The Long Run

10.55 mi, 1:43:15, 9:47 avg

Early afternoon run after watching the boys cross country meet this morning.  Thomas PR'd once again (21:22), and Andy knocked a few seconds off his time from last meet (20:11).  It was a pretty nice morning.  Route was a two loop course in Crews Lake Wilderness Park.   Jenny's parents were also there to watch (hadn't seen them in over 4 years).

I did one loop arond the neighborhood with Stella, we went slow and did some run/walk so I wouldn't over heat her.  I then ran two more laps and checked on her each time (did not crate her this time, only a pine cone chewed up).  Then I did an out an back through Fox Hollow out to Trinity Blvd and ran on the grassy shoulder for a bit before coming back.  Had a pretty solid gradual pace pickup going from 12:26 first mile (walk/run with Stella) to 8:24 last mile.

4.35 mi, 42:10, 9:41 avg

Easy neighborhood run, short due to lack of time and difficulty getting up extra early, and partially due to tapering this week for 100 miles on Saturday.

5.14 mi, 42:55, 8:21 avg

Ran on the treadmill in hotel in Fort Worth.  If I had a light and maybe my garmin (but more so the light) could have run on the path along the river but didn't realize I'd be at this hotel - one I've spent many days at in the past.  Started out real slow, actually walking for a bit but ran the last me a little faster than 7:30 pace.  Run went by pretty quickly.  Glad I didn't overdo it at the big steak dinner last night.

4.12 mi, 42:02, 10:12 avg

Very chopped up run this morning.  Started with dog walk and attempted run with said dog but had to stop quite a bit and was a bit stiff from last night's travels.  But fortunately, in the end unstiffened and was finally feeling and running pretty good for at least the last mile. Neighborhood loop and up and down the street with and without Stella.

1.7 mi, 21:58, 12:55 avg

Run/walk the neighborhood loop with Stella, included time for one drop and pickup using new dog waste dispenser.

Oil Creek 100 Mile Race Report

From the race website: "Unforgiving.  Historic.  Gnarly.  Do you have what it takes?"

I had signed up for this race shortly after running the Georgia Death Race and finishing but not meeting the qualifying time for Western States.  I picked this race for a number of reasons - I had heard of it, it wasn't far from Rochester - so maybe I could get my brother to crew/pace me, weather should be good, and the 32 hour time limit seemed reasonable.

The course consists of a 31.1 (50K) loop run 3 times with an extra 7.7 mile loop at the end (seems to add up to 101 miles).  Each loop is divided into four sections.  

Heading south from Titusville Middle school the course starts on paved streets then onto a paved bike path for a little under 1.5 miles then turns off the pavement onto a single track trail going up a hill and then heading south to a place called "Petroleum Center" at the south end of Oil Creek State Park.  There is an aid station about halfway to Petroleum Center at a place called "Wolfkill".  There is a steep descent (which I slipped and fell a few times on) down to the Wolfkill aid station (AS #1).  

Leaving AS#1 begins the start of section 2 of the course and begins with the first of several named hills called "Switchback mountain".  Shortly after Switchback Mountain is "Ray Gerard's Neverending Hill" - although there are many more smaller unnamed climbs and descents.  Section 2 runs past some old abandoned buildings and wooded oil derricks 

until finally reaching Petroleum Center which has several park amenities and a playground which I had to run past watching kids on swings enjoying the day because they had not signed up to run 100 miles for fun.  This was aid station #2 , a timing checkpoint, and a place to meet up with crew/pacers.  It is about 14 miles from the start to AS#2.

Section 3 heads out north from Petroleum Center along the east bank of Oil Creek and up the next named hill "Heisman Trophy Hill" - which I think was the single highest climb (only about 350 feet).  About halfway through section 3 of the course was a boy scout encampent which had water set up and nearby building with "pit toilets".  Boy scouts were recording bib numbers although this was not an official checkpoint but it was nice to see them each time and know that this would reduce the search area in case I got lost (they also had a ham radio there).

Section 4 begins at aid station #3 on Miller Farm Road near a bridge crossing Oil Creek to aid station #1.   Starting out onto section 4 is "Cemetary Hill" (yes, actual cemetary off to the side along the hill), and then a little while later is the last named hill - "Rockefeller's Revenge".  Eventually the trail exits at the Drake Well museum where we would run about a mile loop on the road and along the top of a berm along the creek, then across a bridge to the west side of the creek and onto the bike path back to the middle school which was also aid station #4 and a crew/pacer access point.

Here's the basic timeline:

Loop 1

5:00 am - Start to AS#2, 3:48:43, 13.9 miles, 16:27 average pace

Race starts and it is dark, with a light rain falling and easy running until onto the trail.  Mud here and there but not too bad.  Almost fall a few times going down the Wolfkill descent to AS#1.  Was feeling slow but actually not running to badly (compared to later paces).  Leaving Wolfkill, it got light out and despite the hills I started picking it up and then made it to AS#2 where I saw Jim and Cynthia for the first time.

9:48 am - AS#2 back to start, 4:33:16, 17.2 miles, 15:53 average pace

arrive at Petroleum Center AS#2 stop there quickly and head north.  It's still raining lightly but it is such a light rain that I can hear it hitting the trees but I hardly feel any of it.  Rain ends a little bit after 10:00.  I'm able to pick up the pace and cover the next 17 miles

Loop 2

1:22 pm - start to AS#2, 4:07:11, 13.9 miles, 17:46 average pace

Starting out onto the second loop I feel really good and I'm glad to run this section of the course in the light and no rain and I feel like I'm running faster and this time don't fall down during the Wolfkill Descent.  However, heading out of aid station #1 the named (and unnamed) hills seem a little taller and more numerous and I end up running sections 1 and 2 of the second loop a little slower than these sections on the first loop.

5:29 pm - AS#2 back to start, 5:56:48, 17.2 miles, 20:44 average pace

So, this is the section where things got ugly.  Aid station visit was good and I hooked up the portable USB battery to my garmin to recharge it as planned.   Heisman Trophy hill was slower this time and I put on my arm warmers as it started to get cooler.  Made it past the boyscout camp while it was still light out and then switched on my headlamp and soon turned on my hand held flashlight as well.  It wasn't the best headlamp for trail running and without the handheld it would have been difficult.  So, I started worrying about the batteries in the flashlight.  Fortunately they held out and when I arrived at AS#3 I was able to grab some fresh AAA batteries just in case they died before reaching the middle school.  As I was coming into the aid station, another runner was ahead of me but was sort of hobbling along and when he arrived told the volunteers he wouldn't be able to make it to the end, so he sat down, waiting until he could get a ride.  Another runner was on a mat being helped through some stretches.  It sounded like he was also trying to figure out whether or not to continue.  I was already thinking about quitting but upon taking stock of myself didn't really have a legitimate reason to quit - nothing torn or pulled, no giant blisters - I didn't even have any chaffing.  

Had some ramen noodles which were delicious and then headed onto section 4 - up "Cemetary Hill".

I was getting tired and stumbling more on the roots and rocks and having more difficulty on the technical downhills through the little ravines.  I was seeing miles in the 22:00-24:00 pace range and if I "pushed" I could get to a 21:00 pace.  It was also getting colder.  To finish this race under the limit you have to maintain a 19:06 average pace.  I had built up some cushion but it was getting eaten away at a faster rate.  I also thought about how I still had one big loop left to do followed by a "little" 7.7 mile loop.  The negativity monster was really messing with me.

Repeating these loop again was filling me with dread.  However, I also knew what a world of difference a pacer would make.  At Western States, after the long slow climb up to Michigan Bluffs and only at mile 55, it became a whole new race runnnig with Jamie, then Tim, and finally Jim.  Also, Cynthia had taken time off of work, bought a plane ticket and was looking forward to some trail running.  Jim had also taken off work, volunteered to drive and they had both spent the past 18 hours driving back and forth between Titusville Middle School and Petroleum Center.  So, the new plan was to start out onto the third loop with Cynthia, and if we made it to Petroleum Center in time to still finish the race then Jim would run with me until we either finished or missed a cut off time.

Two women who were using trekking poles who I had talked to earlier passed by me.  One of them asked another guy how we were on time.  The trekking pole guy was not worried at all and he kept on cruising along.  I soon was able to keep the slower of the two women within sight and this helped me out a bit to have a frame of reference to keep moving.

(Unfortutately, once we got back to the start, the two women decided it was time to call it quits, they'd had enough).

Loop 3 

11:26 pm - start to AS#2, 5:06:15, 13.9 miles, 22:01 average pace

We were in and out of the middle school pretty quickly and on our way.  I switched the windbreaker (that I had borrowed from Jim), and instead of putting on the orange thermal long sleeve shirt I brought put on a fleece (that I borrowed from Jim).  Cynthia was super positive, repeatedly telling me how well I was doing.  We were getting a lot of over 20:00 miles which worried me, but we did get some under 20:00 here and there.  AS#1 looked spectacular at night with tons of lights strung all through the trees on the approach to the station as well as the station itself.  And, like all the aid stations the volunteers were super friendly, helpful, and encouraging.

Heading out from AS#1, the climb of swtichback mountain went ok and I knew that there would be some good runnable sections here and there.  Running past old equipment and abandoned building and the forest at night reminded Cynthia of the Blair Witch Project as well as the Walking Dead.

Eventually we made it to Petroleum Center and it was still well before 5:00am, so despite losing a little bit more cushion it wasn't over.  Basically, the pacing strategy was to keep Mark moving throughout the night and hope to make up some time as it got light out.  Jim was waiting in the car near the entrance and as soon as he saw us headed over to meet us at the aid station itself.

4:32 am - AS#2 to start, 5:26:00, 17.2 miles, 18:57 average pace

During the last loop I had seen that the cutoff time for AS#3 was 7:55 am, and I knew if we could make that on time we had a pretty good chance of making it.  Things were feeling a bit more hopeful as a good chunk of the through the night running was almost over and not too much longer until it was light.  At about the 24 hour mark, my gamin battery finally died so I asked Jim to call out our distance every quarter mile or so.  During the next twelve miles, we had 5 miles that were over 20 minutes with the rest under.  It got light out a little bit before making it to AS#3.  We arrived there at about 7:39 am - 16 minutes to spare.

Leaving AS#3 and heading up Cemetary Hill for the last time felt good.  There was still about 15 miles to go.  15 miles can be a long way but it's also relative to the distance being run.  I still wasn't feeling like I could go much faster but knew I should try.  Just before getting to Rockefeller's Revenge we had averaged about 20:30 pace from Petroleum Center, but after going up and over it our average pace had slowed to 21:03.  At this point, I finally took my secret weapon "Second Surge" brand energy gel.  Whether it's a placebo affect or the 100mg of caffeine, whatever it is worked.  I could move my legs again and went from 18:00 to 16:00 to 15:00 to 12:00 minute paces and started passing more and more people.  By the time we arrived back at the middle school, average pace for Jim's section had gone from the slow point of 21:03 to 18:57

Going Home Loop

10:01 am, 7.7 miles, 2:17, 17:47 average pace

I ditched the camelback and fleece and headed out with Cynthia but took Jim's garmin so I'd be able to see my pace.  Weather was great and I was still feeling pumped from picking up the pace and gaining some time back.  Now, there was a pretty decent cushion.  4th loop starts out like the other three, with 1.25 miles or so on paved road/bike path before turning off onto the trail, going for another couple of miles until getting to the place where I had been turning right, but this time turning left.  I had seen this sign 3 times already directing runners to turn left on the 4th loop.  Trail headed back towards the creek passing by the ruins of the old Boughton Acid Works which still smelled faintly of sulfuric acid.  

Crossed the road and ran north along the creek until getting to the swinging cable bridge.

It looked like we'd have an easy run back along the river to the bike path, but there was one small surprise.  After crossing the train tracks I see a sign that reads "The Hill of Truth".  I knew about all of the other hills except for this one.  It was a pretty decent climb up to the top, maybe 250-300 foot climb.  Eventually this trail joined back up with the main hiking trail and another 1.6 miles until heading back down to the Drake Well Museum trail head, skipping the museum loop, back across the bridge to the bike path and finally back to the school and the finish line.

I sure was glad to have such a great crew/pacers to keep me going when I wanted to give up.  Once it was over I couldn't believe how quickly it had gone by.

12:18:11 pm - Finished! (31:18:11, 101 miles, 18:35 average pace)

Finishing within the 32 hour cutoff earned both an Oil Creek 100 Belt Buckle and qualification to enter into the Western States 100 lottery on November 5th for the 2017 WSER.

AM - 4.83 mi, 52:07, 10;48 avg

First run back after the 100 mile race, went much better than expected.  Ran with Jamie and wasn't sure how far I'd make it but the slow pace (which gradually picked up) felt good.  Ran in the neighborhood out to Fox Hollow and turned around at the water fountain.

PM - 2.57 mi, 24:33, 9:34 avg

Ran with Stella on the Starkey Blvd bike trail with the "Humpday Hustle" crew.  Her second longest run so far, she was happy and full of energy.

5.59 mi, 56:00, 10:01 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood, felt about the same as yesterday, not too bad.

7.01 mi, 1:05:54, 9:24 avg, HR 124 avg, 138 max

Ran in the neighborhood.  Used heart rate strap to see where I was at.  Pretty good pace for recovery run, had one mile just barely under 9:00 pace.  Felt one small notch better than yesterday.

8.23 mi, 1:15:14, 9:09 avg, HR 128 avg, 149 max

Ran in Starkey Park with the Striders.  Fun to see all the runners how had run Chicago Marathon last week and appreciated all of the congrats for my 100 miler.  But, especially nice to see David Griner who I hadn't seen for a while and had given the group a collective scare (but more so him and his family) about bone cancer which thankfully is dormant for now.

I ran out to the 4 mile waterstop strictly keeping to 131 bpm or under.  When I turned around I did 1 under 9:00 mile (8:36) without looking at heart rate and it turned out it was 128 avg.  Then did another HR mile followed by one more sub-9:00 (8:09) but this time HR was way up at 142 average for that mile, and finally last mile easy (9;43).

Weather was great, a little cooler with a very light sprinkling of rain.

7.53 mi, 1:11:25, 9:29 avg

Ran with Joe and Jamie starting from Chilli's and ran down to the upper Tampa Bay Trail.  Jamie had just run the first part with Cynthia, now Joe and I were joining as she was running 20.  Weather was pretty good and was for the most part an easy run.  Stopped for a bit at our turnaround point (UTBT trailhead parking lot) where we saw Anthony, Jolene, and Daisy.

6.01 mi, 52:41, 8:46 avg, HR 125 avg, 142 max

I ran starting near Longleaf at 5:30.  I arrived on time and started out with Rudy.  We started out a little faster than I might have on my own and then settled into 8:30 to 9:00 pace.  I was going to do a strict heart rate run but decided to just run along and chat.  Weather was good.  He asked me a lot about my race and towards the end I brought up the numbness in my toe but wasn't trying to get free advice (he's a physical therapist).  (I've experienced some numbness after Western States, GA Death Race, and now Oil Creek 100 - but probably the mildest this time).

The last mile average HR was 135 bpm, but all the other miles were 132 or under which is prettty close.  So, this was my fastest average pace heart rate run, and first time I think that the average pace has been below 9:00 average for heart rate (MAF) run.

6.23 mi, 1:00:02, 9:38 avg, HR 117 avg, 134 max

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood. Nice and cool weather but I was feeling a little bit slower.  Was running by feel (easy) and at least happy that HR was proportionately lower.  I picked it up  a little bit the last mile to reach 131 and ended with 8:51 pace for that mile and average HR of 127.

7.14 mi, 1:01:54, 8:40 avg, HR 130 avg, 143 max

Ran at Longleaf with the Striders, out and back on Starkey Blvd bike path.  The first 3 miles were under MAF range (121-131), with the 4th mile at 132 bpm but at an 8:10 pace which is by far my fastest MAF mile (132 seemed close enough).   Stayed close to the same pace so I could later look to see how high my heart rate would go - next two miles at 8:23 and 8:17 with HR  of 137 and 140 - still not too far off.

Let rate come back down for the last mile (back down to 131) but came in at a pretty quick (for MAF) 9:01.

Cooler temperatures helped (high 60's).

Boys have Cross Country District Championship this afternoon which will be run at McKethan Lake Park in Brooksville.  It's a fast course with two loops around a small lake on an asphalt trail (Red Mule 5K is held here where I have run both 19:5x's and 18:5x's).

Thomas was originally not going to run this one as they are only running the top 10 runners between varstity and JV.  Thomas was often 11th or 12th between all of the Mitchell HS kids, but a spot opened up this past week and also because he continued to go to practices once they became optional for JV, coach picked him.  So, this will be the first race where Andy and Thomas are running together.

7.18 mi, 1:02:08, 8:39 avg  

Ran in the neighborhood, solo.  Did a little over 5 miles easy with a loop around the neighborhood and out and back to the water fountain.

Got home, woke up the boys and let the dogs out for a little bit and then ran 10x25 second strides with 50 second easy jog between.  Took me a few to get loosened up, and then the last 7 were down into the 5:30ish range.  Great to feel the legs wake up after all of the recovery miles.

Boys did great at their meet yesterday evening.  Andy ran 19:36 which was a 20 second PR and second time going under 20:00 after just barely missing it.  Thomas got 20:30 which was nearly 1 minute faster than his PR (set two meets ago).  This was the District championship with the top 4 teams advancing to regionals next week.  Boys were 3rd place out of 8 and girls were 2nd place out of 8.  Regionals will only be running 7 runners (Andy was 7th place on team), so this was the last meet for Thomas (originally, the conference meet was going to be his last but a spot opened up for him).   We ran this course at the beginning of the summer when I drove them up there.  Course was at McKethan Lake park in Brooksville which is also where the Red Mule 5K is run (which I've run a couple of times).

10.22 mi, 1:35:13, 9:19 avg

It was nice and cool this morning.  I was a little late in getting out in the morning but Joe and Jamie waited for me the extra 10 minutes.  We ran 10ish miles.  My legs felt extra heavy this morning, probably more so than any other day this week.  We ran from Diane's house, into Starkey Park and turned back once we got about 5 miles in.  I was lagging on the way back but finally got a little bit of steam for the last mile.

Wesley Chapel 5K

19:21, 8th place overall

Beautiful morning, chilliest in a long time.  I talked Joe and Jamie into coming with me.  There were a few more people than last time but still a pretty small group.  Yesterday was a very difficult run for me, feeling tight and slow.  I wasn't sure what I could do today.  I warmed up with some easy miles and a few quick strides but couldn't seem to get the speed I wanted.

Race started and I felt ok but not quite where I usually was.  However I stuck with it and managed to get through the first mile and a pretty good 6:10 pace.  Usually, I would gradually slow down a little bit each mile.  I was running after a very fit looking woman named Lynn who had a pretty good gap on me.  

Second mile was a little bit faster (surprisingly) at a 6:05 pace.  Around the end of the second mile I finally caught up to Lynn and was actually feeling pretty good.

And finally, third mile and I did not slow down.  Managed just a little bit faster at 6:00.9.

I had been looking just at my lap pace but had I known how close I was to my last time maybe I could have managed a little bit faster.

Crossed the line at 19:21 - exactly the same as last time but with very different splits.  I also ran the tangents a little bit sloppier this time so my distance was slightly longer than last time.

Joe came in under 21:00 and Jamie had a PR by 3 seconds at 22:55 (unfortunately she was last place - but didn't seem to mind).

The winner, named Fred, PR'd at 14:35 (last race was 14:53), second place was 15:10 - so definitely one of the faster 5k race around.

5.13 mi, 53:31, 10:26 avg, HR 120 avg, 135 max

Easy run with Joe and Jamie in the neighborhood.  We were talking and I wasn't paying attention to the ground and my toe caught an uneven section of sidewalk and down I went, with my face quickly approaching the concrete.  Fortunately, I remembered to tuck into a roll and ended up with just a little scrape near my elbow.   That was a close one.  Marine Corps Marathon this Sunday and then back to shorter stuff for a while.

6.38 mi, 57:15, 8:58 avg, HR 128 avg, 158 max

Easy run with three short marathon pace pickups.  Neighborhood run with Jamie, nice and cool (but warmer than chilly).

4.09 mi, 40:58, 10:02 avg

Ran with the Striders, starting near Longleaf and running out and back on the Starkey Blvd bike trail.  I brought Stella for her first Striders morning run and also turned out to be her longest run so far.  Her previous longest run was 3 miles (in the evening) and she seemed to be tired for the last half mile.  But, this morning there was no sign of her getting tired.  I think she could have easily gone at least another mile.  I'm still learning to run with her efficiently so it is a little slower going for me to concentrate on keeping her running alongside rather than pulling too much.