Flaming Foliage Relay

13 Sunday Sep 2015

Tags

Boulder Marathon, Flaming Foliage Relay, Georgia Pass, silverthorne, Sunshine Cafe

A black Infinity is parked outside my front door Friday morning at 4am. This is my ride to Idaho Springs, where I’m expected to launch the first leg of our Here Kitty Kitty relay team’s 165 mile, 30 hour race across three Colorado mountain passes. I sit up front and comment to Keith we have to stop meeting like this for these sleep-deprived, weekend socials.

We’re entered in the masters division – meaning over 40 years old. To be competitive at this age, shoot to be half-assed athletic and running period, is a statement. That’s less obvious in Colorado where it seems everyone is so incredibly fit. But then my world might suffer from sample bias. I seem to attend events where everyone looks a lot like me. There’s no Xbox on the trails. The runners on my team though are exceptional. Elite amateurs. Semi-pro, masters-class runners. I’m not intimidated necessarily but feel special to be included, flattered to hang with them. Joining me on Here Kitty Kitty are Keith, Jen, Steve (all neighbors) and Kristin, Jill, Eve, Carolyn and Tom. We’re joined by a second ultra team, Flaming Oven Mitt, with Beth, Ken, Rafe, Brian and Joie.

My kickoff leg starts at 6:30am from a parking lot in downtown Idaho Springs. I have to wear a safety vest and lights as the sun has yet to fully rise. Only three other runners launch with me in my starting wave. It’s a fast start, likely due to excitement but I suspect also to stay warm. The September mountain air is crisp and ideal for running. I regret my fast start almost immediately as we climb a steep single track trail to a bike path that leaves me gasping for oxygen the rest of the 4.5 mile run. Our route follows I-70 toward Georgetown with long, rolling hills. My intent is to run an easy warmup pace but somehow I average 7 minute miles. I credit the cold air and initial race-start buzz. My plan was for a warmup and to save my legs for my second leg, but this strong run gives me confidence.

I hand off to Jen. Because our team is short a 10th runner, Jen runs two back-to-back legs, 7.1 miles into Georgetown. Jen was part of my Longs Peak climb two weekends earlier. She hasn’t been running much this summer. She’s a busy working mother of two, running her State Farm insurance agency in Longmont. After recent trips to Europe and Minneapolis, she’s back home and ready to run. She does regular bootcamp workouts that leave her core strong, and she’s simply a natural runner. She has no problem with this high-altitude, uphill run into Georgetown.

Jen hands off to Keith who begins the climb up the course’s first mountain, Guanella Pass. His 6.1 mile route is scary steep but Keith is a strong hill runner. He knows how to find his zone and maintain incessant forward motion. Keith is a poli-sci professor at Colorado State, teaching their honors program in Ft. Collins since 2002. His daughter recently graduated CU-Boulder and his son is now attending CSU, leaving Keith and his wife Susan empty nesters. Running nearly thirty miles without sleep for two days gives him something to do with his new-found free time.

Keith hands off to Kristin, still on Guanella Pass Road. Kristin is a school teacher, also with two kids. She jokes about leaving her husband Brad with the kids while she plays in the mountains. Truth is, she often gets her husband and kids up here. Skiing seems to be the one sport her entire family enjoys the most, but Kristin is a big-time mountain biker. Brad and Kristin even lived in Summit County for a few years early in their marriage. I didn’t know Kristin before this weekend and learn that she’s an incredible athlete. She soars up this mountain road as if it’s flat.

Kristin hands off to Jill. This completes the running by the team members in my van – officially Van #1. I don’t get a chance to speak much to the runners in Van #2 although Jill rides with us to Exchange 5 because there’s not enough parking for both team vans. Like Kristin, Jill is a school teacher. I discover what an extremely strong runner Jill is after she summits the seriously steep final stretch of Gaunella Pass for the team. I know I would have had to walk it. Glad I ran the first leg.

Jill hands off to Eve, pictured here, who begins the descent down Guanella Pass. The rest of our team in Van #2, Carolyn, Tom and Steve, run jeep roads, cattle trails, and finish up on the Colorado Trail at the Jefferson Creek Trailhead. Their trail runs are challenging and unfortunately poorly marked with signage. The official race course descriptions are poor at best and navigation is as difficult as the terrain. Eve is an accountant and is married to Brian, an engineer with Crocs who is running with the ultra team. I learn Carolyn owns Panorama Coordinated Services in Longmont. Tom is the founder and CEO of Threatwave and is a stud trail runner. Steve is in product marketing at Rally, a software development firm in Boulder.

Those of us in Van #1 feel certain we have the best legs. We run less on busy highway shoulders, enjoy more opportunities to dine at real sit-down restaurants, and we finish first. It goes without saying that we are better looking. Without question, both our vans sleep more than the ultra team in Van #3. And again, we are considerably better looking.

Our ultra team launched 90 minutes before us and remains ahead of us the entire event – some of Boulder County’s most bad-ass, masters-class runners. I see them for the first time at the Jefferson Creek exchange. Brian’s legs are bloodied from falling on the trail. Beth leads the charge up Georgia Pass, pictured here near the start of her run in the thick trees of the Colorado Trail. Beth is a social worker well known for her very real and hilarious running blog. Click to enlarge this pic and tell me those aren’t runner’s legs. Beth runs the 4th fastest time of all females in this relay over Georgia Pass. Other members of her ultra team are Joie and Rafe, Brian’s life-long friend from Albuquerque. I don’t get an opportunity to chat with Joie but hope to run with everyone again in future events where we can become more familiar.

Jen and Kristin, sitting together here at the Jefferson Creek Trailhead, meet for the first time on this relay and become instant friends. Our entire team, both vans, are able to meet at this exchange to wait for Steve to finish and me to start. They tease me later because I’m as antsy as a schoolboy waiting to begin the run over Georgia Pass.

It’s a long story, from my first snowshoe adventure over Georgia Pass to the relay two years ago that was cancelled due to the great flood, but I’ve been waiting for my chance to own this hill. And I don’t mind telling you that I absolutely kill it. The slope up the eastern edge of the pass is quite runable – if that’s a word. My type-ahead feature thinks not. The slope is graceful enough that I am never forced to walk. There are even short downhill dips where I’m able to surge. My slowest mile uphill is 13 minutes, which I consider pretty speedy for running up a mountain at 11,000 feet. Oddly enough, my slowest mile overall is near the bottom of the west side running downhill in 14 minutes. I scream down on my descent but by the bottom my legs are so fatigued that I have to slow down for safety. Falling might hurt. This run is everything I could have asked for, satisfying years of anticipation.

The relay runs through Breckenridge, Frisco, Leadville, and finally ends in Buena Vista shortly before noon Saturday. There are so many more stories to share. I won’t, mostly to protect the guilty but also so I can watch some football and prep for a travel week. We ate at some good restaurants, like the Sunshine Cafe for breakfast pictured here. We spent the night at a condo in Silverthorne to recover – and drink. I suggest clicking on my link to Beth’s blog for an entertaining recap of the ultra experience. Wonderful weekend overall. Next Saturday is the Boulder Marathon.

Trail Closed

14 Saturday Sep 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Tags

Boulder Flood, East Boulder Trail, Flaming Foliage Relay, National Guard

When half the streets in town are blocked by the National Guard in Humvees, it should come as no surprise all the trails in the county are also closed. Still, I expected the East Boulder Trail to be open given its high ground. But then it does lead down to the raging Boulder Creek after three miles. So I decided to run Prospect Road leading east from my house to County Line Road. This made for a 6 mile run. And the hard-packed dirt surface emulates the Boulder Back Roads I’ll be running on in next Sunday’s marathon. I ran into Keith who was returning from the same course. Later, Steve pinged us to text that he also ran this course, taking it a bit further on Pipit to the flood waters.

After well-deserved naps, our relay team met up last night on Keith’s front porch to eat and drink our relay supplies. Somehow this led to tequila shots which I’m fairly certain were not part of our relay provisions. I’ve come to terms with my disappointment in the relay cancellation. In light of the suffering of some of our neighbors from the unprecedented flooding, everyone seems to have come to terms with the letdown. For the less empathetic of us, there was tequila.

We are less sympathetic to the plight of Paul, the Roads Less Traveled race director. He refuses to refund even partial registration fees. We paid $1100 as a team for registration, plus another $300 for volunteers. I should say paid volunteers, but the race director doesn’t use that oxymoron as a descriptive in his emails. I understand Paul would have some expenses to line up porta-potties, etc. But I know these vounteers didn’t work Friday. Their inability to get past the rock slide is why the race was cancelled. Never mind they could have driven a back route along Hwy 285 and Guanella Pass. These mercenaries weren’t as committed as us runners. I won’t dwell on this. It’s not constructive. I do think Paul could at least promote a discount for next year’s event. What are your thoughts on race directors who don’t provide even partial refunds? Or on “paid” volunteers?

The Great September Flood

13 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Boulder Flood, Flaming Foliage Relay

My call Thursday afternoon to confirm our two rental vans at Enterprise in Longmont was routed to the Boulder location. I was assured two vans were available at 55th and Arapahoe. Five minutes later Kelly called and was told we could not have our vans. When Kelly stressed how critical these vans were for an adventure run in the mountains, he was chastised over how people had lost their cars and homes to the flood. Still, I consider us victims too. Albeit further down the scale of desperation. Plan B had me driving the Honda Odyssey and Steve driving his Toyota Land Cruiser. Less certain was whether we’d be able discover an egress route out of Longmont in the morning. We moved up our schedule to meet at Steve’s house at 3am.

Steve’s CDOT Mobile app suggested an escape route down Hwy 287 and east on Hwy 7 to I-25. En route, we read the email from the FFR Race Director delaying the run until later in the afternoon due to a rock slide on I-70. Plan C was to breakfast at Denny’s on I-70 and Kipling at 4:30am to consider our options and hope for further communication from the race director. We were not the only diners there. Everyone appeared sober.

Eventually we returned home to await further word. That word was emailed hours later at 8:28am, stating the relay was cancelled. Not surprising but in my sleep deprived state, devastating nonetheless. I’m too tired to work effectively. Maybe I’ll check email after a nap and complete a task or two. Maybe I’ll just watch CNBC all day. More than likely I’ll go for a run but I’m not sure where. It’s difficult to go for more than a few blocks in this town without hitting a roadblock. Naturally the trails along creeks are submerged. The start to my regular LoBo Trail contains a 10 foot deep chasm – washed away by the raging Left Hand Creek. I need to run though, I have a marathon next weekend. Plan D might come to me after a nap.

Naked Pibil Run

07 Saturday Sep 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Tags

Antonios, Flaming Foliage Relay, Mesa Trail, puerco pibil

Ran into Chris last night at Antonios. We strategerized a bit for the Boulder Marathon that’s only two weeks away. We plan to run together. Well, start out together anyway. I’m confident I can hang with him the first half. My goal though is to hang with Chris through what I call the 3rd quarter. I break up marathons into 4 quarters – 4 x 10Ks. A 40K comes up a bit short but this metric works for me. If I can maintain his pace, under 8 minutes per mile, for 20 miles, I’ll have a shot at qualifying for Boston.

I had the Chochinita Pibil for dinner. Oh man! Remember the scene in Once Upon a Time in Mexico where Johnny Depp excuses himself from the table to shoot the cook? Because it’s the best puerco pibil he’s ever tasted? This was like that. Upon closer inspection, I determined what I really liked was the habanero salsa that came on the side. I probably should have kept it on the side but instead smothered my meal despite being warned by the waitress. This stuff was hot. I’ve never had salsa with such intense flavor. I’m certain, given the right circumstances, Depp would have shot the cook at this dinner over the habanero salsa.

This pibil-fired dinner fueled today’s 9 mile run on Mesa Trail with my Naked relay team. We run the Flaming Foliage Relay next weekend and this was a planning session of sorts. I call them Naked for short – our relay team name is Naked and You’re Afraid. This is a play on words to the Discovery Channel survivalist show, Naked and Afraid. If you look for it, I think it’s already been cancelled. Great show though. Like Serenity for the space western TV show Firefly, I suspect a movie is in the making. Look for our Twitter hashtag Friday and Saturday, #nakedFFR. Or follow one of my Twitter handles @edmahoney1805 and @secintel. Or follow Steve Wolfe @sgwolfe. His tweets tend to be more clever than mine.

All of us except Brian and Kelly were able to run 9 miles on the Mesa Trail this morning. That’s Kristina in the top pic. She tore up the hills today. Good sign because she is slated for a 4.2 mile climb up Guanella Pass, and with less than two hours rest after her first leg. Kristina is pulling a double for Van1 in our first set of runs and will finish with 1600 feet net gain in elevation. That’s Allison in the second pic. She passed me this morning while running up one of the tougher hills. Another good sign because she has the hardest leg running up Guanella Pass at 6.1 miles. Her net elevation gain for the entire relay will be 2000 feet.

Jen is in the third pic with the pink running skirt. Clicking on the photos will enlarge them to their full resolution. Jen starts with a 10K trail run and will complete 19 miles by the end of the relay. That’s Keith after Jen in the blue shirt. Keith has to climb the final two miles over Guanella Pass and then descend a brutal 7 miles down the other side. Assuming his legs recover, he’ll run a total 22 miles. Steve is in this pic in a white shirt. He’s our influential team captain with persuasive recruiting powers. Steve will run a very hard 10K and hand the baton off to me on the Colorado Trail before I run over Georgia Pass. Steve will also be our final runner in Buena Vista, having run 23 miles in all.

As anyone would do after running Mesa Trail, we brunched at the Chautauqua Dining Hall. We used this time to plan the number of coolers, capture beer requests and discuss all the other important details. Jen is renting the two vans – she’ll pick those up Thursday so we can load them that night. We’ll leave for Idaho Springs at 4:30am Friday. I run the first leg at 6:20am. Thirty hours later we’ll be partying at some cabins Steve arranged in BV.

The Last Run

21 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Boulder Marathon, Flaming Foliage Relay, Manitou Incline, training

Time is speeding up. Days are over before I know it. Years fly by. This year’s running season will be over so soon. Looking back, seven events seem like a full year. Four half marathons, one full, one 10K and one mile. Oh, and the Boulder Distance Classic – I forget exactly what odd number of miles that was. So eight running events. That’s a full year I guess but I can’t believe I have only two runs remaining and that the season will be over after September. It does help define my training requirements though.

Training was a challenge when my focus was to improve my 10K speed but I had to run a marathon the weekend immediately following the Bolder Boulder. Now, I have the Flaming Foliage Relay in three weeks followed a week later by the Boulder Marathon. The relay requires intense distance training so it pairs nicely with the marathon. The relay also will present me with a 12.5 mile trail run over a mountain pass, but the Boulder Marathon has rolling hills so some hill training will apply to both events.

I’m a bit pensive training for my last run. I’m channeling my gloom though into better preparation. The furthest distance I ran training for previous marathons was maybe 12 miles. I ran 18 last Saturday. I’m targeting 20 miles this coming Saturday. I thought I would be running the Manitou Incline but I got my weekends mixed up. That will be the following weekend. So maximum distance and one of Colorado’s most notorious hill climbs. Then I’ll have one remaining training weekend. I expect I’ll run Mesa Trail with my relay team. Keith and Steve ran that before the Epic Relay and they were prepared.

This pic is from my most recent run, the GTIS Half Marathon. I just can’t believe my final run of the year is in only four weeks. Not sure what I’ll blog about after that. I do have a Diana Krall concert a few days later. And two weeks later I’m going to watch the CU Buffs tackle Oregon. That’s right, college football is starting up. Who has time to run?

Cottontail Trail

17 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Boulder Marathon, Flaming Foliage Relay, LoBo Trail, Manitou Incline

It’s time to start training for the Boulder Marathon in September. I officially kicked off my marathon training today with an 18 mile run on the LoBo Trail which included a couple of miles on the Cottontail Trail in Gunbarrel. This is the furthest I have ever run out my door on the LoBo Trail. Maybe one day I’ll take it all the way into Boulder. Cottontail, which winds along the north end of Gunbarrel, is quite charming with Cottonwood lining the creek and trail. I used to live in Gunbarrel, which I guess technically is Boulder, and I miss all the nice trails they have. The White Rock Trail is one of my favorites.

September wraps up my scheduled events for the year. Seems a bit early, maybe I’ll find something in October. Rob and I still need to hike the new 80 mile Collegiate Peaks loop of the Colorado Trail. If I don’t transition to hiking then I might look for a 10K to begin winding down my distance. It’s hard staying in shape for these longer distances. I completed four half marathons this year. I wouldn’t mind maintaining that level of fitness but marathons are a stretch. Interesting point on my four half marathons this year is my pace was extremely consistent. My finish time in all of them was within a 6 minute range. In fact, I ran the exact same pace – a 7:31 mile – for both Moab and GTIS.

I don’t think I need to train any differently for the Flaming Foliage Relay, which is a week ahead of the Boulder Marathon. My second leg over Georgia Pass will present me with 1221 feet of elevation gain at altitude, so I’ll include some hills in my routine. Looking forward to meeting up with my buddy Ken Farmer in Manitou Springs to run the Incline next weekend. The Manitou Incline has been on my bucket list for awhile, and from what I understand it’s no longer illegal to climb. It’s only a mile climb, but can easily take people an entire hour to complete. I wonder what sort of shape Ken is in. He runs the Incline regularly for lunch.

I understand my team is looking for a 10th runner still for the Flaming Foliage Relay. Preferably a woman to add to the estrogen level in the van. Contact me if you’re interested. And really, how can you not be interested in running through the Colorado mountains in the fall?

Shirtless

04 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Tags

Flaming Foliage Relay, naked and you're afraid, nipple chafe

That’s right. I ran 12 miles today without covering my paunch. It’s been years. I often ran shirtless as a youth in Texas. That was before all of today’s hi-tech athletic fabrics. Cotton was useless in the Texas heat. I think it was the weather today that emboldened me to run nearly naked. I got out the door before 11am and the temperature was still under 80°. There was a small breeze and I wanted to be able to feel it against as much of my skin as possible. You could say the wind teased me to strip down to all but the essentials. I didn’t even carry water for this fairly long two and half hour run.

I don’t think I scared anyone. I did wait to take off my shirt until after I walked out of the house – dropping it on my front porch. I feel like more runners and bikers out on the trail waved than usual. It felt good to have a run without worrying about my nipples chafing. A related story is that my September relay team settled on a team name – Naked and You’re Afraid. Apparently based on some TV show I’ve yet to watch. It’ll be ironic if we print up some shirts. Maybe I’ll run one of my legs shirtless in September. My 3rd leg will be in the cover of darkness between 2 and 3 in the morning. If it’s not too chilly at 8500 feet.

Planning Party

28 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Flaming Foliage Relay, Georgia Pass, Picture Rock

Our team Captain Steve Wolf, invited us over this afternoon to plan for our upcoming Flaming Foliage Relay. This is a ten person relay over three mountain passes and 170 miles in September. Steve said to bring a dish and/or beer. That makes it a planning party. I plan to bring ceviche.

We finally have the leg maps to review. I’m in van #1 with Matt, Allison, Kristina and Kelly. We’ll cover 21.8 miles for the first set of five exchanges. I’ll start us out at Citizens Park in Idaho Springs and run 4.4 miles up a slight 1% incline to the County Fairgrounds. At over 7500 feet, I might count that easy grade as a hill; otherwise this will be a nice 7am wake-up run.

Van #2 will handle exchanges 6 through 10 and my next turn at bat will be leg 11. This will be somewhat emotional for me as my return to the plate will bring me back to Georgia Pass, where I nearly cried snowshoeing the Colorado Trail two years ago. I won’t have to worry about post-holing through six feet of snow this time but the trail will still be a challenge with the first 6 miles ascending up a 6% grade. The downhill might not be any easier – depends on how fatigued my legs are after cresting the pass. Total distance for this leg is 12.6 miles. My experience should be key as I’ve been over this hill before.

We break formation on the final set of exchanges and instead of running leg 21 for my last effort, I run leg 23. This is in my favor allowing me to get some extra rest, and will likely have me running at sunrise around 5am rather than in the darkness of 3am. This run could be a well deserved reward for scaling Georgia Pass earlier. The leg wraps around Turquoise Lake near Leadville, down a 3% grade for 3.6 miles. The lake is stunning, I’ve seen it before hiking the nearby Colorado Trail. Nice camp site if you’re planning a trip to the mountains.

This week, once I returned from Austin, had some cool temperatures. Got some good mileage in along with a hill workout Saturday. I ran 5 reps on the east side of the water tower hill on the White Rocks Trail. The hill is a little over a quarter mile long at a 9% grade. Decent workout. This morning, I ran with my relay teammates on the Picture Rock Trail in Lyons. Essentially another hill workout – 5 miles up and 5 back down. This will help me prepare for Georgia Pass. Another cool run with 63° and mist. Met Kristina for the first time – she’ll be in van #1 with me. She’s a Decathlete from Western State and a strong trail runner. I followed her down Picture Rock this morning. Whenever we hit a cluster of rocks, where the typical runner might express caution by slowing down, Kristina would surge. The girl has trail legs. She’ll compliment our team nicely.

Steve, pictured here by the way, updated us on our team participation during this morning’s run. Turns out three runners have dropped out. He thinks he has some others queued up but if you’re interested, let me know. The relay is September 13-14. You’ll have to survive over 30 hours of driving in a van full of sweaty, stinky, likely gassy, sometimes obnoxious (me), overly fatigued 20 year old and 50 year old runners. We’ll spend Saturday night partying in a riverside house we rented in BV near the finish. If that sounds fun to you, let me know. The picture above Steve is Kristina from this morning. Above her is Allison. Then Keith and that’s me up top.