Lee's Lake Tahoe Journal 2005

Blue sky, blue water, green trees and stunning vistas is temptation writ large. The Lake Tahoe Marathon (LTM) has intrigued me for several years. There are marathoners who need crowds to cheer them on and there are others, and I include myself in this category, who need a view! This past spring when I was in Monterrey for the Big Sur International Marathon, I overheard a shop assistant saying he had recently moved from Lake Tahoe – “From one paradise to another”. Thus, began my serious contemplation of entering Lake Tahoe to bookend my year with 2 races in 2 different paradises. These are races with a view. It’s a tough job comparing paradises but if someone is going to take on the challenge I’ll make the sacrifice!

Since the Lake Tahoe organizer was present at the Big Sur expo I decided to go to his booth and ask just how long a person needs to be in the area prior to the race to acclimatize to the elevation – 6243 feet above sea level. In Toronto we’re at about 260 feet. I was told that a minimum of 3 days is required and that it really takes 5 to 6 weeks to have red blood cell counts up to normal. Over the months following Big Sur, I found myself going to the LTM website every once in a while to ponder whether I can afford the time and the money. Some time in July I noticed they have added a 20-mile power walk. The event is becoming more enticing! So, I return to the website one more time and push the registration button! I know how difficult it is to train for a full marathon scheduled for early fall. It requires completing long walks in the heat of July and August. As it turns out the summer of 2005 proves to be one of the hottest, most humid, and smoggiest in recent history for southern Ontario. To train for a 20-mile event (31.4k) for October 8 means that my longest walks will be distances of 21k, 25k, and 27k. They can be completed in September. Of course, September poses other problems for me as there are many events that WoW Power Walkers attend and at which I will be present. My training schedule will have to “walk” around these.

September 5: a lot of standing around! Coffee and muffin walk
September 11: 24 k from Bronte to Dundurn Castle in Hamilton - beautiful
September 18: 17km around the streets of Oakville to the 10k Terry Fox event (total 27km) – inspiring!
September 25: 21k at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront half Marathon – humid!
October 1: 25k on trails (and lots of hills!) at the Run for the Toad – exhilarating!

Tuesday, October 4, 2005

My flight is booked for 8:30 am into San Francisco. My plan is to arrive with three full days to acclimatize to the altitude of 6243’ in Lake Tahoe. As I sit on the plane, I am feeling good: thinking my body has recovered from the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront half marathon and the Run for the Toad 25k.

As we fly into San Francisco it is a cloudless day. I rent a car and head to Lake Tahoe. From the Bay area, it should be about 3.5 hours and 6243 feet to Tahoe deep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. After crossing the Bay Bridge and heading past Berkeley, I look to my left and see that I am right at sea level. White caps are whipping up the bay. As I follow the interstate from Berkeley to Sacramento the landscape consists pretty much of scrubland. A heavy patch of orange smog on the horizon announces Sacramento after which the land begins to make its ascent toward the Sierra Nevada range. Shortly after Sacramento I come to a town called Placerville which is within a mile of the location of the first gold discovery of the California gold rush.

From Placerville the drive becomes more challenging and more beautiful. The road follows a river filled with giant boulders that appear to have crash landed from a thousand feet higher. Tall pine trees offer a screen to the now setting sun. Not long after Placerville I see the first elevation sign: 3,000 feet. After this I don’t really need the signs as my ears announce each climb of 1,000 feet with a good popping. Signs appear anyway: 4,000ft, 5,000ft, 6,000ft. I know that Lake Tahoe is a little over 6,000feet, so I am not really expecting the elevation to get any higher but soon I see a sign announcing 7,000 feet.

I have read that serious altitude sickness can begin at 8,000 feet so I am hoping I don’t go any higher. It feels like the top and it is just about sunset. As I round a corner, I find I am about 1,000 feet directly over Lake Tahoe at its southern end. It is sunset. I discover why we use the cliché “breathtaking”. The beauty of this view does seem to clutch at my lungs. Of course, with this beauty comes danger. The road is descending into South Lake Tahoe with a precipitous drop off on the right. Eyes on the road.

By the time I reach South Lake Tahoe, it is getting dark and I miss the turn for Camp Richardson, where I have booked to stay. On arriving at the town outskirts, I turn to what seems to be the most populated area but Camp Richardson is at the unpopulated end of town. When I finally locate it along a very dark road, it looks like a welcoming spot with a rustic mountain feel. The front-desk attendant is about to leave as I arrive, so I am grateful that I am not locked out for the night. There is a roaring fire in the main lodge in an old stone fireplace that is as high as I am tall.

The air smells clean and is so clear that all the stars not visible in the Greater Toronto Area, are gloriously on show in the Tahoe night sky.

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

Waking from a good sleep, I am delighted by a cloudless morning. Camp Richardson is a historic camping and lodge site on the southwest shores of Lake Tahoe. The lodge is set back from the water by about ¾ of a kilometre. It is a pleasant walk through towering pine trees, past small cabins to the lake. As I reach the shore, the beauty of Tahoe is laid out before me. There is no wind, clear sky and clear air. Everything seems so crisp and clear that I have to blink a few times to realize how Ontario smog dulls our view. The water is clear but cold. Swimming will not be on the agenda.

After a caffeine pit stop at the Café Alpina where I find just the right mix of smoothies, organic coffee, funky music, and locals (always a good sign), I am ready to begin a driving tour of the Lake. It seems appropriate to exert very little physical effort during my first acclimatization day! I decide to circumnavigate the Lake in a counter-clockwise direction. This will take me through South Lake Tahoe which is congested with fast food places, casinos and their hotels as well as some high-end shopping plazas.

Beyond South Lake Tahoe, there are several vista points along the drive and it is hard to resist them. It could take a week to get around this lake if I stop at every one. As I study the map of the area, I realize I can make a quick detour over the top of the Sierra Nevada range to get to Carson City in Nevada. Carson City is the capital of Nevada and the entire area is famous for its silver discoveries in the 1800s. It’s a visual shock to come to the top of the Sierra Nevada range just before the decent into Carson City. The expanse of Wild West country looking east over Nevada is in striking contrast to the tall pines and granite boulders of the Lake Tahoe shoreline. Carson City is not much of a city but I do find a little café across from the State Capital building. I’ve never been in a café that had a motto before and this motto will be hard to beat if I ever find myself in another café-as-therapy location: “The facilitation of communication and rejuvenation through relaxation or hibernation from the dot-com nation. It’s a celebration of the population, and a justification for procrastination.”

“Rejuvenation” in the form of a sandwich and glass of water and I am ready to return to the mountains and Lake Tahoe. Seeing the “wild west” has been interesting but I am spiritually drawn to the mountains with their trees, giant granite boulders and water. The Sierra Nevada Mountains are based on granite outcrops. There are white boulders of granite laying about. Those that are perched on higher ground are worn smooth by their exposure to the wind and rain. Those laying in the valleys are more sharply contoured. All are enormous - some the size of small cottages. Pine trees fill the air with their soothing fragrance and the deciduous trees are beginning to turn colour. They must be mostly aspen as their foliage is yellow, giving a shimmering gold effect to the landscape as the sun twinkles behind them. Tahoe enjoys 308 sunny days a year. I guess that means the odds are pretty good to have a clear day for the marathon.

I stop at the Logan Shoals Vista point directly east across the lake from Tahoe City. The water is a stunning emerald colour and the sky is impossibly blue. Tahoe City is hardly a city. It exudes the air of a fancy ski resort area, and I can tell that we are in a quiet time as far as tourists go. The full marathon starts at Commons Beach in Tahoe City so I stop to get out and walk around. The beach has recently undergone its own rejuvenation and today features a small vegetable and fruit market.

I get back in the car to follow the marathon route. The road follows some gentle rolling hills and there are stunning homes on both sides of the road, but the more jaw-dropping ones are on the left which feature waterfront access. As I pass through the village of Homewood, I start to take great notice of the elevation as it is from here that that the 20-mile power walk begins on Saturday. Somehow I had acquired the delusional thought that the course was fairly flat (wishful thinking?), it becomes obvious the course is more rolling! Soon, I notice I am not even rolling anymore, just climbing! This climb seems longer than the climb at Hurricane Point in Big Sur! I better have another look at the course elevation profile on the website when I get back to Camp Richardson.

What I discover when I review the elevation profile on the Lake Tahoe website is that hill climbs almost 1,000 feet over 1.8 miles. This is moving into rarified air! I fall asleep dreaming of hills!

Thursday, October 7

Now that I have spent a day acclimatizing in the car, I decide to go for a walk and see if I notice a difference in my lung capacity. I get dressed and head out of the lodge to the paved trail that follows along the road. I head toward where the finish line is supposed to be set up in a few days. As I walk along several people with bibs pass by. After a few have passed, I ask one what race they are doing. He replies that they are doing the ”triple” – that is, three full marathons in three days to complete a total circumnavigation of Lake Tahoe which is 72 miles around. If you do the math, you discover that they actually complete a total of 78.6 miles. Today is their first marathon and when I see them they have finished their first 8 km. They started at Inspiration Point! And what an inspiration it is. Look at the Lake Tahoe Marathon website and almost every picture is some vantage point of Inspiration Point. Foolishly, I contemplate how cool it might be to circumnavigate the entire lake…maybe next year…

The rest of the day I spend acclimatizing in a lazier fashion by visiting Squaw Valley- the site of the 1960 winter Olympic Games. After this I head to the Horizon Casino in South Lake Tahoe (Nevada side) to get my race packet. The expo is a small affair tucked way in the back of the main floor so I have to walk through the casino to get there. Not being much of a gambler or casino person, this is a new kind of scenery for me! There is no chip timing for any of the events at this race, so all I need to collect is my bag with my bib and my wind shirt. The wind shirt turns out to be a disappointing yellow and with a pale yellow ribbing. At least the other events have a colour for the ribbing that better suits the yellow of the main shirt. Does anyone really look good in yellow? Another issue I need resolved is whether there is a shuttle from Camp Richardson on the morning of the race to the start of the 20-mile power walk. After talking to a few volunteers we manage to track down a race official who tells me that I have to drive to the Casino on the morning of the race to catch one of the shuttle buses from there.

This is disappointing as one of the reasons I chose to stay at Camp Richardson is because it is situated at the finish line and there were to have been shuttle buses to the start from there. When I get back to the Camp and go through all the information in the race packet, there is detailed information printed on the back of my race bib. According to that information there is supposed to be a sign-up sheet at the front desk of the Camp Richardson for anyone interested in a shuttle pick-up on race morning. I wander down to the front desk and see that there is indeed a sign-up sheet for said shuttle. I put my name down for the 20-mile power walk. My confidence is not high as there are no other names for any of the other events. I thought there would be lots of people ensconced in the Camp acclimatizing to the altitude who would have signed up for the shuttle. I decide that I better head back to the race expo the next day to confirm this shuttle.

Friday, October 7, 2005

This morning’s acclimatization plan is to walk down to the water and do a series of stabilization, strength, and stretching exercises. There isn’t a breath of wind on the lake and every thing, sky, water and land, is some intense shade of green or blue. Add to that the calming fragrance of pine trees and I don’t need any one else’s opinion: this is paradise. As I am on the beach going through my exercises (it’s not easy when I just want to sit and stare at the incredible beauty of the lake and surrounding mountains), an odd boat chugs out to a spot in the lake in front of the beach where I am standing. It looks like a barge of some description but with very strange long poles coming out from the sides at a 30 degree angle from horizontal. There seem to be a few people on board milling about. I watch it for some time, trying to decipher its intention. Finally, I decide my day needs to proceed and turn to head back to my room. As soon as I turn my back, I hear a heavy engine sound. When I turn to see what is happening, I see that this boat is actually carrying a hot-air balloon and they are starting to pump it up! How did I miss out on that fun time? Put that on the list of must-do activities for next time.

I head over to the expo first thing in the morning to track down a knowledgeable source on shuttle buses. After talking to several officials for about half an hour, I end up leaving my name with one of them. They are going to call me to confirm the status of shuttles going to Camp Richardson. I decide to challenge my altitude acclimatization by taking the gondola up the Heavenly Ski Resort which is in the centre of South Lake Tahoe shopping district. The first stop is “Malcolm’s Deck” at 9,123 feet. From here I can see all of Lake Tahoe. There is an inscription on a plaque that quotes Mark Twain as saying that this is ‘the best view the whole world affords’. Wind swirls in the south end of Lake Tahoe and I can see into the plains of Nevada by Carson City. The gondola goes higher still, and lets me off near the top of the mountains. From here hiking another few hundred feet is possible. I take an hour to hike up the path and find that I am still fine with the altitude.

The day stays perfectly clear although the wind really starts to whip up in the late afternoon. As I head down to the hotel to get the shuttle to the pasta dinner, I am looking forward to the dinner/cruise on Lake Tahoe. We have to line up on the dock while someone takes our pictures. Of course, the line up tends to be a sociable time. One guy wonders out loud if the wind shirts aren’t possibly the ugliest item of clothing ever found. Still, there are some who are putting them on to keep out the chill from the wind rising over the lake. The wind makes the lake appear to be dark, denim blue. As we prepare to board I am welcomed by a group of runners and invited to join them for the meal. This is one of the great pleasures of marathoning with regular mortals… they tend to be a sociable and welcoming group! There is Alison and her husband from Santa Cruz. She is running the 10k and he is running the full marathon to celebrate his 50th birthday. Bob from Phoenix is running the 2-person relay for the 2nd time. Annie and her aunt, Nancy, are enjoying a girls’ weekend out to run the 10k. Annie is also from Phoenix and is going to look for Bob at the local races. Nancy is a police office in the Bay area who suffered nerve damage from her holster and is looking forward to her first race in after a year recovering. And, Nancy grew up in an adjacent town to Bob in New York State. The “Tahoe Queen” departs the dock and points its bow west toward Emerald Bay. Emerald Bay is one of the highlights of Lake Tahoe. It houses the Vickingsholme estate which can be visited earlier in the season as well as the only island on the lake. It is the view that is often shown when you are looking at the Lake Tahoe Marathon site. As we head out over the water the sun is just setting and a sliver of a crescent moon is also setting over the peaks that line Emerald Bay. Our dinner is served almost immediately…a fine selection of different pastas, salad and dessert. For this pasta dinner the food is not so much the focus as the sights and camaraderie. Everyone goes out on deck after dinner as the boat enters Emerald Bay. The captain gives a guided tour of the bay and then everyone heads back inside for dancing to the live band! There is a lot of nervous energy in this crowd so there are many frantic dancers up there! We dance our way back to the dock. Our arrival at 8:30pm ensures that everyone has plenty of time to prepare for the race the next morning. My table all says good bye and good luck. We have made friends over the course of one dinner!

I discover talking to people on the boat that many of them have just arrived for the race that day or the day before. Clearly, there has not been a lot of acclimatizing going on. I head back to Camp Richardson to prepare everything for race day tomorrow. Now the Camp is full with race participants. The outside air has warmed up considerably from the first few days of my arrival. I am able to open the window to get fresh air. Still, several times I awake during the night with pre-race nerves. At one point I hear a crash outside and below my second-floor window. A big black bear is lumbering around in the court yard. I watch him for several minutes as he looks in every car in the parking lot. I have heard they will rip the doors off vehicles if they see a cooler.

Saturday, October 8, 2005. Race day

Waking up for good at 5:30am, I sit in bed drinking water. Despite the fact that it felt like I hardly slept at all, apparently the wind was blowing strong all night and it rained non-stop. I know there are 308 sunny days in the year but I’m not sure how many nights are clear!

About 20 people wait outside the main lodge doors for shuttle buses. We have been told that it will come by to get us at 7am. It arrives almost exactly on time. It is already steamed up with the breath of those participants that caught the bus at the Horizon Casino. I find a seat at the back of the bus beside a woman named Toni . We can’t see out of the bus for all the steam but we can sure feel the bus straining to climb the hills that we will be walking later in the day. Toni and I enjoy a chat. She has a cottage at Lake Tahoe and last year walked the 10k at the Honolulu Marathon in 2004. It motivated her to sign herself up for the 20-mile power walk here, as well as her husband up for the kayak race and her daughter for the swim!

When we arrive at our start, everyone files off the bus and the participant grand total for the 20-mile power walk seems to be no more than 125 people. The air is very cool and many people are moving off to stand in the limited sun available at this early hour. As usual everyone is asking complete strangers what they are planning to wear! It is cool now but we know that the temperature is supposed to rise. Finally I decide on layering three WoW shirts (sleeveless, short-sleeve and long-sleeve) over a cropped pair of pants, gloves and a hat. It is very cold as we stand around.

Starting time is imminent. It is a causal affair and, except for the a cappella rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, could use with a little circumstance. A pick up truck moves into the middle of the road and a guy on a megaphone says we should start. There are no timing mats and no real start line so everyone just picks up the pace from the huddle that we were in while listening to the national anthem. Many people begin running.

It remains very cold. My nose feels frosty and I wish I have more than a baseball cap. Despite the fact that no volunteers at the race expo seemed to know how many aid stations would be positioned along the route, it turns out they are at least every 2 miles. There is almost no reason to bring any food or drink. All the stations serve a veritable buffet of snacks – Clif bars, grapes, orange slices, banana, M&Ms, and other candy treats.

The participants and water station volunteers are some of the friendliest I have ever encountered. And, of course, the scenery can barely be described it is so beautiful. Still, I am thrilled by a few favourites.

The longest hill on the course is 10 miles into the walk. Just as I begin the climb, the lead female runner from the full marathon passes me. She runs quietly and with little fanfare, just a lone cyclist accompanying her. She stays in my line of sight for some time as she leads the way on the hill. Once she turns a corner though, I am by myself. It is a meditative process climbing a tough hill at such a high elevation with no crowd support and no fellow participants. As I pass some bear scat on the road, it crosses my mind to make a bit more noise, not for my entertainment, but to be sure I’m not going to end up as lunch for a surprised black bear. At the top of the highest and longest hill is Bliss Park. We are at 7,000 feet elevation. Here, scattered as if a giant was playing a game of jacks, are enormous rounded granite boulders, some balancing precipitously on ridges. Other than these boulders there are just sand and white pines and a remarkable vista of Lake Tahoe.

After the hill leading to Bliss Bay, the course winds down into Emerald Bay. The contrast of white granite, green trees and intense tourmaline green water is stunning. I remain alone on the course and I feel like the road is closed for my personal enjoyment. The downhill ends at the head of Emerald Bay and it is tempting to just park myself right here and drink in the view. Still, I remind myself I am in a race! I head up the hill to Inspiration Point. This is the last big climb of the course. The view is wonderfully distracting from the challenge of another several hundred feet climb into thin air! When I get to the top, Inspiration Point, I discover that the 10k race has not yet started. The area is very busy and crowded and I find I am elbowing my way through the masses.

Suddenly, I hear my name. It is Nancy and Annie from the pasta dinner cruise the night before – instant comrades in anguish! What a great boost to get a personal cheer in a place where I know no one with 10k left to go in a 31k race. It’s all down hill from here!

I have anticipated getting to Inspiration Point since the time I first drove the course. Inspiration Point traverses an impossibly narrow ridge at almost 7,000 feet. The drop off on both sides of the two-lane road is precipitous. There are no man-made barriers. One slight turn of the wheel to the left or right and you’d be slamming your way down the hill 1,000 feet into either Emerald Bay or Cascade Lake. This 100-metre stretch of road is unnerving to drive and I was anticipating the fantastic view on foot. Now that I am here, I am distracted by all of the 10 k participants milling about and running up and down the ridge to warm up for their race. Their start was delayed by more than one hour, so they should not be here. Selfishly, I want some of these 10k racers to disappear so that I can soak up the inspiration in peace.

I head down the other side of the ridge at Inspiration Point, trying my best to maintain some semblance of decent walking form. Steep downhill is one of the toughest challenges. Soon a wheelchair athlete whizzes by shouting “Go Girl”. He is flying and I feel like hitching a ride and flying right behind him. Soon the 10k runners start to pass, many comment encouragingly about my power walk. As I get lower the scenery changes. The trees turn to aspen with golden leaves and the boulders are now angular and sharp as they are no longer exposed to the winds of the ridge. The route smells of fall and we are directed into the woods along paved trails. It is lovely but feels slightly claustrophobic after the wide vistas of the lake.

There are just a few kilometers left in the race through the woods, back to the main road, and then finally turning into a state park at Pope’s Beach. In the final analysis I decide that the 10k start being delayed is a good thing as I am enjoying the camaraderie of all the 10k participants that surround me. It seems to help take my mind off the fatigue of the last few kilometres. As I close in on the finish line, the crowd of supporters is thick along the chute. The cheering is like a physical push from behind propelling me forward toward the finish. Still, the last few hundred metres of any race exists in suspended in time.

With my hard-earned medal safely around my neck and the beach a mere 200m from the finish, I stumble around in the sand trying to take my shoes off so that I can stagger into the frigid Lake Tahoe water. This is the perfect cure for tired, worn-out feet. The only improvement is a short snooze on the sand with the sun beating down. It is still cool, but the sun is doing its thing and the vista of Lake Tahoe is a life-giving force itself. This has been a perfect day.

I look forward to a good shower and a chance to put my feet up. Camp Richardson should be a 10-minute walk but ends up being more like 25 minutes as the fatigue settles into my bones and muscles.

A short nap, a refreshing shower, and a good meal later I decide that I need to drive the course one more time! It’s so different by foot that I need to review where I’ve been one more time to believe I really walked that far. I head out of Camp Richardson turning north onto what was earlier the route. There are still a few participants rambling in. About 2 kilometres from Camp Richardson there is a hitch-hiker on the side of the road. It’s my policy not to pick up hitchhikers but as I drive past I notice he is with a woman and they are both wearing race bibs. I turn around to offer them a ride. As I approach I notice that he is wearing a bib for the “triple”. So, my newest marathon friends, and companions on the drive to Tahoe City, are Everett and Nina. They are from Los Angeles. Nina accompanied Everett on the last marathon of the triple. It took them just over 7 hours. Nina appears to be too exhausted to talk, but Everett is full of tales of eating chicken bones to build the cartilage in his knees. I guess I might have to Google that. Anyway, he is going to need all the cartilage he can get as he heads off to complete 4 marathons in 4 days. Yes, after completing the triple marathon at Tahoe he is driving to Auburn California to complete another full marathon the next day.

I drop Nina and Everett at their car in Tahoe City where they had left it at the start. I turn to make my way south and back to Camp Richardson. The sun is setting behind the Sierra Nevada range and Lake Tahoe is glistening with its last rays. From beginning to end this marathon experience has been filled with the best marathons can offer: challenge and beauty, fun and friendship.