13-26 Apr

13 APR -- 26:10 -- 3.03 miles -- 16 elevation gain (another Physical Fitness Test)
14 APR -- off -- rest
15 APR -- stationary bike 5 miles
16 APR -- swim 1600 meters
17 APR -- stationary bike 6 miles (morning)
              -- upper body weightlifting (afternoon)
18 APR -- off
19 APR -- off

TOTAL -- 26:10 -- 3.03 miles -- 16 elevation gain

A total of 16 feet of elevation for the week is an all-time low!  Took a full week to recover from Bull Run, except for the 3-mile PFT on Monday morning.





20 APR -- 10:00 -- 1.00 miles -- 145 elevation gain
21 APR -- swim 1600 meters (morning)
              -- upper body weightlifting (afternoon)
22 APR -- 31:21 -- 4.08 miles -- 192 elevation gain
23 APR -- 9:00 -- 1.00 miles -- 75 elevation gain
24 APR -- off
25 APR -- 9:08:17 -- 58.71 miles -- 884 elevation gain (C&O Canal 100)
26 APR -- 45:00 -- 1.00 miles -- 89 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 10:43:38 -- 65.79 miles -- 1385 elevation gain

So, another drop from C&O Canal 100 on Saturday.  I hit the 50 mile mark at 7:40:00 and was feeling great all the way to the point where I dropped.  I should have kept running - I felt really good, my legs were feeling good, I had a lot left in the tank, I was in third place, and I was on pace to break 16 hours if I kept my pace below 9:30 per mile.  I just didn't care whether or not I finished the race, so I stopped and went home...





I believe I've hit a point in ultraRACING where it isn't fun anymore, but ultraRUNNING still has my deepest interests.  It really bothered me to know that I would (most likely) have finished under 17 hours, possibly even under 16 hours, and there's no fun in that.  Most of you, as you read this, are thinking I'm an idiot for giving up such a great race with a great time, and you're right.  But I just don't care to say "I did it."  Also, an overwhelming feeling of guilt swept over me the last few miles that I did run, and I felt that I needed to be home with my family instead of being selfish and chasing meaningless goals all weekend.  I hope you don't take offense to that.  It's how I feel about ultraRACING at this point.  Simply put, my racing hobby isn't aligning with my personal interests right now. 

Maybe I raced too much over the past few years and sucked all the fun out of it.  Maybe I put too much pressure on myself to beat my watch every race.  Who knows.  But what I do know is that I'm done racing for awhile.  I still really enjoy testing my body through endurance running and I don't intend to stop training, but I'll be training only to satisfy my personal curiosities about pushing my body to the limits.  I might race once in awhile with some friends or to keep my ultraracing flame burning, but I won't be racing every month anymore.  Right now my priorities are spending time with family, preparing to change jobs, finishing my MBA, and watching my son discover the world. 

I have aspirations of finding new limits and finding new ways to incorporate endurance running in my life.  I want to run across the country one day, the long way, not the short way.  I'm talking San Diego to Boston, or Seattle to Miami.  And I won't be finishing in Times Square with a hoard of media and cameras.  I'll probably walk the last day with my son on a skateboard and my wife dragging my ass the rest of the way to the coastline.

Maybe I'll run the entire Appalachian Trail.  Or, maybe I'll make my own damn challenge and run wherever I want.  I'd really like to be a college professor one day and take a sabbatical to complete some nonsensical running challenge for 6 months and call it "research."

I also wouldn't mind having my own television show where I travel around the globe running the best trails and eating the best foods, all while giving viewers a glimpse of the life of an endurance athlete.  As popular as ultrarunning has become over the past few years, there are still masses of people around the world who can't fathom that someone could run 50 miles in one day, let alone 100 miles in 16 hours.  Those folks should be exposed to our culture.  Maybe this show would be inspiring to people.  Maybe it could show people that they can go almost anywhere and do almost anything with just their two legs.  Or that people can do something amazing with nothing more than a pair of shoes and a little desire to push the limits of what they thought was possible.  I'd give Anthony Bourdain a run for his money. 

My high school baseball coach used to say that it takes no talent to hustle, and he couldn't have been more right!  It really doesn't take any talent to run, only the motivation and desire to do so.  You don't need to be fast or look good while you do it, trust me.  I ran my first 50 mile race in basketball shorts and basketball shoes, and I was unaware that I looked like a clown in my headband and cotton t-shirt.  I'm telling you...anyone can go run 50 miles today, right now.  It might take you 20 hours, and you might have to walk the last 40 miles, but you can go cover 50 miles of ground right now! 

For me, I'm doing some searching deep down to find a new challenge to test my personal limits.  My 10,000 hours study will continue, without a doubt.  I'll continue running because I truly enjoy the sport, but I'm done racing and done executing race-specific training until I can find new ways to challenge myself.  I have no interest in achieving new PRs at any ultra distances, and I won't be trying to win any races anytime soon.  I am, however, intrigued about where else my feet can take me.  I look forward to new trails, new locations, and new opportunities to test myself when we move to North Carolina in a few weeks.  I'm going to really miss Shenandoah National Park, Buck Hollow trail, Hazel Mountain, Prince William Forest, Quantico base trails, and all the other places I've been running around in VA since 2012, but it's time for a change and time to find new places to run (not that I had a choice). 

Lastly, I'm honestly amazed that over 1,000 people have read my most recent post about 10,000 hours of ultrarunning.  I hope that all of those readers enjoyed it and that it stirred up conversations within groups of runners.  It's a shame that NOBODY left a comment though.  Strange.  I was really hoping to create some dialogue and that someone would call me out for something so that we could continue with an academic and professional discussion about an interesting topic.  I've heard that a few folks left comments on Facebook somewhere - it's unfortunate that I don't have Facebook...  I suppose I'll never know whether I'm onto something or if I have tunnel vision and I'm lost somewhere out in right field.