30 July 2010

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Everyone wussed out on running today, for different reasons, some more legitimate than others;-) So instead of my usual morning training run, I opted to run at the local soccer park while my son was participating in a team soccer camp to get ready for the upcoming season. Palmer Park is not a small park, covering 2 football fields, 12 baseball and softball diamonds and 5 soccer fields, so I figured trying to run a loop around the perimeter of the park should allow me to run as much or as little as I wanted. I had never done that before, so I had a couple of people take guesses at the circumference of the park. Unexpectedly, I was right on the money with my tip. The loop was 1.72 miles and I had tipped 1.75 as the distance. Not bad at all. While the initial goal was to run 2-3 hours, I decided to just run 45 minutes or so or 5 easy miles. Well, you really can't call any type of physical outdoor activity easy these days. At 5pm, the temps were still in the low 90s and the humidity once again had to be near 100%. The term soaked did not come close to describe the state of my clothes after just one lap. After three laps, my hands were as pruny as they are after a long bath. With a soccer tournament coming up this weekend, a nice little 5 miler was just what I needed to keep up my ultra training without buring myself out before having to play multiple games of soccer in two days. That's my type of cross training;-)

29 July 2010

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It was 11:15 AM and I met up with Richard, again. This time we met up at Indian Creek Greenway for a nice barefoot jog along the grassy section of the asphalt trail. Richard finally got on board the "barefoot train", well, sort of. We both feel it will be a nice additional training tool to complement our training plan and Vibram FiveFingers allow us to try that without risking injuries from glass, rocks, etc. while still getting the benefits of adjusting our running form to the stride required for barefoot running. As it turns out, Richard is already a forefoot striker. I, on the other hand, seem to be more of a midfoot striker. At least I think so. I might still heel strike a little and I definitely want to move away from heel striking, if at all possible. We decided to run an easy 2 miles on the grassy dirt section next to the asphalt trail, followed by a 2 mile walk. Focussing on midfoot striking rather than forefoot striking and opting to run on grass really kept me from shredding my calves this time around. I vividly remember my last VFF endeavor and it ended with me seriously hurting for almost 4 weeks after going out for 4 miles on asphalt forefoot striking all the way on my first VFF run. This time, I focussed on relaxing while running and not landing on my heels. I think I will make the barefoot running a regular part of my training  at least once a week. That might be a run or a walk, but I see this as an opportunity to improve my stride. We shall see. Richard used the Vibram FiveFinger KSO TREK with leather upper while I used the Vibram FiveFinger KSO with polyamide upper. His soles also have tread while mine are smooth, which should make his more suitable for trail running than mine. That's ok with me, I'd rather keep using my Inov-8 on trails anyway. Overall, the run was quite enjoyable, but I wouldn't mind a little less midday heat.

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6AM and Richard is knocking on my door. It's time to get out for a run again. We have all been slacking a little the last couple of days and Richard was itching to run even more than me. The humidity has been ridiculous. With temps in the low 70s, the humidity seems to hover near 100% all through this summer. I just can't get used to it. However, having someone run with you makes the suffering so much more bearable. Richard had to try out his new ankle brace as prescribed by his doctor to nurse his torn ligament injury. The doc suggested to keep running until it hurts too bad, as the injury can't get any worse. That's sound running advice in my book;-) Anyway, Richard and I opten for one long UAH loop totalling about 5 easy miles. Thankfully, his ankle held up, but the humidity was kicking both of our butts. Anyway, maintenance is the name of the game this summer. If I can just keep running through the summer without any major slumps, I am looking forward to a fast fall season, personally at least.

27 July 2010

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What a wonderful cause for a 5K race and what better reason to toe the starting line at 7AM in the morning. This race serves as a fundraiser for United Cerebral Palsy and was created along with a Memorial Mile in memory and honor of Carlene Hall, a quadriplegic who passed away just last year. And what an amazing number of entrants for an inaugural 5K race event. Almost 400 people registered to participate in this event. In addition, the event organizers did an excellent job with refreshments as well as the race swag provided. Every entrant received or will receive a really nice technical running shirt. Since they did not expect that many runners, the event organizers promised to order additional shirts so that every participant will be receiving a shirt. That is a very nice gesture in my book, especially considering that these are tech shirts. On top of that, the top three finishers in each age and gender group received medals that actually put some marathon finishers medals to shame.
I was ready to try for a PR again, even though I failed last weekend blaming the high humidity for my failuere;-) However, with a flatter course and slightly less humidity at 7AM in the morning, I figured I'd give it another shot. Well, I fell short...again. Even though I had adjusted my race approach by not pushing all out at the start of the race, but rather hitting my target pace within the first quarter mile, I just could not hold on to that pace during the second mile. The third mile was faster again and overall, I never got close to my maximum heart rate of 194 from last weekend. My average heart rate was about 5 beats slower as well, so I figure I could have done better and gotten closer to my PR. Instead, I was 2 seconds slower than last weekend. I am going to scour the the local track website for the most recent 5K race results and I will find myself someone that consistently runs just under 20 minute times. I will line up behind that person at the next 5K and hoild on for dear life. I am going to get my PR this year. It might not be this summer, but come fall, I will be ready. I want that 19:59 as my finishing time.
While I missed my PR, I did finish 14th overall out ot almost 400 runners and placed 3rd in my age group. So yes, I did receive one of those really big medals;-) I will be back for this one next year, because the course truly is nice and flat and, who knows, maybe it will be cooler and even less humid next year.

20 July 2010

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Heat index of over 100...WTH. This freakin' humidity is really getting to me. It sucks the life right outta you. The training schedule called for speedwork today and I was hoping I would get a text from Richard saying he overslept. Instead, he knocked on my door at 6AM sharp, just as planned. Damn. At least I didn't have to suffer alone. We started with a one mile warmup followed by the first mile "sprint", if you can call it that. We followed with a half mile walk only to sprint another mile followed by another half mile recovery walk and a one mile cooldown jog for a total of close to 5 miles. I can't say that I ran the mile sprints fast, but at least I stayed close to 6 minute pace, running just slightly slower. At this point, I just want to be able to maintain my level through the summer, so I can tackle new PRs this fall. It is just too hot and humid for me to even try to break any PRs right now, as was evident in this past weekend's 5K race. I can't wait for our next ultra race 4 weeks from now. I just feel like I do so much better mentally in a race than in training right now. It has to be the weather.

19 July 2010

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I am still having to rely on my alarm to wake me up, even though I went to bed pretty early (9:30PM). I guess not early enough, since that inner clock still isn't ringing before my BlackBerry. Mike had decided to sit this one out due to previous biking commitment and Richard decided to text me 5 minutes before the meeting time to let us know that he overslept...again;-) Anyway, that left James and myself and we met up at their office at 5:45AM to log that 7 mile tempo run my training schedule called for. Again, the humidity was already sky-high, close to 100% according to James. While the temps were lower, it really doesn't make a difference when you feel like you are breathing in water in a steam room. Anyway, James and I headed out at the sub 8 minute pace required, but I could quickly tell that it would be another day of struggling for me. While we had planned to do a 7 mile run, I suggested to cut the run at roughly 6 miles today as I was just not liking the humidity factor. Hopefully, the weather situation will level out a little bit. We really can't leave the house any earlier for our runs. While I don't mind dealing with this enourmous heat and humidity during races, it really gets frustrating when all of your training feels like you are running in a sauna.

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It was definitely an early morning, when my alarm went off at 3:20 AM this morning. The schedule called for a 20 mile long run and since Mike had family plans at 8AM, we had to squeeze it in there somehow. Even though the temps were ok, the humidity was extremely high.Well, it might have been better to sleep in a little. While it was definitely a fun run for me, we barely managed to get 9 miles in. Richard's ankle was bothering him pretty good, but that really shouldn't have been an excuse for me to cut my run short. Mike and I could have kept going, but somehow I was ok just running a 9 mile trail run. We headed out on the first loop of the Dizzy Fifties race course on Monte Sano Mountain at 4AM. It was pretty cool, we all had to use headlamps, which provided another great opportunity to training night running without really running at night. However, even though we ran in the dark for about an hour, we kept a very decent pace for a mountain top trail run in total darkness. Our pace was just above 10 minutes for the first few miles, but we slowly settled into a pace slightly slower than that. I am starting to get just a little worried about Richard's ankle situation. We just received our scheduled start times for the Laurel Valley White Water Run (>35 miles) and I realized that it is only four weeks from today. In any case, while we did cut the run short, we all felt really good afterwards like we "didn't run at all". But the humidity cannot be underestimated as I am clearly struggling to deal with just that. Tomorrow calls for a 7 mile tempo run.

17 July 2010

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I tried to take a napan hour before the race, but it didn't work. I got to the race start 20 minutes before the official start and did some warm-up laps and stretches. I was immediately soaked in sweat. So much for needing to warm up. With the race start at 6:30PM, it provided another first. All of my races had started in the AM until this point. I don't think it made any difference in the temp and humidity levels. It wasn't really hot, but the humidity was kickin' as usual. Anyway, I lined up in the third row. The field looked pretty strong with a bunch of the Fleet Feet Racing Team members toeing the the starting line in the first row. I was going toshoot for my magical sub 20 minute finish time...again. And I crashed....again. The humidity is just taking the steam right out of me during the race. I also made the mistake to try to stick with a runner,who supposedly targeted a 6:30 per mile pace. Well, he must have changed his mind.I kept my eyes off my Garmin Forerunner and instead focussed on the other runner and keeping up with him.When I received my first mile split, I about fell over. Sub 6 minute pace, way too fast for me. I backed off a little, but it was too late. My second mile split was 12:45 and I was still on track, but dropping off fast. With a little hill to come in the final mile and already maxing out my heart rate with still one mile to go, I decided to slow ever so slightly as I ran up said hill. Well, apparently I slowed too much. While I picked upthe pace on the final half mile, I was very dissappointed when I heard my final 3 mile split, 19:56 or something like that. I knew it was over but continued to push to keep it close. Final time: 20:36, almost 30 seconds slower than my PR from this past fall,but stillgood enough for 25th overall in the men's division and 3rd in my age group. Maybe this heat running will get me prepped for stronger times this upcoming fall. 20 miles of trail running are on schedule for tomorrow. Yippee!

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Barely made it out the door on time this morning. I haven't been out on a training run on my own at all this week. Thankfully, a speed walk is the order of the day. I was shooting for a faster overall walking pace than last week and I managed to average almost 12:30 minute per mile pace. The humidity has not let up, yet. But it felt like a nice recovery walk. I like the integration of walking into the 100 mile training program. To be honest, I wouldn't have considered following it, had it not been written by an experienced ultra runner and 100 mile ultra RD. Tomorrow has the Twilight 5K race on the schedule. Sunday, I have to meet the guys at 4AM for a 20 miler on the mountain. Train on!

15 July 2010

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What a run. The humidity is already unbearable at 6AM. Too humid for a strong tempo run. Richard and I started the first two miles way too fast. I paid for it later. I knew very quickly that I wasn't going to improve on Tuesday's pace. I could barely keep my target pace but did somehow manage not to collapse until I hit 7 miles. Average pace: 7:58 min per mile, just enough to stay under 8 minute pace. I probably should have considered summer time temps and humidity levels when I used my 5K and 10K PRs from this past fall to set the target training pace for my tempo runs. Oh well, at least I am working hard. Richard hung in there longer than during Tuesday's run. By next week, he should be good to go for the entire distance...and soon after it will be time to ramp up to 8 mile tempo runs:-) These workouts have got to be better than my most recent training of just logging 10 miles 4 times a week with a long run on the weekends. I feel like I've slowed down significantly and these shorter, more speed focussed runs paired with the long runs on the weekends should really improve my speed and distance. I cant wait for the next ultra, Laurel Valley. Tomorrow calls for speed walking. Thank goodness.

14 July 2010

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One word: Speedwork. It was yet another humid morning. While the temps were reasonably low in the lower 70s, the humidity levels already hinted at the near 100 degree temps we would have later in the day. Again, Richard and I met at my house at 6AM for this morning's speedwork. The training schedule called for 6 1/4 mile all out sprints followed by 1/4 mile recovery walks and a 1 mile warmup and cooldown. It all started out well but 200m into the first sprint I actually hit a wall. My legs got real heavy and I felt like I almost couldn't catch my breath...almost. I did manage to somewhat push through it and finish every 400m sprint, even if the final 100m weren't pretty. Once I had a chance to look at the times online in my Garmin software, I realized that the pace wasn't too horrible. My fastest quarter mile was 73 seconds and my slowest was 82 seconds, which meant that I stayed within the target of not running any of the 1/4 mile sprints more than 10% slower than the fastest quarter mile. But I have to admit, I was truly spent after completing the last sprint. I needed every second and every yard of each and every recovery walk in between the sprints. It has got to be the heat and humidity that is making me feel like I am racing all the time. My legs are feeling fine, no more shin splints or other sore muscles. Tomorrow calls for another 7 mile tempo run.

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I needed a rest day Monday to be ready for today's tempo run. Richard and I met up at my house at 6AM to follow our 100 mile training plan and today's session called for a 7 mile tempo run. Richard managed most of the run, which wasn't bad considering that he's still recovering from turning his ankle last week. I managed to maintain the goal pace for the entire run and stayed just above55 minutes for the run. My pace was slightly faster than last week's first tempo run and my average heart rate was significantly lower. Maybe I am getting fitter and faster;-) Tomorrow calls for speedwork. I am trying to make myself look forward to it. I am one of those people that generally doesnotlook forward to it so I am trying "positive thinking" to get myself in the right state of mind. Hopefully it will work.

11 July 2010

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...or Madison-Decatur Adventure Run & Bike. After Richard and I scouted out this course about two months ago by running from Madison to Decatur and arranging a pickup in Decatur, we upped the ante today. This time around, Mike was also able to join us and we decided to stash our mountain bikes in Decatur last night, so we could turn the previous point to point run into an out & back run & bike adventure. Since Richard twisted his ankle during one of our training runs on Monte Sano Mountain a week ago, he opted to ride the entire trip on his bike, like our own "mini crew" on a bike. We also figured this would be a great opportunity to try out our different backpack setups for the upcoming Laurel Valley White Water Run (>=<35 Miles, no one knows for sure). As it turned out, everyone's setup worked fine with no chafing or other problems, even though Richard and Mike were convinced that my pack was basically sliding 2 feet from left to right. I still disagree and I had no chafing or other issues either;-) Anyway, Ricahrd left his house in Huntsville on his bike at about 2AM this morning to meet us in Madion after I drove my car from Huntsville and picked up Mike at his house in Madison. We left the old Kmart parking lot in Madison at 3:45AM and made our way towards Mooresville along I565 on an old country road. Once we passed through Mooresville, we got onto a dirt road leading us into the nature preserve and along the Tennessee river towards Decatur. The weather was absolutely perfect for our run. While the humidity was high as usual, the temps were very much tolerable and the sun stayed just behind the morning clouds and didn't burn through them until we made our way back from Decatur on our mountain bikes.

The picture above shows the sunrise as we entered the nature preserve this morning around 6AM. We kept a very easy pace, making it a very enjoyable run and allowing us to fully take in the beautiful scenery along the river. 15 miles into the run, we ran underneath the I65 overpasss and Richard took the picture below. Human engineering is amazing.

After about 20 miles and roughly four hours, we arrived at the Marina just outside Decatur, where Mike and I had stashed our bikes the night before. Luckily, they were still there. At this point, Richard had already biked for 35 miles. It can't have been easy for him to keep such a slow pace on his bike riding alongside Mike and myself for 4 hours, but he was a very good sport about it. Once we got on our bikes, we crossed the bridge into Decatur and to the nearest Waffle House, which would serve as our own little halfway aid station. Having gone through about 1.5 liters of water and about the same amount of G2 along with some sport beans, it was time to refuel and reward ourselves at the same time. I started with a large glass of Coke followed by another...and another. I know it's not a sports drink, but it just felt and tasted soooo good. Next followed a large breakfast along with some extra items. This is what our aid station served me: a big three egg ham and cheese omlette along with hash browns, 2 sausage paddies, two slices of toast, an extra waffle and a big cup of coffee, along with the before mentioned cokes. It was heavenly. After a short hour, it was time to put our helmets back on, swing our butts on the bikes and head back home. For our return leg, Ricahrd had scouted out a different section within the nature preserve on Google Maps called "the Eagles Nest Way" or something like that. It was perfect, with long shaded sections along vast corn fields. It ended up shaving about 2 miles off our course, but it added a new trail section to our trip. When we arrived at my car in Madison, Mike and I had completed almost 40 miles running and mountain biking and Richard must have had somewhere between 55-60 miles on his bike. Everyone's behinds were hurting, but it was a great training run and bike. Needless to say, this has become a favorite among our little ultra running group. If you ever are in this area, I strongly recommend you give this run a try. Just check out my Garmin Connect RSS feed on this blog or click here for details.

08 July 2010

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Another first for me today. Richard and I decided to do today's workout during our lunch break. The 100 mile training schedule called for a 5 mile speed walk. I had never done that before and I really didn't care to either. However, I believe there is something to be said about following the advise of someone with lots of ultra running experience...especially when I'm NOT experienced at all. So I chose to stick to the plan and today called for a walk. However, just because it's called a walk doesn't mean you're not getting a workout. In addition to high levels of humidity we also experienced the hottest day of the year so far, getting close to 100 degrees. We also had to try to obtain an average pace between 12 and 13 minutes per mile, no small feat in my opinion when you're not used to walking at all, let alone speed walking. Richard and I realized quickly that the comments in the training schedule were absolutely true, you use completely different muscle groups when walking compared to running. After about the first mile, we finally were able to get our pace to under 13 minutes. By the end of the walk, we actually averaged around low 12 minute miles. We finished the distance in just over an hour. Not too bad for first time walkers. However, I did hear comments like "mall walker" inside my head. Well, maybe it was my fiancee uttering these words while laughing in my face;-) Hey, at the end of the day I realize that there will be plenty of walking involved in my first 100 miler and why wouldn't I practice to do it and to do it as fast as I can to minimize the time wasted on a slow pace during the race.

07 July 2010

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Finally, the whole running gang together again...well, sort of...at least for the first 500 yards at which point Richard had to turn around to make a run for another "target". Poor guy, first his ankle, then his stomach. Well, most of us together again, at least. James, Mike and I opted for a half mile warmup before starting to track the 7 mile tempo run at sub 8 minute pace. I should have know better than to let James lead. The so-called "warmup" was faster than the actual tempo run. Anyway, we headed for Rainbow Mountain around 6 AM and we figured that would be early enough to avoid the heat. It was early enough for the heat as temps were only in the 70s, but it was definitely too late for the humidity as it had already reached 90%. So much for an easy tempo run. However, when I compared this run with Monday's tempo run, I noticed that my heart rate average was one beat lower and we actually went significantly faster than I did on my own Monday. Another sign that I prefer running with the guys over running by myself. It helps to be able to push each other just a little bit. However, it was much more quiet today compared to our other training runs. Everyone was pretty much focussed on breathing after about 4 miles into the run. The friendly "good morning" and "hello" to passers by had turned into slight nods, maybe a wink with the wrist or an exhausted exhale that was supposed to sound like a greeting but really was more of a grunt. When we finished the run, we were soaked. A towel has definitely become standard equipment in the trunk of my car. At the end of the day we managed 7 miles in under 55 minutes, not bad at all. I do have slight shin splints from yesterday's speed workout. I haven't had that in a long time. Hopefully, it will loosen up by tomorrow, when I attempt to "walk" 5 miles at sub 13 minute pace.

06 July 2010

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Today's schedule called for speedwork, two miles at all out speed with half mile recovery walks and a one mile warmup and a one mile cooldown. Wow, I really though I went prettty fast, but when I got home and looked at the data, I was very disappointed. I run my 5K and 10K races faster than that. I could blame the heat, or maybe I just didn't push hard enough since my heart rate monitor confirmed that I was in the 90% range. I'm not sure, but I will be beating these numbers by 30 seconds per mile next week. The temps were actually quite mild this monring at 6AM, even though the humidity was already up there. Considering the warmup and cooldown, I ended up running close to 5 miles. I am really disgusted with my pace this morning. I'll just have to write it off as part of the training and tell myself that I will do better. I need to get to be just as motivated for speed training as I am for races and that is very hard for me to do indeed. I am sure other runners have similar problems.

05 July 2010

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Today marked the official start of my 100 mile race training schedule. A couple of months ago, Richard and I had the idea to try for a 100 mile race and it just so happened that the third annual Pinhoti 100 Endurance Run in Alabama started accepting applications around the time of our foolish decision. I don't know what made me think that I could participate in a 100 mile race after completing just 6 ultramarathons, but I'm all in now. The fees have been paid and my application has been accepted. There is no turning back. While scouring the internet for some type of easily adaptable 100 mile training plan, I came across the Umstead 100 website and RD Blake Norwood's very useful training package. I was able to take his weekly training schedule and turn it into a Garmin training schedule I was able to upload to my Garmin Forerunner 310XT. The first session called for a 7 mile "brisk" run at a pace roughly one minute per mile slower than my 10K pace. I gotta be honest, that's more than just a brisk run for me. To make things slightly more challenging this morning, I ignored my 5:30AM alarm and a 6AM scheduled run turned into a 10AM run. That is not a good idea, since morning temps quickly climb into the 90s with the humidity level well above 50% here in the deep south. It doesn't help that I grew up in Germany, where summer equates to 2 weeks of temperatures in the high 80s with no humidity to speak of from July 15-30. I am joking of course, but you get the idea. When I left the house at 10AM, it was already hot and humid and having to keep a steady and high pace wasn't easy. While I was able to keep the pace for the entire run, I won't make the mistake to sleep in again...at least not during the summer months. There are only four months until the Pinhoti 100 Mile Endurance Run and I amgoing to make sure I'll stick to the training schedule. Now I'll just have to try to convince my partner in crime Richard to stick to this schedule with me.

02 July 2010

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An early early morning run today. Since half of our running group is on a family trip to North Carolina this weekend, scouting the Laurel Valley White Water 35 Mile Run course I'm sure, it was just James and I meeting at the Monte Sano State Park hiker's parking lot at 5:15AM for a run. As usual, I waited until the last minute to grab my stuff to leave, which meant James had to wait on me...again. Anyway, we finally took off for our run at 5:30AM. James picked the route and we ended up running sections of the Mountain Mist 50K course, including the powerline cut trail section as well as a few climbs. The trails are seriously overgrown along that powerline cut section and we had to watch every step for much of this section. Large rocks were covered and any misstep today could have caused some serious ankle twisting and rolling. Luckily, both James and I only had a couple of close calls. These days, it is not an actual fall if you catch yourself with your hands on the ground. Falls are only counted, if your knees make contact with the ground;-) We ended up running close to 8 miles with a couple of slow climbs and some pacey (if that's a word) downhills. Let's see what the weekend holds, weather and running wise.

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I finally got off my "you know what" and went for a run today. Anya was nice enough to join me for an early morning 4 1/2 mile run around the UAH campus. The weather was extremely mild and I am glad I went. We kept an easy pace which made it much more enjoyable. Hopefully, the weather will stay this way for a few days. After checking in with my usual running crew,allof whomare currently in Dallas on business, I realized I wasn't the only one taking it easy this week. However,while their excuse was poor weather conditions, mine was a little less convincing. I was just a little lazy this week;-) Hopefully, I'll get a couple more runs in before week's end.

US STATES WITH 100 MILE RACES COMPLETED (15)

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COUNTRIES WITH ULTRAMARATHONS COMPLETED (13)

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RACE CALENDAR

  • Mount Mitchell Heartbreaker 50M (Old Fort, NC) - March 23, 2024
  • Oak Mountain 50K (Birmingham, AL) - March 30, 2024
  • Southern States 200M (Delta, AL) April 12-16, 2024
  • Cocodona 250M (Black Canyon City, AZ) - May 6-11, 2024
  • Mohican 100M (Loudonville, OH) - June 1, 2024
  • Bighorn 100M (Dayton, WY) - June 14, 2024
  • Crazy Mountain 100M (Lennep, MT) - July 26, 2024
  • Eastern States 100M (Waterville, PA) - August 10, 2024
  • SwissPeaks 360 (Valais, Switzerland) - September 1-8, 2024
  • Indiana Trail 100M (Albion, IN) - October 12, 2024
  • Rim To River 100M (New River Gorge, WV) - November 2, 2024 (WAITLIST #99)
  • Charleston 100M (Mount Pleasant, SC) - December 27, 2024
  • The Montane Winter Spine 268M (Edale, UK) - January 12-19, 2025

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