Geoff Roes Alaska Mountain Ultrarunning Camp

A short slide show of my time spent in Juneau, AK at Geoff Roes Ultrarunning Camp. In 5 days of running we put in about 51 miles and 20,000' of vert, we ate some great food and shared some good laughs with an awesome group of runners. Check out the camp website here: http://akultracamp.blogspot.com/

Video: Owens Mountain Run

Merging GPX files

     After running the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 I wanted to upload my run to Strava so I could look at all the data from the run. I knew the run was going to take me longer to finish than my Garmin 310xt's battery would last so at the 50 mile mark I swapped out watches. I stopped my 310 and used my wife's 910 for the last 50 miles of the run and it worked out real well. This left me with two fifty mile runs and not one single 100 mile run to upload, not really a big deal but I wanted to upload it as a single run on Strava.com. I found quite a few different applications online but none of them seemed to work properly and then I came across the following site http://joewein.net/bike/gpxmerge/. With this site you can merge up to 5 gpx files into one gpx file and its super easy to use.  
Step 1
Upload the new activities from your Garmin device onto your Garmin connect account
Step 2
Export your gpx files from Garmin connect to your desktop, make sure to label them in the order you want them merged so you know which is which

Step 3 
Upload your GPX files onto http://joewein.net/bike/gpxmerge/
there are five "choose file" buttons where you will select the .gpx files you want merged. Starting from the top you would upload the 1st part of your run,ride, walk etc then the 2nd part on the next button and so on

Step 4
Click the "merge GPX files" button

Step 5
The new GPX file will now be downloaded to your desktop and you can use it on Strava or whatever site you use to track your runs. 

Tahoe Rim Trail 100 mile Run

 

     Don’t stop, don’t give up, keep trying, keep trying, never give up….. If you have a small child or children and own a tv, that should sound familiar. It’s from Yo Gabba Gabba and it was my mantra for the first 75 miles of the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 mile endurance run. The song itself has a catchy tune and I repeated it to myself in its original composition, whether running downhill on the quad busting red house loop, or crawling up the 2000’ ski run at diamond peak, don’t stop, don’t give up, keep trying, keep trying, never give up, you’ll get it right.

      The weeks leading up to TRT I was working with very low mileage on my training schedule, I had begun my taper quite early, more than 3 weeks out at least. I guess you could call it strategy but not really since I had my reasons for not running as much. I had run at Geoff Roes Mountain Ultrarunning Camp in Alaska for a week and everyday in every direction the views of snow capped mountain peaks were absolutely stunning. We ran on a different trail everyday and each was uniquely different, whether it was more technical, covered in snow, lush rainforest like or more of a bushwack. A group of ten campers along with some of the locals and Geoff Roes, we ran, we talked running, we ate great food and slept all in the beauty of Juneau, AK. Then I returned to Fresno, Ca where there were no snow covered mountains, the 10 day forecast was all 100+ deg, I had to return to work and I just wasn’t as excited to get out and run along the canal. With that my mileage dropped and I didn’t run anything over a 50 mile week from about mid June up until TRT. I was kind of worried that may have hurt my performance at TRT but I had put in tons of vert and decent mileage leading up to my early taper so I had to remain confident that I had put in the work.

            The drive from Clovis, Ca to Carson City, where packet pick up and lodging is, should take about 5 hours, it took my wife, son and I a bit longer but we still made it on time to pickup my bib, get weighed in and attend a race meeting. We stayed at the Days INN in Carson, which is cheap but it’s also a dump, if you plan to take your family along I don’t recommend staying at the Days Inn. I would spend a couple extra bucks and stay somewhere decent. We didn’t eat out the day before the race we actually prepared a bunch of food, some Quinoa salad, potato and been burritos and fruit. It was a good change of pace to have our food prepared and with us, it meant less money spent during the trip and kept us out of restaurants that could end up on Kitchen nightmares.

            Race Morning: I woke up from my wonderful 3hrs of sleep at 0230 am, I had all my stuff laid out and ready to go, got dressed and headed out of the hotel room as quietly as I could. My wife and son were going to meet me later on at Diamond Peak, so I took a cab over to the plaza hotel where a good amount of runners were waiting around for a shuttle to take us over to Spooner Lake where the race starts. Once at the start of the race I kind of milled about got some coffee, took a dump and waited for 0500 to come around so we could get this thing started.

            Start to 1^st Aid Hobart mile 6. I started off extremely slow, the one thing I have learned from running ultra distances is patience and there is no point in taking off running 7 min miles to the first aid station. So I took it nice and slow up some switchbacks, fire roads and more single track to Hobart Station. Hobart is a badass aid station, they have a bar (serving alcohol) and it serves Ensure smoothies, had a wide array of food, snacks, gels and Ice! I love me some Ice!

            Hobart to Tunnel Creek mile 11: This portion of the run brings you up onto a sweet ridge where you get wonderful views of Lake Tahoe and back over into Carson. Then it’s a smooth downhill portion for the next few miles and then you’re at Tunnel Creek. Once again another sweet aid station with tons of grub and awesome volunteers, I also had my drop bag at this A.S. I put extra gels, red bull, some tailwind powder and Izzie drinks, couldn’t think of much else to put in there but that seemed to be just enough.

            Tunnel Creek, Red House Loop to Tunnel Creek Again: This loop is another 6 miles or so and it takes you out of tunnel creek and then down to a loop that drops quickly. I love running downhill but this shit was steep, soft and rocky so it turned out to be one of those descents where you can’t fully let loose. Once you get to the bottom of the descent it takes you back up a little at a time towards the Red House aid station and then you do some more climbing that gradually get steeper as you get closer to tunnel creek again.

            Tunnel Creek to Bull Wheel: this is a short single track section with lots of big rocks along the way, not too much climbing or descending and before you know it you’re at Bull Wheel. This aid station is also the same aid station that you end up at once you get to the top of the diamond peak ski run, which is the next stop from this aid station.

            From Bull Wheel to Diamond Peak#1 23ish to mile 30: For some reason this seemed like a never ending section, partly because it was getting extremely warm by this time of day and it was more exposed than the rest of the course thus far. The last four miles of this section are all downhill and takes you on a series of mountain bike switchbacks all the way down to a small creek and then down into the Diamond Peak Ski resort. Diamond peak is easy access for your crew to meet you at mile 30, the ski resort is right off the main road and has a parking lot. I hung out here for a few minutes with my wife and family who came out see me, I also got sprayed down by a wonderful hose they had going around the corner because now the heat was starting to really pick up and it was hot just sitting around. My buddy Eddie was running the 50 mile race which started at 0600 and he came into this aid station about 10 minutes after I got there, I went over and talked to him for a minute and we decided to take off from there together.

            Diamond peak back up to Bull Wheel/Tunnel Creek #3: This is where shit gets real, from diamond peak you start going up a 1.8 mile ski run that takes you up 2000’. This hill/mountain starts out relatively tame and somewhat runable as it kind of winds up towards a middle chair lift. Once you round the next corner is where most of the gain occurs and it’s stupid steep. As Eddie and I were hiking this portion, with sun beating down, making forward progress was made even more difficult with the soft sand like dirt underfoot and I had just switched from NB 110’s to my Kinvaras which have little to no traction on slick surfaces. In just that short section of the race I saw three people quit, one lady was beat red in the face and looked as if she’d puked her guts out, another with a relieved look on her face and race number crumbled up in her hand and the last was a 50 mile runner who I believe was in first place at the time. Stuff like that doesn’t happen at any race I’ve been to so far, I hear of people DNF’ing afterwards or maybe see one person take a bad spill and hang out at the aid station but never just 3 people literally minutes apart turn around and retreat. One part of me was pumped up because quitting didn’t even cross my mind and another part of was thinking “oh, crap I have to do this again at mile 80!”

            Well I made it to the top of that climb and my legs were feeling pretty shot so I hiked for a good 1/2 mile or so until my quads quit screaming at me and took off on the way back to Tunnel Creek. Once back at TC aid station I topped off my bottles and headed back towards Hobart feeling good in spite of the heat and the killer hill I had climbed. The next 14ish miles went by pretty smoothly, I stopped at Hobart got some relief from the heat in the shade of the tent and headed off to Snow Valley which is the high point of the course at approx. 9000’. The climb to Snow Valley wouldn’t be that bad on a typical cool mountain day but with temps in the 90’s and the lack of shade en route to this A.S. made it much harder. The Snow Valley aid station was my favorite, a group of boy scouts and some of their leaders operated it, and these young men were on point! As I approached the Aid Station they had scoped out my bib number with binoculars and checked it out on their computer to find my info, I was greeted by name with a young man running towards me hands extended for my water bottles asking me what I needed. They had and awesome spread of prepared food, snacks and drinks, the other cool thing is all the food items had clear lids that were labeled, kept everything fresh and easy to locate. From here it was about 7 miles back to the half way point 5 of which are gentle downhill miles and the last 2 relatively flat on the way back to the lake.

            At mile 50 I weighed in and was only 1lb off my baseline weight, which was awesome considering the heat. My family had set up in the shade and had food and drink ready to go, I wasn’t in a big hurry though. Before I sat down I checked the time on my watch because I wanted to rest, cool off and take in some calories before I took off but I also didn’t want to stay longer than necessary. Luckily I had brought a variety of things for my family to meet me with at this half way mark and at Diamond Peak, because I was having a hard time eating solid food everything felt so dry in my mouth like I couldn’t chew and swallow it. I had some Naked brand fruit drinks that have a good amount of calories in them and they went down smooth and were refreshing at the same time other than that I didn’t eat much else at this point, I had gone through about 10 gels and a couple bottles of tailwind and I wasn’t that hungry. After about 20 minutes I decided it was time to get back out on the trail on my way back out I ran into my buddy Eddie who I ran with for a few miles on the course but he eventually took off and finished his 50 mile race 16^th place in about 10:30. I was happy I ran into him because I wasn’t really ready to head back out, I talked with him about the race for a few minutes and after that was truly ready to grind out the next 50 miles.

            I was going to meet my wife at mile 80 and she was going to be my safety runner/pacer for the last 20 miles and I was totally looking forward to having some company. The 30 miles from mile 50 to 80 were rather uneventful, the sun went down headlamps went on, and I was just taking it 1 mile at a time staying positive and making sure that I was drinking and taking in electrolytes all the while. I’d say about mile 70 is when things started to get difficult my quads were aching from all the downhill and I was truly feeling the effects of sleep deprivation now that it was dark. From the switch backs leading down into tunnel creek I had passed about 20 runners and from tunnel creek to Bull Wheel I had only seen 1 or two other runners, both of which were on their way back toward the finish! I was struggling to find ways to motivate my self to keep moving with a sense of purpose until I saw a head lamp in the distance with about 7 miles left to mile 80. I picked up my pace and focused on catching the runner ahead of me. I rounded a corner and saw that headlamp was only 20 yards ahead but wasn’t moving, there were two guys, a pacer and his runner, leaning up against a rock puking his guts out, I had been excited to catch them until I realized they were doing much worse than me. After passing them I started dragging and found a nice rock to sit down on, then I saw lights coming a ways back that were coming my way and I thought “don’t stop, don’t give up, keep trying, keep trying!” I wasn’t going to let anyone catch me that I had already passed and I was coming up to the 4 mile downhill section that takes you into Diamond peak so I figured that would help me keep moving. I stopped for just a minute before making the turn onto the downhill section when I saw two runners heading straight at me and as they passed we exchanged a “good job/good work”, it wasn’t the same two that I had seen earlier puking near the rock but a guy and girl. From the 50-mile mark I had been passing runners and even though I was in no way going to win or place it was fun and it served as motivation along the way, but now I was getting passed and it sucked. I got up from my rock and started running and thought “no effing way! They can pass me leaving diamond peak but they won’t beat me there!” From what I could tell I started hauling ass, although I probably looked and moved like an injured elderly person shuffling down trail, regardless I caught the two that had passed me in just over a mile and with a mile to the aid station I passed two more runners, I was pumped!

            Running into the Diamond peak parking lot my pump from passing people on the way in was starting to wear off as the reality of having to go back up that stupid ass climb set in. My wife was waiting for me, pack and pacer bib on ready to go, I could tell she was really excited to start running. We hung out at the Diamond peak for about 10 minutes, I changed my shirt and tried to eat some solid food then topped off my bottles and headed out. The climb wasn’t as bad the second time around since the sun wasn’t beating down on me and I also had my pacer with me and she kept me from getting into a negative mindset.

            The last 20 miles consisted of me attempting to run, then hiking, then slowly walking and then sitting on a rock for a minute. Things pretty much went like that for the whole way back and also me trying to lie down and convince my wife that I just needed to take a nap, but she wouldn’t let me. Had my wife not been out there to pace me in the last 20 miles I don’t know what would have happened, I may have missed the cut off after taking a 2 hour nap off the side of the trail, she kept me moving and was a source positive motivation the entire time she was with me. I was able to somewhat pull myself together, with the help of a couple double caffeinated Clif gels and some coffee, to keep a steady moving pace for last 7 miles into the finish. Coming into the finish was an amazing feeling and I was overwhelmed with happiness in knowing that I had just finished the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 mile run. While hanging around the finish and talking about the race I learned how much carnage had actually taken place with some 75 (43%) runners dropping from the 100-mile race that day. I received my hand made belt buckle and it was engraved with my finish time (28:07:15) and the year right there in the finish area.  

Taken just before the 50 mile mark

Meeting my sexy pacer @ mile 80

At the Finish!

My new buckle!

Shadow of the Giants 50k 2013

     This years shadow of the giants was forecasted to be a hot one, the hottest day this year up at Fish Camp. My wife said she was bad luck, a month earlier at the Leona Divide race the same thing happened, record highs on race day. She ran the 50k at Leona and was also running SOTG. Bad luck or not, running up in the Sierra National Forest even in higher temps, is still enjoyable. You've got tons of trees to provide coverage and lots of beautiful distractions in the scenery. 

       I felt like I was in better shape this year and a little more experienced, so I figured this year would be a bit easier. However I seem to always keep that from happening, how you ask? Well I get a little faster or better at running hills through my training and then come race day I just go out even harder. So the race doesn't actually feel easier I may just finish a bit faster.

     The first hill I took a bit too quick and felt a little out of breath with my legs feeling a bit heavy. Then I hit some downhill, felt a little better until I high fived Baz at the bottom and had to go back up. My legs, mainly my calves continued to feel full and heavy but I didn't slow my pace. Then around mile 21ish that full feeling in my legs turned into cramping and my pace slowed. I ate and drank all along the way but with the higher temps it just means you've got to take in more fluids which I slacked on, I guess. The last 9 miles were back and forth, feeling ok then eh not so much. I was cool with it because no one was running close behind me or had passed me. Then around mile 25ish I look over my shoulder and Michelle Barton comes strolling along so I started to pick it up. That didn't work out, she caught me then passed me and shortly was out of sight. I came into the finish 10th overall in about 4:30, didn't feel amazing but not too bad either.

       I heard the battle for 1st came down to a sprint between Oswaldo Lopez and John Fitzgerald with Oswaldo taking it by 1second! My wife improved her trail 50k time by over an hour!  We hung out at the finish and cheered on the other runners, drank some beers and talked about running. A pretty awesome day!

    The following day I had volunteered to sweep the course, take down the ribbons and pick up any trash. I did this to fulfill my trail hours for the upcoming Tahoe Rim Trail 100 mile run. I was really happy that I felt good enough to complete the 50k course twice in 2days. It was cool being out on the trail by myself and really soaking in the scenery, since I wasn't in a hurry. I also nearly ran into bear on a fireroad back down the mountain but it bolted out into the woods before I could even worry about what to do next. Once I finished cleaning up the trail I headed back back home so I could start packing my bags for Alaska! 

    

Leona Divide 50 mile trail run 2013

This whole trip around the Leona Divide race was a fun one. I had my wife, son, friends and other family to hang out with and talk about running. My wife and friend both ran the 50k and I ran the 50 miler along with some other buddies, Kyle, David and Erik. It was cool that my in-laws live just about 20 mins from the start line and they let almost all of us crash at their house, it worked out perfect.

            Race morning we all grab our gear and head out to the Lake Hughes Community Center to stage our drop bags and stretch out before the race. The parking lot was completely full and the small building used for check in was packed! Compared to 2011 when I ran this race, it seemed almost near small town marathon status instead of a trail ultra race, just way more people than before. With the countdown to the race at about 3 mins Jimmy Dean Freeman gets up in front of the eager crowd of runners to speak. He basically says its going to be hotter than we may have expected and that we need to stay up on our liquid and electrolyte intake, I didn’t think too much of it and figured he was just being overly cautious for some of the first timers. I had looked at the forecast for the race about a week prior and it said something like the high being around 78-80, so I didn’t think much of it.

            And we’re off! As you start the fire road takes you up then up some more for about 3 miles on a rather gentle grade and from there you get some down hill then some rollers. I tried to remain conservative on the uphill and let my legs go a bit faster on the down. I hit the first aid station a bit faster than I expected and still had full bottles (I was wearing my Ultimate Direction AK vest) so I just kept on going. The next aid was only 3ish miles from there so I skipped that one as well, I had taken a gel by this point around mile 12, but not taken in much water as my stomach was kind of sloshy. After that aid station you drop onto to some nice single track on the Pacific Crest Trail, I love single track! I started hauling ass on the single track and got to the next aid station way faster than I should have. I still had a bottle and a half of water at mile 16 and knew the next aid was at the top of the next climb near mile 20ish. So once again I just flew through the aid station, crossed the road and began a nice 3-mile ascent. About 2m miles into the climb is when I realized that I hadn’t been taking enough electrolytes in, it was getting warm fast and on this completely exposed course I was sweating a lot. At the next aid station I was completely out of liquid, thirsty and hot. I topped off my bottles, one with ice water and the other with some sports drink they had, took a gel and ate some watermelon. My pace at this point was nearing a very slow trot, my legs were getting really tight and I was trying to play catch up with my loss of electrolytes. After hitting the mile 24 aid I was beginning to feel a bit better and knew that I had a nice 2ish mile of downhill leading into the 29-mile turnaround point. I took full advantage of the downhill and just let gravity take over. I passed a lot of people on the way down. I knew climbing out from the turnaround was going to be a bitch but tried not to think of it too much.

            The climb out felt much longer than it did on the way down, it was a long uncovered fire road and by this time it was freaking hot. Once back on the single track I felt good for a few miles and it was like that for the next 10ish miles, feeling good then bad. At mile 42, which was the mile 16 aid as well, it’s basically in between two big climbs. At this point I just wanted to be done, I knew I wasn’t going to break 8 hours and the heat was killing me. Knowing that I had about 4.5 miles of uphill wasn’t getting me excited to get out of the aid station fast. I sat at the aid station for at least 10 minutes, just drinking water and some coconut water trying to cool off in the shade provided by the pop up tent. I finally got my ass up and started on the climb out, the next 3 miles sucked. I was hot as all hell and there was no shade, my legs were feeling tired and I was thinking, “I sure hope TRT isn’t this hot”. About 2 miles into the climb I just leaned against the steep hillside under a small bush that provided the most shade I had seen in a while. I sat there for about 30 seconds, then I saw someone winding up the single track about a minute or so back. It was a runner I had passed back around mile 28 on the downhill and I thought “I’m not getting passed, I’m going to finish these last couple miles strong!”. I used that as my motivation to get going, I ran all the way back, it was hard, but I really just wanted to be done, sitting in the shade with my feet up drinking something cold.

            I crossed the finish line right around 9 hours, I say right around because I have a pic with the clock at 8:58:.. but my results say 9hrs, so ?. I was relieved to be done and even happier that both my wife and friend were both in good spirits after finishing their 50k race. I was worried that the heat would have thrown them off but they both did awesome and they looked great as well. Oh and my wife definitely beat my buddy by almost 20 minutes so that was pretty awesome to hear as well, haha. We hung out at the finish for a long time just talking about the run and watching runners from both races finish. Two runners that we saw were treated by medics at he finish line and taken away in an ambulance, for what looked like heat related issues. All things considered I was happy with my run, had it been cooler it may have gone a bit smoother, but it wasn’t so I did my best to adjust. My other friends had similar issues with the heat out on the course but everyone still managed to finish. Oh and the winner of the 50 mile race finished in 5:53! And when I saw him on the course he had no pack or handhelds, made me think I was real soft afterwards.
   If you are considering running this race in the future, do it! The course is challenging but enjoyable, lots of single track, the best freaking aid stations and volunteers and a great RD. Next ultra is the Shadow of the Giants 50k near Yosemite, which my wife and friend will be having their rematch at. It will be interesting to see how my buddy takes getting beat again, hahaha. 

           

The whole crew at the start

My bottle with Elev. profile, aid and splits on it. 

Finishers Medal

Milk was a bad idea!

Finally Done!

Jordan cleaning off after the race

My son and I at the finish

Jordan @ the finish of his 1st 50k

My bib

Course Map

Race photo

Jill doing work!

Pre Leona Divide thoughts

So it’s been a while since my last blog update and since my last race. It’s been hard to contain my excitementleading up to my next race, which will be the Leona Divide 50 mile run. Part of my excitement for this race is that it was my first 50 mile run and Iam excited to go back and just blow away my last time on this awesome course.The real excitement/anxiousness that I have for this race is that my wife andlifelong friend will be running the 50k race, their first 50k mind you andneither of them has even done a marathon yet. So on one hand I am super excitedfor them to do a 50k but on the other hand I just worry for the things thatcould go wrong during their run. I know for myself I learned everything thehard way and it wasn’t necessarily the first time around, it took me crampingup and hating life to think that I might be doing something wrong. So I want topass on as much information to these two in order to keep them from making thesame mistakes so they can have a better experience than the ones that I had.

            I remember the first marathon that I ran was in 2005 and I was still in theMarine Corps so I actually got a free entry for the Rock n Roll San DiegoMarathon. Based off what I learned from the Marine Corps, in the way of runningwas that if you trained hard then you would do fine. Well that’s all relativeto what you think is training hard, I did PT (physical training) every morningand we(my platoon) would run a few miles and do some pushups, pull-ups, etc…That seemed like pretty good training for me so I thought I would step it up anotch and I would do, what I thought at the time, was a long run on theweekends, probably around 5 to 6 miles. So I did these workouts consistently,maybe a month out leading up to the marathon. So at this time I had no GPSwatch or any knowledge of mapmyrun or anything similar and I wanted to run 26.2miles before I actually went out and ran the marathon. So I drove my car frommy barracks on Camp Pendleton out onto the PCH through Oceanside and downthrough Carlsbad to about the 13 mile mark which turned out to be right aboutat Cannon Rd. That next Saturday morning I put some water (about 30oz) incamelback, laced up my Brooks Adrenaline shoes and headed out for my testmarathon run. So everything was great, the weather was typical of southernCalifornia, nice and sunny but not hot with a cool ocean breeze along the PCH,people were out riding their bikes, surfing, walking and running. I made itCannon Rd., my half way mark, refilled my camelback at a water fountain andstarted back. I thought to myself that I would do just fine come race day basedoff how I was doing during this run. Then I got back to Camp Pendleton, maybe 8miles or so from my barracks/finish line and leading up to this point I wasexperiencing some definite fatigue but then my legs started to cramp. Theycramped really bad, like where you can’t shake your leg any which way to getrid of the pain and you just feel a ball of tissue roll up the back of your legand you’re grabbing it, cursing. An experienced runner would have known not to let this happen, theywould have taken in some electrolytes and prevented this cramping. Well I hadno knowledge of such things, electrolytes, I knew you drank water and sucked itthe fu*k up then kept going, I tried that and it wasn’t working. I thought tomyself that I was just weak and that I needed to train harder or just block outthe pain and keep going but every step I took my legs just got tighter andtighter. So I sat down and hung my head thinking that I was just a big pussy,then I would get up and try to keep going. Well this continued until I finallymade it back to my barracks. I got to my room disappointed with my performanceand looked at myself in the mirror covered in white stains, from all my sweatand wondered what I would do come race day, my answer was just suck it up andnot be a little bitch like I had been today. Come marathon day I was pumped andI started out strong feeling great. Around mile 10 I kept seeing this 3:30 signand I knew that’s the group that I wanted to finish with. Mile 15 came and the3:30 sign got a little further from me then 16 and I could barely see it in thedistance, then 18 and ahhh shit my legs were cramping again. I found aport-o-potty and hid in shame, since I thought that if you weren’t’ running theentire time in a marathon that you sucked, period. So as I sat in the port opotty I thought, here I am being a little bitch again, I just need to get backout there and finish this race. I got out and tried to run, I couldn’t, I beganto walk, with my head down I walked and walked then I walked some more. As Iwalked I got some Gatorade at an aid station and at another, then I began tofeel better. With about 4 miles to go I started to run again, I didn’t feelgreat but I could move without extreme cramping pain. I crossed the finish linewell behind my 3:30 sign at about 5:10. I was pleased that I had finished but Idid not experience any sincere joy, since I felt I had been defeated. Mostpeople in this situation would probably think, hey maybe this isn’t for me letsstick to lifting weights or playing pickup basketball games but all I wanted toafter that was get better at running.

            Afterthis not so great marathon experience I had another go at the Rock n Rollmarathon the next year and only slightly improved my time, very slightly, and Ihad almost the same problems during the run. I did this a few more times beforeI actually started researching what I needed to do in order to feel half waydecent for the duration of an entire marathon. Now I feel like I’ve got it downto where I know when I should be taking electrolytes and how much liquid I needto bring on a run, but all of that took a lot of trial and error followed bymore error and then some more. Through all of that though I have found a uniqueway to deal with discomfort and that’s to laugh about it and think of ways thatit could be worse, which provides me with some good laughs and helps keep megoing.

            So anyways back to Leona, I don’t want my wife and friend to have similar experiences since I feel responsible for showing them how things should bedone. I didn’t have anyone to show me anything about distance running and Inever bothered to look for any information on the topic until I had too manybad experiences. I hope they both have a tough race, but after finishing stillwant to run in the future.