Turkey Orienteering meet, Babler St. Park

Paul and Ginger Joyner, and Anne (from Forum Dental Too) went up for the Turkey O meet at Babler State Park. The meet is a Score O format (get as many checkpoints in three hours). I felt I ran a great course, I finished pretty well in the overall standings with 560 points out of 790 possible with 5 minutes to spare. I didn't have any major nav errors and was just about beat after three hours. In fact I wasn't sure I was going to make it up that last hill to the finish. One guy swept the course, Incredible!! It was great weather and the woods were super open. Paul, Ginger and Anne scored 300 pts.


View Larger Map

The CP had point values CP 1-10, 10pts; 11-20, 20 pts; 21-30, 30 pts; 31-34 50 pts.

For some reason my GPS track always shows up under the map when viewed in Google maps, for the best results, to see my route on top of the map click HERE to download the .kmz file and view it in Google Earth (you have to have Google Earth installed on your computer). You may have to right click on the link and save it to your computer.

Run for Strong Kids Half Marathon 09, Holister MO

Owing to the fact that the Castlewood 8 is on the same day as the Memphis Half Marathon and Kari likes to do a half marathon this time of year, I searched and found another half to run. I came across a little race in Holister MO and thought well it is probably going to be hilly, but it is really cheap and close so we decided to do it. I just didn't realize how hilly.

Judd, Stephen Kofoed, Dave and Kari and I headed down on Friday. Kari and I stayed the weekend in Branson since it was our 10th anniversary. After making a quick QT stop and calling Chris for a little nostalgia we made it to Branson. Met Judd, Dave and Stephen and headed to Olive Garden where we saw the rest of the Rolla people that were going to run. After dinner we left Judd back at his hotel and went to preview the course. It was quickly apparent that this was going to be no stroll down Beale St. We followed the rough directions and found our way up a HUGE hill to an aptly named place called Murder Rock. I tried to console myself thinking that maybe I missed a turn or something and we weren't in the right spot when Dave pointed out a sign that pointed to the 10th hole on a golf course which was part of the rough directions, Rats well we were in the right place. Looking around I saw a water tower far below us that we had passed earlier along the route and thought oh man what have I gotten us into, I think Kari was ready to switch to the 5K at that point.

Next morning we arrived at the race, the place was chaotic and it was apparent that it was not going to start on time. After a long delay we finally headed off. My usual race strategy (or stupidity) is to go out hard, get some fast miles in and then just try and gut it out when I run out of gas for the last few miles. I figured with the Murder Rock torture fest in the middle of the race I had better hold back and save some. Dave, Stephen and I went out together with a handful of people ahead of us. Kristine from Rolla went out like a rocket and was way up on us. We passed a few people on the way out and had most everyone in sight. Stephen, seeing that he was being beaten by a girl(Kristine) kept wanting to push the Nitro button and pass everyone. Dave and I kept telling him that this is no 5K, we have Murder Rock to contend with, and we have plenty of time to real them in. Finally, at about mile 5 the piss and vinegar was about up to his eyeballs, and the hormone crazed teen could no longer stand to see a girl in front of him so we told him that if he was feeling it, go ahead and have a go. He was off, charging down a hill at a speed that would have destroyed Dave and my knees but hey, he is 17 what does he know about sore knees (I think he found out the next day). Dave and I held our pace and passed the water tower that we knew we had to be looking down onto before all was said and done.

I would like to take a moment to describe the climb up to Murder Rock. You start out passing the water tower and getting psyched out thinking that I have to essentially run to the top of that thing, then you go shooting down into a valley at a sharp decline that absolutely destroys your quads. Oh well you don't need those to climb right? Then you start your assent, winding your way up a just ruthlesly long, moderate incline which is just steep enough to push you to your aerobic threshold and sap your legs of all endurance. All the while the climb gets steeper and steeper as you go up. Then you pass by an aid station which is staffed my EMTs (wise move race director). After splashing water and poweraid all down your front because you are breathing too hard to drink anything, the road decides it is done taking it easy on you and earns the title Murder Rock. With no legs, out of breath and swimming in lactic acid the incline shoots up to like an 89 degree angle, ok it is probably like 45 but it feels like almost 90 so if you are not some sort of mountain goat/human mutation you just crawl up it to the top or your heart explodes and Murder Rock claims another victim.

The view of Murder Rock hill (its more impressive in real life)

Now I am sure that Dean Karnazes, Lance Armstrong, the entire Alpine Shop team, and anyone from the Rockies would call it a molehill and laugh their butts off, but there ain't nothin' in Rolla that compares.

Kari looking out over the precipice at the top of Murder Rock (note the water tower)

Your reward for making it to the summit of Murder Rock is to make the turn and come right back down. See, at that point you "ok the worst is over" and start your decent. Murder Rock then takes one more attempt to do you in. It didn't succeed at blowing up your heart on the way up but since you have no legs left you essentially are a car with no breaks and due to the now severe decline, it is everything you can do to keep from careening out of control and cartwheeling to a bloody demise. I can't be sure, but I think I glimpsed a large pile of skulls and bones in the valley at the bottom of the hill, and what were all those large birds circling around us for?

At about mile eight Dave and I started up another sharp incline (the one that destroyed your quads prior to Murder Rock) and I decided to walk up the incline while Dave proclaimed "I'm takin it!!" and then began walking about 15 yards in front of me. That small separation was enough though, and I couldn't reel him back in. He came in 1:20 in front of me. The rest of the race I focused on reeling in one person after another. On one of the super long uphills I noticed Kristine running and then walking and then running. When I went by her I tried to give her some encouragement to stay with me but she had blown herself up by going out too fast without knowing the perils of Murder Rock in her future. I wonder if Stephen would have made the same mistake had Dave and I not held the reigns on him for a while. The last 3.5 miles I focused on reeling in a couple of guys running together between Dave and Stephen and I. I really didn't want Stephen and Dave to go 1 and 2 and then me come in 5th. So I kicked it up a bit and passed them while they were at an aid station with 1.5 to go. They kept me honest though and I could hear them behind me for the rest of the race. I came in at 1:40:10 (7:39 min/mi.) my PR for a half which is just insanity considering the course.

After catching my breath and getting some water I went back to wait for Kari and to run the home stretch with her. Judd came barreling around a corner at the bottom of a hill at top speed and almost took out a traffic cone. I saw a cop with his radar gun out, start to turn on his lights before he realized it was someone on foot. You see Link(Judd) trains to be a "downhill specialist" which means that he likes to store as much "potential energy" as he can so that he can really build momentum on the downhills. Just after Judd blasted by me carried up the last slight incline from momentum alone, Kari rounded the corner and we ran in together. She had enough of the ipod and gps watch and unloaded all of the gear to me. She asked me if she could make it in under 2:05 and at 2:03:30 I said she could make it, but she had to get moving. She then dropped the hammer and took off which induced a cramp in my calf and I hobbled along after her. She sprinted in the finish at 2:04:42. Not a sub 2hr but a very nice time on a challenging course.

In the end the Rolla Stormin' Mormons went down to Branson to show those boys how to run hills and swept the overall men's division with 1st overall going to Stephen Kofoed (1st half marathon and longest run of his life) 1:36:52; 2nd overall Dave Whittekiend (PR) 1:38:49; 3rd overall Scott Young (PR) 1:40:10; 9th female Kari Young 2:04:42; 1st Varsity Girls-Judd Boehme 2:03:23 (1st half). Now don't get me wrong it was a small race but we are ecstatic with the results. I'll post the vertical profiles later. Official results are Here

Kari and I at Murder Rock

Stephen on his way to victory

Look like I'm really enjoying myself there

Dave bringin' it home thinking Ha! Kari is going to owe me some ice cream!

09 Berryman 12 hr splits

Jason posted the splits for the 09 Berryman, however he didn't really break out the splits, he just gave the clock times at the different TA's. So being the enginerd that I am I took the liberty to break out the actual splits times for the different legs and rank them against the field. Have fun analyzing, I know I will ;-)

Download the splits HERE

Scott

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09 Berryman 12 hr Elevation Drofile

I had forgotten what it was like to race in that kind of terrain. The elevation profile shows just how much up and down and the total distance there was. I know, I know.....I am achieving a whole new level of geek here but oh well.

Scott

2009 Berryman 12 hr Race Map

Well one thing is for sure the Berryman Adventure 09 lived up to its slogan this year. We are still waiting for the results and the full story on what happened to all the teams. The last word we got was Jason saying that there would not be an awards ceremony because there were so many teams still out on the course and they were working on getting everyone in safe. Life flight had to be called in and we saw it fly over while were at the finish. We didn't hear any other details and pray that everything ended up OK.

Unofficially, we are pretty sure that we came in 2nd of the four person teams and really don't have any idea of our overall ranking, though I would wager it is in the top ten because I don't think many teams got all the CPs. We had an awesome time and I for one am still feeling the high from this last weekend, and am still feeling the sore muscles and fatigue as well. I love adventure racing, there is just nothing quite like it.

There were tons of teams from the Rolla area and we are anxious to see how everyone fared. If you are reading this and did the Berryman, please comment and let us know how you fared and any crazy experiences you had during the race. We would like to see your route as well, you can map it by going to www.gpsvisualizer.com/draw paste these coords (36.79520,-91.33123) into the address box. Then in the upper right drop down box switch the map to US/Can MyTopo and then zoom in using the scale on the left. Then use the drawing tools to plot the CPs and tracks of where you went. When done click to download the gpx or kml file. If you email me the gpx or kml I will post your map, or you can go to www.gpsvisualizer.com and click draw a map and do it yourself to get your own map.

As for us, by examining the map below you will notice that we had a little trouble with CP 9 which costs us about an hour, the bike whack from 13 to 14 was also a pretty insane adventure by riding into weeds that were over our heads then careening down a hill without a trail. Our race was almost over when Judd's bike decided it needed some extra fiber for lunch and ate a stick into the derailleur. It would have cost us the race had he not been packing his spare derailleur hanger. It's a good thing he does all that reading and research on AR, maybe we should listen to him more. By the way when bike whacking it is a pretty good idea to stay off your bike, kinda hard to whack and bike at the same time. Later in the race Chris decided to give my bike map holder some extreme beta testing by slamming it (and the rest of his bike)into some boulders while gracefully pirouetting his body in mid air to softly land pack first onto the rocks with nary a scratch to show for it. My bike map holder was not so lucky and it will be back to the drawing board with that one. Link was having some fatigue issues most of the race which Dave and I don't suspect had anything to do with his level of fitness or capabilities because he has kept up with us many times in the past without problem and he was dragging pretty early on. We are wondering if he had some dehydration/nutrition issues or was just coming down with something. Well this is turning into a full on race report which I didn't mean it to be since we don't even know the real results but anyway the map is below, ENJOY!

To get the full experience click View Large Map


View Larger Map

Bike map holder and racing secrets

Subject: Bike map holder
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Although Chris-one-handed-wheelie-while-holding-map-guy is very talented, I have tasked the Forum Dental AR R&D department to come up with a bike map holder. The prototype is being constructed and should be ready for alpha testing soon. The beta version should be race ready for Berryman. Dave has been involved in part of the development process and has been sworn to secrecy. Paul Joyner keeps trying to bust into my...er the R&D's cubicle to steel racing secrets.

Scott

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I can tell that this is going to require a photo and a post to the blog.

Judd

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The RMC AR Team advancing on Forum Dental AR R&D Lab. Look at us navigating. Paul

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From: Paul & Ginger Joyner

Another RMC AR team member speaks up...... I do believe the word went like this, tell Scott Young that us tri geeks already have map holders on our bikes and we will be putting aerobars on the mtbs for the Berryman. hummmm

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Paul,

If you figure out how to put aerobars on the canoe, please let me know. I'll pay anything!!!


Judd

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I know we have a don't help other team rule but sorry everybody, I have and will continue to divulge our secrets to RMC AR team. The thing is, when Paul comes by my cubicle he is packing heat, and a tazer, and mace, and a beater-club-thingy, and handcuffs, etc. And even if he wasn't, he could still break me in half. My only hope would be to out run him, but he may be very fast in short bursts, then again he is training for a half iron-man so out lasting him might not work either, so I will continue my assistance to RMC. Our only hope would be if Dave would go all Forest Supervisor on him, but wait I think law enforcement isn't under the Forest Sup. so we are hosed there too.

Scott

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Team RMC would like to thank Scott for all of his race hints; an official topo race map of Stoddard county, carry lots of rocks in your pack when you cross the river, yell real loud "I found it" at every checkpoint, and the most crucial information is still to come.

Only 23 days till the Berryman.

Paul

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Try and explain it like this.

See, with magnets, opposites attract. So when the little Needle points to the N, it's actually pointing to the South Pole. So actually that is South. That is why so may people get lost using a compass - because they don't actually know how to use it.


Judd

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I probably could name request a specific law enforcement officer be in uniform and present for this race. That may work to our disadvantage if the LEO believes we look suspicious and has to use the tazer, mace or beater-club thingy on us. Maybe we need a fifth racer to sacrifice while we scamper into the woods. Paul, that is another one of our secrets. Start with five and you are generally guaranteed to end with four.

Dave

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There are actually twelve people on the team. We send eight of them to hide in the woods the night before and we just take turns getting CPs. If we are behind we just radio ahead and tell the next group to get going and we'll catch up. It works out great unless someone realizes you punched CP 20 in record time and before you hit CP 10 (that guy is no longer on the team).

Scott

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So what I am ready is that even though we are registered as separate teams, we all are part of RMC and we can form a union/team work. Especially if we all are wearing the same jerseys.


Here are some of our race secrets we will share with Forum Dental AR:


We have found it is easier to mount the map holder on the paddle and not so much onto the canoe. We also thought of saving weight on the canoe, by drilling 1 1/2 holes in the bottom of it and covering the holes with plastic wrap. This should allow us not only to shave some weight, but time also.


Paul

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May need to bring in the LEO from Salem as back up. I'll talk to the new patrol captain when I get the chance. I think if the LEO needed to manage this event we could justify sending him to law enforcement MTB training. Perhaps that LEO could clear the way for the forest supervisor's team.

Dave

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Since we are sharing secrets, I figure I will share that one of the keys to our success is our training program. Check out the video below for a glimpse of a typical Forum Dental AR trecking/nav training session.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hWCBssvIDQ

Scott

Dave you might want to share a typical mtb training video.

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