Manskin

Obviously a good time was had by all. Even the two people I saw crash, Evil Knievel and the PBR delivery driver, didn't mind a little road rash.






























P.S. Me.

1st D.N.F.

I ran most of the first 50k of 20Th Century 100k this Saturday. I then walked about 8 miles to the next A/S hoping things would get better before I got there.

I dropped at mile 40 because I didn't want to make the injury to my foot worse by pushing the last 20 miles to the finish, just to keep my DNF'less streak going.

I started out the day in my regular road shoes. After about 6 miles I knew this was a mistake. At 12 miles I switched to a different pair of road shoes that I was going to switch to at mile 40. They have "Sole" inserts that give me a lot more protection from rocks than a normal sockliner. They have a hard moldable plastic bottom. This change helped a lot and the thought of not being able to push through the discomfort never even entered my mind.
Somewhere about a mile into the tunnel I noticed it was a lot worse. I guess in the dark you can't be as careful with your foot placement. I had been changing my stride so I didn't put as much pressure on that put of my foot but that was making my hamstrings tight.
The trail turned downhill and my pace increased, again taking the pressure off the foot and easing my pain. I continued along trying to just enjoy the day. It was sunny and cool. Perfect for running. I stopped on a couple of the trestles to take pictures and stretch out.
I passed the 51K A/S at about 5:45. I knew as I left, there was a good chance of not making it to the next A/S. Sure enough, about 1/4 mile later I started my long slow walk to Rattle Snake Lake (mile ~40). I thought maybe it would get better if I just walk for a while. And, well I have some time to kill because Shawn's riding the 51k back to the car.
I tried running a few times and it didn't really feel any worse than walking but I didn't keep going because I didn't want to make things worse. I've nearly DNF'd 2-3 times before and I've slways said to myself, self you can DNF at the next A/S. But before I get there I'm feeling better. I was really hoping it would happen again.
I finally got to the A/S. I hung out with John and Mike until it was time to pack up. The Co-RD said I would get credit for a 50k but later the Scott the other RD Vetoed him. I drove an extra vehicle to the finish and waited for the runners to start coming in.
I've "fine" with taking a DNF. It had to happen sometime. I'm sure there were a few people betting it would be at Plain 100. I've been to one Dr. and I have an appointment with another. They think it's a stress fracture on the bone behind the second toe of my left foot. It was hurting after CCC 8-24 but it wasn't really that bad at Plain 9-8 or Baker Lake 10-6.

"Cover Boy"

OK
So I'm on the cover of UltraRunning Magazine. It's pretty cool but I can't seem to get Dr. Hook out of my head.

I will still talk to all the little people.
I did buy the biggest tub of Vaseline at Costco I could find so my Huge head wouldn't get stuck in the bathroom door.
You don't have to kiss my pinkie ring or bow at my post 100 mile feet.
No the Photo wasn't doctored or airbrushed. If it was, I would have had him hide my secret to speed. The wings in my hair!
All Hail King Arthur!!! That's a good one.

Huge thanks go to Glenn and Tony.

Go ahead take your best shot.

Baker Lake 50k

I finished in 6:58 with Robin Blais who helped motivate me for the last 6 miles.
I ran good for 9 miles then my banged up body started a revolt. I limped into the a/s in just under 3 and then crawled back to the finish.
Dave Dutton put on another great race. There was plenty of good food at the Start, A/S, and Finish.

I hadn’t really run since Plain. I did a couple 2 and 3 milers, easy, but that was it. I knew I was going to be slow but I didn’t know how slow I would go. Or for how long, but I knew it wasn’t 32 miles. I decided to just run how I felt.

In the beginning all was well. My legs felt fresh and ready to run. I had thought it would take a mile or so to warm up but it didn’t.
After a few miles on the trail I noticed my ankles kept trying to roll over on the downhill sections. I do go pretty fast downhill but the trail was in such great shape there was really no reason to go slow. So, I just tried to watch my foot placements a little closer. That didn’t really help. It seemed like they just weren’t very strong, like I had never run on trails before. I didn’t actually full on roll an ankle but I did do some quick shifting of my weight a bunch of times. This was creating a lot of extra work so I tried slowing down a bit. That helped for a while but it was getting to be work going downhill. What’s up with that? I stopped 3-4 times on the way out try and stretch and loosen my ankles but it didn’t do any good.

I got into the A/S at 2:48 and I didn’t want to leave. There was no reason that I couldn’t finish so after 10 minutes or so, I headed back out.

The trip back was much different than the trip out. I basically just started to run when I got too cold and after I warmed up I would walk. I even stopped a half a dozen times to admire the scenery. The trees were so beautiful, dripping with moss. The lake was calm and pristine. A runner would come by and I would start running so I could chat or just step off the trail and let them go by. Twice I stepped off into some nettles! I’m going to have to practice that stepping off the trail maneuver some more so that doesn’t happen again. Ouch!

With about 6 miles to go Robin came along and she was interesting to talk to so that made me run just fast enough to keep up. And then I noticed we could just make it in under 7 hours if we picked up the pace just a little. My ankles were feeling a little better from all the walking so we decided to go for it.

When we got to the road we had 17 minutes left to finish. Robin took off down the hill at an 8:00 m/m pace. We ran together to the damn and then I tried to get her to go a little faster by pulling a few yards ahead. It seemed to work and we both finished with 2 minutes to spare.