Running with a view

Coyote Two Moon Ultra 100k 2011

2011-03-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

First of all I would like to thank all the volunteers and Chris Scott Head Buffoon of Coyote Two Moon who without them, this weekend would have been a lot less fun/safe.

Now on to the event, over the past two years I had the unfortunate luck of being injured with a nasty case of PF on my left foot after all that time I felt very happy to be at Thacher on Saturday morning. One of the many wonderful things about C2M is seeing old friends and making new ones which is how the whole 17 hour Fun Run ended up being. As part of the Slower 100k group I got to start with the Faster 100 milers, which was neat to see Karl M., Justin A, A J Wilkins and Jeff Browning. Right at the start Jack and I already befriended Jessica, who kept pushing all the climbs.

The climb up Horn was little more than Jack and I where planning, we tried to start off slowly and get to the 4th mile at 2+ hours but that didn’t work out too well. We ended up at 1:40, the pace wasn’t too fast but just good enough, at least no harm was done. Getting to the first aid was nice, got to say hi to Howard and Bruce who were taking a break from starting at (3am?) and at the 40 mile point for the 100 milers. After saying thanks to the Volunteers we headed down to Rose, this part was a nice change to finally get in some downhill running. Not much happened until we got to Rose A/S, again excellent Vols great food, got taken care of and pulled my second straight Jack of Spades and headed back up the fireroad.

This is where it gets fun (not bad, yet) near the ridge it started to really snow, which I don’t mind except when it pelts you in the face. At this point Jessica, Jack and I don more gear, in order to keep us warm as we cross the unprotected ridge into Howard junction. Oh how I love this trial, fast single track beautiful views and well protected from the wind. We made our way into the next A/S pretty quickly, boy that one was active with the full 70’s theme and the atmosphere and seeing friends I didn’t want to go. But alas Jack got his bottles filled up and we were back up and on our way to Gridley Top. As much fun going down, going up Howard is the easiest trail that I’ve ran on this mountain.

As we neared the next A/S a cow and a rabbit/Easter Bunny (Gretchen) with its head on backwards start to come up and greet us, this is Gridley Top where we meet up with a chicken (Luis) and the RD Chris who donned on a wonderful pig costume. Gretchen got me a wonderful Spam and cheese sandwich and filled my bottles (thanks Gretchen!). Again another great station to hang with friends eat some food, have fun and chill but Jack was already leaving and so it was time to power hike to Nordhoff and enjoy the wonderful trail they call Cozy Hell(dell). Eric Wickland and Jonathan Stewart, who we passed going down CD and were hanging glow slicks for the runners to find the trial turns, were nice to move my drop bad to an easy location for me to find, thanks guys! Once I sat down Kathy H, whom I just met from the bowling night was making sure my food intake was going well, sure is, they have tater tots tasty.

Fuelled up and torches on as the night started to descend, we were up Cozy Dell and found its true meaning of Hell. At this point the rain started and the first two miles of the trail was just one big sloppy mess that with every step you would slid an inch or more. There were a couple of times I just looked back at Jack and Jessica as I was leading the way up (rare at this time) and threw them a discussed look on my face, I was not happy. But that was the only time I felt a little PO’ed it was more of my shoes not having enough grip. As soon as we got out of that, I was happy again, (I mean how can I be pissy, I’m running with friends enjoying a very tough run and I’m alive!)

Now the Cold part, even though I was well protected with 4 layers of clothing up top, thermal hat and I had shorts (which I can deal with cold legs) it was the sweeting from the inside that did me in on the ridge. Once on the top of the ridge going back to Gridley Top it was snowing and blowing so hard that I just started to freeze, you couldn’t see much in front of you at times. I was expecting to snow and get cold, just not This cold (30 degrees with wild chill ouch), it just went to my knees and I just could make a jog back to the A/S. 20 to 30 mins later I finally made it back to look at Chris with a smile and (I think) said I’m having fun but I’m a little cold. So Gretchen grabs one of my water bottles and filled it with very hot water, ah just like when I was a baby with the hot water bottle for the upset stomach (too much info there?).

Had more hot food, talk to Chris told him I was done, I’ll run/walk down the next trail to Gridley Bottom and bow out at 43 miles. I knew my knees were a mess at this point and going back up to the ridge and walking the exposed part for 7/9 miles would not be a safe thing for me to do. I was slightly disappointed for a second but I knew from seeing others and what I had gone through that I’d done what I could and I need to stay alive for my family (I can’t always be selfish) As I was waiting for Jack/Jessica to head back down the Fun Run was stopped, made sense with more runners soon to come up Cozy Dell and rain/snow forecasted till the next afternoon, it could of gotten bad for some people.

Oh ya, I have to get off the mountain and my knees don’t bend, sweet! With a trash bag provided by Gretchen I made the slow walk to the last Aid Station. Once I was there I was quickly snatched, asked who I was and where I was (making sure I wasn’t close to dead) I answered the questions correctly. Got more food shoved into my hands from chief Wes and thrown into a car and driven to Thacher, what service!

Again I'd like to thank Chris and everyone one from the Volunteers and runners, for one hell of a time, and yes I’d do it all over again! And now a view of the climbs Here is an Article from the Ventura County Star on the Coyote Two Moon

Gettting back into running slowly

2010-07-30T18:34:00.000-07:00

It's been about one year of not running and gaining weight. I've been slowly ramping up my mileage and losing some pounds and hope to get in an Ultra before the end of the month.

The Great Race of Agoura Half marathon

2009-03-28T11:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

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

2008-12-01T08:24:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-10T17:50:00.000-08:00

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

2008-09-02T17:59:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-19T08:22:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-27T18:04:00.000-07:00

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!

Leona Divide 50 Miler

2008-04-19T20:27:00.001-07:00

11:06 hours to complete, now I'm going to sleep.

Coyote Two Moon Ultra 100K

2008-03-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

Races reports and pix from other runners on the C2M...

The race Directors report
Pictures
Howard Cohen
Glenn Tachiyama
Heinselrunner's
Chris Marolf
Stan Jensen
Jakob Hermann
Craig Heinselman
Akabill

Blogs/reports
Andy Jones-Wilkins
Justin Angle
Karl Meltzer winner of the 100 miler
RunSueRun
Wasatch Speed Goat
Ak's Adventures

Santa Barbara 9 Trails

2007-11-26T16:45:00.001-08:00

I cannot wait till next year to try this one again!!!

Dances with deer

2007-11-17T16:46:00.000-08:00

Watch out for deer during mating season! I literally got run over by a young buck while running down a fire road. There must of been a doe nearby and he got a little possessive and came right for me. During the attack I forced (fell backwards) myself to the ground and got a hold of his antlers and was able to restrain him. It's was definitely a surreal experience to say the least. While this transpired within seconds it seemed like an eternity. At this point I wasn't sure what to do with a deer in my hands, do you let go and would it continue to go after me? I let go after regaining my composure and he sat and watch me walk away. There's nothing like deer wrestling!

Xterra 18K Point Mugu 2007

2007-10-11T17:57:00.000-07:00

What a fun day this was, I got one of my coworkers to come out with his wife and friends to run this trail race, which he hasn't done since HS XC. This course has two distances one 7 and the other 11 miles which is what I tackled. The weather was nice during the run, from what I remember it was not too hot or cold except for when we arrived it was a bit chilly in the beginning. The AS volunteers where great but the organizers did have trouble locating one on the 11 mile side of the run, it was suppose to be near the 3 or 4th mile but had trouble with the park service??? so we had to wait till mile 5.4 to get any water. This is a wonderful race to get yourself into trail runs as it's not too hard and not very technical as far as the trails go. Overall it was nice being with friends and getting in a good run for the day.

One of my favorite courses at Point Mugu, I'd rather run it with PCTR group, it's slightly different and more challenging.

Disneyland Half Marathon 2007

2007-09-04T11:39:00.001-07:00

Hot Hot Hot that's what I would describe this race. At 5am it was already in the 70s with the 80s not too soon behind once the race got within the 3rd mile. By the time we hit Ball road behind Disneyland the sun was up and so was the heat. The back stretch of this race felt slow and for good reason, every mile I ran was getting slower by 10 to 15 sec per mile. What started off as 7 min mile pace soon grew to 9:10 mile pace towards the tenth mile/Angels stadium. By the time I hit Disney Way and saw I was nearing DCA I started to push my pace to try to finish strong. After 1:50:20 of running it was over and felt better then any other race I've run in the past year, although I was hoping for a minus 1:40 race, but with the heat issues I'll take it. I believe the temp for later in the day was at 106 which made Disneyland mildly empty and that was very nice.

The funny thing is last year I had negative splits for this race with only 7 weeks of training. Before that time I was just a couch potato. This time my times just got slower and slower due to the heat, did I mention that it was HOT:(

I would highly recommend this race, they have also gotten better at placing the correct runners in their respected corrals and checked every participant to make sure they did not try to sneak into the faster groups. This year they had a better support system in place throughout the run with water, gu's and cheers form people lining the race course. After the race was also well organized with food and aid available without too many long lines.

Bulldog 50k 2007

2007-08-28T14:35:00.001-07:00

last week I ran my first Ultra 50K and it did not disappoint it was one of the most painful experiences I've dealt with. This is where I realized that going out too fast will almost always put me on a fast track to hell. AS went above a beyond to help me in my second lap even though my legs had gone out at mile 14. But I did not want a DNF on my first 50k/Ultra attempt I was going to finish this no matter what. As you can see on the image below I was walking quite a bit during the second half, this is where my calf and quads were yelling my name in vain. I couldn't stretch them if I did try the calf, my quad would Charlie horse (SP) and vises a versa. As they say about Ultras it's not just finishing them it's how you get there and what physical and mental obstacles you have to deal with in order to do so.

Valley Crest Half Marathon 2007

2007-06-13T19:37:00.000-07:00

Well it’s been a while since I did this race so I'll just make this short. This was a very well run race as far as the RD and volunteers where concerned and I would definitely do this one next year. The only problem was with me, I got there late and didn't really know the course and did not stretch at all. This made it difficult for me to gauge where I need to put the extra effort in running up and downhill and regulate my water intake. By the time I got into a good running form and was firing on all cylinders it was already half over so it really felt like two races. But overall I did quite well for a jump in and go race, I'm lucky I didn't injure myself especially without stretching as I always do so.

Xterra Malibu Creek 2007

2007-05-11T13:53:00.000-07:00

Well this one was fun not, having just come off a nasty cold that took about 3/4 weeks to recover I made the trek to Malibu and tried to survive the 14 mile run. I have to say that this course was really enjoyable and I'm looking forward to running the Bulldog 50K in August. With 3500 ft of ascent with 2000 ft roughly starting from 3ml and tapering off at the 6th mile you could feel your legs quickly heat up. The first 6ml felt as if the switchbacks would never end but at least the fog cover stayed around for most of the race which helped the climb up. Once I got to the top I settled down a bit and found my stride and pace. The middle part of this race was wonderful rolling hills with a good dosing of down hill running, but it would lead to my downfall. Towards the end was 1500 ft of desending, this is what I’m very good at doing, I can’t help but going too fast and I was passing lot’s of people, but as soon as I came to the last bump of a hill at ml 12.5 my legs gave out. My problem was I didn't take any water during the run and it helped accelerate my bonking, if I had properly hydrated myself I know I would have had a more desirable finish. There’s always next year or Bulldog for that matter:)

Need Oxygen Stat!

2007-05-03T17:32:00.000-07:00

Well Saturdays trail run was far from perfect. Although I got 10 miles in, it was not a pretty sight throughout the training. Most of the time I was gasping for air, even though I felt that my lungs were at full capacity. So I'll chalk this one as, I'm not quite recovered from my cold/allergies for now. At least I got in some decent hill repeats.

As I type this I have not run since last Saturday, but I try a street run tonight. Let's hope I can get in an easy 7 miles for today with a rest on Friday.

Back in the saddle

2007-04-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

This week has not been good to me. I guess I should be more specific, I caught a cold, a nasty little one too. I've been coughing since its inception and just yesterday started feeling better. I was kind of a weird one to as I felt fine from time to time, but had to catch my breath every one in a while with boughs of sporadic hacking. Glad to get rid of that one, somehow I keep thinking it was allergies maybe, maybe not?

Any how, I got a chance to run Wednesday night for a total of 7 miles with an average of 7:32 per ml not too bad as I have not run on pavement for over a month, only trails. I say one thing though, my calves were not happy the day after. Something I noticed was that although I haven't been doing speed workouts I had not lost too much of my quickness. I believe the hill training has really helped in keeping least some anatomy.

Saturday looks like a 12 to 14 mile run with 8 to 10 on Sunday with lots of stretching and core exercising. I hope to get in better shape for the Xterra Malibu run on the 12 of May.

Pacific Coast Trail Run 30K @ Point Mugu State Park

2007-04-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of running in the PCTR 30k in Point Mugu state park. This was my first true trail run as the Agoura 1/2 marathon two weeks ago didn't really count. Although the Agoura was a great run I prefer single track trails with steep uphills:)

Despite that I have not been training as much in the past two months, I have only accumulated 100 miles per month. I decided to go ahead and run a 30K. This would be the second longest run I have done, the furthest was the last LA marathon. I'll have to go over that one some day as it was quite brutal.

As the race/run started at 8:30am the 50K/30K went in one direction and the 18K went to the second loop of the 50K/30K. The first loop 13K? took a while for me to get accumulated to the pace and varying single track path, but once I had gotten to the back half in the valley portion everything fell into place. It didn't help one bit to attached myself with a group of runners too;)

Once the 18K loop started after a quick snack at the first aid station I blissfully started up the wonderful climb. This wasn't too bad as there where lots of runners coming down from the single 18K race to cheer on. This part felt like it would go on forever until I finally came to the 9K turnaround which gave a little downhill relief. At this point I was talking with Julian an OC runner as we made our way to the back of the 18K loop. This was a nice distraction to talk to someone as we made some good times on our way down. But that didn't last as soon as I was on the flat portion of the loop towards the last aid station, I slowed down to a 9:00 min pace. I got some GU and water at the station which was very much needed and made my way back up the trail. At this point it was about 13/14 miles in with I believe to be 2/3 mils with a 1000 ft climb up. With a mixture of jogging, running and walking I made it to the top. The rest of the run was about 2.5 miles of easy but painful downhill. As my shins we’re not pleased with me toward the final end point, but I made it in one piece and with a smile on my face.

Overall the race was RD'ed by Wendell and Sarah who setup a very professional and well run race. I would highly recommend running their Pacific Trail runs that they host year round. I’m looking forward to PCTR’s November 50K race in the same place.

http://www.pctrailruns.com/Santa_Monica_Mountains_Spring.htm