Badwater update: Harvey Lewis is approaching Lone Pine while bhearn has checked out of Lone Pine. It looks like Pete Kostelnick has dropped.

 

qotd: It depends on what you consider as impromptu. I decided to enter my first marathon two weeks before the race. I've also shown up at a race intending to volunteer and been talked into running it instead. Generally those races have gone well, in one case exceedingly well as I rate it one of the top 5 races I've ever run.

 

qotd2: No desire at all to run Badwater or Barkley. I occasionally think about wanting to run some of the iconic 100 mile races, but not enough to put in the training to run 100 miles, much less WS or Leadville or any of the other top 100 milers.

I'm always curious to hear your stories - care to share anything about the race?

The race I was going to do , SOB in Ashland Oregon , has been canceled . Just too many fires and too much smoke . I feel bad for RD's having to make that decision . I'll go back next year , it's a fun really nice race . Sue- I was going to do the 50k , entered too late to get into the 50m .

 

 

QOTD2: I would love to do Badwater . I love the desert and the long views and it's not that far from home . One of our local runners has done it,  she was down crewing this year , her runner timed out . She posted some amazing pictures . I was down in Lone Pine 2 years ago dropping my husband off for a JMT hike and got see some runners .

That's too bad. Really hard on the RD when things happen out of their control.

Not surprised. Loving the desert is probably a requirement for Badwater runners.  I just don't have much experience with desert running to know how my body would hold up, but I think I'd melt.

Got in about 6.5 miles with my running buddy. He's back from a month in Korea and I heard about his trip. We ran down into Rock Creek and slipped onto the creekside trail for a mile. Holy cow, I've never seen the water as high as it was. Deep into the floodplain and not draining anywhere quickly. Our county parks have closed all their natural surface trails until Friday. Of course, it's unenforceable, but I'll respect it all the same.  Did not go to the gym yesterday as I claimed I would. However, did get in a hard yoga class, which I've started up again and it's exhausting. 

Q1: My distances are not ultra, so dropping into a race is mostly limited to a local fatass or club race.

Q2: Nope, none whatsoever. It' sounds like torture to me. Hate hot weather running, then add pavement?!?!  I would like to do more desert running. Along trails and during the winter.

Tiny E = Tiny Elvis

look up the Saturday Night Live skit Tiny Elvis- that was our inspiration for his name

Yesterday it was 95 deg when I ran after work. This morning it was 75 deg and like LB2 said not quite so humid, felt really great (relatively speaking).  Did 10 mi, legs felt pretty good.

SIAR - good luck this weekend !!!!

Headed for the airport and a quick trip to London in a few.

qotd1:  I jumped into a 100 mi with my DD a few weeks beforehand, but she had to skip it, I ran it anyway it was freezing cold for TX (temps in the 20s) so I really liked it, It went well. Not really the same but I got into Hardrock off the waitlist 5 days before the run, but since I was on the WL I had done Bighorn 3 weeks before, went ok I guess...  but DNFed at mile 85.

qotd2:  no desire, way too hot and the direct sun would kill me. Hmmm Barkley on the other hand...

 

I'm always curious to hear your stories - care to share anything about the race?

That race dates all the back to June, 1972. I was putting in some heavy mileage that summer, ended up with 3700 miles for the year, so wasn't really thinking about a major mid-summer race, just a few local park district races to keep sharp. Recently someone had come up with the idea of a 10-man, 24-hour relay. One could have teams of anywhere from 2 to 10 runners who would run one mile legs on the track for 24 hours. If a runner missed a turn, he was out and the team continued with one less runner. I heard about one being held at Fairfield University just up the road from where I lived at the time, so I thought I'd drive up to watch and volunteer to count laps and record times. As it turned out the club I belonged to had a team there with only 6 runners and they talked me into being the 7th runner. With 7 runners I figured I'd get about 45-50 minutes rest between miles. None of us had any idea how to run or pace ourselves so it was all hit or miss. I ran my first 7 miles in the 5:55-5:58 range, then slipped to 6:01 on mile 8. That kind of annoyed me, so I made it a point to get back under 6:00 and keep it there as long as possible. I'm not sure exactly when I started to pick up the pace but my times dropped into the 5:40s, then as we got closer to the end of I pushed them down to 5:30s and finally 5:20s. Overall I ran 32 miles averaging 5:41.9 with the last 8 averaging under 5:30.

You guys are great for keeping me distracted at work today - I appreciate it.

Runtrail...what kind of yoga are you doing? I was doing a power vinyasa flow class for a while, and I really felt like it helped my running. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find time for it right now.

Queen...Thank you! I have one successful 100 under my belt so far, and a couple attempts. I feel like I'm in a good place for this one, so we'll see.

Sandy...Tough proposition going into Hardrock having just done another 100! I'm still trying to figure out if October will be too soon for me after this one. While I think I'd be fine, I'm going to wait to see how the race goes. A poor effort might be enough to spur a few months of marathon training again ha.

WC...That's awesome - thanks for sharing! There's something about today's running that just lacks the kind of spirit that was obviously present at the race you did. I assume you still have all of your old logs and are able to sift through them? I regret that I don't keep mine on paper anymore. And you didn't say - did the team win??