Jerry Beard ready for sledding:
John practicing snowboarding:
Beautiful scenery:
Family photo:
Rescue dog in training, about to take the lift up the hill:
Ready for a couple more runs:
Monday, December 28, 2009
Skiing at Monarch
Last week we traveled to Monarch, CO with the Beard family for a couple excellent days of skiing. Great snow, good weather, no driving issues - a really nice trip. Snow can be great fun in small doses :)
Jerry Beard ready for sledding:
John practicing snowboarding:
Beautiful scenery:
Family photo:
Rescue dog in training, about to take the lift up the hill:
Ready for a couple more runs:
Jerry Beard ready for sledding:
John practicing snowboarding:
Beautiful scenery:
Family photo:
Rescue dog in training, about to take the lift up the hill:
Ready for a couple more runs:
Monday, December 7, 2009
Running Like the Wind
Last Saturday I entered the "Run Like the Wind" race in Austin, TX. It's a timed race on a 1-kilometer track in Oak Hill, and I figured I could get in some good training. My main goal was to still be moving at the end of the 12 hours (there were also 3, 6, and 24-hour categories), which turned out to be a lot more of a challenge than the 80 kilometers I also decided to try for.
The course was perfect - I can't think of a better place to do a timed run. It was all dirt/mulch trail (no pavement!), good footing, through the woods, slight downs and ups, fun turns, and even an occasional dog being walked nearby or trained on the agility course we ran beside.
The chilly, sunny day didn't hurt, either. I love running in the cold.
I started out at an easy pace and was rather surprised to see that my laps started clicking by at almost 6 minutes per lap. That made it easy to keep track of. Once I got warmed up, I settled into a pace of just under 6 minutes per lap, which turned into 10 km per hour including short breaks for water and Ensures.
Hour 3 was awesome - I was on a roll, just enjoying my run in the sun.
Hours 5 to 7 began to get harder, although I was still running the same pace. I started walking one lap every hour to eat and take a break. Kip joined me on one of those laps, and John started joining me on most of them as the day wore on. I alternated talking with them, listened to my book on tape (currently "Merle's Door"), and just running in silence. Over the years I've gotten pretty good at turning off my brain during long runs, to the point where it's nigh impossible to actually focus on a topic if I try. But it makes the hours blend together.
Even when you're going around in circles and there are no mountains or vistas to reward your efforts.
I hit 80 km at 8:09, which means I probably got a 50-mile PR if I knew exactly when I hit 50 miles. After that, having reached my distance target, I let myself slow down. I "dropped" a lap from my count so I could continue to keep track of my total by adding 10 km per hour, but that got difficult when my lap times inched toward 7 minutes. Now the math wasn't so easy and I wasn't all that excited about figuring it out. It was simpler to slow to 7.5-minute kilometers, or 8 km/hour. Easier on my legs, too.
John hung out during the evening and watched my progress on the timing laptop. Out of 9 people in the 12-hour race, I was running a solid 2nd place. John helped me figure out who was in the lead, a young man in black tights and an orange cap named David. David seemed to be walking more than I was, hmm. But his walking was faster than my walking, and his running was faster than my running. All I had going for me was my run/walk ratio. And the fact that I had commited to continue moving for the whole 12 hours. If David stopped, it wouldn't take long to make up the 2-kilometer difference.
But David kept moving, going strong, and he was obviously keeping track of me. He would say "Hi, number 88!" as he ran by on my walking laps. "Good job!" I would answer. He kept a good pace while I gradually slowed, not worrying about the competition but just keeping an eye on it. John told me I was doing fine over 3rd place, so I decided to go back to my top priority of moving for the whole 12 hours.
That's not an easy thing on a loop course. It was great that the trail wasn't completed flat, so my muscles got a change every few minutes from up to down and back again. But still, there was no rock dancing or long climbs/descents, or any real change to just running forward. My main consolation was that I wasn't attempting the 24-hour race. Those folks are crazy :)
I hit 100 kilometers at 10:26, a solid PR (although most of my 100K's have been at Bandera, which is a totally different animal).
Only 90 minutes left! John got me some coffee, which worked wonders both times I had some - better than Coke even, it seemed. I was 5 laps down from David now, so there was no pressure to run fast, just to keep going. I ran relaxed until the 11-hour mark, at which point I switched my iPod over to my running music playlist.
As soon as Mambo No. 5 started, my legs suddenly took off like they were possessed. "I Get Knocked Down", but apparently I get up again, because I was moving faster than I had the previous 11 hours. Passing other solo runners, I made sure to shine my light on the side I wanted to pass so they would tell I was coming by - because I was hauling butt and didn't want to run anyone over.
Strangely, there was a pair of walkers that seemed startled every time I came upon them. I tried shining my light all around, calling "excuse me", and "thank you!", but it took a few laps before they got the hang of giving me some room. I'm sure they were plenty glad when the 12-hour race was over!
I passed David once, and he made a comment like "Oh, so you're pushing it now" but didn't make a huge effort to keep up. He had no reason to - but he did keep walking all the way to 12 hours just to be sure.
I passed a guy who I think was the 24-hour leader. He initially tried to keep up, but I was running close to 5 minute laps and that was fast even by his normal excellent pace. I couldn't quite figure out why he was trying to catch me, but he mustered up some velocity and right near the end of 12 hours he passed me back. Funny!
More music, still zipping along, now breathing hard for the first time. Great training for the end of a long day! The funnest part was flying across the timing mat between each lap, on a slight downhill and with amazement at my lap times.
I started lap 115 at 11:55 and a few seconds, realizing I didn't have enough time to get back by the 12-hour mark for the opportunity for one more lap. Ah well. I wasn't going to beat David anyway, as he was still moving around the course, and it was probably for the best that I stopped bugging the 24-hour runners with my antics. I finished with 115 km in just over 12 hours. Nice!
The next morning I heard rain pattering on the roof and I was glad yet again that I wasn't in the 24-hour category. Those people are maniacs - and I am completely impressed with them.
Great race, fun course, I highly recommend it!
The course was perfect - I can't think of a better place to do a timed run. It was all dirt/mulch trail (no pavement!), good footing, through the woods, slight downs and ups, fun turns, and even an occasional dog being walked nearby or trained on the agility course we ran beside.
The chilly, sunny day didn't hurt, either. I love running in the cold.
I started out at an easy pace and was rather surprised to see that my laps started clicking by at almost 6 minutes per lap. That made it easy to keep track of. Once I got warmed up, I settled into a pace of just under 6 minutes per lap, which turned into 10 km per hour including short breaks for water and Ensures.
Hour 3 was awesome - I was on a roll, just enjoying my run in the sun.
Hours 5 to 7 began to get harder, although I was still running the same pace. I started walking one lap every hour to eat and take a break. Kip joined me on one of those laps, and John started joining me on most of them as the day wore on. I alternated talking with them, listened to my book on tape (currently "Merle's Door"), and just running in silence. Over the years I've gotten pretty good at turning off my brain during long runs, to the point where it's nigh impossible to actually focus on a topic if I try. But it makes the hours blend together.
Even when you're going around in circles and there are no mountains or vistas to reward your efforts.
I hit 80 km at 8:09, which means I probably got a 50-mile PR if I knew exactly when I hit 50 miles. After that, having reached my distance target, I let myself slow down. I "dropped" a lap from my count so I could continue to keep track of my total by adding 10 km per hour, but that got difficult when my lap times inched toward 7 minutes. Now the math wasn't so easy and I wasn't all that excited about figuring it out. It was simpler to slow to 7.5-minute kilometers, or 8 km/hour. Easier on my legs, too.
John hung out during the evening and watched my progress on the timing laptop. Out of 9 people in the 12-hour race, I was running a solid 2nd place. John helped me figure out who was in the lead, a young man in black tights and an orange cap named David. David seemed to be walking more than I was, hmm. But his walking was faster than my walking, and his running was faster than my running. All I had going for me was my run/walk ratio. And the fact that I had commited to continue moving for the whole 12 hours. If David stopped, it wouldn't take long to make up the 2-kilometer difference.
But David kept moving, going strong, and he was obviously keeping track of me. He would say "Hi, number 88!" as he ran by on my walking laps. "Good job!" I would answer. He kept a good pace while I gradually slowed, not worrying about the competition but just keeping an eye on it. John told me I was doing fine over 3rd place, so I decided to go back to my top priority of moving for the whole 12 hours.
That's not an easy thing on a loop course. It was great that the trail wasn't completed flat, so my muscles got a change every few minutes from up to down and back again. But still, there was no rock dancing or long climbs/descents, or any real change to just running forward. My main consolation was that I wasn't attempting the 24-hour race. Those folks are crazy :)
I hit 100 kilometers at 10:26, a solid PR (although most of my 100K's have been at Bandera, which is a totally different animal).
Only 90 minutes left! John got me some coffee, which worked wonders both times I had some - better than Coke even, it seemed. I was 5 laps down from David now, so there was no pressure to run fast, just to keep going. I ran relaxed until the 11-hour mark, at which point I switched my iPod over to my running music playlist.
As soon as Mambo No. 5 started, my legs suddenly took off like they were possessed. "I Get Knocked Down", but apparently I get up again, because I was moving faster than I had the previous 11 hours. Passing other solo runners, I made sure to shine my light on the side I wanted to pass so they would tell I was coming by - because I was hauling butt and didn't want to run anyone over.
Strangely, there was a pair of walkers that seemed startled every time I came upon them. I tried shining my light all around, calling "excuse me", and "thank you!", but it took a few laps before they got the hang of giving me some room. I'm sure they were plenty glad when the 12-hour race was over!
I passed David once, and he made a comment like "Oh, so you're pushing it now" but didn't make a huge effort to keep up. He had no reason to - but he did keep walking all the way to 12 hours just to be sure.
I passed a guy who I think was the 24-hour leader. He initially tried to keep up, but I was running close to 5 minute laps and that was fast even by his normal excellent pace. I couldn't quite figure out why he was trying to catch me, but he mustered up some velocity and right near the end of 12 hours he passed me back. Funny!
More music, still zipping along, now breathing hard for the first time. Great training for the end of a long day! The funnest part was flying across the timing mat between each lap, on a slight downhill and with amazement at my lap times.
I started lap 115 at 11:55 and a few seconds, realizing I didn't have enough time to get back by the 12-hour mark for the opportunity for one more lap. Ah well. I wasn't going to beat David anyway, as he was still moving around the course, and it was probably for the best that I stopped bugging the 24-hour runners with my antics. I finished with 115 km in just over 12 hours. Nice!
The next morning I heard rain pattering on the roof and I was glad yet again that I wasn't in the 24-hour category. Those people are maniacs - and I am completely impressed with them.
Great race, fun course, I highly recommend it!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Las Vegas race report
I have finally finished all my pending race reports!
The Las Vegas High Trek Adventure version is now posted:
http://www.kipley.com/uc/hta2009vegas.html
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
The Las Vegas High Trek Adventure version is now posted:
http://www.kipley.com/uc/hta2009vegas.html
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
The Beards in print
There is an article in the November/December 2009 issue of "Inside Texas Running" magazine about us, courtesy of Joe Prusaitis. I scanned it and put a copy on my web page:
http://www.kipley.com/marcy/itr_article/index.html
Pretty funny to see our photos and bio in print!
http://www.kipley.com/marcy/itr_article/index.html
Pretty funny to see our photos and bio in print!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
New Orleans race reports
It's only slightly late, but we have finally finished a couple race reports from GUR NOLA:
Kip's report:
http://www.kipley.com/uc/gur2009neworleans2.html
My report:
http://www.kipley.com/uc/gur2009neworleans.html
Kip's report:
http://www.kipley.com/uc/
My report:
http://www.kipley.com/uc/
Monday, November 16, 2009
HTA Las Vegas recap
Last Saturday we had our last of 3 national championship races in 4 weeks. Phew, that was a lot of racing!
Again, I have plans to write a real race report soon. Until then, here are some photos from the morning race:
The first race went great. We ran from the Miracle Mile shops (the start/finish) out to UNLV, up to Fashion Show Mall, and along the Strip to New York, New York and back. Along the way, we bargained with a shop owner for 10 1-dollar bills with an "L" or a "V" in the serial number. We also got a photo with 20 people on a pedestrian walkway.
We ran back into Miracle Mile, just behind Kip and Dave for second place. All five of our Austin teams made the 10-person finals race. Congrats to our whole group! Then it was time to recharge the phones, eat a quick lunch, and get back there for the finals.
Photos from the second race:
We had a local cross-country runner tag-along named Kyle. Each team had a tag-along, apparently to ensure that no one cheated. Sounds good to me! Kyle was fun, and he was definitely fast enough to stay with (or way ahead) of us. He appears in the Marie Antoinette shot, above :)
The first half of the second race again went to UNLV and back, plus a stop in Game Works to play skeeball (which was fun once we got the stupid card to work in the machine). Then we headed to Margaritaville to locate a woman who had our second set of clues. Time to head downtown! It was a long bus ride with a bunch of other teams who had caught up while waiting for the bus. Then a quick run through downtown, and back on another bus.
We got (stupidly) lucky on our bus route choice back. The buses seemed to all be on detour routes through downtown, and the one we tried to catch actually turned out to be a different bus going down a different street than normal. But somehow we managed to get on the fastest bus back to the finish. That was a huge break.
We crossed the finish line first - but wait! There was one final challenge, a 60-question crossword puzzle based on the Ocean's 11-13 movies, UNLV school colors, names of casinos, and the cities HTA has held races in this year. Basically a trivia quiz, with no help from other teams or people at home. So you either knew it or you didn't, in many cases. Each wrong answer was a 5-minute penalty. We did our best, but we obviously didn't have the right info in our brains because it wasn't good enough to hold onto our lead and we ended up in 3rd. Bummer.
John's knee mostly held up, although he was limping again by the end of the day (I ask again, how can someone limp faster than I can run?). We pushed hard, raced well, and were very pleased with our urban racing performance. Trivia questions... not so much. But that's how it goes sometimes!
Again, I have plans to write a real race report soon. Until then, here are some photos from the morning race:
The first race went great. We ran from the Miracle Mile shops (the start/finish) out to UNLV, up to Fashion Show Mall, and along the Strip to New York, New York and back. Along the way, we bargained with a shop owner for 10 1-dollar bills with an "L" or a "V" in the serial number. We also got a photo with 20 people on a pedestrian walkway.
We ran back into Miracle Mile, just behind Kip and Dave for second place. All five of our Austin teams made the 10-person finals race. Congrats to our whole group! Then it was time to recharge the phones, eat a quick lunch, and get back there for the finals.
Photos from the second race:
We had a local cross-country runner tag-along named Kyle. Each team had a tag-along, apparently to ensure that no one cheated. Sounds good to me! Kyle was fun, and he was definitely fast enough to stay with (or way ahead) of us. He appears in the Marie Antoinette shot, above :)
The first half of the second race again went to UNLV and back, plus a stop in Game Works to play skeeball (which was fun once we got the stupid card to work in the machine). Then we headed to Margaritaville to locate a woman who had our second set of clues. Time to head downtown! It was a long bus ride with a bunch of other teams who had caught up while waiting for the bus. Then a quick run through downtown, and back on another bus.
We got (stupidly) lucky on our bus route choice back. The buses seemed to all be on detour routes through downtown, and the one we tried to catch actually turned out to be a different bus going down a different street than normal. But somehow we managed to get on the fastest bus back to the finish. That was a huge break.
We crossed the finish line first - but wait! There was one final challenge, a 60-question crossword puzzle based on the Ocean's 11-13 movies, UNLV school colors, names of casinos, and the cities HTA has held races in this year. Basically a trivia quiz, with no help from other teams or people at home. So you either knew it or you didn't, in many cases. Each wrong answer was a 5-minute penalty. We did our best, but we obviously didn't have the right info in our brains because it wasn't good enough to hold onto our lead and we ended up in 3rd. Bummer.
John's knee mostly held up, although he was limping again by the end of the day (I ask again, how can someone limp faster than I can run?). We pushed hard, raced well, and were very pleased with our urban racing performance. Trivia questions... not so much. But that's how it goes sometimes!
Monday, November 9, 2009
GUR New Orleans recap
John and I raced in the Great Urban Race championships in New Orleans last Saturday. What a day! We talked about taking it easy because John's knee is still in question. So I figured I'd have a relatively easy time keeping up - not even! He would have left me in the dust (we didn't trust his knee enough to bring a tow rope) but he kept a slower pace so I could keep up. And there was much heavy breathing...
Anyway, we went into the race with a good attitude - let's just have fun, see what we (and John's knee) can do, and just try our best. I think it helped me from being too serious/focused/whatever it is that is causing me to yell at John during our urban races. We worked together well, had a good plan, had an awesome crew helping us out, and had a LOT of fun.
I'll get a real race report written after this next weekend's race. But for now, here are some photos...
In the morning race, I spotted this checkpoint on the Tulane campus - thank goodness, because it was a tough clue to find online:
I offered John a piggyback, but he was feeling good enough to pick me up (the instructions on the sign were to have one teammate piggyback the other and get a photo with one of our race numbers visible):
The best part - riding Cruisers around town! Here's us at Lee Circle for our CP5 photo:
Molly A Market with the correct # of fingers (also known as the "Waffle House Salute"):
Us with the horse and the cathedral and a clock:
In the finals race, with a statue of a previous governor, doing the Charlie's Angels thing:
Silver Man!
Well, there's a lot more to the story, but I'll finish for now with a summary:
Morning race = longer than expected, rode a trolley to Tulane, did a word search, tried to find a CP in chalk on the sidewalk (skipped that CP, as we were allowed one skip), donated money to St Jude's charity, did a charades problem (my friend Kathy thinks more like I do than John does, let's just put it that way), and finished up by carrying a real LIVE and pretty pissed off alligator around a room (OMG!)... came across the line in around 2.5 hours and were stunned to learn we were the first ones back. All photos good = yay! Many teams finished right after us, including Kip and Dave who also made the top 8 for the finals race.
Finals race = interesting time management challenge with a race cut-off of 2.5 hours and a lot to do; started at City Park, assembled a Lego racecar, did a logic problem and guessed correctly which pretty much saved our race, paddled row boats on the lake, rode a trolley back downtown. Then ran out to the Garden District, found a fake flower among a bunch of real ones, found and played a 45 record, did a smell test to identify 5 scents, skipped the pie-eating challenge (thank goodness), headed back to the French Quarter. Started running low on time... rode a mechical orca whale (??!!) and barely hung on sideways for 7 seconds, and finished by building 30 paper boats with about 20 minutes to go. Somehow managed all 30 boats and ran back to the finish line with 5 minutes to spare before the cutoff time. We were the first team back with all points (except the one allowed skip point) completed - so we won!
That was too amazing - perhaps the closest finish in an urban race championships ever?
Thank you to everyone who helped and cheered us on from New Orleans and from afar!
Anyway, we went into the race with a good attitude - let's just have fun, see what we (and John's knee) can do, and just try our best. I think it helped me from being too serious/focused/whatever it is that is causing me to yell at John during our urban races. We worked together well, had a good plan, had an awesome crew helping us out, and had a LOT of fun.
I'll get a real race report written after this next weekend's race. But for now, here are some photos...
In the morning race, I spotted this checkpoint on the Tulane campus - thank goodness, because it was a tough clue to find online:
I offered John a piggyback, but he was feeling good enough to pick me up (the instructions on the sign were to have one teammate piggyback the other and get a photo with one of our race numbers visible):
The best part - riding Cruisers around town! Here's us at Lee Circle for our CP5 photo:
Molly A Market with the correct # of fingers (also known as the "Waffle House Salute"):
Us with the horse and the cathedral and a clock:
In the finals race, with a statue of a previous governor, doing the Charlie's Angels thing:
Silver Man!
Well, there's a lot more to the story, but I'll finish for now with a summary:
Morning race = longer than expected, rode a trolley to Tulane, did a word search, tried to find a CP in chalk on the sidewalk (skipped that CP, as we were allowed one skip), donated money to St Jude's charity, did a charades problem (my friend Kathy thinks more like I do than John does, let's just put it that way), and finished up by carrying a real LIVE and pretty pissed off alligator around a room (OMG!)... came across the line in around 2.5 hours and were stunned to learn we were the first ones back. All photos good = yay! Many teams finished right after us, including Kip and Dave who also made the top 8 for the finals race.
Finals race = interesting time management challenge with a race cut-off of 2.5 hours and a lot to do; started at City Park, assembled a Lego racecar, did a logic problem and guessed correctly which pretty much saved our race, paddled row boats on the lake, rode a trolley back downtown. Then ran out to the Garden District, found a fake flower among a bunch of real ones, found and played a 45 record, did a smell test to identify 5 scents, skipped the pie-eating challenge (thank goodness), headed back to the French Quarter. Started running low on time... rode a mechical orca whale (??!!) and barely hung on sideways for 7 seconds, and finished by building 30 paper boats with about 20 minutes to go. Somehow managed all 30 boats and ran back to the finish line with 5 minutes to spare before the cutoff time. We were the first team back with all points (except the one allowed skip point) completed - so we won!
That was too amazing - perhaps the closest finish in an urban race championships ever?
Thank you to everyone who helped and cheered us on from New Orleans and from afar!
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