Race Report 1

They're off!
We had an anxious day waiting for everyone's start times.



Race Day Schedule:

1. 9am Go to breakfast with a most of the Canadian runners: Chad, Karl, Shannon, John and Gilles
2. 10 am Go to our respective hotel rooms to get stuff ready for the race. On the way up, Gilles starts to internalize quite how high the ridges are that he will be running on.
   
3. 11 am Gilles and I go to the ranch to sign him in, have lunch and sit and wait
4. 12:00 Barbecue lunch for runners and crew.
5. 1pm: short race briefing
6. 1:30 Foot preparations: I dutifully tape Gilles' feet to avoid those nasty blisters. Shannon thought that was a good idea and asked if I could do it for her. So, of course I obliged. After popping Baldwin's blisters last year, I decided prevention of other people's blisters may be the way to go.
7. Gilles went to take a nap in the car while I hung around with the other fools
8. 4pm race gun went off and the tippy turtles of the race went off: Gilles and John
9. 6pm Al and Shannon start (supposedly - since Linda and I went off to see Wicked)
   
10. 9pm Chad and Karl start (supposedly - since Linda and I went off to see Wicked)

The next time we can see them will be about noon, 3:15 and 9pm. We may not be able to post anything until late tonight.
For more picks:
Coyote 2 Moon Pre-race pics
Coyote 2 Moon Pics

Race / Trip Preparations

The countdown is on: 3 workdays left before we leave for LA and the preparations have begun. Today, we brought Linda our lawn chairs so we would have some place to sit at all the race events: before, during and after. Linda had a good a good idea of bringing some Fat Ass t-shirts since people all always asking us where they can get some. Ian also gave us some brochures to give out.

Tonight, Gilles prepared his drop bags. After much fiddling and maneuvering, its all ready. This trip is a little harder to prepare for since we will be flying. At the back of our minds, there is a nagging fear that airlines could lose our luggage. So, Gilles will be bringing the essentials in his carry on: a drop bag or 2, his trail shoes and water bottle holder.


I, too, began my preparations. Today, I put the finishing touches on a skirt that I wanted to wear on this trip. Nothing special, mostly sentimental. I bought the fabric last year while Gilles and the boys ran Big Horn. Linda and I had a blast exploring all the quilt / yarn shops in a 100 mile radius. That same trip, I bought some yarn to make a sweater. At the end of the day, when we had fun looking at all our our purchases, I realized that the yarn was a perfect match to the skirt fabric.
Now with the decision to go see Wicked, I thought that this might be the perfect outfit to start the 2008 100 mile season. The skirt is now finished and I have about 3 inches left on the sweater. Of course, I will still need to sew it together. Heck, that can always be done on the plane ride.

I also began cutting some fabric so that I can do a bit of hand piecing. Hopefully, this pattern will keep me going throughout the running season.



Quilt Shop: Best Kept Secret
Yarn Shop: The Fiber Shop

Bister Care and Prevention

In 2006, Gilles ran Cascade Crest and got a lovely blood blister. Since then, his blisters have not lived up to that photo opportunity. He has often gotten small blisters, but never to this degree. Last year, for the first time, I taped his feet before Wasatch, His feet survived the ordeal beautifully intact.
Now the question is, when should you tape your mans' feet. Sure it prevents blisters, but you don't get the thrill of popping the that juicy sucker.
Any thoughts on when to tape?

Coyote Two Moon Ultras, Fri-Sun, March 21-23, 2008

The training is mostly done but the tapering has not yet begun. Wait a minute, does Gilles really taper? He running the Chuckanut 50 K on Saturday , less than 1 week before C2M.
All the travel arrangements are done. Flight down to LA from Vancouver. Rent car from airport. Stay at the Best Western in Ojai.
Vancouver representation at C2M: Gilles, John, Karl, Chad, Al - not bad.
Widow's Race Itinerary:

• 4pm race starts for John and Gilles (race starts are staggered to have all runners finish within a 4 hour window).
• 7:30 pm: Linda (John's wife) and I enjoy the long running Wicked at the Pantages theatre.
• sometime after Wicked: Linda and I check on the boys, then off to bed
• Sat am: go check on boys' progress
• Enjoy a little sightseeing
• Sat afternoon: check on boys, bring pizza to keep them going
• More sightseeing

NO need to plan it all in advance, but you get the basic plan. Any thoughts on activities in the area?

PS: The big planning now is which knitting project to take with me.