Working the Trails!
In April I went out to the El Prieto Trail (the last four miles of the race) to do my required AC100 trail maintenance. I had a great time out there that day – I got to meet a whole bunch of accomplished ultrarunners and had fun actually spending a day doing manual labor. The other nice thing about trail work on those trails is that I felt like I was working on “my” trails. I wanted to make them in the best condition possible so they would be nice to me when I pass through them on August 28/29.
With all that in mind, I also attended yesterday’s final trail work session before the race. Anyone who hadn’t attended one of the prior days and was planning to race had to come out and work. Since I’m tapering (and have extra energy to burn) and Elizabeth is away and a bunch of friends were going to be there and it was on a section of the course I hadn’t seen before and I have a self interest in fixing the trails, I decided that I’d go out and work on the trails again.
Yesterday we worked on the section of the Idlehour Trail in the few miles before the Sam Merrill checkpoint at mile 89.25. Word was that the part of the trail that we would be working on was in OK shape before we got there, but some sections of it really needed work. In this area, you could really see where the Station Fire ravaged the forest. And sections of the trail were washed out from the rains and erosion once the trees were gone. But we fixed it up and it’s awesome now.
We all met at Hahamongna Watershed Park in Pasadena at 7am for the briefing by Hal, with help from Gary (the Mt. Disappointment RD).
Then we carpooled up to the Sam Merrill Checkpoint and split into three groups. One small group went to go cut up some trees on the course with Gary. Another group went to the end of the section we were working to repair one of worst parts of this trail. I guess it was pretty bad before they got there. Here are a couple pictures towards then end of their repairs.
The rest of us just went up and down the trail repairing any parts that were washed out or overgrown or blocked. My favorite part of the day involved this tree.
It was sorta blocking the trail. And could have impaled someone running past it in the dark. Or so I told myself when I decided it had to be moved. All we had to do was push it a little and it would slide down the hill on the other side of the trail and be gone. Or so I thought. But this kind of thinking is what happens when you give a bunch of boys big tools and free reign in the mountains.
Getting ready to push!
The problem was that after the initial pushes, it stopped and got stuck right across the trail. A big root on the other side of the trail was right in the way holding the whole thing from sliding down. And the root wasn’t going anywhere – it was a strong root and in such a position that if someone were to break it up the tree would probably kill that person on its way down. So now, instead of the tree being a potential hazard (low potential even) to stab someone, it was blocking the trail and became a hurdle. A big hurdle. Oops. At that point, our only goal was to get it past the trail however we could before Hal came back and killed us.
A little yankee ingenuity and some muscle-power from five ultrarunners eventually got it to go sliding down the other side.
Phew!
Taper is in full effect. 52 miles for the week, including a long run of 17 today. No more long runs. No more two-a-days. No more big long hills. Am I gonna make it until the 28th?