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Rocky Raccoon 100 mile 2011

2011-04-03T17:47:00.053-05:00

I went to TX the first week of Feb to try my first 100 - Rocky Raccoon. I had done some 50 milers and was inspired by those running the Superior 100 last Sept - especially those doing it as their first or second 100! I asked what my next step would be if I wanted to bump up and was told "just sign up". Oops, I was hoping for a nice list so I could continue pushing it off by not doing the things on the list. Hmmmm.

I ran the 50 at Rocky last year so I decided to give the 100 a try. One reason: it's an 'easier' 100 - the distance is intimidating enough without doing a 'harder' one. I still think that was a good idea. Another reason: I figured I'd sneak away and try to finish one 'out of the spotlight'. I was thinking I didn't want to advertise it and then totally suck, so that was the plan. I've decided that was a dumb idea.

I had plenty of questions leading up to the race. The first question of course: can I actually run/walk that far? I also considered that Feb is not really a good time for a first 100 for someone living in MN. Training-wise I really had no ramp-up in miles. I ran 50 miles at Surf the Murph around Halloween and then basically tried to maintain as much as possible. I ran two 50Ks between Surf the Murph and Rocky - raced one, enjoyed the other!

As the race approached I was thinking: it's better to go into a race undertrained than injured. I wasn't injured, I suspected I might be undertrained. I also realized this was new territory so I started thinking this might be a process - it may take more than one attempt to figure things out and get a finish. The challenge of course was to not let that thought be a cop-out and an excuse to quit.

So what happened? The short version:

Goal: 100 miles, 30 hours or less.
Actual: 80 miles, 25:53.
Needed: 80 miles in 24:00 to continue, so ~2 hours too slow

Splits:
loop 1 - ~5:00 (left at 5:10)
loop 2 - ~5:10 (total time 10:20, left at 10:30)
loop 3 - ~6:12 (total time 16:42, left at 17:15)
loop 4 - ~8:38 (total time 25:53)

How it went:
loop 1 - pretty well
loop 2 - pretty well
loop 3 - pretty well, blister care added ~30 minutes
loop 4 - wow, the wheels really fell off: more blister care, all walking, tired

Problems: I had some blister issues - the heels of both feet, and then later the ball of my left foot. I think the time spent at the aid stations having them treated was the real problem. And then there was the other deal, the bigger deal - I got tired. Not sleepy tired, but "wow this is a long ways" tired. Imagine that. :)

Here's the longer, play-by-play version:

I didn't want to spend much time texting/facebooking and all that, but I did want to report back to people on how things were going. So I had an email set up that I could do Reply All and send a quick message. And after loops 2, 3, and 4 I also thought to take a picture of the clock and upload that to facebook.

Loop 1:

The wood bridges were frost covered and slippery... I was being careful but one of the descents was too steep and out my feet went. I had 2 thoughts: "this shouldn't really hurt", and then "I was wrong" as I hit pretty hard. It definitely could've been worse. A little later we were directed around another bridge and there was a runner down - heard later she broke her leg. I was with Misty and Vicky and we stopped for a bit and then I moved on. Didn't know if I'd see 'the girls' again so started chatting with a guy that looked familiar from another race - really didn't want to spend the next 29 hours by myself! Ended up hanging around him for 2 loops, and was also happy that the girls caught us. Loop 1 was in the dark for the first hour or so.

This is the email I sent after loop 1:
"Crazy trip, nice to be running. Took hard fall off wood bridge but ok. On pace. Hooked up w/Leonard Martin ? (mother road)...
Stalking him now.

Was with misty and vicky more of this loop than expected. Now I'm chasing them and leonard. :-)

So far so good and fun..."

Loop 2:

I was the last one out of the aid station after loop 1 so wanted to catch the others but didn't want to chase too hard. Missed a turn and went the wrong way for a bit. Back-tracked and got back on the right trail. I think I hooked up with the others before the 2nd aid station. About 26 miles in I had my first bit of blister care done... popped left foot heel blister with some guy's knife, didn't pop the right ones, and a guy taped both heels. This was pretty fast compared to later blister care stops. I believe I caught the other folks again after that and finished loop 2 with them. Loop 2 was all in the light.

This is the email I sent after loop 2:
"Loop 2 done... Feeling tired? (40 miles, duh) :-)

10:20ish for 2.....

Still with leonad, misty, vicky...

Too many questions - shut up, brain. Too fast? Too sore? Sticking with Leonard - help me finish or will he kill me?

Oh, Wrong Way means wrong way... Only 5 minutes lost.

So far so good I guess... Going to settle into my own thing.

Loop 3 here we go

Thanks for tuning in. :-)"

Loop 3:

After loop 2 I decided sticking with Leonard was wearing me down too much and I better settle into my own rhythm, so I did. I think I ran the early part of loop 3 with Vicky. Before the 2nd aid station I felt some weirdness with my right heel blisters and decided I better have them looked at. I think a couple blisters joined forces into a pretty big one and then popped. A guy at the aid station taped them up - I appreciated the work but I think it took about 30 minutes which is a long time. Once I got going again I think I was walking pretty well but not doing much running. Caught Vicky and finished the loop with her.

In hindsight it was crazy but my 'plan' was 3 5-hour loops to be done with 60 miles in 15 hours... leaving 15 hours for the last 40 miles. I figured 15 hours wasn't required, but coming in almost 2 hours over that was a concern. The blister care and the fact that it got dark during loop 3 and the fact that I was fading made that a long loop.

This is the email I sent after loop 3:
"Yay - new mileage record for me... 60 miles.

Anyone fall for my 3 loops even splits baloney? Yikes.

16:45ish for 60mi. Blister issues - takes time but the people are great.

Time is going to be an issue. Well, so will the miles. :-)

Ok,big night mode.... Changed clothes... Need new batteries n lights, food/drink, get out there.

Don't wait up, kids. Hehe

See ya."

Loop 4:

Loop 4 (miles 60-80) is where things got away from me. After slowing down and 30 minutes of blister care I came in later than I was hoping from loop 3, and then completely changed clothes which made that a long stop - another 30 minutes of no forward progress. I left at 17:15 which left me less than 13 hours for 2 more loops - less than 6.5 hours each and the previous one had taken me over 6 hours. I tend to freak out when I get too close to cut-offs and thoughts of doom were creeping in.

I was only walking at this point and had some new blisters. I didn't know if I could walk a 6:45 loop anyway, and realized stopping to have the blisters looked at would put me over for sure. So the seeds of doubt were already there, I was about to stop and put myself into a bigger hole, and my thoughts were something like this: "you're most likely not going to make it anyway, and even if by some miracle you push and push and push and do make it... then all you'll have done is qualified yourself to go out and push push push some more to try and do a 6 hour loop, and good luck with that".

Well is there any surprise it ended the way it did? The blister stop on loop 4 was another 30 minutes, and all motivation to push was gone. I walked by myself for all but the last part of the loop... by chance I ran into a friend of a friend and stumbling in together as the sun came up made the last part pretty enjoyable - more so than it otherwise would've been.

This is the email I sent after loop 4 - actually hours later:
"Sorry no update for so long... Phone battery died. May have a chance to send more later but I made it 80 miles. Walked with a guy
the last 4.4 miles - he was finishing 100 and I was finishing 80 - took us 2 hours for those last miles.
My feet are hamburger... Really takes the whole package to finish one of these. I'm pretty satisfied with how it went.
Was nice to go all day and then all night.

Final tally: 80 miles 25:53. Needed to be done in 24:00 to start the last loop. If it's not obvious I really faded.
Room for improvement both physically and mentally.

Thanks for being interested... or at least pretending to be. :-)

-Wayne"

So??

Part of me wonders if I should be more bummed... but I think I'm not because I'm encouraged: I feel like I made it far enough that now I actually believe I can do it. So now what? Well, on April 9th I will try again in Illinois at Potawatomi (the old McNaughton). Yeah, 9 weeks after not finishing an 'easier' 100 I'm going to try a 'not easy' 100... hmmmm. But I'm going with some friends, and we have a plan - so this is the next step in the process. Wish me luck. :)

Dirty River Bottoms...

2010-04-22T21:40:00.016-05:00

First, this isn't another race report... in case that's what you were thinking. :) The Thur run this week was on part of the MN River Bottoms. We'd been led to believe we might get wet and muddy and were kinda looking forward to that, but either we were in the wrong spot or we didn't go far enough or things have dried out in the last few days. Though there wasn't much for mud and standing water, there was lots of sand and trees and other 'stuff' in the area - a result of the spring flooding.

As you can see the conditions aren't horrible, but it does seem like this area could use some help from Mr. Clean. :)

McNaughton, Trail Mix 2010

2010-04-18T13:56:00.030-05:00

This might be a record, at least recently - posting the day after a race. I was trying to post this last night while everything was all roses thinking I might wake up to a different story, but so far so good. So the short story is: the last two weekends I've done the McNaughton 50 mile and the Trail Mix 50k. There was some concern that a 50k the weekend after my 3rd 50 mile finish was maybe not that smart, but thankfully it seemed to work out ok.

[btw, this might get kinda long... but if you're here then you must not have anything else to do anyway :) ]

McNaughton... a couple of us decided we wanted to do McNaughton - I had heard a couple years ago that it was a good 50 with such a generous cut-off, and Karen wanted to give the 100 another shot. We put quite a bit of effort into recruiting others and were eventually successful with Mike. So the trip was set.

Here's a link to all the pictures we took: pics
Also Mike has a couple good McNaughton posts on his blog: Westy's blog

The short story here is that I finished well. I had lots of help with 'smart pacing' throughout and being pulled along at the end... so a very good run for me. It was great to see and experience that 'sipping from the tank' early is the way to go so there's something left at the end -- you can't run fast enough early to make up for walking a whole bunch at the end, so it's good to conserve and be able to still run at the end. Seems so logical but that doesn't make it easy to do. Karen, Mike, and I all ran together at the beginning and that was very good for me.

our campsite was just down from the start/finish
line - a great place to be, easy to stop in each time around

The run started early and I always like it when the sun is coming up. It got pretty warm (especially considering we weren't used to running in any sort of heat) but otherwise was beautiful weather. The course was in great condition compared to the previous mud years - but thankfully we had just enough mud and water to make it fun. And there are lots of hills so this is a tough course even without slip-sliding around on all the climbs.

So the three of us hung out for loops 1 and 2... just easing into things and enjoying the day and each other's company on a nice run. I ran the first 2 loops in my monkey shoes - I had planned on one loop but everything seemed fine so I did a 2nd. The 20 miles was my longest run in them, doubling my previous longest actually. After 2 loops switching to real shoes seemed like a good idea and that was fine too. I think the monkey shoes get me off to a good start both pace and form-wise. And they were great fun in the streams and muddy sections.

I biffed it once in the monkey shoes - on a smooth downhill my foot slipped out and I was down before I knew it. Later I went to take a picture and my camera was gone... I realized it must've popped out of my pocket when I fell. I was hoping it'd be out in the open and someone would pick it up and turn it in at an aid station - and that's exactly what happened! Yay!! Thank You, honest camera-finding trail runner! BTW, somewhere along the line there was a discussion about my monkey shoes and possible halloween costumes so now they are my monkey/flintstone shoes. :)

this is the hill that normally has a rope... we think Andy took that too

Mike knew he'd have some issues with hydration and fueling so as expected/planned he dropped back to try and work through things towards the beginning of loop 3. And nothing against Karen but by the end of loop 3 I was trying to drop back and run on my own too. :) It seems there's just something about wanting to drop off from a stronger runner when you start feeling tired... but it didn't work for very long so I basically ran with Karen the rest of the way and she helped pull me along to a good finish. Of course, she was hanging back and being smart trying to conserve through the hot part of the day for her next 50 miles. So click click click went the clock as we kept plugging along until finally Mike and I were quite happy and relieved to be done with our 50 miles.

So once I was done it was nice hanging out by the finish, relaxing, chatting with Mike, eating, cheering for others as they came through, and sleeping. Once Karen got rid of the dead weight (me) she had a great 6th loop. Unfortunately the heat of the day took its toll and she got sick on loop 7. And since I was up when she came through and Mike wasn't (well, not really anyway) I got to feel like a jerk doing the "oh no you don't want to drop, are you really sure, couldn't you try this, couldn't you try that, blah blah blah" -- it seems like that's what you're supposed to do, at least a little bit... but shoot, when someone's sick it's kinda hard to say with much conviction "you should go back out there again and hey, it might be better this time". So she made the smart decision to bag it, and it became clear after 4-5 hours of sleep that she had made the right decision as she was still not feeling that well as we packed up and headed back to MN.

So it's always a downer when someone in the group doesn't get what they were after but all in all it was a fun trip, and a good run for me with all the pacing/pulling help. It's a nice course with some variety in the different sections... and it's a tough course with or without the mud. Definitely a race to do if you're at all thinking about it. Road trip next year??

-----------------------------------------

Trail Mix... so on the way back from McNaughton I got this crazy idea to run Trail Mix. 4 loops seemed like a perfect setup for more practice with the smart pacing - this time doing it myself instead of just following along with others doing the work. And I thought maybe I'd even be able to do the whole thing in my monkey/flintstone shoes, raising my longest run in them to 50k. So the plan was to run 'ridiculously slow' [note: this is a phrase that registers with my brain which always seems to think we're running 5 miles and can't compute an appropriate pace for 31 or 50 miles] early with the main goal to be able to run reasonably well on loop 4... not a walk, shuffle, walk, shuffle, "I've crashed and burned" finish. Taking into consideration the recent 50 mile and other numbers my plan on paper was to run the loops in 1:45 with the option of trying to run faster on loop 4 if everything went well.

---loop 1 : I figured it'd be hard to run a 1:45 loop and I was right - finished in ~1:33, with a bathroom stop and trying to walk all inclines no matter how small. The problem here though was keeping the pace way down on the 2nd half when all the 25Kers came flying by.

---loop 2 : I started feeling it, went to the tunes early, and was entertaining the questions: was this a good idea, am I going to have to drop? I eventually realized I was being worked over with the monkey/flintstone shoes - the body wasn't handling the impact like it should - and I decided the cushioning of my shoes would be really nice. Finished in ~1:39.

--loop 3 : I changed into real shoes and that helped a lot, gave me quite a boost right away. I stuck with the 'take it easy' approach and everything just kinda smoothed out and started feeling good again. Oh, I suppose that was the ibu kicking in. Saw Kel on the course with her monkey shoes and she ran back to the start/finish area with me. Thanks for the picture, Kel. Finished in ~1:38.

--loop 4 - since I was feeling quite good I decided for this final loop that I could 'release the hounds' [note: this is a phrase that registers with my brain but it doesn't necessarily mean anything noticeable happens]. It basically started with me running up the smaller inclines that I had previously walked. And then eventually I was actually running harder and faster than I had all day. It was actually kinda fun to be cruising along and, believe it or not, passing people. It might've even looked to my fellow back-of-the-packers like I had been sandbagging. Well, the best part of all that is the smart pacing worked - I actually did it right and it was successful... woohoo! Maybe there's hope after all. Of course, lest I get a big (bigger?) head... I didn't pace all that well on the last loop so I had to back off the last part and save some for the hill at the end. Finished in ~1:22, by far my fastest loop of the day.

As far as trail runs go, Trail Mix is an easy course... especially when they take the ski hill out like they did again this year. So the other crazy part of this plan was that even taking it quite easy, if things held together I figured I could PR. My previous 50K PR was ~7:26 at Chippewa last year. 4 loops of 1:45s would've given me 7 hours, so I thought best-case I might end up in the 6:40-6:50 range. I was so focused on pacing against my previous loops using the cool Virtual Training Partner of my Garmin that I wasn't paying any attention to the total race time... so I was pretty surprised to see 6:13 on the clock as I finished! That still seems crazy to me, like they messed up the timing or something. Oh, and as a double bonus... rumor has it the real medals we got this year are way better than what they handed out in previous years. hehe

Along the way I had some short conversations with people - I was surprised how many asked about my monkey/flintstone shoes - but I basically ran by myself, with the tunes going for most of it (for those who wonder I run with one headphone in and one out). It was a lot of fun seeing friends out there, both running and spectating... including a good-sized group from Duluth. It seems like the last couple weekends were the kick-off to the race season in this part of the country, so let the fun begin (continue)!

So what's next for me? Besides some rest and recovery I'm going to try to run the Ice Age 50 mile within the 12 hour cut-off (gulp). I had decided to save this for next year and I'm not sure who to blame for the change in plans (well, ok, I do know who to blame...), but I'm going to give it a shot. I don't know if I can run a 50 mile that fast, so the plan is to use my new smart pacing skills to run the best time I can... and hope it's fast enough. Anyone want to come along??

Still here? If you made it all the way through you can consider yourself an ultra reader!

Land Between Lakes 50 mile 60K...

2010-04-04T22:16:00.030-05:00

Well it's almost time for my next road trip so I guess I better write about the last one. Somehow I find myself in a "50 mile per month" club and March's entry was Land Between Lakes in Grand Rivers, Kentucky. The trip was shorter than the Texas trip but we still ended up driving through the night on the way down. Well, Mike from Michigan ended up driving through the night... more on that later. Mike W. (Westy) sent along a CD of southern artists for our 'education' and traveling enjoyment.

Land Between Lakes is 4 races, all with an 11-hour time limit. That's right, 11 hours for the 50 mile. Basically you run out of town at the beginning, do 1-4 loops, and then run back into town. 4 loops and an extra out-and-back gives you the 50 miles, and 3 loops gives you the 60K (37.2 miles). There's no penalty for dropping down a race - you just decide not to do any more loops [or miss the last loop cut-off] and head back to town and get the appropriate finish. And you get the same award for the 60K as you do for the 50 mile - a belt buckle. So even though I didn't feel there was any way I'd be able to make the last loop cut-off I decided to sign up for the 50 and give it a whirl. And hey, it involved a road trip which was a lot of fun last time.

Last year's race included a lot of rain so we were thankful not to have any [correction: it actually did rain on those out there the full 11 hours]. The course was in good shape - some muddy spots from rain earlier in the week but it wasn't a problem. It was pretty hilly with some long gradual climbs... especially the 2nd half. I found the 1st half of the course was easier than the 2nd.

So here's the gang at the beginning...

Loop 1: I ran out of town with Rick and Steve... until Steve ditched us on the road, and Rick ditched me as soon as we hit the loop. From then on I ran by myself. It was pretty crowded on the single track loop and I kept getting passed by the same people - guess I did a better job than they did getting in and out of the aid stations. My total time after loop 1 was ~2:30 which was about 15 minutes ahead of what I was shooting for. Yup, too fast. Saw Mike, filled my bottle, grabbed some grub and got outta there. Here are solo shots of each of us during loop 1...

Loop 2: I saw Rick early on as his stomach was off. He said he wasn't doing the 50 even if he made the cut-off and I said something like "it's your duty to go on if you make it for all those who don't/can't make it". Let me just say right now that was a bunch of baloney with no merit at all - sorry, Rick. [More on that later too.] It was less crowded as people spread out and/or headed back to town after one loop. And I started feeling it towards the end of this loop... as in more tired, stiff, sore than I should be at this point in the race. Yup, too fast early on. Loop 2 was about 2:30 (I was shooting for loops of 2:25) for a total time of 5 hours... about 10 minutes ahead. Saw Mike again, replenished, and off I went.

Loop 3: I put my long-sleeved shirt back on, turned on the tunes, took off and after about 2-3 miles wasn't able to run very well/smoothly so started the walk, shuffle, walk, shuffle pattern. Early on I thought I might still make the last loop cut-off but started realizing I'd be toast if I did. I noted my marathon time was ~5:50. 50K time was ~7:05, an unofficial PR by 20 minutes. And Karen went cruising by at ~31.5 miles, still running well and by my calculations very close to making the cut-off. Going in I didn't think I'd make the cut-off but I didn't want to settle for the 60K based on that prediction... and I felt satisfied that I gave it my best (though maybe not smartest) effort. Basically it turned out my race was to see if I could make the cut-off of 35.6 miles in 7:45 - 11 hour pace for 70% of a 50 miler anyway.

So what's the rest of the story?? Well, I made it. As I finished loop 3 figuring I was done they told me I made it and could go on and finish the 50 mile. Huh? I guess the race started a little late so they changed the cut-off time from 1:45pm to 2pm... and a woman told me I made it by 43 seconds. Doh! Remember what I was telling Rick earlier?? yeah, total baloney!! :) I was happy to make the adjusted cut-off but that didn't change the fact that I was done. I had just shuffled the last 8-9 miles and did loop 3 in ~3 hours so I said "thanks but no thanks" and headed back to town. The previous 3 pictures are showing "you made it!", "I have nothing left...", and what kinda looks like a walk of shame but that's not how I was feeling - must've just been tired. :)

So how did everyone else do? Steve made the cut-off by a long-shot but chose to take the 60K finish for his first ultra. Karen made the cut-off, didn't want to go on but did anyway to be our only 50 mile finisher. I made the cut-off, didn't want to go on so didn't and got the 60K finish. And Vicky and Rick both completed the 60K as well. So the final count was 1 50 miler and 4 60Kers. And one awesome support person!

And then there was Mike, the man! Mike is recovering from injury and wasn't able to run, so he did everything else. He drove all the way from Madison to Grand Rivers through the night, and then all the way back on Sunday. During the race he crewed for us, cheered for us, took pictures... and it was great to see a friendly, familiar face and have someone to talk to at the end of each loop. Thanks, Mike - you were great and I hope you're back to running again soon!

So what's next?? The McNaughton 50 mile next weekend!!!

Rocky Raccoon 50 mile and road trip...

2010-03-11T18:19:00.017-06:00

Last month I completed my 2nd 50 mile trail run at Rocky Raccoon in Huntsville TX. As if getting the finish wasn't cool enough, did you catch that the race was in TX? That's right, running in shorts and a t-shirt in TX in Feb - hard to beat that when you're from MN.

Three of us took a road trip to TX and except for cruddy weather/roads on the way back and a few wrong turns ["no I wasn't kidding, when I said stay right I really meant stay right" :)] we didn't have any problems. We drove straight through both ways so there was some sleeping along with plenty of caffeine, sugar, and laughs.

There were a few things that surprised me about the trip: seems I can't eat anything in a car without spilling some of it on myself, I do ok with the "see how long you can suck on your candy without chewing it" contests, it turns out at least one (only one?) person in the world uses the term "cow field" instead of "pasture", and when deciding where to eat you should note that yelling IHOP IHOP IHOP from the back seat may not be enough - it turns out that doesn't mean anything until the driver says "well, there's International House of Pancakes, we could go there"... um, ok!

We got to Huntsville early Fri morning so had time to check out the park and some of the race course.

And before packet pickup and supper we had time to play tourist - checking out this place seemed appropriate after all the convict costume fun at Surf the Murph.

The race - the 50 mile course was 3 loops of 16.67miles and my stretch goal was 4 hours each for a total of 12 hours. This was also the pipe-dream at Surf the Murph where it took me 13:40 so "nice round numbers" and "the math is easy" are probably to blame. I was hoping to finish and do better than last time and my standard strategy is still: don't necessarily run faster, but run more (walk less).

So for loop 1 I ran faster - 3:26... I figured too fast but nice to bank some time - how much would it cost me? Figured 4 hours for loop 2 would give me 4.5 hours for the last loop. Well I started fading on loop 2 - started feeling like pushing it was going to end soon (and started asking "what in the world am I doing pushing it on a 50 miler anyway??"). Did a last surge and managed to finish the loop in about 4 hours for a total time of ~7:30. I knew I was done pushing so the plan from then on was to just take it easy and enjoy the last loop - not worry about trying to push it and forget about 12 hours.

I took quite a long break between loop 2 and 3 [~18 minutes! decided to check the blisters on my heels, put bodyglide on them, changed shoes, changed the battery in my phone for the GPS (more on that later), got some food, and whatever else - who knows where the time goes, gotta watch that!]... so I started loop 3 feeling pretty good and ran better than I expected to the first aid station. In middle of the loop I was thinking maybe 12 hours was still within reach... but then the big fade started. A number of 16+ minute miles and I knew my prediction of over 12 was going to be true. Decided it was a good attempt and I'd be happy with my time anyway. And I was, finishing in 12:26:58.

A few things about the last loop - Mike and I walked the last section of Surf the Murph so I tried to 'do better' -- does shuffle-jogging for 50 yards every so often count? I also chuckled as it got dark and I ran across a couple wood bridges figuring I wouldn't trip there and it would count as a run. I also found myself saving up the little running I had for when I'd see other people... like the last aid station where there was lots of loud cheering, and the last stretch into the finish line.

I saw Vicky on the course a couple times... and her friends Tim and Karla. I saw Karen once? I was thinking she had a pretty slow first lap... turns out she had a fast first lap and we were at the start/finish at the same time, just didn't see each other. Everyone seemed to be happy and enjoying themselves... Tim looked pretty ragged the last time I saw him, but he was heading in for a sub-9 hour finish!

Other info: I ran alone pretty much the whole time. I listened to tunes on the 3rd loop and enjoyed that. I used S-caps and they seemed to work well (if you know what I mean). I got some pretty decent blisters on the insides of my heels from my newer model Vasque Blurs, and after changing shoes for loop 3 I got some pretty decent blisters on the rest of my heels too.

GPS - I have Google Latitude set up so I carried my phone with the gps on the last part of the race and believe it or not... there were 3 people that at least intermittently "tuned in" to see where I was on the course, and to see if I was indeed still moving -- sounds like it wasn't too excruciating. Yeah, gotta get the nerd stuff in when you can. :)

Vicky and I *only* did the 50 mile while Karen did the 100. Once I was done I waited around for Karen to finish her 3rd loop. Then waited for Vicky to finish her 50. Vicky and I bailed; I went back to see Karen finish her 4th loop; and Vicky and I tried to see Karen finish but just missed her - we're still trying to resolve who's fault that was but it didn't help that Karen finished quite a bit sooner than she had earlier predicted.

After the awards ceremony and breakfast it was time for the trip home. Besides the bad weather, the thing that really stands out in my memory is how much I loved my medal every time I looked down and saw it hanging around my neck. Yeah, wearing my race medal is not a normal thing for me... unless the other 50 miler in the car doesn't get one and has to wait to get hers in the mail!! :) Congrats to Karen on her 100 finish and Vicky on her 50 finish. The road trip was great and I'd highly recommend going on one if you ever have the chance...

The Last 3 Months!!

2010-02-20T12:03:00.092-06:00

Ok I'm way behind in blogging so it's time to catch up - here goes...

Surf the Murph 50 mile - first 50 mile finish - 13:40:36

Started out with Karen and Rick and Kel and Mike... and everyone else I guess. Was with Rick and Karen a number of times throughout the day, also with each of them at different times. I know we spent a fair amount of loop 2 together and even a decent amount of loop 3 - which is the latest in any race I've been with them. I liked the north side of the course and did a better job there. The south side of the course really wore me down and I think that's where I lost them each loop.

I also spent some time with Kel, and Bill, and a lot of time with Mike (Westy) - I leap-frogged a lot of the day with Mike. We'd be together, he'd get out of the aid station before me and then I'd be chasing him down the trail. I think we did that about 3 or 4 aid stations in a row. Finally towards the end we just stayed together the rest of the way. I think we walked it in from the horse place on the last loop and then the out-and-back section as well... though for the life of me I can't figure out why we did that. :) Ok now I remember, we were tired... and Mike was doing the math and determined we'd make the cut-off and didn't "need" to run so we didn't. Congrats on your first 50 mile finish, Mike... and thanks for the help. Congrats to you too, Kel, for your first 50 mile finish. It was a good day out there.

Karen was the first to announce she was wearing a costume so then the pressure was on for Rick and I. It was fun to wear the jailbird/escaped convict costume and people seemed to enjoy it. I'd sometimes forget about it until someone would make a comment... or Karen would look over and start laughing. I was worried the stripes would make me look fat. Somewhere along the line we (ok, Rick and Karen) decided that to more fully play the role of an escaped convict I should be swearing more. That was kinda fun. And then there was talk of Bubba and baby oil and someone said "you're easy" and that was totally mis-construed. Also Karen telling us her body is a hostile environment (for viruses) ... yeah, we had fun there's no doubt about that. :)

UMTR - Trail Person of the Year award

Pretty blown away about getting this. I'm not sure what to say besides "Wow" and "Crazy"... ok, how about "Look at me, I got my picture taken with the Trail Runner of the Year!!" :) Congratulations, Helen!

Bridge to Peace 5K, Duluth - 1st place male 40-49 age group - 24:13

Yeah, it's a really small race. I might have to make this a yearly event until it gets bigger. Ran ahead of Leslie for about 3 seconds just for fun, before she went blasting off. It was fun to push it and try to run fast. I knew a number of people at this race so it was fun hanging out... and the post-race food was very yummy - think "baked goods at a church potluck". Put in some extra miles with Rick and Lisa after the race and that was fun too.

Tuscobia 50K - 8:54:59

This was a different event, basically a training event for the Arrowhead 135 - it was held on a snowmobile trail and the idea was there'd be little to no support so everyone had to carry their own stuff. There was a 75 mile option where the runners pulled sleds. Most runners in the 50K wore backpacks... Karen was the only one to pull a sled.

My main memory is slipping around a lot, all day long... and then just wanting to be done. I ran/walked the whole thing with Karen - Rick was with us at the beginning, as were Vicky and Mike. It was cool having some spectators - Lisa and Leslie were at a number of road crossings, and then even ran with folks at the end - Thanks for being out there!

Done.

There were a couple memorable events: the shared rootbeer barrel experience and the tripping incident. :)

2009 mileage, races

Total miles
2006: 617miles; >101 hours;
2007: 1094miles; >192 hours;
2008: 1290 miles; >268 hours; [158 runs - 8.16miles/run]
2009: 1362 miles; >317 hours; [157 runs - 8.67miles/run]

Race miles
2006: ?
2007: 22 races; 282miles; >48 hours;
2008: 26 races; 385miles; >85 hours; [12 races in the MNTRS]
2009: 20 races; 424miles; >111 hours; [counting Ragnar as 3 races]

2010
White Tail Ridge Snowshoe Challenge - 20K - 2:50:05

Ran hard, 2 laps on a fun twisty course in the woods. Tore up my heels a bit - think I had a couple straps too tight. I've been running more aggressively this year and this race was the beginning of that, pretty much by accident: the course hit single track almost immediately and the pressure was on to not hold up the show. So I ran hard from the start and then pretty much just hung on as I tired out. It worked out pretty well and was a nice confidence boost.

Northwoods Snowshoe Championships - Marathon - 7:16:07

standard pre-race photo
Rick, is that you???

Doing this race was a big deal as it has a tight cut-off. I was running scared all day - trying to stay ahead of the cut-offs and get in under the 7:30 limit. And I wanted a little cushion, I didn't want the stress of being within only a couple minutes of making it.

The plan was to run any time the course was runnable. I needed to run the 1st half faster than the last 2 years (when I just did the Half), and then do it all over again. For the 2nd installment of the 2010 "run more aggressively" campaign I figured I'd push from the start, eventually run out of gas, and then just hang on as much as possible.

The sugary snow was really tough going... especially when trying to go fast. Thankfully on the 2nd lap I knew there were spots where it got better. I managed a faster first half by about 17 minutes. I basically pushed all day which is a new thing for me... and it worked out.

I'm certainly happy that I completed the race in the time allowed, but I'm probably most proud of the fact that I actually tried it in the first place (in the past I decided I would never attempt the marathon). Doing a certain distance is one thing, doing it in a certain amount of time is a whole 'nother thing. Congrats to Karen for finishing under the 7:30 limit as well... way to go!

Securian Half Marathon - 2:01:23

I totally crashed and burned at this race in 2008. I was too chicken to run it last year, plus it was bitterly cold. I didn't want to repeat 2008 so I ran comfortably the first half... visiting with Karen and Les along the way. And then I took off and ran hard the 2nd half. Splits of ~1:06 and ~:56 might not be the smartest way to go, but I was happy with the result. :)

Whew... I think I'm pretty much caught up now -- just one little race to cover yet and then I should be good for awhile. Congrats if you made it this far... :)

In Yan Teopa, Wild Duluth

2009-10-25T08:39:00.092-05:00

I seem to have lost my blogging enthusiasm lately, but there are so many good pictures (thanks Rick B!) from last weekend's Wild Duluth 50K that it'd be a shame not to post some of them.

In late Sep I ran the In Yan Teopa 10 mile race at Frontenac State Park. I felt good and had the Ragnar mentality going into it - ran the initial downhills well, hung on better than usual, and beat last year's time by 7 minutes. Seeing a bunch of the normal gang and mixing in some camping and a training run at Murphy the next day made for a very nice weekend.

at the start of Wild Duluth

Last weekend was the first Wild Duluth 50K and 100K held on the Duluth section of the Superior Hiking Trail. This trail is every bit as beautiful and rugged as the northern sections of the trail. Going into the race I'd seen all of the course except for the finish on training runs with Lisa and Leslie. Fri evening there was a pre-race spaghetti get together (complete with ice cream I might add) that was fun - Thank You to Leslie and Rudy for hosting that.

3 first-timers in this group!

The 50K race was a blast! I started out and ran as much as I could with the 'running club' - Karen G and Rick B. And we had some other cool people in the mix at times: Bill S. who was doing his first ultra as training for his 2nd ultra - the Surf the Murph 50 mile (wow!), the ironman guy in the white shirt, and a few others I'm probably forgetting about.

a little pay-back...

for half-voyageur

Except for walking some uphills Karen is always running, strong and steady as can be. Rick seems to be all over the place - dropping back then flying ahead - snapping pictures left and right. And then there's me mostly hanging in on the flats, getting behind on the downhills, and pushing to catch back up on the uphills.

Somewhere in the middle (I think) Karen and Rick pulled ahead and Bill and I were running together. I hit a good spot and felt strong going up the 138 steps by Spirit Mountain - unfortunately Bill cramped up about then. Once at the top I hammered away on the nice runnable trail hoping that just maybe I could hook up with Rick and Karen again... and I did! So it was fun having the club back together again for awhile.

In the 2nd to last section I got light-headed. That hasn't happened before so I wasn't sure what was going on, but I was ok if I walked. After awhile I was having trouble getting my glove on and I noticed my hand was swollen - hmmm that never happens either. Then my R hammie started cramping and I realized what was going on - I had taken less e-gel than usual and had eaten way less than usual at the aid stations. I took the rest of my e-gel and water and that got me going a little bit.

I ate and drank quite a bit at the last aid station but realized with 3.1 miles to go that it may not really help a whole lot. I did cramp up a few times on the last section, including at the end while trying to make the finish look good -- don't you hate it when you have to walk way at the end while friends are right there encouraging a strong finish?? With the walk it wasn't totally necessary but I did the universally-understood "grab your hamstring" move anyway so Leslie would know what was going on. :)

finishing the Wild Duluth 50K
(Thanks for the picture, Lisa)

It was fun hanging out at the end hearing how everyone did and eating the great chili and other post-race snacks. Then it was off for awhile to relax before doing some more cheering. Relaxing involved a shower, a sauna, some sitting, some hot chocolate... and then it was time to go back out and see Shelly finish her first 100K. BTW, the relaxing was done at Lisa and Jon's who were nice enough to put me up for the extra long weekend - thank you very much for having me as a guest in your home!

A huge Thank You to the race directors (Andy and Kim Holak) and the super volunteers, and Congrats to all the runners! There were some good stories including Lisa and Leslie doing their first ultra, running fast times, and finishing well -- way to go! Leslie was 2nd woman in a smoking 5:19 and Lisa was just under 6:30... on a tough course! And oh yeah, they will both be doing their 2nd 50K 2 weeks later at Surf the Murph! Also, Shelly T finishing the 100K for her first time at that distance - Congrats! This was a great race on a beautiful course and definitely one to put on your calendar!

So next up is the Surph the Murph 50 mile! The running club will be there as well as lots of other friends - sounds like a great way to spend the day! It also sounds like a great day to get the 50-mile monkey off my back. :)

Superior Trail 50 2009

2009-09-19T10:13:00.040-05:00

Last Saturday was the fall version of the Superior Trail Races where I attempted my first 50 miler. There's always a question of how well I'll do in a race but this is the first time I really didn't know if I could finish. As if 50 miles isn't enough this is on the Superior Hiking Trail - enough said for those who've experienced it. So obviously there was some excitement leading up to this one... more than usual.

I could just say "I didn't make it, I got pulled at mile 39.5 for time" and call it good, but what fun would that be??

at the start in Finland

The day started with what seemed like a really LONG bus ride from Lutsen to Finland (an-ti-ci-pa-tion!) - I sat and visited with Holly K on the way. At the start I hung out with Karen and Rick B as we waited to get going. Rick pulled another sign-up-at-the-last-minute-for-the-longer-race trick. Larry Pederson said go and off we went... towards the back it was the 3 of us and Mick with a few others in the mix. And of course right off the bat I was wondering if I was going ok or pushing a bit too much. Mick was really holding back as he was running behind me for awhile. That didn't last long and he went on to finish in just under 14 hours - way to go, Mick! Karen and Rick got away from me as we worked our way through the first section. Nice Karen waited for me at the aid station, Not-so-Nice Rick didn't.

I thought Rick was going to run with us??

We got to the first aid station at Sonju Lake a couple minutes ahead of the Cramer Rd soft cutoff pace. I never did see Rick again, though Karen did [sorry for bringing that up, Rick. :)]. Between aid stations I'd intermittently see Karen as she'd drop me and then slow down so I could catch back up. It was definitely nice of her to hang with me as it's more fun that way and it's too easy to back off when you're by yourself. Before too long we were at the Crosby Manitou aid station.

Crosby Manitou

It was nice to see Kel at this aid station and she was nice enough to take some of our stuff to the Oberg aid station where she was going to be working late into the evening - thanks for all your help, Kel! We hit this aid station at 3:03, right even with the Cramer Rd soft cutoff pace. And then it was on to the longest, toughest section that everyone talks about. There's a long climb and I'm glad someone told me there are 3 or 4 false plateaus before you are finally to the top. This is a LONG section (9.4 miles) and we thought we'd probably lose some time but were hoping to limit it to 10 minutes or so. Somewhere in this section we stopped for what turned out to be our last photo-op.

Karen seemed to get way ahead of me a couple times in this part. At one point I glanced up and got a glimpse of someone I figured was her but it wasn't. When I caught up to this other runner I asked how she was doing and she responded "not so good, I think I might have a concussion... I have a bump on my head and I've thrown up twice". Ohhh, that doesn't sound good. The conversation in my head was pretty short: "hmmm, what should I do?" - "Uh, you will stay with her and make sure she gets to the next aid station...", and that was that. She seemed to be moving well and said she had plenty of water. Early on she'd run for short periods and when I asked said she was light-headed. Later she couldn't run any more, was pretty wobbly at times just walking, and mentioned once that her head was really pounding. But she was a trooper and I was impressed - she knew she needed to get to the next aid station and she didn't stop even once.

There's a picture of her right behind Holly at Crosby Manitou so I suspect she'd been walking for awhile before I caught her. Initially I predicted about a half hour to the aid station (running and walking) and it took us about 70 minutes. Eventually we made it and I figured she was in good hands from then on. I heard she went to the hospital but was out later Sat evening, so I think she ended up being just fine. Hopefully a relatively happy ending to a long day for her.

I figured Karen would get to the aid station, wait a little bit, wonder what happened to me, and then be on her way... and thankfully that was the case. If our thought of being 10 minutes over the target pace was accurate she would've been there in ~5:40 and I got there in ~6:20! And then there was Pete. He made the trip up to see me and help me get through this thing and what do I do but leave him standing around wondering "what in the world happened to Wayne??". He was still at the aid station when I got there so it was great to see him, get pumped up a little bit, and then get back to it.

Pete got to see Rick, at Sugarloaf

So Rick was long gone and now so was Karen and it was up to me to keep myself going. I did pretty well in the next section... of course I had just walked for 70 minutes and was feeling good. I started out pretty fast thinking "I need to pull a Ragnar"... well that lasted about 10 minutes and then I settled into a more reasonable effort. In all my pre-race excitement my biggest concern was the 7 hour soft cutoff at Cramer Rd. I got there in ~7:55 and nobody said a word about it. All that worrying for nothing! Of course that doesn't mean I wasn't really late, it just means nobody said anything about it. When you get to Cramer Rd you can start thinking about the slower Oberg cutoff pace. Unfortunately I was already ~12 minutes over that and I'm not sure I was thinking about it.

So I made it to the Cramer Rd aid station, visited with the people there (Pete, Holly, aid station workers), changed my shoes and socks, refilled my gel flasks (Pete did that), had some food, and then got on my way. It was a quite enjoyable time - too bad I took WAY too long. It seems foolish now but at the time I'd been going for 8 hours and taking it easy for a bit felt pretty good. Unfortunately it cost me my chance to finish the race or at least make it one more section. Yeah, the 70 minutes into Sugarloaf helped put me behind but the way everything turned out I think I would've made it through Sawbill anyway if I had gotten in and out of Cramer Rd in a reasonable amount of time. Grrrr to wasting so much time, I should really know better.

The next section was pretty long (7.1 miles) to the Temperance River aid station. My main memory here is that I was running along a river and excited that I must almost be to the aid station. Unfortunately I was by a different river. After you cross over there's a sign that says Temperance River 1.9 miles. doh. At Temperance I was told I had 2.5 hours to get to Oberg by the 13 hour/7:00pm cutoff, so that put me 44 minutes over the Oberg cutoff pace. I was happy Pete was at Temperance to give me some encouragement. With that and some water I was off to Sawbill.

leaving Temperance

This section is 5.7 miles and I dropped ~8 minutes so was 52 minutes over the Oberg pace. As I got close I met Steve Q and Pete on the trail - they'd come out on a scouting trip. They warned me that I was very close to being dropped and my reaction was "WHAT? That's not right!". As far as I knew there was no cutoff time at Sawbill and the sweeps weren't anywhere around. Well, the decision was made to send the sweeps ahead out of Sawbill and I was pulled. I was pretty upset but hopefully didn't say anything too crazy. Word is I only missed getting through there by a couple minutes so taking too long at Cramer Rd really did cost me. So after some huffing and puffing Pete and I took off [and I'm glad Pete is such a stand-up guy that he'd never repeat what was said in the car!].

We hung out at Oberg for a little while, and then the finish line. Pete needed to get going (Thanks again for coming up for the day to help me out, Pete!) so I went to the hotel to get cleaned up and then headed back to the finish line. There I hung out with Shelly, and Kel joined us when she was done at Oberg, I had some ice cream, and we watched and congratulated the runners as they finished. It was fun watching people come in. Eventually Karen came in and was a total riot ("I think I was hallucinating, I didn't think I'd gone up Moose Mountain but someone said I had, I kept taking naps on the trail"). Funny stuff. :) Congrats, Karen! And then FINALLY [just kidding] Rick came in which was really cool... his 2nd sign-up-at-the-last-minute ST 50 and he's now 2-0... Congrats, Rick!

do I get to wear it?

So now it's a week after my biggest race ever and I DNFed, got pulled for time, didn't finish the race -- I'm sure other people will understand this: I think the biggest disappointment comes from the fact that I still don't know. I was feeling good and moving well... but was slow and walking a fair amount. The steep climbs were getting tough (like up Carlton Peak) and I knew there were more of those to come. The mind was starting to think "I've got a long ways to go... it's going to be tough... do I even like doing this?". So the big question remaining is... hours later in the dark and pouring rain, how would've I responded? There's a lot of excitement and nervousness when attempting something big and I think beneath it all is the question "what will I do when things get really tough?". Well I still don't know. I guess I'll have to find out another time!

Thank You to everyone involved in putting on the races --- and special thanks to Karen and Rick for being excited to see me do my first 50 and running with me, as well as Pete for making the trip to be spectator and crew, and everyone else that wished me well and helped/encouraged me and everyone else along the way. Thanks to Londell for loaning me an extra garmin 305. And Congratulations to everyone that toed the line up there and gave it what they had.

So the big question now of course is "what's next?". As Kel says I now have a 50-mile monkey on my back and I need to figure out where to get rid of it. Stay tuned...

Superior Trail 50 Mile Preparations

2009-09-08T21:02:00.012-05:00

This coming weekend is the Superior Trail Races in Northern MN. There are 3 races all held on the Superior Hiking Trail: marathon, 50 mile, and 100 mile. I'll be attempting my first 50 mile on Sat. ALL DAY Sat. Yikes.

So of course I've been getting ready... I have piles of stuff around: stuff I'll wear and carry, stuff going into drop bags.

I'm scared to pack everything I think I'm carrying with me into my bottle carrier and vest... I suspect it's going to feel like I'm backpacking!

I'm not superstitious or anything, but I'm wearing 3 of my Superior race shirts to work this week (not all at once, one at a time... at least I only wore one today. Hmmm, maybe add one each day... be wearing all 3 by Thur??). And when I get home I put on my FANS 12-hour shirt and my Pikes Peak Ascent jacket and wear those all evening.

Please tell me I'm not the only one that does stuff like this!?!? :)

For everyone heading up there... whether you're running or crewing or volunteering I hope you do GREAT!

Ragnar Relay Great River 2009

2009-08-23T18:49:00.007-05:00

Wow, what a crazy week+.

Last weekend I was out in CO and did a race up Pikes Peak. Came back Monday and floated the idea to a friend* that maybe I could try to get on a Ragnar team - be a sub on a team that lost a runner to injury. By Tue noon I was on a team... though I was a little concerned as it was a FAST team. yikes! Oh well, they took me so they must've figured adding me was better than going 1 runner short. :) [*Thanks for the help, Lisa... but I didn't have anything to do with you ending up on a fast team so you really didn't have to put me in the same 'predicament'!]

Team Picture (before)
from Kim, one of our super-studs
should've stood by someone else

Ragnar Relay - Great River 2009 was a running event that started in Winona and finished at a park in Mpls, some 194.4 miles later. The idea is to have 12 people on the team... unless you are one of the super-stud teams that decide that would be too easy so you go with less, like an ultra team with 6 runners who each run 2 legs before passing the 'baton' to a teammate. There were a couple ultra teams out there and they were very impressive, and friendly, and fun to 'compete' with.

There are specific exchange zones set up so each leg of the race is defined, and you have to run in order, stick to your assigned legs, and everyone runs 3 times. I was given what I'd consider the easiest assignment [Thanks, Mark!] - runner 12. Which means I ran the 12th, 24th, and the final 36th leg. My runs were: 3.2mi Easy, 3.0mi Easy, 5.4mi Hard for a total of 11.6 miles. For comparison, runner 5 had: 6.6mi Hard, 6.8mi Very Hard, 7.2mi Very Hard for a total of 20.6 miles. Wow!! [Thanks again, Mark!!]

Each 12-person team would have two vans of 6 runners each. I was in van 2, runners 7-12. After the start we had a bunch of hours to wait/waste until our first runner started. We went to a grocery store and got some food, drove to the first major exchange and ate... and waited. It was fun and relaxing... and then it was our turn. From then on it was a mad crazy tiring event! My first leg started around 11:30pm and then we went to the next major exchange and tried to get some sleep (2.5 hours??). We were all up by 4am and waiting for runner 6 to come in so we could do it again. I think my 2nd leg started about 8am and then we went to (runner 11) Dave's house for showers and a little more sleep (45 minutes??), and then back to the next major exchange to do it all over again. My 3rd leg started about 3pm. While our van was 'on'... we'd see our runner off at the exchange, usually stop part way into their leg to cheer, then on to the next exchange to pick them up and see our next runner off. Repeat ad infinitum, or so it seemed by the end. We started at 3pm Fri and finished before 4pm on Sat for a total time of 24 hours 39 minutes and 56 seconds (avg of 7:41s)!

So how did I do on the FAST team? Well, way better than I thought I'd do. In my email to Mark I told him about my Douglas Trail Run (flat, 11 miles, avg ~8:50s with a couple 8:30s, very good day). I said I'd run hard and that's all I could offer. I was hoping for another very good day and figured I'd be way happy with 8:30s for the two 3 milers. I believe the goal for our team was to average 7:45s. If anyone had suggested I could run under 8s I truthfully would've told them they were nuts, and had they suggested under 7:30s I would've told them they were delusional. So what did I do? According to my Garmin which came up with the correct mileage - 7:28s, 7:22s, 8:29s. What?? Really?? I was amped up waiting all day for my turn, the adrenaline was pumping, I was inspired and challenged by the event and everybody else on the team coming in minutes under their projected times... so I ran harder than I've run in years. 3 times. (It also helped that I mostly ran by myself, especially in the dark, so I didn't care that my breathing sounded like a wind storm!)

If I hadn't done it and timed it myself I wouldn't believe it. This is fast for me, way fast, so I'm blown away and a little perplexed. Now what should I think about my running? Well, the ultra training I'm doing seems to be helping, in ways I didn't expect... so I think I'll keep doing it. And maybe I should run 'harder than I've run in years' more often! :) In this case it worked out great and was a lot of fun.

The Ragnar Relay was a great event and I highly recommend it. Thank you to the organization and all the volunteers that were out there making the whole event possible! And Thank You to Mark and all my teammates - it was blast getting to know you (mainly Van 2 because of the logistics). Thanks for having me!

Pikes Peak Ascent 2009

2009-08-19T22:50:00.057-05:00

The Pikes Peak Ascent was this past weekend in Colorado. It's a race to the top of Pikes Peak on the Barr Trail -- it covers 13.32 miles with 7,815 feet of vertical gain. The race starts at 6300' and ends at 14,115'. I did the Ascent which was on Sat. On Sunday was the Pikes Peak Marathon -- America's Ultimate Challenge -- where you go up AND down. And as you might expect from the ultra world, there are people that do both races!

As you'll be able to see from the pictures the weather was great! (Helen, you called it!) There was a little grapple/hail at one point and the threat of a storm but thankfully it never hit. I put on a long-sleeve shirt and gloves above treeline, but never did put on my sweatpants or winter hat.

here I am, off like a shot!

The trail is mostly smooth... a little technical in some places but not a problem. But of course I only went up, it would probably look different if running back down.

I mostly just kept going and going and watching the heels in front of me. Caught myself trailgating at times. Every now and then I had to think "look around and enjoy the views!"... so it was like most other trail runs in that regard. :)

early, in the W's

It was very crowded for quite awhile. A few gaps opened up before Barr Camp (the halfway point). But I never went very long before I'd catch someone or someone would catch me.

There was the normal ebb and flow of runners like you see in other long trail runs... I'd pass someone and then later they'd pass me, etc. There wasn't a whole lot of conversation as the day went on, but everyone seemed to enjoy a word of encouragement when it was offered... and would usually return it between gasps of air. :)

The distance and the continuous climbing are certainly factors in this race, but the big deal is the altitude... as in the lack of oxygen! This is a race, but running - well, I didn't do much of that. I basically power-hiked the whole thing... I ran a little on the street at the very beginning, and then in a couple places that were level or slightly downhill (between No Name Creek and Barr Camp). And it was kinda strange because once on the trail I almost felt like I needed to explain to people why I was running. And other runners seemed to be doing that too. When you're at the back of the pack and everything you've heard is to take it easy or you'll pay for it at the top, it seems strange to run as that seems like you're 'pushing it'. Anyway, the running parts worked out well. I wasn't racing anyone and wasn't even racing the clock... the run was just a nice change of pace and brought some other muscles into the act - my walking muscles were doing all the work and getting tired.

Above treeline I saw people sitting every so often, which didn't seem horrible. I saw one guy down on the ground with his feet up on a rock, that didn't look so good. And I saw one person getting oxygen while being walked back down by two medics... we must've been within 2 miles of the summit (which is 11 miles from the bottom) so that is definitely NOT the way to go. All the advice is to take it easy on the way up and that certainly seems like the way to go.

click for full-size picture and notice all the people!

It gets tough at the top... there's just no oxygen, and it feels like you're bonked and about to get dizzy if you push at all - a normal-paced walk put me right on the edge. Thinking about those that do the marathon, it's such a struggle that it's gotta be hard to think about going back down after feeling so slow and powerless the last 3 miles. The last 2 miles took me over 30 minutes each! It would take some mental toughness to turn around for the return trip.

Thankfully I didn't have to worry about turning around as I was 'only' doing the Ascent. There are 2 cut-offs along the way and the finish line cut-off is 6.5 hours. Even though I didn't run very much, I just kept plugging along and was relieved to finish in just over 5.5 hours. It felt very good to be done! :)

almost done

done!

Some numbers: I beat about 200 people to the top, 1442 people beat me to the top, and only 82 people beat me in the predict-your-time competition - at 5:32:01 I ended up 2:01 over my prediction.

From my experience it's unusual (and I know some people don't like it... hehe), but they give out finisher's jackets for both the Ascent and the Marathon. And a medal. In the ultra world it seems you earn a jacket for the 100 mile races, which are certainly way harder than either of the Pikes Peak races. But what was I going to do, turn down the jacket?? No way. :)

finisher's jacket - back
simple, I like it

finisher's jacket - front
also got a medal with the same design

This was a great race and I highly recommend it.

Since I didn't run very much of this race I kinda feel like there's some unfinished business there. I don't think that I'll ever be able to run very much on the way up the mountain, which means the only way to really run on the mountain is to run back down. So yeah, I'm thinking what you're now thinking... I need to go back and do the marathon! Up AND down! Anybody want to do it with me?!?!

We'd just have to get to the top (if I can do it, you can do it), and then be mentally tough enough to turn around and head back. I think a lot of the course should be quite runnable once you get back to where you can put forth some effort without passing out.

So what do you say, any takers? Pikes Peak Marathon next year?

SUMMIT!! 5:32:32 [5:32:01]

2009-08-15T14:27:00.002-05:00

Yes!!!!!

[Official time 5:32:01]

-Wayne

... from my phone

1mi to go 4:54:00

2009-08-15T13:24:00.001-05:00

No. Air. :)

-Wayne

... from my phone

2mi to go 4:23:00

2009-08-15T12:53:00.000-05:00

-Wayne

... from my phone

A-frame AS 3:40:00

2009-08-15T12:24:00.000-05:00

Getting harder.... :)

-Wayne

... from my phone

Barr camp 2:32:00

2009-08-15T11:02:00.000-05:00

-Wayne

... from my phone

No name creek 1:30:00

2009-08-15T10:09:00.000-05:00

-Wayne

... from my phone

Top of W's ??? [1:01:01]

2009-08-15T09:36:00.001-05:00

[I wasn't exactly sure when I hit the top of the W's... split of 1:01:01 is my best guess.]

-Wayne

... from my phone

Hydro? 18:00

2009-08-15T08:47:00.000-05:00

-Wayne

... from my phone

Almost GO time...

2009-08-15T08:23:00.001-05:00

Beautiful weather... Great forecast. About 10 minutes to start.

Pikes Peak Preparations

2009-08-09T15:21:00.021-05:00

Wednesday I'll be flying out to Colorado Springs to spend time with my brother and his family AND to run the Pikes Peak Ascent!!

It's too late to get my body ready for the climb so now I'm making sure I have everything else ready.

This picture shows my new Nathan HPL 028.

The Nathan is loaded up with what I hope to take with me. Out-of-towners are advised to bring every type of clothing they might possibly need and then decide race morning what to use. So the other clothes pile is the "every type of clothing I might need" pile and some of that will go in my sweats-check bag the race officials will take to the summit.

Here's a pace chart the master of Pikes Peak (Matt Carpenter) has put together indicating when you should be where for different finishing times. I've printed out a modified version of this and will have it with me - I don't really know what to expect but I know I have no use for the first columns, and I figure even hitting times in the 4:30 column will indicate impending doom.

the blog plan: if it works I'm hoping to take pictures along the way and send them to this blog with my current time. It might just further clutter up the blogosphere but I think it'll be cool if it works. I don't know what my brother is going to do while I'm running up Barr Trail... maybe he'll sit at home watching my blog to get an idea of when and where he should pick me up. :) In theory the pacing chart and any blog posts should give anyone who cares an idea of how I'm doing. [Note: if you see a bunch of #@$%@#$%^@#$%@#$% and 2nd pictures of the same places then you'll know I missed a cut-off and was sent back down the mountain.]

my Pikes Peak history: my brother and I hiked up Pikes Peak in 2006 and it took me a little over 8 hours. All the advice says to take it easy on the bottom to not burn yourself out... or you'll pay for it at the top. Ok, but I need to make up more than an hour and a half and I figure the only place I *can* do that is at the bottom. So it'll be interesting. Since I've done it before I figure I can make the climb, but I am wondering if I can do it fast enough to make the cut-offs. Oh well, that's why we sign up and do these things, right??

Yeah, this whole blog post is a good indicator I'm getting just a bit excited about the whole thing! :)

****************************************

Some updates -- a webcam link and a picture:

8 views from the summit of Pikes Peak

Today's Lunch Sighting

2009-08-06T13:46:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday, Steve!

Mickey's Dining Car
Stop #2 on the birthday tour.

2009 Douglas Trail 11 mile

2009-08-02T21:02:00.034-05:00

The Douglas Trail Races were this weekend and I ran the 11 mile. This is a low-key local race, simple, cheap ($10 race day signup) and fun. The run is held on the Douglas Trail which is asphalt on an old railroad bed running from Rochester through Douglas to Pine Island. It's an out and back with one water stop stocked with... water. The overall and age-group awards are watermelons. Just a nice race all around.

Flashback: there's also a 2 mile race that's held after the 11 milers take off. I ran the 2 mile one year and actually took 2nd. Pretty much everyone runs the 11 mile and there were only about 10 of us. A friend of mine blew away the field and then the rest of us came in minutes later. So, they did the awards and everyone got one... except me! The winner and I were in the same age/gender group and everyone else was in their own. Crazy. Not all of the age/gender groups were represented so after the awards ceremony a woman gave me one of the left-over awards - that was a nice touch.

this year's shirt

Races like this are kinda scary now as they are in the 'flat and fast' category. Hmmmm. Well it actually went very well. I biked there and the 8.6 miles were a good warm-up... but then my legs felt kinda thick the first mile. Eventually I settled in and then realized I had to make a pit stop. doh. I was in a good group and was able to reconnect and hang with them to the turn-around. At that point I felt good so I took off... vroom.

I passed two women soon after the turn-around and the one gave me a really strange look. Crazy how her look and my fear went hand in hand (at least in my mind): "you're going to crash and I'm going to beat you and you're going to feel stupid". Yikes. I used that as motivation and hammered the next 2.5 miles. I did fade a little bit (it didn't help that I turned around about mile 8 and she was nowhere in sight)... but I was able to settle in and finish well. I managed under 9:00s for the 11 miles so I'm very happy with that.

So about the shirt. I've done a ton of races over the years and collected a bunch of shirts, but I think yesterday might be the first time I didn't even bother bringing it home! I gave it to Andy who figured (correctly) that one of his daughters would be happy to have it. :)

*******************************

So, 2 weeks until the Pikes Peak Ascent, and 6 weeks to the Superior Trails 50! I'm jazzed to give both of these a try. Everything is feeling good right now, so I just need to remember to keep doing the 'little' things (squats, situps, adam's burpees, kel's side hip raises, etc) that seem to hold everything together.

And speaking of the Pikes Peak Ascent... just today I found a good place to train for it! Maybe just a little late. After an hour and a half at Whitewater State Park (mostly hiking, some running) I went and found the Elba Fire Tower. Turns out there are 630+ steps to get from the parking lot to the top of the hill, at which point you can climb the tower. It was pretty tough... I did it twice and I think I'll go back.

Mudonna

2009-07-23T12:45:00.002-05:00

Mudonna is the name on the back of the jersey. Saints baseball promotion, in Rice Park.

And wouldn't ya know it, soon after this sighting Mr Steve Quick was spotted in Rice Park. They say correlation doesn't imply causation, but I'm not so sure in this case. :)

Half Voyageur Trail Marathon

2009-07-14T22:08:00.082-05:00

This past weekend was the Half Voyageur Trail Marathon which runs from the Duluth Zoo to Carlton. This is the 2nd half of the Voyageur 50 mile course.

Sat was a beautiful day... sunny, not hot, some nice breezes at times... a dry course, no jarrow's beach -- I don't think it could've been any better for my first Half Voyageur! I've heard a lot of good things about this race and I'd have to say it's a keeper.

As usual it was fun to hang out and visit with folks before the race got under way (including Steve and Glenn from Rochester... hi guys!). These first pictures are all from Karen G. I managed to run with her the whole way. We started out with Craig and Rick B, and as usual crossed paths with quite a few others throughout the day.

Having some fun at the beginning.

Karen and Rick are really fast on the downhills... wow. I'd glance up and they'd have 50-60 yards on me just like that. Thankfully they were nice enough to wait up for me. Well, Karen anyway... Rick not so much. He's a pretty nice guy and was even named the Runner of the Month in the Northland Runner world. But like Ted, he doesn't like it when you try to pass him!!

Pass at your own risk!

I'm not sure when but eventually Rick B dropped us and moved on ahead. Even though she's recovering from some long, hard races... Karen could've done the same but didn't and held up whenever she gapped me (Thanks, Karen!). Eventually we made it to the world-famous Power Lines!

Here we go...

... made it through the first section!

We kept cruising along and eventually made it through the power lines and the next few sections and soon found ourselves crossing the bridge and entering the last stretch.

A quick stop and then on to the finish!

In the last section we hooked up with Rick K. I have to say it seemed like this run was awfully easy for him. I got mixed in with another group of runners and lost contact with Rick K and Karen for a little while... I had to push to catch back up and was happy I was able to do that. As you'll see in the next set of pictures, we hooked back up with Rick B too. I think he probably felt bad for ditching us so he waited for us on the Munger trail... what a guy (just don't try to pass him)!

So how about a sprint finish... after 26.2 miles. These pictures compliments of the speedy Lisa "wildknits" M. who finished in 5:01 and would've had time for a shower, a meal, and a nap before snapping these photos:

Karen makes her move and
gets a jump on the Ricks

But did she go too soon??

Yup, just barely!
The Ricks reacted well.

Me? I don't play those silly games...
I coast in for my solo photo op.

And then I look down at the key moment... doh!

This was a very fun race and went well. The 4 of us came in at 5:53 - I wasn't sure what to expect and was very happy to finish in under 6 hours. Since this was only my 2nd trail marathon and the other one was the Moose Mountain Marathon on the Superior Hiking Trail... this was a PR race. I believe Karen said this was a PR for her too. Woohooo! The results can be seen here. My Garmin Connect data can be seen here.

Thank you to the race directors and all the wonderful volunteers that put this race on! If you haven't done this race before, consider it for next year. I sure hope the weather and trail conditions are the same for the full Voyageur in a couple weeks. I just might be up there cheering and working an aid station.

Afton 25K

2009-07-05T20:11:00.030-05:00

This weekend was the Afton Trail Races... the 25K and 50K. Another great event -- Thank You to everyone involved!! It's very fun to get out there and see lots of friends. Congrats to everyone that ran!

After some negotiations* my friend Ted and I decided we'd wear our Afton hats, Chippewa shirts, and black shorts. But I had to draw the line at the silly looking goatee. Since Londell didn't get a picture of Ted, we'll just have to wing it.

Me
(pic from Londell)

Ted, sorta
(original pic from Londell)

ok, a real picture
(pic from Bryan Cochran Photography)

The Race: started out with Ted... eventually he dropped me. Then we ran together for awhile... eventually he dropped me. Then we ran together for awhile... eventually he dropped me. This seemed to go on forever. At one point I told him "I hate you -- drop me and then keep going, would ya? I stop chasing you when I can't see you any more...". Early on I accidentally almost got my shoulders out ahead of his and out came the arms... holding me back. And since Ted is into that crazy MMA/jiu jitsu stuff, I knew one more step and I'd probably be on the ground getting tapped out. I didn't want any of that! Then way later he switched and seemed to be threatening me again, this time making me run all-out to the finish while he figured he'd coast in and enjoy himself. What could I do but go?? So I did.

last aid station
(pic from Bryan Cochran Photography)

Going into the race I was wondering how things would go. I've been struggling a bit since FANS... seems like runs have been tougher and have taken more out of me than usual. I suppose that's normal for awhile, but how long is that supposed to last? I figured today would be a good test and hopefully indicate I was mostly recovered. Well, I came within 2 minutes of my PR: last year I ran 3:06:17 and this year 3:08:04 (close but no cigar - sorry, Londell!).

And now that I'm safely out of Ted's reach I can say... it's his fault. As in, it's his fault I was as close to PRing as I did. I'm pretty sure left to myself from the beginning I would've coasted more. So it was good to be chasing Ted to keep things moving. Thanks, man. Things held together pretty well and I don't seem overly beat up today so I'm definitely happy with the race and feeling better about my recovery from FANS.

Bring on the Half Voyageur!! :)

Thanks again to John and Alicia and everyone else involved in putting on this great race, and congratulations to everyone that toed the line and gave it a go yesterday!!

* that's a joke, there was no planning involved... but we did show up wearing pretty much the same stuff.

Vroom vroom

2009-07-02T17:40:00.003-05:00

Welcome to First Thursdays...

The picture doesn't do justice to the scene at all... imagine a block party with hundreds of bikes and bikers milling around. Here's a description I found online:

The first Thursday of every month is Bike Night at Dulono's Pizza in Minneapolis. If it has two wheels and a motor, you're likely to see one at Dulono's. From antiques to the latest models off the showroom floor, single cylinder to eight cylinder, and everything in between.

The crowd starts showing up around 6:00. Parking in the Dulono's lot is tight and congested - don't park there if you plan on leaving early as it can be hard work winding your way through the bikes and people - but there is plenty of parking along the street.

You owe it to yourself to go at least once, but I bet you can't stop at just once!

Dulono's Pizza
607 W Lake St (Lake & Lyndale)
Minneapolis, MN 55408, US

Picking up...

2009-06-30T13:37:00.001-05:00

my afternoon snack!

Afton

2009-06-25T19:05:00.015-05:00

For anyone interested in hanging out at Afton State Park this weekend I will be camping there Fri and Sat nights. I might try some night running for the first time [based on the forecast I just heard that'll probably be Sat night into Sunday]. Otherwise normal camping stuff: hanging out, reading, swatting bugs, sitting by the campfire, etc. Feel free to join me if interested... you can let me know ahead of time or just look for me if you're out there. I'll be at campsite 27.

And yes, it would be considered bad form to use this information/opportunity to rob my house or sneak around and scare me at my campsite. :)

And in the "Random Pics" department, I took this with my treo from my normal lunchtime hangout.

A couple more photos based on SteveQ's comments...

FANS 12 hour

2009-06-13T23:14:00.093-05:00

Last weekend was the FANS 12 and 24 hour races. I did FANS 12 (the kiddie race compared to FANS 24) for the first time. A huge Thank You to everyone involved in the organization of the race, and to all the volunteers -- everyone I came in contact with was top-notch and everything ran smoothly. There were some familiar faces out there running, volunteering, and cheering and it's always a nice boost to see people you know. And of course it's also cool to be cheered on by people you don't know, like other runners and their crew. This really is a great event!

Congratulations to everyone that got out there and gave it a go... especially the 24 hour runners. Going into the race it was obvious to me that the 24 hour is a whole different beast than the 12 hour : lots more planning and strategy and stuff is required. And then during the race, keeping your head in the game and staying motivated and focused for the whole time... wow. Especially when the weather doesn't cooperate very well. During the all-day rain I kept thinking "well at least I know I am done at 8pm". I felt bad for the 24 hour runners who were looking at an all-day rain and as far as they knew an all-night rain as well... double congrats to all those that hung in there for the whole thing under those tough conditions!

Karen's tent and umbrella in the middle, John Taylor's
shelter on the right, and my stuff on the left

I set up next to Karen who's daughters were there to crew for her. That was great because they were willing to crew for me and anyone else that needed help - and it turns out they were great cheerleaders for everyone on the course... so much so that they won the best campsite award! I enjoyed their company and encouragement during the race and then hanging out with them throughout the night. (Btw, most of these pictures are from them.)

Monica, John, me, Karen, Craig
...ready to go!

The race starts with a 1.656 mile out-and-back... according to plan I walked this whole section. I figured it'd be a good way to ease into the day and I planned to take the first half hour for that part. I think it worked well, but it was hard to walk the whole thing when I was fresh and most everyone else was running.

My plan from then on was to do the 2.4217 mile loop every half hour (4.84mph) for as long as possible. And this one-loop-per-half-hour plan included a 4-5 minute walk covering the whole concrete bridge. Initially I was able to do each loop with a minute or two to spare for refueling, hanging out at base-camp, or whatever.

So for those keeping score at home, yes... in the first hour I walked 30 minutes, ran ~.9 miles, walked 5 minutes, ran ~1.2 miles for a total of ~4 miles. Did I mention I was trying to 'ease into the day'??

a couple hours in - wet but still warm enough
with 2 shirts, afton hat, gloves, and sweatpants

Another part of my plan was to run on the side of the paved path as much as possible. The first couple hours went fine but of course I started feeling things, like my creaky ankles. And my left knee started bothering me (IT band?). So after 'preaching' to Karen that runners need to be careful with ibuprofen I went right for it! I then walked half of the next lap and started running mostly on the paved path. After that lap I changed shoes (and put on dry socks) as well. I'm guessing it was mostly the ibuprofen but these adjustments worked and nothing really hurt the rest of the way.

a couple more hours in - added vest and warmer hat

A nice thing about my one-loop-per-half-hour plan was that I would be back to my stuff at the top and bottom of the hour. That made it easy to see how I was doing... whether I was on track or starting to fade.

I was in for the 3-hour checkpoint at 2:54. Then I was in at ~3:25 and that's when I took the ibuprofen and walked the first half of the next lap, getting in for the 4-hour checkpoint at 4:01. So far so good but then I started fading as other check-point times were 5:13, 6:17, and 7:27. So by 7:30 I was about a lap 'behind', though I had actually started shutting it down by then (more on that later).

I made note of a few other splits: marathon was 5:45, ~27miles at 6 hours, 50K was 6:50:50 (PR), 35 miles at 8 hours.

Pete and family stopped by, woohoo!
approaching the last hour, added another shirt and jacket

I think to keep going in a race like this you need to have some set goals that you refer back to when your motivation fades. My main thought for FANS 12 was to bridge the gap between 50K and 50 miles. So my goals were to cover about 40 miles, not get injured (like thrashing my achilles or knee), and go the whole 12 hours. Somewhere around 9-10 hours I started thinking maybe I'd bail early until I remembered the specific 'whole 12 hours' goal. Without that who knows what I would've decided in the heat of the battle (ok, in hour 8 of the rain!).

Since the idea was to bridge the 50K to 50 mile gap, I wasn't actually going for 50 miles. WHAT?!?!! That almost seems sacrilegious, doesn't it? I debated with myself for awhile during the middle part of the run - should I go for it or not? At the end of the day I didn't go for it; I finished feeling good, confident, and hungry for more... so I'll definitely be going for 50 miles next time! I will say if Pete had showed up earlier the debate would've probably ended differently... so I was kinda relieved that my fate was sealed by the time he got there. :)

Jarrett and family stopped by, woohoo!
This is the "I'm done!" picture.

I pretty much walked the last couple full laps. Then came the last hour and the short loops. I decided I would do a few of those mainly to experience that part of the race, and before long I was running pretty hard and eventually sprinting (at least it felt like it) for the last cone with the clock ticking down. It's a pretty exciting time with lots of people around, so if there's anything left in the legs it's pretty hard not to run.

All in all this was a great event and I enjoyed it a lot. And I plan to do it again. Thank You to everyone that played a part!

This is my longest race report ever, but I suppose that makes sense considering this was my longest run ever. Here are some final notes as I wrap this up:

My garmin 305 registered 47.02 miles! The official results (now) say 46.37 miles. This is the most miles I've ever run at one time. Actually, it's more miles than I've ever run in a week.

I like seeing people. And this venue allows you to see ALL of the other runners - especially if you do the 12 hour and then stick around for the rest. And of course all the other people as well: family, friends, crews, volunteers, etc.

Doing the same course over and over again didn't bother me. Actually I kinda liked it as I'd recognize different spots... and use them for markers later.

There were some great performances... a new 24 hour record of 147.41 miles, quite a few people over 100 miles including Karen with a 3rd place finish and a PR at just shy of 107 miles, John Storkamp's 80.9 miles in the 12 hour!!

Med-City 20 miler

2009-05-25T19:24:00.049-05:00

This past weekend was the Med-City Marathon... Half Marathon, 4-person relay, and 20 mile run. The weather was great as well as everything else that I saw and experienced. Thank you to the YMCA, Final Stretch, and everyone else involved in putting on a great event, again!

The last couple years I've done the half marathon and then played spectator for the rest of the morning. This year I didn't get around to signing up early, and by the time I did I decided $55 for the half marathon was too much. That decision was made easier by the fact that they have a 20 mile run and it was only $15... so that's what I did.

I decided I should make this practice for my FANS 12 plan. Overall the run went well and I learned a few lessons: run off the asphalt as much as possible, run slower, take the walk breaks - all of them and for the fully allotted time. So what is the FANS plan? Run 25 minutes (max), walk 4-5 minutes (including all of the concrete bridge, even though part of it is downhill), repeat.

I feel pretty good about getting 20 miles in and not doing any damage to myself. I'm not sure I could've done another 20 miles, which is why I need to be better about following the plan.

I still played spectator a bit, and as you'll see a couple trail runners came down to join the fun. This was Karen's first Med-City, but Allan is one of the handful of people that has run every one... along with my friend Andy - congrats, guys!

Allan and Karen before the race

Karen, Andy, and I before the race

Karen about mile 3, right before she dropped me (it was time to start working the FANS plan which meant I was due my first walk). In orange is Rochester runner Kit H. who was working the RTC aid station later. And in the back left in black are Joe and Sara Lovett - thanks for cheering us on.

Karen around mile 15 - I was around mile 14.

The Rochester Track Club (RTC) aid station was in this area, and they were full of enthusiasm and making lots of noise. I recognized a number of familiar faces which is always nice. The 2nd time through they were asking what they could get me and listed off water, gatorade, energy bar pieces, orange slices, etc. I said "Well, what I was really hoping for was a cookie!" Well sometimes you just need to know who and when to ask... hehe. Thank you Jean for digging one out from your aid station volunteer stash! I enjoyed nibbling on that for the next half mile or so. I figured it was the RTC's aid station so it seemed reasonable that there were cookies somewhere in the vicinity! That was a nice little bonus.

Andy around mile 23

Allan around mile 22.

Karen around mile 21.5 - I was almost done with my 20.

Andy and Tom, friends and competitors from way back. Both went under 4 hours.

Allan finishing (grrr, smudged lense... sorry for the crappy picture). Chip time: 4:01:44

Karen finishing (sorry for the crappy picture). Chip time: 4:18:38.
Turns out this was a PR -- Congrats!!

Superior 50K Trail Run, take II

2009-05-19T22:16:00.021-05:00

This past weekend was the Spring Superior Trail Races. Thank you to Mike and Gretchen and all the volunteers for putting on a great event! The weather was rather harsh out in the open, so everyone deserves extra kudos for toughing it out for the benefit of the runners... THANKS!!

My experience:
"Wow that was hard. Really hard."

Yup, I stole that from last year's race report. It's still true.

I've been getting used to the warmer weather 'down south' (Rochester), and just barely brought enough clothes. I'm glad I grabbed the hat and gloves on the way out the door. Got pretty muddy and that's always fun.

(Pictures are from Rick - Thanks!)
Ran with Karen G. and Rick B. for awhile... then ran the rest of the race mostly alone. Every now and then I'd see someone as they cruised on by. It was crazy... people wouldn't slowly catch me and then slowly pull away. Suddenly they'd be there, and then gone. I'd look up 30 seconds after they passed and in most cases wouldn't be able to see them any more.

It was kind of a weird race. I ended up doing well, but I didn't really realize it during the run. I was too negative in my head all day, so I'll have to work on that. It's a tough trail to run, and others seem to cruise along on it better than I do. I'm quite careful and concerned about my ankles, so that slows me down. Anyway, I must've said to myself about 800 times some version of "man, I just can't run very well on this trail". Before too long the other voices in my head started answering back: "yeah, we got it... shut up already!!" And that was pretty much the conversation for most of the day. doh! Like I said, I'll have to work on that.

My main goal was to run fast enough to get my time in the results. Last year they put 'Finisher' for everyone over 8 hours, so I wanted to go under 8 hours. I set up my Garmin to race myself using last year's data, but it didn't work... so I really didn't know if I was ahead of schedule or not. At the last aid station I asked Larry Pederson if I could walk the whole last section in 2 hours and 15 minutes, and he said I'd have to run some of it.

I took that to mean I actually had a chance. So I tried to keep moving as best I could. I don't know the end of the trail all that well so I kept wondering "well how much farther is it, and do I have enough time?" "What if I get to the bridge with 20 minutes to go... can I get to the finish in 20 minutes?" "That last road stretch seems to go on forever... but maybe forever is just like 10 minutes or so." And of course there was the every so often "man I'm kinda tired, is 8 hours really that big a deal??" Thankfully that thought was mostly ignored. I ended up running way more of the last few miles than last year, and I got the sub-8 hour!

So at the end of the day I ran faster than last year, I made my goal of under 8 hours, and my time was in the range I've been running lately. A pretty good day, I'd say. Too bad I didn't figure it out until after the fact.

Congrats to everyone that got out there for a run, and Thanks again to the race directors and all the helpers!!

Oh yeah... I should add a 'Steve Quick' note. No I didn't beat Steve... are you nuts?!? He's way faster than me, even after running like a thousand miles in the last 4 days... or whatever. But I gotta take what I can get, so here it is: Steve and I both ran the Superior 50K in 7 hours and some. :)

Chippewa Moraine 50K Trail Run, take II

2009-04-26T21:39:00.112-05:00

Yesterday was the 2nd running of the Chippewa Moraine 50KM Trail Race - "A Run For The Ages". Thank You to all involved... it was another great race! Here's my race report.

The normal pre-race activity was fun... milling around chatting with people, trying to figure out how much to wear (is it going to rain or not?), and generally just waiting to get going.

Talked to Kel who was there to do her first 50K! Which she did... Congrats!!!! Initially was trying to keep track of Kel and Mike.. ran with them for a bit at the beginning.

As things started clearing out I hooked up with a group and after awhile started looking around... "hmmm, that's Carl Gammon right up there... and Allan Holtz, Joe Lovett... I'm not supposed to be anywhere near this group!"

Turns out I would see Carl a couple times throughout the day... Carl was helping Janine run her first 50K... way to go, Carl - it doesn't get much better than that. And Congratulations, Janine!

So around 4 miles or so I decided to look at some of the data from my Garmin. Hmmmm, average pace about 12:30s. Ok, what do I have written down at home... 15:30s is 8 hours, 14:30s is 7.5 hours, 13:30s is 7 hours.... oh great, I'm on 6.5 hour pace. mr ego says "you rock!", mr logic says "you're dead meat!!"

I didn't feel like I was pushing... too much. Seemed like I was just kinda cruising along... "I think I can run this pace for quite awhile". mr logic: "your 'quite awhile' is usually way shorter than the actual race"

So I started throttling back... but that's hard to do. I let the group go and cruised along on my own. Focused on running easy... walking more of the uphills, etc. Took a bit of time and enjoyed every aid station, getting some pictures and visiting a bit. And eating of course.

Saw Karen Gall working at the first aid station... Kel and Brook and others cruised on by... I was able to get rid of my extra jacket (Mike's wife offered to take it - Thanks!).

Next aid station... talked to Mike's wife and daughter (sorry I don't remember your names) to see how he was doing... mentioned that I should probably be wherever he is right now.

Next aid station came real soon after the previous one... but I still had to grab a few things and visit a bit. Lisa was working at this one (though she stood out on the road and avoided the picture).

The last stretch to the turn-around is pretty long. Could see Kel and some others up ahead every so often. Eventually caught up to them just after the leaders started cruising by on their way back.

Gradually my average pace hit 13:00... and then at the turn-around I was at 13:30 pace/3.5 hours... so still a 7 hour finishing time if I could run even splits (mr logic: "yeah right").

It was great to see a bunch of friendly and familiar faces at the turn-around aid station... and get great support as usual. Always a mental boost!

I was talking to Londell before the race and he said he was going to be the cut-off enforcer at the turn-around. He told me I had 4.5 hours... so I joked that I was going to sit around for an hour to 'use up the rest of my allotted time' before heading back. Of course, mr ego said "you rock! Get going... 7 hours is a totally sweet time!". Even mr logic said "yeah, get going"

So, restocked with water and food and feeling pretty good... I was ready to head out for the 2nd half. (Thanks for the picture, Lynn Saari.)

The first part of the return trip was kinda nuts. A couple of us left about the same time, and as we all settled in another runner (#128) and I hooked up and ran together for the long stretch to the next aid station. (Thanks for the picture, Lisa.)

The crazy part is that we kept catching and passing people... something I'm not used to. At one point I commented that "I'm probably going to pay for this later, but isn't it fun to keep catching and passing people?" She seemed to agree.

I didn't see her again once we reached the aid station so I think she went on to finish well, and as predicted I eventually paid for the craziness. But mr ego said "you rock! it was worth it!" Because I was running with someone else and because we kept catching people, I think at this point I was still on pace to finish in 7 hours.

So with 9+ miles to go I could tell most of the fun was over and I would be trying to hang on as best I could over the last miles. Mr logic started saying "ok, you've banked quite a few good miles... try to salvage whatever you can... hopefully the average pace won't fall too far, too fast". And predicatably, mr ego was saying "you rock!".

The next miles were pretty normal for the end of a loooong run. The amount of walking increased as I just tried to run/jog/shuffle when I could... with the goal being to get to the next aid station, and eventually the finish.
I remember telling Karen at the last aid station that I was at 14:00s... so in the previous ~4 miles my average pace for the whole race dropped from 13:30s to 14:00s -- about a 7:15 50K if my math was still working. The big question was... how much farther would it drop? I felt 14:30s - a 7:30 50K was realistic, so that's what I was hoping to preserve. But the downward slide was definitely on!

About 3.5-4 miles out I hooked up with another guy... Ken Norwood, I think. We were both ready to be done and just trying to get to the finish. Again it helped to have someone else close to help me keep moving. And it felt very good to finally get to the end.

As you can see from the picture, my pace continued to drop but the finish line came just in time... I was able to get in under 7:30 for a new 50K PR of 7:26:24!!
And then it was time to join the post-race festivities!!

Thank you to Wynn and Matt and Adam... and all the great volunteers! All the hard work added up to another great race! See you next year...

Trail Mix

2009-04-19T11:35:00.025-05:00

Wow, what a nice day for a trail race. The weather for Trail Mix was great (though maybe it got a little warm for the 50Kers). After running the 25K I hung around the park and enjoyed the day, watching the 50K runners finish (and chatting with Curt, Keith, Adam, Zach and family, etc). For the 2nd weekend in a row it was nice to see people out and about after a long winter.

I've been swapping emails about this race with Lisa (aka, wildknits) and it was fun to see her there. We actually started out running together - she dropped me going down the ski hill and I caught back up for most of the wood chip section. We finished loop one at about 1:15 and I knew I was done. Lisa did great as she basically ran even splits by holding that pace and finished in 2:31. Nice job, Lisa... I think you're primed and ready for your first 50K trail race later this year! :)

Early during my 2nd loop I saw 50Kers E and Les and Karen and some other familiar faces (Rick, and Shelly?) on the out-and-back section. I was mostly just trying to hang on but this gave me a little motivation that maybe I'd be able to catch them. I did catch a few of them towards the end of the loop and then let Karen pull me to the finish.

Loop 2 took me 11 minutes longer than loop 1 for a total time of 2:41. This wasn't good enough to keep the streak going as I would've had to run about 2:28 to do that, but it is a couple minutes better than my 2007 time on the full course... so I'm happy with it. As for the streak, the plan is to start that again this next weekend at the Chippewa Moraine 50K!

Congratulations to everyone who was out there running Trail Mix! Here are some pictures I took after I was done running (not great, but better than nothing? click to see big pic).

If you look closely you'll see at least 4 new 100 mile finishers since last Fall (Woohooo!!), and two of them joined that list last weekend!

Zumbro 100

2009-04-16T20:41:00.016-05:00

The first Zumbro 100 was held last weekend, and by all accounts was a smashing success!

I was there as a volunteer. Here's a picture of aid station #2 where I spent most of my time.

And here's a picture from the start/finish/aid station #1 area.

Thanks for the pictures, Londell.

Lots has been written elsewhere about the race, and the consensus is that the course is very tough. Lots of ups and downs, and rocks... many hidden under leaves. SteveQ described the footing on the course as 'more treacherous than Superior' and I think that's a good description. I played sweeper on the big loop part of the course with Kel and Alicia, and as we made our way over the course we were all impressed by the runners that got out there and went for it. Completing 3 or 5 loops on that course is definitely commendable!!

Note to self: volunteer again next year, and bring warmer clothes... it can get quite cold overnight in April in MN.

Congratulations to Larry and Colleen and all the runners that toed the line and made the first Zumbro 100 a smashing success!

Fool's Five

2009-04-05T20:04:00.008-05:00

I did some speed work today, or speedier work anyway.

The Fool's Five is an 8K road race in Lewiston, MN. It's been around 31 years and is a pretty big race especially for a small town. Its purpose is to raise money for cancer research. Guest speakers in past years have included world-class runners Alberto Salazar, Frank Shorter, and Dick Beardsley, as well as cancer research specialists, motivational speakers, and cancer survivors.

I'm kinda scared of these shorter races these days, but also realize they are good for me and my running. I felt pretty good the whole way and feel like I had a pretty good day. It's always hard when I'm pushing it now to know if I'm in over my head or if I'll be able to hold on. Today I held up well and actually finished strong.

I've done this race quite a few times over the years, usually with my friend Andy (who finished in 38:00 today). In the last mile I was thinking about how I used to try and finish in 35 minutes (I never did), and now I try to finish in 45 minutes. Last year I couldn't do it, this year I did... woohoooo. Unofficial garmin time 42:34. Avg heart rate 153, highest heart rate 170.

Hmmm, I've done 3 official races so far this year. And for all of them I did the same race last year, and so far I'm 3-for-3 on beating last year's time. I wonder how long I can keep this streak going? Doh... I just realized my next race is Trail Mix, and last year's time will be tough to beat as we didn't have to run the ski hill. Should I pray for snow and ice so we don't have to run the ski hill this year?? Ha, no way!! Clear trails rule, ice and snow drool.

Self-cleaning...

2009-03-31T22:38:00.004-05:00

This struck me as kinda odd.

be careful with the courtesy flush...

Zumbro Bottoms

2009-03-15T22:59:00.027-05:00

I decided I wanted to hit some trails this weekend and decided to take a trip to Zumbro Bottoms. Yes, this is where the Zumbro 100 will be held in April... and no, this doesn't mean I'm training for it. Though I do plan to be there as a volunteer.

It was a beautiful day to be out. Some of the trails were pretty sloppy, but that kinda adds to the fun. If you want to get an idea of where in the world this place is, and where some of the trails are... check out this motion-based link. Feel free to ignore all the gory details about my run. And to see how things looked out there this weekend, here are some of the pictures I took.

Test: Capitol

2009-03-03T18:06:00.001-06:00

Wayne Nelson
- from treo

FANS 12 ??, Afton

2009-03-01T16:00:00.013-06:00

Well, my plan to check out the FANS course didn't work out very well.

On Thursday I wanted to stay up after work for a presentation at Midwest Mountaineering, and I figured I'd kill time by running around Lake Nokomis. I wanted to see if I could get around a couple times and try to project forward to June to see if I could do that for most of 12 hours. What I've heard is that the course is really quite easy and the hard part is in going around and around and around and around (you get the idea) on a flat, hard surface... hour after hour... in the heat of the day, and for the 24-ers all night long.

Turns out I killed most of my time in stop-and-go traffic on 94. And then the course turned out to be quite difficult and amazingly cold. Not at all what I was expecting. My thought about FANS 12 is that maybe I could use that to bridge the gap between 31 miles and 50 miles. Seems like it would be a good experience and good for my confidence if I could pull off 40 miles without injury. After Thursday I'm looking at maybe 12 miles. I'll need to think about this some more.

Things probably would've gone a little better if I had done Thursday's run in snowshoes. Thankfully I was able to do that on Sat, at Afton State Park. Thank you to Alicia, Tom and Nancy for hosting a Fat... um, an informal snowshoe and potluck event on Sat. The sun was out, there wasn't much wind, and thanks to Thur there was plenty of good snow. And then eating and hanging out afterwards was great as you would expect. I thought my snowshoeing days were over for this winter, but I'm glad this worked out. Thank You to the organizers and everyone that showed up.

Psycho Wyco 50K Trail Run, take II

2009-02-17T19:43:00.053-06:00

This past weekend I ran the Psycho Wyco 50K Trail Run in Kansas City for the 2nd year in a row. Let me start with this:

Thank You to Bad Ben Holmes and all his awesome volunteers. Bad Ben - you and your Trail Nerds put on one excellent race. I loved the cowbell and yelling at the 1st aid station -it's great having that excitement pull the runners through the Triangle. The 2nd aid station was definitely a nice bonus that I took advantage of 3 times. And the 3rd aid station... WOW. Hand's down that's the best I've ever been treated at an aid station. One time through someone took and filled my water bottle, while someone else filled my Nathan pouch with goodies, while someone else handed me some cheese quesadillas, and they topped it off with some of the good Valentine's Day chocolates. All that in a matter of seconds, and I swear they were cheering for me for taking all the stuff. A beautiful and tough course, with great markings and tons of friendly people... this race is definitely worth doing, and I hope to be back again and again. Thank You!

Last year I drove down myself, this year I went with Les and Mike. This year was way cooler. Last year I parked on the far side of the parking lot and put my drop bag by the main aid station with all the rest. Check out the 2nd picture above... yup, that bridge in the background is the course. When you go with an ultra veteran like Les, you get to work out of your vehicle... much better. Each time through I stopped and picked up a new gel flask, and stripped off a shirt.

Here we are at the start. Notice how I'm trying to sneak ahead of the other two. And a little bit later as we hit the first water crossing, look who's in the back. I'm still getting used to the 'ebb and flow' of these races. You can be running with someone, then there's a gap, and then you're back together again. I've found this happens as people get tired and recover at different times, and also based on the terrain. I seem to be ok power walking the uphills, but get blown away by people who can run the technical downhills.

The good news: we all completed the 50K. Way to go, Minnesota runners!!

#91 below is Glenn, and I caught up to him towards the end of lap 2. He was walking due to back pain. In true ultrarunner form I encouraged him to stick out lap 3 as he had plenty of time to walk it in. And he did. After some ebb and flow, we finished the race together - both walking and running. Way to gut it out, Glenn.

After getting going, most of lap 1 I spent with one main thought going through my head: BAM! That's right... BAM! I was racing another runner and I was taking it to him. BAM! Take that you weak, slow runner. BAM! You're going down, you don't have a chance, I'm ahead and increasing my lead with every mile. BAM!

So who was this poor sap?? Well, ME of course. That's right... using my Garmin I was racing myself using last year's Psycho Wyco race data. And I'm happy to report that I kicked my own butt. After lap 1 I was ahead by ~.75 miles and 10 minutes. After lap 2 I was ahead by 30 minutes and ~1.70 miles. And at the end I was ahead by 1:07 and ~2.7 miles. Woohooo!

This was my 5th 50K and I'm definitely happy with how it went. So what's next? I'm thinking the biggies will be: Chippewa, Superior, FANS 12 (?), Afton, Half Voyageur, Pikes Peak Ascent (?), Superior Moose Mtn, In Yan Teopa, and Surf the Murph 50 mile (???????????).

I decided to post a few more pictures of the course. Mud has been a big deal the last two years, and the pictures don't really do justice. How about joining me down there next year to check it out for yourself?! :)

Back in the game: Work and Northwoods Snowshoe Championships

2009-01-21T22:09:00.029-06:00

I started work today after being off since the middle of Oct. Let's just say I'm glad to be back in the game. My new job is with the MN Dept of Agriculture, Information Technology Division in St Paul. I interviewed for the job and they decided I was qualified. It'd be a good ego-boost to think I totally smoked the field of other top-notch applicants... and there really was no competition. As in, I was the only person that interviewed for the job! Can you believe that? I can't imagine that happens very often these days.

The Northwoods Snowshoe Championships were held this past weekend in Duluth. After a bitterly cold week, Sat turned out to be a pretty nice day. I ran the half marathon, and ended up running the whole way with Karen who was doing the full marathon. That's Karen leading the charge in the picture, with me trying to hang on in the middle, followed by another guy we'd just passed after chasing him for miles.

With my Garmin I was able to "run against myself" using the course data from last year. For most of the time we were behind. But we definitely finished the half marathon stronger than I did last year - in the last few miles I could see us slowing but surely catching up. As I came around the last corner and saw the clock, I "sprinted" in and PRed by a whopping 9 or 10 seconds!! :)

So I basically did the same as last year, and I'm happy with how it went. It was good to get back in the race game, too (Surph the Murph was Nov 1st). Next up is Psycho Wyco in Kansas City.

MNTRS and UMTR

2008-11-09T12:40:00.096-06:00

The MN Trail Running Series (MNTRS) is a series of 12 trail races throughout Minnesota, ranging in distances from 5K up to a marathon. (Follow the link to learn more about the races, results, rules, registration.) This is a great series. Besides learning about some of the best races out there, it's a good way to get to know other runners in the series as you see them at the different races.

I was introduced to the series by Kate Havelin at a local race (Chester Woods) in 2007. What really caught my attention was the cool award she had for doing ALL of the races the previous year. I could relate to her story: "I'll never win an award based on how fast I run, but there's an awesome award for completing all the races."

The series dictated a big part of my 2008 running schedule! I decided to sign up and try to do all the races. And what was really cool... 3 other runners decided to do the same thing. Kel, Jim, John, and I all decided to go for it -- to "shoot the moon" -- and thankfully we discovered early that there were 4 of us. We looked for each other at each race, enjoyed catching up and encouraging each other, and I'm happy to report that we all did it!!

Congratulations Kel, Jim, and John!! Check out Kel's recap of all the races, and our cool awards (made by Larry Pederson, President of the UMTR, one of the creators of the MNTRS, and the guy with the beard in the back of the photo):

photo from Phillip Gary Smith, Ultrasuperior.com

The above photo was taken at the UMTR Awards Fest -- the 1st Annual Awards Fest celebrating a season of running.

The Upper Midwest Trail Runners (UMTR) is a new club for anyone who likes to run off road. (Follow the link to learn lots more.) The UMTR has adopted the MNTRS, and created a 2nd series: The Fab 5 Fifties is a series of 9 ultra trail races with distances of 50K or 50 miles throughout the upper Midwest, stretching over 1000 miles from South Dakota to Michigan.

So are you a trail runner? Or are you interested in trying it? The UMTR is the place to be... check it out and consider joining for 2009! I will be renewing my membership. I really enjoyed the MNTRS races in 2008 and will certainly do some of them again in 2009. But I also have my eye on some of the races in the Fab 5 Fifties series. I hope to see you out there...

Surf the Murph 50K

2008-11-03T22:01:00.051-06:00

When I found out about Surf the Murph, I thought "this could be a great way to wrap up the year". This is my rookie year in the 50k ultra world, and I did three early on: in Feb, April, and May. I figured it'd be great to run one more 50k, on a beautiful Fall day, in a great park, with friends, while setting a PR (a person can dream, right??).

Well, what do ya know... that's pretty much how it went!

I think the best part is that I ran the whole way with other people! Normally I end up running by myself - and that's ok, I still enjoy the races. But running with others all day long at Surf the Murph was a total blast!!

I started out with Kel - we took it easy in the dark and then settled into an easy pace. I'm glad Kel was just out to enjoy the day and wasn't interested in pushing it, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to hang with her. As it was, I still almost got dropped on the single track on the first lap.

During the 2nd lap we started hearing voices. They'd be there, then they'd be gone, and then they'd be back. Nothing spooky going on, just a group of runners that were slowly reeling us in. We started thinking "just catch us already!"... I've decided slowly catching other runners must be more fun than slowly being caught. :)

photo from Bryan Cochran

Kel was done with her 25K at the end of lap 2, so I decided I would see if this other group of runners would let me join them... and sure enough they did. So the fun continued. I knew Les from before, and got to know Carol, JoAnn, Tom, E, and John out on the course. We just cruised along - the back of the pack - chatting away and enjoying a nice day in the woods. It seemed everyone started feeling the miles along the way, but we all hung in for a nice finish.

I should note that this was a very compassionate group of runners. About the only mishap was me twisting my ankle early on lap 4. The two runners I was with (who shall remain nameless) paused for just a bit as I started walking it off. I received a quick "are you ok?" and "gotta shake it off"... and then they took off! As they ditched me I'm pretty sure I also heard "if you can't shake it off, someone will come back for you. we think. probably tomorrow. maybe." Tough love I guess, and it worked... I shook it off. :)

photo from Cindy Martisko

A great big Thank You goes to Les & Cindy and all the volunteers for putting on a great event!! I hope to do this one again. As always, it was nice to reconnect with friends and make some new ones. Hopefully there will be some group runs in the next couple of months before the next race season begins. Until then, hang in there, heal up if necessary, and run when you can!

Marathon PR at WhistleStop!

2008-10-15T17:22:00.012-05:00

... for my friend Ron -- Congratulations, Ron!!

This was Ron's 3rd marathon in 3 years, and he's improved by 30 minutes or more each time out. At this rate, 3 more marathons and he'll be under 3 hours!

Me? Well, I PRed too... for the year anyway. My time was 4:55:45, which beats my Grandma's time of 5:01:46 and my Moose Mountain time of 7:13:32. (Ok, beating my Moose Mtn time was probably a given.) Like probably 98% of everybody who's ever run a marathon in their life, I was hoping to do better. I have no real data that suggests I should've done better, but isn't this how it often goes with the marathon: "I made it, but not as fast as I would've liked".

I will say that I don't think long, slow trail runs do a very good job of preparing me for long, faster-paced 'road' runs. I'm not sure why I was thinking they would. Especially when my long, slow trail runs involve me walking, a lot. And then I want to do the long, faster-paced 'road' runs without walking. In hindsight it seems I might be expecting a little too much. Hmm, why don't I think of this stuff beforehand?

As for the run itself, it was a very good day to be out there: great weather, nice colors. My plan was to run conservatively, run pretty much the whole way, and finish somewhere in the 4:30 range. I felt like I was taking it easy at the beginning and got to the half-way point in just under 2:15. The 2nd half of the course has 10 re-decked railroad trestles (yes, that's straight from the race brochure). I don't know exactly where the first one was, but when I got there I could tell I was starting to fade. So I quickly decided that my new strategy would be to walk a minute at each bridge. [interesting note: when I took my first walk, someone ran by and said "oh no, you were my pacer!" I thought "Oh great, I'm not only disappointing myself, I'm disappointing you too." bah.] The first couple bridges were spread out nicely and the new strategy worked well, for a little while anyway. At mile 18 I took my first non-bridge walk. And soon after that slow-mode officially set in, with lots of walking and shuffling the rest of the way. After a couple 15-minute miles I was able to pick it up a bit at the end to still get in under 5 hours. Woohooo for small victories. :)

I've upped my miles the last year, and wanted to get to the point where running a marathon wouldn't be such a big deal. (It used to be... I'd run one every couple of years, and only after following a pretty strict training schedule.) It seems I've gotten to that point. What I haven't seemed to figure out yet is that one of the sacrifices of that approach (the "I'm not going to train for it" approach) is the expected finishing time. Some day I'll get smarter, maybe.

So, marathon #11 is in the books. As a finish is never guaranteed, I'll take it. Now it's time to complete the last race of the MN Trail Running Series: the Big Woods Half Marathon; and then see if I can complete my 4th 50K: Surf the Murph. And then... it'll be time to ease into the off-season and see how much low heart rate training I can do before going totally bonkers.

In Yan Teopa and Twin Cities Marathon

2008-10-05T20:49:00.024-05:00

A couple weeks ago I camped out at Frontenac State Park and ran In Yan Teopa (#11 of 12 on the quest for a fancy mirror): the initial downhills and chatting with Lynn Saari got me going too fast, and I paid for it later. Very nice day for a run, and another excellent job by Larry and all the great folks involved. Congrats to Jim for keeping the streak alive with some 'high paced' driving! And for some reason it cracked me up that within about 3 minutes of Karen's finish, her knee problem had been diagnosed and she'd been given about 18 different stretches and exercises to deal with it -- I hope you can remember all that!

I didn't run the Twin Cities Marathon, but hooked up with Pete Anderson around mile 23 to watch -- Congrats to all those who ran it! It was fun and inspiring to be out there. I usually do ok with pictures, but today's are pretty rough. And I did pretty well spotting people [gotta love those Afton shirts!] until Ted showed up. So if you're bummed that I didn't get a crappy picture of you... sorry. Blame Ted.

John	Helen
Julie	Bryan
Maria	Karen

City of Lakes Trail-Loppet Half Marathon

2008-09-23T09:24:00.032-05:00

This past weekend was race #10 of the MN Trail Running Series. It was fun to have another race, and to see some of the usual cast of characters: Kel, Jim, John, Kate, Brook, Steve, and Lisa. Congrats to those who ran fast enough to bring home some hardware!

Lisa

Steve

It was a great day for a run. Nothing too out of the ordinary (well, maybe a few things were): ran too fast at the beginning; started thinking I better slow down and settle in; started thinking I should've done the 5k; had Steve join me (Thanks, Steve) to make sure I wouldn't slow down and settle in; Steve left me, I got stung by 2 bees, Steve came back and hadn't been stung (what's up with that, Steve?); died at about 7.5 miles and was slow-mode the rest of the way --yippee, #10 is in the books.

Or not. Checked the online results last night and my name wasn't listed. huh?? Uh-oh. No official results, no series sweep prize?!? (Unless Kate remembers hearing the race announcer call out my name when I finished? And/or accepts my gps track as proof I really did it? Or...??) Anyway, sent a couple emails and rumor has it my name will be added. My question about that is: is the guy just going to add me because I said I did it, or will he go back and find whatever was missed the first time? If he's just going to add me, maybe I should've given him a better time? :) just kidding.

A couple other good things about the weekend:
- bought a 'Duluth pack' style bag from a guy who just happened to live about 3 miles from the race site. The hope is that on future camping trips I will no longer be the guy making 5 trips back and forth from the vehicle to carry 18 different things individually. I'll be trying it out at Frontenac this Fri night... anyone want to join me? If so, are you good with fire??

- scouted out the Surf the Murph park on Sunday. I'm not sure I was on the actual race course trails, but the running surface seems good - some uneven ground but not a lot of rocks and roots. There are some big hills out there! This won't be an easy course.

- did all my traveling, including to the race on Sat morning, on the motorcycle and had no problems. woohoooo!!

Marathon #10: Moose Mountain

2008-09-10T20:06:00.193-05:00

As mentioned before, the Superior Fall Races were this past weekend. The Moose Mountain Marathon was my 10th marathon, and definitely the hardest of the 10.

Some comments, and then lots of aid station pictures:

enjoyed the 100 mile pre-race event - all the runners seemed calm, and it was cool that Larry had them introduce themselves.
enjoyed working at the Silver Bay aid station - got to see all the 100 milers, but it was a bummer to see Molly suffer after the bee stings, to hear that Adam's achilles stopped him, and to see Londell's back stop him.
enjoyed camping out with Pete "Ted" Anderson at Crosby Manitou State Park and hanging out at the aid station - almost stayed up all night since we were "only doing the marathon", and the homemade stew was great.
enjoyed waking up Sat morning having not been attacked by bears or wolves
enjoyed hearing about those still going Sat morning, and bummed to hear about those who weren't (Steve, Phillip, Les).

me, Ted (picture from Pete)

me, Kel, Jim (picture from Kel)

enjoyed the marathon on Sat -
- pushed a bit on the early runnable sections
- kept repeating "don't be such a chicken" when I thought pushing was a bad idea
- saw 100 miler Matt in the first section - still going, woohoo
- was actually with other runners for the first 8+ miles: including Pete and Kel at different times, and Holly for a split second as she flew by
- fell forward at the top of a steep climb - beats falling down
- snuck out of the first aid station without Kel because she was running pretty strong [sorry :)]
- settled into my own groove and didn't get stung by any bees
- set a speed record through the 2nd aid station giving those already there the joy of chasing me down
- hit slow-mode about mile 15
- spent more time at the 3rd aid station than the others combined - yeah, I was stalling and the mashed potatoes rocked
- walked the majority of the last section - watching 7 hours slip away
- finally finished, to the applause of those at the finish line - really cool
- finished in 7:13:32 for my best average pace on the Superior Hiking Trail ever... woohooo

enjoyed hanging out after the marathon cheering for other finishers, visiting, eating, etc., but then was bummed to see Carl in street clothes and to learn his feet stopped him after 80-some miles.
enjoyed stopping at the Oberg aid station on the way back to Crosby Manitou - was good to see runners head out on the last section (in the rain), but it was a drag to see Karen come back and drop after a valiant effort to finish.

Special congratulations go to Matt for finishing the 100 miler, his first. And also to Keith for finishing the 50 miler, his first, in his monkey shoes (Vibram FiveFingers)... wow! Way to go, guys!! Also a 'good job' to Bill on his marathon (I was ~84 minutes behind you, yikes). And to others I saw that I'm forgetting to mention... Way to Go! :)

Also Congrats to John, Kel, and Jim -- with John finishing the 50 miler, and Kel, Jim, and I finishing the marathon... the 4 of us are all still on track to finish all of the races in the short series. Only 3 more to go... let's finish it!

This was a great weekend: lots of runners and crews in 3 great races, lots of great volunteers making it all happen, lots of grit and determination. It wasn't fun hearing of the different drops, but it was still inspiring hearing of all the great efforts both by those who finished and those who didn't. Congratulations to all the runners that trained and made it to the starting line, and a big Thank You to RD Larry and all the volunteers for a great event!

Pictures are mainly from the Silver Bay and Crosby Manitou aid stations (night pictures from Pete).


Beaver Bay: Wynn, Chris G	Chris G	Wynn
Joe	Duke	Adam
		?, Chris H
Doug		Helen


Susan	Matt, Molly	Christian
Daryl	Pierre	John
Silver Bay aid station

	Julie, Kami
	Steve, ?
	Carl	Deb, Carl, Charlie

		Phillip
Les	Londell	Larry
	Helen	Doug, Chris H

	Crosby Manitou aid station	the 'lost' dog

SUPERIOR!!!!

2008-09-02T19:35:00.035-05:00

Finally the Superior Trail Races (Fall version) are here!

For some like me that means running the Moose Mountain Marathon: 26.2 miles on the Superior Hiking Trail. For others that means running the Superior Trail 50 mile or the Superior Sawtooth 100 mile. And for others that means volunteering to make these races happen.

Not everyone emails or blogs, but the excitement level of those that do is very high... and it's contagious. I find myself pumped up by the excitement of the aid station workers making plans to provide the best support possible, the runners going back to complete some unfinished business, the runners going to attempt a certain race or distance for the first time, and everyone else involved for whatever reason. It's fun and easy to get caught up in everyone else's story, so every now and then I have to remind myself that I'm actually running too! :)

So speaking of me running, here's a picture of me finishing the Rochester Half Marathon a couple weekends ago. In the last year I've started running more miles, on more trails, with more hills, played around with low heart-rate training... and a couple months ago observed that I had gone from slow to deathly slow. It seems I'm making a little bit of a comeback as my Rochester Half time was a PR for at least the last 7 years.

Woohooo, right? Well, yeah. It's always fun to have a good race and do better than you expect. And some increase in confidence is a good thing. Being over-confident isn't so good though. Last Fall I ran a good half also, and then proceeded to crash and burn at Whistle Stop after deciding I should "PR or bust". That was just plain foolish and I have no intention of repeating that mistake.

But then again, it would be really cool to put in a good one on Sat! I would like to move from total survival mode on these long runs to where I push things a bit. hehe And that's part of the fun, isn't it? Where's the line between pushing a bit and crashing and burning? I guess I'll see if I can figure that out on Sat. At least I know that whatever happens, I'll be out there with a bunch of great people - both those trying to finish their particular race and those doing everything they can to help us along the way.

I hope all the Superior runners have a great day (or day and a half, whatever the case may be), and a big Thank You to race director Larry and all the superior workers making it happen!!

There will be special recognition for individuals who complete all the races in the MNTRS.

2008-08-18T23:05:00.031-05:00

The title is from the MN Trail Running Series rules, and is driving four of us. The 'other three' are Kel, James, and John. This weekend it was almost down to three. The other three.

The Days of Old 10K in Maple Lake was the 8th run of the series.
I stayed with my brother and family in Waconia, and headed to the race from there. Everything seemed to be going fine, until my motorcycle decided it'd had enough. Thankfully I'd left early, and had broken down less than 10 blocks from my brother's house. I got warmed up running back to the house, and then had to go wake him up. "Uh, David... can I borrow the car?"

So I made it to the race. Assured Kate that no, I wasn't going to run the race in my jeans. Chit-chatted with the other three, Keith, Steve, Kate, and probably some others. And then we got to it. The race went well. I was pushing pretty hard, and couldn't figure out why it was so loud back in the woods. Oh yeah, that was me breathing. I tried to hold off another runner for awhile, up and down the hills... but she eventually went cruising by. I finished in about 56:30 and am happy with that (~9:07s). Mostly I'm happy that I'm still in the hunt for the special recognition with the other three.

Of course, once the fun was over it was back to reality... 100 miles from home, too far to push the motorcycle.

Texted my friend Steve to see if he was interested in wasting 5 hours of his life that he'd never be able to get back - the thought being that he'd drive from Rochester to pick up the Wing and I. Turns out he was at Valley Fair. Hmmm. "When are you heading home, and do you have room for me?" Turns out I'd get to waste my own time taking care of my stuff... as it should be.

Earlier my brother and I had been discussing weekends when I could return with my pickup and help haul a backyard playset. While we were waiting for the 7:00pm Valley Fair departure, it dawned on me that the next morning I was going to be returning with my pickup and a trailer. After a call to the friend with the playset the evening tear-down plan was in place.

So, I got a ride home Saturday night. Sunday morning I left home and picked up Steve's trailer. The trailer was full of brush so I drove to Chris' to dump that. Then drove to Nick's in Savage and loaded up the playset.

Cruised to my brother's in Waconia to unload. Then loaded up the motorcycle, which was way easier than I thought it'd be. Went for some food, and pulled the motorcycle home.

Not too bad for some last minute scrambling.

Of course, I didn't do my last long training run at Afton on Sunday for Moose Mountain as planned. At least I'm only doing the marathon... the kid's race that weekend. :) I'm looking forward to seeing everyone complete their Superior race after all the hard training that's been done.

Good job to all the Days of Old 10K runners.

Brewhouse Tri

2008-08-12T21:52:00.024-05:00

Well, I survived the Brewhouse Triathlon in Duluth on Aug 3rd.

This was a milestone event for my friend Steve, and I'm glad I was part of it.

I wasn't really sure about the swim... especially after last time. But I made it.

And then the chase was on. Steve beat me out of the water by over 5.5 minutes!! Of course, I didn't know that at the time. I just knew he was out of the transition area when I got there. And on the bike I kept looking ahead and couldn't spot him.

Uh-oh... I can run farther than Steve. But this isn't about that. It's about me trying to run fast enough to chase him down. Within the "I'm not sure it's long enough" 2.5 mile run. Hmmmmm.

Turns out I made up quite a bit of time on the bike because Steve was just heading out on the run as I entered the transition area. Whew.

It took me a couple minutes to chase him down. And then I thought great, this is fun, we'll just enjoy the rest of the run and coast it in.

Or not.

Steve - 1:24:09
Me - 1:24:10

Way to go, Steve!!

We need to do it again. ;)

Rochester-Winona-Wabasha-Lake City-Red Wing-Saint Paul-Red Wing-Lake City-Rochester

2008-07-26T19:59:00.006-05:00

About 250 miles... yeah, it's nice to have the motorcycle running again.

Speaking of running, I ran the SMU Trail Scamper in Winona this morning. It ended up being a 5K and was basically speed-work the whole way.

I'm wondering how everyone did at the Voyageur 50 miler today.

Colorado

2008-07-23T22:30:00.004-05:00

Took a little vacation from work, Rochester, and running. Saw family, did some hiking, tennis, bike riding, went to a baseball game, and hung out.

Time to get back to it I guess.

Oh yeah, finally got the motorcycle in for a new starter... should have it back later this week. Vroom vroom!!

Half Voyageur

2008-07-13T22:31:00.012-05:00

What a great day for a race. Nice course. Nice people.

I'll have to run it sometime.

It was fun being a spectator -- congrats to all the runners:

a couple notes:
- rumor has it the course is pretty rugged, though you can't tell by the pictures.
- there were more than 4 runners, really.

Afton Trail Run 25K

2008-07-05T20:42:00.014-05:00

Thank you to race director John Storkamp and the Entire ATR Crew for putting on the Afton Trail Run 25K-50K today! There were lots of runners and it obviously takes a lot of people and work to put on such a big and high-quality event. I give them all 5 Stars!

I ran the 25K and had a good run. I was happy to beat last year's time by about 10 minutes. With all the ups and downs, I decided I should push a bit on the flatter, more runnable sections... and that seemed to work pretty well. Little did I know that by doing this I would actually start looking forward to the uphills. :)

some pre-race and finishing photos (didn't get everyone I would've liked to get) -- congrats to all, especially the guy in the last photo :

Vintage...

2008-07-04T21:36:00.006-05:00

–adjective
representing the high quality of a past time
being the best of its kind
Characterized by excellence, maturity, and enduring appeal; classic.

I think this qualifies:

Grandma's Marathon 2008

2008-06-26T22:16:00.031-05:00

Well, my 4th Grandma's Marathon is in the books. It was a good run. I've been running more miles than other years (quite slooooowly), and I didn't do my normal, Higdon-inspired 18 week training program. So it shouldn't be all that surprising that this was my 2nd slowest marathon in 5:01:46. I'll take it... and the t-shirt and medal too. :)

Thanks to Paul for shuttling Andy and I around before and after, and putting his professional spectator skills to work -- if my count is correct, he saw me at 5 different places. He's also responsible for the pictures and video below. It was also nice to see Sean and Adria at a couple spots (thanks for the lemon drops, Sean). And thanks also to the other folks who would've cheered for me if the gap between Andy and I wasn't so big. hehe

I expect I'll go back to do it again in 2009.

mile 12

mile 25

finishing -- actually running, sort of

ahhhhh, finished

FANS All-Nighter

2008-06-08T23:31:00.013-05:00

No, I wasn't running. I was grazing at the aid station buffet. Lots of grazing. While others were doing lots of running. Congrats to all the FANS runners! Wow... the grit and determination it takes to go so long and so far. First in the heat, and then especially through those lonely, too-quiet hours of the night. It was impressive, and intimidating. Shoot, I even got tired of grazing after so long. (Ok, not really.) Again, Congrats to all the runners for pushing themselves to their limit, in both the 12 hour and 24 hour events.

For some reason I only took a couple pictures...

the 12 hour winner, still running strong at the end :

royalty on the course, just one of a number of entertaining hats :

Ok, during a few of those lonely, too-quiet hours of the night I was a little bummed that a certain trail runner who shall not be named didn't make it to the aid station for 4th shift... but now I should thank him for this nice piece of granite. So Thanks, Mr. shall not be named runner. :)

Chester Woods Trail Run

2008-06-07T13:06:00.003-05:00

The 2nd annual Chester Woods Trail Run is over and once again it was a great event. There were lots of nice trails, tired legs, and smiling faces. Oh yeah, and some rain! My legs were tired early but held up fine. My arms are another story... I wore my sleeveless shirt and some upper arm color and muscle definition is certainly in order. :)

A couple pictures:

Superior 50K Trail Race

2008-05-18T21:45:00.008-05:00

My experience:
"Wow that was hard. Really hard."

got a few people on their way back...

"hang in there... only 14 miles to go!"

Now if that doesn't make you smile...

Happy Birthday, to me

2008-05-15T20:50:00.002-05:00

how's this for a celebration: run 2 miles to DQ,
buy small blizzard for the walk home.

If this was a normal part of the routine,
who wouldn't take up running??

Hill workout hill

2008-04-26T20:15:00.007-05:00

Steve has Mounds Hill, I have Viola Rd.
He did 20 laps for 50 miles, I did 4 laps for 5.6 miles.
It's a start...

bottom

middle

top

Maiden Voyage: pretty fun

2008-04-22T21:27:00.004-05:00

observations:
- lower leg thrashing similar to snowshoe running
- bike seat a bit too high with these on
- lots of rocks at Quarry Hill Park... duh :)

Trail Mix: Congrats Steve, that was very Quick

2008-04-19T20:55:00.003-05:00

hi, Carl.

Trail Mix: post-race purchase

2008-04-19T20:52:00.003-05:00

finally got 'em on... toes aren't used to being separated!

Trail Mix: spectators

2008-04-19T20:48:00.003-05:00

Thanks for coming... and thanks for lunch too.

Chippewa Moraine Trail 50km

2008-04-13T21:55:00.021-05:00

turn-around aid station

doh!

2008-04-09T15:07:00.003-05:00

Roadside Assistance

Twice in the last 6 months or so I've gotten back to my vehicle after a run, grabbed my wallet, and promptly locked my key (and phone) inside. At least I've had my AAA card, and access to someone else's phone.

BTW, some tow-truck folks are way better at getting into a locked vehicle than others. :)

What's a little mud between friends? *

2008-03-31T09:03:00.004-05:00

1. don't spin the tires
2. when that doesn't work, hit it!
Yes, we did get him out. :)

* title from Bad Ben.

it's supposed to be blue

2008-03-09T17:15:00.002-05:00

First Ultra!

2008-02-11T22:50:00.001-06:00

2008 Psycho WyCo "Run Toto, Run" 50K Trail Run

"It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit."

- George Sheehan

[Here's my race report, which I wrote and emailed to the mn-drs list]

Did someone say something about a "slippery slope" ??**

That comment played out in a couple different ways this past weekend. If you've read the other Psycho Wyco race reports, you know there was a lot of mud, resulting in lots of slipping and sliding. Every lap got harder as more and more of the loop turned to mud. On the 3rd lap, I must've said "This is ridiculous" (and different variations of that phrase) about 1000 times. But I'm getting ahead of myself... it's the other slippery slope that put me on that 3rd lap in the first place.

My first official 50K was going to be Chippewa Moraine on March 12th (http://chippewa50.com/) - now that'll be my second! I talked myself into the 20 mile run at Psycho Wyco figuring it'd be a great training run and because of the "if you bite off more than you can chew" feature -- "If you are registered for one of the longer distances and want to drop out a loop (or two) short, you can do so and
still get a finisher's medal". It dawned on me that if you can drop a loop, then you can probably add a loop as well. I figured I'd try to make the 20, and if it was too tough at least I should be able to get the 10 mile medal -- but of course I couldn't get rid of that nagging thought about adding a loop if everything was going well.

So now in hindsight I feel like I was hit with a 1,2 punch by a couple of the other MN runners. At the beginning of the race I hooked up with Londell, and in true ultrarunner form he said I should do the 50K. Thanks, Londell... that nagging thought took over and I spent the next 6 miles thinking about it. :) The 2nd half of the loop is tougher than the first, so eventually that thought faded into the background a bit. But after the first loop I asked race director Bad Ben if a runner could add a loop, and he said yes. So I spent the first half of the 2nd loop telling myself I should go for it. I knew the real decision would be made towards the end of loop 2. Well, what do you know... towards the end of loop 2 I hooked up with Les. And in true ultrarunner form he said I should do the 50K. Thanks, Les... that 2nd punch basically clinched it.

So you veterans, are all of us newbies so gullible?? :) I guess when we like what we see in other runners and we're trying to do some of the same things they've done, it doesn't take a lot to help us along. Even if it goes against common sense. So, loop number 3 - bumping up to the 50K: I'd like to say I loved every slippery step of it... but instead I'll just say (to myself), "Welcome to trail running". Overall the race was great and I enjoyed most of it. I figure I've learned a little bit about working through the low points of a long run; and about finishing what I've started even when I'm thinking "This is ridiculous". But you know how the low points seem to fade away... already about all I can remember is: At the end of a long day, I completed my first 50K Ultra... and I'm happy about that!

'Thank You' to Bad Ben and everyone associated with this race -- it's a top-notch event all around!
And, 'Congratulations' to all the runners.... especially those from MN in whatever race you completed!!

Wayne Nelson
Rochester MN

** Larry Pederson talking about new trail runners being pulled into the longer/ultra events: "...It's a long slippery slope they have begun to
slide down...and there's not much to grab onto along the way to slow you
down." Sept 2007

Northwoods Snowshoe Half Marathon

2008-01-23T19:08:00.001-06:00

Anticipation...

2008-01-22T09:53:00.002-06:00

Atlas snowshoes

2008-01-12T22:01:00.001-06:00

one of my favorite race t-shirts

2007-12-08T21:56:00.000-06:00

You have new Picture Mail!

2007-11-30T21:24:00.001-06:00

Amos, making himself at home on the bed...

2007-11-29T14:18:00.001-06:00

You have new Picture Mail!

2007-11-21T22:09:00.001-06:00

zonked

Split Rock Lighthouse

2007-11-14T18:57:00.000-06:00

2007-11-13T23:38:00.001-06:00

You have new Picture Mail!

2007-11-06T10:30:00.001-06:00

Clouds are cool, especially from above

You have new Picture Mail!

2007-11-06T10:27:00.001-06:00

BIG flag

You have new Picture Mail!

2007-10-17T09:38:00.001-05:00

2007-10-06T23:31:00.001-05:00

You have new Picture Mail!

2007-09-02T18:49:00.001-05:00

Bumper sticker: Are you following JESUS this closely?

You have new Picture Mail!

2007-08-19T11:27:00.000-05:00

Wow... Lotsa water

Running a smaller race can have its advantages

2007-07-15T23:12:00.001-05:00

vroom, vroom: CMA ride, 6/29/07

2007-06-30T12:38:00.001-05:00

vroom vroom: Rochester-Black Hills, 1200 miles round trip

2007-06-30T12:26:00.001-05:00

Grandma's Marathon 2007... #7

2007-06-30T12:22:00.001-05:00

You have new Picture Mail!

2007-06-12T18:11:00.001-05:00

Rochester All Comers' Mile... 4 1/2 minutes...WOW!

You have new Picture Mail!

2007-06-07T07:29:00.001-05:00

You have new Picture Mail!

2007-05-22T21:13:00.001-05:00

New Roch YMCA water slide... looks like fun

You have new Picture Mail!

2007-05-20T15:58:00.001-05:00

the red white and blue tractor tire is GONE!!!!!

You have new Picture Mail!

2007-05-20T15:56:00.001-05:00

The Gate. Looks like a big snowplow blade to me...

The Mindoro Cut

2007-05-05T20:46:00.000-05:00

vroom vroom, with Steve

2007-05-05T20:45:00.000-05:00

vroom vroom

2007-05-02T19:50:00.000-05:00

You have new Picture Mail!

2007-04-14T23:01:00.001-05:00

You have new Picture Mail!

2007-03-22T16:40:00.001-05:00

Smack!!