Let me explain: first, I’ll say “battered” should be “broken”, cuz my shoulder is broken now too. :-) See you all at Hardrock!
The last 6 weeks have been tough. Crashing backwards climbing over a dead tree started it all at Zane Grey. We all know I broke my arm there. The status on that is “very slow improvement”. I bruised my ribs falling on my cast in a random situation 4 weeks later. The Status on that is, “much quicker improvement”, and almost out of the picture. That’s cool. Battered? I crashed on my left side again, and had to protect the arm and ribs. So, I used my left shoulder to break the fall. I rolled once over a rock, it dug into my neck and shoulder. My guess is either a blown rotator or a traumatic blow to the muscle, which is not allowing me to raise my arm while holding it out straight. I can raise it wing style….we’ll see what happens Tuesday when I see Dr. Toronto.
These injuries all stemmed off the fall at Zane Grey, none of the three injuries are “running injuries”. I think the running gods are testing me to see if I can handle training in pain. The gods lose, I can train in pain, and feel it’ll make me tougher again when Hardrock comes around in a month. 
Positive thinking. The gods haven’t beaten me yet!
The Speedgoat 50k is now full, sorry to all of you who procrastinated, next year we’ll try and raise the limit a bit, and bring in some more prize money.
They say everything happens in three, kill it at HR. I hope you get to use poles?
I’m all for the positive thinking!! Keep pushing hard ~ what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger!
“and with failure comes future success”
Doubt I’ll have poles, holding it is the challenge, but we’ll see. Range of motion is improving. Not too concerned about it either way. It is what it is.
Ha, nabbed the second to last spot for the Speedgoat. Thanks for the aid at Squaw. Sorry about all the mishaps.
WS banter is starting to heat up. When do we get your 2 cents? I like Roes but the tilt seemingly is towards Tony K.
Karl,
What shoes were you wearing on the third accident? ;}
Glad to hear you are going clean at HR w no poles. Poles are for whimps, and you are now whimp! Good luck,
K
Western odds are coming next. I’m doing a few background checks first.
Kevin…I was wearing my running shoes on accident #3. It’s not the shoes Kevin, simply operator error…it happens. My shoulder is broken, just found out, but I’m still running through it…See you at Hardrock!
Do you know if Max King is still planning on running WS?
I don’t think Max qualified, unless he knows the RD’s.
WS I think you have to put Hal up at the top until shown otherwise. He did not having anything to prove at Miwok yet still got 2nd and a PR on that course.
But Tony readily states he’s never felt better and never been running better. Makes for a tough call.
And Roes, ha, how do you rank them. He set a CR at HURT so its not like heat bothers him more than the rest.
Killian I say DNS.
Tony 4:1
Hal 4:1
Geoff 4:1
That leaves some wiggle room for someone else to win too. In a 100 with this type of talent it could be a lot of people’s day.
Hal is the man until someone knocks him off.
I know you have many things on your mind, but have you given any thought to gear preparation for Ultra Trail Mont Blanc? What kind of pack? Poles? What kind of pedal pushers (straight from the website- I think they mean trousers that reach below the knee)? Thanks!
Brett, yah Hal is the favorite, he warded off Mackey and Jurek, no reason he won’t do the same to Roes and Krupicka. It’s 100 miles and anything can happen…Koerner is the favorite, hands down.
I’ll think about Mt. Blanc when the time comes, not too worried, I know the routine for it, it’s no big deal. Poles aren’t necessary at Mt. Blanc.
No, Karl is the Man until someone knocks him off!!!
Just an FYI. You may know this already. When you go to pick the ladies side of Western, looks like “Anita Ortiz is out with an ACL injury”. Too bad to because she really ran one heck of a race last year.
What’s all the hype about Hardrock? How many times have you won there? There’s nobody at that race who can challenge you…what are you trying to prove?
I say: focus on UTMB. You say you’re “not too worried”, yet you were spanked by UTMB in the 2007. No big deal? That’s big talk from a guy with a broken arm and a broken shoulder. good luck
Ever since you switched shoe sponsors, you’ve been falling down. Coincidence?
I love the attitude esp. regarding pain v. injury. Yes your arm is broken, yes your ribs bruised, and now yes your shoulder is broken … are the feet and legs broken, nope! There’s little doubt as to why you’re the best going right now. Running through these injuries is awesome, keep it up!
Sorry about your shoulder and arm. Go easy on Peter, sounds like it is a bad day at home!
Peter you are killing me! Are you one of those people I had to explain to that shoes are NOT the cause of crashing?
OK, I’ve fallen over 100 times in LaSportivas, on the Appalachian trail alone. Does that mean they aren’t good for you, or that the shoes suck?….no. Do you blame your Toyota for veering off the road while you were texting someone, or sending a silly twitter message?…no, it’s operator error only…I take risks and I crash, it happens. If you have never crashed, you ain’t running hard enough boy!
“What’s all the hype about Hardrock? How many times have you won there? There’s nobody at that race who can challenge you…what are you trying to prove? — “Peter”
You giving me shit about Hardrock?
Sorry to hear that, sad really. I have no comp? please….the course is a beast, much tougher than Mt. Blanc, there is no comparison. A course like Hardrock takes no prisoners….are you running it? I race when and where I want to, not where people expect me to go….like Western. I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone, and certainly not you, Peter. I think my times there speak for themselves…
You don’t think Scott Jaime, John Andersen, Nick Pedatella, Jared Campbell, and Troy Howard are strong at Hardrock? Look again….
I will be racing at Mt. Blanc, as hard as I can, but Hardrock is first, a better course, and objective #1, objective #2 is to go to Europe, run a great 165km course and try and run top 5. Is that not a good “plan”. Maybe it doesn’t fit well with the masses, but that really doesn’t matter to me, I don’t succumb to others expectations. And think about it, A cowbell (Mt. Blanc), A Cougar (WS), or a Rock on a piece of wood (Hardrock). What looks better? I’ll see if I can put my 6th rock on a piece of wood next to the other 5, then think about ringing a cowbell.
And lets not forget I’m running 1840 miles 17 days after Mt. Blanc, should I not focus on that too?
OK, enough sarcasm, I’ll have plenty of that stuff when I see Jerry Sienfeld live tonight.
Dave, it’s cool that I’ve been able to continue running through all this mess, about 60 mountain miles a week, not much less than my norm, so the legs are good. Runs have been a little slow because of the risk factor, but all 100 mile runs are slow running, we just have to run all day.
The ribs are now fine, only two injuries to overcome now, and they are on the way out at this point..
so much for easy on Peter, LMAO!! Enjoy Seinfeld.
Joernet #1 @ WS100. No doubt!
Very nice Pedro! I think he’ll have tired legs after his recent Pyrenees adventure. But at the same time, I don’t know much about him yet. I’m doing odds on Monday, check back!
Karl,
I’ve helped numerous ultra runners through injuries. If you aren’t already seeing a physical therapist, feel free to look me up. Not looking for business, just offering my expertise as a fellow ultra runner. For sure, look into kinesiotaping your shoulder for HR.
Cheers and thanks for your help at SP50!
Troy Marsh, PT, Cert MDT
Karl,
I was wondering what your mountain running miles are like in a typical week when preparing for something like Hardrock. Do you spend most of your time actually running, or do you focus more on climbs in the style of Grandeur Peak, which require more hiking than running?
Troy, thanks so much for the suggestion. I am not seeing a PT right now, for my shoulder or arm. I’m taking the suggestions from my Doc about rehab. My shoulder was never displaced, just cracked, so it’s healing ok. The arm is smaller than it once was, but I know over due time, it’ll be back too, if I just use it as much as it allows.
Eric, mountain miles per week right now in the 60 range, it could be more, but I’m being as nice to my shoulder as possible without going insane. Grandeur Peak is a good one for Hardrock on the frontside, but backside it’s all runnable…not steep enough.
I do hike some, yesterday was Mt. Olympus to the high saddle, although the slippery descent wasn’t too pretty. It’s only 100 miles….takes one day….done.
Who’s your pick for the Bighorn? It looks to me like a 3-man race between Duncan, Erik and Jeff.
And Joe Grant……
Ashley Nordell, should take the ladies race, but theres a few others to challenge her too, Ronda and Cheri.
Hey Karl,
I love your approach to this silliness. It’s easily as inspirational to read about your choices, including how you deal with injury, as it is to watch you crush another 100 miler. Anyways, I think the mountain gods smile upon wounded warriors. Jurek ran alright at HR with a badly sprained ankle.
Good luck and have fun!!!
Are all these trail running falls and breaks setting you up for a switch to the quarter-mile oval wonderland? 24hr track record attempt?
There’s about a 0% chance I’ll ever run around in a circle again.
I’ll stick with my strength….technical, hilly junk….love it!
Shoulder doing well, ran 22 today, no pain, no crash, only the running buzz to report, can’t complain about that!
check this one:
http://www.andorraultratrail.com/index.php?lang=ca
I run it last year, very nice, hilly, technical…but short for you, only 100K
the race is in Andorra (pyrenees). The web site doesn’t have a english translation but I can help you if you r interested.
Lets See Those Odds For The Big Dance!!!! Lets get the talk started!!
1. Krupicka CR
2. Roes
3. Kilian
4. Koener
5. Brimhall
This will probably be not even close but I do think we will see something special from Mr. Krupicka.
they are coming today….hang tight!
Everyone kept telling me to look at your blog. I also fell while running. Dislocated. Passing biker/physician popped it back in. Good. Ran another 6.5 to finish. Not much pain. Next morning had it xray’d just in case. Broken all the way from armpit to top of head. Now how do you re-locate a shoulder with a broken arm and it doesn’t hurt? Weird. But now I have to hold still ’til it heals. ‘Course, “still” is relative…