February May Well be the Cruelest Month

Cold, gray, Illinois. Not a whole lot to write since this has mostly been a blog about my running and frankly I haven't been running a whole ton lately, for reasons that you wouldn't really care about. My last really good "long run" was sometime early last fall. I'm ecstatic to get out for an hour here or there. The plan is to work back into shape and do some fun stuff in the summer. There are indeed miles to go.

Cold, gray, Illinois. All of those things, yet I still miss the trails for hours and hours even on bleak, frigid mornings. One thing I do love about winter is the sense of hibernation, the atmosphere of burrowing in and having free time to think or read instead of do. About the time that wears off, warmth is coming and outdoors becomes home. All the burrowing has allowed to sneak in a few books. All read over the last couple months and recommended:

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford: A good basic study of the Mongols, but flawed in his over-the-top revisionism and recasting the Golden Hordes as creators of everything from accounting to the postal system. Still, worthwhile.

Go East Young Woman - A true story about 125 years of life in the Russian steppe of Bessarabia by German farmers, and how it ended during World War II by Karl Horst Schwarzer

The Emigration from Germany to Russia in theYears 1763 to 1862 by Karl Stumpp

From Catherine to Khruschev-the Story of Russia's Germans- by Dr. Adam Giesinger

Tracing Romania's Heterogeneous German Minority from Its Origins to the Diaspora- by Jacob Steigerwald

Yes, I have an obsession with Eastern European and Central Asian history.

Tales From Out There by Ed Furtaw-- Really cool new book with everything you ever wanted to know about the Barkley Marathons

Flurry

So it flurried last night, a half inch of powder on the trails by the creek. I guess this is sorta how those lucky bastards out west feel upon the first snow when the slopes are reopened.

The last few months have been sporadic running-wise. Soft tissue leg thing due to a dumb newbie training error, teaching two new classes, life stuff. Haven't run "long" since September. This really is ok, I kinda like free-forming it with the runs, just short stuff, nothing over five or six miles. That injury hasn't flared in a few weeks. Fitness lost, but not completely vanished. There are runs where things are hazy-- those moments of reuniting after some time away are awkward. "Where've you been??" This used to be easy, now we labor up that hill and over that log. No matter, I'm running in the snow and really loving it again.

Dances With Dirt--Devil's Lake

Ran the full marathon ++ of this one yesterday up in Baraboo, WI. DWD, Hell, MI is one I've wanted to do, but Baraboo being closer to IL made this an easier commitment. They advertise the DWD races as "insane terrain," and while is there is a smattering of truth in the marketing, there are runnable spots here. Still, make no mistake this is a tough course.

The early section is a nice steady uphill which eventually crosses a glacial deposit area, meaning rocks and lots of them. There is some really nice single track until you get to about 10 miles, where it's straight up I'd guess about 600-700 feet on rocky trail to the ridge overlooking Devil's Lake. There are some big, more steady climbs after this, then about a two mile bushwhacking section right around 12 miles.

While the trail is marked with ribbon, it is a bit confusing, as you have white, pink, and blue ribbons depending on the course you're running. The turns also aren't marked well and if you're looking down it's easy to go off course. I veered off course after the Steinke Basin aid station and stupidly didn't backtrack soon enough, adding two plus miles to the 'thon. The turn wasn't marked well, but then again, I should have been looking up. Ended up getting a bit dehydrated and draining my bottles before I realized my error. Finally made it to Tower aid station with 2.7 left and ended up hammering it home sheerly from being pissed off about going off trail. Word after the race was that I wasn't the only person who did this by a long shot.

My finish time was somewhere around 5:50, good for 8th place overall and 3rd place age group. 8th sounds impressive, but overall there were only around 30 some thoners. They had around 150 half thon and then a pretty good crowd of 50k and 50 mile. 50 k was an option, but didn't want to plunk down the extra 40 bucks for 5 more miles. As it stands 28+ miles is going down in my book as an ultra finish anyway.

I would recommend this race. Not being a skier, I didn't know the area was so cool. The race starts right at Devil's Head ski area and I think the 50 k course concludes up on the trails around the top of the "mountain." The only possible drawbacks are A. You have to really watch the markings or not be as dumb as I am. It is possible in spots to lose the course. B. A few spots are unrunnable bushwhacking through off woods terrain. If you are for some reason racing or running this for time, that could be annoying. I just thought it was fun. C. There wasn't a lot of grub postrace. Again, a minor complaint. On the positive side, the park is really gorgeous, the aid stations are great, and the shirt is one of the best I've gotten from a race.

There aren't too many better ways to spend a Saturday.

Colorado 2009

This trip wasn't about me and my running addiction. Despite my uncharacteristic selflessness, I still managed some nice runs in the foothills. No San Juans this time around, unfortunately. I did get in a nice eight mile trail run at Red Rock Canyon in Colo. Springs. This park is the stepsister to Garden of the Gods. Heartily recommended if you want a less touristy place to run. I was out there at 6 am on a weekday and saw no other humans on the entire run.


Other runs were on the Pikes Peak Greenway trail, paved but a nice course along the creek in north Springs. Highlands Ranch is cookie cutter suburban, BUT they do have an awesome open space trail that rises up to Castle Rock Rd. and gives a great view of all the 14ers off in the distance. Put in 8 and 7 miles here, respectively. We drove partially up the road to Evans out of Idaho Springs to fish a trout pond, but no runs.

Next year: San Juans hopefully, Leadville thon' possibly, somewhere else cool. I'd still love to attempt the pack burro race at Fairplay.

Devil's Lake

I decided to sign up for the Dances with Dirt, Devil's Lake marathon version in July. I've wanted to do the DWD Michigan for quite a while, but never made it up that way. DWD DL is in Baraboo, Wi, a relatively close drive and should be a fun course. There are ultra versions of the race which I'm opting out of for a marathon training run type thing.

Preparation has gone relatively well. I've managed to get in several runs close to four hours out at Farmdale and some nice distance during-the-week road runs. I should peak this week for the season so far at about 60 miles, high stuff in my world. Will be in Colorado next week and already have some trail runs lined up, although there is little doubt that mileage will be down since this is a family vacation after all. Still, mountains are mountains.