After another week of good running I headed out to the Cape Perpetua Fat Ass and ran the 50K there.  My plan going into the run was to take it easy and run with some friends.  As we all started up the first climb I caught up with a guy from Corvallis who was doing the 30K.  We ended up running together the whole day until I had to head off and do one more loop while he cruised to the finish.  Anyhow, we ended up going quite a bit faster than I was planning but that was fun and the pace was still comfortable.  The course took us up a big 10 mile climb then down 10 miles with a few rollers along the way.  Then up 5 more miles and down 5.  Coming down the 10 mile descent we really got cruising so when I took off for the last 10 miles I felt silly slowing down so I kept up a good pace.  Fortunately the only rough patch was starting down the last hill when my legs felt a little stiff.  I haven't put a hard effort at this distance for quite some time so that wasn't much of a surprise.  I felt strong finishing the run and hadn't checked my watch all day but figured that I had put up a pretty good time.  Turns out I ran a 4:10 on a course with some good climbing.  Looking at the map, I figured that the course was maybe 30 miles, not your traditional 50K, but that run sure gave me some confidence.  The next day I managed a sub-1 hour effort of one of my favorite routes up McCulloch Peak which was the first time I had gone that fast.  After a couple great days though, I could feel that the body took on a little more than it could take in stride and the next few days found me more focused on recovery more than running.  Today the legs felt like they were back and I managed a sub-2 hour double McCulloch using a fairly direct route from Oak Creek then dropping into Soap Creek and climbing out of there.  All in all I'm feeling happy with my recent efforts, and also am having a lot of fun just heading out and running every day.

Cummins Peak

Some sweet single track coming down from Cummins

Heading up the last climb

Looking back up the trail

Another beautiful descent

Although it is hard to see in the picture that's the ocean behind those trees

Cruising through a tunnel of trees

Once again my running has started to take off.  The past few weeks of relaxed running, both in effort and expectation, have payed off leading to some very solid running this week.  After Christmas in Montana with my grandparents, I felt completely healthy and managed to put up a nice balance of long slow running and some shorter faster efforts.  My fitness is really starting to come around so I'm very excited to see what I will be able to do in the coming weeks.  At this point, Orcas Island is definitely on my mind although there is still 4 weeks to February 7th.  I'm not focused on the race yet like I will be in a couple weeks, but ideas are starting to creep into my mind of what is possible.  Coming back from some time down I have no specific goal yet, but if I can keep running how I am now, I will be looking for a pretty fast time.

Enjoying some wet trail with my brother

Cruising through the bottom of the clearcut

Me on top of McCulloch Peak

After getting hammered with a bunch of rain on Saturday, my brother and I got out for an easy run on Sunday.  There was still some rain which was accompanied by unseasonably warm weather (50s) for about a week.

A couple weeks later and there some snow up high

Some cool ice formations up on Lookout Saddle

Nearing the top of Lookout Mountain

After some warm wet days came some cold clear days.  I like the contrast because changes the forest giving me something else to appreciate.  On my run up Lookout Mountain, the weather started to warm up again so I was happy to get a few pictures of the ice and snow.  This run took me over McCulloch and up Lookout putting me on my feet for a while and throwing in some decent climbing.  I felt solid all day and was happy to run through some areas I haven't seen for quite some time.

After a couple months of minimal running, an ice storm and a backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon, I'm finally starting to get running again.  The first week back was mostly slow running but all in all I felt good.  There was definitely a new feeling in the legs when I got back; nothing was bothersome and I didn't feel like I was guarding against injury.  I did built up slow but there was definitely a new freedom in my stride.
The next week or two was mostly the same but with a scattering of really good runs.  Every run felt like an improvement to some extent but there was definitely a few that felt as if everything was back to normal.  Over the past week I have gotten in a couple easy runs around 3 hours and a few hour long pushes up McCulloch Peak at a pretty solid pace.
The break was a little frustrating at times, but mostly gave me a chance to recover, a good break from racing, and some time to look back at this year's running and learn from my mistakes.  Next year will probably bring more breaks from specific training but also some small adjustments to my race preparation.  But for now, I just happy to get out running.

Climbing up through ice covered trees

The sun breaking through just below McCulloch Peak

Almost up

Those Dimple pictures I put up earlier are from the day before.  Not much came down then but after another day of freezing rain the trees loaded up with some ice and started popping.  I headed up McCulloch for an easy run was accompanied by breaking trees and branches the whole climb.  The road allowed me to keep my head up the whole time to watch out for limbs, and fortunately nothing came close to me on my run.

The new thinning on McCulloch

Lookout Mountain poking through the trees

Mother Nature's thinning

Some trails took a hit from the ice

Some bigger trees down in the maze

Looking out toward Mary's Peak from Dimple

A big tree hanging over Dan's Trail

All in all, a lot of wreckage on the trails and some different views, but its great to be out and enjoying what nature has to offer.  Hopefully I will cover some more ground in the coming weeks and slowly get back into shape for Orcas Island 50K in February.

After a few weeks recovering from injury, I rushed back to running just in time to prevent a full recovery.  So after that I got a little smarter and focused on resting up and heading into next year completely healthy.  Now I have mostly just been trying to do some slow stuff and ease back into running.

A couple weeks ago, I headed up Mary's Peak with my mom and a few other guys.  The top of Mary's was lost in the clouds but outside of that it was a  fairly clear day.  I felt good running but I could still feel the calves quite a bit.  I figure a week with minimal running and some work on the calves should straighten things out.

Mom on the Tie Trail Heading up Mary's Peak

The view from just below the summit

 I headed up Dimple with mom and Jacob and we ended up finishing down the road in the dark.  Heading down the road was a nice finish to the day as we descended into increasing darkness with just enough light to guide us back.  Here are some late afternoon views looking out over the valley.

Heading up Dimple Hill

The Horizon just below the top of Dimple

 Today was about 35 when I got up and when mom and I headed up Dimple in the morning.  It was pretty clear that there was some freezing rain up high.  I actually felt pretty good today.  I could hardly feel anything bad in the calves so that's nice.  Hopefully I can ease back and in a couple weeks start to do some real running again.

 A Frozen Morning on Dimple

Me on Dimple

Mom on Dimple

Pine to Palm-My journey from Williams to Squaw Lake

As I walked into the Squaw Lake aid station with my friend Cary, there was probably fifty people there cheering me on.  I guess I should say cheering for me because I wasn't going on.  A lot of people knew my name and filled my ears with kind words.  It was surreal, this was the most applause I had got at one time all year.  I didn't really get it.  But as I talked to the people on my way back to the car, I learned many of them saw me at a race earlier in the year or just knew who I was.

This was the first time all year I realized just how well I had been running.  I try to succeed in whatever I do but my main goal for the year was to run well at a hundred miler.  Unfortunately on the 13 of September that didn't happen.  But on many other days of the year, I was lucky enough to have some incredible runs.

Pine to Palm made me take a step back and look at what I had done.  I had won 4 ultras.  I had been able to run nearly every day in the beautiful outdoors.  I had been able to enjoy the forest on my own and with friends,  sliding through mud and gliding over pine needles, and it had been there for me every day.  There was times this summer when I didn't appreciate all that I had.  While Pine to Palm was a disappointment, it made me appreciate all that I had.

As I walked over Stein Butte I knew the day was over.  My legs had felt crappy for the moment I started.  My calf was bothering me enough that I knew I was risking sitting out a few weeks because of an injury.  In all honesty I probably shouldn't have started the race.

I ran Waldo, and I think my calves were a little tight after.  Then my family and I went backpacking in the Sierra Nevada a couple days later.  Hiking tightens the muscles in my lower calves so when I got back to Corvallis and started to run thats what was tight.  After nearly two weeks without running, I tried to rush in some runs before Pine to Palm.  My calves stayed tight for a solid week until I ran McKenzie River 50K where they loosened up around mile 20.  I ran on Monday and the legs didn't feel right, then Tuesday my left leg felt bad.  The outside of my shin hurt, the inside by the ankle too.  I thinks running with tight calves for so long put some extra stress on the legs which caused my problems.

Anyway, I took the next 3 days off (believe if or not, absolutely no running) then hoped the legs would be good to go for Pine to Palm.  As the race drew near I realized that 100% was not going to happen so I hoped that the pain in my calf would be manageable.  After all, it is a hundred miles, something is bound to hurt.

So, as I walked over Stein Butte I knew the race was over.  Now I was going to enjoy the day and think.  I talked to some runners on the way up and fell into step with a guy named Seamus.  He was hurting too and ended up dropping out at the lake as well.  We talked and walked.  Then Seamus took some time at the Stein Butte aid station and I headed down without him.  And on my journey down, I had plenty of time to think.

Walking over Stein Butte my frustrated mind spat out a question, "Why do we even do this?"  Fortunately my mouth didn't send the negative talk out for others to hear.  But that question is what I thought about on my way down from Stein Butte.

I do this because its great when things work out.  It feels great to run a great race.  Is that the only reason? Well, I like being out here, enjoying the scenery, taking in my surroundings.  I like to run fast, I like to run slow.  Really I like being able to run every day, and having a beautiful place to run in.  Maybe it's not perfect.  Maybe it's not as good as today could have been.  But, its a pretty awesome life I have.

So as I rolled into Squaw Lake I realized that I had learned a lot over that last hill.  A lot about running, myself, and life.  And before I reached the aid station I told my would be pacer Cary, that he did me a big favor making me go over that hill.  I didn't get me to the finish. but it helped me grow.

I want to thank my dad and Cary for doing a great job crewing.  I was not too chipper at Seattle Bar but you guys got me back on track.  If I had stopped there, I would probably have just been mad for a couple days and might not have learned too much.  Thanks to Hal for putting on a great race and also thanks to all the volunteer for helping out.  Without you guys, there wouldn't be any runners going to Ashland.  Finally, congratulations to all the runners who did make it to Ashland.  As I learned last year it is a long and difficult journey but very rewarding when you finally head into town.