TE19, TE20

Tough Enough gave $400 to Direct Relief International, which believes that while teaching a man (or woman) to herd sheep, shear, card, and weave wool may be great, if he or she is near death from cold just giving out a blanket is also great. (This is not their official motto.)

Course change for 2020: more dirt! Leg 2 will start and end at the same handoff points, but instead of E Mountain Drive and Gibraltar Roads, we’ll take West Cold Spring trail. Same fabulous gravitational pull, but worse footing! The trail emerges onto Gibraltar at the ‘180’ that’s been the handoff since the first running in 1986. The meeting point won’t change but the path between points will.

TE19

We are deeply fortunate to be able to this.

Ultra: Ian Seabury was first full ultra finisher in 11:12; Scott Young ran 12:57 for second. Billy and Karla, running alternating legs, ran 9:38. That means each ran 32-33 miles in under 4:50, on what few would describe as a fast course.

The relay fell out as:

  1. Just Here for the Views, 8:45
  2. Not Medical Doctors, 9:01
  3. Rapid Thigh Movement, 9:03
  4. What’s My Leg Again?, 9:16
  5. Our Moms Think So, 9:35
  6. Competitive Bipedal Locomotion Enthusiasts, 9:48
  7. Old Souls plus One, 10:07
  8. Four Lasses and a Lad, 10:10
  9. Beer Run (or Beerrun), 10:17
  10. The Machines and the Sexy Boy, 10:22
  11. It’s OK to Walk, 10:45
  12. The Return of the Pink Ladies, 10:46
  13. Delusions of Toughness, 11:22
  14. We’re On Our Last Legs, 11:23
  15. Sub-24, 12:36

Will Tough Enough be back next year? Yes.

Addenda: The course has roughly 9345′ total climb, 9140′ total drop, for 18,485′ of elevation change. Numbers based on USGS data, via OnTheGoMap.

TE 2018

Tough Enough encompasses time, distance, and elevation change, riparian, meadow, oak forest, and mountain-top ecosystems, fire-scarred, flooded, and lush terrain, temperature ranges, and this year visibility varying from twenty feet to twenty miles. Thinking of all the things that have to be going right in our lives to be able to do this, it is extraordinary.

2018 Results

1 Weaver et al., 8:49
2 Who’s Running This Leg? 9:15
3 Are You Ruff Enough? 9:17
4 Austin Panthers 9:17
5 Pain Cave 9:28
6 Blister Sisters 9:32 (first all-woman)
7 A Bunch of Randos 9:45
8 Just Horrible Enough (ITRC) 9:46
9 The Galz 9:59
10 Otto Normalverbrauchers 10:07
11 Safety 3rd 10:15
12 Oh Truck, Where Art Thou? (ITRC) 10:21 (Wittiest name, hon. mention)
13 Kick Some Ash (ITRC) 10:56 (Wittiest name)
14 Happy Feet (ITRC) 11:09
15 Greg’s Groms 11:13
16 Four Girls and a Boy (ITRC) 11:19
17 Crossfit Oxnard 11:37

Karla and Billy of Just Horrible Enough were ‘distributed ultra’ runners, their alternating legs meaning each ran more than a marathon’s distance, and as a team impressively quickly. Ian Seabury was the sole full-length ultra entrant; he showed the common sense for which ultra runners are widely admired by dropping at the Gun Club with a potentially serious foot issue. Ian of course showed no sign of having run more than 50K when chatting with people at the finish.

Modest year for our annual contribution to Direct Relief International (though the event was in the black): $150.

Tough Enough 2017

This is why California is known world-wide for its natural beauty. Within California, Santa Barbara is particularly dramatic. What fortune to be able to run, to immerse unreservedly!

Ian S.led the ultrarunners, finishing in about eleven and a half hours, then looking fresh and filled wiht energy after the run. Scott Y. was at 13 1/2, remarkable for his training, Steve VanD at 14:38, and Mauricio and Luis, wearing brilliant headlamps, were epic in 16:32. Ian, by the way, got the course at 64.7 miles.

The teams were led by Nasty Women and Bad Hombres (7:58). Conejo Valley made a claim that they were the slowest team ever, finishing around 14 1/2 hours. Could be they’re the new number 1-inverse. In between, the She-Ra’s were first women-only team (3d overall), and in some order, Team Leaky Cheek, Operation Ivy,Take Warning, Dude Dillon Panthers, Lady Dillon Panthers, Pink Panthers, Greg’s Groms, Woody’s Wabbits, Always Bet on Black, Breaking Wind, Nightlife, I’m with Stupid, Pimp My Stride, and RIP Fun Bus.

Alert readers may note some vagueness regarding finish times. Somnolent readers might note it, too. The race director wrote the final ultra runners’ times on the results sheet, put the clipboard on top of the car, talked with Luis and Mauricio for a few minutes, and drove home. On arrival, the clipboard was no longer on top of the car.

We’re sending $1,245 to Direct Relief this year.

Three more notes:
o Many thanks to the redoubtable Kim Reale who organized the six teams from Inside Track.
o Do not judge the entry fees of other races based on TE. Most races have far more in expenses than we do (port-a-johns, Highway Patrol, big municipal fees, and so on). If you’re curious about the breakout of income and expenses, write me, happy to share.
o A sincere thank-you to everyone who had a good time!

2016 Donation to Direct Relief

The Tough Enough community — that’s you — donated $2,440 to  Direct Relief this year. Particular thanks to Mauricio and Leif for extra donations.

Please write to me or post comments with improvements or tuning you’d like next year. For example, one runner suggested having a 4WD patrol long, hot Leg 6 with water and snacks.

From the Race Director, thanks to Kimberly Burnell and Toad&Co.

On behalf of all of you, thanks to all of you.

TE 2016 notes

Luck. We were there at that time
Long sight from the ridge, over the chaparral, up through the pines
Later, in the valley, California poppies, lupine, wild mustard
Descending Refugio, oaks overhanging the trail, Spanish moss on north-facing hillsides
Sycamores tracking water

 

Good day. The noble-hearted Amigos de Goleta triumph. The JayKays have to wait another year in their attempt to dethrone We’ve Got The Fronk. How close? Sweet Stephanie and her cohort were roughly one-1000th of a percent faster. Ian and John looked not at all as though they’d just run 65 miles; Jon was graceful enough to look tired.

Sincere thanks to all runners and everyone supporting them. I feel fortunate in the opportunity to support you.

Accounting and donation to Direct Relief next weekend.

Results 2016

Commentary and accounting tomorrow.

Soloists
12:23 Ian Seabury
13:23 John Hoenigman
14:20 Jon Zaid
Mauricio Puerto ran 55 but had to zip down to LAX.

Teams
08:18 Los Amigos de Goleta (Mr W. Rossow)
08:36 Why Not!? (Chris L.)
08:46 Trouble Follows Us (Ryan K.)
09:09 The Dillon Panthers (Mia G.)
09:12 We’ve Got the Fronk (Karen B.)

09:12 JayKay’s (Drat. Foiled again!) (Maggie and Kimberly)
09:13 Got the Runs (Oscar D.)
09:28 Inside Track (Kim) (possibly first women’s team?)
09:44 Team Three Generations (Scott Y.)
09:45 Wild Card! (Mike L.)

09:58 Inside Track (Rafael)
10:18 Right Turn Clyde (Matt K.)
10:38 Mount Those Twin Peaks (Eddie M.)
10:48 Without Adult Supervision (Simone K)
10:52 Delusions of Toughness (Valerie T.)

10:54 Atomic Force Awakens (Matt K.)
11:02 Ritardando (Whitney W.)
11:10 Inside Track (Galina)
11:22 Greg’s Groms (Greg L.)
11:29 Inside Track (Craig)

11:31 Inside Track: Joe
11:33 The Hills Have Cries (Jill C.)
11:38 Femmes Fa’trail (Katrin, Sara, Tara, and )
11:44 How Grandma Likes It (DR)
12:07 Inside Track (Erynne)

12:17 Conejos Chasing a Coyote (Diana P-M)

… but first, coffee. (Lauren D.; team ran half-way, had a family event)
 

2015 Race report

Tough Enough 2015: Finishers and random awards

1. 7:19 Super Friends
2. 8:27 Cacahuates
3. 8:35 Average Joes
4. 8:47 Chains for Brains
5. 8:53 Segway Pelotron
6. 8:55 C.A.R.E.4Paws
7. 9:32 Young Dr. Fronken’s Team
8. 9:33 DNR
9. 9:38 Jay Kays
10. 9:55 Inside Trackers 2
11. 9:56 Controlled Bypass
12. 10:08 SB Training 1
13. 10:13 SB Training 2
14. 10:14 Between a Walk and a Hard Pace
15. 10:30 Inside Trackers 2
16. 10:34 People who know… things…
17. 10:39 SB Training 3
18. 10:43 Triple threat
19. 10:46 Team Three Generations
20. 10:48 “That’s What” She Said
21. 10:50 Team Nine Trails
22. 11:09 Delusions of Toughness
23. 11:26 Inside Trackers 3
24. 11:45 Four Legs, One Dream (two-person team)

Ultra
1. 13:41 Jon Zaid
2. 13:44 Luis Escobar
3. – 5. 16:47 Kim Bengelsdorf, Manley Klassen, Mauricio Puerto
6. – 7. 18:13 Rob DeCou, Alissa Sears

Notes
Good day, warm but not hot, light breezes but no wind. As a group we ran a little over two thousand miles yesterday, enough to get us from Santa Barbara to Minneapolis with a little to spare.

Thanks to the ultrarunners who dropped. A small event with self-support on the course relies on the good judgement of the participants. Appreciated. Pacer of the day to Alissa Sears, not intending to run the whole event, did. She gets this year’s Chris Clemens Award for “As long as I’m this far, hey, it’s only another 30 miles.”

A few awards:

  • Style and sophistication. The Jay Kays with their tastefully decorated team car, colors chosen to match their shirts.
  • Teammates. A seemingly serious discussion at the finish line about a teammate getting lost on leg 10. (For those who didn’t run that leg, there are no turns or side roads.) “We love her, but she might have.”
  • Urine samples. Young Dr Fronken’s Team, looking sleek in lab coats, raising their golden-liquid-filled urine sample cups in a toast at the end. (Suspiciously carbonated.)

2014 race report: $3,144 to Direct Relief Int’l

2014.04.06

Closed Kinevan required re-routing, but only one error by relay runners, which was self-penalizing since the temporary route was a little shorter. The soloists ran the full distance on a windy-but-clear day. Magnificent vistas. ‘Magnificent’ an overused word, now most often applied ironically, but for yesterday a simple description. If Wordsworth and Coleridge hadn’t dropped at the last minute, they’d have loved it.

Some notes.
o Runner of the day: Sara Kida. Thirty-three weeks pregnant. Nonchalant. Sara was awarded lifetime free entry, for herself and her heirs.
o Wind on Gibraltar. A runner’s sandwich was blown out of her hand.
o Route. A woman left E Camino Cielo to energetically follow a steep trail. ‘What are you doing!?’ ‘I’ve always wanted to run up this!’
o Tired meets wired. Close third place to the Fugawi, with only three runners, Steve Harding, John Loftus, and Scott Devore. Finishing in 7:06, a time that even accounting for the short course would have won all but a couple of previous runnings.
o SB life. Pre-race conversation with a couple of runners who are designing lasers for space to help capture an asteroid and drag it around to orbit the moon.
o Ah, youth. Chris Clemens sort-of inadvertently stayed out until 1 the night before the race, showed up for the 5 am ultra start, and decided somewhere on Gibraltar that instead of alternating legs, as planned, with his brother, hey, why not just run the whole thing?
o Running dog. When soloist Mauricio was passing the Gun Club, a neighborhood German Shepherd slipped under a backyard fence to run with him. Text to owner received little response (‘tell her to come home.’) Friendly dog looked ready to do it again as she checked out Nojoqui Falls and hung with her ultra running buddies. With some recreational off-course cow-chasing, to break things up.
o Happiness. The general tone at the finish line; the reason for the event.

Grateful thanks to Kimberly Burnell and Horny Toad, Adam and Sara at CoMotion, Elle, and all you participants.

We’re sending $3,144 to Direct Relief, in gratitude for what they do.