Fallsburg Festival of Races

Saturday August 18th was the first running of the Fallsburg Festival of Races which included a full marathon, a half marathon and the Wimpy 8k race. The 8k race course was described as "flat, fast, downhill and the wind at your back the whole way, WIMP". :) I don't think the description was 100% accurate but compared to the marathon and half marathon courses this was a cake walk. :) 31 runners came out and ran the 8k.

Race day temperatures were ideal: 48 degrees at the start (yes 48 degrees in August!). Don't expect that in 2008.

I did the half marathon along with 67 other folks. The half marathon consisted of a little bit of paved road, some gravel/dirt roads including what the Little D mountain and some nice trails. Because I was still operating without my running mojo (a little post-Western States blues?) I started out slow and ran much of the first half with Elisa before joining up with my good friend Anne Heathcote. It seems as if Anne forgot to get in any hill training (there were a fair amount of rolling hills in this course) Anne was running the race at what could be described as a leisurely pace. :) This gave me an excellent excuse to run at a leisurely pace myself so I had the pleasure of running with Anne the rest of the way. We were the back of the half marathon pack although there were a few runners who did the early start so neither of us had the honor of being DFL.

18 men and 8 women were brave (crazy) enough to come out and run what was promised to be a challenging and beautiful marathon course. The race delivered this and more. The first half of the course was the same as the half marathon course. The second half included a bit more trail running including parts of the North Country Trail. If you haven't had the opportunity to run parts of this trail you are missing out on some of the best trail running Michigan has to offer. As I mentioned Elisa ran the full marathon. She finished in 4:57:52 and ran nice even splits for the first and second half of the race. It's nice to see her running strong. If you haven't seen Elisa lately know that she has become quite the trail runner. Watch out for her on those downhills. She is one tough downhill runner.

Full results are available here.

Thanks to the race directors Russell and Dan and to all the volunteers. Make sure to leave room on your 2008 race calendar for this race.

The race was one of many races organized by the Old Farts Running Club. Check out their other great races here. Notice that there is a 50k / 100k scheduled for early August 2008! There is also a relay option for those not ultra inclined.

See you out on the trails!

The Laziness of the Long Distance Runner

I always said I was lazy. I often joke that I am the laziest person to ever have run 100 miles. After running Western States I had a very low key month of July. Someone did point out that I did run a marathon which is true. Lazy people don't tend to run marathons I would suppose. But my motivation has been very low. I am not sure if it is post-event blues or just my true colors shining through but there is no denying that my running mojo ran away from me.

I still totally love hitting the trails and have had some great runs recently. This past weekend I went and ran on the Big M trail which is home of the North Country Trail Run - this is the race where I qualified for Western States last year. It was my first 50 miler and I absolutely love the course. Carol and Mike went up earlier on Friday. Elisa and I got there some time Friday around 9:00 pm. I had made a decision at that point that I am not ready to run the 50 miler like I had been planning. I could probably get ready and do it but it wouldn't be fun. So I made the decision to volunteer again. So if you plan on being there look for me at that last aid station. I'll be taking care of my service committment just in case my name is picked again in December for the lottery.

Grand Island Trail Marathon

As you all know I completed the Western States Endurance Run near the end of June. It was without a doubt one of the toughest things I have accomplished in my life. The only thing I can think of that was more difficult was Marine Corps Boot Camp. Think of that as a 90 day endurance event with 3 screaming drill instructors following you around 24 hours a day. And I'm not sure what the elevation profile of Mount Motherfvcker (part of our boot camp experience) is/was but it surely was a motherfvker. And we did that in boots and cammies with a pack on our back and an M-16 strapped over our shoulder. But that was a long time ago (1982). Since then life has been fairly easy. Up until my name was drawn in the Western States lottery. But I digress. This thread is about Grand Island. 26.2 miles of running in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

My point in bringing up Western States is to have an excuse for a lazy July. I only ran about 10~12 times all month and then decided to tackle a marathon. I thought that my training from Western States would carry me. I was perhaps a bit overconfident. The elevation profile of the GITC is nothing compared to WS. Surely anyone tough enough to finish Western States could run 26.2 miles in Michigan! And it did end up being the true - it just wasn't pretty.

Actually the day/weekend was perfect. A group of us from Ann Arbor went up for the weekend and had the opportunity to enjoy each other's company in some beautiful surroundings. If you haven't had the opportunity to visit the U.P. Munising in a nice place to start. In addition to Grand Island you also have Pictured Rocks (which I have yet to go on one of the hikes or boat tours). It is quite beautiful in this area. If I were smart I'd allow myself a couple of extra days to hang out in the are pre or post race. Maybe next year?

Any way as I said the weekend was quite pleasant. We were greeted with sunny skies and cool temperatures for race morning (I've been lucky this year - we saw some fairly mild temperatures for Western States as well). The course ran counter-clockwise this year and included the thumb area of the island. We ran mostly on dirt roads and two tracks. About 3/4 of a mile was in the sand along the beach. That part was tough but still quite enjoyable. The views along the course were spectacular including views of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. There were a few challenging hills but I am not sure how challenging they would have been had I run this thing in early June when I was better trained. The longest climb came after the little run along the beach and led up to the aid station about 8 miles into the race.

I ran well for the first 15 miles and then I started to crash. I was wondering how far I would be able to go before falling apart. It was around this point where Elisa passed me and left me in her dust. I didn't see her again until I crossed the finish line at 5:23. Elisa finished in 4:44 so I can say with certainty that she kicked my butt. She ran an awesome race and made me very proud. She has been training hard this year and it's good to see all of that tough training paying off. It's incredible that she has time to train for ultra marathons while in school pursuing her PhD. My hat is off to her.

Everyone else who traveled up with us did well. Mark finally beat Vicki in a marathon. ktea ran her first marathon in a long time and did well. Charlie ran his first 10k (his second race) of his new found life as a trail runner. Carol won her age group as did Marit. Julie and Vicki both placed in their age groups. Overall it was a great day for all of us. Best of all is that we all got to share the experience of running on some beautiful trails on a nice sunny summer day.

You can watch the trailer from the film that Pozole Films shot of the marathon. I haven't ordered a copy yet but am quite impressed with the trailer. It looks like the crew put together a fantastic keepsake for anyone who ran this race or is interested in trail running. You see a great shot of Elisa and her wonderful smile right around the 1:41 mark and if you don't blink you can catch me and the orange shorts around 2:17.

It was a great weekend but I learned a valuable lesson. Even coming off of a 100 miler one needs to respect the marathon distance. I don't think I would have had to log a ton of miles but I should have known that it would take more than a handful of runs to prepare properly.

Now I need to see how wise it is for me to run a 50 miler in September. I'll make that decision in the next week or so. I need to quit being lazy and get out there and run.

See you on the trails.

p.s. To those of you who have encouraged me to keep the blog alive I will do my best. Truth is I didn't have much to write about in July.

Here is a picture Mike Swaney took of me approaching the finish line. I got ugly early but managed to smile for the cameras as I approached the 26.2 mile mark.