Wild Hare 2010

It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt



First things first, I had to drop.  Mile 43 and I dropped.  Seven miles left.  GI problems, dehydration, and bloody urine were the culprits.  BUT I do know what I did wrong, both the day before and the morning of, to screw myself over.  Oh well, lesson learned.  Time to start planning next years races.

At 6am, the few of us tackling the 50 mile option gathered outside the main house on Bluff Creek Ranch.  I hate using tired cliches, but the air truely was on fire.  Everyone was litteraly quaking with electricity as the countdown to 6:00 began.  Headlights aglow, we headed off into the woods for the first of seven loops.

The course was broken in such that the first loop was a quick 5 mile and each subsequent loop being 7.5 miles.  About halfway through the loops was the second aide station where the spread consisted of bananas, apples, oranges, pb&j's, a few candies, water and gatorade.  Oh, and always smiling, happy volunteers.

The course itself was great.  A solid mixture of sand, dirt, rock, and some sketchy pavement.  I cannot wait until next year to have another go, and bring a medal back home.

So it's race weekend is finally here.  Tomorrow all I have to do is go out, do some grocery shopping, pack and then hit the road.

Saturday I'll trust in my training and leave it all on the trails.

"Step with care and great tact

and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)


KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
Be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!


Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!"
-Dr. Seuss

Pre-Race Peppiness

Time sure flies by when you've got your head wrapped around your significant other, kiddo, work, family, friends (the ones still hanging around) and then working them all around your running.

The past six months have whizzed by, it's hard to believe I'm tapering for the Wild Hare 50m already.  Training has been great, I feel like I've got a good base established, all there is now is to go out there Saturday and rock it out one mile at a time.

Lack of sleep, bickering over crazy waking hours (**WEEKENDS ARE FOR SLEEPING IN!!**), randomly falling asleep at home in odd places, raiding the fridge after long runs only to suffer from immense heartburn or deadly gas, leaving mud prints all over the house when I forget to take off my shoes, leaving mud prints all over the house when I do, evil silences incurred from staying out hours past when I say I'll return, and the slew of aches and pains have all been worth it.

A special thank you goes out to Molly M, my ever gracious girlfriend.  "It's not that I'll be patient, but I will TOLERATE it."  Her understanding, and sometimes lack of, has helped me push through to where I am right now.  Oftentimes I haven't been able to eloquently elaborate upon the answers to the questions she's posed, but she's always just accepted whatever I've given her.  For example, the every-weekend half-a-day-encompassing Long Runs.  Those have always been fun trying to explain, and then still making as much effort as I can to be a father and understanding partner whilst dead on my feet.

Oh, and did I mention that during all this, for half of it she's been pregnant?  The woman has been awesome.

So now all that's left is to go over my checklists for the ump-teenth time, and then go through everything I've packed one last time before I hit the road late Friday afternoon.  Saturday, rain or shine, is going to be glorious.

Last Long Trail Run

"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare."

- Juma Ikangaa, Tanzania

Got onto the dirt around 0630 this morning.  The temp hovered in the upper 30s to lower 40s until right around 0800 when I began to feel a little warmth from the sun.  It began peaking through the trees a little after 0720 with enough light to put away my headlamp at 0750.

I finished my first 7 mile lap around 0800.  Refilling my pack and getting something in my stomache was a pain in the ass as I couldn't feel my fingers.  I couldn't grab the zippers on my pack, couldn't operate the twist off for the mouth of my Camelbak's bladder, and pouring water from my resovoir was a pain.  Lesson learned, next time it's that cold I'll wear gloves.

Things progressed well during the entire 20 mile run.  Ran into some friendly bikers, and one not so friendly.  I understand that when you get a flat your mood isn't in the stratosphere, but if someone's offering help (especially if that someone's a runner who happens to always keep his mountain biking gear in his pack) maybe being a little more humble would keep you from having to carry your bike back to your car.

Only saw one other runner, the guy I've started nicknaming Mr. Aqua Velva.  I can smell him coming around the corners, it's THAT strong.  I need to start saying hi to the regulars, is it weird that I feel guilty that I've seen some of these bikers and runners on a consistant basis and don't know any by their real names?

I've found out an easier method to keeping fueled.  Instead of hauling around a couple of water bottles and guesstimating how many calories of protein shake I'm drinking I made single serving bottles using my kiddo's old 4oz baby bottles.  They're small enough that I can fit two of them into the outer pouch of my camel and now I don't have to guess as to how much I'm taking in every hour and risk sicking it all up if I get too much accidently.  Each one is exaclty 200 calories.

Now that I think I've worked out all the kinks, it's time to start dialing it all down to get some rest for the race.