Coyote Two Moon Ultra 100k 2011

First of all I would like to thank all the volunteers and Chris Scott Head Buffoon of Coyote Two Moon who without them, this weekend would have been a lot less fun/safe.

Now on to the event, over the past two years I had the unfortunate luck of being injured with a nasty case of PF on my left foot after all that time I felt very happy to be at Thacher on Saturday morning. One of the many wonderful things about C2M is seeing old friends and making new ones which is how the whole 17 hour Fun Run ended up being. As part of the Slower 100k group I got to start with the Faster 100 milers, which was neat to see Karl M., Justin A, A J Wilkins and Jeff Browning. Right at the start Jack and I already befriended Jessica, who kept pushing all the climbs.

The climb up Horn was little more than Jack and I where planning, we tried to start off slowly and get to the 4th mile at 2+ hours but that didn’t work out too well. We ended up at 1:40, the pace wasn’t too fast but just good enough, at least no harm was done. Getting to the first aid was nice, got to say hi to Howard and Bruce who were taking a break from starting at (3am?) and at the 40 mile point for the 100 milers. After saying thanks to the Volunteers we headed down to Rose, this part was a nice change to finally get in some downhill running. Not much happened until we got to Rose A/S, again excellent Vols great food, got taken care of and pulled my second straight Jack of Spades and headed back up the fireroad.

This is where it gets fun (not bad, yet) near the ridge it started to really snow, which I don’t mind except when it pelts you in the face. At this point Jessica, Jack and I don more gear, in order to keep us warm as we cross the unprotected ridge into Howard junction. Oh how I love this trial, fast single track beautiful views and well protected from the wind. We made our way into the next A/S pretty quickly, boy that one was active with the full 70’s theme and the atmosphere and seeing friends I didn’t want to go. But alas Jack got his bottles filled up and we were back up and on our way to Gridley Top. As much fun going down, going up Howard is the easiest trail that I’ve ran on this mountain.

As we neared the next A/S a cow and a rabbit/Easter Bunny (Gretchen) with its head on backwards start to come up and greet us, this is Gridley Top where we meet up with a chicken (Luis) and the RD Chris who donned on a wonderful pig costume. Gretchen got me a wonderful Spam and cheese sandwich and filled my bottles (thanks Gretchen!). Again another great station to hang with friends eat some food, have fun and chill but Jack was already leaving and so it was time to power hike to Nordhoff and enjoy the wonderful trail they call Cozy Hell(dell). Eric Wickland and Jonathan Stewart, who we passed going down CD and were hanging glow slicks for the runners to find the trial turns, were nice to move my drop bad to an easy location for me to find, thanks guys! Once I sat down Kathy H, whom I just met from the bowling night was making sure my food intake was going well, sure is, they have tater tots tasty.

Fuelled up and torches on as the night started to descend, we were up Cozy Dell and found its true meaning of Hell. At this point the rain started and the first two miles of the trail was just one big sloppy mess that with every step you would slid an inch or more. There were a couple of times I just looked back at Jack and Jessica as I was leading the way up (rare at this time) and threw them a discussed look on my face, I was not happy. But that was the only time I felt a little PO’ed it was more of my shoes not having enough grip. As soon as we got out of that, I was happy again, (I mean how can I be pissy, I’m running with friends enjoying a very tough run and I’m alive!)

Now the Cold part, even though I was well protected with 4 layers of clothing up top, thermal hat and I had shorts (which I can deal with cold legs) it was the sweeting from the inside that did me in on the ridge. Once on the top of the ridge going back to Gridley Top it was snowing and blowing so hard that I just started to freeze, you couldn’t see much in front of you at times. I was expecting to snow and get cold, just not This cold (30 degrees with wild chill ouch), it just went to my knees and I just could make a jog back to the A/S. 20 to 30 mins later I finally made it back to look at Chris with a smile and (I think) said I’m having fun but I’m a little cold. So Gretchen grabs one of my water bottles and filled it with very hot water, ah just like when I was a baby with the hot water bottle for the upset stomach (too much info there?).

Had more hot food, talk to Chris told him I was done, I’ll run/walk down the next trail to Gridley Bottom and bow out at 43 miles. I knew my knees were a mess at this point and going back up to the ridge and walking the exposed part for 7/9 miles would not be a safe thing for me to do. I was slightly disappointed for a second but I knew from seeing others and what I had gone through that I’d done what I could and I need to stay alive for my family (I can’t always be selfish) As I was waiting for Jack/Jessica to head back down the Fun Run was stopped, made sense with more runners soon to come up Cozy Dell and rain/snow forecasted till the next afternoon, it could of gotten bad for some people.

Oh ya, I have to get off the mountain and my knees don’t bend, sweet! With a trash bag provided by Gretchen I made the slow walk to the last Aid Station. Once I was there I was quickly snatched, asked who I was and where I was (making sure I wasn’t close to dead) I answered the questions correctly. Got more food shoved into my hands from chief Wes and thrown into a car and driven to Thacher, what service!

Again I'd like to thank Chris and everyone one from the Volunteers and runners, for one hell of a time, and yes I’d do it all over again! And now a view of the climbs Here is an Article from the Ventura County Star on the Coyote Two Moon

Gettting back into running slowly

It's been about one year of not running and gaining weight. I've been slowly ramping up my mileage and losing some pounds and hope to get in an Ultra before the end of the month.

The Great Race of Agoura Half marathon

It was nice to be back and running from a three week hiatus due to Planar Fasciitis in my left foot. It was so painful I could hardly walk on it for a week, but with R.I.C.E and stretches I was finally able last week to get in some low mileage runs. But what worried me about this race was that if the PF would flare up during the run. Overall I was happy to get a 1:50 and now I can relax, get some more miles in before Leona Divide.

Injured PF

Well it looks like I have Plantar Fasciitis and DNS C2M. I hope to be back out and running soon.

Rose Valley 33 Mile Endurance Run

First of all this race kick a$$, from the race director Luis Escobar who setup a great replacement race for the cancelled Santa Barbara 9 trails, to the volunteers. Again, this is a race that didn't exist two weeks ago and there were no problems with anything, signing in was easy, which was cool because Scott Jurek was helping with that and I got to meet him for the first time.

Starting off was cold, my car said it was 32 degs once I drove into the parking area and then when the race started it seemed to get a little colder as I couldn't feel my fingers, but as we ascended up rose it warmed up quickly. Once I've reached the top of rose it was 3 mile of down, I settled in at 7:00 mile trying not to go too fast. I believe this part is called the Nordoff backbone you almost have a 360 view of Ventura to Santa Barbra, I almost tripped a couple times while running, just looking at the beauty was relaxing and set the tempo for the rest of the day.

Now came the Gridley Top aid station with a refill of my first bottle and starting the tunes I headed down 6 miles (4000 feet elevation change) to the bottom of the Gridley trail. There at the AS was Chris Scott one of the race directors of C2M helping out. Refilled the same bottle got some chips and it was back up the same trail to the top of Gridley again. Surprisingly I did this part in 1:50 again no running unless there was no slope. Back to the Gridley AS (these guys were awesome) and off I went for a 2 mile out and back, this the trail that would take you to Cozy Dell. In order to complete the out and back you had to tell the Gridley guys what you found at the end of the trail which was a Santa Nome.

5 hours into the run it was time to descent to Howard Creek for only 3 miles! At the last aid station I got to meet Wild Bill and Deb who help me rinse off the layers of caked on salt. From there it was time to finish with only 7 more miles to go and still having fresh legs I made the climb to the top with only 15 minute difference from going down to back up. At this point I was back to the main backbone and there was only less than two miles to go before descending down rose, I could see where I was supposed to go but it felt like I would never get there, my legs did feel a little sore by this point. Success, I made it to the top and now it was time for 3 miles of quad searing pain but it was worth it, with the end in sight it was easy to run down at sub 7 min miles, even after ascending 9500ft total for the day.

After finishing I thanked Luis for putting on this replacement run, grabbed a cheese burger that Scott Jurek had cooked and hanged around to talk with Howard Cohen and Jonathan Stewart.

I came into this race with two goals in mind one to finish, second to not run any uphill’s and to keep it at a very fast walking pace. I've blown up and DNF'ed at C2M and at the last 9 trails by being too aggressive. It wasn't till Leona Divide did I start looking at ultras differently. Overall I felt I could of gotten out at faster at the beginning but running a technically good race was more important to me. Plus I feel more confident in running Ultra Marathons in the future.

Pictures and results

Santa Monica Backbone Run -- 25 miles

On October 18 I had the pleasure of joining Howard Cohen who was running the entire Santa Monica backbone, totaling 67 miles in one day. My portion would be the last 25 miles of his run consisting of mostly night running.

I joined Howard and Eric who was doing 40 plus miles in the middle of the backbone. With perfect timing I managed to get to the trail head with 10 minutes to spare at the Mulholland road intersect of mile 43 at 4pm. Howard looked great at this point and made me wonder if I could keep up with him;) Within an hour of running, the sun started to set and got to see a beautiful sunset with the ocean as it's backdrop. There was nothing too technical for the first 9 miles mostly well groomed trails and my feet felt great, no hot spots or blisters.

At mile 52 we just slipped into Misha Mokwa trail head as the sun went to sleep for the day. At this point we grabbed some food that was provided by Eric and pick up Bill for the rest of the run. This was the part that was the most fun for me, night running! I have never done it on the trails only on the streets where there was plenty of light. But this was more challenging as you had a one light on your head and another in my hand. Trying to discern shadows, rocks and fauna while speeding down a trail and not kill yourself was like being on a runaway roller coaster.

I believe it was around mile 60 where Howard got his 4,5 or even 10th wind back and was flying down the trails. Most people would be just walking at this point but that wasn't Howards way, he kept on pushing the whole time. We finished at 10:45pm which was a good 6 plus hours on my feet. Next time I would like complete the whole backbone with Howard as I enjoyed having the opportunity running with him and others.

Disneyland Half Marathon 2008

The plan for this half was to run a negative split and keep getting faster from the start to the finish. With only seven weeks of real training I was happy with my performance. I had been only running 30 miles a week but it was mostly fast street runs up to that point. The only disappointing issue was I didn't get the sub 1:35 I was shooting for but I still PR'ed with a 1:37 so I can't be too mad with my time.

Boy was the weather better this time then last year in 2007, it was only in the mid 70 by the time the race ended, not the 100 degrees of last year. Overall Disney did a great job, and few problems if any were had. There were plenty of potties, food and water for pre, during and after the race. And they have gotten better at coral placement of faster runners, gone are the days of walkers finding or placing their way to the front. I plan of signing up for next year even though my 2009 schedule is mostly Ultras and trail races.


1:37:34

1 ml 7:40 ,2 ml 7:29 ,3 ml 7:12 ,4 ml 7:24 ,5 ml 7:24 ,6 ml 7:22 ,7 ml 7:21 ,8 ml 7:23 ,9 ml 7:19 ,10 ml 7:18 ,11 ml 7:07 ,12 ml 7:00 ,13 ml 7:07 ,13.1 ml 6:41

Overall Place 240 / 10849
5K 23:58
10K 47:03
15K 1:10:19