Stairway to Heaven 15k

This morning, Sean and I ventured down to Fortuna Mountain to run the Stairway to Heaven 15k, which is part of the Dirt Devil Racing four-part series.  It turned out to be a VERY tough course, as you will be able to tell from the pictures below.  The trails were fairly technical in certain parts and the hills were unbelievably tough.  

A picture of Fortuna Mountain - though we obviously didn't run all of it, this gives you an idea of the type of terrain we were facing!

This was the "Stairway to Heaven" part - a very steep set of railroad ties that had been made into steps to get up the mountain!

Official results have not been posted yet and neither have the actual race photos, so I'll post those later.  But according to our GPS times, Sean finished in 1:59:33 and I finished in 1:59:55.  

Sidewinder 10k

Last weekend, Sean and I headed down to run in the second race of the Dirt Devil Racing Series, the Sidewinder 10k.  The weather was absolutely perfect and the course was great.  These are all trail runs and there are some pretty amazing runners out there.

Sean looking strong on the trails!  

Ignore the words across the picture...I'm too cheap to pay for it, so I just did screen captures :-)

Finisher photos!  Does anyone else get a burst of energy when the end is in sight?

The next race is the Stairway 15k and will be 14 August.  The total series is completing a 5k, 10k, 15k, and half marathon.  The group that coordinates the races is great and they do a fantastic job of making the courses challenging and fun!

Coyote 5k

Last weekend, Sean and I headed down to Tecolote Canyon in San Diego to run the first race of a 4 race series.  The "Dirt Devil" series consists of a 5k, 10k, 15k, and half marathon, all over the course of the next few months.  We had a great time.  The course was beautiful and challenging, but not too hard.  One major hill was all we had to deal with and there weren't too many people out there, which was nice.  Here are a few pictures from the race (ignore the words over the front of the picture - yes, I'm too cheep to pay for them, so I steal them from the internet!).

Sean at about the 1.5 mile mark.

Me...a few minutes behind him!

Charging towards the finish line!!! 

Me, desperately trying to catch the girl ahead of me...failing in the end by about 2 steps - grrrr!

The overall course ended up being about 3.3 miles, vice the typical 3.1 for a 5k, but don't worry - they didn't charge us for the extra .2!  

R.O.C. On!

Loch Ness Monsters: Jessica, Sean, Patrick & Ashley

The Loch Ness Monsters surfaced last Saturday to run their first Ridiculous Obstacle Course (ROC) 5K at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in SoCal.

The 3.1 mile course featured over a dozen obstacles such as snow mountain, a rope swing and monkey bars.


The team included team captain, Sean, Jessica, and our friends Patrick and Ashley.

We finished the course in just over 33 minutes for an official team time of 2 hours, 12 minutes and 23 seconds.

Here are some photos from the event.

Ashley & Sean vs the Joust

Crossing the finish line

Go Loch Ness Monsters!!!

55!

On Saturday, April 9th, in the heart of the Spring Mountains, just to the southwest of Las Vegas, NV, Jessica took on the task of running her first 100 mile ultra-marathon.

It would be her first long distance race since completing the Marine Corps Marathon in 2005, and her first ultra since running a 50 miler in 2003.

Headphones in and camelback strapped to her back, she began her pursuit at 0700 (PST) in 30 degree weather. Her goal was to accomplish 4 laps out-and-back along the course's 11 mile stretch plus a short 6 mile out-and-back to cover the remaining 12.

She covered the first 6 miles in 90 minutes and just before noon she completed her first 22 mile loop. Battling 4,000 feet of altitude, a sudden snow storm and frigid winds, Jessica muscled through with a smile on her face and completed her second loop just before 6 PM.

As the sun set and the stars arrived, Jessica continued to march northward toward the midpoint of her 3rd lap. Hitting the half-way point of 50 miles just after 7:30 PM she pushed through the darkness and reached the turnaround at 9 PM. Unfortunately, by this point the cold weather and distance had taken it's toll. Although she was disappointed, instead of pushing forward and risking injury, Jessica decided to call it a day after 55 miles and 14 hours of running. Although she didn't complete the 100 miles, she did break her personal best by 5 miles. Not a bad day.

To put things in perspective, here are some interesting facts about her 55 mile accomplishment.

- Most people are happy to run a marathon. Jessica ran two back-to-back...in 14 hours...and then ran an extra 2.6 miles.

- NASA consider outer space to begin at 50 miles above the Earth and award Astronaut wings to those who fly above it. (See what happens to you when you try to run to outer space --------------->)

- She ran the equivalent of almost 807 football fields.

- She was 11 miles shy of covering the distance between Columbia, MD and Warrenton, VA.

- Plus she didn't get lost or eaten by any wild animals. Great job!

Additionally, Jessica raised almost $1000 for Fisher House.

Congratulations Jessica on running 55 MILES!!! It was amazing and a lot of fun. Special thanks to West Coast Lisa for her support and being an excellent member of the crew as well. Thanks to everyone who follow on Twitter and checked-in with us throughout the day.

Way to go Jessica!!!

Race Weekend - Labor of Love 100 Miler

This weekend Jessica will be running the Calico Racing Labor of Love 100 Miler in Lovell Canyon, located in the Spring Mountains southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada.

The course will consist of an 11-mile stretch on the paved Lovell Canyon Road. Jessica will run four loops on the 11-mile stretch four times for a total of 88 miles and finish the remaining 12 miles on a short 6-mile out-and-back along the same road.

The event begins at 7am (PST) Saturday morning. Jessica will have 32 hours to complete the ultra-marathon.

As part of the event, Jessica will be running in support of the Fisher House Foundation. Fisher House provides support to wounded service members and their families.

You can follow her progress throughout the day on the blog site or via Twitter.

Toes, Toes, Toes

I've been running in my Vibram Five Fingers for a few months now, and I LOVE them! They are super comfortable for just walking around in and once I broke my feet in slowly, running in them is just as great. The only issue I had with them so far was getting "hot spots" on the balls of my feet when running downhills.

Well, yesterday I found some of those Injinji socks at Adventure 16 in Oceanside! I tried them out this afternoon on some hill sprints and they are fabulous!!!

Thank you to my favorite twin sister in the world for getting these shoes for me!!!