So Far From Normal

Weymouth Woods 100km

2012-01-19T00:20:00.001-05:00

This is a tough race – and another Mangum Track Club event with that feeling of a family reunion. It is extremely well directed by Marie Lewis and her husband Jamie. You really don’t want for anything.

14 loops, each about 4.5 miles, the course is something like this. The first mile, is mainly single track, with a sandy surface with plenty of roots to trip over. Seems as though it is mostly down hill. The roots make it hard to get any rhythm going. Mile two starts with some very narrow single track, more roots. As the mile continues, there are some boardwalks, and a few fairly decent climbs. And more roots.

The third mile is the easiest of the course. Mostly runnable early, wider trail, and not nearly as many roots. 1/4 mile up hill, then a nice descent into the second aid station – very ably run by Doug Dawkins (RD of the Boogie Races), and Jimmy Ballard. The Mocha they offer up is just wonderful, caffeine, sugar and chocolate is a tough combination to beat. After the aid station, mostly down hill, less technical trail (carefully attempting to avoid the “son of a ditch” – thanks Gene and Lauren for the name – definitely appropriate.

At mile 3.5, cross a bridge, make a right turn, and back on single track – not too rooty for half mile or so – ups and downs. With 1/2 mile left on the loop, the trail widens for 1/4 mile or so, with nicely rolling hills. The last 1/4 mile is tough – the loop ends with the toughest climb and the most roots – then over the timing mat and to the main aid station.

As for my race – I didn’t really set out with too many goals in mind. Weymouth Woods is now a Western States qualifier, so many people went out with that in mind, and aimed for sub 14 hours. My two previous finish times were 17:57 (in the pouring rain), 17:24 (in the snow and ice covered trails), so I could see no way that I was going to trim about 3.5 hours off of my 2011 time. 14 hours was never a target. Beating my overall 100k PR was my “WTF? LOL” goal – 16 hours, my more realistic goal was to beat my previous best Weymouth Woods time. Finishing alive and with a smile was of course my primary target.

My friend, mentor, unpaid coach and occasional psycho analyst, Shannon wanted me to try an experiment. “Go out hard” she said, “50 minute loops and see what happens”. So I did.

I started the race pushing the pace, skipping over the roots with the finesse and grace of a three-legged elephant, but noting how my Jordan Lake trail running prepared me for just such an escapade. Course knowledge really helped – having done something like 30 laps of the park before (that said, I did manage to go off course on Lap 12 of last year’s race – DOH!)

Early on (Picture Jim W)

Jimmy and Doug were cooking grits at the second aid station. I love Southern food, but grits is something I pass at. “Kinda like eating boiled sand” I tell people. Who then normally remind me that there is a ton of butter in there – but to me, it makes the grits taste like boiled sand with butter. I passed. (But appreciated the offer)

First three laps went well – 50 minute loop average. Half way around lap 4 – oh oh. Stomach cramps. And not the sort of stomach cramps that say “best go to the bathroom at the end of this loop” – no these stomach cramps were screaming “get your sorry butt into the woods NOW!” So I did. And lap 5 too.

Yes, we had “issues”

So with the fragile stomach, not many calories were being consumed and the pace inevitably eased off. No big deal – I was never going to be able to hang onto that pace anyway.

The half-way split was about 7:10, and I took a break, sat down for a few minutes and rested some.

As the sun went down, I really was starting to feel tired. BUT, I was going to get to play with my new toy. A Super Dooper Fenix handheld flash light. It was bright. Really bright. And it made a phenomenal difference to running technical trails at night. Until the batteries died. And I didn’t have any spare. Idiot.

My friend Gene, definitely smarter than me had a spare pair of batteries. For the last half of the previous loop, running with just a headlight made me realize just how much of a difference a good light can make, especially on technical trails. My Fenix is a keeper. I will invest in batteries for my next run in the dark though.

It got cold after the sun set (No shit Sherlock – anybody would think it was January or something), but changing into dry clothing made me feel better. Still tired though.

Now that the stomach issues had rescinded into just being a memory. I felt that some soup would be the order of the day. Potato soup. Awesome potato soup. Super soup. Carbs, salt and warm. Just the perfect combination, and cup or two of that after laps 10 and 11 really gave me some energy back.

Around lap 10, I started figuring out when I would finish – looked to me like about 17 hours. I was going to be happy with that. I soon also started thinking that it would be nice to beat last year’s time by 30 minutes – so that became the goal. It required a little bit of pushing to make it, but eventually, I crossed the line in 16:49 – 35 minutes faster than last year. Yep, that’ll work.

Looking back, I have to say I really enjoyed this race for a number of reasons. The first of which is the race organization and the volunteers. Everyone goes so far out of their way to help, aid and support us crazy folk out there running. As well as the people taking care of us, there are great aid stations, with a great selection of food. It is definitely a runners race – put on for runners, by runners, with wonderful volunteers, good schwag and all for a very reasonable price. Great job by everyone involved. And thank you to everyone involved.

The other reason this race is a good one – the distance. 100km is a good distance for me. It takes you into the same “pain cave” (thank you Linda for that expression) as a 100 mile run, you begin to get the same levels of fatigue, you get to question why you do this shit, your body hurts, you have to manage nutrition and hydration – you get all of that, but without the total annihilation of a 100 miler.

I will be back next year, and I am looking forward to the January heatwave that I just know that Marie will order up in advance

Goofy grin just seconds after finishing (Picture: Jamie)

Accountability–week 2

2012-01-10T22:09:00.001-05:00

2012 5k challenge

Week 1: 23:37

Week 2: 23:45

Freedom Park 12 hour run

2012-01-09T19:46:00.001-05:00

I ended 2011 exactly the same way as I started it. Running at David Lee’s 12 hour Freedom Park Run.

I only decided to run it on the Thursday before.

I went with Chris Knodel, who put together BCRT – my local hometown Sanford running group. Chris has a couple of Ultras under his belt, Derby 50K, and something called a Boxing Day Mad Ass Fun Run. So, he has not yet gone beyond 50k.

We set goals – I needed 51.4 to get my total mileage for the year to be 2300, a pair of marathons would be a good target (52.4), but anything over 50 would be great.

David Lee puts on a great event, and the schwag is wonderful. Last year, there was a terrific fleece, this year a superb long sleeve tech shirt – definitely a shirt suitable enough to wear casually .

There is something about running at night – the fatigue is draining (but good practice for 100’s?). Plus, this time of year it is a long LONG night – basically 11.25 hours of the 12 were in darkness. Oh, and it was cold. I really, really don’t like the cold – so quite why I decided that a night time run over NYE would be a smart idea, I have no idea.

Anyway, to keep it short, Chris and I ran the whole 12 hours together, I enjoyed getting to know him and his philosophies behind his coaching and running business in Sanford. Some of the loops through the night became a real slog, but on the whole, it all went very smoothly – didn’t make it to 51.4, but we were both happy with 50.36 miles. We even had to push a bit in the last hour or so to make that – that said, I don’t think 50 was too much of a doubt.

Quite what 2012 holds for the year, I am not sure. New friends, new races, old friends and old races – plus I’m hoping I will put on another couple of races. Let’s make it a good one!

Becoming a Dumb Ass Fat Ass Race Director

2012-01-09T19:22:00.001-05:00

I have long held this idea that I would be able to put a race on. Not sure what gave me that idea – other than the fact that I do a lot of races, and I think I know what makes a good race.

Wait a doggone minute – knowing what makes a good race, that’s a pretty good qualification, perhaps the best.

What makes a good race? Simply, putting the runners first. Yep, that’s the big secret. If you put the runners first, then your race is likely to be a good one.

Cost – yep the cost of entry is important, but again, I have no problem with runs making a profit, but if you put profits above the quality of your event from a runner’s point of view, then guess what? They won’t return.

Start putting the sponsors first, or the city, or the charity or whatever first, then from a runner’s perspective, it won’t be a 100% successful event.

So, knowing that I know what makes a good event – here was the idea; a timed race on a short loop. Why? Because that is the sort of race I like. What about charging an entrance fee? I decided not to, and follow Terri Hayes’ model (www.ultrasontrails.com), and ask for donations to cover my costs, but making it very clear that it was voluntary. Same for aid. One of the benefits of doing a freebie run is that I can basically invite who I want. Anything left over would go to CARA – Carolina Animal Rescue and Adoption (www.cara-nc.org)

Kiwanis Park in Sanford would work, a nice loop, Just One Hill™, running surface similar to Umstead, about a mile long, close to a picnic shelter with a grill. I picked December 26 as the date. Why? It is different, it was a day off for most people, and I think people may like the day after Christmas to get out of the house and get some fresh air. Selecting name was fairly easy too. December 26 back where I am from is “Boxing Day”. Jimbo’s Boxing Day Madness Fat Ass Fun Run had a nice ring to it. Just because I could, I added a few more words – “Dumb Ass” and “Mad Ass” sounded right.

Putting the word out was fairly easy –Facebook is a great tool for that. Plus, now that I am running with the “Brick City Running Tribe”, I was hoping to be able to recruit some locals to come out for a run. Then of course there are several runners in the Raleigh area, and the Mangum crowd not too far south of Sanford. Pretty soon I had over 20 people saying “yes” and another 20 or so as “maybe”. Game on.

I wrote my first check – just $95 to secure the picnic shelter. “You want to do what?” “Yes – a fun run. Yes, I know it is the day after Christmas”.

T-shirts – did I want to do t-shirts? This was the gamble. How many to order, what sizes etc. Initially, only about 6 or 7 people expressed an interest. Eeek. I ordered 20 – hoping that I wouldn’t end up out of pocket.

A couple of days before the race, I was contacted by the publisher of the Sanford Herald. He wanted to do a write up on the run. His son contacted me for an interview over the phone – and Christmas eve, the article was printed. Not a short paragraph in the middle of the paper somewhere – but in the Sport section – front page, above the fold. WTF? LOL.

I was actually pretty nervous in the couple of days before. What would I do if nobody showed? Or the opposite, what would happen if hundreds did as a result of the newspaper article? As for aid – I decided to supply chipotle chicken thighs and bacon. 6lbs of bacon and 13lbs of chicken. No idea if it would be too much or not enough. There were promises of baked goods, and a load of Gatorade goodies too from Chris who is sponsored by them.

Race day – I arrived at a little after 8am, and 71 year old Dan Pieroni was already running laps, he had asked me if he could start early. Of course he could – I mean, why would it matter to me if he started early? Trever Schick was already there in his car waiting. So at least two people showed. As I unloaded the charcoal, I realized, I had no means to light it! I sent a panicked text to Amy. I also later asked Trever if he had anything. Thankfully they both came through for me.

8:30, more people started rolling up. Yay… DOUBLE FIGURES! I explained the procedure for scoring – write your name on an index card and mark it each time you came around. I had no volunteers as lap counters (I hadn’t asked for any either).

More runners showing up, plus tons of baked goodies.

One other thing that scared the crap out of me – I only had my wrist watch as a stop watch. What would happen if it died, or I accidentally stopped it while timing the 6 hour run? Later I remembered my new Christmas toy – a Samsung Galaxy 5 had a count down timer (which instantly propelled my new toy into supreme awesomeness).

A 10 second explanation of the course, followed by the word “go”, and they were off. When people were coming around after the first lap, I asked some of them what they thought of the course, and only received positive replies. This was when I relaxed. This was going to work.

From this point, almost everything went smoothly – the only thing that happened was when the wind picked up slightly and the index cards went flying – thankfully someone had brought a case of oranges and I weighed them down with those. I did a loop to get as many pictures as possible of the runners, and even ran a few miles myself.

As six hours approached – the runners set off on a 0.15mile baby-loop so I didn’t have to count partials.

Ben DIllon brought some goodies he had left over from a couple of races, so I gave out a couple of prizes.

And that was my day. I actually pulled this thing off. People surpassed their own expectations, first ultra, first marathon, first 50k, first time in double figures. Around 50 people ran some laps – and people had fun, they enjoyed themselves. New runners were inspired by the “seasoned” ultra folks, and in turn, those seasoned runners were inspired by the new runners beginning embracing the sport. I had many comments about how people were so friendly. Mission accomplished. I was impressed by how many people came from Sanford – I think we counted 20 or so who ran some loops (not everyone used a score card.) I even had at least one bandit running. Yay – when you get bandits, then you know you have hit the big time.

What would I do differently? Not a lot. Ben suggested I get a waiver signed and I should have started the food earlier. I agree on both counts. I also may make people sign up online for a t-shirt, I will have to look into that. I think I will have more interest next time too. I will keep it as a Fat Ass though, I do like the fact that it is a gathering of my friends and people that I know.

Other things to think about, Boxing Day 2012 is not a holiday in the US. So my initial thoughts are to make it a New Year’s Day Resolution Run type thing, or maybe pick the Saturday between Christmas and New Year’s…… which means I may have to pick another name……….. Hmmmmmm.

I have ideas for other races too – 12 hour night time run in the summer, and maybe something for Feb 29th. Then there is St George’s day too……..

Oh, and as a footnote – the costs were covered, and a $100 donation was made to CARA. Thank you to everyone ho came out, and thanks for donating.

Boxing Day Madness 2011

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another open letter to sponsors

2012-01-09T14:13:00.001-05:00

Dear potential sponsors

I assume you have read this.

This blog has 108 followers and gets about 1800 page views per month.

Your ad could be right here instead of this picture of some beer.

Just sayin’.

Respectfully

Jimbo

(Seriously, even though the post above was a blatant [fairly pathetic] attempt to get free stuff – to everyone of you who stumbles onto these pages and even stick around long enough to read something and even better, make comments, a genuine “Thank you”, and wishing you a great Twenty-Twelve)

Another video

2012-01-02T22:03:00.000-05:00

Forgot to post this one.

Jimbo's Javelina Jundred Journey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BD7qajewR0

Enjoy. Or not.

Results of Dumb Ass Fat Ass Boxing Day Madness 6 Hour Ultra

2011-12-27T21:01:00.001-05:00

	Sex	Age	Mileage
C.H. Christopher	M	37	37.6
John Adamof	M	43	35.45
Trever Schick	M	37	34.45
Charles Akers	M	32	32.6
Darryl Banks	M	45	31.6
Chris Knodel	M	38	31
Tim Weiss	M	53	31
Jeff Sackaroff	M	38	31
Stephen Pieroni	M	40	31
Bill Parquet	M	40	30
Bryant Dukes	M	38	30
Charles West	M	43	30
Gene Meade	M	48	26.9
Tim Preble	M	38	26.6
Linda Banks	F	48	26.6
Blanca Akers	F	32	26.6
Bob Sites	M	58	26
Amy Surrette	F	38	24.9
Dan Pieroni	M	71	24
George Wannop	M		23
Michael Holt	M	23	23
Norbert Miller	M	55	22
Ben Dillon	M	62	20
Jimmy Ballard	M	48	20
Amy Schimmel	F	35	18
Jeff Kimrey	M		12
Nelson McDonald	M		12
Robyn Smith	F	59	12
Deanna Lovell	F		10
Jim Elliot	M	45	10
Donald Dees	M	49	8
James Plant	M	47	7.15
Fred	M	58	7
Chris Elliot	M		6
Mary Flood	F	41	6
Jody Stouffer	M	40	6
Melissa Stouffer	F	39	5
Kirby Ballard	F	9	5
Eagan			5
Jenn Elliot	F	11	5
Randal Ware	M	29	4
Hannah Dees	F		3
Johnnie Dickens	M		3
Jeremy	M		2
Maurice	M		1

The Awesomeness of 2011 and looking forward to 2012

2011-12-17T17:54:00.001-05:00

Like most runners – I tend to use this time of year for some reflection on the year that is rapidly approaching the end.

2011 started with me running. At midnight, December 31 2010, I was running. And winning. Yep, I was first place male at the Freedom Park 12 hour run. No, really, I was winning. W-I-N-N-I-N-G. Shit, you don’t believe me. Of course, never having been in that position, I learned that it creates a whole new set of problems that I didn’t know existed. For example, I didn’t fuel and hydrate properly, and as a result ended up falling apart with 3 or 4 hours to go. I couldn’t hang on to it. So, the year started with second place male, (third overall). Good start.

Over the course of the year, I have ran 1017 miles in races/organized runs. I have failed in two races, Umstead 100 where a cold prevented from going any further than 50 miles, and also I had a DNF at Javelina where I kicked a rock and twisted my knee.

I have run around 2200 (with a couple of weeks left, I will see if I can get that to 2300) miles total for the year – above my target of 2111.

The highlight was of course finishing Tahoe Rim Trail 100. The most unbelievably difficult thing I have ever done. This 33 hours, 59 minutes and 20 seconds was one of my life’s greatest achievements.
2011 has also been the year I got faster. I have PR’s in 5K, 13.1, 26.2, 50k, 12 hour, 50 mile and 100k. The ones I wanted though, 100 mile and 24 hour have alluded me.

Here is my 2011 race list

1	Freedom Park 24 Hour (43.38m)
2	NC Fat Ass (9m)
3	Frosty 50k
4	Weymouth Woods 100k
5	Geezer Pleezer 4-Miler
6	Pilot Mountain Marathon
7	Umstead Trail Marathon
8	Ellerbe Marathon
9	Umstead 50
10	Hampton VA 24 Hour(57.25M)
11	Panther Prowl 5k
12	Inside Out Sports 1/2 Marathon
13	Conquer the Cove Marathon
14	Boogie 50-Miler
15	Chatooga 50k
16	Lake Tahoe 100-Miler
17	Laurel Valley 35-Miler
18	Two Bridges 50-Miler
19	CARA 5k
20	Hinson Lake 24 Hour(68.11)
21	Oct 1 Shirt Run
22	New River 50k
23	Medoc Trail Marathon
24	Ridge to Bridge Marathon
25	Seaboard 5k
26	City of Oaks Marathon
27	Javelina 100k
28	Pinehurst Turkey Trot 1/2 Marathon
29	Derby 50k
30	Crooked Rd 24 hour
31	Pittsboro 5k

To save you from counting, that is 31 events, 22 were 26.2 or above, and includes 15 ultras. Not bad.
It means I will finish second or third in the Mangum Track Club “What’s the point” race. I would have won most other years.

As always – it is the people I come across that make this sport so special. I have met many and made many new friends. The “Team Awesome” experience was fantastic – and somehow, figuring out a way to bring that whole concept forward to 2012 is going to be my generic goal – what do I mean by that? Well, I don’t mean that every race has to have a dozen members of a team like we did in April – no, I think it means that I have to bring awesomeness to every run I do. It doesn’t necessarily mean maximum effort – it means maximum enjoyment, along with a sprinkling of maximum effort.

As for more specific goals - and I consider these targets, targets that I can move if I want to – first on the list is getting a Western States qualifier. Also sub 24 hour Umstead would have to be a consideration – but just finishing Umstead is a secondary goal (and will also provide me with the qualifier). I think based on the way I started there last year, I probably have a reasonable shot at it. I still see a 100 miles at Hinson lake as perfectly manageable, so would like to get that done in September. (WTF? LOL)

I’m thinking I would like to see if I can manage at least four 100 milers. Umstead, Tahoe RIm, Javelina and one or two others.

I have already mentioned on another post (here) about the 2012 5k challenge. That is a 5k every week under 24 minutes (60 seconds grace in January). I’m also thinking I would like to shave a minute off of my 5k time – let’s set a target of 22.5 minutes. If they do the panther prowl in May, that would be a good as any place to go for it again – the location of my current 5k PR.

100 pushups – There is a good website that outlines a training plan to get to do one pushups (surprisingly hundredpushups.com) I think that will be a fun challenge.

I would like to log 2412 total miles. 201 miles per month. Not sure I can race as much – but heck, let’s make 1000 miles of racing a target.

I would like to get my name picked out of the hat for Western States Lottery (yeah – good luck with that. WTF? LOL)

Finally – 2012 – (I’m hoping people say “twenty-twelve” instead of “two-thousand and twelve” by the way), I just want it to be filled with awesomeness, and I want to stay happy and healthy.

Have a great Christmas – may it be filled with too much booze, too much food and great presents. Oh, and if you happen to be near Sanford on Boxing Day – (December 26) feel free to come along to Jimbo’s Boxing Day Dumb Ass, Bad Ass, Mad Ass, Fat Ass Fun Run at Kiwanis Park

Reflections on the Western States Lottery

2011-12-12T21:45:00.001-05:00

I’m not sure that I will publish this, I don’t want to sound all whiney – I guess if you see it, then I will have already published. This is supposed to be a happy website – you know, the musings and departures from normal of a bald-fat-middle-aged-ultrarunner – somewhat light hearted. But you see, I’m sad. Not life or death sad but just sad.

The first thing I want to say, is that I accept the rules of the Western States board, I absolutely accept that they can choose the entrants on whatever criteria they deem appropriate and by using whatever method they choose. I absolutely unequivocally accept the lottery results, and I have no question as to the integrity or fairness of the lottery, and totally understand that it is a random process and that any random selection of names, may not include mine. I am not in slightest bit angry, I am just slowly getting heart broken, (too strong? Probably). <sigh>
In the incredibly slim chance that someone ever reads this who has any authority with the run, I want to let you know, that to run the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run is the highest thing on my bucket list – way higher than anything else. When I first started this ultrarunning madness, it was always with a goal to eventually getting to run the wonderful Western States run. There are no ‘ifs’ ‘and’ or ‘buts’ about it, it is my dream – so, I hope you accept that this is not meant to be disparaging, and I would like to hope that you can take this blog as constructive.
I have been told – “don’t worry about Western States, there are plenty of other 100’s out there” (often by people who have already done WSER). Yeah, I know that. I have even done some of them. And TRT 2012 is looking good for my annual fix of running in the Sierras. But as wonderful as those other 100’s are, and as challenging and as well supported etc etc, they just are simply not Western States. That’s the one that is my dream, and I can dream what I want right?

So, Saturday December 10th 2011. Noon EST – myself along with about 2000 other people with a dream had their names in an “electronic" hat (an SQL database whatever that is). A button was pressed 267 times, and 267 lucky souls were selected to run Western States in June. The odds are stacked against everyone – that is clear.

To sweeten the pot for people who lose the lottery – the following year, you are given an extra ticket in the hat. At first glance it sounds a great system, be patient, keep qualifying and the lottery will stack in your favor. So, this year – me as a previous “two-time-loser”, I had three tickets in the hat, along with 257 other people. There were 460 people with two tickets and 1222 people with just the one ticket.
Now, I am just your average excel user and certainly no statistician, but I figured my 3 tickets gave me about a 1 in 4 chance of being selected. And the actual lottery reflected that number – a very rough count and and it looks like about 57 of the original 258 two time losers got in. So….. there will be no more than 201 three-time-losers in the draw next year. The final number will probably be between 150 and 180. So, if I run the numbers again with my 4 tickets for next year, it looks like I get about a 1 in 4 chance again (just a hair better). I run the numbers again with 5 tickets in the draw for the lottery in 2013 – still somewhere between 1 in 3 and 1 in 4. Hmmm yes, I appreciate that, the extra tickets give me an advantage over someone with just one ticket in the hat, but my chances of getting selected year on year do not dramatically improve.
Now then, there is a whole load of assumptions that I am making with regard to the number of people who enter the lottery and return for a following year, so nothing is anywhere near certain (especially my calculations) – but here is what my average use of excel told me – if nothing changes, in the 2019 lottery, there will be maybe a dozen or so people with 10 tickets in the hat, and only a 50% chance of being selected! I just hope that I can keep qualifying for that long.
Is it fair to say that the current system is a little flawed? I won’t say unfair – it is random, so therefore fair. I would like to think that consideration can be made to changing the lottery system a little. I would like to see it weighted heavily to those who have been most patient and qualified year on year. I have some ideas, that I hope could be considered (subject to anyone actually reading this far) – instead of adding a single ticket for each losing year, how about doubling up? That would mean next year I would have 8 tickets in the drawing – with perhaps around a 50% chance of getting in – if I don’t make it, then 16 tickets for the 2013 lottery, or maybe, with just about 70-80 names remaining on the four-time-loser list, consideration maybe give to “clearing the board”, and everyone who has been on the list for five lotteries is just accepted into the race. Similar to the old “two-time-loser” system (which with numbers involved now, the ttl would be just unworkable).
Another thought is to have separate lotteries for each group of losers – for example, next year 40% of the available race slots are just for the three-time-losers, 30% for the two-timers, 20% for one-timers and then 10% for first time entries. Again, using this system, it looks like it may be feasible to “clear the board” of the biggest losers after the 5th time of qualifying for the run.
It would be nice to have finite time, a time where I know for certain, that as long as I keep qualifying, I will be in the race
Am I out of line here?

OK then – I guess it is time to work on a qualifier for the 2013 race.

Crooked Road 24 Hour Ultra

2011-12-12T16:26:00.001-05:00

Since I have been doing the blogging thing, one thing I have noticed is that the hits to each page go up dramatically if I put the name of the race as the title. I have also noticed that if write things like “Crooked Road 24 Hour Ultra” in the body – again more hits. Thank you Google – you’re doing the world favor by spreading the word about this wonderful race.
On to the race – Roanoke is about 3 hours from home so it was a fairly easy journey for Tom, Amy and myself. We met up with Shannon, Dave and Tamra all the way from New Jersey – this became a partial Team Awesome reunion.

Over dinner, goals were discussed for the race next morning. 100. 100 miles being the target for Tom, Dave, Shannon and myself. Amy, just returning from a nasty injury had only been given clearance by her Doctor to run that day after a several month layoff; Amy just wanted to run some.

100 miles. 24 hours. WTF? LOL – not even So Far From Normal, as that is becoming a routine goal for me. A goal that I continually fail at….. but a common goal nonetheless.

They say life is full of surprises – but there were at least a couple of things that weren’t actually surprises at all.

Not-a-surprise #1 - It’s December. It’s cold. With a risk of being very cold. It was. (Then why was I surprised by this? I was actually surprised that I was so surprised). IT’S DECEMBER NUMB NUTS. OF COURSE IT WILL BE COLD!
Not-a-surprise #2 – It never was a surprise,was never going to be a surprise, in fact, I would have been surprised had I been surprised. Nope, no surprise at all that Ricky and Sharon Scott would put on a great race. Ricky and Sharon run in the same circles as I do (quite literally in the case of Hinson Lake), they are often at MTC races, shirt runs, Umstead etc., so they know what ultrarunners like when it comes to a race. Yep, they did a great job – and I wasn’t surprised at all.

Back to the race – Shannon, Dave and Tamra had set up Team Awesome HQ, about 1/3 of the way around the course. The HQ consisted of a tent (heated), and a table full of goodies. I had a 2.5 gallon ziploc bag full of my “stuff” and another 2 full of clothes. I was still jogging to the start line, when at 8:00am sharp the race started. It was cold (SURPRISE!), even frost on the ground (WTF?).

So, 24 hours, 4.166666667 miles each and every hour. 14.4 minutes for each mile. 100 miles in the bag. No problem. (LOL!) Each loop was a certified 0.95xxxx miles

First loop – 12 minutes. YAY, time in the bank. Second lap 11 minutes. YAY more minutes in the bank. I stuck at around a 12 minute pace for a few loops, until Shannon came around to lap me. Shannon’s spirit always motivates me, she needed to slow done some, and she told me I needed to speed up some – so that meant our pace was perfectly matched for quite some time. Our target loop time was 10:45, and it was going really well.

Early on – maybe first loop or 2. See that white frosty looking shit on the ground? Yeah – I know, it was December, I was surprised by that. (Picture Ricky)

Jimbo and Shannon sorting out the world’s running problems, and strategizing over Facebook fights. (If you look closely, you can see the shroud of awesomeness that engulfs Shannon). Picture Ricky.

10 or 11 miles in I had my first shoe change, I switched from my Merrell Trail Gloves to my Kinvaras, and kept plodding away. Some loops I was on my own, others I had company. This is what I love about short loop races – you get to see all of the other runners – if you want to chat, you can; if you want to lose yourself in your thoughts r music you can. Time went on, round and round. Plus the occasional break. Hmmm, probably too many occasional breaks. I also got to see Amy running for the first time in many months!

Talking of Amys – my other Amy friend was also running (Amy Surrette – guest writer to this blog after Hinson). Amy was running for a cause – for a family who had just had triplets and the mother was having medical issues. (Details here) She was running solidly – her whole family was there, and they were cheerleaders to everyone who was running! A special thank you to Kayla who presented me with a strip of Bacon early in the day. It is almost like I have got this reputation of being a bacon loving fiend or something. I am certain it was nothing to do with the fact that I demolished a truck load of bacon in the Shoneys after Hinson – and Kayla may have been a witness…..)

The course is made up of crushed granite surface, not quite flat, and even had a short steep climb (That One Steep Hill™ – every course has one) and an equally short steep descent. It doesn’t take long to figure out where to walk and where to run, and I like that routine of a short loop

My 25 mile split was around 5:40. Ooops. I figure 5 hours if I want to break 100 in 24. Oh well time to shift on to goal #2. See if I could beat 91 miles. Certainly doable (after all, I have done it before – that was my 24 hour split at Boulder). About 5:30pm, it was time to get ready for the night. Tights, and many layers were going to be the answer to fight the chill which was-a-coming.

About 7pm Shannon announced that she was done – happy with 50, unhappy with foot pain. I was in the low 40’s at this point, and was tempted to be done too. It was getting cold. (SURPRISE……. it’s not like it is December or anything). My left foot was hurting (very weird pain – it felt like my laces were done up too tight (they weren’t).

The amount of people still going was rapidly diminishing – and so was I. With about 50 miles done I was tired, cold, wet and in pain. And Amy’s car was warm. Time for a nap and to warm up, and probably time to call it a day. Dave and Tom were still going well. Not sure how long I slept for, but when I came around, I was so toasty. And hungry. I think I headed out to do a couple more loops – I was probably running for about an hour – at a guess, maybe 2am? I dunno, my memories are fairly fuzzy. It was cold, the moon was bright, and it was cold. Some time later, Tom joined us in the car, he was also pretty much done. Dave was still going. Around 4:30, Tom and I figured we would walk/jog loop, and then defrost, walk/jog then defrost – rinse and repeat. Tom started to get a second wind, he would walk with me for a loop, and while I thawed out, he would run a loop fairly hard, giving him time to defrost for a few minutes. This was a 30 minute cycle. It actually worked quite well – and I do wonder how I could have done had I discovered this ‘technique’ sooner. At 5am, the temperature was recorded at 21^oF . Yep, it was cold (SURPRISE!!). About 6:00-6:30, with over 90 miles done, Super Dave had had enough. He ran incredibly well through a tough night. Awesomeness.

7am – daylight returned, and it has been said by ultrarunner after ultrarunner, that daylight just makes the whole world seem that much better. The fatigue and pain that had plagued me through the long long night had miraculously disappeared. There was an hour left, and I had just less than 57 miles on the board. Hmmm, can I do 12 minute miles? Target 100 had returned. 100k. GO JIMBO GO. Just like at Hinson Lake, I reserved my best and fastest miles for the last hour. I actually considered myself a fraud – considering how bad I felt in the night, how come I could run so strong now?

23.5 hours or so. (Behind me, you can see much of Team Awesome, Super Dave, Shannon (matching orange fleece from last /this year’s Freedom Park), and crew-person extraordinaire, Tamra)

Pushing hard, and watching the clock, it was going to be tight, but it looked like I would hit 100k. Just before 8am – I was handed a popsicle stick with my number on it to drop when the horn sounded at exactly 24 hours. Amy Surrette caught up with me, and we even ran up ‘the one hill ™’ and we ran together for the last few minutes.

Final distance 62.29 miles (just a hair over 100k). Happy with that. Tom didn’t quite make a 100 miles – his second wind took him to 98.x miles.

So, to summarize. This is a great race, I was well fed, well supported by wonderful volunteers and in the company of friends for most of the 24 hours. It was cold – and I certainly wouldn’t complain if it occurred sooner in the year, but whenever it is, I will almost certainly be back.

Thanks Ricky for the photos - you can find more here.

2012 5k challenge

2011-11-29T22:53:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I have stupid ideas, however, I can not claim full responsibility for this one. I partially have to blame my friend Brad. On his blog he posted that he wanted to run a 5k every week, under 20 minutes. One of the things he wrote was, “Ambitious, but will demand consistency that I need in order to improve my speed throughout the year.” This struck a chord with me as I read it, and for a few fleeting moments, I thought it was a great idea, and (and this is where I got stupid) I told him as such in the comments section – now, 20 minutes is way out of the question for me, my PR is 23.34 – so maybe I will shoot for 24.

Once I posted the comment of course I immediately regretted it. And then Brad went and saw it and commented we would be able to provide accountability for each other. Crap. I guess now then I am committed.

So, here are my self imposed rules –

one 5k every week. Yes, that is 52 x 5k’s
24 minutes or under. (60 seconds grace for January only – I have only ever twice ran under 24 minutes)
It can be on the treadmill, down a hill, on the flat, a split in a longer race, it just has to be done
It can be a race.
Late spring, I will sign up for a 5k race, shoot for a PR and adjust my required weekly time target to within 30 seconds of that race time. In the fall, I will race another 5k and adjust again

Anyone with me and Brad? Feel free to make up your own rules too.

and just like that, it was over

2011-11-17T20:47:00.001-05:00

and just like that, it was over
A quick think back a week ago – it was Thursday, and I was getting ready to head to Phoenix for the Javelina Jundred 100 mile race. It was the last day of my streak – you see, I had convinced myself that if I ran every day, it would force me to train well, to go out and run even if I didn’t want to – I had ran every day for over 10 weeks – not one day was missed – my mileage was over 500 in that time span. I had raced 3 marathons, a 5k and a 50k in the preceding 5 weeks – not mention Hinson Lake and the Really Really Really long shirt run in September. I had a marathon PR and a 50k PR. Add to that course knowledge from 4 laps last year. In short, I think I prepared well.

I even had a vague plan – take it easy the first half of each loop, lots of walking as it was mainly uphill, then open it up some on the second half of each loop. I figured about 3:15-3:30 for the first couple of loops – slowing down to 4:30+ for the night loops – even 5 hours, pick it up in daylight a small amount, and that would give me something like a 28 hour finish.

I was ready.

As soon as I arrived in Phoenix – I met my friend Dave in the running store he works at – “IRun Phoenix”. A great store, they had everything I needed for last minute supplies – it is owned by a trail/ultra runner, so the selection was great (http://www.irunshop.com/). Then off to Javelina Jeadquarters to get the schwag. Gotta love a race that gets you a 12-pack cooler. AND a t-shirt. I caught up with some friends then headed to Dave’s to get some sleep.

My plan of trying to stay on East Coast time for the week I was working on the west coast meant that the 4:00 am alarm did not feel so bad, I was ready to go in 15 minutes, armed with some fresh Cost Rican coffee and a bagel (another friend of Dave’s was crashing there – Felipe from Costa Rica). Just after 5 Felipe ad I got to the McDowell Mountain Park – the organization and shuttle service to the Jeadquarters was flawless. I met up with John from NC and his buddy Matt who graciously offered to crew for me.

6:00 am, it was go time. No pressure, take my time and just plod the first half of the course. I took video and pictures of the marvelous sunrise and moonset. Halfway round the course starts more of a gentle descent – learning my lesson from last year, I did not pound down these hills – just nice gentle running. Loop one, was finished I about 3 hours and twenty something. Perfect

After a fairly quick turnaround at the start finish area, it was back out the way I had come, and up the hill I had just ran down. Nice and easy to the half way point then pick up the pace. The plan was working – I felt great. Second loop was uneventful. I fuelled well, hydrated well – and back to the start finish in 6 hours and fifty something. Perfect. Again.

At his point last year, I had lost 8 pounds in weight and was badly dehydrated – the cooler weather and smarter running meant that was not the case this year.

I changed socks, and was back out for lap 3. Again, another uneventful lap. Unfortunately though, I met up with John who was sitting at the aid-station 7 miles from the start/finish area – he told me he was done, with problems in his shins. I could see they were swollen. I chatted with him for a few minutes before heading back. 45 miles done in 10 hours and fifty something.

Knowing it would be getting dark this loop, I took a longer break to get ready – switching to a long sleeve shirt, preparing headlamp, switching shoes (at this point, the rocks on the course were beating my feet up – so I switched from the 101’s to the more cushioned Cascadias – all a part of the plan.)

And back out after 20 minutes or so. I was a little slower now on the power walk up the hills, my 50 mile split was 12:20 – which was really where I thought I should be – I figured that put me on course for a 28 hour finish. I felt good but I rested a while at the Jackass Junction aidstation, I took in a couple of cups of Ramen Noodles to get some calories in, and headed out. After a mile or two, the course flattened out, and the strategy of preserving energy for the second half of the course was paying off – I was walking strongly on the flats, and jogging slowly on the downs – even picking people off who had seemed to go into an early death march. The night was cool, the noodles had kicked in and I felt great. There is a aid station about two miles out from the start/finish, I needed nothing there so just sailed on through to get to the finish – it was looking like my 100k split would be about 15:45 – almost 3 hours faster than last year. I was very happy.

and just like that it was over

Just half a mile or so later I managed to kick a rock, and in the process of successfully preventing myself from falling, I managed to land awkwardly on my right leg, and I twisted something on the inside of my knee. It kind of felt like a rolled ankle, but in my knee. My normal routine when I twist my ankle is to swear loudly, but keep moving ad the pain will eventually subside. It didn’t. IT was especially painful going down hills.

Back to the Jeadquarters – my friend Adam (www.sedonarunning.com) sat me down and got some ice. John and Matt were also there to offer sympathies (and a beer). Even though the pain subsided with the icing, it was still painful to run. After 30 minutes of icing, sitting and thinking about the prospect of going out for another 15 mile loop, I pulled the plug and took the beer that was offered. In my head, that was the decision made. DNF with a sub 16 hour 100k (A PR)

and just like that it was over.

So, a few days later – here are my thoughts. Within a couple of days, my knee felt fine. That alone caused more angst, because it of course crossed my mind that I probably should have sucked it up and continued. The sensible side of my head though said that perhaps dropping was the right thing, because I did no additional damage and was able to recover. Who knows?

but it was over.

My first movie production

2011-11-07T20:49:00.002-05:00

I pieced this together using Windows Live Movie Maker. Some movie clips I took during my 100 mile run and also some photos I took. The other name for this movie is "The 12 minutes you will never get back"

Respecting the Hell out of Javelina Jundred.

2011-11-07T13:15:00.000-05:00

Javelina Jundred is a 101.4 mile run in the Arizona desert. The scenery is absolutely spectacular – if you like deserts (I do). The ancient Saguaro towering over you as you run, the mountains in the distance. Plus the wonderful support from the volunteers. It is billed as a Jalloween party – many wearing costume. (All the “J’s” are silent by the way).

The approach of sunrise shortly after the start

The moon getting ready to set

Sunrise

Mountain backdrop

The beautiful ancient saguaro

more saguaro

Female winner and second overall Jamie Donaldson. After the race, Jamie contacted me and asked if this photo could be used by Hammer Nutrition in one of their ads. It was published in Ultrarunning Magazine a month or two later

Spectacular sunset. Hope that this year I will get to see a second sunrise.

I bolloxed up at Javelina last year. The curse of most endurance runners was probably my main downfall – yep, going out too fast. Plus, I could also blame the wig – I am not used to running with hair.

The course is actually quite deceptive. Flat at the start, and then a very gradual incline for about 5 miles, then a 5 mile drop – barely noticeable. Not by any means do these climbs have any significant elevation gain. You barely notice it – and that is the problem. You see, you start slow being smart, and then somewhere around half-way through the loop you suddenly feel great, the pace picks up – but… that is gravity doing that. Meanwhile as the pace is high, sudden thoughts of potentially hitting sub 24 come at you. After 15 miles, you arrive at Javelina Jeadquarters feeling great, looking forward to the big sub-24 buckle. They run “washing machine loops” at Javelina, so you head out the way you have just come – back up the hill you just flew down – except, you try and keep the pace the same as when you were coming down, plus of course it is getting hotter.
Last year, by the time I had finished the second lap, I was pretty tired and pretty badly dehydrated. I was actually down about 8 pounds. To be honest, I never really recovered from that – even though I sat down for 30 minutes or so to get some fluids in me.
I did do two more laps – but really struggled through them both, eventually dropping at 100k. There were some of those moments where you feel like you are moving well, but soon realize it just took 25 minutes for a mile.
As I type, I am sitting on a plane, listening to music. Freebird by Lynnrd Skynnrd just came on. It brought back a memory of last year – after I had decided to drop, and I had about 2 miles to go to the S/F area, the very same song came on – I cranked the volume up and sang my heart out while playing my air guitar. Thankfully there wasn’t anybody around to hear me (and no doubt it scared the rattlesnakes and coyotes away. As I sit on the plane – I did turn the volume up, but no singing.

Reliving that memory has just given me an idea - I am going to ask as many people as I can to recommend a song – I will make a “friend” playlist, and play through the list when I need perking up

This year, I won’t be stupid, this year no dreams of sub 24 or anything so ridiculous will enter my head. I will remember the hills are there, and I will be smart. I will not wear a wig. I will not bollox Javelina.

A tale of two marathons

2011-11-07T12:08:00.000-05:00

After the fast 50k on the New River Trail, and the plod around the Medoc Trail Marathon the preceding two weekends, I would be lying if I wasn’t expecting a huge amount of awesomeness -- huge swathes of awesomeness in fact, at the Ridge to Bridge Marathon.
26.2 miles with a net elevation loss of 2,700 ft, cool weather and then there is me having found a little speed through the summer. So yeah I had great expectations.
The race director warns us on the website that running downhill for practically the whole distance wouldn’t be easy – “LOL WTF?” were my thoughts; I mean look at me, gravity most certainly is my friend.
I set a goal of under 4 hours. Now, let’s go back in time a few years. For my second and third marathon, I set that as a goal – sub 4. I kept getting injured though training for that speed. These injuries coupled with the fact I just figured I would never get the sub-4 meant I ended up deciding that I may as well go further instead – yes failing at sub-4 marathons was a significant factor that steered me to ultras.
Back to Ridge to Bridge……
The first 16 miles or so – yeah, I was well on target for sub 4. I flew down the hill, putting plenty of time in the bank. Now then, a couple of things come into play – it was cold first thing at the start, close to freezing. With that kind of elevation drop it gets warm quickly – maybe total temperature change was 30-40^oF – so by about 16-17 miles, the warmth was a factor.
The last few miles are either flat or very slightly downhill. Except that is not how it feels. After the steep drops earlier in the race, it very much felt like an uphill climb – I heard someone describe it as like “running through peanut butter”. An my pace was suffering. Sub 4 still looked good, but the banked time was getting spent quite quickly.
This is when David (the RD) adds his own special brand of torture. You can see the finish line, you can hear lots of cheering, and I also started thinking “perhaps my Garmin is actually right” (it had been fairly consistently reading 0.2 miles more than the mile markers – and I am used to that knowing that the GPS technology is not perfect.). But not to be – there is a wonderful loop of the parking lot to be done. Running round this loop, I knew it was going to be tight – just to pile on the torture, there is this tiny little hill just before the finish line. That was where the energy totally ran out. When I did cross the finish line, I stopped my watch and looked down, 4:00:01. Shit. If only hadn’t walked up that tiny hill. Shit.
I saw David and he congratulated me. I asked if he could confirm the actual chip time: He looked it up on the computer, then pointed at the screen and smiled. 3:59:58.8. Yeah! 1.2 seconds to spare.

Onto the next marathon 2 weeks later. City of Oaks Marathon. The inaugural City of Oaks (in 2007) was my second ever marathon.
I didn’t want to set any high expectations being as it was a week out from Javelina. Take your time Jimbo and get a nice last long training run in.
Yeah right.
It was a perfect morning for a run, and I went way too fast at the beginning. This was the biggest race I had done since OBX in 2008, and the crowds at the start made a change. And I found myself riding on others’ coattails.
Ebeneezer Church Road, from about 12-17 miles in I think. A long stretch of mainly uphill roadway that got very old. Especially as I could see the trails in Umstead state park. When I did eventually get to Umstead at the top of Gralyn Rd, it felt like a kind of homecoming. It is so much more enjoyable running there.
With 10k to go, I was beat, yep, I paid the price for going out early. It was all about just finishing now. (And getting a beer at mile 23 )
Approaching the finish, I high-fived everyone I could see and even broke into some spontaneous dance (so good that on my way back to the car, I was congratulated for my finish. LOL WTF?), and then crossed the line. 4:32. Overall, I am happy with that.
So, there you have it. The last 5 weeks has seen 3 marathons and a 50k. A PR 50k and a PR marathon among them. I am coming out of it all free of injuries a little leaner, a touch meaner and ready to kick some Javelina butt. Whoah there Jimbo, careful what you say lest you upset the ultragods. What I meant to say is. I am coming out of it all free of injuries, a little leaner, a touch meaner and ready to respect the hell out the Javelina course……..

Jimbo the published photographer again

2011-10-23T21:08:00.000-04:00

A couple of months ago, I was contacted by the editor of a Japanese running magazine – he wanted to use a couple of my photos from the TRT 100.
The magazine has a circulation of around 200,000.
Anyway – here is a scan of the page, my photos are the top right, and top left.

So there was just this one hill.....

2011-10-21T20:30:00.001-04:00

Goosebumps -- Jimbo's return to Tahoe

Work this week had brought me to the great state of Nevada,northern Nevada to be precise. I have been there before – most recently in Julyfor a little jog around the Tahoe Rim Trail.

I had a little time to kill late one afternoon, so I plannedon going for a run. First though, let’s go back in time a little; on Mondaywhile doing my normal lunch time run at Umstead, I suffered a fairly sharp painin my right calf muscle. I have had this before and the most successful way oftreating this kind of muscle strain has been lots of ice, and liberal use ofThe Stick ™. Anyway, since then, I have been nursing the injury, only walks forabout a mile and some light jogging. I hated the fact that I was in closeproximity to some of the most beautiful trails in the world, and couldn’t usethem.

Anyway, going back to my time to kill……. I thought“gosh-darn it, I don’t give a flying fig about my calf, I am going for a jollyold run” (well, let’s be honest, my words were a little less delicate thanthat). So I looked at a map, I knew I was fairly close to some of the northernreaches of the TRT races. And there it was; just 35-40 minutes’ drive away,Diamond Peak. During the race, this tough climb starts at mile 30 on the firstloop, and mile 80 on the second lap. In just two miles, the climb goes up about1800-1900 feet – 1200 feet of it in the last mile. Yep, that’s where I wasgoing. I have mixed memories of that hill, obviously just the sheer difficultyof the gradient, then there is the altitude – I am a flat lander. I live at 200feet above sea level. The top of the ski-slope I was about to ascend was ~8,300feet higher, so the lack of breathable air would be noticeable. Plus, unlike inthe race, I was going to run down the mountain too.

As expected, the climb up was challenging to say the least,especially once I got to the second mile. The views were gorgeous. Had I gotthere a little later, there would have been some wonderful sunset views acrossLake Tahoe –as it was though, it was still spectacular. I took plenty ofpictures on the way up, and even took a movie on the summit (which my cameraseems to have lost somewhere). Then it was time to drop down. Terrifying andyet exhilarating are two words that come to mind. I certainly do not have agreat deal of confidence on that type of gradient, so I was somewhat cautious.The last mile on the way up took about 27 minutes. It took about 10.5 on theway down. The total descent took 19.5 minutes, the climb up took 43 – yes,gravity is my friend. Just over an hour total – the most amazing workout withterrific views. One could describe it as “awesome” even. If you ever findyourself in Reno, take the drive, it is so worth it.

Oh, and the calf muscle survived.

Enjoy the pictures J

Medoc Trail Marathon – the awesomeness continues

2011-10-21T12:52:00.000-04:00

I love technology, and anyone who knows me will know that I can be a bit of a geek -- so, this sentence is just to let you know that this post is being written at 35,000' somewhere between Las Vegas and Orlando as I return home from a work trip. How cool is that?

Anyway, the Medoc Trail Marathon

This is another race where the participants are put first. Ilike that. It is also another race that has the feel of a family reunion.

How much fun is it running through the woods for a few hourswith friends? A lot!

The run is three laps, pretty much all single track, lots ofrocks and roots to skip over, some nice climbs and plenty of schwag. Includinga long sleeve tech shirt, a finisher’s hat, a medal so heavy it could be usedas a weapon, socks, jelly beans. I know, I know, it shouldn’t be about “stuff”,it should be about the experience blah blah. But “stuff” does contribute to theexperience, no?

As well as a few normal faces, fellow Mangumites/Raleigharea runners, fellow Hampton 24 hr Team Awesome member, Alanna came back to NCfrom NJ for the second time in just a few weeks to hang out and run with theCarolina Crew. That’s pretty cool – it’s a long way to travel for a race. In return, I have promised tht I will run at least one race in NJ this coming year)

For the second week in a row, I was treated to absolutelyglorious weather (I had spent the previous few days at the beach fishing, ifonly the weather had been half as nice). Just a perfect day for a trail run.Alanna and I ran the whole race together, joined later by Lauren, and I don’tthink any of us really had set sights on any particular goal, certainly therewas no talk of finish times etc., it just became about enjoying the day. It wasanother day where I regretted failing to sneak in a beer or two for afterwards.I fell once, rolled my ankle once, and stopped myself from falling another time(which is probably more painful than actually falling). We did meet up with onelady who took a pretty nasty fall and had a cut on her nose – I suspect (andhope) that it was one of those injuries that look much worse than it actuallyis though. Alanna tripped up a couple of times too, the second time practicallyin sight of the finish line.

I actually kept clean for 26.19 miles -- it was a nice touch of the race directors to position a mud puddle right ahead of the finish line. Oh, how we laughed.

Finish time was 5:35 or so. That’ll do. This will never be arace about times… well, it is about good times, not finish times.

All smiles. A gentle stroll through the woods with friends -- Jimbo, Alanna and Lauren (Photo, I think Charles took it - not sure whether it was with Alanna's or Lauren's camera though)

The finishing kick! (Photo by Todd, Alanna's husband)

Congrats to the Rocky Mount Endurance Club, especially mybuddy “peg-Leg-Frank” (http://hurryslowlybuthurry.blogspot.com/),they put on a great run and should be very proud of the event they havecreated, a very special thanks to the volunteers and congrats to everyone who finished. (Laura's awesomeness continued -- first female second week running. http://lasrunningandramblings.blogspot.com/)

New River Trail 50K – Jimbo’s day of awesomeness

2011-10-18T18:35:00.000-04:00

I enjoyed this race last year, but for some reason didn’tend up registering until a few days before – so late that there was a distinctrisk of not getting a t-shirt, and as you are probably aware, the only reasonto do these things is to get a t-shirt to prove I actually did do the thing…..

Each race I do in this part of the world, I am guaranteed toknow at least a handful of people – this was no exception. From Tammyvolunteering at the registration desk (who would also run as sweep), Laura,Lauren, Daniel, Bill, probably someone who I forgot (but you get the point).And I really like this aspect of our sport – and even if I didn’t know anyoneat the beginning of the race, I am pretty much guaranteed to know someone bythe time the day is done.

So, how did my day go? Pretty well actually – thanks forasking. I did go into the race with somewhat high expectations of what I wouldachieve; I have been running well, slogging through the heat and humidity ofthe NC summer, this was going to be my first cool run, and an opportunity tosee how well my endurance levels had improved through the summer. So, yeah, Idefinitely thought there would be some pressure on my 50K PR (5:35 from Derbylast November). I told one friend that my “WTF??LOL dream-time” would be sub 5:30.

As the race got underway, I just felt on top of the world,and each mile was going by at quite a few seconds under 10 mins per mile – evenafter a pit stop 5 miles in, I was managing to remain below that average.

As the journey continued, my pace kept creeping up, mileafter mile went by quicker than the mile before it, and before long, the first13.1 mile split came up – just under 2:04. That’s good; I think I have onlydone one or two actual half-marathons with that kind of time.

It was at this point I made a decision to just keephammering away until I fell apart – sooner or later it would happen, I wantedto find out when. So I pushed the pace. I hit the halfway point at 2:23 or so,and felt incredible. I started to believe that today I was going to see aperformance that would be special. It was around about then that I saw Lauracoming the other way after the turnaround – I estimated that she was probablyabout 1.5-2 miles ahead of me – she was second place female at that point, andwas looking strong – in all honesty, to be that close to someone of Laura’scaliber at that point in a race was yet another sign that I was having a goodday.

About a mile or so from the turnaround

After the turnaround, I ran with Stephen for a while.Stephen is another Raleigh area runner, and even though we have ran many of thesame races, we had not actually met before. Even at this stage, the averagepace was increasing.

I saw Lauren coming the other way –– Lauren is just comingback from an injury, and it looked as though everything was going well for her,and when I stopped to take a picture, Stephen went on his way and I couldn’tcatch up to him again.

Lauren approaching the turnaround

And here s the picture Lauren took of me taking a picture of her.....

As the miles went by, three things started to emerge aspossibilities, 1) Not only a PR, but a sub 5-hr 50k (WTF?? LOL!) 2) A PR for amarathon (WTF?? LOL!) 3) and a sub 2-hr split for my second 13.1 – (anotherPR).

By 25 miles, 1) and 2) were now a given (subject to nothaving a catastrophic failure), 3) was borderline. So I pushed the pace up anotch to see if I could do it. I did – barely, I think it was 1:59:40. Marathonsplit 4:03:xx. Hindsight being 20:20, I wouldn’t have done that almost sprint(LOL), because it was a stretch and it did take me out of my comfort zone. Theresult of that being I really felt the after effects of that extra push for therest of the race, and I couldn’t quite get back up to the pace I was holing sowell up to about mile 25. I started to walk a few yards every half mile – evendoing that though I was still maintaining a reasonable pace, but I was barelyhanging on.

By miles 28/29 or so, I was very tired, I had been up since4am, and that combined with the overall effort for the day was taking its toll.Time to get the thing done, I was fading fast. It looked like my time was goingto end up between 4:50 and 4:55, which delighted me.

I came across the finish line in 4:52:12 – Laura took thispicture. Lots of smiles. More smiles later when I learned that Laura hadfinished as first place female. Congratulations.

Yay.... Awesomeness!
(Picture by Laura)

OK, I can be a little superstitious, sometimes strangely so.When I looked at the official results, the perso who finished immediatelybefore me – his name began with a “J”, and so did the three people immediatelybehind me. That’s just weird, 5 J’s in a row out of just 100 or so finishers?What makes it especially spooky is that my big race this fall is JavelinaJundred – often shortened to JJ. I am taking this as a sign from the UltraGods.So yay for the ‘J’s’!

Annette Bednosky, the RD asks a good question on her blog.Basically it would appear that this is a first time ultra for many of theparticipants, and apparently some people were questioning the lack of age groupawards, finishers medals etc. I know that Annette would welcome feedback; so,here is my opinion for what it is worth…… I think in general, races are waymore enjoyable when an RD puts on a race that he or she would like to run,their own dream race so to speak – and as a runner, that ultimately means thatI get a race that puts the runners first (as opposed to profits, sponsors, expoexhibitors, the park/city etc.,). TheNew River Trail 50k is I am sure a race that Annette would like to run – fast,environmentally friendly, homemade goodies, using local suppliers, beautifulscenery etcetera. I like the idea ofrandom drawings for a ‘door prize’ (despite not winning AGAIN!) instead of agegroup awards (I wouldn't win those either :)), I like the Patagonia shirt. I regret that I didn’t enter earlyenough to get the pottery instead of the Nathan bottle (not that there isanything wrong with the Nathan bottle), that’s my fault though, but I do likethe fact that there would have been a choice.

When I finished, I received a handshake, a hug, and a‘congratulations’ from the RD, who was genuinely pleased for my PR’s – who alsohappens to be an ultrarunner whose achievements I admire greatly. Don’t mewrong, I love bling and would never turn it down, but that meant a lot morethan a medal. I was greeted at the finish line by the smiling faces of friendsand volunteers and race director, and I celebrated my personal triumph with anawesome homemade chili, with fresh baked sourdough bread. Annette, I am prettysure this is the kind of race you would like, after all, it has your hallmarkall over it – keep it your way, keep it as a race that you would like to run, becauseif you do that, people like me will continue to flock to your race – and I hopeyou think that’s a good thing.

Laura and I with bananas -- kinda like Hinson :)
Picture by Lauren

Three happy finisher, Lauren, Jimbo and Laura
(Picture by Chad)

Guest writer Amy describes her day at Hinson Lake

2011-10-03T22:05:00.003-04:00

Hinson Lake 24 hour – September 24, 2011 - by Amy Surrette

This was my first 24 hour event. I heard it said “it’s like a tailgate partywith some running involved”. Guess it was time to figure out if that was true…

My kids and I headed out to Rockingham with the camper mid-day Friday. Justlike with the Bethel Hill Midnight Boogie, we were one of the first people toarrive. We soon found the camping area at the lodge and set up camp. It was notlong before many other runners began to arrive. Andy showed up later on thatevening. He had plenty of time to meet some new friends and we chilled out fora while.

The plan was to run as many as I could. Ultimate goal of 100 – thought I woulddo my best to keep pace with my running partner Joey Anderson. I realized thatwas a long shot with my mileage being way down this summer. If I couldn’t dothat, 75 sounded reasonable. I think anything longer than my farthest distanceof 50 miles I would be happy with.

Woke up Saturday morning to the sound of rain. Checked the radar. It indicatedthat most of the significant rain was going to stay away from Hinson Lake. WhenI stepped out of the camper, I was surprised to see how many tents had poppedup during the night. I should have gotten a picture of the tent farm.Hindsight, right? Anyway, gathered up my gear and my family and I walked to ourspot near the start.

The plan was to start slow – walk most of the first lap with my family. That ispretty much what we did, except for Drew who took off. Ashlynn and Kayla walkedand ran with us the first lap, then they hung out at our aid station while Andyand I went out again. No sooner were had we started our second lap than Mike Mortonlapped us on his 3rd lap. Wow, was this guy going out too fast or is he justthat good? Only time will tell. Drew stayed a lap ahead of us for a long time.After 5 laps around he earned a number, a shirt and he checked in just like theother runners were doing. He was so happy! He had not trained at all for this.I had no idea he was going to run this fast or this far. I brought his fishingpole thinking he was going to be fishing all day, but he didn’t want to. Andythought he might run a 5K with me, but one lap led to another and he hadcompleted 15 miles before taking a break and eating breakfast for lunch. It wasthen that Kayla took a few laps with me, and she earned her number and shirt.

The afternoon went on with us logging mile after mile. Sometimes I was withfamily, other times I was with friends. It was not often I was alone. It seemedthere was always someone around to share a few steps with along the way. Kaylaand Drew were out running laps throughout the day some with me, with my friends.They were having a great time with it.

Despite taking changing my socks every 8-10 miles and wiping the grit off myfeet with baby wipes, I began to realize I was getting hot spots on my feet.Amy Schimmel came over, taped up a couple of spots, and provided some relief.

Andy was 2 laps away from a marathon. Halfway through his first lap his knee‘gave out’. He kept on, injury and all, he completed his first (and he sayslast) marathon.

I kept going. Around dusk I had some dinner - PIZZA - and Drew walked with me 2more laps and finished his first 50K. What an amazing feat for an 8 year oldwith simply a desire to run, and no training. A lot of thanks goes to everyonewho cheered him on throughout the day. I know that is what kept him going. Whatan awesome running family!

My friend Joey decided to call it a night after 50 miles. Andy, Ashlynn andDrew called it a night and went up to bed. Kayla stayed around at the aidstation helping out the runners throughout the evening and into the night.

I spent the next few hours logging some slower miles with good friends. As thenight wore on my run/walk was turning into more walk than run until it was justa slow walk all by myself. I realized my idea of 75 was getting more out ofreach as the pain in my feet increased with every lap. When I realized 62 miles(100K) was just laps away I knew it was do-able. Painful, but not out of reach.Kayla was at the aid station each time I came around. She had already completedher half marathon and was thrilled to have done so. She wondered how many lapsI had left and I told her 2, and she said I want to do those with you. Kaylawalked with me the 2 hardest laps of my day. We finished in the wee hours ofSunday morning with tears and hugs from sweaty friends. We slowly walked backto the camper where we passed out for a few hours.

7:00 am the kids and I got up and I limped down to see how many people werestill on their feet after 23+ hours. There were many. Mike Morton was stillgoing just as fast as he was at lap one. He was lapping me once, sometimestwice a lap during the night. It was amazing to watch him run as strong as hedid all through the day and night.

24 hours later Mike Morton won the race with a 2nd best American finish of163.9 miles in 24 hours. What an amazing finish!

I ended up with a new PR for distance at 62.32 (100K+), Drew 31.92 (50K+), Andyat 27.36 miles (marathon +), Kayla 16.72 miles (5K over a half marathon), andAshlynn a 5K.

I know there is a lot I need to figure out before U100 next April. The main oneis how to keep blisters from forming and to keep the swelling in my feet down.I also ended up with a heat rash on my feet, but I am thinking that should be anon issue at U100.

Hinson Lake was like a tailgate party with my running family with a little bitof running involved. OK, maybe a lot of running involved - thousands of mileslogged on that path by few hundred runners. I really enjoyed watching facebookthe week after the run, looking at everyone’s pictures, and watching all thefriendships continue that started by meeting at Hinson.

Can’t wait til 2012

The Awesomeness of Hinson Lake Ultra Classic 24 hour run

2011-09-30T11:29:00.001-04:00

WTF would have put graffiti on the Mt. Hinson sign? LOL

Hinson Lake 24 hour Ultra Classic didn’tdisappoint. But there again, it was never going to really. As a race -- as thename suggests, it is a classic. As a social gathering, it is a classic. As agreat trail, it is a classic. As a challenge, it is a classic. You would reallyhave to go out of your way to find something that you don't like. I honestlylove everything about the race -- including the $24 entry fee.

Like last year I set goals -- the primary one,like every race, "Finish alive with a smile". I had a "WTF?LOL" goal of 100 miles. It should be doable, 20 minute loops (1.52) --easy right? (LOL).

My "Unofficial” PR is 91.xx miles, on my wayto 100 at Boulder, my official 24 hr PR is 87.5 miles on my way to 100 atUmstead 2010 (the difference between "official" and"unofficial" is that the 87.5 is recorded by a race official as anofficial split time). My PR in a 24 hour race is 81.64 miles at Hinson in 2009.Last year I managed 100k.

Last year was hot and humid -- this year hadlower temperatures, but very high humidity.

It became apparent fairly early that the 100wasn't going to happen, so In the end, I settled for just having fun andwatching some awesomeness unfold with a view to doing at least one more lapthan last year followed by a bacon-fest at Shoney's all you can eat breakfastbuffet. (I did think of the "24 challenge" -- 24 beers, 24 loops, for$24 on 24th of September, you see, it is no coincidence that there are 24 beersin a case, and 24 hours in a day).

Let's talk about awesomeness. I am privileged tohave witnessed one of the greatest ultra performances of all time. I am noexpert on records and such, but after some googling, here is what I believe Iwitnessed -- the greatest off-track distance ever run by an American on US soilin 24 hours. Mike Morton ran an incredible 163.9 miles. It was incredible. Acouple of degrees cooler, or some reduced humidity, and I believe I could haveseen the American record get passed.

Hinson Lake to me is like a family reunion – theway the course is set out and the people who come, you can get to see friendsseveral times a day and make new ones as you circle the lake.

So this year, by 2am, I was fried, and very tired– I had plodded my way to about 56 miles. I decided to blow up my air mattressand lay down in the screened porch for an hour. That turned into three hours.Even though I didn’t sleep properly, I was enjoying the rest, and being asthere was no PR on the cards, I wasn’t that bothered. 5am though, I did decideto get moving. I walked a couple of laps, with Amy (who now holds the HinsonLake record for “laps in a leg brace”) and some laps with Laura (who now holdsthe Hinson Lake record for “laps in in furry bedroom slippers”.)

After the rest and some light walking/jogging fora while, my legs really felt good, and with an hour to go, I really picked upthe pace – even throwing down a couple of 15 minute loops, my fastest of theday. I really enjoyed the last couple of loops because I had so much energyleft, and I was going as fast as I could. (Mike Morton still continues to lapme though).

As the last couple of minutes approached Lauracaught up to me and we decided we would finish together – there was still timethough for Mike to lap us one more time with 30 seconds to go. At exactly 24hours, Laura and I dropped our bananas and walked the ¼ mile back to thestart/finish area, congratulating Mike on the way back.

68 miles or so was my total – I liked finishingstrong; that felt good. Now, all I need to do is start strong and run strongduring the middle bit, and I may get that elusive 100 miles………. So, lessons fornext year, anyone who reads this feel free to remind me of these:

Camping – I love camping before Hinson. BUT, if Iam to significantly improve my run, then I will need a good night sleep thenight before. I didn’t sleep well this year, so I am going to have to bite thebullet and get a room. Maybe hang out with the crazies for dinner or something,but I will need a good night sleep.

I basically spent from 5pm on Friday to 8am onSunday wet. Damp from humidity, damp from sweat. It got old. I also chafed inthis race more than I ever have; need to lube up better.

I need to start a little harder, it’s all welland good having energy to burn at 7am, I need to get a few more miles in thebank early.

I think I was smart to significantly slow down inthe middle of the day – sure it controlled my body temperature, but it doesn’tget the miles.

Plan a nap – you know, I really felt refreshedafter my lay down. I just need to restrict it to 30 minutes or so, and perhapswith a good night sleep on the Friday, I won’t feel so extremely weary at 2am.

So, there you have it, Hinson Lake is in thebooks, and as soon as registration opens up, I will be signing up for nextyear’s race. It is the Best. Race. Ever.

I love this picture that Laura took, just a few seconds before the 24 hours were up

And here is the one I took of Laura

Bananas dropped. The race is over.

Jimbo --- the published photographer

2011-09-05T12:42:00.001-04:00

I am very pleased to now be a published photographer.

The September issue of UltraRunning magazine included this picture I took at Badwater.

‎" Meredith Murphy pushing the white line past Stovepipe Wells and up Townes Pass"

Dehydrated, Depleted Dumb ass – Laurel Valley 2011.

2011-08-15T21:51:00.001-04:00

Let's talk about Laurel Valley.

Laurel Valley. Nobody knows the distance. My garmin said 29 miles. One map I saw said 40 miles. The garmin data plotted on RunningAHEAD comes to just under 35 miles -- so, somewhere between 30 and 40 miles.... let's call it 35. There are no places on the trail to bail out -- you start, you have to finish (or turn around if you are not half-way through). There is also no aid, whatever ou need or want on the trail, you have to carry it in. There are several stream and river crossings that provide plenty of opportunities for water.

It's a race about management. Heat management, fluid management, electrolyte management and calorie management.

First time runners have to run as sweeps -- last through the course to make sure all the runners ahead of them are safe - which I considered to be a pleasant introduction to the trail. Ha!! I was the one "swept" though.........

So, why did I have issues?

Was it the distance? Nope -- I have done several runs of that length or longer, no, so it wasn't the distance.

Was it the hills? Nope -- Sure there were a few good climbs, both up and down. There were several flights of stairs (someone once counted 5000 apparently -- and yes, they became quite old during the second half, but not the cause of any issues).

How about the technical nature of the trails? Oh hell no, that's not it. The vast majority of th trail is not as technical as the "Red Ankle Breaker" at Jordan Lake, or Loblolly at Umstead, I run those all the time.

Well..... it couldn't be the heat and humidity could it? Don't think so, it is August, and I have done plenty of running in the heat

I know for a fact that dehydration and depletion wouldn't be the cause of any trouble, I mean, come on Jimbo, you have become dehydrated in so many races before, you have learned that lesson several times over, you surely know how to hydrate properly during a race don't you? Don't you?

You would think that eventually I would learn wouldn't you? The truth is, sometimes I am as dumb as a rock, I really am. I simply did not drink enough the first half of the race, and as I have discovered on several occasions, it is very difficult to catch up.

Remember this guy from Enoree Passage?

I got through it though. But only because I had no choice -- which was an interesting lesson in itself, you can put up with a hell of a lot of suffering if you have no choice.

I can't remember when I started running with Andrea -- Andrea was the sweep captain, and knew the course very well. I was already beginning to suffer by that time, fatigue, muscle cramps, nausea, and on some of the climbs needed to stop for a while to let my heart rate go down.

My lowest point of the race was "Horse Pasture" a beautiful river about 20 miles ino the run. I was overheated and dehydrated and I needed to slam as much fluid as I could stomach, and I needed to cool down. Laying in the river would be the quickest way to accomplish that. Climbing into the fast moving stream, my left calf muscle totally cramped up. Agony. The sort of pain that caused me to cry out. Without a doubt the most painful experience I have had during a run. I have had cramps before -- but the intensity of this dwarfed every single one of them. It probably didn't last any more than a minute, but holy crap it was a long minute before the pain subsided enough to stop. I would have quit at that point if I could. I couldn't. Suck it up buttercup, there is only one way out......

Awesome Andrea was awesome in her awesomeness. Refilling my hydration pack (she had this really neat hand pump/filter which made sure the water was safe to drink), and just making sure I was ok (and taking a couple of pictures too), while I was cooling off.

I'm not sure how long I spent soaking -- maybe 20 minutes or so? I dunno, I didn't care either. I did eventually cool off and start to feel somewhat better.

The rest of the race went by in a blur really -- here is what I remember, I was slow. I was tired, and I felt like shit. I just wanted to finish. Those were the negatives.... the company and conversation were fantastic and kept me going and kept my mind off of the negatives for the most part. Thanks Andrea, I owe ya.

The course was wonderfully scenic too. Usually I like that, and it adds to the enjoyment. Sadly I didn't care too much (as you can probably tell by my lack of photographs), and that is unfortunate. Guess (like the idiot I am) I will just have to go back next year........................

(Check back in a little while for more pictures)

A huge Thank you to Claude for putting the race together -- despite my suffering, I really did have a good time, really. Honest.

More Badwater stuff - This time from Mandy

2011-08-02T22:33:00.003-04:00

I have me a guest writer – Mandy, aka "Kick-Yo-Ass- Motivation-Mandy" provided additional Badwater SoFarFromNormal memories. Cheers Mandy.

As a side note, here is Mandy's fee schedule:

Motivational Kick-yo-ass text messages during any race --- 1 beer/text

Motivational Kick-yo-ass voice mails/phone calls during any race --- 3 beers/call

A-real-physical-actual-kick-yo-ass during a race --- One six pack, a cheeseburger and a t-shirt. (Comes with one free "booty-dance".)

CAUTION! EXTREME HEAT DANGER (Phwoar.... Mandy - a hot chick in Death Valley)

Mandy's Memories

Jim, Dave, and Mandy: TEAM EASTSIDE

I will second what Jim said about everyone getting along like we were all old friends. It was amazing…. And our team did laugh a lot. About everything!

"She's F****** Rocking it!"
Come on Meri, we gotta Pimp slap Whitney like Bobby Brown would!
"Move those Stems!!!!"
"Just a 5K bitch!!!!, Come on!!!!"
"Meow" Wait, it could be a fox!
Being the Poop buddy and resident Poop expert
Tucking in at the Meat Extravaganza Burger Restaurant in Lone Pine
"Dear Beer!"
Oh shit, I think we're running out of fruit nectar…. Maybe if I water it down a bit she'll never notice…. Shit Dave, she noticed
The Treeline!
Desert Spouses
The Badwater Bathroom Idea, coming to Sedona Running in time for next year's Badwater!
I NEED my Handheld!!!! I HAVE to have it!!!!
Meri's Moon Boots and the real site of the moon landing.

It was amazing to be a part of something so much bigger than myself. Being a member of the crew, with all of you, was totally fun. We all brought something different to the table, but we were able to accomplish the goal Meri getting to the end.

Supreme awesomeness – Tahoe Rim Trail 100

2011-07-23T13:06:00.001-04:00

Words cannot even begin to explain how immensely proud I am.

I actually get goose bumps when I think about it.

I finished the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 mile endurance run.

At an average elevation of 8,300 ft. Approximately 20,000' of elevation gain (yep, about 4 miles of vertical). 20,000' of quad busting descent. As if this wasn't enough there were snow fields to climb, slide down, fall off, navigate. Quite a departure from my comfort zone – so far from normal one might say. Oh, not forgetting bear, and mountain lion to worry about. (More about mountain lions later – yeah, really).

This year, fellow MTC members, Jenn and Joey joined me in the 100 miler, it was good to have some people to talk to and hang out with early in the run, and of course it was fabulous to see my friend Frankie who kept me in check early with a gently worded email when I was going too fast, and helped me out at the half way point and Diamond Peak and also kept me company for the last 7 miles.

This race was incredibly hard. The difficulty factor dwarfs the other 100's I have done – not that those were easy, by any stretch. This was the biggest challenge and the most difficult thing I have ever attempted in my life. Having done 50 last year, I knew it would be, so I only have myself to blame.

But the scenery……

Let's talk about mountain lions.

They have been known to eat people.

The race briefing warned us that they were out there. Frankie and I had even talked about them as I left the 50 mile aid station. "Make yourself big and make a lot of noise". No more than an hour after that conversation, my headlamp caught two eyes staring at me right on the trail, not a 100' in front of me. Here's the conversation in my head:

"They can't be eyes; they must be the trail markings. Fear not Jimbo"

"Shit, they are moving. They are eyes"

"Oh crap"

"Run. No wait. Don't run – that makes me bait. Remember what my cats do to bugs and toy mice"

"Make yourself big and make a lot of noise"

I contemplated picking up some rocks and throwing them, but then that would have involved making myself small, and taking my eyes off of the eyes. As long as I could see the eyes, I felt safe(ish).

So, I stood tall, stuck my hands in the air and made a loud growling noise. Really loud. But them eyes, they just stood their ground. Ok then, LOUDER! "RAHHHHHHHH!! GRRRRRRRR!!!!!!" The hope was also that someone else would hear me and come to my rescue (or at least be slower than me so I could run……) – of course, this late into the race, people were incredibly well spread out.

Then the eyes turned, and I caught a silhouette of the creature. It was a small deer, a fawn probably. What a dumb ass. Talk about nerve wracking though – a reminder that this is real wilderness, the adrenaline was well and truly pumping, and to be honest, I didn't calm down until I got to the next aid station and actually talked to and saw some human beings.

One other thing that bothered me, much earlier into the race, and actually totally threw me off of my stride was that a runner had to be rescued by a med vac helicopter – altitude sickness. It was a very harsh reminder that this shit is real, and it is serious stuff, and it actually upset me a little -- he was just two miles (and 2000') from Diamond Peak and civilization, but there was not an easier way to get help to him. I have heard since that he is OK.

Med Vac Helicopter -- at one point it was actually flying lower than me, which was weird

Talking of Diamond Peak. Now that is a hill. We get to it at mile 30 and mile 80. It is insane. I have never seen a picture that does the incredible steepness any justice. Basically, it is an 1800' climb in 2 miles. If it was just that, it wouldn't be too bad. It is actually 600' in the first mile, and 1200' in the second mile. There are three false summits. It took me over an hour to make the climb the first time, and about 10 minutes longer the second time around. Once I got to the top of it the second time around, I knew that I was going to beat all of the cut-offs, and that I was actually going to finish the race. I believe that at some points, the slope is 35 degrees.

The race consists of two 50 mile loops; here is a basic description of the course.

Start to Hobart A/S – A steady climb, some single track and some jeep roads to the aid station at mile 6

Hobart to Tunnel Creek – Stunning views as you cross Marlette peak. Meadows, wild flowers, boulder fields, views of Marlette lake and Tahoe. This was the first of the snow fields. Some nice climbs, and finally a nice drop into the A/S at mile 11

Red House Loop. A three mile descent to the lowest point of the loop, an aid station (next to a red house). Mainly jeep roads. After the aid station, is pretty much a 3 mile climb back out. This climb gets pretty tough towards the end, and I have heard it described as "running in 2" deep kitty litter trying to avoid tripping over football sized pine cones". Not too far from the truth. Back at Tunnel Creek at mile 18.

Tunnel Creek to Bull Wheel. Wonderful single track with some great views of Lake Tahoe, nothing drastic in the way of elevation change. About mile 21.

Bull Wheel to Diamond Peak. The longest stretch without aid. In two parts – the first part is a steady climb to just under 9000', some ridge running, boulder fields and more snow. The second part is a 4 mile drop of about 2000' to Diamond Peak aid station. The descent is probably my least favorite part of the course. The aid station is at mile 30.

Diamond Peak to Bull Wheel. A shorter way back to Bull Wheel involving the brutal climb up the ski slope. Wonderful views of the lake every time I turned around. This brings you to mile 32.

Bull Wheel to Tunnel Creek to Hobart. Reverse of what was run earlier (without the Red House Loop) Tunnel Creek is at mile 35, Hobart mile 40. Have I mentioned the scenery on this part of the course yet?

Hobart to Snow Valley Peak. 3 mile climb of about 1000' bringing us to the highest point of the course. More snow fields, and some stunning views of Spooner Lake and Lake Tahoe. Mile 43.

Snow Valley Peak to the finish. Practically all downhill. The first 1.5 miles is a glorious part of the course. Nice single track, and wonderful views. The drop continues the next few miles on more wooded trails. If you wanted, you could really pick up some speed here. I took my time both times around – first lap because I wanted to save my quads, second time, because my quads weren't saved. About 48.3 miles, there is a water stop, which leads to the longest 2 mile stretch ever to the finish. You can see the finish line several times across the lake, however, it just doesn't seem to get any closer.

A random thought about the buckle – first, the buckle is awesome, extremely well crafted, and I love its awesomeness, and I am extremely proud of it. But…….. I also got a pair of free flip-flops, on those, it says, "It's all about the finish". For the first 82 miles, the thought of that buckle was what motivated me. After 82 miles (the point at which I was practically certain I would finish), the thought of a buckle didn't enter my head -- it was all about the finish, the achievement, the accomplishment. Shiny stuff is all well and good, but getting the finish, achieving the impossible or 'highly unlikely' is what it is about.

Bling.

I love my bling, (shiny stuff -- good), but I cherish the accomplishment way more. The flip flops have it right -- it really is "All about the finish"

Fairly early on -- this is Marlette Lake. We would soon get some wonderful views of the lake from the ridge

Joey and Jenn

Joey -- I think this is fairly close to Hobart A/S

The first snow field.

First time around, fog hid the wonderful views of Marlette Lake

More snow. WTF?

They really did a super job of marking up the course

Yay for wet feet -- this is Jenn approaching The Red House

Tunnel Creek to Bull Wheel -- wonderful running

The ponderosa pines are just huge

Beautiful views of Lake Tahoe

Playing with the Zoom feature -- the western shore of Tahoe. More snow there.

Looking up the insane climb out of Diamond Peak

Doesn't look so bad here

Looking down. The angle of the trees give an indication of the steepness

Every time I stopped to catch my breath, I would turn around and just soak in the stunning views of Tahoe.

See how steep it is?

The summit. The. Slowest. Mile. Ever.

Lake Washoe in the distance I think.

Snow in July. So far from normal. WTF? LOL.

Climbing to Snow Valley Peak. The next few photos capture the breath taking views of Spooner and Tahoe.

Beautiful single track to begin the drop to the start finish area

Yay -- back to the finish. Of lap 1. 50 miles to go

Diamond Peak. Second time around, this time as the sun is coming up.

Looking down on Tahoe

The view from Marlette Peak

I didn't. Oh yes I did! Mile 90. Any carb is a good carb!

On the way to Snow Valley Peak. Mile 92

1/4 mile to go. Picture by Kim!

Frankie and I with just 100' to go. Picture by Jenn.

This is me finishing a 100 mile foot race. Thanks to Jenn for capturing one of the truly great moments of my life.

And finished!

And one buckle!

Tahoe Rim Trail 100 is a fabulously well organized race – the volunteers are superb and did everything possible to make my race a success. I love everything about it – from the brutal climb up Diamond Peak to the Irish Whiskey at Hobart. TRT 2012 is a distinct possibility.

Yeah, but it’s a dry heat – Badwater 2011

2011-07-23T08:27:00.004-04:00

This year I had the pleasure of being invited onto Meredith Murphy's Badwater crew. I have known Meredith since Freedom Park 2009/2010. Badwater has been her dream race since she started doing the ultra thing. What an honor to be asked to participate.

The team:

Peggy – A Badwater crewing and running veteran

Adam – Ultrarunner living the ultrarunner's dream (well my dream anyway. Bastard. Anyway, here's a plug: www.sedonarunning.com – if you are ever in Sedona AZ, go buy some stuff from him. Except them weird finger shoes, he doesn't sell them)

Ethel – close friend of Meredith, they have run many races together

Dave – Badwater crewing veteran who likes beer. Cheeseburgers too.

Mandy – Firefighter, tough ultrarunner, motivator, general ass-kicker.

Jimbo – Badwater crewing veteran, who enjoys spam and beer. And cheeseburgers. And beer. Bacon too.

And now a word from our sponsor.

NoMeatAthlete.com. Yep, really. Meredith is a proud vegetarian, (as proud as I am of being a BaconCheeseburgerTarian) – as much as I jest, it was very decent of them to supply the team with t-shirts etc., and I believe they provided a lot of the food. I provided my own Spam.

It is a very strange feeling, I knew nobody except Meredith, (and I had also met Ethel at Umstead), but we bonded exceptionally quickly, and it was as if we had known each other forever and ever and ever.

Unlike last year, we had two crewing vehicles, and enough people for 2 shifts – it was great being able to chill out and get a few hours of sleep.

I was on a shift with Mandy and Dave. Apart from sleeping, we laughed. A lot. And took care of Meredith. And laughed a lot.

Like last year, my favorite part was pacing – I loved the 19 mile stretch I did between just after Furnace Creek and Stovepipe Wells in the heat of the afternoon. Awesomeness. I think overall, I paced about 25 miles

Rather than going into a long race report type thing, I am actually going to see if I can get the other crew members to submit some of their memories of the whole experience and put them together in another write up.

Here are a couple of mine, in no particular order (sorry, but I guess you just had to be there):

Dried poo
Jump into this here blanket what we are holding…...
It's a 5k bitch!
Triple decker spam, ham and cheese sandwich
"Those shoes" [makes funny hand sign] "do you sell th…..". "NO, PISS OFF!"
Booty dance[s] – mile 90 and at the finish.
Not going to do anything this time…. (twice)
But…… in the kitchen, really?
F**k off hill!
F**k off wind, f**k off back to f**king Chicago where you f**king belong!
F**k off sun!
F**k off desert
A f**king popsicle
Celibate Advil
Topless dancing
Who the f**k was Father Crowley?
It's only 95 degrees

Meredith got the job done in 46:22. Fabulous, so very proud to have played a part in it.

Here are some photographs – some of which, I think came out really well

F**k off sun

A few Badwater pictures

2011-07-10T19:21:00.001-04:00

This year, I am crewing for Meredith Murphy

Below are a few pics I took on the day before the race:

Chatooga 50K

2011-07-10T18:51:00.000-04:00

My last long race ahead of Tahoe was the Chatooga 50k -- what a great, fun race. Difficult climbs, typical late June weather in the South, hot and humid, very enjoyable. Getting a finish added to the enjoyment.

I used the race as a dress rehearsal for TRT. Clothing, hydration, electrolytes, everything (except sunglasses, 'cos I lost mine); and that ended up well too. The only question I still have is what hat to wear, and if that is the only question I have then the dress rehearsal has to be considered a success.

Remember Enoreee 40 miler

Below is how I felt after Chatooga

Seeing friends always makes a race more pleasant, and making new ones makes things even more "pleasanter". So I got to run several miles with Rhonda, hang out with Charles and Psyche, and finally getting to formally meet Jason, and of course see Denise one of the best volunteers on the planet. And as always, get to see the wonderful Terri, the RD.

The trick to this race I think is managing the hydration on the return – there is a 9 mile stretch between aidstations. I ran out of water with 2 miles to go in the heat of the afternoon. The down side of a hydration pack is that you don't know how much you have left until it is gone (thinking to myself … would I be better off filling a bottle from my pack?). I did have iodine tablets with me in case of this eventuality, and took water out of the river – add a nuun, and it tasted just fine. The lesson here is that the iodine needs 30 minutes to work. But I was thirsty. I reckoned the river would be running fast enough to be safe. (It was).

Anyway, great day out in SC.

On Bacon

2011-07-10T17:55:00.001-04:00

A conversation at work recently – the theme has continued here with my Badwater crewmates …………

……… about bacon and tofu

On its own bacon is simply awesome.

Cheeseburgers are improved with bacon,

How wonderfully tasty is a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich?

Bacon crumbles on a salad? Yummy.

Bacon and eggs are better than just eggs.

I have even had bacon in chocolate. Quite delicious.

Bacon improves everything…….

…………..except tofu. Not even bacon can improve tofu.

On streaking

2011-06-28T18:29:00.001-04:00

Streaking part 1

I am not really a streaker, I don't HAVE to run every day. But when I am on a roll, and have gone a few days without taking a rest day, I do like to track it, and compare the current streak to previous streaks.

If you don't know, a streak is the number of days you have run at least a mile.

As it stands, my current streak is 32 days, 275 miles, and has included an 86 mile week, a 50, 2 x 31, 26 and 20 mile runs, and an 8lb weight loss. My previous best streak was during the weeks leading up to Umstead and was 19 days and 173 miles.

I don't think there is any particular benefit to this, except that, when I do have a streak going, it does motivate me to get out there and train. I am not sure when I will next take a rest day. Certainly I will be taking rest days in the taper leading up to TRT 100. Who knows?

Streaking part 2

If you have seen pictures of Anton Krupicka running, you will have noticed that he runs very minimalist. Just a pair of shoes, and a pair of shorts. Recently I have been having fun running the same as Anton at Jordan Lake. Well, "the same" maybe a bit of a stretch – minus the hair (on my head – plenty on the back), and plus the beer belly and man boobs, but yeah, other than that, the same. Yep, no shirt. In my defense, I always make sure the parking lot is empty first, I would hate to be witnessed. It's been good, somewhat liberating, and cool. Except this one time, oh my, that poor poor family out for a hike.

Streaking part 3

I guess highlights that some folks put in their hair could be called streaks. Not something I worry about.

Beating down on Boogie

2011-06-19T07:54:00.002-04:00

"Deceptively difficult" are two words that are banded about fairly frequently – especially by me. When it comes to The Boogie, there is no "deceptive" about it. Boogie doesn't hide its difficulty, it is glaringly obvious. 6pm start, hilly road course, rural NC in mid-June. It is most certainly a departure from normal.

No shocks about the weather forecast; "Hot, humid, possibility of thunderstorms". You could write that just about every day from the late spring all the way through the summer.

No shocks about the actual weather either – after all, it was all forecast….. hot – yep; humid – yep; thunderstorms – yes indeedy.

After last year's "Bolloxing of the Boogie", my goal was simple. Finish. Sub-goals were to run smart, and finish. Finish. FINISH!

Two years ago was my first Boogie – I did the Baby Boogie, or just the marathon, last year, I upgraded to the 50, and felt like I had a PR in the bag before I had even started. LOL@ME. The Boogie bit me so hard in the ass, and taught me a serious lesson about overconfidence and disrespecting the race and the course. I will never make that mistake again.

Let's go through some highlights:

So many friends – two years ago I did this thing, and knew nobody.

A t-shirt that fits – they run small, very small I remembered to go XXL

Talking of shirts, Mark gave me my new MTC shirt that I will wear at Tahoe

The moon – so bright early on during loop three

The storm – I loved the storm, the cooling rain the lightning, the thunder. I just turned my light off and enjoyed the show. It became so very dark. I remember one flash of lightning, where some guy just appeared maybe 6 feet ahead of me, it was very spooky just being only able to see more than a couple of feet only when the lightning flashed.

Charles Akers and Amy Surette getting their first 50 mile finishes. Awesomeness, lots of awesomeness

Frank Lilley plugging away, and getting the finish

The volunteers who couldn't do enough for me

So many other people running strong races

Stealing Mark's beer.

Bad day for electronics – my Garmin finally died after about 5000 miles of use. RIP. MY mp3 player also temporarily crapped out. So I listened to tree frogs for a while. That was OK, but it doesn't move me as much as some good old fashioned loud punk rock music.

Seeing no snakes.

Killing two deer fly in the last couple of miles

Pacer Amy taking me the last few miles fuelled on Fat Tire and Blue Moon ;)

Running smart and finishing the thing

My awesome finishers mug

So, to sum up, like every other MTC run I have done, this was a great event. It was good TRT training to run through the night, and I am pleased with how I approached the race. TRT has to be approached in the same manner, in that it is all about the finish, and the only way I will do that is to run smart and approach the race without being stupid.

Talking of stupid, I just signed up for the Chatooga 50k next weekend. Actually, that's probably smart.

Me at 46 miles (Thanks Ricky for the picture)

Bolloxing the Boogie......

2011-06-06T13:58:00.000-04:00

..... is something best avoided.

It's Boogie week, and unlike last year, I am not going to pretend to be prepared.

I am not.

There will be no talk of PR's

Last year, overconfidence burdened me.

This year, I have no confidence.

Last year I Bolloxed The Boogie.

This year I will not. Probably.

Conquer the Cove Marathon

2011-06-06T10:50:00.002-04:00

When I decided to not enter the Black Mountain Monster 24 hour race, it was because I didn't think I would get a decent training benefit from it. Sure, I would get a good long run whether I did 12 or 24. I also would get a night time run; all beneficial and will help me in my TRT prep.

But I need mountains. I need to work on climbing, and I need to work on surviving quad busting descents.

So when a friend suggested Conquer the Cove marathon in Roanoke VA, after my initial "Oh, how cute" thought, a look at the elevation profile told me this is just the kind of run that I need. There are two solid climbs (and subsequent descents), and lots of single track. Perfect. The weather promised to be hot too. Excellent.

The race itself is an inaugural event put on by the Roanoke VA Mountain Junkies.

The race itself was awesome, after the first mile, we went straight into a single track 2 mile or so climb. Rolling hills, about 80% single track until mile 18, followed by a three mile, 1000 ft climb, and then a quad busting single track descent with a few more rolling hills took us to the finish. It was very nice of the sun to come from behind the clouds and start beating down on me just as I was

The aidstations were wonderfully stocked, spaced nicely, and manned by terrific volunteers. "Organic Chocolate with Sea Salt" is awesome. So are shop towels soaked in ice water, a very nice touch.

This is an impressive race, thoroughly enjoyable, and I recommend it.

My finish time was 5:37. Happy with that considering the 3200 ft of elevation gain, although I didn't really set any time goals.

What was particularly encouraging was the speed of recovery. My leg muscles were practically fine within a few minutes of the finish, and certainly by the time I got home there was no soreness at all. 24 hours later, and I cannot tell that I had run a marathon the day before.

Keep plugging away at the hills Jimbo. TRT is just 39 days away.

Western States training Runs

2011-05-30T14:32:00.001-04:00

You know I dream of Western States 100 right?

So far, I have qualified to enter the race and have been in the lottery twice – not made it in yet. Third time may or may not be a charm. I guess we will find out in December.

Anyway, as part of my TRT training, I decided to partake in the Western States training runs. I would get back to back long runs, and I would get some solid hill training. Plus, I would get to see part of the course that seems to draw me to it.

Day one: The plan 30.6 miles. Runners met at the Foresthill Elementary School, Because of snow in the high country, the course had to be changed. The bus dropped us off at a place called Drivers Flat, where we ran down to the river – probably dropping 1000' – then we joined the WS course and worked our way back up to Foresthill. A lot of climbing. Some descents, but mostly climbing. From Foresthill we then went up to Michigan Bluff, then turn around and back to Foresthill. I did manage to miss a turn adding an additional mile or so. I think my favorite part was crossing Volcano Creek twice – in both directions it came after a pretty long descent (and was followed by a pretty long climb) – so I took the opportunity to soak my quads, it really did seem to calm down their anger. The crossing needed a rope to get across, and the current was pretty violent, but it was a lot of fun.

It doesn't look much - but it was a pretty treacherous crossing

I really felt strong toward the end. Only thing was the cold, it started raining in the last mile, and this warm blooded body of mine that has just started heat training really suffered! I finished strong.

Day Two: The plan. 19 miles. Basically follow the WS course to Rucky Chucky which is about 16 miles, then a 3 mile climb out up to where a bus picked us up and took us back to Foresthill. Seemed to be mainly descents today, (well at least until the climb out). I definitely started to feel the effects of yesterday run after about 10 miles and my pace dropped of quite substantially. There was one spot on early on, a particularly nasty rocky gnarly descent, when I just threw myself down the hill in an effort to gain some confidence – I didn't fall, so perhaps that's what I should do. I did enjoy the views as I worked my way down to the American River – it looked so small from 3000 ft. When it came to the climb out I got a second wind, and ended up finishing strongly.

Thoughts: I thoroughly enjoyed both runs, and having now been on the course, nothing has been done to dampen my enthusiasm, I still really want to do the Western States 100.

I have said before, as someone who typically runs at the back of the middle of the pack (or the front of the back of the back),, when it comes to power hiking up hills, I am decidedly front of the middle of the pack or even back of the front of the pack – I am very proud of my hill climbing ability

Lunchtime heat training or hill repeats or speed work in 90 degree weather at Umstead, or skipping round the Angle Breaker trail at Jordan Lake especially in the heat, really helps to prepare for this kind of thing.

Enjoy some pictures:

Heat training with Jimbo

2011-05-30T02:38:00.003-04:00

With The Boogie 50 just around the corner, and the heat now returning to North Carolina, it is time to acclimate to the temperatures that have been known to beat the best at the Boogie. In fact yours truly totally bolloxed the Boogie 12 months ago.

Here's how I train for the heat… do I really need to do a disclaimer here? OK then…. Blah blah blah, risk of death….. blah blah risk of pain….. blah blah blah… I don't know what I am doing or saying…. Blah blah blah, seek medical advice… blah blah… blah YMMV DYOFR, and above all, just remember DBFS.

Right, now we have that out of the way. Here are my thoughts:

I don't "beat the heat" – I "meet the heat" (If you want to "heat the meat", I say, "yes please, medium rare"). I know many people who train through the summer for a fall marathon, by running early in the morning, then of course wonder why there marathon attempt falls apart 20 miles in and they are totally dehydrated and suffering early signs of heat exhaustion. So yeah – I run in the afternoons. I avoid the shade. A treadmill run in an air conditioned gym doesn't get me acclimated.

I don't run for pace. I run by perceived effort. As the weather heats up, my pace will suffer, I am not surprised to see my pace 1, 2 or even 3 minutes per mile slower than I can normally do in cooler weather. It doesn't matter. As I acclimate, my pace will pick back up. I normally notice that this is true if we get a cool spell, or once we get into the fall temperatures, I suddenly find myself going much much quicker. Forget tempo runs, and running "x miles at goal race pace" – I think in terms of "y minutes at easy/medium/hard/maximum effort". I genuinely believe that running in the heat has a notable effect on endurance

Electrolytes are important – I read about them, experiment, study different products, and come up with something that works for me. I don't assume that because I was doing x, y, and z at the end of last summer, that I will need to do the same again this year.

If I start getting dehydrated, or feeling the early signs of heat exhaustion, it is time to stop. (This is what happened at Enoree)

This one makes people go "LOL WTF?!!" I have a 30 minute commute home – I drive home with no a/c, in fact I turn the heat on full blast. Last year the hottest I got my Explorer too was 130^oF, best so far this year is 120^oF. There is no better way to make 95^oF feel cool. I only do this for a couple of weeks – I am not sure there is much benefit after that, because this combined with the "meet the heat" runs gets me acclimated pretty quickly.

I experiment with different ways to cool off during a run. I have yet to find anything better than ice. Drink some ice cold water/sportsdrink, it seems to cool the core quite quickly, ice around the neck helps too, ice under the hat, ice water poured over my head are all pretty effective ways of pulling down the body temperature. This year I will wait until I feel acclimatized before I experiment with this.

That's all there is to it

A 5k is like a 100 mile run – well kinda

2011-05-30T02:37:00.001-04:00

I haven't run a 5k race for about a year, and even then, I just ran it for fun, with no time target.

But since sometime in the fall, where I did a 5k training run and managed to get it under 24 minutes, I have been thinking I would like to do this in an actual race. Now the training run could best be described as "gravity assisted". Mile 1 was mainly downhill. Next ¼ was flat, then about ¾ is uphill, then downhill apart from the last 0.1. Anyway, I was very pleased with that.

So now I needed to do it in a race, it will be a good PR. I think my actual race PR is about 27-28 minutes – so yeah, here's a good opportunity to really smash a PR.

Moncure Panther Prowl, just up the road from home. I left the house about 30 minutes before gun time – and was all registered and ready to go 15 minutes later. There was a fairly good crowd there, a mixture of "obvious" athletes, students and fun runners and walkers. Being as I was planning on running as hard as possible, for once, I lined up just behind the front runners.

GO!!

Pace smart Jimbo pace smart – I stayed at that pace that is not quite a sprint, but is almost unsustainable. Lots of people were ahead of me – but I was ok with that. I decided that I would like to "race for place" too. Many of those ahead of me were school students, and I knew that they would drop off fairly early. Pace smart Jimbo. Pretty soon, I was picking one runner after another off, as the saying goes, "steady pace wins the race" (actually, is that a saying? If not, it should be). But it was starting to hurt… had I gone out too fast?

1 mile in, there was a water stop – I declined – many didn't and I picked up a few more places. This race was an out and back, so I could count the people ahead of me as they came the other way. I was 7^th; 5^th placed male at the turnaround. Wow. After the turn was a steady climb for a short while – now was the time to race. I started to narrow the gap on 6^th place, then she stopped and started walking. Yay – up to 6^th. 5^th place wasn't that far ahead, but he was slowly pulling away on the ups, I would gain some back on the downs.

Think Jimbo… you need a plan. Now in the last mile. Push a little harder, I was gaining now on the ups too. But I don't need to pass him yet, because that would just take too much effort, I am absolutely red-lining now and my heart is going to beat right out of my chest. Time it right Jimbo… I am just 10 feet behind him….. time it right. The finish line is in sight…. Not yet… not yet, there's a tiny downhill just ahead, about 100yds from the finish… then…. Ready… ready… yeah I can do this… ready GO! Sprint for the finish GO GO GO. 6 or 7 strides later I am in 5^th place. GO GO GO GO! Then NO NO NO. SHIT. I am done. 50yds to go, I am totally out of steam, I am drastically slowing down, my legs are giving out. I actually signal the guy I just passed to come on by, he didn't. Looks like he was done too. I just jogged to the finish, and crossed the line in 5^th place. The looked at my watch – 23:34. Wow, totally thrilled with that.

So – my point. Comparing a 5k to a 100 miler. Here's my analysis:

They both hurt
Legs decide they don't want to operate
Puking is never out of the realms of possibility.
Smart pacing is everything.
Just after the start you regret even entering
Occasional fleeting thoughts of quitting
The finish is incredibly satisfying.

The big difference – everything lasts just 1/60^th as long. And if that were true for finish times – I should get ready to run a sub 24 hour 100. LOL WTF!

A side note – I think my average pace was around 7:38 or something close, which is right around the same pace Ian Sharman maintained at Rocky Racoon. For 100 miles in 12:44. Incredible.

Recovery is swift. Later that afternoon, I run a 6+ mile run at Jordan Lake.

Sunday is the Cary half marathon (how cute[LOL/WTF etc etc]). I am going to try for a second PR in one weekend. Hmmm, that didn't go quite as well. 5 miles in I am beginning to feel the effects of the hard effort the day before, and the heat has kicked it up a notch, and there is a good level of humidity, and fairly soon after that I give up on any time goals and just run for fun. Somewhere around mile 11 some guy had collapsed and the EMT's were working on him – he looked in bad shape. It was pretty warm, throw in some dehydration and some over or under training, and you can see how it can happen. So I slowed down even more. I crossed the finish line in 2:21 or so. Then had a beer

Blogging from 35,000 ft

2011-05-30T02:34:00.001-04:00

How cool is this? Onboard Wi-Fi, the 21st century is pretty cool isn't it?

Pointless post.

Time for another PR

2011-05-13T19:41:00.003-04:00

Not sure why, but since my DNF at Enoree, I have not felt that anything was going right with my training, and general preparation for TRT. Everything, and I mean everything has got to be done to better my chances of that big fat shiny buckle. Last week, I did think I was getting back to basics, with plenty of lunchtime runs at Umstead and some good Jordan Lake runs, but just as I was getting into the swing of it, I needed to travel for work.

I need a boost in confidence – so for the heck of it, I decided to run a half-marathon on the hotel treadmill. Not only run a half-marathon, but beat my PR of 1:58:40.

Oh yeah, a quick word about my PR – this was at the Cary Inside Out Sports Half, probably 3 years ago. My official time I think is 2:02:xx. Yes, I cheated with my watch; I stopped it when I went to use the portajohn half way round. I guess that is cheating isn't it?

So, really, I have never run a sub 2-hour half.

Time to change that, and erase my cheating for good. (Feels good to confess)

So, armed with a bottle of orange Gatorade, a bottle of water, and MP3 player full of punk rock I set the treadmill in motion – it would only go for an hour, so I would have to reset at 59:59.

To keep me honest, I posted my intention on Facebook, there is no backing out now that it is public

I took the first mile fairly easy, about 9 minutes. Then I started to ramp up the speed a bit. As my average pace increased, I decided to target 7.1 miles for the first hour – having 6 miles left for the second half made everything a whole lot easier to figure out. To get there, I kept the 'mill at around 7.0mph, but threw in a couple of minutes from time to time at 7.5 – yes, I was doing speedwork. I hit 7.1 exactly on the hour, the reset took about 4 seconds, and I was away again.

Once I was approaching 9 miles total, I knew that the PR was in the bag, it was just a question of by how much. I was targeting now a time of under 1:50, with a couple of miles left – I figured 1:49 was a possibility if I picked up the pace. OK, so I have to try and beat it by 10 minutes. One mile left: GO! I ramped the 'mill to 8 mph and hung on for as long as I could. One thing I learned during this last mile was the amount of sweat made the belt slippery, which was kinda tricky. (So was updating my status with miles to go so that some FB friends could keep track of me).

YAY! Mission accomplished. 1:48:33.

Still no word from sponsors, so I am not going to say what helped me through, and what I was wearing. You see how this works? I would have mentioned the stuff I used, and both the people who read this blog would have been so impressed, and decided to run a treadmill half, that they would have flocked to their local running store in droves and bought your products. But NOOOO, you continue to ignore the kool kidz at the back. Your loss (and mine too).

Then I had a cheeseburger and a beer

Here's a picture of me on the 'mill.

Note, that being as Hampton Inn provided me with the treadmill -- I decided that they can get some publicity. See how that works potential sponsors? :)

Enoree Passage 40 (25 for me) and a few words that begin with "D"

2011-05-05T21:40:00.001-04:00

Dumb

Dehydrated

DNF

Downright depressing

I had a tough time at last weekend’s Enoree Passage 40, which turned into a 25 miler for me. Ugh.

I think the big problem was of my own making, but caused by the weather. My big mistake was not carrying two handheld water bottles or wearing my hydration pack. And I really should know better. I am however also blaming my lack of heat acclimation too. With 5 miles between aidstations, I know it will take more than hour, and I do know that I need 30-40oz fluid per hour when it is hot and humid. So why did I just carry a 20oz bottle? Dumb eh?

So, back to the race itself. It was ran on gorgeous trails, a 20 mile out and back, some moderate climbing, and some moderately technical trails, but mainly flat and mainly runnable. It is also the location of one of my best ultras ever – last year I had a very good solid race, finishing in about 8:20. I am of course (in my ever so humble [dumb] opinion) in better shape than this time last year – with PR’s for 50k, 50 mile and marathon in the last few months, I figured I should be able to PR for 40 miles too. Wrong!

Miles 0-10 went well, at 10 miles I was a hair over two hours – nicely on target for my PR. From 10-15, even though I lost a little time – the heat started slowing me down, I was still on target. 15-20 was where it all started to go wrong. Just a couple of miles out from the 15 mile aidstation, I was nearly out of fluid, I rationed my last couple of ounces to make it to the 20 mile aidstation, but by now, I guess the damage was virtually done. A mile out from the 20 mile turnaround, I actually found an empty Gatorade bottle that had been left by a fisherman, and thought that I could perhaps use that to supplement my handheld for the rest of the race. Arriving at the turnaround, I slammed as much fluid as I could handle in an effort to quickly rehydrate, and then headed back out on the course. Over the next 5 miles, I really started to suffer – muscle cramps, fatigue, and it became really easy to talk myself into stopping at 25 and getting a ride back to the start, which is what I did.

In recent months, dehydration has pretty much done me in on three races, Hinson, Javelina and now Enoree. Something I am learning is that once it hits you, it is very difficult to recover from. Perhaps if I had sat around for a couple of hours, I may have got back my mojo as I rehydrated, but once you reach that point, mentally it becomes difficult to talk myself into continuing.

For a variety of reasons (sickness/injury/taper/recovery etc) over the last few weeks, I have not done enough shorter runs, which is really how I get my conditioning and keep in shape – it was these types of runs that have helped me get all of those PR’s. I think [too much]. But anyway, over the next few weeks or so, I plan on “going back to basics” with my training.

Anyway – Enoree is a wonderful race, Terri Hayes' races are truly terriffic, and I look forward to redemption on the course next year.

Wow. I am famous

2011-04-25T19:32:00.002-04:00

The Price of fame

I guess I am not cut out to be a “TV star” or actor. I feel very uncomfortable when being filmed, and even more uncomfortable watching the end result. “Do I really sound like that?”. “Wish I had remembered to shave”. “Really bad timing for a cold sore” and of course “I have a great face for radio” etc. etc.

Barbara Zellweger, a student at UNC used the Umstead 100 as a project for her Multimedia Story. She part of the project was to make a mini documentary in the Umstead 100. Frank Amy and I were the subject matter. I was interviewed after the Umstead trail marathon in March.

Here is a link to the finished movie, she really did a great job. (Although I feel weird and uncomfortable watching it, it is kinda cool though!) Enjoy, and also check out the rest of her project.

http://bzellweger.com/umstead100/

Meet the Runners from Barbara Zellweger on Vimeo.

The Making of.............
Photo by Aubrey (runner-of-cute-downhill-marathons) Blanda

Shirt Run

April 2009, during my first Ultra, Lap 4. I chatted to a guy by the name of Jimmy. He asked me where I was from, and then proudly showed me the shirt he was wearing; it said “Mangum Track Club”. After that 50 miler, I remembered to Google the club and found out the only way to join was by doing a shirt run, a 15 mile point to point run from Mangum NC (basically a crossroads) to another intersection (called the “Dog Pen”, because there is a dog pen there). And thus began my journey to craziness. I love everything about MTC, and becoming a member is the single most beneficial thing I have done for my running career. (“Career”, WTF LOL).

The races they put on are fantastic, the people are wonderful – the whole thing is about promoting running, and having fun while doing it. Wilbur and Sarah are canine members, and they get their own dog tags when they complete the shirt run. I get a thrill when friends become new members. Welcome to the club Amy, Amy and Blanca.

I skipped this past weekend’s shirt run, because of my calf injury – instead though, I acted as roving aid and photographer.

Injury update

As I mentioned in the race report for the 24 Hour Run for Cancer, I managed to strain my calf muscle – not severely by any stretch of the imagination, but enough to tell me I needed to rest and rehab for at least a week. Lots of icing, aggressive massage with the foam roller and The Stick. Any exercise was low impact and slow, designed to “gently stretch” the muscle while working it. It all seemed to work, and it really did feel better. So I figured I would hit the trails at Jordan Lake to see how I fared. I chose the “Blue Ankle Breaker” – a short 2.75 mile loop with plenty of short hills, turns, roots etc. As the run wore on, I decided to push a little. The calf felt fine. It also happened to be my first run of the year that hit 90^o, it made me realize that I really do prefer to run in the heat. So I think this week will involve some more jogging, mainly on hotel treadmills, always easy pace, gradually getting longer. If I come through this week with no reoccurrence, then I will toe the line at the Enoree Passage 40 miler on Saturday. Even a slight twinge though, and I will volunteer instead.

Mission Tahoe.

I have decided that yesterday’s trail run was the beginning of my training for TRT 100 in July. Every run I do between now and then is going to be all about gearing myself up and training for Tahoe. As I write, there is 82 days left. It is all about the Buckle. I look forward to earning it.

24 hour Run for Cancer -- Team Awesome

2011-04-22T16:01:00.004-04:00

When Shannon McGinn approached me towards the end of last year about putting a relay team together, initially I declined; you see the race coincided with Zane Grey 50, and there is a piece of my soul on that course after my DNF a year ago. Eventually after tons of pressure, I decided that if I didn’t get my name pulled in Western States lottery, then I would forego Zane Grey and participate in the “VA 24 hour race for cancer”.

My name wasn’t pulled out of the electronic Gu bucket, so the next task was to help put together “Team Awesome”

My plan was to ask as many people as possible, and then hope 12 people showed up on race day. Shannon’s plan was to only ask people who would fit in, and “get” the Team Awesome concept. Shannon of course was right, and we managed to find a great group of 12 people, all talented runners, all with fabulous personalities.

Team Awesome:

Shannon, Frank, Jonathan, Alanna, Sabrina, David, Jessi, Tom, Ray, Amy, Cheryl and of course me.

Jimbo Alanna and Super Dave

Charles, Sidney and Todd were our crew, along with Cheryl’s family who showed up with tons of food (honestly, I have never seen that many cheeseburgers)

The race is billed as a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, and it is fitting that our team had two survivors, two women who inspire me with their cancer-ass-kicking prowess and their overall Awesomeness, Shannon and Alanna. Just as a side note, like most people, I know people who have been affected by this disease – but in my case, the largest demographic that I know personally that have fought cancer, is young adult women -- not sure if that says anything about the disease or perhaps more about the people I am friends with.

Shannon and Alanna -- Ass Kicking Awesomeness

The goal:

Team win, and course record. Stretch goal of 1000 miles

Personal goal:

100 miles (WTF LOL) – Yep, I keep persisting with this.

So, how did it go?

Less than two miles into the race, I felt a “pop” in the calf muscle that bothered me at Umstead. At Umstead, I decided to “suck it up”, and although I stopped at 50 miles, it wasn’t because of the calf. This time however, I had a different attitude – it is obviously an injury, that has reoccurred, and I am therefore not going to push it. I pretty much threw away my 100 mile goal there and then, and shifted my focus to “have fun”.

And have fun I did. I thoroughly enjoyed running with Alanna, Dave, Shannon, Frank, Cheryl and Amy, I thoroughly enjoyed getting pampered by Charles, Todd and Sidney at the aidstation. (Fried chicken. Yum) I thoroughly enjoyed watching Dave make a “pizza and kettle chip cheeseburger” (so much so that I made one myself – yep it was awesome). I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out in the aidstation with the rest of the team; I thoroughly enjoyed my nap in the Explorer. It was fun. All of it, it was fun.

Dave and his "Awesome Burger"

Then the storm hit. And it hit. The weather had been talked about all day. A line of storms was coming across the southeast, and we had already learned of storms and tornadoes in my hometown. (At the time, I didn’t know how bad the storms in Sanford were, but take a look at this slide show, http://www.flickr.com/photos/wesley74/sets/72157626388703997/show/ -- this is not the way I wanted my town to become famous. These are the kind of pictures you see all the time, but tend to ignore. Until it is this close to home.) I do not think I have ever been in such a downpour when the storms hit talk about an absolute drenching. Lots of lightning, thunder and rain, lots and lots of rain. The trails became streams, then ankle deep rivers almost instantaneously.

Pictures of the Lowes in Sanford were beamed across the world -- I took this

6 days after the tornado. Having seen the devastation I am absolutely

amazed that everyone walked out of the store alive.

I have never seen anything like it, incredible. Just incredible.

When the rains hit, I suspect that we were maybe 1.5 miles out from the start finish – with about a mile to go, Alanna and I met up with Frank and we just strolled to the finish. Frank turned around and headed out for another loop. Huh? He was having too much fun dancing in the puddles. Not me, I went to my truck, wrapped up in a snuggy and waited out the storm.

Frank. Being awesome as usual.

Once it had passed, I had one more loop to go to make it to 50 miles, so Amy and I headed out for my last loop. After I had the 50 mark, Amy needed one more to make it to 50, so I kept her company for her last loop, so clocked up a total of 56.25 miles. The sky had cleared, and it was actually a terrific night for running, but I was tired, hurting and tired. So I had another cheeseburger and had a nap for a few hours.

Amy. Great company for my last two laps. Not sure what

she is doing in this picture though. Maybe she needs the bathroom.

Once I was awake, I found out Shannon had got first placed female! Yay, congrats to Shannon. Sabrina was second female, cool, 1 and 2!

I walked to the “cones” to get one more mile, just because, (it is actually kinda fun being on the course when a 24 hr race ends). Total mileage is 57.25.

Team Awesome total was over 800 miles, and given the injuries, storms, that wasn’t too shabby at all – we also smashed the course record by over 200 miles. Everyone made it over 50, but more importantly, everyone was simply awesome. What fun.

Jonathan Savage, proudly sporting his MTC shirt

Jessi and Dave

Tom and Shannon

First place female, Shannon. Awesome!

Sabrina. Jessi, Jon and Tom at the start. I was at the back (of course)

(Photo: Ray K)

Cheryl -- I guess she was listening to some disco. Or something. ;-)

Ray -- flirting as usual. Apparently he has done a few races like this before.

The awesomeness of Team Awesome - 24 Hour Run For Cancer

2011-04-08T19:44:00.004-04:00

Team Awesome Banner by Alanna -

Survivor, Endurance Athlete and member of Team Awesome.

Before reading any further, I would like you to read Shannon’s blog post.

http://shannon-creatingmomentum.blogspot.com/2011/03/team-awesome-and-virginias-24-hour-run.html

Read it?

Good.

So you will now know my next athletic endeavor is Virginia’s 24 hr Run for Cancer. By then I should have fully recovered from 50 miles at Umstead – and I also am thinking that I have quite a bit of unused energy, as well as a chunk of frustration left after Umstead was cut short by a cold.

Here’s an irony……… I am whining about a common cold, how about cancer? Yes, at least two of our team members have beaten the disease - I cannot fail to be inspired by that.

So, what is the plan? Well gosh darn it, I am glad you asked. I am going to have another try at 100 in 24. I have tried twice and fell short (38 miles the first time, 50 miles the second), so perhaps this is third time lucky – then again, maybe not.

This isn’t about me though, it is about Team Awesome – we have a team course record to beat.

It is also about fund raising and of course awareness – if you do have the inclination, the link to donate is:

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY11SA?px=4311901&pg=personal&fr_id=33505

Team Awesome members: Shannon, Ray, Alanna, Charles, Tom, Amy, Frank, Cheryl, Jessi, David and Sabrina. Oh and me.

Just as an aside - we are also having some side bets. Carolinas vs "Rest of World" and Boys vs Girls -- probably a few more too.

Umstead 2011 - the review

2011-04-04T21:17:00.003-04:00

Jimbo early on (Thanks Jade for the pic)

Today is the second anniversary of my first Ultramarathon – I did 50 miles at Umstead, it took me 11:48 for the distance, and I was absolutely thrilled with that performance. That race started off a whole new way of life for me – I have become passionate about the sport – I have completed other 50’s. 3 x 100 mile races, 24 hour races, 100k’s 50ks etc. etc. Along the way, I have met many people and made many friends. The biggest gathering of people I know is probably at Umstead 100.

This Saturday just gone – I ran another 50 at Umstead – this time over 40 minutes faster. I should be thrilled, but I am not – this time, I set out to run a 100 miles, and I also set a target (a tough target) of completing 100 miles in 24 hours. It didn’t happen though; a plain old common cold made for an uncommon experience. I woke up feeling slightly worse for wear on Thursday (I was kinda hoping that the beer I had had on the Wednesday evening was coming back to haunt me – yes, I was actually hoping beyond hope that I had a mild hangover. No such luck.)

By Friday, I had a fully-fledged cold – but figured I would be ok – my nose was stuffed, but I didn’t feel like I had a fever, and didn’t notice chest congestion. Game on.

6am start – lap one. 9 miles into it, I felt a dull ache in my right calf. This is exactly how it felt before the OBX marathon a few years ago, an injury that put me out for a few weeks. I had to stop to massage the muscle a couple of times. For a few moments, it did cross my mind that this would end my race, right there on lap 1. But after a minute or so stretching and massaging, I felt it loosen up and I was able to jog and walk. There was no real improvement, but it didn’t get any worse, so I took it easy for the rest of the loop. Back at the aid station, I used The Stick ™ to massage the calf, and it really did feel better after that. I was probably 10 minutes behind my game plan because of that. I did manage to make up that time on Lap 2 – there was a dramatic improvement in my calf, and I felt good, so remaining in my happy space, I ended up with 25 miles in about 4:50. I had decided previously that if it took over 5 hours for 25, then I would abandon the efforts for sub-24, and shift down a goal to “distance PR”.

My 50K split was around 6:05 – very thrilled with that, it is probably my second fastest 50k time, and I was still feeling incredibly strong. Shortly after that though, on the hills of N. Turkey Creek – I started wheezing and breathing became labored, and a cough developed. Oh good, my cold is moving to my chest. My pace dropped dramatically in those last few miles of that loop. At the aid station, I met with Leila who had come to the park to help out – she was awesome, and waited on me hand and foot for 15 minutes or so, while I tried to get a recovery going – I took in plenty of calories, in the form of OJ, coconut water and Myoplex. After the little break, I did feel quite a bit better.

As I set out for lap 4, I pretty much gave up on any thoughts of sub-24 – there was though the possibility of two PR’s – 100 mile PR and 50 mile PR (with a secret goal of sub-11). Leila walked with me for the first couple of miles or so, the company was great, and I started again to feel that that all would be good, as long as I could keep moving.

The absolute highlight of my day came when my friends Paul and Katie road past on their bikes with signs on their backs. “Go Jimbo” and “Jim you inspire us”. Wow – that was simply wonderful, and really made me feel better, and put in spring in my step. Well, at least for the next 4 miles or so. Some slow jogs and plenty of walking. Until N. Turkey creek again – the hills – hills that I have power hiked dozens of times – really took it out of me. I was taking a break half way up just to get my breath back; it honestly felt like I was at altitude. When I was struggling to go down Powerline Hill – this was when it really started to sink in that it wasn’t going to happen today. Still, I had two possible goals to aim for. A sub 11hr 50, or at the very least a 50 mile PR. With something like 2 miles to go, all I needed was two 13 minute miles to beat 11 hours. I couldn’t even manage that. So – I will just have to be happy with a PR of 11:07. I can’t help but feel disappointed though. Other than the calf strain early or whatever it was, I felt pretty sound “mechanically”. I ended up hanging out in the aid station helping out other runners – the carnage can be quite spectacular….. is that what I look like after 75 miles? Ugh!

Thanks Paul and Katie - that meant so much!

Two days later, and the cold is clearing up – it would seem its only purpose was to screw up my 2011 Umstead.

Very special thanks to Leila for helping out, to Connie, Nicole and Barbara for being willing but sadly unused pacers.

There was a great deal of awesomeness on display. Frank did his first 100k, Linda her first 50, Charles and Dan finished their first 100 milers, Fred, Ray, Dave, Meredith and Tammy also finished – as did many more. Others put in valiant efforts, but didn't quite make it.

Performance of the day though had to be reserved for Sharon – who not only completed her first 100 mile run, but also learned how to blow snot rockets. I love ultras, where else would that come into polite conversation?

Running and sponsorship

2011-03-27T22:38:00.003-04:00

Dear Sponsors and people who make stuff for runners

I write this as someone who cares about sales and marketing. Really -- not because I want free stuff. Much.

During my run today, I got thinking about sponsorships and runners, and sponsored runners. I started thinking, why do they sponsor the fast dudes? Who is going to see who they are sponsored by? The only people who will see their sponsors are other fast dudes - and they won't care, because they are sponsored by someone else.

The people who buy stuff, cos they like what they see, are the kool kidz at the back. So, wouldn't it make sense to sponsor someone who is down amongst the kool kidz?

There is also more exposure - the fast dudes maybe out on the course half of the time of the kool kid. Also, imagine if you were a sports drink manufacturer, say "Super Dooper Sports Drink" - the skinny fast dude, all you can fit on his shirt is "SD Drink", he will be so fast that that anyone watching will only see the word "Drink" - how effective is that?

Now, contrast that to the larger than life kool kid at the back - you could fit on his shirt, "Super Dooper Sports Drink. If this dude can run, anyone can -- look what Super Dooper Sports Drink can do. Go to www.superdoopersportdrink.com for more information or call 1-800-555-1234, and ask for Pete" Not only would a spectator be able to read that because our sponsored athlete is slow, they would have time to get out their smart phone and go to the website and order the stuff because they are so in awe of our runner, and so impressed with a supplier that cares about the folks at the back.

Lets look at advertising cost - our kool kid would do anything for a beer and a t-shirt. No contracts required.

Word of mouth - you know without a shadow of a doubt that if one of the people at the back were sponsored, they would tell everyone they meet that they have a sponsorship deal, and who it is who is sponsoring them, and how freakin' awesome their stuff is.

So, to sum up..... considerably more exposure, a better billboard, cheaper and more word of mouth advertising. What's not to like?

OK, so maybe I do want free stuff. Drymax, 2 Toms, RaceReady, nuun, Nathan, New Balance, Yuengling, Fat Tire, Balvenie, bacon producers, I love your products. Feel free to contact me, and we'll talk. :)

Umstead 2011. The first preview

2011-03-22T23:52:00.002-04:00

I'm looking forward to Umstead.

Not too long to go now, about 11 days.

And I am terrified. You would think that after 3 successful 100 mile runs including a successful Umstead, I would be ok with the gargantuan effort that will be undertaken.

So why? I have been thinking about it, I believe it is because this is the first 100 where I have a time goal. Well several time goals actually. Every other 100 has been run with a view to nothing but beating the cut-offs.

Last time I ran with a time goal, it didn’t end up well. Can anyone say “Jimbo, you bolloxed The Boogie”? I went out too fast, had stomach issues, overheated, and generally messed it up. So I’m thinking this is the reason I have some trepidation.

So, here are the goals:

Goal 1: Finish alive and with a smile.

Goal 2: Beat last year’s time - 27:49

Goal 3: Distance PR – 26:24

Goal 4: 50 mile split less than 11 hours

Goal 5: And this is the “secret dream goal” – the goal I won’t say in public (unless bribed with beer). Sub 24:00. There, I have said it (and y'all owe me a beer)

My training has gone really well – I have run considerably more miles than this time last year (248 since 2/1/2010 vs 365 since 2/1/2011). My pace on short runs has dramatically increased, at a guess, on average about 60-90 seconds per mile. In recent months, I have PRs for 50k and marathon, plus 30 minutes faster for Weymouth Woods, not to forget fastest lunchtime loops - long and short. But despite all of that, I can not see any way to trim 3:49 off of last year’s time. That is a lot.

Here is what I do know for a fact, Umstead is one of the best - I love this race, its organization, the course and the fact that I will know so many people who will be running.

My life changed on this course 2 years ago. Regardless of what happens out there in 11 days, I can't and won't be disappointed.

Ellerbe Marathon

2011-03-14T23:51:00.000-04:00

The Ellerbe Marathon is a wonderful low key event put on by the Mangum Track Club. Like all MTC events, for me, I get a sense of homecoming; can there really be any better running clubs? Always so good to see so many people that I have got to know over the last couple of years.

Definitely not a PR course

So, I didn’t have a plan really – other than to get a nice solid last long run in ahead of Umstead, plus I was using it as a guide to see where I am at compared to last year. Last year’s time was 4:58, and it was also three weeks out of Umstead – so yeah, I did think that beating last years time was a suitable target.

It was bitterly cold at the start, winter’s death grip had returned, it was barely above freezing! I ran the first half mile or so with Amy, but we both wanted to “run our own race”, so she kicked it up a gear and was gone. The next couple of miles or so, I got into a good rhythm as the temperatures warmed up. I was feeling good. Frank Maguire kept me company to about mile 10 – if I am close to Frank, I always know that I am having a good day. Frank stopped to get rid of his long sleeve shirt, said he would catch me up. If being close to Frank means that I am having a good day, being ahead of him means I am having a fantastic day.

About 10 miles in

From that point to the half-way mark is pretty much all uphill, my original plan was to walk the ups, much like I will do at Umstead, but I managed to jog most of the way to the half-way aid station. My split at the half-way point was 2:14. It was at this point I started to think about the possibility of a PR (4:26). 10 minute miles for the second half would do that. Let’s see how it goes…. but the decision was made, I am going to give it a shot. I caught back up with Amy here, and she was also on a PR pace.

Fred who had been pacing Captain Ivan for the first half, started running with me, I told him I was shooting for a PR – he very kindly stuck with me all the way, his exceptional course knowledge helped tremendously. The key piece of information; “save some for the last two miles, it is downhill”. The miles clicked by quickly, Fred was great company and the conversation made time fly. I pushed the pace every now and then, then eased off to save my legs for late on. I walked parts of the occasional hill.

Somewhere around 20 miles, I started thinking of what has been my long term “secret-dream-time”, which had always been 10 minute miles for a marathon, 4:22 (well, once I did dream of sub 4 hour – but, LOL). It started to look like that this was a possibility. At 23 miles, you get back into Ellerbe, and most of the rest of the course is flat or down hill (with the exception of the last ½ mile).

Let’s go for it. I just let it go and thought to hell with the consequences, the worst case scenario is that I fall apart and walk some – and STILL get a PR. – besides, any fool can run a 5K right? Mile 24 begins a long downhill stretch. I pushed the pace close to my “red-line”, Fred dropped back a little which was perfect timing, and allowed me to focus. Towards the bottom of the hill, I started to run out of steam, and my legs felt like Jello. Just the one more climb to the finish, I had to walk a little - Fred caught back up to me and passed me, again perfect timing it really helped pull me along.

The last 100 yds were painful. Finishing was awesome. I had a beer, it was awesome too. Then I had another one.

Approaching the finish with Fred who had finished a minute or so earlier

and came back out to drag me across the finish line

Jello legs. But I finished with a PR. YAY!

Amy was pleased I think with her PR and later she

found out she won 1st in age group

Sharon and Connie - finishing with a smile. Sharon will

also be running Umstead, Connie will be pacing for me again.

Thanks to Ricky Scott for most of the pictures - the rest of them are located here.

So Far From Normal

2011-03-11T21:33:00.000-05:00

Both of my regular readers will have noticed that there is a bit of a re-branding going on here. The biggest thing you may have noticed is the fact that I am posting again.

The next biggest thing you may notice is the colors and stuff. They are all different. The background picture is the one below, proudly taken during my 50 mile excursion around the Tahoe Rim last July. I am going to continue to tweak the layout – including the picture at the top. That has been around since I started this blog, when I thought I was kinda whacky and extreme (and so far from normal) because I had two pairs of running shoes. Many more shoes have expired since then. My current crop of useable shoes is 7 pairs – 5 of which are in a regular rotation, 2 pairs are backups. If I try hard, I can justify each of the shoes, however, the truth be known, it was a Post-Thanksgiving-Black-Friday-Cyber-Monday online shopping spree – there were so many deals to be had (including two pairs for the price of one – hence the backups)! I digress…………..

The view from about 8000' somewhere on the Tahoe Rim Trail

late afternoon, early evening - the new background

What about the cool new name eh? My very own domain! Cool stuff – I feel exceptionally geeky. The old name should still work, but is nowhere near as cool as www.SoFarFromNormal.com. So bookmark it. Please. Pretty please.

Why the change? Well, I had been thinking about it for a while, close to an hour in fact. I guess RunBaldyRun seemed a little outdated – I mean, what would happen if I decided to get a hair transplant? I actually wanted something that describes me and my ability to run, and more importantly to describe the types of runs I do. The inspiration came from a Facebook posting by my buddy Frank I think. I can’t remember the exact conversation – but I think he described himself as not normal (or perhaps he described me as not normal, or someone else. Or something); “Oh we’re all far from normal” I replied. And BING! You know those cartoons with people with light bulbs above their heads? Yep, it was one of those moments. Unfortunately FarFromNormal was not available – SoFarFromNormal was though, and I like it even better.

100 mile runs – how normal are those? Way beyond normal. (Hmmm, I wonder if BeyondNormal is available)

The Boogie – 50 miles starting in the evening, in the heat and humidity of June in North Carolina. How normal is that? Not normal at all.

Oxygen deprived 50 mile runs in the Sierras – Normal? Nope – most normal people wouldn’t consider this normal.

You get the drift . It costs a whole $10 for my own domain. Seems like a steal. I may even get it on a t-shirt.

You have read this far? How normal are you? HA!