Sub 24

.....I'm running down a single track trail, it's foggy, and I'm getting closer to the finish line.  I run up a hill, then as I start a long rolling downhill the fog clears and I see the finish line.  My pace starts to pick up and the finish line gets closer and closer.  I can't think of what event I'm running, but I'm almost done.  I hit the finish line at max effort and hit the stop button on my Garmin. 

I hear someones voice shout out, "good job, silver buckle!!" 

"A buckle?" I think to myself.  I realize that I just finished a 100 mile race, and I'm guessing it was under 24 hours since I'm getting a silver buckle.  For some reason this feels familiar, but I can't figure out why everything feels so strange.

Then I hear a loud Russian voice from behind me. 

They tell me, "Good job!!  I guess you took my advice!!  Here's your buckle."

"What the FUCK!??!!?!" I turn around and see Michael.

Michael shacks my hand and hands me my buckle.  He sees the confused look on my face.  He asks me if I'm O.K. and tells me I should sit down and get something to eat.

I tell him I'm fine and I just keep looking at him.  My mind starts racing.  None of this makes sense.  What the hell is going on?

Then it hits me... and I ask him, "I'm dreaming... right?"

He laughs and shrugs his shoulders.

Michael grabs a hydration backpack, puts it on, and runs up the single track I just came running down.  It's still foggy at the top of the hill, and before gets out of sight he stops and turns around.  He yells down to me, "Don't be upset, I'm O.K.  Good job on the sub 24, I knew you could do it!!!!"  Then he ran off up the hill into the fog...

...My alarm clock goes off, I get out of bed, and get my running gear.  I get ready to meet Kyle at the running store to help out with the half marathon training group...


The last conversation I had with Michael was about how I missed hitting sub 24 hours at the Rocky Road 100 event last February of this year. I was on pace until mile 91, and then it all just fell apart.  Michael told me that next time I'm that close to hitting my goal, with only 9 miles left, that I better muscle through the pain and go for it.

After he passed away I ran a 100 mile race just a couple weeks later.  I thought about Michael the entire run.  I wasn't feeling very good at the end of the race.  At mile 91 I was on the side of the road throwing up and my friend Leigh passed me.  Her pacer asked me, "besides the throwing up, are you ok?"  I gave her a thumbs up.  Then she told me, "you're still on pace to hit sub 24... you got this!!!"

Then I thought to myself, "mile 91... I promised Michael that next time I was close to a goal, especially with only 9 miles left, that I wouldn't give up."

At this point into the race it was early in the morning and still dark out.  I looked up and saw 2 shooting stars.  I pointed at the sky where I saw the 2 shooting stars and said out loud, "These next 9 miles are for you buddy!!!"  I muscled out the last 9 miles and finished the race before the sun came up at 5:50am (23 hours 50 mins ).  My first sub 24 hour 100 mile race. 

10k Race

I decided at the last minute to run a 10k in downtown Fresno today.  I ended up coming in 20th overall and 3rd in my age group.

Training Plans

Tonight's training run didn't start off on a good note.  I wanted to run 60 mins of hill repeats, and 15 mins into my workout I was feeling pretty good, but 30 mins into my hill repeats I decided the workout wasn't going in the right direction. 

It appeared to me that I really wasn't having any fun.  I know that not every workout is going to be fun, and most of my training runs are hard and difficult.  Since I was starting to feel like I wasn't really being productive in my workout, I decided to call it quits with the hill repeats and go do something else.

I recently took my son Brandon (age 6) and daughter Ashley (age 4) running at Woodward Park.  I do most of my training there, and this is where I was doing my hill repeats tonight.  I thought about how much fun my kids had running on the trails in the back of the park and I remembered that I specifically took them running on those trails because they're fun.

I decided to ditch the hill repeats and run, in what daylight was left, the trails in the back of the park.  I reset my Garmin and started a new workout.  I was set on making the second half of my workout fun.  For the next 30 mins I would have no real path set, no workout planned, no pace planned, and no real goal... except to have fun.

...and I had a ton of fun for the second half of my run. 

I ran for about 30 mins in the back of the park. I hit what limited single track trail we have at Woodward Park.  One thing I made sure not to do was look at my watch.  At this time I didn't want to keep track of my pace, distance, or really even time.  The goal was just to run around and take it easy when I wanted to, and run hard when I randomly felt like it.  Just a few seconds into my new run I felt so much better, mentally and physically.

One of the many lessons I've learned from running is that I can't be afraid to change my plans on the fly.  While it's good to go out with a training plan, or path planned... it's also important to let yourself deviate from the plan when the plan is going horribly wrong. 

One of the things that I feel is important to figure out, is telling the difference between hitting a rough patch that I just need to muscle through, and hitting a point where I seriously have to evaluate if I'm doing more harm than good by continuing my workout.  During tonight's hill workout I definitely feel like I was doing more physical and mental harm than good.

I'm happy that I've learned to let my ego go, and not be afraid to change things up when I have to.

you can't stop progress

I ran my first 5k back in November of 2005, and a year later I ran my first half marathon.  Back when I first started running I was amazed at the number of races that were going on in Fresno.  There's a ton of local races ranging from 5k to half marathon.  We even have a race series where they keep track of the top finishers at all these local races.  I was really amazed at how big the running community was back then.

Now almost 8 years later it feels like it's just getting bigger and bigger.  Our small half marathon grew, and before I knew it we upgraded to having our local half marathon add a full marathon to the racing option in November.  In 2010 we would once again step up the distance and have the Fresno 50k, Marathon, and Half Marathon.  Unfortunately the 50k has been dropped, but I'm happy to say I ran the 50k both years it was offered.

In 2011 Fresno added another half marathon.  Our race that's held in November takes place in the North end of town.  The new event takes place in May in the downtown area of Fresno.

Now in 2012, there's another half marathon popping up.  Tomorrow morning will be the first running of the Wascally Wabbit Half Mawothon.  This race takes place at Woodward Park and will use the running trails that go throughout the park.

Now we have 2 half marathons in Fresno and one half/full marathon.  We also have all the awesome 5k, 6 mile, 10k, and 10 mile races. 

It's nice to see so many people getting into running and the local races filling up.

It's awesome to see things progressing the was they have.

Goals

I have many personal goals for the year 2012.  I want to finish four 100 mile races (3 down, one more to go) PR at many different distances (already hit a PR this year in 50k, 50 mile, and 100 mile... now I have to hit a 5k PR to make the year complete) and also finish this year with having ran 2000 miles or more.

The 2000 mile goal was a goal that I really wanted to hit last year, but I didn't keep very good records of my runs and I honestly have no idea how many miles I ran.  I think it was close to 2000 miles, but I'm not 100% sure.

This year I've been making sure to log every run.  To be on pace for a 2000 mile yearly total I need to be at 1500 miles by the end of September.  I'm happy to say that today is September 26th and I'm currently at 1512 miles.  I'm a few miles ahead of schedule.  I'm also happy that I still have 3 races lined up for this year.  I still have a marathon, a 50 miler, and a 125 mile race.  I need to run just under 500 more miles to hit a yearly total of 2000 miles.  In the next 3 months I'll run a total of 201 miles as long as I successfully complete my last 3 long races of this year.  That leaves me with just under 300 miles of training runs to accomplish in 3 months.  That's just 100 miles a month.  That is totally doable.

I've always felt to need to give myself yearly goals.  It's nice to see that I'm lined up to hit everyone of them this year.

I can honestly say the only one that has me nervous is hitting my 5k PR.  I need to run a sub 19 min time for a PR, and I'm pretty sure I can hit that time, but my ultimate goal is to run in under 18 mins.  For the next few weeks not only will I focus on my long runs, but I'll also be working on my speed work. 

It's going to take a lot of focus and training to hit my sub 18 goal, but I'm ready to put in the hard work to get it done.

2012 Headlands 100 video

Here is the video of me running the 2012 Headlands 100.  This was my 3rd year in a row running this event.  I ran this just 4 weeks after running the San Martin 100 miler.  I've never ran 100 mile events so close together before.  Running two 100 mile races so close together totally took a toll on my body, but I love doing these things.

Watch "Headlands 100 09 15 2012" on YouTube

Got my shoes ready!!!

I have my arsenal of shoes ready for the Headlands 100.  2 pair of New Balance 110 trail shoes (I'll run 25 miles in each of them) and a pair on the New Balance 1010 trail shoe (I'm running the last 50 miles in this one).