I wanna be an Ultrarunner

Posted on February 10, 2013 by ssnaugher

Forward progress…. that’s what kept going through my head over and over this past Saturday. I had planned for this race for almost 6 months, trained for it since last October and now I was in the middle of it with 33.67 miles down and heading back out for my last loop.

In April of 2012 David Murphy had inspired me to complete my first Ultra race at the Ouachita Trails 50K. After the race I talked to him and Charley about what would be a good 50 Mile race as a first and they both suggested Rocky Raccoon since it was relatively flat compared to the trails around where we live and because it was a really well organized and well supported race for a first 50.

So in October I threw out the idea to my buddy Adam to see if he would able and interested in helping crew me for my first 50 Miler. He of course said I was nuts and asked where it was. When I told him Rocky Raccoon in Huntsville Texas he just shook he head and laughed it off.

Adam and I hit the road for the 9 1/2 hour drive to Huntsville on Thursday. The plan was to get into Huntsville that evening and have a day to relax, get familiar with the Huntsville State Park, get a short run in on the trails and be there in plenty of time for packet pickup and the race briefing. Friday morning we were set to meet David, Jon and Stephanie for a easy run on the trails. They had all ran Rocky previously and knew what to expect. I on the other hand really had no idea. David and Jon had helped get me prepared in the weeks leading up that while it is a relatively flat 50 miler, there are some hills and to make sure I had some hill training in(not really a problem around SW Missouri). I had also heard the crazy stories from last years race in which almost 2 inches of rain fell on the morning of the race it was a huge mud fest. So it was nice to get out on the trails to see what was coming and it was a great way to calm the nerves a bit with David and Jon’s antics on the trail.

We ran to what would be the first aid station(Nature Center) and back – just a little over 6 miles. As we were coming back in, Coach was waiting at the trail head after just flying in from CO. Another teammate Tanci had picked him up at the airport and met us. Coach only had 20 minutes on the schedule for that day with emphasis on getting off of our feet ASAP…. just keep quiet and don’t tell him …. leave it to David to screw that up and blab to him that I had just ran 6 miles instead of 20 minutes… Luckily Jon distracted him with his wisdom about milking cows for ice cream with hay(the video helps explain this better)

The race briefing that evening was pretty cool. It was crazy to see all of the people that had signed up for the 50 and 100 milers and quite honestly pretty intimidating. There were some serious looking ultra runners there and all I kept thinking was… “Man, what have I gotten myself into… I am no where near the level these folks are”. But the really cool thing I have found about ultras is that everyone is really friendly and encouraging… and based upon the hands of the fellow first time 50 milers in the group – it was cool to see that this was a great group of runners!

4am came really early Saturday morning – especially after not being able to go to sleep until after midnight even with going to bed at 9:45(nerves!!). Adam and I picked up Coach at his hotel and headed to Huntsville State Park to see David Murphy and Jeff Jones off on the 100 miler and to make any last minute adjustments for the start of the 50. The 100 milers kicked off at 6am still in the dark and after they started all you could see was lights bobbing through the woods. The nerves were getting high for me at this point as I watched the seconds tick off waiting until 7am for the 50 miler start.

I lined up in the group and as the start was counted down my heart rate was already pushing zone 2 before we even took a step. After a mile or so I settled in behind a couple of guys from Houston that had just ran the Houston marathon and had on a whim signed up that week for the 50 miler when some cancellations opened up some new spots. Neither had been on a trail run before and it was nice to calm the nerves talking for a bit. I was holding a steady lower zone 2 through the first aid station and felt great as Adam caught up with me at the AS. I quickly moved on out of the aid station an on my way to the DamNation section.

This part of the trail was new territory for me and for the most part it was much of the same – pretty easy going trails as long as you picked your feet up over the roots. My pace was holding steady in the 10-11 mile/mile range at a lower zone 2 HR. I was surprised to find Coach tucked into the woods as we rounded the corner coming up to the next aid station. He said my time looked good and told me to keep track of everything I ate and how much I drank on each loop to communicate to him. I also met David Murphy, and Jeff Jones going out of the DamNation aid station as I was coming in – they were both looking strong. I came into the DamNation aid station and just needed a refill on my water and took some Enduralytes on out to make the loop around the dam and back to DamNation AS.

The loop back around was had a section that you run along the edge of the lake that is pretty much completely exposed with no tree cover… I was already worried about how this would translate later in the afternoon when the temps were supposed to get in the mid 70s. I made the loop back around and in and out of DamNation pretty quickly. The next stretch of the course would turn out to be the roughest section of the entire loops as the day progressed. This section consisted of quite a bit of jeep road sections that were a steady uphill with a straight shot that just seemed to go on forever even though it was just a few miles.

As I came in to the Park Road aid station, Adam was there waiting with some GenUCan and after re-applying some BodyGlide to keep the chaffing under control, I was back out for the final stretch back to Dogwood aid station and the end of the first loop. After I left Park Road, I realized that I should have taken a few more Enduralytes while I was stopped. Being the ultra-coordinated runner that I am, I decided I could get those out of my pack and take them without missing a step. 2 seconds later I was laying face first in the dirt with a nice coating of sand all over my arms and neck to help convince me maybe I was off my game today in terms of coordination. Nothing hurt.. other than my pride so onwards we went.

I met Jon Wilson as he was heading out for his second loop when I had about a mile or so left to go on the first loop. I finished up the first 16.67 mile loop in 2:58 – which was much faster than I had anticipated. I knew that the aid stations could kill my times if I lingered too much. I also knew that with the temps as warm as they were I would need to keep fresh dry clothes on a much as possible. I had planned separate shirts and shorts for each loop to help with that and I changed as quickly as possible to get back out on the trail. I opted to leave my feet alone since there was no noticeable issues at this point. It made a WORLD of difference to start out the second loop completely dry!

The second loop was pretty uneventful. I had a few “near-misses” because of getting lazy and not picking my feet up but I never went down. As I had the loop around DamNation the second time, I started to get the first inkling of being tired. I had kept telling myself that I was already on my second loop which meant I was that much closer to just having one lap left. However when I crossed the 25 mile point it kinda sunk in, that while I had been telling myself that I was close to just having one lap left to go, I really was just now half-way through… and had half of the distance to go….

The jeep road section back to Park Road seemed even longer this trip. At this point my pace had slowed considerably. With the uphill section and the monotony of just looking at a never-ending straight line I was down to 12-13 minute pace. Seeing Adam as I came in to Park Road was a shot in the arm I needed! I tried to down more GenUCan but ended up having to take it with me and carry two bottles to help get it all down. The last 3.4 miles going back to Dogwood this time seemed longer and I seemed to be halfway just stumbling along. At one point on the last little uphill section I looked up and thought to myself – That’s weird… it looks like that woman is running with her top down…. …no… wait… she IS running with her top partially down…. wait… looks like she has suction cups on her breasts…. hang on… I am losing it and getting delirious. At this point I kinda had a moment of panic wondering what I would do if I got incoherent and wasn’t sure how to fix it. Then as she was getting closer I could hear the rhythm of a pump working. Ok.. so I am either about to lose it mentally or I am in the company of some really hard core runners – so much so that they can run either a 50 or 100 miler, pump breast milk, and not miss a step on a rooty course. It was only later in the evening while talking to Jon Wilson that it was confirmed that I was not delirious since Jon told a similar recount. Kudos to the hard core runner that let nothing stop her progress!!

I finished lap two in 3:48 – almost an hour slower than my first loop. I had also crossed over the threshold of the longest distance I had ever run. I changed shorts and shirt and then decided I should probably change socks because I was getting a hot spot on the ball of my right foot. After taking my socks off I was amazed at how much sand I had on my feet. I really couldn’t tell just running. I rinsed them off good and put on dry socks and told Adam to keep the duct tape handy as I may need to use it if the new socks didn’t help the hot spots. I grabbed some PB&J sandwiches, chips, and bottle refills and was off for the final loop.

I’m not gonna lie – it was TOUGH to convince myself to go back out on the last loop. I just kept telling myself that I was on the LAST lap. Funny the mental games you play with yourself . The last loop was pretty brutal and kicked my butt. Up to this point, I had run all of the first loop including all hills, the second loop I ran about 90% of it and walked a few of the uphill sections for a break. The last loop was a constant battle internally of whether or not I was on an uphill section that I could convince myself was OK to walk. As I left Nature Center aid station for the long stretch around DamNation I told Adam I needed to take my headlamp because it could be a really long time before I made it back to get it.

Turns out I would have been fine. I made it back to the Park Road aid station with sunlight to spare. It was awesome to see Adam again again and he was great to tell me that I was just a few miles away from hitting a new goal. I left out of Park Road at basically a catatonic shuffle rather than a run. I had hoped to finish between 10 and 11 hours. I knew coming into the last aid station that I was going to miss that by a bit but still felt like my secondary goal of finishing in under 12 hours would be easily within reach. I kept pushing and with about a mile left the sun sank enough that the headlamp became necessary. It’s weird the way the headlamp kinda gets you in a tunnel vision environment and how surreal everything feels at that point!

I came up the last uphill section that left about 1/3 of mile to go and pushed to get back to an actual run instead of stumble. I could see the lights of the Dogwood aid station and it hit me that I was actually finishing!! As I crossed the finish line at 11 hours and 35 minutes there was a wonderful lady handing out medals and the best hugs you can imagine. I was soaking wet from sweat, salt crusted to my face and arms and I am sure smelling like death baking in the sun and she wanted a hug…. I though you are one crazy lady and just basically laid my shoulders against her. She said – That’s not a hug – give me a REAL hug… I gotta admit that was a great feeling to finish up the race with someone truly proud of each and every finisher and undeterred by the raw effects of 11 1/2 hours on your feet sweating and trudging along.

I collapsed into a chair after that and Adam helped me get comfortable and off my feet for a bit. It was still quite a while before David would be done with his 100 and I desperately wanted a shower and clean clothes. Adam drove me back to the hotel so I could shower, change and get something to eat.

We headed back to Hunstville State Park around 9:30pm and caught up with Jon Wilson who had also grabbed a shower and some hydration. The plan was to stay out and watch David come in. It was really amazing to see the 100 milers coming in and changing for cooler temps and getting fresh batteries for the headlamps and watching their strength as they headed back out in the cool pitch black night. David ended up crossing the finish at 1:37am and a total time of 19:37 hitting his goal of a sub 20 100!

This was one of the toughest events I have ever participated in. Jon Wilson said it best when he said “It’s gonna hurt, then it’s gonna hurt some more, and then when you think it’s getting better.. it’s gonna hurt even more”. My feet hurt like they never have before, my legs hurt even when at a slow shuffle, my arms and back hurt…. but it was the greatest feeling ever! No one can quite explain it to you – you just have to experience it yourself!

So this makes my second “Ultra” event. When I finished the 50K back in April, I for whatever reason didn’t really feel like I was a true Ultrarunner. So I thought the 50 miler was my entry into the exclusive club. After finishing the Rocky Raccoon 50… I still don’t feel like I am really an Ultrarunner. So to answer the question I have heard several times in the past week – Are you going to do a 100 miler next?? Yes… yes I would love to have Rocky be my first 100 next year. But… chances are that even with that I still wont feel like a real Ultrarunner.

What will it take? I really don’t know. I do think that Adam summed it up pretty well though when he said that what was most inspiring thing was not the crazy fast runners that looked like they were floating along each loop. Don’t get me wrong – I hope to be able to run it like those guys some day. However to see the folks(some in their 70s) that lined up at the start of the day on Saturday, knowing full well that they would be pushing it to finish in the 30 hours before the cutoff…. but yet loop after loop had the mental toughness to head back out with a smile on their face. The ones that did not look like your typical runners…. either bigger, older, slower… whatever the case – they went out with the attitude they were going to finish .. not matter what. That’s what its all about!!

To all of the Tejas Trails team, the volunteers, the crewing folks, the aid station teams, and everyone that helped make this event possible – THANK YOU!! A HUGE thanks to Adam for giving up a 4 days with his family and leaving his wife at home with a newborn and his 3 year old with the flu to come down, walk miles on end, handle my sweaty dirty clothes, refill water bottles, and always keep pushing me to help me cross the finish line. And a HUGE thanks to my wife and family for putting up with all of the training and hours of running to get me to this point! This was one of my favorite events I have ever participated in and it is because of all of their efforts that made it that way!

Slow down….

Posted on January 14, 2013 by ssnaugher

It has been just over a month and a half since I have added anything to the blog. Sorry… I couldn’t remember the password…

No not really… I have just been tired. For whatever reason I was tired of social media. The Facebook posts were pretty much automated from DailyMile and a few comments here and there, the Twitter posts were almost gone, and the blog…. well it collected dust for 46 days. So am I done with social media? No – I just needed to slow down and take a break. Social media has been a huge catalyst for the fitness aspects of life and introduced me to some really cool and inspiring people. It has brought a world of people, experiences, advice, and camaraderie right to my laptop. So no, I haven’t given up social media… I have just slowed down.

Through social media, I have also been introduced to some amazingly crazy and talented athletes and runners. And… through them I have been introduced to PRSFit – a great coaching group out of Colorado. And through PRSFit, I have been introduced to …. slowing it down.

Now from a running perspective this has been an entirely new approach to running. For most of my running experience I have been of the mindset …. if you want to run faster, you have to run faster. So coincidentally I had the mindset that each and every run was supposed to be all-out and if you weren’t completely dead tired at the end…. you didn’t go hard enough. Additionally I was of the mindset that more running, more racing, and more activity has to be better… right?? PRSFit is working on changing that.

As I mentioned in my last post, the training from PRSFit is all based upon heart rate which triathletes have relied on for years but few runners have embraced. With that, the bulk of the training is in Zone 2 of the 5 zones – putting it at what should be an easy conversational pace.

The process has been a challenge for me. The first challenge was the heart rate monitor itself. I opted for the Garmin Premium Heart Rate Monitor that was supposed to be more comfortable. I thought that with the long miles that I would be putting in this year, it would be worth the extra $10 to go with it over the normal “hard strap”. I am not sure if I just got a defective unit, or if it is very finicky in the way that it works, or if it works better for some that others… but the bottom line was that I got very sporadic results with it. It seemed that with the first few runs it did OK. However after a month or so of using it, it became crazy in the feedback… jumping from a heart rate in the 150s to over 240 within a matter of seconds without changing pace or effort. The longer I would run… the more unreliable the results were… to the point that it would just consistently show my heart rate above 240. I cleaned it per the recommendations, I changed the battery in it per the recommendations, and I constantly tried changing the position and tightness of the monitor, position of my watch, and even upgraded my watch to a newer version…. all with the same results… nothing that I could rely on. The final straw was a few weeks ago while on a long run it was showing my heart rate at 180 even though I slowed to a walk to see if I could get it down to where it was supposed to be. Finally I went “old-school” and just took my pulse for 10 seconds and multiplied it by 6… turns out my heart rate was 150-ish instead of 180!

So I reluctantly ordered the original “hard strap” version or the heart rate monitor, wondering if I would experience the same unreliable performance. Surprisingly… it was VERY reliable and VERY consistent and quite honestly – I think it is actually more comfortable than the premium version. The only drawback is that I believe I have spent the last 3 months training in a zone higher than I should have been. I knew that the original heart rate monitor was wrong on the high end(240-250) but … I didn’t think about it being wrong on the lower end as well. With the new monitor it is consistently showing me running about 5 beats per minute higher than I thought I would be at a given pace. So…. I am back to … I need to slow down more.

This can be frustrating when you have over the past 2 years worked hard to increase your speed to be able to keep up with other runners in your normal group and feel like you are making good progress. The drawback that I never took into consideration was that I was making progress, but putting a huge load on my body unnecessarily. While I was increasing my speed to keep up with everyone… I was pushing myself to work in a higher Zone 4 heart rate, while they were most likely working in a lower Zone 2 or 3. So… I am resigning myself to actively run slower… so much so that I have removed the pace from my Garmin data fields I see while out. Now I only look at my heart rate, total time, and time of day. This works out perfectly since my runs are all based upon total time instead of mileage now.

The downside to this… well for the time being I will most likely be running solo again. The premise of running in a lower zone 2 is that – as you get your base built your speed will start to increase without increasing your heart rate and in the long run(no pun intended) you will make greater improvements and extend your running. Sure – I miss the group runs and the social aspect! And… getting out of the bed early on a 18 degree morning is a lot tougher when there is no one there to keep you accountable. But… hopefully in the coming months my speed will increase to the point I can join everyone again at a much lower heart rate.

This is a great post on the Altra Zero Drop blog that talks about Base Training and why it is so important and why heart rate based training is a much better approach – even if it is tough to slow down in the beginning.

For now – I will concentrate on accurately running in Zone 2. I have the Rocky Raccoon 50 miler coming up in three weeks. My weekly mileage is slowing increasing and hopefully I will have enough under my belt by February 2nd to successfully complete my first 50 miler!

As far as social media goes… Who knows. I don’t intend to completely drop it but I am going to slow down and keep it from pushing me to keep up!

Wise Like Yoda

Posted on November 29, 2012 by ssnaugher

Life has happened over the past few months and free time is becoming pretty non-existent.(Not that it really was there beforehand but ….) Since Chicago my posts have been few and far between. So whats up?? Well work, kids, the normal stuff… but the training schedule has been a little different. Back in the summer it was crazy but I was pretty much making it up as I went along. If I wanted to run 8 miles great… if I wanted to run 4 miles.. whatever… swimming was in the afternoon after work, I biked on Tuesdays and on the weekends as I felt like it. All in all… I was just winging it based upon what I thought I could handle on any given day. Did that work?? Dunno… I guess it got me through the triathlons and even got me through the Half Ironman. However this was a huge departure for me from what I have felt comfortable with in the past. Normally I want a plan with specifics and those have always been ones that I downloaded as free plans.

So what is different now? Well after Chicago and the whole broken/injured toe deal and missing my goal of a sub 4 hour marathon I felt like I was missing something. I felt like I should be progressing more and more predictably. The true “Aha moment” came after I starting looking back at my swimming. I started this past spring with pretty much ZERO swimming experience, and ZERO comfort level and on my first triathlon I freaked out in the open water and after taking 18 minutes to finish a 500 yard swim I said I would never do one of those again. Fast forward to September after I had worked with a swim coach. I had gone from completely being freaked out in the water to completing a 1.2 mile swim and the difference was a coach.

So the thoughts started weighing on me then… would I be better off working with someone to help me improve all of the three activities? Did I really need a coach to help me run?? I mean really… all you do is just put one foot in front of the other and repeat right? But… this next year I have some lofty goals… I am attempting my first 50 miler in February, and I am planning on attempting my first full Iron Distance triathlon next summer, and ultimately I would like to get my marathon times where qualifying for Boston is not a hour out of my grasp. So… maybe working with someone would be beneficial.

A couple of my friends David Murphy and Jon Wilson were both working with a coach and seeing results. If these two guys could see results from working with someone… then maybe there was something to it. These were already good ultra distance runners and ones that I wouldn’t have really thought about using a coach. So after checking with David, I finally decided I would give it a shot and see what it was all about. I reached out to PRSFit and had about a 30 minute conversation with Coach Jeff where he and I talked about everything from what my past activities and results looked like to what my goals were going forward. Where he really got my attention is when he said that at my age there was still options for dramatic improvements and that I was a pretty good candidate. So we agreed to start working together within a week or so to make sure my toe was at a point where I could start training.

The premise that coach Jeff and PRSFit work on is based on heart rate training. I had seen lots of cyclist using heart rate monitors when we would leave for group rides… but I really had no idea what it all meant. I however had not really heard of runners utilizing it.

The first week that coach put together a training plan was interesting. The first day I had a max heart rate test that consisted on running one mile as hard as I could(not necessarily as fast as I could) with the heart rate monitor. That was it…. not run one mile as hard as you can followed up by a 5 miler afterwards … that seemed weird. Then two days later I had a Aerobic Threshold run which consisted of 30 minute run at a 5K pace with a push the last 3 minutes of the run. This seemed a little more like a real run. However this felll on our Thursday club run day so I ended up running 5 miles first with the group and then after we got back, I went back out and did the Aerobic Threshold run. As Coach Jeff and I were reviewing the results, the subject of two runs being completed on that day was discussed. I made mention that I figured that the workouts he had scheduled for me were the minimums and that as long as I got those in I was free to add to them as well. Coach patiently explained to me that I was incorrect and that it would be best for me to follow the plan. After pleading my case that I was used to running 5-6 days a week over the past 6 months, Coach explained that I was probably over-training and not effectively using my workouts to improve but rather just adding empty miles to the week. Ok … Ok… fine I will stick to the plan and nothing else… grrrr…

So the next run I had scheduled was a Zone 2 run(there are 5 heart rate zones in the training, with zone 1 being the lowest and zone 5 being the highest). I started worrying about that run after looking at my performance from the aerobic threshold run. Based upon my estimation a zone 2 run would put me running almost a 10 minute mile. That just seemed like it was completely incorrect. I checked with some of the others in the PRSFit Facebook group and everyone kinda chuckled at my question… apparently that is a very common concern when getting started in the program. Turns out my zone 2 on the next run was actually in the 9:15 – 9:30 range.

The next couple of weeks were tough. I mostly had all zone 2 runs. This sounds OK from a high level … I mean you get to run slower and easier so it should be better right? Well the downside is that the group that I had been doing just about every one of my runs with were completely gone after about 5 minutes after we started running. I was stuck staring at my Garmin almost constantly and watching them pull farther and farther away. This was a little concerning at first. I confided in Jon that I wasn’t sure things were going the way they were supposed to. He assured me that if I stuck with it, I would see how it worked and that it would indeed work. So… I ran pretty much by myself the next couple of weeks. I would at times, start with the group or meet the group part of the way through the run, but they would always end up going on ahead.

I ran the Bass Pro Marathon a few weeks after this with the goal of again breaking 4 hours. I started out way too fast and never slowed down. At mile 23 it all came apart on me and I finished at 4:11. Afterwards Coach Jeff reviewed my results and told me that I pretty much ran the whole marathon in Zone 4 and that I would not be able to improve much with that type of strategy and effort. After thinking about it – it started to make sense. If I am keeping my heart rate in a manageable place, it uses less energy, places less stress on the body, and is more efficient overall than going all out for as long as I can.

Since then I have really tried heard to make sure the workouts match exactly what Coach is asking for. I have noticed that my zone 2 runs are now in the 8:40 8:45 range now. So my pace is starting to improve without increasing the heart rate. Coach has also added several “Build” or progressive runs where I start at zone 2 and gradually build up to a zone 4 effort. What I am finding now is that zone 4 is really hard. Not necessarily hard to get to zone 4… that is the easy part. Getting into zone 4 and keeping it at zone 4 is TOUGH. The paces I am seeing are some that I really didn’t think I was capable of doing just a few months ago. I have had several runs that my zone 4 puts me in a 7:50 pace – completely new territory for me!

Coach has also been working a swim workout into the schedule for me once a week for now until triathlon season comes back around. After I get through Rocky Raccoon 50 miler in February I will start working on cycling and improving all three sports.

Coach has also put strenght workouts in my schedule…. I hate strength workouts!! I would rather just go run than be bored to death working out with weights and some of the crazy stuff that is on the schedule. Heck I have to google just about all of the strength training schedule just to understand what I am supposed to be doing. I need it simple like – do pushups, do situps… etc. But I can tell a difference on the strength training too… so maybe he does know what he is talking about….

So will it make a difference? I don’t know for sure just yet – it is still too early to say. However it is already if nothing else, helping me believe I can improve. So for now… I will trust in the program and believe that Coach Jeff is “Wise Like Yoda” as David Murphy likes to put it

2012 Dogwood Canyon 25K Recap

Posted on November 1, 2012 by ssnaugher

This past weekend was my first experience with the Dogwood Canyon Trail Race. Similarly to last year, it fell two weeks after the Chicago Marathon but instead of hesitating to sign up with just two weeks in between, this year I bit the bullet and signed up. I was tempted to sign up for the 50k but better senses won out and I registered for the 25k and I will be the first to admit – 25k was all that I wanted on this course.

First things first – the packet pickup was in my opinion one of the most well organized packet pickups that I have ever been to(Including Chicago!). The Bass Pro Conference Center in Springfield pretty easy to find and after going in – they had plenty of signs to get you where you needed to be. I was in and out of there in under 5 minutes. The first table printed a ticket to show I was registered and they sent me down the line to pickup the race bid, then the goodie bag, then the tech shirts – all of which was seamless! Ultramax was the official timing services provider so I am not sure if the organization aspect came from there or from Bass Pro – but either way – GREAT JOB!

So on Sunday I knew how long it would take me to get to Dogwood Canyon since we were just there with the kids about a month ago. I was most worried about parking but they had plenty of parking attendants to help and it went smoothly as well. I got ready at the car and headed to the pavilion to meet up with other friends. Right as I got to the pavilion though I realized I had left my Gu in the car and had to go back(This would prove to be a bad mistake at the end of the day).

I was able to meet about half a dozen fellow members from the Idiots Running Club though walking back to the car and back. The head idiot – David Murphy met me when I was just about back to the car. We said hey and moved on.

Tim and I had agreed to stick together through this one since it was my first time at Dogwood and he wasn’t really looking to set any records. Starting out it was a little cramped as races normally are during the first mile or so. The first mile is pretty much all on the asphalt roads inside the park. Then we finally went off-road somewhere around mile 1 and had our first stream crossing. I was able to pick a fairly shallow spot so I just barely got my feet wet(this would all go by the wayside within the next mile).

Not long after you have the first stream crossing, you start up the first hill. It is a little deceiving at first because you go up a moderate hill that plateaus for just a short distance before turning back and the real hill begins. I had been warned that I had not experienced HILLS like what I was going to go through at Dogwood. I kinda just blew that off, thinking that Ouachita Trail we climbed rocks to get up the mountain so how hard could it be? I found out the answer pretty quickly. I had been indoctrinated into the idea of walking the steep uphills on trail runs so that you can conserve energy and fly down the downhills. Even with this methodology – the first hill seemed like it almost had you climbing up at a negative incline. There literally was no running, jogging, shuffling, or any resemblance of anything close to those on the first hill(at least with the crowd I was around). It was all everyone could do to just climb it one step at a time.

Dogwood Elevation

Tim has always been pretty fast at walking the uphills. He leaves me like he is still running and I am walking when I am going up as fast as I can. So he hung back a bit and walked a little further at the top to let me catch up. Then the downhill came…. it was AWESOME! I have really come to enjoy the downhill sections of trail running. I tried to keep short quick steps take me down the hill and with the downhill sections at Dogwood that turned out to be screaming fast paces. Looking back at my splits on the course I had several splits with paces in the low 5:00 range – which is no where near what I could run on a flat course trying my hardest. The added challenge of trying to keep footing made it a blast.

It was really just more of the same after the first hill. The trail was marked really well and have volunteers there at the junctions and turn off points differentiating the 15k, 25k, and 50k routes. It seemed like as soon as you finished a downhill you barely had time to regroup before you were headed back up another equally steep hill.

At the second aid station I had my first opportunity to fuel on boiled potatoes. I have had several people tout the advantages of potatoes on ultras and I never really thought it would be appealing but turns out it is pretty good to give you a break from the mundane GU option.

I really only had a couple of issues to deal with the whole day in terms of being uncomfortable. During two of the downhill sections, I ended up rolling my foot to the outside edge of the foot. When that happened I had some pretty intense pain from the toe but it was short lived – maybe because I had no choice but to keep moving to keep from eating dirt. The second issue became the real deal for the day when about 2 hours in I noticed I had pretty much soaked my running shirt with sweat and had not thought to use tape on my nipples that morning. I knew it was not going to be pretty and sure enough about 10 miles in I started getting the first hint blood soaking through my shirt. By mile 14 it was pretty noticeable and pretty painful. One of the volunteers at the last aid station offered my bandaids which I quickly accepted and was thankful for the relief.

After the last aid station I kept thinking we were just about a mile and a half away from the finish. Tim questioned that and thought my GPS must have been off. Sure enough – we got to the 15.5 mile mark and were still nowhere near the finish line. By the time we got to the top of the last hill Tim said we were close and we let loose on the downhill section. We ended up crossing the finish line at about 16.4 miles. I noticed there were several folks that had made their way down to the stream under the bridge by the finish line and that seemed like an awesome idea so I joined them and the water felt awesome!

All in all it was a fun run! There is definitely a much more laid back feeling to trail runs and a much different approach to running them.

Sharena and the kids met me after finishing and we hung out there to watch the folks that were running the 50k come in. It was cool seeing the first 50k finishers come across the finish line – pretty amazing runners!! It was also cool to hear their stories as they cooled off in the stream at the finish and hear the similar comments about how crazy the hills were.

We hung out until David Murphy(AKA Pink Tutu Guy) came across the finish line. David did his traditional cartwheel at the end to wrap up his run. If you don’t know why David does the whole pink tutu deal – you need to – Check It Out Here.

After congratulating David and chatting with Jon Wilson at the car we all headed out. I thoroughly enjoyed the Dogwood Canyon run and plan on doing it again next year. Will I step up to the 50k next year…. dunno…

The only low point of the day was really about 13 hours after the start of the race when I went in to the grocery store to get a few things and was checking out. When the cashier told me the total I opened my wallet and was in an instant panic when I saw that my credit and debit cards were all gone. Apparently I must have left the door to my car unlocked when I went back to get my GU. Talk about panic, confusion and complete infuriation all at once!! I was able to get home and get everything cancelled ASAP and so far have not seen any unauthorized purchases – so keep your fingers crossed!

Push the Limits

Posted on September 19, 2012 by ssnaugher

It’s been almost 3 weeks since I last posted anything. Partly due to the training schedule I have been trying to keep up with and partly due to the kids starting back to school and getting the routine worked out, but probably more due to the fact I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go with the next post. I have had several posts in mind over the past month or so but never felt like one was pulling me to put it out there yet.

This post may end up a rambling mess but is probably more of what is going on internally with me. As of this coming Sunday, I will be 2 weeks out from running the Chicago Marathon again. I have had a couple of people ask why I wanted to run it again. The short answer is that it was an amazing experience as my first marathon. The long answer is a little more complicated.

This time last year, I was pretty much filled with doubt and anxiety over whether or not I could complete a marathon. I had just torn my meniscus and training had gone downhill in a hurry and Chicago was even a limited possibility for a few weeks. In March I lined up on the chilly streets of Little Rock for what I hoped to be a new PR on a marathon. Then just a short 5 weeks later I joined a crazy bunch of runners that all thought running through the woods and up a mountain for 31-50 miles that day sounded fun. In April I also jumped in a lap pool for the first time ever and made a fool out of myself with the “serious swimmers” thinking… “Is that guy OK?!”. In July my first shot at a triathlon was hugely intimidating but yet thrilling at the same time.

Over the past year the triathlons have become a little more comfortable, and the running miles, a little quicker and longer. What I didn’t realize sitting on the side of the starting corrals in Chicago last year waiting to line up, is that I was starting something that had no finish line. Sure, I crossed the finish line in Chicago that day in a humbling 5 hours and 18 minutes, but the bigger picture was that I had started something much bigger and more important…. figuring out what drives me.

These sports/activities(I really don’t like to think of them as sports since that implies athletes and I still don’t really consider myself an athlete) have been an amazing addition to my daily life. They have taught me a lot about the way that I work and what keeps me moving forward through times when I would rather just sit it out and tell myself “Ahhh you gave it a heck of a try”.

Through this process there have people along the way that have helped me challenge the ideas of what is really possible and more importantly – what I am possible of doing. I think that is one of the biggest things ANYONE can have – regardless of what they are trying to do! A few years ago, a marathon seemed like it was something completely past my limit of possibilities, much less an ultramarathon. Heck – I hadn’t even really heard of anything like that. But yet, through this process it has become clear that there really is no limit. I know… there will be the analytical types that will say… yes … yes there is a definite limit to everything. I would still challenge that!

I recently watched a special on David Blaine and why he keeps pushing himself to do these crazy stunts. Now whether or not you like the guy or not, you have to give it to him for pushing past the conceived limits of what we can do. Whether or not you buy into the illusionist side of him is a different story, but just the feats he has completed and his drive to never have someone tell him he can’t is amazing. Dean Karnazes is another one that I think has helped masses of people believe that you are only limited by what you believe is achievable. Again – like the guy or not you have to give him credit for bringing the idea of ultra-running to the mainstream and thus helping folks believe that a marathon is not the longest distance the body can withstand. I also find it extremely amusing and disturbing that females WERE NOT ALLOWED to run marathons up until just about 40 years ago because it was believed their bodies could not hold up to it and their “innards” would fall out! There are an awful lot of women that blow past me running and I have yet to see any innards laying on the asphalt… but I guess I will keep a look out.

Having people that you know and have personal experience with that push the limits of what’s possible is incredibly important. I am fortunate that I can say I have friends that have a never quit mentality, friends that bike back to back 100 mile days, friends that run 100 mile races like they are going out for a morning stroll, friends that compete at an elite level, friends that compete in world championships, but most importantly friends that even though they compete at those levels still go on a run with me.

So as I look to Chicago in a couple of weeks, I am running it again to remove the doubt I had in my mind last year, and to push the limits of what I thought I could do on that course. It was an amazing experience last year, but even after finishing it I still had doubt. I am hoping to break 4 hours this year if all the pieces come together. I still have one more triathlon for the season coming up this weekend as well and I hope to push the limits of what I thought I could do. Then after Chicago I will switch on the training mode to get ready to try to complete the 50 mile race at Rocky Raccoon in February.

The big thing that I have learned is that I wont cross the finish line with any of these races. I am simply just pushing the finish line a little farther and farther and I hope to never say that was the limit. Having people around to help you believe that you can achieve the next (Fill in the blank) is critical and I hope to always have that and hope that you have someone that you can look to for that!!

50 Shades of Crazy

Posted on August 26, 2012 by ssnaugher

Apparently there is some crazy book out right now that has women going nuts over it. From what I understand it is a erotic book targeted and marketed towards women, which has some people up in arms and others jumping for joy. Well that all just sounds crazy to me. So, I had a better idea… 50 Shades of Crazy.

What’s my story going to be about? Well, it definitely has to have something centered around the whole 50 idea… and to keep things simple I will throw in a little “crazy” to go along with it and it has to be something that people find controversial. Ok… I think I’ve got it! Here goes…

The sun wasn’t up yet in the woods outside of Huntsville Texas, but yet somewhere around 700 crazy looking people were huddled together waiting. You could feel the tension in the air. Some were zoned out in a zombie like stare… others were laughing and joking like they were at a party. The still of the morning was broken by a loud gunshot(or maybe a bull horn… I don’t know yet). The gunshot(or bullhorn) sent people scrambling through the woods… some letting out a wild scream as they ran.

Well… that’s all I have so far… pretty exciting huh?!? If your answer was – “eh… not so much”, I have great news… It gets CRAZIER! This is not going to be a work of fiction. No, this is going to be based on real events! Real crazy people… and I mean CRAZY people. There will be those that think this is an intense and thrilling story! But, there will also be those that argue that is just plain nuts!

I will have to finish the story after February 2nd 2013 though. You see I need to get the first hand experience to really be able fill in the rest of the details. It is going to be epic… and A LOT of crazy. What am I talking about?? The Rocky Raccoon Ultra Run of course!!

I have officially lost my sanity and officially committed myself to the nuthouse(also known as the Rocky Raccoon Trail Run). So what’s the big deal? Well it will be my first 50 mile race! I am not sure what to think or expect about this. The intro to the story above is just what I imagine it will be like on that morning in February waiting to start the trek through the woods with a whole lot of other crazy runners. This will be my second ultramarathon. My first was Ouachita Trail 50K – which for non-runners(and not really interested folks) is a little over 31 miles. That race was really tough and really fun at the same time.

I have wanted to target a 50 miler since I first started running seriously. However, I always thought it was going to be one of those “one-day” type races. Well after running Ouachita this past April and conquering the never ending rocks, and Pinnacle Mountain, I decided that I wanted my first 50 miler to be on a little more level ground. In talking with David Murphy(the Chief Idiot in the Idiots Running Club) he said Rocky Raccoon was night and day different in terms of elevation and rocks from Ouachita. So for the last 4 months I have debated on whether or not I could do this. Finally, after coming to the realization that I would never do it unless I signed up… I officially registered a few weeks ago with little fanfare or announcement to anyone. Why? Well a couple of reasons… first I am still a little shell shocked that I am actually committed to that distance now, and secondly I didn’t want to tell anyone until I was really sure I was not going to back out.

Well, now I have no choice. I have made it publicly known and I WILL finish it! I am not sure what to expect in terms of the training, the race, or even the weather and environment in Huntsville. I am very quickly learning that I am a winter runner and love running when the temps are in the 30s and 40s. Hopefully that bodes well for me as we are getting out of another brutally hot and miserable summer of running. I have never really attempted the prescribed back to back long runs that the ultras come with. I hope my body can hold up to that. Most importantly – I hope it is a blast to train for and complete this race!

I know there are several folks that will be ready to put me in a straight jacket and lock me in the rubber room. I still haven’t worked up the courage to tell my mom yet(funny how at 40 years old… I still worry about that stuff). Who knows… I probably have gone crazy… but I wouldn’t have it any other way!!

So for now… the rest of this story(which by the way, will blow that other 50 Shades book out of the water) will have to wait for publishing. Until then… you can check out David Murphy’s video recap of the 2012 Rocky Raccoon 100 miler he completed… and yes I said 100 miler(he is the real deal… I am just an idiot in training!)

You Gotta Have The Right Ankle

Posted on May 22, 2012 by ssnaugher

This past week was a killer week – not in terms of training but in terms of just sheer volume of commitments and activities. I had my 84 year grandfather in town, my mom in town, my 5 year old’s preschool graduation, my 3 year old’s preschool orientation, my daughters normal 8 hours of dance each week, dance pictures, a dance recital, and to top it all off the last soccer game for my son to coach. So you might expect that I was not able to get in a normal week of training due to the schedule but you would be wrong. I didn’t get in a normal week of training but it really had nothing to do with all the other activities. As much as it pains me to say – I think I am going to have to admit that I am injured again.

As of tomorrow it will have been one week since I last ran. That may not seem like a big deal but that is the longest I have gone without running since last Thanksgiving. A week ago last Saturday I met the normal group for a quick trail run before I had the soccer games and the rest of the crazy weekend schedule. This is a trail we have all ran multiple times before. However Tim went down within the first mile and was able to just roll, and then Kendall went down right after we crossed the first mile and fell hard on a rock. His wrist immediately swelled up pretty badly. Needless to say we were all a little more cognizant of the rocks at this point. Within the last mile of the run though, I was on a quick little downhill and rolled my ankle pretty good… not badly enough that I fell, but enough that I turned the air blue when it happened. I kept running and finished up the run without much complaint, especially after seeing Kendall’s wrist after we got back… it was getting much bigger. It turns out Kendall actually broke his wrist when he caught himself on the rock.

The rest of the day I was limping around thinking it was just a simple ankle roll. Sunday and Monday I still was walking with a limp, but by Tuesday I was able to walk without noticing it much and I was itching to go for a run so I asked Devra if she could meet on Wednesday morning for a run. Turns out I should have probably waited another few days. I started out limping on the run but fully expected it to loosen up after I got going. By the 2 1/2 mile mark it was aching with every step I took and the limp was much more noticeable. At this point I even thought I might just walk back but since I had talked Devra into meeting me there I didn’t want to bail out. I ended up finishing up the 5 1/2 mile loop but by the time I got back I could hardly walk on my right foot.

For the rest of last week it didn’t seem to get any better. The weird thing is that when I get up in the mornings, it does seem to feel somewhat better, but after I get to walking on it it starts swelling on the outside ankle and just behind the ankle. By mid-afternoon it is starting to ache and by bedtime it is throbbing and hurting along the outside edge of the bottom of my foot as well. So I figured it must just be that I didn’t give myself time to heal from the ankle roll and needed a few days off again. That was last Wednesday and I haven’t ran since then. The frustrating and concerning thing is that it doesn’t seem to be getting any better in the past week with no running.

So now I am starting to worry. It is not swelling like an ankle sprain/roll has in the past and there is no bruising around it. The area right behind the ankle bone has a very noticeable knot that is sensitive to the touch and swells throughout the day. I had told myself that if it wasn’t better by yesterday morning I would make an appointment with the sports doc. As luck with have it, he couldn’t get me in yesterday and I had to wait until tomorrow to get in.

My lovely ankle

At this point I have no idea what is wrong. I have googled everything I can think of around this subject and get all kinds of issues that might be the culprit. None of them are anything I want to mess with since they all say that I would need to be off of it several weeks. The closest thing I can see that matches up is Peroneal Tendinitis. There are apparently a couple of tendons that run right behind the ankle that connect to the bottom of the foot and it is somewhat common after an ankle sprain for these to be come inflamed. I don’t know… sounds like it might be it but who knows. The only thing I know for sure is that I am going batty without being able to run. I know it has only been a week but it seems like I have totally given up running. My major concern is that I don’t want to lose any of the progress I have gained in terms of distances and pace over the past 5 months. It finally seemed like I was really making progress and actually running without any issues or pains.

At this point, as I mentioned before on my post before seeing the doc on my meniscus issue – all I can do is wait and hold my breath hoping for good news. Hopefully I will have a post tomorrow evening that outlines just that – a plan for a quick recovery and to be back out running in the next week or so. Until then I will just mope and feel sorry for myself.

Ouachita Trail – My First 50K Recap

Posted on April 24, 2012 by ssnaugher

In a nutshell – Ouachita was AWESOME!! Was it hard??- unbelievably – but an experience that I will always remember!! I wont go into mile by mile recap on this post – not much sense in that… there were ROCKS and LOTS of them! However I will hit some of the high points and low points to hopefully do the event justice. Additionally I have created a video to help document my first one.

Going down to Maumelle AR on Friday was a little worrisome. It was my first trip that I was making for a race without my family along. To make matters worse – my five year old broke my heart as I started to leave when he cried and asked me to please not go because he would miss me… Talk about a hard step out the door!! But… from what Sharena said he was back playing as normal within just a bit. Just north of Conway I ran into the rain that had been forecasted. And… it wasn’t sprinkles.. it was pouring. That gave a little cause for concern when thinking about the fact, that in less than 12 hours I would be lining up to trek through the trails.

I went straight to the packet pickup instead of checking in at the hotel first just because packet pickup closed at 7pm and it was 6pm by the time I rolled into Little Rock. Packet pickup was pretty uneventful other than dashing through the rain to get under the pavilion. The folks there were awesome and had me in and out of there in literally about 2 minutes. On the way out – David Murphy and Charley Hogue passed me coming into the campground so I went back to catch up with some of the head Idiots in the IRC. They were setting up tents for the night in the cold rain so we only got to chat for a few minutes.

The biggest concern I had at this point was checking in to the hotel and getting some carbs and off to bed. However I realized after checking the GPS that if you search for hotels by distance from Maumelle Park and it shows there is a hotel 4 miles away – it could be 30 minutes away if it is on the other side of the Arkansas River. Luckily I found something a little closer and the original hotel let me cancel. I wanted to get to bed early that evening and actually laid down around 9:30 but the nerves got the best of me and I finally fell asleep a little after 11 with the alarm set for 4am since check-in started at 5am and I wanted to be early for my first.

At check-in on Saturday morning it was definitely a much different vibe that I had ever experienced with marathons or half marathons. Everyone was really laid back. No one seemed uptight about positions, or lining up, or paces. After a short briefing by the RD(who was hilarious) everyone headed out to the road to start pretty casually. Quite honestly I can’t even remember whether they blew a horn, fired a gun, or just yelled go… I was pretty nervous and just remember started to run.

The first 2 1/2 miles are on Pinnacle Valley Road leading up to the Ouachita State Park. So again – pretty normal running at this point other than everyone kinda settling to a less than frantic pace. I knew before I had gotten a half mile into it I had made a mistake with the waist pack I was using for the FIRST TIME(I know… only an idiot would do that… but at least I earned my Idiots Running Club shirt I was wearing). I wanted a two bottle pack so I could carry Gatorade in one bottle and water in the other. So I opted for the Amphipod Full Tilt 20/20 because I have some buddies that run with them an love the Amphipods. However after tightening and tightening the belt and still have it bounce all over my back – I ended up turning it around backwards to face the front which stopped the bouncing but was a nuisance throughout the rest of the day.(Plus this covered up my race number so at every check-in the volunteers had to ask my number). I almost turned around at the half mile point to go back and drop the belt… but thought that it would be really dumb to do that at this point.

We finally got to the trail entrance and the sun was up enough to see the trail pretty well. Up to this point, I had only gone on 3 trail runs with the longest being about 8 miles. So I still felt pretty green stepping off on to the trails. David Murphy describes it as “Getting into your rhythm, and doing the trail dance” as you find a grove to kinda dart from side to side over the rocks and roots and down the hills. I felt good and really anxious to get over Pinnacle Mountain.

We hit the base of Pinnacle mountain pretty quickly after getting on the trail. You pretty much know you are there when the rocks get bigger and the only direction is up. I had been warned about Pinnacle by several people and tried watching YouTube videos to get an idea but you really can’t get a full scope of this until you are pulling yourself up the big boulders on all fours. There were times going up that I kinda freaked out a bit and felt like I was losing my balance. Looking down only made matters worse. So… I tried to just keep looking up and at the next boulder to see how I was going to get up and over it. By the time I hit the summit, my legs were screaming at me and feeling like jelly. I had heard the way down wasn’t nearly as bad as going up. For me though, going down was much more intimidating. I took it slow and within just about 10 minutes was back down on the trail again and back in my trail dance.

We came to the first aid station and I really didn’t need anything at that point so I just called my number out and kept going. The trail was much like the White River Trail that I had ran on at home – plenty of rocks and roots and a single track. I ended up being behind a group of folks that were taking it pretty easy and moving fairly slow. This is probably a good thing or else I would have probably pushed faster and been worn out sooner. I overheard them talking about running a 50 miler the week before and another scheduled the week after. So I figured they probably knew what they were doing more-so that I did.

By the time we got to the first road crossing after Pinnacle, I went ahead and opened up my stride a bit and moved in front of that group. Within less than a mile we were back on the trail and I was really just behind a couple of people that were in visible distance. This part of the trail was more muddle and really sticky… even to the point that there were a few places it pulled my shoe partially off.

By the time I was at about 10 miles in, I was pretty much running alone behind one other runner. I followed him almost all the way to the turn-around and he actually paced me pretty well. He would pull ahead of me on the uphills and then I would catch him on the downhills. At about mile 13, I met the first 50K runner on the return trip. Within about 5 minutes I met the second one – Charley Hogue. Both of them looked like they were breezing through this. Meeting the 50K folks on their return trip was a blessing and a curse. At first, it encouraged me that it wasn’t much longer to the turn-around. After about 30 minutes of that though, it made me worry that I was really running slow.

I finally reached the turn-around point a little before 10am.(I remember this because one of the head aid station girls mentioned to the other voluteers that the 50 miler folks had to out of the aid station within 10 minutes to meet the cut off time). I joked with her when she asked if I wanted anything that I could sure use a car… I think she though I was serious because she said that if I really needed one she could get it … but she hoped I was OK to continue.(Note To Self – Don’t joke about those things in a trail race I guess).

The return trip was where things got tough for me. By this point I was over half way, my legs were really feeling it, and I had turned my ankle about 3 times at this point. Nothing that caused me to have any damage – but enough to get my attention and really to just irritate me that I wasn’t paying more attention.

The toughest point in the whole race was between mile 19 and 24(approximately). This was the longest stretch between aid stations and I was running pretty much all by myself. No one in front to track and no one behind me to speak of. Only the occasional runner that was still on the outbound leg broke the sound of my own breathing. At the aid station at mile 23 I got a bit of an uplift though – the volunteer told me that we only had 7.8 miles to go. My garmin was showing we were at mile 22 but he indicated that we were at a little over mile 23. I did remember that my Garmin freaked out when climbing Pinnacle Mountain when my wrist kept touching it so it apparently got off there and got worse with all of the turns and the canopy of the trees. So I felt like I had been given a mile at that point.

There was a point somewhere around mile 27 that I realized that I was not looking up for the blue blazes on the trees to mark the trail. I had been so focused on navigating the rocks that I had missed looking for the trail. When I finally looked up I couldn’t find any blazes on the trees and to make matters worse, the trail really didn’t look like a trail but rather just a huge forest of rocks. I ended up going back about 1/8th of mile and found the trail and the turn that I had missed.

The last 5 miles were rough. I was cursing the rocks at this point and turning my ankles more and more frequently. It seemed that the entire trip was uphill too. I know that it was just exhaustion but man, it took it’s toll. I began to think “I can’t wait to be back on the asphalt the last two and a half miles and run on a flat surface again”. Once back on the asphalt thought… it didn’t seem any easier and the last two miles seemed like the longest I have ever run.

I did end up seeing a snake in the last mile of the race crossing the asphalt in front of me. Not sure what kind it was but it was about 4-5 foot long and a blackish grey. I am sure there were tons of snakes that I was oblivious to and am just thankful to have not noticed them!

I ended up crossing the finish line at 7:47 and some odd seconds. The RD was the one at the finish line handing out the handmade finishers medals and she was awesome to chat with. She wanted to make sure that it was tough enough and that I had a great time. Just goes to show she really cares about the race and the participants.

Charley was freshly showered and in a lawn chair waiting at the end. Turns out he knocked out a crazy 4:21 finish and took second place. I sat and talked with him for a while as we waiting on David Murphy to finish the 50 miler. At about 10:20ish.. David came across the line and said he had a rough day and just never got into his Trail Dance Grove. Pretty darn good if you asked me… I would have told you to shoot me if I had to run another 19 miles after I crossed the finish line for the 50K.

So … what are my thoughts at this point?? I definitely want to do more of these and one day hope to move up to the 50 Miler. I also want to get better and faster – mainly to get to a point where I don’t feel so exhausted at the end. The trail run was a great change from the marathon events! Both have their pluses and minuses. However the trail run was a lot of fun – even though it was one of the toughest things I have ever done. It is a whole different experience on the trail… one that brings an even greater level of enjoyment from running. I have already started looking for the next trail run…..

The following link will take you one of the awesome photo albums of the event to give you an idea… even though the pictures really don’t do Pinnacle Mountain justice.

EnduranceBuzz.com

A Mid-Life Crisis

Posted on April 18, 2012 by ssnaugher

Apparently a few folks have mentioned that they think I must be going through a mid-life crisis with all of this crazy running junk I am doing. I mean, I get up at 5:30 to run, and run for hours at a time, just keep adding more and more running events to my calendar, and to top it off this next weekend I am going to run my longest distance to date a 50K THROUGH THE WOODS. – Those are all the things I have heard in justification that I must be going through a mid-life crisis.

Quite honestly, I like to give my wife a hard time about it since she has had a couple of her friends say they think that must be the case. It really doesn’t bother me that much but it has made me wonder – am I going through a mid-life crisis?? To better answer that question I looked it up in Websters Dictionary. The following is the actual definition of mid-life crisis -

midlife crisis

noun

a period of psychological stress occurring in middle age, thought to be triggered by a physical, occupational, or domestic event, as menopause, diminution of physical prowess, job loss, or departure of children from the home.

So… I am not really going through a period of any of that….. (especially the departure of the children from the home… just look at my DVR list of 7089 hours of Dora and you will get that one). So … is there anything else that would indicate that I am going through a mid-life crisis? Fancy sports car?? Nope – Honda CRV(pretty sexy huh). Change in appearance or dress?? Nope – same haircut and clothing style for the last 9 years… which oddly enough is when our first child was born – can’t afford any new clothes and barely can afford a haircut. Girlfriend on the side?? Nope – seems like waaay more work to an already chaotic life.. and I am happily married(hoping to get brownie points from the wife on this one so I can buy more running gear). So… really the only thing that is causing any discussion of a mid-life crisis is my passion for all things running.

Now if you were to look back at when I first started running it would take you back to 1987 when I started running track in high school.(yes that is a REALLY long time ago). Then throughout college I ran off and on – if I could fit it in between fraternity parties, and the 3 jobs I had, to keep eating. Then I took a hiatus from running for about for about 12 years. Then about 4 years ago I decided I would get back into it for a bit. That lasted all of about 6 runs since I couldn’t run more than a half a mile without feeling like my lungs were cutting of the supply of oxygen to my brain. Then my brother-in-law gave me a book – 50/50 – that outlined Dean Karnazes’ completion of 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. From there I was completely obsessed at finding out just how far you could push your body. I read all of Dean’s other books right after that and from there I was hooked. It didn’t happen overnight – it took about 6 months before I could get in the swing of running on a regular schedule and for longer distances.

Over the past 18 months though I ratcheted it up a bit though. After setting my sights on, and completing my first full marathon – I was completely hooked and it has only gotten better. I read Born to Run about a year ago and from there the idea of how far you could push the body to run was extended even farther. Add in the aspect of the social running community as well as the in-person running community and this has really been an awesome habit/hobby/obsession I have adopted.

So am I obsessed with running? YES – ABSOLUTELY!! But, I think it is a great obsession and a great outlet for stress relief, building friendships, and more importantly – getting into better health. Is it a mid-life crisis?? I can’t really see that it is… a mid-life crisis is a temporary change that does nothing to enhance your long term happiness(at least that is my opinion). Running as I see it is my outlet for long term happiness as well as a healthier and hopefully longer life.

I have recently added biking into the mix now that it is getting warmer and it is another great outlet and a huge source of enjoyment. I have also biked off and on since college(or 3rd grade if you want to count my “Black Widow” custom bike that I painted myself). So – be warned… I may become obsessed with another source of physical exertion – so get your concerns about the new mid-life crisis warning signs ready.

As I get ready to run the Ouachita Trail 50K in just 2 1/2 days – I am more confident that I have ever been in my abilities to set my sights on something and tackle it and accomplish it. I am still scared outta my mind about the actual task at hand this weekend – but I am still more confident than I have ever been. Watching the Boston Marathon this past Monday and seeing a buddy run in it has even pushed me further. I now want to, not only continue running more marathons – but I want to get faster and run farther… and who knows… maybe get to run Boston one day and run a 100 miler…..

Get prepared – you may have more things to worry about and to talk about how I must be going through a mid-life crisis. But… plan for the long-haul… I intend to make this a mid/rest-of-life crisis!

What have I done?

Posted on April 4, 2012 by ssnaugher

So it has been a little over a week and a half since I signed up for the Ouachita Trail 50K. Since then, doubt has crept in. At first the excitement of registering took over and I felt OK in the thought that I could definitely do this. Now a week and a half later and more importantly less than 3 weeks out from the actual run… my mind is starting to mess with me.

I did go on a great trail run last week to break in my new shoes and more importantly to have at least some experience on trails. Honestly it was a really fun experience. Much different that running on the road. I didn’t look down at my Garmin at all except when we stopped to decide whether or not we wanted to add another loop onto the run. So pace was never in my mind at all. It was also neat to be able to take in all of the trail and woods. It is such a surreal experience to be doing what I love without the distraction of cars, people, and the always pleasant asphalt. Another aspect that I found interesting was the amount of climbing that we did but really did not notice during the run. Of everything I took in – the most noticeable aspect was having to watch my footing and make sure I was careful in my steps and strides. I was almost paranoid about it and probably over-thinking things a bit.

I did not get in a long run last weekend so that is a little concerning to me. I am planning on a long run at some point this weekend. I would ideally like to run at least 25 at a really slow pace to see how well I hold up. With two weeks being left at that point it would be my last real test of how well conditioned I am. I did start back biking over the last week and had an awesome 26 mile ride last night on a route that I have never been able to climb the entire way without stopping. Yesterday I made it all the way without stopping and actually enjoyed the climbs. So that is encouraging.

But… running 31 miles with a mountain climb thrown in just to make it a bit harder is a whole other ball of wax. I think I will most likely be going down by myself for this one. It is about a 3 1/2 hour drive and I didn’t want the family to have to spend that much time in the car only to spend the night in a hotel and then wait most of the next day on me to finish this run and then put all the time in the car to drive back home. So I am planning on driving down by myself. One of the other guys I run with pretty regularly has run the 50 mile race and I had talked to him about going down. However he had a hamstring injury that he has been nursing back to health and it really wouldn’t be smart for him to try this. So it will just be me. This will be the first time I have tackled anything like this just by myself.

So what am I worrying about?

The distance – 31 miles is farther than I have ever ran
The mountain climb – worried that I will drain my legs before I even get 1/4 of the way through the run
The trail aspect – while I have now at least been on a trail – I have never spent that much time running on a trail and this one is a really tough trail
The logistics – never had to use a bag drop for any gear changes etc that I will be exposed to on this run
Blisters – from what I understand the run will leave you pretty wet. Not sure how I will handle running that distance if I develop blisters during the run
Snakes – OK I am a wuss – but I HATE snakes. With as warm as it has been I am worried that the snakes will be thick
The heat – since we are talking about the temperatures that brings up a good point. It was been 90 degrees twice so far in the past two weeks…. what if it gets that hot on the race day?
Getting lost – Since there will be less than 200 runners running that day and I am planning on taking a pretty slow pace – what if I get separated from the group and end up taking a wrong turn. The trails can be confusing unless you know where you are going.
Failure – I have never had a DNF(Did Not Finish) for a race. At the root of all of this that is probably what worries me the most. I don’t want to go and attempt this and come back with anything less than a finish. Even if it is 12 hours and 59 minutes – I want to finish.

Running this distance in my opinion is in a whole different league than the marathon(even though it is the shortest Ultra distance that is considered an Ultra-Marathon). The folks that I have followed that have run these type distances and particularly the ones that run them on trails are hard core runners. I still kinda feel like I am not a real runner just yet. I know, I know… everyone that laces up and steps out the door is a real runner.. blah.. blah.. blah – but I definitely wonder with this one that I have signed up for. As I have mentioned before – this blog is really for me to keep a log of the journey so hopefully I will look back on this in a year an think that I was just over-thinking this.

So for now, much like before I ran Chicago I will just have to resign myself to worrying and obsessing about this until I am out there.

Here are a few blogs that I have been reading up on to try to see what I am going to be up against;

http://mtntrailrunner.blogspot.com/2011/04/ouachita-trail-50-2011.html

http://runningtohim.blogspot.com/2010/04/ouachita-trail-50-miler.html

http://brickhousebodymind.com/transformations/cardiovascular-training/running-the-ot50-what-a-difference-a-trail-makes

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Category Archives: Trail Running