A Couple Fun Links

Back in Colorado after an Awesome weekend up in Bellingham at the Chuckanut 50k. Congrats to Adam Campbell and Ellie Greenwood for their wins up there in some pretty crappy conditions. It's hard to think of two nicer and more deserving people in the sport, even if they are Canadian :-) Also a huge congratulations to everyone who ran on Saturday. I've never seen so many people come across a finish line with blood on their legs, but just about everyone seemed to be in a great mood. It was really cool to see so many friends out doing what they love.

Wanted to post a couple quick links to some new things floating around the internet since last week:

http://www.skyrunning.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=146:transvulcania-running-legends-announced&catid=37:article-slider-content&Itemid=134

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaKdd4Y6RZY

Big News For Alaska Mountain Ultrarunning Camps

Due to high demand, and to some changes in some of my other plans for this Summer, I have decided to add a 4th session to the Alaska Mountain Ultrarunning Camps this Summer! The new session will take place on August 4-9th, and enrollment is currently open for this session. This will be a 4 day / 5 night session so the cost will be $200 less than the June and July sessions which are 5 day / 6 night. Other than this, everything will be the same as the other Summer sessions. Click here for all the info.

Also, it is worth mentioning that a few folks are opting to transfer from the other sessions into this new session. Most of these spaces in the other sessions are being filled by wait listed applicants, but after the dust settles in the next few days there are likely to be a few unexpected spaces available in the other sessions as well. The good news here is that for a very short time, there may be a small amount of space available in each of the 4 sessions. I don't expect this to last long at all though, so if you are interested I highly recommend signing up ASAP as I expect I will be back to wait listing entrants very soon.

One Last ITI Post

I promise this will be my last Iditarod Invitational related post (at least until next year), but I have a few more ITI related loose ends to mention:

First of all here are links to a couple good articles about the race:

• Juneau Empire article
• Capital City Weekly article

And then one last thing I want to include is a HUGE rave about Drymax socks. I've been using these socks for over a year now, and you've heard me rave about them before, but this time they shocked me yet again. I ran pretty much all day for a full week, almost entirely in one pair of Drymax socks, and I didn't get a single blister! I didn't even change my socks once for the last 5 days of the race! I know I've said this on this blog already, but if you haven't yet tried Drymax socks, you're missing out on BY FAR the best running socks money can buy.

Heading up to Chuckanut this weekend to hangout, help with the race, and see lots of friends - old and new. Should be a really exciting race and a great weekend among so many great people. Looking forward to seeing many of you there.

ITI Gear List: Imagine Dragging All This Stuff 350 Miles!

First I want to mention that my full race report has been published over on iRunFar. It's long, so make sure you have 15 or 20 minutes before you try to tackle it. You can find it here.

Also, as mentioned in my previous post, I put some videos from the race over on YouTube. Find those here. 

Lastly, I've had a lot of people inquire about what exactly one takes with them to make it through the Iditarod Trail Invitational. Here's my complete list of gear with some notes about the handful of things that I would leave home next time, and the things which I found most necessary/effective. This was all carried on a "sled" which consisted of a Mountain Hardwear 60 liter (prototype) pack that was strapped to a pair of youth cross country skis with a light wooden frame on top of them to give the pack about 5" of clearance over the ground. The "sled" was pulled with a set of aluminum ski poles, attached to the pack on one end, and to a standard backpack harness on the other.

Food:
I started the race with about 10,000 calories of food and had 2 drop bags along the way in which I would       replenish this supply. You can also get meals along the way at most of the checkpoints. I estimate that I consumed about 7,000 calories per day during the race, consisting of the checkpoint meals and the following:

• Sunflower seeds
• cashews
• bacon
• salami
• Ultragen drink mix - recover on the go.
• Clif shot gels - mostly with caffeine, could have used more of these.
• Clif shot bloks
• Reese's peanut butter sticks - awesome trail junk food. don't change consistency at all in the cold.
• Clif kid zfruit
• Clif Crunch Granola bars
• Fritos
• Clif shot roks
• Freeze Dried backpacker meals that I would "cook" at checkpoints and carry in a thermos. Also cooked one out on the trail. These were a bit of a luxury, but very nice to have. 

Sleeping:

• Mountain Hardwear Ghost -40 bag - wouldn't advise heading out there with anything less
• Mountain Hardwear Direkt 2 tent - awesome tent, but I wouldn't take it on this journey again. Not worth the extra weight.
• ThermaRest Solite sleeping pad, cut down to about 60". absolutely necessary item

Head clothing/gear:

• Ryders Hex sunglasses with standard, clear, and low light lenses
• Ryders Superset goggles
• Neoprene neck gaiter
• Thin polypro balaclava.
• Mountain Hardwear Desna Balaclava. Would only bring 1 balaclava next time.
• Mountain Hardwear Zerna beanie
• Mountain Hardwear Micro Power Stretch Dome

Hands:

• Mountain Hardwear Heavyweight Power Stretch Gloves. these little gloves are amazing. sometimes these are all I would wear, even in temps as low as 10 or 20 below!
• Gordini Lavawool insulated gloves. Loose enough to fit over power stretch gloves.
• Mountain Hardwear Nilas Down Mitts.  Large enough to fit over both above gloves. Only needed to put these on once, but they were awesome. With all three of these things on my hands at once I don't think my hands could ever get cold. 

Feet:

• Montrail Mountain Masochist Outdry shoes, size 11.5. One full size large to accommodate thick socks and foot swelling. 
• RBH designs vapor barrier socks. Didn't use them at all. Probably wouldn't take them next time. Although it was nice having them in my kit as a safety net for my feet.
• The North Face NSE Tent Bootie. Used these to keep feet warm while sleeping. They were awesome to have, but are quite bulky and I would likely leave them at home next time.
• 4 pair of DryMax socks: 1 thin pair to wear under vapor barrier socks and 3 heavy pair. This was way too many socks. I only ended up using 2 of the 4 pair, and would probably only bring 2 with me in the future. These socks are amazing though. Wore one single pair for the last 5 days, without taking them off my feet and I didn't have a single blister!
• Yaktrak XTR spikes. Great for traction on hard packed or icy trail. I probably used these for almost 100 of the 350 miles.
• Atlas Race Snowshoes. I was a bit nervous whether these would be durable enough if I actually had to wear them a lot. Turns out I wore them for over 200 miles and they were awesome. no durability issues.
• Mountain Hardwear NutShell High Gaiters. Wore these every step of the way. You could go with a shorter/lighter gaiter, but really liked the full coverage that these provided. Will probably use the same ones next time around.  

Upper Body Clothing:

• Mountain Hardwear Wicked Lite long sleeve T.  basic lightweight baselayer
• Mountain Hardwear Micro Power Stretch Zip T. Heavyweight baselayer. This piece is amazingly warm
• cheap polypro midweight baselayer. only wore it once. next time would only bring the two above baselayers.
• Mountain Hardwear Super Power Transition jacket . Wore this over a baselayer every step of the race.
• Mountain Hardwear Effusion Hooded Jacket. would double up jackets when it got cold or windy. probably wore this 250 of the 350 miles. 
• Mountain Hardwear Tunnabora Jacket. Only wore this for a few hours one day when it was windy. I liked the idea of having a light waterproof shell in case it did get warm and rain (which can happen in this race), but in the future I probably wouldn't bring this unless the forecast was for unusually warm weather.
• Mountain Hardwear Nilas Down Jacket.  This is without a doubt the most effective down jacket I have ever worn. The warmth to weight ratio is amazing. even at 40 or 50 below I couldn't zip it all the way up in front or I would get too warm. Yet it only weighs 22 ounces. I wouldn't ever consider going out there without this jacket. 

Lower Body Clothing:

• Mountain Hardwear Super Power Tights.  Awesome baselayer. Wore for about 275 miles.
• Mountain Hardwear Tanglewood pants. Wore every single step of race. awesome pants.
• Mountain Hardwear Epic pants. Never wore them. Probably wouldn't bring them next time. Same as Tunnabora jacket above.
• Mountain Hardwear Compressor pant. These pants are awesome, but I did only wear them twice while I was stopped to sleep. To actually put them on while on the go it would likely have to drop to 60 below or colder. For comfortable sleep though they are worth every ounce. I would guess they add at least 15 or 20 degrees to my sleeping comfort level (in conjunction with the Nilas jacket). I would consider leaving them at home, but most likely would bring them next time. 
• 2 pair Patagonia briefs. Would probably only bring one next time. Although I did somehow leave a pair at one of the checkpoints so I guess it was good that I brought 2. 

Snow Melting Gear:

• Esbit pocket "stove". Worked perfect for the 2 or 3 times that I needed to melt some snow for water.
• Aluminum windscreen for stove.
• 12 Esbit fuel cubes. Had access to more in drop bags if needed. Also great for starting fires if needed.
• waterproof/windproof matches
• mini butane lighter. stored next to body to keep warm enough to actually work
• 3 ounce bottle of HEET to help ignite esbit cubes in extreme cold or as emergency fire starter.
• lexan spoon
• GSI Outdoors 1 liter kettle

Miscellaneous:

• Mountain Hardwear Fluid 6 backpack worn under all insulation layers.  
• Camelbak Stowaway 70 ounce insulated bladder, used inside Fluid 6 pack. This worked great, but next time I would probably bring the 100 ounce version as I did run out of water 3 or 4 times.
• Outdoor Research insulated bottle holder with 20 ounce bottle. Probably would leave the insulated holder at home next time, as I found just sticking the bottle inside my jacket kept it thawed much longer. 
• Thermos brand soup thermos. This was entirely a luxury item to be able to have hot soup, coffee, tea along the trail. This was awesome to have and although not necessary I would have a hard time not bringing this with me again. 
• ultralight pack cover to put over entire pack/sled system in case of rain/wet snow. Never used it. Probably wouldn't bring it next time, unless forecast was for very warm weather.
• Small bottle of liquid ski wax for skis on sled. Not sure if this was helping much at all, but it certainly didn't hurt.
• several small spare parts and repair kit for sled, harness, pack, etc. Included duct tape, screws, needle and thread, caribeener, and some other small items.
• basic first aid including moleskin, arnica gel, neosporin, ankle brace, tape, ace bandage, gauze, band-aids, and a few other very small items
• various pills including ibuprofen, tums, multivitamins, Scaps, and melotonin. 
• small leatherman multi-tool
• earplugs
• small tube of body glide
• sunbloc
• chapstick
• toothpaste/brush
• toilet paper
• 2 Petzl Tikka XP headlamps with lithium batteries
• 1 petzl E Lite.
• Small mp3 player that runs on AAA lithium battery.
• 6 extra lithium batteries for lights, and access to more at drop bags.
• Camera
• Cash, Credit Card, and Driver's License, needed to purchase food along trail and for flight back to Anchorage at finish. 
• trail notes, directions, and maps. 
• Chemical hand, toe, body, and foot warmers. I started the race with about 2 of each and had access to more at my 2 drop bags. I only used 2 pair of foot warmers (and none of the others) the entire race. Would probably carry several fewer of these next time. 
• keychain compass/thermometer. Next time I might try to find one that goes lower than 35 below as mine was bottomed out most of the last 12 hours that I was on the trail. 
• reflective stickers plastered all over my sled and harness. 
• 2 heavy duty trash compactor bags to use in case of open water or overflow. Luckily I never had to use these, but I would probably bring them again unless I opted for some other system of being waterproof up to at least my knees. 

Wow!

I'm slowly easing back into "normal life" after a week out on the Iditarod Trail. That was without question the most challenging, satisfying, profound, and EPIC adventure I have ever been involved in. It's really hard to put it into words, but I have made that attempt and will be posting the full race report on Monday morning. It will be posted over on iRunFar so you can watch there on Monday or check back here as I will have a link to it shortly after it's online.

In the meantime I have been uploading some videos to YouTube that I took during the race. Unfortunately the battery on my camera died around mile 230, but the videos do a decent job of capturing some of what I was experiencing up to that point. You can see them all HERE

And thanks to everyone for all the great emails, facebook messages, texts, phone calls, etc in the past week since I finished the race. I wish I had the time/energy to respond directly to all of them, but for most of this week it's been hard for me to respond to anything. I've pretty much been doing nothing but sleeping, eating, and complaining about how much my lower legs/feet ache. I'm starting to feel a lot better though, and maybe I'll even go out for a walk tomorrow.

Why ITI?

In Anchorage now tending the the final details in preparation for my Iditarod Trail adventure which begins on Sunday afternoon. This is to say, mostly just waiting around here for two more days. All the final details are pretty much taken care of at this point. It is amazing when preparing for something like this though how many times one can pack and repack their kit. Even after packing and repacking it several dozens times at home in the past couple months.

 I came down with a pretty nasty stomach, throat, head illness late last week, but that seems to have moved entirely through my system and I feel as physically ready as I could ever feel for an event like this. I ended up getting in a pretty good bit of "training" in the past 5 or 6 weeks. I didn't run as much this Winter as I would have originally planned to, but I feel like I'm in a great spot both physically and mentally. Does this mean I will definitively have a "successful" race? Most certainly not. But to me this uncertainty is one of the greatest appeals to this event.

In a "typical" single day race I think you can be so prepared that you can just about be certain of your ability to at least finish the race (with the exception of illness or injury). In this event though, I just don't think it matters how prepared you are for the Iditarod Invitational, it's still questionable as to whether you'll be able to make it to the finish. There are some aspects of this dynamic that make this a very intimidating and unappealing thing. At times it seems kind of silly to put so much time and energy into preparing for something which I have such a high chance of not fully accomplishing. At the end of the day though this is precisely why this event is so appealing to me. There is such an elusiveness to it that I really like. I have tried to walk/run to Mcgrath twice before, and yet I have still not been beyond about mile 145 of the route. I have such a curiosity of what lies beyond, in the those remaining 200 miles. Not only a curiosity about those actual 200 miles of trail, but more specifically a curiosity of what my experience of travelling to that point will be. Which things will be unlocked in me that I've never really seen and felt before. And the fact that it's entirely possible that I won't actually make it beyond this distance is somehow really exciting to me. I feel really good about my chances of finishing the full 350 mile route this time around, but I also feel really good and excited about the reality that doing so is going to be really hard, and something which I most certainly can not take for granted.

This race is without question the hardest race I have ever done in terms of the physical strength, persistence. and capability to finish it, but it's the mental and emotional opportunity for self exploration, self questioning, and self confirmation that comes with this kind of challenge that is so exciting and alluring to me. I took two years off from trying this event, not because I didn't want to do it those years, but because I think that was what I needed to do to adequately prepare myself for trying it again. I think now I am in the right place to at least go out there and be brave enough to attempt this thing again. Does that mean that I'm certain to finish? Most certainly not, but I'm as certain as I'll ever be. And it's that lack of certainty that I'm the most looking forward to.

Looking For More Races In 2012?

For anyone who is looking to add a race or two to your schedule for 2012 here are a couple that I highly recommend:

First, coming up next month is the Chuckanut 50k. This one has been around long enough (this year is the 20th year of the race!) that most of you have probably at least heard of it. What many people might not know though is that Chuckanut is hoping to go really big this year to celebrate their 20th anniversary. As of last month, the race was able to secure permit space to go up to 1,000 participants! This will make Chuckanut the largest 50k (maybe even largest ultra of any distance??) in the country. Right now they have almost 700 entrants. Why then do I encourage you to grab one of the remaining 300 spaces? Chuckanut is such a perfect early season race. It's not the most challenging 50k you are ever going to run, but it's certainly not the easiest either. It has a great mix of very fast terrain and very challenging, slow terrain. Beyond the course itself though, is the enjoyment of the entire event. I've been to nearly 30 different races all around the country and Chuckanut is without question one of the most enjoyable I've been a part of. So much so that I am planning to be there this year even if I'm not running. I'm currently signed up to run, but being that the race is only three weeks after the start of the Iditarod Invitational it would take some kind of miracle (or disaster in the Iditarod) for me to actually race Chuckanut this year. Instead I plan to be there as a "fan" and a race volunteer. Hopefully I can help motivate Dave, Max, Erik, Mike, Adam, etc, to take down my course record so I have extra motivation for Chuckanut in 2013.

And then in September is the new Run Rabbit Run 100. This is one a lot of people probably heard about when it was announced in the Fall, but then not much has been said about it since then, as much focus shifted to the big lottery races (Western States, Hardrock, UTMB, etc), as it always does in Jan/Dec/Feb. The lottery dust has settled now though, and for anyone who is looking at a gap in their schedule in September I would highly recommend this race. This race has so many things going for it that make it very appealing: Steamboat Springs is such a great mountain town to spend some time in - I can't think of a better town to host an event like this. Many people get nervous about first year races, and tend to wait until the second or third year to let the wrinkles get ironed out. The good thing about Run Rabbit Run though is that they have been putting on a very well run 50 miler for 5 years now. Yes, this will be the first year of the 100, but don't expect it to feel like a first year race. If you're at all interested in the competitive aspect of races, this one is going to be super exciting. The total prize purse is currently at $22,000 (and certain to increase throughout the year), and this has drawn some great runners into the mix. Already, in it's first year, and with the race still more than 6 months away, this race is looking like it will be one of the most competitive 100 milers ever run. More than anything though, like Chuckanut, this is just a super enjoyable event to be a part of. I have been at each of the last two Run Rabbit Run 50 milers, and can't think of anywhere I'd rather be in mid September than at this race. The atmosphere is super comfortable, and it's just one of those events that does a great job of enabling everyone to have a really good time.

You might wonder, why am I seemingly randomly encouraging people to check out these two races? It's simply that they are both very fun races, on awesome trails, in really fun towns, put on by a lot of really great people, and I can't think of any races I want to see succeed more than these two. In other words they are much like any other races I've recommended in the past (UROC, Crow Pass, Bear 100, etc.): Classics (or classics to be) that I think everyone should run at some point. Hope to see you there.

Perfect Storm

After nearly two months of warm, dry weather here in Colorado, I was beginning to wonder if I was going to get any proper Winter training in before the Iditarod Invitational. It was rarely dipping below 20 degrees at night and we had gotten at most a foot of total snow in 6 weeks. Things seemed a bit promising though last Thursday night. The forecast was for 4-7 inches of snow that night and much cooler temperatures over the weekend. I went to bed with a few flurries starting to fall and woke up 8 hours later to over 30" of new snow! I don't know if I've ever seen that much snow fall in such a short time. By the time it was done we had close to 40" from that one storm. Since then it has been down around zero most nights and snowed at least another foot.

The last 9 days of training has been incredibly enjoyable for me. I think I had forgotten how much I love proper winter. The snowshoeing around here right now is as good as I've ever seen anywhere. The nordic skiing is also incredible. I don't know what it is, but I just love slogging though really deep snow. I've known for a few years that I love doing rugged mountain "runs" with tons of vertical, in which I'm covering very little mileage for the time that I'm out. I don't think it was until this week though that I realized that I seem to just love any "runs" in which it takes an insane amount of time to get anywhere. I don't know why, but there is something really satisfying about busting my ass to cover 3 or 4 miles in an hour.

The other thing that's been great about all the snow, and a bit of cold weather is that I've been able to test a lot more of my Iditarod race gear. It feels really good to be 2 weeks from the race and have almost no concerns or doubts about my gear. I still have some decisions I need to make on certain items, but there isn't anything that I'm really nervous or uninformed about as far as gear is concerned. It feels good to be going into the race having used everything I will be taking with me numerous times in the past couple weeks. Not something I can say about either of the other two times I attempted this race.

Here's a few photos from the recent playing I've been doing in the snow:

Several Tidbits

After a two week vacation to Costa Rica I'm back in Colorado and getting back in to my Iditarod Trail Invitational preparation. From now until the race (which starts in just over 5 weeks), I will try to get out and do something active (combination of skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, and running) pretty much everyday. I'm still undecided as to how much running I'll try to do between now and then, but likely I won't do as much total running between now and the race as the 350 miles that I'll do during the race. Part of me is nervous about tackling this race with so little running in the previous couple months, but with how worn out my body has felt anytime I run consistently for more than 5 or 6 weeks, I think this is the only approach that might work for me right now. I guess only time will tell. Overall though, I do feel pretty good about where I am at right now in terms of my overall preparation for this event.

For those that missed it, Ultra Runner of the Year was announced recently. Huge congrats to Dave and Ellie for bringing home the bacon. In my mind they were both completely deserving of the award. Overall I thought the voting went about as expected. Top 5 on the men's side was exactly the order I would have chosen. Performance of the Year was a little less spot on though (in my opinion). Not to take anything away from Riddle's JFK performance, but the thought of Ian's RR 100 not winning POY seems absurd. It's hard not to imagine that the timing of RR being so early in the year played against Ian in this vote. But then again the NF 50 is the last big race of the year, and once again seemed to be almost ignored: Mike Wolfe finished 11th for POY for his run at NF?? WTF? For me that one should have been top 5 for sure, and likely as high as 2nd or 3rd. But the thing that baffled me the most was that a performance which was not even an actual event won POY for the women. Certainly I don't mean to take anything away from what Jen Davis did on the AT this year, but really? Apparently individual time trials now count toward POY? To me this is a really slippery slope. And if this is the case (which it clearly is), how did Dakota's RRR record not get one single vote? Where does the line get drawn? Which non-event performances are recognized, and which ones aren't? To me it makes the most sense to not recognize any of them for a distinction like this. Until now I thought that was the case.

Moving on: Here's a link to a little Q&A interview I did with a fellow blogger. Some unique and interesting questions mixed in with some more typical ones:  http://averageguyhitstheroad.blogspot.com/2012/01/geoff-roes-interview-above-average.html

And one last thing: The 2012 sessions of my Alaska Mountain Ultra Running Camp are nearing capacity, but I do still have several spaces left for the May 28th session, which is going to be a really fun session. The running in Juneau in late May/early June is some of the most unique and exciting running I've ever done. This is typically the best time of year for running on the snow in the mountains around Juneau. The snow is nice and consolidated, but still soft enough for great traction and control on the downhills. I know some people hear the word "snow", and want to steer clear, but if you want to try something a bit different, and really fun this is the camp for you. Check out the website for all the info.

Changing Things Up A Bit

It's been an interesting month for me. After the North Face 50 I began running again almost right away. I spent a week in Juneau shortly after that race and ran everyday while I was there, including some pretty long runs. I was feeling good and felt like I had recovered amazingly quickly from the race, especially considering how late in the year this race is. I figured the time that I had taken off in September and October made this more like a typical spring time race than an end of the season race.

And then I came back to Colorado. And almost right away I felt exhausted. I did some really easy slow runs and felt even more tired out. Finally I decided that my body and my mind were both in need of some more serious time off. The entire second half of this year I would respond pretty well to down time, but the "good times" would only last for a few weeks, and then I would feel the need for prolonged rest again. In the past I have had this same cycle, but the "good times" would usually last for 8 or 10 months. The second half of this year they have lasted 3 or 4 weeks at best. When I've rested my body has responded very well, but only for a short period of time. When I've rested for a week I've gotten maybe 2 weeks of feeling good in return. When I've rested for a couple weeks I've gotten about a month (at best) of feeling good. This rate of return on rest has been about 15-20% of what I've typically received in the past.

This experience has led me to the decision that I'm going to take the entire winter off from running. My hope is that 3 or 4 months off will reset things and allow me to get back to a place of being able to get more return on my rest.

Initially I thought I would take the winter completely off from much of any physical activity, including giving up on the plan of tackling The Iditarod Trail Invitational in late February. After sitting with this plan for a few days though, I decided instead that I'm going to take the winter off from everyday running, but I will still plan to get out most everyday doing very low intensity nordic skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, winter camping, or the occasional mellow run (when conditions are not suitable for other activities, or when I'm travelling to warmer places that don't offer these "snowsports" options).

As I thought more about this plan I still found myself thinking a lot about the Iditarod Invitational. In the past I approached this event from a running perspective, thinking of it simply as a really long run. Over time I've come to think that this isn't really the best way to approach this event. Really it is much more of an adventure, a journey, and on some levels a pilgrimage. And thus I've decided that I'm still going to take a shot at the ITI, even in the midst of taking the winter "off" from running. My "training" will be focused much more on the mental and logistical aspects of this event than on the physical aspects. Rather than trying to get myself through the 350 miles by being in the best possible physical shape, I will try to get myself through the 350 miles by being comfortable with my gear, comfortable with the immensity of the journey, and prepared to best be able to deal with any challenge that will arise while out there. Previously I tackled this event with a plan to try to move quickly. I never had time goals in mind, but the mindset that I went into this event with was very much a racing mindset. Once we started my primary goal was to get to McGrath as quickly as possible. This time around my mindset is going to be very much to have the most satisfying journey possible, even if this ends up being several days slower than I feel like I could do this route.

Perhaps this is a crazy approach. I'm not sure there is a whole lot of logic in tackling one of the most difficult physical challenges in my life at somewhere well below my best physical shape. Then again this could all very well be a blessing in disguise. This could be just the dynamic I need to have the journey that I'm hoping to have out there.

Steamboat In September?

I'm sure by now most readers of this blog have read about the new 100 mile race in Steamboat Springs next September. If this is new to you then check out the website here: Run Rabbit Run 100. Also, you might want to check out all the "chatter" about the race over on Irunfar.

To me this race is another obvious and expected step in the evolution of ultramarathon racing that I have talked about numerous times on this blog in the past couple years. I don't need to go into all the nuances of prize money/championships/commercialism in the sport. I have been down all of these roads, and my ideas here aren't really much different than I've expressed in the past.

I will however go into a few of the things that come to mind with the emergence of this race: I have stated numerous times (both here and in other publications) that I think the demand for these types of events (due in large part by the huge growth in the popularity of the sport in the past few years, a growth which has shown no sign of slowing down anytime soon) makes the emergence of these races inevitable. For the better part of two years now the question in my mind has not been, are more prize money/high competition type events coming to the sport, but rather, what are they going to look like when they get here? Even more importantly, what should they look like? To my delight the RRR100 gets just about everything "right." If you look back at this post that I wrote almost a year ago, outlining the things I see as crucial to doing an event like this "right" I think it's easy to see why I'm excited about this new race. To some degree this race satisfies each thing I laid out as important for a race like this to thrive.

With the North Face 50 and UROC, the RRR100 now makes three ultras in this country with $10k or more in prize money. To me the prize money isn't the exciting thing though. The exciting thing to me are the number of races in existence now that are pretty much guaranteed to have very high competition year in and year out. It is now possible, if one desires, to run 5 or 6 races a year in which you can pretty much be certain you are going to be racing against dozens of top runners from around the world. In my mind this is something that is new to the sport. Even just a few years ago there were years when top level runners would end up unintentionally "cherry picking" some of the most "competitive" races in the sport. Often times races would only be 3 or 4 runners deep (in terms of runners who had a legitimate shot at winning the race), and if one or two of them got injured before the race you suddenly had folks winning some of the biggest races in the sport by 2 or 3 hours. Now, if you want to run a high competition race and you choose to line up for WS, UTMB, RRR100, UROC, NF50, etc, you can pretty much be guaranteed that you are going to be running against 10+ legitimate top level runners.

Many might ask, what about the 99% of runners who aren't competing at the very front of these types of races? To me this is the beauty of the current dynamic: there is growth in the options for anyone and everyone right now. Not only do all of these mentioned races have a very specific desire/plan to provide a positive race experience for all runners in the field, but for every one of these higher competition races that is emerging there are dozens of grassroots/low profile events that are emerging. Add to this the number of "old classics" that seem to be very dedicated to keeping things more or less the same as they have been for years, and it all adds up to a terribly exciting time to be involved in this sport, no matter what you're looking to get out of it. If you're looking to kick it old school there are more options than ever, and if you're looking to run against as much competition as possible you can have those options too.

To me the only question I have about RRR100 is whether the timing of it (two weeks before UROC) will be a hindrance to either (or both) of the races? I think there is room in the sport for even more of these types of races, but I'm not sure having 2 of them in the same month is the best scenario. I know that RRR100 didn't want to conflict so directly with an existing race with a somewhat similar vision, but apparently September was pretty much the only time they could make it happen in Steamboat. I for one am hoping to run both races (although UROC will have to be a "wait and see how I feel race"), but I do imagine these two races so close together will be working a little bit against each other. Hopefully going forward after 2012 there can be some scheduling adjustments to one (or both) of these races to space them out a little more optimally.

One Of Those Perfect Days

I'm back in Colorado now after a week in Juneau. I've written numerous times in the past about how much I love Juneau. This trip did nothing but further reinforce my love for the Juneau community and the land surrounding the area. It's easy for a place to feel like "home" when it is the place you are spending most of your time, but when a place that you are only spending 3 or 4 months a year (as I currently am with Juneau), feels so much like home the minute you fly into town, I think that is a good indication of a more permanent and definitive "home."

My visit was pretty typical for the first 2 days: seeing friends, wandering around town, getting reacquainted with the nuances, heading out onto the quick access trails for short runs, and generally just easing back into the unique experience that is life in Juneau. By my third day in town though I was getting the bug to really re-connect with the mountains. I was feeling pretty much 100% recovered from my recent race effort, and the forecast was for a pretty decent day of weather. Around 9am that day my friend Dan and I started up into the mountains with our snowshoes and enough food/water to be out most of the day. Despite the forecast for some afternoon sun, the morning was typical Juneau December weather: cloudy, drizzly, breezy, and really quite dreary. Things however began to dry up and calm down as we went higher. Eventually, as we rose above 2,500 ft, the air became eerily calm and gradually clear. We had climbed above the clouds into one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen anywhere in the world. This combined with the amazingly firm and stable snow conditions made for one of the most inspiring and satisfying runs I have ever been on. I think I'll just let these photos paint the rest of the picture, lest my words diminish something which felt almost too perfect to be put into words:

Vegas Baby!

If the idea of a weekend of trail running with a few of the top ultrarunners in the country, likely on dry trails, in warm sunny weather, in the middle of the Winter sounds almost too good to be true, check this out. It might be just what you need to kick start your 2012 season. I know I'm looking forward to it.

Pretty Tough End To A Pretty Tough Season

Going into the NF 50 this past weekend I felt quite confident that I was in good shape and would have a great shot at competing near the front of the pack for the entire day. I had no idea if I would actually be able to win this thing, but I felt pretty certain that I would be able to give it a great shot, and be a factor late into the race. And nothing in the first 20 miles made me feel any less confident. I felt very comfortable all the way through Pan Toll. I was climbing really effortlessly and felt very relaxed. My stomach didn't feel great, but I was able to get just enough calories and water in to keep moving with the lead pack without too much concern. The pace was pretty fast, but to me didn't feel much different than the pace at the front each of the previous 3 years in this race. In fact I think the pace at the very front in the first half of the race was a little slower this year than last year.

Despite feeling so comfortable early on though, it didn't last for me. By the half way point of the race I was feeling very low on energy and falling off the pace a bit. I tried to slow enough to be able to get in more calories (25 miles into the race I had only eaten 400 calories) and water without falling too far out of touch with the leaders. I wasn't though ever able to pull it back together enough to get back in contention for the win. I was able to hold things together enough to keep moving at a decent pace and finish pretty strong in 5th place. My time was about the same as it's been each of the past two years, but this is misleading as the course was at least 20 (and perhaps more like 30) minutes faster than last year (due to some course changes which made the course a couple miles shorter, with a bit less vertical gain, and less technical than last year).

In the end it was a fun day of running, and I made the best of not having as much pep in the second half of the race as I had hoped, but it was certainly disappointing to not have the opportunity to battle with the leaders to the very end. It would have been really fun to battle more with Mike, Dakota, Adam, and Tim who all finished well ahead of me. To me there's nothing more enjoyable then being right in the mix of a serious battle for the win in a big race like this... especially if the battle is with folks who I like and respect as much as all 4 of these guys who finished ahead of me.

I can't help but think about the parallel between this race and my entire running season of 2011. They both started out very smooth and comfortable, with me in a very confident place with my running. But suddenly near the midway point things took a pretty distinct downward spin in which I inexplicably just didn't feel very much strength in my body. In both cases I was able to stay positive, and keep having lots of fun, and keep moving forward, but never quite turn things all the way back around to the place I ultimately want to be physically. Despite this though, I certainly relish the challenge of moving forward from here into 2012. For almost 3 years, racing ultras very effectively was something I almost took for granted. I had so much confidence that I felt like I should pretty much win any race I entered (and I almost always did). The second half of this season has flipped that completely around though. Having really effective races every time out almost feels impossible now, but is certainly a place I'm excited to work to try to get back to in 2012 and beyond.

It's Not About The Shoes... Or Is It?

[Note: several of you noticed that this post was up briefly yesterday and then removed. Sorry for the confusion. I posted it yesterday in error and intended all along to post it today after editing and adding a few things to it]

After the other day's not so serious post I thought I'd write about something a little more serious today (although only a little more): Shoes. Specifically why I wear the shoes I wear and is there a specific type of shoe that I think works the best for ultrarunning?

People ask me some variation of the following question all the time: "What do I feel like the main difference is between running ultras compared to shorter distance races?" My answer usually goes something to the effect that when you run for 50+ miles it stops being as much about how fast you can go at the fastest points and more about how fast you can go at the slowest points. That is to say, how much you can do to minimize the rate at which you slow down over time.

We can't run forever. There are things which break down as we run that we simply can't rebuild until we stop and tend to these things. No one that I've ever met can process calories as fast as they burn them when they are running, and no one I've ever met can run continually without muscle fatigue catching up to them at some point. In running shorter distance races (probably anything up to 3 or 4 hours) we can get by more efficiently with stored energy than with energy we take in on the run. This is to say that calories we get from eating a gel doesn't offset the time we spend fumbling to open, eat, and digest the gel. Same can be said of water, although the time before we hit this tipping point is much shorter with water (depending on the temperature somewhere in the 30-90 minute range). In ultrarunning though, not only is it more efficient to take in lots of calories/water while we run, it's pretty much necessary.

Ok, by now you're probably wondering what the hell this has to do with shoes. Don't worry, you're not the only one confused. I've kind of gotten myself off topic such that I can't remember what the point was about shoes. Oh, wait, I've got it: I think the same idea applies to shoes. When you think of why we wear shoes: cushioning, stability, protection - these are all things which we can get by without much of for some period of time, but if you go long enough you will hit that tipping point when the extra weight you are carrying around on your feet in the form of extra cushioning, stability, and/or protection begins to be offset by the time you are gaining from having less muscle fatigue and less damage to your feet. To some degree, the longer we run the more shoe we need to find this right balance.

In terms of what the "right' shoe is for a 50 or 100 mile race I think this varies a fair amount from person to person. For me the Montrail Mountain Masochist has been the "right" shoe for almost 3 years now. I have run almost every single step in these shoes since March of 2009. I think this shoe is nearly perfect in terms of it's balance between being lightweight but still enough shoe to help the body hold up after 50 or more miles. Any shoe I've worn that is much lighter (and thus has less cushioning) feels great for a couple hours, but then usually pretty horrible if I go much beyond that.

It's no secret that the basic trend in running shoes over the past few years has been minimal, minimal, and more minimal. In my mind many people are taking the minimal thing way too far in ultrarunning. I think extremely minimal footwear makes a decent amount of sense for shorter distance running/racing, but forultrarunning I think in many cases it's just not enough shoe for the amount of abuse that you're putting your body through running 100 miles on rugged trail. The trend that I see that I think is the most wreck less is that many runners seem to train in one shoe and then race in significantly lighter shoes. Again, in shorter distance races this makes perfect sense, as we all did this in track and cross country back in high school. But in my mind doing this in ultras is similar to trying to eat as few calories as possible during a 50 or 100 miler. I haven't yet seen a "low calorie" gel. Essentially that's what you're getting when you try to run 100 miles in super minimal shoes. It might be the perfect shoe for a half marathon trail race, but the point I'm trying to make is that the perfect shoe for a 100 mile race and a 13 mile race are not the same shoe.

Before I go any further I must say, Yes, I have read the book, and I think it's an entertaining read, and I think there are some benefits to some of the thoughts involving barefoot running. I like that the "craze" has turned so many new folks on to running. In terms of ironic fads I think running around town in foot gloves is way more beneficial than say, trucker's caps. But I'm not talking about a cute fad. The argument that prehistoric man ran barefoot so it makes the most sense for us to tap into this lineage of experience as barefoot runners sounds really great in theory, but it doesn't work in the reality of trying to run 50 or 100 miles on rugged trail as fast as possible. This just isn't something that we've evolved to do. Running 50 or 100 miles on rugged trails as fast as we can find a way to do is something that 99.999999999999999% of humans in the history of the world have never done. Applying the "born to run" argument to racing ultras is akin to saying that at one time man didn't have clothing so we should roam around naked to give our bodies an opportunity to adapt to be able to better protect us from the elements. I guess this makes sense if you're hoping to be the last one in the nudist colony who's able to stay outside when the sun dips below the horizon on a winter afternoon. But no matter how much you get your body to adapt you're not going to be as warm as the dude next door who has on a pair of down pants and a down jacket. In this same way I can see the point that incorporating barefoot running into our training forces our bodies to adapt in ways that will make us much stronger barefoot runners, but I'm not, in this conversation, interested in that. I'm interested in what we can wear on our feet to be the fastest and most efficient we can be at the 99.9% of trail ultramarathons in which shoes are allowed.

One more rant about the barefoot thing before I get back to the main point here. Think about it this way: when we run an ultramarathon we pick our feet up and place them down, over and over, hour after hour, hundreds of thousands of times. I don't give a damn what cavemen did when they ran. What I care about are the options available to me. I can either put my feet down on a couple centimeter thick piece of foam that has been engineered and re-engineered by thousands of shoe developers for the exact purpose of absorbing the impact of these hundreds of thousands of footsteps, or I can put my foot (or my foot wrapped in a foot glove) down directly on roots, rocks, pavement, gravel, or whatever else I encounter over the course of 50 or 100 miles. Any guesses as to which one I'm going to choose? I'll give you a hint: It's the same choice that every other runner I've ever met who is trying to turn themselves into the fastest ultramarathon runner possible has also chosen.

I do think it's important to think about the bio-mechanics of barefoot running when choosing shoes (I think the lower drop you are seeing in many mainstream shoes as a result of the barefoot craze is a positive effect that will stick around for years to come), but in terms of the larger point I'm making here I think that is where the barefoot conversation ends. I just thought I should address the barefoot thing so as to avoid having dozens of responses wondering how I could ignore such an important part of the running footwear conversation. I'm not ignoring it, I'm just saying that I don't think it's all that practically applicable to the point I'm making.

Ok, so back to the larger point. How do we know then what is the right amount of shoe for us? In my mind there's no better method than good old trial and error. When you have the right shoe you'll know it. What you'll know even more is when you have the wrong shoe. If you're looking for somewhere to start I would say try to find the happy medium somewhere between what was popular 10 years ago and what is popular now. Somewhere in there for about 5 minutes I think the typical "popular" trail shoe made sense for racing ultras. The pendulum seemed to swing so quickly from over built "tanks" suited more for backpacking or thousand mile adventures to uber minimal shoes that would be great if we were all back in high school trying to run 3.1 miles over grassy hills as fast as we can. My guess is that at some point the pendulum will swing back and you'll actually be able to go into any running store and find yourself a nice solidly built pair of shoes, but not over built, weighing in somewhere in the 8-11 ounce range. I would even imagine that we'll start to see companies make shoes that are specifically intended for running ultras. I guess if I've made one point in this way too long post it's that I think the right shoe for ultras is quite different than the right shoe for shorter races. One could argue that Hoka has started the trend of making shoes that make sense specifically as ultrarunning shoes. I think the popularity of Hokas in the ultrarunning scene is a great indicator that what many people are wanting on their feet when running 100 miles might just be a lot different than what they want on their feet when running a 10k. Too bad Hokas are so stiff that they make me feel like I'm running in clogs. For now I would recommend just trying a pair of Mountain Masochist and then go up or down from there :)

Ok, that's my rant. If you've taken everything I've written here 100% serious: I'm sorry. My intention here was simply to touch on the general question of what type of footwear makes sense for racing 50 and 100 mile races, and does there come a point when you run so far that you actually want more shoe rather than less shoe? In my opinion there does. Would love to hear what conclusions you've all come to in regards to these questions. Do you wear different shoes in racing ultras (or in really long training runs) then you do in general training? And if so do you go to "more shoe" in races or "less shoe"? I'm sure there are a wide range of opinions on this topic, but I am curious to see if there is a general direction in which folks are going on this topic. Again, I'm curious specifically about folks who are racing 50 and 100 mile (or longer) races, as in my mind not much (if any) of what I'm saying here applies to anything below 3 or 4 hours.