Snow Ball

Lungs a-fire. 10K topping out at 9019ft, 3.3 miles of climbing. Heart beating like a jackhammer in the temples. Average 11 percent grade. The chilling cold of snow kicked up behind you and falling down your back. Fluffy snow that mimics quicksand that makes your body scream for Mommy...

Yesterday, Karen, John, Erin and I ran the first of the four Beaver Creek Snowshoe Adventure Series races. It was fun, but man did it hurt!

I was very happy with the hard fought 7th place finish in this first-of-four largest-in-the-world snowshoe race series, but there's a long way for me to go to be competitive in this sport. With the likes of mutants Seth Wealing (a former ITU Triathlete like myself who has began spanking people on the XTerra Circuit) and Bernie Boettcher (an older guy that makes me hope that runners do, in fact, like wine, get better with age), I was ten minutes behind the winner. Ouch.

Karen also picked up 7th in the female division, and like me, was quick to state that she was happy with the result, but so far from being acclimated to this type of effort at this altitude.

On the way home I read my brother's blog post on 'The Distance' (http://steel-cut.blogspot.com/2007/12/distance.html). It got me thinking quite a bit on what my distance was... and I have to note a couple of times in my life that I've broken through walls in my beliefs in what is possible.

First: The first run over 5K in the parent's neighborhood the summer that I decided to get back into shape (1998). All 210 lbs of me had started running about a month earlier and at the time was just able to make it down the block before having to stop to catch my breath. A month later I finished three 1.3 mile loops in my parent's neighborhood and thought I'd become a true distance runner. I bragged to my friends who said "What!?! Shut up, Murph! You didn't just run a 5K!"

Second: Chicago Marathon, 2000. I still don't know how I did it, but I ran a 2:59 and change in my first attempt at the 26.2 mile distance ... I still have never come close to it (one DNF, a 3:53 in an Ironman in 2005, and a 3:59 this year). My running training that summer consisted of nothing over 30 minutes of running per session (I'd suffered from knee pain in 1999 when training for the Chicago Marathon and decided that running anything over 30 minutes was terrible for your body). I had also been racing mainly Olympic Distance triathlons, and did (I think) a single 15-miler a couple of weeks before the actual Marathon since Triathlon season was over.

Third and most distinguished running memory: Amakusa International Triathlon, Amakusa, Japan. I was about four minutes down from the lead pack of cyclists (yes, ITU is draft-legal) coming off the bike on a mid-90 degree day with an obscene amount of humidity. I was relaxed, though, having seen the good omen of a butterfly right before the race, and decided that I was going to run down the lead pack. I'd been reading "The Power of One", and while there are plenty of great quotes in the book, the one that stuck out in my head that day was the following:

The power of one is above all things the power to believe in yourself, often well beyond any latent ability you may have previously demonstrated. The mind is the athlete; the body is simply the means it uses to run faster or longer, jump higher, shoot straighter, kick better, swim harder, hit further, or box better ... [it means] thinking well beyond the powers of normal concentration and then daring your courage to follow your thoughts.

I turned completely mind at 4 miles. I had already run down a number of runners by then and saw four more a half mile or so ahead. I let it completely out and ran past that point of any previously demonstrated ability. It didn't matter how I felt, it didn't matter how hot it was ... nothing mattered. I just ran, and ran fast.

I ran down the four and finished fifth. It was something that I will never forget.

Fourth: Four runs strung together when I trotted across Ireland, where I put in 70 miles in the span of four days. That more hurt than anything else (and truthfully was a source of an injury), and really wasn't the source of a "Gee, I didn't think I could run that distance...." I was crazy then (but I'd do it again!!!).

Next up: Resolution Run 5K, New Year's Eve.

¡Ganador!

After checking the results from previous years, I'm happy to say I picked up a PR last weekend on a favorite 10K course of mine.

The Littleton Stride 10K is a challenging course, quite hilly with quite a few turns mixed in for the fun of it. It's quite a bit like the Bolder Boulder, but with a big ridge in the middle of the course that you climb at miles two and five. It was a race I ran in 2001, 2002, and 2003, and a place where I trained extensively when I lived in Littleton from 2000-2004 before heading off on, as Old Ben Kenobi would've said, "...some damned fool idealistic crusade..." (Attempt to make the 2004 Olympic Trials in Triathlon).

I had a great time at the race. My buddies John and Brian (who I'll be racing IM Wisconsin with next summer) joined me in the race and turned some great results even after pounding out some very long miles last weekend. I also met some new faces, and bounced some ideas off of people about starting a running group sponsored by one of the local running stores (and a local micro-brewery, of course!).

Anyway, here's the race history for me:
2001: 35:43, 5:45 min/mile pace, 2nd Overall
2002: 35:49, 5:46 min/mile pace, 4th Overall
2003: 35:46, 5:46 min/mile pace, 1st Overall
2007: 35:35, 5:44 min/mile pace, 1st Overall

Here's the route, courtesy of mapmyrun.com (check out the elevation profile!)...
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/co/littleton/508483278

Probable next race? Philly 1/2 Marathon, November 18th.

October 2007

A month's gone by, more or less, since I've last written. Not that it matters, it's just that it's been a pretty busy month and I've found myself doing other things instead of whittling away time in front of the computer.

I attended product training for my company for the first ten days of the month. It was in Memphis. Lots-o-butter. I did a very hilly 10 Mile race (read: very challenging) while there and got beat by one of two bearded bully brothers. I rode with a former Olympic Trials cyclist the day before (who made an otherwise in shape athlete -me- feel like an out of shape couch potato chump), and I was wearing my Asics 2120 trainers - so no benefit from lightweight flats. So, I felt pretty good finishing up at one hour and thirty-three seconds.

The rest of the month has been all about eating lots of small confections of the Mars and Nestle corporation, feeling like crap because of it, and as a result gaining 7-10lbs. Ah yes, it is Halloween a-coming, and I need to fatten up for the winter.

I'll be racing a 10K this weekend, one that I've placed second in previously, so we'll see where my fitness is.

Cancun 70.3

I was in Cancun for the Ironman 70.3 Series race on the 23rd of September. It was a great return to triathlon after a two year break. I had a good race, not without a few snags, but also very enjoyable. I loved racing the 1/2 Ironman distance again and I had a PR in the fifteen minute range. Can't complain there!

I'm also happy to say I won the age group race right out ... first among all age groups, not just my own ... and also managed to take down a good number of elite racers, too. This kid still has it where it counts.

I'm done racing tri's for the year, however. I would've loved to race in Clearwater, Florida, at the 70.3 World Championships, but work's got me tied down to Denver. So, maybe next year. Only smiles though... it was just good to get out and race again and not worry about the elite race pressures.

IM Badgerland (Bucky, here I come...)

Yes it's true. I said I'd never (never = never ever) do another Ironman race, but I just finished registering for the 2008 Ironman Wisconsin. I can say my rational is partly that I didn't give my first attempt at Ironman distance racing a fair shake (and really I didn't), but more importantly is that I've got a number of good friends racing it and there will be memories to last a lifetime. I can't shy away from that. I'm looking forward to it, even knowing that the six-fingered man from The Princess Bride (maybe dressed as Bucky Badger?) will be out there somewhere on the run course ready to take years off my life.

This registration comes on the day after a running injury that is reminiscent of the one I had while runnung across Ireland in 2004. It would seem that my achilles heel is the vastus medialis muscle. This time around it's my right one. I began to feel an acute pain just superior and medial to the knee on my long run yesterday. I stopped to massage it and finding it very tender I decided to walk it back in. A bruise has come through, so the thought is I've got a muscle tear. Nothing like have an injury two weeks before the Cancun Half Ironman!!! Should heal up in plenty of time, though.

Outside of all this, I took my Surly Crosscheck out to Mt Falcon two days ago to test its singletrack ability. Putting aside the Look pedals, triathlon shoes, and 53-42 front chainrings / 12-27 rear cassette (Ultegra 9spd gruppo), it rode very well and had no problems. The real issue were the shoes/pedals/cleats. The cleats were getting torn up from the rocks which made it harder to get into the pedals as a result, which was hard already because they're standard Look road pedals: single-sided and require a toe flip-over. Any stop along the steep log-stepped singletrack required a patient effort to get going again. A triple up front would have also helped, but it wouldn't get nearly the "Holy-crap-is-that-guy-riding-a-double-up-this?" response I could see on mountain bikers' faces. Toe overlap was a minor issue, too, but that's life with 52cm frame and 700x45c Panaracer FireCross tires (Fatties Fit Fine). It's been a fun bike to ride, that Surly.

Off to train I don't go! There'll be plenty of that come early next year....