Reunited (and it feels so good)

The family finally got back today from Corpus Christi. They were gone 11 days, way too long. Tomorrow is the day before Angela's surgery so we'll be busy getting things ready (packing a bag for Lela to stay with Mammy, packing a hospital bag for Angela, etc.). I'm working tomorrow and then I'm off the rest of the week. If all goes well she will be home by the weekend.

This morning I did a long walk at Rowlett Creek Preserve. RCP is the closest trail to my house; it is primarily a mountain biking trail maintained by the Dallas Off-Road Bicycle Association. Because of the holiday it was packed; I had to keep stepping off the trail to let bikes pass. I don't really like this trail much because: 1. Too many bikes; 2. Tons of trash, the creek smells sometimes, it can be depressing and it makes you realize that one day we will destroy the Earth; 3. It has lots of short, steep up- and downhills that are probably lots of fun on bikes but not that great when walking/running. I enjoy long, challenging uphills, but these are not very satisfying. So I don't train on this trail very often but today I didn't feel like making the 35 minute drive to North Shore or the 45 minute drive to Cedar Ridge Preserve. That is my only dissatisfaction with our house; there are no trails nearby.

I'm revolting against gu (revolting is the perfect word in this context). I'm just sick of it and I can hardly bring myself to eat any (I normally use Vanilla or Espresso Hammer Gel during long walks). I hardly used any at all during my recent all night 12 hour walk, and I only used one serving during today's 4.5 hour walk. I also hardly used any electrolyte caplets. I've been eating and drinking more during the walk (I try to plan frequent trips to my car). Today I drank a Yoo-hoo, and I ate a Mojo Bar and some candy orange slices (I carried water in my pack, not energy drink). Friday night I ate a peanut butter sandwich, a pimiento cheese sandwich, lots of pringles, some jelly beans and candy orange slices, and I drank some Big Red and Coke (I carried some energy drink in my pack but refilled it with water during the night). I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but I don't seem to notice a lack of energy. I don't feel that I ever "bonked" and both today and Friday night/Saturday morning I've done some of my fastest miles in the last 1/3 of the walk. So I'm going to keep experimenting, but I may stop using energy gels.

Tomorrow I'll be up at 5:00 AM for the usual 6-10 miles.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend. If you were racing, I hope you accomplished your goals and had fun at the same time.

Distance: 20.0 miles
Time: 4:31:37
Pace: 13:34

In the black of the night till the red morning light*

Last night was the first of what I hope will become an annual event. We didn't have a name but we debated names during the run: The Swat and Squat, The Scratch 'N Sniff, The Eat and Run, and so on. So I will unofficially dub this the first annual Swat and Squat 12 hour Eat and Run.

I left work a little early on Friday so I could get down to Waco, Texas and meet my ultra friends Frances and Marla by 7:00 PM and start our all night training run. That's Frances on the left and Marla on the right at Three Days of Syllamo.

We had been planning this event for more than a month. The three of us, along with a few other people we know, are training for the Heartland 100 in October. We wanted to get in some really long runs/walks in preparation, and I suggested we do one at night to practice night running. Frances did some reconnaissance and found the perfect place to train. She found some dirt and gravel farm roads in Mart, a little town northeast of Waco. The old farm roads are just like Heartland, only a little less hilly: dirt, gravel, rocks the size of grapes to small potatoes. It was almost an exact duplicate of Heartland. Here's a map of the course:



As I pulled up to the farm road where Frances was waiting for me, I swerved to miss a turtle in the road. There was a truck behind me and fortunately he missed it, too. After I pulled up next to Frances I ran back and moved the turtle off the highway. I certainly didn't want the little guy to get run over, and I thought it might bring us a little good karma for our run (plus, I can really relate to turtles!).

Frances and I drove to a central point and set up our "aid station." The route is a large H and the plan was to park in the center of the H and do a series of out-and-backs, always returning to our aid station. I met Frances' boyfriend Jim, who was really nice, and then the three of us took off (Jim ran the first six miles with us; then he followed us on bike for a while before calling it a night). Marla was going to join us in about an hour.

We came back to the aid station after about four miles. We got some snacks, picked up our lights because it was getting dark, then headed back out. As the sun was going down I was reminded of these lyrics from Johnny Cash:

With the twilight colors falling
And the evening laying shadows
Hidden memories come stealing from my mind.
As I feel my own heart beating out
The simple joy of living
I wonder how I ever was that kind.

But the wild road I was ramblin'
Was always out there callin'
And they said a hundred times I should have died.
But now my present miracle
Is that you're here beside me,
So I believe it was the road I was meant to ride

Like a Soldier by Johnny Cash

After about an hour and 15 minutes Marla called to say she was almost here so we headed to the aid station to meet with her. We spent some time there saying hi and catching up (Marla's boyfriend Kenny came, too) and setting up our food. Our aid station was as well stocked as some of those at SunMart! We had all of the following:

Coke, Mountain Dew, Big Red, Gatorade, Water
Pringles, Cheetos, Pretzels, Peanut Butter-filled Pretzels
Jelly Beans, candy Orange Slices
Grapes
Peanut Butter Sandwich, Pimiento cheese Sandwiches (without Pimientos!), Turkey Sandwiches
Gel, electrolyte caps, etc.

You can see why I wanted to call it the Eat and Run! We had more than enough food, and we all agreed to stop frequently to refuel. This was not a race--it was an effort to get "time on our feet" and to have fun. If you count our aid station pit stops, the time we spent catching up and getting our final gear together when Marla arrived, bathroom stops and the occasional stop on the course just to get a breather, we stopped a total of 2 hours 9 minutes.

By this time it was dark so we all made sure we had our lights, changed the batteries on Frances' small light, then hit the road. We picked various legs of the H and did out and backs, coming back to the aid station about every 4-5 miles. The longest we were ever away from our cars was about 2 hours, and Frances and Marla both ran out of water shortly before we arrived back at our aid station, so I'm glad it wasn't any longer.

On the way back to the aid station a couple of guys in a pickup stopped to make sure we were OK (we only passed two vehicles the entire night). After we told them we were fine they told us to be careful because there are "hundreds" of wild pigs in the fields. After they drove away both Marla and Frances said they were full of &%$#! Frances lives in Mart, near our course, and both of them have lived in Waco for years, and they figured the guys thought we were city slickers and just wanted to scare us. Then I learned something about Frances I never knew: she won second place in a hog calling contest! So she regaled us with her best hog calls, piercing the night with "Soooooowieeeeeeee. Here pig, here pig, here pig, sooooooooooowieeeee!!!!" So if there were any pigs in the fields we would see them soon!

It was a moonless night for most of the evening, and the stars were just incredible. Being a ciy boy, I always forget just how impressive the stars really are. It just blows my mind to think of everything that is out there that we know nothing about.

Frances went through a manic phase at this point and just had so much energy. She would bound ahead and then walk and wait for us to catch up. She sang camp songs and Vacation Bible School songs. She skipped, she danced. It was some sort of crazy sugar high! Next we all told corny jokes. Here's my contribution:

Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot his whole life, which created an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him frail, and with his odd diet, he suffered from very bad breath. This made him a super-callused fragile mystic vexed with halitosis.

We had a lot of time, so we discussed a lot of stupid things. Marla wanted to know which "Wizard of Oz" character we would each be (I can't remember the consensus). Then Frances impressed us with her "Wicked Witch" voice which was dead on. Next we started talking about horror movies, especially "Children of the Corn" (we were surrounded by cornfields with plants taller than us), which of course spooked us all. Then Frances, who was a little ahead of us, started telling us the plot of the movie "From Dusk til Dawn" (appropriate, don't you think?). Marla told me to turn off my light and we hid on the side of the road. Frances turned around to look for us and saw nothing but pitch black! So the two of us had a good laugh at Frances' expense.

At about the halfway point we stopped at the aid station to doctor a blister on Frances' foot and then headed out again. More of the same--we all stayed together, usually with Marla or Frances in front and me bringing up the rear. Finally, around 3:00 AM, the moon came out, a little orange sliver behind a few wispy clouds. It was beautiful.

Marla is a vet and had to work on Saturday so we had to get back to our cars by 4:00. We got there a little before 4:00, said our goodbyes, then Frances and I started another leg. We were getting pretty tired but still had about 4 hours to go. Finally, around 5:15, the sky started to lighten almost imperceptibly. A little after 5:30 I could turn my light off. We made it to dawn, and that realization gave us a little extra energy!

I did a little math and determined that if we stayed at or below our current pace we could do 42 miles within our self-imposed 12 hour limit. Frances and I stopped to look at a water snake coiled around a tree in a pond. It didn't look poisonous (it was a long snake but had a small head that didn't have that distinctive viper shape) but it had diamonds like a diamondback rattler (but no rattle). I'm not sure what it was.

We got back to our cars with about 50 minutes to go until 12 hours. I convinced Frances to head out two more miles; after that the two final miles back would seem fast and easy because we would be eager to finish. So we headed out for the final four miles. I got that final burst of energy at the turnaround and made it back to my car and stopped my watch: 12:11:46 and 42 miles.

We kept a pretty decent pace throughout the night. If you divide the course into 6 seven mile segments, here were our average paces for each segment: 13:43, 13:24, 14:13, 14:31, 14:50, 14:06. If you add in all of our rest time our average pace was 17:25. If you subtracted the rest time our pace was 13:37. As a point of reference, my 50 mile PR pace is 14:09.

So it was a great evening! I am very tired but do not feel as sore or beat up as I would expect. Maybe my body is finally adjusting to the stresses of ultras.

We're talking about doing a 100k training night in August. We all like the idea of starting a little earlier, maybe 6:00 PM, and then going all night to avoid the heat and the sun. I'll post more details later, and if anyone reading this wants to join us (for a part of the run or for the whole thing) the more the merrier. We'll have more than enough food, and we might even manage to find some beer!

*Red Morning Light by The Kings of Leon.

Interesting Blog Survey from MIT

I found this on Caren's blog. It's an interesting survey, and the more responses there are the better the data. It only took me about 10 minutes. Check it out.

Walking Clinic

Tonight I gave an informal walking clinic to some of the members of the North Texas Trail Runners, my ultra-"running" club. Several people in NTTR wanted to increase their walking speed since walking is very important for most ultrarunners, so they asked me to show them my walking technique. I set a date and time and seven people showed up. About 6 others said they couldn't make it but would like to do it again in the future. I don't think I'm much of a teacher but I did my best to show them the technique and share my tips and tricks. Unfortunately it was about 98 degrees! Thank goodness the sun went down and things cooled off to about 95.

Also, I e-mailed Team in Training and offered to volunteer as a mentor for the Dallas Walking Team. I can't attend the informational meeting because of Angela's surgery. I've been meaning to get involved with Team in Training again so I'm very excited. I really enjoyed my Team in Training experience and got so many benefits from TNT, so I would love to help others have a great experience. It's not an exaggeration to say that TNT changed my life by introducing me to racewalking and by giving me a means of fighting back against Angela's Leukemia!

Thanks to everyone for visiting my blog after my hiatus. It's great to hear from so many old "friends."

Train hard and have fun.

Weird Format Problems

Apparently the large images in my Laurel Highlands race report really screwed up the formatting of my entire blog (for Internet Explorer users only; Firefox users had no problems). Since I rarely use IE I didn't notice the problem for a while. I think everything is fixed now but if you see any problems with the layout or format of my blog would you leave me a comment?

Thanks!

Calculate Distances with Google Maps!

Now this is cool! Someone has written a web tool that uses Google Maps to calculate the distance of any route. Just double click on the map to lay out your route and the page will tell you the distance. Click the image below for a screen shot:


For all you number junkies out there (like me!) this is awesome, and also lots of fun.

Enjoy!

Catching up

Well, I've decided to start posting to this blog again. Probably not as frequently as I used to, but from time to time. I don't know if anyone still reads this thing, but if you do, here's a quick roundup of the past few months:

In April we went to Bastrop, Texas for the Rocky Hill Ranch 50k. It was a great race on a nice trail and I had an awesome day. I beat my 50k PR by almost 56 minutes. I started, but never finished, a race report with pictures, course map, etc. I also won first place in my age division (I was the only one in my age division) and received a glass with the race logo on it:


Next was my birthday, then Mother's Day. In May I joined the North Texas Trail Runners and I've had a great time meeting all the local trail and ultra enthusiasts. Last weekend we did a trail cleanup day at the North Shore of Lake Grapevine.

At the end of May Angela and I had our 14th wedding anniversary! Fourteen wonderful years....I'm very lucky to have a wonderful wife like Angela. Here's a shot of us at the State of Fair of Texas, one of my favorite family pictures:


On the same day as our anniversary was Lela's "End of Year" class party. Angela is room parent so we organized it, set it up and helped manage the party. We had a Luau theme so we decorated the room with an inflatable palm tree and island decorations, the kids wore leis and drank punch out of little plastic coconuts, we played Beach Boys music and the kids played the limbo. It was a blast!

Next the family took a trip to San Antonio for the Prickly Pear 50k and a trip to Sea World. Prickly Pear wasn't one of my finest races, but I did finish with a time that was 36 minutes faster than my first 50k (but 18 minutes slower than my second 50k). The visit to Sea World was fun...


...until the weather took a turn for the worse...


Next, my little girl graduated from kindergarten. I can't tell you how proud I am. She had a great first year of school. She did well academically, she matured socially, she's excited about learning, she loves to read. She is the joy of my life (she's also a complete wacko, but I'll leave that for another post):


Then we drove to Washington DC to visit my Dad and his wife. Here's a picture of Lela and my Dad about to enjoy a 3D IMAX movie:


Next we drove to Johnstown, PA for the Laurel Highlands Ultra (race report below). Here's a little something that didn't make it into my race report. Since I was behind schedule, Lela and Angela had to wait around for about 2 1/2 hours (they arrived at the finish at 1:15 AM, so you can imagine that they were a little punchy). While they waited, they composed two poems for me: one if I didn't finish the race, one if I did. Lela posed with each poem so I would have a record of the result, whatever it turned out to be (luckily I finished, but just barely). Here is the DNF picture:


And here is the finisher's photo:


After vacation, it was Lela's sixth birthday:


Here I am "finishing off" the birthday pinata:


Angela and Lela are now in Corpus Christi, TX, visiting Angela's relatives. When they get back, my dear wife is going to have a total right knee replacement! Poor thing. This is still a result of the chemo, radiation and steroids that were part of her bone marrow transplant five years ago! Here's a lovely picture of her at Sea World:


That catches us up to today. I'm still training for the Heartland 100 Mile trail run in October. I've got a lot of aches and pains left over from Laurel Highlands. I went out today for my first training walk since Laurel Highlands (exactly two weeks ago) and I had to stop after about seven miles. I chose a hilly, tough trail (Cedar Ridge Preserve, just about the only place in Dallas to do hill training and a wonderful trail) and I think I pushed too hard. My left heel started hurting again, and I had some weird pains in my right knee on the downhills.

I feel like I should keep getting in miles and time on my feet, so tomorrow I'm going to go to the local high school track that is very well cushioned and just put in as much time as I can at a very easy pace. Heartland is still over three months away so I have plenty of time to do trail work and hill work (although trail work isn't as important for Heartland since the course is on gravelly/rocky cattle roads). Since finishing Laurel Highlands I feel very confident about finishing Heartland. I just have to be smart and not make any dumb mistakes (like I made at Laurel Highlands).

This Friday I'm driving to Waco, Texas to meet up with some ultra friends who are also training for Heartland. We're going to do an all night training run/walk on some gravel roads outside Waco. I'm really excited about that! I think it will be a lot of fun and great training. I love walking at night and I've got the perfect headlamp/flashlight combo. I don't feel the need to slow down at night--I can usually go just as fast I would go during the day.

I hope everyone has had some great races and great experiences. I've been able to follow a few blogs (I recently enjoyed Dianna's post about trail running with Jeff) and hope to be able to catch up on all my old favorites.

Take care and keep moving. My new mantra is "relentless forward motion."

Race Report Repeated Below

I posted my entire Laurel Highlands race report on my blog so I could submit it to the weekly Runner's carnival The Rundown. Vanity got the best of me.......

Laurel Highlands Ultra Race Report

Mile 39.

There aren't too many ultras in Texas in the summer, so when my wife and I decided to take a summer vacation to Washington DC to see my Dad and Stepmom, I started looking for races in that area. I discovered that the Laurel Highlands Ultra would be run in Western Pennsylvania in mid-June. The timing and location were perfect so I signed up.

I did a lot of research on the race and the trail because this would be my longest ultra to date (in terms of both distance and time) and it would also be my most difficult (in terms of terrain and elevation). I found several good websites on the trail, including this one with a map and elevation profile, and this one with good practical information and nice pictures of the trail. I also read five or six race reports from previous races, including several "back of the pack" reports that I could relate to.

The Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail is a 70 mile trail from Ohiopyle, PA to Seward, PA. The trail is permanently blazed with yellow rectangles painted on trees and rocks and also has cement markers every mile. For hikers, it has permanent shelters at several places on the trail. Use of the shelters is mandatory for overnight campers, so although the trail is pretty rugged it is still a good trail for newer hikers because you don't have to carry as much gear. Guidebooks recommend hiking no more than 13 miles a day and hiking at a pace of about 1 3/4 miles per hour.

To officially complete the Laurel Highlands Ultra and receive your finishers trophy (a wooden, scaled version of the trail mile markers with 70 carved on it) you have to complete the entire 70.5 mile trail in 22 hours at a pace of slightly more than 3 miles per hour. Since I'm slow I knew my biggest challenge would be time.

I put together a detailed race plan with different target paces based on the paces required to beat the cutoffs. My plan (which I thought was very conservative) would result in an 19:42 finish, well ahead of the 22 hour cutoff.

On the Friday before the race we made the drive from DC to Johnstown, PA where the pre-race dinner and our hotel were located. The dinner was in a banquet room at a restaurant called The Pasta Shoppe. The food was pretty good--mostacioli and ziti with a pretty good salad, lots of bread, a slice of cake and water/tea/lemonade. After packet pickup the Race Director gave some tips on the race and the trail, including some areas to be extra careful so as not to get lost. I wanted to get as much sleep as possible so we didn't linger at the dinner but headed back to the hotel early.

I spent the rest of the evening checking and rechecking my drop bag, pinning my number on my shorts, checking and rechecking my Camelbak M.U.L.E. pack, trimming my toenails, etc. Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned, thinking about the race, the weather, etc. It had been raining a lot in Western PA so I was concerned about mud and sloppy conditions slowing me down and causing me to miss a cutoff. I finally drifted off to sleep around 1:00.

I woke up at 2:10, a few minutes before my alarm went off. I had to meet a group in the lobby at 2:45 so I could get to the finish area by 3:30, when the shuttle bus would leave for the start. I quickly dressed, made a cup of coffee and headed down to the lobby. The hotel put out their normal breakfast buffet early! So at 2:30 we had access to a full breakfast. I had some juice, water, toast with peanut butter and a boiled egg. I met a nice guy named Ray from the Baltimore area Trail Snails. Ray and I met on the Runner's World Ultra/Trail Forum. He DNF'd last year at Laurel Highlands so he was back for unfinished business. He and his friends were really nice and friendly and we chatted about the race and ultras for a few minutes before loading into cars and heading to the finish area. At this point it was about 2:50 AM and it was already in the 60s with over 90% humidity. It was going to be a warm, muggy day.

When we got to the finish I climbed on the bus (Ray left his truck at the finish and rode to the start with his crew) and sat nervously looking out the window and the pitch black night. At 3:40 the bus left and we made the hour long drive to Ohiopyle. When we arrived I quickly lined up for the bathrooms, then ate a bagel and then lined up at the back of the starting area. With the typical lack of fanfare the RD yelled GO and we cheered and started.

As usual I fell toward the back of the pack and found a comfortable pace. We raced about a quarter mile on asphalt to the trailhead, then hit the trail and immediately started climbing.

As you can see in the elevation profile below, most of the hard climbing was at the beginning of the race. After a short climb and drop we hit an almost 1.5 mile steep climb, mostly straight up without switchbacks, followed by a steep drop and then a one mile steep climb, then another steep drop. Then we hit the big one, three miles of very steep climbing with almost no breaks (again, no switchbacks). I actually had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath and rest my legs. The climbs were difficult and the downhills were almost as difficult. It was slick and a little treacherous and my quads are not used to so much downhill. But I did pretty well on this section. Most of my splits were right at or slightly below my target pace, and I usually passed people on the uphills.







The course was gorgeous! We started out along a river and you could hear the water for a long time. The entire trail is covered with tall trees, there were boulders as big as small houses, beautiful foliage and greenery, fern prairies that extended for hundreds of yards. During the big 3 mile climb we climbed through and above the fog in the valley. It was just beautiful.

Right after the hills we hit the first aid station at 11.6. The early aid stations in this race were not very well run. They weren't placed well on the trail so people tended to bunch up and get in each other's way. There wasn't a large quantity or variety of food, and the volunteers didn't seem to know quite what to do. But it was early and I got what I needed; I topped off my Camelbak and ate a quarter peanut butter sandwich. I decided to avoid very sweet things until later in the race due to nausea at some of my recent races.

Some of the Trail Snails' crew were at this aid station waiting for a Snail to arrive so they cheered me on and gave me some encouragement, which was nice.

Next we entered a very runnable/walkable part of the course. It was single track, mostly smooth with enough rocks to keep you awake and make you do some hopping and skipping. The trail rolled gradually downhill for a while, then a short steep climb and some gradual uphills before arriving at the next aid station and first Check Point at about 19 miles. I was about 12 minutes ahead of my plan and 39 minutes ahead of the cutoff so things were going well so far. Again I topped off my Camelbak and had some peanut butter and crackers and a little root beer.

The next part of the trail was similar to the last, still pretty runnable with mostly gentle uphills and downhills. But about 45 minutes after leaving the aid station I started to have some bad pains in my left knee. I had to adjust my gait, which slowed me down, and then I had to limp. I had Advil in my pack but I didn't want to take it so early in the race. I tried to walk on to see if the pain would go away but it didn't, so I finally decided to take some Advil. I knew I couldn't make the cutoffs if I didn't speed up, so my only choices were to drop at the next Check Point or take the Advil. So I took it and soon I was able to walk normally again and pick up the pace.

During this part of the race I changed positions several times with a guy from Louisiana and an Adventure Racer from PA. At about mile 26 I emerged from the woods to find the guy from Louisiana staring at a sign that said "Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail Detour" and pointed up the gravel road to the right. This was in the Seven Springs Ski Resort area and there were large construction vehicles in the vicinity. The RD hadn't mentioned a detour. The LA guy asked me if we should take the detour and I told him I had no idea. Another racer emerged from the woods so we asked him. He sort of blew us off and started up the hill. We asked again and he said, "Yes, I was up here last night" (not much of an answer). Then the adventure racer from PA came out of the woods, looked at the situation and decided to take the trail instead of the detour. LA guy and I followed the rude guy up the hill and again asked him why we should take the detour. He just shrugged his shoulders and went on up the road. So we followed him and, when he stopped and took off his shoes, we followed the detour signs. Right as we saw the trail again and the mile 27 marker, we saw the Adventure Racer coming up the hill from another direction. So it didn't matter if you took the detour or not, the distance was about the same. A lot of drama for nothing.

Shortly after leaving Seven Springs we hit another aid station. Again I ate some salty things and topped off my pack. Shortly after leaving the aid station I noticed that my hands and fingers were swollen. A little later I noticed my wrist was swollen. I've had this problem at some recent races and wasn't sure what the cause was. I thought maybe I was taking too many Succeed caplets (two per hour) so I stopped taking them (in fact, I didn't take any more for the rest of the race) and the swelling gradually went away.

The next part of the trail is the toughest. There are more climbs and although none of them are long they are often steep. The downhills were too steep for me to safely walk or run them so I was constantly putting on the brakes, tiring my already tired quads. There were lots and lots and lots of rocks, and often the trail weaved in and out of huge formations of bus sized rocks, so you had to be careful not to lose your way. This part of the trail was also the muddiest and it was a lot of work to try and avoid the mud. As I left the last aid station I pulled away from the two guys I had been talking to so I spent the next 20 miles alone.

I arrived at Check Point 2 and again ate a little and drank some ice water. I was slower than my plan on the last section, but I had gained time on the cutoff and was now about 47 minutes ahead of the cutoff. After thanking the volunteers I left the aid station and re-entered the solitude of the trail.

Then it started to rain, and it rained hard. It was a constant downpour for about two hours, then a steady gentle rain for another hour. The rain cooled things off, which was nice, but it really soaked the trail. Most of the trail was now a mud puddle and I stopped avoiding the mud and instead just walked through it since I was soaked to the bone anyway. A couple of times I almost lost my shoe in mud that was up to my ankles. Sometimes when I walk I get a phrase or quote or riff of music stuck in my head and I will involuntarily repeat it hundreds of times until I make myself stop. During this part of the race I was repeating a quote by Elizabeth Taylor from one of my favorite movies, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?": "A bog, a fen, a G.D. swamp!"

But surprisingly this was one of my happiest parts of the race. I felt pretty good physically, and I really enjoy walking in the rain. I also enjoy the time I get alone on the trail. Sometimes I enjoy company, but more often I enjoy the solitude and the chance to get lost in my thoughts.

At mile 39 I had my picture taken (see above) and hit another aid station. This time I indulged in some candy fruit slices and chocolate candies along with a quarter peanut butter sandwich. The volunteers told me the trail would be more of the same until the next check point at mile 46. After topping off my pack with water I headed out.

During this section I fell, the only time I fell all day. The course had 20-30 stream crossings, but each was spanned by a log sawed in half and laid across the stream as a bridge. These were so slippery it was like walking on ice, even in the beginning of the race before the rain. Even though I went very slow and took little baby steps, I still almost lost my purchase several times. Finally on this part of the trail my feet slid out from under me and I fell right on my butt on the log. Luckily I didn't fall off the log onto the rocks below.

The next aid station was at Check Point 3 at mile 46. This was also one of the two places where you could leave drop bags. At this station I sat down for the first time since starting. I got my drop bag and put two packets of Clip2 in my pack; one of the volunteers filled it with water. I also dropped off two empty gel flasks and got two full ones from my bag. I grabbed my headlamp and flashlight since it would get dark before I got to the next aid station. One of the volunteers made me a peanut butter sandwich and I ate the whole thing. I checked my time and although I was 27 minutes slower than my plan on the last section, I gained three more minutes on the cutoff. I began to calculate the time and pace for the rest of the race and felt certain I could finish, even if I had to drop to a slow walk.

Then I made my second biggest mistake of the race (the biggest will come at mile 61). I had known for about 15 miles that I was getting blisters on my feet. It felt like I had a blister on the ball of each foot right behind the toes, and one on the side of each foot where it is widest and bony right next to the big toe. My feet felt uncomfortable but they weren't unberable. But instead of trying to do something about the blisters, I didn't do anything. In my drop bag I had extra socks (but no shoes), mole skin, duct tape, etc. But in my mind I was afraid of losing too much time, and I didn't think it would help much since the trail was so wet and my shoes were so wet. So I just ignored the discomfort.

I asked the aid station volunteers if there was anyone close ahead of me. They said someone had left the aid station five minutes before I arrived so that meant he was probably about ten minutes ahead of me. I thought it would be nice to walk in the dark with someone (it might help avoid getting lost) so I picked up the pace and tried to catch him. About halfway between the 46 and 57 mile aid stations I did catch him, right about the time I had to turn on my flashlights. His name was Rich and he was from Pittsburgh. He had not done the Laurel Highlands Ultra before but he had done some training on the trail, especially the end, so we talked about that for a while. He felt I was a stronger walker than him so I took the lead and set the pace for a while. I really enjoyed walking in the dark, and my green Petzl Tikka Plus headlamp, combined with my Princeton Tec flashlight really worked well together.

At the next aid station and the last check point I had some soup, some crackers and some coke. Rich had a drop bag here (I didn't leave a drop bag for this aid station because it was so close to the other one) and he changed socks and got some gear from his pack. I was discouraged to find that for the first time in the race I was slower than the cutoff pace on the last section. I was 25 minutes over my planned time and 15 minutes over the cutoff time for the section. I was still 35 minutes ahead of the final cutoff, but that's not a huge margin. I needed to be very careful for the rest of the race.

While we were at that aid station a few people came in and dropped. One woman was very upset and discouraged. It must have been so hard to put in so much time and effort only to come up short. My biggest fear was to finish the entire race but miss the final cutoff and not be an official finisher, with a finishing time and a finisher's trophy. I was more determined than ever to stay ahead of that cutoff.

Rich and I stayed mostly together for the next section to the aid station at mile 62. I set the pace again and once or twice lost Rich but he always caught back up. Then at mile 61 we emerged from the woods onto a gravel road. There was a runner ahead of us running down the road, and at the opening to the road there was an open gate with reflective tape on it. Across from the gate was some sort of weird light emitting a strange blue glow that reflected off the gate and made it look as if the gate was lit with moving neon. At first I thought it was a decorated aid station. It was all very disorienting, but eventually I turned and followed the other runner down the road with Rich right on my tail.

BIG MISTAKE!!!!!! This was the wrong road! In my disoriented and exhausted state, I didn't notice a single weak glow stick pointing us up another road to the right. We followed the wrong road downhill (past a working oil derrick!) for about a mile and a half when suddenly the guy in front of us turned around and said, "I don't think this is the right road. I don't remember the road being this rough last year." I looked around in a panic. I didn't have enough time to make this kind of mistake. I immediately lost heart and got very discouraged. Rich and I turned around and walked/jogged/ran back up the hill we had just come down. I kept looking at my watch and doing math and I was pretty sure we were screwed.

We finally made it back to the fork in the road and this time we took the right fork. We moved up the hill as fast as we could, and Rich got a burst of energy and pulled on ahead of me. The whole time he had been very encouraging and positive but I just felt like it was all over. I couldn't keep his pace and dropped back.

At the top of the hill I could see the last aid station. Then I heard a booming voice in the night: "Marshall, we've got enough time!" It was Rich. I started imagining that the RD was going to give us some extra time (yeah, right). I couldn't figure out how we would make it. But I got to the aid station and Rich said the aid station worker told him we still had time to make it, that she had walked from that point in a previous race and made it in time. We quickly scarfed down some food (I had a quarter of a wonderful grilled cheese sandwich). We saw a light bobbing up the hill and assumed another runner was behind us. When he arrived, he announced he was the sweep runner! I've never been at the back with the sweep runner before, so this was even more discouraging. Rich and I decided it was time to get going before time ran out.

We got about 50 yards down the trail when Rich discovered he'd left his flashlight at the aid station. I told him to go get it and I would wait for him. When he got back we took off. I set pace again and I unintentionally pulled ahead and couldn't see Rich behind me. After a mile or so I followed a slight downhill into... a dead end! Just trees and brush. I looked everywhere for a blaze but couldn't find one. I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS CRAP!!! Rich pulled up behind me and I told him I couldn't find the trail. We started looking everywhere but couldn't find a blaze. I was even having trouble finding the trail we'd come in on. I was lost in the FREAKIN' WOODS with the clock ticking! Then we saw the sweep with the runner we'd followed down the wrong road and started yelling, "Sweep! Sweep!! We can't find the trail!" He immediately sprang into action. "OK, we need a blaze. Who sees a blaze? I need to hear from you guys! You guys are too close now! Where's the blaze!!??" Finally the guy we followed down the wrong road found the blaze. It turns out a large tree had fallen across the trail so we all had to climb through the tree to get back on the trail!

After that I realized that the whole race would come down to these last few miles. I got a desperate burst of energy and took off walking as fast as I could. I was able to clock some miles that were as fast as the miles I'd walked in the first two sections of the race. Luckily most of the trail was downhill. Unluckily, my feet felt like raw hamburger and I kept stepping on rocks that would poke right into the blistered areas. But at this point the only thing that mattered was the 22 hour cutoff. I kept walking/hopping/jogging as fast as I could. I didn't know where Rich was and I couldn't see any lights behind me. I really wanted Rich to finish but there wasn't anything else I could do but hope! I finally started to see some very faint glowsticks hanging from the trees. I was walking from glowstick to glowstick as fast as I could, but I was watching the blazes like a hawk because I couldn't afford another wrong turn. Then I could actually see some lights in the distance and heard a few voices. I was almost there! Because of the steepness of the trail I started to run and I decided to keep running as long as I could. The voices got louder and the lights got brighter, and suddenly I was out of the woods! I bound across the grass and onto the road and looked around confusedly. I saw the race director and asked desperately, "Where is the line?!?!?" He said, "This is it, your here, you can stop!" I had finished with less than 12 minutes to spare.

My wife and daughter were standing there waiting for me! My wife said when I came out of the woods I looked like a member of the Donner Party, not because I was gaunt but because I just looked crazed and confused and traumatized! I gave everyone a big hug, then the RD came over and gave me my finisher's trophy and shook my hand. Here I am with my trophy looking for the nearest place to sit down:

I found a seat and my daugther got me some cold water. I gulped it down, along with three more. A few minutes later I heard some commotion and saw a light and Rich came bounding out of the woods. He made it with less than five minutes to spare. He grabbed a seat next to me and we sat there with dazed goofy grins on our faces. Then he ate some soup and promptly threw up! I also found out later that my friend Ray finished the race. He was actually the last finisher before me but I never saw him after we left the start.

Angela and Lela got the car and we loaded up my stuff and headed to the hotel. We stopped at the first place we could for some hot food and a coke. I could barely keep my eyes open--at this point I had had about 1 1/2 hours of sleep in the last 43 hours.

Once we got to the hotel I warned Angela that my feet were going to be in bad shape. I took off my shoes and Angela said that my feet looked like she should just hang a toe tag on them. They had been wet for more than 12 hours so they were pruny and white, I had dirt and mud caked in the crevices and around my toenails, I had a blood blister on each foot (the blister on the side near the big toe) and I had ugly blisters on the bottom of each foot. The left foot was the worst--it was about the size of two silver dollars. I got in the shower and did the best to wash off the grime. Then Angela treated my feet with antibiotic ointment and I went right to sleep.

Luckily my feet looked worse than they really were. Once they dried out they looked more alive and healthy. The blisters were the largest I've ever had but I've seen worse. For those of you with strong stomachs, here are pictures of my feet below:





Here is a summary of my times compared to my plan and to the cutoffs.

Section	Actual Time/Pace	Plan Time/Pace	Cutoff Time/Pace
1 (0-19.3 miles)	5:06:00/15:51	5:18:27/16:30	5:45:00/17:53
2 (19.3-32.3)	3:37:00/16:42	3:27:51/16:00	3:45:00/17:18
3 (32.3-46.4)	4:27:00/18:56	3:59:36/17:00	4:30:00/19:09
4 (46.4-57.3)	3:30:00/19:16	3:05:42/17:00	3:15:00/18:13
5 (57.3-70.5)	5:08:11/23:21	3:51:09/17:30	4:45:00/20:09
Total	21:48:11/18:33	19:42:45/16:47	22:00:00/18:43

I finished 52nd out of 56 finishers. There were 82 starters and 56 finishers (68.3% finish rate). According to the race website this attrition rate is slightly higher than usual.

This was a great race, very challenging and beautiful. During the race I swore I'd never do this race again (to be honest I swore I'd never go longer than a half marathon again) but of course I'm planning to do it again next year. With more hill training (up and down!), an extra pair of shoes and a little more attention to the trail markings, I think I can knock a couple of hours off my time!

Laurel Highlands Ultra Race Report

I haven't posted for a while so I thought I would post the race report from my most recent ultra. If there are any readers still out there, enjoy!

Here it is.

Breaking Silence for Safety's Sake

Everyone should take a look at this and make sure they understand what is appropriate for their body

Next race and Update

I've decided to do a 50k in a couple of weeks, the Rocky Hill Ranch 50k in Smithville, Texas, near Austin. I don't know much about it but it should be fun. Here are links to a course map, pictures and more pictures.

Also, I haven't blogged in a while and I thought I would tell you why. I'm going to take a little break from blogging. I've decided to free myself from the computer as much as possible. Also, I haven't had time to read all of the great posts, and I really haven't had time to comment. This has left me a little burned out on blogging. I'm thinking of creating a web page about ultrawalking with useful links and information on ultrawalking, race reports, gear reviews, etc., but without the pressure of daily updates. I'll let you know if this goes anywhere, but in the meantime there may not be any posts for a while.

Thanks to everyone for the great feedback and support. I've really enjoyed it and I wish everyone all the bests in their endeavors, athletic and otherwise.

Bye!

Blogged right past my anniversary

My first blog post ever was March 15, 2004. That was about two weeks before my first (and only) marathon. At that time my long term goal was a 100 mile race in September or October, 2005. So far I'm on target.

PS Blogger is grumpy today and I lost a post and triple posted others. I hope I can get this one posted without any major snafus.

Oops! Race Report Re-Posted

Blogger accidentally posted one of my posts twice. While deleting the duplicate, I accidentally deleted my race report post. Here it is again. I lost all your nice comments! Thanks for posting them.

Three Days of Syllamo Official Results

The official results have been posted here. One of my days was adjusted downward; two were adjusted upward. Here is the final tally:

20k - 3:24:30 (16:27 pace; 33rd out of 37 men; 47th out of 57 overall)
60k - 9:27:22 (15:13 pace; 24th out of 32 men; 32nd out of 44 overall)
40k - 6:33:34 (15:50 pace; 19th out of 28 men; 26th out of 41 overall)

120k/74.4 miles - 19:25:20 (14th out of 20 men; 20th out of 30 overall)

This is almost always where I finish: top of the bottom third. But I'm happy with my finish and the great fun I had. I can't wait for next year.

FYI, the fastest men's time was 12:02:20; the fastest women's time was 13:38:20.

Recovery Status

I'm still here recovering from Syllamo. I'm feeling better but tired. As you'll see when you read my race report, I didn't sleep well during the trip (20 and 30 degree nights camping) and didn't sleep well my first night home, so I'm still getting caught up on my sleep. My aches and pains are mostly gone except for some pretty severe pain in my right knee. It doesn't hurt when I walk on it; it only hurts when I've been sitting and I have to get up, or if I try to cross my legs. I'm going to give it a few more days before I worry.

Also, I've got some pretty bad fever blisters/cold sores! :( This happened to me after my very first half marathon. I guess I pushed myself so hard and got so tired that my body is depleted and the cold sores emerge. They are really uncomfortable, not to mention embarrassing.

I'm working on my race report--I'm still waiting on my photo CD from Walgreens (I hate photo finishing at Walgreens, I don't know why I keep going back there) and once I have my digital photos and some time I'll finish the report and get it posted.

I still haven't caught up on all the RBF posts out there (121 posts to read) so I don't what's going on out there in blogville. Hopefully I'll get caught up soon.

In the meantime, here is my tentative race schedule:

Heroes for Children 5k--April 23, 2005 (they actually have a judged racewalk division with prizes, and the race sponsors children suffering from leukemia)
Prickly Pear 50k--May 7, 2005
Heartland 100 Mile--October 8, 2005
Rockledge Rumble 50k--November 12, 2005
SunMart 50 Mile--December ?, 2005
Bandera 100k--January 7, 2006
Rocky Raccoon 100 Mile--February 4, 2006
Three Days of Syllamo--March ?, 2006
Gobi March--April ?, 2006

Perhaps too ambitious. We'll see....

Also, I've noticed that my blog template doesn't look too good with Internet Explorer (I use Firefox so I hadn't noticed it until recently). I'll try to fix the problems, but I also want to highly recommend Firefox for it's functionality, stability and anti-monopoly qualities. Check it out.

I'm alive

I just got home about an hour ago after driving back from Syllamo. I had no cellular connection there (in fact, we had to drive for over an hour before my phone got a signal) so I couldn't post from the race.

Results:
20k: 3:25 (16:30 pace)
60k: 9:27 (15:13 pace)
40k: 6:31 (15:44 pace)

74.4 miles
19 hours, 23 minutes

It was great! I took lots of pictures so I'll post a detailed report with pics very soon. My friends Frances and Marla also finished all three races and felt good!

Thanks to everyone for the warm wishes!

Only two days left--Last Post before Syllamo

Tomorrow morning I'll be on the road to Arkansas for Three Days of Syllamo. My friends from SunMart are picking me up at a truck stop in Rockwall, Texas, and we're all riding out together. We'll be camping at the race HQ.

The weather has been changing from day-to-day. Yesterday the forecast was for possible rain on Friday and then clear on Saturday/Sunday. Now the weather calls for storms on Friday, clear on Saturday and rain on Sunday. The temperatures are supposed to be lows of high 30s/low 40s, with highs of 50-60. Perfect racing weather. There's nothing we can do about the weather so we'll just have to take it as it comes.

I've got my bags already packed, so tonight I'll just do a final gear check. I've got a few disposable cameras to carry in my pack plus I'm taking the digital camera for pictures on the road and at the camp.

Thanks to everyone for their encouragement and support. Someone suggested I make audio posts from the race. I've set up my blog for audio posts but I'm not sure if I'll do it. If I have cellular reception I will post short reports via Yahoo! mail on my cell phone. I'll be back on Monday with more info. and will post pictures and details as soon as possible.

See ya'!

Another ultrawalking blog!

Ultrawalker Dave Littlehales has joined the blogosphere. Always great to have more walkers, especially more ultrawalkers. Welcome, Dave!

Syllamo Update: 9 days till Race Day

The Syllamo Race Director sent an e-mail last night with final instructions on the race. Everything is falling into place: I've prepared my gear checklist, camping arrangements have been made, I've started martialing my supplies, etc. There are 44 racers doing all three races (29 males and 15 females). In addition, there are sixteen 20k racers; eleven 60k racers; and six 40k racers.

In the race instructions the RD told us a little about the course profile. Looks like we'll be doing some climbing:

20k: 3,000' (Click here for profile)
60k: 8,000' (Click here for profile)
40k: 4,000' (Click here for profile)

It's not brutal, but it will be a good challenge. By way of comparison, here are some of my recent training walks:

Mission Peak: 3,016' (6.85 miles)
North Shore: 2,193' (17.2 miles)

Here are the elevation gains for some of the more prominent 100 mile races:
Rocky Raccoon: 5,375'
Heartland: 6,000'
Kettle Moraine: 7,685'
Rio Del Lago: 9,000'
Arkansas Traveller: 12,086'
Leadville: 15,600'
Western States: 18,000'
Angeles Crest: 21,610'
Hardrock: 33,385'

(Thanks to the great site Run100s for the elevation information)

So mile for mile the second day of Syllamo (8,000' over 60k/37.3 miles) will have more climb (214' per mile) than all of the above races except Hardrock and Angeles Crest. Of course, 37 miles of climbing is a lot different than 100 miles of climbing.

The challenge in this race is to go fast but not too fast. "Leave something in the tank" is what I keep saying to myself. If I burn everything up on the first two days then day three will be a death march. Luckily the cutoffs are very generous:

20k: 5 hrs. (24:08 per mile)
60k: 12 hrs. (19:18 per mile)
40k: 9 hrs. (21:44 per mile)

If I can't make those cutoffs then either the course is brutal or I'm injured.

So there's not much left to do but wait, recheck my list, wait, plan my nutrition, wait, wait, wait.............

*******************************
Updated 3/11/2005 with links to course profiles (see above). Whoo doggy, some steep hills!

Test

I'm blogging from my phone. If this works I'll post short reports from Syllamo.

--

Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

Mini Syllamo

As most of you know, my next race is the multi-day race Three Days of Syllamo. Although I've raced farther than the longest day of this race (day 2 is 60k or 37.3 miles; I've done two 50 mile races), I've never done this much mileage over three days. One of my concerns is that I will be too sore from the previous day's walk to successfully complete the next day. So I decided to make this weekend, my last hard training weekend before my taper, a "mini Syllamo." Starting Friday I did three long walks in a row.

Day One: 12 miles
This day was harder than I expected because I had "dead legs." I hadn't trained all week due to lightning storms in the mornings so I'm not sure why I felt like I was dragging. I wasn't fast (which was OK since I knew I needed to go slowly and pace myself if I wanted to successfully complete three long walks) but I did finish the mileage.

Time: 2:24:08
Pace: 12:00

Day Two: 30.3 miles
This day actually went well. I walked at White Rock Lake since the trails at North Shore were very muddy due to recent rains. However, I was able to walk on the dirt trail that other runners have worn next to the cement/ashpalt running trail. So I would estimate that about 80% of the walk was on a surface resembling "single track" with some grass thrown in here and there.

I purposefully took the walk slow because I knew I had one more day to go. I kept a nice even pace all the way through the walk and did not discernibly slow down, which I was happy about.

My only problem on this day was my feet--the bottoms of my feet were very sore, especially my left one. I attribute this partly to the asphalt and concrete, and partly to the fact that the natural slope of the walking surfaces meant that my left foot took more of the force of my footfall. However, the biggest cause was probably my shoes. I've been waiting to have some extra money to buy new shoes. I ordered them last week but they did not arrive in time and I stupidly walked in my old shoes. They have over 550 miles on them, so this was a dumb thing to do.

When I got home I put them in the garage and this week I'll take them to RunOn and leave them in their donation box, along with a couple of pairs of old NB110 racewalking shoes.

Surprisingly I felt pretty good after the walk. I was definitely tired, but I spent the day running errands with my daughter and spent a lot of time on my feet--the bookstore, two grocery stores, an "indoor play area," etc.

Time: 6:28:15
Pace: 12:48

Day Three: 20.07 miles
Today I wore different shoes, some Asics 2080s that were old but hardly used. My left foot was still tender, but the new shoes helped.

Unfortunately, it rained all night so I still couldn't go to North Shore, and I couldn't walk on the dirt trails at White Rock, so all of today's miles were done on asphalt and concrete.

Again I took it slow, but in my second 10 mile loop I started getting that "horse running to the barn" feeling, plus I got a second wind. I turned in some decent splits during the last half, including several in the 11:30 range. When it was finally over, I was sure glad it was over!

Time: 4:11:44
Pace: 12:32

Three day totals:
Distance: 62.4 miles
Time: 13:04:07
Pace: 12:34

I enjoyed my little experiment. Although it wasn't on trails, I basically walked about 20k less than I will at Syllamo, and I did it with a faster pace than I plan to use at Syllamo, and I did it without a taper or aid stations (when necessary I refueled at my car). I ate and drank on the "run" and only stopped three times in 62 miles. So I feel ready! I just wish the race was here.

My taper plan is to do relatively easy walks this week and next week, probably only about 4 miles instead of the normal 6.1. The only exception is that two days this week I will be in San Jose on business and plan to tackle Mission Peak. It's too much fun to resist. Then next weekend I will do about 10 easy miles; the following weekend and the whole week before the race I won't walk at all. Then it will be time to head to the mountains!

I hope everyone is having great racing or training! Good luck and keep up the hard work!

Silly blog games

bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

Ultras in the News

Here are a couple of links to interesting news articles on extreme ultramarathoning:

Here is a good article on Dean Karnazes and his effort to run 300 miles non-stop.

And here is an astounding article on the famed "Marathon Monks" who run 24,800 miles over seven years as a path to enlightenment. And they don't wear Nikes or Montrails and they don't have Gatorade or electrolyte caplets.

Amazing!

Ever felt like walking 10,000 miles?

If so, then check out this Australian couple walking from London to Cape Town, South Africa! They are walking without third party support and are not affiliated with a charity or cause; they are just walking to walk.

They also have a blog.

People can really do some amazing things!

2006?

Maybe. If I can find the money.

Measuring the Distance

Did you ever wonder how they measure race courses, especially trail races? Scott Dunlap has an interesting interview with Dr. David Dreyfuss, a physicist who also helps organize races and accurately measure course distances.

In Memoriam: Hunter S. Thompson on the Honolulu Marathon

Hunter S. Thompson, "outlaw journalist," is dead.

Here is an excerpt from his column on the Honolulu Marathon:

"There are 30,000 of them now and they all are running for their own reasons. And this is the angle -- this is the story: Why do these buggers run? What kind of sick instinct, stroked by countless hours of brutal training, would cause intelligent people to get up at 4 in the morning and stagger through the streets of Honolulu for 26 ball-busting miles in a race that less than a dozen of them have any chance of winning? This is the question we have come to Hawaii to answer -- again. They do not enter to win. They enter to survive, and go home with a T-shirt. That was the test and the only ones who failed were those who dropped out."

Warm, Muggy Walk

This is the second Sunday in a row when the temperature was 63 degrees at 4:30 AM. I can't believe this is February. Personally I'd prefer some more winter weather. Winter in Dallas is usually great for walking/running.

Today I did my long walk at White Rock Lake again. We had some rain on Friday and it was gray and cool on Saturday so I thought North Shore would be too muddy.

I decided to do some hill training, so my plan was to do two loops of the lake; on each loop I would leave the lake trail and do four repeats of Loving Hill. All went well except that I was pretty sore after the first loop. Loving Hill is great training for Heartland because it is a long, somewhat steep hill (similar to the rolling hills of the Heartland course), not a short and very steep hill.

I wasn't as fast as I was last week, but I that's because I was so fast last week and I'm still a little tired and sore from that effort. But today felt like a good effort and I maintained a fairly even pace throughout the morning. So I'm pleased with today's training.

Distance: 26.64 miles
Time: 5:18:43
Pace: 11:58

On a scary note, we had some serious medical drama this week. My wife went to the doctor for her five year transplant anniversary appointment and bone marrow biopsy. After the procedure (she's had at least ten of these!) she fell asleep, then I noticed that she wasn't breathing! She used to have a high tolerance to the sedatives and pain medications they give for the biopsy, but I guess her tolerance has worn off and she was overmedicated. The nurse called a "code" and doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners all rushed in and started giving her mouth to mouth, preparing IVs and breathing bags, etc. They gave her a dose of Narcan to immediately counteract the effects of the narcotics, and after that she woke up and was really confused to see about 10 people in the exam room.

Thank goodness she was OK and there were no long term effects. We stayed at the clinic until well after 7:00 so she could be observed and we could make sure she wouldn't have any further problems. She's doing well now and feeling fine.

What's the lesson to this story? ALWAYS take someone to the doctor with you. I've spent enough time in hospitals with Angela to know of the potential for mistakes, mismedications, lack of attention, etc. I don't blame the medical community as a whole--they are understaffed and trying to do too much. But it is so important to have someone knowledgeable about your personal circumstances and health history to help mediate for you and keep an eye on you. Don't forget it!

Happy training, everyone.

For Those About to Run.....We Salute You

I went out Sunday morning to do 25 miles. I decided to do my training at White Rock Lake on the asphalt/pavement running path since the trails at North Shore were still muddy and I wanted a little break from the mud. We have had some sort of freakish warm front move in--at 4:30 AM on Sunday morning it was 63 degrees!

As I got to the lake I started thinking about the route to run, the distance, etc. I thought about Richard at the Freescale Marathon in Austin, and VJ and Patrick doing the half. So I decided to do 26.2 in honor of their efforts.

As I started figuring out the logistics of 26.2, I realized I'd have to do two lake loops, then almost half a loop before turning around and going back to the start. I didn't feel like thinking that much, so I just decided to do three loops. Each loop is about 9.3 miles, so that meant 27.9. In the end I walked a little short out and back to reach an even 28 miles.

I felt great all day in spite of the heat. In fact, my marathon split was less than one minute slower than my marathon PR (PR: 4:56:57; split 4:57:42). I slowed down for the last 1.8 miles because I was pretty exhausted at this point. I ended up at 5:20:14 (11:26 pace). My marathon PR pace is 11:20. So I felt like this was a good workout; I'm sure if I had tapered and I was racing I could go quite a bit faster. I don't have any road marathons on my schedule but maybe I'll try to do one next winter.

I didn't walk today but will do the normal 6+ miles tomorrow. I really need to start planning my Syllamo taper. Congrats to all the Freescalers!

Distance: 28.0 miles
Time: 5:20:14
Pace: 11:26

I'm still here

I got a comment from someone wondering if I was going to post again. I guess I have been a little remiss. I've been so busy I've been scanning everyone else's blogs but haven't had time to really read them thoroughly or to comment (congrats to Richard on his excellent half marathon and PR!).

Last week I wasn't feeling well so I didn't walk at all during the week. I felt a bug coming on and I knew if I got up early to walk and pushed myself that I would get sick.

On Saturday I went to my niece's two year birthday party. I tossed around the football with my nephews and ran around the back yard. It sure made my knees sore, and I jammed my thumb; it was an interesting shade of purple for the next couple of days. At the party we found out that my brother-in-law is about to do a 14 month tour in Afghanistan. We are all concerned for him and his family (he has a four kids, from 2 years to 14 years). So I'm unofficially adopting one of the nephews and will make sure to be there for him in his dad's absence.

On Sunday I had one of the hardest workouts in my life. Once again we had rain so the trail was muddy. The mud was the slickest I have ever experienced; it was often like ice. In some instances I had to find a branch on the side of the trail to help me get up steep, slippery hills. I fell three times in the first three miles, including two face plants. One was so hard that my Garmin came halfway loose from the strap. Luckily I was able to secure it once the sun came up.

My plan was to do thirty miles. The trail is about 8.5 miles long, so I did one out and back (17 miles) and then another out and back of 13 miles. It was brutal. Some miles, when the trail was relatively smooth and mud free, I could do 11 to 13 minutes miles. But on some of the muddy miles I did 16-18 minute miles. I even tried running sometimes because it was easier than walking.

Then, I managed to jam my toe HARD against a rock--TWICE! I knew it was going to be bad when I took my shoe off but I just kept going. I successfully finished the thirty miles in 7 hours 14 minutes, a pace of 14:28. That felt pretty slow to me, but after reviewing my walking log I realized that it's not much slower than my 50k PR of 7:21:48, a 14:13 pace.

When I got home it took me about 15 minutes to get the mud off my legs and out of my socks and shoes. My toe was just as I expected--fat and deep, dark purple. But all in all I was pleased with the day. It was hard, but I enjoyed being outside and the weather cleared up and was beautiful. For the last couple of days I have felt terrible. Everything was sore on Monday, even the tops of my feet. But now I'm feeling much better and am planning to walk tomorrow morning.

That's about all for now. I hope everyone else is having fun and training hard.

The.Coolest.Thing......Ever......

If you have a Garmin Forerunner, you HAVE to check out this site: MotionBased. It will download your GPS data from your watch and display it on maps. Not one map, but many different maps:

Street
Topo
Photo
Elevation
Basemap (?)
Satellite
Contour

It will show you elevation profiles. It will tell you total elevation gain and loss, highest and lowest elevations, temperature, speed, splits, etc., etc., etc. It will even let you replay your entire run/walk and will show you your movement both on a map and an elevation profile. It is incredible, and the vast majority of the features are FREE!

Here are a couple of maps of my urban adventure yesterday. First, street:



Next, photo:



Finally, topo:



I can't believe all of the information that is available, and it is mostly free. If you use Garmin, you've got to check it out.

Urban Adventure

I had an unusual training experience yesterday. My wife and daughter went to the opera to see Madame Butterfly, so I decided to take the opportunity to do some afternoon training. (In case you're wondering, I love opera and Madame Butterfly is one of my favorites, but this was a Mama-daughter activity). We've had some rain this week so I knew the trail would be muddy. But I also have a maxim I like to remember: You can't choose your weather on race day, so don't choose your weather on training day. Plus, I really do like walking in the rain, and walking in mud is definitely an interesting experience.

On the way to the lake it started raining so I knew it would be messy (and cool; it was 40 degrees). And I wasn't wrong. It rained almost the whole time I was walking; within one and a half miles I fell and scraped my leg, covering my right side with mud. But it was fun and I enjoyed the experience of struggling through the mud.

It began to rain harder and never stopped, so the muddy trails turned into small creeks and streams and most of the time I walked in water that covered my shoes.

My plan was to do 14 miles; seven out and seven back. Everything went according to plan and I was heading back to the car when I encountered a small problem. About 2.5 miles from the trailhead there is a small stream with some rocks placed so you can walk across it. On a normal day your shoes won't even touch water; on a day that has seen some rain you might get the bottom of your shoes wet; on a rainy day you might get water about halfway up your shoes.

On a day that has seen a lot of rain, the creek grows to about six feet across and turns into a raging river about 2-3 feet deep! Uh oh. That river separated me from my car. I waded a little way in and realized that was a stupid thing to do. The water really was fast and I could feel the current tugging on my legs. I couldn't see the bottom so had no idea where to put my feet. I decided I didn't want to become a flash flood casualty so I waded out of the creek. I really had no idea what to do. I found a pretty large fallen tree and carried it to the creek. I thought I could throw it across and either walk on it or brace myself with it. I threw it across the creek and it instantly rushed downstream! I walked along the bank looking for another place to cross and couldn't find one. I was stuck.

I decided I would have to leave the lake and find my way on the neighborhood roads surrounding the lake. The trail had recently crossed a road so I ran back to that intersection. That's right, I ran. I don't know why, but I felt like running, not walking. I didn't go fast, but for the rest of the day I ran instead of walking.

I headed down the road and using the map mode on my Garmin I found I was going Northeast instead of Southeast. There aren't a lot of streets in this area so I had to run where the road took me. I ran for a while in the wrong direction, then I was able to turn right and run away from the lake (still not South, but I felt like I might be heading to a road that would lead South).

After a little while I found a fire station so I stopped and got directions. Fortunately I was going the right way. I followed the firefighter's directions and ended up running on the grassy median of a four lane, 55 mile per hour highway. By this time it was almost dark and I was soaked; I had been walking or running in non-stop rain for three hours.

Finally I started to get my bearings and turned off the highway onto a small, deserted road. That road let right to the lake entrance and I ran the rest of the way to my car. I ended up doing 17.25 miles instead of 14, and I was out for about four hours and fifteen minutes instead of three hours. But in spite of all this "drama" I still had a great time. My only concerns were worrying my family (I didn't have my cell phone so I couldn't call and tell them I would be late) and the hours at the park. I was afraid they would lock the park gate before I got back and I would be trapped. Luckily that wasn't the case.

After I got to my car I headed to Starbucks for a soy latte (a venti this time) and I treated myself to a cookie since I hadn't had any lunch and only brought one Clif Shot with me today (I left my Hammer Gel flask at home by mistake).

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Did I mention I set a PR Saturday in the Lake Benbrook Half Marathon? My time was 2:13:55 (10:13 pace), 2:15 faster than my last half marathon (2:16:10, a 10:23 pace) and five minutes faster than last year's Lake Benbrook Half (2:18:51, a 10:35 pace). It's not a great race; the course is kind of boring and they only serve water at the aid stations. I didn't bring enough Gel and ran out of steam at the end. I think I could have hit my goal time (2:10) if I had had more Gel and if I had tapered during the week. I didn't decide to do the half marathon until the Friday before so there wasn't any opportunity to taper.

HILL training

I was in San Jose, CA for three days this week for work. While there I wanted to find a good place to train. Luckily the very helpful and informative Ultra-G told me I should try the trails at Mission Peak, only about 15 minutes from my hotel. So I headed out there yesterday and today at about 5:00 AM.

Sometimes I'm a little dense, so even though it was called Mission PEAK, I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. This trail is up, up, up to the peak. There is more than 2,000 feet of elevation gain in less than three miles, and there are almost no flat portions until the trail plateaus toward the top. It was really hard going up and my times were anywhere from 15 to 18 minutes per mile. Several times I wasn't sure if I would make it (tired, so tired....), and I was especially concerned about getting down in time to get back to my hotel and shower before work.

At least I had company during my training--cows. The peak is in a wilderness preserve and they have free-roaming cows and goats, so I saw lots of cows. To entertain myself I greeted them like I would greet a passing runner or hiker. I don't think the cows cared, but I amused myself.

The last half mile was the hardest--the trail is very rocky and, from a running/walking perspective, almost not a trail at all; it's more like a jumble of big rocks. Also, the trail seemed to steepen significantly. Here's a picture of the final approach to the peak.

But once I got to the top it was all worth it. The view was just incredible, a 360 degree view of cities, wilderness, fog and clouds. Here's a daytime view from the top looking toward the urban areas to the west. And here's a view looking toward the mostly wilderness and rural areas to the east. Imagine these views at about 5:45 AM with the sun about to rise over the mountains to the east and not another soul in site. It was so beautiful and peaceful.

After enjoying a few minutes at the top, it was time to go down. This is where things got really interesting. The trail was way too steep to walk down (at least, to racewalk). I really had no choice but to run! And run I did, all the way down (three miles). My times were between 6:15 and 9:00 per mile, all thanks to gravity. A few times I really felt out of control and had to slow myself down before I took a tumble. But I felt great, and when I finally got back to my car my legs felt this great burn, like they had been worked well and appreciated the challenge.

Below is the altitude chart created by my Garmin Forerunner. It is not to scale so the steepness is exaggerated, but you can see that I'm not lying; it's straight up, then straight down.



I was really excited when I read in the Mission Peak brochure that hikers should plan five hours for the round trip ascent and descent; it took me 1:28:15, a pace of 13:41.

So if you are in the Bay Area and looking for a hill to train on, I highly recommend this one. It's very beautiful and very challenging.

Here is a photo essay from Bay Area Hiker with a lot of great pictures of the trail and the peak.

Great Trail Training Yesterday

I had a great training session yesterday at the North Shore Trail. I felt tired, but I was still fast and got faster and faster. Four of my five fastest splits were in the last five miles (of a twenty mile walk). Also, I got a negative split:

1st Half: 2:10
2nd Half: 2:07

My pace was faster than the last three training sessions on this trial even though this was the farthest distance:

12/26: 18.2 miles @ 14:42 pace
1/2: 12.21 miles @ 13.35 (mud and rain)
1/9: 15.25 miles @ 13:05
1/16: 20.3 miles @ 12:53

I'm not sure why yesterday was so good. I didn't change anything--same food, drink, gel, etc. I guess I'm just seeing the effects of my training, and I like them!

Distance: 20.3 miles
Time: 4:21:40
Pace: 12:53

Degrees of Separation?

Check this out! Put in your URL and see who you are directly and indirectly connected to on the internet. Pretty cool. Here's mine:

Speaking of losing things

This morning I lost another toenail, on the toe next to my big toe on my left foot (I lost the same toe on the right foot after Sunmart). I suspect this is a due to the residual effects of SunMart plus my recent trail training. No matter though; it doesn't even hurt.

Guess who's coming to our house tonight?

The Tooth Fairy.

Lela lost her first tooth!

Recent Activities

Training is going well. Sunday I did 15.25 miles at North Shore. It was muddy in spots but overall the trail was great. I got there early again and walked with my headlamp. I love walking in the dark.

I fell once--my first fall ever on trails! I managed to tuck and roll and end up on my back with no injuries. It was a beautiful day with weather in the 40s and 50s and sun. After the walk I got my usual Soy Latte from Starbucks.

After the walk I painted the dining room and sitting room, took down the outdoor Christmas decorations and raked the leaves! Ugh, I was tired......I sure slept well Sunday night.

Distance: 15.25 miles
Time: 3:19:44
Pace: 13:05

Today I did some Acceleration Tempo training. It went better than I expected. My mile splits were:

12:18 (warmup 1/2 mile)
10:52
10:03
10:10
9:55
9:34
11:01 (cooldown 3/4 mile)

Distance: 6.25 miles
Time: 1:05:07
Pace: 10:25

In my last post I talked about about a cold front coming through. Well, it came and went. Today at 4:30 am the temperature was 66 degrees!

I hope everyone is having great training and a great new year!

Artist's Choice™

Have you guys been to Starbucks and seen the Artist's Choice™ CDs, the CDs where a selected artist picks 15-20 songs that he/she likes? Well I thought it might be interesting to see what the different members of the RBF™ would pick for their Artist's Choice™ compilations. If you are interested, you can either post your selections on your blog or leave them in my comments. Here are my choices:
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1. Let The Train Blow The Whistle - Johnny Cash
2. Chez Max Coiffeur Pour Hommes - Serge Gainsbourg
3. Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis - Tom Waits
4. Biggest Lie - Elliott Smith
5. Can't Make a Sound - Elliott Smith
6. Supplique Pour Être Enterré A la Plage de Séte - Georges Brassens
7. Trouble in Mind - Lightnin' Hopkins
8. Take the Skinheads Bowling - Camper Van Beethoven
9. Roll My Blues - Jolie Holland
10. Fruits of My Labor - Lucinda Williams
11. Hell Hound on My Trail - Robert Johnson
12. I Can't Quit You Baby - Led Zeppelin
13. Don't Worry About the Government - Talking Heads
14. Poor Places - Wilco
15. Theologians - Wilco
16. Hell is Chrome - Wilco
17. Anywhere I Lay My Head - Tom Waits
18. Like a Soldier - Johnny Cash
19. Chelsea Hotel No. 2 - Leonard Cohen
20. A Distorted Reality is Now a Necessity to be Free - Elliott Smith
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Anyone else?

On a walking-related note, we've had a cold front come through today so tomorrow's walk will be chilly. The temperature is supposed to be 27 but it will feel like 17 degrees (yesterday's high was 70). Time to get out the hat and gloves.
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Check out Artist's Choice lists from VJ & Deene.

20k in the Mud

Yesterday I felt fortunate because the rain predicted for the end of the week had not come and was anticipated on Monday or Tuesday. Whoops! Meteorology is not an exact science. When I left my house this morning it was foggy and raining. I went to the North Shore Trail anyway because I really want to do all my long walks on trails--I need to train on a surface as close as possible to my races.

When I got closer to the lake there was no rain and the streets looked dry so I once again felt fortunate. It was still dark so I put on my headlamp, then gulped down a Hammer Gel and headed out of the car. As I did, a light, gentle rain started. I hit the trail and walked carefully since there are some small cliffs at the beginning (the trailhead is called Rockledge Park for good reason) and it was damp and dark. The walk was great--the trails were deserted and the temperatures were in the 60s.

After about mile 4 it started to rain, not really hard but hard enough to get the trail good and wet. And that is where the fun began. I avoided the mud and major puddles for a while, but it started raining harder and harder and the trail turned into a little creek! I discovered two interesting things about trail walking in the rain and mud:

1. Your strategy totally reverses. Normally I look for smooth dirt to walk on and avoid rocks, roots and leaves where possible. But in the slick conditions the rocks and leaves became my friends. They gave me enough traction to get up and down the hills relatively safely.
2. On single track trails, you pretty much have to walk/run in the water. The water gathers in the center of the trail for one reason: gravity. You are subject to the same force--if you try to walk on the sides of the trails, you end up sliding down into the center anyway (and almost falling in the process) so you might as well just stay in the middle and get good and dirty.

The more I walked, the slicker and messier it got. I turned around a little after six miles and never saw another runner or walker. I started to see footprints after the five mile marker on the return trip--it looked like two guys running together, and I could tell from their footprints that they were getting just as messy and wet as I was.

I walked through mud and water that came up over my shoes. At one point I put my foot someplace I thought was solid but I sank down to the tops of my shoes. When I lifted my foot it came almot all the way out of the shoe! I shoved my foot back in but the shoe was filled with dirt and crud.

I never fell until about mile 11.8, within distance of my car, when I came across a guy walking the trail with his dog. We exchanged pleasantries and I tried to make room on the trail for all of us, but I slid and landed on my right side. I wasn't hurt, just muddy.

Back at the car I stomped around in some puddles trying to wash off some of the mud and dirt, then headed to Starbucks for a nice warm Soy Latte. When I got home I sat on the back porch for about 15 minutes to hose off my legs, feet and shoes.

It was a great walk and I'll never be afraid to walk on trails in the rain again! What a blast! It wasn't fast but it was fun.

Distance: 12.21 miles
Time: 2:45:54
Pace: 13:35