Adventures in Onionism

I started this blog post on my futon in Washington, DC coughing uncontrollably with a bad cold. (Remember colds?) That night was the first night of non-disgusting, non-bedsheet-soaking levels of sweatiness. Why was this happening to me? The prior Thursday night just before midnight I finished the Tor des Géants Tor 330 race: a 356 Kilometer (220 mile) race through the Italian Alps starting and ending in Courmayeur circumnavigating the Aosta Valley, with 80,000 feet of vertical gain. Why is it called Tor 330 when it's clearly 350+ Kilometers, even on the race's own maps? That is just one of dozens of quirks of the Italian-run race, some of which come off as truly obnoxious, some of which instead come off as magical. I finished in 109:49:19, in 102nd place overall (of over 1,000 starters) , and 4th American (of not very many). It's the hardest race I've ever run, and one of my best performances. What does "hard" mean? I only finished one loop at Barkley, and I...

Hello from the slopes of Le Prarion above St. Gervais-les-Bains. I arrived in Geneva early this morning, stupidly having watched movies the whole flight rather than sleeping. A couple trains quickly got me to St. Gervais and then I hiked myself and my two backpacks full of race gear 2,700 vertical feet up the mountain to my cousin's husband's family chalet. (Thank you N & S!)  It's adorable and has terrific views of whatever mountains those are across the way (in the opposite direction of Mt. Blanc). I'll probably stay two nights then hike up over the rest of the mountain and down to Chamonix, and continue on my way to Courmayeur, where I'll be running Tor des Géants, a 330Km race with 80K+ feet of vertical gain. It's going to kick my butt for days. I had to go back down into the village to hit the ATM and get some food. It was a great run down, but then once I was there the weather was very threatening. I ate some quick pizza and asked if there was a taxi s...

I just ran the inaugural Standhope 100 in Ketchum, Idaho. I was very excited for this race--it was billed as an "unforgettable single-loop trek completely circumnavigating the Pioneer Mountain Range of central Idaho" that is "NOT an easy course." I looked at the course map and elevation profile and expected gorgeous views , akin to the Hardrock of Idaho. Instead, I had a 90 degree F 6PM start along several miles of highway shoulder, subpar aid stations, subpar course markings, a lot of gravel road, pavement to the finish, one truly excellent high pass, and a lot of mixed feelings about the race. On the plus side, the race started and ended in downtown Ketchum, which was extremely convenient. I flew to Boise and rented a car, as I wanted to see extended family and visit gf's family inherited property on the trip. However, if you wanted, you could fly direct to Ketchum and you wouldn't even have to rent a car. On the negative side, this meant 4.5 miles of pav...

If I haven't told you already, we're moving to Reno. Moving is stressful. Trying to find renters or a decent property manager for short term rentals is stressful. My work is making noise like I may have to go back to DC, despite the new agreement with the union, so that's stressful. Summer heat really kicked in in the desert so it's hard to do long runs, or sometimes any runs at all. So this week was rough.  But I took off with Margo and George to the Sierra for the long weekend. (Amy is out of town.) We headed to Horseshoe Meadows and went over Cottonwood Pass to see a bunch of the Golden Trout Wilderness that is new to me. After the first four miles we didn't see a soul. We just finished a 50K and are camped at over 10,000 feet on the shoulder of Kern Peak. Hope we don't freeze tonight! Oh, yes, you read that right, both my dogs did a 31 mile day. I love these two! Margo carried the dog food backpack most of the day and was a pro. George was a big baby when I ...

 I just got home from running the San Diego 100. This is the only 100-miler I have ever officially run more than once (unofficially I did the Western States course before running the race.) I like seeing new places and generally have little desire to repeat things. I've repeated 50-milers and 50K, mostly because Mt. Diablo and Rodeo Beach are gorgeous, but also it's nice to occasionally have an apples-to-apples comparison of my performance on the same course with the same amount of elevation gain. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure the course of the San Diego 100 changed since I first ran it in 2011, so this isn't an apples-to-apples comparison. Start   I wasn't sure about my fitness level going into the race. I've done some long hikes in the past couple months--I tried to hike from my house to San Gorgonio, I did a loop of the Baldy Marathons with 9,000 feet of vertical gain, and last weekend I did two big runs in the Bay Area--but I would call my training neither ...