Spring Recap & 50sForYourMomma 50mile

After a fun-filled Feb-April, I wanted something in May. Big miles were logged throughout late winter and early spring, and good races were ran: >100k race (Ga death race) and the best >50k in the east (promise land). My goals for the spring were simple: race less and just have fun! After hellgate in December, I was deeply tired and it doesn't make much sense to race a ton if you want to preform well, so just race less! Performing well to me means doing my best and pushing myself hard. Eyes-wide, heart-beating, legs-burning with all they can give in the late miles of races. I don't think i can accomplish that goal by racing an ultra a month. Such a pace is simply unsustainable. 

I accomplished my spring goals and I am happy. I did end up entering a good number of races, but I treated them as runs and not focus races. And all kinds of distances and surfaces. Because they were not Horton races I was totally cool with running other events. Horton's races are so great and the competition is legit--I feel as though I should RACE those races. And I did not want to race all six races of the beast series, especially because it starts in February. With another season of experience under my belt, I think I have a grasp (grasp only) on this ultra business.

So I ran more than ever and without any true purpose. I logged consistent >75mi weeks, hitting 90 mpw for seemingly no reason at all besides I was loving the constant flow of training. Promise Land was my focus race for the spring semester, but because of its brevity and my not very race specific training, I didn't want it to be the end of my season. Like I said, I wanted something in May.

Escaping time with miles & exploring 

I pondered a few 100s (old dominion mainly) but I didn't want to simply just do my first hundo. I was running fast(ish) and wanted a PR. 50sforyomomma, a race i did as a tune up for my first 50 miler last year, seemed like a good call with it's low-keyness and small entry fee.

Not much special happened in the race, so synopsis: Some triathlete-looking dude disappeared from the gun and I ran a bit with Wyatt. The tri dude dropped out and I basically ran 40 miles in circles alone. Boredom set in around mi 33 but I felt completely fine physically  A full blown taper (mainly from laziness) kept a spring in my step. A very muddy course and two extra miles threw my sub 7:30/45 time goal out the window, so my motivation was a bit low. Some guy passed me and I didn't care. Not in a mad kind of way. I was never mad during this one. I ran decently quickly from the start and enjoyed it. I eventually rallied hard after being passed, passed him, and started dancing on the windy trails. Glove ran with me the last 10 miles and we had fun. The race was over pretty quickly and I was surprised at how easy it seemed (at least from this week-later hindsight as I write). Confidence boost! My family came which was awesome. My sister toted a sign from my triathlon days that read "swim bike run" and she crossed out the swim and bike. I chuckled the entire next five mile lap.

Laughing at the sign

Sometime very early on--no muddy shirt yet

Go UltraVT

So it was a good spring. My running career progressed naturally, me just doing what I wanted to, which is running ample miles and running fast. I said running a lot and running fast, not racing a lot and racing fast. I'd like to race a lot but i'll admit my ego gets in the way: if I do worse than I should have I don't like it. Ultrarunners are egotisitical. And that's ok. It just creates tension spots in the mind every once in awhile. But it doesn't matter.

I'm happy with my progression. After three years I am now ready to train for and run 100 miles, and do it well. My off period from the spring season has been full of family and relaxation and craft beers and getting my hormones back to normal. Plus a wild lake house trip with best friends. 

The infamous "Lake Anna Orgy". It wasn't an orgy, don't worry mom. 

Gstone is a ways away indeed, so I am not rushing my system. Plenty of time. Working in Raleigh NC this summer, it looks like ill be doing lots of flat road running and traveling to the mountains on the weekends. I'm looking to hit at least 4 consistent and quality 100 mi weeks. The specificity of climbing/descending will have to come in August-September for me. Come June first the real training begins. I feel good, I'm hella looking forward to it :) for now: friends, food, drinks, and a little bit of biking.

Forever stoke &
See you round the mountain.

PS) not sure why some of the font is messed up, can't fix it

PPS) My training partner and great friend Glove ran 110 miles in 40 hours at Crewl Jewl this past weekend!! Meeeega inspiring. Dude pushes me. Read his awesome race report here. The UltraVT contingent of us, jordy, and dmack is gonna crush gstone.

Chaos at the First Semesterly BEER MILE

Ridiculously dressed, my heart pounded as the national anthem played in the background. We, a gang of 16 good friends, were too nervous to even listen to the anthem. Jittery, beers in hand, already not sober, families circling the track, middle school softball practice up above us on the hill, some dude riding laps on a bike, and a dog were all watching us with cocked heads.

Drek, soon-to-be ESPN the Ocho's new announcer, counted down from three. Cans clicked. "GOOO!!!"

Mike Jones (who?), the infamous drinker-gone-ultrarunner, came out swinging with an estimated 10-second chug. Beer over the head to ensure it was finished, he gunned it down the track. I followed five seconds later. No one else contended for the win. 

The scene at the transition area was chaos. Already cries of "I CAN'T DO IT!" were yelled (by the females), and people seemed to be walking in circles. Drek and the rest of apt. 327 screamed at the competitors, "CHUG CHUG CHUG COME ONNNN." Mr. Mike Jones stayed five seconds ahead of me coming into round two, and I let him take the lead after the second beer. I started to reel him in, when I came upon the infamous Guy Love, 

POWER WALKING

in classic ultrarunner style, arms swinging wildly. like this (skip to 0:30):

Trying to control the contents of my stomach was difficult laughing my head off, keeping a constant cadence, of course focusing on form (not), and dainty burps were happening simultaneously, somehow. Glove, prior to the event, jokingly said he'd break 7 mins, and I thought, no way, that's a super fast mile and <30sec chug average. And Tech legend Graham Peck, 14th finisher in JFK 50 this past year, had a PR in the beermile of 7:16... Because he runs like a 4:10 mile and a 2:30 marathon, and I run a 5:15 mile and a 3:10 marathon (hey, haven't tried in a couplea years), I thought just breaking 10 mins would be good. Guy responded, "I dunno, I never really chug beers." Ahhh, but that's what college is for. Plenty of both in my three years here at Tech (thanks boys), I was born for this. The adrenaline flowed. 

I don't remember rest of the second lap, but I think I came into transition simultaneously with Mr. Mike Jones. The third lap was a heavenly adrenaline-drunk blur. 

Now in the lead for the last round, announcer Drek was amazed at my chugging ability. Normally, I don't chug beers but stick to some good ol tequila or bourbon, but my apartment is known for beating 327 in a case race (42 minutes, hold the applause). I perfected the art. I walked in a couple small circles while Taylor "already ran 4 miles today" Walton hands-on-knees said "this. is. so. hard," Roomie Chris "I thought I was gonna win" Crowley rolling over on the ground, Roomie Wyatt "Randy" Lowdermilk throwing up (PENALTY LAP!), and DJ Meems rocking the tunes, time stopped in that moment, like this: 

Everything was perfect

I gunned outta the gate for the last time, surprised I actually just chugged four beers in less than 6 minutes. I picked up the pace the last 200m, and crossed the line in more glory than winning Western States. 6:48. 

Kinda like this

Notes

Crowley ended up catching the girls, almost chicked, but instantly stopped to the ground on his last lap and emptied his stomach violently. penalty lap. He got chicked. x3. 

J "#bigthingshereandthere" Capp puked, but in a porter potty, so can we subtract his penalty lap? 

Darren "the freshman" and Steve "the freshman," with only 3/4ths a year of college drinking under their belts, struggled. Look forward for them when they gain more experience. 

Glove, a recent and fellow top-10er at Promise Land 50k, was certainly the race disappointment. Apparently powerwalking does not yield results in a mile long race. 

Before or after?

Definitely After

The Last Placers

Not really accurate results (track is 9m long/lap?)

1. Rudy "test tomorrow morning" Rutemiller: <7:06

2. Mike "can we go to TOTS now?" Jones: <7:37

3. Dylan "wolfshirt" Hesse: <9:11
4. Steve "The Freshman": 9:30ish

5. Wyatt "Puketastic" Lowdermilk: <11:51

6. J "#bigthingshereandthere" Capp: <12:11

7. Kent "wait guys I have pints?" Robinson: <13:00

8. Guy "glorious" Love: <13:26

Seven other finishers somewhere in there. The first four places are accurate.

See you round the mountain  pong table

PROMISE LAND: People living life.

Dear Diary,

In the same vein? That's been my phrase for the past week. It popped into my head when we were losing 20-3 at the top of the second inning in intramural softball. D Rek pitched a strike and I rallied "eyyyy there ya  go number trece, in the same vein now whattdaya say?" It was odd. But I liked how it came out. I said it about thirty other times throughout the next few innings. I also imparted some "it never always gets worse" knowledge on my team. I don't think anybody else laughed besides me. I later struck out when I was up to bat. In slowpitch softball. Yeah, Fiji's pitcher threw a wicked 9-foot arc.

Couple of pitches

I swear I was a star shortstop in 4th grade. I guess I'll stick to ultramarathons now in my late, late age of 21.

Occasionally I feel 40.

Anywho, I LOVE PROMISE LAND. In fact, I just remembered that it is indeed the only ultramarathon I've ever raced more than once. The atmosphere is unbeatable--everybody camps out in a glorious field Friday night, bonfire, 530am start, big climbs, a gnarly decent, fellowship and burgers after the race. Those parts were what made this weekend fun.

The week before Chrissy and I ran the Bel Monte 25k which was FAST and felt great to push limits in a different way. We stayed at Bob's house Friday night (thanks Bob!) and woke up at a lovely 5am. The ~16.5 mi run was a neat out and back. I ran with a few dudes for the first half, then took off the second half. It was like running in an actual "chase pack." It was good to actually race people instead of a clock or previous time. A good fast medium-long run in and a podium finish, my confidence was boosted for the Promise Land.

Down down down down the mountain

Chrissy won!

ONWARD. After Bel Monte I decided I guess it'd be a good time to rest and "taper"...PL was only a week away! So I only did 10/6/1/4/2mi the days leading up to PL, which constitutes as rest for me lately I guess. My legs felt leaden but in repair mode. I could literally feel them mending themselves whenever I was lying down. Twitch twitch. Doing exactly what tapering is supposed to do. But you're supposed to feel a "pop" when your tapering...perhaps I need more than a one-week taper for actual end-of-season races. Learning myself and my body more and more. Good stuff! I got realllly excited to race on Monday in my room. Like to the point of adrenaline. Woah there. Five days away.

Come Friday I was only half my happy-go-lucky self. I wasn't necessarily focused but I was certainly ready to start running and not waste any energy being all bubbly at the pre-race meeting. I was reluctant to do much socializing and I hit the tent early. Which kind of sucks because the whole ultra-family was there. But as it is a Horton race, I felt the need to preform my best, and so with self-imposed pressure, I didn't seem that fun.

An early 420am alarm and oatmeal came. Wyatt and I blared the obligatory pre-race tunes and got to the start line on time (unlike last year when I woke up with 30 mins before the start and forgot all my gus; different vein). We were soon off. So it began.

I made sure I was in the front of the start line this time. Top 10 on my mind. I ALWAYS, unintentionally, start slow and work my way through the field, but with a field this stacked of good runners I thought I'd try to go out with the front-guys and see what happens (note: Glove said it correctly, "The number of guys vying for the win wasn't as deep as last year, but the number of good solid runners [us] after the top spots was huge, like 20 or 30.) So the top guys formed a pack of seven or eight and ran about ten yards ahead of a chase pack of maybe 5 of us. It was really neat. Actually a pack of leaders then a pack of chase-guys. It only lasted a mile though, naturally with the big climb right off the bat. I let the front guys go and hiked the steep uppermost part of the climb, then kind of ran alone till we hit the white oak trail. I think that's called the white oak trail?

I dislike the white oak trail. It's pretty, but it's douchegrade and just meanders along and adds miles. Once it opens up into the old grassy road I guess I started to slow, or everybody else started to run. Like really run. I felt like I was running with a marathon stride, not ultra stride, and hoards of people were passing me. Like 20 people passed me. I got pissed. "I know basically everybody vying for the top 15 spots, and these people aren't them. Who the heck are these people. Eager beavers, you're all just going to die later." Glove and I verbally told each other, quite loudly around the folks, that we were going to catch them all up the falls. I wasn't happy and I was being a passive-aggressive dick to  the rest of the field who was just trying to have a good time. And for that I wasn't happy with myself. My damn emotional history was getting the best of me. THESE THINGS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FUN....This issue of races not being fun has been with me more and more steadily since I've started to run fast(er) and trying to "race" instead of just run. Sometimes I wish I was a midpacker who never wears a watch or looks at freaking ultrasignup.

So I caught up to Dmack and Glove and we walked a good bit of the douchegrade that is white oak trail. I knew I was mad, and told myself that I can't do anything about the other people, so I didn't stay mad long. I just got bored. I finally reached the Parkway and the dirt road and downhill, and started running because I wanted to be alone (Glove and Dmack, they had stopped for water at a spring a tad before the parkway and I didn't; the first aid station was not set up). I hit sunset fields and only ate a couple oranges then started to BOOK the DARKSIDE.

I LOVE THE DARKSIDE. The course doesn't require attention until the darkside because you immediately have a steep, ROCKY, decent after sunset fields. I flew and loved it. I was with freshman Darren (dudes fast!) and was starting to enjoy the race, running with a friend and nobody else. We came into Cornelius Creek AS and I verbally stated that the previous section was great. Positive reinforcement. Potatoes hit the spot. Darren was filling his pack and I bolted off down the road, which I like because you can really run. I was alone and enjoying the scenery and happy. Funny how things turn around in such a short period of time.

I eventually caught up with Matt Bugin and we ran a few miles together back to Cornelius Creek. He's always very very solid, so I knew I was in a better spot when I was with him. He's gonna rock MMT 100 in a couple weeks (as is Joe Dudak!). Matt remarked that he considers the bottom of the falls the end of the race because "nobody I know can run up the whole falls." I was feeling pretty solid, and I was looking forward to what I could do on the climb.

I ran Apple Orchard Falls in ~42:30 and passed eight people. Stoke.

Short and consistent strides, I started grooving and digging. LOVE that climb proper. Seeing people is always good, then passing people is always great. Jared, a friend from the first time I witnessed MMTR, remarked that top-10 was close when I started the climb. Hm....At SSfields I passed a man to hop into sixth place. What? Where did everybody go? Heck yes. TOP TEN?! I felt heroic surprising Tammy at SSfields. Earlier at the same AS she remarked I didn't sound too good, and now three hours later I was cooking. Just seeing her made me smile inside. I hope I smiled outwardly, but who knows, I was working. Dmacks girlfriend flawlessly handed me my other bottle (truly flawless, thank you!). Five miles to go, all downhill. Let's go. I passed a man before the final gravel road. When he finished I learned he ran more than 25 miles with a BROKEN RIB. TOUGH TOUGH TOUGH. Mad respect.

Feeling heroic. Photo: Beth Minnick

I finished 5th! 5:11:26, only a minute faster than last year. In the same vein. Haha.

I was surprised. I was shooting for 5:10, maybe 5:05, and loosely top 10. I thought I was going to run a 5:05 and get 15th place, but that didn't happen. I'm a much better runner than I was this time last year, so I was surprised I didn't run faster, but no complaints!

One of the first things out of my mouth was "that wasn't very fun."
Three hours later I was saying, "That was so fun."
The devil and god are raging inside me.

HOKIES CRUSHED IT.
LIKE, REALLY CRUSHED IT.
We had fourteen hokies run. I think maybe even a couple more than that. Last year it seemed like it was just glove, rachel, dmack and myself. And now we have so many people! It's great.
Jordy finished 9th, Glove finished 10th, FRESHMAN Darren 12th, FRESHMAN Steve 15th, Earp and Mike Jones in the 30s. Incredible. We really have developed something in our little ultra team here in Blacksburg. I'm proud of everybody.

What's next? Who knows. I'm debating a 50k or 50mi for the sake of a PR just to put something down fast. Then it's 100% GRINDSTONE training. I'm really looking forward to that because it's just run as much as you can (well, it's a lot more than that, but that's how I'm approaching it). I was just kind of aimlessly running highish mile weeks before promise land, topping out at 90, just for the sake of running. I enjoy the constant training.

The post race was so enjoyable. Hearing how everybody did, catching up with friends I only see at races, sitting in the sun, eating, nothing else really beats that. I had one clear thought:

Here, people are living life. 

5 hokies in the top 15!! 

TEAM!!!!

Judgement--DON'T DO IT!

A quick little blurb about what's been on my mind the past few hours that I think is useful to pen.

Judgement. I think it's inherent to us humans on some degree, to judge other people, "I'm better than them/ they're wearing that?/ Drinking that?/ That persons slow/ Your major is sooo difficult..." Stuff like that. But I think it's probably one of the most unhealthy things us humans can do. What does judgement accomplish? A little ego-boost? If that's the case, hurting someones feelings (by actually verbally judging) is not worth a little ego boost. And internal judgement has to have some kind of negative pessimistic narcissistic fault in the brain. I'm no full-blown scientist or nothin'.

Anyway. This morning I hopped in the Xenia Marathon (small, middle of nowhere farmland Ohio) as a training run, doing nothing special in preparation. I was a little burnt out of Tech/trail life, so I went home for the weekend. I was planning on doing 22 around my neighborhood, but Xenia was only an hour away and running long in Ohio is much easier with people. My decision was spontaneous and I was actually pretty excited and got brief pre-"race" nerves before the start line. The marathon scene is not my usual.

So within the first mile, I ran up to some 30-something year old and asked, "Hey man, what's the name of this race?" (I didn't know the name of the marathon...it never said on the website. I thought it was OHRRA or something but I was curious so I asked). The guy gave me an odd look (understandably), and said "Xenia Marathon. X-E-N-I-A." I responded, "Cool, thanks man." And ran off a bit ahead of him. Like five yards ahead of him. And I heard him laugh out loud and remark to his friend "This kid thinks this is a mile fun run, hahahaha." He probably thought he'd pass me in two miles. He didn't pass me at all.

I kind of smiled and ran ahead. But his remark kept creeping back into my head. This dude doesn't know me. He doesn't know I've run 10 Ultras, that a marathon is a "fun run" for me, and that I'm ending an 80 mile training week. I'm no better than this man, but his comment irked me.

I ended up having a great time at the race, talking to one dude in particular who was trying to qualify for boston, saying positive things to people along the course, and smiling. Having no time goals whatsoever made me enjoy the race. I was gonna pick up headphones but opted not to because I was having FUN at a race. It was much more FUN than the DEATH RACE. It was hot an I happily ran shirtless. Marathoning is certainly different than ultraing, and still certainly hard. It's no better than ultrarunning. Just different. And I enjoyed switching my routine up.

I met an older man at 50sforyomomma race in Ohio last May. He said, "One thing I've learned over the years is to stop caring about what other people are doing during a race. Don't judge anybody. You don't know if they're in the middle of a 100 mile week, or if their spouse just died, or if they're completely tapered and overly obsessed."

So. Don't judge people. At least catch yourself and correct yourself when you do. Something I work on.

Mom and Pops came!

Got to see a lifelong friend I grew up with--Eric!

Getting Out of the Grumps

I had the hardest recovery I've ever had after the Georgia Death Race. I didn't run for six days, which I think is the longest non-running break I've had in a long time (after hellgate I played basketball and semi-running stuff). I was prevented from running because a nasty case of pitting edema in my left calf which still isn't 100%. More so I just didn't want to run. Zero desire. I didn't even think about going for a run Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. I thought about it Thursday but opted to spin instead. Basically I ran myself into the ground physically which translated to mentally because I was frustrated about my calf. Major case of the grumps. I was no fun to be around and I knew it. I never had any real lingering post-race endorphins. Major case of the grumps.

I HAD to do something to get me out of the grumps, and I think swimming and spinning helped, but the true cure was Terrapin Mountain. I love this mountain. With a bunch of friends running the half marathon and 50k, I decided to tag along and run around/volunteer during the race with roomie Wyatt and friend Chris Demasi. Friday evening my calf was feeling alright and Chris started out to hike up to the summit of Terrapin while Wyatt and I ran up. We arrived just in time for the sun to drop below the ridgeline. Biting cold, wind, beautiful light, and companionship, combined with moving my legs for the first time in a long time, combined to finally bring a smile to my face.

Terrapin Mountain Summit--Wind!

Rec buddies--Cold!

A dark decent, homemade pizza, plenty of Icona Pop, and sleeping in the freezing temperatures on the ground are more things I love.

The next morning Wyatt and I were off to camping gap before 6:30am and arrived in time for a gorgeous sunrise. The aid station dudes put us to work quickly and we ferociously jotted down bib numbers and times with freezing pens and hands and helped fill bottles. I LOVE working aid stations. You get to see the race up front play out (instant inspiration when the dude in 8th books it into the AS at mile 21 and shouts HOW FAR UP IS KEITH IN THE SINGLET? and RUNS up the steep incline out of the AS with positive information that he's only two mins behind).  Also seeing the mid and back of the packers who are just having fun is a nice change of pace. And of course, filling bottles, packs, and giving ibuprofen and course info to all the hokies as they run by. Seeing friends rock races = instant inspiration. Sharing time with friends in training then seeing them run while you're not with them is incredible. All the hokies ran well (like usual :)). As Glove said, "somebody must be spiking the water in Blacksburg."

Wyatt Earp just after sunrise.

So whenever you get the grumps, just find a baller 2400ft climb, see a sunset and the following sunrise, and volunteer. Also partying with your bros during the daylight never hurts. Make love/take love #2013. See you round the mountain.

Soothing light, beautiful sunset

DEATH at the Georgia Death Race

Woof. Rough intro to the racing season!

We (Guy Love and I) ran the Catawba Runaround the Saturday before GDR. The Runaround covers the most beautiful parts of Virginia's AT, and it's an honor to be invited, so even though we knew it was a bad idea (35 mi a whole lotta gain) a week before the GDR, we decided to roll with it. "It'll be more fun anyway...and the Death Race isn't a Horton race so there's no external pressure to perform." Well, it was a horrible idea--there was loads of snow on the course and the already difficult course took almost 8.5 hours. 8.5 hours a week before a huge effort = recipe for disaster. The Runaround itself was really fun with a great community, really something that'd be great to do every early March!

Good thing Glove and I were going to the beach to taper! We hung out at Hilton Head all week leading up to the GDR and barely ran at all. Solid taper? Prolly too little running and suuuper flat. The pines were pollinating in HH which caused for the worst allergies I've ever had--another solid recipe for disaster at the GDR. Also, the drive to GDR that was supposed to take 5.5 hours took 10. The Universe was totally saying "DON'T GO TO THE GDR." We missed most the pre race meeting and were unable to do a shakeout run. All signs pointed to death....that's enough bitching to last me the rest of the year, so let's get to the "race."

4am start was rough. I managed to fall asleep at 11 despite being in bed at 9, and 245am came quickly. The start line had the usually nervous vibe, and all 5 of us UltraVT gang manged to find eachother and wish every one luck. One of my favorite moments of every race. All giddy, ready to start running, friends sharing what's inevitably going to be an incredible experience.

Sean RunBum race director recited a poem about death and the field counted down from 10 and we were off. The giddiness dwindled to zero by the time we hit the trail 5 mins into the race. I thought nothing of it. Glove and I started up the large climb to Coosa Bald (really a great climb, enjoyed that part at least) which is the tallest point on the course. We had a train of 15 or 20 people following us for the first hour which we were quite surprised about because although we were going easy we were still "race pace easy." The pack shortened naturally and we found ourselves running with Jon Barker, a fervent adventure racer kind-of gone ultrarunner. Getting to know Jon was one of the most fun parts of the day. It was still dark and he was telling us about running in Greenland and getting lost and running as a team and all sorts of great stories and tips.

Before we started running with Jon, about an hour? into the race I took a fall on a downhill section and hit my upper shin HARD on a rock. Big scrape, blood. Throbbing pain. Walked a step and stopped. I'm not afraid to admit when something hurts, and this one hurt. I stopped hands-on knees for 20 seconds or so and tried to take another step and stopped again. I was alright, but it throbbed. I thought I was lucky cause I missed my knee but later I learned from team-PT Jordan Chang that I knocked it right where a bunch of muscles come together. Oh well.

Oh well? Oh no. Pretty soon after the fall I noticed my calf/soleus was suuuper tight. I stopped to stretch it a couple times. I had to change my gait. I didn't think at the time that the tightness was due to the fall. The really tough sections, feeling tired, and now fluid-filled calf wasn't making for a fun time. I wanted to drop. I hadn't felt good all day, and you usually feel good at the start of races. In fact the more I thought the worse I felt. I legitimately thought about dropping and it was less than 2 hours into a 14 hour race. I've never contemplated dropping in a race before, and I think this is my 12th ultra. I ran through the scenarios--I could go back to sleep! I could train more next week. I DO like running a lot of miles more than racing. This racing thing isn't very fun. I'd rather enjoy. But then I thought, "what's my reason for dropping?" An answer of calf tight is ridiculous because I could still make forward progress. I'm not having any fun was my only real reason to drop. And that's not a good reason to drop. It's too early anyway. So I stopped thinking about quitting and resolved to go till sunrise, then just run aid-to-aid. Who cares about placing or time. This run is gonna take awhile. I knew I felt bad, but I knew I'd get out of it. I just didn't know it'd take over 9 hours to get out of it...

Daylight came with a gorgeous view on the N. Ga. mountains. Really large mountains. The view didn't last long though as the trail dictated total attention with its steepness. Ga doesn't believe in switchbacks--straight up and straight down. Nothing like that here in Virginia.

We soon came to the out and back section where I saw friend and dude who inspired me to start racing ultras Henry Wakley who was in 3rd place! We descended to the aid station where I filled my bladder and really hung out at. The race was so hard that all day I took more time at aid stations (~3-5min) than in any other ultra where you grab-and-go. Ate too much food at this aid station, didn't eat anything till the next aid.

On the way back up I saw fellow Hokies Fletcher and Rachel and semi stopped to exchange greetings. How are you doing? Rachel asked. Eh was my response. And eh stayed for a looong time. Good thing Guy was dragging me along or else I would have quit.

At mi 25 aid station (really mi 27.5) I had an aid station worker rub my calf (THANK YOU!) which helped a little bit. The hard part of the course was over and we found ourselves on a forest service road. I had waited for Guy at the AS who was a couple mins back. I didn't want to run by myself and Guy was helping me along all day. Great teammate.

I resolved to plug in my headphones and just get through this extended-crappy patch, but we found ourselves admist Sean Pope, a really fast an awesome young runner similar in age to Guy and I. I'd seen Sean around but never talked to him so it was fun to get to know him a little. I was in a grumpy mood and didn't say much, but it was good to listen to him talk to Guy and his laughs lifted my spirits a tad. Unforgettably he was having foot problems and had to drop later.

So, there Guy and I were, alone in the middle of nowhere Georgia, and it started to get really hot. Hot enough that we dropped our packs and hopped in a creek on the side of the road at one point. We crossed a field somewhere, and I was looking so awful and feeling so bad that Guy even noticed it. He gave me the "it never always gets worse" pump up speech, and I was like, "dude I know but I HATE THIS and I've felt bad for the past EIGHT HOURS. This isn't running this is slogging and I'm learning I don't like to slog in a race. And I want to die and quit and boooo." Woe is me. Psh.

The temperature was rising, the grades of the course were lessening, and I knew I had a drop bag of new shoes and shirt at mile 40 (really 45). We got there after walking a lot of runnable forest road, and Guy said he was taking off as I was changing my shoes. I was totally cool with that. I didn't think I'd see him again. I felt like I was slowing him down all day, which I think I was, but he said he didn't want to run alone that early. He was feeling pretty good and I was stoked for him to fly the last marathon into the finish.

With my shoe change and another calf massage (THANK YOU) and shirt change into my VT Triathlon singlet I felt a ton better. I was bitching aloud to friends about how horrible I felt when the first place woman, Valerie came up to the AS and said, "hey I resolved to walk it in awhile ago and then I drank a ton of coke and put in my headphones and turned it around. do the same!" She was so motherly and kind--really what I needed to hear.

Rocking VT Tri at a December 10k with Chrissy

Who knows if the shoe change actually helped (I think the lower drop of the Mantras did, opposed to my worn out S-Lab XTs) but I drank coke and popped in the headphones. I was able to RUN now FINALLY. The bad patch was gone. Nine hours of feeling horrible in basically every way. I got through it. I didn't even think about the fact that I had 20-26 more miles to go, I just ran. On the long decent, I passed Guy who stopped to pee and unfortunately I think my bad patch passed to him. I was bummed and felt pretty badly that I had passed him cause he really helped me all day long. But Guy knows how to slog and loves it, so he'd be alright.

A Day To Remember, (what a horrible video hahaha. 2008.) flashing back to my agnsty high school days, was sounding pretty great. Stupid lyrics like "I will never faulter; I'll stand my ground." Made me proud that I didn't quit and really pissed me off to start running hard. The decent was long and we were running through a recently burned forest which is definitely with my interests so I was occupied with firefighting thoughts.

I was running well now, calf not hurting, taking in caffeine pretty regularly, and feeling good. The shuffle switched to Mac Miller which I further got stoked on. I found myself arms wide-airplane style- running down the mountain rapping egotistical lyrics. "Best day ever." Thinking about my alter-ego of college kid partyer and some fun times. Because this still wasn't really that fun. Ok it was alright.

Uneventful next 10ish miles.
Caught Henry right before an aid station and ran with him for a mile or so which was nice. Suuuuuper stoked and privileged to accompany him to Barkley in two weeks. I really think he's gonna do it.
I was running behind Valarie on the road section and eventually took off once it climbed. The climb to the last aid station was forever and Kap Slap had me running up steep grades. But then I walked the flats haha. You do what you can.

I did one of those check-your-pulse-in-your-neck and felt nothing. I was officially dead.

Got to the top of the mountain and had a six mile decent to the finish. I ran it hard as possible for fear of getting caught. Saw RD Sean close to the finish which he had to reroute and he ran me in, which was really kind of him because I was unable to hear his directions of how to get to the finish haha. Finished. Totally spent.

......So I'm not really happy with the race. My recovery is the hardest it's ever been. I had a LOT of pitting edema in my calf which is still recovering. Mentally it was such a hard race I don't really want to run anymore. I'm tired. Understandably. You usually have that super-high for a few days after these races, but I'm just grumpy man. Looking back, the race wasss a little fun. The trails were gorgeous and the running at the end I enjoyed. The bad patch was just so long and I felt so badly. Whatever.

UltraVT killed it!!! Three in the top 10, and 5/5 finishers!! I'm so proud of our team. I wish I had pics from the weekend but it was so spread out and rushed and tired that none were taken. It's gonna be a good season. Once we recover. Which is taking awhile.

The rest of the GDR community was great. A facebook event page made for playful banter before the race and the small field had that ultra-family feel. I think the vast majority of ultras should stay like that. Sean RunBum did a great job for a first year ultra. So many people toughed out the race and finish. Everyone did a great job, and that communal accomplishment is whats so great about ultras.

13:53:58 was good enough for 4th (!!). More than an hour longer than I've ever ran. Man. Maybe you can tell I'm wiped. It was certainly a death race. I still feel like death. I learned that I like RUNNING more than slogging up and down mountains. I LOVE mountains but if it's a race I want to feel like I'm running? I'm not a biased runner- I like roads, trails, steep, flat, etc. I just like running. I foresee myself going young-Anton style soon: just trying to run as many miles as possible. We'll see where it all goes.


Dear Death Race,

You win.

No love,
Rudy

Somewhat of a 2012 Recap

The other day in the shower I thought that my life is just a happy blurr. And why should it be any other way? I used to hate it when my dad quoted those quotes, "life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." But alas, I've concluded that those quotes are true. I don't have anything to complain about. I might hurt 25 or 40 or 50 miles into a race, but that's something us kids like to call a "first world problem." Running is such a trivial and luxurious activity, and I'm thankful I get to partake and that I'm healthy. Goodness, my little blog posts always begin so sentimentally.

Dare I say 2012 was the best year of my life. School went well, I made and developed some incredible friendships, summer was a unique experience, and my running continually improved and improved. It's 2013 now, and it began with new friends in New Zealand. Blacksburg brought snow, and a UltraVT 50k to go along with it. I have nothing to complain or worry about.

2012 miles

Jan: 210
Feb: 84        (mono)
Mar: 190      (Terrapin)
Apr: 195      (Promise land)
May: 147     (Yomomma)
Jun: 98        (NF50)
Jul: 129
Aug: 180
Sep: 280     (IMTR, uberrock)
Oct: 254
Nov: 250     (MMTR)
Dec: 126     (Hellgate)

Total: 2,134 miles

2012 Training

Fire Class

PL Training

PL 

Few days after NF50

Sister's bday

Again

Drinkmas 2012

Roomate love

Pink takes Tech

Uber rock

Post hellgate

Mt Rodgers

MMTR finish

PL

Mens team minus Earp in the car w. hypothermia

Post Terrapin

2013 New Zealand

Southern Alps, NZ