Long Track Walk

Today I did my long walk at the track. I prefer the trails but because I need to be home early to take care of my wife and daughter while my wife recovers, I didn't want to waste time driving to the trail (the best trail is 40 minutes away). So I hit the track at 5:00 AM to avoid the heat and get in as much mileage as possible.

My goal was to stay below a 12:00 pace, and I ended up doing 11:43. Because of the Garmin I was able to stay very steady throughout the whole walk. Here are my splits:

13:08, 11:56, 11:49, 11:43, 12:30, 11:42, 11:44, 11:44, 11:44, 11:39, 11:48, 11:49, 11:49, 11:43, 11:48, 11:52, 12:11, 11:14, 10:33, 9:47!

Again I only carried water in my pack. I took two electrolyte caplets. I drank half a Big Red soda at each "aid station" break (two). I ate a Mojo Bar at the first break and some peanut butter filled pretzels and lemon drops at the second. As you can see in my splits, I was able to maintain pace the whole time and I was able to push hard in the last three miles. So maybe this approach to fueling and hydration is going to work out well for me.

This weekend provides a good contast between trails and tracks. Yesterday I did 22 miles at a 15:03 pace; today I did 21 miles at an 11:43 pace, a 3:20 per mile differential.

Good luck to everyone racing today: Jennifer, Dianna, and Annalisa.

1:45 AM

That's what time the alarm went off this morning.  I dragged myself out of bed and was immediately glad I had prepared the coffee maker the night before.  I started the coffee, performed my daily ablution, dressed, ate a granola bar, loaded my gear in the car, prepared the coffee and was driving out my garage at 2:05.  Forty minutes later I was buying Big Red, water and ice.  Ten minutes later I'm standing at the North Shore Trail at Lake Grapevine with Deb and Brett.  I don headlamp, turn on flashlight, put on Camelbak and watch and hat.  At exactly 3:08:30 AM, we hit the trail.

Why so early?  Deb and I are training for the Heartland 100 and she is doing a 50 mile race in three weeks as a training race, so she wanted to start early to avoid the heat and get in 36 miles.  I joined her to also avoid the heat and to get in as much mileage as possible before heading home to take care of wife and daughter (yes, wife is finally home from the hospital!  More on that later).  Brett (training for his first 50k in November) also wanted to avoid the heat and enjoys running with Deb.  So we all three spent the morning together talking, running and walking, peeing, eating and drinking, and generally having a good time.

We had a good day on the trail.  It was relatively cool in the morning and didn't warm up too much by the time I left (9:10).  We saw some other members of North Texas Trail Runners and saw very few cyclists.  We saw an armadillo, an adolescent skunk, a jack rabbit.  We stayed together the whole time and didn't push too hard.  I had to leave by 9:10 in order to get home at the agreed upon time, so I only ended up doing 22 miles in 5:30, a 15 minute pace.  Brett's goal was to do 18, which he accomplished (he also did 18 last weekend).  Deb went on to do her 36 miles and is still out there as I write this.  It was a great way to start the weekend.

Angela finally got home Wednesday and is doing pretty well, all things considered.  She is getting home rehab and is as active as possible around the housel.  Her only problem is bending the knee--she can't bend it to the degree they would like.  She will keep working on it and there are some options if she can't get it done herself.  One option is that the surgeon would put her under and then force her leg to bend (OUCH!).  Hopefully it won't come to that.

That's all for now.  I hope to spend most of the day at home, working with my daughter on her reading and other skills so she'll be ready for school in two weeks.  Tomorrow I'll do about 20-22 miles at the track (I don't have time to drive to and from a trail two days in a row).

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I forgot to update everyone on my nutrition and hydration experiments.   I have been avoiding Gels and energy drinks because, frankly, I am sick of them.  Today I carried water in my Camelbak.  I ate half a peanut butter sandwich, drank half a Big Red and ate a few pieces of candy orange slices at nine miles.  I ate the other half sandwich, drank the other half of the Big Red and ate a couple of peanut butter filled pretzels at 18.  I topped off my water both times.  I felt great for the whole walk.  I never felt a bonk or crash.  Also, I only took three Succeed caplets (in the past I would have taken between five and ten).

So far it seems that I can get enough energy and electrolytes from food and drink at "aid stations," supplemented with occasional electrolyte caplets.  I still keep Hammer Gel and Clip2 on hand in case it is needed, but so far it has not been.

Speaking of Goals, Here is Fat Man Walking

Speaking of walking across America, here is Steve Vaught, self dubbed "Fat Man Walking." Why is he walking across America?

I am going to walk across the United States from San Diego to NYC to lose weight and regain my life!

Normal people doing amazing things!

Goals

I want to do something like this. One day.....
Run Willy Run
Run Across America 2004
Run Across America
Diabetes Run Across America
Run the USA
Running across America

Or a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail?
Or maybe a walk across Texas? I don't know if anyone's done that.

I'd like to have a big milestone goal out there staring me in the face, challenging me to push farther and harder. I'm going to pick something and work toward it....

Catching up

I haven't posted in a while because things have been so busy. Angela developed an infection in her knee and had to have a second surgery to clean it out. It was scary for a while watching her leg turn red and swell up, but now everything is back to normal and her leg looks good. The therapy is REALLY HARD and she's having to work extra hard to get back where she was before the infection. The bad news is that she is still in the hospital; the good news is that she should be home on Monday. She has already been in the hospital for 2 1/2 weeks! I'll be glad when she's home.

Since I'm temporarily a single dad I haven't been doing any training. That has been very frustrating, but I know it's temporary so I'm just trying to watch what I eat so I don't put on a bunch of weight. I feel like my past training was strong so I'm not too worried about the 100 miler in October.

One thing I'm very excited about: remember the all night training I did a few weeks ago with some friends who are also training for Heartland? Well, we are going to do a 100k training run/walk in mid-August. It will also be an overnight session (it's so much cooler at night and you don't have to deal with the sun beating on you for hours) on the same gravel roads we used for our all nighter. A few more people are going to join us for part or all of the night. So if you will be in Central Texas (Waco area) on Friday, August 19th, please come join us for some fun. We'll have plenty of snacks and drinks at our "aid station," so just bring your gear (don't forget a flashlight or headlamp). We'd love to have you!

Today, my daughter is going to a birthday party, I'm hoping to get a haircut, and I've got to clean up the house--my daughter is a horrible slob and things are a wreck. Hopefully I'll be back in training next week and next weekend will put in some good, long miles.

Happy training!

Google Maps the Moon???

Yes, you read that right. Google Maps on the Moon. Check this out. Very cool!

URGENT - Your Bone Marrow Is Needed

I've just found out that Diem Tran, one of my customer's friends, has severe Aplastic Anemia and urgently needs a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately she does not have a matched sibling and there was no match in the Bone Marrow registry; she's Vietnamese, which dramatically reduces her chances of finding a match.

If you are Vietnamese I implore you to join the National Bone Marrow Registry. All it takes is a simple finger prick and a small amount of blood to register. Your simple act might save a life. If you have any Vietnamese friends, encourage them to join, too.

Here is a link with lots of good information on how to join the registry and what happens if you are found to be a match.

EVERYONE should register!!!! But if you are Vietnamese the need is URGENT! Please help!

Update on Angela's Surgery

Angela's surgery was a success. She spent three days in recovery and then moved to the rehabilitation hospital. She should get out by Friday, and may even get out by Wednesday. She initially had a lot of pain and it took some effort to get it under control. We have to be very careful because she has lung/breathing problems as a result of her bone marrow transplant, and three times in the past she has stopped or almost stopped breathing due to excessive sedation/narcotics. So for a couple of days it was stressful, but now they seem to have a good drug combination that makes her tired but not "drugged."

Lela has been with relatives for almost a week, and I really miss her! Sunday I brought her home and she spent the day and evening with me. We went out to eat (Pei Wei) and got ice cream (Marble Slab), then we watched "The Two Towers" and spent time together. I can't wait until she's home again with us.

Today I did my first training since last Monday, and it sucked! I don't know why, I just had one of those lousy days. Even though I was walking on super-flat concrete it felt like I was walking uphill, and I had a lot of discomfort in my feet and ankles. I made the wrong-headed decision to walk on a concrete trail near my house; I wanted to walk ten miles and I thought it would be too boring to do it at the track. In retrospect, I wish I had gone to the track. Oh well, not every training day can be perfect.

Distance: 10.22 miles
Time: 2:02:05
Pace: 11:56

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!