The Journey to a Barefoot 50-mile Endurance Run: Week 4 of 18

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!!!  I hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year's celebration.

This past week was a challenge for training.  My brother and his family came up to celebrate a belated Christmas with my parents.  We also worked on a 2 day (turned into 3 day) remodeling project of our parent's home office.  The good part about that running while tired is that my body is forced to learn how to deal with it.  One of the reasons for back to back runs both midweek and on the weekends is to run with no rest between runs to simulate running long distances without having to run individual long mileage runs.  Well, after a long day of construction, paint, and other remodeling activities my body was tired.  Additionally, I tended to not go out for my runs this week until at least 8:30 p.m. followed by a relatively early rising to get back to the remodeling.

So, for the mid-week runs I ran 4-miles each on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.  I skipped Thursday's run because I was too exhausted from a very long day of construction.  The first night was interesting because I ran on a stomach that had feasted on a fabulous bourbon beef tenderloin prepared by my sister-in-law.  It was a little tough going, but I ran 4 miles (in Sockwas) instead of the planned 2-miles to try and make up for lost mileage last weekend and give me a leg up on the week.  Good thing I did this since I lost mileage on Thursday.  Wednesday's run went quick and nothing really interesting to report.  I did manage to run barefoot that night.  My feet were telling me that they needed to be let out of shoes and feel the ground again.  So, I obliged and didn't have any issues with the cold.

After not running on Christmas weekend I was looking forward to keeping to my run schedule for New Year's weekend.  Yeeaaah, wellllll.... not so much.  I spent most of New Year's Eve running some errands, fixing up details in my parents new office, and lounging around with the family (we really hadn't had much time for that during the vacation).  Then, staying up til midnight with the family proved very challenging possibly due to feeling slightly ill (or perhaps age is getting to me).  That meant sleeping in for the first time in ages on Sunday morning.  Spent the afternoon/evening eating too much food again at my in-laws and hanging out fairly late.

In a last ditch effort to end the weekend and my vacation (I'm a teacher) with some decent mileage I went out last night (Monday) for a nice, long 14-mile run in the dark and barefoot.  It was fantastic!  The first 2-miles were a bit challenging as usual as my mind tried to tell me that I was too tired.  Once again, as I reached 4-miles I found my stride and pace.  Unfortunately, likely due to the New Year's weekend, there was LOTS of glass on the sidewalks and streets along my route likely deposited there thanks to all of the under-age and other drunk "glass-holes".   "Glass-holes" is my new term for people who smash bottles along public walkways instead of throwing them in the trash.  Lucky for me, I have become quite adept at spotting glass while running in the dark (even if it's at the last possible second).  By the end of my run, I was feeling quite tired.  At about the 11.5-mile mark I was feeling pretty fatigued.  I almost took the shortcut home, but convinced myself to turn down the planned route away from the house to add in the final 2+ miles.

My hope is that with the holiday season behind me that I will be able to focus more on training and not miss these weekend long-runs.  Not the greatest start to the training schedule, but what are ya gonna do about it?

Mileage total for the past week (including the Monday run):  22 miles

Plan for this week:  T/W/TH = 4/4/6 and S/Sun 16/10

Have a great week everyone!  Watch out for those "glass-holes" out there!

The Journey to a Barefoot 50-mile Endurance Run - Week 3 of 18

Merry Christmas, everyone!  I hope all my readers had a fantastic holiday.  Ours seemed crazier than usual with lots of food to be prepared and gifts to wrap.  Lots of fun was had by all, way too much food was consumed, a giant Nerf gun war, and lots of karaoke singing.  As for gifts, I managed to score a reflective running vest as well as a blinking runners light - now I'll finally be visible on my evening runs!

Last week I had assumed even as Christmas approached I would be able to get in most of my miles for the week.  The plan was T/W/TH = 2/2/4 and 12/8 for Sat/Sun.  Well, that really didn't work out too well.  I managed one midweek run of 7 miles on Thursday evening.  As for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - well ... yeah, that didn't happen either.

The one midweek run I did was pretty decent.  I held a good pace (just over 8-min miles) for most of the 7 miles.  I did have to play mind games at the beginning of the run.  My favorite game that evening was shadow-running.  I watched my shadow to keep an eye on my form.  Minimize the bouncing and concentrate most of my energy to drive me forward.  This kept my mind occupied for the first 3 miles as I was trying to keep myself motivated to get to at least a 3.5-mile turnaround point. 

On my return I had my first ever near fall.  Driving my left foot hard into the sidewalk, I nearly did a forward slide across the concrete.  I managed to catch myself and maintain my run.  Something to say for quick cadence??? 

So, apologies for nothing exciting this week. 

The plan for the coming week is to tack on a few extra miles on the week:  T/W/TH 4/6/6 and S/S 14/8.  Have a great week, everyone!

The Journey to a Barefoot 50-mile Endurance Run - Week 2 of 18

Week 2 has been an interesting week on a number of fronts.  As you all probably are experiencing, the stress and bustle of the Christmas season can get pretty crazy sometimes.  Our family and extended family had a wide range of events that happened all in 4 days - everything from the joy of a baptism to the funeral of a loved one and a college graduation.  Additionally, there were Christmas parties to attend.  Despite all of this rushing around and emotional roller coaster of it all, I managed to get almost all of my mileage in.

I managed to get two of my mid-week runs running barefoot despite high 30s nighttime temperatures.  I have been doing a most of my miles in my Sockwas because of the cold, but this week I decided I would just deal with the cold so I could have the joy of having my feet actually in contact with the ground.  I had no problems running in the cold.  That being said, the concrete of the sidewalk is much colder than the asphalt of the street.  Another interesting thing I noticed with my bare feet was the temperature gradients as I passed various landscaping features.  There were noticeable temperature changes (colder) in the first 5 - 6 inches off the ground as I passed areas of plants.  The grass areas were slightly warmer.  Extended periods of running on the sidewalk made the balls of my feet slightly numb so I would try to switch up running on the sidewalk with periods of running on the street.

My third mid-week run was skipped due to one of the aforementioned events.

This weekend I had to switch my Saturday and Sunday distances.  Saturday morning I headed out to Cosumnes River Preserve for a quick 6-mile on a trail.  The temperatures were a very frosty 32-degrees.  After 5 miles, I tried pulling off one of my Sockwas to see how cold the ground was.  It was very cold and wet too.  So, I decided against running at near freezing temperatures with wet feet. 

A cold, frosty start to the morning - just before sunrise

The leafy path and fog

Sunrise across the Cosumnes River Preserve

The temperature was about 40-degrees as I went out for my 10-miler late last Sunday night.  I started off in the Sockwas and switched to barefoot for the second half of the run.  The run started off rough.  As I always tell people, running is about 99% mental.  At about 3-miles my brain started to complain that I was too tired to finish the run.  I had to debate myself out of stopping or turning around.  By the time I reached 4.5 miles, I had found my groove and was floating down the road.  At about 8 miles, my body started to protest all of the food I had eaten over the past 48 hours - 2 Chinese multi-course meals, various cocktails, and a Christmas lunch from that day.  I managed to make it home without any incidents and just over 90 minutes for the run as a whole.  So, I was fairly satisfied with the run.

The thing I have been learning to do lately is how to run on a relatively full stomach.  I've always been a weak-stomach runner.  Before races I used to only manage a slice of toast with peanut butter.  I had a breakthrough last summer with the Skyline 50K that taught me that I could eat a lot of different stuff without adverse effects.  This week was definitely no different.  Wednesday night, I had eaten a very healthy bakers dozen or more of chicken nuggets about an hour before my run.  If that didn't put a damper on my running, then I don't know what would.

For this coming week, the running plan is 2/2/4 on T/W/TH and 12/8 for Saturday and Sunday.  The challenge will be that this weekend is Christmas.  I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to manage the weekend miles.  I guess you'll find out when I post next Monday!

The Journey to a Barefoot 50-mile Endurance Run - Week 1 of 18

This is the first of 18 weekly installments as I train and prepare for my first 50-mile ultramarathon.  This will be the longest distance I have run with or without shoes and of course, I plan to do it barefoot.

My goal race is the American River 50 Endurance Run on April 7, 2012.  This week (of December 5, 2011) marks my first week of 18 weeks of training to come.  Each week I plan to write a short summation of my training for the week and a look toward the week to come.

My training for this race is based on the schedule produced by the Santa Clarita Runners website for ultramarathon training.  It is a schedule based on successive days of running.  I will be running Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.  Long runs are back to back on Saturdays and Sundays.  It's a fairly simple plan, but definitely rigorous.  I used a similar plan from their site when training for the Skyline 50K.  However, I lagged a bit while training for that race and did not complete several of the longer runs.

This time around I don't believe I will able to "fake it" or just "dig deep" for a 50-mile finish.  So, I intend to hit as many of the runs as possible and keep the missed runs as close to zero as I can.

So with that introduction. . . Here is Week 1 of training. . .

This past week (Dec. 5 - 11):  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday - 2 miles each;  Saturday 8-miles, Sunday 6-miles.

I officially started my training on Tuesday, December 6th with an easy, evening 2-mile run.  Even though it was quite chilly out, I wanted to be sure to start out on the right foot (a bare one).  The air temperature was hovering in the upper 30s (F) and the concrete sidewalks were definitely closer to freezing!  I remembered reading something about a barefoot snow-runner dunking his feet in hot water before snow running to get the blood flowing and feet warm before going out.  I gave it a shot - well sorta.  I ran the hot water in the tub over my feet for a couple minutes - then headed out.

One thing about cold-weather running for me is that I run much faster.  So, cold-weather runs = speed workouts for me.  I managed an even 16-minutes for the 2 miles.  I varied my run between asphalt and concrete.  I had been taking some time off of running in November so I wanted to get my feet stimulated.

The ground was cold, but not unbearably so.  I was concerned because I did have an incident last January in which the tips of my toes had swollen following a run on sub-freezing concrete.  There was no problem with that this time.  However, I did notice that the couple times I skirted across the grass from street to sidewalk that the spray of dew across my feet caused a considerable temperature change.  This happened about 3 times during the run, the last one unintended due to a person walking their dog off-leash.

The next two nights I chose to wear my Sockwa G2s.  These shoes are awesome!  They are so thin (1.2 mm) that you can really feel the ground but keep your feet comfortably warm.  On Thursday, I was having issues with my Garmin not syncing with the satellites and spent a good 5 minutes standing on the cold sidewalk - even the G2s couldn't keep my feet warm.  I finally gave up, since I knew the exact distance I was running and just took off using the stopwatch only. 

Saturday morning came and I chose to get a good 8-mile trail run (as it turned out I ended up doing about 7.4 due to avoiding wildlife photographers).  I headed out to the Cosumnes River Preserve.  The ground was very frosty and the bridge heading over to the trails was iced over.  Thankfully, I chose to wear my G2s again.  Being back on a trail was heaven!  I love the feel of the ground, rocks, gravel and well, no mud this time.  In the coming weeks, I am hoping to mix up minimalist/bare trail runs to maintain good running form.  I have managed to run cold-weather for two years barefoot.  I think I'm just being prissy this year.

I closed out the week this morning with a quick 6-mile run (about 55 minutes).  So, that is my first week of training - a total of 19.4 miles. 

The mileage plan for the coming week:  T/W/TH at 2/2/4  and Sat/Sun at 10/6

Stay tuned.  . .

Sockwa G2 Minimalist Shoe Review

This article was originally published in the blog section of www.barefoot-running.us.  Enjoy!

As a barefoot/minimalist runner, I run over 85% of my miles barefoot.  I am very particular about any “shoes” that I wear for a run.  In extreme weather (hot or cold), I will run in huaraches.  For very rugged trails or gravel levees I might wear Vibram KSOs.  The Sockwa G2 offers something in-between. 

When the Sockwa G2s arrived, my first thought was that they were basically water shoes.  One of my co-workers that I train with runs in water shoes.  Her shoes and the ones I examined in the local mega-store have fairly thick, inflexible soles.  Water shoes are difficult to fold in half.  The Sockwas can be rolled into a small tube.  There is also a noticeable weight difference.  

The first evening I had them, I wore them around the house.  They are very comfortable.  They quite literally feel like you are wearing socks.  I made sure to trim my toenails.  Because of the snug fit, I was concerned that any sharp nails might wear quickly on the neoprene uppers.

Construction:

The G2 has a ultra-thin 1.2 mm TPU sole.  (For comparison, my huaraches are 4 mm.)  The snug neoprene uppers offer some protection from debris that might be kicked up on the road or trail.  The top of the shoe has a breathable spandex-type material.

Fit:

Like the name implies, the Sockwa G2 fits like a sock.  It is snug, but very comfortable.  Due to the ultra-thin sole, the shoe is extremely flexible.  I was concerned that the snugness of the upper material would inhibit toe splay.  However, during my runs my feet did not feel restrained.

Footbed:

The foot bed has a very thin layer of neoprene material.  It is cushy, but not overly padded.

First Test Run:

I took the G2s out for their first trial on a 10-mile morning training run.  My intention was to only wear them for about a mile.  They turned out to be so lightweight and comfortable that they stayed on for the first four miles.  At that point, I felt a slight hot spot developing on the tops of my two smallest toes on my right foot.  I removed them for 2 miles and then I tried them again for another mile.  Another light hot spot developed under the inside ball of my right foot.  So, I figured that was enough for their first trial.

Additional testing:

A couple days following the first run, I took them out for a 4-mile night run.  I wanted to determine the cause of the “hot spot” issue.  I started out with a quick mile (7:45 pace – fast for me).  Next I did 2 miles very easy (12-minute pace).  I closed out the run with another fast mile.  Not once did I sense a hot spot developing anywhere on either foot.  It appears that the initial “hot spot” issue on my toes could have been from some rubbing against the stitching toward the outside of the shoe.  However, there were no issues on this and subsequent runs with the stitching.

In addition to my first two runs, I took them out several more times on runs as well as wearing them for an afternoon at work.  They provided protection from warm/hot asphalt on an 80-degree California afternoon.  You can feel the warmth of the asphalt or concrete through the soles.  The G2s are very comfortable to wear at work if nobody minds you wearing moccasin/sock-like shoes.

The G2s can give a slight measure of protection from chip-seal asphalt.  The chip-seal that these were tested on was pretty horrific and barely tolerable in bare feet.  Since the Sockwas have excellent ground feel, you definitely feel the gravel.  However, the shoes give some relief from the really sharp stuff. 

I did receive one blister on the ball of my foot during testing.  However, in all fairness, I must state that the blister developed after I finished running a barefoot half marathon.  I had gone back to run some friends to the finish during the last mile.  The G2s had gotten wet and my feet were already slightly tender.

Pros:	Cons:
Extremely lightweight Ultra-thin, flexible sole Comfortable feel	Possible blistering

Overall, I feel that the Sockwa G2 is an excellent addition to a barefoot/minimalist runner’s arsenal of shoes.  They allow for excellent ground feel and are extremely flexible – both musts for a barefoot runner.  The G2s offer a thin layer of protection from general abrasions during road running. 

If you are a regular road-runner who is looking for minimal protection from the surface and are not satisfied by the weight of other minimalist options, you will likely be pleased with the Sockwa G2.  For those who are not ready or able to make the barefoot leap, this might be just the to get that maximum barefoot-feel without being truly barefoot.

Made the local paper again!

So, yesterday I raced in my 3rd barefoot half marathon - Stockton's inaugural St. Joseph's Half Marathon.  Also in the race was my mom, racing in Vibrams, as well as two of my co-workers who I trained for this race - Jeannie & Jessica. 

My mom and I made the paper as the "mother and son" team.  Enjoy the article... race report coming soon!

Why They Run - from The Record newspaper

My First Barefoot Ultramarathon: The Skyline 50K - Part II

So, I left off with me heading out from Skyline Gate realizing that I had not even bothered to grab my drop bag.   I was mildly concerned whether or not I would have enough shot bloks to last the remaining hours of the race.  Being only a half hour ahead of the cutoff, I chose to push on because it was likely that I had enough to get me through.

About a mile or two down the trail, I started to realize that my head was really getting down in the weeds.  I was starting to feel like crap and my focus was poor.  My fingers had begun to swell and were starting to look like red sausages.  I felt like I had mild tunnel vision.  I swung my pack around and pulled two Hammer Electrolyte pills out and downed them with water and Gu2O.  After about 10 minutes, my head cleared up and I felt incredible.  Even my fingers felt a little less swollen. 

I starting moving steadily down the single-track trail through the gorgeous redwood forest.  This was some of the best trail running I’ve done to date (not that I’ve done a lot).  The ground was soft with the dirt and needles from the trees and it was gorgeous.  I felt like the guy from the trail running video from movenat.com, effortlessly gliding across the trail, over rocks, down shallow dips, surrounded by redwoods, ferns and creeks.  It was truly my favorite part of the course.

Pausing for a pic among the redwoods

For reference, Skyline Gate is roughly the furthest point out on a figure-8 course from the start/finish line.  The beautiful redwood section runs about 6 miles as it winds its way back towards Big Bear aid station through and across many intersecting trails.  The race officials had really taken care to mark the course well considering the many trails that seem to crisscross the parks in the area.  Yellow ribbons were present to reassure you that you were on course.  At every possible trail intersection there were white chalk arrows for the correct trail and a line with the word “NO” across the front of the wrong path.  They also had race officials seemingly in the middle of nowhere to point out the correct course at certain junctions.  

 

As the morning wore on, there were more and more hikers on the trail – many of them had dogs.  I can’t remember the last time I ran around so many dogs.  Fortunately the dogs were all well trained and did not seem to pay much attention to the runners.  There was one section of trail where I passed a few people running the trails with their dogs.  The dogs got ahead of them and started running along with me.  As they called back their dogs, the dogs looked back with a bit of confusion.  They joked that the dogs must have thought they were running with their barefoot pack leader.

Later on, a couple of runners caught up with me and said, “We’ve been following your foot prints, but I thought you were in Vibrams not actually barefoot!”

I came back out of the redwoods just before lunch – crossing the road and hitting the Big Bear aid station for the second time that morning.  I had run just over 20 miles at this point.  I was reaching my furthest distance ever run barefoot (20.41 miles).  I popped a couple S! Caps to keep my head clear.  After refueling at the aid station I headed back onto the trail.  The trail passed back through the parking lot at MacDonald gate staging area.  This parking lot is gravel and now my feet were beginning to feel a bit tender.  I navigated through the parking lot without too much trouble since it was maybe 30 yards across.

A long way down to the trail below

From here there is a 500-foot climb over about a mile before the long downhill to the finish.  I believe this was the point in which my quads went from a bit tired to completely trashed.  I pushed myself to keep a 15-minute pace on the climbs, but it was becoming increasingly difficult.  As I crested the ridge I thought I was out of the woods.  It actually became the point at which I started to realize that the last handful of miles (mostly downhill) might actually be more difficult than I had envisioned. 

I reached Bort Meadow at 23.3 miles and chatted with the volunteers there as they filled my pack with water.  After they filled it, I tried to take it back to close the cap.  My fingers were still slightly swollen and I had no real dexterity to put the lid back on.  Fortunately, one of the gentlemen there told the gal with my pack to take care of it so I could get some food and get out of there.  It reminded me of when I volunteered at Western States, taking care of bottles and packs for the runners.  The reason we were instructed to do this all made sense now because the simple things like twisting bottle lids becomes more difficult.

While I was eating a conversation broke out among the volunteers about my running barefoot.  They asked the usual questions about how long I had been running barefoot and if I had been barefoot the whole race. Then one lady made the funniest comment I had heard on the trail that day.

“I don’t know whether to be impressed or horrified,” she said.

I had a good laugh at that as I threw my pack back on and headed out across the parking lot.  The gravel and paved sections were pretty horrific but not too long.  I wanted to get back onto the dirt fire roads.  My feet were becoming increasingly tender which made the little rocks more painful and annoying than the larger ones.  I made sure to run through every mud puddle I could find.  This served a dual purpose – first, a nice cooling splash of water on my heated feet; second, and more importantly, it was FUN!

As I had mentioned before, I had realized that the last miles were going to be difficult going even though it was mostly downhill.  My trashed quads were becoming weaker as the miles wore on.  I was quickly becoming unable to run slow or fast downhill due to the fading strength in my quads. 

Despite the soreness that was building in my quads, I actually felt great.  I knew that I had about 5 miles to the finish.  I had basically run a marathon at that point.  I downed a couple more hammer caps and the last of my shot bloks.  Even though I had no doubts in my mind whether I’d be able to complete the 50K, this was the point at which I became excited at the reality that I was going to finish my first ultra and barefoot!

As I came out of the forest and up onto the ridge before Honker Bay, I got my first glimpse of Lake Chabot.  This was a real morale booster.  I knew that all I had left to do was to make it around the shoreline to reach the finish!  I was hiking slowly up a hill when I saw the Honker Bay aid station.  I broke into a steady run as the hill leveled off.  I remembered this intersection of trails from my day of mountain biking the trail.  This would be the last aid station before the finish.  It was also the top of  a 300-foot descent to the lake’s edge.  

First view of Lake Chabot on the return

When I reached the aid station, I pulled out my water bottle.  I had downed the last of my sports drink about a half-mile back and was seriously wanting more.   I passed it to a volunteer who dutifully filled it and passed it back to me.  I distinctly remember eating quite a bit at this aid station.  I had 4 chunks of banana, the equivalent of a snickers bar that had been cut up into cubes, and a handful of M&Ms. The volunteers informed me that I only had 3 miles to the finish.

The time was a little after 1:30 and the fog had rolled back and the sun was warming the ground.  I headed down the wide dirt fire road.  This last downhill proved to be extremely difficult.  I ended up walking most of the half-mile downhill.  My quads were thoroughly trashed and my feet felt every tiny pebble as if they were needles.  Once I made it to the bottom, I took off at a steady run.  I was able to get down to between a 10 and 11 minute pace.  I was quite amazed that I had the ability to gain that pace.  I really needed it though, since I had fallen back during the second half of the race.

While running along the lake a lady in Vibrams caught up with me.  I think her name was Joan.  We chatted and ended up running most of the final 2 miles together.  I told her about the BRS.  She told me about her transition to Vibrams.

Source:  Skyline 50K Website

When we reached this bridge just under 2 miles from the finish, I was worried.  On my biking trip, I had scouted this bridge.  The metal steps on the far side have oval holes with vicious looking teeth.  The bridge, or more precisely the staircase, was the main reason I was carrying my huaraches.  I told Joan I didn’t want to lose time getting my sandals out when we were so close to the finish.  So, I braced my arms on the handrails and stepped down lightly and evenly on the step.  It worked!  I maneuvered my way step by step, putting most of my weight on my arms while balancing myself with my feet.  I gained the top of the stairs with lots of stares from the numerous hikers and bikers at the top.

I had done it!  I had reached the final stretch.  Joan and I continued to run reaching the paved path that would take us to the finish.  There were a few steep switchbacks, which we walked and then resumed running as soon as we reached the top.   With less than a half mile to go, Joan’s knee started bothering her.  She told me to go on ahead.

As I rounded a small peninsula on the lake I could see the marina.  The excitement really started to build inside me.

“Keep running.” I told myself. “Less than a quarter mile to go!” 

As I approached the picnic areas, I saw orange fencing material.

“That’s the chute!“  I thought to myself.

I sped up.  When I reached the fencing, I realized it was only there to keep people off the bank of the lake. 

Damn.

Upon passing the misleading fencing material I saw two signs pointing to the right.  I looked and saw the final bridge crossing.  I heard a cowbell ringing!  They were calling me in!!!

As I crossed the bridge I saw my family standing at the finish line.  My wife and my mom had their cell phone cameras up snapping pictures.  Amazingly, I started sprinting for the finish.  Thirty-one plus miles and here I was sprinting. 

I crossed the finish line and walked about ten feet past it.  I bent down and put my hands on my knees and exhaled a deep breath and stood back up.  

Approaching the finish line

I had just run 31.65 miles!  I couldn’t believe it.  I had completed my first ultramarathon and I’d done it barefoot!

Official time:  7:23:55

Post-race update: 

My feet post race (next morning)

I hobbled around my house for about 2 days.  Unfortunately for me my house has stairs.  It was quite a feat to maneuver up and down the stairs the first day or two.  My feet did remain somewhat swollen and tender for about 4 days.  I had pictures of the wasp stings, but they did not come out too clear.  However, nearly 2 weeks have passed since the race and I still have itchy traces of the bites.

 

I have to say that I really appreciated all of the runners and volunteers at the Skyline 50K.  They were all very positive and supportive of me running barefoot.  I did not get one ill comment the entire day.  Most people were excited to see me and cheered me on.  It really made the day all the more memorable.

I’m truly amazed that I finished a 50K ultramarathon.  Five years ago I would have never guessed that I would be at this point.  In fact, if you had asked me if I’d run an ultra, I’d have told you that you were crazy. 

Next stop 50 miles!