Thursday, January 6, 2011

Day 36 - Getting there

After a night of not that much sleep I woke up feeling tired and coughing. The morning got better and I started feeling a change for the better - at least for now. Hopefully I will feel good enough for the 50k that I will be running on Saturday. One thing with running for long periods of time you learn to push through things you never would of before. Just like when you have a cold you feel bad but you have to keep moving and it will get better soon. Ultra running is so much like life – you have your ups and downs – just keep moving forward and you will be fine.

My walk was windy today and I could feel it blowing through my other vest that is not wind proof. It is amazing what wind proofing can do for a coat. The energy level is still not there to push my walks. I’m getting better every day but not 100%. 


Tonight I felt like I could throw down a good run. I went with an 8 mile loop and it went really well. I ran a 7:30 first mile which felt good. I tried to stay with that pace and not run any faster. 7:25 was my final pace for the 8 mile loop and I didn’t feel exhausted after I was finished. Tonight I also saw 2 people walking what look like was for exercise. I know that might sound funny but I don’t see that many people walking in my town exercising – at least when I am out running through it.

Today I leave you with a really cool video from another ultra runner Karl Meltzer from Utah. But first I have a little story of my own about Karl. My friend Dan and I got to meet Karl on his Appalachian Trail run in 2008. You could track him on his website and I knew he should be in our area that morning. I ran over to Hawk Mountain Road to run a couple of miles with him. I waited and waited and waited some more. Well I was thinking he already went through and I missed him. I went home and forgot about it for a while. Later that day I thought I would try and go to a different section of the Appalachian Trail to meet him. I got in my car and made a left out of my drive way and looked a head about 50 yards and there was an RV pulled off the side of the road with someone talking to a neighbor. When I went by I looked over and there was Karl’s RV. I got out of my car and went over and told them I was looking for them earlier in the day. His crew was looking for directions to the Hamburg Reservoir – yeah I know where that is I said and I showed them the way there. On our way there I called Dan and he met me at the reservoir. We got to talk to his crew for awhile and they said Karl should be coming through in a couple of minutes. We asked them if they needed anything and they requested some adult beverages. After a quick trip to the local pizza shop I was back and we were all walking up to where the AT runs through to meet Karl with some of the beverages. In no time we look up and there was Karl. From there he decided to do one more 6 mile section before the day was over. He quickly got what he needed for his next section and he was off with beverage in hand. The crew invited Dan and I to the next section to wait for him. When we got there they were already cooking his supper and had everything ready for him. When Karl arrived he was ready to eat and do a little carbo loading. We talked to him for a little and then we headed out. That day Karl ran I think 55 miles. The reason why I missed him in the morning was he started running the wrong way and arrived at that spot a lot later then he was suppose to. The signs around here read like the picture below. We were told when he started running he thought he was heading towards Georgia. He didn’t realize it until the sun stated to come up that he was not. The sign reads Appalachian Trail – Maine to Georgia. Which Georgia on the sign has an “N” below it which means is goes north – kind of confusing.





Appalachian Trail Sign



 
Melter Luge 2011

1-5-2011 - 2.8 miles - 39:17 - walk
1-5-2011 - 8 miles - 59:17 - run

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