Fat Ass

the winter is a great time for running in dc. the vhtrc puts on a slew of low key (free) fat-ass-style runs. there's the holiday fat ass this weekend, the red eye, the moonlight run, martin luther king training weekend, boyers furnace, jet 50, eagle run, TWOT, reverse ring, and the mmt training runs - all of which give plenty of occasions to rack up the miles from now through february. all for a grand total of $0 beyond what it costs to get to the trail.

it couldn't come at a better time either. during the winter we tend to stay indoors more, cooped up in heated apartments. the festive fat ass is a great excuse to get out in the sun (or whatever) and run around with friends. unfortunately i have to miss the run this weekend for work, but i'm already looking forward to the next one.

now that i've officially made it into the mmt lottery (yes, pending payment tomororw) i have high hopes for this year's race. i know what i'm getting into. i know the course. i know what i need to do. my goal is to run under 30 hours, but i'll take whatever i can get. it's time to start training.

i can't wait.

MMT 09

the lottery is now open for MMT '09. it will be interesting to see how this unfolds. the vhtrc powers that be tried to make a completely transparent and fair lottery system. lottery entrants are assigned a random number between 0 and 999. these numbers are visible to all, but don't fret if you have a high number - the actual determination is based on the closing price of the dow jones industrial average on tuesday december 9th.

i (like many, i'm sure) have been looking at the list and trying to figure out where where i fit in - what numbers would have me in or out. if i'm in, what's the likleyhood that person X also gets in? i understood conceptually, but had hard time visualizing it... so i wrote a little script to give semi-live updates of potential lottery outcomes.

http://ultragood.net/mmt/waitlist.html

useless, sure... but interesting none the less.

masochist?

last weekend i ran the mountain masochist 50 miler in lynchburg, va. at the pre-race briefing, the rd talked about how he came to the name: he knew he wanted the word "mountain." his wife suggested "masochist" since, according to her, that's what ultrarunners are. he agreed. that kind of stuck with me. truth be told, i'm no masochist, and this race proved it.

we started off running about 8 miles on asphalt... it felt good to move fast, but i probably went a bit too fast and that set the stage for my unraveling. i was feeling it in the old joints by the 2nd aid station. most of the rest of the day was dirt road, with a small bit of single track trail mixed in. i was moving pretty fast - bombing the downhills and doing whatever i could on the rest. it wasn't long before the wheels came off. by the midway point my knees and ankles were screaming on the steeper downhills and i was not having the best time. that's when i thought back to the whole "masochist" thing. it hurt, but i wasn't deriving pleasure the pain. it was just pain. i'd rather be cruising along on some soft dirt trail, or hiking up a rocky hill, or doing just about anything other than pounding the pebbly road. in the end, i finished but it didn't quite leave me with the warm and fuzzies.

this weekend i went back to the basics - a mellow training run on some of the softer shenadoah trails. man, what a difference! tom and i set out without much of a plan and just played it by ear. the scenery was absolutely amazing - clear views of the surrounding mountains in peak color. undulating seas of yellow and orange. we blazed through 17 miles, stopping a few times to chat with some lost boyscouts and other such trail-folk. just and excellent day of running and a positive reminder of why we do this. it's not about the pain. it's about the beauty around us and the freedom to roam.

i wish it was fall all year.

oh deer

recently, with the sun going down a bit earlier and me being a bit more inclined to sleeping in most mornings... i've started doing some solo evening trail runs. it's a completely different animal. in the urban parks around here there are night-sounds aplenty. everything from car noise, the occasional fire truck and high schoolers drinking 40s, to the normal trail sounds of babbling brooks, creaky trees and crunching leaves. but, most notable are the deer. there's an amazing quantity of deer lurking in the woods around here. over the past year, i've seen tons during the WUS runs. you'll run by a whole group that scatters as you approach - or spot a single deer standing still paralyzed by the light of your flashlight. it's always fun to watch them skip off into the dark.

running alone last night i must have seen 20 in an area that we normally see none as a group. something about being by myself made me feel more in-tune with the surroundings. i felt like if you took a cross section of DC life at that point in time, you'd see something like this:

• college kids on their way to bars and tankedness
• people headed out for dates and dinners and what not
• families sitting home watching netflix
• a select group of med schoolers sitting in the library studying
• ...
• and me and the deer, trotting through the woods and enjoying the cool night.

really, it's a pretty ideal way to spend a friday night.

what it's all about

tuesday night's WUS run was sublime.

something about the combination of cool weather, good people, and cold beer just added up to the perfect evening run. i felt weightless and invincible. pushing up the hills and flying down... i just kept thinking how nice it was to be running. this is what it's all about. there was a playfulness in the air that led us off trail and up steep embankments and sent us hurdling over fallen trees at speeds i rarely run on flat ground. it got me thinking about night runs and city runs and imaging the possibility of a nighttime 50 miler through dc and surrounding areas, and made me want to get back out for a night run near massanutten.

there's just something calming about running at night, when everything else fades away into the darkness.

full circle

this past sunday was the potomac heritage trail 50k - the official anniversary of my first dc race and what set the ball rolling for MMT, this blog, and all related fun stuff. this is a great run that starts and finishes at a friend's house a few blocks away me and (despite being entirely free) offers one of the best post-race buffets you've ever seen. serious quantities of quality beer and good food - both of which i enjoyed heartily. aside from snarfing a half chewed pretzel nugget mid way through the run, it was a fun day.

running this race and coming full circle has me thinking about my goals for 2009. i hope to do two or three 100s this year. MMT (assuming i get in), a west coaster like the bear (utah/idaho border) or 100 in the hood (oregon) and potentially one more... or not. time will tell. at this point i'm just happy to be where i'm at. it's been a great year with plenty of time spent running in the mountains with friends, and that's what it's really all about.

MMT redux

wow, so i've definitely been lax about posting. much has happened since my last post. MMT was a complete success - i covered the full 101.8 miles in 32 hours and 16 minutes, and quickly decided i need to come back and do it again.

to sum it up - you can look at the race in thirds.

the first third:
went by smoothly - adrenaline, big climbs, sunshine, and bit of road made the miles melt away pretty quick... although i think i melted a bit of myself with them. in the heat of the moment i fell a bit short on eating and drinking which led to a big bonk, which lasted pretty much the whole middle third.

(photo: aaron schwartzbard)

the middle third:
by the time i got to the 53 mile point at the top of bird knob, i was covered in salt, felt like crap, and knew that something was awry. bouts of nausea had started coming on strong in waves that had me walking way more than i'd like. without much of an option, i slowly made my way back down to the aid station at 211. i had told myself from the beginning that if i made it back down to 211 after making it up bird knob, i would finish. the rest of the course is rockier, and overall harder than the first half, but in some way it's more forgiving. night falls, you walk more, and you're far enough along that you just have to keep moving. so that was the plan... i picked up my pacer robin and motored on but things were still looking pretty bleak. here's where having a great pacer comes in handy. someone to talk to, someone to keep your mind off of the demons, and someone to remind you that you that the finish is a finite number of steps away.

(photo: aaron schwartzbard)

the middle third (part II):
somehow, i made it to the 65 mile aid station at gap creek II and plopped myself into a chair. i spent a good while here - eating, changing my shoes, eating some more, drinking, eating, and most importantly - barfing. after that, it was like the clouds parted, angels sang, and i could visualize the finish line.

(photo: aaron schwartzbard)

the last third:
my exaltation was somewhat short lived - it faded a bit once it dawned on me that i still had a good 35 miles to go - at night, with some of the nastiest sections yet to come. none the less, i was over the hump and started making up some ground. we moved along slow and steady through the night. the sunrise brought hallucinations with it and a profound desire to finish this thing up and get some sleep. i got some pancakes and pizza in my belly and before long was up and over the last hill, and crossing the grass to the finish. the finish was more relief than triumph, but that first nap i took afterwards was absolute bliss.

(photo: aaron schwartzbard)