Tahoe Training

-
Following the reality shock of the Ohlone course, it seemed prudent to test the trails before my next 50k on the Tahoe Rim Trail. My friend Ken picked me up in Sacramento late Saturday afternoon - in a totally sa-WEET convertible BMW no less, waaaay to sexy for my post-paddle grunge - and we headed up along 50 to South Lake for a run sponsored by the trail race organizers the next day.

(start from Mt. Rose trailhead)

Sunday morning we met up with approximately 70 or so other runners at the end point and carpooled over to the start at the Mt. Rose trailhead with fellow Endurables Larissa and Brett, prepared to head out on what was intended to be a 21+ mile run. 1.5 miles in and 7 of us were lost. Ken followed, I followed, people followed me. And just like that we'd added another 3+ miles onto our distance. C'est la vie.

(the trail marker we completely missed)

Once we were back on track the next 9 miles were beautiful, rolling trails showcasing gorgeous views of Lake Tahoe and the surrounding, snow-tipped mountains. We ran seemingly along the edge of the mountain, all single-track, trying to take in the view without stumbling. We made it to the first aid station with relative ease and then started a long, gradual climb to the next aid station where the last peak - Snow Valley Peak - awaited us and then a long downhill to the finish. It was all spectacular, it was all relatively runnable, it was awesome.



Of course, over the last miles we were desperate to get to the end. I was running with a woman named Carolyn by then and we'd caught up to several stragglers still out on the course. We asked 2 if they knew how much farther and they said 1 or 1.5 miles - the same 1 or 1.5 miles I'd calculated we'd already run 1 or 1.5 miles ago. (!?!) It nearly killed the both of us to hear that. Fortunately, mercifully, the end turned out to be a mere 200 yards around the corner.

26.5 miles later and we were done. Barbecue, beer and chairs awaited as we settled in to cheer on the last runners. A perfect end to a great day. Even Ken, who'd come down with some swine-like flu symptoms on Friday, seemed buoyed by the day's effort despite feeling sick most of the time.


(Ken (50k), Me (50k), Larissa (pacing), Brett (100m)

Tahoe 50k? Oh yeah - bring it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lessons Learned Planning for the Tour de Mont Blanc

-
Image
Random Thoughts and Tips After scavenging around the Internet looking at multiple blogs, websites and discussion groups, I decided to condense what I found to be the most helpful information and include some lessons learned from actually being on the trail. If you want to read about the actual journey and the highlights you can find that post here . For distances, huts, routes you'll want to use this TMB  site . You can make reservations here. Not everyone makes reservations but we did. We had a tight schedule to condense the trip into 6 days and didn't want to leave availability to chance. For planning and while on the trail, you'll want this Kev Reynolds  book . It gives great detail on the routes, the alternate routes, the sites you'll pass and the huts available along the way. We used it extensively before, during and after. If you're planning a trip anywhere around Mont Blanc in the fall do a quick search for " UTMB " and find out when the rac...
Read more

What to Write About

-
Why, when I'm out on a run or taking a shower do I think I have a million awesome things to write about. I mean, a million. And then I sit here with....nothing. (This was started last April 2017) Like watching Damages Season 5 and having an a-ha moment when Ellen is talking to her dead husband, David (dead but so real!) and David points out that for him it wasn't about the success, it was about the happiness. And I think, yeah, man, happiness! Like the urge I sometimes get to move to the base of a mountain, ski for the season, then figure out my next career move. It's not that I'm trying to avoid hard work - or am I? - but life and knees and increasingly, snow, are in short supply and there's just no replacement for pursuing happiness. So then I remember I want to write something about the different pursuits of happiness! (And started again January 2018!) Then I remember I had the idea to package the story of all my great-to-middling love affairs into a musica...
Read more

Christmas, Family and Skiing

-
Image
Back when my mom lived in New Jersey it was always fun to go home for Christmas and venture into New York to see the store windows decorated for the holidays, catch a musical, go to Rockefeller Center, and meet up with friends for drinks. But now that she lives in Utah I'm reveling in her proximity to one of my most happiest of happy places, Alta. (Top of High Rustler run, Alta) Of course, Christmas is all about enjoying family time. But just behind that is skiing. :) This Christmas I hit it just right as I arrived early to enjoy a few days of girl time with my mom and sister before my brothers arrived AND in the middle of a thundering storm that dropped almost 3 feet of light and airy champagne-like snow on the Wasatch Range. 3 days of epic conditions on the mountain and 4 days of movies, games, eating, shopping, drinking and taking endless pictures of the first grandchild in our family; not a bad ratio. I shared first tracks with my cousin Liz and her friend, Kim - both amazing f...
Read more