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!