Saturday, May 12, 2007

good news







good news speed racers... Red Wings are up 1-0 in the Western Conference Finals over the Anaheim Ducks. Go Red Wings!!!






But the real good news is Jeff just got second at Quicksilver 50 miler. He had gone in with no real expectations afterall, he just came off his monster running camp at Michigan Bluff last week.


His only real goal was to run hard the last 50k hard.

He knew the top mens splits from last year so he could gauge how he was doing. He eyed the splits that were around 7:23 Mark Lantz,(3rd the year before). And didn't really want to be ahead of his splits So, if he did 7:30-7:40 he would be happy. (No splits for runners around 7:30-7:40 last year.)

He started off and noticed he was breathing too hard the first two miles so he backed off and watched a group of 10 or so gap him. That was fine. Moving along through the race he slowly moved up feeling good and just enjoyed the running.

Then moving up and into the first split, Last years splits: Mark had come in right at 2hrs. Graham Cooper (winner of States last year)1:51, Jon Olsen 1:51 (winner of Rio last year). And Jeff came in at 1:54. He was two minutes behind a group of three and nine minutes behind Graham leading this years race. He knew he had ran too "hot" but he was feeling good. And it was here that he knew he was going to finish sub 7:30.

Onto the next split he had passed the group of three and was still feeling good. All he could think about was where is the single track. Not much on the race he said. Lots of double track and footing was not an issue.

Then at mile 32 he was only two minutes behind Graham. He thought what is happening here??? Hey Jeff, your training has been epic!!! That is what is happening.

Well, he actually thought it would be fun to win a race. So, he had caught Graham a little later at about mile 36. They chatted. And Graham comfirmed that he was meeting him, Craig, Bev, Alan, and others for the 52 mile Peace run on the States course again this Memeorial Day weekend.

Graham let him go on the long down. There was one last big climb left and Jeff knew he would be seeing him again. Sure enough, Jeff started to hike and here comes Graham. Graham said, "thanks for waiting for me". Off he went. Jeff knew he wouldn't see him again as he could start to feel it from last week.

So, Graham set a course record, 6:39. Jeff finished in 6:46 for second. Mark Tanaka (2nd at Rio last year) finished 3rd in 7:17. Mark is running Kettle also.

Jeff had to laugh late in the race. Since nobody knew who this guy running minutes behind Graham all day was. He was known as the 2:20 marathoner guy running his first ultra. Let me see, new to ultra's and you are wearing a Sunsweet ultra team shirt and also sponsored by Sporthill??? Well, don't worry, Jeff only did one sub 3 marathon and it was no where near 2:20. This was not his first ultra by a long way. He got pegged because there was a 2:20 marathoner in the race but he wasn't carrying any water or food in the race. I don't know how he finished.






So, after being up for 27 hours straight, eating three bean burritos and drinking a milkshake the night before he was pretty happy. But really more surprised than anything.






Now all Jeff is doing is driving 10 hours up I-5 back home to a warm bed. Oh, our conversation was cut short as the sign "barbeque" was on the hi-way sign. And next to that, McDonalds. Brisket sandwich and a milkshake I think was on his mind right now. Sounds like good road trip food if you ask me.

17 comments:

Olga said...

Woo-hoo for Jeff!

GB said...

Reading about that is all the more reason I need to get my butt in shape to attempt Quicksilver next year. It's just a hop skip and a jump away from my town. No excuses.

Stephanie said...

Jeff deserved his Mc!!!!!!!! Yummie!!!!!!!!

I am a runner. "We are what we repeatedly do" said...

Hey nice blog and congrats to you and your bro on the strong running of late. The summer looks GOOD. I love reading about hard training and strong races. It is just fuel for my fire here in Egypt. Hope to meet you and run some ultras in the midwest when I get back. My midwestern attempts have been poor with DNF's at Superior '99 and Heartland '02. Maybe its time to go back. Take care,

Greg Loomis

Gotta Run..... said...

What a funny picture!! Amazing results. He should be on a high from that.

You must be thrilled for your bro!

WynnMan said...

Tom! man it looks likes you guys are really primed over there in the west. Jeff looks to really be in great form! I wish I could have ran a smart race like he did at Quicksilver. Mine backfired, the green dripping off my horns.

Excellent pictures and look forward to seein ya soon.

WynnMan

Anonymous said...

Your brother is quite the dark horse. You must be proud. That's awesome!! Good luck to your brother (and you as a pacer) at WS this year.

Anonymous said...

Tom.

I love how you are so excited for your brother. Your family is having an awesome ultra year, and I think it's only going to get better! Congrats to your brother!

Meghan
www.running-blogs.com/meghan

DawnB said...

congratulations to your brother great job!!

Adelyn said...

Congrats to your brother! I love how enthusiastic you are about his successes. It really just shows what a great relationship the two of you must have. He sounds like a great and talented guy :)

Tony C said...

Tom, nice brother report! I noticed you mentioned Jim Kerby running in States in your last post. He told me that he's not running it this year but decided on Vermont instead. Still, as you said, the field is deep this year. It will be interesting. I'll be asking for lead updates each time I see my crew.

Anonymous said...

Congrats to your brother!! You are such a proud brother. That is awesome!! Love the story and the pictures.

Ms Eva said...

Congrats to your brother! What a great story, as always. :)

Journey to a Centum said...

I'll need to make sure that I say hi to Jeff before the race because it sounds like I won't be seeing him after the starting gun goes off.

Tom - Capitol Peak must have some weird MO-JO going on because my Garmin lost the run and it's not in history on my computer. I'd say we climbed a lot desended and then climbed a lot. I heard 7300 ft. of climb from another runner.

Scott Dunlap said...

Tom -

Jeff ripped it up at QS, and per his usual demeanor was all smiles and super-nice to the volunteers.

I got a good pic of him and Graham at the end of the race. It's posted on my blog. I think I have another one - just leave a comment with an e-mail if you want me to send them to you.

Hope you are well...

SD

Mark Tanaka (Ultrailnakaman) said...

Hey, Tom, yeah I talked to Jeff afterward (not during the run-- when he passed me and Ron Gutierrez between the 2nd and 3rd visit to the Dam aid station, he was going way to fast), pretty humble for such a great performance. Nice blog. Maybe we'll talk at Kettle-- how much do you think the humidity will kill us Pacific coasters?

seagull junker said...

Mark,
humidity shouldn't be an issue yet. my pacer brian informed me that it doesn't get humid there until july. and right now oregon has had several days in the 65-70% humidity range which is the same as whitewater wisconsin has had lately. (near the kettle course)The temps should be very similar to what we have had lately.

yes, things can change a bit. but for the most part we shouldn't suffer too much.

mark, may i ask who you are and where you are from? would be nice to meet you.

thanks tom