Comrades Mini-Update

The best overall race experience I've had. What a great race. Truly "the ultimate."

I finished the 89+km race in 10 hrs and 37 min. See my final stats. A video of me crossing the finish line should be posted to that same page in a couple days. South Africa puts on a great event and they have every right to be as proud of it as they are.

I don't have much time on the internet now so can't do a full report quite yet, so enjoy a few images in the meantime.







Keep running!

Scott

Leaving for South Africa

I'm leaving in a couple days and might not be online until I return on May 30th.

My much anticipated race begins at 5:30 a.m. (South Africa timezone) on Sunday, May 24th.

For those interested in tracking my progress during the race via text message, send a text message to 38132 with my race number (45612) as the message. You'll be sent a series of I-don't-know-how-many texts as I pass through 89 kilometers of timing stations on my way to the finish.
[EDIT: I just found out these texts will cost a little over $1 on top of any texting plan you might have with your wireless provider. So it's probably not worth it. Oh well.]

And when I get close to the finish you can see finish-line video at www.comrades.com.

I'm going to keep running all the way to South Africa.

Wish me speed!

Scott

Riverside State Park - Spokane

Beautiful park with some beautiful trails. Sadie's been nursing a sore leg so I had to leave her home for this trip. When she saw me putting on my running shoes and putting together my gear she tried her hardest to hide the limp and prove that she was okay for a long Saturday outing. It almost worked. It's lonely on the trails without her.

My plan was to run trail #25 - a 25-mile loop through the park. It was well marked near the trailhead but after a few miles the markings either disappeared or I was running so fast that I missed them. I ended up running for a couple hours lost. Not too lost, the river was always just over the way, but lost enough on the network of unmarked trails to make it fun.

I bought a map of the park and will attempt the loop another time. The map suggests that trail #25 exists in its entirety.

Photos from my wanderings:

From a bridge at the trailhead.
A good day for running or rafting.

Sadie would have loved it.

Minimal climbing - maximum scenery.

Above the Spokane River.

Views from a lost trail.

Example of the trail markings.

Pick a direction and go where it leads.

Keep running. And get well, Sadie!

Scott

Sun and Trails

My legs are recovering well. After the pain and ache subsided from my race (there were lots of pains and aches) it started to hit me that I ran a 100k. I'm pretty excited about that. With goals of 100+ mile races in the future I've had a tendency to look at the 100k as a step toward another goal. But this week I've been able to reflect on the fact that a 100k is a big deal too.

I've gone through several personally tough months recently and it's difficult to express how grateful I am to have running. Running reminds me I'm alive.

In other big news, recent warm weather has melted the snow off the lower elevation trails! Sadie and I are very happy. Saturday, we went out for an easy run with the wonderful smells of spring.

Sadie's about the happiest thing in
this world when she's on a trail.

It doesn't get much better than
having dirt underneath my feet.

South Africa is only a few weeks away and I'm getting pretty excited about that. So excited, to be honest, that I try not to think about it.

I'll keep running in the meantime.

-Scott

More photos from the WSU 100k

From photographer Cecil Williams.