Friday, April 29, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Salt Flats 100!
In two days I'll embark on what should prove to be an epic adventure... running, and "running" the Salt Flats 100. Conceived through perceived neccessity, and executed on an extremely contracted time-frame, this event didn't even exist two months ago, and on Friday, at 0700, 8 of us crazies will head out on a snowy, windy, blustery day in the salty deserts of the Great Basin and start what should prove to be a great, if not epic run.
As usual, I'll be posting to the blog, twitter, and facebook from the course (about 50% of the course has cell reception) and will update both my progress along the course and my deterioration from functional human to incoherent and numb mass of jello. This run will be complicated by forecasted snow and sub-freezing temperatures, so the fun-meter will definitely be pegged!
As usual, I'll be posting to the blog, twitter, and facebook from the course (about 50% of the course has cell reception) and will update both my progress along the course and my deterioration from functional human to incoherent and numb mass of jello. This run will be complicated by forecasted snow and sub-freezing temperatures, so the fun-meter will definitely be pegged!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Reality Bites... Sometimes for the Better!
The cliché that “life happens” is certainly true. So is Steinbeck’s famous line “the best laid plans of mice and men, gang aft agley”. So it is with running the Moab 100 this year. The scheduling of the Moab 100 fell on the same weekend as ski-racing event for which I had the responsibility for providing the timing, and unfortunately the person I was planning on being able to do that timing for me ended up not being able to. So, no dice!
HOWEVER, out of crisis rises opportunity (aren’t I just the king of cliché?)! I have decided to start my own 100 mile event in April! Currently, April is devoid of any 100 Milers anywhere near Utah, so starting at 0700, in Grantsville, UT, I’ll start running along the Hastings Cutoff trail and Donner-Reed road across the Bonneville Salt Flats to Donner Spring, UT. I figure if those stalwart folks working their way to the riches of California could brave that stretch, I can do it too! Hopefully, so will some of my Ultra-running buddies!
This inaugural event will be a benefit for both the Crossroads chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association and the MORE Project charity, and each year we’ll dedicate the race proceeds to these non-profit organizations. This terrain should prove uniquely challenging, despite the course being predominantly flat, it is relentless!
I’m hoping that this will become a regular for many in the Ultra running community, and will provide a great benefit to the OCTA and MORE organizations. Stay tuned!
HOWEVER, out of crisis rises opportunity (aren’t I just the king of cliché?)! I have decided to start my own 100 mile event in April! Currently, April is devoid of any 100 Milers anywhere near Utah, so starting at 0700, in Grantsville, UT, I’ll start running along the Hastings Cutoff trail and Donner-Reed road across the Bonneville Salt Flats to Donner Spring, UT. I figure if those stalwart folks working their way to the riches of California could brave that stretch, I can do it too! Hopefully, so will some of my Ultra-running buddies!
This inaugural event will be a benefit for both the Crossroads chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association and the MORE Project charity, and each year we’ll dedicate the race proceeds to these non-profit organizations. This terrain should prove uniquely challenging, despite the course being predominantly flat, it is relentless!
I’m hoping that this will become a regular for many in the Ultra running community, and will provide a great benefit to the OCTA and MORE organizations. Stay tuned!
Monday, March 7, 2011
I'm Wearing Clown Shoes!
Just about a year ago, a new shoe entered the trail running world... the Hoka One One Mafate. This shoe went the opposite direction of the current trend towards "minimalist" shoes.
Minimalist shoes promote the concept of running a "barefoot" technique, which most ultra-runners use by default as it's really the only technique that can be sustained for 20+ hours. However, the Mafate flies in the face of minimalist shoes.
In fact, they are so cushioned, that running downhill is pretty much a party on legs! At the end of the Bear 100 last year, the steep descent into the Bear Lake valley was nothing but punishment, but with these, I'm pretty sure I would have been in a LOT less pain. Obviously, those looking at them on my feet would have experienced some pain, but that's their problem ;)
So, this year, I'll be wearing my clown shoes on the Moab 100! It'll be super easy to pick me out in the photos and videos I'll post from the race, just look for the lime-green clown shoes and that'll be me! As always, donate to The MORE Project Expedition if you can at the link on my blog, and most importantly, stay tuned!
Minimalist shoes promote the concept of running a "barefoot" technique, which most ultra-runners use by default as it's really the only technique that can be sustained for 20+ hours. However, the Mafate flies in the face of minimalist shoes.
In fact, they are so cushioned, that running downhill is pretty much a party on legs! At the end of the Bear 100 last year, the steep descent into the Bear Lake valley was nothing but punishment, but with these, I'm pretty sure I would have been in a LOT less pain. Obviously, those looking at them on my feet would have experienced some pain, but that's their problem ;)
So, this year, I'll be wearing my clown shoes on the Moab 100! It'll be super easy to pick me out in the photos and videos I'll post from the race, just look for the lime-green clown shoes and that'll be me! As always, donate to The MORE Project Expedition if you can at the link on my blog, and most importantly, stay tuned!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Moab 100 fast approaches!
In just 26 days, I'll embark on the first of 18 5.37 mile loops on the Monitor and Merrimac trail 16 miles north of Moab in an attempt to do my first sub-30 hour 100 mile run, and at the same time once again assist my daughter Paislee in raising funds for a service expedition to Brazil.
The realities of "normal" life always make me question the training I've been able to do leading up to an event like this... was it enough, was it the right kind, etc. However, it ends up being the training I did regardless, and therefore it's what I enter the event with and I always hope it was "enough".
For this event, I'm hoping my new "clown shoes" (www.hokaoneone.com) will give me just a little advantage when running across the off-angle, hard-as-concrete sandstone mountain that makes up the trail. This stuff is brutal on the legs, and over the period of 100 miles, having a little extra cushion can't be a bad thing!
An ultra-runner friend of mine commented "welcome do the dark side!" when he found out I bought my first pair of Hoka's, so I have to assume good things!
So, in the coming three weeks I'm tyring to get in a few good long runs 20-30 miles, a bunch of short runs (6-10 miles), and get limbered up for some serious abuse! Stay tuned to the blog during the event, as I'll be posting from the trail wherever possible, and Paislee will be posting from the base-station. Happy Running!
The realities of "normal" life always make me question the training I've been able to do leading up to an event like this... was it enough, was it the right kind, etc. However, it ends up being the training I did regardless, and therefore it's what I enter the event with and I always hope it was "enough".
For this event, I'm hoping my new "clown shoes" (www.hokaoneone.com) will give me just a little advantage when running across the off-angle, hard-as-concrete sandstone mountain that makes up the trail. This stuff is brutal on the legs, and over the period of 100 miles, having a little extra cushion can't be a bad thing!
An ultra-runner friend of mine commented "welcome do the dark side!" when he found out I bought my first pair of Hoka's, so I have to assume good things!
So, in the coming three weeks I'm tyring to get in a few good long runs 20-30 miles, a bunch of short runs (6-10 miles), and get limbered up for some serious abuse! Stay tuned to the blog during the event, as I'll be posting from the trail wherever possible, and Paislee will be posting from the base-station. Happy Running!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
The Wasatch 100 Draw: NOT!
I attended the "draw" for the Wasatch 100 Mile Run today, held at the Homestead Resort in Midway, UT. This is the location where the race ends, a serene and pleasant location that belies the torment and pain the most runners experience in the 20-30 hours previous to thier arrival.
The Race Director told us that there were 500+ applicants, and after taking into account the "guaranteed runners", and the "Grand Slammers", the percentage of success in the draw was going to be around 65%.
The process was pretty sterile, with occasional outbursts of cheering when one of the attendees was selected. The Race Director would draw out a name, and his assistants would confirm that name was properly registered and paid in, and then they'd check off the name and record it as an official entry.
All the way up to today, I had assumed that I was going to draw out, but as the names kept being read, and my name became increasingly absent, I realized there was a strong chance that I was going to go home empty-handed. Several of us in attendance eneded up leaving with the knowledge we were not going to run the Wasatch 100 this year, and to say were weren't disappointed would be a lie, but there are many races to run, and many years of running ahead of me, so I'm not too torn up. ;)
September will be a repeat of the Bear 100, and October will be my first Pony Express 100, so I'll still get three 100's this year. Gotta love the process!
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