Odds and Ends

I know, I know. I have been noticeably absent over the past couple of months. So what has happened? Here are some incomplete thoughts:

• SF One Day was supposed to be my big race for the fall. A friend's wedding got in the way of that. Such is life. I wish there was a comparable race some time in the spring to make up for it. I'm still a bit bummed.
  
• The kids (wait, they're my age) over at trailruntimes.com featured a blog entry of mine as a winner of the "My First Ultra" contest. Read it here. It won me the most comfortable sweater of all time. I wear it 8 or 9 days a week. Thanks to Brett Rivers, et al in making that happen. Visit their site, read their race reports and meet them at a race. Likely before or after, since their are all fast!
  

• Cal football - Yes, football Saturdays make both race and long-run scheduling surprisingly difficult. Oh, well, at least it was worth it with the Bears living up to expectations this year. Oh wait, that's right. We only really good on paper. That helps. They must beat Stanford this weekend for this season to find a sweet ending, but I digress.

Best. Sports. Moment. (links to 45 sec. YouTube clip)

• I loaded up heavy on academics this fall to have a bit more time for job search in the spring. That's kept me busy. That edumacation thing is pretty important, you know? 16 credit hours is a lot though.
  
• Without any real races on the calendar, it's been hard to motivate myself to run much this fall. Been feeling both mentally and physically tired for a couple of months. It took me a while to realize that the lack of race goals may have contributed to that. I also need to get out more. I've fallen victim to running the same long run in Tilden over and over. Why? No idea. The Bay Area is trail heaven. I must be stupid for not having taken better advantage of that. Headlands this weekend. I'm making a change!
  
• With school, job search, etc. I have really fallen behind on reading blogs, the other HUGE source of inspiration. I am slowly catching up, so don't be offended if I comment on a race you did in September. :)
• I'm going to run Woodside and Rodeo Beach to finish the year out in style. And I cannot wait. See you all out there!!
  

A Twitterific Skyline Ridge Race Report

(Trying something different for this race)

6:10 - getting up...been awake since 3 a.m. Bleh.
6:17 - Not sure whether I can do 50k without proper training. 37k at a minimum today, right? right.
6:27 - at Peet's, getting the usual pre-race food (caramel latte, scone, muffin)
6:55 - crossing Bay Bridge. Golden Gate, the city, Marin....esp. gorgeous in this morning light
7:02 - still brooding over Cal's terrible loss...season down the drain
7:12 - wondering how walking all over Berkeley and standing all through the game last night will affect my legs. Likely not good.
7:35 - Arrive at race. Say hi to @BrianWyatt
7:36 - Brrrrr...I doubt it's even 40 degrees. very windy, too. Check in time. hug @SarahSpelt
8:00 - bio taken care of. Changing into race gear and keeping warm in car.
8:15 - Meeting some Floridians, including first time ultra-runner. Big day for him
8:24 - another bio break. wtf?
8:29 - Hello @RickGaston! Smile. Picture.
8:30 - Off...taking it easy.
8:33 - Super smooth trails.
8:40 - Relaxing big time
9:28 - Out and back...time to grunt my "g'd'job"s
9:29 - g'd'job!
9:30 - g'd'job! g'd'job!
9:31 - g'd'job! g'd'job! g'd'job!
9:37 - aid #1. Lamenting my out of shape self and the Golden Bears disappointment with @BrianWyatt
9:40 - Feeling GREAT!
9:55 - Running smoooooooth
10:12 - stomach acting up. It should be settled after two bio breaks before race
10:37 - Now, it's completely empty. bio break #3
10:38 - Desperately trying to eat at aid 2. Not working out so well.
10:42 - starting to eat another gel. Tastes terrible. Usually that's my favorite.
10:44 - stomach cramp. ugh
10:52 - cramp, cramp, cramp
11:02 - still trying to eat that gel. Not good.
11:24 - at aid#3. Have yet to finish gel. pretzels work better but not enough. stomach still cramping.
11:45 - can't run more than a quarter mile without stomach cramps. Legs are starting to feel ueber-weak b/c I have no calories in me. BAD
12:02 - walking way to much in order to try to settle stomach cramps.
12:08 - This is stupid. I'll take the 37k and call it a day.
12:15 - Pulling out of race. Realizing I'm in 4th and had a good pace. @Wendell looked surprised. I'm frustrated
12:20 - time for chili! @RickGaston is the cook
12:35 - saying my good-byes.
12:45 - driving home. Really wish I could have finished. Must return next year. Definitely some unfinished business.
2:02 - Back in Berkeley. Shower and off to the Spice of Life festival. Food, food, food right at my door step!

Psychedelic Climacteric 50k

Woah! What a name. Don't try looking it up online. It's a small run put on by Mike Palmer every year. Mike is a well-known figure in the Bay Area community who is also known for his in-the-know e-mail list.

12 of us gathered at the starting line on a small dirt track near (on?) the UC Berkeley campus. There were lots of hugs, smiles and laughter. A few speedsters were there. Mark Gilligan (1st TRT 50 mile), Joe Binder (3:47 at Skyline 50k) and Rob Silva (5th at Ruth Andersen 50mile). But no one was really there to race. We were all out to have a good time!

The PC is a tough course. 7000 feet of elevation will do that for ya. You get a course description, hope that there may be an aid station at mile 8 and perhaps a few ribbons and chalk arrows on the ground. Old school. And I like it that way. (It turned out that the course was pretty well marked actually.)

I settled in with Rob, who was returning from an injury. We got to Volmer Peak without any issues, passed the aid station and headed to one of my favorite spots in the area: Wildcat Peak. It usually has sweeping views of the entire Bay, but it was hazy that day. Bummer. We hung out for a bit anyways.

View towards the Bay on a clear day (with a bad camera).

Somewhere past the ensuing downhill things started to not go so well for Rob. We were slowing down considerably. Time to walk and see if I can get him out of the funk. But things were just getting worse and worse for Rob. After about two hours, Rob declared he was going to walk the whole way back to Lone Pine (another 2.5 miles or so). I decided it was time for me to move on. Rob had a cell phone, the next group of runners was going to happen upon us soon and we weren't too far from the Jewel Lake parking lot (to get picked up if necessary). We said our good-byes, and I took it up a notch.

I ran a couple of sub-8s without much effort. Bought some M&M's at Lake Anza and headed home. I was surprised at how relatively easy it felt going back up to Strawberry Canyon. Still running the uphills. Good stuff! I know the firetrail like the back of my hand and that energized me even further. In the end, I finished in 6:19. I ran the last 12 or 13 miles in 1:45 and felt very strong throughout the day. My summer training has definitely come together well. Now, it's time to take that into the fall.

My thanks to Mike, the aid station guy (sorry, didn't get your name) and whoever else helped in putting this event together. It was psychedelitastic!

Lessons Learned Sweeping the Headlands Hundred Course

This past Sunday, I volunteered at the Headlands Hundred. I took on the task of sweeping 17 miles of the 25 mile loop. Armed with a ton of podcasts, sunscreen and a camelback I set out to clean up the course that witnessed local Nathan Yanko take home the win in his very first 100. Nice job, Nathan!


Course Markings are Heavy!
It may have been the fact that this was an overnight race, but, sheesh, course markings are heavy. Course flags, clothespins, glow sticks, those little metal flag thingies, signs and tent stakes (!) add up quickly, especially on a course as well marked as this one was. Between the start at Rodeo Beach and and Tennessee Valley, I picked up at least 15 lbs worth of stuff (including a few gel wrappers). I was glad to leave those course markings at the Tennessee Valley aid station and head back out with an empty bag. (Btw, it was fun to hang out at an aid station for longer than 30 seconds for once. I enjoyed my 45 minutes there).

It Takes Longer Than You Think
With all that extra weight and the time it takes to pick everything up, it really takes some time to clean up a course. I ended up doing 20 miles (added some out-and-backs for good measure) in five hours. That's probably about two hours longer than it would have taken during a normal run.

Sweeping Is A Fantastic Workout
Boy, was I tired. You run 20 miles, but it's more like a 25-28 mile effort. I was BEAT afterwards.

You Become An Ambassador For The Sport
About 20 people must have stopped and asked me what the course markings were for. "A race" was my usual answer. The reactions were all over the board. Some were "just happy that people are finally cleaning up after themselves" while others (most) were completely taken aback by the distance (50/100 m) of the race. You end up talking a lot about your sport. "People run for that long?" Yes, sir, they do.

Winners!

As you were leaving great comments on why you deserve a free pair of running shoes, I started thinking about how to pick the winners. The dilemma I was faced with is that I know some entrants, which inherently introduces some bias. Not a fan of bias.

Soooo, what is an MBA student to do? What is it that they teach us to use to solve all of the world's problems with?* EXCEL! All you of you were assigned a number (in order of submission) and I entered you into a little Randomizer I put together (randbetween function for you excel geeks). That left each person with exactly a 21.43% chance of winning. Not bad!

Without further ado, here are the winners:

Ben, Robin and Leslie, please e-mail me at davidrschoenberg gmail dot com. I will put you in touch with the Vibram people, who will send you the shoes. You have until 8/14 to contact me. If I haven't heard from you by then, I will choose another winner as a replacement.

CONGRATULATIONS!

*(that's an exaggeration, of course)

Vibram Sole Review (and Shoe Give-Away!)

One of two things usually come to mind when you hear "Vibram": solid soles or those funny finger shoe things that are oh-so cool right now. (Keep reading, btw. I have three pairs of trail running shoes to give away).

I myself climbed the highest mountain in Colorado on the backs of Vibram soles. Naturally, I was excited when I heard that they were looking to get back into trail running. Vibram struck a partnership with Saucony and are featured as part of the Xodus shoe, which is earning very good reviews, btw.


My job was to review the soles, not the shoes. I took them out on all types of different terrain to see how they would perform.

First Impression
This is like running on air! Fantastic!

Smooth Single Track (10/10)
Perfect! I was flying on buttery, rolling single track. The soles handled small obstacles (small rocks, occasional root, etc.) with ease. The best part was that I was able to cut around sharp turns (such as switch backs) without having to worry about losing traction. That's a HUGE advantage. You can really make up some time here during races.

Rugged, Technical Single Track (8/10)
The soles definitely performed very well here, too, especially on the uphills. I was a little worried about sliding when traversing larger rocks or boulders. But I shouldn't be running those anyhow.

Rooty Trails (9/10)
No complaints here. Exposed roots did not turn into slip'n'slides as they so often can.

Fire Road (10/10)
Didn't I say something about flying earlier? You can FLY on fire roads with Vibram soles. Just enough grip to hold on to the dirt, but light enough to feel like you're running in road shoes. I was positively surprised!

Very Steep Inclines (8/10)
Climbing was absolutely no problem. Perfect traction here. On very, very steep downhills (30%+), I did lose traction a couple times. But I have never not lost traction on these particular sections of trail. Gravity can be a pretty strong force (thanks, Newton!).

Sandy Trails (9/10)
There aren't too many around...unless, of course, you run a race that traverses a beach. No complaints here.

Road (10/10)
Yes, sometimes you have to traverse asphalt or, worse, concrete to get to a trail. No issues here.

Soooooo, here is the part you have all been waiting for. I have three (yes, THREE) pairs of Saucony Xodus' to give away, so you can try out the Vibram soles yourself. In order to enter, you have to answer one of two questions in the comments:

• Why do you want a pair of free trail running shoes? OR
  
• What is the wildest (or most unexpected) thing that has ever happened to you out on the trails?

Sign with your name and city. You have until 11:59 pm PST on August 7, 2009. I will pick the winners on August 8. Check back then, and contact me if you're one of the lucky ones. Good luck!

Update

Instead of telling you how wonderful a time I had at the Salt Point 50k, I have to give you an injury update. Rats! My ankle was hurt bad enough that running 31 trail miles would not have been a good idea. I do value long term health (and my ability to run!) over short-term fun. With that I stayed home all weekend and worked. Yes, I'm busy as heck with my work and with the wedding coming up. It's all fun actually. Just get to do less blogging.

One interesting thing that happened was that my ankle/foot went numb some time during the middle of last week. Freaked me out a bit. Turns out that I had been icing it a little bit excessively. Imagine that: an ultra-runner going above and beyond what's required. :)

I have started to run again albeit lightly. The focus is now on the fall season, which will be busy, busy, busy!