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3,000 miles

For the first time, I’ve surpassed 3,000 miles in a calendar year.   I didn’t have this as a goal, but my late fall training just propelled me to it.   My previous personal record was 2,600 miles, in 2008.  I still have Across The Years 24-hour run on Dec 30th, so I may hit 400 miles for the month, which would be my all-time high mile month. Since I started logging miles in 2004, I’ve “run” nearly 12,000 miles.

This year I have also logged the number of feet that I have climbed.   I’ve climbed 432,000 feet, which is over 81 miles straight up.  That would get me up into the Mesophere layer of the atmosphere.  Still not high enough to see a sattelite.

Here is a chart showing my mileages for the past five years.

Here is a chart showing my miles for each month.

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100-mile training week

Note:  For daily boring updates of my training, see: http://crockett.fastrunningblog.com/  

After winning a small neighborhood 5K, I capped off a 100-mile training week with a wonderful afternoon 18-mile run.    I ran on dirt roads and trails that I usually do in the dark, running from my home, winding through hills and ridges, out into Cedar Valley (Eagle Mountain), and then running up to Unity Pass, and then home through the dirt roads and motorcycle trails.  As I ran, I listened to the SEC football championship, Florida vs. Alabama.  Rather than wasting time in front of the TV, why not be out on the trail!

After all the boring flat miles this week, I was thrilled to be back on the trails.   I just cannot understand how the road runners tolerate all the miles on roads and tracks.   They have a level of mental toughness that I just can’t comprehend.   I felt so much enjoyment as I bounded on the rolling roads and trails, taking in all the eye candy along the way:  Expansive farm fields, hills and trees, occassional shooters (who I avoided), and wonderful snow capped mountains.

As I hit a single-track section, my legs seemed like they were shouting with excitement to me as I pushed them to a crazy wreckless pace, weaving through the trees and bouncing up and down on the trail.   I was pleased to see a couple pair of footprints that were not mine.  This month I have seen a few on these trails that seem to be my secret running playground.  I’m glad some trail runners from Eagle Mountain are discovering these hidden motorcycle trails.   Still, there are long sections that I have never seen any other foot prints.

My pace was easy, about 10-minute miles, but the run would not be “easy” for a road runner.  The surface is uneaven, and there were some nice short steep climbs along the way.   From Unity Pass, for the last six miles, I really kicked it into gear and turned 7-8 minute miles, even in some very technical sections.  I wanted to whoop with joy as I cruised down with speed through the most technical decent down a rocky ridge.   I was pleased the the ankle that I rolled earlier in the week was no problem to me.

As I neared my home, descending heading east down from the foothills, I noticed an amazing effect that I had never noticed before.   The shadow of the sunset was extending across Utah Lake toward the Wasatch Mountains to the east.   As the angle of light became very low, the sun reflected off windows of homes over ten miles away in Cedar Hills, Pleasant Grove, Lindon, Orem and Provo.   These bright reflections caused wonderful streaks of light to reflect off of the expansive Utah Lake (in the shadow of Lake Mountain), extending for miles across the lake.   It was amazing.  I never had noticed this wonder before.  The effect only last for a few minutes and the angles have to be precise to see it.

My 18-mile run was completed in less than three hours.   I ended the run excited and energized.   My running batteries had been recharged by getting off the roads.   This was the first time I had ever done a 100-mile training week.   I’ve run 100 miles or more in a week when I run a race, but I’ve never trained this much in a week.  It was an interesting experiment.   I came out of it great.  No injury, no soreness, no stiffness, nothing.   About 65 of these miles were before sunrise, while my family was still asleep.

I look forward to another good running week, next week.   I never train on Sundays, so I look forward to a nice rest tomorrow.

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Earn Your Turkey 4-mile

The weather is getting cold and wet, chasing me out of the hills and off the trails.  I decided to take a crack at another road race and went over to Orem to run in this traditional Thanksgiving 4-mile race, with 534 runners.

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UltimateXC Moab 50K

I ran in the very tough UltimateXC Moab 50K, south of Moab, Utah.   This race runs concurrently with races of 10 and 20-mile distances.   The course starts along the Colorado River and then climbs up to the top of high redrock rim.   The course would climb up to the rim three times!

This race appeared to be one of those for-profit running events.   The race entry was over-priced, but I couldn’t resist a chance to run in Moab again.   I drove down the night before, found a cheap room at Green River, got a good night’s rest, and arrived at start finish with plenty of time to get ready before the 8:30 a.m. start.

My early arrival gave me a chance to observe the competition.   I observed that the group did not look like a typical ultra crowd.  There were many over dressed and with large backpacks.  Few had trail gaiters on.    I also was surprised to see that the crowd was younger than usual. In fact the average age of the 50K finishers ended out being 35 years old.   I would be running with a bunch of kids.  

The temperature was a brisk 31 degrees at the start.   At the minute I changed to long sleeves.  It was a good choice.  Throughout the day, I would roll up and down my sleeves as the course went in and out of the shade.

At the start, very few wanted to push to be in front.  It was funny to see the race director trying to coax people to the front.    We started on time and away I went running with the top-10 runners up a beautiful canyon.   It was interesting to see how the runners sorted out.  The runners in front eventually all looked like ultrarunners, carrying very little and using gaiters.  They knew what they were doing.    The first five miles was a constant climb up to the top of the rim.     I backed off my pace and was soon running with a second pack of runners.   I was surprised how young and fast this group looked.   I reached the aid station at mile 5.5 at about 56 minutes, and good pace considering all the climbing.   The station was rather sparse of any food.   I was disappointed all day that no stations had sandwiches, but I survived.

The views were incredible as the trail winded around towers.  I really loved the downhill sections because they were mostly pretty technical.  Runners around me would carefully pick their way down the trail, but I would throw caution to the wind, increase my stride and bound down the trail like crazy.   On every long downhill I would pass several runners, but then I would slow down on all the flats and downhills. 

The trail was tough.  Most of it was on 4WD roads either through sandy canyons or down and up slickrock routes.  Long sandy sections really sapped the energy quickly.   The hard slickrock sections at times were tough on the legs.  But I enjoyed the diversity of the trail.

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Pony Express Trail 100 Endurance Run – UT

October 17-18, 2008 

Course Description

The Pony Express Trail 100 Endurance Run is a unique 100-mile race that runs on a section of the historic trail in the west desert of Utah.   This area of the country is very isolated and undeveloped, nearly untouched since Pony Express riders rode across it in the 1860s.  

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Bear 100 Endurance Run – UT

September 26-27, 2008 

“You’re not dead yet!!”  – Yelled from my crew at mile 76

This was a first for me, trying to finish two 100-milers within 13 days of each other.  I had recently finished the very tough Plain 100 and I felt ready to take on The Bear.  This year the Bear 100 was run on a totally new course — a point-to-point from Logan, UT to Fish Haven, ID, on the shore of deep blue Bear Lake.  The new course claimed to be nearly 23,000 feet and I have no doubt that it is.   Course designers, Leland Barker and Phil Lowry hoped to present a course very similar to Wasatch 100 in difficulty and experience.

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Plain 100 – WA

September 13-14, 2008

“Wow, you are fast!  Are you in some sort of marathon?” – Comment from a motorcyclist at the top of Tyee Ridge. 

Plain 100 is a very unique, tough 100-mile race held on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington.   I would rank it among the top-three toughest 100-mile races in the U.S.   What makes it so tough and unique?   1. The race is actually about 107 miles.  2. There are no course markings!  Racers must use maps, directions, and navigation skills. 3. There are no aid stations.  No pacers are allowed.  It is a self-supported race.  You must haul enough food for at least 60 miles before stocking up again and must obtain water in passing streams.  4. The trail conditions can be very challenging because of dust that permeates shoes and socks.  5. There are three massive climbs (and descents) of nearly 5,000 feet and a total of 21,000 feet elevation gain. 6. The race has a very low finish rate despite a generous 36-hour cutoff.  There have been only 32 finishes in the first ten years of the race – 21% success.

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Recovering from Leadville 100

I’m still smarting from my Leadville DNF two weeks ago.   Stopping was probably the right thing to do, but still, all the focused training time and expense seemed to be wasted on moments of exhausted weakness at midnight near Fish Hatchery.  But what is done, is done.   That huge investment can now be rolled forward on the next race, The Plain 100.

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Leadville 100

Well, I gave it a good shot, but didn’t finish this year at Leadville.   As you can see from my splits below, I did very well for the first 50, slowed a little, but stayed ahead of my 2007 pace clear to Halfmoon.   I was still way ahead of cutoffs.

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Utah Triple Crown

August 1, 2008

For my 50th birthday on August 1st, I contemplated what I could do to celebrate this ancient milestone.   I figured since I was officially “over the hill,” why not go over some huge hills?   I decided to accomplish something probably never accomplished before.  I wanted to summit the three highest peaks in Utah and return to the trailhead, all in one day without using a base camp. 

The three peaks, located in the Uinta Mountains are:

1- Kings Peak – 13,528
2- South Kings Peak – 13,512
3- Gilbert Peak – 13,442

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Tahoe Rim Trail 100 – NV

July 19-20, 2008

I made a return trip to run the Tahoe Rim Trail 100.   Back in 2006, this was my 4th 100-mile finish.  This year I had my sights set higher, hoping for my 18th 100-mile finish and to do it in less than 25 hours.

This beautiful course is laid out on state park and state forest land, climbing ridges overlooking beautiful Lake Tahoe and various reservoirs.  The surface is mostly very runnable, soft single track.  There is about 19,500 feet of climbs, aided by many switchbacks.  Most of the course runs between 7,000-9,000 feet elevation.   The race website says, “This event is run in some of the high elevation alpine and sub-alpine regions of the magnificent Sierra Nevada Mountains. It begins and ends at the Spooner Lake State Park, which is at 7,000 feet. The highest point on both courses is just below the 9,214 foot Snow Valley Peak (which also provides one of the best views on the course). The low point on both courses is at the bottom of the now “infamous” Red House Loop (A Taste of Hell) at approximately 6800 feet.”

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