Pills prayers and promises

Here I sit at my computer thumbing through Endurance News, trying to find the PERFECT product that is going to make me a better athlete. I think I will read the article titled, Getting faster as you get older. It talks about training, nutrition, supplementation, hydration, injury, and of course, rest and recovery. Yeah, that article really caught my eye. I could spend my whole paycheck in one sitting ordering products that will do it all! Would I really get any faster? Probably not. I think that so much of how we do comes down to genetics, age and the old saying, "how bad do you want it?"
I did order Recover-Ease today. It is suppose to help your body recover faster and more completely from your hardest efforts. It reduces stress hormones, improves immune function, stimulates tissue repair and manages muscle soreness. It also claims to increase your breast size by two cups and for you men, to grow lot's of hair on your chest. (psych......just kidding about the boobs and the hairy chest). But anyhoo, I am excited to try the Recover-Ease as it comes in a pill form, and that makes it easier for me to take as opposed to drinking some sickly sweet drink after a long run or race. Yuck!! I figure I should try it out before my stage race in Costa Rica. I know that recovery will play an important part of my success at The Coastal Challenge in January.

I have had a few short, nice runs this week following TRT. My plantar fasciitis is really putting a few new swear words in my vocabulary, but other than that, I feel really good. I went to the gym today and did some upper body work, and felt like a dope as I sat there trying to remember how to use some of the equipment. I tried to act casual, but I think it was obvious that I didn't have a fricken clue how to use a lot of the stuff. I will get that figured out this next week, so I don't look so s.t.u.p.i.d.

It's late and I need to hit the hay. I think that I will ask Matt to rub my poor tired achy feet before I fall asleep. I think I read that foot massages are crucial to the health of runners feet, especially if you have PF!! I've got to go, I can't remember where I put the foot cream!

CFL at TRT 50 miler

This last Saturday I ran the TRT 50 mile in Carson City, Nevada. I went into the race feeling like I could easily break my best time of 10:31. I wanted to run strong, to really feel fit, to push the uphills. What I didn't know was that I was going to get a condition known as CFL. Crap for legs. Yeah, it was the pits. My legs felt like lead, like they were filled with cement and my body just couldn't move fast enough with CFL's. I don't know if it was the altitude, the race itself, or the weather. I suppose it was a combination of everything. Oh, well. 10:41 was the best I could do.

The TRT is an awesome race. It has to be one of the prettier races I've done. Some of the area reminded me of the Hardrock course in Colorado. Beautiful mountains overlooking blue pristine lakes. The trees and large rock formations are amazing. The trails are mostly made up of decomposed granite, which helps give your legs that "crap for legs" feeling. Sometimes it felt like I was running in deep kitty litter.

I haven't seen the race results yet. I do know that my good bud, Suzanna Bon won the woman's 50 mile. She was quite the studette out there. Suzie is always smiling and a phenomenal athlete. I love running with her because she always makes me work hard. What I don't like about running with her is that I frequently get CFL during our trail adventures. I really hate that.

I ran with some really great runners at TRT. I enjoyed my time with Mark Tanaka and fellow Goat team member Peter Lubbers. Please check out their blogs, I think that you will enjoy them. It was great to see old friends out there battling it out on that tough course. I can only say that I have total respect for everyone out there pushing the limits on a very tough course. Kudos to all the 100 mile finishers. I don't know if I am tough enough to finish that course. Mentally and physically it is a bear. Wow, at this point I cannot fathom running 100 miles out there.

Sunday morning after the race we had breakfast with the Men's 100 mile winner, Erik Skaden. He and Mike Wolfe finished together in 18:59:10! Totally amazing. What a shame we couldn't see what he could have done at WS this year. He looked good and was still smiling after his incredible run on the TRT!

I am happy to report that I feel fantastic! No sore muscles, no lingering dead legs, no regrets. Leslie and I made great traveling buddies and we had a great time. Put TRT on your lists of to-do's for next year. You won't be sorry. I know that I'm not.

Next on the race list is Headlands 50 mile. It is Aug. 9th. It's a nice race in a beautiful location which has you running above the ocean and through beautiful coastal trails.

A Busy Week

Well, I am a little late getting to my blog writing. My daughter and I took a road trip to Southern California to her freshman orientation to the University of Southern California(USC). We had a great time there and were treated like Queens. USC is a private school and they definitely wine and dine you there. On August 20th we move her down there. A very sad and happy day for us. I also got to spend a little time with my daughter Chelsea and my son, Caleb. It felt so good to spend time with the three of them.

Last Sunday, Suzanna, Leslie, Chris and I ran 38 miles at Pt. Reyes. We had a perfect day of running and fun. I pushed myself and was happy to feel great afterwards. It was one of those runs where everything just feels good. Well, not really that good, but the run went by quite fast and mentally I was strong. I went to the gym twice this week and worked on my upper body too. It was a productive week. On Wednesday, Suzanna and I met and ran together before Courtney and I started our long drive to L.A. I was unable to exercise during our stay in L.A., so I hope the layoff does my body good.

Next Sunday I am running the TRT 50 mile. I hope I have a good run there. I haven't run this race since 05. I am definitely looking forward to running on the beautiful Tahoe Rim Trail.

Shit happens.........

Karen and I went out for a nice run the other day. The park that we were running in is big and remote. There is an outhouse or two for the occasional camper but otherwise it is quiet and beautiful. We had been running for about 10 minutes, when we came upon an outhouse. I decided to take a quick pee break and dashed into the porta potty. When I walked in, I immediately looked into the toilet. Please don't wonder why. Doesn't everyone, once in awhile? Down about 2.5 feet in the pot was a poor blue bellied lizard sitting on a big wad of toilet paper surrounded in, well, you know.....I panicked. I couldn't rain on this poor little stranded lizard who was having the worst day of his life! I ran and found a long thick tree branch and lowered it into the toilet. I rested it on the wad of TP and tried to coax the little guys up the branch. He wanted nothing to do with my heroics. I propped the stick at an angle and just hoped for the best. I peed behind the outhouse, and Karen and I were on our way.

An hour later, as we were approaching the outhouse on our way back to the car, we saw a hiker approaching the porta potty. Before we could yell at him, we knew that the worst fate of all had probably happened to our little friend. I hope he scaled the large stick and got the heck out of there, but as we all know SHIT happens!

Running has been going well. My right ankle seems to be doing well, and my butt pain has settled down. Tahoe Rim Trail is in 2 weeks and I am hoping for a good day out on the trail. A lot of my friends are running that race so it will be fun. I've started working on my upper body in the gym and I am seeing results in just 15 minutes of arm exercises a few times a week. That in itself is really exciting.

Tomorrow is a long run of about 30 miles at Pt. Reyes. The weather is going to be nice and we always see Elk and lot's of Mountain Lion tracks there. All of us running tomorrow is running TRT 50, so we will have a lot to talk about.

Have a great Sunday and I encourage everyone to do something that makes you happy.