When I told my mom I was going to run 100 miles (omitting the fact that there is also 22'000 feet of elevation gain in it) she righfully asked "now why would you do something so stupid?"... for which I had no real good answer.... because I can? Hmm... I can also run into a burning building but I am not going to do it anytime soon....
So I stopped trying to explain why I love the things that most people find a wee bit cooky... watching Amerian Idol or reading about who Paris Hilton did last night is a cooky pasttime for me and noone will ever really be able to sell that to me....
Anyhow, I love doing what I do and so getting ready for this race was exciting.. after a couple of AR's and rogaines I was ready to train for the Cascade Crest 100 mile trail run, but my excitement got a pretty good damper when I fell and hurt my knee on the Skuookum Flats down in White River while mountain biking. One rock in the wrong place (or Roger's bike in the wrong place I guess) and I heard the pop... some ligament had been pulled... and while I could ride ok running was totally out of questoin for almost two months... it was exctuciating not being able to run... and after 5-6 weeks when I was able to get back into it we were in Amsterdam, about one of the flattest cities in one of the flattest countries in the world.... so much for good training....
Cross training came to help and before I knew it it was two weeks before the race and the knee felt fine.. two double Mt. Si trainings and I was about as ready as I would ever be biven the circumstances.
I had great support, Yumay was going to wait for me at Mile 32, then Jerry Gamez took over first pacer duty from mile 45-67, and Yumay from 67-100....
Early on in the race I started running with Diane VanDeren, one of the most amazing women I have ever met... once a star Basketball and Tennis athlete (she was good enough to play at Wimbledon) she began having seizures after a bad fall from horsebackriding when she was younger... after three kids and a successful tennis career the scar on the brain broke, and the seizures came back with full vengeance.. ten years of crippling seizures every day left her no choice but to go for it, a large part of her brain was amputated in an amazing surgery, and she was left with very little short term memory and bad vision at night, but otherwise healthy... she took on ultrarunning and is now on the NorthFace Ultrarunning Team and one amazing athlete!
It was a pleasure running with her and listening to her talk, and the time passed very quickly.
Off they go... start of the CCC100, 70 or so racers....
Diane Vanderen, my running buddy for the first 45 miles....
Water, nuun, lots of Clif, Ipod.... good to go!!
At mile 45 Jerry took over and I started to fade... I wasnt running fast to begin with, Diane slowed me down and rightfully and smartly so.. but somehow I got worse anyways... just as we were entering the (in)famous Snoqualmie Tunnell.... I was passed by Van Phan who was pacing another 100 miler virgin and they were moving fast... was I done?
My stomach was feeling bad, after a full day of strong heat many people had troubles, but somehow miraculously it went away and never came back immediately after we exited the tunnell... 50 mile mark was reached.. barn door was open (still very far away but open!), and Jerry turned up the cranks!! He gave me some kickass tortillas with cream cheese and ham, and after eating Clif Bars, Shot Blocks and Shots all day my body loved the change and responded very well.... I hauled up the hill passing three people and figured I was proably in about 25th place..... not bad...
After Mile 67 Yumay took over, Jerry said bye (thanks again!) and we started getting on the trail from hell...its called that for a good reason... nevertheless I did really well in this section with Yumay's help and we passed another few people...
As night comes, Roger is visibly tired, roughly around mile 65...
Then came the needles... short very steep pinprick needle climbs, over and over and over.. and I continued passing people until we met up with Jeff Arnd whoe Yumay and I (he had no pacer) ran with until the end... 14th place overall... extremely happy given the midigating circumstances.... and made me want to come back for more!
Done! Mile 99.9, a few steps to go!
So I stopped trying to explain why I love the things that most people find a wee bit cooky... watching Amerian Idol or reading about who Paris Hilton did last night is a cooky pasttime for me and noone will ever really be able to sell that to me....
Anyhow, I love doing what I do and so getting ready for this race was exciting.. after a couple of AR's and rogaines I was ready to train for the Cascade Crest 100 mile trail run, but my excitement got a pretty good damper when I fell and hurt my knee on the Skuookum Flats down in White River while mountain biking. One rock in the wrong place (or Roger's bike in the wrong place I guess) and I heard the pop... some ligament had been pulled... and while I could ride ok running was totally out of questoin for almost two months... it was exctuciating not being able to run... and after 5-6 weeks when I was able to get back into it we were in Amsterdam, about one of the flattest cities in one of the flattest countries in the world.... so much for good training....
Cross training came to help and before I knew it it was two weeks before the race and the knee felt fine.. two double Mt. Si trainings and I was about as ready as I would ever be biven the circumstances.
I had great support, Yumay was going to wait for me at Mile 32, then Jerry Gamez took over first pacer duty from mile 45-67, and Yumay from 67-100....
Early on in the race I started running with Diane VanDeren, one of the most amazing women I have ever met... once a star Basketball and Tennis athlete (she was good enough to play at Wimbledon) she began having seizures after a bad fall from horsebackriding when she was younger... after three kids and a successful tennis career the scar on the brain broke, and the seizures came back with full vengeance.. ten years of crippling seizures every day left her no choice but to go for it, a large part of her brain was amputated in an amazing surgery, and she was left with very little short term memory and bad vision at night, but otherwise healthy... she took on ultrarunning and is now on the NorthFace Ultrarunning Team and one amazing athlete!
It was a pleasure running with her and listening to her talk, and the time passed very quickly.
Off they go... start of the CCC100, 70 or so racers....
Diane Vanderen, my running buddy for the first 45 miles....
Water, nuun, lots of Clif, Ipod.... good to go!!
At mile 45 Jerry took over and I started to fade... I wasnt running fast to begin with, Diane slowed me down and rightfully and smartly so.. but somehow I got worse anyways... just as we were entering the (in)famous Snoqualmie Tunnell.... I was passed by Van Phan who was pacing another 100 miler virgin and they were moving fast... was I done?
My stomach was feeling bad, after a full day of strong heat many people had troubles, but somehow miraculously it went away and never came back immediately after we exited the tunnell... 50 mile mark was reached.. barn door was open (still very far away but open!), and Jerry turned up the cranks!! He gave me some kickass tortillas with cream cheese and ham, and after eating Clif Bars, Shot Blocks and Shots all day my body loved the change and responded very well.... I hauled up the hill passing three people and figured I was proably in about 25th place..... not bad...
After Mile 67 Yumay took over, Jerry said bye (thanks again!) and we started getting on the trail from hell...its called that for a good reason... nevertheless I did really well in this section with Yumay's help and we passed another few people...
As night comes, Roger is visibly tired, roughly around mile 65...
Then came the needles... short very steep pinprick needle climbs, over and over and over.. and I continued passing people until we met up with Jeff Arnd whoe Yumay and I (he had no pacer) ran with until the end... 14th place overall... extremely happy given the midigating circumstances.... and made me want to come back for more!
Done! Mile 99.9, a few steps to go!
And the infamous Borat picture Eric A took and modified... yeehaw
