team oregon

with the help of olga we were able to put together "team oregon" shirts this year. kevin wasn't doing it this year so i figured since it is so hard to get into states that i wanted something to remember it by. olga had connections with sporthill (and i didn't want a cotton shirt) so we went through with it. we had to wait to see who all won themselves in so we had to wait until miwok was done. the price came to $15.50 with the "team" pricing. hope everybody likes them...

ws training camp

went to the ws training camp. good way to see the course again. tried to take note of different sections. was running with mark lantz and tim tweitmeyer the first day. mark said he had never seen the trail so mucky. gettin down to the swinging bridge was an adventure to say the least. the second and third day the trail was wonderful. the sun even tried to come out a few times.

tim, "don't go that way"

deadwood cemetary

twiet, the swinging bridge
devils thumb, i finally see it

"the pipe", or "kuput spring" the halfway point of the race, mile 50. but we all know that most likely foresthill, mile 62 is the real halfway point in the race. did somebody break the pipe? i filled my bottle for cold water here in '06. very nice. sorry for the blurry picture.

mark lantz, the bottom of eldorado canyon

walley hesseltine in middle getting into michigan bluff

climbing up to bath road, hagg lake mud transported?

i would like to be here before lighting the torches on race day

runner on cal street

you hear the river and see the river but for us mortals you are still 3 hrs from near side when this first happens

rock bench built for barbra schoener after being attacked by a mtn. lion, below

it was fun seeing some of the speed racers out there too. mark ran with skaden the last two days. i got to run with rena schumman, and walley hesseltine, ultra legends. what a weekend.

one month away. two more weeks of solid effort in training need to be done. looking forward to the hard work.

good luck to those doing kettle, mohican, and bighorn. have fun speedracers.

important race for me too...

ok,
i know that states is not the hardest race. yes, it can be like a circus getting into some of the bigger aid stations. but i do love this race. i look forward to doing this little thing as much as the big guns. ok, i'm a rookie. i've only had the pleasure of running this race once.

it was my first 100. yes, you can argue that nobody with a 100 shouldn't be aloud in but i trained as hard as anybody that first time. i had 10 100+ mile weeks along with doing rooster rock hill repeats a few times just like LB has.

even though i have only ran the race once i can still visualize much of the course. i've read LB's course description a dozen times, no less. i will be going to the training camp again. i would love to hang out with brother and the gang at their training camp but i am just too slow to do that.

do i think about the race a lot???

starts off with my coffee mug. i have used this western states mug every day since my pacer bought it for me two years ago.

i proudly show my WS license plate rim after my pacer bought it for me.

i wear a WS polo shirt to work at least once a week.

during the winter many days i will either have a WS sweat shirt on or a fleece that i was given.

i was given a gift this year of a WS running hat. i wear it in many of my races now.

i have a sticker on my truck that says "100.2" the length of the trail.

i know the splits i want to hit the last 38. i have known them for almost two years now.

and yes my old # is still on the fridge like i mentioned before.

for this race it is almost like a measuring stick. why? because almost all have ran it. yes, there were snow years. and some hot years. the course was short for a few years. but it is here you can see how you stack up.

will i place high, heck no. i'll be lucky to place in the top 25%. will i get to the river in the daylight. nahhhhh.

but i intend to have fun, run my best. and i will again try to gap my pacer once or twice for a bit of fun.

this is still a race to me even though my finishing time will not be impressive.

this is a race. i will not be getting a michigan bluff burger on my way to valcano canyon.

and for the dubious honor of being the "fastest bronze buckler" in '06. i hope that getting silver this time will put that to rest. dang it!!!

#'s

# 336

lots of seeded runners for the little get together in june. notice one former top ten is not. no biggee. he knows how to run the race no matter what # he pins on at 4:30am.

a few asked for specific #'s. and i am sure some were just given by greg like 71yr old Karsten Solheim and 70yr old Ralph Hirt.

mine was #366 two years ago. and by the way that same worn out # is still pasted to the fridge.

and yes, i have used my mug that my pacer got me after finishing every day since that race.

it's gunna be fun.

meeeee wallkkkkk... afterthought...

well, i will post a bit about last weekends race...

for me the middle part of the race was a sloggfest. walking, shuffling, walking, more shuffling, and more walking. how long did this go on??? 4-5 hrs. gad i was a pathetic mess.

i tryed to run with friends. but nooooooo, tom can't run up that hill. yes, i call that a hill. oh, it is not as steep as your driveway??? i don't care, it resembles an uphill.............. yea, that is what i was thinking.

as friends moved on down the trail ahead of me i was worried about getting to the finish before dark at one point. i think that was the only motivator to keep going because i didn't have a light.

i just wanted to get accross than darn finish line and hear how chickenhawk did. he was in third when i saw him after he made the turn around. i knew it would be a battle for him as jon olsen just looked too fresh three minutes back at that point.

french kiss yelled at me for taking her picture. she said this was a race and i should be running. just behind her the colonal didn't look super fresh but i think he had a pretty good day. i think he even got a pr. cool, now he just has to put that same kind of race together for the big dance.

well for me i ended up hooking up with a friend that is always way out front of me. he was struggling too. we hung out for two aid stations.... 3+ hours!!!!!! gad it was slow. he finally sat and let me go.

well, i finally realized i was going to finish after 12+ hrs of slogging. the only good thing is i took 90 pictures and some came out.

the bad part of the race is i didn't see the ice cream at Pan Toll. oh, that pissed me off when i found out about that. and to kick a guy when he is really down, they had pizza at hwy 1 and i didn't know about that either!!!

well, the best part was seeing brian gains finish his first 100k. very cool. he paced me at kettle last year.

funny when he asked me how fast i would be running at mile 80 in the race when he picked me up last june... "8-9 minute miles tom???" a no brian... that would be about 12-14 minute miles. i still chuckle about that question.

to be honest i had a split chart made out months ago for the little get together the third weekend in june. now i'm thinking about the only good i have for it is throwing it in the river as i'm running cal street IN THE DARK. oh, i wanted to run most of that in the light but i am not so sure that will happen now. yea, LB, AJW, brother, the colonal all don't have to worry about that. they will be on the far side by about 6:30 pm. but i'm just not like those speed racers.

so for now i am just hoping doing a 50 the weekend before and knocking off another 100 mile week had something to do with my so called mee waaaalkkkkk race. argghhhh

so i will be seeing some of you at the mac this weekend. i'll be sweeping and i will be walking a lot of that too. but only because i know of a runner that will be taking over nine hours on that course. i think i will do some repeats behind him to get a little running in for the day.

have a good weekend speedracers

miwok 100k, 5/3/2008

pictures from miwok here

results here

i got a sunburn in san fransisco!!!