Hellgate 2009
I had run my first Ultra (Holiday Lake 50K) just 22 months ago. Prior to that my only running experience was training for and running 3 half marathons. Now I found myself standing among 116 elite runners. This is company I probably did not belong in, but I was determined to prove to myself I could and would finish Hellgate. It was like a moment frozen in time, well maybe time was not frozen, but everything else certainly was.
My friend John had volunteered to come and crew/pace with my Dad. Dad is always the first to volunteer to help and is an awesome crew captain. We met my Dad at camp Bethel and sat down to a filling pasta dinner. We then attended the brief and I headed off to my Jeep to try and catch an hour or two of sleep. The next thing I know John and Dad are in the car and we are driving to the start. I quickly got dressed for the cold and we all walked down to the start together. We prayed and sang the National Anthem and without much fanfare we were off.
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Hiking in Norway – Ulriken to Floyen
I recently spent a week in Bergen Norway. While there my friend John and I spent a day hiking in the mountains surrounding Bergen. There are said to be seven mountains surrounding the city. Ulriken is the tallest mountain at 643 meters. This may not seem that high, but you must consider that the old section of Bergen sits at sea level. Ulriken has a cable car that quickly takes you to the top. Floyen mountain is visited much more often by tourists and locals. A train run by cables quickly takes people to the top. The main station for Floyen is much more accessible to downtown Bergen and there are expansive running / hiking trails that lead to the top. We decided to explore this mountain region by first riding the cable car to the top of Ulriken. This will cost you 80 NOK (~$15 US) per person. We would then spend the day exploring the mountain and make our way to Floyen.
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Mountain Masochist Trail Run 2009
As the days and weeks flow into history the 27th running of the Mountain Masochist Trail Run quickly approaches. The MMTR is one of the most competitive and prestigious ultras east of the Mississippi. One of only eleven Montrail Ultracup races ensures the competition will be fierce. The long history, precise organization, and accompanying events guarantees its status among ultras marathons. This is a true fall classic the draws from the a group of elite runners year after year.
MMTR was first run in 1983. Founder and organizer thru 2007, Dr. David Horton wanted to bring ultra running to the Lynchburg, VA area after competing in the 1979 JFK 50 miler. The story goes that as he was kicking around a name for this new race when his wife said "Call it the Mountain Masochist—that’s what you all are, anyway." Obviously the name stuck and fits the race extremely well. 2007 marked the 25th running of the race and the last year Dr. Horton was the organizer. The master handed over the reigns to his student Dr. Clark Zealand.
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Mountain Peak Fitness Videos
I happened across the Mountain Peak Fitness Vimeo Channel while reading the eco-xsports blog. I do not know anything about Mountain Peak Fitness, but their HD videos are worth a quick look. Check out 2:29 of the 2009 Massanutten Mountain Trail 100 video below. I am the guy coming out of the woods in the visor and gray shirt.
Flooded Trails at First Landing State Park
Last weekend I ran at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach. It would have been a non-eventful autumn day with temps in the mid 50s and an overcast sky, except it had rained a lot in the previous week. This rain combined with a higher than usual tide led to some major flooding on low lying sections of the trail. Check out this video to see what I mean!
Shenandoah National Park Trail Run
Last weekend I ran the scenic rout in Shenandoah. I started at Hawksbill upper parking and ran down the Old Rag Fire Road. I then ran over Old Rag, with lots of breaks to wait for people to get through the rock scramble at the top. Then I ran to the White Oak Canyon Parking. White Oak Run was really low and I was planning on filling up from there. The Ranger working the contact station let me fill my bladder from her water cooler - saving the day and my run! I then attacked White Oak Canyon and the White Oak Canyon fire road, climbing over 2500 feet on these 2 trails alone. Finally I ran south on Skyline Drive to my car. 25+ and almost 7000 feet of elevation change on the day. The thing that hit me most about this day was how busy Shenandoah is during the fall weekends. I did choose to run two of the most popular trails. I was also shocked at how unprepared some people were, especially the ones climbing Old Rag. It was a cool day (50s) with a constant threat of hard rain and most people were hiking up in blue jeans and t shirts with no water or rain gear. A downpour could have given a bunch of cotton wearing tourists a quick meeting with hypothermia. The Ranger who gave me water said they are constantly giving people water on Old Rag. This does not surprise me. Continue reading Shenandoah National Park Trail Run
Update – Nike Flow Sport Headphones – First Impressions/Trail Report
UPDATE: Please see full post for the original review -
I wore the headphones on a six hour trail run over the weekend. I was on terrain varying from road to fire road to rocky single track and ascended and descended over 6000 feet. In total I cover over 25 miles with the Nike Headphones. Not once did they fall out of my ears. Not once did sweat interfere with their operation. Many times the podcast or playlist I was listening to would end and I would just keep running along with no music on and the head phones still in my ears. The ultimate compliment I can pay them is that I simply forgot they were there, especially when the music stopped. I highly recommend the Nike Flow Sport Headphones.
Continue reading Update – Nike Flow Sport Headphones – First Impressions/Trail Report
The Importance of Warming Up
Jack
I have heard it said that a dog can teach you many things and over the weekend my 1 year old yellow lab Jack taught me a valuable running lesson on the importance of warming up. Jack is a puppy stuck in an adult dogs body. Since he will turn one on Halloween and it has not been humid and hot I have decided to take him on some short slow runs. These runs normally occur at the beginning of a workout.
This weekend called me to run back to back 3 hour runs.
Saturday Morning: My legs were sore and tired from running hard last weekend in the mountains and the kettlebell workout I did on Friday afternoon. I headed my local state park and started off on the 1.7 mile paved trail up into the park. I started way too fast and before I knew it I was sweating up a storm and had a little touch of blurred vision. I quickly slowed up, but the damage was done. The rest of the run was horrible as I walked for long stretches and ran intermittently. After an 75 minutes of this run some walk a lot pattern I finally pulled together and managed 8 ok miles of running. With my next race only 5 weeks away and the training I have been putting in I was just a little concerned about this run and my confidence took a hit. How could I run so well the previous Sunday and so poorly today? How would I run the second part of this back to back weekend?
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Mountain Dew Commercials
I love Mountain Dew. Someone sent me this Mountain Dew cartoon commercial the other day.
I took the liberty to find Mountain Dew commercials and post them below the fold. Enjoy!
Continue reading Mountain Dew Commercials
SIgnal Knob Loop
Last Sunday I ran a 15 mile loop in the Massanutten Mountains. I had run some of these trails before, but some of it was new or in a new direction. This loop turned out to be around 15 miles. I started at Elizabeth Furnace and ran up the Tuscarora Trail to Meneka Peak. Then I headed over to the Massanutten Trail on the connector trail. It was pretty foggy so the view were non-impressive, but this trail was brutally rocky. Maybe the rockiest trail I have experienced in this region (which is saying a LOT for Massanutten). After I hit Signal Knob I ran down the Massanutten Trail to Mud Hole Gap. I took this trail back to the car. The first 5 miles of this run took the same amount of time as the last 10. This was due to a combination of elevation change, but more because of the rocky terrain.
Signal Knob Fog from Justus Stull on Vimeo.
The highlight of the trip was watching the fog roll over the mountain and the 2 bear sightings. The first sighting took place near Signal Knob. I had just talked to some hikers and was only a minute down the trail when I heard something and looked off the trail. No more than 30 feet off the trail was a black bear 15 feet up a tree. We made eye contact and he charged down the tree. At this point I started to yell, hoping to scare it into running away. Luckily when it bottomed out of the tree it headed down the mountain away from me, but in the general direction I was heading. The second sighting occurred half way down Mud Hole Gap. A cub crossed the trail 20 feet in front of me. He got 30 or 40 feet off the trail and stopped to have a look at me. I quickly assessed the situation to make sure he did not have a sibling or his mother with him and went for my camera. By the time I got it out he was gone. Not more than 2 minutes later I ran across a couple with 2 dogs. I told them to watch out for him and was on my way.
