You gotta be f'n kidden me! Where the hell are you guys?

Hi everyone, Used to follow you guys on CR but never posted, so I thought why not join in. Hope your run went well fatozzig. I live in WA and was down in the bay area last month and did the Sequoia 20k by PCTR. That was a lot of fun. They don't seem to believe in switchbacks on those trails. Did the Chuckanut 50k here last weekend but had to drop at just over 21 miles due knee pain. Those pictures posted of the Trinity alps were great. There is a spot in WA kinda similar called the enchantments. Need to do a run up there sometime. Have fun running everybody. Jim

Yahoo! We have a group again! Fattie, you were the driving force behind this thread. Sorry to leave you high and dry. I hope everyone who's posted above will stick around, and maybe we can get some new newbs to join us to. For those not in the know, we are cool running refugees who started a "group" called the Neo-extreme trail running group because we got tired of calling ourselves newbies. I keep saying we, but Fattozig was the real creator of the group. We were a loose group of neo trail runners trying to run on trails as much as possible and still hitting the roads some when we couldn't. Most of us were inexperienced though some pretty experienced runners hopped on as well. Fattie, as I love to call her, was faithful in posting some good pics and anybody who wants to join in will be asked to do the same. That includes me as I haven't done so, BUT WILL, I PROMISE!. I ran my first races last year, a 5K at the summer solstice, a 50K the first week of Sept., then a 50 miler in VT at the end of September. As you can see, Fattie has her first major event this weekend ( I think it's her first major event that is, as I haven't been on the scene for a few months). I quit running and returned to the weights, some, but pretty much quit doing anything athletic in January. I began drinking like a fish and soon put on 20+ pounds around my middle. Last week on my lunch break I went to a local park and went for a walk through the woods. I couldn't help but run, in my work shoes and clothes no less, and logged my first couple of miles in months. This week I strapped on the heart rate monitor and GPS and went for a few short runs. 16:00+ miles! I'm trainind ala Maffetone, trying to keep hr below 141 always, and man am I fat and slow. Oh well, if you dance with the devil, you'll have to pay the fiddler, or something like that. So, I'm jazzed again to be out in the woods. yesterday I took two of my dogs for a two hour hike in the Wissahickon Gorge and hit some new trails. Gorgeous and invigorating. I ran the downs and walked all else. Slowly but surely, stress, and recover, stress a little more, recover, repeat. As far as races, maybe the VT50 again? Stonecat? Hellgate? Maybe the Laruel Highlands 70 miler? Cold TWOT (vhtrc.org). Or, maybe train for an early 100 for next year. I don't know. Enough about me. Fattie, good luck! Do you feel good about your training despite the nagging injury? Have you put the miles in? What was your longest training run and when? 50K is as breeze girlfriend. You can suck up anything for that far. Steel your mind, you can do it. As long as you don't have anything after that in the near future, ignore your flexor and dig down and do that sucker.

Well, can I say how dang happy I am that this thread is up and going again?!? {{{{Thanks, Greg!!}}}} And thanks for explaining the history of "us." Tacoma - My event is this weekend. I call 'em events 'cause (1) I'm not racing anybody and (2) PCTR's motto is "Runs That Aren't Races In Beautiful Places." That about says is it all Greg - I'm feeling really good, except for nagging hammie problem, but that's been there for a long time. I'm just really nervous about the ole hip flexor thing. The last time this hit (on my left side), I literally could barely walk for a couple of days and had to get extensive, painful massages through the hammie, butt, lower back. On a scale of 1-10, the pain was around 13. I lived on muscle relaxers for awhile. I can't imagine wnat I'll do if this thing attacks me in the middle of the run Saturday, but we'll see. Slow and easy will be the name of the game. Also, you probably don't know, but my running buddy and I hired a coach awhile back, and it's made an incredible difference in my running. He's a very experienced runner and hits the trails with us quite often. He's going to run the Bizz Johnson Trail Marathon with us in October. Between now and then, however, my schedule looks like this: 05/24 - Forest Park 50k, Portland, OR 07/12 - S.O.B. 50k, Ashland, OR 08/09 - Crewing for friend's sister who's running the Headlands 100. Early September - 18 miles into the Trinity Alps again 10/12 - Bizz Johnson Trail Marathon Coach has been promising me that I'll be ready for the 50k in May, so we'll see what happens. It's only here that people don't look at me like I'm nuts. Boy, I'm having the time of my life!! A pic from Fern Canyon here in Humboldt County. Fantastic trail to run:

My first 30k was Salt Point last year. I bonked really bad at the end, but finished in 4:00:20 - 20 seconds shy of my goal. This year, I'm much more knowledgable re nutrition and have no doubt that with no flexor problems, I will do just fine. Next week I'm going to go see the PT who is an avid runner and who put me back together about 10 years ago when I fell and destroyed my ankle. Hopefully get a gait analysis, talk to him about my orthotics, etc. In the meantime, I've been stretching, using my foam roller, changing up the sides of the road I run on, and tomorrow getting my second massage in two weeks. Oh - and using "positive visualization." Greg - you should know all about that bein' a therapist.

but I DO love to talk about ME.

So I noticed. That's okay. Gives me something to read when I should be working! Hey - Post a before and after pic of yourself once you've lost your 20 lb. gut. And that goes for everyone else. Would love to know who I'm talking to. Salt Point last year - before I bonked :

Kelly - Nice job on the stats and posting the pic. Just got back from another lower body massage. Didn't hurt nearly as bad today as last week, and she said there was definitive improvement with regard to how tight things were last week. Yea! We leave tomorrow a.m. for the Bay Area. Found out today the run is sold out. Not sure how many people that means, but should be a blast! I'm getting so excited I can hardly stand it. From our Canyon Creek run last year. My buddy, Karen, cooling off: (I tried to resize the picture, but didn't work. Sorry!)