Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Bitten Twice by a Rattlesnake





Jenn Thompson's incredible story!  

Vernon's First Race


Ten Years and Counting

What I've been up to
It has been over a year and a half since I posted to this blog.  Honestly, I nearly forgot it existed.  For posterity sake and for the rare occasion of having anything remotely profound to formally convey . . . I believe I shall keep this thing going!

2014 marked ten years of ultrarunning.  The 2014 Capon Valley 50K was my first foray in to the sport that I have grown to love.  As an "anniversary" of sorts, I returned 10-years later.  Over the past year I also ran Catawba Run Around, Haulin' in the Holler 50K, and the Iron Mountain 50M.  One of the most satisfying adventures was a three-day self-supported fastpack with my friend Dan Lehmann.  

None of the runs/races were huge "A" efforts and my fitness level was never where I have been in the past.  I had fun, but finding the time to train 80+ miles/week has been too difficult to balance with work and family life.

The goal race for fall was the Pinhoti 100 in Alabama and I stealthily got my self in very fine shape -- the best I've been in about 3-years.  After a really solid 12-weeks of training, I was ready to roll and start tapering about 3-weeks out.  While returning from the Trilogy on Sunday night I unfortunately decided to sneak in a run at dusk.  While descending the Spring Ridge Trail, I bit the dust harder than I ever have and ended up breaking a couple of ribs.  I was lucky to escape with only that.  End of season.  Bummer.

Six weeks later, I still have lingering pain in my ribs but they are nearly 90% healed.  My eyes are firmly fixed on adventures ahead.  I am once again in the Western States lottery and have a solid supply of tantalizing races in the likelihood of not getting my name drawn.

Blogger . . . I'm back.