I was just thinking...

2012 has come and gone oh so quickly. But what a year it was.

On the running front: the opportunity to run for Ireland at the World 100k Championships, a marathon PR, a return to one of my favourite races ever - Waldo 100k, and several other races and training runs (the most memorable being in Big Basin Redwoods SP - don't come to the Bay Area without checking it out!).

On the work front: continued to settle into the no-longer-new job here in CA, made easier by finally selling our house in Mpls and moving to Los Gatos in June. Love my job. Every day. Almost. I know, I hate smug people too.

World 100K Race Report

I've been feeling bad about not writing any race reports all year and then I realized I sort of wrote one about the trip to Italy for Alex over at Ultra Minnesota. So here it the link. And while you're on there, check out the latest posts as the mid-west ultra community prepare for the big dance up at Superior this weekend...

The (Modesto) Marathon and Beyond

It was only a marathon and supposedly a training one so it wouldn’t ordinarily deserve a post. Especially when I haven’t even gotten around to writing up my Hellgate report yet! But a nice PR and a desire to share a little about my recent training (and upcoming races) seems like a good enough reason.

Leadville Trail 100, 2011

In reading this (fairly brief) race report which I mostly wrote last August soon after the race I am both surprised and amused that I apparently have a desire to run another 100 miler! It’s likely I was still suffering the effects of altitude when writing that part. Although, depending on your perspective there is some space on the 2012 schedule around about September...

In short, the Leadville Trail 100 was everything I hoped it would be: a beautiful trail, stunning mountain scenery, a great time with friends, and a performance that I was pretty happy about. I didn’t achieve my pre-race goals of sub-25hr finish and top 10 female but on the day I was thrilled to get to the finish line and quite enjoyed rolling into Leadville in the morning sunlight. I finished in 26:30 and was 11th female, 115th place overall. 347* out of 600+ starters finished under the cut off of 30 hours. Looking back at my 2011 goals posting I guess I originally had a goal of sub-24hrs... well, that was never going to happen. And in reality, I knew going into the race that my training wasn’t what it might have been but I decided rather than complicate race plans with multiple pace charts I would just stick with one and make adjustments if needed.

Wasatch Front Ultra Relay 2011

Having just mailed our entry for this year’s race I figured it was about time I finished up last year’s race report which has been in writing for about 6 months now. Soon to be followed by Leadville and Hellgate... oh and I'll get around to my 2011 wrap up and 2012 goals before the (MN) winter is over!


I am not sure when we first started talking about doing this race. It was Chris who found it. He’d entered the lottery for the 2011 Wasatch 100 mile but didn’t get in. He was probably on a mailing list after that. In any case, several things about the event intrigued us. It was the inaugural year, it followed much of the same course as the 100 mile race which we knew to be challenging yet beautiful, and then there was the relay aspect of it. Neither of us had ever participated in a relay race but we had both thought about doing the Hood to Coast race and several friends had run the Colorado Outward Bound relay a number of times. Things really started to get interesting when we asked the race director (John Grobbens, same RD as Wasatch 100) if he would allow a 2-person team rather than the 6-person team described on the website. “Sure, why not?” came the reply. Alrighty then, 142 miles in the mountains, with 40,000 ft of elevation change, divided by two. As things came together we realized the race was the week after Badwater where we would be crewing Divesh (see previous post), so we figured we’d work in a bit of a road trip with a visit to Chris’ brother in Vegas. Things really came together when my mother and sister decided they would like a trip to California via Las Vegas. That took care of getting Milly back to Los Gatos and allowed them the same wonderful experience we’d had driving through Death Valley and Yosemite. This was quickly becoming my kind of summer vacation!

Crewing Badwater 135 - July 2011

I am not sure if I will ever attempt to run this race. I have to say the $1000 entry fee for minimal support puts me right off. I don’t see the need for it. For sure, the event costs money to host, particularly the medical support. But a grand? And that’s before paying for your own support crew which for most people is a necessity in a race like this. Though you have to give huge credit to the few who actually do the race self-supported. This year a lady pushed a cart the whole way. With only a few towns along the course, she needed to push gallons of water as well as food and other gear.

Yosemite - July 2011

Yes, this post has been a long while coming!! But I did want to record this wonderful weekend where we did our first little bit of exploring in California. For most of 2011, I have been commuting weekly to Los Gatos (just south of San Jose) while Chris (and Cooper) remain in Minneapolis. It's been challenging at times but all of these new places to explore make it fun.

A couple of things...

The following are all in various forms of draft and some will actually get posted before the end of 2011!

• July - Badwater crewing - I would never have believed the desert could be that pretty. Even at 117 degrees.
• July - Wasatch Front Ultra Relay – myself and Chris opted for (created) the 2-person team.
• August - Leadville 100 - the magnificent beauty of the course made up for too much road.
• September to December – training with a coach. A cool new experience. With lots of long runs in the Marin Headlands. Beautiful!
• December – Hellgate 100k - I raced, really raced, for the first time in about 18 months. And it felt awesome.
• December – Tuscobia – we entered a new world of race directing. And we learned fast.
• 2011 recap
• 2012 race plans

Back where it all began...

After my first trail experience at the Afton 25k in the summer of 2005, I knew I wanted to do more of this. 3 days later I was emailing Larry and hence began my love affair with the Superior Hiking Trail. I came across the email exchange today while doing a search for a work project. I had to cringe at my asking Larry about water crossings! And his response about the "nice bridges" makes so much more sense now that I know him - I can just hear his brain thinking this will be good... I am looking forward to another visit up there next week. It will be my 7th annual! Chris is running the 100 again and I will volunteer Friday and then pace him for the second half. It is always an incredibly fun weekend and a great chance to catch up with everyone. I am sad not to have spent much time on the SHT this summer. It is definitely one of the major drawbacks to the California move. So we will just have to make the most of this big weekend up north. And perhaps one of these years I will actually run a race here again...

Black Hills 100K

I ran this race several weeks ago (June 26) and started the report almost immediately - but got a little side-tracked since. Which means there are a few more race reports to follow!

Black Hills 100K was a tough race for me. There's a simple enough reason for that - my training wasn't what it should be to really race the way I know I am capable of. But, now that some time has passed since the race and I've (sort of) accepted that training is down the list of priorities this year, you will be saved from the worst of my whining.

Coming soon...

Dear Blog,

I have not completely forgotten about you. I now have THREE race reports to finish (and 2 of them to start) as well as a few other random posts about the awesome summer so far!

- Black Hills 100K
- Yosemite Weekend
- Crewing at Badwater
- Wasatch Front Ultra Relay
- Voyageur 50M
- Freaking out about Leadville 100M

Chow. For now.

Running Down Under...

Earlier this year I took a new role with a recent acquisition, relocating to Los Gatos, California (just south of San Jose). It's been an interesting transition going from being part of a 50+ person department to a department of 1. And definitely challenging to work on a completely new (medical device) technology. But always interesting.

Chippewa Moraine 50K

This is a little late going to print and a little shorter than usual race reports... both due to a lack of the most valuable non-renewable resource.

4th year of the race. 4th time running it. 4th win? Ah, wouldn't that have been nice! But alas, I knew full well going into this race that for me to win would have required a bunch of women not to show up and/or some horrendous weather conditions that I had more experience dealing with. Though a snowstorm a la 2008 would not have worked since the winner is a Nordic skier...

Photo blog...

To avoid too much focus on those pesky race goals I thought I'd post a collection of photos from Christmas 2010 in Ireland through the recent trip to Colorado/California...

2011 Race Goals

Better late than never. And just in time for tomorrow's race! It’s a short list this year. Though I expect that may change – but we’ll see how things go with weekday hill training in CA and weekend technical trail training in MN...

• April – Chippewa 50K, WI – 4:50. No sandbagging, just no way I am going to be beating the past 2 years’ times (4:41 and 4:41); and in fact 5:00 may be closer to the mark.


• August – Leadville 100M, CO – 24:00.


• December – Hellgate 100K, VA – agghhhhhh – I really, really want to put something crazy like 12:59:59 here but I’m not going to! :)

I’m half thinking of another 100M in the fall – perhaps Pinhoiti (AL) in early November. But won’t make plans until after Leadville. Same goes for Wild Duluth 100K and/or Surf the Murph 50M, October (MN). If not racing, I hope to be at these races to volunteer.

2010 - The Year in Review

This will be a busy blogging week for me - I have to post this one (only a few months late), and then sneak in my goals for 2011 before the first race on Saturday! And I also need to post a ton of photos from the trip to Ireland...

Hello. My name is Helen.

Forgive me readers, it has been 3 months since my last post. In that time I have both lived life and been passionate. But I haven’t had a whole lot of time to blog about it. And the passion didn’t have a whole lot to do with running so probably better you didn’t hear from me. And if I am being fully honest about it I have been taking the easy option and just posting on Facebook. Sorry blogger.

Tuscobia Winter Ultramarathon

First of all - I did NOT do this race :)

Even if I had not run Hellgate last weekend I suspect this would not have been in my plan... but I am intrigued by it and perhaps next year I'll try the 50K as a Hellgate recovery run!

Hellgate 2010

A few things I learned this past weekend –

1. The race is actually 66.6 miles long (I thought it was merely a 66 mile 100K).
2. My pain threshold is way higher than previously believed.
3. Having crew rocks!
4. The hour before dawn is the most incredible time to run through the woods.
5. Always take the bacon.

Going into this year’s race I knew I was not anywhere close to last year’s level of fitness. I wasn’t exactly proud of it, but I was okay about it. The past few months have been a whirlwind time in so many different ways (mostly good) and training simply had to take a backseat. And when needed, I could always pull out the old "foot surgery in June" excuse. No one had to know that it was minor and I was back running within 6 weeks! Oh and that I had run a 100K race in August...

Getting caught up!

Life gets busy, doesn't it?

Running...

- Is going okay. Not great, but okay. And right now I am happy with okay.