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2006 Sunflower Iron Event JournalOn May 6th, I joined a group of Eastside Runner (ESR) friends in doing the Sunflower Iron Event in the beautiful Methow Valley. Sunflower presented a great combination of beauty, challenge, and friendly company. I looked forward to visiting a part of the state I'd not seen too. The first thing that caught my eye about the event was the course profile :
Yep - not flat. Despite the shorter distance, this looked more challenging than any of the recent marathons I'd done. In the weeks leading up to the race, I stepped up my mileage modestly. I was training for the Mt Si Relay as well, so two-a-days were in order. I also did a 20 miler the weekend before - hoping to build some confidence. Being more sensible than I, you'd surmise from this that I might have overdone it a bit. Well - you're right. As a result I spent just about the hardest 224 minutes running that I'd ever spent. I've done more challenging courses, but Sunflower was kind of a perfect storm of overtraining and insomnia (more on that in a minute). Other than the running part, the trip was great. I was able to secure a sofa spot in the ESR "headquarters condo", so lodging was taken care of. I was joined for the trip to Winthrop by my friend Ram, so didn't have to do the 5 hours drive alone. We arrived after about half the ESR contingent. Mark and Susan arrived first, and were kind enough to pick up everyone's packet, even hanging them up by the chimney "with care". We relaxed for a while before heading out to look for dinner in Twisp. Walking around "beautiful downtown Twisp" didn't take terribly long. Although picturesque with historically relevant building, the town lacked two very important things : a place for me to eat plain pasta with olive oil (superstition #1), and a place for me to get a pre-race haircut (superstition #2). The obvious lesson for me is that I need to make the necessary allowances for my superstitions before heading out of town. My hopes were raised when Ram facetiously pointed out the "Branding Iron Salon", cruelly misleading me. The Branding Iron Saloooon is where we ended up, although no haircuts were involved. Instead we got possibly the most meticulously prepared (or at least the longest to prepare) meal ever. This was powerful stuff : burgers, fries ,etc., with a minimal nod to the herbivore crowd. I needed a cold Fat Tire Ale to make sure the food digested properly. So - two superstitions flouted within one hour (no haircut, no plain pasta with olive oil). By dusk, we were ensconced back at the official ESR race headquarters condo. By 9:30, everyone had turned in. Unfortunately I couldn't get to sleep. Two hours of sleep, and several hundred pages of rather dour reading later, the birds began their bright singing at 5am. No problem thought I. "All I need to do is to keep running. It's just a training run anyway, right?". Right. Shortly after 6, everyone was up and about. Sunscreen was slathered, sport bras adjusted, bodyglide applied, GU and gel stuffed in pockets, and race numbers carefully pinned. One by one, we filed into the most private of rooms to "find our happy place" before piling into a couple of vehicles and heading to Twisp, where we would catch the bus to the start in Mazama.
The sky was pretty clear, and it felt a bit warm in the sun. A number of us were concerned that it would get pretty hot on the course. However, as we disembarked in Mazama, the heat wasn't a problem. We formed a circle, and huddled in close to stay warm. If the race hadn't started on time, we might have had to burn Randy's shoes to stay warm. The race began under partly sunny skies, with the temperature around (I think) 50. Kim and I ran together with Randy for about 30 seconds. That was as long as it took Randy to shoot up ahead a ways. Within minutes, he was well ahead and out of sight. We plodded along up a fire road, with a mix of some up and down. By the time we reached the first exchange, I had a pretty good idea that I was in for a long day. My legs felt pretty dead, and my heart rate was consistently 160 or higher. That's higher than sustainable for me over 20 miles, so I tried dialing it back a bit, apologizing to Kim. She seemed okay to hang back with me, saying she felt a bit off as well. It was nice having company to commiserate with as we passed time through the first two checkpoints. After traveling through some woods, we found ourselves on a road for a short time before heading to the first significant climb of the day around mile 8. The climb was about 500 feet over about a mile. Running them is usually well within my capability, although I won't break any speed records on my best of days. Today, I walked the hills, which felt a bit disappointing. Even as I walked up, my heart rate remained into the 160s, so walking seemed prudent. Our conversation tailed off a bit, but Kim and I continued along together. Laine met us several times on the course, offering support and encouragement, which was very nice. We completed the climb and headed over to Patterson Lake. Here, the trail becomes narrow, and we wind along the side of the lake for a while. It's a very pretty run, although you want to watch for roots. After traveling the length of the lake, we found ourselves on another fire road. Here's where Kim and I began to compare notes about our poor tapering habits. Apparently she'd done a beautiful, but ill-advised hike to Mailbox Peak with Susan and Mark a week before, sustaining some abrasions above her heels (from her shoes). Now I can complain about my legs feeling dead. I'd wager that's not much compared to toughing it out with no skin above your heels. Ouch. It was especially bad as we climbed, and we had more of that coming up. We continued the sawtooth pattern after the lake, and passed through the fourth exchange point. Just as I'd catch some breath coming down a hill, back up we'd go. After the first few miles, I was fairly good about keeping to a regular refueling strategy (1 endurolyte every 20 minutes, and 1 gel per hour). Additionally I was drinking Gatorade and some water at the aid stations. So despite feeling tired, I had no worries about hydration. The day had turned out to be a perfect one for running. It was below 60, with come cloud cover but no rain. Around mile 14, we began the second significant climb to the high point of the course. We ran along some ridges and lakes to the exchange at the 16.5 mile mark. I worked on convincing myself that another 5 would be pretty easy. Most of the climbing was behind us, and I should be able to do 5 miles pretty easily. By this time, I had begun periodically walking as my claves were twitching a bit. This was frustrating. I knew I could run this course, but was clearly just having a bad day. By now it was nearly impossible to keep my heart rate below 160. I was fatigued enough that my heart needed to work extra hard to get oxygen around to my muscles. Having had nearly three hours to think things over, I knew I was simply paying the price for a bad taper. Just after the final aid station at 19 miles, Kim went out ahead. Shortly afterwards, Ram caught up. He was feeling very good, and was really turning on the steam. He and Kim disappeared around several corners, leaving me well behind. By the time we began the screaming downhill stretch with about 1.5 miles to go, I was convinced I didn't have anything left. Luckily gravity took over soon, and I was able to stretch out a bit. By the time the course leveled off a bit, I had gained some momentum. I also knew about how much distance was left, and figured I could risk cramping up by going a bit faster. The final stretch is along a fire road, and rolls up and down. You can see the finish area approaching from about a half mile, which is motivating. Although I was able to pick up my pace a bit (and nearly peg my max heart rate), I couldn't catch up to Ram. After crossing the finish, I needed several minutes to catch my breath. This was one of my toughest races. The course profile (as recorded by my Polar 625X) is below. The altitude is in brown, my heart rate in red, and my speed in blue. You can tell I did a lot of walking, because of the dips in the blue line. You can also tell that I was tired, because my heart rate didn't decrease much as I walked, so recovery was difficult.
After getting my breath back, I sat and watched Kim come in just behind me, followed by Birthday Boy Rod, Al, Susan, Trish, and Carl fly in. With few exceptions people seemed to have had a really good day out there. Doing his final training run for the Fargo Marathon (two weeks subsequent), Randy finished in a condo-best 3:13.
After a trip the the potato bar, and some lunch, we headed back to clean up. The evening found us holding a men's foot beauty contest - spurred by a discussion about whether painting one's toenails provided actual protection or just an extra spring in your step. Several folks took part in the living room yoga demonstration too. The highlight of the evening was celebrating Ron's birthday, with an enormous banana split shared by all.
Got some excellent food for thought after the race too. John, a massage therapist from Tacoma described a way of classifying things in your life. He considers whether something continues his process of living, or begins his process of dying. Things that expand your perspectives, or keep you moving continue the process of living. Things that limit you begin your process of dying. I liked that - a simple way to classify things worth spending energy on. In that spirit, I know that some days are better than others. Rather than focus on the more difficult parts of the Sunflower run, I'll remember the beautiful course, gracious volunteers, and the great company. That's more than enough reason to try this run again next year.
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