Yesterday I ran the 25k at Surf the Murph and had a blast on an absolutely beautiful fall day.
I got there early in order to see Wayne and Rick off on their 50 mile journey. It was a crisp 28 degrees but nary a cloud in the sky and the stars were out in force. I was a little jealous I couldn't join them but knew the 25k was the most I should and probably could do. I ran into Lisa at the start and we talked for a while and watched them take off. Rick with his finish at Surf the Murph would accomplish his goal of 1000 race miles for the year. An amazing amount of race miles. I then went to my car to relax (and get warm) since I still had 2 hours until my race.
After a half or so I went looking for some folks I thought were running the 50k. I found Lisa and talked with her a bit more and talked with Steve and Elly, they were running in their VFF's. If only I had gotten my mileage up I might have joined them in my VFF's. It was funny as the 50k got close to starting I decided to go pick up my packet. I gave them my name and said 25k, they didn't find me but then found me with the 50k group (I had registered for the 50k but when I hurt my heel I emailed requesting to drop down to the 25k). I had a brief thought that I should go grab my stuff and go for it, that it was fate but quickly decided that would be really stupid.
Soon enough I was getting ready for my race, I had like 4 pairs of shoes with me and was trying to decide which ones would cause the least pain. I ended up choosing my Montrail RockRidges as they seem to fit my feet although I was a little concerned with their stiffness as I had placed inserts in them to stiffen them up when I bought them. I debated taking them out but they had caused the least pain of my shoes so I figured I should stick with them. Then we were off, it felt great to finally be in a race again. I went out probably a bit too fast but it felt so good to be running again that I just couldn't help myself and I kept thinking I am only doing a 25k, granted a long 25k, as the loop was just short of 17 miles. The course at Murph has us running in the hilly northern section first, then we loop to the flat southern section and finish in the northern section. What the northern section has are hills, steep but not long hills, just a lot of them. As the miles unfolded I tried various ways of running down them to minimize heel pain but I never really found a good way to go down.
As we left the northern section, I was feeling good and went to the aid station to say hello to Londell and the other volunteers. I had chosen to carry my Nathan so I knew I could skip most of the aid stations. Not sure why other than I am used to wearing it and I figured it would save some time as I did hope to beat last years time. I figured I was hurt worse last year and even had hope going into the race that my heel wouldn't slow me down. I continued to run well through the next aid station which was around 8.5 miles. I again skipped the aid station and continued on my way. It was about at this point in the race that my heel pain was getting stronger. I had felt pain on every step from the start but it had started as more of an ache but had gotten a little more intense as the run had gone on. Then I tried to run the section along the road where they had mowed down high grass. It was very uneven and after a few too many sharp pains I had to walk. It was now very clear that my heel did not like uneven surfaces or downhills. After I got through that section I tried to resume running but I had lost it, my thinking looking back was that it was a combo of going out too fast, the increased pain taking it's toll over time and in insufficient training coming into the race. From this point on I just ran when I could and walked when I had hills or uneven surface. It was such a beautiful day that I just kind of soaked it in but I was ready to be done after about 10 miles.
I have to mention the smurf village, it was new part of the course that they added, it goes through one of my favorite short single track sections of the park. I had always wanted them to add that section to this race so I was glad to see that they did even though the entry and exit points were different. I kept making forward progress and finally finished, I ended up finishing about 15 minutes ahead of last year so I made my goal of beating last years time.
After the race I took off to watch my brother-in-laws soccer team play. If they won they would win their conference. Turns out they lost but the second place team tied so they ended up in a tie with the team they lost to and are co-champions. Congrats to him, it is I think his fourth conference championship in the last five years. I then returned to the race to help out. I basically just talked with other runners. I talked a lot to Bill P. and John T. I was basically asking John a lot of questions about 100 mile races. Lisa made it back and we waited for Rick and Wayne to finish. They made it around 8:00 PM, Rick had done it and completed his goal. Congrats to him. It was fun to watch the 50 miler finish, I do hope to return to that distance next year.
My thanks to Les, Cindy, Molly and all of the other volunteers for again putting on a first class race. Can't wait until next year.
Today, I went for a recovery run in Lebanon Hills. I ran my 3 mile out and back section from Jensen lake. I chose to run in my VFF's and I really felt good. It was my farthest run to date in them. I kept the pace easy, no garmin, no watch, no hurry. I was real glad I made it out. I told my wife afterward that I figure it counts as cross training. She didn't agree but I still think it qualifies :-).
Showing posts with label Surf_the_Murph. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Surf_the_Murph. Show all posts
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Surf the Murph
Beautiful day, fun event and it appears no additional damage was done to myself. It was fun to see so many friendly faces. The weather was perfect and the course was in great shape, I liked the changes that Les made, it will be nice to have a simple loop (x3) for the 50 milers to run even though it made for a slightly longer 25k or 50k course.
I took my time, ran when I could, walked when I needed to and enjoyed myself. In looking at my SportTracks info, I was stopped for 18 minutes, most of which was spent at the aid stations talking to the volunteers. I didn't care too much what my time was as I knew I wasn't in race shape or health and I wanted to simply take in the park. There was more than one time where I simply stopped and looked around. I know the snow will be falling soon (I am totally ok with being wrong on this one), so I wanted to have the memories of Murphy packed away for the winter. For me it's always easy to pull out memories and images (of warmth) to help me get through runs during those cold, dark and snow-packed winter days.
A few pictures from the course, all of these were taking with my phone in the southern section.
Just past the horse park
looking back across the lake around mile 7
Just passed the 9 mile aid station
I took my time, ran when I could, walked when I needed to and enjoyed myself. In looking at my SportTracks info, I was stopped for 18 minutes, most of which was spent at the aid stations talking to the volunteers. I didn't care too much what my time was as I knew I wasn't in race shape or health and I wanted to simply take in the park. There was more than one time where I simply stopped and looked around. I know the snow will be falling soon (I am totally ok with being wrong on this one), so I wanted to have the memories of Murphy packed away for the winter. For me it's always easy to pull out memories and images (of warmth) to help me get through runs during those cold, dark and snow-packed winter days.
A few pictures from the course, all of these were taking with my phone in the southern section.
Just past the horse park
looking back across the lake around mile 7
Just passed the 9 mile aid station
So my thanks to Les, Cindy, Jim, Molly, Lisa, Bill, Londell, Helen and all of the other volunteers and runners (Wayne, Karen, Mark, Kel, Steve, Kelly, Vicky, Mike, Dane and so many more) that I met during the day for another great Surf the Murph event, can't wait until next year when I hope to get back out there for the entire day.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Surf the Murph 2009
Here's my short report:
I finished my first 50, great course, great family support, great volunteer support, great aid stations, great job Les and Cindy and great runners to share it with.
Here's my long report (and it is long):
I got to the race a little after 5 which gave me plenty of time to get things organized. I had already dropped a bag at the horse trail station so that was a go. I picked up my number. Along the way I saw Wayne and Karen. I made a few last decisions as to what I wanted to carry versus throwing in my other bag. The weather was brisk with a bit of breeze but all things considered it was looking to be a good day. As we waited around, I even stepped out of my shell and introduced myself to Carl G. I have seen him at many races and figured I should say hello. Before I knew it, I was standing in line and we were off. We had four loops ahead for our day, the first loop was a short 3.2 mile loop followed by 3 longer 15.6 mile loops. Since I had run my training runs down in Murphy, I wasn't too worried as I knew the course well. We would be running 9 or so miles in the northern section which was hillier and more sheltered and the other 6+ in the southern section which was much more runnable. The time seemed to fly by and we had to be nearing the right turn that would start our return back to the start/finish and end the first short loop. Something didn't seem right as I thought it should have come up already. Did we miss the turn? No way, I knew the course we hadn't come to the 2nd gate. Granted it was in the dark and I was following a group but there is no way I could have missed it. We were trying to decide what to do as we were all getting nervous that we had missed it. The first loop was 3.2 miles and we were at 2 miles (I was thinking we missed it but how) then 2.5 miles (I knew we missed it) and then we came upon the first aid station (Yup, we missed it - this aid station was staffed by a friend from work, Paul and Steve G). Which caused another concern the aid station wasn't where we thought it should be. We had thought that we would be taking a spur back into a clearing, if so we missed it too. We figured we might as well continue to run the big loop and make up the short loop on the 2nd loop and we were hoping that since the aid station was moved maybe Les had changed the course, let's hope so.
We soon were looping our way to the horse trail aid station when another group of runners were coming back, they too had missed the turn and were trying to decide what to do. We told them we had too and that we were going to continue on and let Les know, figuring that as long as we ran the loop we would be ok and if not well, a DQ would be a first too. I felt pretty good as we ran along and then I looked at my watch 56 minutes into the race, I had not taken a drink. I had been so pre-occupied with where we were that I had forgotten to drink or take any S-caps. Great, my first 50 and I was well on my way to dehydration, I told myself to relax and start drinking. Onto the horse station where Londell greeted us warmly. We would be coming back to his aid station another 5 times since the southern loop basically starts and ends at the aid station. I was running with a small group that included Wayne, Karen, Rick and a few others and I was catching up on the fluids and S-caps so I was thinking it was going to go well. I should also mention that I did not have the gumption to come in a costume but Wayne (convict), Karen (SuperWomen) and Rick (an outhouse complete with toilet bowl) all did. I hope someone got a picture of Rick's a it was real creative.
Soon we were into the next aid station which was staffed by Helen (and I think Don), Helen is a great ultrarunner. Yet another fact that makes me love the trail and ultra scene, when was the last time you saw a marathon winner staffing an aid station? She had brought banana bread which I declined, I asked for a beer which she said she had, I then declined and said maybe on loop 2 or 3. It was neat leaving her station as we had a quick singletrack section that took us back to the trail, we continued on around and I was starting to pick up many other course changes from the loops I had run in training. It had me a bit lost but I loved the fact that it was different. We continued around the loop until we came back into Londell's station (there were some folks who helped at his station so my apologies for not knowing their names). I ended up running with Wayne for a lot of this loop, it sure made the time pass quickly. From there we had some more single track and then back into the northern section where Les gave us another course change from our training runs. We turned left and climbed a hill, it was the hill that would give us a view of Minneapolis. We continued up the hill and where I figured he would loop us back for the view of Minneapolis we continued on up the hill further and then went back down a steep hill when all of a sudden we turned right onto a singletrack trail that I didn't know existed and the truth be told this one was much more like a deer trail than anything else. We worked our way through it and then we climbed up a very steep hill where we popped out of the woods with the view of Minneapolis. It was a great change to the course. We worked our way through a bit more singletrack, over a few logs and on back to the start/finish. Loop 1 took about 3 hours and 45 minutes, right on my goal pace, my fast goal pace but it meant I was on track for my time goal of 13 hours. We talked to Les who said not to worry about missing the turn on the short loop he would have us finish it at the end.
As we started loop 2 I debated what to grab for fluids as I had it all planned it all out for the short loop and then a big loop. Now what to do. I again told myself to relax, grab what you think you need and get going. There were plenty of aid stations if I needed more. I had lost track of Wayne at this station but I knew he would be coming by me soon enough. Sure enough he did and we again ended up running much of the second loop near each other. I did enjoy a comment Paul made to me as I came into the first aid station, he said something like you look tired. I was as had been running with Karen. As I continued on, I was trying to slow my pace down in this loop and had encouraged Wayne, Karen and Rick to get ahead of me. I ended up staying fairly close to them which wasn't good as I was convinced I couldn't keep pace with them. My race plans were to allow 15 minutes more per loop that way I wouldn't freak out if I started to slowdown, my goal was just to keep moving. Now I did hope that each loop would be consistent but I had no idea what I would go through in loop 3 so I wanted to err on the conservative side. As we neared the end of loop 2, I had a nice surprise my whole family was there to great me (my wife and both of my daughters had come out, what a nice surprise). We finished loop 2 in about 4 hours, again right on my planned pace. I remember coming into loop 2 thinking how nice it would be to just be running the 50k.
Loop 3 was a bear, my feet were real sore, my legs were cramping up and it felt like I was consuming my body for fuel. I had not been able to eat much as I had been on the verge of nausea for part of the first loop and pretty much all of the second loop and of course it continued in loop 3. Every time the nausea got bad I would take an S-cap. I had a real difficult time keeping track of time as it related to my S-cap consumption was it 10 minutes ago or 30 or ?.
My wife and I had discussed that she would pace me in the southern loop which I had hope would give me a boost. Another thing that I had planned on doing was switching coats as I was getting a bit chilled at times. The day was interesting when you were in the trees or sheltered from the wind and the sun was out you would heat up, then the breeze would hit and I would get cold. I was running by myself along the northern section which was fine and I was thinking that I just might be able to do it as I climbed the second hill along a stretch that I call the section 6 hills. They have markings at Murphy that I have never quite figured out and the hills from section 6 are the hardest to work your way through.
I continued on to the horse aid station where my wife was waiting for me. I switched socks and shoes and grabbed my gore-tex jacket. I could not believe how nice the dry socks felt. I also cramped up as I changed into the socks, it was funny when I looked down and saw two toes at basically right angles from the cramping and I would have laughed except it hurt, I grabbed the foot and got the cramp to stop, finished putting on the socks, slapped on the shoes and we were off. Except, I was pretty much useless as my feet were pretty sore, basically it felt like I had plantar fascia in both feet. Every step hurt and it really hurt when I tried to run. We made it to the lake and I knew I needed to do something or I was in trouble. So I sat down and laced the shoes as tight as I could. When I got back up (which I was happy to see that I could do), I was able to bear the pain of shuffling along regardless of the style I was glad to get going again. We made it to the Helen aid station and as we pulled into it I had caught up to Wayne and Rick. That caught me by surprise as I figured they were way ahead of me. As we left the station we kept them in sight all the way to the Londell station. From there my wife was going to drive to the start/finish area and we had planned on running the final 3 miles together. Wayne and I took off and we worked our way through the singletrack and back into the northern section. We both were pretty well content with walking it in. I had hopes that I would recover some and be able to run but as we walked along talking I was real happy to be finishing with Wayne. We both kept telling each other to feel free to take off and neither of us did. As we took in the final view of Minneapolis from the hilltop, we both knew we had it. We made it to the start finish where we were loudly cheered on. They had told us they had placed cones 1.55 miles out and we could not miss them so we headed out. On the other loops I had figured out the turn (each time through I made a mental note, turn right at number 4, second gate) so I was thinking we would do the actual loop but as we thought about the course change they made for us, we figured they were right as we might have missed it again or taken another wrong turn. My wife was enjoying the night run, she had never run in the dark on trails before and I am sure she will doing the 25k or 50k next year. Wayne and I continued the walk to the cones and on the way we passed Karen and then Rick, it was nice to see that they were still going. We made the turn around and on the way back we passed Kel and a couple of other folks whose names I don't know. As we approached the finish, I had a great feeling of satisfaction come over me. I was an ultrarunner.
A couple of other things, my Garmin made it the entire race and it showed 13 hours and 40 minutes and 50.9 miles which when uploaded into SportTracks came in at 51.34 miles.
I have a lot of things still going through my mind concerning this race but I figured I should get this post out so don't be surprised to see a few more posts coming out fairly soon and some of them may have a picture or two. One thing that did go through my mind is 100 miles is still beyond my comprehension but another 50 mile race might be kind of fun.
My thanks to all of the volunteers, you were great, to Les and Cindy for putting this event on, your hard work is appreciated, to my wife and family for putting up with me during the fall training, for your race support and to my wife for pacing me and to Wayne, Karen and Rick and for the many other others who helped me get through this. It was a blast.
I finished my first 50, great course, great family support, great volunteer support, great aid stations, great job Les and Cindy and great runners to share it with.
Here's my long report (and it is long):
I got to the race a little after 5 which gave me plenty of time to get things organized. I had already dropped a bag at the horse trail station so that was a go. I picked up my number. Along the way I saw Wayne and Karen. I made a few last decisions as to what I wanted to carry versus throwing in my other bag. The weather was brisk with a bit of breeze but all things considered it was looking to be a good day. As we waited around, I even stepped out of my shell and introduced myself to Carl G. I have seen him at many races and figured I should say hello. Before I knew it, I was standing in line and we were off. We had four loops ahead for our day, the first loop was a short 3.2 mile loop followed by 3 longer 15.6 mile loops. Since I had run my training runs down in Murphy, I wasn't too worried as I knew the course well. We would be running 9 or so miles in the northern section which was hillier and more sheltered and the other 6+ in the southern section which was much more runnable. The time seemed to fly by and we had to be nearing the right turn that would start our return back to the start/finish and end the first short loop. Something didn't seem right as I thought it should have come up already. Did we miss the turn? No way, I knew the course we hadn't come to the 2nd gate. Granted it was in the dark and I was following a group but there is no way I could have missed it. We were trying to decide what to do as we were all getting nervous that we had missed it. The first loop was 3.2 miles and we were at 2 miles (I was thinking we missed it but how) then 2.5 miles (I knew we missed it) and then we came upon the first aid station (Yup, we missed it - this aid station was staffed by a friend from work, Paul and Steve G). Which caused another concern the aid station wasn't where we thought it should be. We had thought that we would be taking a spur back into a clearing, if so we missed it too. We figured we might as well continue to run the big loop and make up the short loop on the 2nd loop and we were hoping that since the aid station was moved maybe Les had changed the course, let's hope so.
We soon were looping our way to the horse trail aid station when another group of runners were coming back, they too had missed the turn and were trying to decide what to do. We told them we had too and that we were going to continue on and let Les know, figuring that as long as we ran the loop we would be ok and if not well, a DQ would be a first too. I felt pretty good as we ran along and then I looked at my watch 56 minutes into the race, I had not taken a drink. I had been so pre-occupied with where we were that I had forgotten to drink or take any S-caps. Great, my first 50 and I was well on my way to dehydration, I told myself to relax and start drinking. Onto the horse station where Londell greeted us warmly. We would be coming back to his aid station another 5 times since the southern loop basically starts and ends at the aid station. I was running with a small group that included Wayne, Karen, Rick and a few others and I was catching up on the fluids and S-caps so I was thinking it was going to go well. I should also mention that I did not have the gumption to come in a costume but Wayne (convict), Karen (SuperWomen) and Rick (an outhouse complete with toilet bowl) all did. I hope someone got a picture of Rick's a it was real creative.
Soon we were into the next aid station which was staffed by Helen (and I think Don), Helen is a great ultrarunner. Yet another fact that makes me love the trail and ultra scene, when was the last time you saw a marathon winner staffing an aid station? She had brought banana bread which I declined, I asked for a beer which she said she had, I then declined and said maybe on loop 2 or 3. It was neat leaving her station as we had a quick singletrack section that took us back to the trail, we continued on around and I was starting to pick up many other course changes from the loops I had run in training. It had me a bit lost but I loved the fact that it was different. We continued around the loop until we came back into Londell's station (there were some folks who helped at his station so my apologies for not knowing their names). I ended up running with Wayne for a lot of this loop, it sure made the time pass quickly. From there we had some more single track and then back into the northern section where Les gave us another course change from our training runs. We turned left and climbed a hill, it was the hill that would give us a view of Minneapolis. We continued up the hill and where I figured he would loop us back for the view of Minneapolis we continued on up the hill further and then went back down a steep hill when all of a sudden we turned right onto a singletrack trail that I didn't know existed and the truth be told this one was much more like a deer trail than anything else. We worked our way through it and then we climbed up a very steep hill where we popped out of the woods with the view of Minneapolis. It was a great change to the course. We worked our way through a bit more singletrack, over a few logs and on back to the start/finish. Loop 1 took about 3 hours and 45 minutes, right on my goal pace, my fast goal pace but it meant I was on track for my time goal of 13 hours. We talked to Les who said not to worry about missing the turn on the short loop he would have us finish it at the end.
As we started loop 2 I debated what to grab for fluids as I had it all planned it all out for the short loop and then a big loop. Now what to do. I again told myself to relax, grab what you think you need and get going. There were plenty of aid stations if I needed more. I had lost track of Wayne at this station but I knew he would be coming by me soon enough. Sure enough he did and we again ended up running much of the second loop near each other. I did enjoy a comment Paul made to me as I came into the first aid station, he said something like you look tired. I was as had been running with Karen. As I continued on, I was trying to slow my pace down in this loop and had encouraged Wayne, Karen and Rick to get ahead of me. I ended up staying fairly close to them which wasn't good as I was convinced I couldn't keep pace with them. My race plans were to allow 15 minutes more per loop that way I wouldn't freak out if I started to slowdown, my goal was just to keep moving. Now I did hope that each loop would be consistent but I had no idea what I would go through in loop 3 so I wanted to err on the conservative side. As we neared the end of loop 2, I had a nice surprise my whole family was there to great me (my wife and both of my daughters had come out, what a nice surprise). We finished loop 2 in about 4 hours, again right on my planned pace. I remember coming into loop 2 thinking how nice it would be to just be running the 50k.
Loop 3 was a bear, my feet were real sore, my legs were cramping up and it felt like I was consuming my body for fuel. I had not been able to eat much as I had been on the verge of nausea for part of the first loop and pretty much all of the second loop and of course it continued in loop 3. Every time the nausea got bad I would take an S-cap. I had a real difficult time keeping track of time as it related to my S-cap consumption was it 10 minutes ago or 30 or ?.
My wife and I had discussed that she would pace me in the southern loop which I had hope would give me a boost. Another thing that I had planned on doing was switching coats as I was getting a bit chilled at times. The day was interesting when you were in the trees or sheltered from the wind and the sun was out you would heat up, then the breeze would hit and I would get cold. I was running by myself along the northern section which was fine and I was thinking that I just might be able to do it as I climbed the second hill along a stretch that I call the section 6 hills. They have markings at Murphy that I have never quite figured out and the hills from section 6 are the hardest to work your way through.
I continued on to the horse aid station where my wife was waiting for me. I switched socks and shoes and grabbed my gore-tex jacket. I could not believe how nice the dry socks felt. I also cramped up as I changed into the socks, it was funny when I looked down and saw two toes at basically right angles from the cramping and I would have laughed except it hurt, I grabbed the foot and got the cramp to stop, finished putting on the socks, slapped on the shoes and we were off. Except, I was pretty much useless as my feet were pretty sore, basically it felt like I had plantar fascia in both feet. Every step hurt and it really hurt when I tried to run. We made it to the lake and I knew I needed to do something or I was in trouble. So I sat down and laced the shoes as tight as I could. When I got back up (which I was happy to see that I could do), I was able to bear the pain of shuffling along regardless of the style I was glad to get going again. We made it to the Helen aid station and as we pulled into it I had caught up to Wayne and Rick. That caught me by surprise as I figured they were way ahead of me. As we left the station we kept them in sight all the way to the Londell station. From there my wife was going to drive to the start/finish area and we had planned on running the final 3 miles together. Wayne and I took off and we worked our way through the singletrack and back into the northern section. We both were pretty well content with walking it in. I had hopes that I would recover some and be able to run but as we walked along talking I was real happy to be finishing with Wayne. We both kept telling each other to feel free to take off and neither of us did. As we took in the final view of Minneapolis from the hilltop, we both knew we had it. We made it to the start finish where we were loudly cheered on. They had told us they had placed cones 1.55 miles out and we could not miss them so we headed out. On the other loops I had figured out the turn (each time through I made a mental note, turn right at number 4, second gate) so I was thinking we would do the actual loop but as we thought about the course change they made for us, we figured they were right as we might have missed it again or taken another wrong turn. My wife was enjoying the night run, she had never run in the dark on trails before and I am sure she will doing the 25k or 50k next year. Wayne and I continued the walk to the cones and on the way we passed Karen and then Rick, it was nice to see that they were still going. We made the turn around and on the way back we passed Kel and a couple of other folks whose names I don't know. As we approached the finish, I had a great feeling of satisfaction come over me. I was an ultrarunner.
A couple of other things, my Garmin made it the entire race and it showed 13 hours and 40 minutes and 50.9 miles which when uploaded into SportTracks came in at 51.34 miles.
I have a lot of things still going through my mind concerning this race but I figured I should get this post out so don't be surprised to see a few more posts coming out fairly soon and some of them may have a picture or two. One thing that did go through my mind is 100 miles is still beyond my comprehension but another 50 mile race might be kind of fun.
My thanks to all of the volunteers, you were great, to Les and Cindy for putting this event on, your hard work is appreciated, to my wife and family for putting up with me during the fall training, for your race support and to my wife for pacing me and to Wayne, Karen and Rick and for the many other others who helped me get through this. It was a blast.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Surf the Murph - Unexpected Experiences.......
Some days you get up, get ready, show up and everything goes exactly as planned. This morning did not quite go as planned.
I got up at 5, so that worked fine, got ready, that went well, arrived at Murphy around 6:15, picked up my packet (flawless execution by Les, Cindy and their team). I received a nice technical long sleeve shirt, I needed that. So my morning was going great, I have been training fairly well in Murphy and I thought I had had a decent taper for it, so what was I expecting but my 50k PR, now that wasn't actually asking for too much since there was no snow (Chippewa), no heat (Afton), I thought I had everything teed up. That's about when Murphy showed up, no not the park, Murphy's Law, if you aren't familiar here you go:
Murphy's Laws
Les (I think) gave us the instructions. I was getting my NikeIpod+ ready so I was kind of zoned at and was at the back of the pack so I figured I wouldn't have too much to wrry about, so right at 7, we were off, I pushed the time on my HR monitor, pushed the center button on my Ipod to start the time/distance and immediately recognised a few logistic issues. The HR monitor didn't start as I had left the chest strap in the car, the Ipod froze. I debated going back to get the HR monitor but chose not to, I had intended to run at a prescribed HR pace as that's how I did my training. I figured I could get by for one loop without it. I instead focused on rebooting my Ipod, I could not get it to reboot, I took off one of my gloves, no success, took off the other glove, it still wouldn't reboot. So I glanced at my watch and said I guess I will go by it. Since I was fooling around with everything I stayed at the back of the pack, talked to Les, I think he mentioned he would the sweeper for the course, the pace was slower than I wanted so I decided to move around a few folks. All was going well, I had moved into a nice spot, all alone and no visible lights in front of me and I was starting to pull away from those behind me. I was stoked, even though the start was a bit more stressful, I was doing ok. I was in Murphy, there were stars in the sky, it was a beautiful morning and had the makings of a great day.
I proceeded around the course, I was so content as I knew everywhere we were headed. As I went up the a hill by about #3, I got my Ipod to reboot, set the button to start recording time and distance and then selected my podcasts but they didn't start. No, what else was going to go wrong, then I remembered that if I selected shuffle songs, it would normally work and it did. I decided to go ahead and listen to music for awhile and settled into a nice rhythm I flew down the #4 hill, made it up the #6 hill with no damage except when I tried to get a drink from my Nathan and I couldn't get anything out. I must made a lot of weird noises as I struggled to drink, as a women in front of me turned around, I muttered I couldn't get anything out of my Nathan. She then stopped and asked me if I needed a drink and then I got it working but what a nice thing to do. I do like my camelbak's mouthpiece better than the Nathan's. Oh, I should mention that this was my first drink, so much for taking a drink every 15-20 minutes. But I didn't sweat it as I still felt good and I quickly got back on track, heading towards the first manned aid station.
I talked to another runner whose name now escapes me, does anyone else have memory issues during and after long runs? He was from LaCrosse, I think, we ended up running together for the next few miles and into the aide station.
I floated on through the first aide station, there were other runners there but with my trusty Nathan I was in good shape, except that with all of the messing around with the Ipod and the Nathan, I had forgotten to take any S-Caps so I quickly took one. About then, I had a slight misstep, and got a fairly intense pain in my left arch, it felt exactly like it did in August. I kind of ignored it and hoped that it would be like an ankle roll and get better over time. I made it up the #14 hill, the pain seemed to sticking around so I decided to make a strategic stop to my car and switch shoes. I was running in my Vasque Mercury's and was switching to my Vasque Velocity's. The Velocity's have more support so I was hoping that would help the arch. I was also going to grab my HR strap. I would have worn them from the start except they have about 550 miles (the Mercury's have 150) on them and I normally only get 300-400 miles out of a pair of shoes.
I made it past the start/finish line and noted my time was around 1:3x something, opened up the car, switched shoes, decided to drop the stocking cap and grab my old Grandma's hat. I checked my Nathan, plenty of fluid so I was off again. The Velocity's did help as I left the aide station and I was getting back my confidence. Oh blank, I had forgotten the HR strap, ok, run the 2nd loop without it. I met up with another runner named Steve, he said he had run his first 50k the weekend before and decided to run the Murph as he felt good. We talked for awhile, he mentioned many of the blogs he reads, he commented on Helen and how amazing she was, Julie Berg and how she had qualified for Boston, we discussed that neither of us were in love with Grandma's or TCM's polices concerning Ipods. I like my podcasts. We continued to chat about family, running and many other things. He mentioned what he was drinking I commented on my love affair with Clif Shot Electrolyte Crisp Apple and he said I know who you are, I read your blog too, I can't believe people read my blog but then again I do follow 30 or more so who knows, anyway I was flattered. BTW, the Runners Gate (in Lakeville) did have my electrolyte and they do give the MDRA discount so I wanted to correct that since last post I said I didn't think they did, I didn't ask about MN-DRS but will next time I go in.
We proceeded through the northern section and I was trying to ignore the foot pain but it was getting to me. I told Steve to take off with the runner from Lacrosse, wish I could remember his name and they quickly moved ahead of me. I made it to the aide station, I think Adam was there, I should have introduced myself, maybe next time. Onto a totally random subject, I got to take leadership training this week for work and I now know that I am not "anti-social", I just like autonomy. If you read their description of autonomy, it said things like - likes to work alone, lead projects not people, creative, likes to solve hard problems, of course one of the negative traits they mentioned was may appear to be anti-social.
Anyway, back to Murph, did I say yet how beautiful the day was becoming, wow. I couldn't believe it, what a day on November 1st in MN, a fall day instead of a winter day. As I left the aide station, my foot was throbbing, not good. I was still running fairly well so I decided to ignore it one more time. The #14 hill really caught my attention, the foot did not like it at all. I caught up to another runner who was limping, he said his IT band was causing some serious pain so he was stopping at the 25k point. I thought about it as I moved away from him, should I stop, the foot was not getting better and I was starting to have hip pain, probably from compensating. I decided to make the call at the aide station, I got there around 10:30, ran into a co-worker (Paul) who had done the 25k. We talked for a bit. He asked how I was doing, I said ok then mentioned to him that my foot was a bit sore but it was such a nice day, I was continuing on. I stopped at the car again, dropped off the jacket and walked over to the aide station. Talked to Paul for awhile longer and he walked with me onto the course, said our goodbyes and I was off again.
I was having more pain on the hills then I wanted. It wasn't bad enough that they were steep but they were killing the foot. I was having to stop halfway up the hill for the pain to subside. I was having serious thoughts about cutting back to the start and calling it a day. I then did a reality check, was I here to PR or to enjoy myself? I decided to enjoy myself, I want to do a 50 next year, if I am going to do that then I need to manage these bad moments or I will never get it done.
I stopped and looked at one of the lakes, what a beautiful day and what a nice park, did I say that already?
I hobbled up the #6 hill, have I mentioned that I don't like that hill? I was getting passed by the front runners throughout this loop, they all gave me encouragement. You don't see that in road races. After that hill though I was able to get into a bit more of a running motion. I made it to the aide station, talked to a women there who said she lived in Lakeville and had done the 25k. We both agreed that Murphy is a special place. I mentioned my foot, yes I was getting preoccupied with it. About then I heard some other runners coming into the aide station, I didn't recognize any of them until I saw Les's coat, oh no, I was about to get passed by them and he said he was sweeping the course. That got me out of there quickly and motivated me for the remainder of the day. I got through the 3rd loop, it was tough, took about 2 hours and 10 minutes, I think.
Onto the 4th loop, a simple task stay ahead of Les and don't get swept. As I approached the dreaded #6 hill, I was running ok and was enjoying myself. I saw a gorgeous blue jay and the a bright red cardinal, I stopped and watched them for 10 or 15 seconds, last weekend in Murphy I had seen a huge red headed woodpecker, I looked around for it but didn't see it, back to running. I got a call from my daughter asking how I was doing, I said fine but probably didn't sound great. I had talked with my wife while I was on loop 2, it was nice to talk with both of them. Ok back to that hill, it about did me in, I had to stop 4 times going up it. I think in the future I will always run Murphy counter-clockwise to avoid it, I wonder if I can get Les to change the course :-). I ran ok through the back stretch, a few stops because of the foot but nothing too bad and made it again into the horse park aide station. I talked to the women from Lakeville again and another guy who was there asked if I had seen Wayne N., I said that I didn't know him and yes it was possible he was behind me (more likely ahead) but about then Les and his small group came in and Wayne was with them. That got me out of the aide station and I worked my way through the remaining 2.5 miles without disaster and yes I did stay ahead of Les but not by much.
So was this a good day or a bad day?
In the past I would have been bummed big time, I would have felt like a failure, to be so far off of my goal, I had wanted to finish in no more than 7 :30 hours and I felt that a 7:15 was possible and I ended up finishing I think, around 7:50 (7:46 was my official time) as my Ipod had quit after 4:51 and 21 miles), not sure exactly so I will need to wait for the official results . And I would have beat myself over the foot, you know maybe the foot really wasn't that bad, I should have pushed through it more.
My answer is, this was a very good day. A very good day indeed, yes, I made mistakes, I had some Murphy encounters, I struggled at times but I got through it and enjoyed myself. I met Les, Wayne and many others and got to enjoy for almost 8 hours one of the metro's more beautiful regional parks on probably the nicest November day I have ever seen since we moved to Minnesota. One last thought, "Surf the Murph" will definitely be on my calendar for next year, thank you Les, Cindy and volunteers for putting on a great event............
I got up at 5, so that worked fine, got ready, that went well, arrived at Murphy around 6:15, picked up my packet (flawless execution by Les, Cindy and their team). I received a nice technical long sleeve shirt, I needed that. So my morning was going great, I have been training fairly well in Murphy and I thought I had had a decent taper for it, so what was I expecting but my 50k PR, now that wasn't actually asking for too much since there was no snow (Chippewa), no heat (Afton), I thought I had everything teed up. That's about when Murphy showed up, no not the park, Murphy's Law, if you aren't familiar here you go:
Murphy's Laws
- If anything can go wrong, it will.
- If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the first one to go wrong.
- If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway.
- If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.
- Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
- If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
Les (I think) gave us the instructions. I was getting my NikeIpod+ ready so I was kind of zoned at and was at the back of the pack so I figured I wouldn't have too much to wrry about, so right at 7, we were off, I pushed the time on my HR monitor, pushed the center button on my Ipod to start the time/distance and immediately recognised a few logistic issues. The HR monitor didn't start as I had left the chest strap in the car, the Ipod froze. I debated going back to get the HR monitor but chose not to, I had intended to run at a prescribed HR pace as that's how I did my training. I figured I could get by for one loop without it. I instead focused on rebooting my Ipod, I could not get it to reboot, I took off one of my gloves, no success, took off the other glove, it still wouldn't reboot. So I glanced at my watch and said I guess I will go by it. Since I was fooling around with everything I stayed at the back of the pack, talked to Les, I think he mentioned he would the sweeper for the course, the pace was slower than I wanted so I decided to move around a few folks. All was going well, I had moved into a nice spot, all alone and no visible lights in front of me and I was starting to pull away from those behind me. I was stoked, even though the start was a bit more stressful, I was doing ok. I was in Murphy, there were stars in the sky, it was a beautiful morning and had the makings of a great day.
I proceeded around the course, I was so content as I knew everywhere we were headed. As I went up the a hill by about #3, I got my Ipod to reboot, set the button to start recording time and distance and then selected my podcasts but they didn't start. No, what else was going to go wrong, then I remembered that if I selected shuffle songs, it would normally work and it did. I decided to go ahead and listen to music for awhile and settled into a nice rhythm I flew down the #4 hill, made it up the #6 hill with no damage except when I tried to get a drink from my Nathan and I couldn't get anything out. I must made a lot of weird noises as I struggled to drink, as a women in front of me turned around, I muttered I couldn't get anything out of my Nathan. She then stopped and asked me if I needed a drink and then I got it working but what a nice thing to do. I do like my camelbak's mouthpiece better than the Nathan's. Oh, I should mention that this was my first drink, so much for taking a drink every 15-20 minutes. But I didn't sweat it as I still felt good and I quickly got back on track, heading towards the first manned aid station.
I talked to another runner whose name now escapes me, does anyone else have memory issues during and after long runs? He was from LaCrosse, I think, we ended up running together for the next few miles and into the aide station.
I floated on through the first aide station, there were other runners there but with my trusty Nathan I was in good shape, except that with all of the messing around with the Ipod and the Nathan, I had forgotten to take any S-Caps so I quickly took one. About then, I had a slight misstep, and got a fairly intense pain in my left arch, it felt exactly like it did in August. I kind of ignored it and hoped that it would be like an ankle roll and get better over time. I made it up the #14 hill, the pain seemed to sticking around so I decided to make a strategic stop to my car and switch shoes. I was running in my Vasque Mercury's and was switching to my Vasque Velocity's. The Velocity's have more support so I was hoping that would help the arch. I was also going to grab my HR strap. I would have worn them from the start except they have about 550 miles (the Mercury's have 150) on them and I normally only get 300-400 miles out of a pair of shoes.
I made it past the start/finish line and noted my time was around 1:3x something, opened up the car, switched shoes, decided to drop the stocking cap and grab my old Grandma's hat. I checked my Nathan, plenty of fluid so I was off again. The Velocity's did help as I left the aide station and I was getting back my confidence. Oh blank, I had forgotten the HR strap, ok, run the 2nd loop without it. I met up with another runner named Steve, he said he had run his first 50k the weekend before and decided to run the Murph as he felt good. We talked for awhile, he mentioned many of the blogs he reads, he commented on Helen and how amazing she was, Julie Berg and how she had qualified for Boston, we discussed that neither of us were in love with Grandma's or TCM's polices concerning Ipods. I like my podcasts. We continued to chat about family, running and many other things. He mentioned what he was drinking I commented on my love affair with Clif Shot Electrolyte Crisp Apple and he said I know who you are, I read your blog too, I can't believe people read my blog but then again I do follow 30 or more so who knows, anyway I was flattered. BTW, the Runners Gate (in Lakeville) did have my electrolyte and they do give the MDRA discount so I wanted to correct that since last post I said I didn't think they did, I didn't ask about MN-DRS but will next time I go in.
We proceeded through the northern section and I was trying to ignore the foot pain but it was getting to me. I told Steve to take off with the runner from Lacrosse, wish I could remember his name and they quickly moved ahead of me. I made it to the aide station, I think Adam was there, I should have introduced myself, maybe next time. Onto a totally random subject, I got to take leadership training this week for work and I now know that I am not "anti-social", I just like autonomy. If you read their description of autonomy, it said things like - likes to work alone, lead projects not people, creative, likes to solve hard problems, of course one of the negative traits they mentioned was may appear to be anti-social.
Anyway, back to Murph, did I say yet how beautiful the day was becoming, wow. I couldn't believe it, what a day on November 1st in MN, a fall day instead of a winter day. As I left the aide station, my foot was throbbing, not good. I was still running fairly well so I decided to ignore it one more time. The #14 hill really caught my attention, the foot did not like it at all. I caught up to another runner who was limping, he said his IT band was causing some serious pain so he was stopping at the 25k point. I thought about it as I moved away from him, should I stop, the foot was not getting better and I was starting to have hip pain, probably from compensating. I decided to make the call at the aide station, I got there around 10:30, ran into a co-worker (Paul) who had done the 25k. We talked for a bit. He asked how I was doing, I said ok then mentioned to him that my foot was a bit sore but it was such a nice day, I was continuing on. I stopped at the car again, dropped off the jacket and walked over to the aide station. Talked to Paul for awhile longer and he walked with me onto the course, said our goodbyes and I was off again.
I was having more pain on the hills then I wanted. It wasn't bad enough that they were steep but they were killing the foot. I was having to stop halfway up the hill for the pain to subside. I was having serious thoughts about cutting back to the start and calling it a day. I then did a reality check, was I here to PR or to enjoy myself? I decided to enjoy myself, I want to do a 50 next year, if I am going to do that then I need to manage these bad moments or I will never get it done.
I stopped and looked at one of the lakes, what a beautiful day and what a nice park, did I say that already?
I hobbled up the #6 hill, have I mentioned that I don't like that hill? I was getting passed by the front runners throughout this loop, they all gave me encouragement. You don't see that in road races. After that hill though I was able to get into a bit more of a running motion. I made it to the aide station, talked to a women there who said she lived in Lakeville and had done the 25k. We both agreed that Murphy is a special place. I mentioned my foot, yes I was getting preoccupied with it. About then I heard some other runners coming into the aide station, I didn't recognize any of them until I saw Les's coat, oh no, I was about to get passed by them and he said he was sweeping the course. That got me out of there quickly and motivated me for the remainder of the day. I got through the 3rd loop, it was tough, took about 2 hours and 10 minutes, I think.
Onto the 4th loop, a simple task stay ahead of Les and don't get swept. As I approached the dreaded #6 hill, I was running ok and was enjoying myself. I saw a gorgeous blue jay and the a bright red cardinal, I stopped and watched them for 10 or 15 seconds, last weekend in Murphy I had seen a huge red headed woodpecker, I looked around for it but didn't see it, back to running. I got a call from my daughter asking how I was doing, I said fine but probably didn't sound great. I had talked with my wife while I was on loop 2, it was nice to talk with both of them. Ok back to that hill, it about did me in, I had to stop 4 times going up it. I think in the future I will always run Murphy counter-clockwise to avoid it, I wonder if I can get Les to change the course :-). I ran ok through the back stretch, a few stops because of the foot but nothing too bad and made it again into the horse park aide station. I talked to the women from Lakeville again and another guy who was there asked if I had seen Wayne N., I said that I didn't know him and yes it was possible he was behind me (more likely ahead) but about then Les and his small group came in and Wayne was with them. That got me out of the aide station and I worked my way through the remaining 2.5 miles without disaster and yes I did stay ahead of Les but not by much.
So was this a good day or a bad day?
In the past I would have been bummed big time, I would have felt like a failure, to be so far off of my goal, I had wanted to finish in no more than 7 :30 hours and I felt that a 7:15 was possible and I ended up finishing I think, around 7:50 (7:46 was my official time) as my Ipod had quit after 4:51 and 21 miles), not sure exactly so I will need to wait for the official results . And I would have beat myself over the foot, you know maybe the foot really wasn't that bad, I should have pushed through it more.
My answer is, this was a very good day. A very good day indeed, yes, I made mistakes, I had some Murphy encounters, I struggled at times but I got through it and enjoyed myself. I met Les, Wayne and many others and got to enjoy for almost 8 hours one of the metro's more beautiful regional parks on probably the nicest November day I have ever seen since we moved to Minnesota. One last thought, "Surf the Murph" will definitely be on my calendar for next year, thank you Les, Cindy and volunteers for putting on a great event............
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