Wasatch 100 Pacing, Bear 100 Ahead

This last weekend was the Wasatch 100. Once again I had the opportunity to run the last 25 miles pacing for my son Josh. He had a bit of a rough day, however with the lack of training he had due to injuries this year, he still ended with an amazing time of 28 Hours and 37 Minutes. He definitely pushed through some challenging times during the race and finished remarkably strong. I was very proud of him for getting through to the finish and happy that I was able to spend that time with him.

On September 28th is the Bear 100. I am having a difficult time getting my mind around doing a 100 mile race. My training has gone well over the last couple of months. I have completed my schedule generally to the mile. I have completed a 35 miler as well as a couple 25 mile runs over the last month. All that is left for long runs is an 18 miler this Saturday as I begin to taper my mileage for the race. I can say with confidence that although I am questioning what I am doing and my ability to complete this race,  I have stuck to the training schedule all year long.

I have looked through some of the times and splits over the last few years for the Bear and believe that if all the planets align I can complete this race in 32 hours. However I do want to state that my goal is simply to finish the race under the 36 hour limit. Heat will play a big roll in how I do in this race. Unfortunately heat always has a significant effect on me. I do heat training and spend quite a bit of time in the heat, but it still significantly zaps my energy whenever the temperature is at all high.

My goals for the Bear 100 are as follows: My primary goal is to finish under the 36 hour time limit, if I do this I would consider my race a success. My secondary goal would be 34 hours. This is where I would expect to be if I have some small problems and the conditions are not ideal. 32 Hours is where I believe I can finish if everything falls perfectly into place, things would have to be near perfect for me to achieve this time. At this point Josh is planning on pacing me from Tony Grove to the finish, almost 50 miles. Hopefully he will be recovered enough from Wasatch to do this. With Josh's help, a bit of luck, and good weather, I truly believe I can hit the 32 hour mark. We shall see how it all works out on the 28th and 29th.

Speedgoat 1 Bart 1

Here it is Wednesday, 4 days after the Speedgoat 50K, and I am still disappointed in my results. This was my 2nd time running Speedgoat and this year I dropped out at the 21 mile mark. Although I was very disappointed with my decision, as I have never dropped out of a race before, I knew it was the right thing to do. With that the score is now Speedgoat 1 - Bart 1. At this point I am planning on running it again next year as I cannot stand the thought of having that course slay me and having it end that way.

I knew it was going to be a tough day as it was going to be very hot. I also ended up working all day on Friday and was on my feet doing shipping all day long. Friday night my legs did not feel the way I was hoping they would at that point. The next morning I definitely could tell I was not where I wanted to be when we hit the end of the 1st long uphill. My legs were tired already and although I was on schedule I knew it was probably not sustainable.

The one bright side of the day came in Mary Ellen Gulch. This is the section that psychologically did me in last year. This year I passed 4 runners in this section and had no one pass me. I was more confident and my knees felt much better than last year. At this point I was quite tired and knew it would be a long day with the crazy uphills ahead. I pulled into the Pacific Mile aid station at 4 hours and 16 minutes and was out at 4:22, just about on schedule. After the Pacific Mine aid station is a brutal long and very steep uphill. I was doing okay until about half way up. At that point I had knots develop in both of my quads. I slowed down but the knots would not let up. I was drinking plenty of water but It was brutal finishing this section. The heat was crazy and the pace was slow. Once it flattened out a little the knots were not as severe but still present. When I got into the Larry's Hole aid station I felt fairly good  as there is some downhill just prior to the aid station. I knew that I could continue but would be quite a bit slower than I had anticipated. Once I started out of Larry's Hole and into the next steep uphill the knots in my quads flared up again. At that point I had a decision to make. There are only a few locations on the course where you can drop out of the race, Larry's Hole is one of them. I needed to decide if I wanted to tough it out and finish, knowing that I would probably be extremely sore for 3 to 4 weeks if I did, or drop out and be able to get back into training for my 100 mile race the end of September. After thinking about it for 3 or 4 minutes I made the difficult decision not to sacrifice my training for completing the race. At this point I turned around and went back to the aid station and officially dropped out.

It was definitely demoralizing, however I know it was the right thing to do. I was able to go out last night and run 6 miles without any pain and will continue with my training the rest of this week and through the next 2 months in preparation for the Bear 100.

Overall not what I wanted as a result of the race. However now looking back I know I did make the right decision to drop out in order to preserve my body for training for what is my ultimate goal of completing a 100 mile race this year.

As a side note, the course was very difficult this year and the temperatures were through the roof. when I saw the final numbers come in it appears that about 65 runners did not complete the race, almost 25%. It does bring me some comfort knowing I wasn't the only one having a tough day out there.

Next year I will definitely slay the Speedgoat 50K.

6 days to Speedgoat 50K

Here it is Sunday and 6 days away from the Speedgoat 50K. My training has gone very well over the last several weeks. No injuries to speak of and I have put in the mileage and the elevation runs. Last week Josh and I even went up American Fork Canyon and ran down Mary Ellen Gulch. Last year that section physically, and even more so mentally, did me in. This year I will be going in more confident than last year about the entire race, and especially about Mary Ellen Gulch.

This year I know the course, I have trained on what I consider the most difficult section of the course and have trained well. I am shooting for a time of 9:00 hours. If I accomplish that goal I will be 2 hours faster than last year. Looking back I know I can make up 2 hours by starting up further in the pack, hydrating better, wearing gaiters to minimize the cleaning out of my shoes, faster in and outs at the aid stations, and by cutting off at least 30 minutes in Mary Ellen Gulch. In addition I also know the course and what to expect.

It should be a fun race this year as my son Josh will be running the race as well. This will be the first ultra marathon that we have ran together in. I use the term ran together very loosely as I will not see him during the race once we line up for the start. Even though I will only see him at the start and at the finish it will still be a great experience to share the events of the day with him. In addition to Josh the field of runners is truly incredible. It is very rare to have the talent of elite ultra marathoners that this race will have this year. Obviously I won't see them at all except as we mingle around at the starting line waiting for the magic hour of 6:30 am to start, but the buzz and excitement with all of them present will be a memorable experience.

Speedgoat 50K Training

It has been two months since I have posted. Going forward I will make sure and post more often.

I ended up not running the Squaw Peak 50 this year. I was definitely looking forward to running it but it took me longer to recover from the Buffalo 50 Miler than I ever thought it would, and I also got sick after that and ended up having 3 weeks of minimal training. I felt it was best to not run Squaw Peak and focus on the Speedgoat 50K on July 28th, with my ultimate goal of completing the Bear 100 in late September.

That plan has been going very well. I have been running in the canyons for the last month or more with several runs a week in the hills for the last couple of weeks. It has felt great! I love to run in the mountains and with our snow pack being so pathetic this year I have been able to get up there running much earlier than last year. My goal from now until Speedgoat is to run at least 3 times a week on the mountain trails with a run or two in the valley's as well. This week has been a good week and I feel very good about where I am at right now.

As a side note. I absolutely love my Hoka Stinson Evo's. My last mountain run was in my Cascadia 7's and I honestly don't know how much more I will wear them. I will probably still wear them on some of my 2 to 3 hour runs but not on my longer mountain runs. I do like the Cascadia's on the slight downhill clean sections as I believe I am a little faster in them than the Hoka's in that scenario. The Hoka's are just so much better on the rocks and roots and anything technical, and my knees feel no stress at all when I am wearing them. If it wasn't for the fact that I probably only have about 150 miles on the Cascadia's I wouldn't put them on again, but I can't bear the thought of retiring a $100.00 pair of shoes without wearing them out. My only complaint about the Hoka's is the lacing system they use. If my feet weren't so narrow it might be okay but I have to do all kinds of looping and such to make it so I don't trip over the pull tabs. I will probably switch to a standard lace, as the way it is there is really no benefit to the pull tab lacing system that they have.

I will post again just before Speedgoat and update my progress and my goal. Speedgoat this year should be a lot of fun to be part of as they have a large number of the best trail runners in the country, and the world, running it this year. Not that I will see any of them except at the starting line, but it will be fun to just be involved with such a large group of high caliber of runners, both male and female.

New Clown Shoes

I celebrated my 53rd birthday over the weekend. It was great having the kids and their significant others, as well as my almost 3 month old granddaughter all there for a get together and dinner. I really didn't need anything for my birthday but my kids always get me something even though I ask them not to. This year they got me a gift card to Wasatch Running. That was a great gift as I was definitely ready to try some new trail shoes. I was not at all happy with my situation at the end of the Buffalo 50 Miler. So the research and pursuit of a new pair of trail shoes began.

I did quite a bit of research online and after determining that every shoe company and most runners are now leaning towards zero drop and minimalist running shoes, I decided I needed to go the opposite direction. Unfortunately I am still about 40 pounds heavier than I should be and I still get a great deal of knee pain whenever I do some extended downhill running. As a result I decided to buck the trend and go with more cushioning.

I have always thought the Hoka One One shoes to be a gimmick as much as anything, and they definitely resemble some type of clown shoes with their overabundant sole's, but after talking with Darrell at Wasatch Running I decided to try on a few different models.

I ended up walking out with a pair of Hoka One One Stinson Evo's. They were amazingly comfortable when I tried them on and ran in them at the store. They also have a crazy amount of cushioning. I was hoping to go trail running in them today after work but Mother Nature threw me a curve with all of the rain. So tonight I will run on the Parkway in my Brooks Glycerine's and do the same on Thursday morning. Unfortunately the Hoka's will not come out of the closet until my next trail outing which due to evening commitments the rest of the week will probably not be until Saturday morning. I can't wait to put some miles on them and see how they feel, or more specifically how I feel afterward.

My training is going well and I am finally getting back to my somewhat normal running routine after taking time off recovering form the Buffalo 50 Miler. Hopefully with the new shoes I can get the trail work in I need and get up to 50 miles a week quickly, as I prepare for the Squaw Peak 50 mile race on June 2nd.

Antelope Island Buffalo Run 50 Mile Recap

Here it is 4 days later and I still can't believe I actually finished the Antelope Island Buffalo Run 50 Mile Race. My first 50 miler. It wasn't pretty and my feet are still killing me, but with the help of a good pacer (my son Josh) and a good support crew (my wife Brenda) I was able to pull it off.

I got to the starting line plenty early, in fact too early. I had to wait around for more than 40 minutes until the race started. There weren't very many runners there when I poked my head into the tent to see if anything was going on. Some of the support people and organizers, as well as Karl Meltzer who had won the 100 Mile race a couple of hours earlier were there and maybe a dozen other 50 mile runners. I decided to go back out to the car and wait until about 10 minutes before the start. When I went into the tent with less than 10 minutes until the start it was completely packed. We received our last minute instructions, went out to the start/finish line and started the count down of the last 30 seconds, turned on my headlamp, and we were off!

I intentionally walked all of the uphill sections. I was hoping to end between 10.5 and 11 hours so I certainly wasn't in a hurry. When we had completed the first few miles of uphill I was definitely in the back of the pack, I probably had about 15 runners behind me which means I had about 110 runners in front of me. As the pack started to spread out I passed a few runners but also had a few pass me. I grouped in with a couple of other runners going about my same slow pace. When we got to the first aid station they had us go out to Elephant Head first, which I really wasn't a big fan of as it was very congested. I felt like all we were doing was dodging the runners coming back at us from the turnaround, it was really crazy in that section. You could never get in any kind of a rhythm as you were constantly jumping off the trail into the weeds to pass people coming at you. I definitely wish I had gone the other way first and done the Elephant Head loop second.

Soon after starting the next section at the top of the long downhill, my foot landed funny and twisted my left knee, then I over corrected and tweaked my right knew. I was hoping the pain would go away once I got to flat ground but that was not to be the case. Just what I didn't need was knee pain for more than 40 miles of a 50 mile race. From that point on the downhills were excruciating. I knew that once I Got to about 20 miles there wouldn't be much in the way of downhills. That thought kept me going until I saw Brenda and Josh at the gate at mile 19.

At the gate I decided I needed to change shoes, my toes had been hitting hard on the inside of my right big toe, not the end, but thought I should go with the 1/2 size larger shoe to see if it would help. A quick shoe change, took off the gaitors, put on the Ipod, and away I went.

The next 17 miles were quite painful, I took some baby aspirin and made sure I was getting adequate water, Chomps/Gu, and S Caps. I was run/walking. The pain in my knees would not allow me to continually run. Unfortunately the walking periods were beginning to last longer than the running periods. Not what I was hoping for. From about the 25 or 26 mile mark until the ranch turnaround, I was having leaders pass me on their way back. I was slow, hurting and becoming very discouraged.

It's funny the things that you focus on and that become important at this stage psychologically. There was a girl in a bright pink top that had passed me just before the Lower Frary aid station, about mile 27.5, I did a fairly quick stop there and headed out in front of her. She soon passed me again on the trail. She was walk / running like I was but definitely able to run more than I could. She was building her lead. I told Josh and Brenda that I wanted to do a very quick stop at the ranch turn around to make up some time and some ground. The girl in pink had become what I was focusing my attention on to help take some of my mind off the knee pain. As I got near to the ranch aid station the girl in pink had not completed the turnaround and passed me. As I got closer to the ranch I knew I needed to do a very quick stop there and get back out. As I went in I saw her still at the station. Josh quickly filled my water bottle, drank some Coke, had some chips, I took off my Ipod, and picked up my experienced pacer, Josh. I felt like I was ready to go.

From here Josh tried to get me to run as much as possible. It just hurt so bad. I would run about 75 yards and have to walk 200 or 300 yards. I could walk quite fast as I was not having a stamina problem, just a knee pain problem. My knees were getting worse and worse. It almost brought me to tears when I would run. It is in this section that I let Josh know that I was not in a good place right now and was really in trouble. I continued doing the run /walk system until we hit the Lower Frary aid station on the way back at about mile 39. At this point Josh suggested I go for full on Ibuprofen. I wasn't really sweating as I was doing a lot of walking. we also knew that at this pace I would not be able to finish before they took down the finish line at 6:30 or 12 1/2 hours so Ibuprofen it was. After a few miles the Ibuprofen kicked in. I was able to run a little more and walk a little less. However my feet were starting to get some significant blisters and the balls of my feet were bruised and quite painful. Plus that girl in pink was right on my tail. from just after the Lower Frary aid station until the Mountain View aid station she was right on my tail, never more than about 25 yards behind us. When Josh and I would run, she would run, when we would walk, she would walk. Josh even asked her if she wanted to pass us and she said "No, I really like the pace you guys are going". I was now determined to stay ahead of her no matter what.

At Mountain View aid station I didn't stop. Josh had my water bottles full and had a glass of Coke for me and I just walked right through. For the first time in a long time I was starting to feel like I could actually run for more that 75 to 100 yards at a time. Once we got to the top of the hill I started running more. I hadn't been able to pass more than one or two crippled runners since the ranch turnaround. Fortunately only one runner had passed me. When we got less than a mile from the Lakeside aid station I saw a couple of runners that I could focus on passing. The girl in pink was still right on my tail. I passed 2 runners just before the aid station. I again didn't stop as Josh had my bottles filled and a glass of Coke ready to go. The one runner who passed me a couple of hours ago was in the aid station, I passed him there. The girl in pink stopped at that aid station and looked like she was really struggling. I didn't see her again until the finish line. I passed 2 more runners going around the mountain. Josh was definitely pushing me to get to 12 hours. I ran most of the last 4 miles. I knew I probably wouldn't be able get under 12 hours but I wanted to make sure I didn't let anyone pass me. With a little more than a mile left I saw 2 more runners that I thought I could pass. As I ran by the 1st one I could see she was actually a 100 Mile runner. She was going to get in under the 30 hour 30 minute mark for her first 100. We congratulated her and went after the next one. I passed the next one with about 1 mile left. From here I didn't have anyone close enough to reel in before the finish.

Unfortunately I was not able to get in under 12 hours. I forgot to stop my watch when I went across the finish line but my time was about 12 hours 2 minutes and 30 seconds, the official times have not been posted yet. I had finished my first 50 Mile race! My daughter Brittany was there to greet me and of course my supportive wife was there. Josh ran (I use the term loosely) the last 17 miles with me. He really pushed me and I honestly doubt I would have made it under 12.5 hours without him. A good pacer is priceless.


My final analysis. I have huge blisters on the balls of both of my feet. I also have bruised the balls of both of my feet. I also have multiple small blisters. I will lose at least 1 toe nail and could lose as many as 3. My knees feel a lot better but it could just be that all I can feel right now is how bad my feet still hurt. My teeth ached for a full day from clamping my jaw shut so tight from the pain.

Overall I am happy with how I did. I was more than an hour longer than I was hoping for. However, I was fighting pain 75% of the race. My stamina was good. I know I need to run more steep downhills in training before my next run to prepare my knees. I also know I need to figure out my shoes. I don't want blisters like this again and I don't want to lose any more toe nails!

Thanks to everyone who supported me in preparing for this run as well as the race organizer and the volunteers at the event, they were awesome. Special thanks to Brenda and Josh. I absolutely could not have done it without both of them.

2 weeks until the Buffalo Run 50 Mile Race

With less than 2 weeks until the Antelope Island Buffalo Run 50 Mile race I thought I needed to post an update. My training mileage and consistency has been good. I have averaged 40+ miles weekly over the last few weeks. I have had a few minor set backs but am very happy with my training and preparation overall. I am having some pain in my heel but it subsides when I start to run, probably an inflamed tendon. My weight is no where near where I would like it to be, but let's face it, I love food! Until I get my eating habits more in line with where they should be my weight will be a challenge. Overall I continue to eat better but my sweet tooth constantly causes my problems.

As far as the race goes, if the weather is decent I think I will finish between 10 and 12 hours. To narrow the window I believe I will finish at right around 10 hours and 45 minutes. Time will tell if I am even close at estimating my time at a race that is this long. If we have bad weather that will add to the time.

Not much left to do between now and then but a few short mountain runs and tapering down for the big day. Brenda and Josh will be my support crew. Josh has run this race twice before. Brenda and I have supported Josh in both of these races. So my crew will be top notch and very familiar with this race. If I mess up it will all be on me as I won't be able to blame my support crew for anything that will go wrong.