Leona Divide Pre-Race Chat...

Rarely do I go into races with pretty stiff expectations or goals. I like to run hard and develop goals as I run along and the race progresses.

After looking through past times from the Leona Divide 50 miler out in SoCal I can't help but be A) Intimidated by the amazing athletes out there, and 2) surprised by some crazy fast times. They advertise around 9,000ft of climbing, but with some of the times I've seen I can't help but think it's gotta be less than than 9K. Then again I keep hearing stories of what a "runnable" course it is and how well "groomed" the PCT is.

No matter what happens, it's gonna be some beautiful PCT running. I won't ever complain about some miles on the PCT.

As for my training I've had some very solid weeks building up. Week before last I logged around 60 miles, then last week I logged 70 miles with a great little 22 miler on trails. No bad runs in the two week stretch so that leaves me hopeful. I'm trying something new where I build all the way till the Monday before the race, then taper hard. This week I've only gotten in a 5 miler yesterday, so the recovery is hopefully coming along from the 70 miles last week.

As for goals there are a bunch. My dream goal if sub 8. That's what I think I'm capable of if everything went perfectly and the climbing doesn't get too me too bad. Again, it really depends on the climbing aspect of the race.

Sub 8:20 is my second goal. That's a sub 10:00/mile pace. Definitely doable. No completely unrealistic.

I'll be happy with a new 50 mile PR which is a sub 9:18:54 which was at Rocky. A MUCH flatter course. Then again if I'm that close to sub 9 I'd like a sub 9.

I've been training pretty hard and consistently so I'd love to have a great race. I'm hopefully flying out this morning, meeting some friends, and heading out to Lake Hughes to stay with a friends parents. It's worked out AMAZING because they live literally a few minutes from the race start. Doesn't get much better than that.

I won't be able to update the blog after the race but I will post up to my Facebook with my results. As always, no matter what unfolds out there on the PCT I'll be getting to run on some beautiful trails on a beautiful part of the world with some incredible runners. Doesn't get much better than that.

See ya on the flip side.

_Jacob_

My attempt at running inspiration...

I've always been interested in videography/cinematography etc. but haven't ever really had the equipment to make it happen.

Well last year I bought a fairly cheap HD camera that shoots some pretty decent video. I quickly realized that if I wanted to shoot good videos by myself I'd need a tripod. Well, last week I was at REI (of course!) and saw the Gorilla Pod.

It's an unbelievably agile tough little booger of a tripod and is perfect for what I need. It's small, compact, light, and flexible.

On Monday I took my camera and new tripod out for an easy little 6 miler and ended up shooting about 20 minutes worth of footage and edited down to 4-5 minutes. Below is the finished product. Enjoy!



Also, last weekend I went up to Arkansas and ran the Eagle Rock Loop by myself. I've already got that  footage together and will get that posted in my next post.

Sorry about not posting in the past two weeks. I've been working on quite a bit of different stuff!

Let me know what you think of the video!

_Jacob_