Where the hell have I been?
Running around the world of course right? Well, not neccessarily. I”ve been a busy boy, trying to keep up with life. Often it’s overrated to think I can’t even put a lousy blog post, but such is life. Priorities are in other areas right now. But here I am, writing about what has gone on the past 5 months….which will be kinda brief.
After running the Bandera 100k in January, the Moab Red Hot 50k in February, Winning my 35th 100 at Antelope Island in March, then enjoying the Sonoma 50 mile track meet on April 13th, I”ve dropped off the radar.
I’ve had an issue after Sonoma, at mile 42, I was churning along about to run around 7 hours, which for me, on that course was pretty textbook. I knew I wasn’t gonna compete with the front of the pack, so why bother. My goal was to not get passed after mile 20. Only Gary Gellin got me with a final last mile surge while I was hobbling along.
Since then, I’ve been fighting off a minor calf strain, bringing my Western States training to what some might consider a “halt”. I”ve been able to run some, but 20 miles a week on flatter terrain probably won’t put me in the top 10. This may be the only year I ever run a track meet, I guess that’s ok, I don’t really like track meets anyway, unless they are on TV.
About a week ago, I was in Bishop, CA for the Red Bull performance camp, getting my VO2 max test done at sea level in Death Valley (it was 110 degrees, pretty cool), then at 9300′ near Bishop. All of this done on sweet equipment provided by Red Bull. No company helps athletes improve like Red Bull….noone. We also did some time trials on bikes, some hill climbs. It was great training for me, not getting on my calf, but then I tweaked it again a few days later. It’s improving now, so I guess I’ll cram for the test in California, hopefully I’ll hit the start line and be able to have fun, cuz’ “100 miles is not far”.
I’ll be volunteering this weekend at the Pocatello 50 at mile 47 ish, so if anyone comes through that aid station, don’t plan on hanging out too long, I’m gonna shove you out of there.
I also just finished up another episode of Talk Ultra, go check out their facebook page and have a listen, Ian Corless and I do our best to keep you entertained about all the skyrunning events and ultrarunning in general.
Lastly, the Speedgoat 50k is coming sooner than we think, so if anyone needs to bail out, please let me know so the waitlist can move some. It hasn’t moved much, and I”m sure some on the waitlist are itching to run the toughest 50k in the US. The prize pool is large, the field is stacked, and the flowers will be going strong.
And, if anyone needs some good advice on ultras, let me know, I”m all ears.
