Cowtown

This Saturday, my buddy Josh finished his very first marathon -- the Cowtown! I am incredibly proud of him. He and I trained all summer long for the White Rock Marathon, but he sprained his ankle stepping off a curb exactly one mile into that race. You can read all about that experience in one of my December posts.

But Saturday was his day! He ran strong the entire time through a pretty challenging course. Ft. Worth is much hillier than Dallas and it seems like the race takes you up and down each one those hills! My buddy Trey, his daughter Alex, Josh's wife Ann, and I crewed for Josh during the race. We met him every four miles to offer support and give him his electrolytes, etc. There was one particularly tough hill around mile 14 where everyone was walking. We saw Josh about a 1/2 mile after that hill and I mentioned it to him. He told me he ran that entire hill! I was blown away!

I offered to pace Josh through the last 11 miles of the race and he graciously accepted. So I was able to get a nice training run in and help support my buddy. My knee/IT Band held up fine, but my legs felt really heavy after awhile. That was the longest run I've done since the injury. It feels really good knowing I can at least run 11 miles now without the crippling IT Band pain.

Josh had a really good race. He prepared well and his hard work paid off. He ran all of his long runs (after I got injured) by himself which can be a tough thing to do. But he stayed with it and this marathon is something he will always remember. Right now he says the Cowtown will be his only marathon and he'll stick to half marathons going forward. But I'm not so sure about that. Once marathoning is in your system, it's hard to get out! He's planning on running the Grasslands Half in March. I'm scheduled to do the marathon on that course. I'm hopeful that my IT issues are behind me, but I'm still taking every precaution so that it doesn't creep up and bite me again.

Final notes about the Cowtown. Wow -- what a great course! It is very pretty and takes you through some of the best parts of the city. I really enjoyed the portion of the course I ran. The race is much more laid back than White Rock which really appeals to me. They offer a 5K, 10K, 1/2 marathon, marathon, and 50K. I highly recommend this race. I will be back one day and do it myself.

Orthotics and Cortizone

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post. And the reason for the long layoff is because I have actually been RUNNING! Not a ton, but I am actually hitting the pavement and trails for at least 4 miles at a time! I just got back from an 8 miler at White Rock and feel great! I am icing my knee just in case, but I had no major issues while on the run. It still does not feel like my other knee, but I feel like I may finally be making progress.

A little over two weeks ago, I went to a highly recommened podiatrist. He is an ultrarunner himself and is very familiar with the WS100. His thought was he needed to get me running immediately (amen, brother!) and while he fitted me for othotics he asked how I felt about getting a cortizone injection. Now if you know me, you will know that I am deathly afraid of needles. I have not had a shot for over 15 years and that last one was completely necessary.

After thinking it over for about 15 minutes (while he was working on my foot mold), I gave in and told him to go ahead and give me the cortizone. It really wasn't as bad as I imagined it, and I was able to run 2 days after getting the shot with no pain. The cortizone numbs the inflamed IT Band and helps the swelling. I am hopeful that this shot will keep me going for the months to come.

I was incredibly excited to get my orthotics. They fit into my shoes very well - though they felt kind of strange to begin with. I've been running in them now for a little over a week and am digging the results.

Maybe I have turned a corner here with this IT Band Syndrome. I sure hope so. I have a ton of miles to put in before the WS100 and not much time to do them. I have to remember to be smart about my training plan. I can't do too much too soon. The run I just completed has me feeling like I could run 50 miles tomorrow. But I know that I must take it slowly and work back up to the heavy mileage. My main goal is to get to the starting line of the WS100 healthy!

Rocky Raccoon Aid Station Volunteer

I just got back in town from volunteering at the Rocky Raccoon 100. This was my original target race, so it was strange going down there and not running. But volunteering at the aid station was almost as much fun as running the race itself!

My best friend, Nathan McMartin, met me in Huntsville on Friday night and we camped out in the state park where the race is held. We camped next to Chris Lubert and Matt Crownover who were both running the race. We built a nice campfire and chatted with the guys until turning in around 11ish.

Nate and I woke at 4:45 and made our way out to the Dam Road Aid Station where we worked for the next 12 hours. I had never worked an ultra aid station and it was a surreal experience to say the least. I ran the hydration table while Nate worked the drop bags. We were at the busiest aid station in the race because the runners past our station twice each loop. Lynn Ballard was our aid station captain. He is an experienced ultra runner and ran a great aid station. We took great pride in making sure the runners were well taken care of. We gently nudged the guys and gals out of the aid station who were lingering around around too long and helped out the folks who had to drop from the race due to injury.

It's amazing to see how good someone looks early in a race and how awful they look later that day. We were out there 12 hours so we saw a complete transformation of some people. I remember the guy who had a complete dead look in his eyes as he staggered out of the aid station and how good he looked just 4 hours before! Nate had to dodge projectile vommit from a lady who was suffering pretty badly. I saw some badly blistered feet, lots of folks were bleeding after taking some nice falls, and I saw quite a few people puke. But for all of that suffering, everyone just dealt with it and kept moving. It was quite inspiring.

There was a guy there who weighed at least 300 pounds. I saw him last year when I ran the 50 mile race. I talked to the guy this year and this is his 5 year in a row to do this race! He walks the entire course and it takes him a long time, but he finishes every year! He just blew me away!

After our shift was over, we went back to our campsite and had a nice dinner and a few beers. We congratulated Matt Crownover on finishing the 50 mile course in under 8 hours! He had an amazing run! He is running the Western States this year as well, so we will be doing some training together. He is a much more talented runner than I am and he has given me some great advice. Our other campsite mate, Chris Lubert was still on the course but we found out the next morning that he had done the 100 mile race in 21 hours. That is an incredible time -- and it was his first 100 mile race!

Volunteering at the race was a really fulfilling thing for me. It fealt great to finally give a little back to this sport that I love so much. I wanted to help those runners so badly. Especially the folks who were suffering so much. We ran into an older guy later that night, who was just begging for someone to pace him for a loop. I would have done it if I could have. In fact, the 8 beers I had drank at that point actually made me think that I could do it without further injuring my IT Band. But common sense (and my buddy Nate) made me realize that it would be foolish to do that - no matter how bad I wanted to help the guy. So I went to bed instead.

This morning we packed up and I headed back to Dallas. As I was leaving, I was watching those few runners who were still on the course and would be finishing shortly. I could not imagine what they were feeling after running for over 26 hours. I'll be in their shoes (God willing) in 4 1/2 months and then I'll know what it's like. I've got a lot of work to do before that time.