Posts

OK, Let's Go!

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To answer my own question from last time, I signed for UTMB. And UTMR. Yes, they're only six days apart. It'll be fun. Right now I'm more anxious about Orcas 100, which I'm running this weekend. Should I bring my newer small pack or my larger worn out old pack?  Why haven't I bought a replacement larger pack yet? Because nobody makes anything to carry hard-sided bottles anymore and I like hard-sided bottles because they're larger and insulated. Why do I get nervous before races lately, despite having run more than 100 ultras? I don't know. Orcas, Paiute Meadows 50K, Scout Mountain, TRT, UTMB, UTMR I've been training quite consistently, if not especially hard. I've run 475 miles so far this year, a minimum of two every day, and more than 60 every week, except for last week when I was tapering and ran 45 or so. I've had almost no alcohol this month, and I've been fairly good (but not great) about mixing in hamstring exercises. My hamstring felt

Should I run UTMB?

That's it, the title is the post. No, of course that's not the post, but I am wondering. My schedule has filled in a bit for the year. I'm now signed up for: Orcas 100 (Feb), Paiute Meadows 50K (May), Scout Mountain 100 (June), TRT 100 (July), and hope to run the fun runs Lupine Loopfest (Feb), Desolate Peaks (August), and Euchre Bar Massacre (October). But the big news is that I got selected in the UTMB lottery. I have until the 29th of January to confirm my registration. For the non-runners: UTMB is a 106-mile loop around Mont Blanc through France, Switzerland, and Italy, starting and ending in Chamonix. By all accounts it is spectacularly beautiful and very difficult, with about 33,000 feet of climbing. For most of my running life I haven't really cared about European races or followed European runners, but I got swept up in the spectacle of it last year. It was the race's 20th year, an American man finally won (Jim), and also finished second (Zack), and Courtney

2023 in Review, 2024 Preview

2023 Races: I ran five ultras this year. That doesn't seem like all that many to me. Looking back at my Ultrasignup results, I've run a low of four (2014) and a high of eleven (2015) ultras since I got into the sport. (Aside from 2020 when everything was cancelled.) Black Canyon 100K, 60K Double Silver State 50K Western States 100 Crazy Mountain 100 Chicago Marathon Hidden Valley Hammer 10K I was pretty happy with the Black Canyon double in February. It meant my body was finally back to normal after Tor in 2022. (I'm not happy that there was absolutely no recognition by the race org of the double, despite promises to the contrary, so I'll just keep howling into the void about that--add it to my "Just serve soy sauce flavored ramen. It's vegetarian and tastes just as salty!" evergreen ultra complaint.) I was happy with Silver State 50K until the day after when my hamstring threw a fit. I think I can no longer run a race the day after a nine-hour drive. I wa

Complete-Hiking Joshua Tree National Park

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I recently finished hiking or running every maintained mile of trail in Joshua Tree National Park.  I started this project in spring 2021 when we bought a house two miles from Black Rock campground. I'd thought of trying to do something along these lines back in my thru-hiking days. Simple Google searches indicate Yosemite has " more than 750 miles of trail ," Yellowstone " more than 900 ." Someday I thought I'd spend a summer entirely in one of those parks, Memorial Day to Labor Day, hiking every mile of trail. Bear canisters and permits seem like an issue, but a surmountable obstacle. Memorial Day is early, but not too much worse than my 2004 PCT thru-hike when I left Kennedy Meadows Memorial Day weekend. Perhaps it would be much worse in Yellowstone, but it would be nice to get some time in the parks in early June before mosquito season really ramps up in July.  Cool Of course I have a real job now so I can't spend the entire summer hiking

Wrapping Up 2023: Chicago Marathon, EBM, Hidden Valley Hammer 10K

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Chicago Marathon When I was planning my races for the year, I thought that after my June and July 100s, I'd switch over to speed training, and try to set a PR at the Chicago Marathon in October. It was an excuse to visit my good friend in Chicago, it's a flat and fast course, and after Boston would be the only one of the World Majors that I've run.  I needed some time in late July and early August to recover from Crazy Mountain 100, so that took a couple weeks. Then I traveled to DC and back to Yucca Valley, and tried to do some mile repeats there, but I also just wanted to go run trails in Joshua Tree National Park as part of my project to run every maintained trail in the park. Then finally in September when Amy and I had a weekend with no travel where I could train, I didn't want to spend my birthday weekend running a flat or paved trail, so of course we went camping in the Sierra and I did a long mountain run instead. It wasn't optimal training to try and run a

Crazy Mountain 100

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I ran the Crazy Mountain 100 in Montana at the end of July. The course was absolutely gorgeous and the race organization, swag, and vibes were all excellent. I performed OK but not great: my hamstring was weak but not outright painful for a portion of the race but eventually cooperated. I spent a nice couple days in Montana after the race. I flew to Bozeman Thursday the 27th and picked up my rental car. Oddly the cheapest car available was an F-150, which I was happy to rent so I could easily get to a backcountry aid station, even though I think modern big American trucks are stupid stupid stupid (evil). My trip reinforced my beliefs since the truck was a gas hog, was a pain in the ass to park, and seeing over the high hood is indeed child-killingly difficult . I also turned out not to need to get to any backcountry aid stations because my pacer broke his elbow a week before the race and had to drop, so there was no need to drive on rough roads, and a Prius would have been just fine. O

The 50th Year of Trying to Hold the Western States Endurance Run

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I ran the 50th Western States Endurance Run June 24-25 in a disappointing 28:54.  I mean, 50 years ago a guy ran a horse race, and 47 times since then a footrace of similar distance has been held. (There was one fire cancellation and one COVID cancellation.) So it's kind of the 48th running in the 50th year, but whatever. By disappointing I mean it took me longer than 24 hours, and it took me longer than the 25:30 it took me when I did it 10 years ago. (And by 10 years ago I mean 10 years, not eight, though I believe I applied eight times in those 10 years, having not bothered to apply in 2014, and if I remember correctly, COVID meant they rolled over 2020 without a new lottery.) I trained hard and consistently from early March through May 20, going as far as hiring an online coach. That seemed to work well, until it didn't. I hurt my hamstring running the Silver State 50K (more on that in my previous post ) and babied my hamstring for the final five weeks prior to Western Stat