You know it, baby! Way to trounce the Lakers!!!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Squaw Peak 50
It's been one week and two days since I completed the Squaw Peak 50-mile Trail Run. Maybe I'd better report.
While it was one of the single most difficult things I've done, it was also very rewarding, quite fun, and the scenery was fantastic!
The whole thing got started on Friday with me going in to work trying out a new sock configuration. I had planned on running in my new Injinji socks but LEIGH suggested I wear a thinner sock on the outside. I actually tried it Thursday night but the only socks I had were too thick. Friday I ran over to Runner's Corner in Orem and got a pair of Smart Wool PhD socks--really thin socks. So I wore a pair of Injinji's and the Smart Wool socks all day at work and got comfortable with the set up. I decided that if it became an issue along the trail I could pull off the outer pair and continue on as I had originally planned. After work, I had to run home cause I had forgotten some of my stuff. Got everything taken care of there and ran over to the host hotel for the packet pick-up, the dinner (which I, in and of myself, chose not to eat), and the pre-race briefing. Visited with LEIGH quite a bit, met a young lady from NY named Sherry and some nice folks from Ridgecrest, CA. It was here that I picked up the sliver helping John Bozung unload his truck of all the goods. The son of a gun hurt! Made me very nervous--I didn't want to get on the trail the following morning and have infected finger issues. I managed to pull it out and all was well.
After the hotel thing, LEIGH and I went to Target and got some stuff and then headed over to her daughter and son-in-law's place to get our drop bags ready and to spend the night. Thanks to Shea and Cameron for putting up with me! They kinda have to deal with LEIGH cause she's family, but I'm just an extra that they happened to have room for. Again, thanks! The whole drop bag thing, for me, was probably more of an issue than it should have been. Still, it all worked out in the end. Didn't use probably half the stuff I packed. Oh well.
We got up early and got to the start early. Way early. We beat John there even. Anyways, we got ourselves put together and headed over to the start. At 4:00 a.m. we were off. LEIGH, Sherry, and I stayed together for the first couple miles. We lost Sherry somewhere around mile 3 and then I lost LEIGH soon thereafter. I got to the first aid station and felt guilty for going so fast. But I remember that she had predicted I'd leave her in the dust and didn't feel so bad. And there wasn't any dust either. It was raining pretty hard by the time I got there. A guy we had been talking to during the first couple of miles caught me at that aid station and we left together. I kept mentioning to him that I was worried about LEIGH. The rain that soon turned to snow was sure to have an impact. And it did but not to the extent I was afraid it might. She made it through the blizzard just fine in typical TURBOCORBIN fashion.
Between miles 15 and 20 I kept saying to myself, "I feel really good! When are the wheels gonna drop off?" Fortunately they never did. When I came out onto the pavement at Hobble Creek, I took it really easy up to the aid station at mile 26. Really easy. And from there to the aid station at Sheep Creek--I took it really easy again. I arrived at the Little Valley aid station with plenty of time to spare. I felt a bit light headed as I stood there getting my shiz together for the last leg. I saw a lot of runners sitting down taking a load off before heading out--and I was so tempted to follow suit, but I'm glad I didn't. If I would have I'm afraid I'd never have gotten up. I left LEIGH the blue long-sleeved shirt she asked me to leave and headed out.
The first few miles out of Little Valley are beautiful but the distance drags on and on. We were coming around a small hill and onto another and as I looked up I felt sure that that's where the high point was. I couldn't have been more wrong. In fact, we descended for a bit until we came around the hill and then, off in the distance was a narrow strip of snow that had a very distinguishable line going up the middle of it. The closer we got the easier we could see that that's where our path was taking us. And sure enough. HOLY CRAP! That was one tough bugger to get up too! I made it but was passed by numerous others. I had been running along this section with Eric Kajiwara, one of the folks from CA that I had met the night before, but on the ridge of snow, he just blew right by and I didn't see him til the finish.
The thing that surprised me the most was that the snowy ridge wasn't the end of the climbing. We still had a bit of hiking to go! The altitude was getting to me so I just kind of petered along. After cresting the highest point of the race I had to stop and get some food in me. There's a big gap in aid stations in this section, but it can't be helped because of the remoteness of this section. Aid station #9 has to be hiked into by those who staff it-5 miles each way! That aid station was heaven sent too (except for the PowerAde was gross!). I loaded up on some chips and other munchies and began the final decent. Lots of snow here but I managed to get through it without incident. Lots of mud too.
I figure the last 8 miles or so of the course I ran. I ran and I ran at a pretty good clip. At least it felt like a pretty good clip. LEIGH's daughter Shea and son-in-law Cameron were at the park 3 miles from the finish. They're the ones that took most of the pictures I've posted of me (the one with the sliver though was taken by LEIGH).
I'm cruising down South Fork and finally I get to an area where there's cell phone reception. I have a message and a few texts from my kids. They had been waiting at the finish line for me for 2 hours! I told them I was 5 minutes away and off I went.
I finished in 15 hours, 38 minutes and 55 seconds according to my watch. Given the rain and the snow, I'm going to count that as a very good time. But then there really wasn't much heat either so maybe the two balance each other out. Maybe.
Nevertheless, it was a great experience. I'm glad I did it. I'm not so sure I'll do it again though. Windy Pass is a bugger!!! But thanks LEIGH for "making" me do it this year. I promise I'll give next year some serious thought.
While it was one of the single most difficult things I've done, it was also very rewarding, quite fun, and the scenery was fantastic!
The whole thing got started on Friday with me going in to work trying out a new sock configuration. I had planned on running in my new Injinji socks but LEIGH suggested I wear a thinner sock on the outside. I actually tried it Thursday night but the only socks I had were too thick. Friday I ran over to Runner's Corner in Orem and got a pair of Smart Wool PhD socks--really thin socks. So I wore a pair of Injinji's and the Smart Wool socks all day at work and got comfortable with the set up. I decided that if it became an issue along the trail I could pull off the outer pair and continue on as I had originally planned. After work, I had to run home cause I had forgotten some of my stuff. Got everything taken care of there and ran over to the host hotel for the packet pick-up, the dinner (which I, in and of myself, chose not to eat), and the pre-race briefing. Visited with LEIGH quite a bit, met a young lady from NY named Sherry and some nice folks from Ridgecrest, CA. It was here that I picked up the sliver helping John Bozung unload his truck of all the goods. The son of a gun hurt! Made me very nervous--I didn't want to get on the trail the following morning and have infected finger issues. I managed to pull it out and all was well.
After the hotel thing, LEIGH and I went to Target and got some stuff and then headed over to her daughter and son-in-law's place to get our drop bags ready and to spend the night. Thanks to Shea and Cameron for putting up with me! They kinda have to deal with LEIGH cause she's family, but I'm just an extra that they happened to have room for. Again, thanks! The whole drop bag thing, for me, was probably more of an issue than it should have been. Still, it all worked out in the end. Didn't use probably half the stuff I packed. Oh well.
We got up early and got to the start early. Way early. We beat John there even. Anyways, we got ourselves put together and headed over to the start. At 4:00 a.m. we were off. LEIGH, Sherry, and I stayed together for the first couple miles. We lost Sherry somewhere around mile 3 and then I lost LEIGH soon thereafter. I got to the first aid station and felt guilty for going so fast. But I remember that she had predicted I'd leave her in the dust and didn't feel so bad. And there wasn't any dust either. It was raining pretty hard by the time I got there. A guy we had been talking to during the first couple of miles caught me at that aid station and we left together. I kept mentioning to him that I was worried about LEIGH. The rain that soon turned to snow was sure to have an impact. And it did but not to the extent I was afraid it might. She made it through the blizzard just fine in typical TURBOCORBIN fashion.
Between miles 15 and 20 I kept saying to myself, "I feel really good! When are the wheels gonna drop off?" Fortunately they never did. When I came out onto the pavement at Hobble Creek, I took it really easy up to the aid station at mile 26. Really easy. And from there to the aid station at Sheep Creek--I took it really easy again. I arrived at the Little Valley aid station with plenty of time to spare. I felt a bit light headed as I stood there getting my shiz together for the last leg. I saw a lot of runners sitting down taking a load off before heading out--and I was so tempted to follow suit, but I'm glad I didn't. If I would have I'm afraid I'd never have gotten up. I left LEIGH the blue long-sleeved shirt she asked me to leave and headed out.
The first few miles out of Little Valley are beautiful but the distance drags on and on. We were coming around a small hill and onto another and as I looked up I felt sure that that's where the high point was. I couldn't have been more wrong. In fact, we descended for a bit until we came around the hill and then, off in the distance was a narrow strip of snow that had a very distinguishable line going up the middle of it. The closer we got the easier we could see that that's where our path was taking us. And sure enough. HOLY CRAP! That was one tough bugger to get up too! I made it but was passed by numerous others. I had been running along this section with Eric Kajiwara, one of the folks from CA that I had met the night before, but on the ridge of snow, he just blew right by and I didn't see him til the finish.
The thing that surprised me the most was that the snowy ridge wasn't the end of the climbing. We still had a bit of hiking to go! The altitude was getting to me so I just kind of petered along. After cresting the highest point of the race I had to stop and get some food in me. There's a big gap in aid stations in this section, but it can't be helped because of the remoteness of this section. Aid station #9 has to be hiked into by those who staff it-5 miles each way! That aid station was heaven sent too (except for the PowerAde was gross!). I loaded up on some chips and other munchies and began the final decent. Lots of snow here but I managed to get through it without incident. Lots of mud too.
I figure the last 8 miles or so of the course I ran. I ran and I ran at a pretty good clip. At least it felt like a pretty good clip. LEIGH's daughter Shea and son-in-law Cameron were at the park 3 miles from the finish. They're the ones that took most of the pictures I've posted of me (the one with the sliver though was taken by LEIGH).
I'm cruising down South Fork and finally I get to an area where there's cell phone reception. I have a message and a few texts from my kids. They had been waiting at the finish line for me for 2 hours! I told them I was 5 minutes away and off I went.
I finished in 15 hours, 38 minutes and 55 seconds according to my watch. Given the rain and the snow, I'm going to count that as a very good time. But then there really wasn't much heat either so maybe the two balance each other out. Maybe.
Nevertheless, it was a great experience. I'm glad I did it. I'm not so sure I'll do it again though. Windy Pass is a bugger!!! But thanks LEIGH for "making" me do it this year. I promise I'll give next year some serious thought.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
This one's for you, Chan...
June 22 was supposed to be the date, but I bumped it up a bit. I just got kinda sick of it and did it before I let myself change my mind.
Good lookin' haircut, eh? Dang straight! Good work, Chan.
If you really must know why, here's the biggest reason:
Finished!
Completing the Squaw Peak 50 Mile Trail Run is now in my rear-view window. It's been done. What next?
Above is a sliver I picked up the night before the race helping the RD unload a bunch of the race stuff. Yes, it hurt going in, but it hurt even more coming out.
Here are Leigh and I just prior to the start of the race. No rain or snow at this point, but the rain would start soon and the snow would begin to fall before we got 10 miles into the race. Nice. Leigh's blog has a nice picture of her in the snow.
The pic above was taken at about 38 or so miles looking across to the big climb. See the sliver of snow in the left/center? Straight up that. What you can't see is the highest point of the course that lies behind that mountain.
Here I am with 3 miles left.
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