I'm back... Like a bad habit, you cant get rid of me that easy! So I haven't posted to my blog for a little over a year now, life gets busy; work, new baby, running, yada, yadda, yada.. But I thought I would stop making excuses and start writing again, I'm a far cry from a good writer and I'm probably only marginally interesting but too bad, don't like it don't read it (I'm looking at you grammar Nazis). As I look back at my previous blogs I tend to write too much and most of its race reviews, so I'm going to try and take a different approach and write more random ramblings about running, life and yes I will still do race recaps. Its about the end of 2017 and I have a lot to catch everyone up on so I thought I would start back up with a 2017 year in review.
January: Really nothing notable to write about January, lots of much needed rain made the hills super green and great running weather so I just amped up the training toward Sean O Brien 50K and taking care of little Zach..
February: Sean O Brien 50K was a deceiving bitch of a course, with over 7000ft of gain, river crossing and tons of mud. Went out quick with the top 3 runners till we hit the first climb out of Tapia, Michael Eastburn took off leaving Jerry Garcia and I in his dust, Michael would go on to lead and win the 50K. After running with Jerry till mile 6 or so I peeled off and never looked back, I came in at 4:49:22 for Second place. Overall a very well put on, challenging race, with some big climbs and great views and I am currently training to run it again this February. The next weekend I joined Keith and Brett to traverse the Backbone Trail across the Santa Monica Mountains. A hot, muddy, but very enjoyable day started with the late great Dave Liston driving us to the trail head. The run was capped off with a whole slew of Simi Trail Runners that took us the last 20 miles to the beach, a 16 hour day with 68 miles and 13,000ft of climbing enjoyed with some of the greatest friends a guy could ask for! Damn I love you Backbone Trail..
March: What a great month March was! Started off running the Singletrack Stampede 22K (13 miles), run along the Millennium trail this is an amazing course almost 100% singletrack. I highly recommend running this race, if not at least get out on the Millennial trail sometime and enjoy some kick ass running! But the highlight of the year was getting to watch my son Connor enjoy his week trip to Florida gifted to us by Make A Wish Foundation. We got to stay in the most amazing wheelchair friendly place, Give Kids the World, while we went to a new theme park everyday! Really a once in a lifetime trip, I never seen Connor smile so much in my life!
April: Rounded up the kiddos and set of north to Healdsburg CA for the Lake Sonoma 50 miler, 50 miles of gorgeous green single track. What a gem of a race, northern California is just so beautiful and Lake Sonoma did not disappoint, with its great temperature, beautiful trails and kick ass atmosphere. While there where no "big" climbs, it never stop rolling up and down, eventually accumulating into a leg searing 10K ft of vert through some muddy conditions from recent rains made for a difficult run. I had a goal of breaking 8hrs but came up short finishing in 8:07:36 good enough for 18th overall in a seriously stacked field of talent.
May: I have so much fun running all of Erica Grattons races I had to sign up for the inaugural Phantom Trail Race 20 Miler. A fairly "flat" fast course running through parts of Reagan Ranch, Malibu State Park and Paramount Ranch, I treated it as a fast training run and blazed through at 2:34:06 for the win. Good introductory race for those interested in getting in some really good trail running, with distances from 5-20 miles it has a little something for everybody.
June: Enjoyed my family, ran some trails and drank some beers..
July: Took a road trip to Lake Tahoe with my mom to go crew and pace Keith at the Tahoe Rim Endurance Run 100. Lake freaking Tahoe.. What can I say but epic, the trails and views were just amazing, the climbs were steep and Keith kicked ass in his 2nd 100 miler finishing in 26:08:12. Definitely on the bucket list of must do someday (maybe 200?)
August: Sometimes you just need to take yourself out of your comfort zone, try something new, challenge yourself and find another race that looks awesome when you don't make it into any of the race lotteries you applied for. The Fat Dog 120 showcases some of the finest trails Canada has to offer, the problem is that the finest trails happen to some of the steepest trails also. With over 28,000ft of vert in 4 major climbs the Fat Dog ranks up there with Hardrock in terms of difficulty and it did not disappoint. Fat Dog tested me to the core, it was definitely the hardest race I have ever done (also one of the most scenic), after rolling into mile 100 at exactly 24hrs I had faced the toughest climb on the course that felt like it never ended with its many false summits, the last 20 miles of the race took me over 6 hours to complete.The last 5 miles destroyed my back, glute and hip, leaving me injured for the rest of the year, despite all this I still manage to finish in 5th overall with a 30:05:28.
September: Wasatch 100 was a bitter sweet experience, last year I got the privilege of pacing good friend and all around great guy Dave Liston a Wasatch, this year I returned for my pacing duties to help Brett Goldsmith through the beautiful course in honor of Dave Liston. Dave was in the middle of training for redemption at Wasatch this year when he unexpectedly passed away, it was a honor to go back to Wasatch and help Brett finish for Dave this year, all while Dave's family and friends were there in support.
October to December: Watching my baby Zach grow up has been a joy, all the milestones and sleepless nights, love being a father to all 3 of my boys, its an never ending ultra run. Got selected to run Western States in 2018 and met all the qualification to run Boston Marathon 2018.
Looking forward to next year, running the two biggest races in running, the Boston Marathon in April is the must do "Super Bowl" of marathons. Western States 100 is the first ever and most sought after ultra race steep in history. I'm sure there will be many other adventures along the way both in running and being a father, I will do my best to keep everyone updated along the way. Till then a beer to celebrate and another trail to run..
