Saturday hurt . . .

I wanted to get around 3.5 hours in Saturday which would probably be around 24ish miles.  I started early - 5:00 a.m. - and planned to run out to the group (Boardtown Runners) and then do another couple of hours.  The first 8 or so miles went fine, but for some reason around mile 11 I felt awful.  I was dizzy and felt just plain bad.  I thought I had plenty of sodium and carbs but just was not myself.  

I debated heatedly with myself on calling it a day at 11 miles, but fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your point of view) I just sorta gutted it out.  I ended up running 3 hours which was about 20 miles.  After the wall at 11 miles I felt marginally better for the rest of the run.  Not great, but decent.  

Suffice it to say this was one of those days that you are just glad to be finished with.  It hurt.  Hopefully this week will be significantly better or Mountain Mist will be a long day.

A Christmas wrap-up . . .

Wow.  Wow!  It is truly remarkable the decibel level Larkin can reach with nothing more than his naked voice.  I mean it is incredible.  He is only 3 yet commands attention when he wants by simply unleashing his vocal cords.  When he does . . . watch out.  Larkin has been, how shall I say, less than "good" to merit a visit from the ole' jolly one himself.  Yet on Christmas Day there were gifts for Larkin.  That prompted Jack to say "surprisingly Santa came to see Larkin also."  So true.  So true.  

Thus far (I say "thus far" because we are Episcopal and celebrate the 12 days of Christmas that begin on Christmas Day and end on Epiphany 12 days later - we keep our trees up, etc. until then) we have had a wonderful Christmas, although I am continually amazed at the commercial side of it.  There is not a trinket made that our boys don't have.  We have done much better the last couple of years.  Santa now brings only 3 main gifts with a few other items for the stockings.  Our boys now know and understand that despite a list of 5,321 things, they are likely to get only 3.  They are now okay with that.  Banks was making his list to send on up to the North Pole before Christmas and only had 3 things on it.  Jamie inquired why he didn't put more on there.  His response, "well, if I only put 3 things on there and Santa brings 3 things, I'm sure to get all 3."  Pretty intelligent move I suspect.  Guess what?  Santa indeed brought all 3.  (we're suckers).  At the end of the semester in kindergarten, Banks's class was assigned a task of writing to Santa with their Christmas wish for gifts.  Banks's wish?  "to get all the presents on my longer list."  Nice.

Larkin is infatuated with Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.  Nothing strange about that for a 3 year old; however, here's where it gets a bit odd . . . he insists on watching the episodes in Spanish.  I know, I know.  I cannot explain it.  You can walk in the back of the house and there is Larkin engrossed in some Batman episode in Spanish.  

Wow, it has been, well, a long time since I've posted.  Frankly since I am fairly certain I have like 3 readers, I do not think anyone cares.  Nonetheless, I should probably keep the blog a little more up-to-date.  

Fair amount has happened since my last blog entry.  Historically, we have elected Barack Obama as the President-Elect of the United States of America.  Whether you supported now President-Elect Obama or not, I hope you can truly appreciate this incredible accomplishment.  Time will judge President-Elect Obama's ability; however, at this point I think it safe to say he is a tremendously inspiring person. 

On the family front . . . things continue to hop at our house.  With 3 boys ages 7 and under it would be an understatement to say our life is normal or subdued.  Frankly though I wouldn't want it any other way.  Watching our boys as they interact with each other (read another way that sentence might say "watching our boys as they jump off the bed onto each other and continue to hit, kick, punch, and pound each other . . . ".  I'm kidding.  We are super fortunate that our kids are awesome and play very well together.) is a true joy.  There is not one single thing I would change.  My poor wife is the one that endures the brunt of the "issues" at home.  

The latest addiction at our house is Buzz the elf.  You may have seen the "Elf on a Shelf" at your local bookstore.  Basically, if you are a really good little boy or girl an Elf flies down from the North Pole to your house during the night to check on you.  The Elf has magical powers; however, he is not to be touched by children or he will lose his magical powers and will not come back.  Each night the Elf appears in a different location.  Our boys absolutely LOVE to find him.  They are completely captivated by him.  They named him "Buzz."  So, now when they are, shall we say, not on their best behavior, I threaten with a little "hmmm, wonder what Buzz thinks of this."  Works like a charm.

On the running front, I took most of October off.  I rested a good bit and ran only 4 or 5 times of 5 or so miles each.  It felt good to sleep late and just relax.  I started back in November and now I am getting ready for Mountain Mist 50K the end of January 2009.  I will not be in great shape but should have enough of a base to be okay.  Having not run the course I'm not sure what to expect time wise.  I doubt it is as difficult as GEER with its 8800' of elevation gain, but is probably more difficult than the Ouachita 50K.  I would be pleased if a ran in the 6:05 - 6:15 range, but admittedly I am not in race form at this point.  

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and finds a way to enjoy it without the stress of the commercial side of Christmas.

Beantown baby!

Well, I finally found a little luck! Every year I sign up for a chance to win the right to purchase Boston Red Sox playoff tickets. There is an online drawing for division series, league championship series, and world series. And each year, I lose.

Not this year, baby. On Tuesday I received an email telling me I won the right to "try" and purchase two tickets to home game two in Boston for the ALCS. I knew there was a catch, and indeed there was. It seems what you "win" is the opportunity to log on to a secure website the following day between 11:00 a.m. CDT and 5:00 p.m. CDT where you will wait in a virtual waiting room to be randomly selected for the chance to buy tickets. Of course everywhere on the page it repeatedly said "while supplies last" and "if available", etc. Also, if you messed anything up, i.e., address, name, password, etc., it would kick you off the page and relegate you back to your couch to watch the game on TBS.

After almost one full hour of watching the automatic counter count down from 30 seconds to 0 and then reset it finally happened. I got in. I was afraid I would inadvertently hit "enter" before I was finished and it would kick me out. Fortunately the story has a good ending with me purchasing two tickets, lower level right field, second row, right next to the Sox pen where I can watch Mississippi State product Jonathan Papelbon get ready.

Jamie and I are heading up to Boston Monday night and will return Wednesday. We are super pumped!

G.E.E.R. 2008

Wow. Wow! What an awesome event. This was my first time running the G.E.E.R. 50K in the gorgeous George Washington National Forest outside Charlottesville, Virginia. For those not familiar with the race it is the Great Eastern Endurance Run (GEER) and features a 100K, 50K (though the course is really more like 32.5), and half-marathon. The majority of the race is run on single track trail with a little road and gravel thrown in and a whole lot of rocks and boulders for good measure. We were really lucky this year because we had a solid dose of rain thrown in at no charge.

Bad to the Bone Endurance Sports/Charlottesville Running Company put on the event. Gill, Francesca, and Marty do an incredible job. Everything relative to the race including sign up, packet pick up, morning of, race itself, aid stations, etc. was spot on. I cannot say enough about the aid stations. They were all a very welcome sight and the people working them did a fantastic job - thanks Marty! I have been working with Gill for some time now, but it was great to finally meet him, Francesca, and Marty in person. I also meet a couple of other great guys that are part of the CRC/BttB Pro Team - Bedford and Sniper. Both were very helpful. Sniper gave me plenty of advice coming into the race (as well as a lift to the race itself at the insane hour of 3:50 a.m.) and Bedford got me up and over that first monster climb and down Torrey Ridge trail into aid station 1 and then on to aid station 2. Bedrock, sorry for making you do all the pulling man!

The race itself is hard. I did as much hill training as possible, but Mississippi hill training and trail running just does not compare to running in the Virginia mountains. The race starts with a 1+ mile run up the park road where you take a left and begin the ascent on the first monster climb . . . in the dark and this year, in the rain. The climb is at least a mile and rises 1500 feet or so up to the Torrey Ridge trail. I'm certain the views from the ridge are spectacular, but since it was raining and extremely foggy we were not treated to them this year. The Torrey Ridge trail hits the Slacks trail and drops in to Camp Marty for the first aid station. I did this first 5.7 miles in around 1:14 which was a little faster than I was planning but still comfortable.

From aid station 1 to aid station 2 it is only 2 miles but is on the White Rocks Falls trail and is really cool. The trail is beautiful as you run along the falls. The sound of the running water is very calming but I admit that it was a little unnerving because I was afraid that the area's black bears might not hear me approaching. It probably didn't help that Gill and Marty mentioned before the race that they had seen a fair number of bears this year and that they appeared mildly more aggresive than normal. Nice.

Aid station 2 down to aid station 3 is truly down. The route runs along the Blue Ridge Parkway for a couple of miles before heading down a gravel road to the bottom, some 4+ miles and 1500+ feet later. This is a good place to make some time, but you really have to be careful not to overdo it. Once at the bottom it is time to quickly refuel and turn around and head back up that same 4+ miles and 1500+ feet. This was the hardest section of the race in my opinion. I enjoyed hooking up with a couple of guys on the Parkway and ran with them much of the 2 or so miles to aid station 4. Morgan from Philadelphia, PA and his buddy from the D.C. area.

Once back to aid 4 (which is also aid 2) you jump back in the trails and head down for .5 mile or so and then turn left back onto the Slacks trail. It is uphill from here back up to Camp Marty again. This is a great single track but is tough. Thanks to going out a little hard and perhaps a flaw in my nutrition for the race I was experiencing some cramping in my calves and quads. Unfortunatley that was made much worse when I took a tremendous fall on Slacks. My left calf muscle was completely and totally locked up. I cannot describe the shape my muscle took on. When I tried to massage it out my quad locked up. This was looking fairly bleak. I finally was able to get the ball of my foot on a tree and push it to stretch the muscle. Fortunately a minute or so later another runner came through and helped me up. Suffice it to say, I was glad to see Marty and aid station 5.

I was rewarded by leaving Marty and heading straight up to Bald Mountain Summit at 3800 feet or so. This was a tough section. It is basically all uphill and is extremely rocky. Then I spotted a lot of bear droppings along the course. Maybe that gave me just a little spring in my step. Once at Bald Mountain Summit, the 50k runners turn around and head back down, which sounds like it is great, but when your legs are as spent as mine were it is decidedly difficult. One of the great things about ultras is the encouragement from other runners who almost all take the time to say "good job" or "looking great" or something else helpful. While I was heading back down I ran into Bedford who was looking strong in his 100k run. I caught a runner on the way down who had passed me earlier. He, like most of us, was tired and let me by easily. Back to Marty for the third and final time and only a 4-5 miles until the finish.

After a quick refueling at Marty I saw the same guy I passed on that last section. I really wanted to finish strong and used his coming into the aid station as motivation to get moving. I took off on the last section - most of which is downhill with over 1000 feet of descent. Unfortunately I got a little carried away and took another solid fall on a section of Slacks that is super rocky. I knew Slacks was only 1.2 miles or so, but it seemed like it took me 3 hours to get to the turn onto the White Rock trail. Once on the White Rock trail you run 2 - 2.5 miles until you come out at the park. Having never run this race I wasn't entirely sure how far we would have to run once at the park. When I first stepped onto the pavement I saw another runner come out of the woods behind me. I figured I had about a 100 yard lead at this point. It was painful to run. I went back and forth between "I really want to finish ahead of him" to "so what, it was a good race, I'm pleased." Somehow I was able to run the whole way. As I approached the parking area beside the finish I saw my Jamie and two of my kids, Banks and Larkin. Unfortunately the oldest, Jack, was bad sick and asleep in the Suburban still in his pj's. The family cheered hard and gave me the jolt to run it in hard the rest of the way.

Final numbers were 6:26 on time which was good enough for 14th overall and 3rd in my age group. I was secretly hoping for a 6 hour finish, but frankly had no idea what to expect with a course this difficult. Having run it, I think a 6 hour finish is certainly doable but was likely too much to hope for in my first run of this type. I am very pleased with my time and had a complete blast. Again, Gill, Francesca, Marty, and crew do a wonderful job. Anyone that likes extremely difficult races needs to put this on their list. This has to be one of the toughest race east of the Mississippi.

After the race we stayed in Charlottesville and walked around the Downtown Mall area. C'ville is an awesome place. Other then Jack getting sick we had a great visit. Had a little Bodo's Bagels Sunday morning before we embarked on the 12 hour ride home. All-in-all it was 1656 miles and 24 hours of driving . . . all to run 32.5 miles!

A note of thanks to Gill for the help he has provided. He has helped my ultra running tremendously and is responsible for my effort this weekend. Thanks, Gill!

Great race. Great people.

Early rising . . . late afternoon recovery

Dang that alarm clock. Actually it's my Blackberry, but still, you get the point. I know a lot of people get up at 4:30ish and have no problem doing it. It was tough when that puppy started singing at 4:30. I got out of the rack around 4:45 and was running by 5:15.

It felt good to be out running before the sun comes up. The temperature, although still warm, was much more pleasant than during the day. I did a couple of miles easy to warm up and then did 5 miles at marathon pace (between 8:00 and 8:23) through campus at Mississippi State University. It's nice to run through campus, especially early when the runners and walkers seem to control the flow of activity for a few hours. After the pace run I finished up with 3 easy miles to cool down.

With school starting back for the boys I hope to get the majority of my runs in early. If today is any indication, it will be a blast to run and watch the sun rise at the same time!

At the end of the day I ended up doing an easy recovery run of approximately 40 minutes. I hadn't planned on running twice today, but felt pretty good after the morning session and decided to get another workout in. Mileage for today was about 14 miles.

M Pace Workout

Trying to get any decent mileage in during the day is difficult. With GEER bearing down it's time to start hitting the pavement early. I am in for a 9.5 - 10 mile M pace workout tomorrow morning early. Below is a link to my route:

Yesterday a couple of friends and I got 14 or so miles in on the Noxubee Hills Trails in the Tombigbee National Forest. For our region these are really good trails. Obviously it is nothing like other spots in the country in terms of elevation gain and loss but still a great time in the woods.

We entered the trails from the Noxubee Hills Cemetery side and ran the Sheep Ranch Trail - mostly technical single track trail - down to Rock Crusher Road. We followed Rock Crusher Road over to Lost Cemetery Road. We re-entered the trails on the B Trail up to the North Trail. We took it over Pigeon Roost Road and on to the Lost Bridge Trail. Then we took Log Jump Trail up to Sheep Ranch Trail and back to the cemetery. There are several good switch backs that will give you a good workout for sure. I felt great on the downhills and pretty solid on the uphills. Brian was hammering it as usual. As we approached Sheep Ranch from Log Jump I started have some quad cramps. I suspect a sign that I went out too hard early and also that I haven't been training nearly hard enough. I neglected to get enough sodium on the run and that likely didn't help.

You would've thought it was my first day with feet. For whatever reason I simply could not remain upright and hit the dirt 3 or 4 times with nice, hard falls. The ole right knee is showing the signs of the falls!

Clearly I need to step it up before GEER.




Brian and me post run

Had a nice easy 7 mile recovery run yesterday. It's hot (92+ degrees most days) and humid most of the day - especially when you don't get out of the rack early enough to run before work!

Looking forward to tomorrow when a group and I head out to some local trails to get 12-15 miles in the morning. Time for me to step up my efforts and work a little harder with the training. This year I have done 1 trail half-marathon, 1 road marathon, and 1 trail 50 mile. I'm pleased with the results but effectively wasted my training by not hammering it hard after the races. The 50 mile race was on March 1st and I haven't done any racing since then. I admit it's tough to squeeze training into a schedule with a wife, 3 kids and a 50+ hour work week. But it's time to start hitting the morning circuit! I am signed up for the Great Eastern Endurance Run (G.E.E.R.) 50K in the Blue Ridge Mountains outside Charlottesville, Virginia. I am looking forward to the race as it will be difficult - elevation gain wise. Gill, the race director and owner of Charlottesville Running Company and Bad to the Bone Endurance Sports, made fun of me for signing up for the 50K instead of the 100K - the "Big Boys' Race" as he called it. Maybe next year, Gill! If it weren't for work, I'd train all day . . . just haven't figured out a way to pay the bills with that yet.

Wow, guess it's time for an update. I recently ran a local trail half-marathon (Choctaw Challenge) where I finished 4th overall. I was never in contention for the lead and have to confess that I finished ahead of at least 2 runners that would have been ahead of me had they not missed a turn on the inbound portion of the trail. But hey, that's part of trail running I guess. This is a great race. It was only in its second year and the first year with the 1/2 marathon option. Last year there were approximately 50 people that did the 10k and this year there were almost 100 people between the 1/2 and the 10k. Mann and Mandy Conrad are the RDs and do a great job. If any of you are local to the area I strongly encourage you to take a look at it next year.

Since the Choctaw Challenge I've been hitting it fairly hard with the exception of my long runs. I have not been nearly as diligent as I would like. It has been tough to find the time between work and family time (including 3 boys under age 7!) to get those 3-5 hour runs in. I am going to hit it hard and look to do another 50 miler sometime this year.

MS50: Carl Touchstone 50

What a fantastic experience. This was my first 50 miler. I finished 15th overall with a time of 9:04. I was pleased to finish and finish in under 10 hours. This course is a great course for first timers because it is 4 loops of 12.5 miles each. So you pass by your vehicle between loops, which makes it really nice to have your supplies, etc. waiting on you. Almost like having a built-in crew meet you.

Although by 50 mile standards this is a relatively easy course, I'm not sure you can ever qualify running 50 miles as "easy." It was decidedly not easy for me. I am pleased that I was able to execute my pre-race plan of nutition, time, etc. My goals, in order, were: 1) finish, 2) 10:00 - 10:20; and 3) 8:50 - 9:20. I was fortunate to accomplish my top goal.

The race director, volunteers, and staff do a great job. It got really hot out there (around 80 degrees) and there is no running water at this location. Therefore, they have to truck in all of the supplies, including water. You would never know that because they do such a fantastic job.

Great event, guys!

Countdown

The countdown is certainly on. I am in the final week before MS50 - Carl Touchstone outside Laurel, Mississippi. And, as luck would have it, I'm afraid I'm getting sick. Hopefully the flu/cold/stuffy head/etc. will hold off until Sunday. We'll see.

I'll take today off, run tomorrow and Wednesday, take Thursday off and then a very short run Friday to keep the legs loose.

Mercedes Marathon 2008

MS50 is only 3 weeks away. Yesterday was the Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham. This was my last tune up for the MS50. The weather was beautiful even though it was a tad warm. I planned to run the race slow, finishing in 4:00+, primarily working on my in-race nutrition, sodium intake, etc. Fortunately or unfortunately the adrenaline took over and I ended up runing a 3:41.07. Even though that was faster than I intended, the race was great. I ran the first 8 miles with a good friend, Frank Clark. Frank was running the half-marathon and his course left mine around the 8.5 mile mark. That left me to my thoughts and running for the remaining 18. It is amazing the things you think to yourself to motivate you to continue pressing . . . in this case I kept thinking about the schwag at the finish! Mercedes finishers get a sweet Brooks long sleeve technical shirt and a finisher's medal that looks like a hood ornament, and frankly weighs about like the hood itself.

I took today off but look forward to hitting it again tomorrow. I hope to have a solid week this week and then taper the final two weeks before the race. I am planing on hitting the trails this weekend with Mann for 15 or so.