I went into the Paramount Ranch 10K without a lot of expectations. I had been training with low volume and had recently started a treadmill challenge that focused on getting a healthy dose of daily vertical gain. Race Day I woke up before my alarm around 3am and was going to get a little more sleep but then at 3:15 I figured that my body was ready to wake up. I went through my morning routine of checking my blood levels, taking my meds and taking down my oatmeal and coffee. With almost 2 hours before I had to leave, I wasn’t too worried about rushing to clean out my system, but that event di ..read more

Ok, it is another DNF story. I ran the Ray Miller 30K this past weekend out at La Jolla Canyon. I went into the race coming off a hip flare up, similar to one that hit me earlier this year. When it gets bad it feels like someone is sticking an ice pick in my groin..  Yeah, fun. Similar to the villager who was supposedly turned into a newt by a witch in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, I got better. After a couple of days of zero running – breaking my daily consecutive 5K streak that was at 30 days – I started walking more and was able to start walking without any major pain. The only ..read more

After having an amazing time at last year’s inaugural Mammoth Trail Fest, I knew I had to come back – and hopefully bring friends. Besides the great races, chill atmosphere and friend building of last year, this year the Golden Trail World series added the 26K race to its schedule. I had to go. The Golden Trail World Series includes the best sub-ultra trail runners in the world, and I’ve been following this circuit for the past several years. They’re a fast and exciting bunch!   B and I drove up on a Thursday and scoped out the scene. This time we stayed right there at the village only ..read more

I barely made it to the starting line of this year’s Tough Mugu race. Quick life update – the last few weeks I was on a stressful jury duty panel, caught a week-long summer cold then strained a hip flexor at the end of that. After several weeks of zero running I was able to get the OK from my physical therapist to test out my running to see if it would be OK to race.   Yeah, not the ideal lead in for a race.   I had already DNS’d the Tough Topanga race which happened a couple of days after the initial injury so I didn’t want to miss another race.   Besides, ther ..read more

It’s the day after the Leona Divide trail races, 2023 edition. I got up and went through my morning routine then headed out to the gym, something I hadn’t done in a while. Did some elliptical, then some barbells and finished up with some bench presses on the machine. I went to Kimball Park and did a mile and a half loop. The legs were a little heavy, so I ran in spurts. It felt good to break a light sweat and to start processing my race. Cut to a couple of hours later and I was watching the last half hour of Rocky. Rocky is in the ring and he’s hanging tough with the world champion who has ..read more

I only had two more races scheduled for 2023 after the Sean O’Brien race but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to jump into the Point Mugu Trail Run which would be on local trails.  I had an unorthodox training buildup as I was running every street in Santa Paula and was mostly running 2 or 3 miles a day and up to 6 miles on weekends. Vert was minimal and now I entered myself in a race that starts with a 1,000 foot climb. My last race had actually been the Anytime Runners 3-Hour Time Trial at Veterans Park. This fatass run has you run up a ridiculously steep mountain with 2,000 feet ..read more

This had been a new training block for me where I’ve been super dialed in on my nutrition, getting more sleep, and hitting the gym to do cardio and strength work on a consistent basis. Running, not so much. I’ve still been dealing with vertigo symptoms but I think I figured out when it happens now. Basically, it is like an accelerated bonk. When I don’t eat right during and after working out, then it can hit me. So that was my race plan – keep moving and eating as long as I felt good.  I also came up with a nutrition plan where I would try to eat food that doesn’t do weird stuff like p ..read more

Photo credit @paksitphotos Leading up to the Ray Miller 50k, I woke up one early morning and the room was spinning. Hours later the house was still a washing machine and I was doing what I could not to upchuck. Days later things got better and little by little I started to walk around the neighborhood to test out my balance. Fast forward to a few days before the race and I went on a 3-mile trial walk then a 5-mile hike and run.    I’ve made it almost a decade with almost no run injuries because I’m a cautious fellow, but this time I decided that I would do the 50k race and just tak ..read more

I’m still glowing from our trip up to the Eastern Sierras to be a part of the first annual Mammoth Trail Fest in Mammoth Lakes, California. The dream of elite ultra runner, Tim Tollefson, the festival was also a must do for me and our family loves going there to enjoy the outdoors. The festival started on Thursday with a group run with Mario Fraioli, then a panel and films.  I joined the festival on Friday to see the kids run then ran the first part of the 26k race to enjoy the next panel and film.  Saturday was the 50K race so I stopped by to see the race start then I did a run o ..read more