Take It to the Lake 2017

I've participated in Take It to the Lake races at Cave Lake near Ely, Nevada for four of the five last years. They have a 10k and half-marathon, along with a kids' race that our kids have also done four of the five last years. The race is the third weekend of September, and about the beginning of August I decided that I should sign up. I looked at the routes and saw that the 10k was all downhill. That seemed too easy. I needed a little more challenge. So I signed up for the half-marathon. I had done two before. Surely I could do another.

Then I looked a little closer at the information. It was a half marathon with 1800 foot elevation gain and drop. Oh my! So basically we had to climb and descend a small mountain.

Did I mention that when I signed up, I was only running 2 miles at a time? So I just had to figure out how to run 13.1 miles. In about five weeks. I looked online for some training plans, and of course no one had a training plan for dummies to go from 2 miles to 13 miles in five weeks. So I adapted a couple plans and figured that I would build up gradually (sorta). Weekend 1 would be 4 miles, 2 would be 6 miles, 3 would be 8 miles, and 4 would be 10 miles. A few runs interspersed during the week, and hopefully that would be good enough.

For my 10-mile run, I decided to run up to Baker Lake in Great Basin National Park. I started early in the morning and made it 5.8 miles up to the lake in about an hour and 45 minutes. I was happy with that. I did a lot of fast walking interspersed with some jogging.

The lake was beautiful. It was a still morning, and to my surprise, no one was camping up there, so I had it all to myself.

The colors were just starting to change. This is an avalanche chute I take a photo of every winter when we do the snow survey. It's certainly a lot greener now!

Some of the herbaceous vegetation was turning, and the background of this little waterfall made me slow down and take a photo. I figured that I would be able to run ten-minute miles downhill, but it turned out to be more like 15-minute miles. Will all the hopping over rocks and a spectacular somersault tumble, I was kind of slow.

But that run gave me confidence for the next weekend. I got up at 4:30 a.m., drove to Ely, and got on the shuttle bus that took us to the starting line. It was starting to get light by the time we got off. It was super cold, in the 20s. I was glad I had my big puffy coat.

Here's a view of the starting area. We had to cross a few cattle guards during the race!

I usually make a couple goals when I do races. The first is to finish. The second was to finish in less than 2:45. I was thinking it would take me 15-minute miles to do the first half, the uphill part, so that would be 1:45. Then 10-minute miles for the downhill, or about an hour.

I debated until the very end of what to wear and finally went with my lightest layer, shorts and a t-shirt, even though it was below freezing. I wore gloves as a concession to the cold. And it was frigid! It took me miles to warm up.


The views were spectacular. And thanks to the race photographer for getting these photos!

I made it to the top of the pass in less than 1:45 (I can't remember the time exactly). I had had problems getting my running app to work correctly, but I finally figured it out. It told me my splits as I went downhill. Most were under ten minutes, but I was remembering when I ran in college and was significantly under ten minutes. Now I was barely under. And my legs hurt, I had just gone up a small mountain! Soon my knees would be hurting even more. There were some fun State Farm motivational signs up that were a great distraction. I kept telling myself it was okay not to be the fastest, just to finish was good. But I really should try to keep running. The miles ticked by. And then I was at the last hill and to the finish line. I made it in 2:29, my slowest half-marathon yet, but by golly, I had made it!

Folks were wandering around, eating, looking at the prize table, and talking.

There were cool winners' trophies. I ended up fifth for women, so I didn't get one. Congrats to the winners who did!

The plan had been for my husband to bring the kids to the kids' race, but he found out the day before that he had to work. Grandparents to the rescue! They brought the kids, got them registered, and they were all ready to go for the starting stretch. I joined in as a post-race stretch. It felt so good!

Desert Girl and Desert Boy at the starting line. This was a one-mile run, and they knew the route. Good thing, I was not up to anymore running! I asked Desert Boy what his strategy was, and he said "Endurance." He's been to a few races, so he knows a little about pacing.

Then it was time to take off! The kids are towards the rear.

I figured they would move up a little, but I was totally surprised to see Desert Boy round the corner first on the way back. I guess his strategy paid off!

And he was wearing terrible shoes for running. Maybe I should just let him be a barefoot runner, it would probably be better for his feet!

And then Desert Girl came along in fourth place. Wowzers!

Maybe those striped tights helped give her some extra powers. Or maybe she just wanted to keep up with big brother!

Afterwards we got a photo of us by beautiful Cave Lake.

And then Desert Boy decided to really take it to the lake! He jumped in a few times (mainly to be photographed). It was cold. I probably should have to, my knees hurt for a week. Fortunately my friend Jenny was able to massage out the muscle pains.

 Here's hoping we can participate again in the race next year! We feel so blessed to have such a well-organized race so close to us. Thanks again, wonderful grandparents, for helping out so the kids could participate. And thank you, Ely Outdoor Enthusiasts!

Miscellaneous June 2017

 I guess I'm not too far behind if I'm wrapping up June! Here are a few photos that didn't make it into previous posts. We enjoyed eating at the new Kerouac's Cafe in Baker, Nevada. The food is delicious and service is great! We've returned several times!

For work, I went up high in the mountains to protect some limber pines from mountain pine beetles. They are part of a proactive white pine blister rust program. Several trees (both bristlecone and limber pines) have been selected and pinecones harvested. The US Forest Service is propagating the pine seeds and then testing them for white pine blister rust, a non-native pathogen that can kill whole forests. The idea is that some resistant trees might be found, then their pine seeds can be stored and grown and resistant trees planted to help when the rust eventually arrives. In the meantime, we have to protect those trees from mountain pine beetle, so we apply verbenone, a natural pheromone that the  beetles excrete to say that the tree is full of beetles and the incoming beetles should select a different tree. So cool! (Bristlecone pines don't seem to be affected by mountain pine beetles, so we don't need to put verbenone on them.)

The bristlecone in this study isn't part of the study, but it looks cool.

We had been having some warm temps, but on this particular day it was really cold. And there were still snow drifts. Bruce and Becca helped us get up the road, moving trees and digging through snow/ice drifts. It was an adventure!

To my surprise, Nevada primrose was already blooming.

The views from Mt. Washington were amazing.

I spent a week near Redmond, Oregon teaching cave rescue. We had a fun day on the cliffs. This was a different type of rock than what we used for the rest of the week.

That's because there are lots of lava tubes around Redmond.


We didn't actually go in many, but we played at the entrances of several, including doing a highline across this one.


We also had some zen time in the gym/exhibition hall, floating students across.


Back at home, we tried out a new (used) sailboat that my husband purchased. It's lots of fun, but also a little scary when the wind gets going.

I enjoyed a trip to an ice cave that has part of its entrance blocked by snow.

It had never been entered this time of year before, so we didn't know what to expect. We couldn't use the bolts at the entrance, so tied off to a tree and went over the snow.

The transition to snow to ice was abrupt. It was an interesting cave, but very difficult to get to. We installed a wildlife camera at the entrance, so we'll learn what else is using the cave.

We've also been spending time with the lambs. We figure if they get used to chaos here, they'll do better at the fair. So we invite friends over to play!

Desert Boy got some lessons on showmanship, but needs a few more! It will be fun to watch him at the fair. He's definitely gotten a lot more confident, and I can see why it's good to start with animals that weigh about 100 pounds instead of those that weigh much more (like steers).

Flagstaff Small Party Cave Rescue Class

Back in April I took some time off work and headed to Flagstaff, Arizona to teach a Small Party Assisted Rescue (SPAR) class for the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC). This was the sixth one I was teaching, the third as lead instructor. I had to figure out some logistics (like where we would train), so I met up with Ben the day before the class to go look at sites. It was crazy, we drove  out onto the flat desert and then suddenly we came to this big gash in the earth. It was an earth fracture, making a cave.

We descended into the very linear feature. Along the way we found rolls and rolls of barbed wire.

We also found some great spots for crack and crevice problems.

After exhausting that cave, we went down the fissure a ways and found another entrance. This one required a rope. The first boulder we wanted to anchor to had a rattling sound coming from under it, so we went to another one. I was hoping we wouldn't have a close encounter with the rattlesnake.

It was a fun drop, nearly all of it free hang. And fortunately we didn't meet up with the rattler back on the surface.

Later that night we had check-ins. Students have to know a variety of knots and some basic single rope techniques (SRT) before they can take the class. All 16 students who had signed up for the class made it in.

The next morning the classroom was the living room of the house we had rented. We like to have an expedition-style feel to the class, so we stay together and make food together, as well as train together.

The actual classroom time is short. Soon we were outside doing haul system reviews.

Then it was time for afternoon rotations. Here's the diminishing loop counterweight station. The big ponderosa pines made for great anchors. The idea with this rescue technique is that using a pulley and twice the amount of rope as the drop, the rescuer can climb and without too much effort, get both herself and the patient to the top of the drop.

At the releasable redirect station, the students learned how to do a haul up and over something. In this case, they were moving someone over the dumpsters.

We were at the USFS Flagstaff facility, and they had some nice covered space to work on convert to lower. This is a skill where if someone is stuck on rope (usually over a cliff or down in a cave), you convert the rigging to a lowering system. Of course, if they had just rigged with contingency rigging (e.g., a Munter tied off), it would only take seconds.

Another station was Traveling Haul, where you learn that you don't have to have a haul system at the top of the drop. It can be moving with the patient.

Students worked in groups of four so everyone was hands on.

We had six instructors for the class, and as lead I rotated around to see how learning was progressing.

The little white boards were a big help.

Here's Andy lying down on the job, ha.

Following the first set of rotations, we had some free stations, where students could go where they wanted. Many chose to attend Mel's talk on carabiner evolution.

We had rebelay courses set up in a couple ponderosa pines, and some students gave those a try. You always know how well your vertical system fits when you do one of these!

All that got us ready for the next day's exercises, at a real cave. We again had students rotate through a variety of stations, basically expanding on concepts they had learned the previous day.

We were working with lava this day, so we had to be very aware of loose rocks. Lava tends to break off unexpectedly.

Traveling haul was again used, but in a more realistic scenario.

It's kind of fun to be a traveling haul patient, especially when there's a tether to the top rope grab!

The weather was perfect, and we could enjoy being out under the ponderosa pines.

My brother was taking the course, and we had a chance to climb rope next to each to get out of the cave. I couldn't resist getting a selfie!

Looks like my photos end here. The last day was the scenario day, where the students try out different techniques on the problems they're presented. We went to a different cave so they'd have some new challenges. Everyone did very well.

I've ended up spending quite a bit of time teaching NCRC classes, but I find that it's something I really enjoy. And hopefully what I teach will help someone who's in a bad situation.

If you're interested in cave rescue, you can learn more about training at the NCRC website. And you can read about cave rescues at the American Caving Accident website.
Cave safely!