ultrarunningaround

Downswing

2011-08-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

Being injured totally sucks. Just when I start to get my head wrapped around running now that I'm in the 8th month of the year my body takes a proverbial shit on my psyche. I ran a couple 70 mile weeks back in early July, my recovery from each run was very good, no issues whatsoever. Then during an easy 10 mile run, after a day off, my left calf muscle locks up tighter tighter than Scrooge's wallet. It literally came out of nowhere. 4 miles into the run, running easy 7:45 pace on very flat terrain I felt things ever so slightly tightening. I didn't think much of it. I decided to just keep running. I mean who hasn't had an issue creep up during a run, this happens often in some form to everyone and goes away. Well, 2 miles later my calf muscle was locked up solid and I ended up hobbling the last 4 miles to my home. Shit!

This has happened to me before. Right before the White River 50 mile last year a very similar ordeal happened with my other leg. I got some deep tissue massage, did some cross training and I was good to go. This time things are not quite as easy.

I took a couple days off, did some cross training. Still ran 45 miles per week or so, not a ton of miles, but certainly enough to offer some recovery. I thought I was in the clear. 4 days before my 8/6 50K I ran 9.5 miles at Lord Hill park. I ran what I thought was an easy pace, 8:20 miles which is actually pretty decent for that many miles with that much elevation. But again, it felt really easy. No issues with any muscles. I thought I was completely in the clear.

The next day I ran an easy 5 miles. Legs were only so-so. But there was nothing making me raise a flag concerning my calf muscle. The next day was where the problem started to make me take notice. The goal was to run an easy 6 or 7. I ran out to the turnaround, and was feeling decent, saw one of my friends up ahead and decided to catch up to him but he was running faster than I thought. I ended up running a 5:35 mile to catch him, ran with him for a mile and then after my run my calf was fucked. I knew right away things would not be good for the 50K.

That Thursday I slept about 3 hours, went to work, got some more deep tissue massage, went roller blading in the evening. Friday I got a good night sleep.

Raceday comes and I know my calf is not even close to 100%. But I am signed up so I figure I might as well try and see what happens. For the first 6 miles everything is fine. But I slowly start to feel the muscle tightening up. By mile 10 am in agony. I am running on one leg. Downhill isn't so bad, up hill completely sucks. To make a long story short I suffered like a son of a bitch, not fun! I was in 2nd at mile 27 when all that was left was 1 5 mile loop. But I had to throw in the towel. I was so pissed. The RD told me he would give me credit for a marathon finish but I was so disgusted with my time because I could barely even run for the past 10 miles, I just said "Just gimme a DNF." There were actually lots of swear words in the middle of the woods, maybe a minor temper tantrum or two, but no one was around and I was pissed as I really need my running right now.

The rest of the day I couldn't even walk. Literally. I had to use my other leg to push in my emergency break on my truck. WTF! Stupid injuries.

Now I guess I just need to let it heal. I took the Sunday after the race completely off, went out with some friends, had a couple beers and just tried to forget about running (not too mention all the other stupid drama) and relax. I've been cross training like crazy since thought, 1-2 hours each day either on the roller blades or bicycle, a couple more deep tissue massages, and things are starting to feel normal again. This weekend I will be in the back country of Rainier and if my calf locks up I am going to pull a 127 hours trick and saw off my frigging leg.

Upswing

2011-07-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

I think I finally turned the corner on this messed up year. After running a mediocre 39:30 10K (and the course was a bit long, and I haven't done official speed work in years) I feel like I am back on the horse. I have run 120 miles in the past 2 weeks, the body is recovering, and I am enjoying every run. I have a 50K to race in a few weeks, and tentatively am going to run a (hopefully) fast 50 mile in October, followed by a respectable 100 in November. Of course, the way things have gone this year everything is tentative, but I am optimistic that I will be racing more often and will hopefully find the fitness I had last fall. Things are looking up anyway, I hope this feeling extends to some of my other running friends going through not so fun times. It's been a tough year for a lot of people.

The Crossroads

2011-04-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

This is the perfect sign for everything I am feeling right now in regards to so many aspects of my life. On one side I have a huge chapter of my life I am trying to close, on the other side I have a chapter I am trying to open, and one that is bouncing back and forth all over the damn place. Hmmmm. How did I get here anyway? You think back to all the choices you make in life, and ultimately they bring you to the present. And really, life is all about choices. Each day you are constantly making decisions on how you are going to go about your day. Some are easy choices you don't think much of. Some are very difficult that affect not only yourself, but those you love or care about deeply. Somewhere amongst all of these choices you make you need to find some balance between living what your "true self" desires and what you think is best for those you care deeply about. There is never an easy answer life's most difficult questions. But I really think the bottom line is you need to make yourself happy and content in life, because if you don't it will eat at your soul, it will consume you, and when it is done consuming you, it will do it some more, and there will be nothing left of your life, or mind - or at least nothing left of your life that you are happy with. A person needs to be able to take steps in order to make sure they are living their own values, their own life, and not compromising their own sanity in order to pursue the happiness that life has to offer. I'm taking baby steps, and once I can close some chapters I think it will be so much easier to move forward. Be careful of your life's choices, people that don't let go can and will do everything they can to make your life hell, and oftentimes will hurt others in their quest to do so. Follow your intuition and don't be afraid of what you heart tells you, it can be smarter than your analytical mind.

As for my running, for something that is supposed to be such a stable thing in my life it often raises more questions than it answers. Like right now I have no idea what I want out of it. I have been running only about 50 miles per week, I have no races planned and really have no idea why I am running other than habit. I'm not really sure what distance I want to race. Do I want to try for a sub 3:00 marathon? Do I want to run a 1:22 1/2? How about a 5 or 10K? What about another 100 mile? I have so much unfinished business in so many distances that I could over analyze the hell out of any distance and create a reasonable list of excuses of why I want to run any distance. So now I just run. I do 20 mile runs here, some trail running there, mix it up with a little speed work and what do I get? I have no idea. I'm still trying to figure that out. Hopefully in a few days I can find some clarity in life that will allow me to tackle the simple issue of what the hell I want to run.

Gorge Waterfalls 50K

2011-03-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

I had no idea how this run was going to go. I wasn't confident in my fitness, my head was all over the place all week long. So much crap. So little me. Should I go? Or should I not go. The internal argument raged on within myself leading up to this day. What if 7 miles in I just didn't feel like running anymore like has happened so much recently? 24 miles away from my car in 45 degrees and rain is not how I want to spend any day. So after a very tumultuous week I decided to go - I guess the final decision was made on the Thursday evening.

Friday, the day before race day. Everything is good. I had a very good day leading up to the time I was to leave. And then about an hour before I was to drive south I decided to re-do my stupid Phone. It turns out that sometimes modern technology is painstakingly slow. I plugged my phone into the laptop at 2:00, figured I could leave by 3:00, 3:30 at the latest. Wrong answer. Beeeeeep. Try again please. OK, How about 4:00? Wrong. Shit! I was so stressed as I knew I was going to be stuck in traffic all the way through Tacoma now. (Insert lots of expletives at this point). It was almost 5:00 by the time I left my house. Yes, my phone took that long to update itself - but now I can text photos. Sarcasm coming up…. You got to be kiiiiddddiiiinnngggg me? WTF! Heading southbound my mind quickly starts to wander on missed opportunities. On my drive I pass "A" that makes me think of "B" then I pass "C" that makes me think of "D" and then my mind starts its roller coaster of internalizing and then luckily I run out of letters in the alphabet. I then pass the airport and finally…finally…I can clear my head. It's all good stuff from this point forward. Did that make sense? It does to me : )

The drive down was pretty uneventful overall. My iPod is busted again, yes, that is 3 busted iPods in 3 years. And one lost iPod. So I only had one CD, Pandora radio, and whatever was on the actual radio. And of course telephone calls but other than one quick call to get updates on all the sick, broken, recovering, or just had a baby relatives of mine throughout the country I just spaced out. Sometimes that is easier. Sometimes that is best. As someone I know pretty well likes to tell me far too often, "Mike, stop thinking!"

I didn't plan on making many stops on the way there. I did stop at Dairy Queen near Great Wolf Lodge to get an ice cream cone because for some insane reason I wanted one. I know I can't ever become pregnant, but I am assuming this is what a pregnant lady would feel like when she wakes up at 2:30 in the morning and wants to eat pickles and whipped cream - together. Don't most people have those the night before an ultra? Why the hell not right? Considering most of us are flux capacitors with Mr. Fusion's attached - our G.I.'s are usually a bit more resilient than the average person - mine usually is for miles 1-60 anyway, after that it's a whole new ball game, but that game wasn't being played this weekend.

9:00. Pull into the campground, get the gate open. Find a place to park. Since there are only 14 campsites in the area, most were full at this point. I just drove around, found the day use area, pulled back into there, and parked. No one within a couple hundred yards of me as far as I could tell. I still had email service, so took care of some of that stuff, made my bed in the back of my truck. Read my kindle. Relaxed. Meditated. Cleared my head. And slept. Pretty much all night too.

The next thing I know it's 6:00 a.m. and time to wake up. My body is stiff and achy as I slept like a contortionist, but after moving around, blasting the heat to get my core temperature back up to something close to normal, I felt OK. I drive my truck to where everyone else is about 1/4 mile from where I slept. Find a place to park, get my number, go back to my truck and blast the heat, put some running clothes in, look at the dime size blister on my heel that hurts like hell, decide not to wrap it or anything, pin my number on, fill my bottles, and then hop on the school bus for the little trip to the start.

The drive on the bus was relaxing. Luckily I inadvertently chose a seat with a heater, because all the windows on the bus were open about an inch, which let in the frigid air. Once we got to the start, I quickly noticed there was a line of about 50 people for the 2 porta potties. No way in hell was I going to wait in that line. So I find a place to set my bag down, and go for a quick run down the road. I need to warm up a little bit anyway, especially since the race started with a 2 mile climb with 1500 feet of gain - two things taken care of it once. That is being efficient!

Then it's time to race. Or run. Or play on the trails. Or trip and catch myself. Then trip and stumble. Then trip and fall. Repeat for 5 hours. Off we go…

The climb starts easy enough. The trail is actually paved for the first mile. My blister on my heel is already hurting like helll, but at least that gives me something to fixate because I am scared to death of this run. My fitness was a giant question mark to say the least. One run over 20 miles 3 weeks before the race is not exactly ideal preparation. I haven't run all that much elevation either. So I run with the usual suspects I always end up with in these things. And there were also quite a few people that I didn't know. But it's an ultra - most people start off way too fast, and I usually end up passing a bunch in the waning miles - I was just hoping that it wouldn't be me getting caught this time. Once we reach the top the trail quickly points down. And it's steep. And super rocky. Lots of quad killing switchbacks. Nothing that will lend itself to easy fast running. I would accelerate, slam on the brakes, accelerate, slam on the breaks, this repeating process had me worried about what the state my legs would find themselves in another 15-20 miles down the trail. Even when the trail flattened itself out it was hard to go fast with the rocks. Very technical - especially since I haven't been running trails much as of late.

My first fall happens somewhere around mile 8. I catch my foot on a well camouflaged rock and tuck and roll on my right shoulder. I also break water bottle strap # 1. My shoulder takes most of the impact and I can feel that I landed on it, but it's all part of the day. Carry on. My legs feel like crap anyway - so it is giving me something else to think about - as I am always thinking, fixating, and over analyzing every aspect of my life as it is. So for once it is just nice to tell my mind, "Just shut the fuck up and run." I do. And slowly, ever so slowly, my legs start to wake up.
Running from the while Polar Bears from the TV show "Lost."

Miles 10-20 were a blur, I don't remember much as I finally reach my Zen running state which is always my peak of blissful happiness. Alone in the woods. No soul around. Just keep following the well marked course. Listen to the rain. Gasp at another beautiful waterfall and enjoy the wakening legs as I run up another climb. Beautiful. This is what I need in my life at the exact time I need it. Then SNAP! Fall again. Break water bottle handle # 2. This time in one of the many rock gardens. And I was ever so careful of this fall to make sure I landed on every single rock that my 5 foot 11 165 pound frame could cover. There is nothing like the sensation of falling on 15-20 softball sized pointy rocks all at once. That hurt. Ouch. I actually took a seated 8 count as I gathered my wits. My left forearm was definitely hurting. Instantly I thought back to my mom that broke her arm years ago XC skiing and then proceeded to ski out so she could go to the hospital. But it wasn't quite that bad, so I just got up and continued my run. Mom is still tougher than me.

Then the trail starts to climb yet again. Who told me this was supposed to be a fast course? Grrrr!!! But it has felt that way all day. Between the downhills that were too steep to or had too many switchbacks to take advantage of, to the abundant amount of rocky terrain, this has to be ranked up there as one of the toughest 50K runs I've ever done. But I would also put it right alongside Baker Lake as one of my favorites.

Finally I get to a little clearing and I see some girl standing there and she tells me, "4 miles to go." And best of all there is some good fast downhill running to take advantage of. I finally can open up the legs and let them free; to me this is always the best and most fun part of running trails is when late in a race you can haul ass downhill, where for some reason I can always run faster than I could a 5K. I ended up covering the last 4 miles in a shade over 24 minutes. My legs which started off so poor, came back so strong, almost as if they were missing this sensation as well and were so afraid to commit to my mind as I haven't let them free like this in months. Sorry legs. But we are back now, back together, and we are going to have a good year.

The post race party was great also. Lots of people I haven't seen in months. It was great to see Gaby and trade potty stories about kids with Pam S. Had some great burgers cooked up by neo-BBQ master Kevin, re-connected with a lot of others and talked a bit more with Matt as he is one of my Mukilteo friend's good friends, and also a fellow native of New York state. Good times. Great memories. Lots of fun. Thanks to James and crew. I and my legs will be back

My update

2011-03-02T05:34:00.001-08:00

I have a race in 10 days. I still cannot tell if I am back or not. It seems like one day I can go out and run 10 miles at 6:30, and other days I just plain suck and the legs do too. I only sleep 4 or 5 hours a night so that probably has something to do with it. My mileage has been somewhere between 50-60 miles per week for the past month, which isn't too bad. The good thing about racing again is I think it will get back into the groove of things. It will be nice to be in a race atmosphere and hang with all the other ultra people for a Saturday.

I'm still not sure about running a 100 this year, I would really like to but there is just so much stuff that needs to be taken care of it is hard at this time to commit myself to training for one. And to be honest with myself I don't know if I am mentally capable of doing that now - although I would guess a lot of that has to do with the weather. Last year was easier to motivate myself because I ran Rocky Raccoon in February, Chuckanut in March, Capitol Forest in April, 12 hours in Redmond in May, Kettle Morraine in June, White River in July, Waldo in August, p2p in September, Baker Lake in October, and Ron Herzog in November. One a month like clockwork. And lots of miles at Tiger Mountain too. By the end of the year my fitness was amazing and now I feel like it is quite opposite of amazing. If I wanted to have a good August and September I am in the perfect position to do so. I would really like to run Waldo again, and am thinking about p2p even though the course was kind of lame - but the area and town are really cool - as are the people which is what makes running ultras so cool anyway.

I'll figure it out. I just need to keep running and eventually I'll get into the swing of things. Good weather will help.

from Ruin comes transformation

2011-02-03T09:50:00.001-08:00

January was probably the worst month I have ever had. I didn't handle anything very well, the stressors in my life I were letting getting the best of me. I was a shadow of my former myself. Emotionally I was a mess. I missed too much work. I avoided things and people that used to make me happy. Time seemed to stand still and I felt like nothing actually good came out of this month except for the fact that I was still alive at the end of it. When everything in life seems like its in disarray it is just to easy to internalize everything, clam up, lock out the outside world, and feel sorry for myself. I keep thinking. And then I think some more. Will I figure all of this out? Will I be able to make sense of anything? When is the light bulb going to turn on? Where is my epiphany? It is so easy to be consumed by negative thoughts.

The I realize my epiphany has been within me the whole time. I don't need anyone or anything to make me realize any of that. I am actually presented with a huge opportunity to do and be anything I want in life right now. My previous boundaries no longer exist. The parameters that have previously defined me are long gone, wiped clean; they don't even need to exist ever again (within reason of course). Forward I move once again and can now embrace where I'm going.

The other day I ran into one of my running friends that I haven't seen in such a long time. This person has gone through far more than I ever have, and I pray to God that I never have to go through any of this. While talking with this person and listening to the tone of voice, the words spoken, the positive attitude...it all sunk in. What the hell do I have to brood about? I have 2 great kids that love me. I have my health. I have the means to do pretty much whatever I want. My running still brings me joy if I let it. In the grand scheme of things this is but a minor speed bump in life, something that will help transform me. A quote I read recently that went along the lines of "ruin is a gift, because from ruin comes transformation." My transformation is happening, and if I let it be a negative then that is my own damn fault. I have everything I need to make things how I always wanted my life to be. Seriously. There isn't anything stopping me.
What I need to do is sign up for another 100 and get my ass moving and running some serious miles. That is where I often find my happy place. I'm not sure why I have been avoiding it.

Ctrl Alt + Delete - Run

2011-01-28T09:13:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while it feels like you get stuck in a rut and you know you need something to get out of it. Well, that was me and my running - among other things. I have been going through the motions of it, but not really enjoying it. Something was amiss. I couldn't tell what it was, what I needed to get that constant motivation where I looked forward to each and every run that just allowed me to feel the liberation and freedom of why I do it. Finally I just went back to why I run and something that has some deep meaning to me and no one else knows why that place is so special. I don't think anyone else would get it, but that's not important. What is important is that I do get it, I understand and feel that when I get to that certain place on this earth. I can see and feel inside my soul and gain instant clarity on just what exactly it is I need and am able to move forward and work toward it. In this instance what I needed wasn't anything physical, but metaphysical and spiritual. I have the physical tools. I just needed to be someplace that allowed me to think and feel what it is I want from life, both short and long term, and realize I've had the tools all along. I just needed something to make me realize it. And although I didn't have the time to spend that I would have liked to on this run, only 2 hours, it was enough to make me feel rejuvenated. I could move forward again after this run.

The run was really simple enough. Put the trail shoes on, and just start running the trails with no singular destination in mind but one. That one is a certain special place on the trails that are almost hallowed to me. This place signifies something deep within me that I just can't describe for reasons that I will not publically say. After about an hour of running I found myself in this special spot. All is quiet. I haven't seen a single person in over an hour. The only animals I've seen or heard are the constant chirp of birds flying in and out of the brush. The sky is cloudy but still the sun illuminates the clouds so they don't appear so sinister. I just stand in this spot and soak all in from my environment. I grab a stick and etch something meaningful in the sand, take a picture of it to help me remember, and then erase it from the easel of the earth. Onward I run. My mind is freshly cleansed and the clarity is instant. The rest of my run is enjoyable and peaceful. This is just what I needed and I once again feel motivated to train and face the daily hurdles of life. And most of all, when the hurdles feel to tall to leap, instead of just tripping and stumbling, once again I can just return to this place and reset my mind. Everyone should have this type of place on earth where they can find what they are looking for, or just be reminded of the simplicity and enjoyment that each day has to offer. Forward I run...

Bad Religion

2010-11-19T13:10:00.000-08:00

Saw Bad Religion w/ The Bouncing Souls this week. For a bunch of old dudes they still kick ass. Good times. And I can still pull off less than 3 hours of sleep and be somewhat productive at work. Good training for running 100's....

Ron Herzog 50K

2010-11-08T10:16:00.000-08:00

Hopefully I can gleam some pictures soon and will add them...

The first wrong turn was early, and I was running with Shawn Bussert with two more a minute or two back, and we all went the wrong way, stopped and tried to figure it out for a couple minutes…then we continued on. A few people got in front of us, but we passed them back right before the tank traps.

The tank traps were interesting to say the least. I can't believe these were actually cleared out. It was a combination of scrambling on all fours through and up a ditch, breaking trail, stopping and looking for the next course marking ribbon, sprinting for 100 yards, repeat for a couple miles. When I first started running through this I was thinking WTF? Seriously we have to run through this crap? I must have been drilled in the shin about 50 times by wayward twigs and logs, my legs are a bit scraped up…but after about 5 minutes of internal whining I really started to enjoy this. I could be running on a boring road instead…but I wouldn't have the memory that this created. It actually got really fun. There were a couple places where we had to duck and crawl through a bunch of trees where the opening was less than two feet. Some of the trees were easily hurdled. Some you needed to climb over. Some you could duck. This was seriously a cool section now that I think of it a couple days later. Right at the end we had to cross a little river / creek. We had to hold a rope so we didn't get washed down the stream if we slipped on the wet rocks - it wasn't really too bad, it was only about 1 foot deep. The water was so cold. I was still with Shawn Bussert at this point, I asked him if he knew how long to the aid station…he tells me 2 miles. After not being able to run for the past couple miles in the tank traps my legs wanted to go…so I start to open up the pace a little, and then see Tony C. a mile or so later. He tells me the aid station is about 2 miles up the forest road. Hmmmm. I dig out my last Power Bar and munch that and run a little easy…keeping the pace around 7:30 while I eat. Shawn and I enter the aid station together.

I fill my bottles and feel good knowing that I have mostly downhill to the finish. I quickly drop the pace to about 6:40 and open a gap on Shawn. I was a little surprised at this because I thought his leg speed was better than mine. But the pace felt easy…so I just kept it going just chilling at sub 7:00 pace. Then there was a climb that seemed to last forever…I didn't remember it from the year before (we did run this part of the course last year) - so again I just tried the keep the legs turning over and tried to stay in the low 8:00's. Whatever my plan was seemed to be working. I knew I had a big gap to 2nd. Then I got to an intersection where I couldn't remember where to go. I was running on forest road…the forest road turned left…pavement started straight ahead. Hmmmm. I stood there for a couple minutes, looked for some arrows painted on the road, didn't see any…so I ran down the forest road for about 1/4 mile looking for ribbons. I didn't see any. Turned around…came back to the intersection and stood there a little longer and tried to think it out. I knew I had to get to the main road..so decided the paved road was the best option to get back. I dropped the pace down to about 6:15 and kept it to the finish. When I got to the main road I tried to see if anyone was behind me…but couldn't see anyone. That felt good. I probably lost a total of 10-12 minutes with the wrong turns in the race, but I didn't really care, it was fun. Total time was 4:47:21

All of the money of this race goes to ALS which is pretty special to me since I lost someone to this stupid ass disease a few years back. My parents match me in the donation, and this is something I can do to help me feel like I'm doing something, and also to remember him, and think of him and know he is not forgotten.

Baker Lake 50K

2010-10-05T09:19:00.000-07:00

3rd place overall out of 140-ish. 4:38....30 minutes faster than last year.

My ankle is pretty shot though, I knew it was going to be. I felt pretty good all day long, it was warm too, I could have used some more fluids during the run. I only drank about 125 oz. during the run, ate 5 roctanes, a bag of Gu chomps, and 2 bites of powerbar.

I really need to heal up though. I'll force myself to take a week off and slack, which is probably a good thing right about now, although I want to run so bad but I don't want to be broken either.

I love this course! Gabby was 2nd girl, Joleen was 3rd, Genia was 5th. Super fun day with lots of friends!

Pine to Palm - Part III

2010-09-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

Once out of the car it amazed me at how frigid the air felt. It couldn't have been more than 40 degrees and the wind was howling. I knew once we descended for a while it would warm up , so I just tried to keep moving at a pace that would allow me get warm up without zapping too much energy. It was complete darkness and within 90 minutes of midnight. The clouds intensified the darkness. And there were no other runners around. We figured out our lights, I wore my friend Scott's from Utah who amazingly sent it to me for the race. Thanks Scott!!! Joleen wore my light because it fit her better. We were both pretty well set up with good visibility. I can't remember the first few miles of running together other than the fact that she seemed to run through every puddle. And my feet were getting heavier from the days effort as I was running for nearly 17 hours at this point. My left ankle was a little sore, but the long downhill was really beneficial to my ailing hip. The change up in muscles for downhill running was a welcome sensation.

We were running fairly easy. I couldn't really tell any longer how fast we were going. But every once in a while I would look at Joleen running and it looked as if she was going pretty damn slow. That was telling me I wasn't exactly setting the world on fire. But I was still moving OK, I didn't have any huge issues, and that was the important part. I was starting to catch my feet on more and more rocks. By this point, nearing 70 miles and 18 hours into the run it really wasn't a surprise I was getting tired. My stomach was still doing really well, which was one of my downfalls in past attempts, so I continued to be happy with how that went. There were a couple times I thought I was going to puke, and even dry heaved a few times, but once I changed what I was trying to consume my stomach quickly would settle. The worst bought of nausea came when I tried to eat a clif bar. I got about 2 bites in my mouth and my stomach quickly and violently rejected it. This is where Joleen came to the rescue. She stayed calm, told me to stop and take some deep breaths, and let things settle. I stood there for a couple minutes and did as I was told. After maybe 3 or 4 minutes things stabilized and we continued. I knew an aid station was coming up shortly, so I planned on taking a couple more S!caps and eat some Gu Chomps as those were working really well. I knew there would probably be some more tough moments ahead, but we were handling everything so far, and having someone help me deal with myself was such a huge help, especially mentally when in the cold and dark of the night it is easy to succumb to the misery of the elements. I eventually fell once, but it wasn't too bad. Joleen dusted me off and we were on our way again.

Then we started the last climb of the race. From the profile it looked to be about 4500 feet of elevation gain in about 8 miles, which doesn't really sound too bad, but this was on probably the worst trails of the race. Try and picture what it's like to be on a trail about 10 inches wide, with tall grass on both sides covering everything you are trying to see, on a dark night, being completely spent and having tunnel vision from the headlamp the past few hours, in the rain, with rocks camouflaged by said grass, and feet swollen, not fun. The climb started mellow until we got to an out and back section to Wagner Gap. It was about 2 miles of steep and shitty trail. This was the lowest point of the run. I was getting sleepy tired. My legs were in agony. My feet hurt from running in wet shoes for 21 hours, and the weather was still changing constantly from rain to wind to shit to more shit. On the steeper sections I was barely moving. I couldn't hold a straight line, weaving back and forth across the trail like a drunkard in the night. At one point I just stopped. I needed a break. I just bent at the waist and let my body hang down. In this moment I left where I was and what was doing, my mind completely shut down, and I swear I fell asleep on my feet for a couple moments. Joleen didn't say a word. Neither did I. She just stood there patiently, rubbed my back to let me know I wasn't alone and she was in this with me, and let me have my dark moment. It was so peaceful and comforting to just stand there like that and leave everything for a few minutes. After a short time I knew I had to move again. The finish line was not going to be getting any closer as I stood here like a statue or sacrificial lamb to the gods of ultrarunning. I needed to keep moving. I needed to finish this thing. This was my last dark and miserable moment of the race. Joleen helped me hobble up to the top of the peak, where we were supposed to find another flag. But instead we were greeted by some huge rocks that we were expected to climb. So we crawled on all fours up these stupid ass things, mentally I was bitching at Hal Koerner all the way up, and tried to find some more trail markings to help us locate the flags. We saw a sign that said, "Don't forget your flag" but we sure as hell couldn't find any. After looking around for about 5 minutes, with no runners in sight to ask for help, we continued on our way back down the trail. It was mostly downhill all the way to the finish. This was the first time during the run that I stopped worrying about making it. I knew it was mine for the taking. Patience and perseverance were paying off. I continued to run.

We made our way back out of this out and back section and onto some other and better single track. The sinewy trail meandered through the trees and the dirt was soft and a little less technical so although my turnover was atrocious at this point, I was feeling like progress was being made. It was about 5:00 in the morning, and although I was behind what my race schedule as anticipated, I didn't care. I was actually enjoying myself during this time. Joleen was being patient and running with me perfectly, talking to me when she felt I needed it, asking the right questions to assure I was doing the right things, and keeping my mind occupied on what was otherwise a place in time that felt like a standstill. We continued to run. We descended for a while and made it out to the last aid station I would have to go through in the dark. The girls asked where our flags were, we talked about drinking some beer at this point, had a couple laughs and soldiered on into the woods.

The sun was coming up. We turn our lights off. Only 8 miles of mostly downhill to go and it was now about 6:40 in the morning. Time to move. The next aid station was listed as 3.5 miles away. We can do this. I've run 8 miles hundreds of times, 8 miles is nothing. The forest road points downhill ever so slightly, we increase the pace to the point of close to 7:00 minutes per mile. I want this race over with. The rain is coming straight down now in huge drops just saturating any dry piece of clothing left. We are starting to get cold. We need to keep our momentum going to not only cover distance, but to stay warm. To stop now would chill us to a point of hypothermic proportions; at least it would feel that way. We keep this pace up for about 30 minutes. Every time we see a bend in the road we expect to see the aid station and arrows pointing us to the single track which will take us into town for the finish. Each time we are disappointed. There is no sign. We start to get angry and once again curse Hal and crew for the mileage. Surely this is way more than 3.5 miles. This is my last push, the pain is horrible but if I go slow it would be the same, so I push on. I know I am making involuntary noises as each step sends a spike of pain from my foot, through my shin, to my quads and butt, and up my back. All I can do it think of the finish and hope its magnetic pull will get me there shortly. The rain continues to pour. We slow. A bit angry that we have yet to see the turn or aid station. After about 15 more minutes we finally see it. It has taken us close to 50 minutes to cover 3.5 miles. This is a serious "WTF" moment in the race. Even if we were off in the guesstimate of our pace by a minute per mile we should have found the turn long ago. As it gets closer there is no elation. We just run.
4 miles to go, at least that's what the sign says but at this point we refuse to believe it. Instead we concentrate on the town of Ashland a couple thousand feet below. We know the closer we get to town we will also be getting closer to the finish line. The rain continues to saturate us to the point where everything I wear is just a constant drip as the clothes do their best to wick the downpour. The trail really sucks here. It's like running down a drainage ditch with the worst possible 45 degree off-camber on both sides. My ankles and quads are screaming with misery. This is the final stretch though, onward we move. We hop from one side of the ditch to another, then it flattens out and we plod on. Continue. Only a couple more miles and my journey is over. We pass a few runners only to be passed back a 1/2 mile later. It doesn't matter, no one really cares at this point. It’s just thinking about the finish, getting to the hotel and getting in the shower and in bed and sleeping. Although I feel exhausted and am freezing nothing can really dampen how I feel at this point. Relief. Not elation. Not exuberance. Just relief that this soggy run is coming to an end.

Then we are on pavement and the road points us straight down. This part completely sucks, my previous elation quickly vanishes. Everything below my waist is just completely thrashed. The rain is relentless. Nothing about this feels good. I know there isn't much work left to do. And the weather is making this finish feel completely anti-climatic. I had all these grand visions of what I would do, how I would feel once I finally got here. But I just don't care at this point. I just want to be warm. I want a shower. A bed. Nothing else can satisfy.

Lithia Park is in sight. I round a corner and there are some cones on the ground, a banner that says "Pine to Palm 100" finish, an inflatable palm tree, and the finish clock. Joleen and I split paths at the entrance to the cones. Both our jobs are done. I don't even remember crossing the finish line really. No excitement. Maybe a little sadness for so many reasons - only because I knew once this race was over I had to go back to reality. I would be forced to deal with all the shit at home. I would have to face my demons that constantly haunt me through every day as I continue my path to my life as I want to see it. My therapy had concluded. There was nothing left to prove. Nothing left to be done. All I could do now was press forward with my life and keep telling myself that my current journey would bring me to the destination I wanted to reach in the worst possible way. And just like this race showed me, I will have many ups and downs, many good and bad, many yin and yang moments, but if I keep my mind on track through the darkest moments I will make it to where I want to be. I proved I have the mettle to get there, the dedication, the toughness, and all I needed was a little bit of help and the moment was mine. I'm hoping my next journey will bring me blissful moments that last a lot longer than 26 hours. I'll keep running because oftentimes it's all I have to get me through these current days and nights.

Pine to Palm - Part II

2010-09-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

Then we are on some farm road for a long time. The miles were pretty easy to cover as I settled into a pretty easy 815 pace according to the mile markers on the road…nothing too fast that would tax me…but enough to feel like I was making progress after the super slow ascent of the first 17 miles. This part of the run was pretty boring, the weather was alternating between warm and wet, so I was constantly taking my jacket on and off. I ran with Gary Vale for a while - I met him at Redmond a while back - and his foot was already hurting as he was suffering through injury. Maybe around mile 26 a dog came out from somewhere, I have no idea where, and decided to chase me a little bit. Just a little something to rip me from my meditative state and thrust me into the now…but after I squared off with him and yelled he took off. After the week I had at home I was still fired up enough to kick some serious ass, so I'm glad the dog wasn't in a combative mood.

After a while the course takes us through what appears to be a farmers yard…and farmers gate (yes, this was odd, I felt like I was trespassing)…and start meandering up and down and along some hillsides and farmers fields. It is some weird trail. But there is tree coverage helping to protect from the increasing rain once again, and the alternating up and down is welcome after spending the last hour at a constant gait. And then I hit the aid station at around mile 31 - Seattle Bar. I jump on the scale, get my weight recorded and once again I see Gabby (Tia) whom I saw a crapload of times at Waldo. She is always so full of enthusiasm and complements about how great I'm doing, and her positive outlook always rubs off no matter what. I was still feeling good here, but seeing her gives me a mental boost just the same.

After leaving the aid station I run across a field, under a bridge along the river, and start a 3000 or so foot climb on the best single track on the course. The dirt is soft and tacky, the surrounding trees offer protection from the ever evolving amount of precipitation falling, and my legs are feeling really good as I pass person after person while power walking nice and easy. I'm really enjoying this part of the course as I climb - the scenery is improving - and I can hardly feel the rain. This is as good as it gets.

The course goes by in a blur as I am totally lost in my thoughts. I flash back to all sorts of times in my life, the choices I have made or wish I had made. And once again think of all the things that have brought me to this particular point in time where I am running some trail in the middle of nowhere of Southern Oregon. I think of all the drama at home, of how I am missing my kids and want to make sure I finish this race so I don't have to tell them that daddy failed. I just try to focus on the positive and be happy for the moment I am in in time. Because this is where I want to be, this is what I want to do, and this is what I am in this race for - to dig deep and uncover some more of myself, to learn how far I can push before I have to be picked up, to feel so alive, to experience everything I can in the time I have, and because this is a huge part of who I am. I knew this shit was getting done this time, there is nothing, no way, that anything is going to stop me. If I have to crawl I will. If I have to take a nap on the trail and continue I will. I knew I was going to do what it takes to get to the finish. All the bullshit I've been through to get to this day was way harder than doing this race. I knew it. I felt it. I knew it was my day. I worked my ass off for this opportunity. And there was no way in hell that I was letting it pass me by. This race was mine to run, and although I would have some amazing help in the day and night to come, it was still mine to accomplish. And there was no way I was going to fail.

Eventually I made it to the mile 42 aid station and saw Joleen there which was a huge mental boost. I was surprised to see her as I didn't really think I would until mile 65. I talked with her a bit, she quizzed me on how I was doing, and I ate some brownies at the aid station. I also saw Gabby again. And she was as excitable as always. Then I did a 2 mile loop around a lake and was back at the same aid station before a short decent and then another long grueling climb started. Right about in the middle of this climb, maybe mile 45, I bonked. I knew I should have eaten more than just a brownie, but luckily I had some food on me so I slowed down and consumed some calories. I got to the aid station at mile 47 and ate a bunch more food. This station was being run by a local middle school cross country team and the kids were great. The one girl, I think her name was Zoey, made me a bunch of graham crackers with peanut butter on them, and the guy, forgot his name, filled my camelback for me. I took a handful of more food and started walking down the trail again while I ate.

Progress was still being made, but there was still so much running and climbing and descending to do. I made it to mile 52 and was feeling a bit better now with the food in me. But then we had to do a stupid climb up a forest road, grab a Waldo flag, and then come back to the same aid station. I left my camelbak there, and then climbed a pretty steep mile. It was super windy and cold at the top, although luckily it wasn't raining at the moment. I grabbed the flag and proceeded to descend back to the aid station. I was starting to slow on the climbs but was still running pretty good on the descents. But my right hip was really starting to flare up. I tend to power walk "right footed" a lot, so I tried to switch and concentrate on my left for a while. The good thing is that it didn't hurt to run. So on the mellower parts of the climb I would slowly jog. At about mile 59 it was just about dark so I dug my crappy light out and put it on. It really wasn't good…but I didn't want to carry my good light with me all day long. I sort of wish I had the better light at this time…it put me in a foul mood to be climbing in the dark and cold with such a shit light.

The climb continued up to Dutchman Peak at mile 65 where Joleen would start to run with me - I was looking forward to seeing her and have familiar company. At mile 60 some nice lady gave me a garbage bag to wear as the temperature was really dropping as the rain continued to fall. This was one of the lowest parts of the run. I was really starting to get cold, my light was useless, and I still had almost 5 miles to climb where we would top out at about 7500 feet - I just knew the weather was going to suck some serious ass up there. All the other high points in the race were windy and cold, and now it was dark. Mentally the climb was taking forever, my hip was really hurting…and I was really starting to get in a shitty mood. Eventually I got to the top, and seeing all the people gave a short boost of energy. I saw Joleen right away and figured out what the immediate plan was since I needed dry clothes, gloves, a winter hat, etc. But she was ready to run. So we finished the climb which was about mile 66, and then she grabbed the flag for me to return, and then we headed to my truck where I was planning on taking some time to dry out, change clothes, eat some food, and warm up. I knew that once I left the truck the real race was going to begin. This is where my fight always started at my last 2 attempts of 100 milers…so I was a little bit nervous at this point, but this time I set myself up for success. Mentally I was ready for battle. I had someone to help me whom I completely trusted with my well being through the night…and my stomach was still doing well. On we run into the not so gentle night.

Pine to Palm - Part I

2010-09-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

I finally finished a 100 mile race. Took me 3 tries to get it done. The biggest difference I really think is having a pacer I know and trust and knows what I need and when I need it, knowing when to push, when to step back, and keeping everything positive in a race where there was just so much negative it would have been so easy to throw in the towel.

Friday morning. The day before raceday. I wake up nice and early, like 3:45 even though I don't have to leave for quite awhile. But I'm excited to go. I've been looking forward to getting away for a long time. Everything is packed but I still have time to kill. So I just lie in bed for as long as I can stand it. Staring at the ceiling. I'm already envisioning the race. I'm ready to embrace the pain, I'm ready to deal with whatever adversity 100+ miles and 22K of climbing can throw at me. I am so ready for this. And I've never wanted to complete a race more. Finally I arise. Shower. Eat. Throw stuff in the car. Leave. Race weekend is officially here. Thank God!

I pick up Joleen a little behind schedule, but there really isn't much of a schedule other than to be at the start at 0600 the next day. The idea of a schedule is a joke…as this is just supposed to be a stress free weekend with some running in the mountains. We stop at Starbucks and get her some coffee, and me a donut since I've been trying to add some pounds on for the past week and a half since I've been crazy close to dropping under 160 for the first time since like 8th grade or something. Donuts are good. Just writing about them makes me want to run and get one now. Mmmmm….donuts!

The drive is pretty mellow. Traffic isn't too bad and we are making decent enough time. But since the drive is almost 8 hours decent time is still going to translate into feeling like forever. And I had to stop somewhere on the way down to do some errands, which I was going to put the GPS into work to help me out. Which never quite works out like I want it to. I needed to find a bank. We are close to Salem so it shouldn't be too hard, or so one would think. Bank gets punched into the GPS, and a bunch pop up on the screen. I choose the closest one and start following the directions. The next thing I know the stupid ass GPS bitch has routed me in a huge circle around the boring ass flats of central Oregon right back at I-5. Then the dumbass is telling me to head back the other way. I don't want to do that so we just jump back on the freeway muttering about how that was such a huge waste of time. Some odd miles down the road we find a bank, only that doesn't really work out either as they won't do what I need done as I don't have an account there. WTF? So I find another place to do it, they charge me 20 bucks and now I'm off to find a Fed Ex box. All told this takes almost 2 hours…and in my naïveté I was thinking everything could be accomplished in 20 minutes or less. It was seriously something very simple. Hardly anything really falls under that category anymore.

Then we both figure we are hungry. And I have to run 100+ miles the next day…Joleen needs to run 37…so we better get some food. Since we are close to Eugene we figure Track Town Pizza would be a great respite to fill the bellies. Punch it in the GPS and it takes us to a little one with like 2 tables…not exactly what we had in mind. So we just take the pizza and hit the road - eating slice after slice as we drive the miles and miles toward Grants Pass, the place where we'll spend the first night as it's the closest town to the start.

Eventually we get there around 330…way later than anticipated since I have so many things I need to do before the start. So within 2 minutes of getting my room I get busy and start taking care of things. But there is lots that needs to be done…but it feels good to be making progress after so many hours in the car. Before I know it we have to get to the race start so I can get my medical check up, weigh in…and pick up my race number and other things, and eat more food.

The pre-race venue is crazy. There are people everywhere with various race shirts on. Many looking lean and mean, some looking just plain lean and malnourished. Once inside it is a crazed zoo of ultrarunners. I run into Terry whom I haven't seen since Texas, even though he lives less than an hour away from me. Talk to him about the course and am surprised to learn there is way less single track than anticipated. After we get some food, we go outside to eat and get some fresh air since it's so hot in there. Then the pre-race briefing starts, but I still feel like I have a lot of things to do, so we decide to split and make our way to the grocery store, get some munchies and some things to drink, and then it's back to work prepping and checking everything to make sure I'm satisfied so my mind can shut down and hopefully sleep.

The next thing I know it's 430 - time to get up. I jump in the shower like I always like to do before a race, it helps me wake up and I think the warm water on the muscles helps them wake up. Whether it really matters physically or not who knows? But it helps mentally. And I will need everything I can have in my favor for the task ahead.

We show up at the race start at about 530…I don't really need to get there any earlier. There is no reason to warm up, I am not using any drop bags, and everything I have packed is checked and double checked. The bag that Joleen has for me at mile 65 is packed, checked, and double checked. The only thing I have to worry about and take care of is myself. The race starts. I run.
Leaving town on the pavement many people have their headlamps on, but it's not really necessary despite the early morning darkness. There are streetlights every so often, houses with their porch lights on, the occasional store or business advertising its services; plenty of light to navigate a flat road. The town is so peaceful and quiet, the morning is calm, complete opposite of everything in life right now. I embrace it and relax.

Once out of town we start to climb - which from the profile I knew was going to last for some time - gaining over 5000 feet in about 10 miles, and although it hardly ever gets steep, this is crazy long. And with so many miles ahead of me I just take it easy, power walk the steeper sections, and then run slowly on the flatter ones. Eventually the pavement ends and the gravel begins. And the road still rises. I continue to move forward.

First aid station is water only, but I fill up anyway as I know we have a lot of uphill miles yet to go before the next one. 11 miles. Which when going up a mountain can take a couple hours. The weather was so far cooperating but there were promises of some really shitty weather later in the day. And goddamn the weather man was actually right, but we’ll get to that later.

Once at the top, and on single track, we got to descend. Woohoo. I usually love downhill running, I can pick a pretty good line through all the junk on the ground, and can cover ground quickly with minimal effort. But this descent was not a good one to run fast on, as it was super steep. And pretty technical too. Which means you have to ride the brakes down the hill while gingerly stepping around and over the hazards of the trails. Right before the aid station at mile 17 there is a guy on the trail yelling about a hornet's nest on the ground. I look up and I can see bees flying all over the damn place. A girl right in front of me yells an expletive (like fuck or shit or motherfucker or goddammit or some combination) as she was quickly stung twice in the hand. We both hit the stops. And decide to make our own trail through the thick as a jungle woods around the bees. I've been stung way too many times this year already. I hate those frigging things. We make it to the aid station a quarter mile later and a couple more people commence with the shitfucks and motherfuckers as they once again get stung from the bees which landed on them. I quickly got some food and drink - then got the hell out of there.

p2p in 2 days

2010-09-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

The weather is looking like crap. I haven't had a good night of sleep in over a week. Things in my personal life couldn't possibly be any more messed up, I'm supposed to leave in about 17 hours for the race...and I still don't know I'm 100% going...these are the times of our (my) lives. But the race is shaping up and looking like it will be fairly well organized, so that is a really good thing. I can dress for the weather, and I can go without much sleep for a long period of time. I am nervous as hell for everything else though. Maybe if and when I actually get on the road for the long ass drive down there I will feel better. I really don't know though...and I'm sure as shit ain't going to figure it out until after it happens. God life just really sucks sometimes.

Pine to Palm 100 - WTF??????

2010-09-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else out there getting a little worried about this race? I know the Ashland crew is a bunch of serious runners, and I don't doubt their knowledge or expertise about putting on a race, but it's barely 10 days away and the web site is still missing a shitload of pertinent information. If they F___it up I could we could just change it to the Beer 50 and party like a sonuvabitch.

Changes

2010-09-05T22:09:00.000-07:00

Lots of shit and big changes going on in life right now. Wow. There is always something exciting going on, whether it's good or bad I dunno. But I feel like I lifted a huge weight off my shoulders just for making a decision and sticking with it. Now to see it through will be a hell of a rollercoaster ride, but I just gotta hang on tight and hope for the best.

1st run Post Waldo 100K

2010-08-25T06:05:00.000-07:00

I had one of the best runs ever considering I just ran a 63 mile race. Legs were pretty good. I really can't put my finger on why it was so good, but I felt so awesome overall. Usually I have the tongue dragging in the spokes feeling for a couple days, but this run was definitely something special. I'm not sure how far I ran but I think I was out on the trails for just under a two hours. It was definitely a great night and hopefully points to bigger and better things for the p2p 100 in a few weeks.

Where's Waldo 100K

2010-08-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

Let me preface this by saying the drive down absolutely sucked. I left work in Everett, WA at about noon hoping to be at the race venue by 7:00. I figured I'd get to chill out, watch a movie in the car, and have a nice relaxing evening before the run. What a moron I am! What really happened is I got stuck in traffic pretty much everywhere until I got out of the Portland area. Luckily Genia and Joleen sent me numerous text messages to keep me entertained during my travels. If you guys ever read this, thank you! That helped so much! I got to the race at about 9:45 at night. I was completely wired and had a heck of a time falling asleep. I read for a long time. Searched the web on my phone. Read some more. I never sleep well the night before a race though. Does anyone? I dozed off and on for a little bit but probably slept no more than 3 total hours before the race.

I never did hear the early starters take off at 3am though, so that's a good thing, means I must have been sleeping. I woke up about 3:30 to find one of the most spectacular skies ever. I cannot remember seeing a plethora of stars on display like this. Never!Every constellation was visible; it was simply stunning. How could one not stop and think of the beauty of nature in a time like this? For me this was a spectacular start to a race I was very unsure of how it was going to unfold. It was my brother's 41st birthday, except he passed away 18 years ago. I was hoping that being in the peaceful beauty of the mountains on this day would give me a lot of time to think, to remember, and to work on figuring out what my place is in this life. I don't have a clue. But I keep searching.

Fuji Mountain, OR. Stole this pic off the web, one of the
most spectacular views I've ever seen. Awesome!

The race went off in the darkness at 5:00 as advertised. Since we started going up after only a couple hundred feet of running there wasn't much sense of urgency - not by me anyway. I was running this strictly as a training race, I wasn't out to kill myself. So we climbed, meandered through some single track, and descended. The weather was perfect, everyone was in the usual early race good mood. Daylight came, we ditched our lights. Not much excitement until we started the climb to Fuji Mountain. Being early in the race I tried to go slower than I normally could, power walked anything uphill, and kept my breathing in control. It was a pretty easy climb, but was completely surprised by what I saw at the top. I don't know if words could describe it, but the peak of this mountain's views were simply stunning. You could see for miles and miles and miles, and this was a perfectly clear day. How I wish I wasn't in a race so I could take it in for a while. As it was I did pause here for an extended second or two - I had to. This view deserved to be looked at, by ignoring it was to create a sin against mother nature herself. I stayed for at least a minute. Then was sent on my way by the race photographers whom reminded me I was in a race.

I descended quickly passing numerous runners. Seems like I am a pretty good descender in the technical stuff. I never really gave it much though, but since I passed so many I must be OK as I didn't once fall on my face. After the descent this was the first time I really got to run alone for a while. I tried to take everything in. My thoughts were drifting back to my brother and the day of his accident. It's really hard to believe he has been gone for so many years. Then I trip over a rock and I'm thrust right back into the race. This will be pretty much the story of my day. It's amazing that I never did fall down. I ran with a couple girls for a while, but wasn't really sure who they were. I think one of them was top 10 at Western this year though, that's a pretty impressive accomplishment. Eventually I made it to aid station # whatever at mile 27 and saw Gabby (Tia Gabrilita) there, she is such a cool girl and we caught up on each other's running for a little bit. I congratulated her on her 100 finish in Wyoming a month or two before. We talked briefly about p2p, it was great to see her again. This was the heaven and hell aid station, and everyone was dressed as an angel, wayyyy cool there was a themed aid station somewhere in the middle of the mountains.

Miles 27 to 44 were pretty uneventful. I kept myself running really mellow and made sure I took S!caps and monitored my caloric intake as best I could. I did another climb that went fairly well, my legs were still quite responsive and my stomach was doing well. I got back to the heaven and hell aid station, this time everyone was dressed as a devil, and got to see Gabby again. We chatted a few more minutes, I told her I would buy her a beer in Ashland, she got pretty excited about It and then off I went. At this point there is only 17.5 miles to run, and one climb that I've been hearing about from various people all day. I was really looking forward to this climb as my legs were ready to wake up, it was time to do some running.

Maiden Peak - our final climb of the day! This
was a really fun climb, plus I was feeling good.

I let the legs go on the descent following the Twins (love that name!). Everything was feeling super good and I was having so much fun. The the climb to Maiden Peak. It started off mellow enough, and I was able to run most of the incline. Everyone was telling me that it was about 3000 feet in 4 miles, so I was ready for the motherfucker! Bring it on you stupid pussy of a hill. And I marched right up that thing pretty damn well. Every once in a while it would get steeper and I would have to switch to powerwalking. The grade stayed mellow but slowly but surely as progress was made up, the trail got steeper. Eventually I was in full power walk mode. Those old bastards at the mall ain't got nothing on me. I put my head down and just concentrated on walking as fast as I could up the mountain. My breathing was good, the legs were still responsive, and I was having a shit load of fun. I kept passing people, some looked haggard, some still looked OK, but I was feeling super good so I just kept charging. Later I learned I had the 7th fastest climb of the race up this mountain, what a huge improvement over the last climb of White River (Sun Top). My fitness was coming along!

While moving up this climb is the first time I actually tried to figure out what my finishing time was going to be. The goal at the beginning of the day was the day was to run 13 hours or so and stay mellow, but the legs being as responsive as they were I just had to go. I was thinking sub 13 should be easily attainable. Just like you never turn down a tailwind on the bike, you never turn down the legs when they want to run in a race. Once over the top I was thrust into some hugely technical trail that was basically a free fall. We lost about 1000 feet in the first mile, it was full of huge rocks, small rocks, stumps, short drops, switch backs, and sometimes everything all at once. Then it mellowed and I just put my head down and ran. It is so nice and comforting to know that 54 miles into a race I can still run sub 7 minute mile pace.

I got to the final aid station at mile 55 and the ladies there were incredible. All I heard was, "How are you feeling" "What can we get you?" "How about a shoulder rub?" "Do you need a sponge?" "Do you want us to wipe you down?" Seriously! These ladies were awesome! Here I am, in the middle of the mountains in the middle of nowhere - somewhere in Oregon nearly 500 miles from home - and I am being offered the full spa treatment. Amazing! Thank you ladies, your work was very helpful and much appreciated. You deserve a tip. Hell, you ladies were so nice and friendly you increased my already euphoric mood to an even bigger high.

The clock was reading 11:35, and I had 7.5 miles to go. I popped a gel and took an S!cap hoping it would be enough to get me to the finish. The biggest problem was that I expected the rest of the race to be all downhill, so when i started climbing again I was a little pissed. But the climbs weren't really that long, and I could momentum climb most of them. The trail meandered around a lake, and up and down and twisted and turned. I was starting to see more and more hikers the closer I got to the finish. Eventually someone told me that I had 4 miles to go. Crap, I need food and I really don't want to stop and eat. But I also didn't want to bonk when my legs were still pretty good. I forced myself to stop and pop one more gel to get me to the finish. It took me a while to get the stupid ass thing out of my camelbak as my shoulders and arms were losing flexibility. But I did, and I had 33 minutes left to sneak under 12:40. I was just hoping the trail was flat or downhill, but no such luck as I rounded a corner and had to go up and down some more rollers. The trail was also pretty technical in places. Eventually I made it to a clearing and I could see a parking lot to my left through the trees, then it opened up a little bit more and I could see a chairlift. I knew I wasn't going to go sub 12:40 so I didn't really bother going all out. But in the last 200 or so yards I did notice I could squeak under 12:41 if I kicked, relatively anyway. I elevated the pace one more time and barely made it with a 12:40:59. Sweet, I never get the 59 without going over.

Once finished the RD came over to check on me and make sure I wasn't about to collapse. He joked with me a bit as he could see I was still doing really well, and I quickly thanked him and told him how much fun I had. Seriously, what a great day on the trails. The views were spectacular, the people were friendly and helpful, the BBQ was tasty, and I got to stay inside my thoughts all day long and heal just a little bit more. What a perfect day!

Then the drive home, man that sucks. I left the venue at 7:00 or 7:15 or 7:30, I really don't know. It sucked. I sent me texts on my race to my friends, and tried to zone out without falling asleep. Funny thing was I was wide awake and still feeling great. It would have been a great time to hang out at the venue and have a couple beers with the other runners, but time just didn't permit. I was driving pretty slow though, and had to stop and go to the bathroom a few times too many, needed some salty food. I made it back to Washington at about 11:15, drove a little bit more and then fell into a fitful sleep where I woke up nearly every hour. I was still ready to party or something. Yea, or something is more like it. I was in full chill mode. Eventually I was fully awake at about 4:00, but just sat in the car and stared out the window for another hour. I knew once I got home it was going to be a long day. But I missed the kids a lot, so I forced myself to move. Once home I was instantly thrust into kid duty, and somehow made it through the day without falling asleep. Good times - ya gotta love the trails.

Pre-race Waldo

2010-08-17T06:18:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what the hell goes on in my head, I'm just a passenger along for the ride. But every week that is race week it sure seems like I never get sleep. And then for the Waldo 100K I resigned myself to sleeping in the car at the start which is probably stupid also. Hopefully I'm not setting myself up for too much failure.

This is a perfect day for me to be alone with my thoughts in the mountains. I am so looking forward to having a day where I can feel sorry for myself, feel sorry for my parents, and most of all feel sorry for my brother who would have turned 41 on this day. It's so hard to believe that it has been 17 years since you left us, but I can still hear your voice, I can still see your smile, and I still have hundreds of memories of us growing up together. I miss you everyday brother, and I hope you will bring me strength to make it through this day - and the common sense to run it easy also. And please keep the stupid cougars and bears away from me too please - I hate those things. I miss you so much...what I wouldn't give to see you one more time...damn this is still so hard.

Where's Waldo rev-up

2010-08-12T09:25:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure about this race for 3 reasons:

1) The guy that won it last year suffered from renal kidney failure after the race
2) Some dude from Texas had an encounter with a bear
3) They sent me a map in the mail and told me to carry it and be able to take care of myself in the mountains. Hell, I can barely take care of myself at home.

Should be a fun run though.

White River 50

2010-08-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

Scratch another one off the list on my admittedly retarded quest to finish a 100. When I get to the end of this run I seriously wish today was the day I ran my hundred. I had all the bases covered. Stomach was good. Pace was perfect. But again, like a teenager's first time I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's how it all went down, and up.

Saturday morning rolls around and I look at the clock. It's 1:20 am. WTF? I flip and flop, repeat, lie still, roll, fluff pillows, lie still, flip, stretch, flop, look at clock, 1:35 am. Turn on the light. Start reading. Damn this book is good. I'm 75% of the way through an 1100 page book, I'm thoroughly engrossed in the story. Look at clock again, 3:05 am. Crap. I might as well get up. Eat some food. Load truck. Music on. Drive. Holy Crap it is taking forever to get there. I used to love taking road trips - I looked forward to them every weekend when I was racing motocross, then running X-C in college, then racing various forms of bicycles. But the older I get the less I enjoy driving down a road for hours at a time with the music up loud and my thoughts on autopilot. Maybe it's because I have so little free time and I'm always in a rush to move from one task to the next that now I forgot to enjoy the freedom of driving. Who knows? Maybe it's because the clock is always ticking. Examples, " Mike what time are you going to get home from this run?" "What time are you going to be here?" "How long are you running?" "Are you going to be able to do this?" And on and on and on. Everything is scheduled nowadays. I never used to schedule anything outside of work or school. I hate schedules. Schedules suck. How much fun is it to constantly plan your life? What ever happened to spontaneity? I used to live by that all the time. Now I long for the days of years past.

I show up at the race site at about 530, and find a place to park, get my number and then hang out. What else is there to do before the race starts? Not much. I walk around, go for a little run to loosen the body up, all the joints seem to be working OK. Nothing else to do but wait.
Race time and I'm ready to go. I decided not to use the GPS as it probably wouldn't be working all that great in the mountains and switchbacks. I'm going old school. 50 milers are pretty easy to figure out on pacing anyway, just start easy and keep going. Not too bad of a plan. The race starts pretty mellow, we run down a gravel road for a short while before we get into the trails. I recognize the area from racing the mountain bike here the year before, or 2 years ago. It must have been 2008. Yep, that's it. I won too. First place was beer. Gotta love mountain bike races. We cruise along, chatting about nothing, no sense of hurry really, it's going to be a long day even on the best of days. After the aid station we turn and slowly the trail starts heading up…I knew this was supposed to be a 9 mile climb, so I would run the easy stuff and if it got real steep switch to power walking as it's pretty much the same speed as running anyway. Although this climb was long, it was really pretty mellow and enjoyable - not steep and brutal like the Tiger Mountain climbs of training.

Finally I get to the top of the ridge, only a couple miles to go before the turnaround, and I start to see the leaders hauling ass the other way. Dakota Jones and Anton Kupricka are setting the early pace, and are already out front by a good amount. As I get closer to the turnaround I see more people I recognize from most of the other local ultras. I see Glen at the turnaround and after filling the camelback I quickly catch up to him. Every time I try to get a drink though nothing is coming out. I stop and squeeze the bladder and I get a mouthful, so I start going again and when I try to drink again…nothing. I squeeze again and get another mouthful. WTF? I don't really want to mess around with this too much, so I get back to running again. The trail is starting to fall away in a gentle descent with a few ups to mix things up…perfect for covering distance with minimal effort. When I go to drink again…Fuck! Nothing. So I pop the end cap off…and when I hold the tube down water is flowing nicely…when I put it to my mouth the flow stops. Being the Po-LOCK that I am I can't figure it out until someone runs by me and says that my hose is kinked. Duh! That makes perfect sense. What an idiot I am. Oh well, I fix it and onward I run.

Heading back against traffic is annoying as hell. I was under the impression that people running downhill, or ones that are ahead in the race have the right of way. Whenever someone came running at me I got off the trail and made sure I didn't impede their progress. But as I was running down I think maybe 3 people moved out of the 100+ runners I passed. I was seriously getting pissed. Does the running etiquette not extend past the 6000 foot mark? I don't get it.
Eventually I make it to the 22 mile aid station and know I have about 5 miles of mostly downhill to the next one, so it's time to move and cover some ground. I'm guessing I'm averaging about 7 minutes a mile here, the trail is technical in places and there are quite a few switch backs so you can't really let the legs out all the way.

Mile 27 aid station and I stop and get some food and notice Justin Angle is working there - I haven't seen him since I ran with him @ Tiger in early April. I say a quick hi and hurry and take off, and then about a mile later realize I forgot to fill my camelbak. Another dumbass move and it's starting to get hot. Oh well, it must have about 50 ounces in it and I didn't' drink much on the descent. But I am getting thirsty so I start to drink and a couple miles later wonder if I'll have enough water on the climb to the next aid station. Luckily we pass a stream of running water and I scoop some up in the camelback. I don't have my filter with me but figure I'll be fine through the race anyway before anything hits me if it does at all. Climbing Sun Top is a lot steeper than the climb to Corral Pass. It's harder to run up this one so I just try to cover ground as best as I can. Finally I make it to the next aid station, dump the water out of the camelback and fill up on some more - also pop some more S Caps and continue the climb. The next part of the climb isn't too bad as there is some downhill mixed in, my legs feel great on the downhill and I'm flying on that stuff, I try and carry my momentum up as best as I can and then switch to power walking. The views here are simply amazing - and I'm glad it is such a clear day to take it all in. I love this trail stuff. There really isn't any other way to experience the Cascade Mountains.

Finally - I see Glen Tachiyama snapping pictures and realize I made it to the top. Whew. I venture into the aid station, suck down a bunch of mountain dew, fill the camelbak, pop an S!cap and I'm off once again. This is by far the easiest and fast section of the course. I quickly up the pace and start flying by people. If the mile markers on the side of the road are correct I'm running about 6:30 per mile. But after 3 miles there is some rumbly in my tummy. I stop and puke up all the mountain dew and then ease back into 6:30 per mile. Even with stopping to puke and going to the bathroom I still cover the 6.4 miles in 48:00 minutes, but that only leaves me with 56 minutes or so to break 9 hours.

When I get to the last aid station I try not to waste too much time…I probably take about 60-90 seconds at the most and get out of there. I'm still running pretty decent, but I'm not real sure that I can cover the last 6.6 or so miles in 55 minutes or less. I'm probably running about 9:30's or so at this point, not horrible, but this definitely isn't going to get the job done. The leg turnover is good on the flat technical parts of the trail, but once the trail tilts skyward I slow or power walk again. I run up a couple of the smaller hills, but I'm not exactly flying over them now. Oh well, compared to the last 50 I ran I'm still moving pretty well. Eventually I make it out of the single-track and see a sign that says the finish is only 4/10ths of a mile away. My watch just turned to 9:06 so that leaves me with a little bit of breathing room to at least go sub-9:10. This wasn't my primary goal, but overall I covered ground pretty well for the day. I know I'm still gaining strength and experience, and next year's goal time will be quite a bit more ambitious.

Once I got to the finish line Scott the RD gave me a bottle of ice cold water and made sure I was OK. Then I sat under a tree for a bit and drank some water. I didn't feel too bad but I wasn't quite ready to run around yet. Eventually I made my way to my truck, changed my shirt and then went and had some BBQ. This really hit the spot as I was pretty darn hungry. Afterwards I talked with Glen and his wife and then drove on home. I can't wait to run this race again.

White River

2010-07-29T09:14:00.000-07:00

White River is this weekend. Sometimes so many things are going on with the kids, trying to fit in runs, trying to get over injuries, trying to keep the wife happy, etc... it seems like these races appear out of nowhere. I had a goal of going sub-9:00 here before I got injured, but now I'll probably adjust the goal as the day goes on. I'm just hoping the calf feels good all day - and of course enjoy the day and see some of the locals. I haven't done a race in WA in a couple months, so it will be nice to wake up on race morning in my own bed.

Progress

2010-07-19T06:01:00.001-07:00

I ran 4.4 miles last night and the calf was a lot better. Lots of massages have helped, and I'm just trying to be really patient. Running last night felt so good, but mentally it was a tough week going from 70+ miles a week average to a whopping 11 miles. I tend to be a person who goes all out or not at all, so this is really a test of discipline. I just need to be focused on the big prizes:
White River
Waldo
P to P

UltraChick Pic o Week - # 7

2010-07-16T13:19:00.001-07:00

Glen Tachiyama photo.

Runner chicks are cool. They are even more cool when they're not afraid to play in the mud and whoop on the boys a bit while they're at it - while wearing pink to keep their feminimity. Here's Joleen at Chuckanut.

Broke?

2010-07-14T05:52:00.000-07:00

Calf muscle is super tight. Had deep tissue massage which helped, but tried to run a tiny bit on the treadmill last night and it was still a little bit tighter than I liked. Maybe I'll get some more DT therapy today and see what happens. Maybe go rollerblading for a long time in lieu of a run. This is a pretty minor deal compared to things that have happened in the past to me, so this should fix itself pretty quickly - I hope. 4 out of my 5 last weeks were over 70 miles, so I guess it's not much of a surprise something happened.

UltraChick Pic o Week - # 6

2010-07-09T09:15:00.000-07:00

from the Massanutten 100, I think that's what it's called anyhoo. Great picture. Looks like the early morning after running through the night, still happy and still moving forward, excited and knowing she is going to make it to the finish. I still have yet to figure it out.

Tiger 12 summits run

2010-07-08T09:36:00.001-07:00

Finally I got to run 12 Summits! Over 10K of climbing and approximately 35 miles. I feel like Sir Edmund Hilary. I did it! I did it! We never got lost once. It was awesome. Oh yea, Bill H was our guide. But still, we never got lost. Woohoo! Ha ha!

We started at 5:00 am and it was still pretty dark in the woods. Once we started climbing Bill quickly showed us how it was done as he pulled away from Glen and I. The rest of the day pretty much went like that. Run flat or downhill, stay with Bill, run steep long climb, try to keep Bill in sight. Most of the time I could still see him, although he was becoming smaller and smaller as he disappeared up the slopes. Him running up Middle Tiger was impressive, that was a tough climb as I struggled to power hike it.

Highlights:
We heard a bear. We didn't see him though. This was somewhere between Summit # 2 and # 1.
I got a stick in my shin descending East Tiger and it bled pretty good. Made me feel and look tough.
I ate shit on the easiest part of the trail cuz I was running with my head up my ass. Easy lesson learned.
Water filters worked well, no one got sick. I drank about 210 oz. during the 6 1/2 hours of running.
Almost bonked, ate and recovered. Bill bonked hard with 4 - 5 miles left. Bummer for him, as it did slow him down.
I was still running strong at end of run, although my climbing legs kind of sucked all day. Maybe I need to eat more donuts?
Glen ran at his own pace all day, I barely saw him. Still, he only finished about 10 minutes behind us.
Thanks Bill for waiting for me , I know you could have crushed me at any time and disappeared. Hopefully you still got the workout in you wanted.

Lowlights.
Weather was wet and foggy. No view from the top.
Trails are grown in a little bit, hard to see in some places.

I suffered and dug deep on the climbs and was still pretty slow.
The run had to end.
My recovery was horrible.

Tipping Point

2010-06-26T10:18:00.001-07:00

I have reached my tipping point. I am completely wore out right now. I am learning that you cannot run 80 miles per week on 5 hours of sleep per night. It is just way too hard, too exhausting, too effin' impossible for me. I keep trying to tell myself that it is good training for running 100's…but that is a bunch of crap. It cannot be good to constantly be exhausted and not recover completely from run to run. My legs feel recovered, but the rest of me is a mess. If I had more hair on top of my bald and ugly head I would look like a disheveled crack head. But with a balding buzz cut and a cap I can hide my weariness easy enough. The really weird thing about all of this is my legs have been feeling incredible lately - no matter what I throw at them they respond beautifully - elevation, speed (relative), long descents, and I'm good. Is it because I have been doing Yoga, or what? I do Yoga and stretching about 3 1/2 hours per week, which is pretty good sounding, but I don't know. There just comes a point where something has to give. I'm at that point now. With chores around the house, kids to take to the park, sports, swim lessons, speech therapy, neighborhood parties I am just spread so thin. Yea, my wife does pout up with a lot of this crap - me running till 10:30 at night, being gone every weekend morning, but I do all that stuff at the inconvenient times to make life easier on the home front. I always think it would be easier if two athletic people were married to one another - she doesn't really think so (I do not say this to her - just think it). She has no idea what it's like to get up at 4 am on a Saturday to run 30+ miles with 7-11K of elevation. It is my choice, but I've been doing this type of stuff for so long that there really isn't an option of not doing it. It is part of who I am, my identity. It would be nice if I could get out one day per week at a time that allows me to get sleep, but it never happens. Running is just too flexible. Maybe I should just skip Yoga and then I would get an evening of running in that would allow me to get almost 7 hours of sleep.

UltraChick Pic o Week - # 5

2010-06-18T06:11:00.000-07:00

Wide eyed in the darkness in the middle of nowhere - this is what is so cool about running ultras.

Kettle Moraine 100

2010-06-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

Where do I start with this one? This was sort of a last minute thing that I threw together 3 weeks before race day. I thought for sure that I was going to be good to go with the build up I had. A solid 50 mile race and a 65 mile run 3 weeks before race day. Surely I was on par to run a solid 100 mile race. Well, not quite, it seemed that Ultrarunning always throws you a surprise or 2.

I left Seattle at 11:59 p.m. Thursday night - arriving in Milwaukee at 5:30 Friday morning. The red eye flight sucks, and I think I only slept about 25 minutes of the flight. Got the rental car, plugged in the GPS and I was off to find some food. Luckily for me I found a Perkins - the best place I know for pancakes - and proceeded to scarf a bunch of those down. If I have one complaint about living in the Seattle area it's that there isn't any Perkins restaurants this side of the mountains. So when I do have the opportunity to eat there, I get pretty excited. I did eye the éclair's and thought about it, but decided I needed to finish a 100 before I can eat a donut. Plus I lost some weight thanks to better eating choices. Although I genrally believe donuts are a great choice.

After breakfast I drove into Whitewater and got some snacks from the local grocery store. I couldn't help but notice how cheap everything was compared to home. Man, if I could only find a job that paid any amount of money away from Seattle I would love to leave. Wisconsin was really nice also, green, lots of open space, miles and miles of running trails, XC ski trails, an affordable cost of living in terms of housing and groceries, clean air, little traffic - a pretty nice little place. Way too many Wal-Marts though! Anyhoo, I then took a nap in the parking lot for an hour and a half, drove to a local bike shop, talked to the owner about bikes and riding (what else?), and then made my way over to the hotel about noon. The cute little college girl made me feel old that checked me into my room. Maybe it is because the older I get the younger the kids look, and this one looked about 12. Getting old sucks, but at least I still don't feel any older, and try not to act my age much either - which is good or bad depending on perspective. I asked her if there was anything to do in the town. She laughed and replied without any hesitation, "No." She smiled, laughed and added, "seriously, there is nothing to do in this town." Well, at least I had my room and could take a shower and get some things ready for the run the next day.

4 o'clock rolls around and I decide to make my way to the check-in to pick up my race packet. I was hoping to get there a little bit late and not have to wait in line forever. So I show up at 5 and notice the line is super long. So much for my brilliant plan to avoid the long line. I find a place to park the car, walk over to the line and wait. The sun is out in full force, it's over 80 degrees, and of course the direct sunlight makes it feel much warmer. If the race is like this most of us will wilt in the sunshine. I'm not enjoying my time sitting in the sun, and to make matters worse I am stuck between 2 groups of people having a conversation. I keep trying to move away from the middle of it, but I feel boxed in. I feel like I crashed someone's family reunion by accident- awkward!

Dinner time. I roll into downtown Whitewater, yes it does have a downtown, and find a place to eat some pasta. Chow that down, run to the grocery store to get some last minute food ideas for the run, then back to the room to pack the drop bags.

Drop bags are a pain to pack for the long races. For 50 milers I can carry some bars, some gels, and eat a couple things at the aid stations and I will be good. But for the longer stuff it is really hard to guess what I will need or want to consume 14,15, or 16 hours into a run. I can never predict what will taste good, what will stay down, etc. The weather was predicted to be warm, which for me makes keeping things down a little harder, so I tried to think of something that I can always eat. Pop tarts, cookies, bananas, and powerbars seem to usually do the trick.

8:00 - lights out, and since I only slept about 90 minutes the night before I fell asleep after only about 15 minutes of reading the kindle. 4:00 - I'm awake. I take a shower, eat some fruit and some sort of organic bar, I can't remember what it's called. Seriously, the market is so saturated with energy, nutrition, or whatever they market it as bars it's hard to remember what I'm eating half the time, or if I even like it. As long as it contains what the wrapping says it should suffice as a breakfast.
start of 2010 Kettle 100. Bill Thom photo. I'm in the middle
with orange shirt and black hat.

The race start is about 10 minutes from the hotel, no big rush to get there. I pull in at about 530 and take my drop bags over to their respective places for transport. The weather is pretty decent, about 60 and cloudy. I'm hoping this means the rain isn't going to start too early. 6:00 a.m. comes and we're off. No big hurry to get the race started as I have all day.

The race starts on some double track that twists and turns, goes up and down, and every so often offers a nice view off a valley of some sorts. It is really green. Not evergreen like Washington, but a softer green that is made up of grasses, trees, and poison ivy looking bushes. It looks really pretty though. I start off slow, really slow. I don't even care if I walk or run as long as I keep moving forward. I'm not much of a talker while running, so I kind of keep to myself and zone out, most of the time ignoring other people's exuberant early morning conversation of past race triumphs and let downs, work, families, or whatever else people talk about while running. I'm not a morning person at all - although I really like to get up early - just don't talk to me too soon.

We meander through the trails, get to the first aid station at mile 5 in about 58 minutes. I didn't even start a stop watch for this, so all times are haphazardly guessed and barely paid attention to. As long as I didn't pass 50 miles in under 10 hours I figure I would be good. Running really slow likes this seems to tire my legs out though. I am not used to jogging 12 minute miles, even while running in the mountains I don't like to go this slow. I figure my legs will eventually loosen up though. I have lots of time and the weather is still good.

Coming close to the Bluff aid station at mile 7.5 there are pink flamingoes lining the course. Being a Polish dude originally from Buffalo that makes me feel right at home. I eat some banana and take a couple drinks of water and move on. Shortly after the aid station I hear this huge noise as a large animal close by is running through the trees. The first thing I think is BEAR (I do run in the NW) as surely a deer doesn't move this clumsily through the woods. And unless a cougar is in pursuit of something I wouldn't think it would make this much noise either. I slow to see how close people are and as I do I see this huge ass deer busting through the woods. It had to be one of the largest deer I've seen that doesn't pull a sled. Whew! I always think it is going to be some rapidly moving carnivorous animal that will have nothing on its mind except to take a large chunk out of my leg, ass, or throat. Moving on….

The next 8 or so miles were some nice single-track. Nothing flat for long at all. I don't think I ran much more than a mile at a time before it was time to do some serious power walking, most time much less. It was nice to break the day up. I talked to some girl from Boulder for a little while. I am jealous of pretty much anyone that lives there. Great town. Too bad I'll never be able to afford it. Talked to another dude from MO- but he started a long diatribe about work - so I faked having to go to the bathroom to get away from that subject. I ran the next 15 or so miles to Scuppermong alone with my thoughts. Sometimes it's really nice to run this way. I can think about whatever I want, enjoy the sights, think of the things I've done in my life that led me to the current path I'm on. I mean it. If I really stop and think about all the details that led me to the middle of the woods in Wisconsin on this particular day it's kind of cool. The weather is really warm and humid, later I would learn the temperature was above 80 and the humidity was high.

After Scuppermong, which is somewhere between 31 and 32 miles we turn around and retrace our steps to the start. The first 10 or so miles aren't so bad, a slow drizzle starts but is welcome to deplete the humidity and offer some cooling. But this drizzle doesn't last long. Instead the skies slowly open up and it starts pouring buckets of rain. The drops are so large and hitting the surrounding leaves with such force the noise is astounding. The single track quickly turns into a river. The water is just hauling ass down the hills. The rain lets up for a second, only for the skies to once again unleash their force. And then a flash of lighting. Boom! Followed by ferocious thunder. The rain is relentless.

I make it to Emma Carlin aid station at Mile 47 in just over 10 hours, which is perfectly on my schedule of going slow. The rain now is just a constant downpour. There is standing water at least 12" inches deep in many places with no way around it. No choice is given but to wade through these mini lakes. The trails are so slick that on the hills I need to walk on my heels in order to maintain traction. Going downhill is analogous to skiing in that I can stand, bend my knees, lean a bit forward, and slide down the hill on my feet while trying not to fall on my face. This is nothing short of madness. Why did I take time from my family to do this? I wonder. I don't have an answer. But I still can't explain the allure of running either.

My spirits are still pretty decent though. From miles 48 to the Bluff aid station at 58 I feel pretty good. I make myself take an extended walk break, force some calories and salt tablets down, and continue to drink. My stomach is having a hard time accepting whatever I offer it though. After a few dry heaves, and a minor upchuck of what I assume is Nuun I stabilize and work my way back to Nordic at 63 + miles. I run and walk all the hills and hit the turnaround and find my drop bag.

Nordic - mile 63 and I see Timo the RD out greeting the runners and checking on them as they approach. I don't know this guy at all, but the effort he put into the race and his presence throughout the day is something that I really appreciated. In a sport like ultrarunning, with almost no fanfare, money, or fame it is great to see someone so selfless to allow people like me compete and feel the camaraderie from this wonderful sport. It is still raining like it only can in the midwest. Or maybe Florida.

I change my shoes. Grab my stuff. And head out. Shortly after this it turns really bad. It is now almost dark, but with this darkness brings a new sense of adventure (or so I tell myself). I need to eat though and try some Powerbar. I take a nibble and start dry heaving. I continue to walk. Legs, mind, and body are inexplicably fatigued horribly right now. I just want to lie down and sleep. I stop about 20 minutes later and start throwing up. Loud, wretched heaves are coming from deep within me. I haven't thrown up like this since I last got hammered in the college years, and at least I knew why that happened. I walk some more. It takes me about 25 minutes to cover the first mile from the aid station to mile 65 or so.

I grab the cell phone and try to do the virtual pacer thing. I'm really starting to feel out of it. Almost delirious. I know I need to get calories in me, but my stomach won't allow it. The rain is still coming straight down and I'm starting to get really cold despite the added clothes and rain poncho I'm wearing. I talk to my mom for a bit and she does her best to keep me positive and moving forward, but I am now freefalling fast. I hang up and walk a little bit more. I stop and sit on the side of the trail. A couple people pass and ask if I'm still conscious. Am I? I think so. All I can think of is some old Isaac Asimov story where some dude is stuck in a traffic jam in a tunnel - which is his hell. Is this mine? Will I make it out of here? I don't know.

I've never seen such a waterlogged hand before. This is
mine back at the rental car.

I quickly go through the events of the day that transpired. How did I end up like this? What mistakes were made? Surely there were many that led me to this quickly all-consuming failure. I know fitness isn't an issue. I had a great build up to this day. Although my legs weren't feeling the best they were still decent. Did taking the red eye flight screw me up? So many things are running through my mind, which in its glycogen depleted state is having a hard time processing. And I don't even want to think about the chafing issues. I bet I used more Vaseline than anyone. Time for something new. I walk another mile and stop. It has taken me well over an hour to cover 2 miles. I quickly realize that I can't go on any more. Without being able to eat, and barely drink my event is done. Of course I am disappointed. I turn around and start the 2+ mile walk back. There is nothing left to be done. Game over.

Afterword….

As I think about this race of course I'm disappointed that I DNF'd another 100. But I also know that I left everything out there on the course. I gave it everything I had. I fought as hard as I could and struggled through more misery than I should have. I just didn't have it on this day. It's a 100 miles. I'm still learning. I will finish one soon. I know that. I am not looking backwards anymore but forwards to the next one. I will adjust my training a little bit more. I will shed a few more pounds, and I know I will be successful. Running 100 miles is a journey, and it's not an easy one. But with persistence and learning from each mistake I will see it through to the end. I can't give up now.

Flying home a tad disappointed. I'll be back.

One Week to Kettle Moraine 100

2010-05-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

One week to Kettle Moraine 100. I am a lot more relaxed then I was for Rocky Raccoon. Training gives one confidence, and right now I have an abundance of both confidence and training. I'm not going to win, I might not even break the top 20, but that's not my goal. I just want to finish one of these things. And then I when I run Rocky Raccoon next year I can run for a fast time. But that's getting ahead of myself. Training has been going well considering I didn't know I was going to be training for another 100 mile race, but the stuff I was running anyway happened to be a perfect lead in to this race. I did a solid 50 mile race, and also a 65 mile run where it got somewhat warm 3 weeks before the scheduled 100. As long as I run smart and within myself I got it.

I haven't talked to that many people that have done this race. Given that it's almost 2000 miles away, and there are numerous 100 mile races between here and there, it's not surprising. From what I've read and heard this is a pretty tough course - deceptively hard. There are no huge mountainous climbs which is good, but there are numerous short climbs. Lots of blogs call them PUDS (pointless ups and downs) which after a while will suck your energy and strength. Another factor that could be tough is the heat, it has been hot there, and there are parts of the course where there is no shade, so the summershine could be brutal once the temperatures reach 80. Patience will be key to this race. I have to make sure I don't wear myself out in the heat. Keep tabs on my nutrition. And then still hope for a little bit of luck.

It's going to be a quick trip. I'm taking a red eye flight out of Seattle on the Thursday before the race, get in Friday morning. I have a hotel in Whitewater for Friday and Saturday, and then I'll have to catch a late Sunday evening flight back to Seattle. I don't think I'll be going to work on Monday. It will be fun I'm sure. There is a slight chance one of my friends from Minnesota will be able to show up and pace me for the last 20+ miles which would be awesome. I'm really looking forward to this, and getting that monkey off my back.

UltraChick Pic o Week - # 4

2010-05-24T13:38:00.001-07:00

Miss Grunt - Capitol Forest 50

This girl is a bitch. A little rough around the edges - not exactly a smooth demeanor. The only good thing I have to say about her is I didn't have to put up with her too long.

(I would love to descend her on a full suspension mountain bike though!)

12 hours of Redmond

2010-05-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

Nice wide smooth trails. It felt like running on the roads for
12 hours. The shade was welcome as it was the 1st warm day
of the year.

When I first signed up for this race, my goal was to run 70 miles. But having decided to run the Kettle Moraine 100 just 3 weeks after I scaled back the goal a little bit. I wanted to run the whole day comfortably, and if I felt like I was pushing myself too far I wanted to be able to scale back and take it easy. I wasn't really paying much attention to how I was doing in the race until maybe 8 hours in, and I think at that point I was in 7th or 8th place in my age group. It was fun to watch the race transpire, but I was able to stick to the plan and not get sucked into it.

I started nice and easy. And had to listen to a couple girls talk about work for the first lap. That kind of sucked. But eventually we got separated enough that I didn't have to listen to work stuff. I settled into a nice easy pace for another lap or 2. I eventually ran with Gary Vale from Beaverton for a while. We talked about how running fast marathons has almost nothing to do with potential in ultras - he was a 2:51 marathoner though - still sounds impressive to me. Although my goals have switched to someday breaking 3 hours in the marathon to breaking 4 hours in a 50K - which on the right course isn't that hard. We talked about running, blah blah blah, what else do you talk about while running? Well, unless you're Glen and I that the more miles we run together the more our conversations regress into adolescent banter. But I didn't know Gary that well so certainly didn't want to go there. He's a cool dude and is running the Pine to Palm 100 or whateverthehellitscalled in September. I hope I run into him then.

Glen came out and pace for the last 41 miles or so. That was pretty cool of him. My cheap ass camelback sprung a leak and I had to carry bottle for the last 8 hours - lame. It got pretty hot also. I was consuming about 40 ounces per hour and still had to chug a bunch of water after the 5th or 6th lap to make up for some drinking deficiencies. The salt tablets were going down pretty well also, which is not always the case. Anyhoo - back to Gen. He hept singing, "Im a maniac, maniac" from the movie Flashdance. That's what I get for teasing him about the marathon maniacs. And when he first got there he was running a little bit too fast for me - maybe some payback. I am always scared of my 4 and 5th hours into a run, as it's usually when I feel best and it becomes too easy to increase the pace - only to get bit in the ass by this later. I stayed behind him hoping that once he got up there in mileage he would not pull me quite so hard. After 8 or 9 hours of running I was still feeling good, and we were still running faster laps than we thought we should. But it all worked out really well in the end. Glen and I of course regressed into our own little idiotic conversations of kids, wives, running and burp and fart and guy jokes. Good times. Glen even got to flex a couple times for the cameras of the race. I kept forgetting what lap I was on and luckily Glen could still count for me, which was helpful. The only negative spot I had in the race was after eating a chocolate Power Bar - I don't like those things on the best of days. But I knew I had to eat something, so I was forced to consume it. After dry heaving a little bit, and drinking Heave (Heed) to wash it down my stomach eventually settled. Heed is disgusting. They have that at Kettle Moraine so hopefully they will have Nuun also. At least I can carry Nuun easy enough. I love that stuff. Eventually I finished my 11th lap, and they scorers said something to the effect that I have 90 minutes to run the last one. I was still feeling OK, so I was confident enough to do it. Onward we ran, my appetite was gone though.

UltraChick Pic o Week - # 3

2010-05-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

I have no idea who this is, or where this is. But what a beautiful little spot on earth she found. Who wouldn't want to run here?

Thrive diet

2010-05-14T12:45:00.001-07:00

Am I really getting sucked into this? I don't know. But anything that helps combat the fatness and apathy of America I'm all for - I'm not real convinced than anyone will read this book unless they are already pursuing athletic endeavors. I can't see me every going completely vegan, but I know there is a lot of room for improvement in my diet. My snacks today consisted of cucumber, pineapple, banana, red bell pepper, and granola. Yea, the granola is most likely not under the "Thrive" plan. But neither was the ice cream sandwich I ate yesterday.

I ran a whole 12 miles this week. Woohoo. Tomorrow @ Redmond should be 65+ though, so I should end up with over 80 this week after Sunday. I'm only 3 weeks from KM100 - so I don't want to kill myself (before it's time to kill myself).

Ketttle Moraine 100

2010-05-12T13:15:00.000-07:00

I signed up and it's only 3 1/2 weeks away. What the hell am I thinking. My training is in a fairly good spot right now though. I've read that this course is tougher than the statistics say, but 12,000 feet of elevation gain is nothing to sneeze at. I recently ran a 50 miler w/ 6000 feet in 8:34, and I could still move at the end, but I was definitely tired. Now I just have to double it to get the proverbial monkey off my back.

UltraChick Pic o Week - # 2

2010-05-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

Not sure who this is, but look at those trails! That looks so awesome! I guess this is from somewhere near Mt. Hood - someone emailed me this photo. Why would anyone ever choose to run roads if this option is available?

Tiger 12 Summits (Lost Again)

2010-05-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

I swear. We must be retarded. There were 3 adults, 2 of whom attempted to run this before, 3 maps, countless years of higher education, and not only do we end up lost, but we end up miles from where we thought we were. I'm not sure if it's entirely our fault, but some of it must be placed firmly on our shoulders, but some must go to the so-called green map makers that omit certain trails. How the hello are we supposed to figure out where we are on the map when we get to an intersection of 2 trails, only to find that neither of them are on the map? Seriously, what a frustrating experience that is.

The goal (again) was to run 12 summits. I got there before Glen and Joleen, so I did a little recon run to figure out the correct trail to run up. I had a guide last time, so I knew where we turned. So when Glen and Joleen show up, we head up that trail. When we get to an intersection, we end up going back down the hill for a bit. I knew when I ran with Bill Huggins. and Justin Angle we did not go downhill before we reached the summit. So we stop and consult the maps, go the wrong way, go back the right way, and then end up going up the main trail to the summit. It was such a beautiful day we had to stop and take in the view for a minute before continuing on.

On to summit # 2, which is an easy down and up with almost no opportunity to go the wrong way, we made it pretty easy, and also to # 3. We finally got to turn over our legs a little bit in this section, as most of it is runnable. We made fun of Glen for joining marathon maniacs and made up some other maniac groups for him to join. Ummm, golfing maniacs? Golf 4 days in a row and you're in. After that the run goes all to hell.

# 2457

Coming back down from summit # 3 we look for whateverthehell the trail is called which is supposed to be on the left side after 1.1 miles or so. We look. Nothing. There's a trail on the right. We look at the map. It's not on the map. It's clearly marked, why isn't it on the map? We run some more looking for the mystery trail on the left. Stop at another trail, or dirt road to be more accurate. Look at the map. Nope, it's not on the map. It's already been a few hours. We need to decide if we are going to make it to the end for our drop bags, or do we need to start heading back before we run out of water? We head back up the logging road we're running on. We see a mountain biker dude, confer with him, think we know where we are. Then we head back down the road to a different trail we saw earlier. Crap. We jump on the TMT and think we are only about 4 miles from our drop bags. So we run a couple more miles. It sure is beautiful trail.

Glen and Joleen on TMT

Then we run into some guy with the Issaquah Trail Association doing trail work. We talk to him for a little bit; find out we are a handful of miles from where we thought we were, ask him about water in the area, then move on. After running another 30 or so minutes we end up running into someone Glen and I talked to a little bit at the CP 50 miler a couple weeks back. We ask him a few navigational questions and end up heading back to Tiger # 3 as we are just about out of water. Seriously, WTF? How could we misconstrue our location so badly? We ended up heading back to the cars, got some more water and then ran a flat little loop to shake out the legs from the 4 mile 2500 foot descent from Tiger # 3. I do not like that descent at all. Plus my left knee was acting weird all day. We run easy around some lake, talk (bitch) about the map that Glen bought at REI that didn't include all trails, and were happy to be back where we knew where the hell we were.

It's always an adventure running @ Tiger. We kind of decided to give up on the 12 summits for a while as we are 0 for 2 (3 if you count the time there was so much snow up top) and just get in some good training runs. We'll stick to the TMT and not get lost. Hopefully.

UltraChickPic o Week - # 1

2010-05-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

Picture stolen from the web.

Ultrarunner chick # 1.

Fast as hell. Loves Mountain Dew. And will run the legs of just about any man alive. Has the fastest 100 mile run by a woman. Need anyone say more?

Capitol Peaks 50 Mile

2010-04-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

These things usually take a couple days to write. And I'm learning that if I want to gleam as much as I can from each distance I need to write as much as I can remember. This may be a bit lengthy, but no one really reads this crap anyway. Hell, my parents hardly even read this junk. On to the Capitol Forest 50…

With promises of horrible traffic due to construction I decided to leave extra early. Glen got a hotel near the race start, which would have been nice, but I knew I wouldn't see the kids much on race day, and I didn't want to not see them basically 2 days in a row. His kids are teenagers - a little easier to get away from with less guilt. My goal was to bed Saturday night at 715; I figured I'd be reading the kindle for at least an hour or so before I fell asleep, but I was hoping to get 5 hours of shuteye. Of course, if you have kids you know things don't every go to plan when they are for yourself. That's just part of the adventure of having kids. I ended up getting to bed at about 815. Not really too bad as I planned on getting up at 230. But instead I woke up at 12:40, laid there for a long time, decided to start reading some more in the hope it would tire the eyes enough to get another hour or so of sleep. Next thing I know I'm another 15% through the book and it's 2:10. I might as well get up. So I jumped in the shower, checked some things on the web quickly, ate some pancakes, read some more, and the next thing I know it's almost 3:00. Crap I better go.

Turns out traffic is nonexistent all the way down. For once the on again off again rain was a benefit. I rolled into the Mima Campground at around 4:35 and as I see all the headlights walking around think to myself, "That would be smart to bring a light as it's pitch black." Oh well, I fumble through the dark like a bat chasing a firefly (or whatever eats those damn things). Then I round a corner and a tent is in full glow, so on I ventured toward the light. I got my shirt (another technical shirt, I have so many of those it would actually be nice to get a plain old cotton t-shirt), number, another free Ultrarunning magazine (sure am glad I subscribed since I get them at every race), and a couple other goodies. I sent Glen a text so we could actually see one another before the race starts. Yes, we have a crush on one another! It's puppy love. Actually, he is the only other idiot I know that will run through the mountains with me just about every weekend.

The sun came up. The race started. Off we go. 50 miles to go. 6000+ feet to climb. No hurry. Take your time. Lots of mud on the trails.

Here's my shoes after the run.

Glen's GPS said we were averaging 10:30 per mile after a couple miles, I wanted to take it easy in the beginning but that was a little slow. I didn't let it worry me too much, with all day to run I'm sure 10:30 per mile would be hard to maintain eventually. Especially with the "grunt" coming up to the top of Capitol Peak. The first few hours were pretty mellow. I just kept an easy pace, and tried to maintain my calories and fluid intake. It was a little cool so I wanted to enjoy the comfortable weather as long as it lasted. I have no idea how far into the race we were (maybe 19 or so) we pop out of this little single-track, cross a road and I see a sign that says, "Grunt trail." I heard about this. It rises about 1000 feet in less than a mile. I usually suck at power walking the climbs, but maybe it’s the company I last did it with (2 guys that have finished top 5 in mountainous 100 milers), but today I "mall walked" up it like nothing and probably passed 10 people without exerting myself. Got to the top and still felt good - which is always a relief.

I ended up running with Pam Smith, who ran 7:14 to finish 2nd at American River 50 miler 2 weeks ago, for a little bit, but after running away from her on the descent and next climb I had to get myself in check as she probably would have killed me. I ran into aid station (whatever number it was - about mile 25.5) in 4:17, let Pam go ahead of me, happy to still be feeling really good and on pace for a conservative sub 9 hour finish. Ran another mile and then hooked up with Tia Gabralita. This is perhaps one of the coolest runner chicks I ever met. I ran with her for about 7 miles or so, found out she ran with Glen earlier in the race, and just talked to her about nothing too important (different 100's mostly) as the miles floated by. I could tell by her jovial mood she was feeling good though. Each time we go to an aid station she got excited and started whoopin' it up. I let her go and all I could hear was, "C'mon Mike, get going! C'mon Mike!" And maybe at about mile 40 or so I had to bid her Adieu. Yes, she is a girl, yes, a couple years older, but this is another seriously tough and strong runner that would have me hurting in a bad way if tried to hang on too long. long. My pride is not something that I worry about 40 miles into a trail run. I'm used to getting beat by the fast chicks anyway.

I knew once I started getting close to the finish I would start seeing mile markers on the trails. Downhill and flats my turnover was still pretty good, but by mile 45 the climbs were starting to piss me off. I was walking climbs that I didn't even notice earlier in the race. I got caught by one more girl just for the helluvit. Saw someone running and he said something like 3/4 of a mile to go. I looked at my watch and it said 8:29. I knew sub 9:00 was going to be pretty easy, but thought I was going to end up 8:36. He must have been off in his estimate as I crossed the line in 8:34:20. Not too bad. I think ultrarunning is a lot like racing bikes where it takes a while to build the strength you need to complete the longer distances. I'm seeing lots of improvement so it's pretty cool when incrementally feel the the positive changes.

Next up is 12 hours at Redmond. I planned to take it easy for a week or 2, but it's hard to go from 60+ miles a week down to 30. I feel like I'm being lazy. 2 days after the 50 my legs were barely sore; I think the slower pace and softer surface is a lot easier on the limbs. 50 miles is a great distance to run; you don't really have to worry about DNF-ing and you can pretty much run the whole thing confortably. 50 miles is my new farvorite distance.

Lord Hill Trail Maintenance Day

2010-04-21T08:22:00.001-07:00

In conjunction with Earth Day my work set up a trail work party with the Washington Trails Association (WTA) at Lord Hill Park. I signed up for this as quickly as I could since it was self-serving to do trail maintenance at a place I run at so frequently. The first picture is how bas the trail was when we first showed up. The trail was getting more and more wide as people were doing their best to avoid the slop in the middle. If you stepped in the deepest gunk it was almost 10 inches deep of mud and water. And if you didn't tie your shoes tight enough there was a good chance that you wouldn't have it on anymore as you tried to step out of the slop. There were 42 people altogether and we worked on a 0.6 mile section of trail that had not seen any work performed in many years.

See Glen working? He gets free socks if he sends this picture in for the Cascade Crest 100.

This picture is about 75% of the way complete fixing the mud hole. We scraped all the crap out down to the hard pan and then put some drainage in so hopefully the water will not pool here and create another quagmire.

Here is the finished project. Yes, the trail is considerably wider, but it was already pretty wide at the mud hole. There were about 10 of these holes of slop that we fixed this day. We also fixed some eroded parts of trail where 2 trails were existing side by side - one for water to run down the hill, and one for people to avoid the water.

This was a lot of work but very rewarding. I would love to be able to work on trails more often. Washington has hundreds if not thousands of miles of trails and I'm sure there are many that require work. It was about time I gave back to the trail community since I spend nearly every weekend running trails somewhere in western Washington.

More training - and exploring

2010-04-16T10:04:00.001-07:00

This photo is from Redmond, which was the second trail we ran after reaching the end of the Tolt Pipeline trail - then backtracking, talking to hikers, and searching we finally came upon it. I was pretty surprised to still see snow on the edge of the trail at this time of year. Although after all the snow I ran in last week at Tiger Mountain, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised about seeing a patch of snow here and there.

The day started off frosty and cool. And turned into a nice spring day. We ended up running about 26 miles - nice and easy. Glen and I are both running the Capitol 50 miler near Olympia on the 25th of April, so we didn't want to take too much out of ourselves at this point.

I had one of those days where I just felt great all day long. 10 miles in and I felt like I only ran 1/2 mile. 20 miles in and I felt like I went a mile. The legs were just so responsive all day. We picked up the pace a little bit at the end, but nothing too crazy.

I ended up running just under 70 miles this week. Glen ended up with 74 I believe. Not too shabby for a couple older suburbanites. This is a pretty good run too when both trails are tied together. None of the climbs are too difficult - pretty much everything is runnable. Zero traffic. A few horses here and there. A couple bikes. Not much mud which is either a good or bad thing - and you can refill the bottles and use real bathrooms @ the Watershed Preserve. I was surprised we didn't see anyone else running all day long. But then again when we run Tiger we can run 5-6 hours and only see 3 or 4 people running - I see that many in in 1 mile during a neighborhood run. Plus it's dirt. It's always great to run on dirt.

Tiger Moutain Run in the snow

2010-04-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

I stole this pic from the web, so that's not us. The weather was a bit more dramatic, and we were the idiots with shorts and sneakers on. But this is pretty much the view of the day - white!

Another early ass morning without much sleep. I did actually fall asleep early, but the baby woke me up about 2 minutes later. I swear, for every minute she wakes up - I'm up for an hour. I can't wait until my kids are teenagers. When my kids are older I plan on paying them back. I'll be plugging in my guitar and amp at 4:00 am and rocking out some old punk tunes to get even with the kids. I can't wait. It's going to be fun. Until then, I just try to keep moving all day long and ignore my zombified state. I was meeting Bill and Justin at 6am for a run. We were hoping to run 12 peaks or summits or whateveritscalled, but there were reports of a lot of snow up top. We wouldn't really know until we get to the top though.

I rolled in to the parking lot at about 5:57, Bill and Justin showed up about 2 minutes later. And after about 5 minutes of final adjustments we were off. It was still pretty dark as we made our way to the single-track. And then we start climbing. I was feeling like crap, but we were going uphill so I didn't notice how bad I felt (if that makes sense). Just because even if I feel good I still feel like crap on long climbs, it just gets over with quicker on better days. We climbed for a while and holy crap! Snow! I'm originally from Buffalo, NY and once ran 15 miles in -40 wind-chill, so this shouldn't be such a surprise. But it was. Maybe because I ran here a couple weeks and there was no sign of snow; in fact trail conditions were pretty good.

When we got to the clearing at the top the snow was at least 12" deep, and the wind was howling. We quickly got back into the single track and moved onto summit # 2. This climb is on a fire road and not as much fun. Luckily for me I was the slowest runner so I could go in the footsteps of Bill and Justin in front of me. Again at the top the wind was blowing fiercely - on we go to the single track. The 3rd summit is a bitch of a climb. The first time I did it a couple weeks before it completely humbled me. I kept my usual slow pace behind Bill and Justin. I was losing 20 seconds or more per climb to them, and they were having a conversation all the way up. This time up was not as bad though, and I was starting to feel better. I really need to start running this type of terrain more. After the 3rd summit it was decided to get out of the snow and head back down. It was fun running in the snow, the pillowy white stuff is great on my knees, but it also hides the rock and root hazards. We then worked our way down to the TMT trail, stopped at the spring so they could fill their bottles, and continued our run. Overall it was a great day to be outside. I really appreciate those guys putting up with me as I know they are both quite a bit faster. But I can feel my fitness improving on this terrain each time I run it. And I need to remember to tape the straps on my water bottles - they kept popping out and then I have to fiddle with them for a bit. I lost tons of time running just from messing with my bottles, what a stupid way to lose it.

We ended up running just short of 4 hours. I ended up feeling much better toward then end of the run. And Sunday I wasn't even sore at all, so that's a positive in the right direction. The first time I ran here I was hobbled for a few days afterwards. Progress. I love trails.

Weather we should run or not

2010-04-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

The weather totally sucks. But oh well. I live in western Washington. The weather is going to suck at times. It's a fact. But we generally don't get a ton of snow. So what if I am going to run 6-7 hours in the snow tomorrow, or rain, or snow at the top. It will be an epic day of running in the woods. 34 miles and over 21,000 feet of elevation change will make for a fun day no matter what. At least I shouldn't (repeat - shouldn't) run out of water. Osmosis will work also. Or I can just eat the snow at the top.

I need to run more trails

2010-03-31T12:31:00.000-07:00

I really need to start running more trails. It is just so hard to get there during the week. Most of the time I don't get out until almost 730, and if I drive the 15 minutes to the trails it will be obviously later. There are some trails I can run near the house, but they are just a 1/2 mile here, 1/4 mile there, maybe 1 mile here again. Not exactly the tight singletrack I enjoy the most. And the hills just aren't the same on the roads either. They are all easily runnable. With the added daylight I am going to really try to get to the trails once in the middle of the week. I'm just spread so thin right now though…excuses I know a million of them. But when have a couple kids and work full time, and also a wife that you're (sort of) trying to keep around you'll understand. And then you can help me. Circles…

Chuckanut 50K

2010-03-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

I had a day full of adventure. And the run was the minor part. What a great day it was too.

I got up at 3:45 and decided to ride my little Honda Metro to the run. It was 42 degrees at my house so I figured I would be fine on the way there. I was a little off. I put one bottle of drink in the carbon fiber bottle cage and figured I would swap another one on the way out, plus eat a Powerbar when I got my new bottle from under the seat. That didn't exactly work out to plan. As I left my house and dropped into the Snohomish Valley the weather quickly cooled. As I continued to drive it felt colder and colder, to the point where it was about 30. I had to wear my running shoes as I didn't really have any more room to pack anything else. All in all it took me about 2 hours and 10 minutes to get there. I was shivering, my hands weren't working anymore, and my feet were numb too. It was worth it though. I didn't even use a gallon of gas to drive the 75 miles to Fairhaven.

I spent the next 80 minutes trying to get warm. I went for a short 1.5 mile run, which worked well enough to get my core temp up, but my feet were still numb. I ran into Bill Huggins, a guy I moved up to cat. 2 with in Cyclocrosst and caught up with him, which was cool. Bill is an awesome dude. Next thing I know it's about 10 minutes to race start and my feet are still numb. I wasn't too worried though, I didn't think there would be any technical trails for a while. It turns out the first 6 miles are relatively flat and the footing is easy, much to my numb feet's delight. It was somewhere between 5-6 miles before I got all my feeling back in my feet.

Heading into the first aid station meant the single track and the real fun was about to begin. I kept a conservative pace for the beginning, staying aerobic and smooth. With a minimum goal of sub 5 hours I didn't think it would be too hard to attain. I suck (slow) at power walking the steep climbs, instead choosing to plod up them as best as I can. This proved to be much faster than most people can walk. My shoes were starting to bug me though on the first long decent. They always do. I need to find a new trail shoe I like that doesn't tear my feet up. Luckily I remembered to wrap my one foot in duct tape, that stuff really does have a million uses.

I ate and drank as much as I thought I needed, but I think not being able to eat and drink in the car on the way up really bit me in the ass by the time we got to the top of Lil Chinscraper. This climb, being only 800 feet, wasn't horribly long, but it was pretty steep and tough to go fast on.

http://www.pbase.com/gtach/image/122954441

After this it was all downhill and mostly flat to the finish. Although I knew I was running out of calories. I had 1/2 a Powerbar left in my fuel belt, so I downed that. And tried to survive to the next and last aid station. I was in full bonk mode although my legs were still pretty OK. I just needed calories. I survived to the last aid station where I consumed an enormous amount of calories. A huge handful of M & M's, a handful of Clif Bloks, a couple gels, and 8-10 little cups of coke and I was off. After about maybe one more slow mile my blood sugar kicked in and I was able to get my pace close to sub 8:00 minute miles the rest of the way. I ended up running the last 6 miles in 52 minutes, but I like to think the lack of calories were a big factor in the slowing of my pace before it picked up again. I ended up running in 4:58, not horrible, but I definitely feel as if I can run that course a lot faster. I ran into Glen shortly after, it's amazing that we were only 4 minutes apart and never saw one another the whole race. We saw Joleen finish, she wasn't looking too happy but looked like she finished strong.

The field was stacked. I don't think I've ever been in a race which contained this much talent. When the current Western States 100 winner gets 6th you know the field is stacked. I would have loved to have seen them fly up the hills.

It was warm for the scoot home though. I was horribly overdressed and had to stop after an hour or so to shed a layer or 2. I took the long way home because of the increased traffic. All told it was a very enjoyable day. I ended up putting 160 miles on the scooter and only used about 1.55 gallons of gas. My back was a little sore on the way home though, but it was worth it. Then it was back to the kids and since it was so nice out there wasn't any time to relax as we headed to the park and played for the rest of the day. Good times...

No Sleep...til B'ham!

2010-03-19T09:13:00.000-07:00

Seriously. WTF? I haven't slept a decent night in about 2 weeks. 4 hours, 5 hours. 4 hours. Repeat. A good night has been 6 hours. I don't understand how this happens or why. Granted, I generally feel OK each day. Maybe it's because my mileage is back down under 50 miles per week? Am I some junkie that can only sleep when I burn a prerequisite amount of calories? I need a good 30+ mile run to get everything working again and in order. When I was running 70+ miles per week I slept pretty good every night. But I also got to run earlier - this is probably a factor. Most night I don't even get out the door until 730-800 o'clock. Then after 1-2+ hours of running, shower, stretch, food, get to bed it's pretty late. Then the friggin' alarm clock goes off at 430 and repeat.

Hopefully with Chuckanut 50K tomorrow I can get some sleep tonight. That would be a welcome relief.

100 miles - Take II

2010-03-05T12:56:00.000-08:00

You're the fighter you've got the fire

The spirit of a warrior, the champion's heart

You fight for your life because the fighter never quits

You make the most of the hand you're dealt

Because the quitter never wins

No!

(The Dropkick Murphy's - The Warrior's Code)

I finally found a 100 to run to redeem myself from RR 100. I am going to kick this race's ass. I am going to be so strong that these mountains will feel like a bunny hill. Pine to Palm 100 or Palm to Pine - whateverthehellitscalled. Who cares. 20K of elevation. Whatever. It doesn't matter. I am going to turn myself inside out training yet be super smart also. I am going to be prepared. There will be no surprises this time. So a big EFF U to 100 miles thank you very much. And then I will go back to RR100 and run 17:30 for 100.

Tiger Mountain Training Run

2010-03-02T08:08:00.001-08:00

Whew. We finally got to run Tiger. I picked Glen up at 0630 and we headed out to the trails. I was quite surprised by the number of cars in the lot as we pulled in about 715 in the morning. It was a hard friggin run though. Actually, we walked some of the steeper ascents (there were many) and I quickly realized Glen is a way better power walker than I. I guess I need to hang out with the old folks on Friday mornings and do some hot laps around the mall.

We started off with a 2000 foot climb in the first 4 miles. We started nice and easy since it felt like a long climb. Neither one of us have ever run the 12 Summits of Issaquah before, so we had to stop more than we would have liked to. And also made quite a few wrong turns. I think we climbed the first ascent almost 3 times before we actually found the trail to the next summit. We probably got an extra 800 feet of climbing just because of our wrong turns. Once we found the trail to summit # 2 we were pretty good though in terms of navigation. We ran into hikers and we kept asking them if we were on the right tract to wherever we were going. We found our way meandering along the side of the mountain and only ran into one more runner after summit # 2. The farther into the woods we ventured the less options we had which certainly helped our poor navigational skills out. The climb to summit # 1 was a bitch to say the least. It only gained about 750 feet during the final approach, but it felt really steep and put my power walking to the test. By the time we reached this summit it was time to turn around as it took us nearly 2.5 hours of running (and walking) to get this far.

The way back was fast though. Granted, there wasn't quite as much ascending as previous - but there was lots of technical downhill quad thrashing running. The last 4 miles felt like a controlled free fall down a side of the mountain. I ran the last 2.2 miles in 15:30. And Glen was about a minute ahead of me, so he was hauling ass.

All in all it was an awesome day to run. The weather held out. The scenery was breath taking. The trails were in great shape. And it was just great to be outside and playing in the woods so far from anything remotely resembling pavement. We agreed we ran about 18 miles in just under 4 hours - the run was that tough. Both of us could probably run a 3:15 marathon on any given day of the week without too work. I never knew 12 minute pace could feel so hard.

Time to move forward

2010-02-14T10:14:00.000-08:00

"Hey, sad and blue, what are you gonna do?
Blow yourself away or tie up your own left shoe?
And walk out the door, ready to roar
Check your guns at the door
There's a man that you should see
A generation X Bukowski
who knows about life
The life imitating art"

Lowest of the Low - Life imitating Art

No longer completely pissed off about last weekend in Texas I'm finally ready to move forward. The positives are that I am feeling healthy (for the most part) and motivated to run some good races now. I am going to concentrate on building strength and will be back in Texas next February ready to kick some ass. My recovery has been unbelievable. I know I'm not 100% after running over 72 miles last weekend, but I haven't had any soreness since last Monday, most of the things that were bugging me before the 100 attempt are gone, and most important I am super motivated to run. I realize that I really like testing myself, and before I always thought I was near invincible. Marathons are easy to finish. Ironmans are easy to finish. Sure, getting a fast time is a bit different, but nevertheless finishing is not that hard with the proper training. Forward on Muthafiretrucker. I am going to do some amazing things this summer, I will impress myself, and I will learn how to dog deeper than I have ever had to before. I'm ready to roar and like Pre always said, running a race is a work of art. And your life often imitates your art, so forward I'm ready to go. With only an occasional glance back to remind or re-motivate.

Rocky Raccoon 100

2010-02-10T07:51:00.001-08:00

It was everything I expected it to be, but the end result was so disappointing. But I did all that I could do for as long as I could. I experienced euphoric highs and the lowest of lows. I dry heaved. I felt like crying. I crashed and burned. I saw an armadillo. I felt like Superman. But only to come to the realization that I am just not ready for 100 miles yet. I've only been back to running for about a year now. But I learned a ton about the distance. I really believe with what I've learned I will ace the next one. Here's how it all went down:

I flew into Houston the Thursday before the race only to experience a crappy Seattle winter day. It was overcast, misting rain, some patchy fog, and in the mid to upper 40's. Then Thursday night it just dumped buckets all night long. I hadn't run much in the preceding week because of various injuries, and the entire month of January was rough with sickness and injury. My last 30+ mile run was 4 weeks before in Kirkland. Friday I awoke to some sunshine and made my way to the park and ran a couple miles to see how my ass and back felt, and to wake the legs up after their weeklong slumber. I was a little stiff, but I think it was more rusty than injury. I was optimistic for the next day.

Saturday morning rolls around and the weather is decent - mid 40's and the stars are out. The day is expected to be clear and upper 50's for a high - with night time lows in the 30's.

The first 20 mile lap was pretty uneventful. I ran an easy 10 minute pace and watched people trip over the roots and rocks littering the trail. I bet I saw 10 people fall in the first 3 miles as the run started in darkness. I had to make a pit stop at about mile 9, did my thing and finished the first lap, making sure to eat and drink plenty of calories.

The 2nd 20 mile lap was pretty easy also. I kept running 10:00 or so pace, walked a couple hills because that's what (mere mortal) people do in these hundreds. I made sure to eat and drink plenty as the day was slowly warming up. I finished 2 laps in just under 7 hours.

Lap 3 started off OK as I just kept my simple 10 minute pace, but I made myself take a couple walking breaks because I could tell the legs were going to be running out of power. I knew that if I was patient they would come back though, they always have. Most of the 3rd lap was pretty uneventful. Eat. Drink. Take it easy and be patient. Slow the pace a little bit. I still have over 19 hours to cover 40 miles. But by the end of this lap I was in an irritable mood to say the least.

Lap 4 I tried to talk myself back into the race - walking a couple 15 minute miles and slowly started feeling good. I ran pretty decent from miles 62.5 - 69.5. But I don't really know what the tipping point was that quickly led to my demise. All of a sudden I couldn't run anymore. I could barely walk. My left knee was pretty stiff. It took me about 1 hour and 20 minutes to cover the 3 miles back to the 72.2 mile aid station. I was defeated though. Mentally dejected. Physically my legs were a mess. Ding ding ding. Timer is going off - take me out - I'm done. That was it. I had no fight left.

Afterwards I was super pissed off for thinking I was ready for this. Maybe I should have waited another year before attempting? Maybe I was ready and totally screwed up my race plan? Maybe I should have done some longer training runs instead of piggybacking 50+ mile weekends? Maybe incorporate some weights? Maybe all of the above? Not sure. I just know that whatever I did wasn't enough. I did run over 72 miles. My 50 mile split was 8:40 which is OK for my first 50 miles ever run, and I was holding back for it. But I want to get back on the horse as soon as I can, although I'm not real sure when that will be, but I do know I will never DNF another 100 again unless my legs literally fall off or I pass out, get eaten by a cougar, etc. I received enough motivation in that one day to last a couple years. I hated it so much though. I can't wait to try again. And ya gotta love 301.

5 days to Rocky Raccoon

2010-02-01T12:26:00.000-08:00

(Painting by Jason Alexander Cruz - http://www.jasonalexandercruz.com/paintings.html

Well, crap. The big day is almost here. Yes, I am excited to run. I really want to find out how my preparation was. Of course I will doubt that it was enough. I didn't run any more than 41 miles. Oh well. What can you do now?

It is pretty exciting though. My time for the race is like my report card.

My grades will be as follows, each number represents hours:

Under 18 - A++++++++

Under 20 - A

Under 22 - B

Under 24 - C

Over 24 - D

DNF - F. FAILURE!!!!! UNACCEPTABLE!

I think the DNF is what scares me the most. I put a lot of work into this stupid ass run. Waking up at at 4:00 a.m. on weekends so I can get 30 miles in...running late during the week and never getting enough sleep so I can get miles in...running late on Saturday night into Sunday morning so I can get miles in...my family putting up with all the crap about me obsessing about miles. So the bottom line is DNF is not an option. I'll type it right now, if I DNF I will end up in a hospital. That's the truth too. I can't see myself DNF-ing in any other way. I worked my ass off for this one run. I enjoyed most of it too. But it's time to see what I'm made off. Am I a poser or this really what I want to do?

Lots of questions will be answered about myself when I am in the middle of the Texas woods in the middle of the night in the middle of a 100 mile foot race. This is the only place I can really find my spiritual side. I don't go to church. I don't believe in the church anyway. God? Maybe...maybe not. But I believe in myself. I believe in my family and how they nurtured me and brought me up to be what I am today. I know I will have lots of long conversations with my brother. I am really looking forward to that. I will ask him lots of questions and maybe - just maybe - I might get some answers if I dig deep enough and listen to everything around me. This race will also give me lots of time to think about life, what I really want to get out of it, what I have put into it so far, etc. Am I on the right path in life (and the trail too : )? What choices should I make as my life continues? I know I have some really big choices to make. Maybe I will be able to get deep inside myself enough to uncover the answer.

5 more days.

Less than 2 weeks to Rocky Raccoon 100

2010-01-26T08:19:00.000-08:00

and I've been sick, hurt, beat up, ran through the ringer, etc. Seriously, I am really beat up and it's only 12 days until race day.

I'm just getting over a sinus infection and pink eye, oh! the joys of having kids. They bring everything home from school to share with their parents. I still feel that I'm pretty lucky as I made it all the way until my last weekend of training before I got sick. I seriously thought I would get sick way before that time. I don't know how many runs I completed that were 30+ miles, only to spend the rest of the day chasing the kids around the house, or taking them somewhere to play (or maybe I just tag along because I want to play too) and then follow it up with 5 hours of sleep and repeat.

I think my body just finally said, "Enough is enough. if you want me to carry your dumb ass 100 miles through the Texas trails then you better give me a break." My hip is getting better though. Motrin stick should come back down since I shouldn't have t eat those things like jelly beans on Easter morning anymore.

I am getting pretty excited to run though. I think it will be a great experience. I think I've learned enough patience to understand how to run such a long distance. I know I can't have a great run in the first 50-60 miles, all I can do is ruin the last part by trying to go too fast too soon. I really want to avoid going into survival mode any sooner than necessary.

We'll see what happens. I can't wait to find out!

Bridle Trails 50K

2010-01-12T10:13:00.000-08:00

Yes, my shirt is on inside out on purpose. I'm not into advertising for free. In principle anyway.

The more I run off road the closer I find to coming what I'm looking for - that perfect event or activity - the one that makes you feel like, "This is what I want to do!" I know of many people that have a career which gives them that sensation, but not me, I have a job that pays the bills that allows me to play outside; definitely not a career. Sure, I was in Kirkland, the anti of playing outside to get away from everything, but deep in the woods in the pitch black, with no other runners around, ducking from yet another bat swooping at my head, I almost forgot I was so close to civilization. The tunnel vision of my headlamp trying to locate every thick mud bog played tricks on my mind. With the ground such a dark chocolate it was hard to tell if you were going to step in something stable or soupy. After a while I got sick of trying to figure it out and just ran straight. Each lap was more and more peaceful as the night sounds slowly increased and the traffic on the nearby roads slowly dissipated. I'm really starting to get into the ultra off road crap, it is so nice to run with either a few people you know, or solo and enjoy being outside. The older I get the less I care about my time or place in the "race," and the more I enjoy still being able to get out and enjoy a 31 mile run through the muddy woods. Glen and I were going to run together for the most part, but he became a bit impatient with the early traffic from the shorter races and went into race mode disappearing in the woods ahead of me.. I hung back, ran with Terry Sentinella for a while since he is also running the 100 in TX next month, and enjoyed the ride. I just ticked off each lap and stayed consistent, my last 5 laps were within 1 minute of each other. Somehow I passed Glen, but neither one of us could figure how since the run is all single track. Another 30+ mile training run checked off and now less than 4 weeks before TX. I don't know if I should be getting excited or scared...
I finished - 8th in 4:31
Glen - 19th in 4:50

Mayday Mayday!!!!!

2010-01-06T12:10:00.000-08:00

Had a tough training week last week. 80 or so miles. A nice comfortable 32 miles on Saturday and then a horrendous 21 miles Sunday. I kind of had a feeling that Sunday was going to be a bad run. All week long my runs sucked. I wasn't getting any sleep either. But I figured I would just tough it out and eventually I would feel fine.

Plan B

I started off OK. The weather was prefect - mid 40's with clouds. I set the GPS to run 21 miles @ 8:30 pace - usually fairly easy to maintain 8:30's during a training run no matter how bad I feel. Anyway, everything was going great for the first 8 miles. Except for some reason the 8:30's were a bit harder to maintain. Most times I use the GPS "virtual trainer" to make sure I don't run too fast so I don't wear myself out on these runs. This run, however, it took a little bit of effort to maintain the pace. The next thing I kn0w I'm out of power. I didn't bonk. I just couldn't really run anymore. So I had to pretend I was at the end of a 100 mile run and go into survival mode. I walked 1/10th of every mile for a little bit, then I ran 2 mile and walked .15 of a mile. Eventually I started feeling a little bit better, although I ended up finishing my run 20 minutes slower than I wanted to. But I learned a lot on this run. Be patient. Your legs will come back. Keep your nutrition up and you will be fine. It wasn't a disaster, it was actually very beneficial. Now I just need an easy week to get all my systems running strong as the 100 miler isn't all that far away.

Next up...Bridle Trails 50K in Kirkland. And I am going to run easy, nothing faster than 8:00 minute miles!!! I have to keep telling myself that.

2009-12-20T06:53:00.000-08:00

Here is my run from the other night. It's kind of hard to read but the stats are as follows:

Date 12/12/09 - run started at 9:15 pm
Distance - 33.51 miles
Average pace - 8:09
Max Pace - 6:37

Not too bad of a night's run. My achilles was starting to hurt at the end, it wasn't really that bad, but I didn't want to push anything. I still have quite a few 30 mile runs left before the hundy. Right now I am in the middle of a lower mileage (38) week which is doing wonders for the body. All my aches and pains are disappearing, and the other night running with Glen B. we actually ran soem mileage at 5:31 per mile, which felt fast but it was good to get down and run that fast, as it's been months since I've run that fast.

The training has been going really well. I've done some 80+ mile weeks and don't even get sore from back to back weekend runs of 30 and 20. I follow that up with a couple of 15 milers during the week (along with some maintenance miles) and recovery from the daily runs has been awesome. I am getting pretty excited to run the Rocky Raccoon 100 in TX in February.

Tax this!! Love it!

2009-12-14T13:43:00.000-08:00

This is not my thought, but I read it and loved it. Why the hell is the church tax free? We have to pay taxes on alcohol and cigarettes to poison our bodies...why shouldn't the churches that poison our minds be taxed?

Here is a comment in response to a newspaper article about the state of WA increasing taxes...good stuff.

"Here we go again, how about taxing things that are bad for you? Churches that put forth unproven b.s. and fantasys should be subject to entertainment taxes."

Would You Could You on a Train?

2009-12-03T12:52:00.000-08:00

Gas prices are going to go up. It's a simple fact of life. The price of milk has gone up. The price of clothes (not made in a 3rd world country) has gone up. Car prices go up. A loaf of bread, a can of soup, soda, beer, as time passes all the prices increase. So why does everyone think that gas should be exempt from these rules. In the good ole USA we pay less for gas than Canada and Europe. Europeans have evolved and have created alternate means of transportation - say hello to high speed trains! Canada just piggybacks the USA - so do they really count anyway? Our country on the other hand, sits back and complains and thinks we are owed cheap gas by everyone out there. Sure, the oil execs are making a buttload of money. But so are the execs from every other company. Are they overpaid? Of course. Are they a bunch of crooked pieces of crap? Most likely. I am not here trying to defend them. I think only a crooked lawyer with no small degree of ethics could comfortably do so. But why do we think we should have 99 cent per gallon gas forever? If it was up to me I would increase the taxes on gasoline right now. And put the money to alternate uses to create a new and more socially responsible transportation network.

Trains are up to 3 times more energy efficient compared to airplanes

Would you take a train from Seattle to NYC if it took only 14 hours? Yes, you can take an airplane in 6 hours. Wrestle with airport security. Pray your luggage doesn't get lost. Have 6 inches of leg room and be the meat of a fat person sandwich that reeks of stale potato chips and cheap beer. Or you can stretch out on a high speed train, take a nap, watch a movie, have a warm meal, have direct access to your luggage, uninterrupted Internet and enjoy a quiet and peaceful commute while seeing the beautiful country. It's possible in many other countries in the world, why not here? London to Paris is a fairly quick trip. Japan has many high speed trains. There are many places in the world building more infrastructure - Russia and China are two prime examples. Of course the cost of this would be enormous - in the billions- but if we add a tax on the gas the average gluttonous American uses and put all the money into this endeavor it will help us in the future as gas prices inevitably rise. How about Seattle to Portland? NYC to Chicago? LA to San Francisco? Washington DC to Philly and NYC? Oops- that already exists and is hugely popular.

Will it happen before it needs to happen? Probably not. We have turned into such a reactive country as opposed to a proactive one. People do not start saving money until they don't have any. They don't exercise until they have a heart attack. They don't change their diet until their arteries are clogged. They don't change their driving habits until they are forced to pay $4.25 per gallon. What happens when it becomes $ 7 -8.00 per gallon? What will happen when we are forced to drive our Tahoes, Expeditions and the like when it costs $165.00 to fill the tank. Of course the public will cry foul. Scream about how we are being ripped off. Which may or may not be true. But the world is going to run out of oil someday, that is fact. The world is suffering horribly for the pollution of the world's oil consumption. I could forever argue this but don't have the time nor the typing skills to write as quickly as my mind emits facts (there are tons of books out there already).

The bottom line is we, as a country, need responsibility to be thrust at us. We need policy change. We need someone to hold our hand and tell us that we need to do this, or that, and that acting in a certain way just isn't the right way. We need responsible leaders that can tell us why and lay out the groundwork so idiot America can comprehend the whys and
and hows we need to change before we are forced to. There is no crystal ball to tell the exact price of oil in 5, 8 or 10 years. But we do know that we will run out. We do know prices will go up. We do know oil consumption is a huge factor to negative climate change. Let's be ready for it before it cripples us a nation.

Carbon Offsets Losing Momentum

2009-11-18T10:02:00.000-08:00

Carbon Offsets Losing Momentum

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/science/earth/18offset.html?em

As seen in NY Times today, check out the above link for more detailed information.
All I have to say is, "It's about time." This program is nothing more than a way for rich selfish people to feel good about making a contribution to the environment - without actually changing their behavior. Of course it could be argued that there has been some positive effects of these programs, and there will continue to be more positives. But it's not doing anything to change people's behavior. It boils down to policy change. In order for anything to happen on this affront, we need policy makers to instill positive change. There are just too many passive people in this world that just aren't going to do anything until they are forced to. this country used to be so progressive, a leader in all new technology and policy. Not anymore. We have become a reactive country. No one is bold enough to do anything new that will actually make improvements. Good thing George Washington or Abe Lincoln never thought like that.

Trail Run in the dark (and wet)

2009-11-18T06:15:00.000-08:00

Can't see much in this picture? That's because this is a perfect example of what it's like running trails in the pitch dark. Well...maybe not quite that bad, but it sure is a lot harder to run fast then in the day time. But it's pretty cool at the same time. The trails were soaked. The hardest part was not stepping in a mini lake as the leaves that floated on top of the water perfectly camoflaged the puddle. We ran for 1:10 and only covered 7.5 miles. But we were seriously running as fast as our eyes would allow without falling on our ass. It's good training for the 100 mile races though, as much as for ourselves as for our equipment. Lord Hill has some pretty good litte climbs, so we got to work on the hills at least. Running downhill is more a delicate feat of trying not to fall on your ass or trip on a rock or stump. It was a great way to change up the monotony of running on the roads for training. I just wish it was warmer. 42 degrees and a rain is not the best of conditions for a run, but the undulating trail is enough to keep you warm.

Obsess Much???

2009-11-10T11:02:00.000-08:00

I do. I obsess about everything. I love having something to obsess about. There is no other way to do something. I am running a 100 mile race in February. I can obsess about the training. I can go over every run with a fine tooth comb and see if what I'm doing is enough. Or too much. Or just right. It's not necessarily the race that makes everything worth it. Not at all. It's the journey. The running with friends while training. All the great runs on the great trails of the Pacific Northwest that I'll play on while preparing for the race! The animals I share the trails with. The people I will wave to. The people I will meet. The early mornings when I am one of the first people on the trail. The satisfaction of each long run. Did I mention that apple fritters I can justify eating after another 30 mile run?

Ron Herzog 50K

2009-11-10T10:15:00.000-08:00

Holy crap that weather sucked. I think it hailed, rained, snowed, windy, rain some more, on and on and on - all at the same time. Only for about 20 of the 32 miles, so I guess it wasn't that bad. Or more accurately, it could have been worse. I couldn't see that during the race though, maybe because of the fog.

I ran with Glen for most of the race, he was keeping me in check and making sure I didn't go too fast for a training run. Although I think I can actually thank the chocolate milk he drank before the run more than anything. Glen marked the trail like a dog at a dog park. He now owns Forest Road # 41. Or as the cool kids would say pwned... got me, I'm old, balding, ugly and definitely not too hip on what's cool. Hell, I ride a scooter dubbed "Little Blue Flame(r)." Nuff said.

Glen and I started pretty easy. Hurdling the puddles like Jenny Barringer (no relation that I know of) in the 300 steeplechase. We had a good time and were running 3rd and 4th to the 1/2 way point. It was pouring like a sonuvabitch at the top and they had a tarp over our drop bags. The volunteers filled my bottle because my hands were numb. I thanked them profusely and waved my flaccid stub goodbye as I started my return trip. It was really fun going back with most of it downhill, until the numb fingers attempted to open a Clif bar. It was pretty pathetic sight watching me for 5 minutes wrestle the wrapper. I couldn't grasp the paper, I couldn't bite the thing open. Glen tried and couldn't get it either. I actually stopped for a minute and tried to use a rock to rip the damn thing out. No luck. Eventually I did get it open but ended up eating it while running uphill, which is not the best place to do it. After about 1/2 way through the thing it tasted like sand and was all over my mouth and not giving into gravity. Other than that it was pretty uneventful. I picked up the pace with about 8 miles to go and ended up crossing the line in 4:22. 5th place. Way faster than Baker Lake, but this course is basically a road race with zero single track and is pretty conducive to a fast run despite the early elevation gain. You gotta hand it to the volunteers at the 1/2 way point as they weather there was the worst of the day. Thank you.

Glen ran 4:32. Joleen was 1st girl - Genia was 3rd girl I believe.

150 miles in 15 days and my legs responded pretty well. I actually ran 12 the next day and felt decent too.

Halloween Marathon Training Run

2009-11-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

Wow. What a fun little training run. Some of it was a little messed up just because it was kind of a pain in the ass to check in every lap for 10 laps, and I had to run to my car a couple times to get food among other things. But I really like Bellingham. It is such a great little athletic town. And Lake Padden is a gem of Bellingham - so it's a great little venue. I've run around the lake a few times, and of course ridden the mountain bike on the Galbraith trails, and raced here also so I'm familiar with the area.

Round and round we go. There's the lake. There's a couple with a dog. A little hill. A duck. A goose. Another runner. The gorgeous lake. HOLY CRAP!!! I think I see the sun. Wooeffinhoo!!!! Although it's a short lap, and we had to do it a bunch of times I never got bored. For one, we were running on dirt. I love dirt. I've always loved it. From the time I was first raced motocross, to running XC in college, BMX dirt jumping, mountain bikes, Cyclocross (CX), any excuse I get to play in the dirt I'll give it a whirl.

Anyhoo, I dressed like a nun as it was Halloween. It was a pretty cool costume, and also the closest thing you'll ever get me to that is church related - but my weekly longish runs are sort of like my mass anyway. But running in it was a little tough; I had to hike up my skirt, or whateverthehell it's called, and it was a bit warm. So I did one lap in that, took it off and ran in the usual getup for the rest of the run. My legs were absolute crap at the beginning of the run, but I'm not really used to 60-70 mile weeks yet, but I'm getting there. To make a long story short my legs vastly improved by the 15-16 mile mark and by the end of the run I was just on autopilot and feeling really good. I felt like I could have kept on going forever.

I ran solo the whole way as I don't really know that many people in the running community. That's what I get for racing bikes the past 4 years. Plus the run was so small sort of felt like I was infringing on a group of friends' training run. But everyone was certainly nice enough, the money was donated to a good cause, I got a good training run, and I did meet a few people. I have no idea what my official time was, but I know my running time was 3:26. Not too bad for someone who has been running less than a year and ran a marathon the weekend before.

We'll see what the 50K will bring next weekend.

Punk Rock Environmentalism

2009-10-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

Lyrics by Bad Religion. In case someone is unfamiliar with them, their singer has a Ph. D from Cornell in cultural studies. And the bands lyrics are gernally considered some of the smartest in all of music...period!

The song is called "Kyoto Now." Some very deep and well thought out verse.

It's a matter of prescience

No, not the science fiction kind

It's all about ignorance, and greed, and miracles for the blind

the media parading, disjointed politics

founded on petrochemical plunder

and we're its hostages

If you stand to reason you're in the game

the rules might be elusive but our pieces are the same

and you know if one goes down we all go down as well

the balance is precarious as anyone can tell

this world's going to hell

Don't allow this mythologic hopeful monster to exact its price

Kyoto now!

We can't do nothing and think someone else will make it right

You might not think it matters now

But what if you are wrong

You might not think there's any wisdom

in a fucked up punk rock song

But the way it is cannot persist for long

a brutal sun is rising on a sick horizon

It's in the way we live our lives

exactly like the double-edge of a cold familiar knife

and supremacy weighs heavy on the day

it's never really what you own but what you threw away

and how much did you pay?

In your dreams You saw a steady state a bounty for eternity

Silent screams but now the wisdom

that sustains us is in full retreat

Don't allow this mythologic hopeful monster

isn't worth the risk Kyoto now!

We can't have vision for the future if it can't be fixed

We need a fresh and new religion to run our lives

Hand in hand the arid torpor of inaction will be our demise

Oh, Kyoto now!

Do I really need to say anything else after this?

Think for yourself, and think of the result of your actions.

26.2 Mile training Run

2009-10-26T07:02:00.000-07:00

Perfect weather. Great trail. Good company. Awesome day for running.

Glen and I started out slow running 8:15's or so, talking about running (what else?) and bits and pieces of everything else. I tried to slip in the "you should run the 100 with me" whenever I could as Glen is probably the one I could most likely talk into doing this with me. We planned on running 25, but figured we might as well run a marathon since we were close enough. Eventually we settled into a decent pace of about 8:00 per mile - not bad for a training run - and occasionally ran a bit faster. My legs were feeling pretty good as I was sick for most of the week. There were quite a few people on the trail considering it was kind of cool and a bit foggy. I was pleasantly surprised by this. Just before and after the turnaround of 13.1 miles there were a bunch of people on the trail for some sort of organized walk. I never want to discourage people from being outside and being active, but walking three abreast on a trail is not the best of trail etiquette. No matter, we weaved in and out of the walkers, crossed the bridges and made our way back to Duvall. It's funny how the longer you run the less and less the conversation there is. In the beginning it was nonstop, at mile 24 it was nonexistent. We finished in 3:28 or so according to my watch, Glen had some coffee at his in laws while I tried to get some of the kinks out of my legs. Overall I felt really good the entire run. And it's a lot easier to do with other people.

Sunday morning I wake up, look at the clock and see it's 7:30. Then I get to thinking....Shit! When I do a 100 mile race there is a chance that I may not even be done by this time, if I started the race yesterday morning when I started my 26.2 @ 0815. I'll just have to put the longevity of a 100 mile race out of my mind. Of course it's long distance to run, it's long in a car or on a bike too.

Sunday afternoon I ran with Glen and Joleen on the trail while pushing my baby girl in the jog stroller. It was her first run so I was a bit nervous on how it would go. She slept through it all no problem though. Joleen and Glen ran a bit quicker than I was ready for, especially pushing the stroller. I think we probably did the last 5 at about 7:20 pace. It was easy for the lungs to handle, but the legs were tired from the previous day.

Great weekend of running though. Lots of fun and the training was good.

Bouncing Souls

2009-10-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

I finally got to see these guys live. It was pretty cool. They sounded about how I expected them to sound. The singer kind of has a monotone (baritone) voice, looks like he just crawled out of bed and threw a tie on, has dance moves like me and nonetheless it was a fun time. They played lots of older songs, which is what I would expect from a band that's been around for 20 years. The crowd was really into it, jumping on stage all throughout the night before front flipping into the crowd. Broadway Calls and Bayside were the openers, I liked Broadway Calls, Bayside was kind of lame - sounded a bit too emo-ish for me. Now, if Bad Religion would just come back to Seattle, or face to face if during their off again on again retirement/reunion would somehow make it up here.

4 hours of sleep and I made it to work. Still getting over a cold though. Have to run 25 miles on Saturday; legs should be fine as I haven't done crap this week. February will be here before I know it - that's what I'm afraid of.

Interesting Project about the existence of God

2009-10-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

http://www.cornellevolutionproject.org/

There is a definite correlation between education and believing in the existence of God -at least in terms of the people with science backgrounds. It appears that almost 60% of the people polled in this PH. D paper from Greg Graffin at Cornell University believe there is not a single God that exists. Of course these people all have science backgrounds, and if you try to use science to prove the existence of God it will make things difficult. I'm not saying I believe one way or another, I just say I don't think any religion or going to church is for me. But I am interested in this topic when it is looked at by people with an education, and not just some zealot with a view that cannot be changed one way or the other. Anyway, check this out if you're bored, and you must be or you wouldn't be reading this. I'd write more, I could probably write forever about this subject but I gotta run, and chances are I wouldn't be able to explain anything concisely, instead I'd end up tripping over my words like a drunken teenager walking through the woods on a Friday night. So take it however you want, but keep your mind open and think for yourself.

Baker Lake 50K - 10/3/09

2009-10-06T08:42:00.001-07:00

Here is me and my Baker Bear. I was pretty excited to get a bear. I wasn't real excited about my time. But then again I never am and that's what keeps me coming back to races. And now I know what I look like when I'm holding my daughter...a dork!

The Baker Lake 50K is an awesome race. Very low key but lots of fun. The weather was perfect. 40 at the start, 50 at the finish - sunny! With a quick chat from the race directors and final instructions of "Do not feed the bears" we were off. Great course- no pavement except for running across the top of the Baker Damn, great views, nice people, and a lots of "undulating" hills. With a bridge out from flooding the previous year we had to run up a fire road for the first 4 miles, it was a nice 1100 foot climb to get the body warmed up. We turn around and bomb down the same fire road to the single track 2.5 miles later. And then the trail will turn, go up, down, over a log, across a creek, again and again, never flat or boring, for the next 23 miles. It was awesome! The wooden bridges were wet and covered in moss, pretty treacherous - I was using wet leaves for traction -never thought I would resort to that. I ran alone for most of the race in 3rd or 4th place o/a, passing some of the early starters with a quick wave and a smile. It was pretty uneventful for the most part - but memorable for sure. The only problem I had was losing 2 gels somewhere. I still can't figure where they went; running the last 13+ miles on a single gel. Oh well, I bonked a little bit, but it didn't diminish the experience much. I fell once (now called either Wrayed or Layed out) because I'm a klutz and was getting tired, my handheld water bottle cushioned my fall. The finish is at the Kulshan campground and I believe there were about 12 people there to cheer me on. Lots of great food, Subway sandwiches, cakes, cookies, everything you could ask for after 5 hours of running. I ended up 3rd overall and 1st in the Male Open 39 & Under group - the Masters guys rock at the long stuff. I'll never understand why trail running isn't more popular - it is so refreshing to get out on the trails and be miles and miles from electronic leash.

Conundrum + other notes

2009-10-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

There are all these books I want to read. I don't really like going to the library because it is very difficult to get to; unless I start incorporating some training runs by there.

Am I being wasteful purchasing a book, which obviously comes from trees, about the environment? I like to purchase the books because after I read them I go back and use them as references for other things. Also, I like to pass them on to friends and family members to read. So is this selfless task of passing the book and knowledge outweighing the fact that I'm wasting resources purchasing paper copies of books? Should I really be that anal? This really does bother me.

Also, much like eating healthy, being conscious of my actions in terms of the environment (I could have just said green, but I don't really like that buzzword - it makes doing the right thing sound trendy) it can be expensive to make the right decisions. For example, at work we have 5 gallon water jugs - I do not drink out of them but instead walk 100 feet and up some stairs to the water fountain and fill my bottle, which is really getting gross no matter how many times I wash it. But I could buy one of those fancy aluminum ones, but that is 25 bucks. For a water bottle? Are you serious? I work with metals all day at work and know that it doesn't cost anywhere near as much as that to make an aluminum jug.

II.

I have been getting about 108 miles per gallon on my scooter driving to work though. I'm tempted to drive it to Baker Lake for the run but at 40 mph it would take me a long time. I would also most likely freeze my ass off on the way home after my core temperature drops. Being sick wouldn't help anything I guess. I have almost 4000 miles on it since April though, and barely 5000 on my family truckster I bought in January. I am trying to make a difference in spite of the world we live in and the public attitude I face. But I can sleep well at night knowing I'm making what I believe to be the right choices.

III.

Baker Lake 50K is this weekend and I actually feel really prepared. My last tough weekend of training 3 weeks ago I did 27 miles in 3:39:00 and followed it up the next day with a hilly 10 miles @ 8:01 pace. Recovery went great. I've been sleeping too. Well, 6 hours or so a night which is a bit above normal. I don't have the turnover right ow to churn out many 6 minute miles, but I feel like I can run 8:00 minute miles forever. I'm anxious to see how that translates to the trails. As long as I pay attention to my nutrition during the race I should be OK. It should be really fun anyway.

Green Days

2009-09-25T12:31:00.001-07:00

I actually accomplished some enviro friendly things at work. But man, what a pain in the ass it is. Seriously. Management jumps on the bandwagon because it makes the organization (or more importantly themselves) look good. But they sure as heck don't want to lift a finger to do anything, and most of the time they are more of a hindrance than anything. This is how a typical conversation goes:

Me: "Hey Mr. Manager, can I do such and such that will save: 1) a bunch of money 2) a bunch of time 3) reduce waste 4) make things reusable, etc."

Mr. Manager replies without every bothering to stop and look at me, "Sure, go for it."

I should ask them if I can have the next 4 months off of work w/ pay to train for a 100 mile running race to see if they are paying attention. I understand they are busy, I am in a meeting with them every morning so I know what the work load is. I'm not asking them to physically do anything though. I'm just asking them to support me 100% as I make process improvements that are in line with the board of director's itinerary. Maybe mention once in a while to their employees that the so called green movement is not really a movement but something everyone from the CEO (who talks of it frequently in the press…greenwash or not) on down should be interested in. The company has all these goals they want to accomplish by 2012. It will be here before we know it and then when time passes and the goal is not met…do we make up a new timeline like other more media intense endeavors? All of this is for the good of the company, the community, and the individual. It's a win win situation for everyone. Stop being so apathetic and help out, do your part, every little bit is welcome.

I know Auden Schedler (Getting Green Done) frequently mentions how hard it is tomake headway in this fight. And I can relate to the fact that more grunts are needed - which is what I am and am comfortable being, but I wish I could just get a couple more people actively involved. Yes, the job we are paid to do is what we need to be focused on because if we do not sell our product we do not have jobs. But there has to be some way that you can become engaged and still do your job well. I don't really spend too much time working on the "green team" stuff, but I feel like I'm making a difference. And I am very thankful for the one person at work that has been so helpful.

80 bucks DOR? WTF?

2009-09-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

80 bucks DOR. Are you kidding me? It's not like I've been living a completely sedate lifestyle the past 4 years. I've just been racing bicycles. Pretty much every bike race is 20 bucks. You may see 25 bucks every now and again. And a lot of my races were 75 - 80 miles. Which last a little more than 3 hours. And bike racing does not get the numbers that running does. Stage races, with 4 stages and about 230 miles of racing over 3 days, with support cars, neutral feed zones, etc, and those were 80 bucks. That makes more sense to me.

I know I've been doing this stuff for a long time, and from the prices I remember paying it may seem like it's been a lifetime. I think the first marathon I ran in Virginia Beach in 1993 was 20 bucks. Now I realize I only made about 6 bucks per hour back then, so I had work over 3 hours to pay for entry. Nowadays the 80 dollar entry is earned in a lot less time. However, 80 bucks is still 80 bucks. Early entry does save money and from the price increase I would assume it is highly encouraged. But please…80 bucks is a little steep. And there are races that are plenty more expensive out there. Which is why I run so few races. I don't want to run with 20,000 people, and I prefer to do it off pavement if possible - I assume a lot of people run for the socialization of the event, which is fine, the more active people the better- it's just not my preference. Anyhoo, the 80 bucks thing is a rip. I wonder if I went to the race director 5 minutes before the start and said, "Here's 50 bucks! Can I run?" It's 50 more dollars in his pocket or to a charity or whatever. It's better than running as a bandit which I probably could get away with, but wouldn't feel comfortable doing. I don't want any awards, I don't want a shirt, I just want to make a training run a bit more enjoyable. Is this contradictory to everything else I said? Maybe.

I think I got soured on the whole entry fee inflation a few years back while doing triathlons. I put a comment on one of the checks I wrote to the Kirkland triathlon stating that I thought their race was way overpriced. The promoter, I think her name was Carolyn or something from AA Sports called me and told me to stay home. We then had a pretty lengthy conversation about everything involved, which didn't really shed any light on anything I didn't already know. The one comment she made that pissed me off though was, "I'm sure in whatever your job is you want to make as much money as possible." Well, not if I have to sacrifice my integrity to exploit a chunk of the population for the money, that's just not my style. I haven't been to an AA Sports race in 6 + years, and don't plan on ever going back. They can time the race, just not promote it. I'll never have a problem with paying a large sum of money to race if the entry actually goes to a charity. Earlier in the year I ran a 5K that cost 30 bucks, which is a lot of money for something that won't even take me that long to run. But 100% of the proceeds went to a great cause, so think that is a great thing. When the race benefits the chamber of commerce or the promoter, that's when I draw the line. I understand they need to make money if that is their only job, but for the same reasons I won't go to a Mariners game I won't do an AA sports race, those people are not getting my money.

I was thinking of running the _________ _________marathon as a training run this coming weekend. But after seeing the $80.00 price tag I decided I would be better off doing a solo run on the Centenniel Trail in Snohomish and pocketing the money. I will just carry some Gus, a powerbar, and some water bottles and be ready. I can also spend a lot of the time running on a dirt surface, lost in my thoughts as I plod along for 3 1/2 hours at 8:00 pace. I also don't have to worry about getting caught up in the race as I know I'm in pretty good shape right now. But this is not my goal race.

2009-09-04T07:37:00.001-07:00

70 miles running last week. I didn't even realize I ran that much. And then on Wednesday (9/2) I was ran12 miles, it was about80 degrees and sunny, and I just felt like I had no turnover. Usually on an easy day I can run 7:15-7:30's no problem, but on this day I was cruising at 7:45-8:00's and my HR was in the mid 130's. I was starting to try and figure out what the deal was, so I looked at ye olde training log and noticed I did 70 miles in the past 7 days. That will do it as I'm used to running closer to 45 miles per week.
Plus I don't get enough sleep. I read about how Deena Kastor gets about 12 hours of sleep per day. That has to be the biggest benefit of running for a living. I'm lucky to get 6 hours per night. What kind of recovery am I getting? I'm trying to eat better though and my weight has dropped to about 165 pounds, which isn't too bad. But it's really hard to get enough rest with waking up for work everyday at 0430 and getting to bed at 2200.
Last night was an easy 5 miler for recovery - legs felt pretty good. Today I may just inline skate for 30 minutes and then tomorrow morning run 16 or 17 and with the last 1/2 dozen miles at 6:40 pace. The pace will be adjusted depending on HR and how I feel. The last thing I want to do is run myself into the ground.
Next weekend I need to run a 25 miler. I love the long runs. They are nice and peaceful and relaxing. And I try to run them slow enough, around 8:00 pace, so they don't leave me too wasted.
3 day weekend too. Woohoo!

Running some Trails

2009-08-31T07:53:00.000-07:00

Trails. About time I ran some. Lord Hill is only 15 minutes from my house and I hardly ever run there. I actually got in a 60 minute run yesterday though, I only took one wrong turn. It ended up taking a couple miles off of my run. The downhills were pretty sketchy, it was like running on marbles. Some of the newer single track was great to run though, lots of traction, up and over fallen trees, hardly every stright. Good stuff for sure.

I didn't see any bears or cougars either. Although at the trail entrance they have the proverbial "what to do if you encounter a cougar while out on the trail" sign. Youmean, besides crap my shorts? I could offer one a gel or something if I have one on me. Would that be more tasty than...my throat? Not sure. Anyhoo, it was a great morning for a run. I need to get out there at least once per week at least until Baker Lake 50K is here.

Watch movie September 21st

2009-08-28T07:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.ageofstupid.net/usa

Here's the link so you can find where it is playing wherever you live. Are we as dumb as a lot of so called expertws say we are? Probably. But watch the movie and find out why we don't do anything to save ourselves when we had the chance.

Here's a link to the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZjsJdokC0s

There are lots and lots of arguments that climate change for the negative either is - or is not -happening. Either way it is really interesting. I think global weirding, as coined by Thomas Friedman, seems to be the best description of what is going on. But I am not a scientist. I just read a lot of books. But with all the weird weather going on in the past couple years it certainly makes me stop and think about what is going on. The valley that sits below my house has flooded the past 3 of 5 years. Before that it used to flood once every 20 years or so. Tsunamis? Can we blame earthquakes? What caused the destabilization to produce the quake? New Orleans flooded. Hmmm. 109 degrees F in Seattle. We are the same latitude as Montreal. Something that isn't right is going on. It may or not be normal, but evolution of the earth is progressing whether you want to believe we caused it or not.

Tully's - I don't drink coffee...

2009-08-27T13:25:00.002-07:00

but I sure eat donuts. I've been hovering between 165 and 170 pounds for the past 2 years. Last year I pedaled about 10,000 miles on the bicycle. This year I will be pushing 2000 running. I should be rail thin but people at work keep giving me Tullys cards for helping them, which is a nice gesture, but I just eat too many donuts. 500 calories and 20 grams of fat. What a waste of caloric intake! Sure, if I were 120 miles into a 160 mile ride it would probably be one of the best things to eat. Maybe even 30 miles into a run it would hit the spot. But at 600 in the morning it is something I should just not consume, yet for some reason I can almost never say no. I need to start giving these stupid cards away when they are given to me, and then I might just make it down to 160 and after that 2:55 marathons should be a bit easier to attain.

Baker Lake 50K here I come

2009-08-26T13:49:00.001-07:00

Well, I think I'm going to do this race. I'm not exactly in ultra shape, but this is barely past a marathon. I ran it before, finished 10th overall after not having run more than 15 miles. Seriously. I was running that far pretty frequently, so I just decided to run 15 miles 2 days in a row 3 weeks before the race. I ran slow. But it worked. I survived. And did OK too.

This year I have time to get in a couple 20+ mile runs. I've been doing 13-14 mile runs at 6:40 - 6:45 pace so I should be able to go out and run these at 8:00 pace OK. It's only been a couple months since I last ran a marathon anyway. Although I still think like a bike rider where I think I can just jack up my mileage and not pay the consequences. We'll see what happens though. I'll run 20+ tonight and mail in the entry afterwards.

Hopefully my next blog heading doesn't say...No Baker Lake...or something like that.

Books I need to read + other comments

2009-08-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

1. Cradle to Cradle by Michael Braungart

2. Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken

3. Plan B 3.0 by Lester R. Brown

4. $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better by Christopher Steiner

This is the short list right now. I'm currently in the middle of reading 2 other books, so I'm not about to engage myself in 3. Looking at the seriousness of these titles makes me realize I'm getting old; or maybe I'm finally starting to figure out my place and how I can make a difference. Naaa! I'm not really that philosophical, I must be getting old. It's just getting harder and harder for me to keep interested in books that are carbon copies of previously written books. Sure, the character development is a little different, the plot make twist "unexpectedly" every now and again. But the unpredictable nature of sitcom books as I like to call them is predictable.

I'm recently read a Thomas Friedman book (well, most of it before I lost it somewhere : ) ) and Auden Schendler's Getting Green Done - which was a very engaging and somewhat frustrating read. Only frustrating because I can relate to so many of the obstacles to overcome and I am not in a powerful enough position to change policy. Books like this are opening my eyes up to a new America which is quickly marching itself into the new dark ages. Everyone is so caught up in the now that they forget that in 10 or 20 years some of the choices they make, or do not make or going to be severely impacting the climate, culture, and economy of this country. But this is America, home of the fat and out of shape, and I may start adding apathetic to my favorite descriptive gibberish of this country. But I don't have time to write about apathy right now, I can only control what I do anyway. But it could snowball for a while...maybe next time.

Fat Guy Gripe

2009-08-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

If I see one more hot girl holding hands with a fat dude I am going to kill myself. Well, not seriously, but I will roll my eyes and wonder what the firetruck is going on here. I ran on the trail in Snohomish a bunch last week and I don't know how many times I've seen it. Or they are riding bikes together and the girl is just in super shape, awesome smile, and the dude she is with has a big beer belly, or is just plain fat. C'mon guys, if I had a super hot girlfriend I'd at least try to keep myself fit. Who hasn't seen an "Adult" movie with some big fat slob of a guy on some hot chick, it's disgusting. Are these guys that nice? Do they make that much money? Is personality really that much of an attraction? Seriously. We are such a superficial culture -just like my little rant is proving)- how can this make sense? Are the girls just humongo bitches that no one else will put up with? I doubt it. Maybe they just paid for the girlfriend experience. Yea, that must be it.

Job

2009-08-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

I'm thankful I have a job that pays as well as it does, but it really, really sucks!

ISO 14001 my A$$

2009-08-05T08:23:00.000-07:00

Something that is very frustrating is working for a very large company that promotes itself to the outside world as being leading edge in the great green cause. This is a company that serves it's employees meals on Styrofoam. Every single day. Over 20,000 meals a day. Over 20,000 paper plates a day. ISO 14001 certified my a$$. I guess they just bought that distinction.

Working on environmental projects within my own work organization is another thing that has proved very difficult. Yes, the company does support this endeavor by its employees, even promotes it. But my immediate manager, one born back when it was cool to have cars that got about 12 miles per gallon and and still living in that era mentally, thinks it is a waste of time. There are a ton of examples I could use to support this, but for the sake of my crappy typing I will just use one. Not too long ago a couple of my fellow workers and I did a dumpster dive - which is exactly what is sounds like. We had two 5 x 5 foot dumpsters filled with garbage. We went through all of this garbage; and to make a long and stinky story short, we ended up finding that over50% of the items in the garbage were recyclable. When we were done we shrank the garbage down to less than one 5 x 5 and filled seven 90 gallon bags with recyclable material. And our manager told us this was a colossal waste of time. "We have product to build." Which is true, I understand his point, the product needs to be the number one priority while at work. But what this example proves is the company I work for has not created any sort of cultural change by adding the ISO 14001 tag to its name. Trying to do anything "green" almost feels like a waste of time at this company. Which of course it isn't, not in the least as we have made strides, it is just an uphill battle that is a lot of work met with a lot of resistance. We'll get there. Last week's 108 degree temperatures must make it obvious to even the dumbest and most naive of the workforce think there is some sort of a problem. I'm not if the majority of the company will fully embrace this sort cultural shift before they have to, but we are making some strides thanks to individuals and their teams. And I can say that I am learning a lot about the process of change and just how hard it is to implement.

Back in the Saddle Again

2009-01-08T05:54:00.000-08:00

Well, running sure didn't last long. I really wanted to run this year but my knee that I messed up a long time ago is just giving me way too many problems. I did get up to a 10 mile run, which was probably too much considering the amount of time I was running, but I wasn't sore from it so I figured I was getting used to the pounding of running. But the next week my knee was causing me to limp every running step I took. Bummer. I was really looking forward to running some races. Maybe I'll have to get my knee fixed now. I guess I'll be racing the bike again so I started riding to work again this week. I'm still not sure if I'm excited to ride or not, but I know it feels good to be riding to work again. The gas I used driving everywhere for the month of December sure felt like I was being wasteful, not too mention the money wasted on gas.

The snow we had in late December / early January sure made the roads a mess though. I am covered in sand every morning when I get to work. My bike is taking a beating I'm sure. I have to wash it nearly everyday just to get all the road grime out of my brakes and gears. I have seen a couple street cleaners out though, but I'm still stuck in the middle of the road for most of my commute. Most of the drivers though have been really good and have been giving me a decent amount of room. Much appreciated.

Also, what a great Xmas this year!!!!!

Snow

2008-12-23T06:08:00.000-08:00

Wow, snow in Seattle. It pretty much sucks when it snows here because this area just does not use the tools necessary to make the roads safe or even driveable. We ended up getting about a foot of snow over a few days, and I'm glad I'm not riding my bike any more, because I would be super annoyed if I were trying to get miles in.

I ended up running 10 miles on Saturday, it was awesome.

Season over...finally..and Dinseyland too.

2008-12-16T09:10:00.000-08:00

I am really glad CX is over, I was getting sick of the monotony of riding my bike. Moving up to cat. 2 didn't exactly make things any easier either. The last race was Dec. 1st, which was also the last day I rode my bike. It may be a while before I ride it again for a couple reason. Snow, ice, and the fact that I started running again. I kind of missed it. I sure would like to try to run a sub 3:00 marathon. I know I have the capability to do it, I just need to put the effort in, which has never been one of my problems. We'll see...I've only been running 2 weeks.

I did go to Disneyland also. It was a great trip. My parents met my wife and son there, what a great place to visit although the air quality was horrendous. It is so nice to be able to spend time with everyone and not have to worry about anything else except relaxing, having fun, and spending time with family. It doesn't get much better than that. Thanks guys.

It's been awhile...

2008-11-23T06:30:00.000-08:00

Yep. Utah came and went. The riding there was unbelievable. If I lived there I would probably sell all my road bikes and just ride in the dirt. Seriously, what a great place to ride a mountain bike.

The race itself was pretty fun - and the mountain at the Sundance resort are spectacular- Although I would have liked a little longer course as it was only 8 miles long or so. My legs throughout the day were pretty good, but my hands were a mess by the end of it. I kept trying to shake them out, but they still continued to tighten. I ended up 6th on the day out of 27 in the 12 hour solo class. Not too bad for my debut, but I learned a ton on this day and think that I can go considerably faster in the next one. I was lucky enough to have an experienced pit crew as well.

CX season came and is almost over already. I started off mediocre with a 5th. Then had a horrible day and got 17th as my back fell apart (it was sore before the race from doing way too much yoga - seriously! On the Wii even. How embarrassing is that?). Then I figured some things out and got a 2nd, followed that up with a win, and now race the 1/2 race. Good times there. First one I got 10th, but it was really technical which I think helped me. Second one I was 15th as the pace was more than I could handle. 3rd race my bike broke. Piece of crap that I never work on, maybe I should start soon, I just don't have the time to train, let alone work on my bike.

I will pass 3000 miles commuting this week. That's kind of a cool milestone. And I only started to consistently ride to work in mid-April, otherwise I would like to believe that 500 was obtainable.

Not much else going on right now. The strike is over. Work really sucks. My family is pretty damn awesome. I'm going to Disneyland in 2 weeks. Good times!

One week to Utah

2008-09-05T06:34:00.000-07:00

One week to the 12 hour race in Utah. I'm surprised that I'm still ridinig well. I experienced a little bit of burn out, but now I think the race is close enough to get me through the last weekend of real riding before I knock it down a notch. I've averaged about 260 miles per week for the last 10 weeks - I should be ready.

The weather for Park City is looking good with a high of 70 and a low in the mid-40's - and sunny. It will probably be pretty cold for the start and also as the race winds down. I'll just have to make sure I dress warm enough, especially at the end when my body is going to be a mess. Hopefully I can squeak out a top 5 - I think I would be happy with that. But regardless of where I finish I anticipate that it will be a fun time on the bike. And it will be good to just hang out with the boys and get away for a couple days.

CX Team Training Camp

2008-08-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

Wow! I forgot how much I hate CX when there is about 5 minuets left to go in a race.

It was a good day. I woke up pretty early and rode the mountain bike for a couple hours at St. Edward before heading over to Marymoor for the team CX camp. I don't know the trails that well though, a little bit, but it all looks the same to me. CX camp started at 0930 so I only had a couple hours to ride.

Got to Marymoor and there was a crazy amount of people there for the dog show. I called Phil who leading the training camp to figure out how to get in the velodrome. Finally got there and was greeted by about 15 teammates, not too bad of a turnout. We did a bunch of drills. Got a pep talk for the newbies and also to get a refresher for the vets. I must have done the barriers 100 times this day. And the temperature reached 90 with only a few wispy clouds to offer a slight reprieve. We then ended the day with a team race.

Phil started fast early but flatted on the 2nd lap. Since he is a regular finisher in the top 5 in Masters 1-2 I waited until he caught up after getting his other bike. Randy and I traded the lead for a while but I was trying to save something for Phil. Sure enough he came through and I promptly let him lead for a while. I would say we were going at about 90-95% of race speed. It definitely hurt, but if someone attacked I think the pace could have gone up a bit. I'm glad no one did. Arron was riding extremely well for his first day on a CX bike. In the end it was a 3 up sprint for the line, with Phil giving pointers on the last lap. It was lots of fun and a great introduction to the season. And I was pretty spent at the end of this "mock" race.

August 21st

2008-08-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to my brother! You would be 39 today. I often wonder if you would still have all your hair. I know you'd still be in shape, you'd probably be racing bikes too. I miss you a lot! You still inspire me and I'd do anything to see you just one more time. It's hard to believe so many years have passed. I really wish you could meet your nephew, Mikey is pretty damn awesome!

Roslyn Mountain Bike festival

2008-08-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

Somehow I forgot to write this one up. Oh well. I got 2nd. Not too bad, tough climbing. Dusty and loose course, hardly any rocks. It was fun for sure.

North Shore 8/17

2008-08-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

Thank you Wade and Chistina!!! You guys are awesome. Thanks for the bottles during the race. I can't believe I drank 4 full bottles in a race that was a bit less than 60 miles!Here's a clif notes version of the race.

Small field - 22 riders or so. 2 years ago cat. 3 was 8 riders, so with the reschedule they still did pretty well. This is an awesome course, not sure why people don't go up here yet they will drive to Mason Lake for a flat course in rain. Maybe people don't like hills...

7 laps - about 56 miles w. 4000 feet of climbing.

Lap 1 - attack on hill, solo for 5 miles, suck ass on next hill, get caught and think to myself, "Holy crap! I'm hurting already." Winning move of 2 people goes when I get caught.

Lap 2 - sit in and chill, follow a couple moves, nothing works yet though.

Lap 3 - attack, drag fat ass up to other accelerations - get caught eventually.

Lap 4 - attack, get caught.

Lap 5 - sit in, attack at end of lap, it finally sticks w/ 3 others

Lap 6 - catch 1 from break, only 1 left but he is gone! Work togeter OK.

Lap 7 - Nick and a couple others bridge to us - Now we're a group of 7 w/ 1 guy off front, he wins by about a minute and a half - impressive! Hagens guy attacks w/ 4 miles to go - gets 2nd, I'm not chasing anything anymore, neither does anyone else. Another guys attacks at the bottom of last climb, he weighs about 100 pounds - I'm not chasing him, I'm feeling whooped, no one else chases either. So we are a group of 5 heading into the 12-14% uphill sprint racing for 4th. I actually recover OK, feel good in the sprint and get 5th. Nick gets 8th. Good job Nick!The field was shattered. I'm not sure how many people finished, maybe 12 or 14? It was 1 and 2 people coming in so it was kind of hard to tell. Great course and overall a good time.

Greenwater race

2008-08-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

Wow! I actually won a race. It's been about 8 months since I last accomplished this goal. Now I can say i won a race every year for the past 6 years or so if I include some triathlon and duathlon races as well.

There is always something new that you can try or learn or rekindle a long lost interest in that makes you feel like a kid again. And for me it's riding in the dirt. Some of you know that when I was in my early 20's (10 + years ago) I was a crappy professional motocross racer, and I didn't think there was anything that could match the adrenaline of sailing a 100 foot jump or charging into the first corner w/ 39 other knuckleheads - elbow to elbow at a high rate of speed while trying to hold the throttle on for a nanosecond longer than anyone else. Well, I'm older, my hair that I have left is now a more normal color (does gray count as normal?), but I still listen to punk rock and love to play in the dirt.

Greenwater was a really cool race, and not just because I won. It started off perfectly for me as I was 2nd behind my teammate TMT going into the woods. I don't like to lead early because I have a tendency to go too hard too soon and burn out. So I followed TMT up the first single track climb that kept going up and up, then it was followed by some fun little single track switchback downhill. Then it opened up a little bit and we got to the bottom of a hill and the banner was broken and no one knew where to go. We kind of stopped and asked one another if anyone knew the right way to go. I had ridden this part earlier in the morning during the Sport race so I decided right was the correct way to go. Someone snuck in front of me (perfect!) and led but he was going pretty slow. It was fairly full of tree roots and very bumpy in this section, I passed him and we ended up on a short fire road section for about 200 yards. Someone snuck in front of me again (sweet!) and I followed him into the next single track section which turned out to be really short. We were then on the long climb which was anywhere from 4-6 miles, depending on who you asked. I followed the lead dude (from Sega I think) and the pace was fairly easy, I could feel the pack coming up from behind so I moved over and didn't really attack per se - but slowly upped the pace. I was then alone but I could see everyone behind me but no one looked too eager to jump ahead and join me. So I tried to keep a steady / hard but comfortable pace up the climb because I figured someone would catch me on the climb. Another 1/2 mile passes and Perry Roper and Matt Lynch catch me. I know these guys are both podium finishers in nationals so I just figured I would key off of them as for pace. I tried not to draft off them though as that's kind of shady as they are in their own race - and so I am. So anyway, to make a long and boring story a little more concise, I stayed about 20-30 feet behind Perry up the last 3 or so miles of the climb. A couple times I passed him but he shot right in front of me as I don't think he liked that much. Matt Lynch attacked with a mile left to climb but Perry didn't respond. We also caught some Open class guy at the top and he yielded to us before the crazy ass descent started, but not before yelling...

"I hope you guys can descend!" Well, I can on a road bike. So I moved over after a few switchbacks and tried to keep up with this dude for as long as I could. And then I wadded myself on a tricky little section. I didn't fall off the bike, but we (me and the bike) got tangled and I hit the wall of the trail, cut my shin and got a charley horse on my quad. Cool! Now I'm bleeding so I must be a real mountain biker! And the open class dude was gone so I just tried to go as fast as I could on the descent without losing any more blood! Man! That was so much fun. I was riding pretty aggressively because I DID NOT want to get caught from behind. I rode around the bumpy ass stuff on the bottom as fast as I could, kind of banzai'd the creek crossing without really picking a line, skirted up the the hill out of the water and kept charging. My legs were feeling pretty good- that's a good sign. Then I finished the little loop (but not without popping a wheelie for the drunk campers that were yelling "Pop a Wheelie!" all day long, and when you did they would scream and yell - it was so much fun!) and finished one lap and I saw lots of blue and black and heard my name yelled out a bunch! That was so cool! Thanks guys!

The course kind of meandered around the flats and then I noticed I was on the familiar trail again. I wasn't too sure how I got there. And then I was on the logging road climb again and all I could think of was a bear or a cougar ripping me off my bike and eating me for lunch. I had one Hammer Gel left and I think it was raspberry or something like that. That might work for a bear, but the cougar would have some fun shredding me like a BBQ pro sandwich. So that was my inspiration climbing the long climb the second time. And being able to lock out your forks is so cool! Thanks Bruce for teaching me that a couple races ago. I am so naive. When I got to the top of the climb I caught the same Open guy as the lap before and just rode with him for the last 200 yards or so to the descent, no sense in passing him before the free fall down the mountain. This time I made it down with no incidents and only a 1/2 dozen or so ""Oh shit!" incidents. But each one made the smile on my face bigger. I really cannot get over how much fun riding in the dirt is. With my background on MX bikes I should have assumed it would be, but still...mountain biking seriously is so much fun! Everyone should do it. C'mon!

Back on the flat bottom stuff I started making stupid mistakes though. I hit something in the middle of a little corner that popped my front end up in the air mid-lean. Yea, I crashed there and got another little raspberry on my other side. But I still had a smile on my face! I jumped back on my bike like a CX race and continued mashing gears until the finish. I ended up winning by 2 minutes or so. But I guarantee you if I would have finished 15th the smile on my face would have been just as big. This was awesome! Each course of the last 3 races I did were all fairly unique and were all so much fun. But Greenwater with the tacky dirt, fun descent, and the logging road climb (made me feel like I was on High Rock!) was probably tops. Not too mention the crazy airplane that was taking off and landing on some strip of pavement in the middle of the mountains.

And congrats to TMT for winning the title! We are going to have a lot of fun next year!

375 miles this week...

2008-08-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

...and what I really want right now is one of those giant Apple Fritters from Tulley's that we have at work. Man! That would hit the spot. I've actually been thinking about them for the past week. But I will do my best to fight it off once again.

Wow. I rode a lot this past week. I think I may have impressed myself in the process. And my feet and crotch are a bit sore as well, and some tendons in my ankle are sore, but it shouldn't be a big deal. I just have to make sure I recover well and will just do a short speedwork session on Wednesday and continue to ride to work everyday. I should be OK. But it was a great week to ride the bike. Although some of the morning commutes were pretty cold (46 one morning) I think I only got rained on for about 3 miles. And we need the rain, so I'm not going to complain - I'll save that for January when I'm only riding 500 miles per month, of which 400 will be in rain.

I did have quite a few calls out on the road though. I would like to think that none of them were caused by me also. I had quite a few cars, and also a semi pull out in front of me. Am I than invisible? I guess that's a rhetorical question. Otherwise I would not have to be so vigilant on the road. It is dangerous as hell out there and I have to remember to never forget that (elegant prose, eh?). I'm sure once that happens I will be a hood ornament. I try to be as nice as possible to motorists as they can kill me anytime they feel the need and probably will get nothing more than a fine and have to go to traffic school or something like that. Not to mention all that junk with the Critical Mass (or Ass) people pissing off motorists. They are just as bad as all the other idiots out there fighting a cause and creating friction instead of cohesion. What the hell did I just say? I've been living in Seattle too long. I sound like such a wuss.

Saturday was a 165 mile ride. I rode pretty much everywhere. Started on Seattle Hill Road, through Snohomish, Lake Stevens, Arlington, Stanwood, loop of Camano, Arlington, Granite Falls, Snohomish and home! A link of the ride is here:

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/wa/snohomish/589755168

Not too much climbing but it was still good. Thanks to a Wade and Aaron for riding with me for parts of the ride. You guys made the ride much more enjoyable.

I also did the High Rock climb in 17:15, a ways off my best of 16:35, but for this time of year I'm still going pretty good. I wasn't going that great in the beginning of the year, but only started getting consistent mileage in mid-April. I sure am having fun on my bike this year though!

Kids Bike Rodeo

2008-07-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to a bike rodeo put on by a local city. They had the fire and police personel running everything and I was pretty disappointed to say the least. They were giving helmets away to the kids which I think is awesome. No, I did not take a helemt, my kid already has a good one that fits correctly. I would assume that most bike racers' kids have well fitting helmets. The people working there bike rodeo failed to place the helmet on the kids correctly. There were lots of kids with the helmets on the back of their heads, chin straps 2 inches below the chin, needless to say the helmet will not be offering much protection when one of these kids eat shit on the sidewalk.

Afterword was a bike parade and all the little tikes on their trikes and training wheel bikes did a lap of the park, it was fun and cute. And then had ice cream after as well, I only stole 1/2 my kids dessert, but it was almost dinner time so I didn't want him to spoil his dinner.

It is cold out today, I should have known as it was 58 on my pedal into work this morning, which is way warmer than it has been. When it's 68 or 70 at 0430 I worry how warm it will be, so I kinda like when it's cold in the morning, chances are that means it will be cool enough to sleep at night.

Anyway...have a good weekend.

Friday means weekend options

2008-07-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

I really hate when I cannot decide where I want to ride this weekend. Or even what bike. Should I ride the mountain bike for a few hours? Should I ride a road ride? Should I do the Silvana race? Should I sit on my ass and do nothing?

I was thinking about riding to Silvana and then doing the race and then riding home - that would be about 100 miles or so. But it is really flat. I cannot emphasize enough how flat that course is. Not really the kid of course I like. Not a real good strength building workout at all either. I will probably skip this unless one of my teammates talk me into it, but I don't think they are into this one either. Too bad the Gig Harbor race isn't closer, I did it the on year and really liked the course. And the Carnation Course is crap. I hate to bag on any of the courses around here, as we are losing races, or at least all the good races (Snohomish), so instead I'll just say I appreciate the fact that there is a road race option this weekend and skip it instead.

I really do not know many trails around here so I cannot just go and ride my mountain bike. Japanese Gulch I know a little bit, but a lot of it is really overgrown. I'm sure I'll just ride the road bike, there is something to be said for being able to ride out my front door and be on some of the best bike roads in all of Snohomish County.

I would really like to ride Bellingham though. The trails I rode last weekend were awesome. 6 laps at race speed was pretty tough, but it was a really fun ride despite the suffering.

Padden mtn. bike race

2008-07-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know why more road dorks don't venture into the wild more often. Avoid burnout, learn great bike handling skills, and enjoy bike racing with way less ego / attitude than on the road. It's a great scene. Plus you will meet so many of your teammates that you never knew you had. Seriously, Bicycle Centers is EVERYWHERE in the dirt world.

I showed up early because my kid was racing the kids race. And I also got to see Randy Marrs clean house in the beginner class. Apprently Randy was getting ready for CX season by dismounting some of the trickier descents. He still won easily though. I was glad to see him there, as I've been trying to talk him into it since I did my first race at Seatac earlier this year.

My kid raced his Trek Trikester, it's an awesome machine but weighs a ton, 31 + pounds anyway. I love riding that thing although it's a lot for a 3 year old to pedal. Good thing we can ride double if need be - I can stand on the platform while he pedals my fat ass around. Can I add those miles to my training log? He had fun but bitched about his race being too short, but wants to do it again.

I also got to see the Sport classes and Open Women. Beth was haulin' ass around the course and was workin' hard, yet still managed to say hi and smile. I saw Christy Berg and cheered for her, but she has no idea who the hell I am. I'll have to introduce myself one of these days. Aaron and Bruce (ignored me) were flying around the course, and I know all managed to end up with top 5's. Well done everyone. You guys all rule and make riding bikes so much fun.

My race started off in the most retarded fashion. All 3 expert classes and the open/pro started at the same time and funneled into a turn wide enough for about 3 bikes. I have no idea what place I came through in but passed a buttload of people on the climb that felt like it went forever and ever. It was brutal! And I was going to have to do that climb 6 times. F*&%!!! Then the downhill thing, all I have to say is I'm getting better. I held up a few people and pulled over in the one of the switchbacks. Then followed them down the hill. Much better for me. These downhills were pretty technical from a predominantly road geek's perspective. Cross is riding around on a grassy field, it is nothing like this stuff. I know people that would have been afraid to walk a lot of that stuff.

Anyway, lap 2 sucked as well. Then lap 3 I started to get into a rhythym. I rode with Todd Tucker for a bit, then we got separated and was by myself for a long time. I passed a handful of people each time up the stupid friggin climb. Then tried to recover while going downhill as fast as I could without trying to look too much like a roadie.

Lap 6 and Todd was with me again. We rode to the top together and he skirted by and disappeared down the hill. I passed a couple more people but had no idea if they were even in my class. I ended up 4th, Todd was 2nd.This race was pretty damn hard though. It probably sticks out as the 2nd hardest race I've ever done (# 1 was Gig Harbor 2 years ago).

But it was so much fun and so satisfying too.I don't know why more of the road racers won't give it a try - you have no idea what you are missing. There are 2 more races left, and I have an extra bike if anyone wants to give it a try. It is seriously so much fun.

July 4th

2008-07-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

July 4th is always a crappy time of year for me. While most people are out celebrating, blowing crap up, drinking beer and generally having a good time I'm thinking about my brother who died on July 4th, 1993. This sucks so bad. I still cannot find the words to convey my feelings. I'm still pissed off. I still miss him terribly. And I still wonder why the hell it had to happen. Who the $#%^# decided it was some God's plan to take my brother away anyway? Yes, there is still some anger here.

It is so hard to be away from my mom and dad during this time of the year. I always feel so helpless living 2600 miles away during this time. I know there isn't much I can do, but I could still be there and give my mom and dad a hug and let them know how much I miss him too. I do miss you Ron, 15 years later I still can hear your voice. I can still picture your smile. And as brothers can only do to brothes, you can still piss me off. You were so full of promise, so full of life, I would give anything to spend one more day with you. And yes, I still look up to you for inspiration, and you will always be my big brother. I miss you so bad. And I love you so much.

My kid

2008-06-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

Yea, my kid is awesome. I know all parents say that, but at age 3 he is at that magical age where he still thinks I'm cool. And After basically not seeing him almost 4 days because of the Elkhorn stage race we have been basically glued together all week. It's been awesome! He's getting pretty good pedaling his Trek trikester in anticipation of his first race in 2 week in B'ham. Whacks the crap out of the baseball when I pitch to him, and nehaves pretty good. I'm already dreading 4 days away from him in September when I go to Utah for a 12 hour mountain bike race.

Elkhorn in a nutshell

2008-06-27T10:18:00.000-07:00

I was going to do some elaborate write up, but screw that! This is more than sufficient so job my memory in case I forget about the race.

Elkhorn was so much fun. And we all survived with no crashes. I'll let everyone else tell their own details as they saw them, but here's a quick overview.

Christina did awesome! This girl is a stud! You should have seen her sitting in w/ the cat. 1 and 2 girls in the crit! Everyone there was so proud of her!

Nick did pretty good for his first 3 race. And I think he learned a lot in one weekend, but he still needs to learn how to take a leak while he is riding. He wasted so much time by having to stop to go, and then spent way too much energy chasing back on for 10 miles.

Randy did want Randy does best, getting some decent results with a limited fitness base in one of the hardest races in the northwest. He dug deep!

I thought I rode OK overall as well. And would have had a decent GC place if not for a flat tire with no wheel car in sight on stage 1. I flatted with about 10 miles to go, no wheel car anywhere. I eventually bummed a wheel off a passing car, lost lots of time and ended up 54th on the stage. Stage One hates me, I always get a bad result there. Stage 2 - 10 mile TT - I was 26th. not too bad out of nearly 100 dudes.Stage 3 crit - I sat in and didn't lose any time. I hate crits. Rain came and they stopped the race after about 20 minutes of 28 mph laps. Fine with me. It rained in the girls race before us and there was about a 9 or 10 girl crash.Stage 4 - we went slow!!!!! Yippee! The first climb there was a good tempo, the group was down to about 40, then we sat up and everyone was back on. Repeat for climbs 2 and 3. The last climb which is about 8 miles was never real brutal. Just a high tempo that shed a lot of dudes, me included. I still thought I rode well, I did the climb in 32 minutes I think, it was mostly 39 x 18 climbing (I'm not much of a spinner though), occasionally in the 19 or 21 cog. Toward the end though I couldn't keep my cadence up - I was fried! I had to keep standing and sprinting to keep my tempo. I ended up 28th, lost almost 3 1/2 minutes on the lead group. That's what I get for being a fat ass.But it overall it was a great weekend, I cannot begin to explain what a great event this was. Plus we all rode about 250 miles in 3 days with lots and lots of climbing. If I could only find a race like this in early April I would have a good year of racing.

Elkorn Stage 1

2008-06-25T13:41:00.001-07:00

Best Trainer DVD's to pedal to

2008-06-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

In no Particular Order, although I like the music ones the best. If only Pennywise would come out with a live DVD.

Bad Religion - Live at the Palladium - good stuff from a bunch of old punk rockers with insightful lyrics and sing along choruses.

face to face - The Only Goodbye - "1,2, 1,2,3,4...you don't know what you wanna be, you're never gonna amount to much of anything" and so it goes. Too bad they quit, although they are sort of back together. These guys kick ass!

Both Prefontaine movies - Pre was a Stud! Sort of like Merckx in his day, it's hard not to have respect for someone with so much character and determination, and oh yea, he had a few decent results as well.

Miracle - USA Hockey Wins Gold in 1980. Man! the glory years of the Olympics before they became commercialized and ruined by professionalism. This one gets me fired up everytime I see Eruzione score the go ahead goal.

The Tour de France DVD's - Nothing like watching a bunch of druggies on bikes pedaling up mountains. It still inspires me anyway even though I watch it with a bit of anger and disgust. But hey, who I am to judge them? Maybe if I took some drugs I could make a living on a bike?

The Simpsons - Season (any # will do) - perfect for a recovery ride, laugh your ass off and you barely notice the minutes ticking by

Elkhorn - Day 0

2008-06-24T12:08:00.001-07:00

I wonder how many posts were written about this race in the past couple days on the various blog sites around the web...well...here's another.

The drive there

I got out of work an hour early and met a teammate at my house. We loaded up and got the helloutadodge as fast as we could. We were hoping to get there before dark to get a little blood in the legs by spinning around town before dark. After 6 hours in the car we would be ready for that for sure!

The drive there was pretty uneventful. I got to stop at Perkins to get some pancakes. Good stuff. Why do they not have them on the west side of the mountains? I just don't get it. Every time I drive through Ellensburg I have to have them, or Ritzville, or C d'A, ID as well. Or wherever I know where a Perkins is.

My teammate is a police officer for his occupation. So when he played Grand Theft Auto (Vice City) on the PSP for 3 hours it was funny as hell to listen to. There is something sinister to a cop laughing his ass off as he mows down people on the sidewalk in a Ferrari while listening to Run DMC. It was great entertainment and helped pass the 396 miles of driving to Baker City.

We go there at about 815, only to stand in line forever getting our room key to our hotel. Frustrating! Day light was going fast. My legs needed a spin. And of course I had to pee. A natural hat trick of minor annoyances. We finally got our key, ran to the car and got a couple of things (like a helmet) and rode to check-in to get our numbers. I didn't even use cycling shoes, and yet somehow I survived. Anyway, we made it w/ a few minutes to spare. And we saw our other 2 teammates that were there walking down the street on our way to the school. That was funny!

After that a late dinner and then tried to get some sleep hoping it wasn't going to be crazy hot the next day.