Monthly Summary - August 2010

Here's August:

Swim: 0 yards
Cycling (outdoors): 0 miles
Cycling (indoors): 2:05 (hours)
Run: 325 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 1 session

Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 62 hours

What a month! Obviously, nothing this month - nothing this year - compares to AC100. But I did also have a good race at Mt. Disappointment 50k, fun at Angeles Crest trail work and a great month of training and taper.

This was the first month in years that I didn't swim even once. Not one single yard. I'll get back in the pool soon, I'm sure. I did jump in the ocean one day, but that was just to cool off after a great run.

I'm trying, really trying to get my AC100 race report done. I just need a few more days. Suffice it to say, it was an incredible, incredible experience. And I can't wait to write it up and share it with everyone.

23:14:11! 8th overall!

AC100 is in the books.  And I had a great day.  And for the most part, I had a ton of fun.  That was due in large part to all the wonderful support I had along the way.  There is absolutely no way I could have done this without my crew and pacers and friends and family who came out there and spent long long hours through the day and night to see me through the race.  I'm also grateful to the friends and family who posted updates on facebook and twitter during the race.  

Full race report to come soon!

A Brief Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

In less than 24 hours, I will toe the line for the biggest (longest) race of my life: The Angeles Crest 100 Mile Endurance Run.

After months of training and planning and running(!), it's finally just about here. And I'm so ready. I absolutely cannot wait.

But, as always, I couldn't have made it here without the love and support I receive every day from all of you. All of you - my family, my friends, readers of my blog, my friends from facebook and twitter - have played a role in this process. And for that I cannot thank you enough.

If you're interested in following along on raceday, you can do that here. My bib number is 210.

Just one more favor: send me fast, safe and healthy thoughts tomorrow!!

Josh

The Countdown Continues

Tomorrow morning we leave for Wrightwood. Race check-in and pre-race meeting. Then an early dinner.

I am ready. I have to be ready. As I continue to bounce off the walls, I keep reminding myself of that.

I know a lot can happen in 100 miles.

But I put in the time and am ready to have some fun and muddle through some struggles. I am just about as physically prepared and mentally prepared as I could be. I feel more ready for this one than I have for any other big race I've done. I have trained with, and learned valuable lessons from, some of southern California's finest ultramarathoners. My most special thank you's go out to Jimmy and Tommy and Scott and Dom.

Now it's all on me.

If you're interested in following along on Saturday, they supposedly have excellent race-day tracking at www.ac100.com. On the left hand side, there's a link for "Live Results".  I am bib number 210.

Don't worry, this probably isn't the last time you'll hear from me before Saturday morning!

T minus 85 hours

Alternative title: "Taper Madness"

I'm actually not going that crazy.  Just a little.  My skin itches, I can feel my heart pumping through my veins and I'm having an even harder time than usual concentrating on anything.

I do keep having these random daydreams.  Nothing too specific, I'll have a quick mental image of the race and this feeling washes over me.  I get goosebumps and a little shiver.

It's less than four days now.  I can't friggin' wait!

Drymax Socks

For years, I was a very loyal wearer of Wigwam (formerly Ultimax) socks. I started wearing the Ultimax Cool Ultra-Lite Low in 2005 and continued when they rebranded them as the Wigwam Cool Ultra-Lite Pro a few years later and for years they were the ONLY sock I wore for running. They’re a lightweight low-cut sock, I never got blisters, and they’re pretty durable.

But with the running I do, no socks will last forever. And this spring, enough of my pairs of socks finally started showing their age that I went out to buy some more. The problem is I couldn’t find this sock anywhere. They’re listed on the Wigwam website and I did eventually find one store that sells them online, but I want socks I can buy locally. So, I started looking for a replacement.

I went to the local stores and tried a few big brands - Balega, Wright Sock, Nike, Feetures but I didn't love any of them.

Drymax has been getting some traction recently in the ultrarunning community. They sponsor Jamie Donaldson, Andy Jones Wilkins and local stud Brian Krogmann. Other ultra bloggers Donald and Tony Portera) have raved about the socks. Drymax gets a lot of press for reducing friction and keeping feet dry and therefore helping feet stay blister-free. And they sell them at some local stores and tons of places online. So I decided to give them a shot.

My first purchase was the Lite Trail Running sock (mini crew).

It definitely feels thicker than my Wigwam socks and even the “low” version is a little higher on my ankle; both of those things gave me a little pause, but from the first time I wore them running, I loved them. They’re soft and offer a little padding without being mushy. They fit my foot well and don’t slip down or ride up. And, true to Drymax’s word, they keep my feet remarkably dry and totally blister free, even if my run includes some water crossings. I was worried that it might be too thick to work in my MT100s, but that’s not the case at all. It works perfect and feels awesome!

After trying the Lite Trail sock, I was playing around on Drymax’s website and was interested to read their take on thick or padded socks. This explanation helped me understand why I would like Drymax socks that feel “thicker” than what I’m used to:

We do not make thick padded socks because we believe they can cause problems... Thick socks have more insulation, making feet sweat more, which in cold weather can lead to colder feet, and in warm weather can make feet more susceptible to blisters and Athlete’s Foot fungus.

Drymax socks are designed with 5 different levels of protective padding. This protective padding comes in four densities: Low-, Low, Medium, Medium+ and High. By making our protective padding dense as opposed to thick, it is designed not to affect the fit of the shoes.

The Drymax website is great if you’re a running gear geek, like me. It has tons of information about the technology that goes into making their socks. Of course, they have to back up all those words and pretty pictures with a good product, but if you keep reading, you’ll see that I think they’ve done just that.

After a few successful runs in my first pair, I tried some of their other socks. I bought the Running Hyper Thin sock (no-show). The Hyper Thin is somewhat comparable to my Wigwams, mostly because it’s really low density (“Low-“ on their scale). I have to say that I don’t like the Hyper Thin sock. It’s a bit too thin for my tastes and also my big toe poked a hole in the front of each sock by the third or fourth time I wore them. I understand that that’s a risk with really thin socks, but for the money, socks need to be more durable than that. When I want to wear super thin socks, I’ll stick with my remaining surviving pairs of Wigwams.

Next, in the weeks before going to crew and pace at Badwater, I got a pair of the Hot Weather Running sock (mini crew). The Hot Weather sock has the same wicking and blister-avoiding properties as Drymax’s other socks, but they also have mesh panels to help keep feet cool. It a “Low-“ on the Drymax scale but it feels denser than the Hyper Thin and while I’ve probably only worn the pair six or eight times, they’re holding up well. I really like the Hot Weather sock and will definitely keep this one in my rotation.

I'd definitely decided that the Lite Trail would be my sock for Angeles Crest. I'm pretty sure that I'll want to change socks during the race, so I stocked up and got a couple more pairs to have with my crew.

Then two weeks ago, I was in Sporteve* chatting with the owner about running nonsense and ended up meeting the local Drymax rep. He was psyched when has asked me what socks I wore (this was before I knew he was the Drymax rep) and I told him about my recent love for Drymax. Long story short, he hooked me up with a few pairs of socks, including more Lite Trail Running socks, some basic sports socks and the brand new, super fancy Maximum Protection Trail Running sock.

I’d read about the Maximum Protection a few months ago on runningandrambling.com , but hadn’t taken the plunge yet because they’re expensive! But I’ll definitely try them for free! I wore the Maximum Protection sock for the first time Thursday morning with my MT100s and already love them. They’re even denser than the Trail Lite (High Density on the Drymax scale), but they don’t feel “thick”. And they felt like a slipper on my foot. This sock will definitely be in my AC100 rotation. Once I get a bunch more miles in them, I’ll post a full review.

* Yes, Sporteve is a women's sports store, but I've been in there a few times for nutrition and other gear. It is a fantastic store. They don't sell many shoes, but the shoes they sell are all the specialty shoes that are hard to find elsewhere - MT100s, Brooks Green Silence, Terra Plana, Vibrams, etc. I highly recommend this store to any of my lady-friends. Now if only they sold men's stuff... :(

Monday, September 20, 2010. Confirmed.

That's the day. I'll be taking a little break from all "this" in order to get this removed:

In case you don't have the background, click here and probably read the posts from the bottom up.

I'm sure I'll have more to say when it gets closer, but for now, I've got bigger things to worry about:

11 days now.

Working the Trails!

In April I went out to the El Prieto Trail (the last four miles of the race) to do my required AC100 trail maintenance. I had a great time out there that day - I got to meet a whole bunch of accomplished ultrarunners and had fun actually spending a day doing manual labor. The other nice thing about trail work on those trails is that I felt like I was working on "my" trails. I wanted to make them in the best condition possible so they would be nice to me when I pass through them on August 28/29.

With all that in mind, I also attended yesterday's final trail work session before the race. Anyone who hadn't attended one of the prior days and was planning to race had to come out and work. Since I'm tapering (and have extra energy to burn) and Elizabeth is away and a bunch of friends were going to be there and it was on a section of the course I hadn't seen before and I have a self interest in fixing the trails, I decided that I'd go out and work on the trails again.

Yesterday we worked on the section of the Idlehour Trail in the few miles before the Sam Merrill checkpoint at mile 89.25. Word was that the part of the trail that we would be working on was in OK shape before we got there, but some sections of it really needed work. In this area, you could really see where the Station Fire ravaged the forest. And sections of the trail were washed out from the rains and erosion once the trees were gone.  But we fixed it up and it's awesome now.

We all met at Hahamongna Watershed Park in Pasadena at 7am for the briefing by Hal, with help from Gary (the Mt. Disappointment RD).

Then we carpooled up to the Sam Merrill Checkpoint and split into three groups. One small group went to go cut up some trees on the course with Gary. Another group went to the end of the section we were working to repair one of worst parts of this trail. I guess it was pretty bad before they got there. Here are a couple pictures towards then end of their repairs.

The rest of us just went up and down the trail repairing any parts that were washed out or overgrown or blocked. My favorite part of the day involved this tree.

It was sorta blocking the trail. And could have impaled someone running past it in the dark. Or so I told myself when I decided it had to be moved. All we had to do was push it a little and it would slide down the hill on the other side of the trail and be gone. Or so I thought.  But this kind of thinking is what happens when you give a bunch of boys big tools and free reign in the mountains.

Getting ready to push!

The problem was that after the initial pushes, it stopped and got stuck right across the trail. A big root on the other side of the trail was right in the way holding the whole thing from sliding down. And the root wasn't going anywhere - it was a strong root and in such a position that if someone were to break it up the tree would probably kill that person on its way down. So now, instead of the tree being a potential hazard (low potential even) to stab someone, it was blocking the trail and became a hurdle.  A big hurdle. Oops. At that point, our only goal was to get it past the trail however we could before Hal came back and killed us.

A little yankee ingenuity and some muscle-power from five ultrarunners eventually got it to go sliding down the other side.

Phew!

Taper is in full effect.  52 miles for the week, including a long run of 17 today.  No more long runs.  No more two-a-days.  No more big long hills.  Am I gonna make it until the 28th?

Mt. Disappointment 50k

4:57:10.92

4th overall

Let me start by putting it right out there: I loved this race.  Running well and finishing 4th overall obviously contribute to that feeling, but I would have felt that way even if I hadn't had such a good day.  Why is it such a great race?  It's a tough, but fair course, with some beautiful views. Gary, the race director, is a fantastic guy and made the start, the race and the finish ceremonies a blast. The volunteers were fantastic. The aid stations were well stocked and spaced at perfect intervals. I liked the variety of terrain, from roads to fire roads to technical trails, fast descents, lots of run-able rollers and a nasty climb to the finish. I hope to return to Mt. Dis again and again. 

OK, enough of the gushing, on to the report:

Race morning started really early.  My alarm went off at 2:45 and after eating breakfast, getting my stuff together and taking the dogs for a short walk, I was out the door around 3:40.  The roads were pretty empty at that time, except for people coming home from their night out partying and the hookers hanging out on the streets in Hollywood.  Some sections of the Angeles Forest Highway (CA 2) are still closed from the 2009 Station Fire and Gary warned us to give ourselves an extra 90 minutes to make the trip around the detours. The race started at 6:30 and I was hoping to get there by 5:30. I think Gary exaggerated the amount of extra time that we would need (probably on purpose) because I got to the start at Mt. Wilson before 5:15. I checked in, got my number pinned to my shorts, hit the head and was ready to go by 5:45. Instead of standing around, I got into the backseat of my car and half-slept for about 20 minutes.  

At about 6:15 we started milling around near the start.  I ran into Hal Winton (the AC100 race director) and chatted for a minute or two.  I also talked with ultra-stud (and 2009 race winner AND recent Badwater buckler!) Michelle Barton for a few minutes and met my friend Andrea's boyfriend, Pete, who'd raced here a few times himself.  I was feeling a little anxious about the race.  I was looking around to see who, other than Michelle, I'd be chasing.  I knew Dean Doberteen and Pat Sweeney would be up front and there were a few other guys up front who looked like they meant business.  

The race starts with a long descent. The first 5.7 miles are down Mt. Wilson Road to the dirt road turn-off at Red Box.  Right from the start, the front guys (Pat, Dean, Jesse Bloom, Larry Goddard, Michelle and Shawn St. Sauveur) were flying down the hill.  Pat says they were doing between 6:00-6:30/mile. (You can read his race report here.)  I followed my race plan and let them run away.  I was still cruising down the hill, probably around a 6:45/mile pace, which was plenty fast for me.  After the first couple miles, I was in 7th place.  The top six runners were going out way faster than I wanted to go.  By the time I got to Red Box, the top six were long gone and I had a pretty comfortable lead on the runners behind me.  My bottles were still relatively full, so I ran right through the aid station, shouting hi to Andrea on my way.

Initial descent down Mt. Wilson Road.  Photo by "Badwater" Ben Jones

At Red Box, you take a sharp right turn onto the dirt road and continue down hill for another five miles.  I could see the shoe prints of the runners ahead of me but didn't see any runners ahead of or behind me during this section to the next aid station at Westfork.  I did pass by a few groups of Forest Service teams doing work. They were are really friendly and gave me approximate updates about how far ahead the leaders were. The coolest thing I saw during the race was when a helicopter passed overhead with a long cable and grappling hook dragging behind.  I watched it slow down when it came to a group of workers.  A few minutes later I saw it back up ahead but now it had two or three of the workers standing on the grappling hook catching a ride 100 or so feet below the copter.  It looked like a ton of fun!

This part of the course is a smooth dirt road that is still mostly downhill with some little run-able bumps.  There are a few places where you have to run through a little stream, something I always like doing!  In the quarter mile or so before the Westfork aid station, I saw that I was catching up to two runners ahead of me, Michelle and Larry.  They both got to the aid station just before me.  While I was refilling my bottles, Michelle left but I got out before Larry.  I caught Michelle on a small climb just a few hundred yards later.  We talked for a minute and it was clear that Badwater was still weighing pretty heavily on her legs.  Huge props to her to be kicking that much ass just 3 weeks after Badwater!

This is where the first real climbing begins.  I was feeling great and doing a mixture of running and hiking.  I was hiking hills that I knew I could run, but kept reminding myself that that was the plan.  This climb ends at about the Newcomb Pass aid station (mile 14.5).  I topped off both bottles, had a couple pieces of boiled potatoes and hustled on through.  I was told that there were two guys about 3.5 minutes ahead of me and the two leaders about six minutes ahead of them.  With two big climbs to go, I figured I'd just keep moving like I was and see what happened.  I didn't know what was going on behind me, but was confident that if I kept it up, it would be tough to pass me.  

Another descent and then you start the long climb up to the Shortcut aid station.  During the race I had no idea what mile I was at on the course.  During the climb up to Shortcut, a few people passed me going the other way.  They weren't racing, I assumed they were going to cheer on some friends behind me.  I asked one what mile I was at and was VERY happily surprised when he told me I was in the low 20's.  I was thinking it was more like 16!  It was also a nice surprise to get a water stop in the middle of this climb that wasn't on the race map.  I was still doing OK with water, but it definitely eased my mind to be able to refill and not have to worry about running dry or rationing.  

I hope this next bit doesn't come off too cocky, but the Shortcut climb that looked so awful on the profile wasn't actually that bad.  I hiked some and ran some and kept moving at a steady pace.  But I kept thinking about the recent training I'd done - Whitney, Baldy, Santa Barbara, Baden-Powell, Los Pinos - each of those were considerably tougher than this climb.  The other thing we had going for us was that it wasn't that hot.  I'd heard about miserable blazing hot days at Mt. Diss in the past. And there's no shade on a lot of course. We got really lucky that on Saturday it was sunny and warm, but never overwhelmingly hot. In short, I was feeling GREAT!  

Near the top of this climb, I ran past Charlie Nickell who was out there taking photos.

Running up the Shortcut climb. Photo by Charlie Nickell

Photo by Charlie Nickell

Then right before the final very short (100 meters?) but very very steep climb to the Shortcut aid station (mile 23.6), "Badwater" Ben was taking photos.  Here's the one Ben took:

Starting short, but steep, climb to Shortcut aid station.  Mile 23.6.  Photo by Ben Jones

And here's one Andrea took during my final steps up that climb.

Coming into Shortcut aid station.  Photo by Andrea Emmons.

At Shortcut, I grabbed my baggie of Infinit powder from my drop bag and was psyched to see Dominic Grossman take it from me and fill up my bottles - one with water and one with the Infinit and water.  I grabbed a couple more potato pieces dipped in salt.  I also said a quick hello to Andrea (again) and Jorge Pacheco (who was spending the weekend running the AC course with Dom - more on that below).  Gary was at Shortcut too.  He gave me a quick congrats and tried explaining some tricky parts about the next section.  I appreciated it, but really had no idea what he was saying!  Something about a landslide and some tall weeds.  Sorry Gary, I know you were trying to help!

I wouldn't complain about the first 23.6 miles of the course, but it was in the last 9 miles where the race really got fun!  Out of the aid station, you hit a long technical single-track descent.  There are sections that are pretty overgrown, some loose footing, rocks to hop over and around and a nice stretch around the bottom of the descent where you have to hop back and forth over a stream, sorta blazing your own trail from course marker to course marker. It was hard to get into a rhythm, but that kind of terrain is one of the things I love most about running trails.

It was in this section, probably around mile 26, that I passed the guy in 4th place.  It looked like he was either injured, bonking or struggling with the technical terrain.  When I caught him, I asked if he was OK and when he said he was, I put the hammer down for a few minutes to put some distance between us. Fifth place would have been fine, but fourth was better!!

I got to the last aid station at Westfork (27.5 miles) and no one was in sight in front or behind me. I knew that it was just five miles to the finish. Five miles straight up the Kenyon Devore Trail. I filled both bottles, took some salt pills and a couple pieces of potato and off I went. They told me that the guy in front of me was about five minutes ahead. I thought for a few seconds about trying to catch him, but mostly decided against pushing too hard. This climb is a bitch. I still don't think it's as tough as some other recent climbs I've done, but it's plenty hard, especially 27 miles in! At the time I wasn't sure that I could make up five minutes without killing my legs.

I ran a little here and there, but I mostly hiked this climb. I left Westfork about 3:45 into the race. At that point I decided that regardless of where I placed, I really wanted to break 5 hours. Five miles in 75 minutes? No problem, right?

I hiked and hiked and hiked. For the last couple miles you can see the antennas on top of Mt. Wilson, but it's obvious there's still a long ways to go to get there. Up and around and up.  I couldn't see or hear anyone behind me and felt very confident that only a mountain goat would catch me at this point. Sections of the trails were pretty tricky with really loose footing. There was a downed tree blocking the trails at one point that I had to climb over with my hands. I feel for the shorter people who had to get over that thing! Somewhere near the top I heard noises up above me. I couldn't see what it was and figured it was either hikers or the road. It turns out it was Dean puking. He saw me, and worried that I saw him, motored on. & Had I known it was him, maybe I would have pushed harder to try to catch him. Maybe.

Anyway, the trail ends and it's a short run around the Cosmic Cafe at the top of Mt. Wilson to the finish line. I got my medal and a handshake from Gary. Just what I was looking for!

It turns out that Pat was in third place at the last aid station and passed Dean fairly early an then passed Jesse in the last mile or so, including a bit of a sprint up the trail! Pat won in 4:40:46. Jesse finished a minute later and then Dean came in at 4:55. I was 85 seconds behind Dean.

I hung out at the finish for a while, talking with Dean, Jesse, Pat, Andrea, Michelle, Pete, Hal, Gary, Charlie and some others. Gary gave out the awards - all of us in the top four are in the 30-39 age group, but Pat got first overall and no age group award, so I got 3rd place in the age group. Then there was a "raffle" where all races got a prize! The best kind of raffle!

Sunday:

My plan all along had been to back up the 50k with another long run on Sunday. Saturday night I talked to Dominic and found out that he and Jorge and potentially some others would be meeting at Inspiration Point (mile 9.3) of the AC100 course and running from there for 20-30 miles. That would include the climbs up Baden-Powell and Mt. Williamson. So, Sunday morning I was up before sunrise (though definitely not at 2:45!) and off to Wrightwood. I had a great run. I didn't feel Mt. Dis in my legs at all, which was precisely the goal. Baden-Powell and Mt. Williamson are tough climbs, but felt a little "easier" now that I'd done both of them once before. Running with Dom and Jorge was great. Jesus and Gil, two friends of Jorge's wife who are racing AC, joined us. Sean and Mike came out as well, even though neither are doing AC. (Side note: in the past month, I've run with the winners of AC from 1994-1996 and 1998-2005. Ultrarunning's pretty cool like that - those studs are accessible. They train sorta like the rest of us. Also, I was only running "with" them because they let me. When Jorge turned it on about 15 miles into Sunday's run, he was gone and gone before I could even blink.) I ended up calling it quits after 20 miles (at Eagle's Roost), but I definitely could have kept going. It was getting late, other people were bailing on the run and I didn't feel like I needed the miles.

Here are a few pictures during a short rest break at the top of Mt. Baden-Powell on Sunday:

The toughest training is now over and done with. A slightly scaled back week this week, and then again next week. Then, a final, very easy taper week and it will be time to put it all to the test!!

p.s. wow that was long. kudos to anyone who made it this far. i wish i had a prize for you or something.

4:57:XX

Good enough for 4th overall.  The three guys ahead of me were also in the 30-39 age group, but they didn't give the first overall guy an age group award.  Worked for me!

The race was great.  A ton of fun, super well organized.  Tough course but not torturous.  Full report to come soon.

Mt. Disappointment 50k - Pre-"race" plan

I put "race" in quotation marks because Mt. Disappointment really really REALLY should not be a "race" for me. It has to be a training run.  Yeah, yeah, I said that in the days before Bishop too and I meant it then. But I mean it even more this time. With AC100 just three weeks away, if I push it at Mt. Dis, I really risk ruining my final couple weeks of prep for that race and could put the race itself in jeopardy. That's the reason just about everyone I know who's running AC decided NOT to run Mt. Dis. Except me. Hmm.

OK, so, with all that in mind, my ideal plan for Saturday sounds simple: Take it easy. Treat this like a training run as if it were just the first 31 miles of a 100 mile race. Let people beat me even if it looks like they shouldn't. Make sure I'm ready to get back out for another long day on Sunday.

Simple. Right.

Here's my realistic plan: start easy, keep an eye on who goes out fast and try not to let too many of them get too far in front. (There are a few fast dudes who I know are running, and I'm sure some others I don't know. I have to let them all go and see what happens later.) Eat and drink as much as I can. Get through aid stations quickly. Power hike all the big hills - or maybe all the hills. If I can get through the first 25-or-so feeling strong and comfortable, then maybe - maybe - I'll push the pace a little towards the end. Most importantly, smile and enjoy the day. If I can do that, then I've run the right "race".

As always, I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!

Who said this was a good idea?

(elevation profile of 2010 Mt. Disappointment 50k)

I'm definitely gonna be psyched when I get to Westfork the second time and am staring up that hill to the finish.

More to come later this week, with pre-race thoughts and race plan.

Good to Go!

Excerpts rom the latest AC100 update we received from Hal, the co-race director:

Lots of trail work has been done by our So Cal AC100 Trail Volunteers opening up fire and water damaged canyon trails like El Prieto and Silver Moccasin trails and PCT out of 3 Points. The old Curve fire, still falling down trees, across the PCT trail after Baden Powell were recently removed by the Camp Fenner inmate crews. The Edison Rd has recently been plowed below Shortcut Saddle. Mt Lowe fire road is being plowed this week and we will be able to drive to Millard Ckpoint on August 14th to fix the messed up 1 mile or so of west Idlehour trail. The BSA trail bosses/workers who help us every year with a project before our race may be able to help us fix a ravine wash out there.

The [Forest Service] is cooperating with our long standing and restoritive this year AC100 trail work efforts and as a long standing event, by giving us our special use permit to hold the race this year. We will cross about 15 miles of closed to the public burn area under our permit. Not too pretty here and there but passable. We have all done our best. Ken and I, et al will see you in Wrightwood for the mandatory briefing, ck in, weigh in on Friday 27 August. 

I bolded that one sentence because it's the one you really should read.  I'm psyched!

I backed Saturday's 50k training day up with about 20 miles on Sunday - 12 miles in the AM on the Backbone Trail and 8 afternoon miles on the road near home. For the morning run, Jimmy and I ran the Backbone from Malibu Creek to Kanan. It's a good trail with a fair amount of climbing. I was a little surprised at how strong I felt after Saturday's effort. The highlight of the run was getting up above the clouds and seeing this view: