Monday, July 1, 2013

Catch up, cause I fell behind


Been a weee bit busy to keep up on the small going ons in my little life but in order to catch everyone up, you get my paraphrased version. 
MMT-DNF I sucked and I didn’t care.  
To much snowboarding(not a bad thing), I was living 10 minutes from four of the best ski resorts in the country/world.  When it is an 18 inch powder day, running is a no go so yeah, not enough running(bad for running a 100 but good for my soul)  My mental game plays a big part of all my long runs and MMT was no different.  Imagine throwing away a reputation of finishing almost everything I start out the window. Yep, I did that. A few years ago a friend introduced me to a runner as “this is the guy that if his head got chopped off, he would pick it up, put it on a stick and look at himself on the way to the finish” Not so much this year and I was ok with that.  At this time,  I still am but not going to make that a habit.  DNF’s suck no matter how you try to justify it. 
Justification math and quitter math. 
Excuse number 2-15 of why I was a quitter.  Got a new job, got promoted, moved to a new city and had a lot on my mind.  I know, the math doesn’t add up.  It is quitter math, it never adds up. 
Fast forward a few weeks, I now live in Fort Collins or Fort Fun as it is called.  I fell into a sweet deal, love where I live, bike/run commute to work almost everyday through the CSU campus(sweet) and awesome trails out my back door.  The beer mecca of Colorado with O’dells, New Belguim, Equinox, funkwerks  and Fort Collins brewery all in my backyard.  Mentally in a good spot, physically running better than I have in sometime….. and then on to The Bighorn 100.
Bighorn 100:  Fuck 100’s I’m retiring from these damn things and never, ever running them again.  Short lived of course.  Mistakes, pack the proper clothing.  The start was 87 degrees, shorts, singlet, 40 miles later and the climb up the canyon it dropped to about 20 degrees.  Bad decision Billy boy.  I had to hang out the 40+ mile aid station for almost an hour to get my core temp back up.  I don’t think I ever been so cold in my life.  I wasn’t DNFing, never crossed my mind but for real was not having a good time.  I fell in the mud/water at 4:00am and got soaked.  Hating life, hating running, throwing up, keep manning up and keep moving on.  Julie, a friend from Jackson Hole, she was my savior come the light and the next day when she caught me and then we started moving.  I also got to share some trail time with my friend Rhonda, who was running the 50 miler and was unexpected but a pleasant and wonderful surprise. I pull to the side of a dirt road to start peeing, a woman passes me and I try to hide my junk(out of respect) as I yell out hey Rhonda, she turns around.   WHAT.  What a beautiful course. Saw a baby moose.  The aid station people are wonderful and the medical personnel were awesome and not overly medical.  I looked and felt like hell.  Probably should have been pulled but I was coherent, joking and jovial as I heaved next to the medical tent.  “Don’t worry doctor peoples, this is what I do”  Bighorn 100 finish number 2 and my
19th 100 miler
89th ultra marathon
Long term and short term memory loss and next up is  the Bear 100.  Training for this one and hope I can rip one.  It’s been awhile since I cared or had the passion to. 

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