Friday, January 09, 2009

I Stepped On the Gas...

and my body when VROOM. Such a great feeling. I mixed in some "accelerations" during my evening run last night and the body responded nicely. Unfortunately there wasn't much gas in the tank. Haha, started sputtering on my fifth acceleration, had to coax my body to do several more and it was a slow jog home. Felt great though, the last time I felt this good I ran some great races. More endurance will come in due time, if things go according to plan I'll have gas to burn at the Spring events. Speaking of which, despite my desire to keep things loose schedule wise, I will have to organize my season better. There are so many good races in the Spring and I have to pick my way carefully through them. Gotta resist the urge to do everything. A good problem to have no doubt but I need to focus and be realistic. I don't want to be burnt by Summer:)

Tomorrow I'm running with fellow San Francisco ultra-runner, Jonathan Gunderson. He wants to be running by 4:30AM in the Marin Headlands. It's gonna be rough getting up but I'm looking forward to running the trails in the dark, at least for the first 2 hours. He's getting married in May and has wedding related stuff that he has to do later in the morning - stuff he can't get out of. He's making me nervous, on our conversation this evening he said "We'll start early and run hard to get a 50k in before I have to go." Something tells me it's going to be a hard Saturday morning. Sunday I'm running PCTR's Angel Island 25k with friends. Should be a good time. I'll probably bring my camera for that one. On a good day, the views of the bay from the top is spectacular.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Big shout out to my buddy Dave Elliot who is running the Bandera 50k in Texas. Go get em Dave!

Woohoo and I'm in Miwok 100k. First time I got chosen in a race lottery. My 0-6 record at the Western States 100 lottery puts me in a less than hopeful mood when it comes to race lotteries. Oh wait...that's not entirely accurate. I did run the New York Marathon once but that feels like another lifetime.

13 comments:

  1. Miwok, YOU ROCK!!! Have fun at dark thirty!!! Sounds like your training is going great. I would have to blame it on the strength training...considering how much you hate it!

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  2. Anonymous11:50 PM

    I just saw your name on the Miwok list, Rick. Congrats. I'm in too. This will be my first 100k and I'm looking forward to it.

    Good luck on your early Saturday morning run. 4:30!?! Man, that is earl-lee!!!

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  3. Fill that gas tank up to the top for Rocky Raccoon, I may need some extra for myself.

    4:30 AM....ha. We are up at 3:00 AM here in Orlando for the 1/2 Marathon today. I forgot why I dreaded Disney races. Now I remember.

    Plug you bud Gunderson for Badwater info !

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  4. Anonymous8:31 AM

    Dark thirty is tough for this girl but you can do it! Sounds like you have an awesome weekend lined up!! Thanks for your pacing advice for the half mary! I owe ya some brownies...I will cook them better this time. ;>)

    Lisa

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  5. Anonymous12:38 PM

    See you there! Although I'm going to go out real slow this time in order to save my quad's. The other two times I ran MiWok my quad's were so damaged, I could barely walk in. A sad affair indeed! Got to try a different strategy. I feel your pain with the lottery system. I figure the only reason I got in was because it is probably a true electronic random selection. Not the ass kissing based lottery system of some other races (name of race excluded).

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  6. dude, you got in!! we'll be volunteering then! oh hells yeah! congratulations! Miwok is your backyard - you OWN that course. wow - super, super great news, Rick. can't wait to be out there to support/cheer you on! hope today was fun and fast.

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  7. Congrats on getting in! I was left out of this one, but perhaps crossing my fingers for some wait list magic. That's a hard race to duplicate anywhere else.

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  8. Rick, congrats on getting into Miwok!

    And wow, 4:30 is early to be up to go running...yikes! Hope you are having a great weekend!

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  9. Way to go Rick...save some of that gas it's going up again :-)

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  10. Wow! What a weekend. 4:30 though? Ugh! I just can't do that hour. Have fun at Angel Island. ;)

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  11. PJ: Wish you were closer, you'd totally love this course. The strength training combined with the long runs is kicking my butt right now. The other day I think I overdid the lunges and situps, I felt a pain that ran from my abs all the way down to uh...where the sun don't shine. Definitely a core muscle that was strained. All good though. What doesn't break me will make me stronger right?

    Andy: Woohoo nice! Looking forward to doing another race with you. You have a nice, relaxed, positive demeanor which I admire in runners.

    Tony: My tank doesn't need to be that full at Rocky. You know I will be socializing, hanging out with people until it's go time to pace you:) Just promise me a good night run!

    Lisa: Dark thirty in your neck of the woods is so buuutiful. I love that desert sundown and sunrise. Just awesome. Your brownies were good too:)

    Grae: Looking forward to it. It'd be great to run this race with you. Hey how about some weight training to prep those quads a bit more. Maybe you're doing that already.

    Sammmy!: You guys will be volunteering?! Sweet, it'd be great to see you guys. How about just crewing for me, forget the other people. Haha alright, alright go help others too.

    Donald: Sorry to hear you didn't get in. Well you got in on a bigger race. Are you doing Mt. Diablo 50-miler again? I'm planning to race that one too.

    Jean: Thanks. I like this lil race in my backyard. It's gotten so popular over the years. I'm happy to be a part of it again.

    Bobby: I'm filling the tank as fast as I can. Let's get together for another 100 this year. Always a pleasure.

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  12. Rick, congrats on getting into Miwok! Great stuff! Sounds like a hardcore weekend, I need to get some of that Marin headland under my belt the trails look awesome but then the grass is always greener right!

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  13. LMAO at Bob!! Seriously, you're better off saving that gas, baby! HAHA

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