Ten years ago, I began training with a coach who changed my life. I guess that’s what a good coach is supposed to do, but I like to believe this coach is different — extra special. The kind of coach found more often in movies than in real life.

He actually was in a movie and you can hear his coaching advice online, which is the purpose of this post, but I’m getting ahead of myself. (more…)

If you know about the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, then you probably know about Tim Twietmeyer, the five-time champion of the famed course that runs through the Northern California wilderness from Squaw Valley to Auburn. He has run the race an unprecedented number of times and serves as president of the event’s board of directors.

Tim Twietmeyer at the RRCA convention.

For all of you who are getting ready for the 2009 edition of the WS100 on June 27,  and for anyone else interested in tasting some of the flavor of Western States, I made the following podcast from remarks Tim made earlier this spring at the Road Runners Club of America convention in San Francisco. Listen and you’ll hear a couple of his memorable stories from the trail, along with some training advice. (Working with audio is new for me, so please excuse the rough edges in this production.)

I know several people who have suffered through the Western States 100 and who are training for it again, and I regard them with the same admiration and fascination I feel while watching documentaries showing nearly-frozen, oxygen-deprived climbers shuffling toward the summit of Everest: I’m utterly impressed, but glad it’s them up there and not me!

I hope you enjoy this audio piece — let me know what you think.

Since I returned from a short trip over my 40th birthday, family and friends have been asking, What did you do? What did you get? Did you have fun?

The answers take explaining — I ran through time. I got my life. I wouldn’t exactly call it fun, but I definitely had a good time — so I stick to pleasantries. It’s easier to chat about Mother’s Day, which came two days later and which Morgan and I celebrated with Pacific Coast Trail Runs’ event in Redwood Park. He did the 20K and I did the 50K, remarkable in part because it was unremarkable. It certainly was challenging, beautiful, invigorating, sociable — all the things that have hooked me on long-distance trail running — but the main surprise is that somehow, sometime not long ago but I can’t pinpoint when, I reached the point where running 31 extremely hilly miles doesn’t feel like a huge stretch.

My birthday run, on the other hand, was special. (more…)