Friday rest-day

Ok, so I went off a bit yesterday, sorry.  I'm just so excited about cooler weather and the anticipation for an epic winter.  That is why I love Utah, you know its gonna snow 500+ inches of fluff in the canyons.  I'm in full-on rest mode today though.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate rest, it is crucial in training.  That is the mistake I made a few years ago and it resulted in a broken hip.  Also, I committed today to run the 50k (31mile) race on Antelope Island.  Paid the entrance fee.  I feel good about that decision, its motivation to stay in shape, and keep me running through the winter.  The date is march 26th I believe, so that is pretty much towards the end of ski season, which works out perfectly, I will be used to breathing heavy at higher altittudes.  That is pretty much it for now.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I'm meeting up with a really good friend of mine tomorrow who is also in recovery.  I love that guy, he is such a good buddy of mine.  Maybe I'll post pics.  later!!

Post-Moab

So, I've given myself a couple of days to get over things and the last two days I've been at the gym, lifting and running some easy miles on the treadmill.  I'm really surprised at how good I feel, I feel as though my fitness level is at an all-time high; i had a hard time getting my heart-rate up on the treadmill.  the only time I got winded is when I was maxing out on leg presses.  This makes me feel good about ski season.  let me tell you....I CAN'T F-ING WAIT!!!!. My skis are chattering in the closet!!!  As a southern Ohio boy, I never figured things would play out this way, but I'm SOOOO satisfied with being a lone-wolf, dirtbag, take-it-as-it-comes, agnostic, cynical, single, free-spirit mountain-man that I am.  Family life would just not afford that.  I cannot emphasize enough what adventures lay in wait......stay tuned!!!!

Redemption

The Moab Other Half was yesterday and it went really well for all of us.  Jake finished at 1hr 45min, Spencer finished around 1hr 49min, and I finished at 1hr 51min, so we were all within a couple minutes of each other.  My goal was to post a sub-two hour time so I'm happy with what I did.  I don't know how many more road races I'm going to do though because it beats me down, I much more prefer to run in the mountains.  The Antelope Island 50k in March will be perfect for that, its 0% road, but 50k is 31 miles so strategy and training will be much different.  Until then its going to be play time in the mountains, climbing and hiking until winter sets in and then ski like its my job.  I'm hoping to get in about 70 ski days this year.  Okay, so why did I call this post redemption?  Here's the story:  3 years ago I had signed up to do this race with Jake when I developed a stress fracture in my hip from over-training.  Things were not good all the way around.  I was just getting over the break-up with my fiance, was putting in a lot of stressful hours in surgery, and my drinking was getting worse.  When I was diagnosed with the hip fracture, they had to lay me off at work because I could obviously not stand for long hours at work, so I was at home on the couch or in bed with nothing to do but be depressed (and drink, heavily).  I won't go into all of the gory details, but lets just say that its been a long, hard road back, and yesterday at the finish line I felt like I finally could close this chapter of my life.  So now it is on to bigger and better things.  I have many endurance and mountaineering goals, all of which will be interesting indeed.  This half-marathon is something that was personal.  It was nothing compared to what I have planned.  So strap in and hold on, I'm just a pup in this world and I've only began to explore.

Two days til Moab

Well, its upon me and I'm starting to get a little anxious and nervous.  I'm gonna run an easy 2-3 miles today and call it good til Sunday.  I was sick last weekend and I haven't run much this week because I want to make sure I'm fully rested, even if it means taking away a bit from my base, better safe than sorry.  My friend Matt Mackey who has been very helpful in helping me with training and nutrition tips, as well as pacing me on a 10 mile run, finished the St. George marathon two weeks ago with a time of 2hrs 51min, AMAZING!!!  He finished 60th out of over 5000 entrants, not bad, congrats Matt.  I feel lucky for him to have to taken the time with a lowly athlete such as I.  So we're headed down to Moab tomorrow morning so I'll try my best to post results and pics on Sunday night, but maybe it'll have to wait til Monday, we'll see. Also, I've added a list of cool websites to the site.

Monday morning yucks

Man I hate monday mornings.  Did my usual monday morning 7 miler, but man it was tough.  I haven't felt my best for the last couple of days and getting motivated to run this morning was a task.  I'm really starting to dislike running on pavement.  I'd rather be in the mountains any day even though it is much tougher  Now I have a headache that I can't seem to get rid of.  I was researching running events for next year and I came across some good stuff.  There are some good 50k and 50 mile races in the spring and early summer.  I have already decided to do the Buffalo run 50k on Antelope Island in March and I would like to do another ultra before I head back to good ole Lucasville for a visit in June.  There is the Squaw Peak 50 miler in May, but man, I've heard that thing is especially brutal, like a total of 20,000+ feet of total elevation gain over the course of the race.  I don't know if I could be ready for something like that.  Anyway we've set the date for our Lone Peak climb for the 23rd of this month.  That's a week after the Moab other half, so conditioning should be no problemo, its just the jitters that you get near the top, it is WAY exposed up there, like 800ft. dropoffs on either side of that last knife-edge ridge.  It will be my 3rd time going up there, and the previous two times I remember being kinda nervous near the top.  I usually have to wait about a year in between for that trip to allow myself to forget how bad it can suck.  Its like childbirth, women forget how bad it is and decide to do it again. HAHA

solitude and suffering

Jake and I just got back from a 12 mile mountain run....2 hours flat.  Running in the mountains on trails at altittude is a whole different sport than road running.  I hit a wall at about mile 10 and the last 2 miles were pure misery for me, it was all that I could do to stay moving.  If I didn't have Jake there pushing me I don't think I would have kept going.  This was probably the most I have suffered to date.  The whole time we were up there we only passed 1 other person running, although there were 2 or 3 people on mountain bikes and one dude on a horse.  That is why I called this post solitude and suffering.  I love the solitude and in a perverse way I sort of enjoy the suffering too.  This is not the sport to be in if you want fame and glory.  The only rewards manifest themselves deep within your own soul.  Anyway, today made me feel really good about the Moab 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles) because the conditions down there (road) will be much easier than what we did today.  I feel like I have a legitamate shot at posting a sub-2 hour time.