47/702 Overall

6/75 Age

A few weeks ago, I was asked (and I accepted) to help crew an Italian runner in the 2012 Badwater 135 Ultramarathon. Running that race is on my bucket list and everyone says that if you want to get in, it really helps to have crewed/paced one before. To to start my training, I decided to run the Kalamazoo marathon wearing way too many clothes to mimic hot weather running. For a first attempt at such training, I think it worked quite well.

Misty and I decided to make a day of it in Kalamazoo and she decided o do the 5K walk while I was running the marathon. This is at least the 4th time we have done this and we both enjoy it. We left the house at 5:45 am and got to the crowded start line (Today there was a full marathon, a 1/2 marathon, a 5K run and a 5K walk) We got lucky and snuck into a good parking spot, grabbed our numbers and then I got dressed.

I wanted to be hot, and so for this first ‘test’, I wore 3 long sleeve running shirts, 2 pairs of running pants, a warm weather running cap, and gloves. It was basically the outfit I would wear if it was ~15 degrees out. Sadly, it was about 50 degrees at race start so I was not that warm at the start, but it would get uncomfortable which today was a good thing. Only a few people noticed my overdressing which is fine as I was actually trying to be subtle about it so as to answer fewer questions.

Misty and I got to the start line and while I was waiting around, I found John Y, my barefoot running friend. He was standing in socks, but had planned on ditching them right before the race. Sadly, John is moving in a few weeks and I will miss him dearly. A really nice guy who I enjoyed chatting with on long runs. After I chatted with him, I kissed my lovely wife goodbye and I moved up closer to the start looking for another friend, Brian Walsh, a runner that I met at a RUT fat ass race last fall. A graduate student at UofM and avid (and pretty good) ultra runner, he actually ran the No Wimps challenge (1/2 + 50K) last weekend like I did, so it was nice when I found him again. After chatting with him for a little while we decided to run together at the start and I figured I would play it by ‘feel’ not knowing how the extra clothes would affect me. His marathon PR is 3:39, which is slow considering what he is capable of in both shorter and longer distances. He had told me in previous conversations that he just can’t figure out the marathon distance. I decided early that I was going to try to get him to a new marathon PR so people would stop giving him grief for such a slow marathon ‘record’. I knew it would take my mind off my own heat issues and staying with him chatting for the race would make it fly by, and it did. Thats called a ‘Win-Win’

The race course fairly simple, running all through Kalamazoo area including Western Michigan University. There were a total 14 well run aid stations, each with dozens of anxious and excited volunteers. There were a few thousand runners total of all the racers, but the crowd support was as awesome as the aid stations. Always cheering, even us strangers throughout the race. I swear every intersection had 2-3 police officer/EMS/fire-fighters holding traffic for us runners. It is rare to see a city come out and support a race much more than this. Having seen too many under-supported races in my career, this was great. I helped that is was a beautiful day.

Brian and I crossed the 1/2 marathon split at about 1:37 which made Brian happy, but it was mile 20+ that he was afraid of as that is where he usually blows up. The temperature did slowly increase all day and I didn’t start feeling really ‘hot’ until about mile 17. At its worst, I think it ‘felt’ about 95 degrees in my running outfit, even though it was only ~65 degrees out. I try to learn something new every race and what I learned this race was I need to wear more clothes if I want to mimic 100+ degrees. Granted, had I wore the ‘correct’ amount for this experiment, I probably would not have been able to hang with Brian, so I guess that made it all ok.

The course contained a handful of loooong hills that all seemed to be late in the race and were of course, not fun. As we came up to one particularly long hill at about mile 21, seeing it spurred Brian to say ‘I would be ok with walking this hill’. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it was something to the effect of ‘No’. We had slowed a little and took a little bit of time at aid stations, especially the last handful to get extra water. I ended up drinking about 2-3 more than I normally do in a marathon, and Brian drinks a lot all the time. They had water and something called ‘Gu Brew’ which is Gu’s attempt at a gatorade-style drink. I was unimpressed.

The crowds grew as we approached the finish cheering us on and we both came in faster than expected, so both our wives missed us as we crossed the finish line. I had told Misty to start looking for me around 3:30, and well, Brian’s PR is 3:39. So when we rolled in at 3:23, there were no friendly faces nearby, but they were very excited when we -did- find each other. Love all around.

A funny thing happened when I did my handstand. The timing mat (which is where I normally do it) was slippery and I failed on my first attempt. So, for the first time, I backed up 6 steps and did it again, this time with better success. There is probably no photo evidence of either attempt, but it’s the principle, damnit.

We wandered over to Brian’s car (the local beer garden) and chatted for a little while talking about the great day. Misty and I said our goodbyes and headed off but not before I was able to get a quick shower before leaving for lunch. Misty after finishing the 5K had gone back to the car, cleaned up and even took a nice nap before I even crossed the finish line. I was jealous, but it is always awesome to see her at race end.

We had a few hours yet before we got kids back, so we had a relaxed late lunch at local Applebee’s where we sat and took our sweet time eating our meal while we played pinochle, our favorite 2 person card game. It really was a great excursion with an awesome race, quality time alone with my lovely bride, and a beautiful day. I hope to run this one again, and you know how infrequently I say that…

9/147 overall

2/12 Age

So, now for the fun run, the second in the weekend of the ‘No Wimps’ Challenge. While I have done ‘doubles’ before running marathons on consecutive days and a few Hundos, doing a half marathon and then a 50K the next day on rough trail is a little different,. You don’t totally sluff of one. I didn’t wimp out yesterday, but I saved some in the tank for the 50K, as ultras are more my thing. I thought of the half marathon as a warm-up race.

I slept well, after a good run the previous day but had to get up a little earlier to make the 7:30 am start for the 50K. As I was pulling into the parking lot, the temp was 29 degrees and would get up to a whopping 32 at race start. Since I knew the temperature would be 60 by race end, I actually had to think about what to wear. For the first time in a while, I wore an outermost layer of a cotton t-shirt knowing that I would ditch it, which I did at mile 4 aid station. I also wore my nice nike rain jacket which folds into itself as a nice pouch that I took off after the first 13.1 mile loop. There was no real wind, and no clouds either which made for beautiful race weather. It is days like this that I love living in Michigan. The winters can be a little harsh, but spring and summer are gorgeous.

The 50K involved doing the half marathon course (same as yesterday) twice and then a quick 5 mile loop that met up with the 13.1 mile loop the last 2 miles. I ran lap 1 a little too fast, which is no surprise. I met up with a local running beast Ryan C at about mile 10 and ran with him until the end of lap 1 (13.1 miles) which I crossed in 1:49, only 6 min slower than the previous days half marathon. Ryan then took off and finished in 4:12 which is awesome, expecially considering he took a wrong turn and added some distance to his run.

I knew that my first loop was faster than I wanted to go, so as soon as I started my second long loop, I dialed it back a little bit, finishing loop 2 in ~3:53. My goal for this race was to run smart, which I like to think I did. I knew this course was brutal, especially doing 31 miles on it. Up, down, concentrating so hard not to trip, etc. I wanted to make sure I did not take any walk breaks, which for this course is tough, especially the one hill (done 3 times) about 1.5 miles from the end of the loops. I was successful in that endeavor, while trudging slowly up the hills all day long, never slowing to a walk. That is a victory in itself, if you ask me.

After I came through the 26.2 mile point, I still had the 5 mile loop to do. What was cool is that about 400m into that 5 mile loop, I got a little spring in my step. I didn’t speed up that much, but my mental state was much better. Here was more evidence of my ‘not trying hard yields better results’ theory. I think my long hard 30-40 mile training days paid off as my body was not tired at all, even though I was 39 miles into my 44 mile racing weekend.

I crossed the finish line and felt great. The handstand was one of my nicer ones, being able to hold it for at least 5 full seconds. I got to then collect my hardware including another mug for 2nd place in my age group, a 50K finishers medal, and then an additional medal for completing the ‘No Wimps’ challenge as well as a t-shirt for the feat. There were several of my RUT friends who also completed the series as well, all good folk.

I stayed around to watch many of them finish or at least come through the marathon point in the 50K. Everyone seemed happy in their efforts today and were in good spirits. This is what trail racing is supposed to be. Pure energy and fun for everyone. I said my goodbyes to those who were there and headed home to spend the afternoon with my lovely wife and a good meal. A wonderful finish to a long but very fun weekend of racing.

26/839 overall

4/82 age
So the trail marathon has been around for a few years and they have had a half marathon associated with it as well but to be a little different, they decided to have the massive (>850 runners) half marathon on Saturday and then the trail marathon and 50K on Sunday. With races on consecutive days, why not take more of people’s money and have them run -two- races. What was born was the ‘No Wimps Challenge’. This is the toughest 13.1 mile loop I know and having to do it once on Saturday and 2.5 times on Sunday, I knew it would be tough but fun, so I signed up for the half/50K set and tried to run the two races ‘smart’, which is something I am still working on it seems.

The famous ‘poto’ trail is quite rough. There are zillions of small hills, a handful of long ones, everywhere roots, rocks, uneven terrain and even sections of sand just to change it up. It is maintained by a local mountain biking group and they like (for some reason) to have a bumpy ride, which is why the course is so rough. There are few sections where you can stretch your legs out and get into some semblance of even pace so the course is just brutal all the way around. No PR’s are ever set here.

I got to the race venue about an hour before start in time to see yet another beautiful pre-race sunrise and met up with some friends including Pizza dude, Matt. He and I run marathons at roughly the same speed and since he had run a 100 mile race 2 weeks previous, and me running a 100 3 weeks previous, we decided to run together for the half. He had indicated that he wanted to run the half marathon hard and then go easy on the 50K, and I sort of wanted to do the opposite, so our pace for the half worked well together.

We started out together chatting a little and I left him behind about mile 3, but then he caught up with me at mile 7 and then left me behind for a mile or so and I caught up and we ran the rest of the way together. I have run with Matt enough to know the man does not have any idea what the term ‘even pace’ means. His pace was going all over the place which was driving me nuts. I enjoyed his company enough, that I didn’t mind his erratic speed.

There were four aid stations on the course, reasonably well spaced. Matt’s wife, Paula, a really good runner in her own right, was at one station and had been telling people for days that she was excited to throw gummy bears at me when I came by. Sure enough, when I came by she grabbed the bag and started whipping them at me. I stopped and said ‘Can i just have one handed to me?’ and she obliged. All the folks at the aid stations were of course awesome and helpful, but I anticipated nothing less. There is a special place in heaven for aid station workers..

So Matt and I were going along at a good 7:45ish pace feeling like we were going to finish well and at about mile 11 two guys caught up with us and we found out one of them was in our (35-39) age group. Well, Matt and I didn’t want to lose that place, so we stepped it up a little bit, leaving them at the last long hill. It worked so that at mile 12 we glanced back and saw we lost them so drew it back a smidge. There was no prize money, so we were fine. When we ran together on Jan 1 at a friends Fat Ass marathon, we decided to cross the finish line at exactly the same moment for the ‘tie’. We decided to do the same thing here with no sprint to the end, but instead just trying to cross as as close to the same time as possible and let the computer figure it out. Turns out, Matt beat me by 3/10ths of a second. The difference between 3rd and 4th in my age group was the length of my arm. Oh well.

A rare 1/2 marathon finishers medal as well as a cool age award mug completed the haul. I also got some blood on my toe. Seems I leaked a bunch of blood out of my pinky toe, enough that the show was a nice red near the wound. It felt fine during the race,and would only bother me the first 10 miles of the next day’s race.

I had to get going soon after race end as I had to make it back to town for Commencement ceremonies at the college I teach at. I did manage to have enough time to stop at Applebee’s for my post-race/pre-race meal. I am not sure if I was replenishing from the half or prepping for the 50K. Either way, the meal was delish.

So I have known for quite some time that I am not a really strong racer, mentally. I am, however, very focused in my training and my legs are very strong. This race was the first full test of a new training/racing plan and it worked like a charm. For the last few months I was consistently doing ~100 mile weeks but instead of 12-15 miles everyday, I was doing two 30-40+ mile -days- per week. While these long days (sometimes including 50 milers) were tough in the beginning, I recovered quicker and quicker each time I did them. My goal for this race was to train hard and show up to the race start and not ‘think’ too much about the race and simply let muscle memory do the lions share of the work. My brain was more of an observer, thinking only of what do to do the next time I hit my aid station. When I try hard and focus on my ‘racing’ I end up blowing up and doing quite poorly. This race was very different, but in a good way.

The LONG weekend started with a poor night of sleeping Thursday night and getting up at 5:30 am to head to the Detroit area to pick up my running buddy, Ryan, who was making the trip with me. Turns out, he didn’t sleep well either that night. We had a long uneventful drive to the far side of Pennsylvania and and got to Carmen’s house about 4:30 in the afternoon. Carmen is an old high school friend of mine who I reconnected with on facebook a few years ago. She has followed my running lately and been very supportive. When she found out I was going to be in town for the race, she was happy to host us for dinner. The homemade chicken marsala was delish, complemented by pleasant dinner conversation. It was awesome to see her again, and I was glad I was able to. We still had an hour into town to our hotel for that night so we left around 7:00 pm and stopped at a local grocery store to pick up fresh fruit and last minute supplies. Earlier in the week I had gone to the store and bought standard ultra food (candy, salty snacks, etc) not knowing what I would want to eat during the race. I decided to buy lots of different kinds of food so I would have plenty to choose from during the race. 100 milers are unique in that your ‘tastes’ generally vary during your all-day runs. By 8:45 pm Friday, I was in bed and slept harder than I ever have the night before a race.

This was the 4th running of the Philly 100 and this is very much a ‘fat ass’ race. You must support yourself completely so no aid, no entry fee, no shirt, no bib, no nothing. Ryan and I arrived at the start/finish about 45 minutes before the start and got a parking spot about 150 meters off the loop. The back of Misty’s (new to her) Prius would be our aid station for the day. Ryan and I threw all our food, drink, and gear in the back and with each loop the mess got a little worse. We tried to be organized so it was not that bad, even at the end of the day. The race course itself was an 8.4 mile loop that we would be doing 12 times for a grand total of 100.8 miles. The race director wasn’t much of one, but  more like the caretaker of the website. In fact, she gave the pre-race briefing (standard instructions) and told us to email her our times when we were done. She then went home, having finished her run the night before. Since it was a fat ass race, some people started early, and some started late. As such, I had to wait a few days to get official results.

The race started just before sunrise and I think we all started the course in the ‘clockwise’ direction. Since it was 12 mile loops (each 8.4 miles long) and we were sort of on our own, we were free to change directions as we pleased after each loop. I varied up a bit ending up running clockwise 5 times and counter-clockwise 7 times. The first half of the first loop was very gentle and laid back. I knew I wanted to start very easy, so I started running with Kristin, a nice woman from Maryland. We chatted for several miles and her husband, Michael, caught up to us about halfway through the loop. He stopped a few times for ‘personal’ reasons involving the digestive system and would catch back up. We swapped standard running stories and she told me that her first 100 mile race was Western States, which is like saying your first marathon was Boston. I told her I was seriously jealous and she acknowledged that most people she told were as well. We got back to the cars after our first loop in about 1:16, which was just fine for me. A quick stop to eat something small and we headed out for a second loop together. Again, her husband joined us on and off, and about halfway through my second loop she dropped back and I continued on with Michael. He was just as nice as his wife and so the conversation was equally pleasant. We ended lap 2 in a net time of 2:37 (lap 2 being 1:21) together and started lap 3 still chatting. About halfway through that lap he stopped again for a short time and I said goodbye and started off on the rest of my trek running by myself, a condition that would remain with me the rest of the day.

I ran lap 3 in about 1:18 having picked up the pace when I became alone, but not too much for a net time of 3:55, after a total of just over 25 miles. Obviously, nothing too speedy but that was ok. My last 100 mile race I did the first 25 miles in 3:30 and ended in a total time of over 21 hours. This race was not about running fast, it was about running consistent. You have heard the phrase ‘this isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon’ to talk about some long range project. Well, this ain’t a marathon, it’s roughly 4 times that. A lot can change in a day of running, so starting slow and saving your strength for later is always smart. Too bad I rarely do it, until now.

I should note here, that lap times I give all have a little error bar on them as I was at my car 2-4 minutes each lap and I was inconsistent as to exactly when I looked at my watch. I was paying attention enough to know I was running each loop at almost even pace and that’s all I cared about. Normally I spend very little time at aid stations but by necessity I had to take more time at this race, and it seemed to have helped. My brains sole purpose this day was to be a good coach, especially when I got to my aid station. WIth each and every stop, I would open the back hatch of the car and start the drill. Do I need any pills? Where am I chaffing? Slap some lotion on there. Time to change shoes? Re-fill handheld with more rocket fuel. Drink an entire bottle of Avitae, a great caffeinated water . Grab a handful of fruit and either scarf it down quick (blueberries) or grab a handful for the next loop (grapes). Update facebook as appropriate and get back out on the course.

With 25% of the race over and my initial adrenaline gone, I was finally getting into the long-haul groove of the middle half of the race, by far the most un-exciting. Just staying sane and moving was the biggest requirements. The course loop is very popular amongst the locals, the route going along the river where several major colleges and universities crew teams practice and compete. All day long I saw rowers as singles and groups as large as 8 out on the river rowing away. There were bikers and runners by the hundreds during the course of the day as well. With sunny skies and temps between 50 and 65 all day, why not. The only real weather ‘problem’ would be the wind which was 15-20 mph at its worst. During this middle portion I ran a majority of the loops counterclockwise as I thought that was the best route to combat the wind based on the course. With so many bystanders and us racers not having bibs, it was hard to tell who was running the ultra and who was just a local doing their daily run. Eventually after you have seen the same person for 5+ hours, they were more recognizable. I am sure it was easier to recognize me in my dyed hair. Friendly banter was exchanged whenever we saw one another because that is just how ultrarunners roll.

Two friends, Kino and Steven from New York City came down to help out and setup an aid station for the ultra runners. They went all out and got a wide variety of standard ultra fare and gave it to any ultra runner who wanted it. They were about 2 miles away from the turn, and so I used them mostly for a water only station, but occasionally had some salty food. They were so nice to do that and even though they left before the race was over, they left the remaining food for us late night runners. Awesome friends they are!

I hit the halfway point in 8 hours flat. I have had 50 mile splits of under 8 hours a few times, but the second half is usually my downfall, succumbing to a death march everytime. Today, however, I felt good and stable, my body giving no complaints at all. Muscle memory was doing its job, remembering exactly how it feels to run 50 miles in a day and not giving much of a fuss. Sure, I had some small blisters and ‘hot spots’ that required attention. I changed my shoes every 25 miles, but never any major issues of consequence. Halfway done, no problem.

Loops 7-9 were all in put down in the 1:25 range. After mile 50 I was doing short walks breaks of 300-400m in length. By lap 9 there were exactly 4 of them per loop, about every 2 miles. The only tough part was getting back ‘into’ running after each walk break. Once you get going it’s not that bad, but those first few meters are tough on the brain, so I chose to deliberately think about something else every time I was restarting and it worked. After loop 8 I finally pulled out my iPod and started the techno. Always the plan (techno when getting tired and sun going down) and it had the desired effect, with lap 9 finished 7 minutes FASTER than lap 8. That’s some good tunage.

I hit the mile 75 mark (lap 9) in 12:25. 1:30 loops from here on out was my goal and just hold it together and keep doing the same thing. I had been very good about taking my electrolyte pills, amino acid pills, and tylenol on a regular basis which all helped body and soul. The night before Beast of Burden 100 I heard some bad things about taking ibuprofen during ultras and it scared me. Apparently tylenol works as good and is not as bad for your health. Of course, the amount of tylenol I was taking was high and dangerous outside of running an ultra. I won’t tell you how many I took, but know it was more than would be considered healthy. To that accusation, I would counter running 100 miles in one day is not exact ‘healthy’ either.

After 10 laps, finally it was starting to feel like real work. I rolled back to the car after loop 84 miles in 13:58. The sun was almost down so I grabbed my headlamp. One of the things I learned from Beast of Burden 100 was that I need to have lots of light when I am running after the sun sets. I even had a second light that I was going to wear around my waist but I did not grab it. The path we were running on was well lit and I could have safely ran without my one headlamp on most of the way, but I kept it on to keep my brain reminded of the fact that I was running and it was not bedtime. My brain did a good job all day, never focusing on the pain or soreness I felt. If it had been permitted to ‘listen’ to such internal monologue it would have send notice for me to walk the rest of the way because that is what has happened in the other five 100 milers I have run. Today however, my brain was only allowed to listen and record notes, it was not allowed to send direction to my legs. My brain listened to the pain and suffering, but chose to ignore it. It kept good tabs on my needs regarding fueling and such and that worked perfect. I tried to use my brain as a disembodied personal coach who did not quite understand what I was feeling and had little sympathy for me anyways but listened to my needs and provided for me when I needed it. I know it sounds weird, but just trust me this mental ‘game’ I played is what got me under 17 and without that game, I would have run much slower.

I rolled the second-to-last-lap in 1:32 (15:30 elapsed) which meant I had a possibility of running sub 17 for the entire race. My (not publicized beforehand) goal was to break 19, so I knew I could totally sluff off (walk? crawl?) the last lap and still beat my goal. Knowing that conditions were not going to be this perfect for a probably a few races, I decided to just try to hang on and if 17 came, then great, if not, no problem. I felt so awesome and the fact that I was not at death-march mode by mile 91 was amazing in and of itself. I went back and forth about trying to break 17 about 1000 times that last loop, which helped me go fast ‘enough’ I guess. At about 16:56 I passed Ryan near the Art Museum which is only maybe 600m from the finish. He was walking his last lap and taking a break to take pictures with the Rocky statue. He saw me coming and screamed ‘Four minutes! Move!’ which of course I was doing to the best of my ability already, but I thought I had a little more buffer than I did. I swear I looked at my watch 8 times in the last 3 minutes, trying to judge whether or not I was gonna make it. The last 200m were me running as fast as I could (after 100 miles) which felt like a wicked sprint. As I crossed the line in the sidewalk I started my watch I started at 6 am that morning and it read 16:59:59. I stared at it for a long while not believing I hit it that close.

Since it was a low key FA race, there were only a few people who were crewing for other runners there. Nothing exciting, no cheering, no medal, no nothing except me basking in happiness. Everything had come together for a great finish. I wandered back to my car and made the last phone call I would ever make with that phone to my lovely wife telling her about my race. Ryan came by a few minutes later and he told me he was done too, stopping after 67.2 miles. He had walked the last two laps to kill time waiting for me to finish. We chatted for a few minutes with Michael who was at his car for a quick break. I don’t remember how many more laps he had, but I think it was two. We put on some more clothes and got ready to head out as our hotel was 35 minutes away. As we were getting ready to leave I realized I needed to drink some more water and Ryan had poured out our only remaining non caffeinated water. We still some some Avitae water, but I didn’t need caffeine now at the end, I wanted to sleep. Ryan offered me some ginger ale reminding me that might help my stomach which was just a little upset. Cool, so we got in the car and started the drive. It took less than 5 minutes for my body to reject the ginger ale. What is sad is that I knew it would beforehand if I had thought for a second. I have consumed carbonated beverages immediately following marathons and been horribly sick just minutes later. Sure enough, driving at 70 mph down the turnpike and I had to pull over to get out of the car to puke. I feared a cop would see me and pull over and the ensuing questions would be ‘weird’. Normally guys puking on the side of the road at 11:30pm on Saturday are not sober. I got back in the car and made it another 15 minutes before I had to get out and do it again, eventually my ejections turning into dry heaves, and those hurt.

We finally got near the hotel and Ryan was hungry so we stopped at a Wendy’s and grabbed some food and it was here that I realized I didn’t know where my phone was. We used Ryan’s to call mine and no sound came from anywhere in the car. We looked and found nothing. Ryan asked ‘Did you leave it on top of the car at the race?’ and I stopped and say ‘Crap’. Yup, that’s exactly what happened. I dropped Ryan off and took his phone (to help me find mine) and headed back onto the turnpike to return to the race start, a 35 minute drive back. Remember, I have been up for a few hours before now, and this drive sucked. I got back to where the car had been parked and found nothing. There was a small group of people nearby (recently finished runners and their crew) and asked them, and nothing. I followed the road that I covered when we first left and found nothing. After 20 minutes or so I gave up the ghost and went back to the hotel, yes another 35 minute drive. I finally got back to the hotel and tried to get some sleep. My legs were in hyper-recovery mode so my body was burning the midnight oil doing all that cool physiology muscle recovery stuff and enough of my brain was needed to be be active that I couldn’t sleep much at all. About 6:30 Sunday morning I got up and took a shower [Yes, I slept in my nasty race clothes that I had been wearing all day long, but I did not care, they weren’t my sheets ] then Ryan and I went down for the hotel breakfast which was un-exciting.

We packed up our stuff and started our long long road trip back to Michigan, stopping 4 times for me to get more caffeine in me. Ryan drove a little while so I could get an hour or so long nap. I ended up pulling into my driveway at about 7:30 Sunday night and I was amazed how well my legs were. They were only a little worse off than they are after a hard marathon. It only took me a few days after this race for my legs to effectively recover. The 50 mile training days paid off at all levels of this weekend, including recovery. I will walk for a few days, get some easy eliptical time, but I expect next week I will be back to pseudo-normal training schedule.

So, here is the take home message which is probably only useful for me. I give you

How to be successful in Hundo’s if your name is Mark Ott

- Train hard. The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle.

- During ultras, you really only need to eat fresh fruit. Get lots, including some variety and pre-package in ziploc bags if you can. Grapes and blueberries were good on the stomach, but the raspberries were not so good. Pineapple and green apple seem to also be stable.

- Rocket fuel works. Gatorade/carbo-pro/electrolyte powder combination worked well. You still need to drink plenty of water. I drank 16 oz of rocket fuel and another 20 oz of water every loop, the temp never got above 65 and my pee was still a dark yellow. Drink more.

- Caffeinated water (Avitae!) worked great, caffeine tabs also helped.

- Regular supplies of Tylenol and amino acid tablets and additional electrolyte pills kept the brain content.

16/88 overall

5/20 age

The spring ultra racing season is now in full swing. I ran a slow, rough trail 50K just a week ago, this fast 33.5 miler and then a 100 in two weeks. This would be a fun race with me trying not to bust my butt, which honestly, I don’t do much anymore anyways

This race is a point to point affair along the beautiful kal haven bike trail (Kalamazoo to South Haven) and since I didn’t want to wait for a return-to-start bus ride, my lovely wife accompanied me which is always nice. We left our house about 5:20 am and got to the race start about 70 min before the gun. Misty rested while I checked in and chit-chatted with a few runners. I finally got to meet a running facebook friend, Melissa, and also saw Katherine, her bf, and my other running friend, Brian. Misty woke up in time to meet them and say good luck and I wandered over to the starting line.

Brian and I decided to start out together and took off in a gentle 7:40ish pace. We ran together for the first 7-8 miles together talking about all sorts of stuff. I have run with him around Jackson before and he is a really nice guy. We differ greatly on politics and religion, so we decided to avoid those subjects today, wanting to enjoy the run. He has been struggling with some health issues the last 16 months or so and has tried all sorts of stuff including a 14-day water fast. I have read about the positive health benefits of such a fast and I think about doing one every once in awhile. Maybe after racing season, who knows.

There were reasonable sized aid stations every 2-3 miles during the course but the weather was so perfect, I was fine with mostly water during the race. I got terribly dehydrated just a week before, so I was paying much closer attention this time. Race temp was in the high 50’s all day, which was awesome. It technically was an ultra, so they had two aid stations for drop bags, at mile 13 and mile 27. The second one was sortof close to the finish and I didn’t quite understand that. I made throw-away drop bags with coke, chips and cookies for each of them. When I got to the mile 13 aid station, the drop bags had literally just been driven there so I had to root around in the box for my bag. I ended up just grabbing the coke as that was all I wanted. It is only a 33.5 miler, so I didn’t need spare shoes, or real food. My bags were more ‘just in case’.

At about mile 8, a group of fast people from the Grand Rapids area came  up from behind us and I was feeling good, so I went out with them, picking up my speed, doing 7:15-7:20/min miles up until about mile 20. At about mile 20, the tiredness in my legs from the previous week started to pop back up. Knowing that I had a 100 mile in 2 weeks and not wanting to ruin that by over-doing it this day, I dialed back just a bit. with my overall average pace for the race going a little above 7:35, which is still faster than what I did the first 8 miles in.

With less than a mile or so to go, my friend Brian who I left behind 2 hours before actually caught back up with me and passed me along with another runner. He was flying and when i talked to him later, he told me that mid way through he just got a boost, and it felt good, so he dropped the hammer. I wish that happened to me when -I- raced, but sadly, it never does.

This race was the Road Runner Club of America Michigan UItra Championship so there were some speedy guys in the race which is why my placing was not that awesome. I however was very pleased with my time, being 2.5 miles longer and 30 minutes faster than my 50K the previous week. I rolled into finish and my legs tightened up pretty quick so I drank lots of water and walked around for a while which really helped.

My mother in law, living very close to the finish, decided to come out with Misty as well to see me cross the finish line. We decided to go out to lunch and my stomach was not very happy. My post race meal was actually some french onion soup and a nice cold beer. As long as I ate it slowly, it was ok.

I recovered much faster from this race than the previous week when I ran a lot slower. This is not a huge surprise because if you run slower than usual, you use different muscles than normal and hence are sore for a while afterwards. Last week I had little choice due to the nature of the trail, but this week I got to get more into my normal stride. What I need to do is more trail runs in training. That would help.

1st overall

My spring racing season which includes 3 races in 4 weeks with a total distance of 164 mile all started with a local RUT 50K on the famed podowanami trail (known to locals as the ‘poto’) in nearby Pinckney Recreational Area. This was my 6th FA marathon(+) in southern Michigan and they are starting to grow on me. No shirt, no medal, but you get good times, and meet new friends, and all for the lowball price of FREE!

I woke up at a normal time for me (5:45) and took off, getting to the race start about 45 minutes before the gun and met up with my peeps, Ryan and John. People filtered in and we talked about start BS before a FA race. There were about 25 of us when we finally all got to the same parking lot. The sunrise was so beautiful, and so I took the photo you see here:

Yeah, it was that beautiful. The temperature was mid 50’s and would get to low 70’s before it was over. This was the first run of any ‘warmth’ since last September, and that would hurt me. The 50K route was one run of the 17 mile loop, one run of the 14 mile loop which are almost identical except for one 3 mile ‘extra’ portion. The trail is a tough one. There are roots and stumps all over the place and the trail is up and down most of the way. No serious hills, just a zillion small ones. It was virtually impossible to run an even pace, no matter how fast you were trying to go. I will be right back here in 6 weeks doing yet another 50K (www.trailmarathon.com) so this was good training for that race.

My opening pace was pleasant, and I really enjoyed the scenery the few times I had enough guts to look up from the trail, which is dangerous on this course. About 10-11 miles into the 17 mile loop, I came to an intersection and I was not quite sure which way to go. Just then, my new friend Pete caught up with me. We thought about it, made our choice and moved out. In the end, I think it was a wrong turn, but we added miles (we think) that were undone by another wrong turn later. In the end, I ran just over 31 miles. I have the GPS watch data to prove it We stayed together and talked about his life (grew up in UK, moved here in January, post-doc in Natural Resources) and standard running banter. He is a cool guy and even wore a bright green St. Patrick’s Day hat on the first loop. We got back to the start/finish line in 2:20 (A little over 16 miles was our distance at that point) and loaded up our bottles, and were back on the trail in about 90 seconds.

I decided to -only- use my handheld water bottle that holds 16 oz this day and that was just dumb. I drank 16 oz of Gatorade during the first loop, and downed 2 juice boxes during that 90 second stop and re-filled my handheld. It would not be enough, not even close.

On the second loop, we continued our conversation, getting into educational philosophy (a favorite running topic of mine) and other topics. About 4 miles into the 14 mile loop, Pete started to drop back a bit, and indicated that the heat was starting to get to him (me too, just not as much. Yet) and I left him back and I headed out picking my pace up again. It took me about a mile to realize the miles were going by a lot faster talking with Pete. Oh well, turn on the techno and get back in the game.

After about 20 miles, my dehydration problem was rearing its ugly head. I still had liquid in my bottle, but I also had 10 miles to go, so I had to make it last. The temperature was rising, no wind, and no real shade. There are plenty of trees, but none had leaves, so I saw the sun all day, but I was rarely in ‘full force’ sunlight. By mile 24 I was walking up hills and just trying to get through the last miles, and they were slow. I kept looking back to see if Pete was going to catch me, he never did.

I got back to the car in 4:50, and when I stopped, I realized how dehydrated I really was. When I went to sit and drink some water (I drank 2 quarts almost immediately, 2 more in the next hour) I sortof fell. I tried to recover so I could get home (the race went longer than I wanted) as I promised to be home to my wife and children as soon as I could, so I wrote down my time on the official results board and got in my car and took off. It took me about 5 minutes to realize that my brain was not prepared to drive. My electrolytes had not gotten back to where they were supposed to be and I could tell. I ended up pulling over twice on the 1 hour drive home to get ‘stable’. It just took time for liquids to go back to doing their liquid thing. It was slightly scary for a little while.

By the time I got home, the gallon of liquid had run its course and I felt 137 times better, my legs were in good condition and my brain got back on line. Ah, yet another good learning experience.

1/7 overall

So, yet another FA marathon down, a style of race I am starting to really like, especially because they are free. This one was organized by a good ultra friend Kevin, who is the owner of JustFinish.com. This one started from his house and meandered up the side of Lake Saint Claire. Since we had 5+ starters and 3+ finishers, it was well advertised and open to anyone, it counts for the 50 states marathon club. If it counts for the 50 states club, it counts for me. I will not count it towards my lifetime win record, though.

It was only 2 weeks after my Beast of Burden disaster, so I was still recovering and had no intention of running all that hard. In fact, I ran an even pace all day long, with my pace not dropping more than 8 sec/mile by the end. That is definitely a good thing.

The race started at 7, so had to leave my house at 4:30 am and got to Kevin’s about 6:30. I was the first person there and he wasn’t even quite ready for me. After a little while, friends Ryan, Mike and 2 guys I had never met before were there. We chatted for a little while, took a picture of the entire group of starters and headed outside to the official start line (Kevin’s driveway)

We started about 45 min before sunrise, so the day was just starting to break as we left Kevin’s house and headed east for a few blocks before turning north and ran along the the shores of Lake St. Claire. The weather was actually beautiful. It was pleasantly cold (very ‘crisp’ as we say here in the midwest) The course was a simple out and back with a turn around in a beautiful metro park on the lake. So beautiful, I actually stopped and took some pictures, which I rarely do. It seemed like a great day for a run, and I wanted to remember it. After the turn, I actually saw the other runners not too far behind me.

Since this was a completely self-supported FA race, I took my running backpack (which I almost never do) and drank 2 juice boxes and ate one small bag of fruit snacks during the run. That was the sum total of my ‘aid’, but seemed to be plenty. I am trying new things in training to work on my caloric intake which is never seemingly enough. I managed to get back in just under 3:30, which was my goal. I took a little time to walk and get the crap out of my legs before my 2 hours drive home. Overall, a great little run with friends and another MI marathon knocked off.

8/29 overall

Good news first: I learned why I get so tried at night during the last two 100 mile races, my brain thinks its time for sleep. When I go to bed every night, I don’t drink caffeine after about 5 pm, I turn the lights out, and I turn on NPR or some other ‘people talking’ sounds to go to bed. After mile 50, when the sun went down, I did all three things. I forgot to drink caffeine, I decided to not turn on my headlamp (it was bright enough to see the track) and I listened no to catchy techno, but to people talking. From mile 50 on, my brain was saying ‘Umm, its bedtime, why are we running?!’ I put this up front as a reminder for when I look back on this race I do not forget that VERY valuable lesson. Now, on to the normal blog entry…

Last year, I did this trip with my friend, crew and pacer Ryan but he was unable to make it this year. I did get to drive with another good friend, Kai. While we were good acquaintances before this trip, we learned we have quite a bit in common and had great conversation while visiting foreign lands (Canada for 4.5 hours) together. He is totally coo, and an awesome ultra runner. War stories with him are entertaining and informative. Since we were both running the race sans crew we had large plastic containers with out gear for the Start/finish area and the turn 12.5 miles away. The course is a simple 12.5 out, 12.5 back x 4 four times. Not as mindless as you might think, but different than a trail point to point, no doubt. We both brought way more clothes and gear than needed, but in these conditions, you never know what you need. So the more, the better.

We got there late in the afternoon with the sun still up. A quick glance at the track gave us confidence that it was gonna be a good day. We checked in quick to the Holiday Inn and then headed to the unofficial race dinner at a local Irish pub and met some really crazy people (all running the next day) swapped stories, compared races, good conversation. Service of restaurant was not so hot, but there were 20+ of us, so…

We go back to the hotel and went to bed at 8ish, got up at 6ish and slowly prepared for our 10 am start. Left hotel at 8:15 so we grabs some Dunkin’ Donuts and then get to race start and check in with plenty of time. I tried desperately to find a mocha (even a McDonald’s one would have worked) within 15 miles and there were none. Well, there was one fancy coffee shop but it was closed on Saturdays. They should be out of business just for that fact. My lack of real caffeine (found total crap cup of coffee finally) was what those literary people refer to as ‘foreshadowing’.

The RD is totally trying to make this race a big name event, so he went all out including the swag back. Instead of yet another technical shirt, we got a awesome running hat, gloves, backpack, key chain and rubber bracelet, all of which said ‘Beast of Burden Ultramarathon’ He is using us all as advertisers I guess. This race is very well run and deserves the respect it is quickly attaining.

I ran this race last year and did quite well, finishing second place to Valmir Nunes (who would run a sub 15 this day) and my training had gone well, doing 35-40 mile -days- almost weekly. I admit, I got a little cocky, and was talking smack the night before. Whenever I seem to go into a race with big expectations (BR 2010, another great example) I do very poorly. This race was yet more evidence of such a correlation. Train hard, and just finish the race. You ain’t world class, get over yourself, ya doorknob…

We got to the starting area with an hour or so to go and they were still getting the start set up. Kai and I did our final prep, choosing which clothes to wear on first lap, double checking drop boxes, trying to just stay relaxed before we were out to run all day. The start was kindof funny. There was a big clock over the start line which read all zeros and we are all ready, but nobody is within 20 feet of the line. With no warning, the clock starts. Nobody moves or says anything (they testing?). After about 5 seconds, the Race Directors wife says ‘Go! The clock’s running’, so I cross the start line first, about 8 seconds into the race. Obviously, 100 mile races are a little different than say, a 5K.

I started out in front, because I don’t how to not do that. I refused to take the lead but I wanted to keep the leader close. There is an aid station at mile 6ish (~halfway between start and the 12.5 mile turn), but I ignored that aid station altogether until after mile 50. I planned _MY_ race without depending on that aid station except near end. I had decided to focus on slightly longer stops every 12.5 miles, checking cloths, shoes, getting all my fuel, etc. I really think that part of the operation worked. The lead pack all got to the turn at about the same time, all moving quickly to grab stuff and get back out.

The weather was very nice (way better than last year) and I actually wore my racing sunglasses instead of ski goggles for first 25 miles. There was about 3” of snow at start 1” of them fresh and maybe another 0.5” during the day. The temperature was in mid 20s at start, and got down to single digits wind chill at night. This had been a mild winter here in New York as well as back home, so I had been training in these conditions. Honestly, at no point was weather ever really a problem for me and most of the rest of the field.

Since it is the middle of winter, in up state New York, the weather can change, and since I have a incredible amount of running clothes, especially (race) shirts, I brought so many shirts I could have changed out two shirts every 12.5 miles. Stay dry and stay warm was my mantra. At every turn, I did a quick evaluation of my attire, prepared to do full costume changes at any point needed. I changed socks 6 times and shoes 4 times during the race. Instead of changing my shirts, all I did was slowly over the course of the race was add layers. I started the race with two layers and by the end of it I was wearing six, three shirts covered by three running jackets. While I did not use all those shirts I brought, I am glad I had them on reserve. At race start, I had one pair of running gloves on and by the end of the race, I had two sets of gloves on with big ski mittens over those. I guess it did get colder…

The first two laps, I am sorry, were just unexciting. I crossed mile 50 at 7:41 (good pace) and was about 3 minutes out of 2nd place. I felt pretty good, just a little tired (sun just going down) eating well, stomach felt great, etc. As soon as I took off for the back 50, The engine kept going, but the driver stopped paying attention. I had plenty of fuel, was eating good, but forgot to consume at least SOME caffeine. I drank no soda nor coffee all day, except for that horrible cup of coffee at 9am that morning. I know I know, I’m dumb, shut up.

The two other big problems were listening to talking (podcasts I follow) and not turning on my headlamp (hard to explain that last one, just trust me) which made my brain do the things it does when I go to bed. When I jogged, it was not my body telling me to go back walking, it was my brain telling me it was bed time. I was giving it no other stimulus except the ‘keep moving’ command, which just wasn’t’ enough. My legs weren’t even that tired (85% recovery after 2 days) but no matter what I did, the command of ‘get moving’ was never loud enough. I honestly believe that a pacer would not even have helped that much. I need to go all out, listen to techno and run with a spotlight on my head which sucking down Jolt cola.

Mile 75 in 13:40, which meant I did miles 50-75 miles in 6 hours flat, and I still had 25 miles to go. Ugh. One death march, coming up! When I was at the mile 75 aid station I ate some food, got up from a short 2 minute rest and got light headed, almost passing out. I decided to extend my sit rest to 2 more minutes. Then I could at least stand, and get back to moving, which I did but very slowly. One key to finishing 100’s is never linger at aid stations. 10 min of sitting you would think would be good rest, but your muscles tighten up. If you wait to long, it is almost impossible to get going again. At Burning River, people were dropping at aid stations beyond mile 90 for just that reason. Once I got back on the track, I tried to pump my arms to move a little quicker, but it barely had any effect.

I did the last 25 miles is ~6:25, which is only slightly slower than miles 50-75 and even jogged much of the last mile (some adrenaline due to finish line proximity is my guess) emphasizing that it was my brain that slowed me down, not my body. Sunrise was a coming as I crossed the finish line not with a bang, but a wimper.

By the time I got to the finish tent, Kai had been there an hour already and was reading a book. I got my buckle and after a quick chit chat with the RD and with my tail between my legs, Kai and I left. We headed back to hotel just as the sun was getting bright and took a quick 4 hour nap before we headed home. Another trip through Canada and I was home by 6:30, dejected and tired. By the time I went to bed, Misty had helped be triage the event and my spirits were lifted, knowing pretty much immediately what I had done wrong during the race.

Marathons are easy to me now, but the 100 milers will never be easy. They must always be respected and can kick your ass in new and unusual ways. Maybe that is why I enjoy them, for the thrill of the internal struggle. I told the RD last year I would never run the Winter 100 ever again. This year I told him the same thing. We will see if I lied to him again….

2/XY overall

Once again, I decided to start the year out with a marathon. Well, actually, a 40 mile training run with 26.2 of the miles being part of a Fat Ass Marathon. Misty and I decided to make it a couple weekend and left the house early Saturday morning and went movies hopping. After 2 pretty good movies (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Young Adult) we headed to my friend Ryan’s house. He is a great friend and also happens to be the RD for this Fat Ass race. His wife Trudy joined in and the four of us went out to dinner at Applebees then headed to a local bar for New Years festivities. Being old like we are, we left the bar at about 10:30. Headed back to their house and drank some chanpagne, chit-chatted until just after the ball drop in Times Square and then we all went to bed.

Ryan had to be there early as the race director, so I went in with him and while he was getting all setup, I went out and did one loop around the lake. The race was at Stoney Creek Metropark which has a nice 6 mile paved bike trail. That first loop took me a little time to get moving, but by the time I got back to the start, I felt good and ready for a long day.

For the last 15 min or so before the start, I got to hang out with some fellow ultra runners who came this day. I knew more people at this race than most, so it was fun. Almost all the people I talked with are experienced ultra runners. All great people, actually.

My first loop of the actual marathon race was done in about 44 min, with no big surprises at all. About half way around loop 2 I was caught by Matt Antoniou, a local pizza shop owner and fellow ultra guy. In 2011, he ran his first 5K ever, and his first 150 miler too. He’s a great guy and we decided to run together for a while, which turned out to be the last ~17 miles of the race. We finished loop 2 and said Hi to our wives quick (who were both at the start/finish line) grabbed some food and headed out.

The weather, just like last year, was just weird. This year the temperatures were in the low to mid 40’s, but swirling winds (sometimes 20-25 mph) and rain on and off all day made for generally unpleasant running conditions. It could have been worse, running on snow or it being freezing rain. This being a long training run for what will surely be a tough run (Beast of Burden) in three weeks, I did not complain. The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle.

In preparation for the Beast of Burden, I tested a few new ideas including food consumption while racing. Always my Achilles heel in ultras, I tried two new things to fix my stomach issues and general lack of motivation to eat. During ultras, I usually have food with me (candy bar or some such) in my pocket, but I never eat it. Its mental, so I decided that this time that when I get food at an aid station I have to CARRY the food with me. If I don’t eat it right then, it is there in my hand until I get sick of carrying it and then am forced to eat it. Its seems subtle and stupid, but ya know what? It worked. The other test was to eat fresh fruit instead of candy. One loop I ate a handful of pineapples (yum!) and another loop I ate grapes. My stomach had no issues with that, so I think I scored. Since they are not totally loaded with calories, I will have to eat them frequently. Also, I need to pig out a little more the last days before the race.

Matt and I took short walk breaks every once in a while, and I learned that even a very short walk (20 seconds) makes a difference. I came up with a new walk system. When I take a walk break, I only walk to the ‘count’ of the mile I am currently at. So, for example, if I am at mile 25, I start slowly count to 25 while walking. When I get to 25, I start running again. We slowed a little on loop 4 as we were just running for fun and taking those short walk breaks, and we decided to cross the finish line at the exact same time (we stopped and gently stepped over the line together) for my first ever ‘tie’ which was in second. We lost to Rich, another local guy who I lost this race too last year.

At the end, I ate some more food and then headed out to do yet another loop, only a little slower than the last ‘race’ loop. Once I finished that, I was at 38 mile for the day and looking at the clock, I realized that my average pace was FASTER than my average pace in my 6 hour ultra last October. For a training run, I was very pleased. 2 more miles walking to clean out the bad chemicals in my legs (it was a training run) gave me a 40 mile day that I was quite happy with.

RUT is a local (meaning Ann Arbor area) running group that promotes running, especially the ultramarathon variety. In the last few years they have been promoting a series of Fat Ass races. For those of you uninitiated, Fat Ass races are free, and have minimal support, no shirts (usually) no awards, no frills. The key is that first one, free. tell runners there is a free race but ask them kindly to bring some food to share for the racers and you get an AWESOME spread of food. from homemade cookies to fresh fruit to your standard ultra fare. That’s what we had this day.

There ended up being 91 people on this cold day (~21 degrees at race start) but the course was in good shape (less than an inch of snow for the most part) and everyone was in great spirits (Hey, its a free race!) at 8am when it was start.

The course was essentially the same as the summer FA I did back in August two weeks after my difficult BR 100 run. That me it took me over 4 hours to do a marathon distance, and this day iw as feeling much much better. I am now deep in training (well, sortof) for my next 100 mile race in January, so I decided to make this a long training run since it was well supported and lots of other people running. I had hoped to do 40 miles, but because I had to get on the road in time to pick up my daughter in Indiana that afternoon, I had to bail after 34 miles. It was still a good hard workout.

The first loop (~13.6) was gentle and easy and after a few miles I got into a steady pace with two other guys, Brian and Eric. Smart guys (one microbiology grad student, one computer geek) and good conversation abounded including quite a but of banter on educational philosophy. Brian dropped back near the end of loop 1, and Eric and I stayed together through the transition (~5 min stop at start/finish for food and costume changes) and about 4 miles into the second loop. We had been doing 8:40ish miles up to that point which was slower than I wanted to do, but the conversation was worth the drop in pace for me. Eric cut me lose and I picked up the pace a little bit after that.

The course is well worn mountain bike trail that had a lot of roots on it. I tripped 5 times total, only once going all the way down. That time, I spun to fall on heavy grass loaded with snow so it was a gentle tumble. After the first hour, the temperature had picked up to almost OK, so it ended being a great long run in the woods. A good training run with old and new friends.