Hill Running

One of the biggest changes in my running since the move from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania is the continual presence of hills. In Norman, I had to hunt out hills. They are possible to find. On the east side of town, many of the country roads are filled with slow rollers as you make your way out to Lake Thunderbird. Additionally, there's Mount Scott by Lawton, but that is a 90 minute drive. In Meadville, it's more of a hunt to find the flat ground. For some visual aids, here are the elevation profiles of my "staple" run in each location.

"Easy Plateau" in Meadville:



"OU7" in Norman:



Be sure to note the scale on each graph, they are not the same! That huge hill around mile 3 of OU7, really is only 35', where as the last 2 mile climb of Easy Plateau goes up over 400'. So how do my times compare? (Both routes are about 7.2 miles)

• Easy Plateau: (21 runs from 11/09 to 3/10) average time: 56:57, pace: 7:55/mile, best time: 53:00
• OU7: (64 runs from 10/07 to 7/09) average time: 53:48, pace: 7:28/mile, best time: 48:00

The reason I'm thinking about this now is due to the training program I got from Runner's World SmartCoach for the upcoming Pittsburgh Marathon. I used my recent 10K time (38:08) and a current workout load of 51-55 miles to get a moderate training program for the marathon, which is 8 weeks away. The program suggests doing easy runs at 7:37 pace and long runs at 7:37 too at the beginning and dropping these down to 7:33 by the end of the program. Initially, I was a bit worried, since 7:37 is faster than my current easy run pace. But then I started analyzing this more throughly (OK, looking for excuses is probably a more accurate description), "This training program is probably written for someone who runs on flat surfaces." So when I went back to my training log, and saw that my times in Norman are about on par with these times, I felt my confidence return. However, there are hills in Pittsburgh...



For those of you wondering about GAP updates, I received the tour books and maps in the mail this week and just started putting together an itinerary for the trip. So hopefully next week I have some more information on this end.

On an aside, with the warmer weather, Gina and I have been firing up the barbie lately. We started using a recipe for pineapple from the current issue of Runner's World. In the magazine it calls for baking slices of pineapple brushed with butter and brown sugar, but we've been grilling it with great results. The first time we capped it off with ice cream, last night we capped it off with some vegan chocolate cake that some friends brought over. Mmm ... tasty.

Running in the wind

It's official, I'm now truly an Oklahoman. Last Tuesday I was entering my run info into my training log (it's online through Runner's World magazine, there's a link on the right to my log) and was wondering whether or not I should check the box labeled "windy". I couldn't remember so I went to NOAA's website to see the weather history. Apparently, there was a 30 MPH southern wind, with gusts close to 40 MPH. Really? I hadn't even noticed.

Here's a few tips I've picked up for running in the Oklahoma winds:

Plan your runs so that the wind is at your back for the second half. Although if you do this in Norman you end up running south, headed straight for the waste water treatment plant. Raw sewage and a stiff headwind don't go well together.

Run early in the morning when the wind is not as strong. Translate: only a 20 MPH wind, not 25 MPH.

Try running through wooded neighborhoods. However running through an older neighborhood with large trees when there's 40 MPH gusts isn't exactly relaxing when you see 5 inch diameter limbs littering the sides of the roads.

Which brings us to the best advice about running in the wind:

Suck it up and enjoy it anyway. You're not going to be able to change the fact that it is windy, so just tuck your head down and keep putting one foot in front of the other. What doesn't kill you can only make you stronger.

I apologize to all my usual readers (which I was informed by a friend this last week is now up to 3) about not keeping up with my weekly posts. Hopefully you'll give me some slack, I got married, summer school started up, and all the other little things that make up a week. My running should get back into rhythm this week and with a little luck, so should the weekly entries.



Running moment of the week: Thursday afternoon I slipped in an unplanned run around the Sutton Wilderness Area. It was hot, humid and I was pretty slow but it felt cleansing, like a good sweat in a steam room.

5/26 - 6/1
total miles: 51.0
time: 7:02

May miles: 206.0
YTD miles: 1151.7

Running moment of the week: After a real hard demoralizing run yesterday, Maia and I had a easy recovery run up at Lake Stanley-Draper up in OKC. We ran along the dirt road on the east side of the lake. It's closed in spots to vehicles so I let Maia off leash and just let her trot next to me. She'd push me on the downhills and I'd have to be a cheerleader for her on the uphills.

6/2 - 6/8
total miles: 45.1
time: 6:01

YTD miles: 1196.8

Camping with a Wedding Dress, Garbage Can and a wet Border Collie (or How to DNF a Marathon)

Time, the last two weeks, has passed quickly. Like when you're at concert for your favorite band, it slips right past you and before you know it the encore is over and you're left with heavy feet from dancing, a sore throat from singing along too loudly, a headache from the pounding music and a soul that doesn't want it to stop. If you were thinking you wrote down the set list so you could relive it later. Here's the set list from my last two weeks:

Set One
Pack It Up, Pack It In, Let Us Begin
Driving Song ->
Rocky Mountain High
Running On Empty
Let's Get Down To Business
Euphoria

Set Two
On The Road Again
Traveling Light ->
Highway 6 Revisited ->
I Know You Rider
The Long and Winding Road
Oklahoma

Encore
Running On Empty (reprise) ->
Fast Enough For You

Show highlights:

Set One
Pack It Up, Pack It In, Let Us Begin: Somewhat surprisingly, Carmen (our 92 Subura Legacy wagon) held all of our stuff we were bringing to Utah with quite a bit of space left over. Considering we were planning a week and a half trip from Oklahoma to Utah and back that involved getting married and camping, this was no small feet. There were over a dozen flower vases, several large cardboard signs, various other decorations, a wedding dress and my outfit along with a tent, two sleeping bags, three sleeping pads (Maia has her own), cooking equipment, food and dog packed into the car with us. We had just changed the oil, O₂ sensor and rotated the tires. Ready to go, we left Norman by 5 AM on Tuesday, May 13^th. The plan was to drive ~750 miles to Fort Collins, CO to stay with our friends the Thompsons.

Driving Song: We saw our last Oklahoma sunrise as an unmarried couple as we passed the Stillwater exit on I-35, the reds and yellows sending us on our way with an early wedding present. The skies were clear, the temps were cool and there was no wind, a perfect day to drive across the open prairie. We were in need of stretching our legs in Kansas when we spotted a sign for Lake Wilson State Park. The park is only ten miles north off of I-70 and features some nice trails on rolling hills adjacent to the lake. We were both very pleased with the park and appreciated getting to see some of Kansas away from the highway. Maia loved wading into the lake chasing after sticks. After a brief stop in Olathe, KS (home of Buffalo Bill) for lunch and a quick session of fetch, we headed west to Colorado.

Rocky Mountain High: Around Limon, you can start to the see the mountains. Shortly thereafter, you can see the madness that is "The Front Range". After paying $6.00 to drive the ten miles skirting around the NE side of Denver (true highway robbery) we braved our way through some heavy traffic and construction on I-25 to get to Fort Collins around 5:00 PM. Our friend's house was easy to find and after a first little apprehensive bark, Josh was Maia's new best friend, can't say the same of their cats though. The four of us went to a stroll around town, they made us dinner and we all had a good time catching up after not all being together for almost a year. We stayed up too late and awoke too early. By 6:30 AM the next day we we're on our way to Laramie, WY. There's not much to say about the drive across southern Wyoming, a little rain, some light flurries and Little America is still an oddity. We did stop at Bear River State Park outside of Evanston, WY and had a good stroll. From there, it's a short drop through Echo Canyon, over Parley's Summit and down into the Salt Lake Valley.

Running On Empty: From the time we entered the Salt Lake Valley, we had 48 hours until the wedding. In this time we needed to drop off Maia at doggie day care, meet the photographer, pick up Gina's sister, pick up the flowers, unload our car, pick up my brother and his fiancee, get a marriage certificate, meet Gina's family, buy a lot of alcohol, rehearse for the ceremony, eat dinner, arrange the flowers, make the final decorations, set up a portable PA system, carry 72 chairs a quarter mile into a field and create a safe haven for the girls to hang out before the ceremony so I wouldn't see Gina before she walked down the aisle. All this and I snuck in two quality runs in the foothills and one in Mill Creek. Hopefully Rob has recovered from the run in Mill Creek. I took him over the west side of Grandeur and down Church Fork then up the pipeline past Broad's Fork a bit and then back down to Wasatch Blvd. Erik Storheim and Rich McDonald where directing a race on the same day. Besides Erik, I also ran into Scott Jamie and Dan Margalit (math colleague).

Let's Get Down To Business: We got married.

Euphoria: EUPHORIA!


Set Two
On The Road Again: While we were packing the car, we hung Gina's wedding dress off of the rack on my groomsman's truck. He has a gigantic greasel with a stout rack over the back. As we hung it there we joked how tragic, but funny it would be if we forgot it and Eric was cruising down I-215, arm out of the window, Ned's ears and tongue flapping in the wind along with the dress. This almost turned out to be a reality, but luckily for us, when he got to corner of our street he noticed the dress hanging there. A few loose ends in SLC to take care of, opening gifts, talking math and packing and we were off again.

Traveling Light: Just you and I ... and Maia, a wedding dress, garbage can, tupperware set, large picture frame, leftover cheese and alcohol ...


Highway 6 Revisited: The route from SLC to Moab is primarily along highway 6. This is great drive featuring narrow cobblestone canyons, alpine grass lands and a tight river canyon opening up to Castle Valley and the Bookcliffs. The road stretches forever echoing the immensity of the desert. After grabbing dinner to go at Moab Brewery and some essentials from the supermarket, we drove another ten miles south of town on Kane Creek Boulevard to the Spring Campground by Hunter Canyon. It was hot and it was beautiful. In the morning we tried out our new stove, lathered on some sunblock and hiked up the Amasa Back trail. I think it was a bit hot for Maia, she kept seeking out the shade, even the smallest little bits behind tiny rocks. We followed the Colorado River out of town and up to I-70. At Hittle Bottom (a site of a previous misadventure of mine involving rowdy Canadians (are there any other kind?), PBR and hitchhiking) we found a boat put-in that is sheltered from the current of the river. We let Maia out to swim in the water. The water was colder than I expected and cooled my legs. Once we tossed Maia into the water, she lost her apprehension and kept diving back in for more. We took our wet dog back to the car and continued following the river to Grand Junction, CO.

I Know You Rider: We arrived in GJ around 1:30 in the afternoon. One of the reasons we stopped here was to check out the wineries in Palisades, CO, just about ten miles up the road from GJ. We found a Motel 6 (they all allow dogs), checked in and vegged in the air conditioned coolness. On the way out to Palisades we took the back roads and around some residential areas of GJ looking at the neighborhoods, just taking our time. We arrived at the wineries at 5:05 PM, they all closed at 5:00 PM. Bummer, good thing this is just our "Practice Honeymoon". That night we ate a nice dinner at Il Bistro on Main Street in downtown GJ. Gina ordered some beet cannelloni, which ate she half of and forgot to take the rest back to the motel with us. Bummer, good thing this is just our "Practice Honeymoon". The next morning we headed out over the southern Colorado Rockies, passing through Gunnison and Alamosa before staying at Lathrop State Park, the only campers there, our only company the cool Colorado rain.

The Long and Winding Road: I-25 again, open prairie and miles more to go. We cut across the NE corner of New Mexico, feedlots stuffed like the Walmart megastores where the cattle will be sold. There's a volcanic National Monument out there, we stopped by for a stroll but they didn't allow dogs on the trails so we turned around and kept driving. From the small US highway we turned onto a smaller New Mexico highway. We dropped off of a mesa, took a right onto another small New Mexico highway, crossed a bridge over a dry stream and were in...


Oklahoma: The plan was to hike up to the top of Black Mesa, the highest point in Oklahoma at an elevation of 4973'. The trailhead parking is only about 5 miles off of the little highway we were on, right next to the Cimarron river. It was 2:30 PM central time, but there was some question about what time zone we were actually in, when we set off on the hike (8 miles round trip) into a wind so strong we had to lean into it ("wind sweeps down the plain" ring a bell to anyone?). A little less than 2 hours later we were at the top, marked by an obelisque and no true "summit". Check out the video below of the windy view from the top. That night we camped in Black Mesa State Park, just ten miles or so down the road. There were a few people there, but the place was quiet and we felt good to be back in Oklahoma. The next morning was Friday and we were planning on making it back to Norman. After breakfast in Boise City the road became flat. We drove all across the panhandle past the miles of farmland and cattle. For a leg stretch break we stopped at Boiling Springs State Park outside of Woodward. Here some springs bubble up in the sands by the North Canadian River give the appearance of boiling water. Stepping out of the car, the humidity hit us hard. The springs themselves are kind of a let down, but we enjoyed the trails. Somehow I got us lost and what was supposed to be a half an hour walk turned into a hike of more than an hour. Oops, I told Gina that this wouldn't be the last time I got her lost (rule 5(?): when hiking, don't follow Matt). Back to the car, back to Norman, back to our house, a newly wed couple. Yippie-I-A!



Encore
Running On Empty (reprise): Those of you who are frequent readers of this blog (all two of you - and that includes me) know that I was planning on running the Andy Payne Marathon the Saturday after we got married and planning on breaking 3 hours. Well, plans be as plans are and we left the house early the next morning in time for the 6:30 AM start up at Route 66 Park by Lake Overhosler in OKC. It was overcast, but windy and humid. From the gun I went out fast, the first couple of mile markers must be off since I passed mile 2 in under 10 minutes. The marathon is small and already by the time we left the park to run 3 loop around the lake there was a large gap before the person behind and a narrowing gap between me and the person ahead of me. I passed him shortly after mile three and was all alone. I decided not to carry any water, big mistake. The east side of the lake was sheltered from the wind, but that just made it feel way too hot. Someone at an aid station around mile 7 gave me a bottle of gatorade to carry, this helped. I came around the first lap in 1:05:00, somewhere around mile 10. What was I thnking, this was way too fast. I came around the half marathon point in 1:26, already slowing down to 7:00/mile. I put in a few more of these then dropped down to 8:00/mile.

Fast Enough For You: I walked a bit and came around the second lap in 2:02, needing to rip out eight more miles at 7:00/mile to finish in under 3 hours. I just didn't have it in me. I DNF'd still three minutes ahead of the second place runner.

Running moment of the week: Thursday night I needed to hit the trails after two days in the car. I parked at the horseshoe turn in City Creek, ran up puke hill past where I'd be getting married in two days, over past the bobsled to the saddle at City Creek and back. Great run, in the epic battle of Matt versus the mountain bikers, I went 4-3.

5/12 - 5/18
total miles: 47.0
time: 7:27

YTD miles: 1076.8

Running moment of the week: Putting in the first half of the Andy Payne Marathon in 1:26. Cooler temperatures and lower humidity and I think I can break 3:00.

5/19 - 5/25
total miles: 24.0
time: 2:56

YTD miles: 1100.8

Oklahoma Trail Running

So what's trail running like in Oklahoma you ask? (OK, so no one's asked this, because no one reads this, but I'm going to pretend.) Coming to Oklahoma from Utah, I was pretty skeptical that I would find anything that I could remotely call trail running. However, I've been pleasantly surprised. Have I found mountains equalling the Wasatch? slick rock trails like in Moab? a 10 mile trail run from my door step with over 2000' of elevation gain? No, I mean come on, everyone knows that you can't compare Utah to Oklahoma. But that's not to say that the Oklahoma trail running scene is nonexistent. Here's a list of some of the pros and cons of the trail running scene in Oklahoma in comparison to Utah. Let's start with the cons.

Cons:
   

No mountains: This is the most obvious geographic difference between Oklahoma and Utah. Oklahoma is flat. Sure there's the Wichita Mountains in southwest Oklahoma and the Ouachita Mountains in southeast Oklahoma, but these don't even really compare to the foothills in Utah for elevation gain.
   

Humidity: In the summertime, it gets real sticky and hot here. Even at 6 in the morning in the middle of July it will be in the 80's and only getting hotter. The heat doesn't leave until the end of September.
   

Fractal trails: Most of the trails by Oklahoma City are designed for mountain biking and feature lots of tight turns. The trails windy back on themselves and often you'll be ten feet away from a section of trail you running on 30 minutes ago. As an extreme example, the trails at Lake Stanely-Draper just east of Oklahoma City feature over 12 miles of trail all packed into a single square mile!
   

A dearth of races: Because of the heat and humidity, most trail races here take place from December-April. The only ultras I can think of are: The DanMan, A-OK 50K, Lake McMurtry, Turkey and TATURs 50K and Chisholm's run (a fat-ass style 50K held at Lake Arcadia). Only one of these has a 50 mile option and there are no trail hundreds. (There is a somewhat annual road hundred called The Mother Road which takes place on historic Route 66.) All of these races are small and do not attract any national caliber runners.
   

An abundance of thorny and poisonous plants: In the summer, the greenery here explodes! It makes everything look healthy and full of life, until you realize the the sides of the trail are lined with poison ivy. Better be careful when you make a potty break (speaking from experience here folks).
   

An abundance of insect life: In addition to the plant life exploding, so does the insect life. There are lots of mosquitoes and gnats, but they don't really bother you too much while you run as long as you don't mind swallowing the occasional bug. The bigger nuisance is spider webs (I know spiders aren't insects but they're close, I'm a mathematician, not a biologist). There are some big spiders here that set up shop across the trails right around face level. If you're not paying attention, you'll end up wearing the web and the spider (they're big too). When you're all sweaty from the humidity it's a serious pain to try and pick the web off of your face (again, speaking from experience here folks).
   

Wind: This isn't really that much of an issue, especially on the trails. You just have to get used to 20-30 MPH winds being common. It's best to think of it as a training tool. In the summer, you'll actually welcome the wind as the mercury rises.

Before I start sounding like a complainer, let me list the pros:

Pros:
   

Solitude: Last Saturday I ran 17 miles out at Lake Thunderbird around 9 AM and only saw two people. This type of serenity is definitely not found by Sprawl Lake City on a Saturday morning. It's quite common to go hike here and see more deer than people.
   

Year-round trail running: So in the summertime the trail running in Oklahoma is less than optimal, but I think it's better than spending a cold morning post-holing in the immersion.
   

Scenery: Oklahoma really is gorgeous, just on a different scale than Utah. Here it's the little things, a muddy water creek, the sound of the cicadas, the unexpected vista, the rose rock and on the large scale, the open rolling prairie.
   

Variety: Oklahoma has a little bit of everything. The Wichita Mountains and Quartz Mountains in the southwest have rocky granite trails and hills, The Chickasaw National Recreation Area and Lake Murray State Park in southern Oklahoma gave some great trails by marshy lakes, southeast Oklahoma is the start of the 240+ mile Ouachita trail, northern Oklahoma is prairie land, Roman Nose State Park in northwest Oklahoma has a nice trail exploring a canyon and some arid dessert like views and then there's the panhandle which we have yet to explore.
   

No fees: All of the state parks and recreation areas in Oklahoma have no entrance fee. There is camping fee at some parks and Lake Arcadia does have a small trail-use fee.
   

Great community: The trail runners here are very friendly and put on some great races. The atmosphere is noncompetitive and typically have good food at the finish line (worth a mention: the chili at A-OK, the jambalaya at Lake McMurtry). The fees for the races are pretty low as well.
   

Dog friendly: All of the state parks here allow dogs to go everywhere. Most places have leash laws, but few people seem to care.
   

Lots of great races in neighboring states: The ultrarunning communities in the neighboring states are very strong. There are lots of great races in Arkansas (check out: Arkansas Ultra Running Association), Texas (check out: North Texas Trail Runners and Hill Country Trail Runners) and Kansas (check out: Kansas Ultrarunners' Society). So as long as you don't mind driving a bit, you can find lots of quality races and good competition.


If anyone is looking for more information about trail running in Oklahoma, they should check out the following running groups:

Oklahoma Trail Runners Association
Tulsa Area Trail & Ultra Runners

Anyone have anything they wish to add to the lists?

Running moment of the week: A Yasso 800 workout: 10 x 800 @ 2:56 on Tuesday evening while it was 84 degrees and sunny. At least there were wind gusts over 30 MPH. Sweet.

4/28 - 5/4
total miles: 62.0
time: 8:10

April miles: 256.9
YTD miles: 976.1

Lake McMurtry Trail Run

I ran with Gina up at Lake McMurtry by Stillwater as she rocked out her first 50K. The race consists of two figure eight laps. We ran this race last year, I ran the full 50K and Gina ran the 25K. Last year it was a dreary, cold and windy mudfest and with the torrential downpours we had here in the first part of last week we thought we were in for similar conditions. The sun came out though on Friday as it warmed up and it looked like at least we we're going to have gorgeous running weather. On the drive up to Stillwater we saw some swollen lakes and streams, a little foreshadowing of what was to come. Earl Blewitt (race director) postponed the race for thirty minutes since some of the roads heading into the park were flooded. As for the course, I think a quote from Earl sums it up the best:

"The trail is in good shape where it isn't covered in water."



I'll let Gina tell you the whole story:

Gina's race report:This is my first (and hopefully not my last) race report. Matt suggested I tell you a bit about how I felt during, before and after the race. So hear it goes..

Before the race, I honestly felt alright about everything. I actually wasn't thinking about it too much, because I had had a very busy week - getting back from Seattle after a cancelled flight and a red-eye, I started a new program at work, and then I had to come back to my computer that had crashed right before I left for Seattle. So, yeah, the race wasn't at the tip top most of my mind. But I was excited and looking forward to the challenge. I tried to get Matt to go to bed early on Friday night, but he was basking in the humor of "Still Standing" (ask Matt). So off to bed I went, because we had to wake up at the early morning hour of 5AM. During the very peaceful drive up to Lake McMurtry, I tried not to get to antsy or too nervous. I really just wanted to get things started, so I didn't have to think about the next 31.1 miles. But, it was not to be. We got there and the race was postponed for a half hour because of flooded roads. Well, I tried to keep my cool and take a forty minute nap, but my nerves coupled with Matt's java drinking kept the sleep at bay. No worries, though because the race started soon enough and we were off.

Honestly, my favorite part of the run was crossing the "river." Water up to mid-thigh, kept me alert and made me feel tough. It was also like a nice cold ice bath, that soothed my muscles, which I really appreciated on the second loop. I'd like to say that this run was fun the whole time and that I had a stellar performance, but ...well it wouldn't be the truth and it wouldn't be as interesting! I did have fun and I did meet one of my goals (to finish under 6hr 30 min.). I also felt like crap, and wasn't sure I was going to finish. Half way (ok, not even half way) through the race my legs felt like lead and I felt so tired. I just lost all my energy and it was pretty demoralizing because I knew I had 15 more miles to go. Luckily, I had the just the thing I needed to get through the race...Matt. He was the best cheerleader, crew master, pacer you can imagine. He advised me to keep going, even if I was just walking, to try eating whatever and whenever I wanted (there's a reason they put potatoes out on these long races), and to just try to enjoy the scenery. And you know what? I did all those things and I had a good time. I walked a lot over the next 8 miles, ate a bunch of things from pretzels and potatoes, to animal crackers and lots of GU, and I was able to move from a tired walk to a slow shuffle, and eventually even picked up my feet for some actual trail 'running!' My last 7 miles I think were some of my best, because I stayed focus and just tried to listen to my body. There are probably a lot more moments I could recount, like the people who hitched a ride on the back of a truck for 10ft to avoid getting their feet wet, passing someone in the last mile who had passed me at the half way point, almost falling on my face after a root jumped up and grabbed my shoe, and the joy of never getting lapped, but if I kept going you'd be reading a novel.


So, how did I feel after the race? Tired, sore, happy. Amazingly I didn't cry at the finish, though I was pretty emotionally spent. I popped some Vitamin I (ibuprofen) pretty quickly, but the next 24 hours were a bit rough as I was definitely sore. Yeah, I pretty much felt like an old lady, with bones cracking and an early bed time! But, surprisingly 48 hours or so later, I'm feeling a little bit better, a little less sore and more than a little excited to go out on a run on Wednesday (I figure one more day of rest would do me good!).

Running moment of the week: Watching Gina finish her first ultra! Check it out below. Don't mind my heavy breathing and woo-hoo's, I had just run for the past 6+ hours, I'm allowed to sound like a dork.




4/7 - 4/13
total miles: 49.6
time: 8:50

YTD miles: 803.1

Red Bud Classic

Thursday afternoon:

Me: Chisholm, do you want to go on a run this weekend?
Chisholm: Actually, I'm going to run the Red Bud 50 on Saturday morning.
Me: What's that?
Chisholm: It's a 50 mile bike ride, but I'm going to run it. I plan on starting at 2 AM. You interested?
Me: Let me think about it.

Thursday evening:

Me: Sure. I mean what else would I be doing at 2 AM on Saturday morning?

And so it began, Chisholm had a crazy idea and I was crazy enough to go along with it. We drove part of the course on Friday evening, planting some food and water along the way. 1:30 AM came really quickly, by 2:15 AM we were off and running. In my mind's eye picturing the run I imagined running along country roads, a low sun and pleasant tshirt running temps. Somehow that fact we would be running for almost five hours before the sun rose slipped right past me. Oops. I actually wasn't even planning on wearing anything over my tanktop. Chisholm lent me a long sleeve shirt and I'm glad I used it, it was in the upper 30's at the start and it went down to 32 before it started to get warmer.

The course is made for bikers, as such it is entirely on pavement (Chisholm's training for Badwater this summer and doesn't want to step on trail until it's over) and features very few turns. I think there is like 10 turns total, one of which we missed and ended up running on I-44 for a short while before we hopped a fence to get on the service road. Good thing is was 3:00 AM and there was very little traffic.

Around 6:30 AM the temperature got low as it was going to, I was starting to feel tired and I was definitely wishing I brought the gloves Chisholm set out for me. He let me borrow his hat as an insulator between my hand and my water bottle, that helped. The sun just started to shed some light when we got to the corner of NE 36th and Triple X (such a bad ass name for a road, I told Chisholm I want to steal the sign). Here the road actually curves a little as it crosses the North Canadian River. The sun was cresting the horizon and I was starting to feel better although it wasn't until 7 miles later, at the corner of Wilshire and Hiawassee when we first saw some bikers heading the other direction that I really picked up.

Everyone was waving to us, saying hi. I don't think anyone knew that we had started over 6 hours ago and were planning on running as far as they were biking! Some people asked us where our bikes were. Our best responses:

"Free your bike, your mind will follow."
"It's more fun to run."

It was harder on the way back. Now that it was light we could see how far the straight-a-ways were and how far we had to go. We just had to keep our eyes on the road and put on foot in front of the other. Bikers now were passing us on the way back in. We were feeling tired, but we finished in 9 hours and 20 minutes. We snagged a finisher medal and went to grab a burger. Good times to be had by all.



Running moment of the week: Besides the above (which was definitely the run of the week), today I had a great run with Maia out at Lake Thunderbird. She did awesome, no slacking and she seemed to always have smile on her face.

3/31 - 4/6
total miles: 71.8
time: 12:20

March miles: 221.4
YTD miles: 753.6

I'm OK, you're OK, let's all go set a PR at a 50K

Last Sunday I ran the 14th annual A-OK 50K outside of Atoka, Oklahoma. As you can tell from the title of this entry I set a PR and actually achieved my goal of breaking 4 hours in a trail 50K that I set out for myself in an earlier post. My time was 3:53:19. I might be shooting myself in the foot though, I was only supposed to be using this a last long run before "3 Days of Syllamo" and was only shooting for a time of around 4:45. I feel good today though so hopefully I'll recover quickly and go to Arkansas with a new confidence gained from breaking the 4 hour barrier.

At the house...

I woke on Sunday morning at 3:30 AM, the radio playing the overnight BBC news feed. There is something different about waking up really early, for some reason it doesn't feel like you're really getting up and for me it is actually easier than usual to get my butt out of bed. Ask my fiancee, most mornings it's like pulling teeth to get me to give up the covers. The coffee pot was prepped the night before, so I plugged it in, made a small bowl of cereal (mostly because we have Cracklin' OatBran and I didn't want Gina to eat it all without getting my share). My bags were packed the night before, I threw them in the car and left 5 minutes ahead of schedule.

On the road...

I listened to The Slip - Eisenhower, Michael Franti - Everyone Deserves Music and Cake - Prolonging the Magic on the way down. The stereo in our car doesn't work, some sort of computer/electrical malfunction caused by too many rust holes and too much rain so we have a little battery operated speaker that we plug our ipod into. The road was dark, only a small sliver of a moon and there was lots of roadkill but very little traffic. The estimated driving time from Norman to Stringtown I got from Google maps was about 45 minutes longer than what it actually took. Even with the sketchy directions I had from Stringtown to the race start and a wrong turn or two, I still made it to the start about 45 minutes earlier than I anticipated. Plenty of time for a quick snoozer.

Pre-race...

So I didn't really sleep. I can never sleep in a car and have a hard time napping in general, but shutting my mind down, closing my eyes and listening to Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys just felt good. I got out of the car at 7:30 AM, a half an hour before the start, pooped and checked in. I wish I was a better writer because the woman who puts on the A-OK (Mary Ann Miller) is one interesting character. The race takes place on her private land and the check-in takes place in a large metal shed. I got number 1119, which might make you think that the runners numbered in the thousands, however this is far from the actual number of 13 runners in 50K (including earlier starters) and about twice that again in the 25K. After receiving my number I was instructed by the race director to grab any of the "freebies". These "freebies" consisted of hats, socks, water bottles, t-shirts and something still in its cardboard box. I scored a hat. Go on and say it, you're way jealous.

I changed into my running attire, lubing up the necessary areas as needed. Even with the cloud cover and wind it was warm enough for a tank top. Roughly speaking, the race is "T" shaped, starting from the bottom then out and back along the cross bar and back to bottom of the "T". One lap is 25K, the 50K runs two. I took another poop (damn buffalo meat) and made sure my bottles were full and set some Gu out on the car seat so I could reload in between laps. At 7:55 AM, Mary Ann called everyone over to the start, gave some last minute instructions and seeming mid sentence broke into "Ready,

GO!

A tweet on her whistle and we were off. The race starts on a single track trail around a small pond on Mary Ann's property. The trail is outlined by some logs and looks very soft until you take a closer look and see all of the ankle twisting rocks buried under the leaves. After a small stream crossing, a push up and over a steep little hill and another stream crossing, the race leaves the single track and turns right up a fire road. The fire road is pretty rocky too, but wide enough so that you can navigate a mostly dirt/sand path. After about three-quarters of mile on the fire road, the trail crosses a turnip (radish?) field. This, as is the rest of the course, is extremely well-marked with yellow flagging. A little further along after a little more uphill and you get to AID 1 at the center point of the "T". By this point I was all by myself, as I would be the remainder of the race, although with the trail doubling back on itself so many times, I saw the other runners often.

From AID 1, the race goes left and this meant straight into the wind. Did I mention it was windy? This is Oklahoma people, it's always windy. And Oklahoma wind seems to come at you from every direction. After leaving the aid station the trail becomes very smooth, runnable and slightly downhill. About two and a half miles of this and I arrived at AID 2. The second aid station is unmanned and there is a sheet of paper to sign and initial. All of the aid stations were well-stocked with water, Gatorade, cookies and other typical ultrafare. It was at this aid station that I first ran into the woman runner with the large backpack (see Running moment down below).

Turning back toward AID 1 from AID 2 is slightly uphill but mostly the wind was at my back. Back at the center point of the "T" at AID 1 the race continues straight along the cross bar out toward AID 3. For some reason, the stretch from AID 1 to AID 3 and back felt slightly uphill both ways, which probably means it was pretty flat. The condition of the trail here is similar to the stretch from AID 1 to AID 2. Once back at AID 1 for the third time, it was a quick downhill trot along the rocky fire road back the starting line. I finished the first lap around 1:49.

I slammed a V8 (the best mid-race drink), grabbed some more Gu and headed out for lap 2. Somewhere around half way into the second lap I started feeling tired. I took a couple of walk breaks in the second half of this lap. It was already looking like I was going to set a PR and maybe break 4 hours. I kept looking at my watch calculating how much time I had left versus how quickly I ran a particular section in the first lap. Leaving AID 1 for the last time I dropped the hammer and pushed it to the finish.

Post-race...

I changed my shirt, put my Crocs on, got a bowl of chili (made by Mary Ann) and a can of Busch, the best post-race drink. There were only two other runners that that finished around the same time, one was the woman with large backpack who ran the 25K and the other was woman who was an early starter for the 50K. We all chatted a bit, made some congratulatory comments and were happy to be done. I picked up a jar of honey and my first-place prize - a bottle of Oklahoma wine. Mary Ann: "I don't know how good it is, I just bought it because I liked the label." Isn't that how everyone buys wine?



On the road...

Back in the car, I finished listening to the Beastie Boys. I stopped at a gas station by a casino to fill up and call Gina. Other music too, but I don't remember. More traffic now than before. I had to stop for batteries for the speakers.

At the house...

Shower. Beer. Napoleon Dynamite. Zzzz...

Running moment of the week: It doesn't matter how hardcore you might think you are, there is always some else out there pushing the envelope further. During the race I passed a woman carrying a very large backpack, the kind you might use to go on an extended backpacking trip. I spoke with her after the race and discovered she is training for a race called the Bataan Memorial Death March. Check out their website for the complete details, but very quickly the race is a marathon by White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. The race is a memorial to a group of World War II POWs in the Philippines that were forced to march across the island, many to their death. There are two primary divisions in the race, lightweight and heavyweight. To be in the heavyweight category you must carry a 35 pound pack throughout the entire race. Hardcore, but nothing in comparison to what the POWs must have experienced.

2/25 - 3/2
total miles: 55.6
time: 7:13

February miles: 246.7
YTD miles: 497.3

C.C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race by Geoff Williams

This last week I finished reading a story about a true ultramarathon: "C.C. Pyle's First Annual International Transcontinental Foot Race, From Los Angeles to New York" nicknamed by sportswriters of the time: "The Bunion Derby". The book chronicles several of the runners of the race, from their motivation for partaking in such an outlandish event with only meager preparation or knowledge of what they where about to try to accomplish, to pain, blisters, sprains, strains gained from running across the entire continent to a successful finish in New York, or where ever they might have dropped from the race.

The runners traversed 3421.5 miles over a span of 84 days, never once taking a full day of rest. In case you're curious, that's averaging about 40.7 miles per day, for almost 3 months! Try that one on for size Ultramarathon Man. Considering the foot wear they wore was nothing like the comfort cushioned cloud riders we use now, the determination these men had to finish surpasses any modern day ultra. 55 runners out of 199 finished. The winner was Andy Payne, a Cherokee from Foyil, Oklahoma. He covered the distance in 588 hours 40 minutes and 13 seconds. That works out to an average pace of 10:19 minutes per mile. He was flyin'. Here's a picture of the champ (taken from the Andy Payne Memorial Races website):



Read this book if you like reading about running, crazy endurance events or if you're a masochist looking for a new pastime.

Running moment of the week: I guess this has been a normal week in running, just putting in the miles, I cannot think of any special moment. Mostly runs in town, one hill workout on some country roads and a trail run today out at the lake. Maia and I did go on two seven mile runs this week and she ran really well, after a little encouragement. Together we averaged 7:45 minutes per mile. After which she barely moved for the rest of the morning.

2/18 - 2/24
total miles: 59.8
time: 7:48

YTD miles: 441.7

Oklahoma Narrows

It was a gorgeous weekend here in Oklahoma and with my dad visiting, Gina and I decided we should all go down to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refugee. The temperature on Sunday reached into the mid 70s while we were hiking, it was hard to believe that we woke up to the low teens on Friday and a half an inch of snow. Without a cloud in the sky and the Superbowl to keep the crowds away, we had a great time.

We began by hiking the Dog Hollow trail, an eight mile loop through the prairie grasses and over a couple streams. Maia has such a great time hiking, I wish there was more trails around here to take her on. She sniffs the ground so intently and every so often stops just to make sure that the pack is all together. The rocky trails don't seem to bother her and she loves to hop over the boulders and wade through the creeks.

After stopping for lunch at the car, we went on to hike in one of the amazing spots of the park, the Narrows. There is no maintained trail through the Narrows, but there is a well established trail leading through the canyon. The first time we get to some water there is a little spot where Maia loves to swim and play fetch. She turns into a crazy driven dog and tries so hard to get the stick without getting in over her head. She stands on the edge of a rock and paws at the water trying to get the stick to move closer. It's absolutely adorable.

We kept walking further into the canyon, hopping along the boulders and through the creek bed. It is incredible. When I moved to Oklahoma I had no idea that we would find such a special place.

Again, I missed the goal milage I set out for myself a few weeks ago, even the lower modified goal I wrote last week. I think this week I'll probably miss the goal again. It looks like I'll miss it again by around 5 miles. I'm feeling strong and healthy during my runs and I'm really excited about running my first multi-day race. My January total miles is on track for the 2500 mile goal for 2008. I've added a "ticker" on the right keeping track of this goal.

Running moment of the week: Saturday morning I went for a 20+ miler out at Lake Thunderbird. About 8 miles in my toes caught a root and after a few stumbling steps where I thought I might regain my footing, I fell face first into the dirt. Boo-Ya! It was the first time I had fallen in a long time, too bad no one was there to see it. I'm sure the deer got a good chuckle in.

1/28 - 2/3
total miles: 56.8
time: 7:51

January miles: 213.7
YTD total miles: 243.4