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 [...]

Hard to say what’s gonna happen this weekend in regards to me running the Jemez 50 mile.  I’ve been officially cleared to run if I want…that’s pretty cool only 4 weeks after a broken wing at Zane Grey.  Will I “race”?  No, not likely, the risk factor is still there if I crash….I tend to take a few risks running downhill.  It would be safer if I just ran it as a good training run for Hardrock, somewhere in the 10 hour range.  I won’t decide till Friday.  I will be there regardless as my wife Cheryl is running the 50k.  I would love to be in the mix with the large handful of fast kids running, but with age comes wisdom……..and Hardrock is far more important to me. So I entered the Pocatello 50 one week later, to give the arm an extra week….probably smart.  I’ve been running for [...]

One of my favorite 100 milers happens this weekend in Virginia.  The Massanutten 100.  This race is a rocky one and moderately hilly to my standards.  Total climbing in the 18,000′ range.  The course is somewhat different this year, starting at a different location. It should be a real competitive race up front.  Noone reallly sticks out in my mind, but whoever comes out on top, it’ll be close.  My picks: 1.  Todd Walker…..He’s due to win Massanutten, too many times he’s been close. 2.  Dan Barger…..He’s familiar (unfortunately) with 2nd in his last few 100s, I give Todd the nod because of MMT experience. 3.  Sean Andrish…..He could easily sneak away on a good day, he’ll probably lead early. 4.  Harland Peele…..If he’s fresh and ready, he’s my sleeper to win. 5.  Joe Kulak…..He’ll win the race to the keg, but comes up a little short on the win. [...]