Send in the Clowns - BAC 10K Challenge

plodder

Years ago when I used to visit the area, I did some running at the Stanford university campus. There's some really nice trails around there.

PDCAT

Yeah beautiful place Yosemite. But meathcountysec is correct in saying that it's a bit of a trek from San Jose. I drove from San Jose to Yosemite and if i can remember - your talking 3 hours give or take.

Krusty_Clown

Yep, 3 hours. But I reckon it's worth the trek. My buddy is an avid photographer and has made the trip a number of times over the last few months, in order to capture the landscape. 6 hours of driving for a 13 mile run in Yosemite? Sounds good to me!

mithril

I would not miss the opportunity unless you are going to be doing this as a regular trip. With jet lag, you will be wide awake by 5A.M., so get up early and head there on the empty roads. Look out for the Ursus Horribilis though! It can run faster than you.

Krusty_Clown

mithril wrote: »

I would not miss the opportunity unless you are going to be doing this as a regular trip. With jet lag, you will be wide awake by 5A.M., so get up early and head there on the empty roads. Look out for the Ursus Horribilis though! It can run faster than you.

If chased, I will run downhill in zig-zags, wearing a purple striped night-dress. Everyone knows that's how you get away from an Ursus Horribilis (or was that for escaping a Rhino? )

pgmcpq

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

The specialist reckons I'll be ok on the flights, as there's already a hole in the eardrum, so no pressure to equalize. Ironically, if I didn't have a hole in my eardrum he would have recommended staying on the ground!

Wow that's wild !! Makes sense in a bizarre way.

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

If things line up correctly, this Sunday, I should be doing my mini-taper run in Yosemite. Whoop!

That sounds great - have a blast. Just remember serious pacing duties to follow !

Krusty_Clown

pgmcpq wrote: »

Wow that's wild !! Makes sense in a bizarre way.



That sounds great - have a blast. Just remember serious pacing duties to follow !

I was going to say that the jet lag is going to be a pain, but then, of course, you're going to be facing exactly the same experience!

opus

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Yep, 3 hours. But I reckon it's worth the trek. My buddy is an avid photographer and has made the trip a number of times over the last few months, in order to capture the landscape. 6 hours of driving for a 13 mile run in Yosemite? Sounds good to me!

I'd go for it as well, long drive notwithstanding. A friend of mine was camping there last year & still raves about it. Maybe you can try jogging up this yoke

aero2k

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Yep, 3 hours. But I reckon it's worth the trek. My buddy is an avid photographer and has made the trip a number of times over the last few months, in order to capture the landscape. 6 hours of driving for a 13 mile run in Yosemite? Sounds good to me!

Most 3 hr drives in California should be pretty pleasant, and Yosemite is definitely worth the trouble. We took the long way from SF, all the way down to San Diego via LA and moving inland to make the trip northwards. Even long stretches of dead straight roads were interesting for their novelty and relative lack of traffic.
Yosemite is worth most treks!

eliwallach

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

No, unfortunately it's a pure work trip, so staying in San Jose. ;(

Do you know the way?


I'll get my coat.......

Krusty_Clown

eliwallach wrote: »

Do you know the way?

Lol!

Today: First couple of fast miles since the marathon, and they felt good. Just a quick loop around the Dargle Tavern in Bray, past all the knacker drinking kids (I was never really one of them, was I?!).

Summary: 4 miles in 28 mins, @6:52/mile

claralara

Savage running in Berlin!! Your race report just took precedence over the Sunday papers - I think it was worth it! Congratulations!

Krusty_Clown

Sunday: 12 Mile run up the John Muir trail in Yosemite
Haven't posted here recently as I'm only back from the US this morning, and it was a hectic week, that involved very little running, lots of long working days, and lots of food and beer. But.... I did manage to get up to Yosemite last Sunday. My photographer buddy and I set of for Yosemite at about 8am on Sunday morning. Thought the drive up there was four hours, it was a really lovely drive, with lots of stops for photographs. The entrance to the park itself is incredibly scenic and a bit mad, as you have to cross a couple of temporary bridges where the road has been taken out by rock falls. Arriving into Yosemite you're quite literally blow away by the sheer size and scope of the vistas, so much so that the two of us spent the next 30 minutes cruising around with our eyes pointed up at the sky.

We parted ways at the Yosemite village/information centre, as I was headed for the John Muir trail, while photo-buddy was off to Glacier Point. The John Muir Trail is 211 miles long, but given that I only had a couple of hours, I planned to cover around 6 miles of the trail (6 miles up, 6 miles down). Unfortunately I wouldn't even make it up as far as the Half Dome (Opus' picture above), but would instead enjoy views of the Half Dome the whole way up my run.

The first two miles from the village were flat, but very pleasant. Bear-proof dustbins and storage containers set the tone, and even though I knew I wouldn't be going anywhere near the wilderness where the bears are most likely to frequent, you couldn't help but wonder if you might see one in the distance. After two miles I hit the start of the trail proper, reaching a pool where a couple of the nearby waterfalls dumped their deposits. No more flats. It was climb, climb climb from now on. Given the altitude (1,200m), jet lag and lack of sleep, I took many 'photo breaks' on my uphill run, to catch my breath and lower my risk of heart attack. I tried to take a photo at most of my rest stops (those trees in the foreground are massive!). There were many forks along the way, but I just stuck to the John Muir trail, climbing constantly until I hit a plateau, where I had a couple of possible routes. With only a short period of time left before I would have to turn back, I decided to take head towards the top of Nevada Falls, just 1.4 miles away (the sign-posting is really great!). I took a break every couple of switch-backs as it was really hard work, but was eventually rewarded with fantastic views of the Nevada falls Waterfall from the base of the half dome, both from the side and from the vantage point of a bridge, looking out over the waterfall's drop-off. Incredible stuff, and scenes that will stay with me for a long, long time (the photos really don't do the area any justice). Eventually I retraced my steps as the rain and thunder arrived, flying down the mountain far quicker than I should have been travelling.

So around 8-10 hours of driving for a 12 mile run. Was it worth it? Hell Yeah! (as the 'Merkins might say).

Crappy camera phone photos here.

Summary: 12 miles in 2:33, @9:25/mile.

Krusty_Clown

Today: 4 Mile easy run
Only one other run so far this week (due to work commitments) and it was today, after arriving back from the airport. I figured a run would help with the jetlag, and I felt a hundred times better after this easy run, however the tiredness was only postponed, and now it's back with a vengeance.

The Garmin was playing silly buggers during the run, showing an average pace of 8:30/mile, when I was in fact running closer to 6:30/mile (the watch data shows me stopped for two minutes, even though I never stopped running). Glad I picked up a cheap and cheerful stopwatch a couple of weeks back for marathon pacing task on Monday. I'm in the expo tomorrow, helping out on the pacers stand from 2-4pm, so if you're in there, come say hello.

Summary: 5.x miles in 3x mins, at some pace (stoopid watch).

liamo123

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Today: 4 Mile easy run
Only one other run so far this week (due to work commitments) and it was today, after arriving back from the airport. I figured a run would help with the jetlag, and I felt a hundred times better after this easy run, however the tiredness was only postponed, and now it's back with a vengeance.

The Garmin was playing silly buggers during the run, showing an average pace of 8:30/mile, when I was in fact running closer to 6:30/mile (the watch data shows me stopped for two minutes, even though I never stopped running). Glad I picked up a cheap and cheerful stopwatch a couple of weeks back for marathon pacing task on Monday. I'm in the expo tomorrow, helping out on the pacers stand from 2-4pm, so if you're in there, come say hello.

Summary: 5.x miles in 3x mins, at some pace (stoopid watch).

Great report and photo's from the US of A...Will pop into Expo tomorrow 2 say hello...

pgmcpq

Great photos. Glad to hear you had a good trip. Good luck, and see you in Dublin.

xebec

Love the photos! Definitely worth all the travelling when you get views like those.

Krusty_Clown

Today: 4 mile anti-in-phlegm-atory run
Seem to have picked up a cold yesterday (now who's sniffley hand did I shake at yesterday's marathon expo? ) so had a nice easy run in the sunshine, with phlegm flooding from every orifice (well not every orifice!). Plan was to pick up the pace to tomorrow's planned pace, but from the off, was running faster but comfortable, so just stuck with it, in the warming sunshine.

Summary: 4 miles in 29 mins, @7:18/mile

Krusty_Clown

pgmcpq wrote: »

Great photos.

Check out these Yosemite shots my photo-buddy took, while I was playing in the hills. Capture the area far better than my camera-phone!

My favourite, captured on the way home:

asimonov

Good luck pacing tomorrow, might be an ideal opportunity to bend VR's ear about his diet for 3 hours or so.

Krusty_Clown

asimonov wrote: »

Good luck pacing tomorrow, might be an ideal opportunity to bend VR's ear about his diet for 3 hours or so.

Thanks Simon. I'll bend his ear, but he doesn't like people talking when they should be racing.

TheRoadRunner

Did you manage to make it into the DCM museum yesterday/today ? There is a great photo taken last year with you, your 3.30 balloon and 2 of your pacees posing with big cheesey smiles just after you've crossed the line. It's class as the clock is in the back ground and it has just ticked onto 3.31

Krusty_Clown

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Did you manage to make it into the DCM museum yesterday/today ? There is a great photo taken last year with you, your 3.30 balloon and 2 of your pacees posing with big cheesey smiles just after you've crossed the line. It's class as the clock is in the back ground and it has just ticked onto 3.31

No! I never even got to walk around the expo.
Arrived at 1:45 and jumped in behind the stand. Took a break for 5 minutes to grab my number and then had to leg it at 5:30pm. Hope it's still there next year! I think I saw you briefly with a stroller?

TheRoadRunner

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

No! I never even got to walk around the expo.
Arrived at 1:45 and jumped in behind the stand. Took a break for 5 minutes to grab my number and then had to leg it at 5:30pm. Hope it's still there next year! I think I saw you briefly with a stroller?

yeah was trying to catch your attention to tell you about photo but you looked swamped so left it. good luck tomorrow

Krusty_Clown

S'funny, cos if you look at all of the other photos (in the DCM magazine), they have photo-shopped the pacer photos from last year, and given the balloons to people who were not carrying them on the day. I think they stuck them to people wearing gear that stands out, which is ironic, given that we didn't get gear this year.

Slogger Jogger

Nice video coverage of the 3:15 pace group. You seemed to have a psychic awareness of where the cameras were and the hands would go up. Great to see the pace wizards in action.

ronanmac

Krusty, a big and sincere thanks for your pacing yesterday. I might still be at the bottom of that hill in Clonskeagh if it wasn't for your mass cajoling! It was much appreciated.

Krusty_Clown

Thanks Ronan, it was great craic. It really is the pinnacle of rewarding running (until I hit that 2:3x ).

donothoponpop

Bingo to all the kudos for your pacing- you guys passed me at 22, and you were a large and loud brilliant motivator. You also took the low shot to the back with aplomb, kudos.

And such boozing endurance, my god, does emer911 realize how good she has it?!?

Emer911

donothoponpop wrote: »

Bingo to all the kudos for your pacing- you guys passed me at 22, and you were a large and loud brilliant motivator. You also took the low shot to the back with aplomb, kudos.

And such boozing endurance, my god, does emer911 realize how good she has it?!?

Hey, leave me out of it!?!