A Close Pack of Races

In the last two weeks I've ran two races. On the 25th after a wonderful Thanksgiving with family in Seattle I ran the Seattle Marathon for the 4th consecutive time. I followed that up with the inaugural McDowell Mountain 50 Miler this past Saturday.

I usually would never schedule two races so close together....but my buddy Korey was running McDowell Mountain too, and I really needed some redemption after my fail-fest up in Flag.

Seattle Marathon ( Nov 24 2012 )

What can I say, the Seattle Marathon is one of my favorite races. It was the second marathon I ever ran, I've run it four times in a row and I've gone from struggling to a 5 hour finish to easily putting up a respectable time. It's pretty much the race I have come to measure myself against over the past few years. Most importantly the race comes at the end of an always wonderful week in the Seattle area with my Grandparents who always come and cheer me to the finish.

This year was definitely unlike any other. In the past I've always been pretty nervous, unsure of how I would perform and nervous about the notorious hilly section in the last 5 miles. Things are different since I've been running ultras....the hills at Seattle that once seemed daunting are now little bumps compared to some of the monsters I have to climb (see McDowell Mountain 50 miler for more on this). I went into this race confident and expecting to PR, although only by a few minutes. I had a general goal of running a comfortable marathon and then moving on to the 50 miler two weeks later.

I finally get a good action shot at this race

The race went pretty much according to plan I started out right around my goal pace and pretty much cruised for 3:32:40 until I hit the finish. Along the way I chatted briefly with one or two people but mostly kept to myself and enjoyed the day. It was mostly foggy until about 23 miles at which point it turned in to one of the glorious sunny days that are often neglected when people talk about Seattle. When I got to the end I decided to give it a good go to the finish and sprint as fast as possible.....this apparently really excited the announcer as I blazed past as I heard him scream something about "you're killing it!"  ..... anyway it was a good race....I plan to run it again next year.... its pretty much a tradition for me....good course, I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a marathon to run.

McDowell Mountain 50 Miler ( Dec 8 2012 )

After my failure at Flag I knew I needed to redeem myself but just couldn't see how. It took me most of October to get right after my injury which left me with just shy of a month to train until Seattle. I pretty much figured there was no time for another Ultra in 2012. This really bummed me out, if you ask anyone who I've talked to about Flag the DNF didn't sit very well. Korey told me he signed up for McDowell Mountain on December 8th. I followed the advice I usually give people about races "just sign up and deal with the consequences later".

December 8th was an early morning. I was staying about an hour away from McDowell Mountain Regional Park so I had to get up around 4:15, get my stuff ready, have some coffee, go out there, and then get settled for the hour before the race. Just before 7am the RD, Jamil Coury, lined us up and gave us the pre-race brief which he finished up with by telling us "I ran this course straight through a few weeks ago, I did it, so can you" .... I had to laugh because only a few months ago he won the Mogollon Monster 100 and is a really great runner.

Anyway we were off through the the cactus land that is the Sonoran Desert. I kept an easy pace and fell in with a few people. I had a pretty set plan for this race and made sure to stick to it. Hammer Gel approximately every 30 minutes plus eating food at aid stations.  I got this advice from my friend Siobhan who I met at the Bull Run 50 Miler in April. This plan work In addition to that I made a point of avoiding both my Ipod and drinking Mountain Dew until the mile 29 aidstation. I didn't want to get bored of my music or get too wired on caffiene and crash and burn.

I wish I had a lot to say about the first 20 or so miles but I really don't. We all took off, Korey ran out front with the leaders and Dallas blazed by me a few minutes later. After that the next few hours were mostly steady pace. I talked with some people for a while, enjoyed the views of the Superstition Mountains and just took it easy. Unfortunately I could tell my legs weren't exactly fresh...its not like I really tapered for this race but oh well! The only big climb of the day was  from mile 19.5 to 22 and it was only a 1300 foot climb. It didn't seem that daunting and Korey and I had even been laughing before the race that it couldn't be as tough as the climbs in Flag or even at 3 Peaks. We should really stop laughing at things... Korey was coming back my way in third place as I went through mile 18, I asked how he was doing and all he said was "that hill is a bitch!" ......Korey is known for running up most hills no big deal....I knew trouble was on the way.

I pulled into the aid station at mile 19 or so and looked out at the road up to the top of the mountain which was adorned with several cell towers. This is when I figured out why this climb was so bad....there were no switchbacks....at all.....the road went straight up about 3/4 of the way....took a right.....stayed level(ish) for a while...then took a left and went the rest of the way.....The people at the aid station were telling everyone looking at the mountain "hey the complaint department is at the top"..... I power hiked the best I could up the mountain which definitely had sections with 20% grade ... Dallas came ambling down past me at one point laughing saying "Hey! Use those arms and legs man!" ....he was right arm pumping totally helped.... at one point another runner passed me with a GoPro asked me to say a few words to the camera and then said something about me being a "Billy Goat" ..... it's funny now but at the time I was too tired to be amused. When I reached the top a guy named Nate was sitting there marking down when everyone arrived. I looked at him and simply said "I really hate Jamil right now!" he just laughed and said "Yeah when I heard this climb was part of the race I was really confused....and then I saw who designed the course and it made sense!"

Most of the climb was steeper than this....

I let out a quick victory cry and started working my way down. Down was certainly faster than up...but I still wouldn't say there was much running as it was still crazy steep and I was feeling a little drained. Eventually I worked my way back down to the aid station which was at mile 25, fueled up, ate and headed out.

It was starting to get hot....I started pouring some water on my head .... the next 4 miles was a steady climb through the Sonoran Preserve which was really awesome....even if it was slow going for me....while the climb up the mountain hadn't hurt my energy stores too bad it really did hurt my motivation and at times I just couldn't really force myself to run. Eventually the trail turned down and I looped back into the aid station I had just been at twice in a row at mile 29..... I was really excited.

Shuffle... Shuffle

I took out my Ipod turned it on then looked to the aid station volunteers and said "Tell me you have Mountain Dew!!!!". I had two small cups and then flipped on my Ipod and took off. The next few miles had some climbing and some down hill but I got a good stretch of running in. I still didn't have too much motivation so there was totally some walking...but hey I never claimed to be fast at the 50 miler. After the aid station at mile 33 things turned up. The next 6 or so miles were all down hill and all on non technical terrain. Good music was playing...it was finally cooling off and in what felt like not too long (it was still a long time) I rolled into the aid station at mile 39. Things turned a little down hill after this my motivation problems came back and the trail went back to some rocky single track that I really just didn't just myself to push it on. So I just took what the day gave me and when night started creeping up around mile 44 I pulled out my headlamp and flipped it on.

I rolled into the last aid station which was at the start/finish and ate some food and prepared for the last 5 miles. Larissa was waiting for me and asked "Hey, how are you feeling" apparently I got a grim look on my face because she said "oh....bad question" ...She did let me know that she was going to get me a pizza while I took care of the last 5 miles. I angled my headlamp down towards the ground and shuffled off.

The last 5 miles was not very much fun....it was dark...I kept banging my toes into rocks....and the loop section we were running is pretty much a snakey figure eight. I kept thinking I was lost then I'd see another race marking and think "ok sure" after a long slow haul (there was lots of out loud swearing here) I made my way over the top of the ridge and saw the finish again...then the trail turned to the right....then I ran into a sign I had seen about 35 minutes earlier and a bunch of wrong way signs! Ahhh...what! I knew I had made a wrong turn so I turned back and realized that about 300 yards earlier I had missed the correct turn off.....it was about 1 more minute until the finish! I rolled in at about 12:52. Larissa helped me over to a chair next to a heat lamp and quickly brought me my bag-o-stuff I had prepared for the end of the race....I was getting cold fast so I pulled on a pair of pajama pants, put on a fleece and removed my shoes. Nick Coury was there and he brought me over my finishers pint glass and congratulated me on the finish. After that I got into the car and deliriously ate some pizza and drank from a giant bottle of ice tea.

Overall not my best race, real motivation issues....but I never once seriously considered quitting.....and the recovery is going really well! Oh yeah...Korey...that speed demon won the whole thing and erased a 15 minutes deficit in the last 5 miles.....rock on man you are awesome !

Jamil and Nick Coury put on really good races....and they seem to have marking these things totally locked down....anyone in the southwest should strongly consider one of their races!

A Teatise in Failure

I don't like to quit.....as a matter of fact it is one of my least favorite things in the world....but apparently sometimes it happens. Needless to say, the Flagstaff 50 miler did not go so well for me. Actually.....scratch that....it was going great....until it went completely sideways and I had to take a DNF.

Flag was for sure going to be a tough course, but I was ready, I ran or hiked over 180 miles in August including some pretty much all day affairs. I tapered hard in September because I know it works for me....even though I hate tapering and it drives me insane. I prepared in advance, had eating and hydration planned out.....I knew the course....and on race day I knew exactly what I had to do...I was calm...cool...confident....

Normally I'd break the race down section by section but since I DNF'd and am kind of mad about it I'm going to keep things short and simple. Miles 0-22 went really well....I was conservative, I followed my eating plan like clockwork and despite some tough climbs I was feeling good. I had just run about 5 miles with Christie Bane from TTR, the company and conversation was great and my energy was doing really well. I knew the second half of the course would be tough but as Christie said "Our current pace is very sustainable" .... I generally agreed with this as we closed in on half way..... then disaster struck....

I was running along all nice and happy and then bang.....I trip on a rock jutting out of the trail....now let me be clear....the trail wasn't technical...it was easy....I just wasn't paying crazy close attention and I caught myself on it.... At first I thought I just got jolted ....but I noticed myself slowing and let Christie pass me....I continued to slow down and she pulled away.....the front of my foot hurt a lot but I figured I could deal with it. I toughed it out to the mile 25 aid station and then began the climb right afterward.....about half way up I noticed my hip flexor was hurting now too....crap.... so the thing about hurting one side of your running (ex: my hurt left foot) is that your otherside tries to compensate to make it feel better.....this then screws up the other side too...usually in your hip flexor......

So the next six miles went like this.....

Descending: "My foot hurts"

Climbing: "My hip flexor is killing me"

I tried for over an hour and a half to talk myself out of DNF'ing but in the end as I rolled in to mile 32 aid station after walking most of the last 10 miles all I could really think of was "If I keep going I might get seriously hurt and have to stop running" ......so I did what I had to do and took the DNF..... The race director, Jamil Coury, gave me a lift back to the start and was in general really cool. On the positive side I did get a full 32 miles in and injury aside I felt able to turn around and do it again when I dropped....this means I'm training smart and racing smart....something I don't always do!

My friends Kayley and Brian were in town because they wanted to get out of Phoenix.......also I asked them to come see me finish....they made me feel a lot better by giving me some beer and telling me funny stories....

I thought it would take me a lot longer to write this race report...but in reality I just want this race in the rear view mirror....the DNF isn't sitting well....I'm already plotting some sort of "Redemption Run".....

Tapering at Altitude

I'm tapering for Flag 50 which basically means after my 60 (ish) mile week I haven't been running a lot. But if I didn't do something I would totally freak out so I have been busy. Over Labor Day weekend I had kind of a grand tour of Arizona. First, I went up to Flagstaff and did a little camping and reading. The next morning I woke up at 0'DarkThirty broke down my campsite and hauled it in my car over to Humphrey's Peak with the goal of running up and down as a test of myself at altitude prior to the race on the 22nd.

Some Tea on the Stove

Early AM Trail

I started up and ran up the best I could.....but it was more of a power hike. I shot up the pretty quick and hit 12300 ft in (3000 ft of climbing and 4.3 miles of trail)  about 2 hours. Then my legs started to get wobbly and I started to feel like I was going to get sick off the side of the mountain. With maybe 300 vertical ft (and 1/4 mile) left to go I decided to turn around. I was one of very few people that far up the mountain and I was alone so I decided not to risk it.....altitude sickness hits you sometimes....in these cases its best to not be stupid.

So I turned around and jaunted down the mountain. As I started descending I felt way better....until I got lost....I ended up off trail for about 10 minutes before I found my way back.....note....if you have to slide down the hill....you probably aren't on the path anymore.  After my detour I got back on the path and started  running/hopping down the rocks.....I felt way better....and agile like a mountain goat.... I passed a ton of hikers some of which gave me a friendly "Wow good work!" and others a much more angry "What the %#%#$^ you aren't even sweating bro!" ...... I got down after a little over an hour of descent.

Went back to town....got some food......got some really good espresso to wake me up. Then I headed for the next adventure. I spent the rest of the weekend on the Mogollon Rim, which I highly suggest to anyone outdoorsy. I camped here literally the tent was right behind this picture:

I'd tell you where this is but I don't want you stealing the spot!

The Rim was great although quite windy! The next day I had a hike up Tonto Creek on the way back toward civilization......there was a hail storm....8 more miles!

Since then I've been continuing to taper and heal.....my drop bags are all set....11 days to Flag....I'm ready to bring it!

Good and Bad

Running can be an interesting sport one week you want to be sick and post your worst time ever, the next your easily cruising to a PR. Life in general it turns out is a lot like this as well. I've been treated to two especially horrible days running recently as well as one that was just perfect. It's important in running (and in general) to roll with the punches.....it's your actions in these moments that define you.....just pick yourself up and hang in until things get better......they always do.

This quote pretty much says it:
 "Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up."

55+ Miles last week. Less than a month to Flag!


Specifically what I'm talking about:

Bear Canyon Loop 17.5 mi 3:57 (Personal Worst)
Bear Canyon Loop 17.5 mi 3:15 (Personal Best)
Mt Lemmon 17 miles ..... gave up after 9 miles and 2 miserable hours.

Mountain Repeats / Monsoon in the Face

Hill repeats are a large part of a runners training and are made to build speed and endurance. They generally involve running up a hill that's about 300 feet multiple times. This results in tired but improved runners. Ultra training ends up taking this to the next level. Today some of us went for some mountain repeats

The Santa Rita Mountains are about 60 minutes south of Tucson and are home to one awesome / brutal mountain, Mt Wrightson. The trail up Wrightson is 5 miles long and involves 4000 ft of elevation. Korey, Mike Duer, Dallas, Chris and I all met up in Madera Canyon at 6 am with the intent of doing multiple ascents of the mountain. I have run up this route once before for my first run with TTR, it was brutal and I wanted another shot... this was it.

We all started up the trail, Korey and Mike shot ahead and a long day of climbing began. I stayed with Dallas for about 3 miles but he pulled away too. The top of the mountain was socked in but they were nice white fluffy clouds so I was excited to run through them. I hit switchback city and powered my way up to the Baldy Saddle. I ran up along the ridge through the clouds and made my way to the summit. The others passed me on the way down. The view of the summit was really cool since I was above the clouds. I knew I wanted to do another climb so I only stayed about 2 minutes, ate some Accel Gel, drank some water and started back down. I was happy and feeling good and way ahead of my previous time. An uneventful run down brought me into Madera Canyon again after 3:10, a 30 minute improvement.

I refueled grabbing a turkey/avacado wrap and a coke, refilled my water and got some more Gu and started back up. Looking up at the summit the clouds were getting thicker, I knew I probably wouldn't make it to the top before some weather rolled in so I resigned to only making it back to the Baldy Saddle again. The first two miles were brutal and humid and I felt like crap. I pushed through and ended up really enjoying the second part of the climb. There were a few light rain showers but they only lasted for about 2 minutes each.

At the saddle I looked around and the clouds were starting to get dark. This confirmed my decision to turn around. I figured with about 4 miles back to the canyon I could hopefully get down before the rain started since I had made good down hill time before.....this was WAY wrong. I got down through the crazy switch backs (~1 mile) and it promptly started to rain  monsoon. This slowed me way down...the trail was pretty much turned into little rivers which annoyingly covered up all the rocks....I decided not to push speed and just walk it in....getting a sprained ankle would be bad....

The rain was cold....I trudged along....my foot started to hurt..... other than that I felt great.... plenty of energy.... Chris had passed me on his second time up and passed me again on the way down, he seemed pretty adept at running through the rain soaked trail. He stopped and lent me a goretex vest and walked with me for a bit then took off to get down off the mountain. The vest warmed me up and I walked/jogged the rest of the way in..... I got back to the parking lot thoroughly soaked 3:50 after I started up for the second ascent....this is really slow considering I skipped the final summit part.

This run kicked my butt.....but in a good way...overall I got more than 7 hours under foot, great training for Flag! Also the total elevation gain/loss was 7500/7500 which is just short of the total gain/loss at Flag! So I figure if I can do that in less than half the distance I will be ok! Overall a good day...well except for the Monsoon in the face.

There was a little bit of climbing today!

Cuyamaca 3 Peaks.....Lots of Climbing...Slight Breakdown....100% Awesome

The Cuyamaca Three Peaks 50k is a small mountain Ultra located just outside of San Diego in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. The course boasts over 6000 ft of climb and is just within range to get to by car. This makes it the perfect place to go for a race during the hot hot Arizona summer. I headed out Friday night and camped in my car about 2 miles from the start the night before the race. Some people might say that camping in your car is weird, but, it is cheap, it lets you stay close to the start line, and my Outback is exactly the right size if you put the back seat down…so it was great. Sunset the night before the race was beautiful and after the sun went down the stars were out in force. In the past I have almost always been nervous the night before a race. In this case I wasn’t. I knew I had trained hard but most importantly I had finished a 50 miler before so 50k just didn’t seem as daunting. I knew whatever the course threw at me I would be ready and be able to finish. Anyway I had talked my buddy Korey into running this race...Korey is a speed demon and we both knew he was going to do really well. I love it when I know other people at the race it makes it more fun....even if they are miles ahead of you!

I'm stoked lets go!

Stonewall Mountain 1 (0-6.5 Miles)

The race started out at a pretty good pace as the sun was rising. We looped out around the lake past a bunch of horse stables and toward the back side of Stonewall Peak. We started climbing the peak, everyone started to slow down a little bit as we climbed up. The girl in front of me told me to pass her whenever I was ready but I told her “I don’t want to do anything stupid this early”. This turned out to be a great choice as the current pace ended up being perfect. After climbing the peak there was a great run down a series of switchbacks to the first aid station at the Paso Picacho Camp Ground at about 7 miles. I grabbed some food and then took off back into the woods.

Middle Peak (6.5-13 Miles)

The next section started out pretty flat but pretty quickly started the climb up and around middle peak. One or two people passed me here but I felt like my pace was right. I also remembered that we still had over 20 miles to go so I decided to just keep it nice and steady. The climb up the peak was almost all single track mostly through some awesome tall grass. This section of the trail was beautiful and it was still nice and cool. After the climb the course turned down a fire road for a nice easy descent back toward aid station two which was located at the start. On the way down I saw my buddy Korey coming back up I yelled out to him that he was in second place and to keep it up. At the aid station I grabbed some more food and a little ginger ale to calm my stomach down. The volunteers helped me refill my water pack which was awesome because even though we were only 13 miles in I had already drained it. I had looked at the next section on the course map earlier in the week so I knew what was coming and I braced myself.

As you can see 13-19 is a bit of a climb

Middle Peak (Again) then Cuyamaca Peak (13-19 Miles)

I’ll just be up front about the next section. It was hard, it was hot and it took a lot out of me. After aid station 2 we turned around and re-climbed middle peak up the fire road. The sun was finally out in force, so this area was hot, and my stomach was not co-operating. At the top there was a short descent and then we were all faced with the daunting last climb of the day to the top of Cuyamaca Peak.  The trail up the peak is pretty rugged and due to burns in the past is fairly exposed. Me and Jeff (who had been running with me since about mid way up middle peak) slowly made our way to the top. It seemed like this trail kept getting steeper. About half a mile from the peak the trail dumped out onto a road which just progressively got steeper.

We finally got into aid station three (19 miles) at the top of the peak. I was tired but this aid station was like a shot of adrenaline. The aid station was manned by women in bikinis and they had fresh strawberries, watermelon, and ice pops.  I’ll admit up front (and if you ever run an ultra with me you’ll find out) that I act like a complete idiot at aid stations. I’m always excited by the food and the cold drinks.  I also usually end up calling the aid station workers “My best friends ever” or “The coolest people in the world” or something like that. In this case since we were over half way through this was my first chance to drink Mountain Dew of the day (In general, I have a rule that I don’t drink caffeine during the first half of the race).

Life giving frozen goodness!

 I drank two cups of mountain dew, ate a mountain of strawberries some watermelon….some more food that I don’t remember…there was also a bucket of ice water and I may have dunked my head in it….it was wonderful….everyone laughed at how excited I was. Anyway after aid station goodness I headed out with another full water pack as the climb had depleted mine.

Down to Cold Spring (19-26 miles)

The next section of the course was almost entirely downhill….yes…..it was great. We all bombed down the hill for the first couple miles and everyone who I ended the climb with eventually spread out again. Three miles into the section it flattened out a little bit and I started to hit the wall. I slowed down and got passed by about four people. I worked through the wall but it was a little hard. At one point I was going down some single track that was overgrown and brushed a plant out of my way….it was totally covered in nettles….it was awful….I swore….but luckily about 5 minutes later I broke through the wall and started running again. I passed some park rangers on horses on the way down the trail, flashed the hang loose sign to some guy taking pictures and rolled into aid station 4 at like 26 miles.

I got a band aid for my nettle sting from the plant, ate more food, refilled my water pack (empty again), grabbed a couple more GU’s and headed out.

Cold Spring to Finish

The next couple miles were a slow uphill section. I decided to go for a 7 hour goal and I knew I had plenty of time so I decided to take the uphill section slow, knowing that the last 3 miles were downhill or flat and I’d be able to run. My thought was if I saved my energy I’d have enough energy left to run it in strong to the end. Anyway a good deal of walking up hill here. For such small hills they were really tough, I was physically and emotionally drained and just didn’t want to climb anymore. I’m not ashamed to say that I just lost it for just a minute or two. In past races when I have come close to breaking down like this there has always been someone around, but this time I was all by myself so I just let it out (I totally cried a little...so what). After a few minutes I gathered myself up and pushed forward as the hilly section was ending.  After I hit the top of the hills I finally started running again. I could see a couple people out in the distance and my competitive side kicked in. I knew they had passed me while I was hitting the wall and I really wanted to gain on them again. I eventually passed all four people who had passed me earlier and ran it in toward the end. One runner did pass me in this stretch, but he really was killing it so good for him! The trail looped back around the lack in reverse of the route at the start and in no time I popped out onto the road and ran it into the finish area closing out my race in 6 hours 52 minutes placing 27 out of 84. Korey had finished long ago (coming in fourth) but he and his wife held up at the finish line and cheered me in. Afterwards I drank like 3 bottles of water and ate a bunch of food to get my energy back. Overall I felt pretty good considering I had just knocked down a tough mountain 50k.

I’m really happy with how my race turned out, while I’d always like to be faster I kept a good smart pace and for the most part didn’t pass or get passed by many people….This usually means you aren’t doing anything stupid! I’ll remember a lot of things about this race, the awesome sunrise and the breeze blowing on me running through the tall grass. I’ll remember how happy I felt to be out running in the mountains and how liberating it was to push through the hard parts of this race. After the race I hung out for a bit with Korey and his wife, they are great people. That night I drove back as far as Yuma before getting a hotel and crashing. It was really a great weekend….I would totally run this race again.

Running through the desert and/or mountains

So I haven't updated since my initial post after moving to Tucson. However, things have been really busy between work, running and trying to meet new people I just don't seem to have all that much free time. Luckily I seem to be doing really well at all three so I'll call it a win.

Needless to say I've been training hard...but not quite as hard as I should. I've been a little more diligent since I signed up for another 50k....having goals forces you to train! I'm going to do this kind of like my update I did after Antarctica....there are several runs so I'm just going to play them out in order!

Wasson Peak


Ok so one day off after the brutal run up Mt Wrightson I went out to the Tucson Range and did Wasson Peak at sunset. We ran up and hit the summit right as the sun was going down. It was pretty spectacular! The trail was all single track and it was pretty technical the whole way. The climb up took about 1 hour 10 minutes and then it was about 50 back down leaving me at an even two hours. One thing I've noticed is I don't go as fast as I should on technical down hills....if I work on that I can improve my times a lot!

As you can see from the map the route is a simple out and back. The first 3 or so miles you are stuck kind of low. But, once the climbing begins the views get great and there is some really good running while you're up on one of the ridges! I'm glad we did this at sunset...because man it was hot that day....also it gave me a chance to do the last 30 minutes with my headlamp and get some night trail practice.

Catalina Peaks


I did this run with Tucson Trail Runners who are an awesome group of trail runners that just relish being surrounded by Tucson's mountains and trails. The route was supposed to be 22 miles, however early on the group I was running with took a small (5 mile) detour and then late in the run I twisted my ankle a little bit. Luckily at mile 17 which was at the top of Mt Lemmon (9000+ ft) there were some people setup with an aid station, so me and another runner hopped a ride back to the start and called it a success at 17 miles. I think my time was something like 3:40. Anyway, I met two pretty cool people Korey and Guy and we ran pretty much the whole way as a group....Korey actualSly finished the run and after the detour at the beginning probably hit 27 miles for the day. This was a lot of fun and I even saw a snake sleeping under a rock ( I gave him like 15 feet of space :) )

Bear Canyon (Or adventures in hydration)


So I've done this route twice now and the two times were VERY different. The first time I ran this I stayed out late the night before...I'm trying to be social and meet people remember....anyway there was a cool band playing downtown so I listened to most of their set before going home....anyway I woke up the next morning to do the 17 mile Bear Canyon Loop....Instead of downing a whole bottle of Gatorade like a good runner I just rolled out of bed and out the door. I'm going to take this moment to relay some advice that Running Legend David Horton gives runners at his races "Don't be stupid". I think its obvious my first encounter with this route didn't go so well. I downed my whole 2L of water in the first 8 miles, luckily I was running with Korey and he had plenty of extra....and there is actually running water 14 miles in when you get to Sabino Canyon.....anyway....Hydrate!

The second time (2 weeks later) was much better. I've since figured out hydration a little better and didn't even use my full 2L of water on the run. Repeat...."Don't be stupid" ..... this is great advice for endurance athletes. Anyway the views on this run are spectacular you run through two canyons and up and around a small mountain....its great...I love it....I'll probably do this route at least once a month. Anyway 17 miles....currently running it in about 3:40.....I really think I could do it in 3:10 if I quit being a wimp and just push through some of the tougher parts.

Sunset Loops


Another TTR run. This run was a lot of fun, again it was up in the Catalina Mountains and involved the climb up Mt. Lemmon. However, this run is nice and has all the climbing at the beginning. The run starts with a climb from the Sunset Trailhead to Mt Lemmon and then goes out along the ridge for several miles before dropping into a really cool place called the Wilderness of Rocks (It's just what it sounds like). The only bad thing about this part of the run is that sometimes the trail kind of disappears for 50 feet. Eventually the trail loops back around to the Sunset Trailhead making a giant Figure 8. 17 Miles....I ran this in 4:50.....I felt really slow all day.....I want another shot at this....I feel like 4:10 should be my goal. Anyway lots of elevation lots of miles.

Summary

Tucson is great! Socially I'm doing pretty well getting out there and meeting people. Running here is awesome, 20 minute drive to great mountain trails and there are plenty of other crazies out here who love to run long in the mountains......Oh I almost forgot....There is this awesome hill on my way home from work....there's a road to the top, I do hill repeats up it once a week for training! Each lap is 3 miles 700/700 ft gain/loss!

Mt Wrightson

So after the Bull Run 50 miler I immediately relocated to Tucson Arizona for a new job. New adventure in a city surrounded by mountains...yay! Leaving all my awesome friends in DC not so yay....but anyway the adventure is on and I'm now based out of Tucson!


Lucky for me a quick google search of "Tucson + Trail Running" leads straight to the Tucson Trail Runners a group of local trail runners / ultra athletes living right in my new back yard. Since, Tucson is surrounded by mountains it's not really that surprising. Turns out they are a pretty cool group.


They have a yearly series of runs with a different event every other week ranging from 10 miles to 50k and many of them train for 50 mile and 100 mile ultras as well. I was lucky enough to enlist in time for this week's event the "Multiple Wrightson Massacre".


Mt. Wrightson is the tallest mountain in the Tucson basin rounding out at a nice 9453 feet. The Multiple Wrightson Massacre takes place on the "Old Baldy Trail" which starts in Madera Canyon ( 5420 ft ) and climbs to the top in about 5.4 miles. The TTR people come out every year and do this route out and back as many times as feels right. My initial plan was for two ascents but it took me a little longer than I expected (turns out 4000 ft in 5 miles is a little rough) so I ended up only doing the route once.

So, I started in Madera Canyon around 7am and began the climb up. The lower part of the trail is some very sandy single track, it's runnable if you are up to it. However, since it was my first time on the route and I was quickly alone on the trail I decided to take it easy. The trail quickly winds up and begins a series of switch-backs up to Josephine Saddle. From there the trail gets much less sandy and more normal dirt as the environment changes from desert to alpine (this is really cool). A few more switchbacks and another mile or so and you're facing a giant rock face to the right. The trail takes a left and a series of crazy switch-backs swerve up along the west face of the mountain to Baldy Saddle. Seriously.....this trail should be called "Old Switch-Back".... from there there's a good half mile of good running along the saddle until the earlier rock face appears again, except this time I was on the other side and had to navigate my way up some narrow single track that looks like it was blown out of the rock. I took it slow here and made sure I had good footing.

I got to the summit and got spectacular views of the Tucson basin (and Mexico). I didn't stay long, it was pretty windy and I was anxious to get down to the main trail and start running down. The way down was pretty quick compared to the way up. Aside from a few rocky areas I got some really good running in and was down much quicker than the ascent. Overall this is a fun run, I'll probably go back in the future although in the interest of saving time and logging more miles I'll probably skip the summit and do a loop trail (which includes most of Old Baldy) which loops up and over the entire mountain. Good run, good fun, good hill training!

Total 10.8 miles, 4000 ft gain, 4000 ft loss.

Bull Run 50 Miler

After having such a good time at Holiday Lake I immediately signed up for the Bull Run 50 Miler, an awesome event put on by VHTRC. The event is a double out and back near Clifton VA not too far from where the battle of Bull Run took place. I got some pretty good training in including a 7.5 hour training run near Hawksbill in Shenandoah. However, my training was not as thorough as I had wanted. February through April involved me interviewing for and accepting a job in Tucson Arizona and doing a house hunting trip. Oh and I got called in for jury duty where I spent three days as part of a jury for a trial. This pretty much broke up my training more than I wanted so I had good weeks and bad weeks. My overly confident goal was 9 hours but on the inside I knew it would probably be more like 10...but I figured "hey maybe I'll have a good day". Anyway, I spent the night at the race start at Hemlock overlook and was both excited and nervous when it came time to start at 6:30 on Saturday. The course is a 16 mile out and back followed by a 34 mile out and back. I had been warned that the first 17 or so miles is pretty easy and to not fall in to the trap of going out too hard to soon.

Anyway at 6:30 we all set off using two hand-held bottles for hydration. I settled in to a pace I felt comfortable with and immediately knew my 9 hour goal was out the window. It felt more like a 10 hour kind of day already. Things went pretty well and quick all the way to the first turn around. About 3/4 of a mile before the turn around I saw my friend Snipes and he gave me some quick encouragement before blasting past. There were a few camera guys along the course. As you can see....I was feeling pretty good.

The turn around back to Hemlock Overlook was also pretty quick and painless. I saw my crew at an aid station and they replenished my supply of Hammer Gel. Time flew by and I was climbing the hill into Hemlock Overlook at mile 16. I got some candy and refilled my water bottles and my crew hooked me up with a Big 100 bar which I scarfed down, yum 350 calories! Soon enough I was back on the trails and running through a sea of Blue Bell flowers which was pretty cool. After crossing a soccer field we started into the "harder" part of the course and started hitting some rolling hills. The day was starting to heat up so I was relieved when the hills abated and I arrived at the Bull Run Marina Aid station and saw my crew again. It was really cool that so many people were interested in coming out and spending their day in the sun mainly for the purpose of handing me a box full of Hammer Gel every 60 - 90 minutes.

The Bull Run Marina aid station (mile 21ish) was awesome...and here is why.....this is important stuff!! Bacon....they had bacon and it was amazing. Apparently people had been turning them down on the whole bacon front which at the time I found to be pretty much a crime. The aid station volunteers hooked me up with two slices of salty-protein goodness and I continued out under a bridge through some precarious rocks. At this point you start thinking "Man these rocks are going to really suck in about 25 miles when I hit them again".

Not a good way to start this segment of the course. Things were getting even hotter and the next 5 miles until I hit Wolf Run Shoals was starting to get tough. I hadn't hit the wall yet but I was starting to dread it. Also the thought of still having 25-28 miles to go was starting to REALLY get into my head. I started thinking about a dirty 4 letter word that starts with a "D" .....but luckily I got a hold of myself a little bit and toughed through till I hit the next aid station at mile 26.

Things got a little bit tough for a while

This aid station was good and bad news for me. I refueled and saw a sign that said "2 miles until next aid". This led me to think I'd be at the next aid station in no time! Wrong! 30 minutes later I had navigated a pretty hilly stretch and finally got into the Fountainhead Aid Station (Mile 28). I was right in the middle of hitting a wall at this point so I ditched my shirt with my crew and grabbed about 4 gels (I didn't get to see my crew again for 10 miles). I stalked over to the aid station table where the volunteers helped me refill my water bottles, I ate some food and for good measure took an S-cap to keep my electrolytes up. Then I was out onto the white loop.

The "White Loop" section of the course went much better for me. Things finally started to cool down and the extra time I took to eat at Fountainhead paid some big dividends. I had broken through the wall, was into the second half of the race and feeling good compared to a few hours before. There were some small rolling hills and before I knew it I was coming up on the Do Loop Aid Station (Mile 32).

I ate some fruit and nuts at the aid station as well as some Mountain Dew and then moved out toward the start of the Do Loop. Right as I started the loop my stomach turned on me really bad, so I took a quick bathroom break. After the break I felt really good and made great progress through the Do Loop. I had been warned it was pretty tough but I actually had a lot of fun (and there was a nice breeze off the river).

Coming back through the Do Loop Aid Station they hooked me up with a fudgesicle it was amazing...until I dropped part of it on the ground (a true injustice after 35 miles of running). The two miles back to Fountainhead went by pretty quickly but I was starting to have trouble keeping pace. It wasn't a matter of my legs being cramped up (they weren't) and it wasn't a matter of being out of breath (I wasn't). It just seems that after running for that long.....sometimes your body just doesn't want to listen to you!

Coming in to Fountainhead (38 miles) I saw my crew again, but I quickly got distracted by the pizza at the aid station. I ate a slice of cheese, it felt really good to have some real food in me. The next section was the tough hilly section. I was having trouble with motivation, I knew I was going to finish but I just couldn't make myself run. Luckily I had been running relatively nearby some girl since entering the white loop. She asked if I wanted to run together for the end of the race which made me feel a lot better. Having someone to run with was an immediate improvement. It's much easier to motivate yourself and conversation beats an Ipod any day of the week. Anyway Siobhan (cool name) ran and chatted about how she and her husband were getting into ultras and my upcoming relocation to the southwest. Once at Wolf Run Shoals I was treated to an ice-cream sandwich  (Wonderful) and the knowledge that there were only 10 miles to go!

The company really really helped in the next section. Siobhan and I took turns taking the lead and pacing (although truth be told I think she led a little more than me). We agreed that so far this was the toughest part of the race since it was hilly and there was still a good distance to go. There were a couple places at the bottom of hills where there was a small stream about a foot deep. This was awesome, while other runners hopped over, I soaked my feet in the cool water and felt a lot better! After what felt like a long time we crossed the crazy rocks again (it was a lot tougher this time) and rolled in to the last aid station at Bull Run Marina (45 miles)

It was really rocky!

I saw my crew again dropped off my ipod and then headed over to the aid station. I drank two cups of Mountain Dew and tried to eat a decent amount. With 5 miles to go I didn't want to crash and burn. We plodded along at a good pace and eventually hit the Blue Bells again. This section seemed to drag on. I was ready to be done, I knew the end was close, I knew once I hit the hill I'd be 0.5 miles from the end. Someone had told us that if we saw a trail sign marked "11 miles" we would be one mile from the finish, so we kept our eyes open. I was pretty happy to see the sign until about 6 minutes later I saw a sign put up by the race people that said "1 Mile to Go!". I cursed pretty loudly but some people nearby assured me that it was way less than that. They were right about 30 seconds later we hit the hill up to Hemlock. In retrospect the "1 mile sign" being about 1/2 a mile away is a good thing. It makes you feel really good when the end pops up! After a quick climb up the hill I decided to run it in to the finish.

In the end I came in at 10 hours 56 minutes. Way slower than my goal. But for my first 50 miler I'll take the finish. Overall, I had a really fun day running out near Bull Run! Great course, great scenery, great running buddy for the last 12 miles, oh and did I mention there was bacon! 

Post race I took my crew out to Matchbox Pizza in Rockville... I may or may not have devoured an entire large Spicy Meatball Pizza.

Bull Run Training Update

So with the Bull Run 50 miler just one month away I am starting to peak out on my training. I took a few days off after the Holiday Lake 50k. However, recently I've gotten some back to back high mileage weeks of 30 and 50 miles.


Saturday I did a nice 5.5 hour run in Prince William National Forest on the South Valley Trail. The route consisted of two 11.5 mile loops. Starting at the Turkey Run Education Center we headed clockwise on the South Valley Trail until we reached the TREC again. Along the way we found a cooler full of goodies left by fellow VHTRC runner Toni Aurilo! We didn't steal any but we knew that some friends would be that way soon. So after a quick bathroom break and refuel we headed back out counter-clockwise and soon ran into Toni and her fellow runners one of which is apparently a general in the army! They quickly filled us in on their 20 mile run they were doing and then the following exchange happened something like this:

The General: "Haha well Toni told us it was 20 but it looks like it will be 23"
Toni: "You say that every time we do this run and its always 20 miles so SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE!"
The General: "Well..."
Toni: "SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE"

Moments like this are awesome cause they are totally non-serious and fun. It's one of the many reasons I love running with VHTRC people. Anyway, so while doing the loop in reverse we stopped at Toni's cooler since they had already passed by. Inside were some chips, beef jerky and coke. After eating a little bit we pushed on. Miles 17 to 23 were pretty brutal as we were purposefully setting an easy pace and it was getting hot outside. By this point I'd been on my feet over four hours and I started to get a little cranky. Anyway good run, good training.

Today, even though I was still pretty tired I went for a 90 minute run and ended up going out for about 11 miles. The first 2 miles or so were a little rough and my legs were not very fresh. The good thing was it was a perfect day for a run out, and it was the first day this year I've been able to ditch the long sleeve shirt. I felt pretty good and at the half way point ate some shot blocks and a fruit leather. On the way back things started to get pretty tough and I slowed down a little bit but still managed to put through to the end. The reason for doing this 10+ mile run so soon after a 20+ mile run is to get my legs used to running while they are tired. Doing a 40 mile training run at full speed could be a really easy way to get injured, so a good way to train instead is to do a so called "bonk run" which helps simulate the later miles.

One month to go for Bull Run! Very excited!

Holiday Lake 50K++ (Feb 11 2012)

On February 11 2012, I took a pretty big leap. I've been running marathons since 2008 but since I've been getting better at running over the last year I decided to take the plunge and start running ultra-marathons. I got the idea in late July when I ran the San Francisco Marathon. I had convinced this girl Katie to run it with me and since it was her first marathon and I had a few under my belt I even offered to run it at her pace. For me the race was pretty straight forward, I was capable of running about 8 min /mile for the whole race but we settled in much closer to 11 minute miles. By the end of the event I felt like I could keep running for much longer. This was an epiphany moment for me, while in the past 26 miles seemed like a hard cap it was now much less daunting. So I started some research and set my sights on a 50k nearby in Virginia, the Holiday Lake 50k++ and started training. En route I set a PR at marathon distance of 3:34 which I am still pretty stoked about. Anyway fast forward to Feb. 10!

Friday morning I loaded all my stuff into the car. Running clothes, check. Nuun, double check. Various running gu's/shot blocks/goodies checkity check check. I drove down to Alexandria VA and met up with my friend Bel. The weird thing about my friends is I'll say something like "Hey do you want to take half a day off work, drive into the middle of no where, sleep in the car, and then refill my water bottles while I run 30+ miles" and then they usually say yes....anyway my friends are pretty cool like that. Anyway, so we set off in Bel's car (no one wants drive my stick shift) and headed for the Holiday Lake 4H center outside of Appomattox. We got in around 5 pm, and quickly ran into friend and ultra-running guru Dave Snipes, we caught up for a bit and he assured me I was more than ready for the run. I checked in, at about 3 metric tons of pasta at the pre-race dinner and then hung around for the pre-race brief. The race director David Horton is pretty awesome he gave us the low down on the race and then assured us first time ultra-runners that finishing an ultra isn't about how athletic you are but more about how much you want it. He then proceeded to call out the really cool people who were at the race, included was Patrick McGlade (who I had just been introduced to and was sitting right next to me) who has run across the United States in 2010. He also called out Snipes who ran a total of 10 100 mile races last year. The point of all this was here are these normal guys doing amazing things. After the brief, Horton gathered all us newbies up for some sage wisdom most of which came in handy on the trail.

That night I didn't get much sleep, cars are uncomfortable and for the first time in a while I was looking into the unknown. I'd never gone beyond 26.2 miles before and hadn't faced a distance I hadn't completed since 2008. Eventually, I got a few hours in and woke up just before 5 when my cell alarm went off. I got dressed, decided on wearing my under armor leggings but just going with a long sleeve shirt for my top, threw on my coat, filled up my water bottle and headed to the pre-race breakfast. I downed some coffee and a bagel with cream cheese and before I knew it Horton was telling us all to get to the starting line. 

I was feeling pretty good morning of!

I found a spot in the middle of the pack. I really didn't know how fast I could run 50k but I wanted to come in around 5 hours. So there we were all gathered up, we made an attempt at the national anthem and while it wasn't super bowl quality I'd say it was pretty good for 6am! I switched on my headlamp and Horton began counting down to the start.

All the headlamps are actually kind of creepy in the dark!

We were off in the dark and trotted up the road about half a mile until we hit the trail head. Once on the trail things quickly became single track. Running in the dark was easier than I thought it would be, my head lamp was plenty enough to see around me. I was pretty excited as we went through some ups and downs and over several wobbly bridges. Eventually, just after the sun had come up I passed Snipes who gave me some encouragement. Soon enough Aid Station 1 appeared out of no where.

This is where I made my one big mistake of the race....I hadn't really been drinking a lot up to this point and my water bottle was about 1/3 full. So as I tossed Bel my coat and she grabbed the headlamp off my head I declined stopping to have her refuel my bottle. Horton had warned us not to do this but I was being dumb, so I grabbed a cookie from the table shoved it into my mouth and pressed on. The trail skirted the road for a good while and we were treated to some pretty fast running. My water bottle was empty with about 2.5 miles until the next station, and I cursed my foolishness assuring myself that I'd refuel and then hopefully catch up on hydrating. I ran through a small stream and thought "so that is the big crossing everyone talked about...that wasn't too bad" about two minutes later I hit the real stream crossing which was about ankle deep. I blew through the stream and while the water made my feet cold they soon dried out.

Crew members weren't allowed to meet us at AS 2 but luckily the people manning it were very helpful. They filled my water bottle up while I grabbed some m&ms and a cookie. Most of the next section of the course was fire road or jeep track. This was nice and fast but I did a lot of swerving around to avoid the loose gravel on the road. At one point Horton drove past in a truck and gave everyone some encouragement. Then there was a turn and I ran right past a horse farm. This was pretty cool, I have a couple friends who for some reason are really into horses so I made a mental note to try and coax them into running this race so they could see the horse farm... this probably won't work but at the time it seemed like a great idea. Soon enough AS 3 appeared where Bel had a full water bottle and a gel pack waiting for me. I grabbed some chips tossed Bel my empty bottle. At this point I was about 12 miles deep into the race and I was feeling pretty great. The next section went by really fast. I was feeling strong making good time and the elite runners started coming back by soon enough. Almost all of them gave me a "Good job" or a "Keep it up" which was pretty great, you'd never get such courtesy from the elite runners in a road race! As I got close I started being able to see the turn around from across the lake. There were a set of stairs going down to a dam which the course crossed. At the time I thought this was really cool.

I hit the turn around at about 2 hours 31 minutes got a full water bottle, some shot blocks and a boiled potato dipped in salt off the snack table. If you are new to ultras don't shy away from the potatoes and salt...it may seem weird...in reality it's amazing! As I rolled out I squeezed past two girls walking and eating. I apologized through a mouth full of potatoes, one of them said "its ok...now GO GET IT". What could I do but obey! I started making my way back, I saw Snipes who cheered me on as well as a guy who had gotten hurt and had a leg covered in blood, it didn't look too good. Eventually, I recrossed the dam and hit the stairs which had been nice going down but were awful going up. Things started to go bad for a little while here. I was about 18 miles in, I had been drinking a lot but was still a little dehydrated and my stomach started to turn on me. I toughed it out until we hit AS3 again and once I hit the road crossing I walked it in with a guy and a girl who happened to be with me. I asked how they were doing, the girl replied "Like death", so I quoted Horton from the night before "It never always gets worse". This turned out to be totally true.

My return trip through AS3 was good, they had two things which I REALLY REALLY wanted pretzels and mountain dew. Pretzels are running fuel goodness and I hadn't drank mountain dew while running before but many people had told me it was the equivalent of rocket fuel. I drank the dew and chowed down some pretzels before declaring that the AS3 workers "are totally my best friends ever". After that I headed up the fire road. My stomach was still an issue and by the time I hit the horse barn again I decided to head out into the woods and answer natures call. This turned out to be a good idea, I got back onto the trail, flipped on my ipod and took a  swig of Nuun. Then three things happened all at once, my stomach started feeling better, the caffeine from the Mountain Dew kicked in and my Ipod played "When Worlds Collide" which makes for a great running beat. I powered down the fire road, at one point I ran along side a guy and chatted with him but he told me I should "use it while I have it" so I took off up the trail. AS2 went by pretty fast...more mountain dew...more potatoes. I hit the big stream again and this time the cold water on my feet and ankles was glorious. I suddenly realized I had passed marathon distance....I got a little anxious but was feeling pretty ok so I pressed on.

The miles went pretty fast and I finally hit AS1 again. Bel was waiting with a chocolate bar which I had instructed her to only give me after I had made it 29 miles. However, I really didn't feel like chocolate so I told her to keep it. With my water bottle refilled I took off again with another potato. After a mile my water bottle was half empty this was disheartening so I started conserving a little for closer to the end. I ran through the hills and over the bridges that had been done in the dark and was really enjoying the run. I was tired but I was just kind of taking what the race gave me at this point. With about a mile and a half to go a really cute girl in a pink shirt passed me. This was a big hit to my ego because I remember seeing her inbound to the half way point as I was going out, so I knew I had lost several minutes of time on the back end of the course. I was determined to try and keep her in sight for the rest of the race. This served as pretty good motivation. Toward the end right before we hit the road again the girl, who looked like she could run for 20 more miles, pulled out of sight as everyone upped the speed for the last 3/4 of a mile.  I pushed it the best I could into the finish and was greeted by Horton who was waiting just across the finish with a hand shake and a congratulations. 

Trying to put on a strong finish

I Came in at 5 hours 22 minutes, a little slower than my goal, but considering it was my first ultra I'm content with getting the finish! Overall, the race was amazing. I had run 33.2 miles and it was far better than any road marathon I had ever run.

Woo!

 Trail ultras just seem to be a different breed of race from the big commercial races I've normally done, I like it and I mean to continue to push the distance. After a quick shower and drinking some water I headed back to the car and settled in as Bel drove us to the nearest town where I quickly devoured 3/4 of a large pizza. Since then training has started up again, I got in to the Bull Run 50 miler in April which is sure to be extremely challenging!

Dickey Ridge Training Run

Today I did a trail run in order to get some good long hours on my feet on some real terrain. My buddy and fellow VHTRC member David Snipes (aka Sniper) picked out the Dickey Ridge Trail in Shenandoah National Park. The trail runs from Front Royal VA along Skyline Drive for about 10 miles until it dead ends in the Appalachian Trail. I needed some good pre Holiday Lake miles and Sniper had never run this trail in the daylight before so it seemed like a pretty good idea....20 miles no worries!

The more and more I run trails the more I'm convinced that trail running and road running shouldn't even be mentioned in the same train of thought. On flat roads I can run 20 miles in about 2 hours and 40 minutes. This took us a little under five hours ..... ok more like five and a half...but we spent a lot of time talking to people we ran into on the trail so I rounded down.

The run starts of with a climb....then another climb and then some more for about 10 miles. 

There were definitely "some hills"

Most of the trail is "run-able" this means that there aren't a ton of rocks and roots slowing you up. Overall the run was pretty good we made decent time on the hills, took a few breaks to chat with hiker's we ran in to, and met some guy with some a few bears....ok apparently they were dogs. Black Russian Terrier's are apparently some kind of giant Soviet Russia dog that is the size of a bear....luckily they were very nice even keeled dogs and just wanted lots of pats!

Like I said "Bear"

 After the bear sighting we finally made it to the top of the route and to "Indian Run Spring" I used the "" here because it was less of a spring and more of a trickle.....but oh well we were 10 miles in...time to turn around.... So the first half was all up hill, that had to mean we had 10 miles of nice fast descent....well not really....there seemed to be plenty of small short hills left for us to go up....not a lot...but just enough to break things up. Finally around mile 15 we passed a SNP visitors center refilled on some water and started the real down hill section. This part was awesome! Sniper and I bombed our way down the last 5 miles and ended up at the cars. Running was followed by Mexican food.

Oh and side bar, at one of the really great overlooks we saw an American Bald Eagle....Never seen one before....they are awesome

A Bald Eagle....not the one we saw but similar in coolness.

Overall I had a good training run. I want to do Holiday Lake in 5-5.5 hours and I was on my feet for that long today so I would say this was good practice. Luckily Holiday Lake doesn't have all the hills. But hills are good training so I'm going to continue to do them.

New Blog and Antarctica

So I've decided to start blogging about my running activities. What better way to start out than with my latest adventure.

Antarctica! Let me say that again. Antarctica!

So the last few weeks I have spent at McMurdo Station in Antarctica working on some satellite communications stuff for work. But that is boring engineer stuff which I don't want to talk about. So on to the running part. Wow so two things about Antarctica.

1. In January, its always light outside....always....this can really mess with your head
2. While its not warm its also not freezing. The temperature hovered between 20-30 F the entire time I was on the ice. This made running slightly more difficult.

I did several different routes and runs while I was on the ice followed by a kind of 'grand tour' of sorts the last few days I was there. So I am going to go in order

Ob Hill/Loop

The hike up and down Observation Hill is only about 0.8 miles total. Don't let this fool you into thinking its easy! Ob hill is about 600 ft high which makes this only slightly easier than running up Waterfall Mountain (for those of you who've run out in the Massanutten Mountain area). So first day down there we get off the extremely uncomfortable C17 flight around 4 am followed by a 30 minute drive across the sea ice in a snow storm to McMurdo. Now normal people would say 'hey we just went through 5 hours in a ridiculously small jump seat with little or no sleep....why don't we check in to our dorms and get a couple hours shuteye'. Instead of that we started working right away and basically pulled a 12 hour day. We finished up and grabbed a bite to eat at which point we were all pretty tired. Perfect time to go for a little jaunt to the top of Observation Hill! Luckily for me I did this excursion with my team, there were four of us total: 

1. Crazy ultrarunner in-training 
2. Greg, a marathoner but not as quick as me 
3. Pete, not a runner
4. Philip, not a runner

This allowed me to take a slower plod up there hill with several breaks. The climb itself is pretty straight forward with few switch backs. Basically you start at McMurdo station and go straight up ridge line on the north side of the hill. There's lots of small lose rocks and scree just to make things a little difficult, but the path is well worn from frequent attempts.

 Up towards the top there is a very easy rock scramble and then you reach the summit where you get to chill by Scott's Memorial Cross and get some great views of Mt Erebus to the north and the trans-antarctic range to the southwest.

Altogether it took us about an hour and forty minutes to do the whole thing. I would later run/walk up this alone in about thirty minutes. I also did an add on of the "Ob Hill Loop" which circumnavigates the hill and goes right out along the sea ice. The cool thing about the loop is its all pretty solid single track and you can get going at a pretty good speed. The uncool thing is usually on one side of you there is a 200 ft slope down to the sea ice.

Arrival Heights

The arrival heights loop is on the northern side of mcmurdo. Starting out at the base you run out to one of the huts from the early Antarctic expeditions and then immediately begin a 700 ft climb up to the Kiwi's communication's dome. The route was entirely single track or dirt road (there isn't any pavement in Antarctica) and was quite easy to run on. Luckily the climbs are broken up with several small flat sections and down hills. Throughout the climb there are great views of the trans-antarctic range and of the sea ice to the north. The very top of the route is protected by the antarctic conservation treaty so I had to double back about a quarter mile to pick up the rest of the trail. The final 2 miles of the trail is all on the roads and at the very end I was treated to a nice half mile 300 foot descent which I bombed down. I ended up running this route twice. Once with some of my co-workers, this occasion was marked by me saying something like "Hey I'm going to go run up that hill...get a picture!"....Not doing a good job of making co-workers think I'm not crazy.

Death March

In addition to the other runs I did we were doing work in an area called "T-Site" which was on top of a big hill and I had a chance to visit the Kiwi base which is a good distance from McMurdo. After about a week in Antarctica I began to get a little on edge, I signed up for my first 50k but hadn't really run hard since early December (the holidays and wisdom teeth extraction had really screwed me up). At this point I decided to make the hardest run I could on base. My route was as follows:

McMurdo -> Scott Base -> T Site -> Ob Hill climb -> Ob Hill Loop -> Arrival Heights Loop (including the kiwi dome climb) -> Back to McMurdo

In all the run would turn out to be 13-14 miles with probably about 2000 ft of climbing involved. I was hoping for about a 2 hour completion time which in retrospect was optimistic considering the elevation change. I started out after work one night. The weather was cold (obviously) so I was wearing my jacket, a cap, and some knit gloves. The run out to Scott Base was great, it felt good to be running for real again and the cold air wasn't an issue. On top of that the last part of this leg is down hill so I cruised into Scott Base making great time. Turning around I felt how the month off had taken its toll the climb from scott base to T-Site is probably 400 ft or so in elevation over two miles but it was painful. I passed a couple runners on the way up and shot them each a wave and reached T-Site feeling pretty beat. Luckily I had a nice down hill to make me feel better and reaching the bottom of Ob Hill I was feeling a lot better. I did Ob/Hill as quickly as possible but it still took me about 35 minutes to get done. On the way down I passed a hiker and chitchatted for about a minute at which point she asked me how much longer I thought I'd be out for. At this point I was 1:10 into the 

ordeal so optimistically I said "oh maybe 45 more minutes" ......not the case...in the end it was a lot longer. I didn't realize it but at this point I still had 7+ miles to go and a lot of climbing. I shot around the Ob Hill Loop pretty quickly there are a few small climbs but nothing major, in all I was about 1:55 in and I knew I had way underestimated the difficulty in this course. At this point I could have wimped out and just made a quick 1/4 jog back to a nice warm shower....but that would be pretty lame so instead I chomped down a few Cliff Shot Blocks and kept running. The arrival heights loop was way more fun than the early part of the course. As I started uphill a few Skua (some really annoying Antarctic birds) started circling near me and sqwaking at me. This continued for about 10 minutes at which point they finally settled on some rocks about 400 feet in front of me. I was pretty annoyed at this point and wanted them to leave so I started waving my arms around and making some noise. The Skua really didn't care and just sat there and sqwaked at me as it went by. This incident along with numerous stories of Skua swooping in and stealing cookies out of peoples hands near the cafeteria left me to declare that Skua are the "Honey Badgers of Antarctica" because "Skua don't care it just takes what it wants". I continued up to the Kiwi dome and about the point where I turned around I was starting to get an awesome runners high and for better or worse the only thing I could think of is Dave Chapelle's R-Kelly parody......this was pretty amusing to me so I laughed and sang a couple of the lines as I ran down the hill. The rest of the run was the easy part and I jogged into base at 2:30 into the run. Overall the run was way harder than I expected but was good none the less. I think I'm going to contact McMurdo's recreation director and suggest that they add it to their yearly list of runs. I would have liked to run 20+ since I'm getting ready for my first 50k but there really isn't a lot of space unless you run on the sea ice. With all the elevation change I ended up settling for 14.

Unfortunately I missed the annual McMurdo marathon by just a few days. It would have been epic if I could have gotten in on that...but oh well.... Anyway I'm back safe in the states and have a awesome 20+ mile trail run planned as my final long run before the Holiday Lake 50k++ on Feb 11.

Most posts won't be this long unless they are race reports :)