Did Ole's Assault in Astoria yesterday. This is one crazy race. It's about 10K I think, but it took me 1:43 or so. Except for the starting and finishing miles, it was mostly bushwhacking ... following flagging tape. No trail, really. There were some man-made obstacles ... barbed wire to crawl under, log walls to climb over, tunnels, etc... But the toughest part was just running through the bush. Over logs, under logs, down and up gullies, through thorny shrubs. Tripped a lot. Fell down a couple of times. Went over on each ankle once. Got scraped up pretty good. Several times had to take long pauses looking for the next piece of flagging tape. No drinking water on the course, so I was pretty parched by the end. Lost my sunglasses ... again! It makes the Mount Hood Scramble seem like a gentle trail run. A lot fun. Wouldn't want to do it more than once a year though :)
Monday, September 15, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Back at 'er, pitter patter
Good run today with Guy, up Horse Trail, down Dan's Trail. 12K and 1,000' in 1:08. Felt good the whole way. Did some speed work this week too. No long runs though. Almost back to a normal routine at the gym too, but will need another week or two there. Less and less likely I'll do another ultra this year. But really looking forward to the short races of September and October.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Running Again
It's taken longer to recover from Waldo than I figured. It's been two weeks. Did an easy 20K yesterday ... up the ridge and hill twice. Managed a few 12K runs earlier in the week too. Not feeling too badly, but far from normal. Kind of glad I didn't sign up for MacKenzie ... it would have been optimistic ... and courting injury. Still considering that 50 miler in October, but we'll have to see. Looking forward to Ole's assault. Tomorrow the gym re-opens. Cannot wait to get back at it ... feeling like a slug.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Recovery
It's been almost a full week since Waldo. Haven't done any training. But, went to yoga last night ... I was the only one who showed up. Nancy kindly took me through a set of restorative positions ... felt good, and feeling good today. Time to get back at 'er, pitter patter. September races are coming.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Where's Waldo Ultra
Ran Waldo yesterday. Went down with Linda and we camped at the race start. Used the tent Mikey gave to me ... a nice unit. I didn't sleep too well ... not sure why ... got a few hours anyway. Up at 4:00 am for the 5:00 start. There were about 105 starters I think. I've never been so nervous before a race ... and never so uncertain about finishing.
I went out real, real slow ... stayed in the back third of the pack. John, Linda, Ken, Mike and Will were soon gone. But after a few miles I caught up to John and stayed with him for a while. I slowly pulled away. We spent the rest of the day playing 'see you at the next station' ... I'd get to a station first, but he'd show up before I left. With that whistle of his I always knew he was close by.
I was stopping for a good 5 minutes or so at each station. Things went well for the most part. I was relying heavily on the Perpetuem, and that seemed to pay off. No stomach issues, and I didn't need much solid food at the stations ... typically a small potato and piece of banana were all I wanted. After a while the gel made me gag, so I stopped using that all together. Took salt tablets regularly. It was a hot day.
It was great to see the friendly faces of the Corvallis crew manning the Charlton station. I sat down and chatted a while. Todd, Dave, Scott, Clem and Gaby were all there ... pampered me silly. All the volunteers were great, all along the way.
Scaling Twins was a bear ... the heat was getting to me ... thought of quitting at that point. When I got to the Twins station, I found Ken and Linda there ... so I figured that the conditions must be tough on everyone. Dennis gave me a lot of encouraging words. Melissa sat down with me and gave me a nice pep talk too. Those two really helped my resolve to keep going.
The very toughest part of the course was Maiden Peak. 3.2 miles of up, up, up. Not even nice switch back. Just up. I was taking baby steps the whole way. But at this point, there was no going back, and I had no intention of quitting. The run down the peak, on Leap of Faith, was a blast. I was pushing fast and hard as I could, feeling no pain. I heard foot-falls all the way, keeping up, behind me ... they followed me all the way to the next station. It turned out to be Mike :)
The run from the last station to the finish was an easy downslope of about 10K. I was alone the whole way ... and I felt surprisingly good.
I finished in 14 hours, 24 minutes ... not quite the 14 hours I was hoping for, but good enough for a cap. I've got a few small blisters, and will lose a toe nail. Otherwise feeling pretty good today.
Can't thank the Mac Forest People enough ... for all the help, advice, support, encouragement and training runs of the past year ... no way I could have pulled this off without them.
Runners on Mount Fuji
View from Mount Fuji (compliments of Olga)
Maura, Caroline and Tate ... traded places with these three ladies the whole way.
I went out real, real slow ... stayed in the back third of the pack. John, Linda, Ken, Mike and Will were soon gone. But after a few miles I caught up to John and stayed with him for a while. I slowly pulled away. We spent the rest of the day playing 'see you at the next station' ... I'd get to a station first, but he'd show up before I left. With that whistle of his I always knew he was close by.
I was stopping for a good 5 minutes or so at each station. Things went well for the most part. I was relying heavily on the Perpetuem, and that seemed to pay off. No stomach issues, and I didn't need much solid food at the stations ... typically a small potato and piece of banana were all I wanted. After a while the gel made me gag, so I stopped using that all together. Took salt tablets regularly. It was a hot day.
It was great to see the friendly faces of the Corvallis crew manning the Charlton station. I sat down and chatted a while. Todd, Dave, Scott, Clem and Gaby were all there ... pampered me silly. All the volunteers were great, all along the way.
Scaling Twins was a bear ... the heat was getting to me ... thought of quitting at that point. When I got to the Twins station, I found Ken and Linda there ... so I figured that the conditions must be tough on everyone. Dennis gave me a lot of encouraging words. Melissa sat down with me and gave me a nice pep talk too. Those two really helped my resolve to keep going.
The very toughest part of the course was Maiden Peak. 3.2 miles of up, up, up. Not even nice switch back. Just up. I was taking baby steps the whole way. But at this point, there was no going back, and I had no intention of quitting. The run down the peak, on Leap of Faith, was a blast. I was pushing fast and hard as I could, feeling no pain. I heard foot-falls all the way, keeping up, behind me ... they followed me all the way to the next station. It turned out to be Mike :)
The run from the last station to the finish was an easy downslope of about 10K. I was alone the whole way ... and I felt surprisingly good.
I finished in 14 hours, 24 minutes ... not quite the 14 hours I was hoping for, but good enough for a cap. I've got a few small blisters, and will lose a toe nail. Otherwise feeling pretty good today.
Can't thank the Mac Forest People enough ... for all the help, advice, support, encouragement and training runs of the past year ... no way I could have pulled this off without them.
Runners on Mount Fuji
View from Mount Fuji (compliments of Olga)
Maura, Caroline and Tate ... traded places with these three ladies the whole way.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
McCullough Peak
Had a real nice run yesterday with Gaby and Guy up McCullough Peak. The GPS says the peak tops out at about 2200' ... the climb up is about 1800'. 12K in 1:18. We took a tough, steep route, but nice view up top. G & G were good enough to go slow and cut the run short on account of Waldo next week.
002 arrives today. I'm excited and bit anxious.
002 arrives today. I'm excited and bit anxious.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Busy Weekend
Lots of work this weekend, but managed a real slow 25K. Took 3 hours. Twice up the ridge, 3 times up Bald Hill. But that's still too fast for Waldo. Will have to run slower yet if I have any hope of finishing it. 2 weeks to go. Wish I had time to squeeze in another 50K.
Took Kiira partway up the ridge. Man ... she is an awesome trail runner. We only went a few klicks ... she's still too young for serious runs. But coming down the single track, she just flew ... but in total control. Twisting this way and that. Can't wait 'till we can do some long runs together.
Took Kiira partway up the ridge. Man ... she is an awesome trail runner. We only went a few klicks ... she's still too young for serious runs. But coming down the single track, she just flew ... but in total control. Twisting this way and that. Can't wait 'till we can do some long runs together.
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