Thursday, December 31, 2009

Looking Back at 2009

Baby Dylan - highlight of the year

So that was 2009 - what a fantastic year!!! For me it was neatly divided in two by the arrival of baby Dylan in July. He was certainly the highlight of a year that was full of fun, excitement and adventure.

2009 started for me at 2am on New Years day when Sharpie and I drove up to Kingwood for the Texas marathon. I enjoyed the huge medal and boosted my confidence with a fast run which set me up for a great 100k run at Bandera the following week.

But all of this was part of the build up to my first 100 miler at Rocky Raccoon in February. I got lucky and everything came together on the day. I went out fast, enjoyed the challenge, kept smiling and finished within 5 minutes of my ambitious pre-race time goal. My friends Clea and Meghan were there at 2am to see me cross the finish line and I'm so glad they were able to share my best running moment of 2009 (plus they really looked after me after the race).

What surprised me most was that running 100 miles really didn't take that much out of me - I had another fast run in less-than-perfect conditions on the beach at the Surfside marathon a week later, and at the Seabrook marathon and a half in March.

Nestled between those last two marathons was the Texas Independence relay which consisted of a weekend of running and drinking with 10 buddies in early March. We had a blast!!!

Looking back, January through March was the peak of my running year and I don't think I ever ran as well as this again.

Part of this was due to the Texas heat. By the time I started training for the Cactus Rose 100 miler we were accelerating into a record-breaking summer. I'd picked up a posse of friends who I ran trails with on Monday evenings, and I regularly added on 10 miles of "character building" hills after our trail runs. It was hard work in some brutal conditions, but I kept pushing and telling myself to remember these nights when I felt like quitting at Cactus.

Despite this, I struggled at the Hells Hills 50 miler in June. I wilted in the heat and finished severely dehydrated, though I somehow managed to take 6th overall.

And the long hot summer continued into July when I "celebrated" turning 36. But more importantly it also saw the big event of the year as Nancy, Gavin and I welcomed baby Dylan to the family.

If I'm honest, this is the point where running really dropped down the priority list. Sleep deprivation didn't help, and for some strange reason I'd also signed up for three 60k races in the hottest August on record. The first turned out to be 7 miles too long, the second I will always remember affectionately as "the race with the crazy guy", and the final one I just completely lost it and barely managed to finish.

Somebody please kick me if I indicate I'm going to sign up for them again!!!

September saw most of my training runs done on the hills of the St Eds trails and the roads of downtown Austin. The highlight of the month was our relay team retaining our title and the Governor's cup at the Silicon labs marathon relays.

In an effort to round out my running prior to Cactus Rose on Halloween, I signed up for a marathon on each of the two weekends before it. The first was in Alpine, West Texas and we enjoyed a wonderful family vacation in the Davis mountains. Then a week later I ran the incredibly fun Frankenthon Monster Marathon at Brushy Creek near Austin.

Then it was the big one - Cactus Rose. Although I'd completed a 100 miler earlier in the year, I was irked by the suggestion that it was "an easy one". By contrast, Cactus Rose was anything but - it was the big bad beast, full of technical trail, steep hills and my training was nowhere near where it should have been going into it. But I finished, did the whole thing solo (no pacers or crew), didn't once consider quitting and was within two minutes of my predicted finishing time.

I'm proud of myself for that.

The race did take a toll however - it was over a month before I could feel my toes again, I had a hard painful lump on the back of my heel that took a similar amount of time to go, and I'm still bothered by some hip pain from it.

But it's a sweet finisher's buckle.

In December I hit my other goal of running over 2000 miles in 2009 and finished up the year at 2030. And while my running has definitely tailed off dramatically in the last two months, I am thinking up some challenges that will hopefully see me coming back strongly in 2010.

More details soon.....

So Happy New Year to everyone, and here's wishing you the best for 2010. As for me, I have another 2am start tomorrow to go run the Texas marathon again. This time I'm driving up with Nancy who's doing the half.

Does that count as a date?

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas on the Trail

On Christmas Eve last year I went for a run in the woods with two pretty girls and came home without my wedding ring (though it's nowhere near as dramatic as it sounds). This morning I ran at Bull Creek with hurricane Tanner, who's training for Bandera and fuelled by his promise to "give you a good ass kicking, you smart mouthed Welsh f#$@er" (which is kind of ironic since he's the only person I know with a smarter mouth than me :-) ).

So I devised a route that started off wading through the freezing creek and then went straight up Blue Blazes, looped back down then did the switchbacks backwards (so they were all uphill) before reversing the usual route and finishing with another splash across the creek. It was a beautiful morning and a great way to kick off Christmas Eve. The sun was shining across Forest Ridge as we got to the top and we had the entire trail to ourselves. It's the first time I've been on trail in weeks, and I enjoyed myself.

The rest of the day will be spent listening to Christmas music and cooking - I love Christmas Eve because it holds the promise of so much fun to come tomorrow.

Oh, and after the high winds and storms last night I need to go outside and fix our Christmas decorations that were blown every which way.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!


PS. while I enjoy Christmas music for the most part, there are some Christmas songs that are just completely annoying. I think the worst one is "Santa Baby" - I could put my foot through the radio every time it comes on!!!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Hardware, Humbugs and Ho Ho Ho


Wow, it's been a while since I posted anything here - I guess I've just been so busy this past week that running has really taken a back seat (if I'm honest, it's taken a backseat ever since Cactus Rose).

But I feel really fast today. That's because I'm typing this on the spanking new computer I just built. I realized a few weeks ago that my home desktop was older than Gavin - I built it back in 2003 or thereabouts - so it was definitely time for an upgrade. Installed a 64-bit version of Linux on it and I'm flying - really notice the difference when doing graphic design.

It's funny - I've built a few computers in my time, but I still hold my breath whenever I switch them on for the first time.

But enough about the new computer. Last weekend we went to see the movie Invictus which I had such high hopes for. Sadly it was painfully awful - the characters were one dimensional, wooden and shallow, there was very little flow and the rugby scenes were painfully badly recreated. Very disappointing.

Much better was the "Christmas Carol" we went to see midweek. It was Gavin's first trip to the movies, and what better place to take him than the giant screen of the IMAX 3D. I'm not much of a Jim Carrey fan, but I must say he did an excellent job here. The movie was a lot darker and scarier than I'd expected, and there were numerous moments that made you jump (especially in 3D), but Gavin loved it. He's been going on about Scrooge ever since. I've tried to explain to him that Bob Cratchett was really a nare-do-well who spent most of his day operating as a tealeaf (pickpocket) and running from the rozzers (police), and that within a year of his transformation Scrooge had spent all his money, been evicted from his house and was breaking coal in the poorhouse.

But he's not having any of it (and rightly so)!!!

So yesterday we took the boys to get their photos taken with Santa at the mall. Malls are a very strange place - full of teenage boys wearing jeans so comically oversized that you wonder how they defy gravity and stay up, and teenage girls wearing jeans so tight you wonder how they ever got into them in the first place!!! I haven't been to the mall for a long time (since we took Gavin to get his photo taken last year in fact), and I always get the impression they're like a relic of the 70s and 80s - tired, faded and just about hanging on.

But we got the photo taken (the first with both our boys), and the Santa was really good. I was looking forward to hearing what Gavin had to say after he quizzed him at length last year. He didn't disappoint, and it was well worth the wait.

Santa : So have you been a good boy this year?
Gavin : Not really, but I think I should get points for being honest.

Yes he has moments (sometimes entire days) where he really pushes my buttons, but I love it when he comes out with things like this - he's so chock full of personality and energy I wouldn't want him any other way.


Anyway, here are a few Christmas tips - if you're looking for some seasonal music, you could do a lot worse than check out Amazon's 25 days of free - one free Christmas song each day until Christmas Day. Some of the songs are really good, some are really bad, but my favorite by far is "Mr Heatmiser" by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. I've been singing that sucker for days now.

And finally, we were at Toys 'r Us on Saturday night and I couldn't help but notice all the Tiger Woods action figures in the clearance bin.

Poor Tiger!!!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Running into the Noughties

Mile 14 of a run is usually not that significant, but at that point on this morning's 25k run I passed a nice little personal landmark - 2000 running miles for 2009. Having beer and pizza at the end of the run was a bonus on a wet and miserable morning.

This evening, my parents are babysitting so I can take Nancy out on a date (for the first time by ourselves since I don't know when). We're going to dinner and a movie, the movie in question being "Invictus" - a study of Nelson Mandela and the rainbow nation during the 1995 rugby world cup held in South Africa.

Americans are probably unaware of the rugby world cup, but everywhere else in the world it's huge. It is staged every 4 years, and I have very fond memories of that particular tournament - probably the best rugby world cup to date - so I'm very excited to be seeing this. Nancy is also excited because she's always had the hots for Francois Piennar (the South African captain of the time).

Back then I was living in Worcester, England and it was a magical month of rugby, with all kinds of dramatic twists and turns, and a fairytale ending. Some the images - in particular Mandela wearing Piennar's springbok shirt - are truly iconic.

As you can tell, I'm looking forward to reliving some of those moments.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Dirty old Day at Decker

I really didn't want to get out of bed this morning, and was so unmotivated to run the Decker half marathon. This was compounded by the fact that it was cold and rainy - a real dirty old day.

Last year we had much better weather, I ran the whole race with Clea and we treated it as a recovery run after racing Sunmart the day before. It was fun, we chatted the miles away and were finished before we knew it.

The year before I used the race as a speed workout before my first ultra the following weekend.

This year I had no illusions of running a fast pace, so I lined up by myself and just put my head down. I wore my long sleeved shirt from the Frankenthon marathon to keep the rain off my Garmin - I've destroyed far too many of them by running in the rain. I couldn't care less about my time, so other than starting it and stopping it at the finish line I didn't look at it once.

The race was very uneventful and really pretty boring - hills, rain, more hills, more rain - cold, wet, miserable. I finished in around 1:57 and was just glad to be done. I jumped straight in the car, put the heater up to high and headed home.

I feel much better after a long hot shower, so I'm going to build a fire, hunker down in front of it and make up a nice warming batch of my Guinness Irish stew for supper.

Sounds like a perfect way to spend a dirty old day.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Chilling out at the Texas Trails 50k

Trips to Huntsville are always interesting. I guess it's primetime hunting season right now as it seemed like almost everyone we saw in town was decked out in camouflage. I had to constantly suppress the urge to say "I can still see you" every time I passed one of them.

But I didn't want to get shot (and I wasn't sure if it was British season as well as deer) so I contained myself :-)

Last night it got super cold, so after supper we were glad to retire to a nice toasty warm hotel room. We awoke to a cold frosty morning, and got to the park just as dawn was breaking to find the temperatures were down to 22F. As if to make up for it, the lake was simply beautiful - mist floating across the water. Here are some more of the obligatory "misty morning" photos.

Smoke on the water - beautiful Huntsville SP

The race got going right at 7:30am. I had decided to wear just shorts and t-shirt as I knew I would warm up once we started running (and I did), but I did make a concession to the cold by wearing gloves (especially as I was carrying handheld bottles). The weather eventually warmed up into the upper 40s, and it was perfect running weather.

I didn't think there was anyone I knew at this race, but it turns out that quite a few people knew me. At the start line I chatted to Alan from Dallas who I'd met at the end of the Timber Knoll 60k over the summer. I'm glad he remembered me and it was good to visit for a while. We waxed nostalgic about "the crazy guy" from that race and then we were off.

22F at the start line

I seem to be missing the competitive edge I had last season. Maybe it's because I don't have any goals currently, or maybe my goals have shifted, but I'd decided I was going to run this one for fun and ignore the clock. I can honestly say that I really enjoyed just pottering around the park, chatting away with anyone who would listen and enjoying the surroundings. It was a beautiful day, and I finished an easy-paced run in 5:32:02 (36th overall out of 170 finishers), so not a bad effort.

Here are my highlights of the race.

I spent a large portion of the first (10k) loop chatting with Allen Darilek who I'd recognized from Cactus Rose. Our kids are right around the same age and we had a great time swapping stories.

There's about a mile to-and-from the turnaround that you run both ways. That means that you get to see folks both in front and behind you. As I headed out for loop two (the first of two 20ks) I was surprised that several people called out "hey there Welshrunner". I guess there are a few folks in East Texas who've read the blog. Whoever you were, thanks so much for the encouragement and I hope I replied or at least smiled. I seemed to spend most of the day smiling and talking, so chances are good I did :-)

It was good to see and chat with Daryl Lazauskas, who I'd run with at the Seabrook marathon back in March. I hope to see him again at Rocky and that he gets his 500 mile jersey.

Somewhere on the second loop I found myself running behind a young lady with an outstanding rear. It really was hypnotic and I guess it put me into a trance because a good few miles had passed before I snapped out of it (sorry Nancy - it's a guy thing).

The park was simply beautiful, and there was an abundance of fall foliage. As I climbed up onto the levee I noticed the dam had water flowing, and it caught the sun and glistened like diamonds. I stopped every loop to admire it.

There was snow on the trees, and as the sun came out it started melting which resulted in an amazing "summer rain" effect.

I spotted my family right at the end and I got to run the last few hundred yards and crossed the finish line hand-in-hand with Gavin (yes, we got quite a few cheers for that).

Gavin and the "big leaf"
Heading to the finish line

Tomorrow's the Decker half marathon, so another early morning. In the meantime, here are a couple of finish line photos.

At the finish line with Gavin
Really nice finisher's sweatshirt

Friday, December 4, 2009

Snow in the Forecast

Do you believe in earth energies or ley lines? That there are certain places that you are naturally attracted to? If there are such things, then Huntsville State park is one for me. I ran my first ultra there, first 50k, first 50 miler and first 100 miler. Whenever I go there I feel at peace and at home - it's my favorite place to run and I have some great memories.

So I'm excited to be packing to head up there for tomorrow's Texas Trails 50k. Not just because it's the first time I've been back since the Rocky Raccoon 100 miler back in February, but also because there's the possibility of snow. And I've never raced in the snow.

Still going to wear shorts and t-shirt though.

It's funny that this time last year I was peaking and about to smash my 50 mile PR at Sunmart. This year I'm just getting over the sinus cold that's been dogging me for the last few weeks, and my running has definitely tailed off since Cactus Rose, so I'm not expecting to break any speed records tomorrow. On the other hand I always run well at Huntsville, so we'll see.

Whatever happens I'll be sure to enjoy myself. And that's what really counts.


PS. my pacing services for the Rocky Raccoon 100 are still up for grabs. A few of you have enquired, so if you're still interested let me know and we'll work something out.

Monday, November 30, 2009

The Bionic Toe Strikes Again

I really should be a beta tester for running products. Over the past few years I've destroyed (or rendered inoperable) 6 Garmin Forerunners, 3 camelbak bladders, a countless number of socks, and stuck my big toe through the top of three pairs of Asics road shoes.

My latest victims are the Vibram Fivefinger KSOs I've been playing with for the past two months. Three runs - that's how long it took for my wiggly big toe to rip open the seam. Fortunately, a couple of emails to the very helpful customer support folks at Vibram and I'm mailing them back for a replacement pair.

Oddly enough it's the same big toe (the right one) that keeps ripping holes in all my socks. Maybe I need to superglue it to its nearest neighbor or find some other suitable method of subduing it.

***Riposte from right big toe***
Hey now, I know I'm hyperactive but who do you think dragged you through all those 100 milers you ran this year? I think a few sacrificial socks are a fair trade for my ultra services.
***End of riposte***

Note to self : when you start posting messages from your big toe on your blog, it may be time to seek help!!!

Friday, November 27, 2009

The Odd Couple

I woke up on Thanksgiving morning with a massive sinus headache, which nothing I did seemed to shift. Oh well, I figured that it would shift itself after awhile, so I sucked it up and went up to Walnut Creek for a nice early morning run with some friends, which loosened some cobwebs but did precious little for the sinuses.

But at least it got me home in time to get the turkey in the oven.

Lunch left me suitably stuffed, so in the afternoon I packed a few supplies and Nancy and I set off for Luling. Two friends - John and Naresh - were running an unsupported 100 miles along the highway, so we figured we'd bring them some encouragement and Thanksgiving fare - turkey, pumpkin pie, fruit, avocados, trail mix, iskiate, water, gatorade and coffee.

We caught up with them around mile 50 and enjoyed the picnic and spending some time with them. And talk about the odd couple - John is short and stocky and Naresh is tall and lanky. They were hilarious - arguing and bickering like an old married couple, and playing off each other like a comedy act which had us in stitches. Considering they'd been running since 1am, they were in remarkably good spirits. Wish I'd taken some photos though.

Suitably refreshed they continued on while Nancy and I headed down to Gonzales to explore the old town center before driving back up and meeting them again another 5 or 6 miles down the road to top them off with supplies.

We said our goodbyes and best wishes and headed back to Austin. I just hoped they didn't kill each other!!!

This morning the sinuses were a bit better, so I headed up to Brushy Creek for a nice easy 12 miles with some other friends followed by breakfast and Irish coffee (with the emphasis on Irish). I enjoyed the run and the company, but now I'm ready for a nap before deciding what to do with the turkey leftovers.

And I'm planning on staying well away from the post-Thanksgiving sales!!!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Barefoot Running

For the last few nights I've been running with Nancy in my Vibram FiveFingers, and to my surprise it's been a lot of fun. My feet felt very light, and although I'm normally a mid-foot striker anyway, I did notice my stride shortened slightly, and my knees automatically bent to absorb some of the extra impact.

Maybe it wasn't such a huge change because I spend most of my time at home barefoot, and always have.

Having said that,I'm not going to rush into doing 10 and 20 milers in these things. As fun as they are, I still like my road shoes.

But they are an interesting alternative.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Old Friends and New Projects

I haven't run in about a week, but this morning I did an 8 mile "Southern Danish" with my friend Naresh. Except for a few passing moments at various stages of the Cactus Rose 100 I haven't seen him since the Darkside series back in the summer, and it was great to have a chance to catch up.

I'm still trying to shake this annoying cold, but when I wasn't hacking up a lung I noticed that Naresh was wearing his barefoot Vibram fivefingers. Now here's my confession dear blog - since I bought my Vibrams a few months ago I haven't run in them once. Sure I've used them a lot for walking and yoga and the like, and they're great.

But no running.

Part of it's due to the fact that I had a 100 mile race coming up, but the other part was that I've never really had any running injuries other than my ankles (touch wood), and I didn't want to introduce something that could cause a problem where none previously existed.

And mostly it's because I'm a big chicken :-)

But I am resolved to trying them out. So at some point this week I will go for a run with Nancy, actually wear them and report back.

In non-running news, I scored a great deal on a touchscreen LCD monitor last night. I think that I'm going to build some kind of "pub style" touchscreen party machine with it, so I'm going to get my design hat on, figure out exactly how I want it to look, and start drawing up woodworking plans.

Should be a fun project.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Chicken Soup of the Soul


Today was a picture perfect fall day. It started off foggy and chilly, but once the sun came out, mild temperatures and blue skies made it a wonderful day to be outdoors. I took advantage of it by cutting and edging the grass, and trimming the trees and bushes before playing some football (soccer) and touch rugby with Nancy, Gavin and one of his friends.

And what better dish to round off the day than chicken soup and dumplings. When I'm looking for recipe ideas, the "For the Love of Cooking" blog is one of the first places I check, and her wonderful "Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup" hit all the buttons - warming comfort food that's quick to make and delicious.

I made very little changes to the base recipe other than adding some homemade dumplings (any time I eat soup is an excuse to make dumplings). I bought a small chicken this morning, cut it up and boiled it with a few chunks of onion, carrot and celery thrown in until it was fall apart tender. Then I waited until it cooled, removed the skin, shredded and kept it covered in the fridge until ready to use.

Here's my simple recipe for the dumplings.

1 cup self raising flour
Parsley flakes
A few drops of canola oil
Enough apple cider to make a dough (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup)

Mix all the ingredients together, form into 10 small balls and throw into the soup.

I followed this recipe and added the dumplings just after the corn. Then I covered and let it simmer for 10 minutes to allow the dumplings to expand.

I was hoping to take some leftovers to work tomorrow, but there weren't any. Next time I'll have to make a bigger batch!!!

Billy No-Run

This is the first weekend in who knows how long where I haven't run a single step. I'm trying to shake off a head cold (along with his friends fever, headache and sore throat) I picked up late last week so I've been taking it easy.

Since Cactus Rose I've been in a kind of "end of semester" mode. Since that was my goal race for so long, I've been trundling along as if that was that. But I still have a 50k, a marathon and a half marathon to run in the next month, so I'd better start pulling myself together.

Hmm, maybe I need another challenge.

Monday, November 16, 2009

The Art of Cheating

You may be the most cunning individual the world has ever seen, but it is a sad fact of life that all the sneakiness you have spent a lifetime cultivating is encapsulated in your DNA. Which means that when it comes to outwitting you, your offspring always hold the upper hand.

Offspring such as Gavin (my 4 year old). He and I have enjoyed running together of late. Last week we tore around the Mueller trails, taking some time out to play on the swings and exploring some of the sculptures. Then this weekend we decided we would have a "race around the neighborhood".

Running with kids is a whole lot of fun because it's completely unstructured. It's kind of like fartleks - you point to an object in the distance, be it a tree or a streetlight or a stop sign, and you race to it. And that's what we did - we split out race up into stages, with whoever won the previous stage getting to choose the next checkpoint.

But it swiftly became apparent that Gavin has mastered the ancient Welsh art of cheating (that's my boy). He has good speed on him, but he has also discovered a knack for blocking, shirt tugging and the liberal use of elbows. And I do admit I am not completely innocent, as there was cheating a-plenty happening on both sides (I must have looked a right sight bounding along in my Vibrams while yelling things like "daddy's going to get you").

So Gavin won the first section, then I made it interesting by winning stage 2. Gavin retook the lead on stage 3, which ended at a "stop" sign and saw some of the worst cheating of the whole race.

That left the final stage which ended back at the house. We took off, but Gavin seemed to lose interest halfway there. He started walking, and eventually he sat down on the sidewalk. I stopped and asked if he was ok and he told me to "just go on and win, daddy".

We were only 50 yards or so from the house, so I did. And then I walked back to him.

"It was a draw - 2 stages each - but you did really well" I said. "We'll have to race again tomorrow".

He nodded and reached his hand up. I grabbed it and pulled him to his feet.

And he immediately sprinted off yelling "extra stage".

I took off after him and the sly old fox was laughing his head off at having fooled me as he rounded the front yard, ran up the driveway and tagged the front door over my protests of dirty rotten cheating.

What followed was a shameful display of gloating and smack talking, finished off with a smug "better luck next time daddy" as he disappeared inside.

I could hear his victory celebrations from outside - "mummy, nanna, grandpa, I whipped daddy and he's a bad loser".

Hmmm, I want a rematch :-)

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Keeping Track

Now that Cactus Rose is done, it's time to switch priorities. I've been concentrating on hills for so long that I've neglected my speedwork (not that useful at Bandera), and my speed has suffered as a result. It's been a while since I ran a fast marathon, but I have a few races coming up where I have the potential to drop the hammer (a 50k and a marathon), so this past Tuesday I went back to the track to do some interval training.

It usually takes me a few weeks to get back into the mindset of track work, and I found myself struggling to stay motivated. But I know that these really paid dividends last year in the run up to Sunmart, so I'm going to persevere with them.

On Tuesday I switched between 800m and 400m intervals with 200m recovery in between, and next week I'll shift to either pyramids or straight mile intervals. My goal is to get my mile time to consistent 6:00 to 6:20 minutes (with the same 200m recovery) by December.

I would be happy with that.

Monday, November 9, 2009

The Psychology of 100 Miles

British runners call distance running "having a go at it." They have a wonderful spirit about them. I always considered ultramarathoning a disease and the British had it with fever to spare.

- Ted Corbitt
What's wrong with me? My toes are still numb from Cactus Rose yet today I found myself pondering what 100 miler I could "have a go at" next. Was it really just over a week ago I smugly declared that I'd scratched that 100 miles itch? Well it appears to be itching again.

The same thing happened after Rocky Raccoon. But why?

I don't claim to know the answer, but I do have a couple of really good clues.

A few weeks ago I took a facilitation class, and part of it touched on the subject of creativity. One of the speakers said that a key prerequisite was the ability to "step from the light into the darkness". He then made an analogy to rock climbing - "you can't reach the summit if you keep one foot on the ground".

Well that struck a chord with me so I carried the idea forward to ultra running. Since we all spend so much of our lives within our comfort zone, sometimes it's good to reach outside of that and discover what we're really made of. How well can you keep it together when you're tired and hurting, and there's still many miles to go? Do you have the will to keep going when you're alone on the trail and may not see another soul for hours? Are you brave enough to peel away your layers just to see what lies beneath?

If you don't try you'll never know.

But if you do, you may just find you keep coming back.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Remembrance Sunday

They shall grow not old,
     as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them,
     nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun
     and in the morning
We will remember them.

- "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon
Today is Remembrance Sunday in the UK. Usually held on the second Sunday in November (or the Sunday closest to the 11th) it is a day set aside to remember the sacrifices of those who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars.

It is also known as Poppy Day as it is tradition to wear an artificial red poppy sold by the British Legion (a charity dedicated to helping war veterans).

At 11am, a two minute silence is observed at war memorials all across the Country. Here is a timeless description of the first two minute silence held in London on 12th November 1919.

"The first stroke of eleven produced a magical effect.

The tram cars glided into stillness, motors ceased to cough and fume, and stopped dead, and the mighty-limbed dray horses hunched back upon their loads and stopped also, seeming to do it of their own volition.

Someone took off his hat, and with a nervous hesitancy the rest of the men bowed their heads also. Here and there an old soldier could be detected slipping unconsciously into the posture of 'attention'. An elderly woman, not far away, wiped her eyes, and the man beside her looked white and stern. Everyone stood very still ... The hush deepened. It had spread over the whole city and become so pronounced as to impress one with a sense of audibility. It was a silence which was almost pain ... And the spirit of memory brooded over it all."

This year is particularly poignant, since with the passing of Harry Patch in July there are no more British survivors from the Great War.

So many of the freedoms we enjoy and expect were gained through the sacrifices of the lost generations who fought and died for them (and continue to do so). So why not take a moment out of your busy life to reflect on this.

It's the least they deserve.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Cactus Rose Recovery

Well it's been a week out from Cactus Rose and I'm pretty much back to normal, other than my feet. I have some great blisters, a hard lump on one heel and I still don't have any feeling in some of my toes (though they're getting better).

The only running I did this week was an easy 7 miles on Wednesday, so I was interested to see how I'd handle a hard 12 miles with my group this morning. A few miles in and I could tell it was going to be a bit of a struggle - it was strangely humid and running was not easy. I ran at the back, kept everyone in sight, and was definitely going slower than usual. But something odd happened around mile 9 - I started to get a second wind, and the last three miles were all sub-8 minute. I passed several of my group, but was really glad to reach the pavilion.

This afternoon I'm going to tune into the big rugby game to see if Wales can beat New Zealand for the first time in over 50 years, then I'm off down the Draught House for a few beers with some friends.

Looking forward to it.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Halloween Hundred at Cactus Rose

There was drama, suspense, hope, determination, tenacity, triumph, failure, courage, and some plain ole IDGAF all rolled into a span of 36 hours. For some the definition of a life in a day and a half. For others, an expression of life. And for still more, beauty, as defined by the human spirit and human action. If you weren't there, then you can not know, Cactus Rose.

- John Sharp
Warning: this is very long-winded. If you just want the grand summary, here it is: I finished, my feet hurt, I like my new buckle. Sweet.

Otherwise, read on.....

This race has been on my horizon for a while. I signed up in the warm afterglow of the Rocky Raccoon 100 with great plans for a tough training routine that would see me through to the race. Those plans were quickly revised when new baby Dylan came along in July and limited the amount of long runs I was able to do. Sleep deprivation took its toll and over the summer I had a couple of bad races that made me wonder if I still had the passion for ultras. But somewhere along the line I regained my trail mojo and found myself looking forward to the challenge of running 100 miles on the rugged trails of Bandera.

I knew I was undertrained going into this, but if I learned anything this weekend it's that when it comes to running 100 milers guts and determination are much more important attributes to possess.

The last thing I did before driving down to Bandera on Friday afternoon was write down my race prediction and seal it into an envelope for Nancy to open. This was a fun little tradition I started at Rocky Raccoon (where I was within 5 minutes of my actual finishing time) and I wondered how close I would get this time.

For the record, I predicted my time to be right at 28 hours.

Once I got to Bandera I enjoyed catching up with friends at packet pickup, took a peek at the finishers belt buckles, hiked up to the aid stations to drop my bags and then drove into town for my traditional Bandera pizza. Back at the park I taped my feet and wrapped myself up in my sleeping bag in the back of the Yukon.

Once the sun went down it got cold quickly so I cozied myself up in my little nest and slept really well.

The finisher's belt buckle

Almost too well because I overslept. Luckily I was woken up by cars arriving at the park so I threw my stuff together and hurried over to the start line. Ultramarathon start lines are a special place - there is such a buzz of anticipation and energy in the air. The temperature was in the 30s but I wore my shorts and t-shirt because I knew I would warm up once we started running.

The course consisted of four 25 mile loops and we would reverse direction each loop. This was a great idea because we got to see and encourage everyone each time around. The aid stations were roughly 5 miles apart, so I broke each loop down into 5 sections.

So at 5am we were off onto the dark trails. I took a while to find my place in the pack, but then I slotted in behind one of the 50 milers and chatted away the 5 miles to the Equestrian aid station. I hit this in 51 minutes (just over a 10 minute mile pace) which was a little fast but I knew I'd be walking at some stage so I decided to make hay while the sun shone (even though it was still dark, ha ha).

I continued in a similar vein through the next 5 miles to the Nachos aid station, picked up one of my turkey sandwiches and was quickly on my way.

The next section included one of the major climbs up Ice Cream hill, and the sun rose to welcome in a beautiful Halloween morning just as I reached the top. It was an amazing view and I stopped for a minute to enjoy the moment before heading down the back side and back into Equestrian.

The final two sections of the loop included most of the climbs - the Three Sisters, Sky Island, Boyle's Bump and Cairns. It was the toughest part of the course, compounded by the fact that between loops 1-2 and 3-4 we would run them back-to-back in both directions.

Fortunately, along this section I picked up two companions - Brad Quinn and Chris Russell - and we talked and joked the rest of the loop together, finishing up the first 25 miles in around 5:10.

This was a little fast, and although I felt great I knew I needed to ratchet it back quite a bit. I set out a lot more conservatively on loop two and looked forward to the chance to see other friends along the way. In particular I enjoyed seeing Marcia, Cheri, Gordon (who all completed their first 100s), Naresh and Olga (wily veterans).

Joe was handing out a prize for best Halloween costume and some of the ones I remember in particular were Dracula, a naughty nurse, a football referee and a little devil. Various bits of Halloween decor had been hung out around the trail and it all added to the Halloween fun.

I finished out loop 2 at just a shade under 12 hours. I stopped for some chicken soup and set out again, happy in the knowledge that I was halfway there. I picked up my headlamp at Equestrian because I knew it would get dark before I made it back and sailed on through Nachos. Sure enough, by the time I got to Ice Cream hill it was fully dark and I switched into nighttime mode.

I'd seen a light bobbing slowly ahead of me for a while and I assumed it was somebody hanging glowsticks. But when I caught up to him it turned out to be another runner. He said he was having trouble staying awake, and I realized this was not a good place to be sleepy with steep dropoffs at places. I talked to him for a while and recommended he take a 30 minute nap at Equestrian.

I think he dropped at Equestrian.

But I passed through, kept going, and really started to notice how much my feet were hurting. It was probably partly due to the way I'd attacked some of the hills on the first loop, but I'd also missed some spots while taping and they were now rubbed raw. I also had a few blisters forming, my toes felt strange and I had some nasty chafing going on my thighs. But there was nothing I could do about it, so I just tried to ignore it.

Then in the middle of the Three Sisters everything went to hell. I hadn't taken much at the last two aid stations (at Equestrian my bag was blocked by a disconsolate runner who'd dropped and I didn't have the heart to ask them to move) and I realized I was in major calorie deficit - I had some Spiz waiting for me at Boyles but first I had to cross the most difficult portion of the course to get there.

It was a strangely fascinating experience to observe how fast I spiralled downhill, yet I found it perversely challenging. My big strength has always been mental so I kept pushing. Every time I climbed one of those hills (enjoyed that) or scrambled down another rocky downhill (much harder) I yelled out things like "that all you got, Cactus Rose".

It kept my spirits up, but I'm glad nobody was around to hear me vent :-)

I got a timely boost when Olga caught me. She's always a breath of sunshine and has an infectious good humor that can't fail to cheer you up. And that girl also has an awesome powerwalk that soon left me in the dust.

To my road friends who have expressed the opinion that running 100 miles at such a slow pace would be easy, try doing it up and down this and then we'll talk

But I finally made it to Boyles and this was definitely the low point of the race. I downed some Spiz and some pears with heavy syrup and set out for the long tough climbs over Boyles Bump and Cairns to reach the lodge.

I reached the lodge around 1am and my mood had picked up a lot, though my feet had long since turned into hamburger. But on the plus side the chafing had subsided to a dull irritation.

I had seen a lot of people drop here last year and I could understand why - I had been running alone since loop 1, and the idea of going back out for another 8 hours was not very appealing. But I can honestly say I never considered dropping, and I'm really proud of myself for that. I would like to say there was a noble reason behind it - the mystic call of the wild or some such shit - but the reality is that I just wanted the damn buckle.

And I didn't want to have to come back next year to get it.

It had gotten cold - back down into the 30s - and it was a damp kind of cold. The volunteers wanted me to come and sit down for a while and warm up, but I refused. I never sit down at aid stations - that just makes it harder to leave. I just want to get in and out. They also fretted when they discovered I planned on going back out in just my t-shirt and shorts and several volunteered their jackets for me. This was super kind and "above and beyond", and I had to keep insisting that was how I wanted it to be. If I got cold, all the more motivation to run.

I did have some chicken soup though which was delicious.

Heading back out I slogged my way through Cairns, Boyles and through the aid station in a blur. I was mostly power walking, and only a few things stick out in my mind from this portion.

Climbing to the peak of Sky Island I came across three runners coming the other way. The guy was brandishing a large branch and the girls were carrying rocks. They looked so odd I just stopped and grinned quizzically at them. They claimed they'd passed another runner who told them he'd been stalked by an unseen animal (probably a mountain lion) for about two miles. The animal had kept pace with him and kept growling at him so they weren't taking any chances.

I couldn't decide whether there had been some hallucinations going on or if this had really happened, but either way it didn't make much difference to me. If you're a mountain lion and you think a short stocky left-handed Welshman is your ideal midnight snack, then good luck to you.

I didn't see or hear anything so I obviously was not very appetizing. Don't know if I should be offended or not :-)

I also ran into Naresh along with his pacer Jeff F. I think he was having a low moment (probably at just the same place I did) but he pulled through in typical Naresh style and bagged the finish.

Those few miles into Equestrian were never-ending, but I finally got there. It was quiet and dark, but a kind volunteer had set up shop and had some ramen noodles and broth for me. The kindness of the volunteers was the best thing about this race. There was no official aid station food, and he didn't need to be out there in the freezing cold. He just was. And it was very much appreciated.

That's the kind of thing that makes trail running such a marvelous community to be a part of.

The 10 miles through Nachos and back to Equestrian are also a blur, just concentrating on blocking out the pain in my feet. But I remember the uplifting experience of running into my second sunrise coming through the field just before Equestrian. It was outstanding.

Roger greeted me at Equestrian with a delicious swig of black coffee, and the realization that I was at mile 95. Revitalized by the new dawn I continued on.

I got up and over the final climb of Lucky Peak which left me with just over a mile to go. I looked at my watch and it read 27 hours and 49 minutes. Wait a minute, wasn't my race prediction 28 hours? Holy hell, I was about to nail my second 100 mile goal time in a row - 2 for 2.

Then I got another crazy idea - suddenly the most important thing in the world was to see a 27 instead of a 28 on my finish time. I didn't know if I could do it or not, but I sure as hell was going to try so I picked up the pace and blocked out the protests of my feet.

I was convinced the final stretch was around every corner I turned, and when it wasn't I just kicked up the pace a little more. The pain was curiously liberating - I guess the adrenaline from knowing you are only a few minutes away from finishing 100 miles kinda helps too.

When I finally caught a glimpse of the outline of the lodge buildings they seemed a long way away. I had nothing to lose so I gave it everything I had and ran flat out. I came up on the last dip and rise and made the left turn to approach the house. Folks started cheering me in, faces all a blur, and I just wanted to see that finish time. Made the final right turn around the house and saw it. No problem on the time - crossed in 27:56:12. Amazed that I could hit a 7 minute mile at mile 100 - very proud of that.

Do I look a little frazzled???!! With my race shirt, belt buckle and race prediction

I got my buckle, a handshake from Joe and Robert and hugs from Joyce and Diana. Joe was amazed I was able to kneel down, remove my chip and get up again, but other than my feet I feel really good. The feet are pretty mashed though - the skin has shaved away from several toes and I have blisters around toes, on both heels and the bottoms are really bruised and tender. I think several toenails are going to depart and my feet are still pretty swollen today.

I have lots of little cuts on my legs from the sotol cactii, but they don't really bother me. I hiked up to the aid stations to grab my drop bags and hung around with Jeff L at Equestrian for a while. I got my timing just right, got a big hug from Olga (and compared Frankenstein walks) and got to cheer on Marcia and Naresh, then waited for Cheri to come through. I'm glad I hung around because they were all so inspirational - dog tired yet still so completely focused on finishing.

It was humbling and a privilege to share in that energy and determination.


Random Thoughts

I have a new favorite shirt and belt buckle, just because I really had to work hard for them

5 miles doesn't sound like much, but it can be a very long way indeed

100 milers require a very high degree of patience

I enjoyed one of the all-time greatest-ever showers last night. It ranks right up there alongside the one I had after Rocky Raccoon. It's almost worth running a 100 miler just for the shower afterwards. Almost.

I always run fever and have chills after races of 50 miles or more but last night was insane - I was burning up. But as usual it broke overnight and I'm fine today. It's almost as if there's a heat switch that gets stuck on for a while. Very strange.

I wonder why I take my camera to these things when I always forget about it until I'm driving home

And finally, my 100 mile itch has been scratched. Well, for a while at least :-)

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Cactus Rose

I have two very swollen and blistered feet from the Cactus Rose 100. On the other hand I also have a finisher's belt buckle. Sounds like a good trade to me.

Race report here.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Feeding Roses

Do not go gentle into that good night
Rage, rage against the dying of the light

- Dylan Thomas
This weekend's Cactus Rose 100 will be a solo attempt for me. There's nothing out there for Nancy and the kids to do so I'm going to drive down by myself and sleep in the back of my new Yukon. I don't have any crew or pacers (by choice), so it's doubly important for me to get my drop bags right.

For every other race I've ever run I haven't worried too much about drop bags because I just grab whatever they have at the aid station, but this is not an option at the Rose because the only thing they have is water. So unless I have my race catered by Taybarns (see last post) I need to nail this.

I plan on running with my two handheld bottles (partly because they're faster to refill and partly because there's a hole in my camelbak), and I've tried to gear my drop bag food to ensure I can get in and out of aid stations quickly.

Here's what I have in mind.

Lodge
2 gallons of homemade Iskiate
4 cans Ensure
1 bottle pedialyte
Pimento cheese sandwiches
4 small cans tomato juice
Salted peanuts

Boyles
2 cans sliced peaches in heavy syrup
2 16oz servings of Spiz
Bananas
Turkey sandwiches
1 box Gatorade powder

Equestrian
3 bottles pedialyte
Several portions of my parents pasty pie
6 small cans tomato juice
Sandwiches
Peanut butter crackers
ipod (ok, I can't eat this but I may want it at some point)

Nachos
2 cans sliced pears in heavy syrup
2 16oz servings of Spiz
Bananas
4 small cans tomato juice
1 box Gatorade powder
Turkey sandwiches
Salted peanuts

Misc
2 Headlamps and one handheld torch
Spare batteries
Blister kit
Salt caps

I finished up my training tonight with 20 road hill repeats and worked off all the soreness in my lower legs. I'll do a relaxed 7 miles tomorrow morning and then rest until the weekend.

I feel good and I feel focused, so Cactus Rose this is your fair warning - I'm going to kick your ass. If I get it wrong and you kick mine then fair enough, but you're going to have to fight me tooth and claw for it. Just know I've gone through 10 marathons and 14 ultramarathons without a single DNF and I don't intend to lose that record this weekend.

Happy Halloween.

Pigs at the Trough

"Table for three sir?"

I was browsing the BBC website earlier today and discovered to my horror that the "all you can eat" buffet restaurant concept has made its way to Britain. Now we have many "all you can eat" buffets here in Austin at which I have been known to partake (often quite enthusiastically), but honestly sometimes it's like feeding time at the zoo - you could swear some of these people had not been fed in weeks the way they chow down. And it's not as if we Brits don't have our own obesity epidemic to worry about - the last time I went back home it was alarmingly apparent that we are expanding at an astonishing rate of calories.

The accompanying video clip (in the BBC article) sadly just echoes the same old British self-deprecating stereotypes as we laugh and poke fun at our self destructive gluttonous behavior while making excuses and crowing about getting "a bargain". Where's the self restraint? Oh yeah, there is none - you may as well let Billy Bunter loose in the tuck shop and hope everything will still be there when you get back.

I remember a few years back Jamie Oliver was so appalled at the junk food that constituted school dinners that he shamed the British Government into investing in more healthy choices. What happened? Parents were sneaking burgers to their kids through the school railings.

Have we really become so conditioned (lazy) that convenience now takes precedence over the health of our own kids? The phrase "ticking time bomb" comes to mind.

But my favorite bit of the article was the assertion that Taybarns (the trough in question) have invented "what appears to be a new hybrid cuisine, Texican". Excuse me, but isn't that what we know as Tex-Mex?

Or did they just slap a tortilla around some soggy fish and chips?

Monday, October 26, 2009

These Shoes were Made for Running


Yet I haven't run a single step in them......yet. I bought them about two years ago and they've been sitting in my closet while I pounded the soles off my other pair of Hardrocks. But those faithful old warriors have finally been pastured off (due to parts of their tread falling off), so the challenge has been issued for these young whippersnappers to (hopefully) see me through 100 miles of cactus Rose on Saturday.

Ideally I would have liked to run a few miles in them beforehand, but with all the rain we've been having over the past few weeks I didn't want to get them caked with mud. On the other hand that means they have a lot of support, spring and bounce I can take advantage of.

And since I'm going to be running in Bandera on the 31st we wanted to enjoy a little bit of Halloween early this past weekend. We had a great time at the Frankenthon marathon on Saturday (though my calves are still mooing from all the concrete), and last night we went to "Halloween in the Park" at Guadalupe River State Park. We had a great time and Gavin cleaned up on candy. The trails were full of witches, ghosts, vampires, spiders, and a roaming bigfoot (not to mention a few shapely wenches, though being a married man I didn't stare...too much!!!). All the staff and volunteers were obviously having a blast and it was a whole lot of fun - I mean how often do you hear a park ranger tell you to "pull forward and pay the witch"!!!

Here are a few pics.



Saturday, October 24, 2009

Frightfully Fun Frankenthon Marathon

This morning I ran the Frankenthon monster marathon at Brushy Creek park just North of Austin. Let's face it, a local Halloween-themed marathon complete with long-sleeved tech shirt and socks - how could I not? Let me just say, the shirt and socks are AWESOME!!!

We showed up at the park and got going at 7am. It was still dark so the early footing was a little hit or miss. I was wondering how the trail would hold up since it was underwater last week, but it was fine apart from two patches where the water was ankle deep - I enjoyed running through it each loop, making sure to splash some of the more tentative road runners who were trying to edge around it.

With Cheri, supplier of yummy finish-line kolaches

The first two loops passed by really quickly and I started the final loop with a comfortable sub-4 hour marathon in the bag. I wasn't really worried about time goals, so with Cactus Rose next week I backed off completely and finished nicely in 3:52 - good for 28th overall. Oddly enough, for the first time in over three years I actually cramped up a little in the last few miles - I wonder why.

Once I finished I enjoyed spending time with friends at the finish line - I got to introduce my parents (who are visiting from Wales) and show Dylan off. The race organizers had laid on a superb spread with lots of pizza, cookies, vitamin water and sodas (plus some friends had brought some yummy kolaches). As a bonus I got in a few extra miles when I went back out and paced a number of friends for their last few miles. It was super fun to run with each of them for a while - a great chance to chat and catch up.

This was a really fun little race which I would definitely do again next year - there were lots of neat little touches like having tombstones as mile markers. We really lucked out with the weather and conditions couldn't be more perfect. On the other hand I have a slightly sore Achilles (a problem that's been haunting me all summer) and am definitely not in the same kind of shape I was back in January.

Hopefully it is enough to see me through 100 miles next Saturday.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Beast Cometh

If you're going to try, go all the way
There is no other feeling like that
You will be alone with the Gods
And the nights will flame with fire.

- Charles Bukowski

The other night I watched an episode of Biggest Loser where they had a slice of chocolate cake that they claimed contained 1000 calories. My first thought was "wow, I should take that to Cactus Rose with me".

Yes, I'm starting to focus in on the Cactus Rose 100 miler which is now only 10 days away. Sure I'm running the Frankenthon marathon this weekend, but I've found myself already looking past it to the big bad wolf lurking just around the corner.

It's been a tough summer with the record heat and a new baby. I haven't really put in the long miles I would have liked, my running has been very up and down and I am not where I hoped to be going into the race. But I suspected that would be the case back when I signed up so I'm just going to suck it up and get on with it.

Besides, I'm kinda looking forward to the challenge - the uncertainty, the fear of failure that drives you on. Back in my rugby days I always had my best games against the big teams because the extra challenge gave me an edge. Sometimes it's good to run scared and I haven't had a race motivate me quite this much since Rocky Raccoon last February. Back then I spent the whole week prior to the race getting my head right so it's time to unleash my secret weapon and get my mental game going.

One thing I did that worked really well for me at Rocky was to set an ambitious time goal which I nailed almost to the minute. I've set myself a similarly ambitious time goal for this beast and worked out what times I need to hit on each loop in order to make that goal. At the very least it'll keep my mind occupied

And like Rocky Raccoon I'll seal it in an envelope and not tell anyone what it is beforehand.

After all, you can't be too superstitious on Halloween night!!!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

26.2 Miles to Marathon

RT and myself near the start line outside of Alpine

Yesterday morning I ran the M2M marathon - the excuse for our trip to West Texas. A beautiful sunrise greeted us as we made our way to the start line, and I bumped into several friends from Austin including RT - a super runner I met at the Timber Knoll race this summer.

We got going and I was feeling good so I stretched my legs and enjoyed the cool of the morning and the banter of my fellow racers. Suddenly I realized the only thing in front of me was the pace car. Holy s*#t, I'm leading the race!!! I knew it couldn't last, so I decided to just enjoy the feeling while it did. That turned out to be about three miles, and I was honestly quite glad when some guys caught and passed me.

As the sun came up we found ourselves running into really strong headwinds which made running a lot more challenging. Knowing these winds were probably going to be with us for the rest of the race, and with Cactus Rose only two weeks away (and another marathon next weekend), I decided to reevaluate my race plan, backed off and ran a lot more conservatively. It seemed everyone was struggling with the wind, so not that many people passed me as I dialed the pace down. One who did was RT - he was looking really strong and went on to run a great race.

Now that I'd decided to turn it into a training run it became a lot more fun. I enjoyed the spectacular views of the mountains, and stopped to chat, flirt and answer questions about my "cute accent" at several aid stations. I even stopped for a beer at mile 24 where there seemed to be a party going on. Then I set my stall for the finish line.

I'd known for quite a few miles that this was probably going to be the end of my streak of sub-4 hour marathons, and sure enough I crossed the finish line in 4:06 (my slowest marathon in 3 years). Oh well, not really that bothered. Nancy and the boys, RT and my friends Tony and Jodi (who had run the half) were at the finish line to cheer me in.

We had a great time socializing, the post-race spread included some yummy brisket which we all enjoyed, and Gavin found a new friend in one of the race sponsor ladies who kept coming by with cookies for him. I was also surprised to find that RT and myself had taken 1st and 2nd in our age group, though I've no idea what the award was because we didn't stay for the award ceremony.

Tony, RT, myself and Jodi at the finish line

The boys enjoying post-run brisket

As we drove us back to Alpine, I spotted another Austin friend who was at mile 21 and obviously struggling a bit. So we stopped the car and I ran across with some water and gatorade. I asked if he needed some company and paced him for a couple of miles, talking about everything and nothing. Nancy drove back toward Marathon and waited for us just before mile 24. By that time we could see the town coming up ahead and he knew he was going to make it, so I gave him my water and we took off.

Gavin and I played in the gloriously frigid swimming pool for a while, we pottered about, and in the evening we traveled up to the McDonald observatory for the star party. But by this time the boys were so tired that they'd crashed, so we skipped it and just went back to the hotel. Oh well, maybe next time - and it really was a spectacular drive up into the mountains.

We've had an outstanding time here, but sadly we head home today.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Davis Mountains Day 2

One of my great unspoken hopes is that Gavin or Dylan (or both) will one day pace their old man to a 100 mile finish. For that special experience I would abandon my "no-pacer" rule. Unfortunately, Gavin seems to have inherited his dad's clumsiness - he falls over his own feet and knocks drinks over with alarming regularity. So when we visited the Fort Davis National historic site today and found a really technical steep trail that led straight up the mountain I wasn't too hopeful that Gavin would want to hike it.

I was right, he didn't. He wanted to run it.

I had Dylan in a sling, but I was so worried Gavin was going to fall right off the mountain that I took off after him. And he wasn't hanging around - he was flying up the trail. After a few minutes I realized I needn't worry about him - he'd found his platform. He was gliding effortlessly, picking out his footing, shifting his weight and bounding from rock to rock with a grace and ease I only wish I possessed. I went to go past him but he wasn't having any of it - he wanted to be the leader so I eased back and waited for him to tire out and stop. But he didn't - he kept on going all the way to the top. I was the one who ended up breathing hard.

Maybe I got it wrong - maybe I'll be the one pacing him.

Nancy and Gavin outside the visitor's center

On the trail - note Gavin is not happy because I ordered him to stop so we could take the pictures

This afternoon Gavin wanted to take a swim in the hotel pool. Regardless of how it looks in the photo below, that pool was like ice. I guess I'll count it as my pre-race ice bath, though I'm betting it will feel quite good after the race tomorrow.

Can you tell we're cold?!!!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Davis Mountains Day 1

Mural in the lobby of our hotel in Alpine

A Welshman is born with the romance of the hills in his heart and the song of the mountains in his soul (shame I can't sing for toffee though), and they are certainly one of the things I miss most about home. So it's always a thrill whenever I get the chance to return to them - that's why I've been looking forward to this trip ever since I booked it.

We left Austin this morning riding high on the back of an amazing sunrise and the promise of adventures to come. We stopped off at a bakery in Fredericksburg and enjoyed a delicious breakfast in a beautiful old courtyard. We made several more stops along the way, but the time flew by and we found ourselves closing in on Alpine by mid-afternoon.

Then a couple of miles outside Alpine I got pulled over for speeding. I got out of the car, handed my license and insurance over and the highway patrol guy asked where we were headed. I told him we were on our way to Alpine for the M2M marathon, and it turns out he's a runner too. We got to talking and he was a really nice guy, so I asked him what the course was like (it goes right along the highway we were on). He gave me a few inside tips (hilly first half, mostly downhill second half, watch for the wind), then he pointed to some blue chalk marks on the ground and said he thought that was going to be the start line. We both wondered at the odds of me being pulled over right at the race start line, talked a bit more and then shook hands.

I got off with a warning.

After we got settled into our hotel we decided to explore a little, so I took highway 118 up through Fort Davis. It was a lovely meandering route through the mountains complete with some amazing fall foliage. We ended up at Davis Mountain State Park and decided to explore the skyline trail. Here are a few photos we took along the way.
Me and Gavin at the first scenic overlook

Nancy and Gavin - note the "will you please stop pointing that thing at me" fake smile pasted on Gavin's face

Me and my boys - do you know how hard it is to get two kids to look in the same direction at the same time?

Nancy and Gavin at the highest point of the trail

I love these two photos of Gavin

Nancy and Gavin at the "bridge" overlook - it was a long way down!!!

By the time we were done we were all a little hungry, so we went back into Fort Davis (which is a really cool little town) and stopped for supper at a place called "Murphy's Pizza and Pasta" which a friend had recommended. The food was wonderful - three of us feasted like ravenous dogs while Dylan looked on wistfully and had to make do with baby milk (sorry buddy).

Dusk was setting in as we left the restaurant and we headed West on highway 17 toward Marfa. It turned into such a memorable drive. We were enraptured by one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen, showcased by the mountains and compounded by the loneliness of the road (empty for miles in both directions). I stopped at one point and took a few photos but they really don't do it justice - the evening had an almost eerie quality to it.

Though that may have something to do with the fact that were about to stop off to look for the famous "Marfa ghost lights". I love my ghost stories and had read all about these. They didn't disappoint - we saw a red light and several white ones floating around a fantastically starry sky. It was a beautiful night in the mountains.

Everyone was tired out and they all crashed when we got back to the hotel (even Dylan), but I wanted to write this up in case I forgot any of it. Today was everything I hoped it would be and so much more. I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.

Oh, and there's the small matter of the marathon on Saturday too!!!