I Did the Big Blue 12hour Lake Tahoe race with budding future avocado Sharon Houck and her friend and local lake tahoe resident Timothy Pfafman. Somehow i talked Sharon into writing the race report. Here it is.

Halfway through the two and a half hour orienteering section on CP8, I figured it was time to break out the first aid kit and staunch the flow of blood from my left shin. The Manzanita bushes were in wicked form and there was still much scrambling to be done to get the flags high on the nearby peaks. Tim and DP were in shouting range, if not visual, and after tending to my wound, I bouldered over a nice class IV section (if you fall, you may seriously injure yourself…) and found them impatient to sprint to the final hill. Where do they get the energy?

We were in second place in the co-ed three person division and had had a very straightforward race thus far. After the mass start and requisite one mile jog to the kayaks, we’d launched our double and single into the semi-choppy waters of Tahoe and pointed generally toward Tahoe City, about mid-pack. DP, being the skilled paddler he is, immediately invoked the well-known adage that the more creatively you swear at the rudder, the more likely it is to cooperate. At times, I wondered who would win that battle, but fortunately we only nearly capsized once and after about 1:45 found ourselves on the beach, sprinting to the TA.

Now allow me to point out that we girls get vast hassle for the time it takes to look beeeeaaaautiful, but after a full clothing change, stop at the restroom, and reload of the backpack, I’m standing around tapping my foot and watching the clock while “my boys” get their sh*t together. Hair look good? Check. Bike shorts non-binding? Check. Is my backpack on straight? Yeesh. How do these guys ever get out of the house?

Okay, enough harassment. I may have won the TA times, but thank goodness for the bicycle tow package and the leg strength of Tim and DP or I’d still be out there trying to get up that last 1000 foot climb.

From the TA, we bike to CP3 for the first orienteering section and nabbed three of four points with no problem and almost perfect bushwhacking. The difficult one cost us 20 minutes of thrashing around (we overshot in a major way), but fortunately, everyone else was having the same issue.

The bike to CP4 was the longest scheduled climb (more on the unscheduled stuff later…) and we opted for the scenic single track route rather than the pedestrian fire roads. Now, I say “opted” as if we made a conscious choice rather than a wrong turn, but, ahem, we did arrive at our appointed destination in good form. DP introduced me to bike towing (I’m no longer a tow virgin) during this climb and even got me to the advanced level of downhill single track tow. Whoo hoo! Definitely sporty at times.

Biking to CP5 nearly caused a team divorce. Now, regarding the “teams must stay within 100 yards of each other” rule, the guys were switching the tow package to Tim’s bike and I went on towards the CP, getting about “100 yards” away, which involved one left turn. Bad, bad teammate. Of course, the guys turned right instead, and while I victoriously got the CP, they burned their legs chasing a phantom. When we finally reconnected (they came back), I was appropriately chewed up and spit out while meekly pointing out that we could continue on without any loss of time. Sorry guys.

CPs 6 & 7 were pretty much non-events and we biked to CP8, thinking that there’d be the usual smattering of teams still working through the orienteering section. When we arrived at the staging area, to our surprise and dismay, virtually ALL of the teams were still there. A few had come and gone, but it was clear that this was going to be a long section. In fact, it took so much time that the race organizers had decided to eliminate CP9. When we plotted the (only) three points, we found that they had been strategically placed at the tops of the three nearest, highest “hills”, which were spread out over a couple of miles. Trails were pretty much nonexistent for most of the course and woe to you if you weren’t wearing long pants. Tim and DP’s great nav got us to the three points directly, but even with awesome trekking, it still took us two and a half hours to finish.

Now, playing the grand crescendo music, all we had to do was Get To The Finish Line! How hard could it be? Downhill and to the left ‘til you hit water. At this point, we’d joined up with another team who had done the race the year before and assured us that they knew the route home. And what does Rule #8 on Ken White’s Guide to Good Nav say? Never, ever trust another team’s nav. At one point during the supersonic downhill, the fateful words, “oh, it’s just another 10 minutes to the finish” were uttered and our fate was sealed.

The long version of the story requires beer, but the short version has us perched on our bikes at a bit above lake level, maps in hand, realizing that we are far far to the west of our desired destination and with about 1000 feet of climbing between us and there. After a bunch of heavy sighing (at least on my part), we pointed the bikes back uphill and pressed on, with Tim towing me and DP pacing us. On the plus side, we passed a few teams and eventually got back on track. Thanks to a little nav assistance from three guys in a garage with Buds in their hands, we found the fence leading to Tahoe Vista Park, and from there it was the final victory lap to the finish line.

10:17, high-fives all around, 4th in the division, 17th overall, and wow, did that shower feel good.

Race Report Donato Polignone King Oscar Presidio Trails 10K Run, 5K Run/Walk Sunday November 19, 2006.
Put on by www.OutsiderPR.com : Race Director Gordon Wright.

Intro: http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1307068

Brief Description: A Rare chance to race on the beautiful trails of the Presidio. Hailed by the SF Chronicle as “an instant classic.” Each racer gets a technical running hat from Magic Headwear and lots-o-schwag!

Gordon Wright puts on a great Race/Run/Walk in the SF Presidio. The Course is a mix of Road, Trails and Dirt Paths. So, as an AR guy much cooler and more enticing than a boring, flat all road 10K.
My Lead-up into this race:

One week earlier I raced the 2006 Gold Rush Adventure Race (Blog coming for that one too) about 100+ Miles of Trail Running, Mountain Biking, and kayaking. Saturday spent the day at the Velo Swap. (Galen thanks for finding that sweet single speed mountain bike for me). Saturday night was spent in my garage working on all of my bikes until about 2AM. Yeah, I knew I had to run a 10k Trail run the next day but hey it’s a 10k, short distance for an AR Racer.
Up at 6:30 am for my drive from Petaluma to SF. Already tired but hey is just a 10k right? I get onto 101 and Adam Doti calls to make sure I’ve left and am not going to be late. I go to answer my cell phone and knock over my 20oz Mug of Coffee right on my lap and car seat. Ouch, that was hot! Great way to start my day. Luckily my running shorts are blue/black else they would have had a very nice/strange brownish color all over them especially in the back were most of the coffee settled to as I drove down the road rushing to get to the Start on time before the gun went off. I arrive in the Parking lot dressed and ready at 8:10 or so. Walk up get my Bib #, and tape up my right ankle (just to make sure I don’t re-sprain it). Say hello to everyone else (all the other Dirty Avocados and AR racers) and next thing you know we’re are lined up at the starting line.

Gordon lets everyone know that after the 1st 100 yards the course turns sharply left and UP the Biggest hill on the 5K loop, ~350 feet up and those are fast and think they are fast should get up to the front quickly b/c the trail up in Single Track and wet. Today I fell into the “think” I’m fast group. I shot right up to the front runners on the flat before the hill. Before we even got off the road (~50 vertical feet up) we ran straight at Ken White who I swear was screaming “there is nothing to see here please disperse”. By this point my legs were burning and I had nothing no power no more energy…it was gone? At this point I realized 1-2 minutes into a “10K” that I should have gotten more sleep, should have warmed up, even stretched a little. Too late for that now the race was going on with or without me. I suffered up the first hill, running slowly. 2-3 guys went by me on the uphill. I would have been ok with these fast guys running by me on the flats or downhill’s but I’m small and light going uphill is supposed to be my strength. I knew at this point it was not going to be a good day. Somewhere about the 3k point I was running along hoping that my legs would recover and my energy/power would come back. I’m all ready now running on cruise control just praying for this “just a 10k to be over”.

Next thing a girl (actually a women) but when you are running with mud on your legs, I’d assume to call any women at that point a girl, pulls up to pass me. I say this more as a compliment but it seems to get misconstrued often. I look at it this way “women” dress up and go to cocktail parties, where “girls” go out and play in the mud. So, I turn my head for the first time today and say just as I’m getting passed “Mari, that better be you.” She turns sees me, slides me a low five and keeps going (she ends up winning the Women’s 10k buy what I’m sure was a huge margin and coming in 6th overall. Yep, that’s right fella’s she is most likely faster than you are). That should have been enough get me going a little faster and help me hang on for a little while. But, that was not to be. I couldn’t stay with her not even for 1k. After Ken White Course Marshal #1, we would come to the rest of my AR Buddies on the course: Galen Pewtherer, Will Gilmore, Jen Klafin and finally Oliver Pohl.
OK, I make it to the Start/Finish line right with the 12 year old runner with Green Shoes who placed 3rd overall in the 5k. Do I need to state the obvious here. That kid is going to be fast, as if he isn’t fast already. Gordon Wright yell out to me, something like “you’re doing great and don’t even look like your working hard.” I guess looks can be deceiving, or he is just a good liar. I was sufferin’! At this point I wasn’t even coherent enough to hit the lap counter on my watch and check my time for the 1st 5k. I didn’t really care at that point. I was just worried about how to get through the next 5k.

2nd Lap and right back to the wet single track up the 1st hill again. I was passed again by another guy, tried to chase him and had to let him go. I was apparently slowing down and didn’t even realize it. As I ran, for the 2nd time, buy my 5 five AR race buddies (Course Marshals Today) I just wanted them to tackle me and put me out of my misery. Not gonna happen they race AR therefore they love to suffer and love to see my suffer perhaps even more. The 2nd lap was pretty uneventful with the exception that I got passed by too many other racers. At the bottom of the 1st Hill Ken white told me and the guy next to me (who just happened to finish 1 spot in front of me) that we were currently in the top ten. Again, I’m not sure how I actually did finish yet. But, it certainly was not in the top ten. Sorry Ken, I just couldn’t hang on. The whole 2nd lap I was expecting/hoping that I would “warm-up/loosen-up” and be able to shift into a higher gear. That never happened. I felt like I was dragging a concrete block behind me the whole 10k and it only got worse. After passing by Oliver’s section on the course it was about 2K or less to the finish. The guy who finished in front of me was a few steps in front of me and we had changed positions all race. He passed me on the flats and downhill’s and I returned the favor when we went uphill. At that point I just went into cruise control and basically followed him right to the finish line. Dude, I don’t remember your name but thanks for the pull to the finish.

“just a 10k” a walk in the park. Yeah, right not today! Perhaps I won’t bust on my short distance running friends after that experience. Nah!

STATS:
Start Time: 8:30am
Distance: 10K, but I logged 5.97 miles not 6.2.
Total time: ~44min, LAP 1: ~21min and LAP 2: ~23min. Unofficial of course and I’ll try to update once the actual results are posted. I forgot to stop my watch when I crossed the finish line.
Total Elevation Gain/Loss: 500 feet per 5K lap was reported I logged 1,044 ft total.
AVG heart rate: No Data. Couldn’t find my HR Strap the morning of the event. Turns out it was under my gear bag in my car.
Weather: 57F, 88% Rel humidity (it was a moist one!), 3MPH winds, Overcast skies. Perfect/Normal SF morning weather.

GPS TRACKING: I tracked my race using my GPS device a Garmin Forerunner 305. This is posted on my activities page at www.MotionBased.com, or you can just go to http://donato.motionbased.com and look for the event.

Gear Testing: Sole Custom Footbeds - http://www.yoursole.com/ - (Model - SOLE Ultra SOFTEC) in my Asics road shoe. Don’t ask me why I wore a road shoe to a ‘trail’ run but hey is was in SF so I expected a little more pavement. The Footbeds were awesome and comfortable as well. Every time I put the shoes on I can feel the extra support and cushioning from the Sole’s. I will be putting these bad boys to the test over the next few months. So, far I like them a lot.

I’m hooked!! My new single speed is everything I hoped. Plus more.

Recently I jumped on the SS wagon and got myself a Surly 1×1. It’s a rig my shop (Roaring Mouse Cycles–who rock, BTW!) and I spec’ed and built.

Saturday’s ride was my first real ride on a SS and it was initially…sobering. Having just one gear (18/34) AND a fully rigid frame is not easy! But that’s what makes this whole concept fun. The fact that it’s not easy. I love that!

Plus, the skills I’ve already picked up after jsut two rides (pedal cadence, bike handling) are already noticable.

I’ll keep blogging as Surly and I get to know each other better.

Good times!

[RACE REPORT] With Mt Tam looming in the distance and the rain, fog and mist burning from the night’s rain, Stinson Beach bustled with runners like racehorses in their starting gates. It was a cool and clearing Saturday morning and the 2006 Stinson Beach 50K (along with a 20K and 30K) was about to start.

A shout from the race director and off we went. Like the running of bulls, we raced to the Dipsea Trailhead with hopes of beating the horde of runners to this very single singletrack. I didn’t really know what was ahead of me, except for a long climb to start the race. And it was a long climb…a really long climb.

The start continued up the Dipsea Trail and then onto the appropriately named Steep Ravine Trail. Yes, it was steep. And yes, it was a ravine. A wet, mossy, dark ravine. And when I thought it couldn’t get any steeper, it did. So steep a ladder was there to get me over a vertical section of the trail.

As I topped out, I hit the first aid station at Pantole Station. With lots of sugary and salty snacks from which to choose, I grabbed and gobbled all I could stomach and carry. Off I then went down the southeast side of Mt Tam to Muir Beach. There was another rest stop. More food! This was the only section of the course with an out and back. What that meant to me was a chance to size up whom and how many were leading the race. It was then I realized that number was small. Not thinking too much about that, I put my head down and keep plugging and plodding along.

As I headed back up to Pantole Station, I thought about the many times I’ve run these very same trails. In fact, past that point I could have run the course blindfolded I had run these trails so many times.

After topping out again at Pantole Station, I headed back down to Stinson Beach via the Matt Davis Trail. This was a fun run down. All down and all fast! A mix of gradual descents in and out of shade. And loads of switchbacks. There was one switchback I blew straight through I was running so fast. I missed the course marker and kept running when I should’ve switched back. After a few minutes of running on what seemed more like a game trail than a foot trail, I felt the situation was all wrong. Finally, it was at the point when the trail turned so steep I did all could–with all fours–to keep from sliding down the side of the hill. As I slipped and slid back to the course, I cursed myself for loosing the trail…and worse, loosing time! What hurt more was knowing a few runners that were behind me were now AHEAD of me. Feeding off that fury, I found another gear, smoked past them, and made up the lost time; finally arriving back at Stinson Beach.

The race was over for many (the 30 and 20Kers), but not for me. I had another 20K to go. And that meant another trip up the Dipsea Trail and the Steep Ravine Trail. Ugh!!

As I struggled to keep running (rather than walking) back up, I kept thinking about what awaited–food. Yum! By the way, I was also past the point of turning away the race provided drink, Conquest. It tasted OK going in, but I felt twinges of something inside signaling it would not be so good going out. So I stuck to water and electrolyte tablets for most of the race.

At Pantole Station, I set out on two 4K loops linking the Alpine, Bootjack, TCC, and Stapelveldt Trails. I had hoped this loop would be relatively level and easy—and it wasn’t. It started and continued going down and down, and then further down. That meant—ugh!—having to climb up and up, and more up. My legs were toast at that point.

Then finally finishing those loops meant one thing–all downhill to the finish. With that in mind, I sprinted (literally) down to Stinson Beach.

I finished 5 hours and 50 minutes after the start. Good for 5th place overall!

Good times!

“I don’t like easy races.” That’s how Dan Barger, this years USARA Finals Race Director started his pre-race briefing at the Santa Barbara Double Tree conference center Thursday night. Dan continued to cover the race logistics, rules and answer racer questions. He described that the race would consist of 30,000+ foot elevation gain and 110 miles in length! 30,000 foot elevation gain seems impossible as even after plotting the checkpoints later that night I was still skeptical. Did he actually mean 30,000+ foot elevation gain AND loss? We were lucky that this year race was held so close to home. The course would take racers up into the Santa Barbara Front Country and surrounding wilderness as well as a bit of urban travel as well.The team requirements were 3 person co-ed teams. So the racers would be me (Adam Doti), Adam Armijo and Aja Cook. Or as Brian likes to refer to us, “The Triple A”. We were going to miss DP our usual 4th. Who was going to keep us awake with his stories?

A few other odd noteworthy specifics about this race. We were required to carry all of our gear and food and clothes for the entire race. Something that is not typical for 24 hour races. There were no official Transition Areas (TA) at all. We would not be able to refuel on water or food as we normally do. All water would need to be found on the course. In addition Friday morning before the race start we were required to stage our kayak on the beach and leave only paddling gear. We then had to take a duffel bag on our bikes and ride 5 miles east down the beach to Lookout Beach Park to the race start. We were going to run to the kayaks at the start of the race down the beach and kayak back to our bikes. It was at this point that I realized I had forgotten my TrackStick GPS! So no Motion Based reports or graphs for us! Bummer!

After a few finals words from Dan and Troy at 7am sharp the race started. To spread out the teams they had us briefly run east down the beach around a flag and then turn back west and head back to the hotel’s beach to our kayaks. Along the coasteering route there were a series of sea walls. This caused a bottle neck and allowed the teams that were upfront and nimble on the rocks to gain even further distance on the rest of us that got to the wall late and were stuck in the middle of the pack. At one point we reached a stretch of beach with a high sea wall. The waves were crashing at the wall but would retreat to a decent distance allowing for what would look like if you really ran hard you could almost clear the beach and wall before the next wave came in. I knew we were going to get a lot wetter during the rest of the run and kayak, so was eager to pull the rest of the team down onto the beach and try and make up some time. After some quick inter-team debates, off we ran passing a few teams that were traversing the wall top. We got hit by one wave up to our knees, no big deal. We ran with the other DA Pits for a bit and then they eventually pulled away from as we regrouped and made sure we didn’t violate the distance rule.

As we approached the kayaks we caught up the other DA Pits again and launched our inflatable Sevelyor kayaks into the ocean. The surf wasn’t bad at all and made for an easy entry. Waves must have been one to two foot. I took one kayak as a solo and “A-Bomb” Armijo and Aja took the second as a double. These things were maddening to try and steer. Because they do not have a rudder or a keel, either the wind or the current would take the boat and immediately spin it around in circles. We made out way west towards West Beach for CP1. After CP1 we paddled 6 more miles past the kayak start back to Lookout Beach to transition to our bikes. The total kayak was about 8 miles.

We changed out of our wet clothes and transitioned to our bikes. We departed the TA just behind the DA Pits and made out way up Ortega Hill. At the top of the hill the DA Pits turned right and headed north down Ortega Ridge road. I decided to take us down the hill and up Sheffield Rd to Romero Canyon Rd. I guess we’d see which way was faster soon enough. We eventually caught up to a couple other teams but no Pits, weird. We transitioned onto Romero Trail. This small trail was 90% hike-a-bike and 10% rideable. At a river crossing A-Bomb recommended we refill on water since we did not know when we would come across another source. Turns out there would actually be more water sources than we thought and probably only need to stop for water about half the time we did. At about this time up come the DA Pits from down trail! Guess Sheffield was faster

We made our way hike-a-bikeing up Romero and finally down onto the Romero Saddle for the next CP3 / TA 2 at 3050ft when we would transition to the run/trek. For the next batch of CPs we had the choice to hat CP 4, 5 and 6 in any order we wanted. We opted to do it counter clockwise and in order 4, 5 then 6. We took off as one big group on foot down Murietta Juncal Road to the valley floor. On the way down we caught up to a team that was running with Robin Benincasa, world renowned adventure racer. As I ran past the team and Robin I said “This may be the last time I pass Robin in an race!”. We made our way down to the valley floor and then up onto the ridge line just before Blue Canyon Pass. We traveled northwest along the ridgeline towards CP4 which required us to scramble and bushwhack to the peak where the CP was located. We then made our way over to CP5 which was just an easy hop over to the next peak.

At this point we had the decision to continue along the ridge line North and West and circle around south west to hit CP6 from behind, or to continue back the way we came about .8 miles to the trail junction and then down Blue Canyon Trail. Robin and her host team decoded to take the ridge line. Turns out later I found that they had not returned yet. Looks lie it took a lot longer than they anticipated or they got lost. We were all feeling really good on the run/trek running and jogging most of the leg.

We made it down off the ridge and into the Blue Canyon. Along the Blue Canyon Trail we passed about a dozen teams that had decided to do the circuit in the opposite order. About half way don the trail we stopped again to refuel on water. While refilling we came across Mark manning and ARNavSupplies as well as Jan Klafin who was racing with her friends from back east as Wicked Pissah. They were remarking on how hard it was to find CP6 and insisted it was in the wrong spot. Mark had found it but Jen did not. Because of this we decided to remain on high alert and really pay special attention to our location and where the CP should be. We paced our travel and watched our elevation and surrounding features closely. We descended down off the trail where we felt the CP should be. We fanned out about 20 feet apart and canvassed the river bad until Brian spotted Galen and Oliver at the CP! It was great to see familiar faces!

After CP6 we headed about .25 miles back down Blue Canyon Trail to Romero Trail. At Romero Trail we made our way back up to the Romero Saddle and the Trek/Bike TA. By this time it was very windy and cold! We transitioned back to our biking gear and put on all of our available layers of clothes. Our transition was a bit too long. Because if this I because very cold. We took off on the bikes down East Camino Cielo again still with the DA pits as one big happy family. The sun had set about an hour or so ago so it was dark by this time. Probably about 7-7:30pm. When we reached Cold Springs Trail we took it down to the valley floor at Forbush Flat. It was a rocky semi-technical single track that caused two crashes by Aja. Luckily she’s a tough as nails and there was nothing serious. But after her second crash her shoes poped off the back of her bike! We back tracked to her last fall only a few hundred feet back and lucky we found them. We finished the decent down to the valley floor and back up towards Gibraltar Trail. It was somewhere around the start of the Gibraltar Trail that we split up from the DA Pits again.

We made our way on a double track and fire road westward on the south side of the reservoir past the Gibraltar Mine and towards the intake tunnel on the far west side of the reservoir. At this point we were exhausted and decide to catch a brief nap before we would continue on. We grabbed a nice spot beneath some trees off the side of the trail and pulled out the space blanket and lined up like sausages to stay warm.

20 Minutes later my watch alarm woke us and we quickly got on our bikes to get warm because we were freezing! We continued along Gibraltar down to Red Rocks campground and to a nice paved road. We took this windy road west through Live Oak, Falls and Lower Oso Campgrounds. At Lower Oso we turned north and made our way up to Upper Oso to CP. Finally! We again toped off our water and discussed the route that layed ahead of us for CP9 and CP10. There was another team here as well. It looked as if they were contemplating continuing on as well. They were lying on the pavement side by side getting some rest.

CP 9 and 10 was a gnarly bike loop that was to take us about 4-6 hours. It was now about midnight. We were worried we would not make it out of this back country in time for the race cut off and would have along way to go just to get back home. Finishing with all CPs wasn’t our main concern. We wanted to experience most of the course we could. Scratching 2 measly points in exchange for not getting short coursed so we could continue onto the rest of the course was our goal. We were confident if we decide to try for CP 9 and 10 at this point we would for sure be short coursed at CP12 thus missing 5 CPs not 2.

We decided to head straight for CP11. The hike-a-bike up the hill and own to CP 11 was brutal! Turns out after the race talking with Mark Manning, there was a trail that went around the hill and all the climbing was not necessary! We tagged CP11 and ate a Tina’s Burrito and continued back towards Lower Oso Campground. It was here that Aja because exhausted and requested we stop to sleep again. We all needed it. We found a nice spot under a pine tree in the campground and took a 1 hour nap. This was plenty to recharge our batteries. It was now about 5:15am and was getting light.

We hopped on the bikes and made our way back to the Arroyo Trailhead and up the Arroyo Trail Fire road to the top of the saddle on East Cielo. We discussed briefly heading straight down toward CP 15 at the Orienteering section, but in the end opted for the nearest CP which was 12 to check in and see what the story was with the latest race cutoffs, short courses and general race status. Luckily we did because we made it to CP 12 2 minutes before the short course cut off! At 9:30am teams were being redirected directly down Gibraltar Road to the finish line. We were allowed to continue on to CP 15/16 and the O-Course. We rode west along the ridge on Camino Cielo to Painted Cave Road and bombed down Painted Cave onto Old San Marcos Road and down into the city. We rode along side Highway 101 and up to Lake Los Carnero Park. It was here that a quick 10 point orienteering course was set up. We made very quick time of the course hitting every point dead on and finishing the course in about 22-24 minutes. Apparently one of the fastest times.

We transitioned back to bikes and rode down through Goleta by the airport and UCSB to CP17 on the bike path. We then turned east and rode the bike path towards Hope Ranch and Santa Barbara Point. We grabbed CP18 at the intersection of Cliff Drive and Las Positas Roads. We continued on toward State St and to CP19 where again Oliver Galen and Kent were waiting! They had us drop our bikes and do a mandatory gear check. We were required to show our space blanket and survival mirror. Turns out Aja threw away her space blanket at the O-course! We were going to get a 2 hour penalty! What were the odds that the one thing we needed to show was the one thing we doidnt have. I quickly recalled a mountain supply store just up on State Street. We ran back to the store and bought a space blanket and then returned to the gear check and successfully passed! Whew!, because not far back I knew there were couple teams we had passed on the O-course and they’d be catching up soon!.

For the final push we ran down the lawn of the hotel and across the finish line to about 4 people and some random vacationers eating lunch on the patio. Was very anticlimactic. Not even a camera in sight to take a team picture! Turns out we were one of the few team that got stiffed on the team crossing the line photos due to the photographer having to go get all the previous photos developed.

In all we did 15,674 feet of elevation gain and about 105 miles in 31 hours and 4 minutes getting a total of 15 checkpoints and taking 16th place out of about 50 teams from across the country.

Photos: http://www.uinaction.com/arafinal.html
DA Photos: http://www.dirtyavocados.net/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1026
Checkpoint Zero Photos: http://checkpointzero.smugmug.com/gallery/2106742
National Geographic Topo! route file: Download