The Long Run

Long Play 33 1/3 Ultra

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Location:

FL,

Member Since:

Mar 20, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Boston Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

PR's:

  • 1 mile : 5:43 (3/2017)
  • 5K : 18:34 (12/2011)
  • 5 mile : 32:03 (5/2010)
  • 10K : 39:29 (11/2013)
  • 11K: 46:47 (July 2008)
  • Half Marathon : 1:26:47 (11/2012)
  • Marathon : 3:06:34 (02/2010)
  • 50K Trail: 4:34 (01/2012)
  • 50 Mile: 8:34:48 (4/2012)
  • 100K: 11:06 (2/2012)
  • 100 Mile: 24:19:44 (1/2022)

Marathons:

  • Treasure Coast Marathon (FL) - 3:39:51, Mar 2021
  • Towpath Marathon (OH) - 3:35:26, Oct 2019
  • Jacksonville Marathon - 3:31:10, Dec 2018
  • NYC Marathon - 3:49:12, Nov 2017
  • Marine Corps Marathon - 3:27:00, Oct 2016
  • Utah Valley - Jun 2016
  • Marine Corps Marathon - 3:28:12, Oct 2015
  • Pocatello Marathon (ID) - 3:32:25, Sept 2015
  • Chasing The Unicorn (PA) - 3:31:20, Aug 2015
  • Run for The Red (Poconos) - 3:30:40, May 2015
  • Boston - 3:24:42, Apr 2015
  • Clearwater - 3:27:04, Jan 2015
  • Clearwater - 3:16:17, Jan 2014
  • Boston  - 3:27:00, Apr 2011
  • DesNews - 3:10:57, Jul 2010
  • Gasparilla  - 3:06:34, Feb 2010
  • Space Coast - 3:11:29, Nov 2009
  • Estes Park  (7500' and up) - 3:52:19, Jun 2009
  • Boston - 3:17:22, Apr 2009
  • Niagara Falls - 3:19:21, Oct 2008
  • San Diego RnR  - 3:24:18, Jun 2008
  • Jacksonville Marathon -3:21:24, Dec 2007
  • Chicago Marathon - 3:35:08, Oct 2007
  • Disney Marathon - 3:52:34, Jan 2007

 

 

 

 

Short-Term Running Goals:

 

  • Sub 40:00 10K
  • 2:59 Marathon
  • 1:25 Half Marathon
  • 18:30 5K

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Maintain my health and continuously seek to improve my fitness. Maybe someday get under 3:00 for marathon. More importantly, I'd like to figure out what my maximum ability is and reach that.

I'd also like to find the right balance in life and use running to enhance and improve myself.

 

Personal:

Dad of  three (welcome Charlotte Dani on 8/10/20) awesome kids and stepdad to three almost as awesome as my own kids.

I have a brown dog named Stella, and three cats - Catty, Tortie, and Esperanza.

  (old lines that were a little out of date but couldn't quite bring myself to removing them completely:) Also, have one wonderful brown dog named Sammy and just added a grey tiger cat (Catty) whose life started out rough but now has a better home.

I've recently started another blog so I can easily add lots of pictures and so other non-FRB users can leave comments:

Forward Progress!

 Also, for 2012 I started a blog to write down each day one thing that I am grateful for

Grateful Blog

 

Love living in Florida but love to travel and see the country and rest of the world.

 

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 188.22
Brooks T7 Lifetime Miles: 202.78
Brooks ST5 Lifetime Miles: 403.91
GoMeb Speed3 Lifetime Miles: 483.77
Brooks Pure Flow Lifetime Miles: 160.60
Brooks Launch(lobster) Lifetime Miles: 782.98
GoMeb Razor Lifetime Miles: 468.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
79.156.003.000.000.000.000.0088.15
GoRun Sonic Miles: 16.31GoRun Ride3 Miles: 27.21Pearl Izumi II Miles: 11.17
Race: Long Play 33 1/3 Ultra (33.333 Miles) 06:18:33, Place overall: 16, Place in age division: 5
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
33.460.000.000.000.000.000.0033.46

Long Play Ultra Marathon 33 1/3 Miles, Race Report

Official Time: 6:18:33

The main goals of the race today was to cover some miles, help my friend Dixie run his first ultra marathon, and experience the ups and downs of running 33 miles.

The race started at 6:30, just as it was about to get light out.  We had arrived about 5:30 after a drive of just under an hour (almost took two cars because Dixie called at 4:25 to say he would be almost 15 minutes late, I said I'd wait, 5 minutes later he was waiting for me at the meeting spot - fortunately traffic is pretty light at 4:30 am).

Just before 6:30, the race director Andy Matthews was going over the course and things to look out for (like the water crossings) and how not to get lost.  Dixie was back at the car getting some last minute things.  10 seconds before the race started he was back and ready to go but noticed he didn't have his Garmin.   I said I'd run slow and he could catch up -  I didn't want to lose sight of the runners and risk taking a wrong turn.  It all worked out.  He was soon caught up and we were running a nice easy pace in the back of the pack and slowly working our way to the middle.

Start to Tucker Hill (6 miles) - 10:59, 9:44, 10:44, 10:20, 9:57, 11:55

I think this section was pretty uneventful, running was good and it seemed to go by pretty quickly.  There was a 2.5 mile aid station (turnaround for the 5 mile race) which we didn't stop at.  This section had a combination of packed dirt road, paved road (very briefly), paved bike trail, sandy fire road and finally single track.

Tucker Hill to Croom Road Aid Station (Miles 7-14) - 12:02, 10:15, 10:32, 9:55, 9:03, 9:32, 9:44, 10:06

The back side of Tucker hill is covered in roots and a bit tough (for me) to run on and there was a few muddy spots but not too too terrible.  There is also a fun ravine to run through.  After the ravine, we started picking up the pace and had some good miles through this section.  In hindsight, maybe we went a little too fast, but nothing crazy at lesat.  It was all pretty much single track until we reached Croom Road which is paved.  We weren't on it too long before hitting the aid station and getting back onto single track.  I think at about mile 10, I noted we were averaging a 10:28 pace.  Thought that if we could hold this pace, bank a few faster miles here and there we would be in good shape.  Unofficial goal was under 6 hours which seemed very reasonable, 10:00 pace would get us about 5:30, 11:00 pace would make us just miss it.

Croom Road Aid Station to Course Turnaround (Miles 15-20) - 10:59, 10:10, 17:24, 10:14, 10:26, 10:38

Headed back onto the trail, wound through some woods and then I could hear the highway nearby (I-75), where we should have gotten onto a sidewalk underneath an overpass with a rive next to it.  But the sidewalk was under water.  The flags were there marking where the route should have been.  It didn't look too safe (although I think it would have been ok since there was a guardrail hidden underwater which would have prevented us from falling into the river.  But, there was a way around, over a fence, scrambling through some brush and along a steep embankment, then over another fence and back next to the water again.  So, all of this meant a pretty slow mile.  But, it also meant Dixie had a chance to recharge and catch a second wind.  There was an aid station in the Silver Lake campground, quick stop there and then onto the turnaround.  Through some more cypress then into some open areas near meadows until finally getting to the turnaround aid station just past 20 miles.  They had gels there, so I took one because you never know if  you really can have enough gels.

Course Turnaround to Croom Road Aid Station (Miles 21-26) - 11:40, 11:31, 12:25, 13:05, 15:33, 19:02

This was some of the most serene looking terrain and I felt good that we were finally heading back and were more than half way done.  Dixie was struggling a bit so we talked different strategies such as 3-1 or 4-1 run-walk and just concentrated on what we could do.  Eventually made it back to the campground aid station where I had run ahead a little faster to try and save time, filling up Dixie's water bottle and encouraging him to keep going.  Got going again and then back to the flooded out overpass.  He got ahead of me and is better at scrambling across that sort of thing so I figured I'd catch back up once running again.  But, by the time I had gotten past the flooded bridge aread and over the fences the trail came to a fork.  I was pretty sure we needed to take a slightly different path back.  Dixie was nowhere to be seen, but another runner who we had run into earlier had caught up.  He was pretty sure we should go right, so right it was.

For a while the trail looked like what I thought it should.  There were periodic orange flags put up by the race director, along with the blue blazes painted on trees to mark the existing trail.  Then, the trail was no more.  I could still see the orange flags but instead of ground was a flooded cypress swamp.  RD did mention something about water crossings.  Ok, here goes.  Water was ankle deep, then thigh deep, and then waist deep.  Almost looked like it would keep going.  I knew that this was actual trail most of the year so the ground under the water was fairly solid but also rooty.  And then, eventually the trail was back again.

Trail wound on some more and then it disappared again.  But, with all of the zigging and zagging and what looked like a road nearby it almost seemed like I had taken a wrong turn and was on the wrong side of the water.  So, I looked at my garmin and pulled up the little line drawing map and sure enough it showed that I would complete the loop if I kept on going forward.  So, back in the water.  This one was a bit more open looking with fewer trees and it also bordered closer to the river.  But, then after maybe 4 or 5 minues (which seemed like forever), the trail was back.

So, that was the 15 and 19 minute miles.  And soon after the trail was back I came out of the woods I was at the 26 mile aid station.  And, not only that I was congratulated by the volunteers for actually following the correct trail (they had been making the people that went the wrong why run out 0.2 and back 0.2 miles to make up the lost 0.4 miles  (although they also missed all the fun and lost time of slogging through the swamp water).  I had just missed Dixie by about a minute.

Croom Road Aid Station to Finish Line (Miles 27-33.333) - 11:26, 9:35, 11:45, 12:42, 11:27, 9:10, 8:55, 0.46@8:15

I left the aid station, making up some of the lost time and eventually caught up to Dixie.  He seemed to be on a second wind and was running strong for a while and also running with a woman named Crystal (who had herself gotten lost and had run an extra several miles somehow (and also missed the swamp crossing)).  We had a few slow miles and stuck together until I got to the mile 31 aid station.  Stopped there and when I looked back realized I had gotten ahead farther than planned.   The sun was being kept mostly behind clouds but it was still a bit warm at around 78 degrees.   Decided it'd be ok to go ahead.  I felt good and picked up speed as the course changed from single track to fire road and then eventually paved bike path until finally back to dirt road.  About a mile away the RD had put up a series of signs - "You're almost there!", "Keep Going", "There's BEER at the finish line", and then "Say YES", followed by  "Say YES" repeated 48 more times.   The last "Say YES" sign had a drawing of an engagement ring on it.  The RD's girlfriend was running her first ultra marathon and apparently was in for a big surprise at the finish line.

I finished up, grabbed some refreshments and headed back to the finish line to catch a photo finish of Dixie and Crystal.

Also got to see the proposal - she said yes fortunately!

Overall, it would have been nice to run this a bit faster even though I was mainly wanting to just pace Dixie, but he did finish and with the obstacles and warmer temps it could have been worse.

But, maybe the best part was how easy the last 7 miles felt for me after I hit the 26 mile mark and how good it was to experience so many things I would never have seen or done.

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
8.090.000.000.000.000.000.008.09

Ran at the Y, 7:41 average pace

Looking back, I thought I must have run some intervals, but I did not, just a little bit faster than normal run.  Feeling good after only one day off after Sunday's ultra.

GoRun Sonic Miles: 8.09
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
8.220.000.000.000.000.000.008.22

8.22 mi 01:10 08:33 pace

Basic. Actually, it's Friday today and I don't remember too much about this run. But I think it was pretty good.

The above comment was from Daily Mile, I was even behind there.  I need to consolidate blogs.

GoRun Sonic Miles: 8.22
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
7.050.000.000.000.000.000.007.05

7.05 mi 00:57 08:05 pace

Neighborhood run. It feels like the run that almost wasn't. Started late and thought about doing 4 or 5 but it turned into 7 fortunately.

GoRun Ride3 Miles: 7.05
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
8.170.003.000.000.000.000.0011.17

11.17 mi, 01:27, 07:47 pace

Looped around the block, then out past the golf course and headed to the Y. Did three one mile pick ups which were planned for 7:00-7:10 range, but I felt better on each one and instead did 6:32, 6:35, 6:26. There were long breaks between the fast miles. The idea was to practice breaking out of a slower pace at any time. Whether or not this is effective it still felt good and I got the mileage in.

Pearl Izumi II Miles: 11.17
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
14.166.000.000.000.000.000.0020.16

20.16 mi, 02:37, 07:47 pace

6:50ish start in Starkey Park, ran a bit with Dixie and Jamie, and then a short stint with Jackie B, Randy and Josh out to 5 miles. Continued on alone and picked up the pace. Ran next three at about 7:50 pace, then last 11 ranged between 7:06 and 7:33. Wanted to get some practice holding a pace on tired legs. Pretty good overall but a few times it felt like my lower back was twisting so there were a few miles which could have been faster. The wind was good because it was mostly at my back for the return trip.

GoRun Ride3 Miles: 20.16
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
79.156.003.000.000.000.000.0088.15
GoRun Sonic Miles: 16.31GoRun Ride3 Miles: 27.21Pearl Izumi II Miles: 11.17
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