Way To Cool 50K

Last weekend I ran in my second WTC 50K race. This race will always hold a special place in my heart for various reasons! First, this was my initiation into Ultra Trail Races last year in 09'. Secondly, this is the most popular if not most competitive 50K Trail Race in North America. Finally, if not most importantly this course is gorgeous and nearly in my backyard just up the hill past Auburn in the tiny town of Cool nestled in the foothills surrounding the canyons of the American River. Simply put if you live anywhere around the Sacramento area and have never ventured onto these trails in any form (hiking,biking, horseback or otherwise) you need to get off the couch and do just that. This is the closest thing to Heaven on Earth if you ask me!

This year was the first year that WTC 50K was a lottery to enter vs the previous years of simply being fast on the keyboards to register, and when I mean fast try sellout in 6minutes!!! - that beats out most rock bands concerts. Getting into WTC was simply the luck of the draw this year and as I have said before my luck was outstanding this year as I got into WTC, Miwok 100K, and most importantly WSER100. To get in to any of these is fortunate, to get into all three (Trifecta) is saying Gods are with me this year!!!!!

So back to the purpose of this Blog..........

Race day started knowing a few things were going against me. First, this season has been a pretty wet one and the day before the race was no exception. We had a good storm come through Friday and even though race morning would be clear and cold the course was sure to be slick and muddy! Secondly, the day before the race it was determined that one of my training partners Amy would need to call it quits and not run the race. She was dealing with a bad shin and it was felt best she should not test it and risk her training for WSER. It was certain that we both would PR this day by large margins based off our stellar training since our freshman year on the trails. I promised we would have her out there on the course with us - pushing us along and she was there in spirit for sure.

Many of my friends were running this race: Curt, Antonio, Katy, Kuni, Ken and Bob to name a few. Impressively the the list of runners 575 strong included some the best such as: Leor Pantilat(last years winnner), Max King, Geoff Roes, Kami Semick, Karalee Morris and Tim Tweitmeyer. Although, my head was telling me remember only 80%, this is a build up to WS..... my heart was saying you know this course! You know what you can do and when you can unleash so run smart but run FAST and crush your PR (5hrs38min) from last year and in the process put the 5hr window in the bag!!!!

As the gun went off fist bumps were handed out amongst Antonio, Curt and I as well as a fellow Brooks ID runner we met at the line. The race starts out as an approximate 10K on the Olmstead loop before crossing Hwy 49 and heading into the single tracks. The first mile is actually on the pavement and starts flat until there is a good little climb to round out the mile and push you onto the trails. I started comfortably and found myself right behind Karalee Morris a much better and certainly more experienced runner than I. I thought who better to draft behind and learn something, but no sooner was I thinking this that I found myself surging ahead and running considerably faster. I look down to find that my first mile was at 7:10pace.

What? What the hell are you doing Chris? A 5hr finish is like a 10min pace. Time to re adjust but not before getting a great belly laugh from my friend Tony Overbay. Tony was not as lucky to get into WTC this year so he decided to get his volunteer hours in at this race for WS. I should have known he would not simply be filling water bottles! Nope he was dressed in a full head to toe Banana Man outfit and yelling "Don't slip on this!" as we entered the trail head and onto slower times. By the time we came flying down the technical downhill to HWy49 aid station there were familiar faces and happy shout outs from friends and RD Julie Fingar who has been very gracious in providing this newbie with points along the way with my training this year. At this point I rechecked my Garmin and found that with about 6miles in or a 5th of the way thru, my pace now was 8:10avg. Better but in all likelihood still too fast and certainly nothing I would expect to hold as the terrain shifts dramatically up ahead.

It was at this point that some of the effects of the storm started to show itself on the single tracks and some of the otherwise very fast downhills were muddy and filled with enough moisture that footing was marginal. I love the downhills and can usually make up sometime here for myself and on others but today found myself holding my own and occasionally getting past by a few Kamikaze runners who were willing to let it rip! By the time we were off the fire roads and climbing up our first big hiking hill my time was more reasonable and at about 8:45avg pace as we started above the canyons and on the beautiful single track, runnable parts of the course I love.

This middle half of the course has always been so kind to me. Fast, effortless and Nirvana where I can usually get lost in thought or lack thereof for miles only to occasionally look at my Garmin to see I'm running effortlessly at an 8min pace. Today, however it did not feel so effortless. Whether it was the fast start, the race atmosphere or the unsteady terrain I found myself running a similar pace on the flats and downhills but I was certainly working at it. Doubt started to creep in that I might pay for this somewhere down the line and again I told myself 80% but my legs weren't listening.

This course is known for a few things: great runnable single tracks, several creek crossings, waterfalls and Newts! Well today I did not see any Newts (thanks to the newt patrol) and the creeks were more like RIVER Crossings up to your knees and at times as high as your waist. The other thing this course is known for are a couple brutal hills that drop you to your knees. The first of which is Ballbearing, a nearly mile long technical uphill that gets your HR up to its max and that is while you're hiking it - not running it. It was here that you generally will lose considerable time but on a good day can often make up the time by the finish. This was a bittersweet climb as I passed several other runners that I was able to out hike including another local runner that I have followed and sort of privately eyed as one who I might match up with fairly well based on race results. As I basked in this awareness I also noticed that I was handily being passed by Karalee Morris only to never see her again on the course. She clearly knew what she was doing at the start and well me not sooo much!!!!

Along the next several miles I had the pleasure to run with and chat with Mark Gilligan who has done well with a relatively new website for such races UltraSign Up and we got to talking about the lotteries and the different takes on getting in to such races. At some point during this time we came across one of the more challenging creek crossings and being a local I made the wiser choice and managed to only get about up to my knees while Mark, I was certain by the noise made along side me, must clearly be floating down stream. Nope! Simply jumped into the deepest section up past his waist and he is well over 6ft tall. He too was a more experienced and talented runner than I and it showed as he left me behind in the last 10K or so.

Goat Hill was its usual beast to climb for about 0.4miles but I knew at the top times could be made up and it was a relatively fast finish with about 4-5miles left to go. I tried to turn it on here but the terrain was beat up more than ever and mud was more than ankle deep as you ran down otherwise fast technical downs. An ankle sprain or worse was not worth shaving off a few minutes now. I continued on strong but kept telling myself this was so not an 80% effort race(90-95%)! In the last two miles I passed two runners of note that surprised me. The first was a runner I did not know who was clearly washed out but working to persevere. He had passed me so fast in the first third of the race I thought I would never see this guy again. We exchanged sincere respect for each others efforts and I moved forward. The second runner was met climbing the final hill with a mile left. This runner is known across Northern California and clearly a guy that had a bad day because otherwise he should have been looking at a top 10 finish around 4hours. I tried to motivate him to get going along side me but he was done! Sad to see a guy so talented, so washed out but a bit of self confidence for me to even be around him considering just 9months ago I was happily filling his bottles at WSER as he was on his way to a sub 20hr WS race.

The finish concluded with me out kicking a guy in the last quarter mile by about 20seconds and almost catching an entirely new runner by less than a half a second. My time was a 43min PR from last year with a 4hr55min finish good for 69th overall!!!! Life was good and about to get a lot better because my buddy Curt was there waiting with a cooler full of Blue Moon beer and a nice 20th overall finish himself! We waited happily for the next few hours as the rest of the runners came in. As each passed by more beers were shared and another fun day on the trails and a few miles closer to WS preparation. Up next AR50 miler!!!!

Western States Training Run (Green Gate to Auburn HS)

February 20th was the first formal training run for the WSER100 as put on by the race directors and all. I have been looking forward to this run so that I could put together in my head the direction of the course from the River crossing at Rucky Chucky's far side to the finish of the course at the Placer HS track.

After a bus trip to Green Gate outside of the town of Cool we were dropped off to start at our leisure for approximately 22miles of trails on our way to Auburn. I had done last years Memorial Day weekend training run but did not do the last days run along this portion of the course. I was however, familiar with much of the trails from running WTC 50K and other training runs. These training runs are great because you get a chance to run a good portion of the course one way without having to do car shuffles and great Ultra aid stations along the way.

My running partner Amy and I met up with the others that morning and ran into a few other familiar faces along the way. The trail quickly heads up the switch backs from the American River floor and connects with the WTC course in the reverse direction. Early on there were a number of long conga lines as runners of various abilities left from buses at different times. Within a few miles we came on one of the longer conga lines and it became apparent why it was such. As we worked our way up and past Tim Twietmeyer was fronting this group. Anytime you get the chance to hang with a legend like Tim why wouldn't you do just that? Unfortunately, as soon as we realized it was Tim he chose to take a break at ALT to say Hi to some friends and get some water (or it may have been to drop the long line of spectators that had attached themselves to his back side). In any case it was an overcast day and I ran off and on with Amy as well as Tony O. from this point through Hwy 49 crossing.

Along this stretch I also got the chance to chat with other runners and met a cool guy from the Bay Area Hansel who too is running Miwok 100K and WSER100. I have since connected with him on FB and plan to run into one another at these races and keep in touch with our training. This is one of the things I find so cool about Ultra runs and trail races; the environment is so low key and comfortable. We are all out there for much the same reasons and more times than not if there is competition in one's heart it is with themselves and not against the man/woman next to them. I love the support and camaraderie out there and hope to continue to meet new runners with like minds about life and running.

After crossing Hwy 49 I knew the course very well and I took the opportunity to try to visualize what it might be like to run this portion of the course with over 90miles on my legs in June. It seemed very daunting yet exciting to think I might be running all of today's trails in the middle of the night with a headlamp on, sleep deprived, tired and being pulled along by my pacer and good friend Curt Casazza. After day dreaming a bit the course quickly drops down for a couple miles towards No Hands Bridge on fun and fast single tracks of the Robie Trail. I felt good and turned on the after burners. I ran this short section with about 18miles on my feet at about a 6:30 clip and it felt effortless. I love the downhills and excel in most cases at this kind of running. I passed many runners with leisure but it was more about feeling free than trying to run down anyone today.

When I run well I can get lost in the effort of running. It simply becomes a roller coaster ride than I am on but not working at. I can almost sense that I no longer am doing the work but running outside myself and simply navigating my next step. I have had episodes where more than an hour or several miles can simply escape my recollection when looking back on just such a run. This part of the course brought me back to my childhood days of running in the orchards with friends, being chased by dogs or simply trying to keep up with my Dad as we travelled the back country on our search for a great swimming hole.

After stopping briefly on the back side of No Hands Bridge for some fluids at the Aid station the course does climb back out of the canyon to the top of the trail before moving into the last mile or so on the streets of Auburn. I took the opportunity of feeling well today to work a bit harder and conquer the hills including the large ones on the top of the town of Auburn to say to myself I control this course! I will not let the course overcome me today or in June!! At the top I chose to wait until my friend Amy came off the trail so we could run the final mile in together. It is efforts of kindness like this that I have come to find always pays you back 10 fold in positive Karma somewhere down the road or trail. She was pleased to see I waited and we spent the last mile basking in knowing in a few months we both would be on these residential roads coming into the final lap of the Placer track to complete WSER100!!!!!

Today's run finished exactly at the finish of the course and I asked a question to Amy. "So come 6/27 when you are running down this road will it be light or dark?" She paused at the meaning of the question and I took the opportunity to answer for both of us: "it will be dark!" meaning a sub 24hr finish is in the bag! Yes, I know this is above what one should ask for or try to predict for their first 100 miler - let alone WSER but if one can't Dream what is the purpose of attacking your Goals?

Looking back on that prediction "it will be DARK" can take on many different connotations over 100 miles and I'm certain there will many DARK MOMENTS but not as many as the bright ones leading up to them and beyond.......

We chose to not step foot on the actual track that morning and will not do so out of superstition until 6/27. The morning was wrapped up with a great breakfast of pancakes,bacon and eggs put on by Ultra runner Peter Defty and group. A great start to a day or movement in the right direction toward June!

Jed Smith 50K Ultra

On February 6th I ran my first Ultra event of my sophomore trail career. The Jed Smith 50K was relocated this year to the American River Parkway due to closures and cutbacks in the State Parks pushing Gibson Ranch out of the running. The morning of the race I awoke to pouring rain at 5am as the weather people predicted (right for a change) and I wondered if I really wanted to run a race that entailed 5 loops around a very familiar area for several hours while getting soaking wet? I had been fighting a cold for the last few days and knew that running this race in the in climate weather probably wasn't what the Doctor ordered but I wasn't currently seeking medical advice. I was starting the race season that would culminate four months later with Western States 100 miler. If I could not handle a bit of rain today what business did I have training for WSER100 where surely the weather would be far more treacherous on the other end of the spectrum! I have kind of told myself that all my races leading up to WS this year would be run at 80% so as to not get injured, yet still allow my competitive juices to flow and justify any entrance fees.

Shortly after arriving at William Pond for the race I met up with some of my running buddies who I knew would be running it as well. Tony Overbay (who informally introduced me to the Ultra scene), Antonio Losada (a very skilled if somewhat age handicapped running friend), Ted Archer (a new running buddy and local phenom who has placed impressively at MDS) all toed the line together in a very low key race of approximately 65 runners. I had told Ted about the race just the week prior and mentioned he had a chance to win this even though there were at least two other runners who were very legit! Having him race this certainly would drop my place by at least one and with my other buddies also running it I was already prepared for 4th out of just those I was friends with.

Luckily, for us as the 50miler got under way minutes before our race the rain mellowed to a light drizzle and we were inspired that maybe we could shed some clothes and avoid being waterlogged. The course was flat,fast and an even mixture of the Parkway asphalt and easy horse trails that paralleled the rivers edge. As the gun went off Ted burst out in front of the pack and pretty much had a 40yd lead on everyone before I even hit the start button on my Garmin! He was out to win it even if he said otherwise. Tony and I ran much of the first lap together both wondering how our respective colds might hold up and whether either of us was going to make this a race of it. Since tony as well was fortunate to get into the lottery for WS too we both planned a leisure training run out of it. Antonio, usually the runner with tons of heart, poor pacing, and lack of desire for things like hydration and nutrition surprised me by hanging back from us. Usually I would expect him to go out stronger but maybe readjust his pace as the race went on due to the above information I described.

After the first lap Ted was clearly ahead of the other runners and I secretly wondered if by the final loop would he be lapping me on this 10K course. Towards the end of the final lap I lost sight of Tony a bit and was now wondering was I running this too fast for a supposed training run? This thought was not reinforced by the man running 10paces in front of me that was in his 70s, had a very awkward if not painful gait, who seemed focused on not letting a newbie trail runner past him. This guy appeared to purposely run through every little mud puddle as if to say this is how we do it on trails! Mud, sweat, and tears..... which is exactly how I felt if this guy was going to cross the mats in the next 4hours before me.

The next several laps entailed much of the same with my pace only dropping off by a few seconds per mile from my original 7:45min/mile first loop. I had eventually passed the older, if not more experienced ultra runner about 2.5 laps in and by the 3rd lap realized that this was not Tony's day as he made the wise decision to finish the day as a 30K since his cold was much worse than mine and he did not want to jeopardize his training season for the first 50K. Smart Man! Antonio continued to come into the aid station each loop just as I would be exiting and thought he was running a smarter race than I since he continued to either hold his pace or make up some time while I dropped some even if marginally so.

By the last lap I could start to feel my hamstrings not only tighten but flicker with notice that although my hydration of a bottle per lap seemed sufficient that maybe the lack of salt tablets at the race might be my downfall. I started to wonder if I would be walking in the last 5-6miles with my legs locked up much like a few months earlier at the Bizz J Trail Marathon where I came up a few minutes short of a BQ for just such reasons. I did what I could to get some Na+ in by eating some potato chips on the last lap and downing it with soda, knowing that it might help if only the mixture would stay down. I have a pretty weak stomach so it would be interesting.

Fortunately, the option of Ruffles and de fizzed Pepsi did the trick along with shortening my stride length enough to only marginally effect my pace. Another buddy Chris who had paced Ted into a 1st place finish shortly before headed back out to meet me with a couple miles to go and helped me finish off the course in 4hrs11min (8:03 pace). I finished 12th overall, Antonio finished only seconds behind me and Ted won the race with a stellar 3hr25min finish. That is kicking some ass!!!!!

Overall it was a good race with some smart tactics, learned experiences and a decent effort at keeping it around 80%!!! Let's hope the rest of the season goes as well.

Virgin Running Blog

So here I sit on a Saturday night following daylight savings and looking forward to the upcoming season of spring and the journeys ahead! I have decided to create this blog, somewhat cautiously because I don't want to be perceived as self serving, but at the same time wish to capture the passage I am on with my running and self exploration.

I guess whether it is read by others or not it is an envelope to protect my thoughts and direction as I explore both my fitness and travels on foot as I better acquaint myself with me. Running has awakened my ability to connect with who I really am and who I am supposed to be. I have always said running allows me to actively meditate and for someone who can't sit still amongst others this is my way to recharge and get back to basics.

Why now? I have taken a huge leap of faith in my ability to conquer my beasts as I am currently underway towards training for an Epic Race of a life time. June 26-27 I will be running the oldest and most prestigious Ultra Trail Race - the Western States 100 Miler. Wow, just typing that gives me chills and episodes of anxiety! Less than four years ago I struggled to complete my 3rd marathon in under 5 hours and now nearly four years later I have qualified for Boston with a 3:17 marathon, run 9 marathons, numerous halfs and several Ultra events.

My hope here is to be able to share my travels with my loved ones, any other interested parties and most importantly give a glimpse to my little girls what it is that Daddy really does when he takes hours out of the week to head onto the trails.
I hope to keep this going, both running and writing about it, so that I can better move towards growth and giving to all those that I cross.

Thanks for reading!