The weather in Upstate, NY has been getting progressively nicer lately and today the forecast was for warm weather. The snow is currently mostly melted.
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Category Archives: Running
On the 100th Day He Rested
When you are a runner you eventually become enveloped by an amazing community of people.
Near the end of 2019 a fellow runner created a Facebook page for a group challenge of running or walking a given mile each day and it was going to go from Thanksgiving through the New Year. Participants could choose a distance they wanted to maintain through the challenge from a minimum of 1 mile a day to 3 miles a day to 6 miles a day or more. The goal was to keep our running community motivated to run through what can be a tough time to keep it going with holidays and sub optimal weather in our region.
Last Race of the Season
Racing season is over for the year for me, unless one of my friends somehow convinces me otherwise. My last race was one I wasn’t really planning to run for sure. Once I decided to run the race I actually got pretty excited about it. The race was Last Rebel Survivor presented by Rebellion Running.
Last Rebel Survivor is a last person standing style event in the vein of Bigs Backyard Ultra. Everyone runs loops of the same course until only one person can continue. The spin on this event is that with each lap completed the time you have to complete the next lap decreases. The course was a 1 mile loop on local trails. The race begins with 20 minutes to complete a lap and decreases by 1 minute after each completed lap then after about 10 laps it decreases by 30 seconds for each lap that follows. Each person is eliminated when they either fail to complete a lap in the allotted time or fail to start the next lap.
Continue reading Last Race of the Season
100 Miles of Social Media
When I ran the Pine Creek Challenge 100 I knew that I had a great support team consisting of my wife and my closest running friends cheering me on and supporting me. What I did not realize is how many other peopl would be cheering me on and supporting me without me even knowing it that day.
My crew is awesome. I knew they would take photos of me throughout the day and they would have fun and post their adventures and fun to social media. I also knew my wife would likely be posting updates of how my race was going on her social media. What I did not know is how many people would be following along on social media and clicking the like button and posting messages of support while I was out there on the course. There was this whole invisible cheering section online. They were all sending me their good vibes and pushing me along the course.
Continue reading 100 Miles of Social MediaImpending 100 miler
Saturday I take on a challenge that not only did I never think I would take on I never even knew such a thing existed. Even when I started running I wasn’t aware of anything beyond a marathon. Discovering the world of trail running and ultra marathons has been a mind blowing experience. I have gained so much since this adventure began.
This year of training and running has been different in a lot of ways from my past several years of running. Training for and taking on new challenges. Fear, doubt, anxiety. Physical setbacks. All of that is in the rear view mirror now. Well, all of it except the anxiety, but it is mostly nervous and excited energy to just go do the thing.
Continue reading Impending 100 miler
Long Run / 100 Miler Training
I continue to bounce around and have ups and downs in my 100 miler training even as the race itself draws ever closer. This does not help to reduce my anxiety of taking on this challenge. After my regular short weekday runs my hip bursitis seemed to be flaring up a little bit, so I took an extra rest day going into my weekend long run which was going to be Sunday this week because I wasn’t going to be running on Saturday either this week.
Saturday was my planned “rest” day for this week of training. And by rest I mean getting up at 1:30 AM to drive 1.5 hours to meet up with my friends and stand on my feet for about 18 hours to help crew for them at the Twisted Branch 100k. It was amazing to be part of this event and help my friend and cheer for them as they crushed some huge goals along with all our fellow runners. It was a great experience and it was great experience for my upcoming race. I got to feel what it would be like to be awake and on my feet for as close to 24 hours as possible without being at the actual race. So I think that was invaluable experience in a way.
Continue reading Long Run / 100 Miler Training
2nd Pine Creek Run
I headed down to the Pine Creek Rail Trail for my second training run on the site of the upcoming Pine Creek challenge 100 mile event in September. The plan was to start in Blackwell, where the end of the out and back section of the 100 mile distance is, and run back towards the start finish line area. The goal for this run was 20 miles at a little faster overall pace than I am planning for the race itself. I would be running 1 mile then walk for 1 minute and repeat that every mile.
