Adventures in Onionism

I ran my third Hardrock in July. Here's the report. Before   I flew from Fairbanks, Alaska to Durango, Colorado a week before the race. I got my rental car and drove to Silverton. The next day (July 4) I picked up my race gear that I mailed to my friends' house in Ouray. I ran the Telluride to Kroger's Pass section of trail. The climb went well, but on the way down my quads started to burn so I deliberately took it easy. I spent the evening with friends in Norwood, CO. I drove over to Lake City and did the Sherman climb the next day. My legs were unfortunately quite toasted from the Kroger's climb the day before, but of course I could still hike.  The next day the air quality was terrible. Did I mention there was a fire? The Gold Mountain Fire started under 1/4 from my friends' house in Ouray about a week prior. Thankfully that's on the east side of town and prevailing winds kept pushing it east away from town. Of course that means it took a lot of wilderness wi...

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...

How'd it go in 2025, running-wise?  Volume   As of noon on December 31st, I have run 3,061 miles. That's the most I've ever run in a year, so I feel pretty good about that. I got less vert than I did last year, and have still never cracked 450,000 feet in a year. You can see data from most of the past decade below. (2018 was low thanks to a long summer hike and 2020 had the pandemic, injury, and a long hike.)    2025 Races At the end of 2024 I only planned out   the first half of 2025: my buildup to Hardrock. Not much else in life went according to plan, but the races did: March 8: Seneca Creek Greenway 50K  March 15: Elizabeth Furnace 50K  April 26: Lake Sonoma 50 Miler May 9-10: Hellbender 100 Miler July 11-12: Hardrock 100 Miler   I wasn't quite as fast at Hardrock as I was eight years ago, but I still had a good day.    In the second half of the year I ended up running two more races, where I slightly improved my times over previous ...

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. ...