Run to Live

2012 Rocky Raccoon Predictions

2012-01-30T15:03:00.001-07:00

(1/30/12 - THIS JUST IN: Hal Koerner is now on the entrants list!)

The taper is on!
With nothing to do this week but geek out about running while not actually doing any running, I'll post my prediction for next weekends big race. This year's field is by far, much less competitive than 2011, with a couple notable exceptions, aka Ian Sharman (RR100 record holder), Karl Meltzer (Mr. Hardrock), and Oswaldo Lopez (2011 Badwater winner).

While fully expecting these guys to decimate the rest of the competition, it still puts me in a position to potentially snag my first top-10 finish at a 100 miler. For whatever reason, I have had relative success at the 50 mile distance, but these 100's still escape me.

With cautious optimism, here's how I predict the race unfolding:

Ian Sharman; for obvious reasons. Predicted time: 13:12
HAL KOERNER; last minute entrant and my obvious 2nd place choice. Predicted time: 13:24
Karl Meltzer; he's a machine with more 100 mile experience than anyone else in the field. Predicted time: 14:14
Oswaldo Lopez; not too familiar with this guy, but looking at past race times, I could see him running sub-15. Predicted time: 14:55
Dan Vega; he beat Karl at a fast 100 miler last spring in 15:35. I think he'll be a little quicker here. Predicted time: 15:20
Liza Howard; I see her continuing her streak of improved 100 miler times. Predicted time: 15:25.
Tony Clark; he's run sub-17 before, so I expect him to do it again. Predicted time: 15:50
Brooks Williams; without any other names jumping out at me, I see a spot with my name on it. Predicted time: 16:31
From here on, it's a crap-shoot...
---

Who'd I miss?!

Brooks

Treasures, Me Matey!

2012-01-28T15:56:00.001-07:00

(1/28/12 - photos to follow)
About a month ago while out on a 38 mile run along the highway I found a couple of torn up, run over, and mangled plastic ziplock bags in a roadside ditch. Why they caught my eye, I don't know, but I decided to run into said ditch and retrieve them. What I found were bags full of small red stones, and a few minerals. I honestly thought they were for a Bedazzler, but decided to throw them into my pocket, just in case.

Fast forward a few days:
After going to numerous jewelers and gemologists, tt turns out the baggies full of red stones were all natural rubies - 44 of them to be exact. They are all low grade, primarily, but rubies none the less! "Hmmm", I thought... it was a longshot, but I decided to head back up the highway with Holly and go treasure hunting, just in case there were more to be found.

Fast forward a couple more days:
There we are in a litter-filled ditch enjoying semi-truck diesel fumes along with other 60-70 mph vehicle traffic less than 15 ft away from us. What were we thinking?!
And then...
BAM! I see another tiny ziplock bag, but wait, EMPTY. Despite this, our hopes were now up; at least we had found the right spot.

Fast forward to an hour later:
Holly and I have now found 10-12 more baggies full of all sorts of precious-looking gemstones - probably another 100+ stones altogether. Even if we discovered they weren't valuable, it was still a rush to find these little treasures in the ditches, in the middle of the road, and loose in the rumble strips on the highway.

Fast forward a month:
After doing my due diligence to make sure there were no gems reported stolen in the region, I went to several more gemologists to inspect my newfound stone collection. It appears I have:

Emeralds (LOTS of emeralds and at least one that is worth several hundred dollars)
Rubies (LOTS of rubies, none of which are worth more than 15-20 bucks per carat)
Tourmaline (possibly the coolest looking of all the stones, several are of jewelry quality)
Blue Topaz
Mystic Topaz
Opal
Sapphire (this is the most perfect of all the stones, but the jury is still out on its authenticity)

What this has yielded besides POTENTIALLY a few bucks in my pocket, is yet another adventure and benefit of getting out there and running!

This latest find got me thinking about some of the other random crap I've found on the roads and trails:

Driver's Licenses (x2) - Returned to grateful owners.
Wrap around ear warmers - I got at least a season's use out of these bad boys!
Hubcaps - Some of which I've kept...
Sunglasses - Specialized bike glasses that have protected my running eyes on several occasions.
Money - Small denomination bills and numerous coins... nothing too impressive.
Golf Balls - I like to pick these up and save them for some reason.
Gear from a plane crash - One of my coolest mementos, behind the gemstones!
TBD... I'm not done exploring yet!

I highly encourage everyone reading this to lace up the shoes, and hit the road or trail with your eyes open and your hopes up... happy hunting.

Lastly - on a more serious running note - the Rocky Raccoon 100 miler is less than a week away... I'm hoping the hay is in the barn, so to speak. I banged out my last long run today (20 miles @ 7:12 pace), and am hopeful for a PR at Rocky. In 2010 I ran 17:31 there, so anything below that will be considered a success, based on only having 8 weeks to prepare. To be continued...
Brooks

Healthy Brooks = Happy Brooks

2011-12-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to report that my lungs are still in tip-top shape, despite recently recovering from a head/chest cold, and not having run as much as desired lately. At last week's check-up - which was my first since March - I was surprised to see my important number (FEV1) at 90%... a 1% increase from earlier in the year, and my highest since '09.

The lack of running was due primarily to a weeklong vacation in Costa Rica with Holly. Surpisingly, I had no desire to run while out there, despite the perfect weather. That was the last bit of rest I needed - mentally and physically - because I am now logging miles that I haven't touched since early September. I know I only have 7 weeks to prepare for Rocky Raccoon, but I'm confident in full fitness if I can hold the course I'm on.

This year's race will probably be the most fun out-of-state event I've ever done, just due to the size of the Colorado contingent. From Colorado Springs alone, the following friends will be racing: Marc Pevoteaux (100), Amanda Ewing (50), Sean O'Day (50), Andy Wooten (100), Amy Perez (50), Dan Vega (100), Andy Henshaw (ex-Colorado Springs friend, 50), and yours truly (100). When you include the following crew/pacers - Holly, Lizzie, Eric, Melissa - that ends up being 12 peeps.

I'll try to post a couple more times in the weeks leading up to the race to update everyone on my training progress.

Brooks

2011 Bear Chase, Recovery Time, and Going Forward from Here...

2011-10-27T16:55:00.004-06:00

The timeliness of this post is lacking, and I apologize...

Just over a month ago was the last race of my 2011 season, and thankfully - after a mildly disappointing Leadville 100 in August - I was able to end my year on a high note.

September 25th was the 2nd annual Bear Chase 50 mile trail race near Morrison, CO. This same event is where I set my old 50 mile PR in 2010, and I was optimistic that I could repeat the feat in '11. Adding to the excitement of running a fast time, this was to be my dad's first 50 mile race. Did I mention he turns 70 next month?! Needless to say, we BOTH were looking forward to this one.

After spending the night in the back of my Xterra in a Walmart parking with Holly the night before the race (that's love), we arrived at the race start bright and early to unseasonably warm temps. The sun hadn't even poked its head out yet and it was already in the 60's. As great as this is for spectators, it brought a wave of dread to those of us who would be running the 50k and 50 mile races.

(Holly taking one for the team. Now that's love...)

The first lap went smoothly, and after leading for the first 6 miles or so, I felt like the pace was a little hot, so I fell back and let a lone runner break away. After he disappeared, we had a nice little pack of 5 or 6 of us who ran together for the remainder of lap 1. Included in this group was last minute entry - and training partner of Killian Jornet - Marcel Battel. He was in the U.S. vacationing from Barcelona, and just happened to be in Colorado on the weekend of the race.

The first lap was a little faster than planned (1:31), but Marcel and I stayed together until about mile 16 when I finally had to take a pit stop in the bushes. Although I closed the gap on him late in the race, this would be the last I saw of him.

After hitting the trail again, I ran solo for the majority of the next 34-ish miles. Despite my bathroom break, my lap 2 time was still in the mid-1:30's (for 12.5 miles).

Lap 3 was all about enduring the heat and mental strain of repetitive courses. As I came into the start/finish aid station for the last time, I was completely spent and starting to cramp. I needed to pull off a sub-2 hour lap in order to hit my goal time of under 7 hours... the way I was feeling led me to believe it wasn't going to happen though.

I hit lap 4 with the sole goal (no pun intended) of just running (or jogging) as much as possible, even if it was slow, and pushing through the pain. I got a HUGE boost when I ran into my friend Alex Nichols a couple miles in. He ran with me for a portion of the last lap as he was out on a training run, and it was nice to have a familiar face to talk to for a few. Shortly thereafter, I lapped my dad who was cooling off at one of the aid stations. By now it was in the 80's and my heart went out to him for having a lap and a half left to go...

After our goodbyes, I continued my sufferfest. From here it was a miserable blend of heat, fatigue, blisters, thirst, and cramps. I had to start walking some of the uphills, and as I got to the last aid station (about 3 miles to go), I realized that I was likely not going to hit my goal time. I knew I still had a PR in the bag, so I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and - as usual - questioned why I had to choose such a painful sport.

With a about a mile to go, I looked at my watch and saw my time was at 6:52. The thought of pulling out a sub-8 minute mile seemed impossible, but I wasn't going to go down without a fight. The pain (cardio and muscular) hit an 11, but I just kept cranking and telling myself that I could retire and never run again if I somehow managed to break 7 hours. This incentive surprisingly works almost every time, yet I must have short term memory loss, because I always come back for more.

Anyway, I tossed the bottles and waist belt and sprinted in at 6:58.55, which was good for 2nd overall. About midway through lap 3, the early leader blew up, and was already resorting to walking on the uphills, so the only person I wasn't able to reel in was Marcel, who won with a time of 6:49.xx.

(Literally SECONDS after finishing. Ouch... Marcel on the left.)

As exciting as this new PR was, the real highlight of the day was bringing my pops in for the last mile and getting to see him finish. Hats off to his accomplishment. Besides the distance and the heat, just being on your feet for 11:48 is pure hell, yet he did it with a smile!

(My dad rocking it at the 20 mile mark!)

Since then, I've barely run at all as I've been nursing nagging foot pain and burnout for the last couple of months. I'm almost fully recharged, and just decided last week that I'll start training again in about a week, with the goal of being fit in time for Rocky Raccoon in February.

Lastly, I was informed yesterday that there's an article about me in the December 2011 issue of Trail Runner Magazine. As soon as I finish writing this, I'm out the door to go pick up a copy!

Just saw these guys about 3 weeks ago in Denver. Enjoy...

5th Metatarsal Fracture

2011-09-01T16:13:00.000-06:00

I just got back from the doc with the bad news... depending on the severity after an MRI, I may or may not be racing anymore this fall. Fingers crossed for a minor break that will only sideline me a few short weeks...

2011 Leadville 100: Running Sucks

2011-08-24T18:51:00.005-06:00

When I first saw a dude wearing a 'Running Sucks' shirt last month, I instantly knew I had to get my hands on one, and that it would definitely get some face time at Leadville this year. Thinking about the words on that shirt around mile 93 (as I layed in the fetal position on a concrete boat ramp shivering uncontrollably) was about the only thing remotely humorous to me over the last 8 hours of this year's Leadville 100... talk about understatement of the decade, Nike. Finally, after 21+ hours on the trail it was over. 21:21, 19th overall.

On a positive note, I successfully picked 7 of the top-10 runners at last weekend's race. Congrats to all my fellow Colorado runners and friends who made this top pack, especially Ryan Burch, who has been overdue for a killer 100-miler for a long time. On a slightly less positive note, I was one of the 3 incorrect guesses, as was my buddy, Dan.

For those of you with ADHD, that was the condensed version. For a slightly more elaborate race recap, keep reading...

Here's how it all went down:

Pre-Race

Thursday was travel, campsite setup, and picture taking day. Friday consisted of the now infamous Ken Chlouber pre-race pep rally, the arrival of the rest of Team GU Demon (the shirt pictured below should explain the name nicely), and a pre-drive to the Mayqueen Aid Station in order to get everyone's bearings.

(Pretty self explanatory shirt design.)

After a little bit of campsite relaxing and an early dinner, it was time for me to pre-tape my feet and call it an early night. 5 restless hours later, the moment I'd been waiting 364 days for had arrived.

Start to Mayqueen

Rather than having defined splits that I wanted to chase in order to bag a sub-19 hour finish, I decided to write all of last year's splits on my arm and use these as a benchmark of how I was doing throughout the day. I like this strategy since it allows me to focus more on how I feel (legs, lungs, stomach), rather than chasing numbers which can be both unforgiving and unattainable at various points in a 100 mile race as fatigue sets in.

(Team GU Demon)

After the shotgun blast went off, I quickly settled into an easy, relaxed pace and prepared to find my rythym for what are by far the easiest miles of the entire race. Without overly exerting myself, I found myself leading after about a mile, and there I would stay all the way into Mayqueen. I do not regret this decision, nor do I think I went out too fast. I was conversing with Michael Arnstein the entire time, and never once lost my breath or felt any leg fatigue, so why in the world would I have gone slower? In the two weeks leading up to the race, I had run almost zilch in order to nurse some nagging foot pains, so it felt easy and relaxed to run the first half marathon in 1:42.

2011 Mayqueen Aid Station (13 Miles): 1:42

2010 Mayqueen Aid Station: 1:48

2009 Mayqueen Aid Station: 1:56

Mayqueen to Fish Hatchery

As I headed into the first real climb of the day, I decided to back off on the pace a little and allow myself to fall into a position near where I hoped to finish (7th to 10th, roughly). I also experience a psychological boost from passing people late in a race, rather than starting off hot and fading. This being said, I still managed to crest the summit of Sugarloaf (11,000ft +) about 14 minutes ahead of last year's time, no worse for wear. Little did I know, life was about to change abruptly.

I had already taken two poo breaks by the time I began descending the powerlines, which is par for the course. What I hadn't anticipated was the nausea that was about to set in as soon as I hit the bottom of the last descent. With a photographer straight ahead, I decided to duck into the trees to puke my guts out as I didn't want to show weakness this early into the race. Once done, I seemed to feel 100x better, shook it off, and resumed running the short stretch of road into the Fish Hatchery, where I took a 5 minute pit stop to replenish as much as possible after my recent GU exorcism. I proceeded to lose several positions due to this long pit stop.

(Fish Hatchery)

2011 Fish Hatchery Aid Station (Mile 24): 3:24
2010 Fish Hatchery Aid Station: 3:38
2009 Fish Hatchery Aid Station: 3:55

Fish Hatchery to Twin Lakes
I felt extremely good after refueling at Fish, and continued feeling that way most of this stretch. Other than a couple more dumps in the woods, I was clicking off consistent miles and didn't walk a step, other than to fumble with a GU, salt, or the iPod. I made up several more positions along here, and bettered my time to Twin Lakes by nearly 20 minutes compared to last year. Nausea gone. No cramps. No falls. Only minor blisters. Sub-19, here I come.

2011 Twin Lakes Aid Station (Mile 40): 5:55
2010 Twin Lakes Aid Station: 6:13
2009 Twin Lakes Aid Station: 7:04

Twin Lakes to Winfield
As I approached the crux of the race course, I performed a self diagnostic and found myself doing surprisingly well. While tired, my legs were still able to churn, and I found myself employing a walk-run-repeat strategy for a good part of the climb up Hope. As always, it seemed like an eternity before I broke out of the trees and got a glimpse ahead to the summit, but eventually I was at the Hopeless Aid Station hanging out with the llamas. I only needed water here, and was quickly back on the trail in hot pursuit of Charles Corfield who was just a couple switchbacks ahead.

I reached the summit around 11:30am (7 hours 30 minutes) and began descending after a short break to catch my breath. Besides another bathroom break about halfway down the mountain, I descended uneventfully, and hit the 2.5 mile gravel treadmill of death into Winfield. This year I was at the base of the trail before I ran into the leader, which told me I was either faster than ever, or the competition was slower than ever. (After seeing how the results panned out, it was definitely the first option.)

Some time was lost on this section due to the blistering heat and sun exposure, and I was forced to walk close to 1/2 mile of it. Regardless, I was still on a nice PR pace as I cruised into the halfway point.
50 down. 50 to go.

2011 Winfield (50 Miles): 8:42
2010 Winfield: 8:55
2009 Winfield: 10:02

Winfield to Twin Lakes
Ahead of pace? Check. Best friend and pacer by my side? Check. What could possibly go wrong?
The answer to that question is nothing... for a while, least.

The backside of Hope pass was predictably hard as always, and the fact that it felt like it was 110 degrees out didn't help the cause. Either way, Andy kept coaxing me along, even if it was just barely one foot in front of the other, and we slowly neared the summit. Seeing lots of familiar faces and well wishers provided a much needed distraction from the arduous task of climbing 3000+ ft, but I was hardly in the mood for pleasantries - I was ready for this sufferfest to be over.

(It was all downhill from here... literally and metaphorically speaking.)

After cresting the summit, I finally started to feel bad. Really bad... and I'm not talking about '55 miles into a hard 100-miler' bad. I'm talking, 'internal organs and brain not functioning properly' bad. I had to sit and drink some fluids at Hopeless, and also pulled the socks for a second to tend to some blisters. Now that I had some fresh contents in my stomach, the real hell could officially begin...

About 2 miles from Twin Lakes, I began my unending cycle of 'puke-recover-repeat' which would last for the next 10 hours. I had a bad blister that needed to be tended to when we finally arrived in Twin, but this would be the least of my worries over the next 40 miles.

2011 Twin Lakes #2 (Mile 60): 11:33
2010 Twin Lakes #2: 11:52
2009 Twin Lakes #2: 13:32

Twin Lakes to Fish Hatchery
I had bad diarhea during this stretch of trail and brought my total bowel movement count to 9. More puking ensued, and I finally started to feel sorry for myself and go into pity-party mode. I've been there before and know that it gets a guy nowhere, so I tried to just suck it up as much as possible. Around mile 65 we had a cold rain to contend with on top of everything else. Again though, I know 100-milers are supposed to suck and just tried to keep going as fast as possible. Despite a long break at the Half Pipe aid station and another at the Pipeline crew access point (where I wanted nothing more than to cry like a little kid), I was still making record time! I didn't care... but this just served to reaffirm that I'm a stronger runner this year than in 2010 - despite the disaster I was enduring.

2011 Fish Hatchery #2 (Mile 76): 14:42
2010 Fish Hatchery #2: 14:56

Fish Hatchery to the Finish
I wasn't doing well upon arrival at Fish. Here I needed to sit for over 10 minutes and warm up and have another mini pity-party. I was just so thankful for my friends and family being there and wanted to remind all of them how grateful I was for them. This was followed by apologizing profusely for the disasterous next 24 miles I was sure to have. I had so wanted to impress everyone with a PR and a great placement, and here I had to kiss that goodbye. Sometimes the mind is willing, but the body is weak.

Andy and I eventually hit the road again and as soon as I hit gravel I needed to hit the trees again for my final bowel movement of the day. I felt good for less than 15 minutes and soon was laying on the ground in the middle of the trail begging Andy for a 10 minute nap. I didn't know exactly what was wrong with me, just that I internally, and mentally wasn't right. I knew my salt balance was off to some degree, but I was experiencing a feeling I couldn't put my finger on.

It was like being drunk, sleep deprived, and having the flu... all at the same time.

Hiking resumed at a snail's pace and somehow we were up and over Sugarloaf in the daylight. Surprisingly, I was actually STILL ahead of last years time by the time we hit Hagerman Road. Unfortunately, with recurring vomitting throughout this stretch, I was mostly reduced to a slow downhill walk that afforded Andy and I some time for deep conversation about, life, love, and why we put our bodies through this crap.

2011 Mayqueen #2 (87 Miles): 17:20
2010 Mayqueen #2: 17:13
2009 Mayqueen #2: 20:00

By the time we reached Mayqueen, I had finally fallen off of my 2010 pace and collapsed into a chair to warm up. I still hadn't been passed or passed another runner in more than 8 hours when Lynette Clymons finally came cruising by. Neither seeing her, nor hearing that I'd closed the gap on Brendan to within 7 minutes was enough to motivate me to attempt running again.

Andy had gotten extremely dehydrated over the last 37 miles and needed to relinquish his pacing duties at this point. This wasn't a problem though, since most people could crawl as fast as I was now moving. Kelly joined me and we made small talk to pass the time, but I was slowly becoming less lucid and more light headed. Before long I was dizzy and could hardly keep my eyes open. This led to repeated tripping and stumbling. After the longest hour and a half of my life we arrived at the Tabor boat ramp and I insisted on laying down again for my own self-preservation.

I would have been content staying on that cold concrete all night, but my crew finally persuaded me to get back up and dig in for the last 7 miles.

For this stretch Andy's girlfriend Lizzie accompanied me and it was again nice to have someone to talk (listen) to. This helped keep my mind active and I was far more alert as we finished our walk around the lake. The only problem we encountered on this stretch was a dying headlamp, but thankfully I had packed extra batteries that would get me through to the finish. As we were sitting down fumbling with my headlamp, my friend Patrick came running by... he seemed to be hauling and in good spirits. I was pretty stoked for him, yet somewhat jealous of the pace he was holding, since I would have killed to get this suffer-fest over with sooner. On-on we went.

Finally reaching the road I knew it was still 1-1.5 hours before I would be done. Combined with the fact that we passed our campsite along the way, I hit a new low. Another mile down the road more vomitting ensued, and after being depleted for as many hours as I had been, this one brought me to the ground - nearly in tears. Here more familiar faces paced, Tim and Marc if I remember correctly, and I eventually got up and we marched on.

Surprisingly, we eventually saw light and then hit pavement just after 1am. I now knew for a fact I would finish and decided to embrace the moment and walk in with an entourage of 9 other friends, family, and fellow runners. As I approached the red carpet I gladly just walked on through - no need to run now. What a relief to finally be done.

2011 Leadville 100: 21:21.31
2010 Leadville 100: 19:57.52
2009 Leadville 100: 23:21.27

For the record, 21 hours and 21 minutes hurts. I can't imagine what the 28-30 hour finishers must go through. After an hour and a half in the medical tent this year's adventure was finally over.

Never before during any race have I wanted to quit so bad for so long, but never before have I been so determined not too. I was not about to disappoint my friends and family who had come out to support me by dropping. I'd never felt as selfish as when I gave into the pain at Hardrock last summer, and held true to my vow to never experience that feeling again.

While I'm on the subject of crew, I need to thank Shelley, Kelly, Eric, Andy, Holly, and Lizzie for providing the hours and days of support and forcefulness I needed in order to get Leadville finish #3 under my belt. It sounds cliche' to say "I couldn't have done it without you", but honestly, I couldn't have. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Until next year...

2011 Leadville 100 Predictions

2011-08-08T12:31:00.001-06:00

The product of my last post was a list of 24 runners who are all viable threats for a top-10 finish at the Leadville 100 this year. After debating these names and accompanying resumes, have whittled the list down to my official top-10 prediction. Originally I thought I'd be able to put times with the names, but that was much easier said than done. I've taken a stab at the times - specifically, windows of time - but for the most part just focused on the placement.

With no further ado, here is my prediction:

Parr (17:30-ish)
Bowman (17-high)
Callahan (17-high)
Burch (Mid-18)
Sandes (Mid-18)
Gorman (Mid-18)
Anderson (Mid-18)
Arnstein (18-high)
Vega (18-high)
Williams (18-high)

In all honesty, it was hard to include my name on this list, but I think I have a fast time in me this year, and am overdue for a top-10 at a 100-miler after finishes of 12th and 11th last year (Rocky Raccoon and Leadville, respectively). If you take 'Williams' off the list, it truly is a toss-up between all the remaining names on my original list of 24. Specifically, I was having a hard time deciding between Garcia, Tremboli, Long, Harcrow, and Barger.

Pat and Brendan - Sorry to say this, but I am giving my 100 mile experience the advantage on this one, and consider it the equalizer. If this was a 50 miler, I wouldn't have picked myself to beat either of you.

Time-wise, without any of the high profile names (Roes, Krupicka, Clark, Jornet, Jones, etc.) running, I don't see anyone breaking 17 hours.

Now, enough of this armchair quarterbacking... bring on the real thing!

2011 Leadville 100 Entrants (Predictions Forthcoming)

2011-08-05T14:57:00.012-06:00

Within 5 minutes of originally posting this and stating the entrants list had not been issued, I discovered the list is actually up...
That being the case, I've listed the names that I would say are contenders for top-10 overall.

It's always fun to size up the competition beforehand, and I want to know your opinions/guesses, too. If I'm missing anyone, I'll add them to the pool and once we get enough names and time guesses, I'll shoot out my top-10 prediction.

In no particular order:

Ryan Burch (Overdue for a killer 100 miler performance.)
Duncan Callahan (2 time LT100 winner, but not on list... hmmm.)
Dylan Bowman (Top-3 last year.)
Brendan Tremboli (First 100-miler.)
Dan Vega (2nd to Carpenter in 2005.)
Harry Harcrow (Numerous top-10's at Leadville.)
Neal Gorman (Top-5 last year.)
Patrick Garcia (First 100-miler.)
Tim Parr (2009 LT100 winner.)
Marco Peinado (Lives in Leadville. Overdue for a strong 100 finish.)
Ryan Sandes (Apparently runs with the big dogs overseas.)
Michael Arnstein (Fast on flatter terrain. Just won the Vermont 100.)
Lynette Clemons (3rd fastest womens time ever in 2009.)
Brian Fischer (Has broken 20 hours at Leadville before.)
Bob Africa (Looks strong from his past results.)
Zach Crandall (2011 Leadville Marathon winner.)
Jeff Browning (Numerous 100 mile victories.)
Allen Belshaw (Has a nice resume with a handful of race victories thrown in.)
John Anderson (Fast Boulder guy.)
Tim Long (Strong and consistent. Been personally beaten by him before.)
Dan Barger (Top-10 at WS100 this year at age 45.)
Oz Pearlman (Really fast 50 mile guy.)
Bob Sweeney (Ultrarunning veteran.)
Me (Broke 20 hours last year.)

Help me out! Fire away...

Surviving White River

2011-08-04T08:49:00.006-06:00

Don't let the post title deceive you - I have had much bigger suffer-fests, by far - but that doesn't mean White River was a cake walk, or that things went exactly as planned.

(Mt. Ranier - The backdrop to White River.)

(Getting the low-down on the route from Mr. Henshaw.)

(Time to square off.)

To start with, the weather was pretty hot, which generally leads to slower times. Judging from the complete results, this was a slow year, even for the elite-level guys. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had thrown all definitive time goals out the window when I discovered snowy conditions still existed on sections of the course, and it's a good thing I did. 7:15 ended up being the time Andy ran, and his goal was sub-7. Even Uli ended up running a time of 6:49 that, while fast, was well slower than his previous best of 6:32.

(The start)

The race starts with about 4 miles of flat and then rolling terrain, before you hit the longest and steepest of the 2 climbs on the course - a 12 mile ascent to the Corral Pass aid station. I was able to run nearly every step of this climb, but was conscientously being conservative at the same time, knowing that the 2nd climb is supposedly where the race is won or lost. Combined with some of my usual problems - a bowel movement and a pair of minor falls - I reached the mile 17 aid station close to my original goal time but considerably farther back in the field than I'd hoped to be (approximately 20th place).

At Corral Pass I had to take my longest break of the day to get composed, take rocks out of my shoes, fix a broken handheld water bottle, scarf some calories, and lose the last of my warm clothing (gloves). In all, I probably lost 6 minutes here. It was definitely a huge boost though seeing familiar faces, as always. At each aid station I had the pleasure and psychological boost of seeing Holly, Andy's parents (Cheryl and Todd), and his girlfriend Lizzie.

(In a funk trying to get my bearings at Corral Pass.)

After saying my goodbyes I took the first long descent relatively conservatively and arrived back at the Camp Creek aid station (mile 27) near the start/finish in 19th - partially due to another bowel movement during the descent. Here I just topped off the necessities, said hi to everyone, and mentally dug in for the beginning of the real race.

Over the next 10 miles of mostly climbing, it got incredibly hot and exposed BUT I was determined to push through the pain and discomfort no matter what. By the end of the climb, I had vomitted several times (around the mile 32 aid station), felt like crap the whole time, and somehow managed to improve my position by 10 places!

After taking a second to appreciate the incredible views of Mt. Ranier from the Suntop Lookout aid station, I decided to let gravity help for a while and let the quads have their turn suffering. The next 6.5 miles are all downhill on a hard, steep, and dusty gravel road and aren't as enjoyable as one would imagine - even after 2 hours of climbing. Despite the pain in my legs and more stomach problems, I was able to cover this section in just under 43 minutes, and in doing so, I was in 6th place at the last aid station (mile 44).

While refueling to prepare for the last 7 miles of rolling, rocky, rooty terrain under a gigantic tree canopy alongside the White River, I was passed by one of the runners who I had overtaken just a few minutes prior. I left the aid station just a few seconds behind him, but pursuit was all for naught after I performed my best superman impression about a mile from the aid station. Toes were stubbed and screaming with pain, and my thumb rammed into a rock and split open under the nail. This pain and frustration took the fight out of me and I went into suffer mode for the next 5-6 miles, wishing for nothing else but for the pain to be over.

Finally, I rounded the last bend out of the trees and back toward the air strip and crossed the finish in 7:49 - good for 7th overall.

(7th place. 7:49.49)

I bit the bullet and soaked in the river after the race and within 2 minutes my legs were numb and my lips were purple. Even though this frigid water was excruciating to sit in, I think it greatly helped in my recovery as I'm not nearly as sore as usual after a 50-miler. I'm mainly nursing a really sore hamstring on my left leg, but I have no doubt I can be 100% recovered by Leadville as long as I take it somewhat easy this week.

(Post race freeze-fest.)

The rest of our time in the Seattle area was very relaxing and full of good seafood. A few more pics:

(Getting our post-race grub on.)

(Hey Brooks, which way to the Olympic Mountains?)

(We even found time to bag Rainier before catching our flight!)

And now, it's Leadville or Bust!

After landing in Denver, we tried to catch these guys at the Larimer Lounge, but the show sold out:

2011 White River 50 Preview

2011-07-27T12:42:00.000-06:00

Here's what I know so far about this coming weekend:

Lots of snow still. What this means is fixed ropes and miscellaneous treachery for about 2 miles of the course. CAN NOT WAIT!
Bib #4. This is the same number I had when I won Brew to Brew in April. I'm not superstitious at all, but I'm still excited to have gotten this race number.
Live tracking via Twitter. I don't know much about this Twitter crap, but if you just can't contain your excitement and need to know where the runners are at at all times, then go to: http://twitter.com/#!/whiteriver50
If you aren't familiar with the race, here is Tony K's race report from the first year he won it ('09). Lot's of cool photos, as well. http://antonkrupicka.blogspot.com/2009/07/white-river-50.html

I had an A goal of running <7:15 going into this week, but after hearing more about the course conditions, I wouldn't be surprised if only the top 1 or 2 guys go this fast. This being the case, all time goals are out the window, and I would be ecstatic with claiming a top-10 at this iconic race, regardless of how long it takes me. We shall see!

Oh, and finally, I predict a big win for the recently unstoppable Andy Henshaw. He's super fit right now as he is looking to improve on his world-leading 100k time from April, when he races in the 100k World Championships in September in the Netherlands.

Into the Mind of Brooks: Mental Training

2011-07-15T11:30:00.004-06:00

I've been analyzing my running abilities (and life in general) lately, and something I ponder frequently is what it is that has made me stronger and faster at races this year. What I've started to realize is that there is no real trick or shortcut to it, but rather, a few reminders that make the suffering more palatable. Everybody's mind and body will work slightly differently than mine, but for what it's worth here's what works for me:

Past experiences: After 2 1/2 years of pummeling my body at 50-100 mile distances, I've learned that humans are resilient creatures, and it takes a LOT to kill a person. Case in point: I'm sitting here writing this. And while I've certainly tried at races (read: 2009 Minnesota Voyageur 50), nothing has proved fatal. This is a vital bit of knowledge when the going gets tough... I simply have to mentally remove myself from the current moment and current suffering and remind myself that this too, shall pass, that it won't kill me, and there is no reason to stop pushing.
The faster you go, the sooner the suffering ends: Easy concept. Difficult to execute at times.
The 'Small Drop in a Big Bucket' concept: This is one I came up with around mile 80 at last years' Leadville 100, and it has had the greatest psychological impact for me when I enter super-suffer mode. During a 100 miler, think about how short of a time period the 20-30 hours you're out there is in the grand scheme of things. Maybe it will be the worst 24 hours of your life, but consider how you have 8,736 hours to recover and NOT be in that level of pain until next year (assuming you don't swear off running altogether). Really doesn't seem like that long then, does it?
Confidence: I don't know what this years LT100 field looks like yet, but I'm sure there will be 20+ runners at the starting line who are more talented, more fit, and stronger than me, but I doubt there will be 5 who can endure and push through as much pain as me. I consider this to be a great equalizer at the 100 mile distance.
Regrets: Nothing has eaten away at me, and bothered me as much as my DNF at last years' Hardrock Hundred. Period. I plan on it being the last DNF I ever experience. Knowing the regret I still feel because of it provides all the motivation I need to keep grinding.
Something to prove: I'm a bit of an anomoly, having Cystic Fibrosis and still doing ultra-distance racing. I like knowing that I'm doing something previously unfathomable, and want to see just how fast I can get despite this minor disadvantage.

Oh, almost forgot... this was in this months' Ultra Running magazine:

Newfound Confidence

2011-06-30T14:36:00.003-06:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I found out I'd be running the San Juan Solstice 50 miler on short notice. This being the case, my expectations - along with my training - were not very impressive. I had just barely started breaking the 50 miles per week barrier in training again after my long post-Collegiate Peaks hiatus, and this isn't exactly the mileage necessary to succeed at a mountain 50 that many tout as the hardest in North America.

This made for an interesting attitude and dynamic going into last weekend...
Basically, I was planning on participating in a gorgeous 50 mile "fun-run" with no time goals whatsoever (sub-12 was all I really hoped for in the back of my mind) that would ultimately serve as good Leadville training. Also because of not planning on running this one, I had no transportation or lodging arrangements going into the week of the race. Here, I have to thank Andy Wooten and his girlfriend Melissa for letting me tag along on the ride down and back, and for providing me a roll-out bed to sleep on in their cabin - not sleeping on the floor goes a long way to a succesful race!

Friday was filled with traveling down to Lake City, eating as much as possible, and attending the pre-race meeting and packet pick up. Having only gotten a couple hours of sleep the night before, I had no problem calling it an early night after the necessary pre-race prep. Speaking of which, check out the real secret to my newfound speed:

(Feel fast. Be fast. Thanks, Holly)

Before I get to the race recap itself, here's a link to the race website, as well my very loose synapsis of the SJS 50 - solely based on personal perception after hearing two years' worth of musings by other runners. http://web.me.com/grayj923/San_Juan_Solstice_50_Mile_Race/Welcome.html

San Juan: Run to 13000 ft. Descend to 9000 ft. Repeat. Run through a river. Run through some snow. Start to dry off. Repeat. Run along the Continental Divide and pray you don't get struck by lightning. Basically, just plan on suffering. ALL DAY. This is the only 50 miler I've encountered which requires a 16 hour cut-off time, thus the reason for the late-June race date on the Saturday nearest the summer solstice on June 21st. Generally, if you talk to the experienced mountain runners in the U.S. they will almost invariably say the toughest 50 they've run is either San Juan, Jemez, or Zane Grey.

This year however, due to record snow and runoff levels, a new "alternate-alternate" course had to be used. The route that was decided upon actually had slightly more vertical over more climbs - 13000+ ft of gain spread amongst 4 ascents - but lacked the river crossings, and the same amount of mileage on the Continental Divide. When all was said and done, it sounds like this was an equally difficult course, just for different reasons.

(Heading out to suffer all day. Fun.)

To the race...

Climb #1 of 4 starts about 1.5 miles into the race and is the "baby" of the 4. This is good, as it primes you for the real hell that comes later. On this first ascent, I started about 15 people back from the leaders and went down from there. I wasn't having any problems, I just didn't want to burn out my calves early, so I hiked it at a moderate pace, even stopping twice to answer natures call(s). This climb up Vickers Ranch was crested about 1:30 into the race and we then began the descent to the mile 11 aid station.

Side note: Neither the climbs, nor the descents are pleasant at San Juan. They are uncomfortably steep in both directions, thus the reason it has earned the nickname Hardrock Jr. or Hardrock Lite.

Anyway, on this descent, I along with about 50 other runners got off course at various times and points. Thankfully, I was only misguided for a half mile or so, and soon ran into another group who was just getting back on track. Here I was surprised to see Karl Meltzer just ahead and ended up running with him into the Silver Coin aid station. I stocked up on GU's and fluid and prepared for the first 'real' climb of the day.

I now relaxed and told myself I didn't have to push climb #2 since there needed to be something left in the tank for later. This caused me to power hike most of the climb with a little running interspersed here and there. Surprisingly, without spending much effort, I began passing runner after runner on this section, finally cresting after almost an hour and a half of climbing right as Karl came back into my sights (he had left me in his dust at the previous aid station). There was some confusion while running the high ridges before the descent, and thankfully another runner saw me and yelled in order to keep me on course. Looking back, had I taken the wrong turn to my left, I would have missed out on an extra 1/2 mile of suffering that I would have regretted in the end... masochistic, I know.

On this first LONG descent which eventually took us to the mile 22 aid station, I started to have my first major issues of the day, and they came in bunches:

Knees and quads started hurting
Bowel problems - Poo #2
Vomitting ensued.

The puking was due to choking on a salt tablet, so it was no big deal as long as I was able to replenish fluids at the next aid station. I was more concerned with self-preservation than placement at this point, so I gladly allowed a handful of runners to overtake me as I approached the aid station. Once there, I took my shoes and socks off and made my one long pit-stop of the day. Rather than worrying about the lost time, I deemed it necessary if I was going to finish the race at all.

After attending to my fuel, fluid, and foot issues (I taped some toes), I hit what had to be the worst part of the course, the seemingly never ending gravel treadmill of death. I had flashbacks of the long road sections at Leadville that seem so easy, but quickly defeat and crush you. I was reduced to the point where I was walking some gradual uphill sections when I ran into Ben (Diana Finkels' husband) and began talking with him. This seemed to greatly increase both of our spirits, and we were able to sustain a run together for the majority of this 5-ish mile section.

Climb #3 was a welcome change of scenery from the road, despite it seeming like a never-ending haul up to the Yurt Aid Station. It was tough not knowing when or where the aid station would be; all they told us in the pre-race briefing was that it would depend on how bad the jeep roads were (snow and mud), and that it would be somewhere between miles 31 and 34. I hadn't seen a soul in over an hour and had no idea what place I was in overall, when I caught my first glimpse of another runner near the top. It ended up being my buddy Mike Patrizi, and it was nice to both see a familiar face, and also realize I was making up ground on other runners. This was the first time all day that I started to smell blood and get my competitive juices flowing. After this I overtook two more runners as we ran on the Continental Divide, despite having bowel movement #3 somewhere around mile 33.

At the aid station I wasted no time in filling up my water bottles and slamming down some Coke since I was really looking forward to the long downhill that was coming. After a couple hours of labored breathing, I looked forward to switching to the pain of downhill running... at least it would be my knees hurting and not my lungs. Right before leaving the aid station, I asked what position I was in and how far behind the previous runner I was. To my surprise, they said I was in 6th and that Duncan Callahan had gone through about 5 minutes earlier.

Game on.

After another mile or so on the Divide, there was an open uphill section that afforded me a view for about a half mile ahead of me, and this was when I caught my first glimpse of Duncan. I soon hit the long, steep, and rocky downhill jeep road to the Slum Gullion aid station and started to really open it up with hopes of gaining on the Leadville 100 champ.

About 2 miles from the aid station I was bombing down the mountain, keeping my eyes focused on the technical trail in front of me, when I happened to briefly look up and see a giant kitty cat dart in front of me and up the hill to my right. Yep; that just happened.

Seeing a 120lb (+/-) mountain lion less than 30 yards away has a startling affect on an unarmed and depleted runner who has been on his feet for almost 8 hours. At first it didn't really sink in, but once I fully realized what I just saw, I proceeded to find a gear I never knew I had. Mix this reckless abandon with all the grunting and growling and arm-flailing I was doing, and I must have been a sight to see. Thankfully, this was the last I saw of Mr. Catamount, and I soon was at the aid station telling my story. Here I also got a huge surge of adrenalin after hearing I was still only about 5 minutes behind Duncan, and from getting cheered through by Dakota Jones and Scott Jurek.

Quickly it was back to the trail, and within 5 minutes I was beginning the final climb of the day. Before sacrificing all the energy left in my tank, I decided to lighten my load one last time in the bushes. This made it a total of 4 bowel movements on the day, not to mention a vomit break, and 3 or 4 pee breaks...
Anyway, I knew that it wasn't going to be a fun climb, but at least the hard work would be over after I crested. Finally, about 1/2 mile from the top, I entered the meadow at the top of Vickers and not only saw Duncan only 2 minutes ahead, but another runner far off in the distance: Karl Meltzer.

At this point I was confident I could overtake Duncan on the climb, but the doubtful part was whether or not I could fend him off over the 5 mile descent to the finish line. Karl was probably 7 minutes ahead right here and I realized catching him was out of the question. Duncan and I crossed the top at the same time and after regaining our breath and chatting for a second, I decided it was time to run as hard as I possibly could until I finished or collapsed - whichever came first.

After several miles of running downhill with reckless abandon, I hit the final paved mile to the finish line, constantly looking over my shoulder, expecting to get reeled in, but it was not to be.

I cruised through the finish line 9 hours and 48 minutes, 13,000+ ft, 18 GU's, and 51.5 miles after starting my little jaunt through the mountains. I ended up 6th overall, about 4 minutes behind Karl. (Clearly the Yurt aid station had mis-quoted when they said I was in 6th at that point.)

(It was a good day for the C-Springs contingent.)

(El Conquistador and his booty.)

So back to the title of my post: Confidence.

I don't know if something is physically changing for me, or if I was just lucky on that particular Saturday, but I'm starting to consistently run with the lead pack guys, and I really can't process it yet. Regardless, I have a newfound confidence and predatory instinct going into the home stretch before Leadville. I'll have one more test before then when I race White River in about a month. Hopefully this will help to increase my confidence further as I hunt for a sub-19 hour Leadville 100.

Running & Stuff

2011-06-01T13:27:00.000-06:00

Since Collegiate Peaks, here's what I've been up to:

RUNNING
Not a whole lot to report here, other than my relative lack thereof. This is going to change quickly now and make for an interesting few upcoming weeks, since I just recieved confirmation that I was no longer on the San Juan Solstice wait list, but will now be running it... it looks like I've got a whole lot of suffering to look forward to in my near future; June 18th, to be exact. Hopefully I've done enough maintenance runs in the last few weeks to not die out there.

For those who aren't familiar with the SJS 50, here's the website. Think of it as Hardrock lite, with the general consensus being that it's the hardest 50 miler in the country. Some people say it's a toss-up with Jemez, and in about 3 weeks, I'll be the judge of that! To add to the excitement, they have had record snowfall and, in turn, runoff this spring, which should make for a course more treacherous than usual. Can't wait.

The only long training run I've done in the last month was a hard 20 miler last weekend. The highlights? Running into a pissed off wild turkey in Williams Canyon and having to hitch a ride home after I had a super-bonk due to no food or water, mixed with 80+ degree heat.

I have had some shorter runs/hikes worth mentioning, all of which are just west of Colorado Springs on trails that I never knew existed. This has made for some really enjoyable adventures and exploration despite the serious vertical gain. The last of these little adventures was to a random 9200' summit a few miles north of the Scar which houses the local bighorn sheep population. Right around the 9000' point my friends Marc and Amanda and I found the remains of a 1944 B-24 Bomber plane crash. In case you're wondering, this is NOT a small plane, and there were still bits and pieces of this plane and its fuselage spread all over a couple acres on the side of a steep and loose mountainside. After doing a little background research, Marc discovered that this plane went down in an April snowstorm while on a training flight, killing all 7 crew members aboard. It's an eerie feeling stumbling across a crash site like this and imagining the final seconds of those individuals' lives...

Anyway, moving on to less morbid subject matter,

HEALTH
I've been sick for a while, and by a while, I mean I just found out last week that I'd had strep throat for almost a month. I originally got really sick about a week before Collegiate Peaks, and then it kind of just lingered with me basically getting used to having a terrible sore throat every day for weeks, regardless of what I took for it (lozenges, salt water gargle, etc.). Last week I finally broke down and got it checked out at the doctor, and sure enough... strep. After only 4 days the sore throat is gone. Weird. I kinda wish I'd done this, oh, say, 3 weeks ago! Live and learn, I suppose. At least it's behind me now and I'm feeling almost human again.

STUFF
New discovery: Intermediate league hockey is considerably more competitive and faster paced than Novice... our season just ended and I"m pretty sure my team went 1-6. It might have actually been 2-4, but when you're losing that often, it all kind of blends together...

Besides hockey, I've recently discovered something else I'm really not good at - golf - except with this 'sport', I can not only be bad at it, but I can be pissed off the whole time as well. If I was mentally stable, I'd be writing about how I'm never going to play again, but being the glutton for punishment I am, I'm sure I'll be squeezing 9 in around all my other bad ideas/hobbies.

Tonight Yeasayer is playing the Ogden in Denver, and Tony and I are both going to finally see them in person for the first time. It has the makings for a fun evening! I know this video is uber-weird, creepy, and slightly off-putting, but if you can get beyond the weird, oozing, blob-creature, it's a great song.

2011 Collegiate Peaks 50

2011-05-16T16:19:00.006-06:00

I'm a little bummed that I didn't get to writing this sooner - since the memories aren't burned as intensely into my brain as they were early in the week - but regardless, this years' edition of Collegiate Peaks was a memorable race and I had a completely full weekend with good friends.

My buddy Sean, who was going to be taking his first stab at the 50 mile distance, and I hit the road in the early afternoon on Friday with prospects of great weather all weekend. As I look back, it was really almost too nice, in that mother nature really cranked up the thermostat for the race on Saturday, and left me with a sunburn that would make a snake jealous. I'm still leaving a trail of dead skin everywhere I go almost a week later! Oops. When you're dumb in the head, your whole body suffers.

Friday evening consisted of checking into our hotel, having a minor-freakout when I realized I didn't bring my salt tablets (thanks for saving my bacon on that one, JT), and then meeting our friends Marc and Amanda - who were also racing on Saturday - for some food and beer at Eddyline Brewery. Marc was also planning to attempt the 50 mile distance for the first time.

(The pre-fight weigh-in between Sean and myself.)

In the weeks and months leading up to this race, thanks to Sean and Marc, I was reminiscently able to get small doses of the excitement and fear of the unknown that goes with taking ones first plunge into ultra-distance running. It was infectious and great to see that fire again. This went a long way to motivating me as well, because, even though running is a huge passion in my life, I do unintentionally find myself viewing races as just another day at the office from time-to-time. Being around these two, training with them, and being able to mentor - when needed or wanted - served to reignite the fire in me and remind me just how great it is to push our bodies to the limit and see where our personal boundaries lie. Thanks, guys.

Getting back to the story, Saturday morning arrived quickly after some surprisingly restful sleep, and the morning routine began. Marc and I decided to arrive at the race a little later than the rest of the gang and had about 30 minutes to lay out our drop bags, mingle, take potty breaks, and get mentally ready to suffer all day in the heat. When it's almost 50 degrees out at 6:00am at 8,000ft elevation, you know you're in for a doozy...

I lined up in front with the fast guys (Ryan Burch, Duncan Callahan, Dylan Bowman, Corey Hanson, etc.), took a deep breathe, and then began the routine... left foot, right foot, water, sugar, salt, repeat. This was my first attempt at the 50 mile distance this season, and I honestly was looking forward to the dull pain that comes with running for the equivalent of a normal work day, vs. the intense pain of pushing at your body's redline for a short period (ie: a road marathon, ie: Boston, ie: a 5k, ie: the Incline).

Within ten minutes the gloves and armsleeves were already gone, and it was time to suffer. I was running at a steady, relaxed pace for the first 8 miles and was still within eyesight of the leaders for about 6 of them. Once obligatory bowel movement #1 took me into the trees around mile 8, I rejoined the pack after losing about 10 positions and was quickly in my element. I really begin actually racing if I'm a ways behind in the pack and always do better playing the hunter, and not the hunted.

Sean caught me shortly thereafter and made the first pass of what would turn into many in our all day game of cat and mouse. This lead was short lived though as he had to stop for his first pit stop shortly thereafter. I held on for another mile or two, and then when I began walking to eat a GU, Sean quickly passed. This was during the long sustained uphill section leading to the mile 17 aid station, and knowing this ascent can take a lot out of a guy, I was content hanging back about 200-300 meters as long as I kept him in my sight. We crested this climb together and then after some strategic talk, we began our long descent to the turn around with the plan of sticking close together and letting gravity do the work while we saved our legs for later in the day. We had no idea where we were in relation to the rest of the pack, but looking at our watches, it seemed that we were on pace for about a 3:30-3:35 first lap, which I'd assumed would have put us only about 10-15 minutes back from the leader.

Wrong.

I was soon in for a surprise when I crossed paths with Ryan (who was on his second lap which goes the opposite direction and allows you to see where you are in relation to all the other runners) at the same spot as I saw Andy last year. The difference this time was that I was 10 minutes faster than the year before and yet I was just as far back in the field. It was obvious that if he held it together for the next 24 miles or so, that he had a Course Record in the bag. (That was exactly what happened, too, as he won with a time of 6:37, after a 3:09 first lap.)

I hit the Start/Finish area at 3:29 - about 1-2 minutes ahead of Sean - and made quick work of getting in and out. It ended up being only a 3 minute break, due in part to the fact there was no water to cross this year, which meant no shoe/sock changing. By the time I got out of there I had about a 3 minute lead on Sean, with several other 50 mile runners within 2-5 minutes of us.

On the long climb after the turnaround, I was quickly made aware of the price I'd be paying for the rest of the afternoon... 1) It was HOT. 2) My legs were heavy and feeling cramp-ish. 3) It had only been 3 days since my strep-throat symptoms had begun to subside, and I was feeling extremely fatigued. It had taken a lot more energy than normal to turn a 3:30-ish first lap.

After enduring about an hour of this misery and (surprisingly) being able to run almost every step, the heat finally caught up with me and in classic Brooks fashion, I started projectile vomitting all over the place. Projectile. Everywhere. I was still crossing paths with 25 mile runners at this point and a few of them were lucky enough to get a show and see why it's just plain stupid to run 50 miles. Unlike similar past situations though, I felt remarkably good after purging and never considered quitting or dropping out. No matter how awful you feel during a race, you just have to remind yourself that 'this too shall pass' and that you'll bounce back and feel human again at some point.

Once I crested at mile 32 and had several downhill recovery miles to eat, drink and relax the legs, I was determined to beat my '10 time and, was ready for the long grind to the finish. Despite not feeling great, having familiarity with a race course helps tremendously from a psychological standpoint, until...

... I glanced over my shoulder and saw a pursuer closing the gap quickly. It was none other than Mr. O'Day (again). I felt defeated since I'd been pushing a pretty hard and consistent pace for a couple hours and assumed I was putting a gap on the competition. Rather than pushing my already gassed and cramping legs any harder, I opted for Plan B: Pull off into the bushes and take a dump while Sean runs by. If nothing else, I was going to make him lead and do the hard work now, because I was done.

We ended up running/hiking about 1-2 miles together and decided that we would tag-team the rest of the race and finish together. We both arrived and left the mile 44 aid station together and hit the final descent back into Buena Vista. What I didn't realize was just how much energy Sean had spent trying to catch me all afternoon, and I soon found myself running alone after his tank hit empty.

From here until the finish, it was just a matter of racing the clock. I say this because I hadn't seen another runner (besides Sean) since the 25 mile mark, when I saw Duncan and Corey in 3rd and 4th. Having run the entire 2nd lap alone I really had no idea of where everyone else was and therefore lacked motivation to really push it. The only update I received was at the second to last aid station, where I was informed I was about 15-20 minutes behind 3rd and 4th. Regardless, I was able to run a consistent clip to the finish, arriving 7 hours and 38 minutes after starting. This time was 8 minutes off my 2010 time, and good for 5th place despite the various issues I was dealing with. I was less than five minutes behind 3rd and 4th, and got a huge confidence boost being closely behind some big name guys! Shortly thereafter Sean came through, clinching a 6th place finish in his first ultra, with a time of 7:45. Rounding out the hugely successful day for the Colorado Springs contingent, JT ran a 50 mile PR of 8:06, and Marc finished no worse for wear in just over 10 hours.

(Rounding the last corner.)

(Marc finishing. 10:09)

(Medicine.)

(3rd place age groupers get bananas.)

Nap time followed, and a few adult beverages were in order to numb the pain!

(Seemed like a fitting backdrop!)

On a side note, my running streak ended last week after 90+ days without a break and I've only run 3 out of 8 days since the race, but my body has been begging for rest for a while and with no races in my imminent future, I'm surprisingly okay with this time off!

June is still up in the air as far as racing goes, since I'm still quite a ways back on the waitlist for San Juan. This leaves me with some options, which include Bighorn, or possibly just no racing whatsover. I'm all about being smarter this summer and making Leadville the one that counts, so we'll see what happens.

For todays musical selection that JT can make fun of: 'Portugal. The Man'. I just saw these guys play an incredible show last week in C-Springs... enjoy.

Boston: PR. PR. PR. Total meltdown. PR.

2011-04-25T13:18:00.003-06:00

I'll elaborate shortly...

Road races aren't nearly as exciting for me to run or write about, so this will be relatively concise race recap, but don't be fooled, running the Boston Marathon was a lot of fun and I'm happy to have been part of the experience.

Due to bad weather on the east cost my first flight (yes, there were two... I now know to go direct next time) experienced turbulence like I've never felt before, so much so that the pilot got a round of applause from those on board after safely landing in the horrendous storm that hit Baltimore on Saturday. After appreciately arriving on the ground in one piece, it was time to kill some time for 2 hours until my next flight to Boston. This two hours proceeded to get delayed to 7+...
In order to keep my consecutive days streak alive, I changed into my running gear, found a TSA agent who could watch my bags, and then proceeded to run laps up and down the terminal near the baggage claim. Based on my best estimation, I ran over 2 miles in the airport. (I'll leave the looks I received to your imagination.)
Finally, around 2am, I arrived at my hotel on the outskirts of Boston and called it a night.

Sunday included packet pickup, a Red Sox game with Matt, and lots of good food and beer mixed in.

Race Day
Even though the race doesn't start until 10am, Marathon Monday begins much earlier for the 20000+ runners participating. Up before 5, Matt and I had a cab waiting for us by 5:25, in order to get to the buses that would take us out to the race start. By 6:15 we were all on board and heading west. Once in Athletes Village (really just a big tent city), we had 3 hours to kill before race start. I immediately got separated from anyone I knew and proceeded to sit around freezing my butt off in the wind and on the water-logged grass. Finally, after enduring this misery for about an hour, I discovered a sign for pre-race massages inside the highschool gym and decided to check it out in hopes of warming up for a few. Score!

The line in the gym was long enough that I was able to sit in the warmth for the next hour and a half without ever having to actually receive a massage - which seems like a bad idea right before a race anyway.

The start is about 3/4 of a mile away from Athletes village and soon we were all being herded over like cattle. Unless you're an elite, there's no way to do a pre-race warmup once you are in the corrals, so I jogged to the starting area to loosen the legs a bit.

Being one of the lower numbers - 1232 - I was in Corral #2 near the front, and after the elites were off, it was only 23 seconds before I crossed the starting line. Compared to the 1 1/2 hours the last competitors have to wait to get there, I can't complain.

Now to explain the title of this post:
Boston is a road race. Boston is mostly a downhill course. Brooks had super slow PR's in all distances under the marathon. What this means, is that Boston had huge PR potential for me... and I lived up to it... sort of.

PR #1
Pre-Boston 5k personal record: 19:07
Boston 5k split: 18:07

This is the steepest downhill section on the course, so I pretty much expected a PR here and only went about 5-10 seconds faster than anticipated for these miles.

PR #2
Pre-Boston 10k PR: 39:49
Boston 10k split: 35:57

This one shocked me because not only does the course not have as much downhill here, but I actually gained speed from my 5k split. At this point my pace was around 5:47, but hey, I felt good and was barely working still.

PR #3
Pre-Boston half-marathon PR: 1:26.xx
Boston half-marathon split: 1:18.58

Not only did I destroy my previous half-marathon PR, but I had taken a poo break along the way, and stopped for the obligatory kisses from the Wellesley girls. Had I skipped this, I could have easily been in the 1:16-high range. Anyway, my legs were finally starting to feel worked, so I decided to back off a bit in hopes of maintaining a good clip to the finish and going sub-2:45 still.

Total Meltdown
Easier said than done. When both legs decide to cramp at the same time, it's not a pretty sight.

I grenaded.
Imploded.
The wheels came off.
Disaster struck.
Epic fail.

However you describe it, it was a full blown collapse. I was still running decently for several more miles and I went through 20 miles in 2:04.xx. This still put me in position for a sub-2:45 IF it wasn't for the fact that I could no longer support my own weight at this point without fiery bolts of pain shooting up my calves and through my hamstrings with every step. I stopped to stretch a couple times and resumed the straight-legged limp/hobble to the finish with tens of thousands of people witnessing my demise. It felt like man, woman, and child were passing me like I was standing still, but I kept pushing.

PR #4
After I started to see all my A and A+ goals slipping away, I got to the 1-mile-to-go sign and realized my hopes of even going sub-2:50 were now in jeopardy unless I could muster a 7:30 mile or faster. In a final push that hurt every bit as much as finishing a 100-miler, I managed to pull a 7:07 out of my butt for a final time of 2:49.37!

It wasn't a pretty sight, but all in all I'm very pleased with my time. So many road racers seem to have the attitude that ultrarunners only do the long distance stuff because they have no leg speed, and it's nice to disspell that myth from time to time. Look at guys like Nick Clark and Andy Henshaw... elite ultrarunners with marathon times in the 2:30's and 2:20's.

Would I ever do Boston again? Probably not, but this doesn't mean I regret the experience. I enjoyed the energy and the excitement that enveloped the whole city last weekend, but it made me appreciate the solitude of running for hours in the wilderness that much more. It seemed like thousands of people running the race were just doing it so they could wear an overpriced Adidas jacket with the marathon logo on it and brag to everyone about their accomplishment. I genuinely apologize if I'm being a running snob here, but I'm guessing I'm not the only person who's done this race and gotten that same impression.

Now it's time to hit the trails!! Collegiate Peaks 50 miler is next on the docket in less than two weeks. Until then, here's an older Decemberists song that I couldn't get enough of during my Boston weekend:

Boston Predictions

2011-04-14T15:29:00.002-06:00

Boston is so close I can taste it.
For the very first time, I'm actually stoked to do this race! Yeah, I ran a long and hard race less than two weeks ago, but besides a little residual fatigue, I feel good... really, really good...

And fast.

This is a totally new concept and experience for me. As I sit here, I'm full of confidence and mentally prepared to run low-6 minute miles for an entire marathon. Wait, I had to just re-read that... I'm having a hard time believing what I just wrote and that I honestly think I can go sub-2:50 (or faster). I say this because less than two years ago, I had already run numerous marathons in an attempt to just qualify for Boston, all of which had been failures from a time perspective. (My first 6 or 7 road marathons where all between 3:15 and 3:35.)

And now, having only run one road marathon per year the last two years, I've managed to shave 10 minutes off my PR at each, putting my current best at 2:55. It's hard to quantify what finally clicked, but it's an exhilarating feeling to have finally gotten to this point. Surely, it's just strength and consistency that did it.

Anyway, for the sake of making me accountable, I'm going to show some cards and mention some of my goals/predictions.

D-Goal: Just Finish
C-Goal: Sub-2:55 (new PR)
B-Goal: Sub-2:53 (JT's PR and lots of smack-talking rights)
A-Goal: 2:45-2:47

JT and I have an over/under bet on whether or not I'll beat Joan Benoit Samuelson. Considering she ran a 2:47.xx last October - setting the over-50 female world record - I consider this a lofty goal. JT has 'over', and there's a good chance he'll be winning a 6 pack on this one, but I love the challenge!

Sub-2:46 also has a nice ring to it since it's the women's qualifying standard for the Olympic Trials, and Karl Meltzer did think I was a woman going into Hardrock last summer, so why not? This will be another goal in the back of my mind.

Oh, and Andy, who clearly has more confidence in me than I do, thinks I'll break 2:40. He's a good friend, but he obviously needs to get off the LSD. No offense.

This should be fun. At the very least, I like my chances of breaking the 'Skinny Guy with Cystic Fibrosis and Gout' World Record...

March 2011 Recap

2011-04-10T02:18:00.004-06:00

I just realized while on my run earlier today, that I never posted a March recap, but before I jump to that, I want to give a huge shout out to Andy for his stellar victory at the Mad City 100k earlier today. Not only did he win, beat second place by 10+ minutes, and set a new course record, but he officially made the US 100k World Team and will be racing in the Netherlands in September.

His time, you ask?
6:47... for 62 miles... which is a 6:33 pace... for 62 miles. His 50 mile time was just under 5:17. Doing the math makes my head hurt, so all I'm going to say is that is just stupid, retarded, incomprehendably fast. Congrats, man!

Okay, now for some far less exciting news. Here's how my March looked:

# of days I ran = 31
# of miles run = 262
Average miles = 8.45/day
Longest run = 26.2 miles

Aside from the Salida Marathon, March was pretty uneventful. I stayed consistent with my mileage and ran every day of the month. As I'm writing this, my consecutive days streak sits at 64. Coming into 2011, my longest streak on record was 11 days!

My most notable training run was geared towards preparing for both Brew to Brew and Boston. The workout consisted of a 7.5 mile easy warm up, followed by 8.5 miles at 6:07 pace, and then a 7 mile cooldown. The speed portion simulated running at a fast pace while somewhat fatigued, and the final 7 simulated the later miles in an ultra when your legs are completely toasted. It hurt soooo bad, but was a huge confidence booster and seemed to payoff last weekend. Now, as long as I'm somewhat recovered for Boston, I can hopefully break 2:50 and be done with road races for 2011. Based on the ease of the 2:57 marathon split at Brew to Brew, I don't think this is an unreasonable goal.

I don't know if I've written about it before, but I started playing in an adult ice hockey league in January. From here on, no monthly recap will be complete without complete highlights of all my sports. Sooo, here it is:

# goals scored: 5
Team record: 1-2

Since no official stats are kept, you're just going to have to take my word for it. My buddy Marc and I are moving up to a more advanced level starting at the end of April, so my stats aren't going to be anything to write home about, however, I just do it for fun, and cannot believe what a great workout it provides. It's like doing an hour long speed session once a week... your heartrate never drops!

Random song of choice. Give it a full listen... it gets good.

Brew to Brew Road Trip

2011-04-07T12:11:00.006-06:00

Time to add another great racing/roadtrip weekend to the books... and honestly, this one was better than most, if not all of my big races to date.

Friday
I was able to finish packing and finally hit the road a little after 8:00 am for the 600 mile drive to Kansas City.

(Fueled up and ready to roll)

Not having planned this trip too well, I forgot about the time change and had to make up an hour in order to pick up friend, pacer, and runner extraordinaire, Andy and his lady-friend Lizzie, at the airport. Needless to say, I was not cool with the 70 mph speed limits and might have gone a little fast at times...

Friday afternoon I got pulled over near Manhattan, KS for...
... no front plate. There was a huge sigh of relief as the cop let me go without even an official written warning. It was shaping up to be a good weekend.

I arrived at the KC airport right on time at 5:30, and increased the size of the wolfpack from 1 to 3. The rest of the evening was super chill and included an easy 4 mile run to break up the stiffness of sitting in the car, as well as some beer and pizza with our host, Shelley. Around 10:00, Matt, the last member of our core group for the race, arrived.

Saturday
Since it's a good idea to keep the time on your feet to a minimum before a big race, Saturday was the day of spectator sports. After a late breakfast and an early lunch, we started the festivities by going to watch Shelley's son, Josh, dominate at peewee soccer.

(Don't let looks fool you. We are all children)

This was followed by packet pickup. We had jokingly said there was going to be a life-size cardboard cutout of my likeness when we walked through the door... and there was! (Just kidding.) I got to meet the race director, Lou Joline, as well as a fellow CF patient who was volunteering with the race. It's really exciting to see more and more healthy individuals around my age with the disease.

Packets in tow, it was time to head to the Royals game (2 hours late) to see if we could still get tickets. The only advantage of showing up super late was the great parking options.

(Our makeshift parking permit that got us into the VIP lot)

We figured it would probably be in the 5th or 6th inning, which made $15 bucks a totally fair price to pay. After buying our tickets and getting inside, we discovered it was actually the 9th inning. Within 2-3 minutes the game was over... apparently the game started an hour earlier than we'd thought.

Thankfully, as we were feeling Royally ripped off (corny, I know) and leaving the stadium we caught wind of a 2nd game, and although minor-league, it was a pick your own seat format so we made our way behind home plate, grabbed some brews, and enjoyed the beautiful day.

After a great homemade pasta dinner, I hit the road for a couple final pre-race miles while the rest of the crew pre-drove the course. I called it a night around 10:00.

Sunday - Race Day
Race morning arrived quickly and my crew and I headed over to the race start at Boulevard Brewery around 5:30 to meet up with Natalee and company.

In possibly the most unorthodox preparation of all time for a runners first ultramarathon, she came into the race prepared with a stubborn disposition, and a longest training run of 8.3 miles under her belt. Fast forward to later that afternoon, and she had succesfully completed 44 long, hot, windy miles through Satan's blast furnace! I'm proud to officially welcome her to the club! With that kind of determination (and maybe some stupidity), it's only a matter of time before she's lined up for a 100 miler... and likely with a longest training run of less than 20 miles.

Anyway, back to the race. The first 5-6 miles are through an industrial district in downtown KC with a very 'rapish' feel to them. Due to the number of turns with underpasses to run under, over, and along, as well as the early morning darkness, Andy offered to pace me through these miles. He and I took the lead right out of the gate and followed a motorcycle escort for the first mile or so.

(Taking the early lead)

It was downright scary how easy a sub-7 minute pace was feeling, and I made it a point to remind myself that 44 miles is a long way and that I wasn't going to feel so hot all day. Regardless, the pace kept picking up through these miles, until I was sustaining miles in the 6:35 range. Through this first stretch, the only thing that had me a little concerned was the fact that it was already in the mid-60's, and the sun wasn't even up yet. It was gonna be a hot one!

For close to 30 miles the race is on paved roads and rural highways, which doesn't afford a lot of room to elaborate on the scenery. Instead, I'll talk about the thoughts and observations that were bouncing around in my head.

Excitement. It felt incredible leading the race and gave me a huge surge of adrenalin for the first few hours.

(Nobody as far as the eye can see)

(About a 3 mile lead at this point)

I have a newfound hatred for wind. I don't even want to get started on it... so much pent-up anger.
Rednecks in trucks trying to veer onto the shoulder to take out runners are plentiful in KS.
Fast splits. After about 20 miles, I realized I was going to be close to my marathon PR, despite a relatively moderate exhertion level. I ended up running just under 2:57 at 26.2, despite constant headwinds or hills from miles 20-26. My 50k time was approximately 3:33.
This is possibly the worst song to have stuck in your head for hours:

Around the 50k mark there was a river crossing where we got to take a quick breather and a boat ride.

(We're on a boat. Lonely Island would be proud)

Then it was more of the same, except on crushed rock this time, which is like a Vitamix blender for the bottoms of your feet.

(Miles and miles of this crushed rock...)

This is also where the heat started to take a serious toll on me both physically and mentally. Combined with a badly cramping left leg, and sustained 40 mph headwinds, my wheels began to fall off. The course was all on rock or gravel from here to the finish, and also began to get hilly. Walking became the only option on some of the uphills, and around mile 35, my body revolted.

(The calm before the storm)

(Pretty self explanatory)

Until this point I was still hovering around Andy's course record pace (5:11), but it was now time to kiss that goodbye. After a few minutes getting my bearings and trying to get some determination back, Andy and I were soon running again. I had to sit down as we arrived at the last aid station (mile 39-ish) and dump water on my head while trying to figure out why I was feeling so disoriented. I couldn't tell if it was dehydration, or hyponatremia, I just knew my body was hating me.

Hitting the last levy stretch of the run, it was virtually impossible to even WALK at a decent pace due to the constantly increasing wind speeds. About 3 miles from the finish, I started running again.

(The home stretch. 1.5 to go)

With a mile to go Andy directed my attention to a bridge in the distance that signified the end of my suffering for the day. Apparently I was overdue for one more cruel and sadistic joke, and we discovered that the finish line location had been moved about a half mile away from where the race ended in '09, the year Andy won. I had nothing left in the tank mentally or physically, and had to walk for about a minute before finally running it in.

Final time: 5:35.31. 1st overall.
Splits:
20 miles - 2:13
26.2 miles - 2:57
50k - 3:33 (New PR)

Had I been extremely motivated, I could have run 6 more miles JUST for the sake of claiming a huge 50 mile PR, but I'd had my share of being miserable for one day.

http://kctrack.org/uncategorized/44-miles-in-80-degree-heat-piece-of-cake/

Even when taking the Brew to Brew handicap structure into account, this time was good enough for the overall win and Kansas state ultrarunning championship title! Who knew there was such a thing?

(Kansas state champ... from Colorado)

To round out the whole experience, I was invited up to speak on behalf of the CF Foundation at the post race dinner. It was so surreal to have actually won a race to benefit CF, while having the disease myself. This excitement - and the few beers I'd had before going up there - made it very easy to speak in front of a packed house.

After saying bye to Andy and Lizzie and getting a cat-nap in, the evening was spent with Natalee and Kristen, as well as fellow Colorado racers Dave, Geoff, and Andy. BBQ, beer, and video putt-putt golf kept us entertained, but we were all pretty gassed so we opted to save our big night on the town for Monday.

Monday

Monday was a pretty chill recovery day with the Indianapolis crew that consisted of frequent eating, limping around the Plaza shopping district and spending money, lots of whining from Natalee, meeting and interviewing with the local Mizuno rep, and fellow ultrarunner, Sophia Wharton (who provided me with the awesome shoe choices for the race), a short run, relaxing, more whining, watching the NCAA Basketball championship downtown, and then a little bar hopping. We were even able to teach the art of 'shaky-face' photography to some new people!

(Trained professionals, kids)

(Running long distances affects all differently)

(The seemingly gracious loser of the darts championship....)

(... stabbing me in the neck shortly thereafter)

So just in case you suspected I had a decent maturity level, I hope the above photos and story prove otherwise.

Tuesday

The drive home always seems longer than the initial trip. Amidst fighting off sleepiness, boredom, and extremely stiff legs from driving all day, I had the excitement of getting pulled over by yet another Kansas State Trooper. This time I was speeding, and swerving while playing on my phone. Surely I was overdue for my first Kansas ticket... nope. A written warning and I was on my way. Not trying to press my luck, I finally gave in and did the speed limit the rest of the way home.

1200+ total miles of driving was seriously improved with the addition of great new tunes. I stocked up last week and had 7 new albums to keep me company. Despite 3-4 which got major play-time, I think The Strokes newest takes top honors for being album of the trip. Here's the track that got me through:

Many thanks to my friends both old and new for being there last weekend! It was definitely the people that made this trip so awesome!

Brew to Brew

2011-04-04T18:23:00.001-06:00

1st place, 5:35.31.

Full write-up to follow when I get back to Colorado on Wednesday...

Music and Maturing as a Runner

2011-03-27T21:37:00.004-06:00

As far as hobbies and interests go, music is easily my 2nd biggest passion. Not being musically gifted myself, I think this has only enhanced my appreciation of it, and my respect for those who are. This post is going to be a little off-subject in that I primarily want to talk about music, but there is a major correlation with running...

I've gravitated further and further away from the iPod being a necessity while running as I've progressively begun to love the actual act of running more and more. This is a change for me, because until about a year ago, I truly disliked the running part of running (weird, right?). Instead, I just loved the overall health benefits and great sense of accomplishment that came with competing, and completing super long distances under my own power. The thought that I was doing distances that nobody else with CF had ever covered would generally help motivate me to keep going, despite my muscles and joints telling me I sucked. Besides this psychological incentive in the back of my mind, music always provided a key distraction while logging miles.

Let's fast forward to 'Brooks 2011'.
I can honestly say that I love running now, even with all the pain and suffering that goes along with it. Because of this, it's no longer a neccessity to have tunes with me while running, but I still find they help my mind-game tremendously when going really long... generally after the 4-5 hour mark. In the last year I've done numerous marathons and 50 milers sans tunes, but I still prefer to have the option, so I will always carry the iPod at an ultra, just in case I hit a super low point, and need the distraction to pull through it. That's the correlation music and running have with me.

Now it's time to just talk music.

2010 was a great year for Indie music, which is a broad term for the genre I primarily listen to. I don't want to bore you with a laundry list of obscure bands that you may or may not have heard of, or that you don't even care about. Rather, with the Grammy's being just a few weeks ago, I've been trying to decide what my top albums of 2010 were. It was great to see Arcade Fire take album of the year - since they still aren't really considered a mainstream band - and I agree that they are phenomenal, influental musicians in the Indie genre, but was 'The Suburbs' worthy of this honor?

In my book, they definitely deserved to be in the running, but I don't give them the top spot.
Here are my top-5 albums of 2010, in order:

Foals - Total Life Forever
Yeasayer - Odd Blood
Geographer - Animal Shapes
Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Here is a sampling of each if you've got the time.

A couple other bands/albums worth mentioning are Ratatat (LP4) and Against Me (White Crosses).

In preparation for the challenge of running a seemingly endless number of road miles at Brew to Brew next weekend, I'm putting together a new running playlist to fight off the bad thoughts. Currently getting the most playtime is Phantogram, a band D-Rock (aka Tony Krupicka) just made me aware of last week.Thanks, man... I can't get enough.

Until next time, enjoy!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

2011-03-24T15:16:00.006-06:00

As I've mentioned for a while now, my first ultra of 2011 is going to be 'Brew to Brew' which is a 44 mile road race from Kansas City to Lawrence, KS. The obvious questions:

Q: Why is it called Brew to Brew?
A: Because it starts at Boulevard Brewery and finishes at Free State Brewery.

Q: Living in the mountains, why would you ever want to do a race in Kansas?!
A: I have CF and run ultramarathons. This race is an ultra that donates a lot of money to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. No brainer. (Oh, and it's not like I hate beer, either...)

After my friend and course record-holder (5:11.xx) Andy put the word out that I was interested in doing the race, the RD contacted me and offered me a free entry if I was serious about running it. From there, things escalated to where I'm their featured runner, and will be doing some speaking afterwards!

Anyway, with the race being just a week away, it's time to decide on some shoes. This morning I had a big box sitting on my front doorstep which contained 3 new pairs of Mizunos, courtesy of the shoe fairy (just kidding... thanks Sophia)! The only problem is, each model is freakin' awesome in its own right, and I don't know which to use for 40+ miles of pavement pounding. Here are the options:

Wave Ronin 3 (7.8oz)

Wave Musha 3 (8.6oz)

Wave Precision 11 (10.8oz)

Option 1:
Since I started running, I've run more miles and races in Ronin's than any other shoe. Period.
These are hands-down my favorite all-around shoe, and using these would be a no-brainer IF it wasn't for the fact they are less than 8oz and most of my experience in them is on the trails (I've only done one 30 mile training run on the roads in them). I'm concerned that once my technique starts to go in the later miles, that the relatively small amount of cushioning will lead to serious pain and suffering.

Option 2:
The Musha 3 seems to be comparable to the Ronin, being super-light, flexible, and breathable, but with a different sole that seems to be more densely cushioned. This could equate to less shock on the system late in the race, and they are still less than 1oz heavier than the Ronin's.

Option 3:
The Precision 11 is by far the most cushioned, stabil, and durable of the 3. The only sacrifices here are more weight (10.8oz), which makes them comparable to the New Balance 905's I used to wear, and less flexibility. After getting very used to running in slipper-like shoes, this would feel somewhat foreign, but could be the difference between a 2-3 day recovery and a 2-3 week recovery.

Hmmm....

Besides needing to figure this out in the next 9 days, I'm trying to put together my race strategy and a realistic goal time. The main variable will be how I feel from miles 31-44, as this will be uncharted territory on the roads, but I would consider a reasonable goal time to be between 5:30 and 5:45. As mentioned above, the record is 5:11, set in 2009. I'm not going to discount the fact that I could be close to that IF all things go as planned, but I never expect the best when running this kind of distance. There are too many variables to be dead set on a goal time. The plan is to fuel well, drink well, salt well, and just listen to what my bod is telling me and adjust accordingly.

Hopefully, my body will be telling me to run fast!

Brooks

Lung Status: 89%

2011-03-17T13:14:00.001-06:00

Having not been to my Cystic Fibrosis doctors since last September, I recently realized that I was overdue for my 'quarterly' lung check-up at National Jewish. I went into yesterday's appointment highly optimistic that I'd see improvement from the 85% FEV1 I registered last fall.

For those of you not very familiar with the disease, it's not so much the overall lung capacity that suffers with CF patients, as much as our ability to get air in and out... especially out. The FEV1 is a test of the total volume you're able to expel in the first second after fully inhaling. As our airways get more and more filled with infected mucus and scarring, it takes longer and longer to get air moving in or out. After a pulmonary function test [PFT], all the percentages given refer to how we compare to the predicted performance of a completely healthy individual of our same age, weight, and gender. FEV1 is the most critical of all the numbers checked.

Needless to say, the increased running effort and perceived increase in my fitness wasn't all psychological.

Yesterday's PFT showed my FEV1 at 89%, which is 4% higher than September of 2010, but still 4% low from my peak in August of 2009.

Looks like I need to hit it even harder now and get that additional 11%!

Early Season Test: Salida Marathon

2011-03-14T09:57:00.003-06:00

If you've read my January and February training recaps, you realize that, while not spectacular by elite-level standards, my mileage has been ramped up by Brooks-level standards, and I've been consistantly running more than ever before. All of this hypothetically made me stronger than ever before, too. Saturday morning it was time to find out if there was any truth to this...

I first ran the Salida Marathon last year, and while feeling fit and strong beforehand, I had clearly underestimated both the recovery time needed from the Rocky Raccoon 100 the month before and the difficulty of the race course. My final time ended up being 4:08... a humbling experience, to say the least.

This year the course was revised to include 6 miles of pure, unadulterated single track, and less jeep road. While this made the course itself more challenging - especially since the singletrack came at the end of the race - the overall lack of snow compared to last year made it about a wash for difficulty.

The pre-race lineup at packet pickup was basically a who's-who of Colorado ultrarunners, despite this being a small grassroots event. Case in point: Geoff Roes, Nick Clark, Ryan Burch, Tim Parr. In addition to these recognizable names, there were at least 3 guys running who've had top-5 finishes at the Leadville 100: Dan Vega (2nd in 2005), Rick Hessek (4th in 2008), and Harry Harcrow (2nd in 2007 and 4th in 2006).

Needless to say, my race was going to be against the clock, so I just went out at a moderate, sustainable pace, trying to keep my heartrate and breathing under control during the initial 8+ mile climb, as well as the following 6 miles of mostly rolling gravel roads. At mile 14, while not feeling awesome, I had been fueling and drinking well (as if this was an ultra) and knew I could start reeling guys in who had gone out too hard. Ironically, I was in 14th place at mile 14.

Between miles 14 and 20, which is mostly doubletrack jeep roads, by just being able to run a consistant pace on both the ups and downs, I ended up passing 7 runners. Surprisingly, the last of these was Geoff! Now I fully realize this was only a training run for him, but to just be near/briefly ahead of such a great runner so late in the race was a HUGE boost to me. Not feeling too hot or having anything to prove, Geoff briefly contemplated having a PBR at the mile 20 aid station before hitting the singletrack. I chose to keep on moving and, unfortunately for my already inflated ego, Geoff skipped the beer in favor of chasing me down!

With a couple other strong runners on our heels, I pushed the pace as hard as my body would allow for the final 6 miles. This enabled me to clinch an 8th place finish about 2 minutes behind Geoff.

Final time: 3:35.31 (Full results here.)

This was a 33 minute PR for me at this race, and has solidified my resolve to continue the hard training and see where 2011 takes me.

Redemption is always sweet.

Leadville Training Weekend

2011-03-09T10:06:00.005-07:00

My buddy Brandon and I have talked about meeting up for a winter training/play weekend in Leadville for about a month now, and finally last weekend all the pieces came together and we were able to get some altitude training in, and also watch all the random festivities at their yearly winter carnival. This included:

Ski-Joring - aka: Getting pulled behind a pissed off horse in full gallop and launched off large man-made obstacles in front of hundreds of jeering spectators. Everyone is somehow disappointed every time a skier has a successful run because watching idiots crash and burn is way more entertaining!
Sled-Dog Racing
Nighttime Mountain Bike Racing - Temps in the teens at the start. Nothing athletic in Leadville appears sane!

Leadville Crystal Carnival from Brandon Fuller on Vimeo.

While on the subject of Leadville, Brandon has also just launched a new site dedicated to all things LT100 related. Check it out at: http://runleadville.com/

Finally, after scrounging around there for a while, I also found this cool video of the 2010 race start, featuring yours truly at front and center. Duncan is squatting down to the left of me, and Tony sneaks in next to me just seconds before we take off.

#60

2011-03-01T21:26:00.002-07:00

This just in:
The March issue of Ultrarunning Magazine contains the 2010 Year in Review which recaps the year's top performances in each major distance category (100 mile, 50 mile, 50k) for all of North America.

Out of 4012 total 100 mile finishes last year, yours truly was ranked #60 overall with my Rocky Raccoon time of 17:31.26, and #51 out of the male field. This puts me (time-wise) in the top 2% for the year.

Not too shabby for amateur hour... it ALMOST motivates me to run a flat-land 100 again this year to see if I can improve on that time!

February 2011 Recap

2011-03-01T15:32:00.002-07:00

February's statistics:

# of days I ran = 27
# of miles run = 226.5
Average miles = 8.39/day
Longest run = 30 miles

Last month I continued with the theme of consistency, only taking February 4th off, and am currently at 25 consecutive days of running. In this time I've also begun doing structured speedwork 1-2 days a week. This aspect of my training will be reduced after Brew to Brew and Boston, which I consider my 'fast' races of the year, but in the meantime, I'm seeing strength gains previously unknown. For example, I was able to run 8.5 hilly miles through the Garden of the Gods in 54:39 last night - a PR by nearly 4 minutes. While this new facet of training has left me more tired (and hungry) than usual, I'm amazed by how quickly my speed and strength have increased.

It hasn't all been smooth sailing as I have a handful of aches and pains that I've been training through, which include sciatic pain from overly tight hamstrings, an inflamed right achilles, and residual left shin pain from all the early season pavement miles. Despite not wanting to break my consecutive days streak, I'm not being foolish, and if my body mandates it, I'll take a day or two off.

February also contained two great training races that were incorporated onto the end of long training runs. The first was our local Winter Series III 10-Miler in Monument, CO which followed a 20 mile warmup run from Downtown Colorado Springs. Despite the fatigue and terrible, snowy conditions on the trail, I was able to manage 23rd place out of 500 runners to end my 30 mile day.

Similarly, last weekend I added the Winter Series IV 12-Miler in Black Forest, CO to the end of my long run (20 miles total) and despite feeling lethargic, managed 20th place out of approximately 450 runners.

While I only do shorter races like these for fun - with no intentions of being competitive - they are a still a great benchmark of my overall fitness and have managed to boost my confidence as I approach my first 'real' races of the year.

The plan for March is to continue increasing the overall mileage in hopes of hitting the 250-260 mile mark, and will include the Salida 'Run Through Time' Marathon on the 12th. This will provide me with my first real test of 2011.

Brooks

In Search of the Ruins...

2011-02-06T17:57:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I completed what I would consider one of my most fun - albeit dangerous at times - solo adventures.

My goal was to find the remains of Spencer Penrose' brainchild: The Cheyenne Mountain Lodge on the summit of Cheyenne Mountain (elevation 9,500ft). For those of you not familiar with the Colorado Springs region, click here to check out the history of the lodge via photos and video - circa 1925 - or here to read an article about the structures on and around the mountain.

This post will likely be my most photo filled to date, so with no further ado, I'll let them do the talking for me...

(My goal is the summit of the mountain in the distance. About 4 miles away at this point.)

(Final approach to the base of Cheyenne Mountain. Soon the real climbing was about to begin!)

(First goal of the day: The Shrine.)

(Straight up the powerlines for me!)

(Just past the Shrine.)

(This was the typical condition of the old road to the summit. The only other tracks appeared to be from deer.)

(Gaining elevation quickly. Still a pretty nice day at this point, too.)

(A couple of surprised locals.)

(Looking north from about 2/3 of the way up. Already 1000+ feet above the Shrine.)

(Snow moving in quickly.)

(Starting to snow.)

(On on!)

(Getting closer. Two flagpoles in the distance. The one on the right was atop an old watchtower.)

(Almost to the stone watchtower.)

(My first shot from the top of the lookout.)

(Norad in the distance.)

(The stone stairs going up to the overlook.)

(Looking over the railing on the edge of the watchtower

(A temporary break in the weather. That's the scar where the bighorn sheep live far off in the distance.)

(Exploring the remains of the Lodge.)

(Proof.)

(I couldn't figure this one out...)

(A shot of the whole footprint of the old Lodge from the west.)

(Something about a toll gate.)

(For as fancy as the lodge was, I was surprised to find these outhouses...)

(Much better than the usual facilities in the woods!)

(A shelter I found while exploring to the west of the Lodge. This is where I holed up for a while during the heaviest snowfall.)

(Front view.)

(Getting warm.)

(I also found this abandoned structure.)

(Looking west. Gold Camp Road in the distance.)

(Still snowing on the way down.)

(The ravine I chose to drop into in hopes of getting back to civilization.)

(A parting shot of the mountain. Looking a lot colder & snowier...)

In summation, I ran/hiked the majority of the 24 mile (+/-) journey in 4:29, but was trekking for a total of 7 hours, just trying to soak it all in (and at times, trying to take shelter from the heavy snowfall and wind). I gained about 3400 vertical ft, ate 4 GU's and a bag of Skittles, took two falls scrambling down a ravine off the mountain, and saw the weather change from 44 degrees and sunny, to full blizzard conditions - all in the course of the afternoon. Even before the new snow arrived, I was breaking trail through 4-10" of crusty snow for several miles.

It's adventures such as this one that define ultra-running - and training - for me. Rather than hitting the track for 800m repeats or running a progressive tempo run, as is necessary when preparing for a road marathon, to get mentally and physically prepared for 50 and 100 mile mountain races, you get to have fun and see some amazing sights that many people will never be able to experience.

Here's to the big playground that is Colorado!

Brooks

January 2011 Recap

2011-02-01T14:07:00.005-07:00

My month in a nutshell:

# of days I ran = 29
# of miles run = 188
Average miles per run = 6.48/day

After taking virtually the entire month of December off, the theme for January was consistency. Even though my mileage wasn't super impressive, I quickly started to get strong again and for the first time in almost two years, I'm running pain free! Somehow, I just woke up one morning and the Plantar Fasciitis pain was gone. And by averaging just over 10k per day, I'm nearly running the mileage I was at in July/August last year.

Overall, I'm pleased with where I'm at fitness wise, and the fact that I successfully avoided the most recent wave of sickness (chest cold/flu) that's been going around my office.

Highlights of the month:

Back-to-back long run weekends (32 mile and 23 mile days).
Beating JT at the Winter Series II 8 miler. (He'll deny it since I registered as 'Dirk Diggler', but it still happened. Oh, and ignore the slow times, we'd run 15 miles before the race.)
Running into a rabid squirrel who was chasing its own tail.
Meeting and (briefly) running with Scott Jurek.
Making page 21 of Runner's World.
Being touted as the featured athlete on the Brew to Brew race website.

With just over two months until I begin my 'official' race season, my main goal is to steadily increase the mileage while starting to incorporate speed work, tempo runs, hills, and interval training. Both of my April races are going to be more about leg speed than endurance (Brew to Brew, and the Boston Marathon), so it's time to get my butt moving.

Last but not least, my good friend Andy Henshaw just laid down a 2:26 marathon in Miami last Sunday, which has also inspired me to run fast! With a little help from him and others, I'm putting together a training plan that will hopefully have me in sub-2:45 shape by Boston.

Brooks

Ponderous Posterior Pikes Peak 50k

2011-01-16T20:55:00.006-07:00

Yesterday was the final 'race' of the Colorado Fat Ass 50k series, which comprised of three informal events across the Front Range: Boulder in November, Ft. Collins in December, and Colorado Springs in January.

The field for these informal races would make any race director jealous, with Scott Jurek, Matt Carpenter, Tony Krupicka, Scott Jaime, Justin Ricks, Joe Grant, JT and yours truly all running. Despite not being prepared to run an ultra-distance event just two weeks into the new year, and nearly equalling my year-to-date mileage in one run, I was NOT about to miss the opportunity to run with these guys.

The course was a 'best-of' collection of our local trails which provided a treat for people unfamiliar with the area and locals alike. There was an abundance of single-track, fresh powder, gnarly climbs and descents, beautiful views of Pikes Peak, and thousands of feet of elevation gain/loss. For those of you familiar with the trail network around Colorado Springs, we hit the following: Garden of the Gods, Rampart Range Road, Williams Canyon, Waldo Canyon, Longs Ranch Road, Barr Trail, Intemann Trail, and Red Rock Canyon. In close to 32 miles there was less than 3 miles of running on pavement.

I had the privilege of meeting and running with a new friend, Patrick Garcia, for most of the day. He and I were both in less than peak condition, so we really had no interest in pushing the pace and tearing our bodies down too much. With several stops, including the PBR aid at mile 30, we were out there for about 6:35.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

(Pikes Peak as seen from the top of Waldo Canyon.)

(A long and snowy 2000ft climb up Longs Ranch Road.)

(Pit stop at No Name Creek on Barr Trail.)

(Patrick and I showing off our sweet winter running moves.)

(PBR can hit a guy quickly afer 6 hours of running!)

(The final climb out of Red Rock Canyon.)

(This guy kept CLAIMING to be Scott Jurek. I don't buy it.)

It was a perfect January day for a long trek in the mountains with some cool and talented people and just the kick in the 'posterior' I needed to get back to training for the 2011 race season!

Running and Rabid Rodents

2011-01-10T10:02:00.005-07:00

Running:
So after my much needed 3 week hiatus from running, I got back on the horse on January 1st with the annual 'Hangover Run'... I mean Rescue Run 10k. This was the second consecutive year that my friend James and I were late to the race start, but unlike last year where we arrived maybe 5 minutes after the gun went off, we were a good 12 minutes behind schedule this year which made it too late to for me to officially register. But hey, I hadn't planned my outfit and decked myself out in snowboard/running attire for nothing, so I still went out and put in the miles.

Since then I have run every day of this cold new year, which puts my streak at 10 days as I write this. While I have no specific longevity goals for this streak, I also have no intentions of breaking it unless my body forces me to do so (ie: injury). Consistency and higher mileage will be the name of the game this year in hopes of a sub-2:47 marathon at Boston and a top-5 at the Leadville 100.

Oh, and I almost forgot... I'm in the 'What it Takes' section of the February 2011 Runners World.

Rabid Rodents:
Okay, so there is actually only one rodent in this video - a squirrel - but you won't be disappointed. While this video has potential to go viral on YouTube if I put techno music in the background, it's still pretty funny as it is. I rarely run with my phone, but last Saturday was thankfully one of those occasions.

Here's the scenario: I was two hours into my long run, and I'd just gotten off the snowy trails and hit the road behind Bear Creek Park to run home on surface streets when I encountered the squirrel in the videos below. I recommend watching BOTH videos, even if only for the entertainment value of the of the hill-billy comments the local resident provides in the background.
(I especially like "Who knows what happens when you get hit by a car?", and "He must have some sort of brain damage.")

Video #1. 'My Discovery':

Video #2. 'Squirrel and Stick':

Brooks

What will 2011 hold?!

2010-12-13T12:30:00.003-07:00

I've spent the last month or two thinking about what races, travel, or other adventures I want to embark on in 2011. I'd been waiting to put together a set game-plan until I knew whether or not I would be running Western States in June. Obviously, the lottery last week wasn't favorable for either me or Colorado runners in general, and I now have an open schedule next Spring/Summer/Fall.

So it's time to start preparing and looking ahead to another stellar year... I encourage feedback or suggestions, so don't be shy in commenting! Here are the races I'm doing for sure:

Brew to Brew - 44 Miles - April 3rd, Kansas
Boston Marathon - April 18th
Leadville Trail 100, August 20th. This is the one I want to peak for this season. Sub-19 hour and top 5 is the goal. Having experience on this course and two good finishes, I don't think this is unrealistic.

Here are some races I'm also interested in:

Antelope Island Buffalo Run 50/100- March 25th, Utah. The only problem I see with this one is its close proximity to B2B the next weekend. I'm going to need more than a week to recover from a 100 miler, but I could always do the 50 mile distance. These races look fast and beautiful. Located on an island on the Great Salt Lake!
DRTE 100 - April 29th, California
Collegiate Peaks 50 - May 7. This is just an all-around fun race that I've participated in the past two years. If it conflicts with something way more awesome, I'll gladly push it aside for a year, though.
Miwok 100k... oops. I just realized the lottery closed last Friday, so this one is off the list.
Hardrock Hundred - July 8th. What more needs to be said about this one? I have a personal vendetta against the race that beat me and humbled me last summer. Only problem I see here is that it too is a lottery and I'm not guaranteed entry.
White River 50 - July 31st - Washington. I'm about 75% sure I'll be doing this one, even if it's just my excuse to run and catch up with my buddy, Andy Henshaw. If you're not already familiar with the name, 2011 should change that. He's among the newest members of the Montrail Ultrarunning team, alongside other greats such as Geoff Roes and Dakota Jones.

Let me know what you think of the tentative plan and please feel free to offer suggestions for other races/events I might have overlooked. Even if it's not an ultra-distance event, I'm not closing the door on any options!

For now, it's still relaxation mode for this guy. Tonight I'll be seeing these fellas rockin' it at the Black Sheep in Colorado Springs. Should be a good time...

Brooks

Ending the 2010 Season on a High Note

2010-12-10T09:53:00.004-07:00

(12/10/10 - Photos to follow this weekend)
I say that not because of how I placed, or how fast I covered the terrain at the 2010 North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile Championship, San Francisco, CA, Presented by Gore-Tex... (yeah, that's really the half-paragraph long name of the event), but rather because I had tons of fun and a mini-vacation at the same time.

This race was my last scheduled ultra-distance event of 2010 and it couldn't get here quick enough. I'm not gonna lie, I've been mentally checked out of running and training for the last 6 weeks mostly due to the cumulative physical and psychological fatigue of racing 11 ultra-distance events since February. I've been remarkably healthy through all of it - both my lungs and my legs - but that doesn't mean I wasn't run down.

I arrived in San Francisco pretty late on Thursday night after an uneventful trip that required no body scans, pat downs, or cavity searches, so I was a happy camper. By the time I was on the road in my very own rental car for the first time (I felt like I was playing grown-up), it was late enough that I decided to wait until Friday to meet up with my friends and fellow racers, Natalee and Brandon. Thankfully however, it was not too late to experience a $10 sushi feast at a hole in the wall restaurant near my hotel on Lombard St.!

Friday started early since I had to move my vehicle before it risked a 9:00am tow. I relocated my sweet Ford Escape (sarcasm intended) to a spot a few blocks away in a residential neighborhood that resulted in a $55 dollar parking ticket instead. Apparently, you can park there any time imaginable, except between 9 and 11am on the 1st Friday of each month. How convenient... it was there between 8 and 10am on the first Friday of December! That's my kind of luck, but in no way put a damper on the weekend. I figured as long as I found enough free parking over the next 4 days, I'd make up for the $55 dollar hit.

All this occurred while I roamed the streets of downtown SF soaking up the sights, sounds, smells, and buzz of the city (it's amazing how tall I felt after wandering through Chinatown). I eventually made it to the heart of the shopping district and picked up my race packet at the North Face store. After returning from my hilly 2-hour jaunt, I was finally hungry and ready to head down to San Jose to meet Natalee and Brandon for lunch.

After fueling our tanks, talking some trash, and making some friendly wagers on the outcome of the race, Brandon returned to work (business trip for him) and Natalee and I ran pre-race errands and hit the city for the remainder of the afternoon. We all reconvened for dinner in SJ and then went our separate ways to prepare for the looming 2:30am wake up calls which were necessary in order to catch the 3:45am shuttle. By 11:00pm I was finally all prepared for the pain and suffering that was in my near future and caught a quick 3+ hours of sleep.

One downside to running ultra's is how early they normally start. I say this since I'm definitely not a morning person, and feel that there is something inherently wrong with getting up and hitting the road while most individuals are just leaving the bars to head home.

Anyway, I met the rest of the gang shortly thereafter and Brandon and I piled into the bus for a short trip across the bay to the Marin Headlands and the race start. For the first time I can remember, I actually had a normal bowel movement before the race started as opposed to the 3+ I normally endure throughout the course of a 50 mile race. Off to a good start!

At 5:00 we were off into the darkness and it was amazing how fresh I felt and how much fun it was to be running again. I say this because I had done virtually no training over the last 6 weeks since the Deadman Peaks 50 in late October... a slightly longer taper than conventional wisdom recommends, but again, I was primarily doing this race for the experience and to get out of Colorado for a few days. In hindsight, I probably should have run more than a 17 mile long run in preparation for it, but considering I'm alive and well as I write this, I can't complain too much. Ultimately, the main difference I felt was the level of pain I had to endure to get through it. Normally the real meat-and-potatoes fatigue sets in around the 50k mark for me, but this time I was hurting, cramping, and hating life in general around mile 17. It was going to be a classic suffer-fest from there on, so my freshness and excitement were definitely short lived.

By the 9 mile mark we had already covered 2 substantial climbs (you are constantly climbing or descending at this race, with no flat running to speak of) and I was still within sight of the leaders. This falsely had me thinking I was a genius for taking a 6 week hiatus/taper, as I normally can't see the leaders after the first 15 minutes!

I was again shocked at the mile 13+ aid station to discover I was still less than 5 minutes behind the leaders. I still felt pretty awesome at this point but the fact I'd just covered a mountainous half marathon in 1:41 made me nervous. That's freakishly fast for a trail race with lots of climbing and descending and in hindsight was probably a big contributing factor to the bad hamstring cramps that hit me about 4 miles later.

This cramping hit in the middle of the day's longest and highest climb to the top of the beautiful Mt. Tamalpais.

Rain and cold winds were arriving at this point as well, so I was looking forward to grabbing my rain shell and dry socks at the Boot Jack aid station around mile 19. If there is one thing you can count on at 50 and 100 mile events though, it's that you can't count on anything, and this was the case when I discovered my drop bag was MIA. Having endured enough of these sufferfests' by now, I finally realize that getting pissed off and throwing a hissy-fit accomplishes nothing and saps valuable energy and mental strength, so I grabbed some fuel and hit the trail again, rather than having a pity-party with only one guest.

The remaining climb to the turnaround on Mt. Tam was gradual to say the least, but my legs were already toasted, so a lot of walking ensued. This created a new problem in that I needed to run to stay warm in the rain/wind, but really couldn't. With chattering teeth I reached the turnaround and began running again for the long descent through the enchanted forest down to Stinson Beach. On top of warming up from the increased exertion level, I was able to dry out under the thick canopy of Redwood's, but this mental boost was shortlived as I took a tumble and went rolling off the trail. A quick self-diagnostic confirmed that I only had surface wounds, and would unfortunately have to continue. (As twisted as it sounds, I was kind of hoping for a more serious injury that would get me out of running 22 more miles, but again, I just don't have that kind of good fortune very often!)

The remainder of the race was pretty uneventful and included more of the same: Climb, descend, walk, run, drink, GU, salt, aid station, etc. I will say the course was one of the most beautiful I've ever run (with the exception of the Hardrock Hundred), and the ocean views seemed to always sneak up on me right as I needed a pick-me-up. While racing I ran into both Natalee and Brandon at various points and this was another huge boost when I was getting low.

The last real challenge of the day was the slippery mud and complete lack of traction on the hills that resulted from the constant rain. If anything it added to the experience and makes the story and memory that much fonder at this point!

In the end, I finished in 8:48.37 good for 34th place in what was by far the toughest field I've ever gone up against. I have no complaints or regrets about this... if anything, it was awesome enough to make me want to return in 2011 and actually prepare for it next time!

Natalee went on to finish her first marathon that day in 5:42 which is stellar considering the difficult terrain and the fact that she'd never run over 10 miles in training for it!

Brandon finished the 50 miler in 11:36 which was good for a new personal record, and the privilege of buying my ticket to the metal concert we all went to the next night!

After sitting around in the cold and rain until 7:30pm waiting for drop bags to be returned (mine was finally found), we were bussed back to the city. The most adventuresome event of the evening was drinking medicinal alcohol and playing Angry Birds on the iPad.

Sunday was tourist day but Brandon and I looked like locals in the gay community based on how we were both walking!

We hit all the popular spots, including Coit Tower, Lombard St, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, Ghiradelli Square, and finally the DNA Lounge where we had our eardrums destroyed by a bunch of angry foreigners.

I still haven't decided on a firm race schedule for 2011, but the Western States lottery on Saturday wasn't kind to me and this won't be my big event. I'm already registered for the Boston Marathon and the Leadville 100 again, so now I just need to fill in the gaps in between as I kick back and relax for a few weeks. It's time for me to pursue a month's worth of offseason hobbies which now include ice hockey and learning to play guitar!

In honor of an awesome weekend in the Bay area, here's a tune from Geographer, who conveniently are from San Fran and happen to be my current favorite artist... enjoy!

2010 Deadman Peaks Adventure

2010-10-26T16:51:00.005-06:00

There's something very appealing to me about taking solo road trips to races without much advance planning. I really thrive off the excitement of the unknown, the time alone with my thoughts, and the fact that I'm almost guaranteed to have a great story in the end. So like a moth to a flame, I gladly embark on these adventures and this past weekend's escapade in Cuba, New Mexico didn't disappoint...

Q: "Where is Cuba?"
A: Dead-smack in the middle of nowhere.

I hit the road late Friday morning to embark on the 6+ hour drive. En route I encountered snow going over La Veta pass in Colorado, sun and blue skies down the Taos, NM corridor, and finally, rain, sleet and cold temperatures in the high desert in, and around Cuba. Other highlights included the purchase of an authentic Mexican poncho in Taos, and my getting lost near Espanola and nearly running out of gas as I approached my destination.

Q: "What is the town like?"
A: A much crappier version of Fruita, CO or Moab, UT.

I arrived in town around 4:30 pm and decided I'd be better off snagging a motel room rather than sleeping in the front seat of my car. This was primarily because of the cold temps, not so much for comfort reasons. Choosing was a breeze as there were only two motels in town and I picked the first one I saw out of convenience. The Frontier Motel had a vacancy... I wonder why?

In addition to the selling points I mention in the video, the room smelled like urine. I didn't dare walk around without socks since the floor was damp for some reason (urine?), and neither did I pull back the covers on the bed. Instead I slept on top in my sleeping bag. This place was so nice, that while laying in bed watching TV, the shroud on the fan fell off bounced off the bed and rolled halfway across the room. It wasn't even on when this happened. No joke:

Q: "Why would you go there?"
A: Good question. For me, to run 50+ miles on the CDT at the 2010 Deadman Peaks Trail Run.

It was chilly in the pre-dawn hours as it had been drizzling all night, thus I was staying warm in my car taking care of my last minute gear checks when I noticed people running. Lots of them. Apparently my watch was off and I missed the race start. What a good way to get things rolling!

Within 1-2 minutes I was in hot pursuit of the headlamps ahead of me, and within a couple miles I was running with the leaders. Since it was overcast the nearly full-moon didn't help illuminate the way so the early pace was slow due to the constant cairn searching with our headlamp beams. Since the entire race was on the Continental Divide Trail the course was marked with fequent rock cairns, painted wooden posts and the RD had placed the occasional orange flag in critical areas.

Until mile 7-ish, I alternated turns leading the group of 4 that had gotten out ahead of the main pack. At this point I regrettably took my obligatory pit stop in the bushes. I say regrettably, not because of the 2 minutes or so the bathroom break cost me, but rather because of the 10 minutes I lost by getting off course as soon as I resumed running.
Since we had been running on the high mesa for a couple of miles on a defined double-track trail, I didn't anticipate the course taking us right of the edge of the cliff, so when the flags pointed that way I chose to keep going straight on the trail. It wasn't until I hadn't seen a trail marker or another runner for 5+ minutes that I decided to backtrack, finally discovering the trail DID go right off the edge of the mesa shelf and down a steep technical descent for several hundred feet.

I was infuriated when I realized I had lost quite a bit of time and a few positions, but I had nobody to blame but myself. After calming down and getting back into stride, I was supremely motivated to play hunter and catch back up to the leaders.

Around mile 17 I finally started catching glimpses of the runner who was currently in 2nd place, named Leif. After about a mile of playing pursuer on the tecnical terrain, I made my pass into what would end up being my final finishing position.

The course took us in, out, and through sandy canyons, slickrock shelves, high-mesa's and chapparal filled clearings on technical terrain. During a steep descent around mile 12, I had my only flirt with disaster when I stubbed my toe on a rock while in full stride. Only wearing 7oz shoes has its advantages, but toe protection is not one of them. Because of the sheer force with which I struck my foot and searing pain that followed, I was led me to believe I might have broken a toe... after the socks and shoes came off, my theory was confirmed.

Anyway, I'm not complaining, as this is all part of the sport. I kept moving as hard and fast as I could without depleting all my reserves, fully expecting to see the race leader Tim Long around the next bend. By the time I reached the mile 21 (more like 23) aid station I discovered I was about 4 minutes behind Tim. This was reassuring as I now knew I had been gaining on him.

Just before arriving at the mile 27 turn-around, I finally crossed paths with Tim for what would be the last time until the finish. His lead was still only 4 minutes so I was now ready to go for the kill and reel him in... or so I thought. I gave the next miles my hardest effort, but in doing so I realized that my legs where quickly turning to lead from the early push to catch up. I began walking the steep ascents at this point. By the time I reached the next aid station, I found out Tim had put 5 minutes on me in as many miles. Still, with only a 9 minute lead and 23 miles to go, I didn't completely rule out the possibily of catching him.

Eventually, around mile 35, my right hamstring began to cramp badly and this remained the standard for the rest of the race. Because of this, I had to begin walking the steeper climbs and just running the flats and downhills. I let my thoughts of winning go away at this point and then focused on CFM, or continuous forward motion. I was determined to hold on to second place if nothing else.

I eventually did reach the finish in 2nd place in 9:26.xx. (54 miles).

It had been overcast, cold, and at times drizzling throughout the day, but within 10 minutes of finishing the floodgates of heaven opened up, and I decided to hit the road rather than risk being murdered at the Frontier Motel for a second consecutive night.

To top it all off, I was pulled over in Walsenburg for having a headlight out, but the officer clearly could tell I was already beat down enough for one day and let me go with a warning. Talk about a long day. In the end, I'd been up since 4:00am, run for 9+ hours, and had driven for 6 more.

So another one is officially in the books and now it's time to get serious about training for San Fran in December!

Brooks

Who's the Deadman?!

2010-10-21T16:49:00.001-06:00

That's my only real question going into this weekends' solo road trip/car camping/ultramarathon adventure in 'No-mans-land' New Mexico... aka the Deadman Peaks Trail Race.

After a bad experience the last time I road tripped to a 50 miler (insert: overnight ER visit), let's hope the name of this one isn't prophetic!

On a completely different racing note: When I signed up for the Boston Marathon earlier this week, I had no idea I'd be one of the few who actually got in before it sold out in record time. It's a bittersweet feeling, on the one hand I'm going to be part of a special race on a historic year, but on the other, most of my friends weren't able to get registered in time and won't be able to share it with me!

After this year, it looks like it might be time to make the qualifying standard more difficult again so Boson can regain the exclusivity and prestige it once had as an elite running event. For example the current qualifying time for under-35 males is now 20 minutes slower than it used to be (3:10 vs. 2:50). I, for one, want to see it get harder again!

Brooks 'Deadman' Williams

Recent and Upcoming Shenanigans

2010-10-18T13:14:00.003-06:00

So despite the 2+ week break from any long stuff, I've still been active and busy. Let's take these in chronological order:

10/9/10 - The 2010 McNugget Challenge 5k
In case the name didn't give it away, this inaugural unsanctioned USATF event involved eating lots of chicken McNuggets from McDonalds, and then running a 5k. Specifically, 50 McNuggets in less than an hour. This year's event saw 7 brave entrants and an equally large crowd on hand to witness the festivities. Here's how it went down:

The only way to DQ was to throw up prior to completing both legs of the challenge.
4 participants were able to eat the 50 McNuggets in the allotted time.
3 participants were able to successfully complete the 5k.
EVERY participant threw up before all was said and done.

"Why?", you may ask. Why not?!
Heck, McDonalds can't expect to offer 50 of these vile devils for only $9.99 and then expect me to not consider the possibility of combining gluttony and running into an event for like-minded (insert: stupid) individuals.

(Video montage courtesy of Matt Laubhan. Classic...)

Official Results:

Marc Pevoteaux - 18:5x
Brooks Williams - 20:xx
Ken Newton - 21:xx
James Kaminski - DNF

10/17/10 - Pikes Peak Road Runners Fall Series II (5 Miles)
It had been 4 years since the last time I competed in this fun local race, and since I was volunteering to lead the kids race anyway, I decided to enter. This one includes 3 river crossings, lots of vertical, and a muddy rope climb right before the finish!
My race wasn't too spectacular, although I was over 5 minutes faster than my 2006 time which just reinforces how much stronger of a runner I am these days. I'd consider my current conditioning as 'weak and rundown', so it was still nice to see a big improvement. My final time was 34:32, good for about 20th place.

Surprisingly, leading the kids race proved to be a more impressive feat. Who knew a bunch of snot-nosed 12 year olds would give this old guy a run for his money?! No joke: This one kid named Tanner is 12 years old and has run a 5:12 mile... you do the math and imagine how ugly it was when I had to lead the course (2 miles) on the same trails and hills that had already kicked my butt once that day. Except this time I had a bunch of ravenous, blood thirsty, kids chasing me!

(I'll have you know that I successfully stayed ahead of the little brats but had to run a 6:29 average up/down steep hills to do it! That'll show them who's boss.)

New Races Added
And finally, this morning I pulled the trigger and entered two more upcoming events:

2010 North Face 50 in San Francisco
2011 Boston Marathon

This Saturday is the Deadmans Peak Trail Race in Cuba, NM, and after that I'll try to find a way to stay conditioned through 12/4/10 and knock out yet another one... despite having wanted to end my race season after Leadville. I never claim to be smart.

Brooks

The Bear Chase

2010-10-13T15:57:00.007-06:00

I'm about a week late posting this, but The Bear Chase 50-miler on October 3rd ended up going very well...

After a surprisingly good pre-race nights' sleep, I found myself standing in the pre-dawn chill wishing I'd put more forethought into my starting clothing choice. Apparently shorts and a t-shirt at night in Colorado in October aren't the recipe for warmth... who knew?

Anyway, like I previously posted, I entered this race on a whim knowing that it had PR potential, having a total elevation gain of less than 4000'. In my mind I basically pictured a higher elevation version of Rocky Raccoon in Texas, and that turned out to be a perfect comparison, minus the ankle grabbing tree roots all over the place! Another similiarity to Rocky Raccoon is the multi-lap course design; for The Bear Chase runners are required to run four 12.5 mile laps. Courses like this are by no means my favorite, but they make for good psychological conditioning which is such an integral part of ultrarunning.

I started the race running with the likes of Dakota Jones and Jamie Donaldson, at a leisurely pace that felt very sustainable. It's surprising how easy running 8 minute miles all day should be... on paper, at least! You always think, 'This is nothing, I'm gonna kill this course!', only to be reminded that you're human once fatigue decides to stealthily step in and kick your butt slowly and painfully as the distance and time increase!

By mile 5 I'd intentionally opened up about a 30 second lead for the sole purpose of getting my obligatory first bowel movement out of the way while not losing the lead pack. After this pit stop I was shortly able to catch up with Dakota again, and we pretty much ran together for all of Lap 1.

After this first lap I became skeptical of my ability to run sub-7. Granted, there was a pit stop involved, but despite a pretty hard effort, it had taken me 1:39 to cover the first 12.5 miles, which was about 4-5 minutes off my goal pace. At this point I was in 2nd place, but Dakota caught up with me shortly (after a pit stop of his own) and soon I had to duck into the trees for bowel movement #2 and I wouldn't see him again until the finish.

By the midway point of lap #2 the legs were getting extremely heavy and the previously mentioned time goal no longer mattered. I now just wanted to push through the fatigue and finish, letting the time take care of itself. I wasn't ruling out a PR, I just didn't want a specific time goal anymore since my body was at less than full strength.

The remaining laps were uneventful. Basically, there were 3 small but noticeable climbs on each lap, as well as 3 river crossings per lap. These were the only features that broke up the monotony of 'left foot, right foot, repeat'. It got much hotter than expected in the early afternoon which made for a tough fourth lap, but still this was a race that while not exciting, did offer an ideal course to run fast on.

My laps were as follows (approximately): 1:39, 1:44, 1:53, 1:59.

FINAL TIME: 7:16.xx (50 Mile PR) - 3rd Place Overall
(Results can be found here.)

All in all, this was a great experience and yet still very humbling; Dakota ended up pulling out the 'W' in 6:39, despite having just run his first 100-miler the weekend before. Impressive.

My confidence, which is like a never ending rollercoaster ride, is currently through the roof again. With only one more big race left in 2010, I'm ready to end it on a high note and then go into my much needed off-season.

Brooks

Last Minute Update: 50 Miler this Weekend!

2010-09-29T18:04:00.003-06:00

Since I'm finally getting over the sickness that kicked my butt at Run Rabbit Run two weeks ago, and because I happened to hear about it in time, I just registered for the inaugural Bear Chase 50 miler in Lakewood, CO this weekend.
http://www.bearchaserace.com/

It looks like it could possibly be the fastest course I've ever raced for the 50 mile distance, with only 3600 ft of cumulative elevation gain... Can you say PR???

Goal: 6 hours and 55 minutes.
I have no overall placement goals since I don't have any idea who's registered, other than Jamie Donaldson, aka Miss Badwater herself!

Brooks

2010 Run Rabbit Run 50 Miler

2010-09-20T12:48:00.003-06:00

I endured what was by far my most painful ultra experience to date last Saturday at the 4th Annual Run Rabbit Run 50 mile trail race in Steamboat Springs, CO.
I was fighting a bad cold and flu-like symptoms in the days leading up to the race, and if it wasn't for the financial commitment I'd made to doing it, I wouldn't have even considered racing. I don't feel this one necessarily needs a full report since the numbers pretty much speak for themselves:

102 - My temperature at the race start.
32 - Miles of technical, single-track terrain.
9:21 - My final time.
19th - My final placement.
10+ - Times I vomitted during the race; beginning at mile 12. (I eventually lost track once it became a regular occurance.)
3 - Bowel movements while racing.
2 - Number of times I wiped out.
1 - Number of iPods I broke due to above-mentioned falls.
1 - Beers consumed while on the course. (At mile 38. I wanted to quit and figured a beer would dull the pain and that the carbonation might potentially ease my stomach pain.)
1 - Times I was offered a bowl to smoke to help with my nausea. (I declined.)

Without exagerating, I had to endure more physical suffering at this race than at Leadville, despite it being half the distance. This is a total shame because of how beautiful the scenery was, especially with the aspens changing colors...
All I can say is that I'm glad it's over, and I'm mentally stronger for pushing through it. About 22 miles in I completely stopped caring about my time or placement and just wanted to finish. Period.

I'll gladly go back to tackle this one again next year, but for now I want to get over the crud I'm still suffering through.

Brooks

2010 Leadville 100

2010-08-27T17:07:00.024-06:00

(8/30/10: All photos have been uploaded... still working on the video.)

19:57.52

Believe it or not, that's not a typo...
With even my most aggressive 2010 race predictions being in the 20:45 to 21:30 time range I'll be the first to admit how shocked I was to break 20 hours!! It honestly hasn't sunk in yet, and will likely be a while before it fully does!

With this past weekend being so eventful, there are obviously lots of pictures, video, and stories that I want to share with everyone, so with no further ado, here's my 2010 Leadville Trail 100:

Pre-Race: Thursday through Saturday Morning:
I got into town on Thursday afternoon and saw a deal I just couldn't pass up, so a little pre-race carbo loading with some new friends, Brandon and Natalee Fuller, was in order!

(How could we say 'no' to an offer this good?)

The rest of Thursday and Friday was relatively uneventful. There was the obligatory pre-race medical check-in and now renowned Ken Chlouber pep-rally, as well as some last minute aid station logistics with my crew. Before we knew it, it was time to attempt to snag a couple hours of restless sleep before the 2 a.m. alarms went off on Saturday.

After getting some fuel in the tank and heading to the race start to check-in, my crew and I joined the throngs of other runners, media, and crews at the coffee house. Here we saw some of the individuals producing the upcoming 'Born to Run' movie, including a bearded Jake Gyllenhaal doing his best to blend in with the crowd. After signing an autograph for him, it was off to the race start.

(Happy runners and crew. This will change soon enough...)

(Side note: I didn't find out about this until 60 miles in, but the first adventure of the day began when the starter decided to fail on my crew's vehicle despite working perfectly until we parked that morning. The kindness and assistance they were shown by members of other crews they'd never met is testament to the general good nature of the ultra community. Two separate teams helped out: One got my friend Katie to the first TWO aid stations and the other drove my other great friend Grant back to our campsite outside of town in order to pick up a backup vehicle... I'm not going to point any fingers, but I can think of a few other sports where you just wouldn't find that kind of commeraderie.)

The Race:
Start to Fish Hatchery

This year, due to the sheer number of runners entered, I decided to be on the very front line for the start. Still not thinking of myself as a fast runner, or a lead pack runner, I was a little nervous and felt slightly out of place when I was still near the front after the first few miles. At about mile 4 I was still running in the presence of greatness... Hal Koerner to my left, Tony Krupicka to my right, but since my bowels had already begun revolting, this forced a pit stop in the bushes that allowed me to fall back in the pack about 15-20 positions which felt like a much more realistic spot for me that early in the race.

For the 8 miles of trail running around Turquoise, I just found a perfect balance for my pace: A fast enough clip so as to not lose any positions and get lost in the sea of headlamps behind me, but easy enough so as to not feel any strain on the leg muscles or go into anaerobic mode. I was also especially careful with my footing this year on the roots/rocks so as to prolong the inevitable foot damage as long as possible. So far, so good. The only concern I had as I hit the pavement with a group of about 4 other runners was how unintentionally fast our pace had been thus far. My friend and eventual 6th place finisher, Harry Harcrow, was with me at this point and he made the comment that we'd gotten there WAY to fast. Since my body was 100% at this point, my rebuttal was simply, 'Burn it while ya got it!'...

2010 Mayqueen Aid Station (13 Miles): 1:48
2009 Mayqueen Aid Station: 1:56 (without a pit stop along the way)

As I mentioned in my pre-race post, one of my main goals this year was to have more efficient aid station transitions, and gain some free time in doing so. This first aid station of the day went much smoother than any in 2009, so I was supremely optimistic heading into the first climb of the day.

As we began the climb up Sugarloaf Pass via the Colorado Trail, I remembered how badly mangled my feet were by the time I reached the Fish Hatchery Aid Station (24 miles) in 2009. After running a quick self-diagnostic of my current condition, I realized that I was still feeling great. It was extremely hard to not run the steeper sections during this part of the race, especially when I began being passed by what seemed like half the field, but my gameplan was still to be smart, save the legs as much as possible, avoid blisters, and hopefully have a little bit left in the tank after mile 60. In all, I probably ran about half of the uphill stretch to the summit of Sugarloaf.

My approach to the free downhill miles was also different this year: Rather than bombing down the Powerlines, I controlled my energy and focused more on running as softly as possible to avoid pounding my quads too early, and paid special attention to my footing so as to avoid the off-camber foot strikes that tear my feet up on the rocks. By doing this, I lost maybe 5 more positions, but more importantly, I felt really, really, really good at Fish Hatchery and didn't need to stop for anything but some fluids, an Ensure, a handful of fresh GU's, and to lose the shirt (compared to last year where the first major blister repairs were performed at this point)! The only real 'disaster' up to this point was that I'd tried to turn my iPod on about 20 miles in, only to realize it was dead. Again, my day was not going bad by any means...

(Photos courtesy of Natalee Fuller)

2010 Fish Hatchery Aid Station (Mile 24): 3:38
2009 Fish Hatchery Aid Station: 3:55

Beginning with the 4 mentally gruelling road miles leading to the Treeline crew access point (mile 28, where Grant also donated his iPod for me to use) is where I began to put a serious gap on my 2009 time, and also began to reel in a lot of the runners who'd passed me on Sugarloaf barely an hour earlier. Rather than walking a majority of the flat or rolling terrain to the Halfmoon II aid station, I was able to run every step this year. (Likewise on the return trip later in the afternoon, but more on that later.)

There was actually a point during the section just before Halfmoon II (mile 32) where I began laughing and grinning from ear to ear over the simple fact that it was a beautiful day, I was listening to awful music (sorry Grant), and felt great despite having already run a 50k... that's a moment I'll fondly replay in my head every time I think about this year's race!

Shortly after Halfmoon II, runners hit the Colorado Trail for the remaining 8 miles before Twin Lakes. Here it becomes increasingly hillier and the climbs become longer, little by little. Before I mention what was so incredible about this stretch for me, I want to offer my theory as to why:

Even though it took some serious force-feeding, all day I had been taking a gel along with some Thermotabs every 20-25 minutes, and I was drinking consistently (about 20oz per hour). In addition to this, I forced an extra gel or two down my food chute at every official aid station, and sometimes even some chips, Coke, or Ensure, if available. I mention this because it clearly led to me having no shortage of glycogen in my legs... I actually had one of the fastest times of the entire field for this stretch.

To put in perspective how well I was able to run these moderate sections of trail: The overall winner Duncan Callahan was only 2 minutes faster on this 8 mile stretch outbound from mile 32-40. Inbound (miles 68-76), on the section from Halfmoon II back to Fish Hatchery, I was actually faster than Duncan by 8 minutes, or a full minute per mile! If you feel like deciphering all the splits, the Excel results can be found on the Leadville 100 website.

Okay, on with the suffer-fest. After an extremely strong, confidence boosting stretch on the Colorado Trail from miles 34-38, I began to have shooting pain in both hamstrings... cramps! All the uphill running was slowly beginning to have a toll, so I decided I'd try to let my legs go completely loose on the downhills in hopes of the cramps working themselves out. I felt like I was feeling the twinges of pain early enough that I could still do something about them, and decided to double my salt intake for the next hour or so, just to see if I could avoid complete leg failure later on!

I arrived at Twin Lakes still feeling halfway decent, and only needed to stop long enough to add 1-2 pieces of Kinesio tape to some toes I'd pre-taped the night before. Still no blisters at this point, just a couple of hot spots.

2010 Twin Lakes Aid Station (Mile 40): 6:13 - 25th Overall
2009 Twin Lakes Aid Station: 7:04

Leaving Twin Lakes I again resumed running, which was foreign to me since I walked this portion last year (having just taken a digger a mile before the aid station). I passed my friend Amelia who was getting some additional footage for her upcoming documentary, 'Why Run?' and as always, seeing a familiar face after suffering for hours totally boosted the morale; even if only for a few minutes.

(TMI side note: Being known for my digestive/bowel issues during ultra's (thanks Cystic Fibrosis), I had a bet with my crew members and friends as to how many times I would have to poo during the race. The predictions ranged from 3 to 8. My guess was clearly the 3, since I'm the one who would have to endure said bowel movements, and I didn't relish the thought of 8... I'm just sayin'! Right before Hope Pass outbound, I took what would officially be my last poo break of the day, bringing the total quantity to 3!! Sooo glad 8 wasn't correct...)

I arrived at the base of Hope along with 2 other runners and immediately assumed I would leave them in my dust. Wrong. One of them turned out to be Jeff Beuche, the eventual 5th place finisher, and for good reason. While the 2nd runner and I stayed together for most of the ascent, Jeff began alternating running and walking and quickly had disappeared. Even when we rose above timberline and could see runners 10-15 minutes ahead of us, Jeff was nowhere to be found. Hats off.

By the Hopeless aid station, and an alpine meadow full of llamas (one of which I thought was a buffalo at first site), I'd finally caught the next pack of runners who had gone out strong early on. After a quick top-off of both bottles I resumed my power hike to the summit and reeled in 2 or 3 of them.

The descending felt awesome after climbing for the past 1:45, so I took advantage of the feeling and ended up bombing the stretch to Winfield in less than 45 minutes. I was about halfway down before I crossed paths with Tony and his pacer, Dakota Jones. This was a confidence booster for two reasons:
1) It's always inspiring to see Tony killing it out there, and I have an unbelievable amount of respect and awe for his abilities.
2) I was stoked to see his lead was at least 4-5 miles shorter than it had been a year before. I remember being somewhat devastated last year when I wasn't even at the Hopeless aid station when he crossed my path bombing back down to Twin Lakes.

I'd just hit the gravel road to Winfield before I crossed paths with Duncan and then proceeded to run all the way in, passing about 4 more runners on the way. At the aid station I stepped on the scale to find my weight within 0.4 lbs of where I'd started (a whopping 140lbs) so the medical staff let me go and I ran to meet my crew for the second foot tending session of the day which was again just the addition of a couple layers of Kinesio tape around some toes. This was probably a 5 minute stop.

2010 Winfield (Halfway!): 8:55 (12:55pm)
2009 Winfield: 10:02

I'd arrived at Winfield in 19th place but appeared to have fallen back to about 22nd or 23rd because of my time in the chair. I'd began yelling for a pacer at the aid station, but surprisingly, despite there being like 5,000,000 people there, not one soul volunteered. So as I ran the 2-3 miles to the trailhead back up Hope I mentally prepared myself to take it on solo.

The climb was slow but uneventful. Being able to see where you're at in relation to other runners is probably the only bright side to an out-and-back course such as Leadville. Anyway, near the top I was pleasantly surprised to run into and then pass a beaten and battered Hal Koerner. Whether or not he'd just run the Canadian Death Race a few weeks prior, I was still psyched to be running with such an elite guy this late in the race. (Hal unfortunately ended up DNF'ing later in the evening at Fish Hatchery).

Three or four switchbacks later, the hardest part of the race was in the books and I would soon be out of the super-heat that had decided to rear its ugly head during this section of climbing.

I was going downhill very conservatively at this point because my feet had finally reached their breaking point. There were numerous hot spots now and it would only take one slip across a sharp rock to rip some toes and initiate a bloody, puss-filled mess in my shoes. About halfway down I ran into my friend Jill who had hiked up in hopes of crossing paths with me. She began running with me and provided a much needed diversion from the pain which was mounting. I'm pretty sure she just heard me whine the entire time since I had 10 1/2 hours worth of complaining to vocalize, and finally had an audience! During this stretch a couple of toes decided to finally tear open, as well. We'd passed a couple runners just before and after the river crossings at the bottom of Hope, but these positions were soon to be lost after our arrival in Twin Lakes #2, once I sat down and assessed the full extent of the foot damage.

-VIDEO OF MILE 60 AID STATION CARNAGE COMING SOON-

(Narration courtesy of Jill Suarez)

2010 Twin Lakes #2: 11:52 (3:52pm) -14th Overall (Yeah, this was news to me, too!)
2009 Twin Lakes #2: 13:32

I'm not going to say I'm happy about a 10 minute pit-stop, but looking back, it was this extra time and foot first-aid that ended up getting me to the finish with no further stops. This alone makes the 10 minutes well worth it.

The feeling of finally having a pacer was incredible. I liked feeling hardcore and all, because of finishing almost 60 solo, BUT hardcore hurts, and I was ready for the suffering to end (or at least be kept to a minimum). Katie and I power-hiked the grueling first climb out of Twin Lakes (doubly so, because of the steepness AND the tender, freshly glued/taped feet) but then proceeded to go to my original plan of running the flats and downhills, and just hiking all terrain with any uphill tendencies!

This worked well enough to pass one runner in the 8 mile stretch back to Halfmoon II. I covered this section slower than any of the guys in the top-10, but was probably 20+ minutes faster than last year, so I really couldn't complain.
How, I don't know, but after leaving this station I proceeded to start running with such renewed energy that I dropped my pacer almost immediately. For the 8 mile stretch back to Fish Hatchery not only did I not walk a single step, but I posted the 3rd fastest split of all runners. To put it into perspective: My split for miles 68-76 was almost identical to my morning split from miles 24-32... don't ask me how.

2010 Fish Hatchery #2: 14:56 (6:56pm) - 9th Overall
2009 Fish Hatchery #2:

After another quick aid station transition (< 3 minutes), I picked up my next pacer, James. James was slated to be my first pacer at Hardrock in July, so it felt good to not disappoint him again this time and actually let him put up with my late-race shenanigans. We were able to resume running immediately out of Fish and made it to the infamous Powerlines before going back to hiking. This stretch to the summit of Sugarloaf was covered within 7 minutes (1:06) of my night-training time 3 weeks prior, which was/is a solid time, but fails to properly acknowledge how badly and quickly the wheels were coming off... about halfway up, I performed a serious 'cat-disco' stomach pump. After puking up everything except for my internal organs, I felt slightly better, but had lost my desire to eat/drink regularly which had been my key to a great race up until this point. So by the time would reach the Colorado Trail again, my 2010 Leadville 100 would quickly become the 2010 Leadville Nighttime Suffer-fest 25k!

2010 Mayqueen #2: 17:13 (9:13pm)- 10th Overall
2009 Mayqueen #2: 20:00

I spent less than a minute at Mayqueen since survival-mode had already set in and I wanted nothing more than to be done at this point. I walked through, fought the urge to puke again, and continued without James knowing he would catch me with ease. When the concept of a sub-20 hour finish first became a long-shot possibility on top of Sugarloaf, we'd decided that he would stay with me until the finish, or until my sub-20 chances were gone, whichever came first. After about 4 miles of running around Turquoise Lake, the latter became my reality...

I began to have intense shooting pain in my right arch that could only mean one thing: Stress fracture(s) and no more running. We made it to the Tabor Boat Ramp (mile 94) and I made the call to drop James off and pick up Grant. My logic was, if I can't run, I might as well have fun and I new Grant was the guy who could make me laugh and stop thinking about nothing but pain.

After about a mile of wandering in the dark we started to pass campsites with cheering spectators. The BIGGEST surprise of this race, or any race, for that matter, came when we followed loud cheers straight into a makeshift aid station, of sorts... at least 6 women were jumping up and down topless and high fiving us as we went through!!! If Grant hadn't been with me to verify these bare breasts were real, I would have sworn I was delirious and hallucinating!

Anyway, after this nice diversion (and our next 20 minute conversation piece), we continued hiking. Soon we were back on the gravel road leading towards downtown Leadville! While running was impossible, we were walking at a 4+ mph pace which was still respectable. Despite this pace, we turned around to see headlamps rapidly gaining on us and as much as I wanted to fight them off, I could not. Grant and I just shut our lamps off in hopes of deceiving our pursuers, and walked under the bright moonlight until they finally blew past around mile 97.

At this point I just wanted to hang on and finish without being passed anymore. I'd become comfortable with the idea of a 20:15 time and lost all motivation to even power-hike. By the time we caught our first glimpse of the lights in town (approx. 1 1/2 miles from the finish) I looked at my watch to see that it was still almost quarter 'til midnight, which meant a sub-10 minute pace would still let me break 20! UNFORTUNATELY, sub-10's are much easier said than done after 98+ miles. After a 100 yard attempt to run up the hill we were on, I again decided it was impossible to run. We resumed walking and it wasn't until we were on the pavement with just under 1 mile to go that I again looked down at my watch and saw the time: 11:52pm. I no longer cared how much it hurt. I was either going to finish in under 20 hours or DIE trying (literally). I handed both water bottles to Grant to lighten my load and began running the final climb of the night.

My heartrate readlined almost immediately and I truly know of nothing to compare the pain to, but I ran with every fiber of energy I had thinking it still might be too little, too late. Cresting the hill I could see the downtown stoplight in the distance. When the pain reached a new high, I just pushed harder. Not knowing if my watch was even accurate, the thought came into my head that maybe 20 hours had already passed and this was all for naught! Regardless, I pushed until the point of near collapse, crossed the finish to the cheers of my crew, and fell to the concrete...

...somehow, I'd just run a 6:50 mile.

2010 Leadville 100: 19:57.52
2009 Leadville 100: 23:21.27

My desire to have a drink before last call was completely gone as I sat in the medical tent trying to process what I'd just accomplished.
Now I'm sitting here a week later, still trying to absorb it... and cannot.

That night, back at our campsite, I was unable to sleep because of violent coughing and vomitting, combined with the adrenalin high I was still experiencing. Not having eaten enough food or salt over the last few miles of the race had pushed me to borderline hyponatremia, but I was able to ingest enough salt tabs while laying in the tent to fight off any serious reprocussions.

Never had I imagined such a strong finish. Despite still not being able to walk without limping, due to the foot injury I incurred during the race, I'm already strategizing and brainstorming as to how I can go sub-19 next year. I've known for a while a screw is loose in my head, and now you do too.

Why I think another major time improvement is feasible:

I've averaged just under 50 miles per week in training in 2010 thus far, which is easily less than half the mileage elite ultra-runners are logging. In 2011 I will make a concerted effort to average at least 75 miles a week as part of my base training, in hopes of shaving one more huge chunk of time at Leadville!

Here's to the 2010 racing season being in the books!

Brooks

The Leadville Plan

2010-08-18T08:56:00.002-06:00

Coming off the DNF at Hardrock in early July, my confidence was rightly damaged as I began looking ahead to Leadville.
Since then, I've had roughly 6 weeks to put that behind me and attempt to get my mojo back. While I feel that I've made a complete physical and psychological recovery and am as ready or possibly more ready than I was this time last year. I still decided to take a slightly more Spartan stab at this year's race.

While I am going to have my close friends Grant and Katie crewing for me, I've kept the logistics pretty straightforward this go round. They'll meet me at Mayqueen (13 miles), Fish Hatchery (23.5 miles), Twin Lakes (40 miles), and Winfield (50 miles) on both the outbound and inbound trips. I'll use the 3-Rubbermaid-bin-system from last year which will just require them to have all three ready for me to take what I need at each stop. One bin consists of just nutritional items and first aid, the second is just clothing items, and the third is shoes/socks and miscellaneous.

The amount of time I spend at each aid station will be one of my major changes from last year. With the 2009 LT100 being my very first stab at the 100 mile distance, I needed all the support I could get at each station and inevitably sat down each time, felt sorry for myself, and contemplated quitting, before finally regrouping and hitting the trail again! I now know to avoid the dangers a comfy chair presents... no sitting for this guy unless it's to change shoes or socks! In 2009 I spent a cumulative time of about an hour and a half at aid stations, so in 2010, even if I simply cut that in half, it would put me at a 22:36 finish time assuming identical fitness and splits while on the course. Combine that with the fact that my fitness level is better this year AND I have the advantage of being familiar with the course, and I don't think it's unrealistic to shave 1 to 1 1/2 hours on top of that. Using this logic is what gave me the idea for a sub-last-call-at-the-bar finish time, but we'll see... there are still just so many variables!

Pacing: Again going along with the 'simplify' strategy (and because the thought of spending 10 miles on a trail with me scares away most runners), I will only have pacers for the last 40 miles this year. (Not to say I won't pick up a pacer in Winfield if one's available, but I'm not counting on it.) When deciding on what miles to get assistance with, I figured I'd rather go solo in the daylight from miles 50-60, while I'm still somewhat fresh, rather than in the middle of the night when I'd probably get lost, hurt, fall asleep, or get eaten by a bear.

For my Facebook friends, my crew will be posting updates on my wall throughout the day and night documenting my progress. I've also heard rumors of a live Twitter feed (#lt100), but I can neither confirm nor deny!

Leeeeeeeeeeet's get ready to ruuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmbbbbbbbbbbbbllllllllllle!

Leadville Entrants and Predictions

2010-08-05T11:26:00.001-06:00

The 2010 Leadville 100 entrants list was just posted on the LT100 site earlier.
Officially, there will be 780 runners, not counting any late competitive entries that the RD allows (read: Tony Krupicka).

It's kind of exciting having one of the low numbers which signifies my placement in last year's contest:
Bib #30: Brooks Williams

As nice of a ring as that # has, I want next year's bib # to be 15 or so! We'll see. There's a lot of pain to endure between now and a top-20 finish at Leadville.
My main goal is to finish before last call at the Scarlet Tavern, which would mean a sub-21:30 finish, and a cold beer to numb the pain! Ultimately though, after my recent DNF at Hardrock, just finishing will be a victory.

Let me also go on the record now and predict a Tony Krupicka win in a time which should make course record holder, Matt Carpenter, uneasy. I won't be surprised if he finishes in the 15:30 to 16 hour range.

Brooks

2010 Hardrock Hundred: DNF

2010-07-15T17:32:00.004-06:00

After this post, I really want DNF to stand for 'Discuss No Further'... but in order to move on and to be fair to those who've been following/supporting my journey leading up to Silverton last weekend, here's the full report:

After spending 3 days in Silverton and absolutely losing my mind with excitement and jitters, Friday morning finally arrived. Unlike past races, everything seemed to be going perfect; I was well rested, had no nagging aches or pains, and even was able to catch a few hours of shut-eye on the eve of the race. Ideal conditions to conquer 100 miles in the San Juans, right?

With a filling breakfast in my stomach and my gear on my back, I toed to the starting line seconds before the official countdown. There was barely time for a few 'good lucks' and we were off. Here I digress: It means NOTHING in the long run, but the initial climb up to the 'Christ of the Mines' was led by yours truly, and yes, I do realize this only makes my DNF more embarrasing. On the flipside of things, I can say that I led the 2010 Hardrock 100 briefly. Karl Meltzer? Diana Finkel? Scott Jaime? Yep. All behind me!

Anyway, the first 2+ miles are very runnable. This section is followed by one of the more spectator friendly sections of the race as runners ford South Mineral Creek at 6:20 am! After the adrenalin and cheers from this initial section of the race wore off it was time to back off and go into 100-mile mode. The pace slowed, the hiking poles were enlisted to help and the breathing was slowed. Only 29-36 more hours of this and I'd be golden.

The first climb up Putnam/Cataract was to be the most gradual of the 4 I encountered. Despite this, it was really only hikeable. This was due to the combination of steepness and altitude, along with the obvious need to pace myself. By the time ascent #1 was complete and the initial descent began, I really realized how long this arduous trek was going to take. I'm going from memory here, but I believe I arrived at the KT Aid Station, Mile 8-ish, around 8:30am (2:30 into the race). Up to this point my legs were feeling super heavy with lactic acid, and my breathing was constantly labored.

Leaving this aid station I had half a sandwhich to munch on. This was to stay on course with my nutritional mantra for Hardrock: 'Eat Early, Eat Often'. As hoped for, I started to feel a little better at this point and began running some sections.

My first major defeat of the day came about 3 miles out of the aid station when, due to the separation of runners, I completely missed a hard right turn off the trail to begin the grueling 'Grant-Swamp' climb. I continued straight up the gully on the trail I'd been on for about 10 more minutes before I ran into some hikers who informed me I wasn't on the race course. Their estimate of it only being a couple hundred yards back was not quite accurate. Running downhill, it still took me nearly 10 more minutes to get back to the fork. As demoralizing as getting off-course is, I just accepted this as part of the race and gave myself the added incentive of having that many more runners to catch and pass.

After the most beautiful scenery so far (Island Lake) and what seemed like an eternity, I summited the Grant-Swamp saddle and began on the descent to the second Aid Station, Chapman. On this stretch of trail I discovered that I'd completely exhausted the water in my pack and resorted to the ol' drinking straight from the creek trick. I did this twice. I was able to avoid Giardia the last time I drank river water, so I'm crossing my fingers for the same outcome this time as well.

I came into Chapman around 11:30am (5:30 into the race) to the cheers of my biggest running fan, Jill! This was super encouraging, and I focused on filling up as quickly as possible and hitting the trail again. It was probably a 5 minute pit stop before I was (surprise) climbing again. This next ascent was over Oscar's pass. For the next several miles I felt the best I would all day. With legs numb from all the up and down I started passing other racers with relative ease. This always has a strong physcological affect on me and I hit the summit and ensuing downhill with a renewed confidence. This descent was probably 6 miles in length and the only issue I encountered for the first 4-5 miles were some bad blisters forming on the pads of my feet and ends of my toes. Knowing I was getting close to Telluride I started running through a mental checklist of the items I needed to tend to at the aid station. About the time I had my foot-repair plan figured out it started raining and hailing. This was a total relief and felt surprisingly good.

About a mile from the Telluride Aid Station I really began to stride it out on the jeep road. I then proceeded to have a yard sale...

A full-on super man dive after tripping over a rock, led to me knocking the wind out of my system, and bloodying up my left knee on an exposed rock. Sunglasses went flying. Poles went flying. Face in the dirt. Almost immediately, my knee stiffened up and began to swell a little.

Hiker who witnessed the spectacle: 'You okay, man?'
Brooks: 'Hugh, hehhh, oohhh, yep... I do this all the time.'

Soon enough I came into Telluride barking requests to my crew and was in a chair icing my knee and tending to the blisters. So much for getting in and getting out quickly. This was about a 10 minute pit stop.

I hit the trail climbing out of of Telluride without too much concern. At Leadville last August, I'd taken a similiar spill about 40 miles in and had managed to recover and still finish. Knowing this I was optimistic of the same outcome at Hardrock.

The climb up Virginius is only about 5 miles long, but gains around 850 ft per mile, making it the steepest climb on the course. On this stretch I began to stop and suck some serious air, and take GU's more often. Despite feeling a little light headed and disoriented I managed to pass 2 or 3 more runners on this stretch. The final pitch to the summit was highly exposed and on very loose rock. Here I started to get a little nervous since the legs weren't quite as fresh as at the start! Anyway, I did make it to the Kroger's Canteen Aid Station in one piece and proceeded to sit down and do a full refuel. A familiar face, Christian Murdoch, a photographer from my local paper was up here snapping pics, and it was nice having someone to joke with and complain to for a few. He decided to make the descent at the same time as me, so down we went...

The Final Chapter:
This last downhill section begins with 3 pitches where all a runner is trying to do is not go end over end down the mountain. That focus is mixed in with some skiing and butt sliding. After 3 miles of steep terrain, I found myself on a nice jeep road with about 8 miles to go until Ouray. During this stretch the knee stiffened up to the point where all running became impossible. I had to resort to a slow, painful walk which led to these miles taking nearly 3 hours... During this stretch I ran into my running buddy Bryan, from Ft. Collins, and he tried everything in his arsenal to convince me it wasn't that bad afterall. I had some psychological highs and lows, but ultimately decided that I would physically be unable to finish. Even if my life depended on it, or if an entire Swedish Womens Bikini Team was waiting to embrace me at the finish I couldn't do it.

I arrived in Ouray (Mile 44) about 13 1/2 hours after starting and this is where my bid to tackle my personal Mt. Everest would end. The disappointment of letting down my dear friends, crew, family, and own self was by far the most crushing part. Some tears were shed, and every attempt to rally was tried, but the outcome wasn't to change. I appreciate everyone's help and encouragement (including Paul Dewitt), and am truly sorry it ended like this...

It's now been almost a week since the race and my body is starting to heal. Having Leadville on the horizon is my main motivating factor to get out of bed right now. There I have my opportunity for at least partial redemption over the Hardrock DNF.

Full redemption will come if and when I am able to return to Silverton and fight the San Juan mountains again...

Brooks

Final Thoughts: 1 Day Until Hardrock!

2010-07-08T10:00:00.001-06:00

Needless to say, the last several days have been unbelievably fun and exciting, and the pre-race nerves of tackling my next Mt. Everest-sized challenge have hit me like a ton of bricks.

The official start of the 2010 Hardrock 100 is less than 24 hours away (19, according to the counter above!) and I'm writing this from the coffee shop in Silverton, a mere 2 blocks away from where the adventure of a lifetime starts, and (hopefully) finishes.

Here's what's new since I last wrote:

Karl Meltzer a.k.a. 'Mr. Hardrock' posted his official Hardrock race predictions, with odds, on his blog, and there I was! Karl gave Brooks Williams 7-1 odds to win.... the only problem was, it was for the womens' divinsion!! Not knowing 'Brooks Williams' gender, he assumed I was a chick! After some friendly razzing, he apologetically changed his prediction and gave me 15-1 odds in the mens' division. If nothing else, thanks to Karls' goof, now people will recognize my name at the race! In case you don't already know who Karl Meltzer is, he has won the Hardrock 100 race 5 times, and is going for number 6 tomorrow. Check out his blog!
I was contacted last Saturday by photographer Christian Murdoch from the local paper, the Colorado Springs Gazette. Through a mutual friend he'd heard about my story and that I was doing Hardrock this weekend. Within 48 hours I was being interviewed and photographed. Within 72 hours I was on the front page of the paper! Below are a couple of the pics he took, and here's a link to the article.
And finally, I arrived in Silverton on Tuesday night, and since I've been here have snapped a few photos of my own. See below.

The next time I write I'll hopefully be among the small but prestigious group of runners who can call themselves 'Hardrock Hundred' finishers!

Anxious and nervous,

Brooks

2010 Western States Prediction

2010-06-25T22:32:00.003-06:00

(6/28/10 Post-race update: What an incredible race... Roes and Krupicka reinforced their dominance of the sport! Just being a crew member/spectator and being able to watch the battle unfold throughout the day was thrilling; maybe the most exciting event I've ever witnessed. Congrats to Tony and Nick for making top-5... good showing for Colorado!)

Okay, so this is kinda last minute, but since Western States is tomorrow morning, I'm going to make my race prediction:

Tony Krupicka
Geoff Roes
Hal Koerner
Andy Henshaw
Nick Clark

Just from being in Squaw Valley the last couple of days, being around the hype and excitement, and gettting to hear other runner's feedback, I feel like these are safe predictions.

Also, if you've been following the online buzz leading up to Western, you'll quickly notice that I've failed to include the famed Killian Jornet from Spain... but this wasn't a mistake. I predict he'll DNF at some point late in the race when concedes that he's not going to be the winner... up until that point, I imagine he'll be in the top 5.

Brooks

The Hardrock 100 Home Stretch: Observations. Thoughts. Concerns. Life.

2010-06-17T13:54:00.010-06:00

About 11 months ago I recall being in a similiar mental state to where I'm currently at: At that time I was preparing for the 2009 Leadville 100, which was my first 100 mile foot race, and I was full of both excitement and fear of the unknown. I was truly anxious about whether I was fit enough/tough enough to cover the distance, and also whether or not I was going to seriously injure or kill myself out there (having just had a disasterous race in MN that left me in the ER overnight)!

When I've thought about all the emotions along with new and exciting feelings I was experiencing prior to Leadville, I've fondly missed this anticipation. Having completed another 100 miler since then, along with numerous other ultra's, I didn't expect that thrill to ever return when preparing for a big race...

... and then, earlier this week, it happened!

This week I've been forced to stay off my feet for a few days because of a nagging achilles pain that appeared after Blue Canyon, which had gotten progressively worse up to the point that I was forced to drop from the Garden of the God's 10 Mile race last weekend.
This time has afforded me the opportunity to step back and reflect on all the adventures and events in my life that have transpired since last year, and spend a little more time looking at Hardrock logistics. With barely 3 weeks until I step to the starting line, the magnitude of this race has finally sunk in, along with the excitement and fear of the unknown!

Questions about my fitness, my altitude training, my overall mileage, my achilles pain, my mental toughness, my ability to go a day and half without sleep, and general race/crew logistics are flooding my brain. My first thought when I get up in the morning has to do with Hardrock, as do many of the thoughts in between then and when I go to bed at night. Not being able to run forces me to think about it all the more!

So that being said, what I'm really trying to express is how great these feelings are. I feel alive and I look forward to tackling what has become my new Mount Everest in a few short weeks!

P.S.
I'll be flying out to the Western States 100 next week to help pace my good friend Andy Henshaw the last 30 miles of the race. It's going to be incredible witnessing the showdown between the elite runners this year, while having the opportunity to help one of them first hand... we're thinking definite top-10 for Andy, maybe top 5!

When I'm not running or working these days, here's what's occupying me:

Books: Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy
Music: Even though it's been months now, I still can't get enough Yeasayer. Now that I've listened to their new album probably 100+ times, I'm officially hooked on their older stuff... here's one that I currently dig:

Brooks

2010 Blue Canyon 50 Mile Trail Race

2010-06-14T11:42:00.017-06:00

(Updated 6/20/10: I've added a few more photos, all courtesy of Thuy Greer, who was working the mile 17/37 aid station. Thanks! More to follow in the next day or two...)

One of the amazing things that draws me to ultra-distance races, above and beyond the health benefits, is that regardless of what place you finish, there is a unique, challenging, painful, emotionally draining adventure and corresponding story that unfolds in the hours between the start and (hopefully) the finish. Last Saturday's Blue Canyon 50 Miler in CA was the epitome of this.

As I previously posted, I claimed my first race victory by winning in 11:02.00, but this isn't the primary reason this race was so rewarding and memorable. Additionally, there is good reason for such a slow winning time. Allow me to elaborate...

The whole decision to enter came about spontaneously and very last minute when my friend Andy Henshaw (the 100k race winner the past 2 years) was able to get me a complimentary entry (thanks to the RD, Robert Gilcrest) to the event as long as I was able to book a flight in time. This all happened on Tuesday evening with me scheduling a Friday morning flight to Santa Barbara. Another cool piece of the puzzle came together when, despite the short notice, my uncle from Dana Point decided he was overdue for a last minute weekend getaway, and made the drive north to come witness the carnage. Having never witnessed an ultra before, he would be in for a shocker on Saturday!

Race morning came around and those of us running either the 50 miler or the 50k had what we thought was the luxury of a 7:00am race start. The 100k runners on the other hand, were sent off into the dark at 4:30am. With temps only forecast to hit the low 90's this didn't seem like a big deal at the time, but in hindsight, having temps that reached at least 103 degrees, I would have killed for the 4-ish start. This was the only criticism I had for Robert after the event.

Anyway, after the official start we were immediately met with the steepest climb of the day (total gain for the day would end up being in excess of 14,000 ft):

The mileage isn't shown in the above course profile but this initial climb is covered in barely over 3 miles. While not easy by any means, I was stoked when I reached the summit having run every step except for when I needed a GU or salt. So far, so good. After a nice, gradual descent down a jeep road I arrived at the first aid station (mile 6.3) in 1:05.

(Mile 13. Photo courtesy of Kevin Steele)

At this point I was ahead of all but two runners, and it was at this aid station that it was confirmed that they were running the 50k distance which meant I was officially leading! Receiving this bit of good news I now had renewed energy to tackle the second big climb of the day.

This climb was not quite as steep as the first but definitely lasted longer. This is partially due to it being the longest stretch between aid stations, at 6.8 miles. It was while running in unshaded areas on this climb that I first noticed how hot it already was outside. It was about 9:00am and it's safe to say temps were already in the mid to upper 80's! (Concerns about what temps 3:00 in the afternoon would bring were now lingering in the back of my mind...) Anyway, I arrived at the Angustoro Pass aid station around 2hr and 20min in. This is where I took my first full refuel, dunked the bandana in some ice water, and hit downhill #2.

Being all downhill on a jeep road again, it only took about 38 minutes to cover the 4.6 miles to the next aid station (mile 17+/-), but during this descent I began to notice hot spots on my feet for the first time, and start to feel knee pain from the descending. At the aid station I decided that since I was well hydrated I'd take 400mg of ibuprofen to reduce the inflammation in my knees. From here the aid station workers said it was 4 miles to an unmanned water station and then another 4 until the next manned aid station. Status: 1st place still with NO signs of any runners behind me. In fact, I was only about 6 minutes behind the two 50k leaders!

(Mile 17. Photos courtesy of Thuy Greer)

Here I'm going to break away from the monotony of a verbatim play-by-play and fast forward to the memorable events a little further ahead in the day:

I found almost all of the terrain over the next 8+ miles to be very runnable, BUT despite topping off my water at every oportunity, I found myself running out between aid stations since my sweat level was soooo much higher than I'd ever experienced. It was now officially blast-furnace hot! In hindsight, I think carrying a hydration pack would have worked better than just two 20oz handhelds. As an example, due to the mid-day temps at the turnaround, it took me an hour to go 4 miles from the last aid station to the turnaround and back, and only 35 minutes to completely deplete my water supply!

Something else that attests to the impact of the extreme heat (skipping ahead a little here), was that this 27+ mile split to the turnaround took me 5 hours.... whereas the next 22+ took me over 6!

The pattern of the day for those next grueling hours: Hit an aid station. Proceed to slam down gels and salt like it's my job. Drink as much as possible and top off my water bottles. Leave aid station running. Run out of water in 30 minutes. Begin walking. Suffer for 45 with no water and thus no ability to run. Repeat.

(Coming into and leaving aid station at mile 37. Photos courtesy of Thuy Greer)

Whenever I would try to run with no fluids, I found myself overheating almost immediately and getting dizzy/disoriented/clumsy. Knowing that I was probably dehydrated AND extremely low on salt, I at least had the presence of mind to just walk and try to keep my core temps as low as possible. This was the pattern for the last 14 miles. The peak of suffering came at about mile 44. No water, lots of ups and downs on the course, and no aid station within sight. The way I was stumbling around at this point led me to become legitimately scared of losing consciousness. I began to pick my footing VERY carefully, thinking that if I passed out I at least didn't want to hit my head on a huge rock or fall down a ravine (been there, done that, not fun)! Side note: It's amazing how extreme levels of mental and pysical anguish cause you to change your priorities. I went from being psyched that I was leading a race for the first time, to not even caring if I won or even finished for that matter. I just wanted the suffering to stop...

Just past this low point, I stumbled across a slow moving stream and despite knowing that giardia was a real possibility if I drank the water, it was a no-brainer that I had to drink or I wouldn't make it to the next aid station... and drink I did! I must have chugged close to two bottles of water right there and taken 10 salt tablets. It was amazing how quickly this caused me to become lucid again. While I still was miserable, I no longer felt I was in danger of severe injury.

On this home stretch before the last aid station (which marked 2 miles to go) I came across a couple of women walking the course to check on runners. After a brief recap of my condition, I had a volunteer who was willing to run the last 2 miles with me just to make sure I didn't lose consciousness. We were able to bomb into the finish since it was almost entirely downhill from here. THANKS GRETCHEN!! I was pretty worried before running into her, but after she joined I had not only someone to look after me, but someone to talk to and get my mind off the pain, and this did wonders!

Finally the finish line showed itself! Water bottles were thrown aside, a barrel roll on the grass ensued, and I could finally collapse in the shade!

(Crossing the finish. Photo courtesy of Kevin Steele)

Final time: 11:02.00
(In the end only 3 other runners finished the 50 mile distance and two of them were runners that dropped down from the 100k. My margin of victory was over 2 hours and 40 minutes.)

(Photo courtesy of Kevin Steele)

In the above picture, I had just finished and Gretchen was helping me with my waist belt... look at how much salt is soaked into my shorts; even for me this was a TON! I again need to thank my doctor and dietician at National Jewish Hospital in Denver, for helping me figure out my salt intake issues last summer. Without them, I can safely say a race like Blue Canyon would have put me in the ER or killed me.

In ultra running the saying truly applies: 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.'

Saturday's race didn't kill me, so I guess a thank you is in order to both mother nature and the Blue Canyon race course!

I would highly recommend either the Blue Canyon races or the upcoming DRTE 100 Miler (same start/finish, different course) to those who are looking for a HARD, HARD ultra. Check them both out at the Blacksmith Endurance website: http://www.blacksmithendurance.com/bluecanyon/

With less than a month until Hardrock I am supremely confident in my ability to rise to the challenge... it's now time to keep the body in one piece and focus on high altitude training!

Brooks

(Here's a cool track I just stumbled across... it's instrumental, but awesome none the less. Could be a good running tune. Enjoy.)

My First Ultra Win!

2010-06-07T17:45:00.000-06:00

I'm waiting to be reunited with my camera which was left in a dropbag on the course before I do a full race recap, BUT I can say with pride that I bagged my first ultra win at the Blue Canyon 50 Mile trail race near Santa Barbara, CA last Saturday!

With temps up to 103 degrees it ended up being more of a war of attrition than anything as the 13% finisher rate attests to. In addition to the heat runners are hit with elevation gain/loss of over 14,000 ft in each direction.

So in the end it took me 11:02.00, but the slow finishing time was strictly because the heat forced me to walk the last 14 miles or so. Every time I'd try to run I'd overheat and would start to feel dizzy and disoriented. Thankfully, mother nature shows no favoritism and all the other runners had to contend with it as well. On this particular day, even if I wasn't the fittest or fastest, I WAS the toughest and have my first W to show for it!

Brooks

2010 Jemez Mountain 50 Miler (a.k.a. 'Satan's Desert Suffer-fest')

2010-05-30T14:18:00.009-06:00

To begin the recap, and get my opinion of last Saturday's race in Los Alamos, NM, just read the first couple paragraphs of Kim Bogins race recap.

Allow me to elaborate...

'Survival-Mode' is the best way I can describe the state I was in for the first 8+ hours of the race. Going into Jemez I realized (on paper) that it was supposed to be the 2nd hardest 50 miler in the U.S., but that didn't fully register in my brain until I'd been running for over 4 hours yet had only covered about 17 miles. In that time I had already climbed above 10,000ft twice and gained/lossed over 5000ft elevation in each direction. I had also stopped on two separate occasions to feel sorry for myself and whimper because of the level of mental anguish and physical pain I'd already endured (right there was close to 20 minutes down the drain). Also in this time period I had the privilege of 3 emergency pit stops and bad calf cramps. When I wasn't sitting on my butt, or running off into the bushes, I was mostly hiking both the uphills and downhills. Despite not even being halfway through, I had already mentally lost the battle and was considering dropping out at the Pipeline aid station (mile 17).

It was at this point, however, that I finally received my first spark of life and determination. This came when I realized two solid runners I know, who had been quite a ways ahead of me early, had decided to throw in the towel on their race day. One was Nick Lewis, last year's 2nd place finisher at the Leadville 100, and the other was Harry Harcrow, a very experienced local ultra-runner who has had his fair share of top-3 finishes over the last several years. Even though I knew my chances of hitting my goal time of around 10 hours were gone, I realized that eveyrbody out there was hurting too, and decided to make it my new goal to make up as many places in the second half of the race as possible. Position at this point: Approximately 40th place.

Immediately after the aid station we were treated to the opportunity to either tumble off the edge of a mountain or slide your carcass down the loose scree:

I opted for the 'lose your footing and slide on your backside' option, and have the scabs to show for it!

By the time a runner reaches the bottom of this descent, he realizes he's committed to at least making it 4 more miles to the next aid station, 'cuz there's no way you're getting back up the hill! The next stretch of the race was the first section of easily runnable jeep road and this afforded me the opportunity to begin getting my running legs back, and start making up ground on the rest of the field ahead of me. Between miles 17 and 21 I made up approximately 5 positions. The next climb we encountered had no defined trail and was a series of bushwhacking and tallus field scrambling. Here's an example of the terrain going up (you just played the 'look for the orange ribbons' game):

Shortly after this slow ascent we were treated to a nice long descent to the mile 28 aid station. This section of the course is the longest without aid (7.8 miles) and happens as the day's beginning to really heat up. This is when runners started to fall off the pace and I again was able to make up about 5 positions (while losing 1 to a stronger downhill runner). Rolling climbs and descents made up most of the next 4 miles, despite a net gain of over 1000ft. It was at the mile 32 aid station that things got fun (sarcasm)!!!

The mile 32 aid station is the bottom of a ski lift, so take a wild guess where we had to go next? You guessed it, despite me wishing it was the bar at the ski lodge, it was in fact, straight up 1400+ feet of blue/black ski slopes and woods in just over a mile! As much this gruelling climb killed my leg muscles, it was nothing compared to the descent that followed shortly thereafter. After just 5-10 minutes of rolling terrain on the summit of the ski area, we were taken to the sign for a DOUBLE BLACK DIAMOND right off the side of the mountain! The orange flags were unfortunately going straight down this run! I honestly thought getting down this extreme of a slope with the wet grass from all the snowmelt was HARDER than ascending it in the first place. If a runner was to trip, or lose their balance and go forward, it would be inevitable that they wouldn't stop for the next 1100ft. Finally, the lodge aid station at mile 36 appeared... here I could pick up my pacer (Andy Henshaw), and tackle the home stretch. All the significant climbs were now behind me and it was all about making up positions at this point!

These were hard miles because of the fatigue that was setting in, combined with the 83 degree heat, but Andy did a killer job of pacing me, tolerating my irritability, and at times saying something so absurd that I had to laugh despite being gassed. (Example: "Not to sound gay or anything, but has anybody ever told you that you have amazing calves?") Awesome. Thanks, dude!

This was an uneventful section of the race except for the amount of 50 mile and 50k runners I was passing at last. I can safely say I passed at least ten 50 milers in this 14 mile stretch, and even though my original goal had been 10 hours, my redefined goal (based on my horrible first 17 miles) of sub-11 was achieved!

Final time: 10:56.xx. 15th overall.

So while this wasn't my best race, it was excellent training in that it simulated the mental and physical exhaustion that I'll inevitably contend with at Hardrock on an even greater degree. Pushing through the defeatist thoughts and legs that were exhausted from a marathon just days before is exactly what I needed to start toughening up for the challenges that lay ahead!

Personal Records Broken @ Colfax Marathon!

2010-05-18T18:13:00.006-06:00

Sunday was the 2010 Colorado Colfax Marathon in Denver and was what can only be described as a breakthrough race for me (despite the fact it had the makings for disaster early).
More about that below, but for those with shorter attention spans, I'll start with the condensed version:

Official Time: 2:55.16
3rd place overall (out of over 800 entrants).
A new marathon PR by 10 minutes
Less than a minute behind the 2nd place finisher
Both of my 1/2 marathon splits were faster than my previous record of 1:30.xx (1:27.01 and 1:28.15 were my split times at Colfax)

Also, check out Kimberly Bogin's race recap at:
http://www.examiner.com/x-36916-Denver-Running-Examiner~y2010m5d16-Colfax-Marathon-results-and-race-recap-for-2010

Okay, enough with that, on to the gory details that led up to that finish...

Quickly rewind to May 2009: The last road marathon I ran was almost exactly a year ago at the Colfax marathon. Even though I set my old PR there (3:05.xx), they had a major timing glitch which made it look like I hadn't even finished the race. I can barely begin to describe how aggravating it was to have finally qualified for Boston after numerous failed attempts, only to have the results be inaccurate and not even show me as finishing! It was finally resolved about a week after the race, but this left a bad impression on me.

Fast forward to May 2010: Saturday afternoon I arrived at the pre-race check-in in City Park only to find that I wasn't even listed as a registered racer in their system (since I was a late entry). When they finally did find my packet it was missing a little thing called a bib number. The reason: Apparently they didn't plan on there being so many entrants in the full marathon (800+) and ran out of printed numbers. Obviously with chip timing this wouldn't prevent me from being able to race and have an official time, but it was the principle and general lack of organization that rubbed me the wrong way. The guy who was in charge of timing at this year's event, Kevin, began bending over backwards to figure something out for me.., to the point that he was willing to give me one of the elite half-marathoner bibs with a low number on it (11 specifically, which was my finishering place in 2009). Unfortunately, all these bibs had been inadvertantly given away by a race volunteer who thought the low numbers were supposed to be awarded on a first come, first served basis. So I was back to square one. Finally I was given an unused half marathon number: 6975. Better than nothing, right?
The next morning I ran into Kevin about 10 minutes prior to the race start and he said I could have an unclaimed bib number for the marathon. The only downside would be that it had the name 'Eric' printed on it. Awesome prequel to the race!

To the actual race:
Having just come off a solid 50-mile performance at Collegiate Peaks two weeks ago, I was extremely confident and optimistic that I might finally be able to break the sub-3 hour barrier. To be safe and not cut it too close, I was planning on a 6:47 mile pace which would put me in the 2:57 range. The variables beteween me and my goal were (1) I had never run more than 12 miles at this pace, (2) I was possibly not fully recovered from Collegiate Peaks, and (3) I've done virtually NO speedwork over the last few months since my primary focus has been on increasing my overall mileage in preparation for two more 100 milers this summer.
I expected to come out of the gate pretty fast for the first couple of miles and then settle into my 6:47 +/- pace, and not surprisingly, my first 3 miles were in the 6:20 range. My lungs were having a harder time keeping up than my legs so I decided to back it off just enough to get to a sustainable heartrate. This ended up being about a 6:30 pace for the next 6 miles or so.
After that point I arrived to the one sustained climb on the course (miles 9-13). Last year this section surprised me by being easier than anticipated... this year was the total opposite, though! Not only did my legs start to finally tell me they weren't used to the pace, but I began to have stomach issues. Without going into too much detail, let's just say I was on the verge of an 'accident' or two.

I surpisingly made it to the turnaround in 1:27.01 (a new PR) and guessed I was in 10th place at that point. Soon thereafter, I not only began gagging due to coughing so hard, but I got a side cramp for the first time ever during a race! The race now officially became a suffer-fest and I mentally conceded to just surviving to the finish. I truly stopped caring if I went sub-3 and figured it was going to be an epic collapse (JT-esque) after a strong start. Based on the level of pain I was feeling in my legs, feet (blisters), and stomach, I fully expected my pace to fall to close to 8 minute miles. This was reinforced when two more runners passed me. Imagine my surprise when I looked at my watch at miles 15, 16, and 17 and saw that each was still 6:47 or faster! Yeah, every stride was painful, but I was still hitting my goal pace! This breathed new life into me and after letting my mind crunch some quick numbers, I realized if I could just hang on to mile 20 before the wheels came off, I'd be able to still hit sub-3!

At mile 20 my time was 2:13.20. As long as I went a slightly under an 8 minute mile pace it was in the bag! Now any time I shaved would just be a bonus. Miles 21-24 averaged about 6:40 and it was about this time that I spotted what looked like two of the early leaders ahead of me! I was already pushing myself to high anaerobic range, but the thought of passing somebody (it had been a while) gave me extra motivation to push through the pain. Plus, I just reminded myself that if this was a 100-mile race, I wouldn't even be a quarter of the way through yet, so stop whining Brooks, and pass them! When I finally reeled them in with just about a mile and a half to go, one of them had a little extra kick and hung on my right side. I couldn't believe that I was running with such a fast guy (1:22 at the half) this late in the race and assumed he would have the kick to finish me off in the last mile. He began to do just that until the last aid station with just over a mile to go. He had about a 15 meter lead at that point, sucked down some water, and then surprisingly, lost his pace. I caught him, I passed him, and I left him!

Now with a only a half mile to go I look over my shoulder to see him charging and gaining ground on me, but also see another runner just a little bit ahead of us. In pushing to keep my pursuer from catching me we both overtook him with only about .2 miles to go! At that point I hear someone screaming my name and it turns out to be my good friend Katie (she was doing the half and the two courses intersect for the last 1/4 mile)! Then I hear Katie's mom and dad cheering for me! This was all the motivition I needed put on the afterburners and go into a full on sprint to the finish. When I crossed, I'd successfully put 9 seconds on the nearest runner.

After the obligatory vomitting in the finish chute in front of hundreds of people, the thrill of breaking 3 hours (a once unimaginable barrier) began sinking in! Just having a handful of familiar faces there shortly after made it even sweeter. My friend Justin Walker broke 3 hours by a few ticks, and another, Reuben Gregory, had his first Boston qualifier by running 3:09.xx!

Now that I've gotten the monkey off my back, it may be a while before I have the desire to do a road marathon again. For now the focus will be on the Jemez Mountain 50-miler next weekend, pacing Jon Teisher at the Bighorn 100, followed by pacing Andy Henshaw at Western States.

After that, the Hardrock 100 will be my main focus.... (gulp)!

In the News

2010-05-14T14:10:00.047-06:00

(Updated 7/14/11)
Recently, the occasional article, photo, or video about my running/racing progress has been published, and here's where I'll archive these:

(Click on images below to see them in higher resolution)

July 2011
The race report for the Brew to Brew 44 miler in April was published in Ultra Running magazine and featured yours truly.

January 2011
I was featured in the 'What it Takes' section of the February 2011 edition of Runners World. While not front-page worthy, it's a start!

July 2010
Prior to my attempt at the Hardrock Hundred an article was published about me in the Colorado Springs Gazette and online. Here's the link:

http://www.outtherecolorado.com/latest-blogs/runners-find-solace-better-health-on-long-runs.html

May 2010

April 2010

I was interviewed about my running with CF for an upcoming documentary entitled 'Why Run?'. Following this, there have been numerous follow up interviews and race videos taken documenting my racing exploits. This film is due to be released in late 2010. Click here for the 'Why Run?' website.

February 2010

The University of Sussex in England wanted to include a bio about my running in an upcoming psychology textbook which is slated for a late 2010 release. Here's a rough draft:

July 2009

Here is the full Duluth tribune article from the 2009 Minnesota Voyageur 50 Mile Trail Race (minus the pics):

Fighting illness, he ‘started running to live’

Duluth News Tribune (MN) - Sunday, August 2, 2009

Author: Kevin Pates, Duluth News Tribune

Bruises and abrasions covered the body of Brooks Williams . He had a black eye and a broken toe. He hurt all over.

He remembers little of being injured in the Minnesota Voyageur Trail Ultramarathon 50-Miler on July 25 in Carlton. He passed out a half-mile from the finish line and was hospitalized overnight for dehydration and hyponatremia, or low sodium.

Williams , 26, from Colorado Springs, Colo., said it was a scary situation, yet was the first time his body had let him down even though he’s an anomaly — an ultra runner with cystic fibrosis.

“My doctor has told me that few people with cystic fibrosis try ultramarathons. I’m a guinea pig,” Williams said from home last week. “I was taking care of myself during the race. I was taking 500 milligrams of sodium an hour, 20 ounces of fluids per hour, an electrolyte tablet every half-hour and energy gel. But I still got incoherent and must’ve fell a few times.”

Williams said he was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 5½ months of age and wasn’t expected to live past 18. The genetic disease affects the lungs and digestive system as a defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus. The mucus clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections.

In 2008, the median predicted age of survival rose to 37.4 years, up from 32 in 2000, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Williams , a project engineer for a mechanical contractor, said he survived a serious bout with pneumonia at age 21 and then looked to improve his health. He has been running the past 4½ years.

“I became aware of how quickly my health could take an irreparable turn, and this fear is what made me start running seriously,” he said. “I started running to live and I attribute my improved health to running.”

Keeping strong and fortified over long distances has proven tricky for Williams .

Nonetheless, he has completed eight marathons and four events longer than 26.2 miles. He finished the Bighorn Mountain 50-Mile Trail Run on June 20 in Dayton, Wyo., but needed intravenous fluids afterward. At Voyageur, he was monitoring his body and last remembers checking his watch for an elapsed time as it read 8 hours, 25 minutes. He figured he’d finish in about 8:35, which would’ve placed him 10th in a field of 160. The race trail is along a rugged course through Jay Cooke State Park and Fond du Lac State Forest from Carlton to the Lake Superior Zoo and back.

A finisher told race officials he saw Williams prone on the course. Rescuers came to his aid and took him to Community Memorial Hospital in Cloquet. He was given fluids through the night and released the next morning, yet his journey wasn’t over. He drove 20 hours alone back to Colorado Springs, with an overnight stop in Grand Island, Neb.

The trip to Northeastern Minnesota was his first. He was drawn here, he said, because the race fit his schedule in preparation for the Leadville (Colo.) Trail 100-Miler through the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 22, and because of family lore. The story he has been told is that his parents met and were married in Duluth, although they now also live in Colorado Springs.

"I’m coming back to run that race again for personal reasons. I’m not going to let a course beat me,” said Williams .

Summer '10 Race Calendar

2010-05-12T13:01:00.001-06:00

It's only the 2nd week in May and I can say 2010 is already shaping up to be my most epic runnng/racing/adventuring year ever!

February-May 2010

This year to date I've run the following:

(1) 100 Mile Trail Races (Rocky Raccoon)
(2) 50 Mile Trail Races (Desert R.A.T.S. and Collegiate Peaks)
(1) Trail Marathon (Salida)
(1) 8 mile race
(2) 10k's
(1) 5k

So that's 8 races in just over 3 months, (including 3 ultras) and my body is feeling great! However, this is just the tip of the iceburg. The following is my race schedule from now through October:

5/16/10 Colfax Marathon, Denver, CO (2:57.xx goal time)
5/22/10 Jemez Mountain 50 Mile Trail Race, Los Alamos, NM
5/29/10 Bolder Boulder, Boulder, CO (Tentative)
6/18/10 Bighorn 100, Sheridan, WY (Pacing Jon Teisher)
6/26/10 Western States 100, CA (Pacing Andy Henshaw)
7/9/10 Hardrock 100, Silverton, CO
8/8/10 Silver Rush 50, Leadville, CO
8/21/10 Leadville 100, Leadville, CO
9/18/10 MAS 50, Moab, UT (or equivalent 50 miler)
10/9/10 XTerra Trail Marathon, Colorado Springs, CO
10/16/10 24 Hours of Boulder, Boulder, CO

Along the way I'll be doing high altitude training on just about every weekend that I don't have a race. The plan is to do Hardrock in less than 32hrs and Leadville in less than 21hrs. Everthing else I'm doing leading up to these races is strictly for the purpose of training for these 100 milers!

So far, so good...

Redemption @ Collegiate Peaks!

2010-05-04T20:36:00.000-06:00

I've been overdue for a race report that was worth mentioning, and last weekend was finally that race:

May 1, 2010: Collegiate Peaks Trail Run (50 Miles)
7 hours 46 minutes... 8th overall!

Maybe having no expectations (or at least extremely low ones) is the key going into a touch ultra. It was supposed to be rainy/snowy and was only going to be 2 weeks after the Desert R.A.T.S. 50 miler, so I just assumed that my time wouldn't be too stellar.

Well, it WAS cold but with clear skies, the threat of precipitation seemed low and I knew the cold (highs around 40) was closer to ideal than the extreme heat I'd dealt with recently. Some of the highlights:

Last year, due to knee pain on the long 7 mile descent into the finish of the first lap (25 miles), I was forced to drop out and get an official 25 mile time. My final time in 2009 was 3:55.xx, so imagine my surprise when my first lap was 3:39.xx this year AND I was still feeling half way decent!

25 mile Turnaround: 3:39.xx... 10th place.

The interesting thing about this was that I actually ran at an exhertion level that I considered much lower than normal so as to conserve energy, and yet I was faster by about 16 minutes! Because of this smart pacing, I was able to run all but 10 minutes of the 7 mile climb up to the mile 32 aid station. At this point, I knew even if I was to completely bonk a finish would be inevitable since the worst was behind me, but that didn't mean it was time to let up. From mile 28 on I had another runner about 2-4 minutes behind me and everytime we reached an open clearing I could see him on my heels. I was absolutely determined to fend him off as long as possible but felt that fatigue would set in and I'd have to let him go.

Surprisingly, I was able to hang on to about a 1 minute lead until the last aid station with 6 miles remaining. At this point I realized that it was almost entirely downhill to the finish and my legs still had a little gas left. Deciding to leave it all on the course I now had a new goal of not only opening up a lead on this guy, but also of breaking my 50 mile PR which was set last September at the North Face Endurance Challenge in Washington, DC on a far easier course, AND at sea level.

In the end I succeeded in opening up a 5 minute lead on my nearest competitor, BUT missed my PR by barely 1 minute!!!! Regardless, I have to consider this my strongest 50 mile performance to date. Even being close to my best time despite not being fresh and having 8,000+ ft of vertical gain on the course makes me supremely confident going into the summer.

I'll post my summer race/training plan in the coming weeks, but for the remainder of May the plan is to run the Colfax Marathon (and go for a sub-3 hour marathon PR), followed by the Jemez Mountain 50 Miler in Los Alamos, NM. The Jemez race is widely considered one of the 3 hardest 50 milers in the U.S. so it will be a great training run leading up to Hardrock in July!

Brooks

2010 Desert R.A.T.S. 50 Miler

2010-04-28T12:41:00.000-06:00

In my last post prior to this race, I stated that I was finally recovered from Rocky Raccoon and ready to start cranking out the long races again.

This WAS a factual statement. However there are endless variables that can be encountered during an ultra that go above and beyond your physical/mental conditioning. During this race, I encountered two:

Vomitting (followed by dehydration) - Raceday was HOT, not necessarily middle-of -August hot, but hot by Colorado spring standards. Combined with a lack of shade or breeze, it felt hotter than the mid-70's the thermometer showed. So when I gagged on a salt capsule at mile 32, this eventually led to me puking repeatedly... so much so that I was dry-heaving bile after the 5th or 6th time. This coupled with the heat made it impossible for me to get rehydrated for the duration of the race. It was all I could do to take in enough fluids to offset the amount I was sweating, let alone replenish what I lost from the nausea.
Getting Lost - This wasn't the first time I've gotten off course during a long trail race, but it was maybe the most demoralizing. I was at mile 44 when I took the wrong turn at a fork which wasn't clearly marked, and proceeded to lose 14 minutes, 2 positions, AND any hope of besting my 2009 time. Additionally, due to the lost time and positions, this was the first 50 miler I've ever run where I didn't have a top 10 finish... I was 11th overall.

So in the end I finished in 9:02.xx which was about 13 minutes slower than last year's time. Up until the 50k mark I was running about 16 minutes FASTER than my 2009 splits. In fact, I was only 8 minutes behind Duncan Calahan at the mile 31 aid station, but that was about the time the wheels came off and the real suffering began!

Since it really wasn't my conditioning (or lack thereof) that led to my disappointing finish, I'm very optimistic for this weekends race in Buena Vista (Collegiate Peaks 50 miler). It will afford me an opportunity for some personal redemption on two levels; I can make up for the frustration of a bad race in Fruita, AND I can finally finish the course that kicked my butt a year ago (I dropped at the 25 mile mark last year due to knee pain).

I've put in over a week of really solid training since Fruita, with lots of vertical gain, and now I'll take the next 3 days easy and brace for the next suffer-fest!

Brooks