Race Report - 2017 CRUX Winter Ultra 54K

Making new friends before the race, Bruno and Thibaut

I really wasn't sure until the morning of whether I would actually try to make my way to the starting line of this event. After all, I had never done a running event in Switzerland before and this one was a Swiss version of a Fat Ass, so I was a little outside my comfort zone. However, the email I received from RD Peter Ackermann just a couple of days prior to the event sounded as promising as the info I had found on his event website. A record number of 70 runners had registered (for the steep registration fee of 10 Swiss Franc or Euro to pay for the permits and the drop bag shuttle to the finish:-). The weather promised to be the warmest on record for this event, which actually was kind of a bummer for me as I was hoping for ridiculous amounts of snow, but it did promise faster finishing times. And the information on the event website was intriguing to say the least as well. This event was fully self-supported, including water and food. There would be one refueling stop (a restaurant at the halfway point at kilometer 27), but other than that we would be on our own. To make a long story short, on Saturday morning I left my hotel at 6AM, trotted over to the train station in St. Gallen, purchased a cup of coffee and a fresh warm pretzel and jumped on the train to Kollbrunn via Winterthur. 65 minutes later, I got off the train and was looking at the starting line (see station wagon in picture).

Race Report - 2017 Black Warrior 50K

Coming into AS#2 early on in the race.

The Black Warrior 50K is a low key trail race (and that's a good thing) about 75 minutes from my house at beautiful Bankhead National Forest near Moulton, Alabama. Folks will tell you that it's a flat and fast course, but I disagree. It's always rolling (even though there aren't any serious climbs) and the terrain can be difficult depending on weather conditions. The race is run on horseback riding trails. One year, it rained for a couple of weeks prior to the race followed by a sudden freeze, turning the entire trail into terrain that was covered with frozen potholes and postholes from the horse tracks, making turned ankles extremely likely. This year, thankfully the trails were mostly dry, but it was a rather balmy day making hydration a priority to avoid muscle cramping.

Race Report - 2017 Mountain Mist 50K

Still cruising...at mile 1.

Once a year, Huntsville hosts not only the state's oldest and largest, but in my opinion also the most technically challenging ultra marathon in the Southeast. Yes, Mount Cheaha 50K has more elevation gain and yes, Stump Jump and Georgia Jewel have a "rock garden", but mile for mile, the Mist has them beat when it comes to gnarly technical terrain for almost the entire 31 miles except maybe the first 3 miles. Am I biased, hell yeah! This race is literally in my backyard and by that I mean it is less than a mile behind my house (as the crow flies) and I have run it a total of 7 times with my streak only broken for one year in 2013, when I had to take a year off due to a bit of an injury and a health scare. Alas, i have to run 3 more times to earn that coveted black jacket for finishing 10 editions of the Mountain Mist. It's our local version of the PGA's green jacket and I dare say it means more to most local ultra runners than that as well. That is to say, Mountain Mist is more than just another ultra. This race has more multi time finishers than any other race I've ever participated in. Folks keep coming back from near and far, year after year, to reconnect with friends and to toe the starting line and cross the finish line one more time, again and again.

Race Report - 2016 JFK 50 Mile

Sharing some miles with trail runner extraordinaire and team mate Dink Taylor.

After my DNF at Pinhoti, I had gone back and forth about running this race this year. While my hip injury had disappeared as fast as it had appeared during the race, I really wasn't trained to race JFK. My body still felt tired and I knew it would be a bad idea to toe the line, but I was going to travel to Maryland anyway, since my wife was running her first JFK and we had a whole Fleet Feet team going, so I figured I might as well slug it out for my third consecutive JFK finish. After all, it was already paid for:-)

Race Report - 2016 Pinhoti 100 Mile Endurance Run (DNF)

It took me quite some time to even get started on deciding whether I wanted to write this one.After all, I'm probably the only one that has accumulated 3 (three), yes 3 DNFs at the Pinhoti 100. Granted, I also had my best ever 100 mile race performance there in 2014, but those finishes usually only ever last until the next race, at least for me.

I had prepared for this race. The A goal was the same as in 2014, which I missed then as well and the B goal was "just" to PR, which would not be easy, either. Initially, I went back to my training log from 2014. What better way to repeat a performance than to follow the same regimen, right? After about a week, I decided to go a different route. The old training just felt stale, I needed something new. I decided to reach Rob Youngren. Not only had I done quite a few training sessions with him last year as he was getting ready for Hardrock and I was training for UTMB, but I always could depend on him for general training advise as well. After all, this guy had already done anything and everything I ever want to do and not only that, he had usually done it multiple times and excelled at it as well, so why the hell wouldn't I turn to him when the time came for a proper training plan.

And with that, Rob hooked me up with a great training plan and I started hitting the road (and some times trails) the first week of August. I spent the first month base building, followed by a slow ramp up in mileage and some quality track and tempo sessions added to keep the body guessing. Training progressed well, I never missed a session or took a shortcut. Training mileage peaked at 90 miles during "the Blitz" week. I started taper 2 weeks from race day.

Race week was slightly more chaotic than usual to say the least, but I made it to Heflin in time to grab dinner with many of my Huntsville running buddies before heading to the hotel to prep my running gear and turn in for the night. Rob was along for the ride to crew at first and pace later and my wife Anya would join to help crew/pace Saturday morning. I would see her at Mount Cheaha at mile 42 for the first time, where I was still feeling fantastic.

Wer arrived at the campground (race start) with plenty of time to spare, allowing me to chat with some fellow runners, but somehow things were a little off. I'm still not sure what it was, but things were just a little off. I wasn't carrying my pace chart, I didn't use the elevation tattoo that I had purchased just for this event and I missed the Huntsville group photo. I know I know, who cares, but it was just a weird vibe for me.

The race started and I fell in in the middle somewhere. As soon as we hit the single track, things slowed down to a walk. While the pace picked up soon after, it stayed slow and that probably ensured that I didn't go out too fast. After a while I checked my watch and decided to start passing some folks. I was moving well and the first miles ticked by pretty quickly and thankfully uneventful. I continued to do an internal system check to make sure I ate, drank and didn't have any physical issues. All was well.

In fact, when I got to the top of Mount Cheaha, the first of three major climbs, I couldn't believe how quickly I managed that and how good I felt, even with the warmer than usual temps. This is always my favorite part of the race as almost all crew teams are still here waiting for their runners and there's a level of excitement as everyone is looking for their runners to make their way to the top.

Rob and Anya and Ryan were there taking care of me and while I was feeling great, I wasn't in the mood for much food and Anya later told me she could see that I wasn't my usual chipper ultra self. I headed out after a short break in a chair to eat some food to tackle Blue Hell. I continued to move well as I came through the next aid station, but as I approached mile 49-50, I started to have pain in my left hip bone. This was an unknown issue and it worried me. It quickly started to get worse with every incline. I had no idea what was going on.I still had tons of time, so I decided to try to wait it out by slowing down in hopes of it possibly going away again. No...such...luck. I still had a ways to go and when I finally arrived at mile 55 at Adams Gap to pick up Rob as my pacer, I had already made my peace to quit. I had had plenty of time to come up with reasons and answers to any thing my crew would say to coax me along. No way was I gonna keep going...and then I did anyway. I figured 5 more miles would be all Rob would need to see that I was truly done and that my hip pain really was the issue, not the usual pain that comes with running 100 mies.

Unfortunately, my crew didn't know that and decided that I thought that they could probably coax me some extra miles by delaying when I would see my crew and vehicle again. As a result, Anya was asleep and out of cell coverage as poor Rob had to watch me limp from climb to climb struggling with each left step. It was ugly and when we finally made it to mile 68, there was no longer a question what I needed to do. I was looking forward for a hotel bed and some warm food. The regrets would surely follow the next morning no matter how valid my reason for dropping....and they did.

Regardless of how badly this DNF still gnaws on me, this race continues to be one of my favorite events. It's a beautiful point to point race close to home and put on by some of the nicest peeps you'll ever meet. Eventually, I will get over it. I'm sure ultrasignup.com will ease my pain as I build my racing schedule for 2017.

Race Report - 2016 Wade Mountain Trail Marathon

Top 4 runners at Wade Mountain Trail Marathon.

The inaugural Wade Mountain Trail Marathon was a success for me. It was meant as my final long run before starting my Pinhoti taper. I knew I wanted to run a relaxed pace, but I also knew that I was willing and able to push towards the end, if there was any change of doing well, since I was headed into my taper, so no reason to take it easy.

Race Report - 2016 Stump Jump 50K

Thanks, Jobie Williams, for making me look like I still had spring in my step.

This race was kind of a last minute decision for me. My training plan for Pinhoti called for a 30 mile long run that day and a race sounded way more appealing than yet another solo long run. I caught a ride with Cary Long, who had also arranged for a sweet "house sitting" gig at Daniel Lucas' home, who happened to be out of town and strangely enough was comfortable with Cary and myself staying at his house unsupervised. Two thing stood out from our stay at Daniel's house. First, we tripped the home security system and spent roughly an hour waiting for the SWAT team to bust down the door while sitting on the living room in our boxers with bags of white powder in our hands. It would have looked really really bad. This is the short version, Cary already described the details in his blog post and a recent podcast interview on East Coast Trail & Ultra Runners. Second, we couldn’t get the coffee maker to work as our combined IQ apparently wasn’t enough to operate Daniel’s fancy espresso machine. That meant no coffee first thing in the morning, which could (but thankfully didn’t) throw a wrinkle into my morning routine.