I'm retired from racing. Really.

AM- 5 miles with Jason and Mike.  Nice, cool morning for a run.  Then some biking.

Finished May with 395.5 miles.  Not too bad.

 AM- Decided to run the FHT Heartbreak Bench marathon today, an unofficial challenge that runs along the FHT from Rocky Bottom into Laurel Valley, passing several large waterfalls and turning around at a very random bench on the middle of a steep hill.  It was a nice morning with cool, 60 deg temps.  Somehow left my garmin at home, so just had my timex watch with no distance.  I went out fairly easy and enjoyed myself, not seeing a single person until the very end and noticing even the spiders (and their webs) were fewer in number than usual.  The long, 5-mile downhill was relaxing, followed by a good climb and descent past Jocassee, then the abrupt stairs up and then down to the bench.  I always forget how far down it is to the bench, so I actually turned around a few times thinking I had missed it.  It eventually appeared at 2:08 (the exact time as when I ran Laurel Valley 35 mile race last August).  Rested for one minute, then started back.  I started feeling really good at about 2.5 hrs and ran well on the climb up, even running steeper hills and stairs than I normally would.  The last few miles were a bit slower as the temps heated up and I realized the 4 hr mark was out of reach.  Finished in 4:13:29, so a negative split by 3 minutes- pretty good considering it's net 500 ft uphill on the return trip.  I think 4 hrs is doable but wouldn't be easy.  As it is, my time is the FKT, besting Justin's 4:48 last April.  5250 ft climbing, 25 miles.  Took 120 oz water, drank just over 100.  Finished with a nice leg soak in a surprisingly cold river.  Nice way to spend a Saturday morning.

 Elevation profile courtesy of Justin's garmin from April.

AM- Feeling a bit tired and sore- 6 miles running, 4 xt

Lunch- 10 more 

Lunch- 9 with the guys.  Super sluggish- ugh.  At least the weather is great- mid-70's this week.

PM- PM with Justin.  I think we were both tired.  Ended up 13 miles, 1500 ft climb in 2:10.  Last run with my Fuel XC 3 shoes- had these for a long time.

AM- met Jim at the GE track for a BW.  Did 15 miles with 10 mp tempo (first mile 6:29 warm up, last mile 5:56, all others 6:03-6:13)- 1:40:05 for the run, 61:29 tempo.  Finished with a quick stop at the store for 1/2 gallon chocolate milk, then 1.5 cups oatmeal (before water) and blueberries for breakfast.  I'm hungry.

Lunch- 2 with Mike W + 3.

I have 88 miles in my last 4 days of running (don't run on Sundays).  That's on pace for 130 miles over a 6 day running week, and 152 if I ran 7 days a week.  I can't fathom how a few people actually run 200 miles a week.

AM- 7 ez.  Ran them in my Float 1, which apparently I already retired but forgot.  Oh well.

Lunch- 15 min abs, then 7 more miles.

AM- 6 ez.

PM- a few hours of Ultimate is good for a few miles. 

AM- ran Oil Creek/Ceasar's Head/Jones gap loop with Justin.  First 2 hours had a lot of technical, non-running terrain, though we saw the fairly impressive Raven Cliff Falls.

Then another 2 hrs trail running, plus some road to get us back.  Justin's watch said 5500 ft climbing last winter, but the leaves somehow reduced the amount of climbing this time to 5100 ft.  Huh- more leaves on trees = smaller mountains.  Then again, I accidentally stopped my garmin for 30 min and it still said 7300 ft climb... so maybe more leaves = bigger mountains.

I felt appropriately tired and sluggish for the weekly mileage but got it done.  80 deg and sticky humid by the end.  Just over 4.5 hrs and 22 miles.  Left home at 6 am, home at 1:15 pm- such is the life of an ultrarunner in SC.

Finished the shoe test today- I literally took the wet, muddy, sweaty shoes off in the UPS Store parking lot and closed them in the box for the trip back to the company.  Gotta feel real bad for the poor sap who opens that box after a few days of fermenting. 

Just put up a new greenshortsrunning blog post, and made a (very short) race report from PM12k. 

AM- 10

Lunch- 10 more.  Hard rain at the start, then drizzled out.  It's nice when Jim is around cause he is the most consistent one to run over an hour with me most days.  Nice to have company. 

Lunch- 7 in the rain.  Got some niggles now- left shin and both arches.  Was going to do high mileage this week then lower next, but might switch.

PM- PM with Justin, who was pushing the pace sometimes.  2:03, 12 miles.  Cloudy and thunder in the distance.  Shin and arches are worse. 

Lunch- ran 2, then bike.  Shin and feet still hurt- definitely ramping it way down this week compared to the original plan.  Which is just fine.

Lunch- abs and bike.  Still resting legs.

Lunch- easy xt.  Thinking of running tomorrow to test everything out.  I needed a down week, anyways, so am not at all worried about my lack of miles the past few days.  Kind of nice to sleep in- didn't get out of bed till 7:30 today (2 hrs later than usual), and I left work right at 5 pm.  The extra family time is great since they are leaving Sunday morning for our month long trip, leaving me a bachelor.

AM- back on the run.  10 miles around home, mainly circling the soccer complex where they are having a huge, 200 team tournament.  Lots of good soccer players.  Felt much better.  Hokas sure are nice on your legs when they're feeling beat up.  Probably gonna wear them a lot this week, along with my brand new Pearl Izumi trail shoes.

Lunch- 12 wearing my marshmallow/clown shoes, mainly on the trails behind GE.  Pretty warm today.  Beautiful.

Debating if I have time to go to the Smokies this weekend.  Never been to that park.  Family is out of town, but I have lots to do.  Plus, they are splitting our ward on Sunday so I need to be back for that, and I'd miss hitting refresh on Twitter all day following WS100.  Hmm, dilemma.   

Lunch- 8 on a warm day

PM- Surprisingly, it was even hotter at 5 pm. Not too bad, though, at least compared to where it's going. PM with Justin- pretty normal route, 12 miles with 1600 ft climb, 2 hrs. Then we at dinner at The Cook Out- a decent amount of food at a great price.

Ran in my new PI Peaks today.  Their website said to buy them a size large, but I'd say a half size would have been plenty, or even normal size.  Too big, too much movement in the forefoot.  I still think they'll be fine as my new trail racers.  Cody and Joe better get used to seeing the back of them at Logan Peak.

Lunch- 8 with the guys.  

PM- PM with Aaron, Lynn, and Jim.  Just under 12 miles, 1:54.  First time with Lynn and Jim.

I sweat the least of anyone I know.  After tonight's 90 deg run, for example, Lynn was literally wringing her shirt out while Jim and Lynn's shorts were completely soaked half way into the run.  Aaron had a couple tiny dry spots on his shorts.  My shorts were wet for maybe the top four inches and the rest was completely dry.  Many lunch runs find everyone returning with dripping shirts while mine will not even be wet.  I'm not sure if that's just the way I am or if some of it is my body's adaptation to ultras, but it's kind of nice.

AM- 6.  Last run on my NB760, my favorite line of shoes ever.  Now they've rolled over to 860's.  I think I owned 10 pairs of the 76X line.

Lunch- 15 min abs (Ken made it harder than usual today somehow), then 10 miles on a sticky day. 

Bought my plane ticket to Portland today for the Waldo 100k in August.  Guess that means I'm committed now.  I don't understand why people say ultrarunners are crazy, though- I mean, doesn't everyone fly all the way across the country to run down some little trail somewhere?

PM- busy day at work, with no lunch and working hours later than planned.  Finally got my workout in at dinnertime.  8+4.  Kind of boring at home with no family around.

Woke up at 6 again thanks to the sun (just can't sleep in anymore).  Lounged about, then left at 8 for Dupont Forest.  75 deg and 90% humidity when I left.  What a wonderful place to run- a hundred miles of trails, and even the rarely-used, out-of-the-way trails are never overgrown.  So nice to not have stinging nettle or thorns.  Tried to mainly run trails I've never done before, which was enjoyable.  Started at 9:30 am, finished at 1 pm in 85 deg temps.  Drank 80 oz during, then 30 oz chocolate milk (yummy) and 40 oz water after, and still didn't have to go to the bathroom.  Run was almost exactly 20 miles with 3300 ft climbing in a hair under 3 hrs- I was moving at a pretty good clip.  That's another nice thing about Dupont is it is runnable.  No walking today.  And with so many trails, you can loop all over rather than an out-and-back.  I only overlapped 1 mile today.  

Now time to catch up on Western, then watch Unbreakable and take a nap, then Western again.  Plus some chores.  Not a bad day.

Ok, Justin, see if you can follow where I ran- Fawn Lake Road to Reasonover Creek to Lake Julia road to Conservation Road to Shelter Rock trail to Barn trail to Conservation Road to Three Lakes (not on the map) to Lake Dense trail to Pitch Pine trail to Conservation Road to covered bridge to Buck Forest road to Lake Imaging road to Hilltop Loop to Locust trail to Isaac Heath trail to Jim Branch trail to Lake Imaging road to Ridgeline trail to Hooker Creek trail to White Pine trail to Buck Forest Road to Conservation Road to Fawn Lake Road to Fawn Lake loop to Fawn Lake road to Mine Mountain trail to Fawn Lake road to the car. 

AM- 7

Lunch- 12 on a pretty warm day, the last while by myself.

Busy next few weeks- fly to Utah, run Logan Peak, drive to Idaho for a week, drive to Provo for another week, drive to Colorado to pace at the Hardrock 100, then fly home.  Wow.

 AM- 6

Lunch- 8 plus In It To Win It obstacle course at work.  Pretty fun, especially the dizzy bat spin and run. 

Looks like I'm leaving SC at the right time.

Lunch- 5

Lunch- 4.5 ez.  Hot weather coming.  Definitely can't write what we were talking about during today's run.  Looking forward to some cooler, non-humid weather the next few weeks.  My car thermometer said 101 deg F today on the way home from work.

Went to the airport to fly to SLC, then run Logan Peak trail run tomorrow... except my flight was cancelled.  They rebooked me to arrive Saturday night at 11 pm, which obviously means I will miss my race tomorrow.  This sucks.  A power outage at Chicago stopped a lot of planes from flying out last night.  Anyways, I guess I have it better than some people, like a couple near me whose son is getting married tonight.  And the people next to me in the hour-long rebooking line are aspiring ultra runners, so we had fun talking.  

I guess I now have 2 open days to head to the mountains of South Carolina.  Not where I wanted to be, but better than nothing.  Of course, the record highs of 105 expected this weekend are going to make these runs very sweaty.  Bring it on.

AM- Full report will come later- I'm very busy with family stuff now in Idaho.  But, I made the race thanks to Dale buying me a plane ticket (Dale is awesome), although only had 3 hrs of sleep the night before.  I'll give details later, but finished 3rd.  Fun, fun day.  Been at the in-laws ever since.

The local Herald Journal did a great article on the race, including talking about Dale's generosity and how 4 of us broke the old CR, lead by Seth Wold.

Full race report and story of Dale is now posted, 5 months later.