2010 in Review

2010 was good to me. I only logged 1465 miles, down from 1856 in 2009. I did not put in a ton of miles, but my workouts were of a higher quality and my overall distance per run and pace per run were both significantly up from 2009.

I ran 4 ultras in 2010:

• Umstead 100
• Promise Land
• Laurel Highlands
• Mountain Masochist

Umstead was my second attempt at a 100 and my second dnf, so right now I am 0/2. More on rectifying that situation in a later post. I ran my best race at Umstead with a PR for 50 miles, but in the end did not have enough in the tank to start the last lap, so at 87.5 miles I called it a race. My feet were beat up bad and my body had shut down. I got the idea in my head of running under 24 hours and simply went to fast.

Promise Land is always a great race and this year was no different. I was not fully recovered from Umstead, especially my feet. I was still able to set a 18 minute PR.

Laurel Highlands was longer this year by 7 or 8 miles because of a detour around a removed foot bridge. I had a good start, but my feet really suffered (probably still not right from spring races) and I walked in the last 25 miles or so. A good experience, but not how I had planned it.

Mountain Masochist was, as always, a great event. I picked up some a new brand and style of shoe and took the chance of wearing them for the start of the race. My dad was crewing so I could change out if need be. It was a gamble but it paid off (I do not recommend new shoes and new socks on race day!). I changed socks once early on and had no hot spots or blisters the entire day. My feet felt great for having run 50+ miles. I set a course PR too.

Hopefully 2011 will be even better.

Laurel Highlands 2010

On June 12th, 2010 I towed the line once again at Laurel Highlands. I ran this race in 2008 as only my third ultra and finished, but just barely. I was hoping for a much better day. The course was longer this year due to a detour around a bridge that had been removed. I knew I was up for it mentally and physically, the only question mark was my feet. They still were not fully recovered form Umstead and Promise Land.....

This report is taken from a writeup I did for my personal use. After each race I write up Race Knowledge for the race. Here is the narrative of my race from that document. It is broken up in from aid station to aid station.

Laurel Highlands Ultra Action Pictures

A fellow Runner, Paul Rudman sent me this link to the pictures he took while running the race. This should give you a real feeling about how bad the terrain is, and how wet it really got that day.