In recent news, I got a job. I start one week from today, so, to
celebrate, I went to the mountains to run. I ran part of the Massanutten 100 course and some extra stuff just for fun. I went up to the top of Kennedy Peak and took a video.
After taking one nasty spill on the rocks early in the day, a total of 3 hours and change of mountain running, 96 oz of water, a handful of Gu's, one YooHoo, seeing several squirrels, various birds, a fox, and no human beings; I decided to call it a day.
I have gotten my trail legs back and I am ready for the Western States 100 mile endurance run in late June. I'm really stoked.
As far as getting back into real life, I'm getting there. I do miss the fact that everyday it was my job to run far. I do not, however, miss the running on the road. Trails are much more interesting to me.
Since I've been back a lot of people have asked me what country I'll run next. While I would love to travel to other countries to run, I think I'll stick to trails. I'd love to do a long trail; but then again, who knows. Not me, that's for sure. All I know is I'm still running, and still loving it. The other thing I know is that I need to work. This unemployed thing has got to go. That's why it's good news I've got a job.
-- Patrick
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Mmt 100 pacer
On Saturday I went to the massanuttens to pace Dave at the Massanutten Mountain Trail 100. He was allowed a pacer after mile 63 at the Camp Roosevelt aid station. It was a new course this year and there were some tougher spots in the beginning that were at the end in past years. I got there around 5 and waited for him to come through. In the mean time, I talked with lots of people at the aid station. It was good to see some of the people I hadn't seen in quite awhile.
Dave came through at about 8:30 pm and ate and refilled his bottles. We grabbed our headlamps and hit the trail. For the next 9 hours we would only be seeing the tunnel vision of the trail our headlamps provided for us. As we made our way through the winding trail and up and down the mountains we caught up on everything. He was in good spirits and was running well.
Then on our way up the trail we saw a rattlesnake moving very slowly across the trail. Dave was leading, of course, and he stopped abruptly. There were a couple of runners right behind us and Dave saved all of our lives by pointing out the snake and making sure it didn't get mad and start biting us all.
At aroud 3 am it started raining which made the already cool 50 degrees even chillier. Dave said it was because he was listening to the iPod shuffle that his friend snuck "it's raining men" onto and everytime that song comes on during a race it actually starts raining.
We reached an aid station at mile 88 at about 5:30 am and there were bacon sandwiches ready to be eaten. So we sat down for awhile to rest and eat. Soon enough, Dave was ready to hit the trail again to make his way to the finish line. It was getting light now and we didnt need the headlamps anymore. I could tell there was a renewed sense of energy in him because he was running faster and stronger. Leaving the last aid station was very difficult. We had 6 miles left and after running 95 miles, 6 miles is an eternity. (the race was actually 101 miles)
Long story short, 14.25 hours after leaving mile 63 we rolled on through the finish line. It was a total of 29:30, way ahead of the cutoff time and looking very strong.
-- Patrick
Dave came through at about 8:30 pm and ate and refilled his bottles. We grabbed our headlamps and hit the trail. For the next 9 hours we would only be seeing the tunnel vision of the trail our headlamps provided for us. As we made our way through the winding trail and up and down the mountains we caught up on everything. He was in good spirits and was running well.
Then on our way up the trail we saw a rattlesnake moving very slowly across the trail. Dave was leading, of course, and he stopped abruptly. There were a couple of runners right behind us and Dave saved all of our lives by pointing out the snake and making sure it didn't get mad and start biting us all.
At aroud 3 am it started raining which made the already cool 50 degrees even chillier. Dave said it was because he was listening to the iPod shuffle that his friend snuck "it's raining men" onto and everytime that song comes on during a race it actually starts raining.
We reached an aid station at mile 88 at about 5:30 am and there were bacon sandwiches ready to be eaten. So we sat down for awhile to rest and eat. Soon enough, Dave was ready to hit the trail again to make his way to the finish line. It was getting light now and we didnt need the headlamps anymore. I could tell there was a renewed sense of energy in him because he was running faster and stronger. Leaving the last aid station was very difficult. We had 6 miles left and after running 95 miles, 6 miles is an eternity. (the race was actually 101 miles)
Long story short, 14.25 hours after leaving mile 63 we rolled on through the finish line. It was a total of 29:30, way ahead of the cutoff time and looking very strong.
-- Patrick
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Week or two after
I meant to update this before now but being away for 4 months means you have to catch up on a lot if stuff when you get back. I have been very busy finishing up things with the run, sending out resumes, looking for a job, catching up with old friends, and of course, running. Last Saturday I ran a race in Triangle, Va. It was called the 24 Hour Endurace trail run. The idea was to run around an 8 mile trail loop as many times as you could in 24 hours. The temp got up into the mid 90s and I had completely forgotten how to run on trails. I was falling all over the place. After 56 miles I called it a day it took 12 hours or so and I was done.
It was discouraging to have my first time back on trails be a race that I didn't do well in. But that's just the way it goes.
Running wise I'm doing better, running strong and getting out on trails as much as possible. All systems go for the Western States 100 mike run at the end of June.
Job wise, I had my first interview on Friday and I got the job! Stoked.
-- Patrick
It was discouraging to have my first time back on trails be a race that I didn't do well in. But that's just the way it goes.
Running wise I'm doing better, running strong and getting out on trails as much as possible. All systems go for the Western States 100 mike run at the end of June.
Job wise, I had my first interview on Friday and I got the job! Stoked.
-- Patrick
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