Race Report : Baldy Marathons - 04/28/2018

Baldy Marathons Madness

It all started months ago when a fast ultra runner friend of mine heard I was planning to do Barkleys Fall Classic and/or UTMB/OCC this year.  Jake Dinardi said if you are really series about training for those then I know a race director that has put together a course with a fairly high ‘suffer index’. That conversation lead to friending the RD on FB, some messages exchanged and ultimately Aaron Sorensen added me to the ‘closed’ FB groups after I registered on ultra signup even tho technically the race was closed. Thanks Aaron … I thought at the time!  Thus began my training for my first ‘off trail, self supported mountain orienteering’ race.

Race Reflection : UTMB/OCC 2016

I'm in for UTMB/OCC 2018!  I'm both excited and terrified at the same time.  Two years ago I also got in, was all prepared, took many photos and videos before during and after the and and got cut.  You have no idea how it feels to be on top of the world - literally - then hear you are being cut because you didn't make the aid station cutoff time.  I'm going back much wiser from not only being cut but because I knew one of the factors was not giving myself enough time to recover from jetlag.  I'll be trained, have the cutoffs stamped on my arm and won't be taking any videos nor photos on course!

Here is my post from Aug 28, 2016 a day after I was cut from OCC because I wasn't paying attention to cutoffs.

Enjoy the photos at the end and can't wait to see everyone in Chamonix in a few months!!

Race Report : Under Armour Mountain Running : Copper Mountain, CO - Sep 9, 2017

My Execute Director called me into her office and informed me that we'd be traveling to Denver, CO for mandatory managers all hands to go over 2018 initiatives, etc.  Internally I groaned since the last thing I needed as we enter the busiest time of the year for us is to be distracted by what might be coming next year!  But a thought struck me. "What IF by some small miracle there was a cool trail race around the time I happen to be in Colorado?"  It as in mile high county home of famous cycling and trail running territory.  So, I hit halfmarathon dot net and several other well known race calendars and I came across an odd race a bit far from Denver in a funky place called "Copper Mountain".  I hit the race director's summary of the race that it starts at 9745 ft and peaks at 12,040 ft. See link here.  OMG - this was not your everyday run along the beach or local state park in California. Not even by Tahoe standards.  This was a Rocky Mountain race at an average 10k ft. Oh heck yeah where is the registration page cuz I'm in!

Race Report : Taiwan Beast Runners, deLoop, April 16, 2016

I’ve run a couple races in Taiwan before. Both road races in June. A 12k and half marathon (22k).  I could only get two weeks of vacation from work because of commitments but really wanted to find a trail race amongst the lush rain forest like conditions.  To my surprise, the Taiwan Beast Runners(TBR) had a UTMB, UTMF certified ‘loop’ race in just the environment I sought after – or so I thought.

Pre-race day Period: April 10^th-April 15^th

April in Taiwan has generally speaking for a sub-tropical island ‘nice’ weather in that there aren’t any monsoons nor is the weather too hot nor humid.  However, I knew that the humidity and timezone difference were different enough that I would need a few training runs to acclimate. So, I started the very next morning with a 10k then added 10k per day for three total workouts (10k, 20k, 30k*).  My last workout was cut short because what was supposed to be a dry day turned into torrential rains so only got 15k in.  I must say that my first work out the day after I arrived was tough. I mean a 10k should have been easy to knock out but I had to push my legs to finish. However, by the second day I ran a 20k with ease.

The 3AM bus pickup area.  I located the pickup area which was Taipei Main Train station East exit 3 and minutes from my mother in law’s house on Google Maps and thought easy.  I showed the map to my wife, then mother in law which promped a family walk using mom’s route to the train station. Mom’s route was most efficient of course because the MRT underground would be closed at that time, had to use surface streets and was easy enough to cross ‘no crossing area’ at 2:45AM provided you were not picked off my early morning race car drivers.

Race Report : Part 2 - Running the 6th World Major, Tokyo Marathon, Feb 22, 2015, Two Weeks In Taiwan

This is Part2 (of three total parts) detailing some interesting runs I had the pleasure of doing in Taiwan to prepare for the Tokyo marathon.  The three parts are:

• Part1 : How to got to the race and reflections on the race itself
• (This Part) : The two weeks we spent in Taiwan prior to the race
• Part3 : The three days we spent after the race in Tokyo/Hakone (Hot Springs Area) 

 Knowing that jetlag would be an issue for any traveler crossing the international date line and sleeping in different beds, etc we planned on a couple of weeks first in Taiwan, ROC; which is only 1.5 hours by flight from Japan and only off by 1 hour in timezone.  This excuse also provided us with more vacation abroad, time to visit my wife's family and for me to try some new beers and hookup with hard-core trail runners in Taiwan!

I had the great pleasure of finding the informative blog (Taipei Runner) and connecting with its author Amber.  She also has a Facebook page you can find here.

Here are three fun runs you can do while in Taipei.  I'll provide links to other running groups also in Taipei that I didn't get a chance this time to run with but want to next time I'm in Taiwan.

• Fun Run 1 : Riverside Park (JiLong aka KeeLung River)
• Fun Run 2 : Da-An Forest Park
• Fun Run 3 : YangMing Park:  QiXing Mountain Summit- aka Amber's Run

Summer trail mascot

Tuesday Trail day was a series of new experiences.  First we increased from 5 to 7 miles with almost 1900 feet of elevation change.  Second there were critters all over the place.  I was able to capture a picture of a tarantula roaming around. I was not able to get a picture of the bobcat with a squirrel in its mouth.  Love trail Tuesday!