Monday, August 31, 2009

Hood 2 Coast relay ... KTC unplugged

"The Mother of All Relays" sure taught us a thing or two about our team and ourselves Aug. 28-29. What began last September with the initial invitation, finally came to fruition as our Knoxville Track Club team finished third overall against a talented field of running teams, including several compiled by Nike and Brooks. But before I get into the results and recap of the race, I feel it is necessary to rewind and start with Thursday, Aug. 27, the day everyone was supposed to arrive in Oregon. It is necessary to note how important logistics played both during and prior to this relay to ensure we were prepared to race. It involves a lot more than just navigating two minivans all over the state, mostly during the night. Our first logistics issue was getting all 12 runners to the state. This was tested early by rough weather in the Southeast that prevented me from arriving that night. So there I am in the Knoxville airport awaiting my flight and out of nowhere, a monsoon-like storm tears across the Southeast and right into the backyards of both Knoxville’s airport and even worse Atlanta's, where I was to catch my connecting flight. Well that didn't happen and by the time I got to Atlanta, my two and a half hour layover had long been gone and I was praying to the running Gods that I could find another flight early that morning. Luckily, I did, and to top it off, Delta provided me with a hotel and two meal vouchers. So when I finally arrived, my team was relieved and we continued to follow our schedule like nothing had happened.


Team picture at the starting line on Mount Hood Aug. 28


KTC team picture on Mount Hood

Pregaming
Before heading to Mount Hood, we made a stop at the grocery store to buy food and fluids for our venture. So two full carts later, we spent close to $450 to feed and fuel 12 hungry runners and 2 drivers. Then it was on to the mountain. As we drove from Portland to Mount Hood, we passed by teams of runners already out on the course, and we wondered if we would catch up to them at some point later on in the race. Even in August, Mount Hood still has ice caps on it. That means as we got close to the top, the temperatures continually dropped. It actually felt amazing and reminded me of December weather in Knoxville, as everyone was walking around in long sleeves and jackets. We got to the starting point about four hours early, so we did a lot of lounging, picture taking, eating, and watching teams start their journey. It is amazing to think that teams started running at 3:30 a.m. that morning and we were in the last start wave that began at 6:45 p.m. It was also interesting to read the team names and see the obscurely decorated team vans. Some of the team names I liked were “Puke and Rally” and “The Slug Hunters.”


Handoff between myself and Stuart

Race recap
Our running order starting with van #1 was Elijah Shekinah, Bill Kabasenche, Andrew Press, Bob Adams, Stuart Moran, Daniel Hughes, and van #2 was Mike Mentz, Bobby Holcombe, Stewart Ellington, Chad Newton, Andy Baksa, and Joseph Goetz. The first three legs of the course lost A LOT of elevation and the runners came screaming down the mountain. The adrenaline was extremely high as we stayed pretty close to the Brooks and Nike teams for the first few legs. Then unfortunately, Press pulled a hamstring in the third leg and we fell off pace. I ran a strong fourth leg, but the Nike and Brooks teams weren't giving up any ground. By the time Stuart Moran and Daniel Hughes ran, who by the way, were the two workhorses for our van, we were still roughly five minutes behind the two leading teams.

After we handed off to our teammates in the other van, we drove ahead about 50 miles to where the other van would hand back off to us. That is where we made our one logistical mistake of the race. A simple human error of inputing the wrong relay exchange address in our Garmin put us one relay exchange point ahead of where we needed to be. We did not realize we were at the wrong relay point because it was not marked, and it was not until I was on the phone with Bobby describing different exchange points that we figured it out. We jumped in the van and tried to get back in time before Joseph finished his leg of the race. Unfortunately, there were detours and construction blocks that prevented us from getting back in time before Joe finished, and we lost at least 6 minutes. Now at this point, everyone on the team could have just given up and run slower, but that was not the case with this team. Everybody continued to perform to his ability, and I feel like it brought the team closer. In addition, we had a large contingent of KTC fans keeping track of us throughout the race and we could not let them down either.

Twitter updates page (there are some funny ones from the race and after party if you scroll down and click more)

So we continued to run throughout the night and into the morning hours as we completed our second and third legs, battling fatigue, both mentally and physically. It was tough to run the second leg at the same intensity as the first leg and even harder to prepare for the third leg, because of muscle tightness and fatigue from sitting in a van for most of the 5 hours of downtime in between legs. It took a lot of mental toughness to convince your tired body that it must go out there and run one more time, when all it is telling you to do is sleep.

It was fun to see how other team vans kept track of kills on the side of their vans. Every mark showed how many teams they passed during the race. Of course, we did not have enough room to keep track of all our kills, since we had the third most of the entire relay race. After handing off to team van #2 for the last time, we drove ahead to the finish line and awaited the arrival of Joseph, who was running the final leg of the course. The course, which started on Mount Hood, had made its way 197-miles across the state and ended on the beach at Seaside. As the clock approached 12:30 p.m., we knew it was going to be close to break 18 hours. About five minutes prior to 12:45 p.m., I positioned myself about 600 meters away from the finish to inform Joseph of the time and distance left in case he could still break it. With 3 minutes left, he came into view but was hurting from cramps. I told him how far away he was and sprinted alongside him encouraging him and letting him know how much time he had left. He ended up crossing the finish line unofficially in 17:58:42 to seal our sub-18-hour time and secure our third overall team finish (second overall in the men’s open division). After the race, we all proceeded to get some well-deserved rest and then celebrated into the night. Our performance earned us an invitation to come back next year, which I would be privileged to be a part of again.

Individual pacing chart (Click image to enlarge)

Hood 2 Coast unofficial results

First of all, I'm exhausted. There's not much that teases the human body more than staying up all night and wanting to crash, but instead, running as fast as you can every five to six hours.

I will update this blog with more of the stories from the race later (when I wake up mentally), but I wanted to at least give you guys the unfficial results of the event. As you can see, we placed third overall behind the Brroks and Nike teams. They were amazing. Our team averaged roughly a 5:25 per mile pace throughout the entire 197-mile course, which says a lot about the even faster times the other teams had. We lost some time (approximately 6 minutes) due to a human relay exchange point error and a leg injury suffered by one of our runners, but those types of mistakes were not uncommon in this type of long sleep-deprived, adrenaline-rushed event, especially for a team participating in it for the first time.

We bonded as a team and everybody gave it their all. It is an experince I would recommend everybody does at some point in their lives. I can't wait to do it again. Below are the race results of the top 20 teams overall.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Never Stop Exploring ...









I would like to respond to a recent post by my friend Jose on his "JTV Running Group" blog. He mentions how I'm a runner who inspires others (and I appreciate that), but I would like to point out how much I've seen him improve in his running accomplishments as well as be a motivator to others. I met Jose at the former Thursday night workouts at Fleet Feet in Knoxville. He was constantly soaking up as much information as possible and strategizing and experimenting with different training schedules and running advice. He has since completed multiple marathons, and even was a pacer during the 2009 Knoxville Marathon. That is something that I have not done yet, and to hear his story of motivation along the course as all the runners around him were trying to achieve their pace goals is amazing. Since my brother and I left JTV, Jose has kept the flame alive and continues to motivate runners on the team. He is also becoming very active in the KTC as a volunteer, and I would like to add that he is one of the most humble people I know.

Thanks for your kind words, and yes, we will represent Knoxville proudly this weekend!

P.S. If you are not following the Twitter or Facebook updates from this weekends race, then the next time you will see a blog post will be early next week with a recap of the race.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Ice cream lovers out there ...

Now I know this isn't running related, but I just finished "carbo-loading" for my race this weekend after my training run, and now I'm going to eat some ice cream by God. Now growing up, I was a mint chocolate chip fan, and at one point I loved an avocado ice cream flavor, but it is hard to find. So now it seems like time and time again, I've been gravitating towards my new favorite flavor coffee and I'm hooked.

According to the International Ice Cream Association, the 15 most popular ice cream flavors are (by percent preferring) ...
1. Vanilla, 29%
2. Chocolate, 8.9%
3. Butter pecan, 5.3%
4. Strawberry, 5.3%
5. Neapolitan, 4.2%
6. Chocolate chip, 3.9%
7. French vanilla, 3.8%
8. Cookies and cream, 3.6%
9. Vanilla fudge ripple, 2.6%
10. Praline pecan, 1.7%
11. Cherry, 1.6%
12. Chocolate almond, 1.6%
13. Coffee, 1.6%
14. Rocky road, 1.5%
15. Chocolate marshmallow, 1.3%
All others, 23.7%

What's your favoite ice cream flavor? ... and yes, feel free to indulge on my behalf. You can just run it off tomorrow :)

Blast from the past: classic Bob story

I was reminded of the following story when I ran the running leg of a triathlon relay several weeks ago (same swimmer got me to run this on as well). So I'm turning back the clock to tell the story (how I saw it go down) about a running-drinking-running feat that motivates me when I do things like beer miles or long runs on Sunday after a college football Saturday. Well this particuliar event happened in April 2001, and included running a marathon, partying all night, sleeping (I think), and then running again in the Trideltathon relay the next day.

So there I was ... back in the spring of my senior year at the University of Tennessee (Go Vols). Several days before I ran the Country Music Marathon in Nash-Vegas, a couple of my fraternity brothers came up to me and wanted me to be the runner of the fraternity Trideltathon triathlon team ... for we were the defending champs from the year before (in which I ran as well). At first, I told them to find someone else because I was running in a marathon the day prior and would be drinking heavily in celebration into the weee hours of the next morning. Well that didn't phase them, and they said they would rather have a drunk, injured Bob over anyone else. Well I finally particially gave in and said, "Well if you can wake me up and get me to move, I'll do it," not realizing what I was getting myself into. So I ran my marathon in 3 hours flat, a respectable time to say the least and then preceded to drink that night until about 4 a.m., completely forgetting that I'd told these guys that I'd run in the race. So I'd say appoximately two hours rolled by and like clockwork these guys came to wake me up. I think they tried for 15 minutes before I finally put two and two together on what they were blabbering about. So they said that they had to run ahead to pick up our packet and told me to meet them up there. So I staggered up the street, needing to make it about 600 meters to make it to the starting line. Needless to say I was still hammered, tired, and hungover. I also looked like crap; wearing basketball shorts and no shirt. This was in addition to being 'sore as all hell' from running a marathon the day prior and dancing all night. Well as I was stumbling past the UT track, I veered off to make a pit stop behind the official's box and puke and rally. Now I probably should have turned around and headed back at that moment, but I kept moving forward like a zombie from "28 Days Later." So I get to the starting line and wait for them to tag me to go. It took me a few steps to remember how to run again, but I actually ran pretty fast, running the third fastest three mile of the day in a decent 18:00. After I finished I proceeded back down to my bed to finish my sleep and to forget about the nightmare that had just occured.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Knoxville Track Club team bios

Below are the bios for our KTC Hood 2 Coast team ... enjoy!























Monday, August 24, 2009

Hood 2 Coast Twitter, Facebook updates

Hood 2 Coast relay Knoxville Track Club team Twitter page

Our team will be tweeting race updates as we make our way along the 198-mile Hood 2 Coast relay race. Our starting wave is 6:45 pm PT (9:45 pm ET) on Friday, Aug. 28, and we will be running throughout the night and will finish early Saturday afternoon. We are seeded the #3 team out of 1000 teams based on our predicted finish time. That gives us a very good shot at winning the event. We feel our team has the talent to accomplish this tough feat and let the nation know that Knoxville is one of the top running community’s in the nation.

We also have a team facebook group page: Knoxville Hood to Coast Relay Team. We will be using this page to post pictures from the event.

Race Information
Each person on the 12-man team will run three times during the two-day race (Aug. 28-29), which starts on Mount Hood and finishes in Seaside, Oregon. The team will have two vans serving as a moving headquarters, transporting team members when they aren’t running and supplying us with food, water and motivation.

The team consists of speed—three former University of Tennessee track stars, and endurance—marathon and ultra marathon champions. The team is very serious about this event and expects nothing but excellence. The team is well into training, and will represent Knoxville and the surrounding community with pride.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

South African 800m world champion ... more than a woman?

I'm going to get right to the point. Does it really take two weeks to find out the test results of five different doctors (one being a pyschologist) that will determine whether Caster Semenya, a South African athlete who won the women's 800m world championship by 2.5 seconds, is more woman or man? I mean, I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt, even though the woman looks like a man, talks like a man, and runs like a man, because, according to this article, her dad, grandmother, cousins, and friends say she is a woman. I mean who has family and friends lie, and in this case continue to lie, when the person is to be tested. According to the article, the IAAF is saying it is testing her for sexual ambiguity. The most common cause of sexual ambiguity is congenital adrenal hyperplasia, an endocrine disorder where the adrenal glands produce abnormally high levels of hormones, which would explain why she looks and talks like a man. From what I understand, if there is a certain amount of hormones that are released in a woman's body due to this disorder, then she cannot compete due to an unfair advantage. Well, I for one am interested in seeing the results.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Cumberland Trail 50k - KTC's first ultra!

I want to be the first the promote the Knoxville Track Club's first ultramarathon.

History will be made October 10 as the KTC will hold its first ultramarathon, the Cumberland Trail 50k at Cove Lake State Park. The race benefits the Cumberland Trail Conference and will be limited to 100 runners (those who have completed another ultra in under 8 hours). This seems strict, but the Race Director, local ultra runner, Susan Donnelly, warns that this course is extremely tough and to expect times twice as slow a your PR. That would mean this course would take me more than 6 hours to complete ... ouch.

Course Description
The race takes you on a challenging, out-and-back route on the rugged New River section of the Cumberland Trail. This section crosses the high point of the trail, Cross Mountain, at over 3000ΚΌ. The climb up Cross Mountain is steep and will be slow. The course is 80% single-track trail and 20% gravel road. The race course starts through Cove Lake State Park, then uses approximately 9.3 miles of the Cumberland Trail before diverging off the trail and onto ATV and gravel road the rest of the way to the halfway point. It returns to the finish using the same route.

A more detailed course description can be found on the RACE APPLICATION.

Even though I'm excited for this event, I still haven't fully decided if I'm going to run it or not. It depends on when the UT/Georgia game is that day (the later the better) AND whether I decide to get in a fast road marathon instead to prepare for the JFK 50-miler in November.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

What happens September 9th at 12 p.m.?

So there I was late last night web surfing. I may have been slightly delirious because I ended up on run100s.com and decided to check out a few of the regional races. So I was glancing through the list and saw that one of the 100 mile races was nearby and the next race is March 2010. I clicked on the race Web site and further noticed that online race registration opened on active.com on September 9th at noon and that last year it closed in 19 minutes (max 280 runners). That actually got me slightly excited and making hasty decisions. It didn't take but a few seconds for me to decide I wanted to try and register for this race (and run it of course), epecially since there was a race to register for it. So this morning I did my pre registration training and updated my active.com profile, so that when the day comes, I will be able to fly through the registration process. So I don't want to jinx it, so I'm going not going to say that I am racing in a certain 100 miler or any 100 miler next year for that matter. Nor am I going to say I'm going to be mad if I don't register in time. I just want to give this thing a shot. I mean, by God, I sure hope I can register in 19 minutes. I just need to have my game face on when the clock strikes noon three weeks from tomorrow and not be distracted by lunch after grad school classes. As for how I will feel if I do get in, I'm not sure if I will be excited or sick knowing I am going to run that far. But until then, I've got other running business that needs my attention. I know you must be asking yourself what race this is, so if you must know, I'm sure with a little Sherlock Holmes action you can figure it out.

Today is my last day of freedom before my last semester of the MBA program begins. To the pool.

Monday, August 17, 2009

10 days before the "big" H2C relay

It's now crunch time as its only 10 days until the Hood 2 Coast relay. I hope I have gotten in good enough shape to help my team out. I know the other 11 guys are also getting into great shape. I've gotten in a few recent quality workouts (including an 8 X 1 mile track workout on Saturday at a 5:32 per mile avg. pace) and consistent mid-to-high mileage weeks. Going back from last week, my last six weeks mileage totals are 69, 82, 72, 63, 69 and 60. It's time to taper down a little more this week and run around 60 miles to give my legs a little break. Other than the knee pain that I've felt since the early summer and can run through, I feel good healthwise.

It has been a long time coming since we initially signed up for this event last September. Hopefully all this training in the hot, humid Southeast will help us run faster in the Northwest. Hope everyone has a good week of training.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Tunes for the Long Run

This is the first of a series of blogs that promote several artists and one of their songs that help me get through my long run. In this week's edition of "Tunes for the Long Run," I will be promoting two indie rock bands, "Spoon" and "Matt Pond PA."

Spoon hails from Austin, Texas. I first heard of them when I was in the Army stationed near Austin. The song I'm listening to to the most at the moment is "Don't You Evah."

Matt Pond PA, a their band names points out, is from Philadelphia, Penn. The song I want to pimp is one titled, "Sunlight."

If you liked the two songs I featured, be sure to check out their other songs as well. Both have plenty of good tunes. I wish I could stay around longer, but I'm heading out for a late sushi dinner and a going away party. Have a great weekend!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Bob's running advice: Weekly runs

Figuring out what to run each week can be difficult at times, so here is an example of a weekly workout schedule that I've followed and set up for other runners that works well. There are three runs during the week that I feel are too important to pass up: track workout, medium-distance tempo run, and long run.

First, look at your upcoming weekly work schedule, unless it is the same every week, and determine when you are going to get in these runs (preferrably not on consecutive days). Every other day can be used to get in recovery miles (at a pace that it is easy to talk) or can be used as a cross training day or rest day. I have worked my way up to only taking a rest day every few weeks, though each person is different and needs more/less time to recover. If I have a race on the weekend, if it is a 15k or less I usually do it in place of the tempo run for that week. If it is anything more than a 15k, then I usually replace my long run for that week. I also sometimes replace the track workout with a tough hill repeat workout to build up strength.

There isn't a definite art to it, but after awhile, you will figure what weekly routine works best for you. By keeping a training log, you can look back and determine what workout routines you liked and tailor it from there. If you have any questions let me know. I didn't go into that much detail so as to not overload anyone with info.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Bob's running advice: training log

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to provide some advice on how to go about training for a long race, whether its a hal marathon, marathon, or ultra race. Remember that everybody is different, so I will try to tailor these posts with that in mind. I will also try to use real-life examples/experiences to help explain posts in more detail. Feel free to pass these posts on to your fellow running friends. I enjoy passing on knowledge to grow the sport.

Training Log
In my book, this is by far one of the most important things to have when training. By keeping track of your miles/hours per day, you can both track what you've done in the past and forecast future workouts. Training logs can be very detailed, down to what the temperature was and a paragraph about how you felt, or you can do what I do, and just keep an Excel spreadsheet that goes back three years that just keeps track of my daily and weekly miles (I've provided a snapshot of my log and how to set it up).



(Click image to enlarge)

I've found my log to be very useful because I can look back at how I trained for past races or see what miles I've run the past few weeks to determine how many miles I want to try and reach the next week. I also recommend putting future races on the Excel spreadsheet, so you can place weekly mileage total amount (goals) you would like to reach before race day. I've never believed in following a generic online training schedule, and I always tell people who I make marathon training schedules for to never follow it to a "T" and to listen to their bodies. Once again, when I train for a future event, I never already have my daily training runs planned out (just the next several week's mileage goals)and I'm usually determining how far or hard I'm going to run "that day" based on how my body feels, which is another topic for another day.

If you would like to know more about this topic, send me a comment or email and I can go into more detail about it from my perspective. The next post will break down the different types of training runs you should be trying to incorporate into your weekly workouts.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

First 'three workout' day in the books

I just finished a three workout day (18 total miles) to simulate what my legs will go through during the upcoming relays. Of course I wasn't going at full out race pace during each run, but I feel better about the race format now that I've done it. I ran 7 miles at 7:30 a.m., 6 miles at 3:30 p.m. and 5 miles at 9 p.m. During the 5 mile run, I averaged a 6:20 pace and felt great. I plan on doing several more of these three workout days in the upcoming weeks to ensure my legs can handle short amounts of rest.

Blue Ridge Relay (Ultra Team)

So I don't know what the deal is this fall, but I'm now running on two relay teams in two weeks after my recent invite and decision to be on an ultra team in the Blue Ridge 208-mile Relay Sept. 11-12. The first is the Hood To Coast 197-mile Relay in Oregon Aug.28-29, and though these seem to be similar relays, there are several differences that need to be addressed.

Hood To Coast details
The H2C team is made up of 12 runners who run three legs a piece and average aproximately 16.5 miles each. My leg consists of 14.9 total miles (leg 4 - 7.18 miles, leg 16 - 3.52, and Leg 28 - 4.20). The first leg will be my toughest and is the fifth longest distance of the 36 legs of the race. Or goal for this relay is to win the overall crown. Wish us luck!

Blue Ridge Relay details
I will be running on the team "Shaving More Time," which won the ultra team division last year, holds the ultra team course record, and was the fourth overall team out of the 80+ 12-runner and ultra teams. They ran the course at a 7:10 average pace last year, and this years team will be much faster. Now I don't know which leg I will be running yet, but the first major difference between these two relays is that there are only six runners on this team. We still have to switch off at every exchange station like 12 runner teams, which means we will be running twice as often (we will have to run six legs each instead of three times like the teams of 12 run). This translates into running 5-to-7 mile legs every 2-to-3 hours for approximately 24 hours. Each team member will run an average of 35 miles at a fast pace with no time to sleep. The second difference between the two relays is the terrain. The Hood To Coast relay is downhill throughout the first part of the race and relatively flat as we make our way over to the ocean. The Blue Ridge Relay on the other hand consists of rolling hills throughout most of the course as we make our way along the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia on down to Asheville, NC. Another factor is the weather conditions. West coast weather will not be like the nasty humid conditions we will face in Virginia/N.C.

More updates to come as these races approach and I know more. As for right now, I've got a lot to think about as I train for these two different beasts.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

19 miles on the trails

Started off the week with a strong 19-miler this morning. Met my brother early to get in an early 6 miles before the rest of the large group of runners (roughly 13) showed up. After a quick change of socks, since we caught the tail end of a rain storm, we took off again and ran the usual 13-mile loop on the Northern Boundary Trails in Oak Ridge, TN. Overall the group averaged less than a 7 minute pace on the 13-mile section, with the pace definitely picking up in the latter miles. Then like clockwork with one mile to go, everyone took off, some with hopes of taking down Stewart Ellington and his last mile record of 4:48. A couple of young guys took off at the one-mile-to-go bridge, and Ellington, who was running with us, waited patiently. Then he went after them and caught the last guy in the last quarter mile, breaking his own record with a powerful 4:45. Then the other 12 guys filed on in to the finish, all wth times under 5:30.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

5k time trial ... thick and juicy

When I woke up and walked outside in West Knoxville, it was 70 degrees, blue skies and ... high humidity. At that point I knew it was going to be a tough one. Then to make things more interesting, as I drove into Knoxville, the blue skies and sun disappeared and changed into a thick, foggy, sticky heat box. Everybody showed up for the run (except Jason the pacer) and did their warmups, drills, strides. My brother and I ran 3 miles to warmup and were completely soaked after the first mile or so. It was the kind of stickiness that made you feel nasty (my clothes and shoes are in the wash as I type).

Annual Tom Black Track Time Trials

Presented by Runner Market & West Knox News
University of Tennessee – Knoxville, TN
August 1, 2009 Weather: Foggy & Humid


OVERALL RESULTS 5000M
Place Name (1600 Split) Finish
1. Michael Mentz (4:54) 15:29
2. Alan Horton (4:41) 16:03
3. Daniel Julian (5:10) 16:04
4. Eric Malkowski (5:12) 16:22
5. Bobby Holcombe (5:11) 16:29
6. Bob Adams (5:11) 16:32
7. Elijah Shekinah (5:10) 16:36
8. Brad Adams (5:27) 17:02

OVERALL RESULTS 1 MILE
Place Name (800 Split) Finish
1. Alan Horton (2:17) 4:41
2. Drew Streip (2:30) 5:05
3. Greg Johnson (2:43) 5:27

OVERALL RESULTS 800M
Place Name (400 Split) Finish
1. Ryan Smith (1:02) 2:11
- Nick Symmonds DNS

Even though the times weren't as good as most of us wanted to run, I still look at it as a positive, good tempo run in sub-par conditions, while most of us are putting in a lot of weekly miles in preparation for H2C. Most of us got in 11 total miles this morning and we are all running 15+ miles tomorrow on trails, so the weekend is a plus. After today's workout, I ended the week with 72 miles and plan to run 80+ miles next week. Can't wait to head out west (Oregon) and run in nice, cool, low humidity weather and dominate.