HRH - Ouray AS

Hi y'all!

John was looking much better in Ouray - yay! He told me that he has caught back up with the liquid intake, and I think he has also found a pace to settle into. He thinks he is climbing slowly but his splits are exactly what he was planning for. He has been doing a "Gookinaid - Ensure - SPIZ" routine through and out of the aid stations and I think that is working well. One more aid station where I can meet him tonight (Grouse Gulch), then he is on his own with his drop bag at Sherman. I'd either need 4WD or to drive 100 miles around to Lake City to see him there, so we decided not to do that. My last crewing AS will be Cunningham (the last aid station on the course, actually), tomorrow sometime.

John told me that the snow slide down from Virginius was "COLD!" - he used his hands and elbows to slow himself down (?) and they were frigid for a while afterwards.

John's feet are doing splendidly - he has changed socks once, his feet look clean and smooth, and the water crossings don't seem to be a problem. At least not yet - apparently the last quarter of the course is quite wet. If his feet are still doing well at that point, they should certainly get him to the finish.

I drove over to Silverton to get the curvy Million Dollar Highway out of the way while it was still light out. Still have 10 miles on a dirt road to Grouse Gulch, but I don't expect much traffic up that way. After crewing at Grouse (estimating sometime around 1 pm to see John there) then I get to sleep!

Some photos from the Ouray area...

I missed seeing Kyle (who is still positively flying around the course), so you'll have to settle for a shot of the second place runner at Ouray, Jared Campbell:

The leading woman, Diana Finkel:

2 women runners (Betsy Nye and Diane Van Deren - you'll just have to take my word for it), 2 pacers, and 2 spectators on the trail that goes over the Million Dollar Highway just up from Ouray:

John coming up to the highway cross-over:

John has found a better stick - yay! Go John!
Many thanks to the well-wishers today! John was excited to hear about everyone watching and cheering him on.

See ya - maybe in the morning!

HRH - Telluride AS

Well, we survived our first "crewed" aid station! John is doing great! He started out quite fast, and it probably helped that he wasn't carrying much. He told me that Oscar's Pass (otherwise known to our PQ 2002 team as that "f-ing mining road" kicked his butt one more time. Looks like he treated some water, and he was really interested in the Gookinaid when he came in. So perhaps that one-bottle strategy caught up to him in this last section.

He's now carrying a Camelbak with plenty of water, so that should be good. I don't know that he ate enough in the aid station here (he even skipped the banana!) so I'll be watching him at Ouray :)

Here's a picture of Kyle who blew through so fast he landed over in Ouray already...


And here's John! Joyce probably got a couple other good photos. I had to stash the camera to start handing John stuff...

John was a bit concerned about a bunch of people passing him in that last section, but his time is right on the early edge of our estimates (2 to 3 pm).

I'm sure he'll have fun coming down the snow slopes on the other side of Virginius Pass! Can't wait to hear about it.

Summary: All is well! 1 crewed AS down, 3 to go, and many miles ahead of John.

HRH - race start and first water crossing

It's game time! I'm in Telluride this morning (and on the drive over I noticed the section of route 62 that we rode on during PQ 2002 toward CP12 and the "fixin' to fart" overnight trail...). Just hanging out, watching web times, waiting on runners. Enjoying an excellent internet connection and a bit of food from the Main Street breakfast nook :)

Here are some scenes from this morning...

In the gym at pre-race check-in. Apparently 2 runners got into the race just this morning - one when someone dropped and another when a runner didn't check in by the 5:45 a.m. deadline. Oops!


We headed outside for the start, then the race director counted down "3...2...1... get outta here!" I wasn't in a good spot for taking photos and I need to work on my action shots. This is the best I got (I expect someone else in the crowd will post a better race start picture online somewhere - or at least I hope so!):

Almost 2 minutes after the start of the race, at the finish line rock:

Kyle Skaggs, favorite to win the race and possibly break the course record set last year by Scott Jurek; Kyle is the second-youngest entrant at 23 years old (!):

Kyle at the first water crossing (which was maybe 2-3 miles into the race, right next to the road, and a big draw for spectators):

Here comes John!!! He was not far behind Kyle plus one group of front-runners, looking great in the very early miles:

John doing the water crossing thing:

Time for those quick-drying Salomon shoes to start taking effect:

Markus Mueller (who we know from the German 100) - he got in off the waiting list last week:

John Cappis with the camera ready (he told us he may go hang out at Oscar's Pass to take pictures this morning):

John DeWalt, oldest entrant at 72 years old (!):

Hans-Dieter Weisshaar, race director of the German 100 and prolific ultra runner:

Hans Dieter and the woman next to him stopped to switch from running shoes to water slippers for the water crossing:

Sometimes I get lucky with my little camera! Go Joe!

Hans-Dieter getting out of the water, Joe following a few runners behind:

Random notes:

* John's heartrate was about 60 this morning, which is a good bit higher than his normal 40-45. Mine is about 80 (higher than my normal 60-65). Guess we're not completely acclimated yet, which isn't surprising since we have been in this area for only a week. We'll see how that works out for John.

* I have read some things about the Bighorn 100 race from a couple weeks ago - apparently there was so much snow up high that they rerouted the course. Based on the lead runner times (2-3 hours faster than normal) I was wondering if I missed the right year to do the race. Then we heard from Joe that the second half of the 100-miler pack followed the 50K runners through a particularly sloppy, muddy few miles, and it was MUCH harder than normal because of the deteriorated trail conditions. Guess I'm glad I wasn't there after all!

* The latest from the web tracking: John came through the first aid station (AS) in about 12th place. The tracking table is rather messed up (the Chapman AS times are getting transfered into the KT column for some reason), but hopefully that will get sorted out soon. Kyle is smoking the first couple sections of the course!

* The Telluride AS is almost open for business so I can go set up a stool and John's bag of stuff. He took only a water bottle (relying on the KT aid station and his drop bag at Chapman) for the first 28 miles. I'm hoping to heck that it works out OK for him. He's got a Camelback pack here in Telluride for the next section.

More in a while!

HRH status as of 4 a.m.

Updated link for Hardrock Live!:
http://www.hardrock100.com/index.asp

John (runner #106) is currently in the top spot :)

Ready to Hardrock and Roll

It appears that we are ready for tomorrow morning's race start! Drop bags are dropped, maps are prepped, crew stuff is in the truck, we have eaten a pasta dinner (courtesy of Joyce Prusaitis - thanks Joyce!), and John is in bed.

Hopefully the Hardrock website will have decent updates throughout the weekend:
http://www.run100s.com/HR/

I will also attempt to post a couple blog notes from Telluride and Ouray, but may not have web access beyond there until the end of the race. We shall see.

This morning while John was prepping drop bags I went for a nice hike up Kendall Mountain #2 overlooking Silverton.

Here is Silverton from above, and if you look real closely you might see a marmot on a rock:

Another closer shot of southern Silverton, with the marmot sunning himself:

Howie and Tug (and John) are in the RV park on the lower left:

Mr. Marmot was kind enough to pose for several close-ups!

Some scenery:


I met Betsy Nye's father coming up a more difficult route than the jeep road I used:

John was on time for the race briefing, while I got down from the mountain a tad late:

Race briefing goings-on:

Drop bags!

John is full of confidence:

This HRH group is SO organized - I could SO work for them:

Joe Prusaitis giving his own (much funnier) race briefing and route preview:

Good luck John and Joe and all HRH runners!

Police 'N' Thieves

I *love* reading the local Telluride newspaper, specifically for the section titled "Police 'N' Thieves." Here is a sampling from this week:

* On the Road: A deputy assisted the Colorado State Patrol with a one-vehicle accident on Hwy. 145 near Fall Creek Road on June 20. The incident was initially reported as a vehicle caught in a mudslide with the vehicle's airbag deployed. It was later found that the driver was attempting to turn around on the highway and drove off the road and down the embankment.

* Wrong Porch: A man stumbled onto an area resident's deck on June 19. The resident believed the man was intoxicated and lost and told him to leave the property, which he did. Upon arrival, the deputy was unable to locate the man and no other action was taken.

* Summertime Fun: Five juveniles were contacted by a deputy on June 19 for throwing water balloons at passing vehicles near San Miguel County Courthouse. The TMO is holding an investigation on the matter.

* Out Fishing: A deputy responded to the Down Valley Park on June 22 on a report of an abandoned vehicle without license plates. The vehicle was not abandoned and had a temporary tag. The owner was nearby fishing.

Hardrock Live!

Once the Hardrock 100 begins (6 a.m. MST this Friday July 11), you can follow along with John's progress on the Hardrock site. Here is the main site link, which should have a Hardrock Live! link working once the race starts:

http://www.run100s.com/HR/

Run John Run! :)

Other people to watch:

Joe Prusaitis from Austin - go Joe!

Hans Dieter-Weisshaar from Germany (who put on the German 100 that we did a couple years ago and who is famous for much more than just that)

Markus Mueller who co-won the German 100 along with John (they ran together for half the race)

Matt Mahoney from Florida (who we don't actually know except through the Ultra listserve - but who missed the 48-hr finish by only a couple minutes the past 2 years)

I'm planning to meet John at Telluride, Ouray, Grouse Gulch, and Cunningham. No pacing planned for me - I don't know that I could keep up with him, even at the end (but I guess you never know!)

Good luck to all runners!