I'm retired from racing. Really.

Jupiter Peak Steeplechase

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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
Race: Jupiter Peak Steeplechase (16 Miles) 02:08:00, Place overall: 4, Place in age division: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.0016.000.000.000.0020.00

Today was the race I had been looking forward to for a long time.  Bill Cobler was nice enough to let me crash at his place last night.  Woke up and did 2 easy miles with him, then drove to Park City.

The 16 mile race runs from the PC resort base to the top of Jupiter Peak, 3000' climb, and then back down.  It is mostly on singletrack with some on dirt service roads.  Nothing is flat.  I was hoping for a top 3 or top 5 finish, though that was in doubt at the start when I saw that the race was on the La Sportiva race series so a group of national class trail runners was there, led by the trail god Bernie Boettcher (http://www.mountainrunning.com/bios/spotlight/bboettcher.html).  He's a 2:33 marathoner who is proportionatly far-better on trails.

Race started out somewhat easy for me- I ran most of the way up between 5th to 10th place, just trying to save energy.  The last half mile climb is unrunnable and almost unwalkable- I figure it is about 30% grade for the last .25-.3 mile.  Ouch.  I probably could have pushed the pace a bit more on the runnable uphills, but didn't mind.  Hit the top in 1:12 at 7th place with 3 guys ~30 seconds ahead of me, 1 guy right behind me.  300 foot descent, then up another steep mountain that is just a few feet shorter than Jupiter, peaked at 1:21.  Ouch again.  Then at long last we hit the downhill.  I picked off the 3 guys in front of me within a mile or two.  Then we hit an aid station and all made a wrong turn- slowed me down about 30 seconds by the time I got back to the turn, though the other guys were real cool and waited so we got back in the same order.  From that point on one of the guys stayed within 5-15 seconds behind me, but I didn't see anyone else.  Pretty good singletrack the whole way down, running fast.  For some reason my chest tightened up around 1:40 and I had trouble breathing.  I slowed down for a few minutes and eventually got my breath back.  Ran down the rest of the singletrack, with a very painful last mile that had a number of momentum-sapping uphills.  Finished 4th place- Bernie won, then another La Sportiva guy, then one local guy 2 minutes ahead of me.  Top 3 places won shoes, then 4th and 5th won a fastpacking backpack. 

My time was 2:08:00, 8:00 pace exactly.  They changed the course this year, with the locals agreeing it was about 4 minutes slower than previously.  Accounting for that, my time this year would have won the race in 2006 and finished 2nd in 2005 and 2007 (only 30 seconds behind the winner).  Not too shabby.  I love trail races.  I was so pumped I rocked out to loud punk rock the whole drive home in my non-air conditioned car...

I'm pretty happy with the race.  Top 3 would have been nice, but getting beat by 2 national-class ringers isn't bad.  Plus I beat 4 or 5 other La Sportiva guys.  Only a few blisters.  Met some great guys, including one who had run the Striders WRC with us (Craig DeVries).  I figure this race indicates I am on pace for my attempt at winning the Mid Mountain Marathon in PC in a month, especially considering this week is my highest mileage in a year and no taper for this race.  Yeehaw.

As a side note, I received some nice compliments at different times after the race from the guys just behind me.  One of them told me that he had never seen anyone take off down the mountain and pull away as fast I did- he didn't believe it was possible.  Two other guys said similar things, both of them calling me a mountain goat.  Nice compliments.

I have a goal to run this race next year and get some of you other FRB road-slaves to join me for a FRB sweep.  Trails are so much better than roads! 

Ascend- 352, 768- 132 

Weight: 0.00
Comments
From cody on Sat, Aug 09, 2008 at 17:49:17

Way to go Mountain Goat!

From Paul Petersen on Sat, Aug 09, 2008 at 18:23:41

So if you beat Bernie, do you become a trail god? That is something to shoot for.

From Andy on Sat, Aug 09, 2008 at 18:47:50

Great race. I've always thought about switching to trail races but am not sure if I am cut out for them.

From JimF on Sat, Aug 09, 2008 at 18:57:30

Great race especially considering no taper and your high mileage week! I'm with Cody, sounds like a mountain goat to me.

From Jon on Sat, Aug 09, 2008 at 19:33:02

Good point, Paul. At least a demi-god. But he beat me by 10 minutes, so I have my work cut out for me. Maybe I can get a national sponsorship so I can run full time.

From Adam RW on Sat, Aug 09, 2008 at 22:16:26

We'll have to work on that national sponsorship but until then nice work at tearing up another trail.

From Chad on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 01:06:41

Great race, Jon. The interesting thing is that you train like a road marathoner and apply that training to trail races. That's somewhat unique. It explains why you can fly on the downhill. I look forward to your Mid-Mountain race.

From Jon on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 01:18:43

Chad, I'm more of a trail runner who is forced to train on roads than vice versa. I have always loved technical trails and do better on hilly courses than flat (such as WRC 10 miler). The road speed certainly does help.

Care to join me for the trail marathon?

From wheakory on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 02:34:03

Impressive Jon. You are a mountain goat. Great race and way to finish the downhill. Your turning your year into something to remember.

From cgbooth23 on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 02:43:00

great race, and I do agree Trail running rules over the road... your result is very impressive, you need to shoot for a 100 miler with your road talent you'd tear it up!

From jtshad on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 08:28:57

Great race! Congrats on a strong run and great performance against some top runners. From now on, your running mantra...Baaa, Baaa!

Keep trainin like this and Mid Mountain is yours for sure.

From josse on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 12:56:54

Great job on a tough coarse. I remeber those unrunable hills they are a killer. You are going to kill in the trail marathon.

From tarzan on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 19:00:06

Awesome race! Congrats on the time. I wish I could run hills like that. I'm getting better all the time. Can't wait to hear about midmountain. I was going to do it - but will be in Italy then.

From Jon on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 19:18:35

Josse- I saw the last climb and almost thought they were kidding, except I knew Race Directors of trail races have that sadistic sort of mind- it was one of the steepest things I have ever seen.

Tarzan- want to trade? I'll go to Italy, you run MMM ;)

From josse on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 19:29:19

You should do the Wahsatch steeple chase next year, it has an even better climb;) I actually really like these races but have shyed away because of my tendency to sprain my ankle. Oh how I miss it.

From James on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 19:44:39

Bernie was right behind me at St. George last year. Good job on your race! Maybe you really can run trails after all of that big talk!:)

From Jon on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 20:03:30

Josse- I ran Wahsatch Steeplechase course one year in May and loved it (though I don't think the climb is quite as bad...)- I've never done it cause it conflicts with WBR. But I'm planning to do it next year! I have to recruit you and everyone else, too. Maybe I can be the first member of the FRB/SGRC Trail team.

James- yeah, Bernie is a good road runner but amazing on hills- I couldn't believe how fast he went up the hills. Nuts. And he's 45!

From Dale on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 20:24:13

Way to tear up the trail running ranks....you're certainly showing them what a reformed road runner can do! Keep it up!

From James on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 20:38:56

If you could learn run up those hills like you run down them, you would be pretty amazing yourself!

From Superfly on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 21:17:33

Good job Jon. I'm hook just by reading some of your race reports on the trail races this year. I'd really like to get into those. Too bad about the chest thing. Do you know what it is? I've been battling a diaphragm thing that gets tight at all the wrong random times.

Anyway you are a mountain goat. In 2007 when I watched you come down that hill on your last leg of WBR I thought I'd never seen someone go so fast down a hill. I would have biffed it hard.

From Jon on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 22:33:01

Clyde- I'm guessing it was oxygen debt- we were around 8500-9000 feet and I was pushing hard to lose the guys behind me. Just a guess- I'm not concerned, at any rate. Not like your diaphragm, I hope.

I've never seen it, but you should try the Alta Peruvian- the guys fly down that crazy fast. Paul did 5 miles at 4:21 pace.

From walter on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 22:50:58

I think you have found your niche in life Jon. You amazing freak of nature! I mean that in the most humbling and jealous of ways my friend! Good job on another a** kicking course. See you in a couple of weeks. Bring your helmut!

From MichelleL on Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 11:00:10

Mountain goats are smelly. Good job stinker!

From RivertonPaul on Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 12:24:46

Wanted to add my congratulations. Hope the green shorts psyched out the others.

From marci on Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 15:55:54

wow you got called a goat a lot! i would have to agree not only from running but also because you eat anything and EVERYTHING!

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