Footfeathers

Interview with Ultra Runner Podcast

2012-01-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by the ultrarunnerpodcast.com guys, Eric and Scott. Want to hear about the ins and outs of race directing from permitting to boiled potatoes and how to finish a 100 miler? Give it a listen!

http://ultrarunnerpodcast.com/archives/1350

El Diablo and the Stairway to Heaven

2012-01-25T16:37:00.000-07:00

Training is rolling strong and picking up momentum. Took it easy last week, running some light milage (just one hard stair/hill workout). With this long four week break until our next Inside Trail event, I'm going to jack up the training to get ready for the onslaught of races beginning with Way Too Cool on March 10th.

Today's Mt. Diablo Run elevation profile (from Brett's GPS)

Yesterday I got out to do my new favorite, sadistic workout on the Gilligan Stairs (introduced to me by Mark Gilligan). Brett Welborn was in town this week for business and wanted to meet for a run, so we decided on Mt Diablo. Being from South Carolina's coast, today was probably more climbing than he does in a month but he handled it like a veteran, holding pace well to the summit and then we spilled back down to the bottom. 4,500 ft of climb, 20 miles. Sunny and 60s (chillier on top). Great to finally meet Brett and really made the run zip by.

Saturday's Way Too Cool training run will help push me over 80 miles for the week with roughly 15,000 feet of climb. Just need to trim a few (5-ish) lbs and I'll be ready for a big season, hopefully.

Looking into the Santa Barbara Endurance Race 100k on April 14th. I wanted to be sharp for the Diablo 50k on Apr 21 but feel the added race will help me prepare more with my real goals of the pending 100s.

Brooks Falls Trail Run

2012-01-22T21:34:00.000-07:00

Ken Michal running the aid station with purpose.

The Brooks Falls Trail Run went about as well as an event can. Thank you all for coming out to run and/or help. We had a great time and truly appreciate your participation.

New ITR Team Member - Brownie

2012-01-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

"We're proud to have such a positive influential representative on the team." -ITR's co-owner, Tim Long.

After extensive negotiations, Inside Trail Racing and UltraDrinkerRunner, JT (Brownie), have inked an athlete endorsement agreement for 2012. JT will be representing ITR as somewhat of the black sheep variety. ITR's co-owner and race director, Tim Long, confirms, "After pacing me at Hardrock and Leadville last year, I didn't have much choice but to bring JT aboard." Long went on, in a quiet, mumbling voice, "I just hope La Sportiva and the other sponsor partners don't find out."

With accomplishments like 114th at the Pikes Peak Marathon and 138th at Leadville (back when there were only like 200 finishers), Brownie has proven two things: Beer drinking is an intrinsic part of our beloved sport and beer drinking does not always equal success.

Inside Trail had to order a custom uniform for the Colorado Springs speedster and, at $5.38 a pop, it's well worth it. When offered a standard gold Patagonia technical team shirt, JT quipped, "the pump cheese on my fries won't show up on it as well if dribbled." ITR concurred with that sound logic and signed the agreement with sweaty palms.

Inside Trail's other owner, Tim Stahler was unavailable for comment. We later learned he was unaware of the acquisition and is filing a suit to block the agreement.

So, if you see JT out on the trails and he's not wearing his La Sportivas or (God forbid) his ITR Team shirt, follow the example of the bar-top woman in the above photo and kick him in the balls.

Megaphones and Stairs

2012-01-19T10:03:00.006-07:00

Clearly, the neighbors must think we're home shopping network hermits. This week has seen a near-constant stream of UPS and FedEx deliveries to the house. For an ultrarunner-slash-race director, it's been like Christmas.

So far this week we've received our:

Business Cards:

Car magnet signs, custom finish line banner, wall signage (promo, promo promo):

Headsweat hats and visors (best running hats on the market)!:

La Sportiva 2012 sponsor package - Watch for raffles and other opportunities to win all the LS shoes we'll have this year to give away!:

Crosslite 2.0 - My race shoe of choice this year.

Quantum - fits so comfy that you'll want to sleep in them.

Hydrapak E-Lite Vests and Products (soft flasks, gel-bots, etc) Hottest vest on the market:

My personal race vest - nothing lighter or more innovative out there in my opinion.

All this gear and more will be available at sweet prices in our squeaky-clean new Inside Trail online store opening tomorrow! (if our lazy web guy can swing it).

My new bullhorn (Tim S. seems enamored with it but he's the quiet one and likely won't use it outside of his livingroom):

Kickass new bullhorn.

My affinity for megaphones is well documented (Firecracker 5k - 2004)

It's eco-friendly. Converted to run on PBR.

The weather forecast is improving for this Sunday's Brooks Falls Trail Run in Pacifica. Now they're calling for partly cloudy skies and a high near 60! We're rockin' and ready to roll out a great race. Everything's packed, in place and ready to be loaded in our massive dully truck…

Plenty of room still left in the race, so register today to save $$. We have very special 50k finisher awards that will undoubtedly become collectors' items. Scott Dunlap will be running with his sweet Nikon camera, snapping photos of everything and everyone for FREE download post race.

My training is going well. Did a leg-destroying stair workout day before yesterday that Mark Gilligan (ultrasignup.com) introduce me to (the jerk). 400 steps up the side of a "hill" in Oakland. I ran 2.5 miles there, did ten repeats (4,000 up / 4,000 down = ouch) and limped, quivery-legged home. Followed that up with a less than inspiring 9 miler with Tim S. yesterday on our Inside Trail Lake Chabot half marathon course. Then I headed out for some beer and sushi (best-recovery-food-ever… the sushi was good too).

Hope to see a bunch of you out on the trails in Pacifica this weekend!

Pacing Duties at Western States 100

2012-01-17T15:29:00.000-07:00

Brandon (short shorts) and me (goatee and visor)

So, I didn't get into Western States this year but now I get to do the next best thing: watch someone else go into the pain cave while I jog along and chat.

Brandon Fuller is in for a ride now that he's announced my pacing obligation on his BLOG.

A Rare Day in Pacifica

2012-01-15T09:21:00.004-07:00

Amazing day. Brooks Falls (currently dry)
above my left shoulder.

Whenever I hear the name Pacifica, I immediately think, "fog". In fact, in the few times I've been there, I don't think I've seen any part of the city or area because the fog was so thick. Yesterday was a contrast that would make a manic-depresive proud.

Inside Trail's other smarter, though less handsome, half, Tim Stahler, and I headed over to San Pedro Valley Park in Pacifica to get in a training run and do a little scouting of the trails on which our Brooks Falls Trail Run event takes place next Sunday (Jan 22) [Registration still open!!!]. We were greeted with brilliant blue skies, warm temperatures, and views even a couch potato would appreciate. After discussing the organization of the staging start/finish area and fiddling with our hydration packs, we got underway by tackling Valley View Trail, a solid, though mildly steady, climb. This loop is a soft prelude to the featured loop up to the summit of Montara Mountain, where the views span from San Francisco's skyline to Mt. Tamalpais that appears to be floating in the Pacific. For the most part the trail is smooth with scattered sections of technical rocky terrain and much appreciated switch backs until you spill onto a wide fire road that leads you to the summit. Cinch down your shoe laces and pull your hat down tight because you're in for a sustained three mile descent, dropping roughly 1,600 feet with constant views of Pacifica and the ocean lapping up against it.

We bumped into several trail runners, including the ever bubbly Janeth Siva. I was left with a new appreciation for the trails here. Our run was 20 miles with over 4,200 feet of climb, capping an 82 mile seven day stretch for me. Post run treats of burgers and milkshakes (yes, we act like 8 year olds occasionally). The participants at our Brooks Falls event are in for a treat. Let's hope for the gift of weather we enjoyed this weekend.

More photos:

Pacifica and the ocean as seen from the Montara Mtn Trail.

A look back at the trails that carried us up.

Can't go wrong when mountains meet ocean.

Fire road trail leading to the summit of Montara Mtn.

Finish line spectators.

Stahler's Banana milkshake (aak).

La Sportiva Shoes

2012-01-13T17:42:00.000-07:00

This isn't really a review; more like some initial observations in prelude to a review after I wear them more.

Wore the La Sportiva Quantums today for my run. The odd shape and composition of the sole and snug fit initially had me omitting them from my race shoe stable. After a few runs in them I've grown to love them. Sizing is tricky. La Sportiva doesn't convert American and Euro sizing the same as other brands. e.g. a 10.5 (my size) American typically translates into a 44.5-ish. LS translates a 10.5 into a 44. So, the gist of this nonsense is that you need to go by your Euro size when choosing LS shoes.

To add to the confusion, the different styles fit differently. The Crosslite 2.0 (yes, I adore them too) fits bigger than the Quantum. Regardless, I bumped up to an 11 (44.5) in both. Back to the Quantum in a minute. I ran the Epiphany 50k on Sunday in the Crosslite 2.0 and they were perfect. No issues and no foot soreness whatsoever. The only thing that I'm mildly concerned about is how they drain water and that I can't attach gaiters to them - both minor things, since I'm fairly certain they'll drain water well enough.

The Quantum is snug but fits my foot like a glove and is about as comfortable as any shoe I've worn. The upper is built as a slip last, like climbing shoes, and then glued onto the sole, so the fit is very natural. The wavy rubber outer sole is attached to a foam mid sole that provides amazing cushion - not the mushy cushion found in thick eva soles but more responsive. It reminds me of the firmer, responsive cushioning of the old Addidas Super Nova Cush road shoe. Even without traditional lugs, the outer sole is grippy on varied terrain and I haven't found a surface where it doesn't perform well. The upper mesh-like fabric also seems like it would drain well. Sounds like my Hardrock shoe of choice!

This and That

2012-01-11T16:41:00.005-07:00

The week started off a bit shaky but has been grooving progressively. Got the Iniside Trail Racing Team put together with some talented runners. Race uniforms are being printed this week along with a bunch of additional clothing that will sport the ITR logo. Tim S. picked us up a big, custom ITR finish line banner and some smaller banners and signage; it all arrived today and is, well, awesome. We bought and/or secured race equipment for our Jan 22nd race (Brooks Falls).

This morning we solidified six new events for the year, which puts us at 21 (with a few more just awaiting final approval before we post them on our calendar, which will end up at 27-30 events total). We also inked the deal with La Sportiva this morning. They'll be partnering with us for the entire race season with a presence at our events and a ton of shoes provided to us to give away (and sponsoring my personal racing shoe needs!!). We can't express how proud we are to have La Sportiva involved.

I love start-ups and small businesses. The energy and creativity is addicting. This is the third business I've started: Phoenix International, Inc. (a telecom company in Boston started with a partner), Racescapes Events, Inc. (a race management and timing company I started alone in N. Carolina), and now Inside Trail, Inc. with Tim S. Out of the three, I see ITR as having unlimited potential. Tim's and my strengths compliment one another perfectly, right down to the diverse hours we work (we can cover 20 hour days comfortably). Really exciting time and I'm grateful for the opportunity and the support we've received is humbling.

Personally, I'm pretty happy with things. Currently looking for a new place to live and settle down for a bit - plenty of options. My running is off the hook right now. I've tweaked my diet over the last four months and have abundant energy, a leaner frame, started lifting again (mostly to enable me to schlep around all the damn-heavy race equipment). I'm holding paces substantially faster over hilly courses than I've ever been able to. Hopefully it'll transfer over to my racing. Last year was a test of mileage and endurance. This year is about distance AND speed. The Brazen Racing half marathons will help too. Have another one coming up on the 28th.

This and that, indeed.

Epiphany 50k Run Report

2012-01-09T09:25:00.002-07:00

What an amazing day. The wind was howling last night, so I assumed a front was moving in and expected the worse (rain, cold, etc) but we were treated to warmer temps (upper 60s) and clear sky sunshine for the Epiphany 50k Trail Run.

The other half of Inside Trail, Tim Stahler, had never run further than a marathon, so this would be his first ultramarathon. We got underway right at 7am with a huge turnout of other runners and settled in with three other guys in the front and held a nice pace through the first half marathon distance. On the return trip we managed to maintain our pace on the climbs and finished in 4:28 (8:39 avg pace).

So nice to see friends and meet new people out there, like Sarah Lavender Smith, Mark Gilligan, Lance Fong, Gary Lambert, Adam Ray (epiphany organizer), and several others. I believe there were roughly 150 folks total out there. I took some photos, but they're blurry.

The plan, in my mind, was to hold Tim S back and not allow him to make the ultra newbie mistake of taking it out at 7 min pace only to be walking the last 4 miles. This plan fell apart when I glanced at the garmin and saw we were clipping along at a decent rate. I felt confident we could hold it (not because of speed but experience at this distance). With 3,700 feet of climb and generally open stretches in which to open up the stride, all we had to do was manage eating and drinking. I planned on roughly a 5 hour or so run but when we hit the first turn around at 12.5 miles with an 8:30 avg pace, I got it in my head we could run 4:30 even though the return was mostly climbing.

We hit the marathon at 3:45 and knew it'd be a struggle to hit 4:30 but I squeezed every ounce out of Tim S, who showed grit by gamely nearly catching me on the final 600 ft climb in the last mile (I had only gapped him, unknowingly, by about 200 meters). Staring at my garmin, I grinded that last mile in 8 minutes and clicked the watch off at the line in 4:28:50. Tim S. was only a few clicks behind me. 4:28 in your first true 50k with 3,700 ft climb. Not bad Mr. Stahler! He's got a promising future in ultras, if he gets past the "I'm never doing that again", as heard minutes after finishing.

Clean Horizon

2012-01-07T18:16:00.000-07:00

We, Inside Trail Racing, have broken all ties with PCTR (Pacific Coast Trail Runs).

We wanted to provide lucid information regarding the Brooks Falls trail run event coming up on Jan 22nd but have been negotiating with PCTR to transfer all the people who've registered with them (for essentially the same event on the same date, at the same location) over to our event in hopes of providing a seamless process for the runners. Unfortunately, those negotiations came to a stalemate and we decided yesterday to cut all connections with them.

In an effort to show good will and ease the hassle for those who've registered for PCTR's "non-event" at Pacifica, we're offering a high tech shirt at no extra charge for those folks and not charging the $5 late fee increase over the final two weeks before the event (though race day registration is at the normal $15 increase, so sign up beforehand!). Brooks Falls, our inaugural event will be somewhat of a collector's item; one in which you may exclaim to your friends as we grow and sell out events in the future, "I ran Inside Trail's very first event!"

All events on our calendar that are confirmed with the location facilities are OPEN for registration with a nice flow of sign-ups coming in already.

Next week will be a daily barrage of huge announcements coming from the ITR marketing team (me and Tim S.).

1. Announcement of the new Inside Trail Racing Team members

2. Announcement of two new giant agreements with amazing sponsors

3. Information on some brand new hot courses and events, including a 100k, 50 miler, and 100 miler

4. Our online store opens with killer gear and specials!

5. Formation of an "ITR Ambassador Race Team" (resumes and bios can be sent to us via our contact page - please use "ITR Ambassador" in the subject line.

Our goal is to provide fresh, unique events with energy, integrity, and excitement while maintaining a low-key, casual vibe that you won't want to leave after you cross the finish line.

Stay tuned!

Gravity

2012-01-07T15:32:00.002-07:00

Brazen New Year Half Marathon Race Report

2012-01-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

Maiden voyage race in my new La Sportivas

My good friend, Sam Fiandaca, has built an outstanding race event management company (Brazen Racing) from scratch. He's found a solid niche and has filled it with quality events that have exploded in popularity.

I was exhausted after putting on the Rodeo Beach event but needed to blow off some steam, so I headed over to Brazen's New Year Half Marathon the next morning at Lake Chabot. The scene was reminiscent of a renaissance festival, a small village of tents and hundreds of people milling about. In his new, killer, (or serial killer-esque) beard, wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the hood on, and pushing a wheelbarrow, Sam looked like a village hobbit. We chatted for a bit, then I jogged over to the start.

Lon Freeman was the first person I recognized. We'd "talked" via email a lot since we both raced the Ice Age 50 miler last May, so it was a pleasure to finally meet him in person (even if it meant that I'd be getting thoroughly toasted by him over the next hour and a half.

Lon Freeman ripping towards the finish for the win.

I had no expectations and just figured it'd be a good workout run, so I was pretty conservative in the first couple miles. The hills were deceivingly long and my stair workout earlier in the week came back to haunt me with a flood of lactic acid that felt more like molten lead rushing though my legs. After the longest climb of the race, around mile 7-8, I focused on staying consistent and ahead of the guy I'd spotted behind me.

I finished up in 1:35 and 4th place. Hamstrings were singing for the next two days. Thanks Sam for such a fun event. Looking forward to the next one or ten of them.

Rodeo Beach Trail Run Wrap

2012-01-02T10:37:00.006-07:00

Sunset at Rodeo Beach New Years Eve

And suddenly it was over. In the days between Christmas and New Years Eve we put together a trail run; yeah, five days, holiday days no less. The juggling began Monday when I realized that all the vendors (shirts, awards, etc), park permitting ranger, insurance companies, EMT, and USATF (insurance certification/sanction) were closed and were enjoying a week of sparse office hours and an understandable lack of any sense of urgency. To top it off, Inside Trail Racing's other half, Tim Stahler, was back East on a planned holiday break with his family. Though he could work from afar, it was going to be a stressful week.

Frankly, I was concerned about the permitting because it hinged on insurance. The permitting ranger was due back in the office on Thursday (yes, 48 hours before start time). Thankfully, when I pulled and cancelled the permit in a meeting with the national park a week earlier due to the announcement that we (Inside Trail) wouldn't be putting on the event, I asked him to hang onto the permit paperwork "just in case", so it was only a matter of paying for it and providing insurance. The USATF came through with the national office employee responsible for stamping the cert. of insurance coming into the office solely to provide her service to us and the permit was "in hand" now. I did have a contingency plan in place with another underwriter ready to cover the event if needed.

By this point, I had already picked up the shirts and awards. I also did a quick inventory of the equipment and went on one of those crazy food shopping excursions in which I spend a few hundred dollars on everything form soda to beef jerky. "Having a party?" the guy at checkout asks. "Yeah, sort of." 400 of my closest friends will be there.

I've never had to whip an event together in such a short, hectic week. But that's not what made the Rodeo Beach event a success, far from it. The participants made the event. The volunteers made the event. Tim Stahler and I just showed up and sort of managed any ripples to keep the event running smoothly.

Tim Stahler sets up the finish line (apparently with 40:30 left until race start!) Photo Sarah Lavender Smith

Me on an hour sleep - not a pretty sight, I agree. Photo Sarah Lavender Smith

The 50k and 30k started together at 8:30 on time - CHECK
The 20k started 15 mins later on time - CHECK
The 8k started 15 mins after that on time - CHECK

Things seemed to be rolling. Then my phone rang and my Conzelman Rd aid station manager, Ken, was on the other end of the line. In his upbeat, perpetually smiling voice he says, "Hey Tim, it's Ken. The aid station is gone."

Now, having only known Ken for two days, I wondered whether he suffered from some sort of amnesia or something similar, so I, of course, asked, "Are you sure?" "Yep, everything is gone. All they left were your potatoes and sweet potatoes you made." Ken happily reports. Initially, I was slightly hurt that they didn't find my potatoes appealing enough to take.

Quickly, I threw together another full aid station out of the supplies meant for the finish food and pass through aid station at the start/finish and sent the supplies up with Michael (a day-long volunteer who served as shuttle up to the aid stations and store for more goodies). Disaster averted. I'd love to know who would take 200 lbs of supplies, a table, and 15 gallons of water (and leave my potatoes).

The rest of the day was mostly a constant stream of people finishing, a lot of talking, laughing, photos, small fires to stomp out, and anything else to make sure things were in order for the runners.

Tim Stahler handles the timing and had a tough time with the crappy timing software we've been using (after a month of my badgering, we're purchasing the software I've always used in the past) but handled the stress like a pro and was printing out results updates every 15 minutes. It's nice to not have to even think about the finish line other than greeting runners. And the runners were amazing. Smiles were abundant and the kind compliments really made my day but the day belonged to them. The runners and the volunteers were the reason this event came off so well. I owe more than I can say to the volunteers. Without them, Tim S and I simply couldn't have done it. If I forget to name one of you, please comment and chide me for forgetting.

Andrew Mitchell (Volunteer coordination, aid station, course sweeping)
Shelly Mitchell (Aid station)
Gail Merz (Aid station, course sweeping)
Andy Belk (Set up and Finish line)
Mykl Morrissey (Finish line food manager, PB&J sandwich and soup expert)
Michael Jaschob (parking monitor, finish line food, shuttle to store/aid stations)
Janet Thompson (road her bike up from the city and worked an aid station all day)
Ken Michal (Aid station manager, course marking)
Victor Ballesteros (Registration, then stomped in for the 20k win!)
Scott Dunlap (Registration and amazing support)
Stephanie Knoch (not really a volunteer but giant support with registration, shirts, and keeping Tim S from falling asleep in his chair)
And thanks to Dave Mackey for coming out to show his support. Good luck to him at Bandera 100k next week (like he needs luck!).

Tim S. and I are beyond grateful for your generous support and time. An amazing day, indeed.

Andrew Mitchell post course sweeping...

Full results

Sarah Lavender Smith wrote a very special piece capturing the event's mood and the events leading up to it. http://www.therunnerstrip.com/2012/01/report-from-rodeo-beach/

Rodeo Beach Trail Run in Pics

2012-01-01T07:53:00.001-07:00

The Rodeo Beach Trail Run (50k, 30k, 20k, 8k) went about as well as an event can. I'll write a full report later today (after running a Brazen Half Marathon this morning!). Here are some photos from the day…

Arriving at the beach. Beautiful sunrise.

Finish line early (just after starting the last race distance)

Finish line fun.

Group pic. Me, Brian Wyatt, Scott Dunlap, Victor Ballesteros, Dave Mackey (thanks for coming out Dave. It meant a lot to me having you there. You're a great friend!)

Mykl (Right) worked a solid 10 hour day volunteering and making the best soup in the world (at least that's what the 50kers were saying)

Pippit relaxing at the finish with SK. I think he sat on 30 different people's laps.

Pippit greeted many of the runners right down to the last finishers.

Scott Dunlap. Thanks, Scott, for your support and contagious energy. I'm thrilled you were there.

Sarah Lavender Smith apparently wasn't tired enough after running 32 miles and winning the women's event, so she managed a pretty sweet cartwheel at the finish.

Sarah Lavender Smith…. TaDa!

The other half of Inside Trail Racing, Tim Stahler (obviously working his fingers to the bone)

Tim S. Not sure where he finds his energy (He did get up twice for food and bathroom)

Victor Ballesteros. Volunteered in the morning, then cracked a win in the 20k race. Thanks for being there, Victor.

Sunset was just as beautiful as the sunrise 11 hours earlier.

Long but amazing and beautiful day in every regard.

Looking Back - Moving Along

2011-12-30T11:56:00.001-07:00

Got in a sweet stair climb workout that Mark Gilligan (Ultra Signup) introduced to me in the Oakland hills near his house. We mixed in a nice hour+ run in between the climb repeat sessions. Nice to hang out with him (even though I wanted to strangle him while I crawled to the kitchen the next morning) I could barely walk the next day and am still sore two days later. Off to mark the Rodeo Beach course today with Inside Trail's other half, Tim S. Been buried this week in race prep but we have it pretty much under control now. Just need the course marked and then pack a million pounds of stuff tonight and we're done. Oh, and then put the event on tomorrow. Looks like we're at over 400 participants. Weather seems like it'll be decent. Looking forward to it. REALLY looking forward to down time for a couple days after the race. Then next weekend is the Epiphany 60k in East Bay (thanks John Medinger for organizing it). I'm dying to race a long one again. I don't have the long run training in me yet, but feel very sharp and eager to get out there.

Got into San Fran this week and ate some expensive, mushy peruvian food and drank way too many beers. Good time. This second go at California living is like a different world than the first. With the races, I've been up and down the coast and all over the Bay Area. Who knew there was more to offer than San Rafael in Marin (where I hibernated last time I lived out here)?

Speaking of moving. I've moved so many times that I can't remember addresses (hell, even some towns). I set up a new cell service (iPhone 4s rocks) and had to answer a bunch of security questions to prevent identity theft. They're throwing out possible street names where I used to live and I was like, "That one with 'lake' in the name sounds right. Wait, no, the one with 'greenway', yeah, I lived there for about a week…three years ago." Then they asked about possible people I know/knew. "Damn, lady, I live in the present! I don't remember these people unless they owe me money!" Anyway, I finally passed the (freaky long) questionnaire and got my phone. If you didn't get the new number, then you probably weren't meant to.

This year has been a strange one. Nothing terribly earth shattering occurred good or bad. Moved around a lot, met a lot of folks, ran a bajillion races and miles, started a business, yeah, pretty typical year for me. Looking forward to 2012. Going to work and run my ass off. Other than that, no plans really. Only resolution I have is to be good to the people in my life and walk Pippit more.

The gloves come off at Scott Dunlap's Blog

2011-12-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

http://www.atrailrunnersblog.com/2011/12/delicate-fate-of-pacific-coast-trail.html

Inside Trail Hosting Rodeo Beach Event for PCTR

2011-12-25T13:03:00.002-07:00

Rodeo Beach Photo Ingrid Taylor

Pacific Coast Trail Runs (PCTR) has contracted Inside Trail Racing to organize and direct the Rodeo Beach trail run event taking place this Saturday, December 31st. Volunteers are needed, so if you can spare a few hours on Saturday to help, please contact Tim Long or Tim Stahler via the Inside Trail website.

Thanks and we look forward to seeing the participants at Rodeo Beach this Saturday!

Inside Trail

2011-12-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

www.insidetrail.com

Trail Racing Survey

2011-12-21T22:33:00.002-07:00

Yuck.

Please take a couple minutes to take a survey on events and what you'd like to see at a trail race. Everything from trophies to tater tots is covered. Tell us what you like and don't like.
http://www.insidetrail.com/2011/12/quick-survey/
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New Inside Trail Racing logo

2011-12-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

Head over to the Inside Trail Facebook page (please "Like" ITR while your there ;-), check out the new logo for Inside Trail Racing and give some feedback on the poll and/or comments. Thanks! http://www.facebook.com/InsideTrail

Final tweaks on the IT website and should be up shortly (like very shortly).

No Affiliation with PCTR or the Rodeo Beach event on Dec 31st

2011-12-19T20:31:00.004-07:00

We have been advised (through a pdf letter from Sarah Spelt's lawyer) that PCTR will be putting on the Rodeo Beach event on December 31st. As of today, Tim Stahler and I have no connection with that company and have been advised to return anything that we were going to use for the Rodeo Beach event (tents, clock, etc) for PCTR. We were initially asked, in writing, to do the Rodeo Beach event, but as we are now being threatened by her attorney we will not have anything to do with that event. We do hope everyone running in this event has a great day on the trails... there's no better way to celebrate the coming New Year!

The depth of the whole thing leaves me speechless.

We are committed to putting on fun events and have legally gone through the permitting steps to ensure it for 2012.

Inside Trail Racing - New Event Management Co. on the West Coast

2011-12-17T13:16:00.003-07:00

Due to professional differences, we (Tim L. and Tim S.) will no longer work for Pacific Coast Trail Runs following the 12/31 event at Rodeo Beach. Our goal is to put on well supported, organized and fun races for everyone. Sadly, we don't feel that is possible given the current situation within PCTR. We apologize for the confusion and frustration over the past few months regarding refunds and other money owed. However, at this point there is very little we can do to rectify the situation. We do not have access to the funds that were collected for any of the five cancelled events (events cancelled well before we were asked to help with PCTR last month) and therefore not capable of refunding entry fees. At this point, we can only encourage those that are owed money to continue to try and recoup the money they are owed.

The two of us have everything in place (shirts, awards, permits, etc) to hold a super Rodeo Beach race event on Dec 31st and are committed to putting on the event for runners who have paid entry fees. We do not wish to see any further events cancelled, so we'll be out there and we hope to see everyone who has registered (and then some) come out for what is bound to be a great day in the Marin Headlands.

We don't know what the future of PCTR holds but we (the "Tims") will begin holding events with our own event management company in 2012. Our events will include distances from 10k to 100 miles, all on the beautiful trails you've grown to love over the years (and perhaps some you have yet to experience).

For PCTR related inquiries please continue to try the events@pctrailruns.com email. If you wish to contact either of us, for any reason, please do so via our personal email addresses: tim@insidetrail.com (Tim L) or tims@insidetrail.com (Tim S).

And we apologize if you're one of the few who doesn't want to read this. There's a lot of warranted concern and uncertainty and we wanted to at least reassure the few hundred folks registered for the Rodeo Beach event that we will be putting it on.

Look for a release of the event dates on inisdetrail.com soon.
In the meantime, "like" ITR on Facebook - a good way to keep up on announcements. http://www.facebook.com/InsideTrail

2012 Schedule

2011-12-14T12:51:00.003-07:00

Woke up with an email saying "Congratulations, you have been selected to participate in the 2012 Way Too Cool 50k." yay.

It's been a fun couple of weeks with the Hardrock 100, Miwok 100k, and Way Too Cool 50k lotteries. That pretty much solidifies my 2012 schedule up to August:

Jan 8 / Epiphany 60k, CA

Jan 28 / Coyote Hills 13.1 Mile, CA

Feb 18 / Bay Breeze 13.1 Mile, CA

Mar 10 / Way Too Cool 50k, CA

Mar 17 / Badger Cove 13.1 Mile, CA

Apr 21 / Diablo Trail Challenge 50k, CA

May 5 / Miwok 100k, CA

May 12 / Ice Age 50 Mile, WI

Jul 13 / Hardrock 100 Mile, CO

Aug 14 / Tahoe Rim Trail 165 Mile, NV/CA

I'm looking forward to mixing in some trail half marathons to keep some edge to the long races. The only one I may hold back on a bit is Miwok. I'll need to be conservative at that race to ensure a decent run at Ice Age where I'd like to shoot for a podium - a stretch for me. I realize the difficulty in that goal since Ice Age is the last race in which you can earn a spot in Western States, so there's gonna be some straggler big guns there again this year. last year I sort of fell apart at mile 40 and struggled to hold pace for the last 10 miles and finished in 7th in 7:29. It was my first time running back to back 50 milers and I've learned a lot since then and feel I can go into the race this year (even a week after Miwok) and run faster. Guess I'll find out one way or another.

Race Calendar Planning & a Baby-sized Race Report from a Half Mar.

2011-12-10T18:06:00.004-07:00

So, no Western States for me. Frankly, I'm relieved. Hardrock means much more to me and now I don't have to worry about running both. I liked how the 50 mile races on back to back weekends last May worked out, so I'm planning on doing Miwok (yes, choked down that chicken bone price of 175.00), if selected in the lottery on Monday (dec 12th) and then Ice Age 50 again (super event). Then I'll probably be running around Tahoe Rim Trail in sections for both recon and training. Once Hardrock is behind me, I'll either be going after the unsupported FKT of the Tahoe Rim Trail or assisting Gary Gellin in his supported attempt in August. That's as far as I've gotten with the schedule, so need to figure out what's up in the last few months of next year. Here's the schedule thus far:

1/8/12 Epiphany 50k, CA
3/10/12 Way Too Cool 50k, CA [lottery]
3/17/12 Rucky Chucky Runabout 50k, CA
4/21/12 Diablo Trails Challenge 50k, CA
5/5/12 Miwok 100k, CA [lottery]
5/12/12 Ice Age 50 mi, WI
7/13/12 Hardrock 100 mi, CO
8/14/12 Tahoe Rim Trail 165 mi unsupported attempt, NV/CA

Headed down to Santa Clara County to run the Summit Rock half marathon organized by Brazen Racing. Tough course! The first 3 miles have 2,000 feet of climb. Since it's an out and back, I was looking forward to those last 3 miles on the return trip. By mile 1 I had edged up into 2nd with Leor Pantilat a mere memory as he slammed the climb and was out of sight. I've lost no cardio fitness but my power is dull. I couldn't shake the pesky runner in 3rd, so finally he bridged up to me at the half way turn around, which we hit in 1:01+. He gapped me on the climb out of the next aid station but I just stayed conservative and steady until around mile 8.5 where the trail levels into rolling single track. I turned it up enough to feel comfortable that I was probably gaining on 2nd. I hit the beginning of the last three miles of mostly descending technical trail and let it rip. I caught a glimpse of 2nd place's red shirt and slowly reeled him in, finally catching him at about mile 11. He bursted into a new gear and we were flying down the steep trail. He fell twice (yes, Rick M, I stopped to help him up). He was no match for my atomic monkey drop ability in descents. I gapped him over the last mile and grinded the last couple short climbs to the finish in 1:50, 18 minutes behind Leor. With a 1:01 first half and 48 back in, I feel I was a bit too conservative in the first half. Regardless, I'm happy with the effort after only logging 130 miles in November. Results Here
Gear:
Patagonia tech shirt
Race Ready shorts
Asics socks
Bondi-B shoes
no watch.

I hung out at the race for another two hours, chatting with Leor, the RD-Sam, and other folks. Beautiful day in the woods.

It's all about training now. This year has been a test of endurance, fortitude, and mental vs. physical. Next year the focus is on performance and quality. Oh, and organizing big, fun trail events!

Working the Woodside

2011-12-05T10:22:00.006-07:00

If lifting thousands of pounds of equipment, trying to be in five places at once, graciously accepting both accolades and criticisms all in 30 hours of work over a 48 hour period sounds like fun, then I have a job for you!

We at PCTR put on the Woodside 50k, 35k, 17k, 10k this Saturday. The week leading up to an event is, well, hectic. If you let the fact that hundreds of people are trusting you to make the race perfect with everything from a flawlessly marked course to ample amounts of food at aid stations and post race, you can drive yourself nutty. I wake up at 2am and immediately my mind starts rifling though every detail, details I've already taken care of, ones that need to be done, ones that I missed and can't recoup, and ones that escape the checklist I write and rewrite in my mind like an endless looping song.

Tim Stahler, sweatshop labor with Pippit cracking the whip.

Our timer and IT guy (who is gradually taking on more duties with gumption), Tim Stahler, our aid station coordinator (who would miss Woodside due to participation at TNF50), Todd Shipman, and I drove down to Woodside Friday to mark the course. As with most things in the preparation stages, this task took longer than anticipated. I, dumbly, gave myself the longest section of the course to mark. I sort of wanted to see the Skyline and Wonderlich trails. About an hour into the marking panic started sinking in. I was only about 6 miles into it (fast for running through the thick redwoods that had suffered a major windstorm, leaving a thick layer of ankle-rolling debris, branches and snapped trees). I still had a large section of the course to mark and in the dense woods late in the afternoon I was already having trouble seeing in the dusk. To top it off, I noticed I was running low on ribbons. Suddenly, I wasn't having fun any longer. I bumped into a couple on Wonderlich, told them what I was doing, and that I was concerned I'd be stuck on the trail in the dark with over 6 miles of tough terrain to get back to the truck. They offered to give me a ride, so I could finish the current loop and not have to run back (over the sections I'd already marked). Huge relief, not only for me but for Stahler and Shipman, who were waiting for me for nearly two hours, shivering in their running clothes in the dark.

After a restless night sleep, I was on the road for the long drive back down to Woodside on event morning. Stahler drove directly from his house in his previously packed vehicle. We got there at exactly the same instant on time at 7am on the nose. He hopped in my truck and we headed out to set up the aid stations. We heard a noise on the winding drive up the mountain and I glanced back to see this:

Luckily, there was no damage. We got a great laugh out of it too.

For an event with 450 people (heck for any sized event) we were short-handed. I'm so grateful for the volunteers we were able to wrangle, including veteran ultrarunning speedster, Victor Ballesteros, who drove all the way down from Marin County to manage an aid station for 7 hours. Former Ruth Anderson 50 Mile Race Director, Amy Burton, managed the other aid station with speed, efficiency, and bubbling attitude that only a seasoned event person could possess.

I scrambled around trying to do ten things at once. Check-in was backed up with the lack of manpower and I was forced to delay the start times by 19 minutes for the 50k, up to nearly 30 minutes for the 35k and 17k. Embarrassing but unavoidable. It won't happen again. I hate not starting on time.

Things evened out and calmed down a bit once everyone was out on the trail. These events seem daunting when you arrive at the race site, then, suddenly it's nearly over after a blur of 8 hours of activity.

Later in the afternoon, Stahler and I had the opportunity to sweep part of the course and were grateful to have the offer of help come from none other than (the best free solo climber in the world, bar none) Alex Honnold. I hadn't noticed his name on the list but he participated in the 10k and was waiting for his girlfriend to finish the 50k (she won the women's race and was 3rd overall). Alex headed out and took care of the ribbons and any trash (there wasn't any!) on the unneeded section. Thanks Alex!

The last runner finished just as we had packed up everything and were being nudged by the ranger to get out of the park at 5:15pm. After the long drive home, the unloading would have to wait until the next morning.

After unloading everything the next morning, Stahler and I made yet another trip down to Woodside (about 9 hours of driving alone in the 48 hour period…) to sweep the course. This time I was savvy enough to assign myself about 10 miles of course to sweep. After picking up every ribbon and, pleasantly surprising, finding no trash, we drove back, had a big lunch and enjoyed the last two hours of the weekend.

Thanks to the wonderful volunteers, Scott Dunlap for helping out with registration, La Sportiva (and Mike) for their support and presence, Stahler for his level, sharp mind and indefatigable assistance. Especially, a giant thank you to the runners. I had a terrific time watching you folks enjoy the beautiful trails.

Hardrocking 100

2011-12-04T15:40:00.001-07:00

7th on wait list. Training commences today!

Here's the full list of entrants and waitlist:

Hardrock 100 2012
140 Entered (alphabetical):

Tim Adams
Darcy Africa
Honey Albrecht
Robert Andrulis
Kirk Apt
Darla Askew
Cam Baker
Jim Ballard
Jonathan Basham
Jerry Bloom
Steve Bremner
Scott Brockmeier
Gretchen Brugman
Levi Burford
Adam Byerly
Jared Campbell
Jim Campiformio
Noe Castanon
David Coblentz
Kerry Collings
William Cook
Bob Crowley
Dick Curtis
Aaron Denberg
John DeWalt
Mike Dobies
Dennis Drey
Mike Ehrlich
Scott Eppelman
Stuart Erskine
Elizabeth Everly
Leah Fein
James Ficke
Diana Finkel
Brian Fisher
Ernie Floyd
Geoffrey Foote
Clark Fox
Devin Gardiner
Susan Gardner
Susan Gebhart
Chris Gerber
Harris Goodman
Ken Gordon
Brett Gosney
Joe Grant
Dominic Grossman
Drew Gunn
Rich Haefele
Larry Hall
Corey Hanson
Garry Harrington
Jim Harris
Donnie Haubert
Mark Heaphy
Roy Heger
Rick Hodges
Sheila Huss
Kristina Irvin
Randy Isler
Shinsuke Isomura
Clemente Izurieta
Scott Jaime
Julian Jamison
Beat Jegerlehner
Jack Jewell
Brian Johnson
Christian Johnson
Cory Johnson
Lance Johnson
Dakota Jones
Betsy Kalmeyer
Kristen Kern
Robert King
Brad Koenig
Hal Koerner
John Koester
Jason Koop
Larry Kundrik
David LaDuc
Bill Losey
Kim Love-Ottobre
Dmity Lysenko
Ted Mahon
Glen Mangiantini
Brian McNeill
Karl Meltzer
Krissy Moehl
Tommy Mowchan
Warren Muldoon
Brian Murray
Ted Nunes
Barbara Heidi Olmer
Scott Olmer
Kerry Owens
Gareth Parker
Timmy Parr
Eric Payne
Nick Pedatella
Deb Pero
Steve Pero
Rollin Perry
Bud Phillips
Chad Piala
Don Platt
Jason Poole
Joe Prusaitis
Mauricio Puerto
Kris Quandt
Rickie Redland
Axel Reissnecker
Tom Remkes
Jennifer Roach
Geoff Roes
Todd Salzer
Doug Seaver
John Sharp
Billy Simpson
Alan Smith
Julian Smith
Charlie Sperry
Patrick Stewart
Edward Strickland
Doug Sullivan
Jon Teisher
Drake Tollenaar
Chris Twiggs
Diane Van Deren
James Varner
Ken Ward
Mike Weigand
Hans-Dieter Weisshaar
Steve Westlund
Jordan Whitlock
Adam Wilcox
David Wilcox
David Williams
Allie Wood
Blake Wood
Rodger Wrublik

100-Deep Wait List:

1 John Constan
2 David Hayes
3 John Hart
4 Rob Erskine
5 Kenneth Farley
6 Andy Jones-Wilkins
7 Tim Long
8 Scott Snyder
9 Martin Fritzhand
10 Loren Wohletz
11 Andrew Barney
12 Reid Delman
13 Whit Rambach
14 Simon Gilna
15 Nick Serfass
16 Anton Krupicka
17 Randall Dunn
18 Jeason Murphy
19 Ricky Denesik
20 Megan Finnesy
21 Harry Harcrow
22 Mike Farris
23 Gary Redwine
24 Mark Oveson
25 John Wojciechowski
26 Rhonda Claridge
27 Borkur Arnason
28 Tom Stockton
29 Joe Constantino
30 Stephen Young
31 Seth Hales
32 Liz Bauer
33 Tetsuro Ogata
34 Charles Leonard
35 Lewis Persons
36 Jeremy Pade
37 Jordan Hanlon
38 Charlie Vincent
39 Nathan Yanko
40 Jamil Coury
41 Garrett Graubins
42 Barry Oelrich
43 Lain Hughes
44 Colleen Ihnken
45 Todd Cook
46 Heather McNiff
47 Scott Rabb
48 Mark Moran
49 Neal Gorman
50 Thomas Schnitzius
51 Melinia Cabiles
52 Scott Kunz
53 Jeb Burchenal
54 Eric Lee
55 John Fegyveresi
56 Ian Farris
57 Michael James
58 Gary Lukacs
59 Andrew Heard
60 Chris Basford
61 Elizabeth Bouquet
62 David Wronski
63 Ryan McDonald
64 Mike Thomas
65 Travis Liles
66 Andrew Harding
67 Jean Francois Geiss
68 Chihping Fu
69 Kuni Yamagata
70 Flora Krivak-Tetley
71 Becky Wheeler
72 David Larson
73 Ryan McDermott
74 Craig Slagel
75 Bill Jordan
76 Scott Railton
77 David Brown
78 Paul Schoenlaub
79 Dwight Worthington
80 Jim Sweatt
81 Brian Holthausen
82 Jeff List
83 Chris Picon
84 Paul Ralyea
85 Paul Hooge
86 Jeff Browning
87 Masahiko Tamakami
88 Gregory Norrander
89 Chad Brackelsberg
90 Chris Rennaker
91 Troy Howard
92 Diana Widdowson
93 Daniel Brenden
94 Gretchen Evaul
95 Duane Nelson
96 Margaret Welk
97 Todd Gangelhoff
98 Kevin Twidwell
99 Allen Hadley
100 David Pease

To anticipate the inevitable question, here is the highest number on the
initial wait list to get into the run for the past few years:

Year - Highest # to start Hardrock
2003 - 75
2004 - 50
2005 - 28
2006 - 42
2007 - 38
2008 - 99
2009 - 27
2010 - 27
2011 - 36

- Blake

Blake P. Wood
President, Hardrock Board of Directors

MiNOTwok 100k

2011-12-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

Went to put my name in for Miwok 100k and just couldn't justify the cost. I'm not saying it's wrong but too much for my pocket. $11.43 processing fee?

Turkey Feathers

2011-11-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

Brazen Racing's Quarry Turkey race was a big hit. Three hours in the hot turkey suit left me dizzy and a bit dehydrated but playing with all the kids was fun. A small gang of young lads (monsters) harassed me like a swarm of bees. They'd chase and grab my tail, smack my beak, yank my shirt, then run away and repeat it all over again. I finally told them I'd be hiding under their beds at night if they didn't stop.

Turkey Suit and Running

2011-11-23T09:18:00.001-07:00

Yes, that's Footfeathers in the appropriate personage.

It's that time of year again, families gather, warm conversation, good food, reflection on being thankful, and some idiot running around in a 105 degree turkey suit at the Quarry Turkey Thanksgiving event on Saturday put on by Brazen Racing. Thursday I'll be helping them out at their other T-Day event as well, just not in the turkey suit. The weather has been nice, 60s and clear and should continue through the week.

Last weekend we (PCTR) put on the Santa Monica Mountains Trail Run down in Malibu. We arrived on Saturday to a warm and sunny afternoon of trail marking for the 50k, 30k, 18k, and 9k events (sounds daunting but the courses share the same trails). I'm nearly ready to burst from my self imposed recovery month of November, so I wasn't too upset when I got a bit lost, which ended up with a 2.5 hour run on the shoulders of Pt. Mugu looking down the canyon to the ocean and sunset. Beautiful trails.

Of course, race day brought stormy weather with rain starting at 5am and not ending until 7pm. Super weather for the runners but miserable for race directing, as seen in the photo here (I'm in the ball cap to the right "managing". The perplexed looking young lady to the far left led a few runners on a little extra bonus loop of miles off course. I had to run out to investigate reported vandalism (which was fine since I got to get out for another run ;-) and found this girl (the perplexed one) standing at the same intersection she'd already made the mistake at and contemplating making the same 12k mistake again. Ah, trail racing!

Anyway, the event went off perfectly, especially considering the awful weather. We packed up, slept a couple hours and drove back up to the Bay Area. Race directing is terribly glamorous, as I was reminded while left alone to unload a couple thousand pounds of race equipment, soaked and muddy and in need of a good cleaning and airing out. Next event is Woodside 50k next weekend. Hoping for good weather and a perfect event.

Here's a nice video of the Santa Monica event that Billy Yang put together - Boy's got skills.

PCTR Santa Monica Mountains Highlights from Billy Yang on Vimeo.

The Dust Settles

2011-11-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week. I made the 700 mile drive last Monday to my new digs in the Bay Area and jumped into learning the new job. A snag with one of the park permits put a damper on what was supposed to be my first race at Stinson Beach, so we were forced to cancel and yet still showed up to offer up some food at the start, hand out the shirts, and ended up staying there for around eight hours while folks went out for runs varying from 12k-50k. I would guess that about 200 runners came out for the "fun run" cancelled event and they all seemed appreciative that PCTR was still there.

This coming weekend is my first true event as Race Director at the Santa Monica Mountains Trail Run in Malibu. I'm looking forward to getting down there to mark the course and put on an amazing event. I'm super excited to be working at PCTR; there's a fresh energy and focus.

Thankfully, this is my recovery month, so I only have to get out for short easy runs and not worry too much about scheduling. I'm registered for both Western States and Hardrock lotteries now and will build my season race schedule based on whether I get into either or both. I've also been thinking about running the Tahoe Rim Trail (165 miles). I'd like to do it unsupported and see how close I can get to the FKT, which is 63:54 set by Michael Popov just over a month ago (Killian's supported FKT is 38:32!).

I was getting a bit dull in my attitude towards racing but, with the time relaxing and the beautiful weather, I'm getting fired up to race and train again.

Congratulations to Liza Howard on her return to racing and her speedy course record of 15:47 at Javelina 100.

Daily Doodle

2011-11-04T09:56:00.001-06:00

The block of five days not running post Pony Express (92 miles) and easing back into short runs has paid off. My knee (tendon) still gave sharp pain even with the 30 mins of easy jogging but has improved daily. November has become my down time, recovery, whatever it is other than racing. I'll run every day this month but never more than 60 mins a day. It works for me. It keeps my base fitness filled and yet allows for physical and mental recovery/rejuvenation. The fun of planning next year's race schedule is beginning. Of course, I have the added task of scheduling around PCTR's schedule. Thankfully, PCTR's owner, Sarah, is a long distance running nut too, so she understands and weekends like Hardrock are left open (for now) in the PCTR schedule. She knows the need for balance (if there is such a thing in ultrarunning) and we've already talked about a couple of the very important races I'd like to do next year.

Goodbye Redcliff Desert Reserve. Photo: Craig Young

I've been immersed the last few days researching for a story I'm working on. The exact angle from which I want to write it isn't clear yet, but close. Should be a fun story once it's laid out. The work on it will also have to be put on hold for the next couple of days while I pack my meager belongings into my car and make my way west on Monday. I've grown from getting acquainted with the high desert and red cliff trails to forming a relationship with them. Unlike Boulder where I bounce into and trip over 40 people on a weekend trail run, I have never seen another trail runner and nearly no other trail users here. I feel welcomed and absorbed into the landscape and will miss the views, colors, and warmth of the now familiar reserve trails.

USATF MUT Awards

2011-11-02T07:26:00.004-06:00

"Hey, look, he's trying to bury that post about Leadville, 'cause he knew he'd get a can of whoop-ass opened on him for having the nerve to ask why people think it's so popular. Lucky him. I was about ready to go off on that punk."

Naw, the Leadville post is still there and I still have the same feelings about it but I find the USATF MUT awards more interesting. See, I kind of took the time to write my nomination for Nick Pedatella in the Open Ultrarunning award. I also persuaded the humble runner to purchase the quite useful USATF membership (thankfully, they had a close-out special going for only $10). Sorry you had to waste your money, Nick. I guess your outstanding year, including four 100s (two wins, one 2nd, and the most impressive - the 13th at UTMB) didn't hold much weight for the committee. You showed consistency, modesty, fortitude, and ability. You made this American proud with your performance at UTMB. Congratulations on an inspirational year of racing, Nick.

Of course, Michael Wardian won the annual award, again, and is obviously deserving of it. We wrote a bit about the differences with the USATF ultra award here, specifically, the disinterest in the 100 mile distance. Ironic that the headpiece distance in American ultrarunning isn't given a lot of credit with the USATF folks.

Here are this year's recipients of the MUT awards:

Mountain men open: Max King, 31, Bend, OR

Mountain men master: Tim Van Orden, 43, Bennington, VT

Mountain women open: Kasie Enman, 32, Huntington, VT

Mountain women master: Jacqueline Shakar, 51, Sutton, MA

Ultra men open – Ted Corbitt Memorial USATF Ultra Runner of the Year: Michael Wardian, 37, Arlington, VA

Ultra men master: Co-Recipients Chad Ricklefs, 44, Boulder, CO, and Mark Godale, 41, Aurora, OH

Ultra women open – The Ruth Anderson Ultrarunner of the Year Award: Meghan Arbogast, 50, Corvallis, OR

Ultra women master: Connie Gardner, 47, Medina, OH

New category awards for 2011 included:

Trail men open: Max King

Trail men master: Tim Van Orden

Trail women open: Marci Klimek, 24, Phoenix, OR

Trail women master: Jacqueline Shakar

Leadville 100. Wow-wee

2011-11-01T19:18:00.001-06:00

My buckle from 2011 (and my dime)

With the opening of the Leadville 100 registration, there is a lot of buzz everywhere from first timers to veterans in an obvious rut.

One time was enough for me, for now. It was an enjoyable day but I would rank it 5th out of the 5 100s I completed this year (note: would've still been 5th, just edging out Pony Express had I covered the last 8 miles of it to completion).

Pros:
The double climb of Hope Pass
The big belt buckle

Cons:
The course is a bit boring
The race is too crowded
It's fairly easy (comparatively)

There are so many cool 100s in the US, both established old timers and newbies, that draw me in much more than repeating an event like Leadville. Look at something like Grand Mesa 100. The course humbles you from head to toe, mentally and physically. Runners are given a fair amount to complete the race but not coddled.

Obviously, there are 800-1,000 participants at Leadville who may not agree with me and this is just my opinion sparked by all the talk, especially from repeat Leadville runners who are jabbering ad nauseum about the August race. Personally, I'm stretching my boundaries and hoping to be in Chamonix for UTMB during that timeframe and if not, then heading to a different and more challenging run.

Leadville lovers unite and tell me why you love Leadville so much.

Going to California

2011-10-28T19:12:00.003-06:00

I'll be heading to San Francisco as Race Director for Pacific Coast Trail Runs www.pctrailruns.com

Brownie (JT) wins the McDavid calf sleeves (and some other McDavid goodies) for his accurate guess on where I'm moving.

To say I'm excited to be joining Sarah Spelt (Owner/President) of PCTR is a huge understatement. I've been involved in race directing in one form or another for the last 8 years and love every aspect of it from handing out awards to cleaning up trails afterwards. PCTR is THE major player in event management in California and I'm eager to be a part of the commitment to excellence and growth of the business while learning a lot from Sarah who's been driving PCTR since 2000.

I'll be in CA for good starting on November 7th and look forward to this exciting new journey. I'm not made to sit and work under florescent lighting and am thankful my desk, for the most part, will now be on the trails again.

Gathering No Moss

2011-10-26T18:24:00.000-06:00

On the move again. Get out the map and the darts. Just kidding. Well, about the darts and map anyway. I'll be relocating soon and doing what I love doing for work (no, drinking beer and writing obnoxious commentary isn't a paying occupation…yet). Heck, and I was just getting used to sister wives, red cliffs, and having the streets to myself on Sundays here in Utah.

Pony Express 100 Race Report: 8 Miles is a Long Way

2011-10-23T09:52:00.005-06:00

When it's 1:45am
When it's 35 degrees
When you're alone
When you can't walk
And especially when you don't care

About 45 miles into race. Photo Jill

92 miles in 18:45 and I was done. I've never imagined how anyone could stop so close to the finish. Now I know the main reason for me is when I don't care. Had this been Hardrock, I would've crawled to the finish (hell, I did do that in July). But this was the Pony Express 100 and I just decided to run it six days before the start. My season has been like an all you can eat buffet with abundant and varied food. Pony Express was like that last grape on your plate that you pop in your mouth before waddling out the exit. It didn't matter to me enough and I finally found that edge where I could stop and not regret it. At all.

I was fiddling around still getting ready when the race started, so I got underway a few minutes after everyone else. I still took it easy and relaxed running down the dark dirt road alone, finally passing slower runners after about 3-4 miles. I felt good through the first 30 miles but then my IT band started acting up. I didn't stress too much about this because I knew it would pass (or just get numb) after a while. It was bad enough to alter my gait and even cause me to walk for a few minutes during miles 30-40. It was getting hot, so I told my crew (Jen and Jill) to stop for me every 5 miles (instead of 6-7). I only had a 20oz bottle and was going through about 40oz per hour during the hotter hours.

My crew: Jen (red) and Jill (blue). Photo obvious (I'd buy it but I don't buy race photos - it's not 1995 anymore)

Earlier and still chilly

Later, hot and this is a nice little climb up Dugway Pass (those are my excuses for walking anyway)

On the remote Pony Express Trail

We reached the 50 mile finish (50 milers did a point to point run). This is the only "aid station" in the entire 100 miles. I hit 50 miles in about 8:55-9:00. I reached the turn around at mile 58 and felt ok (the 100 mile course is strange in that it runs out 58 miles and comes back to finish 16 miles short of the start line). It was cooling down a bit and I'd found a nice stride at about 12 min miles. I held that pace until about 70 miles where my knee, that had been hurting off and on, began aching in ernest and I'd have to stop and rub it to provide short-lived comfort. I'm not sure what it was and have felt it before in 100s but not like this. It's sort of on the inside (where the knees touch together) and towards the back.

15 miles in. Photo Jill

It was so painful by 79 miles that it made me nauseous and I had long stopped eating and drinking. I was at 79 miles (a check point at the top of a pass) at 10:15pm (15:15 into the race) and it was getting chilly, so I put on all my night clothes, which consisted of a long sleeve shirt, wind jacket and gloves. I was now reduced to just better than 15 min miles and told my crew to go 6 miles and wait for me (mile 85). I reached them in 90 mins. I didn't need anything since I hadn't consumed any water or food in my bottle, so I told them to go out another 7 miles (mile 92). This was a big mistake. My knee locked up from the pain just 10 minutes after they drove off. I could only walk and only with my left foot turned in (pigeon toed) to change where the inflamed tendon (or whatever it was) rubbed my knee. That tactic lost its relieving effect and left me in sort of a quasimodo shuffle-hop. I decided to stop at mile 87 but had to keep moving to get to my crew. I was freezing. It would've been fine had I been able to move faster but I wasn't generating enough heat and hadn't eaten in 5 hours, so the 35 degrees soaked right down to my bones. Finally, a car came up from behind and I flagged him down to give me a ride to my crew, which was about .5-.7 miles but I was thankful nonetheless.

For those thinking of doing the Pony Express 100, I'll be honest about my take on it. Davy Crockett does a superb job. He sets accurate expectations of what to expect. With the mandate of a car-mobile-roving crew for each runner, it can be made into a beginner friendly race (have your crew stop every two miles) or a veteran race (have them stop less frequently). The course doesn't suit me. It's an out and back on a dirt road with cars, most race affiliated and some obnoxious hunters, so there is A LOT of dust to breath in and deal with for most of the run, not to mention the constant zig-zagging back and forth to each side of the road. The course isn't flat but there also aren't any real hills. The scenery is beautiful and it's so remote that there's not much light pollution, so star gazing is perfect (if you can enjoy such endeavors after running 80 miles). The race answered questions for me: 1. I don't like flat(ter) courses. 2. I can't hop into a 100 miler without some deep urge or desire to do it and finish. 3. I'll never underestimate warmer clothing. I've been "burned" by this mistake three times this year and will opt to carry a bit more with me for night/cold running even if I end up not wearing it. 4. I'll probably not use a crew again in any race. It can save time but I end up worrying about them not enjoying it, getting angry with me, spending too much time chatting with them at stops, having to be polite when I feel like absolute shit, and generally uses up a lot of mental energy for me. I seem to move much faster and am more relaxed when doing these things solo and unsupported. I feel badly that Jen and Jill came all the way out there only to have their runner stop just 8 miles short of the finish. Could I have gone on to finish? Probably, but it would've taken me about 4 hours and I would've had to borrow clothing from the girls because I couldn't have gone on that slowly without it. Fundamentally, I didn't care whether I finished or not. I've done enough this year, seen so much diverse beauty, been through so much suffering and elation, met so many unique and amazing people that this last grape at the buffet didn't matter enough to me to choke it down.

A giant and enduring THANK YOU to Jennifer and Jill. It was a great comfort seeing the van and then their smiling faces (and for the delicious case of good beer they smuggled into this 1930s-minded state for me). Thanks to McDavid for all they've done for me this year. They are the sole reason I was able to complete so many races in such diverse venues both in terms of their compression clothing and logistical support. They are an amazing company both in terms of high quality product and devoted people. I'm humbled and honored to have them consider me a McDavid Athlete.

Here's Jennifer's blog post about her trip to UT and crewing for me.
Here's my comment to her, which explains a little more my feelings about the race.

"Sorry for the delayed comment. First, thanks again for coming out there so far to be there for me. I was a bit relieved when I saw you guys had made it into a nice trip, visiting your sister, exploring, etc. and not just driving 10 hours to watch me run down a dust encased road for 19 hours.

Regarding the end and what you could've done to change the outcome, nothing is the answer. I can push though anything in these races and have done it several times (San Diego, Grand Mesa, Hardrock come to mind). This was a unique situation where I was on the verge of doing serious damage by continuing. I obviously could've dragged myself to the finish but it didn't really matter to me. As tough as this run was (dust, exposure, flatness) it wasn't an "accomplishment". The flatness of the course lead me to disinterest and apathy. There were not mountains, no technical trail, nothing really difficult, just plodding along. After the substantial events I had run throughout the year, very satisfying and humbling, this race offered little to me mentally.

I'm actually glad I stopped and wish I would've done so on the pass at mile 80 instead. It's taken me a week now to recover enough to get out for 30 min jogs. I usually bounce back after the 100s I've done in three days and by the next weekend am ready for a 3 hour run. Continuing on for that last 8 miles and 2-3 hours would've probably injured me pretty badly. So, you guys did everything correctly. I'm not used to crews, so I wasn't really communicative beforehand. It's not some giant production (crewing these things or even running them). It's just a run and you just replace calories and water. Not much more is needed and people waste a lot of energy with all the excess outside of their own run.
Thanks so much again. It was great meeting you and Jill.
Tim"

Pony Express 100: Why?

2011-10-19T09:28:00.002-06:00

I don't know.

The Trail. Photo from event website.

Shortly after (like while I was driving away from the campground) the Slickrock fun run a week or so ago, I began thinking about finding another 100 miler to do and the Pony Express 100 made sense. It's not too far of a drive and seems to be a laid back event. With just 3,000 ft of reported climb, it's also flat, so I can actually see what it's like to not have 10-14,000 ft mountains standing between me and the finish line.

The course is, well, on the Pony Express Trail starting in Faust, UT. It's so remote that one of the unique aspects of the race is the requirement of a crew. No crew, no entry. That's what Davy Crockett (race director) wrote back to me when I asked him about entering. Having no friends, I certainly had no crew. Literally, less than five minutes later, I get another email in which I was cc'd in from Davy. A female registrant decided, due to injury, to drop and roll her entry to next year. She also said she may want to drive over (from Denver!) and help or crew for someone. BINGO. We exchanged a few emails on details and now I have two lovely ladies, Jennifer and Jill, as my gel, water, and encouraging word angels.

The only unfortunate thing is that I'm feeling about 75% physically ready for this. I feel a bit heavy and my left hamstring is saying, "Hey, I'm here and I'll pop like an E string on a guitar if you try anything crazy." General life stress over the last two months has taken its toll as well. I'm lucky to get more than two hours sleep lately. Wake up, look over at the clock, 2:00AM, lie there awake, thinking, until 7:00AM, get up feeling hollow. I'm basically a shell of myself lately physically and mentally. Frankly, these long races are my oasis from reality.

Yeah, remote oasis. Photo from event website.

The good thing is that I'm going in with the attitude of taking it easy, no competitive pressure, finish. Even if I were at 100%, it wouldn't make much difference. Jay Aldous is fast and hasn't raced since July (where he ran 16hrs, just missing the win at the Burning River 100 miler - the USATF national championship). He also ran a 15:57 earlier in the year on a course similar to Pony Express, so he'll be miles ahead of me regardless of my running state.

The race starts this Friday at 7AM MST. If interested, there is "Live" tracking HERE

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I've been working with Tim Smith for about a month now on a brand new custom website for Inside Trail! Tim S. rocks and the site is mucho sweet. It should go live tomorrow morning, so swing by and check it out.

Slickrock 50k (65k) Race Report

2011-10-09T09:24:00.007-06:00

Short race = short report (wrong).

I never did find anyone to let my dog out of the car while I ran the 100 miler, so I was sort of on the fence about running it when I arrived at Jug Rock (just NW of Moab UT). There was a large turnout for the Slickrock event and the campground (basically a huge dirt/sand field) was full of runners and their friends and family. It was chilly, in the 40s with overcast skies. I checked in and then we had the pre-race meeting where the Race Director, Aaron, advised that the 100 and 50 mile courses were being changed due to washout and quicksand from the recent heavy rains. I felt bad for him for having to deal with it and know, first hand, how hard it is putting a race on, especially when dealing with circumstances outside your control with a couple hundred people counting on you to do things correctly.

Two things I don't like:
1. 100 mile substantial last minute course changes
2. Repeated loops of any course (which is what the 100 course was changed to).

There was a hesitation in the description of the course with aid stations changing or disappearing all together (e.g. my only drop bag with lights and night clothes was due to be at an aid station that no longer exists at mile 62). I was uneasy about the changes but decided I'd give it a go anyway. I, personally, need to be absorbed in focus to run these 100s. Unless it's bantering with Brownie telling me to move my ass, I don't even like to talk during 100s. I was worried about everything except the race, so I didn't feel good about running it but figured I should. I set up the back of the car and settled in with Pippit and read for a bit before sacking out.

At 4:30am it started raining. I listened to it for an hour, then two hours, all the while thinking that doing the 100 would be foolish. My mind wasn't into it, I wouldn't be able to leave the windows of the car open for Pippit, and just didn't have the focus I'd need to be sure I'd push through those miserable times that emerge during every 100. I decided to switch races to the 50k. Based on the course description, I felt certain a 4 hour finish would be possible and actually felt a rush of relief and eagerness at the prospect of running a short race for a change. I also figured that, being the undercard event, I'd surely win the thing (if you want to do well in races, run the shorter distances of bigger events). Of course, I had no way of knowing Bryan and Corey would be running it too. Both of whom are speedy guys.

We lined up in the slippery mud with rain still lightly falling and were off. The 50k and 100 milers started together; the 50 milers were now starting somewhere out on the course. From the start, Ben Hian and Bryan Goding were running a ridiculous pace down the 4 mile dirt road. I started giving chase, then eased back into a more reasonable 7 min pace and was now alone just 50-75 meters behind the two in front and quite a ways in front of the rest of the group. In the dim light and misting rain I wasn't certain who was in front and actually assumed it was Hian and Glen Redpath.

We turned out onto the highway where Corey Hansen caught up to me and we ran together to the trailhead. I slowed to eat on a short, steep climb and Corey pulled away. I like running alone, so didn't mind. At this point I assumed Corey was now leading the 50k and I was a close 2nd. I kept him in view until we got into some tight boulder/slickrock trails. Eventually, I reached the aid station where I assumed the turn around should be (50k was an out and back design). I had run over 16 miles in 2:15 but was confused that Corey hadn't come back by me yet on his return trip.

Me: "Isn't this the turn around?"
Aid station lady: "No."
Me: "How much further?"
Her: "4-5 miles."
Me: "I've already run at least 16 miles. Are you sure?"
Her: "Yeah, 4-5 miles to the turn around."
Me: "You realize that will make the 50k a 40-41 mile race?"
Her: [Shrugs her shoulders]

I had a bad feeling and was about to just turn around and take a DQ if I was wrong, but I kept going. After about 25 mins Bryan Goding and Corey Hansen were trotting towards me. There was no turn around, or, I should say, it was at the last aid station where the aid lady insisted it wasn't.

I had tagged on over 5 miles in addition to the long 35.4 mi course. We got back to the real turn around where RD, Aaron was standing. Of course, the problem of mis-direction was corrected after I had gone through. Only one guy had just reached the turn around, so we had a 45 minute lead over everyone at the half way point. Bryan said, "Let's start racing at the top of this climb." I wasn't in the mood to race and was in a lot of pain, too much for just 22 miles. The confusion, constant drizzle, cold temps, and general lack of organization (and weak aid stations) was having an effect on my mental state. I came here prepared to run a 100 miler and was now jogging around in some sort of long fun run that I drove 800 miles to do. I didn't budge when Bryan and Corey started to pick up the pace.

Corey must have had similar feelings because I kept noticing that he wasn't putting distance on me and I was just trotting along. At the only other and last aid station with 11 miles to the finish, I caught up to Corey and eased away from him (he clearly wasn't feeling like racing, or even being out there anymore). I started feeling better just by running faster, so I focused on trying to catch the one guy who ran the correct course. I knew Bryan would be impossible to catch at this point (he's faster than I am at shorter races and was having a good day on top of it). I didn't see the other guy until I got onto the dirt road with 3 miles to the finish. I was probably 7 mins behind him but figured I'd run as fast as possible in case he was moving slowly, as happens to many people at these races. I could only manage to close the gap by about 3 minutes and no more. I finally backed off when he reached the turn to the finish and I just jogged it in.

Fueling/hydration:
400 cals of clif bloks
300 cals of Hammer gels
100 cals mini clif bar
40 ounces water
No additional salt intake
Had even energy for the most part and probably should've taken in another 20 ounces of water, since I'm guessing the body pain/aches was compounded by a bit of dehydration.

Bryan had DQ'd himself for going off-course on the way to the finish, so I ended up 2nd in something like 5:40 for 65k, good enough to win a pair of Salomon shoes and a signed copy of Marshal Ulrich's Running On Empty, which I've read, so I gave it to the 3rd place finisher, Roger from Australia. I met and chatted with the event photographer, Michael Lebowitz (Long Run Pictures), changed clothes and drove 400 miles home.

It was nice to run fast for a change. Having not run a 50k since February, I'm not in shape for them. My body is clearly telling me it needs to recover a bit. Nothing really stood out like an outright injury but I had sharp aches down to the bone in both legs, my left IT band was humming and locked up a couple times (from the fast bounding over the undulating slickrock) and acute pain that would come and go in different parts of my calves, like someone was jamming a screwdriver into them. So, the plan now is to run no further than 7 miles for the next four weeks (per run, not over the entire four weeks ;-), get consistent, and then start training hard when I get into Hardrock in the December 1st lottery (faith).

I love racing but am racing at about 75% right now and am just feeling stale. I wanted to run at least five 100s this year. Having done that, I'd like to work my speed back up and hit a couple of 50ks and 50 milers competitively. Of course, all that can change. I'm not breaking any records, so if running another 100 in a month sounds like fun, then I'll go with "fun".

Drop Bag and Gear Planning for Slickrock 100

2011-10-03T18:40:00.000-06:00

What the hell. Race after race I realize how little it matters and how little I care about drop bags or planning, for that matter. The only thing I'm dropping is a pair of shoes and night stuff at mile 51 or 65 aid station. I got a bad blister on my heel from a pair of untested shoes I wore the first 20 miles of Bear last week. All my shoes are destroyed, so I'll be wearing the same blister shoes again at the start (with tape or something on my heel). My Hoka Mafates look like they've been boiled then run through a meat grinder; they'll be in my drop bag and will still make the slickrock surface feel like pine needle bedded trail.

Hoka Mafates. Lost track of the mileage at over 600 a couple months ago.

The less gear, less planning, and less responsibility self-induced, the better the runs are. Worrying and over thinking these things wears me out more than the physical exertion. The only thing I'm concerned about is finding someone to watch Pippit. How can someone resist this little guy?

"Daddy, you're too slow for me to wait indoors all day for you to finish."

Recovery Week and Slickrock 100

2011-10-01T13:18:00.001-06:00

From mile 75-100 of last week's Bear 100 I must have blurted out, "No fahking way I'm going to be able to do Slickrock 100 in two weeks!" fifty times to a disinterested Wayne as we marched our sorry asses to the finish line in Fish Haven, Idaho. The fact that it took me five minutes of grunting and sweating (not the fun grunting and sweating) to just get out of my car in the two days after the race, lead me to believe that running another 100 miles over slickrock and through the desert in 12 days would be impossible.

Well, I took Sun, Mon, Tues off and started back up jogging Wed and by today I actually feel fairly normal again (whatever normal is, since I'm not sure I have a reference base for that assertion). This recovery week I have 35 miles. The thing that surprizes me the most after racing so damn much (5 100s in 3 months) is that I'm mentally eager to run and feel fresh. When I set out on this year's challenge, I figured I'd barf at the sight of running shoes by now. Nope, still reading, thinking, and practicing running every day. Anyway, the chance of me getting over to Moab for the race this coming weekend has gradually climbed to about 90%.

I walked over to the finish line of the St. George Marathon this morning before my own run. The winning time was 2:24, with 2nd in 2:26, then 3, 4, 5, 6 all in the 2:29 minute. Seems like it'd be a fast course since it drops pretty consistently about 3,000 ft from start to finish. I snapped a pic of the winner just before he reached the line. Second place at 2:26 is a guy in his 40s from MA. Surprized that I didn't recognize his name since I know pretty much all of the 10,000 runners around Boston in some way or another. Of course, he lives in Hudson, MA, a good hike west of Boston. The best running community in the country, no contest.

Jonathan Kotter from Provo UT winning in 2:24

And what about the Spartathlon Ultramarathon in Greece? All the Americans dropped? Ivan Cudin (Italy) defends his title from last year winning in 22:57 - that's 153 miles in 22:57 folks.

Italian, Ivan Cudin wins Spartathlon in 22:57, shaving 6 mins off his winning time in 2010.

Bear 100 Race Report

2011-09-26T10:11:00.006-06:00

"How are you doing?" Ellen Parker, eventual 3rd place woman in 23:53 asks as I collapsed into a chair next to her with a cup of broth and blood running down my back.

"I've been better." was all I could manage to say in response.

We were at mile 70 and I had just fallen about a half mile from the aid station, catching a toe on a descent, slamming to the ground where a frozen tree root and half buried rock halted my slide abruptly. I thought I heard a crack and felt sure that my shoulder and/or shoulder blade was ripped from my body. I slowly rolled over, got up, collected my water bottle and stood there wondering why I was doing this to myself. I had no answer, so stumbled down the rest of the descent and came into the scene above with a spunky Ellen, being crewed and paced by Krissy Moehl and Matt Hart, when she asked me the unanswerable question.

Backing up to the start of the race, the temp at 6am Friday morning was warmer than last year and I knew it would be hot mid day. We got underway and trotted down the road toward the opening climb of 4,000 ft to Logan Peak. I got into a nice groove in about 9th place behind the lead pack and remained in that position for much of the next 10 miles. Shortly after the first aid station, Nikki Kimball came by and was moving quickly on the descents. She'd pull away, then I'd make up space on the climbs. I kept focusing on trying to preserve my quads on the descents because the Bear course is one race where trashed quads can end your day. I was quite a bit ahead of my splits from last year and was focused and confident on a mid 21 hour finish. Last year Bear was my first 100 and I finished in 23:05 with long aid stops, getting lost, and generally taking it easy, so 21:30 is definitely within reason.

I switched shoes at Leatham Hollow (mile 20) due to a painful blister on my heel and got underway with Ben Woodbeck (Diana Finkel's husband) and we chatted happily jogging up the road. Before reaching Cowley aid station at mile 30 I had put in a hard effort to drop a loose group of five guys. I was feeling great and just refilled my water and grabbed a pbj sandwich before starting the huge 2.2 mile climb out of the station. This 7 mile section went well and at the end of it is a short out and back spur to the aid station. I was enthused to see that Nikki was only 5 mins up on me and Mike Ferris was 6 mins up. I was feeling good at mile 37 and it was beginning to get hot. I felt the first twinges of cramps in my shin area and then in my inner quads (groin down to mid-thigh). Last year I had a very rough patch through this section; it's exposed and in the heat of the day, so I was mentally prepared for it. However, I still suffered greatly and just couldn't get caught up on hydration. I could see far in front of me and far behind. Using a distinct large bush Nikki was running by, I found that she was still only 6 mins up on me by the time I reached the same bush. That, and the fact that there was another runner in front of her (representing 8th place) basically right in front of me, gave me hope that I'd pull through this bad patch. If I could just make it through the next 7 miles to Tony Grove aid at mile 52, it'd start cooling off, night would emerge and I would run well, like I normally do at night late in these races.

I caught up with a struggling Mike Ferris shortly before Temple Fork (mile 45). We separated but met back up after a long 5 miles of suffering. My race was unravelling and I got passed by a few guys. I caught back up to Mike, who was struggling too, him with very low energy, me with very bad dehydration. He was planning to drop at the next aid (Tony Grove, mi 52). I finally convinced him to continue, "Just take your time at Tony Grove. Eat and drink and sit. You'll come around quickly and feel so much better for finishing, even if it's slower than you hoped" (he was originally shooting for a top 3, much like myself). Mike sat and ate pizza and broth, finally continuing on in much better shape and finished in 25:11, 30 mins in front of me.

I spent the same amount of time at this aid station, cup after cup of Heed (the most disgusting fluid on the earth) and water. My stomach wasn't happy and I felt nauseous but started the hike out of the aid. I made a mini-recovery after an hour or so. Ted Mahon (9th at Hardrock) took a wrong turn and appeared behind me. I followed him into Franklin Basin aid station at 7:06pm, a solid 1:59 split over the 10 mile section from Tony Grove, mostly because I was concerned about getting to my drop back with lights, since sunset was due at 7:20pm. I spent 18 mins at Franklin (mi 62), changed shoes/socks, tried to eat, changed into long sleeve shirt, tied wind jacket around waist, getting ready for a long, cold night mostly. If I could manage the next 38 miles in a pedestrian 10 hours, I'd have a 23 hour finish. At least that's what I kept trying to tell myself in some hope of pushing away the growing pain in both quads. They were hurting and I feared the descents to come.

This brings us up to the beginning of this report where I fell and was eventually slumped in a chair next to Ellen Parker, watching as Krissy brought her a French press of hot gourmet coffee. I got up and left the aid since I was getting colder by the second. I don't really remember the next section much other than bumping into none other than Wayne Rancourt from Idaho. I could hardly believe it. I met him last year in almost the exact same area at the exact same time and we ran together for much of the race, with me finishing just 20 mins or something in front of him. This year was different. We were both having a rough time and he was particularly upset that he (we) might be off course. I reassured him we were fine. After some hesitation and a little back-tracking here and there to confirm we were always on course, we made it to Beaver Creek Lodge aid at mile 75.

The next several hours were a mixture of intense cold (oddly, it was hotter in the day than last year and colder at night as well), water crossings, trying to remember to choke down a gel every hour or so, and searing pain in my quads. I could get into a shuffle run on flat or slight downhill slopes but anything steeper was a lesson in new levels of pain. We reached Ranger Dip, the last aid station at mile 92. Remaining, there was one crazy wall of a climb and then the 4 mile elevator drop descent that I had been dreading since mile 50. The climb was fine, slow but do-able. The descent was heinous. The pain was so incredible that after about 5 mins the pain would make me nauseous and dizzy. Wayne and I had agreed at mile 77 that we would finish together, regardless. He was in rough shape too. I could climb mostly faster but he could descend faster. We worked together and I couldn't help but bitch about the descent and would catch myself and shut up. People were passing us constantly. I would guess we were passed by at least 15 people over the last 9 miles. We jogged across the finish line together in 25:41, 30th and 31st place.

Before the race Todd Gangelhoff and I talked about how we both would love to run a perfect 100 some day. He had a rough one too. After running strong for much of the race, he developed a sort of charlie horse in his thigh that left him to hobble in a couple hours after I finished. I had a great run going for 46 miles, had a bad patch, recovered a little, then spiraled into a deep, dark well of crazy suffering. I'm not sure I'll be able to do Slickrock 100 in 12 days; I was certain I wouldn't be able to walk for a week and planned to skip it but we'll see.

Thanks to Wayne for helping me focus and providing nice company during the "dark hours". Thanks to Todd for letting me crash in his hotel room the night before the race. Thanks to Rae Jean for babysitting my dog while I ran. And thanks to Leland Barker and the kind, attentive aid station volunteers. Running these things solo with no pacer or crew is the way I like to do them but I appreciate the smiling volunteers who somehow help soften the razor edge pain these races often induce. It was a humbling race. Thanks to McDavid for their continued support, both literally and figuratively.

Bear 100 quick recap

2011-09-25T09:25:00.000-06:00

Finished bear 100 miler in 25:41. 22,000 ft of climbing starting in the wasatch mtns of Utah and finishing at bear lake in Idaho. Quadriceps were shot after 65 mi and basically walked it in the last 30mi. Disappointing but finished.

Big congratulations to my buddy Nick Pedatella for taking the win in 20:55.

Bear 100 Preview

2011-09-20T09:45:00.000-06:00

Bear 100 Elevation Profile

Check out the preview and predictions over at Inside Trail!

Solo Routine Broken

2011-09-18T17:03:00.002-06:00

Craig powers up an early, soft climb

I've been running solo for a month, so it was nice to have a buddy who was working a few hours away make the trip over to have dinner, then run 19 miles the next morning. Craig just ran (rocked) his first ultra last week, so he's in that honeymoon phase where running is glorious la, la, la!

Far removed from the honeymoon phase of ultras, I'm more in the phase (of this season anyway) where you are sitting shirtless on the sofa watching Jeopardy and yelling at the wife for another can of PBR. Bear 100 in 5 days? Big f-ing deal, let's run for 3.5 hours. The pace was relaxed and we (I mostly, due to my hermit-ism lately) talked constantly. Typically beautiful day in the 80s and sunny and we didn't see even one other runner on the trail. I haven't seen ONE trail runner in a month here. Time to move on already?

Not sure what to do with Pippit while I run Bear. Hopefully, we'll find a sitter. He jumped in Craig's truck the minute he opened it to leave and was ready to go home with him.

"Don't forget the beer, Craig. Let's hit the road!"

All around, good day and great company.

Inside Trail and Wordpress

2011-09-15T09:31:00.000-06:00

It seems Wordpress took Inside Trail down. I'm working on it (read: waiting forever for their reply to my email) currently. One of several reasons I would prefer a stand alone website that I could manage. If they're going to rip a blog down without warning, at least have a system in place in which one may restore the site quickly. It was a damn good post today too. I'm going for a run and hope to have it fixed by the time I get back.
Tim

run, sleep, surf

2011-09-13T17:02:00.003-06:00

That's about the extent of my daily existence recently - run, sleep, surf the web for work. Still poking around for work while I watch my small funds dissolve. Broke my hydration bladder in my Nathan pack. Any hydration company looking to sponsor someone racing around 1,000 miles this year, give me a call (preferably before the Bear 100 next week - I'll die of thirst and it'll be on your head).

The good thing is my running is consistent and I'm in better shape than last year at this time. Hell, the daily run is the highlight of my day. Kinda like Pippit's highlight is his daily walk.

Pippit knows when it's time to walk and gives me that "look", as seen here from earlier this week.

Along with the consistency of training, I get to sort of reset my life. I figure a reset is good for my iPhone, so why not for me as well?

AJW has started the ethnocentrically glazed talk of UROY. He points out that Ian Sharman isn't technically an American, but neither is Nick Clark (corrected by a friend - Nick apparently has dual citizenship, so I'll use Ellie Greenwood as my example). This is one of several problems the UROY award and its organizers are going to need to address. UROY, if only for a North American citizen.... Dave Mackey stands alone. If they open it to UROY of the world.....? hmmm, I wonder.

Bear 100 in 10 days. Ready to rip.

Wasatch 100 Preview

2011-09-07T08:30:00.001-06:00

Photo mrc-ultra.blogspot.com

"One Hundred Miles of Heaven and Hell"

In the true spirit of American ultrarunning, when you do something tough, you look for something tougher. Inspired by the Western States 100, five entrants ran the first Wasatch 100 in 1980. Two of them finished after 35 hours. The next year saw a 40% increase in participation with seven people starting the race. No one finished. Now, after 31 years, one of the most difficult 100 mile runs in the US will see 250 “lucky” lottery winners lining up at 5am this Friday morning to start yet another odyssey through the jagged, rocky trails of the Wasatch Mountains.

Read the rest of the piece at Inside Trail

Desert Solitaire

2011-09-02T12:56:00.002-06:00

Surrounded by mountains, endless trails.

I've said it before. I love running in the high desert. I've thought about it a lot, especially during the runs, and can't describe why I enjoy it so much. Anyway, I've gotten back into a good training groove following Leadville and feel like I should run well at Bear. An update on the course conditions was emailed today and the description read, "outstanding condition", which is nice to finally hear after continually running races with abnormal overgrowth, rivers running high, abundant snow... They did point out that a couple of the river crossings are high and wet feet might be difficult to avoid. One thing I've learned this year is that I don't mind wet feet for racing. Actually, depending on how many miles my dogs have pounded, it feels pretty nice to wade through ice cold rushing water.

The body feels perfect. It'll be tested tomorrow when I hit a long run. Last year on this day I ran 41 miles on the Colorado Trail with Scott Jaime, who, at the time was celebrating his one year anniversary of running the entire CO Trail. I'm not sure I feel like going 41 miles tomorrow and definitely don't need to run that long but 25-30 with some good climbing (impossible to avoid here anyway) for sure.

I'm also now registered for the new Slickrock 100 in Moab, which takes place two weeks after Bear. Slickrock looks like it has everything one would want in a 100. Wander over to the well done race website and take in the photos and description of the course. I wouldn't be surprized to see Karl's name pop up on the entrants' list. If his back is better, this is a course he loves "running on the moon".

At the start of the season my hefty goal was to run five 100 milers. Slickrock will be the sixth (assuming I finish Bear). Bear is where my whole love of 100s began last September and to say I'm excited to run fast there this year is an understatement. I'll miss having Aric Manning there as my crew but I'm looking forward to zipping through aid stations this time around and not having a friendly face there giving me an excuse to linger and chat.

Things I'll do differently this year:
No watch
Hydration pack the whole race
Change into Hokas later in the race to prepare for the audacious 5,000 ft descent at the end
I might use trekking poles. Certainly enough sick climbs (23,000 ft climb) to warrant their use
McDavid compression (people ask how I recover so fast with almost no effect of all these 100s - McDavid)

Interview with Salomon Running's Adam Chase

2011-09-01T08:17:00.003-06:00

Looks like a team training run... Actually, it's Team Salomon leading the charge at UTMB (Salomon)

Interview with Salomon Running's Team Captain, Adam Chase. Explore the supremacy at Inside Trail.

UTMB Commentary and Recap

2011-08-29T09:05:00.001-06:00

The North Face's Sebastien Chaigneau, 3rd overall at UTMB (photo: The North Face)

Write-up and thoughts on UTMB, Salomon dominance, DNFs, and the future over at www.insidetrail.com

Post Leadville Week and UTMB Video

2011-08-28T16:30:00.002-06:00

Feeling good. Got in a couple of decent recovery week runs of 13 and 16 miles on hilly single track. Took the road bike out this morning for 90 mins. 25 days until the Bear 100.

Very cool video. I'll be registering for this monster, no doubt...
You may want to mute it; the music gets a bit tedious.

UTMB post and picks

2011-08-25T11:32:00.000-06:00

Check out our UTMB post and picks at www.insidetrail.com

Can the Americans gain back some ground at the biggest event of the year?

Leadville Trail 100 Run Race Report

2011-08-23T06:24:00.002-06:00

Short road section after Fish Hatchery around mile 25

The 100 mile races are getting easier, to some degree, to run and more difficult to write about. It must be that some of the key details of the experience are getting washed under with repetition, like seeing waves at the beach for the first time, at first you notice the details of each wave, where they break, size, shape, what they wash up to the beach, how they recede. After several you just take much of the details for granted and accept they exist without paying a lot of attention to them. At some point my race reports will be boiled down to, "I ran 100 miles in the mountains. It was hard." Some folks may appreciate that report more than the detailed stories these races tend to foment from even the less expressive of us.

This was my fourth 100 mile race in ten weeks. The months leading up to the first one seemed slow until they began with San Diego 100 in June. Then it turned into a rush of race, recover, run, taper, repeat. I was more focused on Leadville with it and Bear 100 (in four weeks) as my goal races this year, so I put some time into the preparation, as opposed to my normal, "Uh, let's see, shorts, shoes, directions to the race, done." I even had a crew, a pacer (eventually two pacers), and clear goals.

A lot was going on for me the week of Leadville. I just quit my job, working my last day before leaving for the race, and planning on moving out of Colorado a couple days after the race. So, my brain power, limited to begin with, was stretched thinly. It did serve to keep me from getting nervous about the race. In fact, I can't think of one minute I was concerned about the run. As Karl says, "100 miles isn't that far." I'm beginning to see that. It was just another run. After Hardrock I'm afraid all 100s will be just another run. I'm not saying I was skipping lightly over the finishing miles of Leadville because it was so easy but, comparatively, I felt pretty decent, even during the low points.

Dylan Bowman (2nd in 17:18) and me pre-race meeting

Jeff Browning ready to put a hurtin' on people

Jeff B.

South African, Ryan Sandes pre-race meeting. Dude was exuding confidence and is a very nice, outgoing guy. I was very happy to see him win in such dominating fashion.

Timmy Parr (left) and Duncan Callahan. Down to earth, former champions of Leadville.

Now we speed up the report (thank me later) and get on with the mundane details. My crew was Steve and Kathleen of Happy Trails. We've been friends for a few years now, since I moved to Colorado (the first or second time) and have shared miles of trails and mountains together. They're bright, cheerful, kind, and generous. One couldn't ask for a better crew. They may almost be too nice because I ended up spending no less than 1 hour and 35 mins in aid stations. Yes, 95 minutes out of my race was spent hanging out with them, cold wash cloths for my face, nice conversations about the race leaders, finding out how friends in the race were doing, talking about the section I just covered, where to park, everything. Conservatively and realistically, I could've easily hit my goal of a 19:30 finish had I made my stops more efficient but spending time with Happy Trails was a nice trade off. We had to go over certain things about the race leaders since Steve and Kathleen were covering the race for me and Inside Trail via Twitter, so I spent time going over the splits between the leaders, what they looked like, who was making moves, etc.

Brandon Fuller was kind enough to provide me with a place to sleep at his nice second home in Leadville. He ran into some serious issues late on the course involving dehydration and hypothermia and, unfortunately, had to drop. He took a gamble by taking it out hard but sometimes the heart of a lion isn't enough to carry you through everything these races throw at you. A heavy dose of respect is due. He'll be back just as strong and smarter.

I'm not big on race briefings. They tend to just be an opportunity for the race organizers to gush at the sponsors. Leadville's meeting is in an old gym downtown and is packed with over 1,200 people, generating increasing heat and carbon dioxide to the point of suffocation. Here's a quick video of the ordeal.

My race gear included:
Sleeveless shirt
Shorts
Socks with toes
PI Fuel XC shoes (for the first 60 miles, then the big Hokas)
McDavid calf sleeves (can't live without them)
50 ounce hydration pack
Salt tablets
Power bar
Rudy Project Zyon sunglasses
Highgear watch

The race starts at 4am, an hour that can't really even be considered morning yet. We were underway with the boom of Ken's shotgun. It was cool but not cold and I was comfortable in my race singlet and shorts with just a light jacket and gloves. I settled into around 25th place as we trotted down 6th St to the long dirt road called the "boulevard", then the long, winding trail alongside Turquoise Lake making our way to the first aid station at 13.5 miles, Mayqueen. I arrived at Mayqueen in 1:52 where my crew filled my water pack, dropped my jacket and light, talked about how to recognize the leaders for the twitter updates, and I was on my way to the next section on the Colorado Trail leading to Fish Hatchery at mile 23.5.

Zipping along the 4 mile road section just after Fish Hatchery around mile 25

I was feeling fine and getting into a decent groove with just my stomach churning a little. Finally, at Half Moon (now called Half Pipe I think) at mile 30 I spent some quality time in the much appreciated addition of porta potties and felt like a new person and was on my way to Twin Lakes (39.5). I was either right on or just a bit faster than my anticipated splits, even with taking 10 minutes at each aid station. I felt great and guessed I was in the top 20 for most of the first half of the race. At Twin Lakes I grabbed my trekking poles for the double traverse of Hope Pass (12,600 ft). I don't think I've ever climbed so well. I passed or left people in my wake grinding up that sucker. Again, my perception of climbs like Hope Pass has been diluted by Hardrock climbs like Virginius, Oscars, and Grant Swamp Pass; I still have regular dreams about climbing those monsters while unable to breathe. Soon I was at Hopeless aid station where I let out a whooping yell, which was echoed by the aid volunteers with equal enthusiasm. The llamas milling about up there just turned their heads to view the commotion and went back to grazing. I popped up and over the pass and jammed down the other side which is much steeper, leading down to the dirt road to Winfield and mile 50.

Making my way through the lumpy field at Winfield, the turn around point.

I weighed in at 145.6 (start weight was 148.7) in good shape. I took a very long time at Winfield, emptying my shoes, eating, cold washcloth, drinking, talking, laughing, saying hi to folks, generally wasting a lot of time and finally leaving about 18 mins after getting there. I left at the same time as Bob Sweeney, so we ran together for the length of the dirt road (4-ish miles) to the base of the climb up Hope Pass. As noted earlier, this side is very steep, especially at the bottom. I just put my head down and got into a rhythm, slowly leaving Bob and hauling ass to keep anyone from catching up to me.

I crested the top and dropped down the 600 or so feet to the Hopeless aid station, again letting out a yell. I felt great still and was flying down the upper section of the descent. Then I started feeling a little dizzy and weak and my quads were getting sore and wobbly. I was bonking from the effort on the previous climb. It's difficult to catch up on fueling and hydration on a long 3,000+ ft descent. All the jarring and bounding causes my stomach to cramp, bloat, and generally not feel so hot. Not far from the bottom I was passed by Brian Fisher and his pacer Todd Ganglehoff. They were all smiles flying down the trail, zipping by me while I was stopped to pee. I tried my best to keep a decent pace and reached the meadow at the bottom of the climb where the woman's leader and her pacer caught me just before the river crossing. I put my head down and grinded back up to them and passed them - got a bit of a second wind and cruised back into Twin Lakes (mile 60.5 now). I was in a bit of trouble with a major bonk. I changed shoes and socks, tried to eat, drank in about 250 calories of some mix I made, tried to relax and picked up my pacer, JT (Brownie). That stop took over 20 minutes and I was a good chunk behind my splits, like 50 mins off or so.

Brownie and I climbing up out of Twin Lakes

We scaled the wall out of Twin Lakes and I was still trying to choke down a portion of sandwich Brownie made me take with us. I eventually just flipped it into the woods when Brownie wasn't looking. It's a good, long climb of about 3.5 miles and then turns into some great, rolling descents and flats where you can cruise along well. It took a while but I was starting to get some energy back and we were making good time. We reached Half Moon (mile 70) where I asked what place we were in (17th) and how long ago the previous runners came through (8 mins). Sweet, I knew that my asking those questions symbolized my desire to move faster and be competitive. We ran almost every step past tree line and onto the road section leading to Fish Hatchery. When I was feeling awful, I made a deal with Brownie that if he set his stopwatch on the dreaded road section, I would run 5 mins, walk 3, run 5, etc. When his watch beeped after 5 mins and he asked if I wanted to walk, I just kept running. The watch beeped again signaling another 5 mins passed and we kept running. The third time it beeped Brownie just said, "I'm just going to turn the timer off since it looks like we're not stopping." We caught 16th place about a mile before Fish Hatchery but behind us was Dan Vega, a great runner I just witnessed running a 15:30 100 miler on Antelope Island in March.

Fish Hatchery Inbound (mile 76.5). Me talking with crewman, Steve and Brownie with Katie and demon dog, Holly.

At Fish Hatchery (mile 76.5) Vega entered the aid station just as we were walking out. We had grabbed our lighting since it would be dark at some point near the top of the next massive climb up Power Line. Because I took so damn long (again) in Fish Hatchery aid station, I was in 17th again with Vega charging up Power Line behind us. I enjoy running at night on trails and, unlike most, I get a boost of energy from it. I even commented to Brownie, "I love running at night so much, I think I'll do the Grindstone 100 next year (it starts at 6PM, so you run all night)." Brownie replied, "How can you even think about doing another 100 right now?" He was right, here I was over 80 miles into a race, feet and legs aching, stomach in knots and I'm planning my race season for next year... Once cresting all the false summits of Power Line, we eased into a nice run down the road leading to the single track of the Colorado Trail that lead to the last aid station, Mayqueen (86.5). I got a bit ahead of Brownie on the single track descent but we met back up near the bottom and popped out onto the road together. I entered Mayqueen and some guy came bursting in behind me, so now I was in 18th place. Damn. Brownie was a huge help and kept me motivated and focused from mile 60-86.5 (he had raced the Pikes Peak ascent THAT morning too, so a full 40 mile day of mountain running for the boy).

At Mayqueen I changed into a long sleeve shirt, ate some salty soup, picked up my new pacer, Tim Waggoner (Lucho) and was off in pursuit of the finish line. I paced Lucho last year from mile 50 to 100 at Leadville and he had a rough time over the last 13.5 miles, walking slowly the last 7-8 miles, so both of us were intent on making up for that this time. Lucho was amped up, "wanna hat? a jacket? wanna gel?, wanna third light?, wanna Red Bull shooter?" My only response was, "I want this trail to be done." [meaning the trail along Turquoise Lake]. We made our way along the endless lake and spotted headlamps of the next competitor in front of us just before we got to the road. We passed them and were now in 17th. Then we saw headlamps up in front again. We held back just a bit and followed them up the road, and back onto the short trail that lead to the "boulevard" (the 3-4 mile dirt road leading to 6th St and the finish). We passed those guys along that trail and I started picking up the pace but Lucho whispered to "ease back", so I did. It was smart; keep running but easy enough to have some power left if needed. It wasn't really needed. We were now in 16th. Shortly after that we came up to the next runner barfing on the side of the road. Now I was in 15th and content to hold that position. We cruised up the boulevard to 6th St and I ran it in to the finish for 21:04 and 15th overall. Lucho will be pleased to learn that my chip time was 20:59:52, since he was slightly hinting that we should try to go under 21hrs but, at the time, the math for me to do that was just not adding up. I guess they must have used the "gun time" as 4am and we actually started crossing the line to start at 4:04am.

Crossing the finish line at 1AM.

In the med tent just after finishing with my rockstar pacers Brownie (left) and Lucho (right)

My amazing friends and crew Kathleen and Steve (going to miss you guys!)

After lying in bed aching for a few hours I got up and had a nice (giant) breakfast of huevos rancheros with Steve and Kathleen and then laid down for a bit before the awards at noon.

Finish line the next morning (people still finishing up until the 30 hour cut off at 10AM)

Me walking up to get my 3rd place age group awards and big buckle

Shaking 2nd place age group winner and friend, Brian Fisher's, hand

Shaking age group winner, Jeff Browning's, hand (Jeff and Brian are great runners. Happy for both of them!)

Ryan Sandes accepting his overall winner award

Buckle

Thanks so much to Steve and Kathleen, Brownie, Lucho, and Brandon. I'm very fortunate to know each of you and appreciate you.

With Lifetime Fitness as the new race owner there were polar shifts in the differences in certain regards. The electronic chip timing was pristine; every aid station had mats to run over for a split time. The course may have been over marked, if that's possible. I appreciate the work that went into the race this year but am not certain whether I like it better than the grit and self reliance of a race like Bear. Leadville doesn't look bad on paper but it's a sneaky monster that lures you into running too fast for the first 40 miles then kicks you in the teeth with a double climbing of Hope Pass. The altitude doesn't help much either. It was a hard earned finish but I have the Bear 100 to focus on next month.

Leadville 100 Run Quick Recap

2011-08-21T14:07:00.000-06:00

622 started
340 finished
92 finished under 25 hrs for the big buckle

I finished 15th overall in 21:04

Thanks to Steve, Kathleen, Brandon, Brownie, and Lucho. They were a big part of my race.

Bib Number 515

2011-08-19T09:37:00.002-06:00

515 is my bib (if some care to follow along on the Leadville race site - they're supposed to have live tracking). Since the chip is in the bib (chronotrack system), we can't fold or cut the bib. I don't like this...have to have a big-ass bib number pinned to you all day.

Brandon Fuller had a nice little get together at his Leadville pad. He and his sister, Natalee, did a great job with it and it was nice to meet some of the local runner blog guys.

The mandatory briefing is in about an hour. Not big on crowded spaces and this will probably be over 1,200 people crammed into an old gym. I once sweated completely through a shirt and suit jacket at a ballet because it was so crowded, some sort of phobia I guess. I'll be near the door at today's meeting...

Will update twitter @insidetrail as warranted with words and photos.

Check out the great Pikes Peak race preview at Inside Trail

Leadville Notes and Life

2011-08-18T10:51:00.001-06:00

Leaving for Leadville today and should be there by 4pm. I feel pretty calm about the whole thing; I suppose, as I mentioned before, I'm getting comfortable with 100 miles. This one is a little more focused than the last three. Hardrock was just so much and came so abruptly that I really just winged that one. Grand Mesa was a study in patience and remaining calm when faced with no course to follow. San Diego was a bit of a letdown. I hoped, honestly for a top 5 finish and sub 20 hour finish but, well, got into bad physical trouble, forcing me to walk slowly for 3 hours to the 50 mile aid station, then lay in a tent for over an hour, though I'm happy I was able to turn it around for a 22:46 finish, running the last couple miles in 7 min pace. Weird experiences. But that's one of the things I like about the 100s, the weirdness and cold reality in the magnification of small mistakes. I feel super for Saturday's race, both physically and mentally. Found out today for certain that Tim Waggoner (Lucho) is pacing me from Mayqueen (mile 86.5) into the finish. So, I'll have JT (Brownie) from mile 60 to 86.5, then Lucho, who is amp-ed up about it and it, in turn, makes me AMP'D UP. I paced Lucho last year from mile 50-100 for his 19:19 6th place finish, and that's with a massive implosion after Mayqueen where we walked almost all of the last 8 miles. I think he's interested in making sure I (with his help) make that section our bitch this year.

Yesterday was my last day at work. So, anyone need a marketing/pr wiz, give me a call. I specialize in promoting and advising elite athletes (sort of like an agent) on how to maximize their sponsorship agreements and exposure. I can do the same for any individual endeavor, including business entrepreneurship requiring clear focus and self presentation.

I'm moving next week too (bye Boulder). Big freaking week between now and next. According to most medical studies, I should probably have a heart attack or stroke with all the factors going on currently. Oddly, I take things in stride and am fairly laid back in the knowledge and experience I've gained over the last several years. The World Futurists Society wrote an article seven years ago (I distinctly remember reading it in my favorite pub one night) predicting the key skill of future business leaders would be flexibility and a varied background. Maybe I could apply for CEO of Apple.

Leadville Trail 100 preview

2011-08-16T08:53:00.002-06:00

Leadville Trail 100 preview and predictions up over at Inside Trail

Nick Clark Interview...Leadville Updates... and the taper

2011-08-13T08:14:00.005-06:00

Nick Clark dropping into Ouray at Hardrock 100 last month.

First, the interesting stuff:
Inside Trail (www.insidetrail.com) has posted a great interview with Nick Clark coming off a busy month of podium finishes at Western States 100 and Hardrock 100 and is now donning battle gear for tomorrow's Sierre-Zinal mountain race and, ultimately, UTMB in two weeks. Read what he feels his secret is to dominating ultra trail races.

Inside Trail on Twitter

Next:
Inside Trail will be tweeting (twittering...?) updates at the Leadville 100 run next week. Correspondent, Happy Trails (who is crewing me for the entire 100) will be providing updates on the race leaders, times, splits between, how awful they look, and who's making the race exciting. Good idea to follow Inside Trail on Twitter now, so you don't miss the action. Oh, and they'll occasionally update my suffering progress throughout the day as well...

Finally, the boring stuff:
After a rock solid four months of training (three 100 mile races, two 50 mile races, many 4-7 hour runs...) I've been basking in the taper stage this week with a steady dose of the exact same run, same route, same 7 miles, in the same time, every day. This nice little routine seems to work best to keep me fired up about running, maintain confidence that I'm fit, and allows the body to repair anything in, well, disrepair. Speaking of feeling good, McDavid is sending me completely redesigned compression gear for the race, including new calf sleeves. It's like Christmas. Yes, my life is that exciting.

No sandbagging here. I feel great. I'm at 148 lbs (about 5 lbs lighter than earlier in the season). I know the Leadville course. I have a great crew for support and a pacer I (strangely) really enjoy running with. So, I'm looking to run well.

Sierre Zinal... The perfect mountain race?

2011-08-12T06:24:00.000-06:00

Head on over to InsideTrail where Matt has written an excellent piece on this weekend's star-filled Sierre Zinal.
www.insidetrail.com

Leadville Pacer

2011-08-11T06:18:00.000-06:00

So, this is my pacer at Leadville.

Welcome to my life.

Julien Chorier Interview at Inside Trail

2011-08-10T08:39:00.000-06:00

Check out our new project, Inside Trail. More information forthcoming but for starters enjoy an interview with Hardrock 100 champion, Julien Chorier. www.insidetrail.com

Pawnee and Buchanan Passes Loop Group Run Video

2011-08-07T10:13:00.000-06:00

There are certain days that can fill a mind, pushing out any negative thoughts and experiences. Yesterday's run was that for me.

I planned to head over to Leadville and run out and back from Twin Lakes to Winfield. It seemed logical with Leadville 100 just two weeks away. But I've seen enough of Hope and the course to know it and know how to run it and, for once, I didn't feel like running alone. Some guys, spearheaded by Todd Ganglehoff, were planning on tackling the difficult and scenic Pawnee/Buchanan Pass Loop in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, so I decided to join them.

It was a little bigger of a run than I wanted to do, so I decided to take photos and video of the run as sort of a governor to keep me pausing and not try to keep up with the speedy guys. There was a good amount of snow, some mud, abundant water crossings, long climbs up to 12, 541 ft, waterfalls, sunshine, good conversation, and a dead bunny in Troy Howard's grill. Great, tough, long run.

Here's the video

Recovery week, whatever the hell that is.

2011-07-30T14:39:00.002-06:00

File photo: Boulder Reservoir

I remember way back when I started running ultras and my first 50k (Rattlesnake 50k four years ago this month). I finished 5th with good company: Sean Andrish, Mark Lundblad, Alex Barth, and Brian Schmidt (of course, I didn't know who those guys were back then) and couldn't walk for a week afterward. Here I am now eating 100 milers like candy and wanting more after just a few days. After finishing Grand Mesa 100 Sunday morning, I took three days solid off, not even my normal 3 mile walks. There are the dull muscle aches and more acute pains, like where the collars of my shoes bore into the ankle and nearly made me gasp for air in pain towards the end of the race. One thing I've learned since my first 100 last September is to be patient with myself and not stress about these pains. After Bear 100 my ankle was swollen like the elephant man and hurt like hell. I was like, "oh great, now I'm injured. Should've never run a 100." It's 100 miles in a day! Of course there will be lingering pain. The body, at least mine, seems to retain everything in the days following a 100. I'm swollen from my feet to my fingers and feel bloated and fat for 2-3 days. This is when I take it easy. As soon as I notice the swelling is gone, I'll get out for an hour run. That first run is uncomfortable and awkward. The second one is better. Today I ran 24 miles (today's my birthday and thought about running my age, 29, but was a bit worn out), just six days after running 110 miles at 10,000 ft altitude. It felt fine. I was a bit lethargic because I wasn't planning on running that long and only brought one Power Bar (burned 2,500 calories and consumed 240 - even the bright people with whom I work could figure out that there's an imbalance there). I ran to the Boulder Reservoir and did laps there, rationing out my Power Bar a little bite each lap. Good run with no residual effects from last week's race. I'll finish the week with 50-something miles. While plodding along today, I figured out that I've run 70,000 ft of vertical climb in the last 45 days. Bam!

After spending way too much time on them, I've got my ambitious splits set up for Leadville. If I show up with some energy, I think I've got a good shot at keeping up with them. I know the course pretty well and will have a great support crew and greasy fast pacer and I don't want to let them down either.

Looking to head down to Leadville next week and run from Twin Lakes out to Winfield and back (miles 39.5 to 60.5). If anyone is interested in joining me, give me a holler.

McDavid Survey. Get 25% Off Superior Compression Apperal!

2011-07-28T11:15:00.000-06:00

Get 25% off purchases by simply completing this quick survey about McDavid. Doesn't require any contact info from you.
https://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22CS8K3VXLQ

Grand Mesa 100 Race Report: Part 2 of 2

2011-07-26T16:28:00.001-06:00

At the finish with race directer, Phil (yes, I wanted to ask him to sing "Sharp dressed man")

(continued from part 1 here)

While I sat at the Kannah Creek aid station at 6,000 feet at around mile 51 of the Grand Mesa 100, I pondered the task of climbing back up to over 10,000 feet. The climb alone was significant and I had this image in my mind of the trail, envisioning something akin to dry, rocky, open switchbacks. I like to spend time creating races in my mind before they take place. I announced to the aid workers that I was heading out. Amidst cowbells and cheers of encouragement, I gave a limp wave and half-turned to smile and then I trotted up the road to the trailhead.

Quickly, I realized this trail was not going to bend or morph into the vision of it that I had created. It was 95 degrees with the mid afternoon sun boring into my skin. I was already sucking water from my hydration tube and was barely 100 meters onto the trail. This was going to be tough. I started running the numbers through my head, "Hell, at one mile per hour it'll take me SIX hours to get to the top; 9:30pm!" I shoved that thought process aside and came up with a plan that I would allow myself to sit on a rock (in shade if I could find it) every 1,000 feet climbed. I looked at my altimeter - 6,041. It was agonizingly slow going. The "trail" basically just follows a deep "V" cut by water runoff into the side of the mountain, so the footing is never level but at a 45 degree angle twisting the feet sideways with each step. It goes through a burn area, so it's open and exposed. The undergrowth is thick though and filled with spiny tall plants with needles that caused me to yelp every couple of minutes. It was miserable, no footing, crawling through vegetation that was prickly, stiff, harsh, hotter than a two peckered billy goat stapled to blacktop. I felt like I was suffering through the Barkley race, only hotter. I look at my altimeter - 6,272 feet… Oh My GOD! I thought about turning around but the only thing keeping going was the faint knowledge that it would be nearly 30 degrees cooler at the top. I quit looking at my watch and just suffered through the climb, not even talking to myself anymore, just slogging one slow step at a time with my head down.

Amazingly, the top finally came and there was a rustic aid station, just water, really, set up. I sat on the road at the top and gulped water, ate a gel and chatted with the two folks there. They advised me that the two guys who had been sort of working together behind me were at the aid station at the bottom just 25 mins after I was there. They were gaining on me but now I was back to realistic running ground and made up for the 2.5 hour, 5 mile slog to the top. I ran the whole 3 miles to the next real aid station (Lands End), spent just enough time there to empty my shoes of the thousand pickers, burrs, bugs, and rocks I picked up on the climb and was off down the road headed to Anderson Lake aid station at mile 65.

From Anderson Lake, it's a ten mile out and back to Mesa Lakes aid station. On the run out we go through marsh with sections of water up to my calves. It got dark while I was running to Mesa Lakes. I grabbed some soup there and headed back. I checked the time so I could gage my lead over the two guys behind me and was a little startled to cross with them just eight mins after I left Mesa. 16 min lead. The adrenaline kicked in and I ran every step back to Anderson aid station (mile 75 now). I just yelled out my number and kept going.

I entered another marsh field. There was one reflective marker, so I ran to it through the calf-deep marsh/mud/reeds. I scanned the perimeter with both my headlamp and shitty handheld light on full beams, nothing there. Then I caught a glimpse of flash from a reflector twisting in the light breeze and ran to that one. And that was it. There was no other markers for as far as my beams could pick up. I could see the black shadow of the tree line around the marsh and scanned that whole line 360 degrees, nothing. I looked back at the last and only two markers and tried to determine a logical line they created and I moved forward in that line constantly scanning the horizon. I started getting cold, especially walking through the water, teeth chattering. This was bad. My race was probably over due to something stupid like no markers. Since I was in first place, there was no trail, no indication of where to go. I just wandered around for over an hour. I found places where grass and weeds were bent over and followed that. Then I felt my shorts rip and realized I ran into a marker holding rod sticking up out of the ground with no marker on it (it caught my bib number and ripped it off my shorts but I didn't notice the missing bib). I wandered over a ridge and saw three markers in a row across a dirt road and ran to them. I said "thank you, thank you, thank you" out loud. I was getting concerned with not only being hopelessly lost but also freezing, so I was happy, to say the least, to be on the course running to get warmer and knowing I'd be at Carson Lake aid station soon.

When I reached Carson they knew I'd been lost due to the extreme duration since I left Anderson Lakes. I told them about the markers an that they needed to contact the race director to get out there. I ate some soup, borrowed a long sleeve shirt and headed out for the last 20 miles. I reached Flowing Park aid station at mile 86. You have to run all the way around a lake to get to it, so you can see far behind you if anyone is close. I saw no headlights while I gulped down soup at the station. I borrowed duct tape and taped my ankle where my shoes had dug through the skin and taped my toe that was hurting and then headed back out. The last 14 miles were sadistic 4x4 "roads" with half buried rocks and boulders lining the entire way, so I couldn't get into any sort of rhythm. I just sort of scampered up and around rocks, constantly climbing all the way to the finish. I kept looking over my shoulder for anyone sneaking up but never saw anything. It was pretty miserable the last couple hours but I knew the finish would come soon. I had been off course at least four times throughout the race, adding at least 9 miles on, so I focused and took my time to make sure every turn was correct to the finish.

I finished in 25:06, fell asleep in the back of my car for an hour, took a photo with Phil at the finish line, and drove home. The end.

These are your shoes.

These are your shoes on ultras.

The shirt and ceramic finisher's medal. Pretty nice goodies for just 33% of the entry fee at Western States

Grand Mesa 100 Race Report: Torture, Part 1 of 2

2011-07-25T17:46:00.001-06:00

The 1st place trophy as seen on my dashboard at 80mph. (yes, I drove 5 hours home just a couple hours after crossing the finish. I've said it before, if there were a duathlon for ultra running and driving, I'd win every one of them)

Alright, so "torture" is extreme but that's what I was distinctly thinking (along with how many ways I was going to kill Race Director, Phil Burghausser for designing the course) during at least two sections of the race course. So, we'll go with torture.

I'm out of it, so bear with me on this report. I didn't sleep the night before the race and just finished this morning and then drove all the way home two hours later.

I sort of overlooked this event on my race schedule. It was kind of an afterthought when this stupid situation happened where I was going to pace a guy for the full 100 at VT (he's over 60, so can have a pacer the whole way). I was registered for Tahoe Rim Trail 100, so backed out of that for VT100. Then the guy backs out and I'm left with no race. In the meantime. I'm on the waitlist for Hardrock. I didn't really care to do it at the time and didn't feel like I'd get in, so I registered for Grand Mesa as a 3rd level back up 100 for July. Whew! Well, I got into Hardrock, suffered through that sucker and was left with Grand Mesa just two weeks later. I could've opted not to do it. Obviously, one can feel recovered but two weeks from a grueling race and there's some deep fatigue and micro tears in the muscles and connective tissue, along with all those gross looking organs that make up the endocrine system that is stressed out.

I figured what the heck and decided to follow through with Grand Mesa. I'm on my own little odyssey of racing this year and am not really following any rules or common sense. Two 100s in 14 days or three in 6 weeks fits into that lack of common sense. The downside of doing GM was that I realized I wasn't taking it seriously. No lists, no drop bags, and just rudimentary gazes at the course map and directions. You can't go into a 100 without taking it seriously - at least I can't. It makes it too easy to drop out if you get an eyelash in your eye. So, I went about making myself appear to take it seriously. I wrote up and laminated my hopeful split card, wrote out some lists, rehashed from memory of other races: "shoes, shorts, shirt, socks...", and spent some time looking over the website (mostly just noticing typos, grammar, and vocabulary, as usual).

Lake behind Grand Mesa Lodge (breeding ground for the world's densest population of mosquitos)

The "crux" of the race, as RD Phil calls it is the massive descent starting at around mile 45 from over 10,000 ft to 6,000 ft, which then immediately turns around and ascends up another "trail". I was like, "yeah, yeah, 4k in 4.5 miles, big deal". Trust me, if I had a sharp object handy on that climb, I would've plunged it into a major artery just so I wouldn't have to take another step. Anyway, I looked at the map and profile and thought, "hell, how bad could it be?" Words that would linger in my mind all race like a shitty song your ex-girlfriend liked and now you're the beneficiary of the droning verse. "How bad could it be? la la" "How bad could it be? la la"

As I pointed out, I didn't sleep one minute the night before the race. I had to get up at 2:30am to get ready and make the 1:15 drive to the race (stayed with my friend, Darren's folks in Grand Junction - THANKS Dennis and Mary!). So, I spent my evening staring at the time, counting down to the alarm. With lack of sleep, I was already in a fairly crummy mood at the start. Then I had some guy breathing down my neck because he didn't have a headlamp and was using mine (race started at 5am, so about 40 mins of darkness). I like my space, especially in races, so I just took my sweet time loping along. He was in the 50 mile race and had a bit more haste to his step. Once I moved beyond this childish behavior, I began focusing on any little sensation in my body that could limit my race. I gave up when all I had was that my sunglasses on top of my head were poking into the top of my ear (probably not a limiting factor in my race). Finally, I just relaxed and enjoyed the amazing sunrise views from the top of the mesa. I started the race with: My sleeveless Pearl Izumi shirt, some Saucony shorts I love, McDavid blue arm warmers and white calf sleeves (they remained white for about an hour), Injini socks, and my trusty Hoka Mafates, which have probably seen their last day on the trail since I've nearly destroyed them, PI hat and Rudy Project Zyon sunglasses.

Soon enough, we were at the first aid station, which happens to be the start/finish, so I fiddled around in my car for a while. I was still up 5 mins on my split card when I finally left. The next section takes us out to Flowing Park and from there we head out for a 15 mile loop on what I assume was a trail in someone's mind at some point. It looked and ran like someone took a rototiller and made a lumpy trail last year and now it's just lumpy dirt with grass and weeds. You had to pay attention while running on it, lest you roll and ankle, trip and smash your teeth out on one of the several million rocks strewn about. I was running somewhat near three other people who were grouped closely, two in the 50 mi and one guy in the 100. I was getting grumpier and dropped away from them by 45 seconds. Honestly, I just about quit around mile 23. I simply had no interest in what I was doing. A few minutes later, I convinced myself that I was there, the run already started, and to just make the best of it by finishing. At that point I started feeling better, caught back up to the threesome and asked to go by them. Within 10 mins they were out of sight and I kept up my pace back to Flowing Park and now mile 37.5.

Now I was in a good mood and reached Carson Lake (mile 42) in 8 hours, an hour ahead of my splits. I had set up splits for a 21:30 finish. The next section, "the crux" of the race is where the course drops off the mesa at 10,000+ feet down to 6,000 feet, not a big deal in terms of sheer numbers. I've done lots more vertical change in races, Hardrock as a primary example. The difficulty in this drop and climb comes in the form of RUGGED trail (or lack there of...) The Kannah Creek trail is fit for (and used solely by) cattle, which I'm amazed can negotiate the steepness and technical rocky, deep mud/muck that I now found myself careening down, swearing loudly with every misstep and near fall. The temperature seemed to be rising with the passing of every 50 feet of descent. The only other attribute I care to mention about this hellish trail are the mosquitos from 10k down to around 8k, then the horse flies tagged off to replace the annoying swarm around my sweaty, sunburned body. This section is 8.5 miles. I laughingly gave myself 1 hour 15 mins to complete this section (yeah, I thought, "downhill for over 4,000 feet in 8.5 miles...no problem"). My God! I drained my water after 1:30 and didn't reach the bottom and aid station 51 miles for another hour. My right quad was hurting badly, I was seriously dehydrated and had a sour stomach and mood to match. I even snapped at one of the aid volunteer's dog that wanted to be too close to me. I love dogs more than people, so I must have been in rough shape. It was probably 95 degrees down in that canyon, or whatever the hell it was down there. I just know it was like an oven and when I came to my senses I apologized for being snippy and thanked the volunteers for being there in that miserable heat just for me. I'm not sure how long I stayed there, 20-25 mins maybe. I just kept pounding cups of water, salt tabs, then a little watermelon, then a couple of potato wedges, and finally choked down one last gel and a couple more cups of water. See, I now had an idea how terrible the climb out might be. But even after what I had seen, it couldn't prepare me for what was next.

Grand Mesa 100 Quick Recap

2011-07-25T06:25:00.002-06:00

Already a small race, only 43% of the starters finished. I took the lead for good at mile 27 and nabbed the win in 25:06. At mile 80 I was still comfortably on pace for a sub 22 hour finish but fell victim to either cattle or vandals knocking down nearly every course marker after the mile 80 aid station. There really was no trail, so without the markers it was just vast miles of open land, much of which I wandered around in circles for an hour and a half before picking up the course again and grinding out the rest uneventfully. Very challenging course.

Phil, Rick, and the other organizers and volunteers did a superb job always smiling and making the whole time fun.

So, that's three tough 100s in 6 weeks. I think I'm getting comfortable with the 100 mile distance (even though they are still so painful).

Full report to come...

Transition Week Bookend 100s

2011-07-18T06:51:00.000-06:00

Feeling good after Hardrock last week. Took a few days off and started back up Thursday. Happy Trails came up from Colorado Springs for a little jaunt in the 90 degree weather. We did a big loop topping out on Bear Peak, then made our way to Beaujo's for some sleep-inducing pizza. They're kind enough to be crewing for me at Leadville 100, so we chatted about those plans as well. Later, I got out for a 22 mile ride with Mike (who dragged me along at a damn fast pace).

Heading up west bear ridge in my bear 100 shirt and bondi b shoes. Fashionable.

Kathleen (the descending demon) adding some color to the trail. [photos 'borrowed' from their great blog]

Good week overall and feeling sharp and fresh for Grand Mesa 100 this Saturday. 14 people (all male) registered for the 100 miler. Gonna be lonely for all of us after the first couple miles. I'm fired up to do some running after my two day run/walk/climb/crawl/tumble last weekend.

Doubt there's any chance of freezing like at Hardrock, since temps in certain sections of Grand Mesa will be in the 90s...

Week was:
42 miles run
22 miles road cycle

Footfeathers Western Slam

2011-07-14T15:09:00.001-06:00

My shoes are barely dry from Hardrock and I find myself prepping for the Grand Mesa 100 in 8 days, which ain't no walk in the park either. Once that's completed, then full focus on Leadville 100 (meeting with my Leadville crew team this weekend) and Bear 100.

I have no idea what to expect at Grand Mesa but I do have goals for the others; I definitely better run both Leadville and Bear combined faster than I completed Hardrock (shouldn't be too difficult since I took nearly a week to finish). If I still have any body parts left, I'd like to race one more 100 (Chimera 100 in November) to reach my pre-season goal of six 100 milers this year. Combine that with my other shorter races and we're talking over 800 miles of racing in a season (just writing it makes me want to rethink that plan). It would be a testament to both smart training and McDavid compression clothing, which has truly helped to minimize muscle damage during events and facilitate recovery after. I have just a little soreness in my left hip/upper glute but it feels better daily. I'm guessing that may be from using only one trekking pole for a while after the first one broke and it may have caused a little imbalance. I took sun-wed off, only doing my 3 mile walks and plan to go for a run today.

Hardrock Follow Up Thoughts

2011-07-13T07:06:00.003-06:00

Based on a good friend's blog post today and my ability to think about the events from last weekend, I'd like to provide some more insight into the whole thing. I may have to do this a few times over the next few weeks or months to finely clear my mind of it.

I went into this race fit and ready. The fact that I only got into the race a couple days before the start is not optimal but it's something I anticipated. Had I been selected from the lottery initially, I'm certain my focus and training would've prepared me more specifically to this race. As it is, my training mostly focuses on constant running. Of course, I've been doing 60-70 miles a month of fast walking along with my running (usually walking 3 miles 5 days a week in the mornings). The majority (all but Hardrock) are runnable, SD100, Ice Age, CP50, Grand Mesa 100, Leadville 100, Bear100, Chimera100… all runnable, for the most part, and my training lends itself well to those and I'll prove that I have some speed at one or more of them.

Hardrock is an anomaly. It's not like any other 100 in the US. Huge chunks of time can be added onto your run in an instant. One mistake, whether you go off course or fall in a river crossing and all of a sudden you've lost an hour or more. Get caught in a stiff thunderstorm and it could force you to hunker down for a couple hours. Develop breathing problems and all of a sudden you are 30-40% slower than you would be with oxygen in your lungs (took me THREE hours to complete the last segment from Putnam to the finish… I should've done it in 1 hour 15 mins). There are more opportunities for obstacles that suck huge gaps of time in Hardrock than any other race around (save Barkley, which isn't even a race imo).

Here's a quote from an email I received yesterday from Dale, the race director, in response to an email I wrote to him,"Nicely done Tim!! You persevered through one of the toughest Hardrocks we have ever had!! In 20 years of directing this event, I have never seen the combination of weather, conditions and other factors come together to make a tougher run-you're finish is truly a testament to your tenacity!!."

Losing time and being out there longer only increases the chances for problems encountered. Had I stayed on my 31+ hour pace (i.e. not gotten lost before Handies peak), I would've likely avoided the major problems later. I would've missed the storm on Engineer Pass. I would've alleviated much of the suffocation symptoms (that got progressively worse after 30 hours). I would've missed the hideous storm and 3 hours wasted on Putnam Pass. At points I felt like Hardrock was throwing everything she had at me trying to break me. And she nearly did. I've never been pushed to that limit, awake for two straight days, unable to breathe, daunting scale of distances and climbs to cover, extreme weather changes, all of it. I'd like to say I conquered all of it but in reality I simply was humbled and somehow survived. I can't even pinpoint how I was able to keep pushing. I think it came down to some primal, raw, innate need. There was no other choice. Kissing that rock was all I had in my life at that point and nothing else mattered because it symbolized survival. I'm fairly hard on myself and have never admitted it publicly but have a low self-esteem. I suppose my fear of bolstering that image of myself by quitting was stronger than whatever Hardrock was doing to try to break me. I'm happy I truly did it for myself and didn't care about others' perceptions. I'm ashamed that I was basically guilted into this drive to finish because of my fear of lowering my self-perception. It's a character flaw that has lead to many careless and dangerous situations throughout my life, whether through fear of fulfilling my low self-esteem or callous disregard for my own well being.

Here's part of an email from Chris, the one who basically saved me on Putnam.

"I hope you made it back to civilization alight and are recovering well. I just wanted to tell you again how impressed I was with how you stuck in with the race, and more importantly, how you handled yourself when things went south out in Putnam. I was glad to be able to be around and able to lend a hand to you and JT, but the person that saved you was you. If you weren't as tough and as well-trained as you are, you never would have pulled off a 2 hour wander in those conditions. At that point when we had to turn around and head back, hoping to find a flag to get us back on track, I've never had a more sickening feeling in my gut. Most people, even having made it as far as you had, lose it right there and I pretty much figured I'd killed you with that wrong turn. That you had the guts to turn it around and keep moving at that point is what made for a successful close to the evening.

All that crap aside, great work getting after the run and sticking in to the finish. I'll let you draw your own lessons about what Hardrock is and what it isn't, but in my opinion, the guys like yourself, Mike Mason, Christian Johnson, and some of the other legit racers who saw their goals and expectations crumble but still pushed on for the finish help define what the run is all about. It's not Western States, and never will be."

Solid guy with a lucid view, whom I look forward to seeing again some day.

Hardrock has stretched my perceptions. Runners I coach (I coach runners but I'm not a coach. Does that make sense?) hear it from me all the time. Perceptions of what is difficult, possible, easy can be stretched like a rubber band. Pull the rubber band taught and the next time you pull it to that distance it's easier (or seems easier). My perceptions of running 100 miles is much different than it was last year. And I can't imagine a more difficult time than those 44 hours a couple days ago. But that's my perception right now.

I'm not one to open up my personal stuff but I'd rather folks have a clearer understanding of who I am than to project their own personalities when judging me. That's why it's puzzling to me when occasionally someone (who doesn't know me well) says I have a big ego. That may be the furthest thing from the truth. So, my finishing Hardrock was more for my own internal survival mentally than anything.