I am now (finally) officially an ultra-marathoner! Despite sub-freezing weather, not a bad rookie effort: 25th place out of 180 runners for the Bandera 50K Trail Race marketed as “A trail run of rugged and brutal beauty where everything cuts, stings, or bites.”
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Lisa Yates Way to go, Mike! That is amazing. You should be proud.January 11, 2010 at 3:22pm · Like -
Mark Warren Congrats!January 11, 2010 at 3:23pm · Like -
Nathan Culver Mad-man! Congrats…..January 11, 2010 at 3:36pm · Like -
Amy Sage Boyd Wow!!January 11, 2010 at 4:58pm · Like -
Ron Cluckey Congrats!! Mike. I am really proud of the goals that you set and reach at such an amazing pace.You set yourself up as a role model for others even thou I know that is not your intention.Keep doing your thing you set wonderful goals for you and all that are close to you.January 11, 2010 at 5:36pm · Like -
John D. Gisi Good job, MikeJanuary 12, 2010 at 6:09pm · Like -
Regina Chopp was scott jurek there? we kind of have a crush on him 🙂 (and, of course, congrats!)January 22, 2010 at 10:59pm · Like
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Be it resolved: in 2010 I will set new running PRs for the following distances: 1M, 5K, 5M, 10K, 10M, 13.1M, 26.2M, 50K, 50M. So it is written, so it will be done. (Such proclamations, at least in my experience, can often be attributed to rapid ingestion of chocolate espresso beans.)
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Farrah Guice Oh yes – those espresso beans can get you all wired up! Note to self: Farrah to not have espresso beans in her office.January 5, 2010 at 6:53pm · Like
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Alison Smith Randall Um, 50M? This distance will require family discussions. And lots of espresso beans.January 5, 2010 at 11:41pm · Like -
Jason Randall 50 meters sounds very do-able!January 6, 2010 at 9:07pm · Like
Coming into Vail after running for a couple of hours with some really good guys who helped us push the pace. See me in front? Dumb move – I sure paid for it on the final day…
“Oh, look at me, I still have SO much energy after running for 5 hours. Good thing there’s only one day left! How bad can it be? Surely it is a good idea to show off for Sagan.”
Never showered in a truck after running for 4 days? You really are missing out.
Snoozing with Sagan. Yeah, he’s in the photo…
Most of our daily finishing spots were kind of in the middle of nowhere, but in a good way. Making it in each day was part of the adventure, with each new camp bringing its own little surprises. The whole feel of it was sort of like following Phish on summer tour, with slightly more inflammation, a bit more running, and better-smelling attendees.
We had to look at this sort of stuff all week…
It wasn’t all running. Really. The longest day was about 25 miles, the shortest a mere 10 and change (though that stage included a 3000 ft climb to about 14,000 ft). I think we ranged from about 2.5-5 hours of daily running, meaning that even with ample sleep there was time to spend with family, new friends, and our thoughts.
Our stay in Leadville was especially nice, since it was the closest thing to a “real” town in the first few days. At over 10,000 ft, Leadville is rough and rugged, with wild weather swings and hard scrabble people. But, it also has a quaintness about it and a downtown that feels ultra-American but somehow from a different era.
Stiff-legged with a lot of running ahead, I was really happy to be able to spend some quality time with Sagan…
We indulged by staying in a high-end luxury resort along the way, mostly because I was longing for a different place to sleep fully clothed (still rehabbing that broken pinkie)…
This was in Vicksburg our first night, I think. The places, though all stunning and unique, are sort of a jumbled mess when trying to remember what was where and when was what. Lots of tents and forest and mountain and running. All fantastic but a blur now. There were at least a handful of miles that, at the time, I wouldn’t have minded going by a little faster.
It got down into the 30s by mornings but I have to say I slept well even without a pillow-top bed.
Trying to capture all the emotion and excitement and anxiety of the TransRockies is, given my limited vocabulary and time, not possible. But, I can at least put up some pictures. The event/race took place from August 23-28, 2009 and I ran the whole thing – all 113+ miles – basically side-by-side with Andres Capra. We suffered and laughed and had good days and bad days. Ultimately, we finished 41st out of 133 starting teams of 2. Pretty good for two guys who were, by any standard, some of the least experienced and least accomplished in the entire field.
At the start, Day 1 (this may have been the least scenic part, to give you some idea of how bad-ass the trip was):
I think I may have been literally the only one of the 266 who hadn’t, up until that point, at least run an ultra-marathon, Ironman, or other multi-day event. We’re off, roughly 1 minute into 6 days of running…
Out for a long run around Lake Georgetown with Andres, we had trouble from the start. Trouble finding the lake at all leading to a late start, then trouble finding and staying on the ridiculously overgrown trail, and trouble dealing with the triple-digit temps and high humidity. This was one of our longest runs planned in the TransRockies build-up and, despite all the difficulties, we were enjoying the day. We made it to the opposite end of the lake in less-than-stellar time but were happy to refuel from the coolers we had dropped there hours earlier.
13, maybe 14 miles into the run and we were on our way back to complete the expected 26 or 27 mile long run. For the next hour or so we were hurting a bit but still having mostly fun, chatting about genital chaffing and debating his level of Mexican-ness. Then things went a bit off-course. Yes, we literally went off-course and struggled to find anything approximating the scheduled route.
But, at about 24 miles in, with me running a few yards in front, I ducked under a thick tree branch that went over the trail. At least I though I did, until I looked up from my back, hearing nothing but Andres’ laughing. I didn’t feel hurt but it was, without question, the hardest hit I’ve ever taken to my head. You see, the branch – more like a limb, with a diameter of at least 6 inches – was about 5’5″ from the ground. Running full speed on a bit of a downhill I ran up to it and ducked, where the top of my head was at about 5’6″ from the ground. The math just didn’t work in my favor and, BOOM, bad news.
One of the contributing factors was the wide brimmed hat that, while great at shading face and neck from the brutal sun, also (apparently) obscures vision. It did, however, give me about 2 millimeters of cushioning, as well as a bit of continuous compression on what we quickly realized was a melon-busting impact. But, in spite of ourselves, we were still having fun. That is, a couple of miles later we realized we were not on the trail we intended and we were still unknown miles from the end. That’s when it started getting a little scary, as we both found our Camelbaks completely dry (we found out later that I had sucked so hard on mine that it crumpled into a wrinkled pile at the bottom of my backpack). Both of us were tired and dealing with not-insignificant dehydration after 6 hours of running in the blazing sun. My head injury wasn’t helping but it wasn’t the biggest concern at the time.
Getting desperate, we drank the warm, dirty water from the bottom of a bag of grapes we had eaten hours before. We were really getting near a danger zone and we both knew it – I was, um, losing “mental acuity” and Andres was just enough stronger to be worried about getting us both back. Without any idea where the intended trail was, we found our way out to the road and were able to hitch a ride with a kind, 100%-Texan, truck-driving man, who got us back to our starting point. While in the truck both of my hamstrings cramped into tight little balls and I used what mental strength I had left not to cry out loud. Once back to our vehicles we downed about a gallon of Gatorade in maybe 2 minutes, cooled off, and celebrated our own greatness. We tallied about 29 miles, which was a lot for us but no distance record. It was the conditions that did us – well, at least me – in on the run but we’re determined to get back out there to run it right, and in a lot less than 6.5 hours.
Oh, then I got to go to the emergency room, again. The third time less than 7 months, all from injuries incurred on the beautiful trails of central Texas.
Nothing a handful of staples won’t fix:
Kind of Like Fun 