Weekly Summary 7/4 through 7/10

Diamond in the rough.  One of two flowering plants I've found in Iraq.

Second focused week of training here in Tikrit Iraq:

4th Of July 10K Stars

Monday-
AM 1:14, 10.5M; Did a 10K tempo like run this morning. I put on a 5K and 10K for our office 4th of July party.  We had an awesome mix of guys run the 10K, (from left to right) Marcus, an English teacher at the Iraqi College, Simon, an interpreter, Miller, Pacini and Cash, all advisors like myself and Josh, another english teacher.  Times ranged from 46 to an 1:02 for the crew.
I set the course the night before, both races were out and back (only one lady, Steele, ran the 5k). I warmed up a mile and a half to the start where I directed the runners on the courses. After warming up I stood around for about 10-15 minutes and didn't finish my warm up routine, which resulted in a less than brisk pace for the first few miles.

My goal on this first tempo workout was to just run at least sub 6:20/mile pace, or no slower than 38 minutes... pretty conservative, but at this point, I'm shooting for a progressive build to my training.

I ran comfortably the first mile or two into a 10-15mph headwind.  I felt like I was running faster than 6:17 pace, but I was comfortable. Second mile felt comfortable and then starting into the third mile I decided to push the pace to get under 6 pace. On the way back, I stayed under control, but pushed myself to maybe 75% effort. Each mile was steadily faster with the last mile around 5:30 something pace and the last .2 I ran in 5:00-5:05 pace.

Overall a great tempo. The run wasn't to taxing and an overall productive session and foundation to build from. I'll alternate this temop workout every other week.

Splits:
1) 6:17
2) 6:11
3) 5:56
4) 5:49
5) 5:37
6) 5:32
.2) 5:07

PM :23, 3.1M, 818ft climbing; Easy run on the treadmill at 5% grade.

Iraqi Sand Storm this week, yeah, I drive and take pictures. 

Tuesday-
PM 1:35, 13M, 2,000ft climbing;
Last night I had a little bit of a sore throat and woke up with a sore throat as well. I also felt a little more groggy and even had a little flem. I got dressed, went outside and found that there was a mild dust storm with visibility down to maybe 600 meters. Apparently it is not healthy to run in a dust storm while in Iraq (a lot of toxins in the air from pollution...ALL of the electricity is from diesel generators outside the buildings), so I decided to hit the gym and do the treadmill. On the way there, I decided it would be best to just go back to bed for a nap instead.
All morning and early afternoon I felt tired and out of it. I took two 20+ minute naps and by 4pm was feeling better. I headed to the gym and decided to give the treadmil a go.
I wanted to get in a little climbing today since tomorrow will be an easy day. I warmed up for 3 miles at 7:30 pace at a 1% grade then ramped it up to 5% grade for 3 miles, followed by 2 miles at 7:00 pace at 1% grade, 3 miles at 7:18 pace at 6% grade and then 2 miles at 6:58 pace at 1% grade.

Overall I ended up climbing 2,000ft with an average pace of 7:18... pretty happy with the medium hard workout on the treadmill.

Wednesday-
AM 1:20, 9.85M; The legs were beat up this morning. 9:40 first mile, 8:30 second and then down to 7:30 by the end of the run. Took a wrong turn and had to run an extra .85 miles, which felt like a really big deal. Tired from two harder days in a row (13+ miles each run too). Need a true recovery day tomorrow.

PM :26, 2.6M, 680ft; 
Short easy run on the treadmill, 680ft climbing at 5% grade.

The "PIT"

Thursday-
AM  1:18, 9.4m, 1365ft;  Did the "Pit" workout for the first time today! Last week, after some investigating,  running in The Pit, I probably won't have "deadly force" administered or get ran over by huge trucks.... and get a good hill workout in.  So to The Pit I went. 

With the help of Cashwell, I spent a half hour at the pit with a huge spool or rope trying to estimate the total climbing distance of running 3 separate pitches of dirt and road. 

The Start and Finish of each hill interval....on top of this 30ish foot hill.

Warmed up and did some general mobility. The interval starts on top of a 30 foot or so dirt island in the middle of a large gravel pit. I run down the steep 45 degree slope across 20 feet of flat, up a 15 foot loose dirt embankment (where my shoes fill with dirt).

Part 2, 12ft+ loose dirt scramble

 From here I begin the 150 meter 40 foot climb to the top of The Pit.

Out of The Pit road

From the top I jogged back down and then up the 30 foot island (climbing the island is a decent effort) to start the next interval. After finishing an even numbered interval, I pushed the recovery run to train the down hill running quad muscles.

I did 15 of these repeats in 40 minutes. Pretty solid workout that is fairly entertaining, especially for the Iraqi desert. Intervals ranged from 1:13 out, on the last one, to 1:20. For the return run I cocked between 1:18 to 1:34.

After about 10 intervals the short and steep loose dirt climb section began to become a little more "runable" with a bit of a path.  Cool workout I look forward to doing next week. 

PM :22, 3M, 718ft; Easy afternoon treadmill 3 miler at 4.5% grade, 713 ft climbing.

Friday-
AM 1:15, 9.12M; I'm finding my first mile is almost always 9:30ish in the morning here. Not sure if this is just from doing a lot of good running, not being awake, not quite adjusted to the consistent training regiment, or whatever. The second mile is usually right at 8:30 and then speeds up to eventually 7:20-40 pace on the last few miles.

My legs were sore and heavy the last half of the run from yesterdays run in the pit. 10-12 mile per hour wind from the north, north west slows me down on the way out.

Overall felt fine considering another big week.

Saturday-
AM 2:38, 20.4M, 100ft; Woke up at 3:50am, snoozed once and then was running at 4:08am. Unfortunately it was slightly hotter this morning than most mornings. Last night was really hot with temps over 115 and the sun was pretty much covered due to high winds kicking up sand... last night was the windiest sand/dust storm since I have been here (3 weeks).

It was dark for the the first 30 minutes, but I could see well enough with the lights around buildings and things. I decided to run the opposite direction as last week on the 18ish mile loop around COB Speicher. Running the opposite direction, I go through the more built up part of the loop first, leaving my favorite open desert running for the second half.

Iraqi Sunrise

I felt much better this morning than I have all this week. After the obligatory 9+ minute first mile, my splits got faster while keeping true to the sustained easy aerobic effort (I'm waiting for my heart rate monitor in the mail that I left at home).

Mile 2-4 = 8 something pace
Mile 5-7 = 7:40ish
Mile 8-20 = 7:29-7:08 pace

Anti-Aircraft artillery shell?

On my voyage across the desert plains, I found a huge anti-aircraft artillery shell laying in the sand. The shell's diameter was bigger than a small bottle of Advil, but a bit smaller than a bottle of pop and about 8" long. Also a bit exciting, while adding a few extra miles on at the end of the loop, at the last moment I spotted a small desert camouflaged snake... right as I stepped over it. Pretty sure the snake was some sort of viper. I stopped and tried to find it for a picture, but he had snuck away into the desert immediately.


Saturday-
AM 1:20; 10.05; Last night a new neighbor moved into my trailer complex that I share a wall with. This new neighbor enjoys listening to music. I try to get to bed at 9 so I can get close to 8hrs of sleep, but I couldn't fall asleep with the music. The walls are so thin and shoddy that I could actually see the light coming through a vertical crack in the paneling. I'm not a confrontational guy, so I tried to sleep with the ear plugs, but I could still hear the music loud a clear. I checked my email, moved my bed away from the wall on the floor, etc... At a little after 10:00pm I banged on the wall, no change, again and again and finally the music was turned down.

So sleep wasn't great last night. I think I'll have to leave a note on my neighbors door strongly recommending headphones after 9.

Anyways, the run was slow both from the 20.4 mile long run Saturday, but also a lack of sleep. By mile 4 I was feeling good and added an extra mile to get 10 vice the standard 9 I have been doing.

The best wife and son in the world on top of Green Mountain

Weekly Summary:
A great week of running for me.  I ran more miles, more climbing, faster paces and felt better than I did overall compared to last week.  Really missing Maggie and Felix.  Maggie and Felix went and climbed Green Mountain on our anniversary this week, it was Felix's first ascent up Green.  Nothing could make me happier than having my family enjoy an afternoon on top of such a special mountain, this meant a lot too me. I have the best wife and son.     

Total Miles: 91
Total Feet Climbed: 5,681

Weekly Summary for 6/27 Though 7/3

My Favorite "Trail" to Train on.  Not exactly Green Mountain.

It felt great to nail my first training week in Iraq.  My running world has transformed into a totaly different situation.In all honestly, I'm more focused now than ever on running.

My daily routine is to get up at 4:50AM, run, skype with Maggie and Felix for 20 minutes, eat, work for 12hrs with an hour and a half gym break where I run a second run and/or do strength work, eat dinner, skype Maggie and Felix for a hlaf hour and then go to bed (9:00PM).  This is the set routine with Friday ending work after 6hrs (half day) and Sunday getting the morning off (half day). 

My ride into Tikrit Iraq from Qatar.  I was the only passenger on the flight. 

Monday-
AM 1:13, 9M; Easy recovery run after an 18 mile long run Sunday.  I was VERY slow from the start running nearly a 10 minute first mile.  Yesterday's long run took it's toll.  I got started too late on the long run yesterday (6:00AM), only drank 20oz of water in the 100+ degree weather and I didn't strech afterwards either.  Didn't feel like I was "running" until around mile 4.  By mile 6, I felt OK.  I'm definetly at the begining of a training cycle too. 
Saw 3 fox like coyotes and a jack rabit on my run today, pretty cool.
Did 3 sets of push-ups, sit-ups with general mobility drills and 3 strides. 

The Stadium.  Did 40 reps up the stadium.

Parade Stadium. 30 reps here with a dry-heave stop due to the excessive pigeon poop

Tueday-
AM 1:13, 8M, 1507ft; Hill Intervals.  I did 40 reps up "stadium" stairs then jogged (3-4 minutes) over to the second "parade stadium" and did 30 reps.  Cooled down 2 miles.  I ran hard up the stairs and medium hard down (to build those muscles as well). 
Stadium stairs are 19.6ft up and Parade stairs are 24.1ft up, therefore teh 1507ft of climbing today. 
Total time of intervals was 33 minutes. Was considering doing a few more on the Stadium stairs on the way back, but decided to build into my training and not rush it.  I have plenty of time, I don't want to rush it for all sorts of good reasons. 
On the 17th interval at the Parade stairs the 2" thick pigeon poop covering the last 4 or 5 stairs got to me, I dry heaved and had to take a 3 minute break, before returning to finish the last 13 repeats. 
PM :26, 3.5M, 740ft; Easy run on treadmill.  With the temperature reaching over 100 everyday, yes, everyday, until September at least, my afternoon run will pretty much always be on a treadmill.  I'll take the opportunity to do some steady climbing on my afternoon runs via the treadmill.   Felt good on this run at a 4% grade my average heart rate was around 138.

Wednesday-
AM 1:15; 9.13M; Started the run at 5:10am. My legs were a bit stiff/slow from the stair repeats yesterday. My overall energy levels were high, but legs were not spry.

PM 23:11, 3.1M, 747ft; Easy run on treadmill. 7:30 pace at 4.5% grade so 747Ft climbing.  Did 3 sets of push-ups and sit-ups.

Thursday-
AM  1:28, 11.01M; GREAT interval workout. I was pretty flat on the warm up, with my calves sore from the stair workout on Tuesday and maybe from the 4-4.5% grade 3 mile second runs, but after some general mobility and 3 strides I loosened up.

I ran my 400m repeats (with 600M jog recovery) out on the flat dirt... as seen in the first picture on this post. The dirt fields/desert prarie has good footing most of the time with some mavunvering for a couple dips, some weeds, etc... every once in a while. 

I used my Garming GPS watch to do the 400/600 interval. At first I was disapointed I couldn't see the timer, just the distance to go with a beep countdown, but in hindsight this is awesome: RUNNING BY FEEL AND EFFORT ONLY! On a track or pavement I would have been at least 2-3 seconds faster/400.

Here were my splits (in mile pace), average was 77.5/5:10 pace. My goal was just to run under 80, on this first week back, so I was happy to exceed my goal and expectations.

1) 5:16
2) 5:16
3) 5:17
4) 5:23 ???
5) 5:17
6) 5:07
7) 5:01
8) 5:00
9) 4:57
10) 5:09 (obstacles)

PM 23:27, 3.1M, 743Ft; Easy run. A little flat from the morning workout. Ran at 4.5% grade for 743ft of climbing. Did 3 sets of push-ups and sit-ups and MSU core circuit. 

Friday-
AM 1:15, 9.05M;  It was a bit cooler (82?) and windy on this run. Legs sore and heavy, ran a bit slower today to ensure recovery for tomorrow's long run. 

The unbelievabely powerfull Iraqi morning sun

Saturday-
AM 2:30, 19.25M; Awesome long run loop!  Started running today at 4:18AM. Ran with my nathan water backpack, 3OZ of EFS 1st endurance liquid shot, 50oz of water, sunglasses and camera. Great loop around COB Speicher Iraq. This is the longest loop available, bascially I followed the permitter as closely as "I'm allowed".  1st 3 or 4 miles were slow running into the wind and waking up, then found my grove around 7:30 pace. I was glowing with satisfaction at work after this one.  3 sets of push-ups, sit-ups and MSU core circuit. 

Yeah, I trespass from time to time, but no here... deadly

Sunday-
AM 1:15, 9M; Slow recovery run after yesterday's long run.

A great first full week of running and training in Iraq!!  It felt so good to be back to a routine and focused in on my running.  Iraq posses some serious challenges, but again, I have a lot less distractions and really not much to do but run, work, skype and email.  I really miss my friends and the mountains and in just over two weeks, I've gained a new level of appreciation for both.  Most of all I miss my wife Maggie and son Felix.
I've never been in a situation like this for such an extended period of time.  I expect to come out of this deployment with some new found discipline, determincation and most importantly, a phenomenally strong appreciation for all the things I love about the USA.  I'm pretty passionate about using the next 5.5 months to explore new levels of discipline and determination.  Maybe it is a bit sick, but I get butterflies in my stomach and my hair stands up on the back of my neck when I think about this battle.  Next week, I'll get into a bit more of what the heck I'm doing, with regards to work, here at COB Speicher, Iraq as well. 

Weekly Totals:

84.15 Miles
3,739 feet of hard earned climbing

The Lowes & Running In Arlington Virginia

Arilington Trail Running

Craig establishing an airway for me at my training

After finishing my training in New Jersey I had the opportunity to spend about 3 days with my best man Matt Lowe and his wife Ann Lowe at there beautiful house in Arlington Virginia (a couple miles from DC).

Ann enjoying some late night pizza

Matt being cool

I rolled into Arlington Saturday evening just in time to catch a nice run from Matt's house.  We ran on some sweet single track along a few small tributaries to the Patomac river and then next to a branch of the Patomac looping back to Matt's house. 

Minutes from Matt's house

Matt on his trail

Back at the Lowe pad, we quickly showered and headed just two blocks down from the house to the American Legion where we bartered down the admision to enjoy The Montana State Testy Fest. Arlington VA is the last place you would expect to see Montana cowboys dancing, boozing and eating bull balls, but it was perfectly welcome for three Montana State University Alumni.  All you can drink and all the balls you can eat for one set price.  Perfect. 

Matt, Ann and I at the Montana Testy Fest

After a few half rum half coke beverages, food and some country dancing we were ready for a fine evening. 

Matt and Ann swing dancing... somewhere

Sunday Matt and Ann gave me a further tour of the local trails and Monday I went for a longer 2hr voyage up the Patomac trail system.  Overall I was really impressed by the quality trails, nice forest and the beautiful Patomac.  These would be my last runs in the US of A. 

Fun

You wouldn't think the Pentagon was 6 or 7 miles away

The Patomac... I had to break the rules and go for a swim

There were a lot of cool tributaries that came tumbling down the bluffs into the Patomac

Theodore Roosevelt Island is a must see for nature conservationalists, thanks Matt

Thank you Lowes.  Thank you Virginia.

Watchtung Trail Marathon

On Sunday the 5th of June, I traveled to the northern New Jersey to run the Watchtung Trail Marathon.

Watchtung was only 13 days after The Dirty German 50 Mile, but I really wanted to get in another trail long run/race before I left the east coast.
The Watchtung Trail Marathon was/is a small race, no doubt about it.  A small race has it's advantages and disadvantages and this was my first really small longer trail race. 

The race had two 10.5-8 mile loops with a small half loop to finish the course at 26.31 miles.  One reason I was excited to run this course is that it was almost exclusively on trail and it had some climbing to the tune of appx. 2,000 ft. 

The marathon race start time was 9:00am with a 10k and 10m race at 9:15 and 10:00 I believe.  Again, the race was small and was pretty much organized and ran by the race director, his wife and young daughter (the daughter did the count down to the start!). 

Just before the race I found a "NJ trail" chat/blog site that mentioned I was racing and discussed rather I could break 3hrs on the course.  I posted and defaulted to the fact that Iwould be running on flat legs and that sub 3hrs on trails is a pretty big feat.  At the gun I was not on pace to break 3hrs but I was having fun and running. 

The first few miles went well with classic east coast foliage to enjoy.  The trails at Wachtung are diverse.  There were wide rocky trails, single track that was smooth, climbing and meandering.  The trail went across creeks along creeks and around ponds... beautiful.

Much of the loop trail was marked with both white flower arrows on the ground, spray painted orange arrows on the ground, flour on tree trunks and east coast style paint stripes on trees.  I did miss a turn early on as I was not familiar with how two paint stripes on a tree indicates either a left or right turn (the lower stripe gives direction apparently).  My missed turn only cost a minute or so, no big deal.  I was up front in the lead from the get-go with one guy about 10 seconds back for the first maybe 5-6 miles until he got lost and popped up near the end of the first loop going the wrong direction. 

On the last three or so miles someone, or a group of knuckle-heads, decided to smudge out the directional arrows on the course.  Luckily I could still see the smudged arrow turns and many times the painted stripes kept me on track too, but it was challenging.

The weather was pretty average for NJ, mid 60s to 70s through the race with some cloud cover on and off and of course it was humid.  I was carying my standard Amphipod 20oz hand waterbottle and 5oz 1st Endurance EFS Liquid Shot (used two for this race).  I was told an "un-manned" water aid station would be out on the course along with the obvious aid station at the start and finish area where the race looped through each time.  There was no water to be had on the first loop.  I've done enough long runs with minimal water, so I wasn't freaked out, but yes, a bit concerned and thirsty. 

I came through the 10.6ish loop in 1:20 (with missed turn), filled my water and told the RD about the arrow situation, or lack of.  The RD responded with the fact that he had marked the course the night before... I felt bad for him that some punks sabotaged his makings. 

I felt OK on the first loop, sort of like I would feel during a long run at the end of a big training week or similar to the middle of a 50 mile race, going, but not strong or fast.  The footing and climbing was more a factor here than at the Dirty German 50M, but I managed about the same pace. 

-The goal for the second lap was to run faster than the first.- 
I went into the second lap and found myself slowing a bit and feeling crapy.  This low point luckily was followed by a good strech of faster running where I made up some ground and was feeling really strong even running a couple miles at sub 7 minute pace.   Afew miles before the end of the second loop I saw about 15 one gallon water jugs by the trail.  At this point in the loop, I had planned on just doing 20oz of  water a lap, so I kept going.  I'm blown away out how well my EFS keeps me going and cramp free, it has yet to fail me.   

I managed a 1:19 second lap, got a short brief on where to go for the last lap by the RD and began the last 4.5 miles.  I ran a bit faster this last loop to (for my watch running time) sneak in 3:19 for a a sub 3:20 trail marathon race with 2k of climbing. 

The super small race scene has it's challenges: lack of water/aid stations, course markings being removed, no support staff to help at confusing sections or road crossings and of course running totally solo and winning by nearly 40 minutes in a marathon, but on the flip side I also enjoyed some ascpects of this small race.  My "prize" was a beer from the cooler.  Everyone was down to earth and fully interesed in hanging out and talking with each other regardless of ability level.  The RD, his wife and friends were totally cool and I enjoyed meeting them and talking about the local running. 

I have friends that felt I was stupid to pay $50 to run on trails by myself, especially when  I wasn't "race ready".  For me it was totally worth it and I'll enjoy thinking about running through the Wachtung reservation over the next 6 months. 

My hat is off to those who run the Wachtung Winter Marathon... with snow and east coast cold, this course must certainly be brutal! 

The Dirty German 50M Race Report

On Friday night, the 20th of May, I stumbled accross "The Dirty German Endurance Fest" while looking for potential trail ultras to run while in NJ. 

My month long training at McGuire AFB, NJ involves training six days a week for 10hrs a day, so my opportunities are limited to basically 3 Sundays.  I had looked for a race a couple of times before, but somehow missed The Dirty German. 

Unfotunately I had already done a pretty focused  40 minute tempo Thursday along with a few nights out late, so I wasn't physically in the best postition to race.  Mentally, I was frankly a little nervous about just randomly jumping into a 50 mile race  as well.  Considering the fact that I won't be on the trails for the next 6 months, I decided to go for it though. 

The race is located within the city limits of Philadelphia, but had suprisingly nice trails.  The race would consist of one smaller loop followed by three 25K loops. 

Yes... there was some pretty sweet single track.

I hijacked the 15 passenger van (felt rediculolus diriving the van solo) from my training flight early Sunday morning, drove to Philly and toed the line.   

This was the inagural Dirty German Fest, which included a 25K, 50K and 50 Mile.  All three races started together with the 50 Mile runners going off in a different direction to run a supposed 3.5 mile mini loop before jumping on the 25K figure 8 style loop for 3 laps.


-CHAOS START-

 The lead pack took off and quickly jumped onto a bike path where we followed a guy on a mountain bike.  After a mile or so, the lead bike stopped, as he believed he passed the turn possibly.  The pack did a quick U-turn and was headed back.  After a minute or two we did another U-turn and then another.  People were upset and confused, the biker was on his cell and for the first time in my running life, a good chunk of the racers stood around for a few mintues wondering what was next.  We then took off back the original direction until we took a flag marked right turn onto a single track trail.
Yeah, people were upset, but I honestly thought it humorous and a bit funny, but maybe that was partialy due to my last minute decision to run this race and that I wasn't overly concerned with pace or time for the race.


-Socializing-

At this point I was not leading the race, but instead about 20 seconds back behind 3 guys.  I wasn't overly focused (at the begining), but rather very relaxed, stress free and actually talkative.  At Nueces, North Face and even at the Cheyenee Mountain 50K I never had a conversation with anyone and didn't understand those who did.  In college, road races, marathons, I've always felt talking is a total waste of energy and furthermore, I felt it still wastes energy when running an ultra.  At the Dirty German 50M, I was a social butterfly.  If I was really focused on winning, running a particular time or setting a course record at a big name race, I'm not sure I would be chatting with other runners, but I sure enjoyed talking at this race.  The first hour flew by and I enjoyed talking to other people.

I met Joe Kulak, who knows some of the Boulder crew (Dave Mackey... Joe says hi!) and has run some awesome races over the years.  I met a guy from the Inovate team, Ryan Jones, who got second and a recent Boise State college grad who just finished his track season.

From the gun we were running decent pace, sub 8 minute miles I'd guess, but we lost maybe 4-5 minutes on the back and forth and I stopped my watch for approximately 2 minutes while everyone stood around.  The clock read 37 minutes at the end of the 3.5 mile loop (watch said 35), so I'm pretty sure the loop was around a mile off. 

Yes, it rained a lot before the race and the creek was much bigger than this picture!

-Sloppy-

Being from Boulder, I haven't run in the mud much at all and there was some pretty serious mud as it rained a lot the week before.  My legs were covered in mud, there were numerous spots where it was very slick, a few spots where it was over ankle deep and a lot of places where you had to run around standing water and mud as well. 

At around an hour I caught up with a group of 3 guys leading the race.  The Inov8 guy, the Boise State guy and another taller runner who I overheard say he wanted to break 7 hours.  We ran together for maybe 30 minutes until the Boise State guy and I started to pull away a bit.  I felt good, the weather was overcast, cool, but a bitty muggy, so overall, things were going well and I was having fun.

-Course-
The main 25K loop was sort of a figure 8 up and back down the Pennypack Creek, which was bigger than most Colorado rivers.  Maybe 11 or 12 of the 15.5 mile loop was trail that varied from bike path width to extremly narrow and windy single track that was borderline overgrown with foliage.  The remaining 3.5 or 4 miles was on bike path.  There were maybe 3 or four creek crossings if I remember correctly that required getting into the water, which was a blast. 


-Fear-
Around 2hrs the Boise State guy and I were pushing the pace pretty good and the social conversation began to taper off.  This was the first time I went into a less than confident slump and subsequently started to doubt my ability to run well.  Along with the fact that I have been spotty with training, pretty stressed, traveling from Boulder, to Spokane, to NJ, to Boulder and back to NJ, I started to have flash backs of the Cheyenne Mtn 50K where I duked it out with a younger ultra rookie, fell apart at the end of the race and got second.  I managed to keep my chin up and felt pretty confident that lightning wouldn't strike twice in the same month, so to speak.

Coming around to the end of the first 25K loop I started to sense and see that my competition was having a little bit of a rough time with the mud, hills, etc... and the pace.  At the end of the 25K loop and aid station there I grabbed my second EFS liquid shot and filled my water bottle.  The Boise State guy stopped as well but I left before him.  My 25K split was 1:55 I believe, maybe a bit fast considering my situation, but I wasn't mentally confident enough to be patient and run from behind for an extended period so I gambled that we would slack the pace soon.

-Moment of Truth-
I kept the pace in hopes of breaking away, which was apparently working.  4 miles later I checked behnid me on a straight away and saw no one.  Unlike Nueces, my legs, energy levels and body were letting me know that I was no where close to race ready.    I kept running "in fear" for another maybe 5 miles, until I started to let myself believe I was alone.  I was hydrating well and taking my standard race protocol of 3 sips of EFS liquid shot/1 ounce every 30 minutes and kept rolling.

 I was deep into the mental gymnastics of staying positive via deriving statistics of progress, looking forward to scenic sections, creek crossings, etc... finishing less than desirebale paved sections, splits, sentiment of "my last trail 50" this year, etc... Sort of like setting my recent best time up Green Mtn I was running quite a bit with my heart/determination/emotion vice fitness. 

-Last Lap-
I was pretty surprised to split a 1:58 on the second 25K loop for a 3:53 50K split (after the 4ish miles start too).  Yes, the course was fast, no doubt, but it did have some mud, a bit of weaving, creek crossings and I was far from in race shape.  Running off a big boost of positive energy of being on the last lap and clocking good splits I was on the last 25K.  From here I had a hard time telling what my pace was as I was hurting energy wise and the legs were getting really tight.  I know sometimes when it starts to really hurt like this I can keep pace on my long runs and even speed up despite how much slower it feels.  I am pretty sure I kept pace halfway through the last 25K based on rough splits at aid stations and landmarks. 


-Pain-
The last 9 miles wwere gruesome.  I wasn't a disaster like I was for the finish of the Cheyenne Mtn 50K, but I was slowing down and really tightening up.  I was also starting to feel queezy.  After Cheyenne Mtn, I decided that if were to start to die in a race again, that I would try the stop and strech mentod.  I stopped and pulled my knee to my stomach to strech my hamstrings... my knee didn't make it even to above my waiste before I nearly had a fall down on my face cramp.  Forget streching.  I pressed on and fought counting the seconds.  I kept thinkgin about how Dakota passed Timmy Parr in the last 5 miles in Moab this year... I can't let that happen.  All ambitions for running a certain time disapeared and I miserably dwelled on finishing, winning the first place Coo-Coo clock, how good it would feel to sit down, take my blistered feet out of these shoes, not move any more, stop.  Yes, I was hurting. 

As I finally saw the last turn, I felt it was nearly a miracle that I would finish under 6:40 and sudenly I broke out of the mental prison I had been captive in for to long and finished the race.  My watch read 6:34, 6:37 on the official board.  The people running the race didn't think I was finished and had another lap or was in the 50k, but after I promised them I ran all of the 50 mile race they congratulated me.  I sat down got my Coo-Coo clock, brats, cake, kraut, potatoes and savored what I had been looking forward to for hours and hours, being done. 

Ended up the Boise State guy dropped out along with the Inov8 guy.  Ryan Jones finished second 16 minutes behind me (6:53) and Joe Kulak was 3rd (7:25).  Joe did some awesome push ups at the finish line, awesome. 

Ouch

I was more sore than I have been since my first marathon.  I hobbled to my van after I was concerning a lot of people with my convulsive shaking from being cold (I didn't want to move, get my shirt or walk at all).

This was an AWESOME race.  I had a blast and I am so gratefull that I got the opportunity to race one more 50 mile.   

-Another RACE!-

Recovering now and planning on getting one more race in this weekend, a 26 mile trail race in the "mountains" of the Watchtung Reservation located in northern NJ.  Yeah, stupid to race so soon, but it will truly be my last one this year. 

Spokane River Long Run

The Saturday night before I flew to Spokane WA (May 7th), Maggie, Felix and I enjoyed an impromptu dinner and party (I brought a pinata!) at our friends Brian and Renee's house.  Along with awesome food, fun and Pinatas, there was a lot of alchohol... thanks Brian!  After a 3.5hr nap Saturday night, I was up and on a shuttle at 5AM.  Once in Spokane, I decided to spend the day running on trails (go figure).
 
Matt Lowe pointed me to Riverside State Park for my long run, which is just outside of Spokane. The park runs along the Spokane river on both banks.   After a little back and forth guessing on a good starting point I found the ranger station.  Both rangers at the ranger station had no idea trail lengths and furthermore even wehre the unpaved trails were.  Luckily the trails were litterally just behind the ranger station not a half mile away and their lengths were impressively long (I never ran out of trail).  Maybe I just had bad luck, but later, while running, I'd ask two more people basic questions (where does this trail go, distance, etc...) about the trails, the trail they were actually on, to find they were fully clueless like the rangers.  It finally sunk in that I was no longer in Boulder.

Despite the discouraging start with regards to recon, the run turned out to be unbelievably awesome. 

Delicious spring single track along the Spokane river

Right away I was running on smooth singletrack that was covered by a bed of pine needles ontop of dark spongy dirt.  The trail would have been a barefoot runners dream come true.  The surounding wilderness I was running through was just as wonderful as the trail.  Spring was a few weeks ahead of Boulder along the Spokane river with small plants a few weeks out of the ground, trees with developed leafs, flowers and wildlife out and about. 

Shooting Star Flowers

I started running up-river but accidently looped back to my start, but the trail was so awesome that I didn't mind covering my tracks for a while.  On my initial loop I did a nice climb up to ledges where I could see Spokane, some lakes and beyond. 

Overlook.  Ended up running through the fields/forest in this valley

Initially, a few days before I left, I planned on running in Spokane for as long as possible, sort of as therapy for the loss of my summer of running in the mountains.  Unfortunatley an all out massive long run wasn't very realistic Sunday with a throughly stressfull week prior, bad sleep and only a nap the evening before I traveled.  In the rush to get the run going, I aslo forgot to get enough water for my new Gregory water backpack and had a little less than 20oz for the hand water bottle.  I did have plenty of 1st Endurance EFS though, which was a good thing.  Once running I decided I'd go for a goal distance of 20 miles.

Cool rock towers (columnar basalt?)

Deep Creek.  The trail actually went across and up this cool gorge

Along the Spokane river was some really unique rock formations.  The closest thing I have seen to this formation is in Hyalite canyon(MT) and driving through Idaho where there used to be some serious volcanic activity.  I know the formation in MT was Columnar Basalt and the rock looked much the same along the spokane river in a few places. 

Spring high water on the Spokane

Cool wooden bridge

      The foliage, rock and sweet single track wasn't the only attractions on this run, the river was flowing fast and high.  There was one rapid in particular that had a solid Class III+ wave train on one side and a stout IV- pour over on the other.  I had a lot of stops on this run looking at great scenery.

The mighty Spokane

I couldn't resist continuing on further up the trail.  Well past my 20 mile total run plan, I kept running enjoying diverse sights, forest and landscapes.   

The turnaround point on my last western long run this year!

I needed to really turn around.  I only had 5oz of EFS, eighteen ounces of H2O and my legs were starting to really scream.  Ironically I ran into this sign off the side of the tral right at my turn around... fitting for my last real long run in the west!

Perfect.  On the way home.

I was so happy to be out running this amazing trail.  Earlier on I realized I had acutlaly run on this trail (Trail "25") once before at my Best Man's wedding, Matt Lowe, years before.  The nostalgia was both cool and a little bit sad, as I wish the rest of the "Bros", 8-12 of them, were with me again on the trail... a lonely moment. 
I was really hitting the wall the last 10K with my stride constricting, my hamstrings threatining to cramp and some serious dehydration kicking in as well.  In the end I ran 27.4 miles with 2,600ft of climbing in 3:45.

An awesome day on the trails. 

Green Mountain Frontside Personal Best and Run With Levi

It really has been a while since I posted!

Much has happened in the last 3 or 4 weeks.  I'll start with a personal best up the frontside of Green.

From my comment on GZ's FTK link from April 28th:

"The body has been a bit compromised due to sleep, stress and the Cheyenne 50K Saturday is still taking a bit of a toll on the legs. I wasn't sure I would time the run as I warmed up, but further realizing the opportunity I decided I would let emotions/sentiment and the heart lead this one!

This was my second time up the frontside (32:07 back in Jan was my first) and I totally wasted too much energy on the first mile running 16:48. I believe 30-40 seconds slower on this mile would have equated to 60-90 seconds faster on the second mile. I was thoroughly hurting once I reached the top in 30:49. I dry heaved up my fruit leather and some foam and stood hunched over for a few minutes. I'm very happy (could have cared less about the split while I was at the top!) to get under 31, but hungry to run the route smarter.

I REALLY enjoyed the run down more than ever today. I just love running in the mountains and I will miss it like crazy for the next 6 or so months while in Iraq. Probably my last TT until December."

I think I am 4 seonds behind Anton's best and 3rd overall.  Wish I could have one more go on Green...

I did run up Green that Saturday from my house and then on my Brithday that following Tuesday (May 3rd) I treated myself to a birthdady run up green and and bear from eben g. fine and back with Levi.  Running up Bear Pk. is always magnificent.  Great day on trails.

The Birthday Boy on the top of Beark Peak

Levi scrambling up the tricky final ascent of Beark Pk

My Beautiful wife enjoying fragrant flowers on a blossoming tree in Boulder

We ended up logging 18 miles and 5k+ of climibing on this perfect day.