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Saturday, July 19, 2008

I totally called it

Date: July 19
Mileage: 31.1
July mileage: 438.4
Temperature: 49

I think it was about a week or so ago when I woke up mid-dream - a rare occurrence for me - with the images still lingering in my mind.

"I just had this dream that you took fourth in Crow Pass," I said to Geoff, who was sitting at the computer.

"Huh," he said, completely disinterested. As my friend (who has a 6-month-old daughter) likes to say, 'No one cares about your babies or your dreams.'

But still I persisted. "Yeah. You were on the Crow Pass trail. It was really snowy. Almost winter-like. There was snow on the trees. You ran across the finish line and you were in fourth place."

And Geoff, who at one week before the actual race was still sleeping 10-12 hours a night and had struggled through only a handful of short training runs since the end of the Great Divide Race, just laughed. At that point, one week before the actual race, he wasn't sure he was even going to bother starting. "If I do," he told me. "I'm going to run it as a slow training run. I'm not going be anywhere near the front."

Today Geoff called me to report that he not only started, but actually finished the Crow Pass Crossing. In fourth place.

He actually remembered me telling him about my dream. The first thing he said when I answered the phone was, "You were right."

All said and done, Geoff had a really good race. He finished in 3:17:53, which is about 10 minutes slower than his winning time last year. But the conditions were tougher this year - a ton of rain yesterday made the trail pretty wet, and there also was a lot more snow at higher elevation. The winner's time this year was 3:09. Considering the Geoff was almost ridiculously undertrained and still complaining about physical fatigue left over from the GDR, going into Crow Pass with a plan to race it was huge risk. But he said he felt good during the race, and doesn't feel too bad in the aftermath.

"I felt like I didn't have a low gear and I didn't have a high gear," he said. "I didn't have much for the climb. And then at the flat stretch at the end, when everyone in the pack started to break away, I couldn't keep up."

Although I wanted to scold him for pushing his limits when he was just barely starting to show signs of real recovery, I'm glad that Geoff did well in Crow Pass. It's one of his favorite races - the kind that he'd put A-game focus on in any other year. Plus, I think this will give him a good mental boost as he starts training for the Wasatch 100. He was pretty despondent after the GDR, and I was worried some of his passion would slip.

The article about the race is here.

And the ADN did a preview article in Saturday's paper.

On the home front, we've had 2.93 inches of rain fall since Friday morning, which is nearly an inch more precpitation than the rain that fell in all of June. It's been a bit soggy. Yesterday, as some friends and I huddled inside during our summer "barbecue," my friend Libby said, "I have this terrible feeling that summer is over." "Oh, it's bound to get better," I said. But then I thought about it. The 10-day weather forecast doesn't offer any optimism, and that takes us through the end of July. In 2006, Juneau was dark and cold and rainy during the entire month of August. And by September and October, sun optimism belongs only to the religious and the crazy. Summer really could be over.

I hope I don't have a dream about that.

4 comments:

  1. I love all the photos here ... someday I'd love to visit and if and when I do I'd be snapping tons of photos!

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  2. I hear Anchorage had been sunless too, and chilly and rainy. Maybe I will bring the sunshine when I arrive! I guess I have to consider myself lucky because I am coming from the land of constant sunshine (except for short afternoon t-storms). I can't remember the last time it was only grey and cloudy for 2 consecutive days...but I suppose I shouldn't go around bragging about that too much!!

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  3. "I felt like I didn't have a low gear and I didn't have a high gear,"

    yep in the automotive industry transmissions go into "limp mode" second gear only, damned fine result for limp mode... Geo rocks!

    and, build an ark

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  4. Congratulations, Geoff! After reading the paper on Sunday, I was amazed at how well he did! Blog-readers, check it out in the newslink. A rugged course.
    Jill, my theory is that at least here in Southcentral AK, we had both our first and last day of summer around the 4th of July (our two days of 70 degree weather). My garden has not really done well...but...okay, we live in AK. I keep contrasting it in my head to the weeks and weeks of below-zero and sometimes 20-below zero weather and I guess I am pretty satisfied with it. We've noted the mosquites are not so assaultive, either...if that's a word........

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