+101 ft, -3055 ft

This weekend was the Colorado Relay. This is a 170 mile running race that climbs over three mountain passes on the way from Georgetown to Carbondale. I was invited to be on the team for Josh's company again this year, even though Josh was not part of the team (because he is in Peru and has decided he hates running).

The weather this year was much different from last year. It was raining the night before in Boulder and continued into the morning of the race. However, rain in September in Boulder means snow above 10,000 ft. My first leg started at the top of Guanella pass at 11,700 ft where there was 3 inches of snow. This leg was odd because I started running in the snow, but descended enough that I was on wet pavement with no snow in sight by the end. A later section of the race was put on hold because the snow made the trail impossible to find. One teammate had to wait 30 minutes for search-and-rescue to find missing racers and remark the course.


The snow on the way up Guanella pass.


This is about 1000 ft from the top of the pass. At the top, even the road was covered in snow.


Views from Copper Mountain.


The almost full moon was nice light for the night legs.

My second leg was along the I-70 frontage road into Vail. This was a quick 6 mile downhill run at night. It was still dark for my third run on the bike path through Glenwood Canyon. Being on a bike path in the dark with only my headlamp lighting my way brought back some bad memories from a couple weeks ago. Fortunately, there wasn't any sand or major obstacles on this path.

My three legs of the relay totaled about 19 miles with 3055 ft of elevation loss and only 101 ft of elevation gain. All of this running downhill has made some very sore muscle. My first leg was one that Josh had last year and while I am not quite at the meat grinder stage, I still can't walk down stairs. As I still have some weeks of serious training ahead of me and even a tri next weekend, I have been doing all I can to speed the recovery process including dumping 20 lbs of ice into a bath and sitting in it.

The team had a blog that we updated during the race to allow workers back in the office to track our progress. Check it out for more details and pictures.

Lake Isabelle

During Labor Day weekend, I took a camping trip with a group of girls I work(ed) with. Brooke, Amber, Nikki, Melanie C., Ashley D., and I left Boulder Saturday evening after a bit of a late start (some members of the group had a little too much fun the night before). After a bit of searching, we were fortunate to find a pretty nice camping spot on a holiday weekend at 7 pm. Our spot was on the forest service land outside of Indian Peaks Wilderness. We had just enough time to set-up tents and start a camp fire before dark, then spent the rest of the night eating brats and smores.

On Sunday, we headed to Brainard Lake for a hike up to Lake Isabelle. Josh and I did this hike the first year we were in Colorado. I have not been back since then, but we have a picture from this area in our living room, so I am constantly reminded how pretty it is. So, I recommended this hike to the group and we headed out with 2 dogs in tow. Our hike was cut a little short by imminent afternoon thunderstorms, but we had a great time.

Half Vermont Journey

(Vermont Part 4)

Back in November, Marcy and I made a plan to do a half-ironman this summer. And to everyone's surprise, we actually followed through with this plan. As Marcy didn't want to travel up in altitude to Boulder, we found a race in Vermont to participate in. This was a small, local race with a laid back atmosphere, which made it a good choice for our first half experience. A half-ironman is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. Melanie told me to include all the details, so here is a race report novel:


Heading into the water for a warm-up.


Start of the women's swim wave.

The race took place at Branbury State Park which is in the Green Mountains. We swam in Lake Dunmore. The swim was an odd two loop course in sometimes shallow water. There was one point I got dizzy because I could see the rocks on the bottom moving quickly by me less than 3 feet below (or more accurately I was moving by them). I sort of stopped to look around to make sure I am on course (which I was) and I see a racer standing in the thigh deep water, just taking a break. Normally you can't stand-up in the middle of a triathlon swim.

I found a girl to draft off for half of the first lap, then lost her when we got mixed up with a group of guys who started before us. I swam on my own for almost a full lap (sometimes really on my own, hence thinking I was off course) before finding another set of feet to follow to the end. I was actually having fun on the swim and not pushing too hard, as I knew there was a lot more to come.

I knew the bike course was going to have rolling hills, but I didn't realize how big these rolling hills would be. My plan was to bike conservatively the first half and then pick it up the second half. Unfortunately, a head wind combined with all of the hills left me unable to push much harder the second half. I got passed by two women at the very beginning of the bike and had hoped to catch them before the end, but wasn't able to even come close. I ended up a little disappointed in my bike time and wished I had spent more time training on rolling hills.


Marcy on the bike.


Me coming into the bike finish. Adam bought Marcy and I matching "team" bike jerseys for the event.

As I changed into my running shoes at the transition, Josh informs me that I am in 4th place and that the women in front of me "don't look like runners." I roll my eyes at him, as this seems a little crude to say, but it was nice motivation. I felt fantastic the first two miles (fantastic for just biking 56 miles, that is). Then we headed onto dirt roads, then hilly dirt roads, then the hills got even bigger. The usual run course had flood damage and I believe was replaced with a much hillier run. Sorry, I will now stop whining about the hills.

Anyway, I passed the 3rd place woman at 1.5 miles. At mile 3, I had to use the restroom (I guess that means I was hydrated). I sprinted back from the port-a-potty right before this girl could pass me back. I ran by the 2nd place woman at mile 4, as she walked up the big hill. 1st place was beyond my reach. The run was an out-and-back so I knew how far ahead the lead was and on the way back I could see who was behind me. Soon after the turnaround, I saw a group of women less than a mile behind me chasing me down. This was some extra motivation to keep running hard. Unfortunately, miles 8-11 were in the sun and I really started feel the effects of the heat leading me to slow down quite a bit. By mile 11.5, I was back on the flat pavement, in the shade, and I picked it up. Spectators were commenting on how I was "really cruising." I felt good and probably ran the last two miles as fast as the first two. I did spend a lot of time looking over my shoulder, as I felt uneasy not knowing how far behind me the next woman was (she actually finished about 4 minutes behind, so I didn't have too much to worry about).


Me re-entering the park near the race finish.


Sophia chasing Marcy down to the finish.

Marcy talked the entire week before the race about how she had not been training much and was worried she might not finish. Of course Josh and I knew that Marcy is an awesome athlete, even without much training. She ended up beating her original goal of going under 6 hours and even walked some of the run, knowing that she had time to spare.

My stats:
Time: 5:17:47
2/50 women
1/5 in age group

Vermont Part 3: Miscellaneous

The Vermont story continues. We left Burlington Monday mo headed to Adam and Marcy's newly purchased home in Northfield. Northfield is 10 miles south of Montpelier, which is a substantial distance by Vermont standards. Our week was spent exploring this part of the state, entertaining Sophia, and relaxing. Josh went on numerous mountain bike rides with Adam (see previous post). I mostly sat around being grumpy as I had a limited capacity to eat and talk (see previous post).


The new house.


One of Sophia's favorite activities is painting the cars (with water of course).

We headed to the Green Mountains on Friday night to camp near the race Saturday morning. Race details to come in Part 4. The plan was to camp again Saturday night, but the mosquitoes were so bad that we had to spend every moment inside the tent. As 100% DEET wasn't keeping these hungry guys away, Marcy's organic bug repellent certainly wasn't stopping any bites. We were all so miserable that we returned to Northfield Saturday evening. Sunday we headed to Waterbury, where we mountain biked, ate ice cream, hung out at a brew pub , and swam at a waterfall.


At Ben and Jerry's. I have a horrible ice cream addiction. In an effort to be healthier, I stopped ice cream cold turkey in March. As a post-race celebration, we went to this famous ice cream location. We didn't actually take the factory tour, just stopped for a treat.


You will notice I am purposefully smiling with my mouth closed.


On Monday, Josh and I ventured out on our own to Smugglers Notch, a must see according to our hosts. This was a pretty cool area where the cliffs formed a narrow notch just big enough to drive through. We had planned to climb to the highest point in the state, but the weather had different plans. It had been warm and sunny that morning, so Josh and I were wearing shorts when we stepped out into the cloudy, windy, cold air at the top of this pass. We ended up eating our picnic lunch in the car and driving the scenic route home.

During our trip, Josh and I observed a few things about Vermont that we found odd. First Vermont is small compared to the Western states, but natives seem to think it is just as big. A two hour drive seems like a ridiculously long distance to cover in one day.


Also, Vermont has a couple road signs in kilometers. And these signs are in the middle of the state, not next to the Canadian border.


During our journeys though the Vermont back roads, we also got to see numerous covered bridges.

Josh and I had a fantastic trip to Vermont and we are so grateful to Adam and Marcy for their hospitality. We hope to return to Vermont someday, maybe in the winter to experience skiing in the Northeast.

Vermont Part 2: Burlington

The Vermont trip report is going to be too long for one post, so I am going to split it into four. Below are the details of our first stop: Burlington. This part of the trip was full of misadventures.

Misadventure 1: We did not take the camera out the first few days of the trip (sorry, no pictures).

Misadventure 2: After we arrived at our camping spot Saturday night, we decided to ride bikes into downtown Burlington for dinner. Adam was on his mountain bike, I was on my road bike, and Josh was on Marcy's road bike (Marcy stayed behind with Sophia). After dinner, we headed to the liquor store to get supplies for the rest of the weekend.

While biking through town, I hear Josh behind me having some issues shifting Marcy's bike. Then I hear a loud grinding sound, clanging, and expletives from Josh's mouth. Turns out the chain had slipped from the largest rear cog to the inside, where there was no room for a chain. To make room, the chain started to rip the spokes out of the wheel. The final damage report was 8 broken spokes to Marcy's racing bike. Oops. Somehow, the wheel was still true enough to ride and Josh made it back to the campground, carrying a 12-pack no less.

Marcy wasn't too happy to hear about the state of her bike the next morning. But Josh and Adam were able to get it fixed by Sunday afternoon in time for Marcy and I to head out for a ride. Instead of spending my Sunday morning at the bike shop, I got to relax on the beach of Lake Champlain.

Misadventure 3: We had tickets to a concert Sunday evening, but didn't have enough time to cook dinner beforehand. But it was an outdoor concert, so we decided to bring the BBQ down with us. We grilled on the grass just outside the concert, so we could hear the music while we ate and then head into the concert afterward.

Marcy and Adam (with Sophia trailer) rode their bikes the mile and half on the bike path down to the concert. I chose to leave my bike behind, as we didn't actually have a bike lock and I was a little concerned about leaving it unattended. Josh and I decided to share the longboard (skateboard) as our mode of transportation. We tried to ride tandem, but that never really works. So, we settled for a relay and arrived at the BBQ not too long after the bikers. We spent most of the concert BBQing outside and drinking the beer and wine we brought with us.

Marcy and Sopia headed back to the campground early, while the rest of us headed into the concert. As we were leaving the concert, we saw some of Adam's friends who had driven from the campground. Josh quickly bailed on the longboard ride home and hopped in the car. By this time it was dark and I had drunk half a bottle of wine plus some beer. The ride home was going fine, I was cruising and my headlamp was providing enough light for me to see the edge of the path. However, it did not provide enough light for me to see the pile of sand (we were along a beach) that I ran into. The longboard came to a quick halt in the sand, but my body did not. I flew forward, catching myself with my face. I quickly got up and assessed the damage. Adam rode up, seeing me look at the blood on my hand, "is it your nose?" "uh, no, teeth" and I sort of smiled at him. He gave me an utter look of horror. We were only half way back and there weren't any access points to the bike path. So, I saw no point to standing around. I picked up the longboard and sprinted my way back to the campground.

Upon arriving back at the campground, the whole situation started to sink in. I started to cry. Why? Because I was in pain? No, the half bottle of wine was numbing any of that. Because I could possibly have permanent scars on my face? Nope. Because with my crap student health insurance this was going to cost me a lot? Not that either. I was really just thinking about how much it was going to suck if I couldn't do the half-ironman come Saturday. At the time, the 6-months of training I had put into the race seemed more important than my health and finances.

After a trip to the ER, it was determined that the worst damage was to my two front teeth. The scraps on my nose and upper lip weren't too deep. My knee was only scraped and bruised. I headed to the dentist Monday morning and it was confirmed that I had not done any nerve damage by chipping off about the bottom third of my teeth. The dentist didn't want to do anything right away because my upper lip was still quite swollen, so I decided to wait until we returned to Boulder to get my teeth fixed.

I was still able to race the next weekend. The swelling in my lip had gone down by then, so I could eat and drink comfortably (important when racing long distances). The scabs on my nose and above my lip actually fell off during the swim and it was decided that I looked much better when I finished the race than when I started. I am still waiting to see if I will have a permanent scar above my lip, but if I do it will be fairly small and unnoticeable (and my own fault for swimming many times before it healed properly). After having broken teeth for the last 2 1/2 weeks, I finally got them fixed today and I think you can't even tell this whole incident ever happened.

If I had better reaction time (i.e., less wine), I might have ended up with a broken wrist, twisted ankle, or damage to some other joint necessary for triathlon. The moral of the story is: if you are going to fall off a skateboard and break something less than a week before a big race, it is best to land on your face.

Vermont - Part 1

Ashley and I recently returned from a great trip to Vermont to visit our friends, Adam, Marcy, and their 2-year-old daughter, Sophia. Ashley has been officially nominated to create the blog post for the trip, with my responsibilities to fill in the mountain biking parts, which only Adam and I were involved with. I am leaving for Peru in a day and a half, so I'm submitting my contribution now to avoid undue delay.

Adam spent much of the week in preparation for teaching classes at Norwich University in the town of Northfield, Vermont. Classes started yesterday, so various administrative activities were 'necessary' over the course of the previous week. Anyway, most days when Adam finished with his obligations, we took off on mountain bike rides from his house (about a mile or less from the university). Rides included primitive loop rides on Payne Mountain and Winch Hill (essentially in Northfield) and a more developed ride just outside of Waterbury, Vermont (home to Ben and Jerry's).

By primitive, I mean that Adam is probably one of only a handful of people who knows how to complete said loops without getting lost. Often times, I found myself following Adam through grass fields with no apparent trail. Other times, we would stop and do trail maintenance. I'm sure that few other people ride these 'trails'. In all fairness, much of the uphill part of the rides were on more established 4-wheel drive doubletrack before heading cross-country down the hill.

I don't mean to imply anything negative by the term 'primitive'. I actually quite enjoyed these rides and was impressed by Adam's local knowledge and navigational skills. As the vast majority of the state would classify as primitive by my standards, the trails we rode near Northfield were quite fitting. We didn't manage any great action photos during these rides, but we did end up with some mediocre video footage that doesn't quite give proper justice to them.

Spearhead - North Ridge

Keith and Melanie were kind enough to invite me along for a Saturday night bivy in Glacier Gorge and subsequent climb of the North Ridge of Spearhead in Rocky Mountain National Park. Spearhead is a granite monolith in the middle of a broad gorge, surrounded by many peaks of even greater stature.


Spearhead and my new tent

I seized this opportunity to use my new tent for the first time. It's a 4 person tent that weighs only 2 pounds (That's 8 ounces per person for the mathematically challanged).

We started the climb at about 6:00 the following morning with 5 other parties. To avoid the cluster that we knew would ensue with that amount of climbers on the same route, we opted to climb a variation to the climber's right of everyone else. This ended up being a very good decision as we felt we had the climb all to ourselves.


Mel on her way up the second pitch


Keith belaying from the top of the second pitch

Our particular route ended up being 6 pitches ranging from 5.4 to 5.6/5.7 in difficulty. The rock quality was great and the protection was sufficiently abundant. The final bit to the not-so-technical-but-very-exposed summit was 4th class and provided a noticeable airiness.


Keith and Mel descending after the climb with our route in the background

Baby Quilts

My mom has a tradition of making quilts for each new baby in the family (and for friends too). For my birthday this year, my parents got me a sewing machine and I decided that baby quilts would be my first projects.

I started by making a quilt for The Howers (Patrick to be specific).



I didn't plan this one too well and ran out of fabric numerous times. I found the dinosaur fabric when I needed something for the backing. Although the dinos don't necessarily match the front, I thought it was too cute and couldn't pass it up. When my parents came to visit earlier this summer, my mom gave me some helpful advice on finishing the quilt. She also showed me how to make letters with the sewing machine - since I have yet to watch the instructional DVD that came with the sewing machine (thanks for the help mom!).



While animal prints are cute, I had a tough time resisting all the girly fabrics. That's why my niece, Anna, got a very girly pink, purple, and blue quilt (the fabrics are all butterfly and dragonfly prints).



I even got to hand deliver the quilt to Anna when I was in Oregon.

Climbing in Christ's Blood

Colorado's Sangre de Cristo range (literally translated 'Blood of Christ') is home to the Crestone group. Among other mountains, this group includes Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle.


Crestone Needle (left) and Crestone Peak (right)

The rock quality in the Crestones has a reputation for being some of the highest quality alpine rock in Colorado. Geologically, it is a conglomerate of the same formation as the rock found in Eldorado Canyon and the Flatirons near Boulder. For these and other reasons, Keith and I decided to head down there and attempt an uber classic climb on Crestone Needle known as the Ellingwood Ledges.


Ellingwood Ledges route in profile

After hiking in and camping near the base of the climb on Thursday night, we awoke the next morning in time to begin climbing at first light. We opted for a direct start which added about three pitches of 5th class climbing at the base of the route.


Keith leading the lower section

The initial section of climbing was followed by a significant stretch of 4th class scrambling on a series of the namesake ledges. We unroped for this section and cautiously worked our way to the next and final stretch of climbing.


Keith scrambling up the middle section

There were 4 other climbing parties on the route, one of which was ahead of us. We had a few rock missiles whiz past us as loose rocks were abundant on the ledges.


Looking up at the final pitches

In general, the routefinding was pretty straightforward and protection was sparse, except for when you needed it. Keith and I swapped leads on the four upper pitches, which landed us on the summit of Crestone Needle. The rock quality and aesthetic quality of the route met all my expectations, making it worthy of its reputation in my mind.


Looking down after passing the route's crux (5.7)

Our original plan was to traverse from the summit of Crestone Needle to Crestone Peak. Since the weather was looking like it would hold long enough for us to accomplish this, we began the traverse. Most parties rappel off the summit of the Needle and then begin traversing. Keith and I opted for an adventurous downclimb of an east-facing gully and subsequent traverse to get back to the traverse route.


Keith traversing below the Needle's summit

Getting off the Needle was the hardest part of the traverse from Needle to Peak. Once we got down to the standard traverse route, we were able to relax and enjoy the 3rd class scrambling that dominated the rest of the route to the summit of Crestone Peak.

Looking back at the Needle midway through the traverse

Continuing our loop and tour of the Crestones, we climbed down the opposite side of the Peak from which we approached. The descent wasn't too technical compared to what we had already done, and we hurried to beat the incoming weather.


Downclimbing the Northwest Couloir off of Crestone Peak


Ellingwood Ledges route in profile from the pass above our camp

Although we didn't make it back to the tent before the hail, rain, thunder and lightening began, we did make it off the mountain and down to a safe location before the squall attacked. This was one of the finest days in the Colorado mountains I've had yet.

The next day we slept in before a nice hike up Humboldt Peak, the third and final 14er of our trip. There wasn't much climbing to speak of on this hike, but the rewards came in the form of views of the Crestones and abundant wildlife.


Photo from part way up Humboldt Peak - Our route from the previous day basically follows a line straight up the middle of this photo

Not only did we see the standard alpine wildlife, but due to the time of year, we were fortunate enough to see the babies of most of the standard critters: ptarmigan and baby ptarmigan, marmots and baby marmots, pikas and baby pikas, sheep and lambs, chipmonks, and a porcupine.


Baby Marmot


Chipmonk


Sheep


Sheep


Sheep

We didn't see the sheep until we returned to our camp. We had returned from our hike and lied down in the alpine meadow next to our tent for a nap. After throwing several rocks at me to get me wake up, Keith finally succeeded and informed me that there was a sheep behind me. I turned around and there was a ewe, about 20 feet away, looking inquisitive. Shortly thereafter, three lambs and two more ewes showed up to join in the fun. We watched them and took several pictures over the next hour or two. They left the vicinity of our camp once they had eaten all the pee grass. Here are a couple videos.

Boulder Peak

Don't let the title fool you, this is not a post about Josh's climbing adventures. Boulder Peak is a local olympic distance triathlon, comprised of a 1500 meter swim, 42K bike, and 10K run. About 1600 people participated this year. I was slightly more apprehensive about this race than my last triathlon. Partly because of the longer distance and tougher course, but mostly because it seems everyone in Boulder is an extremely talented and dedicated endurance athlete.

The day started off with the first swim wave leaving at 6:40 am, but unfortunately I was in the last wave and did not start until 7:40. After sitting around for what seemed like forever, I eventually put on my wetsuit and immediately headed for the water, as it was already too hot out to stand around in neoprene. I did a quick swim warm-up and then stood with my fellow women 25-29 to watch the wave before us begin swimming. I had just begun to think maybe I had overestimated how insane people in Boulder are about triathlons, when I had an "oh-crap-what-am-I-getting-myself-into" moment. The two girls next to me were discussing their Kona training (Kona as in Ironman World Championships, as in not only do these girls do insanely long triathlons, but they are also do them really fast to qualify for a race that some people devote their whole lives to qualifying for). Luckily, I was soon distracted because it was time to line-up and start swimming.

The start was the usual cluster of kicking and grabbing. My goal was to find someone early to draft and stay with them. In most triathlons, it is illegal to draft on the bike (although people have been known to do it ... you know who you are ... Jake), however it is perfectly legal and a good strategy to draft in the swim. This is a little more complicated in Boulder Reservoir because the water is so murky. You can't see your hand 10 inches in front of you underwater, so of course you can't see anyone's feet, that is unless they are kicking you in the face. About 300 meters in, I found a girl with a strong enough kick that I could easily see where she was going by the bubbles trailing her feet. I had no idea how fast she was going, but she swam in a fairly straight line, so I figured by staying with her at least I didn't have to do any sighting to stay on course. It worked out well, as we soon started passing stragglers from the waves ahead of us and then people from our own wave. In the end, I had a much faster swim time than I could do on my own.


The swim start

I transitioned from the swim onto the bike and was ready for the crux of the race. This course is famous for the hill on Olde Stage Road that occurs about 6 miles into the bike. This hill has 600 feet of climbing in 2/3 of a mile, peaking out at a 15% grade. My weekly training rides on Flagstaff prepared me well and I cruised up the hill, past many people who were walking their bikes. Then came the steep downhill, where they impose a 35 MPH speed limit (checked by police with radar guns at the bottom of the hill) for safety reasons. Safety from other riders and safety from bears - three years ago someone hit a bear during this triathlon and about a month ago a cyclist hit a bear on this same road. Luckily, there weren't any bear sightings this day. The rest of the bike was rolling hills leading back to the reservoir.


Returning from the bike

The run was an out-and-back on the gravel roads around the reservoir. No one from my age group passed me after the swim, except one girl in the last mile of the run. I thought about staying with her, but I was feeling the effects of the heat (it peaked at 100 degrees later that day) and didn't have it in me, so I let her go. Since I was in the last wave, there were a lot of racers ahead of me, so I had no idea what place I was in the entire race. Turns out, if I had been one place better, I would have really been kicking myself for letting that one person go.


The final stretch to the finish

I am fairly happy with my race, especially as my first olympic distance. I did a pretty good job of staying hydrated and taking in calories without any stomach issues or cramping. My biggest issue came when I put a Clif Shot (energy gel) packet in my mouth to hold it as I ran my bike out of the transition and mounted it. I guess getting out of the transition was stressful, as I bit a hole in the wrapper. I didn't realize this until I had a gooey mess all over my hands and, therefore, all over my handlebars, aerobars, bike shorts, and I even found some on the back of my helmet later (I really can't explain that one). The only bike picture taken of me by the race photographers is me licking my hand ... don't think I will be purchasing that one.

The stats:
Time: 2:32:35
5/101 women 25-29
32/527 women overall

The pro triathletes started an hour after my wave and I finished in time to see them transition from the bike to the run. The pro's raced a different run course that was made of three loops, so we watched them run by us multiple times. The field was comprised of olympians, world champions ... you know, just your typical Boulder resident. The men's winner will represent the US at the upcoming olympics and I feel more inclined to watch the olympic triathlon now that I have seen him race in person.