This is a blog about trail running in Flagstaff, Arizona.
About NATRA Blog
This page is meant for folks to post their thoughts on the Saturday group run. I (Neil) will post a blurb about who showed up and where it was held. From there, I hope that other runners will share their thoughts since we often have different experiences on the same run. Enjoy!
NATRA runners set down shoe prints on the Flagstaff Loop Trail.
Bruce, Neil, Sabrina, Ron, Josh, Suzanne, Janie, Don, Dylan, and Skylar celebrated the season's first snowfall by running the Flagstaff Loop Trail counterclockwise. This meant starting out by running straight up the steep urban trail rather than a warm up on the Karen Cooper FUTS. The cold weather added insult to injury as it was even harder to breath going up the dreaded hill.
Hard to see turn from FUTS onto Loop Trail.
With a nice dusting of snow on the trail, the lead group flew past the turn off to the Loop Trail. This allowed the back of the pack to catch up and regroup at the well hidden turn. From there it was a cruise on Flagstaff's wonderful new trail. At the split rail fence, Bruce, Janie, Ron, Josh and Dylan took off towards Cheshire, while Neil, Don, Suzanne, Dylan, and Sabrina took the low road back to the south. We admired the brilliant Peaks adorned with snow. We were greeted to a slippery surprise on our descent off Observatory Mesa; the Urban Trail had recently been paved. With a dusting of snow, we all carefully walked down the slippery slope! We reconvened and warmed up at the Kickstand where David Blanchard joined in the celebration of the first snowfall.
Nine NATRA runners including Sousltice's Bride and Bigfoot ran the Campbell Mesa Loop Trail, about 6 miles. This time however, lacking snow, they did not run into any rogue pandas on the rampage, nor any sightings of the Campbell Mesa Yeti. Oddly I found myself out front with everyone content to follow. So has my lazy running routine finally worked? Or did Thursday's early morning workout up Observatory Hill celebrating Alexis' birthday kick my body into high gear? Whatever the reason, my legs and lungs gave out at about mile 5 to allow Scott, Don, and Betsy take us back to the trailhead. It was a marvelous fall day! Thanks to everyone who came out!
An historic auction on the steps of the County Courthouse today - The City of Flagstaff bought Picture Canyon after many years and many battles over efforts to clean up, protect, and manage what was once an eyesore on the edge of the City.
Over the past few years partners have turned Picture Canyon into a jewel, one that Flagstaff can now continually polish for years to come. Many said this would not happen, but relentless partners were unphased and today, one of the most important archaeological sites in the region is under the City of Flagstaff ownership. Thanks to numerous volunteer efforts the area has been cleaned up. There are a lot of stories that hit the news today and pictures are floating all over the internet. See below:
City Manager Kevin Burke makes the winning (and only) bid.
Celia, David, Alicyn, McKenzie, Neil celebrate on Zane Gray balcony.
Yesterday we got back on track with 10 runners heading out for the classic Buffalo Park, Oldham, Rocky Ridge loop. The run after Soulstice is a birthday for NATRA; it was the Saturday after the 2001 Soulstice Race that we had our first run up Schultz Creek and started gathering an email list. NATRA.org went online a few months later and here we are at 11 years old and running strong! As the chatter on the run brought out many Soulstice memories of just a week ago, and several blogs have recently appeared, I thought, what made this race so memorable for me?
I awoke Friday morning to heavy rain and started uncontrollably laughing. I had accurately predicted that for the second year in a row, I would be marking the short course in a raging blizzard. Thanks to Joel Axler, I had a buddy to keep track of my whereabouts during the storm. That morning Joel, who volunteers for Search and Rescue, agreed to mark a small section of the Long Course where runners turn off the Seven Sister's (pipeline) onto the Old Weatherford Road. (Today's paper has a good discussion with Joel and Scott Kuhr about running safely on the trails). As I topped out at Sunset at 8800 feet, I was standing in 3 inches of snow and realized I had a very strong signal on my cell. So I snapped a photo and sent it to my wife (who was in Florida), my Soulstice right hand man David McKee who was putting the finishing touches on the Soulstice poster, and next door neighbor Jeniffer Williams, who was in Mammoth, CA. I asked whoever was on a computer to post on Facebook. Almost instantly, Jen won the prize and the above photo appeared on the web within seconds! I only got cold as I descended and melting snow got my cotton gloves all wet (dumb move). It helped once I just took the gloves off. With the short course marked, I arrived home where my mom was entering runners into her I-Pad Racesplitter App, and I checked back with Joel. 4 hours until Pay 'n Take packet pick up!
(thanks to Cory Sheeley for photo)
For whatever reasons, we had a remarkable turnout at packet pick up, mostly I'm guessing runners did not want to come up to the race any earlier than they needed to in sub-freezing temps. The rains let up 5 minutes before and David, Nick, myself, Randy and many others froze our buns off for 5 hours. The multitude of trips back and forth to the bar packed with carbo-loading Soulstice runners and Ryan Dee's green chile soup, kept us warm. After getting home, David retired to the Soulstice shack, Nick and mom crashed, and I drove up to post the Soulstice directional signs on Elden Lookout Road (since I would be driving Elden Springs road on race morning). The old Honda Civic loaded with race supplies and 200,000 miles can't take too many more poundings on west Schultz Creek road. I then got my solid three hours of race night sleep and got up at 3 AM to start loading the car.
(Aaron Devine's Parks and Recreation Management Class 275)
(The timing team)
David, Nick, and I arrived on race day at 6:15 AM and like clockwork volunteers arrived for their appointed duties. The Weatherford Aid Station (Matt Morales and Steve Pulos), Top O' Sunset Aid Station (Coconino County Supervisor Matt Ryan, Jay Donosky, and NAU Parks and Recreation students), traffic control (Jim Driscoll), Carpool poster handouters (John and Joanne, Ryan Dee and Parks and Rec students) and our Pay and Take Aid Station (Scott Frost, Rob Weber, Micah Grondin and more students!). Our timing team set up (Fanny Stein, Kim Fuller, Josh Steinlage, Jackie Weintraub, Theresa Dowell, Erin Woodard, Micah Grondin and Scott Bajer's dad). Behind the cameras and videos, Scott Perelstein, Aaron Devine, and John Lowe captured the race from nearly every angle, and of course Jerry Mclaughlin, Dave Barnett, and James Willis for the amazing Aspen Sports Raffle! Finally, for as many years as I can remember, the Coconino Amateur Radio Club, keeps track of all the runners. Their voluntary assistance is priceless!
(Big Foot unhappy with "Keep all animals leashed" remark)
The Guardian mountain bike medics and the "Waaahhhmublance" arrived and all that was left to do was get runners off at 8 AM sharp! To finally ensure a clean start, at 6:45 AM, I fired off a practice blank and nearly lost the hearing in my one good ear (left). Rest assured now, that gun was going to start the race with no confusion as with my gaffs in every previous Soulstice that I have started. After getting groped by Bigfoot, who was upset with my comment about keeping all animals leashed, I counted down...5, 4, 3, 2, 1, click...oh crap..."Go, go, go, go!!!!" and the runners were off. It was so expected that I'd blow the start, that runners knew to take off rather than wait for the gun shot!
(The winner's warm up march!; Aaron Devine photo)
(Caleb Schiff always, always darts to the lead - photo by Josh Steinlage)
The only real questions in the race were if Jason Wolfe would overthrow reigning champ Chris Gomez and whether Sara Wagner could keep her Soulstice crown for the 5th straight year having nearly broken a 3 hour marathon at Chicago 6 days earlier. Too boot, Sara was now in the master's division. It would take a heculean effort on her part. The short course went as expected with Ryan Stevens and Janet Bain again defending their titles. There was some controversy as Bigfoot came out of nowhere to cross the short course line first, but earlier footage showed Bigfoot in the long course start, thus leading to the first ever Soulstice disqualification. Two hungry zombies chased a runner or two and even Elvis ran for the long course! Jason Wolfe won the long race easily in under 70 minutes and Sara easily maintained her control of all things Soulstice. And the biggest record of all was 215 finishers and a record 4 runners in the 18 and under division, 2 who were 13 and Giovanna Thull, our youngest female short course finisher ever! Trail running fever is catching on with our youth!
(John Lowe video from 8800 ft. absl
(Photo by Cory Sheeley)
(Aspen Sports Super Raffle!)
The Aspen Sports raffles brought in an addional $1281 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Flagstaff mentoring programs! Eight runners raised $2300 to avoid the lottery and secure their Soulstice spots. Additional donations from runners and sponsors led to Soulstice generating $5800 for BBBSF. In addition, 4 of Sousltice spots went to runners who donated $250 a piece to help with final edittings for Racing the Rez which won best Action/Sports Documentary at the Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival to close out Sousltice weekend!
Of course our first ever trail racing wedding highlighted the entire event; Soulstice provided Sabrina and Terrance the perfect setting for their nuptuals with well over 300 runners and friends at their side. It was reMARKable (can't believe I missed that pun until now!) that Judge Moran even made it to the wedding. For those that didn't know, Mark had previously performed the nuptuals for NATRA co-founders, Shelli Welch (to Jeff of Jelly and Sheff fame) and of course for me and Diana. Mark was so ill his wife had to drive him up the Mountain (Mark was fine and back at work Monday).
(Aaron Devine photo)
I was most touched and nearly driven to tears when Steve Rhode presented me with the "Godfather of Flagstaff Running" plaque. The Boyer Metal NATRA runner cutout even donned purple running tights! As many, many came before me, Godson is a bit more appropriate. But hey, I'll take it since I haven't been able to compete for a Soulstice award since I finished 14th out of 16 in my age division in 2001!
(Photo by Josh Biggs)
My favorite part of the race is always when "Knights of the Soulstice Round Table" convene. Most runners have left and the Soulstice Board shares ideas for next year's race while finishing off the kegs. I have a short breather to mull over the proposed additions and changes, as registration for the Soulstice lottery will open January 1st! Special thanks to all my friends who volunteered, sponosored, and/or ran the race. You are what makes this special!
Sousltice is permitted every year by the Coconino National Forest, and without their incredible maintenance of the Dry Lake Hills System, there would be no Soulstice!
It was a glorious 32nd annual War Dog run. The fall leaves were at their peak golden foliage with even a few red aspens for good measure. While the number of participants were down over recent years, there were a record number of "newbies" who took on the annual 3000 foot, 13.1 mile round trip ascent to Doyle Saddle and back. Runners who participated were treated to War Dog tales by race co-founder Rusty Knott. According to Knott, the weather was the best ever and perhaps explains why, for the first time ever, there was no winner of the race's top prize, The Band Aid award, as not one runner fell and spilled blood on the rocky course. To learn more about War Dog, visit Northern Arizona Trail Runners web page and click on War Dog at the bottom left of the index.
30+ runners for the third best NATRA turnout ever! Spectacular fall foliage run with video taken by Coconino County Supervisor Matt Ryan. The fall foliage speaks for itself!
While most Flagstaff runners were making their way from Ouray up over Imogene Pass to Telluride, the 13 trail runners left in town ran the classic Schultz Creek Trail. When we tried to predict the winners of Imogene, Mackenzie chimed in that her money was always on Sara Wagner. An hour later, we found out that indeed, Sara has now added Imogene Pass to her trophy case! Way to go Sara! The debate then turned to how does one pronounce Imogene???? Neil, Charlie, Heather, and Mackenzie all agreed on eye mogene vs. ih mogene. Luckily the canines were restless and the conversation quickly ended as Bob and Anika pulled us up to the once might Lincoln Logs turn around spot. With the long downhill a cruise, we were well rested for our much need coffee break at the Kickstand! Next week, Flagstaff Arboretum's Ponderosa Hustle races! Get registered at http://www.virtualroster.com/index.cfm?action=dspClientHome&clientid=102&showBanner=1 !
