Race Report - 2014 Rockin' Choccolocco 50K

One happy boy at the finish line! 6th OA and 1st Master.

Another Cheap Motel...

As has become a recent practice of mine, I try to find the cheapest hotel possible for the night before any race that requires more than 2 hours of travel. This time was no different, except that this place was actually kinda nice unlike previous establishments I resided in. It had a working A/C unit and TV remote and I didn't feel like I had to put the chair under the door handle to prevent drug dealers from entering my room...which I have had to do on similar trips in the past. Just as well since my wife was with me this time to enter her first trail race ever. After a recent road half marathon we ran together, she decided it was time to take the next step and check out trail racing. So when I decided to run the Rockin' Choccolocco 50K, she went online as well and registered for the Half.

Crew Report - 2014 Thunder Rock 100 Miler

First tip: You should always make use of drop bags in a 100 miler, even if you have a crew.

"Lessons Learned" - How To Crew (Not To Crew) A Runner During Their First 100 Miler...Or Any 100 Miler

While this crew report will largely refer to this specific race, the Thunder Rock 100, this crew (Jerry Abbott, Scott Bell and Martin Schneekloth) and its runner (Sir Fartsalot aka Hot Wing Runner aka Cary Long), many of the topics discussed and issues encountered would apply to other races as well. However, this report is merely meant as a personal lessons learned and as the ultra saying goes "We are all an experiment of one" so what works for one doesn't necessarily work for others as well. With that disclaimer out of the way, there are certainly takeaways in this report that should be useful to anyone considering to crew/pace/run a 100 mile race for the first time.

Training Log - Ancient City Wall & Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Xi'an, China)

The ticket for the "City Wall", RMB 54.

Day #1

As soon as I arrived at my hotel in Xi'an, China I made sure to grab a city map in preparation of my first run in China. I always make a piont of going for a run while on business travel and the more exotic the place, the more eager I am to get out and do a "destination run".

Race Report - 2014 Strolling Jim 40 Mile Run

Super cool medal, participant shirt and finisher's shirt!

I was looking forward to my "birthday run" this year. After all, it has been 2 years since I was able to toe the line at this event. As usual, the field of runners at this year's Strolling Jim 40 Mile Road Race was as impressive as ever. It also seemed that lots of local runners were using this race as their final tuneup for a new 100 mile race taking place just two weeks later. That meant a field full of runners ready to race. While I still consider myself on my road to full recovery, my training had been going well, but I just didn't have a lot of long distance events under my belt just yet. This race would be my longest event in 2 years, which meant that I would likely have to suffer late in the race, IF I miscalculated my level of fitness and target pace.

Race Report - 2014 Grand Viduta Stage Race #2

...Or How to Have Fun on Monte Sano Mountain

I can't lie, I wish I had signed up for all three stages rather than just one of the inaugural Grand Viduta Stage Races this weekend. As it happened, my wife and I decided against the Nashville Country Music Marathon (e.g. I'm too cheap to pay $400 a night to stay at hotel) and ended up staying in town, instead. I had been running a lot and really needed to take a day or so off, so I decided to only register for the Saturday stage of the races. One third of my usual training group (Jerry and James) had registered for the whole weekend and been training for it, Ed and I registered for Saturday only and had also been training for different events, only Mike and Rich opted out entirely. In any case, we were all training for one thing or another.

Race Report - 2014 Cookie Dash 5K

Always the best tech shirts at this race:-)

This was my first short distance "race" event in quite some time, almost 2 years to be exact. I had run other short distance races since I started my recovery, but I had been taking it easy, not trying to push at all. My main goal was just to return to running, not to break any personal speed records. My recovery had been going well and my return to ultras had gone extremely well for me personally as well. I ran my first ultra since my return from my health woes in January of this year at what I would call a "leisurely pace". I managed to get a finish and I my endurance base and speed continued to gradually improve from there. A month later, I started to put more focus on my diet, which I had been neglecting for the most part. Just like most people, I had gained a few pounds every year since high school, but my running had kept that gain somewhat in check. So when I started to see some positive results in my training, I figured why not improving my diet as well, since it was about to be time for another annual check up with the doc.

Race Report - 2014 Bridge Street Town Centre Half Marathon

My favorite pic of my wife and I. No need to zoom in to see us both smiling war to ear:-)

The local inaugural Bridge Street Town Centre Half Marathon was part 2 of my weekend of running adventures. After running the SweetH2O 50K just outside Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday, I had signed up for this half marathon to pace my wife to what hopefully would be a new PR for her. My body was a little stiff on race morning, especially my quads were shot, but I was hoping that I would be able to keep up with my wife once we started actually running. Thankfully, that's exactly what happened.