Back out again for an hour last night and still no pain. Three days in a row now on my feet.
Starting to look at a few things in November as a gentle return to longer running, a few marathons and Gatliff 50km again. Trying to resist the temptation of entering anything before hand is hard.
I finally managed to get my Garmin working again and had a scroll through some of my logs from Leadville.
This is the climb from the bottom of Hope Pass inbound over the top of the pass and down into Hopeless Aid Station, miles 52 - 55.5. This was absolutely the hardest section of the course but I guess 30 minute miles tells the story http://connect.garmin.com/activity/116404274
Friday, 23 September 2011
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Slowly but Surely
Tonight I finally landed back on my feet. I am not going to get carried away and claim that I am 100% fit but it was awesome to be out the door and not in pain for the first time since February 5th.
I said I was going to enforce a lay off after Leadville and I did. Even after I had decided I was ok to resume running, I gave it another 10 days and fingers crossed it feels like it's helped.
Where we live now in Gustard Wood, North Hertfordshire, we are out of reach of shops, restaurants, people, even roads. There is a local pub but you need a headtorch to get there after dark (which I quite like).
All this plus we actually live ON a trail. It is almost too much to take in right now after living in London for 9 years, that I can turn right or left out of the front door and be on trails. Anyway I ran an hour tonight, just an easy tempo hour through fields, woodland trails and back country roads and in all that time saw 1 person and zero cars. I don't care what anybody says, that is pretty great. The trails aren't exactly going to scare mountain runners away but there are some lumps and bumps so all in all it blows running round Battersea Park out of the water (I still love you Battersea).
I decided to change it up a little on the gear front so I bought a pair of NB Minimus and some drymax socks and it feels great. I think road running in the Minimus is a disaster waiting to happen, but for shorter runs on springy grass and woodland trail man do they feel fast. They should do at 6oz.
I am going to go the other way too and buy a pair of Hoka's. With all my injury problems this year it makes sense to me to have a pair of shoes that offer the maximum protection from the kind of injuries I have sustained. That and the old faithful Asics GT's and I'm good to go.
Ready to launch the North Downs Way 2012 races this weekend which I am excited about. It's great having the experience of the first race under our belts, so much to improve upon with just a few tweaks here and there - nothing major. I am looking at point to point for the 100 mile runners though.... I think the journey makes a lot more sense that way.
The South Downs Way Race is a few weeks behind it, we still need to do some recce-ing down on the course before we can launch it but we'll be good to go inside October too for next years edition of the pre-existing race. Good times.
I said I was going to enforce a lay off after Leadville and I did. Even after I had decided I was ok to resume running, I gave it another 10 days and fingers crossed it feels like it's helped.
Where we live now in Gustard Wood, North Hertfordshire, we are out of reach of shops, restaurants, people, even roads. There is a local pub but you need a headtorch to get there after dark (which I quite like).
All this plus we actually live ON a trail. It is almost too much to take in right now after living in London for 9 years, that I can turn right or left out of the front door and be on trails. Anyway I ran an hour tonight, just an easy tempo hour through fields, woodland trails and back country roads and in all that time saw 1 person and zero cars. I don't care what anybody says, that is pretty great. The trails aren't exactly going to scare mountain runners away but there are some lumps and bumps so all in all it blows running round Battersea Park out of the water (I still love you Battersea).
I decided to change it up a little on the gear front so I bought a pair of NB Minimus and some drymax socks and it feels great. I think road running in the Minimus is a disaster waiting to happen, but for shorter runs on springy grass and woodland trail man do they feel fast. They should do at 6oz.
I am going to go the other way too and buy a pair of Hoka's. With all my injury problems this year it makes sense to me to have a pair of shoes that offer the maximum protection from the kind of injuries I have sustained. That and the old faithful Asics GT's and I'm good to go.
Ready to launch the North Downs Way 2012 races this weekend which I am excited about. It's great having the experience of the first race under our belts, so much to improve upon with just a few tweaks here and there - nothing major. I am looking at point to point for the 100 mile runners though.... I think the journey makes a lot more sense that way.
The South Downs Way Race is a few weeks behind it, we still need to do some recce-ing down on the course before we can launch it but we'll be good to go inside October too for next years edition of the pre-existing race. Good times.
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Videos
A couple of things that have really got me excited recently.
Here is Jared Campbell previous Hardrock 100 winner running the most insane slope I think I've ever seen - the West Slabs of Olympus. Ryan Brown found this and sent it round after storming through Wasatch 100 with his wife Nicole who had a few weeks previous finished the NDW100. Awesome job from those guys.
This is a great video of this years UTMB in English, only the commentator manages to get pretty much everyone's name wrong. I think 'the Hornet' might catch on for Killian.
Anyway enjoy and happy running.
UTMB 2011 by Eurosport - in English by UltraTrailMontBlanc
Here is Jared Campbell previous Hardrock 100 winner running the most insane slope I think I've ever seen - the West Slabs of Olympus. Ryan Brown found this and sent it round after storming through Wasatch 100 with his wife Nicole who had a few weeks previous finished the NDW100. Awesome job from those guys.
This is a great video of this years UTMB in English, only the commentator manages to get pretty much everyone's name wrong. I think 'the Hornet' might catch on for Killian.
Anyway enjoy and happy running.
UTMB 2011 by Eurosport - in English by UltraTrailMontBlanc
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Return to Running
I haven't run a step yet since Leadville, I just wanted to give it a proper rest for a while and get some of the hunger back - and it's worked. That's 23 days without running which is the longest break I've ever taken (well since I gave up being fat anyway). My leg is pain free which is a good sign. I feel much stronger I have done for a long time. Having no massive races looming for which I am untrained and out of shape helps too.
Since returning from Colorado we have finally made our move out into the English countryside. It is a far cry from London, returning home each night via a 10 minute commute to total silence and most importantly, trails running right out of our front doorstep. That should make for some improved running, in time. I am going to just turn the legs over a little later tonight and see how my shin feels. If it all goes to plan I am still going to take the rest of the week off completely and start very slowly again from next week. My aim is to build up more slowly and steadily than I ever have done before and regain some strength for the start of 2012. I have entries left in races for this year which got mailed months and months ago (Round Rotherham 50, CCER 50, Luton Marathon) so I might pick one or two of them but otherwise I'm going to take a back seat until fatass.
The problem with having more time from less running is that I end up spending more and more time looking at races for next year. Im trying so hard to hold back but.....
Centurion Stuff is extremely time consuming right now as we go through trying to finalise the aid station positions for the Thames Path 100 in March, relaunch the North Downs Way 50/100 for August 2012 and decide on a final date for South Downs Way 100 2012. I've been lucky enough this past week to meet with Dick Kearn (GUCR/ Thames Ring/ Compton) and Henk Van Der Beek (Caesars Camp) to go over some plans for the future. There is no substitute for experience and it is a huge benefit to me to have their ear for our plans in 2012.
I had to shut the waitlist for the Thames Path yesterday when we had filled the available places and had a waiting list of 50 behind them. I can't quite get my head around it but it is so great to see. This sport is certainly growing fast....
Here is a pretty well shot video of Ryan Sandes' winning run at Leadville. Gives an idea of the terrain and just how strength sapping some of the climbs are, particularly when he nears the end
Since returning from Colorado we have finally made our move out into the English countryside. It is a far cry from London, returning home each night via a 10 minute commute to total silence and most importantly, trails running right out of our front doorstep. That should make for some improved running, in time. I am going to just turn the legs over a little later tonight and see how my shin feels. If it all goes to plan I am still going to take the rest of the week off completely and start very slowly again from next week. My aim is to build up more slowly and steadily than I ever have done before and regain some strength for the start of 2012. I have entries left in races for this year which got mailed months and months ago (Round Rotherham 50, CCER 50, Luton Marathon) so I might pick one or two of them but otherwise I'm going to take a back seat until fatass.
The problem with having more time from less running is that I end up spending more and more time looking at races for next year. Im trying so hard to hold back but.....
Centurion Stuff is extremely time consuming right now as we go through trying to finalise the aid station positions for the Thames Path 100 in March, relaunch the North Downs Way 50/100 for August 2012 and decide on a final date for South Downs Way 100 2012. I've been lucky enough this past week to meet with Dick Kearn (GUCR/ Thames Ring/ Compton) and Henk Van Der Beek (Caesars Camp) to go over some plans for the future. There is no substitute for experience and it is a huge benefit to me to have their ear for our plans in 2012.
I had to shut the waitlist for the Thames Path yesterday when we had filled the available places and had a waiting list of 50 behind them. I can't quite get my head around it but it is so great to see. This sport is certainly growing fast....
Here is a pretty well shot video of Ryan Sandes' winning run at Leadville. Gives an idea of the terrain and just how strength sapping some of the climbs are, particularly when he nears the end
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
North Downs Way Report, Photos and Results
All of the above are now live at on our website
It feels good to finally close a chapter on our first race and move on with the plans for the next.
I have (what I think) are some pretty cool ideas for all 3 races next year and I'm looking forward to seeing what is possible whilst keeping the core values the same at all of the races.
A final word for my friend Hully who was badly burned in the Kimberleys during an RTP event last Friday. The incident has been posted all over Australian news but I don't think we've heard the whole story as yet. Hully had recently finished the NDW100 and had flown with me the following week to Leadville where he crewed me to my own 100 mile finish. Just a fortnight later he was off and running the RTP100 event when disaster struck and he was trapped in a gorge with 3 other competitors and an advancing bush fire. Having tried to out run it, they ended up scaling the side of the gorge to get out of the thick spinifex grass that was burning so quickly. In the end they couldn't escape far enough and were forced to run back THROUGH the fire to safety on the other side. Obviously the horrific burns that Hully and particularly the two girls he was with sustained, came about as a result of that. I'm not going to say any more for now other than that I am relieved that Hully is relatively ok. With burns to 20% of his body he will be in compression burn bandages for weeks if not months. The two girls were not so lucky and remain in a critical condition. All thoughts are with them and hoping that they pull through it.
It feels good to finally close a chapter on our first race and move on with the plans for the next.
I have (what I think) are some pretty cool ideas for all 3 races next year and I'm looking forward to seeing what is possible whilst keeping the core values the same at all of the races.
A final word for my friend Hully who was badly burned in the Kimberleys during an RTP event last Friday. The incident has been posted all over Australian news but I don't think we've heard the whole story as yet. Hully had recently finished the NDW100 and had flown with me the following week to Leadville where he crewed me to my own 100 mile finish. Just a fortnight later he was off and running the RTP100 event when disaster struck and he was trapped in a gorge with 3 other competitors and an advancing bush fire. Having tried to out run it, they ended up scaling the side of the gorge to get out of the thick spinifex grass that was burning so quickly. In the end they couldn't escape far enough and were forced to run back THROUGH the fire to safety on the other side. Obviously the horrific burns that Hully and particularly the two girls he was with sustained, came about as a result of that. I'm not going to say any more for now other than that I am relieved that Hully is relatively ok. With burns to 20% of his body he will be in compression burn bandages for weeks if not months. The two girls were not so lucky and remain in a critical condition. All thoughts are with them and hoping that they pull through it.
Monday, 5 September 2011
Year to Date: Some lessons learned
I have learned a lot this year. I always expected that it would take me a long time to understand the fundamentals of ultrarunning and the way the body reacts to it, but I am always surprised at how much more there is to get to grips with. My biggest learnings this year revolved around injury and illness pre/ during and post race. I hope anything I can share will help someone somewhere to avoid venturing down the same path.
I should add before I start that a lot of people have told me during and subsequent to events unfolding that I set myself up for a fall this year by entering too much in too short a space of time. I still disagree with this assessment. My race schedule was full but achievable on a healthy body - if 2011 were taken on 2010's training, I have no doubt I would be sitting here with 5 successful 100s and Comrades under my belt rather than a very mixed set of race results and 2 x DNS's.
I can see now that this year was a write off from even before Rocky Raccoon in Feb. During Badwater last year I pushed my body beyond it's natural limits for such an extended period of time that I didn't recover for a couple of months. Things just didn't feel right. Apart from the usual night sweats and general lack of sleep in the immediate aftermath of a massive race where your body is pushing the crap generated during it back out of you, I felt totally out of whack with my usual self. General symptoms included lethargy, lack of motivation to run, loss of appetite. The elation at finishing was tainted with a feeling of heavy fatigue. We went on holiday, came back and, as what now appears to me to be a blessing in disguise, UTMB got cancelled just a few hours in to the run. I didn't feel myself until late September and very quickly after on very little training, ran Caesars Camp 100 which is a pretty hard race. Once again I had a very bad time of it there with similar issues to Badwater (chaffing) and finished in a lengthy 27 hours.
What I realise now is that during Badwater I had stressed my muscles to the max but also my endocrine system. The endocrine system is the body's mechanism for producing hormones that help maintain normal bodily function. Recently a bit more has come to light about ultrarunning causing stress on the endocrine system and depletion of it is a by-product of massive training mileage or over stressing it during very long races. Reading the list of symptoms in articles like this and problems resulting from such stresses it has become obvious to me that I have been suffering the longer lasting after effects of over stressing my body over long periods of time. 18 - 20 marathons/ ultras in the first 6 months of 2010 left me feeling as strong and as fit as ever. Badwater totally wiped me out, Caesars Camp came at a time when I was just pulling myself back out of the hole I'd dug and I started training properly for Rocky Raccoon shortly after. Osteoperosis is one of the longer term symptoms of endocrine depletion. The diagnosis we finally reached regarding my two stress fractures pointed clearly to the fact that my body has not been generating bone properly for a long period of time. In short I have been putting little in for the level of output I am demanding of it - particularly in races.
So almost 14 months after Badwater 2010 I am only now able to properly rebuild. If I had stopped racing and training hard for a decent period of time I could have rebuilt a successful year in 2011, but I over shot my bodies ability to recover. As each year of my running career has passed I have taken on more racing and many of those are longer in both distance and duration. It is easy to look at somebody like Mike Wardian who races a large amount, never tapers, never heeds recovery too greatly and yet wins almost everything he enters from 5k to 135 miles - and think that it is normal to be able to achieve that. It isn't. My good friend David Snipes is another example. This year 'Sniper' will go on to complete 10 x 100 milers including the Last Great Race when he finishes at Wasatch next weekend. In between times he has raced a bunch of other ultras. The difference between the above 2 examples and somebody relatively new to ultras like me is purely and simply - experience. By experience I refer to two factors - knowing how your body responds during races and being able to manage it to finish as you started. More importantly your body's experience with handling physical stress, these guys having developed running over decades, not years and thereby equipping their systems with the ability to function better on the run.
None of this is scientific, in fact it's almost all my own personal conjecture and therefore could be deemed irrelevant but when you look at a lot of the fall out from UTMB this past weekend, arguably the last major race of the summer, some of my own experiences begin to crop up in others, be it elite or back of the pack runners. Many of the lead guys have spent the spring racing hard over 50 miles/ 100k, followed by mountain 100s (at least 1 or more), before taking on UTMB, a 100 miler which ended up having a total accumulated elevation change of 70,000 feet (source: Scott Jaime's altimeter). However good you feel coming in to a race and however well your training has gone, you cannot underestimate the longer term effects that the previous race/ races have had on your body. It isn't to say that everytime you back 100 or even 50 milers into one another you will find things starting to unravel as the race drags on, but eventually it is extremely likely it will catch up with you and a race like UTMB will take no prisoners.
Some of my advice following a hard year is this:
- Rest and recover for longer than you think you may need. When you have finished a long race (100 miles) and have experienced heavy training in the lead up to it, take it easy for at least 3 - 4 weeks post run. It is tempting to jump back on the horse and use the extra fitness to drive on harder and faster. There is no need to be sedate for that period of time but it is important to let, not just your muscles, but your endocrine and immune systems to recover properly.
- Give your injury every chance to heal. If you are injured in the lead up to the race, particularly with a stress fracture, and cannot run train, don't panic. If you are able to ride a bike and protect the injury whilst keeping your CV up you CAN get through the race in question. It will be a very long day and a tough one at that but if you can stay strong mentally then should your injury hold up, you will get there.
- Be realistic. If you are injured going in to a long day then don't schedule anything else for a while afterwards. The major problem you are going to have is that your muscles will not be used to running and your muscles which are out of practice will take a battering. You need to manage your hydration and nutrition even more carefully than normal during a race or you are likely to end up with muscle breakdown quickly, which can lead to rhabdomyolisis and in extreme cases - kidney failure. My own experience at Vermont was a steep learning curve. The breakdown of my muscles at Western States was severe leaving me largely immobile. Three weeks was not enough time for things to repair, meaning that as soon as I started running my muscular-skeleto system began collapsing even faster, releasing myoglobin into my blood stream and clogging up my kidneys. Dark urine and lower back pain (plus passing out if you really do it properly) are all symptoms to be aware of and however much a DNF hurt, with 43 additional miles to go in that condition it was highly likely I was headed for the ER. The race will be there next year, and the year after. There is no need to put yourself in hospital, however much others would encourage you to believe that it's unacceptable to drop unless you are hauled off the course in an ambulance (as a race director please heed this advice).
Some runners more experienced than I will rubbish some of what has been said here but if you train big miles, hard miles and race often, it is highly likely at some stage that you will fall off the horse. The only thing I can say is take it easy, pick and choose the races you want to do well at and focus on them 100% and you WILL get through them. This is a great sport and sometimes it is hard to look on but you KNOW when you should and shouldn't be joining in the fun yourself. Take your time and you will benefit in the long term.
I should add before I start that a lot of people have told me during and subsequent to events unfolding that I set myself up for a fall this year by entering too much in too short a space of time. I still disagree with this assessment. My race schedule was full but achievable on a healthy body - if 2011 were taken on 2010's training, I have no doubt I would be sitting here with 5 successful 100s and Comrades under my belt rather than a very mixed set of race results and 2 x DNS's.
I can see now that this year was a write off from even before Rocky Raccoon in Feb. During Badwater last year I pushed my body beyond it's natural limits for such an extended period of time that I didn't recover for a couple of months. Things just didn't feel right. Apart from the usual night sweats and general lack of sleep in the immediate aftermath of a massive race where your body is pushing the crap generated during it back out of you, I felt totally out of whack with my usual self. General symptoms included lethargy, lack of motivation to run, loss of appetite. The elation at finishing was tainted with a feeling of heavy fatigue. We went on holiday, came back and, as what now appears to me to be a blessing in disguise, UTMB got cancelled just a few hours in to the run. I didn't feel myself until late September and very quickly after on very little training, ran Caesars Camp 100 which is a pretty hard race. Once again I had a very bad time of it there with similar issues to Badwater (chaffing) and finished in a lengthy 27 hours.
What I realise now is that during Badwater I had stressed my muscles to the max but also my endocrine system. The endocrine system is the body's mechanism for producing hormones that help maintain normal bodily function. Recently a bit more has come to light about ultrarunning causing stress on the endocrine system and depletion of it is a by-product of massive training mileage or over stressing it during very long races. Reading the list of symptoms in articles like this and problems resulting from such stresses it has become obvious to me that I have been suffering the longer lasting after effects of over stressing my body over long periods of time. 18 - 20 marathons/ ultras in the first 6 months of 2010 left me feeling as strong and as fit as ever. Badwater totally wiped me out, Caesars Camp came at a time when I was just pulling myself back out of the hole I'd dug and I started training properly for Rocky Raccoon shortly after. Osteoperosis is one of the longer term symptoms of endocrine depletion. The diagnosis we finally reached regarding my two stress fractures pointed clearly to the fact that my body has not been generating bone properly for a long period of time. In short I have been putting little in for the level of output I am demanding of it - particularly in races.
So almost 14 months after Badwater 2010 I am only now able to properly rebuild. If I had stopped racing and training hard for a decent period of time I could have rebuilt a successful year in 2011, but I over shot my bodies ability to recover. As each year of my running career has passed I have taken on more racing and many of those are longer in both distance and duration. It is easy to look at somebody like Mike Wardian who races a large amount, never tapers, never heeds recovery too greatly and yet wins almost everything he enters from 5k to 135 miles - and think that it is normal to be able to achieve that. It isn't. My good friend David Snipes is another example. This year 'Sniper' will go on to complete 10 x 100 milers including the Last Great Race when he finishes at Wasatch next weekend. In between times he has raced a bunch of other ultras. The difference between the above 2 examples and somebody relatively new to ultras like me is purely and simply - experience. By experience I refer to two factors - knowing how your body responds during races and being able to manage it to finish as you started. More importantly your body's experience with handling physical stress, these guys having developed running over decades, not years and thereby equipping their systems with the ability to function better on the run.
None of this is scientific, in fact it's almost all my own personal conjecture and therefore could be deemed irrelevant but when you look at a lot of the fall out from UTMB this past weekend, arguably the last major race of the summer, some of my own experiences begin to crop up in others, be it elite or back of the pack runners. Many of the lead guys have spent the spring racing hard over 50 miles/ 100k, followed by mountain 100s (at least 1 or more), before taking on UTMB, a 100 miler which ended up having a total accumulated elevation change of 70,000 feet (source: Scott Jaime's altimeter). However good you feel coming in to a race and however well your training has gone, you cannot underestimate the longer term effects that the previous race/ races have had on your body. It isn't to say that everytime you back 100 or even 50 milers into one another you will find things starting to unravel as the race drags on, but eventually it is extremely likely it will catch up with you and a race like UTMB will take no prisoners.
Some of my advice following a hard year is this:
- Rest and recover for longer than you think you may need. When you have finished a long race (100 miles) and have experienced heavy training in the lead up to it, take it easy for at least 3 - 4 weeks post run. It is tempting to jump back on the horse and use the extra fitness to drive on harder and faster. There is no need to be sedate for that period of time but it is important to let, not just your muscles, but your endocrine and immune systems to recover properly.
- Give your injury every chance to heal. If you are injured in the lead up to the race, particularly with a stress fracture, and cannot run train, don't panic. If you are able to ride a bike and protect the injury whilst keeping your CV up you CAN get through the race in question. It will be a very long day and a tough one at that but if you can stay strong mentally then should your injury hold up, you will get there.
- Be realistic. If you are injured going in to a long day then don't schedule anything else for a while afterwards. The major problem you are going to have is that your muscles will not be used to running and your muscles which are out of practice will take a battering. You need to manage your hydration and nutrition even more carefully than normal during a race or you are likely to end up with muscle breakdown quickly, which can lead to rhabdomyolisis and in extreme cases - kidney failure. My own experience at Vermont was a steep learning curve. The breakdown of my muscles at Western States was severe leaving me largely immobile. Three weeks was not enough time for things to repair, meaning that as soon as I started running my muscular-skeleto system began collapsing even faster, releasing myoglobin into my blood stream and clogging up my kidneys. Dark urine and lower back pain (plus passing out if you really do it properly) are all symptoms to be aware of and however much a DNF hurt, with 43 additional miles to go in that condition it was highly likely I was headed for the ER. The race will be there next year, and the year after. There is no need to put yourself in hospital, however much others would encourage you to believe that it's unacceptable to drop unless you are hauled off the course in an ambulance (as a race director please heed this advice).
Some runners more experienced than I will rubbish some of what has been said here but if you train big miles, hard miles and race often, it is highly likely at some stage that you will fall off the horse. The only thing I can say is take it easy, pick and choose the races you want to do well at and focus on them 100% and you WILL get through them. This is a great sport and sometimes it is hard to look on but you KNOW when you should and shouldn't be joining in the fun yourself. Take your time and you will benefit in the long term.
Sunday, 4 September 2011
2012 Plans
Albeit I'm at the start of a long road to recovery, the 2012 season begins here really, with the opening up of entry and lotteries to next years races.
After the experiences of this year I am headed into less travelling and less racing in an attempt to put myself in with a chance of finishing those that I enter in better shape and staying injury free.
I had a bucket list a long time ago that I have slowly been working my way through. My intention was always to do as much traveling as I could early on in my 'career' so that I could focus on some of the great races we have on home soil in later years when it might perhaps not be as easy or fair to make long and expensive international trips.
Having worked through the desert/ multi stage races, I stumbled into trail racing and have been lucky enough to run a few good trail 100s now. This year was the first time I tried my hand at mountain 100s and thankfully I got through Western States and Leadville despite being injured all year and running very little.
I saw those two as a right of passage really. I have always considered Hardrock to be the ultimate 100 and their entry criteria is very selective. I applied last year but felt I was doing so too soon in my running lifetime and knew that I should take more experience in before I committed to it, so I withdrew my entry.
Having finished 2 mountain 100s, albeit 'easier' ones, this year I think I am ready to at least put my name in the hat and see what happens. The chances of coming out with a place through the lottery is slim to none, about 11% based on last years figures and therefore similar to Western States. Crazy but what can you do.
I will go back to Comrades again, this time to run and I can't wait to line up on that startline. I will set myself some pretty hard targets there and try to stick to them. I am still hopeful a good group of Brits will travel out for that one.
Having been cut off at St Gervais in the 2010 UTMB when we were all pulled due to a landslide, that is again on the list but lottery dependent.
So with the North Pole, Comrades, Hardrock and UTMB - I am in danger of going over board once again. The reality is though that they are well spaced out and the chances of getting in to both Hardrock and UTMB are so slim that I'm not really worried about that.
If Hardrock falls through then I will go back to Vermont. If UTMB falls through well then I may just slip a late entry in to the one bucket list race that would be left for now, a little 153 miler in Greece.
Exciting times ahead and hopefully a bit more success than this year....
After the experiences of this year I am headed into less travelling and less racing in an attempt to put myself in with a chance of finishing those that I enter in better shape and staying injury free.
I had a bucket list a long time ago that I have slowly been working my way through. My intention was always to do as much traveling as I could early on in my 'career' so that I could focus on some of the great races we have on home soil in later years when it might perhaps not be as easy or fair to make long and expensive international trips.
Having worked through the desert/ multi stage races, I stumbled into trail racing and have been lucky enough to run a few good trail 100s now. This year was the first time I tried my hand at mountain 100s and thankfully I got through Western States and Leadville despite being injured all year and running very little.
I saw those two as a right of passage really. I have always considered Hardrock to be the ultimate 100 and their entry criteria is very selective. I applied last year but felt I was doing so too soon in my running lifetime and knew that I should take more experience in before I committed to it, so I withdrew my entry.
Having finished 2 mountain 100s, albeit 'easier' ones, this year I think I am ready to at least put my name in the hat and see what happens. The chances of coming out with a place through the lottery is slim to none, about 11% based on last years figures and therefore similar to Western States. Crazy but what can you do.
I will go back to Comrades again, this time to run and I can't wait to line up on that startline. I will set myself some pretty hard targets there and try to stick to them. I am still hopeful a good group of Brits will travel out for that one.
Having been cut off at St Gervais in the 2010 UTMB when we were all pulled due to a landslide, that is again on the list but lottery dependent.
So with the North Pole, Comrades, Hardrock and UTMB - I am in danger of going over board once again. The reality is though that they are well spaced out and the chances of getting in to both Hardrock and UTMB are so slim that I'm not really worried about that.
If Hardrock falls through then I will go back to Vermont. If UTMB falls through well then I may just slip a late entry in to the one bucket list race that would be left for now, a little 153 miler in Greece.
Exciting times ahead and hopefully a bit more success than this year....
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