Running With Sugars

Month: June 2011

  • Western States Movie Time

    Argh! Does ANYTHING compare to the agony of writing out a whole blog post, only to have it eaten by computer gremlins before it’s saved or published? Yep, I’m pretty sure lack of auto-saving blog software is the biggest problem facing the world today. You will just have to take my word that I had crafted a beautiful, moving, eloquent blog post all about the upcoming Western States 100 mile race this weekend. There was humor. There was pathos. There were statistics. It was a thing of beauty, and it is lost forever.

    Instead, you get this half-hearted, second-rate babble studded with movie links. It’s at least 35% less satisfying. Either create some auto-saving blog software for me, or deal with it.

    So long story short, the great-granddaddy of hundred mile races, Western States, is this weekend. I haven’t run a hundred miler and I don’t have the itch…yet…but when I do, you can bet WS will be the one I gun for.  Last year’s race was absolutely epic, with the first two finishers both breaking the course record substantially and coming in under 15:30 (and this on a course with 18000 ft elevation gain and 22000 ft loss.)  There’s a movie coming out this fall that captures the showdown last year, and I recently saw the trailer and immediately fell in love:

    (more…)

  • 2011 Shadow of the Giants 50k Video!

    Here’s the video from the 2011 Shadow of the Giants 50k (or in my case, 35k). Trying to decide whether to watch it? I’ll break it down for you. Pros: relatively short, awesome soundtrack song, cameo by a sassy Australian RD, and serious landscape porn. Cons: shaky camera work, I eat a cookie in a very unladylike fashion, and by the end I have a raspy Marge Simpson voice. The choice is yours.

  • Shadow of the Giants 50k – June 2011

    Shadow of the Giants is usually the highlight of my spring racing season. It’s the race I return to year after year because of the atmosphere, the beautiful scenery, the saucy race director, and the chance to escape LA and play in one of the country’s most scenic areas. I was especially looking forward to it this year because my recent races have been going so well and I intended to try and break my recently-set 50k PR on the course.

    But instead of coming on the blog to (modestly!) gloat about another awesome race, I instead have to type those three letters I’ve never written before: DNF. For the first time in my life, I didn’t finish a race, and to say I have mixed feelings about it is to put it mildly. But let me back up…

    (more…)