arc of time

not too long ago i posted about hitting a new plateau in my running; the fifty mile week.

this week saw me eclipse it by 11 miles, conquering, for the first time every a 60 mile week (61 to be exact.) the week started out brilliantly with my trail and ultrarunning mentor (as well a team in training georgia’s marketing guru) javi d taking me monday morning to do my first ever run at kennesaw mountain. this run started out being described to me as “around 20″ and then “22″ and then “maybe 23 or 24″ by the time i had picked javi up in stone mountain early monday morning for our run.

it ended up being just under 24 miles – 23.7 – and was a beautiful run. kmnbp is a much easier place to trail run than either sope creek at the ‘hooch or sweetwater state park (my two usual stomping grounds) but 24 miles is 24 miles, regardless. it occurred to me during this run that i the only other times i had run that far were in my 6 road marathons, meaning this run was no small accomplishment, particularly unsupported on a monday morning. i’ll admit i was tired at the end, but i ran the whole way and finished strong.

i followed this up with a midweek nine miles out at sope creek, just and easy-peasy run up a few of the hills and back. the thing that surprised me here was how quick i had recovered from the 24 miler. with only a day off, i was cruising up and down the trails at the creek with almost no difficulty.

this weekend then saw me decide to go for another double-digit couplet. another very easy 12 miler on friday at sope creek (i actually would have legged this one out even longer but i had to meet my sister for lunch) followed by 16 at sweetwater on saturday.

i wasn’t sure when i got to sweetwater whether i would push for the 15 total miles i needed to get to the 60 mile week, but withing 20 minutes i was feeling great, the weather was great and i decided what the heck, i’m totally doing it. i did three full blue trail/white trail loops (map here) – the first and last in a blue to white direction and the middle in a white to blue direction – which meant two trips up the dreaded jack’s hill, both of which i accomplished with elan. i finished up the 16 with a blue to red trail 1.5 mile mill loop.

so there it is. 60 miles in a week, including a 24 and a 16. and honestly, sitting here typing this and starting at a couple of days of recovery, i don’t even feel that tired. i could probable go put in a few hours today (i’m not going to, but i could.) it’s amazing a) how far i have come and b) how much the body is capable of when we stretch it to it’s limit. i used to wonder how people ran 100 miles. i don’t any more. i totally get it. and between you and me, i think i might be able to be among their number some day.

either way, the stump/jump 50k is the next challenge – to be an official ultrarunner – and boy do i feel ready.

Tags: atlanta, kennesaw, mileage, running, sope creek, stump/jump 50k, sweetwater, trail running

i’m sitting in a hotel room in san diego and there are about 10 hours to go before the curtain comes up on marathon number six. i’m listening to where the streets have no names, which is, and always will be my marathon song.

i’ve been thinking about the other five. vegas, 2006. georgia, 2007. vermont, 2007. georgia, 2009. marine corps, 2009. each one has its own story, each had its own reason for calling me to the starting line. every training season was different, some more challenging than others, but at the heart of every one is love. love for my sport, love for the people i trained with, love for the ground and love for myself.

this year is the first time i have ever really understood that thought. and i think that is what makes tomorrow so exciting. i could set a personal record tomorrow. i’m well trained, the course is fast and the weather is going to be perfect. i probably weigh 20 pounds less than i have for any other marathon.

then again i may not.

and it doesn’t really matter.

because tomorrow i run for the love of it. and when you do that, the run is all that matters.

i can’t wait.

Tags: 2010 san diego marathon, marathon, marathon training, running, team in training

6 days away from marathon number 6. i ran around 7 miles yesterday; the last long run of the season. the next run longer than just a few miles will be 26.2 in san diego.

the truth is i am primed. i am in better shape than i ever have been for in my life, and QED for any of my other marathons. i weigh less, have run longer and harder and am stronger than i have ever been.

this should be a really good race. i don’t know, nor really care how fast i am going to run it. my best time, achieved at the 2009 ing georgia marathon, is just over four hours and 41 minutes. do i think i can beat that? probably. it’s not really my goal though.

deep down inside, my goal is really to finish a lot stronger. i have always struggled in the final miles. i know they are tough no matter what, but i think i can do better. and that is my real goal. running strong through the tape.

we’ll see if it happens.

i am sure primed for it though.

Tags: 2010 san diego marathon, marathon, running, team in training

i think we all have a thing. it’s the thing that we love to do more than anything else. it’s the thing we dream of, it’s the thing that the thought of gets our blood pumping and our heart racing.

i think some people are fortunate to discover it early AND to be really, really good at their thing. most professional athletes fall into this category as do most people who are able to make a living in the arts. the rest of us, well, maybe we find it and we do it but we aren’t really good at it. or maybe we don’t find it for years and years.

maybe we find it and we don’t even know it.

i didn’t come across my thing until i was just shy of my 31st birthday. and even then it took me years to understand that it really was my thing. i don’t think i knew it consciously even until earlier this year.

my thing is distance running.

there is just no doubt about it. over the years i have been doing it, distance running has become something that has a deep-rooted place in my soul. when i haven’t been able to because of injury i have felt like some part of me was missing and lost. but when i am out there; particularly on a long and difficult run i feel like something inside of me is awake that is central to who i am.

i think trail running and contemplating really pushing the envelope; 50k, maybe 40 or 50 miles; is what clued me in to the fact that this is what i love to do, my passion.

either way; i’m hooked and the train is way out of the station. in the back of my mind there are things i am thinking about trying that are pretty insane; i don’t want to voice them here and jinx them, but all you would have to do is look through the history section of my browser to know i am thinking about some crazy stuff.

and i love it.

wouldn’t stop for the world.

it’s a bit of a pinnacle. something i have never accomplished before in my life and hopefully it won’t be the last time it ever happens. the 50 mile week.

40 is the most i have ever done before. usually as the ultimate week in a marathon training program. 5,10.5 during the week and then a 20 on the weekend.

this week i shot through it by 10 miles. the week broke down as 7,12,7 then 20 and 5 on the trails on the weekend. it was a great week of running too. it was shot through with memories, camaraderie, solo time to reflect, fighting and beating that old devil humidity and just celebrating being alive and being able to carry myself that far just on my feet alone.

the first run was just a normal old ho-hum seven mile jog around candler park and little 5 and cabbagetown. the amazing beauty of that sentence is that today i can describe a seven mile run on a tuesday as ho-hum. but it is.

the next two runs were a 12 miler and a 7 miler in las vegas. i love running in vegas. it always brings me back to that first marathon. the long run was two boxes on the strip, noting too exciting. the shorter one was a run from the convention center downtown, recreating those first magical miles of my first marathon. the cool desert air was perfect for morning runs.

saturday was the big 20 miler for team in training for the san diego marathon team. it was a brutal day for it too. temps in the 80s, humidity in the 90% range and the backbreaking “reverse church” course as we call it. this course is hill after hill after hill, from the first big climb alongside chastain park, to the last big on at mile 17-18 coming up rivers road, west wesley and peachthree. it was an easy run for me though. some people were struggling so i spent some time running slow and walking with them to get them as far as we could. when i left them at 17 miles and turned it on, i passed a lot of people on my way to 20. it was one of the best 20s i’ve had and definitely the easiest recovery.

yesterday, i hit sope creek to round out the week. with 45 miles already on my legs, i decided to push myself even harder to get to 50. it was a tough run. hot and if possible more humid than saturday. the woods felt like they were EXPLODING with moisture. within 2 miles my shirt was as drenched as if i had jumped in the pool.

i picked a hard course for sore legs too. i climbed the big ridge on the old powerline cut trail system. it’s a grueling hill that starts very steep, levels off only a bit and almost never stops going up. i ran along the powerline cut and then back up the ridge on the other side before tearing down the very steep descent back to a little swap and then out onto the gravel trail. i then climbed up the first “main street” hill; one of sope creeks more gradual climbs but a very long one, before tearing back down the alternate hill. lots of climbing.

when i was done, i smiled. 50 miles in one week. almost inconceivable, but i did it.

i guess i need to taper now. san diego is coming up fast, only three weeks away, and this was the final big week. it’s going to be hard though. i have developed an appetite now for mileage. i’ll do it though, because i think i may be primed for a really good run in san diego.

and then back to 50 mile weeks. can’t wait to do my first trail 20.

Tags: running, san diego marathon, trail running

one of the aspects of running with team in training that i love the most is getting to see people accomplish things for the first time. after five marathons and thousands of miles logged at every distance up to 26.2, this partly helps keep the experience fresh for me.

yesterday our usual group training session was cancelled due to some pretty vicious t’storms that moved into atlanta early saturday morning. well the training must go on either way, so around 0900 i met up with two of the girls i am mentoring for the san diego rock ‘n roll marathon and we did our 14 together (i ended up doing about 15.)

one of the girls mapped the course and it ended up being pretty aggressive with a lot of uphills, some steep and short, some long and gradual, some long and steep ala briarcliff north of north decatur. it was a great run, and much like my 14 miler i did last weekend in goodlettesville, tn, i felt like i was gliding over most of it.

but the thing that made it special was sticking with them through the 14 miles. we reached a point in the run – 12 miles for one of them and 13.1 miles for the other – where we were beyond anything they had ever run before. and that was pretty special.

i love seeing the excitement on someone’s face when they go for a long distance like that and achieve it. it’s pretty amazing and one of the reasons i keep doing tnt.

p.s. – i still need $$ for the san diego marathon so if you are so inclined to support me, you can jump over here and make a donation to the leukemia society

Tags: 2010 san diego marathon, marathon training, running, team in training

i have decided to try to incorporate barefoot running into my training regime full-time now. at the moment this consist of a short barefoot run on one of my recovery days, usually monday. i have been at it for three weeks now and have worked my barefoot mileage up to just a little more than 2 miles.

yesterday i ran down to the track at maynard jackson high school and then did two miles. 4 total laps on the asphalt track, 4 total laps on the grass infield. i definitely feel a difference in my stride and in the way i feel afterwards doing the barefoot running.

my feet, of course, are still not caught up to this idea so for now the bad asphalt at the high school track is like a meet grinder on my poor soles. not to worry though, i suspect this is the proper way to build up the callouses necessary to sustain running barefoot over tough surfaces for any period of time.

we’ll see, but for now it’s staying in the regime.

Tags: barefoot running, running

so i am surprised it took this long after reading christopher mcdougall’s brilliant book born to run that i finally tried it, but this week saw my first attempt at barefoot running. it wasn’t much, i just left the house with nothing on my feet save the skin that god gave me and ran the .1 miles to the track at maynard jackson high school. i did a mile around the track and then headed back to the house.

it’s an interesting feeling to say the least. it takes some getting acclimated to having rocks and jagged asphalt digging into your soles for sure. the track at maynard jackson is not new and is, shall we say, a little bit rough. i will also say that i found myself using muscles in my feet that i had never used before.

but i sure liked it. similar to trail running there is just a greater connection with the ground stripping away an artificial creation; in this case the shoes, in the case of trail running, the road. one thing i have come to believe is that the more primal i make running – the less about exercise it is and the more about doing something embedded deep in our genes and our collective history it is – the more enjoyable and easy it is. things like shoeless running and running through woods on trails do that; take running back to it’s primal essence.

the next day, however, i was about as sore as you can imagine. i didn’t know a 1 mile run could generate that kind of soreness. i was told to expect it by vibram five finger runner extrordinaire allison burbage and boy was she right. using muscle protected by shoes for years is certainly a recipe for feeling a little sore the next day.

i think i will keep doing it though. my plan at the moment is to work one ever-increasing track barefoot workout in a week and just were it goes.

speaking of trail running, yesterday i was doing water stop duty for team in training so i didn’t have a chance to run in our group training session. manning water stops for the group run is one of the responsibilities us mentors have in return for our fundraising credits. i love it, it’s a great opportunity to see all the amazing people running to save lives, not just on my team but on all the teams training. yesterday i was stationed at the first and last water stop on an out and back, so i got to watch people who are getting ready for the country music marathon in a few weeks in nashville run twenty miles for the first time. which, i have to say, was pretty neat.

i digress though, since i started that last paragraph with “speaking of trail running.” anyway, since i was going to run on my own i was pretty much free to pick whatever i wanted to try. i have been meaning to get out to sweetwater state park for sometime and try the trails there, but it just hadn’t happened yet. so i packed up and headed west on i-20 to run. it was going to be my second trail run in as many days too, since javi d (how cool to run with a real life ultrarunner!) and sally l and me had met over at sope creek early friday morning for a sun-up run.

so i got to sweetwater and ran smack dab into the end of the sweet h20 50k trail race. whoops. i avoided them for most of the run, but toward the end i ended up on the end of their route. it was kind of cool, even though i had to explain to the people at aid stations i wasn’t with them. they were kind enough to give me water anyway since it was damn humid out.

wow.

all i can say after seeing that was, “c’mon october and get here.” i am so ready to do this stump jump 50k. i am also totally putting the sweet h20 50k on my calendar for 2011.

sweetwater was a good place to run too. MUCH different from sope creek or the georgia international horse park and good for a different type of training.

’till next time, i’ll keep remembering i was born to run and act accordingly.

Tags: 2010 stump jump 50k, 50k, barefoot running, born to run, running, sweet h20 50k, sweetwater state park, trail running

it’s about time for a training update for the san diego marathon. honestly, i can’t even call it training yet. someone asked me yesterday how the training was going and my basic answer was, ‘it’s fine. doesn’t feel like traning yet. talk to me when we get above 12.”

our group training session was 7 miles last weekend, and 8 this. and that’s just how it is going this year. runs that long don’t even feel like runs. something has clicked in my mind now and even runs almost two hours long just don’t seem to be much of an issue anymore.

this is great and i am loving every minute of it, but it does take some of the shine off of our weekly training runs. it makes them seem almost not worth posting about. what IS worth posting about is my team. so many great people are on our summer team raising money for the leukemia and lymphoma society. any while these distances don’t rile me up anymore, there are so many people on our team for whom this is the longest they have ever run.

it usually happens around 6 miles. people who have run up to a 10k start passing their personal bests for distance. and i love that. i love running alongside people who are experiencing the joy of mileage for the first time. it’s one of the things i absolutely love about doing team in training.

i am going to try to keep up the posting though. i am having a blast this season and i want to keep writing about it. just need to keep on keepin’ on.

speaking of which, i would love a donation if you feel so inclined. you can always do that right here at my tnt fundraising page.

Tags: 2010 san diego marathon, marathon, marathon training, team in training

my mom likes to say that everything i say i will NEVER do, i almost always eventually do.

one thing i said i would never have any desire to do was run an ultramarathon. i was pretty adamant about this too. the time constraints, the mind-blowing proportions of running more than 26.2 miles, it all just seemed like something that would never appeal to me.

well…..

you know where this story is going, right? mom’s theory once again holds true. this weekend i registered for the stump jump 50k trail race (that’s 31 miles!!!) in chattanooga on october 2. i think i am crazy, but i’m committed. i paid the fee and i am going to try to do it.

i blame two people for this. first, christopher mcdougall. i read his incredible book born to run about the tarahumara tribe and ultrarunning and i thought i really like the sound of this. i really want to do this.

the second person i blame is javi d, marketing manager for team in training in georgia and himself an ultrarunner (on twitter at @areyouin.) after i cooked up this hair-brained idea, i ran it by javi and instead of discouraging me, he basically through gasoline on the fire, convincing me it would be no trouble at all.

so here i am, registered for a 50k.

this weekend, after our gts for the san diego marathon, i went into the big peach and bought a pair of brooks cascadia 5s for the dirt.

my third enabler then suggested that the best thing we could do was absolutely go break them in. so lisa and i headed to the sope creek trails at the chattahooche and ran for a full hour, logging almost six miles in the glorious mud.

and i loved it. loved it. there is something so fun about running through the woods. it’s primal maybe, although that word is overused. perhaps what i mean is running on dirt is connected to the earth in a primitive way that a road never will be.

and it’s childish. it brought back memories and visions of running through the woods behind my house in oakton, va as a kid, getting muddy and not caring a bit.

so i am in. bring on the trails, bring on the 50k. after that who knows.

as my mom would say, i really ought to never say never.

Tags: 2010 stump jump 50k, running, trail running, ultrarunning