Xterra Wheeler Canyon Xduro

The Xterra Wheeler Canyon Xduro was the fourth and final challenge in the Utah trail race series. Not being the strongest runner in the sport, I made a point to run all four races so as to maximize my overall score. Racers can earn between 28 and 100 points for placing in the top 15 within their age group. After 3 races, I was sitting uncomfortably in 4th place.

Several other competitions were going on at the same time, including the Xterra Mountain Championship Triathlon. Top athletes from around the world were there to compete for $20,000 in cash. Their race started before ours at Pineview Reservoir. We followed about an hour later, catching many of the slower triathletes on their bikes. I passed at least 10 or more myself.

Start of the triathlon

This was a mostly uphill course, from the reservoir up Wheeler Canyon to Snowbasin Resort. Something like 11 1/2 miles. I've never been a strong uphill runner. I'm known instead for my reckless abandon on the downhill, risking injury in exchange for a better time. (see previous posts on my knee injury 2 years ago, and my minor foot injury last year) Today, however, I managed to run the entire race, only slowing to drink at aid stations.

triathlon bike exchange

I made one huge error though. Our race start caught me off guard, and barefoot to boot. After being told our start time would be pushed back, a guy with a megaphone announced the cannon would go off in 1 minute. I was still stuffing my PB&J sandwich in my mouth as the runners shot off down the road. Took me 3-5 minutes to get my gear on and give pursuit. I expounded a great deal of energy at the start to catch the main group. Live and learn.

Finish line

This was my worst finish of the four. Definitely a tough race, where I was breathing hard the entire time. I came in 44th out of 86 finishers, and only 10th in my age group, with a time of 2:00:28. I didn't feel my performance earned me enough points to make it into the top 3. Since the medals wouldn't be handed out until the awards ceremony that evening, I decided to head home.
After looking over the names of the finishers in my age group, it appears the 1st place guy didn't run the final race, so by my calculations, the 41 points I earned for 10th place should move me into 3rd overall. I emailed the series manager for conformation. Seems I may have missed an opportunity to step into the limelight at last night's awards ceremony. Ok, so it's only the bronze medal, but still...

Xterra Antelope Island 12K

The closest I'd ever come to the Great Salt Lake prior to this weekend was on a road trip to Reno last year and seeing the Foo Fighters at Saltair many years before that. It's never been high on my list of places in Utah to recreate. It still isn't.

Saturday marked the 3rd of 4 Xterra trail races held in Utah this year. It's a worldwide competition, with nationals being held in Oregon, and the world championship in Oahu. I was sitting in 3rd place in my age group (35-39) prior to this race. My goal is to finish in the top 3.

Antelope Island is huge. 28,000 acres huge. Wild bison and antelope roam free among the grasslands and rolling hills. The race followed an ATV/horse trail up and around a 7 1/2 mile section of the island. It was really hot out by the 8:00 am start time. Biting horse flies added another fun element to the mix.

I ran a good race and was happy with my 10th place finish. (85 total runners) I came in 2nd in my age group, which should keep me in the top 3. My time was 1 hour 44 seconds. Outside of being a little sore and sunburned, my only race wounds remain my toes. Specifically the toenail area of two toes on each foot. They cause me nothing but grief all race season, and there's nothing I can do about it.

I had to pop 3 blood blisters yesterday after I got home, 2 from the same toe--one on top of the other. It was a nasty operation. I didn't realize how messed up it was until I took a close up picture with my camera. I'm warning you, the following photo is both graphic and disturbing. It could cause you mental duress, and worse, make you never want to run again. Don't say I didn't warn you. (click on photo for full effect)



I can only imagine what it will look like after next weekend's 50K trail race. (31 miles) I'm guessing not good. (or nice, as Joey would say)

Xterra Snowbird 8K 2008

My dad and I ran in the Xterra Snowbird 8K this weekend. The elevation was a factor for both of us, not to mention the long uphill portions of the course. I was just happy for us to finish in the top 10 in our age groups without acquiring any injuries along the way--others weren't so fortunate. Of the 35-39 year olds, I came in 6th, with a time of 46:42. I was 18th overall.

My dad was the oldest runner there, finishing 2nd in the 60+ category. His time was 1 hour 7 minutes, and was 68th overall. There were about 80 runners total. After I crossed the finish line, I ran back to snap some shots of my dad coming in.

Mountain trails

Slippery snow bank

Home stretch

He scored some Xterra socks for being the oldest runner in the race.

Race Update

On Saturday I ran in the Pleasant Grove Strawberry Days 5K. My time was 20:44, which somehow managed to snag me 1st place in the 30-34 year old division. I even got a trophy.

Xterra did a write up for the Wolf Mt. 10K, featuring my photo. I think this makes me famous.

Race #2, the Xterra Snowbird Challenge 8K, is this Saturday. My dad will be running it with me. The course is supposed to be easier than Wolf Mountain, but the elevation is higher.

And here are some photos from the Ogden Marathon:

XTERRA Wolf Mountain 10K Report

Rolled out of bed at 5:00. Slept better than usual the night before a race. Took a couple hours to drive up to Eden. Rained the entire way. Wolf Mountain is a ski resort, and the race begins at the base of the chair lifts. After picking up my registration stuff, I hung out in my car to stay warm. So did everyone else.

Stretched and jogged around a bit. The rain had stopped, but everything was wet. Big group out today for the first race of the series. Bigger than any race from last year I think. About 80 runners. Things started off very slow at 8:00 am. We all jogged a few hundred yards uphill, then slowed to a grinding walk/hike up the mountain side.

A thousand foot climb over a mile and a quarter is no joke. Everyone was breathing hard and striving to pull out a short jog burst before being forced to walk some more. I just remember raising my arms in the air upon reaching the final crest. The view was absolutely amazing.

The descent down Green Mile was a muddy switchbacking trail through heavy foliage. It dropped fast, and I felt like I was constantly on the verge of overshooting a turn or sliding through the mud and over the side. Back and forth, back and forth, down the side of the mountain. I passed a few people on this stretch--I'm weaker on the uphill, but fearless on the down.

The next rolling stretch of trail was filled with water obstacles. Lots of run offs to leap over, except for the large stream. There was no avoiding your shoe's watery fate. Splash, splash, splash through the icy water, feet, shoes, and socks soaking wet. I knew I should have brought my trail shoes, even if they aren't broken in.

Someone shot this of me coming out of the stream

The write up for this course simply said "up Nordic Valley". What a massive understatement. I don't think I've ever raced up a steeper trail than this for such a long distance. About a mile of up the most grueling muddy trail imaginable. Near the top, the front runners started coming back down after having reached the turnaround point. While we worked to keep putting one foot in front of the other, they struggled to just keep their feet under them.

I counted runners as they came down. I was in 20th place after reaching the summit. No raised arms or cries of jubilation this time. The run down was just as difficult and painful as the climb up. The angle was so steep that it was nearly impossible to slow down, and when you tried, it resulted in painful knee jostling or sliding down the mud. Several times I felt "out of control" and hoped for the best. There were several spills down this section. I felt fortunate not to be one of them.

Back along the trail we came in, which meant another dip in the river. Exiting, it felt like my shoes weight 5 lbs each--filled with water and an inch of mud caked on the bottom. Winding Moose Run had quite a few hills. I would drop to 20th on most climbs, and then move into 18th coming down.

The last mile I held my 18th position, even making a try for 17th the last quarter mile of steep downhill to the finish line. I was going full speed as I came upon the guy in front of me. Once the people at the end started cheering, he looked back and saw me coming, which resulted in him sprinting to the finish too. He beat me by 1 hundredth of a second.

Normal 10K times are disregarded on a race like this. The 33 year old guy who won today had a time of 59:59, which would be terrible on a flat road course. My time of 1:13:02 got me 18th place overall, 15th out of the men, and 7th in the 30-39 age group. The guy in front of me, also with a time of 1:13:02, was of course my same age. There were 22 of us in my group, as opposed to 12 in the 20's and 9 in the 40's. Oh, and the 77th and 78th place ladies to come in: 2 hours 19 minutes. Tough course.

I'm happy with how I did. I'll score some points in the series for my 7th place finish, and hopefully add to it in two weeks at Snowbird. My dad is going to run that one with me. There was only 1 guy in his 60's today, so he will likely qualify for nationals after just one race. Lucky.

XTERRA Wolf Mountain 10K

This year's Xterra trail run series kicks off at Wolf Mountain in Eden Utah tomorrow morning. It's been raining for a couple days, and is forecast to rain tomorrow, so it should be a wet, slippery race. Eden is located about 1 hour north of SLC, northeast of Ogden, next to Pineview Lake.

The Course:

It's a challenging course with 1000 feet of vertical climb in the first 1 1/4 mile up Oh My Hell Hill and Bayot's Blvd leading to the top of Wolf Mountain. From there you'll descend down the Green Mile and back to Bayot's Blvd. before doing an out an back up Nordic Valley. Nordic has several hills and some water hazards in the form of streams that will require you to get your feet wet. The trail finishes down a winding Moose Run to Howling Wolf chair lift.

I'll report on how I did in my next post.

XTerra Follow-up

I came across this photo of the 1st place age group finishers online. The race article it came from is here.

Xterra National Trail Running Championship

Last weekend I was in the Lake Tahoe area (Incline Village) for the Xterra National Trail Running Championship. It was a great race, and I was fortunate enough to place 1st in my age group due to the shallow field. I expect more competition next year. Read a short write-up on the race here.

Starting Line. I'm in front, wearing an orange jersey on the right.


Number 480 (me) quickly getting overtaken.


Over and under logs along the course: (not me)


(also not me)


(me)


Course map. The trail run was 2 loops of the red line.

Xterra Sundance 10K Trail Race

Up at 5:30. Gathered up my running gear and ate some cereal with soy milk. Out by 6:00 on my way to Sundance for the Xterra Sundance 10K Trail Race. Nice and cool when I arrived—upper 50’s. Picked up my number and shirt, then stretched out and jogged around the resort.

The race started at 7:30 with about 50 of us. About the same as the Snowbird race. We ran almost a half mile up a steep road on our way to the trail. I’m not a hill runner, but I forced myself to keep pace so I could maintain a decent position leaving the road. Entered the trail in 7^th place and stayed in that spot for several more miles of winding single track which climbed into the mountains above the resort.

While the altitude and uphill made it difficult, it was heaven compared to Snowbird with the heat and direct sun overhead. I thought I was cruising pretty good, but two people passed me before I reached the summit. There was supposed to be a water station at the half-way point, but we beat them to the top and missed it. I spotted the truck heading up as I was running downhill. Fortunately I was feeling good and wasn’t thirsty.

The last 3 miles or so were mainly downhill, with some fairly steep sections. The rocks and roots in the trail had been easy to avoid on the way up, but proved more of a challenge while speeding down. I let gravity take its course and allowed myself to go as fast as the switch backs would let me.

I made up the ¼ mile lead of the girl ahead of me, but she held me at bay about 20 yards back as we left the trail. The last half mile was on the asphalt road we first ran up. I went all out, moving into a dead sprint the last 100 yards, passing the girl as we entered the chute. I came in 9^th overall and 4^th in my age group, with a time of 48:19. Much better than last time. (7:46 min pace)

With the points I receive from this race, I will for sure qualify in my age group for the Nationals in Lake Tahoe. The next race is worth double points, but I’m going to skip it so that others can hopefully pass me. The finals are Sep 29^th, which is at the end of my Thailand trip. I’d have to leave 3 days early to make it, plus make arrangements to get to Lake Tahoe and find a place to sleep, etc. I decided to let it go this year and make plans to qualify next year when my schedule is more flexible and I’m hopefully in better shape.

I really enjoyed today's race and look forward to competing again next year.

Snowbird Challenge 10K

It was another blistering hot 100 degree day out, and the numbers didn’t fall the way I was hoping they would as I climbed in elevation up Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was still 90 degrees out at Snowbird when I arrived at 1:30 for the Xterra Snowbird Challenge 10K.

I didn’t do much of a warm up since I was already sweating from my walk through the parking lot. I guess the 2:00 pm start time scared people away, because there were only about 50 runners signed up. 

So the first mile was a short uphill and then mostly downhill, causing me to throw pacing out the window and let myself go. It’s always bad news when I’m in the lead a mile out. But then the next mile was almost all uphill, and I was quickly put in my place. I made the mistake of looking above at the people riding the chairlift up the mountain, and caught my foot on something. It sent me sailing forward, bent over with my hands out in front of me. I skidded my hands along the ground and managed to catch my footing without any serious injury. Eyes to the ground from now on.

With the merciless heat, the 8200 ft elevation, and the steep inclines, I was having difficulty regulating my breathing. Just when I thought I might be able to catch my breath, another steep incline would appear around the corner. Add to that having to avoid roots and rocks, jump across small streams, and keep your footing on loose gravel, and it makes for one tough course.

That was just the first loop. I was breathing really heavy and feeling very overheated going into the second loop--then I came to a massive uphill section—about a mile straight up with zero shade. Everyone in front and behind me walked it. It wasn’t really a question. I had been walking here and there before, which I hate to do, but I felt no shame in walking this entire uphill section. 

I was dying of thirst and completely overheated by the time I reached the top. The view was amazing, but I had an insane downhill looming ahead of me to worry about. It’s extremely hard to run downhill when you have nothing left. Gravity pulls you forward and you have to use all your muscles and focus to keep your feet under you and slow down when necessary. 

It took me an hour and 3 minutes to finish this race—the toughest 10K I’ve ever run. (and walked) That’s like a 10 minute pace. Terrible. Even though I finished 14^th overall, I was only 10^th in my age group. (30-39) In comparison, there were only 2 guys in the entire race in the 20-29 category. My age group is extremely competitive. But, I do get 33 points for finishing 10^th, so it’s not a total loss. Had I got 11^th, I would have been really pissed. (Xterra series points are only given out to the top 10 finishers in each age group)

Drove home and took a long, cold shower. My feet were filthy from all the trail dirt. I took some pictures to document the occasion.

That's dirt, not a tan.

I know. My feet are disgusting. And yes, I was wearing socks AND shoes during the race.

XTERRA Trail Run Series: Bonneville Basher 12K

Up at 6:00 and out by 6:15 after changing into my running clothes. Met up with the small group of racers near Dee Events Center in Ogden. Because of its difficulty, trail running is not nearly as popular as road racing. There were about 70 runners total; 50 guys and 20 girls. This is the first in a series of 4 races put on by Xterra. Here’s a snippet from their web site:

“This year, XTERRA has grouped their trail runs in key regions, including: Northern and Southern California, Utah, Tennessee, the Midwest and Northeast, Chicago and Georgia. The series format encourages runners to attend several events in their area and offers a legit opportunity to sharpen their off-road skills in a fun and competitive environment. When the series concludes, Regional Champions will be crowned and invited to compete for the title of U.S. Champion, along with other leading runners from each region - in Lake Tahoe, Nevada - on September 29 at the XTERRA National Trail Running Championship.”

Points are earned by placing in the top 10 in your age division—75 for first, 67 for second, etc. Obviously, running all 4 races gives you more opportunities to accrue points. I went into this not expecting to earn points, just to run a great trail race. Most of the runners are in their 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. I was one of the younger runners there.

Today’s race is called the Bonneville Basher. The Basher part comes from the reputed injuries sustained in past years. I received this advance blurb in an e mail last week:

“The course will take you along the Bonneville Shoreline trail to the 22^nd St. trailhead and back. That’s all I can tell you. It’s a trail run, so there won’t be mile markers and aid stations every couple miles, so be prepared. There will be an aid station at the 22^nd St. trailhead and the course will be marked so you won’t get lost. Think of it as an adventure. Don’t be late; the race will start at 7:00am sharp.”

I had a granola bar for breakfast, drank some Gatorade, stretched, and then sucked a GU. The race started promptly at 7:00 am.

After a short stretch of road, we entered a Bonneville Shoreline Trail head which is a single person trail.

I was happy with my position and pace, so it wasn’t a problem.

The trail was rocky, hilly, and very technical in parts. I had my eyes working overtime to plot out foot landings 20 yards ahead at all times. I tend to go full out on any downhill, so I have to be especially careful not to lose my footing. This was a 12K, or 7.46 miles, with one water stop at the halfway point. I took a quick sip and kept moving. I was breathing heavy the entire race, but felt good overall. I gobbled down one energy block just after the water station. Made my mouth too sticky.

I only had one mishap on the trail, catching a rock with my right foot, smashing my toes pretty good, but nothing broken. Flying down some really steep declines over roots and loose rocks, I wondered if others were as lucky. Finished the race in 1:03:17, an 8:29 mile pace. It felt much faster than that, but I guess all the uphill sections really slowed me down. I was 12^th place overall, but only 4^th in my age group: 30-39. This will earn me 56 points in the series, but I missed getting a medal for this race.

Mingled with the other runners after, trading stories. Several people covered in dirt and blood from falling or hitting trees. I was just amazed at the shape some of these older folks are in. The first place finisher is 38 years old, 2^nd place is 50, and 3^rd 53. At least I have something to look forward to in my old age. The next race is at Snowbird in July. They expect more runners to show up, so it will be tougher to place.