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Team Santa Fe Newsletter
April 2004
Second Annual White Sands Missile Range Century Ride
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Tularosa, NM
April 10, 2004
Lisa Carr-Broome and George Broome
We woke up to a cold rain the morning of the ride. Our first
thought was to go back to sleep and return home later in the day
but our senses prevailed and we forged ahead. We took our time
preparing for the ride, thinking the rain would subside. We
arrived at the Tularosa High School football field around 0710 to
an occasional drop of rain. Luck was on our side. We headed off
around 0740, entering the missile range at 4-5 miles into the
ride. We were feeling great and having a nice ride, averaging
18.6 mph. At approximately mile 10, we hit rain. The sky was
dark; things were not looking good. We kept our pace going until
mile 25 at which time the rain stopped and we hit head winds of
approximately 40 mph. Our pace dropped to 9-10 mph, with our
average dropping to 12-13 mph. We drafted trying to conserve
energy. Finally at around mile 53 the head winds subsided. Our
lunch rest stop was at mile 55, where turkey or ham sandwiches,
chips, cookies, soft drinks and fruit were available. From this
point back to the football field, the ride was fairly uneventful.
Few winds, clear skies. We were able to pick up our pace ending
the 107.5 mile ride averaging 15.1 mph. A barbecue of hamburgers
with all the trimmings, chips and soft drinks were at the
finish...what a treat. It was a fun day and great ride.
This is the second consecutive year the White Sands Missile Range
(a restricted military installation) has been open to the public
for a century ride. It is sponsored by WSMR Outdoor Recreation
(505-678-1713), who do a beautiful job of supporting the ride
with plenty of great food and people, as will a sag wagons should
you need them. Last year 100 bikers were allowed in, this year
it was 150. It's a beautiful ride through pristine desert with
approximately 1500 feet of climbing with the wind being the
biggest challenge. A great training ride to start the year!
Let's hope this is an annual ride that continues.
Thank you to our Team Santa Fe sponsors for terrific gear. Our
Terry saddles always make for a comfortable ride (George uses the
Terry Liberator and I ride with the Terry Butterfly). Our Suunto
Advizor wristop personal trainer with Polar HRM helped us track
our heart rates (maximum, minimum, and average) and altitude
ascent and descent. Our Bolle sunglasses helped not only with
the sun, but wind and rain.
Desert Rage II Adventure Race
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Bartlett Lake - Carefree, AZ
April 17, 2004
http://www.desertargear.com
Team Santa Fe - Lisa Barnes and Don Moden
2nd Place Overall - 4 hours 36 minutes
This race took place about an hours drive from Phoenix, Arizona
near Bartlett Lake. I unfortunately got the cold/flu the week
before and missed work on Wednesday and Thursday. I forced
myself to go to work on Friday so that I would not feel guilty
going to the race on Saturday. I had been looking forward to the
race and I did not want abandon my teammate on such short notice.
This was the second race put on by this race organization, and
they had about 50 teams, which was double the turnout of their
first race. They did a great job despite a lack of volunteers to
help them.
Five minutes before the start of the race, you were given a map
with three points for a short orienteering course. At each point
you were given maps and directions for the remainder of the race.
So it was not an option to skip any of the orienteering points.
The points could be obtained in any order, so we quickly decided
on our route and took off for the first point. The points were
being manned by volunteers who did not have maps. So two of the
three points were not in the correct spot. We spent a lot of
time looking for our first point where we thought it should be
and then started back to the transition area. We had to find the
point in order to get maps for the rest of the race. On our way
back, we found the volunteer with the maps just off the trail and
directed them to the correct spot. Our second point we looked
for was in the correct location, and our third point which was
incorrect had been moved to the correct location by the time we
reached the area. The race organization ended up throwing out
all of the times from the orienteering section and recalculated
the race times based on the times the teams reached Transition 1.
Don and I headed out on the mountain bike section and my sickness
started to catch up with me. I was having a hard time breathing
without coughing. Don was very patient with me, even though I
told him multiple times to leave me and finish the course solo.
I had decided that I was going to bail when we reached the
transition area, but then realized it would help Don to have two
people in the inflatable kayak instead of just one. Once we
finished the kayak section, I finally realized that we were in
third place. At this point my competitive nature took over, and
I decided I would finish the race even if I had to walk sections
of the run. The race people thought I was crazy and were
offering to rub Vicks on me to try to help my cough. I politely
declined and we took off on the run/trek section. We struggled
through the last section of the race as the temperature got
warmer and crossed the finish line in third place. The second
place team was disqualified for getting checkpoints out of order,
so we ended up in second place.
It was a fun event. Despite a couple problems with the
orienteering course, the race organization did a great job of
recovering and were very open to suggestions for future races. I
look forward to the third race in their series this fall at Lake
Pleasant.
Thank you to all of our sponsors. Sponsored gear used included:
CamelBak Rally hydration pack, Montrail Vitesse shoes, Litespeed
mountain bike, Schrade Knife, Seal Skinz socks, Thorlo socks,
Boulder Bars, Dermatone sunscreen products, Simon River Sports
paddle, Bolle sunglasses, and Terry saddle.
108th Boston Marathon
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April 19, 2004, Patriots' Day
Lisa Carr-Broome
http://www.baa.org
Pace: 0:09:30, Chip Time: 4:09:06, Official Time: 4:22:43
Masters Women Division: 659 out of 1982 finishers (ages 40-49)
Total Female Runners: 2592 out of 6239 finishers
All Runners: 8835 out of 16743 finishers
The Boston Marathon is the oldest, most prestigious marathon in
the world. How did I end up there? It all started in October
2003, when I ran a 5-K fun run at the "Ride for the Roses"
weekend in Austin, TX. I came in 4th in my age group, which I
was happy with until I realized that some terrific prizes were
being given to the first 3 finishers in the various age groups.
I vowed to train for next year's event.
That's how I ended up running the Houston Marathon the following
January. I considered it a winter training run. I was running
an 8.5-minute per mile pace. If I could keep it up during the
marathon, I would qualify for The Boston Marathon. I had never
run a marathon so I didn't know if I had the endurance, but I had
the drive and desire. I decided prior to the race that if I
qualified for Boston I would run it. I qualified.
I took The Boston Marathon very seriously. I trained and trained
hard. The race started in Hopkinton with temperatures in the
mid-70's and 50% humidity. (No sweat, I had trained in Houston).
It was mostly a downhill course until mile 16 at which time you
start the undulating uphill, topping heartbreak hill at mile 21.
(No problem for I had trained running the hills in Pecos). Thus
far I felt like I was running a smart race (hydrating with
gator-aide at frequent intervals, popping my endurolytes every
hour, sucking on gels)...I was feeling good; I had it in the bag.
With a little over 5 miles to go, I started downhill toward the
finish and all hell broke loose. My legs started to cramp like
they have never cramped before. I ran or rather shuffled until I
could not stand the pain. I kept telling myself I can finish,
its mind over body, but my legs would not perform. I shuffled, I
walked, and then I stopped, I could not go on. Fortunately, a
fellow runner came up from behind and encouraged me to keep
going. I listened, and followed. With 2 miles to go, I wondered
how long it would take me to crawl. I could not imagine not
finishing the race after putting so much into it. Pulling deep
from within, I was able to get a slow shuffle going. My cramped
legs were killing me but moving. I saw the finish line, I
prayed. It seemed to take hours to reach it and then there I was
waddling over the finish line. I had done it! I was numb and
ecstatic. I looked around; runners were down everywhere being
treated by paramedics for heat related problems, for this was the
hottest marathon since 1976. (Temperatures were in the mid-80's
with 50% humidity throughout the race). I was fortunate to still
be standing. After a few hours of recovery and a great dinner, I
begin thinking ahead to next year and how I could better my
performance and time. Imagine that!
The Boston Marathon is a well-supported race not only by the
hundreds of helpful and friendly volunteers, but by the people of
Boston who come out by the thousands to line the race course and
cheer the runners on as well as hand out food and drinks. The
runners themselves were courteous and helpful to each other in
time of need. What a great experience!
A big thank you to my husband and best friend, George, for the
terrific support he gave me throughout all of the months of
training, while in Boston and at the race. I could not have done
it without him.
I also want to thank our sponsor SOF Sole, you made my run well
cushioned and my feet happy.
2nd Annual 24 Hours of Temecula, Mountain Bike Race
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Temecula, CA
April 24 and 25, 2004
Team Santa Fe/Duo Pro
Jan and Kim Bear
http://www.grannygear.com
 April seemed to be a slow month for adventure racing in the
southwest, so we found this 24 hour mountain bike race, north of
San Diego. The goal of the 24 hours of Temecula was to do as
many laps on your mountain bike as you could starting at noon on
Saturday and ending at noon on Sunday. Only one person from your
team was allowed on the course at one time. The total course
length was 11.73 miles with 1,888 feet of vertical climbing in
each lap. The course director made each lap more memorable by
naming sections: for example, a steep, steep incline was
appropriately called "burning calves"; a short steep climb
similar to a wall was named "marine corps climb"; a long swooping
ridgeline single track trail was called "dragon's back" and the
last mile was called "homerun". "Homerun" quickly became the
favorite part of the ride! Once that part of the ride was done,
you had 5 minutes before you reached the tents to pass the baton
off to your teammate (or spouse as in our case).
We entered as "Duo/Pro"s as there was no other category available
for a pair. It was open to same gender pairs and mixed pairs.
The race began with Jan running a lap around a dry lake bed, a
"Le Mans Style start" to get to his bike. He took off completing
the first lap in a little over one hour. From there we
alternated laps until 3 am in the morning when Jan offered to do
double up, and do back to back laps. Kim slept for 2 full hours
and then took the next 2 laps.
Memorable for Kim was Tinker Juarez talking to her as she climbed
"burning calves". Tinker was first in the solo category with the
next soloist a distant second.
Jan finished up with the final 2 laps (what a husband!)
completing 16 laps for Team Santa Fe. The weather was very hot
and dry. (A record high temperature was set for the area.) We
were excited to have the Team Santa Fe Duo come in second place!
The team that beat us was composed of a pair of men.
Both racers used their Polar heart rate monitors to pace
themselves because of the extra hot weather during the race.
Sponsor gear used during the event included Litespeed, CW-X,
Dermatone, SixSixOne, Golite, ThorLo, Shain, E-Caps/Hammer Gel,
BTI, Princeton Tec, Niterider, Schrade, Bolle, and Hydropel.
Thanks to these great sponsors for their support!!!
Kim finishing her first lap at Temecula!
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