Badwater Ultramarathon 2011 - 8:00am Start

It seems such a long time since Team Swiss Miss was at the starting line of the Badwater Ultramarathon 2011. My favorite race once again is over but the memories will last a lifetime.

http://www.youtube.com/user/AdventureCORPS#p/u/4/cZzS0R1gwJg

3's a Charm

Allt the training is done and I'm ready for another great adventure. Thank you all for the good wishes. Badwater here we come!

My lucky Badwater charms. Susanne and Annette thank you so much. It is something very special.

Team Swiss Miss Badwater Songs

This year Team Swiss Miss will have 2 Badwater songs to cheer up my fellow Badwater Ultramarathon runners!

The first one is already known in Death Valley from last year - Hey Baby! by DJ Otzi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNsmiqmaEWo

And the second one will be famous after Badwater - "Stahn uf!" by Baschi, Bligg, Ritschi, Seven and Stress

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgfeqzfQrfs

Translation of chorus: "Get up and do exactly what you want! Don't give up! You're the only one who can help yourself!"

Badwater Training and Races

It has been a while since my last Blog post. I was a very busy runner for the past few months. My training for Badwater and the races I've done so far went very well.

My first race this year was the Jerseyville Fat Ass 100 Mile on April 23, hosted by the amazing ultrarunner Monica Scholz. Last year my time there was 17:52, which was a new Canadian age group record. Based on my training I knew I had a chance to break my own record. The course is perfect to run a fast 100 mile time - flat 5k out and back. Despite the heavy rainfall in the beginning of the race everything went well. I felt great most of the time and I finished first overall in a time of 17:33 which is a new pending Canadian age group record.

One week later on April 30 I was at the starting line of the Pick Your Poison 50k. It's a very hilly four loop course on ski hills in Horseshoe Valley. The weather was beautiful. Spring was in the air and I had a blast, especially running the downhills in my Hoka Mafate. I finished the race in a time of 6:51 which was good for 28th place out of 52 runners. I can't wait to go back there in the winter and fly down those hills on my snowboard.

The next race after PYP was Sulphur Springs 100 Mile on May 28. The weather leading up to the race and most of the spring was quite bad, cool and lots and lots of rain. On race day the runners had to challenge some very muddy and wet trails. The course is a 20k loop and some sections of the trails were knee deep mud. After every loop the conditions got worse but at the same time it was also a lot of fun. I had a great race, felt very strong and finished in 20:55 which was a new PB on that course even with the slight tougher course change and the very muddy conditions. I finished first female and was 4th overall out of 66 starters.

Two weeks later on June 11, I did the Self-Trandencence 6 Hour run in Kingston, Ontario. I ran 62,554k / 38.869 miles which was good for second place female and 5th overall out of 50 runners.

Going into the Niagara 50k race one week later on June 19 my plan was to finish it in less than 5 hours. The course is a 25k out and back, following the Niagara River Parkway from Niagara-on-the-Lake past Fort George and on to Niagara Falls and back. Last year I had very bad cramps at the end of the race and had only 29 seconds to pare to break five hours. This year I felt a bit tired on the uphills going out but on the way back I felt great and passed many of my fellow runners. I was flying in my Hoka Bondis, and with a time of 4:24:33 I finished much better than I expected and is a new PB.

All in all I have to say I'm very pleased and happy with my race times so far and the way my training is going. I think I am ready for Badwater and can't wait to put my feet to the starting line. Less than two weeks to go!

Freezing Rain and Snow or Treadmill?

Yesterday when I checked the weather outside my house I decided in a split second that there is no way I would run outside in those conditions – wet and cold! The treadmill next to the fireplace looked way more appealing than getting soaking wet and freezing cold. I don’t really like running on the treadmill, but wintertime in Toronto can be quite tough. Right now it looks like this winter will never end. I’m really getting tired of all this exercising with the snow shovel and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Anyway, I ended up running 33 miles yesterday and another 22 miles today – yes on the treadmill! It definitely was the most I ever ran on the treadmill in two days. All in all it wasn’t as bad as it sounds. All you need is an iPod loaded with lots of music. The best tunes for long runs are very long songs like:

Genesis – Abacab
Genesis – Tonight, tonight, tonight
Don McLean – American Pie
Peter Frampton – Do you feel like we do
Pink Floyd – Echoes
Pink Floyd – Shine on you crazy diamond
Iron Butterfly – In-A-Godda-Da-Vida
Doors – L.A. Women
Doors – Light my fire
Doors – Riders on the storm
Doors – The end
Dire Straits – Money for nothing
Dire Straits – Telegraph Road
The Temptations – Papa was a Rollin' Stone
Prince – Purple Rain
Michael Jackson – Thriller
Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells
Jimi Hendrix – Voodoo Child
Rolling Stones – You can’t always get what you want

Badwater Heat or Toronto Cold?

What a tough run on icy and snowy roads this morning! The temperature in Toronto is completely the opposite than what it will be during the Badwater Ultramarathon. It was freezing cold and with the wind chill factor it was -20 degree Celsius. Even imagine how hot it will be in Badwater didn’t make me feel any warmer. I can’t wait for this long and cold winter to be over and run in the heat again. At least my feet were warm. I was wearing the Drymax Cold Weather running socks http://www.drymaxsocks.com/index.php Great socks! And they keep my feet dry and warm.

Drymax Cold Weather Running socks

Badwater Ultramarathon 2011

Yea!! I got some great news at 4:00 am this morning:

Congratulations! You have been accepted to compete in the 2011 Badwater Ultramarathon, presented by AdventureCORPS, Inc. You are part of a select group who will participate in what is recognized across the globe as “the world’s toughest footrace.”

I am so excited! I can't wait to run in Death Valley again. Congratulations to all the other Badwater Ultramarathon runners. See you in July.

Badwater Memories

Last year at our post Badwater Ultramarathon party I got a very special present from my friend Jim Morrison, which means a lot to me and will always remind me how strong I felt running from Darwin to Lone Pine. Jim was on the crew of my fellow ultrarunner Rob Gryfe. Thank you so much Jim! You really know how much I love being part of the Badwater Ultramarathon.

Sand from Keeler http://keelercalifornia.com/

Badwater Ultramarathon 2010 - FINISHED Business

After I got stopped last year with just a little over one mile to go to the finish line, due to the forest fire, I knew I had to come back and run Badwater again so I could finish this incredible race the way I have dreamed of for a very long time.

Team Swiss Miss from left to right: John my crew chief, the Swiss Miss, my lovely husband Jeff, my little sister Annette and my dear friend Bernie.

When I found out that I was one of the lucky runners who had been invited to run the world’s toughest foot race again, nothing could stop my training and preparation. This year I wanted to finish the race in one stretch and I also wanted to run a faster time than last year. Last year, I had some very bad stomach issues on the second day and wanted to make sure this would not happen again. My plan was to try all kind of food during 100 mile races and with my training to find out what would work best besides the Hammer Perpetuem and Carbo Pro that I was planning to use. As it turned out, milk, mashed potatoes, bananas, rice pudding, fruit caps, Starbucks Frappucino, V8 jus, melon, and some Red Bull worked great. I also dropped 10 pounds of weight, incorporated some weight training and decided to get a ‘nice’ tan before the race to make sure I did not get sunburned like last year!

Team Swiss Miss Crew Van

Another change this year was having only four crew members and one van. John Rennison, my fantastic crew chief, Jeff Cooper, my wonderful husband, Bernie, my dear friend and Annette my favourite little sister - you guys were simply amazing and I could not have done the race without you. There aren’t enough words to thank you for keeping me going all the way. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will never forget what you guys did for me out there in Death Valley.

My crew chief John made sure the rules are clear..

My little sister, the Swiss Miss and crew chief John at the pre race dinner..

The journey begins…

Jeff and I arrived in Las Vegas on Thursday before the race. We picked up the rental van, which took us almost two hours until we found the perfect one – a white Chrysler Town & Country with low mileage (7,000). After settling into our hotel we drove out to the airport to pick up Annette who came in from Switzerland. I had not seen her since last fall and was very excited when she agreed to be on my crew. It meant a lot to me. The next day we drove to the airport again to pick up John and Bernie who arrived with two huge coolers and a lot of race gear. I was a bit worried that we were not going to be able to fit everything into the van but John convinced me that it wasn’t a problem. Even after we bought some missing gear at a Walmart in Las Vegas, we still could fit everyone and everything in the van. I popped in the Team Swiss Miss CD that I had made up into the CD player and off we were to Pahrump. As it turned out, everybody liked the first song – Hey Baby and we made it the Team Swiss Miss Badwater song. During the whole race we must have played it at least a hundred times or more and from what we heard back from other runners it was a great inspiration for many of my fellow runners. After arriving in Pahrump we settled into our hotel, organized our stuff a little bit and went to the pool. The next day, we bought all the food at the Walmart and somehow we were still able to fit everything into the van. Wow! And off we were to Furnace Creek where we arrived around lunch time. It felt so good to be back, to see the incredible beauty of Death Valley, and being part of the Badwater family again. It was also very nice to meet Ben Jones http://www.badwaterbenjones.com/ , a Badwater veteran and legend and some of my friends, Keith, Tony http://www.irunultras.com/ Adrian, and Harvey. I was also looking forward to meet Bob from Drymax http://www.drymaxsports.com/ who has supported me with socks and the signs for our van (last year and again this year). Thank you so much for everything, Bob. After we got our rooms my crew organized the van, put the signs up, boiled some eggs (sorry guys I never ate one) and off we were to the pool. Then we went for dinner where we met our friends from the other Toronto crew, Rob, Tammy, Jimmy and Paul.

Ben Jones, the Swiss Miss and Reza, the first Badwater runner from Iran

Rob Gryfe and his crew and Team Swiss Miss, from left to right: Jeff, the Swiss Miss, John, Paul (Rob's crew), Tammy (Rob's crew), Bernie, my fellow Badwater runner Rob Gryfe, and Annette.

The next day went by very quickly with racer check in and the race meeting. We went for an early dinner. Afterwards my crew did some last rearranging of the gear and I could rest. John didn’t want me anywhere close to the van and I knew I could fully trust him and didn’t have to worry about anything. He knew exactly what needed to be done and Jeff, Bernie and Annette helped him to organize everything. I was completely relaxed and ready for the race.

BIB # 18 is ready

Race Day, Monday, July 12, 2010

Team Swiss Miss before the start at the Badwater Ultramarathon 2010

I was in the 8:00 am start and we left Furnace Creek around 6:45am to drive to the starting line at Badwater. Along the way we cheered on the runners from the 6:00 am start. We were all very excited and couldn’t wait for our start. When we arrived at Badwater we had the music on full blast and after we stopped the van we all were dancing to Hey Baby. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu06deE8apw] It felt great! Too bad we were one of the early teams and not that many people could see our grand entrance. After weighting in, the taking of the 8:00 am runners’ picture at the Badwater sign all runners lined up at the starting line. Now I really couldn’t wait to start. After Casey Dakus finished singing the American national anthem, the countdown began: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and GO! It was such an incredible feeling. My crew cheered me on and off they went into the van to drive about 2 miles ahead and wait for me.

My fellow Badwater runner from Toronto Rob Gryfe and the Swiss Miss

My friend Keith Straw, the Tutu Man

Does my ass look fat?

8:00 am start runners at the Badwater sign

Second wave runners at the starting line just before 8:00 am

Part II

Badwater Ultramarathon 2010

Team Swiss Miss in Action!
Thanks so much to my crew chief John for the great video.

Badwater Ultramarathon 2010

I'm still working on my Badwater race report. In the meantime, this is the funniest race recap I've seen. Thanks to Charlie Nickell.

http://www.therundown.net/2010/07/2010-badwater-ultramarathon.html

Swiss Miss Badwater 2010 Song

The Team Swiss Miss Badwater 2010 song was: DJ Otzi - Hey Baby. You have to ask my crew how many times they played the song during the race but I'm sure everyone out there in Death Valley must have heard it at least once. It was the song that kept us going!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu06deE8apw&feature=fvst

And if you'd like to sing-a-long here are the lyrics. Have fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBoI8h4AAjI&feature=related

Badwater here we come

Finally everything is packed and ready to go. We will be off to Death Valley tomorrow. Let the adventure begin. My crew and I are so excited, ready and can't wait! Tomorrow we will meet up in Las Vegas with my sister who will travel all the way from Switzerland to crew for me. My other crew member Bernie and John will meet up with us on Friday and then it's off to Badwater. Team Swiss will rock! Whoo-ha!

Badwater Running Shoes

Last year I brought 4 pairs of running shoes to Badwater, one pair even a size larger than my regular size. Surprisingly my feet didn't swell too much, the shoes didn't melt and I ended up running the whole 135 mile race in the same pair of shoes - Brooks Adrenaline GTS 9.

I still love the Adrenaline but run some of my training runs in Nike Free's and the new Brooks Ravenna. Most likely I will take 4 pairs of shoes with me again this year but no larger size. If my feet will get very bad there is always the option to cut off the front of the shoe and create the "Badwater shoe." And as for the socks, I will be wearing the Drymax Maximum Protection socks http://www.drymaxsports.com/extremerunning.php . The best socks on the planet!

Drymax Maximum protection running socks

The "Badwater shoe" with toe socks (which I will NOT wear).

Badwater Charm

The dragon on the right was my Badwater charm last year. The meaning of the symbol is endurance, strength and a long life. For my birthday in late April I got the second one (left) - the sword of the Amazon to fight all the obstacles during this year's Badwater Ultramarathon. Susanne, thank you from the bottom of my heart for this special gift and always believing in me.
Muentschi noch Bern. I had di gaern.

Team Swiss Miss Crew Member Confirmed

Great News! My little sister will be crewing for me at Badwater this year. I am very excited to have her on board. Now the official crew languages are English and Swiss German.
Super dass chunsch, Annette. Freu mi mega! Chasch anfang em Bligg sini Rosalie uswendig laerna. Da Lied muesch mer daenn z'Nacht vorsinge.