Struggle the last time you went up Camelback Mountain?  Try using only your knees and elbows...How's that for perspective?  Holy crap.  Kyle was born with a condition that left him as he is now and pictured above.  He's never allowed that to hold him back and he's gone on to write books, wrestle in high school, college, motivational speak and now...he's planning on climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa as part of Mission Kilimanjaro.  (See video below).  So next time you are feeling a little too tired or that you just can't do it...stop complaining.  Far more people persevere with far less.  

Follow along with his mission at www.missionkilimanjaro.com

Grandpa Jim, a regular at Wednesday Morning Running Club, has been putting on fundraising events for Sunshine Acres for a few years now.  Jim's.  Sunshine Acres provides homes for children under a variety of circumstances and helps stabilize their lives through Christian living and a long term stable lifestyle many are lacking at a young age.  They don't solicit money, they don't fundraise.  Just small events like what Grandpa Jim puts on where any donations raised are used to help with the cost of bringing Sunshine Acres children to the Grand Canyon for an experience there.  Here's the website for Sunshine Acres:  
http://sunshineacres.org/wordpress/?page_id=32

So on February 10th Grandpa Jim brings the return of "12 Hours of Camelback" and event I didn't make it to until the last hour last year but this coming February I hope to train to complete the entire 12 hours.  The event involves 12 consecutive hours of hiking up the Echo Canyon Trail to the summit of Camelback Mountain, back down and repeat as many times within that time frame.  It's about 1300 feet of climbing with each trip.  Rough on the legs but a major challenge.  
The following weekend on February 18th is the Grandpa Jim 50K.  This won't be easy either with 8,200 feet of climbing planned for entrants.  Starting at the base of Camelback Mountain on the cholla side you go up and over the mountain, run the streets to the entrance of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, loop around and up Piestewa (Squaw) Peak and then take Trail #100 over to North Mountain where you climb both Shaw and North Mountain finishing on that side of the park.  Quite a trip but all in what I train in every single day so my interest is higher knowing it's going to Sunshine Acres but also that it's all home turf.  Looking forward to it.  Check out Grandpa Jim's website to enter.  Again, it's free but donations are accepted to help get the kids up to the Grand Canyon, something they will never forget.  https://sites.google.com/site/grandpajims50k/

Seriously...this is pretty amazing in that "Holy Shit that's a Jaguar" type of way.  Can you imagine hearing that roar while running with a friend on a secluded trail on a high ridge somewhere?  Wow. 

Here's the story link below.  Fascinating and great news to see this species back on the territory after Macho B died/was killed two years ago. 
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/11/jaguar-spotted-southern-arizona-macho-b.html

My friend Jay Danek asked me to write about my experience at the Javalina Jundred last weekend.  I've been moving, buying a house, and generally just very busy but finally got to it yesterday and it's posted on his website if you are interested. 

www.mcdowellmountainman.com

We are down to less than a week before the Javalina Jundred starts.  This year there are almost 400 runners are taking their costumes out to the Pemberton trail looking for their first, second or who knows how many finishers. Last year I spent the entire race out there volunteering, crewing, and pacing and it was one of my favorite ultrarunning experiences I had last year.  I loved being out there at the aid station helping people, cheering people on, meeting new people. The energy at JJ is different than other ultras, less serious but still with that driven attitude as runners are still put to task trying to run 100 miles.  But when you have people dressed as Spiderman, Jester, and Naked Woman it's hard to take it all too seriously.  Charlie Nickell did a great write up in Runner's World after last years race.  


http://trailheads.runnersworld.com/2010/10/javelina-jundred.html

This year I will be at Jackass Junction Aid Station again for the first 8 hours of the race then marking the course for the night time and finally pacing one of Arizona's hopefuls, Michael Carson, in his first bid for a 100 mile finish.  I've met so many more people in the ultra community that are running or volunteering at this race it's almost like a giant family reunion. From the Tucson Trail Runners Dallas Stevens, Michael Duer and Renee Stevens to the WMRC runners like Jay, Deron, Grandpa Jim among so many others.  I can't wait to see Michael Miller out there shirtless (that sounds weird...) on his last lap, yet again cheering other runners on despite how he may be feeling.  Javalina is a very unique ultra, the costumes, the trail, the RD's Jamil & Nick Coury, it's just something you can't find anywhere else.  So while it is a "loop course" that may turn off some of the mountain runners, it's not easy, it's not flat and it IS beautiful. Fountain Hills has some of the best desert views in the area, it's a great place to see the Arizona desert and sets the bar extremely high for any ultra with it's organization, design and how much damn fun it is. I'm excited and I'm not even racing it!

If you are interested Jay Danek asked me to put together who I thought would be the Top 5 Winners for both the Men's field and Women's field.  
Picking ultra winner's is tough as it's not like you have Baseball Reference or some large data bank to reference.  Running is filled with dark horses, people that have been training their ass's off and you've never heard of them.  It's part of the beauty of it so if someone was left off the list, please don't get offended, it's just for fun and hopefully sparks some conversation.

Here's the link:  http://www.mcdowellmountainman.com/

Elizabeth Howard gets my humor. Let's hope there are no dragons. I don't think the Coury's liability insurance for the race covers dragon attacks.  http://www.lizahoward.com/2011/11/dragons/

I have a point to this.  But first, Google "Cyborg" and take a look at the f'd up world out there (look at the images).  Holy shitballs. What the hell is that???  Whoa.  I just have to take a step back for a minute...

The point is I have since decided after Cascade Crest to run the Mogollon Monster 100 course in December, self supported, in winter.  It's a challenge that I'm looking forward to in both to see the course as I'm expecting others to see it but also for the sake of running an extremely tough course and moving forward with this project once and for all.  With the pace the National Forest staff works I expect the permits to be approved sometime around 2019.  Just kidding, hopefully this month but it's quite a process and not one steeped in examples of a lot of efficiency.  I'm pretty sure I'm bottom of the pile for them.  Luckily I'm extremely persistent and it WILL happen.  Until then I'm training hard to survive that contest in self will with no buckle, no fans, no "grand finale" to the run.  I know already it's going to be one of the toughest challenges yet.  I'm ready for it.  

www.mogollonmonster100.com 

In between then I've signed on to pace my friend Michael Carson at the JJ100.  Mike's wicked fast, like 7:30 50 mile time at Leona Divide.  It's a little out of my realm but I know I can keep up with him for 15-30 miles (when he's been running for 60 miles...)  My fear has been not being able to keep up  with him so I'm been actively trying to hammer out some fast runs on the trails and last night I put in such a great run I was left sprinting down the mountain, at dark, full speed wondering if somehow my Mom lied to me and she conceived me with a night on the town with Chuck Norris (sorry Dad...).  There's no other way to really explain how I was running so fast without being the lifeblood of a Legend like Norris, up every hill full speed as if there was no incline at all with no fatigue and did so for over 2 hours.  I felt incredible, like my feet were barely touching the ground, smooth, fast, even steps up and down and in every which way.  For those two brief hours I felt like a Cyborg.  A machine.  One of those "fast guys."  Whether or not I could maintain it for a full 50K i'm not sure but I'm not sure I'm ready to say I couldn't have last night.  It was one of those runs that wipes out the last ten disappointing runs and instills that sense of confidence for all the future ones.  I dare Michael to try and drop me out there.  I'm so excited to help him push harder on the course, help him through some rough spots, help him stay on target and just encourage him along the way.  The multiple facets of running never seem to be confined to just running down the road.  The more I run, the more I engage in the ultra community I realize that the physical aspects of running are really just a small part of it all.  The mental aspect takes hold of so much more, and the person to person interaction holds a lot more meaning than expected, so much that in the end I find myself forgetting about   physical pain and only thinking about the personal relationships I made out on the trail.  

Running is something I am very passionate about but helping someone reach their goal is something that cannot be compared with anything. Last year pacing my friend Matt, closing out the last full lap, watching Matt dig so deep, push so hard with so much passion and then finish, inside his goal, was really incredible.  You can't help but respect that drive, that passion and to be surrounded by it with SO many like minded people all concentrated in a 15 mile loop, is an incredible experience I wish more people would expose themselves to.  I'm excited to be a small part in Michael's experience and everyone else on the trail.  If you are running JJ100 let me know and I'll be sure to cheer you on!  Either way, I'll be the guy cheering you on even if I don't know you...

..Most likely hopped up on Mountain Dew.  A LOT of it.

That pretty much sums up my experience as a runner.  Crash & Burn.  Otherwise known as the "bonk."  I've mastered the bonk.  I could run a clinic on bonking.  I've bonked on purpose.  I've bonked trying to avoid it.  I'm just plain good at crashing & burning.

No better example than the Run Toms Thumb 50k in the McDowell Mountains of Scottsdale.  Being an area I do a fair amount of my running and training I thought it would be interesting to be in an "race atmosphere" on trails I knew so well.  

"Race Atmosphere" quickly turned into five people.  Not five people plus me.  Five people.  

So off we went up the Pemberton Trail, jogging along the bearded runner John who was jumping into his first ultra..  He picked an ultra with 5,200 feet of climbing for his first one.  I like this guy immediately.  

Unfortunately I would barely see him again as I passed him as we hit the turnoff for Dixie Mine Trail and he would stay behind me until the finish, as would everyone else.  It was a lonely 28 miles after this.  

I made it all the way up Bell Pass, down Bell Pass, up Tom's Thumb and down East End feeling pretty solid and well on pace to break Paul Bonnett's course record of 5:34.  I was feeling great and at mile 19 I had 124 minutes to finish the last 12 miles, just one climb back up East End from 128th street, the downhill to Prospector Trail and then the long slog back to Pemberton, albeit a mostly downhill one.   

Climbing I can do.  I can do it exhausted.  I can do it fresh.  Doesn't matter, I'll keep going up.  The downhill of East End however was a brutal, motivation crushing downhill where not only did my perverbail "wheels fall off" but they then went bouncing down the cliff, and burst into flames.  I was toast.  Done.  Exhausted.  Just like that I was staring at an incline to Prospector like it was the last hundred yards to Camp Four on Everest. 

The heat was on.  85+ degrees, 24 miles and over four hours in my head was baking.  I was completely exposed and I couldn't cool down.  I doused my head, arms and legs in the ice water refill at the 19 mile aid station.  Thank Jesus Melissa suggested ice in my bladder or they'd have been helicoptering me out.  How would that be for irony, getting evacuated out in Phoenix when it was not 114 but 85.  I'd never step foot on a trail again out of sheer shame. 

With the course record still in tact I hammered some water, cooled off and headed down Prospector, trying my best to push the pace, open up the legs and hope for the best.  It worked for about 30 seconds where I felt amazing, ran the hills, powered the downs and was picking up the pace considerably.  I was probably doing 7 minute miles but had I been wearing a Garmin I'm sure it was really more like 9 or 10's but it's more about the mental thought than the actual pace.  It didn't last long though and before long I was walking the hills, walking the flats and cursing the downhills.  I'd worn myself out, burned my legs, ran myself out of this race.  I was done.  

I reached the water station with 6.7 miles remaining and realized I had to run the last 7 ish miles at 8 minute miles to break Paul's course record.  I gave up.  Who care's about this stupid record.  My mind wandered between disgust, disdain, and feelings of utter failure.  I felt like I was Anton and Roes had just passed me at Western States.  I was in the lead all day and now when it mattered most I lost it.  

Pushing on to the last 3.7 miles of Pemberton I did the mentally taxing pacing method of running 3 minutes, walking a few, running to that bush, walking to that cactus.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat.  And through the course hope that 3 minutes turns into 6 which turns into a solid 15 minutes of running.  It was getting hot and I was only interested in finishing.  So I did, finally in a solid finish running the last 1.5 miles and the last part from the road crossing to the finish.  I could see the tents up ahead, imagined the fan fare, the cheering, the cold drinks, food, and sprinted through the last few rolling hills, into the Pemberton parking lot, along the chalk lined "finisher's chute" and crossed the finish line in 5:55.

Nobody even so much as looked in my direction.  People went about their business at the tents not related to our race, kept talking, kept milling about.  Weren't they curious why the heck this salt covered, sweaty mess of a guy was sprinting for no apparent reason?  Apparently not.  

I made it back before everyone else did, considerably so, by over an hour.  There were not any other "fast" runners though like the Michael Millers, Jay Danek's, Michael Carson's that would torch that course and the course record but I'm still claiming it as my first ultra win.  I ran harder and longer than I have in any other ultra with more climbing and overall elevation gain.  I simply got beat up with all the hills, probably should have walked a few more of them and done more to keep the heat from getting to me so much.  

It was a fun event though, great course, and hopefully next year being later in the season it attracts more runners than it did this time.  It deserves to be more than a 5 person race.  Race Director Donovan Sarka does a great job putting it on, puts a lot of effort and it should be a staple race on everyone's race calendar.  www.runtomthumb.com

Hopefully next year.  By then I should have my doctorate in Bonking.