Due to a variety of injuries, I haven't actually run on a trail outside the city limits since August! Finally made it up to Capitol forest for some trail work and fat ass recon. John, Kris, and I showed up at the "Y" for the monthly Friends of Capitol Forest work party. I tried out the new trail mower machine, this beast is like an overgrown rototiller with a three foot wide muncher bar on the front. It is diesel powered and totally destroys anything in its path! Can't wait to haul it up to the ridge on greenline and destroy some salmon berry bushes. After an hour and half, I was pooped, wrestling that monster through undulating patches of salal next to the new "Y" parking lot. It started snowing and we were itching to head up to the mountain to check out the last section of the upcoming fat ass. The plan was for John to drop Kris and I off on C line by the greenline crossing, and we would head up the road, catch trail 50 then head down Mima Porter to Fall Creek. John was to park a Fall Creek and hike up Mima Porter till he met us. It was snowing pretty good and the road was totally covered as Kris and I climbed the first couple of miles. Once we hit the trail and started heading down, it was great run in a winter wonderland! The trail was in good shape for the fat ass, the mountain bikers had fixed the deep ruts. We met John near the bottom and back tracked a little so John could see the trail work. The event of the day happened further down the trail where John showed us a fresh cougar track. As we crouched down to examine the print and the deer print next to it, suddenly Kris yelled "bike!" in our periferal vision there was a yellow blur almost upon us and John jumped and let out a yell which made me jump also! Of course it wasn't a cougar, but a mountain biker, but he gave all of us a good scare! It was great being back up on the mountain, I'm starting to get over the injury hump.

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After a successful season riddled with injuries, I had to take a month off after Waldo to recover from a shin splint and then, just as I was planning to start up with training again, I caught a bad cold! Finally, the second weekend in October, I'm running again. A couple of 6 mile runs around the lake was enough to prove how out of shape and slow I am. The immediate plan is to ramp up some road mileage to see if I can be ready to run the Seattle Marathon and qualify for Boston. I'm going to work on some strength training and play some tennis to work on my lack of bounce and lateral movement. The ultimate goal is to get back in shape to attack Orcas Island 50K in Feb.

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After DNFing Waldo last year, I've been really looking forward to attacking this beast of a run again. Unfortunately, I spent half my summer injured and I wasn't sure till the White River 50miler if I was in good enough shape. Rode down with Kris who finished last year and we had a spaghetti diner at the Willamette Ski Lodge and listened to Chris Thornley's pre race instructions then I sacked out in my tent right by the start/finish. Woke up at 2am feeling ready, got to the start line for the 3am early start with 30 others. I hiked up the first section with Todd Temple, he's faster than me but had also been injured so we both took it easy. On the downhill, we slowly pulled away from the rest, blew through the Gold lake aid station and started climbing. I let Todd go, but by the time I got to Fuji Mtn. aid station, I was in 4th place. It was 5:45 in the morning and there at 6,500 ft aid station was John Pearch in a grass skirt! I wish I had a camera there. The climb to the top was comfortable and the sunrise view at the top was fantastic. On the way to Mt Ray aid station, I passed Pete "Hippo" and left the aid station in 3rd place out of the early starters. Even though I'm a solid mid packer, I suddenly felt like I was racing and with Hippo in tow took off with renewed vigor. About halfway to the Twins aid station at around 23miles, some hiker moved the trail markings right after Todd passed through the junction and sent me and Hippo the wrong way. I was happily cruising down the trail for another 30 min. when the terrain didn't seem right. We stopped at a junction with more flagging heading downhill when the normal start, first place runner went blowing by down the trail, so off we went. We then hit another junction and ended up on the Gold Lk trail at a stream crossing I recognized. Holy Crap! we were way far away from the Twins. Fortunatly, I felt great and had plenty of time to finish and get that dam hat, so off we went back tracking. We arrived at the Twins aid station about 1.5 hrs late. I ran an extra 6 miles and went from 64th place overall to 90th(out of 100). I felt good but had lost my spunk. I decided to rest at Carlton Lk aid station, where I dropped last year, and get my head back in the game. At Carlton Lk, I got a blister taped up, had a shot of beer from Clem's keg, (I heard I was the only runner that had one), fueled up and took off into the great unknown. I ran mostly by myself for the next 3 hours, walking the ups and cruising the downs, saving energy for the Maiden Peak climb. At the Maiden Peak aid station, I met Hippo again and Kent Holder. I hiked up Maiden just like I did Suntop at White River, steady and energetic. I actually passed those two on the way up, I never pass runners on a hike! I felt great at the top of Maiden and the view was fantastic. I headed down to the Maiden Lk aid station knowing I had the finish and a hat in the bag. However, on the last 7 mile section, I developed a shin splint on my right leg and couldn't run more than a few steps at a time. So I walked around the lakes, enjoying the views, but got concerned about the darkness. Didn't want to finish with a headlamp, so I jogged in and was greeted by Kris and John at the finish and got my Hat! I felt great but hated finishing so late, most runners had gone home, it was dark and cold, and I had to jump into my sleeping bag to stave off hypothermia. Though I was disappointed about the detour, the race was so well done, the aid stations were incredible, and I felt comfortable the whole distance. I feel if I pay attention, I can easily do it under 16 hours next year.

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Had a successful White River 50, did terrible first half, but recovered and ran a great second half, proving my motto "It doesn't always get worse!". We started friday nite with a Pasta feed at the Snorting Elk at Crystal Mountain, with RD Scott McCoubrey standing there with a crutch, high on pain pills, doing a great job describing the race. The morning weather was great for the start, sunny and cool. I started near the back, my plan was to start out slow. I ran along the single track trail in a pack at a very comfortable pace except for the woman behind me who was so excited, she kept running up alongside me even though there was no room on the trail. The first climb is steep and as usual, everyone started passing me on the hike up. With 5 more miles to Corral Pass, I was feeling down, must only be 10 runners behind me. This section was an out and back, It was great to see all the runners coming back, James let out a holler and was cruising comfortably, but on the way back, I didn't see very many runners :( However, I did figure out I wasn't eating my gels, so I fueled up and started picking up the pace. The last leg of the first loop was a 4.5mile downhill. I now felt great and started passing runners until I tripped over a rock, knocking myself over the steep bank until my left leg got stuck inside the end of a rotton stump. I hurt alittle all over, but the real pain was my left calf cramping. I crawled back up to the trail and noticed I lost one of my handheld bottles. A couple of runners came by and helped me look for my bottle, but it was long gone. I ran well down to the start/finish aid station where John thankfully ran to his car to get me another hand held(I did worry about cooties), which was critical for the next climb. I started the climb to Sun Top full of energy and started passing more runners. Just before the summit, Glen was there taking pictures and this time I was really running! I felt good on the 5mile downhill on the gravel road and continued to pass more runners. At the last aid station, I thought I might be able to finish under 11 hours. But the last 6 miles was gnarly and rooty and it took me 15 minutes longer to reach the finish line. I was very happy with my run even though it took so long. The best part, I ran the second loop almost an hour faster than the first loop and no one passed me until the last 100 yards. Now I feel ready for Waldo!

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Kris and I had a great 2 1/2 hr run today up at the Capitol Forest. We parked at where Greenline crosses C-line up to Capitol Peak. But started our run up the C-line road until we caught #50 and droped down to Mima Porter to Wedekind. It was wet but not raining and the temp was just right. From Wedekind we headed up Greenline along the ridge to the Capitol Peak junction. The trail was terribly overgrown and not runnable! It will only get worse when the sun comes out again. We got all scratched up and it was slow going. Reminds me of a 50miler I once did... The Greenline trail from the peak back down to the road is still in good shape, the mountain biker's been working on it, probably the only trail that is runnable in Capitol forest! However, prepare yourself for a shock, the section between the Fall Creek bridge and the C-line crossing was just clear cut! The trail is still intack, but they haven't yarded out the trees yet. We had a very enjoyable run and I think we're both ready for our 50 milers next weekend.

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The second White River training run this Sunday was much better than the first. Dan and I drove up to Skookum Flats for a 25 mile run up to Sun Top Mountain and back. The weather was great as we started out with a 6 mile jaunt along the river with lots of undulations and roots. This was the last section of the 50 miler, doesn't look like alot of fun to stumble through this at the end of the race. As before, I couldn't quite keep up with the main group, and after 4 miles, Dan and I were on our own. I gave Dan the car keys, I figured he'd easily beat me on the climb. He stopped to get a drink, and I continued on, meeting up with a group of 4 that I hung with till we got to the confusing part by the airport. We lost the trail and meandered around until we found ourselves in shouting distance from Scott and his van. There Scott told me he heard that Dan took a wrong turn and he would go back and look for him. The climb up Sun Top was easier than last week's, but more exposed to the sun. I drank alot and sweated alot and hiked most of the climb. I was slow, but I felt much better than last week. Just before the summit, there was Glen with his camera, so we staged a good shot, looks like I'm charging up the hill, but it was just for show. I mostly just slogged up the steep trail. Unfortunatley, low clouds obscured what should have been a fantastic view of Rainier, but it also cooled the temp down. The last 6 miles was a gradual decline down a gravel road. I just cruised down at a good pace and felt great that I could keep an even pace the whole way without stopping. At the bottom, Dan was at the car, he had turned around and had a good 13 mile run with a side trip to some falls. What a great day, finished under 5 hours,no pains, slow but consistant. Would like to have some more time to train for White River, but I know now that I can run it, I will be slow, but after all, it's just another training run for Waldo!

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After spending a week in Idaho at Tamarack Resort, doing some hiking up ski runs, with no pain in my heel, it's time to get back running again. So today I joined the Seattle Running company training group for a 23 mile run on the White River 50 mile course. I showed up with two water bottles and a full bladder in my pack. Come to find out, Scott was going to have a water aid station at mile 14 at Corral Pass, but I wasn't thinking and left my heavy bladder in my pack. We started out with a good slow pace, I stayed in the back, cause most of these people were fast. After a nice 3 mile warm up, I soon got left behind when we started the hike uphill. I'm a normaly slow hiker, but with my weak ankle, I was even slower!. I ended up hiking by myself, taking it easy so I wouldn't injure myself again. I found as I went along, that I was favoring my ankle and couldn't get any sort of gait going on the uphill runable sections. I started getting frustrated and tired and decided to shorten the run at the turn off to the trail down the mountain. I had gone a little over 10 miles with about 2,500 ft of elevation gain, but it took over 2 hrs. So I hung a right on the 4 mile downhill, should be fun! But I couldn't run downhill very well either. So I ended up jogging/stumbling/walking the downhill to the parking lot. I did accomplish my two main goals, preview the course and don't re-injure myself. But I felt way out of shape. So I got a lot of catching up to do, but at least I'm officially started.

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