I'm retired from racing. Really.

AM- 6 xt

Lunch 10

PM- PM solo. Rather than doing lots of Kanuga repeats, I did 1 kanuga, 1 pipsesewa, and 1 sulphur springs loop. Got soaking wet when a brief but strong thunderstorm moved through. Finished with 16 miles and 2200 ft in 2:40. Then went to the gym and spent an hour in the 190 deg sauna. So much sweat. Marci and all the kids were asleep by the time I got home, and they will be again tomorrow since I won't get home till 10:30 or so from Young Mens. 

AM xt

Lunch- 10 run. Started off very slow and painful the first 2 miles, which was to be expected. But by mile 2 or 3, I actually started feeling fine and even pushed the pace a bit the rest of the way. Good run. Not too hot, either, which helps.

Lunch- cool today, below 70 deg. Ran 10.5 miles with Roush. Nice run.

Lunch 7. Did one hour sauna after work. 

AM- Scrubbed the mtn run on account of so much to do before we leave in 2 weeks. Typical Georgia Rd run, 21 miles in 2:34 or so. 1300 ft climb and 7:22 avg pace. Felt good, if a bit tired at the end. I think this is my highest running week in 3 months. I still don't feel like I'm in good shape, and I'm not happy I haven't had a long run of over 4.5 hrs or 23 miles, but, barring injury, I feel more confident in Western States than I have since December.

Lunch- 9.5 with the guys. Kinda warm out (80 deg at the finish), plus I wore two long sleeve black shirts and a black beanie. Yeah, I sweat a lot.

PM- PM with Barry and Seth. Pretty warm, very humid. They were doing a long run of 20-ish miles. I intended to do 14 or so but ended up stopping just over 10. 10.5 miles run, probably 1200 ft climb or so. On the way home, I had 45 min of a terrible thunderstorm complete with hail. In the past 3 days, we have over 3 inches of rain. Weather station said this storm gave us 1.5 inches in 45 minutes.

I stopped by the gym for my sauna hour. While everyone else ran inside quickly, I slowly meandered in, as I was already soaking wet and just going to sweat more. It was kind of fun to not care about getting wet. The sauna was pretty difficult- my HR was over 120 by the end, just sitting there. I made it the full hour, though. It was so hot that the book binding glue came undone, though.

So last year, 10 days prior to Grindstone 100, I broke my left foot middle toe by stubbing it on furniter at home and wasn't able to run for a month. Last night, 18 days prior to Western States 100, I stubbed my right foot toe really hard again. I don't know if it's broken. It doesn't hurt quite as bad as last time, but it's painful to walk and it woke me up with pain at 3:45 this morning, and I was never able to fall back asleep. This is really quite frustrating. I'm hoping and praying I can still run on it. Even if it's broken, I'm planning to go. I just can't believe it happened again- I can't recall ever jamming toes this bad in my entire life, other than these two times. What are the odds both were immediately prior to 100 mile races? This is ridiculous.

I went to the Doctor. Just severe jam, not broken. But it's more colorful than last time. My newly jammed right foot...

Has a matching set in the left foot from last fall

AM- went to sauna. Instead of the normal 180-190 deg F, the temp was 215 F. Wow, hot. Did 30 min, then some elliptical. Then clumped around all day in my new walking boot to immobilize my injured toe.

AM- 45 min sauna, then xt. Toe is already feeling better. I'm thinking I'll try a run on Monday if it keeps improving. 

Lunch- figured my toe felt up for a run. It was a hot day (90 deg and somewhat humid), so I overdressed for heat training- 2 long sleeve shirts and a beanie. Holy hot. Made it over 75 min, though.

AM- 40 min sauna

Lunch- 10 mile run. Hottest day of the year. Above 90 deg when we ran, with a high near 100.

AM- 8 miles on the TM. It was hard to start at 8 min miles but slowly pushed it up. After 4 miles or so I started a little 3 mile tempo (6:30-6:00 pace). 8 total. Then 35 min sauna.

AM- 6 while overdressed. The bone in the ball of my foot where my jam was is hurting pretty good right now. Might rest it.

PM. In Winter Park, CO. Rested foot for a while, still not better. I think I'd be in good shape if not for it. Did 4 miles overdressed. Felt ok.

Final countdown to Western Stakes. I watched the Unbreakable movie this morning. I've been sleeping terribly, waking up 3:30 am most days, maybe due to 8500 ft elevation. Not the rest I wanted pre race. Race temps should be hot, above 100 deg F.

I will be bib 65. You can follow me at www.ultralive.net/ws100

They will also have love video on USL.tv and will have optional GPS tracking all race. Pretty cool. Not sure i will carry the gPS, but if I do, you can see where I am all race to the foot.

I'm very excited but calm. This is a race I've wanted to do for a long time. Uninjured and trained, I'd hope for top 10. As it is, I'm just hoping to finish. I've got a very relaxed view and plan to enjoy the whole journey with no pressure. Much different than any race I've done before. I'm looking forward to it.

Am 2 ez with Seth.

Picked up my stuff today. I will carry GPS transmitter all race so you can see where I am all day. Let's go have fun.

Had a very enjoyable experience at the amazing Western States 100 and was lucky enough to even earn the coveted sub24 hr silver buckle. What a challenging, beautiful, well-run race. Truly a bucket list day with some great friends. Even saw the most inspiring running finish of my lifetime by Gundhild Swanson, the first 70+ yr female finisher, who ran the last section as fast as former Olympian and female winner, Magdalena Boulet, and was cheered in to beating the time limit by 5 seconds(http://www.usl.tv/gunhild-swanson-2015-western-states-finish/). I won't forget this race.