tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69808262669714475462024-03-13T01:10:05.087-07:00Urban snowshoeing with and without the snowUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-22901946478307825632022-02-05T05:55:00.000-08:002022-02-05T05:55:01.475-08:00All good things must come to an end....or maybe not.<p> As you might notice, posts are not frequent here much anymore. Part of that is the pandemic impacting racing for me over the past couple of years. Another part is personally there has been a lot of change in my life. It has enabled a ton of growth. I don't want to say that running has taken a back seat. It hasn't but it is for the time being not the main driver. We could call it moving to shotgun. </p><p>One result of these changes is I have made a decision regarding this blog. I will be "shutting it down". No, I won't be deleting the entries here at all. If anything keeping them serves as a record of many achievements and thoughts over the course of it's life. It is just hard maintaining this when I am transitioning in life. </p><p>Will I continue to blog? Yes. It will be a new blog for the me of today and where I see myself in the future. It will be more "hot topic" and political than here. Or at least at the start. </p><p>In due course, there might be a follow-up here directing people to that blog. For the time being, it's going to be a bit more privately shared. It is not a decision taken lightly but for my continued growth in these times, it is healthier for me. </p><p>Also, the FB page for running will be enduring (see what I did there) the same fate. It will exist but not be a priority. The content as I see it does not match the purpose.</p><p>With that, time for me to head off for more miles in life.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-32976440886931071442021-09-14T03:32:00.002-07:002021-09-14T03:32:34.224-07:00We're Not In Kansas Anymore....Or The United States<p>Usually, I try to be witty and I think that is the case with the title here. However, it is also extremely true and a huge part of why for the past 8+ months there has been nothing posted here.</p><p>So, what am I talking about exactly? Well, I moved outside of the United States to Scotland. Specifically, Aberdeen, Scotland. Been here for about three weeks now but there was a ton that went into getting here. Packing, selling and a whole world of logistics. While many of our personal effects have yet to arrive, the lions share is done. (For now at least.)</p><p>As you can imagine, this really impacted running. Actually, I think putting 4100 miles in last year has impacted things most. Today, I hit 2000 for this year. BIG DIFFERENCE. My goal is 2500 so I am on target. I'm adjusting to finding new routes. Still haven't done any long 10+ runs. In due time. What I can say is that my mileage is ticking back up and more consistent again. For June, July and August, there were lots of disruptions that impacting getting out daily on either the treadmill or actually outside/ Speaking of the treadmill, no, it did not make the trip. I used it up to almost the end before it got rehomed with a friend/ </p><p>Racing wise, 2021 has been more active. But not by that much even if I tripled last years output. Those keeping score will remember 2020 had one race. Meaning, with the assistance of math, you would be correct to get three as the number of races. Two were ultras. One was a DNF. </p><p>First up was World's End 50K. It was a race that I was originally scheduled to do in 2020 and I would say I would have been in better shape for it then. Considering life's stresses, I treated it more as a training run than really a race. It was a good time even if people did have a hard time believing me beforehand when I said I wasn't racing it. Seeing friends and enjoying one of my favorite parks was really what it was all about. In the end, I think I was 9th male and 12th overall. Somebody care to fact check that for me?</p><p>Second was my attempt to celebrate all things NYC by doing TGNY100. Since, it was known I was leaving the country in August. If you know me, you know that NYC plays a bit of a role in my life. So even being undertrained, I thought I could muscle through 100 miles to see the city. Wow, I was wrong. Not so much on the undertrained but more on the heat. I suffered in the warmth early. Even stopping off at a 7-11 and getting a nice cold Slurpee did not do the trick of keeping me core cool. In the end, I got to the 50K mark and called it a day. One positive running take away, even with walking, I did cover it faster than Worlds End. Yes, I know apples to oranges. Can't I just get a little slack in searching for self accomplishment? Much of the rest of the weekend I spent hanging out in NYC going places and doing things I wanted. A very fitting goodbye.</p><p>While the year is not over and I may squeeze in a race, the last one I did was the One Nation 4 Miler hosted by RunBucks. It was on July 4th. Out and back course on pavement. Probably my best race of the year with a second place result. Managed a 4 mile race PR. By the end, I was sucking wind as the gas tank was empty. First case of real speed work since December of 2019! Again, take what I can get. </p><p>Aside from those three races, notable running items include spending a few days up in the New Brunswick area doing a few old training routes. Also, made it out to a group run of Raritan Valley Road Runners where I knew some folks back when I lived in the area. Finished up the notable runs really with one last run from my house in East Falls over the Ben Frankling Bridge into NJ. </p><p>If I had to have any regret is that I am missing the fall racing season back in the states. Missing out on this year's Rock N Knob trail race is one of those I had intended to do. Alas, not to be. </p><p>Reflecting back, it does seem like a chapter in my life has closed. I spent 25 years racing in the states. So many accomplishments that I never believed possible happened. Running took me to many heights (literally and figuratively). </p><p>Now, I have a new chapter, one, where I don't have expectations when I show up. That's good for me now as the weight of success is a hard one as the expectation is to somehow always be expected to show up and win. That sucks a little joy out of it that the act of winning only can do so much to help. It's a double edged sword. I'm older now. Officially, I am a 'masters' runner.</p><p>Moving forward, I'm going to be me in whatever form it takes. There's a lot of excitement out there and you know I will grab onto it. And no, this post does not mean the blog is dead. Far from it. It might be reinvigorated and repurposed into more. Just know that it's all from the heart.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-5641996764008680272020-12-31T10:53:00.004-08:002020-12-31T10:53:54.950-08:00A look back at the year that wasn't and was<p> So 2020 is just about behind us. In fact, it is behind folks in some places globally at the moment. As we head into 2021, I implore folks to be cautious and safe. Yes, Covid-19 vaccines are starting to become available but it will still be a long process to we return to normal. Even here in the US, right now there are only anticipated vaccinations for 4.7 percent of the population in 2021. </p><p>With the global pandemic, racing personally was pretty non-existent. 2020 saw me only reach ONE starting line. It was a 2 hour timed event with under 25 participants that had rolling starts to minimize spread. That single event was in September and really pushed my comfort level. Not in terms of running but safety. And I ran that with face covering. If that event was now, I wouldn't even consider it with the Covid numbers. </p><p>What this means for looking ahead is that I'm not actively signing up for any 2021 events. I do have a roll over registration for World's End 50K in late May. </p><p>As was the case in my last entry from July, most of miles have been done avoiding people. It still really troubles me about ignorance and a flippant disregard of safety from the running community. There is enough blame to go around so I don't feel I need to point out sectors. And yes, because I did one event I still am part of those to be blamed. I'd like to think on the whole my actions around Covid have been wise but I did a race where other people were present regardless if there was distancing. It's a risk because a group got together. Looking back, it was my weak moment. A risky one at that. </p><p>My point is, we need to stop being so selfish in needing to do group runs and races. I'd love to get back to doing both as quick as possible but that's not happening any quicker if as a collective group continue to make 'me first' decisions. Every time I see group photos, I cringe. You might be the type that believes in masks and social distancing but come running, you behave no different than the 'anti-maskers, covid is a hoax people'.</p><p>In other words, knock it the fuck off. </p><p>You want to go run? Great. Do it be yourself. Avoid areas where there are crowds. That is the way each of us can do our part. </p><p>I've made my sacrifices avoiding some of my favorite and super local trails. Why? Because they are super crowded and people somehow forget face coverings at home like it is okay just because we are outdoors. If you are stepping out your home, there is no excuse or reason to not have one.</p><p>With that said, let's hope 2021 speeds up vaccination and slows the spread so we can enjoy things we have sacrificed and missed. And maybe in 2021, I will be less cranky as a 41 year old. Considering, I'm 41 while typing this, we have a long way to go for the result. I do know while 2020 saw me run 4100 miles, I'd like to have less miles and more competition. </p><p>We can dream.</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-8270626974358185922020-07-27T08:53:00.003-07:002020-07-27T08:53:44.514-07:00Much like a lot of things gone south in 2020....(BTW, Wear the damn mask!)First things first....Wear a mask! (Or Buff. Or Neck Gaiter. Or any face covering!)<br />
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Who would have thought my first entry here since October would come just before August? Nobody that's who. I admit, I'm shocked it has been so long. However, I personally am finding time a really weird construct these days.<br />
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It's been since the first Saturday in December since I ran an actual in person race. 2020 has been full of treadmill mileage. You could say so much that I basically have crushed the unit. As I type this, I am awaiting a new Console unit to my NordicTrack Commerical 1750 that I got in Jan 2019.<br />
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From a pure running perspective, really only have two things to report. First, I'm back down near my racing weight give or take two pounds which is saying a lot since stress and work had me up higher than you might ever notice. (I did.) Second, the only running event I have participated in this year has been the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee. During that event, I did my highest mileage weeks ever! However, it got really hard to put in sizable mileage (because my competitive/goal mechanism kicked in) so after I completed the Back Across Tennessee portion (basically a second round) I stopped. Doing 10-15 miles a day is much easier while maintaining my work. (I'm not complaining about having work, I understand I am much luckier than most.)<br />
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A little under three weeks from now, I am scheduled to run a 50K race. It would be my first in person race of the year. It was the race I was signed up for before everything shut down. Originally, scheduled for March, it was pushed back twice. To be honest, I'm not sure if I will participate. As of this typing, the event has not released it's COVID-19 Mitigation plan. Personally, I find this troubling. Hopefully, my worries will be smoothed over once I see how the Race Director plans how to handle social distancing, check in, aid stations, etc. So, yes, if I feel the mitigation plan is not cautious enough, I will not run in a race I've been looking forward to.<br />
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Of course, what is probably more worriesome is that we are still trying to get spread under control. As I am based in the United States, I blame the lack of leadership from the presidential administration not mandating masks (or face coverings). A global health pandemic has turned into some political football game with people's lives. Do I want to go the amusement park to get on some roller coasters? Heck yeah! Do I want to have gatherings with friends? Most definitely! Do I want to go see the latest over the top action film filled with car chases and explosions? YEP! However, since this nation operations under the delusion of 'American Exceptionalism', we're not even close to really being able to enjoy those things. I'm willing to shut down the whole country for months and have the government do what governments should do and that is take the financial hit. Give people stipends to pay their rent/mortgage/bills. Tell health insurance companies (and providers) that all treatments will be government reimbursed in this troubling time. Our system is putting lots of people at risk because we fail as a nation to have a social state that helps people.<br />
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Probably what gets me more, are people who regardless of what the government should or should not do, lack some sense. Unless you are inside your residence, take some sort of face covering with you. Listen, I'll concede if nobody is around that you can have it not fully in use. (Personally, I find Buffs/Neck Gaiters easier for this. You have it with you and you don't even need to carry it in your hand!) If you see someone a block away, make sure you have it over your mouth and nose. Don't act oblivious to the world around you. Pay attention. If you find yourself without the covering and you see someone, socially distance to the extreme!<br />
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Can I even do better myself? Sure, because we are not done with this first wave yet.<br />
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This might not sit right with some folks but cyclists and runners, if you are out doing your thing, make sure to have your coverings too! Way too often, do I see photos of people (including my own friends) in clusters without adhering to CDC guidelines. In fact, this disregard, is why nearly all of my miles are done indoors on a treadmill. In the few times I have tried to venture forth, I have encountered too many people without masks/coverings in places where distancing meant rolling down a ravine.<br />
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Also, if organizations are advising to avoid places, avoid them. I mention this is in part due to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy asking people to avoid thru-hikes because the AT is a place that just screams spreading. (Do some Google searching and you'll find stories). So to hear that a person has had the audacity to attempt a speed record this year is egregious. Furthermore, this person will be traveling from states with spikes into states that have quarantines if you are entering from any number of states.<br />
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Sure, all of the above sounds harsh and angry. It's the reality of how I feel. But I want to move in a different direction.....<br />
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Lately, I've begun to approach this all as needing to pitch in together. And I see the only way to really be able to do this is to set the example. Encourage others to do that same. Do it not for you but for others.<br />
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#settheexample<br />
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#wearthemask<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-72394965546656876932019-10-15T07:56:00.000-07:002019-10-15T07:56:32.772-07:00Trying to find the path...2019 continues to be a rough year on the running front, overall. I did manage to have some recent enjoyment with a few smaller 5Ks since my last entry and a fun 60 minute trail race. Those were experiences that felt filling. Not a ton of time on the day. Few logistics to worry about. Plus, day of sign up. That sort of segways into the following post I made on my personal FB page:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"So what I really didn't mention about Scotland was I got and still have a cough along with torquing my ankle a second time last Saturday. That cough really is the stickler because I hack some while running. (Also evident riding the bike.) Point being...No Batona today. Fine but not fine with it. However, it got me thinking walking Falcon this morning, I likely will only do one race a year that I have to register far in advance. I have never been much of a fan of registering for races in advance because other things may come along. In thinking, that flexibility made running mine. Want to get back to that."</span><br />
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Over the past years, as the sport of ultrarunning has really boomed, it seems just about every race under the sun you have to register months in advance. Now, I am fine with the occasional need to do this but life does not necessarily lead itself to doing this for the number of races I tend to want to run. Being locked in when work gets crazy is not conductive to positive experiences. I say that because running almost becomes like a burden. For many years, when I ran predominately road races, I would show up and sign up day of. Sure it cost a few more bucks but I found I was not as wound up about a whole bunch of things. Embracing a sort of FOMO, increasingly has set me up for 'failure'. Each time I do that and something comes along where I cannot do something (be it sickness, injury, or just stress) it erodes me just a little bit.<br />
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I just need to go out and run....what I have been doing feels forces and as a byproduct not fun. Ultimately, when I look at the results from the past two years, I think it shows.<br />
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We'll see if I can get back there but it requires a bit of going back in time....Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-8948369057824283032019-09-09T12:16:00.000-07:002019-09-09T12:16:06.604-07:00You know it's a rough go.......when this is only the second blog entry for 2019 in September.<br />
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Back at my last entry I was coming off a DNF at Traprock due to a stupid toe injury. Between mid-April and the end of June, I was able to get some sense of momentum winning some races including the Lost Turkey Trail 50K. In fact, that was my last decent race. I have had two races since 6/29. One was the Race Street Run in Jim Thorpe that I was 5th and ran 12 minutes slower (in a 15K) than my winning time two years ago. Yesterday was even rougher...a DNF in a marathon.<br />
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We can say that last result sums up the year well. I was honored to toe the starting line for Chasing the Unicorn to attempt a Boston Qualifier before the cutoff. Going into the year, one of my goals was to run a BQ time so I could run it in my first year as a masters. In the past, I would be able to get in BQ times during training runs. Nothing close to it here. I started off okay but the back of my knees felt tight. It was not something I was able to shake off and I had no real turnover. My splits were going in the wrong direction. At the half marathon mark, I shut it down as I was behind pace. Does it sting? Absolutely.<br />
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However, I cannot say it is surprising given the past twelve months.<br />
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In that time, I...<br />
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Had my bike stolen<br />
Got in a car accident driving a rental in California<br />
Went from administrating one IT system to three<br />
Fell off a ladder in the woods<br />
Went on a second medication for anxiety<br />
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I'm sure there are other things in there but I'm trying to take it all in stride. Even doing that I know things are a little off balance.<br />
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And all of it breeds a feeling of being worn down and tired. I'm almost 40 and have been running for 25 years so at some point change is coming. Right now, it is not on my terms.<br />
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One might even say, I'm not as excited running wise. Historically, I have always had a number of races lined up as a 'schedule' of sorts that I could look at as helping to have goals. Over time many of the events I have loved have ended. It has become harder to find events to replace the lost ones. I'd say this has led to a level of erosion of enjoyment when it comes to my running. You could probably sum everything up in this paragraph. The more I have thought about it this is what has changed the most with my running. Those events have been what makes it easier to get out in the morning to do runs in a place that I have run hundreds if not thousands of times now. Couple that with not having been able to get away for a little mini vacation to mix up my running to give me a little boost further anchors me in place.<br />
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As my friend Mary said, I am "more than just a runner" so it is not like my life is over. I am still currently running some. Been reading lots of books which I would say my highlight thus far might just be Firestorm by Edward Struzik.<br />
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Right now, I will re-adjust and find what works best. If that is less mileage but enjoyment so be it. I don't see the goal being less mileage. I do need some recharge and jump start but the ground is shifting at the moment.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-58476570848610243832019-04-18T08:50:00.000-07:002019-04-18T08:50:03.119-07:00April finally brings a post!Wish I could say things have been all sunshine and rainbows but it is not that type of year on the running front.<br />
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As a result this is going to be as quick and dirty as inadvertently jumping into toxic sludge. (Think of it as the Cuyahoga River.)<br />
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To polish off 2018, Santa (meaning our savings) brought the home a nice new shiny NordicTrack treadmill. Commercial style of course. Primarily, this was to help with a bit of motivation on days I wasn't motivated to run outside or due to time constraints. I started off 2019 good using the treadmill and some outdoor runs to get ready for a 50K down in Delaware in January. HOWEVER, I got hit with another bout of Bronchitis. So unwanted rest there. I was bummed because I was looking to it as part of a tune up to Lone Star 100K.<br />
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Complicating matters around Lone Star, I had to go out to Irvine, California for a week. So I had to fly into El Paso, Texas from Philly, then go to Irvine. While flying was all smooth, the timing of it all stressed me out to where I was not ready to tackle hours racing in Franklin Mountains. On the bright side, I did manage to run a 5K in Las Cruces, NM. Sadly, I did not have road racers with me and my time was ugly at 18:05 for 2nd. Having done a 5K did allow me to time to go hiking so I did enjoy that. (Plus, I went to the movies and saw Cold Pursuit. Not the best of Liam Neeson films. You want the best go watch The Grey.)<br />
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Being in California, I was excited for some new trails. In fact, I picked my lodging based on the proximity to trails. Yet, with my luck, nearly all were closed due to recent weather. I did manage to get on some but not with the extent I want. It also impacted a 5 mile trail race I had considered running. It changed into a road race so I opted for other activities. (Like visit the Nixon Library and the Fullerton Arboretum.)<br />
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Not much between that span in February until late March when I had the Phillies 5K. It was great to do with my neighbors. Not being at the top of my game was evident here as I ran 17:34 for 6th. Last time I did the race I was a minute faster for 2nd. Positively, I was faster than back in Las Cruces.<br />
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Just a few weeks ago, I ran an okay 17:15 for a 1st in a 5K over at Rutgers-Camden. I was happy with it because the course was changed from the past and it was long and had tighter turns. (The kind that required a throttle up and down of pace.) Coming off this, I felt fairly good going into last weekend's race in Connecticut, Traprock 50K. I'd done the race previously so I knew to expect some real challenging terrain. Also, I opted to drive up after the business day on Thursday and work remote on Friday. A 4 hour drive can be stressful for me in a case like this. So by driving up and staying an extra night, I was working to keep anxiety and stress down. In this regard, I think I did the job as I got up and made the race start fine.<br />
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HOWEVER!<br />
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The evening before Traprock, I was walking across the hotel room and injured myself in one of the most absurd manners. What happened was I was lifting my right foot but my big toe decided to 'velcro' itself to the floor so as the foot moved, the toe bent and jammed back into the rest of the foot. It hurt, A LOT! It felt worse then stubbing my toe. Guess, I would compare it with the initial ouch of a bad ankle sprain. Stupid toe region hurt even in my sleep. Still, I stepped to the line doing my best to not think about it.<br />
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Immediately as the race started, I did my best to run like usual but was constantly thinking about my foot. Doing mental system checks. I was managing for a good while on the first of three loops until I no longer wasn't. Basically, I had to stop running and walk due to the pounding. When I reached that point, I knew my day was done. I tried to initially switch into a different pair of shoes before throwing in the towel but they would not have done the trick. Sad, to be honest, as I thought my foot placement in the rocky sections was spot on. Still my main worry was a stress fracture or worse. And I had a 4 hour drive home with the same foot as my driving foot!<br />
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Anyways, that brings me to the past few days....<br />
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Been wearing shoes where the sole doesn't mend so I'm not bending my right foot much. Been able to walk. Have opted to not run right now and admit, it is making me a tad stir crazy. Considering, the top of my foot still hurts with pressure, it is not without the realm of reason that I didn't do something to my first metatarsal. Just hoping a week or two of down time in conjunction with footwear that won't aggravate things is the proper remedy.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-55937407980704906382018-12-18T11:13:00.001-08:002018-12-18T11:13:36.130-08:00Talk about a drop off.....Ok, so I have been REALLY bad this year blogging. Maybe I should do transcription of my thoughts via plug in (If it was only possible.)<br />
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Certainly thought I would have written something in August or September following by European race debut. However, work muscled its was in to dominate everything since the time I got back from my Scottish vacation in mid-August. In fact, things got so bad that I took 3 whole weeks off in the middle of September. Yes, right in the middle of prime fall training and racing, I lacked the mental and physical bandwidth to run.<br />
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Consider also this, as I have anxiety and am on medication to manage it, yet, it looks like my dosage will need to be adjusted up. (Went on it finally. Probably should have addressed it YEARS ago.) Job duties are increasing and that is all fine and good but the logistical aspects and time demands are multiplying. I've worked some weekend time and in September I was putting in over 10 hours of overtime a week on average. So yes, the impacts to my running have been quite substantive in 2018. To end the year, I wound up staying really close to home doing 5ks. Not nearly as quick as I hoped but still fairly decent performances. The lack of stress doing that distance versus a marathon or ultra probably helped me manage to do them. In fact, work and/or anxiety knocked out 4 races I had been signed up for....Breakneck, Georgia Jewel, Bucks County Marathon (where I would have been attempting to win 5 in a row) and just this past weekend, Ancient Oaks (which worked out well because I went to Disney a day earlier and learned running Ancient Oaks would not have made Disney fun at all the day after).<br />
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Not all was bad. I managed to do the 50K distance at Batona (that Econolodge was certainly overpriced). And even more amazingly, I did an ultra in Ohio (Bigfoot) while out there for a week of work training (which itself brought on a lot of stress.)<br />
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I did also manage to run a nighttime 3 hour in Georgia on a quick getaway where I did a 5K in the morning. That trip also had lots of Waffle House. (One sitting was between finishing the 5K and the awards) Yum!<br />
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Probably would say the highlight of the year was racing on the West Highland Way in the Devil o the Highlands race. Sure, I took 2nd place but at one point I was in 7th. I moved up 5 places in the last 15 miles. I cut a 16 mile lead down to 8 in that span with 7 of that in the last 7 miles. Plus, it was the most beautiful landscape.<br />
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We'll see what 2019 holds but I'm going to take it as it comes. There are races I want to do but clearly with my changing landscape, I need to be a little fluid. If that means smaller events where I can show up day of....so be it. May the new year bring all the readers here great success in what they wise to achieve in whatever avenue of life.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-15783020826363616532018-05-02T09:31:00.002-07:002018-05-02T09:31:23.699-07:00Oh look...it's the first post of 2018In May. Nearly 5 months since my last entry. I've consciously made a decision to not blog so much. A number of factors played into this including but not limited to:<br />
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Not having a ton of notable races.<br />
Getting sick with Bronchitis in January that added a number of unexpected weeks off.<br />
Working on my anxiety.<br />
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Honestly, while I will continue to post entries to here, the intended frequency of the past will not be the same. Part of this is that one of my main drivers in creating this blog was in hopes of building some following or having it as a vehicle to getting and maintaining sponsors. For a few years I'd say there was a minor level of success with a shoe partnership (which ended in Dec 2016). However, I feel trying to produce results and content to entice sponsorship created a burden subconsciously that took away from my running. I really felt like I wanted/needed sponsorship to garner some justification for the hard work and effort in my ultrarunning. In working on my anxiety, I've made some determinations that I was no longer going to worry about contacting companies that might be good for a partnership of runner and brand. Also, I've adjusted to embrace a lighter travel schedule. Meaning my short races are REALLY close to home and try to minimize driving to other longer events. In turn this can help with recovery and having more beyond running.<br />
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Part of this could be seen as slowing life down a little. I find myself watching less TV and reading a lot more. Last year, I had a list of 27 books that I read. This year I've finished 20. Even had a couple of novels in there. (Most of the content is non-fiction.) Now, if I could find a way to feel comfy reading in bed. For some reason that is not as conducive.<br />
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Oddly, as part the shift, I've been listening to a lot more synthwave acts like Le Cassette, LeBrock and The Rain Within. Maybe it is because the metal that has come out this year is a whole lot of meh. But we did get a new Andrew WK rock album that has two of my favorite inspiring songs of the year in <i>Ever Again</i> and <i>Music is Worth Living For</i>.<br />
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While you're here, I reckon I should mention some running material.<br />
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On April 29th, after years of chasing, I broke 8 hours in a 100K. A 31 minute PR at Jack Bristol Lake Waramaug 100K in 7:30:51. I'm really proud of that time. Certainly, will tell you that 62 miles on the road is tough. I ached in ways I hadn't before. I took a couple of days off and will ease back into things for the next few days before my next challenges. If the mood hits, I might blog about 'em. I can say I look forward to more running and racing on trails in the year.<br />
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Don't take this as I don't like talking about running because I most certainly do but talking up what I have done is actually not the most natural thing for me. (I'd like to this those who have met me know this a little. I'm just another person.) But since I'm not going to chase sponsorship anymore (that is not to say I wouldn't love to be sponsored) I can cut out some of that stress.<br />
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More likely, I'll post notable results on my athlete FB page (which you might have gotten the link to this piece from.)<br />
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Well folks....that's all for now. See you at the races....<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-25067365946843541462017-12-13T11:08:00.001-08:002017-12-13T11:12:08.536-08:00Gorge Gambler & 2017 Wrap-upAs 2017 is coming to a close, it would appear that my blogging has suffered. For the 1st half of the year, I managed 8 posts and this will make only my 4th in the past 6 months. And in fact, only my second in the past 4. In looking at those numbers and timing, I see life events having a substantial impact on how I see myself and feel motivation-ally. As someone who values stability, the company I work for having been acquired in July really has set off a chain of uncertainty in usually very grounded area of my life. And while I have some other personal matters that fall into the same category, it all has gotten to be a bit much to handle at times. To hear Peg comment that I didn't seem like I was enjoying running should tell you enough.<br />
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Still, many times, I managed to win the hard battle to get out of bed in the morning in order to go into the office or even out the door for miles. And when I say battle, I mean it. You've heard me talk of anxiety and stress in my postings before so it really should not come as a surprise. Let me say, mental health really makes a big deal in our lives as well as the events during our developmental years that shape the environment of that mental health.<br />
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While all of that is important, that is not my intended focus on this 'year-closing' entry, so allow me to change gears....<br />
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Going into 2017, one of my goals was to hit a sub 8 hour 100K. For a number of years, I have managed to hit at least one PR a year. Last year was an incredible 50 mile PR at Brazos Bend. So it seemed fair to target the 100K distance for 2018. Early in the year, I tried to go for it at Iron Horse in Florida where I DNF'd due to knee issues. I opted to hit the roads in CT at Lake Waramaug (only to have a series of events derail even getting to the race). (Twisted Branch happened but that was never a part of the 100K PR chase. Not on that course.) Next came plans for Bear Chase in Colorado in late September that due to financial circumstances, I opted to not do. This lead to a narrowing number of options really, one of which was flying to Houston on what would be this upcoming weekend to do 31 laps on a 2 mile paved course. In a cost analysis, I decided to not do the Houston race. So, in leiu of options, I decided to create my own race where the 100K was an available distance.<br />
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From this in mid-October, the Gorge Gambler was born.<br />
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The Gorge Gamble was to be an old-school event. No fancy shirts. No medals. No big red timing clock. You would get a start/finish time and a course. You'd record your own times. Since, my goal of the event was to be able to run a 100K myself, I wanted a time limit that would enable people to possibly run a 100K themselves. So I decided on 12 hours. But knowing my intention was about goals, I wanted to give people options to get 50K and 50M goals. This led to the format of the race being that everyone starts off running the 50K and once they reach the 50K distance, they can either stop or continue. At the point, 50M is reached, they are no longer in the 50K results. Same goes for up to 100K.<br />
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Because travel cost was a motivating factor of me creating the event, I decided to hold it in the Wissahickon Valley Park. Basically, this is my training ground. Now the park is a gorge. It has a gravel fire road (at one point in time an actual road of the times) called Forbidden Drive that cuts through along the length of the park with other trails in the upper reaches of the gorge. For a quicker course, I opted to create a 10K loop (ended up being 6.3 mile) utilizing much of the drive. However, I added a loop on the far end to mix up course allowing participants up onto one of the less technical (but still technical comparatively speaking) upper trails.<br />
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Once all this was set, including the date of December 9th, I opened registration where interested parties had to request invites for sign up. This was done to simple prevent a mass rush of entrants as I capped the field size to 40 people. My reason for the cap was to keep the event low-key and minimize our impact on the park's upper trails. In the end, 20 people signed up over the course of registration. With some withdrawls and no-shows, we ended up with 15 starters.<br />
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In the weeks leading up to the event, I still had my own training and racing. Between my last entry on October 11th and the Gorge Gambler, I had 5 runs, 4 of which were of the 5K distance. The other was the Bucks County Marathon, notable for mention here for winning it for the 4th straight year and in my second fastest time on that course. (Which is still 7 minutes slower than my CR.) Also, I had my yearly trek to Maine. Didn't get the usual dose of mountains but I expanding my routes and got to enjoy lots of sites. So DESPITE all the instability I was feeling on the whole, my sense of ability for my 100K was going well.<br />
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For the last week of lead-up, I spent it sending emails to registrants and getting together what I felt we should have as a basis for our single aid station. Namely, a folding table and digital clock for time recording. There was a little nervousness about the table as it arrived late but thankfully the bulk of the work was already set. Aside from race day, the biggest thing I needed to do was mark the loop section that used the technical trail. Since, we could be out after dark, I had some reflective strips as part of the markings. I kept the markings limited. Now, when I marked the section is the interesting part. My goal was to do it Friday morning on the 8th after 6am. Well, I ended up doing it at 3:30 am. Our TV decided to meet its death at 1am with a sparkling pop that tripped our main breaker. It made me unsettled to where I wasn't sleeping. So, I said might as well go marking. And I have to say, the moonlight was so strong, I didn't even need my headlamp. It was a gorgeous stroll in the woods at a time I really should not have been there.<br />
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Anyways, come race morning, I woke up briefly 4 hours early worried about the snow forecast. I hadn't considered an alternate course for safety. I decided worse case, I could take care of it last minute as pure out and backs on Forbidden Drive. Thankfully, at 6am, the snow had not started. Whew. I arrived at our starting location, 30 minutes before our 7am start. My timing here was not the greatest and it resulted in a delayed start by 15 minutes. Out of everything, I'd say this was the only error of the day as the RD. Eventually, at 7:15, I gave the official commands, started the official digital kitchen timer and off people went, myself included.<br />
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For the first loop, I ended up running with Josh Finger. Having him present really was good for me to run a balanced first 50K to possibly be under 4 hours but not insanely under to blow up. I'm not going to go into the details of every loop but I will say my biggest concern on the first loop was making sure the markings were still present. They were! Loop two was hoping nobody got off course. Seems like a win here as well! After 4 laps, I was on target for a sub 6 hour 50 mile! Yet, on lap 3, the snow started to fall. It was not an issue so much for my first 50K but my 6th lap began to slow enough to take me off of that sub 6. Still, lap 7 became the point where I was on par with a close to 8 hour 100K split. It was doable. Physically and mentally I was having up and downs. All to be expected. What I really did not expect was the slowness of the pace while maintaining consistent effort. My miles thanks to the snow where 45 seconds to 1 minute slower. I knew I would have to have a quick 8th lap knowing I would need to finish 50 miles in around 6:24 to be at 8 hour pace. Turns out I was off that mark at the end of lap 7, I just hadn't done the math well. It was just a little too slow of a split. With the continued snow slowing, I split 50 miles (50.4 actually) in 6:37:10 and called it a day.<br />
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The day was taking it's toll on others as well. Five people called it a day before 50K. And by the time I finished, only 3 other runners were still out there. One of them finished there day in the 50K only 7 minutes behind me. This left two people out there. One was Trishul Cherns and the other Jameson Kloeckner. Trishul was working on his 50K. Jameson decided he was having a blast and opted to do 50 miles. He would be the only other person to finish a distance greater than 50K at the Gorge Gambler.<br />
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At this point, the park was rather quite and empty. Rather magical because it is so beautiful in the snow. To stay away from the cold, changed out of my running clothes and spent some time in the truck. I was now getting to enjoy RD duties. I had to shoo some teens away from the results/aid table when one of them picked up the timer. (Which was adhered to the table by a magnet. While the table was not metal, I tapped a metal scraper to the table to the timer had something to stick to.)<br />
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Now, this is where I should say, I knew about half of the people participating in the Gorge Gambler. So, I believe that allows me to say this, it is only fitting that the two final people out there were those two whose spirits just radiate positivity.<br />
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Eventually, it all came to an end as Trishul finished his 50K and Jameson closed out the event with his 50 mile finish. For one of these two fine people, it was their first time in the Wissahickon. For the other, it is like home (maybe not the section of the park we used but still some familiarity.) To me this is part of what this event was about, sharing a place I love to those who may not have experienced it before and for those who have, provide something new.<br />
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Sure from a personal standpoint, not hitting 100K was a bit of a disappointment but I was either going to be near the time goal or not. Once I wasn't there was no need to go beyond 50 Mile. But in reality, the biggest victory, I personally had from the Gorge Gambler was the success of hosting an event.<br />
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Results have been posted to Ultrasignup.<br />
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However, let me take a moment to congratulate the male and female 50K champs: Nathan Spencer and Kristen Rosser.<br />
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Now, will the Gorge Gambler happen again in the future? Right now, yes. It is possible, I change the date but it will be back. Aside from the possible date change, everything else will stay the same. Well, maybe next time, I'll start it on time. Hopefully, a few more people will be able to come out.<br />
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With this, we seem to have reached the end of my year. My personal goals are taking a few weeks off. It's been some time since I have taken a large swath of time to recover. And the remaining time to the end of 2017 will be the largest non-injury rest in some time. Goal wise, I didn't hit any PR's but had some notable achievements. I managed to set an FKT. I ran 3000 miles in the year. Won the Bucks County Marathon for the 4th year in a row. Persevered through a horrible day at Twisted Branch. Went back to World's End. Won TGNY 100. I'll take it.<br />
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2018, I've already some plans to expand my horizons. Right now, racing in Scotland is going to be huge. And there is a certain ax I need to add to my collection. (No, it is not Eastern States. It's World's End 100K.) I'll aim for similar mileage. Tackle another 100M. The rest of it will fall in place.<br />
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I'd like to close this year out by thanking some really important people who made a dent one way or another.<br />
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Peg - For putting up with everything! Running, work, well....everything.<br />
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Pat McCloskey - You may not realize it but you're encouragement for me to run some races gives me that occasional push I need.<br />
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David Walker - You're just a no-name (he's in on the joke) who puts on bad-ass races. You also stepped up to offer emotional support. For that I will forever be grateful.<br />
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Rob Goyen - Honestly, you are one of the most inspiring people in my life. It may be silly but when I set up the Gorge Gambler, I thought about you encouraging people to achieve their goals.<br />
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Kat Bermudez - Just thank you. Everyone should have a friend like you.<br />
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And everyone else that has been a part of my life, I thank you all as well. Onwards and upwards.<br />
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(Shameless self-promotion: if anyone knows of any companies that you think would make a good sponsor fit, let me know. I might even be using their products already but never thought of approaching them.)<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-75659528842339805522017-10-11T11:14:00.001-07:002017-10-11T11:23:52.179-07:00Falling into Racing....Does politics have a place in running? Well, in this case it does. I'm presently getting to write about running as I sit here listening to a lecture from an American Political Thought Since The Civil War.<br />
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(Ok, so I've just had to switch over to The Bronx (V) album since I was feeling a bit of writer's block. Too much deep thought.)</div>
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Anyways, so what has been going on since my last entry after Twisted Branch? Well, the short version is that I have done some ultra running mixed in with some shorter races. </div>
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Results:</div>
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<li>Run Germantown 5K - (1st) - 9/9</li>
<li>Alternative Half Marathon - 1:13:59 (1st) - 9/10</li>
<li>Boulder Field 50K - 3:55:10 (2nd) - 9/16</li>
<li>Holy Child Academy 5K - 17:07 (1st) - 9/23</li>
<li>Water Gap 50K - 3:30:21 (1st) - 9/30</li>
<li>Tomm May 5M - 28:28 (1st) - 10/7</li>
<li>Rest in Peace 5K - 16:44 (1st) - 10/7</li>
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While on the whole, those are not bad results, there are a few things that make it a bit rockier than they look. For the first race, Germantown, the course was a mess and not one runner in the whole event failed to run the proper course. With that as my first race after Twisted Branch that was not a great start to the fall racing season. Thankfully, the Alternative Half Marathon the following day was one of those spot on races. (Again, a Pat McCloskey RunBucks race to the confidence rescue!) My result at Boulder Field is the one that frustrated me probably the most as I wanted to win that race but I failed to get it all together. Now I will say that I was in 3rd for a lot of the race after trying to drop everyone without success for the first 11 miles when I dropped positions. I eventually clawed back to second with less than a mile to go. (That's the good there.) However, there are times I don't feel good about losing. This was one of those. (The negative here.) </div>
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Emotionally, I was on a roller coaster here. I was also unsettled about plans to go to Denver for a 100K race. (Finances and stress played huge roles.) </div>
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Luckily, I had the HCA 5K on my slate as that has been a race I've done well at before. And while I won it, my time was my second slowest on that course. It did not help that the timing clock was a minute faster. Since I do not wear a watch for 5Ks, I felt good seeing 16:07 which would have been my second fastest at this race. Except when I saw the online results at home (and confirmed), it was a kick in the pants to have been so slow. </div>
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Normally the fall is when everything fires on all cylinders....so to feel this out of whack was not good.</div>
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After some thought, I made the decision to scrap Denver and save the money. Thanks to Ian Golden & Red Newt Racing, I was provided the opportunity to do the WaterGap 50K , which here was slightly longer as a 32 mile point to point on the McDade Recreation Trail. I'll say this was my second best performance so far this fall. Rolling through entirely alone from go at 6:34 pace. </div>
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At this race, I tried two new things....new racing shorts and running band. Recently, for my road kit, I started running in BOA split shorts. I was losing some luster with my Puma shorts in my trail/ultra kit and during race week I got another pair of BOA split shorts that I would wear for the first time at this race. Also, I was going to be running with the Naked Running Band to hold my Nathan ExoDraw bottle. I had done some short runs testing this set up but this would be the first hardcore test. I wanted to be hands-free but not use the Nathan Peak this go round. Still, I kept the strap attached to the bottle in case it would bounce too much or flop out. Not even a worry! Plus, I was able to keep my ShotBlocs upfront in super easy access! </div>
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Originally, this past weekend, I was only going to do Rest in Peace since it is down the road from my house and I won some money last year. It is a 5pm start which is late (and this year the start time of our block party) so I could add another option if I desired. One popped up on the Wednesday. A 5 miler in NJ at a race that I last did when I last won the Atlantic City Half Marathon for the second time. Back then, they gave cash awards but this year it was 150 to RoadRunnerSports. That was enough incentive for me to drive the hour to double up. In the end, I'm slightly disappointed with my time but that is because while a certified course, the markers at 4 miles and the turnaround were wrong causing the course to be long. My immediate thoughts about my time was along the lines of being frustrated with my short distance performances. Having raced in the morning, I didn't expect to top last year's RIP 5K time. I thought I'd be in the 17's. Yet, I dipped under and actually tied my time from 2016. Out of my fall season this is the best direct gauge since it is the only race I have run each of the past two years. Hopefully, that will translate to the start of some more consistent performances. </div>
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In the upcoming weeks, I have a few short races that I've done before and in one instance I might double up. </div>
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Aside from that, I'd say there is a bit of uncertainty as to a fall A-race. There were a few times this past weekend, I was asked about what I have that is big coming up. Right now, while there are races, nothing that I would define as the big one. Primarily, I've been providing myself with some internal frustration about an inability to find a speedy 100K that I could go sub 8 hours by year's end that is not going to be too costly. I want to say Houston Running Festival would be the best candidate but spending for flights is not really the smartest decision. Then factor in race fees and a car rental.....it prices me out of my current comfort zone.<br />
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Rolling this goal into the early part of next year, which is something I would have considered in the past, sadly does not work for PTO reasons. </div>
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With roughly two and a half months left in the year, I feel fit and that is good as that will enable me to feel good about whatever options I do take to get in one more 'major' performance.</div>
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Maybe also, the weather here in Philadelphia will get a bit more consistently fall-like. I do feel that might have something to do with my thoughts towards my inconsistent performances. (HCA and Tomm May were also the two hottest races this fall.) </div>
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That's it for now folks. Not my finest of crafted artisan updates but a small sampler nonetheless.</div>
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See y'all out there.... </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-62840163186505029312017-08-21T13:08:00.000-07:002017-08-21T13:08:02.902-07:00Twisted Branch Trail Run - Lessons & ReflectionIf there was ever a race that I kept asking, are we there yet, this is that race. I wanted the sensations of this self-imposed torture to be over.<br />
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62+ miles in and I am laying down just off the side of the trail trying to settle myself. There is less than a mile and a half to go and I'm at one of the worst places I have ever been in a race. I'd been dry-heaving for a spell at this point. My body was spent and broken. I'd been using a branch on and off again throughout as a 'nature's trekking pole'. Now I had two and I wasn't even climbing. Despite not having the race I planned, there was a shot at a respectable sub 13 hour finish and top 5 placing. There was an hour and eighteen minutes to cover a supposed 4.5 miles with a big climb coming out of the last aid station (58.2 mile). Yet, here I was now, taking 3-5 minute laydowns on the trail to move a couple of hundred feet before rinsing and repeating all because I could not stop the urge to dry-heave when moving upright.<br />
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How the heck did I wind up here like this?<br />
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To answer that question, we have to go back to last May. I had targeted World's End as a challenging 100K A-race but never made the starting line due to a bout of anxiety. Still wanting to challenge myself, I looked into the Twisted Branch Trail Run up in NY. It was the 100K distance I had missed out on at WE. And to boot it was sponsored by Montrail. I entered the race. Going in, I was fit and ready to go only to not make the starting line. While sleeping my truck, around 1am, I woke up with half my nose swollen. Opting to be medically cautious, I immediately drove home.<br />
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So this year around Feb, the race director, Scott Magee reached out to me to see if I was interested in participating in this year's race. My response amounted to something along the lines of HELL YEAH!!! This immediately became my summer A-race. I was excited to see what I could do on this course. Also, Twisted Branch fit in nicely with other plans leading up to the event except until they didn't.<br />
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Apparently, the time between February and August is a long time where anything can happen. Heck, the time between mid-June when I ran TGNY 100 and mid-August is a long time. It was within this span, that the seeds to me laying on the trail were borne. Except, I didn't really know it.<br />
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It was in this span that my life stresses severely spiked. Or at least the stress levels spiked for me. Another person might have reacted differently. Without bogging down in those details, three main things happened. Deck added onto the house (planned financial stress but still stressful for me nonetheless), important project at work thrust on me suddenly on the day I return from a mini-vacation and my company being acquired. Other stress points did too but I'd rather not write all day on what gives me stress. (You've probably already heard enough in the history of this blog.) I started to unravel. At one point, Peg mentioned to me that it didn't look like I was enjoying running. Let's face it, I wasn't enjoying much period. (And I'm confessing I was not my best self. I just didn't realize it. Just keep going.) With these stress points, I was spending a lot of time in the 'fight or flight' phase. It's incredibly taxing on the body and doesn't resolve itself quickly, even if you think you move past it.<br />
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Anyways, I was still looking forward to the race and felt confident that I was fit. Going in, I felt I could win and at worst top 3. Considering there was prize money this year, it gave me extra incentive to throw down. Of course, I had to get to the race site first. For this, it was going to require 5 hours of driving. Ugh. It could be I've done too many of these drives or just hate long trips in the car but it was the part of this I was looking forward to the least. With having to get up to Hammondsport for the shuttle to the start/camp on Friday night by 6pm, I opted to leave my house around 10am so I could read and relax a bit. Settle myself down from the drive it you will. After having to stop at three stores to pick up Shot Blocs (REI had them while the two cycling shops where I have gotten them in the past were out, in addition to another cycling shop and running store being out earlier in the week), I was on the PA Turnpike NE Extension on my way. After driving throw some scary rain with a gas refill and Arby's fry stop, I made it around 4pm where I relaxed in the back of the truck for a bit.<br />
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Eventually, I caught the shuttle out to the overnight camping at Ontario County Park. The location to camp was awesome. Arriving at 7pm to get my bib and catch an 8:15 race brief made it a tad later to settle in than I would like. Especially, since I had to set up a tent and have everything ready for a 3am wake-up, dress and repack for a 4am start. A little reading and Sudoku relaxed me until it was time to sleep. I slept well and woke up nervous but ready. I had decided to race with my Nathan VaporKrar pack with ExoShot bottles filled with Tailwind upfront. In the upper pockets, I had my ShotBlocs. I also had my Nathan Hipster on in the event the ShotBlocs bothered me where they were located. (Never ended up needing to transfer.) Shoe wise, I went with Montrail FKT's. I knew the course had various terrain and heard the stories of the course beating people up (Hello, 44% finishing rate.) and felt it would be the right shoe. I had considered going to LaSportiva Vertical K's but given the rolling of the course and the feeling the shoes a bit too tight for my liking in that moment of decision, I left them 'on the shelf'.<br />
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4am hit and we were off. A small group of us formed single file pretty quickly. It was a friendly talkative group and that made me happy. There was talk about shoes. The trail ahead. Rich Heffron and I did some chatting about Philadelphia. Around the first aid station, Jim Sweeney pulled away on a long road section. He was locked in. Rich and I gained on him as we were together, until we were no longer. My race all changed with a simple down tree. For whatever reason, I am not entirely sure, going over that tree spiked the sensation of anxiety. For me, I feel that in my chest/heart. From a couple of years ago when I was knowingly running with anxiety and dropping out of races, I knew it was not necessarily a level of my ability or being over/undertrained. However, I did not come up to Twisted Branch to DNF. Immediately, I went into manage mode. Mind you, I am not even 12.5 miles in to the beast. This was way too early but I figured I could recover. Keep running smooth. Keep the sensation down (which in the middle of the race, I referred to as my heart rate spiking.) What I really needed was to get into a rhythm. One big problem with that. This race does not allow for much rhythm if you are not on. It is the perfect opportunity to just be flailing endlessly. And to be honest, that is the way to describe my day. Decent patches mixed with horrible patches. If you look at my section splits, 4 sections, one of which is my last, were attrocious. Otherwise, it was not all that horrible of a race. But when those bad sections cause you to lose 20+ minutes to the top 3, you are in for it. I was in for it.<br />
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After the second aid station, Scotie Jacobs passed me. I just couldn't even muster any sense of keeping contact at that point. Then I got into a groove on a downhill only to miss a right turn. During my backtrack hike up the hill, I was passed falling into 5th. In fact, I was behind two other people making the turn as I picked back up the trail again so I was in 7th. Eventually, I moved back up into 5th and yo-yo'd with Seth Almekinder (now a 3-time race finisher) throughout much of the next few aid stations before pulling away some after The Patch AS around mile 35.6. At no point was I really enjoying much of anything. Normally, I feel like I'm taking in the scenery even if the day is rough. At Twisted Branch, I was so far into the suffer well, I was not even taking mental pictures for my memory bank to appreciate.<br />
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I kept adjusting my goals. Going in to the race, it was win. Then it was place third. (A sub 11 was also included in there.) Now it was make it under 12 hours. I told myself make it 40 miles in 8 hours and I have a shot maybe. Still I was thinking 14 hours was more realistic.<br />
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When I hobbled my way into Bud Valley at just before 40 miles, I got a surprise. Pat Heine, another member of the Pennsylvania trail/ultra runner community, asked if I wanted a pacer. Considering where I was, it was a most welcome offer. I said 'sure' and after downing some coke, we were off. Right off the bat, I pretty much laid out the landscape: my day sucked, looking likely at 14 hours and my pace is crap. Not to mention I was still continuing to have 'anxiety spikes'. When they got bad, I would sit on a log or rock to re-center myself. Somewhere in there I apologized for being slower than my normal self. Pat was a sport. He was originally crewing/pacing a friend of his who dropped out. Having Pat did give me a boost as evidenced by the third fastest segment time of the day to the next aid station. Mike Welden who say me at AS3, remarked I looked better when I reached AS 8 at Glenbrook. Of course, I followed that with a lousy segment that may or may not have been the one where I sat down at a cemetery in the middle of the course. What I do remember is having to sit on a log in a spot that Pat ran into people he knew. It was also in this segment that I laid down for a couple of minutes on the side of a gravel road stretch. For everything Bud Valley to Glenbrook was, this was almost the complete opposite. One thing that was decent feedback was, when I was moving, I moved well. Just I couldn't keep it consistent. Arriving at Lake David took forever. However, I managed to string two decent sections together. Pat told me when hit 6 min pace for a couple of segments.<br />
<br />
At Mitchellsville, I sat down and got some coke on ice along with some great course info what lied ahead. A short 3 mile section and a 5 mile stretch. The 3 mile stretch was my favorite of the day (here is one of the rare mental images of the course, I have) despite going left when I should gone right again. This cost a minute or two. Still, as we neared the last aid station, the potential for a sub 13 was out there. I had an hour and twenty minutes to go 4.5 miles (gonna say it now....BS this stretch is longer.) I felt good and told Pat I was going to power up the climb that stood before us. And using one of nature's handy poles, I was. Then at some point, things went south. Bad. Mentally, the course broke me as I didn't know at what point the descent began. And then, physically, I wanted to dry-heave. Still we moved. Periodically, I was asking Pat how far we had gone (I don't race with a GPS watch) and pace. Both figures pointed to still a good shot at sub 13. We hit the little road section before the final switchback down on the Triad Trail. Or course, we hit the Triad Trail and it is not fully downhill and I'm done. I just shut down. I'd been stopping to dry-heave before we hit the road but now I needed to do that AND lay down on the trail. I was trying to search the landscape to see how close to the bottom we were but I couldn't find it. It just looked too far. With that, I broke. Seth ended up passing me with less than a mile to go. And then as I laid down what ended up being around 1/2 mile from the finish, two more people passed me dropping me to 8th. I was toasted. I was not using two branches to keep me up and moving. Not too fast or I would begin to dry-heave again. Eventually, the finish was in sight. And instead of running it in like a moment of glory, I walked with my branches accompanied by Pat over the line. The final section took me 1:58 minutes. For perspective, Seth finished 27 minutes ahead of me for 5th after being 13 minutes behind me coming out of the last aid station. I will say finishing by the lake is pretty cool and I think I would have appreciated it more on a different day.<br />
<br />
Upon dragging my carcass over the line, I took off my pack and laid down. Scott, the RD, got me some ice to put under my neck. I can't remember who said it but I was told to also try to get some under my armpits for cooling me down. Not going to lie, it was pleasant just laying there. Whatever was going on around me really didn't matter. I didn't have to get up because at that point, I didn't have anywhere to go. My suffering was over.<br />
<br />
Really have to thank Pat Heine immensely for offering to be a surprise pacer. Pat was the hero of the day. I really would not have been able to finish the way I did without him. Even with my needing to dry-heave, lay down, whatever, he did keep me moving. Mentioning how long I was down for at moments was an incredibly helpful nudge. He was a breath of fresh air and allowed me to not be in my own head for the 6 hours and 25 miles on the course together.<br />
<br />
Also, want to thank Scott Magee for organizing such a well run event. Sure, some of the logistics for solo folks between the start/finish is hard, especially with a 4am start time, it appeared to have gone off without a hitch. Sorry, I couldn't put on a better show. Of course, I don't think that matters with the show Jim Sweeney put on in crushing the course record by 50 minutes! Thanks so much for having me.<br />
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Many many thanks to the volunteers. All of them were beyond incredible. They really made an impact in getting me to the finish.<br />
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Now, when I started this blog post, I included 'Lessons & Reflections' in the title. Much of what I have said tackles my reflections of the race as those in the moment points but not necessarily the real crux.<br />
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Trust me, this is going to be short.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Running after/with anxiety is hard. It might be a sign to scale back. This is one of those lessons I think I know but keep forgetting. Pushing through is counterproductive.</li>
<li>Usually, on a bad day, historically, I've taken the DNF. I'm proud to have pushed through to finish. While not the redemption I wanted, it got me there unlike last year when I never saw the start. I adjusted as needed to throughout. </li>
</ul>
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<br />
That's it. Told you it would be short. Those really are the biggest takeaways worth noting.<br />
<br />
Where do I go from here?<br />
<br />
Originally, I planned on another 100K at the end of next month out in CO. It is flat and multi-loop. Considering still going out and doing a different distance. I'll take the next two weeks to see. A vacation in the woods is around the corner. Those always help so it would be foolish to completely write off the 100K but right now if I had to guess, it is likely a 50K if I make the trip.<br />
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Chances are getting in another 100 Mile in this year is probably too much for me. I need to cut some stress load and the logistic worry of planning for one might be completely counterproductive to the long term.<br />
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At this moment in time, I might just need a season of local 5K's. (Let's be clear this does not rule out any long races. I just probably should not be doing 1-2 drive a month of 3-5 hours.) Little travel and less time from a race perspective might be what I need. To circle back around to Peg's comment about looking like I'm not having fun, I need to get back to that fun. You could say there is more to life. I just don't always remember that with tunnel vision. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-27290384361554470932017-08-09T11:44:00.000-07:002017-08-09T11:44:00.653-07:00Pinchot Trail - An FKT?So in life no everything goes according to plan. Some of us handle changes better than others.<br />
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(I am personally in the latter category. I dislike changes to running plans and have a tougher time than I should with them. Lingering physiological effects remain until I claw myself to a solution to acclimate as best as possible. This does not always go smoothly.)<br />
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Without getting into a ton of details, my intentions to race my final pre-Twisted Branch tune-up at the Allegheny Front Trail Run were not able to come to pass. (Logistics are hard and stressful. I do not always handle stress too well.) Of course, I needed to do something that would work my mental race prep and effort. I needed to keep the plan. Due to a lack of options, I dug into the idea of an FKT.<br />
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After a survey of my friends, I settled on running the Pinchot Trail that is a part of the Pocono Plateau. Unlike the other options I had considered, it was 2 hours away as opposed to 4. Various sources for the trail listed it between 23 and 26 miles. Going by the posting at the trailhead, I'll call that the official non-GPS length of 23 miles. A slight bummer on the lower figure because 26 would be closer to the planned 50K. However, that tidbit was something I wouldn't really find out until I took the two hour drive on Saturday morning.<br />
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Hey! Guess what? Spoiler alert, I drove two hours up to Pinchot State Forest and the Pinchot Trail on Saturday morning.<br />
<br />
Drive up was rather smooth. I listened to Adele and Lady Gaga on the way up. As I pulled into the parking at the trailhead, two other people were getting ready to start a hike. I would pass them on the trail later on. First things first. I had to gear up. I put on my old La Sportiva Vertical K's. I considered using Inov-8 Trail Rocs but opted for lighter and what I felt would be better grip. Fluid wise, I was going to be drinking Tailwind from my Nathan ExoDraw. Originally, I was thinking about an older larger Nathan bottle. (I don't even remember the model since I've had it for 5 years.) In the end, I settled for the soft flask primarily for the ability to have less bounce if I tuck it into the waist of my shorts. Solids would be in the form of ShotBlocs.<br />
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Things I knew going in: Blazes were orange. Parts of the trail were overgrown (thanks to David Stango for that info). I'm in Pennsylvania.<br />
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Things I learned before I started: 23 miles and not 26. (Oh well, guess I'll be done sooner.)<br />
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I was getting a later start than I wanted. Ideally, I would have been starting at 9am but 9:30 wasn't too far off. Plus with 3 less miles, it would work out, right?<br />
<br />
Going in my expectation/goal for the 26 was under 4 hours.<br />
<br />
At around 9:30, I hit the start on my GPS and off, I went. Within the first mile, I passed a couple that had been camping and the two hikers I saw in the lot. Shortly after, I popped out on the first intersection with an orange turn. I was confused. I didn't see the next blaze up. I pulled out the map I had on me and it looked like I was to go straight and bear left. Since there was some blazes on the right side of the tree I was staring at, I picked that route and went straight until I saw an orange diamond blaze marking a snowmobile trail. I know some places share uses so I figured I found the right way. However, I was not really seeing orange blazing. Then eventually I saw two posts with it. I continued without issue until I saw a car in a camping area. I was troubled by this. I hit a gravel road where I should have been able to go straight but could not. So I went left up the road. Eventually, I saw an intersection that had orange blaze on the right. At this point, I figured I went the right way.<br />
<br />
Until...I stopped for a moment and looked left to see the trail I should have come up. Apparently, I messed up that original intersection. Knowing, I would not be satisfied with making up the route since it would not meet my criteria for why I was there, I headed back to where I started on the trail I missed. Not wanting to expend too much, I walked the bulk of this. Or I should say bushwhacked because this was clearly overgrown. The trail was below but the vegetation came over the trail making it so hard to see. Eventually, on my return, I saw the hikers and campers again. And also learned where I went wrong. When I popped out and went right, if I looked 300 meters mile up the road, I would have seen some orange. Not expecting it to have been that far. D'oh.<br />
<br />
Anyways, I made it back to the trailhead. (5 mile warmup) I reset myself and my GPS. I swapped shoes and socks as my feet were damp. Plus, it was a tad rockier than I expected. (I expected rocks but a little more spacing.)<br />
<br />
Just shy of 11am, attempted to go out again. Within the first tenth of a mile at the trail registry, my GPS dumped. Reset number 2. Satellite resync'd with the GPS and off for the third try. I moved through the first mile a little easier since I know some of the footing a tad better and definitely was moving better when I knew to go left off Powder Magazine. Up Sassafras Hill again was bushwhacking. At least I knew it was coming. Most of the time, I was looking through brush to avoid tripping over a rock or root. Eventually, I popped out to where I caught my mistake before at the junction with the North Line Trail. At first this opened up for a bit and made me think I would run some quick length. Yeah right. Back into the woods and being careful to not misstep. It was here on the downhill, I passed the two hikers from earlier in the morning. I commented how they probably are wondering what the heck I am doing and told them I was trying to rush the loop in one go as fast as possible. They were amazing I was staying upright on the rocky terrain. For much of what is referred to as the north loop, the brush had sizable sections of overgrowth. I'm glad I went counterclockwise for the trail as it would suck bushwhacking after 15 miles. I'd be sure to face-plant.<br />
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After around 6.8 miles, I hit the White Line trail which has a nice gently grade and which made me feel like I was moving. That is until I crossed into the lower South loop where I immediately hit some swamp trail. Following a mushy mile or so, I hit a patch of gravel rd (Tannery Rd) where I ended up missing a right turn into a deer enclosure. I didn't go too far off and realized quickly. Honestly, not sure why we go through the enclosure since we pop back out onto the same road less than a 1/4 mile later for the largest gravel road segment of the day. A quick right onto the Choke Creek trail starts out nice and straight and then gets a little twisty. The coverage was good. Despite it getting hotter, I was in the shade more that the north section which seemed to have more exposed sections. (It still had a lot of shade.)<br />
<br />
Choke Creek was nice to be running along the creek. It was running so strong, it was like a mini river and a little 'flooded' as evidenced by where the trail was in relation to the water. (Like right next to it and visible signs of the banks having covered the trail). Now I was getting a little tired here and began to check my maps more to see how long I had to go. At the end of the day this would cost me more time than I should have lost. (In other words, there is meat still on the bone to be taken off the final time.) At every intersection, I was trying to figure out where I had just gone. Also, the trail began to get rockier again. or at least it was seeming that way to me. It was either nice running or rocks. Never the two shall meet. I was clipping a rock or two here or there a tad more. I felt fine energy wise but was experiencing some mental drain. Not knowing the trail, I was working mentally harder guiding myself to not get lost and pace properly. I was trying to expect everything. What I really expected was some more butter. HAHA.<br />
<br />
Eventually, I hit out to Bear Lake Rd for the final mile or so back to the trailhead. I was happy to hit the parking lot but had to keep going until I met the registry where I started. In the end, I tapped out/clocked in at 3:47:01 for a GPS reading of 21.65. Now, with the foliage, I'm sure it will skew the reading some. I would imagine it would amount closer to the 23.<br />
<br />
That said, I'm glad I completed the loop and set the initial standard. Can it be done faster? Absolutely. I reasonably think 20 minutes can come off this time. Maybe I'll go after it again now that I know the trail. Maybe I'll do it in the spring when the temps are cool and the vegetation might be a bit less. Fall might be hard if leaves end up covering the trail. Still, I'm glad to have accomplished this in the face of adversity the trail itself through at me. Having to start 3 times tested my mental ability. I knew I would not be bearable for people if I failed. Now did this accomplish everything I needed it to? I'm not sure. I'm trying to figure that out. For now...here's the data.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1904708026">Pinchot Trail FKT - 8-5-17</a><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-69556642170619328262017-06-21T11:39:00.001-07:002017-06-21T11:39:28.133-07:00Why, Oh, Why, TGNY Lets face it, we ultrarunners have problems. We do stupid things. Some of them are stupider than others. Of course, when we sign up for something we are most certain it is a fantastic idea. Until the point where we actually register. Then, we might be thinking inside, 'I immediately regret this decision!' (Please go back and read that last part in Ron Burgandy's voice if you did not initially. It's fine. I'll wait.)<br />
<br />
Back at some point earlier this year, it might have been January, some chatter was going on amongst my friends about TGNY100 registration opening. It might have been Juliette who mentioned it that prompted me to go....'Oh, what the hell'. I signed up for it.<br />
<br />
Now what did I sign up for?<br />
<br />
I signed up for the wonderful idea of running 100 miles in New York City. (Let the record show, TGNY stands for The Great New York 100, which has both 100 mile and 100 kilometer options.) Except, I didn't exactly sign up because I got wait listed. Still, I had heard that people tend to move off the list around April and I turned out to be 7th in line so I anticipated joining the fray.<br />
<br />
Still, even wait listed, I thought, 'what did I just do?' Despite, Karl Meltzer's saying '100 miles is not that far', it's far. Or maybe a more apt statement is that is a lot of miles to run on foot. In this case, on pavement in New York City nonetheless. Sure, I've done a fair number of ultras but the 100 mile distance still makes me nervous. On some level, I fear it. And I would say that is because of inexperience. Right now, 100 miles is still kind of an unknown. Yes, a couple of years back, I won Umstead in a solid time. Still, I my other attempts at the distance have been mixed (and I'll even say Umstead did not go according to plan) with a 10+ hour break after mile 90 in my debut, a DNF at Eastern States in my third and an event switch down to the 50 mile before Brazos Bend. In fact, it has been nearly two years since I toed the start line of a 100 mile. Running 100 miles was something I wanted to, needed to try again. It is part of my journey.<br />
<br />
Anyways, after the initial signup regret, I seemed to put it in the back of my mind until April.<br />
<br />
Turns out, movement on the list does occur and I was offered a chance to the dance. I took it. Now, I had another bout of 'questionable decision making'. Even more so because now I was indeed registered. A funny thing about the timing is that I moved off the waiting list prior to Bryan Court 100 (60K) where I would be seeing both RD's Phil McCarthy and Trishful Cherns. No escaping TGNY! Actually, it was helpful to see them at BC100 because it gave me a chance to talk with them. And I will say Trishful really drilled it home to me that being alert and having the directions accessible was important. In other words, if one does not pay attention, it is easy to get lost. TGNY is not multiple loops in Central Park, it is one big 100 mile loop through 4 of the boroughs. (Staten Island is omitted.) So, yes, getting off course would suck. Last thing, I would want to do is end up in Yonkers or worse, New Jersey. (As a born and raised native of the Garden State, I can make that joke about NJ.)<br />
<br />
With TGNY100 officially on the schedule, I thought, better get some longer races in. Luckily, I had plans to do just that with 100K at Jack Bristol. Except as you know that didn't happen. However, I got doubly lucky by managing to get into Dirty German 50 Mile a couple weeks later. Following that up with some redemption at Worlds End in the 50K, I was at least feeling good about my mental state running. So, I definitely was going into TGNY on a positive note.<br />
<br />
In the weekend sandwiched between Worlds End and TGNY, I strategized and organized my gear. What I knew for certain that because of all the pavement, I would run in Hoka Clifton 2's and use my Nathan VaporKrar vest with soft flasks upfront. Fueling would be with Tailwind, water and Clif ShotBlocs. I had questions about keeping cool and how I should carry the mandatory cell phone. With the latter, I opted to use my Nathan Hipster. For the former, I decided to put the bladder in my pack not for water but ice so I could keep my core cool. Also, I tossed a hat into my gear for the put ice in the hat, hat on the head routine. All that much, I knew. However, a few things still needed to be figured out like transportation and lodging.<br />
<br />
Initially, my thought was to get two nights in NYC (preferably Midtown East/Times Square area) and take the Megabus up. Now, the Megabus options were easy, affordable and plentiful. Hotels on the other hand....Holy Paycheck! No matter what, it was looking like two nights would be costing me around 400 bucks. I looked at that like 150 bucks too much to be spending when I wouldn't be spending much of that time in the room. Of all the things, I really wavered back and forth on regarding TGNY, it was the hotel. It was also here, I took the biggest gamble. Considering, in the final email instructions, it was noted 100 mile finishers would have a place to shower and quick nap, I opted to only book one hotel night and get a late night Megabus. Eventually using a Hotwire gamble, I got a decent price for Friday night that ended up being at the Sanctuary Hotel in the Times Square area. In fact, it was less than 500ft from the start, which meant, I could wake up at 4am and take my sweet time getting ready for check in and the 5am start. On the back end, I booked a Saturday night (really Sunday morning) bus departing near the Javits Center at 1:30am. For those doing math at home and adding a reasonable time buffer to get from Times Square to the bus, I had 19 - 19 1/2 hours to complete the 100 miles. No pressure. (Actually, it was only a little bit because since the bus is cheap enough I knew I could book a 6am bus if I missed the 1:30)<br />
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On top of all that, I still had to work on Friday! I'm lucky enough my office is near the Megabus stop in Philadelphia and I have the ability to do some work via remote. Knowing I would be able to be connected to the internet (either via mobile or Megabus internet) I would be able to work on the ride up to NYC and in my hotel room. So in essence, I spent a half day in the office and handled the rest of my business on the road.<br />
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Eventually, I made it up to NYC around 3:00 and got to my hotel around 3:30. My plan for the rest of the day was simple. Once in the hotel room while finishing up any work, lay out all the morning things I'll need like Tiger Balm, TrailToes and hairgel, get my VaporKrar dialed in, figure out how to carry my cell phone and determine which socks to wear with my shoes for the race. After doing that I could go eat. Being in NYC, I knew what dinner was going to consist of. Pizza. No brainer. If you know me, I am a pizza snob and it is really hard to get bad pizza in NYC. Now, I will say if you go to a chain like Dominos or Pizza Hut in NYC for pizza, you are missing out in life. In fact, it might be a life fail. Anyways, I walked up to one of the many variations of a Ray's Pizza and got three slices along with a lemon iced tea to go. My eyes were bigger than my stomach. Third slice ended up being overkill. And in a case of my own life fail, I essentially wasted that last slice only getting a couple bites before maxing out. Under normal circumstances, I would have gorged. Having to run a 100 miles the next day is not a case of normal circumstances.<br />
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Clearly, you can see talking about pizza is more important to talk about first other than how I did get the pack, cell phone and socks in order. Priorities. Since, I'm sure you are curious, I'll go back. For the socks, I ended up opting for a pair of thin Smartwool Run with the Cliftons as that was the set up that felt the least constrictive at the time. With the pack, I went with ExoShot bottles up front. One loaded with Tailwind. The other with water. Considering it was going to be warm, in case I needed to wet myself (not in that way), I could use the water. One of the reasons, I went ExoShot instead of ExoDraw was because I got get them in and out of the pockets easier for refills/drinking. In the far front pockets, one was the directions and my own sheet of just the aid station locations while the other had the strap for an ExoDraw in the event I wanted/needed to change up on the fly. The back 'pass through pocket' I had extra baggies of Tailwind. In the bladder sleeve, I had the empty bladder. And in the other outer, I had an extra singlet. The upper front pockets had two sleeves of ShotBlocks each. One also contained some SaltCaps while the bonus in the other was a Metrocard, ATM Card, Cash, Insurance Card and ID in the event something happened. Now with the cell phone, I determined the Hipster was the way to go with that. Here, I was a bit savvy too. I used the sleeve from the ExoDraw to house the cell phone. In essence, it was some cushion. Also of note, wrapped in sandwich bags were the cell phone, cards and directions.<br />
<br />
With dinner and gear in final order, it was time to chill with a shower and good book. Or was it? After getting back to my hotel room around 6pm, things were a little different. There was more lobby activity and when I got to the room itself, I could hear a low bass sound permeating. (At 5pm, when I left for grub, it was not there.) Oh, yeah that's right, I was on the 7th floor, the one right below the rooftop bar. It wasn't all that bad so I only gave it a little thought at the time as I settled in, showered and gave Peg a call. Following that, I made myself comfortable on the bed to start reading Wildfire Loose: The Week Maine Burned by Joyce Butler. I was a bit scattered so I didn't read nearly as much as it as I wanted. Partially this was because the bass was getting louder. At one point around 7:30-8pm, I called down to the front desk to ask what time the music goes down. I was told around 10. Since, I was getting up at 4am, 10pm was fine by me that meant 6 solid hours of sleep. Honestly, had I been told 1am or something like that I would have asked to be moved. Granted it was the last thing I wanted to be doing since I was all laid out for the morning. I went back to reading a bit. I started to doze some and it was around 9:30 and the music seemed to be gone so I opted for sleep then and there.<br />
<br />
Except.....<br />
<br />
Sleep didn't work out quite as well as I planned. I dozed at a lull as the bass returned and bass is the one thing my ear plugs do not block out completely. At that point, I became unsettled. Noise and room temp started to send me down a rabbit hole of tossing and turning. By 10:15, the music was done completely but I had an incredibly difficult time regulating myself back to sleep. I didn't know if I wanted the air for the room on or off and if on....just constant on or the auto setting. Let's say, while the bed was super comfy, having nerves about running 100 miles did not make it easy to settle down. In the end, after spotty sleep, I finally settled down around 1:30am. That's right folks. Instead of a good 6, I was in for 100 miles on 2 1/2 hours. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about DNS due to the sleep. Yet, I will say, having laid all the gear out all set up and being so close to the start is probably what saved me because I could get as much rest as possible despite everything since getting to the Times Square TKTS booth was a whopping 4 minute trip.<br />
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Before I knew it, 4am arrived. While, I am a morning person, 4am still is tough as hell to get moving but moved I did. Got myself all presentable like and around 4:25 walked over to check-in for the race. At that point, check-out had not occurred. I purposely did not do that on the way to check-in because I wanted to be able to have bathroom access if needed. So after check-in and a few minutes, I went to take care of business. Following those final preparations, I officially ended my stay at the Sanctuary.<br />
<br />
Apparently, in my plan for relief, I missed the group photo. A tad bummed about that but I did get back in time for instructions from Phil and Trishful. It was also here that I was really able to say hi to Otto and Jurgen. (I had already said hi to Eliot, Trishful and Phil). Things started to move quickly. Before I knew it, it was go time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrg037icoH-EaDO_EJ4elgZ3nGrjQJdRae3ytMEAxUtd__GjL6WsyRKbcCAKaHJJyAxPHCF6VFEo5cb9oF8aJdCx8AbP7jIHzd04YiKwErB3wqBYyjL3ZXHuKXT_MmKUA3ehE9m7axrrez/s1600/tgnystartline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="646" data-original-width="960" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrg037icoH-EaDO_EJ4elgZ3nGrjQJdRae3ytMEAxUtd__GjL6WsyRKbcCAKaHJJyAxPHCF6VFEo5cb9oF8aJdCx8AbP7jIHzd04YiKwErB3wqBYyjL3ZXHuKXT_MmKUA3ehE9m7axrrez/s320/tgnystartline.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Start Line: TGNY<br />PC: Richard Chung</td></tr>
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Off we went...a group of crazy ultrarunners planning on running either 100KM or 100 Miles. (Big difference is that the 100KM folks get to miss out on all the Brooklyn action on a day that just happened to include running on the boardwalk in Coney Island on the day of Mermaid Parade. Curious? Google it.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSh3I-brnqhksueS3TppQl7Kj0wJEGLekRmwweCm_bMHUYtiEoDIOmuNyGa7G_resm4yXrfIEe6P3nQXJyp8-73HeiPvlMLLtSzLHrNihFHDrXiaJduox7fz95F_9zIqAz0bxySvRhgr-/s1600/tgnyrun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="646" data-original-width="960" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSh3I-brnqhksueS3TppQl7Kj0wJEGLekRmwweCm_bMHUYtiEoDIOmuNyGa7G_resm4yXrfIEe6P3nQXJyp8-73HeiPvlMLLtSzLHrNihFHDrXiaJduox7fz95F_9zIqAz0bxySvRhgr-/s320/tgnyrun.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PC: Richard Chung</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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Now let me say, NYC at 4-5 in the morning is such a quiet place even if the city never does truly sleep. It has a urban beauty that I admire in these periods.<br />
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As we strode up Broadway towards Central Park, two of us already kind of started to separate from the rest of the field. Clearly, I anticipated being one of those people but my companion was of no real surprise to me thanks to the age of internet runner stalking. Off all the people also signed up for the 100 mile, Matt Collins is the one person I knew capable of a good time. He's more experienced at 100's than I am not to mention a really good marathoner. It was really good to have the company. Any part of a 100 miles that you can easily run with somebody else makes time go by so much quicker. Yes, we as athletes want to be better than the people we are racing against but in the ultra community, it is not the same cutthroat mentality of the road running or track world. One way it was really helpful to have his presence as we got to begin navigating looking for the yellow arrows that would mark most of our route. Sadly, not long after Grants Tomb, Matt needed to use some local park facilities. I figured, he would make it quick and catch up pretty quickly so I kept going. It wasn't like we were going light speed. Still, it was a while before I would see him again. Matt caught up to and passed me in Van Cortlandt Park around 11.5 miles in. At this point, I stopped at a fountain to wet my head and get a drink of water. Not that I didn't have water on me because I did but way tap the bottle when I could kind of get it from the tap. I kept his distinctive orange singlet in view and caught up to him farther down the trail. For the next 10 miles or so, we would do some yo-yoing bits. I blew through the 15 mile aid station and he passed me at the 20 mile pit stop where I got some ice for my hat.<br />
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Another half mile beyond the aid station at mile 20, is when I would say the biggest change happened. We had an arrow to cross the street. Upon seeing it, I began to cross but saw Matt still had not. I began shouting to get his attention. It appears he went to cross farther up but because we running an urban ultra with traffic, timing could be tough and he looked to have been caught for a few prior to crossing. While this would not be the last point I would see Matt, it was the last point during the race we'd have any contact.<br />
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Maybe it is clear what the outcome is going to be from a result level but remember sometimes, it is not about the finish but how you got there. And at this point, my journey had close to 80 miles left. Some of those 80 miles were really nice and smooth. For example, the little lollipop stretch around Pelham Bay Park was good. One of things that I thought about through here is how Pelham Bay was just one of the sites I would be passing through that Peg worked on during her time working alongside the NYC Parks Dept and other contractors doing ecological restoration work. At mile 25, I almost missed my first turn. Thankfully, something didn't look right to me. We could call it my spider sense tingled. I pulled out my map and it appeared I was near a turn so I backtracked. To the other side of the street that is. I had missed the arrow on the sidewalk showing me to go right onto Middletown Rd. It was bound to happen but made me thankful that I really embraced Trishful re-enforcing paying attention and having the directions.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAotdquUzapmS_I88FSp100lC1Z1N_9fTIEC3XJpSs9cFzKRD_sVnvoMnssYlPYJesRSippWV1b8zLvZxcag222Qw3qBlCYr0cgqVXmctNS5OfZryeuPHlrcVN86TNCBeREmdszXsfetm/s1600/tgnyarrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAotdquUzapmS_I88FSp100lC1Z1N_9fTIEC3XJpSs9cFzKRD_sVnvoMnssYlPYJesRSippWV1b8zLvZxcag222Qw3qBlCYr0cgqVXmctNS5OfZryeuPHlrcVN86TNCBeREmdszXsfetm/s320/tgnyarrow.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We had to follow/find these things.</td></tr>
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At the other end of this stretch of street was another aid station, this one at mile 26. (This was the farthest stretch between aid in the whole run). I got some coke and water and was on my way. I had hoped for some ice but no such luck. Really up until this part of the race, most of our running was on NYC Greenways. Middletown itself was an outlier at that point. Our next mile would continue this trend of Greenway running. As the greenway was along one of the interstates through the side, I got to pass behind one of the Dunkin Donut/Gas Stations. For whatever reason, I thought it was kind of cool. Quite possibly, it was just another sign of being in a city but not all in the same moment. Part greenway, part expressway. Since there was some snaking on this patch, I tried to see if I could spot Matt. I couldn't. Not at that point anyways. That would come 7 miles (approx mile 33.22) and more than an aid station later when I....<br />
<br />
Stopped at 7-11 for a Slurpee. Yes, you read that right. I stopped to get myself a Slurpee. This stop was not nearly as quick as I hoped. Or I should say, it felt like it should have gone quicker. Now, I could have been a glutton hitting the 44oz but I opted for conservation and only 22 oz. Normally, I also mix Cherry and Coke but Coke was my only option so Coke. I also bought a bottle of water and poured that over me. I was feeling warm and was making a point to keep my core temp down as much as possible. (At the 50K aid mark, I was able to get more ice too.) After the eternity of my quest, I was a little off my bearings. At the intersection, where the 7-11 was, I was actually to make a right and left, where I thought left and right. Since I didn't see a right near the turn I thought, again, I used the trusty TGNY directions to regain my bearings and set myself on course.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivhufe9UXr6h45LlDa6aSBG2T_vKV6OH80BptAINYOoLVArqXvWTimp5GqI39aMk2txDtr7cxeHAkuxeIzUdwcApfSprZ-aWmc1g94vy3ZW_CS_qywBP0aQb1bTe71ofGk19QM7EOIZ73e/s1600/slurpee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivhufe9UXr6h45LlDa6aSBG2T_vKV6OH80BptAINYOoLVArqXvWTimp5GqI39aMk2txDtr7cxeHAkuxeIzUdwcApfSprZ-aWmc1g94vy3ZW_CS_qywBP0aQb1bTe71ofGk19QM7EOIZ73e/s320/slurpee.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It kind of goes like this. Want a Slurpee, get a Slurpee</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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As I crossed the intersection over the Leggett Ave bridge, I was able to look down Garrison and see Matt's orange in the distance. Guess, I'm jogging with this slurpee. Unless, you are an expert do not try that at home. Slurpee runs are not for the unqualified. My specific Slurpee run ability goes back 20 years when I would do workouts that included stops to a specific 7-11 and get 44oz Slurpee's to run with for miles. So this was like riding a bicycle.<br />
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The Slurpee running was the easy part, the directions for the next mile had me off balance. I had to check directions a few times before getting on the Randall's Island pathway before saying farewell to the Bronx heading into Queens to check off the third of four boroughs where 40% of the run would take place. My highlights here included running along the World's Fair Marina promenade (would say this was my favorite waterside running stretch) and through Alley Pond Park. Alley Pond Park was also the host location of the 'half way' point aid station. I hit this junction in around 7:15. To me this was spot on pacing. I wasn't going too hard or too fast in my opinion. Throughout, I was making sure to keep a look out for any arrows and if I had a concern, take the time to pause (which I continued to do) and consult the directional sheet. Here, I got some more ice as the Marina aid station did not have any. Also, I lightened my load some ditching the baggies of Tailwind I had in my vest. I wasn't drinking it so much. I was primarily using water, gatorade and coke for fluid while I consumed Shot Blocs every 45 minutes.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxVbqkunp9AKZX9t088SXprq4u9OdGKhPzZ569_ojlqUvDp7y4-7qGx5zUh6PdmTDzUeniaQiL0SEuMjeut7QOLNxkZboWv-nidP_BLXMC2OxagpaP0xco7_C4OhuVoRnuI6sb_NklPdcv/s1600/tgnyisland2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="647" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxVbqkunp9AKZX9t088SXprq4u9OdGKhPzZ569_ojlqUvDp7y4-7qGx5zUh6PdmTDzUeniaQiL0SEuMjeut7QOLNxkZboWv-nidP_BLXMC2OxagpaP0xco7_C4OhuVoRnuI6sb_NklPdcv/s320/tgnyisland2.jpg" width="215" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PC: Richard Chung</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
In some ways, everything was going according to plan. And then not only did I need to consult the directions but the route map itself! Around 54, there is an expressway overpass crossing that following made me REALLY question if I was on the right track. The directions didn't work for me and I didn't feel like a backtrack. Thankfully, I had an offline GPX Viewer program where I previously loaded the route. It showed I was on the right course and got me in the proper direction. I get some GPS watches allow you to load routes to follow. I do not own such a watch (I do own a GPS watch just not that kind) and in fact was running with an old school Timex Ironman. Let it be known that this is the ONLY time, I had to consult anything other than the arrows and the direction sheet.<br />
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Here is also when the rains came. And come they did in buckets. As I got though the next aid station and entered Flushing Meadows towards the famous Unisphere, the ponding on the course was bonkers! At one point there was a spot that went up to my knee! It even had a little whirlpool!!!! Still, I was happy about the rain. It was refreshing and cooling. Considering ice was hit or miss, the wet was a welcome relief. As the soaking diminished, I popped up at the Forest Park combination aid station/finish where I surprised Trishful. I had reached 100KM in 8:58:10, right around where I wanted to be. Here I asked for anti-inflammatories and downed more soda shots. Now, TGNY allows for a dropdown finish which I could have taken here. Not this day. I told Trishful I was continuing on. The way I thought was I had 10 hours to finish before making my bus became an issue. Plus, with around only 60KM to go, I thought I could do 6 hours. Boy, was I wrong about that.<br />
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TGNY became a tale of two races here. A solid 100KM that I hit comfortably without breaking too much stride even when direction checking and a horrid suffer fest where I got caught at more crossings than earlier and really hit people country. Still, I managed the best I could, around 2 miles later, I hit a Speedway for their version of a Slurpee. This time, I went 32oz and the cherry and coke blend I so enjoy. For whatever reason, I allowed myself some walk break here and that set off a bad precedent on this stretch which included the longest continuous straight of the whole run...Cross Bay Blvd. On the Blvd, right before we go up and over the forever that is the Addabbo Bridge, is another aid station. Third in a row that I hit without ice. Thankfully, I was still hitting the slurpee and working on my core temp. I gave my number of 26 and moved on. Since this was an incline, I walked it as I had much of the inclines in the run. I was trying to save my body some. Eventually following a few more turns and another little bridge, I hit Rockaway Beach. (Of course, I had the Ramones song in my head then and even now as I type this portion of the epic you are reading.) Rockaway Beach also meant the mile 70 aid station right before hitting the boardwalk. Again, I asked about ice to be shut out. But I poured some water on me.<br />
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On the boardwalk, I hit the bathroom to make sure things were ok. I was doing absolutely fine in the hydration department according to my nature's call check. I managed to pick a good tempo on the boardwalk. It was helpful to have the streets intersecting being numbers I could count. Exiting the boardwalk, different story. I'd say the we were hitting my least favorite portion of housing stock on the route. It felt very alone and uninspiring. Ugh. I walked some here. I was feeling down. Thankfully, I dragged myself to the fine folks at the Jacob Riis aid station at mile 75! Plenty of chairs to beware of but they had ICE! I pulled out the hat from my pack so I could get some in it to plop on my cranium.<br />
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Three quarters done in around 11:30. Pace is suffering some but not horribly. Any sub 15 was not happening, not that I was planning on it at all. But I could do 4 1/2 hours for 25 miles, right? Not so fast whipper snapper. The next 5 miles were bad. I started walking more. It was more running/walking that felt alone. TGNY was become more about that thing between my two ears than my feet. Running along the Belt Parkway in a construction zone with gridlock traffic also was not making me feel as 'pep in my stepy' as the greenways were earlier. Emmons Ave gave me back a little bounce even if I was having to run around some people before I hit Aid Station 80 helmed by Trail Whippass' own Brandi! More nada on the ice but more coke to fuel the system as I shuffled off. Really sucking here but moving. It took me an hour the last stretch. But I would be bound to come back. (Bonus, I was now on the final sheet of directions!) I had the Coney Island boardwalk ahead. That breeze from the ocean. The spring of the boards. Yeah, right. Hitting the boardwalk did nothing at the onset. Something I initially was excited about....was not able to embrace it as much. After maybe a half mile, I did regain some running and that was good but I was hitting the crowded sections near the Cyclone, Wonder Wheel, and Luna Park. Still, weaving gave me a groove to get into. Plus, I had a plan on hitting the Wendy's right before the 84 mile pit stop for a bathroom break and cold coke with ice. Since I was striking out more on the ice front, I wanted to take things into my own hands. And I will say half the plan at Wendy's worked, the bathroom half. The line for ordering was of the WTF variety. It was long. I opted to skip it and move on. I crossed the street and went around 100 yards to the Bensonhurst Park aid station. More coke, no ice. Popped two anti-inflammatories. Now you would think, having 4 miles along the water would be fantastic. I would think so too. However, I'd say 2 out of the next 4 miles, I walked. I didn't want to go farther. I wasn't about to quit but I was not enjoying life at all. I managed to pick up some steam towards the end of the stretch just in time for mile 90 and another aid station! I gave my number of 26. Plus, they had ice! I doubled up on the ice in the hat and now down my back.<br />
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Coming up was the second longest straight.....4th ave.<br />
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4th Ave started on an uphill trend so I walked it and my plan was to eventually run as I could use the clicking off of the street numbers to inspire me. I thought I'd walk maybe 5 blocks. I did about 20. Yeah, I was dragging. Following a way too long period, I got one foot moving in front of the other wish some semblance of a pace. With the dips on the sidewalk at the intersections, the narrowness of the sidewalk itself and having to semi-dodge people, this was a much more challenging stretch than I anticipated. On a positive note, turning off of 4th ave after 3.42 miles meant I had less than 7 to go. I was beginning to manage more running than walking again. Still not my best pace but alright. I was doing lots of checking behind me worried Matt would roll up on me any moment because of the long walk stretches I had recently. Maybe it was the people but I was in a better spot. President St around mile 94.2, gave us the chance to go through a block party. Now, dodging the kids running around playing tag on a busy sidewalk along Court St was the toughest dodging of the day. Seriously, not the best place to be playing that. Visions of being taken out by one of the children did dance in my head.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-LR5bRZBQ-lSpkWR4j5Cnl-NhOa7Q4JvS9YL1ITuxgTX3mlemVyxmIdmcnF50YZbgtk64Nv6dSuScbhRF3JopZEoHiBHLGf_Zc3L2Scg9rSv66qtDV1i9aHvY-FfaE-35rDKFYK98qzAA/s1600/tgny95.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-LR5bRZBQ-lSpkWR4j5Cnl-NhOa7Q4JvS9YL1ITuxgTX3mlemVyxmIdmcnF50YZbgtk64Nv6dSuScbhRF3JopZEoHiBHLGf_Zc3L2Scg9rSv66qtDV1i9aHvY-FfaE-35rDKFYK98qzAA/s320/tgny95.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PC: Wade Lambert</td></tr>
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Borough Hall brought with it a lot of excitement! Aid station folks were waving galore. I was now around mile 95. The sun was down and it felt cooler. All I had left to do was go up and over the Brooklyn Bridge and up through Manhattan back to Times Square. Sub 16 was out the window. I was hoping to now finish 17 hours in. Considering we'd be hitting a bridge uphill, I very much anticipated my body would want to walk. Not the case. I was running the uphill. The lights of the night and the energy of people about on the evening pumped me up. Sure I didn't want to swerve around any. Surprisingly for the most part, didn't have to as I stuck over to the bike side. And once I hit the downhill side into Manhattan, it felt like I was booking! There was another runner out for their stroll ahead. I made him my target. My pace felt like the fastest it had been since around 100KM! <br />
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Like that...I'm in Manhattan! 3 MORE MILES!!!!<br />
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I'm making the lights, clawing my way up to the middle of the island. I pass Canal. I pass St. Marks. There goes Union Square! Oh hello, Broadway! We meet again for 25 more blocks. Now that I'm done with all my turns, I can focus on the street numbers. Before I know it, I'm eight blocks away in Herald Square. 7 blocks. 6 blocks. I can really see Times Square now. 5 blocks. 4. Three. Two. 1.<br />
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And....I get stuck at the stop light literally across the street from the finish line. I can see Phil waving. A finish tape drawn. It is taking forever for this light cycle to pass.<br />
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Eventually it does and the final steps are filled with a sense of joy. I finished 100 miles through NYC without a crew (but with lots of help from the aid stations) and managed to win the darn thing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW-cFiu1VBtPqzmbo_M0ZdaHHWPn5DJ5RdaA2kXKARoVGTRC0Kma0hi5QvH8XlxXgTdHZgNJ54zRJ1r52327kfJ6Zh8GgEBcnZEbthyYOhJ5Nwhd59Esa1g_RsPSgLHTz-3mVK5LzWwf7w/s1600/tgnywin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW-cFiu1VBtPqzmbo_M0ZdaHHWPn5DJ5RdaA2kXKARoVGTRC0Kma0hi5QvH8XlxXgTdHZgNJ54zRJ1r52327kfJ6Zh8GgEBcnZEbthyYOhJ5Nwhd59Esa1g_RsPSgLHTz-3mVK5LzWwf7w/s320/tgnywin.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PC: Eliot Lee</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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Final time.....16:19:19.<br />
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Not a PR but considering that TGNY is a very unique beast of a race, I am happy to have the third fastest time. And I needed to as Matt finished strong some 23 minutes back in 16:42 and change.<br />
<br />
Admittedly, I missed Matt's finish. After making sure to call Peg as I sat on the ground in the middle of Times Square, I took full advantage of shower and hap time at the 100 mile finish bag hotel location. Of course, pictures with Phil presenting my buckle and award were had. Also, Nick, one of the great folks welcoming people at the finish, and Phil got me a Dr Pepper from the Walgreens behind us when asked if there was something I needed. Nick along with Eliot escorted me to the room.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5LaACXCr6gftX-bRZ5SuI17Sp67lmRNC5-q7qtQgywS8jerevepAkrMiHwz5hvyXy5CYG9EBVsHkaP8vnm1cnOZnWRuX7MgE_zJCGvBCX6qMPuTVVL8Cv2-NJ_9_SBRZIbqKF3eXM6YWX/s1600/tgny1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5LaACXCr6gftX-bRZ5SuI17Sp67lmRNC5-q7qtQgywS8jerevepAkrMiHwz5hvyXy5CYG9EBVsHkaP8vnm1cnOZnWRuX7MgE_zJCGvBCX6qMPuTVVL8Cv2-NJ_9_SBRZIbqKF3eXM6YWX/s320/tgny1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PC: Ricardo Hijar</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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Let me say, it felt so good to take a shower and get clean clothes on. I laid down for some rest on the floor. Over the time of my relaxing in the room, I got to see Matt and congratulate him on his finish as well as third place finisher Camilo. Other folks were a blur but all welcome conversation. Eventually, around 12:50, I had to head out. I had a 1:30 am Megabus to catch. I walked over with my bags of stuff to the Jacob Javits Center for the long ride home. Unlike most trips on a bus, I could not comfy to sleep or even get in a comfy position. That was not the worst of it, Back home in Philly, I decided on the walk to the Megabus, I'd catch a cab from 30th St Station home. Apparently, none of those exists at 3:30 am. No way was I going to wake up Peg. Because I happened to ride my bike to work and the station on Friday, I had that as a means to get home. Let me tell you that 6 mile bike ride was some of the hardest peddling ever. And since I live uphill, I walked with the bicycle up the hill for the final 3/4 mile. Finally around 4:15-4:30 (time is but a blur at this point), I walk in the door. Amazingly, I don't disturb Falcon, our dog. Pawnee, our cat comes to greet me. After another 20 minutes or so, I just lay on the couch not really expecting to sleep and catch a few winks my TGNY journey done.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjme-gE-uKxB4AAvn8Uu0Y6Z1oFGvKvTb1jZFAfs3YzhuhjXEL3Xq4hAV5OwYhUWaJ5DlAPxhPf7zMXlYYP9PY290D-wlMZl925mgnnlct9g8w5gINCjo7e8GcMChof4MmHMyddzxUgjqcs/s1600/tgnybcteam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="647" data-original-width="960" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjme-gE-uKxB4AAvn8Uu0Y6Z1oFGvKvTb1jZFAfs3YzhuhjXEL3Xq4hAV5OwYhUWaJ5DlAPxhPf7zMXlYYP9PY290D-wlMZl925mgnnlct9g8w5gINCjo7e8GcMChof4MmHMyddzxUgjqcs/s320/tgnybcteam.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jurgen and Otto - Because I love this photo<br />PC: Richard Chung</td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-73242094744796208912017-06-06T11:11:00.002-07:002017-06-06T11:11:24.747-07:00Worlds End Ultramarathon 50K: A Round of RedemptionTo beat a horse that has already been dead, buried, dug up and reburied a few times on here, for the past couple of years I've been putting in a lot of work building myself back up mentally. In conjunction with that process, I've talked openly (or at least I feel I've tried to be open) about when I stumble and flat out struggle inside my head.<div>
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Well, this past weekend, on the 2017 edition of National Trails Day (which is funny because to us trail runners, everyday is trails day), I took part in the 50K race at Worlds End Ultramarathons and got to work on myself. </div>
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If you recall last year in the middle of May, I had been slated to run the 100K at Worlds End. I got up there only to suffer an anxiety attack that more or less resulted in a Did Not Start. It also was the time, that despite the downturn related to my racing, I had a wonderful weekend hiking around the park. So, when registration opened for the 2017 edition of the races, I opted to start out on a quest for redemption on a smaller scale by tackling the 50K. You could say that in some ways, 2017 is shaping up to be about continuing my personal reclamation project particularly when my Dirty German 50 Mile finish gets factored in. </div>
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Two consecutive ultras that were 'setbacks' previously where I was seeking a bit of redemption. I don't want to call them failures because I've learned and grown from those experiences. (Plus, as I just said, last year I really had a wonderful weekend at Worlds End State Park. Kind of hard to call that a failure when I still had a good time.)</div>
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Anyways, enough of all the recap of recaps.....on with the show!</div>
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Unlike last year, when I stayed in one of the rustic cabins and we had the Nissan Versa, I had a campsite with plans to sleep in the back for the truck. Other differences were a later arrival and NOT picking up my packet the night before. Admittedly, I wanted to avoid too much socializing. Mainly, I wanted to relax by reading. Of course, I say this only to swerve you. How so? Well, turns out, my site randomly was across from where pals Angie and Heather were camping. Now, while we did a bit of chatting, it was not much as I did sit down to read quite a bit before settling in for a bedtime around 10pm. Since the 50K didn't start until 7am, I could treat it much like a normal night which keeps the nerves calm. Yet, I will say, I did largely expect to be woken up by the masses headed to the 100K start at 5am. Before I got to that point, around 12am, I was disturbed from my slumber by a camper pulling into the site next to mine. Mind you, I also had earplugs in. It took me an hour to go back to sleep. Maybe that is why I managed to end up sleeping through all the 100K people moving about. I woke up around 5:30 to the sounds of rain on the top of the truck cap. I quickly got myself ready and drove over to the Cliff Pavilion area of Worlds End to get my bib and relax some more.</div>
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While, I had a goal to be low-key before the start, I ran into Ryan Espulgar (who was crewing this year) and John Johnson (who came to watch the show). I will say seeing familiar faces is really nice. John was excited to be on the spectator end. (He is also the only person to have won both the 100K and 50K here.) </div>
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With the weather being a bit spitty, I kept dry and warm in the back of the truck. I even laid down for a 20 minute nap. The weather also solidified my hydration choice....go with a single Nathan ExoDraw bottle. I had thought about also using an ExoShot which I could stuff in the waistband of my shorts. I would be snacking on ShotBlocs all day that I kept in my Nathan Hipster. Shoe-wise, I decided for more grip on the wet rock with a pair of LaSportiva Helios instead of my Montrail FKTs. More importantly, this time, I remembered SOCKS!!!! Granted, I was running one big 50K loop instead of 3 loops in a monsoon, this was still a memory victory. Being all prepped, I rolled over to the start area just in time for the pre-race brief (the point of the day we were reminded to be cautious of wildlife) where I saw Papa Trail himself, Dylan. As we lined up, I started to bounce the bounce. I was ready to roll. I knew what was coming at me from spending part of last year on the course and John letting me what I expect in stretches. Basically, telling me I can open it up in a fair number of spots. </div>
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Like that...we were off.....</div>
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To help thin the field before hitting singletrack, Worlds End starts off with around 3/4 of a mile of pavement and maybe another 1/4 of dirt road. From the gun, I asserted myself on the rest of the field. (No, I did not sprint out like I was a child in a local 5K who thought it would be cool to become a moving roadblock.) This part of the course, is the one that I remember the most from hiking around last year so I knew it was going to be a climb and have good technical bits along with some beautiful scenery. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Image result for butternut trail worlds end" height="320" src="https://endlessmountains.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/101_2262.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Butternut Falls</td></tr>
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Coming out of the Butternut Trail loop, the real fun starts as we turn onto the Loyalsock Trail segment that is also the High Rocks Trail where we got to go across High Rock Falls where a photographer was just setting up shop, meaning no cool photos of me here. But I can share one of my buddy Dylan!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Image may contain: outdoor, water and nature" height="320" src="https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/18814387_654929231363516_2847537852187866315_n.jpg?oh=374d1f437e7cb853408ff2be9af839b7&oe=59AB8320" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="228" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is Dylan crossing High Falls</td></tr>
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By this point, I knew I was up by a minute. At the start of this trail stretch there had been a crowd of people making noise so as I passed, I glanced at my watch and waited to hear the next bit of noise to check again. Visually, it meant, I was alone for now. On a day like this, I was more than happy to be solo through here. It allowed me to enjoy the scramble up the rocky climbs so much more. Once I reached the top, I knew I could open it up some but not as much as I would have liked. With the weather having been damp in the state of Pennsylvania recently, the ground had not fully dried out before RD David Walker sent a couple hundred people out to run trails. Hello, mud! I have to say the mud was the most frustrating part of my day as I would get into a good running grove only to encounter a swath of mud that if I was not careful would suck my shoes off. So that meant my day was going to be a tad more challenging. Still, since John Johnson thought I could go sub 5 hours, I'd give it a go. However, by the time I made it to the second aid station where I refilled my bottle with Tailwind at 10.5 miles in 1:42, I knew it was not that likely. As a matter of fact, I mentioned to John that the course was running slow due to the mud as I was speeding out of the station like I was trying to out run a black bear. (Thankfully, no black bears were encountered by my eyes.) Later on, I would find out, I had a 5 minute lead at AS2. It could have been and should have been more since I did make a navigational error on a patch of trail that intersected a fireroad. (In short, I made a right instead of a left, figured that out quickly and then missed the trail in the other direction. Best part of this was I did not panic at the errors.) </div>
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For the next stretch, the terrain aside from the mud was really runnable. John reminded me that it was so that was in my head! And I will say it was. Yet, I did need to stop a couple of times because I was having pain on the top of my left foot. The tongue on my shoe had slid over and was digging in to the point of discomfort. Eventually, I had to untie and re-tie my shoe to loosen. My overall pace was dropping and by the time I hit the Worlds End Aid Station 19.3, I had a shot at the sub 5. (Took time to do another Tailwind refill) That didn't last too long as the climbs between Worlds End and Canyon Vista were probably my slowest all day. However, one of the enjoyable aspects was I really begun catching 100K runners much more often. It just added a little spark each time. Plus, it is helpful to know that if I possibly fell down the side of the trail, someone may come along that could be of assistance. Once I topped out at Canyon Vista, I saw Ryan again who said the next aid station was being run by the Pagoda Pacers, who I know a number of because well we run a lot of the same races. I don't want to say that out of people that I had a home field advantage but things like that give me the allusion of one. (Which also adds a bit on the pressure scale.)</div>
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By now, I'm roughly 4 hours in with 9 miles to go. In my mind, that sub 5 is gone. Thinking also that the course record was 5:04:xx, I didn't think I would come close to it. Still, I kept going. My goal was to finish and win. I was clearly going to do the first unless something really tragic happens. People I were passing mentioned/asked that I was first in the 50K. I confirmed I was in the 50K but never felt comfortable saying I was first. After all, there is no real placing until the finish line. And in my head, I had no idea where second was, so I was not going to jinx myself. </div>
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(For the life of me, I cannot recall if it was between AS 3 and 4 or AS 4 and 5, that I passed Heather and Jesse, who was doing his first 100K.)</div>
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Following a longer stretch than expected (my head had different thoughts about reality), I finally reached the party that was the Coal Mine aid station. Of course, the first person I see and hear is Mike Yoder! I grab more coke to chug. I got told to throw cups down and essentially just get out of there since I only had around 3.5 to go. Let the record show I handed the cups to someone before taking off. Also, it was either excitement or my stink that made them rush me out. I mention the stink because when I passed a couple of folks not longer prior to this aid station, I heard talking behind me that sounded like a conversation knowing that I was coming because of my smell. I certainly hope that was not the case but I will say I was very alert to any smell I might have been giving off. A smell, mind you, that I was definitely noseblind to if existed. So now, I'm slower and stinky running in the most sunny portion of the 50K for me all day. A very runnable section that took me a little longer than I should have to get hauling on. Eventually I did and it was glorious! I began to get excited for myself that I was going to finish. Not only was I going to start a race at Worlds End this year, I was going to finish! Time wise, sub 5 had passed which meant the CR had passed. As I was bombing the last downhill (that some 50K runners were starting to go up after I directed them the right way), I really began to feel this weight lift. I charged hard under the road, behind the snack shop and into the finish.</div>
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Just like that I was done, with a beep of the timing mat. The finish area was pretty quiet. They didn't realize I was coming in. So, after I crossed the finish, I took my disgusting body over to the Loyalsock Creek to cool off some. I dipped my legs in the water and scooped some to pour on me. As I was taking it in, David came over. He got word that I finished and was near the creek. My finish burst his goal of him not missing anyone. However, he had more important matters to tend to like runner safety and overseeing the event. </div>
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My watch time was 5:12:47. It was going to be the second fastest time on the course. I was happy about that. While a course record would have been nice, it actually was not a primary goal. My primary goal was to redeem myself for last year. This race was about my physical ability working with my mental ability. It was about the thing between my two ears, my brain. </div>
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Still, with my mind telling me I stank, I drove the truck back over to the campground to take a shower. It was a glorious shower with surprisingly warm/hot water! Sadly, because I needed to clean off and took forever doing it, I missed Dylan finish in second. He also was gone by the time I got back! So, I apparently dragged my arse there. Bummed I didn't get to say goodbye. That said, I did get to witness lots of other finishes of the 50K. Some people I didn't know, some I did like Angie and Ben (Rock N the Knob RD). Saw Anthony and Joanne who called it a day at 19 miles. In essence, I was now hanging out. Eventually, it worked out for awards to be presented. It was during that point, I learned how wrong I was about the course record. Instead of thinking I missed it by 9 minutes, David mentioned I missed John's record by a minute (more like 1 min 20 sec). Oh well.....I still was happy.</div>
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With a drive home ahead of me, I called it a day an hour before the 100K beasts started to come in. I'm sorry I didn't get to congratulate them in person, especially those I knew running. (So let this be my formal public congratulations to all of you.)</div>
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Again, I left Worlds End with it etching itself as a special place to me. Last year, it was special for all the wonderful time I spent with Peg there. (I was telling Angie and Heather about the rock formation on the Canyon Vista trail. The one not called the Rock Garden!) This year, it is special for different reasons.</div>
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My hope is to return to run the 100K. I've been told that other 50K section is a lot worse. It is the type of physical challenge I like. Lets get the mental on the same page.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-8111125964154932002017-05-16T11:25:00.001-07:002017-05-16T11:46:37.417-07:00More like the Extra Dirty German....Sometimes, I look forward to sharing my thoughts about my running and get ideas of what I want to say only to not write things up in time or forget the cool catchy yarn I want to spin.<br />
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We can call this a clear mix of the two. Since last time I threw up on this blog, I've added races of 60K, 5K and 50M all the while working to stay focused on running. I'll tell you it has been hard. Allergies finally hit. A planned race was not doable for issues with the truck. And work got super stressful! The latter which required some serious overtime. Most of these were grouped around the start of May. This has enabled me to dub May, not exactly my best month. A few years ago, I had three ultra DNF's which I followed up last year with super stress from having my whole routine thrown out the window by serving practically two weeks on a jury. This led to stress causing a late DNS at World's End. Yeah, May....<br />
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Anyways, I've been managing fairly well this year. My sleeping rhythms (whether a good night or bad night) have me up running before 6am (sometimes a shade after). With the early sun, I've been able to do these morning runs mainly on trails. Most of my training has been within the Wissahickon lately. While I do not usually do my 20+ milers through there on the upper trails, on the day of my aborted race, I spent 3 hours cranking out some enjoyable footfalls. You might say that right now the runs through there have been centering. Sure I do a little pavement here and there on my morning runs, but I find myself dipping onto the trails.<br />
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Of course, I do not expect y'all to come here merely to read how I train but want to know about some racing. As I mentioned above, I've done three notable runs. The first was the 3rd edition of Bryan Court 100. Prior to this year's April edition, it was last held in Dec 2015. It is 100 laps around a .38 mile double cul du sac street. The brainchild of my friends Jurgen and Otto, it is not so much a race despite official results with awards and finisher medals but a good time to do a long run with friends. I needed the mileage considering I had just been moved off the wait list for TGNY 100 in June. And one of the things I hate to do by myself all the time are super long runs. (Anything about 20 as a training run moves into that category.) BC100 was exactly the experience I hoped for. Got in miles. Got to hang out with people. Great day!<br />
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Now originally, I was going to follow up BC with Lake Waramaug 100K. Mid-week, I started to get hit with stress at work and that turned into anxiety surrounding the race, Luckily since I had not signed up, I opted to do a different race, Ironmaster's Challenge. It was closer by an hour, on trail instead of road, and I could sleep in the truck for free the night before. Not to mention, they had race day registration. Unfortunately, I never made it out to the race. The afternoon prior to my departure, the truck started running really poorly. It's an old truck so we expect some tempermentalism from it. However, the difference was this time the Check Engine light was on. Still I departed around 7pm to head out to Pine Grove Furnace. Considering, I had some time for the truck to settle down (since sometimes warming up does the trick), I told myself if the truck was not running right by the time I would hop on the PA Turnpike, I wouldn't go. This ended up being the case and the truck ended up in the shop twice the following week to correct the issue.<br />
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Mentally, I pushed through and did my 3 hour run through the Wissahickon getting in 22 of the 31 miles I had planned. Having almost bagged the run before 5 miles, this was a boost and led into a solid week of training and a 5K.<br />
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Sure, it was Broad Street 10 Mile weekend but I was doing a 5K because I was not signed up for the 10 miler because I had ultras on my slate. (Hello, conflict!) So I dipped my toes into speed again and went back to the Alex Wake Memorial 5K held at the Baldwin School. For whatever reason, this year the race felt smaller than when I did it back in 2014. (At least I think it was 14 and not 15.) Last time, I had won a gift card to Bryn Mawr Running Company and was hoping to do the same again. And considering without any present shoe sponsor, I planned on building up some cash to get a new pair of shoes. In fact, I had not only my previous gift card from this race but a second gift card to the store. In the end, the race ended up being 7 seconds slower than my previous winning time. A bit of a bummer but I did get another BMRC GC which I promptly went to spend after the race. Again with TGNY in mind, I got a pair of Clifton 3. I would have got the Brooks Hyperion for a road flat too but they were out of my size. (Amazingly, I also found out one of the old GC that I thought was for 50 was for 100!)<br />
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Lets call this starting to feel good!<br />
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And feeling good I was. In the week leading up to Alex Wake, I got into the Dirty German 50 Miler. I was going back for two reasons. I needed the miles with not doing the end of April ultra and a bit of redemption for 2015 when it was one of my May DNF's. The forecast looked good. Cooler temps! (Unlike the sufferfest of heat last time.) However, as the race got closer cool temps became cool temps and a Nor'easter!<br />
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Thankfully, the RD, Stephan green lit the race to continue.<br />
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Now, while feeling guilty for the mud running that was likely to occur, I was pleased as punch to be running this race in the rain. It is a little more suited to my liking.<br />
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With the forecast, I elected to bring a tent to the race (held in Philadelphia's Pennypack Park) to stash my stuff so that I would have dry gear, shoes to change if need be, my hydration.....<br />
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Let me say right now, I was very happy with this decision. Once the tent was set up, I stayed not only dry but warm as I did the final moments of prep. Bottles filled. Check. Shoes laid out. Check. Glide applied. Check. Bib pinned. Check. Socks....socks. Where are my socks? Search through the bag. How is it, I have everything else but my socks? Deep breaths. Apparently, somehow the extra socks I tend to leave in my ultra gear bag for races were not there. Now, I had one pair of slightly damp socks I wore to the race. Troubleshooting in the spot. I needed to determine my best combination options. Best non-sock shoes in this weather? I immediately identified my Montrail FluidFlex as the best draining shoes and thus the best choice for no socks. Considering my FluidFlex II's looked too shiny, I figured no sense to use those. That left me with LaSportiva Vertical K and Helios. After working with what fits best with my Farm To Feet socks, I decided to go with the Vertical K. In fact, I opted to start the race with this combo and go to the Montrails if need be. The Helios were comfy enough to walk around in post race without socks and the best candidate to keep me warm after. Crisis adverted. At least for now.<br />
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Fueling wise the plan was simple. 3 laps. 3 bottles. For the first lap, I would go with my Nathan SpeedShot Plus followed by Nathan ExoDraws for each of the last two. I would keep Clif ShotBlocs in my Nathan Hipster throughout the race. I would say this worked out wonderfully. No issues with this plan.<br />
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A couple of minutes before the start, I popped out of the tent, scurried to do my business and make it to the start just as Stephan was giving instructions before we went off. (Following a countdown of course.)<br />
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Like that we were off as the first race of the race (50K started 30 minutes after us and 25K an additional 30 minutes later). I got a few words of encouragement from people I didn't see. (Quite possibly all my friends staying dry who were doing the shorter races.) This encouragement prompted the runner a few strides ahead of me to ask if I was...well who I am. I confirmed this. Turns out the runner, whose name is Jameson, had heard about me through Peg during his own training in the Wissahickon. Small world? Probably not in this case considering...same city.<br />
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Anyways, it appeared we would be running together for some time. (I'd say we opened up a good gap from the start never really thinking about anyone behind us.)<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">1st lap....check out lap 3 later (it is of the same section)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo: Christopher Mortensen</span></div>
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Now the benefit of being out front for the first race of the day is getting the best trail conditions possible for the day. And of course, all the surprises nobody else has experienced yet. The first of which was the initial Pennypack Creek crossing due to a bridge detour. That creek was angry and it was still early. The rain was only going to make it worse later. I uttered something about fearing it on later loops. Aside from that one stretch, the first loop was rather uneventful. Tried to stay away from any giant puddles, run the drier edges and not push the pace too much. Jameson and I were pretty inseparable for that lap until he made a pee stop (sorry to out you but it is the nature of these) near the finish. Not long after I left for my second loop, he caught up and were we back together. This time we both discovered the creek crossing had been rerouted over the bridge. (Stephan later said the creek was really high on the 25K runners. Clearly. adding to the need to reroute on the fly.)<br />
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Also, it was obvious, that the course was going to be muddier and slower this go round. (It would be on this loop that I would slip twice.)<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Buttery Singletrack</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo: Renne Farrington Wentz</span></div>
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Maybe it was the rain but I did mention that I thought we might have missed a section between aid stations 2 and 3. For some reason, I felt like we had not done part of the course that you run in both directions. Our time on the first lap felt fast at 2 hours. I mentioned if we did miss it, I would run it twice this lap to make up the difference. (Which would be three actually since it would be correct time, back out to do it again and do it again.) Thankfully, I was wrong. I apparently my brain did not process one straighter stretch as the section I thought we missed. (This is the stretch right after AS 1 and right before AS3.) And yet, on the first loop on the way into AS 3, a group of runners asked if they were going the right way which I assured them. Because I will say this, despite the rain, the ground trail markings help up really well!<br />
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Following the 'repeater section', Jameson started to become a little elastic in his contact. Still we were together. Talking a little less but still together enjoying the weather. At one point, Jameson blew by me on a stream crossing. I was taking them careful. We hooked back up and it was through here that I started to distance myself from him. To be honest, I enjoyed the initial company but I'd rather not talk about my running in the middle of a race. So I was happy to be left to my own devices. It wasn't like I was alone with other runners around.<br />
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Eventually heading back to AS1/AS3, I could see that the aid station moved a little as the creek was now creeping up over the banks onto the paved path. Thus, reminding me to be happy about not having to cross the creek like the first loop. The rest of the loop was uneventful aside from working to pass people on slippery muddy singletrack. Loop 2 was 13 minutes slower than Loop 1.<br />
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During my start/finish pit-stop, I saw Sean from the Wissahickon Wanderers who ran the 25K. I was focused on getting back out so I didn't say much other than it beginning to suck a little as I took an ibuprofen and switched bottles for the last time.<br />
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On this loop, I hit what really is AS1 but with it being so close to the Start/Finish, less than a 1/4 mile, I am not calling it that. Here, I grabbed a swig of Coke and for whatever reason a Keebler-esque Fudge Cookie. Boy did that taste yummy! Much yummier than the trails looked. Lets call it what it is....a mudrun at this point. Water is really ponding on the trails. Especially those closer to the creek. Anyways, I felt good enough. Yet, as I got close to AS1, I started to crave those cookies again. However, it had been moved again due to an ever increasing creek overflow and it would have required extra steps, so I skipped it. Now, I was feeling like I was running through water. Some stretches it was either take the mud slopes or the water stream. Usually, I went with the latter as it ran quicker from a terrain standpoint. When it was a river on the path, that was a different story. That sucked! It created loads more resistance. I would say out of everything with the race, that is what made it super slow the third loop. Honestly, I was amazed I still got traction running at all!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">3rd Lap - Another paved section under water</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo: Christopher Mortensen</span></div>
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For the first time all day, I hit up AS2 for Coke and I grabbed 3 of those fudge cookies. Delicious!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Someone caught me eating all the cookies....(actually AS1/3 guest host)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo: Jeff Landerkin</span></div>
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More running through mud and water......<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo: Kevin Minteer</span></div>
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AS3......course reroute!<br />
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The creek is now flooded to the point we now had a manned road crossing. (Stephan along with the volunteers did a great job looking out for the safety of the runners and making changes on the fly.)<br />
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Of course, I did not realize this at first. The downhill into AS3 was clearly different but I thought that reroute was for safety of sliding into the aid station. But if you are moving the course closer to the snack table, you bet I was grabbing cookies and coke before attempting to ford the path. Yes, I was going to go through the creek. My biggest worry was a Canada Goose floating right in my pathway. That is until, the volunteers shouted to me that I had to go up now. OH!!!!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo: Melissa Lin</span></div>
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I will say the changes made for a much more exciting memorable race. I was enjoying it expected I was starting to feel a little tired and sore. Not to mention cold. For my first lap, I ran with a tech-shirt over my singlet but I shed that before the start of lap 2. My singlet felt warm for much of the race as I was not overheating. However, with getting a little tired, I was feeling like I needed to be out of the rain. I wanted to be done and dry.<br />
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While the end could not come soon enough, it did arrive. My last lap was around 2:39. I finished the 50 Mile in 1st place in 6:52. Considering the conditions, I can't say a bad word about the time. I had an enjoyable run. Thanks to the tent, I had a place to change into dry clothes and warm up. Warm felt so good! And the Helios did a good job warming my sockless feet up. While I got no blisters on my feet, despite adding some protection for groin chaffing, I got a little tenderness.<br />
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It would have been a blast to hang out longer post race but it was still raining. The hour I did spend was really pleasant. Luckily, I got to see Stephan one last time on the way out. He did an amazing job!<br />
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And he has already organized a trail maintenance day post race because of our impact on nature in those conditions! That is hugely considerate and respectful.<br />
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Ok..I've waffled long enough now. In the end, I was happy to have done well and get in a good 50 miles. I would take the Nor'easter conditions over 95 degrees with humidity any day of the week.<br />
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From here on out, I focus on quality training for Worlds End 50K in 2 1/2 weeks before TGNY 100 two weeks after that. It is a big stretch but one I am feeling up to the challenge. Much more so because I got to take part in the Dirty German this year.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-85207819222252120082017-04-15T09:24:00.002-07:002017-04-15T09:24:48.293-07:00Searching for that sweetspot.....It has been several weeks now since I DNF'd at HAT. In that time, I've been searching for balance, peace and consistency.<br />
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A few days following HAT, I took an excursion to Black Moshannon State Park (and Forest) for a couple of days of hiking, running being in the woods and relaxation. I had a completely refreshing experience and will look to work more local getaways like this into my life. To me what is spoken about nature being a recharger is true.<br />
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Initially, I was going to take it much easier following my DNF than the reality has been. Sure I took all of the days before Black Moshannon off but since then, I've been relentlessly pounding out the miles. This has been good and focused. Some days, it is a solo long run. Others it has been a medium morning run followed by a speed session on the treadmill during my lunch break at work. (I tend to eat at my desk so I am not running on empty. Even recently been treating myself to some Entemann's Pop'ems.)<br />
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What has been hardest is racing. For whatever reason, the early part of this year has been a little more empty of races. Like I said before, I'd done more in the past. Considering, I use small short races as speed work and a mental training session, this has weighed on me. Thankfully, racing season is picking up somewhat. Last weekend gave me plenty of options which I took advantage of doing 5Ks on both Saturday and Sunday. Sunday became a must after what I felt was a subpar 17:15 at Kristin's Krusade. Sure, I ran 4 miles to the race from home with gear (and uphill to boot) but I was aiming more for a 16:45. Didn't feel gassed but more flat. (After I did run back home too.) Sunday went much better but was way harder. I ran a 16:25 at Healthy Trails (I drove to this one) and did a 3 1/2 mile warm-up. However, I eeked it out by 3 seconds over second. It pushed me to where I nearly threw up at the finish. Would have I felt that way had I not done so much the day prior? Hard to tell but I was feeling better about the faster effort. In both efforts, I managed to come away with the victory.<br />
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Yes, I was pleased as punch to come off a weekend of positives with wins and fast efforts and holding off someone 17 years my junior. In wanting to keep the train going, I planned on racing again this weekend. With Easter being on Sunday, that meant only a handful of Saturday races. I wanted to be a little more low-key and zoned in on a race over in NJ at the Riverwinds complex.<br />
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In short, it did not go as hoped. But I should have seen the writing on the wall. I have been sleeping poorly as of late and last night was probably the worst of it. I was up essentially from 4:30 on with only minor cat-naps for the during of my slumber, Not exactly restful. And you ever get that vibe somewhere that hits your spidey sense? Something felt out of sorts.<br />
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Despite running faster than last week, I only was able to manage 2nd. Sure second is not a bad placing but the way it happened was something I was not physically or mentally prepared for. A mile into this race and I'm barely hanging on first and my body is lacking any other gear. Immediately my mind went to, not another week like this (referencing last week's narrow win), and while I was done. I was proceeded to be passed and mentally I had no response. (Winner did go sub 16...don't have the official times.) (This also brings me to 4 wins and 4 non-wins aka losses for the year. The latter matching the entire total for 2016.)<br />
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So instead of building some positive consistency with getting what I needed out of today's 5K, I didn't and that right now has a bit of a dark cloud lingering. Sure, time wise it has been good but each effort has not been a smooth affair creating a lack of steadiness that I am searching for. What this means for my plans in the next couple of weeks, I'm not entirely sure at this particular moment. All I do know is that I will get back on that horse and try again.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-31892028764889614962017-03-27T10:52:00.002-07:002017-03-27T10:52:30.772-07:00HAT's Off....So it seems that my 2017 is at a crossroads.<br />
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To say, I'm completely surprised by this is me trying to fool even myself. The reality is, I'm not entirely shocked to have reached this point. Over the past couple of years, I'd like to think I've gotten a little more reflective about where my running performance/ability stands.<br />
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For those keeping score at home 2015 was a pretty rough year for me from an ultra standpoint. I also viewed that start of the year as a weaker out the gate. Through this point in 2015, I had 2 DNF's, 1-2nd, 1-3rd, 1-4th and 3-1st. However, I did manage to rebound and win Umstead around this time as well but I struggled the rest of the year on a number of levels. Basically, I was forcing things and feeling if I DNF'd that I could just find another race to push myself with.<br />
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2016 was a much better year (5 wins in 5 races) and not the point of comparison for this piece like 2015 is.<br />
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Right now through 2017, I have 2-DNF's, 2-1st's and 1-2nd. Not horrible but those DNF's are not exactly what I want to be compiling. Also, only one of those results is a 5K. Normally, I have at least one more. Plus, the one I do have was more of a cross country run in the snow than a road course I was hoping it to be. So really, relatively speaking, it is a mixed bag with only my 50K back in Jan being a really solid result that I felt good about. Now there are a few reasons for this. Part of it is that some of the races did not take place this year or I opted for other choices.<br />
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My latest choice was to not run Two Rivers Marathon and see if I could do HAT instead. My choice was made because I have been increasingly feeling exhausted from stress (and anxiety as for me the two have a link). The thought of getting up to leave the house at 5am for a 2 1/2 hour drive for a road marathon felt too much to handle. And considering my standard would be the demanding road marathon mindset, I just did not have it. So I felt maybe if I race on the trails instead I would be in a better place. (In addition, I opted to not travel to VA for an ultra next weekend.) Thankfully, I was able to get into the field and toe the line.<br />
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However, the best part of my HAT Run was my pre-race ritual on site. Not much else went well. I had surprisingly poor sleep and was incredibly loud in the morning. Then my sunglasses managed to get broken. All this before we started. Yet, while, I went to the front in a modest pace, once we hit a minor uphill and I mean minor, my legs were flat. I thought it might have been just not being loose and that running some more would get me going smoother. NOPE. I was never comfortable. My legs felt heavy and incapable of a fluid feeling stride. I was hardly into the race but I knew I was done. I kept going to see if it would change but the reality was my body was telling me that today was not the day. Still, I managed to get through 17.5 miles before calling it a day. While the day's result is not what I wanted, it provided me with some great information, namely, that I need to rest. That means no running right now. So, I'm taking it light for a few days possibly a couple of weeks.<br />
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Yet, the bigger piece of information is that, I need to rethink my priorities at the moment. (And I don't think if I had done the marathon, I would have gotten the same insight.) Back in 2015, my DNF would have likely had me running a race this weekend of comparable distance. Let's not forget I would have gone in with lofty goals as well not thinking the previous effort had any effect on me. This time around, I know that would be a knuckleheaded thing to repeat. It has me rethinking my attempt at a sub 7hr 100K. In fact, it has me rethinking even doing that race altogether. Right now, my main objective from a running standpoint is to get my legs back to feeling springy and being energized. Part of that requires recharging my own batteries too. As a result of that, I will be taking a small getaway to a more remote Western part of PA for a few nights in a cabin in the woods. Theodore Roosevelt typically used his trips to nature to do something similar. I'd never thought I would need the calm of the 'wilderness' like I do periodically. I'm seriously hoping it makes a big impact.<br />
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During this woodsy-time, I'll do some hiking and running but those activities will partially be to break up the day that I aim to spend good amounts of time reading. Objective: RELAXATION<br />
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Once I come back to civilization, I'll re-evaluate my running goals including the 100K and whether I should race it or not. I will say that on Saturday, my response was not to. But I've relaxed my stance because I've considered going to just set a PR under 8hrs. It seems a more reasonable goal but that is dependent on how I feel. And the reality is that I don't have to decide right when I come back or even get back up to the same running speed. I can take the time to rest and prioritize that. And the reality is that I need to. I understand, I'm pretty fragile, in a manner of speaking, beyond just running. Yes, an aspect of what I am trying to say is that this is bigger than just running. Seriously, I do not want to feel overwhelmed with stress and suffer a paralyzing 'fight or flight' episode. (While I can type words, I'm not entirely sure that these are the best words to describe things but I hope you as a reader get a sense of understanding.)<br />
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The biggest part of all this is that not only do I have to make sure my legs feel good to run BUT that my mind and body can handle doing it. This means thinking about whether it will stress me out to the point that I will undo everything I am trying to do to improve at the moment. If the answer is no, than that race is out. Aside from that, I will get back to some shorter local distance focus. I will be staying away from adding any ultra that I have not already signed up for or considered in express discussion with others. (Not all of them have been made public and really they are in the fall.)<br />
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I've got time to right this running ship but it does require me to really address my stress and anxiety first. Hopefully the wilderness will do that for me.<br />
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What I do know is that I seriously feel like I learned a big lesson from 2015 and that is not to push it. I'm more observant and conscious enough to recognize the potential for doing damage to myself. 2016 was a year to regain a lot, so I will be damned if I lose it again.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-77901842042964777572017-03-08T10:42:00.001-08:002017-03-08T10:42:52.415-08:00Conquered by a Pebble (Foothills 50K Race Report)Today, I bring you the story of how took a trip to Pickens, South Carolina so I could fall down a mountain.<br />
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Yes, I fell down a mountain. And in typical fashion it was not because I tripped on a super technical section of roots or rocks. I either caught a pebble or little nub of a cut tree.<br />
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Of course, that single event is bookended by so much more. Ultimately, this is that tale.....<br />
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As the calendar flipped from 2016 to 2017, I began to look for some reasonable races where I could travel and expand my horizons through new challenges. Last month's Iron Horse was another such example. In doing my research, I stumbled upon a race called Foothills 50K (aka Conquer the Rock) held at Table Rock State Park in (you guessed it), Pickens, SC. It looked like a challenging race with 18,000 ft of elevation change as we would run 3 loops up and down Pinnacle Mountain.<br />
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About Pinnacle Mountain: According to my sources at Wikipedia, they tell me, Pinnacle Mountain is part of the Blue Ridge Mountain range. Other sources, including RD Matthew Hammersmith, inform me that there was a fire on the mountain late last year. As to the validity of the first, I cannot confirm or deny the accuracy but as to the second, my first hand experience there this past weekend does indeed confirm a fire took place on the mountain. (It's my job to sort through the facts so you can get to the bottom of things.)<br />
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Now what really made this a possible race destination was the daily emails I get from Frontier Airlines telling me of deals to Charlotte, North Carolina. We are talking reasonable prices if you are good flying with only a backpack that can fit under the seat in front of you. Thankfully, I excel at this! Using handy-dandy Google Maps, I was able to learn that Table Rock State Park was a two hour drive from Charlotte Douglass Airport. One of my travel criteria is that the race be no more than 2 1/2 hours from where I fly in. My reason for this emphasis is to make sure I do not tax myself with a longer than necessary drive. Of course, if I am not flying and staying regionally, that drive time number can rise.<br />
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Due to the airfare and distance, I put the race on my calendar for March 4th. That doesn't mean I registered right then and there for it. Unless there is a sell-out risk, I've taken the approach that I'd rather make sure I'm not wasting more money than need be. It is also why I opt to reserve cars through the rental companies themselves at the rate I can cancel. Same goes for hotels. And since I try to keep airfare down, I minimize loss. (Can you tell I obsess over the economics of logistics?) If I can manage to book Southwest at a comparable rate too, all the better.<br />
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To make things happen, I booked a flight out of PHL on Frontier on March 3rd that got me into Charlotte at 12pm. From there it was an Enterprise booking until 4am Sunday morning as I was flying Delta back to PHL via Detroit around 6am.<br />
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Lodging for the most part was left alone for a while. Now, this tale is not entirely a solo adventure as my friend from Trail Whippass (and a fellow local runner), Kiran was doing the same race! While we booked our flights separately, our travel was nearly identical! Her flight back was 15 minutes after mine but we ended up on the same Frontier flight down. What that meant....split expenses! YES! Cheaper traveling for the two of us. Of course, we waiting until the week before the race to handle lodging. (Which is the same week that I officially registered.) We had a game plan. Friday night, stay near the race. Saturday night, in Charlotte closer to the airport. Now the really awesome part was we managed to get a cabin in Table Rock State Park for 1 night. This took some finessing as they typically require a two night stay. More or less, you find a single night available that is bookended and take that.<br />
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By far away, these cabins were stellar. Now I could really go on about how awesome these are. All of them date back to the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and have been lovingly cared for. I felt fully relaxed. Full kitchens, heat (as in actual heater system) and to our surprise upon arrival...WIFI!!!!!!! The wifi was great because cell service was non-existent on my phone. Because I had a Google Fi phone, I could easily make a wifi call. Also, because we had a kitchen, on the way from the airport, we picked up food to cook. Better then trying to figure out where to eat in the middle of nowhere. The final touch were the plush blankets. Oh yeah. Ideal, sit and read environment that I usually can experience most when in Maine.<br />
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Anyways, since we arrived near 4pm and there was a packet pick-up in the park, we stopped at the cabin to drop off our stuff before heading over to get our bibs. That was a super quick process which enabled us to get back to relaxing and eating quicker before bedtime. (Yes, I'm cutting some of the boring out but I will tell you I did get a third of the way into Sarah Vowell's Lafayette in the Somewhat United States.)<br />
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With an 8am start time, it made Saturday morning so easy. No extra early rise and shine. We got to the race location around 7:15 - 7:20. Since the race was providing Tailwind, I loaded up my Nathan ExoDraws and my Nathan Peak with the good stuff. My fueling strategy was to use the Exo bottles for the first two loops and the Peak for the last. Now I was still going to run with the Peak the whole time in case I needed to tap into it since we got aid at the start/finish of every loop, so a ten mile stretch. As usual I had some ShotBlocs taped to the bottles. First loop would be with one bottle, the second with the other...and as stated before neither for the third loop. I also would be stuffing a handful of Gummy Bears in my face each time.<br />
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Since it was a little chilly, I went to the start line wearing black gloves and my Trail Racing Over Texas t-shirt. For the course, I opted to wear my Montrail FluidFlex FKTs. Now I did consider wearing a pair of LaSportiva Helios SR's due to the downhill as they have the extra grip in the heel but I felt they run a little too tight for a 50K. From the 'gun', it was clear that it was going to be a two person race between myself and last year's third place finisher, Eli White as we went out to the front very quickly for the road section that starts and finishes every loop. We chatted away and were in lock step all the way up the mountain. As we got closer to the top, we really noticed signs of where the mountain burned. Eli pointed out a wonderful view from Bald Knob around a mile from the summit. That last mile really kicks you in the unmentionables, especially the last 1/4 mile before the summit of Pinnacle Mountain. Once we cleared the summit, Eli asked to go around and moved by me on the downhill. He was like a rocket! With two more loops, I was not going to take too many risks at that point. So he opened a lead. My goal was to not let it get too large so I moved quick by cautious. Eventually coming down the Ridge Trail we blend into the popular Table Rock Trail which goes to the summit of the adjacent peak to Pinnacle. Here, all the runners we going to encounter hikers for much of the day. (The Pinnacle Mtn Trail had some as well but not nearly as many.) And it is in this stretch between the junction of trails and road, it happened.<br />
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I fell down the mountain.<br />
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I had just passed a group of hikers on a downhill slope and hit a slightly level patch where I could open some. As I was about to hit some gas, I caught my toe on something and felt hard. My right side took the brunt of the fall. Yet, I managed to do a number on my left knee too. Not only that, I nearly destroyed my handheld as I was leaking Tailwind all over the trail. Amazingly, I was able to put the bottle components together and all was well. I had some ShotBlocs that went flying. And while I did not discover this until after the race, I broke the little spring loaded do-hickey where I can put things and tighten them in place on my Nathan Peak.<br />
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I got up and started moving again. I had been banged up pretty hard. I looked down and saw blood from my knee and then noticed it from my right elbow. Negative thoughts began to swirl in my head. Quitting became an option. I had two miles to go in the loop. Already I was thinking the fall cost me the race. Yet, in a sign of mental strength, I told myself I did not want to DNF another race that I traveled to. Regardless, I wanted to finish. Still, if I felt I would do myself harm continuing only then I would stop. My spirits were boosted by seeing Eli just leaving the Start/Finish as I was coming in. He was about two minutes up on me. I ran into the 'Barn' and made the decision due to the fall I wanted both my hands free for the whole race. I ditched any ExoDraw bottles. Also, with being out of whack, I did a quick pee break. This all meant a little slower than usual but I felt it was appropriate.<br />
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My brain also told me that if I had any shot of winning it had to be because of going uphill. Once I got off the road and past the Nature Center (and the pretty waterfalls) it was time to climb. I told myself to push a little in the spots I paused a tad on the first lap. Make up time. Amazingly, when I got to Bald Knob, a hiker told me Eli was a minute up. Ok...I'm doing well. On a switchback portion, I caught a glimpse of Eli. A glimpse because he was nearly at the summit which meant he was flying down hill gaping me. This time, I had little choice but to push it a little more on the downhill. Quick and alert! No problems the second time down. Again, Eli was just leaving the Start/Finish when I came in. Only difference was he had a little more time up. It was still a close race. Yet, I was beginning to feel resigned to the fact I was going to be second. Still, I was not quitting but I felt the third climb a bit more so I was REALLY SURPRISED to hear from the same hiker farther down the mountain this time that Eli was only a minute up. Then before we ever reached Bald Knob, I caught him!!!! Thinking if I could strike anywhere, it was now so I made an effort to pass. This lasted a little bit until we hit the 1/4 mile Sh*tkicker before Pinnacle's summit. My body said no more. It's day was done. Eli took back the lead and once he hit the summit, I heard a shot of joy and down he went. My legs were toasted. As much as I wanted to run down, my pace was seemingly in what felt like neutral. I was only moving because I was going down. With it now being early afternoon, traffic on the trail was greater and that did nothing to help me do anything but stop when I hit groups usually on stone steps that I had to use the steps as groups flanked the sides that I utilized the first couple of loops. Despite giving it a fight, I knew I was not going to caught Eli and just focused on finishing in one piece.<br />
<br />
As I was finishing my third loop, I saw Kiran go out for hers. She was in great spirits! (Plus, now I got a sense of how long it was taking her.)<br />
<br />
So in the end, despite a good effort especially climbing, I got whipped on that downhill by 11 minutes. Both Eli and myself went under the course record (5:23:25 to 5:34:33) as did the next two finishers. (One of which was last year's winner, Darian Smith.)<br />
<br />
Did I want to win? Absolutely. However, I am far from disappointed with my effort. I got hurt and fought back to reset the race with 5 miles to go. (Yes, I lost 11 minutes in 5 miles.) This was by far the toughest 50K I have ever done. It is a great challenge that I am only happy to have participated in. It reminds me that while I like to think of myself as a good downhill runner, I have room to improve there but it requires moving out of a comfort zone by taking risk. It also reaffirms that I can climb well on long steady climbs.<br />
<br />
Following the race, I confirmed the campground bathrooms had showers (Thanks, Darian!) and bought a bar of Irish Spring from the state park's Country Store down the road. It helped to get clean of the blood. Plus, that allowed me to feel fresh while waiting for Kiran. I thought I would read some but that didn't happen as I poked around to the store some more again later and ended up buying a t-shirt. Not the one I really wanted which had a WPA era style graphic but still a nice long sleeve. In the process had a nice chat with the woman working the register. She told me that this was the first weekend of the season they were open. She also told me how she took a trip up to Allentown once and told me about tea ordering. In the south, it is just tea for iced tea. Her travel mates did not know this during said trip up north.<br />
<br />
Anyways, I hung out back at the finish and got to see Kiran finish. She did awesome! And she also had the attitude of change and go. We took the scenic way out of the park and caught some views of what we ran. The drive to Charlotte was pretty uneventful which was nice.<br />
<br />
Our room at the Residence Inn was a nice space to finish the day. We both ate leftovers from the prior night. Of course, I tried to venture out for food but Panera closed before I got to it and a diner effort was met without any attention to be seated. At that point eating at a place would take too long. Still I enjoyed the minor experience of walking around as it was a pleasant evening of no jacket required.<br />
<br />
Eventually it was lights out and I did not sleep well. (I took the couch in both the cabin and the hotel. Both were sleeper sofas but much like I do at home, I just sleep couch style.) My scrapes from the day were angry with me which led to the lack of comfort. And since they were on both sides of my body, I could not side sleep. Still, I caught 3 hours total before getting up around 3:20.<br />
<br />
To the airport, we went. We got to security just in time as the line ballooned behind us! I hung out with Kiran at her gate until it was time for me to board my flight (I left a little earlier).<br />
<br />
And after a pair of flights and a 2 1/2 layover in Detroit where I grabbed breakfast, I was home.<br />
<br />
Now that a few days have passed still a little banged up but I did my first real run today. 6 miles into the office.....<br />
<br />
Of course, the result and physical impact has me rethinking some upcoming options of races. Thankfully, none of them require a full commitment right now so I can heal my wounds and get back out there to do the damage I want to than have it done to me.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-84539205529692510072017-02-15T10:35:00.000-08:002017-02-15T11:08:36.936-08:00Some things go according to plan.....others become a disasterIn this latest installment of my running life, you could say that we've entered the Twilight Zone. Last time, my 50K was spot on awesome. This past weekend it was awesome in the sense of it being a hot mess.<br />
<br />
For a brief spell, I traveled down to Florida to participate in the Iron Horse Endurance Runs. In looking for a good 100K, I opted to make the pre-Valentine's trip down to Florahome, FL. Historically, it has had a lot of participants, was relatively cheap and easy to get to and the course has had some good times put up on it over the years. All key factors if I want to run a quick time at something other than a local race. (As you might have guessed, I'm still trying to get out of the immediate Philadelphia area some for ultra racing.) Furthermore, considering I had a good time down in Florida last year at the Swamp 50K in Palm Coast, I figured why not repeat things.<br />
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Aside from my nerves going through airport security and pre-race week jitters, I was feeling dialed in for a good performance. Sure, the 80 degree temps worried me. Saying otherwise would be foolish knowing I have a history of not performing well when it gets what my body deems too hot. (Also, one of the factors of why I do not have intentions on doing Western States.) Opting to fly down on Southwest, I was able to arrive in Orlando at 8pm. Now I had a two hour drive ahead of me so I had rented a car with Enterprise. To save a few bucks, I opted for the click and they pick. Sleeping plans were to crash in the rental unless it was too small. Sure I could have rented a mini-van straight away but that would have been 150 bucks more. Yet, to my surprise, I was able to get a mini-van for 88 bucks when I arrived. Everything upon arrival in the airport goes well until I leave the Enterprise area. The Kia Sedona I was driving, well I did not drive it so well (despite it being the same model I used last year) and scraped it on the bollard leaving. My heart sank. Of course this is happening to me at this moment. I was instructed to switch out the vehicle, yet in order to do that I needed to know my deductible. That meant calling home. Thankfully, Peg was able to be reached quickly and she found that out for me and confirm our policy covered rental cars. This was a relief. I knew it but when in a moment of crisis, it helps to be reaffirmed. Of course, I tell the lady at the counter who replaced the gent before and she tells me I need a claim number. So now I have to get on the phone and I'm barely holding it together. Actually I don't think I was holding it together much. Still after a hugely stressful hour delay, I was in another mini-van and back on the road. I made a brief stop at Walmart for supplies since I knew they would be open. Eventually I got into Florahome at around midnight. Later than I wanted but in a vehicle I could sleep in and at the start area so that allowed me to stay in as much as possible.<br />
<br />
Well....except this was not a time of great sleep. For some reason I was not all that comfy. I was in and out of sleep but happy to be getting some rest. Thursday night had been a good night of sleep and I knew that was more important for the task at hand.<br />
<br />
Around 5:45, I woke up and went to the bathroom nearby. Got changed into my gear and then headed over to the start/finish area to set up my chair with my bottles and everything else I might need. For the 100K, I was going to rely on the same gatorade/water mix as last race along with gummy bears. I also had ShotBlocs and Coke at the ready for consumption. I had extra socks, singlet, sunglasses. I was ready. Around 6:35 the race brief started and I sat down to do my best to rest a little more. It was at the brief that I saw fellow Trail Whippass'er Mary Harvey. She's the one who helped put Iron Horse in my ear as an option for my 100K. Around this time, I also saw Frank Alessandrini who I ran against and with at Swamp last year. He also was pulling sleep in a vehicle duty.<br />
<br />
Around 7am, we're lined up and sent on our way down the paved multi-purpose trail for 1.75 miles to a turnaround. This was all feeling fine. We pass through the start/finish area and I grab some gummies and one of my Nathan Handhelds. for the remained of my first 25 mile loop. At a shade under 6 miles we get off the pavement and onto a sandy power-line easement trail. Things instantly become tougher on the sections with more loose sand. Eventually, we pass the primary during the loop aid station (which we hit 3 times per loop) and I feel good. And for the most part, I feel good for the first 15 miles. Then I start to get a feeling like I need to stop to urinate. This is always not a good feeling. I do to relieve the pressure and then continue running just fine. Except now I'm thinking of my body functions more. Usually, I have a series of actions before a race start that one did not occur this particular morning. Anyways, I can put it in the back of my mind and continue. I see Mary at the aid station for her second time as I'm hitting it for my third. At this point, we are back on the power line. Around here is when the wheels begin to come off. The power line is the sandiest portion of the whole course and it hates me. Behind my right knee, I start to get some discomfort. Not horrible but bad enough to give me pause. Well, for the remaining 4 miles of my 25 mile loop, I'm walking/running trying to work this discomfort out. Now while, I gave up the overall lead (to the 50M runner who had been behind me buy a few minutes), I still managed to hit 3:07 for 25 miles. A shade faster than I wanted but considering it was cool for most of this loop, I expected it to be quick. Yet, now I really was having problems. I was not shaking the discomfort in my knee. For the 1.75 segment, I was doing 98% walking. For the 3.5 miles back to the start/finish line, it took me 40 minutes. Ouch. Still I thought the walking would shake out the discomfort, so I began to run again. Well, that did not last more than 400 meters. My knee was not happy.<br />
<br />
Instead of going out farther, I went back to my gear, put some Tiger Balm on the back of my right knee and set Peg a message making her aware of the situation. I then went to lay down in the mini-van for a spell thinking maybe that would help.....(right before this, I saw Frank and told him of my ills, he was now leading the 100K)<br />
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Nope.<br />
<br />
Not my day.<br />
<br />
So after 28.5 official miles, I called it a day. The race personnel tried to get me to head back out but it had been almost 90 minutes since I had finished 25 miles. If things hadn't got better in that span, I knew it was not worth continuing. What I needed to think about was the rest of my year. Merely finishing now had the potential to put me on the shelf. Now if it was going to be a world leading PR, I might have thought that a reasonable price to pay. However this was not about to be the same case here.<br />
<br />
Peg suggested to me that I come home that night instead of the next morning. I checked flights on my fancy Google Fi phone I use during travel and was able to get Southwest for 115. I took it. I would now be home at 10pm. It was hardly noon yet so I still could hang around to see Mary. When I saw her a bit after the 5 hour mark, she too was having a rough day. When she came back after her 3.5 out and back, I joined her for some walk and talk. (Since that was her pace at the moment.) It enriched my day some. After walking out to the power line, I turned back for the lonely portion of the walk in the hot sun. During the out with Mary, we saw the 50 mile winner come in but at no other other point, did I see any other finisher. The heat was taking its told.<br />
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Once, I got back to the area, I had everything packed up and hit the road to the airport for a too early end of my trip. But it was wise to leave early. After the emotional night before, sleeping in my home felt wonderful. Everything on the way home was smooth. I passed out much of the flight on the plane. Quite possibly could have been a food coma from the Chipotle Sofritas Burrito I had at the airport. (Which by the way was the most affordable airport food I've ever encountered!)<br />
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Since the weekend, I've spent part of Monday feeling emotionally up and down because of the incident with the car coupled with a not so great performance. I've not run since Saturday but have biked into the office and back. With it being colder, I've been wearing compression pants but also adding a slip-on knee brace on my right knee. Sunday and Monday, the knee still felt off, it has gotten better the past two days but with a 50K Two weeks from this Saturday, I'm going to be smart and err on the side of caution. I'll resume running maybe over the holiday weekend. I'll focus on keeping fitness mainly.<br />
<br />
What does this mean moving forward? Well, I had been considering a 100 miler in April but might decide to run a road 100K again (hated it the first time I attempted it) in a time goal. Either way, both of those will be close enough to drive 4-5 hours and not need to spend a huge amount of money on travel. I'd like to do one more travel race in the fall so to space it out I need to not spend all the money now.<br />
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Also, right now, I'm in a bit of limbo. Due to a transition at Montrail to Columbia Montrail, I am aware of my status with them. I've been honored to have represented them in 2015 and 2016. They believed in me and stuck by me in the rough 2015 year. I feel like I delivered well for them in 2016 and was excited to represent them in 2017. I was informed of a new contact who I reached out to on a number of occasions in the past couple of months with no reply. Maybe it is the email address I've been sending from. Maybe they have not been getting them. I'm not sure. Everything about the shoes, I still love. My primary reason for sharing this is because it feels bad to not know and not hear from anyone. And I really do not feel like it is right to be silent about it anymore. If part of my role as an athlete with a blog and presence (however minor that is) is to be honest with myself and you the reader, it deserves to be known.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-35065140579314807662017-01-24T13:50:00.000-08:002017-01-24T13:57:19.467-08:00Angela Ivory Memorial - 50K (It's all about the Fat Ass)<br />
In the past couple of years, I kicked off racing in the form of running PHUNT down in Fair Hill, Maryland. Since I'm trying to spice things up a little for 2017, I opted to run a 50K Fat Ass down in Delaware called Angela Ivory Memorial. Previously, for the first two years, it was known as the Eugene Bruckert 50K, after one of the organizers.<br />
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(PHUNT was the week prior to this event. I went to Fair Hill on PHUNT Day and did a loop of the course before the racing there started. This also reminded me of my love/hate relationship with Fair Hill.)<br />
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While Fair Hill was only around an hour from my house, the location for this run was around an hour and forty five minutes from me. This was going to be my first time at Killens Pond State Park. A couple of years back I ran a 50K at Trap Pond State Park. Now, if someone can organize one at Lums Pond State Park, I can hit the trilogy.<br />
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Because the start was also earlier than PHUNT, I had to leave much earlier. I was out the door before 6am for the drive down. Thankfully, the drive was nice and smooth. Once I got off of I-95 which had a good amount of traffic, I was able to use the cruise control. When I arrived at the main entrance to the park around 7:30, there were about 6 vehicles waiting to get in. The gate was still locked! Nobody worried. We all hung out patiently waiting for it to be opened.<br />
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Originally slated for an 8:00am start, it got pushed back a tad. It didn't seem to bother anyone. After all this was a fat ass race. We all were gonna be recording our times on a sheet of paper and fueling ourselves. It is nice to have a loosely organized care free run now and again.<br />
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Weather wise, it was overcast, damp, foggy but ideal running temps.<br />
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For the course, we would be running multiple loops of the Nature Trail with an out and back spur that was the start/finish area. (Basically a lollipop loop that most of it was not the stick.) While the trail loop itself is 2.6 miles, this spur was long enough to bring the distance to 3.1 miles per loop. There were two distances people were running: 50K and 50M. I was there to do the 50K, I had 10 loops to do.<br />
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After some instructions, we were off going loopy. Knowing there were a few junctions to keep an eye out for, I kept conservative for the first lap as we were following just the parks own markings. And with doing multiple laps, I got to look around some in the sense I might notice something new each lap. I'd say it was due to the weather creating a nice what I like to call a Pacific Northwest feel, I loved running at Killens Pond. The loop was short enough that I felt it hard to get in a negative head space because if I ventured there, soon enough the loop would be over. In terms of a description, it was on the whole very flat but very forested, except for the short road shoulder section between the boat launch and Nature Center.<br />
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Since we were doing loops, I opted to take my splits. My method for each split was, I come in and get aid and start the next split when I leave the start/finish area. Due to each lap only be a 5K, I decided to start out with no handheld. My nutrition plan for this event was to go old school: Gatorade, Coke and Gummy Bears. I had set up a 20oz bottle of Coke, a bag of Haribo Gummy Bears, two handhelds and 20oz bottle all filled with diluted Gatorade.<br />
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While my plan was to pick up a handheld after the first lap, I decided to push myself and just took a swig of Gatorade from the 20oz along with a small handful of gummies that I jammed in my mouth. I kind of squirreled the gummies like I usually do with my ShotBlocs. Considering, I'll be doing some traveling for races, I feel like I should really try to use what is easy to acquire in places, so I can fly with less. This is what led me to the fueling plan used at Angela Ivory.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Related image" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/a2/52/20/a25220bdaf2ec593f21782952274351d.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I stuffed nearly a whole bag of these in my face during the 50K</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In the end, I actually never did a single lap with a handheld. For the first 5 laps, I hit the 20oz bottle of Gatorade because I expected at some point I'd grab one of my Nathan bottles. Once it was clear, I was likely not going to do that for any loop, I drank out of the handhelds. I began to save time as I was not twisting a 20oz bottle cap. (It was a reused Coke bottle.) My slowdown became reaching into the gummy bear bag and grabbing the colorful squishy yummies. At no time, did I hit the Coke. Not fully surprising as historically I don't drink it during a race but last year during a few races notably Boulder Field and Brazos Bend, I took it from aid stations later in my run.<br />
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One of the great luxuries of this run was that the distance was short enough per loop, you were always coming across people. And since we were not restricted to one direction, it really allowed people to keep their running feeling fresh. I will point out that I kept in the same direction the whole time. I liked being able as I got later and later into the run to have markers of how I was doing comparatively to past loops and distance to the start/finish.<br />
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To avoid keeping you in suspense on how I did, below are my splits from the run<br />
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<ul>
<li>21:46</li>
<li>20:35 (42:21)</li>
<li>20:36 (1:02:58)</li>
<li>20:12 (1:23:11)</li>
<li>19:40 (1:42:51)</li>
<li>19:51 (2:02:43)</li>
<li>19:15 (2:21:58)</li>
<li>19:11 (2:41:10)</li>
<li>19:18 (3:00:29)</li>
<li>18:32 (3:19:01)</li>
</ul>
<div>
Yes, you see the final cumulative time correctly. 3:19:01 It is my second fastest 50K following my 3:18:32 at Rosaryville in my debut at the distance. I've run a handful in the 3:20's but not in the past two years (due to the specific races I ran and more other distances). </div>
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Also, you'll notice that I got faster the later into the run I got. Once that pattern began to emerge after 5 laps, I went for negatively splitting it and trying to keep getting a little faster. Sure, it was a FA, I was running but once I saw I got possible dip under 3:20, I definitely pushed that final 5K. </div>
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Amazingly, as I finished the organizers, Jeff and Gene, were in the midst of their own loop end/start. Talk about timing! They awarded me a Milestone Pod courtesy of Nancy Rowe and Milestone Sports. Nancy was also around then too and we had a small chat that only reveals the small world that is ultrarunning. </div>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="No automatic alt text available." height="179" src="https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13886491_805599516243119_6310764848884187137_n.jpg?oh=9f18b6adfe6b8bc790241e3ccb474d20&oe=5914C6C8" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I know a few cool kids with this.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
<br />
Due to the weather being a tad damp, I didn't stay around my beyond a half hour post finish before hoping in the truck for the trek home. However, one final notable conversation was with Ryan Goverts who partially blamed me for his ultrarunning. He had no plans on doing one and then attended the Philadelphia Runner Ultra Talk featuring Rebecca Barber, Iain Ridgway, Jim Blandford, Maggie Guterl and myself. Again, small world! And nice to know that our talk helped inspire someone.</div>
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<div>
If you are ever looking to get in miles in foggy damp weather, I highly recommend loops down at Killens Pond State Park in Delaware. And my Montrail FluidFlex II's did a wonderful job on all the surfaces be them woodchips, pavement, dirt, road or the wet wooden bridges. I managed to keep warm for the first five laps wearing an extra oops later of shorts and a tech tee. I shed the tech tee after lap 5 since I was beginning to get a little sweaty. All in all, the end, I geared it just right to get the time I did.</div>
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Now, before I end this post for the day, I would like to discuss something beyond the running world. If you do not wish to read something topical, you may want to stop. If you have an open mind, please continue on.</div>
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I'd like to take a moment to appreciate all the people (and especially the women) who participated in political activities over the weekend. You are bringing vital issues to the table (no matter the side) and hope that as a society that we all can come together to have conversations with lasting impacts that benefit all of us. It may be a painful process and get ugly at times but my belief in humanity leads me to hope in the end we'll all feel in it together. Struggles are real. While they take different shapes for different people, struggles are struggles. We must understand each other without degrading each other.</div>
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As Abraham Lincoln shared with us in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure: "Be Excellent to Each Other"</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-25221615129704627112016-12-22T09:22:00.003-08:002016-12-22T09:22:56.608-08:00Closing the chapter on 2016....it wasn't a dumpster fire of running.<div class="MsoNormal">
As my finals days as a 36 year old come to a close, it is
fitting to sit back and reflect on the past year running wise.<o:p></o:p></div>
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(Since my birthday is a mere few days before the end of
year, I can get away with this as an end of age and year review.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you recall my views on my 2015 from a racing/running
perspective, you’ll remember I thought it was sub-par. You’ll also remember
that I felt I destroyed my confidence. As a result of those two aspects, my
overarching objective for 2016 was to build myself back up as a runner. In some
ways, it was like beginning all over. Each race was thought of in terms of ‘do
I feel confident in performing well’ and ‘will this move the needle of my
confidence in a positive direct’. For the most part, it was a good mentally
healthy approach. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I’d say my approach worked well. I did not have a DNF in
2016. I did have 4 DNS (Seneca Creek Greenway, Worlds End 100K, Twisted Branch
100K, and Indian Creek Fifties) and three of those were due to questions of
illness. <o:p></o:p></div>
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From a numbers perspective, (which will make this a lot shorter, call it my gift to you), I did the following this year:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<ul>
<li>Started 26 races ranging from 5K to 100K.</li>
<li>Won 23 of those races.</li>
<li>14 races took place off road.</li>
<li>9 – 5ks</li>
<li>2 – 50M</li>
<li>1 – 100K</li>
<li>2 – Marathons (One trail/One ‘road’)</li>
<li>5 – 50K</li>
<li>Won at least one race in each month of the year.</li>
<li>Dipped back under 16 minutes in a 5K. (Squeaked in with a 15:59)</li>
<li>Raced in 7 states.</li>
<li>Won the Bucks County Marathon for the third straight year
(and now have won half of them.)</li>
<li>My biggest surprise was an unexpected sub 6 hour 50 Mile
running 5:51 and change at Brazos Bend. (Especially since I was not chasing a
sub 6 this year like I tried last year.)</li>
</ul>
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All of these results, I believe have me pointed back on a
good path going into 2017. One regret is not getting to run the 100 mile at
Brazos Bend. However, without that question of a looming illness, I would have
not changed to the 50 mile and set my PR. And to be honest, I was thinking of a
road 50 mile to go for sub 6 in April that I no longer have to subject myself
to. YAY!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Moving forward, I’ll shoot for 6-7 ultras. This year I had 7
and that seemed to work well for me. I don’t see a need to run one a month like
I did in 2014. Plus, 7 spaced out allows me to enjoy other races that I can use
as ultra speedwork. Plans are also to travel out of the Northeast for a race or
two. Time-wise, I’ll take what is given to me. Overall, I’ll be happy if I can
set at least one PR in the year. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Since nothing really is set in stone for my schedule, I’ve
got nothing to share on that front. And you know what? That is fine by me right
now. I’m going to enjoy the remaining days of 2016 with some light running. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Before I sign off, I do want to say that very little of what
I accomplished this year would have not been possible if not for the support of
Montrail and Nathan Sports products. Being dialed in on footwear and
nutrition/hydration delivery made pre-race prep a snap.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Also thank you to all the people who read this blog, support
me in racing and support me in life. My life is fuller because of it. (Of course, one rises above the rest. I think
we all know who she is at this point. <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span>
) <o:p></o:p></div>
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Originally when I sat down to do this post, I thought I’d
find a way to be much wittier than this has been. For that I offer sincere
apologies. 2017 will bring a return of ramblings. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Until then….lets at least secure Betty White in bubble wrap. <o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-16408087806191754262016-12-12T11:53:00.001-08:002016-12-12T12:37:22.031-08:00Breaking at Brazos (Warning: Epic Read)So my season finally culminated this past weekend at Brazos Bend in Texas. As you may be aware, originally, I was slated to charge hard after the 100 mile. Well, in the world of not everything goes according to plan, a few days (Wednesday) out I changed my distance down to the 50 mile. My primary reason for this was I serious thought I was coming down with some illness that would impede my ability to run what I am capable for 100 miles. To be honest, I even thought 50 miles might be a stretch. However, flights were booked and the last thing I wanted to do was end the year with not even bothering to show up to race an event I was looking forward to.<br />
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With that said, my goal at Brazos was to just run a good 50 mile time. If you were to ask me my goal, I would say sub 6 but in reality, I seriously thought that would be a big stretch. Hey, I wasn't feeling 100% but I knew inside that I could at least finish 50 miles.<br />
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Anyways....on with this tail....<br />
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Mid-afternoon on Thursday, I met up with ultra-badass Maggie Guterl, who was running the 100, (you may or may not know her as Maggatron) at the Philadelphia Airport for our travels down to the Houston, Texas area. (I won't bore you with details of our layover in ATL, rental car pick-up...etc.)<br />
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Eventually, we arrived in Antarctica, I mean Texas. It bares mentioning that somehow temperatures in the 30's followed us down South. Definitely a little shock to the system. Especially considering, Texans don't seem to know how to handle cold weather. Thankfully, neither Maggie or I were going to be stuck out in the cold as for the first night we stayed with Maggie's friend, Kehl, (it is pronounced like the superfood kale), and his wife Mariah.<br />
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On Friday, it was difficult to leave to leave the comfort of blankets and fireplace at Kehl & Mariah's. (Is this really a surprise? You should know by now my love for blankets and fireplaces. All that was missing was hours of reading, which I did not do nearly enough of this past weekend.) More or less, the bulk of Friday was getting settled at our hotel (30 minutes from Brazos Bend State Park) and packet-pick up. As part of going to pick-up, Maggie and I met up with Caroline Boller for a shakeout run. We all discussed our goals. All of them may or may not have been met continue to find out....<br />
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Originally, my plan was to fuel during the race with Tailwind and use ShotBlocs. Race Director supreme, Rob Goyen told me he would have some for me since I still feel weird about small bags of white powder going through airport security. Anyways, I was feeling a bit out of my comfort zone so I opted to fall back on a variation of my original fuel method.....Gatorade & Water. Something about this plan felt calming. In the past, I added pedialyte to my mix. This time, I opted against it. Using Lemon Lime Gatorade, I filled all my bottles with a 2/3 Gatorade, 1/3 Water mix.<br />
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This is as good a point as any to talk about gear. I went in with:<br />
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2 Nathan ExoDraw bottles with 3 Tropical Punch and 3 Orange ShotBlocs taped to the bottle.<br />
Nathan Peak waistpack w/ two flasks should I need the extra fluids later.<br />
Montrail FluidFlex.<br />
Smartwool socks<br />
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Since there is nothing special about my shorts, singlet and underwear, I don't think you need to know those specs.<br />
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With throwing caution to the wind and still aiming to take a crack at sub 6, my plan was to wear my Garmin GPS watch. That way, I wouldn't do anything too stupid.<br />
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After a meal consisting of Panera's Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup, I did get in some reading of my giant 800 page Theodore Roosevelt book (Wilderness Warrior) that talks about TR as a conservationist and naturalist, (Loving it!), before some shut eye.<br />
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Race morning, Maggie and I drove over to Brazos Bend State Park. While I was starting at 7am, Maggie went off at 6am. Maggie was going to be under the good care of her friend Nicole. Once we arrived, we hauled our gear over to a canopy and table being shared by Jeff Miller. (I didn't get a chance to thank you for this! I know you were using it because it was yours but it was helpful to have a good visual place for stuff in the perfect location.) Maggie went off to finish her prep and I went back to the rental to lay down for 45 minutes. Hey, it was still cold out. Sure, I was going to warm up once I started running but I wasn't running yet.<br />
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Those 45 minutes went by way too quick! Around 30 minutes before the start, I changed into my race shoes and socks. (I had a pair of FluidFlex II's as a backup in case I needed a shoe swap or if the FluidFlex didn't feel right on race morning.) Upon grabbing my GPS and turning it on, I got a surprise: LOW BATTERY. Yep, it drained in travel. I had charged it prior to leaving Philadelphia because I didn't want to bring the bulky charger in my already overfilled bag. Trusty Timex Ironman it is! With 3 loops, I at least could do easy math in my head on a per lap basis. Additionally, I remembered Aid Station 1 was around 4.1 miles in and Aid Station 2 was 9.2. None of the other markers I had committed to head but what my brain could contain would do.<br />
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Nicole offered to help me out too with anything I would need which was great having a support system. Mainly, bottle refills.<br />
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Following a little musical pump up of In Flames and Tower, I was as ready as I was gonna be. About 2 minutes before the start, I went up to the start line next to Caroline. With it being still cool, I was wearing a tech shirt and gloves. As soon as the final countdown ended, we were off. I went out fresh and comfortable. It was kind of surprising considering how I felt earlier in the week. During the first little out and back section of the course, as I was coming back, to my right a pack of wild pigs was running. They even decided to make a hard left and cross the trail we were running! They did after I passed. No word was mentioned about anyone getting taken out so I figure no runners or pigs were harmed during the course of that encounter. Near misses, yes, but nothing more.<br />
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And to think, this way we were told to pay more attention to the alligators that may be along the trail. Yes, gators!<br />
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As I made my way into the first AS, I was under 7 minute pace and thinking to myself, SLOW DOWN! Too early for that. So while I was comfortable, I was trying to be wise and not tax myself too much this early on, especially since I didn't know what the course was like. It was my first time on much of the course, aside from the small portion from the prior day. Around 6 miles in, I shed my shirt tossing it to a gent after I asked if I could. I kept the gloves on.<br />
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At aid station, two, much of the same mentally about pace. Too quick. Yet, now I was beginning to think, just accept it. Now, I was also making a note mentally how long it was taking me to get from the second aid station to the longer Sawmill section out and back. It was going to be the only way later on that I could be able to gauge my pace through the section.<br />
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With our canopy station, right before the lap finish, I swapped my first ExoDraw for the second, making sure to take one of the remaining ShotBlocs from the first bottle to consume immediately. My first lap split was around 1:53. HOLY MOLY!!! Might have been a hair too fast. In fact, MINUTES faster than my goal. I was aiming for closer to 2:00. Still I felt good. (And it was here the gloves literally came off.)<br />
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On the short out and back, no pigs happened upon me. However, I got to see Caroline was also crushing the course not far behind me. Oddly enough, the second lap was much like the first! Was feeling a smidgen harder but I was not feeling like I was red-lining. And my splits were fairly consistent with the first loop. (Maybe a tad faster.) It is worth noting that on the second out and back to Sawmill, I got the best surprise of the WHOLE weekend. My friend Laura was running in the Half Marathon race. It has been years since I saw her. She lives in Denton which is hours away from Brazos. Seriously, it put a pep in my step. (Rob, your race is bringing long lost friends back together! Okay, not lost but you get the point.)<br />
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Finishing up the second lap, I made the pit stop. I didn't swap bottles, I topped off. Why I didn't grab the second? My brain told me it was going to not be comfortable. I had a comfortable grip. (Yes, it sounds stupid but that is where my brain was.) Really, what I should have done is just grab the second along for the ride. In retrospect that might have been the wiser thing to do. And while I had the Peak available, I was past the point of wanting to dead stop to put it on. I did feel some cramping coming on in my quads making me fumble through my bag trying to find the baggie with my Advil. Thankfully, Nicole and Jeff's crew dug up some quick out for me.<br />
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3:46<br />
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Now, I was 14 minutes under 6 hour pace. I was feeling pumped from passing the start/finish. Yet, no longer after that I started to begin sway. At the turnaround point, it was like a dead stop feel that my legs really did not want to move again. That right there was my oh-no point. Signs were now clearly beginning to point downward spiral. Still, I kept moving. Maybe not as fast. And certainly not much ahead of Caroline who was in the midst of a race for the ages. Around a mile after the turnaround, I had to walk. We had a slight minor headwind (or that is at least how my body was reading it) and I was feeling light headed. My body needed a breather. This went on for a minute or two. I downed most of my ExoDraw. I'd say, I don't think I would have been able to recover from the spiral if not for that decision to walk and drink. Sure it meant, I had to stop and take aid at 4.2. It was easy to decide because I knew I would be able to get Gatorade. My split here was 3-4 minutes slower than my prior two trips. 1/4 of the way through the loop and survival is in effect.<br />
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At the same 6 mile mark where I earlier tossed my shirt, I got the second coolest surprise of the weekend, Fran, the dinosaur! Laura brought her prehistoric friend with her. Luckily, I still had enough in my legs to not be eaten. Fran did look a little hungry. Still a small child would have been a more sizable meal than my skin and bones.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Fran is looking hungry. PC: Trail Racing Over Texas</span></div>
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Caroline was now on my heels. In fact, around 40 miles, she passed me. She was obliterating the course. Did I try to keep her in sight? Yeah. Did I? For a little bit. Caroline is an amazing runner who knows how to close. Throughout the rest of the race, she increased her lead. So yes, she won. (More on that later because after all this is about my race at the moment.)<br />
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At the 9.2 mile aid station, I was if math served me correctly, 7 minutes slower than the prior two loops. I couldn't afford to give back any more time to God of the Clocks if I wanted sub 6. With such a time in sight, I wanted it. I moved as fast as I could. Yes, I hit the 9.2 mile and Sawmill aid stations for coke shots on the way out. I needed the jolt. I was on fumes. Sure it was costing me time but doing otherwise would likely have put me further in energy debt (as I'm calling it.)<br />
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Once that finish line was in sight, I knew I was going to do it. With time to spare! Crossing the line, I stopped my watch at 5:51:26. A 15 1/2 minute PR off my previous 6:07 best. (Might be one of the top 50 mile times in the country this year. Have to wait and see on that.)<br />
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Going into 2016 after the struggles I had last year, I honestly never would have expected this performance. Can I improve on it? Time will tell. At least, I don't have to race a road 50 mile to go under anymore. (This will make 2017 much more fun since a possible race just got dropped.)<br />
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Now about Caroline's result. It was an American Record for 50 miles on trail. She ran 5:48:01 winning the race outright!!!! In our conversation the day before she shared she wanted sub 6. Did she ever get it! It is a privilege to have witnessed so much of it. (After all, I didn't get to the finish in time for that. I was busy at that moment.)<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">High Five with the American Record Holder! PC: Trail Racing Over Texas</span></div>
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Her time shattered the previous best from back in 1994! Plus, it was Caroline's 42nd Birthday! Talk about giving yourself a big 'ol present!<br />
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Also, her time bested the previous overall course record men or women at Brazos Bend by 9 seconds! Fastest ever!<br />
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I'm biased by that is the Ultra Performance of the Year for Women in my eyes.<br />
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Of course, Brazos Bend still had a little 100 miler going on. You know, Maggie's race.<br />
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Well, I was a horrible friend for a little bit as an hour after my race, I went to the hotel for a shower, check in back home, clean clothes and a little rest not in the back of a SUV.<br />
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Three hours later I was back and got news Maggie was on pace for the women's American trail record of 14:22 in the 100 mile! HOLY! Instantly, I'm the edge of my seat wanting to witness more history. Also, Nicole told me that Maggie was now leading the whole 100 miler! Wow, this was exciting. It was dark now but the air was definitely electric. Everyone was routing for her. <br />
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She finished her 5th of 6th laps with around 2:20 to go 16.67 miles. It was doable but gonna be close. Her Trail Racing Over Texas teammates Jeff Ball and Katie Graff were going to split pacing duties. Every single moment she was out there we all wanted to know where and how much time she had. The suspense!<br />
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Eventually, we got word that she was having some problems of the puking variety. Still she was going to PR and run a huge time that was going to put her on the all time list. While the fastest two times came and passed, Maggie turned in the 3rd fastest 100 mile on trail and 7th fastest overall regardless of surface with her 14:47:02 (it was 6th at the time but bumped to 7th after a WR later that day.).<br />
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As if that was not enough, like Caroline, Maggie now owns the fastest time ever by anyone in the 100 mile at Brazos Bend.<br />
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I wish I could say that the day after was nearly as exciting but lets face it, it was a struggle. Maggie and I definitely were rocking the sore runners shuffle. We did go back to watch the finish of the races for a fitting end to the race related portion of the weekend.<br />
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You can imagine what traveling back home was like. I'll leave that to your imagination because I've written a lot and want to do some thanks.<br />
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Total thanks first and foremost has to go to Peg. She is my biggest supporter and I don't do this without her.<br />
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Rob, Rachel and the rest of the Trail Racing Over Texas folks! You made me feel welcome all weekend long.<br />
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Second thanks for Rob to believing in me to think I could run a fast time at Brazos. Sorry it just wasn't in the 100. Next time.<br />
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Maggie who is just too awesome a friend and without her this PR never happens. Thanks for introducing me to Rob after Viaduct. PA Power!<br />
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I would be remiss to not thank Nathan Sports and Montrail for making products that work for me.<br />
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Ok....signing off now. And....spent.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-70094155220892441752016-11-29T12:57:00.002-08:002016-11-29T12:57:24.262-08:00Bucking Batona.......BB round 1As November comes to a close, my mileage is going into a nice taper, a taper made smooth due to the hard work put in earlier this month with a pair of races: Batona 50 and Bucks County Marathon.<div>
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Originally, the Batona 50 was not on my schedule for this year until as I mentioned in my last entry. I suffered from altitude sickness causing me to bow out of the Indian Creek Fifties. Thankfully, I was able to join the biggest field in the history of the event (in part to the move from a January date to one the first weekend of November). A quick primer on the event, the Batona 50 is a pair of races run in the Pine Barrens in NJ along the event's namesake, Batona Trail. It contains a 53.4 mile and a 50K distance. The former runs the entire length of the pink blazed trail and the 50K stops at Bataso Village. As the current FKT holder of the trail, it also was a chance for me to try shaving off some time. With the ideal weather, I wanted to run by feel and hopefully go under 7 hours. Now, one aspect the winter helps with is the sandy trails which are more solid. On this day, the warmer temps had the sand a little more 'sandy', which impacted me later in the day. </div>
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Peg was kind enough to join me for the event and be my crew. We were able to bring Falcon so he could enjoy the Pine Barrens. In the lead up, I prepared a chart of aid stations she'd meet me at and a time line giving travel times so she could possibly enjoy the day some. She told me after that getting from location to location was a bit tougher not giving her all the 'downtime' I anticipated.</div>
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Arriving in the pitch black dark, I checked in with RD Angie, saw Denis and right before the start saw David Stango, who had a great race at Eastern States this August. (His write-up of the event was even featured in Ultrarunning Magazine.) With it being so dark, I started with my Nathan Halo Fire headlamp. By the first aid station, I didn't need it but still wore it since I was dropping it off with Peg at the second official aid station. In the early going, I was moving well. Since I was trying to do better than my 2014 time, I had my Garmin GPS on me. For the first half of the run, I was amazing. I blitzed through the first 21.5 miles. However, it was the 12 mile section following that I began to hurt some. I'd say on the whole trail, this portion was my worst. The trail felt so overgrown in spots and started my slowdown. Sadly, once I hit that slowdown, I had trouble getting moving the same way. Also, it started to get a tad warmer and on this stretch I ran out of Tailwind 2 miles out from the aid station. During that stretch, I ended up doing a walk break clocking a horrid 13 minute mile. It might have been my slowest mile of the day. </div>
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Just before the AS, David Allara came up behind me. He was volunteering on the day and getting some run in. I really enjoyed the company for this stretch and put some pep in my step. Unfortunately, it was short lived until the AS. I refilled my ExoDraw and swigged some of my jug of Tailwind. This next stretch was not as long but I was still slowing. I was barely holding on to the chance of a sub 7 hour time. It was in this stretch that I missed my first turn. I caught it quickly but lost probably a minute or two. And then, when I hit the road, despite knowing where I was going from the past, I still questioned a marking because it seemed to me that the route was being re-routed. It was not the case as I eventually heard shouts from the aid station. Another minute or two gone. Looking back, I took way too long at the station. Partially, my not jogging the distance to the truck bed where my fluids and ShotBlocs were. However, I did get some shots of Coke to drink in addition to Tailwind. Sub 7 was hanging by a thread and was lost not long in the home stretch as I missed another turn losing a minute. Any boost I got from the fabulous support at the aid station, I lost. Also, I was encountering more sandy conditions or at least felt like it to me. Still, I pushed on sections I felt I could move really well on. Thanks to new mile markers along the trail, I knew how much I had left. When I had a mile to go, I pushed and harder when I had 1/2 a mile to the finish with Angie, Peg, Denis and Falcon. In the end, I lowered my time to around 7:11. I was a bit spent. Denis hooked me up with a Gatorade. </div>
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Due to Peg and I going to see Lewis Black later that night, after 20 minutes, we began our trek back to Philadelphia. While I know I left some meat on the bone, I am happy to know I was still able to take 7 minutes off my previous time. I managed to split around 6:45 for 50 miles. Not insanely fast but a nice modest split.</div>
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Now 8 days later, I had another long race on my schedule, the 2016 Bucks County Marathon. The previous two years, I had won the event, so with a chance for a three-peat in a marathon, I had to be in. After all, how many times in life, will I be able to say I have a shot to three-peat at a marathon? How many people ever get that chance? Not that going for three was not pressure enough, the RD Pat McCloskey put an image of me during my initial win on the bib (along with a magnet). So here I was at the start in my RunBucks singlet, with #1 and my image on my front. Weird? Just a bit. Cool but weird.</div>
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My goal was simple. Win. Sure, I would like a good time around the 2:39, I ran last year. With a bigger goal race on the horizon, I had to be smart. This led me to be more conservative at the gun. 6 minute pace was my objective. And pretty much through 21 miles, I was on it. At the turnaround, I had my watch clocking in 1:18:45. (An evenly run race would be 2:37:30) The last 5 miles, I began to tighten up and slow down. Eventually, I crossed the line in 2:41:47, a couple minutes slower than last year's winning time. And 4 minutes slower than my first half. So basically, in the last 5 miles, my pace got really close to 7 minutes. Ugh. At least I can say, I've won half of the Bucks County Marathons. Surprisingly, I did not feel good after. Probably the worst after a race in a long time. Not sure if I had a illness bug lingering and not know it but my GI was not my friend. Matter of fact, before leaving Washington Crossing to go home, I threw up in a PA DNCR bathroom toilet. Lovely. Better after than the race and awards, I guess. Not sure why it happened. I did feel a little better after but wise to have not hung around. </div>
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Since both of those races in the first half of the month, I trekked up to Maine for some Thanksgiving vacationing. Got a bit of a recharge with reading a few books, including the Ryan Sandes Trail Blazer book. (Highly recommended.) Also, went for a few hikes and some lovely runs. Only managed one run up Pleasant Mountain (and on the Cell Tower Trail at that) due to some cold slick conditions. Probably for the best as it forced me to not pound myself with each run. I explored some snowmobile trail and fire roads a bit more. Of course, with it being hunting season, blaze orange looked good on me. </div>
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Sadly, all good things come to an end and I've returned to Philadelphia. For the next couple of weeks, I'm in taper for my final big race of the year. Until that write-up......</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980826266971447546.post-68358806440781000092016-10-24T11:01:00.000-07:002016-10-24T11:01:21.679-07:00Fallout: Coming Down to EarthWith a title including Fallout, you might think I'd be talking about the post-apocalyptic video game series. If you did, you'd be wrong because the apocalypse has not happened...yet. However, it is about a 'post' event chronicling.<br />
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Let me take you back in time to just after Boulder Field. Around that time, I decided to do some schedule shifting. I opted on the weekend of November 5-6 to do a 50K called Fire on the Mountain in MD as opposed to traveling to Nashville for one that same weekend. I had done the last FOTM and loved it. This year it is coming back as an out and back as opposed to a point to point. I'd say this year's version is going to be a beast. As a result, of this decision, I still wanted a 50 miler before FOTM as part of my Brazos Bend prep.<br />
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Following some internet searches, airfare checks and all around logistically number crunching, I decided to fly out to Colorado and run the 50M distance at Indian Creek Fifties. My trip was going to be a 4 day weekend with the race on the 2nd day followed by camping/hiking the remainder of the time. To say I was excited was an understatement. I was very much looking forward to racing in the mountains and hiking. Not to mention, sitting at a campground reading.<br />
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All was going smoothly until the day before my traveling began. In fact, it started right not long after I had officially registered. I had waited in the event work threw me a curveball causing me to not go. Apparently, I was naive to think one wasn't coming. Around an hour before my workday ended, one plunked me in the head. Pretty much, a get it done ASAP situation. Considering, I was going to be remote as I traveled it made the work project tough. It set me into full on anxiety attack. Before it swallowed me whole, I left the office telling myself, I'll somehow get it done as I traveled. Still, it freaked me out and on my ride home, my head was thinking of the ways, I can make traveling easier. I opted to just get home and finish it remotely. At home, I can use two screens which really was needed to complete my task. Despite getting it done timely, I was having a tough time calming myself from the anxiety. In fact, it lasted into my attempts of trying to sleep before I had to wake up at 4am to be driven to the airport.<br />
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On the plus side, I had my bag packed a week in advance!<br />
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Traveling out to Denver was easy. And the first 4-5 hours was good after landing. However, to cut to the chase, I ended up getting altitude sickness. I had not expected it considering I'd been around and above the elevation before. To spare you, I ended up having to bail on the race and came home the next day.<br />
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In short, it was a wasted trip. My options were limited. I could have stuck it out with possibly a headache the whole trip (as I still had one on the day of my return). That was something, I didn't want to risk. How much fun would be to just camp and not hike? To me, not much. I was not looking to spend the time in a movie theater. In looking at flights, I couldn't try an extra day because no Sunday flights were available.<br />
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Did it stink to not get the trip, I wanted? Absolutely. That said, I do aim to go back out there. I will just add extra time to the beginning in case, it happens again.<br />
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On the plus side, I had a wonderful Sunday hiking in the morning with Peg in the Wissahickon and exploring Tyler State Park in the afternoon. Plus, on Monday, we saved a couple of hundred dollars on paint for the house because I was home!<br />
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Still, my schedule was now out of balance. I saw the 50 miler as an important distance to complete. I knew I had the option to race Stone Mill on Nov 12th. However, I felt that would be a little too close to Brazos Bend. Thankfully, the race directors of the Batona Trail 50 allowed me to join the new 'Fall' date on Nov 5th. Unfortunately, that knocks out FOTM. In an attempt to have cake and eat it too, I looked for a 50K this past weekend (Oct 22-23). All those close ones were full. However, a little out of my usual range was the High Bridge Ultra down in Pamplin, VA. Being able to register day of, helped keep it in mind. However, the 5 1/2 hour drive did not appeal. Especially since I would have needed to finish and drive straight home after the 50K. For some reason, I thought it was doable.<br />
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Reality set in Friday that it was not a wise choice for me due to the timing. It was going to push my limits driving. Wiser heads prevailed and I abandoned the idea. However, I let myself approach the idea of racing the 50K through the week. So for the second week in a row, I was not doing something I initially told myself I was. Granted we are talking two different sets of circumstances. Still, this was enough to get me really off balance. I immediately lost motivation to do a long run. I really did not want to run a long run solo in the area I always run. Factor in the 24 degree temp drop from Friday to Saturday and it just stacked up. More or less, I was becoming my own worst enemy. I wanted to do something but nothing appealed to my need of being long.<br />
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Denver Fallout was coming to a head!<br />
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Being so far down the rabbit hole, I didn't want to even socialize and missed the street block party.<br />
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Later in the evening, I took a look at Sunday's area events and noticed one that was a longer race that was cheap. Hotfoot 8.8. It had a 5K, 8.8K and 8.8M. I told myself I could get 12 in easily if I did the 8.8M. At that point, anything over ten felt uninspiring solo. Likely because it was running in my head within the framework of my usual local runs. Then, before bed after I decided to give it a shot, I realized if I did the 8.8 a second time I'd get 17.6 right there. Add my warmup and tack on a hair more, I could hit 20 miles. Mentally that would be a step in the right direction.<br />
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Sunday morning, I managed to get myself together and get out the door to the race. After registering, I went for my warm-up and got hit with some nasty wind. It was enough to make me question being able to run fast during the race. Luckily, during the race, I was able to keep it together. I managed a modest pace considering the trouble with the wind. (5:44 avg) It was the fastest pace in any of the distances. Upon finishing, I quickly threw on a shirt and regular shorts (over my racing shorts) to head out for a second loop. Wind wasn't as bad during the second loop but the hills did suck a second time. (Oh, I neglected to mention this course was hilly. It was hillier than some trail ultras.)<br />
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In the end, I got my 20 miles in. Whew. I would not have been able to do it without the existence of the Hotfoot 8.8 race. On top, of the race serving as an avenue to get my 20 miles in, it is a top notch event. There was a beer garden and hot food. Amazingly, there was still eggs after my second loop! I missed awards but it was worth it. I got to get a few glasses of PA Dutch Birch Beer too. I didn't quite tap the keg of it. In some ways, the event because it was hosted by the Fort Washington Fire Dept 88, reminded me of the Jimmy D 5K. It was such a good feeling to have and doesn't let me forget how much the Jimmy D race meant to me.<br />
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These 20 miles while not the 50K (or even the 50M) I had expected to race, I feel much better going into Batona that I would have without them. And ultimately, I feel this keeps me on track for a good showing at Brazos Bend.<br />
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