I’m editing this page. (It’s a joke. If you don’t think it’s funny, that’s ok, my kids told me there are two kinds of jokes: the funny kind, and the kind I make.)
Weather has been getting hot lately, which means I’ve been scrabbling to get long runs done while avoiding the hottest part of the day. There’s a large part of me that suspects this is counterproductive, as my A race for this year is Hamster Endurance in August, and that will take mean running 32 hours, and pretty much half of that will be while it’s pretty warm, and how smart can I be if I’m avoiding heat training?
Trail work has been on hold for the past few months, as travel had me out of town and as a result our trails are in a sort of unmanaged mess. Things won’t improve on that front until after mid-August, when I hope I can get a lot of outdoor stuff done in the recovery period after Hamster Endurance.
I’m working on getting my book about the things I’ve learned from my adventures in ultrarunning up on this website.
Training for this years races has been going reasonable well, with my weight down dramatically and running volume way up, with the result that I’m likely in better shape than I’ve ever been before.
With improved weather, it’s time for me to do antenna maintenance (weather permitting) and contemplating installing a DX Commander vertical. Planned maintenance includes repairing/improving the suspension for three of my UHF/VHF antennas, and replacing the suspension for my main HF antenna (a Buckmaster 7 band OCFD).
I’ve got all the parts for the Portable Repeater Project and now I’m busy trying to get it all put together.
Serving on the Tech committee for my local club, SNOVARC.
Volunteering to do ham communications for various footraces.
The long term training goal (way out on the horizon) is to run 100 miles in less than 24 hours (aka “one hundred miles, one day”). This is an insanely ambitious goal that scares the crap out of me. But, as one of my running friends emphasizes, if your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.
On that front, I’ve taken a major step in getting faster - namely, dropping a considerable amount of fat. I’m now 35 pounds lighter than I was at the start of January. The rapid weight loss effort is basically finished, and now I’m focused on getting my body composition to drift down and reach 15% body fat.
I recently ran the Mt. Si Ultra (50k) - a return to the first ultramarathon I ran, back in 2017. It was a delight to return to this race; running it in 2017 marked a major realignment in my life and I have a lot of emotion laden memories. I was delighted to run the race in 6:38, not quite half an hour faster than my first time, and setting a new 50K PR by a wide margin.
Now the focus has shifted to Hamster Endurance Runs (32 hour) in August - I’m hoping for another 100 mile buckle. As my run at Mt. Si in April made clear, I’m not nearly strong enough and so my training now includes much greater focus on strength training.
My wife and I are also planning on running Across the Years, a six day event at the end of December/beginning of January, to see what we can get done in a multi-day event.
I’m writing a book (working title “Lessons from Ultrarunning”) about what I’ve learned in the process of going from lying in bed with a broken leg to the finish line of a 100 mile ultramarathon. If nothing else, this is improving my writing.
I’ve acquired a Logosol F2+ chainsaw mill, and so my focus right now is on getting up to speed with milling lumber, and then using the lumber generated to build several simple outbuildings, including a carport to shelter the Polaris Ranger and several woodsheds.
Work on boardwalks and new trail building continues as time permits