http://www.ac100.com/live/MAP/58.htm
PS: Its Tuesday night now and I am very tired. My lungs are sore- aftermath of 100 miles run in the LA smog, high country notwithstanding.
I am still finding myself thinking back on the race and what it felt like to run all day, feel like dying and not know how I was going o make it another 65 miles, be resurrected, run fast some more, then run all night, feeling so strong; and I feel this belly laugh rise up and I just laugh out loud and I tear up at the same time while I am laughing. Perhaps that sounds strange; but it was an amazing experience, and I feel like I experienced a bit of grace out there, running fast in the dark past precipices with nary a bad foot placement, it was magnificent.
Great job, and what an accomplishment!! 7th place is amazing.
ReplyDeleteI stumbled on your blog after looking for some reviews on the Skechers GoBionic trail shoes - glad to hear you liked them. I currently have the Trail Gloves but some of the running here in SoCal beats up my feet pretty good (on the longer runs anyway..). I love the regular GoBionics, so I'll try the trail version as well.
Any other races coming up?
Great blog!
-Andrejs
Hi Andrejs,
DeleteThanks for your kind words. It was truly a gift of a day, I was graced to have experienced it.
I will write a race report soon (when I catch up with a few things!) but I wanted to comment on the shoe choice: at the race I switched shoes twice early on (yes, sounds crazy I know- I was driving my crew batty!) I started in the Merrell Ascend Gloves, switched to the GoBionic Trails at mile 13 since my heels were hurting- nothing new- a ramp-up pain that I have mentioned previously in the blog; but it didn't matter- the problem was me, not the shoes; later at mile 37 I switched back to the Ascend Gloves because in order to keep my feet from sliding forward in the GoBionics on steep downhills, I had to lace the shoes uncomfortably tight, and it was bothering me. So, I ran the last 65 miles in Merrell Ascend Gloves, with my home-made lycra covers to keep sand out. They were fine. By that point my heels were not hurting and I had no further foot trouble. I wore the same Wrightsocks the whole race, without ever taking them off, and had a couple minir blisters only. I do think I will loose one bigtoe-nail where I hit a rock coming down the Sam Merrill Trail at full speed in the dark.
Congrats on a impressive race! I'm quite encouraged seeing your performance after reading about some of the injuries you've faced. After reading your blog a few weeks back I've been building up my walking miles, interspersing really short stints of running and it seems to be working; where as before I rested and then tried to dive straight back into running too fast causing pain and more time off. I think this approach is quite logical - yet easy to overlook when all you want to do is run. Anyway, looking forward to your race report and thanks for sharing your experience. There's a lot of doom and gloom out on the internet when reading up on running injuries and its nice to read not only of a successful revocery but one leading to a 7th place 100 miler.
ReplyDeleteCongrats - Paul
Thanks Paul, you made my day. Its great to hear that my experiences w/ working through these injuries has benefitted someone...that is exactly what I had hoped for. The main thing I have learned over the last few months is that with sufficient persistance, and in particular a willingness to try new approaches, these injuries (knee problems, calf problems, achilles problems) that I once thought were insurmountable can be avoided and/or healed. If I can help you in any way please shout; and since I see the comments before they are published you can keep things private or public as you prefer.
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