Continue reading »]]> SoCal… PART 1

my favorite 4 hr plane ride away!

Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu

First of all everyone has an idea or a thought about what Los Angeles is, what it offers and why they go. I have been brought up watching movies and TV that paint LA as an ultra hip posh town. With swanky restaurants and celebs every which way. Everything outdoors usually involves a beach and palm trees. While this is part of LA it is not all of LA and SoCal. It’s also not even close to why I come to SoCal. LA is surround by mountains on 3 sides and the ocean on the other side. If you can’t tell I have quite the affinity for the mountains. I also love the laid back lifestyle of California. With my shaggy hair and the “shakas” I throw in every photo, I really fit in to the lifestyle. I also love how many people are out running, biking, hiking, climbing, kayaks etc. The west coast is just so much more active than the east coast.

Any time I find the time is right and the flights are below $300 I try and jump on a trip to LA. Car rental is cheap try $16-$18 a DAY! Gas isn’t though at over $4 a gallon.

Will Rogers Beach

This time I had 6 nights. I booked a companion ticket with my friend Kalen and it cut the cost of the plane ticker in half. WHAT A DEAL!

I randomly found a couple of days that would fit into my schedule. It was early May. It could be really hot or really cold.

Upon arriving in LAX I found it colder than Atlanta. That didn’t last long. The next 3 days were into the high 90s! This meant I needed to wake up early and get to the mountains early.

I arrived Thursday afternoon. I rented a car and drove up the Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu to one of my favorite spots, Point Mugu State Park. I have run 3 separate trail races here. One of which, The Ray Miller 50m, is the MOST BEAUTIFUL ULTRA I have run in America! However upon reaching the park I noticed caution tape and big signs. Everything was closed. The state park sign was charred black from a huge fire. All of the trees, shrubs and underbrush were burnt to the ground. Devoid of life it was now.
Sad! So we decided to climb up a sand bank 150 ft or so and take photos.

SANDY RUN!

Friday I decided to head up to Mt Baldy, my favorite spot in SoCal. It’s a 10,000 ft Mountain and the highest point in the San Gabriel Mountains. About an hour and 15 minutes from downtown LA. It was time to test the La Sportiva Anakonda trail running shoes against the Socal Trails.

I showed up to the all familiar town of Mt. Baldy. I stopped in the National Forest Center there. I paid my $5 for my day pass, also called the Adventure pass. I headed up the road. The road winds up a canyon. eventually it dead ends into the Mt. Baldy Ski Lift lot. I parked there and did my favorite route. Its the most scenes and hardest. I jump up a service road that starts at 6,400 ft and jumps right up to 7,000 in a 1/4 mile! Then you hit a nice gradual service road which winds up the canyon to the”TOP OF THE NOTCH” this takes you to the top of the ski lift at 7.800 ft. It is the saddle in-between Mt baldy Telegraph peak, I believe. From here you head up and to the left. I go up the ski run as it is STRAIGHT UP! You quickly hit 9,000 ft. At the end of the skit run the road/ski area bed turns to a single track trail aka Devil’s Backbone. I started felling BLAH at around 8,500 ft so I took it easy and then decided to turn back as I had the TOUGH TOPANGA 10k the next AM. GOD I LOVE THIS TRAIL!

Devil’s Backbone Trail

I took it easy the rest of the day and called it a night.

TOUGH TOPANGA 10k
Saturday morning I woke up STOKED! I was gonna run a 10k mountain race. It’s a 10k with some 2,500 ft of elevation change. I had no idea what to expect. I had looked at times from the previous years. Winning times were right around 39 to 42 minutes. I like checking this out because it gives me a reference for how long I should expect to got hard. about 42 minutes for this. So pace accordingly. A friend, Jack, had told me go hard the first 5k because it is all up and then the rest is down.

Last mile of the race! All downhill from here! Photo Credis : Jayme Burtis

My friend Laci and I got to the start to find it very hot. It has been cold as heck in Ga this winter with FEW hot days. This would be taxing. I decided to lose the La Sportiva Mountain Running Team jersey and run sans shirt.
There were tons of folks buzzing about the start and everyone seemed a bit scared. This aint your mama’s 10k!
As we lined up I asked folks who the fast guys were. They pointed to a guy and said he’s really fast. I thought “awesome someone who will want to race.” I wanted to race. I wanted to push myself today.
The gun went off and several 8 and 10 yr old kids took off sprinting and died some seconds later haha. So cute! Then it was me and this guy. I hung behind. I wanted to see how fast he would go. I felt really great. There were 3 off us. I passed the first guy 2 minutes in. I saw right off that on the sections where it went from steeper to flatter they lagged in recovery. I mean that they were keeping the same pace. I would run faster on the easier sections and slower on the steep. 1/2 up the climb it was me and this guy. He was super nice and fun. I picked mey head up and looked around. Mountains all around! We were in the heart of the Santa Monica Mountains. “Damn this is beautiful!” I said. He goes “yea it is!” Friendly competition from a high class athlete! About 7 or so minutes in the climb I saw him lag one step. I jumped in front thinking he was done at this point. Like a shark smelling blood I pounced on it. He stayed on my heels 3/4 of the way up. I could hear him breathing hard. I was too. I finally got a small gap between him. I ended up power hiking 2 small 10 ft sections to get my HR back down. Then we hit some rollers. I know that this race for me would be won on the climb as I didn’t think anyone could give chase to me on the downhill. At least I hoped. I bombed downhill like a mad man on some of the rollers. I tried to focus on just giving her full length strides to keep my fast pace. I passed several of the walkers who started early. It was fun to cheer them on. My heroes!
I looked back at one point and saw that I was a solid minute out front. I didn’t want to give anyone a chance to catch up for the kick down so I continued to push a bit.

That is what we were running! EPIC!

We hit an out n back section of maybe a 1/4 mile and I was over heating! This was nice because I got to see how close I was to the others. I counted it out. It was a minute or so. Now for the downhill. I knew I had gotten it at this point. So I kind of shut it down. I cruised down hill to read my watch split for the mile at 5:25 min mile. At the bottom of the hill was a small up hill. I looked back across the canyon to see people so far back. A sigh of relief came to my face. I could take it easier now. I pushed up this little bit with easy steps to catch my breath. I then hit the final mile which was all downhill. I leaned forward and cruised down the hill. It was fun to see people coming up the trail and applauding. I saw the finish and just eased her in. 41:42 or so i think it was. It felt good to actually win something for a change. I had come up 2nd in all of my hard effort races the last couple of months. Really it was nothing impressive! I am not very happy with it. I mean if hard pressed I know I could have gone 40:20 or faster. On a cool day I think sub 40 would be possible.
There were only 150 people running so it was a small race. This is why I am not jumping for joy with my finish.
Everyone after the race was super nice. The guy I had raced up the climb, finished a solid 2nd! We talked for a while. He is 18 yrs old and his name is HAPPY! HOW AWESOME! He also told me he is coming back off a bad injury so he wasn’t even 75% ha! I feel slow.
They told me about a REALLY hard race I want to do next year! The Verdugo 10k. we shall see.

I always feel weird when people are like hey you won! What was your time? etc…
I always say I don’t know and I wanna know how they did. For me this is just another day of running in the mountains. I don’t mean that in an egotistical way but I mean that as this is what I love and train to do. I am not fast. Its all relative. the CR is 37 minutes!
The Tough Topanga 10k outta Topanga State Park is one of the hardest and yet THE MOST BEAUTIFUL 10ks I have ever done ever. I hope to make it back next year.

Oh yea I almost forgot! Post race there was THE LARGEST AND BEST POST RACE BUFFET! I ate cheese cake, bacon, salmon, bagels n lox, and a bunch of other stuff that made me feel like I was at a wedding. RUN FOR THE CHEESECAKE!

http://www.topanga10k.com/

Thanks to ALL THE VOLUNTEERS, RUNNERS and the RDs.

Until part 2 and UNTIL THE NEXT RUN!

DO EPIC SH*T!

Run Bum

Continue reading »]]> So abut a year ago I decided I wanted to take people to all these crazy places I go. I kind of got the idea when I saw some add about some $4,000 running tour in Nepal. I went to Nepal and that trip probably cost them $500 to put on. WHAT A RIP OFF! I decided that as I am a Run Bum and don’t have tons of $ that maybe I could help other people EXPERIENCE the EPIC for cheap!

So I started RUN BUM TOURS LLC.

Some how the tours took a back seat to the Georgia Death Race. My goal is to do 3-5 of these Tours a year. Taking folks to the following places I know by heart. Maui, Canadian Rockies, British Columbia, SoCal, and St John in the USVI. Then maybe even Mont Blanc and New Zealand.

So We are working on Maui for January, St John for Feb, So Cal for April, BC and the Rockies for the summer. www.RunBumTours.com

So what races am I working on?

Well Right now we have the Georgia Sky to Summit 50k/ 8.5m trail races coming up November 9th

14,000 ft of elevation change, 20+ waterfalls, creek crossings up to your knee, single track, 360 degree views, and all the fall colors in full bloom in the mountains of North Georgia!

Here’s a sneak peak at the course!  https://vimeo.com/65149604

Novemeber 30th we have the Helen Half Marathon/10k which plans to be one of the most fun races you can run. You love, we love and everyone loves Helen, Georgia. Run a 10k trail race in Unicoi State Park or our half marathon that dips into downtown Helen for a loop around the city. Pass over the Chattahoochee River twice and around the beir gartens. Fun for the whole family!

October 26th we are working on the Drop and Give Me 5k. Skydiving and a 5k. Take the plane ride up to 14,000 ft where you will get dropped out of the sky. Experience speeds of 120 mph + as you rush towards the ground. Hit the ground and then run a 5k as fast as you can.

This will take place at ADVENTURE SKYDIVING TENNESSEE. MORE INFO TO COME

I just want to do something unique every race. Whether that means jumping out of a plane, running at night on a trail, or running up a mountain… Run Bum Tours has a race for you!

www.RunBumTours.com

PS I AM FREAKIN STOKED FOR THIS SUMMER!!!! Alps for 5 weeks and then I’ll be between British Columbia and Alberta all summer long. AWESOME!

UNTIL THE NEST RUN… DO EPIC SH*T!

RUN BUM

Continue reading »]]>  

So the last 5 months has been heaven and hell really…
I mean following your dreams and flying around the world to run, train and experience all life has to offer is amazing. But it was not without it’s strife.
The last 2 months has been hectic with me. I was a first time race director with the HARDEST most logistically complicated race one could imagine. Through out these trips the Georgia Death Race was always on my mind. “how can I make it better? How can I make it perfect?” I questioned myself constantly. As with all things in life you get one chance at a first impression. The Georgia Death Race would be my first impression to the racing world.

So to continue from the last blog post some time back!

Sunset on Aitutaki, Cook Islands

Going to the Cook Islands and New Zealand was about one thing for me. It was about coming full circle. You see the 27km Kepler Challenge on the South Island of new Zealand was the first trail race I ever ran ever and it was what got me into the allure of Mountain Running.

Graham Perkins, the Skipper, and I traveled down there together. Our real goal was not to win this race but was to go and finish the 64km version of it. To complete the Kepler Track in one go. The first 30k is all mountains. The 2nd half is all flat and rolling hills.

As I have said before, I still have not felt normal since my Appalachinan Trail speed Record attempt. Miles feel slow. I hardly run etc.

For me to all the way down to where the Kepler starts it took 4 planes and a 3 hour car ride. a solid 28 hours of travel. It’s the other side of the world, yet it could never feel any closer to my heart.

The race started and we took off. We quickly began passing the hordes of people. It was flat for 5k. Then came the hardest climb. Its about 3,500 ft up. I was able to run about 90% of it. My legs felt WELL rested as they hadn’t really done anything for 2 months.

I got to the first aid station which was beautiful. The weather could have been worst but not much. As we got above the tree line a view of Fjords opened up. Jaw dropping and bone chilling. This was why we had come around the world!

The wind was awful. I had my mandatory rain proof jacket on. It acted like a parachute and almost took me off the mountain ridges a couple of times. This was crazy! It was an adventure. It was what I wanted. I wish every run could feel like life or death. It’s just that much more fun.

At this moment I remembered La Sportiva’s new slogan… WHAT WOULD OU DO FOR YOUR MOUNTAIN? …. SIMPLE FOR ME IN THAT MOMENT… I would travel half way around the world and fight some of the worst conditions all with a smile on my face because that which does not kill ya makes for one EPIC story.
I saw lots of folks slowing down on the rocky and steep descents. With my La Sportiva X Country and appetite for the insane I bombed these down hills. I got to the half way point in about 15th place or so. I slammed on the brakes for the flat part and just ran to enjoy. I had sooooo many people pass me t wasn’t funny. This was my goal. Crush the mountains and self preservation on the flats. The goal was not this race but ALL the insane we would do the rest of the week.
I finished in tears. I had come full circle. in 4 short and long years I had come so far. This had truly changed my life forever.

Later that week Graham and I ran, hiked and sprinted everything we could around the South Island of New Zealand. No trail was safe. Infact we did a bunch of bushwhacking. No trails. We just saw a peak that needed to be bagged and went for it. Doing all of this bush whacking and peak bagging I realized many things. I realized THE TRAIL IS MERELY A SUGGESTION and if you follow the way of others it can be boring so do your own thing. That is even if doing your won thing has you going though someones sheep pasture, being chased by a dog and yelled at by construction workers.

Pre hike for setting the FKT on Ben Lommond a 4,500 ft climb!

Hawaii:
Over the holidays I focused on short distance speed. I got my 5k down to that 17:10 range. I was feeling fast but had ZERO endurance for non stop running.

Waipoli Hill Climb at sunset!

A good friend of my Kory Dickey passed away suddenly and tragically in a motorcycle accident. Kory was not a runner. However he got me into skydiving. We would go jump together pretty often. He also came to Vancouver with me one time and we had a blast. I loved Kory because he was funny, crazy and always willing to do anything. He sought out perfection in what he did and actually achieved it in most things. He didn’t do anything half a#$ed. Most of all though he was just like me. How? He believed in what I believe in. That was that you do what you love, you follow your heart, and you don’t care about what other people think about it or if you make money doing it. It is better to be poor doing what you love than to be well off and miserable. Losing someone like that is sad. Not just to me but to the world. The world needs more people like that not less. January 7th will always be a sad day. He is survived by his 2 parents both of whom are amazing people who(unfortunately under these circumstances) I have gotten to know really well. Paul and Phyllis you guys rock!

I thought I had cried hard before about girlfriends and bad stuff thats happened over the years. I have not ever cried that hard in my life. Like all amazing artists, Kory’s full impact was not felt until he had passed.

I had toyed around with the idea of going to Hawaii to meet up with some buddies from MEAT ( Maui Endurance and Adventure Team). I didn’t really have the $ to do it. It was 2 weeks after Kory passed as well. Then a buddy of mine emailed me to tell me he wanted to give me a buddy pass to fly me out to hawaii to run The Hilo to Volcano 50k and the Maui Oceanfront Marathon back to back. Saturday day on the Big Island and Sunday on Maui.
I was so happy I could not express how I felt. I really owe him!

So before I knew it I was out in Maui. Back home to the Aloha. I was stoked!
Matt Fober picked me up from the airport. I always tell him don’t do that man! Then he does. TOOOOO NICE! Love ya bro!

The whole 2 races in 2 days on 2 islands was his idea. Matt unfortunately could not wing going to the Big Island with work. So it was down to Jon, Dylan, and Rebecca.
Jon came to scoop me from Matt’s place in Maui. He was riding his old school motorcycle. We the rode, as Jon calls it, “Nuts to butts.” haha!
I was hugging up on him and well to say the least we got A LOT of weird looks.

I had never been to the big island and I was still VERY jet lagged. Flying over it you could see Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa TOWERING above the rest of the island. They are two 13,000 +ft volcanos that make up the big island.

Beach on Maui. ALOHA!

We landed in the sleepy town of Hilo early friday afternoon.
After some food we passed out. I slept on the cushions of the sofa in Dylans room. I had laid them out on the floor and slept for a couple of hours on them. I was the Run Bum, couldn’t do it ANY other way.

I knew Dylan and Jon would crush the race. I knew the heat and non stop running would get me. It was a road run with 4,500 of up and no more than 200 ft of down. I just did my own thing. I had no socks and sported my La Sportiva X Countys. I never got ANY blisters or hot spots for all 50k. I got strong feet!

I was running this race for Kory. I was all but in shape for this. About 13 miles in I forgot they had a relay as well. It started an hour after us. One of the guys for the relay passed me. It was a high school kid. He was killing it. I said screw it and just went for it. I hate that easy ultra shuffle you get into. I immediately dropped to low 6 minute miles with a full stride while going up a gradual incline. It was 5k pace about 14 or so miles in. It felt awesome. I ran with him like this for a solid 10 minutes.

Dylan and I pre fun run in Makawao forest

When he hit the exchange zone he fell over. I stopped and walked with a grin on my face. Felt so good to run that fast. However I had just caused my entire body to overheat. I paid for this the next 45 minutes. Oh well It’s all about training for the next one.

I kept a decent pace the whole race. finally about marathon distance in we hit a steeper hill. I stopped to walk with some older gentleman. I talked with them for about 15 minutes. They were 50 states 5 times over and traveled around the globe running races. THEY WERE SOOOOO COOL!
I then picked up the pace and made the final turn with 5k to go. It was the hottest part of the day. I passed Jon and Dylan, who were already finished, on the last out n back. I cruised this section in and really picked up the last mile. The heat was by far my limiting factor.
When I crossed the finish line I ran over to a tree and started crying rally hard. I usually don’t get that emotional after a race, tu this was different. I did this for Kory. He had lived with his family in Hawaii for 6 months or so a couple years back. I knew he loved it there.

I regained composure and headed over to talk to Jon and Dylan. They had CRUSHED IT!

Now back for a shower and then to Maui.

running through the clouds on Haleakala!

I ended up not running the Maui Ocean Front Marathon for a couple of reasons. NONE of them being because I was hurt or sore or didn’t want to run.

Matt and Barefoot alex ran the whole thing Barefoot. Truly epic!

I did a couple of other training runs and took some awesome photos. I think I went to the beach twice in 5 days. Haleakala, the 10,000 ft Volcano is forever beckoning!

UNTIL THE NEXT RUN

DO EPIC SH*T!

Run Bum

Continue reading »]]>  

www.Destin50.com

THE COURSE

About 6 months ago I got a call from a good friend and fellow Race Director, Zane Holscher.

He is in charge of the Destin 50 race. In it’s 3^rd year they now have a 50 mile, 50k, 50m team relay, and a 5k.

Zane said hey I just saw this article about a guy setting the world record for most distance run in the sand in 24 hours. I knew where this was going and I sighed “How much did he do?” “84 miles”. 84 miles? Thats it? This was absolutely an achievable goal.

Zane wanted me to run it to help them raise money for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. I GLADLY agreed! I was excited. And 6 months ago I was in ultra shape and feeling VERY confident. Well in 6 months I became a race director basically full time. I have had little time to train and I have lost my super desire to go run ultras all the time. I feel slow when I run ultras. I shuffle. I like going fast with a full stride. I like 5ks and mountain runs under 10 miles.

Eventually Zane came up with the idea to ge tother folks to run with me. He wanted to get some competition and make it a big deal. I told him to let me see what I could do. Sure enough I rounded up my good friend and USA 24 hour team member, Joe Fejes. He then got Connie Gardner and Mike Morton involved. If you don’t know who these people are… They both hold the USA record for most distance run in 24hrs and Joe holds the most distance run in 72 hours! 324 miles! Joe also got another friend and fellow BADASS, Kelley Wells, to join the party. Zane got his lfe long friend Dustin to run (who is a badass and forever has my respect) he is a Leadville finisher.

I had never run for 24 hours for distance. I have also never run an official 100 miler. I run for fun and at this point that becomes not fun to me. TO EACH HIS OWN

This was different because it was for charity.

The race was really hyping up to be awesome. Joe and I were smack talking each other. After only having one 50k finish in the last 4 months I was a bit worried and just not feeling it. I had been focusing on speed and strength. I had dropped my 5k times below 17 minutes. I was feeling good for speed. Anything over 6 miles was a crap shoot.

Leading into the race I realized that it was not a good idea for me to run for 24 hours. I referee sports of a side living and right now that was being jeopardized with a run of 24 hours. My goal for the run was to let the big dogs do their thing and run until I started to feel pain come on that might cause injury.

The goal I really wanted was to win the Son of a Beach 5k morning of the 24 hour race.

Fast forward to the race…

Friday I drove in and met up with the group at the local running store in Ft. Walton. We got to meet some of the people running the 50 mile, 50k, 5k etc. People we’re asking for my autograph and my photo. I thought this was ludicrous! Why would someone want that. I am a guy who holds no world records, american records or has done anything other than follow his heart and speak his mind.

I felt honored and embarrassed that someone would want my autograph! Either way it was fun to see that what I say and do doesnt completely fall on deaf ears.

After drinking/crashing with Joe, Kelley, Connie and her boyfriend Mark, I woke up a tad hungover but ready to run none the less. I headed over to The Back Porch Restaurant in Destin. I asked the others to join but they laughed at me. The Back Porch is one of my favorite places in the world. The owner is an very very fun and gracious man. During the Destin 50 mile race, He takes custom orders. You can order WHAT EVER you want. Last year I order a dozen oysters on the half shell and a jack n coke. YES I KILLED THEM!

I got my # and headed out onto the beach. (Yes the restaurant is DIRECTLY on the beach. So if you’re in Destin GO EAT THERE! The food rocks!)

There were a couple hundred of people out there on the beach. It was a great site. It was also freezing cold. About 40 degrees. Zane was at the start with the American flag. We paused for a moment of silence and then began the national anthem. I looked down the beach and watched the flag flicker in the wind. This was why we were here. Freedom. Freedom was 1.6 miles down the beach or so and back.

Zane had told us the course was 3.3 miles. Not that I can at all. Race what ya bring.

Every time Zane talks about why we’re here at the race it brings tears to his eyes and he chokes up. I can never feel how he feels as he has lost friends in combat. It motivates me to push harder and get more folks involved with the race.

Zane I love you man! You and your whole family are GENUINE people.

Zane has also helped me A LOT with the Georgia Death Race/Run Bum

The gun went off for the 5k. It was like a line of calvary charging. I yelled out “ FOR NARNIA!!!” as we took off.

This was a 5k and they are SOOOO unpredictable. You can have 14 min 5kers or 30 min 5kers.

I held off to see who was going out. A younger kid went so I followed him. After about 60 seconds he died off. I took the lead and didn’t look back. It was a tailwind going down and I knew I had to run into a head wind on the way back. I kept asking myself what pace can I hold for 20 mins and adjusted my stride accordingly.

You could see the turn around from the start but it never got closer. Finally I hit it. I turned around to see there was no one within a minute of me. I decided to slow down a bit and cruise it in. I began to pass everyone head on. I was the fish going up stream. People kept saying way to go way to go!

I kept a pace where I could tell people good job , keep it up etc.. There were SOOOOO many people!

I kept turning to see who was behind me. Still about a minute back. I hit the final 100 yds still in cruise mode but now with a HUGE smile on my face. I was 19 minutes something. Nothing to write home about but still a win and a smile. More importantly the smile!

I ran through the gate where Zane stood. “I just wanted to stick around to see how you did” He said. “Thanks brother!” I told him. I had a blast and my La Sportiva X Countrys worked amazing in the sand. I had grip and traction. I saw the barefoot runners slipping. I never slipped. I decided to wear them for the 24 hour.

After talking to some folks and enjoying the post race breakfast/beer, I headed to the pre race meeting.

I had been coaching 14 people for the 50k and 50m races. I got to meet about 7 of these people at the meeting.

I gave them last minute advice and let them pick my brain. They were excited and nervous. I know the feeling. It’s the feeling of the unknown. Some embrace it some don’t. I had a great group of happy and excited runners!

After the meeting I went to meet up with some friends. It was about 12:30 now. The 24 hour run was to start at 7 pm. Time was ticking and I needed a nap.

After having some drinks and laughs with my friends running the relay is was time to be back at the 5 pm meeting where Zane was to introduce us.

We stood up at the end and Zane introduced us all. He introduced me as Run Bum and as the record holder for most oysters and bacon consumed during the Destin 50 race.

He bragged on all of us a bit. Though there is nothing to brag about with me. I am just a dude who likes to DO EPIC SH*T.

He asked if any of the other guys wanted to say anything to the other runners. They are extremely humble and most just said nothing or good luck. I however wanted to really spark the folks up so I just started to say what came to my head.

First of all I told them that we are no super humans, we’re everyday people. I went to say I am the least qualified to be up here and it is an honor to stand next to these amazing people. I then told people that we all have a choice tomorrow for the race. And we are here because we have that choice. There are so many people who would love to run and or be free but simply can’t its not up to them. This is a luxury for us. So when you think about giving up think about that.

I talked some about my personal motto. Climb your OWN Mt. Everest EVERYDAY! I never hold myself to anyones standards but mine. That is why everyday I wake up and ask myself , ”What can I do today to climb my ow Mt. Everest?” It could be running a mile for speed, Getting all these emails out on time, running up to the summit of Rabun Bald etc. I usually don’t know what it is going to be until I get there. It’s about daily struggle. About NOT accepting an easy day or easy way out. Take the hard path and step out of your comfort zone. Inspire others with you actions.

I left them with this and I hope this find the reader of this as well.

After the meeting we had 45 minutes to meet on the beach for some photos and a pre race briefing.

I was feeling tired, day hung over and just yuck!

I didn’t want to run for 24 hours and I had already mentally defeated myself.

TO THE RACE!

Let me describe the course to you.

It was a 1 mile out and 1 mile back course. At each end of the course we had 3-4 volunteers acurately documenting our time for each lap. This was to make it Guinness Book of World Records worthy!

They timed down to the 10^th of a second!!! There was a clock on each post that we had to round signaling out completion of a mile. There was a board at the start finish that showed what mile everyone was on.

The easiest way to run the course is as close as you can get to the water. It’s the hardest packed sand which requires the least amount of effort to push through. However it’s hard because you are close to the water. This means the Camber at high tide is AWFUL! It must me a half foot difference between where your feet are hitting. Also you have to avoid waves so you end up zig zagging a bit. The course is measured in a straight line not how we were running. So over 100 miles you most likely ran 5-10% more of the actual distance.

The water was crystal blue. This year the outside temps dipped into the 30s over night and never got above 50. BURRRRR! Oh I almost forgot. THE HEAD WIND. The winds change hourly, but the one thing that was certain was that you had a tail wind one way and head wind the other. You get sand in your shoes no matter what you try and do. The ocean never changes even though it is breath taking. Eventually you forget its there. You are only worried about avoiding waves and soft sand.

I hope this paints a good picture.

Nick Holscher, Zane’s brother, was the RD of this event. He poured his heart and soul into it. THANKS NICK!

We finally started in the dark with about 10 people counting us down. It was a blast!

I told Joe my plan was to run 50k and then stop to sleep then start running again. I told him I would pace him the first 50k. I didnt think I was in 50k shape but I would wing it.

Mike Morton was unable to start due to tendonitis and winning 2 back to back 100 milers the 2 previous weekends! What a BOSS!

So now it was to become a race between Connie and Joe. I was just merely a first hand spectator. Joe took off like a bat out of hell! Like he had something to prove. After a couple of laps I started feeling worst and worst. I was in a bad mental mood. I was angry, depressed and tired. I was complaining to the other runners. WHAT THE HECK!?! This wasn’t me! I decided to stop sucking all the life out of the race. I went to take a nap. YES a nap. I had told you before my goal was not to run for 24 hours non stop. I went and passed out for about 5 hours. I woke up at 3 am feeling better. I went out and ran 14 miles. During the 14 miles I got to run with Joe C, 3 year in a row winner of the Destin 50 mile, for 2 miles. That about killed me. He was running a low 6 minute mile pace.

I ran a couple hundred feet with my boy Brandon Young. Brandon came in 3^rd overall for the 50 mile this year WAY TO GO! I also ran/walked with some of the folks I had been coaching for the last 6 months. I was happy.

After Joe C blew me up with those 2 fast miles I felt the bad feeling coming on again. I decided to go rest YET again. All the mean while Joe, Connie, Kelley, and Dustin were out there hammering away! I had chicked out twice now. I was 22 miles in while Joe was 66 miles in.I headed to waffle house and then passed out. I really just felt bad and I didn’t know why. I felt even worst that I wasn’t performing up to Zane’s standards (he never said anything but I knew he expected me to do my best. Which I simply didn’t do.)

This time I awoke with lots of energy. I headed down to the course. I had told myself I would now pace Joe the last couple of hours and really crack the whip on him.

I jumped in and started pacing him. He had come through the first 100 miles at low the 16 hour mark!

Connie was about 12-14 miles behind. Connie was steady the whole time. Joe, I could tell went out too hard and was slowing WAY down. I jumped in with him and started getting him to adjust his strategy. He was at 108 miles or so when I got with him. I got him to walk here and there and not push into the head wind. I jumped in front of him and lead him like a cattle to slaughter. I was now running barefoot.

I paced him for over 5 hours. I felt my self die about 5 hours in. It was amazing to see him keep hammering with no change of expression on his face. He was determined. At on point we passed Connie head on and she said to Joe something I will NEVER forget. “Joe this is the worst thing I have ever done. I would rather be running Badwater right now!” I will let that soak in. If anyone else said it it would mean nothing but Connie has run and won countless ultras. Including Badwater, 24 hr races and sooo many more. To hear her say that was astonishing.

Joe kept saying I’m gonna get to 120 and stop then 125 and stop. I kept telling him NO were going to 130! We broke it down. One mile at at time. He kept getting ahead of himself and trying to time out laps. I said “Dude don’t think like that! We got 2 hours and 45 minutes to go lets just see how many you can get. Don’t worry about mileage just keep going!” Joe reluctantly nodded in agreement. I knew he wanted this bad and I knew that he would regret it if he stopped at 120 or 125. Plus Mike Morton had been by a couple of times to tell Joe he would be back next year to put up a higher number than Joe. ALL IN A FUN JOKING MANNER. Mike was a super hero. He brought everyone coffee, donuts, hot chocolate and FRIED CHICKEN! He kept trying to get joe to eat it hahhaaha. I ate a piece.

Another funny moment when I was with Joe towards the end was when I had a hand full of some food and I kept throwing it up in the air as the seagulls dive bombed Joe and I. Joe was out of it and was yelling at me “Dammit Run Bum I’m gonna get pissed if one of those thing s#$%ts on me!” hahaha It was funny. I stopped of course.

As Joe hit 130 miles. I stopped and told him he was on his own for the rest of the race. I left him to his own demons and sat down to eat. I was exhausted! And I had only run a 5k the day before and then shuffled 42 miles total in 24 hours. WHAT A JOKE! I was an embarrassment. I felt I let everyone down but then again I felt like I had accomplished things most folks wouldn’t see. I won the 5k, got 14 runners across the finish line, and helped pace Joe (though he didnt need me at all or ask me). I knew I did what I could do. My feet felt good for 22 miles barefoot on sand. No blisters or hurt.

MOST AWESOME OF ALL WAS MY BOY, CORY ADAMS, FINISHED THE DESTIN 50 MILE! This was his 3rd and first successful attempt! I am soooo proud of this fellow bacon lover!

Me n Cory

We watched at Joe Fejes pounded out 134 miles in 24 hours on Destin Beach. Simply amazing!

Connie, Kelley, and Dustin all killed it too!

I think one of the best parts of the weekend was getting to talk to Mark, Connie, Joe, Kelley, Dustin, Zane and his ENTIRE family and all the other awesome people I have met at the Destin race over the years!

I hope to be back to the 50 mile next year and hope to help coach more people. I hope to continue to help this race the way it helps me!

THANK YOU TO ALL THE VOLUNTEERS AND FRIENDS WHO MADE THIS HAPPEN! Congrats to Joe and Connie for their records.

Congrats to Kelsy Who wont the Son of a Beach 5k for the ladies and who ran her longest run to date while pacing Dustin. Congrats to Brandon who killed it!

SO NEXT YEAR SIGN UP TO COME AND RUN WITH ME AND ALL THE GREAT FOLKS DOWN THERE IN PARADISE www.Destin50.com

UNTIL THE NEXT RUN….

Run Bum

Continue reading »]]> Cook Islands

People wake up every day saying they are gonna change their lives… they dont… this is what can happen if you do…

View of Graham passed out at the Aitutaki Lagoon Resort

So the first part of Graham and My’s trip to New Zealand was a week long layover in the Cook Islands.
You are most likely wondering where the heck the Cook Islands are and what they are. They are a group of islands that make up this recently independent nation. Directly south of the equator from Hawaii. A 4 hr plane ride north of Auckland and an 8 hr flight south west from LAX. These 17 ish islands comprise the nation. Imagine you are in the middle of the pacific ocean and then lush tropical paradises jut out of the ocean from the depths of the deepest ocean floor.

Flying into Rarotonga, the main/busiest island, it became apparent that we had come to paradise. Lush jagged peaks towered upwards creating cliffs and the steepest terrain possible. The island was ringed with an outer reef. Between the reef and the island was a blue lagoon. Crystal blue water that reflected unseen colors back at you. Graham, who I had barely talked into coming to the cook islands, almost had his jaw drop off his face. He was smiling and simply started laughing! “HOLY SH*T THATS AWESOME!” or something like that he said.

Arriving in Rarotonga

He said what I was thinking. I could see everyone on the plane ready for the beach. We were ready for the mountains. Our eyes followed the peaks and valleys. You see Graham and I are extremely alike in the fact that we view running and hiking the same. We view the earth and its contours through an artist’s eye. Let me explain because I think this is beautiful.
Ask a skier or snowboarder to stand at the base of the mountain and look up towards the mountain. Then ask them what they are thinking. They will tell you that they are looking at all the possible lines they want to run or where they want to get to. It is the same for us. I see a peak and in my mind I find a line to get up to it and back down. I don’t need a trail. I call it back country running /hiking. Because after all the trail is merely a suggestion. If you open your mind to this thinking and adventure you can never unopen it. You can never unsee it once you’ve seen it. TRY IT OUT!

The plane landed and we got out. All we could do was take photos from the runway. This was going to be epic. I had been to French Polynesia and Tahiti, Samoa, and Fiji. This looked like all of these places. But we were too see this was my favorite.

The humidity and heat hit me hard. We caught the bus which goes 2 directions, clockwise or counter clockwise. We took it to Vera’s Beach hostel. Simply called Vera’s.
We didn’t really know what to expect as we had booked the place literally 10 mins before departure in LAX.

One of the most noticeable pluses in the Cook Islands is how clean it is. I have never been to a cleaner tropical place. I think a lot of this is to do with them being part of New Zealand for so long.

We arrived and half of the bus got off here. We walked down this gravel driveway where the ocean started to appear. We were on a lagoon with a really beautiful beach. This was one of the most beautiful beaches I had ever been to. The barrier reef protected this small lagoon from the waves and rip current.

View from Vera’s deck 20 ft from our room!

We checked in and we to our hostel room. There were 5 beds in the room. A fan and a window were the highlights of the room. No bunk beds in this hostel so I was extremely happy. I knew I needed to sleep but we decided to walk to the store for a beer. I thought this would put me to sleep however it woke me up and woke up the party at the hostel. Opps! By the way…it was 10 am.

The best part of the hostel was the fact that it had this big deck right on the beach. It was some 15 ft above the beach so you got a really nice view from it out onto the lagoon. It faced the sunrise though I never caught it.

Before I knew it we were making lots of friends. People of all ages and places. 18 yr olds from the Netherlands, 50 yr olds from Canada, 20 yr olds from England and the list goes on.

Finally I was able to catch 30 minute nap. Graham was go go go. We went on a fun run in mid day heat. It was awful by the end I was about to pass out. The run was maybe 15 minutes long.

We found this really awesome convenience store just a 2 minute walk from Vera’s. I have no idea the name but we called it Mr. Wu’s. Because there was a chinese man named Mr. Wu who owned it. What a character. We came in one day 3 times to get beer. Every time he said, “Noooo Problem you on holiday!” It made me laugh every time.

The first couple of days we made friends, hung out on the beach, ate some amazing food, slept and partied. For me it was a vacation mixed with some exercise. I was just trying to get used to the heat and humidity again.

Rarotongan sunset

One of the highlights of Rarotonga was the Cross Island Track. This was a 5k one way path up and over the mountains in the middle of the island. The first time we did it I got heat stroke. I wasn’t used to the humidity yet. I felt like a girl a little girl. The pinnacle of the track was the high point, the needle. This is a fully exposed protruding rock that juts out of the top of the mountain. You can climb up parts of this and see 80% of Rarotonga. It is amazing. Graham must have done this some 10 times when we were there. I did it twice.

On the Cross Island Track with Needle in the back ground

The last time we did it we met a character. Well rather a legend on Rarotonga. His name is Pa. He does hiking tours. He is the real deal. He doesnt wear shoes or a shirt. He has dreadlocks. He had banana leaves wrapped around his knees. You know one of those GENUINELY good people who make you smile even with out talking. This was him. We stopped to talk to him. Apparently he holds the record for fastest swim around Rarotonga! Some 18 hours or something insane. Its like 50km!!!!!! He also holds the record for fastest time swam from Samoa to American Samoa. Those records and several others are only part of what hes done. I asked him how he ate during the ultra swims. I had friends in a boat who had a container of food that I would stop and eat. NUTS! I love it.
He gave us a blessing and bid us best of luck in our lives and time in the Cook Islands.

Graham sitting on part of the NEEDLE. Note there is a 200 ft drop under him

Pa and myself below the Needle

The Needle with my La Sportiva X Country’s

Aitutaki
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE IN THE WORLD!

Endless blue off the porch of the Aitutaki Lagoon Resort

One of the things I had arranged for us to do ahead of time was to go to Aitutaki (eye two tah key). Aitutaki is another island in the Cook Islands. One of the most famous atolls in the world. This is the Bora Bora of the Cook Islands. People honeymoon here, get married here, and vacation here. Its extremely posh and expensive. Expensive that is unless you are the Run Bum…

Our flight from Rarotonga to Aitutaki was profound. Taking off was nothing new and neither was the view of the endless south pacific. But then there she was. Aitutaki in all her majestic beauty. Yet ANOTHER jaw dropping view. Water and a lagoon bigger and bluer than Rarotonga. There were no big mountains. Just a giant lagoon. There was a middle island with a ginormous fringed reef around it. Some of the reef was actually small islands with beautiful white sand beaches. Graham and I looked on as I imagined myself being on each of these beaches. This was THE most beautiful tropical destination I had EVER SEEN EVER.

The plane landed and we were just laughing. Again laughing at how awesome this was and how funny it was that we were here. The plane was filled with folks who looked like they had lots of money.
We stepped off the plane into heat that made Rarotonga seem like the arctic.

yea this was the flight in. !!!!

Oh yea we didn’t book anything ahead of time so we decided to just wing it. There was a small fence around the airport and a small open air hut where one checked in and out of the airport. We walked out into this hut. Very rustic to say the least. You see Aitutaki is made up of locals and then posh hotels. Most hotels range from $250 to $1000 + a night!

We found a extremely tan white man with a pencil thin mustache standing with some folks. I asked him if he knew of a cheap place to stay. “Hold on let me check” he said in a accent I could not place. He went over to a group of people who had just gotten off our flight. After a few moments of talking and then he returned. “Ok let’s go.” The man said as he walked towards us. Thats it? We got a place? How much? Where?. All of these questions I asked myself. As we got to the car I asked him all of this. I could see Graham was thinking the same. The man was a smaller gentleman about 5’6 or so with a smile on his face and not a care n the world. We drove
drove back to his place as we chatted. The man was very soft spoken if you have not gotten that yet.

We got to his place called “Matriki”. It was right on the beach. As we drove down the sand driveway I noticed a lot of jerry rigged gadgets. After we walked around the property and Matias (the soft spoken man) showered us to the room, it was apparent he had built everything. HE had built it all from left over stuff from around the island. Some things used parts of cars, machines, recycling etc. Our shower was an old hose.

Sunset over the infinity pool from The Pacific Resort

We walked out onto the beach which was FAR more beautiful than the view from Rarontonga.

Matias rented us a beat to crap old scooter. I cant believe it didn’t break or explode on us!
We went down to the Pacific (I think it was called) for the sunset. The pacific is a high dollar 4 or 5 start hotel. While it’s infinity pool is off limits to get into except for guests, it’s beach and lounge is open to folks who buy drinks. We bought a fruity cocktail and enjoyed one of the most breathtaking sunsets I’ve seen.

The next day we hung around and checked some beach spots. We found a great place to check out the beach and enjoy some beers, Samades Beach Resort.

View from Samade on the Beach

We swam over to the Aitutaki Lagoon Resort which was ANOTHER place with great views and drinks.

The last 2 days here we booked tours with Matias. They were like $80 a person and $45 a person.
This was the highlight of the trip. The $80 NZD snorkeling trip blew my mind. It was a top 5 experiences of my life kinda thing.

DO EPIC SH*T! …like climbing antennas for an EPIC VIEW

Here is a brief over view but really you need to just look at the photos..
We stopped 5 places to snorkel. Each one entirely different! We went outside the fringed reef the first spot. This was crazy. Heavy waves and currents. Seeing fish drift in and out of the reef as the waves crashed on top of the reef.
We then went to a giant clam rehab area. IT WAS AMAZING. They will take your arm off.

One Foot Island is EPIC!

Honey Moon Island was where we stopped for a stroll and lunch. It’s where people plant palm trees as a symbol of their marriage. It’s also home to a rare bird that mates there and then flys to New Zealand. They have no native predators so they are not afraid o humans. We got to see a baby one as a giant ball of fluffy fur.
Matias made us lunch. Fresh coconuts, ahi tuna, a queen fish (he caught during our boat ride), papaya salad and lots more goodies!
We stopped at a spot called the Aquarium and played chicken with a GIANT puffer fish.

Our island hopping group!

Day 2 we went on an island/beach hopping tour. We visited the would famous ONE FOOT ISLAND. Hands down it was the most beautiful place I have ever been. We were there on sunday so there was only one other group that went there and that was very briefly as well.

Go pro shot of day 1 snorkeling. Skipper at the helm!

After Aitutaki we returned to Raro for 2 days and then headed to New Zealand. I will NEVER forget the people and friends I met while in the Cook Islands.
We will be back next year with out a doubt!

lounging on ONE FOOT ISLAND sand bar

UNTIL THE NEXT RUN….
RUN BUM

COOK ISLANDS RUN BUM GUIDE

When to go
Go when it is nice and cool. June-Novemeber is best. Remember their seasons are opposite of ours!
In October they hold a bunch of running events including the Nutters run on the cross island track, a relay and a marathon.

Where to stay
Rarotonga – Vera’s Beach Hostel
Aitutaki – Matriki

What to do
Cross Island track
Snorkeling/boat trip in Aitutaki
beach lounging
trail hiking or running on Rarotonga

What to eat
Rarotonga- Kai Kai time near Vera’s on Raro.
Ravi’s Indian. Its in town and has some good stuff.

Aitutaki- Macneds (cheap eats and a fun vibe on someones porch!)
Samade (for breakfast buffet/drinks INCREDIBLE VIEW!)

Where to run
Rarotonga- you can carry $ with you as some water and then if you run out stop and buy some from the many shops/stores along the route around the island!
Cross Island Track is a must. I recommend starting town side and run/hiking to the top of the needle early in the morning and back. Its the best part and you can park your car or scooter at the trail head. 5K round trip if even.

HAVE FUN WITH YOUR RUN!

Continue reading »]]> Going to New Zealand to come full circle
By Sean Run Bum Blanton

ON SUMMIT OF BEN LOMMOND above Queenstown, New Zealand

Just went down to New Zealand over Thanksgiving. I went down to go and conquer a race. This race is called the Kepler Challenge. It’s 64 ish kilometers and runs the ENTIRE Kepler Track on the South Island of New Zealand. Exactly 4 years ago I was on a trip to New Zealand. I had bought tickets right after the stock market crashed and the USD tripled to other world currencies over night. It was November and I had just run my first 10k EVER, the Peachtree Road Race, a couple months before. I had never run before the Peachtree. I had played soccer my whole life . I though running was stupid and for girly men. Well for whatever reason that thought changed. I saw running as a challenge. I wanted to break 40 minutes on a 10k. After trying for 3 months (granted I had NO idea what I was doing) I never accomplished this. 40:30s was my fastest.

I decided if I couldn’t go faster I would go further. I would endure, the way I always had. I used to pride myself on being able to run harder and faster than anyone at the end of a soccer match. Sometimes on Fridays I would go and play 4-5 hours of pick up soccer. I would play one game start to finish and then a new game would start and I would just keep playing. No food, no water, no Gatorade. Play until I couldn’t walk. I loved soccer. It was this mentality that helped me transition to running.

I don’t remember why, but I was looking at races down in New Zealand for my up coming trip and I found the Kepler Challenge. It was 64 km. “HOLY GOD!” I thought. This was too far and too much. I then saw that they had a 27km (17 miles name the Luxemore Grunt) version as well. It was an out n back. I signed up. GULP! What had I done? After further review of the course, map, site etc.. I found this was a HARD mountain race. I had never run on trial before and I have never run up a mountain.I only had a couple of weeks to get ready, which clearly isn’t enough. I didn’t know that. Ignorance is bliss right? I started ramping up my miles in an effort to get ready.

Start of the Kepler Track

After 3 weeks of “specific” training and 18 hours of flight time to get to literally the other side of the world, there I stood. I stood at the the start of something that would change my life forever, though I didn’t know it at the time. With the announcer calling out 60 seconds until the start of the race I took a deep breath. I looked out into the sold out crowd of runners. All ages and sizes. I looked past them onto Lake Te Anu. I had almost forgot the main reason I signed up for this race, the beauty. A calm glacier carved lake mirrored its back drop of mountains and middle earth setting as long as one could see. Cool mountain air calmed my lungs as my heart beat out of my chest.
5, 4, 3… What was I doing? I was on the other side of the world thousands of miles from home…ALONE.    2, 1, GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

The flood gates had opened and we rushed forward. 1/4 mile before we hit beautiful pacific northwest rainforest like trail. Giant trees swallowed the light and sound. Soft ground absorbed our steps. I tried to settle into a grove. Some 20 minutes later I did, but then we started to climb. Immediately EVERYONE started walking. I laughed ot myself. Why would you walk?!? I kept running. Little did I know it was a 3500 ft climb up and up. I battle this tooth and nail. Pushing past my breaking point the treeline broke and we were fully exposed. I was now running alone with a person here and there in front and behind me. I looked around. My jaw dropped. This was what this entire race and trip were about. Pushing my body to get me to this point. No car could drive up here. I was in the mountains and looking down on to the fjords. An epic view in itself. 10 minutes later I hit the turn around. I downed water and turned around back down the “hill”. My legs felt weird. I felt a twinge. Then I felt another, and another and another. Then a terrible pain as my calves seized up. I had never experienced this in my life. I wanted to move my legs but I couldn’t or they would seize and I would yelp.
I was top 10 at the turn around and had people pass me right and left. I was pissed but there was nothing I could do.
We finally got to the flat again. The cramping had slowed down but not stopped. I pushed through it limping and dragging my right leg.
I popped out of the trail to see the finish line. I ran through. The announcer proclaimed “This lad has come all the way from Atlanta, Georgia in the USA. Well way to go on your first Luxemore Grunt!” I began to cry, cry very hard. Tears of joy, relief and sadness. This was the hardest and most beautiful thing I had ever done in my life. I was here alone. I had no one to share this moment with. Just myself. No one would ever truly know what I experienced that day but me. The prodigal son had found his place back home.

When I got back to my hostel I signed up for 3 marathons and the rest is history. I have run over 80 ultras since then, I blow ALL of my money on running and traveling to run, and now I am trying to make a living from race directing and running. I just want others to experience what I experienced that day.

2012
For the past 2 years I had been trying to get back down there to run the 64km Kepler Challenge race to come full circle. Well finally this year I found a good flight and a buddy to go with me. I have done way harder races than the Kepler but few have been more significant to me. I lined up next to one of my best friends Graham. The race  was only the start of a great holiday of mountain running and EPIC adventures. This was to be the furthest he had ever run and for me I was out of distance shape but in decent 5k/mountain running shape. My goal was not to race this. My goal was to enjoy the beauty of it and push hard through the first 30k which is all mountain/ridge running and then go easy on the last flat 30k. We had 8 days to do as much as we could and I didn’t want running a race to blow me up for this.

The gun went off and we rushed forward. I got caught in the bulk of people. I bombed a slight downhill with Graham and passed about 50 people. I heard people commenting about how silly it was and that we had 64 km to speed up. This is true but there is a certain pace that is so slow it hurts because it is an unnatural stride for me. I didn’t listen to that and we kept moving up. I got to a pace were I felt good for a 64km run. We settled in and before we knew it we came ot the limb. The same climb that had kicked my butt 4 years before. The Luxmore climb. I felt great today. I knew I shouldn’t but I couldn’t help myself. I ran the whole dang thing with some short walking breaks in there. It was a miserable weather kind of day. Clouds, rain, wind and fog plagued us from the start. Even in the bad weather I couldn’t do much but smile. I wanted to be here rain or shine.

View from just above the Luxemore Hut

The climb wasn’t bad. We were to the tree line in no time. Then the wind came! 40 mph + head wind. MY GOD! I put all my mandatory gear on. My outter shell acted like a parachute and almost caused me to blow off the dang mountain. I had people running by me on this flatter section. I relaxed and didn’t fight the wind. I made it to the Luxemore Shelter/aid station. I grabbed some goddies and took off. It was more up another 1000 ft or so. We snaked around and I kept passing people on the climb. Finally we hit a down hill at the pinnacle of the wind too. I did what I love to do, bomb down hill. At this point it felt good to keep picking off people. Sometimes the competitive part of me gets the best of me. All in fun of course.

Then I came to people standing in front of a hut waiving their arms to make everyone stop. They then pointed up to the left off this razor thin ridge we were on. It was a helicopter and it was trying to land. I waited for 2 minutes as it landed. They staff helped a guy into the helicopter who was bleeding profusely from his head. I guess he had taken a nasty fall. It looked GNARLY.

I carried on on this epic ridge run. It was my favorite part of the whole race and it is why I run mountains, for those wide open ridge runs. Finally we dropped way down back into the woods. The mountain section was coming to an end. I was a sad panda. I bombed this down hill and came into the 30k to go point at about 3:20. I felt great.
I now SLAMMED on the brakes and mixed in a heavy amount of walking. I had gone 80% effort until this point so why slow down? Well mainly because I knew I wasnt in flat or rolling hill shape and I knew that I wanted to go run and hike tomorrow so I decided to take it easy. I just sat there for the next 3 n half hours while people passed me. I tried to chat up as many folks as I could. I saw so many miserable people. Rather people who were in misery*. I always think this is funny. 90% of races I slow down and take it easy so I don’t blow myself up or feel terrible. This is so I dont burn out on racing and blow my legs out. I mean after all the point of racing is to have fun right?

EPIC ridge on the course

I enjoyed the change of scenery over the next 18 miles. This was SURELY middle earth. I kept waiting for a hobbit to pop out. The rain started and it was god send. It cooled me off and silenced everything but my breathing.

Before I knew it there was 5k to go. A smile on my face the tears began to come again. The same way they had come some 4 years before. I was about to come full circle in this running thing. I was still just taking it easy. About 1 km or so from the finish I began to hear the announcer over the pa system as he called the runners home. I looked down at my watch and it was about 6:55 ish minutes.  A guy had just passed me (again I was running to finish here not racing). At this point I would be embarrassed if I didn’t go under 7 hours I thought. Push it a tad at least. So I went from easy shuffle to full stride 5k pace in two steps. It felt amazing.

Sign on the course. SO TRUE

A full stride this late in a race. I reeled the guy in. Then I saw another and another. I passed 2-3 people and then I popped out of the woods. I knew we were close. Then we hit pavement. There was another guy 3-4 seconds in front of me. He turned as saw me and took off. I went into a sprint. I chased him down as my goal had been to go 50% effort the last 3:30 hours. Nothing amazing there. But hey it always feels good to finish in a sprint at a race. I finished in 6:58:xx. The announcer read my quick story of why I had come(as he did everyone else who finished). I smiled a smile so big it hurt. I hugged the 3 guys who had just raced me the last 3 minutes. We we all smiles. WHAT AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE. I looked around me to see the runners, the families, the friends, the volunteers, the lake, the mountains, the woods, the sky, and the clouds. I tried to take it all in. I simply couldn’t describe or get enough of everything around me and what it was doing to my senses. I will be back again hopefully every year. Maybe next year I will race it all out.

The Kepler Challenge is one of those races to do before you die. New Zealand is a magical place and any run you do there will change your life.

Looking out across Lake Te Anu from Te Anu. A view of Mt Luxmore and what was to come

The rest of my New Zealand and Cook Islands trip to come

UNTIL THE NEXT RUN!!! DO EPIC SH*T
Run Bum

Continue reading »]]>

Garibaldi Lake. Whistler, British Columbia, Canada

So I have been very busy lately after traveling for 2 months straight over the summer and now working my butt off. I have now become a race director. I had never really planned this but now it just kind of fell into my lap. So make sure you check out the Georgia Death Race presented by Mountain High Outfitters.

So what have I been doing? Well I have put it all together in my 2012 so far top 15 runs

I have been globe trotting literally. Racking up the trail miles with my La Sportiva X Country and C lite Trail shoes.

I have not done all of the trails and runs in the world so I can only draw from what I have seen and done so yes this list is biased to what I have seen.

2012 TOP 15 BEST RUNS (That I personally ran)

15. Trans Rockies stage race. Buena Vista, Colorado.

Wow just wow! I have never run a stage race until this. Not running a stage race and then going and running this is like never running before and then going out and running a marathon on zero training. There’s lots of up and down and everything is above 8,000 ft! I can honestly say that I had a BLAST! I was hanging out with my La Sportiva team mates and meeting lots of new people. Everyday you wake up and go run. They bring your stuff from the start to the finish and set up your tent for you. Then there’s all you can eat hot meals that are simply amazing. I can say that I have NEVER had this much fun at a race before. Plus I got to see Leadville, go over Hope Pass, see epic views that you can only see by foot. I got to enjoy the company of the crazy crew of Jason Bryant, Scott Williams, Gina Lucrezi, Mike Huang, Everett, JD, Ian and the rest of the La Sportiva team I highly recommend this to any and everyone! THE GOAT (inside joke)

Decided to add some bonus miles in when I saw an awesome peak on top of a ridge mid race

14. Pikes Peak Marathon. Manitou Springs, Colorado

This was one of those bucket list/DO EPIC SHIT races. Starting at 6,400 ft and running 26.2 miles to the summit of Pikes Peak, 14,100 ft, and back. This race sells out. I will tell you I made a lot of great friends running up the mountain. I also got to run with my friend Sandy for a bit. It’s very odd. You are in a high desert so it’s actually quite hot most times until you get above 11,000 ft. At 12,000 ft you hit tree line and the world opens up. These views are worth the pain. I was smiling the ENTIRE race. It was awesome. I took my time and even summited the mountain (the race has you turn around some 50 ft before the top of the mountain).

13. Bridger Ridge Run 20 mile race. Bozeman, Montana

I remember about 3 years ago I saw a photo/article about this race. The photos looked insane. 20 miles running on a ridge. Well first of all ridge running is literally my favorite type of running. I realized I could make this happen. I signed up and made the drive from Atlanta to Bozeman, Montana. I got to stay and hang out with one of my favs in the world, Wendy W. Super nice lady and super fun runner! Bozeman remains one of my favorite places in the world. The race itself was simply mind blowing. The photos speak for themselves.

12. Ultra Trail du Vercors 54 mile race. Vercors National Park, France.

Needing some redemption from my DNF at mile 45 some 6 days before at UTMB I was more than ready to take on this 30,000 ft of elevation change 54 mile race. I had signed up for this race WAY back when I first made plans to go over to UTMB. I use the trip as an excuse to do a couple races.

The website and everything race related was entirely in French. I posted on their facebook page in English if I could get a ride to the start from town. I knew nothing of the race really. I was winging it. A man picked me up and we became instant friends. The race started with that awesome European grandeur. I took it easy and enjoyed the first climb in the dark. The next thing I knew was we were on top of a ridge adjacent to the Alps and the sun was rising over the back of the Alps. It was breath taking. I was yelling out in english how beautiful it was and I got a lot of people asking me where I was from. People were so nice and welcoming. People were telling me welcome to France and welcome to Vercors. I finished the race after a couple hiccups. It remains one of my FAVORITE races in the world for what it gave me and the views.

10.Rabun Bald via the Flint Knob Trail. Sky Valley, Georgia.

A couple of weeks back during the middle of the fall leaf color explosion I found an old trail that was no longer denoted on maps. I followed it and took it to the summit of Rabun Bald, the 2^nd highest point in Georgia. The views were incredible. It has quickly become my favorite place to run in Georgia and we plan to host a race there May 18^th, 2013 to showcase its beauty to others. This run was only 5.5 miles and the race will offer a 10 and 18 mile distance.

My favorite view in Georgia!

9.Speed Goat 50k race. Snowbird Resort, Utah

First of all this race is dubbed the hardest 50k in the world. I believe it. I however was un phased by the relentless climbs. I guess this is because the entire 50k race takes place between 7,000 -11,000 ft. It means that I would be hiking A LOT if not all of it. I really got to meet some awesome people, drink some beer mid race(about 4 to be exact), and enjoy the views of the race. Karl Meltzer puts on one insane race and I love it. Then I went on an EPIC run/hike/scramble out of Alta ski resort the next day on the Wasatch 100 course. It was tough flying out and landing in Salt Lake City from Atlanta and then running the race 12 hours later. I would do it again in a heart beat!

8.Appalachian Trail speed record attempt. Appalachian Trail, USA

First of all leading into this race I had 10 months of training and prep. I was in the best hiking and climbing all day shape that I have and probably will EVER be in. I had put in my head so much this thought of speed speed speed record record record. When I got on the trail none of that mattered. I just went and I just enjoyed the trail, the people and the views. Sometimes I saw people every 30 minutes. Other days I would run all day and not see a soul. It was a truly life changing experience. I hope to go back in 2015 and try it again.

7.Marin Headlands fun runs. San Francisco, California

In April I used the Mt. Diablo 50k as an excuse to go see two of my best friends growing up who now live in San Fran. It was to be my last race before the Appalachian Trail. I rented a cheap car and used it everyday while there to go and explore Golden Gate Park, The Marin Headlands, and Muir Woods.

I had three really awesome fun runs and hikes. I loved it so much I went and ran a 20 mile loop with a lot of it on the Miwok 100k course.

6. Parker Ridge fun run. Jasper National Park. Alberta Canada.

It is no secret that Alberta durning the summer is literally my favorite place to run and hike in the world. There are never ending trails and never ending insane adventures as well. So many trails to make various out and backs, loops, lollipops and point to points. I ended up crashing with my good friend Emily in Canmore, Alberta. On the way to meet our buddy Brad for fun run the next day we stopped to play on top of Parker Ridge. Its about a mile hike from the parking lot which is at I think about 7,500 ft. You then climb up and up until on top of the ridge. We go on top and then when off trail a tad to see the amazingly huge Saskatchewan Glacier. We also saw a heard of rocky mountain sheep.At the end of it, or rather the top of it, we decided to jump on our butts and get down the mountain the fast way. Flying down through the snow and yelling with excitement was how this fun run/hike ended. These are some of my favorite photos of all time and taken by Emily.

5. TDS at Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc race. Chamonix, France

I have done these races the last 3 years. They remain the HARDEST races I have ever run as well as the most beautiful and unique. Can you say cured meats, cheese and wine at the aid stations. Running through multiple counties during the race. You are offered multiple views of glaciers. You run from small Renaissance town to the next. Fresh mountain water flows from stone fountains that must have been erected hundreds of years ago. The races here are to me what you get when Ultra mountain running meets the Toure de France. Spectators, a couple thousand runners, and an energy level you are not used too. This year I DNF’d the TDS 70 ish miler at mile 45. It started to snow, I had all my gear on and I was still freezing. Last year I finish the same race in just over 20 hours. I will be back next year for redemption. Its only 68 miles with 46,000 ft of elevation change. Easy right?

4. Mt. Assiniboine Lodge and back. Banff National Park. Alberta, Canada.

This is one of those crazy runs you don’t tell your mom about because she would literally have a heart attack. With my friend Emily’s car and a pretty lack of real planning I headed off to run out to Mt. Assiniboine lodge and back from the Mt. Shark parking lot. If you looked on a map of Banff trails you’d see this. I then ran to the Mt Assiniboine Lodge and back. I really didnt know what to expect. I had a can of bear spray. At the trail head there were a couple of GIANT bright red signs that said “WARNING! You are now entering grizzly bear habitat. Hikers, bikers and runners have been seriously injured and or killed when encountering bears. Hike in groups of three or more.”

It was me… SOLO!

The first 10 miles was extremely boring as I was on ATV double track through the woods. Then it opened up. I went up and over a pass and popped out to see Assiniboine in all her glory. I wish I could have stayed over night and enjoyed all the lodge/area had to offer. Next time I will.

3. Run to the Sun. Haleakala. Maui, Hawaii.

Have I told you I have crazy friends? I think by now you should know this. Crazies attract other crazies. Well a while back I met fellow crazy ultra runner Matt Fober. He lives on Maui. This trip I had planned was to be my 2^nd time on Maui and was to serve as my training and more or less serve as getting me mentally prepared for the Appalachian Trail. Matt and I had been talking about doing the Run to the Sun, a 37 ish mile run from sea level to the summit of Haleakala (10,000 ft volcano).

It used to be a race but in the past couple of years the Park Service on Haleakala has done pretty much everything it can to stop the race. Its unfortunate because it is truly one of the best runs/bike rides in the world. After arriving at 9 pm and getting 3 hours sleep it was time to go. We met in the K Mart parking lot in Kahului. I met 5 other guys who were to change my life. In the starlight we took off. All running together. The firs 13 miles were actually very easy. However as it was mid week and we were running on the side of the highway cars on their way to work flew by us. We got off the main highway as the sun rose above. Finally after 20 miles or so we hit the park gates at 7,000 ft above the beach.

At that mark there was 11 miles to go. It was every man for themselves as we had 3 cars full of friends and family following and crewing us. It was a free for all. I wanted to really test my limits. I pushed hard until 9,000 ft and thats when I really started to slow down. I was getting a tad dizzy so I slowed the pace. Finally we passed the visitor’s center some 400 ft below the summit. I ran hard to the top and ran up the final 20 stairs. I stopped to look around at what lay below me. Clouds danced in the crater of the volcano. The beach was a small beige line that touched the water. I was on top of it all.

This was life changing.

Nearing the top Photo by Sasha Fober

2. Panorama Ridge. Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.

“Its 4 hours round trip if we hustle,” he said to me. Ok sweet this 30k run will be awesome I thought. About an hour into it we encountered snow… like a foot of it…. in late June. Ok no worries right?

I proceeded to follow Graham on what was now a bushwhack in the snow with no trial markings. Why? The snow was so deep (thankfully hard packed mostly) that it was above the trail markings in the trees. Graham knew the way and I followed him. We started to run out of water and I melted snow for water. It was a trick I learned in Montana.

This is it he kept saying for like an hour. It took us close to 4 hours just to get up there. Finally my jaw dropped and I couldn’t believe what I saw. Only pictures can try to come close to describing the view.

I think it is maybe top 3 views I have ever seen in my life EVER.

1. Skyline Trail. 50 ish km in Jasper National Park. Alberta, Canada.

When talking about must do hikes or crazy runs in Alberta. This trail is also top of the list.

I had this on my radar last time I was in Alberta but I did not have the opportunity. We planned this fun run out 2 months in advance. It was my friends Emily and Brad. Brad brought his RV and we stayed in it the night before. We woke up and dropped a car off on the way up as it was a point to point run.

I knew the run would be EPIC but you never really know how epic until you start.

Starting up a hill to get up to about 6,000+ ft for the rest of the run, the trail seemed like any other trail. However we quickly came to a pass and the tress vanished. We were now sitting up in the snow dusted mountain meadows. The trail had lots of late season snow on it. So water in the creeks and snow run offs was overflowing. We filled up and treated water from the streams. There were lots of bear paw prints in the mud and snow. It was awesome. Coming over the 2^nd pass we now saw what looked like the end of our day. Our turn around point. There was a crystal blue glacier lake with a climb up and over something called simply “ The Notch”. It was a huge cornice of snow with lots of signs of avalanches at its base. We decided to follow some snow prints and go for it. It was a rush. We made it to the top and were now around 9,000 ft on top of literally the most beautiful ridge I have EVER been on. We were all smiles until the last 8 miles when the trail seemed to NEVER end. We finished and were rewarded with smiles that few will ever know about. This remains THE MOST BEAUTIFUL RUN I HAVE DONE.

The Notch up above me

LUNCH BREAK!

HUGE THANKS GOES OUT TO ALL MY FRIEND AND FAMILY WHO HELPED BE PART OF THIS.

ESPECIALLY DENISE MARTIN, WENDY WEAVER, MICHAEL FITZPATRICK, EMILY COMPTON, BRAD PEAVOY, GRAHAM PERKINS, MATT N SASHA FOBER, DYLAN RIST, BAREFOOT ALEX, JON MCGONAGLE, WES MOSLEY, SANDY NYPAVER, GINA LUCREZI, ASHLEY ARNOLD, KATIE CLEGG, KUSAM KLIMB, TRAIL RUNNER CA, LA SPORTIVA, PETZL, BREAK THROUGH NUTRITION, CLIF BAR, MIX 1, CLIFTON DUHON AND MELISSA, AND ALL THE RACE DIRECTORS /OTHER PEOPLE WHO MADE THIS POSSIBLE

T MINUS 5 DAYS UNTIL NEW ZEALAND AND THE COOK ISLANDS…

UNTIL THE NEXT RUN

DO EPIC SH*T

Continue reading »]]> Ok first of all I am sooooooo stoked for all of these races coming up!

In a period of 8 days I have the Bridger ridge run 20 mile in Bozeman Montana, Trans Rockies Run3, pacing a good friend of mine at Leadville 100m, and then running Pikes Peak Marathon to finish out the 8 days! GOOOD GOD!

I am very nervous about the altitude as I suffered from High Altitude Pulmonary Edema a little over a year ago in the Everest Region on Nepal. I literally accepted death. So you can see why it makes me a bit nervous.

UTMB

I am then flying out to the Alps to run the 119km TDS race at the UTMB races. My goal is to finish top 10. I was 44th last year out of some 1200 people. I didnt have poles last year and I also ran out of food and water multiple times because of them rerouting the course mid race! I am making this a goal race for me.

8 days later I will be running the 50 mile race at Ultra Trail Du Vercors in Grenoble, France. This is a run in the foothills of the Alps with still a lot of elevation change. This will be a fun run and training run for races to come.

I will return to Colorado post Euro Trip and be running the Moab Alpine to Slickrock 50m in Moab, Utah.

I then finally have a weekend off before I run my first 100 mile race ever, THE BEAR 100 MILE. I will be limping along as I am filming the race for them and it’s my first 100 mile.

I can not wait to see how I feel. I have done many hard things just never a 100 miler. The reason for this is I dont want to run a flat 100 just to say I did it. I want to do something that is beautiful, hard as nails and leaves me saying “Wow that was awesome!”. I think I have found the perfect race!

After that its a couple days recovering in Utah before I start the slow but steady drive back to the south. I come back the following weekend for Stump Jump 50k and the Atlanta 13.1 marathon.

If you guys sign up for the Atlanta 13.1 marathon use code “RUNBUM131″ to get 10% off!!

I love doing back to back races. Stump Jump is one of my favorite races. fun single track mixed with VERY technical sections. This is one of the easiest 50ks I have run but one of the most fun!

The Atlanta 13.1 will be fun to get out there and pound the pavement in the neighborhood I go and run in. Its a very tranquil and visually pleasing course. I am excited to get out there and run with people I know. Its always fun to be able to wake up and run to the start of a race!

Then the following weekend I have another goal race. the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 mile. The North Face Endurance Challenge series is awesome. They offer 5k-50m races over 2 days. I really love this. It develops runners from 5ks to greater distances. I can not tell you how many people I have met that run a 10k one year and are out for the half or the full marathon the next year. I love this! Progression. Its also on some really fun and runnable terrain.

I plan to go all out and hopefully get part of the purse. It would help me out a lot with traveling. but with all the abuse on my legs the previous 2 months only time will tell.

If you haven’t singed up yet then do it!!!! they have a distance for everyone and DEAN KARNAZES will be there!

THE RACES ARE OCTOBER 13-14th

You can register here

TheNorthFace EnduranceChallenge
5k • 10k • Half Marathon • 50k
Gore-Tex 50 Mile • Kid's Run
Marathon • Marathon Relay

Race
Saturday & Sunday, October 13-14, 2012
F. D. Roosevelt State Park, Liberty Pool Area
http://tnf.ec/0W

The following day I would love to go and run the Mystery Mountain Marathon but I am not sure because I will be soooo beat up from ll the racing/miles. But we shall see! This is one of my favorite races!

Then there is the possibility for me to go and run the Cumberland trail 50k the following weekend.

Then for sure I will be at the Savannah Rock n Roll Marathon helping out with coaching and pacing the American Cancer Society DetermiNATION runners! I personally hated this course last year and I know they are changing it so I hope its A LOT better.

2 weeks later its the Duncan Ridge Trail 50k. This race means a lot to me. I will be racing this. This is where I train a lot in North Georgia. I hold the Fastest Known Time for the entire Duncan Ridge Trail. I love this trail because it is pure hell. Up and down up n down. you want to throw up from all the up and down.

Regardless of how well I do I plan to finish all of these. Its some 14 races in 4 months. I am more than excited!

Also Don’t forget about the most fun you can ever have running an ultra.. www.Destin50.com The Destin Beach 50k/m/relay.  I am the official coach of the race this year. February 2013

Check out the races and sign up to run with me!!!

Continue reading »]]>

Another EPIC trip DOING EPIC S$@T!

British Columbia and Vancouver hold a special place in my heart. It is where I ran my first ultra marathon ever the Diez Vista 50k. It is also the first place I ever took a trip with out my parents. While Vancouver remains my favorite city in the world, BC itself is vast and I have yet to see more than 1/10000000000 of it.

This trip was about running one of my favorite places in the world, seeing friends, running two new races and running 3 new places.

I was signed up to run the Kusam Klimb and Comfortably Numb 25k. I had heard about these races from Jeremy Clegg and from the La Sportiva Mountain Running website.

I got to Vancouver with an action filled itinerary.  The problem was that my flights were delayed and I was 4 hours late. This meant I got to my hotel on 4 hrs of sleep and it was now 4 am Atlanta time. I was wasted.

I woke up after 4 hours of sleep with a sore throat. I was getting strep throat. This happens from time to time and it sucks! What I have to do is rest and recover for a day or two.

after taking full advantage of the all you can eat breakfast buffet, Graham was out front. Graham Perkins is one of my runner buddies I had met 2 years prior at one of the races in Vancouver. He is one of our Run Bum Heros as well. He takes life by the horns. I had talked him into hitting up the Kusam Klimb with me.

Coming from Vancouver we had to board a ferry to Vancouver Island. the Kusam Klimb was on the north end of the island. We were headed to the South end to Victoria. We were meeting up with another amazing runner and good friend Katie Clegg. She took Graham and I in like we were family.

The next day I woke up sick and feeling crabby. Graham and I made the 5 hour drive to Sayward. Passing through a lot of amazing scenery we made frequent stops to get everything salmon! This is a mecca for salmon eating lovers. We got fresh candied salmon, smoked salmon, salmon jerky and like 4 other kinds of salmon.

Grahams truck wreaked of salmon. We ate about 5 pounds of the stuff. I quickly went into a salmon coma. We had overdosed!

We got the the race head quarters. Graham and I still had yet to book a place to stay. Sayward had maybe 2 hotels and a handful of bed and breakfasts.

e talked with some of the Race Volunteers. They hooked us up with a local lady by the name of Shela. She let us crash at her place. HOW FREAKIN AWESOME! It turns out her 2 sons were about our age and had moved away for work so she had 2 beds for us.

We got to her place and immediately feel in love with it. It was a house surrounded by majestic gardens and greenery. The mountains of the north part of the island looked over this abode. Shela came out and introduced her self. She was country strong you could tell. A sweet lady. She showed us around. She had goats and a gaggle of chihuahuas. The cutest things. This became our entertainment for the night.

We passed out early thanks to melatonin.

Race day morn I woke up still with a sore throat and feeling weak. I knew it would be a long day.

We got to the start with a cloudy and dismal day. Too bad because the views up on top are supposed to be amazing.

The gun went off and I yelled out “AMERICA!!!!!” hahaha. Just being silly.

The first mile or so is flat and on the road. Everyone went out fast. I could feel my head pounding from being sick with strep.I slowed down.

Then we hit the up. It started off gradual. Then got really steep. The trail was amazing. It was soft packed. There were evergreens all around us. I felt like I was running by myself in the forests of BC. The trial switched back all over the place. the grades were ever changing. We hit a couple of water spouts someone had rigged from the steam run off. I drank out of these as I didnt run with a bottle. I chose not to run with a bottle because i heard you needed your hands to climb some stuff.

There was about 5,000 ft of gain and 5,000 ft of loss. the gain occurred over less than 5k! Jesus cristo that’s a lot!

it was frustrating having to power hike everything. Normally I would have been able to run half of it. I was sick though.

The steep stuff lead to some ropes up some short but steep rocky stuff. IT WAS AWESOME! It made me smile. This was rugged fun. I dont normally run races that require you to get on all 4s. This have multiple sections of this. This was truly man vs mountain. The trail opened up behind me multiple times but we were shrouded in a veil of clouds.I knew on a clear day that this would blow my mind. I had seen pictures and this is why I signed up.

There were several false summits. I know better than to start sprinting when I see things leveling out.

before I knew it this Georgia boy hit snow. On the tip top of the mountain was some nicely packed snow. I see snow maybe once a year.

I was like a kid in a winter wonder land. Next thing I knew was the trail dropped straight off down into the snow. I slid on my butt flying down the slope. I had remembered there was another up now to the true summit.

I reached into my pocket for my Clif  Shot Bloks. I turned up an empty hand. WTH! I guess They had flown out of my pocket on the crazy fun butt slide to freedom. This meant I wouldn’t have food or calories until the aid station.

I finally peaked. At this point I was with a couple of runners. We bombed the snow slope. half sliding down half running. I was grinning like an idiot. One of the most fun things I have ever experienced while running.

I was feeling the lack of calories/water.

We finally hit a trail and solid ground. it was still down hill. I was flying. We crossed a rushing stream. like the wild man I am I shoved my face in the ice cold water and swallowed. I choked on the water. The guys behind me must of thought I was nuts. I loved it.

Finally an aid station. I hit the sugary water stuff hard. I was bonking. Out of calories and energy. I felt stupid. Not only that but my stomach was empty and felt raw. My stomach was still not right after all my problems with it on the Appalachian Trail.

I then took off running again. This was gradual down hill. I looked behind me and saw a guy coming. I had nothing. I needed energy. Normally I smash any grade of downhill. Not today.

The trail hit another aid station. and the guy passed me. I stopped to take in some more sugar. I was feeling bad. This next section I ended up actually walking. I was embarrassed and completely out of energy. My stomach hurt bad.

The summit compliments of AdventuresByCamera.com … CHECK THEM OUT!!!!

I tried to take in all the beauty around me. Finally I hit an aid station and they told me 3km to go. This was less than 2 miles.

The trail switched to gravel and to pavement. I bombed down the road. Just before the main road I started walking yet again. I felt awful. I walked because I knew I wanted people to see me running into the finish. I had to muster up energy to do this. I was sick on top of everything else.

I hit the main road to some applause and encouragement. I jogged it in.

I was relieved to finish. WHAT AN AWESOME RACE! I highly recommend this race to everyone! Such a beautiful race/experience. They cater to hikers.

I ended up placing in my age group and winning $50 how cool! Even feeling as bad as I did.

I know that with energy and not being sick I should have been another 25 minutes faster at least. I finished just over 3 hours.

MY BUDDY JEREMY CLEGG KILLED IT AND SET A NEW COURSE RECORD BY 1 SECOND! HOW AWESOME!

www.KusamKlimb.com

THIS IS A RACE YOU HAVE TO DO WHETHER YOU HIKE IT OR RUN IT YOULL HAVE A BLAST!

HUGE THANKS GOES OUT TO ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS, SHELA, GRAHAM, KATIE AND JEREMY CLEGG.

Continue reading »]]> What exactly is wrong with my stomach?

Any time I get an empty stomach I feel like death. I have a lot of acid reflux when I run or elevate my heart rate. The worst is when I run on an empty stomach. I ran 2 races this past weekend and ran out of food on both. I felt like I wanted to curl up and die afterwards.

I have been to see the Gastro Intestinal doctor twice for blood and stool samples. I have no weird diseases including AIDS/feline AIDS. I had no parasites or anything like that. He thinks I may have an ulcer now but wouldn’t know for sure unless he stuck a camera down my throat which he is going to wait to do. I basically have 3 weeks to see if it gets better. If it does not then I got back in. Honestly it isn’t better and I am getting worried.

I just hope nothing is seriously wrong.

What have I been doing to combat the POST App Trail DNF blues?

Well I signed up for a bunch of races well through november before I even started the AT. I knew this would be key. I needed something to look forward to post App Trail. I have races in Georgia, Tennessee, British Columbia, Alberta, France, Italy, and New Zealand to look forward too.

I set the Fastest Known Time for the 55 mile Georgia Loop. I also won the Dawsonville Half Marathon.

Fastest Known Time for the Georgia Loop

How ever right after the AT I needed to get away. I needed to disappear. I needed to take the racing aspect out of things and take running back to the reason I started running. For Adventure.
My buddy Brad Goodridge aka Bear Bell, posted on facebook about going the Georgia Loop or as he called it the Nemesis loop. It is a 55 ish mile loop that starts and finishes at Woody Gap in Georgia. It has 34,000 ft of punishing elevation change. You start on the Appalachian Trail headed north bound until the Duncan Ridge Trail. You turn left onto the DRT and head 32 miles back until you hit the Appalachian Trail again at long creek aka three forks. You then take the AT for another 20 miles until you arrive back at Woody Gap. Easy enough right?
If you look at a topo map you will see there is an odd phenomenon. There appears to be a loop around all the ridges in the area. It is the tallest ridge line. That would be the Georgia Loop.

So we decided to go run this loop on a thursday. Why? Because another crazy man, Dan Burstein, though it would be a good idea. I loved it because I work on the weekends. Well not this coming weekend so it meant I could go and hammer out a trail marathon on saturday as well.

This was 2 weeks after I stopped the AT. I was still unsure what was wrong or what happened to my stomach. It was feeling better but I still wasn’t normal!

We started out on a thursday morning in late May. It was 4 am or so. Mitch Pless, aka Sleeveless MCT,
took off with me. He was only able to run the first 8 miles before he had to turn back. Brad, Dan, Mitch and myself all started together but on the first down hill Mitch and I pulled away. Not that we we’re racing but I just wanted to finish as soon as possible. It was nice having my Petzl NAO light on my head. I love that thing. Best damn light period!

The first aid drop was at wolfpen gap. This took me about 2 hrs to hit. It was about 10 miles in. I topped up the water and took off on the DRT. I have the fastest known time for the entire DRT and I know it well. It is hell. I paced myself during all the short steep climbs.
I felt really good by the time I hit mulky gap. It was getting hot and the trail was overgrown. At times the grass and brush were up to my neck. I was batting ticks off of me. I was all alone and exposed on the ridge. I was just waiting for a rattler to bite my ankle and end my day. This would leave me stuck on the trail until Brad and Dan came. I tried not to think about this.

Over all I felt good for the first 25 miles or so. However the day was getting hotter. It rose to over 80 degrees. I was slowed down immediately. I knew I should hold back and take it easy. I ended up encountering a guy near Rhodes Mountain, where the Benton Mackaye and DRT split. This guy was hiking. I had never seen anyone hiking here before. I had to have a chat. I stopped and chatted the day away. Turns out he was section hiking the BMT. HOW COOL!

I finally made it back down to Ga 60 which was basically ½ way point in about 7hrs 45 mins at an easy pace. I was slowed down by all the downed trees and overgrowth. I think I could have been around 7 hours had that not happened and if it wasn’t hot. For me I had basically finished the loop. The hardest part was out of the way. … I thought.
I told myself I would sit for 20 minutes and rehydrate and eat. I did just that. I downed some Clif shot bloks and some lunch Dan had prepared for us. You see Brad and I had spend 5 hours the day before driving around and putting out aid for us. We used some air tight ammo cans to put the food in to make sure the bears couldn’t smell it. We then hung it from some trees so they couldn’t get to it.

Dan was other mommy. He packed us these little neat lunches. I was pissed because none of them had a toy or a treat! WTF man! Game face bro!

I had about 4 miles until the famous swing bridge. I was on the Georgia Death Race course right now and had been the last 18 miles or so. It was tough.

I started running again. I went up and over the short and sweet climb from GA 60. I saw 2 black bears as scared the shit out of them. In my tired retarded mind I started yelling movie quotes from “The Other Guys” at them. “GATOR NEEDS HIS GAT YOU PUNK A@# B@#$#%!” It just kind of came out.
I kind of laughed myself after I said it.

With bears and snakes on my mind I ran down the trail and finally hit the swinging bridge. There were a bunch of people here, as there always are. A lot meaning like 5 or 6. One guy was walking a dog. Looked like it was whoever he killed and maimed in the woods’ dog. I took a short dip of my head in a frigid stream that fed into the river under the bridge.

I crossed a gravel road and headed up the trail. This was a tough climb I remembered. Hell a steep.
The one thing I did not remember was that it was basically all up hill the next 5 miles! The up seemed to go on forever. I however thought that after this up I only had one more small up before Woody Gap.
My god was this just absolutely wrong! So I started to run a lot of the up. It was hot I was overheating slightly and I was getting tired. I was some 9 or 10 hours into the loop.

This section went on FOR FREAKIN EVER. I was running out of water. I finally saw some section of the trail I was familiar with. Before I knew it I was in the middle of a field. This field is about 1 mile from the AT at Long Creek Falls. This field is very weird. Its a field in the middle of the woods. It was logged at one time or cleared. It is also the point at which the Georgia Death Race leaves the Benton Mackaye and Duncan Ridge Trail and heads to Winding Stair Gap.

I descending quickly down to flat trial. AHHHHH this felt amazing. Flat runnable trail. Everything else had been up or down up or down. I was now out of water. I knew it was only 2 or so miles until our next drop so I wasn’t too worried.

When the trail hit the AT I took a left and met some people. A boyfriend and girlfriend section hiking. They spared some water and we shot the s#$@. I was giving them the run down on the trail. They were grateful and so was I. I knew I had less than 15 miles to go. I was getting ancy. I started ot run a lot of this. I finally hit our aid drop. I was covered in sweat. I felt pretty good. I stopped and had some more of Dan’s manwiches. I had a bag of lays too. The couple came up soon after. I filled them up with some water as we had dropped quite a bite of aid out there.

I headed for High Tower Gap. I was able to hit it feeling pretty good. I had really started to crush some miles. I think I was running low 7 min miles. At least it felt like that. I was cruising. I knew it was about 13 miles so I was smelling blood. I thought it was a breeze from here.

I wondered how Brad and Dan were fairing. If they had made it or had bailed out. I thought the conditions we’re tough.

This next section out of high tower was the end of me. I had just pushed it too hard the last 10 miles not remembering what this section from high tower to Cooper gap was like. It was short hard climbs. It was kicking my a@#.

I was barely crawling at this point. I had gone from kill speed to be killed speed in a matter of minutes. If it had been flat I would have been ok but the 30,000 ft of elevation change I had already done had caught up. Now I was wondering if I was going to make my goal of finishing before dark.

I hit cooper gap which was the last aid drop before my car at woody gap. I met some hikers who were trying to make it too woody gap. They were basically out of water. I told them I had some gaon jugs in my car and I would leave them out for them. They were very happy to hear that. You see I have been in that situation obviously, so I feel it is my duty to go OUT OF MY WAY to help others. Spread the aloha!

I got my last sandwich. And headed off. I had 8 miles to go. I was right at 12 hrs 45 minutes. 8 miles in an hour and 15 minutes and I could go sub 14 hours I thought. It seemed attainable. I took off in beast mode. I was still broken and tired. The section from Cooper Gap to Gooch Gap about killed me. It seemed longer than I remember After 2 miles of an elevated pace I blew up yet again. This was weird. I was just out of shape for running I was in shape for mountain hiking. I started walking a lot of it. I was able to hit Gooch Gap at about 14:15 hours or so? Again I don’t remember exact time I just remember crawling the last 13 miles. I left Gooch with the thought of going under 15 hours still attainable. It was 3 ish miles. I remember it being all flat. It wasn’t there were a couple of climbs. I got slower and slower and the trail longer ad longer. It was getting close to dark I had another 20 minutes before sunset. I finally saw Ramrock Mountain. This was the mountain just above Woody Gap. I started running hard. Well as hard as I could at that point. I popped out the trail and into the parking lot. I sprinted across the road and to my car. I stopped my watch and let out an animalistic call. I felt like a beast. I felt like a beast because that is how you feel after you walk though a mine field with only a couple of cuts and bruises. It’s the feeling of immortality you get from finishing an ultra marathon. If only for a brief second the juice is still worth the squeeze.

Final time
15 hours 27 minutes and change

I put out the water jugs and headed back to the Hiker Hostel. WHAT A HARD RUN! I was thinking about what I would say if someone asked me to do that again. Honestly I would not say anything I would just hit them in the face with a shovel. That loop is hell and humbles all who attempt it.
I hoped Brad and Dan were ok!

I got food and called Brad. They were ok. It took them 24 hours! This just goes to show you how hard this loop is!

Thanks BRAD, DAN, MITCH, WILLY, LEIGH, JOSH AND THE HIKER HOSTEL!

Dawsonville Half Marathon

I got a saturday off which is very rare to have a saturday off and not have a race. The longest race I could find near me was the Dawsonville Half.

I went up to Dawsonville to help pace the race with my friend John Mcbryer. We we’re helping out the Totally Running store in Cumming, Ga.

I got up there that morning to meet the ower of the store and one of the sponsors of the race, Alex. Alex is this awesome Mexican runner. I love this dude. We actuall went on a group run this past week and then after the three of us went and got some LEGIT mexican style street tacos.. mmmmm BEEF TONGUE and CARNITAS! I hope to be able to work with their store some more for some coaching clinics and fun runs.

We were going to be pacers but then we realized that everything was kind of all over the place so we ended up just running instead. My goal was not a time goal but was rather to keep my full power middle distance stride the whole time. The longest I had gotten this was 8 miles the week before.

The walked up the the start with a typical move that I like to pull just because is funny. I walk up to the start of a road race and you can see all the typical guys up front who take themselves WAY TO SERIOUSLY. You guys know my moto “RUN FOR FUN AND YOU ALWAYS WIN.” I just have fun. So I walked up and 30 seconds before the start I say hey is anyone else trying to go under 1:10? Everyone always looks at me funny and I keep a serious face. Then 10 seconds before the race I yell out WHOOOOOOO like a wild man. When the gun goes off I take off but I just sandbag. I want to see who all is going out hard. I coach people the way I run. ALWAYS FINISH HARDER THAN YOU STARTED. It’s better to pass people at the end than to be passed at the end. What people don’t realize is that 90% of people get progressively slower at races. Meaning they start too hard. I dont wear a garmin or a heart rate monitor. I run how I feel. I have an old school timex stop watch and I start it at the beginning of the race. I don’t do splits usually I just keep my elapsed time so I know about how long I have left so I can pace my energy accordingly.

The first half mile gave me 2 guys who were going out. A high school kid (don’t mean that in a bad way.. because he was) and some other guy. I just kept pace with them with my middle distance power stride. I use everything to my advantage at a race. I listened to their breathing. It was too heavy this early. It was right then and there I knew I had it. Not to sound cocky at all but my breathing was WAY below theres. The younger chap I attributed this to never having raced a distance this far. I had been there. The other guy I think was a tad ambitious. Maybe not I will never know. I watched their form and body language.

I broke the silence and started talking to them. Yes thats right. I started talking about the weather and how their day was going etc. I think this kind of freaked them out. I try and defy what has been established as racing norms. I talk to people, high five people and NO MATTER WHAT I always thank anyone helping with the race no matter how out of breath I am.

We came to a down hill and I bombed it. This was another thing most road runners NEVER see. When I hit flat again I slowed back down. I could tell they picke dit up to catch me. I had not expended any more energy than I had been expending. They however had to surge to catch me. Another trick up the sleeve.

The younger guy fell back after about 3 miles. However the other guy stayed with me until mile 5 or 6. We were on the first out and back. It was rolling hills in fact some of them were pretty steep. I could read the guys body language of him getting tired. I stuck with my plan and didn’t fight any uphills. On one hill I pulled away. He fell way back. I hit a turn and went to the second out and back. My shoe came untied twice and I had to tie it. Cost me a 30 or 45 seconds.
I now saw how far back people were and what they looked like. I only saw one guy who might be a threat.
I ws about 7 miles in and decided to pick it up. That and the caffeine kicked in. I started hammering some miles. We ran through a park and around a track. This was my favorite part. I even got a little kid to spray me with a squirt gun. It was getting hotter but I felt strong. No fatigue. So far so good. I was all smiles out in front. It’s a good feeling being out front in a race but I know all too well that a race is not won until its over. I now passed the out and back so I knew that I wouldn’t see anyone unless they passed me. I was completely running this course blind. So I just followed the police escort on the bike.

I made a turn and hit a long road. I looked behind me at the turn back half a mile and saw no one. I slowed a tad as this was a training run not an all out effort. I was happy to see no one back there. I didn’t want to have to push at this point.
I was around an hour and 5 minutes. I knew I was getting close. We turned onto a main road and I was instructed to run on the sidewalk.
Just then I hit a wall of a short hill. I dialed it way back and kept the same effort level.

I got to the top and cracked a joke with the police officer at the top. All the policemen we’re really nice and funny. It kept me motivated. Thanks guys!

I knew I was now in downtown Dawsonville and couldn’t have more than 2 miles to go. This was the hardest part of the race. I was alone and the race was never ending. There were lots of hills that were humbling me.

I finally recognized the road we were on I had maybe ½ mile to go. I turned behind me and saw no one.
I kept the pace and even slowed a tad. Nothing to prove here. I was right around breaking my PR. But I knew the course was a tad short. At least it felt that way.

I came around the back of some stores and popped out to see the finish. I wanted to give the people a show so I started sprinting. WHY NOT? I came through around 1:22. I was happy and feeling good. It is definitely a confidence booster to win a race however small it is. I waited around for 10 minutes until my boy John came through in 2nd! Way to go brother! We found out later than a couple of people missed a turn. I felt bad because one of those guys was the dude who ran with me until mile 6. He might have finished 2nd.
I know that feeling all too well.

I hope this didn’t sound cocky or whatever. It was just how I was feeling. I don’t like a lot of this stuff but my main goal for my blog is to get you in my head and have you experience what I did first hand. this is why I don’t do a lot of road races. It’s fun to win but honestly 1:22 is slow as heck I need to be 1:15 to be where I need to be.

Regardless the race was a blast, the course was a lot of fun for a small town half marathon and I would absolutely run it again!

Thanks to all the volunteers, runners and people I met before and after the race…. you guys rock!
Special thanks to Totally Running and John. Check Totally Running out on Facebook!

Until the next run…

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