Setting my targets on Laurel Valley in August

I can't help but to begin this post laughing.  Laughing about my 2014 New Years post on Facebook about running every possible ultra that I could find, but not running any of them well.  I sure hit the nail squarely on the head with that prediction.  It's okay though.  I had to traverse the rocky road instead of the nice paved one.  It's emptied me out here to where I am now. 

I've promised myself to take some proper rest time over the summer and actually train for a race.  I've decided that race will be The Laurel Valley 32 Mile Ultra on August 9th.  This gives me 12 solid weeks to train and improve my overall fitness with every expectation of shattering my fastest finishing time of 9:13.

Why Laurel Valley?  Why now?

Most everyone I know that has ran this rugged & remote section of the Foothills Trail agrees that there is something very different and special about it.  It possesses those intangible attributes that are nearly impossible to capture with words or photographs.  Maybe that's why National Geographic named it as one of 50 of the Worlds Last Great Places.

August 9, 2014 will be my 6th official race, but 16th overall time of running the course.  Each time I've gained something new from each experience.  It's one of the few trails that keeps pulling me back in.  Even where I swear off ever running it again after a tough finish.  It's the perfect race to prepare for and expect solid results from.

Maybe it's more about the friends that I've shared nearly 500 grueling miles with out there.  It motivates and excites me to see so many others taking on the challenge.  Some do well and some don't, but either way they have to finish.  One way in - one way out.  That's part of the mystique of the trail.

So in closing I will have Laurel Valley in the back of my mind for most of the 2014 summer.  Not only the race, but the experience and cloud of friendships that have been built through it over the years.  I will be lining up on that hot & humid August start line ready to embrace what lies ahead.  Faster, leaner, and more focused that ever on a strong finish, but more importantly a meaningful adventure.

Oh and it sure would be nice if the heavens could pour down some of that sweet summer rain just like last year as well!

Thunder Rock 100 Mile Race

This will be a short post because I'm so tired of running.  Just really tired in general.  I still love it and will continue on, but I need rest in the worst kinda way.  Mental, physical, spiritual.  I'm spent.

This race hammered what strength I had left in my body down to virtually nothing.

 

 



I knew deep down inside that I should've sat this one out and rested, but I hated to miss the 1st year  Rock Creek 100 mile event near Chattanooga TN.  I had just ran the Blind Pig 100 four weeks ago on 4/13, then Fort Clinch 50 Miler on 4/25, then the Oconee Park 50K just twelve days before this race.   What made it even worse is that I ran the Blind Pig 100 on virtually no training in 2014.  I was actually stupid to go, but I had a number in the race so that meant I had a fighting chance.  Actually, this was the perfect storm of stupidity.

It was a blast to hang out with the regular goons before the race.  Race morning came quick and I felt great until about mile 10 (haha).  My legs were so fatigued from the previous races and the bottom of my feet were on fire from all of the prior blisters and peeling.  I took a nasty fall around mile 20 and slammed by hip into a rock, then nearly repeated the fall again at mile 30.

I somehow managed to continue on for 46 miles in a constant state of deterioration until finally dropping out of the race just minutes before the sweepers came into the aid station.  I collapsed into a chair beside the fire and had never been so happy to be finished with a race.

About 1 hour before reaching this aid station I was running on a gravel road and decided that I really needed to take a break and lay down for a while.  Maybe a short nap would help me feel better.  After quickly drifting off to sleep, I was suddenly awaken to the sound of a ambulance and four fire trucks speeding down the road.  It was all I could do to just roll over into a ditch off the road and avoid becoming some of the largest road kill on record in Tennessee.

After I managed to scrape myself up out of the woods, all I could do was try and smile and hobble into my final aid station of the race.  It was over and I knew it.

I was happy to be finished with the agony in my body at the time, but I was dreading the thought of dealing with the feelings of dropping after I got home.  However, I've been surprised to not have any negative feelings about it at all.  It was a race that I simply wasn't prepared for so I can't beat myself up over not finishing it.  Lesson learned - at least for now.  Haha again  :]

So my plan is to take a break from racing over the summer and let my body rest.  I've averaged over 1 ultra marathon per month for the last five years and its simply time for a forced rest period.

Golf is actually sounding really fun right now, but I'll be back to ultras later on.

I did want to say congratulations to so many friends who finished the race.  Weezy, Christian, Kat, Gordon, Jason F., and Joel.  Great running on some tough trails!

Oconee 50K

As I ran around the lake heading towards the finish I could only be caught up in the moment of achievement.  My time pretty much sucked and I felt fat & out of shape.  However, I was running with my best friend under a deep blue Carolina sky and enjoying the moment.  I reached a milestone that few probably ever will.  There were times along the journey where dignity was all but shredded, but I stayed true to the course.  The world was right for those few minutes as I crossed the finish line.

70 Ultra Marathon Runs Completed In Exactly 5 Years.
(Click For List)

On May 3rd 2009 I ran my first ultra which was Terri Hayes' Buncombe 50K.  Since then the miles, friends and adventures that I've experienced have enriched my life more than I could have ever imagined.  Sure, there have been disappointments as well, but even those helped me grow as a person and runner.

I certainly don't intend to boast about this accomplishment, but at this point I need something positive to build off of.  Runners have certainly accomplished this before and in much grander fashion, but this was my personal running portrait that I painted.  I'm proud of it.

This was about my 40th 50K, but the first Sean Blanton race that I've ever ran.  Yes, Sean Blanton who I call "Blanton" because I knew him before he became the Run Bum.  The event itself featured a 50K and half marathon to choose from.  Us 50K runners were challenged by a 6:00 AM dark start which meant leaving my house around 3:30 AM.

Wayne and I had decided to treat this as a training run since neither of us where in condition to try and push the pace.  He was doped up on antibiotics and I was coming off 100 mile & 50 mile races over the last few weeks.  We decided to go out at a good pace and just see how long we could hold it.

That ended up being about 23 miles until we faced the gravel road of doom.  The course was an out and back and on the way to the turn around we flew down this long gravel road for several miles.  I knew it was going to be awful coming back.  It was.

I red lined my body climbing up the road ignoring the fatigue from the prior weeks where I had trashed my body mile after mile.  I had to say & do things that are better left for the trail itself, but Wayne was unfortunate enough to witness some of them.

“When you dance with the devil, the devil doesn't change. The devil changes you.”
― Amanda Hocking, My Blood Approves

After finally climbing up the gravel road I was feeling too spent to eat but I forced down a cookie.  It was going to be a long nine miles to finish this race out, but thankfully the tough part was in the rear view mirror.

Weezy (Wayne) set the pace for most of the final stretch as many of the runners we had shared miles with before took off at a faster pace.  We shuffled down every hill and only managed to slowly run up a few as we were reduced to mostly walking.  Wayne took two nasty falls during this final stretch and I knew he was feeling bad because he rarely ever falls.

It was great to finally see the lake and run around it for the finish.  Blanton even joined in with us and ran through the finish.  The race was very well organized and the volunteers were helpful and supportive.  This was a beautiful course that I'm sure any runner would enjoy.



We decided to eat lunch at Taco Bell on the ride home.  As we are eating lunch he tells me to turn around and a 80 year old man is standing beside the both with his shorts on the floor around his ankle.  He just stood there for about 5 seconds before even realizing it!   That was a good send-off to end a great day of training in the mountains.

The Rock Creek Thunder Rock 100 Mile race is coming up in less than two weeks, but I'm nearly certain that I'll miss it.  I'm too emotionally, mentally, and physically beat up to face that challenge right now.  I'm looking forward to some rest and vacation to renew my body.