Sylamore

The Sylamore 50K came and went in its usual place on the mid-February calendar. It was a great day. Wonderful trail brothers & sisters, and many more who came from across state lines to experience the paradise where I get to live.







Coming off of the New Orleans marathon just 6 days earlier, I didn't expect too much. I took the "slow and steady" approach through the first half, stopping first at the Blanchard Springs campground, then at Gunner Pool, and finally at the Barkshed campground that served as the turnaround point. Such a great area, I love the winding highways to get there through towns that time forgot, and the US Forest Service signs that let you know that you are about to be at home in the woods, in a place that you have come to know as intimately as only someone covering the distance on foot can.



I was hoping to get into the turnaround feeling fresh and ready to pick it up, and I pretty much did. The Sylamore trail has such great diversity that you can often run with an element of play, opening up on the flats and crashing the downhills. My legs seemed willing until about 3 miles to go, which, conveniently, is where the most technical part of the course is. Large, wet rocks seem that much larger and wetter at miles 29-30.




I finished in 5:39, pulling off a negative split by a minute or so, although that calculation is only as scientific as me glancing at my watch and trying to remember what time I left the turnaround. Much better than last time. A good day with great trail and even better trail people.

Here is another author's synopsis of the race, and some video as well:

http://endurancebuzz.com/2011/02/24/sylamore-trail-run-2011-results/#more-19181

NOLA

Marathon of the month: Rock & Roll New Orleans. I hadn't given it much premeditative thought... but a friend did a good job of marketing a warm gulf-side event during what has turned out to be an epic winter wallop. This was my slowest roadie yet. I hadn't had an over 4-hour road marathon to my name, but I'm ok with it. I hadn't trained at all and am getting low on Prednisone. I can feel the soreness and fatigue creeping in, but no flare yet. So in the meantime, NOLA!


(compare this with 2 feet of snow at home)



Here I am posing with Scott Jurek. He was gracious to the long line of distance running geeks who waited to pose with him at the expo, myself included. I gave him a few race day tips, I hope he did alright.



Here is another gem from the day:

Ready or not...

Here we go! Spring 2011 semester is on. I will be using my newfound terminal degree to teach a class as an adjunct, so I've got my weeks planned out from here until May.

The picture is from the Athens-Big Fork Trail run the first weekend in January. It's a very hilly and challenging 26-mile course that follows an old postal trail out-and-back over 8 Ouachita Mountain ridges. It took me 3 attempts at this thing to actually have fun. The last time I tried it was 2 years ago, when I was getting sick but didn't know what was wrong yet. I hauled my miserable body up and down those mountains for almost 8 hours. This time it only took me a little over 6. (insert smiley face here)...

I have a few decisions to make about which runs I'm doing this year. I had a heavy road marathon year in 2010, and lived by a weekly cycle of long runs, tempo runs, and speedwork. While it was fun in some ways, I'm kind of ready to slow it down and crawl back into the woods for some trail running.

Off to a good start!

Pass the chap-stick...

Stupid disease. When the drugs are high enough I can often forget that I have some serious issues. However, I'm entering that phase in Prednisone taper (again) when little syptoms are starting to peek through. All of a sudden, everything is so dry I can't stand it. Eyes, skin around eyelids, inside of nose, inside of mouth, lips, fingertips. Flaky rash firing up around my eyelids. Muscle pain/cramps starting to be more frequent. They seem to be worse in the week or 2 immediately after I drop a milligram. Nothing that's terrible or that I can't live with, just annoying autoimmune overlap symptoms. The worst part is knowing that they are indicative of a larger problem that is closing in. This is my second time through the cycle. Part of me just wants to go ahead and just let the flare happen so that I can go up on drugs again, instead of having an uncomfortable 3 or 4 month gradual slide. But that wouldn't solve any problems, the whole point is to try and come off of Prednisone. Does any of this sound familiar? Anybody else on this roller coaster?

October

Or really, almost November. Fall flies, doesn't it? Too bad, because it's a great season. I'm a Libra, of course I love these months.


Let's see... I left you before the Midnight 50K in July. That one wasn't pretty. The only conclusion that I've come to is that the more I try to hone my hydration and energy processes, the harder I seem to crash. The Midnight 50 ended in some vomiting, alot of walking, me feeling stupid, etc. Oh, well... it's not July anymore, other things have come and gone.


Namely...



I did the Twin Cities marathon in October. It didn't disappoint. The last couple of months have been hectic (starting the school year both as a staff member and as a student), as well as fall fun-stuff (football games, kickball league...). So I treated myself and didn't train. I mean, I worked enough to keep my fitness base and make sure I could cover the distance. But I wasn't making myself miserable over the course of 3 months for a mere 10 or 15 minutes on a finisher's certificate. And the perfect excuse to not care where you finish... costume, of course!


You may recognize the Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture from the Walker Art Institute in Minneapolis. This was actually an ideal running costume, as the spoon was polyester and very light, and the bulk was on top, leaving my body fairly unhindered. Ringing in my ears is a thick Minnesota accent drawling, "ooooo, it's the spoooooon!" (heavy accent on the o's... you know how it sounds). I had quite a few of shouts of "Go, Art!" and "Yeah, Minneapolis!". I also had a couple of sperms, an ice cream cone, and an R2D2. The 3:53 finish was a little slow for me, but even worse for all those folks who got beat by the spoon!

(can you see the stem on top?)

I also did some international traveling and my best impression of a desperate doctoral student trying to finish a dissertation. A good fall, so far. The meds seem to be holding for now. I'm at 7mgs of Prednisone and dropping 1mg/month. Last time things got hairy around 3 or 4. We will see!

Midnight 50K, the remix

My second attempt at a 50K post-polymyositis comes this weekend. My first attempt at Sylamore in February did not go well. Leg muscles locked up with about 6 miles to go. After having to repeatedly lie down on the side of the trail and wait for them to loosen up, I had to walk it in. I'm not certain, but I think dehydration played a role. This time I'll try to be a little more diligent with it, and try not to be too ambitious in the earlier miles. Especially since the forecast high in the area has hit triple digits. I missed this run last year, and was sad. It's a perennial favorite of mine. Something about running in your flashlight tunnel with the locusts pounding in your ears... it's a bit transcendent at times. Then again at other times, it's just plain hot and nasty.

One consistency I've noticed when toeing the line for longer events is a blatant uncertainty regarding what the next several hours will hold. Once again, I can confidently say that I have no idea what will happen. Nirvana? Despair? PR? A ride in the sag wagon? Which is interesting, because I am a very play-it-safe kind of person in real life. I love how recreation gives us an opportunity to lead double lives. To enable risk-taking in appropriate arenas. Leisure scientists refer to this as sensation-seeking. I call it "what was I thinking?" Or "I hope I'm laughing about this someday."

Catch you on the flip side.

K

Summer love

I'm lying in bed one night this week. Waiting to fall asleep, but it's not coming as easily as usual. Here's why:

I have a gi-normous chigger bite on my ankle that all of my willpower can barely resist. I can pinpoint the day and trail on which I sustained it. Arkansas forests are full of them in the summer.

I can't roll over very comfortably because I have a large burn on my shoulder blade. I learned the hard way that a hydration pack causes burns when worn without adequate coverage on a 21 (or who knows?) miler. It's in an inconvenient location, and I have a hard time keeping the scab intact. I'm embarassed that I didn't know how to handle my gear better.

I can feel my pulse in my toe. I bruised a toenail during the course of a long run, and pulled it off prematurely, almost like a loose tooth. It's gooey and raw. I wonder if I'll be able to get a shoe on in the morning. I wonder if I should cover it or give it air. Injuries to digits are disporportionately painful to their small size.

And as I try without much success to get comfortable, it occurs to me:

I love this.