The Great Race of Agoura Half marathon

It was nice to be back and running from a three week hiatus due to Planar Fasciitis in my left foot. It was so painful I could hardly walk on it for a week, but with R.I.C.E and stretches I was finally able last week to get in some low mileage runs. But what worried me about this race was that if the PF would flare up during the run. Overall I was happy to get a 1:50 and now I can relax, get some more miles in before Leona Divide.

Injured PF

Well it looks like I have Plantar Fasciitis and DNS C2M. I hope to be back out and running soon.

Rose Valley 33 Mile Endurance Run

First of all this race kick a$$, from the race director Luis Escobar who setup a great replacement race for the cancelled Santa Barbara 9 trails, to the volunteers. Again, this is a race that didn't exist two weeks ago and there were no problems with anything, signing in was easy, which was cool because Scott Jurek was helping with that and I got to meet him for the first time.

Starting off was cold, my car said it was 32 degs once I drove into the parking area and then when the race started it seemed to get a little colder as I couldn't feel my fingers, but as we ascended up rose it warmed up quickly. Once I've reached the top of rose it was 3 mile of down, I settled in at 7:00 mile trying not to go too fast. I believe this part is called the Nordoff backbone you almost have a 360 view of Ventura to Santa Barbra, I almost tripped a couple times while running, just looking at the beauty was relaxing and set the tempo for the rest of the day.

Now came the Gridley Top aid station with a refill of my first bottle and starting the tunes I headed down 6 miles (4000 feet elevation change) to the bottom of the Gridley trail. There at the AS was Chris Scott one of the race directors of C2M helping out. Refilled the same bottle got some chips and it was back up the same trail to the top of Gridley again. Surprisingly I did this part in 1:50 again no running unless there was no slope. Back to the Gridley AS (these guys were awesome) and off I went for a 2 mile out and back, this the trail that would take you to Cozy Dell. In order to complete the out and back you had to tell the Gridley guys what you found at the end of the trail which was a Santa Nome.

5 hours into the run it was time to descent to Howard Creek for only 3 miles! At the last aid station I got to meet Wild Bill and Deb who help me rinse off the layers of caked on salt. From there it was time to finish with only 7 more miles to go and still having fresh legs I made the climb to the top with only 15 minute difference from going down to back up. At this point I was back to the main backbone and there was only less than two miles to go before descending down rose, I could see where I was supposed to go but it felt like I would never get there, my legs did feel a little sore by this point. Success, I made it to the top and now it was time for 3 miles of quad searing pain but it was worth it, with the end in sight it was easy to run down at sub 7 min miles, even after ascending 9500ft total for the day.

After finishing I thanked Luis for putting on this replacement run, grabbed a cheese burger that Scott Jurek had cooked and hanged around to talk with Howard Cohen and Jonathan Stewart.

I came into this race with two goals in mind one to finish, second to not run any uphill’s and to keep it at a very fast walking pace. I've blown up and DNF'ed at C2M and at the last 9 trails by being too aggressive. It wasn't till Leona Divide did I start looking at ultras differently. Overall I felt I could of gotten out at faster at the beginning but running a technically good race was more important to me. Plus I feel more confident in running Ultra Marathons in the future.

Pictures and results

Santa Monica Backbone Run -- 25 miles

On October 18 I had the pleasure of joining Howard Cohen who was running the entire Santa Monica backbone, totaling 67 miles in one day. My portion would be the last 25 miles of his run consisting of mostly night running.

I joined Howard and Eric who was doing 40 plus miles in the middle of the backbone. With perfect timing I managed to get to the trail head with 10 minutes to spare at the Mulholland road intersect of mile 43 at 4pm. Howard looked great at this point and made me wonder if I could keep up with him;) Within an hour of running, the sun started to set and got to see a beautiful sunset with the ocean as it's backdrop. There was nothing too technical for the first 9 miles mostly well groomed trails and my feet felt great, no hot spots or blisters.

At mile 52 we just slipped into Misha Mokwa trail head as the sun went to sleep for the day. At this point we grabbed some food that was provided by Eric and pick up Bill for the rest of the run. This was the part that was the most fun for me, night running! I have never done it on the trails only on the streets where there was plenty of light. But this was more challenging as you had a one light on your head and another in my hand. Trying to discern shadows, rocks and fauna while speeding down a trail and not kill yourself was like being on a runaway roller coaster.

I believe it was around mile 60 where Howard got his 4,5 or even 10th wind back and was flying down the trails. Most people would be just walking at this point but that wasn't Howards way, he kept on pushing the whole time. We finished at 10:45pm which was a good 6 plus hours on my feet. Next time I would like complete the whole backbone with Howard as I enjoyed having the opportunity running with him and others.

Disneyland Half Marathon 2008

The plan for this half was to run a negative split and keep getting faster from the start to the finish. With only seven weeks of real training I was happy with my performance. I had been only running 30 miles a week but it was mostly fast street runs up to that point. The only disappointing issue was I didn't get the sub 1:35 I was shooting for but I still PR'ed with a 1:37 so I can't be too mad with my time.

Boy was the weather better this time then last year in 2007, it was only in the mid 70 by the time the race ended, not the 100 degrees of last year. Overall Disney did a great job, and few problems if any were had. There were plenty of potties, food and water for pre, during and after the race. And they have gotten better at coral placement of faster runners, gone are the days of walkers finding or placing their way to the front. I plan of signing up for next year even though my 2009 schedule is mostly Ultras and trail races.


1:37:34

1 ml 7:40 ,2 ml 7:29 ,3 ml 7:12 ,4 ml 7:24 ,5 ml 7:24 ,6 ml 7:22 ,7 ml 7:21 ,8 ml 7:23 ,9 ml 7:19 ,10 ml 7:18 ,11 ml 7:07 ,12 ml 7:00 ,13 ml 7:07 ,13.1 ml 6:41

Overall Place 240 / 10849
5K 23:58
10K 47:03
15K 1:10:19

Training for the Disneyland Half Marathon

So far so good, I have about two weeks before this race and all signs point to having a great run.

What's lost has been found

I have finally been able to get some quality runs in for the past three weeks. Including to but not limited to more mileage, hills and some quick pavement runs. Although the trails are tearing my Asics road shoes, I need to find a new Montrail dealer soon!

As far as what's been lost and now found, I have not been able to breathe correctly, since the beginning of this year it's been laboring to do so. Most of my runs felt flat and was always trying to catch my breath, As of the last two trail runs, the rhythm of my lungs and legs where in perfect harmony. I just have to make sure to keep up the breathing during the latter part of my training as once I get tired I get sloppy and stop taking deep breaths. It becomes short and incansistance which seems to create more lactase acid in my muscles.

These pix are from Malibu Creek State park coming from the Tapia entrance up to bulldog. 5 miles up with very little down, good for power hiking on those long ultras.

I just signed up for a race that I DNF last year and plan to make sure my training is in top notch shape by the time it rolls around this year!