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SOFA - Rogue Trail + Oregon Ultra Party

January 19, 2013 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
Jason Leman came to town on Friday night, so we went out for a few beers...and didn't get to bed 'til nearly 1. I didn't sleep too well -- too much beer, too many fast miles -- and we were up at 5AM! Ugh. Drove to Craig's, then we caravan'd down to the run, which, as it turns out, was a good 20+ miles off I-5.

Got there and it was COLD! Like, sub-freezing and breezy. Eek. Had all the basic cold weather gear, and also had an extra long sleeve around the waist. There wasn't too much socializing - a lot of hopping around to generate heat - but I did say hi to "H-K", who was there with Carley in some new super-nice Audi ride. The TNF checks must've come in. ;-)

The idea today was to do a "restful" long run - nice and easy, and not the full 50K course. As such, I took only a few cookies, and no water. Thought about taking a bottle, but it was so damn cold I didn't want to have to hold cold water for hours. So it was minimal, again! We took a quick picture of the 50+ folks who showed up to the Rogue River Trail, situated tight above and along the river, then unceremoniously took off just after 9AM.

As far as fat-asses go, this was entirely non-competitive, though some folks went fast. Out fast-ish were Erik Skaggs and Max King. Leman was up there somewhere, but I wasn't sure where. I settled back with Hal early on, and we ran super-easy behind a long train of runners. It was fun to chat with him and Hal-esque dialogue going. Talked about racing plans (doing a TNF race on the Canaries in March, a FKT attempt on the Muir with Wolfe in July...). We then caught up with LB, Meghan, Jenn Shelton and Rob Cain- and then it was "pure nonsense coming out of Hal's mouth - it's PRETTY FUNNY!". It was great. The super-easy pace and good company helped warm things up rather enjoyably.

Before long we had a big group on the narrow, tight, rocky, rolling trail heading downstream on the Rogue. It's a canyon wall trail like Cal St + GG/ALT, but with far better river views, and consistently more rockiness. The pace stayed super-easy, which was fine by me, because of how tired I felt.

More post-tempo body feedback:

- Sore L lateral foot + lower calf = still too long. Damn
- Mild sore R abs = still not letting go/opening on the R. Double damn.

But other than that, it was just general fatigue. QWAADS and everything else was good. The R glut was sore (so I used it mostly), and the R low back was fine, which was good. But I was still tired and not super-enthusiastic about running...

After a pee break at the 5K point and the first of scores of river crossings, Hal and Jenn took off. I chose to shuffle along with the oldies and a few others. From there, we made slow and methodical, but relaxed progress downstream along the meandering, up and down the canyon wall. The trail would be warm in sunny stretches, but a shaded area would have me putting my gloves back on.

My body and affect would wax and wane like the sun and shade of the trail: I'd feel OK, then super-flat. But I honed that "Western States Training Camp" mentality of nestling in behind LB and Meghan, and turning off the brain, only passively listening to the conversation occuring in front of me.

LB turned around at the 2-hour mark of the run, which was only about 11 miles. Rob and Meghan were going farther, so I went with them to the 13.2 mark, thinking a 26.2+ run would be solid. Shuffled along with them to "The 13.2 bridge", where we all stopped for a refuel. Rob and Meghan were going the whole 15.5+ out, so I had two Franz molasses cookies without water, then took off on the return trip, solo.

I knew I'd run faster on my own, but I didn't want to go into sugar burning, so I imagined I was running a 100-miler, but I had no water or fuel. I tried to hone that effort alone and focus as much as I could at pure efficiency. And I think it worked pretty damn well: quick turnover, nice pelvic action on the ups, and just crusing along. I also set my timer watch for 5-minute intervals where I'd focus on the R pelvis opening and L foot drive.

The L foot was pretty thrashed, mid-run, so I really focused on getting it under me. Then, on the way back, I tweaked it! Damn. Almost inevitable on that trail.

About a mile beyond the turnaround, Max and Jason, running together, passed me. I let them go, committed to my fat burn and anti-bonk pledge. From there, I ran solo, passing the odd short-course runners and a big group of hikers, but no one else 'til about 5K to go, when I came across another guy. We ran the last miles in together, chatting to pass the fast few kilos. Within 400m of the end I caught sight of Max and Jason, who must've slowed down (obviously on Jason's account, which he later confirmed).

Once returning to the boat-launch trailhead, the wind really picked up. It was now 1:45PM, but it hardly warmed up. And, as with all long runs, I was cold as shit. Jason and I quickly changed, and we sat in my car for a bit before shuffling into a big Sprinter van, where LB and others were sitting, huddling around a small space heater. We enjoyed a glorious Coke and some chicken soup, which helped rejuvenate. While sitting there, Hal and Jenn rolled in from their run. Not really paying attention, Jenn was outside the bus, wearing only a sports bra. I look away, then look back, and she's standing there, facing away (mostly, but not all the way) from the van...with, nooo sports bra...for like a few seconds, before putting on jacket. R-Ruh-really bro? Just peeled off the sports bra and stood there - just long enough for me to get a half-side boob view...huh. Must've been cold! After that teaser...and the teasing heat of the small heater...I needed more, so Jason and I took off toward Ashland.

We did 13.2 miles in maybe 2:40? Sloooww... But on the return, I did that same 13.2 in <2hrs. Maybe 1:45 or 1:50? Someone said the full 50K course had 4400' climb, so I'm guessing my loop had about 3K. Not bad.

*****

Post-run: drove to Grants Pass and had Subway, then onto Ashland to the Olson residence. Their boy Tristan is a mega-cutie. Wow. Chatted and hung out for a while, then the four of us - after Jason and I cleaned up - went downtown and met LB, Meghan and Laurie at Standing Rock Brewery for dinner.

Post-dinner was the "Oregon Ultra Party", hosted by Rob Cain. Socialized with a bunch of folks from 7:30 to ~8:15, when Rob and John Price put on an "awards ceremony" (ala the LB fest). Pre-bash, I chatted with a few folks, including Max King. We'd met briefly back in '08, but that was lifetimes ago for us both. It was great to talk to him: he's a real student of the sport, and we both geeked out about running mechanics and the demands of the different ultra distances and terrain types.

The "awards" were pretty funny, but fairly specific to the Ashland-area runners. They did mini-roast LB a bit, and of course, Hal got a birthday present in the form of a bobblehead of himself. What I liked was they celebrated everyone from top to bottom, and, while they recognized both Tim's and Hal's wins, those were brief. Near the end of the ceremony, Rickey Gates randomly showed up, which was cool. Then, Erik Skaggs put the finishing touches on the awards by singing a song parady called, "The North Face" (I've got video).

Post-awards: more partying and beer. Talked with Rickey for the first time, which was cool. Very nice guy. Meanwhile, Jenn Shelton was getting super-wasted, which wasn't too surprising. Finally, around 11ish, things were transitioning toward downtown. I joked with Jason that I wanted to see Jenn's other sideboob. I did not, but I did see her try, multiples times, to lick another girl's (rather nice, and cleaved-out) boobs. Sheesh. B-)

We left as a convoy to an unknown locale downtown...but it turned out to be the Skaggs/Shelton residence. Jason and I stepped in for a bit, which was cool because there was a random jam session between Skaggs on guitar and Rickey on...accordion! It was awesome!

Finally, Jason and I left for downtown and met up with two others - Tonya Olson and [a fairly drunken] Chris Renneckar. Lasted one pint of Ruthless Rye, then pushed off back to Tim's house (who'd declined on the night cap).

Pretty damn awesome night!! Wish you were there, BGD!