Let’s Clarify….
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A few questions have been recently asked about my new Hoka runnin’ shoes.
“Why would I buy shoes that Karl crashed in at Zane Grey?”
“Did Karl crash because the Hoka’s have a higher base?”
“Did the shoes make Karl stumble?”
Like everything else these days…speculation comes up. Some think I supermanned the fall after stumbling, some think the shoes caused me to crash. Guess what? wrong again! I figured I’d clarify the incident to back up my enthusiasm over a simple pair of shoes.
Here it goes:While running at Zane Grey on April 24, I managed to crash hard and break my left Radius bone. How did this happen? While leading the race comfortably and just starting to get into my “autopilot zone” at mile 40ish, I came upon a huge dead tree. One that had been there for years. I grabbed two large branches with my left and right hand, proceeded to pull myself over the tree (about chest high), the left branch snapped. I fell to the ground BACKWARDS on my left arm. It happened so fast, I still can’t say how I fell on it, all I know now is that my range of motion after almost 6 weeks is about 2cm…..not much…..my hand is wrecked. Hard to blame shoes when forward motion was 0 MPH. Speculation explained. 🙂 Tim Wagonner fell right in front of me at Jemez wearing Nike Luna Racer’s. Does that mean it’s the shoes?…..hardly, he stumbled….I wish I would have stumbled, I wouldn’t have a broken wing right now. I crashed over 100 times on the Appalachian Trail in La Sportivas in 2008. I crash almost every race….cuz’ I do take some risks. It’s simply part of the deal….running to win.
On a more positive note, sort of….I intended to run the Pocatello 50 this past weekend for another 50 mile trainer, only a week after the Jemez 50. The legs felt good after a slow 50 last week. The weather forecast wasn’t so good….rain and snow above 6000′. I decided not to run due to the fact the course would be super slick, and crashing was a big risk. Turns out the race was shut down at mile 32 because of brutal conditions. And did I mention the winds were nuking at 50+MPH on the ridges?, blowing markers away and causing many runners to go off course and become hypothermic. In the end everyone was safe…..and I can’t even count the amount of runners that said I made the right decision. With age comes wisdom, and I have bigger fish to fry in Silverton in 6 weeks. 🙂
I’ll be at the Squaw Peak 50 this coming weekend, manning the aid station at mile 29 with fellow ultrarunner Roch Horton. If you are running this great course, stop in for a PBJ or some boiled potatoes, I’m sure they’ll be delicious.
My “Red Bull Human Express” project is moving forward, tune in for an entertaining look at what it takes to run 50 miles a day for 37 days…that’s right, 1840 miles from Sacramento, CA, to St.Joseph Missouri. Set to begin around September 15, 2010. Daily video, and a comedy act all about running real far!
We’re getting close to filling the Speedgoat 50k, ONLY 21 SPOTS LEFT to get in the toughest 50k on earth. REGISTER HERE NOW! Don’t miss out!
