Sawtooths 2011

Last weekend I had the chance to do an adventure run in the Sawtooth Mountains of central Idaho. 25 miles, 3 mountain passes, and some great flyfishing. Beautiful terrain.

June 2011

June is almost over and the days are getting shorter. Average weekly mileage is hanging around 20 which usually means one 10-15 miler and one or two 4-6 milers. Really sad but life is busy. Here's a few places I've been and fun things I've done recently.

• Marked the middle out-in-back section of Squaw Peak 50. (I've yet to hear a wrong turn story on this section although I'm sure its out there....)
• Worked the Squaw event and then ran a few miles with Ben Corralles, then a few more, then he convinced me to go with him to the end. 20+ mile trail run and Ben an awesome 2nd place.
• Quick sales trip to LA teaching LTR classes, group run, and visiting prospective stores.
• 9 Day trip to Wisconsin, Chicago, and Minnesota.
• Ran Ragnar Chicago but since it was last minute and I'd already booked a hotel, I ran all 3 legs back-to-back-to-back. 15.8 miles in 1:45 which is sub-7 minute miles off the couch. Felt pretty awesome!
• Visited the Chicago Institute of Art on my one day off. As an avid art fan, I loved all the various works from El Greco to Picasso.
  
• Missed my flight home, then 2 flat tires in each of my cars the following days. Rough weekend....but went fishing for the first time this year, and yeah, I still have it!
• Was interviewed by Park City TV (broadcasts later this summer) for two spots, one for barefoot running and the second on Altra!

No more Ultra's for me this year though. I was toying with doing Bear 100 but with my schedule I've decided to hold off. I will be out at Hardrock pacing Ben Corralles and will be at Wasatch pacing/volunteering for sure. After 5 1/2 years I'm making my return to a road 1/2 marathon in Hobble Creek. Hopefully going to throw in a marathon somewhere as well. Got to get out running more since the weather is nearly perfect right now.

Road Trippin #2

Been home for a week and finally feeling back to normal. Being on the road for 41 of 47 days is way to much. However it was quite awesome seeing the entire country coast to coast. Lots of work and a great response to Altra!

From Charlottesville, VA I headed to Richmond, VA then down to Durham and Raleigh North Carolina. Went on a great trail run in Umstead State Park. Smooth single track...

Greensboro, Charlotte, Greenville, Atlanta...where I had a great trail run with long time friend Tommy Schlosser. Kept moving and spent a day of rest with my in-laws in Birmingham AL. Only days after the deadly tornados and my heart goes out to the people who suffered from that desastor.

On to Shreveport Louisiana, and settled in Dallas Texas for a few days visiting shops, clinicing, and training. A long drive from there to Albuquerque NM and a great trail run up in the mountains late at night. Sante Fe and then to Durango CO. What a great trail system and cool town. I'd never been but I'm dying to go back. From there it was home sweet home!

Glad to be back for a while but there will be plenty of traveling this next year or so and I promote Altra.

On a totally separate note...Left Fork of Hobble Creek is TOTALLY washed out. The road is a 5 ft deep river gorge. The damage is unreal. Squaw Peak 50 might have to be re-routed and/or have serious luck getting aid into folks. There is a ridiculous amount of water coming down the canyon. My guess is Squaw will be an out-n-back on the front side. There is NO way of getting a vehicle up there and as a runner it would be almost equally difficult. Less then 3 weeks out so we will see...

Road trippin' #1

In promotion of my shoe company Altra, I filled my car only 6 days after returning from my California trip and headed east. Aside from 2 isolated trips, I'd never been east of Denver in the US. I'd seen many airports on my way to Europe but actually experiencing the cities of the midwest and east were new to me.

I left with Jeremy my partner who would be with me for the first 10 days. We visited several shops, reps, and cities along the way. St Louis, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Lancing, Detroit, Toledo, Pittsburgh, New York, and Boston. The Boston marathon expo was amazing and really made me want to go out and run the Boston marathon. The world record was amazing and vibe was great. I also had dinner and a historic run with long time friend Rob who I hadn't seen for years.

Jeremy flew home and I headed south through Jersey, Philly, Baltimore, and D.C. Long days of driving, work, phone calls, and emails. My tourism was mostly dinner and maybe a run through town. Still working with and experiencing this part of the country has been great. Yesterday after meetings in the morning I had the afternoon free. I was able to do a long run through Shenandoah National Park. Beautiful area! The trails were surprisingly technical and I had nearly the perfect 12 mile run....until 1 mile from my car my phone slipped out of my waist pack and shattered. I had just received a new fancy smart phone 3 weeks earlier...and then it was gone. All my pictures from the trip, ability to communicate, contacts, etc gone. Sadly I feel naked without my phone. Exposed and unprotected from the harsh and cruel world. Pathetic our modern technology has made us. Anyway, it put quite the damper on my otherwise awesome day. Looks like I'm dropping the cash and getting a new phone tomorrow.

Today I'm in Charlottesville, Virginia. 13 more days of experiencing the southern sections of America. Very tiring but very cool. Road trippin' at it's fullest.

Diablo 50k

Rain, wind, and mud mud mud...

With a week's worth of rain, unknown to me when I signed up for this race Thursday night, I lined up for this California ultra. Not much to say about the race aside from mud. Having run in some epically muddy races (BSTM '06, Squaw '08, Timp '10) this one was worse. Ever step a battle. Wet cold and windy many didn't finish or were pulled off the course for safety reasons. Thanks to all volunteers who sat out in the rain for those many hours with kind words. The race directors did a great job under the circumstance. The course was beautiful and I enjoyed most of the many river crossings but the sure was tough.

I finished 5th in a time of 5 hrs 37 minutes. It has been a stressful week but when it's all said and done I'm not in that good of shape. Chalk it up for quite the adventure!

25 miles on Antelope

Went out and ran on Antelope Island yesterday. Must have been nearly 100 runners out on the Island! There were people everywhere. I ended up running with a new group comprised of Craig, Dan, Matt, Kelli, and Scott. We also ran sections with the likes of Shane Martin, Eric Manning, and even Mr Antelope himself, Jim Skaggs.

Weather was perfect, company was great, trails were immaculate, and the 25 miles comprising of the 25k course, elephant head, and the northern campground loop, were awesome. It was great seeing so many people out on the island. Talked lots of shoes and running form. The Lone Peaks continue to impress as I have over 500 miles on my pair and they are still great to run in! More detailed report of the run check out Craig's Blog.

Here's some pictures of the run that I poached: