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February 2008 Team Santa Fe Activities
RACES:
Pemberton Trail 50K
http://www.helenarunningclub.com/pemberton/2008PT50KResults.htm
Fountain Hills, AZ
February 9, 2008
Barb Dutrow 5:04 1st 50+ Female 16/60 overall
This is a very scenic run! In the pre-dawn hours of the morning, nearly 150
runners, some in the new 'relay' category, gathered at the race start in McDowell
Mountain Regional Park, in Fountain Hills, AZ. At 7am in the darkness with
temperatures hovering near 40F and several cheering volunteers, runners began
the first of two loops on the Pemberton Trail in the Park. The trail began at a
parking area with nice soft dirt, crossed a paved road, and then entered
a sandy wash. Footing was soft and friendly. About three miles into the course,
the trail began to climb a terrace covered with cobblestones, hard dirt and
boulders. Coming up the terrace, hopping this way and that, I thought to myself,
"it is going to be a challenge not to trip on round two", must stay alert. As
the sun rose over mountains to the east, the surrounding granite spires glowed
pink, bathed in the rising sun. Once on top of the terrace, the surrounding
view was awesome; granite peaks in every direction, a desert greened by recent
rains, only the snaking trail of runners in sight, and 360 degree visibility of
about 100 miles in every direction. The desert was stunningly beautiful. The trail
then softened up and continued to roll along up and down arroyos, around Palo
Verde trees and giant saguaro cactus. The last of the loop was double
track, soft sand, until returning to the parking lot to begin the second loop.
Aid stations were about every five miles. So not to miss the stations
and be prepared, neon pink signs were hung near the trail about 50 yards
out signing "Aid Station Ahead"; a very nice touch! To wake up sleepy runners,
the next aid station placed a plastic rattlesnake strategically in the road.
Apparently too many mountain bikers came by, panicked, and jumped off their
bikes, so the aid station workers felt compelled to tell everyone it was fake (which
was rather obvious). Aid stations were well stocked with energetic volunteers and
a wide variety of sweet and salty snacks (I grabbed the potato chips and fig
newtons), water, drinks, etc.
The second loop was fun, because you knew what was coming, and the sun
was shining. This year I didn't trip! However, I had an anxiety attack so my pace
slowed completely.
This was a totally fabulous race in every respect; organization, volunteers, race
director, aid stations and scenery. Home cooked food waited for runners at
the finish - a variety of tacos, muffins, chicken noodle soup, and lots of fruit,
snacks and drinks. The sun was warm and bright, and the park was a great place
to wait for awards. I finished in 5:09, for 1st 50+ female, 12F overall, 44th overall.
If you want a 50K, this is one to consider. It is a runner's race, for
runners, by runners (race director's mom cooks the after-race goodies!).
All Proceeds from the race go to the Park Trail Fund.
Thanks to Polar Heart Rate systems for timing, Thorlo Socks for padding
my feet, and Hydropel for keeping my feet un-blistered.
Mount Taylor Winter Quadrathalon
http://www.mttaylorquad.org
Grants, New Mexico
Saturday, February 16th, 2008
Jan Bear 5 hours 39 minutes 41 seconds, 6th in 50+ males, Kim Bear DNF
By Kim Bear
New Mexico's winter storms promised us a great 2008 race with snow. The
Quad is a 13 mile uphill road bike followed by a 5 mile dirt road run then a 2 mile
cross-country ski finishing with a 1 mile snowshoe to the top of Mt. Taylor at
11300 feet before you reverse the order of events for the rest of the race back to
Grants at 6500 feet for a 44 mile round trip. This would be the first "running" race
for Jan since he broke his hip in August at the Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike
race. I was training for the California/Oceanside Half Ironman with my daughter
JJ and her boyfriend, Ryan. This would be their first long triathlon type race, so I
convinced them to do the Quad as a pair with their dads. They would get extra
training in by doing the biking and running portions and get experience of being
in a race. At the last minute, JJ was not released by her swim coach so was
unable to do the event. I wanted Ryan to have the best experience possible, so I
decided to start an hour later than the other soloists so I could ride up with him.
The start gun for the soloists went off a little bit later than 9 AM, as it had stormed
the night before and the race directors wanted to give the mountain road more
time to defrost. It looked like the sun was coming out. Jan was off. The teams,
pairs and I started an hour later. Ryan and I got off to a good start, however at 3
miles Ryan got a flat to his back tire. We got it changed, got some good
experience in using all of his tools and took off "DFL" (dead friggin' last). We got
back into a roll and started passing some other cyclists and then Ryan got his
second flat. We were much faster changing that one. Within 10 minutes, it went
flat again. We were 6 miles from the top (which is all uphill) and I convinced
Ryan to take my Litespeed bike as his dad was waiting for him after the 5 mile
run. I ended up jogging with Ryan's bike the last 6 miles to the bike-run
transition. I had sent the pump and tubes up with Ryan and being "DFL" there
was no one left to help me. I figured it was good training. I transitioned to the
run, left my bike with some very nice people who I had convinced to fix the tire for
me so I could attempt to make the cut-offs. After running 4 of the 5 miles, I finally
saw Jan coming in the opposite direction running. He had heard what happened
and encouraged me to keep going. I convinced the cross country ski-run
transition people to let me go up on my skis as I had one minute before the cut
off. I turned around after heartbreak hill, yielding my time chip to the crew for the
snowshoe transition. As soon as I did that, I coveted everyone else's time chip. I
skied down and as I was transitioning to the run, radios crackled with the news
that a forest service truck had gone out of control at the bike run transition and
taken out about 30 bikes. Luckily no one was hurt; apparently the driver had a
seizure. I jogged the 5 miles and went to get Ryan's bike only to find that it was
one of the bikes involved in the accident. However, that flat tire was FIXED;
unfortunately the bike was in pieces! My bike was safely in Grants with Ryan. I
got driven down. Ryan and his dad ended up winning their category. He had a
great experience, so even though I "DNFed" I kept my Litespeed safe and sound
while accomplishing my goal for Ryan.
Jan's race went well but certainly slower than he would have liked. It was his first
time running and the hip was not able to cooperate completely but certainly was
able to finish. He was generally pleased with the outcome considering it had only
been six months since his hip fracture.
We enjoyed the afternoon after the race visiting the hot tub at the motel where
we stayed and then headed off to the awards ceremony and followed that with
dinner at a local restaurant with friends.
Thanks to the following sponsor gear companies; Litespeed, Bike & Sport, CW-X,
SixSixOne, CamelBak, ThorLo, SofSole, Montrail, GoLite, Dermatone, Wenger
NA, Bolle, Suunto, E-Caps, Polar and Hydropel.
TRAINING:
Ski Mountaineering
Bill Putnam Hut, Fairy Meadows, BC Canada
February 3-10
Carl Gable and friends
The Bill Putnam Hut at Fairy Meadows in the Selkirk mountains of Canada is
on of the premier locations for access to spectacular alpine glacier ski
terrain.
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