Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Astral plane

How cool would it be to speak the French language?

Caught a couple Seinfeld episodes tonight.  Yada-yada-yada.

I get my hair cut at a barber shop.  It is old school in there.  Womanless.  They had
The Rockford Files playing on an 20 year old TV.  $9.50 in case your wondering.

My Dad's middle name was Leroy.

When we moved from PA to WI we brought the Tomcat we kept outside.  He had to move
inside because we live around a million houses and it's the rules.  I'd let him out occasionally
without much thought of it.  Apparently it was like Disney World to him because he was a
killing machine.  Came home one day after work and found about every type of animal/rodent
that inhabits the city strewn across the yard.  Rabbits cut in half, squirrels beat to a pulp, moles,
chipmunks, you name it in tatters.

I told the kids he had to live with someone else.

I've told this story.  Running real early through the neighborhood (a million homes) in Florida real early one morning.  There was a van parked on the curb to my left.  This weiner dog decided to be a hero that day and tried to stealth attack me in the dark.  He flew of the porch w/o making a noise, sprinted under the van and was just about ready to harsh my mellow.  He didn't count on two things.  I saw him and I'm a lefty.  Without breaking stride I timed my booting mechanism, set the Kentucky windage, and planted right underneath him.  He launched about 20 feet a$$ over tin cup.  He was fine, but he always watched me go by after that.  I don't blame him, if I was a dog I'd have the same mentality.  I wonder how he remembered it?

When my brother and I first had ten speed bikes they had a little odometer down by the wheel.  We rode 40 miles around the Church parking lot just to watch the miles turn.

My Mom claimed she was never beat by a boy in a foot race until she was in high school.

My Grandma is 98.  When we tell her that she says, "There is no way, I've seen people that old and their all wrinkly."

My daughter is her 30th great-grandchild.  I am the 10th oldest of 26 grand kids.  I wonder how many she has now?

My cousin Gail set the girl's high jump school record in 79'.  Her oldest daughter beat the record in 09'.  Her youngest daughter beat it this year.  How cool is that?

I once ate 63 chicken wings...we ran out.

They always say it's darkest before the dawn.  If this is true, then that's the best time to steal your neighbor's newspaper.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Apes-Ma

...and your cage isn't getting any bigger.

But maybe mine has, or should I say it would be nice to have a bigger cage.  If Quick wants a bigger cage then why can't I?  In that spirit, a conversation (briefly, but that's all it takes) recently with Brother Grub about running certain events has me contemplating something I thought I had put away for good. 

First, how I got to this idea was rather simple in nature.  A few days ago on a hobby jog it hit me that at Voyageur I was 41st out of what....just over a 100 finishers?  Then at Al's run 8k I was 41st out of 2,906 finishers.  Which to me is odd because I train for ultras and not short races.  I mean 8 - 10 minute miles in training is the norm.  What gives?

I told Brother Grub what about going to the Striders 24 - 12 - 6 hour event next September and attempting to hit 50 miles in 6 hours?  Sure...it would be a stretch, but if the Grubster was there and motivated it would be an honest reason to try and strap it on.  I love the track.  I like the idea you can continually monitor progress and take care of yourself.  Right this moment I feel I could do at least half that distance minimum.

Part of me wants to run fast struff again, but not necessarily waste it on a bunch of short races.  I also have a feel for what it takes having raced 5 road 100ks (not well most of the time) and what it may involve.  The trick isn't hard if it was 35-40 miles.  It's what happens the last 10-15 miles.

I'm so darned fired up about it I am subconsciously running numbers in my head without trying to think about it.  If you run 7:12 pace for 50 miles that is 6:00 flat.  I have a taste of this as I went through the 80k (49.7 miles) split in 5:58:04 at Ed Fitz in the 100k.  Sure that was 9 years ago and I am 50, but I still have this mentality I can run faster on hard surfaces.

But Dave, what about the training?  I know what it would take and honestly it seems easier training on the roads.  I ran 9 miles today and wound it out a little in 1:06.  A run on the trails like that for me is typically 1:20 - 1:30 which seems to take more out of me.  Once you beat yourself into road shape, training does not take that long.  A 2 hour run turns into 16 miles...done.  I'm more of a volume guy for this type of running with only a few key long runs sprinkled in, but they would be road maps to the event.  In otherwords, they would be trials on the track. 

On the flip side, if Grubby was there and I could convince him I was in shape to go out at 7:00(?) pace, surely one of us could make it.  I mean, I would want to know beforehand on a trial run I could make 35 miles at near that pace (considering it would be under training load and in the summer). 

The sad part is I believe this is doable.  The trick is still being fired up after Ice Age.  I'm seriously thinking about doing the Rocket City Marathon on December 10th.  I don't want to waste all my adrenaline stores on this race, but breaking three would be the goal...on the least amount of miles possible.  There is a reason behind this, but it would take too long to explain.  I'm sure Quick knows the answer already.

Maybe this is a pipe dream.  I'd run thousands of miles for one magic day.  Perhaps this to shall fade, but just when I thought I'd accepted my running lot in life that little 8k got me thinking again. 

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Breath deep

Well, my 10th Al's Run 8k is in the books.  Mission accomplished.  29:52.

The two weeks prior to the event I did no track work.  I figured why risk blowing something out.  I knew I would be close, but I have a good sense of pace so I went with what I thought course offered.  First mile has some downhill and I hit it in 5:47 which I knew I would give back on the hill in mile two.  Hit that in 12:01 and felt okay.  Tried to find stride and you dump down a little hill before mile three which went by in 17:57.  I hate mile four. I knew I had to push to have a chance.  I was hurting and who comes by...Ted Shue.  Four in 24:02 and I tried to not let Ted disappear.  I catch and pass him with a quarter mile to go and try to gap him to no avail.  Ted turns on the burners and roars by with 40 yards to go and I try and not let anyone else pull that.  Ted hits the finish in 29:51 for 40th overall and I 41st in 29:52.

I did pull 2nd in the age group with Jerry Husz winning the 50-54 in 26:03!  Wayne Lammers was the story of the day with an amazing 53:xx at 76 years old, easily winning the age group.  That's like a minute a mile faster than last year.

It was fun.  I did not enjoy the pain, which being an ultra runner I felt like I had snow boots on.  If I run next year, trust me there will be some faster training involved.  It was more fun than a 100 miler though...by a looooooong stretch.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Predominantly natural

As I hit the age of 50 yesterday, it occured to me that yes, why the need to run 100 milers?  Yeah, I'll probably do another someday, but the element of trying to be competitive is gone.  When I think about it, I always liked to be quazi competitive in ultras.  The amount of effort required is rather tedious.  The "fun" factor isn't there.  I've completed a grand total of one 100 miler.  By comparison, I have done relatively few ultras compared to my running friends.  I think I have done 31 since 1999.

Ice Age 50m = 10 (2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011)
WI FA 50K = 4 (2000, 2001, 2002, 2006)
John Dick 50k = 4 (2001, 2004, 2006, 2009)
National 100k = 3 (2001, 2002, 2004)
Voyageur 50m = 2 (2010, 2011)
Kettle 100m = 1 (2003)
Silver Comet 100k = 1 (2005)
World Cup 100k = 1 (2003)
JFK 50m = 1 (2000)
National 50k = 1 (1999)
Glacial 50k = 1 (1999)
Shelby Farms 50k = 1 (1999)
Bunk 50k = 1 (2010)

I also completed the Rim to Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon in 2009 which I'll count for #32.

Thinking of going back to the WI FA 50k, John Dick 50k, Ice Age 50m circuit, then run short distances in the summer.  Then the fall is open for a cooler ultra.  Perhaps Glacial as I haven't been there since 1999. 

I'm tired now, so I'll elaborate more later.