Get on the bus....the Bighorn bus!

Not so lucky last Saturday.....no WS100M for me this year. But.....my back-up plan was always Bighorn 100M and since most of my training partners are running that race it's an exciting back-up race. On Saturday I had a KPR run with more miles at M-Pace and Micheal came along with his Blackberry and just as we were wrapping up the hard portion and heading up Alder trail for the cool down he checked to see if there were any results. Sure enough the lottery had begun and a few names were picked. The drawing itself was sort like an exciting race....seeing who gets drawn....you can see the jar and all the slips of paper and almost find yours in the mix......hear it screaming, "pick me, pick me"!.....as the hand reaches in and almost grabs your ticket but NOPE....sorry sucker! At least that's how I was seeing it :). By the time we were done with our run the list of names grew and we recognized a few from Oregon and were jazzed they got in. Lots of good Oregon representation so it shall be fun race to watch from my computer.

My heart rate monitor twin (Tom) was jumping up for joy as the process continued and my name was still not on the list because that means I join the Bighorn Bus. Tom, Micheal, Steve and I will all be heading to Wyoming in June to cheer each other on. There are others who are planning to join the Bighorn Bus, Mike Burke, Olga, maybe Caroline, Dave Stevenson and I am sure the list go on so it will be a blast. And.......Black Saturday's are going to be rich with enthusiasm and a lot of hard work....I can't wait. Are any of you going to be at Bighorn?????

Since my first big adventure of the year will be the Orange Curtain 100K in February, a flat fast road run my preparations are in full swing. The only thing I have done close to this would be Champoeg 50M 4 or 5 years ago so this should be a whopper of an experience. Something completely different, a new challenge for my mind and my body. Since this will be a big effort and require a lot of running the name of the game from here on out will be leg speed. I have been getting prepped for upcoming training by doing some M-Pace, T-Pace and track work and now the training plans get more specific. I received my December schedule on Saturday and thought I might need a good stiff drink just wrap my mind around it but fortunately I am getting pinched this Friday so I was saved by the calipers. :) If you have been reading this blog long or know me you might have figured out that I love to make things a game, create a theme, I might even create a shirt or call it some sort of "______ challenge". On my schedule I got some new workouts, things called "hyper pace runs", "pace progression run", "modified trail pace run". Now I have all sorts of fun games to play to prepare me for Orange Curtain and Bighorn 100M. Here's my list: Black Saturday's, Dog on Bone, KPR, HPR, PPR and the "run like hell on trail". All of these may sound hard and daunting and right down "not fun" to many but we actually have a blast doing them all. Training runs filled with a lot of quality work but also a lot of laughs are the best prescription for me. So given my December schedule is growing hair as I sit I will playing a lot of games out in the woods.

My second KPR run of this training season was Saturday and a big group of us headed to the Wildwood where we were treated by snow! None of it was sticking but the flakes were large and dreamlike. Stacey showed up with a big ugly boo boo on her knee. She fell down on the sidewalk in her neighborhood while running. Didn't anyone tell her the streets were dangerous?? We all ran hard and worked our own M-Paces for that portion of the run. Unfortunately when we were done we found Susan's car had been broken into on 53rd ave. She was the only smart one and had her money, phone, and ID with her while all the rest of us left those items in our cars. Micheal, Tom, Kris, Stacey and I all had stuff visible in our vehicles but none of us got broken into, the thieves were probably spooked by the millions of cars and runners that use that area. But, a good lesson for us all.

Today was 2.5 hours in Z3 and there was no beautiful snow but a lot of cold rain instead. Tom, Stacey, Steve, Micheal, Trisha and I headed up and over Pittock Mansion in the sloppy mud. It was a good run and these second day efforts are getting easier and the pace is picking up. Tom got a cramp at the top of Pittock and Stacey helped him stretch and release the pain which helped him get back to the car but he was sore when we finished. The look of pain on his face was a Kodak moment so I couldn't resist :). What are friends for???