Pauley family summer and fall

Again, it's been forever since I have posted! Its been a pretty eventful few months for the Pauley kids. Cooper overcame a late summer foot inury and a late XC season bout with some sort of fatigue issue to help his Monmouth Scots climb back to repectability in the Midwest Conference, scoring a 7th place finish after not even having enough healthy runners to score as a team in 2014. With the seven scorers at conference being made up of a junior, a sophomore (Coop), and five freshman I am really excited to see if they can regain their rightful place at the top of the conference in the next couple of years.

At the Golden Turkey Trot

 Gina and I managed one trip to the Midwest around Claire's own high school XC schedule to see Coop run at the Lamb-Kohawk Invite in Cedar Rapids. It was well worth the trip, since Coop medaled for the first time at a college meet, finishing 13th out of 109 competitors. We also got to see Colorado native and Cornell runner Abrah Masterson compete in person, though she lost to teammate Sanjuanita Martinez, Masterson would go on to win the Division III national championship later in the fall.

Coop receiving his medal/shirt at Lamb Kohawk

Claire had an even more exciting season than her brother. She lowered her 5k P.R. to 20:02 and was the third scorer on her team most meets. She and the other Arvada West Wildcats won the Jefferson County 5A league championship and Claire was all conference with a sixth place finish! The girls then qualified for the state meet, where they finished 18th. Much like Coopers team, the Wildcats are young, only losing one senior that scored varsity. The rest of the squad was made up of two freshman and four sophomores (also known as The Fab Five when one isn't injured!). So a couple more Jeffco titles and state trips are almost certainly in the cards!

Arvada West boys and girls team, plus coaches, dispaying their Jeffco first place plaques

I did run one trail race in late spring, The 10-mile Mesa Run at North Table Mountain, about fifteen minutes from the house. I actually began a race report that I never bothered to finish. Maybe I will clean that up and publish it. Anyhow, I felt I ran well for my first longer race at altitude with that amount of climbing, clocking a 1:35:30. Somehow in the race results they had me down for 1:21, switching me and some guy name Patrick Thiessen. Sorry Pat, we both know the truth. It was a very low key race (only 55 racers), which I like, but mistakes happen.

The real running highlights had nothing to do with my races. Cooper and I headed up to the Leadville area before he went back to school. We got in a short run and did some sightseeing and hiking. I also ran up to the top of Bear Peak near Boulder a couple of times, about 3000 feet of climbing, running, and scrambling to bag that surprisingly exposed peak. Gina, Claire, and I also took in the Pikes Peak Marathon, getting to see mountain and ultra runners such as Rickey Gates, Alex Nichols, and Brandy Erholtz in person. Other than that we spent most weekend days bumming around the foothills, hiking and running.

Coop near wonderful Leadville, Colorado

My plans when the winter weather breaks? I still have yet to "bag a fourteener", which means to climb one of Colorado's fifty-plus mountains that reach over 14,000 feet above sea level. I have my eye on Mt. Evans (literally, I can usually see it looming from just about anywhere in the Denver area) in June. I also plan on running the Evergreen Trail Race Series throughout the summer and fall, a five race series ranging in distance from 5 miles to half marathon, all taking place near the mountain town of Evergreen. It appears they are pretty laid back affairs, with not much more than fifty participants or so in any of the races. Should be a blast with good vibes. There is also (eeek!) an ultra in Golden Gate Canyon State Park. That would be a tall order with a ton of climbing at elevations near 10,000 feet at times, but it is tempting to run a race in that wonderful park!

Claire just moments before giving her phone a bath in Bear Creek after a run at Lair O The Bear Park

A few days ago ESPN, celebrating twenty years on the air, released it's list of the top twenty athletes during that time. I am not going to argue who should or shouldn't be on the list, though having Lance Armstrong and Barry Bonds included seemed borderline antagonistic to me. But listening to Mike And Mike discuss the list and read texts and tweets suggesting other athletes that could have been included got me thinking. Some athletes from outside of the mainstream, major sports were included. Micheal Phelps, Serena Williams, and Armstrong, to name a few. One runner did in fact make the list, sprinter Usain Bolt.

Now I am not delusional enough to expect that an ultra runner would even get considered for such a list of athletes. It is an athletic occupation way too far out of the scope of most sporting fans to have a chance. However, let's play fantasy land and pretend ultra marathoning were as popular as, say, soccer, which had Mia Hamm and Messi make the ESPN top twenty. What two stars from ultra running would make this list? Assuming that the stellar Killian Jornet is a tad too young and in the infancy of his career to be eligible, in my opinion that can leave only Ann Trason and Scott Jurek. Let's take a look at each of their crazy-great resumes.

First Trason, who in my opinion is the most accomplished ultra runner of all time, period. She arrived on the ultra scene in 1985 with a splash, winning the first event she entered, the American River 50 miler. The next year she entered again, won again, and broke the course record with a 6:23. In all she won American River five times and in 1993 set the course record again, 6:09. It has yet to be broken. She won the Leadville 100, one of the toughest races in the world, four times, once finishing second overall and on another occasion, third overall. According to her Ultra Signup page (Ultra Signup tracks results of North American ultras, among useful ultra type stuff), Trason completed 51 ultra marathons between 1985 and 2004. She was the top female finisher a mind-boggling 49 times. Four times she was the overall winner.

While those stats are undeniably impressive her feats at the Western States 100, one of toughest and most competitive ultra races in existence, are absolutely mind blowing. Since the first women's champ was crowned at States in 1978 (the 2008 race was cancelled due to wildfires), Trason has won a staggering fourteen times! In fact, she won fourteen out of fifteen years with a streak of ten in a row from 1989-1998. She held the women's States record (17:37) until 2012. Just for good measure, she also is the only American woman to win the 56 mile Comrades Marathon in South Africa. She won it twice in fact, back-to-back in 1996 and 1997. Oh, I almost forgot to mention she won Western States both those years even though that race took place just TWELVE DAYS after Comrades.

Scott Jurek's credentials are in many ways just as impressive as Trason's. While still living and attending college in his home state of Minnesota, he competed five years in a row in the Voyageur 50 miler, finishing second twice and winning the other three times. After relocating to the West Coast Jurek began running in more high profile races. And winning. In 1999 he began a seven year win streak at Western States, including a course record of 15 hours and 36 minutes is 2004. In 2005 and 2006 he won the 135 mile suffer-fest Badwater back-to-back. The first of his Badwater victories was a course record effort.

Never afraid to try new things, Jurek traveled to Greece in 2006 to compete in the 153-mile Spartathlon ultra, which follows the footsteps of Pheideppides from Athens to Sparta in 490 B.C. Jurek, of course, won the race, becoming the first North American to do so. 2006 also saw Scott travel to Mexico's Copper Canyon to take part in the first Caballo Blanco Copper Canyon Ultramarathon, finishing second to Tarahumara legend Arnulfo. That entire trip is chronicled in what is perhaps the most popular running book of the last couple of decades, "Born To Run", a tale that made Jurek and Jenn Shelton the closest things ultra marathoning has to household names.

In 2007 Jurek returned the Copper Canyon and this time emerged victorious. He also made it back-to-back victories at the Spartathlon (he won again in 2008) and defeated the field at The Hardrock 100. In what might have been his last top elite finish, he set the American twenty-four hour record in France, covering a staggering 165.7 miles. 

Jurek dominated some lesser know races in his day. He  was the victor at the Leona Divide 50 Miler four times and the Miwok 100 three times. In 2004 he entered and completed the Ultra Running Grand Slam, finishing Western States (1st), the Vermont 100 (5th), the Leadville Trail 100 (2nd), and the Wasatch Front 100 (17th) over a four month period.

Now one factor to consider when comparing ultra running to most other sports is that in any race, all the top current runners are not there. Due to the extreme rigors of running 50 or more miles, racers pick and choose their events and seldom do more than a handful per year. Also, participant limits that result in lottery systems to enter most big ultras also results in many top runners being left out of races they want to run. This is not NASCAR, in which almost every weekend all the best in the world are participating in that race. That is why victories at Leadville, Western States, Hardrock, etc. are so crucial to an ultra runners lagacy. The field is simply stronger at those races than most others.

Anyhow, those are the two ultra marathoners that I feel would be included in the top twenty athletes in the last twenty years if they had a snowballs chance...

Adventures on North Table Mountain

I have been spending a lot of time recently at North Table Mountain for a variety of reasons. First is the convenience. I can be there in about fifteen minutes (or less on weekend morning) which makes it a great place to got after work when I don't have a lot of time before sundown. Secondly is that after a steep fifteen minute hike to the top (about 6,500 feet), it is really great, rolling trail running terrain. See, North Table is not so much a mountain as a mesa. It is basically flat, at least by Colorado standards once you reach the summit.

A pic of North Table Mountain (left) and South Table Mountain (right). That is the Coors plant in Golden between the two

So I have been going there quite a bit recently to do some scrambling and hiking, but mostly trail running. In fact, I took Claire there for her very first trail run a couple of weekends ago. It turned out to be a memorable run (too bad I don't bring my phone on runs, those pics would have been great) because at one point in the trail to our left was a herd of mule deer. At the same time on the opposite side of the trail about 40 feet or so away were two coyotes having a grand time playing in the brush. It is strange that not only do the animals have little fear of people here, they are almost completely indifferent. The coyotes especially never even glanced our way as we watched them. They couldn't have cared less! I also found a nice scrambling spot during another run along the south cliffs. Of course, I haven't been able to find it since but I will again. On another occasion, while trying to squeeze in a run after work, I underestimated the mileage of my planned route and ended up being on top of the mountain a little too close to dark for my liking, since I had no light source of any kind. The coyotes weren't quite as fascinating when I could hear them howling and hoping I could get to the trail down before I couldn't see anymore!  Anyhow, below are some pics from and of North Table I have taken recently. Several are near sunset...

Shoe Review: The Vivobarefoot Trail Freak

A little while after I moved to Colorado my trail shoes' uppers blew out along the side of the base of my big toe. (Quickie shoe review: don't get the Minimus Trail 1010. Sloppy fit, didn't last 150 miles before the blowouts.) For a while I went back to my trail shoes from a few years back, the New Balance Minimus Trail 110. The 110 is a GREAT trail shoe but nothing lasts forever and they had pretty much had all they could take. The sole was coming off and the ultra-tough upper was slowing ripping out on the left shoe. I was in desperate need of a new trail shoe. I didn't feel like rolling the dice with another New Balance so I bought the Vivobarefoot Trail Freak.

I have had my eye on buying a pair of Vivoarefoots for some time. I am a big fan of minimal footwear and had read some really good reviews, especially about the Trail Freak. A quick synopsis of the VivoBarefoot company. Their shoes are produced using recycled, eco-friendly materials and I have also seen that they are 100% vegan, though I have never been able to find that on their own website. They make all sorts of shoes: running, casual, hikers, sandals, and more. All with a heavy emphasis on light weight, thin sole, zero drop, wide toebox, and (most of all) flexibility. One of the pics below shows just how flexible the Trail Freak is. It's... well....freaky. You can literally fold it in half with no problem.

As you can also see from the pics, I have worn these shoes several times running and hiking and mostly in really sloppy, muddy conditions. lets's begin with the only negative. They are not the most grippy shoes I have ever had on footing such as snow, ice, wet rocks, etc. Not that all that many trail shoes are that great in those extreme footing conditions, but I would say the Trail Freak is a little below average in this category. It is a little surprising considering they have pretty tall lugs on the bottom, which you can see decently in the pic above.

Now the positives. First off, they are unbelievably comfortable. They ride low on the ankle bone but have a real nice, tall heel cup that ensure they don't slip and rub the back of the heel. I have worn them through puddles and deep mud and they are essentially waterproof. There is essentially no chance of a blister. The shoe is designed to be worn without socks if you like (something I cannot bring myself to do often. It just feels weird) so there are also no seams to rub a hot spot into your foot. In short, probably the most comfortable shoe I have ever worn.

The most surprising thing about this shoe is that despite the incredible flexibility, it is a stunningly rugged shoe over rocky terrain. It does have a small section of hard plastic in the middle inside of the shoe sole. I wouldn't call it a rock plate but it does protect the instep if you step on a sharp rock. But even with it's thin, but puncture resistant, sole it guards the foot very well over rocks and roots. And despite what I thought was slightly sub-par traction on the wet stuff, on dry dirt and rock the lugs dig in quite well and provide more than adequate traction on uphills.

All in all, this is a great shoe so far, though I can't vouch for durability just yet. Here are the stats: Drop = 0. A super thin 2.5 mm sole (lugs are listed as 4.5 but I am not sure if that is the total thickness WITH the lugs or the lugs alone. Either way, really thin, though it doesn't feel like it). Weight = 9 ounces. So not super lightweight but I couldn't tell the difference between the Trail Freak's and other lighter shoes I have run in.