The Tahoe Rim Trail 50-Miler

Photo by Turi

Well, I was hoping for a sub-10 finish, but it was not to be. After just coming back from rainy and cold (and below sea-level) Holland, with some residual fatigue from the 200K the week before, the altitude and heat got to me a bit and I ran a very pedestrian 11:27.
As always, there were lots of familiar faces at the start:

• Turi, who clocked a great time in his first 50K
• Gretchen, who was running her first 100
• Fellow speedgoats Jim and Kelly
• Thomas Reiss, who smoked the 50-mile course record (I knew he would do it)
• Sean Meissner, who flew by between Tunnel Creek and Mount Rose
• Joe Palubeski from Red Bluff, who ran an awesome 50-miler
• Rajeev, training for the Lean Horse 100-miler
• 12 Hours at Cool RD, Nancy Warren, who also ran a great race
• Jessica, who was running her first 50-miler

Since the 100-mile race started an hour earlier on the same loop course, we were able to watch the 100-mile championship unfold with Jon Olsen, Eric Skaden, and Mike Wolfe up front. The last two would eventually share the win after running together the last 24 miles, which reminded me of last year's TRT100 in which I teamed up with Alan to run those memorable last miles.

After the race, I gave Mark Tanaka a ride to the place he was staying, where I met his whole family and was treated to some dinner and a glass of the Tanaka Family Winery's finest red wine--delicious!

Despite the slow time, I really had no issues to speak off, so I just chalked it up as a good training run. After all, even this slow pace was ahead of the record pace (provided I can keep it up, of course). My feet felt great and I've been already been logging some great (mountain and heat) training runs, so I am sure I will be acclimatized a lot better by August 15th.

Thanks to all the volunteers for making this such a succesful run and congratulations to all the 100-mile runners who had to run two loops on the course!

Next up: 12 Hours at Cool, one of my favorite races, which I will use as a final night-running tune-up.

Heat Training at the Silver State 50 Mile Race

Photos courtesy of Collin Violette

Just a quick report to let you know I finished the Silver State 50-Miler. I have a very busy week coming up, so just a short report.

Austin Violette and Bill Finkbeiner Finish the Race

Originally I had hoped to run this race in about 9 hours, but when it became clear that it was going to be extremely hot (93 degrees), I adjusted my estimated time of arrival to about 10 hours.

Runners at the Start, Mount Peavine in the Background

I finished in 10:03, 10th place overall (4th in my AG) out of approximately 80 or 90 starters. Only about half of the starters actually finished the race. Eric Skaden came in first place, Sean Meissner came in third, and Tim Twietmeyer came in fourth place. Other finishers include Gretchen and Sigurd Asp (Tahoe Triple), it was great to see you guys again.

After leaving the prerace briefing, we all had some fear about the course markings, but other than a small third-of-a-mile detour at the very beginning of the race, everything was very well marked and easy to find. The volunteers were awesome and came running to mist the runners off with cool water. I ate lots of refreshing watermelon slices and soaked myself at every aid station.

Grass Valley's Donn Zea Brings it Home

I ran some parts of the last 11 miles with Auburn's Matt Lambert, which was a lot of fun. All in all, I was quite pleased with the result and, apart from a few bad patches, with how good I felt during and after the race. It was a very tough run, but I was able to keep a pretty good overall pace despite the heat.

Tim Twietmeyer (4th in 9:05) and Other Runners Relax After the Race

The course has more than 9,200 feet of ascent and more than 9,200 feet of descent. Most fun: the 5-mile downhill from mile 28 to mile 33, literally flying down the single track. Least fun: Turning around and going back up for a brutal, 6-mile stretch with over 3000' of elevation gain and running out of water with over a mile left to go to the next aid station.

Sweet Singletrack!

Congratulations to 16-year old Austin Violette, who finished his first 50-mile race in just over 12 hours. Way to go, Austin! Not sure if he could have picked a much harder course (elevation+altitude+heat).

Austin and I at the End of the Day, With the Race Course in the Background

Reno's Chris Badolato looked us up at the finish line and after the race he took us to the river to get the legs iced in cold water. Chris had traded places with Austin and me, and he had won the Animal Save 5K run in Grass Valley in 17:03 earlier that day (Great job).

Garmin Forerunner Details: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=5705285

A Windy Day at Ruth Anderson 50K/50M/100K

RD Extraordinaire, Rajeev

Today, I decided to help my friend Rajeev (the poetic runner), to ensure his first time as a race director for the Ruth Anderson 50K/50M/100K would be a success. Fellow ultrarunner, Hao, and I were assigned the timing the 50K finish line.

Fellow Volunteer, Hao, Ready to Time the Runners

Hao graciously offered to pick my up at the hotel where we were staying. We would help out at the race while my wife and the kids would go to the Malibu Grand Prix, which was located just down the road. We talked about upcoming races and, if his busy schedule allows it, Hao might come and pace me for a section of my TRT Speed Record Attempt in August.

Runners Circle the Course

We arrived early and as we drove up, we could already see many runners spread out over the course. I saw Alan Geraldi, Michael Kanning, Mark Tanaka, and many other familiar faces.
When we checked in with Rajeev, we found out it would be another hour and a half before the first 50K runners would finish, so I took the opportunity to run a lap on the course (4.5 miles) with Alan. It was great to catch up with him. We talked about Alan's upcoming races (Keys 100, Badwater, UTMB, and countless other tough ultras-- wow!)

Alan at the Aid Station

Later we caught up with Chihping and I met Steve Ansell in person for the first time. One thing was for sure: this was not going to be a fast day. The wind was howling around Lake Merced and on the back stretch, which also included some uphill running, strong gusts of wind would sometimes force runners to walk.

Lake Merced

After one lap, it was time to start the 50K timing. Jean Pommier came in first in a very fast 3:44. After that, we had to write down the time for everybody that either finished at 50K or continued to run additional laps in the 50K or longer distances. When someone finished the race, we would call in the official time to Stan Jensen who was keeping track of all the runners' laps at the finish line. At times it got pretty busy, so it was good that there were two of us.

Jean Pommier Wins the 50K

Steve Ansell, Looking Strong
Alan Finishes in 3rd Place (50K)

This Runner's Girlfriend Paces Him A Few Laps to a Successful 50K

After a while I started wondering why we had not yet seen my friend, Michael Kanning, who was going to shatter the 100K Jr. National Record. I called Rajeev and found out that he had dropped out. The 50K finish was located about a quarter of a mile away from the start area, which was unfortunate, because if I had been timing at the start area, I would have pushed him back out on the course! (just kidding!). We'll have to check his blog to see what happened, but I am sure he will be back later this year (Pony Express?) to rewrite the record books.

Mark Tanaka Floats By

As time went on, the wind would not let up and it started to take its toll on the runners. Many called it a day at 50K, but a few kept going. Mark Tanaka went on for the 100K and did a superb job, pacing himself. You could almost set your clock on it Every 37-38 minutes Mark would come gliding by, making it look easy.

At 1:30, another volunteer took over from us and Hao gave me a ride back to the hotel. After a quick bite to eat, we spent the afternoon in San Francisco, visiting SF MOMA and at night we went out for a nice dinner in honor of Vicky's birthday (tomorrow).

All in all, it was a great day and interesting to see the race from a different perspective for a change. Congratulations to Rajeev and all the other volunteers for all their hard work in putting this race together and congrats to all the runners who braved the stormy weather to run 50K or more.

Next up: The Spring Run 10K on April 26th.

Won the 2007 Fuel Belt Ultrarunner.net Grand Prix Series!

With Scott Dunlap

The battle is over! After the final times were processed for the Helen Klein 50 Mile race, it turned out that, with a total of 282.56 points against Scott Dunlap's 280.06 points, I won the fourth annual Fuel Belt ultrarunner.net grand prix series by 1.5 points; the smallest margin in the series' history.

Let's take a step back for a second. When I showed up for the Pony Express 100K at the end of March, I had no idea that I would be part of this exciting grand finale more than seven months later. Actually, I had only planned to run a few of the series' races, including TRT100, but once I found myself leading the series after race two, I decided to change my race schedule to incorporate the remaining races, despite the fact that that might interfere with my performance at some of the other races I had already planned. For example, running the Sierra Nevada 53 miler just five days before the annual Super Triple was definitely not something I would have planned, and if it was not for the lure of double series points, there would have been no way I would have run the Lake of the Sky 50K.

As some of the other dangerous contenders slowly disappeared throughout the season, it became (just as it had started out) a mano-y-mano duel with Scott where every minute counted. Since only the best five out of seven point totals were going to be used to determine the winner and since I had already run six races, I did not really have much of a chance to increase my overall points at Saturday's Helen Klein 50 Mile race. I actually ended up with a total of 353.55 points in all seven races, but only 282.56 counted towards the overall score.

Scott had actually beaten me head-to-head in a few races and would have certainly beaten me if he had not missed the turn at the Sierra Nevada 53 miler, or if his TRT injury had not prevented him from running the 12 Hours at Cool race. In the final series race on Saturday, Scott basically needed to either win, or finish within about 25 minutes from the top finisher to get the points he needed to knock me out of first place. Alternatively, in the unlikely scenario where I could beat Scott by about ten minutes, my first place would also be safe. My calls to Haile Gebrsellasie and Paul Tergat to try out the Helen Klein 50M race were left unanswered, so I had to effectively rely on some of the faster runners, or "Kenyans in disguise" as Norm Klein called them, to win the series for me. (Thanks, 6:17 1st place finisher, Nicholas Bingham!)

The slowest winning time in the history of the Helen Klein 50 miler was 6:23 and I knew I would not be able to get close to that. However, it seemed that some of the faster guys, like course record holder Michael Buchanan, Erik Skaden, Jon Olsen, and Mark Tanaka were not going to be at the race this year, so, in order to cover all the bases, I decided prior to the race to get ready for a "just in case" all-out effort . To be successful at that, it would make a big difference to have a crew that could provide my favorite food and drink as well as critical intelligence about the competition. I felt like one of those semi-retired bank robbers that you see in the movies when I asked my crew (Chris and Rebecca) if they could come out with me for "one last job." Fortunately, they were happy to join me.

When Rebecca told me the day before the race to bring a bucket and a sponge, I told her I did not think I would need it (it had been pretty cool recently), but that I would throw it on the truck just in case. I am happy I did, because it got really warm and in the later stages of the race I felt like dumping a whole bucket of water on myself every three miles.

On the Bike Path Along the American River

The out-and-back course along the American River is slightly downhill on the way out and, of course, uphill on the way back. My race strategy was fairly straight-forward: hold back big time in the beginning by running approximately eight-minute miles, and depending on where the front runners are at the turnaround point, launch an all-out attack, or run back in approximately nine-minute miles. Either way, I wanted to run the last nine or ten miles from Hazel Bridge fast.

I think there were about 150 runners at the start of the Helen Klein 30K/50K/50M. and we had to walk about a quarter of a mile from Cavitt Middle School to the start of the race at Folsom Dam. There were lots of familiar faces and Scott and I walked to the start with Catherine and Gretchen. The temperature was already pleasant, which should have been a clue that it was going to be hot. I lined up at the front, because this race is known to start precisely in time, whether you are ready or not.

Running with Mike Nuttal

The early miles just clicked by easily. It was easy to go too fast, so I had to keep checking my ForeRunner 205 GPS watch and remind myself to slow down a bit. I had also given Chris and Rebecca instructions to slow me down, to avoid the inevitable going-out-to-fast train wreck. I paced for several miles with Mike Nuttal, who, at age 58, had run an amazing 3:05 at Big Sur earlier this year. He was running again after being sidelined with a small injury, and he was trying to run a Western States qualifier (mission accomplished).

Scott Is *How Many* Minutes Ahead of Me?

I took a Hammer gel every 45 minutes and Chris and Rebecca swapped out my bottles for me at each aid station. From mile 18 to mile 31, there was no crew access, so I just grabbed a big water bottle and filled it up at the aid stations in between. In the final three miles before the turnaround point, I saw Jean Pommier, looking strong, on his way back in the lead, followed by Nicholas Bingham from Reno. Scott was about ten minutes behind Jean at that point and at this time, I knew I just had to finish the race and see what the final difference between the winner and Scott would be.

I reached the turnaround point in 17th place in about 3:30. It started getting pretty hot and when I reached Goethe Park (the 18 and 31 mile crew point) again, I was definitely ready for a bucket of water! The refreshing sponge-soak was what I needed and, re-energized, I felt ready to tackle the last 19 miles.

Orange Gatorade and Water: the Magic Combination

For the long wait (approx. 14 miles x 8:30 min.) in Goethe Park, I had given Chris my copy of CC Pyle's Amazing Foot Race that I had recently finished reading. The book is about the amazing transcontinental footrace (Los Angeles to New York) that was held in 1928 (meaning, no moisture-wicking gear, comfy running shoes, or iPods!). I just started reading another book called The Bunion Derby, which is also about that incredible race. I'll post my review comments on these two books on the blog when I am done. If you need some inspiration for your next long run, I suggest reading that book. Only about 50 out of 200 starters finished the race, and those who did averaged about 50 miles a day for 84 consecutive days!

The Patient Crew

The pacing strategy had paid off; I slowly started passing people. With nine miles to go, I felt good and started running faster. With five miles to go, Chris told me I was not far behind two people, one of whom was Michael Kanning. Michael was on track to break his 50 mile PR. I was going to set my own PR for the 50-mile distance as well, no matter what. The reason for this was that I had never actually run a 50 mile race yet. I had covered 50 miles in about 7:30 at the Pony Express 100K, but that was on a completely flat course.

Vicky and the kids (My second race intelligence team!) had arrived at Cavitt Middle School in time to see the winner finish and they were giving frequent updates to Chris and Rebecca, so by the time I hit the last aid station, I got word that Scott had arrived in a blistering fast 6:59 (a new PR for him as well). According to my pre-race calculations I knew that was not enough to beat me, but I decided to wait for the official word from Robert Mathis before jumping to any joyful conclusions.

The last one-and-a-half miles are run on a flat gravel path on top of Folsom Dam. As soon as I reached the top of the dam, I could see Will Cooper and Michael Kanning in the distance. I started running 7-7:20 miles in an effort to catch them (just for fun, of course), but there was just a little bit too big of a gap to close. The best part of the race was running the last tenth of a mile with Sean and Rocky, who had started walking towards me.

Finaly Done!

I ended up crossing the finish line in 7:35:54, six seconds behind Will and 34 seconds behind Michael (Did I mention Michael is 15 and running these races to fund cancer research? Yes, please donate to Ultra for a Cure on his blog!). I think Michael is now ready to break the junior American 100K record at the Pony Express 100K in May next year.

With Helen Klein (She Ran the 30K Earlier)

After the race, a traditional Thanksgiving meal was served. My stomach was still shut down from all the running, so I just treated my crew to the nice meal. I took a nice warm shower at the school gym and caught up with some of the other runners afterwards. I met the super-fast fellow blogger/runner Jean Pommier (2nd overall in 6:22!) for the first time in person.

With Jean Pommier

Some quick calculations showed that I had indeed won the series by exactly 1.5 points. After Robert and Linda Mathis finalized the results, there was an awards ceremony. Scott received an all-expense paid trip to Lake Tahoe and a bunch of other goodies and I received the grand prize, a $3000,00 Performaire mattress! At first this sounded like an odd prize for a running competition, but, after running 383 miles in just this series, I think I am going to need to rest for a while! On top of that, I received $200 worth of Inov-8 shoes, a pair of $150,00 Haber Sunglasses (polarized and super light!) and a truckload of other other goodies, like Hammer gel, Injinji socks, and so on.

Robert Mathis presents the Grand Prize (mental note: bring a comb to the next awards ceremony!)

The runners continued to come in, and everyone was looking good. Gretchen came in strong in 8:39 and looked ready to go for another loop. Catherine qualified for WS100 in her first try with a 9:51, despite the tough day she had a few days prior to the race.

Scott, Jean, and Gretchen

Thanks Norm and Helen Klein for organizing the smooth race and to Robert, and Linda Mathis for organizing the ultrarunner.net series and keeping track of the standings throughout the year.

With Norm and Helen

And, of course, special thanks to Chris and Rebecca for their tireless crewing support (I owe you big time!) and finally to Vicky, Sean, and Rocky for supporting me throughout the series (that means putting up things like jamming our trip to Europe between TRT100 (leaving the day after) and 12 Hours at Cool (Coming back the night before) as well as all those killer pre-race spaghetti and buffalo meatball dinners!).

A truckload of prizes

Next up, the final race of the year, the Turkey Trot 10K in Nevada City. I need a third place in the 30-39 age group there to win my age group in the other series I have been participating in, the 2007 Gold Country Grand Prix.