What happened to RunBend?

First off, my apologies to the 13 "followers" of this blog who have courageously posted their profiles on this site. I had no intention of depriving you from blog posts for the past four months. Quite simply, my life has created few events interesting enough to post. The Dirty Second Half however has provided material to at least bring a pulse back to this seemingly lifeless blog.

The second annual Dirty Second Half was run yesterday here in Bend. As I viewed the entry list the day before the race, there was some hope for a top finish as many of the local fast guys hadn't signed up. As is always the case though, come race day somebody fast shows up. This year that honor was shared by Mario Mendoza and Daniel Shaw. As I headed for the starting line, I caught a glimpse of Mario warming up and knew second place would be my new goal. Katie and I then saw a fast looking guy decked out in Brooks attire, and figured I would now be fighting just to stay on the podium.

Sure enough, when the gun sounded, the Brooks guy, aka Daniel Shaw, took off around a 5 min pace closely followed by Mario. After a 1/4 mile or so, I secured third place and watched the two gradually distance themselves from me. Behind me was a pack of 4 or 5 runners, including Sean Meissner who continued to hurl insults my way. I figured a semi-hard effort on the initial hill would distance myself from the cacophony of Sean and so put in a little surge. Sure enough, within minutes I had only the sounds of my heavy breathing to contend with.

The course gradually climbs for the first seven miles before turning around and descending. I found myself enjoying the climb in my new Inov8 190s. The shoes felt light, responsive and had excellent traction. Mario and Daniel were no longer in sight, and I wasn't being pressed from behind. This allowed me to run at my own pace and relax. Around mile 5 however, I developed a tightness in my left glute that stuck with me throughout the race but fortunately didn't worsen.

The race became interesting around mile 7, when several of us put in a little extra distance. After knocking down a gel and taking in some water, I continued up the forest service road, only to see Mario and Daniel heading back my way. I figured there was an out and back, however as they approached, they informed me they were lost. The three of us headed back down to the aid station and picked up the pack of 4 or 5 runners behind me who had also gone the wrong way. We all eventually found the single track and began our descent. In the end, the mishap really made no difference for the overall placement although our times looked a bit slow. Mario figured he added 11 minutes, I added about 5-6 minutes and the other group added a few minutes.

The single track descent on this course was fun. There were several ups to keep you honest. Around mile 12 there was a steep, quad busting climb that was enjoyable. It was fun to finish zipping around the 7th Mountain Resort buildings. As always, SuperDave had a stellar grub set-up at the end.

I'm just now becoming motivated again towards training. For the past several weeks I've been clipping along in the 40-50 mile per week range. I'm hoping to get 60-70's in over the next month in preparation for Lithia Loop trail marathon in early November. If I can stay motivated, I'll continue training through the new year and run the Redding marathon in January. I still need to run a 2:40 marathon before I turn 41 in order to maintain my goal of 2 hours plus my age each year. We'll see what happens.