Gold Medalist of Something

This blog has been running on fumes lately. No, I haven't lost interest. I actually just haven't been all that excited about my training lately. The good news is that my knee hasn't been bothering me at all over the last few weeks. I've been capping my longer runs off at only 15-16 miles but it's better than where I was at only a short time ago - couldn't run over 7 miles without the IT ouch.

But the excitement is building over my upcoming races. I'm 11 days away from the Montana de Oro 25k and 1 month away from the Skyline to the Sea 50k. It's about time. I've been going crazy reading other blogger's race reports - 50 milers, 100k's and 100 milers. I really want to get back on track for upping the miles and hopefully getting to the point where I'm able to do these races as well. One thing at a time. Every once in awhile I have to remind myself that I wasn't running any long distances at all coming into this year.

So am I tapering right now for the 25k? Not really. Since it's more of a training run than a full blown "race", I won't alter my workouts too much up to that weekend. Of course, I won't do any hill training (what's a hill?) but I'll try to keep the miles up remembering the ultimate target is Sept 20 for the 50k!

Happy training everyone and good luck to everyone who has races coming up (especially you Bob).

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Decision '08

The presidential race? Uh, no. I'd rather chew on my toes (if I could) then talk about politics. I'm talking about my upcoming race decision. I've decided to do (and just signed up for) the 25k race at Montana de Oro - a good distance for me and it makes sense at this time - (1) will be able to run and see the entire trail anyways (50k is 2 times around), (2) it will be good training run for the Skyline to the Sea 50k, and (3) I'll be able to enjoy the SttS 50k a little more knowing my legs aren't duct taped together in a makeshift fashion. I can't wait to get back out there and run those trails!

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About to do Something Really Stupid?

Hello again. Well I think I'm on the verge of doing something incredibly stupid for my current endurance status - two 50k's within 1 month. I've already signed up for the Skyline to the Sea 50k on September 20th. I'm really excited to run this race - seems likes such a great trail run - out to the ocean! Here comes the stupid part...


So lately my wife has been really wanting to take a quick trip with the boys somewhere. Most likely somewhere that has a beach - they just love it and it's easy for us to kick back and/or play with the boys in the sand. So what area of California does she instantly think about they we both love? Pismo beach. We met each other when we were both going to Cal Poly and we love coming back to the surrounding area for R & R. So kind of jokingly, I mentioned that the Montana de Oro 50k is on Aug 31, so we should go that weekend. (In case you don't know, Montana de Oro is an amazing state park in California. It's about 15-20 minutes north of San Luis Obispo - check it out on Google for details, maps, etc. The scenery there is amazing - cliffs, beaches, hills. Can you imagine how fun it would be to run a little bit of these trails?) Sure enough, she says OK, takes off and comes back 30 minutes later with reservations. Oh Sh*t.


Here's the thing. Way back in May, after I completed the Ohlone 50k, I was thinking about running this race. Again, I just couldn't imagine how cool it would be to run around the park area. So now that I'm here, not in the best long-distance shape, I'm a bit concerned. It all comes down to one thing - if my knee holds up, this won't be a problem (relatively speaking of course - it's still 31 miles!) There is a possible compromise here that I'm thinking might be better suited for me right now and that is the 25k race (8k & 12k races also available for that event. The 50k is basically doing the 25k loops twice). I'll make a decision in the next couple of weeks. Either way, I'm going to enjoy the run and have fun doing two trails that I don't want to miss. I may have to tie a log to my knee to finish, but it's gonna be a great experience. More on this to come...

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