2014

Each year I always aim to explore new parts of the running world as well as enjoying favorite races like they're old friends. I expect the highlights to be the races where things work out perfectly but that's generally not the case.

Although I did have fun at the races I focused on (Rocky Raccoon 100, Western States 100 and Leadville Trail 100), the highlights of the year were very different. The first of these was running the Grand Canyon Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim with Sean Meissner, one of the most beautiful runs I've been on. Much as many ultra runners focus on races, I think the biggest benefit of getting fitter is that it makes epic long runs possible, delving deep into remote locations. That includes a lot of summits of my local hill, Mt Diablo.

The Big Ditch in a more relaxed fashion.

A couple of years ago I ran the 40-mile route around Mt Hood in Oregon with friends and this was equally as fun so that style of run is something I want to do more of when I move back to Oregon next year (a few other items on the to do list include circumnavigating the Three Sisters, climbing Mts Hood, Rainier and Shasta, running portions of the Oregonian section of the Pacific Crest Trail and a couple of other ideas much farther afield).

Back to 2014, the two most enjoyable races were extremely competitive events where I chose to just enjoy the experience rather than push as hard as I could. I've done that plenty of times at smaller, local races but never at major competitions. These races were Lake Sonoma 50  and Comrades in South Africa. Again, part of the fun was having the fitness to be able to run well but holding back to avoid the pain and suffering associated with a maximum effort. In particular, Comrades was most enjoyable for seeing Ellie Greenwood (who I started coaching a few months earlier) win from the best seat in the house - running around the same pace to see her take the lead and run around the stadium while the crowd went wild for her win. Even though I love Comrades and have always given it my all, having some very rewarding hard runs, this one where the glory was all Ellie's was so much better.

Congratulating Ellie at the finish of Comrades before she was whisked off for TV interviews.

Then the other highlights of the year include summiting some of California's and Colorado's 14ers in the US. There's something truly inspiring about reaching high places and I've never been anywhere more beautiful than the Himalayas (back in 2008) so the High Sierra and various parts of the Rockies were perfect playgrounds. Mt Whitney was very busy but still worth seeing since it deserves the attention. I even met a friend at the summit by coincidence (Chikara Omine), despite it being in the middle of a wilderness area and an 11-mile hike to get to the top.

Mt Whitney at 14,500ft - the highest point in the US outside Alaska.

More of Whitney and the High Sierras.

Colorado was a little too fun and I ended up going up a few too many mountains right before Leadville, but wouldn't change that in hindsight. My biggest week of vertical in the entire year was the first week I spent in Colorado at the start of August. The difference between the hordes at Whitney and the sparse hikers on the Rocky Mountain trails was a welcome surprise and in many ways I'd have preferred to keep doing that rather than racing Leadville and wrecking my legs for a few weeks! Below are a few shots with my favorite being the San Juans and Mt Sneffels (I especially liked it for the link via the name to Jules Vernes' Journey to the Center of the Earth).

View of Twin Lakes (on the Leadville course) from Mt Elbert

Mt Sherman

View from Mt Massive...possibly of Mt Elbert (I can't quite tell)

The mountains above Telluride, CO

Mt Sneffels - unbelievably beautiful (and my current desktop background)

The Leadville beer mile with my crew

So the year was more than I could have hoped for or expected because there was so much I didn't think I'd experience. That's the aim for every year if I'm truly honest and it's those unscripted moments that mean the most.

Even the last few months of the year worked out surprisingly well given I picked up a foot fracture on Mt Whitney back in July and spend most of the time off running post-August. The final races of the inaugural US Skyrunner Series kept me sane and it was a pleasure to see the first year go so well and be received by runners very positively. Directing the Series is fun but next year I'll be running many of the events myself, giving the perfect excuse to run in the mountains all across the US. Hope to see many of you out there too.

Runners on the final section of the ascent of Lone Peak at the RUT  in Montana (around 11,000ft)

Jeremy Wolf near the highest point at the Flagstaff Sky Run 55k (around 11,500ft)

Happy New Year and here's to a spectacular 2015! Give yourself goals but allow freedom to experience the unexpected too.

Final Western States Build-Up

View down the initial climb out of Squaw at WS100.

I felt a little sad to miss the 70 miles of Memorial Day weekend training runs for Western States, but have been in the UK for a couple of days in transit to Comrades in South Africa. The whole year so far has been about preparing for that classic trip from Squaw to Auburn and I've even decided to take Comrades easy (relatively), despite the fact I love the race and have given it my all five times already.

I've been getting in more vertical than previous years and heading up Mt Diablo as much as possible. Plus working on speed since there are so many ridiculously fast guys on the trails now that 5-minute mile pace isn't particularly quick to them. Lake Sonoma 50 was a good example of these speedsters really performing on hilly trails.

A week ago I took part in the Bay Area carnival that's Bay to Breakers, although I did a bit too much speed work during the week and didn't have much in my legs on race day. Still better than the last time I ran it, so the 43:41 for the 12k course wasn't a disappointment. However it was slower than the some of the other local guys who'll be racing WS100, given one of the centipedes (12 runners leashed together) had Matt Laye, Brett Rivers and Alex Varner...in fact Alex managed to jog 5:30s in a Daft Punk helmet. Scott Dunlap wrote it up very well with plenty of photos of the drunken costumes, plus those with a lack of costume.

With Comrades just five days away I'm planning on relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere without caring too much about how the race goes. I've always wanted to do it purely for fun and that should work better as a quality training run with a lot of downhill pounding. Instead I can live the race through Mike Wardian and Ellie Greenwood, both aiming to win after coming back from injuries. Once I get the last long haul flight out the way I'll be excited like a puppy being fed (trust me, I see that level of excitement twice daily).

Then it's just four weeks 'til the Big Dance. Plenty of time for a few more Diablo summits and also one on Mt Tam with the SF Running Company boys.

Mt Diablo Videos

Mt Diablo in the background along Shell Ridge, from my run yesterday

I'm using Mt Diablo in the Easy Bay of the San Francisco area as my main training area for hills currently and today was my tenth ascent of the year. It's about a 3,500ft net ascent from the trail head, although today I went on a longer route that racked up about 4,400ft in the steepest 13 miles. I thought I'd try out my Go Pro too, expecting the footage to be vomit-inducing. It is, but still a fun experiment. This is the route I used.

Since running uphill is extremely undramatic and looks very slow in video, I chose a few short downhills and one flat section. None of the technical sections since I had to run them holding a camera out in my hand, but I did move at a decent pace with speeds kept between 3:20/mile and 4:30/mile in the videos except the flatter section close to Juniper Campground.

Enjoy the roller-coaster - don't worry, all the videos are short, but I think they prove that carrying a camera while running only works if you're JB Benna and have an elaborate set-up on a stick (you'll know what I mean if you've seen him filming or have seen his work in 'Unbreakable').

Firstly, a section on the Summit Trail very near the top and through an area that was burnt last year (all around 4:30/mile pace):

Then half-way between the summit and Juniper Campground (low 4:00/mile pace):

A flatter section along from Juniper Campground (7:00-8:00/mile pace):



Finally the Widowmaker climb below Juniper Campground, in reverse (3:20-4:00/mile pace):

I know that anyone watching these is probably hoping for a dramatic fall, but I'll save that for next time and get some cash from America's Funniest Home Videos, or whatever that show's called.

Also, here's an article about downhill technique that I wrote a while ago but that fits in with this subject matter. No shaky videos.

Back To Running

I felt a little uneasy not running for two weeks after Wasatch 100 since I already had so much time off running in-between each 100 miler this summer. It may sound weird, but I felt like I really took things easy for most of the past few months - I just had four major days of running dawn 'til dusk.

So it's been surprisingly liberating to try to run fast again in the past week after a lot of plodding and hiking. To kick things off I entered the Coastal Trails Diablo half marathon as it's just down the road and I wanted an excuse to push hard on Mt Diablo as it's my favorite place to run in the Bay Area. A few weeks ago the mountain was on fire (apt, given the name) but luckily the majority of trails were basically ok. It uses the most direct route to the summit from Mitchell Canyon Trailhead, a 6.7-mile, 3,400ft climb up fire-roads and single-track then back again at full speed.

One thing that appeals is that I want to chase the Fastest Known Time (FKT) for the climb and descent and the quickest that I can find evidence for is the 1:49:20 CR from this race in 2012. I think a Sage or Max King could run low 1:30s, so as long as they stay away I think I've got a shot and will give it a few attempts through the winter.

In this race I got to chase Jonas Oppedal but was five to six mins back by the summit (1:12 was my split), before hammering after him in a fun chase that even didn't get me within sight. He ran a tantalizing 13 seconds over the course record and I was 81 seconds behind him in 1:50:54. Strava info here.

Another great event from Coastal Trail Runs, one of the best reasons to live in the Bay Area.

Also, UltraSportsLive.tv made a video of the race showing some of the great trails and views on Diablo: