10 miles, 1:18:20 total time, 7:49 overall pace, Track

Splits:

1.) 7:35
2.) 7:58
3.) 8:06
4.) 8:00
5.) 7:58
6.) 8:00
7.) 7:51
8.) 7:59
9.) 7:51
10.)6:58

The legs were turning over pretty good tonight. I hit my stride about 4.5 miles in and cruised from there.

5 miles, 7:19 pace, Roads

It was perfect weather for a run tonight. After 4+ months of running slow, preparing for one 100 after another, I have to teach myself to run fast again. For the rest of 2007 I plan on cutting back my mileage, to somewhere around 30-50 MPW, while increasing speed. Then at the start of 2008 I will begin building up the miles again, in preparation for the 150 at McNaughton Park in mid April.

If I want to be fast and bald when I grow up, like Tony, I need to start now. You do know that Tony went bald from running so fast back in his 2:30 marathoning days, right? He hasn't slowed down enough yet to let the hair grow back. In fact, if you look closely at pictures of Tony during this years Akron Road Runner Marathon, you'll see runners behind him choking on his hair as it flies right off his head on his way to a sub 3 hour finish. So next time Tony tells you he's now old and slow, tell him you'll buy that when you see a full head of hair!

10 miles, trails

Did two of the big loops of the Stone Steps course today, I ran the first loop hard, then shortcut the hills on the second loop and took it easy.
First loop 5.5 miles, 9:38 pace
Second loop 4.5 miles, unknown pace (MUCH slower)

5 miles, 7:53 pace, Track

Mile 1: 8:15
Mile 2: 8:11
Mile 3: 8:17
Mile 4: 7:48
Mile 5: 6:53

YUT-C 50K

This report is a week late but it will have to do.

I arrived in Youngstown in plenty of time for the race and found the park right away. I didn't take the time to look into where the race actually started inside the park. It's just a state park, can't be that big or confusing, right? Wrong! I drove around for about an hour before I finally called Mike, who was in New York for work. After I woke him up, he looked up directions and became my co-pilot, getting me to the race 15 minutes before it started, thanks Mike!
I had just enough time to register and tie my shoes before the race started. I decided to start out slow and shoot for a 6:30-7:00 finish time. The trails in the park were really nice, technical with some hilly sections and good views of the lakes. The race consists of 2, 11.xx mile loops and 1, 8.xx mile loop. I was feeling a sluggish the first couple miles then picked up the pace a little. I can't really remember many details except for passing Kim a couple times in her bright pink trail goddess outfit and the fact that I got lost 4 or 5 times and ended up running about 35 miles, and standing around about 15 minutes throughout the race wondering which way to go. I hadn't looked at a course map so I had absolutely no concept of the course and there had been trail vandals messing with the course markings. I have never been as lost during a race as I was during this one. I ended up finishing around 8:15. Maybe next year I'll take a map.

5 miles, roads, 9:11 pace

I planed on going to the track for 5 miles at a 9:00 pace, but when I drove by there was a soccer game going on. I didn't think they would be too fond of me running around the field while they were playing. So I hit the road and tried to get as close to 9 min. miles as I could without knowing. It was a nice smooth run. It has been a while since I ran on the road. Now that the days are getting short I will be doing more track and road runs, as it is very hard to get in quality runs in on the trails after dark. The lack of light really slows the pace.

Cle Elum Ridge 50k

well, I finished! which is more than I can say for my last race...

The course is basically set up to consist of one long climb (16 miles, 6000 feet) and one large decent(15 miles, 6000 feet). Sure, there are little rises and falls in between but not a whole lot. The race starts off on a paved road for about a mile before going off into the woods for 30 miles of dusty, single track, motorcycle ridden trails.
My legs felt pretty good that morning so I took off down the road towards the front of the pack. About 5 minutes later I asked myself if I thought I could keep that pace, or if I even wanted to try and keep that pace. My answer to both of those questions was no. Although my legs felt fine I was definitely not fresh after running roughly 100 miles in the 6 days leading up to this race. Besides that I just wanted to enjoy myself and the trail. I took the first several miles of up hill at a more conservative pace but I was still pushing it quite a bit.
After about 8 miles I decided I had absolutely no desire to finish in anything that remotely resembled a fast time so from that point on I decided to walk most up hills. This race has two aid stations, one at mile 12, one at mile 21, so it is easy to get behind on your fuel intake. Since my breakfast consisted of 5 cookies, I was pretty hungry by the time I got to the first aid station, on top of not drinking enough and taking 1 S! cap in 2+ hours. I stayed at the aid station for about 10 minutes scarfing down all the Pringles and fig newtons I could get my hands on.
I then continued to meander up the hills enjoying the smell of pine and the deep blue skies. After completing 4 or 5 climbs that I thought were all the final climb before the long down hill, I finally reached the top of Windy pass and started the decent. I picked up the pace in the second half and did a lot more ruining, as it was all down hill.
I still never improved my eating or drinking habits. I only drank 4, 20 once bottles of water, took four S! caps and eat about 500 calories in 7.5 hours on the trail, but it was good enough to get me through the race in a comfortable manner. I crossed the in 7:27:59 just glad to have completed a Washington ultra before returning to Ohio.

This was a really great race. I am glad I had the opportunity to run it. I just hope I don't run it next year, which would mean I DNF'ED at Plain...again!