Training Races for Pine to Palm 100, also my goal of 100 races of marathon or greater distance.

 Training Races

This is a quick recap of all the races that led up to my "A" race, Pine to Palm 100.  I would have liked to do race reports for all of them but fell behind in my publishing so I lumped them all together.

Race #48 of at least 100(goal)-  Squak Mountain 50K (April)-  This was a tough race and three days before the race I pulled a muscle in my calf so I wasn't even sure if I was going to race.  It had 8,300 feet of elevation gain.  I did not hurt myself any worse during the run so that was good.  My time was 6 hours, 43 minutes, 42 seconds.

#49  Vancouver Marathon (May)- Wasn't even sure if I could do this one because I started to experience plantar fasciatis.  It took me 4 hours and 5 minutes, which was one of my worst marathons ever, but I believe now that I run longer distances I have a slower pace now.  And I wasn't feeling good so that did not help but I persevered and finished and that was commendable.

#50 Redmond Watershed 12 Hour (May)-  This race was 2 weeks after #49 and I barely did any running because my foot hurt but I thought I would still try.  Turns out I ended up having a pretty good race, finishing in 6th place out of 81 people, with 62.6 miles in the 12 hour period.

#51  Rainier to Ruston 50 Mile (June 1st)-  Had the goal of finishing in under 10 hours which I did finishing with a 9:58:42.  Was a hard races because it caters to teams and kind of overlooks the solo runner with practically no aid station food for the 50 miler solos.  I could have had a better time but I was starting to hurt the last 10 miles so I decided to take it easy because after all this was just a training race.

#52  Vashon Island 50K (June 8th)-  Still dealing with the plantar stuff, started out really well but faded due to my training being off because of the injuries slowing me down.  I finished with a 5 hours 51 minutes and 23 second time.  I was just happy to break 6 hours.  It was a nice little race though, I might do it again.

#53  Taylor Mountain Marathon (June 29th)-  I actually started out this one as a 50 K racer but dropped down because it was really hot and when I got done with the marathon I didn't really feel like going on and doing the 50K.  I finished in 5 hours and 40 minutes.

#54  White River 50 miler (July)-  I was excited to go back to White River because it is a great race and a fun one to go to.  This was a lot more fun for me this time because I knew way more people and that was great.  My goal was to start at a slower pace and try to keep it throughout the race.  I was doing good at staying slow through most of the race and felt right on track but in the end did not have the endurance neede to sustain the pace I was trying to keep.  I still finished strong with a 11 hours 30 minutes and 24 second time.  Passed a bunch of people on the last section and loved it, struggled on the way up to Suntop and then again on the downhill.  Had a sweet picture taken where I was jumping up doing the splits with Mount Rainier in the background. See below:

#55 Hamster Endurance Race 12 hour (August)-  The first year I ran this I won the race, so I thought this year I should go back and defend my title.  When I got to the race I saw a guy who was one of the only 5 people to beat me at the Redmond WS 12 hour so I thought for sure the best I could do was second.  The race got going and sure enough this guy takes off and I dont see him again until about 8 hours in at mile 44 or so where I passed him and he said that he was having a bad day and was going to stop at 50 miles.  So after I had passed 50 miles I asked if he was still in and they told me he had dropped so at that point I knew I was going to win again because the closest person to me was 3 laps behind or about 8 miles.  So since this was a training run and I knew I had an 8 mile lead with 3 hours to go I basically just shut it down and walked about 10 more miles and had about 20 minutes left in the race and won first place in the 12 hour again!  Crazy!

Pacing at Cascade Crest-  I paced a guy named Todd Thompson for the last half of Cascade Crest 100.  He picked me up at Hyak and I ran walked the last 47 miles with him.  It was a great experience, he had a great push from Mineral Creek to No Name Ridge to make the cutoff time, he needed to run about 7 and a half miles in 2 hours in 13 minutes, we pushed and he made it to the aid station 17 minutes early making his split for that section 1 hour 56 seconds which was better than the person who finished the race in 11th place, it was one of the coolest experiences to know that we were that fast.  Turns out this just wasted him and he did not have much left, I thought they would never let us continue because we were the very last person in the race and there was no way we were going to make the official cutoff but they let us go on anyway.  He finished at 8 pm on Sunday night, 34 hours after the race started and 2 hours after the cutoff, but he finished and that is a great accomplishment, he got the buckle.

All this was prepartion for Pine to Palm which will be my next race report, coming very soon!