Saturday, November 7, 2009

Another Day At The Office?

Kind of, but also a bit more satisfying than just another race.

Won Mountain Masochist 50 a few hours ago in 6:27:55. Not sure where that came from. I really haven't run anything fast in several months. I ran the last mile today in 5:25, probably the fastest single mile that I've run since sometime in July.

As far as races go this one went really well. I felt strong the whole day and I feel really good tonight as I'm hanging out in my hotel room eating everything in sight. I ran with the lead pack - mostly consisting of Gary Robbins, Lon Freeman, Vlamir Nunes, and myself - for the first half of the race, but as the terrain got much tougher in the second half I just took off and really began to push the pace. I didn't even care (or know) what was going on behind me. I was dialed in and I knew that if I just kept myself there that it didn't matter what was going on behind me. By mile 30 I was cutting about a minute and a half per mile off the previous course record splits. I continued to attack uphills as I had all day, but after mile 35 I also really attacked the downhills more than I ever have in any race. And the faster I ran the better I felt. When it was said and done I took more than 20 minutes off Dave Mackey's previous course record. This is obviously a really exciting result to me, but also kind of scary (mostly in a good way). More on all of this sometime in the next few days.

As usual, thanks to everyone for all your support, especially my Dad who drove down from Central New York and crewed for me and got to see me race for the first time since 1995 when I was in college.

23 comments:

Yassine said...

Wow...again!...I could see the "W" coming but Mackey's record by 20 minutes! whew! Nice going man!

Where is your dad from in Central NY? I just moved to Oregon from there (Ithaca). What a year for you Geoff...congratulations! :0)

Anonymous said...

Outstanding! Congratulations! Really happy that you got to perform so well when your dad was there too. Must have made it even more special.

Anonymous said...

Congrats man, mainly on running another record on a competitive field. You are the next fast mofo. All the best for you and your dad!

Boo Radley said...

Geoff, you really are the man! We are all pulling for you to wrap up 2009 with the win in San Fran!!! Just keep logging those miles for the love of it and the wins will keep rolling in!!!

James said...

J.C. man, you're unstoppable!

Craig Thornley said...

You have had one amazing year, Geoff. Congratulations on earning your spot in Western States (Lon too). Gonna be fun to see what you can do there.

Derrick said...

Congrats again on a great race and fantastic year to date.

Scary amazing how things are going for you. Keep it going!

All the best at TNF50!

Unknown said...

Awesome job Geoff! Congrats on nabbing a spot in WS. It will be so exciting to see you give Hal a run for his money there;-) As far as I'm concerned, you're on your way to Ultra runner of the year. Not to diminish what Karl has done, but if you run your normal race at NF50, that would be two head to head victories in races Karl and you have done. Not to mention the CRs you've set at several races.

Well done

Unknown said...

Awesome job Geoff! Congrats on nabbing a spot in WS. It will be so exciting to see you give Hal a run for his money there;-) As far as I'm concerned, you're on your way to Ultra runner of the year. Not to diminish what Karl has done, but if you run your normal race at NF50, that would be two head to head victories in races Karl and you have done. Not to mention the CRs you've set at several races.

Well done

Brett said...

I hope you get to Hardrock some year!

Redfox said...

NICE!! We look forward to seeing you in February for Iditarod. As always, we're available to be the convalescent home, but that won't be necessary because this is your year to get to McGrath.

GZ said...

Wow! Amazing stuff. A win, a CR, and an unforeseen break through!

ultrarunner (Brian Philpot) said...

I told u can knock out a 50 mile race. Great job! And a good year.

FixieDave said...

FREAK! nice work man!

Unknown said...

Very well done, sir!

Andrew said...

Congrats again Geoff! Yassine... they are from north of Syracuse and CJ he didn't have CRs at several races.. it was every race! ;)

Geoff... I hope the thoughts running through your head are to see what type of time you could clock in a flat road marathon! would be boring compared to what you normally run but really think you could post a sick time!

EC said...

Really ridiculous LOL... It shouldn't be legal to run that fast...Congrats! I went to UAS and I'm from NY and guess what? I too find myself running through the woods for a long periods of time not nearly as fast as you but the scenery is the same:) Keep enjoying what you do so well. The Tongass 100 would be amazing..

John Price said...

Congrats Geoff on a supurb race. I'm most impressed with your second half 3:00! I've completed the race 24 times and my only regret is not being able to watch you guys up front racing... It would be awesome... ;-)

TonyP said...

Unreal. Congrats on yet another notch in your victory belt.

AJW said...

Nice work, man! Or should I say, UROY!

Look forward to catching up in SF next month. Hopefully, you'll still be hanging around by the time I finish.

AJW

Jamie Donaldson said...

You are unreal Geoff!

Congrats on an amazing year!

Unknown said...

Geoff,

Great run!

I'm not quite sure what you meant in your 11/05/09 post, about not being in perfect condition right now, but if you can put up that kind of time when you are not in perfect shape, I wonder how many minutes you will break your own records by in some of these races when you ARE in perfect shape.

Good night and good luck!

Great job!

Olga said...

Glad you're doing WS next year, should be fun:) Don't you dare ditch it again for biking event! Congrats big time!