Goldrush 24 hour AR - August 2nd, 2008

Here is the race report I posted to the Trailblazers forum:

http://www.trailblazerar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5500&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30

In short, it was an amazing experience. I totally enjoyed the solo format. It wasn't scary like I thought it would be. I think training alone in Pisgah or deep in the woods of "Deliverance" country would be scarier. Because out there you could be miles away from the nearest person and no-one would be able to hear a blast of your whistle in case of emergency.

Anyway, it was quite an event over there in Northern GA.

Beaufort Water Festival - July 28

It was another beautiful day at the Marina in Beaufort. There was a 3 mile and 6 mile race and this time the distances were more accurate than the River Quest held in the same location this past June. Saturday’s race was part of their annual water festival. There were close to 30 boats total including about 6 surf skis and some fairly stable K1’s, made by KayakPro and Plastex. I used my 18X touring boat. Facing a pretty strong headwind when the gun went off I was surprised to see that I was out in front by myself. I kept expecting one of the racing boats to come around me and when that happened I had planned to draft off them. But since my pace was sustainable I just stayed out in front for 1.5 miles, well after the headwind. One surf ski dude paddled along my side for a while and we chatted a bit before he eased ahead of me. But I noticed he had trouble in the crosswind and while he tried to pass a buoy on the left his stern got kicked to the right and slowed him down as he ran right into it. (I guess that's where you appreciate having a boat that's not only more stable, but 10-15 lbs heavier). I got out in front for a while before he caught me again at about the 2 mile mark as we rounded our circumnavigation of a long, narrow island. That’s where he pulled away from me. I know that feeling when you’re in a surf ski and everything behind you lifts up and all of a sudden you feel like you’re coasting downhill. It’s an amazing experience. I benefitted from the tailwind also, of course, but not like him. I paddled hard to try to keep him within reach so I could maybe catch him as we hit the start/finish line for our 2nd lap. That headwind on the 2nd lap did help me gain some time back, but not everything I needed to bridge the gap. By then, the race was between me and him. There wasn’t anyone else near us. I thought it would be pretty cool to take an overall win on a touring boat, so I made a few surges to try to catch him during our 2nd trip around the island. My plan was to periodically sprint for 30 paddle strokes before returning to normal race pace. The problem was that after sprinting I was hard pressed to maintain the pace I had before-hand. I was burning up in my pfd with the heat of the day. I normally train without it because I prefer the freedom of movement. The good thing is that I had a bladder of cold water available to me without having to stop paddling so that helped for hydration, but it didn’t seem to cool me down. I was just burning up and it wasn’t going to get any better if I was still going to try to catch the leader. As we rounded the half way point around the island I knew I only had the advantage of the cross wind for a few more minutes before we hit the tailwind towards the finish line. At that point I’d be toast, so I had to make some sort of effort soon. I saw that he was traveling extremely close to the edge of the island and I thought he may hit a sandbar if he stayed on that route. I figured his goal was to chop a slight bit of distance toward the downwind section. At the time, I believed my only chance was to stay out to sea a little ways and try to round the island wide so as to steer clear of any shallow water. I saw the gap closing in and was nearly side by side when I thought I could catch him and maybe overtake him with a good burst, but he slithered through a narrow section of deeper water while I speared my paddle into nothing but sand. Man, was I upset with myself! For a split second I thought about portaging for 20 feet through ankle deep water after I read the visual cue of where it was ending, but I decided to shove off and head laterally for the same strip he went through which indeed was the way to go. He had deep enough water to go right through it. Dang, I was screwed now. All I could do was maintain the intensity and ignore the continued build up of heat with the sun on my pfd for the last mile. I crossed the line about 90 seconds behind him and immediately splashed myself down with a bunch of saltwater. Then I dropped the boat off at the dock and jumped in for a swim to cool down. That felt so good I didn’t think I was ever going back to shore. I just floated around and waited for my temp to return to something halfway normal. This was a good lesson for Goldrush. That pfd is like a blanket on a hot day. You want to be in the water with that thing on. Hydration is good, but bottles of water over the head could be better if you’re not able to get in the water to cool off. Otherwise, I suppose you could just lower the intensity level. That would definitely be advisable in a 24 hour event. Karen missed the overall female win in the 3 miler by 53 seconds. The gal who won it runs a kayak tour service with her husband. Nice lady.

3 Mile Kayak Race Results
Mike Marion 33:56 1st Overall Male
DJ Henry 34:11 1st Male Touring
Mike Murphy 34:37 1st Male Senior Touring
Kim Gundler 35:25 1st Overall Female
Karen Valdiness 36:18 1st Female Touring
Palo Luzny 36:46 2nd Male Touring
Mike Konoza 37:32 2nd Male Senior Touring
Susan Kulrik 37:57 1st Female Senior Touring
Scott and Elizabeth Maher 40:53 1st Tandem
Marvin and Campbell Dukes 41:09 2nd Tandem
Rhonda Marek and Celene Lampright 45:10 3rd Tandem
Morrow Dodge 52:25 1st Male Recreation

6 Mile Kayak Race Results
Carl Moore 25:49/52:10 1st Overall Male
John Wellens 26:22/53:33 1st Male Touring
Dinah and Barry Brock 29:02/59:33 1st Tandem
Edward Dukes 29:21/1:00:15 1st Male Ski/Racing
Brian Houston 31:38/1:05:02 1st Senior Ski/Racing
Keith Davis 30:00/1:03:51 2nd Male Ski/Racing
David Gorzynski 31:40/1:04:32 2nd Male Touring
Natalie Carillo 32:20/1:05:01 1st Overall Female
Lindsey Carr 32:24/1:05:12 1st Female Ski/Racing
Michael Forsee 34:29/1:10:09 1st Senior Recreation
Gregg Gilmer 36:01/1:15:19 1st Male Senior Touring
Jeanette Chapman 35:45/1:15:19 1st Female Senior Touring
Kevin Green and Chris Petris 36:34/1:14:53 2nd Tandem

Ouch!

Karen went to the doc this week and learned she has a mild concussion from wiping out on her road bike when we were riding this past Sunday. We were chased by a Jack Russell and a Chihuahua. Talk about freeky little things. Man, they just kept coming! We had crested a hill prior to seeing them so our speed was kind of low and those little beelers had a rush of adrenaline going. I sprayed 'em with my water bottle a few times to get them to back off and the last time I did that the Chihuahua turned right in front of Karen's front wheel. She went down kind of hard, but at least she had her helmet on.
By the time we got going again we noticed two little old ladies come out of the side of the house, oblivious to what had just happened. Karen thought she was OK, but took one day of rest before returning to a run workout when her heart rate shot up real high (higher than normal). Upon a little research, we learned that an elevated heart rate like that is common after a concussion.

Quote of the experience: "Do you think my bike is OK? I think I cushioned it with my body pretty well." (She was dead serious.)

... and yes, the bike is fine. Just a slight abrasion on the left brake and handlebar tape.

Rock 2 Rock - Trail Run

That was an incredible event. I had no illusions about truly competing. Never do in any other running event, so why bother now? That takes a lot of pressure off and you can just enjoy being out there. I did push hard all the way up the hill though. There was a lead pack of about 20 runners, then a gap, then me, then another gap, then a bunch of other people trudging their way uphill, single file. I felt good about the ascent for the most part, but the very technical downhill was just not something I could get into. I was passed by several people going down, but not before running with 3-4 other guys for a while. I could hear them breathing down my neck during a steep descent so I let the first guy pass me and jumped in front of the other two who were a little further back. This was during a section of “trail” that was best suited for a 12 year old. There was dense vegetation all around forming an arch not quite big enough for me to fit through without contorting my body. It was about 4 feet tall and just thick vine-like crap all around -- tight on both sides. There were tons of fallen logs and the shorter dude in front of me said, “sure, make me lead the way”. (The trail was really well marked, but you still had to figure out how to get through the crud). When I saw the guy grab a hold of a branch and swing his feet forward with both hands thrusting himself through a little hole between logs, I was thinking to myself, “yeah, he really minds doing this”. I jumped over that area because I couldn’t imagine doing what he did. He was like a little circus freak. Then his buddies were crowding in around me. I half expected them to grab a vine and swing above and past me. Soon afterward, they were demonstrating Kung Fu Theatre sort of balance as they ran through great lengths of loose rocks. I imagined that they could have sprinted along lily pads over water if they wanted to. Bad idea to let my mind wander though because just then I rolled my ankle and let out a big yelp. I hopped on one foot until I slowed enough to gain some balance. Luckily it was just a twist and not a sprain. The guys asked if I was OK without breaking their pace. I assured them I was all right, but they gained so much distance on me in a few seconds that I don’t know if they even heard me. I was completely done with trying to run with that herd of gazelles. Graceful as they were and as much adrenaline as I had going while with them, I knew I wasn’t in the same league… and I don’t aspire to be. I took it easy the rest of the way to make sure I didn’t ruin the rest of the season by risking a true ankle or knee injury. Never have I finished a race with such a low heart rate and breathing so freely. I felt a little guilty about that, but the downhill is all gravity and most of the last mile wasn’t even technical. It was a nice, smooth dirt road. That felt goooooood!

Things I learned at the Rock 2 Rock:

• although you may see nothing but the sky ahead of you, the trail can (and probably will) continue to turn upward.
  
• It is possible to use your arms while running a 10K. Rocks and trees can make nice handholds.
  
• Even warm water is a god-send when you finally reach the top.
  
• Technical descents are best done by people who have a clue how to run them.
  
• Don’t try to keep pace with acrobatic/daredevil runners
  

Jose is totally hooked. He’s coming back next year for sure. For me, I’m happy to have seen it and glad I completed it, but if I do it again I’d probably run it the same way. Aggressive ascent followed by a wimpy descent. I don't think Karen will be in for next year either due to the risk of injury, but she seemed happy to participate also. We all finished with smiles.

Karen and I just participated in an ultra distance orienteering meet yesterday near Chattanooga. We did the 12 hour version, but some folks were out on the course for a full 24 hours, starting about the time we went to bed the night before. They came from all over the country. There were some great views over very rugged terrain. It was all on foot, no biking or paddling. The nav was pretty challenging. We had about 3 miles in between points. You were forced to sort of chunk up each distance into bite-size portions and constantly ask yourself if everything looks right. The direction of travel, terrain on all four sides, and any creeks needed to be taken into account. When we reached a re-entrant that appeared to be the one we were seeking, for example, we had to verify that it was not only the right depth, size, and length, but also that it was veering in the right direction. My compass and altimeter came in handy. An experienced navigator could go by feel for a lot of that, but we had never done anything at this distance before and we are used to using 1:10,000 scale maps for O-meets with points only 500 meters to maybe 1K apart. This was 1:24,000 which is what we use for adventure races, but we normally don’t do true orienteering in an adventure race. If we do there is normally a separate map with a finer scale. So, I guess what I’m saying is that every point we reached was a small victory.

The wildlife was beautiful and we spent as much time watching that as we did trekking. The whippoorwills were loud as could be as we listened from our tent on Friday night. We heard a group of them calling over each other’s voices. I’ve never heard so many at once before. Normally only one at a time. Karen also thought she saw an indigo bunting bird. I took some photos of it as it splashed in a creek and bathed itself, but they didn’t come out good enough. My camera just doesn’t have the zoom power needed. We also saw many deer and heard something grunting at night and early morning that Karen reckoned was a buck, but I’m pretty sure it was of the sasquatch persuasion.

Anyway, we had a good time. The trip was awfully long (about 5 hours there and worse coming back due to Atlanta traffic) and not a place we plan to visit often, but we’re both glad we have been there. I’ve got one heck of a map if we ever want to go back. And by the way, when you view the map, the blue stuff is the Tennessee River and snaking around with it on either side are cliffs. That is represented by the thick brown stuff which are topo lines at 20 foot intervals that are so closely drawn that they appear to be touching each other. The points would often be hidden along the cliff or down the side of them near creeks. There were ways to get down the cliff that weren’t dangerous. It just took some maneuvering. We used small trees to help gain some footing. It was fun stuff.

Here are some photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/pedalgrinder/UltraOGaine2008

2008 - Race schedule

Feb 2nd - Winter Challenge off road tri -
(John - 5th overall single course, 6th overall double)
Feb 16th - Clemson Challenge off road tri -
(John - 2nd overall)
March 1st - Adventure Biathlon, Hunting Island, SC -
(Karen - 3rd female)
March 8th - Swamp Fox, coast of SC - Karen/John -
(2nd Co-ed team)
March 15th - River Quest, Beaufort, SC -
(John - 1st in Touring Class)
April 12th - Croom Quest Multi-sport race, Nobleton, FL -
(2 Big DNF's due to missed turn.)
May 3rd - NC orienteering meet -
(long drive, no results posted)
May 10th - Ranger Duathlon, Dahlonega, GA -
(John - 3rd overall, 2nd age group)
May 10th - Ranger Run, Dahlonega, GA -
(Karen - 3rd in age group)
May 17th - Ultra O-Gaine, Chattanooga, TN -
(Left early due to Karen being ill)
May 30th - Rock 2 Rock 10K run, Asheville, NC -
(tough race, technical course up & down)
June 7th - Orienteering meet @ Fort Mill, SC -
(high temps, fun event)
June 21st - Tri the Midlands triathlon -
June 28th - Beaufort Water Festival kayak race, Beaufort, SC
July 20th - Poker Run, Paris Mtn, SC
Aug 2nd - Goldrush 24 hr AR, Woodstock, GA
Aug 9th - hosting night nav training at Lynches Woods, Newberry, SC
Aug 30th - Savannah River Fest kayak race, GA
Sep 6th - Tsali Challenge, Tsali rec area, TN
Sep 7th - Tsali Challenge relay
Sep 20 - Lumber River 40 mile kayak race, NC?
Sep 27 - Mtn Island Challenge, NC
Nov 1st - Beach 2 Battleship - Iron Distance Tri, NC
Nov 2nd - NC kayak race or Georgetown, SC
Nov 15th - Moab 50K run, Moab, UT
Dec 13th - Kiawah marathon, Kiawah Island, SC