Last Monday's effort in Van Cortlandt Park left me rather deflated for the rest of the week. At points I'd feel fine only to bottom out later. By this weekend numerous factors came into place, so that I don't feel so back. I made it to bed and to sleep by 10pm, sometimes earlier. I consciously made myself make food with lots of veggies. The weather cooled off in the latter part of the week. Nathan returned from his jaunt upstate (visiting mama and racing). Also this weekend was a couple of sporting events that got me super excited and inspired.
The first event was the Hardrock 100 mile ultra marathon in the San Juan mountains of Colorado. The link is worth it to see the environment of the race. The race is one large loop that starts and ends in Silverton, CO, and is based off route developed by miners back in the day. In these one hundred miles comes 33,992 feet of climbing, 33,992 feet of descending, elevation ranging from 7,680 to 14,048 feet (most of it is above the tree line), and 13 aid stations before reaching the finish wherein you kiss the rock with the picture of a ram. Runners are allotted 48 hours to complete the course.
Nathan and I followed via twitter feeds from iRunFar's website. The race started at 6am Mountain time on Friday. Following a race like this means you wait for updates about who enters various aid stations and at what times. You refresh the web page, then go back to what you were doing for anywhere from five minutes to an hour depending where they are in the race. It's similar to supporting athletes in an Ironman Triathlon -- you entertain yourself between all the updates. I did laundry, cleaned, worked on a presentation. I'm the type of person who happily sits in front of the television to watch an entire marathon during the Olympics. I have also sat glued to the TV for four hours at a time watching previous Tours de France. I love my regional and vicarious American sports teams (Chiefs! Patriots! Celtics!), but endurance events make cells deep inside me buzz with excitement not duplicated by anything else.
I went through a phase of climbing a few years ago while taking a break from running. I enjoyed it, but as time rolled on I got incredibly bored. When belaying my climbing partner on the Shawangunk Ridge and would always grumble to myself that instead of feeding out/in rope for an hour and getting stuck on various routes because my forearms would give out I could have run loops around the climbing ridge and been a sweat ball of a happy girl. Yes, distance was traveled vertically once routes were mastered, but this was 60 meters/hour versus 5-9 miles/hour on foot (depending on trail/road, uphill hike/downhill controlled fall). The part I actually enjoyed and still miss was/is climbing roofs, meaning handholds on the ceiling which is parallel to the floor. I had no patience for overhangs that required big power moves by the gorilla guys. There is no cave around here that allows it so unfortunately it was only at the climbing gym, which probably also added to my willingness to let it go. Ultimately, I have no patience for sprinting and no desire to race anything shorter than a 10k with real effort. Similarly, these short passes (even 60m passes up a rock face) did not hold my attention. Also, I got fed up with needing soooo much gear. You need stuff for endurance running, since half the time you are semi- if not fully self sufficient, but that is limited to nutrition and safety basics.
So back to the race. The winner this year, Julien Chorier of France, finished just after 9am Eastern time on Saturday morning in 25 hours 17 minutes, which gives him the third fastest time in the history of the race. A top 10 finish is always worth recognition in an ultra (hell, finishing is always worth recognizing!), and the difference between 1st and 10th place is 7 hours 4 minutes. Those who required longer than 30 hours were plagued by a hail-ridden thunderstorm part way through, causing runners to hide under whatever shelter they could for an hour or more. Weather added to the demands of the course meant only 80 of 140 entrants finished.
"Why does this sound appealing?!?" you may ask. Well, there's something very unique about distance running in areas so pulled back from daily life. Your physical abilities are tested to the max in an environment that asks nothing less. And when the equation of you versus Mama Nature works... it is humbling, it is soothing, and there's nothing else like it. You should only run if you want to, and that goes for running 1 mile as much as for running 100. But if you like it, then the experience is the same regardless of the distance. Someone on Flickr named btrimboli posted a set of photos from the race that are amazing. I am nowhere near a race like that, and I don't pretend for even a milisecond. Remove the weather factor and Hardrock is still one of the most difficult races that exist in the states, not to mention it is at major uber elevation. Next year I could maximally hope for a 50 mile or 100k race, and even then it'd need to be below the tree line by some distance. We'll see what breadth of training my last year in school allows. I keep making lists of races that I'd love to run one day, but being a PT student doesn't afford you an income or time off.
The last few days I've pondered how professional marathon runners will race perhaps twice a year. Most ultra marathon pros will run 4-10, depending on the person. Granted I could definitely maintain higher mileage if I weren't on roads 2/3 of the time, but the difference is still interesting. To me, at least....
Then Sunday came the women's World Cup quarterfinals where the US took out Brazil in a very dramatic match. US was called offsides in instances where everyone was in a dead straight line with the ball, whereas Brazil made a goal off of being offsides by 4 or 5 feet that somehow went without a call. A US defensewoman received a red card after a tackle that injured no one and should have only warranted a yellow card if anything. That means US played a woman down for most of the game. Another Brazilian goal was made off a penalty kick where the first kick was blocked but the ref called encroachment (the goalie cannot step forward from the baseline until the ball has been kicked) when replays showed that this barely occurred. The US goalie was also given a yellow card for it (still not clear to me why) and Brazil was able to convert the second attempt, since any instance of encroachment means the penalty kick is reattempted. In the last moments overtime, a Brazilian headed the ball and collided with no one, only to walk twenty feet while the game continued and then dramatically drop to the ground holding her head in a very Italian show of drama. The medical team was immediately called, and they took her off the field on a stretcher while time ticked away. Game on, but after the medical team took 4 steps off the field the Brazilian sat up, unbuckled herself and ran around field to re-enter the game 30 seconds later. Blatant delay of time. Stoppage time is made up in the end, but it stops the flow of the play much like icing the kicker in football. The ref saw her come back on the field and said nothing of the poor sportsmanship. Luckily US managed a cross shot and header that scored in the very last moments of stoppage time, I believe 122 minutes into the game. Solo, US goalie, made the only block during the shoot out to lead the US women into the semifinals against France.
Was I excited?? Heck yes. Another example of endurance, but this one in game form. Why does the women's World Cup receive so little attention here in the states when our team is consistently ranked at the top, while the men's team is supremely lucky to make it into the second round (and promptly lose) but afforded coverage up the wazu? Figures. The feminist in me always is bothered by this.
In kitteh land, Merus's initial introduction as "the simpler one" may have been pre-emptive. She is markedly coordinated, has a very good sense of spacial orientation, and she's the only one to figure out where the laser comes from. She still does not know what the laser is or why it jumps from the pointer to the floor, and thus she will still chase the little bugger down as best as she can. But when she tires she looks up at my hand with a distinctive look on her face, pondering the object that I wield. So long as she still chases the thing then I don't mind.
Other items were on the list to discuss, but apparently today is not their day as I have forgotten what they are. Off to bed.
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