My Daily Ground

2021 Umstead 100

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 15:44:00 +0000

Driving into WIlliam B. Umstead park each year, my heart rate increases a little and I get this nervous-in-my-belly-feeling of knowing the enormity of what I’m about to undertake. The doubt that I’ve ignored and pushed away slowly begins to creep in and I realize the excitement maybe isn’t excitement at all but rather a small amount of anxiety from wondering if I’ve done enough training and if I’ll let people down if I don’t finish and what that means for the rest of my running goals for the year and it begins to spiral and I think about the bigger picture of a decade long project and what not finishing would mean.

The Umstead after my “breakthrough race” in 2019 was going to be challenging whether it was last year (cancelled) or this year. The expectation and history at the race is impossible to ignore and the comparison game was in play early on.

18:47, 20:12, 18:26, 20:25, 18:28, 16:34

Those are the times I have run at Umstead each year from 2014 through 2019. Those times loomed large heading into the weekend. Particularly the last one. The one I refer to as a same day finish because I FINALLY finished before midnight on the day the race started. Standing on the starting line I felt an immense pressure to improve on my history of success at Umstead. Even though I know each year is independent. Each Umstead is a unique day with uncontrollables including weather, training build up, and the craziness of life that make those times just numbers on paper. Despite knowing all those things and repeatedly telling myself that today was a unique day that I am lucky to get to go out and do this, it was hard to disconnect and ignore the history that comes with repeating a race year-after-year. The 2021 Umstead 100 (AKA Umstead 2020 - Take 2) broke me mentally at mile 32 and I found myself staring down the barrel of a 68 mile walk in the park, wondering if I had the will and drive to see it through. Here is how it went down.

I took Friday before the race off as usual and used the day to run a few last minute errands including picking up Panera bagels (my usual Umstead morning breakfast) and coffee for Michelle to have over the weekend and packed the car with all the gear for the weekend. Packing the car included loading a canopy (a first and only for Umstead - a nice gesture by the park due to COVID restrictions closing race HQ to only medically distressed runners), table, chairs, and my bin of ziplock bags labeled with shorts, shirts, socks, etc. that had everything one needs to survive a weekend walk in the park.

I swung Jordan’s to pick him up and after loading up his stuff we headed south on 81 toward Raleigh for our annual weekend spent at Umstead park. Pretty early on in our drive (before we got to 81 I think) Jordan asked if I was feeling excited and I couldn’t find the energy to muster a convincing or enthusiastic “yeah” so instead I responded by explaining how I think about each year of Umstead being a unique set of circumstances. Like how 2014 was the my first year at the race and not knowing what to expect or if I could complete it. And how 2015-2017 were the party years where we had a crew of runners often with a 3:1 ratio of crew to runners and how 2018 was the cold year that it snowed at the finish line. And how 2019 was the year that Lydia was born two and half weeks before race day and being at the race as a new dad away from Lydia for the first time and then how this year was 2020 take two and the COVID year. I think my response to Jordan’s question about being excited said a lot about where I was at mentally heading into the weekend and how I’ve been thinking about racing in a pandemic since we found out in February that the race was on once a permit was secured.

The drive to Raleigh was uneventful minus the usual craziness around Winston-Salem and Greensboro. On our way to the park we swung by REI for curbside pickup of a replacement headlamp and hit Jimmy Johns for dinner since the usual pre-race pasta dinner was cancelled because of COVID.

The rest of the evening was uneventful. I pinned on my bib (#9), organized the car, and set up the canopy over the car for Jordan crewing on Saturday. I went to bed around 9PM and awoke a couple hours later in a puddle of sweat. I had brought my cold weather sleeping bag but the overnight temperatures were in the 50s and my sleeping bag was way too warm. I managed to get a few hours of rest and awoke to the normal race day early alarm at 3AM. Usually, in a non-COVID race year, I wake up and make my way to the bath house to shower and then to race headquarters (HQ) lodge to eat breakfast inside. Having breakfast at race HQ is always a nice peaceful way to start the morning and usually I’m the only in there with the exception of one or two volunteers who are getting coffee started for the runners. Due to COVID precautions, race HQ was closed this year and so I mixed up my morning routine a bit and curled up in the back of the Subaru and ate my Panera bagel and banana and had a cup of coffee from the thermos I had packed on Friday. After eating breakfast, I headed to the bathhouse to shower and get dressed for the race. I like showering the morning of the race because it helps me wake up and I think showering helps remove dust and dirt on my feet from walking around the camp on Friday. It’s a nice perk of doing a race where there’s a camp at the start.

After getting all geared up, I made my way back to the car where I found Jordan. I filled my bottles and my Naked belt with gels and hung out for a few minutes before heading up to the race start about 10 minutes before the 6AM start. The race start this year was a time trial style start with one runner leaving every five seconds by seed number. As bib number 9, I found my way to the starting shoot and waited for my time to go. It was certainly a different feeling than in previous years where there’s a single group heading off into the dark as a sea of headlamps. I removed my mask about 50 meters after the start and headed out toward the airport spur on lap 1 of 8 for the day.

The airport spur is a roughly 1 mile out-and-back that runners complete only on the outbound portion of each lap and over the years I have developed a deep dislike for the cone in the middle of the road that marks the turn around. I count each lap telling myself I only have to see the stupid cone 7 (6, 5, etc) more times.

Fairly early into the lap, I found myself with two other runners both running their first Umstead, Phil and Brendan. We ran together for a good portion of the first lap and talked about other races we had done and how excited we were to be racing again. Brendan had crewed at Umstead before and completed his first 100 at Grindstone in 2019 (the year I dropped) and Phil had run some pretty tough East Coast 100s including Eastern States. Brendan was a new dad to a 4 month old. I had coincidently told his wife on the course (before he and I were running together) that she was the real rockstar today and to not let anyone tell her differently as she was wearing their daughter and up early supporting and cheering him on. As we approached AS 1 and turned off our headlamps, I told them there would not be a second sunrise (words I wondered later whether I’d be eating). In previous Umstead races, I’ve had stomach issues with the water from the park (which is used at the aid stations) and Rhonda suggested if it was possible for runners to carry their own water and not rely on aid station water (because the park water was turned off - again due COVID precautions) to do so. I carried two soft flasks for every lap except for lap one (and wished I had two on that lap) and passed through the aid station thanking the volunteers for being out but not needing anything early in the race. Around mile 10 I ate a couple gels and finished the lap in 1:41:54, almost exactly the same as 1:41:00 in 2019.

A quick shirt change, a few gels in my belt, and the first of many lemon lime spicies of the day and I was back out on lap two. Lap two was uneventful.

Early in lap 2

Heading into Aid Station 2

I hit the halfway AS (mile 19.35) in 2:41:58 elapsed compared to 2:36:29 in 2019 and finished the lap at 3:31:05, 8 minutes slower than 3:23:33 in 2019. I was aware of the times I had hit in 2019 and although they crossed my mind each time I went over the timing mat it wasn’t like it was causing me to stress or be frustrated that I was running slower. I didn’t feel as if I was chasing those times but rather was using them as a gage of what the day was going to look like and I think this is where the comparison game got me in trouble.

The realization that I was two laps in with 6 to go and that I would need to keep putting out the effort I had over the first two laps for 6 more to be in the same ballpark finishing time as 2019 planted a feeling of uncertainty. I kept the aid station with Jordan brief as he filled my bottles and I put a few more gels in my belt and headed out onto lap 3. Up until this point in the race, the weather had been overcast and the humidity was high. Everyone was soaked and I was drinking a lot more water than normal, about two bottles a lap (1 liter total) plus a 12oz spicy and hadn’t peed once.

It was on lap three that I spotted the first of many college teams in the park getting their long runs in while being in town for Raleigh Relays. Over the years, I’ve seen Virginia Tech out there a few times and although I missed them this year (Jordan found them and shared some miles with them while I was on lap three) it’s neat for them to see a different side of the sport other than going really fast. I came through the halfway AS (31.85) at 4:36 (2019 was 4:23) and it was about 1000ft after the AS where everything came to a screeching halt. The pressure of my success in 2019 and the comparison trap of knowing my splits for each lap felt like too much to handle and I told myself I just needed to walk. I knew what 5.5 more laps meant and the effort required to keep up the pace I had run for the first 2.5 laps and just needed to not feel that pressure for a little bit. I think the self sabotage here was that knowing if I walked...I wouldn’t be comparing my times from 2019 because those times would go out the window and I’d focus on the day. Jordan ran by me as he completed his training miles for the day and told me he’d see me back at the AS not knowing how dark of a place I was in right as he had come upon me.

Even though the race was only a few days ago, I feel like I remember walking more of this lap than I actually did. Something I hadn’t noticed until writing this race report was that my first half/second half lap splits, 6.85 miles and 5.65 miles respectively, for lap 3 were 1:05/1:05 for a 2:10 lap (compared to 1:00/55:00 in 2019). After having a few days to process the race, had I known those times were that close given the conditions of the morning (specifically the brutal humidity) I think I would've been inclined to keep my foot on the gas pedal but in the moment it felt like the rope was slipping through my hands and no matter how hard I tried to hold on I wasn’t going to be able to hold it. As I came up the hill from the timing mat at the end of lap 3, I found Phil sitting in his chair and asked him how he was doing. He let me know he was dropping. I tried to convince him to walk one more lap and get the 50 finish but he had made up his mind. It’s funny that I was trying to convince him to keep going when I had already in my head prepared myself to tell Jordan that I wasn’t sure I wanted to go beyond 50 today.

I walked into our crew spot and told Jordan I needed to re-evaluate. I sat down for the first time of the day and told him I was considering dropping after the next lap and taking the 50 finish. He did a great job of not pushing too hard but conveying that he knew I could do it and that we’d talk after the next lap and even told me that if I wanted he’d join for lap 5 after I finished lap 4. I walked out of the aid station spicy in hand and just let myself walk. First to the airport spur cone. Then to mile 2. Then mile 3. And I just kept walking. At this point, the sun had finally burnt off the fog and for the first time all day conditions were both humid and hot. Before mile 4, Aaron Saft caught up to me and walked with me for a bit. I told him I was struggling with the idea of walking for another 20+ hours and that I wasn’t sure I was up to the challenge. We talked about life and kids and his experience at UTMB and his outlook for the day which included not dropping the hammer and just taking the day as it comes one lap at a time (he went on to finish in 19:13 and 7th overall). Aaron doesn’t know it but him stopping to talk with me for a bit changed my entire mindset for the race and helped me get back into a positive headspace. After walking together for a bit he began running and I kept walking but now in a much more positive mood about wanting to continue. A few minutes later Chris and Ronnie came by and I made a joke about smelling something bad (their shirts were hilarious with each shirt pointing to the other person and said "He farted") and we started up a conversation as we walked our way to the halfway aid station. I came through the halfway aid station at 7:38 elapsed on the race clock taking nearly two hours to complete the first 6.85 miles of the lap. Jordan thought that the timing mat had missed me and that’d I’d be coming in soon to HQ only to get the notification on his phone that I walked the entire way to the aid station. When I arrived at the halfway aid station with Chris and Ronnie, I asked for a veggie burger with cheese, ketchup, and mustard and a big cup of soda to wash it down. In all of my previous runs at Umstead, I’ve never been able to eat solid food during the race. I simply can’t get it down and usually my attempt to eat something solid results in me projectile vomiting all of my fluids/gels I have managed to get down. Apparently, all I had to do was walk and I’d be able to eat all the solid food I wanted. The burger was everything I had dreamed about for the past 5 miles and after it had a little time to settle I felt a bit better and ran some of the second half of the lap.

I came into HQ with a new determination to finish. I knew it wasn’t going to be fast or pretty but I wanted to get it done (a feeling that would leave again during lap 6 and I’d have to reason through for a second time in the race whether I really wanted to walk for another 7+ hours). I crossed the timing mat completing lap 4 (of 8) and hitting the 50 mile mark in 8:50 (about an hour and a half behind 2019) but I knew it was still faster than my first year at Umstead and if I rebounded and found legs to run in the second half I could still salvage the day (something that never happened). Jordan asked if I wanted company and I told him no and ate a couple freezer pops and changed before heading out onto lap 5. Jordan let me know as I was changing that I would probably get wet on the lap as storms were going to roll in and I responded with a “bring it” hoping it would cool things down.

I walked out of camp spicy in hand and high on sugar from the freezer pops and headed toward the airport spur. This was the first of many falling asleep walking miles of the day. I think I had a sugar crash from the freezer pops and stumbled for the next couple miles trying to keep my eyes open as I walked my way toward the halfway AS. Music wasn’t doing much to keep me awake and the miles were going by SLOWLY. Eventually, I snapped out of it and did some power walking telling myself that 24 hours was only 14 minute miles. As I approached the AS there was lightning off in the distance and I told myself get through the open exposed aid station fast and duck back into the woods. I got another veggie burger at the halfway AS because WHY NOT?!? and I felt the need to make up for 6 years of not being able to eat solid food and finished it just as the rain began. At this point, I was running with a first time 100 miler and he turned to me and said “I think we’re going to get wet” and I gave the same “bring it” reply to which he said..”I agree but I wish I had a shirt.”

And then it began. Sideways rain, torrential downpour, hail back at the HQ aid station. We were soaked and it did cool things down for a bit but then the humidity was right back where it was earlier in the day.

I came into HQ to complete lap 5 at 11:53 elapsed (almost 6PM) and debated whether I should change shoes and socks as the rain had stopped for a bit. I decided to change both and put on a dry top as well. It was at this point in the race that I put on the vest (a first at Umstead?!?) and told Jordan to throw a poncho in my pack and knowing that it was going to get dark on this lap I also had him throw in my headlamp. At this point, I started doing the math and told him it was probably going to be another 9 hours. It took him a minute to process that I STILL had three laps to go. As I left camp it began pouring again and my nice dry shoes and socks were soaked within minutes of changing them.

Lap 6 was another low point in the race. You know it’s a long day when you have two low points in the race and debate continuing for a second time. At this point, my laps were taking between 3-3.5 hours and I was debating whether I really wanted to walk for another 7+ hours. I was also battling sleepiness again after eating a couple slices of pizza at the HQ aid station and with the sun set and the course fully dark I was walking and falling asleep toward the ditch at the side of the road. This is pretty typical for me in a long ultra (Hellgate, Pinhoti, Umstead) and really makes me question my decision making. As I did the numbers in my head of what time I would arrive back at HQ for each lap I thought that sub-24 hours was still in reach and I’d finish between 22-23 hours planning to be back before 10 to begin lap 7, and 1:30AM to begin the final lap 8. I had to reason that if I dropped at 75 I’d be deciding not to continue for another 7+ hours and instead have to do another Umstead 18+ hours to get 10 total finishes. After reasoning through my options I decided that even if I walked it was better to just keep going and finish the day.

I don’t really remember much of lap 7. I think the aid station workers knew how I was feeling before I even opened my mouth and they told me to keep my head up and to just keep moving forward. I do recall how it felt being on the other side of the coin with folks running by you and having the brief exchange of “last lap? Yes! Get it!” It was humbling to be on the other side and not doing the passing as runners and pacers approached quickly and gave a word of encouragement before disappearing off into the dark again. I did have lots of folks tell me that my power walking was faster than their running and to keep up the great fast walking pace.

When I came into HQ to finish lap 7, Jordan asked if I wanted company for the last lap. I told him if he had a burning desire for a long walk then his company was welcome. In years past, I’ve had headphones in and it’s been mission focus to get to the finish which didn't leave much opportunity for conversation. This time, I left my headphones in the car and welcomed the company after having been solo for most of the day. We power walked and talked about being dads. We talked about Lydia and Kirby’s favorite books and foods. We talked about a fish sign that’s on a bridge a little after mile 4 that despite having walked past 56 times in seven years at Umstead, I had failed to notice. It didn’t feel fast because it wasn’t. But the miles were exactly what I needed to end the day on a positive note. Jordan got a burger at the aid station and I grabbed a cup of “cola” with ice and we headed out of the aid station for the last time. We finished the first half of the lap in 2:07 and the second half in 1:30. Significantly slower than the 1:16/1:05 last lap from 2019.

As we turned off the main road and headed back into camp, I asked Jordan to run ahead and get a photo of the finish. I managed a poor excuse for a run but I'm pretty sure both feet were in the air at the same time so it counts. I BARELY ran up the final hill and crossed the finish line in a time of 22:46:50. Coming across the finish line I felt the weight of the day lifted. Despite it being a 68 mile death march I was proud of having the mental fortitude to get through two low points where I considered calling it quits. A few minutes after I finished it began POURING again and I mean torrential downpour. Jordan was kind enough to go get my finish line bag so I could shower and get warm dry clothes on. After I showered, we headed to the cabin for a couple hours of sleep. Not the full nights sleep you get when you finish before 11PM on the same day but it was sleep. Waking up on Sunday morning, I was so glad to have finished the race and have finish number seven under my belt. Three more to go for 1000 miles! A note about my crew:

Jordan has been at 6 of my seven Umstead races and crewed me for 7 of my 9 100 mile finishes. I cannot think of a more giving, caring, and encouraging person to have in my corner. His positive attitude is contagious and despite being a soul-crushing trail-eating monster he showed me patience and grace on Saturday and Sunday morning when I was searching to find the drive to finish. Thank you friend.

Umstead is a special place and a special race. On paper it looks easy. And there were several runners on Saturday who made it look VERY easy. The numbers from Saturday tell a different story. The conditions were hard on the field and finishing rate. With a time of 22:46:50, I placed 19th overall. 9 runners went under 20 hours compared to 22 runners sub-20 in 2019. My time in 2019 would've placed me 49th overall. By my count, there were only 76 100 mile finishers on Saturday/Sunday, one of if not the lowest number of finishers in all the years I've been at Umstead...and there have been some challenging weather years.

Thank you Rhonda, Chris, and the entire Umstead 100 board and volunteer group. I've said it many times and intend to hold my promise of 10 finishes and 10 years volunteering. I'm just glad I'm one year closer to volunteering after this weekend.

2016 Umstead 100 Mile Endurance Run "Race Report"

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Sun, 10 Apr 2016 23:36:00 +0000

People will give you a lot of reasons as to why they run ultras. I'll give you one:

Click on photos to enlarge

Umstead 100 makes #families. It was evident as I witnessed friends, now family, embrace warmly before departing that we had taken part in something special.

The photos above embody the attitude of the weekend. Love. Support. Joy. Why else would we endure hours, sometimes days, of suffering? Jordan was there to capture the moments above perfectly. Before we climbed in our cars, we gave hugs all around. Hugs for congratulations. Hugs for appreciation. Hugs for new relationships formed. Hugs because together we had achieved so much more than getting four runners to the finish line. We stared failure in the eyes and laughed, smiled, danced, and vuvuzela'd our way to success!

It has been two years since I've written a "race report" and this one will follow a similar format. There are a few reasons why I stopped writing this blog but the primary reason was the realization that what I'm doing isn't a big deal. Plenty of individuals pursue long distance running. What IS a BIG deal are people who give up a weekend to help and support others achieve their goals. People who drive three or four hours to cheer on runners and pace friends at all hours of the night. Those are the type of people we should be writing race reports about. THOSE people are a BIG deal!

LINDA VICK! True confession. Linda was my undergraduate advisor when I was a mechanical engineering student at Virginia Tech. Numerous times I went to her office in a panic fearing the worse and there she was to keep me calm and reassure me everything was going to be okay. I affectionately refer to Linda as Momma Vick because of this. What better qualities could you ask for of a crew member at a 100 mile race? Linda not only drove down to support the four of us as crew but she ALSO VOLUNTEERED at the aid station halfway along the course and was there to tell me I looked strong as I came through her aid station later in the race. I know this was not true but thank you Linda for being an awesome friend, advisor, and crew member last weekend. Both Michelle and I are so appreciative for your friendship. Linda is running the Blue Ridge Marathon next weekend and we intend to find her on course with the Vuvuzela!
BUTCH!!! This kid has serious talent! Talk about clutch in a way that only #UltraVT could pull through. Butch ran an off the couch 50 miler with Royce. Butch is a seriously talented runner and a humble guy who basically made the pacing situation work. Things got a little messed up with the pacing schedule, which was totally expected, because 100 miles is a long way right?!? Josh Starner stepped in for lap 6 pacing duties for me and it is because of Butch that this worked and didn't completely shatter all pacing responsibilities! I felt the need to include some typical BUTCH face photos to give you a better feel for Butch's humble intensity.
Chris and Julia! You guys win the award for the longest drive! Every time I came into the aid station there you two were with smiling faces. Chris, Trevor and I were joking a week out from Umstead that you had as many 2016 miles as Trevor and I and that you could be running Umstead. It was awesome that your rocked out two laps with Stewie and helped pace him to a PR. He's already talking about your magic and requesting you for Grindstone this fall. I can't wait for you to get up to Blacksburg for your first Catawba Run Around #CRA. Chris is a card carrying member of the #BadIdeaClub and embodies the #ExploreYourFaceOnFire attitude. He also participated in the inaugural meeting of the bad idea club completing the New River Trail 50 mile run last fall.
Jill! In case no on has told you today, YOU'RE AWESOME!!! I came in after lap two slightly unhappy with a blister that had developed on my left foot.

I wondered going into the race whether a spot on the inside of my left foot was going to be an issue. After hitting the aid station, I was persuaded to change my socks (a great idea) and reluctantly sat down in a chair, only after stating aloud a power phrase "Beware of the chair!" When I took off my sock, I found a pretty large blood blister that needed to be addressed. After consideration, the used fork on the aid station table wasn't going to work and without pause, as if in a movie, a knife slides in from behind me on my left side. Jill was there to save the day! With a little hand sanitizer for sterizilation (?) I did through-and-through and drained the blister. I didn't have to worry about my feet for the rest of the day. Jill, thank you for letting us borrow Josh for numerous weekends throughout the winter (but really...you're welcome!). Jill and Michelle ran the 8 miler last year at Eastern Divide. We wish we could have them here in Blacksburg but Boone will have to do for now!
LOIS!!! It's no wonder G$ is so awesome! She's a chip off the ~~old~~ block! (not calling you old here Lois) If you were to have a potluck, Lois would bring the awesome-sauce! And some sweet signs! Lois has been at Umstead for the past two years and is an awesome crew member! She even stayed up for Trevor to finish last year (I didn't make it to the finish line for Stewie last year). Lois, thank you so much for being there and being the awesome Mom you are! You're one of the coolest moms around. The photos you took are awesome and you kept everyone on the interwebs informed all day.

PAUSE!!! DID I MENTION HOW AWESOME OUR CREW WAS?!?!?!?!?!!!!
Ginger A.K.A G$ - You sand baggin' son of a... Ginger is fast. Don't let her tell you otherwise. She has speed, talent, and a smile that makes it hard not to smile back when you're around her. I remember an early season training run with Ginger in town when we descended down into the valley on Nellies Cave Road and G$ was a total trooper soaking in the experience (and suffering) and held her own climbing out of the valley. Michelle and I feel so fortunate for your and Trevor's friendship. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for traveling to Myrtle to support Michelle in her first marathon! #LoveWhereYouLive #WeHaveTheBestPeople
(Josh) STARNER!!! DUDE. I'm Sorry. You got me at my worst during the race. I was in a dark place. Probably pretty glazed over. Possibly swerving all over the trail. Non-responsive. And overall not a great person to be running with. If there was an MVP of crewing duties for VT Ultrarunning you would win it at every year. Your kindness and willingness to do whatever a runner needs is unparalleled. Thank you for the generosity of your time and being at Umstead. I can honestly say I'm not sure I would've made it around lap 6 without you! I'm so stoked to watch you tackle your first 50 and 100!
MAO (Sean) MAO! I'm so glad you tapped Trevor on the shoulder to ask if you could join at pub run. Your ENTHUSIASM IS CONTAGIOUS. You were on point all weekend. Always willing to help. Keeping what could've been a heavy and stressful pre-race day light and jovial. Deb - your husband is an amazing man and thank you for letting us borrow him for the weekend. Also, Michelle is going to need the peanut butter ball recipe. "MMMM....this is so good!!!" On a serious note though, watching you transform into a trail beast has been inspiring and a breath of fresh air. Not only was your DEBUT marathon seriously impressive but then to turn around and lay down the time you did at Holiday Lake. This is just the beginning. Thanks for taking charge on the vuvuzela duties. Your horn skills are superb.
JORDAN and Kristen!!! Where do I begin. I'll start with this:
"Jordan knows me better than most people, he knew that I’d let myself be content with finishing, rather than pushing myself to finish higher. He knew exactly what to tell Michelle and how to push me, without physically being there to push me. It was as if he was out there with me on lap 8, when he was back at headquarters aid station waiting for me to finish."

Jordan has been there with me every year. It wouldn't be Umstead without him. He kept me fueled in the dark miles of a 100 miler and kept my spirits high providing encouragement and compliments. If there were a tour guide of SWVA mountains it would be Jordan. He is a far better friend than I deserve and I hope we run until we're old and pushing the 30 hour cutoff. You make me want to be a better runner, person, friend, and husband. You are a huge role model for me. Thank you for being my friend Jordy!

Fun fact: Jordan is solely responsible for the increased usage of emoticons among our group. There's a correlation between the number of emoticons used and happiness of the individual. Jordan uses a metric crapton of emoticons.

Below: Jordan has my jacket and headlamp and is waiting for me to return from HQ aid station. Did you notice his shirt?!? He's a boss. And a beast. Seriously talented and so proud to call him my friend. If you look at all the crew photos above, you'll notice it's Jordy taking care of both Trevor and Royce's feet.

I can't think of anyone else I'd want to projectile vomit in front of!

2014 Finish 2015 HQ AS Pre-Start

2016 Finish!

Kristen, thank you for being there and capturing moments behind the camera! I'm glad you got the opportunity to witness Umstead firsthand.
Michelle! My Loving Wife Sherfy! I cannot begin to express my gratitude for your support in this endeavor. Of all of the Umstead moments over the past three years, none compare to RUNNING the last lap of this years race with you. You've supported me in so many ways over the past 7 years but last Saturday I saw a side of you I've never seen before. On lap 7, I told Jordan I was ready for lap 8 to be a victory lap and wanted to soak in the day. I told Jordan that there was no one I would rather run lap 8 with than you. I told Jordan that the only reason that I was there on lap 7 was because of your support.

Your support all winter during long training days. Your support preparing healthy meals every week for us to eat. Your support of many Saturdays apart with me training in the mountains because you knew it would help me be successful at Umstead this year. But you didn't let me settle for victory lap. You didn't let me walk the last lap. You persuaded me ever so slightly to want more than just finishing. You wanted more for me when I didn't. You didn't complain once.

You ran hard and were the perfect pacer. I'm not sure we've ever been more in sync on a run together. Not only would Umstead not have been possible without you, it wouldn't have been fun without you. All day long you were ready to get me whatever I needed to get back out on the next lap. You led our crew calmly and kept our pacers organized and made the day work. I am so damn proud of you. I am so glad to be on this journey of life together. SO Richmond...?!?
EVERY VOLUNTEER! Rhonda! The #UmsteadFamily. There’s a lot of selfishness involved in setting the goal of a 1000 mile buckle. Perhaps my selfishness is fear in what will happen after the Umstead party is over? The first year we were at Umstead, we rolled with a fairly small crew, only Michelle and I were there on Friday and Rudy and Jordan drove down on Saturday. We were welcomed by other runners and crew (Rick and Tammy, you guys seriously rock and are just so darn nice! We feel privileged to call you guys friends). I vowed not to run it again because I could not imagine the day going better or having more fun. But the draw of the #UmsteadFamily convinced me to sign up again and run it last year. Last year was the first year that we knew folks before we arrived at the race start. We met Lois and Jordan returned AGAIN for pacing duties, running laps 7 AND 8 with me. Josh came and ran with Trevor and fun times were had. The race just has something special about it. Perhaps it's the lap setup that makes headquarters aid station and crewing so appealing or the unparalleled welcome that crew receive by the race staff. No other race treats runners and crew equal. Rhonda, thank you for continuing the awesome event Blake created! Volunteers, thank you for being out there in all hours of the night. For pacing random people to help them achieve their goal. You guys rock! Thank you to the countless photographers (Ben Dillon, Hope Squires, G. King, Dennis Geiser, and many others) that stand out on the course and take photos of runners to use as FB profile photos or for blogs like this one.
Friends and family following along from all over. Thank you for your positive words, congratulations, and words of encouragement. It is easy to pass over the Like button on FB or to think..."he's running that again?!? We get it. You run" (#HatersGonnaHate) but knowing we had people following along, subscribed to text messages, and supporting from a far kept us going out there. A big shoutout to our RunAbout Pub Run family. We look forward to seeing you guys every Wednesday! It's become my favorite day of the week.

There you have it! It was an awesome weekend of running with friends, now family. Congratulations to all finishers and participants! It takes guts to toe the line of a 100 miler, finish or not. Royce and Josh, welcome to the family and selective group of 100 miler finishers. I hope your Umstead experience lived up to the hype! Stewie, I'm so damn proud of you. I think of you like the brother I never had. Congratulations on breaking 20 hours! You inspire all of us and I don't hesitate to say you that you are the mayor the Blacksburg running community!

I may post a detailed race report full of geeky runnerd numbers and description of how things went down but everything above is the important part, the part WORTH reading. I do want to write a blog post on why signing up for ultras with friends and training with friends is awesome but... we'll see if that happens.

**Photo credit for the photographs in this post goes to a long list of photographers including our crew: Lois Kelly, Jordan and Kristen Chang, Linda Vick as well as the photographers out on the course: Ben Dillon, Hope Squires, G. King, Dennis Geiser, and Teri Saylor**

Pre-race Post: Blue Ridge Marathon Packet Pickup and Expo

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 22:28:00 +0000

The Blue Ridge Marathon has been on my radar for several years but this year was the first that it fit into my schedule...and that I was fit enough to tackle the challenging event, which appropriately claims the title of "America's Toughest Road Marathon." On Friday, after a fun day with the middle schoolers, I made the short trip to Roanoke to complete packet pick up. Packet pick up was held in downtown Roanoke at the City Market Building, which is centrally located in downtown and houses numerous takeout restaurants including Queso Southwest Grill, Hong Kong Restaurant, and All Sports Cafe. I'll address the location a bit later in the post.

In an effort to beat the crowds (mission accomplished) I arrived at the expo, which began at three and was open until eight, slightly after 3:30pm and walked right up to the table to retrieve my bib and a friends bib who was running the half marathon on Saturday. The tent outside of the City Market building is where runners picked up their race bib before heading inside to find the expo and race shirts. There were plenty volunteers (wearing obnoxiously bright orange shirts) giving directions and helping participants find their bib numbers for those of us that ~~forgot to look it up before~~ couldn't remember our assigned bib numbers.

After grabbing both bibs, I headed into the City Market Building to find the following:

(Click photo to enlarge)

For a relatively small race, less than 2000 runners for the full, half, and 10k combined, the expo was appropriately sized and had most things a runner would need the day before a race. I headed toward the loft on the left where runners could pick up their race t-shirt. I like that the race shirts are differentiated by color for the three lengths: blue = full, green = half, and yellow = 10k. Too often race organizers make only one shirt for an event that has both half and full options. I enjoyed running into my old advisor (undergrad) Linda Vick, who is one of the nicest individuals I've met and was volunteering at the expo directing runners and running the half the next day!

After grabbing shirts, I headed down the stairs to check out the "rest of the expo." Foot Levelers, a custom orthotic company, is the title sponsor of the race and had a pretty elaborate setup at the expo. Mounted on their massive display was a large flatscreen TV that had a course preview sped-up on loop, which allowed expo attendees to preview the entirety of the course in roughly 10 minutes. I saw this for the first time at Rock 'n' Roll USA last spring, the race that I proposed to Michelle in the middle of. You can watch the video of the course HERE. The photo to the left shows runners standing on some type of foot scanning device...I didn't stay around long enough to see the entire process.

I mentioned earlier that the City Market Building where the expo was held also housed several dine out restaurants. I found it incredibly cruel that the race organization choose a location full of delicious aromas tempting even the most strong-willed runner's self-control. I'm quite proud that I made it out of the expo without a burrito, cheeseburger, or ice cream cone and felt that even if I didn't finish the race the following day that my self-control was medal worthy.

After taking in the vendors and grabbing a blue tote bag with free stickers, tattoos, and other misc. promotional stuff, I headed up to the other loft where Fleet Feet Sports had a vast array of running products. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo while I was up there shopping but my takeaway for the day was seven Vanilla Bean Gus for Saturday. There was also the typical runner/race apparel available for purchase and they even had a Hoka Rep. there to talk about their maximalist shoes. Of course, if you wanted a pre-race "hold your bib in front of you photo," which I'm guilty of having taken in the past there was a Blue Ridge Marathon banner to do so!

On my way out of the expo, I noticed the local news was interviewing runners about why they choose the Blue Ridge Marathon. As a side note, WDBJ7 did a phenomenal job covering the race providing live coverage of the race in addition to taking photos and creating time lapses of the event.

With Gu purchased and bibs and shirts collected, I decided it was better to call it a day and head home to get some pasta in my belly before the ensuing long run. As I was leaving, I grabbed this photo of the newly completed square in downtown Roanoke. This was a parking lot that was really convenient if you wanted to grab something from the farmers market on the weekend but the pedestrian square they replaced it with is very nice too!

I was trying to grab a panoramic shot of the square when the light turned green and the cars began to move. Notice anything funny about one of the trucks? It moved forward just as I got to the front end resulting in a squished pickup.

Although the expo experience wasn't as exciting as usual, partly due to Michelle not being there, I was excited and apprehensive about how my legs would respond the following day, just three weeks after my first 100 mile race! As I was leaving, I snagged this photo of the banner that was hunger near the City Market Building during a brief relief from the storms we'd endured all day:

Just did packet pick up for the Blue Ridge Marathon at Market Square in downtown Roanoke! @BRM26pt2 #runnblueridge pic.twitter.com/Y0SShg8TSi
— Brett Sherfy (@RBSherfy) April 25, 2014

Traffic was just starting to pick up as I as leaving a little after four and the parking garage had quite a line to get out. One note for future participants, the parking garage off Campbell Ave SE DOES NOT accept cards as a form of payment. I only realized this, despite having been there 10 or more times(?!?) when I handed them my card and the guy gave me a frightened look. Fortunately, there were a bunch of folks behind me so the guy wrote an IOU (which I plan to mail!) and let me go on my way. However, on Saturday during race day parking at the garage was FREE!!! So participants find this garage next year and enjoy free parking two blocks from the race start.

Stay tuned for my race report including how I managed to take 28th overall after faltering in the second half of the race dropping from 11th place!

Synchroblog: Why Do We Run?

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 11:00:00 +0000

In second installment of UltraVT synchroblog, I was tasked with coming up with a topic that "had a little controversy" and would ultimately promote good discussion within our group. I suppose one neat thing about participating in the synchroblog with a group of likeminded college students is that, as intellectuals, we can appreciate and embrace differences in opinion without feeling like our beliefs or values are being challenged. That's the beauty of the entire thing; new perspectives promoting and fostering a rich dialogue among friends.

The topic I decided on, as seen in the title, is Why Do We Run? This has been an underlying theme in many of my posts and one that I attempted to tackle in an open conversation last spring, Lets Talk Running Motivation. One excerpt from that post that helps set the tone for the discussion:

I have a personal struggle with motivation that teeters on an unhealthy addiction. I often have a feeling of guilt until I cross off that days mileage. It made me think. What drives me to run?

I think it is important to reflect and reevaluate periodically, taking a step back see the bigger picture. I'm excited to read what my peers have to say as I think it is a challenging topic but relevant as ultrarunners because of the inevitable "but why do you run so far?"

What role does running play in your life?

For me, it is important to continually remind myself that running is something I do and NOT who I am. This is a big one in my opinion, especially in our generation, because we keep such busy schedules and are so driven to climb the ladder or get to the next "thing" that we hardly stop to enjoy the moment.

For instance, last Sunday morning I completed a massive accomplishment by finishing my first 100 mile race. A race that I devoted a huge amount of time, energy, and money toward...and it was over in the blink of an eye...erm...in less than a day?!? You know what I mean. Michelle and I discussed before Umstead 100 that I would NOT sign up for another race in the week following Umstead. Rudy, without any knowledge of this discussion, made sure to tell Michelle to "not let me sign up for any races the week after." I'm proud to say that I didn't. That's not to say I didn't look but I didn't pay for or actually sign up for any races. Small victories. The point being that, we are often too quick to think about what's next that we rarely stop to appreciate the things we have, or in this case have recently accomplished. I think by not signing up, I savored the success of completing my first 100 mile race in a stylish fashion. Further, I would argue that I'm the happiest I've ever been following a race. I spoke with Kristen about this on our run on Sunday morning, the post race depression. After months of planning, training, and hard work the event is over and far too often is over in a fashion that does not meet our idea of "success." We justify our performance by telling ourselves "I could've done this differently" and "I should've trained this way" never being satisfied with our performance. I believe this is an inherent trait of runners, specifically runners who consider themselves "endurance athletes."

Running, in this way, is both productive and equally destructive. The coin is two sided; races and events serve as source of focus and drive when motivation is lacking to train and simultaneously act as selfish pursuits of achievement that are detrimental to relationships, professional goals, and social lives. I spoke with some friends about this in early February as I expressed my concern about how selfish training for a 100 mile race is and the toll it was taking on all three of the above mentioned aspects. Training placed an additional, and entirely unnecessary, burden on Michelle to pickup my slack while I spent hours running each weekend. It was entirely unfair.

So why continue to do it? Simple: mental balance. Now, I understand all the aforementioned selfish training and unfair talk in the previous paragraph is enough to warrant hanging up the sport altogether. But since I began running again in late 2011, I've been a happier and more balanced individual than I can ever remember. Getting out the door, even if only for a few miles, gives me an opportunity to clear my head, unwind from a long day, and personally reflect on my life and behavior. It's my thinking time. Selfish? Absolutely. But do I feel that I am a better friend, son, teacher, and fiancé (soon to be husband) because of it? There's not a doubt in my mind. I don't think anyone, or at least very few, individuals who run 100 miles races and put in 60+ mile weeks can do so unselfishly. The compromise then is choosing and pursuing races that allow for a resemblance of balance.

For me, I need to ensure that running has it's place within my life without taking it over.

When did you start running and why?

I started "running" during my sophomore year of high school when I went out for the cross country team in the fall of 2002. I thought of myself as fit and quickly learn just how unfit I was. The team was a blast and we had a few kids on the team who were amazingly talented and naturally gifted with absolutely zero focus and dedication. Huge potential squandered. They made every practice hilarious, mainly because we were high school guys and everything inappropriate seemed funny at the time (why do I want to coach HS again?). In the spring I decided to participate in track and field and fell in love with the sport. I choose hurdles, despite my scant 5' 3" build, and quickly fell in love with the feeling of flying through the air over hurdles. I'm not sure if I was driven or simply had a chip on my shoulder but I managed to make it to states my senior year and place 7th, good enough for all state honors.

Part of the reason I choose to leave my job as an engineer is so that I could coach at the high school level with the desire to help kids find a love of running, or at least pursuing an active and healthy lifestyle. Once I got to college, I would go out for runs sporadically but never with any idea of "training" or consistency. Eventually, a friend persuaded me to sign up for a half marathon, the Yuengling Shamrock half, which I thought I was going to die after. In the fall of 2009 after completing the Journey of Hope, I decided I was fit enough to run a marathon. Little did I know that cycling fitness doesn't necessarily translate to running fitness. I swore I would never do it again.

The real catalyst for me signing up for my first ultra was my best friend Jeff sending me a link to Sabrina Moran's blog, who attended William & Mary at the same time that he did. I was hooked and quickly signed up for my first ultra, another terrible idea, the North Face 50M, which I eventually reduced down to the 50k and ran in the summer of 2012. The past few years have been a whirlwind of growing as a runner, specifically developing confidence in my fitness and ability to run beyond my self-imposed limits.

If you could only run one last run, where and with whom would it be and why?

When I met Michelle, she wasn't a runner but in all fairness neither was I. The first few times we tried running together were...well...disastrous. Running partners need to run the same pace and our paces didn't mesh well together. However, over the years, we've run together when I haven't been training and it has been AWESOME. She knows it's my favorite thing to do together. I know it's one of her least favorite things. We're working on finding a happy medium. I digress. If I had one last run, or could only run one more time before both of my knees gave out, I would want it to be with her someplace beautiful. Just a fun run along the water or a canal or in some new place we've traveled to. Spending time doing what I love with the person I love most in the world.

Which is better, trail running or road running? Why?

Tough question. I came from a road running background transitioning to longer trail ultras after running my first half marathon eventually my first full marathon. A lot of the runners I know ran a trail 50k as their first long distance race and completely skipped over the marathon distance. I LOVE the feeling of running through closed city streets in a massive road race where you feel like for a few short hours, runners own the roads. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the ultrarunning community is SO much more close knit than the road running community. We endure and suffer together, traversing massive mountains and covering grueling distances. Trail races are limited by the number of runners a trail can accommodate and consequently are more intimate experiences. Road running has my heart but at the moment, trail running has captured my attention and drawn me in. I have a lot of lofty goals involving trail races and really only one that involves road racing, qualifying for Boston. I suppose that's why I think trail running, and ultra distance racing will continue to keep me entertained for the foreseeable future whereas Boston may be more of a "bucket list item."

Groups or solo?

Deep inside, I'm fiercely independent but when it comes to running I find strength in others around me, whom often believe in me more than I do myself. UltraVT is a petri dish of inspiration. I think the following tweet after Monday night's group run sums up my opinion on the matter:

When 6.5 miles seems like 6.5 minutes running with @ultraVT friends. Gorgeous evening for a run and the rain even held out for us!
— Brett Sherfy (@RBSherfy) April 15, 2014

So there you have it! The second installment of UltraVT Synchroblog. ~~All~~ most of us will be publishing this Friday morning. Be sure to click on the links under the UltraVT logo on the right side of the page as everyone else updates their blogs. Writing this post has been an excellent opportunity to organize and consolidate my thoughts into coherent opinions. And they're just that. Opinions at the moment. Perhaps I'll read another runners post and change my opinion. Maybe not. Either way, I'm excited to do another one.

2014 3.2 Run In Remembrance

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 21:02:00 +0000

On Saturday, Michelle and I participated in the 3.2 Run In Remembrance held, on the Virginia Tech campus, to remember and celebrate the lives of 32 Hokies that were tragically taken from us on April 16th, 2007. Although Michelle had participated in the run twice before, Saturday was the first time I elected to participate in the run. I'm not sure why...or how(?) I missed participating in the run in years previous but after signing up and then not running last year because of a friends wedding, I made certain to put it on our calendar this year. When Michelle and I discussed the run last week before Umstead 100, I told her I may have to walk it but that I was going to do it! Fortunately I managed not to ever really be sore this week recovering from Umstead 100 and as a result was able to go out and #HaveFun running with Michelle.

On Friday, after a busy day with the middle schoolers, Michelle and I drove to campus together and headed over to packet pickup at War Memorial Hall. I foolishly only took one photo, which came out funky as some guy walked in my panoramic shot:

I digress. The packet pickup was silly efficient! Appropriate for an engineering school huh? Each participant was given a QR code that was scanned using an iOS device (not too sure here because it looked like iPod touch with a larger scanner handheld attachment on the back that they have/had at Apple stores) that when scanned notified the volunteer whether to distribute a ticket for the free t-shirt. All told, we spent about 3 minutes actually inside of War Memorial and about 10 walking to and from each way. There were banners to sign and write on as well as "bibs" to write your reason for running. After ~~packet~~ t-shirt pickup, we ran a few errands in Downtown and while we waited, grabbed a sweet tea lemonade at Starbucks, perfect to cool down! While sitting there, I noted that in to months to the day, we will be husband and wife!

2 months from today I get to call get my wife! #DR #TheSherfys pic.twitter.com/EWswTWUKra
— Brett Sherfy (@RBSherfy) April 11, 2014

One awesome thing about the Run In Remembrance is that it does not start at a silly early time. The RecSports department at Virginia Tech has decided to keep the race casual, meaning that it doesn't actually start until 9AM, with the large group photo taken around 8:45. This was super nice because I was able to get up and lounge around, have breakfast and a cup of coffee, and then run to the start of the run. I met Michelle at the start and we headed over to where people were assembling to take the VT photo on the Drillfield. This is a good time to mention that I decided to bring the GoPro with me to film the run and in my distracted state trying to get a neat shot of everyone forming the VT, I lost sight of Michelle into a sea of maroon and orange. Fortunately once the crowd dispersed, I able to find her and after only a brief reprimanding...continue my filming duties. However, I was much more conscious to always keep and eye on her. Whoopsie!

The photo above was taken from a helicopter above the Drillfield. I thought it was pretty awesome how quickly they posted the photo because by 11:52 the photo was on the Virginia Tech Facebook page and I had tweeted it out!

We took part in this AWESOMENESS this AM! Can you spot us? #VT32Run #VirginiaTech #WeAreVirginiaTech #neVerforgeT pic.twitter.com/ZAmvV9iIuZ
— Brett Sherfy (@RBSherfy) April 12, 2014

Michelle and I at the run start.

After the photo was taken, we headed over to where the run was set to begin in front of War Memorial Hall. We would then follow the Drillfield clockwise down toward the Duck Pond and then hang a right on West Campus Drive before veering onto Duck Pond Drive.

This year marked the first year they did not release balloons, which was good and simultaneously disappointing. I understand the reasoning but they do make biodegradable balloons now and the sight of thousands of maroon and orange balloons lifting up is pretty awesome (at least the pictures I've seen anyway).

At the start, there was a sea of maroon and orange, the two best school colors in my opinion. Over 8000 runners were signed up to run and I'm sure even more decided to run the day of, which is possible because there is not a timing system or fee to enter the run. Nope. The run is entirely free!

The view at the bottom of the Drillfield near the Duck Pond. To say that the weather was picturesque is a massive understatement. The trees are just beginning to bloom and they made for gorgeous pictures along the run route.

Lots of participants were breaking the first rule of any running event, wearing the event t-shirt during the run, but because this run and not a race I think we can let them slide on this one. I'll chalk it up to showing Hokie Pride!

Looking back down West Campus Drive. On the left in this photo, is the newly renovated Davidson Hall that resembles a periodic table of elements when looked at in a profile view from the left.

It was here that there was a bit of a bottleneck as we condensed from three lanes of road to two. It was funny to watch some of the runners jump over the guardrail only to realize that they were later trapped at the edge of the Duck Pond.

The view of the route along Duck Pond Drive.

Eventually, we made a left onto the first of three "hills" on the course, which you see in the video below where I get a shot of the cadets caring the massive telephone pole(?) The hill leads up to The Grove, which serves as the university president's residence. It has an awesome view of the Duck Pond and campus!

At the top of The Grove: You can see here that lots of folks walked the hill (which was perfectly fine) but you can also see the cadets beasting it up the hill with said telephone pole.

At the bottom of hill leading down from The Grove, we made a right back onto West Campus Drive, now going the opposite way away from the Drillfield and after the second small "hill" on the course enjoyed a flat section heading toward Washington Street passing by Litton-Reaves Hall and a few dorms, as well as McComas Hall, one of the two gyms on campus and home of VT RecSports.

One of the coolest parts of the run, aside from the overwhelming emotions that are unavoidable, is the opportunity to run through the tunnel entering Lane Stadium! Almost equally as cool is the opportunity to run down the home sideline on Worsham Field. I did mistakenly place about two inches of my foot on the grass and was quickly ushered off and told to move along. I suppose Tech does spend MILLIONS on that grass.

After exiting Lane Stadium, the route cuts back behind the East Stands up the final hill of the course into Stadium Woods, a 11-acre of old-growth forest home to numerous 250-350 year-old white oaks. A quick right onto Washington Street followed by an immediate left onto Kent Street led to the long sustained downhill seen below.

As we passed by War Memorial Court, commonly known as "the Pylons" and War Memorial Chapel, we entered the finishing straight lined by spectators and runners waiting for friends and family to finish the run.

After crossing the finish line, we headed over to meet our friend Julie and her friend Kelly, whom we had run into out along the run and talked for awhile before finding water and pizza! Domino's at 10AM? Yes Please!

I spent ~~most~~ all of the afternoon editing video I had taken during the run to produce the video below. I'm extremely proud of how it came out and feel like I learned a lot about what shots work and which don't as well as how to ~~avoid~~ reduce shaky camera issues. Make sure to watch the video in HD and ~~feel free~~ PLEASE comment on, thumbs up, and share the video.

I even learned how to get video onto Instagram that is not on your phone, which requires a bit of...finagling...but created a pretty neat little teaser/trailer for the video.

All-in-all it was an amazing and fun run and a great way to start off our weekend! I'm disappointed that I haven't participated before but it'll be on our calendar for the foreseeable future. Ideas were tossed out for making the run a real 32 for 32, which would require us starting super early but doing the last 3.2 with everyone else.

@robbie_poff @ultraVT Sounds like a great reason to make it back to Tech for a weekend!
— Brett Sherfy (@RBSherfy) April 12, 2014

Thanks to RecSports for an amazing event and to all the volunteers who were out there ensuring the run went out without a hitch today!

Top Ten Moments of Umstead 100 Endurance Run

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 21:14:00 +0000

Over the weekend, I received an outpouring of support and congratulations for finishing the 2014 Umstead 100 mile endurance run. While I fully intend to write a proper race report, I realize that reading about running around a loop eight times doesn't appeal to a lot of the folks who sent support my way on Saturday and Sunday. Further, I understand the value of such race reports in the weeks preceding a first 100 mile attempt but realize they have their time and place. Instead, I bring you my ten favorite moments (and then some) from this past weekend in what I can only describe as 18 hours and 47 minutes of elation.

10. SNOW CONES.

I arrived at the headquarters aid station (HQ AS) after my third lap at 12:40pm, just as things were starting to heat up for the day and when one of the volunteers mentioned they had snow cones, I gladly accepted the offer. These were not your average chipped ice with store bought syrup. No sir. Umstead 100 would not stand for that. No, these were made with love and prepared early in the week, see for yourself:

Yes. That is 25lbs of sugar they reduced to make simple syrup for the runners. SO MUCH thought goes into every aspect of the race. The pancake mix and cinnamon raisin french toast were also equal labors of love. I opted for lemon lime on race day but I had the option of four or five flavors.

9. Power Phrases.

In the weeks leading up to the race, Michelle asked what she could do to help me succeed on race day. I gave her one task, aside from telling her "Do not let me quit," which was finding and making power phrases to give me each lap. Before the race, she put on my first band, "Make It Happen," while we sat at the table over breakfast. For each subsequent lap, she taped on one additional band and by the end of the race my wrist looked like this:

Note in the background the Vuvuzela (and buckle!) that was sounded as I entered the headquarters aid station each lap. The two orange power phrase bands came from Jordan and Rudy and said, "Embrace the Pain. 75 Down" after lap 6 and "Not Dead, Don't Stop. 87.5 down." These were awesome! If a negative thought entered my head I looked down at these and used it to get me going again. My aunt Jan even sent in a power phrase, "Remember that guy that quit? Neither does anybody else."

8. "There's a raffle after the race and one of the prizes is an industrial tortilla steamer"

Rudy joined me for miles 65-75, see number 5 below, and somewhere around the lap he pulled a pretty good prank on me that was a much needed laugh. Rudy: "Hey, did you hear there's a raffle after the race tomorrow morning? I think it's at like 10AM. One of the prizes is an industrial tortilla steamer!" Me: "Wait! What? NOOOO" Call me gullible. I suppose one can hope right?

7. "You'll see the pine needle where we start to walk."

I marked points on every hill/incline/mound/elevation gain on the course early in the day with landmarks (i.e. specific trees) so that later in the day I would continue to run to those landmarks in an attempt to keep the same effort throughout the day. The last real hill before returning to the headquarters aid station was on a big open road without a distinguishable tree to indicate a point to start walking. However, there was a pine branch that was in the middle of the road that I used to mark about the halfway point of the hill. I told Jordan this on our first of two laps, so around 86 miles in. He had a pretty good laugh and didn't understand how I could mark the course with A pine needle. I suppose in my tired state I didn't do a good job explaining what we were looking for, nonetheless I LOVED seeing that pine branch each lap.

6. "@RBSherfy is KILLING me"

The last lap was all business. Make it to the middle aid station and by 17:30 and then finish sub-19, which I felt was achievable considering that I had done the back half in close to an hour every lap. We ran all the downhills and POWERHIKED the uphills. I forgot to mention that Jordan crushed the Mountain Lake Hell Climb Saturday morning and then drove down to Raleigh to run 25 miles with me. Can you say BEAST?

Mileage left: IN THE SINGLE DIGITS!!! @RBSherfy is KILLING me
— Jordan Chang (@JChangHokie) April 6, 2014

5. "YOU'RE SUCH A LIAR!"

So I come into the headquarters aid station after my fifth lap, now 62.5 miles in, and Michelle is not at the car and nowhere to be found, which wasn't an issue because the aid station volunteers took care of everything I needed. When I left the aid station, Michelle was at the car and dressed to run with me, which didn't make any sense because she was not planning on running because of IT band issues. She said Jordan would be around the corner on my way back but was parking the car. We did the out and back airport spur, so the first two miles of the course and when I came around the corner RUDY pops his head out from around the gate to which I reply, "YOU'RE SUCH A LIAR!" Rudy had planned on coming but as we were getting on I-81 on Friday afternoon, I received the text below letting me know he wasn't going to be able to make it.

To say that it was an AWESOME surprise would be a huge understatement. I suppose I'll let him slide on getting my hopes up about an industrial tortilla steam, so perhaps my reaction was accurate?!? but it was awesome having Rudy with me on lap 6. He pushed me to start 10 feet earlier then my marked trees, go a little harder on the hills, gave me a random fist pound every now and then to keep my spirits up, GOT ME TO DRINK FLUIDS AND TAKE GU, and basically left me in much better shape for Jordy who I was going to run laps seven and eight with. We had a blast, laughed, and enjoyed doing what I love doing, running with friends.

4. Notes of encouragement from family and friends.

Michelle really exceeded expectations here. I mentioned above that I had asked her to make power phrases to take with me for each lap (See Number 8 above) but she took it upon herself to collect notes of encouragement from friends and family. Each lap she would give me a new note to read, on my long walk out of the aid station up the hill while I ate food. Some were hilarious and others were encouraging; all were very special and kept me going. I carried most of them with me during the run (as long as they fit)!

3. Tammy, Rick, and the countless other runners, crew, and volunteers who gave their support.

I would argue the camaraderie between ultra runners is unparalleled. I met Tammy at Terrapin Mountain and she let me know she would be at Umstead this year, a comforting thought knowing there would be at least one familiar face at the race. However, I did not have the opportunity to meet her husband Rick, a now seven time Umstead fininisher, who perfectly compliments her warmheartedness and welcoming attitude. Michelle spent the majority of the day with Tammy, which was so nice and thoughtful making her feel welcome when she didn't know anyone else at the race.

Throughout the weekend, I was overwhelmed by the hospitality and warmth everyone showed us both at the aid stations and out on the course. It was incredible how supportive other runners were when you would pass them on the either the airport spur or on the section shared between the outbound and inbound loop. Shout outs to Rick, Mike Pastore, and two gentlemen whom I don't know their names but met before the start (Richmond and Alexandria).

2. PARENTS!?!

Whenever I entered the area where Michelle and Tammy were setup, along with lots of other families and crews, I shouted VUVUZELA!!! to let them know I was coming because I couldn't see around the bathroom pavilion in the photo below. When I rounded the corner after my second lap, I shouted Vuvuzela quickly followed by "PARENTS?!?" in disbelief of seeing MY parents standing with Michelle and Tammy! It was such a surprise to come around the corner and see them there with Michelle. Michelle was ready with the camera and captured my surprise as I came down the hill and obvious excitement of seeing my parents, whom I hadn't seen since the holidays.

They made the 4+ hour drive each way to see for maybe 15?!? minutes of time in the aid station. Unfortunately, they had to drive back and work on Sunday, which further makes their trip that much more special. They spent 10 hours in the car to see me for 15 minutes.

1. Crossing the finishing line and being welcomed by Michelle, Rudy, and Jordan.

If only I could bottle the elation and euphoria of this moment and save it for a rainy day. I wasn't even really all that concerned about having completed the race as much as I wanted to let those three people standing there, who had given so selflessly and generously their time and support, a hug and express my gratitude. I'm pretty sure I gave them all a hug...and maybe a kisses too?!? I simply felt overcome with gratitude and appreciation for having Michelle, Rudy, and Jordan there in that moment.

Elation. Joy. Overwhelming euphoria.

Bonus!

Two days post race, I'm feeling surprisingly well and not too sore. Sure my feet hurt but considering the event I'd say that's to be expected. I do have a slight confession though. In the weeks leading up to the event, I was living in fear in many ways. Fear of the unknown. Fear of getting sick the week of the race. Fear of stepping on a pine cone the wrong way when walking Gillie and rolling my ankle. When I crossed the finish line, it was like all of that fear had been taken off my shoulders and I had accomplished something associated with a full-load of self-induced pressure.

Little things post race that are/were awesome:

As I stood around the finish line chatting with everyone, someone mentioned cinnamon raisin french toast was inside and asked if I would like some. I had been thinking about it all week since I had seen it on Facebook. It was delicious! Can you tell I'm excited about it?

Post race, they had a fire inside the headquarters aid station building for participants who were struggling and for other runners to get warm by. The fire felt amazing and made the french toast taste even better. The photo kinda looks like a jerk photo though as I sit there looking at my buckle next to people laying in cots (that kinda look dead?).

I might not have openly admitted it but I really Really REALLY wanted to go under 24 hours. The are four belt buckles that finishers can earn including the one below, 100 Miles - One Day. The other three are Champion, 100 Miles, and 1000 miles for 10 time finishers!!!

I've been wanting Five Guys since I did a training run with Geff way back on February 19nd but exercised self-control to not get it because I know it's not good for me. However, I was determined to get it on Sunday after the race and Michelle drove there as our first stop. I received the above text from Keely, which I thought was appropriate and also incredibly accurate. I suppose I'm kinda predictable in that way. Hey! What can I say? I like to eat so I run a lot!

Michelle laughs but I genuinely had fun the entire day (except the 30 seconds I got sick leaving headquarters aid station starting lap 5) but it was a fun and enjoyable experience. I didn't feel miserable or like I wanted to stop and with the amazing support crew I had, support from runners and volunteers out on the course, and a surprise visit by my parents the day went by in one enjoyable euphoric blur.

Letting GO of Control - One Week to Umstead 100

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 16:34:00 +0000

This time next week, I will hopefully be somewhere in my third 12.5 mile lap around Umstead State Park. At this point, logging a long run would be foolish and trying to squeeze in a few last nervous runs seems pointless. I simply intend to get in a few easy runs this week and then rest and relax. The hard work has been done and I have to trust in that. That's the problem though. Trusting in myself and my training. I suppose that I have an issue letting go of control and being okay with what is happening in the moment. Next Saturday, I will have to adapt and recenter myself numerous times to tackle the moment, something I've been mentally preparing over the ~~past few weeks.~~ WHO AM I KIDDING? I'VE BEEN MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY PREPARING FOR THE LAST 4 MONTHS! I'M GOING TO CRUSH IT! Stopping is not an option. Pain? BRING IT ON!

I've been back and forth for weeks about whether or not to have a pacer or ask a group of the Ultra VT gang come down and crew me. I've been worried about the pressure of having others invested in my run and the "what if" factor. What if? WHO GIVES A CRAP ABOUT WHAT IF? Ultimately, Jordy Chang is coming down sometime Saturday after he crushes the Mountain Lake Hell climb. I'm privileged to have such a great friend. Rudy, has also volunteered to come down and help me through my first hundo. Super pumped! He also sent me the below quote, which I really like!

"I have found that if I can keep present, acknowledge my feelings and move forward from that point I can work through just about anything." -- Krissy Moehl

I've also been reading through motivational phrases and generating a list of things to say to myself when things get "dark" next Saturday.

Fake it till you make it.
Make it happen.
More run, sooner done.
Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
You can have results or you can have your excuses. You cannot have both.
This too shall pass.
Slow progress is better than no progress.
Ask yourself: 'Can I give more?' The answer is usually YES. - Paul Tergat

On Sunday, I stumbled upon a #UltraChat on Twitter that was addressing this exact question. Below are some of my favorites!

Questions:

What's you go to power phrase?
How do you dig out of "dark" places in a race or ultra?
How do you handle letting go of control?

2014 Terrapin Mountain Race Report

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:21:00 +0000

The verdict is still out. To run or race an ultra? That is the question. For me, I have very little experience with the latter, having only "raced" my first ultra at Holiday Lake, but running Terrapin Mountain this past weekend was SO much fun that I have trouble believing turning myself inside out for 4+ hours of ~~misery~~ "racing" could beat it. That being said, it took every ounce of self control I had to not race or at least run hard this weekend.

When I signed up for Terrapin Mountain, I knew that it would be my last long run before Umstead 100 two short-weeks later. I was also very aware that I would not be running hard but instead would be out for an extended effort getting time on my feet in the gorgeous hills of Virginia.

Friday began with the "semi-simultaneous" publishing of a synchroblog with Ultra VT. The posts were awesome and I think it helped everyone get super excited about the weekend ahead. If there was a buzz word that stood out reading all of the posts, it was INSPIRING! However, I decided to do a little experiment and copy and paste every post (twice) to create a Wordle and confirm:

Sure enough, Inspiring appeared although not as large as I expected. During the car ride to Holiday Lake, Jordan Chang and I were discussing how awesome it is to have a group of friends that can just jump into a marathon or ultra for a fun weekend adventure. I digress.

After dropping Gillie off at Michelle's parents (Thanks again Marvin and Cindy!), I headed north toward the Sedalia Center in Big Island, VA, which served as the race start/finish and location for camping/packet pickup. The drive is super easy, something I'll miss living in Richmond come this fall, and gorgeous to boot! I arrived a little before 7PM and quickly spotted the Ultra VT crew who were "tailgating" the race.

The caravan left Blacksburg around 4PM and by the time I had arrived in Big Island the group was in full team bonding mode. Somehow...the idea of a sleeping bag race came about. What ensued could only happen when you put 10+ ultra runners together who can't run and have an excess amount of energy. Most of the other campers...who...erm...were less boisterous than our group found the event amusing and can even be seen taking photos of the event unfolding in the video below (0:59 in the right of the frame). Yes, I documented the entire thing and put together the four clips to make a little video, Ultra VT Shenanigans:

eVenTually all of the excitement died down and I began preparing the Outback for bed. About half of the team camped under the stars but my 50+ deg. summer bag would've made for a cold night. Holiday Lake was the first time I camped in the Outback and I managed to figure out a pretty good system for a decent nights sleep. The rest of the evening was spent stargazing and identifying constellations. Seriously. It was pretty awesome! I busted out the Sky Guide app that uses the accelerometer in the iPhone to determine which way the phone is being held and then shows the constellations/planets in view. I felt I upheld my teacherly duties for the evening. The constellations identified included: Gemini (with Jupiter!), Orion, and Ursa Major. I headed off for bed around nine and quickly dozed off after an exhausting week of student teaching and training.

I awoke early on Saturday (after several snoozes of the alarm), emerging from my warm car around 5:30. There was coffee available at the pavilion, which I indulged in and then quickly headed off to find the restroom to take care of business for the day. Around 6:50, we decided it was time to head toward the start and ditched all of our warm clothes in the cars. I debated for a good five minutes as to whether I felt like carrying a camera for the entirety of the run. In retrospect, I suppose I could've given it to Kristen or one of the other Ultra VT folks who were not running but were cheering at aid stations if I decided it was too cumbersome. I somewhat regret not having a camera to document all the fun that was had but without a vest the heavy camera would've been a nuisance.

Keely, Trevor, Nelson, and I on the descent down
from Camping Gap (mile 5.5ish).
Photo courtesy of Kristen Chang

The race begins on a road and then quickly begins to climb to the first aid station (mile 4) Camping Gap, which we would see twice more before the days end. I found Hannah and Keely, two talented freshman ladies who have awesome ultra running futures ahead of them, on the climb up to Camping Gap and spent most of the climb with them chatting it up. We would run the first 13ish miles together before separating climbing back up to Camping Gap for the second time. On the climb up, I was talking about teaching and another runner who I would spend a good part of the day with joined in. Trevor, just earlier in the week was offered a position to teach at Virginia Tech in the education department. Small world! Awesome to welcome another Hokie to the Virginia Tech family and continue to grow the awesomeness that is Ultra VT! We were also joined by Nelson (right in neon) who now resides in Greensboro and was a FSU Seminole, I told him we wouldn't hold it against him as long as he didn't start tomahawking!

Upon arriving at Camping Gap, I grabbed a few orange slices, gave my number to the volunteer, and began the sustained 5 mile descent down the other side of the mountain. The miles were quick here (9:00, 8:12, 8:45, 7:53, and 8:05) but I thought running slower would've been more detrimental to my legs than letting gravity take me down the mountain. About halfway down the mountain we hit the second aid station (which also serves as the fourth) and continued on after grabbing a few chips. At the bottom, we hit the third aid station that marks the start of the second sustained climb on the course. The climb begins on road before jumping onto single track and going up and over a little peak before dropping back onto the second aid station we had just run past. This meant that we were then going to go back up the long sustained climb we had come down earlier to Camping Gap. Confused? I drew you an awesome map to clarify! Red arrows are outbound and blue are inbound.

Good? Good. Until this point, I had been running with Keely and Hannah but they felt like hiking and I wanted to make it up to Camping Gap so I continued on (slowly) but still jogging with a soft J. On the way up the hill, I met Kathie Colling who was having a tough go of it and was ready to quit. I stopped and chatted about everything and anything other than running. I was super pumped to see her come across the finish-line later in the day despite being getting physically sick multiple times in the race. #Grit. Further up the climb I met Shannon Howell, who was running her first ultra and was taking a photo of the gorgeous view across the valley. She rocked her first ultra!

I came into Camping Gap aid station happy and smiling and high-rived Rachel Corrigan who had just run the half-marathon and Mike Jones who was cheering everyone on. Horton came over and yelled at me telling me that it was a race to which I replied "I'm running Umstead in two weeks" and he said "oh. Okay." but in true Horton fashion then added "but why would you run that race?" I grabbed some food and headed out onto toward the WOR (White Oak Rim) loop section of the course, miles 17-22, that overlaps with a portion of the Promise Land course. Its during this section that we hit the peak elevation of 3720' feet! Along the long climb up to the peak (just below the Blue Ridge Parkway) I ran with Shannon some more and also met Bob Clouston who knew Guy Love. I took it pretty easy on the way up but let myself have a little fun on the way down and caught up with Trevor and Nelson from earlier in the day. We chatted about Umstead and they both gave their input on running a 100 (much appreciated!). We ran together back into Camping Gap aid station for the third and final time of the day and I made the stop a quick in-and-out grabbing food, thanking volunteers, and heading UP the trail toward the summit of Terrapin Mountain and Terrapin Rocks. Clark, the RD (race director), likes to have runners use a punch to mark their bib showing they were at certain points on the course, perhaps an homage to orienteering roots. Their were two punches on Saturday, although one was broken before even the first 50k runner arrived, darn half-marathoners!

Terrapin Rocks - Photo courtesy of Clark Zealand

Fat Mans Misery - Photo courtesy of Clark Zealand

I caught up with the runner ahead of me on the way up to the summit of Terrapin Mountain, who offered to let me through, to which I quickly responded "you look so familiar" and then quickly placed him as Kevin Townsend, the race director of Iron Mountain ultra, which we ran back in August. Kevin and I chatted and ran together for the next four miles and I heard all about his recent trip to Hawaii (sounds awesome!) and also picked his brain for advice on finishing a 100. The half-marathoners really destroyed the course below Terrapin Rocks, the outcropping of rocks near the summit of Terrapin Mountain that has an outline in the shape of a turtle - hence the name of the mountain, which made the descent a little dicey. After Terrapin Rocks, and finding a broken and useless punch at Fat Mans Misery, we descended off the mountain down toward the final AS of the day. The last aid station is at the bottom of an out-and-back descent, which means after the aid station there is a little half mile climb or so before turning onto one final section of trail.

Red Arrows toward AS 6. Blue are after visiting AS 6 out-and-back.

Right about the time I got to Terrapin Rocks, the temperature began to become noticeably warmer and although I wasn't pushing hard being active out in the heat takes a noticeable toll, compounded by the relentless and steep descent off Terrapin Mountain. When I came into AS6, nothing looked appetizing but I grabbed an Oreo, some chips, filled my bottle with half-water-half-Gu/Clif?, and took my first cup of Coke. It continues to amaze me what Coke will do. I let Kevin run up the trail and enjoyed taking my time eating my food as I walked back up the hill to make the final turn onto the trail that would take us back to the start. I reasoned that I had held back all day and that a few miles of fun wouldn't hurt me. I started jogging with the only objective to catch and beat the Naval Academy runners ahead of me. After passing them, I opened it up and just had fun cruising the downhill into the finish. Turning back onto the road after seeing the 1-mile left sign I could see four or five runners strung out in front of me and decided I would put down a solid mile to see how the legs felt. I passed four or five runners in this short section. So much fun! I rounded the turn toward the finish to cheers from Ultra VT who had staked out prime spectating location. The best part was feeling good and knowing I had A LOT MORE in the tank. "Used but not used up" as the Umstead 100 runners packet puts it.

Photos courtesy of Kristen Chang

The race was a total blast and I had a ton of fun. It's awesome to reflect back on the number of awesome runners I met during the run and the camaraderie that surrounds the Horton/Eco-X events and larger ultra running community in general. After crossing the finish line and receiving my finisher shirt, I grabbed some awesome BBQ that was brought in on-site, (wish I had grabbed a picture), and cheered on the rest of the Ultra VT crew as well as the other runners I had met out on the course (Kevin Townsend, Bob, Nelson, Trevor - our new VT professor, Kathie, and Shannon). Of course, the vuvuzela was in full force and we made a tunnel for the later Ultra VT runners that finished. I snagged this photo on Kristen's phone that I thought appropriately captured the atmosphere:

Daniel (bottom left) WON the half-marathon in a time of 1:55:02! Also of note is that the Hokies had 4 in the top ten: Rudy 2nd, Darren 3rd, Jordan 5th, and Guy 7th. One interesting thing about the result is that the top 5 finishers were all 25 or under. Look out old guys!

Photo courtesy of Kristen Chang

George Wortley uploaded a 10 minute video with a bunch of snippets of Ultra VT runners and a neat opportunity to check out the course including Camping Gap aid station.

Finally, as always, the Strava run details are below for those curious to check out splits and stats like elevation.

As my first Eco-X race, Terrapin Mountain set the bar pretty high in regards to course and fun factor. Will I be back next year? Definitely! Will I be racing or running? The verdict is still out on that one!

synchroblog: UltraVT

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 11:00:00 +0000

I've had the privilege of running with an amazing group of runners, now friends too, over the past year. In fact, my first run with Ultra VT was almost exactly a year ago and, to say the least, it was a total disaster. I've grown a lot as a runner in the past year and attribute a good bit of my growth to finding this amazing group of inspiring individuals. So it seems fitting that almost a year into running with this amazing group that we embark on a new journey together, a synchroblog. That I know of, there are eight of us who are participating in this fun little adventure. So here it goes! And make sure you check out the other bloggers to see their take on the questions/topic/discussion (Rudy, Guy, Mike Jones, Kristen, Rachel, Dylan, Alexandra, and Jonathan)

How do you describe to a stranger ultraVT?

Dear Overzealous College Student,

We all know dodging those annoying people on the drill field is exhausting. And bake sales. UGH. IF I HAVE TO SEE ANOTHER BAKE SALE! WHAT IS THIS? THIRD GRADE? Class? Who goes to class? Social life in the pits? College isn't living up to the party-21-And-Over-image you thought you saw on the back of the Virginia Tech brochure? Feel like you have plenty of energy and no where to expend it because the ultimate team is too serious? Come join Ultra VT! We're a group of ~~students~~ runners who ~~run~~ occasionally go to class and travel to fun races all over!

Never run further than a 5k? Perfect. You thought McAfee's Knob and Tinker Cliffs were fun hikes? HA. HA. HA. We'll help you discover the beauty of the New River Valley and show you amazing scenery that doesn't involve McAfee's or the Cascades.

Ultra VT - More Miles, More Fun

PS - No Crossfitters

When did you get involved with ultraVT?

I kind of addressed this earlier. But if we're being exact. The exchange went like this:

@RBSherfy definitely! Group run in pandapas typically every tuesday at 7pm. Shoot us a tweet next tues and we'll holler with details.
— ultraVT (@ultraVT) March 20, 2013

How do you see yourself within ultraVT?

I feel I brought the "it's okay to #HaveFun and not race ultras attitude with me. I suppose Rudy put it well one day on a run that because I'm slightly older...and engaged...and a graduate student...that running isn't the only thing I do but rather it's just one of the things I do. I try to ensure the atmosphere is jovial.

Conversely, I put a huge amount of pressure on myself to perform to MY expectations and consequently that pressure sometimes shows through in not the most positive light.

What's your favorite aspect of ultraVT?

The fact that can't isn't in the vocabulary. We're runners. So perseverance is engrained in our DNA. Being around a group that is ALWAYS building you up and believes in you more than you believe in yourself is inspiring. I'm sure I would've eventually signed up for a 100 mile run but the group makes you feel that your capable, and then supports you to get there.

What's your favorite trail run in the Blacksburg vicinity?

This is a super tough question for me. Although technically not a "trail" the New River Trail is super gorgeous but if we say specifically running on a trail than pretty much anything with water is awesome. Forest Ridge Preserve is a great unknown place to run trails in the area but more popular trails I really enjoy running are Poverty Creek in Pandapas and the Cascades.

Any secrets you'd like to share?

Have Fun. I recently listened to a podcast of a first time ultra runner who put it pretty well, I'm paraphrasing but the general take away was that if we (as ultra runners collectively) are out there putting in hours of running every week that we better be having fun doing it, otherwise why are we doing it in the first place?

So basically, don't take yourself too seriously and embody the spirit of trail/ultrarunning by having fun and talking to other runners out there.

Favorite post-race meal?

Favorite-any-meal: Burrito. I want to open a restaurant where every meal is served in a burrito. Think about it! BOOM! Michelle and I on a weekly basis discuss (more like Michelle has to endure me ranting and raving) about the practicality of an industrial tortilla steamer for our home. It has yet to happen. One can always hope.

and the question of my choice...

What runner, elite or average joe, inspires you the most?

I've mentioned this before in my recap of TNF Endurance Challenge Championship race report post, but Mike Wardian is a pretty kick-ass elite who has a job, a family, and serial races at a very high level and he's 39 to boot! Check out these podcasts if you haven't had the chance to listen to them. Oh...and here's an awesome picture I got with him in San Francisco!

T-Minus 3 Weeks to Umstead 100 and Training Weeks 3/3/2014-3/16/2014

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 19:11:00 +0000

Saturday marked the three week countdown to Umstead 100. As the race approaches I'm beginning to question my preparation and training, especially after last weeks lackluster performance. Consequently, I missed my training "week-in-review" post last week. Perhaps this is because there wasn't really all that much good to talk about. Instead the post would have been filled with how I failed to accomplish most of my goals for the week including an attempt at an all night run. I was pretty disappointed with my effort and volume and barely broke into the 40's; I tried to salvage the week with a late run Sunday evening. Disaster. However, this week was better (still not great) and I decided I'd make the post a twofer, covering both the high and lows of training over the past couple weeks.

I think it's super interesting to reflect on how my perspective has changed over the past few months, a nod to the mindset that everything is relative. Being disappointed with 47 miles for the week is kind of funny when you think about it. When I first started running again back in the fall of 2011, Strava had just rolled out there running platform and with it a contest to run 100 miles in a month. At the time, I thought "Wow. 100 miles is a lot for a month." Now, just over halfway through March, I've run 525 miles in 2014, quantitative proof of my growth as a runner. Reflecting on how I have grown as a runner over the past three years helps me with "being okay" when I don't hit my goals for the week. A perspective I tweeted about before I went out for my night run last Sunday: (Yes, I realize I spelled beings instead of begins)

Being “okay” when a training week doesn’t go as planned. Tomorrow beings a new week! #OutcomesNotObstacles #KickAssTakeNames #Umstead100
— Brett Sherfy (@RBSherfy) March 9, 2014

Here's how it all unfolded:

3/3/2014-3/9/2014

Monday: Rest
On Monday evening, Rudy gave me a call to see if I was planning on going out for a long run with him on Saturday. I had missed the Monday night group run after Michelle and I decided to order a pizza in and spend the evening on the couch (PS - Papa John's Cheeseburger pizza...OMG!). I'm not quite sure why I needed the break (teaching is exhausting) considering I didn't run that much over the weekend. The event we discussed is semi-underground and apparently the unspoken first rule is not to talk about it. I emailed and Facebook messaged the organizer with zero response and opted not to participate as a result. I didn't want to feel unwelcome at an event and show up saying "I'm here to run." In the end, I'm glad I didn't although the weather was B-E-A-utiful!

Tuesday: 9, 725' 1:20

The title of the run says it all. I think as I get more involved with student teaching and I'm spread more thin, I've shifted to the mindset of just get out there and get it done. I stayed after for track practice with the middle schoolers and while I dress I don't work out with them and tell them I run after their practice. This is nice because, although kind of silly, they serve as another form of accountability as they often ask me how my training for my 100 miler is going. I did happen to run into my friend Julie who is training for a half in April and tacked on a few more miles as we caught up and talked about student teaching. After my run, Michelle and I ran some much needed errands and grabbed dinner at Sakura, a Japanese Steakhouse in Christiansburg that is actually reasonably priced...like every entree is $5-9 priced. It was delicious!

Wednesday: Rest
Keeping with the theme for the week. Disaster. I didn't get out for a run and I really don't have an reason why other than I didn't make the effort to.

Thursday: 11.7, 675' 1.5hr
I've always heard that if you miss a run or a workout that you shouldn't try to make it up and instead should simply "let it go." I struggle with this. I think Thursdays run was my attempt at trying to make up for not getting out for a run Wednesday. I don't recall feeling good during the run but my comments section on Strava, which I try to use as a log of how I felt for the run/effort, etc. had the following:

Sometimes you have good days and today things felt pretty good. I really enjoyed the cold weather during the run!

Friday: 6, 60' 1hr

On Friday, Montgomery County Schools were closed, which gave me the perfect opportunity to catch up on things I had been putting off like getting a haircut. BIG NEWS! On Friday, I verbally accepted an offer to teach in Henrico County next year, which I'm SUPER EXCITED ABOUT! After accepting my offer, I signed my contract and put in a plastic bag and delivered it to the post office during my run. It was during the run that I conjured up the idea of running a 50 miler around the Drillfield. I went out and did some course "recon." which involved running a lap to get the exact distance I would do many many times Saturday night. After the run, I grabbed Moe's to celebrate accepting my job and was joined by Mr. Mike Jones who just happened to be grabbing lunch at the same time!

Saturday: 15, 2.5hr

I used Saturday morning to be productive around the house doing some laundry and cleaning up the apartment a little. I had everything planned out for Saturday evening and even created a Facebook event for the run, aptly naming it the inaugural Drillfield Dusk-to-Dawn 50! Michelle being the awesome fiancé she is even picked up snacks for me including pretzels, vanilla wafers, and some Coke for the late night hours. I took a nap around 5 and woke up around 7 to eat dinner and start packing stuff for the run. The temperature was pretty nice and with Friday marking the beginning of spring break for Virginia Tech, I wasn't too worried about traffic on the Drillfield. I started running a little after 9 with the intention of running through most the night or until I hit 50 miles. The first hour or so went pretty smooth and I even had a few visitors! My friend Julie and her fiancé Joe and his parents, Deb and Bill Casola (Deb of Debruns who's blog is awesome!), who are big runners stopped by to take a few shots of night photos of Burruss and say hello! I finished up the audiobook Into Thin Air while running and began another, A Walk in the Woods a story about a mans through hike of the Appalachian Trail, which was far less exciting and kind of put me in a down mood. As midnight approached, motivation dwindled and I began wondering why I was out running laps around the Drillfield when my warm bed was so close. I decided I had enough after only 15 miles! WEAK SAUCE! Michelle had just arrived when I sent her a text to tell her not to bother to come that I was on my way home. I felt that I had disappointed myself, Michelle, and the folks who had stopped by earlier to cheer me on.

Sunday: 5.5, 350' 0:48

Sunday followed suit with the rest of the week. I struggled to get out of bed at decent hour after losing an hour of sleep to daylights savings time and running until 12pm, which was then really 1AM. Coincidently, I did buy my suit for our wedding on Sunday but didn't manage to get out on a run, as most of the day was spent in Roanoke shopping for suits. We returned home around dinner time and I conceded that I wasn't going to get a run in. Michelle had spent most of Saturday making soups and chilis that we could reheat over the next couple weeks as things get busy. After a massive bowl of chili, I decided it would be a good idea to get in a quick run in an attempt to salvage my weekly mileage and simultaneously return the Redboxes I had rented on Friday (oops!). Bad idea. I managed to get in a 5.5 miles but I was soo full and felt pretty awful the entire time. I'll chalk it up to running on a full stomach for Umstead 100 training.

Totals for the week:
Distance: 47.4
Elevation: 1812'
Duration: 7hr

3/10/2014-3/16/2014

Monday: 5, 130' 0:42
Michelle wanted to get out and try to get a run in and I decided I would go out for a run and find her and then catch a ride back home...after stopping at Five Guys. I managed to get in 5 miles but in an effort to be economical, I decided to skip on Five Guys and instead go home and eat one of the meals Michelle had prepared over the weekend. A small start to the week in terms of mileage but 5 miles nonetheless.

Tuesday: 10, 540' 1:22

I was caught mid-cupcake Tuesday (and Monday) after my cooperating teacher gave me a half-dozen gourmet cupcakes on Monday from Crumb & Get It in Christiansburg. Although Tuesday is supposed to be my rest day, I knew that we had plans Wednesday evening to see the Banff Film Festival at the Lyric and that I would be traveling later in the week to VCTM, which would make getting in a run difficult and that I should run while I had the time. I opted for my standard Patrick Henry-Plantation Road-Huckleberry Trail loop logging 10 miles for the day.

Wednesday: Rest

On Wednesday, Michelle and I went to see the Banff Film Festival World Tour at the Lyric. The films were awesome although we had already seen the feature 46min. film at the Telluride Film Festival just a couple weeks earlier. The night did have one surprise, which was a special showing of a film specific to the Blacksburg area and involved a guy using the film to propose to his girlfriend. She said yes!

Thursday: 6, ~500' 0:46

We traveled to Harrisonburg Thursday afternoon for the annual VCTM conference and arrived at the hotel just after five. After checking in, I made sure our advisor didn't need anything else from us and quickly ran up to the room to change to get a run in. The plan was to meet in the lobby at 6:30 to head out to dinner in downtown Harrisonburg, I left the hotel at 5:30 which gave me roughly 45 minutes to run, get back to shower, and make it down to the lobby. I walked back in the hotel at 6:15PM and was down in the lobby after a quick shower at 6:30 on the dot. I wish I had brought a camera with me but was already down the hill when I thought of it. I managed to see a good bit of James Madison University campus in the short time I had, although I wouldn't find the big James Madison statue until Saturday.

Friday: 7.6, ~680 1hr

Virginia Tech Math Education at 2014 VCTM

I planned on getting a decent night sleep Thursday but I got to talking to another teacher that currently teaches in Henrico and stayed up far later than I had planned. I dismissed my 5:20 alarm and eventually rolled out of bed at 6AM to get out for a run. Again, I pushed the time because the van we had all ridden in was leaving the hotel at 8 and I walked back into the lobby from my run at 7:35, giving myself 25 minutes to get cleaned up for the conference and out the door. I grabbed a bagel as I ran out the door and hopped in the van, squeezing in just over 7.5 miles.

Saturday: 6, 470' 0:50
On Saturday, after two AWESOME but looooonng days in Harrisonburg, I arrived home from the annual Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics (VCTM) conference excited and giddy with new ideas for my classroom this fall. While I was excited and jazzed about teaching, I was dreading the idea of getting out for a run after going non-stop for the past 48 hours. I've been in a get-it-done mode lately with my runs, which has helped me get out the door on days that motivation is lacking but I was tempted to just take a nap on the couch. Michelle let me know that she was headed to the gym and that my awesome parents had sent Michelle and I a Chipotle gift card. We both agreed to get out the door and get back quickly so we could enjoy a fun date over a delicious meal.

Although the run wasn't deserving of a splurge, I did skip lunch on Saturday (opting not to eat at an establishment that encourages obesity) and therefore justified my decision to order a Quesorito for dinner. For those unfamiliar, pause and watch this video before continuing. Basically, it's a burrito that uses a two tortillas to make a quesadilla and then use that quesadilla to wrap a burrito providing another layer of cheesy goodness. It was everything I wanted it to be! Michelle documented and you can see that the quesorito was too large to fit in the dine-in basket. It just rested on the edges of the basket.

Sunday: 20.5, 1200' 3hr

After quesoritoing it up on Saturday, I felt I needed to get out for a solid run on Sunday. After dragging my feet a bit, I headed out the door around 11ish for Draper to run on the New River Trail. I knew that we were expecting a big storm Sunday evening and rain for most of Sunday afternoon so I threw an extra layer in the car, my houdini jacket, which made the second half of the run tolerable in the steady rain. The run was fairly uneventful. I saw one other individual out on the trail during for the three hours I was out there. I don't blame them. The latter half of the run was quite miserable and it took me a good 20 minutes before I could begin to use my hands for any time of fine movement (i.e. texting).

Totals for the week:
Distance: 55.4
Elevation: 3518'
Duration: 7:41

Despite being discouraged after a "mediocre" week of training two weeks ago, I managed to recollect myself and get in some decent miles even while traveling to a conference for two days this week. Umstead 100 is now less than 3 weeks away and I'll be tapering my volume over the next three weeks. This weekend is Terrapin Mountain and although I'd love to see where I am fitness wise and race, the day will be a training run for me which means it's #HAVEFUN Brett!

Training Week 2/24/2014-3/2/2014

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 12:00:00 +0000

Monday marked the beginning of my "full-time" student teaching and with it a reduced energy level that made getting out the door everyday this week a struggle with the exception of Saturday - more on that later. I suppose it's fair to say that I have a fear that when I begin teaching this fall, I'll struggle getting out for runs and lose the fitness I've worked so hard to achieve over the past couple years. However, I think about the many people I know and look up to that have full-time jobs and still train and run at a very high-level and tell myself that if they can do it, I CAN do it! At the end of the week, I still managed to log 61 miles in roughly 9 hours of running! Here's how it unfolded:

Monday: 6.5, 230' 1hr
With Rudy recovering from Mt. Cheaha, Mike Jones recovering from Mt. Mitchell, and most of the other folks missing, the Monday evening Ultra VT group run was fairly tame compared to previous weeks. It was really an "old guy" run as Mike and Darren split off after 3 miles or so leaving Robbie, Jordan, and I to bring up the average age of the group run and have "old man" talk. For some reason, I wasn't feeling a burrito and opted to pass on my usual post Ultra VT group run Moe's Monday. I know, I know; I'm a disgrace to Moe's Foursquare Mayors all over.

Tuesday: Rest

Tuesday is now my usual rest day and I observed it this week. I'm not really too sure what happened on Tuesday - the week was a total blur.

Wednesday: 9.6, 440' 1.25hr

I stayed after school for a professional development seminar and when I did finally get home I debated whether to run or to choose the easy excuse to say "I'm too tired" to get out and run. I thought about what Dr. Horton told us during the pre-race meeting before Holiday Lake, "The five minute rule: if you do something for five minutes it's often easier to keep going than it is to stop. If you get out for a run in the cold weather it's easier to keep running then get dressed for the cold weather to only run five minutes" and used this to get me out the door on my run. The loop I did is one of my "go-to get in 8 or more miles" loops in Blacksburg. I had told Michelle to meet me at Moe's at 6, which meant that my run wasn't limited by my willingness to get miles in but rather "how many miles can I run and not be late." I arrived at Moe's at 5:59 and then stretched quickly before grabbing dinner with my best friend :-)

Thursday: CELEBRATE!

Well...Thursday was AWESOME! I should've gone out for a run but I came home in such a great mood after training to be a substitute teacher for Montgomery County and on-campus interviews that I decided I wanted to just sit around and enjoy the moment. I suppose this is a bit cryptic and for now that will have to do but I saw something on Instagram this week that sums up how I feel, (filtered version)"Good things come to those who ~~wait~~ GO OUT AND MAKE THINGS HAPPEN!" I did not plan to have two rest days this week and consequently ended up a bit short on volume but what I missed out on in terms of volume by taking the extra day off I more than made up for in attitude!

Friday: 7.2, 730' 1hr

Friday followed suit with the rest of the week and I told myself I would go out and get 5, 6, or 7 miles in depending on how I felt. I have two options when I leave my apartment complex in terms of what direction I want to go; both lead downhill. I choose to head down toward the valley knowing that regardless of the route I took I would eventually have to climb back up the hill. I felt pretty good for most of the run but around 4 miles my stomach started to let me know it wasn't happy with my choice to eat an apple before my run. Coincidently, I listened to a Podcast on Saturday that discussed this very issue, eating an apple prior to a run, something I will NEVER do again. I think I've done this before and didn't learn my lesson...this time I did. Although I didn't have to stop and empty the contents of my bowels in a yard...I nearly had to and wound up walking the last 1/2 mile home. Sometimes you just have those runs...which hopefully do not involve the runs.

Friday marked the end of February and my highest mileage month of running - ever. I logged 238 miles, or a little over 2.5 times what I did in 2013. However, what's even more impressive as I look at the numbers between 2013 and 2014 is that in January alone, after taking the first 8 days of the month off, I logged more time running than I did January and February combined in 2013. I feel strong and seeing the benefits of putting in 6, 7, or 8 hours of running on the weekend is totally worth the pain in the moment.

Saturday: 21.5, 1950' 3.25hr

Creek that parallels Ellett Rd going down into the valley.

On Saturday morning, I got up early, ate breakfast, and headed out for a long run down in the valley. I had scoped out a run using the course feature on Garmin Connect but didn't know how long the trails were at my destination. I was meeting Michelle's dad, Marvin, to grab lunch before the basketball game at 2:30, which meant that I needed to back at my place and ready to leave by 1PM. I set out around 9 and headed down into the valley via Ellett Road, which gave me roughly 3:30 hours to run before I needed to get back and clean up for the game. I was excited to try out my new vest that had arrived on Friday from RunningWarehouse that was an exchange for the AK vest I had returned after wearing once on a training run on the Holiday Lake course.

Structurally sound? I think not.

The issue with the AK vest, aside from the lack of storage, was that my ribs were sore for days after wearing it for one 16 mile training run because of how the bottles sat on ribcage. I decided to give the Scott Jurek vest, also made by Ultimate Direction, a try because unlike the AK vest it comes in three sizes (sm, med, and lg) and I fell right in the middle of the medium whereas I was at the high end of a small and low end of a large for the AK vest. The vest works SO WELL! Last year, I talked about running motivation in a blog post and that sometimes a new piece of gear can serve as the little needed additional motivation to get out the door for a run. This vest did that and more; it has me itching to get out for more long run adventures!

Eventually, I made my way out to Falls Ridge Preserve (mile 8.5), protected by The Nature Conservancy, and decided that I had enough time to go explore the trails. There are really only two trails out there, both are "lollipop" style trials with the first that you arrive at being a 1.5 mile loop and other, the Bradley Trail, branches off the first loop and goes up to a peak to make for a total of about 3.5 miles of trail.

About 100 feet in you come to this awesome waterfall, I took some video with my phone and uploaded it to Instagram during the run!

There are lots of water features out there along the trail and the conservancy website lists the falls at 80'. I didn't see anyone else out on the trail and the quiet and remoteness was needed after a long and busy week. The Bradley Trail, which is the lollipop that winds around a peak called Mill Knob, reaches just over 2000'. Upon leaving Falls Ridge Preserve, I knew that I had about 9 miles left and around two hours until Marvin would be picking me up. The run home along Lusters Gate was pretty uneventful and although I've ridden that section of road many times on a bicycle, I was able to appreciate the beauty of the valley in a new way running it. The last bit of the run is climbing out of the valley up the "Blacksburg Infamous" Harding Road climb. It. Stinks. At the end of the run, I had managed to log 21 miles in a little over 3 hours and put a solid dent into my weekend volume.

Sunday: 16.4, 600' 2.25hr
Sunday marked the 29th running of the Blacksburg Classic, which I ran last year but opted to not run this year. Instead, Michelle and I went and watched and cheered on several of our friends who were running.

In order to be able to watch the race Sunday afternoon, I had to get up and out the door early again on Sunday for another longish run. I was shooting for 15.1 miles to make it an even 60 for the week but when I got out to the new and recently paved section of the Huckleberry Trail I decided I would just go a little further. I ended my run at Chipotle, a decision I immediately regretted because I had to lug it back up the hill...that I walked instead of ran. I got home a few minutes after 12 and we were out the door by 12:45 headed down to the start of the race.

The start of the 29th Annual Blacksburg Classic!

There were 5 folks from the Ultra VT that were running including Jordan and Kristen Chang, Guy, Rachel, and Alex. I also saw a bunch of other folks out there including two of my professors and Gef who I ran with on my long run last Sunday. We brought Gillie along and Michelle took photos while I Vuvuzela'd the runners as they went by. It was pretty awesome!

Jordan Chang looking strong on the first of two downtown loops!

Guy Love and Geffrey Moy (left) and Kristen Chang (right) completing loops 1 of 2.

Much heckling occurred!

Probably my favorite shot of the day - Michelle did a great job!

Michelle and our wild little one!

More heckling!

Jordan took 2nd overall!

Guy Love and Geffrey Moy finished 5th and 7th respectively.

Good times were had by all!

Totals for the week:

Distance: 61.3

Elevation: 3945'

Duration: 8:46

It was another strong week of training and I'm feeling confident with the back-to-back runs I've been putting together on the weekends. As of posting this, Umstead 100 is 31 days away! I am simultaneously excited and nervous.

100 miles isn't that far. ~Karl Meltzer

My First 70+ Mile Training Week! 2/17/2014-2/23/2014

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Sun, 02 Mar 2014 03:32:00 +0000

The week started off pretty slow and by Thursday I was worried about whether I would get in the volume I wanted for the week. One thing I've been thinking about over the past month as my training has ramped up, is why am I running this 100 mile race in April? What's my motivation? I've done a great job in terms of putting in the miles and logging long runs but I'm not too sure about why I'm doing it? Nonetheless, I hit 71 miles for the week, a new personal best and my first time logging weekly mileage in 70's! The volume was noticeable this week and I struggled getting out the door for nearly every run aside from today's long run. Anyways, this is how last week unfolded:

Monday: 7, 250' 1hr
The weekly Monday night Ultra VT group run was a good time as usual and involved a bunch of "RIGHT!"'s as we swept through downtown Blacksburg. My legs didn't feel too bad during the run considering the effort at Holiday Lake 50k on Saturday and the strenuous running we did in the snow. It was a solid start to the week before a bit of a mid-week break. For some reason I was pretty drained on Monday but the group run got me out the door and helped hold me accountable.

Tuesday: 2.5, 20 min.
I used to have a rule that I wouldn't go out for a run that was less than 4 miles because it wasn't worth my time. As I've run more over the past couple years, that number has slightly shifted with my average run distance toward the 7-8 mile range. On Tuesday, I came home exhausted and with zero motivation to run but Michelle decided she wanted to get out for a run so we headed down to the Huckleberry Trail with Gillie for a casual run. Unfortunately Michelle has been battling some knee issues, which flared up pretty early into our run and consequently cut it short. Sometimes you have to take it a day at a time and let it happen.

Wednesday: Rest
The day got the better of me and I decided to take a day off for both mental and physical recovery.

Thursday: 12.3, 1300' 2hr
On Thursday, I got home pretty early from class and took Gillie out for a run before I headed out on my run for the day. Gillie is usually good for 2-3 miles but after that she gets too tired and I worry about her getting hurt. I read somewhere that when you run with a dog they should always be in front of you and when they're not it's time to call it a day. Perhaps I'm already an overprotective parent?

After tiring out the pup, I headed out for a run for me and ran down the hill from our apartment toward the valley. I cut across on a road called Happy Hollow, which is anything but happy and ran on almost an entirely new route! It was pretty awesome!

After my run, Michelle and I made some amazing bacon, kale, caramelized-onion calzones making the dough from scratch in the KitchenAid mixer.

Friday: 9.8, 680' 1.5hr

On Friday, I took Gillie out for another quick jog before heading out for my run where I ran into Pawel and Gef on their run and joined them for a mile or so. Hence the abrupt turn around on Plantation Road on the map two activities below.

Saturday: 19.2, 4650' 3.75hr

Apple Orchard Mountain Summit - 4225'

My alarm went off at 4:15 on Saturday morning and I dragged myself out of bed to head over to campus so that I could grab a ride to Bedford for a training run on the Promise Land course. Alex (pictured right below) will be running her first ultra at Promise Land, which I did last year, and sent out an email seeing if anyone would be interested in joining her for the training run Saturday morning organized Dr. Horton. The three of us (Rachel is left in the photo below) made the drive up to Bedford Saturday morning and arrived at Promise Land Youth Camp just before 7. We found Guy Love parked at the gate, who had camped the night before, and after changing into our running clothes headed up the 2.5 mile climb to aid station 1, where everyone else was beginning their runs for the day.

The scheduled run allowed runners to see 12 miles of the course but by adding the starting climb we tacked on an additional 5 miles. We also added a little side trip up to the peak of Apple Orchard Mountain and then hopped on AT to descend from the peak to the Sunset Field aid station on the course to make it 19 miles for the day. The run was fairly slow because of the considerable amount of snow on the trails, which was kind of a slap in the face after Holiday Lake the previous Saturday. The snow was just soft enough that your foot would break through right on toe-off so it was faster to walk some sections than it was to run. After the run, we stopped off at Blue Ridge Bagels for the perfect post run lunch! The bagels were delicious and the place had so much character! I would HIGHLY recommend stopping there if you find yourself in Bedford. Yum!

Sunday: 20, 1100' 2:40
Despite the tough day on Saturday, I had committed to heading down to Draper to run on the New River Trail with Pawel and Gef on Sunday morning. Unfortunately Pawel's foot was bothering him but Gef was still up for getting in a run and we made the short drive down 81 to Draper, VA a little after 9:30AM. Pawel and Gef had planned to run 20 and although I really wanted to get in 20, I also didn't want to be a hinderance to them if I wasn't able to maintain their training pace of 8 min/miles. I decided to give it a try and was surprised how my legs felt after such a long day just 24 hours prior. We managed to tick off 12 miles before getting back to the car to refill our bottles and grab some food. It took a lot of energy to get back out on the trail but we managed to complete all 20 miles in just under two hours and forty minutes or roughly a 7:50 pace!

I was super pumped to have finished this run because it required me to dig deep and push through when my legs were tired. It was a pretty huge confidence boost to knock out 39 miles over the weekend and hit a new weekly high miles of 71 miles. Unfortunately my stomach was pretty upset after and the Five Guys burger I had been thinking about, and got me through some of the tough parts of the run, didn't happen. Sad panda.

Totals for the week:

Distance: 71

Elevation: 8000'

Duration: 11hr

A "training" Week + Holiday Lake50k 2/10/14-2/16/2014

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 02:48:00 +0000

Unfortunately, I missed my recap last week but there wasn't really all that much to talk about because...well...I didn't really run all that much. This was partly due to the massive storm we had last week that dropped 22" of snow on the New River Valley! However, the few days I did run were special because they were in the middle of a massive snowstorm.

Monday: 9.1, 450' 1.5hr
On Monday, we had our weekly VT Ultra group run. I forgot that we had moved the run back from 7:00 to 7:15 and left my house as if we were running at 7:00. Once I was out and about in the cold evening air, I realized that we were running later and managed to squeeze in a few extra miles on the way. After the run, I made my usual stop at Moe's and then grabbed the bus home. These Monday night group runs are really nice because after a long weekend of running it would be easy to not run but they get me out the door and even sometimes make me do more miles than I bargained for.

Tuesday: Rest

Yep. After a long weekend of running and a few more miles than I had planned for on Monday, I gladly welcomed a "rest" day. Although I didn't get out for a run I did make an awesome calzone for dinner that I whipped up from scratch.

Wednesday: 6, ~400' 1hr

On Wednesday, Michelle and I packed up our refrigerator, Gillie, and a few days of warm clothes and headed over to Michelle's parents to hunker down for the storm. Last year, we had a lot of issues with losing power at our place and unfortunately lost a full refrigerator of food as a result of a power outage that lasted a few days. Around two, the snow started falling heavy and continued to amass overnight and through half of Thursday.

Despite the heavy snow, I put on a few layers and headed out into the snowy evening. The snow falling in combination with a strong wind was pretty brutal and I was wishing I had snow goggles but had to settle for sunglasses...which didn't really work because it got dark pretty early into my run, which meant that my tinted shades made it near impossible to run in. I took the TS4 with me on the run and grabbed a few photos of me playing in the snow!

Pretty amazing to see how dark it got in the hour I was out running!

Thursday: 6, ~350' 1hr

I managed to get out on Thursday and get in another 6 miles despite the 20+ inches of snow on the ground. My run was limited to the streets that were plowed but I was happy to get in 6 when most folks in Blacksburg were post holing to run two or three miles.

Before my run, Michelle and I went out to enjoy the snow and the day off from classes. To put in perspective the rarity of Virginia Tech canceling classes, consider the following: In the 142 year history of Virginia Tech, Thursday and Friday were the 9th and 10th snow days. Ever.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Race Holiday Lake 50k - 16th

If you missed my blog earlier in the week about the race, you can check it out HERE. I read this earlier in the week and had to share as it describes the race better than I can.

"You could try to run in another runners tracks, but you quickly found out that the snow never really packed down because it was wet…it just kind of slid somewhere else. Fail. Or you could just make your own brand new tracks in the crust – predictable, but immediately tiring and wet below the crust. Fail. Or, you could simply run straight ahead, not thinking and just taking what came to you, which made for really unpredictable footing. Fail. So there you have it, that’s what the FIRST loop would be like – trying to get good footing and failing. Trying to get some semblance of a normal running stride and failing. Trying to get into any kind of zone and failing. You get the picture." John Anderson

It was a crazy race and one for the memory books.

Totals for the week:

Distance: 53.4

Elevations: 3150'

Duration: 8.75hr

2014 Holiday Lake Race Report (Hypothetical vs. Real Life)

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 06:09:00 +0000

**One of the main instigators of this whole Ultra VT group-thing, Rudy Rutemiller, decided to create hypothetical Holiday Lake tweets on Saturday afternoon to make up for the lack of race coverage due to zero cell service at the Holiday Lake 4-H center, below are some of the tweets that ensued.**

Hypothetical Version:
As I slowly exited the fog from my deep sleep, I sat up in my hammock to witness a glorious sunrise dancing across the lake at the 4-H center in Appomattox, VA. I had opted to forgo sleeping in a tent, and sleeping bag for that matter, because of the unseasonably warm temperatures we had been treated to for the 19th running of the Lynchburg ultra series opener, Holiday Lake 50k. As I got dressed for the day, I half-smiled as a looked at all the cold weather gear I had packed and threw on a pair of shorts and a short sleeve shirt I knew I would discard at the first aid station. The forecast predicted record high temperatures and the lack of rain over the previous couple weeks meant the course would be dry and fast, creating perfect conditions for a course record attempt. After a delicious breakfast feast prepared by the 4-H staff, 400 runners set out for an awesome day on the trails where every participant set a personal best. Once the last runner had crossed the finish line, Dr. Horton broke out a guitar and we all sang camp songs including Kumbaya. It was a picturesque day and a Holiday Lake for the memory books! The entire way home we continued to rave about how awesome of a time we had and couldn't wipe the smiles off our faces, ready to sign up for next years race, the 20th running. Maybe we'll get lucky and get a little snow!

Real Life Version:

Race Morning: As I slowly exited the fog of my not so deep sleep to the sound of rain beating on the roof of my car, I hesitantly checked my phone and breathed a sign of relief to discover it was only 2AM and that I would not have to exit my sleeping bag cocoon of warmth for another couple hours. I had opted to sleep in my car, the free option, compared to the $15 equally cold unheated cabins that remained for those of us who were foolish enough to not reserved a heated cabin in advance. I awoke again a little after four in a panic, afraid my phone had died from the cold and that my alarm didn't sound resulting in me completely missing the start of the race.

Around 4:30, I admitted defeat and crawled out from under the pile of blankets that had kept me relatively comfortable throughout the night. I began mentally preparing myself to emerge from the relative warmth of the car into the dreary dark February morning. I dodged muddy puddles by headlight as I trudged toward the distant lights of the lodge with promise of warm water and hot coffee. I was greeted by an energetic group of Liberty students who were fulfilling their duties of morning check-in for the runners and headed toward a table already half-surrounded by my fellow Ultra VT runners. We shared laughs between sips of coffee and joked about the adventures that lie ahead of us for the day, curious as to what the unknown conditions would bring.

Friday Evening: Jordan and I arrived at the 4-H center around 5 on Friday evening, quickly completed bib pickup and then mingled as runners arrived over the next hour. At six, we gathered in the mess hall for a delicious pre-race dinner prepared by the 4-H staff that included salad, lasagna, spaghetti, meatballs, and choice of apple or cherry cobbler. We were in great company at dinner sitting with Graham Peck, the race winner, and his family as well as John Robinson who won the male masters award on Saturday. After dinner, Dr. Horton gave his always entertaining pre-race "briefing" that is questionably more standup comedy than actual "race briefing." A little after eight, I headed off for bed excited and slightly apprehensive about the challenges the following day would bring.

Runners waiting around pre-race!

After finishing my breakfast, I headed off to do my normal pre-race routine including the very important pre-race restroom visit. I was forewarned about the long line for the men's restroom (Thanks Kristen!) and unlike Promise Land, I made sure I got in line early enough to make it through the line and back to the start before the race started. I arrived at the start line just in time for Dr. Horton's prayer and found a spot about 20-30 feet back from the banner.

At 6:30AM promptly, we were off and running! The first little section of the course, about 3/4 of a mile, is up a paved hill on the road that leads to the 4-H Center. The course then turns onto single track that winds along the lake for a mile or so before paralleling another road on more single track. The image to the left is the first five miles of the course where the start is indicated by the green dot and the selected dark blue section is the fifth mile. The course is comprised of doing the same big loop twice, first in a clockwise manner and then turning around and running counterclockwise along the same loop. Essentially the course is one giant out-and-back.

A big topic of discussion at the breakfast table was what footwear folks were wearing and whether or not to wear Yaktrax. It baffles me why we think it's a good idea to try something new on race day and even more so that I continue to do it again and again - enter overused Albert Einstein cliché, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." I digress. Long story short, I opted to wear the Yaktrax after running in them maybe a handful of times (with relative success I might add) but quickly decided a few miles in they were not going to work. I opted to leave them hanging on a road sign a little over 5 miles into the race and eventually picked them up on my way back (mile 25ish) to drop them off at the last aid station of the day.

I need to be more confident in my ability to run hard and be competitive. I noted to Jordan on the ride to the race that this would be the first ultra that I didn't wear a vest...or bring a camera...and actually intended to run hard. I started too far back in the field and quickly discovered that I was with folks who had different goals than I did for the day; not worse of unworthy...just different. Perhaps running with these folks kept me conservative and allowed me to run well later in the race but I wonder how my race would have unfolded had I been further up. One monumental difference in this race than other ultras I've done was the time I spent in aid stations. I would say in total I spent less than 4 minutes in aid stations during this race compared to other races where I've easily lost 20 or more minutes in the aid stations. I started with a half-full handheld and took water at the first aid station and ran directly through the second aid station, which is roughly the half-way point of the first loop. I also carried all of my own fuel, opting to bring 7 Gu's with me for the race.

The Powerline Section: When we previewed the course two-weeks ago, I distinctly recall Jordan and I discussing the power line section and how in the race it seems to go on forever. Two weeks later and add 2/3 of a foot of snow and the one and a half mile section was THE most difficult section of the race. There was a hard crust on the snow that had formed from the cold rain overnight and freezing temperatures causing each step to suck all momentum and made finding a rhythm impossible. The best way to describe it is that instead of your legs running along two parallel lines moving forward and back on those lines, your legs are doing an "eggbeater" motion and running along a single line because each foot slid as it contacted the snow toward the middle of your body. Eventually, we (another runner and I) reached the end and turned onto a fire road where we could stretch our legs and recover from previous grueling section. We both agreed that we were grateful to have that section behind us. It's interesting to note that it didn't just feel slower but that it actually was considerably slower, evident in the above splits. Mile 10 is the dark blue highlighted section in the image above that encompasses most of the 1.5ish powerline section as well as small portion of mile 11, both considerably slower that the pace for two miles on either side, mile 9 (9:24/mile) and mile 12 (9:28/mile).

I don't recall the third aid station (perhaps because I ran right through it?) and eventually I began recognizing the section that runs around the perimeter of the lake, indicating we were close to the turnaround point. It was at this point, mile 14ish that I caught up to Wyatt, another Ultra VT runner who went on to finish an impressive 11th on the day. We made good time through these couple miles heading into the turnaround and eventually caught Jordan just before we entered the aid station. I was a bit concerned when we caught Jordan, as he has always been someone I admire as a runner and someone who is considerably faster than me. Because the course is an out and back, we had the opportunity to see how the race was unfolding upfront as the lead runners had begun making their way back toward us. Just after mile 15, we saw Graham heading back and then 13 other runners before entering the aid station.

Splits through the first 16 miles.

I spent maybe a minute at the turnaround. Enough time to allow an aid station volunteer (Thanks again!) to fill my bottle, grab a handful of Cheese Its, and give Mike Jones a high-five before heading back on course. I had been listening to music for most of the race but right at the turnaround I put in my second earbud and cranked up the tunes and felt awesome for the next 4 miles or so. This section was really great because you have all of the folks who are on their way to the turnaround giving you encouragement. I tried to tell every runner that I passed Good Work! but I was in the zone and certainly missed a few.

I had been doing well with nutrition, taking a Gu every 45 minutes or so but around mile 21 the wheels began to fall off. Again, the power line section was challenging but the temperature had risen and with the rest of the field having already run through that section once, it was easier to find better footing.

During the power line section, I noticed a decline in energy and recognized that I wasn't taking in enough calories. I filled my bottle with Gu Brew at the next aid station (mile 24.5) and also took my first...and second cup of Coke, which I discovered too late into Promise Land 50k++ gives me a HUGE boost in energy. As I entered the the aid station, Wyatt came in right behind me as did Jordan, and we all made it quick stop before heading down the trail. Shortly after the aid station, there is a knee-high creek crossing, Jordan had sprinted past me giving me some encouragement and disappeared around the corner just before the creek, by the time I had crossed he was already several hundred meters up the hill and I wouldn't see him again until the finish. We later found out that a seasoned ultrarunner was seriously injured crossing the creek and had to be carried to medical help by fellow runners, she is now doing well and recovering from surgery, but it speaks to the AMAZING crowd that takes part in these events.

Splits 17 to the finish.

Between 25 and 28.2 were the toughest miles for me. I picked up my Yaktrax just before 26 and ran with them until I reached the next aid station where I entered dazed and feeling weak. However, Frank Gonzalez was at the last aid station and his enthusiasm is CONTAGIOUS! I handed him my Yaktrax, obviously out of it and said "I don't want these anymore" as he handed me a cup of Coke. As I walked out of the aid station toward the trail, he was counting down for me to start running and when I began "trotting" before he got down to zero he burst out yelling and encouraging me. He. Is. Awesome. Again, I have met some of the most amazing and positive individuals since I started running ultras. Inspiring. I did ask how far to the end and was somewhat unhappy with the response, although Frank was dead on about the mileage (4.1) to the finish and it was nice knowing how far I actually had to go.

The scene at the finish!

The last section winds along the lake and then along singletrack next to the road before the 3/4 of a mile downhill finish on the road we began on. Around mile 30, I walked for a bit and was super lightheaded bracing myself on trees and trying to keep myself upright. In the future, I need to eat more but it was good that I realized what was happening and that I learn from the experience. Once I hit the road, I gave one final look over my shoulder and started to open my stride allowing gravity to take me home.

Pace breakdown via Strava for the race.

It felt pretty awesome to come across the finish with Dr. Horton announcing my name and shaking my hand, noting that he had "seeded me wrong." We had a brief chat and I mentioned how difficult the power line section had felt, which was seconded by the runner who had finished immediately before me and was still in the finish area. I collected my awesome finisher shirt and grabbed a few cake batter Oreo's (who knew?) and attempted to walk off the pain in my feet. I hobbled over to the lodge where I found the rest of the Ultra VT group and immediately started replenishing calories with a bowl of Chili, a few more Oreo's, and several glasses of orange juice.

Link to full results HERE

I was very happy to have a solid run and see the hard work I've been putting in over the past couple months pay off. I was pleased to have finished 16th overall out of 281 finishers and 314 starters. What is really awesome is that Guy Love had another impressive finish, taking 3rd overall and that two other VT ~~triathlon~~ students finished in the top ten, Dylan taking 6th and Jonathan, running his first ultra, 7th!!! Further, Wyatt took 11th and Jordan 12th, meaning we had 7 Hokies (alumni and current) in the top 16!

How bout them Hokies!?!

Participant shirt left and finisher prize right.

Strava Details:

Of course, it wouldn't be a race report without the obligatory post run burrito/food picture. Michelle and I had our Valentines Day on Saturday evening because I spent the actual valentines day sleeping in my car...in the cold...to go run 50k...in the snow...hrm?

Maybe next year it'll be dry and fast and perfect for setting a course record...or maybe not! #HypotheticalHL

Training Week 2/3/2014-2/9/2014

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 21:57:00 +0000

I'm super pumped about how training went last week! No, I didn't hit a new weekly high mileage but I did get in what I feel like were some quality miles including "longish" back-to-back runs on Saturday and Sunday. We changed the Ultra VT group run from Wednesday evening to Monday evening and consequently my weeks have become much longer as far as consecutive days running. I've switched up my schedule to include six days on and one day off using Tuesday as my rest day. Despite the longer weeks I felt really strong on my run Sunday after a hard effort Saturday. A good sign for Holiday Lake this weekend!

Monday: 6, 500' 1hr
Monday evening, we had our first Monday evening Ultra VT group run and witnessed Mr. Mike Jones pull off a barrel roll during the run and continue running as if nothing had happened. We were joking about parkour at the time, which made the spectacle that much funnier!

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: 10.2, 700' 1.5hr

Around mid-week, I received the awesome news that Michelle had won a free entry into the Baltimore Running Festival! We had entered a contest on Facebook where 100 squares were assigned to the score of the Superbowl and it just so happens that Michelle's name was in the square for the final score (kind of). While the first, second, and third quarter winners received free T-shirts, the grand prize winner (Michelle) won an entry into the Baltimore Running Festival and she was kind enough to let me register for the Baltimore Marathon with her free entry. SWEET!

On a different note, there has been a resistance to the Monday evening group runs from the folks who can't make the new scheduled time, which is kind of awesome because it means there are two group runs during the week. As I've mentioned before, it's awesome to get out with a group and it gives me incentive to get out the door even when I'm struggling for motivation. We had a pretty solid group Wednesday evening and went out for a little over an hour. We found some super steep roads in Blacksburg and explored some roads I had never been on before!

Thursday: 9.1, 540' 1.33hr
On Thursday, I saw an ad on Facebook for a free audio book via Audible, Amazon's audiobook company. If you agree to sign up for their monthly service (which I intend to cancel prior to the subscription beginning) you receive a credit to download a book. I decided to download Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer to listen to on long runs. I remember reading about a few cyclists that listen to audio books while riding and figured I'd give it a try while running. It really made the time go quickly and I enjoyed the book a lot! So much so that I listened to another four hours on Saturdays long run.

Friday: Rest (and massive slices)

I didn't intend for Friday to be a rest day but when I got home and sat down, I dozed off on the couch and awoke when Michelle got home. I guess I needed the rest.

Post nap, Michelle and I headed downtown for the the Telluride Film Festival at the Lyric but not before stopping by Benny Marzano's for a couple massive slices to fuel my long run on Saturday. The film festival was awesome! We were surprised by the length, nearly four hours, but enjoyed all of the films, our favorite of which was an 8 year project to photograph all 39 species of the Birds of Paradise! Check out the trailer:

Saturday: 22, 3780' 4hr

I woke up early Saturday morning and headed north to Roanoke to scout the Blue Ridge Marathon course, which I'm a blogger for and announced in a post back in August. I intend to do a separate post about previewing the course but I'll leave you with this picture: Mile 7.3 where some sections of the road are up to 15%!

Saturday evening, we enjoyed an awesome dinner at The Cellar with Michelle's parents and our friends Bob and Cheryl who live in Salem. It was an excellent way to recover after a long run and hard effort for the day.

Sunday: 15, 500' 2hr

After last Sunday's debacle on my long run, I was determined to get in a decent run on Sunday and headed down I-81 to Pulaski to to get in an easy 12 on the New River Trail. I decided to park in Pulaski and see a different part of the trail rather than the same old section of trail I run from Draper. I had just turned onto the New River Trail from a connector trail that runs into Pulaski, about six miles into my run, when I ran into Pawel another runner here in Blacksburg and his training partner Geoff. Pawel asked me how far I was running and invited me to join them. I had been listening to a podcast and had just started another when we met up and I welcomed the change in pace (literally) and the company. We turned out a solid 5 miles together before I turned around to head back toward the car. I managed to get in 15 for the day, 14 and a mile cool down with the first 6 of the 14 being more relaxed with the remaining eight getting progressively faster followed by a mile "easy" cool down.

Totals for the week:
Distance: 63.4
Elevation: 6044'
Duration: 10hr

I was super pleased to get in 63 miles this week and felt strong for most of the miles. Additionally, I managed to log those 63 miles over 5 runs compared to the previous week when I did 61 miles in 6 runs. Looking forward, Holiday Lake 50k is this coming Saturday and it's currently dumping snow outside. We're expecting ~12-14" and Appomattox, where Holiday Lake race is held, is expecting a foot, which could make for a very interesting 50k and long day Saturday. I was feeling confident about my ability to put in a solid run but with the weather I think I have to adjust my expectations and simply set out for a fun day on the trails!

As I look at my training this year, it's interesting to see the difference in volume of January and February between this year and last year. Last year, I managed 25 hours between the two months. This year, despite taking the eight days of January off, I bettered the first two months combined in January alone!

Another (semi)Successful Week of Training -1/27/2014-2/2/2014

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 02:28:00 +0000

It's hard to believe it's February already. As of writing this, there are only 60 59 days until Umstead100; that fact is scary. Training last week didn't go as I intended but I think that is part of the learning curve when it comes to increasing volume and listening to your body. I mentioned in my last post that my goal for the previous week was ~70 miles or in the 12+ hour neighborhood of training. However, as the weekend approached I learned that the training run I thought was going to be 31 miles was in fact only 16.5, or half of the Holiday Lake course. I didn't realize that the course was comprised of doing the same loop twice, once forward and then running back to the start in reverse essentially making the course a giant out-and-back. Once I learned that fact, I knew I was going to struggle to hit my goal of 70 for the week but continued to get some solid runs in including a trip up to Cascade Falls and Butt Mountain fire tower on Thursday afternoon.

Monday: Rest
After a long week of training the previous week (65 miles) and two longer runs over the weekend including 21 on Sunday, I gladly enjoyed taking a day off from running Monday.

Tuesday: 8, 1800' 1.5hr
The UltraVT group has made a huge difference in my running over the past year. One of the main reasons I believe is the steady stream of invites and group runs that are put together over a listserv, which helps me stay accountable on days I need that extra shove to get out the door. I had an easy run planned Tuesday evening that was just 6 easy miles on Poverty Creek, a relatively flat trail in Jefferson National Forest. When I saw a last minute email about running around 3, I decided to jump on the opportunity and met Guy Love at the trail head. The route was anything but flat and much more difficult than what I had planned for the day and it was AWESOME! There's just something about getting out in really really cold weather for a good run and Tuesday was chilly! We managed to get in a nice loop out in Pandapas with just under 1800' of climb for 8 miles; far from the flat boring run I had planned.

Wednesday: 8.1, 1765' 1.75hr
Wednesday evening, we had an UltraVT group run that was a total blast with lots of folks coming out for the run. The group made the miles fly by and running under headlamp is always special.

Thursday: 11.7, 2170' 2.5hr
On Thursday, I headed west on 460 down to Pembroke to check out a new run and find the Butt Mountain fire tower. I have been itching to do this run since late December when it came up on my Strava feed when a couple of the guys ran it. They posted a few photos and I knew I had to go check it out for myself. I arrived at the Cacades parking area a little after three and grabbed my hydration vest and headed up the trail. I wasn't too concerned about bringing water or nutrition on the run, although I did throw a bottle in the vest, I actually brought the vest to carry my GoPro and GorillaPod. Michelle and I have hiked the Cascades numerous times over the years but I have only seen the falls frozen once and that was early into our relationship and I had never run it. The trail was pretty slick because it is a well traveled trail resulting in a sheet of packed snow perfect for ice. I grabbed lots of pictures on the way up and some video too, which made my trip up to the falls rather slow but enjoyable. I eventually reached the falls and was treated to this awesome view:

I put together a short film with some cool photos (at least I thought they were) and some of the video I took while I was out there. It's not too pretty but it gives you an idea of what the trail looks like and the route I took.

At the top of the mountain, I was rewarded with an awesome view and found the fire tower I had set out to find. It was an awesome run and I will definitely do it again this spring...when there isn't snow on the ground and a solid sheet of ice on the trail down!

Friday: 6.5, 500' 1hr
Time got away from me Friday afternoon and before I knew it, it was 5PM and daylight was fading fast. The sun is setting around 5:40ish here right now and making a batch of pizza dough stood between me and getting out for a run. I threw the ingredients in the mixer and let it go to work, you may remember I made a short pizza making video not too long ago! Eight minutes later, I put the dough, now covered in olive oil, in two metal bowls and draped them with a warm towel and headed out to Pandapas. My intention was to get in roughly five miles but my run wound up being just at an hour (6.5 miles). The extra time didn't hurt the dough and when I returned home it was ready to throw in the oven to make some delicious pizzas! I returned home to find Michelle sautéing pasilla and red peppers as well as some onions to go on top of our pizza in addition to a rotisserie chicken she picked up. Yum! I've been using beer instead of water to make the dough and I really like it!

I was also checking out some new shoes on my run, which unfortunately are going to be too narrow for my foot and hence go back but they were comfy for the first 2.5 miles or so :-(

Saturday: 16.5, 1000' 2.5hr
The alarm went off early Saturday morning. I mean like 3:45 early. Five of us piled into my car and headed North and East toward Appomattox, VA for a training run on the Holiday Lake course. The course winds around Holiday Lake and begins and ends at the 4-H Center in Appomattox. I'm not quite sure how I didn't take single picture during the day but it was totally worth the drive up there to know what well see in 10 short days!

Saturday evening, Michelle and I headed over the Chang's, whom were part of the five in the car to Appomattox, for a Sushi feast! It. Was. Awesome! A new friend, Henry, whom I had talked with via Strava numerous times but never had the privilege to meet face-to-face, very patiently taught us all to make sushi. It was delicious!

Henry giving me some tips on the roll!

Michelle and I are so totally doing this again! We learned a lot and had so much fun!

Sunday: 10.5, 650' 1.5hr
Sunday's run was a disaster. I can't blame it on the sushi the night before but simply poor choices getting going for the day and not eating right to go out for a long run. I had originally planned to get 25 or so in on Sunday (after learning about running a shorter Holiday Lake course) but it simply didn't happen. I was feeling Saturday's run in Appomattox and didn't have a strong desire to get out the door. I considered driving to the trailhead a success and once I got out there it was apparent my body was not happy with me...well my GI system at least. I almost called it quits around mile 3 when I ran by my car but decided I would go out a mile to hit four and then turn around and come home for a whopping 5 miles for the day. Once I got out there, I kept telling myself to go a little further and a little further and before I knew it I had run 10 miles for the day to round out 60 miles for the week. I think it just goes to show you that if you push through the hard times...like I'm sure I'll face in just 59 days at Umstead, it gets better!

Perhaps it was the cookie I ate on the way to the trailhead or what I had for breakfast that morning but I was happy with 10 for the day and enjoyed the Super Bowl feast to the fullest!

Totals for the week:

Distance: 61.2 miles

Elevation: 7890'

Duration: 10.5hr

Ultimately, I fell short of my goal but I think that I have to be okay with that. I listened to my body and respected what it was telling me enough to make the right decision and step back a little. I'm hoping for a good week this week as well but I'm okay running slightly less with Holiday Lake 50k next week! A couple months ago, I had never run had a 60+ mile week and now I've had two of them in a row. I think it's important to keep that in perspective and also that my real goal is longevity and setting a positive example of a healthy lifestyle for my family...at some point! ;-)

A Successful Week of Training! 1/20/2014-1/26/2014

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:44:00 +0000

As I sit here with my feet up watching the Grammys reflecting on my past week of training, I'm proud of how I managed to step up and put in a decent week of training both in terms of volume and quality. I've been slightly apprehensive about Umstead 100 because of my lack of training during the month of January including taking the first 8 days of the month off. However, after this week I'm feeling slightly more confident about tackling the daunting distance of 100 miles.

Monday: 18.3 miles, 4500' 4hr
On Monday, we were treated with unseasonably warm weather and I decided to begin the week with a long run on the Appalachian Trail to mark MLK Day. I had been thinking about this run for some time and even considered doing it this fall when Michelle and I hiked up to Tinker Cliffs with some friends but it never quite worked out. McAfee's Knob is one of the most popular hikes in the area and the most photographed spot on the Appalachian Trail. Last year, I ran up to McAfee's Knob to watch the sunrise and even made a time-lapse of the sunrise. I parked at the 311 trailhead and began running a little after 11AM. My route was along the Appalachian trail the entire way and began with the climb up to McAfee's Knob and then I would continue on to Tinker Cliffs.

McAfee's Knob...the first time of the day.

The climb up to McAfee's Knobs is a pretty decent hike and goes from just under 2000' to around 3200' over 4 miles. That section took me close to an hour; I stopped and grabbed a few pictures at the top as well as put on a vest. After reaching McAfee's Knob, you descend off the mountain and follow the AT along the ridge for another 5.2 miles to Tinker Cliffs, eventually climbing another 700 ft to reach the cliffs.

You can trace the ridge I ran along in the photo to the left. Tinker Cliffs is the peak at the left edge of the photo.

The descent off McAfee's Knob along the Appalachian Trail.

Right before reaching Tinker Cliff's you weave through some massive and awesome rock formations.

I reached Tinker Cliffs about an hour after leaving McAfee's Knob and grabbed a picture before turning around and heading back toward McAfee's Knob. Because schools were out and class for Virginia Tech hadn't started, there were lots of folks out along the trail heading up to McAfee's Knob. However, in the two hours I ran between McAfee's Knob and Tinker Cliffs, I only saw one other couple and that was during my return climb back up to McAfee's Knob. Even more surprising was that I had Tinker Cliffs all to myself although it took me nearly seven years living in Blacksburg before I hiked it for the first time this past fall. The photo above is looking back to McAfee's Knob, which is the hump in the middle of the photo.

Panoramic view from Tinker Cliffs.

McAfee's Knob for the second time of the day.

The run back wasn't too bad with the exception of dropping one of my Gu packets along the run and I didn't realize it until I reached McAfee's Knob for the second time of the day. Fortunately, the run back to the parking lot from the knob is mainly downhill.

Post run parking lot photo and Garmin details.

Elevation profile for the day. The run wound up being 4,499 ft of elevation gain.

I was pretty spent when I got home but Michelle was planning on heading out for a run and I jumped on the opportunity to ride along side her on my bike. I brought along the GoPro and snagged a bunch of really fun photos!

Tuesday: 6.2, 600' 1hr

Monday's gorgeous weather made Tuesday's several inches of snow seem surreal. I headed out Tuesday evening to join some of the guys from the Virginia Tech Ultra team at Pandapas for a night run. I've been waiting all year to go for a trail run in the snow and it didn't disappoint. Running under headlamp was fun and catching up with the guys and meeting some new folks made the miles fly by! No photos from the run but the details are below. Funny story, I forgot my Garmin but wanted to track the mileage and decided to bring my phone along for the run. My phone was too big for the pocket on my pants so I decided to throw it in my E-case (that I won from a Facebook contests last year) and put it in my pants...well...down my pants. So...err...I ran a little over 6 miles with my phone in my butt. Hey, you've gotta do what you have to do!

Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Rest
I took both Wednesday and Thursday off, not necessarily intentionally but it just kinda worked out that way.

Friday: 9, 1400' 1.5hr
I had an orientation for student teaching on Friday morning for Montgomery County Public Schools, which was scheduled to run from 9:30 until around noon. We were dismissed around 11 and our next meeting was not until 2 so I decided to head out to Pandapas to get in a good run rather than having to squeeze in a run in the evening. I had a total blast. On the drive out to Pandapas, I was thinking about running with unexpected or "unaccounted for" time is the best type of run. It was just one of those runs where I kept saying "I'll just do 6" and then I was feeling good so I said to myself "well maybe I'll just add on some more" and before I knew it I had run for an hour and a half and put myself in a bit of a time crunch to make my 2PM meeting. I walked in the door at 1:33, showered, changed, and was out the door again by 1:46 grabbing a quick sandwich on the way and made it to my 2PM meeting with a few minutes to spare. Perfect.

Saturday: 11, 820' 1.5hr

To say that I struggled with motivation Saturday would be a huge understatement. I simply couldn't get it together to get out the door. Michelle made me a delicious breakfast including blackberry syrup and waffles from scratch. Most of the early morning was spent cleaning our apartment and lounging around. However, at 4PM I finally got out the door and managed to get in 11 miles running around Blacksburg. It actually marked my first run on pavement of the year and it felt good to get out and run around Blacksburg again but MAN! It. Was. Cold.

Sunday: 21, 850' 3.25hr

Today, I got out and managed to get in my first "long run" of the year getting in 21 miles in a little over 3 hours. I headed down the road on 81 to Draper, VA to run along the New River Trail, a 57 mile rails-to-trails "bike path" that runs from Fries to Foster Falls. I'd like to run the entire thing at some point but today I was out to see a little over 10 miles of it. I didn't move particularly fast but I was more concerned about duration and getting in quality time. Along my run there were plenty of cool sights:

At the end of my run, I completed day 2 of the Plank-a-day Challenge. I've been meaning to do some type of core work and I think this is a good start. I would like to do more strength training but perhaps I'll look into that after Umstead 100.

Totals for the week:

Distance: 65 miles

Elevation: ~8200'

Duration: 12hr

I'm very pleased with how the week went and I'm excited to increase my mileage this week. My goal is to break into the 70's for the first time by running 40 miles during the week and running the Holiday Lake course this Saturday for a training run.

Where's Waldo...Thursday? GoPro Photo-a-day 1/1/14-1/16/14

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 00:52:00 +0000

Wow. Where did the first half of January go? To date, I have run 28 miles in the month of January. A stark contrast to the mileage I was putting in during the second-half of December. My low mileage is partly due to fact that I took the first week of January off. A much needed recovery. During the last week of December, I logged the most miles I have ever done in a week - 65. Tough to swallow that I will do thirty-five more than that in a single day (hopefully) at the beginning of April. During the peak mileage week and for the entirety of December, and for all of 2013 for that matter, I ran pain free **knock on wood** but toward the end of the month I began to notice a slight amount of "discomfort" in my right foot. I decided a week off from running would be a nice way to begin 2014. I was surprised to discover that during the during the first week of January when I was taking time off from running, I had the worst quality sleep that I can remember and I began noticing pain, specifically in my right knee, that wasn't present prior to taking time off. What gives??? The good news is that my knee only gives me trouble when I'm sleeping, and not when I'm running, so perhaps I'm doing something to agitate it while I'm sleeping? Anyways, that's kind of the state-of-my-state.

In bigger news, I passed **tentatively** my Praxis II exam on Tuesday morning!!! I'm ecstatic (if the three exclamation points didn't give that away). I say **tentatively** because while you receive your score at the end of the exam, you do not receive your official score until 10-15 days after taking the test. I believe this is because they normalize the scores - hopefully my score doesn't go down and stays above the required passing score. I was really really stressing about this exam because it could have prevented me from student teaching in the spring and consequently pushed back my graduation. I dedicated a decent amount of time studying for the exam and it was nice to see that my hard work paid off. What I find interesting is that the state of Virginia raised the passing score from a 147 to a 160 beginning January 1st of this year. The ETS considers a score of 165 excellent and even provides a certificate for earning such a score, aptly named the Recognition of Excellence Award. This means that individuals in my program, who will graduate with the same degree and at the same time as me, are not required to earn the same score that I was required to earn. Pretty silly but a Pass is a Pass and I'm glad it's behind me!

When Michelle and I were home for the holidays, we received our first wedding gift - a GoPro Black Camera! IT. IS. AWESOME! We decided that because we're getting married this year and because we received this awesome and incredibly generous gift, we wanted to take a photo-a-day with the camera. Below are the first 16 days of January!

1/1/2014 - Playing with the GoPole in the car!

1/2/2014 - Michelle and I studying in the Graduate study room :-(

1/3/2014 - Grocery shopping.

1/4/2014 - Evening walk with Gillie.

1/5/2014 - "Dad! I told you I don't like having my photo taken!"

1/6/2014 - Nothing too exciting here.

1/7/2014 - Virginia Tech vs. Syracuse at Cassell Coliseum

1/8/2014 - My first run of the year - Running in Jefferson National Forest.

1/9/2014 - Making pizzas is a standard thing around here -

Buffalo chicken was the first of the night.

1/10/2014 - Out on a dreary afternoon walk with Gillie.

1/11/2014 - First photo Michelle took with the GoPro...studying???

1/12/2014 - The moment before impact.

Michelle took a nasty spill off the slackline right after this photo was taken.

I was taking a time-lapse.

1/13/2014 - College Avenue promenade after grabbing dinner at Moe's on Monday.

1/14/2013 - Whoopsie! This photo came out a little blurry...there's a bit of a learning curve!

1/15/2013 - A night walk with Gillie!

1/16/2013 - Dinner this evening! (Eat Fresh!)

So that's what we've been up to! Michelle takes her Praxis tomorrow morning (send her some love!) and then I've got the VCLA Saturday morning - sad panda. Sad panda because I was planning on running a local fat ass (a free or cheap organized ultra event) right at Jefferson national park but my VCLA is now Saturday morning. Silly school getting in the way of running! Yesterday was exactly one month from Holiday Lake 50k, which will be my first race of the year! Aside from that, I begin teaching at a middle school during the first week of February and I'm totally pumped! Oh yeah - last thing, we got a slackline and it's awesome and incredibly difficult! I foresee lots of fun this spring with it!

2013 Year in Review (Running and Everything Else)

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 20:43:00 +0000

Is it too late to publish a 2013 year in review post? What's the timeline for that sorta thing? Perhaps I should start my 2014 year in review post now?!? I follow a lot of blogs, most in some form or another involve running or an active lifestyle, and over the past few weeks I have read countless "year in review posts." I had the intention of writing and posting a year in review post before the New Year, much like I had the intention of publishing my North Face Endurance Challenge Championship race report before the New Year...but we see how well that worked out :-(

Before traveling too far down the road of "how 2013 went," I wanted to revisit my goals at the start of 2013 from my first post of last year, 2013 - A New Year.

Maybe it's the engineer in me, but when thinking about things I want to accomplish in 2013 I wound up creating S.M.A.R.T. goals:

Run 1300 miles for 2013

In terms of attainable, I ran over 1000 miles in 2012 compared to ~600 in 2011. My goal for 2012 was 1200. I fell short but the goal drove me to achieve more then I thought I could.

Redesign the blog by June 1st

Modify the color scheme, incorporate new plug-ins, create or work with a designer to make a custom template.

Blog 24 times this year

This one is pretty self explanatory. I'm tired of the look and want to change up the blog to something more original..more me.

Post more about cooking, design, photography, gadgets, school, etc.

Create a series on the blog and have at least 6 posts relating to it. I've never done a series (like Friday review or Tuesday tasting) that I think it will force me to be creative.

I don't think any of the above are easy, but all of them are attainable. I'm looking forward to writing about our recent week at the beach and goal races for 2013 in the month of January!

Run 1300 miles for 2013

After breaking 1500 miles for the year!

I was pretty ecstatic to break the first goal on the list, running 1300 miles in 2013, a few days into December. Had I been wise, I would've taken the rest of December post North Face Endurance Challenge easy but that's simply not me. For some silly reason, I decided that 1500 miles, or 200 miles in 28 days seemed like a reasonable goal and I started chasing after it. With Michelle's help, and unfortunately at the expense of lashing out at my family several times over the holidays, I accomplished that goal on New Years Eve by running 13 miles with Michelle by my side (for 6 of them) to close out 2013!

I say at my families expense because I was slightly short/irritable possibly as a result of the increased training and the subsequent pressure I imposed on myself for most of the time I was home, the exact opposite of what I wanted. Unacceptable. I'm sorry guys!

I can't seem to quite figure out how to filter activity by both sport (i.e. running excluding biking) and year on Strava but in 2013 I managed to complete the 1500 miles in ~205 activities (245 hours) and roughly 110K of elevation gain.

Redesign the blog by June 1st

It simply didn't happen. I only have myself to blame for this. I did learn about Wordpress when I created a website for wedding stuff and I think that's the direction I'll ultimately go when I do make the transition. Maybe it'll happen in 2014? Probably not...but one can always dream.

Blog 24 times this year

I managed to post 29 times in 2013. I would consider this partial success. I say that because although I managed to better my goal of 2 posts a month, I didn't really venture out too much from race reports and running events, specifically my goal included:

Post more about cooking, design, photography, gadgets, school, etc

which I did to a certain extent but not enough to consider it a success.

Create a Series with 6 Posts
I did manage to do this but again I drifted a bit because I didn't sustain my Where's Waldo Wednesday series. I think I've figured out how I want to change this in 2014 but more on that later.

In 2013, I managed to PR at just about every distance from 5k (although I do know I ran faster in HS but not sure of the length of those courses - some may have been short) up to 50 miles. I talked about this a bit in my One-Month-Coundown post for the North Face Endurance Challenge and also in my Crooked Road 24HR race report.

I'm super pleased with how I grew this year as a runner. I managed to join a group of runners, UltraVT, that have helped me fall in love with running trails and given me the confidence to take the next step, tackling my first 100 miler!

Everything Else

2013 was not only a fantastic year for running but also I popped the question to Michelle in the middle of a marathon last March.

Both my parents, and my friend Jonathan who's a photographer and was there to capture then moment, were there for my favorite memory of 2013!

She said YES!

Additionally, I'm almost done with school (again) and will graduate in May with my Masters of Arts in Education with licensure in Secondary Mathematics. I had an amazing experience this fall during my student internship and look forward to this spring when I will student teach five days a week! I adamantly believe that "you are who your surrounded by" and I'm so privileged to interact and spend time with the inspiring people in the Math Education program at Virginia Tech, I love them!

I have lots of big goals for 2014 (aside from graduating and getting a job) including getting married to my best friend in June! I'm also going to attempt my first 100 miler in April and have a few races that I'm already registered for leading up to the race, specifically Holiday Lake 50k in mid-Februrary and Terrapin Mountain on March 22nd.

I'm truly blessed and privileged to have so many amazing and inspiring people in my life and want to thank everyone who was a part of 2013 - it was an amazing year!

Day 2 - The North Face Endurance Challenge Championship San Francisco,CA

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 16:54:00 +0000

**In full disclosure, I want to note that The North Face Endurance Challenge comped my entry with zero expectation of a favorable review.**

*I am disappointed that it took me so long to write this review especially considering the phenomenal event The North Face put on. However, the following is an in-depth photo tour at this amazing event*

The North Face Endurance Challenge Championship in San Francisco, CA is by the most beautiful course I have ever run. The Marin Headlands are absolutely SPECTACULAR! Throughout the day, I thought to myself, "Wow! This is breathtaking; it can't get more beautiful than this" and then around the corner would be a new view and I would say the same thing again, this process would repeat throughout the day. Needless to say, the beauty of the Marin Headlands is unparalleled.

I woke up several times throughout the night and by 4AM (actually 7AM for me because I was on east coast time) I was wide awake and decided to get out of bed to begin my morning. The 50 mile race began at 5AM and after making a pot of coffee, (Thanks to the generous folks of the Marin Headlands Hostel for leaving some grinds out for us along with a note that said "Good luck runners!") I headed out into the cold morning air to watch the elite field start. The temperature was probably somewhere in the low 40's around 5AM and would rise to high-fortys-low-fifties by the end of the day.

As I wandered around the start village, I noted the large crowds of runners huddled around the propane heaters that were scattered throughout the area and then a particular group of runners caught my attention:

specifically Kilian Jornet (center) who was pacing (rather than racing) Emelie Forsberg (blue). They were surrounded by a several support team members and other Team Salomon runners; I did my best to not geek out too much.

Eventually, the start announcer called all runners to the start arch and began explaining a few last minute details as well as introducing Dean Karnazes. It was pretty funny, he didn't get much of a response from the elite field toeing the line when introduced. However, waves two, three, and four were far more receptive to his introduction and he received a louder applause with each subsequent wave. I've read his book and have a lot of respect for him and I'm guessing he serves as a huge inspiration to the everyman folks in the later waves.

After a brief delay because of interference with the audio system, the elite field went off into the night at 5:02AM.

After the 50 mile folks headed off into the darkness, I wandered back to the hostel to eat breakfast and change into race clothes. As I eluded to in my Day 1 post, I forgot to consider packing a substantial breakfast for the race and had to rely on dates, a Clif bar, and a fig bar for the day. I had plenty of time to decide on clothing for the race and after speaking to several other 50k runners decided on shorts, a short sleeve shirt, and arm warmers (wise decision!). About 15 minutes before 7AM I headed out into the very cold but now light morning and walked around to survey the scene.

UltraSportsLive.TV provided live streaming of the event via cameras at the aid stations and a the start/finish line, which was pretty neat because Michelle was able to spot me as I walked around the starting area and snapped this screenshot of me taking a photo of the start arch (I'm just left of middle in the top photo in the white shirt and hat with black arm warmers). The lower photo is the photo I was taking when Michelle grabbed the screenshot of me. Pretty cool to have both perspectives!

Cheesin' before the race!

Before too long, Dean Karnazes came out and gave a "pep-talk" to 50k runners, which was far better received than what he delivered to the 50 mile runners. Shortly after, the announcer called for the first wave to approach the start arch. I was assigned to wave two (I believe based on my predicted finish time) but after viewing my result probably could have started at the back of wave one but ultimately it didn't matter. With the sound of a horn we headed down the road toward the hills in the distance. The pavement section was pretty short and we would eventually run the same section later to finish the race. This is a good time to mention that although I had an "idea" of the total elevation of the course, I purposefully choose not to look at the course map or elevation profile. In some ways, I like not knowing what is around the next corner, although I have certainly learned the significance of course familiarity this year. I think this strategy worked well for me except for my finish later in the day in that if I knew how close I was I would've pushed the last three-quarters of a mile.

In the photo above, you can see the cones that indicate where we turned left off the road and onto the trail. I'm pretty sure some of the North Face media folks spotted me here but weren't sure it was me because of the beard. I gave my usual excited yell as we turned left at what would be the last aid station (mile 30?) of the day. Below is just past the 1-mile mark and if you click on the photo you can see the string of runners weaving up the hill. Note the road in the center of the photo on the round hill: that's where we were headed.

The below photo is the view looking down to where the above photo was taken. You can see the gain in just a very short distance. I thought it was really neat that almost all day you could look both ahead and back to see other runners either where you were going or where you had come from.

Eventually, the sun popped over the hills and made for some really gorgeous photos. I would say that throughout the race I probably spent 10-15 minutes stopping to take photos and enjoying the atmosphere at aid stations and could have easily chopped a chunk off my time. As a side note, I did take 400+ pictures during the race, although a lot of them were multiples (shooting burst) to get a good shot while running.

I'm always asked "what are you expectations for a race" and never really quite know how to answer it. I suppose this is because I've never "raced" an ultra but instead go out with the intention of having fun and completing the distance. However, as I grow more comfortable and confident in my ability to complete certain distances (i.e. 50k and 50 miles) the idea of racing is more realistic. That being said, I had zero expectations for running a certain time or shooting for a certain "placing" at the North Face San Francisco Championships. My goal was to capture the race experience and run in a beautiful new place without concern for placing or pace. Looking at my paces for the first hour does not support this claim but perhaps I was caught up in the excitement of the beauty of the race.

After the first climb of the day, we had a nice long descent into the Tennessee Valley aid station that I opted to run right through. Shortly after, we were met by a second climb where we would begin the descent down into Pirates Cove, a part I had been looking forward to from the UltraSportLive.TV course preview video.

As I mentioned earlier, we were met with SPECTACULAR views all day but they were hard earned!

I took the descent down into Pirates Cove WAY too hard and had to recover immediately after blasting down these stairs (right) where I passed several runners on the way down. This was the first sign that I didn't eat enough the morning of the race and I took the time to eat some bloks that I had in my pack. One major difference between running here in southwest Virginia and on the trails that comprise the North Face Endurance Challenge Championship course is the lack of technical elements on the course (i.e. rocks and roots). The stairs to the right were probably the second-most technical part of the course only to the section of the race in Muir Woods.

The photo to the right is by far my favorite shot from the entire day! I love the composition of the photo with the rocks on the trail (which is misleading because this was one of the only sections of trail like this) and the colors of the sky and ocean. The runner in the photo, I later found out is Liz from Napa. We ran together for several sections throughout the day, eventually separating on the last sustained climb of the day.

At the top of the next climb, I came around the corner to see these awesome homes built right into the side of the mountain. Wow! They have an absolutely amazing view of Muir Beach. At the bottom of the next descent was another aid station (mile 8ish), which was operated by a high school cross country team. I hope as a coach in the future I have the opportunity to get my athletes out to an event like this to help them see that their limits are simply what they place on themselves. I digress. I was dong pretty well at this aid station so I grabbed a few bites and headed down the road but not before all the mailboxes in the photo below caught my attention. I suppose all of those homes built into the side of the mountain have to come down to the road to pick up their mail.

After a brief section on the road (between a half and full mile) we hopped back on the trail and began the longest climb of the day, which climbed from ~50ft to ~1350ft in a little over 4 miles. Not a steep climb by any means but rather a sustained climb. The photo below illustrates the point that I made earlier, you can see the runners ahead of you winding their way up the mountain and then look back at how much you've climbed in a short distance. (Click to enlarge)

Up!

...and up!

One thing that I found fascinating was the change in foliage. Early in the race, most of the mountains were covered in deciduous plants but about halfway through we began to see conifers as we neared Muir Woods. I had discussed with some runners staying at the Marin Headlands Hostel the night before the race that if I had energy after the race, I wanted to travel up to the Muir Woods to see some redwoods and they let me know that we would actually run through part of it during the race. Score!

Between the photos above and the photo below their was an aid station (I think Cardiac Aid Station???) where I grabbed some food and tried to shout out to Mike Wardian, rather unsuccessfully with a mouth full of pretzels, who had just come through. After grabbing some more food and having my bladder filled, I began the descent into Muir Woods. I was really taken aback by the beauty of the redwoods and their size. Unfortunately, most of my photos from this section came out blurry because of the low light so I only came away with a few okay photos.

I stopped and setup my camera using the timer to take a photo. While I was waiting for the camera to take the photo another runner came through and asked if I wanted her to take it, which just goes to show how awesome and friendly everyone is running the event!

I ran with the guy ahead of me in the photo above (on the bridge) for quite some time, pretty much the entire Muir Woods section of the race. The second half of the Muir Woods section was quite the slog as we climbed our way out. There were endless stairs that reminded me a bit of Apple Orchard Falls on the Promise Lank 50k course. The guys ahead of me noted the horn that we would hear periodically but never seemed to get closer. Eventually, after we emerged from the Muir Woods we discovered the source was a spectator blowing a Vuvuzela at the top of the climb in the photo below. We let him know that the sound carried a very long way and he said everyone before us said the same thing. Just awesome!

I snagged the above drainage photo for no other reason to say, "well there's something you don't see on an ultra course all the time!" I was happy to arrive at the below aid station and fill my pack as the temperature had begun to "heat up" throughout the morning (read: was reaching the high 40's maybe the low 50's). I happened to be in the aid station at the same time Michelle Yates came through, who eventually went on to win the race, and the folks in the aid station let her know she was the first female 50 miler to come through.

I must have been tired at this point in the race because between the aid station to the left and the one below I didn't take any ~~good~~ photos. The aid station below (mile ~22) was FAR more lively than the first time I came through and some of the aid station volunteers, who were high school cross country runners, were now wearing costumes, specifically banana costumes and a ninja (who is out of the shot)!

The Muir Beach aid station marked the beginning of the second to last sustained climb of the day, which went from ~20ft to ~900ft over the course of a mile and a half (miles 22.5-24). I wasn't moving very fast at this point in the day but did get some inspiration from the marathoners who were now on the course coming toward us. The guy below (left) was maybe the second one I saw and was moving!

The view of Muir Beach as we began climbing:

If you enlarge the photo to the right, you'll see ~~road~~ trail that we follow over the peak in the distance and the small gap where the ~~road~~ trail goes over the hill.

The photo below is taken pretty close to the top looking back down to where this photo was taken. Also, you can see the houses on the hill above Muir Beach and can get an idea of how much climb there was for this small 1.5 mile section of the course.

About 3/4 of the way up the climb, I looked over my shoulder and did a quick double-check to confirm what I thought I saw. The North Face Endurance Challenge serves as an end of the year "last hurrah" for the elite ultra community and attracts talent from all over the world. I was correct in what I thought I saw the first time, which was Emelie Forsberg (Norway) being paced by Kilian Jornet coming up the trail behind me. I think I stopped dead in my tracks and just watched them run up the hill, granted I wasn't moving very fast to begin with ;-)

At the top of the climb, the 50 milers went left and the 50k runners stayed straight onto what I thought was the most difficult section of the race, a the very steep descent back into the Tennessee Valley aid station. I did hear a few complaints from 50k runners who went the wrong way here because there was only a tiny little sign without a volunteer to point runners in there right direction. The reason I found this part difficult was the fact that it was just an exposed dirt ~~road~~ trail and at a very steep grade (most in the high teens to low 20%) with nothing to break it up or slow you down. It. Was. Brutal. The type of descent that just destroys your quads from trying to slow down. On the plus side, I did run a 7:30 mile for this section. (Enlarge the grade photo below to see the 26%)

At the Tennessee Valley aid station, I hit the second to last timing mat of the day, which I thought was pretty silly because we crossed this mat at 3.8 miles and again at 25.5 with nothing between?!? Perhaps because of the remote nature of the other aid stations but it was a pretty large gap for folks following back home, just over 4 hours for me personally. I filled up for the last time here and grabbed a couple cups of coke and headed up the trail to begin the LAST climb of the day.

Although we had seen the ocean numerous times throughout the morning, it wasn't until the late 20's that we were finally treated with a view of the bay:

Below: The Golden Gate Bridge popping over the hills of the Marin Headlands (Click to enlarge):

At this point in the day, I wasn't really feeling great and was ready to be done. Sure I was enjoying the amazing views but I was having a bit of a low point. Right after I took the photo to the right, a runner went by me and told me to keep it up he said, "come on, stay with me. Remember your form." I decided to jog a little and realized I had more energy than I thought and began to pace back up to him. Once he realized I was staying with him, he started giving me encouragement and telling me to "remember my form" and "nice work."

I realized he was a 50 miler runner but didn't know who he was or if he was associated with anyone but a few minutes after I began to run with him we saw a guy on the side of the road who let him know, "he was in mid-20's in the 50 mile race." For me, the next few miles are by far the coolest experience of any race I've run (well, maybe aside from proposing to Michelle during Rock 'n' Roll USA). We began to feed off one another (obviously more to my benefit than his) and began to push the pace on the long descent into the finish, clocking 9:29, 8:18, and 6:41 miles for 28, 29, and 30 respectively. Right before we made the turn onto the road I let him know I was done and to have a good rest of the race. As that happened, I thought to myself, "Hey! Thats Timothy Olson!" and snagged a few photos as the runner I had just been with said hello. After the race, I found out I his name is Fernando De Samaniego Steta and he appears to be a very competitive runner based out of California, per his UltraSignup results. This is what is so neat about the North Face Endurance Championship, the opportunity to run with some of top talent in a friendly atmosphere. As I mentioned earlier, I wish I knew when I told him to have a good rest of the race I was within 3/4 of a mile to the finish and I had just pushed myself to stay with him.

I snagged one final photo on the course as I made the turn off the road toward the finish arch. I was happy to finish in what I thought was descent time considering how I spent the day before the race and approaching the race with a leisurely attitude. At the finish, I introduced myself and snagged a photo with Mike Wardian who was hanging at the finish festival. He later posted the photo to his Instagram feed, which I thought was pretty awesome! Again, it was such an awesome experience to be around such inspiring runners in an atmosphere that is conducive to fostering the community of ultra running. Well done North Face, well done!

Mike is by far the ultra runner I look to most for inspirationt. Not only is he a serious serial-racer but he also has a family and a full time job! He's 39, has a 2:17 marathon PR, and is super friendly and down to earth. Check out the UltrarunnerPodcasts with him, maybe the only person to be interviewed by them three times?

When I finished around 1pm, the temperature was comfortable but still cool. Throughout the afternoon, the temperature continued to drop and as the wind picked up it became quite cold. I was fortunate to grab a post race massage and then found the food tent. I pulled up a chair around a (propane) fire pit and enjoyed the warm meal. It was pretty awesome to look to my right and see a circle of some of the top ultra runners in the world, as well as Bryon Powell of iRunFar.com.

I did indulge in a post race adult beverage and the photo to the right is the view out from said "tent."

Believe it or not, there wasn't a line for the ice baths.

The Marin Headlands Hostel is the best kept (until now) secret about this race! It was so nice to walk about 100 yards right to the hostel and be able to take a hot shower to warmup after being out in the cold for the better part of the day. I took a couple photos to get a persecutive on the proximity of the hostel to the start/finish line. The photo on the right is the view from the stairs of the hostel, which is basically where the front door is!

To say that I had a phenomenal experience and would recommend this race to anyone is an understatement. The post race atmosphere alone was AWESOME and throw in the spectacular views and challenging course and it's no wonder why this race serves as the culminating race for most of the elite ultra runners. Will I be back? I'd love to go back at some point and perhaps I would change my pre-race schedule/nutrition but the experience as a whole is one that I wouldn't change one bit.

Now, it wouldn't be a race report without a food photo would it? Post race and shower, I headed out to find an In-N-Out burger because...who knows the next time I'll be in California? And if for no other reason, I need to continue my tradition of eating burgers post race!

Thanks for another amazing race North Face!

Day 1: Alcatraz - The North Face Endurance Championship San Francisco, CA

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 17:03:00 +0000

On Friday morning, I woke up a little before 5AM and made the short trip from downtown Charlotte to the airport (CLT). I managed to travel enough in my two years at Siemens to learn how to be an efficient traveler; specifically knowing which security lines are less busy and being able to spot who not to get behind in line. After making my way through security, I found some coffee and then headed toward my gate. I made sure to hydrate while on the plane and while the flight attendant wouldn’t give me a large bottle of water she was accommodating in that she filled up my cup a few times while she made her way past. She later remarked, “I should’ve just given you the bottle.” What can I say? I was parched. For some reason, I had the idea in my head that the flight was only five hours but in actuality it was closer to six with us leaving around 7:30 AM (EST) and arriving in San Francisco a little before 10:30 AM (PST) with a three the hour time difference. Pretty darn long the morning before a race! However, I managed to use the flight to be productive and knocked out my pre-race post as well finish an assignment for school.

I mentioned in my pre-race post that I purchased a ticket to tour Alcatraz via Alcatraz Cruises on the Wednesday prior to leaving. At the time I booked, the latest possible tour departure time was 1:35, which gave me roughly three hours from the time I landed at SFO to travel downtown via the BART train, stop by packet pickup at the North Face store on Post St., pick up the rental car, and drive to/find parking near the pier. Psh! Plenty of time right? Once the plane landed, I quickly navigated through the airport (via the airtrain) following the signs for the BART train where I hopped on the train toward downtown. A short 40 minutes later I reached the downtown area and walked the three blocks or so from Montgomery St. station to the North Face store arriving just after 11:30. I spotted these folks along the way and thought, “well you just don’t see that everyday in the city.”

Upon arriving at the North Face store on Post Street, I followed the signs for packet pickup, which was efficient and painless as usual. I think I spent all of 10 minutes from the time I entered to the store to when I left. The packet pickup was on the upper level of the store and had three tables. First, you checked in at the table in photo below below (left) and picked up your race bib. Next, you headed to the two folks in photo below with their backs turned in the photo (left) these folks were from Smartwool and provided us with an awesome pair of their PhD run socks! Super nice! Finally, I headed over to the table (below right) where they explained the process of silkscreening the race shirts at the race, which I think usually throws everyone off because they expect to leave the store with their race shirt. To be honest, I was thrown off by this the first time I went to a North Face packet pick-up but after seeing how awesome the shirts turn out, two times now, the process definitely works!

I noticed this wall on my way out of the store and decided I had to stop and take a photo, too cool! As North Face athletes visit the store they sign this wall. Later in the evening, the store would host an athlete panel with North Face athletes Dean Karnazes and eventual winner of the 50 mile race, Rob Krar.

Post packet pick up, I made another short walk to National rental car, albeit the wrong National location but they were able to get it sorted out and just move my rental from the location a few blocks over. With the rental car secured, I began the very short, distance wise, drive over to the pier 33(1.9 miles and ~30 minutes later) and found possibly the most expensive parking in San Francisco. I knew this going into the situation but the convenience of having somewhere to put my bag was worth the cost. Additionally, I was able to make several trips back tot the car while I waited for my boarding time to grab an extra layer (wise choice) and remove some of the extra stuff from my bag.

I arrived with plenty of time to spare as the 1:10 tour over to the island was boarding and spent the remaining time until my tour left checking out this giant model of Alcatraz and reading about its history.

**Travel advice for those considering this in the future:

Book your Alcatraz Cruise tickets early.
Use public transit in the city or be prepared to pay for parking near the pier ($35).
Allow 2.5-3 hours for the entire venture, including the ferry ride over to the island (~10 minutes each way).

Once boarded, we were given a mandatory safety briefing and then made the sort jaunt from the pier over to Alcatraz Island. The trip provided for some awesome pictures of both the island as well as the Golden Gate Bridge. I opted to ride over on the front of the boat but for those less brave you could stay warm and toasty inside.

Looking back toward the city of San Francisco

Once on the island, you have several different options including doing your own thing (i.e. wandering around) or following one of the guided tours. I had missed the last guided tour of the day, although I did catch a small bit of their talk, which meant I was on my own and honestly I don’t think I missed much. I think the main attraction for most folks, myself included, is the cell house that served as a maximum security federal prison from 1934-1963 and housed notorious criminals Al Capone and Robert Stroud “the Birdman of Alcatraz”. The cell house tour is an audio-tour that is part of your entry fee/ferry ride and was totally awesome! The audio tour is narrated by both former inmates as well as former prison officers and did a phenomenal job walking you through the building multiple times without coming off as cheesy.

"Michigan Avenue" The row of cells with a view of San Francisco.

The library looking out toward "Michigan Avenue"

The "hole"

One of the really neat things about being on the island was the opportunity to take photos of the Golden Gate Bridge. Just a really neat perspective!

Before I boarded the ferry back to San Francisco, I asked one of the folks who worked on the island (and lived in the city) for a recommendation on good Italian food and he pointed me in the direction of Columbus Avenue where he said pretty much everything is good. I began walking toward Columbus Avenue and called Michelle for help since she had a computer in front of her and my phone was almost dead. I knew it was important to get a decent amount of calories in my body especially because I had only snacked throughout the day on things I brought with me but knew the walk would come back to bite me the next day.

I had already decided when booking the tour for Alcatraz that spending the day touring around rather than with my feet up would put me at a disadvantage but justified it to myself by saying, “when’s the next time I’ll be in San Francisco.” In total, I probably walked between 4-5 miles including the walk to and from the pier and looking for food and walking up and down Columbus Street. Eventually, I settled on Trattoria Contadina and enjoyed THE best meatballs and spaghetti I’ve ever eaten. Amazing!

With my belly full, I made the chilly walk back to my rental car so that I could drive over to the headlands. One lesson learned and perhaps a lack of foresight on my part was the need to pack/bring/pick up everything I need to eat for race morning. I should’ve done this on the way to the headlands but failed to consider not having food available at the hostel and wound up relying on the Clif Bar, dates, and fig bar I had in my bag the next morning for race day food.

The hostel was simply amazing! The large common room provided an area for everyone to gather and discuss their experiences from past years and gave me the opportunity to meet lots of folks who were running the 50 miler as well as the 50k the following day. I the opportunity to meet Gerad Dean (black t-shirt in the photo below), race director of Headwaters Ultra, who ran a 7:44 the following day and took 28th overall.

Interestingly, the hostel used to be a hospital back in the early 20th century.

Eventually, I turned in for the night ready to take on the Marin Headlands the following day!

Pre-race report North Face Endurance Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Sat, 07 Dec 2013 05:05:00 +0000

**I suppose I’ve become slightly long winded in my blog posts but for me it’s all about setting the stage and telling the story or as I like to say, “It is not about the destination but rather the journey getting there”**

The end of my 2013 race calendar is HERE …not that I’m excited or anything. It has been a stellar year of running and racing and I can’t think of a more appropriate culminating race than the North Face Endurance Challenge Championship in San Francisco, CA. I actually considered racing this race last year but the race weekend fell on Michelle’s (actual) birthday and I knew that was no-no, or rather was told that it was a no-no, (not that going this year is much better because I’m missing the weekend after her birthday).

I’ve been looking forward to this race since July when an individual from the North Face Endurance Challenge series contacted me about a blog partnership. I described in my post announcing the partnership that both the Georgia and Wisconsin races conflicted with my schedule for various reasons but the California championship aligned well with the end of the semester providing the perfect opportunity to compete in my first destination race!

As a student, when I began planning the logistics of a destination race, specifically arranging a hotel and transportation, cost was of the utmost importance. I can’t recall exactly how I stumbled upon the Marin Headlands Hostel, possibly a race review from a previous year (???), but at $28 a night (8 bed mixed dorm) I knew I would be hard pressed to find a better deal or a more convenient location for a race start. With lodging secured, I began considering transportation while in San Francisco and looked into the cost of renting a car for the 2.5 days I was scheduled to be there. I. Was. Shocked. I suppose my idea of reasonable rental rate was skewed because of my time at Siemens, who apparently has a very good corporate contract, because what I recall for daily rental cost of a vehicle was significantly different than what I found when looking. After talking with Michelle’s parents who had traveled to San Francisco, I decided I would embrace navigating the public transit system as an adventure! With my race entry comped as a North Face Endurance Challenge blogger, the only remaining logistic consideration was a flight. I was fortunate to have accrued enough frequently flier miles while working at Siemens to have enough for a cross-country round-trip. Thus, my flight for all intensive purposes was free aside from the booking fee and taxes ($32.50) and the $17 travel insurance…just in case I got injured or something came up.

Fast forward to this past Tuesday when I began looking into getting around town via public transit (read: FREAKING OUT!) and more importantly to my hostel in the Marin Headlands. After some investigating, there is a bus that runs out to the headlands from downtown but only on Saturdays and Sundays, and even then not early enough to be convenient. There are some other options for transportation from the airport to the Marin Headlands, like the Marin Door-to-Door, but the cost is at least $40 one-way and cab fares were comparable. I recalled Michelle’s dad, Marvin, mentioning that rental cars are always significantly cheaper away from the airport and decided to check…just in case there was something that fit into my budget for the race. After some debating, I decided on renting a car from downtown, which was half the cost of renting at the airport and ultimately gave me more freedom to explore the town for about the same cost as cabbing/using the Marin Door-to-Door.

Because this was my first trip to San Francisco and California for that matter, I solicited advice via social media for what I should or “must” do with my limited time there. On Wednesday, I purchased a pass to check out Alcatraz via Alcatraz Cruises on Friday (only two days later), which apparently is typically sold out weeks in advance. Traveling off-season certainly has its advantages! I opted for the latest ferry offered, 1:35PM, to allow for time traveling from the airport/packet pickup at the North Face Store/picking up the rental car.

I left Blacksburg at 1:30PM on Thursday for Charlotte and made quick time arriving a little after four including a quick stop at Earth Fare in hopes of finding California Route, a limited release organic collaborating beer between New Belgium Brewing and Patagonia…yes the clothing manufacturer Patagonia. Success! The Beer is a one-time run to celebrate Patagonia’s 40^th anniversary and is particularly difficult to find because it is only sold at organic food stores. I LOVE social media, and I mean like mushy-gushy give me a barf bag type of love, and Patagonia and New Belgium decided to use the hashtag #FindTheRoute to allow folks locate the beer. I began searching while I was at home for Thanksgiving but turned up empty handed. Knowing that I would be traveling later that afternoon, I used New Belgium’s beer finder to see if I would pass any stores that still had some and sure enough Earth Fare just north of Charlotte did! Kicking off the trip to an awesome start! Perhaps a good omen?

I continued south and made one more quick pit-stop at Central Coffee (oh how I miss thee!) for a Central Shorty before meeting up with my friend Mike who was kind enough to let me crash at his place for the night! Thank again Mike! Mike sent me a text earlier in the day asking if I would be interested in going to the Charlotte Checkers (Charlotte based AHL team) game in town that evening to which I replied “Sure, why not?” Tickets were super reasonable and we were able to meet up with my friend Tim who I hadn’t seen since leaving Siemens and spent the evening catching up! The hockey game was pretty boring, aside from a fan (sitting four maybe five rows in front of us) getting taken away on a stretcher after being hit by a stray puck. Yikes!!! However, the ending was pretty awesome with the Checkers winning in sudden death!

If you’re not bored out of you mind reading this yet I commend you! I suppose I should address my training leading up to the race, which I have to admit that for once, I’m pretty happy with! I’ve been racing at least once a month since August when I ran Iron Mountain 30 miler, completing the Hokie Half in September, Marine Corps Marathon in October, and less than two weeks ago Crooked Road 24hr. I recovered REALLY well from Crooked road without any issue of soreness from the effort, which makes me wonder if I should have continued past the 50 mile mark where I stopped. Training during Thanksgiving week was pretty minimal, aside from running a turkey trot Thanksgiving morning dressed as a turkey and chef, but I was okay with that because I knew I should be tapering. This week I managed to break the 1300-mile barrier for total mileage this year, a goal I set way back in the first week of January. I went out for a Ultra VT group run Wednesday evening and rolled my ankle pretty hard on the descent of Old Farm, which was my fear running that trail at night. Fearing the worst, I put ice on it when I got home Wednesday evening and fortunately did not have any issues with it being sore Thursday morning. #SoLucky

Finally, to the meat of this post: What do you need to know about the North Face Endurance Challenge?

Foremost, there has been copious amounts of chatter about the uber competitive elite field racing the 50 mile event (see any of the handful of articles below).

There’s “big” money up for grab and hence it’ll be an epic testosterone showdown of who’s got the biggest cahoneys (I say “big” because it’s big for ultrarunning). I completed the IRunFar.com poll for top 5 men and women finishers but one of picks, Sage Canaday, has scratched because of the flu. Bummer!

I’m running the 50k #SoGlad which kicks off at 7AM Saturday December 7^th, two hours after the elite field. I’m so excited to take in the gorgeous views and experience running in the Marin Headlands. UltraRunningLive.TV put together the below six-minute video about the 50-mile course highlighting some of the beautiful views the 50-mile competitors will enjoy. While I’m not running the 50-mile event, I hope that we experience some of the same breathtaking views, check it out!

Finally, SUPER EXCITING NEWS! The race will be available to live stream via UltraSportsLive.TV SUPER NEAT! Tune in and perhaps you’ll get a glimpse of me suffering!

I plan to post more as the weekend unfolds, but for now I'm headed to be because even though it's only 9PM here, I've been up for 20 hours east coast time!

2013 Ashburn Farm Turkey Trot 10k

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 02:50:00 +0000

The Ashburn Farm Turkey Trot has become somewhat of a family tradition. We (Michelle and I) first ran the Ashburn Farm5k/10k race for Lukojjo Village in Uganda, Africa "Humble Place" in 2010. In 2011, we convinced my family to participate and since then it's been a tradition. Last Thanksgiving, we spent our time in Richmond and missed out on the event; fear not we ran a Richmond 10k that was WAY more challenging! This year we were back in the Northern Virginia area for Thanksgiving and I made it a requirement that we participate in the race.

Most people use running a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning as an excuse to eat guilt free later on Thanksgiving day but both Michelle and I agree that we could really care less about Thanksgiving food. In fact, whenever we host our first Thanksgiving we will probably do a modern take on the whole ordeal and put a twist on the food like fresh cranberry salsa instead of cranberry sauce, etc. I digress.

In 2012, I managed to run a 49:12...on a hilly course...in a turkey costume!

Last year, I debuted the Turkey costume at the Richmond Road Runners Club (RRRC) 10k Turkey Trot, held on the Richmond University campus, and it was a total riot! It was super fun to run in the costume and most folks got a kick out of it, although some of the runners didn’t like being beat by a guy in a turkey suit. The field there is much more competitive and time focused compared the Ashburn Farm Turkey Trot, which is more family friendly.

Despite the success of the Turkey Costume with the crowd, it needed a few minor tweaks to make it comfortable to run in, mainly the fact that the legs will not stay up and the costume wants to fall down from the running motion.

Enter Michelle! Have I said how much I love her lately? I knew elastic was needed to make the legs stay up but wasn’t quite sure how to make it work with how the costume is designed. Michelle suggested attaching them to a pair of shorts (genius) and I had an older pair of Nike Shorts that I don’t wear as much that matched pretty well. The result: Turkey leg waders.

I also wanted to replace the brown cotton shirt that I wore under the turkey costume last year and picked up a red suit off Amazon post Halloween for $19. The red of the costume and the one piece suit looked like they matched well. Unfortunately the skin suit didn't match the description that noted it had a removable hood, which would work with the turkey costume. Instead the hood was attached when I received the suit in the mail.

On Wednesday, Michelle and I swung by the church for shirt and bib pickup. We had the been assigned the task of picking up all ten shirts and race bibs, which I decided to neatly fold and arrange for the photo to the left. As a group, eight of us planned to participate in the 5k while Michelle and I had registered for the 10k. This year marked the 20th annual race and the shirts were pretty cool but I was disappointed they strayed away from the Humble Village shirts.

Packet pick up at Crossroads United Methodist Church

The slideshow playing of the work Crossroads has done with Lukojjo Village in Uganda, Africa

L-R: My parents, Michelle and I, my aunt and uncle and two cousins,

and my sister and her husband.

Pre-race we always hang out and spend time in the Church staying warm and watching the slide show they put together that shows the work they do with the Humble village in Uganda. Eventually, we all made our way out to the start line and waited in the cold for the race to start.

I thought I remembered a start arch in previous years?

Waiting for the race to start in the cold weather.

I decided that after Saturday's 50 mile run, I was going to take the run easy and enjoy running with Michelle. Michelle and I have never run a race together, we have run in the same race but we have never run together. Like an amateur, I forgot to put on my watch this morning with all of the excitement for debuting my new turkey costume but Michelle saved the day by downloading the Strava app. and signing me in to record the run.

This was early on in the race on the way out maybe one mile in.

You can see the cones on the opposite side of the road where we would be on the way back mile ~5.

Michelle and I planned to run at her pace for the race, which is typically around the 10:30-11:00 pace, but she went off at around a 10 minute pace and managed to maintain close to that pace for the entire race.

Michelle had plenty of energy at this point in the race.

On the way out at the first of many intersections.

We talked for most of the race and had fun joking about how awesome we looked. All of the folks that were cheering alongside the road laughed at us and got a good kick out of our costumes. The rest of the race was rather uneventful including two out and back where we had the opportunity to see the leaders of the race!

I snagged these photos while running with my TS4.

The first out-and-back where we saw the faster runners!

On the way back on the opposite side of the road from the above photo.

Mile 4.5 or so.

Mile 5 - this was a false flat despite how the grade appears in the photo.

Michelle had her phone with her using Strava to record the run but opted not look at it until around mile five when she realized she could run sub 1-hour and decided to push it toward the end. We moved pretty quickly during the last mile and worked well pushing each other until crossing the finish line. We were so close but in the end crossed the finish line at time of 1:00:11.

Michelle and I post finish!

We found our friends Tim and Dana post race and then headed inside to grab some of the refreshments they have offer.

It was another awesome year of turkey trotting with the family and friends and starting out an awesome family day with exercise! I seriously love doing this and hope that we continue to do it every year!

Check out some of my past race reports from this race: 2009 and 2010

Strava run data for the 2013 Ashburn Farm 10k

2013 Crooked Road 24HR

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 02:26:00 +0000

The 2013 Crooked Road 24HR Ultra was my first timed event, and after this weekend it will certainly not be my last! When I registered for the event, I gladly snagged the last spot of the 120 competitors allowed on UltraSignup.com and put it on my calendar as a “fun run.” In my lastpost, I mentioned I’ve had a pretty stellar year as far as setting new PR’s and having fun running and racing. That being said, it has been a long year of running and racing, and I was mentally exhausted heading into Saturday. As much as I would like an offseason (I can only blame myself here), I have Umstead 100 mile Endurance Run in April to build and train for and considered this event as an intermediary between 50 miles and the difficult to comprehend 100-mile mark. At the outset of the day, I had the lofty goal of 100k (62 miles), but like most participants my goals were a function of the time of day, temperature, and how I was feeling at the moment and fluctuated between stopping at 50k and going for 100 miles.

We were treated to a gorgeous sunrise on our way to the race!

The race was held at Waid Park in Rocky Mount, VA a little over 1.5 hours from Blacksburg, which made for an easy commute the morning of the event. We left the house (all three of us!) around 6 and arrived just before 7:30 giving me a half hour to complete packet pickup, hit the restroom, and meet up with the rest of the Virginia TechUltra group before the start at 8AM. This is the first time I’ve participated in a race where I didn’t have to get out of my car for packet pickup. This was AWESOME! We literally pulled into the park and I rolled down my window and they handed me an envelope with bib, car sticker, and my race jacket. Once parked, we hopped out and found the other Virginia Tech folks who had arrived earlier and staked out a nice viewing platform/deck for us to hang out at all day. This was great because it made for a nice place for everyone to gather and chat throughout the day and kept everyone together adding to the overall enjoyment of the event.

Packet pickup as you enter the park!

Frank Lilley, the photographer of a bunch of the photos in this post in the car ahead.

Subaru Outback: The car choice of ultra runners. Photo Credit: Frank Lilley

Michelle and Matt (Jordan's crew) hanging out near the viewing platform/deck

Photo Credit: Frank Lilley

Michelle and Gillie hanging out near the start area. Photo Credit: Ricky Scott

About 10 minutes before the start, we noticed a crowd beginning to gather near the start line and decided we should probably head over to hear the pre-run announcements. One of the participants had already logged 23 miles starting at midnight that morning and hoped to complete 100 miles by the end of the run Sunday morning. It was awesome to have five of us together there at the start. I feel privileged to run with such a fun and inspiring group. After a prayer, the run started and we were off!

The pavilion and start line area. Photo Credit: Frank Lilley

VT Ultra hanging out at the start line! Photo Credit: Frank Lilley

The asphalt/gravel section of the course (i.e. section two).
One of the brief moments of blue sky on Saturday. Photo Credit: Frank Lilley

The course was a .95-mile loop consisting of three “sections” that we were all very familiar with by the end of the day. The first section was a five-foot wide gravel/dirt path that began at the start line and ended at the bottom of the large “hill” on the course. To say it was a hill is being generous. They were more like little “risers” or undulations one of which was maybe ~10 feet and the other ~30 feet, the latter was considered the “hill/mountain” of the course with this funny little sign at the top of it (see below). The second section was along a gravel, and at some points paved (right), road that served as the perimeter to a large grass field and followed along a creek near the park. The last was from the end of the gravel/asphalt road where we crossed an asphalt cul-de-sac (packet pickup photo above), near the entrance of the park, onto a gravel road back to the start. This section took the most out of me throughout the day because of the size of gravel on the road and feeling each and every ~~rock~~ boulder through my shoes.

The brutal gravel that destroyed my feet the first 32 laps. Lesson learned.

This sign was at the top of the "hill" on the course.

The fine print said "you'll soon agree, this IS a MOUNTAIN."

The back half of the "hill" on the course. Photo Credit: Ricky Scott

Jordan and I rocking out some laps early on! Photo Credit: Rudy Rutemiller

Guy, Joe, Jordan, Wyatt, and Rudy (L to R)

Early in the morning right before the course made a hard left onto asphalt/paved/gravel road above.

I run the risk of revealing myself too much here but I did make one minor misjudgment in preparing for the race, which was not using good Band-Aids for…erm…nip guards. I had to stop about an hour in to ask for duct tape and additional Band-Aids. This was a huge disaster because I was sweaty and nothing was sticking. In the future, I think I’ll have to shave the region around to ensure that everything stays in place. #RunnerProblems

Having a blast lap-after-lap! Photo Credit: Ricky Scott

Guy and Wyatt early on in the day when the temperature was nice. Photo Credit: Ricky Scott

Jordan Chang (left) and Rudy Rutemiller (right) decided it was warm enough to lose the shirts.

Photo Credit: Ricky Scott

Aside from the above, the first few hours were really uneventful, which I suppose is a good thing in a 24-hour event. The weather was gorgeous and the sun came out making for a nice morning to be out for a run. I managed to knock off 13.1 right around the two-hour mark and continued on that pace not really stopping until I hit the marathon mark just over four hours. I made a few friends along the way including Carol (below), Emily, and Joe who all seemed to be enjoying their time out on the course.

Carol (left) and Emily & Carol (right). Emily went on to complete 96 miles in 24 hours

Photo Credit: Frank Lilley

Heads up: Tangent Alert!!! The ultra community is AWESOME! It is such an inspiring and positive group of people to be around! Seriously. Age means nothing to these people and it was awesome to see folks of all abilities out there completing lap after lap. The crowd at this event was slightly different than some of the other ultras I’ve done (Promise Land & Iron Mountain). Do not mistake this as a complaint or insult but rather just an observation. What I did find inspiring was that some of the participants didn’t “look like” runners but were out there having a blast and fostering a great sense of community and “anything is possible” attitude. I’d eat their attitude for breakfast-lunch-and-dinner and have a hearty helping for dessert too! It’s these positive individuals that make me love being around runners. So cool!

Nutrition is a huge battle and one that I don’t think any athlete ever “really” figures out because our bodies are always changing and we are forced to fuel with different (even if the same) foods before races. Perhaps some figure it out “more” than others but I think for most it is a process of trial and error and identifying what doesn’t work rather than what does. I made sure to drink early and often as well as to grab a couple pretzels and a Fig Newton every couple laps. I was fortunate to not have ANY cramping issues the entire day. However, man-oh-man did my stomach slosh. I heard someone describe it as the sound a Camelbak makes when someone runs with a hydration bladder. I think other runners knew I was coming up on them from the noise my stomach was making. Despite my stomach sloshing, I didn’t feel nauseous or have any other related GI issues…just lots and lots of noise.

I suppose I was in the zone but before I knew it I was quickly approaching the 50k mark and began to realize how much my feet hurt. This was the first time I had done more than a marathon distance in a pair of Brooks Ghosts, which are road shoes and provide very little protection from gravel surface. Around lap 32, I asked Michelle if she wanted to join me for a lap and her and Gillie came along where she prevented me from stopping for the day. I was ready to hang it up and told her I wasn’t having much fun and that my body was hurting. My legs had a sensation of aching and there was an underlying feeling of pain that was present from the waist down. I decided to grab my Hoka’s out of the car to see if they would alleviate any of the pain I was experiencing. What. A. Difference. My feet felt so much better after making the change and I began picking up the pace over the next few miles eventually hitting 36 miles right at the 6-hour mark. It was during this time I was thinking I would stay to complete 100k. Talk about a rollercoster of highs and lows.

Cranking out some late laps in the upper 30's (headphones are in)!

Photo Credit (right): Rudy Rutemiller

Truckin' Away Photo Credit: Ricky Scott

I told myself I would wait to listen to music until after the first 6 hours because I wanted to run on my own until then and then let the music take over and let my mind go blank. Listening to music can be dangerous for longevity in an ultra because my pace instantly increased and I managed to crank out four sub-9 minute miles. Around the same time, they put up the race leaders on a whiteboard at the start line and I noticed I was #9 as of 1PM. I had just put in my ear buds when I noticed this and yelled to the counters “that’s a good bit of motivation to stay on the board.” The next few miles flew by and at 42 laps (40 miles) I stopped to have Michelle and Gillie do another lap with me. In hindsight, I probably should not have stopped here because I was making good time and cranking out laps and every time I stopped the pain in my legs increased. The pain was non-existent while running, granted I was tired but it wasn’t painful, but if felt like my legs were on fire when I walked. I managed to get going again but the laps were slow between 43-46 and I told everyone I would be stopping at 50 miles. This is when I received the unfortunate news that 50 miles was actually 53 laps. Bummer. I headed out for another lap discouraged that I was not going to make my goal of 100k but moved forward knowing that I could complete my new goal of 50 miles and still have something left for San Francisco in two weeks.

When I came around the next time, Michelle was ready and waiting by the road to run with me. She. IS. AWESOME. This was such a huge boost and she knew that I was obviously a little down. We ran 3 laps together, perhaps begrudgingly on her part, and then walked the last loop, lap 53, with Gillie. Having Michelle with me on those last three laps was awesome! Those three laps MADE my day. I love it when we get to run together but it doesn’t always work out. When she first joined me after I completed lap 49, I was moving slow and joked that “we shouldn’t have any pace issues” but having her by my side gave me a second wind and before I knew it we were doing sub-10 minute miles. I mentioned begrudgingly above because Michelle couldn’t really complain about the pace after I had already run 49 laps and she powered through like the trooper she is! At the end, we grabbed Gillie and walked the last lap, catching up with Jordan and walking the rest of the final lap with him. When I stopped, I was in fifth place, a couple laps down on the leader.

Michelle and I stopped and took a few pictures on our last running lap.

I added the vest later in the day as the temperature dropped.

I was glad to be done and walked back to the deck where we had our stuff and immediately put on some dry clothes and extra layers. I hung around there for a few minutes before receiving a text from Michelle that pizza had arrived. Best. Slice. Ever. Pretty much anything warm tastes good after 50 miles but pizza really hit the spot and they also had chicken broth that I enjoyed as well. In addition, they had hot coffee and after two cups I was A LOT more enjoyable to be around…or so I’m told. This meant there was only one thing left to do. VUVUZELA!!! I hooted and hollered as runners began completing laps in the dark. It was pretty neat to see all of the headlights off in the distance forming a path around the course. I think spectating in the dark at a 24-hour event forces you (aka the spectator) to get more creative because “you’re looking good” and “you’re almost there” doesn’t really apply. I had a few good laughs because I would yell, “I can’t see you but you’re looking good” and got mostly positive responses and a few laughs…plus a vuvuzela is just awesome!

We hung around until about 7PM when we decided to call it a day and make the short drive home. We packed and prepared for me to stay all night but both Michelle and I were happy to head back to a warm home and a comfortable bed. Perhaps that is the downfall of a race being so close to home: the ability to call it a day and pack up when it gets dark and cold. Maybe for my next 24-hour event I should pick one further from home or one that starts in the middle of the night and continues until midnight; that would be cool!

At the end of the day, I had run new 50K and 50 mile PRs by ~45 minutes and 2 hours respectively. Both are pretty big chunks of time considering the distance and are reflective of the year I’ve been having. However, I suppose it wasn’t too hard to improve on my first and only 50-mile performance at the DC North Face Endurance Challenge this past June where we ran in horrendous humidity and heat. Also, the course this weekend was pretty much pancake-flat and thus much easier than other 50k efforts.

Not that it's interesting but the Garmin data from the day including the mile splits. What is interesting is that the Strava preview isn't what it looks like when you click on the details.

One-Month Countdown: North Face Endurance Challenge - San Francisco, CA

noreply@blogger.com (R. Brett Sherfy) — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 05:09:00 +0000

The latter half of the year has flown by and it is hard to believe that one-month from today I will be running the North Face Endurance Challenge Championship in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area! When I registered for the race back in July, I was beyond excited for the opportunity to travel and race in California. However, the race being a full six-months out meant it was difficult to sustain my enthusiasm and my excitement slowly dwindled into a state of ambivalence. Fast forward five-months to today, I find I have a renewed sense of enthusiasm and excitement for running that has been absent since the fall of 2011 when I first began running seriously again. I am so STOKED to run some gorgeous trails and see California for the first time!

2013 has been a phenomenal year for me both running and life off the trail. I have managed to PR in nearly every distance including the 5k, 10 mile, half-marathon, and 26.2 in addition to completing my first 50 mile race, the North Face ECS Washington, D.C., and two additional ultras, Promise Land 50k++ and Iron Mountain 30 miler. All of those performances don't even touch the day I had at Rock 'n' Roll USA in March when Michelle said "YES!" It has been a busy year and I still have 2-1/2 races on my calendar: Crooked Road 24HR in a little over two weeks, Ashburn Farm Turkey Trot 10k (I only count this as a 1/2 race because it's a "family fun run"), and the North Face Endurance Challenge Championship.

I'm slightly apprehensive about running the North Face Endurance Challenge Championship only two weeks after Crooked Road 24HR. I suppose I should listen to my own advice when I say that "stressing is wasted time and energy." There is no sense in worrying about what will happen between now and then and how my body will recover from Crooked Road 24HR.

Switching gears, this will be my first destination race or race that requires me to "travel." I say "travel" because I often head toward D.C. for races but I do not consider those races traveling for two reasons: foremost, if you don't leave the state then in my mind it's not a destination race. Second, growing up in the D.C. area and having my family still there means I have the luxury of staying in my childhood home and visiting with family, so although I'm "racing" I have additional incentive to select races in that area.

Considering that I have never traveled to a race means this will be an entirely new experience for me! I'll be traveling alone to a state I've never visited and in a different time zone and in weather conditions that are hard to predict. Further, the course and terrain will be entirely new and foreign to me!

I look at each of the aforementioned new experiences as a privilege and adventure. I've been drooling over west coast runners, specifically bay area runner JojoReuland's, Instagram feeds and CANNOT WAIT to see the beauty with my own two eyes. I'm super pumped about the Hostel I choose to stay at, the Marin Headland Hostel, which was a steal (I think - fingers crossed) at $28/night. I'm sure I'll write an entire blog post about the hostel and travel experience aside from the race itself. From what I can tell on the map, I'll be walking out of the hostel to the start of the race or at least be pretty darn close. More to come on that but for now a kinda cheesy video about the hostel:

Another awesome opportunity the race provides is the chance to watch some of the fastest and best ultra runners on the planet duke it out for BIG money, or "big" in the sense of ultra running purses. Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to see the 50 mile race unfold and catch the finish. It'll be neat to put faces to the personalities and voices I hear on UltraRunnerPodcasts all the time.

Finally, I don't really have expectations for my performance. I think that will ultimately depend on how I recover and feel two weeks after Crooked Road. My main goal, and mantra for running, is to Have Fun! Seriously though, what other reason is there? Sure I would love to PR and place well but I think given the opportunity, I want to enjoy the event to the fullest and embrace the beautiful place I have the privilege to visit and run in. Besides, did you read the part above about the best in the world?

So what should I expect? Any advice from folks who have run the race before or have suggestions of what to expect or prepare for? Also, I'm planning on renting a car but want to decide if I "really" need one? Suggestions?

~Brett