Working to Run

I had a couple of meetings on the West Coast last week so it was time to do some more exploring.  Dan, Will, and I started in Tacoma and ended up in San Francisco.  So we started off the week with of run around one of my favorites, Pt Defiance park in Tacoma.  They have a good mix of trail and road.  I have been hitting the trails more and more as I have become familiar with them.  They crisscross throughout a five mile road loop that is also spectacular to run.  On either the trails or road, you are immersed in giant spruces, ferns, and neon-green-moss. 

Then we went to the San Francisco Bay area for a new run, at Anthony Cabot Regional Park, and another familiar one, at Marin Headlands.  Anthony Cabot had a bit of everything; a lake, forested single track, creeks, rolling green hills, and long views.  Marin is also one of my favorite places in the country...I can't believe it is so close to San Francisco...and I rarely see anyone out there!  Here are the pictures.   I really makes me want to run Miwok 100k....maybe next year!

Anthony Cabot Regional Park

Marin Headlands

Colorado Runski

What started out as a ski trip turned into a pilgrimage of sorts last weekend.  After flying into the great state of Colorado, Matt, Chad and I knew we had time for run before we headed up to Beaver Creek for a couple of days of skiing and hard core apres.  We quickly settled on "mags".  The classic run down Magnolia Road made famous by Running with the Buffaloes.  Here is a picture of Matt doing mags....

....just kidding....Running with the Buffaloes is a classic running book chronicling the 1998 University of Colorado National Championship Cross Country team and a new breed of great American runners.   Learn more about Magnolia Road, just east of Boulder here.

The dirt road starts at about 8,000 ft altitude and, on our day, was consumed with snowy, windy conditions.  Since I had departed from the comfort of 1,400 ft altitude merely 5 hours prior, I immediately went into a desperate lack of oxygen.  A chest thumbing, leg numbing, tunnel vision state that was foreign to this southern boy.  Needless to say, it was a classic.

We then ripped the Beav for a day with our local ski buddies (almost getting our ski passes revoked for two weeks by the ski patrol for skiing out of bounds) and then Breckenridge for a day with decent conditions despite the La Nina winter. 

It was time to start heading back toward the airport.  But! We had a few hours to spare for another run.  I needed something strenuous to clear the head after a couple days of the fog that inevitably comes with apres in Eagle.   Just enough time to check off another bucket list run.  We headed back through Boulder on our way to the airport to hit up a Green Mountain summit.  A run made now famous by Anton Krupicka.  A great motivator, writer, and one of the best trail runners of our day.  After following his blog for a couple of years, I'll finally know what he is going through as he makes this run almost twice daily.   Our six mile, 2-hour, scramble was icy, treacherous, and beautiful.

Our Green Mtn Route - Baseline > Amphitheatre > Saddle > Greenman > Ranger > Gregory > Baseline

So that's it.  Some skiing with good friends sandwiched by two classic runs that I've always wanted to do.  I'm one lucky guy.

Reset Button & Lookout Mtn 50 Mile Finish

Losing loved ones is hard.  My grandfather, Pappy, passed away in early December and in November, my dog, T, a boxer who had been with us for 13 years, passed on.  I've realized death is both absolute, of course, but also therapeutic for loved ones in an amazing way.  Losing Pappy and T has shaken me out of my routine in a number of ways.  It's reminded that friends and family are truly the most important thing to me....and they won't last forever.  It's also made me consider what my legacy will be.  My grandfather was a great man who was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force.  Finally it has reminded me what an impact I have on the personality and happiness of my kids and their kids and their kids.  Because I know that many of my traits can be traced to my grandfather.  Aspects of structure, respect for others, and a love for cooking certainly came from my grandfather.  

So I vowed to run the Lookout 50 Mile Race for Pappy and T.   And I needed everybit of their strength to finish it.  First of all the race was great.  It was an absolutely beautiful course and Lula falls was going off!  The race started at 7:30 at Covenant College on top of Lookout Mountain with my crew/family shivering and looking on.   I had a final average pace in my mind and was determined to be conservative so I let everyone take off.

The course was great as it cruised along a bluff along the side of the mountain, then dipped down to the base of the mountain for a surprise.  Due to all of the rain on Friday, we had to run through about 250 yards of thigh deep water that had covered a portion of the trail that ran beside a creek.  It was cold!  It took a few yards of running to get the feeling back in my legs.  And then we climbed back to the top of the the mountain. 

After about 15 miles I started to feel my quads and calves getting tight.  I believe it was a result of running the race so close to the grand canyon r2r2r.  I am amazed at how some folks can run these long races back to back to back so soon.  I really need plenty of time to recover.  So I started taking ibuprofin and that really seemed to help.  I continued to take vitamin I throughout the day. 

For much of the race, my state of mind was in and out of determination and despair.  I really considered dropping since I saw my family (and car) at mile 34 and 38.  But I've never DNF'd a race and that would have been monumental.  Despite the sea changes in my motivation, I was running pretty good and passing folks.  I was also calling on my grandfather and T for courage....I'm pretty sure they were with me. 

I ran back by the raging and beautiful Lula falls...perhaps the biggest I've seen in the South due to the recent heavy rains.  As I got to the final aid station at mile 44, I grabbed my drop bag with my headlamp that I had thrown in just in case.  I wanted to just carry it back even though it was daylight so that I didn't have to wait for my drop bag to come back after the finish.  As I was fumbling around with it, I ran straight through the flags indicating a turn....and ran....and ran before I realized there was no one around.  I went almost a mile before I realized I was off course.  This was hugely disheartening.  It may seem like only 2 miles but after 44, just 6 miles takes a lot of courage, much less 8.  I turned around and headed back and finally got back on course.  This was at least a 20 minute mistake and very deflating for the remainder of the race. 

I struggled back in and finished, which was a huge accomplishment for the day.  My family was waiting as always which is always uplifting.  I ended up finishing 9th overall in 8 hours and 39 minutes.  Even though I didn't get passed all day, I saw three guys that I had passed who were already finished...so they must have gone by as I was running the "bonus" miles.  Oh well, it was my fault and staying on course is part of trail racing.  I keep joking that I won the 52 miler. 

In the end, the Lookout Mountain 50 Mile race was great.  I actually have fond memories of the day.  Now it's time to do some serious recovery and have fun running trails for a while.  I'm sure I'll start picking next year's races soon!  Happy holidays to everyone out there! 

-Jason

Next Steps

First, here is a video that I just finished from the grand canyon run.  Pretty cool me thinks....

Ok.  Movin' on.  Next steps.  They say runners have short memories.  It's funny how true that is.  As I was suffering through the final climb of the canyon, I was thinking that I might not run the Lookout Mountain 50 Mile race that I have already signed up for.  I was nervous about my level of fitness and recovery of my legs.  Now I am in a completely different mindset.  First of all, I just can't conceive of not starting a race that I signed up for.  But second, I am excited about it.  Although my training has been a little unconventional for me, I think I might be able to recover ok with 3 weeks to go.  And it looks like a super fun and beautiful race back in the mountains of the South.  

I'm just now completely getting over the soreness of the canyon run.  I'm not sure if it's just me but my legs take almost a week and a have to recover from big efforts like this.  I never seem to read about folks having problems with recovery and soreness after races on all of the running blogs....what gives??  Anyway, I am completely excited to be back in the groove again!