I have never been in such a morose mood during a race as I was around Mile 26 in my first 50-miler, the October 9 Dick Collins Firetrails 50. The race starts at Lake Chabot in Castro Valley, traverses the glorious East Bay Regional Park District greenbelt, turns around at Tilden Park’s Lone Oak picnic area in North Berkeley, and heads back to the lake, with 7800 feet of elevation gain along the way.

See the middle part of this elevation profile, where the course plummets between the two peaks? That’s where my spirits plummeted too:

My body felt like a punching bag with every step on the descent to the turnaround point. My toes erupted with blisters that felt as big as cherry tomatoes. I kept looking at my watch and obsessing about how I was missing my goal — I wanted to reach the turnaround in as close to 4 hours as possible, and it was, what, 4:17? That’s not what I was hoping for. And I had to take a break at Lone Oak to spend a couple of minutes in the portapotty. I felt physically lousy and mentally wrecked, the polar opposite of the share-the-love-and-grasp-the-meaning-of-life runner’s high I felt during recent running events. (more…)

“I just wish I could go out and run every day. I think I took it for granted. I knew I’d slow down and get older, but I didn’t know there’d be a cliff.”
- Ann Trason

Last fall, I interviewed Ann Trason for a Trail Runner article about the race she and husband Carl Andersen co-direct, The Dick Collins Firetrails 50. Due to space limitations, the magazine ran an abridged version of our Q&A in its January 2009 issue; here’s the longer version of our conversation, along with the introduction: (more…)

I’m putting a tease here at the top about someone who’s actually newsworthy: Ann Trason. The other day I had the chance to sit down and talk with the ultrarunning legend, the woman who has broken 20 world records. So read on if you want to hear a bit about her. But first, I have some catching up to do.

I started this blog in August and promptly back-burnered it, like so many half-baked projects that clutter my office countertop. Who has time? I had to get my kids adjusted to the second and fifth grades, schedule their afterschool activities, report and write a freelance article, start a Cub Scout den, repaint my daughter’s room, develop a personal website (to be launched soon), etc. etc. — all the while obsessively following news of the unfolding political and economic drama, and — oh yeah, I can’t let this drop off — continuing physical therapy for injury rehab. Phew. Throughout it all, I made steady improvements in my running. I’m about 75 – 80 percent back to normal, in terms of speed, weekly mileage, and the strain I can put on my right foot before it starts “talking back to me.”  I rejoined my old track group on Wednesday mornings and for the first time this week managed to bump up from a safe and steady tempo pace to some faster intervals (a few 400s at approx 1:25 and a couple of 800s at 3:00 flat). I felt so satisfied and centered afterward, as though I had rediscovered the feeling of “flow.” Mostly, I was flush with gratitude. Gratitude, and perspective. Here’s where my conversation with Ann Trason comes in. (more…)