07-11-2015 Dirty Dozen 12 Hour Run

So... I've been very very very behind on doing all my blogging and I'm honestly trying to turn that around.  This summer I basically did three ultras. I have all the video edited for all three videos and they will all be posted soon.  I'm basically going to try to have a blog about all three races within the next week.

So, this will be the first of three installments about my summer of ultra running.


On July 11th I ran my first ultra of the summer, the Dirty Dozen 12 Hour Race.  In the video you might notice that I say the date is July 12th... I was wrong, it was the 11th of July.

I went in wanting to run at least 62 miles (100k) during this 12 hour event.  Back in 2013 I ran this event and was able to run 64.68 miles, so I obviously wanted to better my mileage this year.

The course is a very nice 3.37 mile loop that we ran around for 11 hours, and then for the last hour we ran around a .67 mile loop.  The last hour of the course is ran around a smaller loop because when the timer stops they no longer count your mileage.  This allows for easier tracking of mileage at the end of the event.

I felt pretty good during the event for most of the run.  I was trying to be smart and not go out too fast, and for the most part that's what I did.  I was pretty smart during my training and didn't go overboard on my mileage.  I stuck with my "go to" Fluid sports drink and Gu gels.  For some reason I was really hungry during the race.  I felt like I couldn't keep up with my calories.  I think that for some reason my body was just needing more calories than normal and I wasn't able to keep up with it.

Half way through the race I was pretty much on the pace I wanted to be, but I was struggling to maintain what I was doing.  After 8 hours I was having trouble staying on pace and I was dropping back.  After 12 hours of running I was only able to pull off 58.63 miles.  I was pretty upset that I didn't even hit 62 miles, because I felt that goal should have been attainable.

The best part of this event was all the people I got a chance to talk to during the run.  I was able to talk to a few people that read my blog and watch my videos, and it was really cool to talk with them and run a few miles.  I'm typically very introverted and not the best with meeting new people and starting up conversation, but on the trail I feel more at ease to mingle.  I've made some very good friendships since I've started running trails back in 2010, and I'm very thankful for being able to share the trails with everyone I ran with along the way.

I really want to go back to the Dirty Dozen 12 Hour next year, if my schedule allows me to.  Brazen Racing always puts on really awesome events, and I've had a really good time whenever I ran an event that they have put on.


That's all I got for today.  I'll be back in a few days to blog about Cool Moon 100.  That was a big race for me this year. I ran it decently in 2013 and then got a DNF when I dropped at mile 50 last year.  This race was hanging over my head for about a year.  I went in this year wanting some redemption this year.


until next time...



KEEP RUNNING!!!!

Getting Some Work Done

Life has felt really crazy lately.  I feel like I have been really lagging on my blog and I'm lucky if I get on here once a month lately. Today I am happy to say I got off my ass and started editing the video from The Dirty Dozen race I ran back in July, and I am also working on the video of last months Cool Moon 100.

I am sad to say that I didn't run as many miles as I wanted to at the Dirty Dozen 12 hour race, but I am happy to say that I finished Cool Moon 100 this year.  I'm feeling pretty good about my next race on September 12-13 (Headlands 100) and hope to finally finish in under 26 hours.

On a side note, I am working on planning a run from my house to Washington D.C. next summer.  I am doing it as a fundraiser for Campaign for Free Tibet.  This run will hopefully take me 65 days and I have a lot of planning still a head of me.  If anyone would like to run a few miles with me, please let me know.  I am also taking donations to help fund this run.  I will have a few expenses along the way, and any help would be awesome.  If you would like to donate to my run you can go to http://www.gofundme.com/davidthull


I'll be back here posting really soon.


until next time...

KEEP RUNNING!!!!