tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53328224858770320072024-03-17T07:11:03.910-04:00Tales and TrailsNeal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-8526511352514832422013-10-04T19:47:00.000-04:002013-10-04T19:47:25.139-04:00Good luck, bad luck, switching things upRunning wise 2013 has been a strange year. At first, early in the year, I felt all the luck in the world was on my side with an incredible line up of summer racing to train for- Western, Hardrock, UTMB. Then I got sick- blah, blah, blah- and *boom* all of a sudden I was 0-3 on list of planned 100 mile races. Fast forward to now and Grindstone was my plan. I'm fired up and ready to run and *pow* Grindstone is postponed, thanks to the Government shutdown. If our elected officials somehow manage to come together and re-open Government by next Wednesday evening we will still have a Grindstone event next weekend. (Fingers crossed!) Otherwise, it's bye-bye Grindstone for 2013, and I'll be 0-4. Fast forward to November and as it turns out Pinhoti is a no-go for me this year unfortunately. 0-5.<br />
<br />
What luck... Come this time next month I won't even have a qualifier under my belt for the Western States lottery. What to do... What to do...<br />
<br />
If Grindstone doesn't happen next weekend there is always <a href="http://www.vhtrc.org/events/twot100.htm" target="_blank">Hot TWOT</a>. One loop, two loops, three loops, four. Pick your poison. 27 miles, 54, 81 or 108. For me, it would be either all or next to nothing. So, either one really fast loop or four not-so-fast loops. The silver lining on the year is that Gaby and I are both registered for The North Face 50 in San Francisco in December so getting the legs turning over this fall is a must. The opportunity to run Grindstone next weekend would still trump everything, of course. In lieu of that, should it be four TWOT loops or only one? One loop is an easy recovery, then it would be off to the road and track to find some speed. Four loops might help solidify my name in the annals of [crazy] Virginia ultra running lore, but it would definitely require a bit of recovery, taking much needed time away from speed work. What to do... What to do...Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-25156159214287767172013-09-07T19:26:00.000-04:002013-09-07T21:25:34.178-04:00Tying up loose ends<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When returning to running a few months back my two primary
goals were to run care and worry free as much as possible- free from life, from
work, from CMV- and get my ass back in 100 mile condition as quickly and as
smartly as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus far I have succeeded
in reaching these goals I’m proud to say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Each day I feel stronger and lighter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Each day my legs feel ready to run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
Each day I run free and without worry. </span>Better still, each day the weather is turning cooler now that we’re into
September and the final days are counting down to what seems like my first race
in pretty much a year where I will show up with enthusiasm and a high
confidence level in both my physical and mental fitness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grindstone is less than four weeks away.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are a few loose ends still I intend to tighten up prior
to Grindstone, in terms of my training.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A long night run being one of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some really fast, long, downhill running being another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One loose end that has been on my mind for a
while has been clocking a decent time at running The Wild Oak Trail (TWOT) in
western Virginia in Augusta County, near the West Virginia border.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>TWOT, a rocky, technical, rugged, partially over-grown-in-the-summer
27 mile, 7,500 ft-ish loop located west of Charlottesville, on the other side
of the Shenandoah Valley, a 70 minute drive from home.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">TWOT is one of the local trails made famous for running by Dennis
Herr and the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club (VHTRC) and the many events and
training runs that the Club hosts on the trail and in the general area
throughout the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>TWOT also happens
to take up a portion of the Grindstone course, including the notorious climb up
Little Bald at mile 37, as well as the quad-trashing decent down Little Bald at
mile 59.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This past week was my birthday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On September 5<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> I turned 37 years
old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a present to myself and to
celebrate the occasion I awoke at 0’dark-thrity and drove to the TWOT
trailhead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The plan was to run the loop
hard, surrender myself to the dirt, the rocks, the climbs, the overgrowth, run
with no cares and let the mountains tell me if I were in shape or not and ready
for Grindstone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ended up running the
loop in an elapsed time of 4:21:19.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For those who know the trail and who might care here is a <a href="http://connect.garmin.com/activity/371038430#.UijJI1KqmE8.email" target="_blank">link to my GPS data</a> and below are my splits:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">-1:13:17 – from the TWOT parking lot trailhead sign, counterclockwise
on TWOT, up Little Bald to the summit sign post at the trail intersection.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">-23:28 - the road crossing at Camp Todd on other side of the
North River.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I waded the river, by the
way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No bridge crossing for me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">-1:00:20 - FDR96 road crossing after Big Bald descent and
before Hankey Mountain ascent.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">-23:18 – Hankey summit sign at the trail intersection.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">-1:20:45 - Finish at TWOT parking lot trailhead board.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The climb up Little
Bald is a classic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>6.7 miles of
rock-strewn, single track ribbon coursing a ridgeline 3,200 feet up (with 550 feet
down) to the summit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not that the
climb is so big, it’s just that on the ascent one is rewarded with endless mountain
views of one of the largest wilderness tracts on the east coast sans
roads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basically, it’s a good place to
run in the wild with big climbs if that’s your thing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">1:13 to the summit sign from the parking lot trailhead board
is strong not but it’s not great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Great
would be sub 1:10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I’ve never known
anyone to run under 1:10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then again, I
don’t know of anyone who has run under 1:13 either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though I’m sure some have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sub 1:05 would be sick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sub 1:00 is never going to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not because it isn’t humanly possibly but
because anyone who I think could actually do it has no reason to come and give
it a go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re too busy getting paid
for their running.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The summit of Big Bald was overgrown as I expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t get too beat up fortunately even
though I ran shirtless but my left eye did get
poked by a branch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While attempting to
bomb the descent my eye teared up like crazy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I could barely see out of it as I constantly whipped away a river of
tears.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I ran with one bottle and filled up first at the stream at
the base of Big Bald after crossing North River and the dirt road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second and only other time I filled up
was on the backside of Big Bald at the stream located by the trail next to the
two car-sized earth water traps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the
second fill up I guzzled nearly two bottles since I had 11 miles to
go several of which would be exposed under a warm sun atop Hankey Mountain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last few miles of trail after turning off
the jeep road on Hankey Mountain were make or break for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I kept my foot on the gas while
descending the last section of rocks mixed in with trail before crossing the North River for
the second and final time, this time on a suspension bridge. Along this section I hammered so hard my vision went a bit blurry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> The 4:22 FKT cut off time was just oh so tight. </span>As I
crossed the bridge I looked at my watch and it read 4:17:xx. Damn it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> I was terrified that I wouldn’t make
it under 4:22- Dave Frazier’s TWOT FKT from two years back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’d run hard and was disappointed (to say the least...) that my effort might not be good enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, I continued running hard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Believing</span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I banged the final right-hand turn off the trail and pounded the 200 hundred yards of pavement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
when I realized I would actually finish under 4:22 after all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sprinted into the parking lot, tapped the
trailhead sign board and stopped my watch.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As mentioned, Dave Frazier’s TWOT FKT
was 4:22:xx. Mike Morton’s previous FKT from several years prior to that was
4:23:xx.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both very fast times
indeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Funny thing, Dave would lower
Mike’s time by a minute, then I would come along and lower Dave's time by only a
minute as well.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I admit, I envied Dave’s time ever since I learned of it and
thought that I might like to get to know TWOT.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps Dave felt the same way of Mike’s previous time which must be
the reason why he decided to run a fast loop in the first place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Well, that plus Dennis Herr pushing him. </span>Perhaps Dave or someone else will be inspired
by my recent run and work to lower the TWOT standard all over again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, to Dave or anyone who might consider it I
envy you as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is exciting to have energizing running goals to work towards. However big or small they can be life changing.</span></div>
Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-4321321293062000122013-08-26T15:47:00.000-04:002013-08-26T15:47:24.921-04:00NY Times article: Doping in Track & FieldIn case you missed it:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/23/sports/research-finds-wide-doping-study-withheld.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&emc=eta1">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/23/sports/research-finds-wide-doping-study-withheld.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&emc=eta1</a><br />
<br />
Alarming article. The percentage of suspected elite Track and Field dopers is staggering.<br />
<br />
I am sad to say it is likely only a matter of time before we read articles like this about trail/ultra running. Seems no sport is immune to the pressure of getting ahead (or keeping up) by the use of PEDs.<br />
<br />
Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-4530693545672761602013-08-25T13:15:00.002-04:002013-08-25T13:38:11.592-04:00Back in action<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s been a while since I’ve posted to this blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve missed communicating little bits and
pieces of running adventures, thoughts and news with readers. Now
that I’ve been running consistently again for a while and feeling like my old
self it’s time to bang on the keyboard and open my mind to this blog once
more.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Regarding my objectionable experience with CMV, for which I
take full responsibility in bringing down upon myself by not getting enough rest, I would like to say how
awful, awkward and confusing it was being a victim of this virus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mysterious, inconsistent symptoms
including fatigue, brain fog, apathy, anxiety, fluctuations in motivation, etc.,
shook my confidence and made me wonder if I might ever again return to a high
level of fitness or even if I wanted to put in the work once I was healthy to
get back to such a level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was as if
the loss of motivation somehow converted to apathy and the apathy made me
question future desire. Mostly I
attempted to tune the whole thing out and instead focus on my family, work and sleeping
more each night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though deep down I
was anxious to get back into the swing of things running wise. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A CMV diagnosis can only be confirmed with blood results.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once diagnosed complete rest is the only
prescription for healthy adults. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cross
training or much physical activity of any sort is a definite no-no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor with having CMV are there any follow-the-pain
guidelines back to health once the symptoms begin to dissipate. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Follow up blood work is the only way for one
to know if they are cleared from the virus manifestation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fortunately in my case I decided to seek a diagnosis in the
first place, to find out what on earth was going on with me (before I ever knew
that CMV existed) and not train through the symptoms so I could toe the line at
Western States, Hardrock and UTMB. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who knows how deep that rabbit hole would have
lead had I continued training?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I didn’t
eventually begin to suffer from additional symptoms or cause potential harm to
myself then certainly in the very least my head game for competition and
possibly running in general might have all but vanished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would like to think not but I suppose it
could have happened.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was a happy day in late May when I found out from Dr.
Wilder in Charlottesville that my liver functions and white blood cell count were
back to normal (a sign of a healthy immune system) and I had no more signs of
CMV infection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In June I began running
but more or less sputtered along slowly and inconsistently and at times worried
that I might be relapsing with CMV, which turned out to be
nothing more than an anxiety hangover about getting back to running in the
first place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Towards the end of June I tripped
on a road run and banged my knee; causing a (self-diagnosed) contusion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pain was a bit too much to run on so I
took even more time off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the end I
decided the additional time off was probably a good thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The big three races were out anyway at
that point and figured I may as return to running when I felt good and I knew
my health was 100%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So instead of focusing
on running I spent several weeks gardening and planting trees in our yard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was good cross training anyway and the results
(I hope) will satisfy my family and neighbors for years to come.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It wasn’t until the second week of July when I truly felt
ready to come back and began running every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Day by day my runs grew longer and my body began to feel stronger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since then I’ve been feeling like my old
self: motivated, energetic, optimistic, hungry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two-a-days a few times per week became my
staple, including a few barefoot runs per week on the track under a vanishing sun in the
warm evening hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I began nailing a
few fast-paced workouts as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Eventually I found my down hills legs during a few VHTRC fast ass runs
in the mountains in Virginia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now,
now that we’re in Vail, Colorado enjoying the remaining blissful, cool-temperature,
sunshine-filled weeks of summer high in the Rockies, I’m finding my climbing
legs (and lungs).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Things are coming
together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t be happier.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As bizarre as it was coming down with CMV and dealing with
all of that it is just as interesting coming back into fitness and relocating
and recalibrating my identity as a runner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As I regain form and confidence I try not to compare my current self to
how I was, in terms of fitness, last year or years prior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first half of last year I was in good
form- probably the best ever for me in general terms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Currently, I’m still getting there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not fair or wise to expect that fitness
will simply come back quickly now that I’m healthy. I realize even with a good
base, the years of miles my legs have under them, I still must put in the work. Fortunately, training and working is something I enjoy; for being able to work is a privilege.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The fact is I’m not the same runner as last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not a slower or weaker or more cautious
runner. I’d like to think I’m a smarter, more proud runner, and I believe my best running days have yet to come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bouncing back from CMV
feeling motivated, hungry and as strong and light as I do has taught me many
things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So has being a Dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My little boy, Trail, turns one year old in a
few weeks and in addition to my renewed status as a happy-go-lucky, carefree
runner I’m a proud papa.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My racing calendar for the remainder of 2013 will basically
be a replay of last fall and include running Grindstone and Pinhoti.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would like to run Hellgate as well in
December.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, it stinks to have missed
out on Western and UTMB but deep down low-key, mom-and-pop races like
these, where I know people who I look up to, are truly what inspire me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hopefully in November at Pinhoti I’ll punch another
ticket back to Western in 2014. That's the plan.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLij_caDo5PYhaNnhb3r3031hjdlnz3qp-lDSMu-HbUWKg5k-k2wHRXMvn5NKb8ZQPlFYU3BBM966-43kMMTAGz7Opq8VzBYM0peTbuKMpaai83VcUxoL2ylXIeos9MGK8bC-W4FtPHHGh/s1600/Trail,+Dad+-+Leadville+finish+2013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLij_caDo5PYhaNnhb3r3031hjdlnz3qp-lDSMu-HbUWKg5k-k2wHRXMvn5NKb8ZQPlFYU3BBM966-43kMMTAGz7Opq8VzBYM0peTbuKMpaai83VcUxoL2ylXIeos9MGK8bC-W4FtPHHGh/s640/Trail,+Dad+-+Leadville+finish+2013.JPG" width="507" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the Leadville finish. BIG M, little m, what begins with M? Mountain Man in the Making. M...m...M.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com73tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-75453933949550295772013-06-16T18:05:00.001-04:002013-06-17T08:13:55.854-04:00Running with Cytomegalovirus<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The obsessive side of my personality construct is something I consider a strength.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I want something or feel like I need something I work towards getting it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t matter much what<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> it</i> is, if I want it badly enough generally I’ll do whatever I can within my power to make it happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Work, work, work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s usually all it takes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me, putting in the work is not a problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often the fallout for my obsessive, workaholic tendencies comes in the form of getting less sleep or missing out on social events with family or friends, but such is life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all choose to make sacrifices in one form or another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My Mom, one who is no stranger to keeping herself busy, says she will sleep when she is dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As her progeny, I’ve mostly adopted this motto as my own, for better or worse.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Something else I consider a strength which dovetails with my restless nature and seeming inability to relax- a definite weakness- is the bottomless energy well from which I draw to complete tasks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go, go, go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what I do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like it that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know where this energy comes from, it’s just there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It always has been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, at 36 years of age I’m wondering how much in reserves my energy well contains and for how many more years from it I will be able to make liberal withdrawals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Decades I hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What actually got me thinking of this is my recent bout with injury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have Cytomegalovirus (CMV).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For some having CMV might be a condition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me CMV is an injury because it has kept me on the sideline. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Last winter there were many wonderful things going on in the Gorman household.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our son, Trail, the most wonderful, who is a beam of light shinning upon my life in an area that I never realized before was shrouded in complete darkness, had yet to begin sleeping through the night on his own. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the winter months is when Gaby and I began “sleep training” him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the uninitiated, sleep training is what new parents attempt by coaching their little ones to sleep through the night, on their own, without Mommy nearby and usually unswaddled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The process can often be tough on parents, possibly even tougher on the parents than on the little ones, as the sleep training parent(s) is awake much of the nights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sleep training Trail this past winter was my job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gaby did enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the training, which in reality didn’t take that long, when Trail was up so was I but even when he wasn’t up I often was anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not a nap taker either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t take a nap if I tried.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cumulative nights of lacking in sleep added up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Santa was good to me in December also and over the winter I began sleeping in a Hypoxico altitude tent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When sleeping in an altitude tent it is better to up the altitude bit by bit over a few weeks or months because the quality in one’s sleep is lacking during the initial stages. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, each night, late, I crawled into our tent set straight away at 6,000 feet. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Looking back, that probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Compound the sleep training and altitude tent with the myriad house projects I tasked myself with, a busy work schedule and about 60 to 75 mile base building weekly miles I was running at the time- sometimes at night- and a perfect storm developed where my immune system became severely compromised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only I didn’t realize it at the time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All I knew is that some time towards the end of January and very beginning of February my energy levels began to fall off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was tough getting out of bed in the morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My motivation was way off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was tired during the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At times I experienced “brain fog” where my memory failed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my runs were so very spotty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first week to week I felt good, then bad, then good again while running.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then it became run to run where I felt good during one run then bad on another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then my symptoms became much more acute where during the first 10 minutes of my runs I felt awful, the second 10 minutes felt good, then five minutes felt awful again, then 10 minutes would feel good, until finally the remainder of the run would feel terrible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This went on for about two months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other than complaining to Gaby and threatening to seek blood testing I kept these issues to myself because I was scared to tell anyone and admit that there was something wrong with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew there was something wrong but I had no idea what it could be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over training?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t think so- in fact, I knew so- because I hadn’t been training that much and I took a full month off completely after Pinhoti in November.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What then?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anxiety crept in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prior to every run I worried whether I should even go out because I would probably either feel terrible, that I might be hurting myself, or that I might actually have a good run and give myself false hope to continue on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Western States, Hardrock, UTMB loomed on the horizon after all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An epic summer if there ever was one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I faked my way through TWOT in February.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I bailed on trying to bang out a hard half-marathon effort in DC in March. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had zero desire to sign up for additional races leading up to Western States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time Terrapin rolled around, the only other race I was registered for, I was at a very low point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moments before the start at Terrapin I confessed to Dave Hryvniak, eventual race winner, that I felt only half there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few days prior to Terrapin I confessed to my friend Drew that I had never felt so underprepared for a race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That should have been a huge red flag and I should have come clean then and there but I was in denial and did not want my Terrapin registration funds to go to waste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seems silly to think about now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the gun I suffered at Terrapin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At mile 20 at an aid station I ran up to Horton’s truck, grimacing “DNF”, and before I could even muster the words and ask for a ride Horty said with a smile “No rides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No rides.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ugh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I continued on to the finish. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Terrapin was a sufferfest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that point I decided to schedule an appointment with Dr. Robert Wilder, distinguished sports med and rehab doctor at the University of Virginia, hoping to get to the bottom of my issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was on March 23<sup>rd</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fast forward to April 12<sup>th</sup>, with three more weeks of mostly questionable running under my belt, two appointments with Dr. Wilder and two rounds of blood tests, the diagnosis was in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had CMV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No running for three weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No cross training.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Complete rest is what my body required.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Wait…Cytomega-what?” is all I could think of. I had never even heard of it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What I now know of CMV is that it is a respiratory virus claiming between 50 to 80 percent of American adults by 40 years of age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Says many medical publications I’ve read, most people don’t even realize they have CMV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CMV is opportunistic and its symptoms might only surface when a host’s immune system becomes severely compromised, like mine was.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Three dreadful weeks crept by where I didn’t run a step or do much else other than work, eat, play with Trail and purposefully try to sleep a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was hard on me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, knowing I had CMV and coming to grips with the fact that my summer running dreams were becoming less likely with each passing day was no walk in the park but for an obsessive, over-energized guy like myself, who always follows doctors orders, to be prescribed complete rest was hell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the third week I ran a few times before my follow appointment with Dr. Wilder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additional blood analysis revealed my liver function levels had come down 50 percent but they were still elevated; a signal that I still had CMV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. Wilder prescribed two more weeks of zero activity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was on May 8<sup>th</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also said to forget about running Western States and Hardrock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Attempting to race 100 mountainous miles at altitude, back to back, soon after recovering from CMV was too risky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Calling Craig and Dale to withdraw from the events was a regretful experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like most individuals in their positions, both of these race directors care deeply about their events and the athletes who participate in them and the least I could do was call and pay my respects, rather than write to them an impersonal withdrawal (DNS) email.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For the past four weeks I’ve been getting back to running nice and slow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For four days for 15 minutes per day during the first week that I ran I felt strong and light on my feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Five days for 20 minutes per day during the second week I ran and I continued to feel good but I also began to realize how out of shape my body felt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Six days for 30 minutes per day last week is what I was prescribed to run but I cut out two of the days because I was worried that I might be relapsing with CMV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My breathing felt labored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I no longer think that is the case, I am not relapsing, and anxiety and my body simply reacting to being out of shape is more likely what I felt. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today I finished a complete week by running for 40 minutes every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus, I’ve been busting my ass with work over the past several weeks, working long hours, and working in the yard quite a bit, getting flower beds ready for several trees I would like to plant soon. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite having experienced a few off days last week I’m feeling good overall and confident that I am getting back to normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Energy wise, I feel like my old self.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My motivation is back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My confidence is coming back too and my body no longer feels like it needs sleep constantly like it did while I was in the throes of having CMV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mornings now I can’t wait to get out of bed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On June 25<sup>th</sup> I have another appointment with Wilder and I suspect he will want to perform another round of blood work to determine for sure if my CMV (and elevated liver functions) has abated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hopefully I will get good news and the green light to begin ramping things up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will be interesting to train with a mind towards peaking in the fall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the past several years my goal races have taken place in the spring and summer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are so many good events to choose from in the fall.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This summer my primary goal is to return to full health and get back to enjoying carefree running with no worries or anxiety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have also decided that whatever comes this summer weather wise- heat, humidity, derechos or whatever- I will use as the block to hone my training edge and just enjoy it for what it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More than anything, healthy running is a state of mind; a free place in one’s head and in one’s heart that does not feel pain, or pressure, or anxiety brought on by outside circumstances. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the place where I want to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, even small stuff, like not complaining about the heat is how I want to roll.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As soon as I get a clean bill of health on my CMV issues I intend to ramp up smartly and make the most of summer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moving forward I will be more mindful of protecting the health and strength of my immune system which of course starts by getting proper rest because once an individual has CMV it stays with them for life and I want my fight with CMV to go only one round.</span></div>
Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-29632191871127246602013-02-26T09:41:00.001-05:002013-02-26T13:42:04.823-05:00The Rivanna Trail Time Trials that wasn’t<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Don’t let the title fool you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sunday's Rivanna Trail Time Trials produced a quality turn out of runners. 15 runners in total showed up to bang out a full loop of the Rivanna Trail (RT), and run in the counter-clockwise direction around Charlottesville starting and ending at Riverview Park. The conditions- cool, mostly dry and overcast- made for a good day for fast times though only a few out of 15 actually came to the Trials with the intention of busting out a true personal best effort. Not wanting to overdo it on a tender knee, at the last minute I bailed opting instead to work the Trials and not run it after all. In lieu off huffing and puffing my way around town on muddy trails I recorded the day in photos and set up two water stops with Clif bloks and gels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Though in reality, m</span>ostly I just sat around, waiting on runners while enjoying coffee and a warm spiced apple brioche from <a href="http://albemarlebakingco.com/" target="_blank">Albemarle Baking Company</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>10 runners started in the 7:00am wave, one at 7:20am and four more started at 8:00am.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Part of the beauty and mystery of the RT is that sections of it often change, mostly due to construction projects or private property easement issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A new trail section is re-routed or improved here, a road section is added there, yet somehow the <a href="http://www.rivannatrails.org/" target="_blank">Rivanna Trails Foundation</a> and its army of volunteers always find a way to keep the loop intact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank goodness for that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In its current formation the Trail is slightly different than when I ran it hard one year ago this month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a little more pavement for starters but it is all hills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are a few new sections of trail as well, some of which are only new due to construction and the path more or less remains the same. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All in all, mileage wise, the entire loop is probably about the same as last year but I wonder if it is slightly harder now due to the changes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Drew was the only runner to bust out a true loop in a personal best effort style finishing in a blistering 2:22.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eric gave chase, in route to a final marathon countdown training run but instead of following all Green RT signage he added bonus miles for himself on the Willoughby section.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Andy Head-Not-In-The-Game Jones-Wilkins- AHNITGJW for short- was one of the favorites for the day but it was reported that he took a minimum of four wrong turns and added at least three bonus miles to his Trials run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Same with Barry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not knowing the Trail, it is easy to take a wrong turn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Know the Trail, Gents.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone else came out mostly to have fun and socialize. That they did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The 7:00am crew started and finished together, minus a few runners coming in moments later. There was only one DNF, reportedly due to old-age-syndrome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://shiningsultra.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Sophie</a> was a DNS; it was reported that she stayed out too late the night prior at her sister’s concert.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">So what does all of this say about the <a href="http://charlottesvilleareatrailrunners.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">CAT</a> crew?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are we lions or are we just a bunch of kittens?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aside from Drew, we may have to hold a makeup exam after all.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Most of the 7am starters.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drew crushing it through Barracks.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Same with Eric.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stephen at Moores Creek.</td></tr>
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A clip of the mostly intact 7am crew at the creek:</div>
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Usually more graceful, here is a funny clip of Drew at the creek:</div>
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</span>Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-32037730084470863632013-02-21T16:13:00.001-05:002013-02-22T09:21:35.860-05:00When not running<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The evolution of this blog has varied somewhat from its birth yet one thing has remained fairly constant: the emphases of writing in it lop sides more generously towards trails versus tales. Therefore, in the spirit of fairness the following is a slightly different tale.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As much as I enjoy slipping on running shoes, roping my wrist in GPS and hitting the trails (and roads), I’ll fill you in on a little secret, from time to time I rather enjoy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not </i>running.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition to a passion for running which life has generously afforded me there are other hobbies I enjoy pursuing almost equally that in some ways seem to come to me just as naturally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Woodworking is one of these hobbies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Specifically, designing and building furniture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Similar to running, to develop one’s craft as a woodworker time is the most necessary investment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Working with wood for only a few hours per week generally in the evening hours or on weekends, one or two projects at a time, it can takes years to master even the most basic skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> And f</span>or me, like running, to pursue woodworking as a true passion and something more than mere a hobby is the only way, where much of the satisfaction comes through self-improvement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is important to develop my skills not just on the trails but in the workshop too; therefore, it is necessary that I devote time- a lot of it- to woodworking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When not running I can do this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And like the journey of running, a purposeful approach to woodworking, which follows the path of self-improvement both in style and in technique, both as a practitioner and as a human being, is an endless path of self-discovery.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When not running, or working in my career to produce ends meet, or spending time with family, I am often doing something construction-like with my hands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Woodworking is just the tip of the iceberg, really; I am no stranger to working with tools in general, whether they come from the workshop, the garage or the garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, within the working-with-tools genre, woodworking is my favorite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There exists a primal satisfaction in me that is resurrected with each incarnation from wood I create.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Some of my earliest childhood memories are working on projects in my parent’s basement workshop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember rushing home from the kindergarten school bus and using a coping saw to cut names and patterns out of scrap wood clamped to a vice on my grandfather’s tool bench.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This while shaking my hips to the raspy sounds of Joan Jett signing “...put another dime in the jukebox, Baby,” crackling from the small, one-speaker alarm clock radio sitting at the far end of the bench with an antenna fashioned from a metal coat hanger, the manual FM dial set to Richmond’s “Q94”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I do not remember, though, is anyone ever really teaching me how to work with wood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a workshop in my parent’s basement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> In the workshop there </span>was wood and there were tools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sort just picked it up and ran with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was always down in the workshop, banging away on this or that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As time went by I got away from woodworking during my teen years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To this day I’m not really sure why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While on winter break during junior year in college I built a dresser to take back with me to school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was one of the few, pure woodworking projects I had worked on in several years and it would be the last for a few years more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, roughly nine years ago the well from which I’ve received the vast majority of positive encouragement in life, my Mom, suggested I pick back up woodworking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyone who knows my mother knows she’s a crafty one, and that she can be very persuasive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She immediately registered the two of us for an adult education course in woodworking through the local county school system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the time I was in Richmond anyway a few days per week for work and the weekday evening schedule worked out perfectly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In class, it was very laid back and though lacking entirely in any sort of teaching curriculum, we basically had carte blanche to planers, joiners, table saws, drill presses, mortis and tenon jigs, lathes, and all sorts of other goodies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For my project I chose to build a queen-sized cherry bed frame.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During each of the fall and spring semesters since my Mom and I have continued attending woodworking class on Thursday nights.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoHg2WvhnLRe5Zl9FV9U7_TGi23CtEsIRvrbqs4oLGrdhH_s5AKVpQe10x1NTp2DCrE2fku7jovGV958RgQfO-aD1G7E2x-q8Br5ulFnAtqEaVicJxxYfzTsGEaNc0UDiRSU10gaUOglFE/s1600/Trail+and+Neal+working+on+Hannah's+bed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" mea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoHg2WvhnLRe5Zl9FV9U7_TGi23CtEsIRvrbqs4oLGrdhH_s5AKVpQe10x1NTp2DCrE2fku7jovGV958RgQfO-aD1G7E2x-q8Br5ulFnAtqEaVicJxxYfzTsGEaNc0UDiRSU10gaUOglFE/s640/Trail+and+Neal+working+on+Hannah's+bed.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting a hand recently applying linseed oil on a full-size bed frame for my Mom. The second bed making project of my woodworking career. This one also out of cherry.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4YeaS-Gkg0bG9YoUWWAWn6OvCYfIFKqjH8RoUdJxqKKHefwYXPjbk1Vr09yjiJgoCph8EInwJyZ5Mrlm7G8WBsffoDjy83951KSmlLqf58fX12zpJYRS6lg6yT56AsdRmPmMIcC3eJuNc/s1600/Bed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" mea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4YeaS-Gkg0bG9YoUWWAWn6OvCYfIFKqjH8RoUdJxqKKHefwYXPjbk1Vr09yjiJgoCph8EInwJyZ5Mrlm7G8WBsffoDjy83951KSmlLqf58fX12zpJYRS6lg6yT56AsdRmPmMIcC3eJuNc/s640/Bed.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finished product. My Mom and I worked on this puppy together. Goes nicely with the matching end tables we made last year, the lamp she turned (on the left) a few years ago and the quilt one of my sisters made, spread over the mattress. We're a crafty bunch.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another angle.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_bK0UwtOdwFEZimhY-YoXt3uEBC3CSdc2Tk1_IYaji_G0Fp9AmjrNForMmEWbXcnubRnH6j9e0p8Ro3596e4lYCQXJl2YDqff-WXJDC5XTj1yqcoJ-uN9LbQh86Uzd1lFt5jcZWmVHowW/s1600/Bed+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" mea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_bK0UwtOdwFEZimhY-YoXt3uEBC3CSdc2Tk1_IYaji_G0Fp9AmjrNForMmEWbXcnubRnH6j9e0p8Ro3596e4lYCQXJl2YDqff-WXJDC5XTj1yqcoJ-uN9LbQh86Uzd1lFt5jcZWmVHowW/s640/Bed+4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">End table drawer joinery on display.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgN18WzvoclnKiyfvnYFECn_Fj9UYb300IPOo9ZMKZXHwVu5AOi-PVsZDAvQ28RHmPtJD9nqsaV3fDqTVZOOoDj6tslvrB6QibGxCxKpC4m68-oc-oDeJuWYRDcSsuZaeyiDi7mIhHuOhR/s1600/Bed+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" mea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgN18WzvoclnKiyfvnYFECn_Fj9UYb300IPOo9ZMKZXHwVu5AOi-PVsZDAvQ28RHmPtJD9nqsaV3fDqTVZOOoDj6tslvrB6QibGxCxKpC4m68-oc-oDeJuWYRDcSsuZaeyiDi7mIhHuOhR/s640/Bed+2.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tapered inner faces of the head/footboard columns- to match the end tables- required slightly more complicated joinery.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Recently, when not running that much, in addition to finishing up a few existing woodworing projects I’ve taken on a handful of home-improvement projects as well at our new home in Charlottesville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Home improvement: another hobby).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A remodeled bedroom here, a remodeled bathroom there and our house is really coming together for our taste and style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One particular room in our basement I’ve taken on as a project recently reveals the dichotomous relationship my running and my woodworking often tango over for my attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The room, an old workshop with a photography dark room off the side, I am near complete in renovating into a home gym with a half bath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strange, I know, me, a woodworker, converting a basement workshop into a home gym. (Is it ironic? I'm not even sure.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And involved is a hell of a lot of carpentry, electrical, plumbing and painting to make it happen. Just so we can work out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess it makes sense if you’ve seen the treadmill that we purchased recently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is sweet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now with a baby, a treadmill proves a useful tool as a runner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> And I love tools. </span>Plus, if you’ve seen our treadmill then I probably would have showed you our garage- <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my</i> man cave- which is where I will eventually house a proper woodworking space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One fit for making furniture of all shapes and sizes. So, though choosing to get rid of the old basement workshop was not an easy decision to make all things considered I'm pretty sure it was the right call. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It is difficult sometimes to juggle competing passions outside of daily life responsibilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am a person who loves the idea of going all in on something and I truly believe one’s best can only be achieved by focusing whole heartedly on one thing at a time. If true, lasting greatness is the goal, either as a runner, a craftsman or whatever, then sacrificing all things in life for the greater good of focusing on a singular mission and squeezing every drop of blood, nectar and marrow out of it and holding on for as long as it lasts is the only way. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> After all, what is the fastest way to get from one location to another if not in a straight line?</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Returning home from a 30 mile mountain run and retiring to the garage or basement to work on a project until late into the evening is fun and perfect for the obsessive minded like myself but it does not always lead to the best results with the project at hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor does is do justice to the run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that’s the rub when you have competing passions. There is only so much time and pulling doubles on weekends is often the only mechanism for getting things done.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Running TWOT recently I took a hard fall at mile eight of 27 while descending Little Bald.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was hauling ass down the mountain over the rocks, content with the morning thus far, despite my general lack of fitness, frigid temperatures and slow going snow on top of Little Bald.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> That week</span>, not having run much recently, I still thought I might be able to show up at TWOT and run the way I knew I could run and how I wanted to run on that day, which was no holds barred.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was mistaken.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suddenly my big right toe clipped a rock and my body folded instantly to the ground at full speed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First my knees struck the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Crash.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then my chest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bam!</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> There was n</span>o time whatsoever to tuck and roll.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once my chest hit the ground my body slid across the frozen rocks and dirt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I came to a halt in complete shock, stood up and screamed at the forest all around me looking up towards the tops of the trees in terror.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I figured for sure I had just inflicted a lasting injury upon myself; a broken bone or two in the very least.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A moment or two of self-diagnosis later and aside from bloody knees, scrapped thighs and abdomen my body seemed to still be working.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After another moment or two of standing around, deciding whether or not it was safe to continue on, I began limping down to Camp Todd where Dennis Herr, TWOT director, was waiting with food and water. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At Camp Todd Drew Krueger pulled up behind me as I struggled to open my hand held thanks to the frozen water inside of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turns out Drew took a bad fall on Little Bald as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We limped out of Camp Todd together and I eventually pulled away on the way up Big Bald and finished TWOT solo. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m happy to have successfully completed a hard effort of a single loop of TWOT and definitely enjoyed the camaraderie and hospitality of the mostly-Harrisonburg crew in the parking lot post-run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately I missed Keith Knipling’s beastly return from his fourth loop but I needed to get home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Looking back, I probably should have stopped running TWOT at Camp Todd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My body was so numb from the cold that I didn’t realize at the time how badly my knees, particularly my right knee, hit the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After taking the Sunday off after TWOT in the six following days I ran for a total of 75 miles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Day by day the swelling in my right knee continued. There is some edema surrounding the knee still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m pretty sure I have a contusion just above the knee cap from banging the hell out of it when I crashed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To say I'm not feeling 100% is an understatement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not feeling down and out, at least not yet, but<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I admit my mood is starting to sour with each passing day that I do not run. Because now, as the season builds I want to be running more. I want to devote more time to running, the time it requires and get back in shape for this summer's big events. </span>A few more days I hope and I will be back at it- I'm still planning to run the Rivanna Trail trials Saturday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the meantime, not running means I can get the gym room complete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rubber floor goes down this weekend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then it’s on to the next project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trail needs a bookshelf for his toys and books.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If interested, here is a solid SNL version of Thinkin Bout You by Frank Ocean.</span></div>
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Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-9646712001378639642013-01-28T19:39:00.000-05:002013-01-29T08:11:45.537-05:00Rivanna Trail Turn SheetFor those interested, Nick Hamblet was kind enough to excercise his fingers and draft a Rivanna Trail turn sheet. See his write-up I copied from an email immediately following this post. The turn sheet content is also published on the <a href="http://charlottesvilleareatrailrunners.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Charlottesville Area Trail Runners</a> (CAT) site but I thought I would go ahead and push it on to the web also just in case there are folks out there who check this site and not the CAT site and who might stand to benefit from Nick's good work.<br />
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15 runners in total came out for the Rivanna Trail time trial training run number two yesterday. A few runners couldn't make it out that I know are running the trials a month from now. And I know not everyone who ran yesterday will be running in a month. Word on the street is there are a few fast roadies in town who want to come out but their training and racing regimen won't allow for it. Bummer is all I have to say about that. So at this point I have no earthly idea how many folks are planning to show up on February 23rd. At first I thought it might just be me, Drew, Sophie and Andy. Now I thinking well over a dozen will show up. I sure hope so; the more the merrier. It would be kick ass to have enough runners and friends come out for the run and post-run festitivities to warrant reserving the tented patio area at Beer Run after (if that is possible) and have our new friend from New Belgium greet us at the door. (If that too is possible. Though something tells me Andy could make that happen.)<br />
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Without further ado... here's Nick:<br />
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"This is a bit late for folks hoping for some descriptions this morning, but hopefully it'll still be useful to somebody some day. Also, hopefully, I'll work to incorporate useful bits into the RTF's map - so if you've got comments, questions, suggestions, corrections please let me know. Please don't get mad at me if you get lost while trying to follow these directions. And these are just my notes, not anything official from the RTF.<br />
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I'll start at Riverview, and generally go around counter-clockwise, finishing back up at Riverview."</div>
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<strong>Riverview - River Rd:</strong> At Riverview Park, there are two trailheads out of the parking lot, both heading out on paved footpaths. One would be if you continue straight, the way you came in to the parking lot, the other goes off to the right, heading toward the playground area and Rivanna River. You can take either, they both meet up after a short while, and there are some un-paved cut-throughs between them. The trail will be a paved walkway for a few miles, and basically follows the river (which'll be on your right), passing under route 250 at one point. Eventually you'll pop out at a field with some soccer goals set up. You can continue following the trail, or you'll see a parking lot off to your left - you can head up there and turn right on the road that's there (River Rd). If you stay on the trail, it'll go just a short bit through an area with some small trees, close to the river bank, and then there will be signs pointing you to the left. That trail heads up a hill, then runs along a fence at a VFW building until you get to the road (River, same road), on which you'll turn right.</div>
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<strong>River and Locust:</strong> Head up the hill on River, and at the stop sign at the end of River (at the top of the hill), turn right on Locust Ave. That'll head downhill a little bit, and come to a T-intersection. Turn left at the intersection, onto Locust Lane, and then take your first little road to your right, Megan Ct. At the end of that short little road is a sign for the RTF, on the right.</div>
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<strong>Locust - Holmes:</strong> From there, the trail heads downhill for a short bit, to get down to Meadow Creek. Once you get there, you'll continue along with the creek on your right, eventually popping out of the woods into a clearing with the creek on your right but curving left in front of you, and houses up the hill on your left. Follow that clearing, staying between the houses and the creek, with a few hops across some drainage areas as you go. In this section, keep to the right side of the clearing. Shortly before getting to Holmes (the first and only road crossing), the trail and clearing generally veer right, and once they do you'll be able to see Holmes ahead of you.</div>
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<strong>Holmes - Melbourne:</strong> After crossing Holmes Ave, pick up the trail in the gap in the guardrail. This trail follows the Meadow Creek (on your right), with a cleared strip of land on our left. The single track eventually dumps out onto the cleared stretch, and you continue on, keeping the creek on your right. Once the creek turns left, the clearing ends and you go left into the woods, back on single track. This continues for a short bit, eventually crossing under Park St at its intersection with Melbourne. Just after crossing under the road, the single track is closed, and you must go left, up to Melbourne Rd.</div>
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<strong>Melbourne - Meadowcreek Parkway:</strong> Once you get to Melbourne road, looking left you'll see the intersection with Park. However, you want to go the other way, heading instead to the light at the Meadowcreek Parkway. You'll make a right at the parkway to get on the paved footpath following the parkway.</div>
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[[McIntire spur: Instead of turning right at the parkway, you can continue straight on Melbourne. You'll go up a hill, and over a bridge across the train tracks. Just after that bridge, there's a Rivanna Trail sign on your left, leading down some stairs, and you'll see Charlottesville High School in front of you (with the baseball diamond the closest thing to you). If you head down those stairs, and stay generally left, there's a patch of trees between the railway and the baseball diamond. You can either hop on a short bit of singletrack in that clump of trees (which quickly comes back out into the grass), or just stay between the trees and the baseball field on a trail that heads down the hill. This trail shortly crosses into the woods, followed at the bottom of the hill by a creek crossing (where there's concrete pillars, so you wouldn't expect your feet to get wet). Continuing to follow this singletrack, you'll eventually get to a spilt where you can go left past a bench, or stay right. If you go left, you'll go up slightly to a paved footpath, which you can take left to get into McIntire park, or take right to cross the creek and get to Charlottesville High (or stay straight to reconnect with the singletrack). If, instead, you stay right on the singletrack, you'll cross under this bridge, and when the two trails reconnect you go right, and cross another creek (where you might, actually, get your feet wet). After that crossing, stay right for the singletrack (or go left, and shortly come to the new paved trail, which will reconnect with the single track after a short distance), and continue following the singletrack through the woods. You'll cross a few small wooden bridges, and eventually get to a cement pad, right near where the paved trail comes back in. Continue on, and the trail will narrow slightly, and head up a little hill, with 250 above you on the left. This trail comes out where 250 and Meadowbrook Heights intersect, with the "Whale Tail" installation of the Art In Place in the clearing. If you continue on, following 250 (with it on your left), you could cross Hydraulic Rd, and then pick up the Rivanna Trail again there.]]</div>
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<strong>Meadowcreek Parkway - Railroad:</strong> Continue on the paved pathway, with an eye to your right to hop back on singletrack. If you end up going uphill on the paved pathway, you've gone too far (but the two meet up again, so it's ok). The trail here stays basically along the Meadow Creek (on your right), and there's a short steep hill to get you back up to the paved pathway when the two meet again. The singletrack and paved path meet at a large bridge for the parkway (above the trail) with a smaller footbridge for the paved path off to the right. If you were to go right on the paved path, it would wind its way uphill, eventually ending at the intersection of the Parkway with Rio Rd. However, to continue on the Rivanna Trail you do not want to do this. Unfortunately, at the intersection of the paved path with the singletrack, under the bridge for the parkway, what you do want to do is somehow find your way to the other side of the railroad tracks. Standing on the paved path, with your back to the singletrack, you'll be looking at the bridge for the parkway. Just past that is the train tracks, at the top of a quick hill, and the creek is on your right. The creek passes under the train tracks through a culvert, and generally the water is not more than 2-3 inches deep, and the creak bed is even. Alternatively, steep trail can be found which goes up the steep embankment to the railroad tracks and back down the other side. Unfortunately, neither of these options is condoned.</div>
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<strong>Railroad - Brandywine:</strong> If you should happen to find yourself on the west side of the railroad, north of the creek (looking away from the railroad, the creek is on your left), the trail follows another cleared strip of land, which has a few bushes and things planted. After a little wooden footbridge (the second), you find yourself on the creek bank of the newly completed creek restoration project. The trail is not well defined here, and the footing is a bit uneven and over a netting, but you just want to follow the creek. It'll cross a paved pathway, running perpendicular to the creek at one point - going right would take you to Greenbrier Dr, going left would take you across the creek and to Jamestown Dr (where you could follow brown RTF blazes back to Charlottesville High, if you wanted (quickly: Jamestown becomes Lester Dr, which T's at Kenwood. Turn right on Kenwood, follow it around to the right, up a hill, then turn left on Melbourne Rd)). However, to follow the RTF loop, continue straight, with the creek on your left. Before long, you'll get to the three-way intersection of Brandywine Dr (going left, or straight-right-ish) and Greenbrier Dr (going right, sorta back the way you just came).</div>
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<strong>Brandywine - Hydraulic:</strong> At the Brandywine/Greenbrier intersection, the trail continues in the cleared strip of land, sort of like where Greenbrier Rd would continue, if it didn't end at that intersection, with the creek still on your left. A few hundred yards down that strip, look for a rock-hop creek crossing on your left, which has a cable strung up between the trees to aid your balance. You want to cross the creek here, and then veer right (so that the creek is now on your right). The trail moves a little bit away from the creek at this point, with woods on both sides of you (and houses up your hill on the left). There are no real trail intersections here, although some re-routing as the creek restoration project was in progress has provided some options at one point. As long as you're continuing on with the creek on your right, houses up the hill on your left (and aren't getting in people's yards), you're still on the right track. Just before the trail gets to Hydraulic, you can either go left, and up a quick hill to get to the road, or stay right, pass over a short rocky section, and then walk through a tunnel underneath Hydraulic Rd.</div>
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<strong>Hydraulic - Morton:</strong> After crossing under Hydraulic Rd, continue on the singletrack (creek on your right), coming to a set of stairs which take you up to near the intersection of Hydraulic Rd and 250. At the top of the stairs, go right, following the concrete sidewalk, until just after crossing the bridge, where the trail turns left and heads down to the creek where it passes under 250. Underneath 250, you'll be walking on some cement blocks which are starting to deteriorate, so watch your footing. After coming out of the tunnel, the primary (green) trail basically follows the creek (now on your left), eventually coming to the RTF tool shed (which will be on your right) near the Meadowcreek gardens. An alternate (brown) trail will branch off to your right, but reconnects with the main trail before the RTF shed. The trail is close to the creek after the shed, and parallels a gravel driveway. The two come together at Morton Dr.</div>
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<strong>Morton - Barracks:</strong> Turn right on Morton, and continue to the light at Emmet St (the intersection where Bodo's Bagels is). Cross Emmet, and continue straight on Earheart (Cavalier Diner on your left, Asian market on your right). Near the end of that little road you'll see a sign on your left for the RTF, at a wooden bridge. Crossing the bridge, the trail continues for a few yards and then crosses a chain link fence at a gate. The gate is rarely locked (though it is, occasionally). Once in the fenced area (if the gate wasn't locked), turn right and follow the gravel path. While you're still in the boundary defined by the chain link fence, there will be a right hand turn leading you out of the fenced in area, which you should take. Just after coming out of the fenced area, you'll cross a little wooden bridge, and will see a road ahead of you (or to your right, depending on how quickly you look for it after you get off the bridge). Go out to the road (Cedars Ct), turn left, and follow it to its intersection with Barracks Rd. The trail continue straight across Barracks Rd from this intersection.</div>
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<strong>Barracks - Leonard Sandridge:</strong> At the trail head off Barracks, you'll go up a short flight of stone stairs, and then the trail goes to the right. It veers left shortly after that, then right across a wooden bridge (which can be fairly slick in wet conditions), and left again. It then follows the creek (on your left), for a little while. When you get to another wooden bridge (with "monkey bars" overhead), you can cross it and go left to hop off the trail at UVA's "The Park" at North Grounds. Alternatively, you can cross the bridge and go right to follow a spur trail, which connects with the main trail again in about a tenth of a mile. The main trail, however, doesn't cross this bridge (the monkey bars bridge), and simply continues on with the creek on your left. After curving to the right, it then does cross a different wooden bridge, this one with some flower pots built in. The trail then continues on a sort of gravel access road, eventually going up a short hill at a land bridge over the creek. The primary trail, at this point, continues straight. [[However, you could cross the land bridge. If you did, you'd come to the intersection with the trail from the monkey bar bridge (coming in from the left), and would also have the option of going right, to follow the trail up the hill. This trail is marked with green RTF blazes, and is parallel to the primary trail, which stays lower, and closer to the creek. If you decide to take this trail up the hill, the trail is easy to follow, and staying right at all the trail intersections will keep you on track.]] The primary trail and the alternate (hilly) route meet back up after a few tenths of a mile, and then continue on until a short steep climb up to Leonard Sandridge Rd.</div>
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<strong>Leonard Sandridge - Old Ivy:</strong> Cross Leonard Sandridge, and cross the wooden footbridge to continue on the trail. There are no trail intersections in this next section to worry about, just continue on until you get to the next road crossing, which is Old Ivy Rd. The final hill before Old Ivy can get quite muddy.</div>
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<strong>Old Ivy Rd - Ivy Rd:</strong> Unfortunately, there's another train track in the way of what you want to do to follow the trail. If you were to cross Old Ivy and then turn into the second driveway (for Ivy Stacks, not UVAs Printing and Copying Services), and then follow that driveway straight/right, then just before it went left behind the building, you'd be able to look across the train tracks at the light which is the intersection of Ivy Rd and 29. Just next to the fire station, across Ivy from where you're standing, is where the trail picks up. You might even see a little trail leading you across the tracks and down to the road. The shortest road detour at this point is to turn right on Old Ivy, cross over 29, left at the stop sign, under the train tracks, and then a left at the light onto Ivy Rd.</div>
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<strong>Ivy - Fontaine (O-Hill):</strong> If you find your way to the fire station, on the south side of Ivy at its intersection with 29, the trailhead will be on your right (looking at the fire station, from the road), ducking immediately into the woods. From here to the next road is one of the longest uninterrupted sections of trail, if not the longest. Largely the trail is well marked, but there are numerous side trails to distract you (and you're certainly welcome to wander). If you are following the trail (which parallels 29 (in a windy manner), generally off to your right) and come to an intersection and see no trail blazes, turn right, and you'll be set. You may end up on a side trail briefly, but will connect with the RTF loop in short order. Eventually the trail comes out to Fontaine Ave, with the research park across the street (entrance at the light up the road to your left), and route 29 to your right (over Fontaine Ave).</div>
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<strong>Fontaine - Stribling:</strong> The trail picks back up directly opposite Fontaine Ave, in a patch of woods. It winds up a hill, and then back down, in an area with lots of evergreens, and a nice soft surface. Owing to the lack of undergrowth, the trail may seem ill-defined at times, as it meanders through the trees, but it's usually pretty easy to follow. On its way back down the hill, you'll end up crossing a fence on a wooden ladder. The trail then climbs back up to the road, and you want to continue on the road down the hill. Just after crossing a creek on the road, look for the trail on your left. Head down the embankment, and follow the trail, which keeps the creek on your left. There's a spur to your right that will take you up the hill, and comes back in and connects with the main trail just before the trail crosses the creek. At the creek crossing, the creek will head through a tunnel under some railroad tracks, and you can either rock-hop across, or walk across the black pipe. On the other side of the creek, the trail continues through a bamboo grove, and you should watch your feet for bamboo that was cut a few inches above ground level. The trail comes out to Stribling Rd, which is a dirt road, in sort order.</div>
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<strong>Stribling -</strong> <strong>Sunset:</strong> At Stribling, turn right to go under the train tracks, then take an immediate right on what appears to be (and is) a gravel driveway. Take another immediate right onto the trail leading down into a grassy field. The trail generally follows under power lines, and then hits the gravel driveway again. When it does, turn right on the driveway, and then look for an immediate left to continue on the trail, before the driveway crosses a little wooden bridge. The trail then makes a left to follow the creek (on your right), and in short order goes right at a rock hop to cross the creek. On the other side of the creek, you go up a short little hill, and then the trail goes left (where the power lines overhead continue straight). The trail then follows the creek (now on your left), and just before coming out on Sunset Ave there's a small creek crossing with a rock hop (but the main creek will still be on your left).</div>
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<strong>Sunset - Azalea Park (on roads):</strong> At Sunset Ave, turn left and follow the road. It will eventually come to a bridge with some barriers that only permit foot traffic. Cross the bridge, and continue straight on Sunset Ave (the trail DOES NOT turn right and go into the woods again here). Continue up the hill on Sunset, eventually taking your first right on Brunswick Rd. Follow green RTF signs along Jefferson Park Circle (basically clockwise along the east half of the circle), and then onto McElroy. Continue down McElroy, and it will eventually hook around to the right, where you want to turn left on Middleton Ln. Cross Old Lynchburg Rd on Middleton Ln, and then make your first right on Mobile Ln. Then look for a narrow pathway on your left, between the first two houses (or second and third, depending on where you start counting from). The trail then turns right on the paved footpath and continues downhill. Just before the paved footpath pops out in Azalea Park, look for the trailhead on your left, where you can continue on some singletrack before entering the open fields of Azalea Park. This trail will come out near the community gardens.</div>
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<strong>Azalea Park - 5th St:</strong> At the end of the (newly) paved parking lot, with the community gardens in front of you (and Moore's Creek to your right - which you'll basically be following until it hits the Rivanna River, almost back at Riverview Park), a gravel driveway continues along the gardens. Follow this driveway, with the gardens on your left. At the far end of the gardens the driveway goes left, but the trail turns right, down an embankment to the creek. The crossing at this creek has some cement pillars and some rock hops, and a short, steep set of stairs at the far end. At the top of the stairs, turn left and follow the singletrack, with the creek on your left. This will eventually take you out to a clearing, and you want to basically aim for the far left side of the clearing. Near the end of this clearing, watch out for a bit of a pothole in the ground! At the end of the clearing, the trail continues underneath 5th St, through a culvert with loose sand footing.</div>
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<strong>5th St:</strong> After crossing under 5th St, the singletrack continues away from the road for about 10 yards, and then turns left on an old paved path. It then crosses a wooden bridge and makes a right, continuing as single track through a short section of trees, and then a bit of grass and weeds, with the creek on your right. The trail pops out behind a gas station, and crosses Bent Creek Rd, continuing to follow the creek. After crossing the road, you continue under some power lines, and at the third power line the trail heads left, up the hill to 5th street (a trail does continue straight, but this is not part of the Rivanna Trail). At 5th street, turn right, cross Harris at the light, and stay on the sidewalk along 5th. At the bottom of the first hill the road crosses a creek, and just after the creek crossing the trail turns right, taking you away from the road.</div>
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<strong>5th - Jordan Park:</strong> The trail away from 5th street follows the cleared strip of land, with the creek on your right (at the moment there's construction vehicles at this trailhead). There's a little wooden bridge over a drainage creek at one point, and the trail (and clearing) goes to the right from there, with houses up the hill on your left. Shortly after this, the clearing goes around to the left, but the trail veers off to the right down a little incline, and then turns left to follow the creek (still on your right). After a little bit the trail meets back up with the cleared strip of land, but then in about 100 yards there will be a wooden footbridge to your right, and the trail will hop back into the woods. Eventually you'll come to another rock-hop creek crossing, and then pop out at Jordan Park.</div>
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<strong>Jordan Park - Avon:</strong> The trail stays on the edge of the clearing of Jordan Park, keeping the park on your left. As you get closer to the road (6th St SE), look for the trailhead ahead of you, a bit on the right. Singletrack takes you between the creek and a collection of mobile homes. Just before coming to another road (Avon), go left to go up to the road. There, turn right and take the road as it crosses the creek, then cross the road. There's a trailhead just a few yards up the hill, shortly after the metal guard rail ends.</div>
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<strong>Avon - Riverview Park:</strong> Follow the trail away from Avon, back down towards the creek, and then along the creek (now on your left). At one point the trail makes a sharp right, away from the creek, and then a slight hairpin to the left, heading up a hill. Toward the top of the hill you may find some trail intersections, but following the green blazes will keep you on track. Taking trails which head left, down the hill, will take you to a bridge, which you can cross to get into Quarry Park (this bridge is being replaced, so this crossing may not be available at the moment). Following the green blazes, and skipping Quarry Park, the next road you come to is Rt 20. The trail crosses under Rt 20 at this point. After this, you just continue following the creek (on your left), eventually crossing under Moore's Creek Ln (for the water treatment plant - you may notice a smell in this section), and then coming to an apparent dead-end at the train tracks. This is the wet part. Cross the creek, going through the water, under the train tracks high overhead. On the far side, the trail goes up the hill slightly, and then around to the right. In about a hundred yards the trail goes left up a little hill to put you on E. Market St. Turn right on Market, then take your first right on Riverside Ave. After going down the hill and through the road narrowing, the entrance to Riverview Park is on your right.</div>
Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-66654386576614029462013-01-18T09:32:00.001-05:002013-01-18T12:29:34.107-05:00It’s official. 2013 is going to ROCK.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Western States in June.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hardrock 13 days later in July.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now, its official, UTMB in August.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bang.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>BOOM! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2013 is going to kick ass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2013 is going to kick <em>my</em> ass, to be more specific.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To assist with the altitude factor at each race- mostly at Hardrock- the good folks at <a href="http://www.hypoxico.com/" target="_blank">Hypoxico </a>were kind enough to set me up with an altitude tent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right now it’s still sitting in a box on the living room floor but pretty soon I’ll be sleeping high and training low. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve heard over and over from stud runners who live at altitude and travel low for races how the “extra” oxygen makes them feel beastly. I can attest to this feeling from my own experiences when returning to sea level after weeks spent at altitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It sometimes can be hard to compete against guys (and gals) who live and train high, in my opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I look back at my 100 mile race results not always but often I see those who finished ahead of me live at altitude or train at altitude or both.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll be very curious to see how experimenting with an altitude tent pans out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hopefully in the very least it can help provide that extra 1% to 2% that I need, or that I think I need, to better compete at long distance, mountainous runs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As per usual each year, running in January is beginning to feel really good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not too long ago it seemed difficult to shake the soreness from my legs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the knees down they simply did not want to cooperate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They felt tight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> (I </span>winced.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They ached. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> (</span>I whined.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They felt sore. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> (</span>I groaned.) That is to be expected after a long year of running followed by a full month off I suppose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I’m feeling fairly springy from the bed as soon as my feet touch the floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Better still, after a run I feel strong and hardly sore at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hopefully I can ride this feel-good state all the way through to the end of August but I realize that is simply not possible- definitely not with the 100s I have lined up at least.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also think the shoes I ran in mostly during December were too worn down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note to self: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">stop running in shoes the first time you think they’re worn down, not the tenth.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The spring schedule at this point is wide open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next month I will run a counter-clockwise loop of Dennis Herr’s <a href="http://www.vhtrc.org/events/twot100.htm" target="_blank">TWOT</a> (The Wild Oak Trail), followed two weeks later by another <a href="http://www.nealgorman.com/2013/01/proving-grounds.html" target="_blank">speed attempt on the Rivanna Trail</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Speaking of which, folks, I have received confirmation from nine runners who plan to show up for the Rivanna Trail time trial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Honestly, that is about double the size I expected so it’s shaping up to be a fun morning about town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next Sunday, the 27<sup>th</sup>, we’re running another loop from Riverview at 7:00am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, for those who wish to run it is a good idea to get to know the loop. C'mon on out!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Other than TWOT and the Rivanna Trail, event wise, not much else is piquing my interest for this spring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly a return to Promise Land in April would be epic but we will be soaking up rays in Hawaii that week. Running the Appalachian Trail from point-to-point through the Shenandoah National Park is the only other thing that really gets me excited when I consider running options for the spring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I'm seriously considering doing that. </span>I’m pretty sure all of this will soon change and I’ll be adding events; in the very least a few local short distance events, like the Montalto Challenge. Sadly, we'll also be out of town the weekend of the Charlottesville 10 miler. Damn it.</span></div>
Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-9185831602539619422013-01-10T10:08:00.001-05:002013-01-13T19:54:46.628-05:00Proving Grounds<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s been roughly 14 months since we moved to Charlottesville and with each passing day since our arrival I become more and more certain of one thing: we live in a beautiful place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The town, the community, the surrounding landscapes, each measure well against the high ideals and expectations we sought when deciding to move here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Running certainly played a large role in our decision to move to Charlottesville both in terms of where we could actually run outside conveniently from home (preferably un-tethered from busy city streets as much as possible) and with whom we might run frequently or infrequently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the style of long distance running I generally prefer the westerly vistas of the Blue Ridge Mountains pretty much sums up the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">where</i>; though there are respectable off-road options located in town- the Rivanna Trail being one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">with whom </i>is comprised of a vast index of fellow runners, from all walks of life, many of whom could easily clean my clock around a track, on an open stretch of pavement or up and down (and possibly up and down again) the nearest high mountain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the things I love most about Charlottesville is that it is a runner’s town, yet as far as I can tell there is no true sense of the enormity of talent here because there are so many every-day folks with careers and families who show up out of nowhere at races and events, deliver more than respectable performances, then disappear returning to behind the talent shadow from whence they came.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or perhaps this is just my perception.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There might be a few folks around town with a yardstick of general knowledge on who is who- the Lorenzonis being the most obvious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their store, Ragged Mountain Running, being the nucleus of all things running in the greater Charlottesville area must house teraflops of information just in pictures alone of the running community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To say nothing also of the vintage event posters, time sheets, medals, ribbons, bibs, plaques, trophies and so on plastering every bit of available wall space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Entering the store, through its glass door on Elliewood Avenue a few steps off University Avenue, located smack dab in middle of the University of Virginia’s (UVA) central commerce district, the hub and heartbeat of all things student socializing otherwise known as the “Corner”, one cannot help but feel transported to another place and time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not a place from the past necessarily. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor the present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> D</span>efinitely not the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But to a place that is so unique and so focused on one thing- helping people maximize enjoyment in life through running- that it feels time is standing still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To enter Ragged Mountain Running feels like entering a running museum, nay, a Chapel; a holy place dedicated to spreading the gospel of running, both in Charlottesville and afar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a runner, to enter this Chapel is willfully easy, yet to leave not so much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s just impossible to leave the store I think and not take a piece of it with you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the lucky ones, as far as I can tell, have left a bit of themselves inside the store as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look around the walls next time you’re there if you haven’t already and you will see what I mean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Charlottesville is most likely in large part a running town because of Ragged Mountain Running.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’re a runner in Charlottesville you already know this.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhciS6TjbdypnsOz0XduiJ1uAHfK5SiYqRpsEWo7a4JTb87LCWZeZbtKhXwz4dmA4AUOBA0q87MJmdMcYWfkgfanoyPr9FKF-a2wF09op5UkgHSU9iMTutwUombtFKGmWAq1OFTurC8Ph/s1600/Tshirt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" eea="true" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhciS6TjbdypnsOz0XduiJ1uAHfK5SiYqRpsEWo7a4JTb87LCWZeZbtKhXwz4dmA4AUOBA0q87MJmdMcYWfkgfanoyPr9FKF-a2wF09op5UkgHSU9iMTutwUombtFKGmWAq1OFTurC8Ph/s400/Tshirt.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A typical t-shirt image I see around town just about every time I leave the house.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you’re a runner in Charlottesville and your thing is road running odds are you still run on the soft sections of the Rivanna Trail from time to time, no?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What about track runners?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Triathletes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know for sure trail runners do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No matter your thing- road, track or trail- we all share the Rivanna Trail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is one of our primary holy places for recreation in Charlottesville, a must-have source of inspiration for each of us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What would you say if I asked how fast do you think you could run the Rivanna Trail?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The entire Rivanna Trail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, all 18.5 continuous, town circumnavigating miles of the Rivanna Trail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What would you say?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Four hours?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three hours?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two hours?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could you even answer it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would you like to answer it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last Saturday in February, the 23<sup>rd</sup>, is the day for you to answer this question by putting your skills and guts to the test on a personal mission: to run the Rivanna Trail unsupported as hard as you can in a personal best time trial effort. Think of the Rivanna Trail as your proving grounds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here is the plan myself and a few friends so far have committed to: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">8:00am - haul ass out of <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&q=riverview+park+22902&fb=1&gl=us&hq=riverview+park&hnear=0x89b38f80e179e2fd:0xf45643a2e9359bf7,Charlottesville,+VA+22902&cid=0,0,15697532262887788107&ei=79DuULinBYjq9ASSg4DwCw&ved=0CIsBEPwSMAA" target="_blank">Riverview Park</a> and head north (counterclockwise) on the Rivanna Trail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t stop and don’t stop your watches until you return to Riverview Park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be sure to wade Moores Creek at Woolen Mills (and not cross the railroad bridge) just before arriving back at Riverview.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, always, always, follow green “RTF” signage; never brown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Them’s the rules.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A typical green Rivanna Trail marker.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">11:00am – re-group at <a href="http://www.beerrun.com/" target="_blank">Beer Run</a> for suds and brunch and share stories of your adventure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you would like to join the fun but think you might take longer than three hours consider starting earlier than 8:00 because your company would most definitely be appreciated at brunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, you can start whenever you want because <u>this is not a race or sanctioned event of any kind</u>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There could even be a 7:00am wave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For those who start at 8:00am there might be someone to hand out water or bottles for you (drop bag style) at the intersection of <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=earhart+street+charlottesville,+va+22903&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x89b387c7fa64a49b:0xb4248e0b930ce75e,Earheart+St,+Charlottesville,+VA+22903&gl=us&ei=HdHuUN2gLI669gSDhoGgBQ&ved=0CC4Q8gEwAA" target="_blank">Earhart Street and Emmet Street</a>, on the other side from Bodo’s Bagles where the Rivanna Trail crosses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If that is the case, and there are enough runners, I will provide jugs of water, Clif Blocks and Gels and a handful of S-caps for those who might want some. It is easy enough to run sans water up to that point and if you want to carry a bottle from then on that is a good place to pick one up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If there are enough 7:00am runners we could arrange an earlier volunteer to greet runners at this location.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I broadcast this message from the leafy confines of my abode at the base of Lewis Mountain in downtown Charlottesville, steps away from the Rivanna Trail and O Hill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope it reaches the monitors and cell phone screens of Charlottesville runners who worship and seek inspiration on the Rivanna Trail, no matter their preference for road, track or trail.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Attention also friends from Richmond, Lynchburg, Harrisonburg and all points north up to DC, you are most welcome to join the fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One thing, though, it is important for you to know the Trail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.rivannatrails.org/Default.aspx?pageId=952656" target="_blank">Here is a website</a> with map resources. It is important to recognize there are a few tricky turns - which will not be marked for this run- which means a dry run or two might be in your best interest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is, so you can maximize your personal best effort time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This Sunday at 7:00am Andrew Krueger and I are running the Rivanna Trail from Riverview.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Depending on the level of interest I am happy to lead one or two other weekend dry-run tours of the Rivanna Trail leading up to February 23<sup>rd</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> If you're interested in a dry run y</span>ou can reach me by leaving a comment here or by <a href="mailto:nealgorman@hotmail.com" target="_blank">emailing me</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One last thing, anyone who is gunning for running less than 2:09:47 know that <a href="http://www.nealgorman.com/2012/02/charlottesvilles-rivanna-trail-fkt-is.html" target="_blank">my previous "reward" offer</a> still stands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also know that I will be chasing you!</span></div>
Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-45765390735131153032012-11-11T07:27:00.001-05:002012-11-11T19:16:04.792-05:00100 Mile Gear. The Salomon XT S-lab 5.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I am a believer in not letting anything go to waste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If there is food in my kitchen it all gets eaten.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I have extra clothes or items of any sort that I do not use for the most part I donate them or try to find them a home with someone who will or can use them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Same with running shoes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If there are miles left in a pair I wear them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not to the point where they fall apart or get ratty and nasty, rather to the point where the support I feel I need in a shoe is all but broken down and it just isn’t a good idea to run in them any longer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the same token, I am a value consumer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I generally don’t purchase items on impulse and am fine with spending more for something that I believe has value, especially in terms of durability.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Running 100 miles in a shoe has always been something of an exception- my rule of thumb has been one pair of shoes per 100 miler.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no need to detail the obvious wear and tear that breaks down a pair of shoes when running a 100 mile race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So much so that after running 100 miles a pair of shoes could have plenty of life left but perhaps not enough to sufficiently and comfortably convey a runner through another 100 miler. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most shoes have a way of never fully coming back after a 100; the demand on them is too great. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This coming from a guy who doesn’t change shoes during a 100 mile race, by the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much less even sit down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, to date I have yet to sit down once during a 100 mile race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2010 I wore the same pair of Asics at Wasatch that I ran with earlier in the summer at Western States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a rookie mistake and my feet were not happy with me over it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My outlook on this has now changed after wearing the same pair of <a href="http://www.salomon.com/us/product/xt-s-lab-5-softground.html" target="_blank">Salomon XT S-lab 5s</a> at Grindstone and Pinhoti.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I broke in the pair several times, including wearing them during my <a href="http://www.nealgorman.com/2012/09/fkt-at-old-rag-mountain.html" target="_blank">Old Rag run</a>, so they would be somewhat loose and ready for battle come Grindstone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyone who knows much about the S-labs understands these puppies are solidly built shoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> T</span>hey offer appropriate traction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They offer support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And anyone who knows much about Grindstone understands the course is a minefield of steep, technical terrain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The S-labs held up extremely well at Grindstone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prior to Pinhoti I considered what shoe might be good for the course and I looked over the same pair of S-labs that I wore at Grindstone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aside from the dirt they were in amazing shape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They held up just as well at Pinhoti and even after Pinhoti they still looked good, felt good and hardy displayed the breakdown characteristics in a shoe that often follows a 100 miler.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, in either race I never had to adjust the laces because the shoe’s Quicklace systems holds really strong.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So if you’re like me, waste conscious, value conscious, gear reliant and deciding on and buying a new pair of shoes is no small thing- <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and you have more than one 100 coming up</i>- consider giving the S-labs a try.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWzwwR58R4BV0j4c7CrjBTqcTeamtUum6FnSTM2LvjRVkUw-URbsE8zMd6iuxLnXR-gUpEuYwVSGAHsCHnXDQUV59lFoLDKYyMuVhW1HyIE5Ys_io5Eq8paSCbxaoYutPbO3VxWlTUuzK/s1600/S-lab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" rea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWzwwR58R4BV0j4c7CrjBTqcTeamtUum6FnSTM2LvjRVkUw-URbsE8zMd6iuxLnXR-gUpEuYwVSGAHsCHnXDQUV59lFoLDKYyMuVhW1HyIE5Ys_io5Eq8paSCbxaoYutPbO3VxWlTUuzK/s400/S-lab.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peep it.</td></tr>
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Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-6272802271553636092012-11-08T13:39:00.000-05:002012-11-09T12:27:28.738-05:00Grindstone. Pinhoti.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What the hell was I doing in a $50 per night hotel room in BFE Alabama on a random Friday afternoon in early November is all I could muster after receiving a text that read “Go Daddy!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Run Hard”, with the photo below attached.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><em>I wanted to go home.</em></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Trail at seven weeks, three days.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But I digress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s start in the proper order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grindstone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ah, Grindstone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, that burly 101.something-miler that took place about five or six iRunFar-covered races ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The one Karl just showed up at- again- and ran away with. His 3,340,115th 100 mile win, I think.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Grindstone this year proved yet again to be a rising star among the bubbling inventory of North American 100 mile race options.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The number of race entrants were up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fall colors, temperatures, the competition, etc. were just right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each of these characteristics prove annual occurrences in the brief five year history that is Grindstone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus, I must say, those Lynchburg boys understand proper course engineering; Grindstone’s is spectacular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To those from non-eastern locales: you might be surprised at the elevation differentials and scenery we are blessed with here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As far as how the race went, that is yesterday’s news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suffice to say, I am happy with the outcome even though I finished second after leading for the first 40 miles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if I’m going to lose, which I do a lot, I may as well lose to Karl, who I have lost to a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Karl caught me on the climb up Little Bald.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We finished the climb together, reached the ridge, where he promptly stepped on the gas a bit, baiting me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I held off, recognizing his tactic instantly and not quite ready for that kind of back and forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the next 15+ miles he remained only moments ahead and I could often see him- at least twice he left an aid station as I entered it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think he may have pushed the outbound Little Bald ridge section just a bit much, even for him, as he tried to gap me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It didn’t quite work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, not then at least.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He eventually pulled ahead on the inbound descent section of Little Bald; the most brutal section for me of the entire course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My only real plan for Grindstone was to reach the bottom of Little Bald before sunrise and in one piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I more than succeeded on the first part of this plan, reaching North River Gap aid station, mile 66.5, shortly after 5:00am; however, I felt like hell running down Little Bald and by the time I reached the bottom Karl was 10 to 15 minutes up and my body felt completely worked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in no rush to get in and out of North River Gap. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took my time and walked out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At this point, my buddy and fellow Charlottesvillian, Andrew Krueger, ran with me all the way back to the finish at Camp Shenandoah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Drew” and I have accompanied one other on many casual long runs and that is exactly what the remaining 37 miles of the race felt like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A fun run with a friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately Karl continued to pull ahead, inch by inch, hour by hour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then in between miles 70 and 80+ my right hip flexor tightened up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No doubt from over striding up Little Bald hours earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then as a result my IT tightened up, so much so that I stopped to stretch a few times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The down hills were touch and go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Damn shame too because there were a lot, they were long, and along this section- particularly the descent to Dowells Draft at mile 80- exists the most choice, perfectly contoured, picnic-bench-width single track trails of the entire course. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We reached Dowells Draft and one of Jason Schlarb’s crew gave me Tylenol for the pain, all of which had centered on my outer leg just above the knee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blasted Little Bald continued to haunt me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As the Tylenol kicked in my <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>enthusiasm picked up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Drew and I managed to move fairly well over the final 15+ miles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So well in fact that I somehow continued to bank cumulative time under Karl’s previous course record time from three years prior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Karl was definitely far enough ahead at that point but I wouldn’t be surprised if I gained a few minutes on him over the last few sections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps his Little Bald ridgeline maneuver finally caught up to him over the final miles, or he was simply comfortable knowing that I was far enough back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or both.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Either way, his 17:13 finish time was sick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Real sick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I equate it to a low 18 hour Wasatch finish time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My time was pretty good, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I finished before noon on Saturday and a full hour under Karl’s previous course record time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But still, no cigar for me this year at Grindstone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I simply got out run, out smarted and out classed by the goat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the bus ridge to Heflin, Alabama Saturday morning for the start of Pinhoti I was upset.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The picture Gaby texted me the previous afternoon was obviously meant as motivation but instead it made me feel homesick and secretly I was angry to be so far away from my newborn son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I considered using the anger as motivation during the race but anger is not good medicine in a 100 mile race so I felt helpless in terms of where to place these feelings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They lingered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At best I figured the sooner I finished the race the sooner I could get home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was not actually true because no matter what time I finished the plan was to leave after the awards ceremony Sunday morning and drive the 640 miles back to Charlottesville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Regardless, I attempted to trick myself</span> anyway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Speaking of the drive, at first glance, the drive southwest from Virginia to Alabama, and vice versa back home, is both beautiful and rugged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The route mostly travels through Appalachian valleys, in the shadow of ridgelines and peaks on either side, including also a few small rises over mountain passes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was good in many ways, definitely necessary, but also it kind of sucked. Kind of like getting a long, rough massage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just a long time to be cooped up in the car is all. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suppose the same could be said of any long road trip; particularly one on the immediate heels of a 100.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway, the main competition at Pinhoti was Yassine Diboune and Jeremy Humphrey. There may have been others but I didn’t know them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With my entry for next summer’s Western States already in the bag I was curious to see how badly these guys, and possibly others, would get after it to nail down a slot of their own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus, I was looking forward to running with Yassine again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We ran together quite a bit at Western States this year and I very much enjoyed it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hopefully Pinhoti would be more of the same I thought. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I chatted with Jeremy on the bus ride to Heflin and got a sense of his motivation and training.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> He was primed for a big day. </span>His elk hunting stories I found particularly interesting. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realized for him Pinhoti was much the same as his adventures in Idaho; he was there for the hunt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Jeremy took it out hard from the beginning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Too hard, I thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No doubt his altitude seasoned lungs soared like eagles through the southern lowlands but, Jesus, it was the first hour of a 100 miler.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What the hell was he thinking?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stayed with him for the most part for the first two or three hours until finally I was content to let him go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Deep down I knew- I believed- I would see him again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just how much later I wouldn’t know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yassine was wiser and hung back but unfortunately after only the first aid station I wouldn’t see him again until the awards ceremony the next morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then after only catching a glimpse of Jeremy at the fourth aid station, Highway 431, at mile 22.7, he was gone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Like at Grindstone and many other 100s before it I was then all alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only this time I was alone in an unfamiliar place and at a rare, sensitive moment in time when all I wanted to do was get home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mind wandered and my body decided that it was finished for the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nay, that it was finished racing for the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finished competing maybe but finish the race I definitely would.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could still fake it and finish second; I just knew I could.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At mile 27+, Lake Morgan Aid Station, I was cruising at about 15 hour pace which meant Jeremy was under 15 hour pace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s smoking fast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The forecast for the day was mid 80s and the heat was about to settle in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At Lake Morgan the Race Director, Todd Henderson, informed me Jeremy looked good but that he doesn't do well in the heat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I exited the aid station what Todd said lingered in my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fine, I figured.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would continue faking my way through Pinhoti, make it back to the finish in Sylacauga and eventually get home, but first I would slowly, very slowly, reel Jeremy in and capture the win.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my mind the hunter was now the hunted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Except for the climb up Pinnacle in the early 70s, Pinhoti’s 80+ miles of single track is all runnable but the constant snaking, constant up and down nature of its layout makes it hard to gain any sort of rhythm. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The remaining 20 miles of Pinhoti consist of 16 along jeep road and four on pavement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The course is point to point. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Todd might say, it’s “pretty cool”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would agree. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as the day wore on and the heat settled in it beat me down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I walked a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I drank a lot. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I peed a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I munched on Clif blocks and gels every 20 minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I swallowed an s-cap every 40 minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I drank Coke at every aid station starting at mile 34.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Religiously. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I usually start with the Coke at mile 80.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That pretty much sums up how I felt early on in the day.) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought about getting home and halfway through the race I decided to bail on JFK in two weeks and begin my break from running early, which would be the moment I would break the finish line tape at the Sylacauga High School track later that night.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Halfway through the race Jeremy would reach a maximum of anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes up on me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the latter half of the race his up time would slowly dwindle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At Adams Gap, mile 55, he was about 12 minutes or so up leaving the aid station. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was informed by a spectator that he was not looking so great and he was slowing down. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next several miles consisted of dusty jeep road and I could see Jermey’s foot prints.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By his gate I could tell that on some hills he walked when he probably should have been running.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It didn’t really motivate me much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was content with my own pace and was in no hurry to catch up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, I thought, instead of me pushing to catch up early and try to win the race I would hang back far enough to keep him running scarred- never really knowing how close I was- and eventually he would run out of energy even more and lose the race on his own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a gamble but since I was faking my way through Pinhoti at that point anyway it seemed like a good plan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bulls Gap aid station, mile 85.6, sits at the final high point on the course and from there it is mostly downhill with several rollers mixed in for good measure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jeremy was up six minutes when I left Bulls Gap. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ran strong down the long jeep road and first saw his light about 25 minutes later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Jeremy turned and saw me I felt bad for about a second as I imagined how crushing it must feel to run hard all day and in an instant see a win slip away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At mile 90 no less.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As soon as Jeremy saw me I ran hard right at him and blew by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We congratulated each other and I assured him no one was close behind us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moments later I was gone from sight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Shortly after I passed Jeremy the irony of Grindstone set in- I was chasing Karl all over again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, he wasn’t there but his previous course record from the year prior- which I forgot about after mile 20- suddenly popped into my head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was it possible to finish under 16:42?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t know but I was more concerned with gapping Jeremy so I continued to run strong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a few miles I realized it wasn’t possible to run under 16:42 and so I let up a little.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The day’s heat, the pace early on and my overall attitude throughout the day prevented such a feat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually I finished in 17:06 but not before getting confused on the course for a few moments and backtracking just before the final stretch of pavement before the finish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Cheers to all of the fine folks in Alabama for a great race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Congrats to Jeremy and Yassine for punching their Western States tickets. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">See you in Squaw.</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Congrats to the top female finishers- Megan Hall in particular- who finished well under the previous fastest course time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cheers to all of the fine folks in Lynchburg, Virginia as well for a great race at Grindstone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been a very satisfying year in running and now I am fully enjoying a break.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will be December before I run another mile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll miss being at JFK but have no desire to be away from home again, faking my way through an ultra, when I am currently engrossed in work, busy with fun home improvement and woodworking projects and, best of all, watching my newborn son grow practically by the minute. </span></div>
Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-33509071275776194602012-10-04T15:46:00.000-04:002012-10-04T15:46:24.757-04:00Deja Vu<div>
Hard to believe its been a year and here we are, once again, in the final countdown hours to Grindstone. The weather forecast for the weekend looks perfect. Just like last year. The color in the trees in the mountains should be coming out up high. Just like last year. The competition looks strong. Just like last year. Only a bit stronger. And I am very, very anxious to spend an entire three full days outside soaking up the wonderful fall weather, while competing and socializing with like minded individuals from all over the east coast and other parts of the US. Just like last year.<br />
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So what's different this year? Nothing with the race. The course is the same it has always been and I hope it always will be. I ran the race last year and I know the course now. That much is different for me and that is a good thing. I am in very good shape right now. Maybe not Western States shape but considering I am not (1) over trained like at Western and (2) not tired like I was last year at Grindstone, I think that is another good difference for me. As mentioned above, the competition looks strong- Karl, Chris, Evan, Jason and possibly others. Looking forward to sharing some trail miles with you, and looking forward to breaking some of you, too, as I am sure some of you look forward to trying to break me! The race will begin at the turnaround point. That is what I believe. From there it's on. When the better part of the entire western world is fast asleep.<br />
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See everyone soon. Night <span id="misspelled" s="-1" t="2" tabindex="-1">night</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/null"></a>.</div>
Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-64997927676859215432012-09-24T23:29:00.001-04:002012-09-24T23:29:49.521-04:00Trying to get the taper right<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the long list of do’s and don’ts that I’ve learned through hard knocks this year in training and racing I would put how not to taper at the top of the pile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How not to taper?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s very simple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It whittles down to not beginning a taper feeling like crap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beginning a taper feeling crappy will most likely carry over to a crappy taper in general, which then of course would lead to (among other things) diet, mood and confidence swings, an overall less than stellar performance on race day, an elongated recovery or some mixture of all of the above.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Feeling like crap” might mean different things to different people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is over-trained feeling like crap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Habitually sore muscles feeling like crap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Injury feeling like crap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Daily low energy levels feeling like crap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Less than enthusiastic (i.e. “what am I doing this for?”) feeling like crap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever the case may be, and there could be several, simultaneously, one must be vigilant in minimizing the feeling like crap factor prior to a taper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The more fit, loose, confident, etc. one feels at the cusp of a taper the better and better one will continue to feel throughout the taper and, thus, the better one will likely perform at their chosen event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This probably sounds obvious but in reality many of us, myself included, have a tendency to peak train intensely leading up to a taper, often feeling tapped out at the time taper begins and think that is how we should feel three weeks, two weeks, 10 days or what have you out from an event because we have time to recover and energize.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ve certainly begun a taper feeling crappy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes I’ve even raced well after a crappy taper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes I’ve even recovered well too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But more often than not, after a crappy taper, I’ve always felt as though I left something on the table after the race; as if I could have done better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That includes races I’ve run this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Western States is a prime example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This might sound like BS but I pretty much felt like shit even two days before the race. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that case, the feeling like crap factor for me was that I was over trained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Feeling like crap at the time of the taper shook my confidence and let’s just say the final few weeks leading up to the start in Squaw were bumpy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mental game definitely improved in the hours leading up to the race but, deep down, I knew my body wasn’t properly prepared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, it was over prepared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my post race recovery was longer and slower than normal too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Some people I know don’t even taper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They don’t because they know <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">it</i> will make them feel like crap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve often felt this way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in reality I think this is not true- which is part of the whole point of this post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus, there are flat out some types of races that simply do not require much of a taper or a taper at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>100s are a different story all together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>100s require a taper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I am speaking up about this now because Grindstone is right around the corner and it recently occurred to me that I definitely do not want to begin another taper feeling crappy from the get go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know where that road leads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what I have done about it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Based on my recent Western States experience the first thing I did was cut down the volume a bit immediately preceding the taper- which I should point out is what I am doing now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tapering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also nipped and tucked a few of the longer runs over the past few weeks that in recent past I would have thought I needed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor have I been much concerned with weekly elevation gain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fact is I’ve run a ton already this year- more miles and more vertical than in any year prior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I look at all of this year’s training and recognize that without allowing the body to absorb an actual real rest period (which will come after Pinhoti) not much added benefit will come from continuing to rack up heavy, heavy training.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, it could produce the opposite: diminished returns.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of the truisms in training and in life is that each new season is different, and this is what I know is working for me right now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By assessing how I felt leading up to the current taper and by making a few modifications along the way I now feel fit, loose and confident. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m ready to rip at Grindstone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can feel it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All of this is to say that going forward I will definitely play closer attention to the feeling like crap factor before beginning a taper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever the case might be- overtraining, etc.- in whatever season I find myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By focusing on starting the taper feeling good, as opposed to focusing on ending the taper feeling good, I am confident better race results will come.</span></div>
Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-83376197526014196032012-09-22T11:57:00.001-04:002012-09-28T08:42:42.060-04:00FKT at Old Rag Mountain<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For the better part of this year I’ve had an itch to haul in something I would consider close to a perfect run on one of my favorite Virginia Mountains-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Old Rag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> B</span>y a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">perfect run</i> of course I mean something speedy but also something where I would feel decent throughout and really good at the finish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, yesterday I made the call: after work this run was going to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hit the road around 4pm and drove north towards the Old Rag Mountain trailhead located on back roads a few miles off Route 231, an hour’s drive from home.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWc9FiClXDhc8WeQc72SLY0M0jsc3wK7962nl9UnSo5ufqIA78sbqzpshcwmimtabhIoBWPwCEBRZOweQl-e1O91NcVjj60OCXiTno9Nq5TKYJwRclLgU104Jd2Y7vi9OXiUiQNaYXYJIa/s1600/7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWc9FiClXDhc8WeQc72SLY0M0jsc3wK7962nl9UnSo5ufqIA78sbqzpshcwmimtabhIoBWPwCEBRZOweQl-e1O91NcVjj60OCXiTno9Nq5TKYJwRclLgU104Jd2Y7vi9OXiUiQNaYXYJIa/s640/7.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A photo I snapped on July 28th, 2012 looking west from 231. Old Rag shortly after sunrise. How nice to receive mail at the Craft abode.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimOyb2Kpg4luGuUyggAILYpSRhudTYgxPA6b0F6F46us091WZWoIEylHLYCbWHHEcMxsxHytbcbzQ4POzBNyYKVSsOhDHny2mzI3YZ6cEulbuvbR60Be9B6kpS9yVna1LXjoZmlcpB4XWc/s1600/8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimOyb2Kpg4luGuUyggAILYpSRhudTYgxPA6b0F6F46us091WZWoIEylHLYCbWHHEcMxsxHytbcbzQ4POzBNyYKVSsOhDHny2mzI3YZ6cEulbuvbR60Be9B6kpS9yVna1LXjoZmlcpB4XWc/s640/8.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another view.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Old Rag Mountain is unique and exceedingly popular in that it draws approximately 80,000 people each year who show up to hike the Ridge Trail to the summit, down the Saddle Trail and back to their cars via the Weakley Hollow Fire Road. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some elect to travel in the opposite direction but most often the chosen route is the clockwise direction, the route I just described, the route to which I am partial and the direction I ran yesterday evening. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In total this circuit encompasses 7.5 miles and just shy of 2,200 vertical feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By itself, Old Rag is obviously not very big. Or tall. In fact, it is more or less a border mountain located between neighboring foothills and the bigger Blue Ridge Mountain peaks of the Shenandoah National Park located immediately to it's west. For many reasons, however, Old Rag lends itself well to popularity. For starters, it is located close to various towns, cities and main roads (or vice versa). Old Rag also happens to offer spectacular views from atop and, well, it’s just a darn fun mountain to experience. Especially the super rocky summit ridgeline, which requires practically a full mile’s worth of scrambling; sometimes on all fours and at one point the trail even passes through a cave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aside from Mount Monadnock in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the most pedestrian travelled mountain in the United States, if not the world, Old Rag has to be one of the most hiked mountains in all the land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a comparison, 125,000 to 130,000 hike Monadnock each year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How many mountains and National Park locales can even support this kind of use?</i></span> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0oOHAq6spVSTvhS-3EDYOJS7uOfFwEslTgUSkwOBqF85rKuh0kXZUMsqIWTDshTwDQu8GATG9Wr8iVN5c7c5MGFB7m-e7apeoPxUTW1NS2BpErcrQ-N_0XjAt5R7fxe_JE7k4VltO4HQw/s1600/1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0oOHAq6spVSTvhS-3EDYOJS7uOfFwEslTgUSkwOBqF85rKuh0kXZUMsqIWTDshTwDQu8GATG9Wr8iVN5c7c5MGFB7m-e7apeoPxUTW1NS2BpErcrQ-N_0XjAt5R7fxe_JE7k4VltO4HQw/s640/1.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The scene at the upper parking lot. Ridge Trail begins on the left, Weakley Hollow Fire begins (or ends) behind the yellow chain.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Once I arrived at Old Rag and parked at the lower overflow lot I warmed up for 10 minutes on the road leading up to the trailhead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I shook out my legs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> M</span>y quads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stood in place and counted jumping jacks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The legs felt heavy still and not at all excited about the task at hand: to run the Old Rag loop- from the upper lot cement trailhead post and back- in FKT fashion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Screw it, I thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I made the drive and I was going to give this run a shot regardless of how the legs felt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I started my watch, tapped the cement post and off I went up the Ridge Trail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A moment passed and in the midst of heavy breaths and paranoid thoughts about not feeling truly up for the effort a voice echoed in my head, seemingly out of nowhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Relax.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let the mountain come to you.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was all it said, only once, and apparently all I needed to hear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instantly my shoulders dropped, my breathing settled and I became fixated soley on traveling the most efficient lines through the rocks at a comfortable pace up Old Rag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, my legs felt heavy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The voice didn’t just make that go away; I simply concentrated on other things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mostly, I thought of nothing at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My thoughts were empty; in a good way. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The first overlook, at mile 2.14, came at :22:17.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this point I began the first bit of hands-on-knees power hiking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dirt path changed to a rock staircase which soon gave way to incline granite slabs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was now in the thick of things on the best part of Old Rag as I climbed, pulled, pushed, lifted, crawled, hopped and scrambled my way up the summit ridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ironic thing about attempting a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">perfect run</i> on Old Rag is that negotiating the summit portion allows very little running at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">As evidence, m</span>y <a href="http://connect.garmin.com/activity/225363513#.UF0r9dpXFwk.email" target="_blank">GPS splits</a> revealed a 17:20 pace over the 1.01 mile between the first overlook and the actual summit, which I clocked in at :39:50 at the summit post sign.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">According to Virginia trail running aficionado and historian, Joe Clapper, Kevin Sawchuck of California long held the official summit FKT in :42:31. I'm not sure in what year he ran it but I believe it was in the late 90s. Prior to Kevin's benchmark, Joe and Derrick Carr would duel back and forth over who was king dingaling of Old Rag Mountain. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My summit reach earned me FKT #1 on the run so far and a spot in the history books with greats Joe, Derrick and Kevin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I must be moving well after all, I figured.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">perfectly</i> thus far but well enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The summit FKT was gravy but it was not why I came to Old Rag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I came for the full loop FKT, so I continued on past the summit sign and prepared my downhill legs for the coming 1.9 miles of technical downhill and switchbacks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Man, my legs felt good running downhill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What happened?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why all the sudden did they feel so strong?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suppose the mental boost from summiting in less than 40 minutes had something to do with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The confidence meter shifted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A moment or two went by and I stopped concerning myself with the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">why</i>, I simply leaned more into the trail, sped up and enjoyed the ride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The summit descent to the Old Rag Shelter is exceedingly technical yet somehow I managed to actually stride out my legs over the rocks and move really quickly down the mountain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is another one of the unique things about Old Rag: in such a condensed loop there is so much variation in the trail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> And t</span>o cover the loop in FKT fashion one must draw on a diverse skillset which need include, but not be limited to, climbing, rock climbing, scrambling, technical downhill ability and, finally, over the gravel road homestretch, pure speed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At :53 I hit the gravel Weakley Hollow Fire Road intersection and banged a right hand turn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a gradual downhill from there back to the Old Rag upper parking lot cement trailhead post, and I cruised the final 2.44 miles at 5:14 pace.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally, I entered the upper parking lot, tapped the cement post and stopped my watch at 1:05:49- FKT #2 on the day for the roundtrip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stood around for a moment or two thinking <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yeah, maybe I could cover this loop slightly faster, sure, but it was still a perfectly good run</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt good, which is what I had hoped for, and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was happy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt like celebrating so I picked up the water bottle, headlight and pack of Clif blocks I stashed earlier behind a log and made my way back up the Ridge Trail for another loop.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Prior to completing this loop I imagined anything under a finish time of 1:10 would be fairly stout and so I am happy with my time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> S</span>ub 1:05 is definitely within reach, possibly even sub 1:03 or 1:02.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It was still warm out during the run and possibly c</span>ooler temperatures alone might have helped get me below 1:05, something I think has a nice ring to it and I would like to claim eventually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sub one hour?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I seriously, seriously doubt I have that in me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never say never but just looking over the splits and how the course is laid out, each section being so unique and requiring different skillsets, I’m not sure where I could shave off a total of more than five minutes and 49 seconds.</span></div>
Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-86516359850852253382012-09-19T10:05:00.000-04:002012-09-19T10:06:04.028-04:00Benefits of Running<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Last week I had the good fortune to witness in real time one of the many extraordinary benefits of running in daily life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last Tuesday, September 11<sup>th</sup>, Gaby gave birth to a healthy baby boy, to whom we of course fell instantly and conjointly in love with and to whom we have rededicated our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the story here, at least for this blog’s sake, is in the hours preceding his birth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Gaby’s contractions began very early, in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During which I mostly continued sleeping and Gaby tossed and turned, no doubt analyzing the patterns between the contractions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the sun came up what did Gaby then decide to do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, she instructed that I continue on with my ritual and go for a run, explaining that she would be fine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second, she decided to go for a walk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would make her feel better during the contractions, she said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Wanting to stay close to home, Gaby marched the few blocks over to the University of Virginia track, exchanging pavement for the highly technical rubberized soft surface of Lannigan Field.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the track Gaby apparently felt good and decided to run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Run?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During labor?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes indeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Five miles later Gaby returned home, called her doctor and we casually made our way to his office for a checkup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was dilated and the baby was on his way. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later in the morning we checked into the hospital and the full on delivery began.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Less than six hours after Gaby ran five miles at the track out came our son, Trail Alexander Gorman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gaby was amazing, and delivered naturally; just the way she had hoped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This story has been told many times over the past week by yours truly- in person, via text, email, phone, Skype and so once more, via this blog, won’t kill me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I’ll even recycle the same drollery many friends and family have already heard or read: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what a double that was</i>.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Gaby remained in excellent shape throughout her pregnancy thanks to running.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This fitness carried over to her feeling [mostly] in control and confident during labor as well, which fortunately turned out to be a success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could it be that Gaby’s labor some women might refer to as ‘easy’ was in large part a result of her fitness?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That running the morning of her birth actually even helped with her labor?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, now, her recovery is going really well because of her running fitness also?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Definitely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, the doctors and nurses at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville, where Gaby delivered, all of whom were impressed, seemed to agree on as much.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For me, witnessing Gaby in action was and is yet another basic, inspiring reminder of the natural importance of health and fitness, and that there is simply no better- or easier- way to bridge a happy and healthy lifestyle than to get outside and run as often is possible.</span></div>
Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-26838779244363808242012-09-03T23:33:00.000-04:002012-09-03T23:43:32.958-04:00Eastern fall racing<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally, after a long, soggy summer that hopefully will terminate soon, the body is beginning to once again feel restored from runs as opposed to feeling depleted after them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed so long where back-to-back runs have clicked by without incidence, or without feeling completely drained, sore, dehydrated, limp, over trained or some other descriptive for generally feeling whipped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This summer has kicked my ass and I’ve struggled by the duel blows of summer’s heat and humidity, simple as that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For the most part I hate excuses and disdain complaining but I’ve found myself commiserating in summer’s midst on more than one occasion with a wilting flower or dry creek bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last summer I recall enjoying summer’s intensity, at least for a while, but- alas- each year is unique and offers new experiences.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fortunately the earth continues rotating and seasons change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least that is how summer seemed to leave us each year in Washington D.C.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The earth turned a bit on its axis and things got chilly. Hopefully the same occurrence will happen in Charlottesville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I expect that it will, and beg that it does expediently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Days eventually will grow longer, leaves will explode into color and in congruence the East’s fall ultra racing season will heat up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s exciting to think about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ultra running has experienced an eventful year and I suppose that is the new norm going forward; however, the year is not yet over and though there remains a few important western races (Wasatch, Run Rabbit Run, North Face SF) it seems to me the fall and early winter belongs to the East.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>UROC, Grindstone, Vermont 50, JFK, Stonemill, Masochist, Tussey Mountainback, Hellgate and now even Pinhoti- to name just a few- all remain as big question marks as to who will show up at each event and who will raise eyebrows long after the summer ultra season has cooled off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As an East Coaster it is energizing to recognize that so many important races still remain on the 2012 calendar and so many of these races are close to home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Perhaps it is fortuitous that my summer of running has not gone so well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A bit of rest and weariness never killed anyone last time I checked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My calendar is full enough with Eastern fall events and I intend to represent.</span></div>
Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-21475908567645414552012-08-12T17:05:00.000-04:002012-08-12T17:15:47.733-04:00UTMB is out. Grindstone, Pinhoti are in.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Seven years ago in October Gaby and I wed at the Halcyon House in Washington D.C. A swanky, at the time artist lived-in, rumored-to-be-haunted mansion located in the heart of Georgetown, punctuating a bluff overlooking M Street, the Potomac River, Key Bridge and Roslyn, Virginia. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I recall clearly the moments before we walked down a makeshift aisle and exchanged nuptials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The feel-good emotions coming over me I instantly recognized as something to embrace. I felt a warm, internal buzzing and wanted to remember exactly how it felt, never knowing how deep it might go or how long it might last.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With no fear of neglecting our guests I rushed to the nearest empty room, away from everyone and locked myself in it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the ceremony began the buzz intensified and with it my senses rose to levels I’d never known.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Smells wafting from everywhere- from flowers, furniture, people, even the house itself- were all consuming and impossible to ignore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remote sounds I could easily pinpoint, tune in or tune out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The feelings of touch and alertness were as equally profound. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simply, I felt like what I imagined a skilled cat to live with; senses far sharper than those of an average human.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, after the ceremony ended and before the reception began I still felt it and informed a few friends and family of just that; that I felt like a cat (which sounds kind of funny to admit) and the sensation was both unusual and intensely gratifying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I</span>t was one of the more self-actualizing moments of my life by far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It still is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With the coming birth of our son in a month I fully expect to experience similar emotions and if I am fortunate they will act as the key to unlocking incredible, innate sensibilities that likely only surface<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a few times in one’s life, at best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, I really, really look forward to welcoming the little guy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, I have decided to withdraw from UTMB.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I simply cannot risk being on a mountain in France and missing out on such a monumental occasion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus, most importantly, in the event he comes just a wee bit early, I must be present to support Gaby when she will no doubt need me most.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>UTMB too would no doubt deliver flashes of self-actualization and wake filled memories worth reliving in repetitive thought but nothing like what I imagine the arrival of one’s first child will bring to the line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>UTMB can wait.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The flip side of this news is that Grindstone and Pinhoti are now on tap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m excited to toe another Virginia 100 mile line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Particularly Grindstone, since that was the last Virginia 100 I ran and its course I am confident I could run much faster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until then, it’s all about preparing for the little guy, gearing the training back up to pre-Western levels and kicking summer in its hot, sticky ass as it eventually walks out the door.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here is a tune by Sigur Ros to inflate your sensibilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Visually, not a bad concert venue if you ask me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Almost any time I listen to a Sigur Ros tune I am transported back to a summer, 10 years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lying down, at night on the hardwood floor in my home office with a bit of red wine in one arm and Gaby in the other.</span></div>
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<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://0.gvt0.com/vi/OGcL_fwxnfw/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OGcL_fwxnfw&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OGcL_fwxnfw&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-33453100848769121672012-07-01T11:15:00.000-04:002012-07-01T20:13:40.093-04:00Drug testing at Western States<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Western States Endurance Run is one of the oldest ultra trail events in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The organization bills the event as one of the most challenging ultra marathons, an “international” draw and- in magazine advertisements- a “championship” event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others praise the event as “prestigious” or refer to it as the “Big Dance”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These aren’t my words but I tend to agree with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s hard to argue against Western States being the most popular and sought after 100 in the land, period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the years, for many reasons, Western States has earned this luring reputation and its placement in annals of ultra marathon history.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As far as 100 milers go, in the US and elsewhere, except for in Chamonix, there is no race that commands the attention of the running community, attracts as many athletes to its registration or swells its field with elites runners, quite like Western States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not even close.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Moreover, runners who win at Western States are often catapulted to the top of the sport’s prize ranking Ultra Runner of the Year and or ultra runner Performance of the Year voting blocks, if not crowned such by their performances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This will likely happen again for 2012 after Timmy’s and Ellie’s recent outstanding performances.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As ultrarunning continues to gain in popularity, and even as more and more competing ultra events sprout up, the lure of Western States will remain, if not intensify.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as fast as other races, old and new, become more and more popular Western States will also, possibly with greater velocity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The men’s and women’s fields at Western States for the past few years have been shockingly deep, the performances very inspiring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does the future hold for the race in terms of competition?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if nothing changes, in terms of the event's registration process- which I could care less if it changes or not- the race will only continue to intensify in terms of competition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So much so that it is difficult to imagine the possible times and field depth five to ten years out as more and more athletes continue to break new barriers. It is exciting to think about.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I believe that the future of ultrarunning may even be defined, if not refined, by Western States performances and the calculus of its race results and performances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do I mean by this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For starters, as the years click by more and more elite athletes will run Western States and finish in incredibly fast times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the next few years- no matter the course or the weather- to finish top ten a male may have to run under 16 hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, that almost happened this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Six men finished under 16 hours, the remaining four of the top ten finished in 16:03, 16:05, 16:13 and 16:18.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the women, sub 19 hours could be the cutoff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similar to the men, that almost happened this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Six women finished under 19 hours, the remaining four of the top ten finished in 19:09, 19:11, 19:29 and 19:45.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Incredible times like these result from incredible performances, which require incredible training and incredible sacrifice by incredible people; people who are focused on Western States and arrive in Squaw in June fresh and ready run hard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As always, many runners who deliver incredible times will arrive to Squaw already with big names and a record of strong past performances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others may show up out of the woodwork and turn heads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only difference is, going forward, there may be more and more runners showing up for the Big Dance out of the woodwork with head turning potential.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is because more and more runners will focus their efforts on Western States, show up for the Big Dance, kill it, whether they top ten or not, then return to their home states or countries and continue killing it at other local and regional events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simply by virtue of runners producing so many big performances at Western States the elite ultra running pie will grow and grow, inspire and filter out through networks of ultra running communities everywhere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Admittedly, I am getting a bit carried away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where am I going with this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe Western States should consider enacting a drug testing policy for the top ten male and female finishers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> These athletes could be tested r</span>ight there on the football field at Placer High, in a tent, surrounded by the track where runners finish the race. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Win Western States?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Top ten finisher?<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Congratulations!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Come with me for a few minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, and here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Drink this bottle of water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need a sample of your urine to test for banned performance enhancing supplements.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">First, let me say loud and clear, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I suspect no one of doping at Western States or at any ultra, anywhere</b>; <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I never have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>But I acknowledge people are people, and we are flawed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We cheat at school, take short cuts at work, we lie, we do things we know are wrong to gain an edge in life and we’re lazy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would be naïve to think that as ultras- in particular, Western States- continue to grow in popularity and as prize money and sponsorships resulting from top performances become more lucrative that some within the ultra running community will not look to short cuts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hell, ego alone for some might be reason enough to dope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Western States- nay, the ultra running community at large- need not learn this lesson or try to fix or cover it up after the fact- like some other sports.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doping already occurs in ultra running.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look to Comrades- this year and others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it happening at other ultra events? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not that I know of but I personally have heard rumors about it taking place among top runners at an international event- and I am not referring to Comrades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could it happen at Western States?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Why couldn’t it?</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, eventually, definitely, if a process is not set up to bust cheaters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> In anything and everything, sports and otherwise, c</span>heaters somehow always snatch a seat at the table of opportunity, looking out only for their own by taking advantage of others and breaking the rules.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Developing a fair, legal, above board drug testing policy couldn’t be that difficult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly, Western States has the resources and connections to see it through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only would an official drug testing policy validate an athlete’s win or top ten it would help to maintain a level playing field for all athletes, and in the process elevate Western States to new, unchartered status as <em>the</em> premier 100 in the land and elsewhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isn’t that what many people are after?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Something akin to a </span>true 100 mile championship race?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can we have that in this day and age without procedures in place set up and designed to keep things fair amongst the athletes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People talk a lot about prize money, as if that were one of the primary driving factors necessary to establish a championship event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe it is for some.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Personally, I would rather win Western States (if that was ever possible…) than run and win any other 100 mile race with a cash purse, where I ran for the expressed purpose of getting paid.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Screw the money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What athletes really need is drug testing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">More than drug testing, what athletes really need is protection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Drug testing will provide that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t mean to suggest that athletes needs protection from themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Athletes need protection from everyone else, including maybe even other athletes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Say in a perfect world, a large snowball amassed in hell, and I won Western States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People might say<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> no frickin’ way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That guy had to dope.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, who knows, they might be justified for feeling that way and some might even welcome their opinions in an open forum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My name would quickly become mud; whether I doped or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, world over, it’s not like endurance athletes haven’t given the public reason to be suspicious.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My story is much like that of many fellow ultra runners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t begin running until later in life and (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">still role playing here…</i>) whoever would have thought that I could win Western States?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A drug test would help protect me from accusatory backlash. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Western States, Montrail Cup qualifying races and other big races require runners with big names to swell their ranks and draw attention to their events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, whether race directors realize it or not, athletes require help from these races to keep their good names clean. My work is in the insurance biz and my primary function each and every day is to manage risk for clients. I simply look at the protection afforded athletes by drug testing as risk management, and not just for the athletes but also for the events, race directors and the sport itself. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All of this may seem much ado about nothing but for me personally this latter point is the one thing I am most concerned about, if anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, not winning Western States and being wrongfully called out but actually running something extraordinary- a sub 16 for example, which I know is possible- and being wrongfully called out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I value my name and my integrity and fear those who might seek to wrongfully tarnish it, whether they truly believed I was in the wrong or not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It's not like I believe this scenario could actually play out for me, but I recognize it is possible. It could certainly happen to others as well, men or women. Everywhere I go to run races and training runs and everyone I meet I feel is a lot like me. Meaning, they're just normal, everyday people. Well, sort of. Aside from the fact that they're incredible athletes. They have jobs, families, they work hard, etc. I would hate to see such a scenario play out for one of my countless friends and <span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">acquaintances</span> who enjoy the sport as much as I do, if not more. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I for one would be happy to be drug tested.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, I would be flattered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would say to me that a race director and a race event that I respect thought of me and my performance as so strong that they thought it necessary to verify that I wasn’t cheating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That may sound a bit strange but as long as the policy is fair and open amongst everyone, seriously, what would I care?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Over the past few weeks (before Western States, not after) I have had a few conversations with people about the possibility of athletes doping at Western States and at other ultra events in general.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of these conversations I had with fellow ultra runners, some I had with friends who are not ultra runners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems the fear of athletes doping is already on people’s minds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe this fear is out there among others in the community, too, only it isn’t talked about much; at least not publicly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I said, looking down the road, it is exciting to think where the sport is going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I for one get goose bumps just thinking about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether we acknowledge or admit it or not, in part, good or bad, we have Western States to thank for much of this directionality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you imagine a time and place at Western States where times won’t continue dropping or when performances will cease to inspire? Maybe not each and every year, but overall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we don’t want to happen is arrive at a time and place where athletes are accused of cheating and there is no proof, yet an individual’s reputation is tarnished regardless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor do we want a cheater hauling off a Western States Cougar trophy or a top ten finish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or do we wish for a scenario where athletes are found out as cheaters but after the fact, resulting in a big, explosive, drama infused outcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would leave an ugly black mark on the sport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Western States can head off such an unseemly- but not unthinkable- scenario at the pass by enacting a drug testing policy for the top ten male and female finishers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I think testing beyond the top ten isn’t necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If a runner enters Western States understanding the drug testing policy and shows up gunning for a win or top ten, yet finishes in the teens or higher, then odds are he or she won’t be doping because if they were to win or finish top ten they would know their finish wouldn’t count if they were discovered as a doper.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Many top ultra runners want to run Western States. Among these individuals, the ultimate goal for some is to finish top ten. <strong>I suspect no one of doping at Western States or at any other ultra, ever, and have no cause for such suspicion.</strong> But I do think in order to help protect athletes, keep the playing field level and elevate the sport Western States should consider enacting a drug testing policy for the top ten male and female finishers.</span></div>Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-78578034387503212942012-06-28T20:36:00.000-04:002012-06-28T20:36:01.926-04:00M10<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Looking back on Western States I feel a great relief it is over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The whole event is such a production.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean that in the most positive terms, but damn if Western isn’t so consuming that it forces almost everything out of one’s psyche, especially as the weeks click by closer to race day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sacrifice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The focus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The energy it consumes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(If you let it.) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is just so intense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes living and being to a whole new level. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ironically, that is exactly what I love about preparing for an event like Western.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, it is important sometimes to step back from things I love, pause, and absorb the journey.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Leading up to Western I felt unusually calm and confident in my mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A low 16 hour time, whatever the weather, whatever the route, is what I was after and what I figured realistic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t like I came up with this time the week of either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I decided last December this is the time I was after.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A top 10 was in the back of my mind and I figured the closer I came to my goal the more likely I would finish amongst the top 10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Low and behold, I finished in 16:18 and 10<sup>th</sup> place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Friday night before the race I was in bed by 9:15 and fell asleep in only a few minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This never, ever happens the night before a big race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Falling asleep instantly the night before Western States?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a miracle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even better, I slept like a baby the whole night through and awoke at 3:00 perfectly rested, springy and for a minute or two completely unaware that it was even race day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps this was a good omen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even as I prepared that morning and made my way through the crowd to the race start I never felt nervous or anxious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The experience was a bit surreal; it felt like a normal day, like going to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even before big solo runs I usually get nerves- just the idea of what is about to happen or what could happen fires me up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thinking back as to why the night before and morning of Western I felt so calm I still don’t have definitive answers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The likely cause is I simply knew and believed, in my core, I was prepared and that I didn’t have to remind myself I was prepared or that I should ‘rely on my training’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I wasn't worried about the other runners and I didn't care who was there. </span>I needed only to go out and do what I came to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For the most part, the race unfolded exactly how I figured it would, for me and for a few others around me at least. Though in honesty I was surprised there wasn’t more carnage amongst the front crowd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That I will chalk up to the weather and the incomprehensible depth of talented and prepared athletes who came to demonstrate their skill in California’s famed, rugged Sierras.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> My hat is off to everyone who delievered on race day- the athletes, the volunteers, I mean everyone- and especially to those who perhaps discovered a new low gear they didn't realize they had before and cranked it. </span>Timmy’s run?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Holy hell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is my new hero.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ellie?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>WTF!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is superhuman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They both, in my estimation, are a lock for UROY and PYOY. (Apart from Bryon Powell, of course.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s right, and all in a day’s work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is, unless a certain young man runs under 23:23 at Hardrock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Will that happen? It would certainly make things interesting, wouldn't it? </span>Could it happen?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Absolutely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually, Dakota, or Kilian, or Timmy, or some other pimp will run sub 23 at Hardrock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most likely sub 22:30. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It might take perfect conditions to do it, like at Western, but it will eventually happen. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is only a matter of time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back to Western, my only regret is that my legs didn’t quite hold up the same after the back-to-back descents from Last Chance and Devil’s Thumb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Zeke and I ran together for several miles leading up to that point, with Yassine yo-yoing off the front.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, I was the one who set the pace down both of these descents, as well as the climb up to Michigan Bluff (Zeke set the pace up Devil’s) and I can’t say the two descents didn’t extract a bit of pep from my legs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">By the time I reached Rucky Chucky and the River I was in 10th place and unsure how close or how far back Yassine, who I passed some time after Forrest Hill, Olive Oil Joe or some other runner(s) were in proximity. I climbed the road well enough from the River to Green Gate, stopping once to pee and power hike a few short sections. I heard cheering at the River crossing only monents after I left, signaling the arrival of a trailing runner, and it was then, I knew, that the race for Top 10 officially took hold. I picked up Paul as a pacer at Green Gate, and Gaby and Pattie once again helped process me through the aid station efficiently. Moments after leaving Green Gate Paul and I ran by a walking Mike Wolfe. I wasn't sure if Mike would DNF but it looked like he might. Runners always DNF at Green Gate, it seems. (Turns out Mike did finish, and finish well, but mostly likely after a fair bit of suffering.) The climbing continued after Green Gate. Despite my sore quads I was climbing well enough and I figured if it was Yassine who I heard the crowd cheering for shortly after I crossed the River I felt good about my chances of gapping him the more we had to climb. The only problem was, it wasn't Yassine.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Running in ninth place I felt slightly less pressured but it didn't hold me back from moving along at a pace my sore legs would allow. Just before Auburn Lake Trails mother nature called and I was forced to pull over for a few minutes. I wasn't happy to stop but I was happy for the relief. Suckingly, before I hopped back onto the trail Olive Oil Joe- who was actually on my tail at the River- and his pacer ran by. Joe looked sore and banged up but it didn't stop him from moving strong and staying focused. In fact, it most likely motivated him to run harder and finish faster so he would have to suffer less. That, plus I am sure he was hell bent on a top 10. Me, I was now back in 10th. Back to feeling pressured. Paul and I kept moving. I ran pretty much every hill all the way to the finish, only stopping to hike for a few seconds here and there, including the climbs up to Highway 49 and Robie Point. Paul unfortunately fell slightly behind on the climb up Robie and I eventually picked up AJW and then also Gaby on the road leading to the track at Placer High. We ran together, laughing as the last bit of pale sky turned dark, and I was thrilled that- for me- the race was all but over and a return ticket to Squaw next summer would soon be stamped. Finally, I entered the track and crossed the finish line after several high fives. Needless to say, it felt good to be done. And I was so glad not to have suffered more race drama after being passed by Joe in the mid 80s. I can't imagine how hugely annoying and stressful it would have been to fight for M10 over the final few miles. But I would have done it. No question.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I'll definitely return to Western next year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> How could I </span>turn down the opportunity to sport M10 and go after another such life opportunity? The sacrifice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The focus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The energy it will consume will make life all the better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately though, for now, Western is over for another year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is time to relax.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But just for a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soon many new prize experiences will arrive to focus on and embrace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Namely, in September I’ll be a Dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Yes, indeed. </span> I’ll be a new parent and father to a baby boy. I am very excited, and I am very nervous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Plus, in</span> a few weeks Gaby and I move into our new home in Charlottesville; a gravel road leads to trails on O-hill and the Rivanna Trail from the tail end of our new street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now through mid July I wake each morning with the sun, look east over the Rocky Mountains from my patio in Vail, and chomp at the UTMB bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Life is good.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Running away from Robinson Flat. Yassine in tow. Photo by George Thoma.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entering Michigan Bluff. Zeke makes his break after the aid station. Photo by Brett Rivers.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The climb to Bath Road. Photo by John Mackey.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkPAihQORHKnkGkgH8trEFTBaPRWpGemsWJ2jvd-K_2c4QOWuQURZ_jqo9ZiOeBQ5gnARWjvp0XSs-VITCdwgPqAzEz6tLzCuPVaYtKfQ-bPvzQtcqHXkS-Ttl7ZzkYuGZNst80Dq-qDy0/s1600/Photo-11-Meghan-M_-HicksiRunFar_com-photo-credit+-+Hwy+49.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkPAihQORHKnkGkgH8trEFTBaPRWpGemsWJ2jvd-K_2c4QOWuQURZ_jqo9ZiOeBQ5gnARWjvp0XSs-VITCdwgPqAzEz6tLzCuPVaYtKfQ-bPvzQtcqHXkS-Ttl7ZzkYuGZNst80Dq-qDy0/s640/Photo-11-Meghan-M_-HicksiRunFar_com-photo-credit+-+Hwy+49.jpg" vca="true" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Highway 49. Gaby said "two runners are only a few minutes behind you!" That was all I needed to hear (whether it was true or not). Photo by Meghan Hicks.</td></tr>
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<br /></div>Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-39122857982602207002012-06-04T07:35:00.000-04:002012-06-04T07:35:26.541-04:00Reset Button: FKT at The Priest and Three Ridges<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saturday marked my third weekend outing in a row at The Priest and Three Ridges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have something of a crush on the area and its trails, I confess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The morning began like many others: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>an early, uneasy rouse, followed by a packing of the car and coffee to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the summer solstice nears morning light arrives earlier by the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Driving south on Route 29 from Charlottesville at 5:30am the sun seemed well into the sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Then, s</span>hortly after 6:00 as I neared Route 56 West, suddently they came into view: first The Priest, then Three Ridges.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Route 56 is an easy road to find but a difficult road to drive without distraction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Tye River for one is a beautiful flowing mass of water, draining east from the westerly peaks, churning over a bed of rocks and boulders, helping to make all things green and vibrant in the valley below. 56 follows the Tye as it weaves through the valley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Farms offer another distraction on both sides of 56. They're beautiful both in their pastoral setting and in their conventionalities that define the area<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">. In addition, I find witnessing a farmer labor a field very peaceful and sometimes actually worth watching. </span>The Priest and Three Ridges mountains command the most attention while driving west on 56.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their size, their contour, even their color- which constantly changes by the week or with the smallest tweak of sunlight- adds greatly to their prowess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am nothing if not fixated on them, particularly The Priest, as I inch closer on 56 to the nearby Appalachian Trail (AT) trailhead.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVcFycLg-zMPMSLbFoYFfBplkUPWI7b_8fOYj_vUOCuUEY8gEDVeimV4I_ZiIYmWgNdCOLHIYeC9UoRAdS2M9PAin5TarCf3dljRihSW56a0PPPG9D9YOtCaqEPmsHdyPmb1KeQE0yd_-A/s1600/1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVcFycLg-zMPMSLbFoYFfBplkUPWI7b_8fOYj_vUOCuUEY8gEDVeimV4I_ZiIYmWgNdCOLHIYeC9UoRAdS2M9PAin5TarCf3dljRihSW56a0PPPG9D9YOtCaqEPmsHdyPmb1KeQE0yd_-A/s640/1.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">West on 56. The distant highpoint is The Priest.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCRKgwuhP78aSlTOksamD-lw5gCwanqXx4HDtp7kVjmhTICsohiHJO60sCnVEeHD7jyzc9CizJWg2sBKJaaRDZC2dMtH5mikZmvjtBS3wriCvBy2lp2X-_AeN7AOzpoWwOKf3fF1JblCk2/s1600/2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCRKgwuhP78aSlTOksamD-lw5gCwanqXx4HDtp7kVjmhTICsohiHJO60sCnVEeHD7jyzc9CizJWg2sBKJaaRDZC2dMtH5mikZmvjtBS3wriCvBy2lp2X-_AeN7AOzpoWwOKf3fF1JblCk2/s640/2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stopping in the road to admire The Priest.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiojrCqlrQQyBGSj6Ki_XTTBb_hReETNaM8nDg6Aa0lf-UMfeGeWpAmNKE0Ky7oJfTgOvnqlhnfJsZgni7klDUme7cJCM2w-1JuIFMWzJZU2xiF5mX3wXJ6TE8IJMooEGNwwyVh33EAXl3m/s1600/3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiojrCqlrQQyBGSj6Ki_XTTBb_hReETNaM8nDg6Aa0lf-UMfeGeWpAmNKE0Ky7oJfTgOvnqlhnfJsZgni7klDUme7cJCM2w-1JuIFMWzJZU2xiF5mX3wXJ6TE8IJMooEGNwwyVh33EAXl3m/s640/3.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More Priest. It's coming better into view.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_LrJzWueQAQqlKtr4eu4SitiuJ78Q0nYk0oUNlpIkehWHnPDkDnCoZw-OluXSfeOf0tDacG7jDfHWb6R8wAXOnOy-eO-LPUMCVx95JPTb0P7X-PaJjtgIiafhwyI_Sep0IOqJM8W-scyz/s1600/4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_LrJzWueQAQqlKtr4eu4SitiuJ78Q0nYk0oUNlpIkehWHnPDkDnCoZw-OluXSfeOf0tDacG7jDfHWb6R8wAXOnOy-eO-LPUMCVx95JPTb0P7X-PaJjtgIiafhwyI_Sep0IOqJM8W-scyz/s640/4.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three Ridges.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu78454TqB-UuUQntiVoZRrQ11jrwxn8V_uaJ8ChtvZQPTDXKOBQSJoTfiT5M4E_rbwTdoBVovsvGaV25HssJPEatynoI13ppDFvW4Xp1SX0kAah-ge258z1meStgXLK_D7KCHPLgdMlXB/s1600/5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu78454TqB-UuUQntiVoZRrQ11jrwxn8V_uaJ8ChtvZQPTDXKOBQSJoTfiT5M4E_rbwTdoBVovsvGaV25HssJPEatynoI13ppDFvW4Xp1SX0kAah-ge258z1meStgXLK_D7KCHPLgdMlXB/s640/5.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back to The Priest.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5XOhiOuajzRlpUNhBwO46H3pw5iTbtQ9zNFk-KfHrEWtjy4oZEUwaX_uRiXE1s5xatMP-qz4ZPXzEOS6oTDG97pEvPJRyMUjJw2qAOuLpQkSlkK2ohkO38vx5AFtlwUPJ-X4Hc2p95NSu/s1600/6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5XOhiOuajzRlpUNhBwO46H3pw5iTbtQ9zNFk-KfHrEWtjy4oZEUwaX_uRiXE1s5xatMP-qz4ZPXzEOS6oTDG97pEvPJRyMUjJw2qAOuLpQkSlkK2ohkO38vx5AFtlwUPJ-X4Hc2p95NSu/s640/6.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Long shuttered one-room area schoolhouse located 1.5 miles from the trailhead on the right side.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9NcQV0aXSfKrXvdSabKW7BvYcPUvlLW_MXG9scnBUxoju9WgqGcPmQmQxJMPRgQY8TNkI-FO8S0u7IkBWs-oIKFcAnVrjtzHmFXZt8X65ltKsTAIBcEIjR9kWDA4SWk1_gedpxTlr0Ddo/s1600/7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9NcQV0aXSfKrXvdSabKW7BvYcPUvlLW_MXG9scnBUxoju9WgqGcPmQmQxJMPRgQY8TNkI-FO8S0u7IkBWs-oIKFcAnVrjtzHmFXZt8X65ltKsTAIBcEIjR9kWDA4SWk1_gedpxTlr0Ddo/s640/7.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the trailhead entrance of Three Ridges, a suspension bridge spanning the Tye. Notice the white AT hash marking.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Fbb_a_KALQBJXY5dwZesG5HuuI8hND5xtBHhrsEvpsChtweXdzvf_UkjFotNXRL_LOcLlGl29Rmw1XHUmTZmQK_f_pupnS-zV6s-amnj0XRC_xtfphTEPjeNzV-Og-qwNqsHcErJEUww/s1600/8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Fbb_a_KALQBJXY5dwZesG5HuuI8hND5xtBHhrsEvpsChtweXdzvf_UkjFotNXRL_LOcLlGl29Rmw1XHUmTZmQK_f_pupnS-zV6s-amnj0XRC_xtfphTEPjeNzV-Og-qwNqsHcErJEUww/s640/8.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view of the bridge from the Tye roughly 20 feet below. Hard to believe the Tye crested higher than the bridge in 1969 during Hurricane Camille.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Once the picture taking was done it was time to run. Only this time I was back on 56 for a 20 minute out and back warm up. I admit, with only three weeks remaining until Western after this weekend I came to run hard and the AT leads directly up in either direction. A warm up would help get the blood flowing as I began the climb up Three Ridges. That it did. The climbing felt smooth. Not a smooth as I hope climbing will feel in three weeks, once rested, but pretty darn smooth, or smooth enough, considering this weekend ended five weeks in a row of 100+ miles and loads of vertical.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Like last weekend and </span><a href="http://www.nealgorman.com/2012/05/fkt-at-priest-and-three-ridges.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">the one before that</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, I ran my usual- up the AT to Three Ridges, down to the Mau Har, back to the AT, back to the car lot, then up and down The Priest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two weeks ago I ran this loop pretty well and fairly hard at times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last weekend it was hot and our group more casual. It was nice stopping at the overlooks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Especially the one facing west on The Priest summit, which offers spectacular, practically unmolested natural mountainous views to the west.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This time, like I said, I came to run hard and so that it was I did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only this time from the top of The Priest I ran down the other side, hooked left at the shelter sign (the Bradley Mongold way), ran the rocky descent to the actual shelter, tapped it’s wall (adding a ¼ mile or so from the sign to the shelter and back), then returned to 56.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For those geeky enough to care, here are the splits:</span></span></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">:19:52 from the AT trail map board to AT/Mau Har intersection.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">:46:15 (1:06:07) to Three Ridges summit.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">:22:42 (1:28:49) to Mau Har intersection. Refilled water bottle at the spring here and took a scratch shortly after.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">:32:54 (2:01:43) back to Mau Har/AT intersection.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">:12:11 (2:13:54) back at the car lot/trail map board.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">:01:16 (2:15:10) switched out bottles and back on the AT, up The Priest.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1:02:35 (3:17:45) tippidy-tapped the shelter wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I lost a chunk of time on the climb. Running up a mountain on un-fresh legs is challenging, to say the least. Excuses, excuses...</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">:35:23 (<u>3:53:10 finish</u>) Priest re-summit and down to the AT trail map board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>FKT reset. Running hard down a mountain on un-fresh legs is much more doable.</span></span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">GPS details <a href="http://connect.garmin.com/activity/184734334#.T8pwndAME-Q.email" target="_blank">here</a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">22.5 rocky miles and just shy of 7,800 feet of vertical. The Priest and Three Ridges. Have some.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Running down The Priest from the meadow I killed it in 27 minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> N</span>ot exactly a Clark Zealand/Josh Cox effort (25/26 minutes!) but a respectable time nonetheless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And along the way down who did I see running up, looking fresh as a daisy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None other than my partner-in-crime from two weeks prior, Dr. Dave Hryvniak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dave and his wife were en route to Blacksburg for the weekend- taking the slow, scenic way- and decided to break up the trip with a Priest assault.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We blasted right by one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“There you are!,” Dave yelled laughing, appearing out of no where as I coursed a bend in the trail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He must have seen my car in the lot down the mountain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“See you at the bottom,” I spit out in between heavy breaths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once down I hit 56 again for a five mile cool down to round out the morning at 30 miles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back at the car lot I caught up with Dave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He ran up The Priest to the shelter sign in 45 minutes (insane!), then turned around and burned it back down in 35.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I mentioned to Dave after the run, this was my fifth run at The Priest and Three Ridges though in some ways my least fulfilling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I realized then and there this is because it</span> was the first time I ran here by myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most often I run alone and am content to do so; however, for many reasons the memories of running here with others feels more meaningful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trails, the terrain, the sights this area has to offer, even the drive out, is best shared in the company of others I decided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I enjoyed the day’s hard effort but for now, with the books on Western training all but closed and an official FKT under my belt (for whatever it’s worth...), for the foreseeable future I only hope to return to The Priest and Three Ridges with others and to run at a more casual pace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Five times and there is still much to see and explore on this circuit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus, there are many other nearby sections of trails to link up and explore.</span></span></div>Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-35720767617914550072012-05-29T10:51:00.001-04:002012-05-29T10:51:58.472-04:00Our bodies in the heat<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/how-your-body-beats-the-heat/2012/05/25/gJQAsvvEqU_graphic.html?hpid=z1" target="_blank">Here is a neat overview/reminder</a> from the Washington Post about how our bodies respond, cope and acclimatize in the heat. Just in time considering summer is here- at least on the right coast. And so is the season of 100s.<br />
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Speaking of heat and 100s, <a href="http://olddominionrun.org/" target="_blank">Old Dominion</a> is this weekend. Anyone know who is running and which guys and gals might have the best chance of taking home the beautiful silver buckle with a "FIRST TO FINISH" brass emblem? The OD folks continue their old fashioned ways by not providing us running geeks with an entrasts list to examine. Anyway, good luck to those toeing the line. Currently the weather calls for highs in the mid 70s in Woodstock on Saturday. With temps like that, you guys might luck out!Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-87245931833287295102012-05-21T23:40:00.003-04:002012-05-22T10:56:55.649-04:00FKT at The Priest and Three Ridges<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dr. Dave Hryvniak and I departed Charlottesville shortly after 6:00am Sunday and drove south west for The Priest and Three Ridges wilderness areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An hour later we arrived at an Appalachian Trail (AT) trailhead off Route 56, betwixt said wilderness areas and between two rather large mountain peaks. On the north side of 56 is Three Ridges. On the south side, The Priest. Both aptly named after their respective 'wilderness' designations. Or vice versa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We exited the car, readying ourselves for the morning mission: 22+ miles of gnarly single track and 7,500 feet of vertical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The temperature outside felt cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sun shined brightly, though it wasn’t even quarter past 7:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sounds of rushing water from the Tye River paralleling the north side of 56 crashed noisily over rocks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>North on to the AT and into the Three Ridge wilderness area we ran.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I led the first ascent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We barely made it up the first mile of switchbacks on the AT before my legs reminded me of yesterday’s folly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>20+ miles at dawn with 5 x up tempo repeat climbs up the full length of Carter’s Mountain gravel road near my home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inwardly, I attempted to reconcile this quagmire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Today is the day I am supposed to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">run</i> The Priest and Three Ridges with Dave Hryvniak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Montalto Challenge hill climb, record-holding-champion, here-to-train-for-Mount-Washington-next-month, Dave Hryvniak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was I thinking?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I made up excuses. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dave was patient. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My pace wasn’t entirely pedestrian but I sensed early on his legs were firing and he was all about the business of giving Three Ridges a bit of hell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We crossed the Mau-Har trail intersection, staying on the AT, and descended to a creek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We smelled the pleasant smoke of a hiker’s breakfast fire wafting from a nearby camp shelter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shortly after the AT took a hard right and the official climb up Three Ridges began.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dave passed by at my left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> M</span>oments later he was out of sight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the drive down earlier that morning Dave mentioned a recent <a href="http://www.nealgorman.com/2012/04/proposed-area-fkt-routes.html" target="_blank">blog post</a> I wrote about Central Virginia area mountain trail routes that I believe are FKT-worthy; The Priest and Three Ridges certainly being one of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He asked if and when I thought of going for the FKT.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I simply replied that I felt indifferent about it- at least for the foreseeable future- but that I considered the FKT, or an attempt at such, sweet as pie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dave was intrigued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could tell he was man enough, and fit enough, to give it a go if he chose to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><em>Would he?</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I huffed, puffed and sweated my way up Three Ridges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dave was gone off the front, so I didn’t bother stopping at rock outcroppings to soak in the views of flatter, Central Virginia to the east, or The Priest summit to the south.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The AT along this section was in immaculate condition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was apparent some gracious individual(s) had only recently travelled the area with hand tools, cutting back branches, shrubs and low lying plants from the trail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just before crossing the final switchbacks leading to the summit I scrambled the most technical section of the ascent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hands on rocks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hands on knees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever it took.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, the summit post was in view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dave stood nearby, hands on his hips, searching for views through the flora.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Waiting for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tagged the summit post without breaking stride, and hooked left, following the AT.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1:11:51 read my time split.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dave arrived three or four minutes earlier, he said. My time, then? Semi-pedestrian, after all, I measured in thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As we rounded the summit I took the wheel and set my downhill legs on cruise control over the rocks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyone who comes to play hard at The Priest and Three Ridges had best be comfortable running hard downhill over technical terrain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dave climbed like a beast up Three Ridges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We hadn’t yet calibrated our minds on going for an overall fast time that morning but I sensed he might be up for it and I wanted to do my part and help him- and help him I could by keeping him honest running downhill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I picked up the pace just a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t stop at view points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We did however admire and laugh in amazement as we breezed through a few steep, technical sections, sided and overhung by various species of mountain laurels in full bloom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everywhere there was green, and white, and red, and purple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was intensely beautiful; like passing through a tunnel of flowers in some places.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I continued setting the pace downhill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dave trailed within eyesight. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I figured if we cruised at a decent pace back to 56 Dave could unleash the hounds on the climb up The Priest and go for an FKT.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We reached a short climb before the Mau-Har intersection and, again, Dave passed by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I caught back up just as we reached the actual intersection and hooked left on to the Mau-Har.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few backpackers at the trail intersection camp shelter asked what route we were running and I yelled back “Three Ridges loop, then The Priest.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seconds later we were out of ear shot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Mau-Har trail is mostly downhill before a final rise when reuniting with the AT.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, one can only travel but so fast along the Mau-Har due to its saw tooth pattern of up, over and down rocky features and around sharp cutting, zig-zagging turns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are also a few sections where one must pay close attention because it is easy to turn off the trail at a few spur points that lead to a stream, which crashes down the mountain in parallel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one such location I stopped to wait for Dave- I didn’t want him to go off trail at one of the spurs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually we bottomed out on the Mau-Har and began the climb back up to near where the trail re-connects with the AT.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few switchbacks later and Dave was, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">again</i>, gone from sight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I reached the top, then ran down to where the Mau-Har re-connects with the AT, hooked right and floored it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From where the Mau-Har re-connects to the AT, all the way back down to 56, I ran the hardest I would run all day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My goal was to catch Dave and assist him with getting back on the trail after refilling bottles at the car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A half mile or so before 56 I caught back up and passed him, yelling back that I would get the car open so he could transition quickly if he wanted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I arrived back to the car in 2:20:38, popped open the doors and began refilling my two handhelds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dave arrived seconds later and did the same. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My legs felt really strong and nimble running downhill and slowly but surely I felt more warmed up on the climbs. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus, I barely drank over one bottle of water the whole way thus far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> And it didn't appear to matter much because </span>I felt sharp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, I was not keen on potentially being overcome with thirst on the climb up The Priest so I chugged an entire bottle of water, swallowed two s-caps, grabbed a few Clif Blocks, locked up the car and was back on the trail in 2:22:47. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dave lagged behind for another moment. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Half a mile up the trail Dave motored by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Go get it” I told him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stopped to leak, and soon after he was gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that point I was content to simply enjoy the climb, happily knowing that- in a small, strange sort of way- I might have helped Dave achieve something special and unique: an FKT at The Priest and Three Ridges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bitchin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“WTF!” I thought as I neared a trail turn a third of the way up the climb and saw Dave standing in the middle of the trail, with his left foot propped on a rock, stretching his hamstring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’m done,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Something about a hip issue he didn’t want to aggravate this close to Mount Washington.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Go ahead, I’ll see you back at the car,” he told me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I did; I went ahead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I continued up The Priest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From then on, I never sped up, I even power hiked quite a bit along sections I could have actually run but, still, I climbed with purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the first major outcropping and view point, facing east, I ditched one of my bottles behind a tree so I could travel lighter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Fortunately, t</span>hirst was not an issue for me on this day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Priest is one of those strangely attractive mountains where the higher one climbs, the steeper the grade becomes, and the more narrow the trail becomes, the fewer the switchbacks and the sharper and more prevalent the rocks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ran less and hiked more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I leaned into the mountain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My hands pushed off my knees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Movement was slower the closer I came to the summit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only, where was the summit?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh yes, The Priest is like that, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The summit is an elusive little bugger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It’s there!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">10 minutes later…</i> “No wait, it’s there!...”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, I reached the summit and the grassy meadow with a fire ring to my right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took me 55 minutes to reach the summit from 56 at the bottom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t stop there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had heard there was a trail marker signaling an intersection and camp shelter somewhere down the other side and this marker, I figured, I would tag before returning back to 56 to make official this- apparent and unexpected- FKT attempt with a true turnaround destination.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Down the other side and over the rocks I travelled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The shelter sign, buried in a base of rocks in the middle of the AT, I tagged at 3:24 and immediately turned around and re-summited The Priest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>6 minutes, 38 seconds and .68 miles from tagging the shelter sign, I was back on the grassy meadow summit, staring again at the fire ring to my left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time to let her rip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I ran down The Priest’s north face, over and through the AT rocks and around her switchbacks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ran with confidence, agility, and speed, but I did not push it past the level of feeling out of my comfort zone or out of control. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More than anything, I was excited how well my quads were holding up at this stage in WS training and on this run, this day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They felt amazing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It didn’t matter if I still had four more Priests to run down, I knew my quads could do the job and still feel strong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve never run down hills the way I am running them these days, and this gives me confidence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The really steep, really technical upper sections soon gave way to a smoother, gradual grade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stream crossings came and went, as well as a few more switchbacks and straight away down hills and, eventually, the AT trailhead board came into view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, my feet landed onto the gravel parking lot at 56 and I stopped my watch at 4:00:13.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t want to be done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was fun running strong down The Priest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the trail ended, there were cold drinks in the car and it was time to call it a day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I mentioned in the recent <a href="http://www.nealgorman.com/2012/04/proposed-area-fkt-routes.html" target="_blank">FKT post</a>, I heard 3:56 on this loop was run once and considered stout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only the runner, Jonathan Basham, to my knowledge, ran to the summit meadow of The Priest and did not add the additional 1.36 miles down and back up from the shelter sign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Had</span> I left off that bit I would have finished somewhere closer to 3:48.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not bad considering where I am in WS training and that I really never expected to actually go for an FKT until about mile 15 or 16, after Dave decided to call it a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sub 3:50 on the same route I ran- which I am certain I could run- I now would consider stout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And sub 3:45, really strong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> O</span>r I’m in really good form at the moment and my outlook is skewed. Either way, who cares, it's all just fun and games.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here is a link to the evidence of all of my babbling: <a href="http://connect.garmin.com/activity/180225572#.T7lAoJdP8sE.email" target="_blank">GPS details</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And here is me after finishing back at the trailhead off 56.</span></div>
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<br /></div>Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-54261571221433670432012-05-20T14:37:00.000-04:002012-05-20T20:47:17.560-04:00UROY: 2012<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My objective in this post is not to cause a big fuss or develop a conversation ad nauseam about UROY, but simply to share an opinion I currently hold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus far, in 2012, male UROY is a one horse race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bryon Powell, of <a href="http://irunfar.com/">iRunFar.com</a> (obviously), is way out in front as the leader. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bryon’s tireless efforts at iRunFar.com provide running geeks worldwide constant information, which stirs all sorts of conversations, provides inspiration and entertainment and, in the process, has helped to take trail running and ultra running (in the US, at least) to a whole new level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By providing to the masses a steady stream of race previews, results, interviews, feature stories and photos of runners smoking cigars<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bryon is seemingly everywhere, all the time. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clearly, Bryon is on top of his game and in a class of his own.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A casual look back on the early months of 2012 reveals Bryon on-site covering numerous events, both racing and otherwise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A look forward is no different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or maybe it is in that Bryon will be even more places.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is a quick guess of where else Bryon will be in 2012, inspiring and entertaining us: Western States, Pikes Peak, Leadville, UTMB, Wasatch, UROC, Run Rabbit Run, NF San Fran, and God knows at how many other races and events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who else can touch this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Knowing that Bryon will no doubt continue his tireless efforts over the remainder of 2012, I think it will take a series of truly unbelievable performances, acts and or occurrences for a second male runner to come even close as UROY.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To my knowledge, no “runner” has ever been voted UROY without running a single ultra marathon in the year of actual voting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And to my knowledge, Bryon hasn’t raced since last year, though he is expected to toe the line at Leadville in August.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope Bryon runs Leadville, and finishes of course, because without at least a single race result to his credit in 2012 it is unlikely he will get the nod as a candidate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hell, he may not get the nod anyway but he damn well should.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then again, I’m just a guy with an opinion.</span></div>Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5332822485877032007.post-64995075594490707902012-05-04T19:35:00.001-04:002012-05-05T05:50:39.085-04:00Spring weekend racing<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hard to believe that tomorrow morning’s <a href="http://www.monticello.org/site/visit/events/montalto-challenge" target="_blank">Montalto Challenge</a> will mark my 8<sup>th</sup> race event in as many consecutive weekends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been a fun ride, these past two months, getting out on the trails, and the roads, through the towns, the woods and over the mountains, mixing it up with all sorts of folks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Running back to back races, over varying distances and terrain has opened new doors for me- it has revealed strengths I didn’t realize I have, as well as a few weaknesses. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weaknesses I will most certainly attempt to address.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Admittedly, since Bull Run, I haven’t made an honest effort at recovering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The big weeks and big workouts resumed immediately following that race, right through Promise Land last weekend, where I do believe I paid the price having no real pep left in the legs climbing mountains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the go, up the first climb, I felt it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or should I say, I didn’t feel it, because there wasn’t much there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, what an event David Horton has assembled in The Promise Land, and I did my best to enjoy it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stories are all true: it’s hard, it’s beautiful, it’s significantly more than 31 miles in length, Clark Zealand’s 2002 course record <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was</i> indeed super stout and Eric Grossman’s epic run, where he lowered Clark’s time by four minutes and 48 seconds, will live on as a memorable performance. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you haven’t read Eric’s <a href="http://explorefatigue.blogspot.com/2012/04/do-it-anyway.html" target="_blank">race report</a>, by the way, you’re missing out; it is a beautiful piece.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m certainly looking forward to Montalto tomorrow but at this point I’ll be glad when next weekend rolls around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is time for really long runs in the mountains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is then when I’ll figure out if all of this short spring racing business was actually beneficial in terms of lessons learned and building my fitness, or if it were only a fun ride.</span></div>Neal Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817697044864768312noreply@blogger.com0