Rocky Report

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Last year Tiffanie and I had flown down to Huntsville so I could pace Rick Mayo the last 40 miles of the Rocky Raccoon 100. I decided this race was not a good option for me since it is a 5 loop course which meant passing by a very inviting start finish area to drop 4 times. Fast forward about 8 months, John King decided he wants to give Rocky Raccoon a shot for his first 100 after pacing me through a dreadful Arkansas Traveller 100 race and I figure what the heck, I may as well give it a shot too.

Friday morning Kyle and Stacy Amos, John and Stacy King, Tiffanie and myself flew to Dallas where we rented a car and drove from there to Huntsville. Once we arrived there we met up with fellow Kansas City Trail Nerds and Rocky 100 entrants Ben Holmes and his son Matt, Gary Henry, and Tony Clark from Wichita at the local Starbucks. They were all staying at the park in the official trail nerds shelter, while we had luxurious rooms at the Super 8.


After loading up with Caffiene we headed to to Walmart to pick up some last minute things and checked into the hotel. We got to Huntsville State Park and met up with the guys again at packet pickup and hung around the shelter for a while wondering what tomorrow's race was going to bring. I ran into Chris Corbin, a strong runner from Oklahoma who I have ran in a few races with. It was his first crack at 100 miles and we figured we would see each other out on the trail since he usually isn't too far ahead of me. I was many familiar faces including Brad Holzworth and his pacer Carey Smith.

Once the pre race meeting was over we weht to dinner and headed back to the hotel to get some rest. I slept very soundly all night and awoke a few minutes before my scheduled wakeup call to head over to the race site.


We parked at the nerd shelter and got ready for the start. I was a bit nervous before the race. I had changed up a lot of things since running my last 100 4 months earlier. My mileage had stayed lower, around 70/week. My diet had gotten more strict and I was 13 lbs lighter than Arkansas. I had added a very intense leg workout day in the weightroom and cut the upper body weights down to 1 light day/week. I also did a majority of my running on the treadmill and was only able to get on the trail 1 day a week for a long run. I wanted to get 22 hours and beat my Heartland PR of 22:11. All of this stuff was going through my head and I wondered what John must feel like. He was going into an uncharted distance for him, he had gotten lighter and faster the past few months, I knew he was going to do well plus he trains with the best;)


3-2-1 and we were off, I was looking around for Chris Corbin to hopefully run with him for a while but couldn't find him. I didn't want to start off with John, he needed to do his own thing and run his pace, especially at the beginning. Once we got to Highway Aid station a the 4.4 out mark you were able to see everyone else since it was a out and back turnaround. Kyle and Tony were about 15 minutes in front already, which I expected. John was about 6 minutes behind me followed by Chris Corbin, Ben and Gary. I yelled at Chris that I would be looking for him and to hurry up and catch up with me. I planned to run the first loop in 3:30-3:40, somehow I managed a 3:18. Kyle and Tony passed me heading out for the second loop as I was finishing the first and I could tell Kyle was suprised to see me so soon. I had to stop at the bathrooms and take care of some stuff so there were a few minutes wasted, I was out for the second loop at 3:21.


I was hoping to only fall off about 30 minutes from an expected 3:30 first loop so I had some extra time since I was ahead of pace. I started struggling a bit around 30 miles or so and started to get those bad thoughts going through my head. I had really been focusing on just setting a time goal for each aid station and only thinking about that. The whole 100 mile distance is just too overwhelming. Luckily at this point Chris caught up with me and pulled in front for a while. I decided to borrow his legs for a bit and let him pull me around the last 10 or so miles of the loop. He was feeling good and was going to run while he could. We pulled into the aid station with a 3:41 second loop. Carey was there with our Tiff and the others, they said to take it easy this loop since it was getting warm. We took about 3 minutes and were off again for the 3rd round.


We pretty much stayed together this loop. He was leading for the first half and I took the front most of the second half. It was starting to warm up to a very humid 72 and Tiff gave me an ice bandana to keep me cooled off for this stretch. She had been heading out to 2 aid stations from the lodge and start finish area to make sure I had what I needed. I was doing ok, so she was going to hang out at the lodge with the other Crew/Wives which was fine by me. I really started to realize how good of a run I was having at this point. I was over 50 miles in and felt like I had just started. I always hear people say that but it was weird to really feel it.


At one point we passed John on and out and back , he was only 36 minutes behind me, holy crap!!! I had better keep it going or he was going to toast my butt. I knew he was trying to keep up and I was trying to keep ahead. It was actually benefitting both of us. Chris and I pulled into the start/finish for the 3rd time with a 3:40 second loop, 1 minute faster than the 2nd loop. We were at 60 mile which meant we could pick up our pacers here. Mark Stovall had flown down to pace me with Rick, who was pacing John. It was his first time pacing and I knew he was a bit nervous. I didn't see him around though. Him and Rick had went to the previous aid station to see me there but I was already through there, so he was sprinting back to try to get to me before I left.


This was the scheduled long aid station stop. I had to change into dry clothes and get ready for the night run. I realized now that I seriously had a great shot and going under 20 hrs, which I never would have expected. Mark got there as I was getting ready to head out. I told him I hope he had on some good running shoes, he was going to need them. We headed out on the 4th loop with Chris also, his last minute pacer had not shown up yet so I told him he was welcomed to stay with us for as long as he could. I told Mark we needed a 4:20 and 4:40 loop to finish under 20hrs. He said that my sheet I gave him had a 4:50 estimate for this loop, well, that has all changed now.


About 2 miles in, Chris started to fall back a bit. I hated to leave him but I was determined to get this done. I also knew that Rick would be joining John soon and there is nothing more Rick likes to do than get a rabbit to run down, which was me. We put our noses down and hit it pretty hard. I would guess we passed about 15people on that 20 mile loop. Rick and John didn't fall off our pace too much, I guess they were about 40 minutes back. The biggest problem I was having was my toes. I was wearing road shoes and the roots were catching my toes a lot. They were getting very painful and swollen but other than that the feet were fine. I did a faceplant a few times on this loop and was starting to have some problems with my right knee. The up and downs were really painful so I had to sort of do a side step on those portions of the trail. We rolled in with a 4:01 4th loop.


Sarting out the last loop we decided to take it easier and just not to do anything silly to ruin this. Less than 2 miles in I stopped running and looked around. The trail seemed a lot softer than I remembered, we were lost. I wasn't even paying attention to where we were going, I was just following Marks feet, so I should have paid more attention to where we were at since I had already been on this trail 4 loops. We turned around and headed back to where we took a wrong turn. Luckily we only wasted about 10 minutes but now I had to work a little harder. We stayed pretty strong for the entire loop. The only time we saw John and Rick they were about 1 hour back and looking very strong. I saw Kyle and Tony on an out and back section again. Every time I would see them Kyle would say holy crap, you are doing awesome. I was only about 6 miles behind them, which suprised no one more than me.


We got to the last aid station and Mark called Tiff to let her know we were 3 miles out. I jogged up until the last mile or so. There was someone in front of me trying to run and not let me pass them with only 1 mile left. I took off and told Mark we need to get that thought out of his head really quick, which we did. I got to the road crossing just before the finish and got a huge adrenaline rush. I was screaming pretty loud that last stretch. It was an absolutely amazing feeling to finish so much faster than I thought possible. It was great having so many people at the finish line to cheer me in. I finished in 19:33 and some change.





Once we crossed the line I was able to sit down and try to take in the whole atmosphere. Matt grabbed me a beer and I changed into some warm, dry clothes. We sat around for a while and told our war stories until John rolled into the finish at 20:48 for an amazing first 100 finish time.




I had a blast at Rocky Raccoon this year and set a PR by 2 hours and 37 minutes. It was such a great experience to be able to run so well for so long and see friends on the course all day long. My wife, as usual did a stellar job crewing me and was even helping other people aid stations with their feet and blisters. This is a very tough sport to be involved in with a family and kids. It would not be possible without her support. Congrats to all the nerds who went to Rocky this year and thanks to my friend Mark Stovall who flew down to run 40 miles in the dark with me. I think he has gotten bit by the 100 mile bug now too.



Until the next one,.,.,.,.,,.

ROCKy and ROLL

So tomorrow we finally head for Texas. John, Kyle, myself and our wives will be flying out around 5am to Texas. I cannot believe the weather forcast!! A high temperature of 67 and a low of 53, absolutely perfect!!

Everything has been so busy lately that I haven't even got to pack everything up yet. I haven't been home before 8 for the last couple weeks with practices and stuff. I have never felt so good before a 100 miler before. Everything feels different this time. I guess the lack of high mileage buildup and drastic taper have kept everything normal. There are no aches and pains to worry about which is strange and I have been getting a lot more sleep since I have been substituting lunch runs for early morning runs.

My plan for Rocky is to just go with the flow. I just want to run at whatever pace feels comfortable and not get obsessed with the time. I am going to start out in my road shoes and see how they hold up. This will be the first time flying to a 100 miler so I had to greatly reduce the amount of stuff I usually take. Tiff is going to share a car with John's wife, Stacy, and try to get to both John and I while Kyle's wife is planning on using Ben's Nerdmobile.

Mark Stovall is flying down with Rick Saturday morning to pace me. It will be Marks first time at a 100 or pacing. He has done a 24hr run and a 50 miler as well as a few 50k's so he will be fine.

I hope to take my new mini HD camcorder with me on a few legs of the race if everything goes well and maybe have Mark take it out at night while pacing some. Tiff will be using it at some aid stations so hopefully we can get a few hours worth of footage.

Yesterday I had my bodyfat tesing and final weigh in before the race. My bodyfat was 6.1%. I weighed at 180 lbs after putting in a few slow miles on the treadmill. I was about 194 the week of Traveller, I am curious to see if losing 13 or so lbs will pay off over 100 miles. There is not much elso to lose so I am very happy with my weight loss and I really hope it pays off. John has dropped about 15 lbs and he has definitely improved a lot.

The trail nerds will be well represented at Rocky. Myself, John King, Kyle Amos, Ben Holmes abd Gary Henry are all running as well as a whole bunch of other people I know. I am looking forward to seeing those other crazies who like to do this stuff also.

As far as the kids go...Corbin has won 6 wrestling tournaments in a row, going undefeated since December 8th. Last weekend we travelled to Kirksville and spen the weekend there for a tournament. He got a nice 2ft trophy and we had a good time in the process. Tristans Basketball team is improving but they play in a very competitive league so they are still looking for their first win. We have been having Baseball tryouts for his team and will finalize our roster next week as well as getting everything tolling for COrbins baseball team too.

Have an awesome weekend, hopefully I will have some good news to report next week.

Swell

The last 2 weeks have been,,,.,,.,..well, swell I guess. I have been sticking to the faithful treadmill during the week and heading outdoors on the weekends. John and I went and played in the mud at Smithville on Saturday for several hours and I got in a nice solo run last Sunday morning, taking advantage of the great weather.

I ordered a pair of Saucony Triumph 5 the other day but shipped them back today for a size 13. I have never went above 12.5 on a road shoe but they felt snug around the toes. I plan on starting off in Roadies at Rocky Raccoon so I want to make sure they are big enough.


I have been hitting the diet pretty hard this week, luckily my OCD helps me to be able to eat the same thing every day and dinner is the only variety. I will wait another 10 days or so and then raise my calories the last week before Rocky. I can definitely tell by my sometimes low energy level that I am operating on a pretty hefty caloric deficit. i am at the lowest weight I have been since ohh,.,,7th grade.
I am still hitting the weights once a week and the legs are getting the brunt of the work there also. Monday I got in 5 sets of 50 with 175lbs on squats which left me sore for a few days.


I have been looking at the splits and trying to figure out a realistic goal to shoot for. I think I have on but we'll see after it's over how close I finish to my predicted time which I will keep to myself. It always looks so easy on paper. The one thing I remember clearly is the cold, damp night weather. I get chills just thinking about it.

Corbin won his wrestling tournament again last weekend. That makes 3 tourneys in a row undefeated. He is still getting very nervous and is in tears before every match. It is mostly from his intense desire to win. We have been talking a lot about just competing and trying your best, how the only real losers are the ones that don't try. It is a very very fine balance at such a young age. He wanted to quit before his second match last weekend but I made him stay even though he was an emotional wreck. After he got his first place medal he gave me a " thanks for not letting me quit Dad, you were right."

I will be stuck inside at another tournament Saturday and Tristan has his first Basketball game that day as well. Sunday I plan to get in a long run at Wyco with Rick and John and then out for some good old Mexican food afterwards!

Have a great weekend!!

FrozenAss FatAss

Yesterday was possibly the most unpleasant time I have ever had running. Several of us headed up to Wallace State Park for the Cameron Fatt Ass on New Years Day. The race temps were about 13 degrees and there was a nice 20 mph breeze to keep us cool as we plowed through the 6 or so inches of snow for 31 miles. It is a 5 loop course so we had to run by the warm cabin and our cars 4 times which was punishment enough.

I actually called it quits after the 3rd loop and started up Johns truck and enjoyed the heated seats for a while. After getting out of the frozen wet clothes and into some warm dry ones I decided to head back out rather that sit around waiting for him to finish.

I ended up finishing in a snail like 6:45. It was my slowest 50k ever but the most difficult also. I will be losing a few toenails from this one and all of the sliding on the snow. I think there were only 8 finishers of about 30 starters so I am just happy to be one of them. This was also our 2nd 50k in 10 days in the freezing cold and snow, but this one was far worse than last weeks at Wyco. I will post some pics later.

I found this pic the other day of me. This was in June of 04 about 6 months before deciding to try and lose some weight. Notice the large chew in my mouth and the beer in my hand, two staples of my past diet.


I hope everyone had a great New Years. A few of us got together at Johns New Years Eve and just hung out and ate a bunch of food and played some games although I did have a few beers also. Today the gym was loaded up with the New Years resolution crowd, in a few weeks it will be back to normal again I am sure. I am not real big on New Years resolutions although I hope to have more patience, be a bit less selfish(except for running) and be a better father and husband too.

Only 31 days until Rocky Raccoon and another 100 mile adventure. Hopefully It will be decent weather and I Can avoid the mental pitfalls of the 5 loop course. I do not like loop courses. It is just too convenient to quit.

Merry Christmas

I cannot believe it is already Christmas Eve!!! Today I am hoping to leave work early and get home to get the kids to my Grandma's for Christmas Eve then over to my aunts where we will meet up with Tiff when she gets off work and do some gift exchanging.

The past weeks have mostly been filled with shopping and Christmas prep stuff. Yesterday we went to visit my sons friend Lake in the Hospital. Lake was on our football team and played next to Corbin on the D line. His family was in a terrible car accident just before Thanksgiving. He has very severe head injuries and is going to be in the hospital for many months. I really enjoyed seeing him and his family. Corbin took his 1st place medal for wrestling to him and Lake thought that was cool. He has very little ability to move and cannot speak but his smile can light up the room. It was very emotional and we were on the brink of tears for most of the visit. Enjoy the time with your families this season and don't take them for granted. We also went to the Plaza to check out the Christmas lights, eat some seafood and take a carriage ride.


Corbin has took first place in the last 2 wrestling tournaments. He has really faced some tough competition and is realizing how difficult it really is. There have been many tears shed during his matches, he gets so revved up that he starts crying when it gets intense.


I have been still getting in a decent amount of treadmill miles and a few on the trails also. Last weekend we got in a 50k training run at Wyco, it was snowing and about 20 degrees but we still finished 3 very cold and wet loops. My weight has been slowly decreasing and my speed slowly increasing. It has been rough with all of the parties to stay on track but I am trying.


I am really curious how all of the treadmill miles will play out at Rocky in 40 days. I definitely feel faster but that may just be from spending so much time indoors. I received an early present by winning a free entry to Rocky Raccoon last week. Joe Prusiatis the RD, gave 1 comp entry to the Kansas UltraRunners Society and I was the lucky recipient. It will definitely help since I went way overboard on spending this year!!

New Years Day we are heading to the Cameron 50k Fat Ass. I should get a good gauge on whether the faster treadmill running has been positive or negative then. Have a Safe and Happy week. See ya next Year!!

Slackin

A Few Christmas Pics



Man it has been a while since I posted last. I will give a quick run down.

I ended up dropping at Nathaniels Run after 2 hours. I just didn't feel like running around in a circle all night long in the cold.

Rick and I ran Dude Where's the trail 50k and finished 2nd and 3rd my about 1 minute after catching the leader and then gettting lost with 3/4 mile left for 10 minutes.



I have been doing a lot of treadmill running lately, it has helped me in picking up the pace and also has been a lot easier than those cold dark morning runs. Overall my body feels great. Nothing hurts and I can actually walk normal in the morning. I have been eating super clean and am really concentrating on dropping some weight, so far so good.

Corbin has been kickin butt in wrestling. he has taken 2nd in his first 2 wrestling tournaments and has been going against kids who have already been wrestling a year or 2.His third tournament is this Sunday. I predict 1st place this time.

I have been spending way too much on Christmas but I always do. We bought ourselves a nice lcd tv and an HD pocket size camcorder while out shopping for others already.

Saturday we are trying for a 50k trainer at Wyco in the Ice/Mud. It is supposed to snow friday night into Saturday so it should be fun!!

Long night ahead

I signed up 2 days ago for Nathaniels Run which takes place tonight in Shawnee Mission Park. It is a timed event on a 1.6 mile trail loop. We start at 6:00 pm tonight and will run until 6 AM for the 12 hour portion. There is also a 6 and 24hour event too. John is running also so hopefully we can help keep each other awake through the night. It is going to be mighty cold out tonight with temps
in the 30's, which at night feels a lot colder than it really is. I don't really have a mileage goal, just goin out to have some fun. I bought some new CW-X expert insulated tights for winter running so I should have a chance to try then out tonight. Unfortunately Tiff works all weekend so I will have to be up all day with the kids afterwards.

Saturday night is the Christmas tree lighting in Kearney. Tristan is singing for it so after being up for 36 hours I will get to go back out in the cold for that Saturday night. Sunday I am going up to Cameron to get my coaches certification completed for wrestling. Once I get through all of that it will be a relaxing week. I am off work next week and look forward to hanging out at home and eating a lot of wonderful food.

Last weekend was the Vets Day 4 miler at Wyco. I really had a bad day out there. Everything just seemed much harder than it should have been. It was still a blast but I just had a rough time. We ran before and after the race also to get in more miles although I had to cut out a bit early since I was called into work and struggling with the running anyways.

Unless I recover very well and quickly, this will be my last long race for the year. Dude, Where's the trail is next weekend, which I would like to do, but I will just wait to see how I feel. We are planning on a 30 to 40 mile training run in December sometime and then the Cameron Fatt Ass Jan 1. Have a great weekend!!