Never Alone

I went for a late run last night. Work and baseball took up my daylight, so it was off with my Knuckle Lights for a night run. I don't mind running at night when it's warm out, but it definitely changes my running habits. There are places that I just won't run when I it's dark out. (I watch too much Criminal Minds, etc.)

After a short impromptu coach's meeting at Jeff's halfway through my 8 mile run, it was even later and darker for me to finish up. So why not hit the big hill?

The "big hill" is on Walnut Street in Mount Pleasant, and it runs in between the Catholic side and the "other" side of Forest Home Cemetery. It's toward the edge of town, right next to Old Threshers and a bunch of trees. At night, it's creepy.

So instead of running as usual with my headphones, I took them off so I could have full use of my senses to warn me when someone comes out of the bushes to murder me with an ax.

As I looked around and listened to the sound of my footsteps, my breathing, and the Gatorade sloshing around in my bottle; I got a reminder that I wasn't alone. I looked over and in the distance I saw a small glowing cross. At the time, I mistakenly thought it was the lit cross from my church, but I was on the wrong side of town to see our church's cross.

It was a great moment as I remembered that in the darkest and creepiest of places, I am not alone. Though we usually quote a different part of the Great Commission, my favorite part is when Jesus says, "...and surely I am with you to the very end of the age."

Things look pretty dark out there. Another mass shooting, political garbage, a dark world. But this photo is a reminder to me that though it's dark, Jesus is still here and His light is still on. He will never leave us or forsake us. We don't have to worry, because He's promised to stay with us and to lead us to something better.

Becoming a Booneville Bada$$

Before the race.

Never underestimate Iowa. That's definitely one of the most important things I learned at the Booneville Backroads Ultra 100k on May 28th southwest of Des Moines. The funny thing is, I trained on hills, both at Geode State Park on the 7 miles of trails and on the backroads of Henry County, expecting them to be similar. They were not. The low rolling hills of southeast Iowa are nowhere near the same as what the Booneville course threw at us. No, it isn't the mountains of Colorado, but the hills were high and constant. And the mud made it worse.


The mud! I was kind of looking forward to the "B" roads that we would encounter on the Booneville course, especially because I was attempting to finish my first 100k in my Vibram FiveFingers shoes that have very little cushion for the long miles. Most of the course is gravel and I knew that would be tough on my feet, so I thought that the mud roads would be a nice soft break from gravel. I was too right. Due to rain the night before, and some rain during the race, the B roads were not just soft but way too soft. With nowhere to find solid ground, you were forced to trudge through the mud with the added weight of muddy shoes and going up hills for a few miles. It was there that the demons first showed their faces. 

About a week before the Booneville Ultra, I finally decided that I felt prepared for my first 100k. Thanks to my unofficial coach's training plans and advice, I had done a lot of solid work to get ready for this event. I'd run tons of hills, put in back to backs, and ran the Hawkeye 50k the month before as a training race. But going from a 50k or back to back runs to a full 100k still seemed ominous. But I'd told way too many people about this to DNF so I better be ready to run all day. 

Before the race began, Steve Cannon, the race director gave a speech to prepare us for what was coming. The significant part went something like this... "Today, you're going to meet some demons out there. When you do, shake their hand, tell them to have a nice day, and keep going." It was a great reminder of the lows that most all runners experience over the course of a long run.

The race started out great. It was partly cloudy and calling for some storms, but at 6am it was beautiful. It wasn't overly hot and the gravel roads were just wet enough to be a bit soft to run on. Thankfully, they hadn't been overly grated so they weren't just covered in rocks so you could find a good path to run that had enough traction and enough give to be comfortable. Our course was not marked because we had to earn our #boonevillebadass status, so we had to use cue cards to follow directions in order to stay on course. I started off easy, running about a 10 min/mile pace, hoping to keep it easy while not going out too slowly. After a few miles I found myself running next to someone who matched my pace and seemed like a good person to chat with for awhile. The most difficult part of this is making first contact. Brittany - who became my running partner for most of the day - was running my pace, but I wasn't exactly sure how best to start a conversation. How do you make that first contact to see if she's interested in chatting without seeming like I'm hitting on her? The truth is, I'm obviously happily married and not running an ultramarathon to pick up girls, but I felt like a guy at a bar trying to figure out a pickup line. (Katie would later call Brittany my race girlfriend, though I literally couldn't have picked her out of a lineup for most of the race. When running beside someone, you don't spend your time studying their features. I seriously didn't even know what she looked like until about mile 25 when we found the mud.) Somehow my new running friend and I started talking and found that our goals for the race were the same. I wanted to finish in under 12 hours and she wanted the same because a finish a little under 12 hours would be a women's course record. So off we went.

The run was going great. We were running at about a 10:15 min/mile pace and feeling great. We knew there were people ahead of us, but few passed us from behind and we'd left those that were close in the dust. We got through the first aid station at 10 miles and then the long run to the second at 23 miles. The next 7 miles should be easy to get to the next station. Boy were we wrong. Between 23 and 30 miles the demons came out to play as we angrily trudged through the mud. Our great pace started dwindling quickly and by the end of those mud miles, we'd dropped to an 11:30 pace and were pissed. Neither of us expected this and we recognized our goals slipping away and noticing that are legs were wiped from getting through the unstable ground. 

We rolled into the mile 30 aid station pretty frustrated with the recent events. I planned to change my shoes. I was wearing my Vibram FiveFinger Trek Ascent shoes, which are great on trails and I'd worn for the Hawkeye 50k the month before. They have no real cushion to speak of, but great soles with lots of traction. Coming out of the mud, Katie and my crew (Matt and Jolie) told me my shoes looked the best of any they'd seen coming out of the mud. I'm sure that's true. I planned at this point to change my shoes because of how muddy they'd been, but the crew told me there was more mud ahead so I decided to save my shoe-change till after. But my feet felt great. I couldn't feel any blisters or hotspots, and was excited at how well my Vibrams were doing. I really didn't know if I could go 63 miles on such small amount of cushion, so I was just hopeful to continue feeling good.

The next stretch I was expecting to be the hardest one. We had a 12 mile run before the next aid station and at mile 42 we would get to have a pacer. Not only that, but as we took off from the 30 mile station, it started to rain, and then rain harder. I even stopped at one point to put on the new Patagonia Houdini jacket I'd bought the night before at REI. It was great as it kept the rain off without heating me up. I honestly don't remember a lot about this stretch. It rained and I ran. Brittany had gotten out in front of me and I was running alone and remembering how much I hate rain. Eventually it slowed down and I caught back up with Brittany to continue our run to the next station.

Throughout all of this, I was feeling pretty good. My legs were feeling tired but not overwhelmingly so. I'd been drinking my Tailwind consistently with my two bottles full on my Ultimate Direction vest. I knew I needed to be supplementing that with some food at aid stations but wasn't feeling like eating much. My stomach wasn't awful but I was definitely not totally comfortable. Full disclosure: running with a girl was a bit of a problem. I apologize for the TMI but I suffer from what my son calls "the running toots" and running with a girl made that difficult. I didn't want to be the guy ripping them the whole day next to someone. So my stomach was a bit off for most of the day. But otherwise, I was doing well.

Mile 42 came and after I did finally change shoes to my VFF KMD Evo's, Matt and I took off for an 11 mile stretch to the final aid station. (My feet still felt great in my Trek Ascents, but they were wet from rain and a bit stretched out from all the mud so I decided to get fresh shoes on.) The hills continued and my fatigue grew. I'm pretty sure there were moments where I was weaving around while running or walking hills. But we kept going and Matt was a great encourager as we made our way forward. We even passed a few people in this stretch.

Finally, we made it to mile 53 and the final aid station where Katie would pace me into the finish.I was getting frustrated because the race info stated that the first porta-potty wouldn't be till mile 50 and I had been in need of one all day. There were some gas stations along the way but I didn't want to stop. But as my watch clicked off mile 50, there was no bathroom to be seen, and I was angrily moving toward the aid station praying for one. As we came in to 53, I asked for a restroom and was told it was about a hundred yards past the station to the porta-potty. Phew.

Katie and I took off. And then, we stopped to walk. The hills just kept coming. Each time I would pick a site to try to run to so that we would keep going as long as we could until walking the worst part of the hills. It was on this stretch that the demons really showed up. I was tired, and hot, and ready to be done. I was so tired of going up a hill only to get to the top and see that there was more. I was ready to finish this thing. Katie tried to encourage me and keep me going but I was over it. Until... with about 4 miles left I felt like I could start pushing again. After walking the hills and complaining about it, I was ready to go. So we started running. We ran downhills and we ran uphills. We just kept going. Finally, I realized that I could hear Katie breathing and noted that I better check on her. She was fine but running hard as we were going at about a 9:40 min/mile pace up and down hills for the last few miles. Finally, we saw the turn and came in hot to the finish line.

I finished in 7th place with a time of 12:17:57. The RD was there at the finish to shake my hand and congratulate me on the finish, and to give me my Booneville glass. What a feeling to be done!

Though I'd hoped to break 12 hours and finish in the top 5, I was happy with my effort. The Booneville Backroads Ultra turned out to be a much harder course than I'd imagined, but was a great experience. (Brittany came in about 8 minutes after me and though she didn't break the course record, she won the women's division!)

As I plan for my first 100 miler this fall, in the back of my mind is my one leftover desire about the Booneville Backroads Ultra. I want that buckle. So I'll see you next year for the 100 miler at Booneville.

Gear: 

• Ultimate Direction hydration vest
• Tailwind bottles and liquid nutrition
• Vibram FiveFingers Trek Ascent and KMD Evo shoes
• Injinji Compression Socks
• Reebok dri-fit shirt and UnderArmour running shorts
• KC Royals mesh fitted hat
• Plantronics Backbeat Fit headphones (I didn't use them)
• Epson Runsense SF-810 watch (super accurate all day & battery last all day too)
• Flipbelt
• Patagonia Houdini jacket

An Ultra Day

I always go out too fast. No matter the situation, on race day, I take off too fast knowing that I won't be able to keep it up. I don't know, blame adrenaline or my over-competitiveness, but for one reason or another I always run too fast too early.

My first ultra was no different.

The Hawkeye 50k.

I really just signed up for this race as a training run for the Booneville Backroads Ultra 100k that's coming on May 28th. After 2 marathons last season, I decided that it was time to sign up for my first ultra marathon. After listening to "Born to Run" and "Eat and Run" via Audible on long runs, I was sold on the idea of running longer and longer. I really want to do a 100 miler but knew I wasn't even close to ready for that. So why not a 100k? Then I saw the Hawkeye 50k and it was a good option to train and see if I could handle an ultra first.

My training had gone pretty well. Though Easter and busyness made it difficult sometimes, I was able to get out and run a lot. Thanks to my friend, Evan, I had the plan in place. Thanks to Katie, I was able to get out and run.

So here I was. Nervous. And cold.

It was 23 degrees when I got to the race. Not the spring weather I was hoping for, but thankfully it was sunny and not too windy. I bundled up with a cold gear jacket from Under Armor, gathered my Ultimate Direction hydration vest and got ready to go. [The rest of my gear were my Epson Runsense SF-810 GPS watch, Plantronics Backbeat Fit bluetooth headphones, Injinji compression socks, Vibram FiveFingers Trek Ascent shoes, and my Royals World Series hat. For nutrition, I used Tailwind Nutrition in my bottles and a few bites of peanut butter and jelly at aid stations.]


As the race started, I found myself right behind a fellow Mount Pleasant runner that I'd met a few weeks earlier. Not sure what pace to start out at, I decided I would just stick behind him for awhile unless I decided it was too fast. Starting out at around a 8:20/minute mile was faster than I thought I should do, but felt comfortable and just kept going.

The race started on crushed limestone trails winding around the lake. Soon it moved further into the woods for a little more technical trails before finding ourselves at the spillway, where wading through cold water on a cold day wasn't ideal. While everyone else sloshed around in their huge shoes, my FiveFingers dried quickly and ran fine no matter how wet. So on I went. The last 3.5 miles of the race are on the road and this was the worst part by far. After soft beautiful trails, I had to finish the lap on hard concrete running against traffic on the highway, against the wind, and up long drawn out hills. Not awesome. It was especially challenging since my trail VFF's have harder soles and aren't great on the roads.

After lap one around the course, I dropped my jacket and thought I may stop for a bit at the aid station or the restroom, but decided instead to just keep running. I felt good.

Then came mile 18. I could feel it. Like I felt at mile 16 of my last marathon, I started to feel tired. My legs hurt, my feet were tired, and I started to wonder if this was going to work. I DID go out too fast. I should have started slower and now I'm going to have to fight to finish. Just. keep. going.

By mile 22, things changed. Though I thought I was in real trouble, I now was starting to get a second wind. After wading through the spillway for the second time, the hills came and I felt stronger. So I took off.

The rest of miles 22-28 were great; nice trails, feeling good. And thanks to the help of some aid station volunteers, I didn't get off on the wrong direction - but I almost did. And then, mile 28 hit. The beginning of the end is the worst part of the run as I hit the 3.5 miles of pavement again, no longer feeling good and strong. I couldn't look ahead because it was too daunting, so I looked down at my feet, continuing to just put one foot in front of the other while the wind blew at me with contempt.

Finally making the turn toward the finish line gave me a new burst of energy as I began sprinting the last quarter mile to the end.

I always find that the end of a race is surreal as I am ecstatic that it's over while also feeling like it couldn't actually be over. But for the first time at the end of a long race, I felt good. I was tired but not nauseous or chilled. I was just finished. (If you're curious, I ended up 9th overall out of 77 50k runners. I was 5th in the 20-39 age range and finished in 4:41:41 hours. I'm okay with that for my first race.)



I am sold on ultras. Even more, I'm sold on trail running. The Hawkeye 50k was a great race, with awesome volunteers, and a fun spirit.

Next up is the Booneville Backroads Ultra 100k on May 28th, and I'm terrified. Not sure how to double this distance. I can't wait to find out.

(Huge thanks to my friend Evan Schmidtke for coaching me, Matt and Jolie Wilkinson for coming to the race, and to Katie for letting me do this stuff.)

KMD EVO - So much cushion!

If you read my previous post, you'll know that I tried and returned the new Vibram V-Runs for road running. Here's my replacement. The KMD Evo.

I've stated on this blog and to all my friends that my absolute favorite Vibrams are the KMD Sports. They have an amazing upper that wraps up your foot securely, and a nice sole for just about anything. I've run through 2 pairs, not because they don't last, but because I put tons of miles on them.

So I decided to try the new KMD Evos for the running on roads. They are the most expensive model Vibram has right now, but I found a good deal on theshoemart.com that made them closer to the price of other models.

HOLY CUSHION, BATMAN! If you want specifics about these shoes, you can check out the great review at http://birthdayshoes.com/vibram-fivefingers-kmd-evo-review. I read it and worried that maybe the cushion was too much. But on my first run, I could tell this may actually be great. Don't get me wrong, I love the ground feel of minimal shoes and love to run in my KSO Evos too, which have very little sole. But on super long runs, minimal gets a bit rough. I've found that I could totally run my marathons in my KMD Sport shoes and do fine, but I definitely feel the pounding on the bottom of my feet after 26 miles. Now, I'm training for a 100k ultramarathon that is on mostly gravel roads and some pavement. So my first run in my KMD Evos, I took out on the country roads around my small town in Iowa to see how they did. THEY WERE AMAZING. That little extra bit of cushion allowed me to run on gravel for an 8 miler without the same wear on the bottom of my feet that I normally get. I still feel like I'm running in Vibram FiveFingers and feel the ground, but with a little cushion to protect my soles.

I think these may be the best long distance Vibrams to date. I'm super excited to put a bunch more miles on them as I train, and now I plan to wear them for my ultra.

V-Run - So cool, but not for me.

So disappointed. After 2 marathons and hundreds of miles of running, my latest KMD Sport shoes are worn almost through and I need something for running the roads.

Though I'm moving into ultramarathons, trails in Iowa are few and far between so I have to spend most of my running time on pavement. I've found that the shoes I bought for trails - Trek Ascent, Spyridon MR - are not great for roads. Because of their aggressive soles with harder rubber, my feet hurt when I run long miles on concrete.

And then I saw the brand new V-Run shoes, first on REI.com and then on Vibram's own website. They may be my favorite design of VFF's ever. I love the grey, black, and blue. (The orange is okay too, though I wish Vibram would get past their obsession with orange. It's on  almost every pair I have. Give me some red or something.) The materials are awesome on the V-Run and the sole seems perfectly cushioned for long paved road runs. I was super excited to get these shoes. I actually even paid full price for them. (That's rare.)

They just don't fit me. To be clear, this is nothing wrong with the design or engineering of this shoe, they just simply don't work for me. The V-Run has the least tight heel of any of their shoes in general and that is part of my problem. The main thing, though, is that I often fall in between 2 sizes of shoes. My right foot is larger than my left, which means I have to size up to 43 for my right foot or else they'll cramp and hurt. Of my 21 other pairs of VFF's, I can get by without that being a problem. With the V-Runs, the left shoe is so large that my toes would literally slip out of the toes of the shoe. So I ordered a size 42, hoping that this would just be an anomaly and they would fit. And with the smaller size, my left foot felt great, but the right was completely cramped.

If only I could get a 43 right foot and 42 left foot, they would be perfect. But that isn't an option, so back they both went - one to Vibram and one to REI, since Vibram was out of 42's at the time.

Man, I love these shoes. If only...

For the Trails

Are you a trail runner? I haven't been. Living in Iowa, good trails to run are hard to find and require some driving. So I do most of my running on roads or paved bike paths, and I've never done a trail race.

But in 2016 I'm doing two ultramarathons that are both on trails. In April I'm running the Hawkeye 50k in Solon, IA; and in May I'm trying to survive the Booneville Backroads Ultra 100k. So far, I've run 2 marathons so these will be a challenge. Even more, they're on trails and gravel, and are a long long way to run.

Vibram makes a few different kinds of trail-type shoes. Here are my thoughts on the options.

Spyridon MR

Since Vibram came out with their first Spyridons, I've loved them. I had the originals and then got the newer MR this past year. The originals were okay, but the upper left some to be desired. The new MR version brought the same cool trail sole - it looks like a tire - with a better designed upper. I love the look of them and they fit really nicely too.

For running, they're about the most comfortable VFF's I have other than the KMD sport. (My ideal VFF's would be this sole with the KMD upper.) The sole give great protection from rocks and gravel, without feeling too thick. I definitely prefer it to the Trek sole that came on previous trail models like the Trek Sport or KSO Trek.

Unfortunately, possibly due to getting a bum pair, I can't hardly wear my Spyridon MR's anymore. After wearing them casually and running 30-40 total miles in them, my MR's began to feel like I had rocks in my shoes. What I finally figured out is that the glue that holds the insole material down, balled up under my feet and cause irritation. I'm hoping it's only my pair that does this. (My friend has had a pair longer than me and doesn't have this issue.) After months of not wearing these shoes, I finally decided to do some surgery and try to fix it. So I made slits in the insole material and started getting the glue balls out. But unfortunately I haven't been able to get the material glued back down without irritation. So there's no way I can wear these for 50-100k of running.

Trek Ascent (& LR)

So I decided to try a different kind for the trails. After already getting the Trek Ascent LR's last Spring for hiking and casual wear, I decided to try the regular Trek Ascent for running the trails.

 So far, I love the Trek Ascents. They are a comfortable and attractive shoe. One thing you'll notice is that the cuff around the top is different than many of the other VFF's. I'm not sure I like that as much, and have had a little blistering on the back of my ankle because my Injinji socks slip down with these when running. (I always wear socks when running more than 10 miles in my VFF's to prevent blisters.)

The sole of the Ascent is aggressive! It is great and protective without being too thick. It has probably the best grip of any VFF's I've worn. They are the shoes I plan to run my ultra marathons in, and I'm excited to see how they do. The one caveat is that, unlike the Spyridon sole, they aren't great for road running. The rubber is so hard on the sole that the Ascents begin to hurt my feet when I wear them on roads for very long. So I'm saving them for the trails.


Bonus - KSO Trek

The first trail runners were based on the Trek Sport platform and I have the brown and black KSO Treks that were marked way down on REI a couple years ago. They are kangaroo leather with the Trek sole. They are actually a decent trail runner as well, but the KSO upper is way too loose for my liking and they don't fit snugly on my feet. So I use them for hiking and camping, but not running. The KSO is the one style that I think I'd be better off in a 42 size.


Do any of you run trails in VFF's? What ones do you like?

Waterproof Vibrams? Not for long.

Let me start by reminding you that I am Vibram's number one fan. But unfortunately, there is one design that I can't endorse. Read on to see why you shouldn't waste your money of Bikila EVO WP's. 

When I received my WP's, I was pumped. They would be a perfect pair of VFF's for when it's not super cold outside but wet everywhere. Though I love my Lontras for winter running, they're really stiff and I definitely prefer other models. And here in Iowa, late winter to spring is super wet from melting snow and rain. These would be great.

At first they were. My first run went great. They were comfortable and flexible and kept my feet dry. The next run, I went for 11 miles and learned that they don't breathe at all. In my opinion, they aren't a great idea to run without some Injinji socks inside, or else you end up with sweaty feet squishing around inside. And that is a problem considering the toe boxes are thinner than any other model I've worn. My wife literally cannot fit hers on with socks. 

But really, the problem is much great. The fact is, they fall apart in no time. If you look closely at the upper, you'll see what looks like a light seam on the inside of the foot. And it is there that the shoe begins to split. As soon as that happens, they're no longer waterproof.  It looks like this.

So I sent my pair back. I wear 43's in every model of VFF's and Vibram suggested I try a 44. Unfortunately, even just wearing them casually, the new pair did the same exact thing within 2 weeks of getting them. 

So I have to suggest you pass on the Bikila EVO WP. They're an expensive pair of shoes and the upper just doesn't last. If you need water resistance, look at the Lontras. They are warmer and have taped seams for water resistance. If they begin to lose their resistence, you can spray them with a bit of waterproofer silicone spray and you're back to running through the snow.