markc7

Well, I'm certainly very happy with the 3rd place finish, and proud of the fact that I beat a couple guys who are faster runners than me at shorter distances. But it's still true that the competition gets more intense in the 40-50 age group and especially among the +50 crowd. I didn't run too much at that point! I did a bit of a Terry Fox-esqe hobble but for the most part I walked. After Wendy got me to sleep and take a bit of ibuprofen, the knee loosened up a little bit and i could run again. It's really amazing how the body can adapt and do things that seem impossible, eh?

On Saturday I did a short run in the morning with my brother. I was best man at his wedding, and he needed to burn off a little nervous energy. It felt pretty good, which is a good sign that I'm recovery fairly well from the race last weekend.

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Welcome!

Welcome aboard!

Thanks veganpotter. I'm also wondering just what my time would have been. I guess in a weird way that's part of the attraction of events like this; you never know what to expect because there's always so many things that can go right and that can go wrong. I was planning on skipping this race next year, but after this weekend I'm thinking of doing it one more time. Here are some pics from the race: Food for the race http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k123/markc7/100_0761.jpg I'm still feeling good after 120 km, but the "fun" is about to start http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k123/markc7/100_0771.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k123/markc7/100_0772.jpg Bananas and vegan cookies, what better way to refuel after 100 miles? http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k123/markc7/100_0775.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k123/markc7/100_0779.jpg Me and the Race Director. http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k123/markc7/100_0784.jpg

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As promised, here's my race report. Enjoy! This weekend I ran the Sulphur Springs 100 mile trail race for the second year in a row. My goals were to finish and to beat my time from last year, which was 28 hours and 34 minutes. In the end, I achieved both these goals, but not in any way that I could have imagined. For the first six laps of the course (20km each), I was honestly wondering what I would write about in my race report. I was running well and nothing very exciting had happened. I was very happy that my stomach wasn't giving me any of the problems that I've had in other long races. In fact, I wasn't nauseous throughout the entire race, which was a minor victory in itself. This was probably due in part to the great weather on Saturday; cool and cloudy with occasional light rain. Early on I had a bit of pain in my piriformis muscles, but stretching kept that under control. My lap times were steady at between 2:30 and 3:15. I was way ahead of my previous year's pace, and after 100km I was actually one lap (20km) ahead of where I was at the same time in 2006. I was feeling great and was confident that I could finish in under 26 hours. Night fell at the start of lap six. Having had a lot more practice running in the dark, I felt much more comfortable this year than last year. 19 hours had passed when I left for lap 7, my second to last lap. The first 10km of the lap were fine, even though fatigue was starting to set in. Then halfway through the lap, it started to rain. At first this wasn't a problem, since it was fairly warm and I was running under quite a bit of tree cover. But as I reached the 13km point of that lap (just after leaving an aid station!) the rain became a torrent. Within minutes, the trail became an ankle deep river. It was still the middle of the night and flashlights couldn't cut through the rain, reducing visibility to a few feet. I was able to see trees on either side and stay on course, but I couldn't see where I was putting my feet so I took a few missteps. When I reached the next aid station, the volunteers lent me a poncho and a dry shirt, but the damage was already done. My legs were so cold that my left knee had seized up and I couldn't put pressure on it or bend it more than a few degrees. I kept walking, but my thinking was becoming more and more hopeless. There was no way I could run, and no way that I could cover the last lap at this walking pace. The last 5km of lap seven took me over two hours. When I arrived at the end of the lap, Wendy didn't recognize me because I was limping so badly. I told the race director that I wasn't sure if I would continue running. I felt certain that there wasn't anything I could do to make it possible to run again. I was more upset about this than I've been at any race. I think I was most frustrated by the fact that I had been running so well for the first 3/4 of the race, and that all of that hard work was now going to go to waste. Also, the thought of dropping out with only 20km left was heartbreaking. Wendy did her best to keep me positive. She brought me a change of clothes and some soup, but I kept insisting that I wasn't going on. Wendy still wouldn't let me drop out, so we agreed that she would let me sleep for twenty minutes and then I would make a decision. I lay down on the floor of the change room and slept for about two minutes. When I opened my eyes again, it was a whole new world. As soon as I woke up, I realized that I had already made the decision to start running again. I left the change room and told Wendy that I was going to finish. She put on her shoes and grabbed a few things while I started down the trail with another runner. Wendy caught up to me and we spent the next twenty minutes or so running. Not walking, but running. Wendy told me later that she had some trouble keeping up with me at that point (she had run the 50 mile race Saturday). About halfway through the loop I slowed down because my legs had started to hurt badly again, but by that point any doubts I had about finishing were gone. With 5km left to go, Wendy and I realized that I would almost certainly beat my time from last year. I would be lying if I said that we flew through the last stretch of the course, but we did keep moving steadily and we both ran up the last hill to the finish line. I crossed the finish in a little over 28 hours. Looking back now, I can probably point out a few things that I would have done differently. I know there were people who handled the rain better than I did (and many who handled it worse). I managed to place 3rd in the under 40 age category (which is not a huge accomplishment in a sport dominated by middle age and older runners). I'm still feeling sore as I write this (Monday afternoon), but I felt good enough to walk home from work today, albeit slower than usual. I'm going to see how I feel in the coming weeks before deciding what to race next. All things considered I am very happy with how the race went, and am looking forward to my next 100 mile race.

Welcome aboard and good luck with your goals!

The race went well for both of us. Wendy did better than either of us expected in her 50 miler. I had a heck of an experience in my 100. I've written most of my report and I'll post it soon. For now I'll just say that I beat my time from last year and had 20 hours of some of the best running of my life, but also had a couple of the worst hours that I've ever gone through.

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I knw you would post in this thread as soon as you got the shorts! They look great and the coindicidental colour matching is a bonus.

Welcome aboard, and good luck with the contest! I am in a similar situation, as I enjoy working out in the gym but don't want to gain too much mass because i do distance running. It's a fine line to walk, but it's possible.

This Saturday I will be running the Sulphur Springs 100 mile race for the second time. It's a nice course, mostly fairly non-techincal trail with a few tougher sections and moderately hilly (17,000 feet elevation change over the 100 miles). THe course is eight 20-mile loops with aid stations every 5km. One of the things that will make this race interesting is the weather forcast. It's calling for warm days between now and the race (25C), with a fair bit of rain on Friday. So Saturday morning may be a bit slippery. Last year I finished in 28 hours 34 minutes. I'm hoping to improve this time, but I have no specific time goal. Sub 27 would be great, and I think that's realistic. My training has generally been better this year, especially with respect to doing night runs. Barring a few phantom pains that have cropped up this week, I'd injury free and chomping at the bit to get running. Wendy is coming to; she'll be running the 50 miler and then hanging out at one of the aid stations to help me out during the night. Wish me luck!

I'm so sorry to hear about this. It sounds like you have a very good vet who will make sure that Kelsey gets the best care possible.

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You're welcome! As my real life friends know, I love to talk about running.

Great pics, and tasty looking food!

What is a taper? What is a fartlek? A taper is when you progressively reduce your training in the weeks leading up to an event. in running, I usually do 100% mileage 4 weeks out, then 75% 3 weeks out, and so on until the week before the race I do practically no running. It makes we kinda energetic and frustrated because I can't do something that has become second nature. Fartleks are a really fun type of speed workout. I think the word "Fartlek" means "speedplay" in Swedish (or maybe Finnish?). Other kinds of speedwork involve running for a set distance at a set pace for a specific number of repetitions with a specific interval between each rep. When you do a fartlek, all the variables are up in the air, and nothing is predetermined. So you might pick up the pace by 1 min/km for 100m, then slow down for 200m, then run at 5K pace for 1km, then run relaxed for 50m, then sprint 50m, then jog very easy for 1km, etc etc. You get a pretty good workout, and it's mentally refreshing because you're free of the usual pressures of time and pace.

Good luck with your training, I look forward to reading about your progress!

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The taper is making me ansty. I want to run, but I know I shouldn't. I'm allowing myself to do a couple of very short runs between now and next weekend. Today I did a 4km fartlek run. I didn't wear a watch so i don't know my time or pace, but I picked up the speed four or five times to around 5K race pace. After the run, I did a short bodyweight workout in the park.

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