The variables somehow unexpectedly aligned on Sat, Mar 10, 2018: I was able to complete 12 Dog Mountain climbs in 21:42:56. That includes 33,600ft of elevation gain (“Everesting”). The “dodecadog” was both more than I intended to do on that day and more than my wildest spreadsheet calculations ever thought were reasonable for my aging runner self.
Previous record holder Scott Martin had completed 10 climbs in 23:08:49 on Sun, Jun 11, 2017. My own personal best was 9 climbs in 16:24:30 in Jun 2017, just a day before Scott set his record.
Yes, there was snow.
During my crap-food-pre-adventure-shopping-spree, a box of mint cupcakes looked quite tempting. Twinkies, after all, was a thing of last weekend, so I had to get something new. Only after climb 1 I realized that there were 12 cupcakes in the box and that I could use them as a treat after each climb and also as a climb counter. That’s how the stretch goal of 12 climbs started to take shape mentally. But it wasn’t until I finishing climb 11 that I knew I could do 12 climbs.
Mint chocolate chip cupcakes. They served both as a treat after each completed climb and as a climb counter. I did not realize there was a filling inside because I ate them in one bite, not in two, as the package suggests. They were pretty bad, if you wondered.
For this training, I decided on a different start time: midnight. I’ve tried all kinds of start times over the last few years. My plan was to get some sleep on Friday afternoon, to maximize the daylight time, and to avoid having a second night that looked impossible to get through. I was in bed by 3pm on Friday and got an amazing 7h of sleep before I arrived at the Dog Mt. trailhead just before midnight. Perhaps that was why I felt good all night and day.
Sleep is good.
The start into the unknown was uneventful. The movie clip above (or direct YouTube URL) shows some impressions. On the way down from climb #1 I crossed David and his buddy, whom I’ve met the previous weekend while we were doing hill reps. It turned out they started just a few minutes after me and were also getting in their weekly Dog Mt. fix.
I realized I was having a pretty good day when I finished 7 climbs: I was 3h faster than on the previous weekend, when Scott, Derek, Stephen, and I did 7 climbs. That’s when I was suddenly more optimistic about 11 climbs than my spreadsheets ever were. But there were still 4 climbs ahead of me, and a lot of things could go wrong.
The crowds were flocking the mountain. That was good and bad. Mostly good because people were literally cheering me on and counting climbs with me. It was a huge motivator for me to keep going. The rest is kind of a blur. Except: I do remember that I did not eat a single gel and that the trailhead bathrooms ran out of toilet paper. These two things were unrelated.
After climb 11, I concluded it was (1) too early to go home and (2) there was a cupcake left. So I didn’t dally and went up again for climb 12. The roundtrip took me about 2h. Sadly, I miscalculated my split with my zapped brain and thought there was not enough time for a 13th climb. Only by looking at my data at home I realized that I could possibly have done 13. Oh well, that leaves some room for the next person who’s attempting that challenge! I, for myself, do not have any plans to go back to Dog Mt. anytime soon again. I think I said that before.
When I left the parking lot, David was still going. His buddy had to leave earlier. I was unable to keep track of how many reps they did, but I assume David ended with 10 or so. Way to go!
That’s the only dog I own.
Stats:
- Date: Mar 10, 2018
- Number of climbs: 12
- Elapsed time: 21:42:56
- Average roundtrip time per climb: 1:49 (109 min). That is exactly the same average time as during my 9 Dogs in June 2017. The time includes the “refueling” at the trailhead.
- Distance: 12 x 5.8mi = 69.6mi
- Elevation gain: 12 x 2,800ft = 33,600ft (“Everesting”)
- Style: self-supported, solo
- Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/1446799938. GPS was on 1min interval, so it short-logged a lot. There were also some reception issues, it seems.
Strava elevation profile.
Relive ‘New Dog Mt. record: 12 climbs – Dodecadog’