What a great week...

So, this last week has been pretty good for me as a runner.  An old friend of mine, "Amish" Shultz, has begun to run.  I suggested he try it and it seems as if he is enjoying himself. Way to go Amish!!!  My friend Andrea, who I introduced running to in the spring has just signed up for her second 5K.  What a great thing for her considering she "hates" running.  I guess she enjoyed her first experience in the Bob Potts 5K a month ago.  Way to go Dre!!! Lastly my good friend/brother, Jimmy Andrews, got off his butt today and went for a run.  He ran with me a couple years ago in Maine when I ran to the top of all five peaks of Sunday River ski resort.  The Mountain Epic is a great race, eight miles up and four miles down.  Way to go Jimmy, I'm proud of you for getting out there!!!  One day at a time, one foot in front of the other...  You can do this!

On top of all this amazing news, I had a decent week mileage-wise.  I would have liked to log a few more miles yesterday and added another day of running, but 27 miles is decent.  I am up to 730 for the year. This week I am going to shoot for 35 miles.

Lookout Mountain 50 Miler - Rock/Creek Trail Series

I am one the lookout for my next challange, this might work.  I registererd for one of Rock Creek's races just over two years ago, but met Angela shortly thereafter and skipped it.  I don't regret it, but I missed an oppertunity and this might just make up for it.  I have yet to run in Tennessee, so this could be my TN stamp!  I have a couple months to think about it, we'll see...



Lookout Mountain 50 Miler - Rock/Creek Trail Series

My note from Dean Karnazes last year...

Hello Matthew,

Thank you for writing. I¹m glad that you enjoyed my book, and I appreciate
the warm sentiments you expressed in your message below.

Unfortunately I don't have internet access out here to write something on
your blog, but I wish you the very best in running and in life!

Sincere regards,
Dean Karnazes

50 Mile?

     I think I am going to maintain my training for the next month or so while I make a decision about my next endeavor.  I think I want to run another North Face Endurance Challenge, this time in Atlanta, Georgia.  This will be another trail run and if I choose to run it, my longest run ever...50 miles.  I haven't made a decision yet as to if I am going to run it or not, but I want to be prepared and ready to go if I decide to do it.
      I will be maintaining my training for now.  I will be doing a medium length run in the middle of the week, maybe ten to twelve miles.  On the weekends I will do a longer run, somewhere between fifteen to twenty miles.  This will allow me to make that transition into training for a fifty mile race fairly easily. The Atlanta NFEC isn't until October, so I have a couple months to decide and then kick training into high gear.

I think this is it...

The Javelina Jundred!  It is October 27-28 in essentially Phoenix Arizona.  I might not make it this year, but very possibly next year.  So maybe I will find a 50 mile race between now and then but this is very intriguing to me.

http://www.aravaiparunning.com/javelina-jundred/#info

Looking at the North Face Endurance Challenge in Atlanta, Georgia, October 13-14 to do my 50 miler.  I have mixed feelings about doing another NFEC for my 50M.  The positives are I know it will be organized excellently and the temperature should be great, but doing another race from the same director/organizer takes some of the excitement out of the experience.  There are so many interesting races out there, organized by very interesting people!  I haven't made any decisions just yet...

Looking forward..

I am going for a run today, just five to get my feet back and legs churning. I am now looking at 50 mile races, I hope to find one with a belt buckle finisher award...

The day after....

So, it has been over a year since I posted to my blog here.  In that year I gave up on the fifty mile ultra due to a health issue and set out to train for a 50k trail run.  I finished the 50k North Face Endurance Challenge yesterday at 6:25:59.  It is an incredible accomplishment that I am very proud of; but today, just 24 hours later, I am already looking for my next challenge.  I want to earn a buckle!  A buckle is an award given at some ultra-marathons.  They are belt buckles and are given instead of finisher medals in the form of necklaces similar to Olympic medals.  There are many different buckles out there some for 50, 100, 200 mile races...and beyond actually.  Some are plain and others are very cool!  Several are nearly impossible to attain because they are so desirable, despite the difficulty of the course, that there are lotteries to register for these races.  Here are some examples of the more desirable buckles:

                           Leadville 100 Mile

                                                         
                        Western States 100 Mile

                            Badwater 146 Mile

 So the question is... "Which race will be my next challenge?"

                         Maybe this one....for my Arizona roots.