Capitol Peak ...

Tuesday I did 4 easy miles and Thursday I did 4 fast miles.

Friday I went down early to run the 50 miler down in the Capitol Forest. I got a call from my wife who got a call from a friend of my dad's around 9:30. It was his 69th birthday and he had flat lined while out dancing at the Auburn Eagles. They were very panicked. My dad walks everyday and eats way better than I do, so this was a huge surprise to everyone. They were doing CPR and waiting for an Ambulance.
I had to get up there and fast. So I took Shawn's car and hauled up to Auburn Medical. When I got there he was having a procedure done to open up 2 of his arteries. After a while they wheeled him past on his way up to ICU. He looked good considering he was drugged, unconscious and tubed. The Dr. told us about his condition. He said they wouldn't take the tube out or let him wake up until Saturday night(24 hours). And his heart was just as good as it was when he woke up that morning. So I had to figure out what to do next. Do I sit in the hospital all night and watch him sleep(there were 4 people doing that already, my sister, his girlfriend and 2 of his friends) or do I bring Shawn's car back and get her to her race. I had left her there so she could sleep even though she was quick to say she would come with me and forget the 50 miler. I probably said something about she wasn't getting out of it that easy but I don't remember. I decided he would be fine without me there and he had enough people looking after him and he wouldn't be any better off if I left until morning. I was on the phone for most of the drive down to the motel so it went by fast and I was back in bed before 2:00am.
I got another update call in the morning before we left updating me and confirming that nothing would change until Saturday night. So I decided to run the race and then be back before they woke him up. I figured it would help me to relax and de-stress a little and keep my mind off it for a while.

The Race.
We started off in the dark. There was Eric, Karen, Shawn, and I and 5 or 6 others and Shela. I needed another 15 minutes to prepare but when the "gun" goes off you gotta go! First thing, I was rusty at running in the dark. I couldn't see anything. It was warm and by the 1 mile mark I was sweating even though we were going at a very easy pace. By mile 2 I had shed my gloves and windbreaker. I think everybody else did pretty much the same thing. The pack thinned out quickly. It was Eric, Shawn and I up front followed a ways back by Karen and one other person. By the first aid station Karen and her companion were no where in sight.
It was a beautiful morning. The sun was up and it was warm. I would have never figured Capitol Peak could be so nice. We were running easy all the way through A/S 2 and 3. Shela and I were taking turns at spider web duty but she doesn't do a very good jog so I was still taking mouthfuls of them and after a while I got smart and grabbed a twig to bat them down.
We finally got passed by a 50 mile regular starter and the winner, Jim Kirby, at the 3rd A/S which was also the Start/Finish line. We had been running so easy up to this point, I felt the need to push a little on some of the uphills by just continuing the same pace until I felt labored or until Shawn would start to walk. I also felt Eric was running to easy and wanted him to step it up a little so his Marathon on Sunday would be a little tougher workout. He can't just coast all day and expect to do well at Western!
I felt so good climbing up Capitol Peak. I don't know how to describe it. I had only gotten 1 1/2 hours sleep but it didn't seem like it affected me at all. Shawn said that her knee had made itself known and that she wanted to take it easy on the downhills. What a spoil sport. I love flying down the downhill. ;) I was a good wing man and kept the pace reasonable but still made her push it once in a while.
I'm still amazed at how nice the trail was. Very little mud and NO SNOW! I even have a tan line on my legs. I passed the marathon mark at 5:34 and then pulled into the 6th A/S. I talked with Shawn for almost 7 minutes and we decided to take it easy and change to the 55k and skip the extra 15 mile loop. Her knee would be better served by the shorter distance and my mind wasn't being distracted enough to be out there any longer. So we headed to the finish and Eric went off to do the extra 15 miles and we never saw him again.
After finishing our food we picked up the pace. Our mile times were from 8:43 to 10:50.
We finished in 7:14. After a nice cold soak in the creek I had some soup and a beer (thanks Bill). We hung out for a little while but I needed to get back.

Today I feel great. I don't feel like I ran 35 miles or even 20 miles.
My dad is a wake, his memory is back, he's stable and just laying around, complaining, and waiting for his turn to be cracked open for heart bypass surgery.

Photo's by Glenn!!!






Best shot of me running ... Ever!!!