Ultra 2017

2017 is shaping up to be a year. Bold typeface indicates I've already registered.
  • February 4, 2017 Rocky Racoon 100
  • March 4, 2017 Way Too Cool 50k 
  • March 11, 2017 Marin Ultra Challenge 50-Miler
  • April 1, 2017 Barkley Marathons 
  • Backup: April 1, 2017 Bone Tempest 
  • April 15, 2017 Lake Sonoma 50M (Dec 1-15 lottery) 
  • Backup: April 15, 2017 Grizzly Peak 50K 
  • May 14, 2017 Quicksilver 100K 
  • June 24, 2017 San Juan Solstice 50 (lottery Jan 15-22)
  • July 14-16, 2017 Hardrock 100 
  • August 11-15, 2017 Bigfoot 200 
  • October 14(?), 2017 Euchre Bar Massacre
That's about it. Rocky Racoon isn't really my style, but it's an excuse to visit friends in Houston, and I think I can wedge it into a multi-destination work trip. Barkley I'm not sure about, and I never am, but why not go balls out the same year I finally get into Hardrock and have already signed up for a 200-miler?

That's right. I got into Hardrock on my fifth application. To be exact I'm fourth on the waitlist, and the waitlist has never gone fewer than four spots, so I'm almost guaranteed entry. I'm pretty excited about that. And since I am unable to keep my big mouth shut and I'm supposed to be some sort of expert on research transparency and reproducibility, I will say regarding the lottery kerfuffle that running a lottery on a computer is exactly  how you leave an audit trail. Write the code, put it on the Internet beforehand, hundreds of us will inspect it, then you livestream a few people rolling dice to set the seed for the psuedo-random number generator, or use atmospheric variation from Random.org if that's not good enough for you. Cutting up strips of paper introduces a far greater possibility of human error, and if you're not livestreaming the whole paper-cutting and name-picking process, forget it.

Also, I keep making (lowball) offers on houses, I've got a few papers in the hopper, I plan to go on the job market again (contradicts point one, I know), and the world is going to Hell in a handbasket. So there's that.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Adze Picket Co. (I Love the PCT)

Image
Me at the Border I spent the weekend at the ADZPCTKO with Nitro , Tatu Joe, Ducky (the Wise) , Tomato, BearCan't , Mattress, Love Barge, Nano, Sly, Disco , WeatherCarrot, Too Obtuse, Nacho, Tall Paul, Mags , and Wildflower (AKA Icognito Cheeto Bandito). I got a ride down with Firefly. I'm tempted to just end my post there, as it would seem like complete gibberish to many of you. But I won't. The ADZPCTKO is the Annual Day Zero Pacific Crest Trail Kickoff, held the last weekend in April (also known as NFL Draft weekend, where, miracle of miracles, the Redskins, despite Dan Snyder's best attempts to screw it up, actually managed to avoid throwing away multiple draft picks on Chad Johnson and instead traded for more picks. Hallelujah!) at Lake Morena campground, 20 miles north by trail from the Mexican border near Campo, CA. Conventional wisdom says that the weather window on the PCT is such that there's not much point to starting earlier thanks to snow in the S...
Read more

Hardrock 34:42

Image
It's Tuesday, I'm back in Berkeley, and I just ran my first Hardrock last Friday/Saturday in 34:42. I wanted to record thoughts immediately after the experience, because it was hard , and now that it's been a few days, I'm already forgetting the pain. [I don't want kids, so you'll have to insert your own reference to childbearing here if you so desire.] Start The race started at 6AM. I slept reasonably well the night before in my truck just behind the school gym where the race starts--Silverton is very low key, so it's easy to dirtbag inside the city limits. I did, however, have a bit of GI non-normality, but it didn't seem like a big deal. I started in shorts, T-shirt, and a windshirt. As expected, the windshirt soon became too warm, likely because of the clouds that were obviously going to bring rain sooner rather than later. First Climb I started maybe 30-40 deep in the field, going faster than I'd ever climbed in training, but not feel...
Read more

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...
Read more