Running and Travels

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

2009-07-09T20:30:00.004-05:00

Last month I visited Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii. The first day’s visit I was with friends and we stopped at several of the overlooks to see the Kilauea Caldera, overlooks of the Kilauea Iki crater, and a walk through the Thurston Lava tube. At the time, areas of active lava flow were not near access points that would allow visitors up close views.

More pictures from the volcano's park are HERE.

Normally there is a road open that completely circles the Kilauea caldera, but half of it was closed due to the toxic fumes that are coming out of the volcano. The caldera itself was huge, and difficult to convey the size in the photographs. For example, the hole seen in these pictures spiting up steam is called the Halema`uma`u crater which only occupies a small part of the caldera. In recent years this crater had become more active, and red glow coming out of the crater can apparently be seen at night. Unfortunately I did not make it to see that part at night.

I came back on my own a couple of days later and drove down the Chain of Craters Road. The road travels through a vast lava rock field and is dotted with many inactive craters. The dates on the signs indicated many of these craters were actively spewing lava within the last 15 to 30 years. The areas within the park affected by lava flows appear to change rather dynamically year to year.

There were signs all over warning us to keep windows rolled up in smog-like conditions which might have high suffer content from the volcanoes and in some places the signs warned not to stop for long. There were rain shows rolling through the area and so it was sometimes hard to tell the Volcano smoke from the rain mist. There was one point where we could see an old road, next to the current road, had been covered by prior lava flow. In the distance we could see the steam rising where lava from the Pu`u `O`o crater flow entered the ocean.

Towards the end of the road there was a ¾ mile trail to a field of ancient Petroglyphs carved in the lava rock. These were well preserved. I had to wait for some rain showers to blow through before I could get some decent pictures.

That evening, I went to an observation point set up by the county outside the park to see the lava flowing into the sea at dusk. Although only a few miles from the Petroglyphs as the crow flies, it was a 30 mile round trip to get around the lava flows. I drove to a road until reaching the point where a lava flow had covered the road some 18 years before. Then everyone parked along the roadside and we hiked a half mile over a well marked trail to an observation point by the sea. It was a little more than a half-mile from the point where lava from the Pu`u `O`o crater vent flows into the sea. Upon arriving, I realized I was missing the screw to attach the tripod mount to my camera, so I would have to use the mono-pod instead.

There was a constant stream of steam rising from the water’s edge. Occasionally we could see chunks of black rock being thrown up along with the steam. As the sun went down, we could begin to see the red glow from the lava reflecting off the rising steam. As it got darker, the chunks of rock that previously appeared black we could see were really glowing red. There was also lava flows visible on a hilltop in the distance. Apparently the lava on the distant hill fell into underground lava tubes which resurfaced a few miles later where the lava entered the water. Even with the mono-pod, I could not keep the camera still enough for the long exposures this scene would require, so I decided to come back the following night if I could find the pieces to use the tripod.

The next day, I went back to the Kilauea Iki crater and hiked the trail that went across the crater floor. There were steam vents all over that were venting steam. The rock was only a little warm to the touch. A light rain shower came through, and when the rain hit the warm spots, it created more steam making some of the smaller vents more visible for a few minutes.

After the hike, I went into Hilo for lunch and to do some much needed Laundry after a week and a half on the Big Island, and then I returned to the nighttime observation point. I found a screw that fit the tri-pod and so was able to take longer exposures that captured the red glow better with a lower ISO setting for sharper picture. However, there was not as much of the lava chunks being splattered around this second night.

This next set of pictures shows how the scene and lighting changed as the sun went down:

I left the observation point for the two hour drive to Kona. I had an early flight to Maui the next morning. I opted not to stop to try and get night pictures of the Kilauea volcano as I am sure that would have taken an hour, and I was getting pretty late and could feel the windy drive would already be difficult when I was tired. I regret missing that, but I really needed some sleep at the time.

More Pictures from Volcano National Park HERE.

Death Valley

2009-06-19T23:37:00.004-05:00

I was expecting Death Valley National Park to be all flat desert and sand dunes, and so I was surprised to find much more variety of terrain throughout the park. There were salt flats below sea level next to 11,000 ft mountains, sand dunes, and hilly regions with interesting desert colors in the rock formations.

Online photos posted: HERE

The first day as I entered the park I stopped mid-day at Zabriskie Point where a short trail to an overlook gave a view of magnificent desert hills with the salt-flats behind. Then I drove into the visitor center, passing below sea level. Interesting how there are 11,000ft mountains rising from the valley floor. Campsites were filling up, so I had to take the first available which was in the middle of a big RV parking lot.

I drove out and took a look at the Badwater salt-flats up close. At 282 ft below sea level, it is the lowest point in the US. Then I drove through the Artists loop which allowed some upclose views of the desert hills and the colors in the rocks. Finally I ended the day by driving up to the Dante’s View Point, (5700 feet) overlooking Badwater Basin (between 3 and 5 miles away, and almost 6000ft below) for sunset pictures.

Red line indicates Sea-level as seen from Badwater.

In the morning I got up before sunrise and went back to Zabriskie point for pictures. There were quite a few photographers gathered and so I staked my place for the sunrise pictures. As the sun rose, gradually illuminating the hills with the reddish early morning light, it was hard to tell if the lighting had peaked, or would get better, so I took a few too many pictures here.

Afterwards, I went for a run from Zabriskie point around the Gower Gulch loop trails, which followed mostly dry river beds weaving through the hills I had just photographed. The trail went 3 miles across to the edge of the basin on the other side, and then came back a different route. Some of the hillsides had holes from old abandoned mines. Much of the trail wasn’t marked and followed dry creek beds, leaving me wondering at times if I was on the right path. I saw occasional footsteps in the dirt indicating others had come through so I figured I must be on track. By the time I was done around 10:30, it was starting to get sunny and hot.

For the second night, I moved my tent up to Stovepipe Wells campground 20 miles away. On the way there, I stopped at the Salt Creek Interpretive trail, which had some boardwalks to allow a short hike observing a shallow creek where tiny pupfish had evolved into a unique species. After reading and informational post on pupfish mating practices, I looked down and realized there were pupfish mating all over the place. Males would stake out prime spawning territory and drive off other males while trying to swim next to any female that came near to shake their stuff as the female laid eggs. Successful males were mating with two or three females within a few minutes. After spending a few minutes photographing this orgy, I walked through the rest of the loop trail. The vegetation in this area soaks up a lot of salt, and then old growth slowly dies turning a crisp white salty color. When I came back to the spawning grounds, all the activity seems to have stopped. It was as if I would have missed the mating season if I was 20 minutes later. Or maybe the little fishes got a room somewhere else.

When I got to Stovepipe Wells, I got one of the last tent-only sites on the edge of the campground that was a bit more secluded than the night before. I drove north up to Scotty’s castle, but missed the tour so I started back so I could be in position near the sand dunes for late afternoon pictures when the sun was low enough for interesting shadows. On the way, I stopped to get a picture of a coyote near the road. The coyote walked into the middle of the road and laid down. It did not get up when I wandered a little too close for pictures. It picked a spot in the road, just over a hill, where it was a bit dangerous because drivers would not see it until they were right up on it. It ignored every car that drove past, and everyone was stopping for a couple of pictures. At first I thought maybe it was wounded or sick, but it eventually got up and wandered off the road. I suspect someone might have fed this animal before, and now it was posing for pictures in the hopes of getting some food.

I went to the dunes near my campsite and walked out a ways. Clouds were obscuring the afternoon sun, so the light was not good for pictures. I scouted out some paces to be for the next morning’s sunrise before heading back for a shower and early sleep. Back at the campsite, someone had taken my receipt off the camp post and replaced it with their own, despite my tent being up. The tent site boundaries were not well defined, and there was plenty of room and the other couple had pitched their tent more than 40 feet from me so after chatting with them a bit, I didn’t make an issue of it.

In the morning, I got up before sunrise and hiked into the dunes in the dark to be ready for the sunrise. There were a couple of other photographers on other hills, and we all did a fairly good job of hiding behind dunes to staying out of each other’s pictures.

After breakfast, I decided to get my trail run in at higher altitude as part of my training for Jemez, so I drove from sea level up to the Willow Peak trailhead at 7000ft. This would place me on the opposite side of Death Valley from my sunset vantage point of a couple of days before. I couldn’t hike to the highest point in the park, Telescope Peak at 11,000ft, due to snow, so I picked the next highest peak in the area. At the trail head, there were a bunch of large stone kilns build 100+ years before as a charcoal factory. The Sierra Nevada Mountains were visible in the distance. I ran up 4 miles to the peak near 9700ft. On the way up, I kept hearing what I thought was a nearby airplane flying near, but instead it was the sound of the wind blowing through the mountain passes. The wind had blown up a lot of sand from the valley below and obscured much of the views. The last mile has several patches of snow where I had to rely on previous hikers footsteps to figure out the path. I finally got to the top, but the wind was strong so I turned around quickly and descended to a saddle between mountains to take a quick lunch before running the rest of the way down. By the time I got down, the dust had obscured the Sierra Nevada’s in the distance.

The altitude effect of spending the night sea level and heading up to 10,000ft really started to hit as I drove away from the trail head. I did not realize it at the time, but this was a bit of training for my next trip to Hawaii. On the climb to the mountain top I had noticed a mild altitude headache, which is a little normal for me. Then on the drive down the mountain the pressure as my ears popped leaved me a little light headed. I stopped at one point to rest a few minutes and let the effects subside and drink some water. To leave the park, I had to drive down below sea level, and then back up over another 8000ft pass. By the time I got to Las Vegas, I was feeling rather fatigued from the headache that had come from these altitude changes. Stopping for food helped. And then I found a $23 hotel special at the Sands Casino on Vegas strip and crashed there early to sleep off the altitude sickness before moving on to Bryce Canyon the next day.

More photos posted: HERE

Travel Observations

2009-06-17T21:37:00.009-05:00

I spent a 24 hour period on airplanes and in airports earlier this week returning home from Hawaii. Here are some miscellaneous observations.

I traveled next to a family whose mother was working as the flight attendant on the return flight from their vacation. When she gave them extra service, such as being first to get offered beverage service, it was offered to me also out of politeness.
When I asked in the airport of a connecting flight if there were any earlier flights that I could get standby on to reduce the 6 hour layover, I was told, “There are no earlier flights to [my next destination], and the two that we do have are completely overbooked.”
I witnessed airport personnel answer a bunch of dumb questions from rude travelers with very professional and courteous responses. Seriously, despite signs everywhere pointing the direction to baggage claim or to the terminal shuttles, I saw several passengers frantically yelling at airport employees for directions. The worst was a woman who got upset at a janitor for not being able to help her with a ticket issue, after he politely pointed her towards the airline agents at the gate who could help.
A sign of changing times: At every airport, people are jockeying for position at the power outlets spaced at odd locations around the gates and along hallways to recharge phones and laptop computer batteries. This use I am sure was not predicted when those outlets were originally installed. A few airports have set up special power outlet stations for people to recharge. Most were free but in one airport it appeared to require payment.
In two and a half weeks on Hawaiian Islands, I only saw one out-of-state license plate on a beat up older car from California.
It is nice when airports offer free WI-FI on long lay-overs, and its annoying when they charge for a day pass (which is not worth it to me). In my travels so far this year, in 8 airports where I checked for WI-FI, 3 had free wifi, 4 had WI-FI for $8-$11 for a day pass (some of these might have been free for those with certain cell phone data plans), and one had no WI-FI.
There were 50 people in line for the Starbucks in the morning at the Seattle airport, but no-one was in line for coffee at the Mexican food stall nearby, and the coffee was just as good. (Edit: Afterwords, I realize it could be that the food stall did not have any of the fancy coffee drinks)
The computer screens at the Seattle airport were down for several hours. At 10am, they weren’t showing any departures after 7:30am. Ticket agents referred me to gate N7, which required a train ride to another building. After sitting there for 45 minutes, I noticed the information terminals were back up, showing my flight at gate C?. After confirming with the ticket agent, I took the train back to the terminal I was at earlier. Another 20 minutes, with the screen still showing C?, the agent for the previous late departing flight made an announcement, as an offhand comment, that my flight was moved to gate N6. So, after one more train ride to cap off a 6 hour layover, I got to my gate in the middle of boarding.
When switching airlines for a connection on the last of 3 legs, the automated boarding card printing machine said I needed to see a representative in person for the boarding pass. The representative explained there was a glitch in the system, and I had to answer NO to the question if I had checked bags (even though I had checked two bags ) in order to get to the screen that would print my boarding pass. My luggage still arrived OK.
Twice this year, on flights in one direction of a round trip ticket, the airline didn’t charge for checked bags even though it was their policy. I did not point out the oversight. Once this occurred on the flight out and another time on the return flight, each was a different airline. In one case, the agent checking bags told me there would be a charge, but I realized later after I got through security that she never asked for payment and it hasn't shown up on the credit card I used for identification in the ticket machine. I don’t know if I just got lucky, or I mis-understood under what conditions the charges would occur.
Priceline saved me between 25% and 35% compared to the lowest online price I could find for some car rentals and hotels. I was using it to reserve between 1 and 8 days before the rental. Also, while checking prices for a booking of a particular hotel, I watched its price on hotels.com drop by 1/3 in increments over a 24-hour period before I booked it less than 2 weeks before the stay.
The Austin airport consistently takes longer than any other airport to get luggage transferred to baggage claim

Jemez 50k Trail Run

2009-05-21T21:21:00.005-05:00

Several of us met Thursday to fly via Dallas to Albuquerque for the Jemez 50 mile or 50k Trail runs. I was in the 50k. It turned out to be the worst day to fly. When we arrived, the pilot hanging out in front of the airport gate warned us that backups caused by weather in Dallas would probably delay our takeoff four or five hours. We got it lucky. Once we took off almost 5 hours late, there were no additional delays. Throughout the day we heard stories of planes that, after circling Dallas for a long time landed in San Antonio to refuel before returning to Dallas. Others didn’t arrive in Albuquerque until late night or the next day. We lucked out by staying on the same plane through Dallas. The flight from Dallas to Albuquerque left with 80 people on standby after other flights to Albuquerque were cancelled. One lucky standby rider explained the earliest he could get a confirmed re-schedule was departing Dallas 8pm the next day. Good thing we came an extra day early in case we got stuck in that situation. We finally arrived in Albuquerque around 7pm and got dinner at a Mexican Restaurant that had been recommended before driving to Los Alamos for the night.

The combination of long delays, altitude and the Mexican food left me with a bit of altitude sickness Thursday night, similar to what I experienced in Peru a year before. But after I slept it off it went away and I took it easier the next day. Some of us took a tour of the Native American Ruins at Bandelier National Monument before going to packet pickup and the pasta dinner.

Photos:
- Jemez trail run
- Bandelier National Monument

Run Start to Mitchell Trailhead 4.2mi : 721 ft gain / 555 ft lost

Race morning, we gathered at the Los Alamos County Sheriff’s Posse shack for the start. I don’t think it is affiliated with law enforcement, but rather it is a recreational pavilion that can be rented out. The 50 Mile, 50k, and ½ marathon starts were each staggered by an hour. The 50k start began moments after sunrise. The first ¾ mile was on road and that allowed the crowd to thin by pace before going through a short tunnel under the road and then hitting the single track trail. The next 3 or 4 miles to Mitchell Trail Head went through some mild rollers in a section of forest that was damaged by the wildfires a few years back. Here the early morning light illuminated the area perfectly and I felt compelled to get a picture even though there was nothing in particular to photograph.

Mitchel Trailhead 4.2mi to Guaje Ridge 6.4mi : 1540 gain / 170 lost

After the first aid station, we began the first significant climb of 1500 ft towards Guaje Ridge. The whole mountainside had been burned by fire a few years ago, leaving lots of dead but still standing tree trunks and exposing views of the surrounding area. I took a few pictures upon reaching what turned out to be a false summit and then continued on to the top where there was another aid station. This was also the turn-around point for the ½ marathon race.

Guaje Ridge 6.4mi to Caballo Base 9.4mi : 835 gain / 1050 lost

It was a steep descent from Guaje Ridge along a narrow uneven trail. My extra weight compelled me to go a little faster when it was not too steep, otherwise holding back to be more cautions was hard on my knees. I could run most of the lengths of the switchbacks, but the turns usually sharp and involved a steep drop down a few feet to the next switchback and I had to take those one step at a time to avoid slipping. I passed Julia and Melissa in this section. Normally, they are much faster and I would never see them, but today they were taking this section slow and careful. Once at the base the trail flattened out and went a bit uphill.

There was a concrete Dam where we had to climb up a 12ft ladder. I found it good that I was holding only one handheld at that moment (the other was in my pack) so I could grab the ladder easier. Then the trail cris-crossed over a small stream several times. By the time I reached the Caballo base aid station it felt like I had gone a much shorter distance than 9.4 miles. At Caballo base, I was sorry to see another Austinite who I had met on the plane stopped due to altitude sickness.

Caballo Base 9.4mi to Caballo Top 11.4mi : 1771 gain / 45 lost

Out of the aid station, there was a short climb and decent before the big climb. This was an out and back section so runners were already coming down. After a brief climb, the trail went down into a small gulley with a dry creekbed at the bottom before the big climb. Here, a runner coming down the mountain tripped on the trail 4ft above the gulley base where I was. I stepped aside just in time for her to land on her back and execute a fairly good roll and recovery. She stood up a little shocked but appeared to continue OK. What I didn’t know at the time was that in a few minutes there would be a bear sighting from this same area. Aid station volunteers would eventually be dispatched to “shoo” the bear away. I wasn’t aware of it until after the race when I saw some friend’s pictures.

After that I saw most of my training group coming down the mountain including those who would get pictures of the bear a few minutes after they passed me. It was a narrow trail and I kept having to stop to allow runners coming down to pass. I snapped off a few pictures of people coming down that I knew, but the camera did not always work out in the shade. I never got into a good pace. Melissa caught up and passed about half way up. Julia caught up a few minutes later and I kept her in sight until the top. A
hundred yards before the top, we left the forest for an open field with views of the surrounding area. The top, at 10,500ft, was the highest point on the course. There was a quick turnaround where someone had a camera set up for a photo, and then back down mountain the way we had come.

Caballo Top 11.4mi to Caballo Base 13.4mi : 45 gain / 1771 lost

It is funny how the trail looks steeper on the way down compared to the way up. It was too steep in a lot of places for me to really run and my knees started to bother me on the steeper sections. I never saw Julia so I figured she was well ahead. It turns out she must have stepped off the trail since she came up behind me as I approached the gulley at the base. I passed only a few people on the way down, so I knew I was near the back of the pack. Somewhere in this section, my watch battery died so for the next 10 miles I had little concept of my time.

Caballo Base 13.4mi to Pipeline 16.3mi : 1169 gain / 222 lost

Julia hadn’t made it to the aid station by the time I left, even though she was within sight a moment earlier. I knew she was worried the night before about bears and actually jokingly in my mind commented she must have been snatched by a bear when she didn’t appear at the aid station. It is a little funny since I was completely unaware that a bear had actually been spotted in the vicinity a short time before.

At first this section was not too bad and I was able to run a little. But then we hit the third big climb of the day that took us 100ft up. It was another steep climb that I could not run. I know I lost some time here. My calfs were burning. Julia caught up in the middle of this climb. Last time I was climbing mountains alongside Julia was almost one year ago exactly in Peru and so I had a moment of reminicing. She at first declined to pass me claiming to be no faster than me at this point. But once we hit a false summit and the trail widened she passed and quickly moved ahead out of sight. At the top of the climb the trail flattened out for a bit but my legs were fatigued from the climbs and descents, so I could barely muster a shuffle for the last mile or so into the aid station. This section felt a lot longer than 2.8 miles.

Pipeline 16.3mi to Ski Lodge 19.2mi : 629 gain, 293 loss

Our Coach Robert was volunteering at the aid station and was about to leave to return to the finish as I entered. Several of my training group were had already been to Ski lodge and back and were heading out for the final 10 miles as I arrived. I took a quick detour to look out over the cliff edge where 50 milers had to descend into the Vales Caldera National Preserve. But the 50k route instead was an out-and-back to the ski-lodge aid station over rolling hills and through an alpine meadow.

Again, I passed a few runners coming in the opposite direction and noticed some people must have dropped. When Melissa passed me coming back she said I had 1.25 miles to the end, so this meant she had gained 2.5 miles on me in a short time. Although I figured she sped up quite a bit once hitting runnable trail after the big climbs, still I knew that I had slowed much more than I realized without the benefit of a watch.

Ski Lodge 19.2 to Pipeline 22.0mi : 293 gain, 629 loss

The aid station here had a bunch of good food and my drop bag. The 50 mile course meets up with us and follows the same course back to the finish. I had been carrying my pack with food, a wind jacket in case there was bad weather and with an extra water bottle that I had not used. So I left this pack in the drop bag and continued with only 2 hand held bottles and the gels I could carry in my pockets. I also got my spare watch here. A short distance from the aid station, I passed Robert who was hiking out from his aid station and then I walked a bit with a north Texas Trail runner. I never could muster a consistent run during this section. Maybe that is the price for taking the first decent hard and using up my quads. Photo at right from Jim Stein.

Pipeline 22mi to Guaje Ridge 25.7mi : 316 gain, 1048 loss.

Even though this section was mostly downhill, there were a couple of steep climbs which I lost some time on. The first one came right after Pipeline where we followed a jeep track for a bit. My legs were shot, so I couldn’t bring myself to run hard on the downhills. But I kept moving to get it done. In this section we moved back into the region burned by the forest fires.

Guaje Ridge 25.7mi to Rendija Canyon 31.0mi: 36 gain, 1792 loss

Although this is the same aid station we stopped at earlier, we follow a different course around the backside of a mountain towards the finish. Lots of 50 mile runners are passing me now. This area is rather exposed due to the fires, and cold wind starts to come in, but not too cold. We get a few rain drops but it never starts to rain. I can barely keep a shuffle going even though it is all downhill. I have to climb over a few fallen trees. Eventually I get down to an altitude even with the town of Los Alamos which can be seen on the next mesa over. I haven’t seen a trail marker or another runner in awhile so I ask a hiker who confirms I am still on the race course. The trail dips down into the valley between mesa’s, and I know what comes down must eventually go up to get to the finish. The final aid station at the bottom has a Christmas theme going, and the volunteers commented on how all these Austin runners kept coming out of the woodwork.

Rendija Canyon 31.0mi to Finish 32.9mi : 426ft gain, 206 ft loss.

There is one nice climb out of the valley from the aid station. The uphills were feeling better for me than the downhills at this point and so I could accelerate a little until the course flattened out. The course crossed through the same tunnel as earlier, but then followed a different trail toward the finish. There was a relatively flat section here for about a mile. This whole section seems the longest 2 miles I’ve ver done. JT, who was running the 50 mile race, passed me in the last half mile, but I did not recognize him until he was further ahead. Then it was one last short steep rocky climb up through a wash and then a few hundred feet along the road to the finish which for me was 12 hours and 40 minutes.

Finished!

There was barbeque at the finish, but it was not appealing at the moment so I did not partake of the finish line food. I went back to the hotel for a quick shower, and ate a couple of bananas and a cliff bar. Then we went back to the finish and a bunch of us hung out waiting for the rest of the training group to finish the 50 mile race. I heard stories from the other runners of the things that I missed such as sightings of fresh mountain lion footprints in the early miles of the trail, the bear sighting, and fresh deer kill.

This was a tougher course than I anticipated. Overall the weather was perfect. Cool, but not cold and it remained cool when the sun was out. Even though I was slower than anticipated, my main goal was to make it through the training and race without injury after recurring ankle sprains last year, and that goal was accomplished. I don’t know if I will come back, since there are many more races to try, but I would recommend it for people who want a challenge.

More Photos:
- Jemez trail run
- Bandelier National Monument

Davis Mountains

2009-05-07T15:24:00.003-05:00

After my stopover at the Guadalupe Mountains last month, I originally was going to check out Big Bend Ranch state park. In this trip I was taking a week and a half to visit some state and national parks for Photography and also to get in some trail runs as part of my Jemez race training. After a long scenic drive I saw the signs said the highway was closed just east of the border town of Presidio. I stopped in the town to see if I could enquire if the park could be accessed before the road closure, but for all the signs indicating that the tourist information office was ahead, none of them identified the office. I stopped for gas and intended to ask the attendant if he knew where I could find info on the park access, but then while I was filling up watched some guy stumble out of the hotel next door and then collapse in the middle of the road. Wasn’t sure what was the cause, but he was soon surrounded by Police. I decided it best just to get out of there and go to my next stop for an extra day in the Davis Mountains.

After a stop for wine tasting at the Luz de Estrella Winery, I found a “camp room” in Ft. Davis that worked well. One wall was screened and open to the elements, with decent beds, sink with running water, and shared bathrooms. The room was a little more than a campsite but way less than nearby hotels so I took it. Then I went to the Davis Mountains state Park for a late afternoon run. At the entrance the ranger reviewed the trails around the park. When he was done I asked about the trails on the other side of the road that he didn’t mention. He explained those trails required a special permit and they don’t recommend them because they were so rough and rugged. How to I explain I have run at places such as Bandera and such trails are what I am there for. I decided immediately those would be the trails for the next day’s adventure and tonight I would run some of the more established trails and then get the camera setup for sunset pictures somewhere. Since I missed the hilly workout that my training group prescribed from the day before, I picked the hilliest looking trail and took off. After climbing some 400 or 500ft in ½ mile, I got to the top of a ridge and found myself running through a forest of desert plans that were taller than me. The late afternoon sun was perfect for pictures, though I only had the small camera for the run. Some of the trails were a bit overgrown and fading. I turned back on one that seemed to disappear but there were plenty of places to run for the time I had allotted to this workout.

Forest of desert plants

After the run I went over to an observation point to take pictures around sunset. I drove back and forth between a couple of observation points as the sun went down. This park is on the edge of two different types of terrain. To the west are the Davis Mountains, and to the east and below are the town of Ft Davis and flat desert terrain with a few more mountains in the background. Some of the cacti were flowering. In the distance, there was a huge indoor farming complex, the size of which became more apparent from this viewpoint compared to when I drove past it earlier. After the sun went down, I stopped off at the local BBQ place which was the only restaurant that still looked open. Despite being the only one there and arriving a couple of minutes before they closed, the staff was extremely hospitable. I ordered the food they recommended since I figured they were recommending it because it was the easiest for them to fix (so their cook could go home), I paid in advance (so the cashier could go home) and enjoyed a good BBQ mix of shredded chicken, pork and beef while the waitress mopped the floors.

The next morning I did a quick tour of the Ft. Davis historical site, and then went to get a permit for the “rough” trails in the state park for my next run. This time there was a different ranger who was much more enthusiastic about visiting that part of the park. Along with the permit I got the gate code for entry and went over there to start my run. There was one other car in this restricted access parking lot with a horse trailer, but I never encountered anyone on the trail. The trail was nice and secluded, but it did not live up to the reputation that the first ranger had indicated. While it wasn’t necessarily a “smooth” trail, the sotol was trimmed where it was growing across the trail, making this seem manicured compared to some of the places I have been running. After the initial climb to get up on the ridge, I got to a section where there was an earlier fire. The trail turned into the fireroad that separated the burned section from the un-burned. The trail eventually ended at an overlook point with views of the desert to the east. Overall it was a 7 or 8 mile round trip with a good climb in the middle.

The sotol was trimmed!

The trail separated burned from non-burned ground.

Overlook at the end of the trail
At night I went to the MacDonald observatory after sunset. My visit happened to coincide with the “Star Party”, which is a festival where they set up a bunch of telescopes at the observatory for the public viewing. Most of the crowd appeared to be locals, so I don’t think this happens very often. First, everyone gathered at the outdoor amphitheater for a brief talk. The presenter had the most powerful laser pointer I have ever seen. When he would talk about a star, the pointer would shoot a strong beam of light that appeared to go all the way to the star. I have a new appreciation for the concerns of pilots about being blinded by such devices. We also got to see an Iridium Flare predicted for that time. When Iridium was part of Motorola, I had a few occasions to talk to those involved in the development, but this was the first time I really got to see the results.

See more pictures in the online photo album HERE

Guadalupe Peak

2009-04-14T08:23:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago, I took a week and a half vacation touring some state and national parks in the western US began with a stopover in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. To save travel time, I had gotten flights from Austin to Las Vegas with a multi-day stop-over in El Paso, and from there was going to drive to a few parks in west Texas.

I have been to this park several times now, but most recently it has been with trail running groups so I never arranged to be at the summit of Guadalupe Peak with my camera gear for sunrise and sunset pictures. For this trip, I arrived around noon and got the last backcountry camp site on the trail to Guadalupe Peak. I packed up my tent, sleeping bag, and tripod, ate a tuna fish sandwich for lunch, and then began the hike up the mountain.

The last time I climbed this peak in 2006, it was during a training run. This time I was going considerably slower with the backpack full of gear. The climb is 4 miles to the summit, but the campsite was 3 miles into the climb. At 8749 ft, this peak is the highest point in Texas. The trail starts at 5800ft, and the first two miles of the trail are the steepest as there are tons of switchbacks climbing up the mountains. It is deceptive since these switchbacks show up as straight lines on most maps. Since they wrap around the folds of the mountain, you can never see how far they are from any one point. This makes it difficult to see how far you have come or how far you have to go even though the trail head remains visible below. After 30 minutes of climbing, I looked back to see that the parking lot was so close below it looked like I had barely gone anywhere. Damn.

After about an hour of climbing I stopped to take pictures and rest a moment. When I looked back, I saw the parking lot was still so close it looked like I had barely gone anywhere. Damn. I had climbed a little over 1200ft vertical feet and traveled a little over a mile according to the GPS device, but looking back on the parking lot it did not look like I had gone that far.

Just under two miles in, I rounded a corner that put me on another side of the mountain. From there it was not so steep, and there was a little tree cover as the trail followed a mountain wall through an alpine forest. Still it took me awhile to reach the campsite at 8000ft. The ground was rocky enough that I could not get the tent stakes into the ground and the wind was a bit strong. There were some fixtures built into the tent site to tie down the tent, but I did not bring any string. I found one scrap piece of string left behind by another camper and used it to tie down one corner of the tent. Then I put heavy rocks inside at the corners of the tent hoping that would be enough to keep it from blowing away. It worked.

I had originally wanted to do some running hill repeats on the upper part of the trail after dropping my pack at the campsite to make up for missing the run workouts my training group in Austin was to do that day. Today’s workout was supposed to be a quality hill workout. By the time I got the tent setup, it was almost 5:00 and I needed to get to the summit to be there in time for the sunset. The run workouts would have to wait for the next stop on this trip. Even though I was getting a climbing workout on the hike, it wasn’t the same as running it.

I carried my tripod up the final mile to the summit. I got there in time for some of the good late afternoon picture taking light. The summit rises 300ft or more above the surrounding lands, making for a great view. There was enough haze that I could not make the pictures do justice to the view. I was up there for two and a half hours taking pictures as the sun went down and the light changed. I attempted some self portraits with the tripod and a timer while waiting for the sun to go down.

On the way back after dark with a headlamp, I missed the turn-off from the main trail to the campsite. I could see lights from other’s tents on top of the ridge line, suggesting I might have missed it. I consulted my GPS indicated I had another half mile to go. But after a mile more of hiking down the mountain after dark, I knew I was going too far. I finally figured out that earlier in my rush to display the GPS map , I must have pushed a button that canceled the search for satellites after I turned it on so it was still indicating the position where I had previously turned it off to save battery. Once I figured that out, I was able to use the GPS to navigate back to the campsite. These bonus miles felt like a karma-like punishment for missing the run workout.

The next morning I got up early and returned to the summit before sunrise. Low clouds hid the sun, so I did not get the early warm light illuminating the scene. But it did make for some interesting sunrays beaming down through the clouds. On the way back, as I neared the turn-off to the campsite, I was looking for it determined to avoid the mistake of the night before. I ran into a couple who had hiked up early from the trailhead who told me they haven’t passed the camp site. So I backtracked and sure enough the turn-off was 15 yards behind me. I missed it again.

By the time I got packed up and carried everything down the mountain, it was almost 11:00, and time to drive towards my next stop in the Davis Mountains. I stopped once on the drive out to look back up on El Capitan and reflect on how far I had climbed up.

Link to more pictures: (HERE)

Waco TNT 20 Miler

2009-03-09T06:52:00.002-05:00

The Toughest in Texas 50/20/10 mile trail race is maybe the third or fourth (unrelated) race I have heard of that incorporates a phrase similar to "Toughest in Texas" into its name, and of the ones I have done, it is closest to earning that name. Previously it was known as the Waco Five-oh (50k), Two-Oh (20-Mile), etc... I like the original name better. You wouldn't expect hills in Waco, but this course had hills. The 10+ mile loop course is run on mountain bike trails carved into the bluffs next to the Brazos River in Waco's Cameron Park. There were a couple of additional hills added since the last time I ran this two years ago. The race offered a 50k/30+mile (3 loops), 20 Mile (2 loops) and 10 mile options.

Elevation Profile from GPS
(Elevation is not accurate, but you see the hills)

This race with its hills fit well in the training plan for Jemez 50k. I decided at the last minute to drive to Waco the night before so I could keep a normal sleep schedule. Many people from Austin got up extra early to drive that morning. The 50k race was supposed to start at 6:30 am, and other distances were supposed to start in 30-minute increments afterwords. But the city employee who was supposed to open the park gates and restrooms and turn on the water (needed for the aid stations) was late, so the 50K start was delayed 30 minutes. 50k'ers were itching to get started before the sun warmed things up. The 20 mile race I was in started 15 minutes later, and the 10 mile race started 15 minutes after that.

At the start we run across a field to get to the trail. In the confusion from the delay, we did not get the race instructions that the 50k'ers got, which would have told everyone not to go up Jacob's ladder at the start. So most of the runners got confused when the starting trail intersected the end of the course, and followed the chalk marks half-way up Jacob's ladder, which was supposed to be saved for the end of the loop. A runner with experience in the course yelled and corrected everyone before I could follow like a lemming up the ladder. A few people took advantage of everyone’s mistake to jump into the lead for a bit. Then the course followed a flat trail along the river a bit before getting into the hills. I walked the first couple of ups so as not to exert too much too early. But then I started passing people who were pausing over some of the rough terrain. Before two miles were up, I hit the first surprise which was a steep hill up through a bamboo forest. This was barely an established trail, and we almost needed to grab on to the bamboo stalks to pull ourselves up the hill. The first 10-mile racers passed me within the first two miles and I was suppressed how fast they came up. The course was exceptionally well marked considering the number of twists and turns.

Course (click to enlarge)

The first few miles seemed the toughest hills, and then the rest had a bunch of ups and downs runnable. It was much hillier than most of what I have been running in Austin, but the trails were less rocky so it was easier for me to keep running, especially on the downhills where I could just let go and let gravity assist in pulling me down the hill. Quite a few 10 mile runners passed me over the next few miles, but I wasn't racing them. I wanted to leave some energy in the tank for the second loop, so I would step aside and let them pass when someone parked on my heels for a bit without attempting to pass. One woman was hanging behind me close enough for a few lines of conversation, but not coming close enough that I could step aside for her to pass, so I let her push me through the last miles up of the first loop. She caught up and I let her pass just before the end of the loop. At the end she remarked how she had targeted me to pass but it took a few miles for her to catch up, and she did not realize I still had one loop to go since she was done at 10 miles.

At the end of the loop with the finish line tantalizingly in sight we are diverted up Jacob's ladder, which is a concrete set of knee high stairs that take us up a big climb before we run back down the other side of the hill to the start/finish point. The steps were un-even, and some of them high enough that short people had difficulty. The first loop took me 2:37. I felt like I had been running faster than that.

As I ran out I saw a few others from my training group approaching Jacobs ladder, so I knew I wasn't last at my distance. I heard someone running fast and hard behind me and I thought it meant I was about to get lapped by a 50k'er already, but it was someone not in the race, running with combat pants and boots. But shortly after that, several of the lead 50k runners flew by before I got to the 1st mile marker of the second loop. After that, I hardly saw anyone for the whole loop. About 6 people in the 50K distance passed me over the course of the 10 miles, but I did not encounter anyone else in my distance. The energy was diminishing, so it was a little harder to push through the hills at the same speed as the previous loop. I remembered from two years before some of the sections where I had been lapped by Coach Joe and others from my training group who were doing 3 laps. As I passed those spots I realized they hadn't passed me yet and I wanted to get done before they lapped me. At least, I used that thought as a mental motivation trick to keep me moving. In the last few miles, I saw that a 6 hour finish might be achievable, and that was another mental target to push me through. I hit the base of Jacob's ladder with 4 minutes before 6 hours and I thought I would miss that mark. But it was actually easier to climb the stairs this time, and I managed to make it into the finish with a few seconds before the 6 hour mark. Ten minutes later the first 50K finisher from my training group finished. The first think he said to me was he was expecting to catch up to you before the end.

Presidential Inauguration 1993

2008-11-25T18:00:00.002-06:00

This picture is from the celebration in D.C. around President Clinton's inauguration in 1993. I was reminded of this event when I visited the Obama Store in Austin last weekend, and then I ran across this picture while packing up and preparing for the upcoming move.

I was in college at Virginia Tech at the time, but that semester I was doing an co-op rotation at an engineering company in Manassas, Virginia, outside of Washington D.C. I was sharing a house with 6 other co-ops, but I was unable to steer the herd mentality to convince anyone to come to the Inauguration party at the mall in D.C. So, I went on my own and I took my tri-pod for pictures.

The actual inauguration happened separate from the concert. I don't remember of it was the same day or earlier/later in the week. The concert was on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Paying/political supporters got tickets into the stands and up-close areas, but the stretch of land around the reflecting pool was free and open to the public. I think the concert was produced by Quincy Jones and had a bunch of well-known performers come up for a song or two each. The new President and Vice President got up for a quick speech each. There were military aircraft flyovers including a low pass by some Apache helicopters.

After the music was done, most people began to clear out. I took a position at the far end of the reflecting pool, and hardly anyone hanging around at that end of the pool as many people were heading towards the subway entrance. I set up my tripod and snapped off a couple of exposures on 35mm film before the fireworks were done. The picture above was result of adjusting the zoom in the middle of the exposure.

Palo Duro Trail Run

2008-10-26T20:09:00.004-05:00

Last weekend I went to Palo Duro Canyon outside of Amarillo, Texas, for a trail run. The canyon, sometimes called the Grand Canyon of Texas is located at the head waters of one fork of the Red River, is approximately 120 miles long and ranges from 6 to 20 miles in width. I think I have seen the canyon from the air before while flying northwest from Austin, but did not know what or where I was looking down on until this trip.

I arrived mid-day in Amarillo. After meting up with some friends for lunch, we headed over to the Palo Duro Canyon State Park and hung out at the campsite of some other friends. The area around the canyon appears as flat farm and ranch land for as far as the eye can see, until you get up to the edge and the canyon suddenly opens up below.

I climbed up the canyon wall from the campsite with Joe P to get some pictures. Once on top of the hills, it gave a good view looking down on the canyon floor. Joe pointed out the points along the course. We were at the southeastern edge of the developed part of the canyon state park, but the canyon extends a long way beyond where the park roads give easy access. The scenery reminded me of the badlands of South Dakota, except more ribbons of color in the canyon rock formations, and more greenery.

We headed over to the packet pickup and pasta dinner, which was included in the race entry. The food was good. As we ate, the organizers gave a talk with race information. Red Spicer, the long time race director who passed away earlier this year, and this gathering included a memorial remembrance. The training group I ran with paid respect by putting one of Red’s quotes on the back of the training shirt.

I had sprained my ankle twice in the last month, so I was not in the best shape for this run. I had started to come back from the first sprain after 2 weeks, and was running better on the trails than I had in a long time when the second sprain occurred, 2 weeks before the race. At the race start, my foot was not quite healed. It was still sensitive to some movements. If this had been a race in Austin, I mihgt not have started. But when the injury occurred, I had already cashed in the frequent flier miles, and we had a pretty good size group traveling up to the race. So I went anyway, not sure if I would be well enough to run or not. I figured I would at least get out and try a loop or two. But then they mentioned at the info session there was a finisher’s cap awarded if I could get through to the end. That changed everything. It’s not like I don’t have enough race caps in my closet, but the idea of walking away without that didn’t seem right, so I was planning to finish.

Race morning we got up early and drove to the park. We were within the first 15 cars in line to get in when the gates opened. We were able to park quickly and get our drop bags setup and everything. Due to a mix-up in communication, we did not pick up some of our friends from their campsite, and they had to walk a mile to the start. Sorry about that.

The course was mainly a 12.5 mile loop with race distances of 50 Miles (4-loops), 50K (2.5 loops) and 20 K (1 loop). I was signed up for the 50k. We started at 7:00am in the dark. The first 40 minutes was single track and constant stream of people. I ran carefully and deliberately so as not to twist the ankle again, and stepped off the track to let people pass on a few occasions. I could not run as normal, particularly on the hills. I had to e careful not to step on the ankle in ways that hurt on the un-even surface, so I ended up limping through the short ups and downs and proceeding at a slow jog pace. The course did not thin out for almost 2 miles. I managed to limp through the first ½ loop and was back to my drop bag at the start/finish aid station before several people from my group had left for the next loop. I grabbed my small camera in case this next loop would be my only full loop, and continued on.

The first 50 milers, who had done a 12.5 mile loop in the time it took me to do the 6-mile ½ loop, passed me for the first time shortly into this next loop. A mile later I realized I forgot to leave the headlight in my drop bag after the first loop. At this point I was still hopeful I could maintain this slow pace for the whole 50km. But a mile after the aid station I had to stop running. Since there were some motions that my foot couldn’t perform, I was compensating for it by adjusting my running form and putting more weight and pressure on other parts of the foot and I hadn't trained to run in this form. In time, those parts began to hurt, and it became too uncomfortable to run. There is pain that one can run through, and there are pain that feels like something is mechanically wrong. This felt like the later. It was not so painful that I couldn't endure, and I had energy that I felt like I could be running faster and longer, but it just felt like something was going to come apart in the foot. I wanted to finish, but I also wanted to run well and I couldn't really run this one. After a mile of walking and un-successful attempts to re-start the running, I conceded that I would not be doing the last loop.

The day before, Joe had recommended I hike out after the race to lighthouse point. I knew there was no way I would make it out after 50k, but I found my self at a trail intersection where it was maybe a mile or less out-n-back to see the lighthouse formation. I would not be able to get back to this place on this trip. I looked around to make sure no other runners would accidentally follow me, and then left the course to do a quick out-n-back. I figured since this would not save any distance, no-one would think I was cutting the course, and I would not be gone long enough that anyone would notice and start a rescue search. The first tourists I passed saw my race number and I had to explain that I knew I was off the course. So I took the number off to avoid explanation and hiked out to the view point, up a short steep hill and got to see the lighthouse hoodoo formation and also some good views of the canyon. I returned to the course and put my number back on and continued on.

I could only walk the rest of the loop. The foot was too uncomfortable to run on. The 50 mile leaders lapped me a second time on the same loop for me. A couple of the leaders have coached me for triathlons in the past, and we exchanged greetings each time they passed. They were in excellent shape. I took my time and some pictures on the way back to the finish.

I did not go back out for the last loop after managing almost 20 miles, so no finishers cap for me. I hung out at the finish area and watched the others from the training group finish up, or pass through as they went back out on their last lap of the 50 mile course. I’ll save my foot to heal for another time, and hopefully come back next year for a good performance in a race of this distance. The day after the race, the foot was feeling much better than before the race, but it was still sensitive in places. We went back to the hotel for a quick change and shower before dinner in the town of Canyon. After dinner I did not manage to even get out of my clothes before I fell asleep on the bed on top of the covers.

Although I did not finish, I am happy to have gone there and see a beautiful part of the country I might never have visited if not for this race. Now I have some unfinished business with this race, and an excuse to come back sometime. Perhaps for next year’s 25th anniversary of the race.

More pictures: Start of Album, or skip ahead to race pictures.

Longhorn Ironman 70.3

2008-10-12T23:23:00.002-05:00

Last week was the Longhorn (half) Ironman 70.3 in Austin. I signed up for this race earlier in the year, when I thought this would be a focus race. But then an injury earlier in the year changed my schedule. Partly due to FOMO, but mainly cause I felt cheated after missing some trail running earlier in the year, I switched focus to the Palo Duro trail race later this month when a bunch of friends decided to join the training group for that race. So I decided to do this as more of a fun-run endurance replacement for a really long training run. I know that may sound disrespectful to those who seriously trained for this (and those who seriously trained were rewarded with times 2 or 3 hours faster than me). But the focus of my training was to be the Palo Duro race.

Two weeks before the triathlon, I got a slight sprain on my ankle during a trail run on the Greenbelt. It was the same ankle I hurt earlier this year. So I took two weeks off preceding the race to heal. The Palo Duro training schedule had a 25 mile run this weekend, but I figured substituting the Longhorn triathlon would work out well since it would give me some endurance training, while keeping me off the feet part of the time. I was considering even dropping out after the bike so as not to risk hurting my feet to improve my chances for Palo Duro.

I got up at 4:15am, weighed myself, ate, and then drove to the parking lot.
I got there by 5:15 early enough there was not much line for parking or for the shuttle bus to take us to the transition area. I was there a little two early, so I had plenty of time to get everything ready, and then found a bench to sit on and watch the sunrise. The start was delayed by 30 minutes due to parking problems. 5 minutes before the transition closed, the guy racked next to me could not find his goggles. I pulled out my spare pair for him if he needed it, but later saw he must have found his.

Some clouds had come in to block the sun from being in our eyes. The swim went well. I had joined a swim clinic earlier in the summer to re-learn the right way to swim, and it had the affect of slowing me down a little since I haven’t quite got used to it. I was expecting the swim to be a little slower than comparable races, but was happy to see I was about a minute or two faster than last year’s Cancun half. After the race, I heard the swim course had been 300M short because the wind moved some of the buoys, but during the race it made me feel good to believe I was faster than expected.

As I got on the bike, some from my past marathon training groups were by the side cheering. The first two miles went OK, but then my lack of biking practice started to show. I have run this part of the course several times as part of the Decker challenge, so I knew the steep hills were coming, but when I shifted down the gears just before the hill , apparently it did not take. Once I realized I was not in the gear I thought I was, I tried to correct, but dropped the chain early in the first steep hill. I pulled off the road and fixed it and manually put the bike in easy gear, but I still could not physically restart the hill climb from standstill. So I had to walk my bike up that first hill as a lot of cyclists passed me. To make matters worse, the course photographer was at the top to document the embarrassment. I got back on my bike and proceeded. I managed to snap one picture myself (yes, my lightest point-and-shoot camera was in my bento box) and then concentrated on maintaining a reasonable pace.

Aid stations were spread every 12 miles. I made an effort to be sure I emptied a bottle and a half between each aid station. When I passed through, there were plenty of volunteers and it was never a problem to grab a bottle as I rode by. I was keeping pretty good pace until after the half way point. Then there was a series of large down hills where my heavier body weight gives me an advantage and I got up to 25-35mph for a bit, dropping the group around me. But then on the later longer uphills they all caught up and passed me when I fell down below 14mph. The wind was against me during much of the first half, and so I was looking forward to it being at my back on the return trip, but the wind was really hitting diagonal so it seemed to be in my face for ¾ of the loop. I could feel my leg’s getting sore on some of the gradual up-hills of the second half, and so I backed off the pace to save my legs for the run. After all, my mind set was to not let this race interfere with Palo Duro, so I did not push as hard as I could have. I could feel my legs stiffening up, and so I kept the bike in an easier gear for the last few miles. Even with that I was still passing more people than were passing me.

As we came within a few miles of the end of the bike, we were again on part of the Decker Challenge course and I knew there were two big hills coming up. On the first one, I repeated my shifting problem and dropped a chain again while shifting down and had to get off the bike to correct it. With my legs a little like jello, again I couldn’t restart in the middle of the hill and so I walked the bike until the slope was less steep. Then on the last and largest steep hill I made it up OK.

I had decided before the race that if I felt any issues with my foot, I was going to skip the run and not risk injury to save myself for future events. When I had mentioned this plan to some other friends in the event, everyone said you can always walk it. But walking it doesn’t make the cutoffs. My foot was feeling good, so I started the run. I was pretty slow the first loop, mostly walking. Not because of my ankle, but because my legs were sore and my emphasis on trail running rather than triathlon/brick training hit me here. It was hot, but not as hot as most of the Texas summer and so this temperature in the high 80’s or 90’s was cooler than many recent afternoon training runs. Occasional clouds shielded us from the sun. The run course was two loops, with 1/3 on easy trail. The second half each loop was the Got Guts 5k course in reverse. The Austin Duathletes were manning one of the aid stations dressed in costumes and provided some good encouragement. As the end of the first loop I learned I was 30 minutes ahead of the half-way cut-off, but I figured I might be pushing the final cut-off which was 8 hours after the start of the last wave. I was not sure exactly how much time I had, but I knew since I was in an early wave, that would give me 8 hours and a few minutes. So for the second loop, I made more of an effort to keep running, although I could only manage to keep from throwing up a pace that was a little faster than my walking pace. I moseyed through the finish with a time of a little more than 8 hours.

I weighed myself after dinner, and found I had lost 5 pounds during the race, even after some replenishment. I knew most of this water loss would come back quickly, but after a week I am still averaging 2 pounds loss compared to before the race.

I had no ankle problems at all after the triathlon. My feet were feeling so good that I joined my trail running group for a Powerline loop run two days later. I ran that hard and was ahead of a bunch of people I am usually behind. It was one of my best runs in a long time. Then on the flattest part of the course, I rolled my ankle again and got a little swelling. It is a bit frustrating since I have been running better than I have in two years, but cannot stay off the injuries. So I am staying off my feed again. Palo Duro is still in doubt, but the travel is booked so I will be there and hopefully can do at least part of it. If not I will be there to cheer on my training partners. I had planned to go on to do either Sunmart or Bandera 50K’s, but now I am thinking about taking a few months off instead to let the ankle heal and build strength.

Big Bend Weekend

2008-10-02T23:14:00.000-05:00

Last March (2008), I took a trip to Big Bend National Park. Just me and my camera.

Once upon a time, before the age of digital cameras (i.e. the late 1990’s), I used to be a regular amateur photographer. Most of my vacations revolved around photography. I would go out to the western U.S. and spend my time visiting the national parks in search of great pictures. Those vacations were focused on finding the right place to be at sunrise and sunset, and the rest of the day spent hiking, or searching for the right place to be for the sunrise or sunset magical light. I have not done one of those trips in a long time. The photography in my more recent trips was more of quick tourist snapshots constrained by whatever I could fit in while traveling with a tour group. So this weekend in Big Bend was an attempt to get back to that type of trip, and focus on photography as I try to learn how to take better pictures in the digital age. I picked this weekend to take the trip for its full moon, which I hoped would make for some interesting night time pictures.

Photo Album Links:
- Big Bend
- Natural Patterns Album

I took a ½ day off from work, and after meeting some friends at Gurerro’s for lunch, drove to Ft. Stockton for the night. After stocking up on supplies at the Wal-mart, I checked out Pepito’s Cafe. Its parking lot was full of local cars, so I figured it was the place to be and was not disappointed. I got up extra early for the 2+ hour drive to Big Bend. I made the same mistake I make every time I go to Big Bend, and ended up on the wrong road south out of town since the sign is a little confusing. But fortunately it did not take long to figure it out.

My goal was to get a backcountry campsite on the South Rim so I could be there for sunrise and sunset pictures. I know from past visits, those sites I wanted are usually taken first, so I wanted to be the first in line when the office that issued camping permits opened at 8:00am. On a trip 10 years ago, despite getting to the office before it opened, we were still 10th in line and did not get the sites we wanted. This time I arrived a little before 7:00, and no-one was in the parking lot. I dozed a little in the car, and then got out to take some pictures of the setting moon. One other car showed up about 7:45, but they were not looking to get a camping permit, so there was no hurry to line up at the office door in the back of the building. I walked around to the back to get in line, but it was just as the sun rose, and the Chisos mountains were illuminated in warm red light at 7:56. This perfect light only lasted a couple of minutes, and I managed to take a few pictures before it was gone. Then the office opened and I was the first and only person in line.

Unexpectedly, most of the south rim campsites were temporarily closed due to peregrine falcon mating season (I should have checked ahead). But I lucked out and got the SW2 site for my first night in the park, less than a mile from the south rim. It was one of about 3 sites that were close enough to the Rim and not closed. I stopped at the lodge restaurant for a big breakfast buffet, since my next few meals would consist of energy bars and raisons. Then I got my pack together. In addition to minimal camping gear, I took my digital SLR, traditional SLR, backup pocket digital, and 2 tripods. I hiked in 5 miles to my campsite along the Laguna Meadows trail. Along the way, a Blue Jay let me get close, and so I took a bunch of pictures. Many of them with my wide-angle lens.

Once I got the tent set up, I napped for a couple of hours. Then I hiked out to the south rim about 2.5 hours before the sunset. I had seen some examples of time-lapse photography and I was curious to try. So I set up the D-SLR to take a picture every 30 seconds for two hours to capture the different shadows in the hills south of the rim as the sun went down. There was another photographer there. He had been in the park for a week, and he gave several much-appreciated tips on other places to visit. Once the sunset hit, I got some great shots.

I hiked back to my tent in the dark set up my traditional 35mm camera for long night time exposure shots of star-trails. My plan was to let one shot expose for 3 or 4 hours with moonlight illuminating the foreground, and then get up in the middle of the night to turn the camera around before the moon moved into the shot for a second shot with some hills in the foreground. But I did not set my alarm properly, and did not get up until 5:30am which gave me around a 7-hour exposure. I was afraid the moon would have washed out the shot, but instead it just made one big bright streak half way through the picture in this shot.

Then I hiked out to the south rim before sun-rise and took two 30-minute time exposures before the sun came up. These came out pretty well. There was enough moonlight to illuminate the valley floor like it was daytime.

The other photographer was there, and we hiked a little further east to find a better vantage point for the sunrise. We got a bunch more pictures. I set up another short time lapse sequence, but I had the interval between pictures a little too long for it to be interesting.

The weather was pretty clear as we took the pictures, but by 30 minutes after sunrise, the good early morning light was gone, so we started walking back to our campsites. By the time I got half-way, low clouds started moving in from nowhere. By the time I got my tent and gear packed, fog had moved in and the temperature started to drop. Since I figured there would not be much to see due to the weather, I abandoned my plan to hike out using the Pinnacles Trail route with a side trip up to the top of Emory Peak, and instead used the slightly shorter route back the way I had hiked in. This picture of some deer at the trailhead show what the fog was like during most of my hike back.

I set up camp for the next two nights in Chisos Basin. But the clouds decided to gather in the basin even when the rest of the park was sunny. This left my campsite a little cooler than perhaps I needed, but not too bad. After a quick lunch at the lodge, I drove towards the Rio Grande Village on the eastern side of the park. The Sierra del Carmen Mountains were visible ahead. Clouds were spilling over the mountain tops like a slow moving river from the other side of the mountains, but I could not capture this in a picture to do justice to the sight this gave. I did the hiking loop trail by the hot springs, which is accessible via a short dirt road from the main highway. From the far side of the loop, I started to hike along the Rio Grande towards the Rio Grande Village, until I saw some nasty looking clouds coming my way. Since it was after 4:00 I turned back. Along the way back, I noticed the interesting fossil in the ground, shown below.

Then I drove over to the west side of the Chisos mountains to look for a place where the setting sun would illuminate the mountains well. I found a place along the side of the highway where I could point the camera east into the mountains which would be illuminated by the sun setting behind me. Clouds had filled the Chisos basin, and they were trying to push out over the western mountain ridges and through the gap known as the "Window". This produced a slow, visible flow as the clouds tried to spill over the mountain ridge towards me. As the clouds spilled over, they evaporated. In some places the cloud vapors spilled rapidly over the edge of the ridge before evaporating, creating a waterfall effect. I tried another timelapse sequence with the camera set to 20 sec in between shots, but that was too slow to capture the effect.

After sunset, I drove 20 miles to the town of Terlinga at the western edge of the park hoping to get dinner and fill up with gas. But since this was Easter Sunday, all the restaurants were closed. I got back to the basin too late for their Easter feast, so I had bagels and raisins for dinner.

On Monday, my last full day, the Chisos Basin was still filled with clouds. I drove out a little bit on the highway toward the Rio Grande Village to get sunrise pictures as the sun illuminated the Chisos mountains. But, there was too much cloud cover for good pictures. As I drove back into the basin, the clouds started to open up and I got a few pictures with blue sky, but once inside the basin it was foggy again. After breakfast, the weather was clear outside of the Chisos Basin. I drove down the Ross Maxwell Highway on the western side of the park, and then turned up the Old Maverick dirt road. I stopped at the Terlingua Abaja ruins and from there hiked an hour and a half up the creak bed. I started noticing everywhere the dried mud cracks and pebbles formed interesting patterns dry riverbed, and so I started capturing pictures of the various natural patterns. I put these in a separate album (link).

By the late afternoon, the weather in the Chisos basin finally cleared. As I returned to my camsite, I noticed the park police car was following behind. Being careful not to speed, I turned into the campground and he was still following me at every turn but not putting on his lights to pull me over. At the campsite, he pulled in behind me. After running my drivers license through the system, I got a warning for a broken tail light.

I hiked down to the Window trail for sunset, which had me looking out from the edge of the mountains in the opposite direction from the previous day’s sunset pictures. I got some good pictures and then hiked back in the dark with my headlamp. I ran part of the trail back, as best I could while carrying the camera gear.

On Tuesday morning, I got up at super early again and packed up the car for the drive back to Austin. On the drive north out of the park, I did not see any other traffic for the first hour and a half, until about 6:30am. When I was 30 miles from Ft Stockton, I saw the first truck coming the opposite way, and then it was a constant stream of traffic heading south is stark contrast to the empty roads I had gotten used to. I guess everyone was headed to work at the same time? I was hoping to get breakfast at Pepito’s Cafe, but it was not open and so I had to settle a quick breakfast stop at McDonalds. I timed the drive right for lunch in Fredericksburg and got back to Austin with a little bit of the afternoon left to unpack, unwind, and start processing the pictures I took.

Photo Album Links:
- Big Bend
- Natural Patterns Album

Peru Trek 2008 - Chaskiq Nunan, Part 1

2008-09-08T22:45:00.005-05:00

Earlier this year in May, I took a trip to Peru with a several friends I know from the Rogue trail running programs. The trip was excellently run by the tour company IncaRunners. It involved some sightseeing, and a week of trekking and mountain running through the Andes in the vicinity of Maccu Piccu. We ran/trekked over 6 days, 29,500 cumulative vertical climbing feet (max altitude just over 15,000ft), and over 28,000 ft cumulative decent starting in the town of Cachora passing via the ruins at Choquequirao tand ending at the towns of La Playa/Santa Teresa.

Discussion on this trip began nearly two years ago when some people in our Pikes Peak training group were talking about the Inca Trail Marathon (Many of the "marathon" races along the Inca Trail which you are most likely to find on the internet are actually just organized private runs set up by a local tour company for tour participants). While most others moved on from that training to other diversions, one member of that training group, Dano, kept looking into this and linked up with IncaRunners via Google search to organize the trip, at first for himself, but he gradually pulled 5 more of us into it. Since I had done the classic Inca Trail Trek five years ago, and because of some activities at work, at first I was thinking to skip this and save my vacation for something new. But this was going to be along a different trail than the one I did before. The more I heard about the trip, the more FOMO fever I got, so I finally signed up with only 3 weeks before the trip. It was too good a trip to pass up, and I have no regrets. The founder of IncaRunners, Roberto, apparently felt the same and opted to guide the trip himself. Roberto is a native of Lima living now in Seattle. He arranged to stop off in Austin on his way to Peru a week or two before the trip to give us a briefing on what to expect. Dano went the extra length including graphics design and arranged for matching apparel, luggage tags, and backcountry toilet kits.

Luggage Tag design by Dan K.The day after I signed up and paid for the tour, I sprained my ankle bad during a trail run. I stayed off it a week, and then started slowly trying to get out for some short runs. But no matter how good I felt at first, I would keep turning the ankle again. I was getting a little worried about the trip, but I figured if I had to ride the mules during the trek, then that is what I would have to do. I finally got into a doctor and got X-rays, which suggested a floating bone fragment (after the Peru trip, MRI’s showed no evidence of a bone fragment).

I was hesitant to tell the doctor of the trip I was planning for fear of being told not to go. I was referred to physical therapy. At the end of the first session I told the PT I would not be able to come in for a couple of weeks because I had a week of backcountry trekking and camping through he mountains in Peru. He did not quite follow what I was saying, and he advised me not to walk around too much and suggested exercises to do in the hotel gym each night. I was afraid if I tried to explain to him that where I was going there would be no gym and, for some of the trip, no hotels, I might have been advised not to go. So I simply said "OK," and got out fast. I was already signed up, and so I was going even if I had to ride the damn mules if my ankle could not hold up. (when I returned from the trip, I was assigned to a different PT. I explained the activity I had done, and he agreed he would not have recommended the activity during the recovery, but he probably would have done the same thing in my place)

Dano went to Peru a few days early, but the rest of us left from Austin on a Saturday, mostly on the same flight. Most flights from the U.S arrive in Lima late night (9:30pm to 11:30pm) and so no-matter what our domestic routing, we all arrived at about the same time. Roberto’s brother in Lima arranged transport to/from a hotel for the night, and then we flew to Cusco the next morning.

In Cusco at 10,800ft we would have a couple of days altitude acclimation before the trek. Roberto met us at the airport, and got us to a really nice little hotel (Hotel Eureka) a few blocks from the main square. We got lunch in a restaurant overlooking the Plaza de Armas, and then we had joined a standard ½ day bus tour of sights in and around Cusco, including Santo Domingo church, Sacsayhuaman, and and a few other sites that I also saw during my 2003 trip. Toward the end of the tour, I started feeling a little sick. When we got back to the hotel, the altitude sickness really hit and so I skipped dinner and tried to sleep it off.

The next day started with a bus ride to the town of Pisac where we met Hanny, who would also be our guide along the trek. It was a steep climb of 1800ft over a little more than 3 miles up the mountainside to the ruins above the town. Once there, we got some excellent views of the Urubamba valley. Then we drove towards Ollantaytambo. Along the way we picked up Dano at his hotel and then toured the Ollantaytambo Ruins. As we left Ollantaytambo, we drove through festival in Ollantaytambo where people were dressed up in various costumes.

On the way back to Cusco, we stopped of at a place that sells the local corn beer, chica. There was another tour from GAP there, and one of our members recognized one of their tour as a business contact she had just met a few weeks before on a business trip in China. Weird coincidence. We had a couple of glasses of the very sweet beer, and sampled both the yellow and pink homebrews. A local woman was there who explained through our interpreter that she stopped by for 3 large glasses a day. There was a room next to the bar that housed a few dozen guinea pigs, the local delicacy. We tried out the local bar game which involved tossing large coins and trying to have them land in holes in a box. Different points for different holes, a concept similar to darts. Then, we drove back to Cusco, had dinner in a nice local restaurant before going to bed for an early start the next day.

The next morning we left at 4am and drove to the start of the trek, and then the real adventure of the trip began. But I will have to save that story for another post.

Links:
- Pictures album
- 2003 Peru Trip Report

Rattlesnake

2008-08-27T22:20:00.002-05:00

I had my first encounter with a rattlesnake yesterday. I was running with the Rogue trail group in St Edwards park. We were on the last loop at dusk. Actually, someone had moved a flag marking our route, I took a wrong turn and ended up cutting part of the loop out. In a downhill section I was running on the right edge of the trail to give someone behind room to pass, when I heard the rattle and the snake lifted his head a few feet in front of me by the side of the trail. By the time I stopped and stepped back, I was within a yard. The 5-foot snake stood there coiled by the side of the trail with his head lifted a foot off the ground, sticking out his tongue and rattling his tail. The runner who was passing me continued straight, didn't look back, and might have run her fastest downhill ever.

The snake must have been heading down to the watering hole for its evening meal, and about to cross the trail when we approached. It blended into the surroundings so well along with the shadows I never would have noticed it if it did not make noise. This will give me something to think about next time I step off the trail. Another runner prodded the snake with a very long stick until moved moved far enough from the trail we felt safe to pass.

But this got me thinking what should be done in case I am around anyone who is bitten. I found some good information half-way down the page here.

Pikes Peak Bust 2008

2008-08-24T14:27:00.004-05:00

I wasn’t planning to do this race again so soon, but then a family member offered to schedule her trip to Colorado Springs around the marathon if I wanted to go up for a visit. So, when registration opened in March, I signed up for the Pikes Peak Double – Half-marathon (the Ascent) to the top on Saturday followed by the Marathon, up-and-down, on Sunday. I felt if I was going to do this again, I needed to top my prior trip.

My plan was to use training for the Rouge Trail 30K series in Austin to start the training and then continue beyond that with more running, and leverage vacation trekking in Peru to build some mountain running endurance. But after an injury the doctor had me off my feet for a couple of months and that messed up my training plans. Since I did not get enough training in to be ready for the double, I had been telling people, including myself, that I was only doing the Ascent. But I held onto the marathon entry just in case. Once I got to Colorado Springs, it was difficult being here and not trying to do it. When I picked up the packet for the ascent, the volunteer said, so mater-of-factually, that I next I needed to go over there to pick up my Marathon packet, and then it was a done-deal. After that, I started to admit to some of the other Texans, and myself, that I was going to attempt the double. I figured I had a chance perhaps at a DFL (Dead ‘effin last) pace, but in hindsight that was probably the altitude already affecting me.

THE ASCENT

On race morning the mountain was already covered in clouds and the prospects did not look good. I was thinking this might be a repeat of the 2005 Ascent hailstorm I survived to get to the top, which meant there would be a good chance that the A-frame cut-off (an aid station 10 miles into the 13.3 mile course) would close early due to bad weather. In 2005, I heard thunder 8 miles in, and picked up the pace to slip through A-frame just before an early cut-off, and those I had been walking behind just before did not make it. The first wave started at 7:00am I was in the second wave that started at 7:30.

Starting out I also remembered that it was dangerous to exert too much early on and loose steam later, but this put me in conflict with the need to accelerate incase the cutoff came early. During the first 3-4 miles of single-track up the steepest part of the course I just tried to keep up with the person ahead, and not pass unless the person was particularly slow. This actually came to be a struggle, and quite a few people passed me and the group I fell in behind on the W’s. Once we got to less steep parts about 4 or 5 miles in, I was able to pick up the pace, and started reeling past many of the people who past me earlier. I didn’t linger at any aid stations and did not pull out the camera because I did not want to take time for anything un-necessary that could cost me the cut-off. Checking my splits, I was on track to meet the normal cutoff time with plenty of time, but I felt I needed to speed up incase the cut-off came early. About ¾ mile before Barr Camp, with the weather starting to worsen, I started to push a bit harder and was surprised how much energy I had to propel me, still walking uphill, but at an accelerated pace. I just concentrated on picking out people ahead and gradually moving past them without over-exerting myself, because spending too much energy now would still kill me for later.

Sometime above Barr Camp after the "5 miles to go" sign (meaning I was more than 8 miles in), runners started coming back down the trail telling everyone that the A-frame cutoff was shut down early due to severe weather on top. Runners coming up were in denial at first, some demanding to know who was actually on at A-frame. Most runners coming down had not actually been there to know first hand, so there was some discussion trying to determine if it was real or false rumor. But it was not long before the sheer numbers of people coming down, and the thunder heard overhead, that it was clear it had to be real and the race was over. So I tuned around to begin the 8-mile return journey to the start line. When we got back to Barr Camp the race volunteers were tearing bib tags (to account for everyone) and telling people to go down the mountain.

Participants turned back returning through Barr Camp after race was called
I took it easy on the downhill to save energy since I had another chance for the summit on the next day. I wasn’t in a hurry because knew I would have a long wait for my drop-bag to be returned from the summit to the start line. Since my keys were in the drop-bag, I couldn’t go anywhere until I got it back. The early closure was not too much of a disappointment since it was not entirely un-expected, and I had completed this course before. I actually enjoyed the run down the mountain, happy to be able to still be running and in the mountains. Once we hit the W’s, it became more un-comfortable since 100’s of runners bunched up here. It was a bit dangerous as trains of people passed slower trains of people around the sharp turns.

Once I hit the asphalt on Ruxton Ave, I just walked the rest of the way to save energy. At the end of my 16-mile round trip, Food was served at the community center next to the startline for returning runners. This was mostly Subway subs and Domino’s Pizza. I hung out there for a couple of hours waiting for bags to be returned. The bags finally came down around 3:00. The race director announced that they would give out finisher’s medal and jacket to everyone was turned around in about an hour. But, I did not make the top, so I didn’t think I would be comfortable wearing it and I did not wait around any longer. There was perhaps some controversy to give finisher’s items to people who did not reach the summit, contrary to statements in the official participants guide. But the race director figured that since many of these people put in as much as 20 miles in bad weather, they deserved some reward. Besides, what else would he do with 1000 surplus finisher medals and jackets?

Later, I learned that only ~750 of the 1800 registered runners made it to the top. Everyone else (most of the 2nd wave) was turned back. All but the last dozen finishers in the list I saw had a 4:45 ascent or better, which was much faster than my PR. Considering this, and the fact that I was in the 2nd wave, and my conditioning at the time, there was probably no effort on my part that could have gotten me through A-frame in time. From talking to a few people who made it to the summit, it sounds like the weather and hail above treeline was worse than what hit me during the 2005 Ascent. One person had some mild frost-bite symptoms on his finger tips (numb, and itchy a day later).

I am not sure who to credit this photo too, but it shows the white out conditions at the Ascent finish.

The MARATHON

On Marathon morning I got my first clear view of the peak. It looked like it could be a good day, but the start line announcer explained they were expecting 1-3 inches of snow, so we shouldn’t be surprised if the course closed early. But as we started heading up the hills of Ruxton Ave, I could already feel yesterday’s effort taking its toll. I hit the W’s at the back of the pack. Normally this stretch of the race is one continuous line of people for the next 3 miles, but I was so far back. Including the Barr Trail race, this was my 5th race up this part of the trail, and the only time there were so few people around me up the W’s. There was hardly anyone to pace off of or focus on passing.

I made it up through Barr camp about a little slower than the day before, with 1:20 to get the 2.6 miles and 1700 vertical feet uphill to A-frame before the next cut-off. But I was only traveling 20-30 minute miles at this point, so it was going to be close. My shoulders and arms were unusually sore, and I felt like I had been in a bicycle wreck. I remembered the extra energy I was able to push through this section the day before, but I did not have that today. I lost the mental game during the last mile to A-frame, and lost my focus on forward momentum. I made it to A-frame as the cut-off was announced, but I was ready to turn back. Even if I had pushed a little faster to make it through, I probably would not have made the last cutoff at the top. We got some light hail and snow as I started the decent back down. I figured this must have been worse at higher altitudes. As I got a mile and then two down from A-frame, I was passing piles of snow and hail that were not there on the way up. By the time I reached Barr Camp, it was sunny again. A mile or so below Barr Camp, I was running on a downhill section when I got stung by some kind of insect, just above the ankle. It must have been a bee or wasp but I did not actually see it. I reached down to swat at it and muscles up and down my back cramped up, so I stumbled like the hunchback of Notre Dame for a few steps until I could regain my composure. I had to walk for a little bit until the pain from the sting went away.

Snow just below A-Frame

Sunny weather at the base of the mountain
In hindsight, I wish I had recognized from the weather at the startline on Saturday morning that I probably would not have made the Ascent. Given the weather, it was fairly obvious that the course would close early. A smarter decision would have been to skip the Ascent and save my self for the marathon. But, summit fever would not have allowed me to consider that. Although I did not make the summit, I got a good 37 miles of hill training this weekend towards the next big run.

Tibet Trip, Part 3: Everest and Nepal

2008-08-01T09:22:00.001-05:00

As I catch up on this blog, let me finish the trip report for last years trip through Tibet arranged through GAP adventures. The remainder of the trip included a visit to the Everest base camp on the Chinese side, and drive through Nepal to Kathmandu.

Links
- Tibet trip report, part 1 – Beijing to Lhasa
- Tibet trip report, part 2 – Gyantze, Shigatse, Sakya
- Photo Highlights

Day 12 - Sakya (4900M / 16,000ft) to Rombuk and Everest Base Camp (5000M-5200M / 16,400 - 17,060ft).
Drive over a high mountain pass (5150M) to lunch in town of Tingri, then drive to Rombuk bunk house. Option of afternoon hike or donkey cart ride to the Everest basecamp (Chinese side).

This day we left on the drive to see Everest. The drive took us through a mountain pass where our altimeters read over 17,000ft. I think this was Pang La pass. After descending a little, we stopped in a dusty town of Tingri for lunch. Out behind the restaurant were the typical local squat toilets. The toilet facilities in Tibet had become quite the conversation everywhere we went within our tour group, particularly with the women. Whenever we stopped, the first person to return from the facility had to describe to others what was in store for them, and then there was discussion comparing each facility to the previous toilets. This one was just a stall with a hole cut in the floor. The next level down where the deposit fell 6 or 8 feet to a room with one wall exposed leaving the space to air out, making this one one of the more pleasant of the facilities we encountered. A few months later I was watching a travel documentary that happened to discuss the differences in toilets in different cultures. They mentioned Tibet having one of the most primitive in the world, and I could swear the toilet they showed on TV was this one.

After lunch, we left the paved road for a few hours drive on the backroads that took us above the treeline to get to Rombuk. This included a lot of barren tundra. We passed a couple of nomadic looking settlements. We passed a couple of kids waving by the side of the road at one point, and they caught up to us 5 minutes later when we stopped for a break. We had one water crossing, without a bridge, but the land rovers were able to handle it. Upon reaching Rombuk, we checked into the dorm style guest house. It had not hit me yet that we were above 18,000ft.

We drove a few kilometers to the entrance to the base camp. There was a section of road here lined with tents. Some tents had signs indicating they were hotels or Restaurants. Even though climbing season was over, these camps must have served the trickle of tourists or other expeditions to the area. It was only a few kilometers hike from this entrance camp to the site of the actual base camp. Most of us chose to hike rather than hire a donkey cart to take us there. I was feeling pretty good, considering we were almost up to 17,000ft. Since I had not run enough on this trip, and I had the Tahoe Rim trail run coming up in a few weeks, I was very tempted to try and run, but I stayed close to the group instead. It was not particularly steep. Along the way we passed some yak’s and I took some picture of some of our group as we passed. Later while reviewing the pictures, one explained to me she remembered me taking the picture, but was surprised to realize from the picture that the yaks were nearby since they hadn’t noticed them during the hike. It might have been the altitude influence.

We reached the base camp site which had a plaque indicating the altitude was 5200M (17060ft). There was no-one actually camped here since it was the wrong time of year for expeditions, and signs posted explained there was a $30,000 fine for proceeding past the basecamp without a permit. There was a hill next to the basecamp area that we all climbed to get a better view. Before us was a large, dry, flat, empty riverbed and Everest (local name is Mt Qomulangma) just beyond to the south with its top hidden by clouds. It was half expected that we might not be able to see the mountain, and we had planned to come back the next morning when there was a better chance of clear skies. One member of our group, Pras, had brought a bunch of Tibetan prayer flag note cards which thrown as such locations. While I was taking pictures of another couple on the tour with their camera, our tour operator borrowed my camera and took this series of excellent shots. One of these ended up in the GAP Tour brochure. (if animated graphics are enabled on your computer, the image below should cycle through the series)

Photo by tour operator, Sam H, with my camera.
Pras also brought a kite that she had bought on the trip and we helped fly it from this point. Thanks, Pras, for these items which helped make this point more memorable. The clouds never cleared so we headed back. Coming up, the footpath had cut some switchbacks in the main road, so we tried to take the same shortcut going down. But we missed meeting up with the road and ended up hiking down the valley on a different route. Our destination was always visible so there was no worry of getting lost. The trail runner in me wanted to break into a downhill run through some of this terrain, but I refrained. I was seriously planning on jogging the route in the morning when we returned.

As soon as we got back to the guest house, we went into the common area where we could by some basic dinners of ramen noodles from the caretakers of the place. Here the altitude sickness suddenly hit me hard with a headache while waiting for dinner. I could barely stay conscious. It would have been worse if I had tried to run like I was so tempted to do a short time before. When the clouds that hid Everest cleared I crawled out long enough to take a couple of pictures, and then crawled into bed immediately after dinner. I had no problems sleeping that night.

Day 13 Everest base camp to Nylam (3750M / 12,300ft)
Morning visit to Everest Base camp again, and then drive back to Tingri for lunch, followed by a crossing of another two high passes, the Lalung La (5124m) and the Shung La (5200m) before leaving the Tibetan Plateau and arriving at the border town of Nylam.

We got up early and hiked up to the entrance to the trail to base camp. I was feeling much better than the night before, but skipped the plans to run and hired the donkey cart to take me the rest of the way to base camp with the rest of the group. Here we were rewarded with unobstructed views of Everest. It was further away than it looked and distances are deceptive. It was hard to believe its top at 8848M was 12,000ft in altitude above where we stood. Even though we had taken a ton of pictures the day before, now that we could see the mountain without cloud cover, we took a bunch more.

We returned to the guest house. I climbed up the hill a bit to get some pictures of the mountain with the monastery in the foreground. Then we got in the cars and took off. There was some slow moving vehicles blocking the road, and so the drivers tried to go around by taking a parallel road. We were pulled over by some guys in military uniforms who had an excited conversation with our Tibetan guide and driver, which I did not understand. Then one of the military guys got in the car and we gave him a ride for 5 minutes and dropped him off at the site of some road construction. Our guide wouldn’t tell us anymore what that was about except that the officer wanted a ride.

We drove out the same way we had come in back to the same dusty town. But seeing the scenery in the opposite direction I could hardly tell it was the same place. We had lunch in the same restaurant as the day before. This time instead of the Lhasa Beer I usually ordered, I got the premium Blue Ribbon beer. It was Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. But the waiters never refer to it as “Pabst”, only as “Blue Ribbon” beer.

After lunch we drove on the highway towards the Nepal border. We passed through a high-mountain pass, and then began to descend towards the edge of the Tibetan plateau. At one point, we had to stop for a few hours while we waited for the road to open. It was under construction during the day, and only open to traffic in the evenings after 7pm. Once the road opened, we drove several miles on a narrow road through construction. As we left the Tibetan Plateau, we descended into a narrow, valley with steep walls and lots of switchbacks on the road. Our guide told us the opposite wall of this valley was in Nepal. We had to stop a couple of times when cars ahead got stuck. There were some waterfalls falling right on the road, and so our drivers took advantage of the car wash. We reached the border town of Nylam, which clung to the side of a ravine along the highway through a series of seven switchbacks. Our hotel was two blocks from the gate into the demilitarized zone between Nepal and China. This was a very basic dorm/hotel with double rooms and a shared bath but no shower. At a late supper in the restaurant across the street, we met 3 other American (well, one might have been Canadian) travelers who were sitting at the other end of the table, and our guide ended up letting them share a ride with us to Nepal the next day.

Day 14 – Nylam (3750M / 12,300ft) to Kathmandu (1300M / 4250ft)

The day started with a little drama when another traveler locked herself in the shared bathroom took her sweet time first thing in the morning. Some heated words were exchanged while others looked desperately for alternate place for their morning pee. Some of us got breakfast at the same restaurant across the street. Then we got our bags and walked 1 block to the Immigration gate. The spine of my passport is bent a little, so I got some extra attention while the immigration officials took the document into the back room to check it out. A little while later they brought it back and I made it through. On the other side of the checkpoint, our drivers met us for the 30 minute drive through the de-militarized zone to the Nepal border crossing.

We arrived at the town of Zhangmu (a.k.a Dram, or Khasa in Nepal) where we said good bye to our Tibetan guide and drivers, and carried our bags across the friendship bridge to Nepal. We stopped to get the Nepal visa. My roommate had filled up his passport, so he had to peel off another visa sticker to make room. Then we boarded the bus for the ride to Kathmandu. There was a dramatic change in landscape compared to the last week and a half in Tibet. First, after leaving the edge of Tibetan Plateau before the border, we had entered a region of lush green vegetation. Then in Nepal, the buildings were mostly painted bright colors. This was in strong contrast to the earth tones of Tibet. It reminded me of the Caribbean for some reason.

The drivers let us ride “Nepal style” which meant to climb on top of the bus with the luggage. There was room for 4 or 5 people, so we took turns on the top of the bus. Lunch was at a small restaurant and consisted of an appetizer of fish heads and then some other basic fair. The restaurant was along a river, and we watched people doing their laundry on the opposite bank. After lunch it was my turn to get on the top of the bus, and I was up there until the outskirts of Kathmandu. As we rode, some of the others took delight in waving at the cute kids along the way or riding on top of other busses. But then one of the cute little kids flicked us off, giving us a reminder they were not there for tourist amusement.

We had a decent hotel next to a central shopping district. In the afternoon we walked around for some last minute shopping. Compared to some of the places I had been the last few years, this was a fairly clean pleasant market area to walk through since the touts and shop keepers were not too pushy. In the evening we went for one final group dinner and later visited a couple of night clubs.

Day 15 depart Kathmandu (1300M / 4250ft)

Everyone had flights leaving at different times. I had a mid-day flight out with my friend Eileen. I should have gotten up like my roommate to have time for a quick morning visit to some of the other sites, but instead I slept in and used the morning to re-pack my bags. We got a taxi to the airport around 11. The streets were a bit crowded, but we got to the airport without much delay. I had a bit too much local cash that I could not exchange, so I tried to use it up in the airport gift shops. We were a little too early and were still waiting when the next batch of our tour group arrived for their flight. Finally we got on our Thai Airlines flight and took off.

Thai Air was great compared to the service on American airlines. Nice food (well, for airlines), and even in economy the attendants frequently walked the aisles pouring non-stop cognac, campaign and other drinks. We had about 6 hours in Bangkok before catching different flights, so we spent most of it hanging out at an airport restaurant and reviewing pictures from the trip. When it was time to go our separate ways, I left one wing and walked across the airport towards my gate. I was surprised to see that the whole airport was one big mall. There were tons of shops between the concourses. There were shopping carts everywhere to haul your take around the airport from store to store. It took me almost 15 minutes to walk without stopping to my concourse and the whole way was lined with stores, and I only walked half way across the airport. I had a stop-over in Tokyo and L.A. before returning home, some 36+ hours after entering the Kathmandu.

Links
- Tibet trip report, part 1 – Beijing to Lhasa
- Tibet trip report, part 2 – Gyantze, Shigatse, Sakya

Photographs
- Photo Highlights
- Album #5 – Rombuk and Everest Base Camp
- Album #6 – Nepal and Kathmandu

Tibet Trip, Part 2

2008-06-24T06:30:00.006-05:00

Well, it’s been awhile since I started writing about last year’s trip to Tibet. As I approach the 1-year anniversary of this trip, it seemed time to come back to finish the report for the second week before the details slip from my mind. This post covers travels through the rural towns of Tibet.

Earlier this year, after political unrest in Tibet, China has closed this region to foreign tourists. Makes me glad I got to travel there while I could, though I am concerned of the impact of these events on the people there.

Links
- Tibet trip report, part 1 – Beijing to Lhasa
- Tibet trip report, part 3 – Everest and Nepal
- Photo Highlights

DAY 9 – Lhasa (3658M / 12,000ft) to Gyantze (4040 M / 13,250ft)

Leave Lhasa and drive in Range Rovers to Gyantze. Drive includes a side trip to Kamba La pass (4794M / 15,700ft) with Views of Lake Yamdrok.

After 4 days in Lhasa, Tibet’s capitol, it was time to move on. Our group split into 4 Land Rovers, and we left the hotel for the scenic drive to Gyantze. Our group consisted of 12 tourists, our Belgian guide, our Tibetan guide, and 4 divers. The mountains rose up on the other side of the river that paralleled the highway. I have never paid much attention to the angle of rock layers that form mountain peaks, but here such angles were very much profoundly vertical. In many places, the sand had been blown up out of the valley floor and formed sand dunes upon the mountains. It was a unique sight to see.

After a bit, we had a photo stop (smoke break for the drivers) along the river. Our guide pointed to a development up on a mountain pass off in the distance and explained we were driving to that mountain pass next. We could see where the highway was cut into the side of the mountain, and it also appeared surprisingly steep. The drive up the mountain was impressive. The road that looked to go straight up from a distance was actually a very winding road that went up several thousand meters in elevation. At several points we could look down into the valley below and see crumbling ruins of old dwellings. Along the road up in the mountains there were herds of Yak and sheep.

We arrived at the top of what I think was Kamba La pass (4794M / 15,700ft) and were treated to a beautiful view of Lake Yamdrok. There was a short hike further up the hill to get away from the tourist crowd. There were a few rock pile mounds Tibetans had left from earlier pilgrimage.

Then we continued on back down the mountain the way we had come and then stopped at a rural restaurant along the highway. Our guide explained that often in these small family the kitchens could get overwhelmed a bit if everyone ordered the same things and take forever to cook each dish separately. If people coordinated and multiple people ordered the same dish, things would be cooked up to together and it would go faster. The typical dishes we would find at such restaurants would be a choice of rice or vermicelli (chow mein) dishes. Then there would be variations such as egg-fried rice, veg-fried rice, chicken fried rice, or yak fried rice and similar choices for the chow mien. There was a regional specialty called “Momo” which were dumplings with various fillings such as vegetables, apples, yak meat. Sometimes the restaurants would add create a western dish such as pizza or veggi burgers, and sometimes these were some interesting local interpretations. At one restaurant the hamburger was a patty of crushed vegetables (standard veggi-burger patty for this area) with a slice of ham on top.

After lunch the drive followed a dry river valley. The area was very much a desert. After a little while we stopped for a photo shoot / smoke break excuse at a place with good overlook of the dry river bed and desert that had taken the place of the river bed. Then we left the highway and got onto some dirt roads that took us to a stop with sand dunes, where everyone got out and went climbing to the top. The dirt road then took us into the hills, past a few small farming/ranching villages. There were a few low water crossings. I was in the lead car, and we had no problems. But some of those behind nearly got stuck in the water. Then we returned to the highway (or maybe it was a different road, I’m not sure), and followed it to Gyantze.

Gyantze is supposed to be one of the most purely Tibetan of the sizable cities in Tibet. By that I mean with some of the least Chinese and other foreign influence. Our tour group took a walk around the town past the Gyantze Dong fort to the gates of Pelkhor Chong temple and back to the hotel for dinner. Someone brought up the fort was the site of a battle with invading British army. It had not occurred to me that any western armies had at one time penetrated this far from India.

Day 10, Gyantze (4040 M /13,250ft) to Shigatse (3836M / 12,500ft)

Morning walk up to the Gyantze Dong fort (unguided), and tour of Pelkhor Chong temple and Gyantze Kumbum. Afterwards drive from Gyantze to the town of Shigatse, and tour of the Tashilhumpo monastery.

In the morning before breakfast, several of us went to the fort, unguided. It was a good climb up to the top, but we were rewarded with excellent views of the surrounding area.

After breakfast, we went to the Pelkhor Chong temple. Next to the temple was the Gyantze Kumbum, which was a multi-story building. There were 108 chapels on four floors, each filled with statues and had walls covered with mural paintings. At the top it gave some good view of the city and courtyard below, were we could see some of the locals go about their daily business, including washing and gathering water from community pump. Some of our tour group were playing with the little kids in the square while they waited for those of us who liked to linger and take pictures to finish.

Then we left Gyantze for the drive to Shigatse. On the way, our smoke break excuse was a stop at a local flour mill. This was a true low-tech mill. A donkey cart was parked out front to deliver the barley that would be milled. Then we were off to Shigatse. We reached the nice hotel with plenty of time for lunch.

Then we went on a tour of the Tashilhunpo monastery. Our GAP guide negotiated with a local man hanging around the entrance to be our tour guide through the monastery. The tour guide did a better job of explanation than our first guide in Lhasa. Regrettably, by now all the monasteries were starting to look the same. Afterwords, we took a walk along the pilgrimage path around the monastery, which was again lined with prayer wheels. Some of us climbed the steep hill behind the monastery to the top where there was a great view of the town, a ton of prayer flags and a prayer site. Unfortunately, I had left my camera on a setting for the low-light indoors, and my pictures from the hilltop did not come out well. Eagles were soaring around this peak.

Day 11- Shigatse (4040 M / 12,500ft) to Sakya (4900M / 16,000ft)

The next morning we drove toward Sakya. The first smoke break excuse was a stop at one of the high mountain passes. Each such pass, as well as any bridge and mountain top was covered with prayer flags. There was a short climb up to the top of a hill for a better view. At the top, there was a large number of rock cairns that previous visitors had left.

Sakya is a small town, but it had a big tourist hotel. We had lunch in the hotel which had a typical menu that we had become used to in Tibet. There were a couple of local kids playing in the dining area. In China, instead of diapers the little kid wore pants with a an open slit in the bottom. In front of us, one kid left a big puddle on the floor, giggled, and went back to his play. Some in our tour group thought it amusing that no-one bothered to clean it up until after we left.

The main monastery on our itinerary was closed for renovations, so instead we walked over to a local nunnery. The nuns do not seem to get too many visitors, and seemed very happy to visit. They were particularly interested in seeing the pictures on people’s digital cameras of the other monasteries we saw in Tibet, which they don’t get the opportunity to travel to visit.

In the evening I walked around a bit on my own. Kids were all around playing having just gotten out of school. One really young school kid had a small bag of potatoes chips he just purchased at the store. When he saw me turned the corner he came running out of the store to me and offered to share his chips. I wished I had some little trinket to offer in return, but I did not even have even a pen or souvenir U.S. coin on me to offer. In other countries I have visited recently, I had become so used to touts and little kids trained to act cute and then solicit handouts that it was nice not to be constantly harassed as in the other places I visited. Maybe this kid was hoping for a gift, but I felt more like he was just trying to be friendly, welcome the stranger, or maybe just play. A lot of places we went there were kids eager to just play with any tourist who was willing. Once in Gyantse we were solicited for pens, and someone from our group was able to produce a couple of disposables. I wonder how long it would before this relative innocence is lost, and weather someday these tourist stops would develop into something more trashy, more commercial, with more touts. Hopefully the Tibetan culture would limit that, but change will be inevitable. Technologies and new communication links will expose Tibetans more and more to outside influences, as evidenced by all the monks walking around with cell phones. The new rail link between Lhasa and China will encourage Han Chinese to immigrate to Tibet which could eventually led to Tibetan culture pushed aside, much like Caucasian Americans replaced the Native American culture during our migration west. Even if Tibetan culture survives such migration, Modernization will change things as Tibet is pulled from the nineteenth century into the present.

Next post on this subject will cover the rest of the trip to Everest base camp and Nepal.

Photos from the places visited in this post:
- Album #3 – Gyantse
- Album #4 – Shigatse and Sakya
- Trip Highlights Album

Related Posts
- Part 1 – Beijing to Lhasa
- Tibet trip report, part 3 – Everest and Nepal

Mexico City

2008-06-19T23:24:00.004-05:00

I stopped off in Mexico City over Memorial Day weekend on the way back from spending 2 weeks in Peru. The Peru trip was excellent, but it deserves a few posts of its own when I catch up with this blog. If I had come straight home from Peru, it would have put me in Austin on the Friday before Memorial Day. Since it was a long holiday weekend, I started looking for someplace in South America to add on a side trip while I was in the region. But it was so much more expensive to tack on a side trip in Central America or elsewhere in South America (well, there were a few cheap flights to Central America that required overnight layover in Bogota or Medellin, Colombia I opted out of) and it was only around $120 extra on the airfare to add a stopover in Mexico City so I went to Mexico city.

My flight from Peru left at midnight, and after a stopover in Houston I arrived in Mexico City around 11am. The customs agent complemented me on my weight loss since my passport photo was taken 3 years ago, which was weird since I have gained weight since then. Maybe he was trying to be nice. I took a taxi to the hotel which was 2 blocks from the Zocolo main square and then went to lunch at a nearby diner. The waitress was very accommodating with my inability to communicate except for very rudimentary Spanish. I thought I was ordering a $5 combo platter with tacos al pastur, soup and water (agua). But what I did not understand was that it was really flavored water and she went to some extra effort to come back with samples so I could choose the flavor.

After that I walked around the Zocolo. The plaza was filled with Aztec dancers, some of whom were performing cleansing rituals on people. Next to the Zocolo I toured the Templo Mayor, which is the ruins of an Aztec pyramid demolished by the Spaniards in the 1500’s and re-discovered in the last century and excavated beginning in 1978. Only the foundation remains, but it is easily seen several layers of construction as different generations built larger pyramids on top of the earlier ones. There is 5-ft channel carved straight through the site, where a water line was laid before it was realized the significance of the site that was cut through. There was also an well done museum attached to the site.

After walking around for a couple of hours, I went back to the hotel for a catnap before dinner, but I slept through the alarm and did not wake up until almost 11pm. By then many of the restaurants around the hotel were shut down. Within a few blocks, I found 3 7-11’s, a couple of other convenience stores, and two McDonalds. So I picked the quarter pounder over the 7-11 hot dog. I had eaten much healthier than normal over the prior two weeks, so I did not feel too guilty. After quick dinner, I went back to catch up on sleep after the flight the previous night.

The next morning I signed up for a $30 day tour to the Pyramids at Teotihuacan which I had signed up through the hotel lobby. We had an excellent guide and a tourbus that fit 12. We first stopped at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas (Plaza of 3 Cultures) which symbolizes Mexico’s unique heritage. This contained ruins of the Aztec city of Tlatelolco, Colonial Cathedral of Santiago, and the modern Foreign affairs building. It is the site of 3 terrible events: Last stand of the Aztecs, 1968 massacre by army of student protesters, and a building collapse during the 1985 earthquake. Then we visited the Basilica de Guadelupe, the main Church of Mexico. Then we had the obligatory stop at tourist trap craft shop that made figure carvings of obsidian and tequila. All such tours stop at some sort of craft shop, where no doubt our guides gets a nice commission. Perhaps it helps keep the tour price down. At least we got an interesting demonstration how tequila is extracted from the agave plant. Never realized how big those plants were. Finally, we got to the ruins at Teotihuacan. These pyramids had been overgrown with vegetation, so the Spaniards would have thought they were hills and did not destroy then like so many other structures.

The next day, I started out with breakfast on the rooftop restaurant of the Hotel Majestic, overlooking the Zocolo. There was a running race finishing in the Zocolo. By the time, I am guessing it must have been a half-marathon or maybe 10K. One difference I noticed with the running culture in Austin was that everyone was wearing the event’s tech t-shirt. The etiquette at least in Austin is never to wear the event shirt at the event, but only afterwards. At the time I was a little mad at myself for not looking ahead and getting in the race. It would have been a good excuse to go for a long run, but it was a good thing that I did not run since I am supposed to be recovering from a twisted ankle and needed to stay off the feet.

Next I took the subway to the Coycoacn neighborhood for a walking tour recommended by a friend and expained well in my guidebook, Mexico City – An opinionated guide for the Curious Traveler. I took the subway to get there. It was a very quiet, peaceful old neighborhood. Properties were surrounded with high walls which hid gardens from street view. A big change from the other parts of the city I had seen. After a little walk, I reached the main square was completely blocked off for construction. This made all the surrounding sidewalk café’s a little too crowded. I headed north and visited the Firda Kahlo Museum with its bright blue distinctive walls. Walking through the neighborhood outside the museums I ran into a religious parade. I do not know what the celebration was for, but there was a marching band, fire crackers, and a religious icon that was carried for a few blocks until the parade came to an end. Then I walked over to the Leon Trotsky museum. It was a fortified house where Trotsky died when Russian agents assaulted the compound. Bullet holes were still in the walls.

I returned to the subway and went to the Museum of Anthropology. But the line was a few blocks long and I decided not to wait. It turns out that admission is free on Sunday, so everyone goes that day. I went back to the hotel, and spent the remainder of my last couple of hours of the last afternoon on vacation relaxing and reading on the roof top balcony. I went to the Café Tacuba for the final dinner of this trip. Very nice and large 100 year old dining hall. Then I went over to Plaza Garibaldi to hear some of the mariachis bands before turning in before my early flight home the next morning.

Mexico City Photo Album

Malibu Creek 25K

2008-04-13T22:34:00.010-05:00

I visited Los Angeles for a weekend. I saw the Body Worlds exhibit (recommended) and also did the Malibu Creek 25K. The Malibu Creek trail run was in Malibu Creek State Park just outside Los Angeles. The route ran through areas used in the filming of the television show M*A*S*H. The run was organized by Pacific Coast Trail Runs offered 8K, 25K and 50K distances. The 50K was 2 loops of the 25K course. The 25K look had total climbing elevation gain of 2970 feet.

I came into this run after taking almost 2-month break from regular training after the last Austin Marathon. Having done the longest run of 10 miles on flat trail in the previous month, I knew going in I was not in the best of shape, so I had no expectations. This was a run I signed up for to jump start my return to training for the Rogue Trail Series. My plan was to push the hills starting out hard, burn out early, fall into zombie death march mode towards the end, and then look forward to the soreness that would follow the next day which would remind me that I did not sit on my butt the next day.

At the start line, I took a place near the back of the pack. The first half mile was on park road, which gave some time for the crowd to thin and fit into pace order. By the time we entered single track, I was not too fast or too slow for most the people around me. I passed a couple of people on the first small climb. There was one knee deep stream to cross and then the 1st aid station 4 kilometers in. I grabbed some sugar candy and then started the 1st real climb of the run. I alternated running and walking as I tried to keep forward momentum to the top which was reached around the 12km mark. Then there was a little reprieve from hills as we ran along a dirt road at the top of the ridge.

After a bit, we started climbing again. After passing through a section damaged by fire a couple of years The dirt road gave way to sandstone. Then we were up and over an interesting sandstone peak just before reaching the 2nd and last aid station.

Up until this point, I had been surrounded by other back of the packers. After the aid station I did not see anyone until the last 2 miles. We went up over the last high point, and then it was several miles of down hill. After a few miles the downhill flattened out for the final 5K. The route passed a couple of rusted out army vehicles, which I guess signified the area where MASH was filmed.

A mile later the route hit some more popular hiking trails for the last 1.5 miles. I was not quite in death march mode, but I was starting to fade. Made it to the finish where they were serving some chili and soup.

After a stop at the campground showers, I drove back to L.A. I grabbed lunch at Rosco’s Fried Chicken & Waffles, which made for a tasty combination after this run. Then I went straight to the airport for my flight home. I was a bit sore the next day, but in a good way.

- Link to picture album

- GPS records:

Runtex-2-Rogue 20 Mile

2007-12-15T17:00:00.000-06:00

Today was the Runtex-2-Rogue 20 mile training run with the Rogue training group. It was the best run of this distance in a long time, especially after having a bit if a sucky running season the last couple of months. It started at Runtex Gateway and ended at the location of the future Rogue store. I started at 5:30, 30 minutes before the rest of the group. I figured this way I would get there before the breakfast taco's were gone. I grabbed a map when Ruth got ther to setup and took off alone before anyone else had even arrived.

It was very peaceful running in the dark through the neighborhoods along the 3M route for the 1st few miles. Lots of deer. Normally these long runs have about 200+ people clumped at the start, but for a change I got to run alone and it was relaxing. at 4 miles I turned off Mesa onto North Hills Drive, which coincidentally is the name of the street I grew up on in Tennessee. There I realized I had dropped my route map. But I was not worried. I had a water bottle, a few dollars, and enough nutrition to last me. I knew the first 6 miles of the route and the last 8, so I figured I would not have any problems making it to the end. I found Panther's water stop and mile 6 when the fastest runners started catching up to me. There I got to look at his map and memorize the rest of the route, which was not too difficult without too many turns. As faster runners passed me over the next few miles, it motivated me to run a little faster.

Last week's run was painfully hilly, so it made this mostly downhill run feel easy. I had reached the Town Lake trail at the 12 mile mark before long. Normally I get rather de-motivated on this trail. I guess I have come to associate it with the last 2 miles of so many long runs that I feel in that depleted state whenever I run there. It is like pavlovian conditioning. But not today. There was even a rare Ultra Ho sighting. All 3 of them, together on the trail. I made it through 7 miles on the trail without any problems except for picking up rocks in my shoes. The last mile or so after leaving the trail I had gotten familiar with last month in Brownie's Pub Run, so I knew it would be longer than expected. I got there just with the tail end of my running group, feeling good, and with plenty of time to grab some taco's before they ran out.

Cancun Ironman 70.3

2007-10-07T23:35:00.002-05:00

I completed the Cancun Ironman 70.3 Triathlon. Apparently races of this distance are no longer officially called “Half-Ironman” distance triathlons, but instead are branded as “Ironman 70.3” triathlons. The six of us who were racing arrived in Cancun on Friday, two days before the race. Three more spectators would arrive the next day. Belle and Russ had found us a good deal for a week long stay in two rooms at the Royal Caribbean, beginning Saturday. But for those of us who needed to get down a day early for packet pickup, we got a room next door at the Royal Islander. We had brought bikes with us, checked on the plane, and began to assemble them on the balcony as it started to rain.

On Saturday, there was a 7:00am gathering at the swim start we planned to attend. At 5:30am I woke to the sound of what I thought was one of my roommates showering. But it was not the shower. Instead it was rain. So we slept a little longer and after the rain stopped we went to check out the swim start area and have a brief swim. Then we checked out of the first night’s room and put the luggage in storage, and then went to the Expo for packet pickup. There was a mandatory information session, but it had been split into two meetings. One session for Spanish and another in English. While we were waiting for the English session, checked out the expo and picked up the obligatory event T-shirts and caps, which we would need after the event to discretely show off the feat we would accomplish. There were not a lot of stalls here. I went to the bike shop stall to get some CO2 cartridges, which we could not bring on the plane, but they did not sell those here. Another in our group was more persistent and managed to get them to pull out their last 4 cartridges which we bought and spread between us. After the info session, we returned to the hotel, had lunch, went through a little hassle to get our bags transferred to the new rooms, and finally left to check our bikes into the transition area. The rains all day left some big puddles in the roads, so we did not want to ride to transition and risk problems. We took out bikes out to the main hotel zone road, and then got on the public bus to get to the transition area, which was in the parking lot in front of the Wet and Wild water amusement park. I lucked out and found that my assigned space in transition was right next to the Bike in/out access, which could not have been better. Only the pros were closer to that entrance.

Three weeks before, I did the Austin Olympic distance triathlon. I put together a spreadsheet where I extrapolated my Austin Tri times to the Cancun distances, and then added a 10% buffer in case I was slower over the longer distance. This showed me I could make the cutoff times at the end of the bike and run, but it only gave me 20 minutes or so to meet the cut-off time to complete the bike section. This meant I did not have time for flats or other problems.

Finally it was race morning. We took a taxi to the race start and put out stuff out in transition. We were not allowed to leave bags in the transition area, so we had to check them after getting our stuff set up. The swim course was a rectangular 1.2 mile single loop. It was wave start with waves leaving every 2 minutes. I was in the 4th wave. The storms the night before had knocked over part of the gate that had been erected for the start/finish chute. The water was clear and not too deep. The roughness of the swim came more from being battered by other swimmers than from the waves. About 1/3 of the way through, we swam past a buoy, and saw scuba divers below holding it in place. Maybe it’s anchor got damaged in the storm before? The course was a rectangle. I found my self drifting way outside the rectangle on the ocean side, so I tried to correct, but I ended up sighting off the wrong buoy and ended up a little too far inside the rectangle and had to go back out to avoid cutting the next buoy. Around the half-way point, the course got very shallow, and I suddenly had to swim around people in front who were standing up in knee deep water. I think the current was behind me more coming back, and I finished the swim in 47 minutes, 8 minutes ahead of my prediction. As I ran out of the swim, I had forgotten there would be people I know on the course, and so was a little startled when Brenda and Belle were there to cheer us on.

Hurricane Dean one month earlier had damaged a pier that been intended for use in the race. The result was the swim start/finish had to be moved down the beach a ways and now we had a 400 meter run to get to the transition area, and about half was on the beach. There were some showers set up as we left the beach (half-way through the run) to clean off the salt water, and then we ran through the amusement park to get to the bikes. I had forgotten to bring my race belt, so I had pinned it before the race on my bike jersey. When I tried to put on the jersey, the number ripped off. Since I did not need the number for the bike section, I left it in transition under something heavy. But since I was wet, my jersey started to roll up in the back as I tried to put it on. After I spent a minute or two trying to deal with that, a couple of volunteers in the transition area came over and helped fix the shirt from the back side. I then put an extra tube in the back pocket of my shirt and took my bike towards the exit. I happened to leave transition right behind Laura. We yelled cheers to each other, but then 30 meters from the bike start Laura turned around and Asked where my helmet was. Crap! I left my helmet in transition after my routine got interrupted with the Jersey issue. That was a major rookie mistake, thus continuing my streak of being unprepared or doing stupid things at races. So I turned around and went back for it. I left my bike outside transition, and they let me back in avoiding the timing mats. I grabbed my helmet and sunglasses, and then was off. Good thing my transition space was next to the exit. I wondered if maybe someone tried to tell me as I was leaving the first time, but if they spoke in Spanish I would not have have recognized it. Laura saved my race with this catch.

Starting the bike, with and without my helmet.

Bike Course - Start/finish is on the far right. There were two loops of the last large straight section on the left before returning to the transition area.

The first stretch of the Bike course was a 14 mile route out to a particular highway where we would do a two loops up and down the same stretch of road before coming back on the same route. Except for a couple of highway overpasses, it was pretty flat. I managed to average 19mph during this first stretch. There was one brief section with light rain and then it was sunny again. Then as I merged with the loop section, there were already people starting their 2nd loop. Two miles into my first loop, a heavy rainstorm came through. Visibility went way down. I have never rode a bike in such heavy rain, but it was past within 5 minutes and then it was sunny and steamy again. JAZ caught up to me as I hit the turnaround at the half-way point of the first loop. At each end of the loop, there was a water bottle exchange. I nearly wiped out when I missed one bottle pickup. My bike jersey identified me as being from Austin, so some other Austinites, I think with T3 group, offered encouragement as they lapped me on the bike. During the back-half of the first loop, I made sure to take nutrition and finish a bottle of electrolyte drink. There were several large pelotons that formed, as many as 3 across and up to 30 or 40 bikes. I did see the course officials on motorbikes appear to be taking down numbers on a couple of occasions, but there was so much drafting there was no way to catch everyone. I let the pelotons push me off into the highway shoulder as they blew past. This may have led to a flat 2 miles after the end of the 1st loop. I did not notice my flat right away. I did notice my speed was dropping compared to the energy I was putting in and so I looked down and saw my rear tire was not full pressure. I stopped and first tried to pump it up with my hand pump in case it was not a real flat, but it turned out the breach was in the tire valve and so I had to replace the tube. Within two minutes of stopping, the neutral course support mechanic had stopped to help and he changed the tire real fast. So I did not loose as much time as I could have. The rest of the 2nd loop was a little lonelier since I had fallen behind and most of the faster bikers were already headed back towards transition. At the bottle exchange, some bottles had the Gatorade logo, and others had the Cancun Ironman 70.3 logo, so I held out for the 70.3 souvenir bottle. After finishing the 2nd loop, I turned back for the 14 mile ride to the transition. Immediately the rain came back and it rained for the rest of the bike ride. My average speed dropped over the last 10 miles, which had more up-hill than I remembered from the ride out. I finished the bike with almost the exact time from my Austin triathlon prediction.

Run Course - start/finish is on the left. There were two loops of this out-and-back course.

The storms had really blown stuff around transition. I think the transition area volunteers had helped keep stuff in place because I found all my gear, some of which (ex: race number) might have blown away, were instead wrapped up in my towel. I pinned my number on my shirt. The cute transition volunteers came over to ask if I was OK, and then I was off. The sky was cloudy as I entered transition, but as I left the sun was out and the first mile was pretty humid. Belle, Brenda, and Russ had a cheering station setup with the Texas flag just outside the transition area. The run course was two loop out-and-back run along the Hotel Zone highway. During the first mile out, there were a lot of tables set up for water, Gatorade, and power bars and gels. Water was handed out in little plastic bags. You tear off a corner and drink some. It was a little more water than I need at a water stop, so I poured the rest over me to cool off. Aid stations were every 1km. At first I thought that would be too frequent and I would be skipping every other stop, but in the heat I at least took a bag of cold water to pour over me and cool down at each stop. In the first loop, I saw everyone in our group coming the other direction. The second loop was not nearly as crowded since many people had finished by now. As I approached the 8-mile marker, my garmin beeped to tell me I had just completed mile 65 since I turned it on at the start of the bike. I have never had such a long distance recorded on that device. I had to take a couple of extra walk breaks, but after the last turn-around, I was able to keep a more consistent pace, although it was not much faster than my walking pace. Some support tables had started to shut down, but the stops always had frio water. Approaching the end, there was about ½ mile after the 13-mile marker to the finish where I was expecting 0.1 miles to end the 13.1 mile run. I stumbled across the finish line with 19 minutes to spare before the cutoff. This was 2 minutes slower overall time than my calculated prediction. I got the finisher’s medal and T-shirt, and then bypassed the food tables because I did not feel like taking anything yet. The fire department had a shower set up and so I got cleaned off. Then packed up my stuff from transition, and grabbed a cab back to the hotel with my partially disassembled bike in the trunk. This was a very well organized race. I would recommend it.

Five of the Six finishers from our group

That night I had steak for the first time in months and lobster tail. Then most of us stayed the week in Cancun to relax. We drove to Tulum one day, and then I did some snorkeling and scuba diving on other days. We stopped at an lagoon for snorkeling near Acumel (spelling?). I was not expecting much, but it turned out to be some great snorkeling. Calm water. Lots of fish. Some of them pretty big. Fresh water was merging with the salt water, creating this weird oily looking barrier. I kept noticing when the schools of fish disappeared and I stopped, the fish would suddenly be swimming by from behind. I realized they ware drafting off of me! I then started swimming backwards, kicking with my fins. Sure enough the fish fell in behind. Others fell in as we swam on. When I turned, they followed. Some bigger fish swam along for a bit inches from my face for a moment. But after a couple of turns the fish lost interest in me and I could not get them to follow anymore. On the scuba dive trip, we visited a shipwreck and the reef off the Cancun coast. A videographer followed us. I don’t normally buy such videos, but this turned out to be extra well done. I found myself critiquing my swim form from the video afterwards. I have not been successful getting my PC to recognize the DVD, otherwise I would try to capture some images for this post.

Photo Album Link

2007 Tahoe Rim Trail 50k

2007-07-26T02:18:00.001-05:00

I went to Lake Tahoe for the Tahoe Rim Trail 50k.

Info:
- My Tahoe Photo Album
- Event website
- Course Description

I tried to save some vacation time by flying out of Austin on Friday evening after work and returning on the Saturday night red-eye. First, I got held up getting out of work. Then traffic was backed up on Hwy 183. I got to the airport with only 30 minutes before the flight was to take off, which meant I had less than 20 minutes to the gate. I quickly re-packed only my essentials into my carry-on so I would not have to check a bag. Since I already printed my boarding pass online, I went straight to security. But my bag kept setting off alarms in the x-ray machine, so they took everything out and scanned it again. It still registered something the looked like a weapon, so they scanned it a couple of more times. The security guard was scratching his head trying to figure out what was setting off the alarm. After the 4th try they figured out there were some souviner magnets in a pocket left over from my last trip that were the cause. I re-packed my bag, and ran to the gate, 2nd to last to board with only a couple of minutes before they closed the door.
I got into Reno around 8:30pm Pacific time, and drove into Carson City, NV. At 9:30pm, I stopped by the Albertsons to get breakfast for the next day and a few items that did not make it into my carry-on in the last minute re-packing. The store was nearly empty except for me, but there were 3 people playing slot machines in the mini-casino at the front of the store. They looked like they were going to be there awhile. I don't know why they chose Albertsons over the casinos down the road.

I got up early, but since I was still on Central time it was not so early to me. I drove 20 minutes to the race site and took the shuttle from the parking lot to the startline. Here I realize I forgot my flashlight when I was transferring essentials to my carry-on, but I managed to stubble around following glow-sticks and other peoples lights to get to the startline just as the 100 milers were taking off. I saw HCTR member Fagan there. Then it was another hour until my start. I picked up my race packet and then took the shuttle back to my car to drop off the packet. I took the shuttle back to the start line, and then realized I forgot to pick up my GPS watch which was in the car. Fortunately I was wearing my regular watch.

By the time of the 50M/50K start, the sun was up and it was light out. I started near the back of the pack and took it easy for the first few hill climbs. About 3-4 miles in we got the first good view of a lake. At around 6 miles we got to the first aid station, which was well stocked. Most of the trails were smooth and not too rocky. This was nice after training on rougher Texas terrain, although I was not as used to running on the sandy surface that was found in places. A couple of poeple commented how nice the Bandera T-shirt looked before they realized it was a race shirt.

After the aid station, the trail went up towards Marlette peak. The trail took us up past the treeline and around the side of the mountain. This gave us the first real look at Lake Tahoe. The runner ahead was trying to take his own picture, and so I stopped and we quickly took each others picture at a good vantage point. The runner explained the first, smaller lake next to Lake Tahoe was a man-made lake some towns get their drinking water. Then I took off on a slight down hill section. This was a little rockier, so I concentrated on footing and passing people who slowed down for this terrain. Then there was a slight up-hill to get to where the event photographer was taking pictures. I wondered why he picked this point since there was beautiful view 3/4 mile back. I had not bothered to look back to realize I missed some of the best scenery while running. I would figure it out 10 miles later when I got back here on the return trip.

Last two photos purchased from event photographer
The first 9 miles had been mostly uphill for an altitude gain from 7000ft to just over 8500 ft. As I reach the top last pass before the downhill, the first 50K runner passed me coming back the other way, which meant he was 10 miles ahead. Then there was a gradual downhill across some switchbacks until the Tunnel Creek aid station at mile 11. After this, there was a almost 2 mile steep downhill. For those familiar with Ladera Norte hill in Austin, the grade was similar. I tried to let loose down this hill. It was more comfortable running on my knees that trying to put the breaks on, so I concentrated on running hard and not falling. I had to dodge people coming back up for the first half of the hill. I could see in their faces I was not going to enjoy the journey back up. After a little bit, the course split and I went a different route from the returning runners. I descended another mile or so still on the same grade. I did not see anyone on this stretch. I even stopped once to let some rocks out of my shoe, and no-one passed me. There was a quarter mile of flat jeep track, and then just after mile 13 we hit the lowest part of the course at 6700ft and then had an similarly steep uphill for a mile. This I took slowly, and it was not long before people started passing me. Should have done more Ladera Norte hill repeats in training.

Click to enlarge
After about a mile up the steep hill, the course came to a Jeep track that flattened out for awhile. But my legs were a little spent after all that, so I walked for a bit. There were 1.5 miles on this jeep track. I tried to start running, but each time I would start getting into a coughing fit and had to stop. Each time I coughed, it felt like someone was throwing a heavy medicine ball and hitting me in the chest. So I did not make if very fast through this section. Then I got back to the steep up-hill that took me back slowly to the Tunnel Creek Aid station. The 100M/50M course takes another out-and-back loop to add 18 miles at this point that the 50k course skips.

After the aid station it was another two miles up-hill along the same route that I had run out on. Here, the lead 100M and 50M runners coming off their extra loop started passing me from behind. It was another 2 miles uphill. I had been taking a bunch of E-Caps, and now my stomach was starting to turn and that made it hard to run consistently. Many people who passed offered encouragement, or asked if I needed assistance. A few suggested as they passed that more training would have helped me, and they were right. The steeper it got, the slower I got. I think altitude may have affected me here, but it is hard to tell if it was that or lack of fitness or both. In this stretch it gave me lots of time to think about the choices I made that got me here in this shape. I choose to go on a two week trip, 4 weeks before this run when I should have been peaking my training. I took a Friday night flight to save vacation time when I should have come a day earlier and had a good night sleep before the race. After getting back from my travel, I choose to cut a run short after encountering flooded areas in the greenbelt, when I could have found a safer route to get in the distance. I did not run enough in the last month before this run. I don't regret most those choices, but I should have been better prepared. I knew better than that. I guess the slow hike up the mountain gave me too much time to think here.

One of the consequences of spending the last month traveling, and then rushing to catch up with things at work and life after returning before the race, and then rushing to pack and get to the airport on time--- was that I had not studied the course map in over a month. So I had forgotten that there was a different route back. Also, I remembered incorrectly that the last aid station was around mile 19 when actually it was closer to mile 17. Since I had forgotten my GPS watch, I did not have the distance measurement to pull me into reality. With any time goal out the window, I figured I could make the cut-off time with a few hours to spare, so I took some time to enjoy the scenery and take some pictures along the way. Around mile 20 (at the time, I thought it was 24-25), I got back to one of the prettiest parts of the course. I realized I missed some of this the first time out because I did not happen to look back. Meredith, who was running one of the longer routes, caught up to me here at one of the best views and so I had to take a picture. I was going to try and take it while she was in motion so it wouldn't interrupt her momentum, but she stopped instead to pose. We chatted for a very quick visit. She asked if I had seen other HCTR runners, I either had not seen or did not know the other HCTR runners out there sicne I saw Fagan at the start. I think she tried to tell me I mis-understood how far it was to the finish, but I did not quite follow what she said over the wind as she moved ahead and out of earshot. I figured it out two miles later when I got to the aid station and realized there were 10.5 miles left instead of 6. Upon that realization, I put the camera up and pushed on with some renewed motivation.

Within the next three miles, there was a long climb up to the highest point of the course, and again I had to slow down to a crawl. Some mental calculations with the correct distance told me I might be in danger of missing the cutoff at this rate, so I tried to push faster, but started feeling sick each time I increased exertion. Finally I got to the aid station at the top, and the volunteers said the next 7 miles to the finish were all down hill. These miles went faster, but my legs were spent so I could not take full advantage. Quite a few people passed me but I did not see any 50K bibs, so I started worrying I'd be DFL (dead f-ing last). I must not have looked good towards the end. Just after mile 30, another runner passed me an made the comment "It helps if you train." Thanks buddy. Although accurate, it was not the motivating comment I wanted to hear at the moment.

Anyway, I got to the end with plenty of time, and I was not last. Although it was a couple hours later than my estimate. As I crossed the finish line, I was handed a large beer and a finisher's medal. The medal was actually a bottle opener. The beer was a local brew with a special label just for the race. I drank my beer, found a hose for a quick shower, got a little dinner, and drove back to Reno for my midnight flight home. The lesson learned here is to be better prepared and not rush the travel arrangements to be well rested. I did several things wrong here where I should have known better.

Here is a video from the race I found on the internet:

Two weeks later I did a sprint triathlon. I was a little bummed out after the 50k for signing up for more than I had made time to train for. Towards the end of the bike, after an up-hill section someone passed me and commented that I didn't even look like I was sweating. At the time, I took that to mean I either was not trying hard enough or maybe I was not drinking enough water, but later I figured maybe it was meant as a compliment. During the run I felt I was just barely moving. I did not push the speed, and just wanted to keep moving and get it over with. Afterwards, I saw the bike section ended up being one of my fastest average times ever in a tri. I was surprised to see that for the run I was less than a minute slower than the last couple of 5K's that I actually raced without biking and swimming beforehand. Considering I did better than I thought at the time without trying too hard, maybe the trail training I did before got me in a little better shape than I thought. If I had tried a little harder instead of just trying to finish I wonder what I would have done.

China-Tibet Trip, Part 1

2007-07-26T02:08:00.004-05:00

I joined a 2-week tour through China, Tibet, and Nepal. It started out in Beijing, and then took a 2-day train to Lhasa, Tibet. After a few days in Lhasa we traveled for the 2nd week in 4-wheel drive SUV’s across Tibet, visiting several towns and Everest base camp before exiting through Nepal.

Day 1 – Transatlantic flight; Arrive in Beijing. Altitude 40m

My flight plan called for a 22 hour transit time, excluding delays from Austin to Beijing via Dallas and Tokyo. The first flight out of Austin was delayed almost an hour due to weather, and so I arrived at the exact time my next flight was supposed to take off. But it was also delayed. As I stepped off the flight I was prepared to make a mad dash to another terminal. I have never had a connecting flight in the same terminal at Dallas. Instead, as I was looking around for the screen that displays departure gates, I noticed that the gate next to me was in fact my flight to Tokyo. My discount ticket meant I ended up in the middle seat of the 5-seat across section. But due to the delays a lot of people missed the flight and I had empty seats on either side so that I only had to climb over one person to get out to go to the restroom.

After another delay in Tokyo, I arrived in Beijing two hours late. I was expecting to experience an immediate culture change, but instead the first thing I saw before I left customs was the Starbucks coffee shop and KFC restaurant in the airport. I took a taxi without incident to the hotel, which was only a few blocks away from Tiananmen square near several shopping malls. This taxi drive gave me my first encounter with the smog. Visibility seemed like around a kilometer. There were lots of tall buildings, some with interesting architecture, but you cannot see them until you are practically next to them.

I arrived with 20 minutes to clean up before meeting the tour group for dinner. We walked a few blocks to a restaurant in a quiet residential neighborhood. It was excellent food. Unfortunately, we were told the neighborhood was scheduled to be torn down and replaced with more modern large buildings and the residents would have to move. There were 12 people in the tour, and 4 of us had met earlier on a tour through Egypt. The tour leader from GAP adventures would stay with us for the whole tour, and local guides would join us along the way.

Day 2 – Beijing; Travel to the north of the city to visit the Great Wall at Mutianyu. An incredible piece of engineering stretching 6000km westwards along the mountain ridges north of Beijing, it was originally constructed to protect the Chinese empires from the Mongolian 'barbarians' of the north.

We were bussed out a couple of hours to a section of the Great Wall. We had to climb up some hills to get to the wall from the parking lot. We had a little less than two hours free time. I took off on my own to reach the end of this section that was open to tourists a few kilometers away. The wall had some rather steep sections, and I started to fall into the mindset on the hills like I learned in trail running over rocky surfaces. That is letting go on the down hills and keeping a steady pace on the uphills. This became my only workout during this trip really applicable to the Tahoe Rim Trail 50k less than one month away. There were some high school students who appeared to be doing a cross country running workout across the top of the wall.

Before I knew it, I had reached the end where there was one final climb with a 45degree angle that switched to 60degres for the final staircase. At the top, there was an observation platform. The wall beyond had not been restored, and was overgrown and crumbling. Smog here was not as bad as Beijing, but still made for an overcast day. I took a few to many pictures along the wall. I returned to our entrance point. I had bought earlier a ticket to descend via an alpine tourist slide from this point back to the base of the mountain.

In the evening, we went to visit a theater to watch a live musical about Kung Fu fightin’.

Day 3 – Beijing; Visit to Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, and free afternoon. Board the train in the evening to begin the journey to Tibet.

We took the subway one stop from our hotel to Tiananmen Square. We walked across the square, fending off the Chairman Mao Watch sellers, and then toured the Forbidden City. I was disappointed to learn there was a Starbucks coffee shop in the middle of the Forbidden City. But I heard it was closed after protests a few weeks later.

We took taxi’s to lunch, and then visited the Temple of Heaven in the afternoon. On the way back we stopped at the Pearl Market which was a 4-story market with all sorts of goods. In the evening we boarded the train to Lhasa.

Day 4-5 – Train ride to Tibet, Arrive in Lhasa evening of 5th day.

Our group had two compartments each sleeping 6. There was a restaurant car, but there were several tour groups competing for the restaurant space so it was hard to eat there except at off hours. At the occasional stop we could get ramen noodles as alternative meals.

On the second day, we woke up to snow on the ground as we passed though one of the highest passes of the trip. The train was pressurized and oxygen was pumped in to reduce altitude sickness among the passengers. Then we went across Tibetan Plateau to Lhasa.

Upon arrival in Lhasa in the evening, we boarded a bus to the hotel. One of the first things that was evident was most of the signs were written with large Chinese characters, with smaller Tibetan translation printed below. Although the tour guides were not supposed to discuss such topics, we learned this made some Tibetans feel as foreigners in their own land. The railroad that had transported us to Tibet was also an opening for increased migration of ethnic Han Chinese into Tibet.

Several nights, we received calls from the front desk waking us up after midnight. The first night, the person asked "are you mas-sa-jay" to which I responded "No, I am John." It turned out the hotel was trying to line up massages in their spa for the next day.

Day 6 – Lhasa: This historic city is situated in a small valley, 3700m above sea level. Lhasa rose to take an important role in the administration of the country over 1300 years ago. At this time, the grand temples of Ramoche and Jokhang were built to house the Buddha images and religious artifacts brought into Tibet as dowries from China and Nepal.

Although little of the 7th-Century Lhasa survives, the 1600s saw a second stage of renovation and development, which included the building of the Potala Palace. Perched on Red Hill overlooking the town, this massive structure dominates the landscape with grace and dignity - a true architectural wonder. The Jokhang Temple is the spiritual heart of Tibet and also the most active. Prostrating pilgrims circle the temple endlessly, day and night, some of them traversing the extremes of the Tibetan landscape by foot to celebrate and express their faith. Nearby are the huge monastic universities of Drepung and Sera are still active institutions.

Begin with a tour of the Jokhang and make a kora (circumambulation) of the Barkhor, the holiest devotional circuit, which surrounds the Jokhang and houses a market bazaar where people bargain for Buddha images, yak skulls with ruby eyes, woodcarvings, carpets, prayer wheels and the odd goat's head.

Altitude= 11,800ft/3700m.

A short walk from our hotel brought us to the 1300 year old Jokhang temple. Inside it was rather crowded so the group split up as we walked through the shrines that surrounded the main hall of the temple. The roof offered good view of the surounding square and Potala palace. Our local guide was around, but did not explain what we were seeing unless we specifically asked a question. Many in the group were a little upset and wanted more forthcoming explanation of the places we visit. Eventually, our European tour leader had the local guide replaced, but that would not come until we left Lhasa so we ended up standing on the periphery of other tour groups to hear the explanation of some of the things we saw.

After the temple, we walked around the Barkhor pilgrimage circuit. The circuit is a clockwise walk around the vicinity of the Jokang temple. We were told to always pass certain collums at the corners of the walk on the left to respect the local custom. The walk is lined with markets, street stalls and small shops, selling mostly tourist stuff. After the walk we visited a couple of other temples in the downtown area before lunch.

After lunch we had either a free afternoon, or optional tour of the Depung monastery. Everyone opted for the self-guided tour. We rode the public bus transportation 7km outside the city and then boarded a truck which ferried people from the bus stop up the hill to the monastary. This was a fairly sizable monastery. Prior to the cultural revolution in 1959, there were up to 7000 monks living here. Now there are around 700 and many of the structures have not survived. We observed some of the monks gathered in a courtyard doing their daily spirited debate ritual.

Walking through the city, the Tibetans often had a friendly peaceful smile on their face. This was a bit of a contrast to the passion seen in the debates we witnessed in several of the monasteries.

Day 7 – Lhasa: Visit the Potala Palace and Sera Monastery leaving plenty of time for your own explorations of this wonderful city.

In the morning, we visited the Sera monastery near Lhasa. Then after lunch we took a tour of the Potala Palace, the former seat of the Tibetan government. It was unfortunate our tour guide was not very helpful here, and so we were left again to wander on our own. I was able to stand close enough to other tour groups to hear some explanation, but I am sure I missed explanation of the relevance of some of the rooms. Outside the palace there was a pilgrimage walk lined with prayer wheels.

Day 8 – Free day.

While much of the rest of the group went shopping, I signed up for an all day rafting tour on the free day. We left around 8:00am. It was a 2.5 hour drive outside the city. The drive was very enjoyable. It gave the first up close look and Tibetan villages outside the city. Also the air was perfectly clear, which was a strong contrast to Beijing.

The river was a little low, so instead of the rafts we used inflatable kayaks. These were essentially individual sized rafts. We went for 6 hours down the river through class 3 and 4+ rapids. When we stopped for lunch, there was a quick hail storm, but then the sun came out and we continued on. In the last hour, my hands started to cramp up, but it was OK since it clamped my hands on the paddle.

After we returned to the to the hotel, after 7pm, I skipped the group dinner to do some last minute souvineer shopping. Then I stopped for dinner. I got to talking to a solo tourist at the next table. A college professor traveling on his own. He explained some of the difficulties with paperwork, permits, and delays required for such travel. All this for me is handled by the tour company.

Days 9-15: Travel across Tibet/Nepal

In the second week we traveled by 4-wheel drive vehicle to visit the cities of Gyantse, Shigatse, Sakya, Rombuk/Everest Base Camp, Nyalm, and Kathmandu. For me, these were the highlights of the trip, but I will have to describe them later in other posts.

Related Posts
- Part 2 – Travel through Tibet
- Tibet trip report, part 3 – Everest and Nepal

Photos:
- Highlights Album
All Photos:
- Album #1 – Beijing and the Train ride
- Album #2 – Lhasa and the river raft trip
- Album #3 – Gyantse
- Album #4 – Shigatse and Sakya
- Album #5 – Rombuk and Everest Base Camp
- Album #6 – Nepal and Kathmandu

Mt Everest

Generating GPS Maps

2007-06-10T18:59:00.012-05:00

I get a lot of questions how I generate the map images with overlay of routes I ran that were downloaded from my Garmin Forrunner 305 GPS device. I will explain how I do it here.

Example Map Route Image:Mt Diablo 25K/50K

(Click the image for full sized map)
The Garmin software that comes with the device does not have a good option to export the routes generated into common formats (such as GPX) which can be read by other mapping software.

I use a program called Get301tracks by Brad Culbertson to download the GPS route information to my PC in common GPX format. This works for both the Garmin Forerunner 301 and 305. This program downloads the GPS routes from the Garmin device and saves it in both GPX and CSV formats. This works well enough for me I have not been motivated to investigate other options. If anyone has found a better solution, share it in the comments section.

Install/Using gettracks:

Create a new folder to store GPS routes. Suggested Location: My Documents/GPS routes
Download this program into that folder, and unzip it: get301tracks
Plug your garmin in to the computer.
Run the get301tracks program you just downloaded.
A window will pop up, run the program and close automatically. When it is done, your GPS routes that have been recorded are stored as separate GPX files in that same folder where get301tracks. The filename will indicate the date of the run.

Now you can load the GPX file into most mapping software and plot the route you traveled over a map.

Mapping software I use includes:

Topo-fusion: I use this for Topographical maps and b/w arial photos.
Google Earth: color satelite/arial photography; Tutorial
Delorme-Topo-usa:

Another program that might do something similar, and maybe more user friendly, is GPS Babel. I have not used it. The last time I looked into it two years ago it did not yet support the Garmin F305, but I think they have updated it since then.

Some tools that look interesting but I have not tried:

Course Creator: From the maker of get301Tracks is a program to create routes and pre-load them into the GPS device.
GPSBabel: Once you have the route in GPX format, this program can convert it to other formats. It might be able to download directly from the device, but I have not investigated how to use it.
Garmin Training Center History Extractor: This appears to be a utility that can extract out workouts from a Garmin Training software history file.

Example map images from my downloaded GPS routes

TopoFusion Example:
Pikes Peak Marathon

(Click the image for full sized map)
Examples from Google Earth:Pikes Peak Marathon

(Click the image for full sized map)
Mt Diablo 25K/50K

(Click the image for full sized map)

Running Above the Clouds: Guads 2007

2007-05-24T23:40:00.000-05:00

I went out to Guadelupe Mountains National Park in west Texas for a weekend of long runs across the park with 25 runners from the Rouge Trail running programs or from HCTR. We drove out on Thursday, leaving at 6:30 am and arriving around 3pm. The first night our cook fixed up a meal with choice of grilled salmon or steak, green beans, potatoes and corn on the cob. This was the start of some of the best camp food ever.

Photo Album

Friday morning we got up an hour before dawn and paired up into groups of similar speed and distace. We has people training for 50K, 50 mile, and 100 mile races and so everyone picked routes ranging from 27 to 40 miles. It started out foggy, but as we climed up we started to rise above the clouds for some incredible views of the clouds below creeping through the valley.

As I climbed up each switchback, the light was changing and the clouds below were receeding. I needed to hury to get to the next overlook while the light was still good for pictures. Now I was racing against the rising sun to get in position for a good picture. There is only a narrow window of time where the light is best. Too early there is not enough light, especially for the small point-and-shoot I carried. A few minutes too late, and we loose the warm colors of the early morning sun as the clouds burn off.

We got to Pine Top, the highest point on this first climb, about 4 miles into the route and 2000 feet above the start. We looked down for our final view of the clouds below. Then we ran North down the Tejas Trail for 4 or 5 miles until we hit the McKittrick Trail. As we approached the trail junction, a valley opened up oun our left, and we could look down two or three thousand feed to the flat expanse below. No clouds, so it was a strong contrast to the views on the other side of the park.

As we crossed a ridge heading east on the McKittrick Trail, another valley opened up and this one still had a cloud below. The sun was bright and the cloud layer seemed to be only a few hundred feet below. I do not run with sunglasses, and so the glare coming up from below was a little disorienting. Running along the trail you could not see the ground below the clouds, and it gave an illusion that we were running along the edge of a cliff.

A few miles later we really were running along the edge of a cliff as we decended into McKittrick canyon. This time the clouds helped hide how steep the drop offs were. We reached the McKittrick Visitor's center, 19 miles from the start. If you read my prior post on the Guadelupe Mountains, this completed the route I originally intended to hike over 3 days with a 150lb backpack on my first trip here. I failed to complete it then, but now did the whole route in a matter of hours.

We refilled our water bladders, and then headed out for one last climb up Permian Reef. This would have been an 8-mile out and back to get to the top. Due to the fog, I could not see the views. However, I turned around after a couple of miles and so I only got in around 24 miles instead of the 27 planned.

The second day we did a 16-mile route over Bush Mountain, the second highest peak in Texas. My GPS battery was dead so I did not record the route, and I was a little slow after the previous day's effort.

Here is a picture of the same valley seen above, but without the clouds.

My Longest Weekend

2007-05-09T00:08:00.000-05:00

My training plan called for a 24 mile trail run on Saturday, followed by the Maze 30K on Sunday to get some back-to-back long runs. Instead I substitued the 90 mile Shiner G.A.S.P bike ride on Saturday from Austin to Shiner, TX. Is a 90 mile bike ride sufficient to make up for a 24 mile trail run?

The Shiner G.A.S.P. Ride

On this ride I learned the same lesson that Lance learned at the NYC marathon. I did not respect the distance and it kicked my ass. I had not done a long bike ride (>30 miles) in a long time. The night before I had gone out to dinner with some friends starting at 8:00 for someones birthday celebration. The service was slow and so I did not get out until 11:30.THen I slept through my alarm and did not get up until 5:50 and had to rush to get up, dressed, and across town to the 7:00 am start. Got there with 10 minutes to spare. Some friends had dropped cars at the end in Shiner and I left a bag of fresh clothes with them, but I forgot regular shoes and so I had to the ride's bag drop for those.

The first 10 miles went well. THere were several hundred riders, and so the roads were coned off for the first few miles. I was quicky separated from those I knew. I tried to start off slow, but when I got stuck behind a light, after it turned green I joined a small peleton that broke off and tried to catch up to the group ahead. Wind was in our face but not too noticable yet. Then I kept ending up behind groups where I felt like it would be more comfortable going faster, and so I kept passing people, knowing full well I would regret this 50 miles down the road. There were a lot of people in green team in training jerseys, and so I started targeting them and picking them off one by one. On the downhills I was blowing by large groups. I guess my weight gives me an advantage to help speed up on the down hills. I skipped the first aid station. At mile 20 I fell in behind a couple of guys who were moving at a pace I was comfortable drafting off of and stayed with them for 5 miles until the 2nd stop. I was feeling great. But then I got off the bike to refil my water bottles, and realized how sore my but was. I was already limping around.

I ran into a bunch of people I knew from various marathon training at this stop. Belle was there and asked if we could ride together. But as we left the aid station, the energy I had before seemed gone and all of a sudden it was a strugle to maintain even 10 mph on slight uphills. I guess the realization how sore I was had set in. I told Belle not to wait for me and continued pushing it. I started to get into a groove after a few miles just in time for the next aid station around mile 35. I stopped only to refil, but I did not take any food and that was a mistake. As I rode on, I started feeling hungary and the slight tiredness and a little dizzy which I usually feel on long runs when I did not take in enough sugar. The next stop was not for another 15 miles and by the time I got there, I was feeling out of energy. At this stop, just passed the half-way point, I took a little extra time to eat and hydrate. I also grabbed one of the last 3 energy gells which I desparately needed. I opted not to wait in line for the Pb&J sandwiches, which looked to be a 5-10 minute wait, and got back on the road again feeling much better.

But then after 5 miles we turned south on Hwy 95, and now the wind was in my face and the road was really rough. After 10 miles of that, I was running out of energy and only making between 6 and 8 mph progress. Even on the downhills I had to struggle to get above 10mph. I felt like I could barely make it up the hill over the I-10 overpass. At the Flutonia aid station I thought I was done and I tried to board the Sag wagon. But they were full. I figured some of the guys in the carpool would be finished by now and I had more than 25 miles to go. With the speed I was going that would be severl hours. I waited around for a few minutes thinking I would catch the next SAG. Then one of the volunteers explained the next aid station was 8 miles away an the finsh only 18 miles and not 25. My odometer was off. I figured it would take as long to find a sag wagon as to keep riding so I took off again.

The rest was mostly up hill. I had to fall to my lowest gear a few times, and I stared having trouble getting out of my low gear. I would click the shifters but not notice it did not shift until I saw my speed was quite slow on the downhill. I stopped 3 times to fix a dropped chain from trying to shift out of the low gear, and so I then had to avoid the easiest big gear. That helped me maintain a little more speed. I got to the last aid station, filled up, sent a quick text msg to let my carpool know where I was, an then took off. It still took over an hour to do the last 10 miles, but I finaly made it to the finish in Shiner.

As I got to the finish line in after more eight and a half hours of riding, I lost my balance on the dismount because I failed to un-clip, and I fell on my back with my bike on top. I looked around, and initially felt releived no one I knew saw that. But then heard my carpool friends cheering me on and realized they definitely saw the fall. I hosed off, changed clothes, grabbed a beer, and then we hopped into the car and stopped for dinner in a local restraunt before heading back to Austin. I was very sore, and could barely get up on my own when I tried to stand up as we left dinner.

The Maze 30K

The next morning I got up to run the Maze 30K. It was supposed to be hot, and so I grabbed a sleveless T-shirt, and went to the race. I had forgotten to wear sunscreen on the bike ride, and so I had a strong tanline just above the elbows, which was very obvious in that shirt. Everyone had to comment on the tan line.

The course was a 10K trail loops repeated three times in Walnut Creek park. Much of the soreness from the night before was gone, so I could actually run some. I really felt yesterday's ride on the steep downhil sections. In the 2nd loop, calf muscles were starting to tighten up, but in time that feeling went away. I had to stop twice to let a snake finish crossing the trail. I was quite a bit slower than my time last year, coming in just under 5 hours. I was not DFL, but close to it. But I finished the distance. The post race tent was serving hamburgers, and it was the best tasting hamburger I had in a long time.

[EDIT] Conclusions

Sometime after the ride was done, I mapped the Shiner route on TopoMaps and the elevation profile had a lot more downhills than it felt like.