On the road (and rails) again

From Dolomites Day 7, Vajolet Towers, 2009-07-28

Back to the city, Innsbruck that is. But just for a short bit. Tomorrow morning we leave for a full day of trains from Innsbruck to Zurich to Geneva to Lyon to Marseille, France where we'll spend the night and then drive to our friend Rick's house north of Marseille.
Since I last updated the blog here Allison and I got to do some more climbing on Falzarego Pass as well as experience a very fun via ferrata (Lipella) that included an 800m tunnel and some fun, exposed climbing near some waterfalls.
We also spent a couple nights in rifugios in the Rosengarten group of the Dolomites to climb routes on the three Vajolet Towers. One Vajolet Tower, Delago Tower, was a primary reason we opted to come to to the Dolomites and it was all we had hoped for! I've posted some new photo albums at http://picasaweb.google.com/halladay of the days' action.
The time we spent in the Dolomites was fantastic. The views often breathtaking, the people extremely friendly and the climbing full of history and very fun. It is with some sadness that I leave that area of Italy but I now have a good feeling for the Dolomites and fully intend to return. They're that great!

Dolomites exploration ongoing

From Dolomites Day 4, "Mariakante" and Sella Pass. 2009-07-24

We're back in Cortina tonight at the familiar Hotel Impero. It's a great little hotel that is centrally located, has fast wi-fi and the staff are great! Yesterday Allison and I climbed a fun 8-pitch route called "Mariakante" on the Pordoispitze and spent the afternoon hiking around Sella Pass. The whole day was beautiful but as we went to sleep in our hotel in Canzei last night, a thunderstorm raged through for a few hours yet made way for a beautiful day today.
So today we slept in, ate breakfast at the hotel and then drove over Sella Pass to Gardner Pass. Just over Gardner Pass we parked and went up for a fun day on the Via Ferrata Brigata Tridentina. It was our first via ferrata experience and one that we really enjoyed. The day's weather was fantastic and the climb experience great. It's awesome that so many people, families included, get out on these via ferrata adventures!
Tomorrow we plan to climb on th Falzarego Towers near Falzarego Pass and maybe squeeze in another via ferrata before driving to Canazei again to stay the night in the Rifugio Gardeccia tomorrow night. Monday night will have us in the Rifugio Alberto near the Vajolet Towers before we drive back to Innsbruck on Tuesday afternoon. It may be a while before we're back online after tonight, though. Thanks for reading!

Enjoying the Dolomiti

From Dolomites Days 2 and 3, 2009-07-22-23

Thursday...it hasn't even been a week since we left Los Alamos and it feels like we've seen and done a fair bit. This is awesome.
This evening we're in Canazei, Italy for the next two nights. We've climbed in the Dolomites the past few days and it's been amazing. Beautiful weather and a truly mind-boggling amount of rock. It's everywhere! After spending a couple days in Zurich, Switzerland and a day in Innsbruck, Austria I was way burned out on the cities and was super stoked to get outside in the Dolomites on Tuesday. Yesterday we were skunked on the big 14 pitch route we wanted to climb (three slow moving parties ahead of us forced me to downclimb the first pitch and tuck my tail between my legs.) We then went to climb a 6 pitch easy route and found it completely choked up with groups and none of them appeared to be moving at all! So we did a shorter 3 pitch route, super easy, to a cool summit.
We got up early this morning and was the first party on that 14 pitch, 5.7, route (south arete of Tofana di Rozes) and it was awesome. And the cool thing is, the weather today was quite a bit better than yesterday so we felt avenged.
We'll be climbing around here the next couple of days before heading back to Cortina for a night and then to Rifugio Alberto for two nights to climb in the Vajolet Towers area hopefully.

Not much of a city boy

From Europe Days 3 and 4, 2009-07-21-22

I'm not a fan of cities. I can appreciate city life and function for a short bit but I was at the end of my appreciation by the time we left Innsbruck, Austria this morning. The crowds, the heavy European smoking, the noise and the traffic. It was nice to see all that in the rear view mirror this morning when we picked up our rental car in Innsbruck and drove the 2.5 hours to Cortina de Ampezza, Italy.
And now we're very happy. This quaint mountain town is still pretty big in size but it's situated high in the Dolomites and feels full of life. I can't quite put my finger on it but everything about this area feels so much more friendly and appropriate than either Zurich or Innsbruck.
We checked into our hotel, Hotel Impero, and pretty much made a beeline for the Cinque Torri area to get some climbing in. This area is at about 7,400 feet and easily accessible via a five minute ski lift ride and a 10 minute approach hike. It gave us a good opportunity to get warmed up to the limestone of the Dolomites. All the hillsides in the area are a very lush green and rock simply juts out of the hillsides making for some very dramatic mountains.
We plan to spend the next six days around here in the Dolomites with a night or two in a rifugio but most likely mainly doing day trips from hotels in Cortina and/or Canazei.

European vacation 2009, Day 2

From Zurich, Switzerland, 2009-07-19

Photos, day 2.

Boy, we were tired. And, thankfully, our room was very dark. We slept off a major chunk of the jet lag this morning sleeping in until 7:30am. Once we got moving we headed downstairs to the restaurant in the lobby where our included breakfast was served. This was no American continental breakfast either. Bacon, eggs, sausage, fresh bread, fruit, yogurt and a pile of oranges and a juicer to make your own fresh-squeezed orange juice. Awesome! No doubt I over ate a bit but we weren't planning on a lunch so I was just being cautious.
It was an overcast and windy morning so we packed our jackets and umbrellas in the backpack and hit the streets. First stop was the Schweizeriches Landemuseum near the train station. For 10 CHF each we enjoyed a bit of natural history swiss-style and then attempted to understand the all-German Swiss history exhibition which was very nicely done but impossible to understand.
From there we caught the train to Uetliberg, a decent foothill with a footpath to the summit and viewing tower at the top. This area boasts what are likely the closest trails for running and hiking and we enviously waved at a number of trail runners out there. Also, along the trail is a mini-scale map of the planets one can follow for nearly 8km along the ridgecrest to the Adliswil tram down. We hiked that trail for close to two hours as the day got better and better. It even ended up a bit warm at time.
We caught the bus/tram back to city center and went in search of good chocolate at a shop called Teuscher recommended by Brian Crone's wife. The first one we found at 4:07pm closed at 4:00pm. So we hopped on the tram down to Bellevue where another one was supposed to be. Whilst down there we figured we ought to check out the Kunsthaus modern art museum but found it cost 23 CHF each and was only open for another 30 minutes so we bailed on that. Instead, we rented a paddle boat for 18CHF for 30 minutes and paddled across Lake Zurich and back dodging the big tourist boats along the way. It was odd when I rented the boat...the guy barely spoke, took my 18CHF and driver's license and said, "OK, take the orange one for 30 minutes." That was it. No orientation, no forms to fill out, no guidelines. So we hope paddling across the lake between big tourist boats was allowed. When I returned the boat I saw other renters filling out paperwork and getting the rules spoken to them.
We did find the Teuscher in the Felix Cafe after that and scored four truffles. Tasty! After dessert we went in search of dinner. Casa Mia was another Italian place that came recommended but we found it closed. Naturally I gravitated towards beer and we popped into the Brasserie Federal which claims to have more that 100 Swiss beers. Problem was, the menu had no English on it and our question to the waitress, "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" was met with the stern answer, "No!" and she walked away. OK, time to move on to that little Italian place we passed on our walk towards our hotel. I don't recall the name but it was a tasty and quite enjoyable.
Tomorrow we hit the rails with a 9:40am train to Innsbruck, Austria. We should get there around 1:30pm and will be staying at the Hotel Goldene Krone for one night before renting a car and driving south down into the Dolomites of Italy. While it's been fun exploring the city life a bit and gettin' cultured, I feel much more at home away from crowds and up in the mountains so I'm looking forward to getting into Italy.

European vacation

Allison and I hit the skies yesterday for a three-week trip to Switzerland, Austria, Italy and France. Our first stop finds us in the Hotel Novotel in Zürich, Switzerland where I'm writing this from. It's the first visit for either of us to Zurich and so far we're really enjoying it despite the fact that neither Allison nor I speak any German--the predominant language here.
I was impressed with how easy it was to go through customs and be on our own in Zürich. We arrived this morning and purchased 24-hour public transport pass for 12 CHF each which allows us unlimited transport on the city trains, buses and trams. It took us a little bit of time to figure out which train to take from the airport to the main station. This wasn't too bad at all except for the fact that I was schlepping around our big North Face duffel bag with our climbing equipment (to be later used in the Dolomites) and it was a bit uncomfortable. A short 10 minute walk from the main station got us to our hotel where they were able to let us check in early (we arrived in Zürich at 7:15am and were at the hotel by 8:15am).

After checking in we got out for a short bit to take the tram downtown to visit a couple of the more famous churches in the area. The Fraumünster church has some amazing stained glass by Marc Chagall which I could appreciate. We then found ourselves very tired (we had been up all night on the flight) so we wandered back to the hotel to nap for a few hours. In the evening we went exploring downtown again and ate dinner at an Italian place. A quick stop at the Coop grocery store for snacks and we were back at the hotel ready for bed.

Tomorrow we plan to go visit the zoo, hike at Uetliberg and a couple of the museums before leaving for Innsbruck the following day.
The view from our hotel room at night.

2009 San Juan Solstice 50 Mile Race Report

Hanging with Mom at the start/finish just before the race.

6/20/2009
50 miles
10:56:12
13th overall of 109 finishers
Unofficial results
Official race website
My GPS stats, splits and map

8 ounces. It's amazing to me the difference 8 ounces of material can make on a day like this past Saturday during the San Juan Solstice 50 mile trail race. This was my fourth time running this fantastic race and by far the worst conditions I've experienced during the race in those years. But I digress...

For some reason going into the race this year I schemed up the goal of trying to run it under 10 hours. 9:59:59 is what I was shooting for. In retrospect, I'm not sure where I got off thinking I could pull that off considering my fastest time on the course is 10:35:44 and I've only been running an average of roughly 35 miles per week this year. But what the hell, I went out for it. But if you view the results from this year's race you'll see I barely made it in under 11 hours in 13th place overall. Yeah.

From the start at 5:00am I went out with the first group of roughly 12 runners and hung in there until nearly the turn off up into Alpine Gulch when I realized that pace was too much for me and would put me in at Williams around mile 16 well ahead of my goal time of 8:15am so I slowed up. The sky was mostly cloudy making for a warmer-than-usual morning and the river crossing in the gulch were way easier than in 2008. In fact, I could still feel my toes by the end of the crossings so I knew it was warmer and less wet than previous years. Sections that normally have a snow field in them were dry and clear...it looked like a different gulch. I reached the Alpine aid station at mile 7.5 at 6:36am which was right on my schedule. I stopped to refill my single hand bottle with water and kept on moving.

Up on the ridgeline above Alpine there was also very little snow and it was a beautiful morning. The view of Half Peak across the valley was stellar and while there were clouds in the sky, it didn't look too threatening. I got into a good groove and rolled with it making fine time down into Williams at mile 16 at 8:06am which was faster than I had planned but I was feeling good. I came into the aid station with Helen Cospolich and would follow her until the Divide when she just plain took off! It was awesome.

My plan to "shave" off 36 minutes from my best time on this course was, besides running a bit faster, to really minimize time at the aid stations. I did this by not ever changing shoes, socks or any other clothing as well as having bottles pre-filled and a firm plan for switching bottles and fueling quickly. My Mom and Matt were invaluable as my experienced crew and did a fantastic job of getting me in and out of the aid stations super fast. So I can only blame me for not running fast enough in between the stations. :-)

The run from Williams to Carson seemed to go quickly and without any issues and I got into Carson at mile roughly mile 22 at 9:26am. I filled my two hand bottles, ate some Clif shot blocks and looked up at the divide and the sky. It looked quite nice and for a moment I contemplated leaving my 8oz GoLite Virga jacket in the drop bag but thankfully thought better of it and tied it around my waist before heading up. I did my best to keep Helen in sight on the climb up to the divide and managed to do that until just below Coney Peak (~13,300') when she motored on ahead.

As I neared the summit of Coney Peak I looked south to see some very dark, menacing clouds engulfing Rio Grande Pyramid and knew we'd soon be in the weather too. Sure enough a couple minutes after I "ran" over the summit of Coney Peak the snow started to fall. At first I figured it would be a short-lived snow squall but after about 15 minutes it looked like it was here to stay so I donned my jacket. The wet flakes were huge and prolific and it was pretty surreal for a bit. I thought back to earlier in the morning when I was running in a sleeveless shirt and sweating and how that seemed like a different day compared to the current weather. Then the wind began to blow a bit harder, the snow flakes got bigger and it got cold. (See the videos on Joseph Lea's blogpost about his experience this year.) I wished I had brought along gloves but got clever and stuck one of my hand bottles in my jacket pocket so I could suck a hand into the sleeves of the jacket. On my right hand (the windward hand) I wrapped my hand in my cotton handkerchief that I normally use to wipe sweat off my brow and jammed my hand into the hand bottle sling effectively making a cotton mitten. This worked great for the long jaunt to the Divide aid station at mile 31 at noon straight up. At this point I was still on my schedule for a sub-10 run but was feeling the fast miles I had run earlier and the cold weather wasn't helping. I was burning more calories just trying to stay warm in the adverse conditions.

I filled a bottle of HEED at the Divide aid station, ate a vanilla Hammer gel and then got moving again. Standing around for too long would only leave me colder. As I left the aid station I was pretty sure I saw my friend and frequent training partner David Coblentz striding up the hill into the aid station. For the first time I ran the whole section from the Divide to Slugullion without seeing another person. This is not to say I was way ahead of others but rather the clouds and snow were so thick that at times visibility was maybe 50 yards. It was pretty surreal and I wondered how people who hadn't been on this course would manage through this section...it's pretty obvious following a well-established two-track but I know if I didn't know the course well I'd be second-guessing myself wondering if I was supposed to turn off or something. Also, I was hoping folks behind me were prepared for the weather. It was pretty nasty.

Then, to make things more difficult, the super wet dirt road turned to a gloppy mud that began sticking to my shoes making them feel a few pounds heavier not to mention slick! I got in the habit of kicking the bottom of my shoe on big rocks as I passed them to knock the mud globs off. I repeated that procedure all way down into Slumgullion at mile 40 at 1:40pm. I had hoped to arrive at Slumgullion at 1:20pm for my sub-10 goal. Being wet, cold, 20 minutes "late" and a bit beat up at this point I knew sub-10 was out of the question now. My fingers were a bit numb so I asked my Mom for my gloves out of my bag and struggled to get them on. By this point it was raining rather than snowing at this elevation but I figured dry gloves on my hands for at least a little while would make me feel warmer. I spent approximately three minutes at the aid station which I believe was the longest of all my aid station stops during the race.

I left amongst spirit-lifting clapping and hollering and felt very grateful for everyone being there encouraging us runners in our endeavor. The climb up Vickers has always, always kicked my ass and this year was no exception. I don't know what it is...it's relatively low in elevation and in aspen groves so you'd think it would be easy but no! I struggled my way up thinking, "OK, next year I'll feel good at this point." Yeah right! About half way up the climb I heard a familiar voice from behind. David Wilcox was charging up the hill smiling and encouraging me to get a move on. He passed me and I tried to hang with him for a bit but knew it was not to be. We kept on moving up and into the trees to the flat section when the rain finally started to abate. I lost sight of David but kept running as much as I could across the top of Vickers through the three meadows. I've learned to count the meadows before the final aid station. Just before the Vickers aid station came into view the 10 hour mark slipped by. Yep, not this year. I reached the Vickers aid station at 3:06pm and didn't stop at all but thanked the volunteers there for letting us run through their property and for being there to support us.

The sun had just come back out and it looked like it was shaping up to be a fine afternoon. I stopped to take off my jacket and gloves and tied them around my waist. The descent down from Vickers is always tough on my quads and this time was no different. Also, I had to make a pit stop in the trees to take care of some trow-dropping business. Refreshed a little bit, I got back on trail and tried to run as fast as I could. It was now looking like that sub-11 would be a challenge and I was sweating it. These arbitrary goals are tough sometimes. I finished the descent and was back in town running the final mile or so into the finish when I looked back to see Coblentz only a couple hundred yards away! Nice, David, nice! The competitive adrenaline kicked in and I stepped up my pace. Plus, I knew it was going to be tight for sub-11 anyway. We crossed the bridge and made the final left turn towards the finish. I was still sprinting as best I could and got psyched to hear the cheering and cow bells ahead. The positive vibes were nearly overwhelming as I entered the park and across the finish line just a bit more than a minute faster than my time last year.