NUTS 1/2 Marathon

So after not running Wed or Thurs this week I decided late Thursday night to get my butt in gear and run this 1/2 marathon on Saturday. It was the first running of the Northern Utah Trail Series 1/2 Marathon. I have been working on leg turnover for the last few weeks and decided to try another short race. I was ill prepared due to a late sign up and from being at a party with friends until late Friday but regardless I got up early to drive to Ogden for the race.

The starting line was a bustle of activity with almost 100 starters, many like myself were registering that morning. Once the race started it narrowed quickly to a single track. Cody Draper jumped into first place with myself in second heading up the first climb. And that was pretty much the race! Well at least placing wise. We ran together the first 4-5 miles before I dropped off on the 2nd climb going up Strongs Canyon. Looking back on it I should have stayed up with him but I went out conservatively. The surprise was when I looked over my shoulder there was a lady behind me! Later I found out it was elite marathon runner Kristine Spence (2:35!).

At the turnaround Cody had a couple minutes on me and I didn't think I could catch him especially climbing out of Beus Canyon but with most of the last 5 miles being rolling downhill I not only cruised but felt great all the way to the finish. Come to find out, Cody beat me by less than a minute. My time was 1:50.46 on a 13.7+ mile course. I was happy with the way I ran and wished I would have pushed it a little earlier...but if I had maybe I wouldn't have felt so great the last few miles. All-in-all I accomplished what I wanted--pushed my leg speed, ran smart, and had a good time. A second place finish was nice as well. Results here.

Aric and Joel did a great job organizing the event and the course was great. Nice climbs, technical terrain, well placed aid stations all in a low key affordable event. Good times. But now I need more mileage so out for another run tonight!

Gruesome Grizzly 8k

So I decided to check out my speed over the weekend and run an 8k. This wasn't any 8k though. The Gruesome Grizzly boasts a couple of huge climbs and some gnarly terrain. I was quite proud of myself finishing 4th out of almost 100 participants. I got out-kicked for third!

My legs felt fine and I felt like they could have kept going, but my lungs got crushed. My legs did feel a little slow but they weren't painful like the breathing. I seriously need to consider some tempo runs, speedwork, or something as I felt like I was at an all-out-sprint for most of the race. Definitely a fun little race though and it had some awesome prizes.

Congrats to Western States 100 finishers and winners alike.. Totally epic and one for the ages!

My pre-race picks: Actual Stats:

1st-Geoff Roes 1st- Geoff Roes (course record!)

2nd-Hal Koerner 2nd- Anton Krupicka

3rd- Killian Jornet 3rd- Killian Jornet

1st-Nikki Kimball 1st-Traci Garneau

2nd-Devon Crosby-Helms 2nd- Meghan Arboghast

3rd-Meghan Arboghast 3rd- Nikki Kimball

June Running

June is possible my favorite month of running. There are never any looming races after Squaw, the trails are clear and not overgrown, the streams are still full for cooling baths, the wild flowers are out, the weather is warm but not blistering hot, and the mountains are green green green.

Yesterday I ran an absolute classic Utah County run and it was incredible. I started at Grove Creek and ran up Grove Canyon. After 4 miles of beautiful climbing I connected to trail 151 and followed it 8 more miles through perfect singletrack all the way to Timpooneke Campground on the backside of Mt Timpanogos. With views of Lone Peak, Pfiefferhorn, the Wasatch course, and 3 angles of Timp it was epic and highly recommended. Once at Timpooneke I filled my water bottles, cooled off in the river, and headed back for the perfect 24 mile run. I'm unsure of many 20+ mile runs in the world that start from a city that even come close to the quality of terrain and scenery.

As far as racing is concerned, there are a few races this weekend. I've decided to check my leg speed and run the Gruesome Grizzly 8k in Provo Canyon, Logan Peak (which filled up this year with 100 entrants!) is this saturday and a 20+ mile run that does compare to my experience yesterday, and finally the big daddy, Western States 100 is this weekend. I can't remember a race with more hype than this years WS100. Who know how its all going to boil down but for what its worth here are my picks:

1st-Geoff Roes

2nd-Hal Koerner

3rd- Killian Jornet

1st-Nikki Kimball

2nd-Devon Crosby-Helms

3rd-Meghan Arboghast

Squaw 2010

Squaw Peak 2010 was probably my most disappointing Squaw. Here's how it went down:

Great pics from Norrander Trail Shots!

It was warm at the start. I took the first mile and a half easy before surging and getting into position on the singletrack. The next several miles I was with Todd Schmidke, Shane Martin, Dave Hunt, and Karl Jarvis. This didn't change too much for the rest of the race in all reality. It felt good to run especially with how green the mountains were. It stayed warm so I ended up dropping off my arm sleeves at Hope Campground and kept motoring up. Rock AS came and went then came the snow. Definitely muddier and snowier than usual. I got to the typical AS#3 at 1:57 which was perfect. Todd dropped off but the 4 of us were still together.

Shane seemed particularly ready to fly which right after Horse Mtn he did. Dave soon dropped off and Karl Jarvis and I ran down Hobble Creek together. I was feeling solid if a bit warm. I wasn't peeing nearly what I usually do but I kept drinking and eating accordingly. Karl dropped off and I slowly reeled Shane in. I felt a blister forming which frustrated me for not even being half way. Shane and I ran up the road together until the top of the asphalt. I swapped socks because I had 2 or 3 hot spots now, and my socks were soaked with sweat, mud, and snow. I started feeling a little fatigued after Hobble but my pace was solid. I started to cramp a little so I downed all my salt pills and the rest of my water. When I got to Sheep Creek I knew I needed to catch up on liquid and salt. I drank and ate a ton in a short time and grabbed a handful of salt pills generously donated by Karl Meltzer for the road. Thanks Karl I needed those. Needless to say I felt awesome going up Sheep Creek. It was the best I felt all day! Soon I was catching glimpses of Shane and by Little Valley I had passed him.

I grabbed everything I needed at Little Valley and was on time to break 9 hrs in a solid 3rd place. Shortly out of Little Valley however my left calf which had been giving me problems for the last couple weeks really started to flare up. I pushed through it and continued to make great time. Shane caught me and we ran together around big mountain but soon my right knee started to throb and my blisters flared back up. I kept thinking to myself that I had one big climb left and then it was all down hill. By the time I made it to the snow 1/5th of the way up Bozung Hill I knew I was in trouble. Shane was now nowhere in sight, and in the distance I could see what looked like Dave Hunt behind me. I kept pace thinking that I could hold on when next thing I know I had no clue where I was! After a few seconds I realized I veered off the ridge too early. I then proceeded to bushwhack straight up the mountain and who was there to greet me? Dave Hunt the guy who always scrapes me off the mtn. I was pissed that I got off course. It didn't help that I knew the wheels were starting to come off as well. I followed Dave for a while but soon I was getting light headed and feeling really short of breath until finally 200 feet from the top I had to stop and sit down. Karl Jarvis came stumbling up the mtn at this time and gave me words of encouragement. I finally decided to get moving again but was soon overcome with emotion. It was strange but by the time I got to Windy Pass I was hyperventilating and really freaking out. It was exactly how I was when I DNF'd at the Bear 100 in 2008. The crew up there was awesome and really got me sorted out. I was able to sit down for 7-8 minutes composing myself and downing some food. Everyone there was so supportive of me! Thank you very much. I then headed down what was one of the worst muddiest descents I've ever done down Windy Pass. There was so much snow and yet it was so hot making everything a slick muddy wet slop. Between my blisters, calf, knee, foot, and persistent hyperventilating it was a pretty ugly mess getting to the finish line. Thanks for all the support from friends, racers, and aid station crew. I painfully ended up finishing 10th in a time of 10:03.
I'm not sure what went wrong. It was almost like that perfect storm where everything combined at the right time to make it a catastrophe. If one or two things had gone wrong I probably would have salvaged things. However, I think I wasn't quite recovered from Timp Marathon (+all the running I did last week/the week after Timp), I never run as well in heat, I went back to caffeinated gels for the race which I think had an effect on the shortness of breath/hyperventilating, my legs had some nagging injuries that flared up, and I had lofty goals. When you put everything on the line early in a race you are committed. I did that and fell short...which is ok. I really wanted to break 9 hrs but it wasn't my day. The guys I ran with all day finished great. Shane, Dave, and Karl 3rd-5th. Kevin Shilling won with an incredible time of 8:05. Course seemed at least 15-20 minutes slower than last year due to conditions (gaging this can be a crap shoot though and no excuse for my performance). For me it was frustrating because I felt like I was better prepared than any other year yet I ran my worst time. At least last year I knew I was in crappy shape whereas this year I trained much harder and felt way better entering the race...yet I still ran slower. Squaw 2010 will haunt me for awhile I'm afraid. Full results can be found here:

Squaw Peak 2010 Competitors

It's always difficult to gauge the results of a race but it seems like there are fewer competitive guys in the race this year but the chase pack is large as always. Meltzer is out, the MRC guys are injured or focused on different races, and I'm unaware of any green uber fast marathoner or Colorado guy showing up. If I'm missing anyone please let me know and I'll get this list updated!

1st- Kevin Shilling. Great shape as always and after last weeks miss turn should be able to get the win.

Chase Pack:

Allen Belshaw- Not sure if this guy is in top shape but with 2 previous Squaw wins you can never count him out.

Brian Beckstead (myself)- feeling good and ready to rip this one.

Fritz Van de Kamp

Karl Jarvis

Todd Schmidtke

Scott Kunz

Shane Martin

Dave Hunt

David Hayes

Matt Conners

Phil Lowry

Surely there are some more that should be or are consistent top 20...help me out!

Ladies race should be a solid competitive field. Competition includes:

Darcie Gorman

Sara Evans

Birgitta Johnson Mitchell

Marci Lameroux

Melanie Clayton

Milada Copeland

Jill Bohney

Deanna McLaughlin

Eve Davies

Squaw Peak Course Conditions

I have now run most of the course over the last 10 days and here's I'm my final repot. The conclusion is that no matter how hot it gets in the next 7 days, there will be lots of snow. Several of my runs were after storms so the course will be drier then the pics indicate but the ground is saturated and the snow-pack is dense.

I was particularly surprised by how icy and deep the snow was on my run to Windy Pass this morning. There was snow for two miles below Windy...and most of it will not melt by race day.

Stream crossing early in the race

So my calculations are as follows- Snow from mile 11-14.5 (hopefully there will be a dry shoulder those last couple miles). Mile 34 will have snow patches while in the ravine. Bozung hill, mile 39-40, will be snow (which I prefer- cooler and if soft enough, better more consistent footing) and then 41-43 coming off of Windy Pass will be a mess. Roughly 6-7 miles of snow. Check out the course map.

Looking down into Rock Canyon

Overall, the ground will be soft, streams are full but crossings shouldn't be much of a problem, and with that latest storm there are as many fallen trees as I can remember. PR's are doubtful. I'm still thinking that if all goes well my PR is within range. I'm in as good of shape as any previous Squaw so I think a sub-9 performance is the goal. I'll post more about the competition here in a few days. In the meantime, lets hope the course dries out a bit. I don't mind the snow, it's the mud and mush that drives me crazy.

Coming off Windy Pass the snow pack is dense and icy

Windy Pass