Wow! Where to start or end this year? I went hard all year! Some great times and a few low points in all facets of my life. I guess when you try to live life with the throttle wide open you get that. Running- craziness but fell short of my goal of 2015 miles in 2015. Ended the year with 1917 miles and a bum ankle that'll keep me out of SnowDrop 55hr Ultra that would have let me hit my goal but it's ok. Things happen and more on that later....
Bandera 100k - wet and cold but done.
Rocky Raccoon- tripped at mile 75 n walked in and dropped. A hour later I felt great.
Not a race but running 30 miles with Patrick Sweeney & Jup Brown for a day. Just a unforgettable moment for me.
A-Ok 25k - fun run and got another cool plaque.
Austin Rattler 75k -DFL but got gobs of Gu for my effort and a slot in Leadville.
Possum Kimgdom 56k- Done pr'd by 1:57 over last year. Maybe a 7:30 next year?
Cruel Jewel 100 - timed out at mile 26. Had my butt handed to me but met some great people. No regrets.
Captain Karl 60k x4 - that's a hard series. 4 races in 75 days but a cool buckle for completing all of them. One day I want to do it again.
Fossil Rim 12hr- Finished with 26.2 miles. I ran a 60k the weekend before and the am of the race I ran 13 with a friend on another trail. That was a fun night and the honey is great!
Mogollon Monster- I had zero business running this race and was pulled 30 miles in when I was 4 minutes over the cutoff. It was awesome seeing 3 of my friends complete this epic race! I don't know if I'll go back to this or not. Not feeling it right now.
Pumpkin Hollar 100- Done. Probably the best 50 miles of my life as I was flying and it felt great. My pacers had to drag me home. Changed shoes at 70 to some tall Hoka's and turned a ankle but made it through.
Tunnel Hill 100- A really awesome and solid 73 miles with zero issues other than a brain freeze and not putting on enough clothing before the temps dropped. Mile 75 I couldn't stop shaking and had to drop. Afterwards the ankle was in pretty bad shape... 12 hours for the 1st 50 was too dang slow but I did get a 50 mile credit. I'll take it.
Brazos Bend 100- Great start but my ankle started hurting early on. Pretty much death marched from 33 to 50. Pain got up in my right ITB and I had to shut it down.
Lotsa racing. Too many attempts at 100's but I'm ok with it. I used a coach through May and kinda went free style the rest of the year. A friend Dale guided me some through the Capt K series and gave me some race day advice at Pumpkin but I think looking back that the value of a scripted schedule is hard to beat. You can't race your way into shape. Recovery post race is such a key as well. Looking at my fall races and my 50 mile splits plummeting from 10 hours at Pumpkin to 12 at Tunnel and down to 13:30 at Brazos shows me that one cannot race that heavy at this point in my career and be successful. Downtime is key and stopping to let injuries heal is so important. Maybe I'll do better in 2016...... :) Core is also key. I hit the gym hard from March through May and slacked off. I think it showed up in my runs. Sure I finished some tough races but might have finished more if my butt would have been in there grinding it out working on the little things. I finish the year sidelined and healing up and after just a few days in the gym it's nice waking up to a sore upper body and abs that hurt. I gained so much this year but gave so much back by not continuing with that work.
Personally- it's been a good ride this year. People have come into my life and stayed and some have came in and gone back out and that's ok. I've tried to stay true to who I am and if someone did something I didn't agree with then I called em on it. A couple got butt hurt and we don't talk but I'm alright with that. Through the ups and downs in life certain people are always there. They know who they are and I care about them like they are family. I slipped a little late summer and drank more than I ever have since I started running. That hurt my running and when I saw what it was doing to me personally it was a wake up call. I've struggled with it all my life and I can't surround myself with people who do that. I've corrected that and moved on. Sometimes looking in the mirror is tough but that's the only way people improve themselves. Life is a journey and on a journey constant adjustments must be made.
2016- I'm really excited!!! I was able to roll my Leadville entry to 2016 and have already entered so I'll be toeing that line in August! I signed up for Rocky before I knew I was hurt. I may go and use it as a training run but I'll see. I signed up for Vol State 500k and depending on how I feel and what my coach says will decide that. (I gotta find a coach 1st) Brazos Bend 50 is definitely a must do as well as all of the Trail Racing Over Texas fall races. I've been blessed to be a #TROT ambassador for the 2016 season so you will hear a lot about their events from me. It's a great organization with awesome races. Personally I just hope to be a better person I was than I was in 2015. We all trip and fall in life. It's how we react to it that makes us who we are. I can't wait to see everyone out there on the trails next year! Til next time #RunStrong
