salomon xt wings challenge - the run

mmp, mmp, mmp.

meep, meep, meep.

beep, beep, beep.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.

i slowly emerged from my sleep coma to realize that my watch alarm was going off.  it took a few seconds to realize where i was as i silenced the watch.  i looked at the clock.

4:05am

i could only remember waking a handful of times during the night, and the last time i'd looked at the watch, it was 11pm.  wow.  i must have been out hard if the alarm took 5 min to wake me up.  and my arm wearing the watch was under my head. 

i quickly got up, packed the liner, bag and thermarest, got dressed and took down the tent.  within minutes, all my gear was packed back into the car.  i pulled out the trusty ol' pack stove and boiled some water and before much longer, i'm downing my oatmeal.  by 5am, everything was packed up, i was lubed up, coated in sunscreen and bug repellant and on the road.  it was a quick drive to the trail head, but i made an important stop at the visitors center [to drop the kids off at the pool] and that put me on the trail by 5:45ish.

the sun was just beginning to crest lambert dome as i set off on my challenge.  it was a brisk morning with the temperatures in the high 30's.  i was bundled up, but layered well so i could shed clothing as it got warmer.  the nokia was safely packed for shooting photos and video and the salomon xt wings were snug on my feet.  off i went.

the first couple miles were a challenging climb from tuolumne meadows at 8600' up to the cathedral lakes basin at 9500'.  the trail was brutally steep in some sections, so i ran when i could, power hiked when it got steep, and continued to remind myself not to go out too hard at the start.  the cool air kept me comfortable on the climb, but by the time i hit cathedral lakes, i was shedding clothing.  i stopped to shoot a couple photos at about 3.5 miles in, and was quickly swarmed by mosquitos.  swarmed is a mild term.  they were landing on exposed skin in waves and it was all i could do to keep them at bay.  i shot some quick footage and then was off again.

after the pass at cathedral lakes, the trail moved out of the wet areas and the mosquitos seemed to take a little longer to catch up when i'd break for food or to refill a bottle, but their numbers still necessitated my continual movement.  the trail continued to climb and i finally topped out at 9900'.  by mile 6, a slight decent started and i new i was finally dropping into sunrise meadow.  about this time, i saw my first backpacker.  it was a welcome sight.  i enjoy running solo in these types of places, but it's always reassuring to know that there are other people out and about.

i cruised through sunrise meadow without stopping.  i knew the bugs would be bad and i didn't need to refill any bottles.  the trail climbed back up around 9700' and i cruised along at that elevation for a while before rounding the big bend in the trail and popping out on the ridge that looked down into little yosemite valley.  running along the ridge, i caught my first view of half dome off in the distance.  i had hit a pretty good groove over the last few miles as the elevation had leveled out after dropping over 1000'.  i continued to run along as the trail wound down through some thick forest of fir, pine and cedar.

i was feeling quite well and had been religiously sticking to my fuel plan.  i was carrying my osprey pack with 100oz of water and one handheld with 20oz of gatorade endurance.  i was going through the handheld roughly every five miles and re-mixing a fresh one.  my fuel consisted of the normal gu and i had brought along some clif bars and home made chocolate chip brownies.  i had completely spaced and placed my matisse & jack's order late, so i was somewhat stuck with off the shelf products.  i'll tell you what, though, nothing taste better than a mooshy chocolate chip brownie mid way into a run like this.  mmmm.

the trail continued to drop elevation as i neared the trail intersect for half dome.  i began to see more and more backpackers out on the trail and passed several groups that were breaking camp and getting ready to head out for the day.  by mile 16 i was at the half dome intersect and began the steep two mile climb up to the saddle.  virginia tech had a couple of people on the trail performing a survey of hikers to evaluate fitness, preparation and climb times.  apparently there is a push to have the half dome trail permitted in order to limit the number of people on it at any given time. 

i did my best to billy goat up the trail and keep from walking, which i did until i hit the rock stair section.  the footing was too iffy to risk running it and it was lung-busting steep anyway.  at this point on the run, the backpackers had completely vanished and were replaced with day hikers.  since it was still early in the day, most of them were moving at a decent pace and seemed mostly fit.  before too long, i was up on the half dome saddle and decided to take a quick break for some chow and to take in the view.

 i chatted with the vt volunteer about the survey and recounted my experiences with the trail and just how crowded it can be at times.  fortunately, there were hardly any people on the cables today, so it would be a quick ascent without having to wait for people descending or freaking out over vertigo.  i finished up my clif bar, put on a pair of manky gloves and headed up the cables.

the climb up the cables went quickly and without incident.  within a couple minutes i was up on the summit and taking in the picture perfect day.  holy wow.  the sky was clear, it had warmed up to the mid 60's and i was just soaking in the experience.  i flipped the nokia into online mode and checked for a signal.  i was getting full bars from an antenna in the valley, so i gave smsmh a ring.  i gave her a status report and her response was, "take a picture and flickr it right now so we can see what you're doing!".  so, i did. 

it was 11am and i really wanted to finish up well before 2pm, so i hopped back on the cables and headed down to the saddle.  the return took a little longer than the climb, as the cables were starting to get some more traffic and about half of the people coming up were having issues with the vertigo.  i kept patient and gave words of encouragement where i could.  back on the saddle i began the cruise back down to the main trail.  i went to mix a bottle and realized that i only had enough water left in the camelbak to mix about 2/3rd's of a bottle.  the next water was at little yosemite valley and the merced river.  i guestimated that it was about 3-4 miles away.  not a concern, really, so i headed off.

the trail really began to drop elevation like it was on fire.  i watched the garmin read out 8000', 7000', 6000'...and before i knew it, i was running past the little yosemite campground and popping out of the woods onto the bank of the merced.  thankfully, the mosquitos had vanished and i was able to filter a full camelbak without being bothered by bugs.  as i pumped water, i noticed a tiny frog sitting on the rock by my foot.  i had the distinct urge to prod it a bit and make it jump.  but then i thought to myself, "self?  you're about 20 miles into a challenging run.  would you like it if someone came and prodded you and and made YOU jump?"  so, i left mr. froggy alone and enjoyed his company instead.

with fresh (and oh, my, soooo tasty) water in the bladder, another gu in the belly and a quick stretch, i was ready to tackle the remaining trail.  from where i was at, i had about 4-5 miles left to go, but it was going to be very steep descending and lots of technical sections.  i'd be lucky if i could run even half of it.

back on the trail, the route wound down the caynon wall, following the merced as it dropped over nevada falls and made it's way toward vernal falls and then the valley floor.  at this point of the run, it was a little past noon and the number of people on the trail had significantly increased.  not only had the number increased, but trail etiquette was completely out the window and people were very slow in reacting to someone on the trail moving quickly.

i ran when i could, but it was mostly a controlled fall as i bounced down the rock stairs and rocky trail.  by the time i hit vernal falls, i had entered into a mass of humanity.  it was a stark contrast to the previous six hours of running where not only were the encounters with people few and far between, but they had been social, encouraging and on a couple occasions, comical.  now, it was like navigating coagulated bodies, moving in slow, congested blobs up and down the trail.

the further i descended down the trail, the more alive and better i began to feel.  it was a combination of the drop in elevation and that whole "horse to the stable" phenomenon.  no, i didn't want the challenge to end, but i knew i had plenty of juice to use, so why not use it.  each step down i made, i began to pick up speed.  each step down i made i encountered more people.

the faster that i wanted to run, the more difficult it became to keep pace.  i had the distinct feeling of descending into "thickness".  almost like a salmon swimming against the flow of water.  i finally hit the paved section of the mist trail and was off of the rock steps and could really open up my stride.  for the last mile of the run, i really let it fly.  i was zipping in and out of people, calling out, "on your left" every couple of seconds and often times going of trail and into the rocks to avoid the wandering masses.

before i knew it, i was down.  done.  on the flat.  i continued to run along, not knowing really how much further i should run.  should i run all the way to the visitor center?  to the tram stop?  where?  eventually, i came to the bridge that heads over the merced river.  the tram stop was right ahead.  i looked down at the river and the thought went through my head of just how good that water must feel.  that was it.  i ran over the bridge and down the far embankment.  i tore off the pack, my shoes, socks and immediately sat down in the ice cold flow.

i was done.  i had done it!  i felt great!  well, my bits were freezing in the water, but aside from that, i felt wonderful.  the garmin said something in the realm of 23+ miles, so i guestimated that the total distance was right around 26 miles.  the wonderful thing was that i had plenty of energy left.  i could have easily done another 10+ miles.  as i sat in the water, i looked at the map and kicked myself a little for not adding clouds rest to the run, but there's always next time.  being in the park at elevation, running some of my favorite trails and just having the opportunity to take part in this challenge was reward enough.  the run had energized me and left me with a mug filled to the brim of awesome.  one that i'll be able to drink from for quite some time to come.

*edit*

thanks to mr.k, i was able to load the data from the garmin to the salomon website and the run profile is here.  thanks again, mr.k, for letting me borrow the garmin, even if it did autopause on all of the steep stuff.

soundtrack for this post
	lick: hipsters: wax:	Let The Bells Ring (Lausanne) Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds The Abattoir Blues Tour

Posted by jeff at July 9, 2008 10:05 AM