Saturday Stroll

Michelle and Eric came to town to visit their son, Riley, and they sent me an email asking if I could give them a tour of some of the world-class running trails that Pullman has to offer. Coming from the greater Seattle area I know it's not often that they can find a good place to run. Only because I feel so bad for them for living in a runner's wasteland did I agree to their request.

I asked if they preferred hills or flatter hills and Eric mumbled something about 13 marathons/ultramarathons in 13 weeks and said the flatter option sounded fun. Sadie and I met them early at the world famous Chipman Trail for a little Saturday morning stroll in the crisp Palouse air.

Saturday morning on Chipman Trail

Eric's "tired" legs wanted to do some speed work so I spent most of the morning just trying to keep up. It was good for the soul, though. It's fun being around runners who are excited about running. I don't get that much around here despite the world-class natural facilities.

As we said our goodbyes I think I overhead Michelle saying something about "moving to Pullman as soon as they can" because it's so awesome here. :)

My legs are feeling pretty good for where I am in my training right now. I'm just hoping to be ready for the WSU 100k in two months. That's not a lot of time, but it will be fun trying to get ready. It's the journey.

A quick shout-out to my sister for completing her first marathon yesterday! Congrats, Lisa!

Keep running!

Scott

Melting Snow and Aching Legs

With a couple races finally on the horizon I'm back to training. Sadie and I went out for 17.75 very hilly miles this morning. WSU's new golf course has become my favorite winter running wonderland. No traffic. Sadie can run free. Extremely scenic. But hilly hilly hilly. The hills aren't huge but it's nothing but them. There are literally no flat sections on the 18-hole loop. Do the loop a few times and it's a great workout. The snow is melting fast, but don't let that fool you into thinking it's "warm" around here.

Melting snow = muddy Sadie.
17.75 miles = sore legs.

This is the longest run I've been on since late October. It felt pretty good though, and I'm excited about getting myself back into ultramarathon shape. And I can't tell you how excited I am about the South Africa trip. We'll even have a 12-hour layover in London. I've never been to London and I'm hoping we can skip out of the airport for a couple hours for a pint somewhere. The trip will be over 30 hours from start to finish. That may test my endurance more than the 89k run.

Hope all are doing well. Below are some photos from runs this week. Compared with the photos I took from a couple weeks ago you can see how the snow is melting fast. Enjoy.






Keep running!

Scott

Finally!

A big motivation for my passion to run was an article I read in Runner's World a couple years ago about the Comrades Marathon in South Africa. Often dubbed "The World's Greatest Race," the 89-km run became a dream of mine. My love of traveling helps the motivation. I was all geared up to do it last summer but flights were simply too expensive. So I went to Iceland instead, which, even though flights were cheaper, turned out to be ridiculously expensive too.

I thought it was about time to give myself something to look forward to. I called my sister yesterday and asked if she'd be interested in making another trip with me (she shares my passion for travel) and without hesitation she said yes. Last night we booked the trip.

I'm going to South Africa to run the Comrades Marathon!

Now to the "getting back in shape" portion of this fantasy...

The WSU 100k is in April and should be a nice pre-Comrades run. So, that's the goal: WSU 100k in April and then Comrades in May. Then I'll see what I have left for the rest of the summer.

I'm excited again.

Keep running!

-Scott

On Running and Blogging and Sorting Things Out

It's been a tough few months but things are starting to sort themselves out. Sometimes you ultimately have no control over things and you have to deal with what happens. I'm in the "dealing with it" stage. But I have Sadie and because she needs her exercise I've been good about getting out on the pavement and gravel for some running. Who knows how much I would have been running without her. And my dad says it's about time I start posting some photos.

Dad's doing very well. He's walking a lot and is feeling stronger everyday. We are all thankful he will recover fully and be back on the trails soon.

We had a couple big back to back snowstorms around Christmas which limited my running options with Sadie. Lots of snow. Here's a photo of Sadie and her trusty ball in the front yard:


There was a one mile stretch of a bike path that was plowed regularly so we went there for a couple weeks and did a bunch of one mile out and backs. Not the most fun but it still beats a treadmill. Actually, it was pretty fun. Sadie loves the snow and it's always fun watching her bounce around and dive headfirst into the snow. She even caught an owl! She didn't know what to do with it when she got it so just left it and ran off. I think it might have been old or sick because it didn't put up much of a fight.

Almost all of that snow has melted now. Temps have cooled again and we've got a bit of snow the past two days. Yesterday we went on a nice run around WSU's new golf course. It's closed for the season and open to runners and x-country skiers. I took my camera for the first time in a couple months.

I don't like winter, but it's beautiful, isn't it?

Sadie gets impatient waiting
for me to take photos.

This hawk was teasing Sadie by just sitting on the
ground and not moving. Sadie sprinted toward it
and this photo just misses the dramatic leap.

Sun nearly blotted out by the fog.

I don't have any races on my schedule yet. I'm eyeing the WSU 100k in April. I think I'll try to make that happen this year. In the meantime, I'm ready to get back to blogging. It was a break I needed but I look forward to catching up with everyone. Hope everyone is doing well.

Keep running! (through winter and snow and life)

Scott

Winter and Snow and Stuff

Winter came fast this year, even if the snow was late. I've been taking a self-inflicted break from blogging the past couple months. Life has been happening. I'm on a semi-running-break, too. I'm still running 4 times a week, at least, but I haven't been on any long (more than 12 miles) since late-October. Life's been hectic and I'm trying to sort some things out.

Also, for those of you who know my dad please keep him in your thoughts - he had quadruple bypass heart surgery last week. He was on a run with his school's cross-country team last Monday and passed out mid-run. They took him to he hospital and ran some tests and saw some clogged arteries that needed fixing. The doctor said because of his running his heart is very strong and there was no heart damage. And if his heart wasn't so strong it might have been worse than just passing out. He'll be back running stronger than ever in a few months. Be careful out there everyone. Here's a photo of me and my dad after the White River 50 in July:


We've been hit hard with snow the past couple weeks and expect to see more this week and the next. There's a paved trail in town that gets plowed for a mile stretch so that's where Sadie and I have been running.

I've canceled my trip to Texas next month to run the Bandera 100k. Too much is going on. I may keep my eyes open for the WSU 100k in April. But right now I'm just trying to get things on track and hopefully I'll be back in blogland regularly very soon.

Keep running!

Scott