at the starters, including the veterans – that is a bit of the case for everyone.  Stars in the sport have been left quivering on the side of the road, and weekend warriors have far exceeded expectations.  I talk to guys who on paper have performances at shorter distances are far behind me but have big buckled by hours.  And then there are times where the tables are turned:  guys who are far ahead of me seem to have struggled to translate those performances into this nutty distance.

I look at the day as one of effort and issue management.  I need to be a pauper with how I doll out my effort on the first half of the day.  If I can get to Winfield feeling “fresh” then I am in good position.  If I get there (or earlier) and am wasted, it is gonna be a teeth grinding session all the way in. 

I guess we will know on the 23rd in some regard if I did enough.

AM – JZ wanted an easy day.  It is finding it a bit hard to do easy days (less time or intensity) with the regular summer XC program.  I offered up to him to jog with me and he bit.  6.1 miles.

Off to Park County and Lake County for the weekend.  One more burro race and will look to make it the best that Jack and I can.  Will also do some LT course recon.

Afternoon – 4.2 miles.  Hot. 

Thursday 06AUG2015

AM – 7 miles.  Swung down by the lake and I got chased off by the BoCo Sherriff almost instantly as I peaked over the berm.  It  is all closed up due some grenades that were found down there.  Coincidence I guess that they were found on the 70th anniversary of Hiroshima.  (Post script, I was pretty much eye balling the hole in pic four in this article)

The legs were tired this morning from the effort yesterday, but not overly so.  I guess I can say I am pretty much done with training at this point.  There is the 20 plus mile affair with Jack this weekend, but other than that, volume will start to be cut as the clock ticks towards the Leadville start.

I was getting some guff from some colleagues as to my running shorts.  They wanted to know if going with the shorter shorts provided some sort of competitive advantage.  You can see the difference between my shorts in this shot (from Kelly Doke).

And frankly for some, they would find Justin’s shorts pretty short.  Folks, including my son seem to be going in the direction with their hem line of Pittbrownie.

This shot (that I like) Credit Mike Mewes) shows I am going pretty short with the leg covering. 

So why?  Well, I think it is mostly the age I grew up in and what we were wearing when I started running.  Dudes were winning medals and setting world records in this sort of stuff (side note for the die hard track fan – how freaking amazing is it that these three guys all came out of the UK at the same time and were simply the dominant force for the 800-1500 at that time?)

Arguably our best today don’t go much longer.

Yeah, there are the dudes that can kick butt wearing long jorts.  But like lacing up a pair of spikes for a track race – which might get you a second or two – you put on the shorts that work for you because at some point this is a big exercise in your head.  In other words, I don’t think they give me some sort of a competitive advantage, but I think I would be driven crazy to wear knee length shorts like a lot of folks do and then that would impact performance.  Yeah, I know the splits and the 2 inch seam gets some looks but I am old enough that I ain’t doing this to impress people with the looks of my legs. 

PS – I ain’t going to the white short shorts but I have been know to throw down some city camo half tights.

Afternoon – 5.5 miles.  Hot and windy.

News stuff:  A pretty good analysis on the FKT culture.  Symmonds, even if he loses this battle with the USATF, is making a yet another good case that the USATF is not well aligned with the needs of its primary members – its athletes.  And good luck getting a single ruble back.

Wednesday 05AUG2015

Some predictions based on quick eyeballing, some gut and not knowing everything about everyone, subject to change.
PPA women:  Dobson, Payne, Ernholtz, Ortiz (doubler)
PPA men:  Wacker, Diraba, Chelimo, Maksimow, Gutierrez, Burrell, Miyahara, Parr (doubler)
PPM women: Roche (not yet listed but I have heard she is in), Dobson (doubler), Ortiz (doubler), Fluery.
PPM men: Nichols (after 2 years of getting second), Gates, Roche, Hazen, Thomas, Spillman,  Mckenzie, Severy (still thinking Carpenter shows up)

Oh, I am only picking Wacker on the assumption that someone is going to actually make sure he gets up in time for the race.

Note – I wrote that around 10AM.  By the evening I heard that Spillman was out as he was injured.  Apparently Ortiz is injured as well.  Payne in the women’s PPA field is apparently also injured. And I have been told I am overlooking Bay in the PPM field.   Some more on that here.

Yeah, I am a homer.  Of course on a personal level I am interested in how the so called men’s masters plays out.  Hahn and Dickey are saying 4:45, and with Pallansch in the Ascent, it could be a bit more open.  I am guessing a sub 4:40 is what it will take to win that, if not closer to a 4:30. 

In terms of Leadville – it seems on the men’s side it is just a race between Aish and Sharman.  Aish seems to have figured the long stuff out, but you can never tell what the heck someone is going to get in a 100.

Afternoon – pretty hot in the “flats”  Got a little shade on a climb up Green on the middle route (I was a little motivated by Dave’s good run there recently).  8.4 miles.  I felt pretty good through out, but I could tell by some mid run markers that I was not flying (flying for me in terms of performances I have put up in past years).  It ended up being the fastest I have done in about 2 years, but still a handful of minutes off my best on that.  On the flip side I was sort of jogging the down and not putting much effort into that and even tied my shoe (I did not want to risk a fall) but that turned out to be my best time on that this year.  FWIW – I think the middle route is a little slower than it was years ago.  The bump in the trail below the cabin makes it somewhat slower … maybe 15 seconds, maybe 30 – I dunno.

If you look at yesterday’s comments, there is some chatter as to folks that did PPM and Leadville the last time they were on separate weekends.  One who did that is the guy who is pacing me from Twin Lakes to Outward Bound.

Tuesday 04AUG2015

AM – joined KZ with the BHS team for a bit but then rolled out on the new ditch trail up north and east on my own.  12.4 miles.

The competitive bios for Pikes are NOT up, but I am seeing competitive entries on the entry lists for Pikes.  I am psyched to see Roche, Gates and Severy on the PPM list.  The PPA list is also up.  Not a competitive entry, but a former winner that caught my eye is Burrell.  When did that kid become 36?!

Early prediction on the PPM men’s side I’d put Nichols as the favorite.  On the women’s side I will go with Ms. Roche.  This sort of breaks my rule of picking a Pikes newby for the win, but I think she is that good.  On the PPA side it has to be Kim Dobson on the women’s side as the go to choice given her 3x wins and CR there.  On the men’s side I am going to go with Wacker FTW.  

Other notes – Parr looks to be doubling.  Also, I have to wonder if this is the year we see the true mountain King come back to get some more AG records and probably even podium.

This is how I intend to attack the water crossings at LT100.

Apparently the 24 hours of Boulder / Boulder 100 event has been cancelled.  That is a bummer because it was supposed a shpwdown between Bob and Nick (ultra runners actually without blogs!  Oh the insanity!) – and supposedly a 14:xx number was tossed out.  We’ll have to see if we can put something together instead that provides for good community entertainment at their physical expense instead. 

I got my third pacer added to the mix:  Tim Geldean.  Tim will take me from Winfield to Twin Lakes.  From there I get picked up by JT to the Outward Bound station and then from there Nick brings me in.  They are sharpening their switches with glee.

I have also started a plan sheet for LT 100.  I am trying to figure out paces, pacers, crew, aid requirements … etc.  The pace I will run is a bit of a tough exercise for me given I have not a good guess as to how this will go.  Once I get the sheet dialed in a bit and through the crew and pacers, I might share here.  Might.

Monday 03AUG2015

Finished last week with 74.6 miles, 10.5 hours and 6130 feet.  I expect to start to keep a fair volume this week, but that it will drop a bit as we head into the weekend.  The next two weeks will then be to start to unravel in terms of load (like this guy).

Afternoon – today’s run included a.) an oil change, b.) 8 miles at a recovery effort c.) a 45 minute chat with my pacer from Winfield to Twin or d.)  all of the above.

This sort of Dilbert thing is simultaneously funny and sad because of how it rings of events I have actually encountered in my life. 
  

In the evening, TZ, KZ and I brought friend / coworker Tom and his family over to the Mayerhoffer place so they could get an eye on this entire burro thing.  Ellroy did great.

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.

Saturday 01AUG 2015 LT100 Recon

Friday night I drove up to Bob’s amazing base camp just outside of Leadville.  It gave me a great place to operate from for the weekend:  good company that would give me incredible insights on the course and race execution, an excellent place to sleep and eat, and a place I could launch from to the Gold Rush days event that was hosting the second race in the Triple Crown Pack Burro Racing series.

We woke up Saturday AM, did a bit of driving of the course to get some of the logistics dialed in for my head and then did the obligatory hit of the Provin’ Grounds café in town.  It is clear that Leadville is dealing with its transient population this time of the year:  folks in compression gear, men that look like they are starving to death when they are not shaving their legs, and tan lines every where around mid thigh (if you can see it behind the kinesio tape).  We then got out for our own run, dropping a car off up at Half Pipe and then heading south to Twin Lakes.

Given my limited time and familiarity with the course, we debated what would be the best section for me to see on this day.  There is of course the benefit that anything you see you are sort of doubling down on in that it is an out and back course.  Several folks had said I needed to see the climbs (Hope, Powerline, the mini Powerline) but a few vets had said this section was deceptively difficult, particularly the climb out of Twin.


While, as advertised, much of this section is very runable, it does have quite the “bite” of a climb coming out of Twin.  It is hard for me to imagine that I will be well geared to run a lot of the first couple of those miles (at least all of them) come race day.

Of course, it does level a bit and then gets rolling. 

I am pretty sure that even though we were running easy, I won’t be going this fast on race day.

11.2 miles back to the Half Pipe lot.  A great run, and I got a ridiculous amount of education, insight and had time to consider what nuttiness I have got myself into.  Huge thanks to Bob (and his better half) for setting me up.

Friday 31JUL2015 Walker with Lucho and EOM

An article on burro racing, with a lot of the characters that are a part of it today (footage from the Georgetown race this year).

AM – got up early and headed up to do a lap with Lucho on Walker.

I asked Lucho for last minute advice on Leadville and he said something like this:

Not really.  The first of that 1:40 conversation was pretty much it WORD FOR WORD.  Except he handed me MAP instead of an envelope of cash.  Or maybe it was like this one below.  I can’t remember.

July end of the month stuff … 318.5 miles,  50.63 hours and 35805 vertical feet with 2 days off (travel days to and from Europe).  A good number of treadmill days in there so while the vertical is the most it has been in a month thus far this year, it is “treadmill vertical” (going up a moving flat grade is different than self propelling your body over rock step ups).  On the year I sit at:  2277.3 miles, 326 hours and about 160 k vertical.  Almost time to shut it down to cruise in smooth, healthy and ready for PPM and LT100.

A more serious question I have been kicking around and getting dramatically different answers on:  “should time between Pikes and Leadville be spent up high (Leadville, Fairplay) to acclimatize or down low (Broomstock) to recover?”  Weigh in with your opinion.

Thursday 30JUL2015 – and some history on Fairplay Pack Burro Racing times

AM – 5.4 miles with the HS kids.  I am capturing a FB conversation here for the purposes of historic record keeping.  Jill S on FB thought my time of 5:22 at Fairplay was fast.  Arguably it is the fastest that has been run there in over a decade, and it is the fastest that Jack and I have ever done.  I replied to Jill with this.

Thanks Jill. It is the fastest finish in a while and the fastest that Jack and I had. We were slowed actually by having to help a person who lost their burro above Park City. But frankly - it is not that fast. Justin and I thought we could get under five hours, like Hal and Curtis have done. We could do that but any chance we had was lost on slow going up American Flats. We got to the 10 mile mark (the split on Mosquito Pass Road) in 87 - but then it took us 88 minutes to get to the pass. Yeah, that is like 22 minute miles going up. That is a lot of lost time. Additionally, the section coming down from the pass to the bend (or the bridge) - about 2.7 miles has become increasingly washed out and rocky over the years. The donkeys I have seen are reluctant to run that. We lost some time there too (maybe 12 or 13 minute miles, so not a lot - certainly not as much as the trek across the Flats). Zippier times could be run, and I think with the right runner and burro the Tom Sobal Maynard record could be broke ... but it will require a burro that will run the Flats.

As I tagged Hal and Curtis, they both weighed in and this is the good stuff.

Course record is 3:44 by Tom Sobal and Maynard.  That is a respectable time without a burro for a 29 mile run in the mountains at 10-13k feet with 3500 of gain. 

I asked Curtis what this belt was that he referred to.  This is the response I got:

PM – 7 miles, hot.

Got some pix from Bob that he took on Sunday from Mosquito Pass.

Wednesday 28JUL2015

Some video from the race on Sunday.

I have been having some on line chats to figure out where Jack came from.  It appears he was picked up from a BLM auction in Buena Vista in 2001 for 100 dollars.  That means he was a wild burro.  He was own by a family there that put him in with mules.  They had intended to use him for elk hunting but he did not do well with the mules.   They decided to let him just run loose and follow the mules but then that got the mules upset that he was free.  The mules would pick on him and Jack would kick back, and make all kinds of noise / fuss.  They transferred him over to Bill Lee’s now ex-wife Carol Talbot and so that is how he came to Bill.    I am guessing this puts him at about 20 years old.

Mid day – I got together with Bob and Shad for some faster work.  I feel okay but my connective stuff is a bit still worked from Sunday.  They had lined up for a 1 mile-2 mile-1 mile workout but I made clear that I was probably not going to do that.  We jogged about 2 miles for a warm up and got to it.  The guys indicated that it would probably be 6:15 to start the mile and carve down a bit from that but we went out in 5:48 pace for the first quarter and it started to get itchy after that.  I backed it off and came in at 5:57 on that first one and it felt fine.  We were dodging HS football players and band members (meaning we were either slipping into lane 3 or the infield at times).  Surprisingly I felt okay and I think it actually help blow out some of the stiffness.  Still, I took it safe and rather than do the full two miles they did, I cut that down to some half miles (6 minute pace, then 5:47 pace – yup, they were moving well for those 2).  I did the last with them in 5:46 and felt comfortably aerobically but was aware that pushing a bit harder than that would anger some things that are on the mend.  With the warm down we came in at 8.5 miles for the day.  As weird as it sounds, I think the faster efforts seemed to blow out some of the soreness more.

PM – 5 miles easy.  Hot.

Tuesday 28JUL2015

Life is short:  I just heard via FB that Tara Breed passed away in a mountaineering accident on Sunday (I am not sure this is it, but I suspect this is what happened).  I just saw her when I visited Mackey a few weeks ago. Damn.

AM – 5.3 miles, easy to start, with the HS kids.  A good chunk of those kids are up at XC camp with Coach Greg (including KZ).  A good chunk are down here doing some basic running (including JZ).

Interesting video blog by Tim L on how he achieved 50 miler success off of 30 miles a week. 

PM – 5.4 miles, easy.  Working the crud out.

I sent a note out to my work bulletin board about Burro Days last week.  I was essentially plugging the fair event but mentioned the burro race as a passing thing if anyone wanted to do it.  One guy – Matt R, actually took me up on it.  This is his first take on a report on it.

Monday 27JUL2015

6.1 miles back in Broomstock in the afternoon.  The high 90s felt hot down here after the relatively cool days of 10000 feet in Fairplay.  Very easy running today as I was understandably fatigued from yesterday.  Good news is the angry hammy was less angry today. 

Pack Burro Days 2015

Amazingly, Jack and I secured our third win on the Fairplay Burro Days Pack Burro Racing World Championship course.  It was our fastest time on the 29 mile course, and probably the hardest fought victory we have had.  The event reminds me how lucky I am to be able to do these sort of activities, the lovely people I have around me, and that I live an incredible life.

The weekend started with some easy time in Fairplay.  I ran no more than 3 miles on Saturday, but I spent a fair amount of time (starting Friday night) getting burros watered and fed, messing with saddles under Brad’s direction, and of course catching up on my s’more allotment.

Sunday is always a long day.  I woke up early (5:30) to get the coffee going and some breakfast in me.  I felt like crap.  My stomach was rather disagreeable, I felt tight and low level soreness all around and my right hammy was barking a bit.  It had been for a couple of days.  I had tried to baby it but I could tell it would be a nuisance in the race today.

The long day continued by getting down to Front Street in Fairplay and starting to handle burros, people and packs.  There is weigh in, saddling up, getting ropes, coaching up new timers, catching up with people you have not seen in a year, and trying not to think too much about the fact that you are about to do something rather ridiculous – that is run for 29 miles with an animal that is larger than you, stronger than you, up to a 13000 foot pass and back when they really rather not.

This year was different in that TZ had elected to also do the 15 mile course.  I was worried about her.  I think for most folks who read this blog, such an event would seem easy, but to most people doing this sort of thing exceeds the amount of exercise they get in a month (or even more).  We wanted to be assured she was set with her burro (Ranger) as well.

Tracy just after the start with Ranger, pic by C. Schroeder

Suddenly it was 10:25 and so we wandered up to the start line and wished each other luck with a kiss.  I kept repeating to myself that the purpose of the day was to enjoy the day and if things played out well, then I would open the door that opportunity was knocking on.  If it didn’t, I would keep my spirit up and be thankful for the chances I have had and the support I get from people.

I weaved with Jack up to the front and saw a few familiar faces, including Hal who was running with Alberta.  At the last second, Justin and Yukon Jack, who I pinned as pre race favorites came crashing in.  Yukon is an “intact” male.  Jack, as in the burro I was racing with, is gelded.  Intact males in the burro world are … well animated, and often looking to demonstrate dominance over other burros and unfortunately their handlers.  Justin has really built a rapport with Yukon but with 65+ other burros at the line, including a mare who was coming into heat, he was getting a full body workout trying to keep him behind the start line without kicking off the heads of other burros or racers.

I was chatting aimlessly with some of the folks around me when I heard “two minutes to race start” out of the loud speaker from the Hand Hotel.  It seemed like 20 seconds later when the ridiculously loud shot gun blasted.  I was not the only one that seemed surprised and we started north towards the gates of South Park City.  I could see immediately that Justin and Yukon were bolting out hard with Dave Carner and Ellroy on their heels.

Thankfully the decision to not drop down out of the museum city into the river below it was made.  Instead, like we have for the last two years before this, we climbed out of the city and up to Route 9.  This allows for a safer spread of the racers and avoids the ankle breaking drop into the river.  Once up on the road, I guessed I was in about 15th place and could see Justin continuing to get farther out – probably already 75 yards 2 minutes into this race.  I had to remind myself that this sort of ground behind the leaders was no big deal and something Jack and I had dealt with before.  I also imagined at that point that Justin could just outright run away from this field outright because he was simply crushing most of the field.  The only folks that seemed to be near him were short course runners.

After a bit we got back on the grass adjacent to Rte 9, but ended up on the wrong side of a fence.  A good deal of the front of the field took a minor wrong turn that put us probably 100 yards long on the course, but it was easily corrected.  I did a quick count and saw I was in 10th. 

At this point, maybe a mile into the race I took stock of how I felt.  It was bad.  I realized how shot my legs felt and the right hammy was letting me know that this was going to be a long day.  I was breathing pretty hard and even though the hottest of the sun had disappeared behind the clouds, I was sweating well already.  These thoughts started to swell a bit and I decided I just needed to think about something else before they took root for something greater than what it was.

Through the grass and back paths on the way out to the power station, we moved up.  The pace felt a bit quicker than it what it should feel at this point, but not too hot.  Justin and Yukon missed a turn flag so we gained some ground.  We shouted over to him and he got back to us quickly, and took the lead again.  As we edged up to the power station (almost five miles on the nose), I found myself just behind Justin and Yukon. 

I was surprised by how easy Justin and Yukon seemed to be jogging.  He even told me that he was jogging.  I felt like I was doing more than jogging and that if he maintained this effort / pace, I’d be far behind by the time we hit the higher climbs. We got to the power station in 42:30.  That does not seem fast, but it was not particularly slow going through the crud we had worked through.

Suddenly, it was just me and Justin.  I looked back after about a minute climbing out of the station and I could see no one.  And this is how it would be for the next 19 miles, or until we got back to the power station.

We got to the 7.5 mile aid station, which is also the turn around for the short course.  I looked back and no body was in sight.  And we pressed on.  Just past this station is where the climbing starts.  It is not a monster climb, and all told the vertical on the day is maybe 3500 feet.  But there are a few sections that have a bite.  I noticed for the first time as we hit these Justin would give me a bit of a reprieve on the pace.  I found this to be very welcomed but at the same time I could not help and wonder if we’d suddenly get eaten up by chasers behind us.  We fell into a steady trot with Justin running at Yukon’s nose, leading him slightly and Jack just behind Yukon and me just behind Jack. 

Occasionally Jack would slip up to Yukon’s right and I could see that Yukon wanted none of this – and he would cut him off. On other occasion, I could see that Jack would start up on the left and Yukon would allow that, but once Jack got a bit ahead of Yukon – he’d stop dead in his tracks.  This seemed to be very reminiscent of 2013 when Hal and Full Tilt Boogie, and Jack and I did this sort of thing all day.  We exchanged the lead probably a 100 times in that race with Hal and Boogie taking the win in town by a length. It was very early for me to predict what the finish would look like but with the separation that Justin, Yukon, Jack and I had, it seemed we could be looking at a in town finish again.

Now, in town finishes with multiple burro teams are damn exciting for the crowds.  It is usually a nose to nose affair with some burro team making a slight mistake that costs them the win.  For Jack and I in 2013, we veered into the crowd ever so slightly and that cost us the race.  And so while the crowds might love these sort of finishes, I was not looking forward to contemplating how many ways a runner a dozen years my junior with an intact male that was undoubtedly faster than my gelding was going to beat us after sharing the road and trail for 28.9 miles.

We climbed up to the “Y” or the split in the Mosquito Pass road.  On the climb up, we head to the left (and later come down from the right) as this brings us to American Flats.  This is approximately 10 miles.   We got here in 87 minutes.  I recall Hal telling me in past years that anything under 90 was a good time.  It was only four miles or so to the pass.  Hypothetically if we could get there in an hour, we might have a chance at running sub 5 on the course.  Justin and I had talked about this before the race and I told him I thought if we had any shot at that it would mean we really push this next section.  It is steep, rocky, high or mountain meadow.  It is runable for folks trained on it, but the burros seem to want to have nothing to do with running it.

And so we fell into a walk.  It started to rain and we agreed to a stop to put our shells on.  I looked back along the long stretches of American Flats and I could see no pursuers.  In fact the only traffic we saw was the occasional ATV or dirt bike.

I knew there was no way I’d be able to push Jack past Yukon on this for any sort of significant gap.  I actually tested this out a bit on occasion and Jack would go sideways to eat some weeds and wait for Yukon.  So I was content to follow Justin and Yukon up.  Once we hit the meadow, I took the lead getting to far end of the rope on Jack pulling on him to get up.  It was slow going.  Justin and Yukon edged ahead as we entered the last rocky stretched but when Yukon balked at one point, I edged Jack around.  I figured we could make a go for the first ass to the pass award. 

As we climbed up the last stretched I was pleased to see Bob Sweeney who had run up to Mosquito.  As we hit the road off the trail, I got Jack to trot consistently to get a bit of a gap on Yukon and Justin so that we tagged the Mosquito Pass sign first.  I took some water and thanked the volunteers up there for their help.  We had reached the summit in 2:55 – meaning we took more time to get that last four miles as we had the first 10!  Any shot of breaking five had slipped out the window unless we crushed the last 15 miles.

As expected, Justin started to make the move down.  I wondered immediately if this is where the race would essentially end for us because if they started flying down the hill at break neck speed I was doubtful we’d keep up.  But neither burro seemed to have a lot of appetite for running down this 2.7 mile stretch.  That section of road is rocky, rutted, loose in places and the burros seem content to take it cautiously.  I think this is a bit maddening to the humans as we want to run down after the long walk up, and we want to get to thicker air.  The burros were okay with a casual pace down.  I had seen this with Hal in past years and I knew that we had about a  dozen miles of running at the bottom of this part of the hill.  And in fact, when I had broken away from Hal, it was never on this section.  I had hoped I could do something similar with Justin and Yukon but it seemed unlikely as Jack appeared to be relatively deferent to Yukon.

It continued to rain, but it never did lightning.  Once we hit the bridge bend, the road started to grade a bit better and the burros took to an 8-9 minute pace (occasionally the low seven but not so much).  Again, I took stock of where my body was and I realized that thinking I had 17 miles in my legs and a dozen to go was not a good set of thoughts to have.  My feet were hurting, my hammy was barking, and we were easily 90 minutes out from the finish.  A lot could happen.  On the downs, Jack and I would get a few feet ahead of Justin and Yukon, but we could never seem to really shake them.  I was increasingly expecting an in town finish, and starting to strategize how we could outgun this monster burro and his fast running handler. 

It is at times like this that I find my head wanting to really drive Jack.  But whenever I do that, I quickly realize that he is either going to simply resist that and go into the trees to the sides or he will just look at me essentially stating “hey man, this is what we are doing – this thing don’t go no faster, comprende?”

Justin and I were not killing each other yet, but the screws were starting to turn a little bit.  It was clear we were no longer looking to run away from those in pursuit, but we were both trying to either break away from the other or stick to them.  And this is how we ran all the way down the Mosquito Pass Road.

We came across a woman with a burro above Park City (the small settlement on the Mosquito Pass Road).  I guessed she was a short course runner but Justin correctly pointed out she was well past the turn around for that.  As we passed her I asked if she was okay.  At the same moment she threw her lead rope up and away and moaned in frustration “he is either dragging me or I am dragging him.”  I could see tears welling in her eyes and her burro started to run free.  Justin made the quick verbal and said “tie it up!”  I agreed and we stopped together (yet another repeat of something that happened in 2013 with Hal).  I tied the burro to a power pole and told her to either stay put or to walk to the next aid station.  I told her we’d also have help radio’d in to get her and the burro out of there.  She took this in but seemed not much more happy about it.  And Justin and I got going again (the tied burro was pissed it could not come with us).

I kept trying to get a bit of distance between Justin, Yukon and Jack and myself but it seemed like this was an unreachable goal.  I recognized that Jack and I were not running that fast – maybe 8:30 pace, where as in 2012 we came down the hill with a series of sub 7s.  I told Justin that I thought he and Yukon could run away from us and Justin disagreed.  While Yukon was content to lead on most of the way up, he seemed happy to play second fiddle to Jack on the way down.  In fact when Justin tried to get him to roll a bit faster, Yukon would buck and let Justin know there would be none of that. 

We reached the power station – now 24 miles into the course (4:37 total time, so about 1:40 to get from the Pass down that 11 miles).  I had about 5-10 feet on Justin.  The aid station folks offered us water there and I heard Justin behind me ask for them to uncap it.  I decided on a whim to decline it and see if I could get a bit more real estate between us.  And it worked.  The five feet became about 15 yards. 

Now I knew that this meant hardly anything.  Any mistake by Jack or myself and Justin would be right there with Yukon but these are the games you play.  You try to get that gap, and you fail.  In fact I had failed for the prior hours but I kept trying. And suddenly, I think Jack had the nose for being done and knew that at the end of this trail was a big bale of hay and some rest for him – so he consistently plodded. 

We came down Billy Carter Road about a mile later and I could see TZ and Ranger.  I gave her some words of encouragement but just kept running past – as I could see Justin and Yukon maybe 10 seconds back.  We dipped off the road onto the trail and Jack was solid as Sears – just busting a steady trot.  I looked back after a minute.  Nobody.  And then another minute – nobody.  And we ran scared.  Actually Jack probably did not give a shit, but I knew one extended stop and the guys would be back on us.

But we never saw them for that next four miles.  Apparently once we got away and out of site, Yukon was no longer motivated to keep us close.   I started to think we might actually get this thing as we entered the rock quarry, but then you move so damn slow through the final reeds and that crazy climb out of the river that I suspected we’d be caught.  After 24 miles of going step for step with Justin and Yukon, we managed to get away over the last five, but we did not know and ran scared almost to the finish.  Finally we came into South Park City, enjoyed the small town march down Front Street and got another win. 

It was the fastest that Jack and I had done on this course:  5:22 and we probably stopped for 2 minutes to help that lady out with her burro.  This is certainly not the zippy times that folks used to post up there, but it was good enough for the day.  Finishing ANY race first feels pretty awesome but to do it a few times, and to do it on a course in an event like this has very special meaning to me.  This was probably the hardest one for me yet (win or not) given how I felt.  I am very thankful for the opportunity and how it played out.

 

There are so many people to thank for that moment:  my family, the Wann family, Bill Lee are the first that come to mind.  Justin made that race.  And the extended burro family who provide so much cheering and support:  Curtis, Hal, Clarke, Tracy, Shelly, Richard, Jon, the Kuester family, the Pedretti family, the Doke family, David, and probably a handful or so others that my dimwit mind is forgetting.  

And of course Jack.  This amazing animal who I have this bond with.  Someday we both won’t be here.  I hope he gets something out of this moment too.

JZ and I went back and found TZ as she was finishing the course and we brought her in.  Her knee had been popped but she looked great.  I am so proud of her doing this insane event.

As of this moment, I am not sure what I will do about BV.  I’d love to say I feel great and that I am going to go race it, but I am not feeling that great.  I need to assure that I am uncompromised before heading into PPM – and right now I am not sure if racing BV is the right thing to assure that.

Thanks all for an amazing day.