Sempre a Correr

Something Like Summer

2010-06-01T06:27:00.000-07:00

Well you'd never know it from reading my blog, but training has actually been going quite well. The little racing I've done has been good too. In fact, I had a report on McDonald Forest halfway completed but just couldn't seem to find the time to finish it. Long story short, I had a solid run for 4th place a week after the Sunflower Marathon.

So then what have I been up to for last month or so? Well as I said, training has been solid, so that's keeping me fairly busy. I've also been working hard at the new store. Speaking of the new store, things are really going well at Fleet Feet Seattle. The store is looking really sharp, so if you haven't seen it in a while, come check it out.

It's hard for me to believe that it's already June 1st. Yikes! Can I make a confession? I'm going to miss being at Western States at the end of the month. As tough as that race has been for me and, as much as I know I need a break from it, I'm going to miss being there. There's definitely something special about that race. I've found myself out on runs lately daydreaming about States. Guess whose name is going to be back in the lottery next year? Something tells me that the Fat Dog 100 just isn't going to have the same allure.

Speaking of Western States, it should be another barn burner this year. As always it will be an incredibly talented field. I'm putting my money on Hal for the three-peat. Ya, there are definitely guys that could beat him, but I'm betting on Hal's experience and confidence. Oh, watch out for Phil Kochik too. He won the very last Ultra Cup spot into the race, and he's coming in very motivated.

Okay let's hope that this weather can start to resemble something like summer. I need to get out of the foothills and start running up in the cascades. A week ago Friday, I was snowed upon atop Mailbox Peak. That's just not right.

Good Times in the Valley

2010-05-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

Good friends, beautiful scenery, and a bit of running make for a fantastic weekend in the Methow Valley. Saturday marked the 30th anniversary of the Sunflower Relay and Iron event, and I was there to run it with a team of good friends...and all by myself. Yes, I ran the first leg of the relay for our team and then proceeded to run the iron event. It was a "semi-douche-y" move, thus the team name became Summer's Eve.

The race went quite well for both the team and myself. Summer's Eve finished 13th overall in a time of 3:28, and as a solo runner I was 5th in a time of 3:09. I had hoped to run 3 hours, but an ambitious first half may have cost me late in the race. I went through the halfway point in a time of 1:24 and ran the second half in 1:44. The second half was significantly hillier than the first, but I should have been able to run slightly more even splits. Although the course was very runnable, a couple of the climbs caught me a bit of guard. According to my altimeter the total ascent for the course was 1860 feet and the descent totaled 2300 feet.

After the race, the team gathered for a potato bar feast at the local pub. Upon reaching our fill of baked potatoes and beer we retreated to Eric and Kelly's palatial cabin which sits atop their own private mountaintop. The place literally has an uninterrupted 360 degree view. Incredible! Thnking the day's work was done, I helped myself to some chocolate chip cookies and began to recline. No sooner did I began to settle in than Eric, Danimal, and Jon began discussing plans for an afternoon run. To be fair, they had not just run a marathon. Their legs were each about 4 miles, so they weren't feeling quite the exhaustion that I was. It wasn't long before the inevitable question came. "Brian, you coming?"

Long story short, nearly 2 hours and another 2000 feet of climbing later, I was putting every bit of energy I could muster into grinding my way up Eric and Kelly's seemingly endless driveway. I was thoroughly whooped but psyched to have banged out some bonus mileage. The hard work was rewarded handsomely with laps up and down the driveway in the ATV. Boy, you want to talk about a good time?

The rest of the weekend was spent eating delicious food and socializing in a spectacular setting. That's good times in the Methow Valley any way you wanna' slice it.

You did what?

2010-04-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

It's true. My name is Brian and I blew off a day of running to try fruitlessly to attend a rock show. I recognize that I have a problem, and I'm ready to openly share my issues. This was not the first time that I have sacrificed a workout for a show. But this wasn't just any show. I know. I know. It doesn't matter who was playing. It's a problem to be blowing off responsibilities to rock out. But what if I told you that it was the Nude Dragons? Doesn't ring a bell? How are you with word scrambles? It's a clever anagram for none other than SOUNDGARDEN. Yes, I said Soundgarden.

Well if you have been reading closely, you know that I said I tried "fruitlessly," so don't bother asking me how the show was. Well actually it did sound pretty good...from the curb outside the club. It's too painful to rehash all the details, but let's just say that I spent the better part of 12 hours standing in line, and I never saw the inside of the venue. How pathetic am I?

Thankfully I bounced back this last week and cranked out some great workouts. On Thursday morning I ran double Squak repeats for the first time this year. The first was 36 minutes and the second 37 minutes. I felt pretty good about that, although I would have preferred to flip the times. It always feels better to knock that second one out just a bit faster than the first. Then on Friday the Danimal and I ran a 27 mile point to point from Rattlesnake Lake to Highpoint. My legs felt remarkably strong during that run. I ended up finishing this past week with 84 miles. I know that sounds like fairly pedestrian mileage these days, but considering I feel at my strongest between 90-100 miles, I'm pretty happy with that.

This weekend I'll be headed over to the Methow Valley for the Sunflower Marathon.

Long Time, No Write

2010-04-15T19:39:00.001-07:00

What can I say? I've been quite busy. No seriously, I really have been busy. If I told you that I spent all last week in Singapore would you believe me? Well you're right, I was not in Singapore last week. However, I did spend all last week in Nashville, Tennessee. No really, I did. I mean that's practically Southeast Asia, right? Well perhaps not, but it was pretty dang cool AND busy. Thus I have not been actively blogging.

This is pathetic...I started this post last week, and it's now been almost two weeks since I was in Nashville. I can't believe how hard it's been to carve out enough time to jot down a few thoughts here on my blog. Well it is what it is, I guess.

So in order to bang this thing out, I'll get right to it. I've been running consistently, though I'm not logging a ton of miles. I'm racing the Sunflower Marathon on the 1st of May and the following weekend I'll be racing the McDonald Forest 50k. These next couple of weeks should give me a good sense of where my fitness is. I know that I'm probably not in typical mid-April form, but I'm racing a 100 miler a full month later than the past few years, so that's to be expected.

I'm really hoping to get back into a more regular writing routine. As things heat up race wise, I'll have a bit more to share.

Catchin' Up

2010-03-29T07:01:00.000-07:00

Since I last checked in, there have been some pretty interesting happenings. First off, I did indeed toe the line at Chuckanut, and I'm so glad I did. It was by no means my best effort there, but considering how I'd felt the two weeks leading up to the race, I was happy with my finish time of 4:40. I'll just chalk it up as a very solid training run. Unbelievably, six men ran under 4 hours and the old female course record was broken. Krissy put on another fantastic and very well attended event.

Returning to work Monday, the real interesting events began to unfold. As many of you probably already know, Seattle Running Company was sold to Fleet Feet Sports. Monday marked the final day of Scott and Leslie's ten year ownership of the store. It was a change that had to happen due to financial circumstances, but sadly it marked the end of an iconic running store, especially in the world of ultra running. Now, let me be clear, I'm still continuing to work at Fleet Feet, as are Phil Kochik and Adam Lint. So I believe that ultra running legacy will always remain part of the store, but it will no doubt be different.

With any big change there's bound to be positives and negatives. Granted, we're still early in this transition, but I'm seeing far more positive aspects than not. Some folks will probably be sad to see the Seattle Running Company go away, but we're still a locally owned specialty running store. The biggest difference now is that the store has quite a bit more buying power, so we're going to be able to stock a much wider range of shoes, apparel, nutrition, etc... There's nothing wrong with that, right?

Okay enough about work. Because I wasn't able to race Chuckanut the way I have the past handful of years, I was less hammered after the race. That allowed me to really bounce back and train hard last week. As I've mentioned already in previous posts, I've been doing a whole lot of road mileage this year, mostly run commuting to and from work. Last week I got out on the trail 3 days and that felt great.

Saturday was the real highlight run of the week. Dan, John, and I decided to head out to Mt. Si early to try and squeeze in two ascents. I say try, because as some of you know, Mt. Si gets packed on weekends. I've heard that it's the most popular hike in Washington. Well Dan slept in and delayed our departure. Something about working nights and helping to care for his infant daughter had worn him out. Pffff...LAME!

Well it's probably a good thing that our start was delayed. We were able to do one time up Si with relatively little foot traffic. However, on our trip back down the Mt. Si pack train had began to take effect. Had we started a half hour earlier, we probably would have started up a second time just as the masses of people were arriving. Instead, we opted to bail on our second trip up Si and set our sights on Mailbox Peak.

Dan was the only one of us who had ever been up Mailbox and he warned us of it's ruggedly steep flanks. I've heard plenty of chatter over the years about the steepness and the unrelenting grade of Mailbox Peak, but it's hard to imagine it without seeing the trail firsthand. I can now say this trail is STEEP. The only trail I've seen that is as steep or maybe a little steeper is the trail up to Lake Constance in the Olympics. To me, both of these trails are un-runnable. I believe the Mailbox Peak trail climbs about 3800 feet in 2.5 miles.

We hiked every step up Mailbox and reached the summit in 1:20. Interestingly and amazingly, I was able to keep my heart rate just beneath my threshold zone while HIKING. Running the entire climb up Mt. Si, my heart rate was in the 163 range. That's right in my threshold training zone. Power hiking our way up MB my heart rate was pretty much right at 160. I didn't think it was possible to hike hard enough to accomplish that. Did I mention that Mailbox is steep? Anyway, we reached the summit in 1:20 and were back down in 41 minutes. We only ran 14 miles on Saturday, but we chalked up 7628 feet of ascent.

Going Viral

2010-03-17T09:07:00.000-07:00

No, unfortunately I don't have any hilarious Youtube clips or song parodies that are being viewed in the hundreds of thousands by internet addicts worldwide. I'm simply referring to my own pathetic immune system. It's gone viral...again.

With Chuckanut just a few short days away, this is not the opportune time to be ill, but I'm feeling better by the day. I'm going on two weeks of virtually no running and just feeling kind of blah. I guess if I do run this weekend I'll be well rested, right?

Two weeks seems like a long time to be sick, but I guess it's going around. My friend Erika, who coaches at SPU, said that a handful of her runners had something similar that lasted about 3 weeks. And yesterday, while speaking to my uncle, my cousin has a very similar bug that just won't go away. It's at least reassuring to know that I have some company.

As it stands right now, I'm planning to run on Saturday. The weather looks like it's going to be fantastic. Plus it's Chuckanut. I DON'T miss Chuckanut. Well, there was that one other time in 2008 when I skipped Chuckanut because I was sick. In all seriousness, Chuckanut was my first ultra and it really does have a special place in my heart. I love Bellingham. I love those trails. I love the Chuckanut 50k.

Ahhh...That's Better

2010-02-27T18:59:00.000-08:00

Well spring is officially here in Seattle, even though it's only February. We've been having some pretty outstanding weather, and I for one have been loving running in it. These past few weeks I've got my training on track. Don't get me wrong, I've been running all winter. However, it would be a real stretch to call it training.

I've sacrificed a little running time on the weekends to go fly fishing instead. The bulk of my mileage has been run to and from work. Then on the weekends I've opted to go fishing versus go out on a long run. I've realized that I'm not a guy who can train all out all year long. I've got to have my down time of year, and I've chosen to spend a lot of that down time fly fishing. Which, by the way, finally paid off a few weeks ago when I landed an 8 or 9 pound steelhead on my spey rod. But that's another story for another time. What I will say though, is that catching that fish after a winter long drought, allowed me to finally hang up my rod for the year and get to training.

It has felt great to get out for some 4+ hour runs on the trails over the past couple of weeks. I've really been digging Tiger Mountain. How lucky are we here in the Northwest to have trails that we can run on year round that provide some much elevation change? It's really something that none of us should take for granted. Last week Dan, Jon, Eric and I did 21 miles or so out at Tiger with 5700 feet of ascent. We had a gorgeous day with Fantastic views of Mt. Rainier and the Olympics. Just phenomenal.

Today was the real adventure though. Unfortunately Jon opted out of the run today, so it was just the three of us. Jon, being the supportive and loving husband that he is, sucked it up and partied into the wee hours last night in celebration of his wife's 33rd birthday. Needless to say, he wasn't super pumped about an early morning. So the three of us met at High Point at 7:30, and Dan's wife Eva was kind enough to shuttle us out to Rattlesnake Lake. Thanks Eva! The plan was to run from the lake to High Point. We estimated it to be around 27 miles.

Surprisingly the weather this morning was quite nice. Forecasts were calling for rain, but the sun was out and the temperature was really warm. From the get-go I realized, as did Dan, that we had misjudged the weather and really overdressed. Better too warm than too cold I always say, but it was REALLY warm. Thankfully as we reached the summit of Rattlesnake Mountain the temperature dipped a bit and cooled us off. I was really amazed how little snow there is on Rattlesnake. It's hardly worth mentioning it was so insignificant. I've run out there in May when there was much more snow than today.

The entire trip across Rattlesnake was pretty uneventful. The weather was nice and everyone seemed to be feeling quite good. We departed from the main trail as we intersected the powerline, then bee-lined our way toward Highway 18. This route technically goes "off trail" for a bit, although there still seems to be a pretty defined path. We successfully negotiated the super steep and very slippery "death slope" section and were soon at the Raging River ford. Being that we've had very little rain, the river was quite manageable. With feet soaked we slogged our way up to the East Tiger Road. I say slogged, because this section is really not runnable in the least. There are actually two stream crossings followed by an incredibly steep, muddy, brushy kinda' trail.

Once back on the manicured freeway that is the East Tiger Road, we stretched our legs out and began to run again. Eric and I were just running. Dan, on the other hand, was running too AND puking. What happened to the Danimal, you ask. He blamed a S-Cap/Clif Block overload on the bout of nausea. Sounds like a deadly combo. Of course, as Dan's puking and running and Eric and I are just running and winding our way up the never ending grade of the Preston Trail, the rain begins. Really? Now? Talk about kicking us while we're down. By the time we reached the top of East, the fun was starting to seep out of the run. I think we were all wishing that we were at the car instead of being 5 or 6 miles away.

Thankfully we regrouped and pulled it together. Dan's stomach settled down and Eric and I gutted it out. In the end, we were all very satisfied with the run. We finished in just over 5 hrs. The run had 6500 feet of ascent and close to 7000 of descent and we estimated it to be about 27 miles.

If I get out for a recovery run tomorrow, I'll be over 80 miles for the week. I know that's not a lot by some standards, but I never go much beyond that 90-100 mile range, so 80 at this point in the year feels pretty good.

And what would a Brian Morrison blog post be without some Pearl Jam talk? Well tomorrow night Mike McCready is hosting a Hootenanny for Haiti at the Showbox. There will be a whole bunch of local musicians, including Pearl Jam's drummer Matt Cameron. It doesn't get much better than going to a super fun show and supporting a great cause while you're at it. Rock on!

Well That's Fantastic

2010-02-04T10:09:00.000-08:00

My sister just called me here at the store. She was laughing as I answered the phone. That's really never a good sign. "Have you checked out your blog recently," she asked. "Uh, not for a couple of days. Why?" Frantically, I began to pull up my blog on the computer in front of me. She was laughing so hard she could barely spit out the punchline. "Your blog has been taken over by Asian porn," she blurted out. What? How? But...

Sure enough, as I pulled up my blog and glanced at the one and only comment on my most recent post, it appeared to be a link to some "non-running" related subject matter. I say appeared to be, because I was at work and opted to not even follow the link. Besides my sister seemed to have already sussed it out for me.

Now I know that I'm not updating with as much regularity as when I'm in the thick of my racing, but now I've got a single comment and it's a link to an adult website. This is just sad. The good news is that Chuckanut will be here before I know it, and racing will begin in full swing. This past week I've felt really good about my training. I'm still doing the bulk of my volume on the road, but I know the trail miles will come shortly.

My Sorta' Schedule

2010-01-25T19:00:00.000-08:00

Well I'm about a month into "training," and things are feeling pretty good. My little tendon issue seems to have worked itself out, and I'm healthy *knock on wood* for the time being. Training is on track, but I still haven't completely committed to a set schedule of races. There are a few loose ends that need to get wrapped up before I can finalize my plans. I'm hoping that in the next two or three weeks I'll know for sure where and when I'll be racing. For now, I'm only signed up for Chuckanut, but I've posted my tentative schedule.

On a non-running related note, I would urge folks to go buy Eddie Vedder's rendition of Bruce Springsteen's My City of Ruins. It's available on Pearl Jam's website as well as itunes. The song itself is beautifully sung, and more importantly, proceeds go to help Haitian earthquake victims.

Tiger Mountain Fat Ass

2010-01-04T06:28:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning marked the first Tiger Mountain Fat Ass in two years. Last year the event had to be canceled due to massive amounts of snow.

Well, in my case, it was actually just a half ass. That's fitting too, since it seems like I gained about an extra half an ass in Portugal over the holidays. I ran every day while I was there, but life seems to revolve around food there, especially around the holidays. Since it's once every couple of years that I get to experience the delights of Portuguese cuisine, I don't worry too much about what I consume.

The drive out from Seattle to Issaquah was a bit discouraging. Rain was pouring down and showing no signs of letting up. However, as the 8 am start rolled around, the rain subsided and my mood perked up.

The Tiger Mountain Fat Ass, as I'm sure most are, is more a social kick off to the new year than an actual race. This year was no exception. As everyone began to congregate near the start, I was struck by how many people I knew. I guess that I've been at this for 8 or 9 years now. Considering that this is still a relatively small sport, you get to know and recognize a lot of people in that amount of time.

There have been couple instances where I treated the Fat Ass like it was a race. The first time that I became aware of Kyle Skaggs was at this event. At that point, he was just a young friend of James Varner and John Pearch that they dragged up from Olympia. He had an unbelievably beat up pair of Asics road shoes, and some super thick, non Merino wool socks. He may not have totally looked the part of uber-talented ultra runner back then, but he sure ran like it. The course was a bit modified that year, but I think we came in at or just under 2 hours. That was the first and very last time I was able to run with Kyle. Ahhh....those were the days.

Then there was the 2007 Tiger Mountain Fat Ass, when I felt I had something to prove. I didn't necessarily feel like I had anything to prove at the fat ass, but after the disaster at States, I wanted to dismiss any thoughts that I was just a one hit wonder. So at the 2007 event, I blasted from the start and ran away from the beginning. I ran a pretty good time for the loop, especially considering it was blanketed in a lot of snow, but I didn't enjoy it. I may have said "hi" to a few folks at the start, but I ran completely alone all day. Plus I was so frozen at the finish that I just hopped in my car and drove home. I realized that was pretty pathetic and goes against the spirit of the fat ass tradition.

Now I'm all about easing into to the new season. There's plenty of hard racing ahead, and racing that actually means something. There are very few opportunities to get so many runner friends gathered in one place. You've got to soak it all up.

Looking Forward

2009-12-31T05:53:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I'm sure looking forward to 2010. It's not that 2009 was a terrible year, but it had some difficult moments. My best four-legged friend and primary training partner, Kiwi, had some pretty serious health issues that plagued her from Last February through most of the summer. Seeing her in so much discomfort and shelling out more money than I want to think about in vet bills, added some major stress to the better part of the year. That stress definitely affected my running performance, and not for the better.

But that was 2009. Kiwi's health is much better now, almost a year later. She's running again, although not quite as much as she once was, and getting better each month. She may not ever be out running 20+ mile runs again, but she's certainly able to go out and do 5-8 without issue.

My biggest concern, looking forward to 2010, is keeping all the dates and deadlines for races straight in my head. Getting a spot at popular ultras these days is nearly as hard as procuring Pearl Jam tickets to an intimate venue. It's exciting to see the sport gaining in popularity, but it's frustrating to be on the outside looking in on so many of these races.

For example, Andrea and I were just in Portugal. I knew that Way To Cool had gone to a lottery this year, and I knew that lottery opened on Dec. 13. Unfortunately amidst all the excitement of being abroad during the holidays, I neglected to get my name in the lottery by Dec. 19th. Thus, another year goes by without me running Way Too Cool. That means I really can't miss the January 9th registration opening for the Chuckanut 50k, just one week after Cool.

I've realized that I just need to block out two hours in order to line up my 2010 race schedule set. Those 2 hours have just been hard to come by. Don't get me wrong, I've got my plans more or less set, but I can't afford to miss any of these all too crucial sign up dates.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to 2010. Last year I started to feel a little burnt out on racing. I thought that maybe I'd just lost some of the desire to compete. However, now, as 2009 comes to a close, I'm itching to get back out and race hard in the new year.

Happy New Year!

Whew!

2009-12-17T09:34:00.000-08:00

I did it. I made the cut for Inov 8's 2010 team. I'm pretty sure it was a decision based on my career resume, and not so much on what I did in 2009. Outside of a mediocre race at Chuckanut and a win at the Sun Mountain 50k, my season was pretty lackluster.

Ahhh, but that was 2009. I've got some new tricks up my sleeve for 2010. First and foremost, as I've already stated, I'm taking a break from Western States. That just feels good to say. Anyway, I'm going to focus on 1 or 2 other hundred milers. Bighorn fits nicely into the mix, because it's only a week before Western States, and my last few years of training have been geared toward a June 100 miler. And it sounds like Hal, Ian, and the Rogue Valley Runner's crew may have a hundred happening down their way in September. That will hopefully be the second of my 100's. Then, of course, I'll sprinkle in a handful of 50k's and 50 milers to round out the year.

I'll be wrapping up my running for 2009 in Portugal. There won't be any racing, unless I stumble upon a local road race, but it'll be fun to log some miles abroad. Andrea's family is from Porto, so we're spending Christmas with them. It's not completely new running terrain for me, as this will be my fourth time there, but it's still a whole lot more novel than my daily run-commute to and from work.

Enjoy the holidays!

I Almost Forgot

2009-12-02T09:44:00.001-08:00

This coming Saturday is a very big day for many of my fellow ultra runners. For myself it'll be just another Saturday in Seattle. I have nothing at stake in the most anticipated lottery in the sport of ultra running, the Western States 100 drawing. I can certainly appreciate the nervous anticipation and excitement around the lottery. I have been a bundle of nerves myself on lottery day. However, I must admit that I almost forgot that this Saturday was the WS lottery. I've got nothing at stake in this year's random selection, and I'm quite happy about it.

Don't get me wrong. I do love the Western States 100, yet I harbor a lot of ill feelings (I won't say hatred) about it at the same time. As many of you know, Western States hasn't been exactly kind to me. I'm talking purely about the race itself, not the people involved. The canyons, the saw briars, and the heat, oh the scorching heat, all have gotten the best of me. And lets not forget the rubber. Yes, the perfectly smooth rubberized track of Placer High, that got me too.

I've decided that I need at least a year off from beating my head against the Western States wall. I'm not admitting defeat, I'm just recognizing the need to channel some energy elsewhere for a year or two. I like the timing of a June hundred miler though, so I'm thinking about running Bighorn. I've decided I just need to get a little confidence back in running that distance.

Good luck to all those who are eagerly awaiting their lucky draw on Saturday!

Wintumn

2009-11-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

Alright, I admit it! I've been suffering a bit from PPJTD. You suspected as much, right? What do you mean you've never heard of PPJTD? You know-Post Pearl Jam Tour Depression. Well I won't call it a full blown depression, but it qualifies as a legitimate bummer. Now they're off gallivanting around Australia and New Zealand while I'm stuck in the gray Seattle drizzle. Ahhh...to be independently wealthy.

Well, my leg is mending nicely, and my mileage is steadily climbing back up. As soggy and dark as Seattle becomes this time of year, it's a wonder anyone runs at all. Yet for some strange reason, I love running in this weather. It makes you feel like you're really accomplishing something, something more than JUST a run. There's an element of being hardcore, and maybe a little crazy, when you're out logging miles in the wind and driving, sideways rain. I love it. Yes, spoken like a true Northwest kid, I know.

It's not quite winter nor fall. I'll call it wintumn

The Board Room

2009-10-30T07:41:00.000-07:00

The beautiful thing about laptops is that you can blog from just about anywhere. Like right now I'm sitting in the Alaska Airlines Board Room, awaiting a flight to Newark, NJ. The Board Room is a new place for me, and I must say I could get used to it. I believe that it's typically reserved for First Class passengers and frequent flyer types. Andrea managed to get her paws on a couple of complimentary passes, so now I'm sipping a complimentary Bloody Mary and blogging away in a very comfy leather chair. I'm not a big fan of flying, thus me sipping a Bloody Mary, but I could get used to this.

Anyhoo, why are we going to Newark, NJ? Alaska had a direct flight available to Newark from Seattle. We're actually headed to Philadelphia to see Pearl Jam, and Newark's only an hour and a half away. We're going to catch the final two shows ever at the Spectrum as Pearl Jam closes it down for good. Oh, I can't wait. Rumor has it that the 11pm venue curfew has been lifted for Saturday night's show, and there's talk that the show could push into the wee hours of Sunday morning with special guests galore. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much, but it's so dang hard.

Let's get back on track. This is a running blog after all. My foot is feeling much better and allowing me to run. Last week and this week will be in the 40+ range. My foot is like 95% healed, but those last 5% are sure taking there sweet time to get right. Nonetheless, it's no longer slowing me down and it feels good to be upping the mileage.

You've Got To Be Kidding Me

2009-10-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

Right now as I type, my foot is immersed in a bucket of ice water. I know what you're thinking. Is Brian even running enough right now to be hampered with an injury? Sadly my friends the answer is NO, not even close. But the point is that I want to be running that much.

Unfortunately I have been set back these past two weeks by some bizarre ailments. So the week leading up to our Nicaraguan vacation and the whole time we were gone, I hardly ran. Typically I take a break in October or early November, but the way our vacation was timed and the fact that I had no upcoming races, I opted for a slightly earlier break. My intention of course was to be back running strong by the time I'm normally cutting back for a little r&r.

The problem is that two weeks ago, after running moderately hard a couple of back to back days, I was struck by an incredible pain in my big toe. After a quick inspection and a self diagnosis I pegged it to be an ingrown toenail. Having never had an ingrown toenail, I had to turn to the internet and friends' experiences for advice. For two days, I hobbled around on it and even tried to run through about the most excruciating pain I've ever felt. I thought for sure that a trip to the doctor was in order, that is until I finally was able to drain it. Without going through the gory details, I'll just say that once the pressure under the nail was alleviated the pain went away immediately. I felt like I'd really dodged a bullet and got back to running, making up for lost time.

So now cut to this week. I was steadily building mileage up through Thursday, when on my way home I was suddenly aware of a tenderness on the outside of my foot. Ahhh, what now? I took Friday off from running and spoke to our in store doc as soon as I arrived to work. Turns out that because I was overcompensating for my toe injury, I've now aggravated my peroneal tendon by running and walking on the outside of my foot.

I'm only 31. I'm not old enough to be dealing with such setbacks, or am I? Without bragging about it, I've always taken great pride in my ability to run injury free. Hopefully this is just a little stretch of tough luck and I'll be back to training in no time. In the meantime, I'll keep my foot numbed in ice and my fingers crossed.

Vacation Nicaraguan Style

2009-09-18T06:34:00.001-07:00

Well I've got some good news and bad news. Good news first, right? Well our two week vacation in Nicaragua was splendid, completely fantastic. And the bad news? Surfing, or at least attempting to surf, was so much fun that I may just give up running and focus wholeheartedly on waves. I'm just kidding of course, but it's a kick in the pants as well as a great workout.

We arrived in Managua on August 30th and headed straight to San Juan Del Sur, where we spent the whole first week. We rented a "casita" at Rancho Cecilia, and our lovely hosts Scott and Liz picked us up at the airport and drove us the four hours back to their wonderful piece of property in San Juan. Scott and Liz are from California, but having sailed to Nicaragua 3 years ago, they fell in love with it and moved there. Now they rent out the "casita" and teach surf lessons. Not a bad way to make a living, eh? Their property is 7 kilometers outside the town of San Juan Del Sur, and literally carved out of the jungle. They even have a troop of howler monkeys on their lot. It's just beautiful and so incredibly relaxing. They are literally "off the grid" as well. Their larger home and the casita are powered entirely off of solar power.

During our first week in Nicaragua life was pretty simple. We'd typically head down to the beach at 9:30 or 10am and begin surfing. Usually by 1:30 or so we were taxed enough to take a short break from the waves and dine on fresh fish tacos. Now let me make it clear that there is no restaurant or hotel or any such thing on this beach. There's simply an open air tent with a grill and two folks fixing up the most delicious tacos I've ever sampled. Lunch was followed up by yet more surfing, and usually around 5:00 we'd wrap things up and make the 40 minute trek back to the casita. Like I said, life was pretty simple, but that's exactly the vacation we were seeking.

We stayed exactly one week in San Juan Del Sur and loved it. It was actually quite tempting, since we had no reservations, to stay the duration of our trip in San Juan. We were however lured away by the temptation of Ometepe, a volcanic island in Lake Nicaragua. For about ten bucks we were able to catch a taxi (If you can call it that. Cars in Nicaragua are serious pieces of S#*t!) to the ferry terminal in San Jorge, 40 minutes away. From the terminal it's about an hour by boat to Ometepe. And boy if I thought the cars were crummy, don't even get me started on that rust-bucket of a boat. The cruise across Lake Nicaragua was a little unsettling, but once back on terra firma, I was struck by the lush, green beauty of Ometepe. The island is shaped like a dumbbell with a larger, active volcano at the north end and a slightly smaller, dormant volcano on the south end. If memory serves, the island is approximately 78 kilometers around.

We spent 4 nights on Ometepe and enjoyed it immensely. We hiked a bunch, biked a bunch, and even rode horses. As much as I enjoyed trying to surf, Andrea and I both agree that Ometepe was our favorite spot on the trip. The highlights were hiking to San Ramon, a magnificent 40 meter waterfall and summiting Maderas, the slightly shorter of the island's two volcanos.

From Ometepe we headed back to the mainland and the city of Granada. Granada is a beautiful colonial city right on the west shore of Lake Nicaragua. Although the city itself lacked the adventurous atmosphere of Ometepe, we found the most exciting activity of the trip just outside of Granada. Right on the flank of Mombacho, the volcano rising above the southern end of Granada, we zip-lined our way through the jungle canopy. The zip lines crisscrossed their way through the treetops on a total of 13 platforms. And unlike the cars and the ferries, the zip line tour equipment was remarkably well kept. Andrea and I both agreed that the zip lining was the single most enjoyable activity of the entire trip.

We expected to have a great time in Nicaragua, but having never been there ourselves and not knowing anyone who'd been there, we really didn't know what it would be like. Now speaking from experience, it was probably the coolest place I've ever been, and I would go back in a heartbeat. Neither one of us ever felt even slightly unsafe, especially after we realized the machete wielding locals are just going about their day-to-day work, and the locals could not have been more friendly. And the beauty of the country is completely breathtaking. Go to Nicaragua and do it now before it really becomes a more touristy locale.

*I'll get some photos up as soon as we get them all organized*

A Nice Reprieve

2009-08-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

Today Andrea and I are taking off for a two week vacation in Nicaragua. Yes, it is safe there, or so they tell me. Everyone seems to think that Nicaragua is still a nation in the midst of a revolution. When we tell people that we're going to Nicaragua, we're usually asked if it's safe there. Supposedly, we've never been, it's very much like Costa Rica, just slightly less touristy. I'm just looking forward to getting a way for a bit.

Hopefully I'll come back itching to run. This season really hasn't gone to plan, and I've been feeling a bit burnt out on racing. Of course, Western States has become a huge thorn in my side these past 3 years. Knowing that I'm not running there next year feels so liberating. Also, I think that Kiwi's health issues have really worn on my ability to race to my capabilities this year. That sounds like a bit of a cop out, but she's like our child. Seeing her struggle with her illness has really stressed me out and zapped some of my motivation to race and train as hard as I'd like. But there's nothing like a good vacation to recharge. I plan to come back in two weeks with a little better outlook on things.

Obsess Much?

2009-08-18T20:14:00.000-07:00

Am I totally crazy to be going to 5, yes I said 5, Pearl Jam shows in a span slightly longer than a month? I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out. They will play a completely different set each one of those nights, in fact, they'll play a different set every night of the whole tour. Plus, they only tour about once every 3-4 years, so if you're a fan, you've got to make the most of it when they do. So beginning September 21st I'll be attending 2 Seattle shows, 1 Vancouver, BC show, 1 Portland show, and one very special show on Halloween in Philadelphia, PA. It is a bit obsessive isn't it?

Well I know I've been blogging a lot about non-running things, but there's still been plenty of running happening as well. Lately I've done most of my running to and from work. It's such a great way to energize yourself before work and unwind after. The weather has been fabulous here in Seattle, so run commuting has been a real treat recently.

Speaking of real treats, on Sunday evening Andrea and I were fortunate enough to attend the wedding of my old runnin' partner the "Alabama Hammer." It was a beautiful ceremony, and even though I despise him for no longer running with me (only kidding), I couldn't be happier for him.

Like Sophie's Choice

2009-08-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

I realize this is in poor taste, but I just couldn't resist the comparison. To be honest, I've never even seen Sophie's Choice. I know the basic premise of the story though. I understand that Meryl Streep is fantastic in it, but I digress. My point here is that I'm faced with a terribly tough choice. Since I have no children and only one border collie, I can't relate to having to choose one of my children over the other. What I CAN relate to is having to choose between Pearl Jam shows. (I warned you that this was in poor taste didn't I?)

So I've already got tickets to see Pearl Jam in September at Key arena on the 21st and 22nd. That's great. Since then I've kept hearing rumors of a Halloween show at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. I guess I've become caught up in that hype, because now I feel like I can't miss that show. It will be the last concert ever at the Spectrum, by the way.

Andrea and I decided that if that show was announced that we'd go. But here comes the Sophie's Choice part. On Monday they did officially announce the Halloween show, but along with that, they also announced shows in Portland and Vancouver, BC. We can't justify going to all of these shows, so Andrea has laid it out for me. We can either go to the one Philadelphia show, which has the potential to be spectacular, or we can go to both the Vancouver and Portland shows. A practical person would realize that two shows is better than one, but like I said, I've become entangled in the excitement surrounding this final show at the Spectrum.

Oh, having to choose between these events is agonizing. Maybe it'll come to me in my sleep, because by 9am, when tickets go on sale for Philadelphia, I have to make a decision one way or the other.

Too Many Decisions!

2009-08-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

What's a guy to do? Pearl Jam just announced the Philadelphia show on Halloween that I'd been waiting for. Great news, right? Well they also decided to add Vancouver, BC and Portland. Andrea and I are going to have to sit down and check out the finances. This could get pricey. Yikes!

More Tour Dates Added

08.10.09

We've got some great news ... Pearl Jam has added some dates onto their North American tour, on both coasts.

DATE	CITY	VENUE	10C PRESALE
Oct 31	Philadelphia, PA	Spectrum Arena*	Aug-12 @9am PDT
Oct 27	Philadelphia, PA	Spectrum Arena*	Aug-12 @11am PDT
Sep 28	Salt Lake, UT	E Center	Aug-12 @1pm PDT
Sep 26	Portland, OR	Amphitheater	Aug-12 @3pm PDT
Sep 25	Vancouver, BC	GM Place	Aug-12 @5pm PDT

General sale tickets for the Philly shows will start August 14th through www.comcasttix.com. The Portland and Vancouver general ticket sales will also start August 14th through www.ticketmaster.com. The remaining west coast dates will go on-sale to the general public through www.ticketmaster.com on August 15th.

Ten Club will be hosting a swift pre-sale for these shows beginning August 12th and ending August 13th at 5pm PDT. Coordinated dates and times are listed above.

You must be an active member as of August 9, 2009 to qualify for the ticket pre-sale. Tickets will be sold online only at https://www.pearljam.com/max with a Visa or Mastercard only. Two (2) tickets per show. No single tickets.

For wheelchair accessible or disabled seating, please contact the Ten Club at 1-800-724-8038 before making a ticket purchase.

*The Philly Spectrum has graciously provided Ten Club with a more-than-usual allotment of tickets for our eligible members. However, after our usual allotment, seat allocation (for these additional shows only) will be comparable to general public sale tickets, but still assigned by membership seniority.

Ten Club tickets are sold on a first come, first serve basis and available only while supplies last. Seat allocation for the additional west coast shows will be distributed by membership seniority, with the exception of rows 1-2 and 9-10 which are randomly assigned regardless of seniority.

Tickets are not mailed in advance. Tickets are distributed at the venue on the day of the show. The Ten Club member must collect the tickets with a valid photo identification.

By opting to purchase tickets, you agree to all Ten Club policies. All ticket sales are final. No refunds, exchanges or transfers. Please visit here http://www.pearljam.com/ten-club/tickets for a full description of the Ten Club ticketing policy and procedure.

More Speed Scramblin'

2009-08-07T18:51:00.001-07:00

I've just been craving time in the mountains lately, and today was no different. I had the day off, so I decided I'd make the most of it by heading to the east slope of the Cascades. The objective of the day was to climb Mt. Daniel, a peak that I've wanted to get up for some time, and to do it as quickly as possible.

I was up by 4:30am, but everything seemed to take much longer than it should have, and I didn't get on the road until 5:30 or so. I arrived at the Tucquala Meadows trailhead at around 8am. Not really knowing how long the climb would take, I wasted no time getting started. I was solo today, so I slung my pack on and cranked up the tunes as I briskly started up the trail.

Unlike Sloan Peak, I was on a well established trail for the first 5 miles of the climb. Jim Nelson's book said that it should take about 3 hours to reach Peggy's Pond. From there the route was all off trail. Given that I was setting out to do this climb quickly, I knew that it wouldn't possibly take 3 hours to get to Peggy's Pond. I have run from this same trailhead a handful of times, so I was somewhat familiar with the terrain. Of course, I was carrying a little bit more gear than I would for just a run. After one brief wrong turn, I arrived at the end of the trail in less than an hour and a half.

The temperature was actually quite cool and there were some foggy clouds shrouding the view of most everything above. However, it seemed to be a very thin layer, and it was only a matter of minutes before everything was bright blue and sunny. The route up Mt. Daniel is really straightforward, and there are few technical difficulties. In uneventful fashion, I reached the summit in 3:02 from the car.

Although it was clear and sunny, the wind was howling up high, so I didn't get to savor much downtime on the summit proper. I wrote an entry in the summit log, ate a bar, refilled my water, and made my way back down to a more protected position. The descent was simply a return down the same route. However, it was a little more eventful than the ascent.

There was one section of the ascent that was a little dicey. For those of you that have climbed or do climb, you probably realize that downclimbing is significantly trickier than ascending. I thought that I could take a more direct line down the mountain and avoid downclimbing some semi-technical terrain. Unfortunately my plan backfired. 100 feet or so above the last snowfield, I came head to head with some pretty sketchy terrain. All of a sudden the rock became quite rotten and loose. The pitch was steep enough that if I were to slip, I probably wouldn't be able to stop until I reached the snowfield. It wouldn't have been a fall off a sheer cliff, but I didn't want to find out what damage could be sustained by such a tumble. I climbed part way back up the face and traversed toward the direction I had originally come up. In hindsight, I should have just climbed all the way back up and descended the exact route of the ascent, but I was being stubborn and just wanted to get onto the snowfield as quickly as possible. There was another line with some more solid looking rock that I had picked out from a distance. Following that path to it's terminus I was now only 50 feet above the snowfield. Again I traversed across the fall line to another promising looking rib of solid rock. This one looked like it led down all the way to the snowfield, but it was really steep. Rather than face the down sloping angle, I spun 180 degrees and began to very carefully downclimb. Every hold that I grabbed hold of or stepped on had to be carefully inspected for structural integrity. Many of the solid looking hand and footholds broke off without so much as a good tug. With about 20 feet left to descend to the snow, I spun back around and sat on my butt. There were no solid holds left to downclimb. Everything that I put any weight on was just crumbling and sliding down onto the snow. At least at this point, I knew that a fall would not be costly. If I did start to go, I may even have been able to run it out onto the snow. Thankfully I didn't have to find out. Without losing control, I was able to negotiate the final 2o feet and exit onto the snow.

The rest of the trip was without incident, and I arrived back at the car in 5:32. It was another fantastic day in the mountains. In the last few weeks, I've been able to get out to climb two peaks that I have wanted to do for some time. Now let's see what kind of shape this climbing has me in when I race Waldo in two weeks.

White River Report

2009-08-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

Feeling a little bit downtrodden after another disappointing attempt at Western States, I thought that helping a first-timer through White River would be the perfect remedy to add a little fun back into running. My uncle, Bill Ames, has been contemplating running 50 miles for some time now, but he's had a great deal of trepidation about the distance. I proposed to him, that if he would sign up to run White River, I'd run the race at his pace to help him through.

Needless to say, he signed up, and I was committed to helping him through it. Uncle Bill kept assuring me that I could back out on our deal and run my own race. However, I was dead set on running with him. In all honesty, it was for both non-selfish and very selfish reasons. Obviously sacrificing my own race, to get him through his, was a selfless decision. On the flip side, I was really relieved to have a good reason not to have to go out and race. Feeling so drained after another Western States debacle, I just really needed to go out and run with no pressure.

And run with no pressure I did.

At 6:30 am the race got underway. It was strange not to be lined up at the front of the pack, but it didn't take long for me to start really enjoying a more casual pace. I couldn't believe how many more people are on the trail when you're in the middle to back of the pack. For the first 3 miles it was like a conga line of runners. However, as the grade steepened, people started to spread out a bit more. Bill was really moving well up the unrelenting climb. In fact, I was a little taken aback by the clip that he maintained.

Uncle Bll arrived at Corral Pass looking very strong and in seemingly good spirits. We were 17 miles in and everything was going quite smoothly. We seemed to make good time on the out and back, and it wasn't long until we were filling up at Ranger Creek and preparing for the 6 mile descnt to the midway point of the course. The section from Ranger Creek back to Buck Creek is a quad-burning downhill. Bill looked very strong initially, but as we neared the bottom, I could tell things weren't going well.

Our pace had slowed a bit, although we were still passing people. When I asked how he was doing, his responses became a bit more curt. I wasn't too concerned at that point. More people than not are pretty wiped by the bottom of that windy plunge down the creek drainage. We were very close to the Buck Creek aid station, and I figured a little change of terrain and some food would change things in a hurry.

Buck Creek provided an incredible reprieve from the monotony of the previous six miles. The aid station was bustling with people. We were greeted by many familiar faces, and I heard from numerous people that I appeared to be having a lot of fun. Unfortunately Uncle Bill was not having quite so much fun. His legs were pretty hammered, and he took a moment to sit down in a chair while he ate. I was a little concerned about his race, but having run this distance before, I knew that things can turn around quickly.

With food in our bellies, we struck out on the trail again. I explained to Bill that I always enjoy the second half more than the first. It was true, but mostly I was trying to remain upbeat, because it was becoming more and more clear to me that he was mentally and physically waning.

About a half mile up the second climb, Uncle Bill sat down on a log and told me that his day was probably over. "No, this can't be," I thought. UB has climbed El Cap, traversed the Bailey Range solo, run 17 5ok's, and survived numberous other harrowing climbing adventures. He couldn't possibly be derailed by 50 miles. I saddled up next to him on the log and tried to get a picture of what was going on. He explained to me that his legs were just shot and that even hiking was feeling like too much work. I convinced him to eat a couple of gels, and to his credit, he stood up and pressed onward.

Ultimately though, he stopped again, this time for good. He decided that it just wasn't his day. Again, I tried to keep him going, but I also respected his decision. It's not as though I've never dropped out of a race, obviously. So with UB out of the picture, what was I to do? I thought about just walking back to the start with him, but I didn't need another DNF. I was then reminded of my two friends Dan and Eric. They were somewhere in front of me, by how much I didn't know. Maybe, just maybe, I could catch them.

Having taken it pretty easy through the first half, I had some legs, so I began to run hard up the climb. As I rolled into the next aid station at Fawn Ridge I was disheartened to learn that Dan and Eric had arrived 25 minutes earlier. I had hoped to catch them by the Sun Top aid station, but that was seeming pretty far fetched with only 5 miles to go. Nonetheless I put my head down and continued to hammer upward.

Just before the summit aid station, there were two women taking numbers. I asked when Dan and Eric had come through. I was ecstatic to learn that just 3 minutes earlier they had checked in. I was going to catch them. To my surprise, as I crested the hill and the aid station came into view, I saw Dan and Eric. I filled them in on Bill's race and asked how they were doing. Both of them were in great spirits and we all set off down the road together.

Dan had run 50 miles once before, at the San Juan Solstice this past June, but Eric was running his first 50 miler. In fact, Eric had never even run a 50k, so he was in uncharted territory. Both of them seemed to be moving well as we chatted our way down the Sun Top road. By the bottom of the road though, Eric showed that he was indeed human. His IT band had tightened up on him. Not being in any hurry, I was content just to stick with Eric and Dan and do whatever I could to keep Eric upbeat and moving forward.

We hiked most of the final six miles, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I was so impressed with Eric's determination. Clearly he was in discomfort, yet he remained so seemingly upbeat. We crossed the finish line in 10:30 or so. It was about 3 hours longer than I would have been out if I was racing, but it was really enjoyable. Of course, I was disappointed that I wasn't able to finish with Uncle Bill, but I was glad to play at least a small role in Eric's first 50 mile finish.

So Much to Write

2009-07-31T09:42:00.000-07:00

I have every intention of sitting down to write up a report from White River, but it's been hard to find the time of late. Just to give a quick overview, I set out to run the race with my uncle. Unfortunately he hit about the 50k mark and called it a day. I finished with two other friends and really had a great time. I even have some more photos to post from the day.

On the Pearl Jam front, there are some crazy rumors flying around about a Halloween show at the Spectrum in Philly. They are scheduled to play there October 28th and 30th, as it stands now. The Halloween show would be the final concert ever performed at the Spectrum before it's torn down. I've become engulfed in the hype, and now I'm hoping to attend this show. I know it sounds crazy, but I love me some Pearl Jam. Have you heard the Fixer yet? That's the first single from their forthcoming album. It's taken a few listens, but it's really growing on me now. Good stuff.

I'll be gone most of the weekend, but hopefully I'll have a White River report with photos early next week. And maybe I'll have some more definitive news on this Halloween show. I think my fingers will be crossed all weekend in anticipation of a Monday announcement.

That's Better

2009-07-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

Three years ago I did a VO2 max test. The results of which left me feeling a little discouraged. Considering that I'm at least a somewhat competitive endurance athlete, I figured I'd have a decent VO2 max. Well, in reality, my score was pedestrian, measuring about 54. Clearly it didn't mean that I wasn't going to be able to continue to run well, but I left the clinic feeling a bit inadequate.

Well, just this morning, I was given the opportunity to be tested at the Seattle Athletic Club. They have just begun to offer the service and, in order to promote it, I was offered a free test. I had a bit of trepidation going into it. I mean what if my VO2 max had declined? Would my fragile ego be able to handle an even more paltry score?

Thankfully, my numbers did not decline. In fact, my max today was measured at 64.8. That's still not in the elite range, but I feel much better about being over 60. Maybe this means that I can go back and run well at Western States next year. Let's see if I can sell Andrea on that argument. "C'mon Andrea. I finally have a VO2 max over 60. Can't I go back next year?" Ya, that'll go over really well I'm sure.

Speed Scrambling

2009-07-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

Well, you've heard of speed climbing, right? Dean Potter, the Huber Bros., and Lynn Hill have all helped to create and advance the sport of technical speed climbing. Big vertical walls are generally the target for these rock climbing cheetahs. But have you ever heard of speed scrambling? It seems like such a familiar term, but "Google" it and you'll find nothing in the first two pages about climbing.

A little over a week ago, my friend Dan and I decided to take a little break from running and head to the mountains. We were both wanting to get out for a day, but needed a bit more adventure than what comes from a 4-5 hour trail run. Having not climbed for much too long, I proposed we tackle Sloan Peak via the Corkscrew Route. Dan, ever the good sport, seemed psyched on the plan, even given his lack of climbing experience.

Dan picked me up at 5 am Friday morning, and we arrived at the trail head by 6:30 or so. Our plan was to go light. We had ice axes and lightweight crampons, but we planned only to wear our trail shoes all the way to the summit. Having never climbed Sloan Peak, we were simply going off of Jim Nelson's description of the route from Selected Climbs in the Cascades: Volume 2. The trail is definitely not maintained and offers a couple of "interesting" sections. The first of which is encountered within the first half mile. Being that the trail is unmaintained and seldom traveled, for that matter, there's no bridge over the North Fork of the Sauk River. The river looked tame enough, but the ford was sketchy for a couple of steps through waist deep flows. Once across the river, it took a few moments to relocate the trail. When we found it, we started to put our running fitness to work on the steep uphill grind. We certainly weren't running, but we seemed to be making pretty good time power hiking. It was as we began this push upward that Dan shared with me the notion of speed scrambling. Evidently he and another friend,Eric. had just taken ownership of the term a week earlier, on Granite Mountain. A scramble is simply a non-vertical, minimally technical, climb up a mountain, and of course, speed-scrambling is just doing that quickly. So there we were "speed-scrambling" up Sloan Peak.

We really never stopped until we reached the saddle at the top of the first snowfield. It was here that we pulled out the book just to double check the route before ascending the Sloan Glacier. We chose to pass on our crampons. The snow was so soft that they would have just balled up with slush. The glacier had a handful of obvious crevasses, but we easily navigated around them. The only nervewracking section of the glacier, at least to me, was traversing underneath the towering cliff face of the summit. There were several very large chunks of rock scattered about the glacier, and I had no desire to have to dodge a couple hundred pound piece of rock careening down from above. Fortunately there was only about a ten or fifteen minute window were I felt vulnerable. Once off the glacier, we stashed our axes, crampons, and all other non-essentials as we began the final ascent up the goat path leading to the summit. This is the point where the Corkscrew Route gets its name. The path winds around the back side of the summit formation then steeply switches back and forth. We made a couple of route finding errors, and even ended up climbing a class 4 gulley, but with relative ease we reached the summit in 4:21 from the car.

The views from the summit were breathtaking. Glacier Peak looked like you could just about reach out and touch it. We could see Mt. Baker to the north and Rainier to the south. We signed the summit register and ate a bit of food. Dan took a photo of me and tried to text it to our wives. His cell phone was showing a signal, but he couldn't get the photo to send. Finally, Dan pulled out a small Gatorade bottle with about two swigs of whiskey in it. He took the first pull and I knocked off the second. You'd never know that Dan was a rookie, as he brandished the whiskey like a seasoned mountaineer.

Whether it was the whiskey or the food in our bellies. We seemed to have a little extra zip in our step as we made our way down from the summit. Once we reached our stashed gear, we really kicked things into another gear. Even though we were only in running shorts, we managed to glissade most of the way down the glacier and even the lower snowfield. Once back on the trail, we continued our quick descent, even mixing in a bit of jogging in the less technical sections. The descent was mostly uneventful, aside from a couple good spills. Once back at the river, we realized that we could cross a log jam slightly downstream of the ford. I was relieved not to have to make those couple of steps through the current on tired legs. Once across the river, we were able to jog most of the last half mile to the car. We stopped our watches as we popped out to the trailhead. From car to car, we climbed Sloan in 6:45. Without setting out to, we may have the fastest known time roundtrip on Sloan Peak. Leor Pantilat and Colin Abercrombie did the climb in just over 7 hours. Most everything Leor does is the fastest known time, so I can only assume their time on Sloan was the previous fastest. Regardless of the time, we had a fantastic climb, and I hope to get out and do more of the same very soon.

My Post-Western Life

2009-07-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

Whew, things have been quite busy since I last sat down to write. Where do I even begin? There's been Pearl Jam anxiety, fly fishing excursions, a climbing adventure, and even a little bit of running. Alright, so maybe I haven't been THAT busy, but I'll share a few of the highlights.

Let's begin with my favorite topic, Pearl Jam. It turns out that Mike McCready was not being straight with me, a month or so back, when he came into Seattle Running Company to get some shoes. He told me that they were playing September 21st at Key Arena. As it turns out they're playing the 21st AND the 22nd. Where were you on that one Mikey? I thought we had really hit it off.

Thanks to the 20 bucks a year that I kick into the Pearl Jam Ten Club, I was able to get first crack at tickets last monday. The process was actually quite smooth. Generally when trying to get Pearl Jam tickets, even fan club tickets, there's a great deal of stress and uncertainty. Pearl Jam insists on selling their fan club tickets through their own website. That's great except that their website has typically not had the bandwidth to handle the demand for tickets, thus leading to site crashes and me yelling multiple expletives (not so good when I'm at work). For example, Eddie Vedder embarked on a solo tour last spring, and fan club members were able to get tickets first. Andrea and I chose to go to Vancouver, BC. That particular tour probably had 12-15 dates, all of which went on sale at the same time. As always, the tickets went on sale at 10 am, just as the store opens. To make a long story short, I twice had tickets in the cart ready to pay, and the website crashed. Meanwhile I'm answering the store phone and trying to help customers while still attempting to log in and get tickets. Finally at 10:53 am, I managed to thread the needle and get to the ticket cart and purchase them unscathed. So that's been a pretty typical experience when trying to procure PJ tickets. This time around, the ticket sales were staggered, and I had tickets to both shows within 2 minutes of them going on sale. What? I didn't even get to shout a single 4-letter word.

To calm my Pearl Jam anxiety, I've been spending a bit of time fly fishing. I really haven't been having much fishing success, but I've been exploring some gorgeous new places. Lately I've been stuffing my 3-piece rod into my running pack and incorporating a run into my fly fishing time. It really allows me to quickly get to some very cool and distant places.

Since I'm running out of time this morning, I'll leave you with this. Last Friday my good friend Dan and I did a fantastic climb up Sloan Peak. It was such a great day in the mountains that I will devote an entire post to it. Oh, and guess what? I even have some pics to go with it. My blog won't be recognizable.

The Report

2009-07-09T05:57:00.000-07:00

As I've already alluded to to, Western States 2009 was not the race I was hoping for. Once again I was beaten into submission by this event. However, I'm not feeling nearly as deflated, following this year's race, as I have each of the past three summers. Although I ultimately gave up, it didn't come without a real fight, and I'm proud of that.

In 2006, I had the race in the bag, only to mismanage the final 2.9 miles and ultimately ended up with a win-that-was-not and a trip to the hospital. As you might imagine, that was an incredibly bitter pill to swallow. At this point, I can look back on that race with a great deal of pride, but at the time I couldn't find anything positive in that experience. 2007 was a huge disappointment for me and a race that I'm not proud of at all. I was in very good shape leading up to the race, most likely even a bit overtrained. I became sick a couple of weeks before the race and had not recovered by race day. Knowing better, I went against my gut instinct and started the race. The end result was a drop only 35 miles into the course . It was a frustrating day all the way around. In 2008, all of us who had spent the last year preparing, making sacrifices, had the rug yanked right out from under us. Forest fires in the region forced the cancellation of the race for the first time in 35 years. To put all the hard work and focus into such a big moment only to have it snatched away was probably the most devastating blow I've been dealt by Western States. This year, although ultimately disappointing, has felt a lot less demoralizing than my previous three tries.

Okay, so what happened out there? Well as I had mentioned leading up to the race, I was fighting a really nasty bug. However, I must admit that I felt pretty dang good by Wednesday. Heck, I was even feeling pretty spunky on Tuesday. I left Seattle around 6:30 am and arrived in Auburn about 8 o'clock. Feeling antsy and needing to stretch my legs, I drove down to the river and ran from No Hands Bridge to Highway 49 and back. The warm air and the smooth trail were just the ticket after being crammed in the car for close to 13 hours. On Wednesday I ran about an hour at Diamond Peak, a small resort above Lake Tahoe. That too felt good, and my mindset really began to shift. I thought, "Maybe all this rest really will pay off." Thursday was more of the same, as I met up with some friends and headed up to Five Lakes Basin. Running uphill at 6 or 7 thousand feet was surprisingly effortless. I was convinced, really convinced, that I was going to pop a great race on Saturday. Friday rolled around and I felt very relaxed and confident. I stayed well hydrated throughout the day and ate well. As I laid in bed Friday night, I envisioned what it would feel like crossing that finish line upright, and in the top ten. That's really what I thought possible.

Western States had something different in mind for me, as it turned out. The day started out well enough. Besides following the lead pack up a wrong turn in the first mile, the initial 22 miles felt smooth. I was able to drink consistently and eat every half hour. Loping into Duncan Canyon, I was able to see my crew for the first time. I was in the top twenty, and I felt like I was just biding my time. With the field assembled this year, I knew that guys would go out very fast and most would probably end up paying the price. My plan was to move up as the pace and heat exacted their toll on the frontrunners later in the day.

Unfortunately things don't always go as planned, especially in hundred milers. Oh, there was carnage alright, but I was part of it too. Shortly after leaving Duncan Canyon, my stomach began to feel unsettled. I'm still not sure why, but as I left Robinson Flat, I placed my hands on my thighs while bent over and purged the contents of my stomach, EV-ER-Ything in my stomach. Worst of all, I didn't really feel any better. I walked a bit and tried to calm my gut, but still something wasn't right. I'll spare some of the gory details, but by the time my crew saw me again at Dusty Corners, I had begun to show some real wear and tear. "How are you feeling, Brian," Andrea asked. "Not good," I said. "I've been throwing up." Determined to get beyond Dusty Corners, I swapped my bottles and waistpack and slowly jogged down the trail. The trail is mostly downhill from Dusty Corners to Last Chance, but my insides were in such turmoil that I had to walk. My stomach was empty at this point, and I knew that I needed to get some fuel onboard. Gels weren't tasting good, or staying down for that matter, so I went for the solid food. Peeling the wrapper back I began to take small bites of my burrito. It didn't taste great, but it was an improvement over the gels and blocks.

About a mile or so before Last Chance, a group of about 4 0r 5 runners passed me, and I was able to fall in behind them and run for a bit. Being that I hadn't kept anything down for a few hours, I expected to be down in weight as I stepped onto the scale at Last Chance. It read 168. I was 43 miles in and only a pound down. The descent from LC down to the Swinging Bridge actually felt doable. In fact, I only threw up once before crossing the bridge and beginning the heinous climb up the Devil's Thumb. For the first time all day, I was really starting to feel the heat. As I bent down to soak my visor in the creek, Krissy passed me. She too seemed to be going through a rough patch, but we agreed to tackle the thumb together. Well, she turned out to be stronger than I, and it took everything in my power just to keep her in my sight. As we neared the top, it became obvious to me that my mind was beginning to lose a battle with my body. I felt nearly as weak as I ever have, as I rounded the final switch back and trudged into the aid station. I was honestly starting to have flashbacks to my climb up Robie Point in 2006, so I knew I had to get things under control or else there may be trouble. This time my weight was 167.5. I still had not lost any significant weight, so that was somewhat reassuring. I plopped myself down into a folding chair and luxuriated in the sensation of being off my feet.

It didn't take long before the volunteers started asking questions. I explained to them that I had thrown up everything that I'd ingested for the last 18 miles. Not only that, on the climb up to the Thumb, I began dry heaving, because at that point there was nothing in my stomach. They told me that I looked good and seemed very alert and mentally on the ball. Eventually I was able to eat a little bit of fruit and a couple of popsicles. Ginger ale too, seemed to go down without issue. I threw up a couple of times while seated, but eventually the food and drink stayed down. As a precaution, one of the volunteers took my blood pressure. It was a little low while seated, and it was dropping a bit when I stood up. I still don't quite understand what that means physiologically, but the med volunteers took note of it. After about an hour of sipping water, broth and ginger ale, I stood up and decided to attempt to make it at least to my crew at Michigan Bluff, another 7 miles away.

Much to my relief, Jeff Phillips had just come through Devil's Thumb, so I was able to catch up to him and make the descent into El Dorado Canyon with company. We both commented on the heat, yet it never felt as hot to me as 2006. We reached the river together, and I was feeling reassured, having not thrown up for some time. I refilled my water bottles and grabbed two Oreos as we began the steady climb up to Michigan Bluff. The cookies tasted good and went down without issue, however as I neared the halfway point up the climb, I was again doubled over and vomiting. "This F'ing sucks," I thought, as I tried to wipe my mouth with my dusty singlet. Within a mile of the aid station, I saw two men standing on the side of the trail. I didn't think much of them until I got closer. It turned out to be my Uncle Bob and my pacer, Dan. They had come down to look for me, since I was so far off my predicted arrival to Michigan Bluff. Both looked relieved to see me, but I could tell from their faces that I must have looked like hell.

Relief came again as I made the hard right into the aid staion at Michigan Bluff. It felt comforting to have my wife, uncles, and friends so nearby. As I came into the aid station, I was led again to the scales. This time I came in at 168 again. I stepped off the scale and proceeded immediately to the med tent. I sat down in the first chair I saw and explained to them my predicament. I still wasn't ready to call it a day, but it's pretty hard to run 100 miles on an empty stomach. As they questioned me, I was reminded that it had been at least three hours since I had peed. The med volunteers, who were all wonderful, determined that I should stay there and rehydrate until I could pee. Well, another hour or so must have passed, but finally I was able to get enough broth and Gatorade in me that my bladder felt full. I got up to pee and was reminded to go into a cup, so they could determine how dehydrated I was. It looked pretty yellow to me, so like an excited child, I rushed over to the med staff with my urine. "That's pretty good, huh?" They weren't quite as convinced as I, but admitted that it didn't look too bad, only slightly concentrated. That was good enough for them to turn me loose again on the trail, however, they cautioned that if this pattern of vomiting continued until Foresthill, I should pull the plug.

I walked out of the tent with a little swagger in my step. I even managed to joke a bit with my crew. Sure I'd lost an hour here and an hour there, but I was still in it, at least to finish. My legs were still feeling really good, my stomach was all that held me back to that point. Unfortunately as soon as I began to hike out of Michigan Bluff, I could feel the cramping starting to build deep in my stomach. It wasn't long before I was again bent over and spewing. Somehow amidst all of the vomiting, I managed to run pretty well on the descent into Volcano Canyon. It was killing me to have some spring in my step, and yet, due to my stomach, not be able to take advantage of it. Eventually I emerged at the base of Bath Road and was greeted by my two pacers, Uncle Bill and Dan. We hiked the whole way up the road. About halfway up I fought to control the dry heaves. Nearly at the top, I lost it, and I mean LOST it. Right there with UB and Dan sympathetically watching, I had the most violent, gut-wrenching puke-fest of my life. Like a wave slowing building, the dry heaving became more and more intense. Finally reaching it's climax my stomach exploded and sent it's contents violently outward like the wave crashing on the sea shore. The convulsions seemed endless this time. Knowing that it was the final straw, time seemed to stand still. Things must have been bad because, as I was bent over I could make out Dan and UB's shadows. When I really started to come undone, I could see my uncle's shadow making a throat-slitting gesture to Dan. When all was said and done, my stomach felt a little better, but mentally I knew this meant the end of my day and another failed attempt at Western States. As I ambled into Foresthill, I could hear a young boy ask his dad why that guy was walking. I thought to myself, "kid, if you only knew the half of it." It did however spur me on to jog into the weigh-in area. Again, I weighed in at 168. I headed straight to the nearest chair and again sat down. This time I was pretty sure I wasn't getting back up, at least not to continue the race. However, I gave it some time and tried to get some calories back on board. I gagged up a bit of the broth. "That's it," I thought. Once that doctor at Michigan Bluff told me to drop at Foresthill if I continued to puke, I wasn't about to ignore his warnings. I know it's courageous to push through adversity and hardship, but after what happened to me in 2006, I'm not about to tempt fate. With a great deal of reluctance on her part, the woman at the runner checkpoint accepted my resignation and clipped my yellow band thus ending my 2009 Western States.

Gordy Ainsleigh, You Old Son of a B... Gun!

2009-07-01T22:54:00.000-07:00

It's all Gordy's fault. Well first off, he is responsible for this crazy circus we call Western States, but that's not even the half of it. In all honesty, I greatly admire the guy for successfully running 100 miles on foot in 1974 and thereby creating the sport of 100 mile trail racing. My beef with Gordy goes back to 2006. Gordy Ainsleigh spoke to a group of us at Scott Jurek's camp Western States camp, and to this day, I'm haunted by his words.

I can't completely recollect what he said word for word, but I've got the gist of it. "Don't let this race beat you," he said. "Because if it does, you'll never forget it." Gee, thanks Gordon. Those words were seared into my brain, and now beaten three times (4 if you count the fires in '08), Gordy's words are playing on a loop through my head AGAIN.

It's easy to say, "Oh well there's always next year. You'll get it. It just wasn't your day." I hear a lot of things along those lines. And yes, maybe that is all true. But for my own sanity, and for that of Andrea, I've got to take a year off from this race. So there will not be a Western States for me in 2010, and as hard as this race has become to get into, I don't know for sure when I'll get to toe the line at Squaw again.

So until then, I get to fall asleep at night to Gordy's words playing on repeat through my thoughts. It's just a race, and yet it's so much more than that. I really can't do it justice with words, but there's something very magical about Western States. As much as I may hate the race, I'm absolutely captivated by it at the same time. Just like I may be haunted by Gordy's words, I see them also as a crisp orange carrot hanging at the end of long, but hopefully not endless, stick, that I may some day satisfyingly chomp into. Thanks, Gordy. I know I'll one day appreciate what you told us. But until then...

Oh Pretty Please

2009-06-23T21:03:00.000-07:00

Brian is down in California, heat training or something. I'm not too convinced about his strategy since part of this "heat" training involved not using air conditioning in the rental car until he started sweating during his non-stop drive from Seattle to Auburn. I'm his wife, and he asked me to guest blog and write about Western from my perspective.

I'll be honest with you - I hate this race. More than anything, (oh pretty please) I just want him to finish it this year and come home with a buckle that we can add to our very unorganized collection of ultra running memorabilia. Then maybe, just maybe, he won't have to go back next year. (I wonder if he's second guessing the free reign he gave me to guest post.) My perspective is that Western States has become, for our little family anyway, way too much of an emotional journey and too big of a hooplah. For Pete's sake, I was telling a friend about it today, and I started crying in the middle of Chipotle (Chipotle?!?!) as I shared the moment when Brian came into the stadium in 2006, and I awaited him with tears of happiness - just to have that rush stomped out in a split-second - as he collapsed for the first time and the realization hit me that something was seriously wrong.

This race though has its positive aspects, and for that I respect it. I love the crews that come out with their A-game on: matching t-shirts, posters, babies in arms, and relatives in tow from around the world. I love the volunteers who are super friendly and put in long hours. I love the runners that travel here from abroad to participate in this wild race. I love how Auburn turns out in mass to cheer these passionate runners on all day long. I love the runners that start in Squaw knowing it will be 28 + hours for them, but they're doing it anyway. I love catching up with the friendly runners and their relatives that I've met over the years. I'm excited to see Nikki, and I really hope that her cousin is there with his conch shell. I look forward to seeing Hal and Carly and hope that Hal looks as cute this year as he did gliding to the 2007 finish. And I hope Don Mukai is there; I haven't seen him in a while and he gives good hugs.

So Western States 2009, please, pretty please, smile down on Brian this year (and on me too for my sanity) and let the guy finish!

(Shhh... don't tell Brian, but I secretly hope that he finishes 11th or higher b/c that means that he doesn't automatically get to go back next year. Is that terrible? I've been trying to convince him to try other long races like HURT 100 in Hawaii or the Tour de Mont-Blanc. A girl can always dream...)

Turning the Corner

2009-06-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

Well thankfully I've made some real headway the past couple of days, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to head down to States and give it what I've got. I really appreciate those of you who have taken the time to offer some encouragement. I'm generally a pretty upbeat person, but it's easy to get overwhelmed with a bunch of negative thoughts, especially surrounding this race. So, I may still not be 100%, but I was able to put a couple hours in on the trail yesterday and feel pretty good. With five days until the race, I think I'll be ready to line up and stare down 100 miles Saturday morning. I'm really curious to see what happens out there following this forced two week taper. My hope is that I'll run a very smart race because of it. I had a similar scenario in 2007 when I raced White River coming off a long battle with a virus. My pace through the first half was quite conservative. In fact, I think that I was 17th or so coming through the halfway point, but as I just started feeling strong in the second half, people in front began to falter. It seemed that every hill I crested and every turn I made, there was another runner to pass. It was one of the most satisfying races of my career, and I ended up finishing 2nd overall. It was a very distant 2nd, but nonetheless it was a tremendous feeling to surge through the second half of the race. Let's hope I can do something similar on Saturday.

Oh Come On!

2009-06-19T10:03:00.000-07:00

You won't believe this. No really, you all are not going to believe what I'm about to reveal. I am sick. Sick. Sick. Sick. Well it's probably not all that shocking to those who know how cursed I seem to be at Western States. It's really almost laughable how bad my luck is this time of year. I'm really trying to stay upbeat about this and hopefully beat this crud. If I do, there's no doubt that I'll be coming in well rested. I literally have not run a step since Tuesday of last week. No surprise to anyone, that's not really the optimal way to lead up to your biggest race of the year.

So how did this happen? Well I came into work the Sunday before last, having just finished the store run and wrapping up my final big week before the race, when I was stopped cold in my tracks by the deep rumbling cough emanating from the back room. One of my co-workers was obviously very sick, and I quickly encouraged him to pack up and go home before spreading anything. It was a mostly selfish move, but obviously customers don't want to receive service from someone who is hacking and sniffling, especially with the fear of swine flu. So on he went, and I wiped everything down and continuously, neurotically, washed my hands throughout the day. In the end, it was all for not. My immune system, heavily compromised from training, caved in to the bug, and I've been sick ever since.

I'm on day 10 now. Slowly I'm improving, but I need to see something change drastically in the next couple of days, or else I'm going to pull the plug on States. That kills me to say, but I got sick in 2007 and tried to run. I knew starting the race that I probably would not finish, and I certainly could not be competitive. That year I ended up dropping at Dusty Corners, and I felt miserable about it. I really don't know if I'd feel any better just not starting, but I promised myself that I would never start a race that way again. So I've tentatively set Sunday or Monday as my drop dead date, meaning that I'm going to make a decision one way or another by Sunday night or Monday morning as to whether or not I go to Western States.

In light of all that, I did have a very exciting moment at work the other day. Exciting enough to have taken at least a little sting out of being sick right now. Mike McCready, yes THE Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, wandered into Seattle Running Company the other day. Thankfully I was working and got to help him out. Rather than beat around the bush, I flat out told him that I was a huge fan. He seemed genuinely pleased to hear it. The guy seems incredibly down to earth and was quite friendly. He asked me a lot of questions about my own running. We even talked about Western States and what it's like to run 100 miles. Without coming across as a freaky fan, I told him that I thought the performance of "Got Some" was great. Again he seemed truly excited to hear it. The new album, he told me, is eleven songs long, and he described it as having a new-wavey feel. He said that it was great to work with producer Brendan O'Brien again. They last worked with him on 1998's Yield. He was in the store for about 20 minutes or so and ended up getting a couple pairs of shoes. Interestingly, he's not so much a runner as he is a cardio boxing participant. He even shared with me little news about a certain Seattle band playing a certain Seattle venue in the fall. It was pretty darn cool.

So unless you're a Western States frontrunner, keep your fingers crossed for my health. And, by all means, if you have any special remedies please share. PLEASE!!!!

PS Hal, I asked Jeff Dean what "coctupe" meant. It was so filthy that I can't even share it here on my blog.

Whew!

2009-06-07T21:01:00.000-07:00

Well I'm thoroughly hammered. This has probably been the most rigorous four weeks of training that I've ever experienced. And although I feel like I've been working my ass off, my body is holding up quite well (knock on wood).

If I'm not ready to compete at States right now, then I never will be. Really, I'm not one to exaggerate, so you'll just have to trust me. For as hard as I trained in 2006, I don't think that I matched the likes of these past four weeks. But don't tell anyone. Right now I'm not being discussed as a contender, and I like it that way. I flew in under the radar in 2006, and I hope to do the same this year.

My mileage has been relatively low (85-95 miles), but I haven't run any "junk" miles. Don't get me wrong. I've certainly run some easy recovery jaunts, but I haven't run a step just to add 2-3 worthless miles to a weekly total. The bulk of my weekly mileage has come between Friday and Sunday.

Each of the past 4 Fridays have been spent running repeats up and down Mt. Si. For three weeks in a row, I ran 2 times up and down (6400 ft. of ascent). Then to cap off this block of training, I punched out three repeats this past Friday. All three ascents were negative splits. Saturdays have been the big, long runs. The first Saturday of this stint was 69.88 miles in 10:37 as part of a twelve hour race. The ascent was minimal, only 4k, but it gave me some real confidence going that distance after a hard day before. Each of the next two Saturdays were spent at Tiger Mountain, running 12 peaks. It's a local run in which you hit all six summits of Tiger out and back, for a total of 12. The run logs over 9000 ft, covers 34 miles, and takes just over 6 hours. This past Saturday I opted for a slightly more runnable course. I hammered out two loops of the Cougar 14 miler. Again, this is a staple local run. I ran the first loop in 2:09 and the second in 2:03. 28 miles. 5300 ft. of ascent. Not too bad after triple Mt. Si's. And each of the last 4 Sundays I've spent leading the Seattle Running Company trail runs. These runs are typically 2-3 hours and cover 14-16 miles on hilly terrain. So in three days I've been knocking out 16-18 grand of climbing.

Hopefully, it's still just my mom and sister reading this, because I really do hope to avoid the pre-race hype. I'm writing this mostly to satisfy myself. I can certainly feel how hard I've been working at this, but it's nice to take a moment and put to paper (computer screen, in this case) the training I've put in. Well it sounds good, so let's see how it all plays out in less than 3 weeks.

Got Some

2009-06-03T06:40:00.000-07:00

I'm giddy watching and listening to Pearl Jam's new song "Got Some". Check it out here and let me know what you think. . Their new album, slated for a fall release, is tentatively titled Backspacer.

Does It Get Any Better?

2009-06-01T23:31:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling pretty damn good right now. Why? Well my training is going great. I logged another big weekend. I was slightly slower on my Mt. Si repeats Friday morning, but I ran 6 minutes faster on 12 peaks Saturday, and I was able to hammer the SRC group run Sunday morning. Now I'm enjoying a day off, at least off from running. Maybe I squeezed in a 30 minute sauna session with some push-ups and core work, but that's it. Otherwise it was a day of recuperation.

That's all well and good, but why am I in such a great mood. Well, for starters I was treated to dinner at the in-laws this evening. Now that may not sound all that great to some of you out there, but if you had Portuguese family you'd definitely understand. Portuguese food is the best, especially when you've been logging your biggest mileage of the season. Oh so good!

And for me the best part of the day hasn't even happened. If you can believe it, I'm still awake and it's nearly midnight. For those of you who know me, you understand how rare that is. There's really only one thing that would keep me up this late, especially in the midst of peak training. Any guesses? Yep, Pearl Jam is playing on the premiere of the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. Word is they will be playing songs (yes, plural), so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I can't wait!

Bubble Wrap

2009-05-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

Well it must almost be June, because my ankles and knees are feeling pretty crunchy. Maybe it's also because I'm 30 now, but I know I'm training hard when my joints sound like there filled with bubble wrap. It's mostly my ankles, but lately my knees are feeling pretty hammered too. Don't get me wrong, I'm not injured at all. It would be nice to be immune to all aches and pains, but in some twisted way I enjoy a little bit of wear and tear. It lets me know that I'm doing the work that's going to pay off in just one month.

I don't want to jinx anything, but I have to say that I'm feeling pretty good about my current level of fitness. I've raced a little less this spring, but I've made the most of what I have raced, and my training has been solid. It's quite amazing that a couple big hard weeks back to back can completely change one's mindset. Just a month ago I was feeling like my training was utterly schizophrenic. When I look back at this month as a whole though, I really feel good about it. I've done long runs of 40, 70, and 34 miles. Each of those runs was preceded a day earlier by hilly threshold runs.

On top of feeling great about running, I've still been managing some quality time in the gym. My sauna sessions are getting longer and feeling more comfortable. The problem is that the sauna at the new gym is always more full than it ever was at my old gym. Therefore, I feel a little awkward doing pushups and jumping jacks in front 2 or 3 other guys. I've continued to hit the weights too, with most of the focus now being on core and legs. On a whim today, I decided to measure my body fat with the goofy electronic hand-held device. I put no stock into it's accuracy, but when I last checked three months or so ago, my body fat percentage was 11%. Today it was measured 7%. So regardless of the accuracy, it still shows an increase in fitness. It's always nice to have some measurable numbers to back up the way your feeling.

In a moment, I'll stand up and grab a glass of water. Inevitably my ankles are going to snap and crackle, but I'll be smiling thinking about the runs I did to get to this point. I love this time of year.

At Last

2009-05-19T06:49:00.000-07:00

Kiwi finally has a diagnosis. The results from her endoscopy came back from the lab, and it turns out that she does indeed have IBD. There's good news and still some lingering questions that come with her diagnosis. Evidently the labs revealed that she has MILD irritable bowel disease. That's good as far as treatment goes, but the specialist said that a mild case may not explain everything that Kiwi has been experiencing. That's a little frustrating, but at least we can start treating something. Kiwi will be on prednisone for the next month or so, and supposedly we should see some pretty immediate results from that. According to the vet, once we get the inflammation down, Kiwi should be able to resume a pretty normal life, which includes running.

Speaking of running, I've been doing a little of that. It's amazing how much weight has been lifted off my shoulders with Kiwi's improvement. Last week was my biggest of the year. Friday and Saturday combined for my biggest back-to-back ever. On Friday morning, Adam Lint and I headed out to North Bend for a double ascent of Mt. Si (my first of the season). Both times up were under 50 minutes and felt great. On our way back from Si, Adam and I flagged the five mile course for Saturday's Cougar Mountain race. Then on Saturday I took part in the Watershed Preserve 12 Hour. 12 hours of running a 5.3 mile loop was not my idea of fun, but I felt like it would be a great opportunity to figure out my nutrition plan for Western and get some solid time on my feet. I actually only ended up running 10:37. In that time, I ran 69.88 miles. With 80 minutes or so left to run, I could have pushed well into the mid 70's, but I didn't want to put myself into too great a deficit. I feel great about having run 90 or so miles in two days. My week ended up at 127 miles. I know that's become quite pedestrian these days, but for me that's a HUGE week. With about 4 weeks of hard training left, I'm feeling really good about my current fitness.

And the last little bit of good news comes from the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. His debut is June 1st, and his first musical guest will be none other than my favorite band PEARL JAM. They will evidenty be playing new songs from their forthcoming album. That rocks!

Consistently Inconsistent

2009-05-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

Training and blogging have been mediocre at best this past month. I've been as inconsistent as Kiwi's stool, well formed and solid one week, sloppy and unstructured the next. Please pardon the comparison to my dog's waste, but it really speaks to what I've been dealing with now for well over a month. As I've alluded to in previous posts, Kiwi's health has really been set back for the past two months. She's more or less fine, although she can't run with me at the moment. We still don't know what exactly is causing her GI issues and lethargy, but it is suspected that she has Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD). Sounds really pleasant, huh? I've realized a couple things over the last month or so. First off, I must have lived a pretty stress free life up until now, because I never knew how much stress can screw things up. And second, I don't handle stress very well, especially when it is stress related to my dog-child. I've literally worried myself sick over Kiwi. I've definitely made her my top priority for these many weeks, at the expense of my running. That sucks, but it puts things into perspective a bit too. Obviously, Kiwi takes precedent over any race, yes even THE race.

Things aren't all bad though. Last week I hit my biggest mileage of the year, topping out over 100 miles for the first time. I even managed to get out for a hard 40 mile run with Jurek and some others. I realized that he's in better shape than me, but I don't feel like I'm that far off. There's still a handful of weeks to really hit it, so if Kiwi can continue to show small signs of improvement, I feel like I can get back on track to run my best at States.

So where do things stand with Kiwi? Well she underwent an endoscopy last Thursday, and we're awaiting the results from the biopsy. Theoretically they'll diagnose her with IBD and then we can began the proper treatment. IBD is a lifelong condition, but not a life shortening illness. Evidently it can be successfully managed with diet and medication, and she should even be able to start running again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get a diagnosis and can begin treating something. So far, the vets have only told us what she does NOT have.

The Build-Up

2009-04-16T16:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, let's get back to it. It seems as though I haven't posted anything of much value since the man crush topic. I think that may have been my blog's high point. I mean really, how can you top an ode to Hal Koerner? Well even if that was as good as it gets, I'm still going to keep at this whole blogging thing.

So what's been happening? Well as I briefly mentioned in my last post, I ran the Sun Mountain 50k. I actually won the whole darn thing. That felt pretty good after getting hammered by my "man crush" at Chuckanut. Hal and I were discussing, after Chuckanut, the fact that I had beaten him nearly every time we'd raced. However, the collective margin of victory, of about 5 or 6 races, was probably less than 5 minutes. Well Hal soundly beat me by 10 or 11 minutes at Chuckanut, and made me realize I've got a lot of work ahead of me before we race again at States. Thus, winning the Sun Mountain race felt good and it seems I'm on the right track.

The race at Sun Mountain turned out to be quite exciting. My mindset going into the race was just to go out and have a good solid training run. I had trained through the week and even did a single Squak ascent at threshold pace on Friday. Therefore, my legs weren't anywhere near fresh, at least not at the start. The lead pack went out at a pretty fast clip. Fast enough that halfway through the first of 3 ten mile loops, I realized I wasn't going to hang in there at that pace. I slowed down slightly and watched the four or five guys in front of me pull away. If I was to stand any chance at catching up, they were going to have to slow down a lot, because my legs just weren't up to that clip. Thankfully for me, midway into the second loop, I started to gain some ground. The brisk first loop was already weighing a heavy toll on the front pack. By the middle of the second loop I had passed all but the lone front runner, and he still had a sizeable lead on me.

Strangely my legs started feeling better as I struck out on the third and final loop. I was content with the move I'd made in the second loop and would have been quite pleased maintaining my place to the finish. However, about 1/3 of the way through that final loop, I caught sight of the front runner. He was no longer so far out in front. Suddenly my competitive instincts took over, and I was back in the race to win.

I caught up to Chris Twardczik at the top of the final climb. With less than 2 miles to go I put my head down and hammered the final descent, finally able to pass and even get a little separation from Chris. I didn't really ever look back, but I had a reassuring feeling that I'd be able to hang on. I won in a time of 4:19 and Chris finished second in 4:24.

So, the season is still early, but Western States is quickly approaching. I'm really pleased with my runs at both Chuckanut and Sun Mountain. Next up, I'll be heading down to Olympia for the Capitol Peak 5o miler. My intention was to run Miwok on May 2nd, but due to Kiwi's ever growing vet bills, I've decided to scrap the trip and stay closer to home.

A Quick Recap

2009-04-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

I apologize to all of my loyal readers for my lack of words lately. Kiwi, who is doing slightly better, still isn't 100%, and really the vets haven't pinpointed exactly what's going on. Unfortunately I've had myself worried sick about her, and thus haven't had much desire to write. That being said, I guess if I'm taking a little time right now, things must be a little better. In fact, I just returned from the beautiful Methow Valley where I ran the Rainshadow 50k and hung out with some friends. It was a nice little get away, and returning home tonight, I was enthusiastically greeted by a very happy border collie. she seems pretty wiped out again right now, but she's making very small steps in the right direction. Anyway, the race was great. James Varner put on another great event. Due to some lingering snow, the course was three 10 mile loops, which is not normally my cup of tea. However, it was very fun loop with some unbelievable views.

Some Thoughts on States

2009-04-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

This is from an email that I sent to Craig Thornley in regards to a post he just published on his blog http://ix.cs.uoregon.edu/~thornley/2009/04/02/the-haggin-cup/. I started to ramble on a bit, but I thought some may find it an interesting read.

I'd love to offer some input about my 2006 experience at States. I'll begin by saying, and I know it sounds cheesy, but I truly believe that if you set your mind to something, it really is attainable. It's amazing how strong all of our minds are and how hard we are able to push ourselves. I think that to run any ultra distance you have to be headstrong, but I feel that the mind becomes exponentially more important the longer the race gets. No doubt you have to be in great shape to run 100 miles, but I believe that it's even more important to be tenacious and strong willed. Now going back to my first point, I truly believed that I could win Western States in 2006. Some may say that's brash or cocky or perhaps naive, considering I'd never run there, but I set my mind to it and worked my ass off toward that goal. I definitely was not the fittest or fastest runner out there that day, but I was so determined and solely focused on that goal that I was able to rise above my shortcomings (ie. minimal 100 mile experience, WS rookie, unproven, etc...). So, even though I didn't win, it really made me realize that by setting a goal and really working toward it, you can overcome an awful lot.

The scary thing is that sometimes our drive to succeed , which we have to have to win, pushes our bodies to a dangerous place. I can speak from personal experience on this, because I did push too hard at Western States in 2006, and it put me in the hospital. Thankfully there was no long term damage, and I turned out only to need about 36 hours on IV's. The REALLY scary thing is that they don't even know exactly what caused my collapse. I won't go into it too much, because I'm not a doctor, but it's really crazy how little is known about what happens to the human body when running 100 miles. Some people with a medical background have made me believe that I nearly died, and others have made it seem much tamer than it looked. One specific I will share is that my CPK level was up near 450,000 while in the hospital. The medical staff at Auburn Faith were horrified to see such high numbers. CPK is an indicator of tissue breakdown. The dangerous part of having a high CPK count is that all of that broken down tissue has to be filtered through the kidneys, thus potentially leading to shutdown and failure. The interesting part of this is that when I received my email sometime after the race showing the CPK averages of the 2006 finishers, my CPK at the finish line was slightly below the average of all the runners. I've found out since that the CPK level will reach it's peak 24 hours after the event. My point being that most runners don't end up in the hospital and therefore don't see those high numbers that may actually be much more prevalent than we think. So what brought on my collapse, and did I see it coming? The answer to the first question is that doctors I've talked to seem to have differing opinions on the matter. I was initially led to believe that I was hyponaetremic and therefore collapsed due to overhydration and lack of sodium. Dr. Lisa Bliss has studied my bloodwork pretty thoroughly and is of the opinion that I simply collapsed out of exhaustion. Yes, I was slightly hyponaetremic, but I was also dehydrated, which doesn't quite jive with a collapse due to lack of sodium. Anyway, I believe that I collapsed once inside the stadium, because mentally I felt that I'd done it. Physically I think that I'd been on the brink since the climb up Robie, but mentally I was able to override the physical desire to pass out. However, entering the stadium and seeing the finish line so close, I let my mental guard down. In doing so, my body which was pretty taxed, took over and the result was repeated collapse. The answer to the second question is simply NO. I had started to slow slightly on the crappy descent to No Hands Bridge, but only because I was having a hard time on all the loose rock. Seeing the lights of the stadium in the distance, I had no doubt whatsoever that I'd finish. Whether or not I'd win, I had no idea, but I knew that I could finish. That all changed at No Hands Bridge though. I don't necessarily want to rehash a lot of what if's, but the fact is that a pacer change was made unbeknownst to me. Leaving No Hands Bridge I was running scared, based on some misleading information given to me, with a fresh pacer. I know I left No Hands at a harder effort than I had arrived, and somewhere up the climb to Robie, I was starting to unravel. Honestly, my memory of events is a little fuzzy from the time I reached the houses at the top of the hill until I awoke in the med tent. It's so crazy how quickly things went from uncomfortable and ready to be done to completely out of control and blacked out.

So how about the lasting impressions of such an experience? I don't think that I'll ever be the same runner that I was before that day in June 2006. That's not to say that I can't run well, but literally every run I've set out on since, I've thought at least for a split second about States. Will I ever be able to push myself to that point again? I really don't know. Obviously I don't ever want to repeat those events, but I want to believe that I can still run intelligently and fearlessly. Being that I don't have an official finish at Western States, I really focus, sometimes to the point of obsession, on that event. I was so fired up to run last year and get that monkey off my back that when the race was cancelled, it's no exaggeration to say that I became very depressed. Somehow I need to find a healthy balance of peaking for Western and giving it my all, but not allowing it to take over my life if it doesn't unfold how I'd like it to.

Although I'm terribly disappointed not to have won Western States in 2006, I'm still very proud of my run. And again, it really made me believe that if you want something badly enough and you work your tail off, you might just accomplish it, even if it's as far fetched as winning Western States. For me that experience forced a great deal of character building, and I believe I'm a stronger person for it. I'm hopeful that as the saying goes, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. For as hard as we push ourselves and abuse our bodies, thehuman body is an incredibly resilient thing.

A Brief Recap

2009-03-26T09:28:00.001-07:00

I had hoped to write a more in depth report from Chuckanut, but I've been really distracted this week with a an unhappy puppy. Kiwi is feeling under the weather, and I've been completely distracted by her illness. I'm taking her into the vet again today. She's been prescribed an antibiotic to clear up her bloody stool and diarrhea, and now she's become incredibly lethargic. Needless to say, I've been incredibly worried about her, and it is consuming my every moment. The vets don't seem to be too concerned, but it's so hard to see her under the weather.

So, as far as Chuckanut went, I was very happy with the time that I ran (4:13:06). It was about a minute faster than last year, but I was 3 places further down. That's alright though. I knew it was going to be a very competetive year. My hope going in was to run between 4:10-4:15, so I ran exactly what I thought I should run. As an early season fitness indicator, it made me feel like I'm on the right track for peak summer fitness.

Next up, I'm making my way over to the Methow Valley for the Rainshadow 50k.

Chuckanut

2009-03-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe it's that time already, but Chuckanut is nearly here. It can't come soon enough, as far as I'm concerned. Training has been going really well. Now I just need to get some races under my belt. For me, I can't think of a better race to get on track with. Chuckanut was my first ultra, and over the years, I've run consistently well there. This year I'm going to have to run well just to crack the top ten by the looks of it. This year's race is absolutely stacked with plenty of well known names, and there's always someone who surprises as well. Last year that someone was Peter Ellis, running to a second place finish in his first ever ultra. He's back again along with last year's winner Bryan Dayton. I'm only going to mention those two, because if I try to run down the whole list I'll accidentally leave someone off and then they'll have an axe to grind with me on race day. Lord knows I don't need to give anyone a little extra motivation to run me down late in the race.

Yesterday capped off my biggest week of the year (87 miles), and I got a lot of trail mileage in there too. Friday marked my transition from Green Lake to Squak Mountain for my threshold workouts. That first one is always a bit of a shock to the system as I go from 7-8 miles flat at 5:50'ish pace to two 2000 foot ascents up Squak Mountain in just under 40 minutes each. On Saturday I was happy just to survive my 3 hour run on the Chuckanut course. The weather was hellacious and I finished soaked and frozen to the core. Sunday was another 2.5 hours in similar conditions, and again I was happy just to survive. With three days in the gym too, I felt like it was a pretty stellar week of training. I can't wait to get out and test my fitness next weekend.

The Man Crush

2009-03-10T09:44:00.000-07:00

C'mon, let's admit it guys. We all have a "man crush", right? I really can't speak for the ladies, but I'm sure they have a similar phenomenon. You know what I'm talking about. It's not a crush in a romantic kind of way as much as it is a great admiration for someone.

I was reminded of my man crush the other day while out on a group run. One of the runners mentioned to me that her fake boyfriend was going to be at Chuckanut. Not knowing who this fake boyfriend was, I inquired. Not surprisingly, her fake boyfriend was none other than the man, the myth, the legend, Hal Koerner. She doesn't actually even know Hal, but she thinks he's super dreamy. Well honestly I must concur. Hal is super dreamy. We spent 5 minutes or so talking about him, and I shared with her my infatuation with Hal.

So this is really my ode to Hal Koerner post. I mean let's face it, Hal's definitely got a lot going for him. First off, is there a nicer guy in the sport than Hal? Okay, maybe Phil Kochik, but Phil's like the nicest guy ever, so he hardly counts. Then there's Hal the athlete. The guy has won Angeles Crest twice and is the defending WS champ, not to mention the gazillions of other races he's won. Plus, he's not built like a waify little runner. Hal looks like an athletic person that could handle himself in just about any sports setting. Then there's the Hal style. Sorry Karno, I know you've tried hard, but nobody looks better than Hal Koerner. Did you see him when he broke the ribbon at States? I could swear he showered and coiffed his hair before entering the stadium. I don't think there could have been a more stark contrast to my ghastly finish in 2006 than Hal's hollywood-esque traipse through the tape in 2007. The guy oozes style, well mostly. There does seem to be some debate on that soul patch, but you've gotta' take a chance on something every now and then, right?

Well, all I know is that Hal's a great dude and a helluva' good lookin' guy. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I've got a man crush on Hal Koerner. How about you?

The Gym

2009-03-04T06:11:00.000-08:00

How does one know if they're becoming a gym rat? I mean what's the criteria? I ask only because I'm so enamored with my new gym that I'm worried I may turn into one of those creepy gym dudes. I'm definitely not there yet. Sure, I've started to shave my whole body, and I'm drinking creatine shakes on a daily basis. Oh, and I have put on 15 lbs of lean muscle while lowering my body fat %, but I'm definitely not becoming a gym rat, right? If I start looking unnaturally tan, please feel free to let me know that I look like a douche-y gym dweller.

In all seriousness, it has been great to have a brand new gym much closer to home. However, I have a love-hate relationship with the gym environment. First off, the gym is ridiculously crowded nearly all the time. Maybe it's just because it's brand new. Hopefully the excitement will wane a bit as the newness wears off. And the worst aspect of all, in my opinion, is the posturing that goes on around there. When I go work out, I have a set amount of time and a plan. I put my headphones on and get in and out as quickly and efficiently as I possibly can. But there are those folks, and lots of them, that are clearly there just to strut around checking themselves out and displaying their unnaturally tan bods. Ah, I thought I was done with my rant, but I have one final complaint about the gym. I can only speak for men, but can't we have just a little bit of humility in the locker room? I get the fact that people are changing in there and nudity is inevitable. That's fine. What gets me are the tactless acts of the nude. Can't they PLEASE put a towel down on the wooden bench before dumping a couple of fat cheeks and a wrinkly bean bag over it? These are probably the same people that have no problem sitting bare bunned on a public toilet. It's just gross.

As much as I may complain about some aspects of it, I feel like the pros out measure the cons of having a gym membership. Some may argue that time spent in the gym could be better spent just running more. Personally I feel like I benefit from a couple days of strength training per week. I've been more or less injury free since I began running and I think that's in part due to the 2-3 days I cross train in the gym. The other benefit I've found from having a gym membership is the access to a sauna. Since I first ran States in 2006, I've spent time leading up to the race heat training in the sauna. So, as much as I make fun of the gym atmosphere, I really do love it. You just have to know how to tune out the obnoxious aspects that come with that culture.

Sometimes I Could Really Use a Coach

2009-02-24T15:49:00.000-08:00

Couldn't we all, right? For the most part, I'm pretty good at coaching myself, or at least I think I am. In all fairness, I have to give a great deal of credit to Scott Jurek. Scott has never been my coach, but I've learned a lot from him about how to train. I used to just go out and run. That's fine to a degree, but at some point, if you want to go to the next level, you need not only run, you must TRAIN. So train I do and sometimes foolishly. In the case of this past week (recovery week), I got sucked into a 4 hour run on Saturday. On top of that, my new gym just opened, and it's such a nice facility I've been sucked into some extra workouts there. Needless to say, my so called "recovery" week ended up being the second biggest week of this past block. DUMB. DUMB. DUMB. I know better, but it's just so fun to get after it. Well it's early in the year, and even my big weeks are pretty tame compared to what lies down the road. So a little extra in the early going probably isn't going to hinder too much. At least with a coach, I'd have someone to answer to every now and then.

Off Topic

2009-02-19T16:00:00.000-08:00

Well, this is mostly a blog about running, but I have to say that I'm inexplicably excited about the return of one of Seattle's most prolific athletes, if not THE most prolific. That's right. Ken Griffey Jr. is coming back to the Mariners. I'm not even a big baseball fan, but as a kid playing Little League I was a huge fan of Griffey, and his return, 20 years after he first came up with the organization, has rekindled some of those youthful memories from my past. Sure he's old and way past his prime, but it's neat to see a great player come back and finish their career with the organization they began with. I think it's great for Seattle sports, because outside of some phenomenal running performances, there hasn't been much to get excited about.

Back in the Swing

2009-02-17T10:12:00.000-08:00

This past week capped off my second solid 3 week block of training for the year. I hit a little speed bump the second week of this block with a DNF at Orcas, but I turned things around this third and final week of the block. Everything felt great this week. I had a solid threshold run Friday morning at Green Lake, and then followed that up with a 25 mile run on Chuckanut Saturday. I hit 84 miles for the week and even managed to get three days in the gym. Mentally and physically I'm all systems go. Right now, I just need to squeeze a little more time in on the trails. Run commuting to and from work is great, but I need to build that strength that can only come from time on the trails. One promising tidbit to note was that my chronically achey achilles tendon wasn't even slightly worse for the wear after a long, hilly run Saturday.

Check me out

2009-02-13T15:59:00.000-08:00

Bet you didn't think it would happen, did ya? Well look at this I'm actually posting two days in a row. I'm dead serious when I say that it's now officially running season, and thus blogging season as well. I've been hitting it hard this week after having a wake up call at Orcas last weekend. Today I had a great threshold run at Green Lake. It was a crisp clear morning and there was very little wind. I managed just over 7 miles between 5:50-6 minute pace and felt really good. Tomorrow I'm headed up to Bellingham to get a little time on the Chuckanut course. Ah, I do love the Bellingham trails. A long run followed up with a potato burrito, what could be better?

Called out

2009-02-12T14:58:00.000-08:00

Well, it's officially running season again, so hopefully I'll have a bit more to write about now. But first I want to apologize to anyone who feels the same way a recent anonymous poster does about my last few blog entries. Evidently I've been complaining a bit too much and don't seem to appreciate how good I have it. This anonymous individual left such a comment on my most recent rambling about having lost my hammer. It's funny to me (not so much ha ha funny) how people can so differently interpret things. IT WAS A JOKE. It was a lame attempt at humor, but I know at least a few people got a chuckle out of it. And, last time I checked, this is my blog and I can write whatever I damn well feel like. No one's forcing you to read it. WHEW! I got that off my chest. Now where was I? Oh yes, race season is just around the corner and I can't wait. Chuckanut will be my next race, followed shortly thereafter by the brand spankin' new Rainshadow 50k, in the beautiful Methow Valley. I'd like to squeeze something else into April and then run Miwok and States. I'm not yet thinking much beyond that, but there are definitely some intriguing new races out there.

Have you seen my hammer?

2009-01-02T06:40:00.000-08:00

I seem to have misplaced my hammer. I'm not exactly sure when I lost my hammer, some time during the summer, I think. Things just haven't been the same since. It's been difficult to build without my hammer. It's hard to imagine going to work on the Big project at the end of June without my hammer, and it's been so long that I fear I may never get to work with my hammer again. Have you seen my hammer?

My hammer is a special hammer, an Alabama Hammer.

Is it really December already?

2008-12-16T16:46:00.000-08:00

Boy, I have become downright pathetic when it comes to updating my blog. My life really is fairly exciting, even though you'd never know it by checking out my blog. So what's new? Well I'll start with a bit of running news. After laying low most of the summer and fall, I decided on a whim to run the Seattle Marathon. Yikes! I was reminded why I focus my energy toward the trails. Granted, I was pretty happy with my time (2:49.53), but it felt so hard and painful. The crazy thing was that I was laboring up hills that would be nothing more than speed bumps in an ultra. Running moderately fast is really tough. So, for now, I'm going to stick to being a big slow trail runner. I'm getting excited about the 2009 season. I haven't fully commited to much more than going back to Western States, but there will be plenty of fun races between now and then. Let's see...what else? Oh, I've taken up fly fishing. Between that and trying to learn Portuguese I feel pretty worthless. Thank goodness I always have running to make me feel somewhat competent.

I'm still a runner...I think

2008-11-06T14:03:00.000-08:00

Where does the damn time go? I can't believe how long it's been since I've last posted, and yet it doesn't seem like that long ago. Well contrary to the many rumors that are flying around, I'm sure, I am still running. In fact, I'm even signed up to face off with my old nemesis again in 2009. No, I'm not referring to any individual. I'm talking about Western States. This race is kicking my ass these past three years. This year, even though there was no race, felt like a blow from which I may not recover. However, after some time off from racing, and running only a little, I'm feeling a bit more refreshed and ready to get back to work. As soon as I have some interesting training or some races to report on, I'll be posting with more regularity.

Blogging In

2008-08-25T07:10:00.000-07:00

Whew! It has been a long while since I've updated, let alone visited, my little blog. In case anyone was concerned, I'm fine. I haven't been laid up with injury or bed-ridden with some mystery illness. I've simply felt a bit burnt out on running. The cancellation of Western States had a much greater impact on me than I would have ever imagined. I've never felt so perfectly trained and tapered for a race, as I did for States. I was so wound up the week of the race, it felt as though I was going to explode, but when I got the news that the race had been canceled, it was as though all the wind was just let out of my sails.

I am pretty sure that scientifically you can't just lose all of that fitness, but that's really how it has felt. I attempted to run the White River 50 mile, thinking that might jump start me if I got out and started racing. Unfortunately I never felt mentally engaged in the race, and as soon as the race started getting hard (30 or so miles) I just decided to call it a day and walked back to the start. Since then, I really haven't run much more than 30 miles a week. I did run a 5 mile trail race yesterday, and that felt alright. I finished 3rd in just over 30 minutes. I'm hoping to get back into a regular training routine September 1st. My plan at this point is to run the North Face championship in early December. I'm going to try to be a bit more regular with updates on my blog as well.

Northern California is burning...my ass!

2008-06-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

Let me just start by saying one thing. F*#K, SH#t, ASS, BALLS! Ok, so maybe that was more like four things, but when you put six months of hard training toward one single event that doesn't go off, it's a little frustrating. As I'm sure most all of you have now heard, Western States was canceled for the first time in 35 years due to wildfires.

As devastated as I was to hear the news, it was the right decision. Having been down there, I can speak to the atrocious quality of the air. We didn't see sun for three days because of how much smoke is in the air. From the little bit that I've read, it also sounds like there was a fire burning within 2 miles of Dusty Corners. It certainly must have been a hard decision for the board to come to, but it was the ONLY choice given the conditions.

That being said, how bad is my luck with this damn race? I received a number of phone calls and text messages from friends and family offering their apologies. One in particular came from my friend Tim. He said he was sorry to hear the race was canceled, and then went on to say that I must have the worst luck at Western States. Now I'm not naive enough to think that I'm the only one who has had some hard knocks at Western States, but the odds of what has happened to me there over the past 3 years must be one million to one. I went from being a near winner in my first Western States, in what Tim Twietmeyer told me were the worst race conditions he'd seen in 25 years racing, to the first ever disqualified Western States winner. Then I went back last year in better shape only to get sick two weeks before the race and drop out at Dusty Corners. Ah, then there was this year. Third times a charm right? WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! This year I really felt more prepared than ever for the race, and I was really expecting a great finish. In fact, just minutes before the Hammer called me to tell me the news of the race cancellation, I had just told my wife and mom that I really felt good about how things were going to turn out this year. In 35 years, this was the first time the race was ever canceled. I'm sure that there are hundreds of other stories just like mine, but it's sure frustrating to put so much hard work into this and make so many sacrifices only to have 3 years and ZERO finishes at States.

How about the good news? Well evidently everyone scheduled to run this year has automatic entry for next year. Honestly, when I initially heard that the race was called off, I said that I wouldn't be coming back, at least not for a while. Of course, that was before I heard that everyone had a guaranteed spot for next year. So now what? I'll have to give it a little thought yet, but there's a pretty good chance that I'll roll the dice on this one next year. Maybe since this year's race never even got started, it won't count as my third time. Then I can still count on the third time's a charm rule. No, that won't work. This was the third time, but I can't possibly have bad luck 4 years in a row, right?

What goes up, must come down...100 GRAND!

2008-06-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

On May 1st I reset the history on my Suunto T6. I wanted to know how many hours and how much ascent I could do before Western States. Having rolled over 1 million feet of ascent sometime in late April, I was curious to know how much climbing I could put in before the big day, so I reset the history and kissed my million plus goodbye.

Not really knowing what an attainable goal was, I set my sights on 75,000 feet of ascent. Well 75,000 came and went with the the month of May and I realized that 100,000 may not be out of reach. Well I'm proud to say that today my 14 mile run with 2657 feet of gain put my at 100,396 feet of ascent in 46 days. I can't tell you exactly how many miles I've run in that stretch, but I feel pretty dang good about that much vertical time.

Of course, as all Western States runners know it's the downhills that can kill you, so it may be just as important to note that I've descended 102,520 feet in that same time. I've never tracked my total ascent and descent so closely, so it's hard to know what it means, but it can't hurt to be averaging over 2,000 ft. a day.

Livin' the Dream

2008-06-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

Whew! I'm a little tired, but no worse for the wear. Having just returned from a running road trip to Auburn, CA with the Alabama Hammer, I'm feeling more ready than ever for States. With just under 3 weeks to go, there's still some work to be done, but after the past 9 or 10 days of hard training, things are looking pretty good.

Just prior to leaving, I did a one and a half repeat of Mt. Si on Friday and a PR 12 peaks on Saturday. My thanks to Greg Crowther and Susannah Beck for pushing the pace on that one. For being a couple of super quick road runners, they greatly impressed me with their speed on such rugged terrain.

On Sunday morning, the Hammer and I loaded into the rented Prius and hit the road. We rolled into Ashland, OR around 3:30 pm and headed straight to Rogue Valley Runners. Hal and Carly were out of town, but we connected with Ian and met Erik Skaggs. Having been in the car for eight plus hours, it was time to stretch out our legs, so Ian laid out directions for a nearby trail run.

We were able to run a little over two hours on trails that led right out of the town's central park. These trails are the real deal too. They climb like crazy right off the bat, and there's everything from double track road to windy, technical singletrack. We awoke monday morning and squeezed in one more run in Ashland before hitting the road. Ian, Erik, Chris and Jenn led us through their six mile trail race course. I just can't say enough about what a good thing they having going down there. And geez, look at the talent pool Hal's assembled. I'm convinced that Ashland is a trail runner's paradise.

As much as we were enjoying Ashland, we had work to do on the WS trail. Thankfully Ashland is over half way to Auburn from Seattle, so Monday's drive seemed downright quick compared to the previous day's haul. We rolled into Auburn sometime around 6:00 pm or so and anxiously parked the car and threw on our running clothes. Monday's are normally an off day for me, but being on a road trip specifically to run made me think otherwise. The sun was still beating down as we left the track and began down Robie Point to No Hands Bridge. It was quite surreal to run this section of trail for the first time since my 2006 debacle, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

On Tuesday, our first full day on the course, we opted to run up in the high country. We parked at Robinson Flat and ran out beyond Duncan Canyon aid station. There was still a lot of blow down and a little snow from Robinson down to the bottom of Duncan Canyon. As we climbed back up out of the canyon, it was obvious that the clearing work had begun in earnest on the other side. Still there was a lot of saw briar out there, and our legs took a lashing. The weather was not the warm sunshine that we'd hoped for, it even sprinkled a little, but it felt good to be on the State's trail regardless. We finished the run in just under four hours and figured it to be 20 or 21 miles.

Wednesday we awoke to sunny skies and warmer temps. Just what I'd hoped for on the day we intended to hit the big canyons. We drove down to Michigan Bluff and parked the car. Having the one car meant that everything was to be an out and back, so we planned to run out to Last Chance and back. The Hammer had never seen the canyons, and was pleasantly surprised by how lush and beautiful they really are. He had imagined them to be much more barren and dusty. We ran a pretty relaxed pace out to LC. Once we were there, a very friendly fellow doing some work on the course pointed us to the spring to fill our bottles. He said it had never been tested, but people had been drinking from it for years. Sounded good to me, so we filled our bottles and pushed the pace back to MB. Aside from a wipeout right through a bunch of poison oak, I was very impressed with how strong I felt hammering the downhills. As I crossed the Swinging bridge, I told myself to run every step up the Devil's Thumb just so on race day I could tell myself it's not so bad. It wasn't easy, but I did run every single step up the Devil's Thumb.

We quickly stopped atop Devil's Thumb to discuss our plan. I told AH that I was going to run back through Michigan Bluff and add on the jaunt through Volcano Canyon. I told him where the key would be, and he'd come meet me at the base of Bath road with the car. Reaching the bottom of El Dorado canyon I quickly hopped into the river hoping it would rinse off any poison oak oils. Feeling refreshed from the cool dip, I mostly ran back up to Michigan Bluff. Once back at the car, I refilled just one bottle and grabbed another gel before hammering down the dirt road out of Michigan Bluff. Although it wasn't hot hot, it was definitely warmer as I descended into Volcano Canyon.

The Hammer was waiting for me just as planned at the bottom of Bath Road. He was psyched on his run and commented how good he felt climbing up to MB out of El Dorado Canyon. I finished my run in 5:32 and figured it to be about 30 miles with nearly 9,000 feet of ascent. We piled back into the car and headed to Auburn for a little grub and then down to the American River to soak in the sun. The sun, even though not all that hot, was such a treat for us. We haven't seen consistent sunshine in Seattle for months and months.

For our final run on Thursday, we decided to hit Cal Street. Again, having only one car, we decided to run down to the river, then take Driver's Flat Rd. up to the highway and hitchhike back to Foresthill. Thursday was the warmest day of the bunch, and it felt so good to blaze down Cal Street to the river with no shirts on. Geez, how long had it been since either one of us had had our shirts off outside in Seattle? For clarification sake, we parked and started in front of the library not the school, but we arrived at the river crossing in 2 hours and some seconds. Granted it didn't come after 62 miles, but it felt good nontheless.

Somehow we got separated down at the river, and we each climbed out of the canyon alone. The Hammer made it out first and found a ride back without even having to hitchhike. I followed, but unfortunately didn't have his luck and had to thumb it back. Only a half dozen or so cars passed before I was picked up. As I climbed out of the van at the library, I was relieved to see that AH had also made it back safely. We sorted out what happened and were laughing about it in no time.

Thursday night we arrived back in Ashland and met Hal and Carly at the pub for burgers and beer. It was so good to catch up with them and to hear about the store and life in Ashland. They were kind enough to offer up their home, so we crashed at their house and were able to shower. We headed out for one more run in Ashland Friday morning, and then stopped by the store to say our goodbyes before driving north to Seattle.

This trip rocked in so many ways. The Hammer and I got a lot of training in and had tons of fun along the way. It feels good to have some fond memories to go along with my many crappy memories of the WS trail. The real treat, at least for me, was to be able to bookend the trip with stops in Ashland and catch up with friends. The drive itself was made bearable and sometimes even enjoyable with monster riffs courtesy of My Morning Jacket and Pearl Jam.

BONUS: Our rented Toyota Prius averaged 46.5 mpg and only took 4 full tanks of gas!

The calm before the storm

2008-05-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

Having trained and raced hard for four weeks, last week was a much needed recovery week. Since I had a couple days off work and no racing to be done, Andrea and I headed east to seek out a little sun. We left midday Friday and drove over to the Methow Valley to camp for the weekend.

I couldn't have asked for a more refreshing getaway. The weather was fan-Frickin'-tastic. Finally we got a little sunshine, and Andrea, Kiwi, and I took full advantage. We hiked, swam, mountain biked, and ran...just a bit. A little sunshine and warm weather goes a long way in recharging the body.

Update: Having taken so long to finish this post, I've since had another week of big volume following the recovery described above. Boy, hard training and frequent blogging do not go hand in hand, at least for me. Training is going very well, and I can't wait for this next week. The Alabama Hammer and I are headed down to Auburn to get a little time on the course. I'll try to be a little more dilligent with my posting. Thanks for the understanding. Now back to training.

Back to B-ham

2008-05-12T06:56:00.000-07:00

This past weekend capped off a big block of training. I raced two 50 mile races in a four week span. The second of which took place Saturday in Bellingham, WA. My plan had been to race the Quicksilver 50 miler, but when the North Face Challenge was moved to Bellingham, it seemed too good to pass up.

I had never run a step on dirt until my final year at Western Washington University. As I began climbing more frequently and running roads to stay in shape, the notion of combining the two took hold. I really owe my introduction to trail running to the folks at Fairhaven Runners. On a whim, I showed up for a Wednesday night trail run in 2001. Yes, that's right, a night trail run. It must have been mid-November and it was dark by the 6pm start time. Therefore, all were instructed to bring headlamps or flashlights. Admittedly, I was a little nervous about running on trail in the dark, but I trusted their trail running expertise. I was hooked immediately and was soon a fixture at the mid week runs. We ran extensively on Chuckanut Mountain and sometimes even ventured further south to the trails of Blanchard Mountain. Since moving to Seattle, I only get up to Bellingham 2 or 3 times a year to run, and I cherish those few occasions.

Saturday's race was an exciting return to those trails where it all began. Due to the early start time, I was up and about by 3 am. Thankfully, I'm an early riser and was psyched to begin in the wee hours of the morning. We were required to carry lights for the first hour of the race, but I only clicked mine on in one or two places. It was so much more pleasant to run under the gradually increasing natural light of the day. I went out in front, but knowing that I was running a challenging course on hard-ridden legs, I kept things in check.

I ran alone for the first few miles until my shoe was sucked right off my foot on the descent toward Lost Lake. At that point Dan Gallant caught up to me, and we ran together most of the way to the 3rd aid station. Doug McKeever greeted me at the third aid station and told me how much I'd like the next section of trail. I believe he called it the Hush Hush trail, and it was a very pretty, winding climb up to Dan's Traverse and the beginning of the technical ridge trail.

While quick-footing it through the rocks and roots of the ridgeline trail, I was joined by Andrew Mullenix. Andrew, an Ironman triathlete and first time ultra runner, was moving quickly. For the first time all day, I started to feel a bit of competitiveness and tried to notch up the pace. I popped out at the 4th aid station just moments before Andrew and was met by my wife with two full bottles of Nuun ready to go. Wasting no time, I grabbed the bottles and took off down the trail.

Being a fairly strong downhill runner, I planned to take advantage of the next 3 miles of descent. Andrew showed no signs of letting up though, and he was with me stride for stride down the trail and onto the dirt road. Although my legs felt good, my stomach was feeling a bit unsettled and Andrew pulled ahead as the course transitioned back to singletrack. After succumbing to a quick pit-stop, I was feeling a little down but not quite out. I reminded myself that this was just another step toward my "real" goal. There would be bigger fish to fry in just over a month. As much as I believed that, it was still tough to let Andrew go.

Much to my surprise, as I ran into the halfway aid station, Andrew was just heading out. My wife was again there with a full waistpack and a couple more bottles. Feeling a little surge of confidence, I took off after Andrew, and we began the longest climb of the day. Knowing that climb could make or break the day, I pushed the pace to an uncomfortable level. Slowly I pulled away, but even as I crested the climb, Andrew was still in sight.

That was the last time I saw Andrew, but I felt he was never far behind. Having run hard up the road, I was relieved to hit the next steeply descending section of single track. My quads felt great, and I was able to hammer downhill. The trail soon opened back up onto road, and in the distance, I could see an aid station full of runners. I was now sharing the course with the 50k runners, and it provided a nice break from the monotony of running alone. There were a few familiar faces and I even stopped to give a hug to my good friend and 50k runner, Don Mukai.

The excitement of seeing so many other runners soon wore off, and my stomach again rebelled. I was nearly to the mile 37 aid station, when I bent over and began puking for the first time. It was over and done with in a timely manner, and I felt immediately better. Reaching into my pouch, I pulled out a couple pieces of ginger and ate them instinctively. All was better, at least for the time being. I rolled into the aid station and was met again by my bottle-wielding wife. A few quick words of encouragement from her and I was on my way again.

The four miles to the next aid station seemed like the longest stretch of the whole day. Knowing I needed to keep eating, even though nothing sounded appealing, I began sticking one Clif block at a time into my mouth and just sucking on it until it was gone. I figured that'd be easy enough on my stomach and at least a few calories would make their way back on board. It seemed to do the trick. Finally, I emerged into a broad clearing with an awe-inspiring view across the Samish Flats. This was home to the mile 42 aid station and the last time I'd see Andrea until the finish.

Armed with two full bottles of ice cold water, I set off downhill at a pretty good clip. I knew the descent would be short lived, so I ate a gel and took an electrolyte cap, preparing for the final, burly climb to the top of Blanchard Mountain. Almost immediately my stomach protested and again I buckled over and puked. Thankfully this was followed again with instant relief. I scratched and clawed my way up the ridiculously steep ascent to Lily Lake and breathed a deep sigh of relief. Knowing that the climbs were all behind me and feeling the magnetic pull of the finish line, I took off downward to the final aid station.

A quick sip of Coke, and I was out of the aid station just like that. With 2.5 miles to go, and mostly on dirt road, I was really able to open up. I didn't know how far back the next 50 miler was, but I wanted to erase any chance of getting caught in the final couple of miles. Knowing that there was no chance I'd blow up in the final mile, I kept my foot on the gas (by fifty mile standards) all the way to the finish. I ended up winning in a time of 7:58. Andrew hung on for second, finishing about 20 minutes later.

I'm ecstatic to have won the race, but more importantly I feel like my training is right on target for Western States. As I mentioned earlier, this was the first time I'd ever run two 50 milers in such a short timespan and with no rest in between. If nothing else, it feels good to be going into Western States with two fifty mile wins under my belt.

I hope this race happens again next year at the same venue. It was a beautifully rugged course with solid organization. I'll be the first to admit that I was very skeptical going into this race, but all my worries were put to rest from the beginning. I wouldn't mind making this an annual trip to B-ham.

TNF update

2008-05-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Since ultra results are so hard to come by, I figured I'd just take a moment to highlight yesterday's Northwest Region Endurance Challenge. Just as a quick aside, the course was very well marked, much to the relief of all runners. Nikki Kimball won the women's 50 mile, and I won the men's 50 mile race. Krissy Moehl was the overall winner of the 50k. The 50 mile and 50k courses were very rugged. My watch logged 10,500 feet of ascent for the 50 miler, and Krissy said that she'd logged 6600 for the 50k. When I have a bit more time, I'll post a more complete write-up.

Almost there

2008-05-08T20:57:00.000-07:00

Whew! I'm so close to a little recovery. All that stands in my way is a mere 50 miles of racing on Saturday at the North Face Endurance Challenge. Don't get me wrong. I'm feeling really good all things considered. Normally I stick to a 3 week on 1 week off program, but the way my race schedule worked out, I'm pushing through a fourth week of big miles. I've never done a big block like this with two 50 mile races mixed in, so next week will be a much deserved reprieve.

Even with some decent prize money, I'm having to remind myself that this race is just a tune-up. There's much more than money on the line in another month and a half. So I'm just looking forward to getting back up to Bellingham and running the trails where it all began for me. I'll post a report after the race.

Now THAT'S training

2008-05-05T06:56:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I added a new element to my training, and I feel like I'm really on to something. I hesitate to even share this, because I feel like I may have finally found a leg up on the competition. No, no, no, I'm not talking about performance enhancing drugs. This is even more effective, I'm certain.

CONCERT-GOING! That's it. Brilliant, right? Right? What do you mean you don't get it? Must I explain everything to you people. It's quite simple, really. All you have to do is go out and train like you normally do. Now, if you're like me in peak training, you go to bed early and cherish your sleep time. Ah, not so fast. Here's the catch. Instead of eating dinner and going to bed, go out and see a rock show.

I stumbled upon this method rather accidentally. There were shows this last Friday and Saturday night that I was very excited for, but there was training to be done as well. I figured that I may be a little tired but no big deal. Well I went out Friday morning and did 16 miles with 8 of those being uphill at threshold pace. That was followed by an hour at the gym. Sounds like a decent day of training, right. So here's where I took it to the next level. At 10pm, which is already my bedtime, Andrea and I headed downtown to see Liam Finn perform. Although the show was fantastic, I was feeling incredibly sleepy but forcing myself to be alert. It's perfect training for hundreds. Friday was a long day, but like ultra training, the back to back rock concerts are the core of this program. So I was up early Saturday morning for 23'ish miles on the trail followed by yet another show. This one even tougher than the previous days show. Mike McCready of Pearl Jam was playing his annual CCFA benefit show at the Showbox Saturday night. There were 3 openers, and with lots of guest stars throughout the evening, we had to be there start to finish, so as not to miss anything. It was somewhere after the second opener, when I was struck by the effectiveness of this training. We'd been standing in place for about 2 hours and my legs were aching and begging for a break. Rather than whine about how uncomfortable I was, I sucked it up and looked at it as time on my feet. "This is damn good training", I thought to myself. When all was said and done, I'd been standing for nearly five hours, and the time was 1:30am, way past my bedtime. Now here's the bonus capper of the weekend. This is where you really put the nail in the coffin of your competition. I was in bed by 2 am Sunday morning and up by 6:30 am to lead the store trail run. Now THAT's training!

FINALLY!!!!

2008-04-28T06:50:00.000-07:00

The sun came out this past weekend. I know that may not mean much to non-Washingtonians, but we haven't seen the sun for months. I'm focused enough that I've been able to train through the bleak cold, gray weather, but it hasn't been all that much fun. Running has felt much more like work than a sport that I love.

All that changed over the weekend. This is going to shock you, so make sure you're seated. I got 3 days, yes I said 3 whole days, of running in nice-ish weather. Can you believe it? Well if you live in Washington, you know what a treat that was, and I took full advantage of it. Now, I don't like to go into training specifics too much, because I feel like it's a bit self absorbed to write down the details of my running week to week, but I will say that I had 3 days of good, hard running.

Friday morning began bright and early with a trip out to Squak Mountain for some uphill threshold work. The weather was quite suitable, but the company was the story of the morning. Justin Angle and Tom Ederer were the real troopers of the day. They were out there by 5:30 am to grind out a double ascent. Phil Kochik, Greg Crowther, Scott Jurek and myself opted for the late start (6:45 ish), since we were only doing a single ascent. Even though we all live in Seattle, it was the first time that we'd all come together for a run. Good times!

Saturday began less bright but even earlier. I hit the road at about 3:30 am on my way to the Capitol Peak 50 miler. I arrived just after 5am and had plenty of time to check in and put myself together for the 6am kickoff. The start was a little chilly, but the skies were clear and the sun had begun to take hold in the sky. The 55k and the 50 mile started together, which was nice for me, because I was able to run with 55k runner, John Berta. The first 10 or 12 miles passed easily chatting with John. I was feeling comfortable running with John, but I reminded myself that I was running 50 miles and I let him go to chase down the lone runner in front. From that point on, my day was spent running alone. Considering the hard 2500 feet of ascent I'd done on Friday, my legs felt quite fresh all throughout the day. I was really focused on steady eating, even to the point of forcing food down when it didn't sound appealing. I truly believe that being able to eat constantly is as much a part of running well in hundreds as just about anything else, and being able to eat a lot on the run requires training as well. Anyway fuel and electrolyte intake remained constant, and I felt good all throughout the race. Even contending with about 4 or 5 miles of snow, I was able to run 7:37 and win the race. I was quite pleased with the time and effort I put forth. It was a terrific hundred mile training race.

To cap off the weekend, I headed out Sunday morning for the SRC trail run. We ran our typical 14 mile loop, and although I started out very slowly, I felt great once I warmed up. This was my biggest weekend of the year, and I feel like I'm coming into form at just the right time. And maybe, just maybe, the weather will start coming into form as well.

Catching up

2008-04-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

I apologize, to the two or three of you who actually read my blog, for my long hiatus from posting. Quite frankly, I haven't had anything too terribly exciting to write about. So does that mean that I'm now bursting with exciting stories? Not really. For those who may be interested, I'll just fill you in a bit on these past couple weeks.

I came down with a bit of a cold in the week following Diez Vista. I'd scheduled that to be a rather big week, but I opted to play it smart and take it easy. I did get out for a couple runs. One in particular was a run out at Tiger Mountain. The weather was fabulous highs in the upper 70's. Fantastic, right? Well it would have been except that I encountered a fair bit of leftover snow on top of Tiger 1. Rather than slog through snow up the trail to the summit, I instead chose to take the more easily navigated road to the top. What had been a great run suddenly turned into a brutal march through 2 feet of mushy snow, and that brings me to my next topic.

What the F is the deal with this much snow in April? This is crazy. Just this past weekend we were treated to a bit more. Evidently this was the latest recorded lowland snow ever in Washington. It sure feels a lot more like work when having to go out to run long in such miserable conditions. I feel like a bit of a whimp, but I've lived in Washington my whole life, and I can't remember such awful weather. I've always scoffed at the notion of Seasonal Affective Disorder, but this lack of sun is seriously bringing me down. Besides just having a harder time getting motivated run, the amount of snow on places like Rattlesnake Mountain and Mt. Si is keeping me from doing some of my key spring training runs.

This weekend I'll be running the Capitol Peak 50 miler. I'm assuming that I'll be contending with more snow down there. If I could at least catch a glimpse of the sun, it might be manageable.

A great week in Canada, eh.

2008-04-06T18:39:00.000-07:00

Two trips to Canada in one week? I may ordinarily go two times in a year, but with Eddie Vedder playing his first ever solo show, the week was far from ordinary. For each of the past three years, the Diez Vista 50k has been the reason for one of my bi-annual jaunts to the Great White North, and this year was no exception. It just so happened that both EV's show and Diez Vista fell into the same week. With work in between, there was no choice but to make two trips across the border. Good times, eh?

Eddie Vedder played at the Centre in downtown Vancouver. It's a magnificent venue that seats about 1800 people. Being a PJ fanclub member, I was able to pre-purchase tickets to the show. However, the tickets had to be picked up at will call the day of the show. Because the fanclub tickets were randomly assigned, Andrea and I didn't know, until arriving at the venue, where we would be sitting. We were pleasantly surprised to find our seats dead center in the 10th row. Incredible!

Liam Finn, the son of Split Enz and Crowded House member Neil Finn, opened the show. He played a very inspired half hour set. The crowd seemed really into Liam, especially considering he was all that stood between them and Eddie. I must say, Liam Finn was probably the finest opening act I've ever seen. As his set closed, I felt ready to burst with anticipation for what was to come.

Hours seemed to pass as the stage crew carefully pieced together EV's simple, living room-like stage setup. Finally the lights dimmed and Eddie Vedder took the stage, armed only with an acoustic guitar. He must have played 4 or 5 songs before eventually acknowledging the crowd. He seemed, at least initially, to be a bit nervous. With each passing song, he became more and more at ease, and by the end of the night, he was even telling dirty jokes. Who'd have thunk, eh? Well the show was fantastic, and I feel so lucky to have been able to see my favorite musician in such a stripped down, intimate environment. For those of you who haven't yet, do yourself a favor and go buy Into the Wild. It's a brilliant album.

Speaking of brilliant, the Alabama Hammer and I neglected to take notice of the start time of the Diez Vista 50k. Having left Seattle at 3:45 am and experiencing a few navigational glitches, we arrived at the Diez Vista start just after 7 am. We were taking our time sorting through our race goodies when we suddenly wondered where everyone was. At 7:25, we asked the woman next to us what time the race started. I nearly panicked when she said that it started in five minutes. Cripes! How could we have missed that little detail?

Having hastily gathered our race necessities, we arrived at the starting line with only moments to spare. Race director Paul Slaymaker reminded us of the course change from years prior and we were off just like that. Whew! We had just barely made it.

Since I don't really care to go into blow by blow details of the race, I'll just give you my own abridged account. I set off at a steady clip. Having trained up to the race, my legs weren't optimally rested, but they felt pretty good. As the course transitioned from double track to incredibly technical single track, I became hyper-focused on every precise foot placement. To allow your mind to wander, even for a split second, could cost you your running career or worse on this terrain. I wiped out once, but I bounced right back up without missing a beat.

As much as I enjoy the steep, technical descents, I was relieved to pop out onto the more runnable road sections that make up the middle of the course. I was able to comfortably push the pace through the third aid station and beyond. Somewhere about half way between aid stations 3 and 4, my motivation began to slightly wane. I arrived at the 4th aid station in 2nd place, but 2 other runners shadowed me, only seconds behind.

Seeing the two other runners provided a much needed kick in the ass, and I felt a little more energized running back uphill toward the fifth and final aid station. Unfortunately I was overtaken by Gary Robbins, and as hard as I tried, I didn't have the kick to stick with him through the final few miles. I ended up 3rd overall in a time of 4:27. Even having won the race 2 of the last 3 years, this was my fastest time by over 5 minutes.

Not a bad week in Canada, eh?

Just another tuneup

2008-04-04T16:03:00.000-07:00

I won't be lined up with all the big guns in Sacramento, but I'll racing tomorrow too. The Alabama Hammer and myself are headed up to the Great White North for some ultra fun. We'll be racing the Diez Vista 50k. It may not have the talent pool of AR 50, but the spectacular views and incredibly technical singletrack will make for an exciting time.

Like everyone else I'll be anxiously awaiting the results from AR 50. It's fun to speculate about who else will be earning a spot on the starting line in Squaw. The chic pick seems to be Anton, but there are a lot of speedsters lining up tomorrow. Anything can happen in a fifty miler. I seem to recall even Uli Steidl having a tough go at AR50. He won the race but, for the first time in an ultra, missed the course record.
Good luck to all those racing this weekend! I'll post a report here after the race.

A few random thoughts

2008-04-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to comment for a while on how much I'm in love with the new Inov 8 Roclite 295s. I've trained in the shoe a number of times now, and I've had two solid race performances in them as well. I wore the Roclite 295s at the Chuckanut Mountain 50k, and I was amazed by how good they felt on the flatter hard packed road sections of the course. I also just raced a ten miler in the sloppiest conditions I've ever run in. The course was a slippery combination of melting snow and mud on winding technical single track trail. I missed the course record by a mere 20 seconds, so that to me was a pretty good testament to the shoes.

I'm feeling pretty good about where my fitness is right now. I've got a full 3 months of structured training under my belt, and I'm starting to feel really strong. One thing that I did really well in 2006 was to train in blocks, 3 weeks on 1 week off. Last year I lost sight of that a little bit and my "easy" weeks tended to be a little too hard for a true recovery week. This year I'm definitely sticking to that plan a bit better, and if my health is any indication, I'm doing a much better job than last year.

And what would a post on my blog be without some mention of Pearl Jam? Yes, that's right. Tomorrow night I'm headed north to see Eddie Vedder perform solo at The Centre in Vancouver, BC. I'm very very excited, but I'm a little worried about my favorite songwriter. I went to see X last night at the Showbox, and Joe Doe, the bassist of X, said that they were dedicating this next one to their friend Eddie who was supposed to be there but was sick. SICK! Are you kidding me? Oh please, not now. Eddie, please just drink and pee. That's what my grandma always told me when I was sick.

The North Face

2008-03-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

So what's the deal with the North Face Endurance Challenge? I mean is it asking too much to know course details a month and a half before a race. Because if that's the case, I may be out of line here. To me it seems that the vast majority of folks running any distance, especially an ultra, like to plan their schedule in advance. Most people, and I know there are some exceptions, probably aren't going to jump into a 50 mile race on a whim.

That's why it's absolutely shocking to me that the May 10th North Face Endurance Challenge hasn't nailed down a course yet. The race had originally been set for May 10th in Seattle, and now Seattle has come to mean Bellingham, 3 counties and an hour and a half from Seattle. Having a bit of an inside look at their race organization, I can speak to what a complete cluster f#!k the whole thing is. I know for a fact that the Seattle race was originally slated to take place at Cougar Mountain, and now since that fell through, Bellingham has become the new location. I'm fine with the race taking place in Bellingham, in fact that's why I'm tempted to run, but it's frustrating to see such poor planning.

You shouldn't feel like you're gambling when signing up to run any distance, let alone 5o friggin' miles. You need only read Uli Steidl's race report of the championship race in December 2007 to realize how poorly the course was marked, and this with $10,000 on the line for the winner. I just don't think that it's too much to ask, especially for a race that you're shelling out 70 or 80 bucks for, to have a course map and elevation profile at least a few months before the race. Last time I checked this wasn't the North Face Endurance Fat Ass. This series has the potential to be something huge. There are some big name sponsors and prize money, but poor management is really killing it.

That said, I'm willing to roll the dice on this one. Why? Well for a few reasons really 1) It's only a tune-up race in my case. 2) I do love the trails on and around Chuckanut Mountain. 3) There's a pretty good chance to win some prize money. Talk about selling out, huh?

PJ Update

2008-03-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

Well it turns out that yesterday Pearl Jam announced a ten day east coast tour. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but I'm excited for those fans living back east. I was really hoping to see a Seattle date or two pop up. For now I'll have to be content going to Vancouver April 2nd to see Eddie Vedder solo. I can't wait! And I'll keep my fingers crossed that the east coast dates may just be the first leg of a U.S. tour.

The waiting drove me mad...

2008-03-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

This entry will probably take me an hour to write, because every 15 seconds or so, I'm compelled to jump over to Pearl Jam's website. Why? As anyone who actually reads this blog knows (maybe 2 or 3 people), I'm an enormous Pearl Jam fan. When Pearl jam makes a big announcement, the band's staff issues some vague hint about a *tweet* from a little birdy. That's fine until the *tweet*, that was supposed to be announced Wednesday, gets pushed back to Thursday. This after alluding to the *tweet* over the weekend. So, since Saturday, I've been going crazy waiting for this dang bird chirp. I know it sounds crazy, and I don't expect anyone else to understand. It makes sense in my crazy little world, but I swear, if that frickin' duck doesn't start quacking, I'm gonna' lose it.

For the 2 or 3 of you that read this blog, I'll pretend that you care about my Pearl Jam news, and I'll share with you the announcement when I know.

Chuckanut Recap

2008-03-17T06:48:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning began with rain and cold temps, but that didn't stop 300 hearty runners from lining up at the start of the Chuckanut 50k. Nobody looked all that motivated to run, myself included, but as soon as the race got underway, the rain let off. Amazingly the weather steadily improved throughout the day, and although the course was muddy, the overall conditions were pretty good.

Having decided to train through the race, I knew that I probably wouldn't be in contention to win this year, especially with Bryan Dayton, Scott Jurek and the Alabama Hamma' toeing the line. Still, I felt that I should be able to put forth a strong effort based on where my training has been.

I ended up 4th overall in a time of 4:14. It wasn't my fastest time there, but having trained right up to the race, it's a good indicator of where my overall fitness is. It's especially satisfying to have been able to run so well at the end of the race. My final split of 1:05:29 was the fastest of the field.

Team Inov 8 had a great showing at the race with Devon Crosby Helms and Bryan Dayton each winning.

Inov 8

2008-03-13T05:58:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to announce that I have a new shoe sponsor for the 2008 season. After two seasons with Brooks, I have opted to go a different direction for 2008. I am very thankful for what Brooks was able to provide me for a couple of seasons and I'll continue to run in their road shoes. However, when it comes to dirt, I'll be running for the Inov 8 ultra team. I'm very excited to team up with a company that is dedicated to trail ultra running.
Inov 8 shoes fall right in line with my less is more philosophy of trail running shoes. They are incredibly light, low to the ground, and have great traction. I have been running in the Roclite 297 and the Roclite 315. They both feel great and fit well. This weekend I'll be running in the lighter of the two, the Roclite 297.

Chuck a what?

2008-03-12T15:56:00.000-07:00

Can it really be the middle of March already? Where does the time go? This is always an exciting time for me since it means a return to the trails where it all began for me. While going to school at Western Washington University, I began trail running in the fall of 2001. In March 2002, I ran my very first ultra, the Chuckanut Mountain 50k.
Since I was sick last year and missed the race, I'm looking forward to a return to Chuckanut. Having finished 2nd, 4th, and 3rd overall, I'm determined to win this thing one of these years. That being said, this may not be the year. Because my "A" race is Western States, and it's not until the end of June, I really need to be smart about using these early season races as training runs. Scott Jurek once told me, and it really stuck, that you have to be willing to get your ass kicked early on if you want to win Western States. Oh, it's soooo hard though.
Regardless of how the race turns out, I'll be refueling at one my favorite college joints, Casa Que Pasa. The potato burritos really hit the spot after a taxing effort. Believe me, I too was once skeptical about a potato burrito, but they're pretty darn delicious.

Subject drought

2008-03-05T05:33:00.000-08:00

Well after what I felt was a pretty solid start to my blogging career, I've hit a wall. You'd think that as an endurance athlete I would have been smarter about my pacing. Initially, I had more blog topics in my head than I could put to paper and now nothing. My well of thought seems to have dried up.
I think I may have made a huge mistake by blogging about the best training run ever. That was such a rookie move, because now I've reached a high point that will be hard, if not impossible, to match. And really, between you and me, that run wasn't even THAT great. I mean sure my legs felt like finely tuned rockets, and I was able to offer some solid encouragement to Ryan Hall and Meb, as I passed them going up Cleator Road, and to top it off, Pearl Jam just happened to be rehearsing right next to my parked car. It was ok at best. But I just had to boast about it, and now look at me, I've got nothing. NOTHING!

Best training run, ever?

2008-02-24T06:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I may well have had my best training run ever. It was no doubt my best training run of 2008, and it stacks right up there with the best all time. Kiwi and I headed up to Bellingham for some fun on Chuckanut Mountain. The weather combined with how good my legs felt were major factors in the enjoyment of the run. A bigger factor though, was that I have so many fond memories from those Chuckanut Mountain trails. For it was runs to places like Raptor Ridge, Fragrance Lake, and Arroyo Park that I developed a passion for trail running. Going back to those trails is always an invigorating experience.

This weekend capped off my second block of building. I generally stick to a 3 weeks hard 1 week recovery program, but sometimes you have to listen to your body and be willing to modify things on the fly. Usually that means sooner recovery, but on very rare occasions, that can mean adding in another higher volume week. This week was one of those less frequent situations where I opted to postpone my recovery week, because my legs were feeling so good after Orcas. Now I'm coming in to my recovery week with two solid 40+ mile weekends in a row. I know it's not very Anton-esque, but I'm feeling pretty good about where my training volume is right now.

BTRE Stats

Distance: 26 miles
Time: 3:50
Ascent: 4600 ft
Avg. HR: 143
Weather: SUNNY! (a major factor in the quality of the run)

I've got a golden ticket...

2008-02-19T12:11:00.000-08:00

I've got two actually, two tickets to see my favorite musician. It didn't come easy, but yesterday morning I battled through site crash after site crash and error message upon error message, coming out no worse for the wear with two tickets to see Eddie Vedder in Vancouver. There was a special pre-sale for fan club members, and the tickets were being sold only through the Pearl Jam website. Unfortunately for many, the website was not able to keep up with the demand and crashed repeatedly. At one point, I had two tickets shown in my cart, but as I entered my credit card number an unknown error message popped up and froze the screen. Poof, just like that my tickets disappeared into cyberspace. After nearly an hour of more of the same, and frustrated beyond belief, I nearly gave up. Could it be that my uncanny Pearl Jam luck had dried up? Alas, at 11:03 am, an hour after they'd gone on sale, my luck kicked in and I was able to navigate through the minefield of error messages unscathed, emerging with two tickets and an email confirmation to verify it. Persistence pays off.

Orcas Report

2008-02-18T06:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I headed up to Orcas Island with UB and the Alabama Hammer for some fun in the San Juans. Fun being a fairly relative term, as there were certainly moments when I questioned my decision to wake at 3am to drive an hour and a half to Anacortes, the departure point of the ferry, to run 31 miles. That's fun, right? Well it was mostly fun, and that's why we were willing to give up a full day when all the running and traveling was said and done. UB decided to stick with the 25k option, while the Alabama Hammer and myself opted for the full 50k. Due to snow on Mt. Constitution, RD James Varner opted to re-route the course. The 50k was set to be two loops of the 25k course, and the pre-race buzz was that it would be a really "runnable" course with substantially less elevation gain than the previous years' route. That sounded pretty good to me since it was my first ultra of the year, and my long run coming in was only about 19 miles. Of course, being a James Varner designed course, "runnable" turned out to mean mostly "shuffleable." I don't think that's a real word, but I'll use it because it so perfectly describes the pace dictated by the terrain. There were lots of straight ups and downs with some very slippery slopes. All said, it was a very pretty and challenging course with only a few expletive inducing sections. Despite the seemingly interminable second loop, myself and AH finished tied for third. In all honesty, we should have been tied for fifth, because two runners ahead of us made a wrong turn and got off course. Neither of us were racing, although we had to remind ourselves of that a couple times, so place really wasn't the goal. We came through the finish in 5:06 . Matt Hart was the winner, but I don't know what his finish time was. We had hoped to catch the 2:55 pm boat to Anacortes, so we didn't have much time to socialize after the run. We quickly changed, packed our gear, and sped off to the ferry. We arrived well before the departure time, but the line was full, so we were told we'd be on the 6:15 pm sailing. After a near emotional meltdown, we all managed to keep our cool and sauntered down to the restaurant for beer and burgers. To keep a long story a little shorter, I'll just say that we didn't get back to Seattle until about 9:30 pm. It was a very long day, but we had more fun than not.

Race Stats:
Distance (w/footpod): 31.73 miles
Time: 5:06
Ascent: 6400ft
Avg. HR: 143

*On a non-running related note, I'm very excited for a special pre-sale today. I'm a long time member of the Pearl Jam fanclub, and today at 10 am, fan club members have a crack at a limited number of tickets for Eddie Vedder's solo tour. For any of you reading this, please cross your fingers and send me positive thoughts at 10 am.

Fitness Marker

2008-02-16T07:29:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I'm headed up to the San Juan Islands for the Orcas Island 50k. It'll be my first 50k of the season, and I'm really just treating it as a long training run. It'll provide a good marker of where my current fitness level is. Last year, by this time, I had raced a 1/2 marathon, 25k, and a 50k all during January. I had a decent run at Orcas, but I was already feeling a little worn out. This year I've taken, what I hope is, a much smarter training approach. I've got 7 weeks of solid base training under my belt,with no racing, and I'm feeling like I'm getting stronger each week. Obviously it feels great to see marked improvement each week, as opposed to this time last year, when I was already feeling a little run down. So I'm excited to see how things shake out tomorrow. The weather's looking good, and I really love the trails at Moran State Park. It should be a great day out there. I'll get a report up here when I return to Seattle.

Here's a quick recap of my 2008 training log
wk 1: 64 miles
wk 2: 74 miles
wk 3: 80 miles
wk 4: 53 miles (recovery)

wk 5: 76 miles
wk 6: 80 miles
wk 7: 92 miles
wk 8: recovery

Downsizing

2008-02-13T06:03:00.000-08:00

No, I won't be discussing corporate downsizing here. I'm talking about taking a sort of less is more approach to running shoes, particularly to trail shoes. I remember my very first pair of trail shoes. They were, of course, the tried and true Montrail Vitesse. Wasn't that everyone's first trail shoe? At the time, I thought a trail running shoe had to have a rugged feel to make the cut. Even when I began working at Seattle Running Company, I would scoff at the various road shoe brands attempting to make trail shoes. I'd tell customers, "Those are just beefed up road shoes." They weren't "true" trail shoes. In the past two years though, I've made a complete 180 degree turn on this issue. No longer do I feel like a trail shoe has to feel like a light hiking boot, and it's hard for me to understand why I ever did. Admittedly, I've now gone to the extreme opposite end of the spectrum, running now in the Brooks Racer ST flat. I really have come to realize the benefits of a lighter, more flexible shoe, even on the trail. A good shoe for the trail doesn't have to feel like a brick. Shocking, right? It's amazing to me though how many people feel like that inability to move your foot naturally is what you need in a trail shoe. Granted, I don't recommend everyone rush out to buy a road flat for the trails, I think that comes with time spent working on form and efficiency, but we can all get by on a lot less shoe. Thankfully the trend seems to be moving toward the development of lighter weight and more flexible trail specific shoes.

Sunday Runs

2008-02-10T14:15:00.000-08:00

Every Sunday morning, rain or shine, I meet at Seattle Running Company at 7am to lead a hearty group of individuals out to our local trails. Lately it's been much more rain and snow than shine. The Cascades, and even our smaller local foothills, have been hammered with an abundance of snow this year. Last Sunday I thought it would be fun to head out to Tiger Mountain and run the 16 mile fat ass loop. I knew that there would be some snow, but I had no idea that we'd be breaking trail through two feet of snow. We cut the loop short, but it still took us over 3 hours to cover 11 miles. I was bonking so badly breaking through the fresh snow that I started seeing stars and thinking that I may pass out. The two other runners with me were real troopers. Even as I started to lose my cool, they pressed on and kept a really great attitude. Today, we opted to stay a little closer to home by running a Cougar-Squak out and back. We covered 19 miles with about 5000 feet of ascent. Along the way we encountered just about every winter weather condition that exists in the Pacific Northwest. We got a lot of rain, a little snow, and enough warmth that one guy even shed his shirt. It was just another crazy day in this wild Washington winter. I guess running in these conditions builds character, right?

Kiwi

2008-02-08T16:37:00.000-08:00

I have some fabulous training partners that really inspire me and make training fun. They're very motivated and dedicated athletes. But, like all of us, they're real people with real commitments. Life can get pretty crazy and sometimes running has to take a back seat to more pressing issues. I know that's sometimes the case for me. Basically what I'm getting at is that people have complicated lives and running can't always be the primary focus. However, my dog Kiwi has no such outside distractions. She is always ready to go at the drop of a hat. I was thinking about this very thing today as I was chasing Kiwi up the side of Squak Mountain. She, ever the playful one, would dash up the trail 50 yards or so, spin 180 degrees, and then rocket back toward me, repeating again and again. Kiwi, clearly in her element, had no idea that I was cursing my decision to get a little later start on my run. The plan was to run one and half times up the 3.5 mile trail to the top of Squak Central. As I parked and pulled out my gear, the skies opened up and beginning dumping rain. This on top of the already strong winds that had been gusting all morning. Basically the rain/snow mix was blasting me horizontally as I left the car, and gazing up at Squak, I thought twice about scrapping the whole thing. However, there was Kiwi, with boundless energy, ready to get things going. How could I say no? So we did it just as planned. Had I been running with another person, it would have been easy to scrap the run and grab a cup of coffee. To Kiwi a run's a run. Nothing else matters. Sometimes I think I'd like the simplicity of a dog's life.

Time Management

2008-02-07T09:26:00.000-08:00

Anyone out there speak Portuguese? Well I don't either, really. As you may or may not know the title of this blog is Portuguese for always running. I'm finally, after nearly 6 years of half-assed attempts, learning to speak Portuguese. Why Portuguese? My wife and her family are Portuguese. I've been to Portugal three times, but I've never really been able to communicate fully with her extended family. I just purchased Rosetta Stone Portuguese 1-3, and I have to say it's really great. I've even managed to fit it into my busy schedule of work and training. Getting up just a little earlier in the morning, I've managed to spend at least a half hour every day learning Portuguese, and it's not even cutting into my training. Nothing starts the day off right like a cup of coffee and some Rosetta Stone.

Training with purpose

2008-02-06T18:59:00.000-08:00

There's nothing more rewarding as a runner than seeing and feeling the results of training. As any competitive runner knows, there's a huge difference between just running and training. Through much of my summer and fall I was running a lot, but I was training very little. After taking a break in December, I committed to a smarter training program starting in 2008. The first couple weeks after taking a break felt tough. But now after a month or so of solid base mileage, I'm feeling really great and ready to go. I've been slower to introduce my typical January threshold runs around Green Lake. Instead, based on an article by Greg McMillan in Running Times, I've opted to do once or twice weekly sub-threshold runs. These runs are described as those which are 15-20 seconds slower than lactate threshold pace. The argument of the article was, and I've experienced this myself, that true tempo/threshold runs can cause a runner to peak too early in the season. Considering my peak race (Western States) isn't until late June, I have pushed back my true threshold workouts until later this month and have opted to incorporate 6-8 weeks of sub-threshold workouts instead. So far so good, but it'll be interesting to start racing in March without 2 months of threshold workouts in the bag.

And so it begins...

2008-02-05T22:09:00.000-08:00

I've never considered myself the blogging type, and maybe I'm not, but I'm compelled to give this a whirl. Over the course of the last month or so, I've become quite the avid blog reader. It's become part of my daily routine to stay abreast of my favorite ultra running blogs. I've come to enjoy reading other's musings so much that I figured perhaps someone may also enjoy whatever I may be able to contribute to the blogging world. So it is here that I'll write, mostly about running, and hopefully someone can find some enjoyment in what I have to share.