Posts Tagged ‘race reports’

Vermont 100 – 2010

Jul 19th, 10 / 2 Comments

After running Western States just 3 weeks ago I really wasn’t sure what to expect going into the Vermont 100. I felt OK but knew I wasn’t 100% recovered from Western States. Based on past runner’s results, I knew that it was possible to run Western and Vermont back to back and not only run both well but run Vermont even faster. So I was curious to see just how far I could push myself to find out if I would hold up or not.

The start of the race was much better than I expected. Despite the 4am start time, I felt well rested and ready to run. We had a nice cool, clear morning which felt pretty comfortable. I was surprised to find myself running in the lead pack with Andy Jones-Wilkins, Neal Gorman, Andy Henshaw, David Larsen, and a couple others. Andy Henshaw pulled out into the lead after a few miles but for the most part, we had a nice brisk social run for the first 17 miles before everyone settled into their own pace and spread out. I dropped back and let a few more runners pass me but still managed to make it to the Pretty House aid station at mile 21 on target for a 17 hour finish.

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Western States 100 – 2010

Jul 1st, 10 / 0 Comments

Since this was my first time running Western States, I went into the race with a broad set of goals. I was fairly confident that I could finish in one piece under 24 hours for the silver buckle. But over the past few months my training had gone well enough that I though finishing under 20 hours would be a pretty good target to aim for. My stretch goal was to beat 19 hours but I figured that I would need to have a perfect day to pull this off. Well, it turned out to be a nearly perfect day and nothing went wrong until I crossed the finish line in 18:58:42 in 18th place.

I showed up at the start at Squaw Valley feeling better than ever. I was fully rested and all the nagging aches and pains from months of hard training were gone. It was hard not to get too caught up in the excitement at the start of the race. Everyone was amped up and ready to go and the energy in the crowd was pretty intense.

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Bighorn 100 2009 Race Report

Jun 20th, 09 / 0 Comments

I’m still amazed at how incredible this course was. The scenery completely made the challenge worthwhile.

Given the circumstances of the day, I had a great run. From the start I was feeling like my effort level was unusually high even at a very slow pace. I should have at least been able to breeze through the first 15 miles of the day. It seemed pretty clear that I was starting out over trained which didn’t really surprise me after what I did to myself in May. May was a separate personal challenge in itself so I really don’t have any regrets in hindsight. And since I wasn’t challenging Karl for the course record, running a bit short of optimal performance wasn’t much of a big deal. Read More

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San Juan Solstice 50M – June 21, 2008

Jun 21st, 08 / 0 Comments

The San Juan Solstice was supposed to be my first 50 Miler. …at least that was the original plan. I had made a last minute trip to Boulder City, NV in October to run the World of Hurt 50k to finish my qualifying ultra before registration opened online on January 1st. On New Years Eve both Eric and I happened to be at the same party wondering how we were going to get onto Active.com to register at midnight. We couldn’t get onto an Internet connection at the party so just as everyone else was celebrating the new year, we took off for our computers at home. We both managed to get one of the original 150 spots while others who stayed out later ended up on the waiting list. Fortunately they opened up additional spots and with the amount of drop outs between January and June, everyone on the waiting list got into the race. Read More

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Wyoming Double Marathon – May 25, 2008

May 25th, 08 / 0 Comments

For May, I had originally planned on taking a break from events to put more focus into getting some good quality training time in for the upcoming San Juan Solstice 50 miler and the Vermont 100. But a few other Special Idiots were planning to run the Wyoming marathon or double and since it didn’t require any more travel time than any other training run I figured I’d give it a shot. It’d be much easier to get my 50+ long run in for May with aid stations and other friends to run with. And since the Vermont course is mostly dirt road, the Wyoming Double seemed to fit right in with my plans. Read More

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