Grasslands Marathon

photo credit: Paul Tidmore

Terrific day, terrific race -- lots of fun for the entire family -- that sums up the Grasslands Marathon! Kevin and Stacie Boudreaux did a great job as first time RD's picking up the race this year. My only complaint was that I did not do the 50 miler -- 26.2 wasn't enough -- I wanted more time on the course!

However, my body has been thanking me for not running the 50. I've been able to resume my regular training right away. After all, the real goal is Western States in 3 months!

The Desire is Returning!

So what have I been doing the last month? The first couple of weeks was all about recovering from Rocky 100. Then I realized I was having an issue with my desire returning. I've been enjoying my recent runs, but I'm not as fired up as I would like to be right now.

So how do you combat that? By putting some new goals on the calendar. I am less than four months out from Western States. It's time to get it together and get into serious training mode. So I've put a couple of new races on my calendar. I'm warming up with a 5K this weekend (OK, I'm running it with a friend and it's a St. Patricks race, so there will be drinking involved - or so I hope!). The following weekend I'm running the Grasslands marathon in Decatur, TX. It's a terrific race and I'm happy I decided to do it. Then a month later I will be doing the Rocky Hill 50K outside of Smithville, TX. A month after that, I will be doing the Jemez 50 miler in New Mexico. Six weeks later is the big dance -- WS100!

Stair stepping these races will be good for me and keep me focused. It has worked for me in the past and I'm counting on it working again.

Rocky Raccoon 100 - Success!!!

Two years of training, a few set backs and false starts, and finally I have achieved success. I have run 100 miles! I could not be happier!

The body can do amazing things -- if only the mind lets it.

Virginia always told me that Rocky was supposed to be my race. After the wildfires at Western States and the altitude problems at Leadville, I am inclined to believe her. Rocky was my first 50 mile race two years ago -- it felt right that it was also my first 100 mile finish.

The day before the 100 mile start, my children participated in the one mile kids trail race. They both did incredibly well. I know this event is really more for the parents, but I am so proud of my children. They went out there and ran hard! Sara finished in 9:08 (first girl!) and Joe finished in 9:53. I could not believe that they could run that fast! You should have seen them sprinting in towards the finish line. I loved it!

Sara in full blown sprint!

Go, Joe Man, Go!

The 100 mile race started at 6am on Saturday. We camped out at the park so we had a very short drive to the start. The weather was a little on the warm side - for running anyway. For spectating and volunteering it was downright nice! I was a little nervous at the start -- but not too bad. It doesn't make sense to get worked up at the start of a 100 miler - you'd waste too much precious energy. You just need to stay relaxed. In fact, I never even heard the RD say "go" - I just noticed that everyone else was leaving and heading up the trail. So with hugs and kisses to my friends and family, I was off!

It's OK, honey! I'll be just fine!

Jamie, Natie, Hammy, Joe, me, and Mom at the start

My race plan: I recently read an article by Gary Cantrell in Ultrarunning magazine. I am going to give him a ton of credit for my finish at this race. His article was about how an average runner (that's me) can run a 24 hour 100 mile race if he doesn't mind a certain level of discomfort, can run the uphills at the end, doesn't waste time in aid stations, and runs a conservative pace. I decided that is what I'd do. But the part about finishing in 24 hours was a dream -- I'm just not that fast -- or so I thought!

Rocky is broken down into 5 x 20 mile loops. I wanted to do my first loop in a very conservative 4 hours and 30 minutes. I knew that would put me near the back of the pack. And that's exactly where I wanted to be. I've heard so many stories of people starting this race too fast and just staggering in for a finish or not finishing at all. I did not start this race not to finish it! So I held back that first loop and ran it as slowly as possible. At one point early on, I had a pebble in my shoe so I stopped to take it out. While I was doing that, everyone passed me. I looked back into the night and did not see a single runner with a flashlight coming my way. And I thought to myself -- "perfect -- this is exactly where I want to be -- dead last!" And I was serious!

The first 20 mile loop went by without any problems. I came into the turnaround, said hello to my crew, and headed back out. My son, Joe gave me a big hug that gave me energy for miles. My crew kept me fed with breakfast tacos -- yummy!

Coming into the start finish after the first loop -- feeling strong!

Miles 20 to 40 were just about perfect. I had my tunes going and was feeling no pain. I was loving every second of it. The woods - the trail - the camaraderie with other runners - it was just perfect! I ran the second loop the same speed as the first loop so I was doing well.

The 40 to 60 mile loop got a little tougher. I had a few low moments here, but overall was feeling strong. My pace did not slow much at all during this loop. However, I was really looking forward to the night time hours when I would be running with my pacers -- Huy and Jeff.

Huy started pacing me at mile 60. That was a huge pick me up for me. Huy and I started running together 5 years ago, so it is just so fitting that he would be here for me during my first 100 mile finish. Huy had not run 20 miles in probably 2 years, but I knew he had it in him. I also knew that I would be running pretty slow by that point and he'd have no problem with the pace. We laughed and joked for the first 10 miles of this loop. It was like we were just starting out on a nice Saturday morning run. It was really quite comical. I could not believe how lucid I was at this point -- we were having very regular Huy/Mike conversations. After awhile, I kind of stopped talking during a low point. Huy then took that opportunity to quiz everyone we passed about where they were from or if it was there first time doing this, etc. He did not know it, but he had me laughing on the inside the entire time. I thought someone was going to push him over because he had so much energy!

Huy and Mike running into the night

Huy got me to mile 80 where I went back out solo for 3 miles. I was still in a low spot when I dropped him off. The 60 to 80 mile loop was a little slower than my previous loop, but not by much. I've often heard that miles 60-80 are the hardest on this course and they are right. I was very fortunate to have Huy there to get me through it - he did an incredible job. I was now determined to get myself back together for a strong finish!

After running 3 miles solo, I came into the next aid station to find my wife and best friend Nathan waiting for me. They had a surprise -- Virginia was going to run 3 miles with me to get me to my next pacer, Jeff! I can not tell you how happy that made me! The 3 miles with Virginia were the absolute highlight of the race for me. We laughed, she told me stories about the day, and I told her stories from the trail. I really think she enjoyed it. And it was such a huge boost for me! I remember telling her that I thought I could break 24 hours if I could hold it together. She assured me that I was strong, running well, and to just keep going!

There were many nice surprises for me during this race. There is a remote aid station in the middle of the woods -- you have to hike 3 miles in to get to it. Virginia, Nathan, and Jamie made this trek out there twice! I could not believe it! They took such amazing care of me during the race -- they were truly a NASCAR pit crew -- they got me in and turned around as quickly as possible. Another surprise came when Huy and I were a little turned around on the trail (I won't say lost). We came upon a group of people just standing at an intersection in the dark. I called out to them - "is this the right way"? We got a little closer - and it was my crew! They were wandering around lost trying to get back to the car! It totally cracked me up.

Virginia ran with me from miles 83 to 86 -- it was then up to Jeff to get me home. I gave V a kiss and then Jeff and I took off. I told him right away that I wanted him to get me in under 24 hours. He told me, let's do this 6 mile loop and then we'll figure out our options. I didn't know at the time, but he had plans to push me pretty hard and see if I could do even better than 24 hours.

The six mile loop came and went pretty well. I was still running strong, but I was falling a lot more often. I fell at least 4 times during the race -- once with Huy and three times with Jeff. But each time I rolled with it and never got hurt -- just dirty.

Jeff and I are now 8 miles from the finish. I can see Jeff doing the math in his head. My math skills were way gone by that time. I thought I would still be struggling to finish under 24 hours. Jeff knew we had that in the bag -- he had a new goal for me -- finish under 23 hours! He asked me what I wanted to do. I told him under 24 would be just fine with me - I didn't want to hurt that badly to finish under 23. So he then asked me, "well, do you want to run?" I said "of course I do!" He then replied, "that's what I wanted to hear. Let's just run it in and see where that gets us." I agreed to the plan and off we went.

Until that time, I had been leading Jeff and he had been following me - so I was setting the pace. Jeff decided to take the lead from here on out and he started pulling me along. We started running and really did not stop much until the end. He had me running up hills that I had walked all day - even when I was fresh! It hurt, but I wanted to do well and I wanted to finish strong so I just kept running. We passed many people at this point. There were so many people on the course who could just not run anymore. They had run themselves out and were reduced to a staggering walk. I was so glad to be able to move well at the end.

We finally got within a 1/2 mile of the finish. That's when I knew that I was going to do it. I was going to finish this race -- and I was going to finish it well! I thanked Jeff for everything he had done. He pushed me to a new limit - one that I would not have done by myself. We sprinted in to the finish line for a 22 hour 45 minute finish! This was under 24 hours and way under the realistic goal I set for myself of 27-28 hours!

I thanked the RD - Joe P - he is truly one of the best and received my belt buckle. This buckle will always be special to me. It is my first 100 and I finished under 24 hours -- amazing!

My friends and family were there to see me finish at 4:45 in the morning! There were hugs, kisses, and high fives all around. I will never forget that moment.

I'm done, right? Please don't send me back out there!

What did I learn from all of this?

The tortoise can beat the hare in these long races. You just have to plan well and execute that plan. My hydration, electrolytes, and fueling were dead on most of the day. I never had issues with my stomach or cramping. I was in and out of the aid stations extremely quickly. I knew exactly what I needed, grabbed it, and moved on down the trail. The Gary Cantrell plan works -- but it is painful! But remember, it's just one day - and you can do anything for one day, right?!

Lastly - I am so grateful to my friends and family. For one day they concentrated on doing everything they could to get me to the finish line. I'll admit, it was nice to be pampered like that for a day. I'd roll into an aid station to their greeting - "Hey, Mike - what do you need?" "I'll take 4 Advil's, 8 gels (4 blue and 4 white), 10 salt tablets, two cups of Gatorade, a taquito, take my trash, and please have my camelback filled up with water and everything else when I come back from the porta potty." This was a common request from me during the race.

Ouch, Mom -- that kind of hurts! Jeff looks ready to throw up next to me!

What's next? You know I have to challenge myself! I am quite sure that the Jemez 50 in May and WS100 in June will be a big enough challenge! But for now, two weeks of rest and then back to training!

One Week Until Rocky!

This time next week, my stomach will be full of butterflies as I get ready for my second 100 mile race -- the Rocky Raccoon 100. I did not complete my first 100 miler at Leadville this past summer. I am determined to do better at Rocky. I am well trained, I am confident, I have more experience under my belt, and I have excellent support. Those are the things you need to succeed in a race like this where so much can and will change in the course of 24 hours or so.

The ipod is loaded with mellow and upbeat tunes and the bags will be packed tomorrow. All that is left is for me to go out there and take care of business. And that is what I plan to do. A day of running in God's Grand Creation spent with my best friends and family -- who could ask for more?!

Bandera 100K

I’ve had several days to reflect on this race since last Saturday. I believe it was one of the best personal performances of my running career. Everything went well for me – the weather, the course seemed to play to my strengths, and I had a first class crew.

Friday morning, Virginia and I dropped off the kids at school and with camper in tow hit the road for Bandera, TX. It was a really pretty drive as we stayed off the main highways and took the back way to the race. My wonderful mother volunteered to watch the kids all weekend, so it was just Virginia and I for a nice long weekend.

We arrived at our campsite at race headquarters, set up the camper, and then watched the 1 mile kids trail race. My friends (Matt and Buddy) children were entered in race and all ran well. It was so cool to see the little trail runners out there - especially Matt’s youngest who is 4 and ran the entire mile very hard. You should have seen him huffing and puffing all the way to the finish! Next year, we may have my children’s trail racing debut at Bandera!

getting the feet ready!

The 100K race started at 7:30am on Saturday – a very decent hour to start (thank you, Joe Prusaitis) as the sun was coming up over the hills. I said a quick good bye and good luck to Virginia and we were off. The race started uphill, so it was very slow going at first. But that kept the runners bunched up for awhile which I kind of like during the first part of a race. Everyone is excited and very chatty during those first few miles. I got to talk to Dave Billman for many miles who was attempting this race for the third time. Dave is a strong runner and with a 100 mile finish to his credit, but for some reason he had DNF’d his other Bandera attempts and was determined to finish today. I could tell by his attitude that today would be his day. I found out later that he finished strong! I also got to run for many miles with fellow beer lover, Dan Hamilton who was stopping to take some gorgeous pictures of the course.

Matt and I at the start

And we are off! I've got a sweet walk going!

The first 10 miles flew by – I was running very well. In fact, maybe too well for I caught up to several runners who are stronger than me. I ran many miles either in front of or right behind Fred Thompson and Barbara Hitzfield who are both very talented runners. And that had me really worried. I usually can’t hold a candle to these guys and for some reason I was really close to them. But I kept pressing on at the same pace. I thought I would run hard all day because I knew that my pace would naturally drop off during the night hours when I could not see as well.

Much as been written about the Bandera course. I found it very beautiful and very rugged. The hills were not too bad (except for one where you went straight up, it seemed), but there were a ton of them. There were softball sized rocks everywhere in one section which I did not like at all. I found the first 5 miles to be the toughest part of the course for me. It was very technical and hard to really get going. If your mind drifted for a moment, you had a real possibility of falling and getting seriously hurt on the rocks.

On a personal note, I went into this race with a very heavy heart. In fact, I almost decided not to do it the day before. My company had layoffs the Thursday before the race and one of my good friends was let go. I know this is happening all over the country, but it really hits you when it is one of your friends who you have worked with for many years. I’d gone into many battles with her and I’ll really miss her. Her leaving coupled with another friend’s job loss really had me feeling low. On top of that, my buddy Josh was supposed to be running Bandera as well (his first ultra) but he had a bad back injury and was forced to miss the race. All of these things were weighing on me. I had decided that I would give myself a few hours to think about these things during the race before fully concentrating on the business at hand. However, I had to concentrate on the race just about every step of the way. If I let my mind wander, I would have ended up flat on my face! I did say many prayers for my friends while I was out there.

At the end of the first loop (31 miles) I was feeling terrific! I made the turn and headed back out for my final loop. In fact, I looked so good and was doing so well that Virginia headed into town to grab a 6 pack of Shiner for me to celebrate later that night. I guess she has more confidence in me than I do! However, around mile 40 I started to feel really strange. I had been eating 2 gels an hour for my fuel and only drinking water. I was taking 1 salt pill per hour for my electrolytes. I hit an aid station where Virginia and Matt’s wife, Julie were waiting. V could tell that something was wrong. I quickly drank a Red Bull as I felt kind of sleepy and V and Julie asked me a ton of questions to get me back on track. It was determined that I was not taking enough electrolytes – once I started taking 2 an hour I started feeling like myself again.

coming into Crossroads Aid Station

The rest of the race I was feeling no pain and running hard. I was just trying to hold my pace. My original goal for the race was 16 hours. I knew that I had that in the bag and the new goal became 15 hours. After awhile I knew that was in the bag as well. Around that point Jesse Wilson and I were leap frogging each other for miles. He mentioned that he was trying to break 14 hours. He is a stronger runner than I am and I thought he’d have no problem doing it. At that point I was content with a 15 hour finish. But for some reason, I stayed with him during those last miles. He shot ahead of me with about 3 miles to go and was running a pace that I could not manage in the dark. I wished him well and continued on.

I was actually sort of taking it easy after I thought that there was no way for me to finish under 14 hours. I was humming along to myself really not wanting the race to end (sick of me, I know) when I ran into two runners running a little slower than me. I heard one of them say to the other – “I think we are almost there. It’s only a quarter of a mile to the finish.” What? Are you serious? I yelled back to them, “are you sure?” They confirmed that we were almost home. I looked at my watch and saw that I had 2 minutes left to break 14 hours! I started running in a dead sprint for the finish line. I got to about 100 yards from the finish where I found my buddy Matt waiting for me - shivering in the dark and cold – he had finished two hours before me. I yelled to him to follow me as I was going to break 14 hours! I sprinted across the finish line in 13 hours 59 minutes and 37 seconds! I was so happy!

Joe Prusaitis congratulated me and handed me my finishers buckle. Virginia came over and wrapped a warm blanket around me and directed me to the finisher’s tent. I ate a bowl of Julie’s soup and stared at the Shiner which I had no interest in drinking anymore. It’s funny how something sounds so good to you all day and then you finish and want nothing to do with it.

There is no way I would have been able to finish under 14 hours without the help of my beautiful wife, Virginia. She acted as a one man crew and had me turned around incredibly fast at each aid station. I know I saved a ton of time at the aid stations because of her. The longest I stopped at an aid station was 2 minutes and that was to do a complete clothes change and fuel refill. All other stops lasted about 30 seconds at the longest. She asked me questions, grabbed what I needed, stuffed it in my pack, patted me on the butt, and sent me back out there for more. That is exactly what you need in a race like this and she did a tremendous job.

Bandera was tough but a ton of fun. As always, Joe Prusaitis puts on a first class race. I was able to spend 14 hours in nature with many friends. During the last miles I didn’t want it to end. I was able to challenge myself physically and mentally on a tough course and I still had gas left in the tank. And I was able to work through some of the sadness that I had in me from all of the events from the past few days of my personal life. All in all it was a great day. Next up – Rocky Raccoon 100 in 3 weeks! Now talk about a challenge! I hope I feel as good after Rocky!

Very happy at the finish!

White Rock Half Marathon

On Sunday, I had the honor of pacing my friend Lauren to her first White Rock Half Marathon finish! She's been training for the last 5 months and it was a terrific accomplishment. I am so proud of her. She ran a very even race and had enough left in the tank to pick it up the final few miles. I told her I had my eye on two ladies in front of us who were wearing very silly reindeer hats and had no business beating us. So Lauren kicked it up another notch and we passed them handily!

She ran a great race and I'll always remember the smile she had on her face as she proudly showed off her finishers medal. I feel very fortunate that she let me be a part of her first big race. And I am sure there are many more in her future.

Rockledge Rumble 50K

photo credit - Mike Langille

The Rockledge Rumble was my very first ultra in 2006 – and actually my very first trail race. I don’t think I had even run on a trail before doing this race. The Rumble got me hooked on trail running and has been a favorite of mine ever since.

This was my third year to do the race and I had hopes of breaking 6 hours on the course. However, I made some rookie errors and paid the price. I finished in 6 hours and 28 minutes. You always learn something while racing, but why do I have to learn some of these lessons multiple times?

I started the run right on target – in fact at the halfway point of the race I had a five minute cushion on my goal time. But there were some warning signs already lighting up my dashboard. I had not peed at all for the first 15 miles and I knew I was not drinking enough and getting dehydrated. I tried to rectify the situation by drinking more at the aid stations, but I was already too far behind.

Around mile 20, I started to throw up. And I repeated this just about every mile to the finish. Any time I tried to pick up the pace and push myself a little harder I would vomit. And I could not get much fluid down my stomach without it coming back up pretty quickly. If this was a shorter race, I would have slowed down considerably and fixed the problem. But since it was a 50K, I decided to just push it as hard as I could and fix it after I finished.

My pace slowed dramatically from mile 20 to the finish and I lost many minutes while taking my throw up breaks. But I was able to finish the race strong and I was still smiling at the end. After finishing, I powered down many, many cups of water and finally started peeing again.

I went out to the race with my buddy Matt and Josh. Josh PR’d in the 30K – he had a good race knocking 30 minutes off his previous time. Matt ran the 50K and did well (as usual) even after running 70 miles at Cactus Rose the previous weekend. I was very excited to introduce my friend, Lauren to trail running during this race. She ran the 15K which was her longest run to date. She had some knee issues, but still finished well. I told her (and Josh confirmed this) that running this 15K will be harder than the upcoming White Rock Half Marathon. So this race gave her plenty of mental toughness to finish White Rock.

The Rumble is put on each year by my running club – NTTR (North Texas Trail Runners). This race gets many people started in trail running in our area. It is supported by experienced ultra runners and an excellent RD – Tom Crull. I recommend the race all the time to my running friends and look forward to it each year. Next year I will carry more water with me between aid stations and do better.