Month: June 2016

Barkley Marathons Movie

Global Running Day was on June 1st.  I really wanted to get in at least a mile that day but after a 12 hour work day and the temperature still being over 85 at 8 pm, I elected to not run.  I went out the next day and managed 5 in the heat.  This hot weather business is already annoying me and we’re not even in real summer yet.

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I watched the documentary movie of the Barkley Marathon on Netflix yesterday.  While I have no intentions of becoming an ultrarunner let alone an adventure racer (as the participants of this race I would consider more adventure racers than ultrarunners), I can appreciate the perseverance, dedication, and pure grit that these athletes require to attempt a course such as this.  I don’t know if anyone else actually enjoys watching ultra-sports, but I have a strange fascination with watching athletes push their bodies to the limit, so I enjoy watching (living vicariously?) events such as Kona Ironman, Spartan races, and the ilk.

I had briefly heard of this race though didn’t know much about it except it was renowned as one of the toughest races on the planet.  So this documentary was very intriguing to me.   The founder (Lazarus) is such a great character and seems like a fun person to be friends with.  He has a great philosophy when it comes to the race, it is a way for people to be able to challenge themselves both mentally and physically and see what their limit is.  I mean, a race where the first finisher didn’t occur until 10 years into the race is something special indeed.  I could never attempt something so crazy due to my weird GI issues. I  wouldn’t last for many hours out in the middle of no where.  I am so amazed by what the human body can be put through.  So much of the race seemed so mental.  I do enjoy watching and learning about what people can do though.  It was an entertaining movie and I recommend it to anyone that is an endurance athlete.  It did make me wonder about doing some shorter trail races such as half marathons and such.

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One thing I’ve found difficult to balance with my newfound hobby of baking is the timing of baking and running.  Most of the times, the plan is to baking in the morning (usually after creating a poolish overnight).  However, this then interferes with running, which is also normally a morning activity especially here in hot Sacramento.   I’ve had to get a little creative in terms of when I do my runs as well as the distance that I plan on doing.  The nice thing with baking is that there is a fair amount of down time while you wait for the dough to ferment or proof.  This can last anywhere from 1-2 hours and that usually is enough to get most runs in (I could probably do up to 10 miles and still be able to fit it in there).  I think part of what I need to do is get some more concrete time tables down for the bread making process (I play it by ear a lot and that doesn’t always work well with baking).  But I don’t think I’ll stop either so I’ll just have to work it out.  I will have to see what happens when I need to start doing longer runs (that last up to 3-4 hours), guess I could plan to bake on the days of shorter runs.

I attempted a sourdough starter last week and it seemed alive the first 48-72 hours, but somewhere after that it just smelled funky and no longer was doubling in size, so it must have died.  I am starting anew and will see if I can get something going that will live.

-StewsCat

2014 Davis Moo-nlight Run Race Recap

Race summary: Night race which is a change of pace, mostly flat course through neighborhoods except for crossing a long bridge going over the freeway, decent course support and spectators.  Free beer at the end!

My friend KP over in Davis asked me if I wanted to do this race with her and her friend.  I had never done a night race before and thought it might be fun.  Since the summers are so incredibly hot in Sacramento in the summers, a nice race seemed like maybe a good idea.  While the days are hot in Sacramento, it usually does cool off overnight (though sometimes it doesn’t start feeling cool until well past midnight).  The race’s name would make you think you’re running late at night, but in reality the race started around 7 pm (still daylight at race start).

I liked that they had a same day race packet/t-shirt pickup.  This was at the start of the race.  The race is held on the eastern side of Davis – most commonly known for its university (University of California, Davis).  The race start/finish and other fun things were on the DMG Mori Campus (I guess it is some manufacturing company).  I arrived about 90 minutes before the race start.  I picked up my shirt and bib and returned to my car to put away the shirt.  I met up with KP and her friend and we just hung out until the race.  The people estimated to take longer than 2.5 hours actually started the race 30 minutes before we did.  So we watched them start.  At race start, the temperature was still in the mid-upper 70s.  This is way too hot than I like but I figured since the sun would be setting within the next hour, it should cool off considerably.  This race was unique because we ran over a freeway bridge to get to the south side of highway 80 and run around south Davis.  The course mostly took us through various neighborhoods (with one section of a paved path through heavily wooded areas).  We ran the first half of the race south of the 80 and then re-crossed the 80 back to the north side.  By this time it was almost dark and there were volunteers handing out some glow necklaces.  This was a nice touch since many of us didn’t actually carry flashlights or headlights and at least made us somewhat visible.

Because I’m not used to doing a race at night, or running for distance in the evening, my body was a bit confused as to what I was doing.  Luckily I was running with KP (we had left her friend behind as she was struggling to maintain a good pace and told us to just go on without her) and its always easier to run when you have a friend to run with.  Around mile 10, there was a random person on the course handing out orange slices and this definitely helped as the temperatures still hovered in the low 70s and it was hot.

The last half mile took us through a field near the DMG building and this is where it was a bit treacherous as there was no street lighting and we couldn’t really see where we were placing our feet.  I was a bit concerned I may land in a pot hole incorrectly and sprain my ankle.  I was relying a bit on nearby runners who actually did have flash lights.  I luckily made it through with no injuries and powered to the end.

Final chip time: 2:13:16

At the finish, I had my free beer (why else do you do races, right?) and also half of KP’s beer since she wasn’t feeling it after the race.  The race medal was cool because it’s the largest one I’ve had.  It also glows in the dark.

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-StewsCat