Midnight at the Oasis (El Scorcho 50k)

Last night I ran the El Scorcho 50k, a unique ultramarathon event that takes place on the trails of Trinity Park in Fort Worth. Yes, you heard right - an ultramarathon set in the middle of Texas summertime. Crazy, right? Billing itself as a "ridiculously foolish endurance run" the race starts at midnight (the unique and fun feature), and if you've never run a night race before, this one is a real gem.

The course is a 5k route that loops back to the start/finish. The 25k runners run 5 loops, and the 50k runners complete 10.

Now in it's fourth year, a lot of planning and an eye for detail has obviously gone into what is a very polished and fun event. This is very much a race put on by runners for runners. With a friendly welcome, "down home" sense of humor, wonderful support, enthusiastic volunteers, party atmosphere and great swag (love the technical singlet and the fun finisher's awards) it's one to mark on your calendar for next year.

Make sure to sign up early though. It's sold out in each of its four years to date - no shortage of crazies in central Texas!!!

To be honest, I was a little nervous going into this one. My longest run since March has been 14 miles, but this race has a kinda symbolic meaning for me. When I last ran it two years ago, it marked the kickoff of my training season for my first 100 miler, and being a lover of symmetry I figured it would be good mojo if I could kick off my new training season in the same way - recapture the vibe of that wonderful running year.

So the plan was to hit the first half fairly hard, then go easy and see what I had left for the last loop. And that's pretty much how it worked out. I ran the first few loops doing consistent 8 to 8:30 miles and enjoying myself. I started out with two water bottles and a headlamp, but jettisoned one of the water bottles after the first loop, and dumped the headlamp after the second. The full moon gave some illumination, and it was kinda fun to rely on my instincts and run by feel on the darker sections of the course.

I amused myself at one point by loping along and pretending to be a werewolf - yes, it really is that strange inside my head sometimes!!!

I did run into a slight low point around loop 5 and 6. I think I'd been drinking too much water and was feeling nauseous, but a few e-caps and more of an emphasis on heed fixed me right up.

We lucked out with the weather - it seemed to be somewhat cooler than of late, and the humidity didn't seem as high (though I could be mistaken as I was still sweating like a politician on a lie detector). There was even a slight breeze from time to time, and I loved running under that wonderful moon.

There was a small aid station half way round the course where they handed out paper towels soaked in iced water - that was a great touch that I took advantage of each loop.

I had driven down with a group of friends who all ran the 25k, and by the second half I had my own cheering station and crew waiting for me at the end of each loop. Angel even held an ice pack to the back of my neck to cool me down while I refilled from my drop bag - bliss.

On the last loop I fell in with a guy called Brian who was training for his first 100 miler at Cactus Rose. As I'd run that race last year we got to talking about it, and then shifted onto other stuff and basically chatted our way through the rest of the loop. It's so much easier to keep running when you have someone to talk to (and I have developed a tendency to be lazy in these trail races), and we pushed each other and finished strong in 5:19.

Which I've just realized is a new 50k PR for me - nice bonus.

After the race we went for breakfast, ate like stray dogs and had a good laugh. I had eggs benedict with hash browns (and coffee for the drive home) and they were wonderful. A stop in West on the way home for yummy kolaches (and to give me a break from driving) put the finishing touch on the trip.

An excellent guys weekend. Think I'll sleep well tonight though.

Tapering for the Full Moon

This Saturday I'm heading up to Fort Worth to run the El Scorcho 50k, which starts at midnight under a full moon. I love running at full moon - it brings out my inner werewolf.

I haven't run since Monday, instead I've been hitting the bike trainer. I actually slept in this morning - that hardly ever happens and it was glorious!!!

I'm not expecting too much from this race, but it marks the beginning of my training season for the Rocky Raccoon 100 next February. I'm just looking forward to seeing some old friends and enjoying the experience.

I have a group of runners traveling up with me, and we've figured out the most important logistic - where we're going to go for breakfast afterwards!!!

Happy Birthday Dylan

They say that as you get older time speeds up, and while I have yet to discover my first gray hair, the old finger seems to be firmly wedged on the fast forward button. At the other end of the scale Dylan broke his duck today and chalked up his first birthday - it really does not seem a year since he was born.

Nancy got back from a long day in Houston just in time to celebrate. We sang "happy birthday", gave him a big wedge of chocolate cake and let him go for it. And boy, did he go to town!!! With his brother's help, they cleaned the plate.

We ended up cleaning the floor, the walls, the blinds and anything else within flinging distance.

Here are a few pictures.





And just as a comparison, the picture below was Gavin at his 1st birthday party back in 2006. He was a lot messier than Dylan - all over his face, all in his hair :-)

He still does that thing with his bottom lip. And he had a lot more hair than Dylan!!!


It's funny to compare the pictures of my two boys at one year of age. I can see so much of Gavin's cheekiness reflected in his photo. He runs very much on his emotions and is even more of a rascal than the photo suggests.

Dylan is also cheeky, but I think the first picture in this post captures his personality just as much as the last one captures Gavin. He is the "thinking man's" rascal - I have a hunch that he's going to be more tactical and subtle than Gavin.

Together they'll make a formidable team. I think Nancy and I are going to have our hands full over the next few years.

Bring it on boys - your old man still has a few tricks up his sleeve :-)

Goblin Hunting in Wimberley

"Damn, daddy. There must be 100s of them"!!! Gavin finds a "goblin hole" in his search for goblins

We took a trip to Wimberley today. I'd never been there before and it was very quaint. Downtown was set out like a village square with lots of quirky little sculptures decorating the pathways. We had lunch at an outdoor cafe, pottered about and then went to explore the woods around Cypress Creek. I explained to Gavin that cracks in trees are really secret entrances to the goblin underworld, and soon we found an old hollowed out tree that he was convinced was their front door. We set out to find evidence of goblins while I continued to embellish the story. I even provided a name for the goblin king - "Fin Tin the Goblin King Ole Ole Biscuit Barrel" (yes, I stole that last bit from Monty Python).

We had a great time - here are some more pictures.

The flowerpot man

Exploring the woods by Cypress Creek

It's good to be a gangster

It's been a funny old week running-wise. On Monday I ran trail hill repeats and did ok on what was a really hot afternoon. Tuesday morning I ran 10 road miles and had a lousy run - super humid, no energy, little motivation. Then Thursday I did a hilly run with legs super sore from a hard weights session yet felt fantastic and ran really well.

This morning I did 14 miles and again felt pretty good.

Go figure.

On the reading front, I finished The Last Stand - an entertaining story of bravery, cowardice, incompetence and magnificent moustaches. I swapped it out for Stieg Larsson's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Mil Millington's Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About.

Did I ever mention I love the Austin library?

Lean and Mean in Forest Green

God loves crazy people. Why else would he make so many of us?

- anonymous crazy person

And the races keep on coming. Today I signed up for the Rocky Raccoon 100 miler which is going to be my main goal race for this coming winter season. I have a very ambitious time goal in mind - I'm not going to say what it is other than it is faster than the 21:35 I ran there last year, and I would need to work my butt off to get it. But I have figured out the required loop splits, and I think that if I work hard and get extremely lucky on the day I may have a shot at it.

Winter sunrise over Lake Raven. Huntsville, TX

Of course, it's very easy to have good intentions this far out and that goal may well be revised as we get closer to the race. Still, there's nothing wrong with aiming high and we'll see how it goes.

In the immediate term I've added cycling (on the bike trainer) and weights to my weekly workouts. All the weights workouts I've designed make use of either a Swedish ball or a wobble board to engage the core muscles. On the bike I'm concentrating on leg turnover and keeping my cadence between 80 and 100.

I'll use El Scorcho as the starting point for my base building stage, much the same as I did back in 2008, and then start building up the miles.

I have to say, I'm looking forward to pitting myself against five loops of Huntsville State park again.

Brave Sir Robin

The boys are back in town - last year's relay team

Our marathon relay team have won the Governor's cup at the Silicon Labs Austin marathon relay for the last two years straight. I hadn't planned on participating this year, but after being harrassed by several buddies (one of whom had taken to singing "Brave Sir Robin" every time he saw me) I finally gave in and agreed to run. And somehow I got voted team captain again.

I have a bit of work to do if I'm going to match the 45 minute 10k I did last year though.

The Ultra Experience

I found the following video on youtube, parts of which are quite breathtaking. If this doesn't make you want to get out there and run, nothing will.

Another Year Older

Well another year has gone by and my odometer has clicked over once again. My mileage is now up to 37. How did that happen? It wasn't that long ago I was somewhere in the mid-20s!!!

Be that as it may, yesterday I said goodbye to 36 with a 15 mile run around a super steamy Austin. A steady stream of conversation made the miles go by really quickly, but it's funny how conversations tend to branch off at really unusual tangents. At one point we were running down Jefferson singing Bohemian Rhapsody!!!

After the run, and between world cup games and Tour de France coverage, I headed off to the library to change out my books. I picked up Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower and The Last Stand. I love history - I don't mean dry textbook lists of names and dates, but books that bring the past to life by fleshing out the characters and giving you a window into how life was lived at a particular time and place. I'd read good reviews of these books in the Statesman recently, so I have high hopes for them.

I also picked up a few DVDs of Midsomer Murders, a British "cozy" mystery series set in a fictional cluster of small villages. I used to love these shows which were full of quirky characters and witty plots. It'll be fun catching up with some of those characters.

Happy 4th of July folks.

Monster Mash

Last Year's race shirt

Figured out the first of my fall races and signed up for the spooktacular Frankenthon Monster Marathon in October. I ran this last year as a build-up to Cactus Rose and it was a lot of fun with some really great swag. My friend Clea is also running it. She's a strong runner - a real speed pixie - so I'll certainly have my work cut out trying to keep up with her!!!

Some other race plans are in the works, but they will live or die depending on the outcome of various other happenings in the next few weeks.


We've started taking Gavin to gymnastics class on Wednesday evenings, and he absolutely loves it. Gymnastics is a fantastic base for any number of sports, and it's great fun too. We've been looking for somewhere to channel Gavin's almost limitless energy for a while, and I think this is it. He's been walking and running with Nancy and I ever since he was really small, often for several miles at a time, and it's very rewarding as a parent to see him reap the benefits of the healthy and active lifestyle we've tried to encourage.

Last week he was in the 5 to 8 year old class. They ran loops around the gym as a warmup, and Gavin lapped every other kid in the class - he just bolted out of the gate, never slowed down and ran with a huge sloppy grin on his face.

As a running dad, that really made my day.

The two girls who teach the class are great with the kids, and you could tell they were all having a blast. It's wonderful to see him do something that he enjoys and that he's really good at - you could just see the confidence pouring out of him as he bounced around.

And while he was enjoying the class, Dylan was enjoying running up and down the corridor outside, yelling up a storm and laughing his head off. Nancy and I traded out watching Gavin and trailing Dylan because he went for the entire hour - up and down, up and down, chattering away. Although his vocabulary is limited to "mamma", "dadda", "brother", "oatmeal" and "oh oh", he supplements with his own little language of grunts and yells.

I'd better keep myself in shape, otherwise they're both going to be leaving their old man in the dust.