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.