Scott loves trails

This race report has sure come in fits and starts! Work, illness, training...everything has gotten in the way of finishing, so not as fresh in my mind, all these weeks later. But the memories of the desert are still not far from the front of my mind, so here goes.... The 50K is a funny distance. Marathoners move up (many without much trail experience perhaps), while ultra folks move down. In my case, I had skipped over the 50K, when I moved up from the marathon a little over three years ago. Going to 50 milers, 40 milers, 100Ks, and even attempting 100 milers, before finally doing my first 50K a year ago. But then I did four last year, and this was now the second of the new year. They've always been "B races" in my mind--either on the way to some bigger goal race or coming back from layoffs or injury or both. With Calico (and to a lesser extent Phunt 2 weeks before), I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of actually "racing" a 50K. It requires a distinct ...

Well, I guess I should say the highlight was the Calico 50K, and my exciting PR there. And I really did enjoy the race. But, truth be told, the highlight of my five-day solo trip to the California desert was the hiking and trail running through Joshua Tree National Park. More than add-on sightseeing piggybacking on a race, I think I really had a race as pretext for the sightseeing this time! And I kind of like that feeling of soaking in the destination as much as the race in the whole “destination race” thing! What spectacular desert scenery throughout! And how interesting the differences from other desert environments I’ve been lucky enough to visit! So I think I’ll make this post into more of a “travelogue” (be forewarned), and so a separate post tomorrow on the race itself. The trip idea started when I sought out a race someplace scenic that coincided with my winter “break,” and Calico ended up fitting the bill nicely. I’d also heard good things about the race from friend Ke...

PHUNT was phunner than ever! Such a nice, low-key way to ring in the new year of running. Organizers Phil and Hunt outdid themselves this year with a larger “fat ass” event than ever, with close to 200 participants among the 20K, 42K, and 50K distances. Still as well-organized as ever, and one of the nice new touches was a charity foodbank drive where they asked each of donate a can of food for every 10 miles we planned to run. It proved to be a beautiful sunny if chilly and windy day for a run through the rolling countryside of Fairhill Natural Management Area, just west of Newark, DE and south of PA in Elkton, MD. Across fields, down dirt roads, along forested single track, up and down many a hill, across many a stream, and amongst quite a few frolicking deer. A Fearsome Foursome We had a nice little group in my car, with Judith, Stephanie (Case), and Garth. It was also great to see Mason and Brennen just before the start, keeping warm by a fire as they were dressed minimally an...

Damn! I just typed this out and was saving when the wireless connection on this laptop went down. Let’s see if I reconstruct them. I know these are a few days late, but hey, they still count! They’ve been brewing in my mind for a while but I’m finally getting them “on paper.” Here are some New Year’s resolutions: * Be the best runner I can be, within the constraints of schedule, time, family, age, etc. * Become a more solid 100-miler and an improved overall ultrarunner * Learn the basics of mountaineering, and start carefully exploring what I’m capable of with ample help from instructors, training resources, guides, etc.. Safety is first! *Train and race smart and healthy. Know when to back off, and take time off. Keep up the yoga, weights, swimming, and (to extent possible) biking. Let that stuff come before “junk miles” for mileage sake. *Explore the synergies between mountain ultrarunning and mountaineering. *Let adoption and fatherhood take their rightful central place in li...

The year 2008 treated me well on the running front--so sorry to see it go! After the injury travails of 2007, I felt fortunate to stay healthy. That was my single biggest accomplishment of the year, in fact. Not a single visit to the physical therapists--after spending more time in than out of PT in '07 (nothing personal, my dear friend PTs, but I prefer to see you on social occasions only!). Why? I guess I was "due" a good year. Thanks, running gods! But also I think I played it pretty smart in terms of cross-training, off or low periods after major races, and just building up a certain base of time on my feet that carried me through the year. Packed in the quality mega-long runs getting ready for those 100s, for sure. But didn't just pack in miles for miles sake, and even backed off the back to backers I used to swear by. Got back into the yoga later in the year, too, and definitely want to keep that up. Maybe more *is* actually more, when it comes to ultra...

Altitudes above 15,000, you say? Ok, that’s higher than Rainer or the famous 14-ers of Colorado, but we’ll just rest a little more and go a little slower, right? But agonizingly steep scree slopes of volcanic sand and rocks requiring hand over fist scrambles and perilous “butt slide” descents? The mountaineers going around us to and from the peak, with their helmets and ice axes and poles, must have found us “sky runners” quite an amusing sight! Yes, the Sky Marathon Iztaccíhuatl proved to be much more of a challenge than I and newfound Mexico City friends Wendy and Alex (courtesy of the Ultra list) had bargained for? Six hours (plus about 25 minutes in my case) to cover 21.6K (about 13.8 miles by my Garmin)? You MUST be kidding! I can’t remember Wendy’s exact words after the race, but it was something to the effect of, “What did you get us into?” Yes, it was *I* who had convinced them, the locals, to come along to the race when we met up on-line on the Ultra List as I posted a q...

As posted to the Yahoo user group I moderate on Sunday 11/30: Hey everyone, what's shaking on the trails?Not sure if anybody else was up in the driving light rain in VanCortlandt this morning. It wasn't exactly a good setting forsocializing, or identifying team singlets or whatever, as it wasdefinitely a day for hats and layers! I saw one Flyer I recognized, butno one from the forum. But it WAS a great day for a race with theadded challenge of competing against the elements!Anyway, I wavered till this morning as no one had taken up my call tocome join me, but saw it hadn't started raining yet at like 8 anddidn't look to be a deluge when the rains came according to WeatherChannel (race didn't start till 11:30). I'm really glad I did! A smallcrowd (by Road Runner standards) of maybe 150 or so braved the rain andwind (not nearly as bad as the Nor'easter we encountered up there forthe UEC in '06, which you'll remember Chris, but not too terribly faroff e...