Pine Mountain 40 Mile - RD

As some of you may recall, I ran the PM40 this past December. It was a blast! So much fun, that I wanted to become involved in the behind the scenes work for the 2012 edition. My mother always told me to, "Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it!" Who has two thumbs and is the new race director of the PM40? This guy, right here.

The PM40 is a 40 mile ultra marathon on the beautiful Pine Mountain Trail system of FDR State Park in Pine Mountain, Georgia. This GUTS event will test runners endurance and ankles over rocky single-track trails. The trail follows the ridge line, going up and over it for the duration. Depending on water levels, the few water crossings could be dry or ankle deep. Runner's will experience both pine & hardwood forests, rock outcroppings, waterfalls, and beaver ponds.

Here are a few pictures of the views you can expect.

The DNR limits us to 175 runners for this great race, slots will go fast. If you are interested in running it, registration opens tomorrow!

Ultra Sign Up

If you are interested in being a volunteer, I will be eternally grateful!

Feel free to email me with any questions!

GS

Allstate Life Insurance 13.1

Recently I was approached by the marketing manager for the Allstate Life Insurance Atlanta 13.1 Marathon.  In exchange for my blogging about the race, I was offered a comped entry and a few to give away to the readers.  A sucker for free stuff, I was immediately interested. I'll be completely honest, this race is one month before Pinhoti 100 and I'm not sure I can give it the attention it deserves.  I did email the marketing guy back and told him my situation and he seemed okay with it.  So, I think I will take him up on the offer.  If nothing else, it'll give me the opportunity to give away a few entries and perhaps develop a relationship with the compnay that will create opportunities down the road.

Here's the details....

Okay, so those aren't really the details, so much as just the elevation profile.  I'm a stats geek, I make a living as an analyst, so this type of information is very interesting to me.  I like to scout out the course ahead of time to see what I'm in for on race day.  This race is held in the Brookhaven area, as the profile shows it's an "honest" course.  I'm not saying it's death by hills, but I don't predict a lot of half mary PR's to be set.  That's cool, I like challenging courses.



The shared section of the course(miles 6-7 & 11-12) could be awesome or it could be a potential hotspot depending on course flow management.  I am sure people far smarter than me have already thought about these logistics.  One of my most favorite aspects of trail running is the out and back section where you see other runners coming and going and you get to cheer them on.  Hopefully, this will be the case here.

October is a great time of year for running in Atlanta, we have finally closed the book on the heat of the Summer and the running temps are great, I'm thinking in the low 60's.  From checking out the website, this race series has events all across the country, from all outward appearances, they have their act together!  The half mary is a great distance, long enough to really stretch your legs out, still short enough to not wreck you for a week afterwards.  If you are looking to make the jump to longer distances, give this race a try.  Who knows, it could be the building block to something bigger.

Keep checking back for updates, as the partnership is finalized, there will be comped entries and discounts available!

G.S.

SweetH20 50k - 2012 Edition

(photo credit:G. Gallmore)

Early morning, April 21st. I pick up the other half of the trail running "Dumb & Dumber" and we head to Sweetwater Creek State Park. Ah, home away from home. After picking up our bibs, we parked our chairs behind the car & "tailgated" for an hour or so, catching up with old friends, discussing the weather for the day, & just tried to stay loose before the 7:30am start.

I love this race. I love the Douglas County Rogues that put on this race, I love the trail network it's held on, but mostly I love the people who run this race. Over the last few years I have had the pleasure of meeting some amazing people that run in this area and every one of them seems to turn out for this event.

Our race plan was to get out fast, get to the spillway before the crowd and then settle in when we got to the single track. We were hoping to cover the first mile in around 8:30, turns out the adrenaline fueled start got us there in about 8:00. Shortly there after, we turned off the road, onto the single track and headed towards the spillway. In the previous years, I have spent up to 10 minutes in the conga line waiting for my chance to descend & ascend the 10' concrete walls that form the spillway. Due to our strategy this year, we were able to head right down, cross, and scamper up the wall on the other side. Perfect. The only fear was going out too fast in the first couple of miles and paying for it later. After crossing the spillway we headed down the jeep road towards the creek, enjoying a more comfortable 9:15 pace.

(photo credit:G. Gallmore)

The first few miles of this race are really great; gentle rolling hills, some single & double track, just great trail running. By mile 7 we had arrived at the aid station and grabbed some water, this was a walking stop, no need to dilly-dally. Tom & I had discussed beforehand the purpose of the day; we were here to race. The typical chatter was missing from our early morning routine. We were both working a little harder than normal, Tom even more so. As we were on the 1.5 mile cross country run towards the gas lines, I checked in with Tom to see how he was feeling. He told me he was having trouble keeping his heart rate in check. We decided to walk for 2 minutes, to try and drop it under control. It's better to give up 2 minutes early, than to blow up and give up an hour or two at the end of the day. As we turned up the jeep road and began the first true climb of the day, I noticed that Tom was struggling to keep up. I dropped my pace a little to keep him in sight, but he didn't seem to have that extra gear. I had to make a decision - stay and wait, or go and race.  We were racing today and I had to go. I turned back and gave Tom a head nod and left. I was hoping he'd work through the issues and bounce back.

My first trip through the gas lines was uneventful.  The morning air was cool and I didn't feel the effort too much.  In preparation for Barkley, I've done a lot of climbing this year.  So, even though I am not fully recovered from Barkley, my legs were able to move me through this section pretty easily.  Learning from past experience here, I knew not to push too hard, otherwise I would pay dearly on the 2nd loop.  It wasn't long before the gas lines were complete and I was on the mile long, out and back, trail to the school aid station.  This is the best part of the day, you get to see everyone that is ahead and behind you.  I get such a rush from seeing everybody I know and everyone cheers each other on.  This is hands down the best part of trail running.  I've never experienced this during a road race.  On my way back from the school aid station, I passed Tom, he was probably 10-15 minutes behind me, but was looking like he might have bounced back. Only later did I learn he was really struggling.

Down the sun exposed power lines, back to the park, up Jack's Hill - the next thing I knew I was circling the lake and approaching the creek crossing at the completion of my first loop.  At about 3:10 into the race, I was a tad slower on this loop than last year.  I was hoping that would help me run close to even splits this year.(last year my 2nd loop was almost an hour slower than my 1st loop).

(Photo Credit: J. Sutton)

The creek crossing was smooth, we haven't had much rain the week leading into the race, so the creek was low.  After the crossing, you have about a mile of flat trail to run the water out of your shoes before you tackle the climb.  The elevation profile says it climbs 300' in .5 miles, in reality, it seems more.  This is a tough climb with 16.5 miles on your legs.  I (fondly) remember my first Sweetwater back in '10.  This climb about killed me.  I was slowly hiking up the hill, with my heart rate blowing up in the 170's when this dude coolly rolled me up and asked how I was doing.  "I'm gonna die!" I told him, he smiled and said "Keep moving forward".   Fast forward to this year's race, As I was about mid way up the climb, I rolled up on this guy in front of me. "How's it going?" I asked as I pulled even with him.  "This sucks!" was his reply.  "It's almost over", I told him and continued on, never seeing him again. My Sweetwater experience had come full circle.

(Photo Credit: C. Griffith, x2)

Crossing back across the creek, I began my 2nd loop.  I was really beginning to feel the effort of the day.  My pace was rising about a minute a mile and I was taking a few walking breaks.  I ran 4 of the 5 miles to the tributary aid station by myself, not seeing a single runner. This was without a doubt, the low point of my day.  All of this time by myself, thinking about my conditioning, wondering if I belonged out there.  These mental demons hit everyone, from the elite to the back of the packers.  I was not immune, the difference is that I know how to deal with them better now than before.  I divided the remaining trail into sections and calmly worked through them.  Before long I had caught sight of a runner ahead and began to reel him in.  Lance, from Atlanta, was running his first ultra. We began chatting and getting to know each other a little and before I knew it, we had covered  3 miles to the base of the gas lines.  Not knowing if we'd stick together much longer, I thanked him for running with me and helping me get through that low spot.   We worked through the gas lines together, passing a couple of runners.  "Oxford" was ahead of us and we were gaining.  At the top of one climb, I yelled to him, "Oxford, I'm coming for your ass!"  He'd look back and said, "This sucks!"  Eventually we caught him and he ran with us for a while.  Finally, the last mega climb behind us, we were heading to the top of the world on the out & back section. 

I really needed the out and back section to the school.  I was reenergized by seeing everyone on the traill and I knew when I got to the school that I only had an hour left before the race was over. I had been picking off runners one by one and I think I had moved up 15-20 places on the 2nd loop.  My goal of 6:20 was out of the question, but I though I had a shot at beating last year's time and cracking the top 50.  Lance & I passed a few more guys on the way to the power lines.  It was here he stopped for a bio break, I pulled ahead and didn't see him until the finish.  Sorry bro, we were racing, I couldn't stop for a pit stop that late into the day.

The last climb up Jack's Hill was a real grind, "nature's stairmill", Jack's Hill sucks!  It bends slightly to the right, so you can never really see the end of it, it just keeps going up!  Finally, getting to the last aid station, I grabbed a quick water refill and passed through, no sense in hanging out, the finish line was 2 miles away.  I was crashing badly and popping gels and candy like it was my job.  My mantra for those last two miles were simple, "You quit at Barkley, don't quit here."  While that mantra wasn't completely true, it helped me hang on.  The last two miles are mostly downhill, on gently winding trail, I was strugglingto keep an 11:00 pace.  I. was. toast.  Finally, I rounded the corner and all that seperated me from the finish line was a 1/4 mile, uphill road section.  Tom & his kids were waiting for me at the top of the hill; he'd had a rough day and dropped at the water crossing.  They ran me in and I crossed the finish line at 6:40:01.  2 minute Sweetwater PR, good enough for 53rd place out of about 240 starters. 

Thank you to all of the wonderful volunteers!  This race is amazing, simply because of all of the wonderful people who give up their Saturday to come out and support us runners.  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!  Mad props to Johnny B., for putting on another great race.  Seriously, if you live in the southeast and have not run this race, you are doing something wrong!

G.S.

Third Time's a Charm

The 6th Annual Sweetwater 50k!


It's that time! The annual running of Sweetwater 50k! I love this race; this is where it all began for me. I just re-read my 2010 & 2011 race reports and cannot wait to get back out there! Of course, the "Dumb & Dumber" of trail running will be taking their show on the road this year, as it will be Tommy's 2nd running of this awesome race.



Tom & I have really "clicked" lately and our running adventures have been pretty awesome. We ran PM40 together and then followed that up with Weymouth Woods 100k. I think the adventure that really cemented our friendship was tackling Laurel Valley together. After three quality runs in the last few months, we may actually go head to head next Saturday. That should be fun. We both know the course and what to expect, I may have a slight advantage with the recent hill work, but that SD has been putting some serious miles in the training bank lately and is ready to take out a 2nd mortgage.



The great thing about this course is that it has a way of keeping you honest. It will quickly expose any weakness and then slowly gnaw at it. For my part, I have great expectations, I'd like to best my time of 6:42 from last year. In a perfect world I can slip under 6:20. I'll say it. As long as I finish 0:00:01 faster than Mr. Black, it'll be a good day. Otherwise, it will be a long year...

All kidding aside, my favorite part of this race is the camaraderie! There is something about this trail and the runners from the area. Taking all of the GUTS runners and the DCRR Rogues and putting them on their "Home" course just makes for a great day. I really am looking forward to spending a day in the woods, finishing it off with a few burgers and cold beverages at the group pavillion!

Let's do this!

B-list submission

It has been 3 days since I was tapped out and I still haven’t stopped thinking about Barkley.

I was told that I would be a changed man. I believed what I was told, I just didn’t understand.

I see things a little differently. Certain areas of my life have come into greater focus.

The Barkley has changed me.

I thought I knew “hard”.

Nothing could have prepared me for what the Barkley so freely dished out.

The endless climbs.

The quad busting descents.

Bad Thing & Big Hell lived up to their names.

I wanted to quit, but knew the only way back was to continue forward.

Coming up Rough Ridge, the proverbial straw that broke my back.

Who would have thought 400’ would be so hard?

When I asked Laz to tap me out, he asked “Why?”; didn’t I want to continue?

“I’ve had all I could handle.”

No truer words.

The post “run” shower re-energized me, much like the descents gave my legs fresh life.

Maybe I could have made it to the top of Bird.

The walk up the road back to my camp reconfirmed my decision to drop.

It was the right choice.

Sitting around the fire until 4am sat night/sun morning was a highlight.

I learned that even the little I thought I knew, was nothing.

I want to go back.

265 days.

"Most races are set up for success, this race is designed for failure" - Laz

Wow. What a day. What a week.

The Barkley Marathons. The. Barkley. Frickin'. Marathons!

There is so much to this, so much, that my race report needs to be a race novel. This was a special day, I am going to write about the familiars and leave the rest to be discussed on future trail runs. If you really want the goods, you're gonna have to come run with the YC&SD's running club.



I arrive at FHSP on Thursday hoping to get settled and get up onto Bird Mountain to have a look around. A middle March training trip fell through, so this was my first visit to the park.

The park is awesome. The camping area is small, a nice bathhouse centrally located. I was lucky enough to be able to share a camping slab with Psyche, Leo, Charles, & Wouter. Wouter, from Belgium, flew into Knoxville and rode his bike from the airport to FHSP. "No big deal.", he said. Right. Wouter came to run 5 loops.

I, on the other hand, had no illusion of running 5 loops. What a conflicting line to measure; expectations and reality.

Time to put on my trail shoes and I headed up Bird Mountain. This is the first section of the course and is regular "candy ass trail" according to Laz. Almost 1400' of gain in 1.25 miles. Easy, right? I was a little winded at the top of this climb. That didn't really make me feel good about what was to come. Regardless, I spent a couple hours on top of Bird traveling around on the Cumberland & N. Bird Mtn Trails. I kept running into runners that were also up there looking around, everyone was super friendly. I met Paul & Iso, both of whom were already in the race. I also met Travis, who was behind me on the Weight list. At that point he still didn't have a slot. It didn't matter, once he moved to #1 on the WL, he made the decision and packed his stuff and left Colorado for Frozen Head. He was in camp for 2 weeks. (He also finished the Fun Run this year).

I descended back to camp, happy to have my ankle feeling 100% and my right ITB was also quiet, these two recent injuries ended up being a non-issue. Walking back down the trail to the Yellow Gate I saw more and more people pouring into camp. It seems this year people were arriving earlier than ever before. I am not sure if it had anything to do with the documentary being filmed.

I spent the rest of Thursday hanging out in camp meeting new friends and catching up with old ones. As Friday morning passed, Laz arrived at his campsite and we began to set up the race HQ. Ever the master motivator, Laz said that he would not hand out the instructions and course map until the big tent was standing. it didn't take but a few moments before 8-10 runners were instantly putting together the big white tent. Turning to someone(maybe a camera guy?) Laz said, "See, this is the only race where the runners are also the race volunteers." While we put together camp, Laz began to unload his van and hang the license plates. What a cool experience to be able to see all of the plates from over the years.

After handing in my plate to him, It was added to the hanging memorial. My plate will forever hang with Dusty Hardman's & John Fegyveresi's. I had the pleasure of running a little more than half of my loop with Dusty and John ended up being the 3rd and final finisher of the 2012 Barkley. Not long after the plates were hung, we got down to business. Course map time.

It is important to purchase a topo map from park HQ. On that map we were to copy the official course map, provided by Laz. In addition to the map, we were provided with 5 pages of single spaced, typed instructions, on how to precisely navigate the course. "If you follow these instructions carefully, you will have no trouble completing the loop."

As Friday winded down, all but a few runners had arrived. it did not look good for my friend, Psyche. She was the #1 person on the weight list. She needed someone to not show up in order to get in. Literally in the 11th hour, Laz called Psyche over to the race HQ and told her Luis was taking part in the search party for a missing runner out west. He would not be running; she could have his slot if she so desire. What a roller coaster of emotions for her, up and down all day with rumors of people dropping and slots opening and closing. After ascending to the top of the weight list for the 2nd year in a row, Psyche had a slot.

It was hard, but I managed to lay down around 9:30pm to attempt to sleep. The conch shell could blow as early as 12:00AM and as late as 11;00AM Saturday morning. last year, the race began at 1:07AM; I didn't think he would have back-to-back night time starts, but what did I know.

I managed to sleep in one hour increments. It had pretty much been that way all week. I've never felt pre-race anxiety like I felt about this particular race. At 6:42AM, some one's car alarm went off. I, and many others, initially thought this was the conch shell. Might as well get up and start preparing. I had enough time to eat breakfast and handle the morning toiletries before the actual conch did blow; at 8:11AM.

One hour until the start.

At Precisely 9:11AM, Laz lit his cigarette and we began. Nobody seemed to be in a terrible hurry to scramble up to the road to the trail head; I did notice Nick Hollen was one of the few guys actually "running" up the jeep road. I fe1l into the middle of the congo line, heading up Bird. I reached the top of Bird Mountain in 36 minutes. Certainly not the fastest 1.25 miles in my life, it was 12 minutes faster than my stroll on Thursday. Looking around, I noticed I was in a group of about 6 runners containing: Hiram, Dusty, Tim, James, and Will. Excellent, I thought, two vets and a handful of virgins. A portion of the new section was named after Hiram, so who better to be with on the way to my first book? We hit the book dead on in 52 minutes and quickly began our way down Check Mate Hill. Dropping 1300' in .5 miles of bushwhack, this section was no joke. I couldn't imagine having to come back up it on loops 3 & 4. (Luckily I didn't have to - this year) As we were heading down, we ran across Psyche, she had overshot book one and was back tracking. This was the beginning of a long day for her.

Hiram took us right to book 2, 1:20 minutes into the race. I was brimming with confidence, I was feeling so good. The mood was light and jovial as Hiram & Tim continued to take us on a tour of the park and the book locations. Everyone was joking and in good spirits. The climbs were manageable and our lines were perfect. Book after book, we were dead on. The pages from books 3 & 4 were safely tucked in our plastic bags and we were headed to "Testicle Spectacle"

It's really a cruel joke. You come down off of Stallion Mtn and cross the New River, you are feeling great and the weather is nice. Not long after you pop out of the woods off of an old jeep road, you turn right and there it is-straight up. I mean STRAIGHT UP.

Testicles, spectacles, wallet, & watch.

No point in delay, time to climb. You know you are in for a long day when you are finding it is easier to travel on all fours then with two legs. We could see a tiny spec at the top of TS; it was a camera man. After what felt like about 30 minutes of climbing we hit the bench the cameraman was sitting on. I was the last runner in our line, he got up and followed me up the remaining section. After about 5 minutes I heard him exhale, "Phew, that was hard!" Wait, what?!?!? Dude, you filmed us for 30 minutes of that climb and hiked for 5 minutes and you are gonna try and tell me that was hard?????

Grabbed our page at the top of TS and headed out, next stop Raw Dog Fall.

Hiram navigated this one perfectly and we had our next page.

coming into this race, I had been having internal debate about what experience I wanted to have. There was a lot of talk about "virgins clinging onto vets" and never truly experiencing what it is like "Out There". I was torn, do I hang on and take the tour or do leave my comfort zone and go at it on my own. I had decided pre-race, that I would force myself out of my comfort zone and try to hang on to a stronger vet for as long as I could. I had been falling back on the last couple of climbs and was red-lining in order to stay with the group. I had to work really hard to keep up on the climb and then recovered as best as possible on the descents.

This all changed after Raw Dog Falls & Danger Dave's Climbing Wall. Myself & James were dropped on the climb through Pig Heads Creek, on the way to Rat Jaw.

We were on our own. Two virgins, a couple of maps and 5 more books.

We picked up the trail to the base of Rat Jaw and began what felt like the longest hour (or two) of my life. More 4-point of contact climbing(both feet and hand on the ground). I was grateful for the points along the power line cut where I could use the downed power line like a rope to help pull myself up. The higher we went, the steeper it got. I was moving 5 feet at a time. My heart felt like it was going to explode. James & I didn't speak, we simply exchanged simultaneous glances of encouragement and disbelief.

One step at a time, we made it to the top of Rat Jaw, where the book and 2nd water drop were located. I was relieved as I had run out of water halfway through the climb and we were cooking out there in the exposed power line cut.

The decent was almost as difficult, the only plus was that we were going down. It is here we ran across the guys coming up behind us. It was nice to see the others, I took some comfort in knowing the likes of Frozen Ed & Leonard Martin were on my six; they know the course pretty well.

James & I hit the prison tunnel and trudged through. I managed to keep my feet dry through the entire tunnel. All I had to do was make it up the wall. Of course, I fell off the wall halfway up and my feet were soaked. Relentless forward progress.

Book 8 was in the bag. All that remained were 3 pages and the 2 hardest climbs; A Bad Thing & Big Hell.

I can't accurately describe these climbs. I'm not sure my words will do them justice. I would move 15-20 feet at a time, and then doubled over, hands on my knees, gasping for air. I would pick a tree and motor towards it, get to it, allow gravity to slump my back into it and rest. James and I were using young treelings to help pull ourselves up. Trees keep snapping or pulling out of the ground. I found a really great hiking stick, which helped tremendously. Every time I thought I couldn't go any further, I reminded myself of my race mantra, "Don't make any race decisions on an uphill climb."

We hooked up with Leonard on the decent down the Zip Line. He is a wealth of information and I think he is a major reason I was able to finish the climb up Big Hell. Something he said stood out, "Just focus for an hour and twenty minutes to the top of Hell." that is how I run a lot of my races, I break things down into time segments, "I can do anything for X minutes." It took all I had to make it to the top of Hell. I didn't think it would end. I knew for sure James, Elise & Leonard were going to drop me. Thankfully, Elise & James were allowing me to see their suffering, I knew they were hurting, too. For some strange reason that helped me continue, we were unified in our suffering.

Nothing felt better than grabbing the 11th page out of the book. I knew I had finished the last climb and had almost 2 hours to get back to the yellow gate. Leonard was giving us splits and advice on our way down Chimney Top. "12 minutes of climbing up Rough Ridge and then about 45 minutes of downhill on trail to the park". Easy peasy.

Or was it? We hit Rough Ridge and I immediately fell off the back of the pack. One last punch from Laz, this 400' climb had me on the ropes. "Don't make any race decisions on an uphill climb" I finished the climb and caught back up to the group on the decent. I knew then there was no way I could go back out for loop 2. Bird Mtn and it's 1300' feet would be insurmountable. I was okay with that. I had left everything I had "Out There".

I arrived back at the yellow gate 12:44 after I left; I returned a different person.

For most, this is where the story would end. Mostly of the same for me. However, unlike the other one loopers, I showered, ate, and then headed over to sit by the campfire. I asked Laz, "Is is cool if I sit here with y'all?" He said, "Sure, it's tradition."

This is where the lesson began. I sat around the fire with them until about 4AM. Runners came and went. I saw Jared & Brett go out on their 3rd loops. They looked as fresh as they did 24 hours before. Brett ended up shattering the course record and Jared finished his 5 loops in 56 hours. I was there when Psyche, Naresh, & Matt Mahoney finished their sub 19 hour loop. The look on Naresh's face, when Laz told him there was no need to count his pages, was priceless. I was there to see so many runners, far stronger than me, get tapped out.

I learned invaluable lessons. Listening to Limacher, Dobies, Gleman, Laz, Mike Bur & Jason discuss the "old days" and what it was like and what it took to run Barkley....and this lil nugget, "Completing 2 loops at Barkley is equal to some of toughest 100 milers in the country."

When I heard that, the vacuum popped. Aha!~I hadn't really thought of it like that. Thinking about it though, time wise, it is dead on. Funny, I thought going in that "one loop was the same as a tough 50 miler". It only makes sense that the same would apply to 2 loops.

The lessons learned are how to properly prepare for another go. Jason said, "Train in the Cohutta's, you can get 2000' of climb in 3 miles." I need a sub-24 Pinhoti in order to have a shot at 2 loops. I need to climb! I need to have a few hundy's under my belt in order to think about a Fun Run.

The best part of my race happened after I was tapped out, while I was sitting around the campfire, soaking in the Barkley. I'm glad I was forced out of my comfort zone in several different ways this past weekend. It has opened my eyes to a whole 'nother ballgame.

"Most races are designed for success, this race is designed for failure." - Laz

He said that to me as I was saying goodbye to him Sunday morning. The next sentence was equally as important, "You have to have your own idea of success." I simultaneously succeeded and failed at Barkley. What a ride!

**Photo Credits: T. Armbruster, P. Wimberly, & J. Price**

Spring Cleaning

'scuse me, pardon me. Just a little light cleaning. Hmmm, a lot of cobwebs up in this joint.

I can't believe it has been 3 months since I've posted to this blog. Well, actually I can. Three months ago, work upgraded the filter on the 'puters and blogs, or anything with the word "blog" near the web address or main page gets blocked. I'll be honest, blogging was mainly an "at work" activity, so....there you have it.

This however, requires an at home write up. I want to record my thoughts on this topic before and after, for future reference.

I will take a quick paragraph (or two) to catch up what I've done since Pine Mountain and then I'll make the announcement. Okay, lets see. I ran the Pine Mountain 40 miler in December. Awesome. See previous blogpost. Then in January, the trail version of Dumber & Dumber (Me & Tommy) completed the Weymouth Woods 100k in 12:56. Great race, awesome volunteers. If you are looking for a good "1st 100k" this fits the bill. 14x4.5 mile loops. Aid station at the start/finish & halfway through the loop. You are never more than 2 miles from a table. I didn't even carry a handheld, didn't need it. The Sean & his clan made an appearance, very cool!

Then in February, just when you thought Lloyd & Harry couldn't possibly be any dumber, we ran the Laurel Valley section of the Foothills Trail. This is a 33 mile section, one way in, one way out. You are pretty much fully self-supported. We had a blast. It is hard. One word to describe LV, "steps" Literally hundreds, probably in the thousands of railroad tie steps that are built into the sides of these mountains. Up & down all day, for about 7500' of gain over the 33-34 miles. Took us just over 10 hours. Honestly, Laurel Valley deserves it's own report...maybe after I sweep Claude's race in August.

Enough of the fluff, here is why I broke the seal on the 2012 blog...

I got into the Barkley.

It feels weird to type that.

This is a bucket list race for me.

I've covered it here before...but here is a brief overview of the race from Matt Mahoney's site.

The Barkley is considered one of the toughest 100 mile races in the world. It has 59,100 feet of climb (and 59,100 feet of descent), more than any other 100 mile race, more than the 33,000 ft. of climb at Hardrock, and more than the 45,000 ft. at Nolan's 14. Since the race began in 1986, only 10 runners out of about 700 have finished within the 60 hour cutoff. The Barkley consists of 5 20-mile loops with no aid except for water at two points. The cutoffs for the 100 mile race are 12 hours per loop. The 60 mile "fun run" has a cutoff of 40 hours, or 13:20 per loop. To prove you completed each loop, you must find 9 to 11 books (varies) at various points along the course and return a page from each book.

I can't believe I got a slot. In the interest of full disclosure, I did not immediately get a slot. After the 35 entrants were selected, the weight list was posted. My plan all along was to enter my name into the race, possibly get on the weight list and improve my overall chances for next year's race/weight list. So on that awesome day back in December, when the weight list was published, I was shocked to see my name sitting at #10. "Did that just happen?" was all I could think.

It is widely accepted that if you are numbers 1-10 on the WL, you will get a slot. Yes, I received my email this past Thursday, informing me my number was up.

Awesome.

I'm excited. I'm scared. I can't fully express the range of emotions I have felt in the last few days. I have been training like I was going to get in(explaining the Laurel Valley run and the 4 hour powerline climb I did 2 weeks ago) I even spent the day at an orienteering meet working on my map/compass skills. I've been working so hard, I'm coming into the final stretch hobbling. ITB flare up this past week and a mild ankle sprain yesterday. I don't care, this is the Barkley!

I do not suffer from grand delusions that I will finish 5 loops in the alloted time. It tells me right on the entry form that I will fail. We all fail (well, except for the 10 finshers in 26 years) The Barkley eats it's young. My pie in the sky goal is/was 3 loops. Offering complete truth, I will be over the moon to finish one loop in the alloted time and start on my 2nd loop. That is what I want.

I've been devouring information about the race. I've been doing it for the past 2 years, but even more over the last 2-3 months. I've reread Frozen Ed's book. I read race reports. I've talked with a few local runners who have run it. I even watched Charlie Engle's 5 part RW/YouTube piece. I picked up on something last night while watching that. The interviewer asked Laz what he thought was a key to finishing, "focus" Laz said. 9 out of the 10 finishers had masters degrees or higher. (Hell, I think one of the finishers is a rocket scientist!) The finishers had the ability to stay dialed in over the entire time.

After finishing a 2nd course at the orienteering meet today, I was thinking about the importance of "focus". I did really well on the (very easy) beginners course. I did so well, I got over confident and failed to plan my route for the intermediate course. I figured it was 5km and I would just cruise through the controls and be back in no more than an hour. I struggled out of the gate, I spent 15 minutes looking for the 1st control and at least 20 minutes looking for the 2nd control. Almost an hour had gone by by the time I found the 3rd control...I had 10 more to go. I needed to stop, reign it in and think. Pay attention to the landmarks, use my land nav skills. I caught up to a JROTC kid(named Tyrese) and he was just as turned around as I was, we teamed up to find the next control and I instantly understood why people team up at Barkley-just felt easier with two heads. As I was slowing myself down mentally, focusing only on the next 100-200 meters, everything fell into place. I managed to find the remaining 10 controls and finish in 2 hours.

I will need to carry this lesson to be "successful" at Barkley. Sure, I'll take some time to enjoy the company pre-race, but I need to remember, I am there for one thing - to run loops. I've been given a gift not many people get. I need to make sure I take complete advantage of it and approach the prepwork in a business like manner. This race is about exploration, I have an opportunity to push myself to the edge of my "limitations" and see how I respond. I was exchanging texts with a friend yesterday, he said it'll be a beat down, I won't be the same. He's not the first person who has told me that the Barkley changes people. I'm interested in meeting the person who comes out the other side.

I don't know if I will update between now and "Fool's weekend" but I look forward to coming back here and reporting how it goes.

Pine Mountain 40 Mile Trail Run

I wanted to start writing this report while it was still fresh in my mind. So many awesome moments, this will go down as one of the best runs I've ever had.

In preparing for this race, I read so many PM40 race reports that I had a very humble respect for the distance and the terrain. I've never run a 40 miler, my previous distance PR was 35+ miles this summer at the Hot2Trot 8 hour. Every report I read mentioned the thick carpet of leaves that covered rocks and roots. So, two brand new twists in my running journey.

Saturday evening, I met up with my buddy Tom and we drove the 30 minutes from La Grange to the FDR State Park to pick up our packets. Getting a chance to look around and see the trail conditions, this race was going to be fun. Can you say rocky?!?!?

(Yes, there is a trail in there somewhere!)



We had dinner at Longhorn, watched a little college football and tried to get some shut eye-4:45am always comes too quickly!

Arriving back at the park in the pre-dawn hours, we participated in the best pre-race ritual, saying hello to all of the "GUTS family" runners that we hadn't seen in a while. Eventually, Sarah used her bullhorn to wrangle us up and force us out of the warm group shelter, up to the top of the dam, so we could get started. The race started and we ran down a 1/4 mile stretch of road, giving the runners a chance to fall into line before we slipped into the woods and hit the trail.

I love the hush that falls over the group as we head onto the trail. There is always a moment of quiet trepidation as the runners contemplate the day ahead. It usually doesn't last long, nervous energy breaks the silence and old friends cut up and swap tall tales, allowing for the first few miles to pass effortlessly. Tom and I had a simple strategy this day, start comfortable & easy and run from aid station to aid station. We made no major attempt to pass anyone in the early going, only slipping past runners when it was really warranted. We were going to stay together for as long as possible and were in no hurry to get there.

I was able to turn my headlamp off in the 2nd mile and a quick 400' climb found us at Buzzards Roost enjoying a beautiful sunrise, overlooking the surrounding county.



About 80 minutes into our day, we arrived at the first aid station; Fox Den Cove. A short stop here, I grabbed a few chocolate chip cookies and topped off my water. In and out in less than a minute. Those. cookies. were. so. good! This would be the theme of the day. Roll into the aid station, grab some food, thank the wonderful AS workers, exclaim out loud how awesome the food tasted and roll on!

Somewhere along this point Tom reminded me of his favorite poem,
"Melinda Mae", by Shel Silverstein.

Have you heard of tiny Melinda Mae,
Who ate a monstrous whale?
She
thought she could,
She said she would,
So she started in right at the
tail.

And everyone said,"You're much too small,"
But that didn't
bother Melinda at all,
She took little bites and she shewed very slow,
Just like a little girl should...

...and eighty-nine years later
she ate that whale
Because she said she would!!!

That would be our plan, we "ate our whale" one aid station at a time, trimming our 40 mile trail run into a much more manageable race of 4-5 miles. It didn't take long, 10 miles in, we arrived at the next aid station, Mollyhugger Hill. The running was going smoothly, it was early enough that we still had enough strength in our legs to pick our feet up and avoid the hidden roots and roots. You could never drift too far of the task at hand, a hidden root or rock would always grab your attention if you were sleeping. I commented to Tom that I had forgotten to leave an offering to the trail gnomes, so I dropped a portion of my chocolate chip cookie on the trail, hoping that would be enough for them to leave me upright.

Eleven or so miles in, we came around a bend and I saw something I'd never seen before-widespread trail destruction. On the evening of April 28th, a powerful tornado ripped through F.D.R. State Park and the surrounding area. I had heard about it on the news and had seen pictures, but did not fully understand the strength of Mother Nature until we reached Hines Gap. Unbelievable. I cannot find the words to describe what we saw and ran through. Giant trees snapped in half like toothpicks. It was as if we were running through a scene from Apocalypse Now. Photo's cannot do justice. A very surreal experience.




Just a little after the 3 hour mark, we found ourselves approaching the Dowdell Knob Aid Station. We had drop bags here, but did not need them with only 14 miles in(we would be coming through this AS again at mile 28 probably wanting them) Kim Pike and her wonderful crew got us in and out, like lightening. Heading back out onto the trail we met "Peachtree City" a nice lady named Kim, from, yep, you guessed it - Peachtree City. She hung with us for a while but then zoomed ahead. Probably scared off from our antics.

Tom and I were having a blast. Singing, quoting stupid movie quotes, making fun of each other. I was having a fantastic time and the miles were passing effortlessly. Easy peasy, 12-13 minute pace.

We were motoring along and expecting to reach the Rocky Point AS(mile 17) when all of a sudden, I heard folks yelling my name. WTH, how do all of these people know who I am? AHA! It was Jason Rogers, Jenn Coker & Jaydene Reardon! To be fair to the others, there were many more awesome aid station workers here (and at ALL of the other aid stations), I just happen to know these kind folks by name. What an uplift to pull into an aid station and have people cheer for you and wait on you hand and foot! I need an aid station set up in my living room. (um, sweet boo?) In and out, 1,2,6. Back on trail.

This next section was a 7 mile loop passing through the TV Tower AS at the 5 mile mark. A lot of really runnable trails in this section, extended periods of trail that had little or no major obstacles (i.e., rocks & roots) There were also a collection of creeks and waterfalls that we crossed and ran alongside. Quite possibly the funniest moment of the day (for me at least) was when I had Tom laughing his ass of at some random reference to us being like the guys from "Dumb & Dumber". He was laughing so hard that he tripped and fell; almost falling head first into a waterfall! It was also in this section that we caught back up to "Peachtree City". She told us she wanted to run with us because we were "having so much fun".



Even though I had been taking in a lot of calories at each aid station, I was really getting hungry around mile 21. Tom mention hearing about awesome grilled cheese sammy's, but I was sure he was thinking of the fried egg sammys at the Pinnacle aid station at the Pinhoti 100 miler. The next thing you know, we roll into the TV Tower aid station and guess what? Yup, there stood Frank, cooking GRILLED CHEESE SAMMYS!!!!
SO
GOOD!~
Once it hit your lips, it was so good!

Reenergized, we moved out, knowing that next stop was only 2 miles away. Our trail running trio was now moving at a good clip and having a blast. Peachtree was having a little trouble hanging on with us on the downhills, but she was certainly paying her fare by dragging our butts up the climbs! Rocky Point arrived quickly and we didn't linger long. I think this is where Tom discovered how wonderful Red Vine Twizzlers taste! Before we knew it our 7 mile loop was over and we were back at Rocky Point.

In and out quickly, the trio moved on, knowing that we had 4 miles to our drop bags. I really wanted to change my socks and check on a few hot spots on my feet. Without trying to jinx it, Tom and I could not believe how good we felt. Typically by this point in a race, you are running out there by yourself. The fact that the three of us had been running together for so long, the miles were just flying by. Soon enough we arrived at Downdell knob and I sat down for the first time. (After the fact)Looking at my Garmin, this was the slowest mile of the day(22:40) but we stopped to change our socks. Kim Pike did have to yell at me to "Get out of here", to which I replied, "You're not the boss of me!" Thank you KPP for pushing us back out there and not letting us dilly-dally any further!

Back through the sun-exposed, tornado cut. it finally hit us and it hit collectively. A major low point. Seemingly endless climbs. Painful rocks. Stupid roots. 3.5 miles never seemed so far. I lead my fair share of the day, but did not want any part of the front during this stretch. Head down, eyes on the ground in front, we quietly worked through this section. I believe Peachtree quietly pulled us through this section. Just when I thought I didn't want to go any further, the aid station appeared. Our spirits were lifted and I then knew that we would all finish together.

It's funny, we didn't realize we were in that low spot until after it was over. Our silence must have been a huge clue, as we had been bouncing off the walls the majority of the day! The mood was much more jovial in this next section and eventually we pulled into Fox Den, the last manned aid station. Joel told us we had 3 mile to Buzzard Roost for a water stop and then 3 miles downhill to the finish. Two words. Stinger. Waffles. If you know, then you know, if you don't go find out. Now! They are so good, Tom ordered a case as soon as he got home. Peachtree tried them with peanut butter and she said that was amazing. Mmmm, new ultra fuel.

The climb out to Buzzard Roost was hard, we got rolled up a few times, I think 2 or 3 runners passed us. We just didn't have it in us to hold on to our pace. When we finally saw the water coolers, we knew we had done it. Funny, either Tom or Peachtree asked, "Are you sure there is no hidden climbs in the last 3 miles?" Nope. All runnable downhills from here on out. We left Buzzards Roost with 9:10 on the clock. As we were winding down the miles, I was calling out the trail markers. There were wooden stakes in the ground painted red, with letters on them. I think we started at M and worked our way down. Every marker we saw, we yelled out a word or phrase that started with that letter and pertained to the trail, the day, or just plain finishing. (M="Man, this is a long way to run", L="Last Frickin Mile", K= ah, I forget, but you get the picture)

"I hear voices!" - me

"You mean besides the ones in your head?" - Tom & Peachtree

"Well, yes. I think" - me

"I hear them, too!" - Tom/Peachtree (You hear the voices in my head?!?!)-me, in my head

"I see the clock!" - one of us

(Sarah Tynes, most awesome RD, over the bullhorn)
"Get out of the woods!"

Peachtree lead us in and we finished together. 9:41 after we started, our day was over.

Hugs and high-fives all around. Bring me the finest meats and cheeses for a clubhouse feast!(anyone?)

After writing and rereading this report several times it appears a key portion is missing.

The part about the running.

That's what was so awesome about Pine Mountain. I don't really remember it. I know we ran 40 miles. Sure there were roots and rocks. 5000' of climbs & descents. Tom & Peachtree feel a few times. (I didn't...but I did bang the $h!t out of my head on a blow down) I remember the fun. The jokes, the laughter, the awesome volunteers at the aid stations. The smiles, I remember the smiles. This is just what I needed after RnR Savannah. I love being a part of GUTS and the ultra community. I can't wait to get back out there again!

Huge props to RD, Sarah Tynes, & the awesome volunteer captain, Kirsten. Also, thanks to Joel, Kim, Jaydene, Jenn, Jason, Frank, Rachel, Sally, Marty, Janice, Woolery and every other volunteer I can't remember by name! Oh, thanks to Jim "Picklehopper" for marking the course, but no thanks to Joel, who marked it with him, but according to Jim decided to leave branches on the course because they were "part of the obstacles". Finally to JoJa Jogger for stopping by to say hello before the day started!


Photo Credits - Susan Donnelly, Ultra Runner Bad Ass

R&R Savannah Race Report

When I last left you, we were discussing my race plan and my vision for the race. Quick recap. Run the tangents, visualize whirled peas & run a 3:29:56.

Let's play "The price is right". 4 of those 5 numbers are correct and in the proper slot. Which number is wrong?

We'll come back to that one.

Drove into town on Friday and headed to the hotel, which happens to be right next door to the Trade Center where the expo was taking place. I had heard that only 3,000 of the 23k runners had picked up their packet on Thursday. Can you say traffic jam trying to get to Hutchison Island?



Luckily, I knew a couple of "short cuts" and it only took us about 20 minutes to get onto the island and to the hotel.

We got settled in and headed over to the expo. I've only been to a couple of "big race" expo's, I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan. Don't get me wrong, looking at every single type of running accessory is cool, I just don't like being herded around like cattle.

My sweetest boo and I meet some friends, had a light dinner, and I sacked out at about 10pm. I slept for sh!t. Anxiety & nerves. Boo!

Waking up and grabbing a quick shower, I headed to the lobby to meet up with my buddy Tom and his wife Trang. With them were several other University of Tampa classmates of ours, Yung & Bea. Pause for photo ops! For some reason, I decided to turn on my Garmin & check it - as soon as I did, it flashed "Battery Low" WTH?!?!? I fully charged it right before I left Smyrna. I ran back to my room and got my charger and plugged it into the wall in the lobby so it could get some juice while we were hanging out. Would it be enough?


(See, we are spelling "Tampa" because that is where we went to school...never mind)




Short water ferry ride over to the start. Holy crap there are a lot of runners here. The pre-race energy was awesome. After a short mile warm up with Tom, we headed into our corral. It was really cool to be that close to the start. For me, it gave me the familiar feeling of being in a small race. I was only 25 yards from the starting line; I could see the stage with the race officials.

The temps were perfect. However, Tom & I noticed the flag on top of city hall was blowing out at a 90 degree angle. Winds of up to 20mph, this could be bad.
I waited until the last minute to turn on my Garmin. Within moments of the official start, our corral was moved to the starting line and we were off. Really cool running straight down Bay St. with 20,000 other runners.

As we left downtown and headed into Garden City, everything was perfect. I felt fresh, my breathing was good, it was as if I were out for an early morning jog. Hit the 5k mark in 26 minutes and started dialing down the miles. The crowd support in the early miles was awesome. These folks were lining the streets, welcoming us to their neighborhood, and wishing us well. There was a lot of debate amongst the local runners as to the course route; the decision to run through the "seedy" part of town. Honestly, the crowd support in this section of the course was one of the highlights of the day.

Passing through the 10k mark at 52 minutes, I was right on pace. I was looking forward to entering back into downtown and was hoping to see a few familiar faces along the way. I popped my 2nd gel and grabbed a water, checking to see my Garmin was still running and my HR was sitting around 152. A little high, but manageable.

Around mile 8, we turned right onto Liberty St and all I could see was spectators. IT. WAS. AMAZING!!! The crowd was 4 and 5 deep - spilling onto the road. There were little kids hold out their hands for "high fives". I must have low 5'd about 30 kids. The emotion and adrenaline was overwhelming. I am not going to lie, I got a little choked up. I turned to the runner next to me and said, "This is effin awesome, I feel like I am running NYC" By far the best mile and section of the race. This turned out to be my fastest mile of the day.

I cruised through mile 10 feeling good, hitting my goal of 1:22. We were heading out of downtown and into Gordonston. The neighborhood did a great job of welcoming us, I learned later that the neighborhood association had gotten together the day before and planted flowers in the median, along the course. Everyone was out cheering and having a great day. I must say, Savannah made me proud!

We soon split from the half marathoners and entered the Truman Parkway for a short section, going towards the baseball stadium. Miles were ticking away and my times were running great.

Mile 15 found us headed towards Savannah State University and we were once again blown away from the support. For about a 1/4 of a mile, lined on both sides of the streets, were students and athletes for the university. Amazing energy! I felt like such a rock star! I was initially envious of the half marathoners when we split off; they were getting to head to the finish. In hindsight, we were the lucky ones, as we were able to experience the crowd support at SSU.

I started to struggle with my HR at mile 17-18. I was running in the high 160's and knew this would be recipe for disaster if I couldn't bring it back down a little. I knew my 3:30 was gone but had a good distance on the 3:40 pace group. I was just going to HTFU and work through the next 8 miles.

Mile 20 found us heading back towards downtown and working our way over to the Truman Parkway. I knew this was going to be a tough section - just not this tough. Then it hit. Cramps. left calf, right calf. How can I cramp in both legs? Walk it out, stretch. HTFU & run. Beep! The Garmin dies. I can hear the bells and whistles sounding, this jet is going down in a blaze of glory! Enter onto the parkway and we are now running straight into a 20 mph headwind. DOH! This sucks!!!! How do I get out of this? Fake an injury? Marathons are stupid. I hate my coach. Why can't I just be happy running 5k's & 10k's? I ran a great half marathon today, cruised through to a 1:47. That is what I should be doing. How am I going to run a 40 mile trail race next month?

I had to regroup and stop with the negative thinking. Shit, there goes the 3:40 group. Mile 23, just a 5k left. Focus on 5 minutes of running and then take a 30 second walk break.

I am too familiar with the "death march", it's never fun. I just kept moving forward. I was looking over my shoulder, waiting for Tom to roll up on me. Lol, I didn't want him to catch me, but was hoping maybe he would and he could carry me in to the finish.

Finally off of the blasted Truman and out of the wind. 2 miles to the finish. We have rejoined with the halfer's. I was struggling, still cramping. Still no Tom. Keep moving forward.

I was less than half a mile away and could hear and see the finish crowd. I started running faster and my calves were screaming. It felt like someone was stabbing me in the back of the legs. I was cussing out loud. Poor kids. "Do as I say, not as I do" Apparently my wife, her mom, and our friend Kate cheered for me as I ran by - I didn't see them. Too focused on keeping my legs from seizing up.

I hit the finish line at 3:59:56. Exactly 30 minutes over the goal. New PR. I had a thousand yard stare. I was a little shell shocked. It took me a little while to wade through the finishers chute. Finally, I found my sweetest boo and was overcome with emotion. (Yes, even teh Snail can shed a tear)

The highlight of this race was the crowd support. With the exception of the 3 mile stretch on the Truman, It was amazing. If I never have to even drive on that road again, I'll be a happy man. running has high's and low's- the Truman was the low. It's funny, I was talking to a friend afterwards and I told him, "I just kept thinking, 'this will change, the next mile will be better' but it never changed" Only a day or two after did I realize that it did indeed change, the change just didn't take place until after I crossed the finish line. I needed to broaden my scope a little.

I had a blast seeing old friends and making new ones. I PR's by about 30 minutes. I put countless miles of hard work into getting ready for this race and although I missed my A goal, I feel like this race was a success. Now just to figure out this stupid cramping issue.

Oh, here is a finish line photo...a little pain is good, right????

Race Plan

The Crackhead has asked those of us running R&R to write a race plan and submit it to him. I thought I'd like to put mine up in my blog so I'll have it to review down the road. I'll share it.

“Our mindset in the moment creates our experience.”
A Race Plan, by Thomas Armbruster

The week of the race coincides with “Month End”, which is a labor intensive, stressful period of time at my job. In order to offset this process and not allow it to overly affect my race week, I will devote a large amount of time on the 1st & 2nd of November to finishing as much as possible before leaving on Thursday the 3rd. When I leave the office to head to Savannah, I will completely check out and leave all of my work at work. I will also use the previous weekend to relax and catch up on any lost sleep. I have been getting 8+ hours as of late and do not feel that lack of sleep will be a factor.

While on taper, my nutritional focus will remain on the healthy side. Good carbs, lean proteins & minimal fats. I am keeping in mind that now that I am tapering, I will not require as many calories. I don’t want to continue eating like I am running 40+ mile weeks when I am NOT running 40+ mile weeks. The week of the race, I intend on “topping off” the carb levels, but not gorging. A little extra good carbs each day, whole wheat pastas, brown rice & quinoa.

I have had my race splits printed out and posted on my cube wall so I see the times and am very familiar with the timing breakdown. I also plan on either making a “timing bracelet” or writing certain splits on my hand for race day.

We will arrive in Savannah on Thursday, we will be staying with my mother in law for the night. 8 hours of sleep.

Friday, before checking into the Westin, I will review the race map and try to drive as much of the course as possible, running the tangents in my mind. I will eat small healthy meals throughout the day, knowing that anything I consume up to 12 hours before the race will be of no use to me. I will get my packet at the expo and lay low for the remainder of the day. I’ve already told my wife I would like to eat dinner early & turn in 9pm at the latest. She may spend some time with friends…I’ll be going to bed.

RACE DAY!
I plan on getting up between 4:30 & 5 am. 16oz of water immediately.
I’ll either get coffee from the lobby or make it in my room, depending on hotel service. ( I will know the answer to this by Friday) This is a pre run ritual. 8-12 oz of coffee with breakfast to “get things moving” Breakfast will be a whole wheat & egg Sammy. Quiet time in the morning to center my thoughts. Review the race map and timing splits. Visualize the course. Run the tangents. Stay centered and “in” each mile.

Shower & prepare to get to the ferry, I will have my race gear laid out the night before. Shorts & short sleeve shirt. Visor. Sunglasses(?) BIB. Do not forget bib. Garmin & HR monitor. Gu’s (2 reg, 2 Rocktane) & a water bottle to drink pre-race.

I would like to leave the island by 6am, I’ll be close enough to the water ferry that I can monitor the lines and decide if I need to cue up early or not. Depending on the weather I may have throw away clothes to wear before the run.

Getting to the staging areas, I will find my corral but not enter. I don’t want to be penned in too early, knowing once I enter I may not be able to leave. Finding out this info will be helpful. This early time is when I will meet up with others and chat. Ideally, I will run a warm up mile with Tom around 7:00am. Follow it up with a few striders to feel the effort, but not too hard. Finish w/u by 7:15 and move into the corral. This is when the focus begins. Visualize the race. Run the tangents. Know there will be times when it hurts and I will want to quit. Make the decision ahead of time that when it happens, I will NOT give in to the pain. Run each mile, one at a time. Remember that “everything changes, the next mile may be different” “Relax & Move” When it gets hard, focus on form. “Relentless Forward Progress.”

Grab a water at every stop. No need to drink entire cup, drink when thirsty.

Just before the race I will say the Serenity prayer and ask for guidance & strength and for everyone to run a safe race within their ability.

Go Time.

Easy, comfortable. Don’t get caught up in the moment and try to jockey for too much position. I can’t win the race in the first mile, but I can blow my race. Remember I have a slow start built into my pacing. 8:19 for the 1st mile, 8:17 & then 8:16. By the time I get to mile 3 I should have plenty of room to run.

Grab a water at every stop. No need to drink entire cup, drink when thirsty.

25 minute 5k. Relax.

Mile 5 – 41:20. Take a GU

Mile 7, 57:42, heading into downtown, enjoy the crowds, smile. Feel the positive energy. Use it to my advantage.

Mile 10 – 1:22:04. Take 2nd GU

Mile 11 1:30:08…full splits from ½’s. I shouldn’t be hurting at this point but will be jealous that all of those people get to go that way and I have to get on the Truman and run all the way the fu@k to Pearl’s Elegant Pelican. It will get lonely. Stay in each mile. Get off the Truman & enjoy running through Daffin Park. Enjoy the crowd. Smile. Positive energy.

Mile 15 2:02:10. Take 1st Roctane. This is the 1st sub 8 mile. We are working now. Relax

Run past SSU. Stay focused. Remember the countless speed sessions you ran with the Hammer at the track. Cuss him out for not being there.(j/k) Stay positive.

Mile 18 2:25:57. Say goodbye to the Marsh. We get to go back into town now. We are still holding in the 7:50’s. Relax and move.

Mile 20 2:41:41 Last Gu. Time to HTFU. This is what we’ve worked for all summer. 40+ mile weeks. Double speed sessions. 160 miles in September. You are ready. Let’s work. One mile at a time.

2:49:30 5 miles left. We will get to see Jim & Stewart’s band. Hopefully this will give a adrenaline push. 40 minutes left.

Remember Hal Higdon’s quote “Concentrate! You can't reach your potential if you drift through your races”

2:57:18 4 miles left - This is going to hurt. We are going under 7:50. HTFU. Fast is sexy.

3:05:05 Less that 30 minutes left.

3:12:50. We get to get off the Truman. 2 miles

3:20:34. Last chance for glory. Leave it all on the course. Feed off the crowd. Pass 5 runners before the turn to the park.

Make a right and leave it out there.

3:29:56

It's not you, it's me....

I'm going to have to talk with my "other lady" this evening. I need a little space, some time away. A break.

It's not her fault, she is always there for me. Never judging me for what I wear, how I smell, or how much I may sweat on her during our time together. Even though she is constantly causing me pain, I always come out the other side stronger.

I do love her.

However, we've been seeing each other a lot lately. A LOT! Twice a week. More than an hour at a time, sometimes close to two hours. I need a little time to recover.





So, today I make my last trip to the track. Yasso's. 10 x 800 @ 3:28.

Then I break the news. I'm torn. Should I tell her before or after? One last go around for old times sake? Or just tell her and leave, a clean break?

Rock & Roll in 15 days. Bib # 2081; corral # 2!

Let's do this!

Odds & Ends

R&R Savannah is less than a month away! Training is starting to wind down, or maybe I should say it's in full swing??? I still have several key workouts left on the schedule. This weekend I will be running back to back half marathons. Saturday I will run the pacing for the 2nd half of the marathon (goal time 1:42:53) and Sunday I will run the 1st half pacing (goal time 1:47:06). It is still a little wierd to see it on paper. Let's consider a few things: My half marathon PR is 1:48:xx, which I set in March of this year. Soooo, my 2 half mary tests this weekend will be faster than my existing PR. Granted, I know I am currently in better shape, lighter & faster than I was in March, but still! The crackhead has some interesting training ideas.

We will follow up this weekends half mary's with another 3 hour LSR next weekend. The following weekend I will run an 18 mile pace run, following the pacing for the marathon. Then TAPER! At this point we will assess all of the data and decide what my chances are of running a 3:29:59 in Savannah. I'm a little nervous. This is becoming very real. Crunching the data, looking at pacing & HR info - I am real comfortable at a 8:20-8:40 pace. My HR stays real constant in a high Z1, low Z2. An 8:20 doesnt get me sub 3:30. My fitness at 8:00 m/m is rapidly improving, two weeks ago, I ran my last 8:00 min pace run of 10 miles. Avg HR was 146, low to mid Z2. So, it's getting there, the question is will it get there in time?


I had my first running dream last night. Well the first one I can remember in a long time. Seems I was running the Pinhoti 100 miler, which I actually do intend on running in 2012. Well I got to the top of Bald Rock, about 40 miles into the race. At the aid station, we had a cooking challenge! Turns out you had to prepare a dish and present it to the celebrity guest judge before you could continue on. Gordon Ramsey was the guest judge. I prepared a delishious oven roasted Chilean Seabass with a sweet potato puree. I think I also sauteed some squash or cauliflower. It's a little fuzzy. Anyways, Gordon seemed pleased with my offering and gave me 3.5 out of 5?!?! Enough to allow me to continue on with the race. To tie it all together for you, dear reader, I think the key to staying ahead of the sweepers at Pinhoti is to get through Bald Rock before the sun goes down. Going through "Blue Hell" in the dark is incredibly slow. So I think this is why I dreamt about that. Several of my friends will be toeing the line at Pinhoti the same morning I will be toeing the line at R&R. I guess we know where my thoughts are these days.

Rock & Roll Savannah

...a huge road mary & a return to Savannah is on the horizon.

Yesterday marked 2 years to the day that I ran my first marathon, the Equinox Marathon in Fairbanks, Alaska. What a great race. A lot has changed in my life and in my "running career". I have since run several marathon & ultra distance events. I have moved from Savannah to Atlanta and have deepened my love for trail running. I never vowed to "never run a road mary" but didn't really see one in the future anytime soon.

That was until they announced that Competitor was going to bring it's Rock & Roll Marathon Series to little ol' Savannah, Jaw-ja. Hmmm, inagural road marathon in the town that I have grown to love and call "home"? Yeah, where do I sign up? Early estimates had 12-15,000 runners filling our city streets. I guess the powers that be grossly underestimated the Siren like power of a super flat course in a city known for it's debaucherous St' Patrick's Day parade and celebration. The race was capped at 23,000 runners and sold out 2 months before race day. I will admit that I had a hard time coughing up over a $100 to enter (this is double/triple what I usually pay to run a trail ultra) however, you only live once and my Sweet Boo wanted to make this trip to Savannah, so...

After a decent trail season, looking back through my training log, the Crackhead and I had decided that I had built a solid mileage base of close to 1000 miles this year; we were now going to tune it up with a healthy dose of speed work. "They" say it takes 1-2 years to build a solid base and 5-6 weeks to add speed. That feels like the case with me. Since running the 'nox 2 years ago, I have averaged over 100 miles a month; 120 over the last 3-4 months. Over the last 4 weeks I've been cranking out 40+ miles a week, with 5-6 days of running, including - 2 speed sessions and a tempo run. RUNNING FAST HURTS!!!!

I have settled in on a 3:29:59 goal time at Savannah and my workouts of late have been nothing but successful. I really don't want to jinx myself, but since the summer temperatures have left us, my training has been awesome. I feel really good about the progress and am seeing great results in my overall running efficiency. Avg HR @ MP is dropping week after week, even as the MP runs are getting longer. Today is a big test as I dial up Yasso's x 10 @ 3:29. If I am able to trim another 5-8 pounds over the next 4-5 weeks - all systems go! (A shout out to Wes for the push to drop those pesky pounds)

Here is the best part. I'm excited to go to Savannah and run - I really am! I want to have a great race and finsih in the top 10%...but that is not what I'm really looking forward to that weekend. It's seeing old & new friends. Sharing a city I love with 22, 999 other runners. It's meeting up with college friends & bloggers that are coming into town for the race. Having fellow GUTS runners come from Atlanta to share the course with me. Being able to toe the line with the Crackhead and other Savannah runners for the first time in a while. It's the comraderie and fellowship of like minded people that I am really looking forward to expierencing. November 5th is going to be a great day, regardless of the time I see on the finisher clock...

(but it better not show 3:3x:xx!)