Fall Runnin'

Fall is easily my favorite time of year to run. The leaves are changing color, the mornings and evenings are cool, midday is still warm, there's a bit of snow in the mountains, the trails are less crowded, Sascha can go further and faster because of the lower temps...it's just very pleasant. After being out of town the previous 9 weekends (!!), I was really looking forward to hanging out in central Oregon and enjoying some nice fall running here in this beautiful area.

First, congratulations to Nessski for kicking butt at only his 2nd 50k (he ran well at his first one, too). At the Autumn Leaves 50k, he smoked a 3:40:14! The little bastard beat my time from there 2 years ago by 4 seconds. Attaboy, Ryan!

Last Sunday, I organized the 3 Butte Butt Buster Fun Run at Fleet Feet. I had wanted to make a big loop and run the 3 main buttes in Bend for quite a while. So I figured it was time to stop thinking about it and just do it. I sent out the invite to the FF e-group and was stoked with the 23 runner turnout. The 65 degree weather definitely helped out. We ran up Overturf, then across town to Pilot, then back across town for the big finale - Awbrey. In all, we ran 13.8 miles, gained 1,609' and descended that much, too. Definitely one of the tougher road 1/2 marathons out there! Here's the cool route: http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=258418

Since Sascha didn't join in 3 butte fun, and the day was so beautiful, I thought she would enjoy at least one butte. So when I got home from the 3 Butte Run, I immediately put Sascha in the car and we drove to Black Butte to tackle that bad boy. I wanted a 20+ mile day, so we parked 1 1/2 miles and 500+' vertical below the trailhead and ran the road up to the trail. Since it was such a beautiful day, I really shouldn't have been at all surprised by how many people were on the butte enjoying it one last time before the snow...but, I was. It had been a few years since I was on Black Butte on a busy weekend. But hey, I was there enjoying it, so I couldn't really blame others for doing the same. Just cruising and enjoying the day, with Sascha setting the pace, we ran the 2 mile, 1,600' climb on the trail right at 24 minutes. Anything under 25 is good, so I was happy. Since it was probably the last time we would be on top for a while, we hung out and enjoyed the view (Mt. Adams was even super clear) for 10 minutes. Sascha was a bit lazy descending, so we didn't set any speed records, but we did have a great mid-November afternoon playing together on Black Butte in 65 degree weather. It was a great way to end my 21 mile, 3,700' day.

I had Monday off and really wanted to get in the mountains one last time before the snow hits for good. I decided to go with one of my favorites - Black Crater. Even though we had just run Black Butte the previous day, I knew Sascha wouldn't want to miss this one. And Fatboy and I hadn't run together in a while, so I invited him to join the fun, too. We parked at the gate (which had closed 1 1/2 weeks earlier for the season due to snow, but had since melted off) and ran the 3 1/2 paved miles up to the BC trailhead at a mellow pace with FB leading the conversation. A little stretching at the trailhead (but no wilderness permit to fill-out) and Fatboy and Sascha set off up the trail. I started a few minutes later and as I went by, FB told me he may be a while. I said to not worry because I wasn't going for any record. Sascha joined me and immediately set a very comfortable pace up front. The Black Crater trail is 4 miles long and gains about 2,500 vertical; anything under 50 min. to the top is good. I casually noticed that I hit my first time check about 2 min. faster than 50 min. pace. The next check was another min., 2 more min. for the 3rd, and another minute for the last pitch to the top. Hm, 44 minutes...guess I lied to Fatboy about no record today. Not only was I not trying to get a p.r. (my heartrate was only 120 when I reached the top, 7,257'), but there was enough blowdown to keep me in check from ever opening up. Crap, I'm getting in shape. FB joined us not long after and showed me the cool cross country route he took a few months back getting back down. Maybe next summer... A nice cruiser down the trail and road and we were back at the car. Running with my two best running partners on my favorite trail in central Oregon in my favorite season - not too shabby of a day.

I wanted to get in a track day this week. I planned on Tuesday, but after lots of miles and vert. on Sunday and Monday, after my two mile warm-up to the track, I decided to just keep on running past it. Good call as I felt much looser when I finished my easy run, then I ended up having a good track session on Wednesday. 800-1600-800, jog a lap, 800-1600-800. Other than the 400 jog between sets, I rested no more than 2 minutes between each interval. I averaged 2:41 for my 8s and 5:35 for my 16s. Good, solid workout. I was happy.

I wasn't going to run on Thursday, but when I got home after work, Sascha had other plans. To keep her happy, we went out for an easy 5. As usual, I was glad I did it when we were done. Friday morning was 4 PBRs (Pilot Butte repeats) - one paved mile up and .8 trail miles down, 500' vertical each way. As I've said before, this is my favorite workout in Bend. I can get so much bang for my buck. In about 54 minutes, I can get 7.2 good miles with 2,000' of climbing and descending. I love it! Although the CIM course profile looks nothing like this, I'm convinced the hills make me stronger, which then ultimately makes me faster for longer periods. And I don't get the same repetitive jarring as on the track or a fast road tempo.

Saturday morning was the annual COCC Turkey Trot. This is a super fun, low-key run at the local community college. It's challenging 3 mile route with a fast, downhill 1st mile, gradual uphill 2nd, then big uphill and short downhill last mile. I've run from 17:38 - 18:24. I'm fit this year so I wanted to go sub-17. I was lame and the day before, I told local studs Jeff Caba and Andy Martin about the Trot. They showed up and pushed the 1st mile fast. I went through in 5:10 and was a bit concerned. Mile 2 in 11:04 confirmed I went out to hard. I suffered a bit going up the steep part of the 3rd mile, then recorved a bit on the down, before suffering again on the final short uphill pitch. 17:01...doh! I decided I was happy with the effort, then enjoyed the awesome homemade goodies that are always at this race. I don't know who does all of the baking, but I sure do appreciate it. COCC puts on 5-6 fun, low-key races throughout the year and they're all super cheap ($5-$8), have great prizes and terrific post-race goodies, and almost always draw a few ringers uber-competitive Bend.

One last long run tomorrow 13 days out from CIM. Well, long is relative, as it's only going to be 17. As per coach Thomas, 12 at a moderate pace, then pick it up the last 5, finishing around marathon race pace. A track workout this week and a short one early next week, then I'll be fit to fly. Well, unless I get too fat on Thanksgiving. But that's why it's good I'm running CIM and not Seattle.

Lithia Loop Trail Marathon

Last weekend, Sascha, Gina, and I headed down to Ashland for a little Lithia Loop Trail Marathon fun. Well, I had the marathon fun, while Gina and Sascha had fun getting the 3rd degree from a cop because Sascha was on the grass in a city park. I guess liberal Ashland isn't so liberal when it comes to dogs.

Reading the race info, looking at the course profile, and getting the details from Erik at packet pick-up, I knew it was going to be a fun, tough, and sometimes even fast, course. It was mostly nice forest service dirt roads with about 4 miles of singletrack thrown in for fun. And the best part...it started with a 7 mile, 3,000' climb! It sounded like the perfect Sean-course. (Refueling at Windburn and sporting my stylish Sisters Poker Run sleeves!)

Although I was really using Lithia as a good trainer for CIM next month, I still wanted to go hard. However, to make sure I didn't fully race, I went into the race on tired legs with a 100 mile week.

I did a nice 3 mile warm-up to make sure I was ready to start climbing immediately. When Hal said "go", I found myself running amongst some fast folks - Josh, Jeff, JC, Susannah, and a few others. I lagged behind a bit for the first couple miles to get fully warmed up, then I got into my climbing gear and enjoyed the uphill. I briefly chatted with everyone when I went by and then only Jeff was ahead of me (Jeff was also using Lithia as a CIM trainer). He wasn't really going that much faster than the rest of us, but he was just slowly pulling away.

Shortly after passing Josh, he caught back up to me and we pretty much ran together for the next 5-6 miles. I like Josh and it was great to catch-up with running and other life things with him. Along with Susannah, Josh was using Lithia a tune-up for The North Face 50 mile Championship in the Headlands next month. $10,000 is on the line for the top boy and girl. Josh and Susannah are both definitely putting themselves in a good position to compete for some cash.

(Close to the finish sporting a little grimace and my stylish new Sisters Outlaws XC Singlet)

At mile 7, the top of the big climb, were Erik and Kyle waiting to fill my bottle, give me a Gu, and send me off with an attaboy. It was cool seeing the two young studs out helping (they had run a slightly shorter version of the course a week earlier in 2:40!) The next 13 miles were on top of a ridge where I was able to just get in a groove and cruise. After a couple slight uphill miles, the next 11 were slight downhill and I was easily hitting 6:00-6:15 for all of those splits (there may have even been a couple sub-6s). It was fun to be running comfortably hard so that I wasn't killing myself. Other aid station volunteers I remember seeing on this stretch were Eric, Chris, Ian, Tim, John, and Rob...thank you to all of you and all of the volunteers for helping and cheering. I really appreciate it!

Around 1/2 way, I asked Eric at the West Fork A.S. how far up Jeff was. About 2 1/2 minutes. That grew bit, then shrunk back to 2 1/2 by mile 20. I thought I might have a shot, especially with my 5:20 - 21st mile. Shortly after, the nice bomber dirt road downhill turned into a trail that went up for a little bit. I remember Erik had told me the night before that it was only bad for a few minutes. Although it seemed like a long time, he was probably right and soon I was going down again. But we stayed on singletrack that was getting pretty windy, and I sure was getting tired now. Dang, I knew I was not only losing time to Jeff, but that uber-downhiller Josh was gaining on me. I tried to just lean forward and let gravity take me down.

Eventually I recognized the reservoir where we started and I knew there was only about 1 1/2 miles of nice paved downhill to the finish. So I pushed a bit harder and soon saw Gina cheering and taking pictures. Another slight bend in the road and there was the finish line. 2:53:09, 2nd place. I was pretty darn happy with my performance. Jeff ended up whooping me by 5 1/2 minutes, flying into the finish in 2:47:31. A little over a minute after me, Josh finished in 3rd place, 2:54:33. Susannah had the best finish I saw, running hard across the line in 3:00:29, 1st girl and 4th overall.

If you're looking for an excuse to road trip to Ashland next November, I highly recommend using the Lithia Loop Trail Marathon as that excuse. You'll come home with sore quads, a great t-shirt, great memories of a great event, and a full belly from an excellent post-race spread. Thanks Rogue Valley Runners!

Full results here.

RVR report here.

*Breaking news: RVR bid to make the Lithia Loop Trail Marathon the USATF Trail Marathon National Championship for next year. Sweet!

Funny Stuff

My good buddy sent this to me. Now, I don't care what your political affiliation is, but this is superduperpuper funny: http://www.cnnbcvideo.com/index.html?nid=239Q7JeFFSGFCMY1axAe0zYxNjMxMjM-&referred_by=12104736-n2ZwO9x

After many requests to update my blog so Punkin' Butt wasn't the first thing you see, I decided to replace that picture with this one:

Punky Brewster & Richard Simmons at an 80's Halloween Party!

Races and Adventures

Sascha and I have been busy the last couple weeks with lots of runs, races, and adventures. On Oct. 18, the first annual Pilot Butte Giants Gallop 5k was held. I absolutely love doing PBRs (Pilot Butte Repeats) as a workout. I run the one mile road up gaining 500', and run the .8 mile trail down losing 500'. I try to do this workout once a week, with four repeats. So when I heard about this race, which was a fund raiser for Pilot Butte Middle School, I definitely wanted to run it. We started on the track, ran to, up, and down the butte, then finished back on the track. It was fun racing so I could get a new p.r. going both up (7:26) and down (4:15). Although definitely not a stacked field, I did win 19:18 (course record, baby!) and was challenged the whole way by a speedy masters runner from Bend. And I got to help the Giants raise $3500! (Click here to see PBMS's most famous alumni!)

That night was Poker Run Eve, meaning I had some Poker Runners at my house for a slumber party. Since it was a party, alcohol was definitely consumed. Apparently a bit too much for some...but I thought the Jose Black was pretty good. Well, until somebody decided to plug my nose while drinking it. But that person has apologized and will remain anonymous. A word of advice to those who do sometimes overindulge: pound a bottle of nuun before bed and another 2-3 bottles within an hour of waking up. It works.

Fatboy hosted the annual Sisters Poker Run on Sunday, Oct. 19. I think there were about 35 runners this year, most opting for the 34-turned-into-37/38-miler, while some missed out on the best part of the course and ran 21. Some jerkos vandalized the course, which made the adventure even longer for a few. I spent parts of the day running with Sascha, Darla, Chris, Maeve, Michael, Nate, Tyler, Dave, and Krissy. Since it was a poker run, we obviously enjoyed a few more shots and poker girls at the aid stations. As for the run, I was playing pretty well through the first 4 aid stations, sporting 2 pair. I got hopeful for a possible full house, but ended with my 2 pair, which put me in 9th place. Hey, that's my best showing at the Poker Run. I'm getting good! (That's me enjoying a shot of Jose Black and getting a little kiss from the lovely showgirl!)

Immediately after the Poker Run, Gina, Sascha, and I headed to my favorite place on the Oregon Coast for some fun on the beach - Pacific City. A pretty, late-night walk on the beach was in order before going to bed so we could get a full day of fun in the sand on Monday. After checking out the tide pools in the morning, the big dunes were calling. Sascha and I absolutely love hiking up and running back down the big dune in Pacific City. It's super-fun and as an added bonus, it's a great workout. We did this a couple times before continuing on our walk up the beach toward Tierra del Mar. After a couple hours of frolicking on the beach, rolling in stinky stuff, eating dead stuff, and a couple more assaults on the dune, it was time for some chowder, salt water taffy, then the drive home through a snow storm (which I slept through). Quite a nice day at the beach. (This is one of my favorite pictures of Sascha and me.)

Thursday was the Sky-Em District Championship Cross Country Meet in Eugene. I rode the very full bus over with the Sisters team. Before we left, they presented me with a team sweatshirt, t-shirt, and long sleeve tech shirt. I love these kids! Once on the bus, it was my turn to give them something: nuun graciously donated a tube of nuun, water bottle, stickers, and tatoos to all 50 kids on the team. Thanks, nuun - the kids loved it! They all hydrated up on the drive over the mountains, while many also put their tatoos on for the races. The heavily-favored boys team dominated the 7-team meet, with their 7th runner placing 13th! They're headed to State as the #2 ranked 4A team in Oregon. The girls were in a tough, tight race. They battled their way to 3rd, with top 2 teams advancing. However, Sisters' top-2 girls advanced as individuals, so that was cool. This Saturday is the State Cross Country Championships at LCC in Eugene. Stop by if you have a chance. There's nothing quite like watching kids giving it their all.

Sunday, Oct. 26, was my 7th running of the McDonald Forest 15k in Corvallis. I absolutely love this race. In fact, it's my favorite sub-marathon race (and I've run a lot of races)! It's hilly (1,500' vertical), it's challenging, it's fast, it keeps you honest, it draws good competition, it beats you if you go out too hard, and it's a cross country fund raiser (I'm a sucker for this). Typically I finish in the 1:01-1:03 vicinity, with a best of 1:00:55 from 2004. After the marathon 2 weeks ago, Ness said I needed to go sub-60 at Mac this year. Great idea - so that was my goal. I usually start out pretty conservatively then pass lots of people going up the hill from 3-6. While it's obviously fun to pass, I knew I could do better. So I did a nice, long warm-up so I was prepared to start fast. Hitting 5:26 for the first mile sure was fast, but I felt controlled and good. I cruised through 2 in 11:27 and 3 in 17:36 before starting the climbs and pretty much settling in to 5th. I hit 4 in 23:53, then the real climbing started. I seriously felt like I was going faster, but my time at mile 6 showed different, 39:55. Oo, a 16:02 2-mile split. I knew I could get the sub-60 if I kept the pedal down. Mile 7 was 45:57, then 8 was at 50:29. Okay, a little quick math here says I ran the 8th mile in 4:32. Nope, not possible. Yes, it is a screaming downhill, losing 500', but I don't run 4:32 miles. Mile 9 at 57:30 confirmed this, as I know I was running faster than 7:01 pace. But I'm pretty sure the two together really were 2 miles. I was pretty excited knowing I had 2 1/2 minutes to run .3 downhill miles. I pushed hard through the end, finishing with a smile in 58:50, blowing away my time goal. I was pleased that I was able to go out hard and maintain a strong, steady effort throughout the race. Yet another positive racing note in the last 5 weeks.

Sascha and I haven't done a cool adventure in the mountains for a while. So today, we decided to head to the mountains and play on Mt. Washington. Never having been up it, we didn't have any expectations as far as how high we could go. With some sore quads thanks to the Mac, and the steepness of the climber's trail, we definitely did a fair amount of hiking. But that was okay. It was a beautiful fall day - sunny, warm, some foliage, and I was hanging out in the mountains with my favorite training buddy...it doesn't get much better.

The next few weeks will be about getting ready for CIM. Two senior guys on the Sisters XC team even asked if they could go with me and run. Awesome!

2:42:30

That's my new marathon p.r.! I just ran it today in the Spokane Marathon. Gina and I drove up from Sisters yesterday to visit my fam, so of course I had to fit in a race. Conveniently, the Spokane Marathon was this weekend. I had wanted to run it for a few years, but it never quite fit my schedule.

With 1,700' of climbing and equal descent, it's a tough course, and it's also very pretty. With no specific marathon training any time recently, I entered it wanting to run around 2:50, kind of a training race in my CIM preparation. (The kid with me is 19, running his first marathon, we're at mile 8; he ended up over an hour behind me; I felt bad for him, but like all of us, he'll learn!)

After a 7:02 first mile in 27 degree weather, I was cold so decided to speed up earlier than I originally planned, mainly to warm up. I just kept getting faster and faster all day. Here are some random splits that I remember: 3 - 19:38, 7 - 45:20, 10 - 63:50, 13 - 1:22:11, 20 - 2:05:00, 22 - 2:17:27, 26.2 - 2:42:30. There were 2 or 3 sub-6s somewhere in there, I think in the high-teens and low-20s. I was feeling good.

Anyway, when I finally realized I wasn't going to slow down, but just keep getting faster (somewhere around 20), I did some math-on-the-fly and realized I could actually get a p.r. So that became my goal and I went for it pretty hard to the finish, with my last 10k in 37:30 - which included the infamous "Doomsday Hill" from Bloomsday. The hill did nothing for me, speed-wise, anyway. It was fun flying by the hordes of 1/2 marathoners that had just joined the marathon course.

Finishing strong...and I even look like a runner!

I ran focused and with a purpose the last 30 minutes, and even got a slight case of tunnel vision in the last mile. That was kinda fun! I eventually wound my way back to Riverfront Park, weaved through oodles of people out playing, and found the slightly chaotic finish line. I say slightly chaotic because there were lots of 1/2ers finishing right around me and I came up to the finish so fast, I don't think they were really expecting me so they tried to point me into the 1/2 chute. I just went to the right one and then they figured it out.

I was stoked and tired when I finished. After 30 seconds, my mom found me and I had to lean on her while we walked to a seat. It felt so good just to sit there in the sun, warm and happy. I had just averaged 6:12 per mile for 26.2 of them and I had won. It was good. (Local celebrity!)

After winning uber-tough Crater Lake Marathon 2 months ago, then today's p.r. and win on another challenging course, it makes me realize that apparently I like the tough road marathons. And that running lots of miles in the mountains, with hardly any specific speed work, helps get me fit for said road marathons. Perhaps I'm on to something.

Now I have a little dilemma. I had originally planned on training hard the next 8 weeks with a specific goal of sub-2:40 at CIM. Now, after today's race, that seems kinda sand-baggish to me. Perhaps 2:37? That would make for a nice, round 6-flat pace. But that sounds pretty fast and intimidating. Opinions, suggestions, ideas??

One short note on the shoes I wore: Exactly 9 days before the marathon, Paul Curran sent me a new pair of tester shoes from END Footwear. END is a new, green, running shoe company out of Portland. Their goal is to make the greenest shoes possible, and very light shoes in the process. The model I'm testing is the YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary), which weigh in at a svelte 8 oz, so they're light. I put about 60 miles on them in the week before Spokane, and I liked them so much that I decided to wear them for the race. Well, I loved them in the marathon, too! They're light, flexible, cushy, very light meshy upper that hugs my foot nicely, and best of all, they're fast! Zero blisters, and now, a day later, my legs really aren't beat up. I'm lovin' em. (Goat has done at least one write-up on END Footwear, too.) Watch for END in specialty stores in the near future -they're a good company and one that I feel good about endorsing. And, with my 2:42, that currently makes me the END Footwear Marathon World Record Holder! Pretty cool.

Tahoe 2, Sean 0, Draw 1

That's my record this year at Tahoe. I dnf'd the TRT 100 in July, just dnf'd the Tahoe 72 on Sunday, and the draw is WS.

I went to the 72 with pretty high hopes; definitely a sub-10, but really thinking more along the lines of sub-9:30. So I went out fast. As it turned out, too fast, but really, after averaging 5:26 at the Bigfoot 10k a week earlier, low-7s/mi seemed superduperpuper easy for the first 20 miles (which I went through, at Spooner Summit, in 2:28). I easily ran through 50k in 3:49, and hit the 1/2 way point, 36 miles, in 4:23. Hm, I thought, if I keep this up, I'll easily be the first person to run sub-9 (Rae Clark holds the record of 9:06).

I had slowed a bit by 40, was shuffling slowly and puking LOTS the next two miles (non of the little spit-up pukes I occasionally do - even Fatboy would have been proud!), and walked very slowly the 43rd and 44th miles. I was freezing, puking my guts out, couldn't keep anything down, and was just having a miserable time. Eventually my crew drove back towards me to see what was taking so long (I had been hitting my 5 miles splits between 35-40, and now it was well over an hour). I saw the car, walked up and got in. I had made up my mind that I was done, and I was. Sure, I probably could have sat in the car for a few hours, warmed up, maybe eventually got some calories in me, and walked/jogged the final 28 miles in 7 hours, but really, that had absolutely zero appeal to me. Going back to the hotel, showering, sleeping, then eating sounded waaaaaaaay better. So that's what we did. And I was (and still am) confident in my decision.

No big brain-teaser about what went wrong here. I ran too damn fast too early and for too long. That's the way it goes. If I could have held that pace, or even slowed just slightly, I had a good shot at the course record. And I believe the only way to know your absolute potential is to go for it from the start. Many times you end up crashing and burning, but occasionally you uncork an incredible performance. Fatboy often reminds me that's how Eric Clifton got all of his course records, many of which still stand after more than 10 years. I'm not in any way comparing myself and times to Eric's, but I do respect his philosophy. He has definitely crashed and burned a lot, but DANG he has some sweet records.

Anyway, so I think I'm changing up my racing plans for the rest of the season. I had wanted to finish my 100th ultra by the end of the year (I'm currently at 95), but I'm scrapping that plan. I think I'll just run one more ultra this year (Sisters Poker Run), and really focus on trying to break that magical 2:40-marathon barrier at CIM. After Boston, quite a few friends actually suggested to me that I try again at CIM this year. I hesitated to commit because of my ultra plans, but always kept it in the back of my mind. I'll still run the fun short fall races that I've come to love (McDonald Forest 15k), but really re-focus back to the roads. If I keep my training strong and consistent, and run the kind of marathon at CIM that I did at Crater Lake, then I definitely believe I'll break 2:40.

I must rewind a minute and congratulate Oswaldo Lopez on his victory in the 72 (no results are posted yet, but he was on pace for right about 10:00 with 16 miles to go), and Peter Lubbers for his hat-trick of Super Tahoe Triple victories! Way to go, guys - you're both studs!! And, of course, I would be a bad person if I didn't thank my uber-crew extraordinaire. In the first time ever crewing, all of my wants and needs were met flawlessly...thank you.

Thirty-three Forty-four

That's what I ran for the Bigfoot 10k in Bend last Sunday. A p.r. I was very surprised. I had hopes of running around 34:30, about 15 seconds faster than last year. My splits went like this: 5:18, 10:56 (5:38), 16:17 (5:21), 21:42 (5:25), 27:04 (5:26), 32:34 (5:30), 33:44 (1:10). I also p.r.ed for 5 miles, and I got 5th place in a very competitive race. (Thanks for the picture, Ryan.)

On this fast, mostly gradual downhill course, I went out fast, but not hard. The 2nd mile is the most "uphill" of the race (which isn't really that much, but compared to the rest of the course, you kinda notice it). Then I just got into a good, hard groove. I felt great and was definitely surprised that I was maintaining sub-5:30s the rest of the race. I kinda got mentally weak the last 1/2 mile, and my splits show that. I was catching up to uber-masters runner Chuck Coats. Chuck always easilty kicks my butt. So I think when I started getting close to him in the 5th mile, I got a little scared, like I shouldn't be there. So I was weak and didn't go continue my chase. But regardless, I was elated when I finished. Both Chuck and 3rd place Jeff Caba were surprised to see me so soon at the finish and commented that ultrarunners aren't supposed to run in the 33s. That was cool.

I ran in the oh-so-cool new Nike Lunaracer. Oh, baby, that is a sweeeeeeet shoe! Ritz even wore his in Beijing. In case you haven't seen it or heard about it, it's a super-light racing flat with new technology that allows for the shoe to actually be cushy and light weight. There is a memory foam that is oh-so-nice underfoot, and a new upper made out of Nike's new flywire technology. It hugs like a glove, and my women's size 10.5 weigh in at just under 5 oz.! Definitely not your daily trainer, and not for moderate-and-above over-pronators, but if you're a neutral to mild overpronator, and you want a superduperpuper lightweight flat for your fast days, give the Lunaracer a try. It's fun.

My quads did take a bit of a beating from Bigfoot, so I've been taking it super easy this week in preparation for the big lap around Tahoe this weekend. Sascha and I went for a flat 9-miler on Tuesday night, then today I had a nice (painful) massage, and tonight we just jogged up Black Crater. While going up Black Crater, I thought about just how much I love running uphill. It's awesome! That's why I organized the Pine Mountain Hill Climb a couple weeks ago. I got to thinking that I really need to have a race on Black Butte, too. So my mind started working...oo, a series, perhaps. A mountain series. The Meissner Mountain Series...nah, kinda blah. Meissner's Mountain Madness...a bit corny. Meissner Mountain Menagerie...him, better. Oo, oo, I know, I know...Meissner Mountain Menage a Trois! Yeah, baby! Of course, that means I need a 3rd mountain to add to the menage. Perhaps Grey Butte? Grizzly Mountain? Lookout Mountain? I'm not sure yet, but I'm definitely excited about the Meissner Mountain Menage a Trois! Or does it sound better as Meissner Menage a Trois Mountain Series? I kinda like the 3 m's in a row, alliteration thing in the first title, but maybe the second title makes more sense. I don't know...what do you think? About the whole idea? Are you as enthusiastic about it as I am? I'm definitely thinking 2009 would be the first year of the series. Are you tough enough to run all three??

I'm off to Tahoe in the morning. Seventy-two miles of paved pleasure!