Waiting for the Barkley Start

"When your body starts to betray you and you feel totally defeated mentally, remember this: You are not this body. You are not these thoughts. You are a beautiful and perfect soul deeply connected to a much larger universe. And running five loops at Barkley is but a drop in the ocean of all of the Self's potential achievements. So. You will keep going.

Try, as best you can, not to identify with the body or with the thoughts. Get connected to something much, much bigger than the small self. Let the mind empty of everything else."

-Anon

Barkley Training Grounds

I think I've found my Barkley training grounds.  Lands End in Duke Forest off of Whitfield Rd in Chapel Hill. Not more than 100 feet of elevation change at a time, but it's steep and overgrown. 2mph is pretty good progress. Wash, Rinse, Repeat...

 

2011 Training Schedule

"Pre-training" in January, then a 9 week cycle for Barkley, 3 weeks REST (i.e. basking in glory, conducting interviews, etc.), then a 9 week cycle for Western States.

 I have some thoughts on what I'd do if I get into Hardrock, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there... Lottery on 2/5.

Appalachian and Bartram Trails 12/31

Had a great New Year's Eve run with Matt Kirk, David Dirito, Carl Laniak, Mohamed Idlibi, and Scott Brockmeier. 27ish snowy, slushy miles starting from Nantahala Lake on the Bartram trail, linking up with the AT and continuing to the Nantahala Outdoor Center in 6 hrs.

Lots of fog and snow...

With David "Balto" Dirito

Barkley "Condolences"

with our sincerest condolences;

we regret to inform you of your great misfortune during the drawing for the 2011 barkley 100 miler. it was your execrable bad luck to be selected to have your hopes painfully dashed on the course (most likely while being miserable, cold, and both mentally and physically damaged.) raw chicken will be served on Friday, april 1, with the conch to sound sometime after midnight for a Saturday april 2 start which will follow an hour later.

personal bugle serenades will begin shortly thereafter.

may your personal choice of deities have mercy on you.

should you come to your senses …

or have the good luck to be provided (or able to manufacture) a plausible excuse for withdrawing now, or at any time prior to the actual running of the event, please inform us at the earliest possible time.

although it defies logic, there is a lengthy weight list of individuals who honestly believe that they want to exchange places with you.

regretfully yours,

laz

Some things to remember

A few things I learned last night while experimenting in cold, dark, Barkley-ish conditions:

• Loose fitting, fibrous clothing snags on brambles and branches really easily. Hats too. This is bad for the clothing (I ripped a merino wool base layer) and slows you down.
• I love wearing a headlamp on my waist to see the profile of the trail, but when you're ducking under trees and scampering around the light get's covered up or misdirected. Hands do need to be free, so going back to headlamp on head.
• I really need to work on flexibility and muscle groups not typically recruited while "running".
• I don't generate as much heat when moving slowly over/through tough terrain. Need to dress a little warmer than usual.

Foothills Trail (77mi) Report

I finished the Foothills Trail 77M  on Sat in 19:48. That's currently the 3rd fastest known time (FKT) according to Jason Sullivan's records here, but there will definitely be faster crossings coming as more people discover this gem!  Matt Kirk holds onto the record and the 2nd fastest time pretty comfortably. Even more impressed with his 16:52 after seeing the course.

Byron Backer, Richard Lilly and I started out at about 3:15am from Table Rock. The first and most significant climb of the day felt really good. A few miles in Byron stopped to strip off a layer and told me to keep going. I was a little worried about wayfinding, having never seen the course before, but after switching my headlamp from waist to head I found the white blazes and signage to be very good. 


Some highlights: 

• mi 6ish there was a Marmot vs Skunk standoff that lasted until I threw a stick in his direction and he ran off trail into the underbrush.
• mi 9.7 at 2:05 into the run I met Jason Sullivan and his son Luke. It was great to see these guys and know that they'd be there for the day. This was a huge boost. They gave me some hot chocolate, refilled my bottles, and sent me on my way to Laurel Valley. 
• Mi 12ish I came upon a bunch of wild turkeys roosting in a tree. It was still dark and I couldn't see them, which made it even spookier when they took off and made all kinds of noise.
• mi 14.5 I hit the road in 3:01 (coincidentally, my 2009 Uwharrie 40 halfway split) and got up to the Laurel Valley parking lot where Jason and Joe Parker had a great spread including some soup. I was feeling pretty good and told them I'd try to hold this pace through LV in case they were trying to predict timing when I'd see them next at mi 48.
• miles 14.5-48 were through the Laurel Valley where there is no vehicle access (well, there's some boat access) and I had to carry all that I needed to eat plus SteriPEN to sterilize my water, compass, lights, whistle, flint, maps, extra layers... basically all the stuff I'd want if something went wrong. This section went very smoothly and I even got to run with some other folks for a while. Got off course 3 or 4 times, but didn't loose more than 20-30 mins total fumbling around.
• mi 27.8 I saw a sign with mileage and realized I was moving slower than I expected. I thought I had been moving pretty well too! The trail just never seemed to really open up for long stretches and 4mph was about all I could average comfortably & safely.
• mi 48 came after some tough climbing around the Whitewater river. I thought I was wrapping this section up and then saw a sign that said 2.3 mi to go. The terrain was pretty flat along the river and I thought ok I'll knock this out quickly. Wrong. This was the longest 2.3 miles of the day and I can now see why so many people drop at the top! At the top I was greeted by a big crowd including Jason and son luke, Psyche and her son Leopold (who had made a big "Go Marmot" sign), Charles Raffensperger, Joe Parker and Scott Hodukavich. Wow! What great treatment. I got a grilled cheese, soup, ginger ale, banana, expresso beans... I don't usually eat this well at home! 
• mi 48-52.6 had a nice climb that let me digest my big lunch and then a great descent into Sloan Bridge where I saw Psyche, Charles and Leopold again. Charles gave me some great tips on the section to come and I was off for some of the best running of the day. The trail was a little technical here at times, but I was feeling great and knew I'd have company again after this short 3.3 mi section.
• mi 56ish was Fish Hatchery and Psyche, Charles and Leopold  boosted me on my way again. I made good time again on this 3.9 mile section still feeling pretty good and staying ahead of sunset to enjoy the relatively good footing here. I finally flicked on my light toward the end as I was coming down into Burrell's Ford.
• mi 60ish Burrell's Ford - I found a note and some Gatorade from Heyward Douglass, the Chairman of the 2008 Guide to the Foothills Trail! This was really cool. Heyward is intimately involved in the trails here and I had spent countless hours studying the maps and directions in the guide. I had bumped into him at Laurel Valley the day before and had a nice chat. What a boost! Charles and Psyche gave me some more tips on the Burrell's Ford section ahead which was a tough 10.4 miles. Psyche says she actually likes this section, and to be fair, it is lovely listening to the Chatooga river gurgle by and the moon reflecting just made it magical. However... this section seemed to go on FOREVER. There were a couple times I swear I was going around in circles. The course twists and winds around and my sense of direction in the dark after 60 miles started to get flaky. When the trail finally comes back around to the road it approaches and retreats like a wild animal, climbing a little more before finally dumping out to Cheohee Rd.
• mi 70.5 At Cheohee Rd the whole gang was there including Byron who had dropped at 48. Judging by the depth of coals in the fire they had been here a while! It was quite a party and hard to leave, but only 6 miles to wrap it up and I was feeling energized again.
• mi 77 After a lot of great running and a tremendous fall a mile from the finish I finally wrapped this section up and exclaimed "Someone needs to Garmin that sucka!" This section must be longer than advertised. I was greeted by the whole gang again and there was much fanfare and flashing of cameras. Whew. What fun!

This was a really special run. It will take me a while longer to process it, but there's something really cool about this genre of ultra. It's a beautiful trail and a worthy challenge, but beyond that it's the community and the purity of the challenge that stands out. For the amount of time on trail some folks will expect a buckle, but I found that the friendships and little keepsakes like the "Go Marmot" poster Leopold made and the note from Heyward Douglas are far more rewarding. 

Some pictures from the day...