Better late than never: Gray’s & Torrey’s Peak back in August

Ok, so I’ve been pretty busy and just never got around to posting more from the Colorado trip. (sigh) The life of a graduate student…besides, I’d rather trail run than write about trail running. So, even though it was so long ago as to now be nearly irrelevant, I’m gonna do a post anyways. If nothing else, my brother John deserves a shout out for his efforts on the mountain. But to keep it brief, (I am training for the Lake Perry Rocks! 50K, after all…and did I mention grad school?), this post will be in pictures. So here we go…

Early start. Headlamps & moonlight

Gray's Peak (left) & Torrey's (right) in a little alpenglow.
 The trail was seriously rocky but runnable.

John movin fast with Kelso mountain in the background.

Halfway up Gray's looking over at Torrey's

A good look at the connecting ridge from Grays to Torreys.

John & I on Gray's Summit

Some tired jerk on top of Torrey's Summit

It was a pretty good day. I'm not used to being on a mountain with so many other people. I usually explore mountains a little farther from Denver. From what I'm told, the fifteen or sixteen other groups we saw is far less than what one typicaly finds on these peaks. Still, judging by the reactions I encountered, I'm pretty sure we were the only ones running it (...at least parts of it!). Perfect weather, perfect conditions, great workout and we were back in Westminster in time for lunch.

Next up, the Lake Perry Rocks! 50K Trail Ultra on Saturday. I'm a little banged up but the taper is going well. I should be rested and ready to go...(so stoked).

See you on the trails.

2011 Fall Fell Trail Race

I ran in the 2011 Fall Fell Trail Race at Kill Creek on Sunday. Kill Creek is a challenging set of trails located near De Soto, Ks. Roughly 17 miles of hiking, mountain-biking, and horse trails are adjacent to the old Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant’s grounds. I’ve ran this race a number of times over the last several years and since about 60% of my training runs happen there, the race really feels like a “home game”.  My race almost didn’t happen. The day before, I had rolled my ankle pretty bad on the Rock-haven trails at Clinton Lake and had also been fighting plantar fasciitis for a couple of weeks. I went to bed Saturday night feeling pretty crappy. A good night’s sleep however, is great medicine.

Fall Fell is a quick 7-mile race that has two creek crossings and a section of trail that may be among the most technical in the Kansas City area. Many ankles have gotten eaten up by the “eddy” trail segment. I went out pretty easy to see how the wheels felt and was able to keep a comfortable pace for the first half of the race (through the “hank” segment). But then it was time to run the Fells.

The Second Creek Crossing

 I hit the first river crossing (cold!), and climbed into the rocky “eddy” segment. I really felt strong here and was able to speed up. Probably the first time I’ve ever ran faster on Eddy than I did on Hank but the wheels were feeling good. No one passed me through this section and I was able to catch three other runners. About the time my shoes dried out I hit the second river crossing. Now all that was left was the mile or so slow grade back up to the start/finish area. My ankle was starting to feel a little tight so I backed off a little. About this time Eric Viera caught up with me and we were able to pick our pace back up and leave the pack that had started to gain up to us (why does everybody else seem to get faster as they leave “eddy” while I slow down?). We kept a good pace all the way through to the finish and were rewarded by the race director with free Mizuno socks (sweet!).

All in all, it was a pretty good day. I finished a full minute slower than my time last year (1:03:00) but still somehow managed seventh place in the 31- 40 age division (23^rd overall).  Huge thanks to Ben Holmes and the KC Trail Nerds for another 1^st Class race event. Thanks again to Dick Ross of seekcrun.com for the pictures; Dick is an invaluable part of the trail race scene here in the KC area and does awesome work! Thanks to Eric Viera for sharing the last mile of the trail. Thanks to runner #57, (I think he said his name was Kerry) for keeping me going, you were hot on my tail the whole dang race. It felt like I just couldn’t shake you! Also, a huge congrats to Wes Brown on his overall 8^th place finish. Like me, I know you consider Kill Creek races to be “home games” and I think you “protected this house”. Finally, much love to Jessica, Alyena, and Ayden.

Next up, a short week and then Lake Perry Rocks! 50K Trail Ultra.

Going out easy from the starting line