2012 Puzzler Mountain Bike Race

I had every intention of not participating in this event, but I decided to sign up at the last minute.  My youngest son (8) really has taken a great liking to mountain biking and we had recently done 2 short rides in the Franklin Mountains.   He always talks about doing the "Puzzler" without really fully understanding the distance and difficulty of the course.  I had not intended to repeat the nuttiness of last year but then I heard they for the first time added a 10 mile "fun course" and this sounded like something I could attempt.  Mind you, I have not trained on the mountain bike at all since last years puzzler, but how hard could it be to do 10 miles? Well its pretty hard, but fun at the same time.  Here are my impressions of the event in 2012. More can be read at http://www.elpasopuzzler.com/
I went to the Bowen Round House on Saturday and picked up the race packet and number. Paid for a 1 day race license and checked out the course.  Sunday AM, drove out with the kids and their bikes in tow.  I wanted to get a chance to ride around the course around Bowen ranch after the racers had taken off as I knew they would not be back for several hours.  Signed in at the roster and rode up Mad Cow with the boys to warm up.  They had a nice campground fire for us and we watched the 50 mile and 35 mile racers take off.  The 10 mile fun riders were last to take off about 10 minutes later.

Of the 175 racers that participated in this year's race, there were 20 racers in the 10 mile category and we took off at a pretty good clip North on Pipeline road.  This jeep trail is rocky and has some up hill sections that got the juices going early.  Next we turned at the water tank towards the Franklin Mountain State park and again more uphill until Sotol Forest.  Last year we turned South along Sotol but now there is a new section (more about that later) of Sotol which goes North for more climbing.  The trail was really nicely layed out and the surface was packed by recent precipitation we have had.  I decided that this was going to be a "fun ride" and so I took my time to enjoy the scenery and take pictures.




Top of only hill in 10 mile Fun Ride of Puzzler

After reaching the top of the hill, the descent was a little technical but manageable or so I thought. I was constantly worried about falling and had some close calls along the way until this point.  Mountain biking really requires complete concentration, which makes it such a great distraction.  However, throughout I could not stop thinking, " What am I doing here?"  "I have not been training for this type of event" and the inevitable "I am too old for this!"  And so it was that I can up on a tricky turn downhill that I fell and flew of my bike landing on my back on top of some type of desert vegetation right on my back and but.  I did an instant assessment and figured out I had not broken anything and got up.  I was greatful to have landed on a plant and not a rock. 

Plant I landed on top of, actually quite soft despite appearance

The rest of the way was uneventful and I reached pipeline road again, happy to be back to the jeep trails back to the ranch.  At this point, I got to meet Robert Newman who was cheering all the racers.  I had known about his trail building contributions and wanted to meet him and thank him for all he has done.  Last year he was instrumental in building the Hitt Canyon trail and this year, he and volunteers from the Borderland Mountain Bike Association  http://bmba.wordpress.com/ completed the Sotol Forest extension just a few days before the race. I told Mr Newman how much I appreciated his hard work over the years.  I told him when my 8 year old was old enough to ride these trails, I wanted to let him know I met the person who had a great hand in building them. We talked about how my son likes to build trails in the empty lot across from my house and he shared with me that when he was a boy in the 1940's living in Northeast Texas he started building trails in the nearby woods.

Robert Newman, Mountain Bike trail builder

The way back to Bowen Round House was the rocky jeep trail which was largely downhill with some slight inclines.  On the way back we passed by the Windmill, which is a historical landmark of the Bowen Ranch.  The ranch is located on the Old Salt Trail, which was used to transport livestock through the Franklin Mountains to the Salt Flats near Carlbad, NM., using the Anthony Gap which was known as "rustler's gap" back then.

After 7.5 miles, it was back to the Bowen Round House for some gatorade and then down Lazy Cow for another mile and then back along Pipeline back to the ranch to complete a 10 mile loop.  My total time was 1:32:33 officially.  I scanned the results on Tuesday after the race and to my surprise found out I was 2nd out of 17 finishers with 3 DNFs in the 10 mile category.
I think as always the race directors, David Wilson and Brent Sanders did a great job with the Puzzler race this year.  I think the 10 mile course is a nice addition to get more people interested and get motivated to train for the longer events.  I think a Kid's race would be a good addition along Lazy cow after all the 10 milers are back as there is plenty of "downtime" before the riders come back to the ranch.  So now its on to the El Paso Half Marathon on Feb 5 and then Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon Feb 18 in Grants, NM, after that event I will have my next post.

2011 New York Marathon

After 4 years of trying, I was finally accepted via the lottery and I can truly say this event lived up to all my expectations.  I originally heard about the NY marathon from Robert S. while I was training for my first El Paso Marathon in 2008.   Beginning that year, I dutifully placed my name in the lottery ($10 fee) and was rejected 3 times in a row.  The fourth time, I had an automatic acceptance as was the rule at the time.  (I hear this may change).   I will now relate my experience with this marathon for those who may want to participate in the future.
I left early Friday AM for New York, flying into Newark airport.  I took the train into lower Manhattan where I was staying.  I purposely found a hotel there because it was less expensive than mid-town Manhattan and it was close to the Staten Island Ferry which was my transport to the starting point.  Saturday morning went to the expo at the convention center and picked up my packet.  The expo had many exhibitors and was a cool place to hang out for a while.  I then met for brunch some fellow El Pasoans and made new friends most of whom were also racing the marathon.   Afternoon spent visiting my cousin in Queens, had late lunch/early dinner and then went to hotel to rest.

RACE DAY

Pre-race
Woke up around 0500 AM, had coffee and energy bar with banana for breakfast.  Walked 3 blocks to the Staten Island Ferry station and boarded the ferry for the trip to the starting line.  My Wave did not start until 1010 AM but my assigned time for the ferry was 0715.  During the ride, I got to meet some fellow runners and go to take in some of the beauty of the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty.    Once in Staten Island, several buses were taking runners to Fort Wadsworth where the start village was.  There, I turned in my clear plastic baggage which contained the clothes I would change into after the race.  Later, I met up with several of the El Paso contingent. The wave 2 corral closed at 0940 and so I was ready at this time.  I had worn an old T-shirt and hospital scrubs which I ditched on this large pile of clothes everyone was "donating".  Shortly after the corral closed, they herded us (we felt like sheep) to the starting point.  They played "America the Beautiful" and before I knew it, the gun went off.  It took a while before I made it to the starting point walking with all the crowd.  Listening to Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York", I crossed to timing mat and the race was on.

The Marathon  26.2 miles    4:15:44
As soon as you start the race, the initial portion is on the Verrazano-Narrows bridge which connects Staten Island and Brooklyn. The views are truly spectacular from this vantage point, and off course, its a slight incline. 

My plan was to follow a run/walk strategy, as popularized by Jeff Gallaway. My goal pace was slightly under 9 min/mile to finish in just under 4 hours.  I would walk every mile marker until mile 18-20 and then run the rest of the way.  I aimed to achieve a negative split of the marathon if all went according to plan.  I was stoked and feeling good, but I walked for less than one tenth of a mile after the first mile marker.  Had to be careful to get off to the side to keep from getting run over.  After the bridge we entered Brooklyn and ran up 4th avenue.  During this portion and subsequently, the crowds were electric.  They cheered, rang bells, and played music all along both sides of this divided highway.    They also held up some pretty funny signs which I will make reference throughout the course.   For example in Brooklyn, "Welcome to Brooklyn... Now Get Out! and "You have been training for this longer than Kim Kardashian was married!" 
After the 10K split, I was feeling pretty good, had a Gu at 45 min and drank Gatorade in the aide stations but then I felt like I needed to make a Porto-Portie stop.  I didn't want to stand in line or do like many people and stop on the side of the road, so I instead made the mistake of diminishing my fluid intake.  At this point, I got hot enough that I was pouring water over my cap which made me a little cold when we were under the shade.  All the while, we passed several quaint neighborhoods like Clinton Hill, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint.   As we exited Brooklyn we reached the 13.1 mile mark and I was pleased to have finished in a little less than 2 hours.  Since this included the walk breaks, I should be ok for the under 4 hour finish.  Next was the second of many bridges, the Pulaski bridge connecting Brooklyn and Queens.  In Queens we only ran for about 2 miles before reaching the Queensboro bridge (mile 15-16).  Here, there were no crowds and it was a steep incline for about 3/4 mile followed by a  fast descent which probably did some damage.  As we exited the bridge the crowds were enormous as we entered Manhattan and First Avenue.   Here were more signs like "You have great stamina, call me at 212-xxx-xxxx" and more political signs like "you are the 1%".    I was able to find a stall with no line at mile 16 and decided to make mile 18 my last walk break.  At that point , I felt pretty good and thought I could run the rest of the way. We passed through Harlem where the crowds were thinner, but the music was very lively and had a definite Latin flavor.    However, as we arrived at the Willis avenue bridge (mile 19.5) connecting Manhattan and the Bronx, the incline really took it out of me.  It seemed like a lot of people were walking up the bridge but I managed to keep running at a good pace.  We wandered for a bit through the Bronx and a sign that made me laugh said: "Keep running, this is a bad neighborhood!"  Next, at mile 21 came the Madison Ave. bridge bringing us back to Manhattan.  That bridge was tough and I started to cramp up on the way up, not a good sign.  I walked for a bit to stretch my legs as I arrived to the highest point of the bridge, I also had a Gu while walking.  On the descent I was able to get some energy back. We started running up 5 th avenue and I saw a sign for 135th street, which made me realize just how far we still had to go.  At this point, I was gratified by the sign that read "No more bridges!".  As we made our way downtown on 5th avenue, I really started to cramp as the road began to take a gentle incline.  My pace had diminished significantly and I realized my 4 hour goal was history as I had to take more walk breaks.  At mile 24 we entered Central Park where the crowds were really inspiring me to push as hard as I could.  Unfortunately, although there were no more bridges, there were several small hills to contend with before finally reaching the finish line. I got to the end, and I was exhausted!

Post-race
After finishing the crowd of athletes was overwhelming, we were instructed to keep walking as first we got our finisher medals.  Up the way, they had more people lining up to have their picture taken and then we were given the food bags.  At this point, all I wanted to do was sit down and drink/eat.  I sat on a brick on the side and these ladies came to me speaking in French telling me I had to get up and keep moving.  I thought I was delirious but then realized that it was because I was wearing my Ironman France cap, they assumed I was from France.  Then we had to keep walking for what seemed like a mile to get to the UPS trucks which had our post race dry clothes. I managed to put these on an headed for the nearest subway back to the hotel.  By the way, the subways are free to runners on this day.

Post-Script
Looking back on the day, I can say it is truly a special opportunity to be running with 47 thousand people from all over the world and millions of spectators cheering you along the way.  The race is well organized and the city could not have been more welcoming.  For my race performance, what I would have done differently is to drink more liquids and taken the salt tablets I had from Nice which I did not even take on this trip.  I was hotter than previous races on this day and the lack of clouds made it hotter. Nonetheless, I have improved from my first Marathon in 2008 which took me 5:35 to complete.  Now as we come upon the off season, I am setting my sights on the Quadrathlon  in Feb 2012. (more about here http://www.mttaylorquad.org/  and here http://elpasotriathlete.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html  )