2013 Catalina Island Marathon Race Report

An island in the Pacific sounds more appealing than weathering another snowstorm in Colorado, so this year I made sure to sign up with Jimmy Salasovich, who has run Catalina 5 or 6 times now. Really, the island is only 25 miles away from LA, but it's practically impossible to get a car onto the island, therefore it's not that much like LA.

Logistics: Getting on and off Santa Catalina Island involves giving in to the Catalina Express Ferry or taking a helicopter. Based on Jimmy's past experience, we chose to fly into LAX on Friday morning to be able to take the 4:30 Ferry over to Two Harbors from San Pedro (the only port offering service to Two Harbors). From the airport we grabbed a shuttle to San Pedro that was rather convenient and timed perfectly. The race offers bib/packet pickup at either the start or the finish. Some racers choose to stay in Avalon (which offers far more in the way of city life than Two Harbors), however, they must also take a 4:30AM ferry around to the north end of the island, which is infamous for toying with breakfast. We partook in the pre-race pasta dinner and then camped a few minute walk from the starting line. We also chose to hang out in Avalon on Saturday and take the Sunday morning Ferry back to Long Beach. This requires a late afternoon flight out of LAX for the timing to work out, which one should probably plan this section before planning the flight times.

Chilly ferry ride over to Catalina Island

Saw some whales in the water and buffalo on the island from the boat

Someone's bonfire on the beach in Two Harbors

Camping at Two Harbors was a little windy and I didn't get much sleep but was still likely far better than staying in Avalon. I went to sleep at 9 and felt like I slept well, woke up and looked at my phone and it was 10:30PM. This was going to be a long night. I dozed off and woke up a bunch and then starting at 3, I just laid there til about 5:30AM listening to the wind whip my tent fly around. We packed up tents and got ready to run in a campground bathroom facility that was warmer than the tent. The night was decently cold, dipping into the low 40s with ocean breeze and high humidity. At 6:45 we headed over to the start and dropped off our packs on a truck to be shuttled to the finish. We then stood around shivering until 7:05. Lots of runners were warming up, greeting old friends, or eying Buffalo up on the hillside. The weather called for 60-65 degrees and I opted for shorts/short sleeve with arm warmers. I think it was a good choice. Others were wearing down vests and tights but as well as some runners with no shirt.

Standing around pre-race. Pretty cold here.

Interestingly, the race allows anyone to start earlier and they just tell race officials their number and can begin their journey. A portion of the crew started earlier and some runners were taking off 10 mins before the crowd. At 7:05, the race actually began and my solid past couple months of training were about to be tested. I worked up to over 50 mi/wk which is pretty good volume for me. I got in a couple of 20 mile long runs with course-like elevation profiles, and even did a couple track workouts (full set of Yasso 800s at 3m25s, and worked up to 5x1M at 7 min pace). I tapered appropriately, lowered my coffee intake over race week and by race day was ready to go. My main goal was to PR (weak marathon PR of 4h40m way back in 2004 at my first marathon), kinda hoped I could beat Jimmy, and unrealistically also dreamed of breaking 4 hrs on this dirt road course with ~4500 ft of elevation gain.

I had some Garmin watch issues where the battery wouldn't hold a charge very long, so I had my watch charging right before the start. I also wore my heart rate monitor strap, carried my phone in my shorts pocket and carried a water bottle with 2 gels. At the start, my watch said low battery, so about a half mile in, I grabbed my phone and fired up strava to simultaneously record the data. My HR was pretty high 90-100 before the start possibly due to the instant coffee I just drank or due to other race day jitters.

Once underway my HR spiked up to about 180 and then settled back to 150. After about a half mile the first hill came and Jimmy and I found a very comfortable pace and I mostly quit looking at my heart rate, just tried to keep it comfortable. There are a ton of aid stations on this course, so I made it a point to try to not pay much attention to most of them, however I did notice that none seemed to have any gels so I planned out how to best utilize the 2 gels that I brought with me. I took the first one at 45 mins in to get the caffeine boost and planned to save the other for mile 17 to get me to the end. Given this, I decided to switch from water to Gatorade at the aid stations to get some extra calories.

Working on the first climb

Jimmy and I ran together for the first 5 miles or so and separated by a little on an early downhill, however we could see each other all day on switchbacks and were only a minute apart most of the day. I hit the first 10K mark at 55 mins and things were going well. The halfway point came at 2 hrs on the nose and still everything went as planned. I ate a banana and grabbed a swig of coke and redbull at 2 different stations. My quads felt some of the early downhills but I hoped to have enough in them to finish strong. The views along the route were great and the temps cranked up quite a bit. I dropped my arm warmers to my wrists and used them to wipe sweat from my forehead the rest of the race.

Flat section at mile 13-14

Somewhere around mile 14, Jimmy caught back up and we ran together for a while longer and then he took off as the hills steepened. I was giving it my all, while trying to keep the right amount held back to finish strong with nothing left. At mile 16.5 I took my last gel and prepared for the hilly section between 17 and 23. Throughout this section, I gave in to walking some of the uphills that were easily runnable just to use some different muscles in my legs. My hamstrings were now feeling fatigued, but I knew at 23 it would be all downhill to the finish and I wouldn't need them anymore.

I got passed here by a good number of people and I think we were all ready to jump in the ocean as it was really warm out.  The big downhill came at 23 and I did my best to muster up a 9m30s pace. I could have benefited from a little extra left in my quads but it wasn't there. The dirt turned into pavement and I knew I was close but not sure how much to trust the distance signs as they were correct up to mile 8 and about a half mile off from 9-24 miles. There was a 1.5 mile space between the 24 and 25 mile signs and once I saw the 26, I could also see the finish, but my watch turned off at mile 17.

Relaxing on the beach

I finished with everything I had left in 47th place (of 411) at 4h10m (about 8 mins behind Jimmy) and seriously needed to sit down. 5 mins later, all was good and we hung out the rest of afternoon watching the remaining 85% come in to town. The post race weather was breezy and chilly and I couldn't convince myself to get in the cold ocean. Jimmy knew of some pay showers that were well worth the $5 and then we turned to eating a couple lunches and dinner.

Post race party and awards ceremony

Overall it was a great course, great scene, and a pretty fun time. I am certainly happy with my day and experienced nothing more painful than some sore leg muscles. I pushed an avg HR of 175 over the first 17 miles until my watch died and felt adequately prepared for about the first 20 miles. The last 6 went fine, but I probably lost 15 spots, but I can't complain about a 30 min personal best at 26.2.

Link to Strava Data

Walker ranch sunrise run

With the glorious native American summer that we are granted this year, I got in a late season lap around walker. Since running isn't a sport, I'm clearly not a sportsman, but if I were, I wouldn't go hungry at Walker today. At the start of the loop I encountered the largest buck I've seen in the wild. I managed to get this "shot" off.

I kept my distance. I saw maybe 10 other deer and was within 10 feet of 4 little does and a button buck. Also saw 30+ turkeys on the drive up!

Don't worry guys, been vegan since last century.
7.5 miles, 1500 ft gain. 1h19m. Garmin Data

N Mount Massive

Depending on who you ask, the number of 14ers in Colorado can vary from 53 to about 59. The difference are peaks that are either too close to other higher peaks to count as a separate mountain or ones that are far enough away but the drop between the peaks is insignificant (usually about 300 ft). I hiked Mt Massive (the 2nd highest in CO) a long time ago and didn't know to care enough about walking 1.14 miles along the ridge to a bump called N. Massive. So after finishing the 14ers in 2007, it was kind of cool to still have one left.

After some serious indecisiveness, like literally on the drive from the front range, we still hadn't fully decided between Drift peak, Massive or Yale. Upon pulling into Leadville, we'd apparently ruled out Drift since we passed the trailhead, however we added the possibility of either climbing Oklahoma or Elbert. Still George and Mike were undecided and Ziva was ready to get the show on the trail, so I spoke up and proclaimed N. Massive.

We loaded up and set forth about 8:30 with only 1 or 2 other cars at the N Halfmoon Trailhead. After 1.5 miles, we passed a trail junction leading up the S slopes of Massive, a route we would come down later in the day, but first we skirted around the ridge into the valley home to the N Halfmoon lakes.

Looking up at the valley wall we had to decide where to gain the ridge.

N Massive is straight ahead. We ascended the wall to the ridge at the far left of this photo

The climb up the wall is steep.

Looking back at Oklahoma (left) from the ridge

The ridge walk is long and has a few interesting obstacles that we mostly skirted around on the N side of the ridge. A few summit shots from Mt Massive summit.

Then we followed the very steep S Slopes trail back to the junction at 1.5 miles in. Total day was about 10 miles with 4200 ft of elevation gain. garmin data

2012 Rattlesnake Ramble

In the car on the way home from this race, I told my family this race is my favorite race. This race and Leadville.  I guess I'm not getting any faster. I don't very often test myself against my previous times. However I've done the Rattlesnake Ramble in Eldorado Springs, CO a couple times now and my times are 39:44 in 2005, 39:31 in 2011, and this year 39:54. It's a 4.2 mile race that covers the main (but not the climbing access) trails in Eldorado state park. This year was the first time that I'd run it in an even year, therefore the race is run in a different direction than my past experiences.

The honorable John Prater said go and I knew my body was about to hate me. We took off straight uphill that makes everyone annoyed. It's really tough to manage the start when the start is uphill on a serious false flat. I tried to keep everything in check but my watch was mad at me and beeping "heart rate too high," which is funny because I've never seen that error before. I think it was getting a false reading and within another few seconds it settled into 175 which was the lowest it would be for a while. I kept motoring up the road hoping to save a little for the real climb ahead. We hit the eldo trail and mile 1 done in 11:36 and I started power hiking as planned and just kept my position. I passed a runner here or there but for the most part it's just follow the leader for the next half mile.

I got my first view at the frontrunners and before I knew it was already at the end of the park/turnaround. I took the downhill pretty easy trying to lower my heart rate which was high 180s at this point. The road connector to the Fowler trail was tough as it felt very slow, is open and non-technical so road runners take off here and I was now in pretty serious anaerobicity. The savior was the amazing view running out the fowler trail with the Bastille wall and the wind tower in a little haze with sun shining down. It was glorious and I forgot that I was running a race. I need to go back at this time of day to grab a picture of this view.

Oh yeah, serious hurtin' here. I did my best to keep my stride short and fast, but the turnaround didn't come fast enough. I started getting passed by a bunch of women. No guys though. On the way back I gave in and walked about 2 steps, but then threw it back in gear because I knew the downhill finish was about to arrive.

Once I rounded the curve, I was super glad to see no one right behind me or slightly in front. I was pushing as hard as I could go and didn't need external motivation to hold someone off or catch anyone. I was pushing a 5:30 pace for the last 1/2 mile as it's all downhill and again got the warning alarm about my HR. I looked down and saw 195. Ouch. Through the chute and I'm done.

Again it's better to be lucky than fast as the top few runners got their pick at the amazing prizes on the award table and then race director Bill Wright pulls raffle numbers out of a box and almost everyone walks away with some additional prize. I was hanging out here with a bunch of friends and friends of friends and I got called in about 5th place and picked up a fresh sharp pair of Kahtoola Microspikes to go with my cool tech shirt. $32 well spent.

Maybe I outta do some trackwork or something. My mile splits did get progressively faster though 11:36, 11:00, 8:23, 7:50, and 5:47 pace for the final 0.2 mi. Average HR 184.

Memorial of Indie

Sometime in April of 2002, just after moving to Colorado, I adopted a 3 year old dog from the Mile High Weimaraner Rescue. So much has happened in the last 10.5 years of my life and Indie was with me through it all. She passed away this week, and I have been reminiscing all weekend. I've gone through some pictures and pulled out ones to show some of what we've been through together.

She has traveled with me from Colorado to the Grand Canyon, Tetons, Yosemite, Glacier, Montana, several trips to North Carolina, California to Oregon, Utah, and all over Colorado.

First picture I have of us together - April 2002.

On a winter day in the Boulder Mountains

First backpacking trip. She's ready for dinner.

At the Tetons

Halloween

Is that a binky?

She accompanied me on so many 14ers. Here's Missouri Mountain.

Heidi and Indie en route to Huron Peak

The worst she has ever smelled - cleaning it off in a pristine mountain lake.

Wedding Day photo. She walked down the aisle with me and stood next to us

Curious about a marmot

Running down with Heidi off of Uncompagre to beat out the thunderstorm

Kehoe Beach in N. California

She slept in a tight circle practically on top of me every night for 10 years

She loved opening presents. This is her looking in the Hanukkah box

Under the covers

Downtown San Francisco

About to become a sister

In Yosemite National Park with pregnant Heidi

Such a family girl

Christmas 2011

Starting to show her age

One of her last runs

At least memories live forever. Love ya, little girl.

Mt Bierstadt - Wednesday after work

Ryan and I left Golden at 5 and drove up to Guanella Pass to try to watch sunset from the summit of Mt Bierstadt. I've done this a few times on Grays and Torreys, but this was the first sunset hike on Bierstadt. This fine September day boasted the gentlest weather I've experienced on a 14er; warm, calm, and awesome. Based on the stats of RT 7.7 mi, and 2700 ft gain, I hoped it was as runable as Audubon was on Monday. However the first mile is rather downhill such that 2500 ft is really only spread over 2 miles.  I found it was a little too inefficient to run much on the ascent.

Sun setting on the Sawtooth Ridge between Bierstadt and Evans

We made steady progress up while seeing only 3 others on the mountain (each heading down) and ended up still being about 15 minutes from the top during sunset over Square Top Mountain. Still a nice show though. Someone left a bag at the summit from WhichWich so we took our picture with it to claim a free lunch on Friday.

Sunset behind Square Top Mountain. Grays and Torreys are the 2 pyramids on the right side

90 minutes up and about an hour 20 down. We could have pushed much harder on the way down but no need to hurry today.

Mt Audubon - Labor Day weekend 2012

Inspired by following the Spot GPS tracks during recent amazing endeavors on the high peaks, I was anxious to get up high and enjoy the peaks before the snow starts flying. Heidi wanted to revisit Mt Audubon as it climbs relatively straightforwardly to over 13K with less than an hour to arrive at the trailhead. Hannah spent the night at Grandma's house which afforded us the leisure to get up and go as early as we wanted.

Start of the fourmile canyon fire 2 years ago

We arrived at Mitchell Lake Trailhead at 6:30 AM and dropped a $10 bill in the envelope of the newly added self pay station and gathered our belongings. Two years ago, on Labor day weekend, we climbed Audubon and saw from above the start of the 4 mile canyon fire. We saw that it started far before the news ever admits. Here is a shot from around the time that it was reported to have started. It was super windy up high and we toughed it out.
This year, as we climbed the winds were ever so familiar and fearing deja vu, we checked for smoke clouds all day.

Navajo Peak under a full moon and clouds

Once above treeline the winds picked up more and more, and Heidi suggested turning around. I was in agreement and just happy to be out hiking that I didn't care much about making the summit. We headed down as the wind seemed to settle down.

On Monday, I got the pass to go for a hike on my own. I contemplated many options but decided I wanted to push myself and get up Audubon as fast as I could. This time I waited until late afternoon in hopes of hitting the peak at sunset in the warmth and cruising down by headlight. I arrived at the TH utilizing my same receipt from the previous day (which is good for 3 days) in a downpour. I figured the storm would soon pass so I geared up and got ready to leave just as the rain was letting up.

I took the first 20 min easy as a warmup, downed a gel and got to work. The clouds parted and displayed a full rainbow. I pushed hard and constantly had to adjust my clothes as the wind was wailing and quite cold, but would occasionally die down. I hit the summit at 90 minutes, hunkered down in the wind shelter, put on my insulated jacket and got ready to run down.

Back to the trailhead in another hour. 2h35m roundtrip.