Ninety-what?

The plan for today’s run was to meet my friend Dina at for a 15 mile run in the Boulder Ranch Open Space this afternoon. Dina’s training for her first 50-miler in a few weeks so our run was going to be her cooldown after her 20 miler in the morning. A midsummer afternoon run in Boulder is usually met with temperatures well into the nineties, however an early June midafternoon is usually in the 80s. I much prefer cooler temperatures and for this one I was going to consider this an experiment – what’s it like to run in hot weather. A chance to keep a slow steady pace, monitor nutrition and fluid, see how my body does.

Boulder has different ideas about the weather, opting for what I would guess is a record for the day. As I set out to meet Dina after 2pm, the temperature in my car said 98 degrees! Yikes – it was a little warmer than I hoped. It was just plain hot! Alright, let’s see what happens. Because of the heat we decided to shorten the run to just one loop of the Boulder Reservoir. I’m quite glad we did because this was hot. Even after a couple miles I had to walk for a bit, I had definitely reached a limit today. Dina on the other hand was running along just fine even with more than 20 milers in her legs, she’s definitely ready for her 50 miler.

I’m glad we went for a short run, and now I know I probably won’t do that again ;-)

Tip: Sloshing Be Gone

This will be my first tip officially listed as a tip. I suppose other posts could be considered tips, but this one is short and simple.

I run with a bunch of people use running backpacks with water bladders. As they head down the trail, I hear the sloshing of the water in the bladder. For some this isn’t a bother and they hardly notice it at all. This tip is for those who don’t like the sloshing.

Once you’ve filled the bladder, turn it upside down, suck the air out. By doing that, the air pocket in the bladder where the water sloshes around is gone.

No more sloshing!

Grace and Joy

No, I didn’t meet two woman named Grace and Joy recently, though the day before the race this post talks about had elements of that ;-)
Grace and Joy – that was my intention for this run.

The run was the Golden Gate Dirty Thirty 12 miler in the Golden Gate Canyon State Park near Golden, CO (yes, lots of Golden). This is the fourth year of the race with the premier event being a 30-miler, but also a 12 mile and 7 mile race. The entire course is on the trails in the State Park. I signed up this year after hearing good things about the race and course. I’ve also never run in the State Park so that was a bonus. When I signed up I didn’t look at the course details because I was interested in running in a new place, but several days before the race when I started checking out course details I found the course had more than 3000 feet of climbing in 12 miles. Yikes! Good thing I didn’t know beforehand.

So first, some results. My overall time was 2:11:05 for the 12 miles. I was 5th overall out of about 100 runners with half men and half women. I was also first for masters (40+)! I didn’t know it at the time, but second place masters was just 10 seconds behind me, and third just 17 seconds behind. I was thrilled! Overall a great race and great course.

But back to Grace and Joy …

Over the past 8 weeks or so, most of my weekend runs have been fairly targeted and somewhat hard. I’ve been practicing pacing, running for pace, running hard and fast. Really pushing edges and seeing what I could do. My body was telling me I needed more fun with no purpose – just to go out and run. Last weekend was one of those. This 12 miler was going to be another. I had no intention of racing – all I wanted to do was enjoy new trails and have fun! Joy – intention #1.

The night before I went through my pre-race ritual of getting everything ready. All my nutrition for pre-race, during the race, and post-race; clothes for driving to the start, during the race, and then after the race; Traumeel and Tiger Balm, compression socks. My mind completely focused in a ritual I’ve done dozens of times before, though usually it’s been for cycling. I was feeling ready. So as I lay in bed drifting off, I put some attention on my intention for the race. Certainly fun was the top of the list. I also wanted to feel the rhythm of my body, my legs, my breathing syncing with the flow of the course, the weather. Grace. Letting grace happen, being in the rhythm.

The morning of the race I awoke and felt good, I felt peaceful even with a short night of sleep. What occurred to me as I started my morning routine was something Roger Joslin writes about in “Running the Spiritual Path.” “Prepare mindfully for the run. Dress slowly, methodically as if you were a devout priest and your running clothes were sacred vestament.” With that in my heart, I began getting ready. What a difference that makes to start with that presence. I believe it helped set the tone for the rest of the run.

I like getting to events early, and because of logistics of the race, location, and shuttles, I had to be at the start almost 2 hours before the race began. During that time I make final preparations, stretched, and brought Joslin’s book to read. Somewhere in the book he recommends that if needed, read before a run – some Psalms, Rumi, poetry – something to again set the stage. Indeed I was reading Joslin’s book itself which was inspirational and quite appropriate for my focus and for the day.

With an intention of Grace and Joy, preparing with great awareness and sacredness, and some heartfelt reading before the start, I was in a great place to begin a run!

For the run itself – it was full of grace and joy. Steeped in rhythm and flow. The first mile I paced easily and smoothly letting my body warm up. The first big climb went by easily as I was able to run most of it. The downhill that followed was just fun! Dancing down through the rocks, in control, and flying! The second big climb was the lungbuster – steep and most of it I walked! With most of the race above 8000 feet, my lungs were the limiting factor today, my legs were along for the ride. At mile 8 we reached the top of the second climb at 9200 feet, from here it was almost all downhill. Again, what fun to prance and dance downhill, keeping in mind what my first lessons of downhill running from Jerry Lynch months ago. What fun to fly downhill again – in the process I caught 6 people in the last 4 miles and finished very strong.

For this run, I was blessed with grace and joy! Let’s do it again sometime!

Running in wool

I can imagine you're wondering how I can writing about wool at the end of May, on the cusp of summer. Even in Boulder we've already had many days over 80 degrees. Wool is for winter blazers, long underwear for skiing, even socks. But running?

Absolutely!

I'm not talking about the old image of wool as scratchy and itchy. Ibex, Icebreaker, Stoic, and Smartwool are make wonderful wool clothes that feels great against the skin. Everything - tank tops, dresses, underwear (including bras for the women), long-sleeves, sweaters, jackets, and of course socks.

Wool for winter running seems reasonable, and it is. There is some fabulous wool for winter running. What I really want to talk about is running in wool in summer! I've long worn wool for cycling and have a wardrobe full of wool tights and jerseys. I also have plenty of wool shirts for regular wear. At first I was a bit skeptical of wool for summer running as well. Was it really light enough? I'm had enough great experiences with wool and the various brands that I figured it was worth a try.

I'd been wearing various shirts - lots of different variants of the new range of tech tees. I didn't like most of them. I didn't like the way they felt against my body. I didn't like the stink afterwards. Some from races, some from running shops.

So I tried wool. I bought a couple super lightweight shirts from Icebreaker and one from Stoic. Wool is it! First of all it feels great against my skin - it's soft and feels natural. Even when it's above 75 degrees, I'm not getting any warmer. It doesn't stink - I usually wear one of my wool shirts 3 or 4 times before washing it.

Go for it - give wool a try. You'll be surprised!


P.S. All those tech tees are gone - donated to One World Running

Another day perhaps

Memorial Day in Boulder is a wild affair with more than 50,000 runners making their way through the city. Add to that another 50,000 spectators, family, supports and so on. That's a lot of people!

The Bolder Boulder 10k is a truly unique event. It's the only athletic event that actually goes through the city of Boulder. It takes mountains of volunteers - my guess is every water station had 150-200 cheering volunteers offering water or Gatorade and plenty of encouragement. The race takes 5 hours from the start of the very first wave of wheelchair athletes at 6:55, followed every minute or two by another wave of 500-1000 runners. Since it winds it's way through several neighborhoods there are plenty of spectators camped out watching the streams and streams of legs and shoes and costumes make their way past.

Of course there's entertainment as well. The Blues Brothers greet you just a quarter mile after the start, followed my gymnasts just down the block doing their flips. Maybe I was hallucinating, but I'm sure I saw Elvis around mile 2. I believe I saw several more on the course as well. For those inclined someone had a slip-n-slide set up in their front lawn. I passed on that one. Then there were at least a dozen bands along the course blasting out Tom Petty or CCR or Pink Floyd. I was impressed by the four young kids who couldn't be in their teens yet playing in front of the firehouse near the top of the course at mile 4.

Of course the finish is the coolest of any race I've ever been at. After a sharp incline at the finish, everyone enters the tunnel on the field at Folsom Stadium - the stadium of the University of Colorado. For the early runners there are only a few thousand people there, but by the end there are perhaps 20,000 people cheering as you cross the finish line.

I ran last year just a few weeks after starting my running journey. My goal wasn't time, it was just to be out there and enjoy it. This year while browsing the Bolder Boulder website I found a section called Ageless Wonders. These are awards given to the runners whose time is lower than their age. After having a solid 10K last summer, my goal was to join the Ageless Wonders.

Since the beginning of the year my running has been great. Pacing was improving, legs and lungs were getting stronger. I was sure that beating 41 minutes was possible. In fact just 4 weeks ago I did that on the front 10k of a 15k race. The Bolder Boulder course is hillier, still I thought I could do it. That confidence faded over the past week as I noticed how tired I was and recovery wasn't happening as fast. I didn't feel sick, just tired. Nevertheless I rested during the week and thought I had enough reserves for my goal. I wasn't going to decide until the morning of the race what the plan was.

Waking at 5am this morning I checked my pulse, I had a nice, low resting pulse more indicative of being ready. My legs felt alright, like maybe they had enough for today. Once at the start line my warmup felt tight like it was hard to get speed. All I could do was wait for the start and see what the day would hold.

The gun for the third wave went off at 7:02 and me with it. The first mile felt fast and yet contained. Actually I was even a little surprised at how easy the first 6 minutes went by. My breathing felt good. I knew the first test was a small rise on Folsom about 1.5 miles into the race. Normally I have a little kick to get up and over these type of bumps with a reasonably quick recovery on the other side. The kick wasn't there, and neither was the recovery. My legs were alright, but I was really starting to notice my breathing. My chest was even hurting a little. I kept this up for awhile, and then let it go. I couldn't hold this for another almost 4 miles. This just wasn't my day and I had to acknowledge that.

I walked for a bit trying to catch my breath and then started running again, making my way back into the crowd. There was no reason I couldn't finish the race, even if I walked. For now I just ran, enjoyed the cheers, enjoyed the weather (perfect temps - 50 degrees), enjoyed the music, and didn't worry about who was passing me.

After cresting the peak of the course near mile 4 I knew there was a general downhill trend for the next mile. I just followed my legs and this section confirmed what I already knew. On a good day I could just flow fast through this, not today. Somewhere around mile 5 I did feel a second wind, not a very strong one, but with only a mile to go, I went with it and had a good fast finish.

All-in-all a good day to be out running and what a crowd to run with! Not the time I was shooting for, but I know it's in me. Another day perhaps ...

A Chill in the Air

March and April were both unusually warm and dry for Boulder. May seems to be bucking that trend with quite a few Seattle-like days of cooler temperatures and overcast skies. After living in Seattle for 15 years, I sometimes miss it. Today was one of those days. Waking up with a grey sky, the smell of moisture in the air, a light dew still on the grass.

A perfect day for running!

One of the events I have planned for the summer has some extended downhill stretches so I wanted to get some 'practice' in. One of the longest extended downhills I know of in the area is Lefthand Canyon. Unfortunately it's pavement, but still a good place to see what my quads have in them.

Despite being a Saturday, Boulder was sleeping in today. Normally on a nice spring day there are hundreds of cyclists up Lefthand Canyon and dozens of hikers in cars making their way up to the myriad of trails and lakes around Brainerd. In the first half of my run, I saw just four cyclists and not many more cars. I missed the company of the cyclists and the friendly waves so often shared. On the other hand, I appreciated the clean, fresh air without so much exhaust.

On this morning, the run felt like I could have been somewhere in Seattle. Overcast skies certainly contributed to the feeling. Also the rolling river of melting snow and leftover rain from last night. Boulder is showing off its finest greens and lushness this time of year, similar to the extensive year-round green of the Pacific Northwest. The only thing missing was moss on all four sides of the trees.

Since I wanted some continuous downhill, that meant the first half was continual uphill. With the chilly morning air and the general assumption that the temperature would warm up slightly by the time I turned around, I headed out from 5500 feet in shorts and a t-shirt. The run up was smooth and I stayed warm enough enjoying the canyon pretty much to myself this morning. It took almost an hour before I started to find a good groove.

The turnaround around 8000 feet was a bit of a shock. Within a few minutes of turning around, I could feel the difference in temperature, both because of the elevation difference and because of a rolling uphill fog. At that point I was definitely wishing for another layer. The chill really hit my hands to the point where it was achy to open and close them. As cyclists pass I usually wave, not today, it was just a nod.

To this point I was doing well with my food, water, and salt tablets. What I had left was a half of a bar and a package of Clif Blocks. I really wanted the Clif Blocks, but my hands were too cold to open a package! I finished off my half of a bar and hoped the temperature would warm up so I could open the Clif Blocks later. That didn't happen and finally I stopped for a few seconds to get the plastic open with my teeth - I really needed some food. That Clif Blocks sure tasted good!

The cold stayed with me the whole way down so I was glad to get back to my car and my heated seats. In just a few minutes the rain started - that would have been really cold!

All in all another really good run! And my quads held up pretty well.

Running on this Earth

When we walk like (we are running), we print anxiety and sorrow on the earth. We have to walk in a way that we only print peace and serenity on the earth... Be aware of the contact between your feet and the earth.
Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

While this quote is about walking, I like to read it with regards to running as well, replacing 'walk' with 'run'. This is profound for how we run - being aware of our thoughts, intentions, our body, our placement of our feet on the earth. It all matters.

Going out to kiss the earth.