“Big Bite of the Bluff!”

Saturday September 13th, 7am

We’ll be starting at the Renes Way Lot for the lollipop section.

It should take around 3 hours. That’s a big lollipop but we can do it!!

 

 

Driving directions to Aid Station 4:

From the rte 80/79 roundabout (rotary), proceed 3.9 miles north on Rte. 79.
Left on Dorset Lane, proceed .7 miles.
Right on Devonshire Lane, proceed .4 miles.
Right on Renee’s Way, proceed to the end.

Forrest’s mammoth task

If you’ve thought the cyber airways of the BS have been quieter than normal over the past week, you might be right because Forrest has been out of town and he seems to be the most frequent poster. After running the Curly’s Half Marathon he dashed down to New York and flew out to Las Vegas. We’d like to say why he went there but as we all know, what goes on there has to stay there! One rumor that has slipped out however is that this weekend he will be embarking on completing the Little Grand Canyon Marathon that takes place in Huntington, UT. Apparently the race will be following a well used trail as the course description says there; “…. are actual dinosaur footprints on the side of the road …”!

Good luck Forrest, we look forward to reading about it on your return.

Curly’s Marathon

The “morning” started really at 2:15 AM Sunday when I awoke.  The alarms were set for 3:00 AM.  So I rolled over, moved Daisy out of the way and happily closed my eyes savoring 45 minutes more of sleep.  I knew it was going to be a long day.  The alarms went off at 3:00 and I started the long day.  I had gotten all of my racing stuff together the night before, so I had time to eat breakfast and grab a cup of tea before making the first rendezvous in Branford to pick up fellow Bimblers. Read more

Guthrie at Wasatch, the movies

Sights and sounds by Guthrie as she crewed at the Wasatch 100.

Madison Tri Age Group Winner

Congratulations to Scoobie (1:24:14) and Jonathan Carlson (1:10:47) on their finishes at the Madison Tri. Jonathan was only just outside of the top three in his age group, while Scobbie won hers!

Race results

 

Wasatch 100

Not one of these Slam events has seemed to go to plan and last Thursday our trip to Wasatch looked like it was headed the same way. Our flight was delayed and we didn’t arrive in Salt Lake City until 2 am on Friday morning! But that was the sum total of the mishaps (so far!) and the race went off promptly at 5am on Saturday.

The previous day Ultra showed us the start location  and an indication of the dusty trails that made up the majority of the course. When the race started, the sun still hadn’t yet poked over the horizon, so it was a quiet dark, dusty run over undulating trails before we began to ascend bigger hills. These were not your standard gentle undulations! Pretty soon, the eye balls bulged and the lungs sucked in as much air as possible. By the time we crested the higher ridges, the views out of the Salt Lake were spectacular and the quality of the vistas continued for the remainder of the day in perfect weather conditions. I would have added pictures but Guthrie soaked my camera with sports drink so we’ll have to see if it can be salvaged on our return home!

The Wastach course is by far the hardest course I’ve ever taken on, the hills were relentless. I had quietly set my race goal as a sub 30 hour finish but hadn’t voiced it after my experience in Colorado, in fact I was a little nervous about a similar outcome. Around mile 40 my stomach started to play up on every climb until I was trying to avoid eating between aid stations. At each stop I would spend a little longer than I had planned in an attempt to eat and drink as much as I could tolerate. However, on some of the longer legs, the intake wasn’t enough so, with a few miles still to go before the next stop I was forced to try and eat my regular snacks. On three occasions I deposited the content of my stomach by the side of the trail.

Guthrie was only able to get access to 5 aid stations and we decided not to use drop bags at the others. Everything worked out fine and as always her enthusiasm was always a welcomed sight. Despite being out for so many hours the race seemed to pass quickly and while 30 hours might appear to be a long time, it was long before the sun was rising on Sunday morning and the views across the salt lake reappeared. All through the night we had been treated to winderful start filled skies (you’ll notice that unusually for me I did try to pay attention to my surroundings!).

As I approached the final stages, I didn’t think that I would be able to finish under 30 hours, but a race volunteer suggested that the penultimate stage was only 5 miles and I wondered that I might afterall be in with a chance and upped my pace. This section had some particularly steep downhills covered in small loose stones that offered no grip whats so ever. Several times I came close to flying head long. I then discovered that either I was having difficulty juging distance of the stage was nearer 8 not 5 miles - it dragged and I was close to developing an upset stomach again; I eased back. When I started the final leg, I again played it safe as we began to climb. The trail twisted and turned and there was no way of knowing when it would turn towards the finish. When at last we popped out of the trail onto a road, I started to run believing that a sub-30 wasn’t possible but wishing to at least appear to finish strong. I crossed the line believing that my time was 30:07 but as the awards were presented realized that it was in fact 29:07!

Ultra didn’t have such a good time, he had retuned to Utah to revenge not finishing last year but Wasatch as I’ve already said is a tough course and there might be something to be said for not knowing what is coming next. When things weren’t going well, Ultra decided that maybe it wasn’t going to be his day. That might sound disappointing but I now from experience that making such a decision isn’t always an easy one to make and he will at least be fit and well to run another day.

Pictures from New Haven

The majority of pictures from the New Haven Road Race came compliments of Steve Mele. Additional ones have also been added and in case you do not recognize who these three young ladies are, need I say more except that the Mayor was the man behind the shutter!

Jurassic Runners

For 31 years every Labor Day our friends the Baron and Master Po have joined the start field of the New Haven Road Race and then proceeded to finish the 20 kilometer course. In case you can’t work it out that equates to 620 kilometers or a little over 385 miles, and they’re still going strong! The commemorate this year’s feat they were presented with ‘jurassic’ bones, compliments of Iggy, and then made to wear them around their necks for a photo shoot. Read more

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