2010 - Here we come!!

Hi everyone - Wendy here. Now that we are into the new decade I decided it was time to get our butts in gear again and keep our blog updated. A lot happened last year, we got busy and as you know we haven't posted anything since May '09.
So our New Year was quiet. Usually NY Eve we are out and about somewhere, partying like rock stars (ha, ha), but this year we kinda petered out and decided to stay home, veg with a movie and generally be couch potatoes....guess what - we did a good job at it! We were asleep by 10:30!

This year I have the honor of the first race. Last weekend 1/2/10 I got up at O dark 30 and drove half asleep all the way from Chandler to near Lake Pleasant for the Castle Hot Springs 22 mile run. This was a new race for me but the race has happened every year for the past many years. The place was not on Google maps nor could the car nav system find it. Lucky for me the directions on the race registration form were accurate enough. So I got out there eventually, pay my fee and get my race number etc. It was very cold and we started off just as the sun was coming up. About 70 or so like minded runners began the loop that started out going uphill and was never flat ! We were either going up or going down... 3500 ft up and 3496 ft down to be precise :- ) by the way where does the Garmin put those extra few feet? Thankfully I decided to run this like a smart person - translate that to slowly... Karen one of the gals on our Ragnar Relay team was there and she started out strong and I soon decided it was not my day to try to hang with her right from the gun. So for about 10 miles I'm keeping it easy, watching my drinking and eating and telling myself that if I feel good at the 10 mile mark I will try to speed up. So after 10 miles I'm feeling really good, and I mean really good. I couldn't believe that being smart was working. About mile 12 I passed a bunch of runners, Karen included, who were struggling. Did I mention I LOVE downhills and they were my friends that day. So anyway, I was still feeling really good at 15 miles so I focused on lifting my pace a little more until mile 18. There I hit a little wall of sorts..my legs felt good but I could tell I was starting to tire. I'd been trying not to fixate on my time, just keeping track of the miles and around 19 miles I sneaked a peek just to see and was very surprised to see only 3:25 which meant I had about 3 miles to go and 35 mins to finish in 4 hours which was my secret goal. Right about then there were a few tough hills, steep enough to force a slow walk up and a careful jog down and I assumed I was doomed to finish after 4 hours so I just settled in counted down the last couple of miles. As I round one of the last turns I can see all the cars parked and the finish area so I pushed just a little harder and crossed the line with a hug smile coz guess what... I'd finished in 3:55:35!!! How cool was that...I think just relaxing and forgetting about the time helped. I didn't get tensed up about not making my goal and ended up doing so anyway.
It was a terrific race. Not so much coz of the result for me (which of course was great) but also the scenery up there was outstanding. The weather was absolutely perfect for running. The sun was shining, there was a slight breeze and the temps rose slowly to the mid 60's. Who could ask for more?
So that's my saga for the 2010 Castle Hot Springs race. I'll be back next year.
C'y all later.

Wendy.

March and April 09

Lots of things going on during the last two months. I did my first crit of the year - Hungry Dog - and got a good workout. I don't like to get involved in the sprint so I usually go to the front with 2-3 laps to go and give it all I have and then just coast in. I also did the Copper Valley road race in the pouring rain. Temperatures were in the low to mid 40's, and soaking wet!!! I must say this is the weather when you just love to be going uphill. I finished with the second or third group (8th - 11th). The three riders I was with sprinted for 8th place.... who cares about 8th.... I just rode in.

Mountain biking has been a lot more fun. I raced XC for the first time in Fort Huachuca and finished a respectable 5th. I'm just not used to those short hard efforts. A few days after the race, I decided to do BC Bike Race up in British Columbia, so now I'm back to marathons. The last race was in Prescott on a course that I hate, and as usual, I finish in my normal 6th place. I did race my 29er which was a change for me. I started in the back... way back, and through the 7 laps, got comfortable on the bike.

This past weekend was the Whiskey 50... what a blast. I realized how many people I know, when I riding behind me started calling me the mayor... too funny.

I has hoping to finish in 4:15 since the winning time from 08 was about 4:08. I started with the front group for the first couple of miles, but then got dropped as soon as we started climbing. I just can climb like those guys. I kept a decent pace, but without overdoing it. Rode the singletrack fairly well. Dabbed a couple of times. Saw tons of friends, saw Jeff on the downhill with one of his many problems of the day.

Got passed by Dan K. on the first climb... definitely need to improve my climbing. Kept a steady pace. I know how to pace myself to finish well in 4 hour races, so I didn't worry about getting passed by other riders. I counted the riders on the two way section and was in approximately 40-45th place overall. No idea on how I was doing in the masters class.

Rode the climb up from Skull Valley at my same pace. Caught Kallan - a very fast junior on our team - and rode with him for a few minutes. Stopped at the aid station and refilled my water bottles. Once we hit the singletrack again, I started motoring. Passed a bunch of people on the climb and on the downhill - some of the 25/15 milers were out there. I finished in just under 4:08. Maybe I won...or... top 3???? When the results came out... I was in awe when I saw that first place in the Masters had beaten me by 25 minutes!!!! He finished in 3:43.. wow... Second place 3:46... both from Colorado. I ended up being 4th, but at least I was the first one from Arizona. Third place beat me by about 5 minutes. Next year I hope to break the 4 hour mark. I just have to improve my climbing :-)

Tomorrow is the MBAA race at the Mogollon Rim. Wish me luck.

TransMexicana Part 2

Here is the final 3 (supposed to be 4) stages on TransMexicana for those of you interested.

Day 4, 66 miles, 8700 ft. of climbing
Today we started from downtown Oaxaca with a police escort. The first 14 km we neutral, then we lined up again just outside the city and started the race. I was not expecting so much climbing for today, so I went out with Lupillo, the leader of the Open division. We worked together for the first hour, but as soon as the climbing started, we got caught by a second group that contained all the other players in the Open and Master division. We all stopped at the first aid station to refuel, then we headed out. I rode with second place rider in the Masters division for another 45 minutes when he fell off the pace. Lupillo, Cory and Simon were (top 3 in the Open) were all in front. Just before the top of the climb I ran into Simon who was still having some stomach issues. Jimmy, a 23 year old Mexican, caught up with me and we rode together to the top. The descent was long and fast. Jimmy and I kept trading places, but I almost took a tumble and decided to dial it back a bit. Jimmy and I stayed close together the remainder of the time and I finished about 1 minute behind him. I increased my lead by another 30 minutes.

The bad part about today was the "3 hour" bus ride. It turned out to be a 6 hour bus ride, with all the riders AND bikes, so there wasn't any room to do much of anything. We got to the "camping spot" just before midnight. Everyone was pretty upset, considering we had another hard day ahead of us. The start time was pushed back an hour to ensure we got more rest. I ended up in a tent for the organizers with the worst snoring people I have ever met. I slept my my Ipod all night long. It was a long and not very restful night.

Day 5, 60 miles, 3000 ft. of climbing
This was supposed to be a flat day and the first 44 km were paved, but about 20 km into the paved section, we hit a pretty damn steep hill, about 500 meters long. Too long for me to stay with the Lupillo and Cory, but long enough to drop everyone else. Jimmy was just ahead of me and I expected him to wait for me, but he decided to keep going, so I waited for the next group - a group of 3. We worked together until we caught Jimmy, then about 60 km into the day, we caught the two leaders. About 15 minutes later, we hit an aid station and I saw that neither Lupillo or Cory stopped, so I kept going while everyone else stopped. Lupillo, Cory and I worked together and put some time on everyone. When we finally hit the train tracks, Lupillo and Cory were carrying their bike and I just said excuse me and went by riding on the bridge. Both of them got the message real quick and they were on their bikes immediately. At the last bridge I was behind both of them and while trying to get off the bike, my foot slipped and went through the trusses. No major damage, just a nice little scab on the side of my shin. I have to be honest, but it did scare me when I slipped. I thought a broken leg was a real possibility. It took me a few minutes to regroup, and I then rejoined Lupillo and Cory. Going through a small town, Lupillo ran over a rope that was holding a horse. The horse got startled and pulled back almost taking Cory and my head off. We hit our brakes and stopped in time. Cory and I looked at each other and just smiled.

The temperature was starting to get pretty high, and we all decided to stop at the next aid station. I felt pretty dehydrated and after taking a leak, I noticed I need to slow down and hydrate, so the next time Lupillo took off, I just sat back and let Cory go. No need to get in the middle of things. I rode alone for another hour, and was desperate to finished, when some kids told me that my "friend" were at the local store. Cory and Lupillo were getting some cold drinks, so one of them bought me a cold coke and a cold powerade and off we went. The organizers decided to shorten the stage due to the danger of riding on the highway and the fact that the highway police did not show up to provide and escort. This was a bit of a surprise when we saw the finish line and nobody knew what it was. Cory made a short sprint at it, with Lupillo behind him and I was third. I only lost about 10 seconds to them.

Tonight was fun. We got put up in a hotel instead of the tents... Thank You!!!! Ate a nice big pizza with Lupillo and had a good nights rest. The group met later that night and decided to combine the last two 80 km stages into one 160 km stage. I thought they didn't know what they were doing since 100 miles is a long way to go no matter how flat it is.

Day 6, 88 miles, 1000 ft. of climbing
OK, this was shorter than I was told, faster than what I expected and we were on pavement for most of it. Again, I took off with the lead group. There were 5 of us - Lupillo, Cory, Simon, myself and Roman Urbina - the founder of La Ruta de los Conquistadores. Roman has had some stomach issues as well, but he was able to keep up and pull through for the first hour. Never saw him again until the finish. The remaining 4 of us, kept working at a very moderate pace. I actually thought we were going too slow. We hit an aid station after about 2 hours and everyone stopped, but I decided to take a hand off and keep going. I kept looking back and all three of them were still at the aid station, so I decided to keep the pace moderate and see what happens. To keep things short, I was off the front for about 1 1/2 hours, with as much as a 7 minute lead. Cory got worried and decided to chase, with Lupillo on his wheel. Simon couldn't hang on and was dropped. I was caught with about 20 km to go and the three of us started working together again.

With about 10 km to go, we entered the city of Veracruz and Cory launched a vicious attack on a small climb. I couldn't hang,but kept chasing hard. I caught the two and thought I could surprise them and went by them, but then the gas ran out, still too far from the finish line. I was caught and dropped again. I regained my composure and started chasing again but couldn't catch them. Lupillo took the sprint, Cory second and me third. Made up another 30 minutes. I finished with the 3rd best time, won the master class by over 2 hours. My prize was $15,000 pesos, that when I started my vacation was about $1200 bucks, but by the time I cashed the check the peso had devalued some more and I got $969. I also got a trophy, a Salomon t-shirt, a Suunto watch and some skin products for me. At least I didn't get shampoo.

I'm supposed to get free entry for next year, so I guess I know where I'll be next February.... in case anyone wants to join me. Next up.... well.... I'm still thinking about it.