Eco-Trail de Paris 50k - Lisa's race report

Lisa and her friend, Carol, flew to France to run a 50k trail race. The Eco-Trail de Paris 50k goes from Versailles to Paris and finishes at the base of the Eiffel Tower. How cool is that?

A few days before the race, Lisa emailed me a picture of her breakfast. I was drooling...

Petit dejeuner

Here's Lisa's race recap:

We finished! It was a mud fest and felt like 14 Hogsbacks in a row. Harder than the Volcano Marathon. I was doing good up to 40k @ 4:31, but then shuffled to the Eiffel Tower. Finished in 5:54. Carol was 5:36. Oh, we first had to walk a mile to catch the train to Versailles then walk 4k around Versailles Gardens to the race start line. So it was like a 55k! Lucky the rain stopped just as race started. It was a downpour for 15 hours before. The mud was crazy!

1 min. to START

at 10k - trudging up through the mud

Aid stations had chocolate! We are now having champagne and chocolate macarons.

Mmm, and fromage too

See attached Garmin data. You can see where the Garmin lost mileage in spikes of speed and I also recall looking at my Garmin 4-5 times and seeing it searching for satellites, lost signal.

4,500 feet of elevation gain (this is in garminconnect.com)....and when I downloaded to the Garmin Training software, it posted 7,000+ feet of elevation gain. It felt like 10,000!. Who knew if was going to be 20 times 200-foot hill gains. It was a Hogsback repeat race after all!

Race Required Gear:
- 2 liters water minimum (Nathan HPL Hydration 008 race vest with a 45+ oz Camelback bladder with electrolytes plus a Nathan 9 oz handheld bottle).
- Personal cup 15cl minimum
- Food supply (for me: 6 Tri-berry Gus, a few pretzel sticks, 1 pkg Clif Shots, 1 scoop Spiz)
- Rain Jacket
- Tights (CW-X)
- Trash keeper (race-provided mesh holder for your sports gu trash).
- Cell phone
- Reflective arm band
- Whistle
- Survival blanket!!!?
- Adhesive elastic band enabling you to make a bandage or strap (mini 80cm x 3 cm)
- Cap or bonnet (“buff”)
- Proof of identity (Road ID)
- Medical certificate (“fit for competitive running”)

Other personal gear:
- Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra trail shoes
- Long-Sleeve jersey
- SmartWool socks
- Electrolyte tab and Advil
- Map of race course
- 10 euros

My gear + water stuffed into the Nathan vest weighed 6 lbs! But very comfortable the entire race.

Links:
- More of Lisa's Paris pictures
- Eco-Trail de Paris site
- Blog post from 80k 4th place finisher, Ian Sharman

All photos by Lisa Reinke.

Top of Tantalus: 4/10/2010

Top of Tantalus: Second race in the 2010 HURT Trail Series. The course was nice and muddy. And Na Ala Hele did a great job of clearing the trees that had blown down recently.

The race starts with a sprint from the Lookout to the trailhead. Then, while you wait in the pile-up that occurs at the narrow opening to the trail, you can catch your breath before it's your turn to head down the steep hill. After running through 7 miles of hills, rocks, roots, and mud, you get to run up the same steep hill that you started down. I think I was crawling by the time I finally, finally reached the top.

Jack

Julie

Jan

http://connect.garmin.com/player/29642678
1. In the map image on the Garmin site, select the "Terrain" box
2. Press the "Play" button

Sat, 4/10/10
Start: Puu Ualakaa State Park
Trails: Ualakaa - Makiki Valley - Nahuina - Kalawahine - Manoa Cliff - Moleka - Makiki Valley - Ualakaa
1:26 / 6.6 miles / 12:58 avg

More stuff on the HURT Hawaii site:
- Race Results and Rob's pics
- Mike's pics

Race photos by Rob Lahoe.

Ford Island Bridge 10k: 4/3/2010

Saturday was the Ford Island Bridge 10k race. This is one of Brad's and my favorite races - and one of the few road races that I do. We've run it every year since 2004, except for 2006. There's something cool about running across the bridge and around the old airfield.

This year's race was pretty fun. Brad and I ran it together, but he could've had a faster time. Afterwards, we saw Jan, Andy, and Johnny. And had free popsicles from Meadow Gold. Then we went to Liliha Bakery for breakfast. Pancakes. Yum.

http://connect.garmin.com/player/29017277
1. In the map image on the Garmin site, select the "Hybrid" box
2. Press the "Play" button

Sat, 4/3/10
Ford Island Bridge 10k
53:00 / 6.2 miles / 8:34 avg

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On Thursday, Lisa, Jack, Alec, and I ran up on Tantalus. Throughout the run, we were amazed by the number of large trees that had been knocked down by the recent winds. It was like a tornado went through. Or a bulldozer.

Lisa brought chocolates from Paris to share. There were these homemade chocolate-covered marshmellows - they were super-light. And from Germany, some dark chocolate with mint - super-smooth. Thanks for sharing, Lisa!

http://connect.garmin.com/player/29016960
1. In the map image on the Garmin site, select the "Terrain" box
2. Press the "Play" button

Thu, 4/1/10
Start: Parking #2
Trails: Kalawahine - Manoa Cliff - Pauoa Flats - Kalawahine
0:50 / 3.1 miles / 16:19 avg

Peacock

This weekend Jan and I headed up to Peacock. We can't get enough of the place. Rex joined us. Mike too. And we ran into Cheryl and Benita while they were up there.

Rex brought up the topic of the word "dude." And on the way down the switchbacks at Kealia, we got into a discussion about how "dude" can mean so many things.

Like "Happy surprise" dude:
Dude #1: "I brought you a case of beer."
Dude #2: "DUDE!"

Or "I know you're lying" dude:
Dude #1: "Did you drink the last beer?"
Dude #2: "No."
Dude #1: "Duuuuude..."

The route of our run is below. Fun times, dude.

http://connect.garmin.com/player/28507635
1. In the map image on the Garmin site, select the "Hybrid" box
2. Press the "Play" button

Sat, 3/27/10
Start: Dillingham Airfield
Trails: Kealia - Access Road West - Kuaokala - Crossover out & back - Kealia
5:20 / 20.2 miles / 15:50 avg