I'm retired from racing. Really.

March 28, 2024

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Location:

Greenville,SC,

Member Since:

Feb 24, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

I also maintain a blogspot running blog. Check it out. 

5k- 16:01, 1/2 marathon- 1:11:37, marathon- 2:34:16, 50k- 3:58, 100 mile- 15:19

Former World Record holder in 100 x 5k relay 

Ultra history:

8-100 mile, 1-100k, 9-50 mile, 2-40 mile, 14-50k-ish

12 wins, 5 CR's, plus four 2nd, five 3rd, 4th, 4th, 5th, 5th, 9th, 16th, 20th, 28th, 38th, and 62nd place, with 1 DNF 

Short-Term Running Goals:

Goals 

Enjoy running, stay fit (and maybe lose a few pounds). Play ultimate frisbee.

4 year coach of Langston Middle School- love it

Long-Term Running Goals:

Unretire at some point

Run a sub-6 hr 50 miler

Win a 100 mile ultramarathon

Personal:

I have five cute kids. And I have some rockin short green racing shorts- I wear them mainly because it embarrasses my wife so much. I like ultimate frisbee, trail running, reading, and cheering for the Denver Broncos!   And I have the absolute best wife in the world.  And I used to run for the now-disbanded national Team Pearl Izumi- Ultra!

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 11.00 Month: 51.00 Year: 150.00
Fastwitch Lifetime Miles: 82.50
Trail N1 Lifetime Miles: 86.50
Road N1 Lifetime Miles: 31.00
Trail M2 Lime/black Lifetime Miles: 297.00
Road M3 Grey And Yellow Lifetime Miles: 324.00
Road N2 Purple 2 Lifetime Miles: 222.50
Road N2 4 Grey Lifetime Miles: 51.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
20.500.000.000.000.0020.50

AM- Crazy trail run.  I enjoyed sleeping in and got a late start at 8:45 am.  Already warm.  Ran up the wonderful Jardine Juniper for 3.3 miles till the intersection with Cottonwood Canyon, spotting one moose along the way (he disappeared into the trees in the 5 seconds it took me to grab my camera).  I have never done Cottonwood before and decided to conquer it today.  

It was immediately apparent that Cottonwood would be a lot slower than the very-runnable Jardine- the trail was overgrown and very steep, both up and down- the first mile alone had 800 ft climbing and 700 ft descending.  I dropped from 10 min miles to 20 min miles.  Then, I reached the meadow.  Normally I enjoy high mountain meadows, but not this one.  The trail was so overgrown it was almost impossible to see the trail, and the plants were so wet from dew that I was soon soaking wet from chest level down to my now-squishy shoes.  And there were literally hundreds of downed trees across the trail, which I could not see until I was almost on them.  More than once my shin very painfully observantly made me aware of downed trees- my shins are now covered with big, bloody swollen bruises.  And the undergrowth was so thick that I had trouble moving my feet forward at all.  I was moving at 2 miles per hour, when I wasn't sprawled on my face due to grabby branches.  It was very annoying and slow, not trail running at all.

 

There is a trail in here... honest.  Believe it or not, it's straight ahead in this photo.

 

No, really, I swear there is... 

 

Ok, now I'm not so sure.  Hard to see with 5-7 foot high plants!

I pushed onwards through the 5-7 foot tall plants, finally reaching the end of the meadow after just under a mile.  I found the (very faint) trail and pressed onwards for a few more minutes before deciding the trail was impassible.  I turned around, cursing the meadow the whole time.  Shortly after leaving the meadow, I heard something very large in the ravine just below me that seemed to be following me for a while.  Worried, I lobbed several large rocks in its direction to no avail.  Thinking it was likely another moose or even a mountain lion, I found a stout, 2 foot long branch to use as a club.  With adrenaline surging, I ran with the club (first time ever in my life).  Fortunately, I reached Jardine trail 2 miles later without incident- the 5 miles on Cottonwood took me over 90 minutes!  I ran up the trail on the typical tree route, taking a picture of the tree before returning the 5 miles back to my car.

 

 Cottonwood Creek

 

Cody, I took this picture of Logan Peak just for you.

 

Requisite shot of the 3200 year old Jardine Juniper tree

Total run was 15.5 miles with 5000 ft elevation gain and equal loss, in about 3 hr 10 min.  Slow.  Joe and Cody, I cannot recommend ever running Cottonwood Canyon in any form- it is not at all suited for a trail run, unless you enjoy 2 mph treks through head-high weeds.

Last year I hit 2000 miles on Aug 12, while I just reached that milestone today for 2010.  And this whole "no job, just trail running for a month" gig rocks!!!

PM- 5 miles pushing the stroller on the river trail while Marci ran to the end of the singletrack and back.  We made it to the start of the singletrack, then back to the car, then back up to a little ways past Stokes.  The stroller is rather hard to push up gravel hills, but absolutely flies on the downhills. 

NB 800 Miles: 5.00XT Wings 3 Miles: 15.50
Weight: 0.00
Comments
From Paul on Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 16:10:49 from 65.103.252.214

Cottonwood Canyon is used a lot for skiing, but you're the first person I know who ever been on that trail in the summer...maybe we know why now.

From marci on Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 16:27:07 from 75.169.146.140

wow babe that is intense! glad it was a fun run and no mtn. lion got ya.

From Jason McK on Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 16:52:30 from 63.255.173.99

Your description of trail running almost makes me want to ditch the road forever (well, except the bruised, bloody shins, and the club-wielding, rock-throwing maniac I may run into...)

From Jon on Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 19:19:00 from 75.169.146.140

Paul- I stopped at the Forest Service building today and bought one of the very nice maps of the forest. I know, buying it one month before moving after 8 years here... not smart. Anyways, the ranger said they haven't maintained Cottonwood Canyon for 35-40 years, and that it was "nice of me to try" the route (i.e. you can try it, but you won't make it the whole way), and that new maps don't even show it. Definitely impassible. Oh well, live and learn.

From Paul on Sat, Jul 31, 2010 at 11:02:24 from 174.27.193.158

That's pretty funny.

From Cody on Sat, Jul 31, 2010 at 18:28:19 from 71.219.86.128

Thanks for the tip, and the picture! Glad you are making the most of all your spare time! Very jealous...

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