Weekend in the Mountains

     This last week Sara and I went our separate ways for some very different adventures.  She returned to the San Juan river, without me again, on her last trip guiding for Grand Canyon Youth before we leave.  In total, she got to do five trips this season. She feels like she learned a lot, and is thankful to continue to be involved with GCY.  Since Sara went down river, I went up river to Colorado for a race and a weekend of hanging out with Zeno.

Camping just below Mexican Hat

I left town Thursday evening after coaching Kids Run Flagstaff and Step Into Running.  I wanted to get a few hours of driving out of the way before making a big push early Friday to get to Idaho Springs/Echo Lake.  I ended up camping just below Mexican Hat under a very bright full moon.  I should have realized then that the wind that night was only a precursor for the rest of the trip.

Zeno and I got up early the next morning and drove up through Moab to I-70 and Grand Junction.  The Colorado River along I-70 is flowing very high right now and at times it felt like I was the one rafting, not Sara.  The bike path along the highway was underwater in many places and often the water was only feet from the interstate.  After the winter we had in Flagstaff it was nice to see that some places were still wet.

Looking across the valley to the next morning's ascent.

We got to Idaho Springs without incident then took the windy road that climbed up to Echo Lake.  I was hoping to find a spot in the campground at the start, but ended up camping a few miles up the road with a great view of the mountains.  Turns out the 13,000' mountain I was looking at all evening was the second peak I would skirt in the race the next morning.

My race was the Mt. Evans Ascent.  For some reason in February/March this race seemed like it would be a super-fun thing to run. Turns out it was not quite that.  Beautiful? Yes.  Epic? Definitely. Super-fun? NO!  The race runs from 10,600' Echo Lake up to 14,200', just below the Summit of Mt. Evans. It is the highest paved road in the country, and therefore the highest road race.  This year also promised to be a very competitive year on the men's side as many Pike's Peak veterans, ultra runners, and generally fast road guys all turned out.

Sara and I spending quality time together before a weekend apart. Photo by Jacque Povilaitis

Saturday morning I got up early, packed up camp, and drove the few miles to the start.  I quickly ran into Brian Folts, last year's winner.  He and I have gone back and forth in a few races so I was thinking I should be around him.  I also had not seen the course at all and the race director was warning of 40+ mph winds and 34 degree temps on top, so Brian, as a veteran of the race, was a good source of layering ideas.  I made a game-time decision and opted out of my Kahtoola singlet and into my Kahtoola t-shirt, which would be slightly warmer.  I also had gloves and a warm hat tucked into my shorts, just in case.


Right from the start of the race my legs felt bad, which is not a good sign when you still have 14.4 miles of the 14.5 remaining.  With the high altitude start and continuous climbing I knew that if I went into debt from the start I would never recover.  I immediately backed off a little with the hope that my legs would feel better a little later.  And they did. Around mile 3 or 4 (roughly 11,000') I started feeling a little better and could start reeling people in.  I was sitting around 10th at this point.  One guy started coming back to be a little, but Brian, who was ultimately who I wanted to catch, kept the same distance away from me no matter how much I picked it up.

Final strides in an all-out windblown shuffle

At this point in the race we had left tree-line far below and started to experience the high winds.  Every turn either gave us a tail wind, cross wind, or full on wind in the face.  I caught the one guy who was coming back to me and pulled away a little bit, but then he and another runner rejoined me at a water station.  At this point the wind was turning from an annoyance to a sadistic breeze that was in a twisted cabal with the elevation to send me tumbling down the mountain.  So I decided to work with the other guys who had just caught me.  Two of us started trading leads every 20-40 seconds. The third guy sat there and did nothing (fortunately he blew up after hammering a short downhill and finished 20 spots back. Next time he should help out!).  This section, appx miles 6-9, were made much easier by the trading leads.

At about 12,000' we had a longer descent, which at this point I hated because it only meant we had to regain altitude, before climbing one of the steepest sections.  This is where my race performance became inversely proportional to elevation gained.  Above 12,600' the road began switch-backing repeatedly.  Each switch back either had a ferocious headwind or a tailwind shoving me towards Denver.  I think each direction my pace varied 2-3 minutes per mile.  To make matters worse my brain had ceased function too well so my racing instincts took over.  That meant that in each tailwind I purposely picked it up, which led to me being more out of breath by the time I turned in to the wall of wind. My focus switched from catching the next guy to simply trying to keep running.

With Ian and Emily at the top of Mt Evans.

Finally I could see the finish, and the last straightaway was with the wind so I looked like I finished faster than I was capable of running at the point.  As I was grabbing my warm clothes I ran into Jeffrey Eggleston, my pre-race favorite and former Flagstaffian, and he asked me if I won.  I laughed, and then realized that meant he couldn't have been top three or he would have known.  At that point I began to understand just how competitive the field was.  When a 2:11 marathoner, and good climber, finishes 8th it's a fairly deep field.  My 12th didn't feel as bad then.

I donned my warm stuff and then quickly went up to the summit of Mt Evans before I lost all motivation.  I then re-joined fellow Flagstaff runner Ian Torrence and Emily Harrison for another trek to the blustery summit before catching a ride back down to the start and the car.

Despite feeling miserable for a large section of the race I would go back and run it again.  I definitely need more hill work, and more hill work above 12,000' before I want to try again, but all-in-all I am glad I ran it.  I doubt I will ever run a road race with better views.

Playing with the Kahtoola Microspikes below Jones Pass

After the race I drove over to Jones Pass, which is on the CDT.  Sara and I had hiked through this area last year, and I wanted to see it again.  The bowl was completely snowpacked so I got to use my microspikes, and, because I had them, used my RnR 22 Snowshoes, although I was done running for the day.  Returning to portions of the CDT was interesting.  Not having Sara with me didn't feel right, because we had done spent every minute of the hike together and I think part of me recognized that anything close to the CDT should be shared with her.  It was also great to be back, though.  I love being up high and despite Sara not being there it was great to be able to tromp around in the snow above 12,000' again.

The camp guard dog?

I set up camp in a snowstorm below Grays Peak with the hope of hiking both Grays and Torreys Peaks on Sunday.  These are two 14ers we missed on the trail since we resupplied in Silverthorne rather than Breckenridge.  There was still a ton of snow, especially on Torreys, and half the people hiking were carrying skis for the ride down.  Zeno did great with all the elevation.  He still wanted to chase another dog above 14,000', but was unsure of what to do with the mountain goats.  I think the white fur that was fuzzier than his confused him.  From the top of the peaks I could look East to Mt. Evans, and then every other direction to see the Divide and places Sara and I hiked.  Despite trying not to freeze with the 16 degree windchill I tried to recognize as many peaks and passes as possible.  I gave up at three since everything has now run together in my head.

The rest of the afternoon and evening I spent driving around Dillon/Silverthorne looking for a place to camp.  After getting confused by the Keystone Resort, realizing no road was passable in the still-open-for-skiing Arapahoe Basin, and finding two campgrounds on my map to be non-existent, I opted for a motel room so I could shower and prep to show Sea Level Sucks apparel to a few places on my Monday drive back.

Despite taking the wrong road out of Silverthorne and 60+ mph winds while driving back across the Reservation, I made it home in good time on Monday.  I was also able to talk with Wilderness Sports in Dillon, Leadville Outdoors in Leadville, and Backcountry Experience in Durango.  Hopefully you can find Sea Level Sucks apparel in these stores shortly!

Top of Torreys Peak with Grays in the background.

Spending the weekend in the mountains made me very excited to get back on the CDT.  Based on the snow still in the Rockies, the Wind Rivers will still be snow-packed when we begin in two weeks.  Despite being more challenging, I can't wait.  We will be leaving Flag on July 2nd, and hopefully getting back on trail July 5th.  Only a couple more weeks.

Now on to packing!

Happy Trails.

Forrest

Time Keeps Moving, Quickly

Once again we let an extra month go by in between posts, and a lot happened.  Sara has been off and on the river the last month so Zeno and Sequoia and I have been eating a lot of frozen pizza and dog food, respectively.  She has had more trips as a guide this season than ever before and is starting to get into the rhythm of off-river, on-river. This means that the trips become easier for her in many ways (blisters stay calloused over), but also means the grandeur of the river is easier to take for granted.  I'm still very jealous every time she gets to go hang out in some canyon for a few days.

Early stages of the Xterra West Championships

When Sara is on the river I try to find other things to do, like race! Since our last post I have been able to compete in two Xterra trail races, the Western Region Championships in Vegas, and the Malibu Creek 22k, in Malibu.  The Vegas race was a 21k on a very hilly, very exposed old construction area.  Rather than being single track the surface was like an old mining road, rocky and loose, but not too technical.  I went into the race having no idea what to expect from competition or from an Xterra event itself.  Right from the start three of us separated from the pack, which then became two of us after a mile.  The guy I was running with, Roberto Mandje, had the course record from the year before so I knew he would be tough competition. I figured I would stay controlled for the first lap and then the second and final lap try to pull away for the win.  I figured I could always use the finish on the road to out kick him.  After three miles or so I realized this strategy was doomed as he quickly ran away from me on an uphill and then put a minute on me by the end of the first lap.  At this point I had a 3-4 minute lead on the next guy and my mind went to a bad place for racing.  I ran miles 7-10 more as a run than a race, until I realized I could see the guy behind me again and needed to pick it up.  For my first race in a while I was ok with a second place finish, especially when I realized the Roberto ran in the Olympics for Equatorial Guinea.  My idea to out-kick him at the finish seemed rather foolish in hindsight.

Kahtoola race kit with the M*A*S*H* mountain (which we raced) in the back

The second race went a lot better for me mentally.  I was able to stay engaged the entire time and actually feel like I was competing from start to finish.  It may have been because I had actually done a couple long runs before this race, but more likely because I got to wear my new race kit provided by Kahtoola.  I drove to the LA area the day before the race in mid-May and stayed with one of Sara's college friends. I then finished the last hour to Malibu early race morning.  Again, the course was more dirt road than trail, but did have a couple sweet short technical sections, including one on top of a granite ridge with views out to the Pacific.  The race started out much quicker than my car-stiffened legs were happy with, but I was able to shake them out and catch the leaders by the time we started the insanely long, grinding ascent.  The race gained and lost 3430' over the 14 miles and most of it was in this one climb.  I was able to pull away from second place towards the top and use the downhills to create more of a gap.  Despite not being able to gap a jogger on the trail during the last climb to the finish I managed to hang on for the win before driving the 7 hours back to Flagstaff to see Sara return from a river trip.  One of the neatest things about the Malibu race was getting to race through the M*A*S*H* set.  I was really hoping for a helicopter to come over the hills and get me up the mountain.

Clark Fork flowing through Missoula in early April

Sara had a river trip in mid April, during which I meant to clean up the house and be sitting around with dinner ready upon her return. Instead, in a fortunate set of coincidences, I got a job offer in Missoula.  Apparently an employee of The Cycling House stopped into Run Flagstaff to pick up some shoes and told Vince he was from Missoula.  Vince gave him my card, which then got passed along to the owner of TCH, Owen.  Owen got in touch with me through email on a Monday and then I had a follow up phone call with VP Shaun on Tuesday.  Sara left for the river Thursday knowing that I had a Skype interview Friday morning, but that was all she knew before going off grid to get paid to play on rivers. The interview went well enough for them to fly me up to Missoula on Monday morning for three days. As far as Sara knew I was supposed to pick her up from her river trip, but that was not possible as I was on a three day first date in Montana.  Owen and Shaun were great in Missoula and I really liked everything about the company.  They ended up offering me a job starting September 1st and I accepted!  They are being very supportive of Sara and I finishing the CDT this summer as long as I don't do that every year.

Hiking up the Slabs on Mt Elden with Jack

Sara and I had a trip scheduled to Missoula for this last week in which we were supposed to scope out the job situation, but with the TCH job the nature of our trip changed.  Owen was very generous and let us stay in his basement and borrow a couple bikes so we were able to explore the city.  This was Sara's first trip up there and a great chance to make sure she likes it (and a relief when she said she does).  Sara was able to go by the University and talk to someone in the PT program and I got to go on a couple long runs with some of the top local runners.  Owen also took us to watch one of the Wednesday night beer league mountain bike races, which afforded us a glimpse into our future of not getting enough mid-week sleep because we will be up as late as the sun playing.  For now Missoula seems like it will be a great fit for us where we can hopefully create a new home with great friends.

Sara cold on the bike in Missoula

We have exactly one month left in Flagstaff before we head back to the trail, and that month is going to be busy.  Sara still has another river trip, and I have another race in Colorado, not to mention a Sea Level Sucks  event at the Flagstaff Hullabaloo, packing for a move, and planning the remainder of a thru-hike.  We also have a bucket list of things we want to do in town before leaving, mostly trails we want to run/bike, but we may have to put the list on hold for return visits to Flag.


That's all for now!  Somewhat daily adventures can be found at:
twitter.com/forrestboughner (@forrestboughner)
twitter.com/sghook (@sghook)
and Facebook

Happy Trails.

Forrest and Sara

What just happened?

Right after Sara said "yes."

Since our last post in mid-February it feels like a year's worth of awesomeness has happened.  I'll start with a brief overview then regale you with the details.  In order, we concluded our February of racing with a trip to visit our siblings in Bend, OR and win a snowshoe race.  Then we came back and found out we are able to take over the company Sea Level Sucks and, to top it all off, we got engaged!  Along the way we also had a few other adventures, met some great people, and had a crazy busy month.

Sara climbing up to the proposal spot.

So now, in reverse order and probably in the correct order of importance, we got engaged! After three years I decided to ask Sara to marry me.  We went on a hike up a canyon on the side of Mt. Elden in Flagstaff and were sitting in a romantic spot looking down on all the little people in town (mostly we were hiding from the wind) and she said yes! We then waited a few days to tell people while I could get up the courage to talk to her Dad and share the news with her parents first.  Sara picked out a beautiful turquoise ring from Winter Sun in downtown Flag, which definitely fits her better than diamonds.  If you run in to her be sure to ask about it.

In other news, Sara and I are becoming majority owners of the local company Sea Level Sucks.  As you may recall SLS helped us out on our Continental Divide hike by providing shirts and hats.  After spending 80 days hiking in the same shirt I can safely say that it is a comfortable, although now quite smelly, product.  Sea Level Sucks is currently only sold in Flagstaff

Sara modeling a Sea Level Sucks shirt last fall.

stores and online, but by the end of the year we are hoping to expand that to Sedona and in a few locations out of Arizona.  We are very excited about the possible directions we can take this.  I could spend the entire blog talking about this, but I will just direct you to our website and if you have further questions please email us.

The week after we competed in the Mt Taylor Quad, we ventured up to Bend, OR to visit my brother, Gavin, and Sara's sister Megan.  We had a great visit and actually got to explore Bend some more since our visit was rushed in September.  Sara and I celebrated our birthday (we share February 25th) by completing a majority of the Bend Ale Trail with Gavin.  Sara ended up becoming a competent driver with a manual transmission by necessity after our 3rd or 4th pub stop.  We had a great time, though, sharing the day with Gavin and experiencing the Bend lifestyle.

Finishing lap one of the 10k

Our visit to Bend wasn't all play, however.  Well, actually it was.  A few days before the Ale Trail we both competed in the WillRace Snowshoe Qualifier, our first ever snowshoe race.  I had planned to compete in the 10k before we got up there, but Sara decided to run about 15 minutes before the race because it was so beautiful.  She had borrowed Megan's snowshoes to walk around and watch me run, but the shoes were actually running snowshoes so it worked out perfect.  Despite the last minute decision Sara won the 5k by at least 37 lengths of a thrown snowball.  I ran the 10k, which was a qualifying race for the US Snowshoe National Championships, and I also won by a few minutes.  I would have loved to travel to Nationals, but we didn't quite have the finances to travel to Vermont two days after a trip to Bend.  We are both very excited for next season though since Sara can surely qualify and my time puts me top 5 in the country on paper.

Last week Sara had two friends visit from LA and they were able to sneak away into the Canyon for a few days, leaving me behind.  The trip down Grandview Trail to Hance Rapid was Shannon and Herbie's first trip into the Grand Canyon and Herbie's first time ever backpacking!  They had a great time escaping the Flagstaff wind and experiencing the beauty of the Canyon.  For Sara trip was a great escape from a too busy month and a chance to have a wonderful visit with friends.


Sara has also found time to take EMT and psychology classes at the community college so is back into the student world of stressing for tests and finding time to read.  She was able to take classes only on Tuesdays though so she is still able to guide some river trips. Between now and when we leave to finish the CDT she gets to guide 5 trips, somehow fit in finals, and go up to Missoula for a visit before we officially decide to move.  Busy, busy!

Sequoia pretends he's still a lap dog.

Zeno and Sequoia update: Zeno is turning into an awesome running dog since I have been able to get him out more.  With only one or two runs a week he manages 5-7 quick miles with no issue and still wants to play when we get back.  Sequoia is not so much of a running dog.  He currently can barely walk.  His latest growth spurt has put him close to 80 pounds at 10 months old with muscles that can't keep up with his weight.  Random falling, feet sliding, and faceplants have become a common, and sadly hilarious, occurrence around the apartment.

Zeno unsure of why we stopped running.

I finally broke down and joined the world of Twitter, both for Sea Level Sucks and personal purposes.  If you would like to follow our adventures on a more regular, mundane basis follow us @sealevelsucks and @forrestboughner.  That's all until May!

Happy Trails,

Forrest and Sara

Agassiz Uphill and Mt Taylor Quad, Round 2

Race Update:

Despite having warmer and drier weather than most spring seasons, Sara and I still managed to participate in two winter races the last two weekends.  We both competed in the Mount Taylor Winter Quadrathlon last year and left it on the to-do list for this year.  The race was the focus of our training (mostly) since we got off the CDT.  But, before we could do the bike/run/ski/snowshoe race, we decided it would be a good idea to race the Gore-Tex Kahtoola Agassiz Uphill the weekend before.

Sara finishing the Agassiz Uphill

The Agassiz Uphill begins at the bottom of the Sunset Chairlift at the Arizona Snowbowl and follows the ski runs 1,400' up to 10,853' and then back down.  Since we had run in the Grand Canyon a couple times we figured we could bounce back from the downhill pounding and have a week of easy running between the Uphill and the Quad.  WRONG!  When I ran this race last year we had two feet of fresh powder (or Devil's Dandruff according to SNL), which made for a slow climb and a well cushioned descent.  This year the snow was rather hard packed, but still soft in spots.  Just about all the competitors found this is not a great combination. 

This year I ran on a team of three comprised of the 2013 US Marathon Champion, Nick Arciniaga, and local triathlete Thomas "Rivers" Puzey (who has turned into some incredible runner in 2014 with a second place finish at the Phoenix Rock 'n' Roll marathon and wins at the Sedona Marathon and Great Aloha Run).  Needless to say, we had a pretty stacked team.  Rivers was able to get an entry for Sara so she got to run as well.  Jared Scott, a former Flagstaffian and incredible trail/mountain runner, was returning for the race so I knew I would have a real challenge if I wanted a chance to defend my win from 2013.

The way this race is "run" is as follows: the race starts, people take off sprinting, then after 100 yards everyone starts walking and power hiking as the slope gets steeper.  This year was no different.  Jared quickly established himself as the leader on the way up and I gave chase.  He ended up beating me to the top by 10-15 seconds, but I used a completely reckless downhill run to pass him and take the win.  Rivers finished third and Nick finished fourth, which secured our team victory.  Sara came in 4th in the women's open division in her first time in this race.

Picture from our run down the Grandview Trail in the Grand Canyon

At first it seemed like it was a fun idea to race.  But the next two days when neither of us could walk because of our severe muscle soreness we realized we may have made a grave mistake.  Fortunately by Thursday I started feeling ok, but Sara was still feeling fairly rough.  This is never a good situation when going into a 43 mile race up and down Mt. Taylor.

We left Friday afternoon to drive to Grants, NM for the race and got there in time to check in our gear and check snow conditions.  Grants, like Flagstaff, has received very little snow so the ski-down course was altered some.  If the Mt. Taylor Quad is new to you, it proceeds as follows: 13 mile road bike, 5 mile run on dirt road, appx 2 mile ski, 1 mile snowshoe (all that takes you from Grants to the top of Mt. Taylor at 11,333') and then back down.  Both of us borrowed bikes from friends this year so we would not be hampered by Sara's 83 pound steel behemoth or my non-aerodynamic set of wheels.

The start was much warmer than last year and started slower.  I latched onto the lead group of cyclists and tried to familiarize myself with the tri-bike I was using for the first time.  By 4-5 miles in the group was down to a few people.  Josiah Middaugh (multiple-time Quad, US Xterra Triathlon, and US Snowshoe champion, and all-around stud) made a move.  I decided that 5 miles into a 43 mile race was as good a time as any to take a risk so I tried to cover.  I didn't quite get back to him, but we managed to drop all the other riders.  From then on it was just me and him.

Sara's ride up the mountain was great for the first 10 miles or so, but as the climb got steeper the higher gears made it a little more difficult.  She still managed to get to the bike/run transition much faster than last year.  The run did not go quite as well for her, though.  The remnants of the Agassiz Uphill let her know that they were still around and made it a rough stretch for her.

My run went great.  Despite having to borrow a tree, I caught and passed Josiah and went into the ski/run transition with a slight lead.  He had a better transition though and I followed him out on the skis.  We reached the snowshoes within a few seconds of each other, but another quick transition saw him leaving 20 seconds in front of me.

Sara's ski and snowshoe uphill went about like the run.  Tough and not so much fun.  On the ski up she got passed by a lot of people, but she had chosen to use heavier skis, which (spoiler alert) helped her later.  The snowshoe went better since the snowshoes were a lot lighter than the heavy skis, and the open views allowed her notice how far we had hiked to get to the mountain in May.

Result of 15 too many falls.

My snowshoe up portion didn't go too well.  I still managed one of the top splits overall, but Josiah put a little bit of time on me, and just before the summit my right snowshoe came off.  I spent 30-40 seconds trying to get the strap back on.  He ended up beating me to the top by just over a minute.  Once I hit the top though I started getting the time back.  After the uncontrollable descent at the Agassiz Uphill, this descent felt slow, but it was enough.  I had the top time down on snowshoes and left the snowshoe/ski transition right behind Josiah.  Then I had issues.

Both Josiah and I opted for skate skis, which are great for the uphill and last year's downhill course.  The changes to this year's course did not suit skate skis.  I ended up falling somewhere between 12 and 23 times and leaving a lot of skin on the slope.  According to my Garmin I spent 1:50 of this section on the ground. I was wishing I was able to spend more time at the Flagstaff Nordic Center this winter so I could reduce my falling to 10-12 times. Josiah put three minutes on me here because he only fell 6-7 times.  I was incredibly happy to be done with the ski.



Sara's decision to use telemark skis seemed brilliant on her ski down.  The metal edges let her turn on the sharp and steep switch backs.  She passed back most of the people who had passed her on the ski up.

The run down went very well for me again.  I regained nearly all the time Josiah had put on me so I went into the run/bike transition only about 20 seconds back.  But then he showed how much he was just playing with me.  I put everything I had left into the bike down, and got to take full advantage of the aero tuck on the tri-bike, but he still put another couple minutes on me.  I managed the course in just over 3 hours and 52 minutes, which was 19 minutes faster than last year, and finished second.  As much as I would have loved to win, I am very happy with how I finished.

Winning the Kahtoola Agassiz Uphill

Sara also had an excellent last couple legs, especially the bike portion.  Using a lighter bike helped her immensely.   She also improved by about 20 minutes and finished as the 4th female overall!  Interestingly we were both more sore from the Agassiz Uphill than the much longer Quad.  Both races are incredible experiences and we highly recommend both. 

For our next adventure Sara and I are going up to Bend to visit Gavin and Megan (our siblings).  We get to spend about 5 days up there, including our birthdays.  I'm hoping to squeeze in a snowshoe race there as well, and hopefully get some adventuring in with family and friends!

Year End Update

Sara and I just received an email from a fellow hiker who shared a couple days with us just before reaching Steamboat Springs during our CDT trek in July.  Hearing from Dave and seeing some of his pictures reminded us of just how special our hike was this summer.  We can't wait to get back on the trail, but before we do, here's what we've been up to since we got back to Flagstaff.

Top of Humphrey's

Sara just survived her first attempt at teaching as a long-term substitute teacher in a middle school English class.  The first couple of weeks were pretty rough, but it seemed like she was able to get a modicum of control by the end of the job.  She was reminded daily how difficult middle school can be between the strains of cold/flu/bronchitis and raging hormones flying down the hallways.

Sara at the top of Kendrick Peak

After her last day in the classroom, Sara got one day off then started working at the Flagstaff Nordic Center again.  We had one medium sized snowstorm (yay!) that allowed it to open, but this will probably be the last weekend until we get some more precipitation.

I helped coach cross country at Flagstaff High School again this fall.  The boys had a rebuilding year, but still made the State meet, while the girls won their 3rd State Championship in a row with an incredibly low score of 34 points.  As excited as I was to get back to coaching, I decided this would be my last season coaching here in Flagstaff.  There may be more coaching in the future, but it will have to be when the stress from other coaches does not infringe on the benefits of working with the runners.

Working at Run Flagstaff has gone really well this fall.  We have had a very busy year and have started putting on a few more events.  Vince (the owner) has let us run with a few event ideas to get more people in the store, and the first couple were overwhelming successes.  Nick (fellow manager) suggested a potluck/discount night for Team Run Flagstaff, which filled the store with great food, lots of people, and exposed us to chocolate chip bacon bit cookies.  If you have never had these, stop reading, and go make some.  It will change your life.

Full store for Cops and Robbers

In mid-December I put on a Cops and Robbers Run through downtown Flagstaff, that also went surprisingly well.  I borrowed the idea from the Footzone in Bend, OR and tweaked it to involve other local business.  Basically the robbers had to run to a few different downtown stores, run in and grab a sticker, and the whole time avoid the Run Flagstaff Police.  One of the police officers is the current US Marathon Champion, so that put everyone in sprint mode.  I was hoping for 30-40 people and we ended up with just over 70.  Most important, everyone had fun and nobody got hit by a car or slipped on ice.

Robbers leaving Peace Surplus during the Cops and Robbers Run

Gavin finished his PCT hike and meandered back to Flagstaff for a few weeks, but then left us again.  He moved up to Bend to live with his girlfriend, Amy, although we think his move is also influenced by the volume of pubs and mountains in the Bend area.  He wasn't able to come back for Thanksgiving or Christmas, but Sara and I will get to go visit him, and Sara's sister, in February.

Sara and I have also decided to do the Mt Taylor Quadrathlon again this year.  After getting over the giardia/heart problems, I started trying to get my fitness back, but had a few lazy weeks.  Sara told me to stop moping about the apartment and to train for the Quad, so I did.  This is the first time I have seriously trained since we started dating.  I started doing running workouts with Vince, mountain biking in Sedona, a road ride here and there, and sneaking in skiing and snowshoeing when we get the moisture.  Sara started getting in pretty decent shape as well, but the diseases the middle school kids gave her set her training back a few weeks.

Soulstice Mountain Trail Run

We both went down to the Phoenix area and ran in the McDowell Mtn Trail Frenzy.  Sara took second in the 5 mile off of very little fitness, and I defended my 10 mile title.  It was a nice little confidence boost for me since my time was four minutes faster than last year and is apparently a course record.  The trail was also super fun, as it was designed for mountain bikes, so we got to swoop up and down the banked turns during the race.

I also got to run down from the rim of the Grand Canyon, down to the Colorado River, and back up for the first time.  I had never run in the Canyon before, and it was amazing.  The weather was gorgeous, and of course the Canyon itself is always spectacular.  It also made me incredibly sore, put me out for a few days to let my legs recover, and has had lingering detrimental effects on my motivation.  I am going back on Monday, however, and this time Sara gets to come with me.  Mt Taylor will seem like nothing compared to the Canyon.

We had an exciting addition to the household in late September.  Sara had been talking about getting another dog for a while, and we finally committed and brought Zeno a friend.  Sequoia is now 7 months old and close to 65 pounds.  Although Sara thinks his head is too small for his body, it's really just his feet that are too big for everything else.  So far he has been pretty mellow as far as puppy's go, but he and Zeno get into the wrestling for hours.  It's been nice to give Zeno company so we don't feel too bad if we don't get him out every day.  

2013 seems to have gone by really quickly.  We shared many adventures, but the highlight for us this year was obviously the Continental Divide Trail.  We, of course, wish we were able to finish it, but are also glad that we made it off the trail safely and were able to regain our health.  At this point we are looking forward to more adventures in 2014 and getting back on trail in early July.

Happy New Year!

Driving, Driving and some more Driving

On the Oregon coast

After our last post Sara and I went on a road trip to try and get our heads right for a glorious re-entry into society.  After getting a diagnosis of severe over training from the cardiologist, we set off towards Oregon to visit Sara's sister and find my brother on the PCT.  About the time we hit Barstow we got an update on some other tests I did and it turns out I also had giardia. Apparently I had had the lovely bug for almost two months and displayed none of the symptoms, but it did not allow me to recover at night like I should have been, which kept my heart racing, etc.  So we found a Walgreens and Starbucks that night in Sacramento so I could get my metranidazole fix and Sara could get caffeine.

Redwoods

We camped (possibly legally) just north of Redding on some pullout off some road where we could still hear the logging trucks fly by at three in the morning.  Fortunately the ripe blackberries in the morning made up for the few hours of sleep.  That morning, as we realized we left our camera at home, we made it to Crater Lake, the first park on our National Parkish tour.  Like much of the rest of the trip, smoke from forest fires blurred the view, but it was still spectacular.  We did a short hike, my first activity, down to the water's edge where we wimped out on swimming in the chilly water.

From Crater Lake we went up to Bend and stayed with our friend Amy (my girlfriend in-law) in her new apartment.  The next morning we ran along the Deschutes River, where Black Butte Porter flows at 200cfs into the Mirror Pond Pale Ale.  It was a great place for a first run for me, although Amy and Sara tried to hammer me, because it was flat and relatively lower altitude.  More on the Deschutes below.

Our next step was to try and find Gavin (my brother, Amy's boyfriend, Sara's boyfriend in-law) on the Pacific Crest Trail.  We knew he was supposed to be resupplying at Timberline Lodge near Mt. Hood in the next day or so, so our plan was just to hang out until we found him. A few miles before the turn to the lodge the PCT crossed the highway so we slammed on the brakes, pulled into the parking lot and asked another thru-hiker if he knew Gavin.  With over 1,000 hikers on the PCT why wouldn't he know Gavin?  Turns out this guy had been hiking with G-man and Gavin was only 20 minutes back.  Once again the Boughner's impeccable timing strikes.  We were able to spend the night with him along a branch of the Zig-Zag river before he resumed hiking.  It was wonderful to see him in his bearded glory and hear stories from his hike.  Apparently his hike involved many more shenanigans than ours.

Bumpass Hell

After a frustratingly fun two days trying to navigate back to Bend on roads not shown on our Atlas, we arrived at Sara's sister's place.  We had a great visit with Megan as well (where we got our last resupply box from my mom, the camera).  Megan showed us more of downtown Bend and borrowed some inner tubes for us to float on the Deschutes.  The four of us (Amy included again) spent a lazy
hour or so basking in the warm late summer sun of Central Oregon while freezing our butts off in the cold glacier fed river.  Once our feet, butts and hands thawed, Sara and I decided we would really like to have a river flowing through where we live.

Sara and El Capitan, Yosemite

From Bend we made our way to the Oregon coast, with a delicious stop at the Tillamook Factory, where we traveled south.  We spent a morning in the Redwoods, the tallest trees in the world, where we ran into a bear cub during a short run.  We also decided we need to go back and hike more in the park.  That afternoon we ventured to Lassen Volcanic National Park and hiked down to Bumpass Hell (appropriately named for the unfortunate Mr. Bumpass who, while demonstrating the possibility of bringing tourists into the boiling, sulfuric ponds, fell in and lost a leg), which was a rotten egg smelling vale full of multicolored rock and volcanicy stuff.  We decided we need to go back and hike more in the park.

That night we drove most of the way to Yosemite.  The latter portion of the drive (11:00pm-2:00am) was through incredibly smoky areas South of Reno, NV where ash was actually falling.  We managed to find another semi-legal pullout on a road on which to camp before venturing to Yosemite that next morning.  In Yosemite we drove through and did all the touristy stuff (saw Half Dome and El Capitan) and reaffirmed we need to go back and hike more of the park. 

In a Sequoia

Our next stop was at the southern end of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks with Sara's good friend Brie.  Brie is working in the park and so was able to give us an insiders view to the park.  We went for an awesome run in King's Canyon, swam in the King's river, and couldn't go in the cave because of a rock fall. 

We left the National Park tour for a bit and went to the people-infested place that is the Los Angeles megatropolis.  We were able to stay with some of Sara's friends and she showed me some of the great places to eat, and get ice cream.  We also got a tour of the space shuttle Endeavour, which after a multi-day journey through the streets of LA ended up at the Museum of Science.

Tortoise in Joshua Tree

Our last stop of the trip was Joshua Tree National Park.  Here we saw our first desert tortoise, Sara's first tarantula, and a coyote howling.  Neither of us had seen one actually howling.  We went for a short run up Ryan Mountain in the morning then hiked to the 49 Palms Oasis in the middle of a dry canyon.

After that we made our way back to Flagstaff.  Arriving in town this time was much better than a few weeks ago.  Aside from being very ready to get out of the car, both of us feel more ready to get back into the world of society.  I will resume work at Run Flagstaff, which has been very good to us while gone, and Sara will find a job that will tide her over until we resume hiking next summer and continue her commissioned art work.

Thus endeth the road trip.

CDT: Part 1, Done.

Getting back on w/ Addie

This is the hardest post to write.  After taking two weeks off in Lander and attempting to get back on the trail, we were forced again to get off after a few days in the Wind Rivers due to my continued elevated pulse.  We have decided to leave the trail for this year and will resume our journey to Canada next summer. 

Our Lander host, Alice Brew, dropped off Sara and our friend Addie and me at the trail head after it seemed I had recovered.  We made decent time and thought all was great as we passed the spot where we had to turn around two weeks earlier.  As we entered the trees (finally, trees!) and started to climb, however, my heart rate shot up.  The slightest incline shot it over 140.  We managed the rest of the day and after passing signs to watch for grizzlies tearing apart a previously buried carcass we camped in a beautiful meadow. 

Beaver dam flooded this bridge

I had hoped that my heart rate was high due to just being out of shape from being off trail for so long, since we both had extra aches and pains, but by the afternoon of the second day it was clear that things were not normal.  The scenery was beautiful though.  It was great to get back into the mountains and camped on an unnamed lake at the base of a huge craggy mountain face. 

The next day we had lunch on a lake at the base of Temple and East Temple mountains before heading over the pass to Temple Lake.  Here, we saw the remnants of a glacier; a stark reminder that our world is changing.  The valley down to Big Sandy lake was gorgeous.  East Temple Peak provided a 2,000' backdrop as we lake hopped down the sheer glacial valley.  It took us all day to do 8 miles since we frequently stopped to allow my heart rate to drop back below 100.  It was not a bad place to need to stop though.  We could spend weeks in that valley.

Lunch spot

Temple Lake

After camping in the Big Sandy area we got out to the Big Sandy trailhead and managed to find a ride.  We were hoping to get a ride at least close to Lander, but the guy was heading to Salt Lake and for some reason went through Pinedale.  If you look at a map you will see that Pinedale is not at all on the way to Salt Lake, much less Lander.  We ended up renting a car so we could drive up to Brooks Lake and retrieve Addie's car.  Turns out we would have been forced around the Winds anyway due to fires that broke out in front of us.  Timing is everything. 

After driving back through the smoke-hazy Tetons, we took a few days to get back to Flagstaff and managed to see one of my old friends in the Rifle, CO area (Ryan Glassman) before staying with one of Addie's friends in Aspen.  We then drove over Independence Pass, had an awesome lunch in Salida (totally recommend the bakery/deli there) and camped just south of Durango.  Watching the mountains fly by as we traveled south through Colorado was depressing.  We spent a long time trying to get north through there and it was all undone in a few hours. 

There should be a glacier, instead it is a snowfield.

I managed to get into a doctor on Monday who ruled out heat exhaustion, so we were back to square one.  Since my resting heart rate never got below 78 on the trail those few days (typically in the 40's within minutes of stopping) and still remains in the high 60's, she thinks something else ails me.  She ordered numerous tests and referred me to a cardiologist, so we are still trying to figure things out.  

As we pulled into Flagstaff, both of us really just wanted to turn around and head back north.  Mentally, neither of us are prepared or capable of being home right now.  It was such an abrupt end to our journey for this year that it is hard to comprehend that last week we were still heading north, on foot.  We saw a few friends in town, but that was about all we can handle. As soon as we know what is wrong with me we are getting out of town to try and figure out how to re-enter society. We are hoping a road trip up to see Sara's sister in Bend, OR

and find my brother on the PCT will help.  All-in-all we would much rather be hiking. 

At this point we would like to thank everyone who supported and followed us through the hike this year.  It would have been much more difficult without the help of our friends and families.  We are going to keep occasionally updating the blog with our adventures and will definitely resume the blog with part 2 of our hike July 1, next year. 

Happy Trails!

-Track and Field