Zane Grey

I finally have some time to write about Zane Grey (even before leaving Arizona, I starting preparing for the H1N1 flu virus situation that my colleagues back home were handling - the news of this international flu outbreak became evident during this trip.....my other life is supervising the Communicable Diseases Program at Washington County Health and Human Services).

In a nut shell, this race was hard. REALLY hard. I had no idea. It truly felt like running a 100 miles. Maybe I wasn't mentally prepared for it. The rocks. Rocks. And more ROCKS. There were stretches of the course that there wasn't a trail. And there were long stretches of "trail" that was basically overgrown grass with rocks underneath. One was lucky not to tweek an ankle or knee. Then the number of downed trees one had to jump over. Did I mention the rocks??

It became evident about half way through the race that I wouldn't be running the R2R2R run the following day.

To be honest, I think I went out way too fast. Also, I wasn't fueling properly. This was partly due to the fact that I ran out of water 10miles from the 33 mile aid station. I had let a volunteer fill my 2liter hydration bladder at the 17mile AS. I know for a fact I didn't suck down 2 liters of water in 1.5 hours. Thankfully Trevor gave me one of his water bottles that had about a cup of water left. Thanks buddy, I owe you one.

Trevor and I remained together up till AS #3. He pulled away and the loneliness settled in. I wouldn't see any one for lengthy stretches. I turned on the I-Pod to pass the time.

The last miles were a blur. I caught up to Trevor. We ran (I should say walked) to AS #4 (mile 44) together. We both had a bad stretch between miles 38-44.

I took off from the mile 44 AS feeling re-energized after downing a number of rice krispie treats (the only thing that seemed appetizing). The last stretch went by relatively quickly - running with some one else always makes the time go quickly.

I crossed the finish line in 16th place at 11hr 28 min. Upon finishing, I had no intent on participating in this race again. However, the pain in the knees and hips have passed, I'm looking forward to running it again. Maybe not next year, but soon.

Results: http://www.zanegrey.info/Highline_Trail_50/Results.html

Am I ready??

Sure hope so! I'm getting the final items packed for this weekend's adventures.....the Zane Grey 50 miler on Saturday followed by the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim run on Sunday. T-Man is meeting me down there - driving from Idaho. I fly out tomorrow at 6am. However, gotta catch the MAX train near my parent's house at 4:20am to get to the airport.

It is the first time I've done back to back 50's. Great training for the Big Horn 100 in June and the John Muir Trail in August.

I'll get pictures posted once I'm rested-up upon my return.

Cheers-

Time....

Family, work, playing with the kids, visiting friends, training & racing, etc.............life is busy. Hence the two and a half month "sabbatical" from blogging. Many people ask - both at work and in my personal life - where I find the time to do everything. I call it being efficient. Others (and I would agree with them) call it ADHD.

I've done two races since my last blog -

Chuckanut 50K where I got a PR
http://www.gbrc.net/cms/view_document.php?id=386

and just this past weekend,

Peterson Ridge Rumble (~55K) also another PR: http://www.time2race.com/Results/Peterson%20Ridge%20Rumble%202009.htm

Both are really great races, run on great courses and organized by two (of many) of ultrarunning ambassadors - Krissy Moehl and Sean Meissner.

I felt great at both races with much improvement over last year. Not sure why. Am I fueling properly? Am I training better? Do I now know how to suffer more? Yes is probably the right answer to all of these questions.

To be honest, I really don't run all that much. Other than one week in mid-March, I haven't run more than 3x in a week since August. Excluding a week in which a race falls into, on average I run ~5hrs per week. Given this, I'm very pleased with my race results.

My next race is the Zane Grey 50miler: http://www.zanegrey.info/Highline_Trail_50/Home.html . I'll be running with with my buddy Trevor. Then the following day, we will be running the Grand Canyon - an adventure just the 2 of us will be doing. Others refer to it as the Rim to Rim to Rim run. It is a ~45miles. Good training for Big Horn 100 in June.

Gotta go end this blog a little short.......a sick 5 month old is needing my attention.