California Adventure / Western States 100

Alright, it took me much longer to get back at this than I had anticipated.  So after downloading pictures and videos from my phone for over an hour, I’m gonna try to get caught up by Sunday —- here I go.

I am friends with quite a few amazing people.  One of which, Kevin T.  was lucky enough to get picked to run in the Western States 100 Mile Race.  This is the oldest 100 mile race.

In 1955, the late Wendell T. Robie with a party of five horsemen rode the Western States Trail from Squaw Valley to Auburn, proving that horses could still cover 100 miles in one day. Through his energy and vision, he subsequently founded the Western States Trail Foundation and organized the annual Western States Trail Ride, also known as the Tevis Cup “100 Miles – One Day” Ride.

Wendell Robie during an early Tevis Ride In 1974, with the inspiration and encouragement of Drucilla Barner, 1st woman to win the Tevis Cup and Secretary of the WSTF, Tevis veteran Gordy Ainsleigh joined the horses of the Western States Trail Ride to see if he could complete the course on foot. Twenty-three hours and forty-two minutes later Gordy arrived in Auburn, proving that a runner could indeed traverse the

rugged 100 miles in one day. 1974 Western States Trail Ride Start List In 1975, a second runner, Ron Kelley, attempted the same feat, only to withdraw within two miles of the finish with ample time remaining. In 1976, Ken “Cowman” Shirk ran the 100 miles, finishing just 30 minutes over the 24-hour mark. In 1977, 14 men from four states participated in the 1^st official Western States Endurance Run, which was held in conjunction with the Tevis Cup Ride. Runners were monitored by Dr. Bob Lind at the three veterinary stops set up for the horses, and although the race organization transported the entrants gear, runners were responsible for producing all of their own supplies, except water. Three runners finished the course: Andy Gonzales, age 22, in the record-breaking time of 22:57, and Peter Mattei and Ralph Paffenbarger, ages 53 and 54, who tied in 28:36 (and the 30-hour award was born!).

Founding Runners, Gordy Ainsleigh and Cowman Shirk In the fall of 1977, the Board of Directors for the Western States Endurance Run was formed as part of the Western States Trail Foundation. It was made up primarily of the handful of runners and riders who had helped monitor the progress of the 14 pioneers earlier that summer. The Run organization later became its own entity and is now known as the Western States Endurance Run Foundation. 1978 heralded a dramatic increase in both interest and participation in the Western States Run. Culminating a year-long effort by the inspired Gang of Four (Phil Gardner, Mo Livermore, Shannon Weil, and Curt Sproul) to create an independent event, the race took place in June, a month earlier than the Tevis Cup Ride. The event mushroomed to include 21 aid stations and six medical checks, thanks to an ever-growing corps of loyal volunteers and the support of the Placer County Sheriff ‘s Communications Reserve and the Search and Rescue Unit. 63 adventurers ran the race, and the first woman, Pat Smythe, finished in 29:34.

No Hands bridge circa 1970 One hundred forty-three runners from 21 states and three foreign countries attempted the course in 1979. Since then, the Run has reached its full entrance quota and draws athletes from across the nation and around the world.

Now that you’ve had your history lesson……

I was trolling Facebook one evening and noticed Kevin posted about looking for a pacer for the last 40 miles of the race.  I immediately messaged him and told him if I could make my schedule work, I’d love to do this for him.  As it turns out, I was able to get things situated — with much help from Kevin and his wife – and join him in this adventure!

Kevin and his wife Janet, were staying at a bed and breakfast in Truckee and headed out a few days earlier than I did.  I was staying at CalNeva Resort and Casino in North Lake Tahoe and headed out there on Friday, the day before the race.  I’ve never been to California before which made this trip that much more exhilarating!  CalNeva was a fantastic place!  It is an older place but was a hangout of Frank Sinatra, The Rat Pack and friends and is full of history.  It’s called CalNeva because the state line runs right through it.

Lake Tahoe – from my hotel window

Main ballroom showing the state line

It was nice with the time change, I arrived in the morning and had plenty of time to hang out with Kevin and Janet, visit the start finish line and take in some sights.

Squaw Valley – start of course

This place was AMAZING!

We even took in a gondola ride to the top of the mountain.  This is the way back down.  Wish we were sitting on the other side of the car because the drop off view was spectacular!

Afterwards we headed off to our hotels so Kevin and Janet could get a good nights rest while I did a bit more sight-seeing around Tahoe.

Race day — dun dun daaaaaaaa…..

To give you an idea of the course, Click here for the Google Maps flyover of the course.  I must have watched this a hundred times building up to our trip.

I was planning on seeing Kevin off from the start, but quickly decided since I would be running through the night with him, I’d get a little more sleep then meet up with Janet and catch him at aid stations.  There is live tracking for these races so we are able to gauge where and when we will be able to see him.  Kev started out great and made the first few aid stations well within the cutoff time.  Janet and I headed to crew access at mile 23.8, found a spot to park our butts cheer incoming runners on and wait for Kev.  It was HOT – as in temps +100 deg F. w/o the heat index added in!  After watching a number of our other friends come through the aid station, incoming runners started getting further and further apart and we were getting a bit worried about how Kevin was doing.  I refreshed the screen on my phone about every 2 minutes to make sure we didn’t miss him.

Then it happened —  The next update I received was he dropped.  In actuality, he didn’t drop, he was pulled off the course by the medical team.  Janet and I raced down the mountain to where we could pick him up and anxiously awaited his arrival by the aid station crew.  When he finally arrived he was being helped towards us; his speech was slurred and his demeanor was that of someone who had way too much alcohol.  After bringing him down to lower elevation yet and letting him acclimate, he was telling us about how the aid station at Duncan Canyon (mile 23.8) came running out to meet him, asking if he was alright.  Apparently he was no longer running straight and meandering down the trail.  He was responding to them and to him sounded clear as a bell — but in reality his speech was slurred and incoherent.  The sat him down and he kept going in and out of consciousness.  The diagnosis was altitude sickness.  One of the medical team members said to get him to lower elevation and that he should be fine in a couple of hours.  I felt terrible for him.  This was such a huge adventure, one in which not only did he have a tremendous amount of time involved with training but other personal time and money as well.  Kev kept apologizing to us for not completing the race — totally unnecessary.  This entire trip was about him.  We were there for him no matter what the outcome was; unfortunately this time the outcome wasn’t what we had anticipated, but better to be pulled off the course on your own two feet, than to be medically evacuated from the course in a stretcher!  You did awesome Kev, very proud of you brother!

Now the positive side of dropping this race at mile 23.8 vs. any later?  It was only 1pm!  Kev could get a chance to rest up some and take in the beauty of the area.  After he got a chance to recover the three of us went out exploring.  We found a few trails to hike.  I apologize, but I took too long to get this post done and cannot remember for the life of me what the names of these trails were — I do have the pics tho…

Kevin and Janet – chilling at Lake Tahoe

After exploring we found a fantastic place to eat on the water and called it a night.  Although Kev was pulled off the course and didn’t finish the race, a DNF is much better than a DNS.  Mad props Kev – not anyone could just get into Western States.  So very thankful to have a ROCKSTAR friend like you!

Standbye …. more to come 🙂

Hello hello ello ello llo llo lo……

Wow! How in the WORLD has time gone by so fast! There is no way possible for me to catch up on everything that has gone on in our lives. I can however share a few snapshots of what’s been occupying my time, tho 🙂 So lets see…. May – Training for Jeremy and Emily to run the CLE Half Marathon hadn’t gone as planned. Training with them through the cold weather months didn’t work out so well. It seemed every time we went for a training run in the cold – they would end up sick! I put the kibosh on this race for them and I don’t think they were too upset about it. It was always tough to get them on the trails, but once there they had fun. Since this race fell on a “nonkid” weekend for me anyways, I decided to ride my bike to it, meet up with my friends, eat some breakfast then ride the course to find friends that were running it. It was a 34mile round trip ride from my house – the furthest ride made this year. I was a little worried about the route to get there but after driving it the day before, learned that – HOLY CRAP there were some beautiful, crazy expensive houses along the way! I would have taken a few pictures, but I was afraid I’d get arrested! Made the trip there in great time and had an absolute blast! Here’s the map/data for this ride. I made it there, met up with Jocelyn (my buddy Jason who was running the race’s wife) and BMO. We had an awesome breakfast thanks to Darla who floats me VIP parking and brunch tickets every year — much appreciated Darla! After brunch BMO and I set out on the course to find Jason. Unfortunately we missed him till the last 1/4 mile, but got to see him finish and share some beers at the finish!

Celebratory beers at the finish

June –

Got the kids out for a little bit of trail fun, and enjoyed some more myself (surprise right?)

Jeremy and Emily — back in the trails…

Charlie and I — chillin’ in the river. Don’t judge, it was HOT out!! lol

Towards the end of June also was Western States 100 Miler! That is a blog post in itself that I am working on. Too much to share in this trip to California to squeeze into here — just wouldn’t do it justice.

Now here we are in July…. Kids have been playing their BUTTS off – Jeremy with baseball and Emily with fastpitch. I couldn’t be more proud of these two. Jeremy plays short stop, outfield and pitches. Emily plays short stop, first base, catcher and pitcher.

Jeremy throwing the heater!

I did find a pitching coach for Emily. She FIRES them in there but isn’t all that accurate. I’m also in the process of hiring a pitching coach for Jeremy, as well as a batting coach for both of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1I_JsAn5Bs

And speaking of dinners…. I unfortunately had to opt out of Fresh Fork this season. So much going on which made finances a bit tight. It’s an excuse, I know… If I were a better budgeter, I know I could do it but I’m not. I did keep up with my Fresh20 membership and dinners are back on! Expect to see more posts about them very soon! Just a teaser of a couple of our favorites…

From June – Herb Pork Tenderloin with Braised Leeks and Wheatberries

From July — Tex-Mex Sloppy Joe with Watermelon Feta Salad

From June – Spicy Sausage fisherman’s Stew

Alright, I’m tired and going to bed! I know — kind of a blah post, but I have to start somewhere again, right? I have a lot going on and much to talk about. Planning on not being gone for so long 🙂

Outrun 24 Hour Endurance Run – 1 Mile loop / 24hrs / Hellafun!

End of April also brought about the 2nd running of O24. O24 (OUTRUN 24) is a 24 hour endurance run put on by our running group, OUTRUN. I ran this last year to complete my first 100k and this year I had the honor to be on the race committee. I’m really enjoying being involved with the “behind the scenes” part of races.

“Harvesting” a new leg while setting up in the morning 🙂

O24 is one of Zack’s (head of OUTRUN) brilliant ideas. It is a one mile loop that runs through Chapin Forest. You get 24hrs to complete whatever distance you can with medals going to the 50k and 100k finishers and a buckles for the 100 miler finishers. The inaugural running of this races was incredible, there was something like 60 participants, this year there were nearly 90! According to Zack, there were 85 runners who ran a total of 4,973 miles with 59 being the average distance. Seven runners hit the 100 mile marker or more, 42 ran between 100k and 99miles. Thirty-five runners ran between 50k and 100k and the ages ranged from 17 to 77 with 43yrs old being the average. Pretty DAMN impressive stats!

This is the Start / Finish / AND the one mile to go mark 🙂

O24’s “Tent City” for those that camped out for the weekend.

My goal for this races originally was to complete 100 miles in 24hrs. That 29 seconds from BR is still haunting me. I did 100 in under 24hrs, but according to the record books – I was off by 29sec. (BR100 is actually 100.9 miles / my time was 24hrs 29 seconds). Michele was also planning on covering 100 miles here so we figured on running it together. I pulled my data from BR and thought that if we ran the first 20 miles at roughly a 10/11 min average pace, we could run the last 80 miles at a 15/16min average pace. My thinking was, it worked for BR and that course was much more difficult. Should be practically a walk in the park here. One problem tho…. I did not train for this run. My 100 mile training had basically just started and was geared toward running another 100mile race at the end of July. Whoops.

In any case, I ran this race and had an absolute BLAST! The only discomfort I felt was somewhere around the 40 mile mark. When running ultras, fueling is very important so you kind of train yourself to eat at each aid station. Problem here then? The aid station was at every mile! I ate WAY too much! That, added to the sun coming out (for the first time in what seemed like forever) kinda killed me. I ended up taking a 20min break and got out of the sun. After my break I was good to go again.

Eating every mile —- WRONG

The first 20 miles went according to plan. Covered the first 50k (31 miles) in just under 6 hour and then it went kind of downhill from there. I’m trying not to get into all the details of this run because I’m sure you could only hear so many times that I was running, laughing, walking, smiling, jogging, goofing around, eating, smiling, running…… etc., etc., etc. 🙂 I was quite fine with it though. The only real race that I have on my schedule that I NEED to finish is Not Yo Mommas 100 Miler at the end of September.

Ben, Michele, Crystal and I – Running and smiling…..

Michele and I – jogging, laughing, goofing 🙂

Did I mention having a good time?

The thing I’ve realized about running over the past year or so, is that I love the people aspect of it most of all. I love to hear people’s stories as to why they run, what challenges they have over come and what achievements they’ve made. I’ve met so many amazing people who, thru running, have pushed themselves way beyond they’ve ever thought they could go, have overcome many obstacles, and have made many positive changes in their lives. Walking, jogging, running with them, and talking to them is one of my favorite parts about running races.

Chris dedicated a marathon to each one of those killed in Boston

Changed placards with each marathon he ran today

Zach M — wore these bunny slippers for the first 10-15 miles (I think). Also wore them at Bills Bad Ass 50k…. You get the idea that ultra trail runners are a colorful bunch 🙂

So as the day went on and more and more runners were pushing themselves past where they thought their breaking point would be and exceeded their original goals. Those that were already done stuck around to cheer them on. Runners are a pretty tight group of friends, trail runners – even closer. But ultra trail runners are as close to family as you can get without sharing the same parents!

Rockstar “family” hanging out in support

Finally the top male and female finishers. I would say winners, but “winners” in this sense would not be appropriate. Everyone had different goals in mind — making everyone that toed the line a winner.

Will from Tennessee — 1st place, 115 miles!

Crystal — 2nd place overall and 1st place female — 106miles. I was happy to run with her and teased some about being in front of her for a few loops. Any time we’ve run together, I see her at the start and maybe for a mile from there… then ZOOM I’ll see her at the finish!

Wow… this was much longer than I intended. I could have gone on and on but I practiced some restraint. Here is my data from this “race”. There are two files, the first is about the first 50 miles and then the second is the last 25 There are some HUGE things coming up that I am crazy excited about. Still yet to come this year;

• June – I bowed out of running BR100 this year and I decided not to run the 3 day Blue Blazes Ultra. In place of those, I’ve been afforded the opportunity to pace one of my amazing friends Kevin at Western States 100 in California next month!
• July – So the kids and I are going to help out at an aid station for BR in July.
• August – brings the 170mile Bike MS, which I’m haven’t even STARTED fundraising for yet.
• September is Run Woodstock 50k AND Not Yo Mommas 100 Miler.
• October is the Columbus 1/2 Marathon that a ton of us are going to. Many of whom are running the full, several the half, and I’m planning on the half with Jeremy and Emily. The following week is Run with Scissors Double Marathon, and finally
• November is Bills Badass 50k, which I am hoping to mentor Jeremy.

I’m pretty sure there will be more sprinkled in there but that’s my plan so far. I’ll have to give some updates on dinners, cooking, and our garden really soon, too!

What do you have coming up?

Good thing pictures say a thousand words….

I have a lot of catching up to do and don’t feel like typing that much!  You ever get so far behind on something that the thought of trying to catch up makes you want to put it off even more?  Yeah, it’s kind of like that….   So after going back and forth with how to handle this, I decided that I would let the pictures we’ve taken this past month do most of the talking for me… That said, here is my lazy post —–

We are still eating REALLY well thanks to the Fresh 20, but I haven’t been as good about taking pictures of what we had.  I do have a couple of them tho…

Black Bean Soup with Chicken and Cheese Quasadillas

Lemon Chicken with Farro Pasta and Bok Choy

Really doesn’t look like he likes it by his facial expression but he really did give this a double thumbs 🙂

Emily — not such a fan of Farro

Ever see a kid double thumb up a tofu dish?

No? Here’s another! 🙂

How about a little halibut — just for the “halibut”

This month also brought along mine and Emily’s Father Daughter Sweetheart Ball.  We do this every year,  buy her a “pretty dress” and “fancy shoes”, get dressed up and spend the day together dancing and having a great time, thanks to the Willoughby Recreation Center.  As usual, we went dress shopping and as usual Emily had an absolute BLAST modeling different dresses for me!  We invited Leah along this year but she wasn’t able to make it.  Here are some of Emily’s favorites from this day.

Dress #1 of 1,345,363 tried on today..

Dress #2

Dress #3

Dress #4

Time for the Ball!

Excited to dance

This girl has got some moves!

Ahhhhh refreshments…

Love this kid!

My little girl is getting so big!

What would a post be without another 50k run????   Well this one isn’t going to include one either because while the run was a 50k, most of us bowed out at mile 23.x.  This was the “No Shirt Fatass 50k”  — however it was WAY to cold for anyone to go sans shirt!  This was my first time at the Cleveland Metroparks, Hinckley Reservation as well — beautiful place and I can’t wait to take the kids here.  Here is my Runkeeper data — SLOW…..

Beautiful ledges area

One of the creek crossings

Best way to finish a run! “Burgers 2 Beer”, Burger-onion straws-chili-cheese

I followed this run up the next day with a trip to New York to hit the slopes for the first time this year.  It’s nice to have Peak and Peak ski resort so close.  It is about an hour and a half drive for me and well worth it!  The place wasn’t crowded at all and except for the delays I had on the lifts – the day was amazing.

Conditions couldn’t have been better

After posting these pics and looking back at this month — this must’ve been the “Month of Emily”.  Jeremy had a sleep over at a friend’s house so I took Emily for a run in the morning.  She is really starting to enjoy it and was able to run most of our route.  There was also a race going on in the park at the same time in which many of my friends were participating in.  Emily and I ran to the start/finish line and cheered them all in.

A new find in our park — never saw this little hut before

I’ll help you up — just as soon as I take your pic, typical 🙂

Beautiful scenery – Beautiful little girl!

That pretty much takes care of some of what’s been happening in February.  Things are REALLY starting to get busy now.  So, if you haven’t boycotted my blog because of this post – stick around!  In addition to things that are already on my plate, kids sports starting again (basketball, baseball, and fastpitch), and our Fresh Fork Market Summer CSA starting (whoo hoo!!!),  I started a youth running group thanks to the Lake County Department of Health.

Just RUN

and am also co-hosting a fun run in April to help out two great causes

Reaching for Recovery

Catchya later! 🙂

Introducing my family to my love….

Alright now… Really??? What did you think I meant???

If you have been following our adventures, I think you would agree with me when I say – Jeremy and Emily are HOOKED! They are loving being in the trails and splashing in the mud – I absolutely love to see them running, smiling, laughing, jumping, and splashing in puddles. Emily is also getting into the “fashion” side of running. For Christmas they both asked for running clothes and gear. Notice Emily sporting her new running skirt, tights, shirt, Nathan fuel belt, and Saucony shoes… she’s so darn cute 🙂

Emily sporting her new running clothes

Jeremy – all smiles in his new gear – yes Saucony as well — I’m a bit brand loyal 🙂

Jeremy and Emily have become quite the little runners. Jeremy wants to enter a 10k trail race next month, is seriously thinking about letting me mentor him through Bills Bad Ass, or as he calls it Bills Bad, uh – that word I’m not allowed to say… butt? and is planning on the Rite-Aid Half Marathon in May. Emily also told her teacher that her New Year’s resolution is to complete a half marathon! ROCK ON BABYGIRL! I’ve yet to sign us up yet tho — one thing I didn’t consider when all of us started running; Me + Emily + Jeremy= a 200% increase in 2013 registration fees and a huge rise in the cost of gear!

Now, my sister and brother-in-law have taken up walking almost every night – my sister is up to 4 miles! And if you’ve been reading my blogs, my niece tagged along with Jeremy for about 4 miles one night. My sister and her family has gone to North Chagrin, but walked the bridal trails and expressed an interest of joining us when the kids and I went. We went and they are now hooked as well!

We started out at Squire’s Castle and when we got out of the car, my sister was shocked! There Emily was in her running skirt and long sleeve tech shirt – no coat/hat/gloves.. Jeremy in his shorts, long sleeve tech shirt – no coat/hat/gloves, me in shorts and a short sleeve tech shirt, while my sister and her family were in coats, hats, gloves, and pants – needless to say after the first 1/2 mile, they were HOT! LOL

We headed down the bridal for a bit – yes, the same place where I knocked Emily down and bloodied her knees — Emily will not let me forget that. Our conversations usually go something like – “Dad, this is where you pushed me down!”, me – “I didn’t push you down, I tripped you – there’s a difference :)”

Vicki and Ed hitting the trails

They quickly caught on to one of my favorite things about trail running — jumping in mud 🙂

Courtney just after getting some mud from Emily

Emily is still learning the dos and do nots of splashing in the trails… Em, do NOT look down when you jump in a puddle next time!

We went for about a mile down the bridal trail, hit Rivergrove Shelter, made the “whoo hoo” creek crossing and then hit some single track. On our way back I took them up one of my new favorite sections – root hill.

Still having fun, I think 🙂

Jeremy – still having fun, I know!

Emily perfecting her Karate Kid pose

Just a few days prior, these trails were covered in snow. The remnants of which made some of them more like trail skating vs. trail running!

We ended up running/hiking just over 2 miles today. You could check out our data here. My niece actually liked it so much that when she got home, she called several of her friends and made arrangements for them all to hit the trails again the next day…. … Welcome to the addiction Vicki, Ed and Court — it’s a progressive disease from which there is no cure —- I hope 🙂

Second 50k of the year in the books – Run for Regis

This race marked my 2nd ultra-marathon of the year so far — AND IT’S ONLY JANUARY 13th! I’ve run this race three times now and I (we) had just as much fun this time as we did all the others, OK… that’s not entirely true – the first year I ran this I dropped out of the 50k at mile 19.x because I was F’n cold! It was 4deg F.! It’s safe to say – this was MUCH more fun! 🙂

I’ve still yet to “train” for anything, and it feels REALLY nice to have a 50k as my base now; but with O24 coming up in April (thinking about making this a 100miler) and BR100 in July (which is 100.9 miles), I’ve got to get off my ass and start logging some serious miles!

Since I Pr’d the Frosty 50k last weekend, going into this run I had absolutely ZERO expectations of finishing fast. My plan for this was just to enjoy it! I think I knew more than half of the runners and volunteers for this run — which just added to the experience.

Now, I didn’t know Regis, but from what I hear about him and how passionately those that did have the pleasure of knowing him talk about him – he sounded like an amazing man. WRFR benefits;

Regis Shivers Scholarship – awarded to a graduating high school runner as a college scholarship in honor of Regis Shivers.

and

Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher House – a non-profit corporation that provides lodging to patients and their family who are being treated at the Veterans Administration Medical Care Facilities in Cincinnati.

The weather was RE.DIC.U.LOUS. Like I said, the first year I ran this the temp. dropped to 4deg., last year I think it was 9-10deg. This year? 60+Deg!! It’s not often you get to run an Ultramarathon, mid January in Ohio wearing shorts!

Some of my OUTRUN family – love these guys!

and just for comparison —-

Close up – 2012

2013 – Closeup

These two were taken close to the same spot on the course…

2012 trail

2013 Trail

This “race” consists of two lollipop loops. The one loop is about 5miles long and the other about 8miles long. The 50k’ers start with the short loop then the long loop. We ran the short loop three times and the longer loop twice. I ran the first 5.5 (actually 6+) miles with my badass friend Mike and his wife Beth. It has been a while wince we’ve run together and we had a great time; running and talking the entire time — which actually got us a bit lost since we weren’t paying attention to the trail markers and just following the people in front of us. They took a wrong turn – so we did as well. I think this is what messed them up.

Which way do I go, which way do I go…

So we added a mile or so to what we were supposed to do… what’s a mile or so amongst friends, huh? The rest of the trail was simply awesome! Parts of it tho did bring back bad memories of the Running With Scissors Double Marathon I did a couple of months ago. A little muddy, very reminiscent of RWS.. not a fan of these conditions.

This course is quite a bit different from the 50k course I ran last weekend. Total elevation for that one was about 2500ft, no steps and small rolling hills. This one was just over 3300, but loaded with steps and hills.

I Kendell Lake

Just a few hills..

Gotta love steps!

Did I mention there were steps?

After finishing the first loop, I was on my own for the rest of the race. I tried to step it up a bit and would glance down at my watch and see low to mid 8:00/mile pace showing. I would then cut it back some because I knew I couldn’t keep that pace up for long. BAD MOVE. I think this gassed me and sucked a lot of the energy out of me. When I reached the Pine Hollow aid station it was nice to see familiar faces. I was first greeted by Sue, who paced me the last 20 miles at Burning River! What a nice surprise it was! I stood there and we chatted for a while, while I drank some coke and downed a few potato chips. Then I was off again. The next couple loops were pretty slow but it was a huge morale booster to see my kids at start/finish in between loops.

Jeremy, Emily and I – between about mile 18

My brother brought them up there for me. They hiked the trails while I ran. We timed it really well and just before heading out for my final 5.5 mile loop I got to see them again. I asked Jeremy and Emily if they’d like to run the last loop with me. I think Emily was a bit nervous about it since her longest run to date is just over 3.5miles, but Jeremy was all excited to get out and run during a race. He ran like a pro, right along side of me. Everyone we passed or that come upon us in the opposite direction the first thing out of his mouth was, “Good job!” 🙂 I was so proud of him when we crossed the finish line together.

FINISHED!

Second 50k in as many weeks – This one’s stats? Official time – 7hrs 25min, 31.61 miles a new PR… for slowest 50k! Check out the data here.

Badasses, Proving Their Badassness

If you’ve read my blog recently, you probably remember me talking about Bills Badass 50k. No? Here, let me refresh your memory 🙂 Made mention of it here and here.

Two awesome Bills… Left-Wild Bill, Right-Chef Bill

This marks my 11th ultra marathon this year (I’m including training runs that also are of ultra distances) and this one I was most honored to do for a couple of reasons. One reason was to be a mentor (even if I was second choice ;)) and the other to show our support for an awesome friend who is the “ultimate badass”.

This year, this race was billed for 1st time ultra marathoners and their mentors (if they chose to have one). One of my close friends, Doug (remember Doug? He bloodied my nose during one of our training runs? Yeah, him) asked me to help mentor him. He first asked JT, but the date for this run was changed from 11/10 to 11/17 and JT’ was already supporting his own badass son who qualified for the “World’s Toughest Mudder” which was on 11/17, so Doug asked if I would help. Of course my response was “Hell ya!”

So after hooking up for some great training runs through CVNP and our beloved NC, the day finally came. Unfortunately for “the Bills” (race directors Wild Bill Wagner and Chef Bill), the weather couldn’t be more perfect. Sooner or later they will get the crappy weather that this race deserves.

We arrived at Everett Road Covered Bridge and DAMN was it cold! The weather was supposed to warm up today so my usual rule of thumb applied — above 30deg F. wear shorts, short sleeve shirt and compression sleeves.

Frosty morning!

“You will NOT be a Candyass…..”

“… or Wild Bill will take this bullhorn, scream at you, essentially embarrassing the shit out of you!”

After a quick debriefing by “The Bills” we toed the “line”, or lack thereof, and we were off! This race consisted of running a 5 mile loop, 6 times and then after completing your sixth lap, a “run” up “Candy Ass Hill” where you had to run up half a mile, grab a piece of candy to prove you went the distance and then back down to the start finish.

Thinking about the training that was done for this run, I originally told Doug that I thought we would finish in about 7 hours. He was thinking more along the lines of 6 to 6-1/2 hours. So I was really hoping that we would come closer to his goal. I planned on following my usual refueling/hydration plans, eating about a 1/4 PB&J, some chips and some coke at every pass of the aid station, as well as drinking at least 20oz of water, having a GU and two S-Caps every hour — unfortunately I had to add in 2 Advil at the start and then at the 3hr mark. Doug was going to follow the same GU/S-Cap/Water plan, I think it worked out pretty well for him — aside from the excess salt that dried on his skin from his sweat after the race. Doug make note — after an ultra and using S-Caps do NOT rub your eye while driving!

Loop one and two were spent pretty much running, chatting and really just goofing off — hence the pictures of us posing for the camera 🙂 and we were still about 20min ahead of schedule for finishing by 6hrs30min.

Go!

Smile for the camera…

Hello? Yeah, I’m going to burn over 4000 calories, I would like two large pizzas and a dozen wings

Loop three and four were a bit more difficult and we dropped off pace a little bit. Doug was dealing with some pains but muscled through it like a champ. The flatter sections didn’t seem too bad but there was much more profanity coming from people’s mouths as we made the climb up some of the hills!

One MOTHER of a climb x6!

Loop 5 had to be the worst of them all but once we started loop 6 and got a taste of the end, it was like a whole new race! By the end of loop 6 we were already passed the 6hr45min mark, now the goal was keeping it under 7hrs. We dashed across the road and made the “run” up Candyass Hill, grabbed our “Atomic Fireball” and raced back down, finishing this mother to the tone of 6hrs 54min. Check out our data here. Hell of a Job Doug, Hell.of.a.JOB!!!

Still smiling after his first “official” ultra??? Yeah, he’s a badass.

The other amazing thing about this race? A close friend of ours and “the ultimate badass”, Mike , was diagnosed with cancer back in September/October. He began chemo at the end of October and has been showing us all just how badass he is! His wife Beth was running this as her first ultra and almost opted out of it. Neither Mike, nor any other of us, was having it! Mike was still going to run this race and we were all going to be there to support the two of them. Mike and Beth both rocked this race. What an amazing job and such an inspiration they are. So blessed to call them my friends.

Awesome job you two!

I wish could single out every one of my friends that participated in this race, but there were just too many. It’s an amazing thing to run in an event and know, or know of, more than 75% of all the runners there.

Some of my badass, amazing friends.

Upcoming posts? Kids are running more trails, they also ran another 5k race Thanksgiving morning (spoiler – Jeremy finished in 29min and Emily in 32min — so proud!) and snow is starting to fall making for some beautiful trail runs.

As far as my race schedule for 2013 goes? I unfortunately won’t be doing the Buckeye Trail this year – not enough time to plan for it – although I do have access to all the maps now. I have Winter Run for Regis 50k in January, another Bills Badass Fatass 50k (this same course but hoping for crappy weather) in February, 024 (Outrun 24hr endurance run) in April, Burning River 100miler in July (have to shave 30sec off last year’s time), Bike MS 175mile ride in August, Yo Mommas 100miler in September, Run with Scissors double marathon in October, find someone else to mentor for BBA50k in November and try to squeeze in a few triathlons somewhere in there 🙂

Have fun my friends!!!

Run with Scissors, Double Marathon – So Easy Even A Caveman Can Do it!

This past weekend was my third ultra marathon in four months. This one was the Run With Scissors Double Marathon. A 26.2+ mile loop (according to Garmin) that we had to run two times. What was not to like about this race? A ton of my friends were running it, it was in CVNP, and – the weather was incredible! OK that last part? Yeah. Not so much.

This is the entire course – the double, we had to do this, twice.

This race started at the Ledges Shelter at CVNP, the same location that Winter Run for Regis (50k I’m doing in January) does and a number of other races. I went into this race grossly undertrained. In fact, I haven’t “trained” for a race since Burning River. This could account for my DNF at around mile 47 at Yo Mommas 100 Miler last month. Although lack of training aside, the breathing problem that took me out of Yo Mommas resurfaced here at RWS around mile 3x.x. I was able to deal with it a little better this time tho. I kept my composure better, didn’t panic, slowed down and caught my breath. I did try to drop from this race three times tho – twice out loud, once in my head and in another instance two guys tried talking me out of continuing.

The race started with a pre-race meeting hosted by none other than the Grim Reaper himself.

Isn’t from our meeting, but the race director looked amazingly creepy, huh?

Pre-race meeting for the marathoners

It has been raining like a MOTHER the past few days and this course is notorious for being muddy. This year was no different, it.was.muddy. Cold and muddy. I normally try to take pictures and/or video while running so that could share these experiences but with this race I was only able to take one video, for two reasons. The first was it was 41deg and raining and the touch screen on my iPhone was not cooperating. The second because it was so cold and rainy my hands and fingers were not cooperating. I was having a difficult time bending my fingers and grasping my phone. So much so that I was afraid I would en up dropping it! Here is the only video I took. This was from sometime in the first loop, well before conditions worsened.

By the end of the second loop; small ankle-deep creek crossings became knee-high streams, mud puddles that would simply splash out-of-the-way became vats of muck that seemed to swallow your feet in attempts to steal your shoes. So wish I had at least a couple of pics of these conditions… Oh the animal print in the video I was wearing? I did say it was a Halloween run didn’t I? More on that in a little bit…

Staging — actually think this was from the marathon group that started after us…

I don’t think that there were many pictures taken from our start. The above one I think is from the start of the marathoners. I only included it to illustrate that there are other “crazies” as I’ve been called 🙂

The first marathon went very well. There were quite a few of us running this race so the first 10 miles or so went by VERY quickly. I hung with Eric and Charlie for quite a while however Charlie was running like a man possessed and I’m not quite sure where Eric and I ended up splitting up. I came into start finish after the first loop feeling good and smiling.

Coming in after marathon #1

The wig was awesome! Completely water-repellent! Kept my head warm and dry.

After coming into start finish I was soaked to the bone and freezing! I needed to make a quick change and head back out. Sounded easier than it really was. I ducked out of my costume pulled off my shirt and started to get a new one on. With as cold and stiff as my hands were, I couldn’t believe how incredibly difficult doing this was. I also could barely pull on a set of sleeves. With the conditions the way they were the drop rate for the double marathon was nearly 50%! Forty five started and after the first loop nineteen dropped.

Quick change

I spent way too much time here and at this point I cooled off and was now shivering quite uncontrollably. Two other of the double marathon runners that I came in with decided enough was enough for them and tried talking me out of going back out. I knew though, from past experience all I needed to do was to start running again and I’d warm right back up. So off I went!

The beginning of my second loop was going very well; hit the next aid station, grabbed a bite to eat, refilled my water and off again. The “feeling good” I was feeling… didn’t last quite so long this time. The breathing problem started creeping back up on me. This time though I was able to slow down, breathe deeply and get it somewhat under control. I hit the aid station at about mile 3x.x feeling a bit beaten. The volunteers there congratulated me for doing so well, told me that only a handful of people were in front of me and that the guy behind me wasn’t too far – I better get moving. I choked down some food, and wandered off.

(Attempt #1) After running for about a quarter-mile I was feeling rough and actually turned around to head back to the aid station. I walked about 50-100yards and as the runner behind me approached, told him I was pulling the plug. I told him I think I was done and he told me he tried to drop at the last aid station as well. Said he got there and told them he was dropping and that his wife should be there shortly. After he waited a bit one of them let him use their phone. This is how his conversation went as he described it.

Him, “Hi honey. Yeah, I’m at the aid station. I’m done. Where are you guys at?”
Her, “Well, since we weren’t going to make it there on time, we decided not to come. Sorry”
Him, “HUH?!?”

He told the volunteers what had happened and as they were laughing their butts off, he decided what the hell — might as well press on. So, I thought – well… if he can do it – so can I! Off we went together for a while. At this point, his pace was a bit faster than mine and soon I lost him in the distance.

(Attempt #2 – in my head) I finished this loop and made my way back to the aid station. The Grim Reaper – I mean, race director was there and I was inquiring about my time and how closely I was to not making the cutoff time. He said I was nowhere near the cutoff and that I was doing fantastic – and to get back out there! In hind-sight, he was the Grim Reaper – perhaps more of a selfish goal on his part.. you know to collect my soul when I collapsed.

(Attempt #3) From this point on I did MUCH walking. My legs felt pretty good, feet were a bit sore – but with the mud, the rain, the sleet, the cold temps, I was just getting beat down. I approached the final aid station and they were all in such high spirits! Hooting and hollering, ringing cow bells – how could that not lift your spirits. I stopped there for quite a while and expressed my concerns of continuing on. This was quickly met with a, “Are you kidding me!?!? You’re doing great! You only have 2.1 miles to go!!” 2.1 miles were THEY kidding me? I had to ask them this several times and also urged them to not play any pranks on me! If 2.1 miles is all that was left – with the pace I was going at worst that’s just over a half an hour. Another half an hour wasn’t going to stop me. We kind of have a saying; “I could do anything for xxxxxxx” In this case, I could do anything for a half an hour! Recharged by the knowledge of only having such a short distance till I finished, I left that aid station. 2.1 miles, 2.1 miles… almost done! I kept telling myself I could do this – and do this I did! I finished this race – 53.4 miles (according to Garmin) in 12hrs. 33min. and 47sec. – oh yeah, I won the costume contest too 🙂 Check out the Runkeeper data here. I think Seeing my last two races I felt like crap around the same mile marker only means that I need to run farther on training runs. I think I need to more regularly feel what it feels like at mile 30/40 and still have more to run. No different than training for a 5k, 10k or marathon – it’s the same theory, just different distances.

One hundred fifty-nine people were bad ass enough to toe the line this morning. Forty-five for the double, sixty-six for the single marathon, and 48 for the 10k. One hundred fifty-nine people who I have the utmost respect for and many of whom I consider friends — bad ass friends. Check out some more pics that were taken by the event photographer here.

Next up? Bills Badass 50k. I am ‘mentoring” a close friend of mine for this race. Which really means, we are going to run this race together and have a kick ass time! Doug — we are going to crush it!

I do have some more catching up still; how the kids’ football season ended, pumpkin carving party, my last summer CSA post and a couple of recipes that I’ve tried out. There’s always something going on!!

Yo Momma kicked my a**!!

Just as the title says — Yo Momma kicked my A**.. all over Chillicothe Ohio!

Well…  I had my second 100mile race this past weekend and this race was the most difficult one that I have run so far.  I was running this race w/o a crew, w/o any pacers and was honestly expecting to crush it in under 24hrs.  What happened then?  Unexpected breathing problem, mind games and hills…..

I was looking forward to this race for quite some time.  Running it in my head over and over again, just like  did for BR…. then I really looked at the map.  The entire time I thought this race was at CVNP.  The course appeared to be two lollipop loops which I thought was at CVNP.  Turns out it wasn’t – not even close.  Rather then being held in our beloved CVNP, the race was in Chillicothe Ohio!  Shit!  Where the hell is that?!?   I looked it  up on-line and found it to be 3.5 hours away!  OK – time to rethink my plan…

I could not drive down the day before the race to pick up my packet, come home and drive down race day morning.  With the race being on Saturday and me planning on finishing Sunday morning, then trying to get to my kids football games Sunday afternoon – I decided that it would be best if I drove down the night before, slept  in my car, run 100miles in 24hrs, nap in my car for a few minutes (oh hours), then drive 3.5hrs back home in order to catch my kids football games Sunday afternoon.  This thought was starting to weigh heavily on me so I decided that I needed to find someone to go down with me — if for nothing else to drive my stinky ass home.  After numerous posts on FB, practically begging for someone to join me for a “fabulous weekend getaway in beautiful Chillicothe Ohio” I got no takers.  Then about two weeks before the race a good friend of mine Kelly M. messaged me, “Hey Mike – if you don’t find someone to go to Chillicothe with you, let me know.  I’d go”  NICE!  One less worry on my mind.

Now I had to find out more about the course.  Rob Carroll, the race director, described it in the flier like this;

“While the course offers plenty of technical & hilly challenges, we intended to eliminate the sever heat and humidity of summer ultras as an obstacle to completing your first 100-miler.  A 25K loop/out-n-back hybrid, the race course is short enough to ease the minds of first timers and diverse (and tough) enough to more than satisfy veterans!”

I thought, after BR, this was going to be cake!  that is until another friend of mine,  Steve P., posted on the BR Facebook page about running this race and it’s elevation about it being over 17,000ft!!  I did some checking and he was right…  Strange location, new course, crazy elevation.. yikes.  Now I was a bit worried.

No.. that couldn’t be…

Yep.. it was! Yo Momma has some biggins!

We arrived at start/finish in time for a quick pic before the pre-race meeting.

Remember Peg?? No?? (click here) She was ready!

Steve and I had the same plan and while standing at start/finish we ended up right next to each other.  He was running alone as well, so we decided to run together.  We ran with a small group for the first 5 miles or so and one of the guys was talking about a night run he did on the course a couple of days earlier and how a pack of about 15 coyotes trailed him for about a mile.  That I DID.NOT.NEED to hear!  I’m cool with running alone at night but throw the coyotes into the equation and they creep me out!  I’ve mentioned before how I’ve encountered them and how they’ve shadowed friends in the trails.  Usually 1-3 of them, but 15??  One more thing for me to stress about later this evening.  Steve and I covered the first 2x.x miles together, came through the chute and found out I was in 4th place and feeling strong!

Coming in at mile 3x.x

hmmmm… deciding what to eat. One of the best parts of running ultras..

Beautiful course… wish I could have soaked it in some more.

The next 16 miles seemed to fly by.  Coming thru the chute this time I dropped to 6th place.  While not feeling as strong,  I was still feeling pretty damn good!  That was short-lived…  Steve’s pace was difficult to keep up with and shortly thereafter, the pace and hills started taking their toll.

Almost halfway up…

Nearing the top — or so we thought… Not nice Rob!!! lol

Negative thoughts started creeping in so I told Steve to run on, that I was going to listen to some music and shake it off.  About 8 miles later, the music did the trick and I was feeling better about running.  A much larger problem had arisen tho.  I started having trouble breathing.  Almost like an asthma attack.  this has happened one time before while running O24, a 24hr endurance run I did last year (I’m on the race committee for it this year – click here to check it out, sign up and join us!) only this time it was much worse.  I was coughing and wheezing like crazy!   As I approached the next aid station, a kid ran out to see what I needed.  Telling him I needed a ride was so difficult to do.  I grabbed some water, walked away from the aid station and plopped down on the ground, defeated.  I never imagined that dropping out of a race would feel this way.  Struggling to keep my emotions in check, I sent Kelly a text telling her that I couldn’t make it back.  She responded saying that someone was on their way to pick me up.  Several minutes later someone came over to check on me.  After regaining my composure I thanked all of the volunteers and awaited my ride.  Rob’s mother came to pick me up — what a great family they are!

Once back at start/finish Rob came over to shake my hand and talk to me about the race.  I told him the course and volunteers were all incredible and that I had a score to settle with Yo Momma next year.

Pulling out of the park we came across Steve still looking strong.  I messaged him when I got home and this was his response.

Yep — official results, only 3 people actually finished the race!  Any question as to its difficulty?

Click here for my race data  – 11hours 47 minutes, 45.43 miles covered, 11853ft of elevation climbed, dropped out of race while still in 6th place..

Race director, Rob and his incredibly supportive wife. Thanks for a GREAT time! See you at Yo Momma next year!

Now to play catch-up again… after tomorrow, two CSA posts, a garden post and kids football…. busy, busy, busy!!!

Start of the BT and Doing the DU!

This weekend was supposed to be my last long run before I taper for my next 100 miler so my plan was to run 30 miles of the Buckeye Trail Saturday morning and then knock out a quick sprint duathlon on Sunday with some of my friends.

Saturday morning, my original plan was to step out of my house around 3:00am drive to Mentor Headlands Park (which is one of the BT trailheads) and run the first 30 miles of the trail.  Then a friend of mine said they would give a ride back to my car.  However, after attending a surprise 40th birthday party for a another friend of mine on Friday night — lets just say I slept in.

Start of the Buckeye Trail – Mentor Headlands State Park

I ended up stepping out of my front door at 8:00am!  I was very excited to run this 30.  I am still planning on running this trail in 2013 so seeing how easily (or not) it is to navigate now vs. the middle of winter is VERY appealing!

I’ve blogged about it before, but the entire trail is identified with “blue blazes” on trees, telephone poles, guard rails, stop signs, and markers placed in the ground.  The whole idea of marking out a 1444 mile trail around a state is phenomenal — another reason why Ohio ROCKS!

These are the kinds of places I that make me feel so relaxed!

Gotta love Ohio!

Follow the “Blue Blazes”

The course is generally marked very well.  At times there are two blazes marked.  What this tells you is, that the trail turns, and to follow the blaze on the top; if it is offset to the left,  take the next left… if it is to the right, take a right.  Usually the same tree or telephone pole, etc. is marked on opposite sides so that heading out, or coming back – the directions are pretty clear –  except for this one…

This one kind of confused me…..

This is where the trail cut through the lagoons…

And then it happened.

The trail hit the roads……

I DO NOT like running on the roads!  So after the trail turned into nearly 12 miles of roads, at mile 15 of the BT I decided to make a turn and head back to Headlands.

Roads. Blech.

While it was a gorgeous day to be out for a run… I’ve had enough of this scene!
Especially since I still had to run a DU the next day.

mine.mine.mine. mine. mine. mine….

So, I cut the run from 30 miles of the trail, to 15 miles of the trail and then another 7 to take a more direct route back to my starting point.  Check out the data here.

After I was finished, I hit the grocery store (which by the way is a BIG mistake to do after a run) went home and sat on the couch, eating and watching bad movies the rest of the night on Netflix.

Sunday morning I met up with my buddy Doug, his wife Marlo and their two kids at 6:15am and headed off to Portage Lakes.

Waiting on Doug — Oh the leg? More on that later.

Doug is a bad ass tri guy and so are the people he works with.  I’m a wanna be tri guy – I’ve run one tri two years ago and thought I was going to drown in the swim.  Doug talked me into (which isn’t too difficult to do) doing the sprint Duathalon which was a 5k run, a 22k bike, and then another 5k run.  Sounded fun enough, especially doing a race like this with a bunch of friends; even if they were all doing the tri and I did the DU.  Here is a map of the DU.  The time and splits are wrong because I started the activity too early and I never changed it from run to bike and back to run again — but at least the map is accurate.

Multi-sport athletes (minus a few – Dave, John, and Chris)

Doug and I – representing Achilles Running Shop, Mentor

Getting setup at the transition area

The race went very well!  I PLACED SECOND IN MY AGE GROUP AND 15TH OVERALL!  First place came in with a time of 1hr24min and my time was 1hr36min.  I don’t have any pics from the race yet.  I’ll have to keep checking their website to see if they’ll post any.  I really hope there are some because I carried “Peg” — the leg for the first 5k.  And about “Peg”,  Ok so we are a strange bunch sometimes, but like to have fun running or not….

“Peg” is actually leg #2 for OUTRUN.  The first one was “leg napped” at a race last year.  “She” is a mascot of sorts for our running group, “Ohio Ultra Trail Runners“.  This came to be during the inaugural running of O24 last year.  When the first leg was placed in the arms of a taxidermy bear in the lodge as a “warning” and somehow made her way onto the course, which was a 1mile loop that we ran for 24hrs (well — some of us ran for 24hrs., I ran for 100k).  Once out on the course people began to pick her up and hide her for others to find.  I ended up picking her up and carrying her across the start finish line and then placed her somewhere in the woods again.  She affectionately became known as “Leghorny”.  When you are running a 1mile loop for 24hrs, you have to entertain yourself somehow no?  Anyways, people started picking her up and taking her across the start-finish line, eventually someone applied a timing chip to her ankle and she logged 3x.x miles that day.

Since that day, the original leg went on to “run” races all over.  Someone from OUTRUN would carry her while they ran.  After the first one was stolen, we had such a good time with this – we needed a replacement.  Luckily Zack  founder of OUTRUN had another (I have no idea why). So came to be Peg.  When “Peg” is handed off to another so that they could carry her through their race and earn her another decal, pre race and post race – strange things happen….. She has been spotted getting her nails done in a hotel with kids of members, playing cards, going out to eat, giving presentations… Yeah, we’re a strange bunch that likes to goof around 🙂

Discussing business

Giving a presentation

Performance review?

It doesn’t stop there.  Once at a race the shenanigans continue…

Loves posing with kids…

Big kids too — this is from YUTC 50k on Saturday

Portage Lakes Tri/DU – today

A new sticker should be applied after each race.  This leg is quite the attention getter and conversation starter!  We aren’t the only odd people who participate in races.  There is always someone dressed in a costume.  The races themselves are fun, but this foolishness just adds to it!

My kids had a blast with this thing and wanted to take it everywhere!  So, after football we took her out to dinner with us.

Gotta eat — was a busy weekend

Sharing a snack…

And to top this dinner off, we even had the entire wait staff at Texas Roadhouse recognize her – mad props to all of them for being such good sports!!  Unfortunately we were all laughing so hard that I hit the record/stop button on my phone again and only recorded something like three seconds of it.  But picture this — 10-12 waiters/waitresses converging on our table.  One yells out, “ATTENTION EVERYBODY!  WE HAVE A VERY SPECIAL GUEST WITH US TONIGHT, SO JOIN US WHILE WE GIVE PEG A BIG OL’ FASHIONED YEEEEHAWW!!!”  At which time Jeremy raises up the leg and started waiving it around… priceless….