#33 C'mon October!

#33 C'mon October!

 

Hello Digletts!

No more beard. Sad face emoticon, but a super versatile V

To kick off this latest entry I have a comical story for you. A sophisticated suicide attempt, if you will. Some may call it September Stride 5k. Last Saturday, September 27th, was the only local money race that I have never participated in. Josh is still coming back from his injury, Adam had a half marathon in his home state of Indiana (it's like this whole other state), and the rest of the runners in town that are currently faster than me were occupied with other things. Adam has no photo evidence that he was in his race, so I'll just have to take his word when he says he went 1:10 behind three Africans. That's all any of us can do. A few days before September Stride I was hanging out with Schiffy and we decided to run Sept Stride to make a little money. The way I saw it- I have run much harder without making any money. This 5k was the closest thing to the Unprepared Mile that we all did a few months back. I took the same approach to this race as I did in that mile. I wasn't too concerned about the likely pay off. When I am out of shape, which is the nice way to describe my fitness currently, I usually try to punish myself as much as possible. What's the fastest time I could have run? Irrelevant. Very slow. So I just wanted to see how hard I could take it out and I tried to kill myself. For the amusement of my friends watching on and for my personal fix of a terribly addictive pain. The first 800 was 2:18, if it was just an 800m race I may have been able to go 2:15 so I was giving her what I had. 5:13, the picture above was shortly after said mile, 5:14 2nd mile, then 5:40 climbing up the last mile. Schiff and guy passed me at the same time and he had a laugh after the race because when they passed me I just said- Yep. For anyone who has run out of gas in a car and started drifting to a halt, that's what was going on for me. 3rd place still gave me 50$ which is plenty to fill an empty tank or in my case- buy groceries. I actually walked in the last thirty or forty feet and I like to think that I should patent that move. I think freshman year of high school I walked it in after realizing no one was catching me and I had no one to catch. Haven't stopped walking it in since. 16:48 was my eventual time I believe. What to take from this race? Aside from a decent dosage of pain. For the next decade I could do literally anything and never run slower than 17 minutes. So that's something to write home about if you have nothing else to write about. 

This clean face deserves no respect. Look the same age as my Jr High Nephews.

Sidenote- I go to tailgates for free drinks and food. It's a beautiful thing. Last week was a daunting 42 mile week, but my first 7 consecutive days of running in 3 months. I Have some pretty big goals this winter/spring so I don't plan on taking many days off for the remainder of 2014. I had almost 3 months of consecutive days off, that's plenty for the year. I'll get to my goals in a minute. Or a few minutes, pending on how quickly you can read. I left Sept Stride to take an unplanned nap and then headed up to Wheeling for the first time in way too long. There was an alumni tailgate for Wheeling Jesuit cross country which made my visit slightly more fun. I have to say slightly because I've never not had a ton a fun with Patrick & Co at Jesuit. I got to see my ex-favorite high school runner for the first time in Wheeling. Last time I saw Radabaugh I was watching him steal my heart as he took 3rd in 3a 3200m state championship; I left that meet to watch Jesuit destroy their conference distance races. Now the high schooler is at Jesuit. Two birds, one stone with my spectating this fall. Me and Radabaugh ran a few games of cornhole before I inevitably lost us the game. My only strength in cornhole, like most games, is the confidence I possess in lackluster game. After soaking up the sun all day with some of my favorite people around, drinking a little Croatian moonshine if I'm not mistaken, playing too much basketball, having a much needed heart-to-heart with Patrick in a bar, and catching up on the walk back to campus with Mr. Stu Jones; I called it a night. And a damn good one at that.  Had it been anyone aside from Patrick, waking up a few hours later in the early morning and in the same twin side bed would have been weird. We've shared many beds in our time. I may be mistaken, but I believe the tale of one of our overnight cross country meets in high school goes as such: we get assigned a room, two queen beds, when we were woken (<-- alliteration of the day) the next morning we were in the same bed; just sleeping like babies. There are few people in this world that I am comfortable sleeping beside- Patrick, every dog in the world, and short term company. What to take away from this paragraph? I love Jesuit. They are sure to be a common topic in the upcoming entries as their season begins this weekend in Lulville, Kentucky. 

Best picture of Barkcamp that I never took.

Two other repeating topics to come: Sunday runs with Travis and my weekday October training partner. A few hours after going to sleep in Wheeling I was up and at Sheetz fueling for a run a little more west in the wasteland of Ohio. I do have to give Ohio credit, they have an amazing amount of solid trails throughout the state. Which they should because that state goes on forever so they better be doing something besides charging 15$ to drive on their crap turnpike. We took to Barkcamp trails for an easy 12 miles. Maybe it's because the Rut was 10/10 on the technicality of the trail, but Barkcamp seemed as smooth as concrete and obviously softer; 0/10 technicality. The trail was so enjoyable that upon completion we were both in agreement that next Sunday will be at the same location. Travis says that it is centrally located for both of us because it's a 60-70 minute drive for him and 90 minute drive for me. I think Ohiopyle is more central because it's a 40 minute drive for me and just shy of two hours for him. 90 minutes is about the max drive that will probably never deter me from going somewhere. I'm close to my happiest whenever I am in the car by myself just jamming out. Except when the LLL get in my way. LLL is an organization that I created in the heat of being stuck behind a Left Lane Lingerer. They are growing everyday and are far more serious of a threat to my personal life than ISIS.

My weekday October training partner is Jake Van Horn. Here is a much overdue scoop on this hipster dufus. It's much overdue because he's been a decent portion of my life for half a year and I've yet to mention him in any of these entries. I started helping Jake midway through this past track season because he sought help and wanted to get better. For someone from my old high school, that's all it takes to get the fullest attention I can provide. In six weeks he lowered his pedestrian 10:50/5:05 to 10:20/4:45, but you can only do so much midway through the season. There was minimal break after the state track meet because he had only been training properly for a few weeks, and he had the ambitious goal of being all state come this cross country season. So miles were logged over the summer and I'm glad that he bought into the system and has seen results ever since. Now he tells the other boys on Fairmont's team the same answer I'd give when inquired about how he's gotten better: I just ran all summer. Doesn't take much. A little talent and some consistent dedication. He's been 15-30 seconds faster on every course in comparison to last year. Yet to put together a real solid race, but if history is any indicator, he'll be ready to drop a bomb come November 1st. 

Partial season tickets arrived from Minnesota. So... Drop the puck!

This summer/fall has been an interesting one. Coaching the boys at my old high school has been a good experience to this point. I've learned a lot; not about running, training, or too much about the mental makeup of the current cast, but a lot about my old high school team. At first I wondered where the pride, passion, and heart was on the current team. When the only athlete upset with their performance is over two minutes faster than the next teammate- there's a problem. For awhile I attempted to understand their mindset and figure out how to destroy their sad train of thought and reinstate the proper drive. Then I thought back and realized that almost every team in the state has been more similar to the current Fairmont Senior team than to my team. I've grown far more thankful for the group of guys that I had at my side, whether it was for one year or all four. It just took spending a season with a team that would've at best been scoffed at, but most likely not even acknowledged to realize how special my teams were. Nonetheless, I've tried my best to aspire the rest of the team to give a damn. October is here and it's time to refocus in on Jake though. I have yet to pay him much attention at all this season because he is the only one who understands the system and can be trusted to work well on his own. Honestly, he is the only one that would have survived on any of my teams. 

Super envious of the locks.

Right now I peg Jake somewhere between 9th-12th in the state. With a month left to train, there are worse places to be. I don't like how he is basically right on the fence though. I plan on running almost every normal run with him at practice and prepare him for his November war physically and most importantly- mentally. He's a grinder and I have zero doubt in his capability of getting on the podium. His most recent goal that he's vocalized is- I don't want to be the first one out of the tent(10th). Which makes me laugh. Hopefully I won't have to clinch the fence of Cabell Midland's track and watch his all state fate come down to a kick. I'd probably pass out. That last comment is for my Montana boys: Travis and Angry. There is always at least a sliver of selfishness in most decisions one makes. Helping Jake this month is benefiting me in the sense that it gives me no choice but to regain my fitness level enough to be able to workout with him. I plan on leading his workouts like this past spring when he never led a step of any of his track workouts. With two more track seasons and another cross after this one, we have one big yet simple goal: get as fast as possible. And when I said that he would be the only one to fit in with the older teams; I meant that primarily in the training mindset, but he certainly would socially too. For instance, this track season when I attended a meet for him it was the first time hanging out one-on-one and some random girl walks by, close enough to hear Jake as he said- Why don't you just ask her? She turns and looks at me and I put my head down. Then I just looked at him and laughed like I would've done to any of my old teammates.

We've run together several times this season since I've recovered from my injury and only really have one crazy story which is surprising in Fairmont. On the 3rd street bridge there is a turn which was evidently too much for one idiot driving one of those douche Jeeps that have pull away doors. Now those Jeeps only have two owners- outdoor bosses and douches. In Fairmont, West Virginia- 100% chance of being not a boss. We were running the same course that Patrick and I ran for three consecutive years, the course I ran primarily solo my senior year and part of that course is on the sidewalk of that bridge. I know all to well how trying it can be to be logging miles all alone, even if you are motivated. Prefer if Jake doesn't have to do that this month. Now the jeep is on the opposite lane coming up behind us and must've been texting or checking his assumed spiked hair and oakley glasses in the rear view mirror; he drifted into oncoming traffic, but sadly dodged the brunt of the collision with a much cooler Jeep. His front bumper was clipped because it extended past the wheels and was sent helicoptering toward us. Now it hit the road well short of the barrier between the road and sidewalk and slid against the barrier, but in Jake's and especially my mind... When that bumper came off it was flying 100mph at our faces, straight out of a final destination movie. I'm going to say that just Jake was spooked, but that's not the case. 

Anyways, that is my training partner for the next month. Aside from Sunday trail runs with Travis. Here, as promised is my own ambitious goal. Frozen Sasquatch 50k in southern WV is January 3rd, 2015. The record is a few ticks over 4 hours. When I complete the race I don't want that to be the case anymore. I'd like to formally challenge anyone in the local area to take on me and Travis in that 50k. 2014 was my intro to trail running, now it's time to become a good trail runner. Sub 4 at Frozen 50, Sub 3 at Conquer the Cove where I went 3:12 this past year. Then either the US Sky Running or US Sky Ultra series in the fall. In my newest training cycle I have instated multiple hour+ hikes through cooper's rock just to spend time in the woods. It also helps my writing which will remain private for hopefully not too much longer. Also I am throwing in stairs into my runs to attempt simulate the burn that was felt while climbing 42% grades in Montana and chopping my mileage down a lot. 42 miles this past week, I don't anticipate breaking 70 miles in a week in the semi-distant future. The quality of my miles will rise though, both in pace and in terrain difficulty. So stay with me Digletts! The fun is just around the corner. 

NEXT ON TAP:

• Second week of October there is a trail 50k from Pilot Mountain, NC - Hanging Rock, NC. Travis is partaking and I am going to be his crew since I will already be in the area camping out with my friend and a pooch. 
• Barkcamp workout video
• More tales from Fairmont with the dufus. 
• The progress of Mr. Mustache

I know this entry was shorter than most, but hopefully it was sweet. And you know what they say about reading: Ain' nobody got time for that.

 

ONE LOVE!