Monday, August 11, 2008

The hay is in the barn.

It's tapering time at the Martineau Tribe.

This past weekend I ran my last double workout of the season. Saturday I ran the Cougar Mt. 13.1 miler. And on Sunday I ran part of the 2ND loop of the Plain 100 course, about 38 miles.

Saturday's race went well. I started off fast as to not get stuck in the dreaded Congo line (that back-up of runners that stretches from here to Africa). I pushed hard the whole race. I broke down into a walk a few times because it was faster or I was stuck behind someone. I had one Gel, on a downhill section about 5 miles into the race. While hauling ass and sucking on the gel, I hit my head on a tree that was across the trail about 6 feet high. It knocked me back on my rear-end and the string of F-bombs lasted about 5 minutes. Damn that hurt. I don't know how I wasn't bleeding all over the trail. Seeing stars slowed me down for a while but after that I was determined to catch back up to where I was. I did. My goal for this race has always been to break 2 hours. This was my 4Th attempt. When I got to Red Town I looked at my watch and saw the I had just under 10 minutes to cover the last .9 miles, all of which was uphill. I figured it would take me 15 minutes if I ran most of it (it's a really steep hill). I almost gave up a few times but I didn't. I covered the distance up the trail and across the finish in nine minutes finishing in 1:59:25. I was 20Th overall, 20Th male, and 7Th old guy (over 40).

Sunday I was up before the Sun for the long ride out to Plain. It was a nice day out there, partly sunny but a bit chilly in the wind at 6000 feet. We ran the loop in just under 8 1/2 hours.

I stopped here to try and catch some sun but I was too cold and actually had to put my jacket on.




I saw about a dozen of these birds.


I'm ready to race.

6 comments:

Backofpack said...

Well you sure seem ready! Who is crewing for you? Wife and kiddos?

Anonymous said...

You're definitely ready. A little rest would probably do you good. I'll be running the 2nd loop this Saturday.

Journey to a Centum said...

Look forward to seeing you on the CCC course! I'm joining Rob on the 2nd loop of Plain this Saturday. I'll also be pacing for him at CCC.

Have you ever noticed if you leave the "l" out of Plain you get Pain? Hmmmm

Steve S said...

Nice sprint up the hill at Cougar, you must be in great shape to kill the hill. Or maybe you were delirious after hitting your head.

Rest well and I'll see you at CCC.

King Arthur said...

No crew for me this year. Maybe someday I'll get around to finding someone to crew me.

adam said...

Good Luck this weekend Arthur! Hope to see you start to sprint at No Name Ridge.