I completely love the Sugarloaf Marathon and 15K. 

For me, it is the only race I can go to where I can actually sleep in my own bed, go to the race, and be home by noon.

The course is gorgeous -  I did the marathon a few years back and the entire run was just amazing.  You run along mountains and rivers. 

Sorry, I didn’t take any pictures of that.  you are going to have to trust me.

The 15K starts at mile 17 of the marathon course, so you are running the same course as those running the marathon.

The other thing about this race – it has this awesome laid back atmosphere, but at the same time, it is so well-organized.  That is a very hard thing to pull off, and the RD of this race completely manages to do it.

Also, I like what they did with the race shirts:

Love this…

So, actually, I lied to you already. 

I didn’t stay at home.  But I totally could have.

I stayed at my parents house the night before so I could sleep a half hour later. 

But I got to go fishing with my dad.

Dad and I and a couple of bears…um…dogs!

We slayed them.

We were busy with lots of small browns. They are are still there, hopefully growing bigger!

And Porter had a blast running up and down the river bank.

Porter and I

My buddy Katie stayed at my parents as well, and Mom made us an awesome dinner.  Thanks MOM!

That morning, we got up at 5am and ate breakfast (full fat yogurt, raspberries, and walnuts + coffee), and then drove the 40 minutes to the race start. 

It was ffffrreeeezing!!! I am not sure of the temperature, but it was freaking cold to be standing around dressed in running stuff waiting for a race to start.

Dropping off my truck at the finish…what I thought was the finish anyway…

Katie and I before the start…brrrrr

I threw my phone in the truck at this point, so I am all out of pictures.

But we made our way to the start, and while we were waiting, Katie and I got to meet up with Weez and Carrie!  What a couple of awesome women! 

It wasn’t long and we were directed to go to the start (thank god! I was freezing!) 

My plan was to run Zone 2 for the first 6 miles of the race and then run hard the rest of the race. 

Of course, there was a problem with my plan. 

When I was packing, I couldn’t find my HR strap anywhere.  So, I decided to just run with the Garmin and go by feel. 

I felt the buzz on my wrist of the first mile and looked down and saw “Mile 1 - 8:20″ 

Holy. Freaking. Crap. 

Too fast.  Too fast. 

I thought about it for a second and decided screw it.  I felt good, so I kept going. 

Also that hot game warden from Northwoods Law was just up ahead of me.  I had some inspiration to keep up the pace.

The miles ticked on, and I kept up pretty much that 8:20ish-8:30ish pace. 

This was completely shocking to me. 

I wondered if maybe my watch was malfunctioning.  Because that is way faster than…well, than me. 

But I kept going, and kept feeling good.

As mile 6 approached, I decided not to go with the “run hard at mile 6 plan” since I had paid absolutely no attention to the “take it easy until mile 6″ plan.

I ate a sugar chewy thing since I was pretty sure I was needing faster burning fuel at that point.  That is all I ate.  I didn’t drink anything, it was pretty chilly.

As I got near mile 8, I thought about it and clearly remembered from a few years ago where the finish line was – right next to Jordan Lumber.  The sign is pretty prominent.   As I saw it up ahead, I decided to sprint hard as I could to the finish.

Except the finish line had been moved.

Yeah.  It was a little further away.  You had to take a right turn and run a couple hundred yards further than before.

Awesome.

No one told me this. 

No.  I didn’t read the pre-race stuff (it was in there), I just thought I already knew everything.

So my legs were burning as I passed Jordan Lumber (my imaginary finish line) and turned the corner.  By the time I got to the real finish line, I was completely toasted.  Like all wobbly and stuff.   

I think I almost walked across the finish line to be honest. 

But I looked at my Garmin and it said 1:18 – my official time was 1:17:58, so 8:22 minute miles on average.

Pretty freaking good!! It was great for me because I have been working hard since I started losing weight in September and one of my goals was to get faster on the run.  This is the first race I have actually seen the results of my hard work.  It was pretty danged awesome.

Stoked with my time, I immediately ran into a bunch of people I knew (shiny things were EVERYWHERE!) 

I hung out at the finish line talking and I thought, crap, I have to get over and cheer Katie in!  I turned and she was standing right next to me. 

Oops.  Um…”Yay Katie!!!”

It was a great day, if you ever get the chance to do this race, I highly recommend it!

Kacie Darden and Dani Grabol are two amazing freaking women.

Kacie and Dani doing something crazy

Actually, that is a complete understatement.

These two are endurance queens – completing Ironman triathlons, winning 50k running races, setting world records biking across Florida, and recently outright winning the Heart of the South bike race, a continuous 517 mile race as a twosome. Last year, they both participated in the Florida Double Iron, finishing fourth and fifth overall!

Let me break that double Ironman thing they did down for you – 4.8 miles of swimming, 224 miles of biking and 56.4 miles of running.

Besides all of this, they each have their own amazing stories - but the story I am really interested in right now is what they are going to do in June.

They are setting out to cross the US as a two person women’s team in RAAM – a 3000+ mile bike race from Oceanside, CA to Annapolis, MD.

Sorry it is a little blurry… (click for source)

The goal of this race?  To set a world record time for a two women RAAM team, bikeing the route in under 8 days, 18 hours and 57 minutes.

Actually, that is just one of the goals – these ladies have chosen to make the race about more than themselves – they are raising funds through their racing for Camp Twin Lakes (they talk more about it in the interview).

Want to help them out? Click HERE (or go to the link on the top right sidebar)!

Read my interview with them below!

First of all, for those that do not know, what exactly is RAAM?

Kacie:     Race Across America, or RAAM is a 3000 mile continuous bike race that starts in Oceanside, CA and ends in Annapolis, MD. People race on 8 person teams, 4 person teams, 2 person teams, and incredibly solo. Teams are allowed 9 days to finish, and solos are allowed 12 days. Even if you take a break, the clock never stops.

You are given a course that you have to follow and a large set of rules based mostly around safety. Every 50-80 miles, you pass time stations where you call in to the race central to let them know you have passed that station. There are referrees on the course checking in on the teams and solo riders to ensure that everyone is following the rules.

Dani:     It’s a 3000 mile continuous bike race from Oceanside, California to Annapolis, Maryland. It is the 31st year it’s been around.

I feel like you have to really get along with someone well and trust them fully to do something like RAAM together. How did you two meet and what inspired you to team up to race a bike across the country?

Kacie:     Dani and I met while training for a double iron (all the swim, all the bike, then all the run). We had a couple of fun training sessions together, and then we raced together. Dani was the 2nd female and 4th overall, and I was 3rd female and 5th overall. Dani set the bike course record! We had a great time at that race, and knew that we were closely matched athletes.

Kacie Darden

There was an 8 person RAAM team in atlanta that was looking for another rider. I was free that summer, so I hopped on the team. The race was brutally hard, and I was so tired at the end. At the same time though, I didn’t ride my bike enough. I knew at the finish line that I wanted to come back, and I wanted to come back on a smaller team, made up of people that I really know and support.

Not long after RAAm 2012, I started talking with Dani about the possibility of racing together, and it did not take long until we were working on a team name! I feel like we have grown into a very close team. The sports phsycologist we have worked with said that we have entered into a new marriage with each other. We have to trust each other completely. I feel lucky to be entering this race with Dani on my team. She is strong, she perserveres, and she is incredibly fun!

Dani:      I was training for a double Iron distance triathlon and a friend of mine told me that there was another Atlanta athlete that taught at her sons school doing the race. Since there were only 6 females total participating, I thought it was cool that one was local! We hooked up for a 20-mile run and chatted the whole time. We have similar strengths as athletes, so it was easy for us to become training partners.

Dani Grabol

Kacie participated in RAAM as part of an 8-person team and I couldn’t wait to talk to her when she got back. I wanted to know every little detail about the trip. She was SO fired up about it! It didn’t take much convincing to get me to agree to racing it as a 2-person team with her.

It is so cool you guys are doing this to support your favorite charity, Camp Twin Lakes how does supporting them motivate you to do this ride.

Kacie:     Camp Twin Lakes is an amazing place for kids with disability and illness. They make it so that kids who could not otherwise go to camp can! They even have a wheelchair accesibile treehouse! How cool is that? We love that they have a “nothing is impossible” spirit! It is encouraging and uplifting to be a part of a place that provides amazing opportunities for kids to just be kids, and not be defined by their disability.

Dani:      More than anything I hope that Kacie and I can spend some time with campers there and use this experience to show them that you can accomplish some amazing things when you work hard and really put your mind to it. These kids are incredible, and they inspire us to never give up!

Tell me about an average training week – how much time are you on the trainer verses riding outside?

Kacie:     Less time on a trainer now that it is spring in Georgia, but here is a typical week:

• Monday: AM strength with my strength trainer. PM: Massage, or Chiropractor, or yoga, or nutritionist
• Tuesday: AM Speed work on my trainer PM: 3-4.5 hours on the bike–inside in bad weather and outside in good
• Wed: AM Strength training PM: Yoga and swimming
• Thurs: AM Speed work on my trainer PM: 3-4.5 hours on the bike–inside in bad weather and outside in good
• Fri: Yoga or off day–we just started with the off days! I only get them if there is something pretty epic on the weekend.
• Sat/Sun: This varies depending on the weekend. Sometimes we do on/off workouts where we get on the bike and then take a break before the next ride. This simulates the relay aspect. I often go up to the North Georgia mountains to work on climbing. If there are local centuries, we go do those. In the next month, we will do some 24 hour practice rides as a whole team to simulate the race strategy. Other times, I have very long back to back rides. It is a very fine line we ride between preparing our bodies for this incredible effort and overtraining and ending up sick.

Dani:      I spend about 10 hours a week on the trainer, sometimes more, and around 18-20 hours a week outside. My preference is always to ride outside, but it doesn’t always work out that way for me!

Along those lines – this is a whole lot of time in addition to work, etc. What kind of support do you have for your training at home, and how key has that been to your success thusfar?

Kacie:     It is true that we both work for a living. I am a middle school science and math teacher. I’ve joked that we do what we have to do outside of work and training, and no more. In other words, I am looking forward to seeing some of my friends and family in July. We have not spent much time together! My husband, George has been an incredibly important part of this preparation. He is supportive in so many ways. Our crew is also helpful in organzing gear and working on general race preparations so that we can focus on training and fundraising.

Dani:     I am very fortunate to have an amazing boyfriend, Jason, who is by far my biggest supporter in life. Without his encouragement and unwavering support I never would have been able to commit to RAAM.

Here is a great example: we recently moved and he packed our entire house, moved us, AND unpacked us, all while I was out training! He didn’t want me to change my schedule or risk hurting my back lifting boxes. I couldn’t ask for a better partner in life!

Congratulations on the fantastic finish at the Heart of the South 500 miler! What lessons did you learn in that race that will help you prepare for RAAM?

Kacie:     Hey thanks! It was a good, but tough race! I learned that even though I am normally quite snobby about fast food, that I can and WILL eat a filet o fish sandwich in the middle of the night. I learned that hallucinations are scary, but that you can KNOW deep down that they are not real. I learned that a quick 30 minute nap can change your mindset and your physcial condition. I learned that even though I can use coke in a shorter event like an ironman, it can lead to a nasty crash when you are racing over 24 hours and should only be used when necessary!

Dani:     Don’t eat a ton of candy when you are tired, it will make you crash! When I get quiet and stop talking, I probably need a nap. 30 minutes of sleep can do incredible things in ultra racing!

I am sure you are mapping things out for RAAM – but I am a little confused about how it will all work. Do you each have a certain number of miles or hours you plan on riding? Or do I have it all wrong?

Kacie:     We have a 24 hour rotation planned!

• For 6 hours we will rotate every 30 minutes.
• Then, Dani will ride for 2 hours while I take a nap.
• Then I will ride for 2 hours while dani takes a nap.
• Then, we will do the 6 hours of rotating every 30 minutes again.
• Then Dani will ride in the night for 4 hours while I sleep.
• I will ride for 4 hours while Dani sleeps.

Rinse and repeat until we get to annapolis! This is our race plan!

That being said, the owners of RAAM said, “You make a race plan for RAAM. Your race plan goes to hell. Then you make a new plan.” SO, that’s our plan until it goes to hell anyway.

Dani:      Our plan is to rotate out every 30 minutes or so (this will be anywhere from 5-10 miles depending on the terrain) for 14 hours of the day. When we hit the serious climbs we will rotate out every mile. Sometime during the day we will each take a 2-hour pull so the other can get a power nap and eat something solid. At night we will both take one 4-hour pull so the other rider can sleep and get more solid food in.

I love to sleep. How the heck does sleep fit into this schedule?

Kacie:     There’s not a lot of it. About 1.5 hour nap and 3 hours at night is optimal.

Dani:      We are building in two sleep breaks, one will be 2 hours, the other will be 4 hours. This will include needing to eat and get chiropractic work in as well, so it won’t be 6 actual hours of sleep a day. If we get 4-4.5 hours of sleep a day and a few cat naps I think we will be doing good! That is by far the thing I think will be the most difficult, just being plain exhausted!

I always stress about nutrition – I can’t wrap my brain around figuring it out for a race like RAAM. How do you guys plan on eating for the race?

Kacie:     Oh snap–I stress about it too!! I am going to bring all kinds of options for myself–gels, chewies, bars, “junk food,” good food, fruit, smoothies, and hopefully real food when the crew switches.

Dani:      During our shorter pulls I am planning on sticking more to traditional sports nutrition. I prefer GU products. It will be June, and we will be going through some very hot areas (Arizona desert!) so proper nutrition is important. We will have to eat regular, solid foods which will likely take place on our longer breaks. Sandwiches, pasta, and at some point I am sure we will just be willing to eat almost anything that our crew brings us!

Anything else we should know about you and RAAM?

You can follow our progress through our blog www.powerpedalsandponytails.blogspot.com

Please like our FB page: Power, Pedals, and Ponytails

Follow us on twitter! @powerponytails

Support Kacie and Dani as they ride for Camp Twin Lakes HERE!

Click photo for source

I love Acadia - it is beautiful – but I don’t go very often because it is very accessible and therefore it is almost always really crowded.

The loop road through the park is a very cool mostly one-way road financed by John D. Rockefeller (and some other rich people).

It looks like this:

Biker’s dream to ride on!

So yes, wonderful, smooth well-maintained pavement.

The ride itself is gorgeous, but normally it is a nightmare to bike (or drive) because the road is LOADED with people driving cars…and looking at the ocean and not the road.

It is almost worst than texting and driving I think.

But thanks to the sequester (insert snarky comment here) the park loop road delayed opening to motorized vehicles.

So there is 27 miles of carless paved roads through a gorgeous place!

It was awesome!  I’ll let the pictures tell most of the story…

My friend Erin had a…little surprise for me.  I hadn’t seen her in about a year and, well, she was “a little” pregnant.  She is so cute!

I was quite shocked when she walked out of the van

A short walk from our campground was this ocean overlook view that I thought was pretty neat.

View from the loop road

The next morning, we geared up (Yup! Erin rode!) and headed to the loop road for some fun.

I was rocking my new Primal Wear jersey that I kinda love.  A lot.

This is one of the views from the loop road.  You had to ride over a bunch of crunched up shells that had been thrown on the road from winter storms in this section.  It was the only place on the whole ride that had any debris in the road.

Beauty break!

Erin looking awesome and rocking a 27 mile bike ride!

My bike needed a beauty break.  The hardest thing about this ride was not stopping every 5 minutes to take more pictures.

The park loop road is 90% a one-way road.  But it since it was closed to motor vehicles so we rode the loop backwards, it felt like we were being all rebellious!

I made Erin take a picture of me with this sign for proof that I am a rule-breaking badass.

Yup, I am a badass

Cadillac Mountain is pretty cool.  It is around 1,500 feet, and pretty much right next to the ocean.  It is the highest mountain on the eastern seaboard – meaning within so many feet of the Atlantic Ocean.   There are plenty of other mountains that are higher inland, but anyway, it is pretty neat.

The best part of it this time was that we could climb the road without fearing our lives of cars coming down (or up).

OK I see I keep repeating that like Rainman.  But I am still getting over how great it was to ride for almost 5 hours and see only a few cars.

So yeah.  Cadillac Mountain.  It is about a 3.5 mile steady climb to the top.

I made the climb to the top and there were only about 15 bikes up there.  It looked like a few people walked up as well.   Once Erin made it up, we had a snack and got a photo shoot.

Yeah, Erin is pretty amazing!

Speaking of snacks…I did this entire ride on water, SaltStick, macadamia nuts, and Amrita Bars.

Yummmmm…food!

I knew my friends Rick and Leanne were riding the loop as well.  There is not much for cell service on this loop, but when I was up on top of Cadillac Mountain, I sent them a text to tell them where I was.  On the way down (it is very fast down, I scared myself a little) I saw them!

All I could do was yell “Leeeeeaaaaaannnnnn!”

I got to the bottom and was able to send a text that said I was doing the loop again, this time the “right way”.  The weather, while it was a gorgeous 50 degrees, was cool with the wind from the ocean.  I couldn’t stand around and wait.  Actually, once I got down the mountain, I got off the bike and laid on the pavement to warm up.

Anyway, after a few minutes, they responded they were going to do the loop backwards this time and we could look out for each other.

Mission accomplished!

Love, love this photo!!!

Unfortunately, I was finishing up my 2nd and final loop of the day, I decided not to join them to finish the loop with them.  I probably should have, but I was getting colder and colder and just needed to get back to the campsite and put my puffy coat on.

I have a hard time not mentioning the events of the past week.  I talked about it a little in Tuesday‘s post, but I just want to say again that my thoughts are with the victims and families of those lost in Boston between Monday and Friday, and with the families of those hurt and killed in the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion.

I also wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to all of the law enforcement and first responders who worked tirelessly this week - I had tears in my eyes Friday night watching the crowds cheering them as they left Watertown, MA.

I Love Big Papi

“This is our F*#%ing city, and no one is going to dictate our freedom.” – David Ortiz

After this week, an F-bomb was required IMO.  Big Papi’s speech was fitting for the moment.   I cheered from my couch, watched it (cheered again) on YouTube a few times, and was still pumping my fist when I saw it again on Sports Center.

And one more time when the FCC decided to not fine him.

I’ve Been Interviewed!

I have had Twitter and Facebook conversations with Weez from Runner’s Ramblings for quite a while.  She is a Mainer who I have yet to have a meet-up with.  I hope to meet up with her when I race at Sugarloaf…I can’t wait!

Anyway, she interviewed me on her blog!  It was so much fun, thank you so much Weez!!! Check it out HERE!

Speaking of interviews, I plan on posting an interview I had with Kacie and Dani about their upcoming Race Across America!  It should be up sometime next week – I just wish I was as good at asking questions as Weez is.

Training…

This week was a great week in training, probably fueled by my anger and frustration at the events of the week.

Swim

Yeah…you all know my pool situation.  In the case that you don’t, it is 90 minute drive one way, blah blah, I get there once a week, yadda yadda…

The ice is off the lake, but the water is 30 something degrees.  I hope to be in the water by the end of May.  Which means about a month or so more of driving and swimming once a week.

BUT to help with some speed and to build some strength I have been adding some hard efforts in, doing things like 10×50 (25 easy, 25 all out) and I swear I almost died.

Bike

I have yet to ride outside.  I planned to this weekend, specifically today, but when I got up this morning it was snowing.

Yes. Snowing.

Maybe next week.

I have a 4hr ride coming up on Sunday, and if it isn’t outside you are going to have to check me into an insane asylum.

The upside of being on the trainer, I find it easier to do speedwork.  Mostly because I don’t have to worry about balancing.

Or log trucks.

But I can just concentrate on going hard, which is good.  I think it is helping me, but until I get outside I won’t know for sure how much.

Run

What can I say?  It is all I wanted to do this week, and it is probably not a surprise.  I feel I am a stronger and more durable runner than ever before…maybe even a little faster?

Eating

I am still living NSNG and feeling better than ever!  I am also still experimenting with the right balance of fat, protein, and carbs for training and going long, but I am getting a lot closer to dialing it in.

The thing that is really working for me is Amrita Bars, for me I love grabbing one of those for fuel for an early morning workout because they are portable, good, real food, and taste SO good.  My other go-to thing is to have a sweet potato (usually in the microwave cause it is fast) with almond butter on it before a workout.  It tastes so good and the mixture seems to give me the energy I need going into the ride or run.

Thanks for reading!

Like everyone, I am devastated about the horrific events that unfolded in Boston yesterday, heartbroken for the families of those lost and praying for those injured to recover.

I guess we all (well, I) have always felt races were our playground, a place where we as athletes celebrate months (or in some cases years) of training and dedication and get the opportunity to spend time with and meet other athletes.

It seems like everyone knows someone running or working the Boston Marathon.

I knew a few people running, a few Boston policemen working the race (Let me interject here that it seemed from afar that Boston law enforcement brought some semblance of order to the chaos fairly quickly and made people as safe as they could as quickly as they could under the circumstances.  Thank you guys and gals putting it on the line everyday.  I appreciate you.)

I tracked most of my friends down enough to know they were OK.

Except for two.  My friend’s Steve and Carole.

Steve is the person who is responsible for this endurance addiction of mine.  He is one of my favorite people in the whole world.  He was running Boston,  I saw he finished in 3:36  (nice work my friend) but I also know he sometimes hangs around the finishline…so I was worried.

I sent texts and messages to him and our mutual friends, we had a lot of nail-biting back and forth.  We eventually got word through Facebook that he was OK.

Minutes after finding that out, my cell phone rang.  It was him – as soon as I heard his voice tears ran down my face.  We talked for almost an hour.

He was (thankfully) on the Green Line (train) when the bombs went off and the train was shut down and everyone was instructed to leave the station.  They were not told what had happened (my sense is that law enforcement were still figuring this out), so I picture a bunch of tired runners wandering around wondering what the heck was going on.

Cell phones didn’t work, he had no way to communicate with Carole (who had left ahead of him).  He ended up walking 15 blocks to Fenway Park before he was able to take a train and re-unite with Carole.  I am sure it was quite the reunion.

I am beyond thankful that my friend is OK, that all my friends are OK.  I am so so sorry for those that are not.

The running community shed it’s cloak of innocence yesterday, we are all lying to ourselves if we think this kind of thing isn’t going to be in the back of our mind forever.  Like any act of terror, you can’t wipe it from your brain no matter how hard you scrub.

But here’s the thing:

This isn’t going to stop me, or I hope anyone else, from racing.  It isn’t going to take the joy from my running or racing, from doing what I do.

Finish lines are the happiest places on earth. They will continue to be.

It is up to all of us to make sure of that.

I hope to be half as brave as the first responders I saw running running toward the smoke to help people when the bomb went off.  To be as strong as the runners who finished the race and marched directly to the Red Cross to give blood, or who jumped right in and started helping the victims.

Yes, we have taken a huge blow as a running community, but I think we found out how strong and united we can be.  Boston as a race, as a city, has been hit hard by this.

If I know anything about the people of Boston, they will come back stronger and better than ever before (they have a history of toughness – they were the first to give the British the finger and kick off the American Revolution.)

I guess that is all I have to say about that.  Except for this:

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

• The Red Cross says the best way to help right now is to get in touch with loved ones through its Safe And Well Listings. The organization is not asking for blood donations at this time.
• The Salvation Army is offering food, beverages and crisis counseling to survivors and first responders. Find out how you can get involved here.
• Anyone with info about the incident can call 1-800-494-TIPS.

That didn’t happen.

I spent the first two days of this week more sick that I have ever been.

Holy hell.  It was bad.

I have not had my butt kicked like that in a while.  I missed almost 2 days of work (which is always nice when you are coming back from a week vacation) and a lot of workouts.

I couldn’t eat anything solid for almost 3 full days.  I have never been sick like that before (yes I need to say this twice).

When I finally came back into work (still not eating, but at least not with a 102 temperature) everyone told me how great I looked, that I must be at my fighting weight.

Yeah, thanks guys, I call it the stomach flu diet.  Pretty sure it isn’t sustainable.

By the end of the week I was starting to feel better, a little stronger.  I was eating a little more.  I did a few workouts but they were completely half-assed because I had no food in me to speak of.

I did an easy trainer ride and decided that this weekend I was DEFINITELY going ride outside.

Then this happened:

Maine Street Caratunk April 12

This pretty much killed any desire I had to bike outside.  I almost just went back to bed for the weekend.

The good news is, I found this little promise of spring:

Crocus fighting its way up

So I switched things around and ended up doing a 12 mile run on Saturday instead of my bike ride in hopes that I could get outside on Sunday.

The run felt OK, I think I was still pretty messed up from being sick.

When I got done with it I wondered if I really should do the Sugarloaf Marathon in May.  I know it is marginally smart to do it anyway, and there is a 15k the same day that would beat me up a whole lot less.

I am going to do another long run and see how it goes.

Today I got up thinking about getting outside to bike.  I looked out the window and it was sleeting.

So I ended up here.  For HOURS:

I made believe I was outside

SO I am hoping next week goes a little better as far as training.

And eating!  I like to eat.

Thanks for reading!

We drove from the Vail area toward Moab, UT.  It was a 4 hour drive, but we had about 3 days to kill.

Moab was hopping!! I had never been there this time of year, and it turns out it is their busy season.  It was awesome! There were active people everywhere, running, road biking, mountain biking, hiking, boating, and who knows what else.

After grabbing a hotel room, we drove over to Dead Horse Point.  It is an awesome area, and you can drive directly to the overlook.  But both of us had enough driving so we walked the 1.5 mile trail to the overlook to stretch our legs.

Walking toward Dead Horse Point

Walking toward Dead Horse Point

To read the legend of Dead Horse Point, click HERE.

Dead Horse Point

It would have been cool to see when the sun was setting, but we didn’t feel like sitting there for 2 hours waiting for that to happen.  We went back into town and grabbed a good dinner.

The next day we decided on going to a place I have always wanted to see – Horseshoe Canyon (formerly Barrier Canyon) and the Great Gallery.

The drive to the trailhead is 30 miles on a dirt road with only cows for company - we had rented a minivan so this was a little interesting to say the least.

Road into Horseshoe Canyon

Free ranging cows

We made it to the trailhead and headed down the trail, some of the cactus were starting to flower which was cool.

Indian Paintbrush on the way down the trail

Within the first mile of climbing down into the canyon, there is a dinosaur track.

Dinosaur track on the way down

Then it was time to hike down into the canyon.  We could see a group of people ahead of us, they looked so tiny!

Once down in the canyon, there are 3 specific sets of pictographs that you get to see before getting to the Great Gallery.

Looking down into the canyon (see the people down there?)

One of the pictograph panels in Horseshoe canyon

More pictographs – I like the darker one that is a man and dog

After about 3-3 1/2 miles you get to the Great Gallery. It is a panel that is about 100 feet wide with spooky figures that are as large as 8 ft tall. It is really awesome, and I couldn’t get the whole thing in a single shot with my camera. It spans the entire wall in the below photos.

John walking up to the Great Gallery

Great Gallery

One set of pictographs really grabs your attention more than the others, I have read that this is often called the Holy Ghost Pictograph.

The largest pictograph in the Great Gallery

It really draws you to it, and the thing is, there is so much detail in some of the other pictographs on the panel that it is funny that this is the one you keep going to.

Anyway, we headed back to our minivan and drove to Moab to discover that friends of our from Caratunk/The Forks were in MOAB!!! They were getting ready to put on the San Juan river.

We drove directly to their campsite on the Colorado River and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening with them.

Caratunk comes to Moab

Yes, the joke flew around that we had to drive 2500 miles to have a beer and dinner together.

The next morning, we got up early trying to catch sunrise in the Arches National Park.  I love this park, it is so accessible, yet you can hike and get away from most of the crowds.

We didn’t have a lot of time for hiking (we had to drive to Colorado and pick up our friends coming down from the 1oth Mountain Huts) so we drove the loop road and got a few nice photos.

Balanced Rock at Sunrise

On of the Windows (I think South) at sunrise

John at Turret Arch

Me at Turret Arch

Then it was time to head back to Colorado and pick up our friends.

So that is our trip!  We had a great time for sure, even though it went a little differently than originally planned.

I think next year I want to spend a little more time in the Moab area – it was so warm and there was so much to do and see (I really would love to spend all of April there sometime, because April in Maine kind of sucks).

It would be an awesome training ground to base out of as well.  I came back home with visions of biking outside and on Sunday it was 20 degrees and windy so I ended up on the trainer for a few hours instead.

Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for an interview with this amazing duo right here within the next week or two.

Now, onto the trip report!

John and I had a great time out west.  We flew into Denver from Boston on Friday with a few of our friends.  Let’s just say driving in Boston is nothing like driving in Caratunk, I think our little Maine pickup truck pissed off the entire city of Boston - but we made it to the airport.

After arriving in Denver, we went through the nightmare of car rental (why is that never easy?) and finally got on the road to our 2 day house rental in Breckenridge, which was awesome!

Not a bad place to hang out for a few days…

We got settled in and the rest of the crew showed up, which was awesome.

The next morning, we made plans for a resort skiing day before we headed into the backcountry.  Most people went to Arapaho Basin to ski, but from Breckenridge, you could ski back to the house - I liked that option, so I skied Breckenridge.

The Breck crew at the top of the lift

Top of T-bar

We came back from skiing and started packing to go to the Jackal Hut which is near Leadville, Colorado.  The drive to the trailhead at Camp Hale was really gorgeous, but quite icy.

Sketchy (but pretty) drive to Camp Hale

Finally making it to the trailhead, we re-organized our gear for the 10th time and got ready to head out - it was a gorgeous day!

At the Trailhead

And we started skiing up.  The trail is pretty flat for the first mile or so, and then it is a series of switchbacks that get increasingly steeper as you approach the hut.  We climbed over 2000 feet in 4 miles.

The hut is at 11,660 ft – so the air is thinner than we are used to here in Maine.

Basically I looked at this for 3 1/2 hours

It was tough going, but I made it up fairly quickly eating my Amrita Bars, some mixed nuts, and gummy bears (hey, I was on vacation so I ate some sugar) when I needed fuel.

Everyone was really happy to get to the hut.  My favorite quote when I got to the hut was from my friend Ben who said “You have to go through THAT to be THIS happy.”

Amrita fueled me to the hut

Jackal Hut

John and I on the porch at Jackal

View from porch of Jackal

View from porch of Jackal

The next day we all did some avalanche training.  Basically we located and rescued a buried backpack a few times.  This was to make sure everyone knew how to use their beacons, probe poles, and shovels.  Snow conditions were pretty dicey as far as avalanche risk goes, so no one wanted to mess with any open slope that was more than 30 degrees.

Ideally, we would stay away from risky terrain and wouldn’t need to use this equipment, but in the case we did, we wanted to be sure everyone knew what to do.

There was some great skiing near the hut that was safe, but I felt like going a little further from the hut, so a few of us headed for a little tour.

Heading out for a tour

Touring

More touring

…and some of us got a little tired after a day full of skiing!

Down for the count!

The next day we had to re-pack and get ready to ski down from Jackal and then up to Eiseman Hut.  The ski down was pretty uneventful, it was early in the morning so the snow was bulletproof hard pack and it was pretty fast coming down.

We made the drive to Vail, got our Starbucks fix, and headed to the next trailhead.

This is where things got interesting.  We all followed the established tracks and headed up the trail with our heads down.

We are not lost yet

I remember seeing the map, but I didn’t actually have one with me to refer to.  I glanced at the route on the map, saw something that said “critical left turn” and then just put my head down and went.

This was a major mistake on my part (turns out, on all of our parts.)  On these trips, I usually shut off my head and follow the group because I am not the fastest, I am not the slowest, the people in front of me always get there.  In addition, the trail has always been pretty straight forward and well marked.

About 2 miles in, we realized we were off the trail, heading in the wrong direction, and on some random skin track.  We HAD taken a left turn, but didn’t realize that there were two - the second one of them critical and below us.

Things kind of fell apart a little, people went in a few different directions to get back to the trail.  In hindsight, I should have turned around and followed our (wrong) trail down and looked for the (correct) trail junction as soon as we all realized we were messed up – because at that point, we were not too far from that junction, a half mile at the most I think.

But I had my brain shut off, I didn’t want to lose elevation, and I also thought we were not that far off trail.

Whoops.

We were all kind of wrong.  We wandered around in the woods/mountains for about 6 hours total, going almost 6 miles (by my Garmin) before making a giant loop and finding the trail again.  At this point, it was after 5pm, we had gone over some tricky terrain with crappy snow, so John and I headed down to the vehicles.  The others headed up, with 4+ miles of climbing ahead of them.

John, who isn’t a downhill/backcountry skier (he is an avid cross country skier/touring skier), did so awesome getting through some of the steep tree skiing and sketchy terrain we had to navigate through to eventually get back to the trail (I am not great at downhill/backcountry skiing either, but I have at least done it a few times.)

I am super proud of him for that, it was really tough going and he kept a positive attitude through the whole thing.

Some people came back down after we did, everyone else made it safely up to the hut by 8pm.

On the way down (on the trail), John and I talked, and we decided to not go back up to the hut.

This is where the desert (and part 2 of this post) comes in - we realized we were only 4 hours from Moab so decided to head there the next day for some desert hiking.  Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!