Adventures in Onionism

The second morning Second Sunrise   Despite my having hated every minute of the Massanutten 100 the first time I ran it in 2019, I ran it again this May. The price and logistical ease made it too easy to sign up for. Plus it's put on by VHTRC and I'm starting to get to know more people in the club, so I knew I'd see friendly faces at aid stations. I enjoyed the first 50 miles, running them in 12 and a half hours. Then my feet got wet and completely macerated when my absurdly expensive shoes didn't dry out and it took me 20 hours of figuratively stepping on Legos barefoot to finish the second half. I took an hour and ten minutes off my 2019 team, but I wouldn't consider my time "good." I've got a better time in me, so I guess I'll be back again in a few years. I'm off to the Brooks Range with Nano on Sunday. The snowpack at Atigun Pass isn't melting like I need it to, which is concerning. Here's hoping that 24 hours of sunlight does its ...

[I started writing this post two months ago am only finishing it now. My foot still hurts a little, but I'm still running.]  Greetings from the couch, dear reader. I have a sore throat, and I am a little worried that I have a stress fracture in my foot. I am icing it and wearing a boot, and I made an appointment with the podiatrist (but that's two months out, so I expect the situation will have changed by then.) How did this happen?  The short version is: I ran a lot.  The long version is: I ran Hashawha Hills 50K Feb 28 (see my previous blog entry), Elizabeth Furnace 50K March 14, Hone Quarry 40-miler March 28, and Gorge Waterfalls 100K April 11. The full-length version is: Elizabeth Furnace 50K was a nice VHTRC fatass. I got a ride out there with H & N. I started out at the very front--the instant I pulled up my shorts from a poop in the woods that happened to be in the direction of the course, people ran by me--I guess we're going! Obviously that didn't last long...

Running has been hard this winter. The snowcrete storm at the end of January was followed by nine days with temps not getting above freezing. Trail running required traction devices so I got my screw shoes out of the closet, and eagerly scanned social media and run-group e-mails as we reported on trail conditions and road plowing updates. It reduced my mileage by maybe 20 miles one week and 10 another. Not that bad, but it took a lot of mental energy and reduced quality runs waiting to pass people on single-shovel width sidewalk paths and constantly scanning for ice. I had plans to go run The Wild Oak Trail (Cold TWOT) President's Day Weekend, but the event was cancelled due to snow conditions. I also was stressed by almost getting off the wait list at the last minute for an event in Tennessee which I hadn't planned for. At the last minute since both of those were out, I decided to keep the rental car and dogsitter I had arranged and go to Shenandoah National Park and work on m...

I've long said I don't like repeating races (Western States and Hardrock aside) but I decided to do IMTUF again this year. I ran it in 2015 as part of my 400-mile Onion Slam [ race report ].  2015 was a fire year, so the course was significantly different than the standard at the time. The start was further north at Bugdorf Hot Springs, but the new "Super Course" starts at the sound end at Jug Mountain Ranch, which makes staying at a Bay Area friend's cabin nearby much easier, and made it nice for Amy to come along and make a weekend of it, and meant I'd only seen something like 40% of the course before.  2015 v 2025 course   I trained pretty well, maxing out at two 90+ mile weeks (90+ running, 120+ if you include biking) three and four weeks before the race. I tapered and was well-rested for the race. My goal was 30 hours, compared to 31:46 in 2015. To my pleasant surprise, my friend Zak from Washington state called me the day before the race and let me know ...

  Just a little bit hotter and a little bit worse! I finished my second Hardrock last week. It was a fun experience. I ran 1 hour 47 minutes slower than my 2017 time (in the same counter-clockwise direction) but it was a million degrees hotter, the course is two miles longer, and I took an additional 1.6-mile wrong turn. I placed essentially the same: 35th this time, 36th last time. I feel like I normally finish as the median runner, but when the going gets  very  tough, I do relatively better. I think the easiest explanation might just be that elevation wrecks some really good runners and I barely notice it up to 13,000 feet. Thanks, genetics. Or, when a race is high enough and steep enough that almost everyone is hiking, I'm a relatively fast hiker with better endurance. Regardless, it worked out reasonably well for me again. Training I've been telling myself since last October that I should hire a coach to write a training plan for me, or at least write a plan myself. ...

Lots of things have happened. Mostly bad, like family voting to traumatize federal employees (side note: It won't help balance the budget! ), my moving back to DC across the country away from Amy, and my colleagues that I worked hard to hire getting fired because consumer protection is bad now. But some good has happened. So here's the good running stuff. The first few months of the year have gone mostly according to plan.  February 8 I drove down to the Wild Oak Trail and started a midnight loop of TWOT. TWOT is a 29-mile loop that has turned into a twice-annual self-supported vaguely Barkley-esque run of one to eight loops. The  website makes it seem much more sadistic then it is (my friend tells me the RD mostly just doesn't know how to update the website to get rid of the "you don't deserve to be here" tone.) I planned to do two loops, including the first with a midnight start. The creek crossing was high, and the rain was cold, so I wimped out and just ...