The entire Northshore and the AT100...

I opened the door to my little Honda Civic and walked around to the back. I opened the hatchback and grabbed three gallons of water. It was still totally dark so I dug around for a minute to find my headlamp.

I strapped it on and headed down a dark dirt path with just my little beam of light and three gallons of water. I could hear the lake sloshing up against the shore just ahead of me. I looked down at my watch and it was only 5:30am and still around 83 degrees.

I walked maybe 50-60 yards and found a good spot just 10-15 feet off the trail to leave the water. As soon as I dropped off the water I all the sudden heard this buzzing in my ear and could feel something all over my legs. I looked down with my headlamp to see 20+ mesquitos having a hay-day on my legs!

I held on to my headlamp and ran straight back to the car without my flip flops flying off and quickly slammed the door shut. I glanced at my watch again. It was only 5:32am. Time to head to the next water drop.

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This past weekend I finally got the chance to do something I've been wanting to do for awhile. I've been spending quite a while scouting out different trails around Lake Grapevine. Many of the trails I found were equestrian trails, but still more than enough for running.

I had finally mapped a route starting from the most northern point on the lake all the way to the southern most point of the lake via trail. The only road sections totaled maybe 2 miles. I wrote a quick email to a few ultra running friends and just like that a run was organized to hit up the new route I had discovered.

This past Sunday we were to meet up at 6:30 for (what I predicted to be) a 25-28 mile run. The plan was for me to head out pretty early and drop off 3 gallons of water every 8 or so miles, so that morning I got out there and dropped off a gallon of water for each of us every 7-8 miles along with some random nutritional type stuff.

I met up with the guys and we jumped in one of their cars up to the starting point. Finally around 7:20 we were on the trail and heading south.

The run was just beautiful and the company was just as good. We took it super easy just chatted it up. Everything from what 100s we wanted to do to religion and nutrition. Unfortunately the run ended up only being around 25-26.5 miles. I'm not 100% sure, cause I was using my phones GPS to map the route and it died on the last 2 miles or so. On the upside I did get the entire run from the north point to the south point mapped. The phone didn't die till we reached the rockledge park.

I can't thank the guys I ran with enough for going out there. They put a lot of trust in me to actually put water out there in the middle of a Texas summer and to not run them into the middle of nowhere. If anyone else is interested in trying this let me know! I'm totally up for it again anytime. I'm doing all of this in hopes of coordinating a 100K run around the lake, so now that I've done the northside I'm working on mapping the south side of the lake. Details to come soon!

In other news, I REGISTERED for the Arkansas Traveller 100 tonight!! I can't believe I finally pulled the trigger, but the entry fee was about to go up, so I just went for it. This time last year I was experiencing some mild injuries, but this year all is good so far!

In terms of my running this year I've really hit a good groove. I've been ticking off the miles every week and am really seeing a good jump in my basic endurance. So far this year I've logged a total of 890 miles which averages out to 4.88 miles a day. Last year I logged a total of 1270 miles, so I'm definitely on track to knock that out barring any injuries. Tomorrow is the halfway point for the year, so if I can maintain my mileage I'm looking at breaking at least 1,800 miles.

Alright, that's about all I've got. Now go run!

_Jacob_

Summer Solstice 6hr Run Race Report

This last weekend I again had the privelage of going out to Abilene, Texas to race the Summer Solstice 6hr Endurance Run. Let me tell you, this is a first class little run put on by a very energetic group of runners. This race last year captured me with it's super small town feel and fun atmosphere, so I again made the 3hr drive to Abilene in the middle of June.

I finally got around to typing up a race report, so I hope you guys enjoy :)

Pre-Race:

My friend Ben who was also racing the 6hr decided to ride with me (thank goodness) from Plano. The drive to Abilene isn’t very entertaining solo to say the least.

We headed out from my place around 4:30pm and arrived at the race start around 8:00pm. When we pulled in I looked at the temp on the car and it read 109!! Geezz. Well, we still had an hour till the start so hopefully it would cool down by 9pm .

We grabbed our packets and set up our gear right near the one and only aid station. I love these timed races because it’s SO easy to do aide/etc. If you’re not familiar with this race, it’s just a 6hr run on a 1 mile loop. Whoever runs the most laps in 6hrs wins. It’s that easy…. Or not.

We finally line up for the race just before 9pm and it’s still about 103-104 degrees. I guess it’s a good thing I train at 4pm everyday! The RD gives us a few last minutes instructions and we’re off.

Hour 1:

Well Ben and I immediately find ourselves up in the very front leading this pack. The race also had a 3hr option so I expected someone to go off a bit harder that us, but alas, no one did, so we lead the race.

My ultimate goal for the race was to get 40 miles and a sub 9/mile average pace. Well I decided that I’d run the first 15-20 miles at a sub 8 pace and put a few minutes in the bank, cause I knew I’d fall apart a bit later on in the night. So the first mile comes in at around 8:10-8:15 and I start picking up the pace just a bit so I can get that sub 8 average I’d like to start out with.

After about 2-3 laps Ben fell off pace JUST a bit (I didn’t know that at the time) so I just kept going at my 8min pace. A few miles came in at around 7:48 but that was about as fast as it got. After the first hour I was easily holding an 8 min pace.

Hour 2:

Hour 2 started around mile 7.5 or so and I was still moving well. I had been running solo for about 40-45 minutes and was just in the zone focusing on maintaining pace and hydrating/eating. I only carried one bottle since the aide was so frequent. As soon as my first bottle was out I grabbed my next one in my cooler, which also had Gatorade Endurance in it. In the long run looking back now I think it was a mistake for my first two bottles of the night to be Gatorade Endurance. I wasn’t drinking enough straight water.

At the end of the second hour I was still holding a sub 8 pace and was feeling pretty good.

Hour 3:

Building up to mile 15 I decided that I’d back off the pace of sub 8 to my overall goal pace of sub 9 and hope to hold that as long as possible. I came through around mile 15 at 2 hours or so and dropped the pace to 9mins/mile with precision. For five more miles I held the average at around 9 then mile 22 came through at 10:54. I took a bit too much time here at my ice chest but was no longer craving any Gatorade at all. I opted instead to try a Redbull (I do not condone the use of Redbull while exercising, if you do, you do so at your own risk) which is normally my saving grace.

Miles 23-26 were UGLY.

Hour 4:
 
Mile 23 was 14:00, Mile 24 was 19:15, mile 25 was 20:06! And mile 26 was 15:22. Obviously I was doing a lot of walking. Hour four was just ugly. I didn’t crave anything other than Redbull and water. Ben passed me I believe for a 2nd time here and was looking much stronger that I did. In my head I had given up to Ben and was excited for him to win.

Hour 5:
 
Hour 5 probably started around mile 26. Mile 26 was a lot of walking and I had decided that I would probably go ahead and just stop at 27 miles so I could call it a marathon. Mile 26 Ben caught up with me and we walked/ran for a bit. He said he’d had some watermelon at the aide station so I figured I’d give it a shot. Nothing could hurt now.

I grabbed a few pieces as we walked through the aid station and then walked part of the next mile. Ben and I were finishing up that lap and all the sudden I was feeling much better. I hadn’t had any Gatorade or gels since around mile 20. Ben slowed down a little bit so I decided I’d try to get at least 30 miles and maybe one of my laps back on Ben.

I finished the 5th hour with laps of mile 28 being 9:35, mile 29 was 9:08 and mile 30 was 9:53. I was feeling much better. I finally caught up with Ben around the 5 hour mark and was only one mile down on him now.

Hour 6:
 
Once I passed Ben I knew I only had one mile to catch up and I could possibly get the win. I hate to capitalize when a friend isn’t feeling too well, but knew this was pretty much my only chance. I really put my head down here and decided to go for it.

I ticked off a few sub 9 min miles and passed Ben around mile 33-34 to take the lead.

I was feeling SO much better than I had an hour ago. My legs were still pretty dead, but I was moving consistently now.

My goal was now run at least 36 miles (the same distance I ran last year) and hopefully win the race. Mile 32 came in at 8:58, mile 33 was 9:45, mile 34 was 9:21, and mile 35 was 11:47. Mile 35 I slowed down to have another sip of Redbull and talked with Ben for a minute. He was done at around 33 miles, but he came out for one more lap with me. We did an 11:47. I asked him if he wanted one more and he said rejected. He was happy with the distance he had covered, so I headed out for one more mile. I stopped to pee about halfway through and pulled off a last mile of 10:04.

The total time was 5:53:38.

After they removed my chip I found out I could have run one more! Last year they stopped us if we couldn’t finish within 6 hours. This year they were letting us do one more as long as our last one started by 6 hours. Bummer, I could have gotten 37 miles. Regardless I was happy with my effort.

Post Race:

I got my finisher hat and headed over to chat with Ben and his GF. I indulged myself in more watermelon and waited for the final calculations to find out who won.

I ended up with first OA and Ben ended up with third OA! We both got pretty awesome gift certificates so that was nice.

Huge congrats to Ben for another awesome ultra. Way to stick it out and really knock out some good miles. Thanks for pushing me when I was feeling so crappy.

To the Abilene Runners Club, thanks for another AWESOME event! I love this race and plan on coming back every year they have it.

_Jacob_

New sponsor SUN & SKI Sports!

Well last week I hinted to some good news and I'm elated to announce I'm now a part of Sun & Ski Sports in Frisco!

These guys have been absolutely incredible to me over the past year and I'm unbelievably excited to be able to represent them when out training and racing.

When I first heard about Sun & Ski I was a little skeptical because I really wasn't too sure what they were about, but I quickly learned that these guys mean business and aren't your average sporting goods store. The cool thing about this shop is that they do a lot more than your local bike shop. While they have a FANTASTIC bike shop and mechanics they also sell almost every brand of running shoe along with other great outdoor stuff for those of us that just enjoy spending time outdoors even when not exercising :)

I don't want to get to preachy here, so all I can say is go check 'em out in Frisco off of Preston in front of Stonebriar Mall. HERE'S the stores website. If you need any bike work in the north Dallas area DEFINITELY give these guys a chance. My guy Jay in the bike shop will take great care of you and always give you a fair price for any work done.

One last thing, I'm going to start doing some group runs up there in the mornings around 6:30AM. I'm gonna see what kind of interest there is and start posting up the runs date/time/distance/pace and see what kind of response I get.

If you guys/gals have any questions don't hesitate to shoot me an email at sunandski.jacob@gmail.com. I'm normally fantastic about responding to emails! No.. seriously. Ok, I'm outta here. Thanks Sun & Ski!

_Jacob_

Trail recon and the dentist...

First off, let me start this post by saying...

GO MAVS!!! I'm am so proud of that team. I've been watching them play for the past 8 years or so pretty regularly and it's amazing to see how they've developed. Two more wins and we've got the championship!!!

Ok, so back to my original post. Sometimes I have trouble coming up with some blogging material, but when I do I always go through the photos on my phone and end up blogging about what I've taken photos of, cause I figure if it was important enough for me to take photos of, it's important enough for me to blog about!

I don't know if I mentioned it yet or not but for a few years now I've had this little idea in the back of my head to try and organize a trail run all the way around Lake Grapevine here in North Texas. The distance would be 100K and utilize as much trail as I can find. There are multiple known trails around the lake maintained by DORBA (The Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association). There are also multiple Equestrian trails that I've discovered that I recently had no idea existed! This was really exciting to me, and I've been doing a lot of exploring around the lake in search of these trails.

I've since mapped the entire North side of the lake and all but 2-3 miles of it is going to be run on trails! albeit some overgrown trails ;) This past Monday I finally ventured to the South side of the lake (the Grapevine side) and did more exploring. Here are a few photos from Monday.

 

My exploring is coming together well and I'm hoping to have this thing ready to go/race come the fall. I've also got a website up for the "race" and will be sharing that as soon as I have an official course ready to go!

In race news I'm heading up over to Abilene again this year for the 2nd Annual Summer Solstice 6hr run! Last year I took 2nd place and this year I'd love to get the win! Just like last year, I'm again going for the 40 mile mark. Last year I fell short with only 36 miles. My training is going well, but I haven't been able to get the kind of distance down the past two weeks like I was hoping to, due to all my trail exploring. I'm hoping that I can get 20 miles in someday this week or next plus a few 16-10 milers.

With that said the HEAT is on in Texas! (And I don't mean the Miami Heat!) My grandmother bought Courtney and I an "Atomic clock" a few months ago and I put it up in the garage. This thing has a thermometer which is awesome for me. Now when I head out for my runs I can tell how warm it is outside and the temp in the garage! Lately it's been reading around 98-102 when I start my runs at 3:30-4:00pm.

Since I work nights as most of you know I end up doing my workouts around 3:30-4:00pm everyday. This means that I've adapted VERY well to the heat we get in Texas during the summers. If any of you are getting out in this heat be sure that you're carrying water with you regardless of the distance! You also need to invest in some kind of electrolyte replacement/Salt mix. I've been using Gatorade Endurance for years now and it's my miracle drug. It has just enough salt to keep me from cramping and being in powder form I can mix it as weak or strong as I like. Whatever you do, DON'T underestimate your body's need for salt and water while exercising in the heat.

In trying to stick to the title of the blog I've got to mention my trip to the dentist. Growing up I was the kid that NEVER got cavities. Heck, I didn't get my first cavity till a year or so ago!! And not only did I have a cavity I had like five. YES... FIVE. I couldn't believe it. Well, this past week I had to make another trip back to the dentist to have another filling put in and I couldn't help but snap a quick photo while in the hot seat.

I used to love going to the dentist. Now I just dread it cause I know they're gonna tell me to get off the gels and gatorade :)

I'm still working on a new product review. I've been running in my New Balance Minimus trail shoe for about 60 miles now and want to hold off on doing a review until I get closer to 100 miles. I've jumped the gun on product reviews before and don't want that to be the case here. Be looking for it in the next few weeks!

Last two things here, first I want to share a website with you. The church I attend mentions this website every once in awhile and I finally got the chance to check it out. If you're at all curious about Christianity and what it really is, or just a believer looking to grow more in your faith check it out. It's called The Resurgence.

Lastly I want to share a music video with you. I've been listening to this band for years and I've recently been listening to this song quite a bit. Hope you enjoy!

_Jacob_