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For runners, finding the right shoe is not unlike finding the perfect mate.  It can take years, even a life time.  Then you meet for the first time, maybe by chance, maybe by plan.  You date for a while, maybe because it feels right, or maybe because you're getting over a tough break-up.  Then, before you know it, you realize this is...

Today was my first race of the season, the second 50k I’ve ever run, and a good test for my training regime over the last couple of months.  It was also a great effort for some major hill climbing, waist-high creek crossings, and some very muddy trail sections. Jeff P joined me at 5:30 a.m. for the 75 minute drive from Orange County to Malibu Creek State Park.  As we drove under a foreboding sky, brilliant white-topped mountains loomed to the east, a reminder of yet another storm...

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."Ralph Waldo Emerson Once in a while on long runs I find myself just staring at the scenery around me.  Today was one of those days.  It made for an easy run.  California Fan Palm and Wildflowers Upper Newport Bay Eco Reserve

Western States 2010--100 Days and Counting

Here it comes. Like a freight train at night; careening rapidly down the track in the silent darkness.  I'm on the track, in its path.  I can see it, in the distance, its tiny lamp, glimmering.  But it's getting closer.  I begin to feel my time dwindling. Closer still.  Now I hear the hum of its steel lurching down the...

Getting to the finish line.  One foot in front of the other.  Forget everything else.  Just keep moving forward.  It’s the experience that matters! That is my race report for today. More importantly, I missed my flight and now I’m sitting in the bar at the Sacramento Airport waiting for the late flight back to the OC.  Problem...

Dear fellow trail runners, its snake season! Beware.  I stumbled upon this Western Diamondback Rattlesnake this afternoon on a solo run in Blackstar Canyon.  I didn't even notice him until he sent a shudder down my spine with his intense rattle.  I was only a few feet away when I heard his warning and it scared the hmm hmm out of...

No Hands Bridge -- Mile 96.8 of the Western States 100 Mile RunToday marked the end of my first 80 mile week for this year.  A sweet milestone, yes, but also a reminder of the demanding road to come.  From where I am today, all I can say as I look ahead to the next couple of months is bring it on! It's taken a while, this build-up to my current...

They say you can’t teach ‘old dogs’ new tricks.  There is a ring of truth to this cliché for us runners.  That is, until we push ourselves out of our comfort zone. One of my good friends—also an ultra runner—is one old dog.  With no disrespect to his 30 year running career, when ever I ask him to run a trail outside of his regular repertoire, I’m quickly...

It’s been said that a challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth…and if you tame the dragon, the gift is yours.  I began my weekend with an obligation—a 10 hour volunteer shift at an aid station for the Rocky Road Endurance Run—something I wasn’t exactly looking forward to. I ended the weekend with new understanding of ultra runners, their dragons and their...

As runs go, I’ll chalk today’s up as an ad-hoc-zany-security-breach kind of run.  Ad hoc because when Rob and I started we had no idea where we were going. Crazy?  Maybe. But I love this kind of run.  It reminds me of when I was a kid.  Leave the house and just go.  Make it up on the fly.  Explore.  The only objective for me was to put down 23...

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