SimpleSoleProject

Just a few more pics and thoughts from the weekend’s festivities.

– I still have a lot to learn about fueling and hydration on these things.  Not sure how many more will come my way, but that is a key factor in peak performance.

– The more you can run trails similar to the race it would be great.  Platte River State Park is the closest I have, and that is still 45 minutes away.  Not easy for me at this stage of my life.

-Trail runners are a goofy bunch, even in the spectrum of runners.  Hard to tell anything about anyone.  Seems like everyone is wearing the latest in trail shoes, or”minimalist” kicks, or jackets or whatever.  There must have been $10,000 of gear within 20 yards of me.

– In addition to that, the mentality of the starting line is so different from other races.  No warming up, hanging out, putting your gear in tubs or bags to be retrieved some time in the upcoming 8 hours.  Dudes peeing in the woods, gals peeing in the woods.  Laughing because it is 30 degrees out and that is a good thing because the ground is frozen for a little longer.

– For an ultra you absolutely cannot be too serious about it.  Because at some time it is going to be horrible and hopefully you did not use too much early on in the race.  Hence the waving below.  Just chilling.  Which is kind of a nice change from the seriousness of a “true” road or track race.

-About all I have now.  Until next time.

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Sorry for the lame post this week, but not too much to report – which I guess is a good thing during recovery time.  My legs were much more tired than I was anticipating based on the slow time of my race.  I’m guessing it was some cumulative fatigue of my program catching up to me.  I now have about 2 months to get ready for the Hollywood half and it can’t come soon enough.  

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So I had a lot of time yesterday to think about how I wanted to start this race report.  I think around mile 23 I came up with something really brilliant.  An introduction that would draw you in and keep reading with bated breath.  A summary of a race that I am really, really proud of.  Then I slipped in a pile of mud, fell down a switchback, and lost my train of thought.  So here I am, sitting back, drinking a brew, and trying to remember all of the cool things I wanted to talk about.  Let’s start at the beginning.

Two years ago I ran the 20 mile version of this event (there are 10mi, 20mi, and 50k distances).  After covering the two laps that year in a bit over three hours, in about eight inches of snow, I thought it would be cool to give a shot at the big boy race.  It took me some time to get healthy enough so that I could put an “honest” effort out there, but the 2013 edition of the PSYCHO WYCO 50k saw me on the starting line.  I had a goal in mind, which was under 5 hours or about 1:39 for each of the three circuits of the 10.8 mile course (the event is actually pegged at a bit OVER 50k, but whatever).  In past years being sub-5 actually had a cash bonus, but not this year.  But the fact that there HAD been something like this made the goal interesting.

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I have never trained for and run a warm weather race after going through a winter training cycle in Nebraska.  So I did it this year.  Went out to Cali last weekend and ran the Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach.  Oh, and I raced it with my brother.

That was the real reason for this little trip.  He is getting married this Spring.  We have not hung out together in a long, long time.  So this was what we ended up doing.  Only in my family would a vacation include racing a half marathon.  We had planned this awhile ago, and my training for it went decently well considering the conditions I trained through around Lincoln in December and January.  But like I said, the mission was to spend some good quality time with my little brother.

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Not close to a PR, but close to a PB

Whenever you get the opportunity to race, it is important to take as much away from it as possible. More often than not, just like in life, lessons learned typically happen when something doesn’t go your way.  Maybe  you feel worse than you should within the first few miles of a race, or the pack you are running with picks the pace up way too early. Maybe you get a blister or side ache.  Or maybe it is not just your day.  In an oxymoron type fashion, I probably ran about as poorly as I could have on Sunday at the Surf City Half Marathon, but had one of the best times as my brother Brian came out to run.  Last time we had a chance to race together was 2006, and I use that phrase loosely as about the only shared time was before the gun went off. 

I was hurting within the first two miles on Sunday and somehow held it together until 7-8 in somewhat of a respectable fashion (see splits below).  My pace was off from the beginning. Blood sugar felt low, legs felt heavy, hillier course than I’m used to, sun was out in full effect etc, etc…As the Hanson’s metaphorically say, “it wasn’t my time to withdraw from the bank.”  While I was far off from earning a “personal record” I did end up having a great experience. Just about the point where the wheels were falling off, I turned around to see Brian gaining on me quickly (right around mile 9 or so).  He passed me and I hung on for dear life.  I knew that I didn’t get this opportunity too often, and there was nothing that would stop me from finishing with him. While there were a few minor hiccups in the final miles, hiccups that I would typically black out, I certainly will not do so in this particular instance.  Continue reading →

That’s my dog Rosie.  She was an awesome dog. She died eight and a half years ago.  It sucked.  For a lot of reasons.  I don’t think about her much anymore.  But on occasion I do.  Sometimes I see a tennis ball (her favorite toy).  Or the dog tag I keep on my key chain.  Often times I get sad.  But on occasion I feel happy.  Not everyone gets to have the friends that I do, both human and not.

We had a bigger than predicted snow storm last night, half a foot.  Got my shoveling done early before I found out school was cancelled.  So went and laced up my shoes and got out before traffic picked up too much. No planned tempo run today. It was going to be for the joy of it.  I love running in the snow, I have made that clear to anyone who will listen (and even those that won’t) over the years.  Running down Rock Island Trail under low clouds reflecting the city lights back in a nice orangeish glow, I encountered a guy walking his dogs.  One was on leash, the other was off.  The pooch running amok was a 10 month old Golden Retriever.  We used to do the same thing with Rosie after winter storms.  We would take her out for a walk and down to the trail.  She knew what was up the moment we veered from our normal path.  The leash came off and she was gone.  It was sweet to watch her plow through snow and jump and bound and do whatever the hell else it is that dogs do when they are psyched out of their minds.

But when I try to explain to people why I love running, or why I love running in snow storms, it is hard. (Some) people just don’t get it.  They see wind and blowing snow.  They feel the cold.  They think you are going to fall (you usually do).  Cruising through the shin deep, fluffy powder this morning and barely able to see my feet as I kicked up a cloud of snow, I had a smile on my face.  The same smile you see on the face of that dog above.  When folks ask me why, I think I want to be able to just show them that photo of my old dog.  That foolish look, the who gives a crap attitude, looking goofy but feeling kind of like a badass mentality.  If I could only bottle it.  Maybe people would understand then.  But I doubt it.