Wades Big Adventure

This is always a fun race. We had a blast last year. It's always fun to do a local race on trails that you run on a regular basis. I like this race because they always give out long sleeved shirts and have great food at the finish line. I have developed somewhat of a race plan. I am going to take it easy for the most part. One of my friends just started running recently. He is going to run the 8-mile portion of the race. It will be his first official race!!!! I will be running with Clint, Patrick, Vinnie, John "Snake" Dodd, and Ultra Mike. I don't plan on running very fast. I just want to have fun and get some miles in. I will see everyone there.

Arkansas Traveler 100 Mile
October 4 & 5, 2008

Get Some!!!!!

Me, Anne Marie, Patrick, Holly and Claire crammed the car full of junk and headed out for Arkansas Friday morning. We arrived that afternoon for the weigh in/check in, mandatory meeting and the pasta dinner. After dinner we retired to the camp to sit around for a little while. That’s when Vinnie arrived and joined us at the camp. Everyone sat around the fire and talked for a while. I tried to go to sleep around 8:30 but found it hard to go to sleep. I just kept thinking holy crap what have I got myself into. Finally I was able to sleep for a little bit but my alarm for 4:30 went off pretty fast. I got up and proceeded to get dressed and make sure I had everything I would need. I ended up bringing way too much stuff with me but I didn’t have any prior experience with a race this long. Soon we were all at the starting area where I got my number and pinned it on. The next thing you know, we were on the starting line and they shouted go.

Start O Miles (6:00 am)
We took off in the dark. It was pretty cool looking back down the road and seeing the long string of lights. As we were running I saw a couple of flashes in the sky. I thought, “Was that lightning or one of those blinking towers?” Sure enough, it was lightning. I didn’t hear any thunder so I wasn’t that worried. It was just getting light when we reached the first aid station.

Brown's Creek 5.2 Miles (6:57am)
This was one of the best aid stations. They had a full breakfast complete with pancakes, and BACON!!!! I love bacon!!!! I grabbed 4 pancakes, dipped them in syrup and a handful of bacon. I need one of these aid stations on every one of my runs. Upon leaving this aid station, we continued to run. Everyone was still pretty close together. It was cool because everyone was still fresh and no one was trying to push it. These early mile went by unnoticeably fast. Next thing you know, we were approaching the next aid station.

Flatside Pinnacle 8.6 Miles (7:40 am)
I refilled my bottles, grabbed some nutter butters and started to head out when it began to sprinkle. This was a cool section of the course. It was on the Ouachita Trail. A beautiful single track trail heavily forested with rocks everywhere. Then it started to rain a little bit harder. We were under the trees so it wasn’t too bad. I continued on staying in a line of about ten people. Then we arrived back at my favorite aid station.

Brown's Creek 11.9 Miles (8:24 am)
I grabbed another handful of bacon and 3 pancakes. At this point, the rain just kept getting a little bit worse. As I was running, I started to think, “What if it rains all day? That would be terrible for my feet. I wonder if my crew can scrounge up some kind of rain coat?” We finally arrived at the first crew point.

Lake Sylvia 16.4 Miles (9:25 am)
I could hear my crew scream as I came down the hill. They were all there despite the fact that the rain was still spitting. They filled my bottle with Gatorade, asked me all kind of questions and gave out the high fives. I didn’t need anything at this point because I was feeling pretty good. Upon leaving the aid station, my crew all screamed and cheered. I started walking up a hill and eating when a guy came up beside me and asked if I heard all of that at the aid station. I said yeah that was my crew. He said no not them, the leader is already and hour ahead of us (he is a machine). The first hill was pretty long and I started to get cold because of the rain. I warmed up a good bit when I finally got to run. The rain began to slack up and I began to dry out a little as we reached the next aid station.

Pumpkin Patch 22.1 Miles (10:41 am)
I filled my bottles and ate some aid station food and continued on. In the next few sections, I was running by myself. I cranked up the IPod and got in the zone. I really don’t remember much about this except that it wasn’t raining and I was moving pretty fast. The next aid station just appeared out of nowhere.

Electronic Tower 24.4 Miles (11:10 am)
This was another uneventful section. I remember my feet were pretty wet from puddles, a stream crossing and brushing against tall grass. I was still by myself when I came to a crossroads. The trails had been marked with pink flagging tape but I couldn’t see any in either direction. I took a chance and went one way. About a quarter of a mile down, I started to see little pieces of pink tape scattered on the trail. Someone had taken down a flag and ripped it up into little pieces. Who does that?

Rocky Gap 28.6 Miles (11:59 am)
Although this section was only a little over three miles, it was slow going because of rocks and erosion. The rain from earlier in the day, made me a little cautious. I didn’t want to end my day early because of a fall. I was still a little ahead of my schedule. I wanted to finish in less than 24 hours. At this point, I was still somewhere near 22 hour pace. Next thing you know, I had arrived at the next aid station, which happened to be a crew point as well.

Lake Winona 31.9 Miles (12:42 pm)
Once again I came in to cheers from the crew. With the combination of race day magic and my training I was still feeling great. At this point, I changed my socks to keep my feet in good shape. My crew filled up my bottles; made sure I ate and asked me a slew of questions. Vinnie asked me how I felt and I told him, “Like I just ran a 50K.” Ha-ha. I was good at thinking of stuff I needed from the crew while I was on the trail. But when I got to the crew points I didn’t remember anything because of all the excitement. After a quick stop, I was back on the trail. I ran on to the next aid station without much fanfare.

Pigtrail 36.5 Miles (1:42 pm)
This section of trail was by far the roughest section. It was literally a pig trail. It was only a little over three miles but it took a good bit of time to complete. At this point I was still feeling pretty good. I cruised into the next aid station.

Club Flamingo 39.4 Miles (2:23 pm)
The Warthog’s ran this aid station. They are a Memphis running group. It was by far the most festive of the aid stations. There were hula girls and tikki torches. Although the tikki torches were not lit yet, I knew they would be a welcome site when I returned in the middle of the night. I saw all of the Memphians hanging out and supporting the runners. After chatting, eating and refilling my bottles, I started running again. This section was mostly downhill and was fast. I made it to the Smith mountain aid station in no time.

Smith Mountain 42.6 Miles (2:57 pm)
I started to get bad indigestion from all of the Gatorade I had been drinking and started mixing in some water. I also started eating a Tums every hour when I took my electrolyte pills. The miles started running together at this point. I was starting to glaze over a little, which is fairly normal. I was beginning to get slightly sore.

B.M. Road 46.1 Miles (3:52 pm)
I have no idea what happened anywhere in this area. I have no recollection. I guess I just rang like normal. As I approached the next aid station, there was a car stuck across the road. It was on a hill and couldn’t get enough traction to go. I ran around it and was looking forward to seeing the crew again.

Powerline 48.2 Miles (4:17 pm)
The first order of business was to weigh in. This was the first weigh in of the race. I started at 133lbs. I stepped on the scale and I was a little bit worried but I had gained 2lbs. I was up to 135lbs. My next order of business was to find the crew because I wanted to change my shoes. They were wet and my feet were beginning to feel sore every time I stepped. I could feel all of the rocks under my feet. To my dismay, my crew was nowhere to be found. I grabbed some food and drink and continued on to the next stop. I couldn’t help but wonder where the crew was. I figured that maybe they had a flat tire or something. Anyway, somewhere in the middle of this section I crossed over into uncharted territory. I had previously only run 50 miles. On another note, this is where the leader passed me going back the other direction. I think he was about 20 miles ahead of me. Soon I was at the next checkpoint.

Copperhead Road 52.1 Miles (5:14 pm)
When I arrived at Copperhead Road, I met up with Vinnie. Although he did not have my shoes, he was ready to run. He explained to me that the 20-mile trip from the campsite had taken over an hour to get too. Apparently, they missed me by 10 minutes at Powerline and then rushed to Copperhead to catch me. Holly, Claire & Anne Marie had booked it back to the campsite to pick up Patrick who was resting up for the run through the night. Vinnie told me all about Holly’s Nascar skills on the gravel roads. He said everyone was white knuckled the whole way there. Sounds like an adventure to me. Vinnie and I covered the miles pretty quickly or it seemed like it anyway. It was nice to run with someone that I knew. It started to get dark and all I could think about was the shoes that would be waiting on me at Copperhead Road. We chatted until we reached the Turnaround aid station.

Turnaround 57.9 Miles (?)
We ran with several different people throughout this section. I was telling Vinnie about all of them as we passed going the other direction. Its amazing what you learn about people when you run with them. I know more about some runners that I know about some of my cousins, aunts, and uncles. After swapping stories with the people all day, I couldn’t remember who I had told what story to. My brain was not as sharp as it should have been. I tend to start getting quiet when I get tired but Vinnie kept me talking and alive all the way back to the crew at Copperhead Road.

Copperhead Road 63.7 Miles (?)
When we ran into Copperhead the crew was sitting on the ground eating off of the camp stove. At this point, I was glad to see my Brooks Axiom road shoes sitting there. For the first time since 5:45 that morning I sat down in a chair. I changed out my shoes and socks, loaded up both of my bottles and ate some food. Vinnie and I headed out to the Powerline aid station. It felt like I had new feet with my fresh shoes on. We continued on in the dark. I had forgotten to do the split times on my watch for the last several aid stations. I think it was all the excitement of Vinnie running with me. It was fun to see the lights of the upcoming aid stations through the dark woods.

Powerline 67.7 Miles (?)
As Vinnie and came up to Powerline, I could hear Holly say there they are. They could tell it was me by the obnoxious flash light. I bought it off of Zombie Runner. It has changed the world of night running for me. Anyway, I had fun running with Vinnie. We killed about 16 miles or so before I even realized it. At this aid station I think I might have been a little out of it. I didn’t really have much to say and my legs, shoulders and feet hurt pretty badly. I think Anne Marie was the most worried. Anyway, this is where I picked up Patrick for the rest of the run. We were off into the darkness in no time. All of these miles just kinda went by without notice. It was like I was in a hazy dream. Once again, I had forgotten to reset my watch. We ran on with a guy from Arizona. He didn’t have a pacer and was looking for people to talk to since the night was in full effect. We reached the next aid station I what seemed like a long time.

B.M. Road 69.7 Miles (9:04 pm)
I have no idea what I did here, but I did remember to do the split on my watch. This section was over Smith Mountain. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. However, it did take a long time to make it over. Once the night fell, it took a lot longer to make it from point to point.

Smith Mountain 73.2 Miles (10:44 pm)
It was always exciting to see the aid station lights in the darkness. It was like an oasis in the desert. We all stocked up here and went on down the road. Somewhere in this section, we got passed by a girl from Canada and the guy from Arizona took off with her. That left Patrick and me all by ourselves. We continued on down the trail until we came up on the tikki torches that would lead us to Club Flamingo.

Club Flamingo 76.4 Miles (11:27 pm)
We cruised in and saw the Memphians who were still awake or not pacing someone. Leigh Tanner greeted us and made sure we had everything we needed. When we left the next few aid stations, we were concentrating on the distance to the next stop. It seemed like it was taking us forever to make it just a few miles. I just kept saying to Patrick, this is retarded. My shoulders were hurting from running all day. A few times we stopped and Patrick would give me a massage on the trail. He also carried my water bottle for a little while. Thanks!!! This was the pig trail section of the course. I think this was the hardest part of the race. There were rocks all over that were about football size and erosion ruts all through the trail. It seemed like all of the up hills were never ending. As you can see from the time, it took almost an hour to go about three miles.

Pigtrail 79.3 Miles (12:17 am)
Once we reached this aid station, we knew we would get to see the crew pretty soon. The only thing I remember of note here is that I started to get really tired. Every time we would start up running again, I would let out a grunt or moan for about 15 yards. I just wanted to finish.

Lake Winona 83.9 Miles (1:29 am)
Lake Winona was great. We showed up and the crew was there to cheer us on. They weighed me for the last time of the race and I was up 4lbs. I was in a trance at this point and probably scared the non-runners in my crew. The look on Anne Marie was like, “Holy crap are you ok?” I was okay but still in a haze. They people working the aid station told me that I was know the youngest person left in the race. That was exciting. It gave me a little boost as we left. This section was pretty crazy. We were running side by side when Patrick jumped over something in the trail. It was a Copperhead. He was just hanging out in the middle of the trail. My foot must have passed his head by inches and I never saw him until Patrick jumped and we turned around to check it out. That probably would have ended the race for me.

Rocky Gap 87.2 Miles (2:28 am)
This section of course was pretty crazy too. It last forever. I started to see things here. It thought I saw a huge metal tower in front of us, which turned out to be a bunch of pine trees. I kept seeing a road running across the trail in front of us and at one point I saw a person who was not there. Hallucinate much? I started to fall asleep while we were running. I could not hold my eyes open anymore. I knew I was close to finishing but it seemed so far away. We found a runner from Memphis on this section of the trail. His light was not working properly so we all ran together for the rest of the race. He probably thinks I am crazy because I was in rare form when we met. I was literally half asleep. I tried several times to put one hand on Patrick’s shoulder and catch a nap while we were running. It didn’t work very well. David said something about getting some coffee and I could not wait until the next aid station.

Electronic Tower 91.4 Miles (3:47 am)
When we were coming up to the aid station, Patrick was screaming our order for coffee before we even reached the workers. I sat down in a chair and was slipping in and out of dreamland when a lady handed me the coffee. It was hot. I drank about half of it before we left. We were now in single digits. I got an amazing rush from the coffee and started to run faster. I actually left Patrick and David behind and had to wait on them to catch up. Next thing you know, we made it to the Pumpkin Patch.

Pumpkin Patch 93.7 Miles (4:27 am)
I drank Coke. Score!!! Just a little over a 10K to go. The last section of the race was on a well-maintained road and we just kept waiting on it to appear. Finally, lights appeared in the distance. It was the road. We asked the how far we were and Patrick did some math. 22 minute left before 24 hours is up and 2.5 miles to go. I looked at him and said lets go for it. We started to run at a ridiculous pace. I should have done a split time on my watch to calculate the pace. We left David on the road. I don’t think he minded. I told Patrick I wouldn’t be sad if we tried to make it in under 24 hours and didn’t but if we just walked it in and didn’t make I would regret it. The only talk was “This is crazy!!!” and “I can’t believe I running this fast!!!” We were moving. We knew there was a big hill about a quarter mile from the finish. We got to it and continued to run. We stopped for about 5 seconds and walked then ran then stopped for another couple seconds then Patrick said, “There it is, I see the finish!!!” Adrenaline anyone?!!!! I turned on the turbo and started leaving Patrick. He said, ”I’m coming, I’m coming” and caught up. We ran down the hill at a full sprint and crossed the line with 1 minute and 45 seconds to spare and the crew going nuts. It was amazing. I was so happy to be finished and could not believe that I actually did it. I still don’t believe it.


FINISH 100 Miles (5:58 am)
I ended up finishing 27th overall the youngest finisher and won my age group. Overall, it was a great experience. I have to thank my crew, Claire, Holly, Anne Marie, Vinnie & Patrick, for all of their help throughout the longest day of my life. I could not have done it without them. I look forward to doing this again.

It's Getting Closer!!!!!!

T Minus 3.5 Days. The Arkansas Traveller is fast approaching. I mean its here!!! It ought to be an experience. Patrick, Anne Marie, Claire, Vinnie, Holly and myself are heading to Arkansas on Friday. I know they will have fun. I hope that I do. I will blog as soon as I can next week and let you know of my experience.

See yall later!!!

Good Luck to the Tour D'Esprit entrants. Have fun Mike and beware of the tent and the chair.

Hello All

Once again, its been a while. I have been doing the same things as always. Work during the day, go home and eat, sit around for a minute and go to sleep. Wake up and do it again, and again, and again, and again, and again...you get the picture. My twin sister is about to have her baby. She is due on October 7this. However, she is already having contractions and we think little Annie will probably arrive early. Which is funny because my family is notoriously late. I have been training for a couple months for the Arkansas Traveller 100 Mile Foot Race. It is getting very close to arrival. It starts Saturday October 4th at 6:00am. Hopefully I will finish some time before the 30 hour cut off. I ran in a training run which covered around 45-50 miles of the course. I talked to a lot of runners who had completed the race in the past. They all gave me their horror stories as well as their tricks and tips. The general consensus among all of the runners was that 1) I will be in tremendous pain by the end of the race, 2) I will go through highs and lows & 3) I will probably have to fight the urge to drop out of the race at one or more times. However, they all said just to keep moving forward, keep thinking positive and you will finish. Hmmmmm.....its gonna be interesting. I have Patrick as my pacer for the later section of the race and Claire and Holly for my crew. They will be driving around all night in the Trail Blazer from crew point to crew point. Other potential people that will be coming include Anne Marie and possibly Vinnie. Even if I don't finish, I think we will have a good time. I have one more back to back long run before the race. I will be running 30 tomorrow and 25 on Saturday. From then on it will be average and short runs. I will try to keep you posted on a more frequent basis. Yall have fun. Happy Trails!!!

Bartlett Parks Ultra/Dave Matthews

What up people? Well it was an interesting Saturday. I awoke at 3:30 that morning and prepared for the Stanky Creek 40 Mile Run. I got ready and arrived to the start early. I milled around and finally the race started at 6:30. The first two 8 mile loops went by pretty uneventfully. The heat really started to effect me in the third and fourth loop. I think the temperature was around 106 with a heat index of 133. Just a little warm. I found that miles 24-28 were the toughest. I got extremely hot and started to feel my heart beat throughout my whole body. I started walking a bit more and my mind started a mental battle with my body. My mind was telling me to quit once I got back to the start finish line. That would have left me 8 miles short of the 40 miles I wanted to do. When I got back to the truck I was ready to quit when John "Dingo" Manley convinced me to rest for a second and then walk a little to see how I felt. Anyway, I ended up completing the last 8 miles and finishing 3 overall for the 40 milers in 8:42:38. Pretty good for me. After the race, I went home and showered, got dressed and headed over to Mark and Amandas. A large group of us then headed down town to see Willie Nelson and Dave Matthews perform at Autozone Park. The concert was awesome. It included a sweet Grave Digger with Dave and Willie. Tim Reynolds also played with Dave. They jammed out a 15 minute Two Step. They also got all nostalgic and covered "Burning Down the House" and Sledge Hammer". The show was great. After stopping by the Krystals on Union after the show and dropping everyone off, we arrived back at the house around 1:15. What a day!!!

Big Day

Hello all. I have gotten lost. I will try to post more often. I have pretty much been doing the same thing as always. Work-Eat-Sleep routine Monday-Thursday (Fun). I have been increasing my weekly mileage running wise. I am getting right at 40ish a week. I hope to be around 60 or so in a couple of weeks and hold that through the Arkansas Traveler 100 the first weekend in October. Yes I am crazy but I want to try. I feel like I probably will not make it but I would like to get the experience. I will do my best. Anyway, back to the big day. Tomorrow, is the Second Annual Bartlett Parks Ultra. I opted for the 40 mile option. The temperature is going to be 100 without the heat index. Last years shirt said "Tennessee's Hottest Trail Race" and they were right (105ish). I did the 50K last year as my first ever ultra. It was fun. I feel like I should do fairly well in the race. I know the course very well. Anyway, the reason I didn't go the full 50 this time is because we have tickets to see Willie Nelson and Dave Matthews that evening. Its gonna be a long one. Anyway, I will post Sunday and let you know the score.

Long Time No See

Well, I have once again fallen down on my responsibilities of blogging. Here is the recap from my previous blog. The Memphis Ultra put on our first run. The attendance was a little lower than we had hoped, but we know what to fix for next time. It was definitely a learning expirience. Be on the look out for some type of run in the fall. The next race was the Nashville Marathon. We had a large crew of family and friends all go stay in Nashville for the weekend. Some were running and some were spectating. I got to see my twin sister who lives in Knoxville. She was there to see her friend run the half. I like the Nashville Marathon. There is constantly something to look at and there are thousands of spectators. I ran the whole race with Holly. It was her first marathon. Although she has completed the Stump Jump 50K, she had yet to run a road marathon. I think she had a good time. She started to look kinda mean around mile 22 of the race. She put on her "Its time for this to end face". We ended up finishing together around 4:30. Check out the picture on her blog of us coming to the finish line. Our family only got one picture and I am completely blocking all of Holly. Oops. The next race was the Chatanooga Trail Marathon. We were supposed to have the original Stump Jump Crew heading back to Chatanooga but, Patrick and Holly ended up bailing out. So me and Drew headed out on Friday night, checked into the hotel, went to bed, woke up, ran a marathon and drove home. Round trip 24 hours & 10 minutes. It was fast. We ran pretty close together for most of the race. In the first half, we were trading spots but always within about a minute of each other. Then we joined up for the second half. Our splits were roughly the same. He ended up finishing about a minute in front of me around 4:39:00. On the non-running side of life, I have been running around like a crazy lunatic. This is the time of year when everyone wants some type of yardwork done. Long hours and too much crap to think about are driving me crazy. I don't understand how some people have made it this far in life without accidentaly wandering out in traffic. Some people are just idiots that have no clue. INSERT VERBAL ABUSE HERE. There must be something in the water. Anyway, I can bore you with my survival of the stupidest later. My wedding anniversary is on thursday of this week. It will be four years. Time flys. Ella kate is getting bigger by the day and she has started rolling over now. Claire is doing good working from the house and tending the tater tot. Her mom and sister come help out when Claire has to run to appointments. You already know about what I am up to. I have decided, that I need to try and juggle a little more running into my routine. I have slowly been whittling down my miles each week until for the past two weeks I have not run at all. Booo me. I am going to get back on the horse.

Hey People

Just checking in. Since my last post, I have set another personal best. I ran the Germantown Half Marathon in 1:38:42. Before that time, my fastest was 1:44:45. That is 6 minutes and 3 seconds faster!!!!! HUGE! I started out running at what I thought was a decent pace. My first mile was a 6:42. SLOW DOWN!!! My next mile was right at my target pace of 7:30. I felt pretty good initialy. I only had two problems in the whole race. The first was when I got a cramp from a gel that I ate at mile four. I got rid of it by drinking my whole water bottle over the course of a mile. When I got to the next aid station my second problem arose. I had my ipod cranked and was jamming out to some Phish. I was coming up to the aid station and I unscrewed the cap to my water bottle. I ran through, grabbed a cup, dumped it in my bottle, recapped the bottle and took a sip. BARF!!! I had grabbed a cup with Heed in it instead of water. That stuff is nasty. This was the second time in two races that this happened to me. (In the 50 miler, an aid station attendant grabbed my bottle and filled it up with heed instead of water. I didn't notice until I was blowin down the trail already.) I had no choice but to drink it and wait till the next aid station for water. I kept checking my watch as I got closer and saw that I was going to be close to 1:40:00. I wanted to be in the 1:30's so I decided to start pushing a little harder with about a mile and a half left. Coming into the finish, I turned it up a little more. The course has a hill in the last hundred yards that was trying to make me slow down but I pushed through it and ran to a 1:38:42 finish. Overall, it was a great race. It made me appreciate the trails a whole lot more. The road race scene is completely different than the trails. Road racing is like a Sailboat race. Everyone is going as fast as they can, with no time for anyone else. They just want to post the best time they can. The trails are like casually cruising around in a sailboat. Everyone is friendly and will talk to you all day long. Everyone is going to the same place but they appreciate the scenery and the experience much more. Yeah Trails!!!!

Anyway, don't forget to sign up for the 6 Hour Run. Spots a filling up fast and there are only a few days left until the early registration ends.

50 Miles to Freedom!!!!!!!

Earlier in the year Patrick and I decided to sign up for the Carl Touchstone Mississippi 50 Mile race. The day for the race came a lot quicker than I anticipated. That and the fact that I had never run any distance over 34 miles had me a little bit worried about not finishing. However, time was not going to wait on me to get in some extra training. So the day before the race, me, Holly, and Patrick set out on the road towards Laurel, Mississippi. We arrived friday night and set up our camp site 30 yards from the start/finish line. We then headed to the pasta dinner and race packet pick up. It was pretty cool to see wide array of people that showed up to do the race. Some were new like us and some were veterans with Western States Shirts, Boston Marathon shirts, and the like. It was really a motley crew. If you have ever seen an ultra marathon crowd, then you know what I am talking about. Soon we were back at camp and asleep to wake up the next day to try our hands at 50 miles. We woke up to people arriving at 4:00 am for the 6:00 am start. I made my coffee and ate some peanut butter on graham crackers. Soon we were toeing the starting line in the dark. The course was set up as a 12.5 mile loop that we had to complete four times. The first lap went down fairly easy. Patrick and I stayed together and kept our 12:00 minute/mile pace. We figured that we could easily do 12.5 miles in 2.5 hours. That would put us 1:15 minutes ahead of the time cut off. Amazingly, after the race started I didn't have any doubts that I was going to finish. In my mind, someone was going to have to physically take me down to make me fail. After the first two laps, I felt great. Holly had opted for the 20K earlier that morning and was supposed to run the third lap with me and Patrick. When we arrived at the end of the second lap she told me that she was going to wait and run the final lap with me. Cool!! Patrick and I set out for the third lap, keeping our same pace. We were a little bit behind because of stops at aide stations and bathroom breaks, so I was constantly trying to figure what pace we needed to be running. At some point around mile 27 or so, I did some terrible math and decided that we were not going to make the time cut off. I took off and started pushing it hard, leaving Patrick behind. I cranked my i pod and started laying it down. When I got a couple of miles down the trail, I started re figuring on the time and realized that we had plenty of time. At this point I decided that I would just go for it. When I got to the start/finish line at the end of the third lap, Holly was waiting on me. We took off and I new that I had 37.5 miles under my belt and only had 12.5 left. We walked a little bit and ran a little bit. Holly was behind me letting me set the pace. I was walking all of the uphills and sprinting the downhills. After running that route three times in a row already, I knew where to go hard and where to avoid obstacles. Soon we began to see people walking in front of us. This made me want to go faster. We began to pass people left and right. We probably picked off 8-12 people who had run out of gas. Around mile nine of the loop, there is a mile and a half out a back section down a gravel road. Holly told me that she was going to skip this and go ahead to the finish line so she could get my pictures as I came across. With just three and a half miles left, I knew that I was going to finish. Emotions began to flood over me when I was thinking about the accomplishment. I almost started to cry but quickly regained focus and started to pick people off on my way to the finish line. I crossed the line at 10 hours 43 minutes and 21 seconds!!!!! I now have one 50 miler under my belt. Which by the way has a new shiny gold buckle that was awarded to everyone who finished the 50 Miles. Patrick came in shortly after to complete his first 50 miler an get his belt buckle as well. After a short celebratory rest, we all three loaded into the car and headed back to Memphis. We got back into town around 12:00 that night. What a day.

Overall, this was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

I can't wait to do it again.

Races from 2007!!!!

I wanted to post my results from the races that I participated in last year so that I can remove them from the sidebar. Its hard to believe that it has only been a year since I started running. Just looking back on the the distance I have covered is amazing. It makes me feel like I actually did something beneficial to my body as well as my spirit.

03/18 G-town Mayor's Cup 5K- 24:010
4/01 Death Run 15 Mile- 2:28:290
4/28 Navshville Half Marathon- 2:01:590
5/19 Memphis in May Mountain Bike TriathlonSwim-23:07, Bike-55:57, Run-28:07= 1:52:570
6/01 Harbour Town 5K- 22:200
7/08 Overton Park 5K #1 RRS- 21:550
8/05 Freeman Park 5 Mile #1 RRS- 42:31
8/11 Bartlett Park Ultra 50K- 6:55:170
8/19 Freeman park 5 Mile #2 RRS- 39:51
10/06 Stumpjump (Rockjump)50K- 8:21:00
11/3 Wades Big Adventure 18M- 2:58:ish
11/19 Singleton Half Marathon- 1:44:45
12/01 Memphis St. Jude Marathon- 3:47:42

Race Recaps!!!!!

I have been falling down on my responsibilities as a blogger. I have been extremely busy over the past month. I am going to give you a recap of the races I completed since my last blog.

Sylamore 50K

This race was awesome. It took place in the beautiful Ozark National Forest. We had a huge crew from the Memphis Ultra show up to represent our town beautifully. The race started early on a cold and drizzly morning. The course is set up as an out and back layout (out 16 and back 16). I think that it was actually a little bit longer though. Anyhoo, we started out running down a stretch of paved road and bailed out onto a trail that led to a river crossing at mile 1 or so. The river was only thigh deep this year, which was great because last year it was about stomach deep. The water was a little bit cold. Directly after the river, we made our way almost straight up a rocky staircase. The views were stunning. There were huge mossy covered boulders everywhere. The forest was full of hardwoods and pine trees. The temperatures were right above freezing and it started to rain. The trail was super sloppy but I have to give a shout out to my new trail shoes. The Inov8 Mudclaws performed flawlessly. They gripped every surface that I encountered. I was able to tear through the downhills and go up steep muddy slopes without slipping. On the downhill sections, I would build so much speed that I couldn't blink for fear of missing a foot placement a tumbling down the rocky mountain. When I wasn't able to blink my eyes would start to water from the cold air hitting them. What a great feeling. Anyway, I mad it to the turnaround in 3:30:ish and I still felt great. I made mental decision to start running hard. I probably passed 15-20 people on the way back to the finish. I came 62 of 118 with a personal record of 6:28:10. The race was great. It was the first ultra that I have finished and felt like I didn't even run. We had a great time grilling out with the Memphis Ultra crew and meeting lots of stud athletes after the race.

Soon to come....50 Miles to Freedom.

Birthday Miracle

This past weekend was my birthday weekend. I turned 27 on Saturday. Yay!!!! I originally was supposed to be out of town on a company fishing trip. They changed the date at the last minute and sabotaged my plans for running in the Swamp Stomper because the registration was already closed. I e-mailed the race director, Leigh Tanner, on Friday and asked if there were any spots left and she put me on the end of the waiting list. I was notified Saturday morning that I was allowed to participate. As a birthday present, Holly and Drew paid my entry fee into the race.

The morning of the race, Holly and I struck out early and arrived with 45 minutes to spare. We sat in the truck to keep warm before the start. I have seen one account of the temperature being 12 degrees. When the race started, I warmed up within the first mile. Even though I had on gloves, the only thing that stayed cold were my hands. When they finally started to thaw out, they were throbbing so bad I almost cried. For the first nine miles of the race, I ran with Patrick, Vinnie, Michael Mobley and played leapfrog with Mike Hudson. We were moving at an easy pace and taking our time at the first three aid stations. It was after the third aid station that I felt like I needed to move faster. I decided to break away from the group and run the pace my body felt was comfortable. I was moving fairly fast and took no walk breaks on the 6.5 miles back to the halfway point. I wanted to push it and see if I could maintain a strong pace. At the 15.4 turnaround, Drew jumped in to run the second half of the race with me. I started out strong and slowly began to burn down to a fizzle. I had pushed a little too hard a little to early. Instead of building a gradually faster pace I had notched it up to quickly. I was not close to bonking but my legs just got tired. When Drew and I reached the 26.3 mile aid station I was running on empty. In my mind, the last 6.5 miles of the race seemed almost unfinishable short of a piggy back ride (I knew Drew wouldn't go for that). When we reached the last aid station with 3.5 to go, I began to do a walk/run routine. I would run about .25 miles and then walk for a minute, then strike off running again. I was able to creep into the finish at 6:49:38 with icicles hanging from my beard. I was not disappointed with the finish but I would have liked to have come in stronger.

There are several things I learned throughout the race. Don't forget to take in as much food and water as you can stand and don't run hard too early. Also, I have always wanted to go out strong to avoid getting marred back in the pack. I think that next time I will try to stay near the front. I noticed that the first half mile took me about 8.5 minutes to finish because I was stuck in a traffic jam.

Overall, the run was great, the course was fun and easy, and the support was awesome. Thanks, to everyone who came together to get me into this race.

QUEST FOR 100

In a post a long time ago, I told yall I would be putting up a list of races for 2008. I have been somewhat busy and am finally getting around to doing it. I want to start by saying that I had a great time running last year. I had so much fun that it has inspired me to become an animal on the trail. I have decided to become more focused on distance over speed. I want to try to run at least one 50K or longer each month this year. I also would like to complete my first 50 mile race. By the fall of 2008 if all goes well, I would like to try a 100 mile race. This is a huge commitment because I work very long hours and I have a new born baby girl at home. I think that I am going to have to start running in the middle of the night or something. Hopefully, I will be able to stay injury free. Anyway, here is list of races that I have planned for 2008

February 16th- Sylamore 50K

March 1st- Mississippi 50 Mile

March 16th- Germantown Half Marathon (Sidebar- This was the first race that I ever ran. I took the 5K option and ended up with a 24:01. This year I am going to try to PR the Half Marathon. My current PR is 1:44:45)

April 6- Double Death Run 30 Mile (Note: I found this date somewhere on the Internet. It was not in a spot where I would normally look. However, it is always somewhere around the first weekend in April.)

April 26- Nashville Marathon (We went to Nashville last year and had a great time. I only ran the half marathon last year. This is a fun race with bands all along the course and great aid stations.)

May- I currently have nothing on the books for May. I would love to participate in one of the triathlon relays here in Memphis. The first day is a mountain bike triathlon and the second day is a regular triathlon. I did the mountain bike last year and almost quit before I got out of the swimming portion. So this year I am looking for relay partners. I want to do the running portion, I know a biker and I need a swimmer. The mountain bike tri is a 1/3 mile swim and the next day is 1.5 K. Let me know if there are any takers.

June & July- Nothing on the books.

August- Stanky Creek 50 Mile (I ran the 50 K last year. It was my first Ultra and it was hot. The temperature was 103!!!! I will be attempting the 50 Mile this year.)

September- Nothing on the Plate.

October & November- These are the two months where I will be hopefully attempting a hundred miler. The two races I am looking at are The Arkansas Traveller or the Cactus Rose. If anyone has any input on either of these race, I would love to her it.

Well, there you go. A list of craziness. It ought to be a great year.

Happy Trails To You Until We Meet Again

Michael

2007 Running Survey

I was tagged by Holly for a 2007 race questionnaire.

Most memorable moment on the trails in 2007.
The most memorable moment on the trails for 2007 is definitely finishing my first ever ultra marathon. I had never run over 24 miles. In fact, the closest I came was running up to the 24 miles and then hitting the wall. Holly was there to see me crash and burn and she also helped me by driving me home. (Thanks by the way J) Anyway, back to the first Ultra. It was in August in Memphis, the temperature was 103, and the humidity was outrageous. I was not sure if I could complete the race but was able to pull through with a little help from my friends and some race day magic. I ended up finishing at 6:55:17.
Best new trail discovered in 2007.
This is sort of a trick question for me. I started running in February of 2007. So basically, every trail was new to me in 2007. Next year iprobably will have a great answer for this question.
My best performance of 2007.
My best performance for 2007 would have to be the Memphis marathon. I signed up for the race just because it was in my hometown and I didn’t want to miss it. I had grown so fond of trail running that I had almost become a trail snob and had no desire to run the pavement. Leading up to the race my training began to suffer because I had a baby on the way and needed to get some stuff done before she arrived. However, to my surprise, I did a lot better than I thought. I was shooting for a time of around 4:00:00 and ended up with a 3:47:42. After that, I started to wonder what kind of time I could post with some training.
I don't know how I previously survived without...
There are several things that come to mind. Like I said, this was my first year to run. I started out with cotton t-shirts, white cotton socks, crappy shoes, no water bottle and no idea what was going on. I now have grown accustomed to my water bottle, my stretchy underwear (also known as “Mantees” on the trail), and of course the dry fit shirts.
The person I would most like to meet on the trails in 2008.
I would like to meet anyone who likes running. This sound pretty generic, but I am a pretty generic person. I will run with anyone.

The race I am most excited about for 2008. Right now, I am most excited about the Mississippi 50 miler. This race is on March 1. The furthest distance I have completed prior to now is 32ish miles. So this will be a first for the Squatting Bear and me. I can’t wait to see what happens.

This was a great survey. It was so great that I am going to tag Mike Hudson. By the way it was cool running into you on the trails and I will see you at the Swampstomper. I won’t be running but I will be there to cheer yall on.

Year in Review

Well, 2007 has come and gone. Its time to look back and decide if I wasted another year or actually enjoyed it while it was flying past my face. I had several resolutions for the past year. I can only remember a couple of them right now. The first was to become a better organized person. I was able to accomplish this at work. However, in my personal life I have decided that I really don't need or want that much structure. I didn't really decide that consciously until I wrote this but I think my brain subconsciously bailed out on organization long ago. The second resolution was to finish the many projects that I had started and let go idle. One of the projects was the arbor, it had several warped and cracked boards that needed to be replaced and stained. I completed this while I was still on top of my resolutions. The four other projects are lingering on the verge of completion. 1) Put cap blocks on the retaining wall beside the house 2) Register the boat, get life jackets and a throw able 3) Seal off several air leaks in the smoker and cut the grate out of expansion metal 4) Finish out the upstairs room (ohhhhh sooooo close). About three days of solid work and several hundred dollars to complete all these. I can't seem to remember the rest of my resolutions for 2007. Some highlights for the year include taking up running, Jim and Allison got married, Greg and Hallie got engaged, and me and Claire had our first baby on New Years Eve. Looking back on 2007, I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed the great moments and forgot about all the crappy ones. HA HA. As far as this years resolutions, I have not yet decided on any. As you can see from above, I didn't really follow them anyway. If I do decide on some I will let you know.