Climbs and Crossings

In theory, cucumber mint flavored Gu sounds refreshing, like it would be a wonderful break from all of the sweet and salty stuff late in the race. In reality, it's kind of weird and gross. Do not recommend.  What a day in the Headlands it was! Last year, conditions were near perfect, and I had a near perfect race. This year, El Nino raged, and the wind actually blew me over . FUN! Up and down. Repeat.  I'm working toward my first 100k in May, so it was important to feel like I could run a smart 50k with no issues because I should be able to run a smart 50k with no issues and not even think about how a 100k is twice as far. The Beginning. Everything's wonderful.  The start and finish had been changed from Fort Baker to Rodeo Beach because of the rain. It was a dark start at 6am, but dawn wasn't far off. I opted for no headlamp. We did two Hill 88 loops as the sun rose before sailing down to Tennessee Valley under what I'd call a heavy dri...

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 ...

ALL THE HAY. IT'S IN THE BARN.   Three weeks before TNF 50k I paused at this point during my last training run on the course knowing that this was what I'd be seeing with 2.8 miles of downhill left to run...which probably wouldn't be as fun as it sounds come race day when I'd already have 29 miles on my legs. You reach a point where the downhill hurts just as bad as the up. Walking hurts just as bad as running. You get to a point where pain is just a fact, so I stood here to visualize mile 29.2, how I would feel, and what it would take to push myself down this trail to the finish line. That was Sunday. By Thursday I was sick and spent the next week on the couch. Then it was Thanksgiving plus why not throw in a bunch of other things going on, so the three weeks before the race became sort of an extreme taper where I was either not feeling well enough to think about the race or too busy. Maybe a blessing in disguise...the taper crazies stayed away, mostly. Not rea...

It has been 5 months since my last blog post. Let's get caught up. September...Vermont 50k! More to come...

  Less than a mile to the finish, having been stuck inside my own head for the past hour or so, covered in sweat and salt, wearing water logged shoes, willing my legs to just keep moving, I heard a woman's voice behind me.. "I'M TIRED!" I laughed. Hard.   "Me too!" I called back to her.  "Sorry," she answered, "I hope that didn't sound negative." In my opinion, when you get to the last mile of an ultra, you can say whatever you damn well please. Let's start with Auburn, The Endurance Capitol of the World. (I'm not making that up) It's about 15 minutes from the race start at the Cool Fire Station, and driving in, there was a buzz that only hundreds of out of town runners in every hotel and bar and restaurant can create. The man at the front desk of the hotel checking us in made small talk...about Western States. He talked about the ice machines...in case I wanted an ice bath after the race. Downtown was crawling w...

I don't know about you, but that was pretty much the longest summer of my life. After coming off a successful Big Sur Marathon, the  Skyline to the Sea 50k  back on June 10th led to an injury that kept me away from running for the rest of the summer. During that time I rode the highs and lows of life without running. Ok mostly lows. The only high I can come up with is the sleeping in on Sunday mornings. Oh, and no poison oak was good too. I'm not saying I was in a funk, but I was in a funk. A week or so later was an awesome concert at the Mountain Winery. I didn't get to run the 31 miles on my 31st birthday in July like I had planned, but I still got to do a little light hiking and was grateful for that. Pacifica is my jam. Then in August we made our annual pilgrimage to Hermosa Beach where I couldn't take no running for an answer. I did a lot of bike riding, which was great, but normally I start the day with a run on the beach. It might have been too so...

To say the week preceding the race was an emotional roller coaster would be an understatement. What I didn't know, was that it would be nothing compared to my experience out on the trail. I had said going in my goal was a sub 6 hour finish, and, unknowingly foreshadowing my race, I added, "but you never know what can happen out there." My decision to run ultras came long before my actual ability to run them, so after collecting a couple years of trail running under my belt I finally felt ready to take the plunge. Skyline to the Sea came at just the right time providing a net downhill course with just over 3,000 ft of elevation gain. If you're not aware of the on again off again drama that ensued surrounding this race, refer to my previous post  here . Race morning, standing at the trail head with over 200 other runners, a collective feeling of gratitude hung in the warm air as Wendell counted us down to start. Spectators lined the street above us, and the runners e...