Old Man Still running

Recovering nicely.  Feels like a typical 100-miler recovery. Not much appetite yet, but I can force down some food. I'm still stunned that I put in 187 miles. And acually it was a couple more than that.  The Garmen showed more miles, probably due to weaving around and not cutting all the corners close. The miles went by fast and at the finish I could have kept going.  Ended the month with 475 miles, my top month ever and finished the year with 3,479, my most miles in a calendar year.

Day three of recovery going well, feel better each day.  Today I could even jog down the stairs.  The right ankle creaks.  Left shoulder muscles tired.  I put shoes on for the first time since stopping and they feel pretty tight, the feet a little swollen still.

I had my Garmin on for the first 60 miles.  The map of it is funny.  The side trips are to the big tent.   Mile splits were pretty impressive for the first ten miles.  Pace times were: 7:46, 7:56, 8:17, 8:18, 8:48, 8:24, 8:39, 8:28, 8:35, 8:42, and so on. My first mile over 9:00 was mile 20,  For the first 60 miles I averaged 10:23 pace, including my stops.

I still am having trouble getting my head around the fact that I ran 187 miles.  That really seems crazy.  It went by so fast.  Of course I kick myself for not reaching 200.  But in the history of this race since 1983, there have only been a handful of runners who have gone over 185 miles.  Most of those were international world-class talent.  I'm only the second runner over 50 years old to go over 185 miles in 48 hours at this race.

What if I didn't take that 4-hour rest?  Perhaps I could have hit 200, but I was very wasted at mile 160, running a fever, and soon bonked bad.  I suspect I could have started running again 2 hours later instead of 4, but I probably wouldn't have pushed as hard as I did when I saw that my lead was gone.  I suspect the most miles I could have reached would have been in the low 190s.

Recovery Day 4.  The toughest part is still getting out of bed.  After ten hours of deep sleep, getting up still feels like I've been hit by a truck.  The pain is everywhere when I first get moving.  But then things get better.

My thoughts are already turning toward Rocky Raccoon 100 in only 33 days.  This is again a pretty flat course and this year I'm determined to break 20 hours there.  Last year two guys over 50 years old did it, so why can't I? If the weather can stay cool there, I can do it.

The kind congratulations for my ATY win continue to pour in from the ultrarunning community. That is a big reason I love ultrarunning because you become part of a family of runners who are supportive and take time even during races to get to know you.

On the ultralist, it was funny that a guy remembered that I had finished dead last in my first 50-miler back in 2004 and now is beating US National team members.  He used that as an example to give encouragement to back-of-the packers and what is possible to reach for.  And then a buddy in his 50s chimed in as say that it is because I've reached my prime, in the 50s.

Anyway, enjoying the rest.  No reason to run for awhile.

Recovery Day 5.  A little discouraging.  Getting up today didn't feel like I was hit by a truck anymore, just a small car.  All those joints, even fingers and toes hurt. I felt like an old man with arthritis.  Well, maybe I am and need to start acting my age.

After 100s, typically you have some swelling that protects the joints from pain for the first couple days.  Well, that has gone away and that just leaves some interesting pain.  My problem knee is the biggest worry. It started hurting bad yesterday and continues today.  I know that I'm always one race away from retirement because of that knee.  I think I just have some bruised cartilege that will take some time to heal.

Then, going out to the car, I took a very bad fall on the ice and bruised a hip.  So now I'm really walking around like an old man, especially around the ice.

I think I need to go shopping for a rocking chair to rock on my porch.  When I see runners go by, I'll swear, spit, shake my cane, and say, "Dang young show-offs. Bet you can't run 187 miles!"

Whoo hoo!  I feel much better today, feel recovered. No pain getting up today. Amazing what three straight nights of sleeping 10 hours does for you.  I can't remember the last time I've ever slept so much.  All three evenings, 8 p.m. hit and I was exhausted and just went to bed and fell right to sleep.

I think I'm ready to at least start swimming.  I know if I started doing some running that the knee will hurt within the first mile, so it still needs time.  I know the routine with it since it has been nearly seven years now working with it.   I run on it until it hurts then quit, next day can go further, etc.  It seems to heal faster if I use it.

Still resting, nine hours sleep last night.  Fighting off a cold.

Set my potential race schedule for next year.  Decided not to do Hardrock even if I get in, entered Tahoe Rim 100 again instead, to go for my 5th finish there.  Looks like it will be more competetive there this year.

Rocky Raccoon 100, TX – Feb 5-6

Buffalo Run 100, UT – Mar 25-26

Ogden Marathon, UT – May 21

Squaw Peak 50, UT – Jun 4

Bighorn 100, WY – Jun 17-18

Tahoe Rim Trail 100 , NV – Jul 16-17

Cascade Crest 100??, WA – Aug 27-28

Wasatch 100, UT?? – Sept 9-10

Virgil Crest 100, NY – Sept 24-25

Pony Express Trail 100, UT – Oct 21-22

Across the Years 48???, AZ – Dec 29-30

Back in the saddle!   Treadmill, most at 8:30 pace.  Tested things out.  Delighted that my knee didn't complain as long as I kept the pace at 8:30 or below.  The ankle problem is really a lower leg problem, the extensor digitorum longus muscle.  It still creaks and was in pain after the run, but reading up on it, it doesn't appear to be a serious problem and people can run through it.

No soreness in all other leg muscles.  Legs felt great afterwards and wanted more.  This turned out to be a good fast recovery given I was still running a week ago.

Treadmill miles.  Almost total recovered.  No real pain. Did some long stretches at 15-20% incline and the legs liked it.

Treadmill.  Lots of incline this morning, machine said I climbed 3,000 feet.  Also doing some weights and core every day.  After ATY my left shoulder was pretty sore from arm swinging for 48 hours or from holding a water bottle for hours.

Rocky Raccoon 100 is now in my sights.  It is only 26 days away!  I'm even working on my pacing goals.  I really believe I can break 20 hours there this year.  Shoot, I broke 20 hours for 100-miles at ATY with 18 hours of rain and mud and and more than a half hour of stops. (still haven't seen my detailed splits for Day one).  So why can't I do the same or better at Rocky?  The altitude is even lower. I'll really have to minimize my aid station stops.

A bad cold set in.  Still did some treadmill.

My first-day splits for ATY were finally posted.  Lots of interesting data to me.  I updated my PRs (to the left).  The downpour cost me about 20 minutes into my 100-mile time.  Splits at: http://www.acrosstheyears.com/cgi-bin/splits.cgi?y=2010&rid=708

Here's my average lap time pace for each 10K segment.   The spike at 15 is due ot the downpour.  The spike at 17 was due to break after 24 hours trying to solve my chafing problem, changing all my clothes and shoes.  My splits were coming down during the second evening as I started "sprinting" some laps.   And then came the 4-hour lazy break.  Note the huge improvement after the rest.

This is average lap time for that 10K stretch.  Each lap is 1/2 K.  I tried to keep lap times under 3 minutes for quite awhile and then under 4 minutes for quite awhile, etc.

A 3:00 lap average is a 1:00:00 10K.

A 4:00 lap average is a 1:20:00 10K. etc.

My first 10K was 51:36, 8:18 mile pace.  Second 10K was 52:54, 8:31 mile pace, etc.

100 miles is just over 160K, so 16 on the graph.

Compare this to my ATY 2008 splits.  Huge improvement, mind boggling because 2008 was perfect weather.

More treadmill, legs feeling strong.  Did a long stretch at 19% incline (holding on to the front).

Here's my ATY chart again, this time with minite-miles, easier to understand.  Look at those slow miles during the second half.  Easy stuff, anyone could do this, right?  Those of course include stops.  It does show that there is plenty of room for improvement to reach 200 miles.

 p.m. Instead of just laying around feeling sick, went and ran more treadmill. 

More treadmill, Flats today, 8-7:30 pace with 2% incline.

Went to the doctor and dentist to take care of my non-running problems.  I found out that I'm actually a teen-ager.  That explains a lot.  I need to go have a wisdom tooth taken out.

Hilly treadmill workout, at least half 10-19% incline.  Machiine thinks I climbed 5,000 feet.

Going to have a fun Monday, getting a wisdom tooth hacked up.  They can't take out the roots, too close to the nerve, so they will cut off the top, hack at it some, and try to reach my pain threshold.  Bring it on!

p.m. More treadmill.

eve. 4 with the dog

Treadmill.  Took about seven miles to feel warmed up.  Good training week this week, but more than 80 miles on the treadmill was brutal.  Funny that still the miles this month is way short from the miles run the last two days of last year.

Kept thinking of friends running HURT 100 in Hawaii.  It helped me keep going, understanding the tough run they are doing over there.

Did an ice run on Utah Lake.  Lots of people out there.  Duck hunters, ATVs pulling sledders, and others.   I first went out to check it with the dog. It is her favorite place in the world.  She just runs and runs and runs and runs.

Went back out and ran a long loop to American Fork and back.  Lots of fun. Oh, I see I topped 100 miles this week.  How did that happen?

Tomorrow I go under the knife, getting a wisdom tooth hacked out.

In case I don't wake up, here is my runner last will and testament

To ScottW, I give my GPS, maps, emergency whistle, and signal mirror.  I know he will still get lost, but it might help.  At least he can use the whistle and mirror.

To Jun, I give me Pony Express 100 championship trophy.  This will be the only way he will get one...heh, heh.

To Kelli, I give my green flashlight so maybe she won't be afraid to run on trails at night

To Jon, I give all my old stinky shoes and socks with holes in them.  I'm sure he will find some good use for them.  They will smell even better in the humid south.

To JimKern I give all the runner schwag that I've received at races.  You might need to rent a u-haul to get it home.

To Smooth, I give my hot chocolate, oranges, and hammer gel.  Mix them all in a blender for your next run with the girls.  Then everyone has to raise their glasses full of it to toast me.

I write this wihile still be unsound in mind but able to run 187 miles.

Out the door a little before 4 a.m.  Ran six mile in the light drizzle before the storm and then went in to the treadmill.  Ran 6x7:30x5% and then backed off 5x8:00x3%.  Amazing what a three day rest does.  I felt very fast and strong.  The treadmill was much easier after that six mile warmup.    Friend at the clubhouse.  "Did you get in 11 miles?"  "Uh, actually 17, ran six in the rain before."  He just shakes his head.

There is one curious guy at the club house.  He come in almost every day and just does about a ten minute treadmill, runs fast for 30 seconds checking his heart rate and then walks, and repeats.  And he has to have the fan blasting on him (and me).  Not sure what he's accomplishing, wondered if he has a heart condition, but I don't think so.  I think he just trying to get his heart rate up for a few minutes each day and doesn't want to sweat doing it.  At least it is something I guess.

Crazy hills on the treadmill.   First a 6x7:53x15% (holding on to front with some step-offs).  That was good and tough.  Backed off to 5% for awhile and then ended off with a long 8:30x15%.  The machine thinks I climbed more than 6,000 feet.  I think that was the first time I've clicked those numbers past the 6,000 foot mark.  Quads felt nice and tired afterwards.  Looks like the weather is improving, I look forward to getting back outside.

Hit the pavement at 3 a.m. in the hazy moonlight, 28 degrees.  Didn't take a light.  Most of the icy spots are gone.  Ran the Jordon River Trail, streets in Lehi and Saratoga.   In a residential area, ran into a skunk.  It put its tail up at me, but I slowly went around and the tail went down.  Great Lehi wildlife.  Wildlife in Saratoga is a little classier. A few nights ago, the dog woke us up when we heard a strange sound out our window.  Finally I went down to see what it was.  A fox in in our back yard. 

After that went and ran 8 miles on the treadmill.  Usual crowd there.  I need to get some trail miles in before RR100.  Maybe I can dodge this next storm.

Pain in the jaw getting worse from the pulled tooth.  Hope it calms down soon.

Great fun running a 50K before sunrise.  I was out the door at 2 a.m. and ran a big 21+-mile loop around much of Lehi.  http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/27301148

There was light snow falling, just a dusting on the roads.  I ran into another skunk on the Jordan River trail.  It ran ahead of me for about 100 yards and then finally went into the woods.   It was nice and peaceful out on the roads, very little traffic.  I was going to do more, but was running low on water.  About 4 a.m., the skies cleared a little and a hazy moon brightened things up.

Returning home, I was done with the cold weather. I went to run the rest on the treadmill.  A guy I haven't seen before came in and pounded out two miles with really bad running form.  When he got done, he saw I was on 5 miles and he said, "wow, that is really good."   I knew he wouldn't understand if I told him the whole story.

Got in another ten miles before the sun came up.  Did some hills, climbing 3,000 feet. Not bad getting in 78 miles with just four running days this week.  I might do a little more later on today.   I'm feeling ready for RR100.

p.m. 3 miles with the dog

p.m. 6 more TM miles during Jazz game.

Slept in, lazy bum.  Starting my taper, anyway.   I'll probably run a 5K race on Saturday, so I'm searching for a 4-day training program to run a 5K.  Any suggestions?  I'm thinking it involves eating, sleeping, and watching sports on TV.

The wisdom tooth hole is really a problem.  Went back today and they did wonders on it, feels much better.  The dentist said it was a monster hole that will just take several weeks.

Day one of my 4-day 5K training program.

First, a 5K tempo run on the treadmill, made it in 19:25.  Then backed off, but tried to do some half mile bursts under 6-minute pace.  The treadmill would only let me go to 5:45.  I suspect my feet weren't pushing the belt fast enough so it started laboring.  Hit the 10K mark at 41:48.   After that, still did some speed spurts, but they were tough to do very long.  Boy do I hate doing this tempo/speed stuff.  Felt tougher than my crazying climbing workouts.  My feet just don't want to move that fast.

I think tomorrow's training schedule calls for me to eat a couple of those new stuffed burgers at Burger King, and a big bowl of ice cream.

Day 2 in my 5K training.  Quad was a little sore from yesterday's speed work, so I didn't push it as hard.  Did the first 10k in 42:30.  Did some long stretches at 6:30 pace to get used to feeling comfortable doing that.   With the quads a little tight, I guess I'll have to go into a taper for my 5K.  How do you taper for 5Ks?  A walk out to the mailbox? Lay on the couch eating pizza?  Watch programs of people working out?  I think all those would work.

Looks like I'll run the 5K out at Saltair.  I've run that for a few years.  I looked at the Hale's 5K but it isn't as competitive, smaller field.

Day 3 of training for my 5K.  No running today, quads still a little sore from the speed work.  So, it was stuff-the-face day.  Nice big steak lunch with a couple guys who will also be running RR100, donuts, candy.

Five easy TM miles.  8:30 pace at 5%.  In my taper mode, just enough to keep the taper pains away and not get tired out.

At the eleventh hour, the RR100 RD announced that no headphones, music, etc. could be used while running RR100.  I couldn't believe he would put in that rule after everyone had already registered.  I waged a campaign against it. I stuck out my neck and probably made some enemies.  While I don't always run with music, I find it offensive that people keep trying to ban it from our sport for purist reasons, not true safety reasons.  "You should be listening to nature.  You shouldn't be distracted, etc."  Give me a break, let me run how I want to.   100-milers are so long and sometimes it gets so lonely at night, there is no reason to ban them on safe trails. He mentions that people aren't hearing people who want to pass them.  Bogus reason.  I lapped more than 100 runners there last year and can only recall one runner who I had to tap on the shoulder in a friendly way.  No biggy.  The biggest problem is the litter.  For some reason in Texas they trash their courses.  I've never seen it so bad as at Rocky Raccoon.  And another bad problem is lights in the face at night in the two-way portions of the course.  Pacers for slow runners point their lights up at you as your approach and blind you.  That is a far bigger safety concern.

Some point to USATF "rules" against headphones.  These rules don't exist other than championship events.   USATF needs to stay out of ultras anyway. Their 100-mile national championship each year gets no attention, it is a joke.  Shoot, I even won their 50+ age group a couple years ago, but it isn't a big deal. They don't help ultras, except for providing affordable insurance to race directors.  Otherwise their influence only is an imposition with little benefits.  OK, off my soap box.

Well, looks like it worked, the RD backed down for this year, but implied he would ban it next year and doesn't give any understandable reasons why. This is likely my last RR100.

I sure hate 5Ks.  In fact I dispise them.  Did I mention I hate 5Ks? They make me feel old and slow.  But they build character, so I still do one or two a year just to keep myself humble.   I did a 4-day training program to get ready for this race, but it looks like I should have stepped it up and done a 5-day training program.

Worst case this morning, ice-smog.   My lungs are always a limiting factor for this race and distance.  I warmed up inside in the clean air, on the treadmill and then went out to Saltair.  Ran another mile and felt fine.

This course is flat as can be.  So flat that it makes it very challenging for me.   I started off fine, keeping the breathing under control and clocked a 6:10 for the first mile.   I had forgotten my Garmin, shoot, that would have helped push me.   Mile 2 was the problem.  I lost focus and even was thinking about Rocky Raccoon 100 next Saturday.   Mile 2 was 6:40, 20 seconds slower than it should have been.   I noticed an old guy that passed me around the half way point, running strong.   I tried to keep him close and planned to reel him in, but it never happened.

Mile 3 was 6:37 and a big struggle, but I kept on pushing, still with a hope to break 20, but I knew it would be close.  I finished in 20:07.  Some dude took a page out of my own book and sneaked up on me, sprinting past me with about 5 yards to go.  I believe he was my age group winner.  Hats off to him, dang.

Well, it was a course PR for me and just 16 seconds off my 5K PR.  I did get second place in my age group, losing it by one second. So not really bad.  It was also the Utah Stake 5K championship for RRCA, and I think I got 4th for Grand Masters, but it left me angry at myself and determined.  A perfect attitude going into Rocky Raccoon this week.   My focus there is to get top-3 for ages 50+ which they give awards for.

Right after I finished, I had terrible pain in the jaw from my extracted wisdom tooth 12 days ago.  It was so bad it made me dizzy.  After resting in the car for five minutes, the pain calmed down.  Wow.  Sure hope this heals up more this week.

Did I mention I hate 5Ks?

Taper week....who hoo!  Just an easy seven miles on the treadmill to keep things loose and scare away the taper pains.   7x8:00x3.5%

Rocky Raccoon weather this Saturday looks perfect to me.  Cold start mid-20s (can really push that first 20 miles hard), warming up to mid-50s, cooling to about 40 by finish.  No heat, no rain!  Mud in places could be an issue, but blast on through it!  Humidity only 50%.

The no-headphones debate continues on the races' facebook blog.  It is interesting to that those who chime in and are so negative toward people who use them haven't even run a 100-mile race before, yet they want to see them banned.

Here's a funny exchange:

Runner: "One of the things that I like about trail running is the friendliness of the fellow runners. When you add headphones (like on the roads) people become very unfriendly - no smile, wave, nod, or howdy. Besides, if someone can't handle using his own brain for entertainment, makes me wonder how much he likes his own self? To me, it's a time to think things through, review classnotes, to do lists, listen to nature, make new friends as they jet by."

My reply: "Yes, same old endless argument. People who like to listen to music while running are mentally weak, unattached from nature, unfriendly, not alert, so we need to put in a rule so we can make them be better runners like us. I don’t buy it at all and I go both ways in my use. I find all 100-mile runners to be generally a fantastic, friendly, completive, mentally strong group. Some are in a zone and aren’t going to say hi to everyone, that is fine, after all, it is a race. But let’s not impose rules to make people run exactly the way we think is “right.” Barefoot/Hokas, headlamps/handhelds, meat/no-meat, music/no-music, and on and on. Live and let live, run and let run."

Same treadmill routine.  7x8:00x4%   Legs feel good.  Weight a little lower than last year.  Mileage base higher than last year.  But I'm a year closer to the grave this year.  Only worry is the tooth socket.  Seems to be getting a little bit better, but still starts aching bad when I run.  Oh well, will keep my mind off the other aches and pains.

The goal is to go sub-20 hours for the first time in a 100-mile race.

More of the same.  Treadmill  8x7:30x3.5%

I wrote a somewhat controversial, opinionated piece on my blog to make myself quit thinking about this race director stuff.  Spit out my thoughts, we shall see if anyone notices it.

http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=608

No running, just sleeping.  Only a few miles so far this week, but I'm still confident that I will end up on top of the mileage board this week...ha, ha.

The stress today is the Houston weather, and storms across the country.  Many runners won't being coming.  Their flights have been cancelled.  Continental and Southwest cancelled nearly every flight into Houston this evening and tomorrow morning.  Looks like I'll be OK, my flight is in the afternoon.  It looks like we have a very good chance having at least an inch of snow on the course at the start.  I'm very phyched about that.  So many runners will slow down.  I plan to cruise fast.  The starting temperature will be close to 20 degrees!  Wind chill close to 10. It will warm up to 51 in the afternoon and then probably be near freezing when I finish.  Very good.   Far away from the hot temps a few years ago there when the heat melted me.

Made it to Texas just fine.  Roads were dry all the way to Huntsville. Good to see friends.  No snow on course.  Wood bridges will be icy.  Online tracking ultralive.net.  5am MST.

Detailed report at:

I wrote up my detailed report for Rocky Raccoon 100.  http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=612

Here's the short version, still only had some cat namps.  This was my 4th time running Rocky.  I hoped to break 20 hours, but didn't make it because of some issues, but still had a great run and my best placement ever there.

The temperature in the morning was 21 degrees, very fridged, so I wore long tights and long sleeves.   I goofed at the start, was still preparing when I heard the count-down, so I had to pass more than a 100 runners until I caught up with those running fast.   My first 20-mile loop was 3:00:30, a little faster than scheduled.

It was so fun to see ultrarunning heros on the out and backs running, Karl Melzer, Scott Jerek, Anton Krupicka, Hal Koerner, and Mike Wolfe.

On Loop 2, I had terrible pain in the gut that cost me about 15 minutes.   I completed that loop in 3:41.  After that loop, I took a very long stop, including a 15 minute bathroom break and I changed out of my warm clothes.   Now I was running with a slower crowd but was able to pass a bunch.

Loop 3 was thrilling.   At mile 56.5, Karl Melzer lapped me and I was able to hang with him.   I wondered how long I could.   I had been running lazy so had some good energy.  In fact I ran ahead of him for a couple miles.  We ran together into the start/finish area at mile 60.  I thanked him for waking me up and he complimented me on my pace.  We had run between 7:30 and 9:15 miles for 3.5 miles.   Including my very long break, my loop was 4:05.  Thanks to that crazy frantic run at the end of the loop I was only about 15 minutes behind my schedule.

Karl was much quicker than me at his drop bag, so I couldn't keep running with him.  I needed to gather my jacket and gloves for the night.  I needed to hustle, because I needed to run the next six miles before sunset to get my flashlight.  I succeded and was ahead of last year's pace by 15 minutes or so.

It got cold pretty fast, but if I pushed the pace, I became pretty warm.  I finished loop 4 at 9:25 p.m.   Karl was in the tent, his race finished. He asked how I was doing.  My problem now was that I was bonking, low in calories.   My stomach just wasn't very happy and wouldn't let me run very fast.   The 4th Loop was 4:40.   I knew that my quest for a sub-20 was now gone.  I could PR if I recovered.   I was lapping tons of runners.  Some realized it and said they wished they were on loop 5 too.

Loop 5, was very, very tough.  I just couldn't intake enough food and when I slowed, I started to get pretty cold.  I was still wearing shorts, but had two longsleeves on and a fleece over my face to help with the cold wind.   I tried very hard to at least keep at 15:00 pace going.  The final loop was a slow 5:56. I even had to sit down at a couple aid stations to recover and get warm.  I lost my motivation to care about my finish time, I just wanted to get it done and get in a warm bed.

For the last 8 miles, I just made sure that no one passed me.  One guy caught up with a mile to go, but he was power walking, so I ran on ahead and his light disappeard.

I finished at 3:22 a.m. for a 21:22, and by 4:30 a.m. was showered and resting in my motel room.  Amazingly I felt great, better than usual, probably because of that slow finish and cool weather.   After a few cat naps, at 8:30 a.m. I was back at the park to watch some friends finish.  Next I went to the awards at 11:00 a.m. and was shocked that I won an award for 3rd place Masters (age 50+)  That had been one of my goals for the race, to place in masters.   My time was slower than last year, but my placement much higher, probably because of the tough cold weather.  There were about 316 starters and I finished 34th.  Not bad for a very, very competitive field, with some of the best ultrarunners in the world.

I flew home and arrived before halftime of the Super Bowl.

OK, the after affects of running 100 miles.   No injuries! It is always a huge victory if you come out without an injury.  Very minor blisters, in the usual spots, hardly noticed them.  The Hokas held up very well.  Zero foot-bottom soreness.  That really is amazing.  The people in Texas hadn't seen them before so I was asked lots of questions about them along the way.  My remaining problem with them are the backs of the heels.  They are too high and after 100 miles leaves my achilies a little swolen.  I guess I will have to alter the shoes again.  I now have 450 miles on those shoes and they feel like they still have plenty more in them.

It is funny how recovering from 100-milers is always a little different.  For most of them, I feel drained, physically ill for a couple days, and don't have an appetite.  But this time in that area, I feel great.  But this time my quads are really sore, especially the left one.  I think how well I feel generally is due to two things, the cool temperature during the race, and my laziness for that last six hours or so.  I can tell that I was lazy and had more I could have given if the crazy stomach would have cooperated.  Oh well.   My left quad is more sore than the right because I think I lead with that leg and sub-consciencely protect my bad right knee.  I'll have to work on that.

Legs still quite sore, but I passed the "jog downstairs without grabbing the handrail" test.   Not bad to pass that test after just two days. The official RR100 standings are being worked on and it looks like I fell to 34th place with 316 starters.  116 runners dropped out along the way.  That is a pretty huge dropout rate, the biggest in years there.  I guess the cold weather really took its toll.

This was my 67th ultra finish.  Taking a look at my performance trend chart in ultras, I finished this race about right on target in the top 11% of starters.  The chart below shows my history.  10% means that I finished in the top 10%, so I want my number to be low.  Last year at Rocky I was in the top 13%.  So even for this race I improved.  Not bad because the top of the leader board was really stacked this year.

It feels like I've bounced back pretty well.   I'll start running again when I'm interested.  I may take a rare break just for kicks.

I wrote up my detailed report for Rocky Raccoon 100.  http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=612

It is fun to be lazy and not feel guilty.

My big decision right now is, Should I really try to run three 100s, each within two weeks of each other this year?  Three is six weeks? Cascade Crest 100 registrations opens and sells out Saturday.  I would really like to run that race, but Wasatch is two weeks after that, and I would really like to ran another race two weeks after that.   If I do this, I would race CC100 and shoot for sub-24, but I would take it easy and have fun at Wasatch.  Then I would try to race Virgil Crest.   Decisions, decisions.  

I didn't get into Hardrock, or even on the wait list, so I did the right thing there and entered Tahoe Rim 100 before it filled up.

Big mileage week, 5 miles.  Did easy treadmill.  The left quad is still tight and sore, unusual, but should be fine in a few more days.  I'll start using it and it should heal faster.

I signed up for Cascade Crest 100 in August.  I've wanted to do that race for several years, it is located in the mountains where I grew up skiing and camping in Washington.  Should be fun to go home.  But, it looks like I'm targeting nine 100-milers this year.

Treadmill 7x8:15x4%.   Nice to be in training mode again.  The left quad still a little sore, but is manegable.  Should be OK in a few days.  Noticed that Javalina Jundred is in mid-November this year.  That is very tempting, would be recovered from Pony Express and the later date would bring a better chance for cooler weather.

Tough hill workout on the TM.  7x8:30x10% (average)  Half of that I was at 15% incline.

I thought I had been gaining weight with my lazy last ten days, but surprise, I'm still at race weight.

Looking forward to getting outside again, but now another storm is coming.   Best wishes to those going to Moab Redhot on Saturday.  I decided to skip it this year.  Hopefully there is a lot less snow that last year.  That was crazy.  One of these years, I'll really try to race that one hard.  Each year it has always been a recreation run for me.

Treadmill 8x7:30x3%

Knee complaining for some reason.  Quad almost healed.

Easy treadmill, weights and core.  Noticed my right achilles is creaking.  Hadn't noticed that because it isn't sore.    Looks like Moab Redhot could have some interesting weather tomorrow, wind and storm toward the end.  Jealous, looks like fun.

As the sun was setting went out and did a run south of Lake Mountain.  Ran up the Soldier Pass road, very pleasant as the sun was setting, had a good pace going.  But down the other side, the roads were muddy and slower.  Down in Cedar Valley, I turned south on the Power Line road which was very slick and muddy.  At times I had to jump up on the desert floor to make better time, dodging the bushes.  I kept telling myself that I was building character.  But after 1.5 miles of slipping and slogging along with heavy shoes, I had had enough and turned east a mile early.  Once I made it to the top of the ridge, the trail was much better.  On the Utah valley side the soil isn't as much clay, more sandy.  Running down was fun again.  It became dark and then the full moon rose on the other side of the lake over Hobble Creek Canyon.  It was spectacular and huge, reflecting off Utah Lake.  What a sight!  I hadn't planned for that, but I was at the perfect location to view this.  Finishing up was discouraging, I felt slow and old and my left quad hurt and my right achilles too.  I had orginally hoped to do two loops, but one was enough.  This area just needs to thaw out to be more fun.   Drove to get some pizza and then went home.

Map of run: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/28472844

I guess it is going to take longer than usual to recover from this last 100, probably another two weeks this time.  Oh well, I'll just enjoy the rest.

The tendon wasn't creaking this morning, so went and did 6 boring TM miles.  Afterwards it creaked bad.  Still have a lump on it from the high back heel from the Hokas.  With 450 miles on the shoe, I'll try cutting the back heel down for Buffalo Run.  I think I can get 100 more miles out of them.  But I need to heal this tendon, they heal really slow.  Good sign that it doesn't creak after a night's rest.

Well, now I understand why I have felt slow the last three days.  Low blood pressure for some reason (99/56).  Usually I'm on the high side, so this is different.  My brother has spells of low pressure too during exercise. I think I've had this before and it just goes away.   I noticed it when running on the treadmill hard, then stopping, and a short spell of almost fainting each time I would stop.  We have a blood pressure checker, so that confirmed.  I'll just take in more fluids, avoid dehydration.   If it doesn't get better, I'll run with a sign like my brother when he passes out on the trail.  "This is normal, just leave food."

On the South side of Lake Mountain are three different access roads to the top.  I've gone up and down the one furthest to the west several times, that being the main road.  I thought I would try the route in the middle, perhaps going almost to the towers and then take the main road back south.  Well, it didn't turn out that way, but I had a great time in the early morning in the snow on the mountain.

I started at 4 a.m. at Redwood Road and ran up Soldier Pass road, almost to the pass.  The temperature was about 30 in the lowlands, so all the mud was frozen.  The road I wanted turns right, just before the switch back to the top of the pass.  The middle route stays down in a canyon, so I was successful in easily staying on the right route.  But as I approached 6,000 feet, the snow started to get deeper.  I stopped to put on my microspikes and then could make better progress.  But as I reached 6,400, the snow drifts in the small canyon really made things slow and soon I was just doing post-hole hiking.  That was OK, it looked like I was almost to the top of the ridge.    But then my canyon narrowed and looked like it was ending.  I guessed I had missed a turn (I believe I did).  Since I was going so slowly, I turned back and tried to find my missed turn, but never noticed it in the dark.

So, when I reached the junction for the eastern route up, I decided to go take that one.  I knew it would be much steeper and it was.  This route quickly climbed up the slopes and they were bare of trees and thus free of snow for longer.  Dawn was arriving as I reached the top of the ridge and had amazing views to Cedar Valley to the west, the Tintics to the south, and Utah Lake to the west.  But once again, as I reached 6,400 feet, the snow slowed me down.  I continued on because the view were spectacular as the sun started to rise.  Fog blanketed Provo across the lake and it was heading my way.  Once I reached 6,600 feet, I believe I made it to the junction where my first route should have climbed to the top of the ridge too.  At that point my toes were really getting cold going through foot-deep snow, and I just had a little slush left in my bottle (it had frozen, probably about 20 degrees up there).  So, I turned around.   I was glad that I found a nice new training route.  Doing a loop of those two routes would be nice because the first one is down in the trees and the second has wonderful vista views.  This will be fun once the snow melts.  The route on top continues along the length of the top of Lake Mountain to the towers on the north side.

With all my exploring, I traveled about 20 miles in 4.5 hours.  Not speedy, about 4,000 feet of climbing with lots of snow.

Well, no Bear 100 for me this year.  I booked travel to NY for Virgil Crest.  The RD gave me a nice race director's discount and I'll help promote their race.  Should be fun.  Grabbed airline tickets before oil prices keep shooting up.

Out at 3:50 a.m.  Ran seven on the pavement since it was above freezing.  The knee complained a bunch.  Went into the treadmill and it calmed down.  Did some hill work.  Long stretches at 15%+.  Averaged 9 miles x7:30 pace x 7% incline. 

Ten fairly easy treadmill miles.  10x8:00x6%

Watched a guy who came in to lift weights.  I have a hard time understanding those guys.  He does some simple reps, and then walks around slowly for five minutes, takes a drink, looks at himself in the mirror, watches TV, looks at the weights and slowly sets up the next easy exercise.   He was there for 40 minutes and I think was actually working about 5-7 of those minutes.  To me that is a waste of good time. No sweat on his shirt when he left.  

Another guy who is trying to lose weight is similar.  He actually stands and stares at the weights and machines for long minutes.  I think he thinks he is doing good by just being there and looking at the weights.  Oh well at least they are doing something. 

I love runnin in freshly fallen snow.  So I was out the door at 4 a.m. in the snow storm.  Ran five miles.  One inch fell as I ran.   Then I went indoors and ran the treadmill, averaged a 10x7:40x4%.   The guys doing weights today were tough, worked hard the entire time.  They are led by a former BYU running back.   They guy next to me on the treadmill was a treadmill pounder.  Slamming feet and body flying all over the place.  Now that is tough.  I think he did three miles.

Utah county got slammed this morning with snow.  We had six inches by the time I left for work.  But in Salt Lake County, hardly anything.

p.m. More treadmill, dreaming of the trails.  Need to blow up those machines.

20 miles on the treadmill. Stopped before permanent insanity set in.  Watched the various people coming in to work out.  One lady, I couldn't understand.  She got on the treadmill next to me, turned on the huge fan to blow us like crazy, ties her sweatshirt around her waist like she is going for a hike, just in case she needs it later.  She stays on for about ten minutes and doesn't even go a mile.   Then she spends the next 20 minutes doing odd stretchs, and various exercises that she could have done at home in front of her TV.  Then she was gone, left the fan blasting.  I don't get why people don't want to sweat while they exercise.  A couple other guys came in, didn't lift weights, just did some sit-ups and stretches, one of the guys read a book most the time.   They left after 40 minutes.   Then the guy from earlier in the week came in who does short reps and then slowly walks around the weight machines.  Oh, the thrilling things to watch while on the treadmill.  I can see the stuff from the reflections on the window.

My 20 treadmill miles involved some pretty good work.  Incline averaged about 6% and the machine thinks I climbed 5,000 feet along the way.

For the rest of the time, I ran outside on the Jordan River trail.  It was a bit chilly in shorts with the stiff northerly wind, but I really enjoyed it after that mind-numbing experience in the workout room.

I'm at the top of the mileage board for the week.  If I stay there, that will be my third week this year at the top.

I posted this picture on my facebook page.   All my buckles (or most).  I think I lost one or two.

Top row: Bear(6), Across the Years (2)
Row 2: Tahoe Rim (4), Leadville, Wasatch (3)
Row 3: HURT, Rocky Raccoon (4), Bighorn (3)
Row 4: Old Pueblo (3), Javalina, Zane Grey (3), Pony Express Trail

p.m. 5 miles with the dog.  Had to get my daily miles up to 50K. 97 miles with just five days of running.  Not bad.

p.m. five miles with the dog and three without.  Nice evening.   Let's see if I can get another high mileage week.

6 on the road and 10 on the South side of Lake Mountain.  Found yet another new road.  This one stayed on a south facing slope on top of ridges and was mostly dry from any snow or mud.  At 6,200 feet it looks like it disappears, probably a hunter's trail.  It was pretty steep towards the end.

Six on the pavement and seven on the treadmill.  Pretty nice outside this morning. Five more during lunch. p.m. five miles with the dog on pavement.

a.m. Treadmill. p.m. Treadmill

Treadmill with 5% incline.  Some big miles this week but feeling very good, not a big deal.  Thankful that I have no injuries right not that lets me train like this.  You really miss it when injuries get in the way.

p.m. 8 with the dog.   I'll probably go do the Antelope Island training run tomorrow.  Anyone else going?

Antelope Island today was like a Utah/Idaho trailrunner convention.  The trails were filled with runners, most who are getting some final training in on the Island before the Buffalo Run when 750+ runners will maroon themselves on the island in a couple weeks to run like crazy.

I was the first to arrive.  The automatic timer on the island gate swung open at 5:30 a.m. and I parked at the parking lot on the Great Salt Lake shore.   I wanted to get some extra miles in before most runner arrived so I ran across the long 7-mile causeway and back, and nice easy tempo run to get my feet moving.  It was great fun to see dawn arrive far out on the lake.  I returned at 7:45 a.m. with just enough time to change, eat, and get ready for some trail running.

Lots of runners showed up by 8:00 a.m. and we caravaned out to the Buffalo Run starting time.   Jim Skaggs explained the suggested route for the day and we took off.  After a mile or so, once we hit the single track, I told buddy Mike Place that it was time to kick it in.  We started to fly ahead of the pack.  My legs just loved to be running on soft single-track again.  Our pace for the rest of that first loop was pretty fast.  I stopped for a bathroom break and Mike took the lead.  He kept the pace going.  I kept him in my sights but at times we were doing sub 7-minute pace.  It was great fun.

Back at our cars, we prepared for the main event, the big 18-mile loop that will begin the real race in a few weeks.   We continued to push it pretty well.  I was feeling the miles and Mike stayed about 50 yards ahead.  But once we hit the soft sandy downhill toward Lone Tree, I kicked it into high gear, curious to see how fast I could run it.  I flew by Mike doing a 5:40 pace.  Great fun!  Near Lone Tree, I was surpised to see Karl Meltzer coming toward me.  He called out my name and we exchanged greetings as he flew by.

Once I hit the 25-mile mark for the morning, I backed off the pace.  I wasn't eating enough but that was OK.  Mike and I ran near each other.  He had a very impressive pace up the switch-backs, but I caught up to him at the Elephant Head trail junction.  His calf was bugging him so his fast pace was over. I hit the 50K mark for the day at about 5:15, so the pace was pretty good.

The rest of the run was enjoyable but uneventful. I brought it in slow, averaging 12:30 pace toward the end.   I just enjoyed the late morning and had ran by many buffalo.  I finished my run about 1 p.m. or so and enjoyed talking to many runners who were resting from their runs.   I had run out of food with three miles to go and ran out of water with a mile to go.  I had refilled my bottle a couple times using snow.  Glad it was there.  The trails were in pretty good shape, only on stretch of 100 yards of mud.  Lots of horse ruts, but hopefully those will get smoothed out by the bikes before race day.  I could tell that all the runners had packed down the trail pretty well.

Four more miles with the dog.  I think the dog went 24 miles with me this week.  She is getting into better shape.

128 miles this week.  That is the most miles I have trained in a week without a 100-mile race to boost the miles.  There were many times this week when I wanted to stop short, but over and over again, I made myself continue through boredom, tired legs, etc.  Should help when times get tough in a race.

Was lazy and slept in, got to love 9-hour sleep-ins, don't do that often.  I will probably do some running after work.   With the big mileage base done, tapering starts with focus on speed and heart rate.  Rex Lee 10K is on the schedule for Saturday with thousands of runners.  I've won my age group 2 out of the last 3 years, came in second in 2009.  Last year it was a 9K but this year it looks like they changed the course back to 10K.   PR could be possible.  It is a fair course, with hills, but few turns.   This year they are starting the 5K first, and the courses merge for the last 1K.  This means when I will merge, the 5K runners will really be slow, probably walkers.  That could be a problem.

p.m. Ran crazy fast on the treamill, three miles, each about 6:15 pace.  Hopefully by Friday 6:00 pace will feel more comfortable.  Not so right now, the old legs and heart don't like it.  The danger doing this is pulling a muscle or putting too much stress on the bad knee.  I'll watch out.  But this week it is about speed.    Next week probably hills.

More tempo running on the treadmill.  Felt easier today but still painful.  Four miles in 25:30. Backed off but brought in 10K at 40:25. Some step-offs along the way.  Average for nine miles, 6:53.  Seems like it is making a difference.

lunch: 5 easy miles.

p.m. Hill treadmill, 3x7:30x15%  Then easy mile.  machine thinks I climbed 2,500 feet.

Cooldown mile, 6:10 pace.

So much for tapering today.

Very similar workout to yesterday morning on the treadmill.  Tough, but I can tell is it helpful to the heart, lungs, and legs.  I'd rather be outside, but the crazy machine helps me do tempo runs.

p.m. 5 miles

Similar routine to the last couple days, tempo on the treadmill.  10K in 39:40, but stepped off about 8 times, so it was more like a series of speed sessions.   Left shin was sore and didn't go away, so I cut it short...don't want a shin splint. 

Sweatshirt lady was in again today.  Comes in, wraps the sweatshirt around her waist for her hike on the treadmill, about a half mile.  Then does funny lunges around the room for a couple minutes, and then ten minutes on the floor working on abs.  No sweat involved at anytime and then she's done.

Lunch: three easy

Slept in.  Got to rest up for the big 10K.  Actually, the shin still sore, so letting it heal up.

This is the fifth year I've run this 10K.  I like to run it because Rex Lee's wife grew up with my mom and she's always been kind to me when I've met her.

Last year this was sadly a 9K, but they got things fixed.  This distance was good.  This is a tough course to get a PR because of the hill.  It is about 200 feet of climbing.  This year the because of the start location, the hill was moved to mile 2 instead of 1.  That made it tougher.  I like to get that hill over with on very fresh legs.

I said hi to Mary Ann Schauerhamer at the start.   She asked what my target was, and I told her 42:00.  Turns out that she took it easy and ran a steady 42-minute pace the entire way.  That threw me off at first because I was keeping up with her for the first mile with a 100-foot climb.  The split was 6:41., which was too slow.  Not a good start, lost 20 seconds.  The hill mile split was 7:33.  OK, I knew I'd really have to go negative splits now on the steady long downhill starting at the MTC.  Mary Ann was less that 100 yards ahead.

For the next couple miles, I ran almost side-by-side with the third-place woman who had talked to me at the start.  She would catch up, I would surge ahead, she would catch up, and we would do this over and over again.   Good motivation.

Mile 3 was 6:19, and Mile 4 was 6:33.  Good work.  But than she surged ahead and I just couldn't find the push to keep up anymore.  Time to hang on.  Mile 5 was 7:02, still OK, but I lost the PR bringing it in at 7:16 pace.  I just didn't have the motivation to red-line it to the finish.

I crossed the finish line in 42:24, in 26th place out of about 480 runners.  I got secon in my age group.  Senator Mike Lee announced the awards and of course joked about my name.

I missed the PR by 20 seconds, but that is OK.  It is a tough course to PR on.  However, I set a course PR by almost a minute.

Afterwards I met Keith Barton who beat me. I always compete with with him in my age group but am always just behind.  We had a nice talk.  He is going to run Squaw Peak for the first time and is planning on doing a Grand Canyon R2R2R.  Its nice that my writings are inspiring road runners to give ultras a try.

p.m. four miles with the dog, Jimmer.  I'm renaming the dog to Jimmer.  I'm sure she will like the name.

OK, tempo training week is over, thank goodness.  Back to the miles.  It was good to avoid the treadmill this morning.  Instead I ran loops above my home.  There is a dirt road loop that goes around "rattlesnake ridge" and it is exactly one mile long.  To bad no sunrise to watch, stupid Daylight Saving time.

I'll probably keep the miles up this week, got to keep on top of the mileage board for the month.

p.m. six during lunch.

Slept in, was nice and lazy. 

Starting to have 100-mile race dreams again.  They are always frustrating and funny.  The typical dream is that I'm running Wasatch 100 and for some reason I lose the course even though I've run it many times.  The course flags disappear, and I'm almost always in some sort of large building, trying to figure out stairs, hallways, etc.  Eventually I realize that my race is ruined because I've spent too much time wandering around lost.

Four during lunch

p.m. 5 with the dog

Ten slow miles in the Lake Mountain foothills.  Just ran around with a little exploring. The trails were find until approaching into the mouths of canyons.  Then they were muddy and I turned around.  The trails are good on my lower legs.  I can tell I haven't had enough trail time to keep them strong.

Finally in the top ten on the mileage board for the year.  I used to be well down page two.  Last year I finished tenth.

5 miles at lunch

Six very easy

The Shamrock Half Marathon is a low-key half in my home town of Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain.  It is a tough hilly course, lots of turns and about 900 feet of climbing along the way.  It even has a quarter mile of dirt.  Last year I ran in just under 1:38.  I hoped to improve that by at least a couple minutes this year.  But the wind this year had other ideas.  We had gusts of over 20 mph.  Some of the flats would feel like tough hills.  So I readjusted my expectations, hoping to at least beat my course PR by a minute.  It seemed like there were about 200-250 runners.

The race unfolding a lot like last year.  During the first couple miles I was with the front-runners but the eased back and was passed by a couple groups before mile 4.  Buddy Mark Ellison passed me at about the same place as last year, and just like last year, I kept him in my sights until the finish, but never passing him.

Splits for the first half of the race were: 6:25, 7:48 (hiill), 7:27 (wind), 8:26 (hill), 7:49, 7:28.  By mile five, I finally felt warmed up and felt more comfortable, able to push the speed up a little at times.  No one would pass me after about mile 4. 

For the next few miles, we continued to run in residental areas of the Ranches.  At about mile 8, I crossed the main road and the volunteers weren't really pointing which way to go, so I started to run up the wrong road.  But I no longer could see the guys in front of me, so I quickly turned around, realizing my mistake.  When I did turn on the right road, I was shocked to see a pretty large group of runners within view.  Where did they come from?  I finallhy concluded that they had missed the turn, they were runners who had passed me about five miles earlier.  I didn't feel too bad for them, they should have studied the course map, that is part of the game.

The toughest uphill is at mile 9.6 and then a nice fast dirt downhill.  My legs still had some good speed in them, and I was able to find some 6:15 pace speed.   My splits for miles 7-10 were: 7:33:, 7:12, 8:03, 7:43. 

With just three miles to go, mostly flat and downhill, it was time to reel in some runners.  I was able to pass three.  I finished the race with 6:56, 7:08, and 6:24.  Like last year, I wished the race had some more miles, because I was really gaining on runners ahead and didn't feel tired.  I finished in 1:36:44, beating my course PR by over a minute.  I again won my age group and finished 7th overall.

After finishing, I filled my bottle and immediately went out for more miles.  I ran those last downhill fast miles a couple more times, great fun pushing sub-7 pace.  Ended up doing six bonus miles.  Fun times.

Got to love race week, can sleep in, skip running and not feel at all guilty. 

Worked on my race pacing chart.  Weather is looking like it will be on the chilly side with some snow. Sounds great to me.  Just keep the stiff wind away.  For those who are local and not running in the Buffalo Run, you should come out to the island anyway, watch the fun, run around a bit.   I don't have any pacers, so if someone wants to come run some with me, you are welcome.

Five easy miles, in full taper/rest mode.

Easy five miles.  Taking a little different approach for this race, just doing power walking this week.  Seeing if that keeps the taper pains away.  So far, so good.  Getting plenty of sleep too.

Easy four, walking.

Spent last evening helping Jim Skaggs put 750+ packets together.  We had some good help but it still took about 2.5 hours.  My son Connor also came with me to help.

All systems go!  I'm excited about the poor weather because that usually helps me climb in the standings.  Although the field of runners who are faster than me are tough and I don't expect any of them to slow down.

My brother Bob was going to be in the 100, his first 100, but he's a big-wig LA lawyer, and has a big trial going on so he can't break free.

Son Kevin, will be running in the 25K.  He'll come out to camp Friday night along with son, Davy, and son-in-law Jon.  So I'll probably have a crew during the night.

But before all this, it is Jimmer time tonight!

Detailed report later.  I think about 50 runners started.  We started in a snow storm and I had my garbage bag on.  I took the lead going up the hill.  I heard, "There goes Davy."  The storm only lasted a few minutes. Tim Long caught up and went ahead an near the top Karl Meltzer passed me as I was taking off my bag and said, "the rabbit rarely wins."  On top of the ridge, I ran past Karl, how cool is that, passing Karl Meltzer?  Later near the top of the hill up to Elephant Head as I was trying to get my music turned on, Karl went on ahead.  We did the Elephant Head out-and-back first.  Tim started the loop first and got all confused when he looked up and saw us on the ridge high above.  We yelled at him to just continue, but later he climbed up a steep slope to get on the Elephant Head Trail.  I hit the turn-around in fourth place.   At that point I no longer tried ot stay with Karl and it was great to see so many happy friends on the way back.  There was a couple inches of snow on the trail but it was nice and soft.

My speed went away at the switch-backs.  Tom Remkes and another runner passed me and I just couldn't keep up on the flats back to the aid station.  The trail was very muddy and slushy.  During the last few miles of the loop the mud attached to the shoes and made them very heavy. There were also slippery sections, causing me to go off-road to find some traction. It was slow going.  I was just glad that I wasn't further behind. Each time a runner went through it got worse.

I finished the first 19-mile loop in 3:09, a little slower than last year.  The trail conditions were much worse.  I turned on my Garmin and it would help me keep my pace on the long out and back to the Ranch.  I really didn't care about my race position. The plan was to not worry about that until about mile 60.

My pace was good.  Ahead of me I could see a runner who would walk the small hills but run the flats fast.  I just couldn't quite catch up to him.  It turned out to be Tom Remkes. I noticed that Karl was now about six miles ahead of me (at mile 30).  Tim Long and Dan Vega were also way ahead.

I did pretty well and reached the Ranch exactly on schedule at 5:40.  Maurine mentioned that Tom and I were in 5th place.  That got my attention because I went into this race with a dream goal of a top-5 finish. At the start Cory Johnson had told me that he was betting on me to finish in the top five and he believed Tom and I would be the best bets after the elite runners.

I left the Ranch before Tom but he caught up within a mile or so and for the next ten miles we leap-frogged.  Tom is a much better runner than me.  Last year he beat me in every 100 we ran by several hours.  But I knew I had trained well for a flat course like this.  Could I beat him this time?  For the next couple hours I observed his running.   He was using walk breaks on the small hills and then would run at 9:30-10:00 pace.  I would on the other-hand run almost everything and keep a steady 11:00 pace.  At times I would even run the uphills faster than the flats just to show myself that I could do it.  If you can keep running uphills clear to mile 80 and beyond, you can place very high in the results.  I was glad that I could still easily run the hills.

My four sons met me at the aid station below the ridge.  It was fun to see them.  They made wise crack, but my mind was mushy at that point and I didn't have come-backs.

Tom kept a 50-yard lead on me when we arrived on top of the ridge on the pavement and he kept that lead for the rest of the first 50 miles.  The sun went down as I started the trail at the campground.  I couldn't see Tom's light ahead and wondered if he had a light.  But once the trail opened up I saw his light, he was still less than 100 yards ahead but picked up his pace and so did I.  I finished the first 50 in 9:02, just about right on schedule and an hour faster than last year.

My son told me that one of the front-runners dropped out (Tim), that Tom and I were in 4th place.  My aid station stop was very fast at my car.  All my aid station stops were less than four minutes for the entire race.   I left before Tom and started the crazy 19-mile loop again.  I told my sons that I wouldn't be back until 1 a.m. or later.

I was slow on that loop.  Way too slow.  I was surprised that Tom never caught up to me.  With all the mud, the velcro keeping my gaiters on came loose and I had to stop about ten times to pull them down, tie my shoe tighter, etc.  It was more challenging doing this loop in the dark.  However, I don't know why, but after mile 50, it seems like I can run the uphills much better than earlier in the race.  When I hit the bottom of the switch-backs, Mark Tanaka, the next runner ahead of me was already past the top.  I thought I would never catch him.  Tom was gaining on me, but I flew up that trail and increased me lead. 

After the aid station, I could see Mark's light ahead and it looked like I was gaining.  I decided that I would try to reel him in.  I couldn't quite do it.  I arrived back at the start after a slow 4:33 loop, somewhat discouraged because I was now 45 minutes behind my schedule to break 20 hours.

But Mark was still taking his sweet time at the aid station.  He told me that he was very impressed how I nearly caught up to him on the loop.  Well, I knew that third place was out there waiting for me to take for my own.  My sons were off snoozing in their tent, so I just made a quick 2-minute stop.   On the road up to the ridge I was now in 3rd place but could see Tom and Mark's lights chasing me.

On the out-and back to the trailhead, I could see that I was a half mile ahead of Tom and over a mile ahead of Mark who was now going slowly with a pretty heavy coat on.  I knew that if I wore all those clothes that I would be very slow.  For the entire race except the first mile, I wore a long-sleeve running shirt.  The jacket I had wrapped around my waist never went on even though it got below freezing.  If I kept up my pace, I stayed warm enough.  The wind was an issue at time.  It seemed like we had a head wind in both directions at times.

On the long out-and-back to the Ranch, the race leader, Dan Vega was about 20 miles ahead of me.  Next came Karl, who was 17 miles ahead.  Wow!  The next runner was me!  There would be some lonely aid stations ahead who wouldn't see runners for a long time.

My next big problem was painful chafing.  It became terrible.  I had treated it at last visit to my car, but that only helped for a few miles.  I could stop and try using tape, but Tom's headlamp less than a mile behind was haunting me.  I knew if he passed me, I would be in trouble, so I just sucked it up and tried to ignore the pain for the next 28 miles.  But over and over again I had to stop and walk to ease the terrible pain.

When I got to Lower Frary (mile 77), Charlie Vincent greeted me and congratulated me for being in third place.   He did warn me that Eric Storheim, an elite runner, had started 5 hours late and could still catch me.  All the way to the ranch, I thought I kept seeing Eric's light gaining on me fast.  (Turns out Eric dropped at mile 50).  It was just an illusion, Tom was still about a mile behind. 

I arrived at the Ranch at 4:45 a.m.  The volunteers had not seen another runner for almost four hours.  I was still 45 minutes behind schedule.   I didn't stay long, drank some warm broth and then was on my way.  For the entire race, I just ate gels, Ensure, Reeses, a little broth, and one quarter sandwich.  My stomach never really complained.

On the way back now, I could gage the competition.  The fifth place runner was almost two miles behind so that brought me some comfort about reaching my fifth place goal.  I never saw Eric, so by the time I returned to Lower Frary, I no longer worried about him.  Third place was still possible.  But when I left the aid station, Tom's light was not far behind.   I kicked it into gear on the next uphill and then could see that yet another light, Robbie Asbell's was within 50 yards of Tom.  That put fear into my pace.  I now could again find that 11-minute-mile pace, sometimes dipping toward nine minutes.

Dawn arrived.  I turned off my light quickly so the guys behind couldn't see me.  Matt Watts came toward me about 17 miles behind.  It was great to see him.  He commented that I was taking my sweet time.  The guys at the aid station said the same thing.  Yes, I should have been going faster.   As I left the station, going up the steep hill by the fence, I cried out, "Oh no!"  I could see a runner in black approaching the station.  I don't think it was Tom.  I concluded the runner behind him caught up and was moving very fast.

All I could do was push harder.  Up on the ridge I didn't even want to look behind me, expecting to see that runner reeling me in.  If he passed me, I would crumble.  Lots of cars coming for the 25K were on the road.  It felt good to think I only had about five miles to go. I didn't stop at the Bridger Bay aid station, just ran right by it.  I looked up. Where was that runner?  I stumbled through the rocky section at a pathetic 17-minute pace.  Once out of that mess on the next little ridge I stopped and looked back carefully.   As I looked back, a tiny runner came into view almost a mile behind.  Wow!   I could maybe do this.  I kicked in 11-minute pace again, looking behind me every few minutes.

When I finally reached the dirt road to the finish, I finally knew third place was mine, but I couldn't help looking behind me continually.  Lots of 25K runners were warming up on the road giving me strange looks.  Most of them didn't realize I was a 100-mile runner finishing.

I crossed the finish line in 20:27:10, nearly two hours better than last year when I was the only runner to do 100 miles. It was a 100-mile race PR by 26 minutes!  That elusive sub-20 finish is still out there somewhere.  Karl Melzer was there to greet me and congratulate me.  My sons missed my finish, they were looking at the hills as I ran by.  Tom crossed the finish eight minutes later, and Robbie Ashbell, came in less than three minutes after him.

I watched Kevin start his race and then went and sat by a heater with Dan, Karl, and others, feeling like a hot-shot runner rubbing shoulders with those truly fast guys.  I went out to watch a few 50-mile runners go by, hoping to see jun and Kelli, but then started to feel sick so went back to wash up and rest for awhile.

I stayed around for six hours after I finished to talk to lots of runners.  Wow, there were so many great people there who were so kind.   Congratulations to you all for your great races.   My son Kevin finished his first 25K race in 3:35.  He first said, "That sucked."  But ten minutes later he was talking about his next race, Bighorn 50K.

After watching all the excitement, my 14-year-old son Connor told me two days later that he was going to take up running and wanted to run the 25K next year.   Thanks Jim Skaggs for bringing such a great event to Utah.

Recovery going very well.  It seems that the faster I run a 100, the easier it is on my body.  The cool temperatures really helped too.  My quads are a little sore, still grabbing the hand rail going downstairs, but that is about it.  My appetite is still shot, but will be back tomorrow.  Next up is a Grand Canyon remote run in two weeks.

Six easy power walk miles with a little jogging.  Legs feel pretty good.  Recovery seems to go faster when I start using the legs again soon.

I've had no motivation to run, so I don't.  But its coming back, already looking at some new adventure runs.

Back to training!  Soreness all gone.  Started wimpy and ran on the treadmill to help the legs get moving.  Legs felt good, energy not yet all the way back.  This was a fast recovery.  It is always different. 

Looking forward to an adventure run, probably Friday late afternoon out on the salt flats.  Want to preview part of a course a guy is going to use for a 100-mile run in a few weeks.  He doesn't have anyone signed up yet, so I encouraged him to make the event free this year to test things out.  He's going to get aid stations set up.  Should be very interesting.  I may squeeze in yet another 100-miler.  April 29-30.  If anyone is interested, let me know.

Five at lunch.

Evening, one with the dog.

Ran with my son Kevin out on the Bonneville Salt Flats doing an out and back on the Bonneville Dike out to Floating Island and back.  It was an amazing run.  I'll post a detailed report with pictures later on Saturday.

Details and pictures at: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=652

Time for hill training.  Treadmill  6x8:30x15% and then a cooldown.  Held on to the front with that big incline and had plenty of step-offs, but the machine thinks it hauled me up 4,500 feet.  Near the end felt a twinge in my left patella and it is bugging me today.  Hopefully goes away quickly.  Weights and core too.  I think the little weights and core I have done regularly has helped in the races.  Possible Grand Canyon adventure this weekend.

I was taking it easy this week for my Grand Canyon trip this weekend, but that was cancelled.  The weather is going to be bad with possible heavy snow at the South Rim on Friday night and rain on Saturday.  It isn't worth the long drive for those conditions, so I will likely do it the next weekend.  I'm planning to do a 67-mile loop that I'm pretty sure has never been done in one day.  Four days is the fastest I've found.

Treadmill, crazy hills.   4.5 miles, 9:00 pace, 17% incline (holding on and step offs).  Then 1 mile, 13:30 pace, 25% incline.   Got the machine to click past 5,500 feet climbing.

Ten fairly easy miles on the treadmill, only climbed about 2,000 feet.

The left knee is loose for some reason, causes knee cap to track wrong.  Nothing serious right now.  Usually time, or a very long run can tighten things back up.

All my shoes are getting old.   Hokas still look fine but they have a lot of miles on them.  They won't work for Bighorn because they don't do well being soaked for hours, so I bought another pair of La Sportiva Wildcats for Bighorn.   I'm tempted to get the Hoka Bondi B for road races and dirt road races.  They would do well for Ogden Marathon, perhaps Tahoe Rim, Pony Express, Across the Years, Rocky Raccoon, and Buffalo Run.  Sound like you can get about 600 miles out of the shoe so that makes them worth it.  They would probably help my bad knee on hard surfaces too.-

My Hoka One One's have 550 miles on them.  With the modifications I have made to them I think I have extended their life because they still feel fine.  They probably still have another 100-miler in them.   This would be the shoe I would use for Cascade Crest, Wasatch, and Virgil Crest.

I use the Montrail Wildwoods for slower adventure runs and backup shoes during races. 

First some character building:  When out at 4:30 a.m. in the snow storm and ran three miles up Israel Canyon Road (Lake Mountain) in the mud and snow until it turned into mostly snow hiking.

Then went to the treadmill and did punishing hills, 6 miles 9:40 pace, 15-25% incline.

Its less about miles now and more about elevation, 7,000 feet this morning (if you can believe the machine claiming 5,000)

Thank you government for staying open.  Now I'm looking at a possible two-day adventure in the Grand Canyon, 68 miles the first day, 20 the second, using four trails that go down into the canyon.  That would be about 10,000 feet of climbing.

We'll see. It is such a long drive, I should get my money's worth.   If I did these two adventures, with all my adventures I will have traveled a 80-mile stretch of the Tonto Trail.

Was lazy and slept in when the alarm went off.

It's Grand Canyon week!  I've come up with an ultra crazy Grand Canyon Adventure.  My biggest GC adventure yet, even bigger than my R2R2R2R2R.

What I want to do is attempt to establish an end-to-end speed record on the remote and rugged Tonto Trail, from South Bass Trail on the West to Hance Rapids on the East.  That is about 86.5 miles, (likely 5 or more).   (I would get a GPS measurement).   The Trail actually extends further on both ends but is less of a trail, more like routes.  I've already run 45 miles of this trail several times so very familiar with what this will take.

This would be pretty crazy because it would require a bunch more miles than that, for about 100 miles in the canyon and 121 miles total.

To get to the start would require a 21-mile dirt road forest run up on the rim to get to the South Bass Trailhead from Grand Canyon village.  I could try to find someone to drive me to the trailhead or pay someone big money to do it, but the drive takes two hours on rough roads.  Why not just run it, on a more direct route?  So, I will likely run it the day before and then spend the night along South Bass, starting my run in the morning at the crack of dawn.

I would have several bail-out points along the way if I needed to cut it short and climb out of the canyon, at Tonto Trail miles: 26, 36, 51, 56, 75. and 80.  This week will be ideal for water with the big storm over the weekend.  There will be snow right below the rims and water in most the drainages so I can travel light.

At the end I would need to hitch hike back to Grand Canyon Village.

This could be tougher than I can do.  We shall see.  The problem with the trail because it traverses the drainages in the same direction, it is always sloping somewhat to the left.  That can really wear on the feet and knees after long miles.

Tapering

Seven easy treadmill miles.   8:20 pace, 4% incline.

Getting ready for the Grand Canyon.  Below is my crazy pacing chart.  First day is just a leasurely 26-mile run to my starting point.   I'll explore around in the afternoon and camp and rest down in the canyon where it is warm.   The next day, will be my timed end-to-end run on the Tonto Trail.  I'll start at the crack of dawn, run through the night, and hopefully be up and out by noon on Saturday.  I can bail out earlier if needed.  I'm doing this legal-like, getting back-country permits for both nights down there.

 

Bright Angel
Pasture Wash Ranger	17.4
South Bass TH	21.1
Tonto Trail	26.1	5:00 AM
Serpentine	31.1	6:05 AM
Emerald	32.5	6:25 AM
Quartz	34.5	6:55 AM
Ruby	35.9	7:20 AM
Jade	38.5	8:00 AM
Jasper	39.5	8:15 AM
Turquoise	42.1	8:55 AM
Sapphire	45.0	9:40 AM
Agate	47.1	10:15 AM
Slate	52.3	11:30 AM
Boucher	57.3	12:40 PM
Boucher Trail	58.3	1:25 PM
Travertine Canyon	60.6	2:15 PM
Hermit Creek	62.6	3:05 PM
Monument Creek	66.4	4:05 PM
Salt Creek	69.8	5:05 PM
Horn Creek	74.6	6:15 PM
Indian Garden CG	77.1	6:55 PM
Pipe Wash	79.7	7:35 PM
South Kaibab	82.1	8:20 PM
Cremation Canyon	85.0	9:05 PM
Lonetree Canyon	88.3	10:20 PM
Boulder Creek	91.5	11:35 PM
Grapevine Creek	97.8	1:50 AM
Cottonwood Creek	103.6	3:40 AM
Hance Creek	110.5	5:40 AM
Mineral Canyon	114.6	6:55 AM
Hance Rapids	113.4	7:55 AM
New Hance TH	121.6	12:55 PM

At the Grand Canyon.  Spectacular weather.  60 at the rim.  Just taking it easy today.  I got my backcountry permit, so ready to go.  Didn't quite explain the entire plan, they wouldn't believe it, the 46 miles I put down for three days was enough to raise eyebrows.  But I do have a valid permit to be in the canyon overnight for two nights.  There are snow patches in shady north-facing areas near the rim.  That is good, so I can refill with snow as I run to the trailhead tomorrow.  This sure is running paradise!

I noticed that my yearly miles is at 1000 miles.  That is the soonest during a year that I have hit that mark.

It is just about game time in the Grand Canyon.   I'm waiting until 9 a.m. for it to get above freezing on the rim.   I'll then park at Bright Angel trailhead, take a shuttle to the Abyss view point and then connect up with a dirt road and start a 20-mile run/hike through the forest to get to the South Bass trailhead.  I'll probably take some site-seeing detours to go peek over the rim a couple times on the way.   I'll then descend the South Bass trail to where it connects with the Tonto Trail.  I'll camp there and just spend the afternoon and evening exploring.  I'll sleep in a light-weight emergency bivy bag.  I'll take extra food down for the afternoon and evening so I don't eat up all the food I need for the big run the next day.   Seems like I have almost as much food as I take for a 5-day backpack.  For my run Friday, I need at least 5,000 calories.  Tonight, while camping, I'll even have some soup, warmed over a little sterno can in a alum foil bowl.

Tomorrow morning, before dawn, I'll start my timed run on the Tonto Trail, hopefully for the next 87 miles to Hance Rapids.   Then I'll climb out the New Hance Trail.  We'll see.  I could cut it short if I have any trouble or get too pooped.   I'll pass six exit options before reaching New Hance Trail.    I look forward to the first 31 miles, a section of the Tonto Trail that I have never been on.  It goes through "the Gems," a series of side canyons named after gems.

Did at trans-Grand Canyon run, attempting to run the Tonto Trail end-to-end from South Bass to Hance Rapids.  27 hours 56 minutes. I came up 10 miles short.  Ran out of time and worried that I didn't have enough food to spend another five hours in the canyon in the heat.  So I cut it short and came out Grandview trail.   Details coming, I haven't really slepts for 60+ hours.  Time to hit the hay.

I see I beat out flatlander on the mileage board last week.  Ha, ha. 

I still feel pretty beat up.  What I did feels like a tough mountain 100-mile race.  I'm guessing that I climbed about 16,000 feet along the way or more.  The GPSs get confused down there at time.  My Garmin thinks I climbed over 9,000 for the first half (then batteries died)   I know that isn't right.  My Magellin thinks it was 6,000 feet.  That makes more sense.

My feet are a mess.  I think the Hokas reached end of life.  All the taping I did, couldn't stop the hot spots.   The rugged trail was just too much.  But the bottoms of my feet aren't sore.  I did have a thorn go all the way up through the sole, the insole, and into my foot.  Ouch!  I would really like to see a minimalist try that trail!

I really still think I could do it much faster.  It is just so tough to keep the pace up.

Pictures are posted on facebook with detailed captions.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150546741175694.646922.754525693

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150547336240694.647121.754525693

Next step will be to work on the writeup.  Lots to tell.

It is fun to be lazy.  I think I'll quit all this stupid running stuff and just be lazy and eat anything I feel like.  That's what I'm been doing. It is fun.   I lost 2-3 pounds on the run, so I'm gaining it back.  Maybe I'll gain 20.

I've published my VERY long Grand Canyon run report at: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=691

My energy level has bounced back and my blisters have healed nicely so I don't have to walk funny anymore.   My problem knee is sore...always is after a pounding in the Grand Canyon.  I'm probably doubtful for BSTM this Saturday.  But I may come and run it slowly with my son or help at the aid stations.

I am likely to run the Salt Flats 100 a week from Saturday.  Vince has made some good course changes to make it into a more interesting and doable run.  We'll see how I recover.  He will be out measuring the course this Saturday.

I'm on the injured reserve list.  Running 100s are funny.  For the few days afterwards, a little swelling protects the joints from pain, but once that goes down, you can detect the problems left behind.  My bad knee is the problem.  The slanted trail to the left tooks its toll.  My knee does much better slanting the other way.  So, I have a sore achey knee that even woke me up last night.  The knee problem didn't develop due to ultrarunning, can't blame it on that. It was before running and ultrarunning when I was overweight (over 200 lbs) and tore the meniscus.  The inside/back of the knee joint is low in cartiledge due to the knee scope to fix things up in 2003.  So, a really tough run can leave that area sore, probably bruised cartiledge or bone.  I just hope each time that it will calm down and get better.  It always has.  In 2003 the doctor told me to give up running (I had not yet really started.)  Well, I've run nearly 20,000 miles since then, being careful and learning how to manage it.   Anyway, I'm hopeful, but always know my last run, may really be by last.  So I enjoy it like it is the last and try to pack in more before I get too old or the knee breaks for good.

The knee is improving.  I'll miss BSTM tomorrow, have fun to all those who go.  Instead I'm going camping with the boy scouts.

Went with the boy scouts (son included) out to the Pony Express trail.  They are getting in shape for a 50 miler.  We dumped them all out with packs six miles from Simpson Springs.  I drove to SS, got on my running gear and ran back to them.  Then as they hiked, I went off road running up and down the hillsides.  Soon some of the boys followed my lead and enjoyed going off road too.  Legs felt great and I didn't notice much if any knee pain.   Told the boys pleny of stories about the history of the area we were in.

The boys did a few more miles, this time without packs and just hiked in the foothills.  I told the leaders that I would run along and keep track of them.  The leaders drove along the road and waited for us.

I felt like a sheep dog, running along trying to herd they boys.  Some went fast ahead and a couple tried climbing too high.  One boy in back wouldn't listen to me and wanted to free-climb any rock cliffs he could find and fell way behind.   Finally after chewing him out twice he started to listen.   I finally herded them all off the mountain (Indian Peak) in safe condition.  They all had a good time.   I had a good short run going up and down the drainages.

3.5 treadmill miles untill I wanted to kill myself.  Running indoors after that Grand Canyon run just seems criminal.  So, I went outside and ran 3.5 on the JRP.

OK, I decided to run the Salt Flats 100 on Friday.  Should be chilly, windy weather, kind of like Buffalo Run 100.   It is a first-time race with aid stations far apart.

Going to go buy some Hoka Bondi-Bs for it this afternoon.

Eight miles on wet roads, JRP and Lehi/Saratoga roads.  Great to be outside.  But then I'll watch Biggest Loser tonight and get mad because that show is teaching America that the only way to workout is being in a gym.

Took the Hoka Bondi Bs for a test drive.  Couldn't detect any defects, no hot spots felt or pressure points.  I need to take them on some uneven trails.

I know I shouldn't be doing this, but I'm dreaming about my next bucket-list adventure run.  95-miles around Mount Rainier on the Wonderland trail.  I grew up at the foot of that mountain.  Only a couple guys have done a solo-self-supported run around it.   Weather is always the big problem there, so I would probably need to go there with very little notice to get the great weather.

28 degrees out this morning.  What is up with that?  Wimped out and did treadmill, testing out the new Hokas some more.  Still seem fine, just debating which insoles to use.  Just easy miles, taper run.  If there is only two weeks between 100-mile runs, there is no real training in-between, just recovery and taper.   This will be a good test for later this summer when I do three 100s within six weeks.

Looking at my last year results on ultrasignup.com. I noticed something interesting.  They show your overall place but also place by gender.  I noticed that in every race I ran during the past 12 months that I only was chicked at most twice in each race.  Some races no women beat me, others only one, and a couple two.  That is a huge difference from past years, another indicator of progress.  Some of these were huge races like Rocky Raccoon, Wasatch, Bear, Bighorn, Squaw Peak, etc.   I don't like the way they calculate ranking.  It is all based in comparison to the guy who won the race.  In Rocky where Ian posted that record winning time, even though I placed high, 34th, I get a 59% ranking for that race pulling my average down.   Also, it doesn't take into account recent years, my low placements years ago still bring down my average.  So it is hard to use that ranking to really rank the competition.

My 40th 100-mile finish is in the books.   This is a new 100-mile race and this year it was a free test-run.  Good thing, there were a bunch of challenges but the rookie race director has learned a lot.

The race was held near the Bonneville Salt Flats, mostly on the very remote islands to the north.  I thought the race would be flatter, but it had several pretty long and tough climbs up to the top of some rpasses giving incredible views of the salt flats. It looked like a frozen ocean.

The biggest problem was that the race director marked the course a week in advance.  As we were running we discovered that someone had carefully removed all the markers for about 75% of the course.  It must have taken them hours to do.  The race director had to quit racing and remark portions and help direct those in the rear.   I was the only one who ran the right course without help because I used my GPS starting at mile 30. I had critical turns marked.  The winner was an elite local runner, Jay who finished in sub-17, but we think he skipped about 3 miles of the course because of marking problems.  One section at night was impossible without a GPS.  There should have been glow sticks, you just couldn't see any of the markers at night.

Anyway, I'll work with the RD to greatly simplify the course for next year.  It was just too complex.  It could be more straight-forward and still visit the same areas of these islands.  Also all aid stations were about ten miles apart.  The is pretty far as you start slowing down.

The weather was a worry, but we only had short stretches of flurries.  However, we had constant wind.  For miles is would be a 20 mph headwind and at times 30 mph.  I took it easy but was amazed that I still had a good time.  If I would have really pushed it, no telling what I could of done, but the wind made it tough and I really worried about the other runners getting lost.  When I worry, I slow way down.   After midnight, it got really chilly when there was a headwind, windchill below freezing.  I had to stop for ten minutes and warm up in a car.  When I got pretty cold, I kept getting very sleeping and started to stumble around.

Anyway I had a good time.  For some reason I am hardly sore at all.  I can't understand it.  By far I came out of this 100 the less sore.  Perhaps the cool weather the entire time in the 30s and 40s helped.  Maybe it is because I did that 110 mile Grand Canyon run two weeks ago.   I could run uphills the entire race just fine.  I just got lazy and at times walked because the next runner behind me was more than two hours behind.  No one was pushing me and I knew I couldn't catch Jay.  But I could crank out a sub-10-minute mile at will when I wanted to.

There was one section on Crater Island way to the north that felt as remote as I have ever run.  It felt like we were running off the end of the world.  It was amazing.  There was a guy with a SUV aid station at the far end. 

Lots more details later.  I wish I would have taken some pictures.

My Salt Flats 100 race report is at: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=745

Recovery is astonishing.  It seems like I only did a training run.  All soreness is just about gone.  No blisters, no sore feet.  My Bondi B Hokas performed amazingly.  I'm almost ready to give credit to the shoes for the low impact to my body during this run.

My next race is Ogden Marathon, so I need to find a 18-day marathon training program.

Still being lazy.  Yesterday I ate the biggest breakfast that I have eaten in years and didn't feel guilty since I weighed 168.  It is fun being a pig for a few days.

Almost ready to run again.  Calves a little sore but ready to be worked.  Not sure that I'm very excited about doing speed and tempo work to get ready for Ogden.  Oh well.  Phil Lowry entered Ogden so I imagine we will be running together at some point.

Jay, the guy who won Salt Flats 100 is planning on going for the Fastest Known Time for a quad-crossing of the Grand Canyon in a couple weeks.  Amazing.  He did tweak his leg from the race, so we shall see.  He is one tough, fast 49-year-old.

Back in the saddle.  The afternoon sure was nice, went a did a little running in the Lake Mountain foothills on a trail I've only been on once that traverses between two canyons.  I did repeats and the headed home.  Legs are typical after a five day lay-off, sluggish but the more I run the better they feel.

In Cedar City for my daughters graduation from SUU.  Got up before dawn and ran up Cedar Canyon road a couple miles and then turned off on a random dirt road.  I really enjoy just running at times without a plan.  It turned out to be a road up Rock Canyon.  It faded into an ATV road but kept climbing and climbing.  Evenually there were just some foot prints and hoof prints to guide my way.  It joined with a very distict ATV road and kept climbing aournd "Big Hill" toward Hells Canyon.  After two hours it was time to head back.  Instead of going back the way I came, I followed the ATV down another canyon toward Cedar City.  Sunrise came.  It was so peaceful and I saw about eight deer along the way.  As I listended to a solf roar of the city waking up below it brought back memories when I was a boy in the 60s sitting my my grandparents back porch of their house, the highest at that time in the foothills above Provo.  I used to love the early morning and listening to the soft noise of the city below waking up as the sun started to hit the valley below.

I descended down a limestone ridge with redrock canyons on either side.  Very cool.  I existed the canyon at the Cedar Ridge Golf Course and ran back to the motel in time for breakfast.  It was a wonderful random run on new trails climbing about 2,000 feet with wonderful views.

Marathon training for my one marathon of the year.  Yuk.  How boring can it be trying to make the legs go faster on pavement?  Hit the treadmill.  9 x 7:30 x 6%

I'm still a marathon rookie.  Here is my glorious marathon history

3:44:00 2006 Deseret News

3:34:06 2008 Utah Valley

3:24:49 2009 Ogden

3:33:11 2009 Utah Valley

4:04:53 2009 Park City

3:24:15 2010 Boston

3:23:43 2010 Ogden

Treadmill again.   9 x 7:30 x 9%.   Felt easier today.  The idea here is to feel comfortable at 7:30 pace with a good incline.  The theory is that then I would feel comfortable with a 7:00 pace downhill at Ogden.

Saturday planning on running an out and back of the Good Water Rim trail above the San Rafael River with views of the Little Grand Canyon.  If anyone wants to join in, let me know.  Probably go down very early Saturday morning and start running at dawn.  Back home in the late afternoon.

http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/index.htm

Went for a wonderful evening run in perfect running weather.  Wow!   I ran in the foothills of Lake Mountain.

The highlight was over on the North side near the Church Farm.  As I was running on a trail I had never been on before (an old wagon road), a huge hawk flew overhead carrying a very large snake.  Wow, I wished that I had my camera. I stopped to watch it and very soon, it dropped it.  It fell about 100 feet or so.  The hawk went on and landed about 100 yards away.   I went on, but when I came back I wondered if I would see it again.  I did!   It was up above a small ridge nearby just hang gliding in the breeze.  It wouldn't flap its wings at all, just glide stationary in the breeze with its broad wings extended all the way.   I stopped to watch it for about ten minutes as it would move back over to the area where it dropped the snake.  Perhaps it was hunting, but then it would go back and hang-glide again over the ridge.  It was a very inspiring sight to see.   Some guys on horses came by and I showed them what I was watching. 

Went out to the Ranches in Eagle Mountain and ran on the bike trails (used by both motor and mountain).  There are a bunch of them there the weave through the junipers and roll up and down.  Great run.  In the track below they are in the upper left.  I probalby only did about half of them in that area.  

Next I climbed up to the top of the ridge again on a motor cycle trail.  I've run that ridge many times in the dark, but in the afternoon the views are breath-taking looking across the lake to the snow covered mountains. 

While I was on top, I spied seven hawks near me, all hang-gliding in a bowl area below.  The currents took them really high up in the air and they eventually descended and landed on a ridge where I started my run.   I continued on and ran down a bike trail.  Lots of jumps and bridges constructed for the dirt bikes, fun to run on and very technical running.   Finally I ran on the west border of the Church Farm and took a picture looking toward my home, the lake, and Mount Timp.  Great afternoon run.

Went to the northwest corner for the San Rafael Swell, to the Little Grand Canyon.  Arrived in the late afternoon.  Set up camp down at the river and then ran up Buckhorn Wash Canyon to the Indian petroglyphs.  Returned and then decided to try to find a trail going up the San Rafael River (I hadn't researched it.)   Found on that is used pretty much exclusively by horses.  But it was a spectacular trail going through the length of the Little Grand Canyon.  Went past Kane Wash where all the horse tracks turned.  For there the trail was even better.  I had to turn back because dusk was coming and I was out of water.  Ran the last mile by moonlight.   Cooked up a nice feast and turned in for the night at my camp.

Pictures and details coming.

Detailed report here

Up at 4:00 a.m. at my campsite at San Rafael Bridge campground.  Broke camp, cooked breakfast and drove to the east end of the Goodwater Trail.   Started my run at dawn.  The Goodwater Trail is a single-track mountain bike trail that is amazing!  It is almost totally flat and follows the rim around the Goodwater drainage.  It winds like crazy and was a blast the scenery is spectacular.  I had dropped off stuff at a couple locations.  What is crazy is that you can look ahead where you will be, two miles away, but it actually takes you seven miles to get there because of all the crazy turns. 

As I was running, I decided that this would be a super place for a 50K.  What would really be fun about racing this section is that you can look across a deep canyon, about 100 yards across and see a runner a mile ahead or behind you.  You can continually see lots of runners because of its serpentine nature.

The remainder of my run I spend lots of time figuring what a good course could be.  The biggest challenge is finding a good start/finish area for all the parking that the BLM would accept.  I think I have a good solution.   After running the 15-mile Goodwater singletrack, I ran the dirt roads along the spectacular rim of the Little Grand Canyon.  Wow,  that would really be cool for a 50K --Little Grand Canyon Rim 50K.

After running as far as I could along the rim, I returned, went through the Goodwater single-track again for about 8 miles more and then bailed out onto the direct dirt road short cut to my car.  I took my sweet time on the run because I took a bunch of pictures and did lots of sight seeing.  I finished about 2 p.m. and then went and picked up the stuff I dropped.   It was an amazing adventure run. 

Photos and details later.

Treadmill....get out the kinks run.  Took three miles to get them out and then felt OK.  Winter is back.  Oh joy.  Watched the guy who comes in and does only six minutes of very easy weights over a 40 minute period, 30 seconds at a time with minutes of slow walking around in-between.  Never sweats but has to take drinks.  I don't get it.

I'm doing the Bill Rodgers two-day training program for a marathon.  I have only two days to get ready for Ogden.   The first day calls for speed work.  I need to wake my feet up and get them moving.  I did a whole bunch of speed repeats on the treadmill, up to 5:45 pace, being careful to stop before my quads got sore.  Tomorrow the plan calls for just an easy taper run.   Then I should be ready in my quest for a 3:15 finish.  See, this marathon training stuff isn't that hard.  You don't need a six-month training program.  This two-day training program is a winner. I've also been doing plenty of calf work with toe lifts.  Hopefully the calfs won't cramp up.   Looks like it will be cool weather....sweet!

Ogden Marathon would be my only road marathon for the year.  I'm not focusing on marathons this year like I did last year when I went to Boston.  The results kind of showed it.  If you get older, marathon speed drops off fast if you don't work hard at it.  I don't, and I'm not really interested in working at it, but it is always interesting to see what ulltra training can do in a marathon.

I met up with fellow ultrarunner, Phil Lowry and we rode the bus up together.  We had zero interest in standing in that huge smoke cloud at the start, so we did a slow run up the canyon, doing three miles to stay warm.  It was great fun to talk to Phil and watch the swollen creek roaring down the canyon.  It was so peaceful.  A deer even came out on the road ahead of us.

With that easy warm-up, we returned to the start and met up with many ultrarunners.  It was funny to see that almost all of us were wearing Hokas.  We all believe in them.  Most of us had the new Bondi B model that is also great for roads.  I kind of hated to see the race start because I was having so much fun talking to many friends.

Finally we were away.  Since this is my only marathon for the year, my strategy was to try to do well and let my heart rate and breathing decide how fast I would go. I wanted to take advantage of the downhills.  I knew my legs could handle them well, and they did.  I hoped to run each of the first 8 miles, each in sub-7 pace.  

I suceeded.  Downhill miles 1-8: 6:18, 6:50, 6:45, 6:44, 6:57, 6:57, 6:57, 6:59.  Those last few miles were close.  Each time I would speed up with 0.2 left to bring it under 7 and then try to carry that speed into the next mile.

Once I hit the small hills, it was a tougher. (miles 9-14)  7:29, 7:32, 7:51, 7:58, 7:59, 7:58.  Now I was trying to keep all the miles under 8-minute pace.  I hit the half marathon mark at about 1:34:30, about a minute slower than last year, but I wasn't worried because I knew I felt apart last year by mile 18 due to dehydration.  I hoped that wouldn't happen this year.

This year the conditions were perfect.  Cloud cover, cool temps, and a cool breeze in the face.  I also drank much better.

However, still, I felt apart.  I just haven't trained enough to hold that pace much further than a half marathon.  My legs were fine, but the heart rate and breathing were holding me back.  I think my blood pressure also went low because I was dizzy.  That has happened at times when running fast on treadmills.  I then check my blood pressure and it is pretty low.  My brother is also affected by it, so it probably is a genetic thing.  Oh well.

So, my speed dived.   I did manage to keep all the miles up to mile 23 in under 9-minute pace.  But none were under 8.  By mile 20, my ultrarunning buddies, Phil, Tom, and Chad had all passed me.  I tried to keep up but just couldn't find the foot speed.

So, I held on for dear life for the last six miles, pushed as hard as I could. I didn't leave anything out on the course. My slowest mile was mile 25, a 9:15.  I knew that nine-minute miles would just not cut it to come close to my PR from last year.  But I did want to at least run a Boston Qualifing time, and I did by about six minutes.   (I wouldn't go to Boston with this slow time.  If I was serious, I would train for a marathon and then go run one at sea-level.  But I'm more interested in running on the trails.)

So, I crossed the line in about 3:29:30, about 5:30 slower than last year.  I'm not sure about the time because they didn't have the times posted before I left. But this was the time from my Garmin.  Garmin showed the course to be long 26.4

I was a little disappointed but really, what should I expect?  Last year I was doing lots of tempo runs and ran Boston and several half marathons and shorter road races leading up to Ogden.  This year instead I ran a 100-mile race three weeks ago and a 54-mile run last weekend.  Not exactly your ideal marathon training. 

But this did get my attention.  I'm not a spring chicken at 52.  If I want to keep my performance up this year, I need to work even harder.  So this is great motivation to me to work even harder.

It was a fun day!  The best part is being with friends.

Not much soreness left over from the marathon, little right hamstring and left quad.   Calves came out great. 

Still disappointed in my race but can't shoot down the effort. It just made me feel old. As I look at my past road races, even Across the Years 48-hour run, I see an interesting pattern.  No matter how fast or slow I start, after two hours of running I slow to over eight minute miles, closer to nine-minute miles.  It has just got to be not enough long fast tempo runs.  Oh well, I'd rather train to maintain 10-12-minute miles for a very long distance.

The results were posted.  I was the top runner from Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain.  Should be happy about that, and in the top 15 from Utah County and none of those 15 are even close to my age.

Time to get back to work.  Focus now is on Bighorn 100 which is a little over three weeks away.  It may be the snow course used in '08 which still had just as much climbing but was faster because it has more dirt road.  I liked that course.

So, before that, I have Squaw Peak 50, which will be a revised course, easier and hotter. and the next week after that I entered Utah Valley Half.  Last year I won my age group there which was nice.  It won't happen this year.  Dan Kerns who placed 3rd at Ogden Marathon is in it.  He had a 1:27 half split.  I can't even begin to touch that.  Keith Barton is also in it. Keith will be running SP50, his first 50, so we'll see if he can recover in a week.  I've never beat either of these guys, so it should be competitive this year.

Hit the treadmill.  Hills.  6 x 9:00 x 15-18%.  Then ran 5 outdoors.  Plan to run some at lunchtime.

Hills on the treadmill.  Five miles with incline up to 25%.  Machine thinks I climbed 4,000 feet.  Then did a four-mile tempo road run on JRP as the sun rose.  Legs feel almost totally recovered from the marathon.

p.m. ran up and down Rose Canyon Road in Herriman

Ran up and down Rose Canyon during lunch again.   Pushed harder, got the six miles done six minutes faster today.

Went on an easy-paced run/hike up Yellow Fork up on top of the ridges, below the snow line above Herriman.  It was a beautiful afternoon.  I spooked a couple deer.   I followed a faint trail out onto a ridge and when it went away, followed game trails down.  It was great to be up there.  The higher you get, the single-track trails have water flowing down them, but it looks like things are starting to dry out.

Went at ran the 10K in Orem put on by Run 13. I PRed in it last year, so I wanted to try again.  It is a very fair course, not downhill, some uphills.  I was shooting to break 42 but didn't quite make it, but I was still pleased because during the last mile it felt like I had plenty of energy and speed in the tank.  Gene Moreland won the age group as usual.  I've never beat him, but I'm getting closer.  Also Lorzeno, who turns 50 next month always beats me but this time I came within 100 yards.  I'm getting very close.  

My splits were: 6:31, 7:15 (hill), 6:48, 6:54, 6:55, 7:09 (hill), 6:56 (last .2)   Pretty consistent. I finished 33 seconds off my PR.  16th out of about 180 runners.

The problem with Run 13 races, is they take over 1 hour to hand out the awards, so slow.  When I saw in the results that I placed, I groaned because I would have to stay around to get my medal.

I next went to run on the altered Squaw Peak 50 course on the BoSho Trail from Rock Creek to Spring Canyon and back.  Believe it or not, I've never run that section of the trail.  Well, except for a small section that I used to hike and play on as a boy, above my grandparents house in the mid-60s.  No BoSho trail then, just some motorcycle trails, and a trail that led up to the Y.  Back then there was a big stone cross near there that was called Easter Cross. Its long gone now.  No nice Y trailhead then and the houses were much further down the foothills.  Lots of memories as I ran by there.  I remember looking down watching them build Deseret Towers. So it was about 45 years since I've been up there.

As I ran between Provo and Springville, I remembered that in 1980 after my mission, at BYU I started running for a few months.  If you ran 150 miles during the first half of 1980, you got a T-shirt in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Church.  My longest run was a run down 9th East and along State Street to Springville and back, about 10 miles.  I was so proud of that long run and I thought it was very, very far, that few people could do it.  Well, it took me 23 years to beat that distance.  So lots of memories on this run as I looked down at BYU. 

I saw RD John Bozung out on the trail checking things out.  I'm glad I ran it.  I took two wrong turns.   I'll give my feedback to John.  They are taking a faint upper single track section between Provo and Springville.  I blew by the turn on the way out.   On the way back I took a wrong trail near the Y trailhead.

Did a spectacular run in another lesser-known Utah gem.   I went to Grand Staircase Escalante-National Monument - Little Death Hollow, Wolverine Creek, and Horse Canyon, a big loop with a side trip up out of the canyon and a side trip down to the Escalante River.  It was perfect weather, I got away from the rain and cold.  It was a spectacular run.   I ran through miles of slots canyons that are littered with petrified wood.

Details and pictures available: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=794

Squaw Peak 50 was a much lower snow course this year with a bumch of miles on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail above Provo and Springville. There was about 700 feet more climbing along the way and it was much hotter. Most runners believe thes course was tougher this year.  I think it was a little faster but the heat made it tougher with temperatures into the low 80s.

I started off running in the top 10, but at about mile 3 or so, still in the dark, about 50 or more of us missed a turn that was very poorly marked.  I was about the third runner in this group. I became convinced that we were going the wrong way since this is the 7th time I've run that part of the course.  We finally turned back and it was funny to herd all these runners back. It really was amusing.  I was able to run a little while with friends who were far behind me.  I believe it was a 15-minute 1.5 mile blunder for me.

Now the problem was there was about 30 runners ahead of me going much slower than I usually go on the climb to Hope Campground.  I was with the woman who had been the leading woman and together we called out to runners to let us pass.

I arrived at Hope Campground about 15-20 minutes behind schedule caused by the blunder.  I made up some good time running very fast with another runner who blundered as we ran down Rock Canyon.  At one point we were running 6:50 pace.  It was great fun.  I regained about 5 minutes by the time I reached the bottom of Rock Canyon.

To make a long story short, all day I was about 15 minutes behind my goal pace, so I stayed on pace but just couldn't get the lost time back.  At the turnaround it was a little discouraging to see buddies who I should have been running with who were 20-30 minutes ahead of me. I did run most of the road back up to the top of Spring Canyon.  But down the other side I decided to take the time to greet and encourage runners.  Every time I saw a runner, I would yell out whoops and hoots and cheer them on with stuff like, "Its a great day for up!"  I saw Ed Green sitting by the side of the trail and I teased him.  He was taking a break in the shade.  It looked like he was waiting for the mule train to arrive to give him a ride. So many were greeting me by name that I wanted to make sure I somehow gave them a boost.  I wished I knew their names.

For the last 25 miles, I ran well.  My split from Spring Creek to Buckly Draw was the same it was in the morning, so I was doing well.  But I didn't run with urgency and wasn't really pushing it too hard.  Only one person, a woman, passed my on the BoSho going back.  I believe I passed a couple people in the aid stations.  Thankfully when I was on the low exposed BoSho, a cloud cover came in and made it feel cooler.

When I climbed back up Rock Canyon, no one was pushing me from behind so I just enjoyed the afternoon and the roaring creek beside the trail.  Once the road became less steep I ran again.  I could easily run fast uphill if I wanted, but I was being lazy and probably not eating enough to sustain a fast pace. There weren't gels in the aid stations and I didn't bring enough, so I know I was low in calories. I did catch up to a couple other runners near the top.

With about three miles to go, I slowed and about five runners caught up and passed me.  On the paved Provo River trail, the last 2.3 miles, my legs really enjoyed running fast so I did and gained back one spot.

I finished in a pretty typical SP50 time for me, 11:25, in 38th place.  3rd in my age group which is very good for a large race like this.  I cleaned up, changed clothes and for the next four house really enjoyed talking with many runners and watching so many friends finihs. 

The snow course was OK, but I'd rather not do it again.

It doesn't even feel like I ran 50 miles yesterday, hardly any soreness, just need sleep.  I was such a lazy bum.  Somehow I need to push myself harder in these races to get everything out of the effort.

Easy pace to test out legs.  Ready to continue training.  Nice to see snow starting to come off of the mountains.  Dreaming about the Uintas.

Next up is Utah Valley Half Marathon on Saturday.  This will probably be my last quest for a sub-1:30.  I came within 15 seconds last year.  This year's course is pushed up the canyon further, so it may be a little faster.

Went up Lake Mountain from the South.  I tried this earlier in the year but was turned back earlier because of snow.  No snow now.  This time I went further up there to 6,700 feet.  The rough road goes the length of the top of the mountain clear to the towers.  I went about half way, still a couple miles from up above Enoch Pass.  Views are amazing up there.  In places the top is flat plains.  You go through burned out locations from the fires a few years ago.  The road is rough, with imbedded rocks, so tough to go fast.  I had one face plant coming down.   It was great to watch the sunrise up there.  When I have a couple hours more, I'll do the entire length and then come down the main road to the south through the valley.  I worked the kinks out of me legs from SP50 and they feel fine

After work went back up, same run but this time completed an entire loop, reaching 7,600 feet to the first set of towers.  I cut the loop a couple miles by doing a short bushwhack down to the canyon road.  Nearing the end, I found a wonderful single-track motorcycle trail in the foothills that I didn't know was there.  It was great fun.  I'll have to explore that some more another day.