Ghost Town

Now that I have had a few days to gather my thoughts, it's time to give you my report of the weekend in New Mexico.
Firstly my thanks to Susan Reynolds, the race director, who put on a great event. Not only the race, but everything leading up to it and since.
Our weekend started Thursday night when Jamie Nielsen picked me up in the freezing cold (-20C) for our drive down to Buffalo. Although we thought this maybe an adventure due to the snow in Buffalo, it was uneventful. We crossed the border easily got our room and got up at 5:30 to go to the airport across the road. Our flights took us to Chicago and then on to Albuquerque. After arriving in Albuquerque we checked out the Fleet Feet store, one of the sponsors of the race and met the owners Bobby Biles and Rona Van Willigen. Then we had our 2.5 hour drive to Truth or Consequences (yeah, that is the name of the town).
A short 45 minute drive down I-25 and 152 would bring us to Hillsboro and Susan's house for dinner Friday night. Here we met a number of runners, Kurt Rossow from Minnesota, Abi Meadows from Texas among others as well as Susan's family. After a great meal and registering for the race we headed off back to our hotel exhausted.
Saturday we did some touring around and got to see Elephant Butte Resevoir,
the Dam and area, and then we drove down to the Texas border to say we had actually been there. Checked out Las Cruces (nice place) and then part of the race course before going to the pasta dinner.
Race morning we were up at 4:15am, had a quick bite to eat and then off to the race. A "cool" 0C (luxury), greeted us at the start line and 6am we were off in the dark. 10k of running on the road on a slightly up hill grade was a good start to the race. Jamie had to keep reminding me to slow down and we took a few walk breaks to conserve. We pulled into the first aid station (the end of the paved section) in about 59 minutes feeling good and started the gentle climb to aid station 2. We pulled into station 2 in about 1:27 and took a bit of a breather again before tackling some more ominous climbs. At this point we were told there were only 6 runners ahead of us. But that quickly changed as we decided to walk some the hills and a few runners past us. It was starting to get tough and Jamie commented that he thought the altitude was getting to him. I was breathing heavy, but other than peeing way too much I didn't feel the altitdue much.
At the 12.7 mile mark we turned off the road to get into some real narly trail running, this was good, except when we came to a fork in the trail and with no one around we didn't know which way to go. We were just about to take the wrong trail when we heard some one coming down the hill from the top of the spur. So went up, 300feet up to the abandoned mine shaft turn around. At this point we stopped for pictures again and quite a few runners caught us at this point. By the time we reached Station 3 we were in 16th place and still doing alright, but walking the uphills seemed to be a necessity. After the Percha Creek crossing and some narly up hills we came to 2 cones on the right side of the road. Do we turn here? We thought. With no one in front or beyond, we made a decision (apparently the wrong one) and turned right, up the hill and climbed, climbed, climbed through hoof prints, but we couldn't see foot prints, or could we? It wasn't until we hit a patch of snow and NO foot prints did we confirm our fears. We turned around, I seemed to react with more urgency than Jamie, who I think had rightly decided we were just here for the fun of it anyway. From this point to the turn around I slowly started to drift away from Jamie. But at the turn around I waited for him. It was here we found out that we had dropped to 24th (wow, the 2-3k extra had done some damage to our position in the race). Jamie told me at this point to just go on, and this seemed to give me some energy. Although I was still walking the hills I dug down and picked up the pace on the flats (what few there were) and the downhills.
I passed a couple of guys right after the turn around, but from there to Station 6 I saw no one. It was coming into station 6 where I finally met 2 runners just coming out. Could I catch them, I thought? I stopped briefly to talk to the 2 volunteers before heading off. GI issues prevented me from taking in any food. So off I went and about 1 mile from the paved road I passed the first runner. On the road I could see the other runner, but didn't seem to gaining on him. I was running a good pace (when actually running, about 4:30/km), but it was about 3km to go when I rounded a corner and saw the runner only 30 meters in front and knew I would catch him soon. I passed him and cruised in to finish in 6:54. Not bad considering our detour. I had set a goal of 7 hours, so a fairly successful day although I still felt something lacking due to the wrong turn and the thought that I walked far too much.
After finishing Susan came up to me and said "I know you tired, but I have a story to tell you. Last year we had a runner from Quebec who was bound and determined to win the Martin Luther King award, but missed it by 1 spot." So I replied "So I missed it by one spot too?" "No, you won it", Susan said. Neat, I knew I might be close, but didn't think about too much. A new pair of shoes and some other swag, it was a good day. After I changed, I got back just in time to see Jamie come in at 7:21. I was afraid he may have been suffering more than I thought, but he came in strong for the finish.
A mountain of food and refreshments awaited us at the end, so we indulged a bit before saying our goodbyes. Overall a great event, small where you can get to know everyone. A tough course or maybe I should say a challenging course especially for us "low landers". Thanks Susan.


Race results links - Results

Last days 'till Ghost Town

This coming Sunday is the Ghost Town 38.5 mile race and i am little concerned about the fact that I haven't really got in the training that I would have liked, but not much can be done about that now. The plan is to just go and enjoy, take lots of pictures and meet new people. It will be an interesting race.
The biggest issue I have is which shoes to bring/wear. The original thought was to wear my XT wings and I have been wearing them in training through this crappy weather, but I had also thought about just wearing a road shoe. Anyway I broke one of the fancy laces on the XT Wings and thought that was it for them, but I have been able to fix them up (hopefully they will make it through the race), I'll bring a spare regular lace just in case.

Ghost Town Profile and Map:

The End of the Year

So 2008 is drawing to a close and tomorrow it will be 2009. As I look back on the past year, I look back on a year that was filled with success. I have continued improving on various fronts, as I have for each year that I have run. Hopefully this will continue in 2009, although as I get older I am sure that one year the improvements will disappear. As it is though, I still feel good and adding different goals other than PB's seems to help keep the interest at a peak. Another thing that keeps the interest going is the potential to travel. Each year I look at races all over, mostly in the US, and this list of places I want to race/visit seems to get longer.
2008 saw me eclipse the 3 hour marathon mark for the first time in Indianapolis, so that will always be a memorable race, but it was a great event regardless of how I did. I also ran 4 marathons this year, another first. Throw into that mix 4 50k ultras (Including the insane Jay Marathon), and my first 50 mile race (JFK)I would say it has been a very successful year. In total I have run 3220 km's and run for 261.5 hours. More distance than I have ever done in one year. I think I have gotten by rather well with only a few minor injuries etc. so hopefully that will continue.
So what does 2009 hold for me? A lot of uncertainty. I have toyed with the idea of doing a hundred miler, although I'm not sure I'm ready for that. I hope to try at least another 50 miler this year, more trail runs/races, more travelling, more marathons, maybe more PB's. It would be nice to do another race like Jay again, that was a blast. Maybe Dances with Dirt.
Anyway, hope anyone who might read this has a great and happy new year. Happy trails!

Another "Winter" Run

At least it is actually winter now. so that we can legitimately complain about what a crappy winter we are having. This weekend was another round of lousy running conditions. Fridays snow saw us get sent home from work early. That hasn't happened to me since the early 80's. So I went home thinking that running was out of the question and began to clear out the drive way. By the time I was done the sun was trying to come out, so I'm thinking maybe I could get out for a run, although the conditions wouldn't be ideal. I got changed and just before heading out the door Kevin mentioned Roger called to say he wouldn't be there. So as he would be the only one (other than me) to be foolish enough to go out in this, I decided not to go. As it turned out Theo and Hellaina both showed up.
Saturday the Sun was out and I took advantage of it and ran 20k, it wasn't the best, but it would turn out to be better than Sunday. That night Victoria arrived home from England for the holidays, after a long, long series of flights, delays etc.
Sunday I ran from home, met everyone at the RR and then ran home. The roads were slippery, snow covered, it was cold and windy. Just plain terrible. Although on the way home the sun came out and it actually got to warm. More snow today, more snow forecast for tomorrow and the day after... And it's not even January yet. This is going to be a long hard winter.

In or Out

I had a decision to make last night, run in the cold or wimp out and bore myself to death on the treadmill. Luckily I decided on the outside run, as it wasn't that bad. At least the roads were dry, it was cold, but manageable. Overall a decent run. 16.55k.

Cool Weekend of Running

Well I had a decent run on Saturday of 19k and then got out Sunday morning for another 29k. So a reasonably successful weekend, although I have been rather sore today, knees unusually.At least it was a little warmer than it has been, although that came to a crashing halt this afternoon as the temperature dropped and the wind howled. Here is a couple of pictures from our run Sunday:

Five Weeks To Go

While sit here and wait for winter to end before it has even begun, I am trying to figure how to get the resolve to do the long runs needed to properly train for the Ghost Town 38.5 race in January. Although it hasn't been long since JFK I still need to get the distance in and the weather hasn't been co-operating. Hopefully this weekend I can get in the double long runs in I want to. 19k+ on Saturday and 30k+ on Sunday.

Weekend of Easy Running

After last Wednesday's run I was a little concerned as both knees were showing signs of fatigue and I was afraid that I might do some damage. Friday nights run with Roger and Theo was good, but still a little pain the right knee, otherwise felt good. So going into Saturday's run I was a little apprehensive. I decided to run out Ardagh to Hwy 27, to 90 then up to Edgehill and then up the Ferndale Hill by the dump. I have to start getting some hill work in, so no time like the present. As it turned out I felt great, it was a bit breezy so I dressed warmer than I should have as once I ran with the wind at my back I got too warm. The Ferndale hill was no problem and after that it was just a matter of how far will I go. Once I came down the hill at Sunnidale I decided that it was time to head back, the knees were starting to feel it. Ended up with 19k and finished feeling good. After refueling, I went to Costco and bought a 32inch TV for the living room and spent the next couple of hours setting up . Saturday night was the Costco Xmas party and wouldn't you know it, we won a 32inch Samsung TV. So Sunday I spent unhooking the one I bought and took it back.

JFK Race Report

My first impressions of JFK are of a low tech, but well run race. It seems to attract runners of all abilities, ages and from far a field. In my previous post I had discussed the issue of temperature and weather to wear shorts or not. Up to half an hour prior to the race, I was still debating. I eventually decided to leave the tights on, boy was I glad of that. Kevin and myself got to Boonsboro and the high school gym a little late. The pre race briefing had already started, that was when I realized that I had left my sunglasses in the car. So I ran to get them and came back as everyone was filing out of the school and towards the start in downtown Boonsboro. When I foudn Kev still in the school he was talking to Dave Champion from Kitchener, who we had come across in the Ontario Ultra Series. He was looking for a similar time to us, around 8 hours, but he had to go to the porta john prior to the race so we left him, hopefully to see him later. It was about half a kilometer walk to the start, but that gave us time to get accustomed to the cool air, and after a while that felt OK.
The gun went off right on time and we slowly started the climb up to Mt. Washington just as the sun was coming up.
The first 9k are more or less straight up, a few dips here and there, but mostly up. We took it farily easy, but still found ourselves passing lots of people as we climbed, once we passed the first aid station we found ourselves on paved trail and climbed more and we walked a lot of the up hills here. To the top of the mountain we felt good, but had to keep reminding each other we had a long way to go. Once the paved trail ended we found ourselves on single track which over time got more technical as we went, to the point where you really had to watch your footing. On this part of the course I got talking to a young guy from Knoxville, TN called CJ, he was only 18. Finally after about 25k we emerged to an aid station which signalled the start of the 26.3 miles of tow path along the old C & O canal. A this point we crossed the rail tracks which have stopped runners in the past, as well as today. We heard trains before we got there and later. We also saw a train go by not long after being on the trail.
The Tow Path was easily the hardest part of the race as far as I was concerned, not for the difficulty of the terrrain or anything, but mentally it was tough get through this part, you get a couple of hours into a race and still know that you have 30k or more before you get a change of scenery. Through out this part of the race we were continually passing or being passed by the same people, most of them seemed to be veterans. Our strategy (if you could call it that) was to run for as long as possible, then walk for a short while, then run again. Along the tow path I thought it might warm up some, but no. The wind was still in our face and it was still cold, glad I left the tights on. This was the first time in a race that I tried hot (actually warm) soup, and it was great. Easy to digest and warmed the insides a bit. Also started to drink Coke at the aid stations. (Probably the most Coke I have ever drank in day since I was a kid).
When we got to the 2nd last aid station on the tow path, there seemed to be a back log of runners. So I didn't linger long and soon we found ourselves alone, I started to second guess whether or not we were on the right trail, but there were no other options. So on we went and gradually we caught up to more runners. We hit the last aid station on the path and turned up a long climb to the "rolling hills", 8 miles to go. At first I found this part hard, Kevin would run ahead and wait at each aid station (which were getting closer together at this point). Now hot chocolate and potatoes were offered, Kevin was getting into the M&M's big time. As we hit the last 3 - 4 miles I seemed to get a spurt of energy and pushed hard and now Kevin started to have issues. Anyway we beat the rolling hills and turned the last corner and pushed it for the last 1/2k into the finish. Finishing at 8:39, 97th & 98th place out 1000 runners. We ran into Dave again and he had finished in 8:08, his better training regime had paid off for him. It's Tuesday now and as I sit here, the stiffness is subsiding and I'm feeling rather good. I didn't feel any worse than if I'd run a marathon, and feel that it I could do that again easily. As I've heard from others, these Ultras are mostly mental and I found that out from about 30k in to about 70k, after that it was toughing it out to finish, which we did.

Preparing for JFK - the night before

We made to Hagerstown at about 1pm today and checked out where the start of the race is, got checked in, went to the race registration all without any problems. Now we have to figure out what to wear tomorrow. It is supposed to be about -6c in the morning. I was planning on shorts, but that may not be an option. Otherwise it is supposed to get up to 3c, but so was today and it was frigid. We shall see in the a.m.