A couple hours on the road late morning today. Pleasant and uneventful.
QOTD: I think of when I was young and skinny and I ran on a dirt road past rural villages in Sri Lanka. I felt like I was flying and could run forever. The best I've felt running (distance category). That was also the run where I ran way ahead of my wife and left her to run alone in the middle of nowhere in Sri Lanka and she encountered a cobra. Not my best moment as a husband. And I missed my chance to see a cobra in the wild.
running under the BigSky
Tim- that’s a great flow chart (with a lot of truth mixed in!)
the run with you and Jess was great, but in my “backyard”; to rise to epic proportions it needs to be away- guessing CO will attain that level
Sue- get a new deck of cards! this is a bucket list route to be sure
2024 goal 2024 miles
2023 goal 2023 miles √
2022 goal- 2022 miles √
2021 goal- 2021 miles √
I may do 3 or 4 after work today, not sure yet.
AT, thanks for "sticking" the Derby to the top of list. They have started posting the daily summaries and posted some Twitter stuff.
qotd: Way too many to pick from... the one that just now popped into my head was kind of a two part thing. First a run I had in CA where I drove out of town toward Badger (36.619698, -119.019560) to sneak in an early morning out-n-back run along Dry Creek Dr. I was staying near there visiting with my gravely ill Mom, it is beautiful rolling terrain, but also that morning there was a thick morning fog in the lower elevations so all I saw at one point were the hill tops stretching out into the distance and the fog filling up the valleys looking like water. Later that day I told my Mom all about it and said that I will be back next year to do Western States. She died a few months later. The second part was the year later while at mile 45 or so at Western coming down the switchbacks in the second big canyon to El Dorado Creek it was so beautiful and I was just cruising along by myself and just then my Mom popped into my head. I remember smiling and saying out loud to no one around, here I am Mom just like I said.
I guess Dr. Jamie will tell us that you never get over trying to show off for your Mom. I hope not anyway.
tbd.
Refurbished Hip
AT, thanks for "sticking" the Derby to the top of list.
I'm glad AT is using his new powers for good and not evil.
p.s. I made AT an admin since he's here a lot more than I am these days. I hope to start running more late fall/winter if my body cooperates. I was supposed to do that now, but...life.
QOTD: My favorite running memory is completing the last mile of my friend's first 100 (Burning River) with him, his other pacers, and his family. We all walked together in silence as he cried. (Okay, and maybe some of the rest of us were crying too.)
Running is dumb.
^ are you back from the Sawtooth’s? if so, feel free to post up a trip report
I haven't left yet!! Next week I will be out there.
Le professeur de trail
I want to add to my great memories (which btw could be it's own thread entirely with all these great stories...)
I paced FTYC (Marie) at her first 100 at OC100 in....2013 I think?? Anyways, it was cool. It was my first experience being around an ultra of that level. I waited for Marie for a while before pacing duties but it was so cool to watch the runners come into the AS. It was also like 1 or 2am and pacing went through the night. Very surreal experience. I was happy to be a part (very small part mind you) of Marie getting that buckle.
My favorite day of the week is RUNday
Trails
Speaking of pacing...how does one find a crew and pacer(s)? Eventually I'd like to do a 100 miler but no one, other than my virtual friends, does ultras. I may end up just finding a 48 hour and do that (I'm also slow so a long cutoff will be needed).
Ahhh- I was close, but no cigar
You have your virtual friends come visit and they become more than virtual friends. At least that's been my experience.
Go figure
The event's facebook page is usually a good place to start, just by posting that you are looking for a pacer. You can also reach out to race directors and ask them if they have any resources for getting in touch with the local running community.
Two of my friends just paced completely random runners that they connected with online in the lead-up to the race (and both had a great time doing it).
There also may just be people at aid stations that are looking to pace runners. I did that at one event where my runner had dropped after two loops...just started asking runners if they would like a pacer as they came through, connected with someone, and hopped out for 25 miles.
Trying to find some more hay to restock the barn
Home from the salt mines, looking at my long grass and thinking I'll go do some intervals instead. You guys understand. I have to really ramp things up the next 3 weeks or so.
runtrail--We thought Monterey was a cool city. May have run your route while out there.
At--crap! Now I have to show some respect to you too?
Mike, aka Warden--that was a great run and running smack dab into the grizzlies added a little to it. Did you ever look into the goat trail option?
QOTD--too many years, so many great runs so it's pretty difficult to choose. Running the '85 Chicago Marathon with DW was pretty good and certainly there have been some awesome epic runs like Warden mentioned.
well I didn’t want to scare anyone off with the grizzly story
I did, appears to be a wee bit dicey
but still want to get into that little lake!
Are we there, yet?
Ask here, on other running forums, and in FB groups. For runners at our pace a 48-hour race may be more suitable than a 100 mile race to earn one of those coveted buckles. Be sure to check in the fixed time races to see if pacers are allowed. Not all of them allow pacing because they are on short loops and a pacer isn't really necessary for safety. Multi-day races like Across the Years are great for this. ATY offers a 24-hour race each of the 6 days, and rolling starts for 48 and 72 hour races as well as the 6-day race. You could probably hook up with other runners who aren't running the same day to help crew. When I ran ATY I ran my 24-hour on day one, then stayed for the rest of the time volunteering, running errands, and helping crew other runners I knew of met there.
I've also had offers from crew members of other runners to pace and crew me because their runner didn't need their help at the time.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K, 9:11:09 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
Tim
Yes, Mandy said something about Free Beer whenever I meet up with RA people in real life. And since we'll be in CO, Coors Light does not count!!
“Paralysis-to-50k” training plan is underway!