Methow Valley Supertour

on January 15, 16, 17, and 18th I went to the Methow to race the Supertour races. Saturday was a 1.3k skate sprint, and sunday was a 15k classic race. It was super cool to ski alongside the greats such as Koos and Valaas. Saturday I woke expecting rain, but instead got sun and a slightly icy course. My qualifier was not great for me, but mid-distance sprints have never been my best event. But I still raced a 3:18 which was good enough to make the cut for quarterfinals, where I got whooped along with Evan Turner. I don't particularly like when the J1+OJ fields are mixed, as it means high schoolers like me are competing against college age kids who are able to train almost full time (PNSA, are you listening). But I was still the top 1993 YOB racer and west sider.
For the classic course at liberty bell conditions were dismal, so a new course was groomed at Loup Loup. New snow, 33 degrees and misting was not the best, and when combined with an hour delay creating start lists, most people were cold and wet at the start. With a 3.5 k climb, a bit of flat, and some sketchy s turns down to the base of the climb for a 5k loop, zero skis were the trick for the day. I passed a few people climbing, got passed by a few, and then managed to bite it not once, but twice while going downhill behind Koos. The next lap I somehow fell in the same spots too, but kept up the power climbing even though grip was less than ideal on a several hundred foot climb. I finished very glad such a cold and wet race was over, and waited for the next Seattle racers to come by and by (wow Lakeside, no wonder math and chess seem to be your specialties). But agin I came in first west sider and 1st 1993 racer, despite being a couple minutes off the lead with a 47:23.

Warm temperatures continued when I went upvalley to ski on Monday. In Mazama, my skis were very slow, and so were almost everyone else's. The temperature must have been at least 40 degrees because I managed to ski in just race tights.

Seattle marathon recap

One of my longer races timewise this year was the Seattle Marathon. I finished speed-type training for the XC state championships on Nov. 14, and was to race the marathon on the 28th. I obviously had some training to do, despite averaging about 60 miles a week as I was running home from school (8 miles) a few days each week. So I put in 4 two hours runs and 2 1.5 hour runs and called it good. With the marathon on Sunday, I went skiing Friday and Saturday after thanksgiving to put in some early season kilos, while planning to train through the marathon.
After a quick bite of yogurt and cheerios, I got dropped off a few miles from Memorial Stadium, got to the start in time to see the 1/2 marathoners head out, and then ran a short warm-up/ stretching session with fellow Garfield runner Chris Wozniak. We secured a front row start position, tightened shoes, and got ready to run. With elvis beside us, the start through downtown was reasonably fast, we were running 6:00 splits for the first bit. Lead car in sight, Chris advised we stick back, but I kept pushing farther up, holding a spot near 20th. Though freaky, running through the express lane tunnels was nice given how many times I've been stuck in traffic at the exact same spot. Going onto the windy I-90 bridge, Chris and I worked with a few other runners to create a paceline, and soon we had a solid running pace of 6:15. Once across the bridge (mile 9) we had been passed by one person and passed two, but the pace was not slowing. Spectators had not yet filled the streets, but I still managed to dump gatorade all over myself along Lake Washington Boulevard. Seeing the 10 mile sign, I started to speed up slightly as I felt I more speed, and Chris sprinted up and then said goodbye for the race. I ran alone through the Seward Park loop, and hit a 1:23 half marathon split in about 18th place. Kept up a solid pace back along the boulevard, seeing the first of the big groups of people 5-6 wide, and took the first of two gels I was planning on eating. At mile 16, I decided to slow a bit, as did the two runners within sight distance to the front. All was well until the Madison climb.
My legs could were burning, and all acceleration seemed to float away as I tried to run uphill. I began to be passed by a person every few minutes, and tried to take the downhills at full speed. As the interlaken climb approached, my stomach began to burn and running became stumbling. I tried power walking but that din't help much either. So I went back to semi-running. And kept up semi-running until the end. I'm guessing I was lucky to be doing 9 minute miles, given the number of times I was stopped by aid station workers.
In the gray overcast typical seattle weather, I was quite glad to see the clocks. I decided not to run with a watch so was counting on the clocks at each mile and my math skills to calculate how I was doing. A 3:09.04 wasn't bad given my final few miles, but I'm sure I can do better. Maybe I'll focus on the half for the next few races.
Final stats:
half split: 1:23:25
full marathon: 3:09:04
4th in 19& under age division, 74th overall, 1st 1993 YOB

New blog

A more accessible, easier for me to update blog. You can follow race recaps, climbing and biking adventures, academic pursuits, and more here. More forthcoming. My philosophy on blogging is probably a bit different than most. I don't feel a need to blog everything I do, rather just some of the more exciting things. If something isn't here, it doesn't mean I haven't done it, but rather I chose another medium to tell the story.