Feet get pretty dirty wearing Lunas in the mud

Today was the 2nd annual Born to Run event at Soaring Eagle Park.  Last year I did the 10k at this event since I was just off a 50k the week before.  This year I had planned to do the marathon or 10-mile distance at least but, thanks to my knee, I was going to be running another 5-miler.   After having read Finding Ultra in the last few days and seeing that the Watershed 12 Hour was last week and the Pigtails 200/150/100 mile was happening at the same time as this event, doing a 5-mile run sure didn’t seem like much of an accomplishment.   Actually, it was just another training run for me with 300 other people, I didn’t ‘race’ the event at all and it was just another run in my slow 10% increase per week ramp-up.   Pretty much everything will be that way until I get back up to half marathon distance.

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The Scott Cougar Mountain Trail Series for 2012 began today on a perfect day for running with sunny skies and mild temps. I did this run with Christian, his first trail run ever and we probably couldn’t have picked a better day for it and the 5-mile course isn’t too brutal.   We both helped with registration before the event and then geared up just before the pre-race talk.  My big dilemma was footwear, I brought along my Luna Leadville sandals and my Merrell Trail Gloves figuring I’d make the call at the last minute.  I opted for the sandals since it was such a perfect day and the trails were reportedly in great condition plus they slow me down and I didn’t want to push too much on this run.  Plus, these are the only thing I’d been wearing the last two weeks in Utah so figured that me feet were used to them.

The course was the same as last year with the first hill right where I remembered it.  We kept running up the hill and passed quite a few walkers on the way.  The second hill before the aid station I’d kind of forgotten about.  After the aid station the run was pretty smooth going and we kept the sort of slow pace going.   We crossed the line at 55:36 for Chris and 55:37 for me, about 1 min/mile slower than my last year’s pace which felt about right for this year.  Chris did great the whole run and was ready to sign up for the next event in the series by the time we finished.  Knee felt good which was the important thing, last thing I wanted was a re-injury to knock me out for the rest of the season.

The Luna sandals performed great on the run, I was pretty glad I chose to wear them instead of shoes.  They helped keep my stride very short and my legs moving fast, especially on the downhill stretches.    Next up in the Born to Run/Evergreen Trail Run event at Soaring Eagle in two weeks, I’m planning on only doing the 5-mile course there and will be running it too in the Lunas.

The last three months of downtime from running has been tough.  For starters, I gained about 10 lbs. from lack of real activity which makes getting going again even harder.  Mainly though, being on the trails helped keep me balanced and sane so without it maintaining that balance has been challenging at times.  But getting out of balance presented me with an opportunity, the opportunity to begin a different practice to find that balance instead of just relying on miles on the trails.  I spent more time painting over these last months than I had in the previous several years, it was great and I’m starting to get the feel of the materials back.  I got back on the cushion every day which has its own challenges but helped me balance out and start sleeping normally again.

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After a long stretch of zero problems with running I got hit with another injury right around the start of the year.   Winter seems to be the time to get hurt, in 2009 I stress fractured my left foot in January, that took about 9 months to fully recover from.  This time it was my right knee which started acting up for no apparent reason.   Maybe I was doing too much hill work, maybe the leg presses at the gym got me, I’m not really sure but my knee was hurting.   I rested a bit, it felt better so I ran again.  Bad idea, the knee quickly went back to pain and swelling.   I rested a bit more then ran the Bridle Trails 10-miler which felt great.  Well it felt great that day, three days later my knee was in pain, stiff and swollen again.

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I’d  been looking forward to the Bridle Trails Winter Running Festival since registration had opened for it, figuring a late afternoon run in the mud and rain would be a good way to start the season.  Then came the storms – snow, ice and wind.  Then came the flu.   For two weeks I’d been either ‘running’ on crusty snow and ice or lying flat on my back in bed sleeping most of the day. Plus my knee hurt.  On Thursday I wasn’t sure I was even going to make it to the event to do registration let alone tackle the 10-mile run I’d signed up for.  On Friday I felt well enough to get out and go fishing so I figured I’d at least make it for registration, I’d decide on the running before the event started.

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Last year I didn’t start trail running until late February or early March so I never really had to run in the snow.   This year is starting out with some real winter weather so my last two runs have been done with snow on the trails and more snow falling.   I was a bit hesitant on Saturday morning to head out onto semi bad roads to meet up with the Seattle Running Club group at Bridal Trails to do 10 miles in the snow but I went and had a blast.

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I’ve decided that trail running shoes are sort of like fly rods, in that you probably need a collection of them.  If I only ran at a few trails all the time I’d get by with one pair of shoes, just like if all I did was fish a few small trout streams I could get by with a 7′ 4-weight fly rod and be pretty happy.   Well, I fish for everything from 6″ trout in small mountain creeks to 100+ lbs. sailfish in bluewater so I have fly rods ranging from a 6′ 3-weight bamboo up to a 8′ 14-weight for offshore and don’t get me started on my switch & spey rod collection.   Similarly I run on everything from the easy Watershed trails in the summer to the often slippery and muddy trails at Soaring Eagle to the rugged trails in the mountains so I now have amassed a collection of trail running shoes that I use for different situations.

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Running the Echo Valley 50k, still smiling

I began running in college and have run most of my adult life off and on.   It used to be all road running and, like most people, I started out with a few miles, worked my way up to a 10k event, a 20k event and finally a half marathon before contemplating a full marathon.   Yet, that full marathon was elusive, every time I tried for it I got hurt.

The first time I was in my late 20’s when I decided to run the Des Moines Marathon.  I had done several 10k runs and a 20k and began increasing my mileage.  Once I got above 25 miles per week though I ended up with hip tendonitis so bad that I had to stop and take some time to recover.

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Rosario Head - photo by Glenn Tachimaya

I thought that my long runs were over when I finished the Echo Valley 50k but I just kept running and did a few more events in October.   I then got mail from Rainshadow Running that the Deception Pass registration would open and decided I had to do it, we love Deception Pass and I’ve hiked many of the trails there over the years so I thought this would be a perfect way to end the year and finally get in an official 25k. Continue reading →