Georgie and Helen Conquer Mount Diablo!

Some of the Hammerin' Wheels folks and I headed out to climb Mount Diablo today. Mine & Georgie's first time climbing Diablo!

It was certainly a fun ride! I am glad that people described what to expect out of the climb. 11 miles of straight climbing, not too crazy of a grade for most of it. At the end, near the very top, is "the Wall" where it gets rather steep but not for too long of a distance. So, this is what I expected as I rode out to Diablo and that's what I rode.

The day before this ride, I was getting a bit anxious about the ride. First of all, my legs were pretty tired/sore from a long 20+ mile training run on Saturday and another 11ish mile run on Sunday morning. Secondly, I had not ridden my bike very much in the past week. So, I went out for a shortish ride just to shake off some of the rust in my cycling legs. Good thing I did that. I managed to climb up Beatty and Iron Point okay but I was super sluggish on the flats. My poor friend had to keep waiting on me as I was just lagging and ended up cutting the ride a little short. Yesterday, my legs were spent. I wasn't sure how I well I would fair on the ride today.

But, I am glad I did ride yesterday as I think I did shake off some of the rust as I was feeling much better today on the bike than yesterday. I guess the first day back after a break is always the toughest. Thank goodness that was yesterday and not today.

The ride starts off pretty well. A fun group out. We ride easy-ish out to Diablo from where we parked, about 10ish miles on a funky bike trail.

We regroup at the bottom of Diablo and get ourselves ready for the climb. Everyone takes off and I am left way way behind them. No worries. I know not to chase them and wear myself out. I am just going to get up this hill at my own pace. I get into granny gear and pedal away. Up and up and up I go. The views are gorgeous out here. I am enjoying the scenery and just keep pedaling away knowing I have 11 miles of climbing to do.

A couple miles into it, I pass Chuck and I think my legs have found a nice rhythm going. I just pedal along at about 5-6 miles per hour. I make sure I drink enough water/electrolytes as I go along. I get a little hungry a few miles into it and eat an oatmeal cookie. That cookie really hit the spot. I eat another one a few miles later.

Halfway up Diablo is a Ranger station, where some of the group has stopped to regroup and/or refill on water and such. I eventually come riding by the station and think there is no way I will be able to stop pedaling and restart again. I have a good groove going (though slow) and not going to stop until I get to the top. So, I tell Javier that I am just going to keep going. It does not take too long for Javier and the others to come up and pass me as they head to the summit.

After the Ranger station, it starts to get a bit cold and foggy. I like that it's foggy and cool. One good thing is that I cannot look up to see where I am going. I can't look to see how much more climbing I have to do, how high it looks, etc.... I can only see in front of me and just have to keep going. I know I have about 4ish miles left to go so I just pedal away.

About 10 miles into the climb, I am feeling pretty good. I am just plugging away. But, I start preparing myself for the "Wall" I have heard so much about. I take a GU for a little extra energy boost. I turn one bend and I come out of the fog and into the sunshine. I am now above the clouds and that is a pretty neat feeling. But, the Wall is coming...

I come around one more bend and there it is, this short, super steep section known as "the Wall." Good grief! I pedal away and even harder as the grade gets steeper. I can hear an SUV behind me. The engine revving impatiently at me but that fellow is going to have to wait because I AM getting up this darn hill. I rode this far without stopping, I certainly am not stopping now.

I buck down and push as best as I can to get up this last little section. I can now see Javier and Craig at the top encouraging me on! Almost there...and finally, I get there! To the top of Diablo! Woot! Whew, I'm tired now!

Now, the view up there is pretty awesome! I really like the feeling of being above the clouds! I really feel like I climbed a mountain today. Well, we climbed a mountain, Georgie & me. And, we went all the way without stopping! :)

After looking around a little bit and taking a few pictures, the group starts descending back down. I go refill my water bottles so end up still being at the top when Chuck gets up to the summit. That was nice.

Then, down I go. Flying down the hill and back through the fog. It is COLD! It is fun though the turns make me nervous. Cornering still makes me a bit nervous after the crash I had in November. At one point, I am so cold, my hands are getting numb and my teeth are chattering.

After the descent, we ride back to our cars. 43ish miles for the day. I really enjoyed the ride. It was fun ride with some fun company today! I feel a bit better about the Death Ride (in July). Javier tells me that the climbs are pretty much just like that, but no Wall. Long steady climbs. We just do it a few more times than today. :)

[I forgot to restart my Garmin during the descent so it missed about 3 miles of my descent but the amount of climbing I did is fairly accurate]

Western States Training Run (2/18/12)

For those that haven't heard of the Western States Endurance Run, it is a 100 mile trail race starting from Squaw Valley and ending in Auburn. One of the oldest ultra trail races and one of THE races for ultra runners to run. You have to qualify to get into the lottery and then hope you get picked in the lottery to be able to run this race.

Now, they had some training runs set up and even those not running Western States could sign up. So, I did. For this February training run, we were running the last 20 miles of the Western States.

Numerous runners gathered at Placer High School in Auburn (where the race finish is). This morning, I park down the street and was having trouble finding all the things I needed, namely a water bottle and my gloves. Knowing that it is nearly 8:00 a.m., I run from my car to the school. As I turn the corner to the parking lot, I see the first few buses start pulling out. Good grief, I begin sprinting to where the last couple runners are checking in, praying the bus would not leave me behind.

Fortunately, they got me checked in real quickly and told the bus to wait just a moment for one more runner. I am the last runner to get on the last bus. Whew! There isn't even a seat for me. I had to squeeze in next to two runners in the first row. And, we are no longer kids anymore so three people don't exactly fit well on the seat but I didn't care. I made it on the bus!

The bus drives us out to the middle of nowhere (by some green gate) and drops us off. Now, we have to run back to Auburn. 20 miles on some tough trails. I find some fellow Folsom Trail Runners and off we go. Most of the run, I run with Sophia & Scott. They are great running buddies. We have a lot of fun together as we trek along the 20 miles. Some sections were particular tough and we have to hike it. As we trudge along, we think about how there are people who just fly up this section, in the dark, having already run 80-90 miles! Amazing but crazy!

The trails are beautiful and it is a rather nice, cool-ish day out on the trails. A ton of runners out. Some runners traveled from far off places to run these trails. I feel lucky that these amazing trails are basically in my backyard and I can run them anytime I feel like it.

After we cross No Hands Bridge, there's the second aid station. I eat a couple potatoes with salt (which really hits the spot) and get my coke fix. Then, we start going uphill. Up and up and up. When we finally are done going up on the trails, we turn to go up on the streets through the neighborhoods in Auburn. We continue going up and up and up. It feels like we are going up forever! Finally, at one point, we see the "mile 99 sign" and that we have one more mile to go! Geez! It's hard to imagine people those that are running the race having to drag themselves up this endless hill! We're only 20 miles into the run and we're beat!

Finally, we get to Placer High School (we don't run on the track where the actual finish line would be in the race). I see a few other running friends and we all hang out for a bit. A few runners had seen me earlier running after the buses so were happy to see that I had made it on the bus. The organizers have set out a great breakfast for us. I get into the line and the guy asks me "what would you like?" I say "everything." I get some potatoes, bacon, sausage, and two pancakes. A nice guy opens up a can of coke for me too! oh, that just hit the spot!

For a training run, this was a rather well organized event. Everyone was friendly. The aid stations were great with some great snacks and soda! The post-run was really nice too! And, it was fun to see so many runners out on these trails. There were some points where we were like a long congo line, a single file line of runners all trucking along for miles on end.

Now, the most painful part of my day was not the run. After eating, I see a few running friends getting massages so I decide to get one too. This older couple is giving the massages. I should have known what I was in for seeing the runners before me squirm and yelp. I ran 20+ miles today, with a bleeding blister on my heel, rolled an ankle twice...even with all of that, my massage was the most painful thing of my day! Seriously, the guy had to hold me down and I was gripping the massage table for dear life. But, I guess it was good. Most painful experience ever! Not the run, the massage! After the massage, the guy handed me a business card...it said "Monsters of Massage"...how appropriate! lol!

All in all, a very fun day. Not sure how I became this crazy person who thinks it's a fun day to go running/hiking 20+ miles on some lovely trails out in the middle of nowhere. But, I have become that person. And, loving it! :)

Help Georgie & me Raise Money for NCAC!

After lagging for a bit, I finally got my donation letter written for the NorCal Aids Cycle...rather than focus on me, I focused on Georgie, my bike. ;-)

HELLO FRIENDS!

<---------- This is Georgiana (aka Georgie). We met back in September 2010. We did not have the best of
beginnings together. At our first triathlon together felt like the longest 12 miles ever! We even got stuck on a
little hill!

Since then, things have gotten better. Georgie and I have spent a lot of miles together and have had many fun adventures too! We have befriended many wonderful cyclists (and their bikes) who have helped us get better, stronger, and faster. We have accomplished a lot in the past year together. 12 miles are no longer are a struggle for us. Hills are (mostly) not as daunting as they once were. But, we still look for more challenging (and crazy) adventures!

This year, we have quite a number of crazy plans. One of our crazy adventures ahead is the NorCal AIDS Cycle. From May 17 to May 20 2012, we will be riding 330 miles to raise money and awareness for HIV/AIDS service providers in the Sacramento area and other parts of Northern California. We were attracted to this event not just because of the challenge or that it is a great cause but because the money raised goes to the people of our local community.

Georgie and I have been training hard for the 330 mile ride but we need some help in meeting our goal of raising $2000. We ask if you could please help us in this great cause!

If you’d like to make a donation online, learn more about the ride, or track the amount we have raised, visit: http://norcalaidscycle.org.kintera.org/2012/crazyhelen

I also ask if you could please share the news about my current craziness with your family and friends and ask them to join in supporting this effort.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT!!

All the best,

Helen (and Georgie)

Valentine's Run (2/11/12)

Looking for an event to do for February, I found the Valentine's Run. It was a 4 mile race. I generally do not like the shorter races. I am an endurance athlete so prefer longer events. But, this one seemed like a fun race. My friend (and fellow Java Jogger) Lora was going to be doing it and figured it'd be fun to to run the race with her. Also, they had a fastest attorney competition. It'd be interesting to see how I compared to other attorneys.

Since it's a Valentine's Run, I opted to wear some Valentine's stuff. I almost always proudly wear my Java Joggers shirt in my races. So, no pink/red/valentine's shirts for me. Instead, I found some fun Snoopy Valentine's knee high socks. However, I discovered that my calves are far too fat (some may say they are muscular). The socks and poor Snoopy's head got stretched out far too much around my calves. Disappointing. So, I cut the toe off the socks and converted them into super awesome arm warmers. (I have been converting socks to arm warmers since my first marathon last November; it's extra fun when you have fun sock designs). I think the socks turned out to be way better arm warmers!



Before the race, I could already tell that this was going to be one fast race. I saw numerous race teams out with large showing of runners. Oh boy! I spotted a couple attorney gals near the start line and they were wearing their Fleet Feet racing jerseys. The attorney competition was looking rather tough now. Anyhow, my real goal for the race was to break 8:00 min/miles.

The gun goes off and I try to stay behind the two attorney gals. But, they were running fast! After the first mile, I knew I could not hang with them so eased up my pace as my legs. I heard my friend's voice in my head "Follow your watch, not the other runners."

For these shorter races, because you're running a harder, faster pace, I feel like the miles seem WAY longer than in the longer racers. Each mile seemed to go on forever. I remember most of the miles in the marathon seemed to just pass by so quickly. Here I am in this 4 mile race (my shortest race to date) and I am just yearning for mile 2 and mile 3 to come along.

After I pass the mile 3 mark, I hear someone behind me say "one more mile to go!" A little bit longer. My legs are aching and I had already felt myself slow a little bit in the last mile. But, I am still running sub-8 miles. As I get near the finish line though, about 1/3 mile out, my body always seems to know when the finish is near. My legs always find some new gear (out of nowhere) and start surging for the finish. I start passing a few folks on the last stretch.

Around the last corner, I think I am running sub-7 and I am just pounding pavement as I cross the finish line. Lora & Desiree (fellow Java Joggers) are there cheering me at the finish! I love that I always have Java Joggers cheering me on! Though, it takes me a good few minutes to be able to breath normally again to talk to them. Oh man, that race hurt!

Chip time 30:30.2 (8th in my age group out of 55 so not to shabby)

In the attorney competition, I finished 11 out of 28 overall, 4th female attorney out of 14.

Not the fastest but pretty decent results overall. I am happy that I finally broke 8 min/miles for a race. I averaged a 7:38 pace.

But, for me, I do better with endurance than with speed. So, I prefer the longer stuff which is why I will be running my first 50k before my first 5k. I am not sure I will ever run a 5k. This 4 mile race was already too short for my liking. ;-)