I'm retired from racing. Really.

Quick report- legs felt tired and a deep fatigue in the legs right from the start (probably due to 200 miles in 2 weeks, including the race and from not sleeping the night before due to crying baby in tent- Zach did not sleep at ALL). Didn't feel energetic but stuck with leaders till mile 29, then entered a dark place and walked most of next 5+ miles. Started feeling a bit better, then came around and felt great from mile 40 to the finish- it's great fun to have turnarounds and run fast again. Ran 3rd to 5th all race, finishing 3rd, about 30 min behind where I hoped to be (8:03 for 50 miles with 8500 ft climbing). Not the most spunky race, but enjoyed being on some beautiful and challenging trails in the mountains. Great low-key race with good competition. Arrived home at 9 pm with the family after we bagged trip to Pigeon Forge, TN. Collapsed into bed for a solid 10 hour sleep.

Finally made a bit of a race report as part of this blog post. 

Random thought- Even though I've finished a few 100 miles, they are tough. Sitting at the finish of this 50 miler, I couldn't fathom getting up and running the course again. It's nuts. And the Bear 100 would have 30% more vert!  So, I guess what I'm saying, is good luck with that whole Bear 100 thingy, Cody. ;)

Almost no soreness, but I took a few days off cause I know the fatigue in my legs on Sat was real.  Plus, I'm busy at work, home, and have come down with a bit of the sniffles.  Maybe tomorrow.  Once I start, it will be straight on till TNF 50 in December, so I'm going to rest first to be stronger later.

I heard a song by Genesis on the radio driving home today- except the exact song was on two stations, and the songs were maybe within 3 or 4 seconds of each other.  Funny how that happens sometimes.  "I keep changing the channel but the same song is on!"

Lunch- tried to run and legs still felt completely dead, so bailed and headed to the bike.

Woke up in the wee hours of the morning for no reason and couldn't sleep, so changed the car's oil and sprayed outside the house for bugs in the dark.  Never done those in the dark before.  No run- legs are pooped still and I'm still feeling under the weather.

 News from the Allen homefront. 

Lunch- honest to goodness run today.  Still tired, but not horribly so.  6 miles with Jim and Aaron.

AM- another tired 6 miles.  I'll try to get a lot of sleep the next 2 nights and see if I really start feeling better.  I'm not sure how much fatigue is due to my sickness, how much due to race recovery, and how much due to overtraining.  One strange thing is that I hardly ran this week and felt like I ate the normal (i.e. 80-100 mile training week) amount, but am at my lightest weight in years.  Weird.

Right after the run I went to a Honda dealer and bought a 2007 Odyssey.  Gotta fit 4 car seats now, you see.  The best part is that I'll now get Marci's Camry, and sell my 1995 Toyota Tercel (with no air conditioning and 196k miles).  The Tercel has been a great car, though, and I'll really miss it.  My first car ever, 40+ mpg, plenty of speed and power, and never once broke down. **sniff** **sniff**

After a summer of heat and humidity, this sure looks mighty nice.

Lunch- 8 with a bunch of guys. Man, my legs still feel like complete crap. Gotta start feeling better one of these days, right? At least the Broncos won last night.

PM- PM with Barry, Aaron, and Justin.  First run in 2 weeks I didn't feel like trash (nice, 75 deg temps helped), even though Aaron took us on HOBR.  13 miles, 2:15.

Lunch- 10 with the guys.  Still recovering.

AM- 8 ez.  No lunch run due to work.

Lunch- Obstacle course competition at work, then a run.  9 miles total.

AM- 8 miles with Zach in the stroller.  Today is little man's first birthday- happy birthday, Zach.

 Heading out in a few minutes to sell my first car ever, the Toyota Tercel.  I'm actually real sad- I'm going from a POS car that is unique, has character, is fun to drive, has no air conditioning, and is easy to spot to a silver Camry, one of the most common car's on the road.  I feel like I'm losing a little piece of my soul.  It's been a great car (200k miles, never broken down, 40+ mpg) and will be missed.   

AM- 10.  Definitely starting to feel some life in my legs.  No lunch run due to testing all day at work.

AM- 9

Lunch- 6.5 in the rain with Aaron and not hot Dan, then some xt. 

Lunch- 8 with Scott and Jason

PM- PM with Justin, Aaron, and Carl.  12.5 miles, 2:10.  Man, the weather is great this time of year.  2000 ft climbing.

Home with another eye issue.  Ran 3 miles, plus a bunch of xt.

Lunch- 11 with the guys.  The last 30 min was with Phil and Jim, so fast paced.

AM- had to be home by 8:15, so I ran a bit out Georgia Rd area, averaging mid-7's for 13 miles.  Then picked up Zach in the stroller and added on 8.5 more miles.  Running with the stroller definitely slows you down, especially given the very hilly terrain here plus a breeze today.  Finished 21.5 miles in 2:53 with 1500 ft climbing.  Nice and easy long run to continue trying to bring my legs around in StumpJump.  

AM- busy in the morning so didn't have time for a BW.  Did 3 warmup, 7 miles at 6:00 pace, then 1 cooldown.  11 miles total, 1:12.

Lunch- 11 with the guys. 

Lunch- 6 miles run with the guys, 2 xt.

PM- PM with Barry, Aaron, and Justin.  Ran different routes and no GPS- estimate 12.5 miles or so.  First run where it got dark this year.  Felt tired.

Hit 3000 miles for the year.  This is the earliest ever, beating Oct 18 of last year.  Definitely still feeling beat down and fatigued, but hoping I keep feeling a bit better as I try to build miles to TNF San Fran, with StumpJump next week.

Lunch- 7.5 on foot, 3.5 xt.  Thinking of backing off the mileage more than planned so that I have a decent shot at feeling ok for StumpJump.

Lunch- 7.5 run, then some bike.  It's going on a month now that I feel terrible with lead legs.  At this point, I'm hoping to do ok at StumpJump and then take a week or so off, and see if that helps to start TNF training.

I had heard great things about the only night trail race around, the Moonshiner Madness 5k at Paris Mtn.  I wanted to do it cause (1) it's a trail race, (2) it's at night- how often do you run night races, and (3) top 3 finishers win shoes.  However, I have felt terrible all month, and today was worst of all.  So I was going to run my hardest but fully expected to feel like crap and get the turd kicked out of me.  

I changed at GE and ran a mile, then drove to Barry's house and met Aaron.  We ran 1.5 miles into the park, dallied around (including running into Deborah and David Nigh, who I spent an hour talking to at the airport in June when my flight was cancelled, fellow commiserators), then lined up with a large field of 300 other competitors.  It was a downhill start on road for .25 mile and Aaron had warned me to go fast so I wouldn't get caught on the singletrack.  Well, I started hard and found myself alone in the lead within a minute.  I had a 5+ second lead by the time we hit the trail.  This was not expected but was very welcome, as I dislike running behind people on trails (especially rooty/rocky trails at night), plus didn't have glare and shadows from other headlamps near me.  We had another road stretch up the mountain where I hit the 1 mile mark in 6:19.  It was 85 deg so I was sweating nicely and breathing hard, but I felt strong and wasn't straining or pushing.  I felt great and was thoroughly enjoying the run.

Just before 1.5 miles, we turn onto singletrack for the remainder of the race.  I estimated I had a 20 second lead on the chase pack, and was surprised no one had closed on me.  Once on the singletrack, every ounce of energy was spent concentrating on running hard and not tripping or flying off a turn.  Even though I know these trails very well, running fast at night is very difficult.  I loved it!  Mile 2 flew by in 6:37 with lots of twists and bumps, dodging rocks, roots, and low branches.  Every race should be like this- fun and crazy, with more than a hint of danger.  I never saw any lights gaining on me (can't really look when running hard on trail) and finished in 18:46, with 6:42 pace for the last .9 miles, including a nice uphill at the end).  Aaron surprised himself by finishing 2nd place a minute back, and then it was a steady stream of people for the next hour.  I was very happy with the win and that I felt good and fast for the first time in a full month- hopefully it portends well for next week.  Results here.

Cooled down some, then had the awards.  Won a cool disco ball in a jar plus... 750 ml of real moonshine, plus Native sunglasses!  2nd and 3rd place got shoes, but the winners got alcohol and sunglasses.  Wasn't what I expected, but can't complain.  Did a short interview, then ran 1.5 miles back to Barry's with Aaron.  Arrived home at 10 pm- long day.

I highly recommend the Moonshiner to anyone around Greenville.  Half Moon Outfitters puts on great races with TONS of swag (shirts and socks for all) and lots of door prizes and awards.  Plus it's a trail 5k at night- how cool is that?!?  Good times.

Now I've got to drag myself away from watching Cody and company at the Bear to get some needed rest. 

AM- took 6 year old McKinley with me to the swamp rabbit trail, a paved rail-to-trail type of path.  She has never biked more than 5 miles, but we did a 12 mile round trip.  She did awesome.  There were tons of people on the trail, most getting ready for Spinx marathon in a month.  Kinley got her handlebars caught in a bridge railing at mile 11.5, sending her flying over her handlebars and scratching her up pretty well, but she took it like a champ and didn't cry too much.  1:36 for 12 miles.  Then we helped a friend move and went to waffle house together.

Now time to get caught up on UROC and hear about Cody's DNF and hospital visit.