My first "race" since the Cascade Crest 100 last August...I've been running but haven't raced anything since then.  With this race being the only race I've ever dropped from I didn't want to miss it and going into it I felt really strong, fast and ready to "race" a 50K versus simply finishing through a dismal last ten miles suffering to the end.  Jay had me convinced to shoot for a 4:30 finish despite never beating 5:36 in a dozen previous 50k's...so that's what we went for.

Three ten mile laps make up the course with a steep out and back on each one totaling 4,300 feet of climbing total.  We shot for a goal of 90 minutes per lap and after one lap we were 3 minutes ahead of pace.  Wearing the Minimus 110's for the first time for a run over 20 miles (see:  stupid) the second lap was less fun and my feet really started to feel the pounding after 15 miles.  Luckily I had my La Sportiva C-Lite 2.0's ready at the start of lap 3 and I told Jay to go ahead as I changed my shoes.  I was still on pace going into lap 3 but running solo I struggled to maintain a 8 minute mile pace and was soon passed by Paulette (this is the last time she passes me I swear...ok, I can't back that up.  She's fast) and then Chris Fall from Tucson.  Getting passed when you're feeling down always sucks, drags you down but at the same time brings me back from feeling like garbage because I got so pissed Chris passed me I picked it up going into the last climb.  My feet and calves were trashed from the 110's (extremely regrettable choice) going down the last two hills but I got a boost seeing Jay and the others on both the out and backs and knew that I was assured at least my place in the top ten and finished the mile strong, albeit cramping so bad I nearly collapsed at the finish.  

In the end I finished in 4:54, a personal best in the 50K by 42 full minutes.  I guess I could be disappointed by missing my "goal" by 24 and really struggling the last lap but it's still a good improvement and gives me at least an idea of where I stood and stand before Mesquite Canyon.  

The event itself was a lot of fun, much more fun than last year when I was sick.  I really like the course itself and realize more and more how much I love out and back courses and seeing other racers on the course while you are running.  Often, especially on one big loop courses, you see the same 3-10 runners the entire race as you all switch positions.  With a course like San Tan I saw every single person (almost) the first couple laps and knowing many of them it made it so fun to cheer each on and hear them cheer us on.  I don't think I will miss this race again, it's a classic to me.  

It was also fun to meet Jerry Armstrong from Boulder, CO who contacted me on Dailymile.com and asked for a ride to the race.  I picked him up and got to hang with him pre-race and he went on to run really strong and capture 3rd place as he passed Jay & I on lap 2.  Great runner, puts out some cool video's and always fun meeting fellow runners from other areas.  He wrote a great race report on is blog here:  http://www.jerryarmstrong.blogspot.com/2012/02/san-tan-scramble-50k-race-report.html 

I was really excited for this one.  Four times I've been down in the Grand Canyon, all four times running or hiking the R2R2R trails.  While that is an incredible trip each and every time I was excited to see a different part of the Canyon.  I had this opportunity when a few WMRC members invited me along for a 30 mile route that was to take about 10 hours...I didn't need to hear another word.  I was in.  

Andrew Heard, Art Bourque and John Pearce started out with me on the Tanner Trail head on the eastern edge of the Canyon.  The trail was steep, icy and covered in snow at the top and it switch backed its way all the way down until the Colorado River came into view.  Writing about the Grand Canyon is hard for me, it takes someone with real writing talent to be able to fully encapsulate what really "is" a run in the Canyon.  The walls pull you in, the Canyon goes from narrow and claustrophobic to massive and belittling.  You lose control of what you previously thought you had control of.  You become a part of it.  

Art lead us along the Escalante Trail all morning, dipping down to the Colorado to refill bottles, then seemingly back halfway up the Rim towards what for miles looks like a dead end straight into the walls of the cliffs.  Running along the ridge, the Colorado a thousand feet straight below, you look up ahead trying to see where the trail possible could be going.  Not until you reach the cliff wall do you realize that it does in fact scale the cliff all along its edge, precariously close to the edge, drawing up the details of your life insurance policy you hope to God you kept paying.    

Boucher Point starts the downhill towards the Colorado one more time before entering Seventy Five Mile Canyon.  Art describes a story when he was 33 and on this route alone, in 105 degrees, and completely lost.  Having already passed a dozen spider trails off into the unknown, unmarked, I can see how easily someone can be led astray.  Art takes us up the canyon and right away we climb above what becomes this majestic canyon, twenty feet wide but fifty feet tall, taller with each step deeper up the canyon.  Art purposely leads us up the trail past the real turnoff, a scree trail down into the depths of the slot canyon, nothing remotely resembling a trail but more of an avalanche zone.  No human rightly would have left a worn path for that.  Nobody.

Art leads us down the precipice, down climbing our way down the hundred feet to the canyon bottom, an ant among the giant walls.  Running down this dry riverbed, the walls tight around us, hovering high above us.  It was like nothing I'd seen before and it would only truly be the beginning.  

The trail continued it's steep ascents and descents, rock climbs up Fifty Foot wall, passed along the Colorado several more times providing for ice cold foot baths along the way.  Continually the trail would wander random directions, running in random directions to go in the direction we needed to travel.  We took the Grandview Trail out of the Canyon that day, a 4,000+ foot climb up the Rim that went on for a couple runnable miles before turning into a staircase leading straight up the chute, a leg burning, energy sapping assault on some of the steepest, most aggressive trails I've experienced.  Art hammered the climb like it was his last climb of his life, absolutely crushing Andrew and I, leaving me sapped for the last three miles and 3,000 feet of climbing.  Up to that point I felt great, strong and capable.  That quickly turned into weak, wobbly, possibly the next victim in a Grand Canyon fall to his death.  The trail narrowed, the elevation climbed and in turn the terrain became ice, snow and rocks covered with ice and snow.  Climbing up the pace went from a reasonable 20min/mile to the dreaded 30min/mile to a few minutes later...58.  Never...I'm using the word "never" here...have I ever wanted to just plain sit.  Sit down.  In the snow.  And just lay there.  My legs didn't hurt.  My feet were fine.  Everything was fine.  There was simply nothing left in the tank.  I was so tired, the trail so slick with ice, every imprint of a shoe with Yaktraks on it I wanted to scream.  Wouldn't those be convenient right now...

I've been in this mindset before and never stopped but plodded along until I found a good section of untouched snow.  With Andrew behind me a bit below I knew he would be struggling just as much in this snow with the footing being so slick and wrote, "This Blows!! :)" in the snow.  Just writing it made me laugh thinking of Andrew coming up the trail and seeing that.  I headed up the cliff, found a seat on a tree branch and regrouped.  Put down my last gel, put a long sleeve back on, gloves and hat now that we were back in the upper elevations and waited for Andrew to come on through.  He wasn't far behind and within a couple minutes he was there and we pushed our way to the top where Art was waiting for us with a big smile on his face, standing among the tourists there for a view of the big "Hole in the Ground."

John would come on through about 45 minutes later on his own.  He had taken a wrong trail, back tracked, found the trail but spent a few nerve racking moments working through the fear of being lost in the Canyon.  A veteran of the area he ultimately made it out, with a story, but made it out.  

Two weeks later I'm still thinking about this route, the Canyon and the great time I had with Art, John and Andrew.  It's never just another run up there, it always have me leaving thinking grander thoughts, bigger dreams and totally blown away and waiting for the next adventure there.  

Yes...this is my third 50K in three weekends.  Just the way it panned out on the schedule and I didn't want to skip any of the three.  Grandpa Jim's 50K runs through my backyard, literally, and covers some serious climbing along the way so I wanted to make it, donate some money to the cause and see how it goes.  

I could go into a full on race report here but this post is long enough already isn't it?  I agree.  I'm taking the lazy way out.  So go read Jay Danek's race report, we ran the whole thing together and finished in 6:32 tied for 2nd place.  If there is such a thing as "placing" in a somewhat unofficial race.  Either way I count it and it continues my domination at Fat Ass races that don't count with very few runners in it.  Yeah, I'm really good at those kinds of races.  Borderline elite really.  (see:  1st Place at Tom's Thumb 50K, 5 total entrants.  Still wondering when La Sportiva is going to start sending my free shoes...) 

So in the end...three 50K's in three weekends netted 93 miles, 21,000+ feet of climbing and 21 hours of running.  In between each week I ran a whopping 50 miles in the other 18 days...I'm getting dangerously close to a full sponsorship from WalMart or Wendy's.  It's a battle right now, really just the paperwork that needs to be worked out at this point.  If nothing else I should earn some kind of special shirt for "Laziest Training Program in Ultrarunning."  The week leading into Grandpa Jim's 50K?  Two miles pushing a stroller.  

Eat that Anton.  

Next up...Mesquite Canyon 50k on March 11th.  I'm going for a 4:30, I don't care if that's 66 minutes faster than I've ever done it.  

Limits are for cowards.  

It has been a while since I was in a taper period saving up before a race.  Sadly, nothing much as really changed.  The Phantom Injury is still present, real, and a compelling reason for self doubt and fear.

From my first ultra at Mountain Mist 50K in 2010 where I had a tragic, "Get up from the office chair" knee injury, to the hip "injury" I sustained two days before flying to Seattle for my first hundred caused by that ever daunting walk up a flight of stairs to the bedroom.  It happens every time.  The mind is playing tricks on you.  Trying to make you believe you can't make it.  You WON'T make it.  It's your internal back of the mind saying, "Here's your excuse.  Use it.  Embrace it.  You can fail now."  

So today while sitting at my office plugging away and I lose all the feeling in my left leg, from the hip down I was mildly concerned.  Certainly since its never happened before.  Just kept going numb, tingly.  I asked a coworker if I was having a heart attack.  Knowing me and that 94% of all comments are filled with some level of humor and/or sarcasm it was blown off in a flurry of "That's what you get for running so much!" comments.  

I returned to my office to continue my heart attack.

In a continuation of our corporate fitness challenge at work we had to run a 1 mile trip around the neighborhood to test our standing heart rate recovery.  It is a simple test of determining how quickly your heart rate can come down in one minute following high intensity exercise.  The goal of sorts would be a drop of 40 beats per minute.  So wearing a heart rate monitor we took off to start the mile.  

I made it fifteen feet before I realized there was something amiss with my left foot. 

Apparently I shattered it somewhere and didn't realize it.

Holy shit what's wrong now?!

Why does my ankle feel like someone slammed a board off it?  I know, I'll just run faster.  

Fail.

Half ran the entire way.  Still an inexplicable "injury."  Doesn't hurt now.  Don't know what the heck happened...I can only blame voodoo mind tricks on Dustin Hoffman.

Have you seen Sphere?  I felt like at the end of the run I was going to get clobbered by a giant squid, and Dustin Hoffman was going to be standing at the finish line recording my time.  

Smirking.  

Smiling.  

He's making me think I'm hurt when I'm not.  He's playing with my mind.  

I'm going to win Dustin.  

I know it's not real.   

http://andrewskurka.com/2012/how-i-make-a-living-as-an-adventurer/ People always say, "I wish I could do that" when they see someone else doing what they wish they could do for a living.  Whether its a professional baseball player, National Geographic photographer, musician, or a professional adventurer.  Andrew Skurka has gone out and done it and he's doing it now.  He's a professional adventurer.  I've been following Andrew for a couple years now as we're the same age and he's doing what I would LOVE to be doing.  To do what Skurka is doing takes a lot of sacrifice in life and some that I'm not willing to take.  So I'll remain happy doing what I'm doing and sit back and live a bit vicariously through him and the Anthony Culpeppers of the world as they take on these incredible journeys.  They've earned it.  It's not easy.  Just read the article Skurka wrote about how he does it (linked above.)

In holding true to my original plan to keep this website/blog from being anything but what all the other runner's blogs are here's a continuation of my oddities and some that I found on the internet.  I have a soft spot for the beauty of a time lapse film, the process behind it, the music along with it.  So I always look for them on the internet and then I click on the "Related Video's" and then I enter the downward spiral into the internet Labyrinth.  Surprisingly not all are about running or ultrarunning or trail  running.  I think there are some you might really enjoy.  If not, well...it's my website so I can do what I want. :)

 I've been mildly obsessed with Patagonia for the last 5-6 years.  I had an opportunity in my life to make the leap and take my career in hotels to another country, single and with a chance to work abroad.  I searched exclusively at first in Patagonia/Argentina/Chile as I've just always been intrigued by the area, the culture, the people.  The movie "Motorcycle Diaries" didn't help much as I watched that over and over again with a 7' map of South America dominating my bedroom wall...constantly dreaming of the day I'd take the big move...

It never worked out that I would move to Patagonia.  I took a promotion a couple months later in Arizona, met my wife shortly thereafter and I'd not change a thing from what I have now.  Yet, I still have a picture of the Torres del Paine mountains overlooking Hotel Explora, my dream hotel in Patagonia, taped to my inside of my notebook I carry around all day at work.  I just keep re-taping it to new notebooks every year.  It's worn, battered, torn, and even faded.  I just can't let it go.  

One day.  I'll be there.   


Until then I settle for YouTube and Vimeo fixes of the area.  I'll have my own videos soon...

Shit Ultrarunners Say has been all over the internet this week.  It's pretty dang funny, I've watched it five times now and it just gets funnier.  Not sure how enjoyable if you don't run but just know watching it that...well....pretty much every one of those happens on a daily long run.  Great stuff! 

This must have taken FOREVER to complete.  It's just incredible.  Both in scope but the sheer beauty of Yosemite.  Wow.  

This guy has been all over the country thru hiking and certainly applies to the above mention of guys that just go out and do what they always dreamed of.  This video is a trailer to a longer movie he's working on about the Great Enchantment Trail, a 700 mile long trek through Arizona and up through New Mexico.  Starts in Phoenix and ends in New Mexico going through southern AZ and western NM.  Starts in the Superstition Wilderness as you can spot Weaver's Needle right off the bat!

This video would have been totally different with another song but what a great choice!  It's so interesting to see the backgrounds in each shot, even if only for a second in the time lapse but the pauses...they really grab a hold of you, make you pause and really pay attention.  It's incredible really and the ending really takes a full grip on you, or at least it did me.  I love it.  Super creative.  

More proof that nothing can stop you from doing what you always wanted to do.  Yes, sounds cliche, but in the world of, "I used to be able to do that when I was your age" and the excuses that come with everyday life it's always great to see people kicking that crap to the curb and going for it anyway.  

The guy that made this video was 17.  Incredible.  

The GoPro has been around for a little while now so a lot of people know what they are.  Still though, many do not and always ask me what kind of camera I have.  So for those not familiar with this little piece of technological genius...here's their promotional video.  Which..is...amazing!

File this under:  Yes Please!  Can you imagine what the running trails are like up there?!!!!!

Last year didn't go so well.  I started out and went the first full lap up and over the hill and started out the second lap of the course.  I felt really sick and I was really struggling with my breathing.  I made the painful decision at the intersection for the second hill climb to head right (Quitters Lane) and DNF after 25K.  Horrible feeling, hate it.  Not sure I could ever bring myself to do it again.  I had more concern for the Superstitions 50M that was two weeks after last years San Tan but nonetheless...it still eats at me.  

With nearly every race I've entered in the last two years I've entered with the expectation of simply participating, pushing hard for a solid finish but never with any real thoughts of contention.  I've never "raced" an ultra.  I simply run when I can, walk when I can't.  If I can't see the top of a hill, I walk.  

Yet something happened in the last four months.  Something changed.  I don't know what it was, but I'm running so much faster than I ever was before.  I'm recovering faster, running harder, climbing without half the trouble I used to have.  I hit the same hills I used to struggle on just six months ago and now I'm barely breaking stride on them now.  Lighter on my feet, quicker on the flats, smoother on the turns.  I'm not breaking records, I'm not suddenly the guy that's going to start winning ultras, but certainly having a lot more fun on the trails now.

I know a big part of any improvement I have made is simply running with my friend Jay Danek.  The guy guts out a run every single day, not just a mile, but FOUR, every day.  He does on average 700 feet of climbing every day of the week and runs just about everything and absolutely HAMMERS the downhills with a blatantly reckless disregard for his own personal welfare.  You can't help but laugh following him in the dark, going so fast your eyes are watering in the wind, and tears start flowing down your face.  For the last two years of running ultras I've always been told not to go too fast on the downhills or you'll regret it later on in a race.  Jay's blown that theory out of the water and I'm following suit.  I'm going to hammer every downhill from now on.  

So come race day this Saturday I don't think I'm going to stick to the middle and settle for the same time I always get on 50K's.  My PR on a 50K is my second ultra every, Mesquite Canyon's inaugural year with a 5:36.  I think I can take an hour off that and hope to this weekend.  Bold?  Yes, but I'm humbly confident (is that possible?)  that I can hang with the fast guys and if not at least I'll know where I stand.  So the San Tan 50K will be a test in running the hills, hammering the downhills, contrary to everything I learned the last two years.  

Twenty miles.  5,300 feet of climbing.  3:44.  Thompson's Peak some great downhill running, some on trails, some on some sick disguise of a trail covered in prickly pear and cholla.  Half of which is still in my left leg.  Brutal but super fun and very beautiful with the desert floor getting it's green "carpet."  The McDowell's are so beautiful as it is, no matter how many times I've been out there, it's always fun.  Ok, not so much in July...but still a great training area.  Especially given it's 10 minutes away. It was also my first run with New Balance 110's.  I usually run in Cascadia's or La Sportiva Crosslites or Crosslite 2.0's.  C-Lites are 13.2 oz each...110's are 6.2 each.  So right away it felt amazing to have so little on my feet.  My calves and Achilles were KILLING me the first three miles climbing Bell Pass but after a screaming fast downhill everything was loose and went well.  Coming straight down Thompson Peak was a little rough, possibly have a size too small but I just felt so much faster than ever before.  Today, the day after, my feet are definitely tender on the bottoms from the lack of protection they've been used to but overall feel great.  Excited to use them this weekend at San Tan and see how it goes for 31 miles.  

Allegedly the ascent record is 15:28 by another ultrarunner done sometime in the past.  Records are all very vague and for some reason used to be even recorded from the top of the steps, not the ramada.  Which is similar to hitting a homerun from second place, not home.  

Either way, I'm coming after it.  Bring it.

I say that because I'm always so far behind on updating this.  So much happens, so little talked about, so much missed.  Or is it?  You tell me.  Did you miss me?  Didn't think so.  Funny thing is, I started this website and wrote in it for months and months and never even told people I had it.  It was an outlet of sorts, a place to consolidate my thoughts, my aspirations, my frustrations and a place to dream.  It still is but as life piles it on more and more with each passing week I feel more burdened by the internet and all it encapsulates.  Good and bad.  

So for the sake of my dozen loyal readers...ok, just my Mom.  Here is an update on the Arizona trail scene, my unrelenting mission to run myself into the ground, and why Monsters are better in the form of mystical beasts than in aluminum cans.

This is going to be very random.  Probably weird.  I can't guarantee you'll enjoy any of it.  But you clearly have nothing else going on right now or you wouldn't be reading this.  Buckle up.  I just slammed a Mountain Dew.  

After running Cascade Crest in late August I didn't make it to another race after that.  I missed Man Against Horse, skipped Cave Creek Thriller, passed on Pass Mountain and bailed on McDowell Mountain.  All races I planned on running going into the very week of the race but never actually signed up.  Why?  No idea.  One is definitely spending the money on a race I wasn't totally thrilled about.  Sure, the guys always have great shirts but I have dozens of race shirts.  Running 31 miles just didn't appeal to me all that much and I was becoming more and more interested in the 25-30K distance.  So with each passing day I'd gain more confidence and yet never actually test it.  All the while I was training for the Mogollon Monster 100 test run on December 10th.  After that was snowed out and postponed until May I was really bummed.  So how do you go from running a mountain 100 to two weeks later signing up for a 24 hour race on a flat, 1 mile loop?  Again, I'm compulsive...and I like to try new things.  

Across the Years is a classic of classics.  Lots of history, lots of extremely talented runners.  A totally different breed of runners than what I've come to know as "ultrarunners" but no less talented or unique. So how was running around in circles for 24 hours?  No idea.  I made it 7 miles before I knew I had doomed myself into a full day of boredom.  I hit 22 and thought maybe I'll just jump into the little trail side lake and drown myself.  Mile 34 came around and I started walking just to talk to someone new that I was coming around the circle and hadn't yet met.  By the time I reached the 45 mile mark I had lost every ounce of motivation to continue.  I'd walk it in with my good friend Honey and I called it a night.  50 Miles.  10 hours.  That's enough for me.  

Physically I felt great and actually felt even better as I reached the 50 mile mark.  I simply did not have the heart to continue, I had no goals, signed up for the race that morning.  It was fun, I met some great people and would certainly recommend the race to someone else that likes the flatter courses or loves timed courses.  Me?  Probably won't do it again for some time.  Like next year.  

Another race in the series that Arizona Road Racers puts on along with the Mazatzal 18 Miler.  This one is 22, all roads and circles through a remote area of central Arizona and one I'd not visited yet.  It was a small group but not unsurprisingly  the same 40 people I see at every trail race or ultra.  I was excited to see how I would handle actually "running" 22 miles straight and with the 2500 feet of climbing it did add another element of difficult to it.  I finished it in 3:16 or so with Paulette which was good for 7th or 8th.  It's a pretty low key, non-competitive type race so not sure anyone was racing, I know Paulette and I weren't.  Just a nice day out in the desert.  A classic Arizona race, I'll be sure to make it next year as well.  

I love the Superstition Wilderness.  Just on the eastern edge of the Phoenix metro area its so accessible and visable for many residents but nearly everyone is clueless in what is held behind the mountains hovering over the city.  Behind that wall of rock is a 180 mile network of wilderness, completely replete of people, as inhospitable an area as you can find in this country and as unforgiving as it comes.  Yet with that comes a beauty that isn't matched by many places either.  The rock formations, the varied vegetation, the sunlit canyon walls as the sun rises over the mesa.  The desert is a beautiful place if one just gives it a chance, opens their eyes and welcomes the experience.  

This year we had a group of nine taking the loop around the western and most frequented (see:  Runnable trails) trail systems.  The course climbs a total of 4,500 feet in exactly 31.1 Garmin miles while passing several ridges, steep descents, big climbs and fast, winding, single track.  

We had the National Trail Champion David James, Angeles Crest 100 winner Paulette Zillmer, stud thru hiker/ultrarunner Anthony Culpepper, fresh off his 5,000 mile/9 month loop from Arizona to Montana and back.  My friend Michael Duer from Tucson, who I ran with in our friends 50 miler up Mt. Lemmon last year made the trip with his friend Sarah, both great, fast ultrarunners.  Jon Roig returned again, always up for anything unreasonably difficult, with so little apparent effort it makes me want to double my monthly mileage after every trip with him.  Jeffrey Bryant, the "old guy" of the group who claimed he would be falling behind but was always right on our tail.  Then my brother Noah who put in 5.5 miles of running since August came out and ran the 25K first half.  Pretty standard for him, knocked it out and kept up with us the entire time.  Always impressive no matter how many "off the couch" adventures he does with me.  

We all finished in about 30 minutes faster than last years time, all smiles and only 9 of us were bloody when we finished.  The rocks are unavoidable, catclaw your worst nightmare and you can't get away from any of it.  This year felt a little less overgrown, maybe less rocky?  I could be delusional though as I run on rocks every day and I'm more used to them than most.  Usually when I take people to the Superstitions they love the utter beauty of it but can't wait to get done because the area is so technical.  It's Arizona.  What's NOT technical here?  

STEFAN  BEHR    71
RICHARD         BUSA    73
ROBERT  CALABRIA        70
JEAN-JAQUES     D'AQUIN         71
EDWIN   DEMONEY         73
JOHN    DEWALT  73
EDWIN   FISHMAN         71
WOLFGANG        GEISTANGER      72
AARON   GOLDMAN         74
RALPH   HIRT    71
SHERMAN         HODGES  70
GRANT   HOLDAWAY        75
BILL    HOLLIHAN        73
DON     JANS    71
LOU     JOLINE  71
BUDDY   JONES   72
DICK    KAMINSKI        70
RICHARD         LAINE   70
LEO     LIGHTNER        70
LINK    LINDQUIST       70
CHRISTOPH       LUX     78
ROBERT  LYNES   72
JERRY   McGRATH         70
FRED    NAGELSCHMIDT    70
STUART  NELSON  70
DAN     PIERONI         70
RAY     PIVA    74
JOHN    PRICE   71
EPHRAIM         ROMESBERG       75
SAM     SOCCOLI         70
KARSTEN         SOLHEIM         73
BERND   SPRING  70
WALT    STACK   70
OJARS   STIKIS  72
BEECHAM         TOLER   70
MIKE    TSELENTIS       71
DIETER  WALZ    72
ROSS    WALZER  71
JONATHAN        WILLIAMS        86
EDWIN   WILLIAMS        70
TOM     WOLTER-ROESSLER         78
CARL    YATES   70
*MEN*       
*WOMEN*            
       
IRIS    LEISTNER        78
HELEN   KLEIN   75
BARBARA         MACKLOW         74
ELDRITH         GOSNEY  70 


Know what this list is?  This is a list of everyone over the age of 70 years old that has completed a 100 mile race.  It's an unofficial list compiled by ultrarunner Dan Baglione whom I met and ran with (walked...) at the Across the Years race.  One of the many interesting guys and girls out there with a massive running resume that makes you want to quit your career, and become a running vagabond to try your best to catch up to his accolades by the time your his age.  He's one of the many guys like Karsten Solheim, and others that are over 60 and still rocking it hardcore.  The beauty of Across the Years is the depth of dedication these people have.  I met a guy from Washington, Fred Willet, who has the body of a 57 year old (his age) as you would expect.  A nice round belly he's worked hard in earning yet he was pounding out the miles with a consistency anyone would be excited about.  After a while of running laps I saw Fred, shirtless, in the mid afternoon of his SECOND day and sparked up a conversation with him.  He's 57 and he plans to run a sub 3 hour marathon when he turns 60.  Amazed and honestly a bit surprised based on his outwardly non-in shape appearance I asked what his current marathon time is.

"4:20 but I walked a bit so I could practice for this."

Somehow after a few more minutes of running and talking with Fred I no longer had a shred of doubt that he would accomplish this.  One story after another I hear from one person after another about determining something they want in life, setting that goal and by God, sticking to it until they reach it.  I know Fred will do it, he's just that kind of guy.  Later that afternoon, several hours later I was running past Fred and as I passed him I said as I tired, "Fred!  I'm fading here!"  

Fred's reply?  "The HELL YOU ARE!"  A command with such a definitive tone you can't deny it.  You're right Fred.  I'm not tired.  To hell with fatigue.  I'm going to go faster.  

It was worth another five laps of effortless running.  

Many people I work with or I know use age as an excuse or reason for being as out of shape, unhealthy or incapable of certain things.  They can't do this or they can't do that because they are "old."  Which often or not is late forty's or fifty's.  Hardly old.  

"Oh to be young again."


"I remember when I was young and could do that."

Bullshit.

All of it. 

I do half my training with a 52 year old mother of 3 that has run Hardrock and races ultras all the time.  Dave Mackey is the 2011 Ultrarunner of the Year.  Older than almost every other Top 5 runner out there by a decade.  Karsten Solheim (on this list) is still hammering out 100's and he was born a year or two after Moses.  My point is, I'm not skinny because I run and my coworkers aren't fat because they are old.  I'm fit because I train not because I'm skinny and my coworkers can be every bit as in shape as they want to be.   Nothing is stopping them but themselves.  Age is irrelevant.  This list proves it.  These people aren't "crazy," these people are living their lives as they want to, as they should and as they deserve to.  Good for them, I hope to be in their shoes later in my life.  

I'm going to go out on a limb and make the statement that directing a 100 mile race is harder than RUNNING a hundred mile race.  It's a lot of logistics, planning, organizing, budgeting and bureaucratic nonsense.  

And I love it.

As much as it takes, the hours of planning, I know this race is going to be something special.  The trails are amazing, views incredible and I'm confident the pieces are going to fall into place.  I was disappointed after we had to postpone our trial run in December but now look forward to the May 5th running in weather a good bit more similar to the September date.  Prior to that I plan to make several trips getting video of trail sections, additional photography, marking and planning for the coming race.  With each big 100 selling out, going to a lottery, I think it's going to help the Monster fill to it's 100-125 capacity the first year and give everyone a good sized competitive field.  There is a lot of interest, my email inbox remains filled and the offers to volunteer keep coming in.  Check out the race website www.mogollonmonster100.com for more info.  I'm the proud owner of a GoPro Here 2 so look out!  Video's coming soon!

I ran this race last year with a wicked cold, 103 degree temperature and bailed after the 25K mark.   My only DNF.  Ever.  Kills me to this day.  I have to return.  I'm going back.  http://www.getoutgetlost.com/1/post/2011/2/san-tan-scramble-race-report.html

Next after that the following weekend is the 12 hours of Camelback, a maniacal redundancy up and down Echo Canyon for 12 hours or until you fully tear each ACL.  So I'll try to make it to that...

Following weekend is the Grandpa Jim's 50K.  Up Cholla, down Echo.  Over the roads to the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, up Squaw Peak, around Circumference Trail and across the Trail #100 to the North Mountain Visitor Center.  My home ground.  My trails.  My Mountains. If I don't win I'm going to become a professional badminton player.  Ok, I won't do that but I train on these mountains, can hammer the super, super technical descents and hope to do really well at this event.  

Two weeks later I'm running a 55 mile backcountry Superstitions run with Jeff Jones and a few other brave souls.  Repeat of last years run plus a few miles to retain the original route.  I have my reservations about a few of those sections and repeating them again but ultimately I just love the Superstitions too much and have a hard time saying no.  It's my heroin.  

The following weekend (I can see my overall times plummetting about now..) is the Mesquite Canyon 50K.  This hopefully will be my third straight year running it, lots of climbing, great collection of runners.  Competitive, hilly, technical, hot, snakes, boulders.  Should be just as exhausted at the start as last year following a Superstitions run but I don't want to miss it so I'm already signed up.  

After that?  Who knows?  A beer under the sun at a Spring Training game?  

Let's hope so.