Climbs and Crossings

 Race morning, when I had no clue it was going to be a crap day.  Something went wrong. Something went really wrong because I had no legs to run on. I kept waiting for them to warm up, loosen up, wake up...but they felt heavy and fatigued. My quads burned on the rolling singletrack, and it wasn't long before I was walking runnable trail. My mantra became "there are still so many miles in front of me" which is maybe the first time that's ever been a comforting thought in a race. It meant I had plenty of time to work through this. It would pass. My legs would show up, just be patient.  About mile 10 I gave up on waiting for my legs to show up. If this was the hand I'd been dealt then it was time to face it and readjust. Forget a PR. I ran into Warm Springs at mile 11.6 and heard someone say my name.  Hey, it's Alvin! This guy is always smiling. I wished him a good race and hung out a few minutes longer to eat and regroup. Leaving the aid station ...

In spring of 2013 I ran Way Too Cool, a 50k with under 5,000 ft in elevation gain in 6:39:34. In spring of 2014 I ran it in 6:39:28...six seconds faster. How dumb is that. What had I actually been doing with my life to make zero progress in the time span of a year.  This past December of 2014 I ran The North Face Endurance Challenge, a more challenging 50k course in the Marin Headlands with about 7,000 ft in elevation gain with a goal time of 7 hours. I finished feeling good in 7:00:40.  I have one goal for 2015. I want to train smarter and run faster. Rather than do the Way Too Cool 50k/American River 50m NorCal spring combo this year, I got into the Lake Sonoma 50 miler, and the Marin Ultra Challenge fell during the right weekend in my training plan.  I was shooting for six and a half hours. It would be a 50k PR, and 30 minutes faster than I had run three months previously out on these trails. I wanted out of whatever rut my running had ...