Running: I wish I was a fly

This one's not about running, just a pure moment that I wish I could have filmed with my son over the weekend.

I spent a good 8-9 hours this past weekend chain-sawing and splitting wood. When I was about done, my young son came out and wanted to watch me for a while and help me stack the split wood. The area where I was doing all this work is in the back corner of my lot by an older shed, wooded, with  enough moss cover on the ground to allow you to sit or lay down comfortably. We sat there on the moss for a while enjoying the peaceful moment that I don't often get. While we sat there, a really large hoverfly flew over to check out the wood stack. We sat there for probably 10 minutes watching this fly hover, check out the new surroundings, shift from side to side, stop, move, stop, land, get back up and look for bees for it to eat, and every so often check us out. My 3 yr old says "I wish I was a fly, I would fly all over, over the house, in the house" he said this a couple times and I could see how he was intently studying this insect and imagining himself flying around in just the same way. I felt like if I could look into his mind for a minute I would see the view from his eyes of him  imagining himself flying over the house on this gorgeous blue sky day, then shooting into the house, through the rooms, down the hall and into his room to play.

The hoverfly eventually tired of us, we finished up the wood and headed to the side yard where my 4 legged trail running buddy was laying down in her favorite spot. We sat down next to her and rubbed her belly. My son says to me "I wish I was a dog" and I when ask him why he says "So, I could eat dog treats." I said, "well, you can have a dog treat right now if you want, buddy"....he thinks for a second and says "I think I want to be a fly."

z

Running: My legs were pissed at me, so I took the elevator today.

It's been about 5 weeks since BR100 and I have been having a lot of fun. Quite on purpose, I did not schedule anything on the remaining 2011 calendar as far as ultra's go. It's biting me a little bit because I would love to do a couple of them that are timed well and are already sold out.

I was "running" on day 2 after br100, but ended up running myself over to the pool and aqua jogging a while. I think I logged about 25 miles that week, and a couple 1,000meters in the pool. By week 2 I was up to 45 or so, and by now I logged 50 last week as well as a 60 mile road ride. My speed is not there, but it'll come.
So, after all the wondering about what happened to me shooting for a 22-24hr 100 miler, I realized that I showed up with a fuel tank full of nothing (did not even eat breakfast, idiot), and tried to chase that for the rest of the run. Why? Who knows, maybe I was getting over confident and under-experienced about it all. So, long story short....I have spent some time talking to folks who know what they are doing with regards to nutrition (thank you Crystal & Chris Basich, and Jody @ Fleet Feet!). Looks like for now, I have settled on getting my calories through multi-hour bottles of Hammer Perpetuum. It may change, but I am going to stick with the plan for a while and see how it goes. At least I know what I really need to do now.

I'll continue to pop my nuun tabs as my hydration strategy and may even mix 'em all together for some ultra martinis (although, I have a couple friends who use it for the morning after a few too many beverages :)

With all that said, as I was talking to folks about it, I kept thinking that I had been doing this to myself for a couple of years. A 50k or even 50 miler, you can get away with a lot of different products...I still think I could run an ultra on coffee and cookies..... but it all reared it's ugly head at BR100, exposing the fact that my calorie plan was simply not up to par. My hydration plan has been solid for a while, especially since I discovered nuun, but it's the calories that really made me suffer. Such an interesting sport, this is why the experienced runners do so well, they know what works, what doesn't work, and continually tweak it as time marches on.

Blah blah blah, so what's next?? Run With Scissors Double Marathon if family, work, travel all work out. If not, I am going to reproduce the Johnson Five-0 (50 miler), shirts and all.

After RWS, looks like the USSSA (US Snowshoe Association) accepted my January 15th Race as a State Championship race and qualifier for the USSSA Nationals in Frisco, CO! Boo yah! I feel kind of like I have discovered an untapped market in Ohio, we have snow, we have winter athletes, why not race on the
snowshoes??? Well, I got a 3 race series planned for you:

Jan.15th - 5k/10k USSSA National Qualifier, Lake Farmparks, Kirtland Oh.
Feb.11th - 5k Race at Girdled Rd.
Mar.03rd - 5k Race at Chapin Forest (night race), under the lights.
-z

Training: Smoky Mountain Running

I have asked a lot of my friends in the past this question “what would you do if money was not an issue but you had to work?” Meaning that you have to work but you would never have to worry about funding your life expenses. It’s the old adage of find your dream and make it happen. We spent the last week in the Smoky Mountains on an awesome family vacation. This blog is about running, so I will not stray too much from that path…..but running is a part of life and so they often collide.

I spent a large part of my life in Tennessee, high school and undergraduate academics then left to go back to Florida. As we were driving closer to Knoxville on our way to the Smoky Mountains for a family vacation, I had all these memories flooding my mind from all these experiences I had growing up exploring the parks and city in the area. I must have said “…this is where I used to mountain bike, road ride, hike, fly fish, trail run, backpack, etc…etc...” about a hundred times to anyone within ear shot of me. Every time I came across an area, I realized that I had story upon story to share about where I got stung by hornets, caught my first brook trout, ran 16 miles and needed toilet paper (used leaves), ran into black bears, how fast I climbed Clingman’s Dome on my road bike, how fast I descended, saw a red wolf, saw tracks, found my favorite quiet spots, on and on and on. With all this pouring into my mind, I did plan one long run and it did not disappoint.

I started from the house we have rented over the past 20 years and ran 2.7miles up to the Rainbow Falls trail head. I knew it was going to be rough when I was already walking a good portion due to the 96 degree heat and tremendous incline on the road. I averaged a 10 min mile for the first 3 miles, showing up to the trail head soaking wet, but smiling. More than 10 years ago I started from the trail head and ran the entire trail up to Mt.Leconte, the second highest peak in the Smokies (2^nd to Clingmans Dome) only by about 200 feet. Driving to Clingmans is about 27 miles from the bottom to the top. This trail does it in 6.5 miles. It’s about 4,000 feet vertical change. I “ran” for as long as it made sense…..lasting about 2 miles before I decided to speed hike up the trail. I was planning on a trail marathon that day, but when I hit the peak 10 miles later at over 3 hours…..it was time to realize that although the view was spectacular, I had a family waiting for me at the bottom. I took a few photos, a couple bouncy videos, and decided to make the descent back to the house. It took me 1hr 30mins to descend what took me more than twice as long to go up. Admittedly, it was some fancy footwork down the trail and I stopped at each waterfall to dump my nuun visor in to cool me off, but man o man I love to run fast down hill.

As I ran the trails that day, I took the time to revel in the memories I had created in the past years on these same trails…they hadn’t changed much but I sure had. The last time I ran these, I was working as a drug/alcohol counselor after finishing my undergrad and would come to the Smokies after work to run and then fly fish until it got dark. I wasn’t married, no kids, I could do what I wanted essentially. Now, I have a large family waiting for me to come home and tell more stories, share food and drink with. Which one is better? It has all been amazing, but when it all comes down to it, the family is what provides that main ingredient to the drive that I have had all my life. The following day, I took the family with me to a spot in the mountains that only locals know about. As we were walking up the trails, we passed an older couple who smiled seeing all my kids walking up and they said “starting them off right” as they passed me. I smiled and said it was 100x better than video games and sitting inside. It was how I grew up, how I live now and how I want my kids to be. There are a lot of life lessons to be learned being in the outdoors. You just don’t learn about the cycle of life while you are playing first person shooter games on the xbox…well, you do but it’s violent and demented. While walking up a trail to a waterfall and my 5 year old is asking questions, I turned to her to ask her how waterfalls start. She immediately said from rain but when I asked her how the rain all gathered together to form a creek and eventually waterfall, she literally pointed out a little creek and we sat to examine it coming out of the moss, across the trail, down the hillside and to a larger creek. Look, we didn’t discover electricity, but she learned what a lot of kids don’t get to experience. I know I am rambling, but the point is that we need to get ourselves and our kids off our asses and get outside. I am not going to start quoting stats about the obesity rates in the US or in certain parts of the world. I think we all know how large the average US person is becoming.

My personal answer to the question posed in the beginning of this rambling blog is not completely concrete but it is swimming in an answer of inspiration. I love to be active, it keeps me sane and relatively balanced….without it I become a bit of a grouch. Why can’t we take something as raw an pure as running and inspire people to do it? Maybe it takes us running extreme distances like 100 miles or more for people to say “well heck, if they can run 100 miles, maybe I can get out and walk for a mile?” That’s it, that’s the magic of it…..someone watches, reads, hears about someone doing something amazing and they are inspired to do a little bit more than what they did yesterday, then tomorrow they do it again. I love people, I love meeting people and talking and hearing stories about what they are doing and exchanging personal stories that allow us to relate to one another. So, take all that and inspire people. I want to have a job that allows me to be with my family & friends and inspire anyone that I can. That’s it. So, with that….I am working to make it happen. It is this passion where the OUTRUN team came from, this drive to do what we love to do in a positive and social atmosphere, it is this that drives us to create our running events, multisport events, epic runs, etc…. there is a will, and we are finding ways to make it happen.

z

Race Report: Burning River 100 Mile Trail Run

Womens Cleveland Marathon Winner High 5'ing!

I hardly know where to begin, every day that passes since this event finished I have more thoughts and memories coming back to me. I'll start with the facts about the race for me. The number one most important thing was to finish, I wanted to run an easy 50 miles then try to maintain a sub 24 hour overall pace for the event. I did finish...in 28 hrs 45 mins, the longest I have ever run, the longest non-stop endurance event I have ever done. The only other events I have done were 24 hours or less and those were not official events, just challenges.

Kevin, Radames, & I pre BR100

Here's the standard report:
I did not feel good until about mile 34 when i finally overcame the calorie deficit that I had established early on in the race. I ran the first 10 right on track, very very humid, and draining more than I knew. I did not eat enough dinner, breakfast, or at the aid stations for the first few hours. If there was anytime in the race where I thought I didn't belong, it was right about mile 20 when I was walking already and starting to take in coke. I managed to get in the calories, catch up, run the hot-ass towpath, catch up to Kevin at 33, then started feeling really strong until about mile 50, ran that hard loop, met up with JP (Pacer 1) and away we went, back into calorie battles. 58 I ate a ton of food after we were both stung by hornets, made some friends and away we went....feeling much better. The next 22 miles were a challenge of walking, running, and playing with calories....by the time I got to 80 (Pacer 2, Brad) i was well into my speed walking and continued to do so for the last 20 miles, running only a few miles near the end.

Here is what I liked:
Positive-ness!!!!! I loved meeting people and seeing all these crazy people doing this crazy thing. It was NOT as hard as you think, it was just as hard as my other runs, just a lot damn longer. This whole thing became a battle of the calories for me, it distracted me from the length of the event, how many miles were left, etc, etc... The best part was running through a major low, then running with two amazing pacers. I truly owe it to JP & Brad for getting me through so much of that race. The other thing was the people at the aid stations, holy sh*t! I could not believe the outpouring of people volunteering, pacing, cheering, at all hours of the night all around this crazy event. 400+ volunteers for 300+/- starting runners! Amazing!

Team Outrun: 4 entered, 4 finished! with a +50% drop out rate, we friggan killed it!!

Recovery:
I slept at the finish (below) in front of the pizza shop, slept after taking a shower at home, put on the compression socks and slept, ate, then slept some more. Caught a plane to Milwaukee and here I sit in the hotel room with good legs and barely swollen feet. All I had was a blister on the left foot but I sit here still proud of all the runners, proud of myself, and a little sad that it's over. Was it everything that I expected? No, not really....it was more than I expected and I feel a pretty strong sense of pride for everyone, what an amazing experience.

Happy to sleep at the finish

Race Plans: So, maybe it's a little crazy

This might be a little boring, but I need to write this out to make sure that I document some of my thoughts from a recent night training run.

Burning River 100 is getting close quickly (<4 weeks) and I am pretty confident in my race strategy. Ultimately the goal is to finish strong, regardless of the timing. I would like to be somewhere around 24 hours. Last weekend a bunch of folks met up for Mike George's annual Firecracker 40 BR100 training run that started at 7pm and ended for my little group a little before 4am (it's NOT A RACE :).

The start was muggy and very sunny, we made a few last minute changes to handhelds, shirts, food, etc...then took off. After an hour or two we ended up with a group with a girl named Chris, Marco, Mike N., and myself. My headlamp promptly gave out and eventually died, but I managed to run on someone's shoulder without biting the dirt. The trails were absolutely beautiful, weather was near perfect, we had aid stations along the way. I could write a play by play here, but this is a training run...the important thing was to determine what I learned from it.

     Shoes - I am 100% certain that I am going with the Adidas Adizero Boston road shoes.
     Hydration - 1 Ultimate Direction handheld, & maybe a little spy belt. NUUN tabs and Coke in the end.
     Socks - smartwool PhD
     Headlamp - picked up a PETZL Tikka
     Shorts - Pearl Izumi FLY
     Shirt - Pearl Izumi FLY

Food - probably the biggest portion of what I learned on the run, I did not take in enough whole/real food like I normally do on 50 milers. It wasn't until the last mile of the run where we pushed it a little bit and I started to feel a little nausea. I backed off for a couple hundred yards and felt fine. I've got to make sure that I eat my PB&J's, rice burrito's, cookies, etc....as I would normally. Aside from the nutrition and the headlamp, the simple fact that we were running through the night an absolutely essential training run.

So, next week we are heading to the Smoky Mountains and with regards to training, I will do a couple easy runs and I have planned out a 50k that hits the 4 highest peaks in the park. The trail guide suggests covering the route in 4 days. I'd like to do it in 6 hours, taking photos, self aided, should be awesome!!

z

Race Report: "What do you want to do?......I want to finish"

Last weekend I ran the HTI 50 miler, and bagged the Mohican 50 miler so I could run with my oldest daughter on her very first 5k race. There were about 50 kids from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades who have been running twice a week at school and the whole program culminated with a 5k race finishing in the local baseball stadium.

Since school ended, I signed her up to run a beginner trail running series (as the youngest participant - 9yrs old) and she has been knocking out a 3mi run every week. I pace/teach/coach/egg on/push/encourage her on every mile. She may not know what it all means yet, but it is extremely meaningful for me as her father. We don't worry about pace, time, or speed....just enjoying the process and putting forth the effort. When she tried to walk too long I say "We didnt come here to walk, you know how to do that!" she probably wants to smack me....

The race: so, we start the run....a bunch of her friends are there, some other runners from Team OUTRUN are there and I am ready with my camera, as usual. Mile 1 is done in about 12 mins, she is smiling, having fun, pacing well, looking fantastic, doing the utlra shuffle....about 1/4mi later, she is cramping in her stomach. Walk, take your time I say.....dont worry about the pace, walk a minute, run a bit. Cramps get worse, water is good, food was good.....(except for the huge amount of candy from the festival last night.). I ask the volunteers on the course where a porto is....NO Portolets on the course......not good. We go off course about 1/2 mile, find an automotive shop that is open, use the facilities....now the race has passed us. We run to catch up, get past the cop car, cramps are still bad (abdominal, not legs). I tell her we can walk the rest of the course. She says she doesn't want to be last and I tell her no matter what she will not be last, I will. I will finish behind her.

The officer asks "hey, you wanna ride back to the finish in style?"...I look at her and say, "you can ride back with the officer or you can finish....what do you want to do?..........I want to finish", she says. Pride boils up in my chest, and I tell her she can run it in or walk it....we decide to walk it in.

So, there we are with a atv next to us, cop behind us, 10 cars behind the cop, walking down the road, crossing an 8 lane intersection with traffic stopped in all lanes, we walk hand-in-hand across, smiling...not a care in the world. I was so happy to be with her for those moments, so happy. We walked it all the way in, into the stadium where they were calling out her name, she kicked the last 50 feet...I stayed a couple seconds behind her and proudly took last place. Her friends showered her with hugs and water, my wife was able to make it to the race, it was truly amazing. She was proud of herself and said it was the hardest thing she had ever done. I asked her later if she would have finished if I wasn't there. She said no and I told her how incredibly proud I was to do that with her. I don't know how she will remember it, but it was a very proud moment for me. She never gave up, never gave up, and I know she was hurting.....she was hurting pretty well but never gave up, looks I might have a little ultra runner on my hands. Or, just a little girl who doesn't give up, so much more proud of the latter.

She felt fine afterwards, seems to have been too much candy the night before, ate too close to the race start and just a tough effort overall.

you just can't top running moments like that.
-z

Race Report: HTI 50miler, Team OUTRUN / Fleet Feet / Nuun



HTI 50 Mile Trail Run

This is going to be a multipart or potentially long a$$ blog update. At the HTI 50 miler  this past weekend, I got to talking with a fellow runner about the team and realized that beyond the facebook group, I have not been marketing too much with the team.

Let me start with Outrun (Ohio Ultra Trail Runners) which began as a group of about 6 runners (Laurie C, Radames C., Chris B., Crystal B., Kevin T.) one morning while we were knocking out a long run in Holden Arboretum in Kirtland Ohio. We ran along thinking that there was a great local road running club, NERC but not a group of Ultra/Trail Runners. We played with acronyms for a while and came up with North East Ultra Trail Runners.....Neutr. Yes, Neutr....just like it sounds. We liked it, it was funny and quirky, but with the hopes of taking this a little further than shirts and group runs.....we eventually had to grow up just a little. I brought the group to the internet and printed shirts, started organizing group runs.... Long story short, we ended with OUTRUN. I grabbed a website and here we are....about 110 members in the Facebook group and a 23 member Ultra Running team. All this in about 6 months. Just for reference, we are just beginning. My ambitions do not stop with a series of group runs and race kits.

Team OUTRUN: Let me explain about the team. I am neither an elitist socialite nor athelete. I have been more than moderately sucessfull as a soccer player (div champs / college soccer), lacrosse player (State All Star), cyclist (Cat. III / II), triathelete (competitive AG & OA), and now runner (happy)...sorry, let the ego run on that one.....My family and work have and always will come first and although I have had opportunites in the past to take sports further, I have deferred to a professional career & family path. I literally love to train, I love the process of putting in challenging efforts into workouts in less than favorable weather conditions. Perfect weather is great, but in NE Ohio, it's hard to come by. I am not an elite marathoner, nor will I ever be but I love the process of training, the experience of pushing yourself alone or in a group knowing that 99% of the world is not working as hard as you but that there are a bunch of other people out there in that 1% that love the same process.

My goal with creating the team was to create an atmosphere where people who put in the effort, dedication, and passion for trail/ultra running regardless of how fast (or slow) they can do it, can all come together and share that passion and enjoyment on the trails. As far as I could tell in the running community around where I live, there was a gap for a running club and even a team. Outrun was born.

We partnered with Fleet Feet a few months ago and Pearl Izumi to provide our race kits with designs that I literally drew in MS Paint in my spare time. I have been abusing Pearl Izumi products for as long as I was racing bicycles competitively. To this day, I have shorts that I still wear after literally thousands of miles. I was really happy to see that they had entered the running industry a number of years ago. We have not been disappointed, we went with the FLY Pro collection and it literally is the nicest fabric I have ever worn. Printing on the shirts / jackets is to be completed tomorrow and we are all anxiously awaiting.



Nuun: I have been using nuun since I found it at a bicycle shop about 2 years ago. I wish I had contacted them sooner. I have been opening salt tabs and pouring them into my bottles the night before races, putting the little pills in ziplock bags, only to find out that I could simply drop these little nuun tablets into my bottles to get a little flavor (or a lot) as well as my sodium & potassium. I have lost the pills, run out of them, gotten to an aid station 4hrs into a run to find all the ecaps gone. Oh well, lesson learned and now my appreciation is that much higher. Nuun sponsored our ultra team and we are on the verge or receiving our product just in time before the Burning River 100mile Endurance Trail Run next month. This pic of the nuun tattoo is after 50 miles of trails (Hauling Illegal Trails 50 miler) on Saturday. I set a personal record, and technically won the event....but it wasn't a race. If it was, I would not have won, there is always someone faster and I am very okay with that.

Nuun in my veins!!!!

We are still in the process of seeking out sponsors that we WANT to support. I don't want to turn this into just searching for any sponsor. I want to feel good about the logos on my back, sleeve, leg, forehead, etc...Quite honestly, I am looking for a good local coffee sponsor at the moment. Coffee is a part of my regimine and I want to be able to provide marketing for a company that will help us at local races, etc...

My Created Races / Events in 2011:Lake Erie Snowshoe Championship race at the lake Farmparks in February.
Bi-Park Challenge 25, 50, 75K
10k / 5k Trail Race - Sept. 10/11, tbd.

We've got a lot going on and a lot of great runners doing great things. The next event hosted by a team member is by Laurie Colon for Impossible 2 Possible (I2P) on August 13th that is a fundraiser for I2P. This is just all such positive stuff, I can't get enough! We are running literally to raise funds to provide opportunites for other people!

out for now....z

Gear Review: Adidas adizero Boston 2 Men's Shoes

I have got to make a quick product review of my shoes. I don't often do this, but yesterday I knocked out a 50 mile trail run, the Hauling Trail Illegal 50 Miler completely in Adidas Boston 2 Road shoes. I killed my PR by about 20 minutes and did it in a pair of Smart Wool Mens PhD Light socks, Green Superfeet inserts & these shoes below. I have been having issues with plantar fasciitis and some ankle issues. The best combination I have found are these shoes. They still fit my needs for lightweight everyday training shoe, but with ample firm but soft cushioning in the forefoot. The upper breathes well and even on the off-camber slopes, roots, mud, etc... my foot was secure enough in the minimal upper. Let me say that I run nearly 100% of my trail runs in trail shoes; this was an experiment for me. So, with that solid test and a course "win" (not an official race ;), I will be wearing these at my next race...the Burning River 100 mile endurance trail run.
 Anyhow, this is what I am sticking to. I will pickup another pair over the next week or two as my mileage is creeping up on my current pair. I think I'll go for the green ones this time around. Very happy with the shoe.....and very happy with yesterday's results. Off to go do some eating to replenish the calories burned, baby!!!

Training: Cross Training

I've spent the last week off of the feet due to a traveling series of injuries. I am nearly done with it, but the week of coincided well with the need to taper for this weekends Hauling Illegal 50miler in North Chagrin. I've just been doing heavy core work and hitting the bike....man o man do I miss my bike. Thoughts and memories of literally decades of countless hours on the bike, all the experiences, all the hills, cold, heat, wind, rain, sleet, sprints, dogs, pace lines, burning legs, and land speed record attempts. Wow, just writing all that now reminds me of the pure joy of riding. I was carving down a short,steep, and well curved hill today about 40mph and I bet my smile was a mile wide. climbing back up around Holden Arboretum while the sun was nearly setting.....

well, with that being said. I think i am going to dedicate myself back to more cross training. I could feel that my once nearly unstoppable sprints and rolling hills abilities are long gone.....4 years of running has changed my perspective. I miss the pain of cycling, I never got injured (except for crashes), but man did i love the feeling of exhaustion in my legs as i walked the stairs in the morning to the office reminding me the effort of the previous days workout. Running is similar, but different. Gotta get back, gotta get back!!!!

Training: Raccoons make strange noises

Look, I have always known this, but while I was on a solo night run last night coming through Waite Hill I was startled as a little family of raccoons suddenly made a sharp bunch of just strange little scream-bark-screech-squeal noises. 2 seconds later......silence. Back to plodding along the roads.

Training: I've had a number of really good training months, have a self-aided 50mile on 6/11 with some friends at the N.Chagrin reservation that will be a key training run/week in preparation for BR100. I was filling in my log the other day and realized that year over year I have come a long way as far as the training goes and how my ability has increased. It's such an amazing journey as time progresses in running. Last year, a 4-5 hour run was a pretty big deal in my training....now, it's a part of my regular regimen.

Ultrarunning: It's such an interesting sport that really appears to be gaining traction in the main stream running community. It reminds me a little of cyclocross in comparison to the road & mtn.biking communities. Secretly, I want ultra running to remain as a quiet & less than popular sport, but as time progresses, I am seeing "ultras" as a common term, stories of regular people running long distances, the Born to Run phenom, vibram five fingers, etc. I just read a story of a college distance runner who literally by the grace of God, ran 120 miles from college to his home. He left the school with nothing but the shoes & clothes he had on, relying on the kindness of strangers for food, lodging, water. If no one had told the story to the newspaper, it would be the way that ultra running should be, without glamor and fame.....just the runner making the journey.