Moab Alpine to Slickrock 50 mile race 2008 (and some climbing too!)

9/20/2008
50 miles
11,000' vertical gain, 12,000' vertical descent
10 hours, 42 minutes
Map from my Garmin Watch
Photos from my camera
Photos taken on the course during the race from Sean Cunniff
Photos from Greg Norrander (Pro quality)
Full results



Wow, so it's been weeks since I blogged at 'cha y'all. Sorry for that. It's been a fun few weeks so I hope to write about that soon but for now...I'm sitting here stiff and sore after running the Moab Alpine to Slickrock 50 mile race yesterday. This was my first time running this low-key, high-quality race and I really enjoyed it. If you like easy, flat 50 mile races, this one isn't for you but if you enjoy amazing mountainous terrain with super scenic views of canyonlands, put this race on your calendar for next year!

The pre-race on Friday was very relaxed and small. Only about 45 runners signed up for the race. Allison, Mom and I met up with Sean and Mike (running in his first 50 mile race ever) at the pre-race in Moab on Friday evening and we got the course briefing. It was all very informal and mellow and I really appreciated that. After dinner at Pasta Jays with Mike and Felicia, we drove to a campsite right near the start line at the Pack Creek Picnic Area in the La Sal Mountains. Camping there in the national forest was awesome with a campfire and the waning but bright moon. The only thing not awesome about it was the gigantic patch of goatheads that Allison and I pitched our tent on unknowingly. Well, even after realizing the mistake and adding another beefy tarp under the tent, we both still ended up with deflated Thermarests in the morning. (I later found 17 holes in mine and 6 holes in Allison's.) Nonetheless, I got a good night's sleep and awoke at 4:45am.

It was a warm morning and it was much easier to get out of bed than it often is at higher, colder runs. After downing a toasted bagel and 12oz of coffee I got my growler on and then headed over to the start line a few minutes before 6am. It was a small group of runners and I liked that. I started wearing shorts, sleeveless shirt, a visor, sunglasses, GPS watch and iPod. Also, I made a bold (and perhaps foolish decision) to wear a new pair of La Sportiva Fireblades that I had only run 7 miles in up until race day. The gamble paid off and I really liked the shoes. The low delta-H (10mm) is fantastic. :)

We all got going at 6:00am at the trailhead at 6,400' under the bright moonlight following the Pack Creek dirt road up for a few miles and eventually catching the Pack Creek trail which paralleled a decently deep river gorge on our left. The fall colors were amazing and as we climbed higher I had to take it easy so I wouldn't trip as I looked around to take it all in. The glowing light of the sunrise illuminating the red rock of Canyonlands to the west was phenomenal.

The first part of the course climbs hard from 6,400' to 10,400' in about nine miles to the La Sal 4x4 jeep road crossing through some scenic meadows along the way. From there it was descent on a jeep road and then more single track through some more nicely wooded areas with great views to the valley to the second aid station at Squaw Springs at mile 14. I enjoyed more great single track (and suffered a hard but non-painful digger) on the next section of single track to Oohwah Lake at mile 17. More climbing and more fantastic views summed up the next section of trail to the Geyser Pass aid station at mile 20. Allison and my Mom were crewing for me and were at Squaw Springs, Geyser Pass and Warner Lake and it was great to see them there!



After Geyser Pass came the climb up Burro Pass to the course's highpoint at 11,000+ feet. That was an awesome climb as at one point I looked up to watch the runner ahead of going up the pass and noticed the moon, appearing very large, above his head and above the pass. I wish I had taken my camera! The other side of Burrow Pass was a steep, technical descent that downhill mountain bikers love. I kept myself in check on this knowing I didn't want to beat up my quads just yet. I eventually rambled into the Warner Lake aid station at mile 26 in 6 hours, 5 minutes. I was doing exactly what I wanted to do--go out a decent pace but hold back enough so that I could run more later on the fast dirt roads. I was hoping for negative splits and I ended up with that. (5:50 for the first 25 and 4:52 for the last 25.)

The climb out of Warner Lake to the top of the pass into Miners Basin was an ass-kicker but I had some company (Shane who had just ran the Wasatch Front 100 miler a couple weeks ago) to commiserate on the way up. Shane would go on to finish in 10:01 in second place! On the descent into Miners Basin it rained and hailed on us pretty good for a short bit but that felt nice, actually. The Miners Basin aid station was done up in "saloon style" complete with liquor. I just went for the chicken noodle soup and some water though. From there it was a fast downhill on dirt road to the pave La Sal loop road where we turn left and run uphill on the paved road for a couple miles to the Kokopelli trail turn-off. The paved road kinda sucked but the killer view of Castleton Tower and Castle Valley more than made up for it!

After a quick stop for a bottle refill at the Kokopelli trail turn, I shuffled my way down the Kokopelli trail through the recently burned area. On my way down I passed a guy with a dog on his way uphill and he shouted, "Go Hilltoppers!" I didn't recognize him at all but he obviously knew I was from Los Alamos High School somehow. He would later catch back up to me and explain he had been talking with Allison earlier and that he, David, was from Los Alamos originally. Cool!

Thing started to get warm as I ran onto the Sand Flats Road and aid station at mile 36. I filled both my water bottles and reveled in the thought that the finish was only 14 miles of all downhill dirt road away. I actually managed to run most all of the remaning 14 miles at a decent pace (~9:00/mile) and felt good. I knew my race strategy had paid off as I distanced myself from the runner behind me and passed another runner that had been in front of me. It felt wonderful to actually be feeling good in the final 10 miles of a 50 mile race. That's a rarity for me. One short spur road off the main Sand Flats road was a bit rough as we had to run on a good bit of slickrock and rough terrain (but it was a nice change to get off the main Sand Flats road) and I hit the last aid station at mile 42.

I tanked up on water there, down some more gel and an electrolyte tablet and started going for it. I ran almost all of the final hot, open road to the finish walking only a couple of short uphills. With a few miles to go I took off my shirt as I felt I was overheating a bit. And then, just like that, I rounded a corner and saw the finish line at the Slickrock Bike Trail parking lot and kicked into as high a gear as I had left to finish in 10 hours, 42 minutes which turned out to put me in sixth place overall. I sauntered over to the shade of the CR-V where Allison and Mom had been waiting for me and just collapsed into the chair. It took me a while to get motivated to move but the thought of a shower, food and a beer in Moab was very motivating!



This race is awesome! The last seven miles are pretty brutal but the rest of the course really makes up for it. The low-key style of the race is very appealing to me and the terrain is some of the most scenic I've ever run.

Pikes Peak Ascent 2008-08-17

Pikes Peak on Sunday morning after the storms on Saturday during the ascent.

I found myself leaning my shoulder and head into the electric hand dryer in the Pikes Peak summit house, rubbing my hands together and grimacing in pain as the blood and feeling returned to my purple fingers. To the tourists walking into the restroom, I must have looked like some idiot as I continually restarted the air cycle of the dryer by pushing the side of my forehead into the big silver button.

I had just finished running my first-ever Pikes Peak Ascent in what many are calling the worst conditions ever for the race. When the race started in Manitou Springs at 7:00am, it was drizzling and the temperature was around 50 degrees. When I arrived on the summit of Pikes Peak after 13.32 miles, 7,815’ vertical feet of climbing and 3 hours, 12 minutes of running, it was snowing, the temperature was 32 degrees, the wind was blowing between 20 and 30mph and there was an occasional flash of lightning accompanied by some thunder.


View Larger Map

That morning, just before the start gun fired, I took off my wind shell jacket and tied it around my waist knowing I would appreciate it later above treeline. The forecast for the summit of Pikes Peak called for snow and winds up to 20mph. In the jacket pocket, I stashed a light beanie. On my body I wore a long sleeve synthetic shirt over a short sleeve synthetic shirt, shorts, smart wool socks and some lightweight trail running shoes. I had a pair of very light gloves in the pocket of my shorts. I also decided to carry a pair of cycling arm warmers in my other pocket. For fuel I carried a single 20oz hand bottle and a small gel bottle filled with about four gel packets-worth of Carb-Boom strawberry-kiwi energy gel.

The race started off well and I watched the fast runners shoot on ahead as I tried to stay towards the back of the front-runners pack. JV (Jeff Valliere) was gone and out of sight in no time on his way to his 2:53:34 finish so I locked onto friend Jeff Kunkle and made my best effort to keep him in sight for as long as I could. Not having run this race before, I was sure what kind of pace to hold down low and Kunkle had completed this race many times so my strategy was to just keep an eye on him to help pace me.
As we funneled into a single line of runner from the pavement onto the trail to reach Barr Trail, I watched Kunkle about 8 people ahead of me and tried to keep it that way. I expected it to be more hectic and tough to pass people on the trail up the Ws but it wasn’t very difficult. Everyone was very considerate and moved over if they felt someone else coming up behind them.

I set off on this race hoping to run it in 3 hours, 10 minutes. Using the online PPA pace calculator, I memorized three major split times along the course so I would know how I was doing on my way up. At the top of the Ws, I should be at 38:13. I ended up at 37:00. At Barr Camp I should be at 1:36:34. I ended up at 1:32:06. And at the A Frame, I should be at 2:15:21. I ended up there at 2:12:31. For my part, I did a pretty good job of pacing myself. I owe a lot of that to Kunkle too. I managed to keep him in sight, and even talk with him a bit, up until the Barr Camp. After that, though, he charged off to his 3:02:33 finish and I didn’t see him again until the summit.

Personally, I was feeling pretty good and on schedule for my 3:10 finish. The light rain was off and on but never very hard and the wind hadn’t kicked up. But that all changed when I came to the A Frame with about three miles to go. From here, we were out of the trees and into the full winds and snow. The trail began to get slushy from the wet snow and the winds got stronger as I got higher. When I was headed southerly it was a full-on headwind so I would tuck one hand into the pocket on my shorts and with the hand that was holding the water bottle, I’d stick it behind my back so it wasn’t exposed to the wind. When I’d hit a switchback towards the north I’d keep both hands in front of my body to keep my hands out of the wind. I had gloves on my hands but they were so light and damp they weren’t helping a great deal. I did end up using one of my arm warmers as a “mitten” on my right hand for a while which I think helped. The trail in the final few miles is trail constructed through talus so the footing got a bit slick but never too treacherous. As I got higher I could begin to hear the announcer at the finish line up above but because of the dense fog and snow, I couldn’t see up to the summit. Then, just after a volunteer standing next to the trail shouted, “less than a quarter-mile to go!” there was a bright flash of light followed quickly by a clap of thunder. This motivated me to push things a bit more and I cranked out what I could to the finish.

I was feeling good but the cold kept me from pushing it hard to the finish and I ended up two minutes behind my goal time with a finish time of 3:12:00 exactly. As I crossed the finish line I was immediately given a finisher’s medal by a volunteer (the volunteers that endured the conditions for hours on Saturday ought to be given huge stipends!) and pointed to the building where I could change and get some hot beverages. Allison was there at the finish to greet me (she had been standing out in the cold and snow for a quite a bit—what a trooper!) and give me my bag of warm, dry clothes.

En route to the summit shop, I stopped by the moving truck to pick up my finisher’s shirt. At this point, the wind was howling and the snow was blowing sideways. I quickly ran over to the summit shop where a guy yelled at me, “This building is for tourists and customers only, not for runners. There’s a building back that way where you can change.” Well, I knew that Allison was in the building and that there were restrooms with electric dryers in there so I told the guy, “I’m just going in to find my girlfriend.” With that, he gave a skeptical look and let me pass by. I found JV, Kunkle and Allison all waiting in the foyer of the building. I grabbed my dry clothing and ran into the men’s restroom inside to change. My body’s core temperature was still reasonable and I didn’t feel hypothermic but my fingers were completely numb. I had a very difficult time using the zipper on my jacket and untying my shoes. I went straight for the electric hand dryer and got to business undressing. Forgetting that I was among tourists and not fellow runners, I stripped down and threw all my wet clothes into the sink as I rubbed my fingers and hands under the welcoming warmth of the hand dryer. As the feeling and blood returned to my fingers, I grimaced in pain as another guy in the restroom stared at me probably wondering just what the hell I was doing. Runners. Yeah, we're different.

After getting into my dry clothes I headed out and found Allison again. We had heard they were considering closing the road down so we hustled out to the parking lot to find a shuttle. Allison had parked a few miles down the road at the Devil’s Playground so we hopped into a waiting shuttle van and endured a slow, tedious ride down the road to the parking area.

We got into Allison’s car and had an uneventful drive down the mountain and back to Manitou Springs where we met up with JV, Jeff, Jean, Wayne and Mark for some food and giant margaritas at The Loop.
I ended up 84th out of 762 runners in the ascent. Full results can be viewed here. Some good stories from the Colorado Springs Gazette... Peak Throws All its Tricks at Ascent Runners and Storm Pushes Many Ascent Runners Back Down.
And how about some more photos?

Hanging with the 14erWorld.com crew underneath the awning at the laundromat before the race.

The scene at the finish line just before JV, Kunkle and I finish.

JV (in blue) just after finishing. And to think he almost left that jacket at the start line!

Kunkle finishes strong sans hat or hood. What a toughie!

There I am rounding the corner to the finish line. I'm running, really!

Finishing strong! Or something.