Rattle Snake 50K

I originally thought I might run this race, but my knees and ankles said no. Then I thought this might be a great opertunity to get the 8 hours of volunteer work that I need for the Grindstone 100 race in Oct.

I called Dennis Hambrick,the promoter and asked him if he needed any help. He said he deperatly needed someone to run an aid station. Anybody that has ever run an ultra knows that getting up early on race morning is just part of the experience, but it was ruff getting up at 3:45 just to go volunteer. I got to the start 1/2 hour before the race and Dennis informed me that he needed me to run the last AS. I guess that is what you get for being the new guy. Since the last AS is the last one to close, who ever works it gets to be out there the longest, but that was ok with me. I needed to get 8 hours in anyway. He said it would probably be around 4 hours before the front runners would be there.

Since I had a little time to kill I went to McDonalds to get some brunch and to Wal-Mart to get a magizine and some munchies. I got to my AS and settled in. About 9:30 I started setting up. Since I had never set up an AS before (I have grazed at a few before) I tryed to set it up so that traffic would flow smoothly through the station.

At about 10:30 the first runner came through. It was a half hour brfore the next one, then they just trickled in after that. Everything really went smoothly. Everybody was so nice.

To sum it up. I had a blast. It was a great experience, seeing an ultra race from the outside. Dennis runs a first class race.

Getting Better

My knee seems to be getting better........finally. I don't know how long I should give it before I try to run on it. I don't want to take anymore time off than I have to, but I want to give it time to completely heal. I think I will try a vigorous bike ride this morning to see how the knee fills.

Just Chillin'

I had a lot of body parts hurting, so I thought I would take a few days off to let things heal. I haven't run or biked since last Thursday. I don't remember how long it has been since I took this much time off, but it has been kind of nice. It seems like I haven't run for a long time, but it has only been 5 days. Since I am not running I have some extra time, so I am getting some stuff done around the house. Everything is healing nicely except for my left knee. I think it might be getting worse, but I am going to take another day or 2 off. Then try running again. We will see.

Well I got 20 miles in on Sunday. It was very different. I got the S-Caps that I ordered, so I used those for the 1st time and also I tryed to keep my heart rate below 130. I took 110 oz. of water with me and I still ran out. The S-Caps were ok. They make your sweat taste REALLY salty. I was hopeing that maybe my body would make better use of water while taking them, so I wouldn't drink so much, but that wasn't the case. It seems like after I have been running for more than 3 hours I just can't get enough to drink and I start sweating profusely. When I get through with a 5 hour run like Sunday. I am literally dripping an incredible amount of sweat.
It was really different trying to keep my heart rate below 130. I couldn't run up any hill. I ended up walking everyone of them, but I felt better near the end and especially the next day. So maybe I have been training a little too hard. I am open to advise, if anybody has some.

It Has Been A Tough Week

I have worked a lot this week. Training for Grindstone has not went well. This was supposed to be about a 62 mile week, but it will probably end up being more like 30, if I get the 20 miles in tomorrow that are planed. I have had a lot of pain in my knees and ankles this week. When I have a bad running week like this I really start beating myself up about missing runs. I start really trying to evaluate what I am doing wrong.
I worked in the Hinton area on Friday so I stopped by Marks work to visit for a little while. We had a nice long talk. He suggested that I quit beating myself up and maybe train a little smarter. Not to worry so much about the middle of the week workouts and concentrate on the long weekend runs. I believe this is good advice. Thanks Mark.

"smilin Mark"

at the turn around




getting geared up

Saturday morning Mark run the Ronceverte 5 Mile race. Then Saturday evening we went to Bluestone to run 20 miles. He is my hero. We got out of the woods at 11:15, so we got some quality night running in. The trail was extremely muddy, so that was good practice too. I wish I could have gotten some shots of us before we washed off in the creek.

Why I Make The Big Bucks

These are pics of a camper that a guy lives in. He calls me 2-3 times a year to work on it. Next month when he gets his check he wants me to work on the commode. Anybody want to trade jobs with me next month?

Lewis McManus 5K

The Shirt

Before The Start

Bruce and Larry

Lee

The 6th annual Lewis McManus 5K was last Saturday. This race marked my 6th anniversary of running races. 6 years ago at this time I had been running for 6 months. I was only running 1-3 days a week, because every time I ran it would take me a few days to recover enough just to be able to walk around normally. I had no idea what to expect at that 1st race. I was afraid that I would embarrass myself. I was afraid that I would finish last. I didn't tell anybody that I was going to run the race, not even my family. I only told my wife on the morning of the race, because I had to tell her why I was getting up so early on a Saturday morning. Well I didn't embarrass myself. I didn't finish last. The people were so nice.I was hooked.

Deer Hunter

I went deer hunting Tuesday. I got a shot at one too, a big one. My weapon of choice was a 2003 Dodge Pickup. This is normally a good choice of weapons when going after small pray such as squirrels, ground hogs and other similarly sized animals. With a maximum legal muzzle velocity of around 70 mph it is obviously not a good choice for larger game. As you can see by the pics, this hunt did not go smoothly. I think my weapon suffered more damage than the pray, because I hit the deer in the head, but there are obviously no vital organs in that part of a deer. I guess that is what I get for hunting out of season.

Amy's Video

This was Amy seconds after finishing the Exterra Tri.

Extarra Race

This is the 2nd year in a row that Manon and I have gone to support Amy at the Extarra Tri-athlon at Ace in Fayetteville. It is a really cool race. 1.5 mile swim down the New River, 7-8 mile run to Ace, 10 mtn. bike.

This year the river was too high to swim, so they did the run, the bike and then run 1 mile. It also rained a lot leading up to this weekend, then just for good measure it rained real hard on Sat. night. To say the least it was a muddy race.

Amy had been sick for 2 weeks leading up to the race. She didn't even know if she was going to get to compete, but she did. She also paid for it. She had a tough race, but she finished. She is my hero.

The Funerals

I have been to 2 funerals in 2 days. Me, Manon and both kids went to Winchester, VA yesterday for a funeral. It was kinda nice, just the 4 of us on a road trip. Just like old times.
I mostly took yesterday off from running. My ankles are thanking me today.
I have about 31 miles planed for Sat. and Sunday.
I am going to Fayetteville, WV Sunday morning to watch Amy compete in the tri.

Old News

I know this is old news, but I just really got the time to get the pic off the camera. We had a car wash at church on Saturday the 16th. I wore my sandals for the first time this year. I put sunblock on my upper body, but forgot my feet completely. I didn't realize my feet were burnt till I went for a 10 mile run that evening. The whole time I am running I am trying to figure out why my feet are hurting. It fills like my shoes are too tight or something. It wasn't till I got home and took my shoes off that I saw the sunburn. It made for a pretty miserable 16 miles on Sunday too. The pic was taken Monday morning.

What A Week

When the sun shines I get very busy with my RV repair business. This was one of those weeks, but I still managed to get all my scheduled runs in so far this week. I would have liked to get a ride in on Monday, but it was pretty cold Monday evening and I didn't get in from work till about 7:00.
Just got in from a 13 miler. I need to go stretch now.
Going to Mullens this afternoon for my grandsons 1st birthday party.

Pipestem Pics

Pipestem State Park

I had a job in Pipestem Sat. evening so I took that opportunity to run some trails at the state park. I ran down the "River Trail" with the intention of crossing the Bluestone River, then running down the river a couple of miles then making the return trip. It would have been about 10 miles, but when I got down to the river I knew I wasn't going to be able to cross it this evening.
I ran back up the trail and ran a loop out the "County Line Trail" then around the lake. It ended up being about 9 miles.
The trails are in horrible shape after all the rain we have had. They are rutted and washed out pretty bad. The horse trasils are REALLY BAD. The mud in places was well over my shoes. Of course by the time I got to the really bad horse trails it was dark, so that made it more fun. It was awesome. Man I must be crazy.
I will post some pics in the next few days.

Thursday.....Just Another Thursday....

I was pretty tired after last week, so I didn't ride on Monday nor run on Tuesday. My hip has been bothering me a little too. I though a couple of days off might be a good idea.

Glade Creek On Sunday

Yesterday was definitely the best day to get pics on the Glade Creek. The water was probably 5-6 feet higher yesterday. I am really sorry I didn't buy the memory card when I bought the camera. Oh well, You live and learn.

It was soooo awesome yesterday. When you stopped and listened you could hear the boulders being rolled down the creek under the water. It sounds like thunder coming out of the water. I think water is one of the most greatest of Gods creation. It is so beautiful and powerful.

There were some guys kayaking on the lower part of the creek today. I had to keep hustling to get in front of them so I could get some pics.

The bottom 2 pics are of the same falls. Summer water level and Spring water level.

Falls On Glade Creek

Glade Creek

Last year after a lot of rain I went to Glade Creek to run and it was sooooo beautiful. With the water so high, water running out of all the hollers. I wished that I had a camera with me last year. Well as most everybody knows, we have had a lot of rain in the last couple of weeks, so I couldn't wait to get to the creek yesterday. I went to Wal-mart and bought a trail camera. I got a Canon Power Shot.

I got to Glade Creek at about 6:00 pm. I started up the creek. I took 3 pics in the 1st 1/4 mile or so. There are some really pretty falls just a little past that, so I stopped to get some video of that. I had taken about 25 seconds of video when the display on the camera said it was out of memory. Well crap. I should have bought a memory card. I carried the dead weight of the camera for the next couple of hours. When I got back to civilization I went back to Wal-mart and got a 4 gb card. Good deal too, $12. Here are the pics. I will add the video later. Oh yeah. I am going back today. Expect more pics this week.