Reports of my Beheading were Somewhat Exagerated

One Man's Pass - Ireland

It's been a while since my last post. Oh well? I've written some stuff, but never got it posted. I'll

give a quick update for anyone who still checks or stumbles across my blog. The first half of the year was good running and racing. I raced in Slovenia in June at the World Long Distance Mountain Challenge. It was a beautiful place and a purely awesome race, as in brutally difficult. The race was 23.3 miles and was my slowest average pace in any race ever, ultra or not. (I did a write up for La Sportiva on the race.) In July, Alison and I traveled to Ireland for the IAU World Trail Championships. We got in some nice runs in the northern part of Ireland in the days before the race. Then the race was another brutal one, just as I like it. Still my average pace was faster than Slovenia even though the Ireland race was 44 miles. (Again here's the full write up for La Sportiva, if you're bored.) My back started going bad through July and I limped in on the

La Sportiva Mountain Cup. I hung on for 4th in the Cup, but in a sad looking way. Then began the DNFs. UROC 100K in a Virginia was supposed to be the focus race for the fall, but the bad back made me the first DNF of the day, I think. I still had a good time watching the race and cheering friends. I then went to North Face Atlanta 50 Mile a few weeks later for another DNF. I fully expected this one, though I lied to myself in the weeks leading up to it. I had already entered. Alison was running, so we were going regardless. So I figured I'd just as well to start, plus a good friend, Ryan Woods, was running. I went out easy, but that had no positive effects on my back. I regrouped, did some small, short distance, more local races at the end of October. Then broke my left forearm pretty bad on Nov. 2. I'll post a photo at the bottom of this post. DO NOT SCROLL DOWN IF DON'T LIKE TO LOOK AT TRAIN WRECK LIKE STUFF. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

My doctor just said it was okay to start running again after 6 weeks off. So I ran Thursday and Friday. Then raced this morning at a 5K at Pilot Mountain State Park. It was an uphill trail race. I was second. Maybe good motivation to get my fitness back on track. My up coming races on the schedule are a snowshoe race at Beech Mtn. in January, Uwharrie 20 mile in February, and Nueces 50 Mile in March. Probably not much in between. Nueces will be my main goal, hope to run fast and see what happens.

Other updates, I got the head coach position for XC and Track at Surry Central HS this summer. I felt really good about our Continental Divide Trail Race. It was very competitive for the men and I think went well overall. I did a lot of gypsy moth hunting this year, over more really tough terrain. I did have a guy pull a revolver on me. That was the first time I've ever really felt in danger of being shot. The guy was mentally unstable. One minute I didn't see any gun, then the next he's holding one in his hand and waving it around. Another day I almost laid down on a rattlesnake. That's gypsy moth hunting.

Hopefully I'll become a regular at posting on my blog. We shall see.

DON'T GO FURTHER DOWN UNLESS YOU WANT TO SEE A HOLE IN MY ARM.

My somewhat broken arm