2011 Tenative Race Calendar

- Jan 15^th Ponderous Posterior/Pikes Peak 50K

I’m looking forward to this informal run/race as a great opportunity to do a loop I’ve never done, meet some great runners and get a nice workout it.  All of this is pending the birth of our first son who is due on the 7^th!

-Feb 5^th USATF Cross Country Championships in San Diego

This will be a fun race coupled with the fact Maggie and Baby Schlarb will join me to visit with my parents, brother and sister who live in San Diego.  Obviously this is a VERY competitive race and while I believe a top 40 finish is possible (43^rd last year in Delaware), my training is more geared towards the long stuff and the race is pretty flat.  Regardless, a great experience and time running for the All Air Force Cross Country Team at an elite race.

-March 5^th Nueces 50 Mile/USATF 50M Championships

This race was the best fit for me during the March early April time frame.  I would have liked to have raced The Way Too Cool 50K, but that didn’t work out.  Glad to see Dakota Jones is racing the Nueces 50 mile as well!  Hopefully the fact that this race is the “USATF 50M Championship”, will bring some more competition and attention.

                -May 7^th North Face Bear Mountain 50M

My May is a bit up in the air along with my training approach for mid-March through May.  I am not sure if I should skip Bear Mtn and just focus on a fast (2:25 or better) Ottawa marathon at the end of May or vice versa, focusing on a good showing at Bear Mountain.  I was impressed with North Face in SF this year and the prize money certainly would be nice.  I’ll wait and see how the next few months shape up.   

-          May 29^th Ottawa ING Marathon

I’ve committed and even sold a number of people, including my wife, on this marathon in Ottawa.  Ottawa is scenic and beautiful; the course is VERY fast, competition is world class and the weather is usually to my liking…nice and cool or even rainy.  I’d love to get that 2:25, but it takes training that I am not necessarily looking forward to right as I love running long in the mountains.  How I approach this race and spring, again, is still undecided. 

                -June 18^th San Juan Solstice 50M

The San Juans are hands down my favorite mountains in the state and even country, with maybe the exception of the mountains in NW Montana around Glacier National Park.  The course looks fantastic, timing is good and overall, the race seems amazing.  The San Juan Solstice 50 is sort of what I would imagine (I have nearly no experience still) as the quintessential, quirky, smaller Ultra race in the middle of nowhere.  I’d love it if some big names show, but regardless, I plan on being there!

                -July 30^th White River 50M

As I became interested in Ultra Trail Running last spring and summer, this was one race I really wanted to do.  Nice trails, nice mountains, great competition and it WAS the USATF 50 mile championships.  Now that it isn’t the 50 mile championships, it would seem I am hearing nothing about it.  The website has no info on this year’s race, I have seen no one talking about it or putting it on their calendar, etc…  I even emailed the RD asking if the race is on!  I guess I’ll just have to wait and see with this one too.  

Any ideas on a backup plan race during this time?

                -August 20^th Leadville 100M

After I realized my North Face 50 race in December would be a month too late to qualify for and then enter the lottery for Western States, I tentatively planned on doing my first 100 in 2012.  That all changed when one of my best friends/best man Matt Lowe got a group of guys together to run Leadville…  Matt, who ran at Montana State with me, ran his first Ultra doing the Sahara leg of The Four Deserts Race this year placing 4^thoverall.  So, that changed my plans and it looks like I’ll be running Leadville now!

                -Dec 3^rd North Face 50 Mile Championships

Couldn’t miss this one… competition, location, timing and the race is very well run too. 

There is obviously a big gap for races between September and December.  I have always run the Air Force Marathon and Marine Corps marathon during that time, but if things go well this spring and summer, I might be looking for a good ultra during that time instead or maybe in conjunction with Marine Corps. 

Anyone know of a good race in late Sept through early Nov time frame besides JFK 50?