Last Week In Review: (24 – 30 March)

Monday: 0
Tuesday: 7
Wednesday: 0
Thursday: 7.5
Friday: 0
Saturday: 6.2 Monument Ave 10k / 51:06
Sunday: 0

Total:   20.7 miles – YTD Total: 541.97 miles on 54 Running Days

Last week before #Umstead100miler, and it’s starting to get real.

Monday/Wednesday/Friday:  The 1st week of my two week taper leading up to the Umstead 100 Endurance Run.  I hate days where I have to post zero miles in my log book, but as hard as it is, standing on the starting line, I’ll be glad I did.

Tuesday/Thursday:  Camping at Pocahontas State Park, I ran the roads within the camping sites after work.  I logged easy 7 miles on Tuesday and 7.5 on Thursday.  Pocahontas is one of Virginia great state parks.  We have visited there many times and enjoy it very much.  Large camp sites, clean bath houses and tons of trails for walkers, runners, bikers and a few horse trails.

(Bart signed my bib and 10k sticker)

Friday:  Friday night after work Michele and I headed to the Race expo.  If you have been a runner for any length of time you know who Bart Yasso is, the founder of the Yasso 800s workout and Running Worlds Chef Running Editor.  I’ve had a few interactions with Bart (@bartyasso on Twitter) and I was really hoping we could cross paths.  Once at the expo we got our bibs we made a mad dash for the Sports Backer Booth and there was Bart.  And I’ve got to say, he is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.  He not only remembered me from our Twitter exchanges but also talked with me about my running adventures and up coming 100 miler with a sincere interest.   Runners World and the Running community has a great ambassador in Bart Yasso

(Michele and I at the start)

(Michele, Me and Paul…waiting on our starting time)

(Jill C. and Michele)

Saturday:  Michele and I fast-walked/ran our 3rd Ukrops Monument Ave 10k….this is an awesome large scale 10k.  36,000 runners/walkers started this event making it the nations 3rd largest 10k.  Don’t let the large size field intimidate you, very well ran, wave starts and friendly atmosphere, I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone.  I tell everyone for the large number of runners/walkers that come out and run this event it is very well organized and a PR machine.  I’ve set PRs the prior two years.  This year I ran conservative, holding back for the #100miler.  I also had the pleasure of running with a great running friend Paul Starlings.  Paul and I talked and laughed our way over the 6.2 mile course.  We may have had slower times, but we beat both Dart Vador and Forrest Gump and Jenny to the finish line.  Michele paced herself to a 1:16:03 time…she beat a lot of the joggers in her starting corral.  

Great day!

(Our rig departing Pocahontas State park)

Sunday:  Broke camp and headed home.  This was our first camping trip of the year. We are sure looking forward to some more!  The past two Monument Ave races we have camped in the Richmond area before the race.  This has become our annual spring Race/Camp tradition.  We spent 9 days camping with Michele’s Mom and Dad who were visiting from the cold and snowy state of Minnesota.  For the most part the weather was agreeable, although we did have a few nights were the temps dropped into the low 20s.  This was the first trip where we had to run the furnace for an extended period of time and everything worked as it should.  Even with the cold, we had a few good nights to hang out by the camp fire and tell stories. #RVlife

On to Umstead.

The running is all done, I’ve prepared the best I can, now it’s recovery week (second of two taper weeks) and time to get my mind in the right state.