WTC! WTF??!? I JUST WON THE LOTTERY!!!!

Ok, not THE lottery but  . . . 

a lottery for entrance into Way Too Cool 2011.

http://www.wtc50k.com/

For those not in the know, Way Too Cool is a classic ultramarathon held every March in Cool, CA.  It's pretty popular so they hold a lottery to see who gets the pleasure and privilege of busting their rump over 50 kilometers of hills that add up to about 3,600' in elevation gain/loss.  Who wouldn't pay $95 to just maybe climb up 360 floors while running 31 miles? 

I applied last year but the best I could do was #284 on the waiting list.  This year I made sure to sign up the day the lottery opened (you never know) and when Ultra Signup asked me to pre-pay my possible entry, I not only blindly gave my credit card information but decided to raise the stakes by ordering as much extra race paraphernalia as possible (just in case the lottery judges were paying attention . . . I wanted them to know that if they didn't let me in, they were missing out on a real big spender).    I liked my odds.

Well, two days later a package arrived from Ultra Sign-up.  Hmm, how odd.  When I opened it, I found a visor with "Ultra Signup" across the headband.  WTF.  I thought I had ordered a Way Too Cool visor contingent upon my entry to the actual race.  Bloody hell!  I just bought a $22 visor that is basically a billboard for some online race registration company.  Bastards!  It might as well be an ACTIVE t-shirt or an E-BAY headband.  I felt a little played, to be honest.  And I still had to wait another 5 days to see if I was in the race.  What if I didn't get in?  Do I send back the visor?  Burn it?
 

Thankfully, a hectic final schedule at school saw the next 5 day pass quickly.  When I looked online Wednesday evening to see if I'd made it in, I decided that I would let this one race (call it fate, or "the visor gods") shape my  2011 racing calendar:  would it be WTC and a lot of trail races/ultras or would I go back to doing more road races and maybe "a marathon a month?"

So, yeah, I got in.   And I'm pretty excited.  I'm going in ranked just inside the top 100 registered athletes, so besides the obvious goals of making it to the race healthy and finishing the course, my next objective will be to finish somewhere in the top 50 or 100. 

The post-acceptance elation has also lent itself to some much-needed short term motivation.  Yesterday I came home late, dog tired and freezing cold, but just thinking of  the WTC race helped me strap on my LaSportiva Crosslites and put in 6 muddy miles alongside some vineyards. It was a great run and I'm not sure what felt better: the fancy shoes LaSportiva hooked me up with for free or the $117 visor courtesy of Ultra Signup.

Come All Ye Faithful

Today  Lodi Parks and Recreation hosted the 99th annual Christmas Tree Run at Lodi Lake.  OK, maybe not the 99th annual, but it has been around for a long time.  And I was beginning to wonder if it had run it's course (no pun intended) because nobody I knew had mentioned it in quite a while.  In fact, I only stumbled across a flyer when I went to sign up my daughter for soccer in the Parks and Recreation office, otherwise I would have forgotten all about the Christmas Tree Run.  Anyway, I talked it up this week at the lunch table and since the weather forecast looked promising, I knew some of my teaching cohorts and their families would be there.  So the Oesterman's decided to make it our first running event as a family of four. 

And Chloe makes four.

It was great to see not only a lot of familiar faces but loads, and I mean BUS LOADS, of elementary school children who came out to participate.

A sleigh full of elementary school runners!

 The fist event was the kids 6 and under 1/4 mile run.  Camille toed the line for the first time and I was proud to see her give it her all.  There was a moment midway through the race when I could tell she was having a  little less fun than she had anticipated but she kept at it all the way to the finish chute.
 "I really wanted first place," she said. "But I had fun anyway."  Honey, that's what running is like for 99.9% of us.




That's my girl!

 
Although . . . more than a few of us have had visions of gold medals dancing in our heads.  While the 12 and under kids ran their mile race, I recalled the last time I ran the Christamas Tree Run 5K.  Way back in 2003 my wife Beth and I came in as first overall in both the male and female divisions and it did make for a cool headline in the Lodi News Sentinel. 

http://www.lodinews.com/sports/article_e2c6cbba-d030-5ec3-be78-d8d411e4e7cc.html

I scanned the field and wondered if I could repeat that performance.  Hmmm, there were a lot of high school cross country kids in attendance.  They're trouble for old-timers like me, especially in short races.  And there were runners in matching shorts and singlets.  And people that were actually doing some strides to warm up.  Not good.  Well, I just thought I'd go out around 6:00 pace and see what happens.

As race director Mike Reese delivered his traditional convocation, the weather was an almost balmy 56 degrees with overcast skies.  No wind.  Perfect for a short, fast race.  At the whistle, about 120 runners and walkers made their way to the Nature Area.  As usual, the high school kids pushed the pace up front so I just tucked in behind them.  Once we hit the dirt path, I was sitting about 7th behind a chatty pack of teenage boys. 

Wyatt!

I wondered if I could hold the pace (right at 6:00) since I haven't done any speed or even tempo work since . . . (?)  This was my first race as a forty year old, after all.  "Masters division," right?  Maybe, but my legs were feeling pretty solid.  And even though I don't have much hair on top I figured the giant zit I found on my forehead this morning was a good sign that I wasn't over the hill yet.

Ah, to be young . . .

As we left the dirt trail and headed back to the lake on the paved path, I started to pull up and pass some of the young bucks.  I kept eyeing the leader, Garrett Bertsch, about 40-50 meters in front to see if he had gone out too fast and might show signs of fading.   He still looked good.    Back on the driveway, the course headed out to the boat docks and I slid up to 2nd at 1.5 miles.  My heart rate was strong and my legs solid, but I think my speedometer only goes up to 10 m.p.h. for a reason.  The engine just can't rev any higher these days.  She'll carry me far, but not nearly as fast as she used to.


Pat Hester was the top woman . . . again!

 We turned around at the railroad tracks, two miles out, and Garrett and I exchanged "Good jobs."   I like the out and back format (hey, it's my blog's title) partly because I'm paranoid ("How far back is the competition?  Are they fading or closing?") and partly because I like playing cheeleader ("Looking good, guys! . . . You're almost there! . . . Road Slugs! . . . etc.).

Well, I kept peeking up the road to see if young Mr. Bertsch would fade so I could teach him a hard lesson but he had obviously been doing his homework because there was no catching him.  He continued to put distance on me over the last mile and I just held my 6:00 pace to the finish.  I crossed the line second in 18:06 according to my Garmin.  Short course?  Maybe, but I'm not complaining.  I got in a little threshold work and walked away without any bumps or bruises.

The champ and his crew.

I jogged through the chute, picked up my camera and snapped some pictures of my friends, neighbors and fellow competitors.

Thanks again to Lodi Parks and Recreation, Mike Reese and all the volunteers who made it a marvelous morning.  Lodi Lake is the jewel of our city and I hope we'll all do whatever we can to preserve it.  SAVE PIGS LAKE!

Here are some more photos--I hope you see yourself smiling.  If I missed you or you came out blurry, sorry, you're probably too fast!  Maybe Santa will bring me a new super-high-speed sportscamera for Christmas.  I just hope it's not pink.

Wingman

This morning I shared a perfect day with thousands of other runners at the California International Marathon.  It was my third time on the course although I've never run the whole 26.2  Twice before I've done relay legs but today I was something far more important:  Today I was a wingman.

I wasn't battling "bogies" in Russian MIG's like Maverick and Goose, or trying to find a girlfriend like the Flight of the Conchords boys, but my objective was essentailly the same:  watch my buddy's back, prop him up and make him look good .

My friend Greg Wright and I go back a few decades.  Besides being my teaching/coaching mentor for the past 15 years, he did the greatest thing any guy can do for another when he introduced me to my wife.  So I owe him.  Big Time.

Over the years Greg has made some good calls (having one beer, and then a second  . . but not a third before my wedding ceremony) and perhaps some questionable calls (we both left Bear Creek to come to Lodi High) but I am forever endebted to him for the most important things in my life: my wife, my kids, my best teaching and coaching moments and my love for running.  So I figured the least I can do is try to find a way to pay him back.  And the California International Marathon seemed like just the thing. 

Why would Greg need help?  Well, Greg is a dedicated guy when it comes to training--he puts in all the prerequisite work to run a great marathon.  But something in the starter's pistol makes him start off the race like a cat whose pajamas are on fire and far too often he runs himself ragged before he's halfway home.  So last night I told him I was going to show up around mile 18 and escort him safely home.  I'd be his wingman. 

I parked around Mile 25, just off the course, and ran back to Mile 18.  It truly was a magnificent day and some runners I recognized seem to be on their way to spectacular finishes.   I was a little jealous.  Eventually I made it back to Mile 18 where I waited with Cytomax, GU and whatever else a runner might need.  Greg said he was hoping to run with the 4:00 pace group but that group soon went by.  Then the 4:10 group passed.  When the 4:20 pack went by, I wondered if I had somewhow missed him.  Or maybe . . . he had blown up. 
Right then Steve Uniack appeared and Greg was right behind. 

The guys looked a little haggard.  Steve's calves were cramped up and Greg had gone out a little fast .  I tried to offer some help: Greg took a gel and I took Steve's extra shirt and gloves off his hands.  They each called the wives on my phone and gave them a projected finish time.  I was wishing I could do more but what can you do?  They don't allow taxi rides or even piggy-back's to the finish.  You have to do it all on your own two feet.

So I marched on with the two guys until Steve had to peel off.  Greg found a little extra motivation in passing his nemesis but the mileage was wearing him down.  He regurged a a GU, the right nipple was bleeding through his shirt . . . and he was cramping. Somehow he was still within striking distance of his PR (4:32) but it would be tough-going to finish.  I kept handing him the water bottle, the Cytomax and tried to pull him along.

We settled in around 10:00-11:00 pace during a nice downhill towards the bridge but we had to start mixing in some walking segments.  I wasn't sure if he wanted some light conversation to take his mind of the pain or if he would rather maintain radio silence.  Truth is, I'm not a social runner myself so I don't know how it works with others.

The music and crowds make the C.I.M. as bearable as 26.2 miles can be and there's an aid station at practicaly every mile.  It really is a cool course and I am going down on record right now saying that I WILL RUN THE C.I.M. IN 2011.  Finally, with about 2 miles to go I heard Steve Perry blaring "Don't stop . . . believing" and I knew Greg was going to make it home.  The PR was slipping away but he was going to finish.

Coming down "L" Street, all the trees were flaming red and gold, you could see the giant palms of the Capitol Park and the crowd was growing louder.  With half a mile to go I stepped off the course and l watched Greg go around the last turn.  I know it wasn't the "Top Gun" P.R. finish he was hoping for, but he was just a few minutes off his best mark and he was home. 

Five minutes later he was standing like a hero, flanked by his wife and admiring kids and that's all you can really ask for, right? 

As his wife leaned in for a kiss, it was like a scene straight out of a movie. 

"Maybe later, honey," he said.  "I just threw up."

Maybe you did just throw up. 
But I'll be your wingman anytime, Maverick.

Congratulations to all the California International Marathon participants!                      http://www.runcim.org/

You have to start somewhere.

Get off the couch.  Turn off the TV.   Step away from the computer.  Fill up the bottle and put on your shoes.  Acquire the signal.  Shuffle the tunes.  Go now.  Before you can think of a reason not to.  And you might as well blog it.