A New Beginning

Am I an ultra runner?  I have asked myself this question many times in the last 2 years and I keep coming up with the same answer every time I ask:  100% ABSOLUTELY I AM AN ULTRA RUNNER!

I started my Ultra running career back in 2006 when I decided I needed a new challenge after running hundreds of various distance road races including about 15 marathons over 20 years of running.  In July of 2010 I ran a very solid 50 mile race, the Mt. Hood 50 miler, and was feeling great about my running future.  I trained hard the rest of the summer and started to feel a little tired in August of 2010.  I went into the Pine to Palm 100 miler in September of 2010 a little tired and with a sore foot.  Well, that Pine to Palm 100 miler was brutal and it was my first 100 mile DNF.  And I never really recovered from this race.

I ran one more ultra in April of 2011 and actually performed pretty well.  I ran a trail 50k in about 4 hours and 30 minutes but something just wasn't right.  I noticed during this race that no matter how much I pressed the pace or slowed down it just felt hard.  Ever since that run almost all of my running has felt hard.  I can run the same paces as I have always run, but it doesn't feel good.  It feels hard.  And most of all running used to be a huge stress reliever.  I would always finish a long run feeling very calm and peaceful.  Now I don't. Running does not relieve my stress and tenseness.  So as of  today, April 15th, 2013, I am on a journey to fix this problem and figure out what the hell is wrong.  This blog will be devoted to this journey.  This is a new beginning!