Old Man Still running

Finishing up Across the Years. Nice six hours of sleep during the race.  Slacker.

Slept 12 hours last night. Nice. I should be running in a couple days. Not so last year. Stayed home from work to recover.   My bad knee really ached last night, but is feeling better.   The knee is what really stopped me the second night.   I talked to several runners who commented on how hard the surface was.   It really is hard, pounds the legs and feet.

Last evening was rough, felt pretty sick, but after 10 more hours of sleep I've bounced back enough to be at work.   There is a pretty big difference in recovering from a 48-hour run vs. a 100-mile run under 30 hours.  The recovery is just a bit longer and harder.  Legs feel nice and I can power walk fine.  The feet get painful if they get hot as the nerve endings go bonkers.  The energy level is down and appetite down, generally feel like an old man.  But if the pattern holds, I'll be back feeling fine by tomorrow.

Starting a new job at the Church Monday.   I'll be working more at downtown Salt Lake, so maybe can join in more runs further north before or after work.

Recovery run. Treadmill and jog on frozen Utah Lake.  Legs feel pretty good.  

Treadmill.  Pretty amazing that just six days after running that 135 miles, I feel fully recovered and can train as I did the week before the race.  No ill effects felt.  Pace for 8 miles averaged 7:50.  Not bad.

I'm probably going to take the next couple months easy, no real races scheduled until Buffalo Run.  I'm going to run the Salt Lake Winter track series to get some speed going. It has been a long time since I've been able to run with speed, time to try the 5ks and 10ks again.  Once the weather gets warming I'll do some long adventure runs again.  I just don't enjoy going out in the muck and frigid temperatures.  It usually makes me get sick.

Treadmill.  Congestion is a pain.

8 Treadmill in the morning and then ran across Utah Lake and back.  Didn't take a GPS this time, just tried to do it by landmarks and concentrate on straight lines.  I couldn't see the Provo shore for quite awhile but finally saw the Provo Airport tower, so just headed that direction and then turned to Utah Lake State Park.  Went ashore and then headed back.  Very soon, a terrible headwind hit me and continued the entire way home.  It blew little snow drifts, pretty amazing.  But wind chill was close to zero.  I had a difficult time staying warm.   As I got closer to the north end of the lake, the wind had swept off most of the snow that was there when I began, revealing the slick ice.  I had to be very careful to not slip and tried to stay on remaining snow patches.   My total run on the ice was about 23 miles.   I arrived home pretty frozen, but warmed up fine.

Morning treadmill, 8 miles at about 7:50 pace. After work, a run on the ice. Some runners had planned to come over from Provo and I was going to meet them, but they never showed. (Turns out they were out there.  I was just a mile too far north and somehow didn't see them.  They saw me but I guess never called out.) I had a nice run and came within a couple miles of Provo.   I did come across a major fissure in the ice.  Usually when the lake freezes, one or two of these stretch across the lake.  Two ice plates come together, one side up, one down, water pushes up and pools on the downside.  Big, dangerous obstacle.  I've seen them enough that I've learned to find safe ways over, but you just can't tell how thick the ice is and they are tough to get over without getting your feet wet.   Map shows my route today and the location of the fissure.  You can see these a couple miles away because they push up some huge chunks of ice.

Nice afternoon run out on the lake.  The ice is by far the thickest I've ever seen it with this crazy frigid inversion for so long.

Tough treadmill.  Hate it, but seeing progress.   I can now hold 6:40 pace for much longer.  Averaged 7:30.   Best of all, no leg pain felt for a couple weeks now.

Treadmill in the morning.  In the afternoon, up Lake Mountain, ran around the top between the towers in the warm temps, had to shed layers.  Nice to get out of the frigid temps.  Ran down the other side, had to break trail, but followed tons of wildlife tracks deer, wild dogs or coyotes, and possible mountain lion.  It was amazing to see so many tracks.  Circled around up and over Soldier Pass, out to Redwood Road, a couple miles north and then picked up by my wife.  The difference in temperature was amazing.

Good treadmill workout.

Treadmill in the early morning and then went with son, Ryan and daughter Mindy and her friend up to Great Salt Lake to run the Salt Lake Track Club Winter Series 5K.  I've run that 5 times, a nice flat speedy 5K on the frontage road along I-80 on the shore of of the lake.  Today it was totally foggy.  You could only see about a tenth of mile.  The parking lot at Saltair had a strange deep crust of ice on it, probably from fog off of the lake.  I got the car stuck in it, but had all the kids push me out and then parked in a good place.

Warmed up a couple miles.  The road we ran on was fine, clear, no ice.  Very little wind.  I was one of the only ones who just wore shorts and short sleeves.  It was about 31 degrees, but that was a good choice.

I haven't run a 5K in almost two years.  Six months ago I believed that I would never again regain speed with my busted leg.   Little by little it has come back.  I thought this race would be a good test.

Mile one went fine, 6:24 pace.  Mile two was a struggle as my lungs were bothered by the speed and probably smog.  I backed off to save the lungs.  6:57. I felt better during Mile three and could surge the speed up for some stretches.  It was 6:52.  I brought it in at 6:12, probably a 90% effort.   Finished in 20:48.  Not bad.   I think my best here was a couple years ago with a 20:07.   Not bad for a 54 year-old.  I placed 1st in my age group.

So, I'm encouraged that speed is indeed coming back since my injury.   I'll run a 10K at the same location in a couple weeks.  During the winter I find that doing these short races really help my foot speed for the ultras later in the year.

Ryan and Mindy finished well.  Now all of my six kids have run a 5K.

Treadmill.  7:30 pace for 8 miles.  8:00 for the rest.  Continue to feel more comfortable at faster paces, did a series of segments at 6:15 pace.

Treadmill during lunch.

More tempo running the the treadmill.  At my very advanced age, avoiding muscle strains doing this is a challenge.  Right upper hamstring complaining today, had to back off.

I'm signing up for Mogollon Monster 100 in Arizona this year instead of running Bear 100. This is the second year they are holding this race, very tough.

Out on the snowy pavement.

Pain in the leg in a location a little above last year's fracture.  Freaks me out.  Have visions of a new crack appearing.  For months I've been taking Calcium Citrate supplements every day in hopes to strengthen the bones.  I chase it down with fiber supplement.  Got a tooth pulled on Monday.  Who needs teeth at my age.  It sucks to be old.

Treadmill

Ran with a group of 8 others across Utah Lake.  We started at Saratoga Springs Harbor Marina.  It was 6 degrees.  I dressed warmly.   It was very foggy the entire way over.  No one brought a good GPS so and I had not paid attention to the right direction to Lindon marina.  So we just guessed.  At one point one guy pulled out his phone and had the harbor marked.  He had us head north.  It didn't seem right be we made the turn.  After another mile, another guy showed me his phone and it had us heading in another direction that made more sense, so we again turned, this time in the right direction.  It was pretty funny, but an amazing adventure to run in the fog.  The snow was about 4 inches deep, so made for some hard work, good exercise.   We stopped several times, just having a good time.  One group of three went pretty far ahead.  We could not see them at all but at times Skip would whistle.  We would yell and try to get them going in the right direction.  Finally, I was amazed that we arrived at the marina, exactly as we should.  It came into view less than 100 yards through the fog.

Four decided to catch a ride.  I wanted more miles, not tired at all yet, so ran back with three others.  Eventually the fog lifted and I could see our approximate destination.  Our route back was much straighter and we saved about a mile.   The late morning was amazing on the lake.

The ice was still very thick, but we did cross over one crack that was curious.  about six feet from the crack on either side was slush and our feet sunk in an inch.  Pretty freaky.  We were very careful.  Other than that, we didn't see any other problem areas except thin ice within a few feet of the shore.

It was a wonderful run.   I forgot to put on my sunglasses when the fog finally lifted and just 45 minutes of sun on that snow left we with sore eyes for the rest of the day.

I still have a sore hamstring from earlier in the week.  I would have gone back out for more, but need to rest it.

Hamstring still a problem, guess I'll have to shift to cross-training.

Being extra careful.  The hamstring is healing, but is still a problem....it is one of those two-week injuries.  I'm very likely to skip the 10K on Saturday.  Hate to miss it since two of my kids are running, but it probably will be snow covered anyway.   I'll probably just go and cheer them on.

Work has been very busy anyway.  The long commute to SLC is a bother, about 2:45 total each day using the train.  Really cuts into any free time, but I can get work done on the train or sleep.

I've been battling a slow-healing hamstring/glut strain.  I wasn't going to run the race, but in the morning tested things out on the treadmill and decided to go ahead.  Son Ryan and daughter Mindy also ran.  A snow storm started a half hour before the start adding an additional challenge.

I started careful, but things seemed to hang together.   During the first mile a couple guys passed me who looked like they were in my age group, one in green,maybe in the next AG up. The other guy had a black shirt on. I decided to keep them both in my sights. Splits for the first three miles were 6:39, 7:02, and 6:57.  I was warmed up and felt pretty good.  I passed the the black shirt guy, but he hung with me.  At the turn around, he offered to work with me drafting on the way back.  The headwind and snow was pretty challenging.   I took the first half mile or so and then he took a turn. Once I felt a little rested, I would pass him and kick it up a notch.  We were able to pass a couple people and caught up with the green shirt guy (Dee).  Mile 4 was a slow 7:20.

During Mile 5, I just couldn't keep going fast enough in the point so put the brakes on to rest a little.  Mile 5 was 7:25.  But then I kicked it up again, breathing hard, but the legs felt good, the hamstring pain was not too bad.    I passed green-shirt guy and was closing in on black-shirt guy.  Mile 6 was 7:12, still in the stiff wind.   But then green-shirt guy kicked it up and I matched him but couldn't hold it.   I finished 20 seconds behind black-shirt guy (who won my age group) and about 10 seconds behind green-shirt guy (who won the age group above me).  It was great competition.   It was nice to be running fast again after doing very little the past ten days.  

I finished in 44:12, second place in age group.   Ryan finished in about 54 minutes and won his age group.   Mindy finished in about 1:25, her first 10k and was able to run it the entire way.  We all had a great time.

Three with the dog.   Went out on the lake.  Clear path out there from Eagle Park again.  The snow is pretty deep, deepest I have ever seen out there.  No fun for running.

Hamstring sore from yesterday, but no new damage.   Its time to concentrate on training for the next series of races, Buffalo Run, Northcoast 24, and Salt Flats 100.  Smart training for these are still all about the flats.   I'll throw in some hills for strength, but all are very flat.  I'll back off the tempo run training for awhile to let the hamstring heal.  Salt Flats is just a week after NC24, so if I really do it, it will just be a slow 100-mile fun run.  There is a pretty good chance I won't do it.   After that, a month later is Bryce 100.  For that, need hill training, but it really is all about altitude training since much of it is above 9,000 feet.  Getting up to 7-8000 feet won't cut it. That is going to be really tough that early in the season.  Two-three weeks of altitude training needed before the race or my stomach will shut down.  Need to spend time at 9-10,000 feet somehow.  

I may throw in a Grand Canyon run two weeks after Buffalo, we shall see.

Slow healing hamstring.  I've been reading plenty of posts by people with chronic problems.   Mine has always healed within a couple weeks.  Its been a little over two weeks.  Rest does bring the pain down but full running again brings it back. No pain doing other cross training, just the running motion does. I'll just have to be patient and careful.I don't think this is a big injury, but I don't want it to be chronic.  I'm just getting old and it take longer to heal up.

Four mile test run on the treadmill at 9:30 pace.  Went well.  Hamstring pain still there but not terrible.  I'll go ahead and run 50K tomorrow, adventure run at the Wedge, and see if it works itself out.  Sometimes that is all it takes.

Went to Little Grand Canyon in San Rafael Swell with jun and others.  It was great to be out in the beautiful desert again.  It was much better than fighting the crowds at Moab Redhot.  There was too much snow to run the Good Water trail as we hoped, but we just ran where we could and did even did some rough workouts running in deep snow.  It was a wonderful day.  Pictures and videos on Facebook.

I had hoped that my hamstring would calm down with a longer run, but it really didn't.  I can run, but I know it isn't helping it heal.  So I will likely go into full cross-training mode for a couple weeks or more until this thing heals.  

Continued cross-training. Feels like the hamstring is starting to heal but still feel some pain even walking.  So, just being careful and patient.  Had to miss the 15k run at Saltair with my son and daughter.  I knew if I went, I would be tempted to run.  And I can still run, and would have AG placed, but then the hamstring would be sore again for a couple days.  So the strategy is to continue to shut things down, cross-train to keep fitness up and then use Buffalo Run 100 as a training run to get ready for Northcoast 24.

Well, about two weeks without serious running, mostly cross-training.  Today I tested things out and the hamstring pain is still there, not much improvement.  However, after some running, the soreness left over isn't much.  So, I'm sick of not running.  When I do run the pain isn't bad, but there.  I tried wrapping the problem area while running and that helps keep the muscle in place better, or jut avoids pressing against a nerve as much.  Can't tell.   I'm going to start running again and hopefully more blood flow will make things improve.

Seven on the treadmill and seven out in the beautiful morning on JRP and Lehi roads.  Hamstring discouraging, needs physical therapy, I'm sure.  I can run fine, can block out the pain which is only about a 2, but no telling what a 100-mile run would do to it. Eventually with 100-mile runs, you get more pain in other areas so I'm sure I will not notice it after awhile, but I'd hate to damage things more.

p.m. the day was so warm, I had to get out again. 5 miles. I discovered that running stairs works well because it puts more pressure on the quads, less on the hamstring.  So I concentrated on short steps with toe strikes.  Much better.  I found some dry dirt (hard to find) above Saratoga Shores school, where there was a south-facing slope that I could run up and down.  Good fun.  Looks like I'll be doing a bunch of early-season hill training.

Progress, I think.  Perhaps this thing just needs six weeks to heal.  Its been five.  Inclined treadmill, pain wasn't bad, kept the upper hamstring wrapped, not tight.  Came away fine.

Better.  Treadmill with periodic stretching of the lower hamstring (not stretching the upper near the injury).  Pain level during running and after is less.  Hamstring seems to be improving. But also plagued badly be a runners knee in the other leg  (bruised underside knee cap).  I just can't seem to kick that one, been a problem for a year.  Holding the leg straight out for awhile, tightening the quad which tightens the tension on the knee cap seems to help. 

Treadmill, morning and noon.  Stayed home today and did some preparation for the pony express race.

Good workout this morning.  First ten miles on the treadmill,  Next went to the high school and ran stairs in the stadium.  2,000 stairs up and down.  Up the 36 stairs I would try to sprint them as fast as I could without tripping, then used a handrail going down so I wouldn't face plant.  Good hill repeats.   Ran about the grassing fields for awhile.  Then went to a high knoll over the Ranches, above Pony Express elementary.  The south-facing slope was dry and I did lots of hill repeats.  Straight up is very steep and I could keep a jog up it. Then going down I would just run all over the slope, using deer trails and creating my own.  The bush is low because of a fire there years ago, so you can run anywhere.  Plenty of rocks to make it technical.   I had a great time but probably looked like a nut to all the residents down below.   Looks like in another week all the trails on the ridges nearby should be ready to run.

Beautiful afternoon, but a cold wind.  I went back and ran all over the knoll which I will call Eagle Top since a road right by it is named that.   The south slope was protected nicely from the wind so I had a nice 4-mile run.

Treadmill, still have the hamstring pain, but not as bad as it was.  I have sympathy for Derek Rose of the Bulls who is being criticized for not coming back yet because of sore hamstring.

Out running at 4:30 a.m. How nice to run that early in shorts.  Did a crazy random run all over the ridges and trails near the Ranches in Eagle Mountain.  Even ran on a couple segments that I had never been on before.  

Hamstring still a big issue, coming to grips that I'll probably have to take off several months again this year to heal.  But it seems like taking days off set me back more than doing some running.  Oh well.  I'll give Buffalo Run a go, but it could be pretty slow.  If so, it will be fun anyway.  Well, I'll soon be 55 years old, the old body won't hold together forever.  

Near the end, while running on a high ridge, I looked down and saw a bunch of runners on a road below.   It finally dawned on me that it was the Shamrock half marathon.  I've run that a couple times and each time won my age group.   I ran down and ran along with some runners for a few hundred yards and then showed off and run up a hill bushwacking.   I went to the finish and talked with some friends.   

Funny how I've barely thought about running a 100 on Friday.  I've been so busy, running is about #5 on my priorities lately. My training shows it too.  Oh well.  I guess I better at least start thinking about it.  I'll give it a go, but there is a good chance I'll bail at mile 50 if the hamstring is getting worse.  Today it feels fine.  But if I went running, it would start complaining again.  So, I'll probably just take it easy on Friday and enjoy running with friends.  At least I finally looked at the weather and discovered that it will be cold and windy.  If it is windy at night, that will be pretty brutal out there.  I hope people are prepared for cold.   I'm just hoping for fun.  I know I can't compete as I wish.  It has been almost two years since I really could "compete" in a race and really push it.  For now, I'll just have fun and try to stay away from more injury.

Treadmill.  For the first time in nearly eight weeks, very little pain in the hamstring as long as I kept the speed slower than 10:00 pace which is a decent 100-mile pace.  So I'm encouraged.  I did have to stop several times to stretch.  So I'm pretty convinced that I am healing.  So, I'll approach this race very different.  In stead of going out fast as usual, I'll maintain more of a steady pace like Matt Watts does.  Hopefully that will work.  It is going to be really cold.

A very short report.  This was my third running of the Buffalo Run 100.  With a bad hamstring, I decided to just treat it as a training run, take it easy, and see what I could do, likely quitting at 50 miles.  I hadn't really trained much in the past 8 weeks since straining the muscle running a silly 5K.

The hamstring started to complain during the first mile, so I just held back.  But I had a great time.  For much of the first 40 miles I ran near my friend, Kristle Liddle, the eventual woman's winner.  It was fun to talk, stategize, and try to help her draft against the wind.  I encouraged her to blast past another woman who we were trailing for miles so she would mentally crush the other runner.  We ran very steady 10:30 miles and rarely walked.  At the Ranch we did pass the other runner. By mile 40, when I stopped to put on more layers for the evening, I fell behind, almost caught back up but just couldn't quite get there.   It got very cold, but I had plenty on to keep me warm. Wind chill during the night would dip into the teens and my water bottle would freeze up between aid stations.

I finished my first 50 in about 9:30.  That shocked me, I didn't think I was going that fast.  On the bright side, I never felt bone pain at all from my break last year.  I'm back from that!   Also on the bright side, by mile 50 the hamstring felt fine (or just as sore as my quads and other muscles.)   I was ready to roll.

I charged up the hill and was about to catch other runners when I ran out of gas.  I struggled for energy for a long time after that, so had to back off.  Buddy Tom Jackson caught up and went ahead.  But only two other runners passed me for the rest of the way.  For the last 25 miles, I just concentrated on averaging 15:00 miles including stops.   It was a cold, but wonderful night.   In the morning, the bacon at the Ranch brought me back to life.

I predicted correctly when I would see the front-running 50-milers coming toward me and I had fun greeting much of the front-mid-pack, most of who somehow knew my name.   Great fun.

I really took the last couple hours easy, just enjoying the morning.  I could not see any other runners ahead nor any behind.  I came in alone at 23:11.  I was very pleased to finish my first sub-24-hour 100 in two years.   It feels like I'm almost back.  I put in about an 80% effort and anxious to try to run a race at 100% effort soon.

Next up, North Coast 24-hour in Cleveland, OH, in four weeks, one of the most competitive fixed-time races in the country.   My hope is always a 100-mile PR and 24-hour distance PR.   We shall see.

Recovery is going very fast, typical when I take a 100-mile race easy.  I can already pass the jog down the stairs test.  The hamstring is sore, but it should be after 100 miles.  We'll see how it feels by the end of the week.   My energy and appetite bounced back much faster than normal.   I only had one very small blister on a toe.  No new injuries.  I'm anxious to be out running again.

Running 100 miles is the secret to curing all your ills.  I'm serious.  This has happened many times to me.  I go into a race with a nagging muscle or tendon issue.  I come out of it cured.  My nagging hamstring issue seems to be gone.  I ran totally pain free for the first time in a long time.   I just did a "getting out the kinks" treadmill run this morning and it went great.   Just some knee joint pain now and then which is normal after a 100.  But the leg muscles feel great.  So, recovery was just 5 days this time....a sure sign that I really was a slacker during the 100.   But, now I can get back to training and focus on the next race.

Did a nice long recovery run.  Ran from home all the way to Fairfield (used the heated bathroom...it is the best).  The sun rose and warmed thing up.  I then ran on ATV trails to Cedar Fort and used the gas station there as an aid station.  Next, ran on dirt roads to the north end of Cedar Valley near Camp Williams and then headed to the Ranches.  Stopped at the convenient store there, and then headed for home.   Legs felt pretty good.  The hamstring is still a little sore, but not much, lots better than last year.  It was nice to be able to do a long training run, the longest since December.

Gotta love the stupid running dreams that ultrarunners have, they tend to be similar.  I had one of the frustrating ones last nights.   Was going to run the Wasatch 100, but the course had been significantly changed into a giant loop course.   I had run the changed course the year before, but for the life of me, I just couldn't figure out where the start was even when trying to examine maps.  Finally I get to the start in time.   But the start was set up like some sort of massive marathon.  I watched a handful of elite runners head off in the first wave and then then I was scrambling to get ready.  Of course my drop bags were missing, oh well.  There were over 2000 runners and we were starting in order of our bibs.   I looked down to my bib and I noticed that I was wearing a hand-draw bib I had made up.  I of course had lost my bib.  But then it occurred to me that they were using chip timing and my custom bib had no chip.  I couldn't start with a fake bib.   No one was around to help.   I was frantic, it all was about to start.  And then I woke up.  Good thing.

Treadmill

Treadmill

Adventure run in Capitol Reef National Park.  Ran both the Lower Muley Twist loop and the Upper Muley Twist loop.  Spectacular.   

Wonderful morning run on the Great Western Trail north of Torrey, climbing up above 9,000 feet.  Spectacular views.

Treadmill.   8-minutes miles are feeling pretty comfortable.

Treadmill

I had to skip BoSho today because of grand daughters 1st birthday party at noon.  So instead, I accomplished a run I've wanted to do for some time, to run the spine of Lake Mountain north to south.   I started at about 3 a.m. in the Ranches in Eagle Mountain.  I parked my car in front of the house and was off, climbing up to the ridge. The first several miles are pretty easy, a nice ridge road on top, but above Reformation Canyon, the road ends and it turns into a bushwhack.  The best and fasted route is to just stick with the ridge tops, going up and down.  To the summit, the main ridge is on the Eagle mountain side.  There is a lower ridge on the Utah Lake side but well out of the way.

It was great fun going up and down the ridges.  Because of the fire, the ridge tops now are very runnable, no more thick scrub and spider webs.  You can make good time, but I took it easy, enjoying the night and doing plenty of sight-seeing.

Once I reached the true summit about about 7,750, going further, somehow I took a wrong turn.  I was puzzled that somehow I missed noticing the main road....well that is because I started running on the wrong ridge, that would have got me to the right place, but no road and much steeper down.  I figured things out, came down to the main road, ran up and found the right series of roads.  With all the towers up there it is pretty confusing which is the right road, but now I know.  I finally connected to the ridge road to take me all the way to Soldier's pass.

Dawn arrived and the light reflecting off of Utah Lake was pretty amazing.  Eventually the road descends into a short canyon on the south end.  There was a shooter there that made me nervous with his handgun, but he noticed me and I ran by.

Once I hit Redwood Road, about the 20-mile mark, I turned and started running home on the pavement.  I went about 8 more miles, and with just six more miles to go, I called home so I wouldn't be late for the birthday activities.  It was a wonder fun.  Here is the video and photos:

Treadmill and miles for the week.  My hamstring doesn't like tapering, does better when used.  But I should be fine.

North Coast 24-hour race on Saturday.  This is usually one of the major 24-hour races in the country.  We'll see.  Looks like the US team isn't doing it because the world race is coming up soon.  Conditions are looking great (well actually poor), but it is to my liking.  Windy and cold, perhaps a little rain.   Today it is in the 80s.  Saturday during the entire race the windchill will be in the 30s.  Nice.

My crazy pace chart shows what I need to stay on PR splits for all the ultra distances.  We'll see how long I can stick to it.

North Coast 24-hour is one of the premier 24-hour events in the country.  It is held at a park in Cleveland, Ohio, on the shore of Lake Erie, on a 100% paved trail.   The winner of a fixed-time race is the person who runs the furthest. I had intended to run this race a year ago, but my busted leg caused me to defer my entry until this year.  The RD was kind enough to move it.  This race normally attracts some of the best fixed-time runners in country and is usually the National Championship, but this year it wasn't so competition was a little down.

When I got to the park Saturday morning, the wind was terrible, about 20 mph.  Then, with just 30 minutes to go, a snow squall moved in and it was a blizzard for about five minutes.  Wow!   The snow went away but the wind never did, blowing off of Lake Erie.  

I set up a little personal aid station to include some personal things I wanted to have available.   There was a fine race aid station that I used more than half of the time, but it always is good to have what you need handy.  I bought a $14 table and $8 chair from WalMart.  It turns out that I really didn't need either because there were plenty of picnic tables.

I only knew a couple people running, although several others introduced themselves to me as we ran for the next 24 hours.   The track is a 0.9 mile track and has a gentle hill going up on one side of the course.   But the hill really never bothered me, was a welcome change.

At 9:00 a.m., we were away.   I wasn't sure of the course, so didn't sprint out a head like normal, but hung with the top 5.  My problem hamstring was letting me know it was there and would do so the entire race, but it wasn't terrible.

I immediately discovered that my pacing times were not going to work because of the wind.  The headwind was on the side of the course where the gentle uphill was, and the tailwind where the slight downhill was.  So I treated the course like it had two section and I adjusted my pace accordingly.  While others tried to keep a steady pace, I slowed a little with the headwind and then tried to push 7:00-8:00 pace on the tailwind section.  That seemed to work great for me much of the day.

I also concentrated on 5-lap segments.   I needed to reduce the time I stopped at the aid station, so early in the race I forced myself not to stop between those 5-lap (4.5 mile) segments.  Things went well.  I  ran the first 1/2 marathon in about 1:55, and hit the marathon distance at about 4:05.  I was about 15 minutes behind my goal time and slower than Across the Years a few months ago, but I was still feeling fine.

The main factor was still the wind.  Around noon, it really started to blow, probably more than 25 mph.   I had to stop to put on yet another layer.  The temperature was still in the 30s and the windchill was much lower.  I was now wearing three layers including a wind break.  I kept those three layers on for the rest of the way.  I also kept a ski hat on for all the way.   In the morning I had mittons on.   It was COLD.  But I enjoyed it and was just glad it wasn't hot.

On the section of the course near the beach, the wind was blowing so bad that sand was blowing up across the trail.  Every couple hours a guy would have to come out with a snow shovel to clear the paved trail.  Other times we were running across sand in that section.

I hit the 50K mark at about  5:00 which was OK.  For the first time I left the course for about 50 feet to check the screen for the standings.   I was in about 8th place, but there were a cluster of 3-4 of us who were on the same lap.  It looked like the top four would be tough to keep up with, so I set a goal to finish in the top 5.

One thing I quickly noticed was the distance for each lap.  My Garmin was showing more.  I know they measure courses with the shortest possible route, but it is impossible to run that exact route, passing people and just not concentrating on tight lines.  It looked like I would run close to two miles extra across 100 miles.   That is quite a difference.  Others were showing the same with their watches.

I hit the 50-mile mark (Garmin distance) at about 8:38.  While I was about 20 minutes behind my goal, I was pleased.  That was only 21 minutes off my PR time.  Despite the wind, I was still cranking along just fine with only minor problems to deal with.  My pace goal was targeted to hit PRs at all the ultra distances and reach 100 in sub-20-hours.  It felt like I was still on target.   In the standings, I was still doing fine, staying with that cluster of 4-5 runners, nearly on the same lap.  I was able to start identifying them.

One of the front-runners started to have trouble.   I stopped to try to help him as he was laying on the grass with stomach craps and feelings of bloating in his chest.   I tried to give him some advice and I think shortly later he quit because I never saw him on the track after that.

I hit the 100K mark (Garmin) at about 11:06.  I was 30 minutes behind pace goals, but I knew I was doing just fine.   A runner, David Stores, from St. Louis, caught up with me and started to run with me.  He introduced himself, mentioning that he loved my Utah Lake run stories.   I noticed on the board that we could see finishing each lap, that we were exactly at the same distance, but he was running the 12-hour race.   As we ran, I could tell he was helping me a bunch, getting my mind off the normal pain.  I pointed out to him that I thought he was the leading 12-hour runner.  He had not realized that.  I knew that I was doing fine if I was tied with the leader of the 12-hour run.  He later won that race by a couple miles.

The sun went down after a long windy day.  The wind also died down a little. The waves from Lake Erie were no longer crashing as hard as usual.   At the 12-hour mark, I had reached about 66.6 miles, 2/3rds of the way to 100.  To break 20 hours, I needed to run only 33.3 in the next 8 hours.  I was confident that I could do that.  

I was still running constantly.  The only time I walked a little was at the aid station, but elsewhere, I was always running.  I don't think in any race I have ever delayed walking stretches this long in the race.  Most every other runner, except for the top 10 runners, were now walking long stretches.   I was now in 6th place, doing well.

But a little confidence can be over-confidence when running huge distances.  It very quickly got colder.   There was a constant bitter cold breeze all night.  The wind shifted from the Northwest, to the Northeast, coming right off the lake.  There was a long section, along the shoreline that was now a bitter cold headwind.

I first dealt with the cold well.  One strategy was to jump into a porta-potty and sit for a minute, out of the wind, to bring my heart-rate down.  I had done that periodically for that past several hours.   I started walking stretches at about mile 75.  Because I was going slower, my body temperature went down.   By mile 78, things started to really fail.  I was becoming hypothermic, stumbling around, getting very drowsy, and struggling to keep a pace quicker than about 18-minute miles.  The track seemed deserted.   I wasn't alone in my struggles.

Finally, I had no choice but to go warm up.   I grabbed the keys to the car and went to recover.  I grabbed bacon and orange juice and sat in the car, waiting for the heater to warm me up.  I first told myself to only stay 10 minutes, but that turned into 20 minutes.   I noticed that many others were doing the same thing.   My sub-20-hour goal went out the window into the cold and I knew it.

Back out in the cold, things improved for awhile.  I could run again. I noticed that two of the front-runners were still in shorts and one was in short sleeves.  I could not comprehend that.  I was now in four layers on top.

Struggles continued.  It was nice and peaceful, and at times it seemed like there were only about 20 runners on the course.   The miles clicked by slowly.   Miles 80-100 seemed like a crawl.   Soon, I noticed a serious problem.  My eyes seemed to be freezing up.  I think they were becoming wind-burned.   My eyes wanted to close and that doesn't work well when you are so very tired.  Finally, no choice again, I had to go warm up again.  This time it was for about 15 minutes.  

When I went back out, I decided to grab my sun glasses and wear them for protection.   When I arrived at the aid station, I noticed that they were giving funny looks to each other about me.   I quickly explained why I was running with dark glasses at night.  Soon I noticed others doing the same.   Later, I heard one of the front-runners comment that he could barely see. 

At mile 91 I had to stop again.  This time my bad leg was hurting near the fracture area.  I had to rest it, but only stopped about 10 minutes.  I decided that I would walk most of the way to reach 100.  It was slow going but the leg started to feel better and I started to run again.

My long stops probably totaled about an hour.  I went to check the standings and saw a was in 11th place.  That was disappointing.  But, there was still a group of runners close to me.

100 miles finally arrived.  I believe by Garmin distance it was at 21:48 and by course distance about 22:15.   It was disappointing to not break 20 hours, but 21:48 is very respectable for the weather conditions.   

Dawn arrived and the wind finally died down. I had only traveled 30 miles during the night.  It would be a beautiful morning.   After I did a lap past 100, I stopped to check the standings and it looked like at least three runners ahead of me packed it in at 100 miles and quit.  I was now in 8th place.  Could I climb higher?

Finally, without the terrible wind, I felt like a new runner.  There were 90 minutes left, time to run like crazy.  And I did run crazy, the only one running hard out there.  As I ran passed the aid station, I would get cheers as people watch the board an saw how many miles I had run.  With an hour to go, I checked the standings.  I was now in 6th place.   The 5th place guy was more than a mile ahead of me.  Could I catch him?   Yes, I could.  At about mile 105 I passed who I thought was the guy.  I think he noticed when he finished the lap and probably saw my name on the board with the same distance as him.

For the next lap he really pushed hard to try to catch me.  I just pushed it even harder.  But by the end of the lap he was only about 30 yards behind and closing on me.  This was going to be very hard.  But as I turned the first corner of the next lap, I could not see him behind.   He indeed had stopped.  Maybe I crushed his will. 5th place was mine. 

What about 4th place.  A half hour earlier that guy was close to 3 miles ahead, but he was walking.   I lapped who I thought he was.  I was now a full lap down.   I continued to push pretty hard.   They give you a stick with your number on it to allow you to a partial lap before the 24-hour siren.  Unfortunately, the RD could find my number and I had to wait for her for about a half minute.   That was enough of a delay.   It turns out that I finished just 0.2 miles out of 4th place.  Close, almost caught him.

I ran at total of 107.7 miles in 24-hours, finished in 4th place out of 52 runners, and won my age group.  Most of the top 10 runners were much younger fast guys.  Not bad for an old mountain runner.  I felt great at the finish, hardly sore at all, wishing I had more time to catch the runners ahead.  It will have to wait for another race. 

Recovery, (now 26.5 hours after finishing) is going very well.  Only a couple small blisters on two toes that I did a bad tape job on.  I never noticed the blisters until I took off my socks.  I have a bit of tendinitis on top of my left foot, creaking a little, but not bad.  I slept fine last night.  My hamstring is sore, but not bad.   Because of the cold weather while running, my appetite is still good.  (Heat kills my appetite and system for a few days following a 100).   So all looks good.  I'm likely to try running Salt Flats 100 on Friday.  Yep, pretty crazy.  I've never attempted to do back-to-back like that before.

Good progress.  Tendinitis in the foot is still a bother, leg muscles still a little sore, but all getting better.  Walking normal again. I do still feel starving a couple hours after a meal.  That is different, don't usually experience that three days later.

I am very likely to go try to run Salt Falts 100 on Friday, but may just bail out at some point if it becomes grueling. I'd like at least to have a chance to run the speedway.

A short report.   I was curious if I could run another 100 just six days after running 107.7 at North Coast 24.   So I went ahead and gave Salt Flats 100 try.  A couple others ran it after finishing Zion 100 a week ago.  I worried about some aches and pains that were still there, but they weren't a problem a few miles into the race.

We first ran 14 miles or so across the famed speedway....very cool.  I didn't go out fast and instead hung back and chatted with friends for several miles.  I then started to struggle so kicked it up a notch, 8:30 pace to see if I could work out the kinks.  That helped for several miles and I passed a bunch, but by the time we got off the speedway and near Floating Island, I was again struggling on the flats, not enough recovery, heavy legs.   But I hung in there.   People started to find out that I had finished running 107 miles just five days early and they were facinated and impressed that I was ahead of them.

Then something very interesting happened, we hit our first major hill on Sliver Island, several miles of constant uphill.  Those around me were walking, but I discovered that I could run every step up the hill and do so pretty fast.  I passed a handful of runners.  This pattern continued throughout the race.  I would struggle on the flats but on every hill, I could really charge up it and I kept moving up in the standings.

However on the other side of Crater Island, we had to do a very long seven-mile mud flat run that you just couldn't run fast.  Because of the slowness, I ran out of water with three miles to go and really suffered with dehydration.  I ended up losing at least 90 minutes because of that.

It took me 2.5 hours to finally recover.  The sun was just about set and when I arrived at the mile 61 aid station, I felt fantastic.   I decided that it was time to race.  I put on a specific song that has a beat that really helps me run fast up hills.  It worked.  The next leg was to go up and over a pass on Silver Island.   I ran like crazy up that hill, passing several, and by the time I reached the next aid station, I caught up with runners who had left me behind hours earlier.   I then charged up the next hill passing more and as I ran down the other side, I had moved into 7th place and had my sights on the 6th place guy.  I was really flying and having a blast.   

But, in the dark, I took my eye of the trail for a moment, tripped and took a major fall, resulting in a very bloody arm.  I was lucky it didn't break.   That totally took the wind out of my sails and at the next aid station I had to stop to try to fix up the arm.

For the rest of the night, I had good periods whenever I had an uphill.  The aid station folks were amazing and I was really surprised that they would all call out my name as I arrived because of my green light.

There was another long stretch around mile 82 where I ran out of water again and slowed way, but I was still able to keep my position.   The course seemed long to me for a 100-miler.  I don't have proof, just my gut.   I'll have to take a closer look.   As dawn approached.  I reached the start/finish area and crossed the line in 23:29, in 8th place.  I was glad to score another sub-24 finish.  I was very surprised to get it because of these back-to-back finishes.

I think I came away with some new tricks that works for me in really charging up hills fast.   I look forward to further developing those skills because it made a huge difference to run up hills while everyone else around me was walking.

Ten hours of sleep last night. Recovery already going fast. Leg muscles aren't very sore at all. The biggest impact is from the heat and dehydration. That usually wipes me out for a day or two with low energy. I'll go to bed early again, but already thinking about the next adventure run.

Bounced back today, took three days this time.   Feel much better and about ready to start running again. Jogged down 10 flights of stairs no problem.

Back running.  I like to do my first recovery run an the treadmill to check for any problems in a controlled environment.  Everything feels fine, rather mind boggling what the body can do and how fast it can recover once you get used to going very long distances.  Tempted to run that River Rail 50 on Saturday, but just too pricy.

Decided to run tomorrow the River Rail Relay - 51+ miles that runs from Roy to West Jordan using the rail trail, legacy trail and JRP.   But I'll run it solo of course.  Still should beat a few relay teams.  We'll see if the legs hold up from the 100 last Saturday.   I'll just do this commuter style....park car at finish, take Trax and FrontRunner to Roy, run two miles to a motel, stay for the night, run two miles to the start to warm up and then run the race all the way to my car.  Should work.   Doesn't look like they are providing any type of food or snacks at the aid stations so I'll have to carry gels, etc.

At the last minute I decided to run a road race, the River Rail Relay which runs the paved trails from Roy to West Jordan.   I ran the entire distance solo.  I truly made it a solo run.  Friday evening, I parked my car at the finish, and then took Trax (light rail) and Front Runner (train) to Roy (the start) and then ran 2.5 miles to a motel.  Riding the train all that way certainly put in my mind just how far I would be running.

After 5.5 hours of sleep, I got up, got ready and did a 2.5 mile warmup run to the start where I met Vince Romney who was also running the course solo.  I think we were the only two to attempt it.   The rest of the field were mostly Ragnar types, with either 2-person or 4-person relays.

I ran with Vince for the first half mile or so and then decided to open it up and see how the legs felt running faster.  I was curious to see what they would do after the back-to-back 100s the past two weekends.   Things went well early, mile pace: 8:16, 8:01, 8:16, 8:51, 8:45.  I was keeping pace nicely with the leading relays.   The relays would switch runners about every 6-7 miles, so at the beginning of each new leg I would get passed by one or two fresh runners.

But at mile 9, I warmed up and clocked some speedy miles, 7:59, 7:56, 8:13.  My half marathon split was 1:53, OK.   But at the second relay point, the water station was about a quarter mile away at a parking lot.  They didn’t think through logistics.  It is fine to have it there for relays, but what about the solo runners.  People kept encouraging me to go to the parking lot to get refilled, they just didn’t understand that I was running solo.  I asked for a refill from the runners standing around, but they looked at me with blank stares, couldn’t understand why I needed a refill on the course.  This was discouraging.  I just kept going and hoped for the best.

I was clearly going to run out of water.  I was carrying just one water bottle and I just had a little left.  Finally two women riding slowly on bikes passed me.  I called out and asked for help.  One rider was so kind and filled my bottle to the brim.  I thanked her over and over again.   OK, I could avoid deep dehydration now, but it had halted my fast miles, I was clocking 9:52. 9:27, 9:38 now.

Once I reached the 3rd exchange point about mile 19, again the water was about a half mile away.   My bottle was empty.   I stopped and loudly explained to everyone standing around there that I was running solo.  I couldn’t go run a half mile away to get water!   This time runners started to understand and two of them filled up my bottle, also a race volunteer finally understood and said he would radio ahead to make sure there was water at the future stops on the course.

So all this bugged me and slowed me down.  At least they brought down water at this stop by the time Vince arrived.   I continued on this leg clocking miles averaging 10:10 pace.   When I reached exchange 4, the volunteers there quickly escorted me to the water.  The race director had personally brought it down for me.   I reached the marathon distance at 4:04, not bad for a 50-miler.  I took my longest stop here, bathroom, drank like crazy, and refilled my pockets with gels, candy and bacon from my little pack.   At the early stops there was no food for us, so both Vince and I hauled everything we needed on our backs for 50 miles.  I probably ate a pound of bacon along the way.  It was fantastic.

The Legacy Parkway trail was the worst part of the course.  Boring, exposed, and tons of bikers going by very, very fast without regard to the runners.  So I was very careful and avoided ear phones in that section.   My mile pace crept over 11:00 for the first time. I hit the 50K mark at 5:02, a nice solid split time.

Finally on the Jordan River Parkway in North Salt Lake, there was more shade and more to look at.  I enjoyed it a lot better.   I’ve run all this section before and that was very helpful because I knew what to expect and knew all the turns.   This race uses paint on the paved trail to show the way and the paint doesn’t go away.  That continually bugged me.  I noticed that some of the cities had painted black point over last year’s markings but others still remained.  Races should not do that!  It is as bad as tagging.

To keep myself entertained, I tried to greet every person I came across with a cheerful hello.  It was really interesting that at least half of the people out for walks, runs, bike ride seemed shocked that I said hi to them and a quarter of the people would look away as I approached.  I know that I’m not much to look at and probably looked like a scary old man, but this urban road runner culture is much different than those who run trails, always cheerfully greeting you.

Even half of the runners who passed me during the race would not respond at all with my “Good job” or hellos.  Odd.  I don’t pretend to understand the Ragnar culture, but my theory from reading reports is that runners are focused on “kills”.  I guess you wouldn’t greet someone you just “killed.”  That is opposite of ultrarunning where you encourage your competitors and even stop to help them if needed.  But after awhile as I ran into the exchange areas, the crews and runners knew that I was a solo runner and they started to greet with with loud cheers and smiles.  That was wonderful.

Things continued well.  My pace was still pretty good at the 40-mile mark, just 11 more miles to go.  I was in high spirits and enjoyed singing away as I ran, further scaring every person I met.   Running along the river in Murray is the best part of the course.  The trail is well maintained and there is plenty of nice shade.  The clouds also came in and helped cool things down.  But overall, I was still somewhat dehydrated.  I probably should have ran with two water bottles.  The joints started to ache but I pushed ahead.

Nearing the finish, I hit the 50-mile mark at 8:48.  That was good, I had hoped to at least break 9:00.  My pace all day was similar to that at North Coast 24, two weeks ago.  On the bright side, I really didn’t feel any ill effects from last weeks 100.  If anything, the legs feel stronger.

I reached the finish at Gardiner Village at 9:03.  I finished about mid-pack for the relays.  The finish area was mostly populated by women teams waiting for their last runner to arrived.   They were all flabergasted that I ran the course solo.  The race director made a nice announcement and presented me my 1st place ribbon.  One lady insisted on taking my picture.   I felt great at the finish and could have continued on for a very long time.  It had been a great unique training run.

They won’t be doing this race next year, I heard that they can’t get the permit as the race is growing (and probably because they tag the trail like crazy).  I heard the RD mention that they might be moving to Antelope Island….huh?  That is Jim Skaggs territory.   Well, it would introduce the Ragnar community to the island.  They should instead go run the Golden Spike railway bed.  I wish there was a race there.

Went to do one of my favorite run, Paria Canyon located halfway between Kanab and Page on the Utah/Arizona border.  It is the scene of my first major backpack trip back in the mid 90s that hooked me on the outdoors.   I came away from that with swollen ankles and could hardly walk for a week.   I returned years later for my first long-distance "run" and also came away injured.  This would be my sixth time in the canyon.  End-to-end to Lees Ferry is around 42-45 miles depending on routes.

This time, I wanted to experience the best parts of the canyon twice by doing an out and back to the 25 mile point and back for at least 50 miles.  After the 25-mile point it turns into open desert, hotter and less scenic.

I spent the night in Kanab and was on the trail at dawn.  This would be the toughest flat 50-miler I had ever attempted.  What would make it tough would be the 600+ river crossings.   The river was the highest of my visits, mostly ankle/calf deep, but in places up to the knees.   Running across the river was out of the question because it would splash and get the shorts wet, so I would slow each time to walk across. 

For the first 7 miles, the river water was frigid and the air temperature too.  It was rough, but once I reached the confluence of Buckskin Gulch with the Paria, the water warmed and the sun started to peek down into the canyon a little.   My spirits lifted and I enjoyed it much more.

The canyon is spectacular with very high cliffs on both side, rising at times to hundreds of feet.   There is generally no trail so you pick your route and try to make use of the banks as much as possible to run.  Back and forth as the river winds down the canyon.   I passed backpackers who had been out the for 1-3 days.   On the way back they would stop me and talk.  They were very impressed.

I reached the 25-mile mark at about 6 hours or so.  All went well and because of the cool weather in the canyon, I didn't have to fill up very often from springs.   The way back was tougher, crossing against the river flow.  It took more effort.   But wow, what an amazing run.

I reached the trailhead at 13:32, with the sun still up.  Pretty good including at least 45 minutes of stops and one bad route through reeds that I had to back out of.

In past years that run would have wiped me out, but it was no big deal.  My legs felt fine.  The feet were wet for the entire time, but my road shoes drained well.  I only had to clean out the sand once.   I ended out with water-logged feet, but no blisters.

I drove up near Bryce Canyon and slept well for my Day 2 adventure.

Day #2 of my back-to-back adventure runs.   I slept in until 5:45 and then got up to prepare to run again.  I felt pretty good.   I drove to the start of the Bryce 100 course, the race to be held in two weeks.   I had forgotten my map and course directions, so I would just play it by ear and just have a great time running here and there.

I probably ran on the course only for 7 miles or so, but it really helped orient myself and I generally figured out things.   In short, this is going to be an amazing race.   The trails and roads are soft and lack rocks.  This should be pretty speedy.  The views were amazing.  I ran here and there, even bushwacked at times.  It was impossible to get lost because if I did, I could simply head down to the east and spill out in the valley where my car would be at the far north.   So I just had one of those amazing runs where I didn't really care about my route, I just went places that looked interesting and made sure I checked out portions of the course.  I really didn't want to run much of it and spoil the surprise of a new race to me, but I ran enough to understand well what to expect.   

I spent most of the day above 8500 feet and reached about 9300.  It was great altitude training.  This is another hidden gem for Utah running.  I only saw foot prints on one road, that was part of the course, someone else checking things out.  But otherwise it was just deer tracks.

I took it pretty easy.   I didn't run into a single person up there.  No ATVs, nothing but me and deer and I saw plenty.   Wow!  I really look forward to the race now.   As I started to run out of time, I picked a road and just ran down to the valley.  

The race was be cool temperature-wise.  Even though it was a pretty hot day, it stayed below freezing until about 8:30 and then it was cool all day up at altitude.  Nice.

It had been a fun two-days of adventure running.  These long distances seem like no big deal, so I must be back into shape.

Feel fully recovered already from the 79 miles Friday and Saturday.   I've been using a different training strategy, very long weekend miles with recovery and rest during the week.  But overall weekly miles still big.   My theory with this approach is that it helps me to recover very fast between 100s and also makes running 100s much less painful.  Running 50 miles now is no big deal, starting to feel like a 20-mile run used to feel.

However, this approach doesn't help with speed, but at my age, speed is just so hard to keep up without doing a bunch of tempo/speed work.  However, that seems to be leading to injury easier.   So, instead of being speedy, I would rather run strong and steady, being able to recover fast so I can do as many long adventure runs as time and life's demands will permit.   I think I'm going into the spring/summer season more prepared than I have since 2010.

Busy all week and had a terrible tooth problem that I finally got fixed today. So, not much running going on.  But before the storms I did go run the north spine of Lake Mountain.  Started at the little pass at the Ranches and made it to the summit in two hours.  It was sprinkling and rather cool up there.  It looked like storms were coming in so I cut the run short and ran down the road to home.

Wild flowers and grass are growing on the mountain, making this run more difficult with each week as the deer trails along the spine are starting to be hid.  It is so nice to see the explosion of wildflowers and green wild plants in the burn scar toward in areas where the fire wasn't as hot.  But down lower, where the fire really killed everything and was blazing hot, it still looks dead.

The legs feel great and enjoyed the 3,500 feet of climbing.  I like my new New Balance Leadvilles.  They are certainly fine for these shorter training runs.  How will they do on a 100?  We shall see.

I wanted to get in some altitude training so I headed up American Fork Canyon.  I didn't have any specific plans, didn't bring or check a map, just started running up the Pine Hollow Trail.  It was wonderful.  I made my way up the Ridge Trail and then it started raining for a few minutes, enough to get the trails wet.   I then headed down toward the Cascade Springs Road and tested the new shoes (NB Leadville) in the mud.  They held up pretty well, not bad on the slippery downhills and they also didn't collect a ton of mud in the sticky places.

Made my way to the Alpine Summit and after a long bathroom break continued on, running random trails, connecting to the trail to Timpooneke.  The new parking lot is nice and will allow for a few more cars, but not a bunch more.   

I then decided to run up the Timpooneke trail.  Snow appeared within the first mile and detours were required nearing Scout Falls.  I stayed close to the trail above that, but made some direct climbs when long post-holes were coming up.   I made it to the big flat area where the stream comes around from the left.  Instead of following the trail, I headed right across the giant step and then found a nice moose trail to take straight up to the last giant step, near the rock slide.  Once up there, the snow was very deep.   That was enough for me.  I was at 8,700 feet.   I headed down, doing some butt slide on the snow.

Continuing on, I took the 151 trail as high as it went with great ridge views and then blasted 2,000 feet down the Bear Canyon trail in just 2.5 miles.  Great fun!  It is so nice to be able to run downhills again.  At Mutual Dell, I then took the short trail up to Pine Hollow trailhead to my car.  

Wow, what a wonderful day.  I saw no one on the trails and very few human tracks.  I did see plenty of moose tracks on the trails.   It was a nice peaceful day of running.  I took my sweet time and even stopped at times to clear the trails of dead fall.  Somehow I managed to dodge most of the rain.  I did about 6,000 feet of climbing along the way.

After work went up AF canyon and ran the Bear Canyon/Pine Hollow loop.   I pushed it pretty hard the entire time and it felt like a tempo run.  It has a huge climb at the beginning, then some nice rollers over the Timpooneke trailhead, and then up and over to Bear Canyon, then a huge descent to end things off.   Did it in 1:20, about 2,000 feet of climbing along the way.  Fun stuff.  With the road still closed above Pine Hollow, no one is on the trails, no bikes, etc.   Solitude....wonderful.

Continuing to train for Bryce 100 next week. At this point the best training is to get as much altitude as possible and learn the course. So, I traveled down to the area and went to run a difficult section between miles 16 and 26 with about 4,000 feet of climbing. I started just after dawn at the Proctor Canyon aid station location. The first climb was very nice, friendly switch backs, reaching up to 8600 feet. It then descended down to 8000 feet but I just couldn't figure out where the trail went from there. I wasted about an hour going up a rough trail that eventually disappeared. I back tracked, tried again and failed. So I headed back, clear up to 8600 feet where I had an internet connection. Now I had the course description and realized that I had to descend further to 7700 feet, to Camp Eli. Well, I decided to try again and this time went the right way. I refilled my water bottles at Camp Eli and started the next climb. This one was rough, no switch-backs. When it opened up there was a trail junction in no sign and of course I took the wrong way but later was convinced that I was heading the wrong way and again returned. From then on I ran it right and got to the top at 9200 feet. I probably had run an extra five miles. I ran along the rim top for another four miles and then returned. The return trip was fast because I knew the trail well now. I ran into some Forest Service guys to trailwork to prepare the rough climb for next week. They were doing a fantastic job. It was a wonderful day and I got some good altitude training.  I'm really glad I ran this section.  Even if it is marked well, I will know what to expect and should be able to push it hard.

I got the OK to spend the night here, had some nice sleep and hit the trail again in the morning.  This time I wanted to run the first miles of the course.  The start of the course runs on the Thunder Mountain trail, very popular with mountain bikers.  It rolls in and out of draws at 8300 feet for the first four miles and then descends with spectacular views of Red Rock Canyon.  It descends in the canyon and I ran among all the hoodoos.  It was amazing.  Once I hit the Desert View trail, I decided to run a loop and took the trail to Red Canyon, the canyon that contains the highway that goes up to Bryce.  Along it is a nice paved trail all the way up.   I ran up hard and within a mile of the top found an old wagon road heading into the wilderness toward the ridges containing the Thunder Mountain trail.  So I really winged it.  The road disappeared so I just climbed up to one of the red ridges and ran it toward the north.  It was cool to be running where probably no one had been before.  Along the way I discovered a small arch, very cool.  No sign that humans had been there.   After a couple miles I eventually ran into the Thunder Mountain trail, now with many bikers on it.   Just a couple miles to go, I reached my car.   Great weekend, with 52 miles of running over the two days, most of it above 8,000 feet.   I really look forward to next Friday.

Tested my fitness level by running up Lake Mountain pretty hard.  Didn't take the wimpy road, instead took the ridge route, starting in Eagle Mountain Ranches.  It was about 6.3 miles.  I beat my best time by 16 minutes, reaching the top in 1:52.  The first half mile is a single-track motor cycle trail and after passing the new water tank, it turns into a marked ATV trail 2 up on the ridge between Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs.  It winds its way through a shooting course the kids use, so the main trail can't be determined, but you just keep heading south and eventually it comes out of the junipers and turns back into an ATV/4WD road.   About the 3 mile mark the road ends at a fence line.  There is a nice deer trail around the first bluff that I like to take because it can be run pretty fast.  On the other side is a saddle.  From there it is just up and down the ridges.  Two climbs are significant, much like the windy pass climb in Squaw Peak, just as steep but not quite as long.  There are very defined deer trails that help.   The deer trails on top of the ridges are great too, but this time of year are being obscured by weeds.  Some weeds are now almost up to the waist.  But there are still burned sections that were burned so hot that no weeds are growing.   You can move through those fast.   So, it is up and down, mostly up and lots of summits that you hope is the end, but it isn't.   Finally you hit a rough double track road which is just a half mile from the true Lake Mountain Summit.   Made it.

I did the return trip in 1:30, not much faster.  I tried to push it, but the route is so rough, you can't push it too fast without risking falls.   I was very surprised to meed two hikers on the route.  I've never seen foot prints up there, very rare.   They were surprised to see me too.

Made it a camping trip with Linda and daughter Mindy.  We had a great time.  We were glad we didn't camp with the huge group of runners, but instead had a nice quiet time up in the paid campground and cooked over a fire. In the morning I hitched a ride to the start.

I Ran first 7 miles pretty fast, ignoring all the views since I saw them last week and just concentrated on my pace.  I was running somewhere around the top 10.  It was so good to be able to run full speed on trails for the first time in almost 18 months.  Trace Lund caught up as we were running through the foothills.  It was funny that both at Salt Flats 100 and Bryce 100 we stayed close for miles.  I saw him for the last time at about mile 70.  Phil Lowry caught up around mile 10 moving well and it was nice to be able to keep up with him for quite awhile.   At about mile 12, I finally was warmed up and could really run the hills fast, stretching a nice lead over the runners behind.  By about mile 18, Craig Lloyd caught up, running ahead of his group.  They would stay together all the way to the end, an amazing feat to do for 100 miles.  I last saw them about mile 68.

This continued to go well.  I wasted about a half hour with a bathroom break and foot cleaning, and fell back with the Craig Lloyd group at mile 39.  I pushed ahead on the next big climb to the top of the Pink Cliffs, an amazing view.  We came in together at the turnaround point, Crawford Pass at about 12 hours.  Not bad, but over an hour longer than I hoped.   The major factor holding back was the altitude.  At 9,000 feet and above I just couldn't push the pace fast because of pressure on my lungs and heart rate.

At the turnaround point was Phil Lowry, surrounded by family and friends explaining why he was quitting, "Not worth it, trashed quads."   Despite all this preaching there, when I left, I bet to myself that he would still finish.   He did.

I had a very quick stop at the turnaround and made the next big climb pretty fast.   Trace Lund caught up with me at mile 60 and we came into the next aid station together.  I spent the next 30 minutes changing into night clothes, cleaning my feet and trying to eat.  However, I just wasn't feeling well.  Craig's group arrived as I was about to leave.  I ran up the road a ways and realized I forgot my flash light, so back down I ran.  Kendall Wimmer gave me a wind breaker for the night.  I was afraid I would be too cold.  Sure glad he did, that was a life saver.

I felt rather rotten on the next climb and near the top Craig and the boys caught up.  I hung with them for awhile but then stopped to get my music set up to really cruise on the rim.  Once I had the right tunes playing, I really stepped up the pace and passed runner after runner, but so had the big group.   We arrived at Kanab Creek, mile 66.5 at the same time, running in the top 20.   Craig and the boys seemed to take long station stops, but I was in and out fast.  I should have stayed longer because soon I started to crash.  I stopped and cat-napped in the trail for about five minutes until the boys caught up.

The next section on top, above 9,000 feet was brutal.  My stomach shut down, my heart rate too high, and I was breathing hard.  I just couldn't run much.  The wind really kicked up and as I was mostly walking, I became hypothermic.   Eventually I would have to stop, find a warm place out the wind and rest until my breathing rate came down.   I was passed by runner after runner.   Trace caught up and he too was having trouble.  I passed him while he napped, but he eventually went by again.   It took me very long to reach Blubber Creek, mile 74.

This aid station had no fire to warm by.  When I arrived, I said, "I'm having trouble, not in very good shape."  But no one there offered any help, so I went to find it.   I went down a little row of crew cars and asked if there was a car I could sit in.  A lady quickly offered her car for me.  She was great, making room for me and offering me help.  She turned on the heat and her car seats were even heated.   Soon the hypothermic feelings left me, but my stomach was still shot.   I talked about quitting to the lady but she wouldn't let me.    I went to the aid station to get some food, came back and asked if I could just sit in the car and try to bring my stomach back to life.  She even let me clean my feet in her car.  Well, after an hour there, I decided to continue on.  I knew my race time was shot, but surely I could finish.

The next section dropped to 7,700 feet.  I felt somewhat better, but had no strength at all on the short climbs.  On the long climb, I moved slowly and several runners passed.  Jim Milar caught up, good to see him.  At the turnaround I had been about two hours ahead of him.   I reached mile 80 at dawn.    As usual, after a night of stomach issues, when finally the sun hit me, I found life.  I could push the pace again and arrived at mile 89, the group campground at about 8:30 a.m.

There would be 11 more hot lowland (7000-8000 feet) miles left.   I decided to push it hard to see if I could come in under 30 hours.   I would have to run the last 11 miles in about 2:45.   I walked the first half mile but then really kicked it into gear.  My legs were fresh and my lungs were working again.  I passed about 8 runners.  It was great to see them about a half mile in the distance and cruise to catch them.

The finish came into view and I came in at 29:50.  There were so many nice people at the finish congratulating me.  I was somewhat delirious from the fast miles in the heat so didn't hang around long.  I needed to cool down fast and hit the AC in the car.  Linda and Mindy drove my back to the campground where I washed up in the bathroom with a nice cool floor to help my feet.   We hit the road to return home and without a couple hours I was feeling good again.

Recovery is going very fast.  Muscles are hardly sore at all.  The worst problem is the effect of dust on my sinuses.   But I should be ready to rock and roll another 100 in two weeks at Bighorn 100.   This was my 55th 100 finish and my 4th this year.

Recovery going amazing!  Feels like I can run again tomorrow.  I think I'm proving out my theory that if you do very, very long weekend runs consitently instead of running nearly every day, that 100s are easier on you and you recover faster.  However, the trade-off is probably speed.

The New Balance Leadville 1200's performed very, very well.  No foot fatigue, just like Hokas. I could run over rocks with no problem. But, no Hoka blisters!  I didn't even tape any toes.  My feet came out in great shape, just a few rubbing marks from the sand in the socks, and one toe had problems, I think because of a seam inside that I can cut down.   I'm sold on these shoes for mountain 100s. The lugs have to wear at all.

Bighorn 100 in 11 days.  I'm excited to return for my 7th finish.   I also read a book recently on Custer, so I hope to visit the Little Bighorn site again.

One of these 100s this summer will come together well.  The odds are in my favor.  In the meantime, I'll just pile up finishes.

I was lazy this week, just didn't feel like running so I decided to do something crazy.  I went and ran the Squaw Peak 50 course unsupported because I missed it last week since it was on the same weekend as Bryce 100 this year.

I started at Vivian Park, the normal start of the race at about 6:30 p.m.  I was bothered by some bloating issues which slowed me down and almost made me turn back, but I got through it.   Since I was hauling all my food and extra water, the initial big climb was about 15 minutes slower than if I was racing it.  I ran into a moose about mile 3 and the silly beast just kept running ahead of me on the trail for a half mile.  It finally went downhill.   Above Rock Canyon, a guy on a motorcycle came up to me and told me just down the road was recent Bear sign and they had just set a Bear trap.  He seemed concerned about me. 

 Dark came around mile 10 above Rock Canyon.  A car was coming down and it saw me green light and waited as I came up.  "Are you OK? asked the guy."   "Yep, I'm doing fine."   He just couldn't understand why I was heading up in this remote area in the dark.  I just ran on.

It really was a different perspective running the course in the dark.  Most of the course flagging was still up which helped me a bunch, but you have to wonder why they don't take it down.  There were section where it was down and I just had to trust my memory of all the turns.  I've run the course 6-7 times.   I never took a wrong turn.  I did backtrack once, thinking I was going the wrong way through the bushwack section above Rock Canyon, but I was indeed doing it right.

I hit the Hobble Creek road about midnight and I'm sure the couple cars that went by thought I was nuts.  I really took the road run easy and reached the top of the road about 60-90 minutes slower than normal, but I was having a good time.

I got my water from the streams and for some of them treated in with iodine.  Hopefully I won't get any nasties. At mile 30 I stopped to eat a buritto and other stuff.  After that I had amazing strength and speed.   I ran fast into Little Valley and felt better than I ever have running into that section.  I ran most of the trail up to Bald Knoll, feeling great.

Dawn arrived as I finished going around Bald Knoll, making my approach to Bozung Hill.  I had traveled about 28 miles during the very short night.  The climb up the steep hill wasn't a big deal.  I didn't feel the altitude at all.  I looked to the east and thought about the Utah Valley Marathon starting just over the mountain in Wallsburg.

The morning at the top was spectacular as the sun started to peak over the mountains.  It was so cool to be up there.   I ran down to Windy Pass.  The trail for the entire course was in better shape than I have ever seen.  The major factor is that last week 200+ runners pounded it down for me.  It was nice and smooth in many sections.  I normally didn't see footprints left from last week, but the wear on the trail was very evident, and easy indicator that I was on the right route.

It started to get warm as I made the huge descent into South Fork.  But the sun was still low so there was plenty of cool shade spots.  I never saw a single person on the trail and I had to do all the spider web breaking for the day and night.

I finally hit the South Fork Road and enjoyed the morning run down the road.  It is so much more pleasant finishing in the morning instead of the hot afternoon.   I finished in about 14:30 to zero fan fair....quite satisfied.  It was a great experience, glad I did it.   When I reached home my wife commented that I didn't look tired.  I really wasn't.  Funny how a 50-mile run is no big deal now.

This was my 7th finish at Bighorn.  I was amazed how more competitive the field is now compared to my first time there in 2006.   I started slow, felt really slow, but I was just about 5 minutes slower on the first huge climb compared to my best year in 2010.  What is nice is that with my recent training, I could run on demand throughout the entire race.   My stomach generally behaved and I had a great time.   I had a bad sore foot (sesimoids) throughout much of the race that really slowed me down at times until it got wet and cold during the night.  After that I discovered that it felt fine if I kept soaking it in passing streams clear to the finish.   I also spent way too much time enjoying the aid stations and talking to other runners.   My finish time was OK, about two hours slower than my best time on the standard course.   But, there were several split times along the way that were my best ever.   I loved running up the hills and could do that in sections where the other runners around me were walking.   And on the downhills, I had my best time ever running the long 18-mile downhill from the turnaround, passing a ton of runners during the night. But my proudest moment, and funnest time was running miles 87.5 to 92.5, a tough climb followed by huge 3,000+ three-mile descent.   I crushed it in 1:05, just three minutes slower than my best in 2010 when I used a front-running 50K runner to pace me.   This time I did it by myself but stayed ahead of front-running 50-mile runners.   I was pleased to finally have my downhill speed back.

So, I finished strong.  No, I didn't crush it, didn't really try to, but it was a good solid race on a tough course.

Recover will be very fast, not very sore.

Speedy recovery....wow!  Just about ready to run again.   I guess I'll have to go find another long run for the weekend especially since my wife is out of town.

With so many friends going off to do the Ragnar thing, I thought I needed to also run during the night.  I had recovered well from Big Horn 100 last week, so I decided to go run the very tough Kat'cina Mosa 100K course with it's 17,000 feet of climbing. 20 or so miles are the same as Squaw Peak 50 but in the opposite the direction.

The official race starts in Hobble Creek Canyon.  I started at Big Spring in South Fork Provo Canyon.  This would mean that the toughest climb and descent would be in the final miles.  

I started at about 4 p.m.  My pace was pretty easy, just enjoying the run. The climb up to Windy Pass was fine.  The brush has really grown since two weeks ago and now is a bother on the single track sections, really slowing things down.   I was able to stay on course the entire way.  I run the race once and paced 25-40 miles three other times so I knew the course pretty well.  But also, there is still flagging up from past years in several sections.

Dusk hit me about a mile after Little Valley and right at that point a big black bear ran across the dirt road ahead of me about only 30 yards.  It must have heard or seen me coming.  Wow!  That is the first bear I've run into while running in Utah.   As it got darker I kept looking behind me, fearing that the bear could be tracking me.  But it wasn't. 

In about another mile, I ran into a massive sheep herd.  I no longer worried about the bear.  If it was hungry, it would snag a sheep.   The herd covered about a half mile and they weren't very happy about my green light.  Soon dog barked.  Great.   I didn't notice them coming, but soon I was nudged from behind.  There were two big white dogs who looked friendly.  They kept nudging me, maybe herding me.  But then one of them kept trying to nudge my left pocket.  Then it clicked.  That pocket had bacon in it.   The dogs kept following me until I reached the edge of the herd and then they stopped to stay with their charges.

As I passed the bath tub spring around 11 p.m. a family was camping nearby with a huge bon fire.  They called out greetings.  I'm sure they wondered what I was doing.   I filled up and continued on.

All was pretty uneventful until I started descending the narrow Dry canyon.  It had been taken over by cattle and they were destroying the nice trail.  They didn't like my light and would run down the trail ahead up me stirring up a massive cloud of dust.  Most of the cattle eventually left the trail but not a cow with two calves.  They insisted on staying on the trail.  It was a real bother, constant dust cloud and I just couldn't get around them.  After 1.5 miles, they finally became tired and stopped running.  I tried to prod them off the trail, but the cow started to get protective and made movements to go after me.  So we were at a standoff, they were just walking down the trail slowly.  Finally the cow left the trail.  The calves didn't want to, but finally followed the mom.   I eventually reach Hobble Creek road.  My shoes were full of dust.  The cows had chewed the trail into soft dust.   I had to stop for 15 minutes to clean the feet well. Because it hasn't rained in quite awhile, the course was very dusty.  I would have to stop four times to clean my feet.

Dawn arrived as I was climbing the road that goes to the top. I had only covered 25 miles during the shortest night of the year.   The nearly full moon sure was great.  But it was nice to have the sun rising.   I was getting chilled and drowsy.  I stopped twice to take short naps.

The morning was beautiful and I was in no hurry.  I enjoyed the morning and all the sights.  I enjoyed the very tough climb up to the highest ridge above Big Spring Canyon, about 9,700 feet.   The steep descent was tough on my tired legs but I finally made it back to my car, accomplishing the 100K+   It was a great adventure.  I sure love running at night but can do with out the wildlife and farm stock.

Ran a double Timp.   I used the fact that many friends would be up on the mountain at night as a motivater to do the second trip.  It is so hard to push yourself to do the second trip, but having people you know up there helps a ton.   It was the usual Timp fun.   I did take a couple falls coming down the first time and now have some new wounds on my arms.  I hit the boys and girls coming up with about 30 minutes to go on trip one.  They were moving well and we said quick his.  Dan Varga had hip problems so ran back down with me.  It was nice to have company.  My first trip was 3:56, not speedy, but not bad.  I spent about ten minutes at the car reloading and eating and then hit the trail again.  I met the boys and girls again in the basin, all doing well.   The rest of the trip up was dark and lonely.  I struggled a bit more pushing the summit, not eating enough.  But I got two down. On the way down, I ruled out doing three.  I had hoped for at least three, but I was feeling too thrashed, a third would just be a hike.  But what really ruled it out was the storm coming in.  The lightning was amazing, lighting up all the cliffs like daylight.  It remained to the north but still looked bad.   I wondered about all the groups still heading up.  When I reached the trailhead, about ten feet from my car I felt two drops of rain.  I got in the car and within a few seconds it really poured hard.  I made it just in time.  While driving down the road, I saw a bolt of lightning hit the road in front up me, not more than 100 feet.  Wow!   It was pretty scary until I got out of the canyon.

Ran around Duck Mountain in the Uintas.  Video on my facebook page.

Went to Hardrock to pace Mike Place, but he had to drop at mile 15 so I drove to Laramie to run the Happy Jack 24-hour race.  During the night my lead built to 18 miles so I lost motivation to push hard, packed it in at 21.5 hours with the victory at 78 miles.

Ran with my brother Bob up Dry Canyon, the start of the Bear 100 course.

Morning run up Cub River Canyon on portions of the old Bear 100 course.

Loop run up and over a northern peak on Lake Mountain down to Eagle Mountain city center and then in the foothills, aid station stop at the Ranches, and then home.  Grand Mesa 100 on Saturday.

Grand Mesa 100 DNF due to heavy rain.  Details on my blog.

Double Kings Peak, details on my blog

Double Kings Peak, details on my blog

Backpacking and running at Yosemite.  Wonderful week!

Run up Little Si above North Bend, WA

Quick report.  This is my third running of Cascade Crest 100 in the Cascades of Washington, where I grew up skiing nearby.  The weather was cooler this year, nice.  The race begins with three miles of dirt road and then a tough climb.  I stayed up front but toward the end of the massive climb let dozens of younger runners go on ahead.  They were still pushing hard and my thoughts were, "Let's see if you can do that at mile 60!"  During a dirt road descent about mile 7, I decided to open up the speed, but then wasn't being careful enough and took a bad fall, gashing my forearm and bruising a quad muscle.  That took the wind out of my sails, but I still mostly kept pace with the other runners.  I got bandaged up at the next aid station, but the gashes still bled for several hours.  My leg got worse and soon I had difficulty bending my leg other than normal stride running.  That was concerning but I hoped it would settle down and it mostly did.

I kept pace with my 2011 pace, within minutes of it, even up to nine mintues ahead until about mile 80.  So I had a good race going.  My run through the 2.5 mile dark tunnel during the night was slower than usual because my achilles started to burn, so I backed off the normal sub-8:00 pace through there, but I still came into Hyak earliest than ever.

I was most pleased with me charge up the hill to Keechelus Ridge about mile 50.  All the other runners were hiking, but I ran like crazy, shocking them.  That is the value of not burning yourself out on the hills during the first quarter of the race.  I then blasted down the long dirt road to Kachess Lake.   The run through the "trail from hell" went OK, always longer than expected and was my slowest time through it, but still not bad.

Things fell about after that.  My stomach would not cooperate.  My theory is that I left my jacket behind in my drop bag at the aid station because dawn arrived and I got chilled, drawing blood away from the tummy.  At first I was charging up the next hill nicely but soon my stomach shut the running down as I was cold.  For the next several hours I suffered and my pace slowed.  By mile 89 I was 40 minutes behind my 2011 pace, but feeling better.  However, the leg and feet slowed me down the rest of the way.    I was glad to see the finish line arrive.  The last six miles were on the painful side.  

I really enjoyed the run, I'll return.

Recovering.  Starting to bounce back 48 hours after finishing. Sore calves for some reason, I guess all the climbs.  I still haven't figured out Cascade Crest.  I pushed the 23 miles pretty hard but at that point was in 88th place.  In other races when I push that hard I'm way up in the standings.  That first massive climb must take its toll.   But it is fun to see how I kept climbing in the standings.  During a 15-mile section during the night I climbed a nice ten places as I charged up a long hill and blasted down the other side.  But 60th was the highest I got.  Looks like if my stomach would not have shut down I could have finished about 50th place.

I'm getting old.  A young guy offered me his seat on the full train this morning as I shuffled on.   I first took it, but then realized that I just couldn't.  I had been on my feet for more than 28 hours straight this weekend.  I could handle a few minutes on the train.

I see that last week I surpassed my 2012 miles for the year.  Nice to be back.

For the first time in many weeks I did a long run on pavement. Got up with the sun and ran up the JRP to Camp Williams and then ran down Redwood Road to home.  Worked the 100-mile kinks out the the legs and kept a pretty good pace going.  Many people out running and riding, a beautiful morning that got warm at the end.

Storms threatening, so I ran down in the valley.  Did a big loop.  On the east, ran up JRP.  On the west ran along the Provo Res Canal.  I had never run on that canal.  It runs through Harvest Hills, above Sunrise Meadows, and then ends in the Church Farm.   Nice run, pretty flat.
 

Went to do pacing duties for Brian Beckstead at Wasatch 100.   Brian did well but I could see online that he had to stay 1:15 at Lambs.  From there it looked like it was taking him forever to reach Big Water.  But I decided to head up anyway.  My wife and daughter drove me up from Midway to Guardsman pass at about 10 p.m.   From there I ran the Deso trail and got on the course.   I greeted a couple guys doing well coming down and ran into my runner from last year, Matt Van Horn.   We chatted for awhile and I ran down with him a ways.  Despite the terrible heat he was two hours ahead of our last year's pace.   He was in 27th place.

When I reached Scotts, I checked online and asked the radio guys to check Brian's status but still he had not reached Big Water.   Not good.   I stayed at Scotts for awhile and help a couple thrashed runners, trying to give them some advice and help.

From there I decided to just head toward Desolation Lake and when I ran into people I knew, or people who knew me, I turned around and ran with them for awhile.   I ran all the way back to Scotts a couple times with Craig and later Phil.  

As I was running toward Deso, I ran into a guy with treking poles staggering around like a total drunk.   I grabbed him but he didn't stop trying to go forward and he was jabbering but not making sense.  I pulled him to the ground and made him sit.   I asked him his name.  He replied, "Name?"   Eventually he said,  "Chris.  What day is this."   Others arrived and someone told him to stop and sleep.   He asks, "Is there a cot here?"  "No, this is not an aid station, it is two miles more."   He insisted on getting up and continued to stagger forward after a train of runners.   I needed to go find Brian, so I told a friend who was pacing one of the runners to watch him closely.  He did and eventually made the guy stop and sleep next to the trail near a log.   He then went to Scotts for help and a couple guys went back to help him.

Eventually I received word from runners about Brian, he had been sighted leaving Big Water and some thought he was right behind them.  He wasn't.  Eventually the Brian sightings stopped and I knew that wasn't good.  I called his wife and found out he had headed back, got a ride to Brighton and dropped there at 1:30.   I didn't receive word until after 2 a.m.

I decided that I would go ahead and try to run much of the course as fast as I could.   I reached Scotts about 3 a.m., passing many and then blasted down the hill to Brighton.  I would need to explain to the surprised runners that I was just a pacer without my runner.  I reached Brighton in less than and hour.  Once at Brighton Chad B asked me if I could help his runner who had just left try to break 30 hours.  We would only have seven hours to do that, it would be tough.  I was up to the challenge, so I grabbed some food and quickly started to charge up the hill.   I eventually found the runner, Mark and we teamed up.   We did very well getting to the top by 5:02, but after that, Mark's downhill speed was slow, which made it painful.  

At Ant Knoll, it was fun.  Many runners and volunteers knew who I was and had fun asking me questions and commenting on my adventures.   Our stop was pretty quick and we continued but breaking 30 was out of the question at the pace we were going.  I just couldn't get him to really run.   So I decided that I really didn't want to slowly finish after 1 p.m. in the heat.  I had really wanted to short cut the course after Pole Line and try to catch up with friends who would finish around 28 hours.  But, the slow pace had taken its toll on my feet (too much walking) and legs so I was ready to quit.

Dawn arrived before we reached Pole Line.  I explained to Mark that I was going to whimp out on him and leave him at Pole Line, and then run the five miles or so down to the condo where my family stayed the night.   He was fine with that and I encourage him to really start running.  I felt quilty leaving him, but I had really signed up to pace Brian.  Doing a death march to the end just isn't fun.

So, in the early morning light, I left the course and ran down a road the eventually joined the old Wasatch Route above Pot Bottom.  I looked down there and knew that Craig and others were probably nearby.  But I was done.  I found the single-track trail that took me down to my Dad's condo and finished my 31 miles before 9 a.m.

After resting and showering, the family was going to watch a movie so I drove to the start and watched friends finish.    It had been a wild Wasatch 100 this year.  I was very glad that I didn't run the race this year in that heat.   I believe I would have finished, but it would have made me sick for days.  I just can't handle that type of heat very well.

Starting to do mid-week training again.  20 miles for the mid-week.

Accomplished a Wasatch Triple Crown, thee highest peaks in the Wasatch Front, most run during the night.  My report is at: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=1232

OK, not a race, but I did accomplish the first Wasatch Sextuple Crown, six highest Wasatch Front summits in one day.  My detailed report is here: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=1242

My race report is at: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=1258

Tough, tough, run

Recovery has been rough.  What is amazing is that I really don't have sore muscles.  I think my endocrine system just go hammered bad.  Still feel sick, haven't bounced back yet.  Low energy, still need lots of sleep. But besides that, everything in working order.  Massive deep forefoot blister which will take a week.  I'm looking forward to resting.  I have no races scheduled until Across the Years around New Years.  So I think I'll just have continued fun with adventure runs.

Finally came back to life today.  With my resistance low, I caught a bad cold Tuesday night, the first cold I have had in probably three years.  This afternoon, I finally feel much better and starting to think of running again.  That turned out to be one of my roughest 100-mile recoveries in several years, probably because of being out there for 35+ hours and in the heat for the second day.  Truly, 100-milers are far, far tougher for the back of the pack.  Give me a sub-24 any day, and I'll recover in a day or two.

Winter training has official begun.   It is time to get back to mid-week training and higher miles each week.  Less hills, more flats to get ready for Across the Years and Rocky Raccoon 100.   Hit the treadmill at our home owners rec center.  First time in months.  Same cast of characters, with a couple new people this morning.   I thought the treadmill would be hard but wasn't that bad making my legs go faster.  I am being careful about my chronic hamstring issue from injury in January.  It behaved well and let me spend some time running at 7:00 pace.

I think I have a cracked rib.  It happened three weeks ago when coming down from AF West Twin.  On one of my many falls, my elbow jammed hard into my ribs.  I've had cracked/bruised ribs before and this isn't as bad as those times.  Running Mogollon Monster 100, it hurt pretty bad the first 30 miles then must have swelled and wasn't a problem.  But it is healing pretty slow.

Funny how I run the toughest 100-miler of my life and come away without sore legs, but then yesterday I run seven miles of tempo run on a treadmill and come away with a sore quad.  I ran through it, doing more treadmill this morning.  Trying to change my sleep pattern to get up in the early morning before work and go to bed earlier.  I'll start hitting the outdoors too.

Quad sore.  Skipped today.

Ran all the way around Mount Nebo.  47 miles.  I put a video about it on my facebook page.  It was quite the adventure.  Fun running in new places.

Sick, minimal miles over the last two weeks.

Ran around Lake Mountain.  It was rough, but I got it done.  All my chronic injury problems surfaced (sore knee, sore leg, hamstring, etc).  Probably because I've been down for so long and haven't run.  Discouraged, feeling old and slow.  Worried about getting ready for Across the years.

It is time to start daily training again.  I took several days off to let the hamstring settle down. Treadmill.   It was rough, but OK
 

Treadmill again.  Much better.   I'll try to work up to increased miles.  Just paranoid about muscle pulls.   I registered for Across the Years 72 hour race.   I'll give three days a try.  I think I can compete for the win if I can get back into race shape without injury.  I need to lose about 7 pounds too.

Treadmill and a couple outside pavement. Legs feel like they are getting more used to daily workouts.   I'm warming up faster, less pains.

Ran around Lake Mountain again but chose a much longer route.  Started at 4 a.m. from my house and ran down Redwood Road for about 16 miles, went about three miles past Soldier Pass road and ran a gental ascending road to the east for a few miles that linked up with the power lines that run on the east side of Cedar Valley.  At that point it became frigid.  My speed decreased like crazy because if I ran faster, the breeze would freeze my hands even though they were in mittens.   I was over-dressed for the 40-degree temps on the east side of the mountain, but under-dressed for the low 20s in Cedar Valley.  Amazing.  It was pretty painful and I was just pleading for the sun to rise.   Because there were no fences out there...nothing, no structures, just the powerlines, the road at times would be blocked by huge piles of tumbleweeds from the big wind storm earlier in the week.  At times there was no way through or around, so I had to just dive in and step on piles to get through.  I was glad I had long pants on to avoid the thorns.   I had to do this several times.  Finally dawn arrived but it was colder than ever.  I could see ice fog on the west side of the valley which means they probably were in the teens.  It is amazing how this valley traps the cold air.  Finally the sun crept up, but it still took another hour for it to warm up above freezing.  At mile 29, still on the straight dirt road on the west side of the mountain, I ran into Zac Case of Eagle Mountain who finished his first 100-miler a couple weeks ago at Pony Express.  We ran togther for a mile and then he took off.  I soon came to a tree where I had dropped off water last night.  I changed out of my warm clothes and then enjoyed running in the warmer morning.   I ran clear to Unity Pass, through the Ranches and then to home.  My legs felt much, much better than last week.  I must be getting back in shape.  I was so discouraged last week because it was so very hard. But this week it was easier and I completed this 41-mile loop faster than I ran the 33-mile loop last Saturday.  Great training for Across the Years.

Treadmill. Easing up the daily miles.

Treadmill.   Always interesting observing other people's workout.  Today a young lady came in and did some barefoot running on the treadmill.  You would think barefoot running helps improved running form.  Not in this case.  Her heel strikes were so hard they could be heard loudly even though I had ear phones one.  I wish I had the nerve to stop and give advise, but I'm just an old man on the treadmill next to her. 

Treadmill

Treadmill.  Today's runner to watch is a guy that comes in for about 20 mintues.   He runs about 8:00 pace for 30 seconds, checks his heart rate and then walks slowlly for about 4 minutes and then repeats, even has a water bottle to drink.  After 20 minutes, no sweat, done. I don't get it. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a heart condition.  I've seen him do this workout many times.  I don't get it.  I guess he thinks if he gets his heart rate up to a certain level that it is a workout.  Better than nothing, but I think he could do the same walking up and down his stairs about five times.

Out running about 3:30 a.m.  Ran down Redwood Road on the west side of Utah Lake for about 13 miles to Soldier Pass Road.  I enjoy running the road at night when there is very little traffic so I can usually run down the center line.   From there I ran the dirt road up and over the pass into chilly Cedar Pass.  I took a new route and took a straight dirt road directly west by a land fill. The sun peeked over the mountains to the east but didn't warm things up much.  My water bottle froze and it was funny to see one ended up containing ice cubes.  I made the turn north and ran into Fairfield.  I took a break at Camp Floyd and the famed heated bathroom, changing out of my warm clothes and filling my empty bottles.  The morning started to warm up and I kept a good pace on the Pony Express route across Cedar Valley to the new middle school.  Once on the paved trail to Unity Pass I picked up the pace nicely clocking some sub 9:00 miles.   I made a quick stop to fill up at the convenient store at the Ranches and then pressed the pace, returning home around noon.

Treadmill

Tough treadmill, some long tough fast runs with steep incline.   My buddies in the rec room who mostly do weight lifting commented, "All is good in the world, Dave is again killing the treadmill."  I think they work out year round and I just appear as it gets colder.  

Treadmill in the morning.

Five hours on the treadmill doing 34 miles.  Hit the 50K mark at about 4:31.  I did plenty of hills along the way.  For the first time I was able to turn over the vertical odometer past 10,000 feet.  It is rather generous.  I think I did closer to 5,000 feet.    After 5 hours I couldn't take it anymore and went out in the cold drizzle and ran four miles to wrap up the morning run. That is four straight Saturdays of at least 33 miles. I've now run about 250 runs over 26 miles or over in the past ten years.  200 of those are 30 miles and over.

Treadmill

Treadmill

Treadmill.  Still concerned about some minor shin pain on the problem leg, below my major facture area two years ago.  Has me spooked, but is so far minor and may be just my leg adjusting to my higher mileage.

Cold and windy.  Did four out in the cold but did the rest on treadmill.  No leg pain today so I'll stop worrying.

Tempo running at marathon pace.   Hamstring holding up.  5K on Thanksgiving and after turkey, heading to the Grand Canyon for running fun.

Treadmill tempo run.  Dialed it up to 6:15 pace for the first time in ten months since hamstring issue.

Ran a R2R2R starting at the North Rim.  Strange inversion conditions made the rims and upper canyon pretty chilly.  Started at 11 degrees at 5:00 a.m. and finished about 6 p.m. Leg pain, but it calmed down.  I was going to run a R2R2R2R2R (quad) but the chilly conditions made me give it up.  But my quads and calves were pretty trashed too.  Fun times. My 14th R2R2R and I've now logged more than 1,000 miles in the canyon.

Still recovering from the R2R2R.  Very weird that I came away with such sore quads and calves.  I guess it is because of the lack of hill training for the past month.  Otherwise fell great.  Wasn't drained at all, just sore.   It seemed to have cured my shin soreness.

Treadmill

OK, here the deal.  R2R2R left me with very sore muscles but no shin pain anymore.  But once all the muscle pain calmed down the shin pain returned.  It has me spooked.  It is minor, but is similar to pain I felt in 2012 before my stress fracture went wild. A couple weeks ago I would only feel the pain after running, but now I feel it during running (at least for the first several miles).  These symtoms are consistent with pre-stress fractures.  I'm paranoid that this tibia bone can easily break.   The pain is really minor, nothing like the pain felt in 2012 and could just be pain left over from all the healing and surface tention.  But to be safe, I'm going to shut down running for a couple weeks and use the dreaded eliptical for my miles.   I experience no pain doing that which again makes me think the running motion is putting stress on a sensative area about four inches below the break in 2012.  This could be just a minor shin splint but I doubt it because the pain is weight-bearing.  Not yet the bone pain I'm now familiar with, it is pain in the soft layer that surrounds the bone.  So, I'll give that a try.  I need to rest a foot anyway.  The R2R2R left a painful spot on the forefoot that is slow healing.  All this is alway on the right leg, even the same leg with the torn meniscus in 2003. The cause of all these problems?  Over pronation in my right foot.  All my siblings have the same problem and a couple kids too...just the right foot.   And I think the real cause is a hip defect that swings the leg a little off.

Healing taking place.  I've learned that if I feel daily progress it is unlikely to be a stress fracture which is more a weekly progress thing.   I'm feeling less pain daily, so that is good.  The foot problem is more pain than the leg.   Do I hit the pool to maintain?  I dread doing that.  I used to swin about 3 times per week but I just don't enjoy it anymore.   I guess I'll start looking for my swimming stuff.

Shoes.   Trying to find something good for Across the years, 200 miles on that flat smooth dirt.  I now have Altra Torins that seem to be pretty good.  I've also order that new Hoka model.   Rapa nui. I'll give it a try.  Asked the Altra guys for a demo Olympus but haven't heard back.

Elipical.  Progress.  Able to get the sweat dripping like crazy.  Not feeling any tibia soreness today.  Definite daily improvement.   The painful spot on my forefoot is also calming down.  If I had a 100 coming up, I really wouldn't worry, but this is Across the years, three days of running this time on the same track that caused my big stress fracture in 2012, so nervous about running that far (200+ miles) with any sort of issue.

Figured out the foot problem.  Inflamation of the joint in the ball of the foot to the little toe.  Cause by over-compensating to relieve pressure on the inside of the leg during the R2R2R.  Reading about it, takes time to heal but pain remains pretty low.  To take pressure off it, I simply cut a notch in the insole to give it more room, less pressure, seems to work. I'm no longer worrying about that problem.  Just want to make sure the tibia is fine.

New Hokas arrived.  Looks like this model give much better stability but the show is pretty narrow.   I'll test it out when I start running again but it looks promising for using in Across the Years.

Eliptical and some careful treadmill running.  No ill effects, except my chronic hamstring problem is flaring up....tends to do that if I'm not using it regularly.  

27 indoor miles on treadmill and the tracks at Lehi Legacy Center and the American Fork fitness center (my son swam a swim meet there).   After that ventured out on Frozen Utah lake.  Usually have two solid weeks under freezing, dipping below zero the lake frezzes solid.  Sure enough.  I wasn't the first one out there.  I saw tracks of ice fisherman.  They made a terrible mess out there leaving trash all over....makes me made.   THe snow was rather deep, but along the fissures where water had seeped out, melting snow and then freezing over, there were crystals on top of that making a nice fast running surface, so I ran along these lone frozen cracks out until I could barely see any shore through the fog/smog.

Leg pain on and off, mostly off.  Just can't figure it out because the pain points shift.   I suspect I probably have a small tear in the layer over my healed break line and it is sending pain down the leg through the surface nerves.   I hope that is all it is.  I'm just going to keep running and see what happens.   The pain is mild, only about a 2.

Eliptical and Treadmill.   Still can't figure out the leg problem, pain was pretty bad today but shifts around and doesn't seem to be bone pain.   Still pretty sure it is soft tissue.  At times there is no pain.  When I had a stress fracture in that bone I always had pain.   Well, now it is time to start tapering anyway, so I'll shut down the running, just do cross-training and see if the tissue can heal up.

Eliptical

Pool running and elipitcal. Leg is still a pain. Minor but just won't go away. No doubt some sort of injury because of the strange pain. How serious, cant figure out. 

Eliptical.  Much better today, almost pain free.  What I'm doing seems to be working.  Hopefully this was just a six-week deal.  It has almost been six weeks. Nine days until race day.  I was ten pounds over race weight, but coming down.

After a week without running I had to test things yesterday and today.  I would rather do damage here at home than at ATY.  Still problems.  Pain keeps increasing with each week despite resting.  Mostly feels like a shin split.  Nearly pain free after 7 miles.   I just can't figure it out.   I'll probably still go but disappointing that I likely won't compete, probably will end up doing a lot of walking.

Significant improvement.  Pain way down almost pain free.  I've concluded that I just have a bad shin split caused by the usual poor pronation or overcompensating which causes the Tibialis posterior muscle (inside calf attaches to shin) to inflame and pull on the the periosteum (membrane on the bone).  This is called periostitis.  This can lead to a stress fracture if you aren't careful.

For the past 24 hours I've iced the muscle and taken plenty of Aleve resulting in less pulling on that area.   I read through my running log in 2012 and the symtoms I'm having are far less severe without the bone aching I had then.  So I don't think the periositis has progressed to stress fracture yet, just probably microtears of the periosteum.  Less pulling on the membrane means less pain.  It does take a long time to heal but normally the pain calms down later in a workout.  So, I'll continue to let it calm down....hitting the pool tomorrow and will head out to Arizona this weekend.

Mile swim this morning.  First time swimming in 20 months.  What is weird is that I have been suffering from neck/shoulder pain for four months when I turn my neck.  After the swim today, the pain is gone.  I guess the swimming motion somehow kicked something back in place and no more nerve pressure.  That's nice. Leg doing good today too.   Starting to think about Across the Years this weekend.

Across the years starts for me on Sunday at 9:00 a.m.

Results: http://www.aravaiparunning.com/ultracast

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Ran Across the Years again.  This time the 72 hour race.  In previous 48-hour races I clocked 187, 175, and 135. So with the extra day it should be easy to reach 200, right?   Not so fast.  This year I had lots of issues to deal with...my bad leg was a constant worry....should I push it, should I hold back.  On day 2 I had some lung problems, bad congestion and the lungs would get very sore if I tried to run fast.  Day 3 I had bad back soreness.   The entire time I had bad quad soreness.   So it was quite the challenge.   I started off fine and for the first 20 mile was in first place.  Buddy Mike Miller than passed me but I still stayed in 2nd place well into day 2.  My 50 time was bad, 10:10.  The heat was despetive and slowed me down greatly.  I reached 100 in a slow 25:05.  In past years I would reach that between 19:40 and 22 hours.  Nights were the best for me.  At times I would by far be the speediest on the quiet track at night.  Day 2 was a struggle with some long rests.  I only ran about 40 miles on Day 2. At 136 miles I was seriously going to quit because i saw swellness in the leg.   But I went back out, tested things out and did more careful running.  But I really could only run 7-8 miles at a time.  Sleep deprivation was bad.  On Day 3, I shut it down for the heat of the day, washed up and tried to sleep.  Didn't sleep much.  As dusk arrived I went back out and ran some another pretty fast 15 miles.  But by 8 p.m. I could tell that I was thrashed, painful slow walking and I felt very sick.   I drove to a motel very beat up and slept for the night.  I woke a 2 a.m., got up to test the legs and feet but rejected wishes to go back to the track.  At 5 a.m. I did it again and this time felt much better.  By 6 a.m. I was again running fast on the track.  I did another nine miles until it was too painful and then quit an hour early with 163 miles total for 14th place.  Not bad, but I know I can do much, much better if I didn't have the issues I did.   I had a great time running with friends.