Run 192

One Final Adventure for 2011!

2011-12-21T12:18:00.004-05:00

This past weekend I had the great pleasure and honor of being invited to run in the Desert Solstice 24 Hour run in Phoenix, AZ. Race Director Nick Coury, and his amazing team at Aravaipa Running, designed this invitation-only race as one at which speedy folks could qualify for the US National Team, attempt to break records, and otherwise run themselves dizzy around the 400m track at Phoenix's Central High School. Even though I have not been running at all in the past 7 weeks or so, I was looking forward to putting in an honest effort while finding out the answer to the question: Just how far can I run on no training while also carrying 9 lbs. more than my usual race weight? I was also really hoping the old adage, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" was indeed true!
(All Photos Courtesy of Aravaipa Running)

Who could pass up the chance to run under the beautiful AZ sky in December?!

Race shirt, complete with image of last year's winner Joe Grant as part of the official logo!

Packet pick-up before the race. RD Nick Coury (left) greets Mike Arnstein (center) and Jay Aldous (right). Both runners would go on to melt the track for 100 miles over the next 13+ hours.

Nick Pedatella and I pin on our cool bibs for the race. No numbers on these, just our last names!

1 Minute before the start...what are we all looking at? Dave James, who lives just down the street, but was a wee bit late showing up and needed to tie his shoes in record time to start with us! This is a good time to introduce the rest of field too: (Clockwise around the circle from the tent pole) Jay Aldous, Mike Arnstein, Carilyn Johnson, Tatsunori Suzuki, Deb Horn, Suzanna Bon, Nick Pedatella, Me.

I put this one in here just to show that my extended break from running had my legs super tight even before I started running. Not even close to touching my toes...and my back is bent too!!

3, 2, 1...Go! Note the wrap on Mikes right leg. He said he was injured. After watching him go all day, I wished I could run like an injured Mike Arnstein.

Out of shape or not, you can't beat running on a beautiful morning!

Probably evident to no one aside from me, but this split-second-later photo proves my running form rust with a sloppy heel-strike and inward turn of my left foot after toe-off. When in shape I'm much more in tuned to keeping those bad habits in check to minimize the breakdown of my legs during long runs.

Speaking of 'in shape', after two 100 mile wins this Fall, Nick definitely showed up fit!

Suzanna and Carilyn: Two amazing talents and fantastic people! I had a blast crewing with their families in the overnight hours after I stopped running.

RD Nick set up these screens showing our current distance and time split every lap!

I don't care who you are, you can't beat Debbie's consistency in 24HR performances over the past few years. She's amazing!

For some reason, I had no problem with boredom while looping the track every 2 minutes. Maybe the beautiful sky was entertaining enough!

Carilyn and Suzanna, both hammering out steady paces when the sun warmed things up a bit.

When that sun went away, Mr. Arnstein capped off his amazing 13:46 100 mile win with a last lap at 5-minute mile pace!

Jay was just behind Mike in the 100 mile race at 13:52, but because he's 50 years old, he set a new World Record for 50+ year olds!! He worked hard over the last few miles to break the old record by 3 minutes...what a treat to watch!

Jay, enjoying his chair after finishing....Nick, on the phone with the regional drug tester to get him on site ASAP to validate Jay's WR....and Central High Cross Country runners observing in hushed amazement at what Jay just did!

Mike and Jay, smiling with good reason!

After a long, cold, and rainy night, only two TOUGH runners remained out on the track for the win. Carilyn racked up 131 miles for the overall win, and Tatsunori covered 125 of his own for the Male win. At about 3:30 a.m. when it was raining quite hard and bone-chillingly cold, I knew Carilyn was going to be just fine when she passed the aid area and asked if she could have a popsicle!

All in all, just a great race to be a part of both as a runner (for 8 hours and 50.2 miles, anyway), and as a crew/fan. I had a blast. Should I be invited again in the future, I'd love to come back in shape and try to rack up a huge 24HR total. Nick Coury and his team put on an unbelievably perfect race for maximizing the performance of the athletes out there. In addition to Jay's age-group WR for 100 miles, Suzanna and Deb also broke American Records with their 100 mile splits for their respective age group: Suzanna's 45-49 age group 100 mile record was16:02, and Deb's 50-54 age group 100 mile record was 17:14. Amazing job, ladies!!

With that, I'll happily close the book on running for 2011. It was a fun year of covering 3000+ miles on my feet yet again, and even though I had some disappointments along the way at big races, the great experiences I had in my two "non-trained" runs at the end of the year reinforced just how much I love running for running's sake, no matter the stage. I look forward to coming back at the end of next year once the family routine is in place after Baby Rose arrives in January. Until then, I wish everyone the happiest of Holiday seasons!!

Runnin' for Fun...What a Novel Concept!

2011-11-21T09:39:00.002-05:00

It's been a month since the Cape Cod 100 miler, and I've held true to my word in taking a break from running. Honestly, with work and Baby Class and everything else, I'm not sure how I ever fit my daily training schedule in before this break!

Even though I'm not running regularly, the good news is, when the stresses of work and life build up, I still have the healthy outlet of running to utilize when needed. Last Friday proved to be the perfect occasion to ditch work and head to the mountains for some fresh air and back-woods goodness. My buddy Andy was game to tag along as we headed out to run the southern portion of the MMT100 course (27 mile loop from Gap Creek #1 to Gap Creek #2). It was a ridiculously beautiful sunny day, and with temps in a running-perfect low 40s range, I couldn't have asked for a better way to lower the blood pressure!

Breathing through our tongues like dogs after the climb up Bird Knob!

With Thanksgiving week now upon us, I'm looking forward to tacking on 3 more lbs. to make it an even 10 in terms of my weight gain since the Spartathlon. Because of my intense training, I went into that race 4-5 pounds lighter than I'd ever been for an adult race, and even though it made running light and easy, I don't really enjoy being that skinny. I much prefer the "normal human" look...especially since I hear dads have to carry tons of stuff once their baby arrives. I should probably hit the weights soon!

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!!

Cape Cod 100 Miler - Race Report!

2011-10-24T15:58:00.018-04:00

OK, I promise I wasn't lying when I said I was taking a break from running after the Spartathlon. In the three weeks after that race, I only ran three or four times (about 6 miles each) when the weather was too nice to pass up. Just as I was happily enjoying the life of a non-runner, and my body started showing its appreciation by adding about 5 lbs. of "let's look like a normal grown man" weight, an old friend sent me a surprise note.

About 10 days ago I received an email from my buddy (and 70 year-old ultra machine) Pete Stringer. He, and a group of his Cape Cod running friends were putting together a 100 mile run across the Cape the following weekend and wanted to know if I'd like to come up and run it with them. My normal response would have been, "No thanks, I'm taking a break from running", but my history of running across Cape Cod made me think about it a little more. The final 80 miles of Run 192 happened to also take place on the Cape, and with my parents living just a handful of miles from the course, I knew I'd also likely have some local support as well. Yes, this would be a super low-key race, but after the glitz and glamor (and disaster) in Greece three weeks earlier, running for the simple sake of running through a beautiful area in perfect fall weather sounded pretty good to me. ...I should also point out that Lizzy said I had to do it. She insisted. Really.

The idea behind this year's Inaugural 'Cape Cod 100' was for key people to run the route as a bit of a test before making it a bigger race next year. By running the course themselves this year, the organizers would be able to gather valuable info like split times to the various Aid Stations (and the best spots to add more), and to decide if any sections of the course needed to be rerouted for whatever reason. The geography of Cape Cod lends itself perfectly to hosting a 100 miler as you can see from the map below. There's something about running a natural point-to-point 100 miler that is so very appealing to me. It's like you're really "getting somewhere", as opposed to running loops, out-n-backs, etc.. Also, Provincetown is a pretty cool place to end up at the finish for many reasons!

(Not the actual route, but close enough!)

I made the drive from DC to MA in record time on Friday (thank you, NYC traffic for actually cooperating for once!), and after catching up with family for a bit over dinner, I headed down to fellow runner Greg Stone's house to spend the night just 5 miles from the starting line of the race in Woods Hole. With the 4 a.m. start time, I was more than happy to take Greg up on the offer to crash at his place and not have to wake up any earlier to drive to the start. Greg has a tremendously impressive running resume to his credit (including 2:30 marathons!), but had never attempted a 100 before. Our plan was to head out together running 9s and see how the day unfolded.

After gathering with the other runners in the dark chill of the morning (temps in the 40s), we walked over to the starting line which happens to also be the official start line for the world-famous Falmouth Road Race. It was pretty cool to start the race there considering all of the legends who have raced/won that contest over the course of its 39-year history (Bill Rodgers, Alberto Salazar, Rod Dixon, and a whole bunch of Kenyans who have headed down to grab all the prize money in the past 20 years!).

A few ticks after 4:00 a.m., we were off and running. Greg and I settled in quite nicely on the first 10.5 miles on the Shining Sea bike trail. What makes the Cape Cod 100 course fun for racing is the mix of flat bike paths (about 38 miles in total spread out in 3 sections over the race) and the relentlessly hilly road sections in between. Sure, there are no mountains to climb, but starting around mile 30 on the Service Road, the roller coaster ride of 100-300 ft. ups and down begins!

After the first 10.5 miles of the race on the trail, and about another 10 on the winding roads, Greg and I hit the Canal bike path for 5+ miles of enjoyment. The 4 a.m. start time meant we missed the early morning views of the ocean and Martha's Vineyard along the previous trail, but it was definitely a treat to see the sun rise along the Canal.

Only runners and fisherman out to see the sunrise in the chill of a beautiful Fall morning...Lucky us!

As the conversation flowed freely, I almost didn't notice how effortless the first 26 miles were before we pulled up to the first Crew stop of the day. It was awesome to have not only my parents but also my Uncle Rich and Cousin Kate (who just ran her first marathon last weekend!!) there to cheer us on too!

The Sagamore Bridge arches over the canal as Greg and I cruise along

Hey, are those my Drymax USA Flag socks?! Yes indeedy! They deserved another chance to run after the disaster in Greece.

Uncle Rich (standing), joins my dad and Kate on the wind-protected side of the wall. Chilly morning for them, but ideal for running.

After refills and high-fives, we headed out to tackle the hilly roads of the next 26 miles or so. The roads on this course bring you through multiple little town centers, past historic buildings, cemeteries, etc.. Even though a couple miles were a little precarious when the sidewalks/shoulders disappeared and car-dodging became a bit of an art form, the point of running the race this year was to see which sections could be improved upon and altered to make for a better race in the future. By time the official route for next year is in place, I'm guessing this will be a near perfect course for runners. That said, aside from just a couple miles, I really enjoyed the whole course. If you think running sidewalks in some sections is boring, trust me when I say some of the historic "sidewalks" in the Sandwich/Barnstable/Yarmouth areas are just as twisty, rooty, and narrow as the singletrack of many mountain races! I really appreciated the change of terrain and had a blast running them!

Shady sidewalk fun with Greg as we make our way to the mile 48ish Aid Station

After hammering the Service Road hills, and a couple more Crew Stops, Greg and I were still cruising along running our 9s and enjoying the picture-perfect day (probably hit a high of 60 degrees at mid day with a nice breeze). About 2 or 3 miles before the mile 48 Aid Station, the sidewalk disappeared and the road got a little narrow for running. Since I was so focused on avoiding the cars, I didn't realize that Greg was having some issues behind me and fell off pace...and when I pulled up to the Aid Station a couple miles later I was shocked to see Greg already standing there! It turned out that he had to drop a couple miles earlier, and his brother picked him up and drove him ahead to the Aid Station. I was bummed to lose Greg's great company, but like everyone who runs these things knows, it's almost impossible to run an entire 100 miler with the same person before one issue or another pulls someone off the pace. I was very thankful (and fortunate) I had his company for the first half, and I know he'll be back to rock a great 100 mile finish soon enough!

I used the next 5.8 mile section to do a little 'systems check' and see what my plan would be for the second half of the race. I was feeling fresh and strong, and with all systems a "Go", I figured it might turn out to be a special day over the second half of the race. When I pulled up to my crew (which from this point until the finish consisted of my parents, Greg, and his brother Rich), I grabbed my headphones, filled up my Camelbak with a special shot of Ultragen, and started off on the 22 miles of the Cape Cod Rail Trail.

Pulling into the start of the 22-mile Cape Cod Rail Trail. A thoroughly enjoyable section of the course to run.

When I have a low point in a 100 miler, it's usually between miles 50-70; the reason being those miles usually coincide with the hottest part of the day. With the weather being so perfect on this day, however, I had no issues at all. When I started on the trail and used its mile markers to get a split time, my watch showed an exact 9:00. It had been a while since I was able to get an exact split, and the fact that I was still running 9-flats confirmed my thought that things could not be going more perfectly for me.

Over the next 20 miles of the rail trail I just kept the iPod rockin' and my legs rolling. Even though there were another tough 20+ miles of hills waiting for me at the end of this trail, I was feeling so fluid and strong I definitely had my sights set on running a negative split for the last half of the race. After all the months of hard work leading up to the Spartathlon, and of course the frustration of that race itself, it couldn't have felt better to finally be able to take advantage of the fitness I worked so hard to build up. It was finally time for me to have some fun and do what I do!

Rich, Steve, and Greg await the coming whiplash they'll feel as I blow by them on the trail.

What's that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of my legs kicking ass!


Coming in for a landing at the end of the 22 mile Rail Trail section (roughly mile 76 in the race). Yes, I was having fun out there!

At the end of the Rail Trail, I was pretty happy with how easily I ran every one of those 22 miles between 8:45 and 9:00 pace. I knew the last 24-ish miles of the race were pretty hilly, but things were going so smoothly for me I didn't bother to think about it too much and just took off to attack those ups and downs the same way I did the previous 22 miles. Sure enough, my Spartathlon training proved to have long-lasting benefits as I kept my miles right around 9s the rest of the way.

Runner, crew, vampire...we all enjoy a good sunset!

With about 11 miles to go the sun was finally gone and I put on my headlamp and vest for the final stretch up Route 6 into Provincetown. The relentless hills were still there, but the joy of how smoothly I was still turning out my 9 minute miles made the climbs irrelevant. With about 4 miles to go, runners have the pleasure of turning the corner on Commerical Street in P-town and being greeted with the triumphant site of the Pilgrim Monument shining brightly in front of them (the Pilgrims landed here first before heading over to Plymouth).

No better sight to see for a 100 miler running to Provincetown!

The final miles of the race also take you down the narrow streets of town filled with restaurants and shops...and since I was running down them at 8pm, the crowds of tourists, date night couples, and street performers were a delight to pass by. Their clapping and energy had me running effortless 7 minute splits from miles 97 to 100. Sure it wasn't the spectacle of the finish line in Sparta, and runners from 34 nations weren't flanking me as I came into the finish, but it was running...and for the first time since my disappointment in Greece, I remembered just how much I love running, regardless of the surrounding circumstances. I'm a lucky, lucky man to be able to do what I do, and for 16 hours and 12 minutes this past Saturday, that's exactly what I did.

At the Provincetown Inn finish line. Best thing about finishing at 8:12 p.m.? Restaurants are still open!

Loads of thanks to pass along for helping me have so much fun in this one:

Thank you to my beautiful wife Lizzy (and our karate-kicking baby-to-be) for not only saying it was ok to leave her alone for the weekend, but for basically forcing me to run this race "You have to do it!". As always, she was right!

Thanks to Pete Stringer, Bob Jensen, Fred Murolo, Fiona, Greg, and everyone who had a hand in helping organize this race. (Congrats also go out to Bob and Fred who came in together for 2nd/3rd place!). With a couple minor tweaks, I'm certain this race will grow to be a favorite for 100 milers very quickly. There's lots of 100 mile gold to be mined along the Cape, and with hotels near the start and finish lines, it almost doesn't matter which route you take in between, it's a great time and place to run a race.

Thanks to my parents, yet again, for clearing their schedule to crew for me (and to my mom for taking all the photos!). Also thanks to my Uncle Rich and Cousin Kate for coming out in the chill to cheer me on as well, what a great surprise!

Special Thanks to Drymax for their awesome USA flag socks. I feel so bad for not giving them their proper plug by grabbing a top spot in Greece, but I'm comforted by the thought that I will run many more successful races with their patriotism powering my legs! ..and not that I have to say it again, but I will: My feet are in picture-perfect shape after 100 miles of pavement pounding thanks to my Max Pro socks. Thanks, guys!!

...and now, until my next surprise running adventure, I'm going back in to hibernation!

Spartathlon Race Report!

2011-10-08T09:02:00.009-04:00

Obviously the Spartathlon didn't work out as planned last week. My training and fitness were better than ever heading into the race (seriously, I was in stellar shape), but as soon as we started running from the Acropolis, I knew I was working with a super-low energy level. The most likely culprit was the fact that I didn't sleep at all the night before. Sure, I forced myself to stay in bed with my eyes closed for the better part of 8 hours, but the jet lag that only allowed me a couple hours of sleep each of my other previous two nights in Athens was still messing with me on night #3. I just had a really hard time convincing myself to fall asleep when my internal clock thought it was 3 p.m.. Couple that with the excitement before a big race like this, and the hope for me catching any useful rest before the run went crashing down like so many columns of the Parthenon. Of course, once we started running, I did my best to convince myself that the fatigue would go away and I began executing my race plan as if everything would be fine. I wasn't giving up without a fight. If I was going to die out there, I was going to die with my boots on.

Anxious runners pose with the Starting Banner at the foot of the Acropolis

The field awaits the sun's arrival, and with it, the start of the race

Focused while stretching before the start

As the race began and we left the cobblestone paths of the Acropolis for the busy rush-hour streets of Athens, I shared a few miles of delightful conversation with Brit Peter Foxall. I knew Peter from his stout reputation, and I smiled at my good fortune of being able to run a few miles together amongst the crowd of runners. Peter has 8 Spartathlon finishes in 13 attempts, which pretty much makes him the leading expert on the race, and I used some of our time together to pick his brain about various parts of the course ahead. Regardless of my dead legs, I was still focused on making it to Sparta in these early miles.

After about 10 miles, we were still running on the very busy and fume-filled streets, but our 'runners only' traffic-cone lane went away and we were left to fend for ourselves on the shoulder of the road. I had heard the course heading out of Athens was pretty much horrible all around, but I figured it would only be for a few miles. As it turned out, the cars, exhaust, factory smokestacks, and the oil refinery (this one killed me, really) made just about every step of the first 50 miles less-than-appealing to me. I couldn't even fully appreciate the sections on the coastline with their beautiful views. While those roads had less traffic, they also had no shoulders to run on, so the cars that did come careening around the tight turns were definitely something that kept me from relaxing and enjoying the moment. I'm sure the course was much more enjoyable after the 50 mile mark in Corinth, but for that 1/3 of the race, I was hard pressed to think of a worse combination of conditions in which to run.

I do, however, credit the insane traffic for allowing me the opportunity to dust off my language skills and share a bonding moment with two Portuguese runners after the three of us nearly jumped out of our shoes at the sound of a Fiat's screeching tires about 10 feet from us (it just missed smashing into a bus). I was just behind the two men at that moment, and when I saw the Portuguese names on their bib numbers, I knew they would appreciate me saying a few 'Hilarious but Not Safe for My Blog' comments in their native tongue. I did my best to pretend I spoke more Portuguese than I actually do (which is very very little) over the next mile or so before I needed to let them move ahead. That moment, along with running through the occasional group of school kids high-fiving and cheering wildly along the road, was my favorite part of the race.

Everyone got a boost (and probably 100 communicable diseases) by high-fiving the dozens of school kids out on the course

Regarding the current traffic/pollution issues on the course, when you think about it, it's really nobody's fault. When John Foden and his crew used the ancient writings of Herodotus to map out this course 30 years ago, I'm sure there was about 10% of today's trucks and pollution along the roads. Even more importantly, since this is the route Pheidippideis ran 2500 years ago, it's not like we can just re-route things today to meet our aesthetic appeal. It is what it is, so I'll stop whining now.

Back to my race, after about 20 miles I was already fighting a level of fatigue that I usually don't experience until 80 or 90 miles. Had we run by an auto mechanic's garage at this point, I would have asked them to kindly remove the engine block I apparently had strapped on my back. Without that option, I figured the only thing I could do to keep my energy from totally failing was to increase my calories. I'm usually a 250 kcal/hr runner, but I upped that to 350-400/hr for a couple hours to see if it would help. It did not. What it did do, predictably enough, was make me very nauseous. Couple that with a moment I shared with a German runner that will go down in history as one of the all-time 'Hilarious Moments in Truck Exhaust Inhalation History', and I suddenly found myself buying two tickets for an immediate ride on the Vomit Comet. No waiting in line for me on that ride. I had the SpeedPass and everything.

If only we didn't have to run by those smoke stacks at the Oil Refinery in the background, the coastal road sections would have been much more enjoyable!

Naturally, the sun started to heat things up at this point, so Mr. Dehydration came out to run with me over the next couple hours. It's always a treat to share a few miles with him. I was pretty much as miserable as I've ever been on a run at this point, and my exhaustion only exacerbated my feelings toward the traffic and fumes out there. I really wanted to punch Henry Ford, Giovanni Fiat, and Doug Suzuki right in the kisser for what their legacy was doing to me out there. Cars and trucks (and Greece's apparently lack of emissions laws) were not my friends on this day.

There was safety in numbers when running on the side of the highway, too bad I couldn't keep up with anyone all day

It wasn't all bad, though. One positive of running on busy streets was the occasional bus shelter I could stumble into for a few moments of shady protection from the anger of the Sun Beast. Even funnier than my moments with the Portuguese and German runners was around mile 35 when I staggered under a bus shelter with two people already sitting inside. While I always try to be respectful of the personal space of others, I was pretty wobbly when I crashed down on the far side of the bench with my legs sprawled out in front of me. The poor people in there immediately got up and left while mumbling something in Greek and shaking their heads at me. Even in my delirious state I realized I must have looked like a sweaty drunk guy to those unaware I was running a race through their city streets. Sorry, Nice People, I hope you didn't miss your bus because of me!

By the time I stumbled into the Oil Refinery aid station around mile 40 (located literally in the parking lot of the noxious refinery), I was in 100% survival mode. I knew I needed to make it 10 more miles to cross the canal in Corinth and make it onto the Peloponnese. There I'd find my parents for the first time all race and at least collapse among those who are legally bound to care for me. I don't remember much about those last 10 miles other than I couldn't even run the downhill miles for more than 2 minutes at a time before needing to stop, stretch, or otherwise lay prostrate under the sweet shady relief of the occasional highway overpass. Mercifully enough, the canal finally appeared after 9 hours of struggling from the start.

Reaching the tiny gap between the mainland and the Peloponnese was a HUGE victory for me.

Once I crashed down on the ground by my parents, I technically still had a few minutes on the official cut-off time for the check-point, but at the pace I was going, making the cut-off at even the next stop down the road was out of the question. My day was done 30 miles earlier, quite honestly, and the miles between 20 and 50 were really just me making sure there wasn't a miracle buried deep in my legs somewhere. Given that I fought as hard as I could from the start and still ran the slowest 50 miles of my life (seriously), I wasn't really upset at having my dream of reaching Sparta come crashing down before I even really started the race. Sometimes it just isn't your day.

Mile 50. Can I get some sleep now? Please?!!

After resting for a bit in Corinth, we made the drive back to Athens to crash for the night. Naturally, I slept pretty well this time, and I did my best to ignore the fact that my legs felt fine when I woke up in the morning. Unlike my experience last year in Canada when I had to stop 50 miles into a 24 hour race due to soul-crushing fatigue in my legs from over-working them all summer, this time my muscles were not even remotely stressed during my 50 mile shuffle to Corinth. The fatigue I struggled through must have been based entirely on the lack of sleep leading up to the race. If only I didn't have a day job and could have flown over a week earlier. No wonder guys like Jurek head out two or more weeks before international races, it's just the best way to handle such a dramatic time change before a big run.

It wasn't all frustrating/bad news out in Greece, however. After resting for the night back in Athens, the following day we drove the course to Sparta to cheer in the final few hours of runners. The scene there was fun and festive with fellow runners joining the townspeople up and down the main street leading to the finish line at the statue of King Leonidas.

With a bicycle escort from the local children, every runner received a hero's welcome in Sparta!

Truly a fantastic finish line!

It's not over until you touch the statue and drink the water from the river

Team USA reunited to cheer on our fellow runners. Sadly, none of us made the finish line ourselves this year. L to R: Me, Chisholm Deupree's handsome back, Oz Pearlman (sporting a Yankees-defeating Detroit Tigers hat under those glasses!), and Mike Arnstein who made it the furthest of us all at ~115 miles.

The Spartathlon is a brutal race the allows no room for error. For those who do make it all the way to Sparta, the emotions and fatigue are worn clearly on their faces

That evening a huge crowd gathered in the town square for a cultural music ceremony with the Mayor of Sparta

Thousands of Spartans were in attendance...seemingly more than the actual population of the town


The next day we made the long drive back to Athens, stopping at a few beautiful/ancient sites along the way. My parents pose here on the shore of the 'original' capital of Greece at Nafplio.

I did a little exploring down a 3,000 year old (and PITCH BLACK!) cistern at Mycenae

Oh yeah, and back in Athens the Parthenon was pretty cool too

You're standing on top of the (ancient) world up there!

The view allowed me to map out my next stop...a must see for any athlete in Athens...

The Panathenaic Stadium, only about 2,500 years old, and site of the original Olympic games!

It was pretty darn cool to run a lap on that beyond-historic track!

Sure hope the King and Queen were impressed by my time!


In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed the combination of ancient history and modern hustle and bustle of Athens...

Oh yeah, and the food....I REALLY liked the food!!!

What's ahead for me now? Pretty much preparing for the arrival of Baby Rose, and running the sleep deprivation ultra that will be the first few months of his/her life this winter. I'll probably go out for a run once or twice a week, but it won't be much more than that. The overall running guidelines will be: whatever time allows, and whatever trails appeal to me. The experience of training so intensely for Greece definitely has me thankful that I'll only be running for pleasure in the foreseeable future. I look forward to getting back into the gym to throw some weights around for the first time in 4 years, and when I do have the time to venture out for a run in the mountains, it'll most definitely involve more plans to stop and smell the roses along the way. I may pop up now and then in a VHTRC Fat Ass race, but it'll definitely involve more chatting and cruising than racing...and I definitely won't be eating any gels. God knows I've had enough of those over the past 5 years!

As for this blog, I can't thank everyone enough for stopping by over the past 4 years. This thing was created to help inspire others, and the number of you who have contacted me directly with your own stories of struggle and triumph in not only running, but with fighting cancer or other illnesses, has literally given me the return-inspiration I've needed to achieve the (albeit modest) goals I've reached in this sport. We all make a pretty great team! Even though I won't be posting much over the next few months (I won't bore you with lame posts, but I whenever I take pretty pictures on an adventure run, I'll be sure to share them here), I want everyone to know they should still feel free to contact me via email for advice on training or gear or whatever. I can't stress how much I've enjoyed having so many of you ask for help on training for your first marathon or 50 miler or 100 miler, and then watched you all put in the hard work to achieve those lofty goals. The community spirit is what ultra-running is all about, and I very much want to continue to play my small role in this great family!

2011 Spartathlon Preview!

2011-09-23T10:22:00.005-04:00

It's been a long time coming for me, and I couldn't be more excited to say that my biggest Dream Race ever is just a week away: The 2011 Spartathlon!

First and foremost, I need to give the "Excellent Timing" award to the organizers of this historic race: Last night they debuted a completely revamped website, and it looks amazing. Deep within the shiny new links and animations, you'll find some fantastic old-school photos from the races back in the early 80s as well as links to the 4-part video from last year's race. There's something about a pleasant British lady's accent that makes running 153 miles sound almost pain-free.

Beyond the glitz and glamor of the new site, there's one key bit of info that will please everyone following the race back home: This will be the first year that all runners will be wearing chips on their shoes...and through the magic of satellite uplinks, you should be able to follow our progress through every single last stinking one of the 75 checkpoints along the course. Just click on the "Live Data" link at the top of the page and you'll be off and running, so to speak. If you're stuck at work next Friday, you'll be all set for distracting entertainment during the workday as the race kicks off at Midnight (Thurs/Fri) EST. We'll be running all day Friday and into Saturday morning. If all goes well for me, I'll be high-fiving the statue of King Leonidas in the wee hours of Saturday morn back here in the States.

For more info beyond the official website, fellow US runner (and Oklahoma native) Chisholm Deupree will be posting some tweets during his time in Greece via his race Twitter account: @Okie_in_Athens

My race plan will be one I've used before with much success. It's hard to explain to people who have "only" raced 100 miles that this type of race is a completely different animal. It's not just tacking on another 50 miles of shuffling after 100 miles. Lots of things happen after the 100 mile point, and none of them are good. My race plan is essentially a sliding scale that allows my mind to get stronger as my legs weaken over the course of 24+ hours. A strong mind is pretty much the main fuel source for me once I get past 100 miles. On Friday I'll cruise through the 50 mile mark in about 7:45-8:00 to save my strength for the climbs ahead. The stretch leading up to the mountain at mile 100 will be about building momentum to rock that climb in style. Once down the backside of the mountain, I'll have a little less than 50 miles to start picking off the Parade of the Dead and climb the standings. With so many studs from the 24 hour world running this year (no doubt a result of the 24 hr. World Championship being canceled this year), I have no clue how high up I'll finish, but I think if I run my own race and execute each stage as planned, I'll end up with a smile on my face...and that's what it's all about!

I can tell already that I'll be slipping into my "big race focus coma" as soon as I step off the plane in Athens. I'm already catching myself staring off into the middle-distance a few times a day while thinking about the race this week. I've pretty much got the elevation profile and my desired splits memorized. It's been a long time since I've been not only 100% healthy leading into a big race, but also had such a successful training block leading into it as well. Barring a lightning strike or extended detour through a baklava factory on the course, I should be able to put up a pretty solid result.

Before I sign off and hop on the plane, I want send Special Thanks to:

1) My wife for allowing me to run the insane training schedule I ran over the past couple months

2) My parents for the effort they're about to put in while keeping me moving across the Greek countryside

3) Drymax for these awesome socks that will help me represent the good ol' USA while abroad! I shall do my best!

USA! USA! USA!!

It's All Greek to Me!

2011-09-20T11:43:00.004-04:00

Historically speaking, the U.S. has never been well-represented in the Spartathlon. Yes, Scott Jurek put together a nice 3-year winning streak from '06-'08, but when you look at things from a pure numbers standpoint, we've been tremendously under-represented as a country out there every year. In a race where the finishing rate typically hovers around 35% each year, it's no wonder that we've had a hard time coming up with multiple finishers (or even any in some years) when we rarely even have 10 U.S. runners in the starting field.

The craziest stat of all (to me, anyway):

In the entire history of the Spartathlon, only 16 U.S. runners have crossed the finish line (some have completed the race multiple times, adding up to 34 total finishes). That's insane! Three separate countries had at least that many finish in last year's race alone!

Of course, maybe the reason we never find the finish can be explained by these maps they give us to navigate the Aid Stations in the Greek countryside. Shoot, there could be dozens of lost Americans out there right now, years later, just looking for those four pine trees in that exact diamond shape somewhere...

Good thing I hear the roads are pretty well marked on the course, because I'm guessing my ability to translate 75 of these little maps might suffer a bit after 100 miles or so...

As the caption mentions above, everyone agrees the course itself is actually very well marked during the race, so I'm not worried about getting lost at all. My crew, on the other hand? The might have a little bit of a tough time translating those street signs. I hope the Greek police are tolerant of frequent u-turns!

Speaking of my crew, with my wonderful wife currently being wonderfully pregnant, she will remain stateside for this adventure. Stepping up once again to reprise their stellar crew performances of years' past (Run 192, Long Trail, etc), my parents will be making the trip across the pond to support me. I learned my lesson last year in France that if the option exists to have a crew control 100% of the fuel you eat/drink during an international race, definitely take that option. We'll be staying in an apartment in Athens directly across the street from a grocery store, and you can bet your bottom Euro that I'll be controlling the quality and cleanliness of my food/water the whole time I'm out there. Look no further than the number of U.S. runners on the 100k team that had stomach issues during the World Championships last weekend to see the proof that it's worth the effort to ensure you're not consuming anything tainted while traveling overseas for a race!


The course, annotated in a language only I can understand!

I'll post one last preview of the race before I fly out on Monday for Greece. That post will include a link for everyone to follow the race progress as 350 of us follow in the steps of Pheidippides to Sparta! It's worth noting that the strict 36 hour time limit is no joke. The super-steep 3,000ft. climb up the mountain (Sangas Pass) at the 100 mile mark, coupled with the likely heat/humidity of the day, proves this course is no easy cruiser. ...and if you think about, the story says Pheidippidies arrived in Sparta after 36 hours himself, so technically speaking, we all have to beat this legendary figure's time. No pressure there!

The Ultra Running Band

2011-09-16T16:46:00.008-04:00

There's a lively debate in the Ultrarunning world right now about the future and direction of the sport. Not just in increased corporate influence, but also with the way the media/blogs are becoming more critical in their coverage of individual runners. The evidence that a major commercial shift is happening is certainly clear (Leadville 100 was bought by Life Time Fitness last year, the North Face 50 miler series -and all its prize money- has grown in each of its 4 years, etc.), but the debate that's raging on amongst the runners right now is whether these changes (and the resulting, often critical, media exposure of the runners) are good for the sport.

Inside Trail posted an article a couple days ago (which has subsequently been taken down) that many have reacted to quite passionately. The article took a critical look at Geoff Roes, AJW, and the Ultra Runner of the Year voting process. Lots of thoughtful comments and debates have arisen from the resulting give-and-take on the posting boards, and rather than add my two cents on all the various issues, I wanted to pass along the first thing that popped into my head when reading all of this.

Tim Long, one of the writers/creators of Inside Trail, and a heck of a runner in his own right, points out (correctly) that just about all of the media/blog reports out there on ultra-running are more "sunshiny" pieces that don't dig in and discuss the more controversial topics that Inside Trail has started to do. Many ultra folks don't believe we need the same level of critical analysis professional athletes endure when even the best ultra runners pretty much all have day jobs and just run these races as a hobby (a somewhat time-consuming hobby, sure, but a hobby nonetheless). Tim mentions these debates and controversies are a necessary step in the evolution of the sport (and its coverage) by saying: "to gain clarity, you need to go through the pain.".

Regardless of which side of the debate any of us support, we all have to agree that changes will continue to happen in this sport. The beauty of ultra running is that, while it is certainly growing by leaps and bounds, it is not a professional league like the NFL or MLB. There are no league-wide changes that a Commissioner says every runner has to follow. We're all Free Agents in this sport. Some will chose to run only races with prize money and media exposure. Others will prefer to only run solo trail adventures and pause to photograph the priceless sunset on top of a mountain along the way. Some will stay up late arguing who should be the Ultra Runner of the Year in chat rooms, and others will continue to run remarkable under-the-radar performances and not care who knows about them.

We all don't have to agree on which way the sport is heading, we just have to agree that not every change will agree with us. As long as our own reasons and outlets for enjoying the sport remain (and you'll always be able to run solo on a trail somewhere), the sport can expand in any and all directions without it negatively affecting you.

As silly as it sounds, the very first thing I related this whole issue to when reading the Inside Trail comments was the feud between John Lennon and Paul McCartney after the Beatles broke up. What triggered this thought was Tim Long's response to the idea that people don't want to read any controversial comments against specific ultra runners or the sport in general (as Inside Trail has proven it is inclined to post). He said, "If folks want those sunshiny race reports (i.e. “I lined up with 200 other lovely, smiling people and throughout the race I felt love in my heart and only felt happiness in my blistered feet”), then move on."

When I read this quote, I immediately thought of McCartney's response to Lennon's critical comments about Paul's lack of depth and meaning in his solo songs ("He writes too many love songs."). McCartney's 1976 song "Silly Love Songs" was pretty much the best response he could have possibly given. The fact is, there's no harm in writing silly/happy songs, just like there's no problem lining up with 200 other lovely people and enjoying the fun of a 100 miler without real concern about who wins, or what sponsors were involved, or what someone might write on a blog about you after.

Having the passion for running to fill your heart (Paul) is just as rewarding as having the passion for running to feed your brain (John). We clearly have ultrarunners in both camps in the sport today, and lucky for us, the trails are plenty wide enough for us all.

...and since I'm a "Paul" runner, I'll leave you with Mr. McCartney proving that there is real purpose in writing Silly Love Songs: They make people happy.

The Field is Set!

2011-09-07T10:17:00.002-04:00

Late last night the Spartathlon organizing committee released the official field for this year's race. I know most ultra-running fans in the U.S. care much more about trail races (and follow stars like Geoff Roes, Karl Meltzer, Killian Jornet, etc), but the other side of ultra-running (road stuff) is waaaaaay more popular internationally. Personally I find both sides of this coin equally rewarding to both run and follow as a fan. Last month's UTMB had most of us excited to follow the superstars of mountain running, and lucky me is even more excited for the chance to line up with a field of international road ultra stars in Athens later this month!

First off, I can't wait to see what Japan's Shingo Inoue can run in relation to the legendary course record of Yiannis Kouros (an incomprehensible 20:25). For those of you who don't know Shingo, when Scott Jurek broke the American 24-Hour Record at the World Championships last year with 165+ miles, Shingo was the guy who beat him by 5 miles for the win. The guy is a machine. I can't wait to see what he does out there (or, rather, hear about how he did when I finish a few hours after him). As always, Shingo's Japanese team leads the field in terms of total entrants with 61 runners toeing the line this year. It's no wonder they've won the 24 Hour World Championship 6 years in a row, they are a people who truly love and respect the road ultra world and its history.

I won't bore you by naming a bunch of other guys you've never heard of, but I will mention last year's winner, Ivan Cudin of Italy will be back to defend his title, and two other former champs will also be returning to the field. All told, there will be 39 countries represented, with the usual large contingents (after Japan's 62) from Germany (44), Greece (43), France (22), and Italy (18)...all countries who have produced winners in the past.

On the U.S. side, we'll be proudly lining up 8 countrymen atop the Acropolis. In addition to myself, we have two speedsters from NYC in Oz Pearlman and Michael Arnstein ready to set the roads a'blaze (both can crank out a 2:2X marathon). Oz has done some ridiculous things at the 50 mile distance (5:25 at Chicago Lakefront in '09!!), and Michael recently won the Vermont 100 in a smokin' time of 15:26. I'm not sure either guy has ever gone over 100 miles before, but they certainly have the talent to make a big splash in their debut.

While those two will certainly go out faster than me, they'll probably have some company with US 100k National Team member Chad Ricklefs. Chad has won the Leadville 100 a couple times, and finished 14th in the 100k World Championships last year. It will be great to see what he can do with his versatile talent out there.

Joining the team with some oh-so valuable 100+ mile experience and talent is Chicago's Adrian Belitu. Adrian has multiple Badwater finishes among his many other achievements, not the least of which is being a great guy too!

California is contributing two veterans to the squad as well with Rajeev Patel (many many many 100 mile finishes) and Christian Burke (100+ mile experience with a 24 Hour win under his belt). I've yet to meet these two gentlemen, but am looking forward to toasting some Ouzo with them in Sparta!

Last but not the least bit least, all-around great guy Chisholm Deupree from Oklahoma is hopping across the pond to join in the adventure as well. I've met Chisholm a couple times while running 24 hour races, and I recall his stride looking way better than mine on both occasions. The nerve of some people! Chisholm has multiple Badwater finishes, 72 Hour experience, and tons of solid 24 Hour results on his resume. I know he'll run a successful race plan to reach Sparta in style.

Sure, we might not have the most (or any!) experience as some of the other countries out on the course, but we do have some talent, and I know we'll do our best to represent the Red, White, and Blue to the best of our abilities!

August Wrap and Volunteer Fun

2011-09-06T12:57:00.000-04:00

Hard to believe that three weeks from today I'll be waking up in Athens and making my final preparations for the run to Sparta. Given the amazing training block I've put in over the past few weeks, I'll be ready to GO more than ever before on September 30. The month of August proved to be my most successful training month of all time by every possible measure: My most miles covered (you don't want to know), no injuries to report, no garbage miles, etc etc.. To say I'm in "fighting shape" would be an understatement. These legs are ready to dance their way to Sparta!

In other news, this past weekend I had the pleasure of running an Aid Station at the annual VHTRC race over the entire 71 mile Massanutten Trail loop. As some of you know, we simply call it: "The Ring". I've run both this Fall version as well as the winter "Reverse Ring" in the past, so I figured it was time to give back to the selfless Quatro Hubbard and Mike Bur who put on these FREE races every year. Through a network of amazingly coordinated volunteers, every runner's drop bag is moved ahead from aid station to aid station along the course, so you're never without your gear every time you pop out of the woods. For a free race, this one offers better aid that some $$ races. This year, the Moreland Gap aid station (mile 40.7) was my charge. I had a blast over the course of afternoon/evening out there, and was pretty sad to see the last runner come through a little after 10pm...I could have stayed out there all night!


Kari Brown (seated) takes a breather on her way to the women's win (and 3rd overall!). Quatro Hubbard Photo


Hiroyuki & Yukiko Nishide (top row, center) displayed true marital support by running together the whole way!

In the end, it was a great day to help out some fellow runners in the mountains! Quatro Hubbard Photo

Big congrats to all who toughed it out through the heat and humidity all day/night out there on the unrelenting rocks of the Massanuttens. That trail is no joke! Final results here.

What, No Famine or Locusts?

2011-08-29T06:28:00.001-04:00

The challenges Mother Nature presented while training in DC this past week most likely will never be repeated. Tuesday offered up a 5.8 earthquake, and Saturday/Sunday gave us Hurricane Irene. There were reports of tornadoes touching down inside the hurricane too, but thankfully none of them were in DC. I mean really, a tornado inside a hurricane? That's a bit much, right?! Even with Nature's curveballs, I was able to plan and adjust my runs accordingly to get them in...and even though about 52 of my miles this weekend were covered while 100% soaked, I'll just consider that good "rain training" in case a monsoon hits Greece next month during the race.

In the end, despite all the surprises, my third peak week of intense training (of six total) for the Spartathlon went perfectly with another solid total of well over 100 miles. I'm not one to go much over 100 miles/week too often in training, but things have been going so amazingly well recently that I've just taken advantage of all the (many) extra miles as they've come so easily. We all hit stretches like this in training every now and then when our legs feel bullet-proof and our energy seems limitless, and I can't say how lucky I am to be riding one of those waves in my training for Greece right now. I'm noticing the parallels to my last similar stretch of running like this (Oct '09 to May '10), and knowing the successful runs I was able to put together in that period has me champing at the bit to get out to Athens start the race! Of course, I'd be foolish not to take advantage of upping my fitness even further with 3 more weeks of peak training, so there's that to be settled first. ...Back to the grindstone!

Before I get back to work, a quick and hardy congrats goes out to my friend Nick Pedatella who rose above a million challenges out in France/Italy/Switzerland over the weekend and ran a brilliant race at UTMB. In a beyond-loaded field of world elites (and tons of American studs), Nick finished in an awesome 14th place overall (2nd American)! Between the 5 hour delayed-start due to horrible weather, a mid-race course re-route that almost none of the runners knew about, and the 32,000+ ft. of elevation gain over the 100 mile course, Nick was steady-as-he-goes all day and night out there. It was a blast watching him climb from 99th place at the first check-point all the way to 14th at the end. He informs me that he is now doing his best to support the pastry industry while relaxing in Chamonix this week, and that sounds like the perfect reward for such a brilliant race!

Goodbye and Hello!

2011-08-16T22:45:00.000-04:00

As a few of you already know, I've decided the Spartathlon will be my last race for quite some time. I'm not sure exactly how long "some time" will be, but it'll most likely fall somewhere between the length of the average Professional Boxer's "Retirement" and the 23-year hiatus of The Cars. There are a couple reasons why I have made this decision, but the biggest (and happiest) of all is that my beautiful wife Elizabeth and I are having our first baby this winter!

Lizzy + 1!

Our first published Family Photo!

I've always said running (and ultra running in particular) is a fairly selfish pursuit when you consider all the time you spend out on the trails/roads by yourself while family/friend/work obligations take somewhat of a backseat, especially during peak training. It's easy to become obsessive about "getting your miles in" or planning to use all of your vacation time to run races all over the country/world. While friends who have met me at races (or via this blog) may describe me first as a "runner", I like to think those who know me best would think of me first as simply a "nice, normal guy" and not a one-dimensional running freak. That being the case, as soon as I found out Lizzy was pregnant, I immediately wiped my running plans for the next year or so clear while I focused on what really matters most to me: My Family. I'm so excited about being a daddy, and hopefully some of my hard-earned endurance fitness will help me through the long days and sleepless nights that will undoubtedly follow!

Once the Rose Family has the new routine of life as a trio down pat next year, I'm sure I'll pick up a nice running stroller and start slowing getting my self back into ultra shape every night while giving Lizzy a nice quiet break at home. When I do come back, my focus will involve far fewer organized races than I've run in the past. When I daydream about running, I always envision myself running on a trail somewhere with no watch or aid stations or crew. I love running for the simple enjoyment of running, so most (if not all) of my future runs will be similar to trail adventures like I've done in the past (Horse-Shoe Trail, Long Trail, etc.). With a big ol' country full of woods, my options for adventure runs will be plentiful: I'll get myself back out to the Grand Canyon and do something fun out there...When they finish the Cowboy Trail across Nebraska, you bet I'll saddle up my shoes and run that too...the options are pretty limitless out there on the trails.

When I do come back to the sport, I'll happily reclaim the title of "ultrarunner", but no matter how far or wide any future runs take me, my new title of "Father" will always be the most important to me.

Dahlgren Heritage Trail 50k - Race Report!

2011-08-09T08:07:00.004-04:00

What a great weekend down on the Northern Neck of Virginia! Running the Dahlgren Heritage Trail 50k was the occasion, so Lizzy and I made the drive down to Colonial Beach on Friday afternoon where we met up with my running buddy Andy and his family. My awesome in-laws let us use their place down there for the weekend (perfectly situated 20 minutes from the race course), and we couldn't have had a better time!


Andy and I admire Luke's impressive skills with Jenga blocks. This little dude has unbelievably steady hands. "Cool Hand Luke", indeed!

Luke's little brother Noah mugs for the camera with his mommy on the deck.

Coming into the race I was a bit wary of my ability to pace a 50k properly since I almost never run "short" races like this. I figured if I went out somewhere in the 7:30/mile neighborhood, I'd be able to hold that steady through the finish and feel like I put in an honest effort. The trail itself didn't have much to worry about in terms of hills, so I saw the race as perfect chance to exercise some steady-pacing skills.

Things started off easy enough as Andy and I joined 100 fellow runners and we made our way down the trail at 6:30am. The early morning start meant humid air, but surprisingly reasonable temps (anything below 90 has to be considered "reasonable" this time of year here). Right from the gun, four guys I didn't know (I assumed marathon guys) took off down the trail ahead of myself, Brad Hinton (3rd place here the past two years), and Karsten Brown (last year's winner). The RD mentioned he was adding a bonus $100 for a new course record this year (on top of the winner's purse), so I'm guessing the four lead guys were motivated to grab a little extra scratch!

After a couple miles I realized I was running 7:10s and figured that was probably a little too hot of a start, especially since the extra effort it took to run quickly over the loose trail rocks meant it felt more like running 6:30s. I quickly learned that running much of this course was a bit like an exercise in running through sand...only it was really "big" sand in the form of loose railroad stones. Basically, you got about a 90% return on your effort with each step you took in many sections of the trail. About 4 or 5 miles into the race, I figured out it was useless to fight the rocks in the worst spots, so from then on I just let the trail tell me how quickly I could run at any given point.

Around mile 10 Brad was ready to make his move to reel in the Gang of Four ahead of us. We could see they were about 150 yards ahead of us in a semi-solid pack, and while Brad felt it was time to go get them, I knew my best chance for success on the day was to play it steady and hope they came back to me by the end. It's pretty hard to fight the urge to use your fresh legs and speed up to hang with the leaders, but I know I'm more "endurance trained" than "speed trained" right now, so blowing my chances in this race by dropping a couple 6:00/miles to catch up at that point didn't seem like the right call. Instead I settled in with my 7:20s and focused on drinking/salting properly to fend off the 90% humidity's draining affects.

As it turned out, I leap-frogged Brad at the next aid station (I didn't stop, he did), and shortly thereafter around mile 13 I came up on the guy in 4th place who wasn't enjoying the rocks much at all. We exchanged pleasantries and I moved passed him, leaving just two in the lead about 3 or 4 minutes ahead of me. Just before the mile 19.9 turn-around, Brad caught up and pulled ahead again, putting me in back in 4th. This aid station was my only refill point all day, and I didn't even need to break stride as Lizzy handed me a full Camelbak on the fly as I gave her my empty one. This speedy transition meant I leap-frogged Brad again, but he quickly caught up and was ready to make his big move to reel in the top two guys. I believe I said, "Go get 'em!", and he was off!

Erin awaits Andy's arrival at the mile 19.9 turn-around while Noah practices early ultra-fueling skills with his container of Goldfish crackers.

I, on the other hand, was content with my pace (which I was checking regularly thanks to the existing 1/2 mile markers along the rail trail part of the course). I was still running my 7:20s, but it was starting to feel like it took a little more effort to hold them. That was enough for me to ignore the urge to push hard too soon and just hope my steady plan would pay off before the last 10 miles ticked by. Patience, patience, patience....

As it turned out, I slooowly reeled in the third place guy with about 4 miles to go, and with the finish so close from there, I figured that would be the extent of my progress up the standings. The course was technically long for a 50k (about 31.9 miles instead of 31.1), but I knew I needed it to be about 5 or 10 miles longer to have the other guys come back to me (especially a vet like Brad). Even though I didn't think catching the two ahead of me would happen, I kept pushing hard to keep my 7:20 pace out of fear of Karsten blowing by me in the end (he's got 2:39/marathon leg speed!).The next mile or two went by smoothly (I had definitely figured out the rocks at this point), and with just a couple miles to go I was surprised to see the #2 guy just head of me as I turned a bend. He was definitely hurting, so I passed him quickly.

At this point I couldn't see Brad ahead of me, but was definitely still afraid of Karsten reeling me in with his leg speed, so I just kept my head down all the way to the final turn-off toward the finish (about .5 mile to go from there). As I popped off the trail to cover the only section of pavement on the course (1000ft stretch of road), I saw Brad up the hill making his turn onto the final stretch of trail. Since most of this final section was uphill (and with a couple momentum-killing switchbacks), I didn't think it would be possible to catch him, even with an all-out sprint. Still, I gave it my best up the final trail section, but by time I popped out on the field crossing I knew Brad had run a great tactical race, and I had run out of real estate!. I cruised in for second place 18 seconds behind Brad in 3:54:29 (about 3 minutes off the course record). I was happy to have put in a solid and even effort all day long (7:21/mile pace), and proud that it was my buddy Brad who beat me with a great race plan (Full results here). Also, the rule is: 'Any day you get paid to run is a good day', so there are no complaints on my end!

Lizzy's view of the finish line just before...

Brad sprinted through for his big win...

...and I pulled up 18 seconds later.

Well done, Mr. Hinton! Brilliant race!

With Brad a little later on. You'll notice he cleaned up a bit, like a proper Champion does!

Luke shows the camera what place I finished...

...then it was off to the picnic benches for some serious super-hero coloring time!

The excitement waiting for Daddy built to a fever pitch!

We were too busy cheering for Andy to get a finish line photo of him, but here we are right after (with my golden railroad spike award). Andy had to deal with some hamstring issues in the 2nd half, but still toughed out a solid top 30 finish. Well done, Mr.Gingrich!

...and later that evening, even happier with a little bourbon in our great new glasses...

Talk about a brilliant finisher's award!

All in all, I'm happy with my effort out there and even happier that my training for Greece has ramped up successfully enough for me to reach the "peak training" period which begins tomorrow. I'm 100% healthy and ready to rack up some intense miles over the next 6 weeks before my taper. I'll be laying low in terms of no races or other distractions between now and Sept 30. For the past 14 months I've been repeatedly swallowing the bitter pill from my disaster in France at the World Championships, so I'm viewing the Spartathlon as my chance to make amends for that. In addition to racking up the big miles each week, I'll be studying every section of that course to devise the best race plan for my legs to follow. No doubt many in that field will be far more talented and accomplished than me, but with the right game plan and execution, I know I can surprise a few people!

Surprise! It's Race Week!

2011-08-01T09:03:00.000-04:00

I've been so focused on training and planning for the Spartathlon lately that I keep forgetting I have a race coming up this weekend! Sure, a 100-person 50k isn't quite on the same end of the race spectrum as the international spectacle that is the Spartathlon, but I will honestly point out that the 50k (31 mile) distance definitely scares me more than that 153 mile race across Greece. Yes, my weekly long run is always at least 50k in my normal training cycle, but "racing" that distance is a whole different beast...especially when my focus in training has been working on looooong slow n' steady miles and not lung-busting speed. Regardless, all of my worries will go away at 6:30 a.m. this Saturday when the gun goes off for the Dahlgren Heritage Trail 50k. As long as I survive the first 8 miles (which I understand are somewhat rugged), I'll settle in nicely for the rest of the race as I've previously run that part of the trail in training.

I should have some good company along the way as well with my friends Brad Hinton and Andy Gingrich also in the starting field. Brad has grabbed 3rd place in each of the previous two years at this race, so it may end up being a fist-fight between the two of us over my usual 3rd place finishing spot. We'll see how that plays out. Lord knows any race to the finish with Brad is an all-out effort. If you haven't seen the video of his last second win at the North Country 50 miler last year, check this out! Of course, since there's prize money in this race, that probably also means some marathon speedsters will show up to blow us all away. Man, I hate those guys and their lactic thresholds!

Regardless of how the race itself goes, it'll be a fun time all-around with members of my family and Andy's family all coming down to cheer us on. Sure, they might just be there for the race BBQ, but when I pass them late in the race I'll suppress thoughts like "Wait, are they eating ribs?...and why does the water bottle they just handed me have BBQ sauce on it?!", and convince myself they're only there to cheer me on. They say Ultras are 50% mental, and "delusion" makes up a huge part of that 50%!

Time to lace 'em up!

The Great Headphone Debate

2011-07-27T06:15:00.010-04:00

If you've ever found yourself on a narrow stretch of single-track stuck behind someone who can't hear your "Excuse me!" request to pass, you know what I'm talking about...

If you've signed up for a road race only to be annoyed to later discover that headphones are banned from the race, you know what I'm talking about...

If you're Karl Meltzer, you know what I'm talking about...

Basically ever since the invention of the iPod, the debate over whether runners should be allowed to wear headphones in races has raged on and on with the most productive outcome frequently being an "agree to disagree" scenario. Lots of races flat-out ban them (including all official U.S. Track & Field Championships, the Vermont 100, and the old-school Spartathlon), while others "strongly discourage" their use (NYC Marathon), and some allow them unless you're contending for $$ (LA Marathon).

The spirited debate among runners themselves has all sides of the argument backed as well. Regardless of which side you're on, no one can argue the fact that while you're plugged in you lose some (or all, if you're a fan of loud heavy metal like I am) of your ability to hear your surroundings. In the deep woods of a mountain 100 miler, it doesn't really matter too much (unless a stalking mountain lion is suddenly cuckoo for the Cocoa Puffs you're carrying in your pack). In a race that includes lots of open road sections/intersections, or on more crowded trail races, there are obviously some valid issues that arise (safety, courtesy, etc).

Just like all major historical debates on the level of 'Coke v. Pepsi', 'Yankees v. Red Sox', and 'Edible Underwear v. Planning Ahead by Simply Packing a Sensible Snack', this one seemed certain to rage on for years...that is, until now. The good news in Headphone Wars, I'm happy to report, is technology has suddenly brought us very close to a solution!

Before I ramble on about the actual product here, I want to be clear that I have not been given any $$, nor do I have any financial interest in the product(s) I talk about on this blog. I'm not scamming anyone, just passing on the word of a product I think can make some people happy in the ultra/running world.

Every now and then I receive a sample of some running-related product from a company looking for a free plug on this blog. 99% of the time I thank them but politely decline their request. The instances when I have actually mentioned a product I've been sent can be counted on one hand. Those vary from the super-rare "Full Endorsement" (Drymax Socks), to the "Kind of an Endorsement, but Most Likely Not What the Company had in Mind" (like when I realized my free samples of POM juice tasted way better when mixed with champagne). When I recognize a new product to have the chance to affect our sport in a major way, like Drymax, I feel the need to help spread the word. In the case of the aforementioned Headphone Wars, I'm happy to report there's at least one company thinking outside the box and is thisclose to changing the game completely.

AURIA sent me a pair of their Exceed "earphones" a couple weeks back, and my first reaction was, "Oh great, another pair of ear buds that will fall out 3 seconds after I start running.". Then I looked a little closer, read the accompanying literature, and realized these weren't regular old ear buds at all. The folks at AURIA have designed their "earphones" to lock onto the little nubs on the outside of your ear (as opposed to just jamming them into the ear canal like normal ear buds). As far as I know, up to now these nubs have pretty much only been utilized as alternative piercing spots for teenagers who are mad at their parents:

The nubs in question

The AURIA earphones have a rubberized opening that twists around and pinches those little ear nubs locking the phones in place. It takes a minute to figure out the right technique and fit, but once you get it right you realize how much more firmly they fit than normal ear buds. The reason why this unique fitting is noteworthy is not simply because this allows the earphones to stay in place while running, but because this positioning allows there to be enough space between your ear canal and the earphone for ambient noise to be heard (e.g. a car coming from behind, someone asking to pass you). Talk about a brilliant advancement in running headphone technology. From my first steps outside I was very impressed.

Unlike normal ear buds, that part on the right doesn't actually go into your ear canal. Its rubberized rim works with the blue rubber segment on the left to pinch those outer-ear lobes and lock into place outside your ear canal.

That said, they're probably a few clicks away from having their product be 100% perfect (e.g. they can still fall out, although much less easily than normal buds, and would definitely benefit from having a "soft coil" cord like Sennheiser uses on their sport models), but the idea and initial execution of this theory is very impressive. Also worth making clear: these are the total opposite of "noise canceling" headphones. They are designed to allow ambient noise in, so if you run on busy streets you'll hear nothing but cars blowing by you. The brilliance behind these earphones is realized in trail races: They're a perfect compromise for Race Directors seeking runner safety and alertness, and runners wishing to cruise the trails with an accompanying soundtrack of their favorite music. I would think that a couple samples sent to the folks who organize the Vermont 100, for example, might convince them to grant runners an exception to wear this style of earphones in their otherwise headphone-prohibited race. A runner is most definitely aware of ambient noise/surroundings while wearing these earphones, so the question of safety is no longer an issue.

So, what's your reward for reading this far? How about a free pair of these AURIA Exceed earphones to try out for yourself? I've got my nicely re-packaged pair here (only worn once!), and will be happy to pass it along to anyone interested in running their next trail race while enjoying both the sound of their music and the music of their nature around them at the same time! First person to claim the earphones in the comment section here gets 'em. I love the thought and design behind this product, and while they're not for me, they're definitely the first giant leap toward a solution in the Great Headphone Debate!

Badwater Crew/Pace Report!

2011-07-16T19:21:00.008-04:00

I'm finally back in DC and have a minute to upload some photos and try to process and recall the 95 million memories and emotions that went along with this event. I'll spare you all hours of reading and just let photos and captions tell the story (it's still tremendously long, but trust me when I say I left about 50% of what I wanted to include on the editing room floor):

The long road to Badwater began two days before the race. I met up with Team Roman members Susan Smith and Mark Ryan at the Vegas airport Saturday afternoon and we made the 2.5 hour drive into the Mohave desert from there to meet up with the rest of the crew.


We stopped off just outside of Badwater to take in some of the beauty (and HEAT) at Zabriski Point. Mark and Susan are doing their best to not melt here. It was our first taste of the weather in Death Valley.

...How hot was it? Only 112 at that point. Saturday would turn out to be the hottest day of the trip. My run at 5pm that afternoon was in 125 degree insanity.

When we arrived at Furnace Creek (a resort and gas station is the entire civilization), we realized they had a bit of a monopoly going out there for goods/services with no other signs of life for about 40 miles in any direction.

Sunrise on Sunday. My East Coast clock woke me up at 5am for this view. The race would take us 135 miles and over two mountain ranges in this direction the next day.

I'll get to the race soon, I promise, but I was fascinated by how this resort could exist in the middle of the desert. Power comes from this massive solar panel field, and water comes from a natural hot spring. I should point out that the water from the tap comes out super-heated no matter what, so there's no such thing as a cold shower in Furnace Creek!

Loading up at breakfast later Sunday morning. Our star Chris Roman, Dan Hartley, and I model our Team Roman shirts and load up on fuel while I secretly wonder if I can steal some of Susan's fruit.

Enjoy your last day of solid food, Chris. The next couple days will be your intro to my 100% liquid racing diet!

After breakfast we made the 17 mile drive to the actual starting line of the race at "Badwater", the lowest point in the U.S. at 282 feet below sea level. As Susan (L) and Erin instantly realized, it's painfully hot down there!

Team Roman at the Badwater Sign. (L to R) Erin Roman, Mark Ryan, Chris Roman, Dan Hartley, Me, Susan Smith

Our view from the Badwater sign was of this wall of rock that reveals the "sea level" line to those with a keen eye.


We took a walk out onto the salt flat and did our best to ignore that Chris would be running in this intense heat the next morning.

The "official" Team Roman bad ass photo!

Did I forget to mention that Erin is a yoga wizard? I believe this pose is called "Dan Rose Can't Do This".

Back at Furnace Creek later that afternoon. Waiting for the Pre-Race meeting in the 5 square feet of shade we could find. Shade is your best friend out there.

The photos are about to show a lot of suffering and hard work during the race, but keep in mind we had a TON of laughs the whole time. Susan's Gucci glasses were my favorite accessory. Keep them in mind for later in this photo tour...

Race Morning! Chris poses with the van that will keep him alive for the next couple days.

Team Roman (sans Mark) at the start line ready to ROCK!

Chris said the moment he stepped up for his official weigh-in the gravity of what he was about to do really hit him. It was ON!

Chris hugs Terry Sentinella at the start. Terry was Chris's pacer at Western States last year, and amazingly enough they both find themselves lining up to run this super-selective race together one year later. Keep Terry in mind for later in the photo tour as well...


The crew work began even before the starting gun. We sprayed Chris down with ice water every chance we could to keep him cool.

A view into our life support van. It was a massive organizational challenge, but we executed it all perfectly the whole time. Our other van would drive off to find ice and other supplies when needed. In the end, we went through 400lbs of ice to keep Chris alive. That's a LOT of ice!!

The 10:00 a.m. elite field ready to run!

There's some serious world-elite level talent in this line!

...and they're off! The eventual winner, Oswaldo Lopez (#2) is on the right. (Photo by AdventureCorps)

We drove up 3 miles for the first three crew stops, after that it was 2 miles at a time to keep Chris's bottle full and body iced/sprayed.

First Chris sighting!

I told Chris I would stop him if he ran any early section faster than 9 min pace. I wasn't kidding. He had to serve a 90 second penalty here. I know stopping was the last thing he wanted to do here, but a controlled early pace is key for survival, and I wasn't fooling around! This may be the most important photo of this whole story. He found his 9 min groove right after this and ran a brilliant race.

At each stop we would mix Chris's bottles, prepare his ice bandana, prime the sprayer, fill a cup of ice to go in his hat, and then try to find some shade to wait in. I should point out we didn't run the A/C for a single second during the whole race. We acclimated by keeping ourselves watered and in the shade as much as possible too. We were one tough crew!

...Tough, but still fun as heck. We laughed so much I was so easy to forget how hard we were working out there.

Our view for much of the first day. Just impossibly long, impossibly hot stretches of pavement for Chris to cover on his two feet.

Erin was such an excellent crew chief. It can't be easy to be the wife of the runner and have that emotional element to handle as well while Chris suffered during the race, but she was amazing the whole time. I, on the other hand, just treated Chris like a machine. He drank what I gave him, and kept running when it was time to run. He was a good robot!

Couldn't pass up climbing atop this cool rock when we randomly stopped next to it early on. I should point out the wind was blowing HARD here, and we were all happy when I made it back down without needing to call the race medics.

Check Point #1 at Mile 17 (Furnace Creek). This interchange was captured in its entirety on the official race video because it was such a great example of the whole team working as one. Mark has the ice cup for Chris's hat on the left, Erin is swapping out his bottle and holding his new ice bandana for his neck, Dan H. is spraying him as he walks and I'm behind him relaying his split time and ready to start running. This point marked the beginning of where we could run along with Chris, and he was never alone on the road from here on out. (Photo by AdventureCORPS)

You can almost see the stifling heat in this photo as Chris makes his way to the second check point at Stovepipe Wells (Mile 41).

The sights along the course started to vary a bit at this point. Mark poses in front of the beautiful dunes around mile 35.

Loved my ice bandana set up. Perfect for surviving the days intense sun while pacing Chris. Relief would come soon though...

The Climb from Stovepipe up Townes Pass (5000 ft) was endless (18 miles) and doubly hard with a 25 mph headwind, but at least the sun went down!!

Erin puts out our "green lantern" to help Chris differentiate between all the other vans while running at night...

Even as a pacer I really appreciated seeing the little green ring glowing from the distance (I swear we could see it from a mile out!).

This was the view for many hours as Chris ran well through the night and caught many of the runners in front of him. The pacing and fueling plans were both starting to pay off brilliantly as many runners were pulling off the course to collapse, sleep, vomit, etc.. Chris just kept on churning out the miles without any stomach issues at all.

We liked it when Mark hopped out to pace for a few miles. His vest was the only one like it out there, so we could see them from a mile out just like they could see our lamp. The night is much less lonely when you have visual aids like this!

Pacer Dan also appreciated the work everyone else did with Chris on the long climb up to Townes Pass. I got a nice break from running and downed about 10 of these yummy Nutella & tortilla rolls Susan made for us. Sure, I thought they were BBQ sauce rolls when I saw them in the bag, but the Nutella turned out to be a much better filling!

Erin uses the rolling stick on her sore legs after going for her first run in a year (knee surgery). We thought the section we sent her out on would be all walking up the mountain, but when the surprising downhill section appeared, she was game and ran it all with Chris. Like I said, she handled everything thrown at her in this race amazingly well. I should also point out her shoes, shirt, vest, and water bottle all match here. I would normally think that was just a coincidence, but E was so impressive the whole time, it wouldn't surprise me if this "nighttime outfit" was planned!

...I, on the other hand, just put my duct-taped shoes out the window and let the Nutella run down my shirt while I pigged out!

After a great night of running hard for Chris, the Sun Beast awoke again for another battle.

Day two brought out lots of math problems to solve as I started to figure out how hard we had to push Chris the rest of the way.

At Darwin (Mile 90), Chris was telling me what splits he needed to run to get a sub 24-hour 100 mile time. With my brain focused entirely on his 135 mile time, it took me a while to figure out that he wasn't rambling on with gibberish, but actually making perfect sense. He was about to nail a great 100 mile split!

The ONLY marking on the road the entire course. Definitely done illegally, but who's going to notice in the desert? Chris rolled through a nice mental boost when he crossed the 100 mile mark in 22:40. The fact that he was still moving great meant he was on the brink of running a special 135 mile time too.

...but first, we had to get 22 more miles to Lone Pine (and then the brutal 13 mile climb up Mt Whitney)

Dan H. waiting with the sprayer...it was getting hot again on this long dry stretch into Lone Pine. I should also mention the horseflies were relentless!

Green grass, snow-capped peaks...we must be getting close to Lone Pine!

Mark watches for us to approach the turn to the Whitney Portal Road. I was most impressed with the effort Chris gave me on the final 8 mile stretch in to this point in Lone Pine. If I said "Run to that 1/10 mile marker", he would run to it and then past 1 or 2 more after it. He truly emptied the tank on this section, and it was impressive to watch.

Waiting for the crosswalk on the only street crossing in the whole race. I'll quietly point out that we J-walked when the street was clear. I mean really, this IS a race after all!

From Lone Pine, this is what remains: 13 miles (and 5,000 ft of climb) to the finish up Mt. Whitney! Possibly the hardest end to any race ever!

Mark and I posing in front of some cool rock piles. Just like everyone else in the crew, I had never really met Mark before this race, but we were all best friends by this point. Everyone put their own comfort and needs aside for the good of the crew and Chris's race. Talk about a great job Chris did filling out his Team!

Of course, maybe we all worked so hard because these tough ladies kept us in line! Erin and Susan are definitely kick-a$$ babes!!


Since we're rolling out the compliments here, let's not forget how awesome our van was! We even kept it clean and organized the whole time too. Bottle refills, ice bandana assembly lines, etc etc etc, were all quick and efficient thanks to how well we organized this mobile Life Support unit!

With the end so close, I figured it was all a celebratory walk up the mountain from here. The "victory" glasses even came back out too!

...but the next time we saw Chris, he was starting to really hurt. Susan marched on with him here, trying to distract him from the view ahead that reveals exactly how high he still has to climb...

The aid stops were shortened to every mile at this point. We swapped out pacers and did everything we could to help out our suffering warrior!

Susan and Mark really wish they could take some of his pain away...it's tough to watch someone hurting so badly!

The spraying continued to help combat the hot, dry air...

Erin took over to try and keep him distracted from the pain...

Mark kept the iced bottles full and ready to hand off every mile...

"...don't stop, Chris, we'll tend to you on the fly...Just keep moving forward!!"

I was deploying every trick I had left, but the reality was Chris just had to keep his iron will intact to make it up the steep mountain switchbacks just 3 miles from the finish.

How steep? That steep. The portal road started down where the long snaking road meets up with the green trees in the upper right corner.

Susan waits nervously around the switchback corner...just two miles to go from here!

Erin hopped in to share the final 1.5 mile of this journey with her husband. He was probably in too much pain to appreciate it at the time, but this was a beautiful end to a multi-year journey for them. It takes innumerable sacrifices for a family to even reach the starting line of this race, and for him to finish such an excellent race with his wife by his side, well that was pretty emotional to see!!

...just a few minutes before Chris, his friend Terry (who you recall from the hug photo at the start) rounded the corner with his team. Amazingly enough, these two friends finished this grueling race in back-to-back places! Congrats Terry!

We all hopped in with just 100 yds to go. Elation was now overtaking some of the pain as Chris saw the finish line.

I'll never be able to look at this picture without getting chills. He did it. We did it. Amazing. This photo is a perfect summary of how Chris rocked his amazing 16th place finish in 32 hours and 27 mins. This success was the true definition of a Team Effort: (L to R) Mark Ryan, Dan Hartley, Susan Smith, some dude named Chris Roman, Erin Roman, and yours truly, all working together toward one goal. Mission Accomplished!!

Erin made this banner, and we were all honored to stand behind it as members of Team Roman!

Chris and Terry show off their buckles and Official Finisher shirts the day after back in Lone Pine. Nice work, boys!!

Back in Vegas we joined up with Tony Portera (second up on left) and his crew/family for a celebratory dinner. Tony rocked a sweet 39 hour finish himself, so there was reason to celebrate all around!

Somebody's happy!! Congratulations, my friend!! You nailed it! I couldn't be more proud!

Even walking down the crowded strip in Vegas, we stuck together and had nothing but fun as a crew. Running Badwater is an impossible task to undertake without a selfless crew, and Chris did a brilliant job assembling his. The five of us took on the daunting challenge of keeping a man alive while he ran 135 miles across the desert and actually made it fun. The 3,234 inside jokes (Thanks, Stupid!) and dozens of photos we didn't take certainly prove that fact. I don't think I'll ever see a white mini-van on the side of the road again and not have a smile immediately sweep across my face. Erin, Susan, Mark, and Dan...Thank you for the amazing ride!

Badwater Has Been Conquered!

2011-07-13T10:06:00.001-04:00

A MUCH longer post will follow when I get back to DC, but I wanted to quickly post about what an amazing 135 miles Team Roman had at Badwater the past two days. Having never been a part of this race before, I was in continuous awe the whole time at the scenery, the athletes, and the life-sustaining crews. Badwater is simply a one of a kind event.

...and Chris ran a once in a lifetime race! From the opening 41 miles of scorching heat on the pavement through Stovepipe Wells, up the next 18 miles of continuous climbing up to Townes Pass (5000 ft) in a 25mph headwind (this was no fun!), all the way back down through the darkenss to Pantamint Springs, right back up to 5000ft to Father Crowleys, back into the sun and heat from Darwin (mile 90) all the way around the huge salt flat to the first sign of real civilaization in town of Lone Pine at mile 122, and finally up the BRUTAL last climb to 9,000+ft up Mt. Whitney, Chris stuck to the plan (both pace and nutrition-wise), and finished an amazing 16th overall in 32:27!

We're all so happy and proud and totally exhausted! It took 300lbs of ice, 35 gallons of water, and 6,767 utterances of the phrase "Holy s#!+ it's hot out here!", but Team Roman got the job done brilliantly. Can't wait to tell our amazing tale (with a tons of photos!) when I get back in a few days!

Sunday Fun in the Sun - Race Tomorrow!

2011-07-10T14:16:00.004-04:00

The hot hot hot course!

Just back from a trip to the start line (lowest point below sea level in the US). It was amazing to walk out there on the salt flats with the ominous 11,000 ft peaks just a few miles off in the distance. I took lots of good photos with my real camera of the team and the sights out there. My post race report should be a great one to see next week!
Before our trip out to the flats this morning, I woke up at 5:30am (still on east coast time in my head) and caught the brilliant sunrise over the mountains to the east. Fellow crew member Dan Hartley told me the 'golf course' here at the resort is the lowest in the world in terms of elevation, so I walked over to check it out. On the way I found 3 golf balls in the brush, so I figured that was a sign that I needed to play a hole or two in order to be able to say I played at the lowest course in the world. The guy at the pro shop let me borrow a 7 iron and putter, and I was able to play two holes (bogey, par) before the sun was over the mountain and I needed to run for shelter. As you can imagine, no one actually plays this course this time of year, and even at 6:30am I knew why.
I'm off for my run on the course now (5 or 6 miles) to keep the heat acclimation going strong. Race day will be here tomorrow!!!

Welcome to Death Valley!

2011-07-09T20:51:00.000-04:00

No Internet out here, but I can send texts to my blog from my phone, so that might be the plan for the race updates as well on Monday/Tuesday.

Our 5-person crew (plus Chris!) all arrived at Furnace Creek today so we're ready to roll. There isn't much civilization out here in Death Valley, but Furnace Creek (at about mile 17 of the race course) has a nice little resort and gas station (and that's it!), so all the racer crews use it as a home base before the race. When we arrived (at 2:30pm) I went for a run on the course right away to get a good feel of what it will be like on race day. I could go on and on here trying to explain how hot it was, but I lack the literary skill to properly do it justice. Let me just say it was 123 degrees with a hair dryer breeze that made it feel like 150. The wind filled my mouth, nose, and eyes with extremely dry heat that made it unbelievably more uncomfortable than when the wind was at my back. It's no understatement that I'm really hoping for a tailwind on Monday!
Even now, at 9:30pm, it's still well over 100 and not much more comfortable than the afternoon. As my fellow crew member Mark said when we walked outside after dinner, "for the first couple seconds, it doesn't feel so bad...but then the 3rd second comes."
We're off to bed now with a busy day of meetings and briefings tomorrow (and another acclimation run for me!). I should be able to post another update tomorrow night, and hopefully a couple on Monday during the race...as long as my cell phone doesn't melt!

It's Badwater Time!

2011-07-05T09:42:00.005-04:00

Back in February of 2009, I made the long drive down to Florida to run the Iron Horse 100 miler. As it turned out, I went on to register the all-time worst 'driving miles' to 'race miles' ratio at that race as a pre-existing injury I was hoping to hide forced me to stop after just 3 miles. Round trip, it ended up being 1400 miles of driving for 3 miles of running. As they say in the hallowed halls of the Oxford library: That ain't no good!

It wasn't all bad news, however. After I dropped from the race I spent the rest of the day volunteering at the main aid station and meeting lots of great people. Two of those great people were Chris and Erin Roman. Chris was running the 100 miler, and Erin was doing her best to keep from gagging every time Chris came by and asked for help with his blisters. I think I may have offered the advice of switching to bigger shoes and Drymax socks (or possibly suggested basket-weaving as a better hobby choice), but whatever I said we ended up chatting for a bit and continued our conversations online in the following days. Chris mentioned one of his major goals was to run Badwater (a 135 mile race from the lowest point in the U.S., across Death Valley, to the end of the road that leads to the highest point in the U.S. at Mt. Whitney). The race is a world-wide spectacle*, and I told him I'd love to be part of his crew if he ever got into the race.

*Lots of movies and news clips have come out about Badwater over the years, and most recently the BBC followed my friend (and 3-time Badwater Champion/Course Record-Holder!) Jamie Donaldson as part of their show "Inside the Human Body". You can see the part about Jamie starting here at the 12:37 mark, and then finishing up here. There was also a popular 60 Minutes story about the race a few years back that you can watch here.

Fast forward to the present, after a couple years of taking all the right steps to gain entry into the race (serving as another runners crew in a previous year, running another 135 mile race, etc etc), Chris is now less than one week away from the starting line in Death Valley. That fact, of course, means I'm now the same amount of time from getting my own first-hand experience of running right behind him in 120+ degree heat while spraying him with ice water. Naturally, I can't wait!

Since this race has no aid stations (just a couple timing check-points), each runner must spend the months prior to the race convincing 5 or 6 of their friends that it would be a good idea to drive a couple cargo vans full of ice very slowly through the desert while saying things out the window like, "Stop complaining, it's a dry heat...". Lucky for Chris, he's a great guy, and he's got a stellar line-up of folks ready to help him get to that finish line next week. Since I'll be doing lots and lots of running with Chris to gently encourage his forward progress through the day and night (read: This means yelling. Lots and lots of yelling.), I too have spent the past few weeks preparing my body to handle the heat. Post-run sauna time has become a nice routine for me recently as I do my best to heat-acclimate. Here's how my thought process goes every time I sit down in that cedar box and it heats up to its max temp:

5 mins, 120 degrees: This isn't so bad, I can definitely run in this.
10 mins, 180 degrees: Ok, this is definitely hot, but the race won't get this hot, so this is just good training.
15 mins, 210 degrees: Hmm, what if the door to this thing somehow became locked and I couldn't get out...
25 mins, 240 degrees: Ok, I'm outta here. Time to see if there's still room in that basket-weaving class at the Rec Center.

The good news is, between my sauna sessions and my daily running in the DC heat, I'm brilliantly heat-trained right now and in great shape to help Chris reach the finish line. Chris, as you can imagine, is also in great shape, but he hasn't been wasting all his time on training for this race. Chris has been working just as hard to use the platform of this race to raise money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation. I've been humbled by the fact that many of you followed the donation link I posted here a few weeks back, and to date Chris has raised $7,000 for this excellent cause through the generosity of folks like you. He's a winner already in my book!

In terms of race coverage, anyone wanting to follow along at home/work can find all they need on the official race site, with photos, videos, twitter updates from the course, etc. etc.. There will be 88 runners in the race who will be begin running on Monday morning in three separate waves of start times (6am for the slowest runners, 8am for mid-packers, and 10am for the speedy folks). Chris is in the 10am wave (that's Pacific time, btw). From what I understand there isn't much in terms of cell coverage out there in the desert, but I'll do my best to take some photos and videos and post them to this blog when I can. It'll be a spectacle out there for sure, and I'll do my best to share the shoe-melting fun with everyone!

Who: My buddy Chris Roman
What: The Badwater 135 mile race (coverage here)
When: Starts Monday, 10am (PCT)
Where: Death Valley, CA
Why: I have no idea.
How: One step at a time!

Fun with Ultra Numbers!

2011-06-22T14:16:00.002-04:00

After submitting my Laural Highlands report last week, I noticed that it was my 300th post on this blog. Being someone who loves to comb over statistics (my love for baseball is to blame for this), I thought I'd take a few minutes to go over some other random ultra stats of mine now that I've been running these things for 4+ years:

Even though I don't race as much as a lot of other runners, I've already run ultras in 13 different states and 2 (soon to be 3) foreign countries. These numbers actually surprised me since it doesn't seem like I've been running these things that long. I mean, I've raced 377 miles (4 races) in PA alone in the past 20 months...how did that happen?!

I started keeping track of my miles for the first time while training for my first 100 miler (July 2007). Since that point I've run 12,712.1 miles. Not nearly as many as lots of better runners than me, but still enough to cross the country 4 times!

I mentioned it in my last post, but for some reason 3rd place and I get along really well. I've run 16 "real" ultra races (not counting my solo adventure runs or club Fat Ass events), and I've finished 3rd in seven of them...that's 43% of my races! Proving my mediocrity knows no limits, I've grabbed the good ol' Yellow Ribbon (how many of you even knew that was the color for 3rd?!) in two 50Ks, one 71 miler, one 77 miler, two 100 milers, and one 24 hour race (139.22m)!

After destroying myself over 150 miles (in 60 hours) of Vermont Long Trail mud last summer, I figure I took 2.3 years off my life expectancy. That run was by far the hardest ultra I've ever done. The good news, between that effort, and a couple others, you all have helped me raise over $20,000 for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in the past 4 years. How sweet is that?!

I ran my fastest single mile in 4:31 when I was 18. My fastest overall pace in any ultra was 7:48/mile (Andiamo 45 miler, 2008). I think I made the right decision to move up in race distances seeing as how I clearly recall how I felt at the end of Andiamo (tired, but happy), compared to after that high school mile (collapsed on the track begging the runners in the next race to trample me and put me out of my misery). Also, I didn't even win that mile...if only I knew about ultras then!!

Even though I don't run in any of their current models, I've racked up the most miles in Brooks shoes (4,380.4) since 2007. Second place goes to Saucony with 2,723.5 miles, and the Dan Rose place goes to Nike with 1,611 miles. Probably my favorite individual shoe stat comes from the pair of Salomon SpeedCross 2s I have. I wore them right out of the box for the 71 mile Reverse Ring this past February (having never run a step in this or any other Salomon shoe before). I have since worn them for all 261 race miles this year, but not for one single training mile. So much for people saying you need to break in a shoe before racing in it!

With gas prices being as high as they are, I should point out that I average about 20 cents per mile in my training shoes. The best economy in the past few years was reached by one of my just-retired pairs of Nike Pegasus 26+ shoes. Pair #5 (I've had 6 pairs in total) cost $49.99 and has racked up 421 miles, that's good for 11.8 cents per mile! I usually retire my shoes after 400 miles, so the extra miles and the low sale price helped Pair #5 go down in history as not just another number!

I'm now realizing very little of this is probably of any interest to you guys, so I'll wrap it up now. Feel free to share any favorite or freaky running stats of your own in the comment section. I love analyzing this stuff!

Laurel Highlands 77 Mile - Race Report!

2011-06-14T15:29:00.010-04:00

I guess I needed just a wee bit more time to completely recover from the hamstring injury I've been rehabbing since MMT100. The 32nd running of the Laurel Highlands 77 mile ultra turned out to be a fun and festive time for sure, but I'll admit I was less than pleased when I had to reign things in to protect my leg half-way through the race. I never run races with winning as my #1 goal, but it was pretty frustrating to have to let go of a win I thought was in the bag. The good news is, once I adjusted my stride/pace to keep the hammy safe, I was able to shuffle through the rest of the lush and lovely Laurel Highlands Trail with a smile on my face. I've said it before, and I'll say it many times again: It's tough to beat running through the woods all day long!

The race started off on the right track as about 100 of us started running north up the damp and foggy Laurel Highlands trail at 5:30 a.m.. The sun wasn't quite strong enough to shine through the heavy tree-cover on the trail yet, so the first couple miles were a bit of a slip-n-slide adventure on the wet rocks and sneaky mud patches. I took my one and only fall of the day in this stretch as I trusted a wet rock a little too much while attempting to leap over a stream. As soon as I fell, the early morning silence at the front of the pack was broken with the standard call-and-response:

Concerned fellow runner, after hearing the fall behind him: "You OK?"

Me, obviously lying, definitely annoyed, but also pleased to now have a wound to enter in the Best Blood competition: "Yup...fine."

After shaking off the fall I quickly found my stride during the opening 8 miles of climbs on the trail. When I cruised through the first Aid Station at mile 11, I was in the lead of the 77 mile race (three guys in front of me were running the Relay Team version of the race) and feeling great. While the trail was a bit more rocky/rooted than I expected, it was certainly no Massanutten trail, and I appreciated the fun of navigating up/over/around all sorts of big rocks and fern-covered trails. I found my groove and settled in through mile 33 or so when the race course unfortunately had to turn off the trail and head down a 7 mile road detour. This was the second (and last) year that this traditional 70 mile race would need to include the extra 7 mile detour due to a bridge over the PA Turnpike being out of commission. The new bridge should be done in time for next year's race, and even though I'm never one to shy away from extra miles in a race, in retrospect I really wish it was completed in time for this year's race instead.

Cruising along the green highway early on

Showing off my 'no time wasted' Aid Station skills...refill on the fly!

Here's where I unfold the details of the Perfect Storm of Stupidity that led to my immediate downfall in this race: The hamstring issue I've dealt with for the past couple months only flairs up when I run at full stride on long downhills. My rehab between MMT and this race had me confident that I could cruise through the terrain of this race without any hammy issues because the elevation profile for the Laurel Highlands Trail showed no long downhills until the final mile or two at the finish. The reason why I'm an idiot is the elevation profile of the trail didn't include the 7 mile detour section, and I stupidly didn't bother to check out those detour miles online to see what type of downhill miles they involved. As it turned out, when I made the turn on to the road and saw about a mile-long downhill in front of me, all I could do was sigh a mighty sigh and hope for the best. I probably made it about a half-mile down before the inevitable lightning bolt hit my leg and I had to apply the brakes. Never mind hanging on to the nice cushy lead I had built up, I couldn't hold off a frog with a limp at this point. With the guys behind me easily running 6s-7s down that hill (compared to my 14 min shuffle/stretch/shuffle/stretch pace), I figured I'd be passed before too long, and I was right. It's mentally never fun to be passed easily in a race, but it's even worse when you know there's nothing you can do about it.

The first guy blew by me like an Indy Car. I didn't even have time to catch his license plate (bib number) to see if maybe he was only a relay runner (they had red numbers, we had black). I gave my usual "Nice work, Man. Looking good!", but he was by me so fast all I heard in response was, "Vrroooooommm!". If only there was a pit crew nearby to swap out my bum hammy for a new one. By the time I mercifully finished the road section and got back on the trail I was ~~running~~ shuffling in 4th place and trying to find motivation to get to my crew at the next Aid Station. Before too long I was surprised to catch back up to Indy Car guy on the trail (actual name: Andrew Bartle). He was suffering and wobbling a bit from dehydration, so we joined forces to form the saddest-looking two-man army of all time. As we both struggled with our respective issues, things were made even worse by the fact that the Aid Station was about two miles further down the trail than we were told at the previous stop. When we finally stumbled in to that mile 52+ Aid Station looking like zombies, Andrew's wife greeted us with a hearty and hilarious, "You guys look great!". That smile helped ease the pain a bit.

Judging by that vein in my head and the ice under my hat, this photo was taken AFTER the road section!

My parents were also there with a nice cooler of ice and some encouraging words (I probably should have mentioned before now that they drove out to crew for me, and they were great to have there all day to keep me moving!). I knew the rest of the course didn't have any long downhills (until the very end), so I figured if I kept things slow and easy I'd be OK to cruise it in to the finish. I walked for a bit out of the Aid Station hoping Andrew would catch up and we could survive the last 25 miles together, but after a mile or so my leg started getting stiff and I knew I needed to at least shuffle along again to keep it warm and somewhat loose. During the rest of this 10 mile section I found my comfortable 11-12 min cruising pace and enjoyed the extra time that gave me to look around and appreciate the scenery of the trail. Maybe going slow isn't so bad after all!

Super-crew parents at nearby Fallingwater the day before the race

After one last crew stop with about 13 miles to go, I was definitely in my comfort-cruise pace and only broke out of it to cautiously move down some short steep areas. My only desire for the rest of the race was to make it to the finish before the sunset, and even with my slow descent down the hills of the last couple miles, I was able to cruise it in with plenty of light to spare. At the finish they told me I was 2 seconds away from breaking 14 hours, but quite honestly I hadn't even looked at my watch in about two hours so time goals really weren't on the top of my list. Plus, I kind of like having 14 hours, 00 mins as my finish time...Nice and round. Also, from the Random Facts file: Out of all the races I've run in my life, I think 50% of them have ended with me finishing in 3rd place. I don't know what it is about me and 3rd, but we're like old drinking buddies who may start out the day with separate plans, but more often than not still end up hanging out with each other by the end of the night.

Regardless of where you finish, it always feels good when you finish!

Two of the speedsters who blew by me on that road section had plenty of time to clean up and take a nap before I finished. A big congrats goes out to Derek Schultz who took the win in 13:17, and Josh Finger who grabbed second in 13:42. It was a pleasure chatting with both of them after the race, and I'll definitely be watching the race results later this year as both of them attempt their first 100 milers (Derek at Pine to Palm, and Josh at Vermont). Congrats and best of luck to both of you guys!

After cleaning up and eating some excellent homemade chili at the finish, I had the great pleasure of cheering in my friend Andy who made the trip up with me to run his first race over 50 miles. Andy's parents were also out to crew for him all day, so we had quite the group waiting in anticipation for his headlamp to come charging down the trail at the finish. As it turned out, Andy showed veteran poise and patience on the tough course and cruised in to finish in 20th place. Well done, Mr. Gingrich!

Hanging out with my mom at the finish

Andy does it!

All smiles at the finish!

In pulling up and protecting the hammy like I did, I know I made the right move to allow me to get back to normal (if not flat) training in a couple days. The real goal has always been Sparta this year, and I'm happy with my decisions to both drop MMT and pull up at LH77 to make sure training for the real race remains on track. I have many many many miles to run this summer, and a happy hammy will go a long way to making them all a success. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to hop in the sauna for the next couple weeks to prepare for my Badwater pacing adventure with Chris Roman. Can't wait to post the photos and story from that!

Laurel Highlands - Time for a HEALTHY Race!

2011-06-06T08:42:00.001-04:00

Sure, I'm not necessarily in "race shape", but I'm so excited about being able to line up healthy for the Laurel Highlands 77 mile trail run on Saturday, my fitness level doesn't really matter. What does matter is that I'll get to spend all day running a beautiful point-to-point trail across the Laurel Highlands of southwestern PA. I've never set foot on the course, but just about every report from all previous thirty-one years of this race sings its praises. From these photos, I can see why!

Everyone talks about the endless fields of ferns on the trail (Kirstin Corris Photo from 2006 race)

You can bet I'll be stopping for a quick dunk here if it's hot out!

With speedy relay teams surely ahead of me, I won't have to worry about being the first to break through all the early morning spider webs this time!


Good trail, good shade...Yes, please!

I have no clue how fast I'll be able to cover these 77 miles, but I sure as heck know I'll enjoy the scenery! My hammy is healed up from MMT, and even though I haven't been able to really push it hard yet, I don't think I'll need to worry about finding my top gear in this race. 77 miles is just about long enough for my steady "cruising" pace to keep me in the hunt all day long. Once we get past the big climbs in the first 8 miles, I just need to click on the cruise control and enjoy the ride!

As an added bonus, my buddy Andy will be heading up from DC with me to run his first race over 50 miles. It's been a blast watching him go from 1/2 marathoner to 50-miler in the past year, and I'm psyched I'll get to be there to cheer him across the 77 mile finish line now. Everyone knows the fun doesn't really start until you get up over 70 miles in a race!

...and so it begins!

2011-05-25T11:00:00.001-04:00

The hammy feels good. The blank 18-week training log has been taped to the wall. Time to get to work filling this thing out. My training plan will follow this appropriate dictionary entry:

Spar·tan (spärtn)

adj.

1. Rigorously self-disciplined or self-restrained.

2. Simple, frugal, or austere

3. Courageous in the face of pain, danger, or adversity.

With no coaches, GPS, headphones, or other fancy conveniences, my training between now and Sept 30 will definitely be Spartan. I couldn't think of a better way to draw up my plan for this race. 153 miles...24 hours. That's the goal.

...now if only I could find a weighted chariot to pull a couple times a week...

Massanutten 63 Miler Race Report!

2011-05-17T12:11:00.007-04:00

Ok, so I had to drop the MMT100 at 63 miles. Obviously failing to finish any race is a bit of a bummer, but I promised myself I would only push my recovering hamstring so far with the goal of being healthy enough to get back to 100% in training for the rest of the year (most notably, for the Spartathlon). That said, regardless of my actual physical shape, my brain is always fired up and ready to roll when I wake up on race morning, and this weekend was no exception. I wanted to finish this race.

Pre-race focus (Aaron Schwartzbard Photo)

After a nice night's sleep in the XTerra Inn, I immediately applied a couple stick-on heating pads (cleverly ignoring the "only use one" warning) to my troubled left hamstring when I woke at 3:00 a.m.. By the time the race started an hour later, the hammy felt warm, loose and ready to roll. The race course kindly started with 3 miles of easy road running before hitting the trails, so I used that time to warm up completely and find an appropriate stride length. This injury had forced me to shorten my stride (and speed) over the previous month, and after two miles of running I felt the first twinge of the pain in the hamstring. I knew this meant I had found the limit of what stride-length the leg would allow for the day, so I reeled things back and settled in.

After the road miles we turned off onto the dark and wet trail (it rained quite a bit overnight). The good news about the first climb of the day up Short Mountain is the rugged and rocky terrain demands 100% of your attention (particularly when dark and wet), so unless a hawk is actively trying to peck out one of your eyes while you run, you're probably not going to notice anything else. This section helped me forget about the hamstring for a while, and by time I rolled down the other side of the mountain through Edinburg Gap (mile 11), I had adjusted to my short stride and everything felt great.

Being careful on the wet rocks just after Edinburg Gap (Aaron Schwartzbard Photo)

I had my first drop bag planted at Woodstock Tower (Mile 19.9), and when race photographer (and super nice guy) Aaron Schwartzbard told me I was running in 4th place just after Edinburg, I figured I'd take the next 8 miles a little more seriously to see if I couldn't join in the fun with the lead pack. The ridge to Woodstock is probably the most runnable trail of the whole course, so I enjoyed cruising those miles as the sun finally brightened the sky enough for me to turn off my headlamp. When I pulled into Woodstock for a refill, Mike Bur and his volunteers told me Karl Meltzer was 12 mins ahead, and Neal Gorman and David Frazier were 6 mins up. How Karl had already put 6 minutes on Neal and David was a mystery to me. Those two guys were both in great shape coming in and have tons of leg speed in general, regardless of the terrain. Clearly Karl was feeling pretty good out there!

Since my leg was suddenly feeling great (and the adrenaline of an actual race was now kicking in), I decided I'd try to open up the stride a bit more on the next section to catch up with Neal and David. There's strength in numbers when running these races, and after running the first 20 miles solo, I was hoping for some company to help me work through some of the climbs. Unfortunately, my hamstring had other ideas and gave its first loud "Danger Will Robinson" warning of the day about a mile after Woodstock. I realized the common trail-running act of planting my left foot and pushing off to the right was no longer a pain-free option for me. So much for catching up to the guys ahead, it was time to cool things down and officially go into 75% mode. Bummer. So much for racing...

A couple miles later on a downhill (which I was beginning to realize my hammy couldn't run too quickly either) Evan Cestari and Jim Blanford caught up to me and moved easily ahead. Ugh...it was definitely going to be a long day. The climb up/down to Elizabeth's Furnace (mile 32.6) was sort of a "learning on the fly" section during which I figured out how to work around using the painful part of my hamstring, particularly on the downhills. After a quick refill at Elizabeth's, I ended up catching back up to Evan near the top of the next climb. My uphill legs were still feeling great, but with each downhill turn I felt another 1% of my hammy calling for mutiny.

Evan and I joined forces at this point and ran most of the next 30 miles or so together. It was great meeting him, even though I'm sure I was talking more than he preferred as we worked together on the dirt road sections between mountains. After heading up, over, and down a couple more mountains, I left the Habron Gap aid station (Mile 53) a little before Evan (he was tending to a blister) and walked the whole climb while drinking a bunch of calories. The intention of this walk break/extra-300-calorie-drink was to gear up for the second half of the race. Even though I was limited a bit in my stride/lateral movement, I was still 100% intent on finishing as strong as I could and making a run at a sub-22 hour race.

Shortly after finishing the climb (and my drink), Jason Lantz came buzzing by me like I was standing still. He was nice enough to ask me about my leg as he passed, and he went on to rock a 5th place finish in 22:15 (nice work, man!). Almost immediatley after that I came up on Jim Blanford. He was walking very slowly as he dealt with some serious leg cramps. The weather wasn't really hot (low 70s), but it was super-humid all day long, so cramping was a definite concern to be dealt with all day long. After passing Jim on the ridge, I started running a bit quicker and enjoying the energy burst from the calories I downed on the climb. As it turned out, that good feeling was frustratingly cut short a few minutes later when the trail forced me to push off on my left leg in the precise manner I was trying to avoid all day long. ...and just like that, a real lightning bolt hit my hamstring and I knew my day was done.

Evan caught up a few minutes later, but I couldn't hang with him on the downhill heading to Camp Roosevelt (mile 63). I couldn't run (or even shuffle) the downhills anymore, so my last 3 miles involved lots of tricky sideways crab-walking on the downs. Evan went on to nail the 2nd half of his race and reach his #1 goal of a 21:30 race. Well done, Mr. Cestari, way to close it out! When I limped into to the aid station I let them know I was dropping and made my way slowly back to Race HQ to get some treatment on my leg right away.

It was pretty disappointing to have the hamstring completely give out when it did, but the next morning offered some pretty cool insight as to why it happened then. My right leg (the healthy one) felt fresh and loose the following day, but the massive soreness in the left one told the story of how all of its muscles were working overtime to protect the hamstring for 60+ miles. My left glute and groin were completely fried (they never usually hurt after a run of any distance), so whatever I was subconsciously doing with my stride to protect that hammy obviously called them into double-duty. I'm guessing once those helper-muscles fatigued themselves, the hammy had to start pulling its own weight and gave out shortly thereafter. It stinks that it happened that way, but the results of this physiological experiment were pretty cool to feel the day after. It's nice to know my muscles have each other's back!

Thanks to my left leg muscles all pitching in to help out, I really was happy out there for 60+ miles!
(Aaron Schwartzbard Photo)

After letting things cool down for a couple days, I'm confident I'll be able to get back in the swing of things before too long. I'm not sure about the speed, but I think I'll definitely be able to enjoy the Laurel Highlands trail next month (I hear it's a beautiful point-to-point trail) before bidding a farewell to the trails for the rest of the summer as I switch over to the pavement-pounding training for Greece. I'm certainly disappointed MMT didn't work out this year, but all things considered, I actually had a nice time for 63 miles out there, and by stopping before I did any more damage, I should be able to prepare 100% for the Spartathlon in September!

Final congrats have to be sent out to Karl and Eva Pastalkova on their big wins in the race. This was Karl's 30th 100 mile victory, and Eva's smoking hot time of 22:30 broke the MMT record and placed her 6th overall! Congratulations!!

That's It! I'm Going Kosher: Hammy the Hamstring Strikes Back

2011-05-06T15:43:00.002-04:00

With the Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 miler one week away, I'm less than enthused to report that I've spent the previous couple weeks going through the many stages of denial. Despite all of my focus and planning this winter to arrive at the starting line in stellar racing shape, I find myself hoping beyond hope that a hamstring issue clears up enough for me to even toe the starting line on 5/14.

After initially hurting the hammy the week after the Bull Run 50, I took an easy week to help it heal up. I thought I was in the clear, but a run on the MMT course last weekend brought out a mighty lightning bolt of pain after only 4 miles of running, and I was forced to walk back to my car. As you might imagine, I was a bit displeased.

At this point I've come to peace with the fact that I will have to replace the excitement of trying to track down the likes of Meltzer and Gorman in the final miles with a desperate effort to track down the likes of Budweiser and Aleeve at the aid stations along the way. Quite frankly, I'll be beyond excited if I can finish the course at all. It's tough to hide an injury over 100 miles of running, and MMT is like the Columbo of race courses in exposing any physical weaknesses you may have along the way. Will she chew me up and eat me for lunch? Probably, but I'm willing to give it a shot and hope that it's Mountain Yom Kippur or something next Saturday.

I'm doing all I can to encourage the healing process between now and then, and while I won't do anything stupid if my leg is still hurting out there, I will be ready to fight for 36 hours if needed to get to that finish line. In a way I'm actually looking forward to what will boil down to Me vs. the Course. There's no concern for finishing time or placement on this one, just the pride of gutting out a tough course on under-trained and fragile legs. Don't ask me my revised opinion of this next statement at 4:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, but right now I'm actually looking forward to a little suffering out there. I've missed my weekly long run suffer-fests while dealing with all my issues this Spring, so why not cram in 30+ hours of suffering into one weekend to make up for it?! Also on the bright side: I'll get to see two sunrises while out on the course. Hooray!

For those who are interested, the website will have some updates, and I'm sure there will be a few folks Tweeting as well. The hash tag #MMT100 will probably get you the most up-to-date info on the leaders. There's a ton of talent in the field this year, so I should be a heck of a race to follow!

Dream Races...Revisited

2011-04-27T16:51:00.007-04:00

One of the best things about ultra-running is being able to set your sights on a lofty (occasionally crazy?) goal and achieve it with good ol' fashioned hard work (...with a dash of pain and suffering thrown in). The other "best" thing about ultra-running, for me anyway, is meeting so many great people in this sport and celebrating along with them as they achieve their own hard-earned goals.

Two years ago I wrote this post on "Dream Races" in which I listed a few of my own "bucket list" races and asked readers to list some of theirs as well. My motivation to look back to that post today was to confirm my suspicion that with the upcoming Spartathlon in September I will have run all 3 of the original dream races on my list (sure, the 24-Hour Worlds and Long Trail ended less-than-perfectly for me, but I have nothing but wonderful memories of both....OK, maybe a few mud-flashbacks still haunt me from VT, but they're mostly all wonderful memories!). The pleasant surprise and excitement I realized while re-reading the comments at the end of that post was seeing the lists of Dream Races my friends offered up; I immediately began smiling as I realized how many of those dream goals have also been achieved in just the past two years!

Tony P has become a machine in the 100+ mile world and completed his goal of Badwater TWICE and is headed back for a third this July. This recurring dream is apparently no nightmare for Tony!

Chris Roman is also checking off that Badwater box this July, and to double my excitement on that one, I'll be pacing him along the way to realizing that dream! Even more important, Mr. Roman's goal of raising money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation keeps getting bigger and bigger as he racks up the miles and dollars to support this excellent charity. Speaking of which, if you'd like to help Chris's CAF fund-raising effort at Badwater, just follow this link for all the inspiring details. Chris has all sorts of bonus/matching $$ scenarios out there, so anything you can donate will be doubled at least!

Adam Cassaday has not only achieved his dream to set up an epic 3-day stage race in the beautiful mountains of West Virginia (The Trilogy), but in less than a week he will be headed down to Georgia with his wife Kadra to begin the realization of his huge dream of hiking/running the entire Appalachian Trail! Color me white-blaze-jealous!

With so many goals already checked and dreams realized, I think it's appropriate to send out the call once again to see what races are on your "bucket list" now. The three big goals I've been thinking about over the past couple years since the last post are:

1) Completing the Grand Slam (as soon as I get into WS, it's on!)
2) Going after the Grand Canyon R2R2R2R2R record (4x crossing, current FKT is 22h48m)
3) Trying my hand at the Sri Chinmoy 6-Day race in NYC (this one is less of a Dream and more of a curiosity!).

While I may not be fortunate enough to achieve all three of these goals in the next two years, I'm happy to know that their simple existance out there on the horizon is enough to keep me motivated and day-dreaming while racking up my daily miles until the right time comes.

So how about it, what's on everyone's current Dream Race list? Judging by the success of my 2009 post on this topic, if you say it out loud, odds are it WILL come true!

My New Treadmill is a Jerk

2011-04-20T10:34:00.002-04:00

Sure, the weather is excellent for running in DC these days, but my lack of access to mountains during the busy work week means far too many hours must still be spent climbing the old hamster wheel indoors. The good/bad news is, we recently acquired a new treadmill that has the insane ability to ramp itself up to a 30% incline. I didn't even know anything higher than 15% was available until now....and I kinda wish I was still unaware of this fact. The reason being, if you put me on a machine that can be run at a 30% incline, I'm going to jack it right up there and run at 30%. Of course, what I realized about 60 seconds after starting my first workout on that steep of a grade is "running" is only possible for about 61 seconds. After that I'm forced to slow it down and yell out, "Let the shuffling commence!".

The good news is, I do love to suffer, so this baby is definitely filling that void in my life these days. It's all in the name of cramming in training for MMT on May 14, so I'll keep coming back for my regular 30% beatings until then. It's pretty amazing how quickly you can rack up 4,000 ft. of gain on this thing (what's less-than amazing is how quickly you want to pass out immediately thereafter)! If anyone else wants to suffer like me, here's the link to this beast on the FreeMotion website.

Bull Run 50 Miler - Race Report!

2011-04-10T14:22:00.005-04:00

"OK, let's see if I can't fake a 50!"

These are the words I said to myself as I walked to the starting line of the Bull Run 50 in the pre-dawn darkness on Saturday morning. I knew my body was seriously under-trained and still struggling to regain its normal energy/breathing levels after fighting through the longest respiratory cold in the history of phlegm. I knew the only way I wouldn't embarrass myself is if I made sure to focus on the things I could control (fuel, pace, snot-rocket trajectory, etc.), and then hope the 5 days off from running leading into the race did something to help my energy levels return. Also important to note: Bull Run is only a 50 miler, not a 100+. This means after the first step of the race, my brain begins telling me, "Only 40-something miles to go...". Good thing I'm dumb enough to buy into "glass half-full" stuff like this when I'm running.

The starting line...so much talent from all corners of the Ultra world! Robert Fabia Photo


...and we're off! Robert Fabia Photo


In retrospect, it was probably not a good sign to be straining on the first mini-hill of the day! Robert Fabia Photo

The race started off easy enough just after sunrise. I made sure I was close enough to the front during the opening 1/3 mile loop through the parking area to avoid any log-jams when the 344 of us hit the tight and twisting single-track (which makes up about 99% of the course). Even though the weather was perfect for running (cloudy, 40s to low 50s), the previous day's rain made more than a few sections of the course a slick and muddy mess. Lucky for us, the rains also turned a few of the river crossings into "knee deep" affairs, so we had a couple chances to "rinse off" while running through them as well. As for running in these conditions, I've said it before, not as a shameless plug but as an honest reality: Thank God for Drymax socks! Their Max Pro trails are the greatest. Even with my under-trained feet, I finished the race blister-free, yet again.

A few of the concrete cylinders were still semi-useful in the high water! Robert Fabia Photo

Others were just slippery ramps into the river. Robert Fabia Photo

As the early miles rolled on, I warmed up on the flats and cruised up the first couple hills in a loose pack with Keith Knipling, Brad Hinton, and a couple others. Quite honestly, I was just happy to have made it to the first aid station at mile 7.2 without needing to lean on a tree and wheeze away like an accordion while catching my breath (as has been the case any time I've tried to even shuffle that far in the past couple weeks). While the others stopped for quick refills at the aid station, I cruised through and headed up river on my own. Since I train on the BR50 course so much, I knew precisely how to plan out my fuel stops to minimize delays during the race. I started the race carrying all the fuel I needed in my Camelbak (full bladder with 5 gels mixed in, and a 5-gel flask for each of my two refill stops). I just needed to stop two times (mile 21 and mile 35) to refill with water and mix in a gel flask. I spent no more than 60 seconds at each of these aid stops, and I can't imagine saving any more time even if I had a crew out there. The excellent team of volunteers are to be thanked for this (Thank you Tammy!).

It was a little sloppy out there, but who was I to complain, I couldn't run fast anyway! Desiree Williams Photo

As I neared the northern turn-around (mile 9.4) I saw that Matt Woods and David Frazier were having no trouble with the mud as it appeared their feet weren't even touching the ground as they ran. A handful of other great runners were already a few minutes back from those speedsters, and when I hit the turn-around cone myself, I realized I was in 8th place. Since I figured I was already running on borrowed time, there was absolutely no "race" in my legs/mind, I just wanted to settle into some sort of groove and survive the day without having to take a nap along the trail.

Reality caught up to me shortly after passing through the mile 11.6 aid station. This is where runners climb back up/down the first couple hills they traversed to start the race before continuing on with the southern part of the course (which has dozens of hills itself). Since I've run these couple hills on the northern part of the course roughly 47,000 times in the past few years of training out there, I knew I was in real trouble when about 1/2 way up the very first one my lungs pulled the emergency brake and I was forced to walk. I believe the exact words I said matter-of-factly to myself, bad grammar and all, were: "Well, this ain't no good!"

No wonder running uphill was so hard, my GIANT head must weigh 50 lbs. Thanks fish-bowl lense! Bobby Gill Photo

With about 37 miles to go, and my ability to run up the big hills already gone (I just want to point out how ridiculous this fact is again...it was only mile 13!), I looked back into my bag of tricks to figure out a way to survive the day. Time to focus on controlling the things I could control. With the overcast and cool weather, I knew my fuel plan was spot-on. I had my ipod waiting in my pack to deploy as needed later in the race (I found out later on that the music also blocked out my wheezing and gasping as I climbed up the hills, and the lessened awareness I had that I was struggling had a wonderfully positive affect on my mindset). I also had a couple caffeine bombs (Roctanes) to drop as needed in the 2nd half.

All of those treats were nice pick-me-ups to have handy, but they wouldn't mean much if I didn't figure out a way to make up for the lost time from walking all the hills. Lucky for me, I have two things that I figured could make up for the problem: 1) Really long legs, and 2) A complete fearlessness of running downhill like my Camelbak is on fire. Normally I run quick-but-controlled while going downhill, like most of us do, but I needed to throw a little caution to the wind on this day to make up for the lost time on the climbs. Why not let gravity do the work for me, right? I opened up the fly-wheel on pretty much all the downhills and ran some of them thisclose to reckless pace. I would never do that in a 100+ mile mountain race since it would trash my quads pretty quickly, but this was only a 50, so I just embraced the fun!

As it turned out, the downhills were a total life-(and time)saver all day long, and even though I felt wiped out so early in the race, not struggling to run up the hills kept me from ever reaching a level of true suffering. I'll take "wiped-out" over "full-on suffering" any day! A nice distraction I also had for the final 25 miles or so was chatting (and playing leap-frog with) Jim Blandford from PA. James was annihilating his course PR by over an hour out there, and it was a treat to watch him do it for all those miles. Just when I thought he was fading behind me, he'd come storming back to jump in front of me. We cruised in the last few miles together, and I figured he deserved the extra spot on the finishers list so I stepped back at the last second to give him the clear 7th place finish. Awesome run, Jim!!

Crossing the line with Jim shaking RD Anstr Davidson's hand in front of me. Robert Fabia Photo

The race was such a departure from my normal "even pace" plan, but the end result was an average of 8:35/min miles and a 7 hour 15 minute finishing time which was good enough for 8th place. I'm more than happy with how it all worked out in the end. I'm looking forward to having my energy-level and lung capacity return to normal over the next couple weeks so I can get back to some real training and put in an honest effort at the Massanutten 100 in May. One thing is for sure, with fellow MMT100 entrants Neal Gorman and David Frazier both obviously in great shape (tied for 2nd at Bull Run in 6:44), it'll be fun to see them mix it up with the rest of the loaded field over those 100 miles of rocky fun on next month!

Finally, BIG congrats go out to the winners of this 19th edition of the Bull Run 50 miler: Matt Woods broke the course record by one minute (!!) in 6:08, and super-talented Annette Bednosky came up from NC to take the women's race in 7:39. Just as big of a congratulations goes out to my friend Andy Gingrich who went from volunteering at this race last year (having never run more than 13 miles) to racing in it this year and scorching the course in 8:39! Awesome job!

David Frazier (2nd-tie, 6:44), Matt Woods (1st, 6:08 CR), Neal Gorman (2nd-tie, 6:44) Robert Fabia Photo

Annette hammers it all the way to the finish for the win! Robert Fabia Photo

The finish line gathering was full of great folks for me to catch up with (24-Hour teammate Anna Piskorska was a surprise treat to see out there) and meet for the first time (Neal Gorman, Annette, Howard Nippert), and as always, the VHTRC crew of organizers and volunteers were beyond top-notch. RD Anstr Davidson did yet another stellar job through-and-through, and I hope he and all the hard workers on this event are enjoying a nice relaxing day off today! Congratulations to all!

Time to Run with the Bulls!

2011-04-04T08:26:00.000-04:00

Ok, in my current "recuperating" condition, running with the actual "Bulls" in Pamplona wouldn't be such a good idea (on account of all the trampling and such). The good news is, I get to drag my out-of-shape butt down to a much more enjoyable place to run slowly this weekend at the Bull Run 50 miler! The blue bells are out in full-force on the course, and this annual marker of the arrival of spring has me quickly forgetting how disappointed I am at not being able to run the race at 100%.

Running through the sea of Blue Bells in 2009

Even though I won't be able to run at full speed (75% still feels like 100% as I slowly get my energy back), I'm looking forward to building some character and "gutting out a 50" as some solid mental training for the rest of my much-longer races this year. A little suffering goes a long way in this sport...and I mean that in a positive sense!

As far as the guys and gals who will be leading the way along this historic Civil War battlefield course, there will be some excellent talent for me to watch on the out-n-back sections: Matt Woods (100k National Team), Annette Bednosky (100k & 24 Hour National Team), Neal Gorman (Grand Slam record-holder), Adam Hill (always kills this race), Jack Pilla (VT 100 Champ), Aaron Schwartzbard (faaaaaaaaaasssssst!), and a bunch of other folks who can bust 7:30 on this course.

Sure, I'd much prefer to be up there mixing it up with this crowd, but my last couple weeks of running have firmly proven that my body is still recovering from what will be known for all-time as 'March Illness Madness'. I'm happy to be able to simply strap on the shoes Saturday morning and enjoy the fact that I can put all of that nonsense 50 miles further in the rearview mirror. I think I'll even run with my camera to add some fun to my Race Report next week as well. Until then, I hope everyone is enjoying the return of Spring as much as I am!

Greece IS the Word!!

2011-03-24T14:49:00.000-04:00

As of one hour ago, I have been officially accepted into the 2011 Spartathlon! I'm waaaay beyond excited to run this historic course!! Sure, I'll be the first person to say that I enjoy no-frills races and simply sleeping in my car and driving home after a 100 miler, but in this case, I think I might stick around for the Closing Ceremonies!

Marching Out Like a Lamb...

2011-03-24T08:51:00.001-04:00

Sure, there's still a week left in March to turn things around a bit, but even with a solid week of training to end things I can definitely say the month was a big hiccup in my training plan. First there was the shingles, then the nasty cold I picked up on the flight back from Arizona that has turned me into a veritable snot factory (clinical term) for the past 10 days. The good news is, I've been able to at least shuffle through 10 milers every day since returning to DC, so I'm not falling completely out of shape. The bad news, of course, is up until yesterday those 10 milers were pretty slow, and I certainly haven't had the energy to go any further. The days of running doubles and racking up the vertical miles seem so very very long ago. ...BUT, this is all part of the game, and being mentally strong through low points in training can only help in being mentally strong during the late miles of a 100+ miler, so I'll keep plugging ahead and know better days are right around the corner...

I'm a bit bummed I won't be able to shoot for the sub-7 hour Bull Run 50 I had planned in a couple weeks, but at the same time I'm happy my lack of top fitness means I can just plan to train right through BR50 (no taper) with the main focus of getting back in top gear for the Massanutten 100 in May. Sure, I wanted to do well at both, but if I had to pick one to be in top shape for, MMT would be it. Avenging my DNF there in 2008 is first and foremost on my 'To Do' list!

Speaking of races, it was no fun having to miss out on the Tobacco Road Marathon this past weekend, but I honestly couldn't even say the word "marathon" without hacking up a lung on Sunday, so there was no way I was going to be able to run it. I know I've been saying it for the past couple years, but one of these days it'll work out for me to finally run a regular 26.2 marathon again. If nothing else, I'm simply curious as to how fast I would go. I know my 1 mile PR is pretty much out of reach in my old age, but I think I could still hammer out a low 2:40s marathon (which is what I was hoping to run at Tobacco Road). One of these days I'll get back out there to give it a go...

Races and sicknesses aside, we're just starting to hit a sweet spot for running weather in DC. The Cherry Blossoms are popping out and it's usually in the 50s for my evening run after work this time of year. Sure, it'll be 95 and humid in the blink of an eye, but for right now this great weather is just what I need to officially leave the winter illnesses behind and jump-start my training for the Spring. I may even take a spin around my old Hains Point training loop this weekend to enjoy a 3 mile run through the "Long Pink Tunnel"!

There's no mistaking the arrival of Spring in DC!

Two Weeks of Healing

2011-03-15T08:21:00.005-04:00

Ok, so maybe I pushed my body a little too much during the Reverse Ring a couple weeks ago. Even though everything felt fine during the run itself, a couple days after I was back dealing with a full-blown case of the shingles again. Clearly my immune system needed more time to recover (and not 15 hours of 35 degree racing conditions). I took the whole week after the race off, and then escaped out to the warm, dry climate of Arizona for some rest and relaxation (and a little fun-running too!). Here's the photo montage!

Lizzy and I flew out to Phoenix last week where my parents met us and drove us up to Sedona. On the way, we stopped at a couple roadside spots...the place next door to this had the BEST pies in the world.

This was the view from the parking lot of our condo. You bet I jumped at the chance to shake off some jet-lag and run out there in the sunny 70 degree temps!

Just a mile up the road led me to what seemed to be 900 unmarked "paths" to choose from while approaching the red rocks.

I ran up this washout for a while...

Then skirted up these rocks...

...and before I knew it, I was on top!

...of course, that only gave me the view of many many many other cool rock formations I wanted to run (and did!). Sedona is definitely a cool place for running!

The only downside to all my trail-blazing were those darn cacti! Not used to dealing with them on my VA trails!

The next day we headed up north to a pretty cool place as well...The Grand Canyon!

Not a bad photo backdrop!

I used the binos to scout out my future Rim-2-Rim-2-Rim run...

Yup, there's the best path, right up the Bright Angel Trail on the North Side...

Awww!

The whole crew, enjoying a perfect day on the south rim!

The next day we headed back to Phoenix, but not before stopping off at the Montezuma Castle dwelling which the Sinagua people dug into the cliffside in 700 A.D.!

...and then we also swung by Taliesn West, Frank Lloyd Wright's western world base of operation for the cold weather months.


One last shot here at the Phoenix Art Museum is notable because it's pretty much the only place in the whole city with both green grass and water! That place is the definition of HOT and SUNNY!

All in all, I've had a nice break from the day-to-day grind of training, and I'm ready to get back on my feet and gear things up for Bull Run. Sure, the fitness I've lost means I won't be mixing it up among the guys with shoe-melting speed in that race, but I'll use it as a nice stepping stone for Massanutten training and enjoy the imminent arrival of spring on the VA trails regardless of how fast my body lets me run!

Reverse Ring - Race Report!

2011-02-28T06:41:00.015-05:00

During the early moments of running the Reverse Ring with course record-holder Keith Knipling (14:58, 2009) this past weekend, he asked me what my goal was for the day. I explained that after my recent bout with Shingles, followed by an energy-sapping cold that forced me to take most of the week off leading up to the race, I didn't really have a goal. I summed it up with a simple, "Just plan on taking it as it comes." A few moments later, when I asked Keith a question and he didn't respond, I looked back and saw he was no longer behind me. I figured he just paused for a bathroom break or something and would catch up soon enough; Such is usually the ebb and flow of these mountain races. As it turned out, when I crossed the finish line 70 miles later, he never did catch up. It was a struggle at times to entertain myself while running alone all day, but when I crossed the finish line in a new Course Record of 14:57:02, all that boredom turned out to be a pretty fair trade-off!

Backing up a bit, the first thing every runner needs to mention when talking about the Reverse Ring (and its Fall sister-race, The Ring) is the amazing efforts of co-RDs Mike Bur and Quatro Hubbard, and their army of awesome volunteers. Particularly laudable for the Reverse Ring is the effort they make to "hike in" aid station supplies to key spots on the course whose access roads are closed to vehicles in the winter. More on that, and the answer to why I owe Dave Snipes a beer (or three), later.

After an insane amount of snow ruined last year's Reverse Ring, I was excited for the chance to finally run this counter-clockwise loop of the 71 mile Massanutten Trail in the George Washington National Forest. It seemed like a lifetime ago that I ran the clockwise Ring in the Fall of 2009, thereby earning the invitation to run this winter version of the race. As much as I hate waking up at 5am to run in sub-freezing temps, the promise of a snow-free course and a high of 45 degrees had me pretty happy as I dozed off in the back of the XTerra Inn the night before.

A few of us just before the start. Keith is on the right (with legs just a wee bit stronger than mine!), and my friend Kim (center, in red) came out from OH and proved she's tough-as-nails by finishing in 26:12. Way to go, Kimba!

Race morning came quickly, and with Mike Bur's instructions, "If anyone has any questions, the answer is: 'Orange...follow Orange.'" - referring to the fact that we would be running exclusively on the Orange-blazed Massanutten Trail for all 71 miles- we were off into the darkness. Keith, as always, started the race much faster than my standard "ease into it" race strategy. Within a few minutes he was out-of-sight on the trail ahead, and I was quickly on my own as the first switchback of the climb gave me a view of the line of bobbing headlamps from the rest of the pack about 2 minutes behind me.

I didn't make a conscious effort to speed up and catch Keith (I figured it might take 10 or 15 miles to reel him in, if I caught him at all), but my legs were feeling surprisingly light and I ended up pulling in behind him after just a mile or two. He let me take the lead (considering he's such an expert on these rocky trails, this was akin to Richard Petty flipping me the keys and saying "Why don't you drive in front of me for a while..."), and we chatted for a bit as I mentioned above. After realizing Keith was no longer behind me, I continued my comfortable rhythm on the rest of the climb to the Signal Knob overlook. Never one to disappoint, Mr. Sun was just starting to creep over the horizon when I reached the top, and I forced myself to pause for a few seconds to take in the spectacular view.

Not a sunrise photo, but you get the idea. It's pretty up there! (Jim Harris Photo)

The rising sun also revealed absolutely perfect trail conditions for the day. The 30-40mph winds from the night before certainly helped dry out the terrain from the rain earlier in the week. Of course the trade off for all that helpful wind (especially for me running up front) was having to clear approximately 90 million branches blocking the trail along the way. One of the lesser known issues of running up front in the morning of a trail race is having to run through dozens of spiderwebs on the course. I was safe from that annoyance in this winter race, but the downed branches more than picked up the slack in that department. After the particularly littered ridge of Short Mountain, I told the volunteers at the following aid station that I was going to send the National Parks Service a landscaping bill for all the work I had to do up there.


Can't complain about having to clear a few branches when the fine chainsaw work of trail crews took care of this section of blow-downs! (Zsuzsanna Carlson photo)

As the early part of the day evolved, I ran a relaxed and efficient pace, simply taking what the terrain would give. As I passed through the Edinburg Gap aid station, I left a message with the volunteers to tell Keith to "Hurry and catch up...I'm getting bored up here!". I left this same message at every aid station along the way, and even though the words came out of my mouth the same each time, the undertone became a progressively stronger, as in, "Seriously, catch up already. My brain is starting to fry and I need some human interaction up here!". Not that I don't enjoy having the same song stuck in my head for 12 hours or anything...

Thanks to the sights and sounds of the Massanuttens, however, it wasn't always a struggle to keep my brain occupied. There are many times when you're bombing down a trail like this and your focus on every rock and leaf you fly over is razor sharp...

(Zsuzsanna Carlson Photo)

...and then there are the more peaceful and serene moments when you glide by late-winter views like this along the ridge of Kerns Mountain...

(Jim Harris Photo)

...and then, of course, there were the mountain oasis Aid Stations, manned by the best volunteers around:


RD Quatro Hubbard makes sure Jim Harris has all the essential trans fats he needs at Edinburg Gap - Mile 22.4 (Mike Bur Photo)


Dave Snipes and Doug Sullivan help Tom Corris mix the precise amounts of chemical motivation into his Camelbak at Moreland Gap - Mile 30.4 (Mike Bur Photo)

Eventual 3rd place finisher Cam Baker wonders why his feet hurt so much at Moreland Gap. 'Forget it, Cam, it's Massanuttentown'. (Mike Bur, Photo)

Getting back to my race, the fun started right about mile 40 or so when I heard a not-too-distant rumble and realized it was my stomach telling me it was 100% empty. To that point I had been fueling with my usual Hammer Gel plan, but what I neglected to factor in was, compared to my more recent flat 24-hour races, the conditions of this race (cold, mountainous) demanded a much higher caloric burn-rate in my body. Knowing I needed to right this ship quickly, I downed the two "emergency" packs of Roctane (100 calories each) I had in my Camelbak pocket and hoped they would help get me to the Camp Roosevelt aid station 6 miles down the trail. The good news for me was just about all of those 6 miles were downhill, so while my wheels were loosening somewhat, they never reached the point of falling off completely before I pulled into sight of my calorie-filled drop bag at the Aid Station. Whew! Crisis averted.

I quickly mixed a 350 calorie recovery drink and chatted with RD Mike Bur who let me know Keith was about 20 mins back. While I spent no more than 2 or 3 minutes at any of the previous Aid Stations, I took my time here (about 15 mins) to prepare my supplies for the final 25 mile stretch to the finish without another formal aid station. Mike mentioned he was sending a volunteer to hike up the trail to Veach Gap (about 8 miles from the finish) to set up an emergency tent in case anyone needed to seek shelter in the overnight hours. He also mentioned there would be "some water and maybe some cookies" as well. This fact will become very important in just a bit...

After thanking Mike for all of his (and the volunteers') efforts, I headed up the climb to the eastern ridge of the course. I forced myself to walk the first 10 minutes to let my recently-chugged recovery drink settle in my stomach, and as soon as it was time to start running again, my legs felt refueled and ready for more fun. I was also encouraged by the fact that I still had a couple hours of daylight to work with on the ridge before needing to strap on the headlamp again. With beautiful views to both the west and east on the ridge, all was well in my mountain running world.

Right about the time the sun finally ducked behind the western ridge, I pulled my headlamp out of my pack and realized I made a stupid rookie mistake back at the Roosevelt Aid station: I forgot my extra gel flask. This meant I would soon be 500 calories behind my plan. By my calculations I had 6 or 7 more miles to go before the "emergency" tent at Veach Gap, and then another 8 miles to the finish from there. As my engine started to sputter on the way to Veach, echoes of Mike's casual comment about the emergency tent's possible contents, "...and maybe some cookies too...", repeated over and over in my head. Man, oh, Man did I need some of those precious cookie calories!

As my running form on the rocky ridge devolved from "efficient and smooth" to "all knees and elbows", visions of the big chocolate chip cookies they have at Costco flooded my mind. Granted, I knew the cookies in that tent wouldn't be of such high quality, but I would have been happy with even a stack of stale Hydrox at that point. I employed every trick in my bag to fend off the reality of my situation as I shuffled down the trail: I turned up the volume on my headphones to overpower my rumbling stomach. To no one in particular I yelled out, "...and where the hell is Keith already?! I bet he has an extra Snickers bar to share!". The wheels were hanging on by a single lug for a couple miles when, mercifully, I started the mile-long descent down to Veach Gap. Over that blessed mile I embodied the form of a kid heading home after the last day of school: Legs over-striding, arms flailing, empty lunch box (or Camelbak, in my case) flapping in the wind behind me...all with the promise of happy times ahead.

A few minutes later my light revealed the glorious sight of the emergency tent. I plopped myself down on all fours and eagerly prepared for the feast my brain had convinced myself would be waiting as I looked inside...

What??!!!?!!!

No cookies!?!

Noooooo!!!

It was like coming home and seeing a note on the counter from your parents that says Summer School starts on Monday. I stretched my legs out on the dirt in front of the tent let out the most sincerely disappointed "Argghhhh!" any man has ever uttered, pirates included.

The news wasn't all bad, however, as awesome volunteer Dave Snipes did haul up some food/liquid with the tent. The complete inventory: two bananas, potato chips, water, Pepsi, and a bottle of Gatorade. Not what I was envisioning, but before I even had time to think about my next move, I noticed I had already shoved a four-inch stack of Pringles into my mouth. Actually, rather than Pringles, they were the Lays' brand of "tubed potato chips". I mention this only because I scratched both sides of my hand on the lip of the tube while pulling out the chips too fast, sort of like a lame, junk-food version of an Aesop Fable. Chip connoisseurs such as myself know the smart folks at Pringles keep the rim of their packaging rounded to spare some of its more ravenous customers, such as myself, from any collateral damage. ...and yes, these are the things one has time to reflect upon when running alone all day in the mountains.

After washing down the chips with some solid sugar calories from the Pepsi, I ate one of the bananas in 2.5 seconds, and added a little Gatorade to my Camelbak for a few extra calories as well. Shortly after this tornado of eating, I paused for the first time all day and thought about what my finishing time might be. I had about 2 hours to go roughly 8 miles to the finish line and break the course record. Sure, anyone can cover 4 miles an hour, but when you mix in 90 million rocks on a dark and twisting mountain trail, it's no guarantee at all...especially since it would take a mile or two before my body processed those emergency calories and started to wake up again.

Thankfully the combination of the food and my iPod worked to get the gears spinning one last time before too long, and I knew I had the energy to make a final push at the record. When I passed a trail sign that said I had 3 miles to the road (plus about 1/4 of a mile after that to the actual finish line), I knew it was after-burner time. I had 28 minutes to cover those 3+ miles, and with the way I was moving, I figured I'd have it beat by 4 or 5 minutes. Not a bad finish to a crazy final 20 miles or so...

Then, as if the Massanutten rocks were conspiring to protect their own, my path to the finish suddenly became riddled with obstacles. See, Keith and his dad Gary Knipling have a combined twenty-four finishes at the Massanutten 100 miler, not to mention dozens of other races on these trails such as the Ring. Simply put, they are the Massanutten mountains...and I don't think those mountains were too happy with a flat-lander 24-hour runner like me invading their turf! First and foremost amongst the obstacles was the sudden appearance of approximately 300 trail crossings, some of which were questionably marked, and down seemingly all of which I ran 50 to 200 yards in the the wrong direction before realizing my mistake and turning around. With the first couple, I thought "Oh well, I still have a cushion of time", but after a few seconds of confusion in the last mile near the Pig Iron trail intersection, I looked at my watch and realized it was going to be a photo finish.

After finally reaching the parking lot across the street from the finish line, I knew I just had the annoying 1/4 mile loop up-over-and-around the Signal Knob parking lot to get back to the official finish line on the northern side of the lot. Mind you, during this section of the trail you can basically see and hear the activity from the finish line parking lot, but you have to follow the trail all the way around it before officially finishing. When I started this final stretch, I saw I had regained a little buffer on my time and figured I'd finish with 3 or 4 minutes to spare. ....and then I tripped (first time all day!) and whacked both of my knees. Ouch! Undeterred, I stood back up and started hobbling/shuffling and pretending like Phil Mickelson didn't just take a swing at my kneecaps with a 5-wood. Then, less than a minute later, I tripped again. Come on! This was too much. With finish line about 100 yards away, I saw I had 90 seconds to go and let the panicked rush of adrenaline mask my knee pain enough to cruise across the line in 14:57:02 - one minute under the old course record. Woohoo! The craziness of those final few miles really made this one extra-enjoyable.

Boy am I glad I didn't spend an extra 58 seconds eating potato chips!

The volunteers at the finish line were quick to make me a pancake with Nutella, and as I basically swallowed it whole, I thought about how I would have paid someone $1,000 for it just 8 miles earlier in the Veach Tent. I'll keep that mental note for next year when I come back to set up a full concession stand out there to support the Future Rose Children College Fund.

Keith came rumbling out of the woods like a pro just 15 minutes later in another stellar finish time of 15:12, and Dave Snipes was there for me to properly laud for his volunteering exploits all day long, most specifically for dragging the tent and food up to Veach. You the man, Dave!!

After the 90 minute drive back home to DC, my legs had enough time to stiffen up quite nicely. ...and just to give the running gods one more chance to laugh at my expense, when I gingerly waddled my way out of the car, I noticed a shiny quarter laying on the ground at my feet. All I could do was look down, say "Nope!", and go inside to find the shower. Twenty-five cents can't buy any Costco cookies anyway.

Time to Put a Ring on it!

2011-02-21T11:17:00.003-05:00

My chance to run the Reverse Ring again is finally here this weekend. Some of you may recall last year's failed attempt by all of the RR entrants to run this 71 mile mountain loop in knee-deep snow. It did not end well. No one came remotely close to finishing. DC hasn't been dumped on with 65 feet of snow as we were last year, so we should be in much better shape this weekend. I'm predicting at least someone will finish this year...hopefully all of us.

For those of you who don't know about the Reverse Ring: It's essentially all the MMT100 single-track fun without any of the road sections (or the southern Bird Knob loop) mixed in. Having previously run the 71 mile, orange-blazed "Massanutten Trail" in clock-wise fashion to qualify for this run (the regular 'Ring' is run on Labor Day weekend), now we get to run the thing backwards in the cold. Lucky us! If you're not familiar with the terrain in the Massanuttens, I think I can sum it up by saying this race is a 71-miler that runs like a 100-miler. Always nice for an early season tune-up!

In other news, I know everyone was watching the Westminster Dog Show in New York last week, right? Well, I bring it up because one of my all-time running inspirations won the whole thing! Some of you may list Olympians like Ryan Hall or legends like Steve Prefontaine as your running role models, but I get all the inspiration and 'coaching' I need from none other than the Scottish Deerhound. Seriously!

(Photo: www.adespets.co.cc)

Sure, at fist glance they look like a raggedy old man in need of a good shave, but man-oh-man are they fluid and graceful when they move! I've kept the image of a Deerhound gliding weightlessly over the ground fresh in my mind ever since I first saw one live a couple years ago. We all have tricks we use to get our exhausted legs moving again after 75 or 100 miles of running, and what usually works for me is envisioning that smooth effortless motion of the Deerhound's long legs as I move down the trail. It usually doesn't take long before I've convinced my weary legs to "keep up" with the fluid stride of the imaginary dog next to me. I think it helps that the Deerhound's scraggly appearance pretty much captures how I feel after 20 hours of running too, so when I can see one gliding so effortlessly over the ground in my head, I think "Shoot, if that old dog can move so well, I can too!".

I'm sure all of you have your own secret mental tricks you play to keep moving when your body is sputtering like an old Yugo, but if you haven't run with a ghost-dog pacer late in a race yet, I highly recommend. I guarantee my early-season exhaustion will have me conjuring up a pack of them to run with this weekend during the final (un-aided!) 26 miles of the Reverse Ring course!

Saucony Peregrine Review

2011-02-14T05:14:00.020-05:00

A couple years back I picked up a pair of Saucony Xodus trail shoes when they first hit the market. I had run thousands of miles in Saucony road shoes over the years, and at that point was confident enough in their product that I figured it wasn't much of a risk to drop $75 on the brand new Xodus even though I couldn't find a good review of them online. After taking them for a spin or two down the trails, I liked them very much, and I figured I'd help out some other running folks who were considering an Xodus purchase by writing a review on this blog. Twenty minutes later, the quick post was done and I went on with my day without thinking much of it. Little did I know that I had just created the most popular post I had ever written (and probably ever will).

Even now, with the Xodus shoe in its 4th version and some of my review now invalid (due to composition changes in the shoe), that two year-old post of mine still gets about 500 hits a month from around the world, and has received a stupefying 12,000 hits in total since May of 2009. To compare, the post that ranks in 2nd place all-time on this blog only has about 2,500 total hits. Shoot, if you Google "Saucony Xodus Review", my post is the #1 result, which is just ridiculous. Of course, this popularity has nothing to do with me or my writing, it's 100% a result of the fact that until much more recently no one else bothered to write a real review of this great shoe! With the same intention of spreading the word on a great new trail shoe, I present to you my second-ever full shoe review: This one for the 2011 Saucony Peregrine. Keep in mind I have no affiliation with Saucony on any level. I'm just trying to help out any other trail runners who may be curious about this shoe.

The Saucony Peregrine

Saucony has just released their new Peregrine shoe as an option for trail runners who want a lighter shoe, but don't necessarily drink the ultra-minimalist Kool-Aid. I picked up a pair last week and headed out on a 5 hour test-drive on the trails of the Bull Run 50 mile course this past Saturday. While the terrain of Bull Run isn't as rocky or technical as a course like the Massanutten 100 it is a great place to test out shoes with sections that mix rocks, roots, hills, flats, mud, and grassy fields. Saturday turned out to be a great day to test out the Peregrine as the frozen/icy morning trails gave way to sticky/slippery mud in the mid-day sun.

Before talking about how the shoes felt on the trails, let's look at the composition of the shoe:

First off the overall package comes in at less than 10oz. per shoe. They claim 9.1oz. on the Saucony website, but since an "official" weight like that is usually based on a shoe smaller than my size 12s, I think mine tip the scales closer to 10oz. each. Regardless of where your shoe falls in the 9-10oz. window, running in the Peregrines nicely reminds you you're not in a 13oz+ trail shoe with every stride. *This is probably a good time to mention that you should order this shoe 1/2 size larger than you normally do (even if you're always an 11.5 in Sauconys, you'll need a 12 in this shoe - I'm glad I heeded that advice before buying mine).

When you pick up the Peregrine, you quickly realize just about every one of its ounces is located in the outsole. The lugs are packed in tight and vary in shape/size/angle like shards of glass from a broken beer bottle. ...and you know how tough it is to pick up pieces of broken glass without one of the random edges cutting into your skin? Well, these aggressive lugs do the same thing to the terrain below your feet on every step. No matter if you're stepping on a root, a rock, or a slick stretch of mud, there will be a sharp and sticky lug (or ten) perfectly positioned to allow your foot to dig in solidly. Even more impressive than the smartly shaped and angled lugs is the tremendously grippy rubber they used. It's worth noting that, unlike the Xodus/Razor line of Saucony trail shoes from the past couple years, they didn't outsource the outsole of the Peregrine to Vibram. One way or another this probably means they're committing a bit more to their own investment in the trail running world, which can only means good things for future product development.

The proud "Saucony" stamp replaces the Vibram logo from the recent past. You can see how the lugs on the left edge of the shoe vary in size, angle, and depth to grab onto anything you come across on a trail.

Moving up from the outsole, you find a mid-sole with enough cushioning to keep your feet happy but limited enough to post a 4mm heel-to-toe drop. In current industry buzz-word lingo, Saucony references this stat and advertises the Peregrine as a "minimalist" shoe. For those of you who started running before Born to Run came out, you can just consider this a lighter version of a regular ol' trail shoe. It's not nearly as "minimalized" as a shoe like the New Balance MT101s, but I understand Saucony is trying to sell shoes, and current market research has proven the trendy masses are buying up anything labeled "minimalist" these days. Whatever. The shoe weighs about 10 oz...or about twice as much as the ones I wore during high school cross country in 1994. I didn't realize I was part of an "official minimalist movement" back then, I was just racing in a light-weight shoe because I could go faster in them. Wearing the Peregrine feels absolutely nothing like running in a "barely there" shoe like an X-C flat or the NB101. Here's a side shot so you can see there's actually some mid-sole EVA in there to cushion your stride from heel to toe:

Plenty of mid-sole padding between you and the ground - not a "cushy" ride, but one that protects much more than a shoe like the NB MT101 while still allowing for a responsive, "connected" feel to the trail.

Where the term "minimalist" can definitely be applied is when checking out the shoe's upper. The royal blue layer of closed mesh makes up the main body of the upper, with thin black overlays added in for mid-foot support. There's a solid heel-cup to keep your foot in place, but no other major rigid elements like notable a toe bumper or the Saucony "arch-lock" reinforcement.

Since my feet are apparently composed of random bone ridges and bumps that no other member of the human race has, I usually need to grab a knife and cut out some portion of a shoe's ankle-collar to fit me just right. With the Peregrine, that meant slicing out a 1/2 inch piece on the top of my right shoe. This is a notable point because cutting into the shoe there allowed me to take this photo and show how thin the upper of this shoe actually is. As you can see, this is the upper at its "thickest" point (with added overlay for lace attach-point and a tiny bit of padding in the ankle collar). The rest of the shoe is mostly just as thin as the blue layer alone...so yeah, it's super thin.

While the blue layer is beyond-thin, it also kept 100% of the debris out of my shoes, so it's a worthy weave indeed.

To explain the inspiration for lightly supportive black webbed pattern that covers the majority of the upper, one needs to look no further than the name of this shoe. The Peregrine falcon is known as the "fastest animal" on the planet with its ability to reach diving speeds of 240 mph...which would give this bird a 100 mile PR of about 20 minutes, and thus a slight advantage over me in a race. To honor this magnificent creature, check out the comparison of its feather pattern to that of the overlay on the shoe and appreciate how the Saucony folks married form and function in this design...I love it!

That highly flexible black-mesh "feather" overlay provides all of the support in the upper (which isn't a whole lot!)

As for how it actually ran on the trails, I came away from my 5 hour test-drive quite impressed. The lugs, as I mentioned, are simply the best I've ever experienced in terms of grip and grab on the rocks, roots, and mud. Couple that with the relatively low-to-the-ground ride of the shoe, and you feel tremendously confident bombing down the trails at speed. I'm not sure I would wear the Peregrine for a 100 miler with lots of rocks (due to the lack of a rock-plate in the forefoot), but the outsole is rigid enough to take on any 50 miler you can think of without worrying about destroying your feet. I'll definitely be wearing these babies for my trail marathon in March and the BR50 in April...They're a perfect balance of support and speed for moderate trails. At the risk of rambling on too much, I'll wrap things up, but feel free to ask any questions about issues I didn't address here. I'm happy to help all 12,000 of you (or, more likely, just my grandma clicking on the site 12,000 times to make me feel special)!

***100 Mile Update*** 3/15/2011

Ok, now that I've put 100 trail miles in on my Peregrines, and I'd like to add a few comments: First, on technical and rocky trails, you'll notice that the lack of reinforcements in the upper (which were left out to reduce weight and keep the shoe "minimal") allow your foot to move around a little too much for my liking when pushing off rocks in a side-to-side fashion. Not much you can do about it (tying laces tighter helps a bit, but at the cost of being uncomfortable on the top of your foot), and every time I hit a rough patch of trail that has my foot sliding around, I can't help but think an built-in sock/sleeve on future versions would help a bit. Also, the tread continues to impress on all surfaces (I basically walked 50 feet straight up and down a smooth and dusty 60-degree red-rock in Sedona last week and didn't slip one inch), but the lack of a rock-plate becomes readily apparent on longer rock trail runs. After 30 miles of rock-hopping that same day in AZ, my feet were pretty tenderized.

Hardrock Shmardrock...

2011-02-07T08:15:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I didn't get into Hardrock yesterday. As it turned out, I had a 9.8% chance of being selected in the lottery, but as Lt. Frank Drebin would have said, there was really a 0% chance of that. With the surge of applicants this year, I knew my odds would be slim to grab one of the 140 entry slots, but I didn't realize that 39 of those spots would be guaranteed entry for 5-year veterans of the race. When I learned that fact prior to the lottery, it was easy to not even bother getting my hopes up for the drawing itself. Oh well. The bright side is now I can enjoy pacing many more miles at Badwater (which is held 2 days after Hardrock). I'll be a much more useful crew member for my buddy Chris without having to shuffle around on destroyed legs the whole time.

Even with the lottery loss, the weekend wasn't bad at all: I was able to enjoy another year of running my age on my birthday on Saturday. Well, "enjoy" might not be the best term for running 34 miles in rainy 37-degree weather, but I got it done, and that felt great. ...which isn't to say I didn't repeat the phrase "stupid tradition" a few dozen times when the rain and wind picked up. Also, I've decided I need to petition the government to have my birthday officially changed to June 5 from now on.

Another positive result from the HR100 lottery is I can now search all over for a new 100 miler to fill in my schedule between MMT in May and (hopefully) the Spartathlon in September. That's a pretty big gap with some great races to consider. One that caught my eye in particular is the Black Hills 100. They have a great website which tells you all you need to know about this first-year race, and I've always wanted to get up to that area of South Dakota to explore the Black Hills, Badlands, Deadwood, etc.. The problem I'm discovering, however, is that this appears to be one of those spots in the country that is pretty much impossible to travel to from DC. I'll have to work on exploring my options for this one to see if it can be done without having to take out a second mortgage. If anyone out there has any suggestions for another race in the June-July-August window, please let me know. I'm looking for something fun to cruise in between the hard work of MMT and Greece. Thanks!

January Totals...and Their Consequences

2011-01-31T09:25:00.002-05:00

2011 kicked off in style with a 50k on New Year's Morning. I kept the pedal to the floor from there and racked up a bunch of two-a-days with a 4,000 ft climb making its way onto my schedule 19 times. Those runs alone added up to 76,000ft. of vertical, and considering I had about 30 other runs as well, I think it's safe to say I had a solid first 450+ mile month of training to kick off the year. Well, it was "solid" on paper anyway. Here's the rest of the long-winded story:

Without conducting an official poll or anything, I feel somewhat confident in saying that most ultra-runners would love to run more than they do if they didn't have real jobs...or bad weather...or other life obligations to deal with every day. This fact holds especially true for those of us trying to get into particularly good shape for a big race or two in the near future. When I rounded the corner of the New Year with my focus on ramping things up for a successful 2011, I thought I had a pretty solid plan to up my training efforts while maintaining a balance in my regular life "stuff".

During this past month I've been handling my office workload well, I've adjusted to the crappy weather as needed, and I haven't had to wear running clothes under a suit in order to sneak in a few miles during any wedding receptions or Christenings. I've even noticed (very quietly, so as to not wake up the Injury Gods) that my legs felt fantastic despite the increase in mileage and effort every day. So everything has been going perfectly to plan, right?

Of course not!

See, in my grand scheme of "training on paper", I forgot to factor in that I'm human, and as each of us is reminded in our own special ways as we get older, humans have limitations. For me, I occasionally forget that I'm working with a body that, internally speaking, wasn't built exactly at "thoroughbred" level. Aside from the whole cancer thing, I'm one of the lucky folks under the age of 100 who gets to enjoy all the pains and aches from Shingles. As Betty White, or anyone born during the Taft administration can tell you, shingles is like the adult form of chicken pox, only it keeps coming back whenever your immune system is particularly low. In my case, the math adds up like this:

Lack of necessary sleep from 5:00 a.m. workout
+
Increase on daily mileage from two-a-days
+
Extended runs in sub-freezing temps
=
Dan's immune system revolts like the people of Egypt

I'm lucky in that the visible effects of shingles (nasty poison-ivy-looking rashes) have only shown up on me once (after a particularly rough winter hiking trip 10 years ago), but the nerve pain that spreads across my head and tailbone (of all places) is other-worldly. I haven't seen the movie "Grumpy Old Men", but I'm assuming they just threw a camera in front of two old guys with shingles and let the script write itself. This stuff hurts like hell!

The good news in terms of pain management is, if I back off my stress-inducing activities and give my immune system a chance to reload, the pain goes away after a week or so. Of course, the downside to this necessary course of action is I have to back off my training until things rebound internally and my fried circuit board repairs itself.

Don't get me wrong, I can't complain one bit about my situation of being able to run 80 miles, but not 125, every week. Having typed that sentence at all makes me feel like an ungrateful jerk...but still, it's always a bit frustrating when your brain and heart come up with a plan to achieve bigger and better goals, but your body lets you down. Weren't we promised cyborg parts by Hollywood by 2011? I'll take a new Terminator-level immune system for sure...and one of those cool glowing red eyes as well. I figure that would eliminate the need for a headlamp on the trails at night. C'mon James Cameron, get to work!

The Wheels are Being 'Greeced'!

2011-01-19T13:36:00.003-05:00

As some of you may know, my top "Dream Race" for many years has been the Spartathlon in Greece. Running this race from the steps of the Parthenon in Athens to the statue of King Leonidas in Sparta would allow me to celebrate my academic interests and physical skills over the course of 153 historic miles. Let's face it, is there a better place for an ultra-running Classics major to be?

King Leo's anger reminds us all that it wasn't easy to replace an arrow-pierced Camelbak 2600 years ago

Here's a brief history of the race:

The Spartathlon aims to trace footsteps of Pheidippides, an Athenian messenger sent to Sparta in 490 BC to seek help against the Persians in the Battle of Marathon. Pheidippides, according to an account by Greek historian Herodotus in The Persian Wars, arrived in Sparta the day after he departed.

Herodotus wrote: "On the occasion of which we speak when Pheidippides was sent by the Athenian generals, and, according to his own account, he reached Sparta on the very next day after leaving the city of Athens."

Based on this account, British RAF Wing Commander John Foden and four other RAF officers traveled to Greece in 1982 on an official expedition to test whether it was possible to cover the nearly 250 kilometers in a day and a half. Three runners were successful in completing the distance: John Foden (37:37), John Scholtens (34:30) and John McCarthy in (39:00).For twenty-eight consecutive years since, the Spartathlon athletes have followed the route John Foden and his team defined in an official race.

Of course with work, money, health, and a whole bunch of other stuff you can throw under the umbrella of "life" getting in the way every year, it's been a bit of a challenge for me to find the right time to actually get across the pond to run this thing. ...and while I'm not ready to announce anything official yet, I am happy to report that the past couple days have brought about some very good news in terms of this being The Year for me to run the race. Lots of other ducks still need to fall in a row, but a couple big pieces are in place and I'm about ready to head down to the photo booth to finish up my application and send it in the mail...

Sure, my running form is just like Pheidippidies' up there

This will be an evolving situation over the next couple months, but I'm cautiously optimistic that things will all work out and I'll be running in the footsteps of the original ultra-runner come September 30. Oh yeah, and I really want to avenge my failure in France by kicking some major ass in this race for the USA too!

Hardrock Could be Stocked!

2011-01-13T11:17:00.002-05:00

Just happened upon the current list of folks entered in the Hardrock lottery to date...Holy $#!%!! Granted, only 140 of the 500 (or so) runners on the list will be selected, but still, this could be an amazingly deep and talented field of the ping-pong balls bounce the right way. History has proven Hardrock to suffer in comparison to the depth of the Western States field (with both WS's auto-entry for previous year's Top 10, and the fact that it's just a couple weeks before Hardrock forcing most folks choose to focus on the "Superbowl of 100s" instead), but this could be the year when things possibly start to even out a bit. The two races are certainly very different in terms of terrain, altitude, and time-on-feet considerations, so it will be quite fun to see how the skills of some of the great WS100 runners translate to the insanity of the HR100 course. I'll tip my hat to any of the top WS guys who decide to skip the Superbowl in exchange for the pure challenge of HR this year. After reading a few blogs and talking to a couple other folks, it looks like this year could mark the start of that trend.

Not to get too excited since they're not actually in the race yet, but here are a just few names that I noted in my quick scan of the list: Roes, Krupicka, Meltzer, Koerner, Callahan, Clark, Goggins, Jones, AJW, Wolfe...and a bunch more studs too (not to mention the likes of Diana Finkel, Anita Ortiz, and Darcy Africa on the women's side). Talk about the potential for one heck of a showdown! We all find out our Lottery fate on February 5, which just so happens to be my birthday as well. Hope that means a little extra luck for me!

The Break-Up Letter

2011-01-10T09:35:00.001-05:00

Dear Hammer Nutrition,

We've had some good times in our relationship, and I couldn't be more thankful for all you've done for me. It's just that...well...this is hard to say: We're no longer going to be exclusive. It's not you, it's me. See, your gels and Perp are great, and I'll continue to use them, but I can't go on living a lie by saying I'm 100% faithful to you. The truth is there are some really good products out there made by other companies, and I like to mix and match them to squeeze the most out of my abilities. Thanks again for your support in the past, but from now on I've decided to be true to myself and run as a free agent in the nutrition dating scene.

Your Friend,
Dan

P.S. - Maybe now you could back off a bit on the 98 letters a week you send me. While I'm sure you have the lab proof that 25,000mg of Boron, Xobaline, Chromemate, etc. every morning will make us all better athletes, if I spent all day ingesting the dump truck full of pills you recommend, I wouldn't have any time in the day left for actual running.

This package from FedEx reminded me I have a lot of work to do this off-season!

Inside jokes aside, I am thankful to Hammer for their support in the past, and their gels and Perpetuem will continue to be the staple of my training and racing fuel. However, no one can deny the motivational slap in the butt you get from hitting an occasional Roctane every couple of hours...and I will challenge any naysayers to a duel to the death if they think there's a better recovery drink out there than Ultragen. With the arrival of 2011, I'm happy to have finished my sponsorship obligations to Hammer so I can now sign the praises of every great product I find (Hammer stuff included).

As for actual running, work didn't allow me to run two-a-days every day last week, but I did get enough of them in to start the transition nicely. One thing I think I've learned already is to head out a little more relaxed on my evening runs. The recovery time between those runs and my 4,000 ft. climb at 5:00 a.m. seems painfully short most mornings. I'm sure my body is benefiting from the steady work on tired legs though, and I won't let up too much, I just wish this "benefiting" didn't burn my legs so much!

Ringing (and Running) In 2011!

2011-01-02T06:56:00.002-05:00

Happy 2011, Everyone! Even though I'm now stuck back in the working world with my fellow cubicle farm animals, I'm still smiling from the past week I spent living the life of a pro runner: Sleeping in, running 20+ miles every day, napping whenever I felt like it, etc etc. It's not often I take time off from work to simply stay at home and enjoy the running life like this, but I had so much fun I think I definitely need to do it more often!

When I wasn't out on the trails racking up the miles (it was a HUGE mileage week, as you might imagine), Lizzy and I had a blast with lots of quality family time. I'm including this photo of us because I had a dream the night before that I wore this shirt on the podium at the Spartathlon awards ceremony. Could that be the running gods trying to nudge me into finally making the trip out there in 2011? Hmmm...

...and here's a shot of Uncle Dan showing off his Pez collection to Nashville nephew Will. It turns out Will is wise beyond his years: When I said he could pick any Pez dispenser from the pile to add to his own collection, he immediately grabbed the giant Kermit the Frog and said, "Thank you!".

Just to make sure this is the only running blog you'll ever read with two Pez photos, I'll include this one showing the evolution of the Hulk dispenser from the original 70s version to the present-day model. ....I know, I know, Will didn't really care about my Pez history lesson either. He was more interested in asking questions like, "Why don't you have any candy in these things?".

The running highlight of the week was me finally convincing myself to wake up on New Year's morning to run the RedEye 50K which has been a VHTRC tradition for 15 years. Club legend Gary Knipling was nice enough to coordinate the race this year, and 105 runners proved to be hangover-proof and showed up to run through the leafy trails of the Prince William National Forrest. Not knowing the course at all, I hooked up with super-nice guy Jeff Holdaway at the front of the pack around mile 2 and proceeded to chat his ear off for the next 29 miles. As an added bonus, we got to see Jeff's 14 year-old son Matt finish 20 miles of his own out there. Well done, Matt!

As the first full training week of the year kicks off today, I'm officially focused on my races for the spring. In order to get into the kind of climbing shape I want to be in for MMT100 (and possibly Hardrock), I'm integrating two-a-days for the first time. This morning was the first 5:00 a.m. hill workout (I never train in the mornings, so it was a little tough to get the engine going!), and I'll follow it up with my usual evening run (tempo or speed) after work. The weekends will have my usual long runs, most of which will take place either on the Bull Run or MMT course. By including the 4000 feet of climbing every morning, I think I should be able to even the playing ground with some of the runners out there who have the good fortune of living (and running) in the mountains every day. If nothing else, it will at least help me build up my legs to more of a "Current Hulk Pez" size, and that can only help with my climbing speed!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-20T06:56:00.001-05:00

Nothing too exciting to report from the week of running on my end, but I do want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!! This completes the third year for me posting to this blog, and regardless of my successes and failures in races, I'm always so grateful and thankful for everyone who follows along and sends in words of encouragement and advice. I've learned so many great things and met so many wonderful friends in the running world through this site, and without question all of this has made me a better ultra runner. Thank you!!

I just remembered one quick story from my long run yesterday, so I'll pass it along:

About half-way through a 30-something mile run on the icy/snowy Mt. Vernon trail, I passed another runner coming toward me. I did my usual 'nod & smile', and since the wintry conditions had kept 90% of the usual running/biking crowd home on this Sunday morning, I added a little "good morning!" to my greeting as we passed; Sort of an implicit sign of solidarity to someone also willing to tough-out the cold and wind along the Potomac. ...Of course that effort to be nice caused the guy to look up at me instead of focusing on the snow and ice below, and his feet immediately slid out from under him causing him to land hard on his back-side! I'm such an idiot.

I felt horrible since it was obviously my fault he fell, but as I apologized profusely and helped him up, I looked at his feet and saw he was wearing Vibram 5-fingers with completely smooth bottoms! I know everyone has their opinions and preferences for the barefoot running craze, but wearing them on an icy/snowy trail? No wonder he fell! Forget just wearing shoes with more tread, this was most definitely a YakTrax or Screw Shoes kind of day. Having seen the unnecessary pain suffered by this fellow runner, here's a special holiday message to everyone who runs in Vibrams:

Dear Minimalist Runner,

I promise the Tarahumara indians won't be upset if you leave the 5-fingers at home when things are icy this winter. Otherwise, you'll need five fingers of whiskey after every run to dull the pain of your many bruises. If you promise to wear shoes w/ better traction, I promise to keep my mouth shut when we pass so I don't break your concentration!

Merry Christmas!

MGM 50K Race Report!

2010-12-13T11:24:00.001-05:00

This past Saturday marked the 19th year the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club has held its annual holiday-themed 50k run along the Bull Run trails. Seeing as how this is a Fat Ass race, its name has evolved over the years by translating "Fat Ass" into various languages. A few years back they settled on the Latin name: Magnus Gluteus Maximus, or MGM for short. Regardless of the name, the point of the race is always the same: Give the opportunity for VHTRCers to gather one more time before Christmas and have some fun on the trails. This year had a special bonus in it for me as I had the privilege of pacing my friend Andy through his first-ever ultra. Considering he just ran his first marathon a couple weeks back in Philly, and the MGM was a breeze for him as well, I'd say the sky is the limit for this guy!

Like an idiot, I forgot to bring my camera, but thanks to the VHTRC website (you're the man, Anstr!), I can share some of the sights here:

RD Joe Clapper would look a little strange in his green tights anywhere but the MGM (or maybe in a Green Giant commercial). Either way, "Ho Ho Ho" applies!

While Joe instructs the crowd, I sneak in late and sign-up on the roster. I know, the ring around my hat isn't really "green", but it was the best I could do!

A total of 188 VHTRCers signed up to brave the cold for this run. Bonus points if you can spot me and Andy (green shirt) in the back!

The colorful pack stretches out along the banks of the river early on...

Most people fear the "Do Loop" on the Bull Run course. Not for any imposing climbs that you can see, but for what secrets (all bad!) it hides under its year-round blanket of leaves.

The best part about the MGM is the "Hanging Bourbon" tradition at the Aid Station just after the Do Loop. No better way to forget the horrors you just survived!


Mark Z. sums up the fun of the MGM run in one shot here. Also, he looks like Santa, which is pretty darn awesome for this race!

I've had a ton of fun over the past few weeks while starting to run again and taking advantage of the opportunities to pace a few friends in various races. Now that the race schedule is clear for the next few weeks, I'll start ramping up the training to prepare my legs for a year of more mountain running than ever before. With a couple races still TBD for me next year (most notably Hardrock..and whatever 100 I replace it with if I don't get in), I'm just going to prepare the best I can with focused speed and climbing workouts multiple times each week to have me ready for whatever races I find myself lining up for in 2011. The weekly long runs will be back in full-order starting this week, and with my body and mind both feeling great, I'm excited to see what kind of shape I can hammer myself into over the next couple months!

Oh, and speaking of Hammer...

Many of you know I love using Hammer gels and perpetuem as my main fuel source during races, and I thank them quite a bit for their sponsorship during this past year. That said, I've decided to not renew my deal with them for 2011. I'll continue to use their products, but I'll also feel much less guilty about mixing fuel from other companies that I've found also works well for me (and my stomach) at various times. I like to be able to tell those of you who are interested exactly what I'm taking during my races to help you possibly find better ways to fuel yourself in your own runs. The point of this blog was never to "sell" anything, just to help share info with other runners to help everyone achieve their best in this sport. I look forward to doing that in a completely unrestricted way once again from here on out!

MMT100 = I'm In!

2010-12-08T16:29:00.000-05:00

The Massanutten 100 miler has sort of a "unique" way they hold their lottery: Each applicant is assigned an original 3-digit number when they sign up for the lottery. My number this year is 352. On the day of the lottery (which is today), they use the last three digits of the Dow Jones closing number to establish the "starting point" of the acceptance list. If the Dow finishes "up" for that day, the MMT race accepts the first 180 runners who had numbers higher than that starting point. With the Dow closing UP 13.32 points today, the final closing number was 11,372.48. Looking at those last 3 digits, our official starting point is 248. This is AWESOME news for me, Mr. 352!!

The wait for my return to MMT will finally be over after three years of frustration...Revenge (and lots of smiles) will be mine on May 14!!

Strike One!

2010-12-06T14:56:00.000-05:00

Ok, so the Western States 100 lottery didn't work out for me this past weekend. Once again, my name wasn't drawn, so back into the pool it goes for next year. Oh, well. Tough to be too disappointed when friends Tammy, Mike, and Ric all got in though - I look forward to cheering for you all next June. Congrats, Everyone!!!

Despite the continued lottery losing, the weekend wasn't a total bummer for me. I joined up with crew of my in-laws out in Dallas to cheer Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship game. Even though the game ended about as well for Nebraska as my WS lottery did for me, we all had a great time...Not to mention the fact that I was in complete awe of the JerryDome out there in Cowboys country. Holy Cow, that thing is HUGE!

Blurry iPhone shot of 4 of us (Me, nephew Spencer, Paul & Jon - Jeff was taking the shot), but check out the insane size of that stadium!

That HD scoreboard is 180-feet wide!! In fact, look out your window right now at home, you can probably see it from there!

SO MANY Nebraska fans made the 700 mile drive from their home state...I bet the number of them in the stadium eclipsed the number of Nebraskans actually left in the state itself that night!

The casual observer might think Spencer is staring in awe at the football game, but I know the truth: He couldn't take his eyes off the Chick-Fil-A blimp (in the shape of a cow) flying around the inside of the stadium dropping free chicken sandwiches on parachutes. In his defense, it WAS pretty cool!

With the WS100 & Nebraska losses behind me now, I can rekindle some hope for Wednesday night's Massanutten lottery results. This is my best chance to get into one of my Big Three 100s for 2011 (along w/ WS and Hardrock), so I'm really hoping my luck changes in a couple days!

Since I should probably mention something about actual running in this post, I'll mention I took the day off work on Friday to enjoy a great 28-30 miler on the Bull Run course. The cold weather has its benefits when I can get that many miles in without re-filling my Camelbak. I enjoy that kind of freedom to explore out on the trails without worrying about resupply. I was happy I decided to wear my Hokas out there as well...the extra cushioning helped protect my feet from 43 million of the leaf-covered rocks/roots I stepped on. I don't think I could wear them all the time (still not 100% confident on the most technical & rocky terrain since I've rolled my ankle once or twice in them already), but I was happy to have them on Friday's run, that's for sure!

Start Your Lottery Engines!

2010-11-30T09:12:00.001-05:00

Even though it hasn't worked out too well for me in the past, I always love this week on the ultrarunning calendar. ...and it's not just because it marks the time for the biggest $$$ race in the sport at the NorthFace 50 Mile Championship in San Francisco. Sure, that race for the $10,000 first prize is fun to follow, and yes, I even earned an free entry via a sponsor's exemption from my Mohican 100 finish...but the reality is I'm smart enough to know all those guys can run faster than I can sneeze, so I'm better off saving my travel time and money and just watching the race from the east coast.

That race aside, the reason why I'm always most excited about this week is it's when the lottery season really starts to pick up for 2011 races. Tomorrow (Dec 1) marks the opening of the Massanutten 100 lottery, and with this most likely being my focus race for the Spring, I'm hoping I can sneak my way into the starting field. My return to MMT has been delayed for a couple years, and I'm anxious to get back out there in great shape to avenge my stupid DNF caused by a ridiculous fall on what was decidedly "non-MMT" type terrain. I mean really, the course has all those miles of rocks and roots to avoid, and I ended up slipping on what was basically a patch of wet grass. So stupid!

A couple days later on Dec. 4, the Western States 100 lottery drawing takes place out in California. Sure, I have almost no chance of getting into this race, but with three entries in the ol' hat this year, (I've applied and lost the past two years) I think that gives me something like an 8% chance of being drawn...which is better than some!

Should a miracle occur and my name actually be selected for WS100, the big question I'll have to think about is: Do I make this The Year I run the Grand Slam? Odds of me getting back into WS100 another year will be just as slim, so I'll have to take a loooong look at the calendar for the other three races (Vermont, Leadville, Wasatch) to see if I can swing it in what could be my only chance to actually "race" the Slam in top form. There are really only two "Bucket List" events left for me in the ultra world, and along with the Spartahlon, the Slam is on that list. Here's hoping the ping-pong balls bounce the right way on Saturday!

Fingers crossed for a little lottery luck to all of you who have your names in the various hats right now too!

The Need for Speed (Translation: I am slow!)

2010-11-22T12:43:00.002-05:00

Now that I'm a couple weeks into my new training plan, one fact has made itself abundantly clear:

I used to be fast.

...or at least much much much faster than I am now. Sure, it's been a solid 12 years or so since I've done any focused speed work on the track, but still, it's not like I'm in bad shape right now. Even with the lack of track time, I still run solid tempo runs every week, and I figured those would at least allow me to jump back in and run some relatively quick 1/4 mile laps. As it turns out...NOPE!

After two trips to the track, I think my legs and lungs are doing their best to quickly file a 'Cease and Desist' order to keep this trend from continuing. It doesn't seem like so long ago when I would glide around the track in what could be an endless string of 60-second 400s. Now, when I finish just a few at 70-second pace, it appears to on-lookers that I'm actively trying to breathe out of my eyes.

Clearly I've uncovered an area of my training that has been woefully neglected, and I know I need to pay the price over the next couple months to get things back to where they should be. The hard-working part of my brain is embracing the challenge with a mighty "Bring it on!!", but at this point the rest of me is most definitely responding with a "Seriously, Dan, what is wrong with you?". Hopefully the next couple months of track visits will result in all of me responding in a much happier fashion.

To all of you who are out of school and still keep speed work as a regular part of your training schedule, I have a whole new level of respect for you! Keep it up!

Richmond Marathon Race Report!

2010-11-15T09:48:00.004-05:00

OK, so the Richmond Marathon didn't exactly go as planned. As most of you know, the plan was for me to pace my friend Amelia in her first marathon this weekend. As horrible luck would have it, a family emergency on Friday morning forced Amelia to stay in NYC and miss the race. I was pretty upset upon hearing the news of the emergency, and at first wasn't too interested in going down to Richmond to shuffle through a boring marathon with my thoughts elsewhere.

After a couple hours of thinking it over, I randomly stumbled on a Facebook update from my friend Tammy. I was surprised to find out that she was going to be running in Richmond too. I paced Tammy for the last stretch of the Vermont 100 a couple years ago, so I knew I'd be in good company if I ran with her again. Amelia said she'd feel better if I still ran the race, so off I went to pace Tammy once again. As the following pictures will prove, no one runs a marathon quite like Tammy!

Here we are at the chilly start...eventually the layers would come off as it turned out to be the best race-day weather I've ever experienced!

Proving the ultra-world is well-represented at every race, I ran into fellow VHTRC-er Mike Bailey (who I'm sure appreciates me including this "bottoms-up" photo of him!) and his friend James Carter just before the start. Mike went on to pace James to his first marathon finish - Congrats James!!!

The race started off nicely as we ran through some beautiful fall roads in and around Richmond. Tammy only had to take her eyes off the views every few seconds as she put on an amazing display of running-while-texting early on. After we chatted with our friend Jamie on speaker phone for a few minutes, I realized we probably woke her up since it was only 6 a.m. at her home in Colorado. Sorry, Jamie!

Tammy is known for carrying her Sparkly fanny pack filled with waaaay too many supplies during races. The day before her running of the Javelina 100 a couple weeks ago, Jamie texted me to say Tammy had "15 lip balms and a poncho" in her pack. Here I am showing off the Chapstick I carried with me as a sign of solidarity for Tammy!

Eventually we caught up with Tammy's husband Tristan and his dad around mile 12...for a much needed Cupcake break!

I was laughing at Tammy for eating the cupcake while we were running, but a couple minutes after that she really started moving! I should also point out that Tammy's outfit (complete with pink everything, sparkly waist pack, and a lei!) made her a HUGE fan favorite along the course. Richmond loved her!

Of course she was also taking pictures the whole time too, so I think everyone got a kick out of that as well!

After running across a loooong bridge back into the city, we passed by the "Mosque Theater" where I took Lizzy to see a comedian on one of our first dates!

Shortly after the cupcake energy wore off, Tammy hit The Wall. ....actually, she never came close to hitting any wall. We clicked off even-paced miles in the second half to negative-split the race quite nicely. While you may not be too impressed by that fact per se, check out all the rest of the crazy stuff we did over the last few miles!

First off, when Tammy saw a cute dog along the course, she demanded a photo stop!

Seriously, this happened multiple times!!

...but I guess I can't complain. I had my own reasons for stopping too...

...multiple times as well! Tammy posed with me here to help me feel like less of a lush!

The colors were extra-pretty the rest of the way!

Sadly, the finish line came all too soon. ...and while you might think it took us forever to finish with all of the photographic evidence above, I'm proud to report we crossed the line in 4:07, just a couple minutes off Tammy's marathon PR! Sure I might come back in the future and try for a fast time of my own on this excellent course, but I guarantee I won't have as much fun (or beer!) as I did this time around! Thank you, Tammy!

Volunteer Fun at Potomac Heritage Trail 50K!

2010-11-07T06:17:00.001-05:00

Just because I'm not in racing shape doesn't mean I had to miss out on all the racing fun from this past weekend. With Mountain Masochist, the 100k World Championship, Pinhoti 100 miler, and NYC Marathon all taking place this weekend, there was hardly a moment that this ultra dork wasn't checking for online updates and split times. To help cure my racing jonze, Lizzy and I headed out to help volunteer at the Potomac Heritage Trail 50k on a beautiful day in DC!

Yes, it was quite cold out, but did I remember to wear gloves? Of course not.

The excitement of working the Mile 17 & 21 Aid Station kept us busy and distracted from the cold all day as 100 runners came through our oasis twice.

For added fun, this race has a few "Time Bonus" opportunities. Since runners had to pass through our Aid Station twice, we offered up a 10 minute bonus for anyone who could carry an egg (intact) over the 4 mile stretch of trail before they returned to our Aid Station the second time.

Many took us up on the Egg offer, and all but a couple succeeded. It was safe to say the runners had a much easier time with their task than the guy in charge of getting everyone's splits as they passed through. Good help is so hard to find!

As the sun went down and the last of the runners made their way through our stop, the cold was clearly telling us one thing...

Time to go home and sit in front of the fire!!

It was, indeed, a fun day working at the race yesterday. As much as I love running these races, I also enjoy being on the other side of the clip-board too. I know without the great volunteering spirit in the ultra world, none of the races I like to run would exist. It always feels good to give back a few hours of time to help give this great community of crazy people a reason to run outside on a freezing cold Sunday morning!

Yesterday also marked the completion of my first week of running again. The point of my 5-week break was to rest and recharge my body in preparation of a fun stretch of training over the next few months. The great news is not only do my legs feel great now, but I also don't appear to have lost too much speed either. Sure, I'm not going to blaze through a 50 miler any time soon, but it feels good to be able to cruise at a 6:30 or 7 pace without feeling like I'm working too hard on shorter runs. I expected Week 1 to be much more painful than it turned out to be. Of course, the last time I ran before my break it was still 90 degrees in DC, so I think the shift to 50 degrees helps put a little extra giddy-up in everyone's step this time of year!

The training continues this week, and as a Super Huge Highlight this weekend, I'll be heading down to Richmond with my friend Amelia to run her first marathon with her! As a really good swimmer back in college, I seem to recall her thoughts about ever running a marathon falling somewhere between "Not in a million years" and "Not in a billion years". So, technically-speaking there WAS a chance she'd run one someday. I couldn't be more excited that it's finally happening this weekend, and I'm super-psyched that I get to run it with her!

...now I wonder how I can convince her to run a 100 miler...hmmmm...

Back in the Saddle!

2010-11-01T09:01:00.000-04:00

So many reasons to be happy on this crisp fall morning here in DC...

1) It's November 1...That means I can officially start running again!

2) I actually cheated and went for my first run yesterday!

3) Since Lizzy and I moved into our new home during my running hiatus, I have so many new running routes to explore. My little jaunt yesterday took me over some hilly roads, a couple miles of paved bike path along a stream, some super-gnarly single track (that I spied off the side of the bike path and just had to explore!), an excellent 1/4 mile track for future speed work, and some slightly less gnarly single track that I enjoyed on the trip back home. I was like an excited puppy going around every corner thinking, "What's that over there? I wonder where this trail goes? Is that a squirrel? Oh, let's chase it!!". It looks like I'll be strapping on the Garmin and exploring all these new routes for quite a while!

4) Not a lot of people know this, but I absolutely destroyed my back two weeks ago and could hardly walk for about 10 days or so (it was really really bad!). I was worried I wouldn't be able to run for quite a while, but it started loosening up over the past couple days, and when it felt pretty good after stretching it out yesterday, I decided to go on that little 6 mile run to test it out. I wasn't breaking any land-speed records or anything, but it felt so great to have it respond as positively it did. Back pain is the worst!

5) I'm someone who feeds off of the excitement and success of my friends in their running achievements, and the past couple weeks of PRs and CRs from my friends Tammy and Jamie have been so great to see! Amazing running, ladies!! Also, I'll miss running the Mountain Masochist 50 this coming weekend, but I wish the best of luck to all my VHTRC friends and buddy Adam C. as he guns for one of those guaranteed WS100 spots. Good luck, everyone!!