Race Report: Beat the Blerch 2014

Earlier this year, Matthew Inman (aka The Oatmeal) announced that he would be organizing a 10k, half, and full marathon he called Beat the Blerch. For those of you unfamiliar with the Blerch, check out this comic and the others in the series. According to Matt, the Blerch is the little voice in your head that tells you to quit, to take the day off. The Blerch is laziness embodied. So when he announced that he would be putting on this race, I was really excited. Problem was, it was in Washington, so the chances of me getting out there to run the race were on the slim-to-none end of the scale. The race turned out to be so popular that registration filled up very quickly. To address this, Matt made virtual race kits available. With the virtual race kit, you pay the entry fee, and they ship you all the things that you would have for the race: bib, shirt, medal, and other swag. Then you have to go run the race by yourself, or not, your call. I jumped at the chance to participate and ordered my kit.

I'll be honest, I didn't do that much training, and the training I did so was pretty slow and short. That wasn't a huge problem though, because I was my own race director, and I decided that there wasn't going to be a cutoff time for this half marathon.

Me and the Blerch before the race.

My idea for the course was pretty vague, even as I walked out the door yesterday morning. I figured that I would start on some of the trails near campus and work my way toward West 7th street. The first three miles were all uphill, but the trail wandered in and out of a bunch of aspen groves, which made it more bearable.

I saw a couple cars on my way down California Gulch, but I had the course to myself other than that. It was good to have some time to myself after being on call for a week straight.

This hat has some serious miles on it.

I ended up being a little over the half marathon at 13.3 miles, but it was a beautiful day and I was having a great time. I finished in 2:53 with an average pace around 13:00/mile. Not a PR or even a remotely fast run, but I was happy just to get out and enjoy the day. I'll add the map and elevation profile below for anyone interested.

The Blerch decided to stay home.

Moab Climbing Trip

I've always enjoyed rock climbing. I remember going with Mom and Dad to the climbing gym when I was little. More recently, Dad has taken us to the a gym in Centennial, and I had a great time. So when the opportunity came up to go climbing in Buena Vista last December, I jumped at the chance to get out on real rock. The first day was tough, and the second day was just as hard, but I loved every second of it. I only made it up two routes that weekend, a 5.7 and a 5.9 (more on how climbs are rated here) in a borrowed pair of shoes and harness.

My first outdoor climb, a 5.7

For Christmas that year, I got some shoes, a harness, and some other gear (thanks Santa). I had the bug. Other than the occasional hour or two at the bouldering wall on campus, I wasn't able to do any more climbing until this summer, after work and on the weekends. After classes started, the climbing slowed down again, but we have still been taking every chance we get to hit the crag. After some super awesome night climbing a few weeks ago, we all agreed that we should take a whole weekend and go somewhere awesome. We kicked a few places around, but kept coming back to Moab. It's a little bit of a drive, but we were convinced it would be worth it.

We left on Friday night, just as it was starting to snow. It was slow going at first, but once we hit I-70, conditions cleared up and we settled in for the long haul. We pulled into our campsite around 12:30 Saturday morning, set up camp, and went to bed. Day came gloomy and overcast, but we made the best of it, quickly getting a couple routes set up. It took a while to get used to climbing on the sandstone, instead of the granite that's so common in the Rocky Mountains. We spent Saturday doing fairly easy climbs, so I got to practice lead climbing with my new quickdraws.

At the top of a 5.7 lead.

Looking across the Colorado River.

The sun stayed behind the clouds all day long, only peeking out as we drove off to get dinner.

One glimpse before sunset.

For dinner, we went to the Moab Brewery for a delicious root beer and well-earned hamburger. After some errands, we settled down around the campfire and enjoyed the night. Sunday came beautiful and blue, promising a perfect day for climbing.

After breakfast, we hit the crag again, this time to try out some harder climbs. One of the first we did was an awesome chimney. I haven't done much chimney or crack climbing yet, so I had a great time playing on it and learning some new techniques.

Shimmy up! Photo-Kyle Morman

Next we hit a 5.10b crack, the highest rated climb I have completed so far.

Smiling at the top.

Looking down, thanks for the belay, Kyle!

It was such a nice day that I just had to do one of the climbs shirtless, for the benefit of all the lady rock climbers.

On our last climb, we noticed the guy on the route next to us was climbing barefoot. This seemed like such a great idea that we found a nice easy 5.3 slab to try it out on.

My first barefoot lead.

Finished climbing, we headed back into town for dinner. A lot of the restaurants were closed for Sunday, and after a long search we ended up at the Moab Grill. After a hot day of climbing, we were all in the mood for milkshakes. Our waitress said that they didn't have any on the menu, but that she could probably whip some up for us. Soon she came back out to tell us that they were out of vanilla ice cream, would huckleberry be OK? We all though that sounded delicious, and let me tell you, it was. That was one of the best meals I have ever had, hands down. Pot roast, mashed potatoes, corn, garlic toast, chicken-noodle soup, and a huckleberry milkshake. Heavenly. Full of delicious dinner, we set off back to good old Leadville.

Training Weeks Seven and Eight

Training is starting to get longer, with week seven being my first 40 mile week, and putting me just over 200 miles for the year (well, recorded miles anyway). It's cool to look at the numbers, I'm running farther, but my weekly time spent running is about the same. Proof that, even if it doesn't feel like it, I'm getting faster. Feels good. It was a pretty standard week, nothing super exciting. I got to run the second half of my Saturday long run with Gwen, who started a little after me and apparently had been running in my footprints the whole way. That helped make the second half of that run faster than it would have otherwise been.

Tuesday- 8 miles

Wednesday- 5 miles

Thursday- 7.5 miles

Saturday- 14.5 miles

Sunday- 5 miles

Total- 40 miles

This week was great. We had some new snow by Tuesday, so I had to get the tights out. Kind of a bummer, because it has been more or less nice enough to stick with shorts, but it looks like winter isn't going to let Leadville off the hook that easily. Saturday's run (as usual) was really the highlight of this week. I needed 16 miles, but my normal route up to the Black Cloud was 14 at most, so I had to came up with something new. I decided to run from campus to Turquoise Lake, across Sugarloaf Dam, and up the road another 3 miles or so. I left at 6:30 in the morning, just as the sun was beginning to peek over the Mosquitoes. Running down the hill from campus and across California Gulch, I was greeted by two foxes barking and chasing each other around. Obviously a good omen.

Looking East to Mt. Sherman and the sunrise.

From there, I crossed Highway 24 and skirted the East side of town, but not without stopping for a moment at Sixth street to look up the hill. Sixth street is the site of the very first and very last steps of the Leadville 100 race.

One of these days...

 Looking up that hill, I felt like Carl, from Up, watching the movie about Charles Muntz. I could hear the reporter in my mind:

He hurdles the Grand Canyon!

He hurdles Pike's Peak!

He hurdles Mt. Everest... He goes around Mt. Everest!

Is there nothing he can't do?

Adventure is out there!

These happy thoughts made the next few miles of gentle downhill fly by. Before too long, I popped out of the trees and was running across the Arkansas River.

Beautiful morning

Fun fact: the Arkansas River valley East of Leadville has the lowest gravity low in the continental United States, which means that you will weigh less here than anywhere else in the lower 48. This is because the valley is largely filled with not very dense (relatively) glacial till that was pushed into it during past ice ages. The valley actually extends another 4,000 ft below ground surface to granite basement rock, making the total relief from the bottom to the top of Mt. Elbert a whopping 8,000 ft. The Grand Canyon would easily fit inside.

I'm not sure if weighing less actually helped, or I was just to busy drinking in the scenery to notice, but things were going great.

Just me today!

I ran past SugarLoafin' campground, where I had my first Leadville experience I don't know how long ago. Dad will have to remind me which year that was.

I hit the first of many uphills for the day, climbing up the glacial moraines that hold Turquoise Lake. When I got up to the dam, I was greeted with a surprise. I had counted on running on pavement all day, but looking at the dam, I was reminded--on no uncertain terms--that Turquoise Lake road is not maintained in the winter. Oh well, what's a little snow?

Looking South from Sugarloaf Dam

The going got tougher after that, with steeper and more variable grades, but I kept chugging along. Up another three miles past the dam, wolf down a Cliff Bar, and turn for home. The return trip was a little easier. I was running mostly on snowmobile tracks, which had broken the snow up into little chunks, from marble size up to about the size of an apple. When I was going downhill, the little chunks would break off and slide down the hill a little ways. The slithering sound they made is incredibly unnerving. At the least, it sounded like there was another running coming up behind, but why would the imagination stop there, right? Once I got past that, the run became really enjoyable again. The sun was shining, and the lake--although really low--was beautiful. When I got back to the dam, the air was so clear I could see all the way down the valley to Quail Mountain and Mt. Hope.

Quail Mountain on the left, and Mt. Hope (very faint) to the right, just peeking over the shoulder of Mt. Elbert.

A quick stop to tighten my laces and wave to some ice fishers, and I was back on the road. When I crossed the Arkansas for the second time, I felt like putting down a lawn chair and staying there all day. A nice nap, listening to the water go by would be awesome.

Look at that and tell me it doesn't look relaxing.

From there is was a long, gentle climb back up to town.

The good thing about running on the road is that you can see far ahead of you. The bad thing about running on the road is that you can see a long way ahead.

I got back to campus without incident, if a little warmer than usual. The weather was beautiful, and I was glad to get out and take advantage of it. A great day for my longest run so far this year.

Tuesday- 7 miles

Wednesday- 5 miles

Thursday- 7 miles

Saturday- 16 miles

Sunday- 5.5 miles

Total- 40.5 miles

Trainig Weeks Three-Six

It has been a little while since my last update, but fortunately, I'm more diligent with running than blogging. Week three went pretty well, with temperatures consistently around 32℉, I was able to wear shorts most days. Finished out the week with 14 miles is Waterton Canyon with Dad.

Cold and windy, but a great run! Photo: Chis Boyack

Monday- Rest
Tuesday- 6 miles
Wednesday- 5 miles
Thursday- 6 miles
Friday- Rest
Saturday- 14 miles
Sunday- Moved to next Monday
Total- 31 miles

Week four was spring break for me, and scheduled to be a bit more relaxed. I got a couple runs in with Bryant, which, coupled with surplus O₂ and temps in the 60s made for some awesome runs. Pounding the pavement took it's toll, though, by Friday I had some intense pain in my foot. Best guess is high milage on hard surfaces made it mad.

Monday- 5.5 miles
Tuesday- 5.5 miles
Wednesday- 3 miles
Thursday- 6 miles
Friday- Rest
Saturday- Rest for foot
Sunday- Rest for foot
Total- 19.8 miles

Week five was pretty quiet. My foot was feeling mostly better by Wednesday, but I kept off it until Saturday, just in case. Saturday's run did not go very well, either. My foot didn't give me any trouble, but it was snowing sideways, and I was not in shape for running at 10,000' quite yet.

Monday-Friday- Rest
Saturday- 3.6 miles
Sunday- Rest

This week (six) was much better. The weather has been beautiful, my coldest run this week was 27℉, and everything feels good again.

Monday- Rest
Tuesday- 5 miles
Wednesday- 7 miles
Thursday- 7 miles
Friday- Rest
Saturday- 12 miles
Sunday- 7.5 miles
Total-  38.5 miles

And a few pictures from Saturday:

Looking up California Gulch, about four miles in.

Sign marking the site of Oro City, the Leadville before Leadville.

Looking West at Massive and Elbert

Looking South from Iowa Gulch

Training Week Two

This week was uneventful for the most part, and I'm starting to get into the groove again. Monday night I decided to head over to the gym to do some bouldering, and ended up getting talked into doing an Insanity workout the next morning. I showed up at 7 a.m. on Tuesday and got my butt kicked. For those of you who are not familiar with Insanity, it is like an aerobic version of P90X, or that's the idea. For me, it was pretty anaerobic. As a result, I ended up doing 4.5 miles on Tuesday, instead of six. Totals for the week are as follows:

Monday- Rest/Bouldering
Tuesday- 4.5 miles+Insanity
Wednesday- 5 miles
Thursday- 6 miles
Friday- Rest
Saturday- 14 miles
Sunday- 5 miles

My Saturday long run was one of the best runs I have ever had. I ran the first leg of the Mt. Sherman Marathon, up the Mineral Belt trail to California Gulch, and then over the ridge into Iowa Gulch to the gates of the Black Cloud mine, the last operating mine in Leadville (not counting Climax, which has recently reopened). It was nice to have some asphalt under foot for a change, but it felt really sticky after running six miles on snow. Here are some pictures from Saturday:

Route

Looking down on Leadville at dawn

Wabbits!

Elbert and Massive form Iowa Gulch

Mt. Massive from the Mineral Belt

Elbert and Massive from West of campus

All I had for taking pictures was my phone, but I am very happy with how they turned out.

New Goals, First Week of Training

Well, it's February, and I haven't done much running recently. A few weeks ago, I went to Fruita with the CMC Lead Lightning running club to do the Sweetheart 10k. The start was a little chilly, but promised a beautiful day. My optimism was soon crushed, however, by my right foot going completely numb. It had felt cold at the start, but so did the rest of me. I stopped and pulled my shoe off to discover that my sock was wrinkled and was cutting off circulation to the rest of my foot. That fixed, I trucked on, and finally caught my second wind around mile 4, finishing just over an hour. Not great, but OK for not having run since December.

I came back and decided to get back on the horse. So I started mapping out routes to run on Google Earth, and that's when I found it: an elevation gain of 6,845ft, seven miles above 13,000ft, one 14er and three 13ers, the Mt Sherman Marathon (name may be subject to change). 26.3-ish miles from the CMC campus to the summit of Mt Sherman, across the saddle to Mt Sheridan, then South through Peerless Mountain to Horseshoe Mountain and back.

Course as seen from Google Earth. Peaks from North to South: Sherman, Sheridan, Peerless, Horseshoe.

This is going to take some training, of course, so I started this week. It a word, it was slow. In two words, it was slow and sloppy. I logged 33.5 miles this week, and my average pace was about 15:30 a mile (for the record, I blame the snow). Plenty of room for improvement.

Monday- Rest/Bouldering
Tuesday- 6 mi
Wednesday- 5 mi
Thursday- 6 mi
Friday- Rest/Hiking in the snow for hydrology
Saturday- 11.5 mi
Sunday- 5 mi
Average temperature- 9° F

My Saturday long run did not quite go as planned. There are some great singletrack trails South of campus, but due to the recent snow, I had to make some adjustments.

The trail goes this way... I think.

Planned route on the left, actual route on the right. The circled places are where I lost the trail.

I lost the trail, but found a pretty good view.

 I made it out alive in the end, and got some hot chocolate to celebrate.

My ankles keep getting cold, I can't figure out why.

Apart from running, this week was awesome. On Monday, I found out that I have been accepted for the Natural Resource Management student internship over the summer, which made me very happy. I was also invited to become a part of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society.

On Thursday, I got to help the Department of Wildlife tag bighorn sheep for a study they are doing on lamb mortality. The rangers would dart ewes, and then we would drive up, roll them into a stretcher, and take them back to the field station they had set up.

Holding her head up to help with breathing. I'm glad my head isn't that heavy!

The vets then did an ultrasound to see if the ewe was pregnant. If she was, they gave her an implant that will fall out when the lamb is born, allowing them to find it and observe it. They also gave the sheep antibiotics and took blood and snot samples. Overall, it was a very cool chance to work with the sheep and the DOW.

Overall a good week, and some good goals to shoot for. Looking forward to many more miles to come.

Lake Perry Rocks 50k

Two weeks ago, I got an email from Dad: This is a long shot, but would you want to take a crack at a 50k next weekend? It's in Kansas...

Dad, you're crazy... Let's do it.

So it began.

Thursday after class, the whole family was waiting for me, I grabbed my stuff from my dorm room and we were on our way. There was a lot of driving ahead of us, from Leadville to Topeka is more than 650 miles, but we were shooting for Burlington that night. I was strange for me to be somewhere without mountains. For a long time, Pikes Peak peeked over the horizon, but eventually we lost sight of that too. We got to Burlington after sunset, got some pizza and went to sleep.

Friday we drove all the way across Kansas (pretty much) and arrived at the hotel mid afternoon and had time to swim in the pool before dinner, K(ansas)FC.  Getting the various gels and other supplies ready for the race was when it really hit me, looks like I'm actually going through with this. Watched some baseball, went to sleep.

Saturday dawned cool and crisp as we went to register and pick up our shirts, I felt pretty cool pinning my yellow (for the 50k) bib number onto my shorts, then sat back and tried not to fidget to much waiting for the 8:00 start.

T minus 10 minutes, still trying not to fidget. Photo: Kevin Gray

Dad moved up to the front, and I scooted further back. I wasn't in any rush, I planned to finish in about eight hours. We started down a short section of road that turned onto single track almost immediately and here I was worrying about starting too fast. The 50k wasn't very large, but it started with the half marathon, so the fist couple miles were more of a group hike.

Coming from Leadville, elevation 10,200 ft, running at ~900 ft was easy on the lungs, but the trail was not any more forgiving to my feet. The course is 99.9% single track through thick (at least to me) forest, very rocky with roots and vegetation everywhere. Now, I'm pretty familiar with rocks, rocks I can handle, but the fallen leaves made the downhills downright treacherous. Not only were the rocks hidden, but the leaves made the trail very slick. Tripping and stumbling were the theme for the day, especially later in the race.

Less than five miles in, still feeling good. Photo: Kevin Gray

The race was in two 15 mile loops, and there were aid stations or water jugs every 2.5 miles or so. I was set to take a GU or Shotblocks every half hour, and this ended up being how I kept track of time, because the stopwatch on my watch doesn't count more than an hour, it just rolls over. So if I wanted to know how long I had been running, I would count the empty wrappers in my pocket.

Had to run up the hill so that the photographer didn't get me walking. Photo: Kevin Gray

The back half of the first loop was fairly uneventful, walk up the hills, jog down. I was still feeling good, not worn out yet.

Rolling in to the main aid station at mile 13. Photo: Kristy West

After going through the main aid the first time, there was a short loop, and then through it again at mile 15.

And back out. Photo: Kristy West

At this point I was feeling awesome, power(walk)ing up the hills and cruising back down. I was half an hour ahead of schedule for my goal time of eight hours. I had finally caught up to some other 50k runners, the first I had seen since the start, and managed to stay ahead of them for another ten miles. A few hours later I was feeling less enthusiastic. My legs were very tired, and my brain was trying to take a nap on the job. I found myself trying to run up hills that I knew I shouldn't be, and would have to stop and tell myself to save it for the downhill. The terrain didn't help much in this respect either. Every time I would build myself up for anther stretch of running I would take two or three steps and trip. It became a cycle of run three steps, stumble five, run three, stumble five. At one point I was hiking up a hill at top speed (not very fast at this point) and tripped, but I was going so slow that I just kind of sinking rather than falling. I found myself doubled over, my nose about two inches from the ground, clutching a tiny beanpole of a tree growing next to the trail. Not my proudest moment.

Finally, the trail started to flatten out again, I knew I was close to the main aid station. I shuffled a little faster, and made it back to the main aid station. The finish was close, I could smell it. I ran the small loop as fast as I could, re-energized by the thought of finishing. I came off the single track with my head up and started up the hill to the finish. Where, of course, my family was waiting, just enough to get through the end.

Smile for the camera! Photo: Chris Boyack

I finished in 7:33, half an hour faster than goal and only half an hour off my marathon time. I'm very happy with how it turned out. Took a quick shower and we drove back home.

In summary, an awesome day with an awesome Dad.