Monday, September 29, 2008

The question?

If Kurt's Big Fat ASS (TM) falls in the woods and nobody is around does it make a sound.

Flat Rock 25k RR....

The Flat Rock 25k/50k is billed as one of the hardest trail runs in the country. They base that statement on results of other races blah blah blah...they rank it as 4th hardest.

I don't know about all that but I will say this it was fucking hard really really fucking hard. After leaving the 1/2 mile of road that starts and finishes the race you are either running up or down...and you are ALWAYS running on rocks. Rocks fucking rocks on top of fucking rocks. There are so many fucking rocks I dreamed about fucking rocks last night. My feet feel like they have been beat with a ball peen hammer. My right thumb is bruised and torn from tip to the wrist and the x-rays say my shoulder is just so other than that I am just fine.

I did a 10-15 min warm up to see if I can keep my calves from blowing up in the first mile which is basically up hill on rocks.

We start off and I actually feel pretty good Shelley goes with the lead men and we make the first 1/2 pretty quick. Once in the woods it is straight up over the rocks. My calves were okay but I wasn't pushing the point with them so I settled in and made my way to the top of the ridge. I was hanging out in the top 10-15 and I was feeling kind of good about my chances to get a top 10 (36 starters I believe). The trail is beautiful as it follows the shore line of Elk Lake. I really like the trail even though it was seriously hacking at my will to live. I was making fair time...took a break to pee and got passed about a 1/2 dozen people. Then I get the fucking choo choo man behind me. Holy SHIT this dude ran like a fucking steam engine...huff puff huff puff...I was thinking about just kicking his ass off a Cliff but decided to let him go in front at the first aid station.

The lead runner comes by going the other way then second...now I am looking for Shelley in hopes she is leading at doing well. I see the 4th place male then Shelley she is looking great and has about a 10 minute lead over second. I figure I am in about 15th or so at the turn and I am feeling awesome so I pass a couple and head for home.

Just like my race a couple weeks ago my calves/Achilles start feeling much better at about 1:30 on the clock. I hit the turn about 1:41.

I was ready to go hunting...I get through the only open section I had seen all day and back to the woods...them BLAM-O FUCK THAT hurt! My right hand is bleeding like a MO-FO and I am trying to feel to see if my collarbone is still intact. I believe it is but my shoulder and hand hurt like a mother. Oh, and yes when my BFA falls in the woods it makes a lot of noise...mostly in the form of...........OH FUCK THAT HURT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I never really recovered from the fall. I was able to sling my arm in my camlebak strap and I just sort of hobbled back in. I was like 18 out 36 starts and had a crap time of 3:50 and change.

This course is freaking hard but fun...

Shelley won the woman's side and was 3rd overall. She set a new course record by like 2 minutes...she is on a roll!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

How?

I am about as sick of this election shit as I can get. I have had a few friends ask my opinion then get seriously offended when I gave it. I guess all in all I am an anarchist. I don't what the govt. fucking with me about anything. If I want a hooker, leave me the fuck alone, if I want to smoke pot, leave me the fuck alone, if I want an abortion, leave me the fuck alone. Obviously all of these things can be hurtful to society but won't society correct those things all by themselves? Why does the govt. have any say so in it at all?

My biggest question right now is how can a person who is a professed "Christian" reconcile arming themselves? I have a friend who is born again and seriously the only thing they love more than Christ is their gun. That is just hard for me to understand. What happened to love thy neighbor, meek shall inherit the earth, turn the other cheek.

I guess it was bound to happen

Tues was crit night and for the first time this season I just didn't feel good and felt toasted. I guess the long runs over the weekend caught up with me. I raced the C's and was third but I really didn't race that well. I stayed out of the wind most of the time and when it came time for the sprint my legs were just toast.

I lined up at the back of the B's but since it is getting darker earlier they combined the A's and B's. We took off like someone stuck a rocket up our ass. My legs were fucking screaming. I knew I had to move up or get popped being the yo-yo. I would get up a couple people then get blown off the back...after about 20 min I just pulled out. I was spent. So I was/am pretty dissapointed. I gues I shouldn't be as I am only one of a couple that do two races a night. I did feel better seening all the other people who got blown up.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Weekend Trip to Mt. Magazine and Devils Den in AR

Great running this weekend in Ark. I am still worried I am not getting enough real long runs in. I think my longest has been like 3:30. With the 50k coming in a month I need to get at least two longer than 5 hours. We'll see how it goes.

Saturdays run was on the Cove Lake trail to a fire road down at the bottom of Mt. Magazine. You lose like 1700 feet in 3 miles...which means you gain it coming back which we did but on the road (309) it was actually 5 miles all up hill.

I helped this little guy off the road. He was pissed and scared the shit out of Shelley. Check the rattles there are 16 of them he was an old buy and really beautiful.


Soaking the feet during a long run



Shelley loves butterflies. They are every where


Waterfalls all over the place.


Vew from the top! It is awesome


Shelley and I at the top!

Great weekend we spent Sunday running at Devils Den.

Crit night tonight

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Sometime Two Is Not A Good Thing

Tuesday night crits and the fun that is max heart rate. I hit 182...my max=175

After not being able to race the crits the past two weeks I was really jazzed to get to the race. The weather was perfect except for a little wind in the back straight of the dreaded "horseshoe" course set up. I figured I would race the C's and the B's since I was so stoked to race. The plan was to race the C's fairly easy and not work then race hard in the B.

We get the call to the line and I take the front middle. I usually stay back but thought what the fuck. We get the whistle and of course everyone lines up behind me. So I decide then and there that this is going to be attack day. We make one lap and I go. Get a small gap then sit up…let a dude pull through…go again…..nose in the wind….sit up….go again…I have a friend in the pack who is a strong female cat 3 and we work together so we start taking turns attacking and holding the pack back…some dickweed keeps sitting in every time we get a gap so she starts giving him crap. I am laughing my ass off as she says "dude, f**king work a little so we can stay away" poor dude just looks at her like she is nuts…then she goes again. It was a blast but we were working very hard playing off the front. The guy the Lauren bitched at would get up front and start doing Kevin Costner American flyer shake and break moves…we looked at each other and said WTF is that all about. I just needed to hear Alexandra Paul yell "WHEEL SUCKER" and the picture would have been set.

We get 5 to go and crazy Ivan goes off the front. He does this every single race…so I jump behind him and American Flyer guy is on my wheel, followed by Lauren. The only person missing was Oregon Duck guy who won last week. I was keeping my eye out for him figuring he would jump. I sit in behind Crazy Ivan and fake a couple of attacks to see if Duck guy would come forward but he didn't take the bait. We were driving hard and had the field in a line. We get the bell I am second wheel, with American Flyer is there and Lauren has slipped back a few spots with Duck guy on her wheel. Just before the head wind section I hear Lauren yell GO! I knew the Duck guy was going. I catch his wheel as we turn into the wind and he is behind crazy Ivan…we hit the short turn section and I am third wheel…I finally am set up for the sprint…we hit the last turn and I get ready to go inside to sprint for the win…but American Flyer guy fucking dives into my line…I pull around and go to the outside around Duck guy and Ivan…fuckstick American Flyer takes the short side and I couldn't get in front of him at the line so I take second. Lauren beats Duck guy for third in the sprint.

Man it was fun controlling the race. I just wish I could have finished it off.

Now the second part.

I literally had about 1 minute to get to the line for the B race. The plan was to tailgate and move up after I recovered a bit. Some dude in the race is an ex-euro pro who rode the Giro back in the day. So of course we get the gun and everyone had to pull it out to prove how big theirs is and we are flying from the gun. I am in the back 5 or 6 which is fine but we are riding like a Duncan yo yo. The pace gets reasonable and I try to move up. I get mid pack and things get nuts again. I am back in the back…this goes on for the whole race…I am about to pull the plug but I see the 5 to go sign and decide to see if I can hang on…we get the bell and I said screw it and go hard trying to move to the front then I swear it was like I got unplugged. You could have heard the pop and I was done…I got on back and cruised in the last 1/3 of a lap eating bar tape. Man it was good but it was so freaking hard.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Hello Darkness My Old Friend

FUCK MY LEGS ARE GONE...was all I could think about for the first hour and a half of yesterdays Turkey and TATURS trail race...I was running the 25k and LMS was running the 50k.

With Ike pissing rain like it was Noah's day it was shaping up to be a mud hole. I predicted no rain and sunny on Sunday and I nailed. The day dawn beautifully. We had spent Sat. marking the trail and doing a little clean up. I was really looking forward to a nice long run. My legs have been trashed from all the training I have been doing and this was the standard no taper taper for the run...shit it is only 25k anyway.

The Turkey Mountain course is basically roots and rocks on top of roots and rocks...with short steep climbs with some roots and rocks. In other words dump 3 inches of rain on some roots and rocks and you pretty much have the course.

Shelley got started before first light and her little headlamp bounded into the distance. We got lined up and I hadn't warmed up at all. I figured the first few miles of trail would be packed and have us walking so I would get my legs warmed up fine. I have been having issues at the start of my runs and my calves Achilles just lock/cramp/fucking explode.

We hit the first up and it was as if I was getting hit in the Achilles by a pissed of midget with a baseball bat...I knew I was fucked. OH man it hurt. I could almost run the flats but if the ground went up I was hosed. I was reduced to a walk almost from the start. Man, I got depressed as a motherfucker. Like a dip shit I kept trying and trying but my calves heals just wouldn't let go. I was sick to my stomach it hurt so bad...after about 1:20 it just sort of got better like all of a sudden. My spirits were immediately lifted. I thought just cruise it until 2 hours and if you still feel good run as hard as you can for an hour and see what happens.

Around 1:55 I see our friend Dee on a lower trail, I decided to take off to see if I can catch her...I pass my friend Bob and hit the switch back to the trail I saw Dee on...there is a log across the trail I do by best hurdle catching my toe on it of course and splat...yard sale on the trail...dumbass...I hop back up and catch Dee...we chat briefly and I am now on a mission.

One thing about sucking as a runner you have to take what you can get...I decided that I would not be passed in the last 1 hour plus to the finish line and I was going to pick off at least 10 people on the way home...

I was running like I was shot out of a cannon. The big hill or wall on the course is called lip buster cause someone fell face first on it thus splitting their lip...I saw 5 or sicks people starting the hill...I knew I could catch a bunch if I hauled...2 down 8 to go. I got to the top of lip buster and there were 3 more dudes just starting down the long decent to pipeline...I was on them in about a 1/4 mile...5 down. Feeling like I was flying...hit a few switch backs and get a couple more...7 down...came around a blind corner and saw a group of 5...see ya later...12...I had less than a couple miles to go and I see Shelley heading out for her second loop and she was IN FRONT and smiling! I was so proud to see her in the lead and cruising. I see the second place female about 5 minutes later. I was hoping Shelley could keep it together and not let her sneak up. I wind up catch 5 or 6 more before the finish which was a 3:21 suck time but man the last half was so awesome.

I started my re hydration process with beer and sit around waiting on LMS to make the turn home...A few of the men's 50k guys are coming in..the first guy won by about 30 min. then second then a couple more...then SHELLEY! She was 10th OA and 1st Female! Second would not come in for another 36 minutes.

Great day on the trails!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Shit!

Man, where has the time gone. It has been two weeks since my last stream of shit here.

Lots has been going on. Doing some big runs, racing the crits, getting ready for a 25k tomorrow.

Work has been a huge PIA due to this being budget time. I won a couple battles last week with the bean counters which is always fun.

OK I have to get on my trainer for a little while. I will post up some pic's from our camping trip to Arkansas from a couple weeks ago.