100 in sub 24!!!!!

23 hours and 27 mins!!!!!!!!

Still 1 day to go..... Will use aggression to hold on.

Well we leave at 6am tomorrow... get there around 3pm.. do the check in stuff, grab some grub and then try to sleep. Basically pseudo packed now with gear mapped out. Weather shows 85-87 now for Saturday which means even warmer on the course. Last year was a few degrees cooler. Time to get to it... pace and motivation. Hooooahhhh!!!!

1 day to go!

Made this for the FB group. Thought it was pretty funny.....

10 days since the last post, and 10 days to go to J100

In the last 10 days since the last post, dealing with day to day life, being a father & husband, paying bills and wondering where all our money goes, how to raise young Godly daughters, and Brians DNF at Cuy100k, put a lot of things into perspective. (I'm sure my wife would tell me that was/is a run on sentence. But hey, I'm an ultra runner... I guess I run long in sentence form as well).

 The primary thing is...I shouldn't be complaining about a thing. Retirement accounts look fine, no debt, house with equity, No car payments, I wife who loves me and some good kids. They are all healthy. Or as healthy as teenagers can be. And they support my running. maybe not approve or understand, but support it.

Plus, 6 months ago next week on the 23rd, (3 days before the race) it will be the 6 month mark since knee surgery. That is amazing and worrisome at the same time as that puts a big unknown question mark on how it will hold up on race day. But I was not thrilled when a friend who heard about the injury said "Oh dude, sorry, but you're done!". Huh? "Your running, and playing soccer is done." So as soon as rehab seemed to show that I could handle the impact on the joint, I signed up and started pushing. This helped by giving me a target and a reason to push. In turn that helped dramatically with the recovery, and the mental state of my (life is over feeling). Stupid to write that now, but at the time. Struggled with how to get the physical aggression and angst out if I couldn't play/run.

The mental aspect of the race seems okay at this point. Not too worried. Last year no mental issues at all. WAs gonna die before I quit. I have thought of the.. when it gets tough, I'll quit because I can say I have already done a 100 and don't need to prove this distance anymore. BUT I DO!!! BECAUSE IT'S A STATES QUALIFIER. Simply put I have to finish in under 30 hours. Period.

So.. here we are. 10 days to go. 1 week until I leave for Phx!. 

Post from Javelina page about the loops from Facebook.

Mike Trask Translation for the newbie at j100m. 
Loop 1 -- Awake and Easy - follow the other 650 ppl. 
Loop 2, -- easy but warm. Follow *most* of the other 500 ppl. 
Loop 3, -- harder, but 'hey nice sunset', I think this is the right way, ... ya ya.. this is correct! Follow about 20 ppl you can still see hopefully going the same way you are. 
Loop 4, -- WTF!... Where is everyone!? Geez its reaaaaallly dark. Is that dot on the horizon the aide station? Why is it way off to the left? Follow that 1 person you can see and hope they are on the same loop. (note thats likely not a person and you are hallucinating). 
Loop 5, --- Ohhh ya... I got this. What a sunrise! Wait, I have now seen 2 sunrises since I started this run? That's messed up but really cool in a way. Follow the other cool new friends you made through pain, a 100 miles and experiencing life to the FINISH!!!!!!!

Long run fails, crewing Cuyamaca 100k

In my attempt to run 24-25 miles 10 days ago, it was an utter fail. I went 8 and quit. Really 5 and walked the last 3. It just didn't go right from the beginning. My stomach felt off, both knees and legs aching and every step hurt like I was sick. I spent a lot of time in the bano that day off and on. Perhaps I was sick? I'm gonna hope that was it.

So for the week, I knocked out three 8 milers, with 800 climbing in each and felt good on all of them. Again, not fast but under 10 min avg without working too much at all. Steep climb in each for 200 yards to help with power walking. Hopefully I can push through in 3 weeks at Java 100.

Crewed Brian at Cuyamaca 100k this weekend. I was originally to run it, but the knee just doesn't like the steeper downhills and felt I had better luck going longer and flatter. After talking to a few people and the RD about the race, I think I made the right call. Several people said the first loops down hill was horrible. Dennis Hurley wrecked his knee on it and had to drop. Brian struggled on the first loop (31 miles) but I got him back on the road for the 2nd loop (12 miles) and he completed that one as well. I was to pace and get him through loop 3 and the 18 miles as it got dark, Unfortunately he was done for the day and dropped at 45 miles before loop 3. Next time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0d4yIo-ZfE

Course record set at Cuyamaca 100k

So now I have 2 weeks in a row of not having long runs in in the critical time before my race... This is going to be interesting. Watching people struggle to leave the aide station and on their next loop was eye opening. Going to be a tough day in AZ Oct 27th!