3rd annual BPL Spring Run Adventure

Mucho success on your run! Sounds like a blast. I'd join you if I could! (Ummmm, for the beer at the end, that is….)

I'm a little over a week into my new Bedrock sandals, and I'm really diggin em. My main concern with huaraches was that they wouldn't stay put, but the bike tube rubber on these really works great. Just plain fun to run in :)

Thanks gents, loaded up and heading on the road here in a few. Supposed to be below freezing at the start tomorrow and I'm having a difficult time remembering what that feels like wearing shorts. The very little Swedish blood in me is decidedly absent when the temperature drops. The inability to grow a beard doesn't help either.

Art, I'll be taking it easy at the start this time around. I appreciate the tip and Iet you know know how things shake out.

Hey fellas! Wyatt Earp told me the gang was getting together again! Yee-haw!

Life's been really jacking up my running lately, but hell, by April I should be able to make something happen. Especially with winter coming, it's the best time to run here in the the San Gabes. Really glad to see how well Mike and Eugene have been doing, sound like you guys are having a blast. Looking forward to an update from Eugene soon. It's looking like cramps are just going to remain part of the deal for me, as I've realized after my little Joshua Tree escapade that I've had them really all my life. However, now I know, and I've adjusted myself accordingly, so it's on like donkey kong.

Craig's bringing the family on this one so i'll be cruising the van and just sleeping in it. Knowing my wife though, she's gonna jump in last minute and drag the whole bunch of kids with her! We were out in Zion recently for the first time and they fell for the place big time. I know I say this every time, but I'm super excited about this one!! No funny business this time. Okay maybe minor cramping but none of this suffering I did the last couple times! It's on!

>"Zion has it's fair share of ups and downs (but not nearly as brutal as say the Grand Canyon), my wild guess is when you average the runnable sections and the walking sections- it will be in 3.5-4 mph range"

Mike/Wyatt/Agent K: I only did 28 miles of the R2R2R (I should have HYOH'ed and not run any of it), but have done a lot of hiking in GCNP. By the numbers, a Zion traverse looks to have about as much vertical (10,000 gain, 10,000 loss) as a R2R2R (11,000 gain, 11,000 loss) spread over a slightly longer distance (48 miles OW versus 42 miles RT). So what do you mean by "not nearly as brutal"? It looks like more varied slopes, but almost as much vertical and 14% more horizontal than R2R2R.

I have a theory that Half Dome is consistently easier than South Rim-River-South Rim despite HD being longer horizontal and at a higher elevation because HD is more varied. I find GCNP harder on my legs because I'm taking the same damn step up the same damn slope the whole way up (and down). I feel less sore after hiking a variety of terrain. Your thoughts?

Anyway, it would be great to see you guys again, have a training goal through the long, Alaskan winter, and see some pretty country in April. I'd do it hiking-only which means starting 4 hours earlier or ending 4 hours later, which is fine with me. My only hesitation is a planned family trip to Italy the second half of March, so it's a tougher sales job to propose, "And 4 days after we get back, and you're getting slammed at the office, I'll pop off to Zion." I'll be looking for the right time to ask.

" I have a theory that Half Dome is consistently easier than South Rim-River-South Rim despite HD being longer horizontal and at a higher elevation because HD is more varied. "

ohh lordy, it just Has to be. i mean, some old and fat people do half dome. i am qualify most thoroughly in both ways, and even i got away with one last romp up it. (was not a big deal)

HD has that long flat spot in the middle that sort of lets you rest, and often, a nice selection of cuties to keep your mind occupied.

in my op, you get better points for r2rxxx .. whatever acrynom is used, than for half dome.
heck, i seen asian moms in low heels at the head of Nevada falls, and that's what, about 1/3 of the way up.

"HD has that long flat spot in the middle that sort of lets you rest, and often, a nice selection of cuties to keep your mind occupied."

Haha! Skurka didn't provide any specs in that regard…

Adan- I say the same thing every time as well, but heck it's true- I'm excited, glad you're in :)

David- would be great if you could make it, missed you at Joshua Tree! I say "not as brutal" as the elevation (gain/loss) doesn't come in one fell swoop (well make that two fell swoops :) )- 47 miles regardless of terrain is going to be brutal, I have no doubts about that, but brutal in a fun way!

Mike

I had a mediocre race but one hell of a weekend up at Mt. Taylor. The overall experience was stellar. I highly recommend all of you putting that race on your calendar next year and coming down for it. For you guys in CA, it's only a 10hr drive from LA. Why run it? 100% of the race proceeds go on to benefit the Nideiltihi Native Elite Runners and the native running community in the four corners region benefits immensely from us sharing their sacred mountain. In addition to that, 8 miles of the course is run on sweet CDT singletrack, with much of the course running through aspen groves and stretches along trails that wind up and around the wide base of Mt. Taylor. If any of you guys are interested in coming out to NM sometime, that would be a good time to meet up and race together.

The race started at 630 and we ran east to greet the sun as it crested over the distant Sandia Mtns. and mesas far to the east. It was around 24F at the race start with a stiff wind as we made our way up the first steep climb. The first half was a cruise, cold and windy, but the morning was beautiful and the scenery was blowing my mind. I felt great heading into mile 16 at the Rock Tank aid station, only 10 minutes behind my running mates Dan Carter and Clifton Trujillo, but that wouldn't last. Maybe one mile after leaving the station I started having the first bout of cramps, which eventually led to me laid out next to the trail pounding out a locked up right quad until it released. I did my best to rub them out and stretch but they would nag me the remainder of the race. My goal was to run sub 7 and ideally run around 6hrs30mins which was totally doable, but the cramps killed the second half of my run. I salvaged the run and crossed the line in 7hrs. 30mins. with a huge smile, shook some hands, exchanged some hugs, and made my way towards the keg of IPA.

I'll be back next Sept. for another run out there and I hope some of you guys might consider running it with me.

Nice work man, sounds like a good time. 7:30 is a burly time, and 24degrees and windy is a hell of a way to start.

Eugene- congrats, sounds like a great event. I watched a great indy movie called "Racing the Rez", they chronicled two reservation teams throughout their season, tremendous movie and very inspirational. I'll definitely consider it for next year, maybe you can come up here and catch a race (and take in some sights) :)

Mike

Great effort Eugene. sorry to hear about the cramps, caused by the cold ??
Sounds like a beautiful place to run.

Eugene, Taylor looks superb, sounds like you had yourself some fun out there. Maybe cramps slowed you down a bit, but it sounds like they had no effect at all on your enjoyment of it. congrats man.

If you decided to round up a crew and do that mountain on our own, I would be down for that. I've never quite gotten into the organized race idea, but I might be open to trying something like that eventually, especially for a good cause.

Mostly, thanks for the inspiration man. I get alot out of everybody's trip reports on here so lets keep em coming guys!

The first Saturday of April may work for me. I'll be watching this thread.

^ sounds good :)

I'm happy to report my first almost mid-pack race finish- Blue Mtn 30k in MIssoula- several good climbs, but nothing bordering on ridiculous, lots of runnable sections- a little technical, but it keeps you on your toes! The weather was almost perfect- race started out at 30F, finished it was low 50's- nice :)

^ Solid Mike!

Sounds like you're making the best of the fall season right now.

Congrats to both Mike and Eugene on the recent runs.

Anyone want to start a training thread like we had for the R2R2R?
Adan is the only other person I run with down here, so bringing you guys in for support would be helpful to me. Anyone that wants to give me a verbal a$$ kicking for not getting any miles in is welcome to do so. I have a neck injury from surfing right now and will be easing up for a few weeks…a good time to get a running habit started again.

Does BPL no longer let us "F" (for FUN) members receive thread updates? I haven't gotten a single one, and have been missing out on all the discussion. Anywhoo… I'll manually follow along.

Re: the proposed date in April – sounds good to me.

Re: the direction – East to West gets the big climb out of the way early, correct? If so, and if that provides a bailout at ~30 miles in, it seems to make a lot of sense. I'd much rather face that big climb at the start than at the end.

Re: the pace – I plan on being at the back whatever that means. Not sure how I'll fare on this one, but my personal goal would be finishing in under 13 hours.

Re: Eugene and Mike's races – Congrats guys. I need to get running asap, will start tomorrow! Been a looong summer of relative lethargy.

Re: Craig's photo of Kikuchiyo – Good stuff, that used to be my avatar :)

Re: training thread – I'm in! Just don't laugh at my starting mileages, like I said, I haven't been running… my activities this summer closely resemble Doug's training program.

Questions on my brain…
– From what I've read I don't assume water will be an issue, just a matter of carrying enough between sources. I've read a little about the various spots to camel up, have any of you checked this out, and if so what's your plan?

– Are we carrying all of our calories this time, or will it be possible to do a single re-supply at some point? My impression was, the former.

– I have a runner friend who is interested in joining if everyone is ok with it. He's in good shape and a pretty chilled out guy. Anyone object to a non-BPL'er joining us?

Other…
– Sandra D will be along for support once again.

– It's possible that I'm about to take a dirt nap and none of the above will be pertinent. I have to meet up with a cardiologist soon. My heart was doing some strange stuff about a month ago. Got checked out by the doc, hooked up to robots and stuff… everything looked fine, so I'm not sure what's up. I'll keep you posted or, if I just die, then remember my mantra: A.B.B …always be berserking!

west to east does provide a drop out option @ ~ 34 miles, however the steepest climb comes shortly after that point

there should be decent water at that time of the year, I'm going to bring my steripen for fill ups

there really is only one decent resupply point and that's at the 34 mile point, so even w/ a re-supply you'll have to carry sufficient calories for at least that long

I sure don't see any problem w/ a non-bpler joining in the fun

hope you get a clean bill of health and can join us!

I might be interested in joining you for the Zion traverse if that would be OK. It would be a nice change for me to have a spring adventure run to focus on. I've been mostly a lurker on BPL, but have been doing UL backpacking and trail running for a long time. Let me know if you want more info about me.

Bruce

Bruce- would be great if you can make it :) Craig and Adan build a large fire!

Mike

If you all are up for another lurker I'd love to come. I just ran my first race after a 2 year break from organized runs and have a 50k in December. I need to work on endurance, but I should be the there by April.

Cory- not a problem at all, looking forward to seeing old friends and new! This has the makings for another great run and get together

Mike

Cory, my only caution is the reputation you'll get from hanging out with us.

Cory, looking forward to meeting you in April.