JFK 50-miler quick recap

Well I finished! I knew it was going to be rough considering my up and down training schedule leading up to the event. But hitting the wall as early as I did after taking it easy in the mountains really sucked. It did help that the weather was perfect and the scenery was awesome. I managed to finish the event to help the Knoxville Track Club team finish third overall. I finished third on the team (50th overall) in 7 hours, 34 minutes, while Jon Lawler finished first on the team (9th overall) in 6:24, and my brother Brad finished 21st overall in 6:49. Both were impressive times.

I may post more about the race later. I'm glad the season is over and I'm excited about taking some much needed time off to heal my body before I start all over again for the spring season. Boston '10 is looming right around the corner.

JFK 50 miler - strong field

The day has come, and by the looks of it, there is going to be a battle up front. The field consists of Scott Jurek and Hal Koerner, who are winners of the Western States 100, in addition to Oz Pearlman (2nd last year), Johan Oosthuizen (South Africa), and Kostyantyn Zhelezov (Ukraine). In addition the article mentions all of these ultrarunners as being front runners, myself included: Michael Arnstein, Josh Brimhall, Jason Bryant, Greg Crowther, Wynn Davis, David James, Matt Lavine, Chad Ricklefs, Jim Sweeney, and Ian Torrence. Eight of the top 10 runners from last year's race are among the people listed above.

Link to the JFK 50 article

I'm not in the best of shape for this race (due to some knee issues, but I have rested a lot the past week and my knee feels good enough to give it a good go. Not sure where I will end up, but my plan is to take it easy in the mountians (first 15.5 miles) and then pick it up on the flats for the last 35 miles.

Wish my brother and I luck, and I will have a race report early next week!

Halloween Weekend fun, race

It all started Friday night as I cross-dressed as a hybrid rabbit/playboy bunny and ended with a mediocre 15k this morning. I give it a 6 out of 10 for the weekend. And no I did not combine the two during the race, though I probably could have and felt better about my time. I ran the 15k in 54:10 and never really felt good the entire race. I know it is from all the miles I have put in the past two weeks, so I'm not too worried about it. I've got three weeks until the 50-miler, so I've got to really put in the miles this week (90-to-100 miles) and then start to taper the last two weeks. For your viewing pleasure, here is a photo of Lally and I, or the rabbit and the carrot.