Life is too busy- a slew of race reports

Somewhere in the past two years, going from two kids to four, things have changed for me.  I have much less free time to spend on running-related but not running activities (blogging, reading blogs, reading iRF, etc).  Much like I did in November, I want to pound out a quick rehash of my recent races, then I’ll do a post dedicated to the Barkley.  After that, this blog may go somewhat dormant as I’m giving myself permission to stop blogging and writing reports unless I really want to.  Life is too busy otherwise.

TNF San Francisco 50 miler

Ok- December, I ran The North Face San Fran Championship 50 mile.  Justin came with me as his first 50, and we had a blast touring SF for 3 days.  The weather was terrible, as a huge storm system had dumped up to 8 inches of rain the past few days and 2-3 inches mid-race.  The day before the race, Justin and I heard it was cancelled, so were actually excited when we later learned it was just a re-route.  The race was a bit of a letdown for me- though I felt trained and prepared, and felt find during the race, I just couldn’t go fast.  Uphills were particularly slow, flats were flat, but downhills were still a blast.  I’m a mudder, so love flying down slippy, sloppy trails.  Some of TNF ones were nutso muddy, like both trips to Muir beach and the final descent into Tennessee Valley.  I loved it, absolutely loved it- rain, mud, wind.  Plus, I also found myself in the midst of the woman’s race and enjoyed watching that develop, running with Maude for a while, then a long time with Emilie, then being passed by Steph and finally Caitlin before holding off the 5th place woman.  I kept hoping I would photobomb iRF twitter pictures of the lead women, but it never happened.  And I’ll admit I actually spent an hour mid-race trying to figure out what the word was for getting 5-chicked (Quin-chicked?).  The good news about ultras is that you have many hours mid-race to come to terms with bad races, and I quickly found my peace and just enjoyed the day as it came to me.  Goods- had a fun time running in the muddiest race of my life (had a few fall and slides!), loved touring SF, met some neat people, ate tons of amazing food, and enjoyed watching Justin finish his first 50 mile ultra.  Bads- ran terrible (probably my worst not-sick, not-injured race performance wise ever), only had a few scenic vistas during the race on account of fog/rain, didn’t like the reroute with multiple races (crowding on trail), wished the race was more singletrack and less dirt road.

(b&w photo courtesy of San Fran Running Company)

Harbison 50k

Missed Dan Hartley’s great race last year due to a nasty flu, so I wanted to make it this year.  It was not a focus race by any means, but I still had lofty goals of a win and sub-4 (CR was 4:10).  Drove down to Columbia and it was COLD- 25 deg.  I survived 8 years in Utah with no insulated underwear, but a South Carolina race almost killed me and my thin green shorts.  Anyhoo, we started pretty fast, with Bryce, a law student in New England, leading the pack.  I passed him around mile 3 as I wanted to up the pace and break up the lead pack.  The terrain of the 2-loop course reminded me of a mix of Croft State Park and Issaqueenah forest- almost all singletrack, lots of tight turns, numerous small ups and downs, and miles of trails packed into a small area.  I loved it- such a fabulous course, well marked, and good aid stations every 30-45 min.  Runner extraordinaire Shaun Pope flew by at the first aid station and very slowly pulled away.  I last saw him during the infamous Spiderwoman section of the course with a 90 second lead.  I had taken a long rest after San Fran but was generally happy with how my legs felt, not straining to run sub-7 miles.  I went through loop 1 just under 2 hrs, right on schedule, with everyone telling me Shaun was always “2 minutes ahead.”  I never saw him, though I did start seeing someone behind me on some of the twisty portions.  I continued pushing hard, hoping to catch Shaun but also striving for the sub-4 hr.  I started to get worried the end would never come, but it finally appeared in 3:58:02, a new 50k PR (25 min faster than old race PR, and 8 min faster than my 50k split at Umstead 100 last year).  Shaun won it in 3:47, so I wasn’t close to him, though 2 other guys finished right behind me.  4 guys well under CR- not too shabby.  Overall a great race, dead on 31 miles, with 3100 ft climb.  I was satisfied and had a fun time, including at the post-race BBQ.

Run Downtown 5k

I did a separate post on this one.  Took a big chunk off my 5k PR with only ultrarunning training (no speedwork).  Pretty happy here to set a 16:01 PR and beat most the high school kids. 

Expedition Paris Mtn trail race

Very nice 10-mile trail race on my familiar stomping ground of Paris Mtn, though this one was unique by being the only race to go over Hiker-only Brissy Ridge.  Had a very fun day running with my friends and ended up with the win. 

Black Mountain Marathon

I wasn’t selected in the Mt Mitchell Challenge, so entered the Black Mountain marathon instead.  It probably worked out better for my race schedule, anyways.  This is a great race- you run a few miles on road out of Black Mountain, then run miles of singletrack and jeep road to the turnaround at the Blue Ridge Parkway near Mt Mitchell, before descending on mainly the same route.  The weather was great Barkley training- 37 deg and very rainy at the start.  I purposefully overdressed in my Smartwool gear to see if it would keep me warm, and it more than did its job.  Right from the start, Ben Hall (young buck who coaches college track), David Workman (against whom I’ve had a number of enjoyable, close races), and I pulled away.  The road miles went quickly, then we hit the lovely singletrack.  Dave Mackey (running the Challenge, not the marathon) flew by us at mile 4, pulling Ben with him.  Dave said his stomach was hurting and fell back.  I kept Dave and Ben in sight for a few miles, but then was alone except at the occasional aid station.  The rain somewhat stopped and I was treated to several beautiful vistas of the mountains.  What a pretty area.  My legs were a bit sluggish, and I found the course very muddy.  It wasn’t a slippery mud, but rather a wet sponge, “sink in and lose all momentum” mud.  Combine that with a bit of a low patch plus discovering that the 15 miles of the Toll Road were sometimes much, much more technical than I expected, and I felt I was crawling.  The last mile to the turnaround was very snowy and icy, and I finally saw Ben coming back with about a 5 minute lead. 

After my quick aid station refill, I found a very steady stream of runners almost right behind me.  I would have my work cut out for me just to hold onto second place.  Energized, I flew down Toll Road kamikaze-style.  Hundreds of runners were coming up the trail on the right side (my left side), restricting me from choosing the best route down.  Instead, I just stuck to my right side, no matter how rocky, muddy, off-camber, or icy it was.  I hardly had time to blink for fear of pulling a superman.  It absolutely amazes me that the human mind and body are so capable of running so fast down a technical trail without falling every minute.  Yet I never once fell.  I will admit that it was perhaps my most focused, one-with-the-trail, kamikaze run ever down technical terrain.  After a few miles, the rocks gave way to smoother dirt and I strided out, hoping to see Ben.  I received dozens of reports that he was anywhere from 200 yards to 4 minutes ahead, with no consistency.  Mile 22 is a screamer of a downhill, half on dirt road, then half on painful paved road, dropping almost 900 ft.  The terrain then flattened out a bit and offered long sightlines as we ran some neighborhood roads.  No one ahead of me, no one behind.  Bummer.  Finally reached the finishing area and could see Ben 90 seconds ahead as he looped the lake.  I finished in second place in 3:18, 5 minutes up on third place.  I guess that means I had the fastest descent, but it wasn’t enough to make up for my poor climb.  I still had a very fun time and want to do the full Challenge soon.  This was another fantastic race, with about 3000 ft climbing.  I enjoyed the post-race food with Ben, Dave, and others, then Dave drove me back to my car.

One note- I have to thank the people of Black Mountain, NC.  When I returned to my car, which was parallel parked on the side of a busy road, I found I had left the trunk wide open before the race.  All my gear, wallet, and even car keys were in plain sight in the trunk, but nothing had been touched.  Thanks for not stealing my car or money- good people in that town.

Chuckanut 50k

I ran Chuckanut because I needed to use some Southwest Airlines miles and I wanted a well-known, well-respected race.  Although it was only 2 weeks before Barkley, I figured a fast 50k wouldn’t hurt me much.  Unfortunately, I became quite sick 2 weeks before the race, with both my training and health suffering quite dramatically.  I accordingly tempered my expectations and decided to run a bit more conservatively and just have fun.  Utah buddy David Nelson lives near Seattle and was running the race, so generously hosted me for the weekend, with us staying at his very friendly Aunt and Uncle’s house in Seattle and driving up Sat morning.  The race was again wet (a common theme this year for me), with rain before hand but only a little during the race.  I was proud to sport my new Team Pearl Izumi gear at the starting line (did I mention I’m on Team PI now?  I own tons of their gear and shoes and love all of it)  The first 10k is on gravel bike trail and I closely monitored my watch to not start out too fast (goal was no faster than 6:30 pace, with my actual flat pace being about 6:25- close enough.  I enjoyed conversing a bit with Tyler on this stretch, learning he was running his first ultra.  I think I was 17th or so place when we finally got off the boring gravel and onto the lush, muddy singletrack. 

(all Chuckanut photos courtesy of Glenn Tachiyama)

The singletrack climb and descent were enjoyable, though we soon ended up on a yet another dirt road with a long climb.  It was a bit of a grinder but just gradual enough that you had to run it.  At last we reached the famed technical singletrack of the Chuckanut Ridge… and my glasses promptly and completely fogged up.  I’ve been wearing my glasses almost exclusively since my eye infection last year, and a case of pink-eye two days before the race ensured I would be in glasses yet again.  Traversing the wet rocks and roots of the ridge were rather difficult with the impaired vision, though I did pause to wipe them several times, earning only momentary reprive from the handicap.  Just as the ridge ended, they de-fogged.  Figures.  But mother nature was also picky with her gifts of sight, as all the famous lookout viewpoints showed only white fog on this day.

One of the many motivational signs along the well-marked course

The middle miles passed quickly if fairly uneventfully, and I was looking forward to the famed climb of Chinscraper.  It was a nice little jaunt up, with a few “climbing on all fours” sections that were, again, good Barkley training.  But it ended quickly and we started down the trails and roads back to the bike path.

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The climb up Chinscraper

I figured my conservative pace and remaining leg speed might yield a few roadk ill on the bike path, and I was not disappointed.  4 miles in 27 minutes resulted in 2 victims, then one more who was walking just a mile before the finish.  I didn’t have any real goals on account of being sick, but figured I would finish 4:15-4:30, and indeed crossed the line in 4:20:34 and 20th spot.  It wasn’t the race I had planned on when I signed up, but I took what my body gave me and was satisfied.  The winning times were impressive for both men and women, with CR falling all around (Jodee Adams-Moore was especially impressive, torching Ellie Greenwoods CR by oer 8 min).  I was pretty cold afterwards, especially as the rain started really coming down, so I quickly dressed and huddled under a tent eating food until David finished with a smile on his face.  We spent a while socializing, then headed back to Seattle. 

This is another well-run race, with great organization, a beautiful location, and lots of markings and cute motivational signs.  I know the long-timers like the course, but I would modify it to cut out all the gravel road given my druthers.  But, it’s historic and the bike path adds an interesting twist and mental challenge that I enjoyed.  A great weekend at a fun race with a good host (thanks again, David).

I’ll end this long diatribe with one final note.  On my third and final plane flight home last Sunday night, I received a text message from none other than Lazarus Lake himself, RD of the Barkley Marathons.  Apparently someone else had dropped out of the Barkley and I was top of the wait list, so he inquired if I still wanted to run.  I replied in the affirmative and thought it a great way to end the trip.  Rather than Barkley fear, though, I felt only excitement.  But I’ll have to save that tale for my next blog post, the Barkley race report.

Trail Running in Upstate South Carolina

Have you recently moved to Greenville?  Visiting Spartanburg on business?  Staying at Anderson while visiting family?  If so, and you want to know about trail running in Upstate, South Carolina, then this post is for you.  I hope it provides some useful information to visitors and residents alike.  I’ll first address where the trails are, then races, then some miscellaneous stuff.

Where to Run- In Town

In Greenville, the premier trail running location is Paris Mountain State Park.  With about 20 miles of trails ranging from easy to very technical winding about the mountain, it is only a few miles from downtown.  It’s a splendid gem that is a joy to visit and quickly causes you to forget you're still in-town.  Mountain bikes aren’t allowed on Saturdays, and the park is open until 9 pm on Tuesdays in the winter, so those are the days I use it the most- you’ll usually find me there on Tuesdays starting about 5:30, if you want to join us.  Greenville Track Club also has an informal group that meets there for a run every Saturday morning at 8:30 am.  There are a few other miles of trails at Conestee Park and at Cleveland Park, but Paris Mountain is the definite crown jewel.

In the Anderson/Clemson area, the best trail running I’ve found is the Issaqueenah Trail system.  There are miles and miles of trails packed into a relatively small area, primarily sweet singletrack.  You can find maps online- one is here, though even this is still missing some trails.  Whether running along Keowee River, ducking holly branches, or going up and down the endless hills, there is plenty here to keep you busy for years.

Spartanburg’s best trails can be found at Croft State Park.  There’s many miles of official and unofficial trails circling the lake, though my favorite area is the no-horses-allowed Southside Mountain Bike park just across the bridge.  It’s less hilly than Paris Mountain and Issaqueenah and has some real cruiser trails.

Where to Run- Outside Town

As good as the aformentioned parks are, an hour or so of driving opens up a whole new world of truly outstanding running trails. 

The Palmetto trail winds off-and-on through the Foothills and Blue Ridge Escarpment- I enjoy running west from Landrum towards Hogback Mtn, though only in winter as this gets overgrown in summer.  A nice mix of steep climbs and runnable trails.

Mountain Bridge Natural area contains Jones Gap and Caesars Head State Parks with dozens of miles of trails, generally moderate (Jones Gap trail) to very difficult (Hospital Rock, Pinnacle Pass, Naturaland).  There are some very picturesque waterfalls, so bring your camera.  Be aware parking can fill quickly at both these parks.

Continuing west, Table Rock State Park contains some of the best views in the state from both Table Rock and Bald Knob overlooks.  On clear days, these provide unobstructed views looking towards Greenville.  It also has some of the biggest climbs in the state. 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Table Rock is the start of perhaps the finest trail in the state, the 77 mile Foothills Trail. Popular for week-long backpacking trips, there is also a good trail running group and listserv based on this trail.  Climbing from Table Rock over Pinnacle Mountain and Sassafras Mountain (the highest point in SC), the well-marked FHT passes numerous waterfalls, including Whitewater Falls, the one of the highest waterfalls east of the Mississippi, and has some impressive suspension bridges and thousands of wooden steps.  The 35 mile Laurel Valley section from Rocky Bottom to Whitewater Falls has no road crossings and is some of the most remote trail in the South East.  It winds north of Lake Jocassee, then follows the Chattooga River (where Deliverance was filmed) before finishing in Oconee State Park.  The trail is difficult, with most runners taking more time than on a 100 mile race.  My favorite section is to park at Rocky Bottom trailhead and then run either towards Laurel Valley to the Heartbreak Bench (24 miles and 5200 ft climbing round trip) or run east up Sassafras, sometimes all the way to Table Rock and back (28 miles, 7600 ft climbing).  Just watch out for industrial-strength spider webs in the summer and carry plenty of water.

Venturing across the border into North Carolina, Dupont State Forest is my single favorite trail running location near Greenville.  It has over 100 miles of trail and has some of the best known waterfalls in the South.  Don’t skip Dupont.  Asheville and Pisgah also have innumerable miles of trails, though plenty has been written on those elsewhere.

Races

I’ve noticed that the races in Upstate SC seem to change frequently.  One year, there are Xterra races in Paris Mountain or Table Rock, or Go Run Trails race at Jones Gap, the next year they are gone.  A little internet searching will reveal what races are on queue for this year.  I’ll still highlight a few, though.

Croft State Park hosts a trail marathon in July, a half marathon in November, and a 24 hr run in December.

In Greenville, Greenville Track Club hosts a number of fun races at Paris Mountain, right now a 12k, 8k, and 16k spread throughout the year.  Half Moon Outfitters also hosts a race at Conestee and a night race at Paris Mountain that are known for lots of swag for entrants and winners.

For ultramarathoners, South Carolina seems to have a much smaller selection than nearby North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, or Virginia.  But, there are still some high-quality races.  Terri Hayes hosts several ultras that have great reputations and challenging terrain.  She doesn’t even have set entry fees, just asking for voluntary donations to offset her expenses.  Clyde Sinclair also hosts Laurel Valley 35 mile (or 31 or 40 miles, depending who you ask), a no-nonsense race run in the middle of August that provides no aid stations but still fills up every year (17 and counting).  There are countless stories/fables about this well-beloved race, and a few of them might even be true.  Dan Hartley also puts on Harbison 50k in Columbia on some nice, fairly flat singletrack.  But, like I said earlier, most of the ultrarunners venture out of state for most of their races.

Other Info

Greenville seems to have more running stores per capita than anyplace I’ve ever seen, though always changing.  Right now, there is Fleet Feet, The Run In, Greenville Running Company, On On Tri, plus stores like REI, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Half Moon Outfitters, and many others.  In other words, if you need shoes or gu, you’re in luck.

The Greenville Track Club is a fine organization that hosts many races and has weekly training groups.  And, if for some reason, you want to run someplace other than trails, try out the Swamp Rabbit trail in Greenville.

I hope this post provides some useful information to Upstate SC residents and visitors alike.  If you see any errors, have additions, or just want to ask a question, please leave a comment.  Otherwise, enjoy the trails.

2013 Run Downtown 5k race report

I still need to do several ultra race reports, but ran a 5k today that I wanted to record.  The RDT is a great competitive race in Greenville, one of the more competitive of the year.  It’s well organized and a nice loop course, with 200 ft of climbing.  Winning time is usually around mid-14’s, and there are often 20 guys under 17 min.  It’s also the only race I’ve done every year since I moved to Greenville SC, so is a good benchmark.  I’ve never done 5k speedwork or tapered for it (I ran 18 miles yesterday), but I still try to be competitive.

In 2011, RDT was my first 5k race in years and I was happy with my 16:58, 15th place finish.  Last year I improved to 16:34 and 14th place, setting my road race PR.  I reviewed my splits from last year (5:21, 5:20, 5:52 for 1.1) and knew I could beat them today, though not for any training-related reasons.  In fact, my PR from last year was coming off a 395 mile December and no hard races, while this year I only ran 211 miles in December and killed myself in a 50k two weeks ago.  My right knee is still balky from that ultramarathon, and my left knee is bruised and extremely painful from a hard tumble I took yesterday on the trails (seriously, it was so stiff and painful that I couldn’t walk down stairs last night).  Plus I’m fighting a cold and haven’t been sleeping much.  Nevertheless, I’ve truly felt I’ve always underperformed in 5k’s due to not pushing hard enough and have really learned that race performances can depend on guts/stupidity/toughness/tenacity more than training.  I decided to basically go all-out like this was a 1 mile race, then depend on my endurance to carry me.  After all, no amount of pain in a 5k can match the hours of pain in ultras.

Despite 3.5 inches of rain in the past week, the weather dawned clear and dry.  Temps at the start were a cool 32 deg with a tiny breeze.  I warmed up with Byron Backer, then stripped down to just my singlet, green shorts, and stretchy gloves and was appropriately cold for a short race.  Greeting a few of my GE teammates, we lined up and started right on time. 

Per my plan, I started very hard and was in 4th place after 100 yards.  2 runners really took off the front followed by a big group.  I had settled into 11th at the half mile mark and felt good, if breathing hard.  We crested a hill at about .8 miles and all of a sudden my legs warmed up and my lungs relaxed- it was go time.  Looking around, I was confident that I was the only ultrarunner in the group and the only old guy, so wanted to see how many young bucks I could catch.  I passed most of the group, reaching the 1 mile mark in 7th place at 5:12.  Sweet.  Mile 2 is net downhill and allowed me to stretch my legs, which my bruised knee did not particularly enjoy.  At all.  I reached the mile marker on the shoulder of 6th place with a 5:10 split (I think that is my 2 mile PR, or at least post-collegiate PR).  We passed a couple guys on the long climb as injured GE teammate Jim cheered.  I reached the top in 5th place.  My legs were absolutely maxed out and my vision was blurry while my lungs screamed.  Ahh, the aliveness of racing.  Someone passed me, and I let him pull me along to pass a slowing runner.  My brain faintly saw the clock counting closer to 16:00 despite my best efforts to stop time.  I crossed the finish line in 5th place at the 16:01 mark.  I was very happy to see GE teammates Phil, Dan, and Barry run great races, as well as many others.  It was a fun, fast day.  Final results here.

Approaching the finish (photo from Greenville News)

Today was a 20 second PR and I am very pleased with the result.  I certainly would have liked to break 16 min, but it wasn’t to be.  Heck, I was amazed at my time given my lack of mileage, injuries, no speedwork, and ongoing recovery.  I really feel I ran my best today and finally have a 5k time I am satisfied with.  Maybe I’ll have to write a 5k break-up letter and stop running them like I did with the marathon.  Per runworks.com calculator, my time would be 15:44 on a flat track- wow. 

5k’s are definitely a young guy race- the average age of the top 10 finishers was 24 years old, and I was the oldest in that group.  In fact, I was 11 years older than any of the other top 5.  Similar to last year, this just reinforces that a strong mileage base and stubbornness can make up for youth and speed.  I’ve been feeling a bit down with my training the past few months, but I’d say I’m in ok shape.  Anyways, now we’re waiting for child number 4 to join our family this week, and then it’s onwards with the rest of 2013.  It will be a great year.

6 months of running, plus looking forward to 2013

I doubt I have any blog readers left, as I’ve basically written once in the past 6 months.  Not that a lot hasn’t happened.  I’ve just had other priorities and haven’t been able to make the time to write.  But, I wanted to put a few pictures, a few memories, and a bit looking forward to 2013.  So this might be a bit long, primarily heavy in pictures. It includes Hardrock pacing and race reports for Iron Mountain 50, StumpJump 50k, and Shut In Ridge Run, amongst other things.

Last I wrote, I had run Logan Peak in June. I spent the next few weeks with family, including a great week in Utah where I wore out the trails and twice summited Mt. Timpanogos.

Hardrock 100 pacing

At the end of my Rocky Mountain vacation, I headed to Hardrock 100 to pace Tim Adams, a Brit who I had never met before. Cody and Joe came, too.  I had never been to Hardrock before but it is truly a special race and I loved the atmosphere.  And the San Juan's are beautiful, impressive mountains, especially when you know you will be running in them. I paced Tim, who did an excellent write up in a UK ultra magazine you can find here.  My thoughts on Hardrock, in no particular order:

The San Juan's are stunning. I paced 27 miles from Grouse Gulch to Maggie’s Gulch in 12 hours.  We summited Handies Peak just as the sun rose to amazing vistas. Tim is hardcore- he struggled with huge blisters the whole time but never talked of quitting. Sherman aid station is the best I have ever seen- I ate bacon, two types of cobbler, breakfast burrito, pie, popsicles, all attended by eager volunteers. Someone even decked the forest service bathroom with a fancy display, doilies, flowers, scented candles, and nice TP. The stretch from Sherman to Pole Creek seemed far too long and took forever. Didn’t really enjoy that part. I never had any problems with course markings. Tim jumped in a mud pit and pulled out a fawn that was stuck, a once in a lifetime encounter. I want to see Virginius, Oscar’s, Grant Swamp pass and the rest of the race. I will race this some point, but will wait till I live back in the Rockies. Spending a weekend at Hardrock with Cody and Joe is something I will never forget.

Tim on top of Handies

Looking back at Handies

Climbing out of Sherman, one of my favorite sections

 

The never ending path to Pole Creek

 

 

The mud pit and the saved fawn

 

Late Summer and Fall

After returning home, I ran a local trail marathon at Croft State Park and enjoyed it. It was typically hot and humid, plus very muddy due to several days of rain, and I had a blast squishing through the mud.  The race was a few miles short, but still a good workout. I was peaked and ready to travel to Oregon for Waldo 100k in August but bailed due to threats of forest fire, something I still regret.  I had a great shot to qualify for Western and just DNS’ed instead.  Moral of the story- always travel to races so you don’t have regrets. I took out my frustrations by registering for Iron Mountain 50 mile in Virginia.  I had run the 30 mile race in 2010 and loved it, and knew several running friends (Brad Hinton and Troy Shellhamer) would be there.  Unfortunately, the race was a bit blah for me- I never felt any spunk and my legs were tired all day from too much training. I hung with the lead pack for 29 miles, then entered a very dark place and walked most of the next 5+ miles. I finally came around at mile 40 and enjoyed the last 10 miles, finishing in 3rd place, about 30 min slower than my goal. I always enjoy this challenging but low key race, but prefer the 30 mile as the 50 has too much gravel road and forgettable trails in the middle.

The rest of the summer/fall was spent training, running to the Bench, hiking and running at Great Smoky Mtn Natl Park, and winning a local trail night 5k. The 5k was a blast, but running fast on technical trails at night is exhilarating and a bit crazy.  All my other night runs have been at the end of ultras, so moving a ton slower.

Leaf strewn autumn colors on the way to the Bench

Running and hiking with the kids in the Smokies

StumpJump 50k

I was excited for the Rock/Creek StumpJump 50k. It has a great reputation and was stacked with competition, including newly-crowned UROC champ Max King as well probably 10 other sponsored athletes.  I was eager to again test myself against some of the best in the country at the Meat Grinder of the East, with hopes of a top 5 or podium finish.  The day dawned unexpectedly rainy but did nothing to dampen my spirits.  The starting line was quite the spectacle as a helicopter hovered overhead shooting video, memorializing one of the biggest 50k’s in the country.  An initial pack of 10 runners blazed along the muddy, wet singletrack.  I slowed briefly and then promptly made a wrong turn around mile 2, losing about 30 seconds to the leaders.  This proved to be the most fortuitous wrong turn of my life as it allowed the lead group to get out of site on the twisting trail.  After the wrong turn, I found myself behind Coloradoan Duncan Callahan, who was taking a somewhat more reasonable pace that I found welcome after the initial dash.  Content to save my energy, Duncan and I chatted for a while as we passed the first aid station.  It was Duncan’s first run in the east and allowed me to reminisce about how accustomed I had become to the nuances of the Appalachian singletrack, with an abundance of roots, mossy rocks, small climbs, and leaves.  8 miles into the race, I wished Duncan well and pulled ahead, eager to make up time on the lead pack and pick my way into the top 3.

Typical course scenery (photo courtesy of RockCreek website)

I reached the mile 10 aid station and was joined by a RC videographer, impressively running with a handheld camera.  I queried the time since the last runner and was told he had a two minute lead.  I then asked how far I was behind the lead pack of Max, et al.  The videographer looked at me in surprise and said, “You mean you don’t know they went off course? You’re in second place. The race is wide open”  Apparently the leaders ran past a volunteer and went several miles down the wrong trail shortly after I lost them.  This surprised me but I knew wouldn’t change the way I was racing.  Give it your all, no matter what else happens, and you’ll finish where you were supposed to.  I’ll admit I started looking behind me every now and then, expecting to see Max catch me from behind.  I also confused the RockCreek guy providing online updates, as he didn’t know my name and took to calling me the Mystery Man.  The next 2 hours were a solo run, though, and I pushed hard on the wet, slick singletrack.  I finally reached the infamous Rock Garden at mile 17 and slowed a bit, not wanting to risk injury.

Thumbs up (photo courtesy of RockCreek website)

I’ll admit that, while hard, the rock garden was shorter and less difficult than I had anticipated, although strangely dark due to very thick foliage and cloud cover.  Shortly thereafter, I again saw the videographer and asked how far behind Max was, to which he replied that most of the runners had DNF’ed (I would later find out they went 7 miles off course and were not eager to pass 400 runners on technical singletrack).  Within a few minutes, I caught the leader at mile 18 aid station and quickly pulled away.  The remainder of the race was a mix of excitement, fear, pain, and utter exhaustion.  The race has some nasty uphills that guarantee appropriate suffering in the last few miles.  Nevertheless, I won the race and cheered in Duncan a few minutes later.  My 4:27 time was slower than expected, although similar to my winning time at the easier SweetH20 50k.  I could imagine taking 15 or 20 minutes off that time given a longer taper and better (i.e. dry) conditions, but I can’t fathom running David Riddle’s 3:50 from 2011.

  Rock/Creek mid-race tweets (in reverse chronological order)

I have to give full props to the StumpJump RD and entire race crew.  It is one of the best races I’ve ever seen- well organized, competitive, and has 31 miles of absolutely sweet, technical singletrack with great views (a welcome relief from the many miles of gravel road found in some races).  The trophy is the heaviest one I’ve ever won (there’s even a video about it’s making- see below) and they also give a ton of gear to podium placers.  The race also mailed me a copy of the newspaper that had the race photos and sent me a thank you note, neither of which have ever happened before.  If you ever get the chance, run the StumpJump.

November/December

I have been trying to run all the races in the SE, not wanting to repeat any.  That I made an exception for the Shut In Ridge Run says something about the quality of this race, as does the fact the race is in it’s third decade.  It’s normally about 18 miles and finishes almost 3000 ft higher than it starts.  It’s in Asheville so you know it’s competitive, and you’re doing well if you can beat your road marathon time.

The Blue Ridge parkway that runs alongside the race was closed, so Justin volunteered to come up and shuttle my car to the top.  The road closure also resulted in the finish line moving an extra 1.1 mile away, and (unbeknownst to me) some of the aid stations closing.  The weather was cool and clear, though I quickly discovered that the outer bands of Hurricane Sandy had blown all the leaves off the trees earlier that week.  Race veterans confirmed this was the leafiest year ever, with much of the trail having 4-6 inches of fresh leaves completely obscuring the tripping hazards beneath.  Crazy indeed.  I ran a 2:49 in 2010 and felt I could do 2:40 this year, but that meant a fast start.  My 5:49 first mile found me in third place, though I drifted between third to sixth for a while, with much of the passing happening as we took turns falling.  Similar to StumpJump, this race is almost all sweet, technical singletrack which adds to the enjoyment of seeing the brilliant fall colors.  I had just passed someone who broke his toe during a fall when I arrived at an aid station to find nothing set up.  No cars, nothing.  I realized I was in a bit of a predicament and was glad for my last minute decision to carry a bottle, even if it was only 1/3 full and held 1 gu  I ended up nursing that bottle through 90 minutes of race.  One of the lead runners hadn’t brought any water, and I passed him as he slowly walked a downhill at mile 13, completely bonked, moving me into 3rd place.  I enjoyed the steep final climb and descent on Mt Pisgah as much as anyone (which is to say, not at all), passing the old finish line at 2:40:50, right where I wanted.  The official finish line was 7 minutes away and I was thankful I didn’t have to hold off any hard-charging runners from behind.  After talking to some of the locals like Scott Williams and eating the food at the finish line, Justin and I drove home just in time for me to miss our scheduled family photo shoot. I spent the rest of November getting ready for the North Face 50 mile Championship in San Fran… which will get it’s own post.

2012 Year in Review and a Look Ahead

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about 2012.  For no reason in particular, I don’t felt it was quite as good as 2011.  I ran the most miles ever and was relatively injury free, both positives.  I won 7 races ranging in distance from 1 mile to 50k and set 5 PR’s, including 4 in one race at a relatively-satisfying Umstead 100.  Winning StumpJump was an unexpected highlight.  But for some reason, I think I left a bit on the table.  Not racing Waldo was definitely a mistake, and I had a number of races where my performance range from a bit subpar (Uwharrie, Iron Mountain) to downright abysmal (TNF 50). 

For 2013, I expect myself to improve.  I plan to keep mileage about the same but want to increase the number of Big Workouts (especially hill work), which I feel decreased over the last few years.  Beyond that, I want to keep racing, running, and having fun. 

Planned races:

January- Harbison 50k

February- Mt. Mitchell Challenge or marathon

March- Probably Chuckanut 50k, if I get in the lottery

April- The Barkley Marathons, if I get in from the wait list (I’m number 11).  Yes, this is THE Barkley and is completely nuts.  I plan to train accordingly.  For the record, I never would have imagined running this race even a few months ago and now I find myself strangely excited.  If I don’t get in the Barkley, I’ll do Promise Land 50k

May- recover, or go Massanutten 100 (wait listed) if I didn’t do Barkley

June- nada

July- White River 50 (yup, 2 trips to Seattle for races)

August- maybe Laurel Valley 35, maybe nothing

End of year- plan to do TNF Atlanta 50, then Pinhoti 100, the Lookout Mtn 50.  Might do Georgia Jewel 100 or Grindstone 100 instead of Pinhoti

Should be fun.  Hope to see you all on the trails.  Any I’d be remiss to not give a big, end-of-the-year thanks to my wife and kids for supporting me.  I love you guys!

The Generosity of a Runner (aka Dale is awesome, aka Logan Peak race report)

I’ve been a complete slacker in my blogging ever since Umstead in March.  Life has been busy- between a wife, 3 kids, another on the way, a mortgage, full-time job, running, and church, I haven’t had time to both run and write about running.  Not that there hasn’t been a lot to write about- pacing for 12 hours at Hardrock, DNS at Waldo, 3^rd place finishes at Iron Mountain 50 and Shut In Ridge Run, and especially winning the StumpJump 50k where Max King was entered (not every day you can say that).  But, I haven’t wanted to write about any of those until I first told the story of Logan Peak Run.  But the story isn’t about the race itself; instead, it’s about something better- the goodness and generosity of people, especially runners.

Logan Peak Run in 2008 was my first ultramarathon, and I ran it 3 years in a row while I lived in Logan, winning twice.  It’s a great race on a beautiful course and is a wonderful opportunity to run hard with my friends, though I never expected to again run the race after moving to South Carolina in 2010.  But again, this story isn’t about the race.

Marci and the kids were flying to Idaho to see her family in early June, with me joining a few weeks later.  I soon realized that I would be flying into Salt Lake the day of the Logan Peak run.  I rearranged my schedule just so I could arrive a day earlier, enabling me to see my Logan friends (Cody, Joe, et al) and run the race.  It would be a grand homecoming reunion.

I awoke early that  Friday morning in South Carolina, eager to fly to Utah to see my family and friends.  However, I received a message from Southwest Airlines during my drive that my flight had been cancelled.  Knowing there were flights later in the day but finding that the Southwest 1-800 number had a 2 hour hold time (!), I continued to the airport.  I arrived to chaos.  Apparently a glitch at the Chicago airport the evening before had prevented almost 100 Southwest airplanes from taking off, including my flight.  I stood in line for 90 minutes to talk to an agent, who informed me that the earliest rebooking would see me arrive in Utah late Saturday night.  I was pretty bummed out that I would miss the race and not see my wife and kids for another day.  I even looked online for flights on other airlines, but found the last-minute tickets were well above my income bracket.  I consoled myself with breakfast at the Southern staple, Waffle House, and vented a bit on facebook and the Fast Running Blog before returning home.  I was already planning a monster trail run the next morning to pound out my aggression, disregarding the ALL-TIME record high temperatures in Greenville that day.

And then, it happened.  Unexpectedly, I received an email from Dale.  I have never met Dale, but he is a runner on the Fast Running Blog who lives near Seattle and is a friend of a friend, having run a Ragnar Relay with Cody a few years prior.  Dale’s email was brief, simply stating that he heard about my situation and wanted to help by donating some frequent flyer miles to get me to Utah that day.  I wrote a quick, “Thanks for the offer, but I really can’t” email, but he immediately reiterated his offer and sent me his phone number to talk.  He included a little snippet that he hated to see a runner miss a race, plus wanted someone to beat Cody.  Still hesitant, I called Dale and was overwhelmed by his insistence.  He had already confirmed that he had enough frequent flier miles to buy me the ticket and had even looked up what time the flight would arrive (11:47 pm) and it’s on-time arrival record.  I told him I would call my wife and let him know.

Marci was understandably shocked when I told her about Dale’s offer.  I still was very reticent to use his miles, but Marci told me that either I took Dale’s offer, arrived very late Friday night, would be able to run the race, and then we would make it to Idaho in time for her family reunion, or I would decline the offer, arrive very late Saturday night, and would miss both the race and family reunion.  I called Dale, expressed my gratitude multiple times, and gave him the info to buy my ticket.  30 minutes later, I was headed back to the airport, ticket in hand.  Good thing I didn’t unpack.  Before I left, I renamed my blog, “Dale is Awesome!!!”  He really is.

Dale

I had Dale book me on an early flight from Greenville to Atlanta, giving me a 4 hour layover before the flight to Salt Lake City.  I was hoping seats on an earlier flight might open up.  As soon as I got to the gate in Greenville, I asked the attendant if there were any openings.  While she looked, I started recounting my adventure that day, including telling how my wife (with 3 kids in tow) was picking me up at the airport at midnight, 14 hours later than originally planned.  Although she first said there were no openings, the attendant humored me by putting me on standby for an earlier flight.  Then, she noticed that I was a medallion member (something I had fortuitously received earlier that very week as a perk from work).  I asked if that made a difference, and she said it certainly did.  5 minutes later, I found myself with a ticket in-hand for the earlier flight.  10 minutes after that, she replaced that ticket with an aisle seat on the earlier flight.  Things could not have worked out better.

That is how, at 10 pm MDT that night, I found myself hoping into a car with my wife in Utah.  Thanks to some road construction, we arrived in Logan at 1 am, 22 hours after I woke up, where I managed to sleep for only a few hours before it was time for the race.

Needless to say, the race is almost an afterthought in this story.  After all, unexpected acts of charity and generosity are far more important that a bunch of skinny guys in short shorts running around a mountain.  But since this is a race report, I better include something.  Cody gave me a ride to the race, and it was great to see him and many other friends at the starting line.  I almost froze to death in the 50 deg temps waiting for the race to start, as I hadn’t experienced weather colder than 60 deg in at least 3 months and was used to 75 or 80 deg lows.  I felt tired and out of breath (gee, I wonder why) on the initial, 3500 ft climb, which allowed a couple packs to pull ahead of me.  I didn’t care- I was just happy to be there, enjoying a gorgeous day in my beloved former stomping grounds of Northern Utah mountains.  I found my lungs after an hour and caught the second group (including Joe and Cody) before aid 2.  We chatted some, then Joe and I slowly pulled away on the climb to Logan Peak, summiting together with only Seth Wold ahead of us. 

Joe and I approaching the summit of Logan Peak (pics from Eli Lucero, Herald Journal News)

Joe and I paused briefly to enjoy the amazing view of the Bear River Range and Cache Valley.  Then, game on- Joe pulled slowly away on the descent, leaving me in 3^rd place.  I pushed hard over the next hour on the rolling North Syncline trail, straining for glimpses of Joe before finally catching him around mile 22, hiking through the mule ears.  Joe thwarted every passing attempt with (un)timely surges before leaving me in his dust at the last aid station.  My quads held up well going down Dry Canyon but I never saw Joe again.  Seth won in just over 4 hours, followed by Joe, me, and Cody, all under Cody’s old CR (though a new path to the summit took off a few minutes).  The food and fraternizing at the finish line were splendid, and I even told the local sports writer about Dale and the donated ticket, which he duly included in his write up.

Joe, Cody, and I after the race

Marci was eager to see her family, so we soon left and drove the Idaho.  I was riding high after a fun race and looking forward to a few good weeks of trail running and pacing at Hardrock.  But I will forever be mindful and grateful to Dale, who truly renewed my faith in humanity and did a good deed just to help someone else.  Dale, and runners everywhere, truly are awesome.  Dale, thank you again.  I’ll do my best to go and do likewise to my fellow men.

Twins

I’ve found my long-lost twin

A few thoughts on Twitter, iRunFar, and Ultrasignup

I started ultrarunning in 2008, which is not that long ago. But even in that short time, I have seen some drastic changes in ultras, especially the non-running side of the sport. Today, I want to share a few thoughts about two things that, for me, have revolutionized ultrarunning- Twitter and ultrasignup.
As any gray beard ultrarunner will tell you, it used to be that you had to wait until Ultrarunning magazine arrived to find out recent race results, and “recent” was highly subjective since the results were often a few months old by that point. The advent of the internet obviously made results available much sooner post-race. But, it wasn’t until Twitter came along that we could regularly follow races as they happened. All of sudden, spectators along the course could tweet what was happening at each aid station, either updating followers on the race leaders or on a particular runner of interest. On top of starting THE ultrarunning website, Bryon Powell of iRunFar turned race tweeting into a finely tuned machine, travelling to big races across the globe and outfitting himself with satellite uplink, all in the name of informing curious minds with live race results no matter how remote the race. I saw Bryon in action at UROC last year, and his dedication and skill were evident. He even kindly passed along a message to my wife who had just given birth the week before, telling her I loved her and the kids. Just a few minutes later, she saw the message on our home computer. Not too shabby, supposing we were hundreds of miles apart and I was in the middle of a 9 hour race.

 

Bryon’s message on my behalf…

Showing how big of an ultra-freak I am, I will admit to spending far too much time some weekends endlessly hitting refresh on twitter, yearning to know what is happening at some race in Utah, Virginia, Europe, Colorado, California, or any other number of locales. Bryon and many other faithful runners have kept me informed. I’ll admit that I’ve even called my neighbor, another runner, near the end of Western States:
“Are you watching this?” [I didn’t even need to tell him what this was] “Yeah- it’s amazing.” “What just happened with Killian? Is that a typo?” “I don’t know. And look at Geoff- he was 20 minutes behind Tony and now he’s only 8 back” “iRF said he’s got Mackey as a pacer, so that’s gotta help.” And so on…
Much to my wife’s chagrin, it seems there is a race almost every weekend that I want to hear about. This year, I think I’m going fastpacking in the Smokies during WS100 just so I won’t spend all day on twitter. Who am I kidding, though, I’ll just read all of it when I get home.

The other revolutionary item is Ultrasignup. On the surface, ultrasignup.com appears no different than any other race signup website like active.com. But, search for a race and you’ll soon encounter a slew of useful data- race results for previous years, the top 10 times ever, how full the race is for next year, etc. But what makes the site really standout is the runner ranking. For every race, each runner is given a ranking based on their finishing time, with the winner receiving a 100%, and someone running double the winning time earning a 50% score. Ultrasignup averages all your result percentages to end up with your Ultrasignup ranking. Any ultrarunner who doesn’t know what their score is (at least approximately) is either lying or living in the backwoods of Alaska.  Ok, that may be a bit of an overstatement, but still- I know running buddies who constantly tease each other about who has a higher score after their most recent race, and I’m sure some people have DNF-ed races just so a low placing won’t appear on their permanent ranking. And having the ability to look at the ultrasignup ranking for all the entrants in your upcoming race is yet another online death trap, resulting in far too much time spent looking at who your real competition is at the next race and who has a high score just by winning a local 50k that only had 6 entrants. Irregardless, the information available on races and especially runners on ultrasignup.com is awesome.

The entrants at my next race

And so, I’d like to tip my hat and give a big thank you to Twitter, iRF, all the other ultrarunning tweeters out there, and ultrasignup.com. Thanks, guys, for all you do to keep us informed about and during races. Though I suggest staying away from many ultrarunning widows, who may have a few choice words for making an already-time-consuming sport that much more time-consuming. See you at the next race!