My Track Record

Dean Karnazes is a true rarity: an ultramarathoner who has achieved fame outside of the ultra community. Whether this is a good thing depends on whom you ask. Dean's ubiquitousness in the media has brought awareness and understanding of ultrarunning to a wider audience, and his life story and unusual feats of endurance have resonated with many people. But others feel that the attention Dean receives is way out of proportion to his achievements as an athlete. (For an example of this perspective, click here.)

I was thinking about Dean yesterday while running with Scott and talking with him about staying motivated during races. Scott said that he responds well to harsh negative comments along the lines of, "C'mon, you wimp, [name of nearest challenger] is catching up! You don't want HIM to win, do you?"

This method of "encouragement" sounded like fun, so I decided to give it a shot. But which imaginary rival should be added to this training run? I figured that I knew enough about Dean and his adventures to offer a fairly realistic call to arms. And so I began:

"Better get moving, Scott -- Dean Karnazes is starting to reel you in."

"Now he's signing autographs, but he's still making up time on you."

"Now he's eating a pizza in between strides. He's still closing the gap."

"Now he's shaving his chest for the next Runner's World photo shoot. He's looking really strong."

"Now he's talking to North Face on his cell phone, renegotiating his sponsorship deal. He's saying that he wants a bonus for each time he beats you."

"Now he's dictating his next book into a hand-held mini-recorder. I think he just said that he's about to pass you...."

I'm not sure that Scott was inspired by my monologue, but I certainly enjoyed it.

Posted by crowther at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)

No, I am not kidding. Ambitious? Definitely. Delusional? Maybe. But kidding? No.

Based on my recent progress, I believe that I can compete with the world's best road ultramarathoners over distances in the 50-mile to 100K range. By the end of the year, I should have a much better sense of whether this is a reasonable idea.

Speaking of reasonable ideas, here's one: if I really want to be the best in the world, perhaps I should start by trying to be the best in the country. Which brings me to my plans for the spring. My next important race will be the U.S. road 100K championship, which will be contested as part of the Mad City 100K in Madison, Wisconsin on April 7th. This location will enable me to see my Uncle Scott, who lives in Kenosha. The uncle proximity thing is actually a key part of my strategy, since Scott's Houston-based brother, Chris, was on hand for both of my 2006 ultras, which went quite well.

Between now and then, my tentative schedule of major workouts and races is the following....

Jan. 27: 35-37 miles at 100K goal pace (roughly 6:25 per mile for the rolling Mad City course)

Feb. 11: Love 'Em Or Leave 'Em 5K

Feb. 17/18: 35-40 miles at 100K goal pace

Feb 24: Fort Steilacoom Resolution Series 15K or 15-Miler?

Mar. 3/4: 40-45 miles at 100K goal pace

Mar. 11: St. Patrick's Day Dash? (exact distance unknown, but usually a bit over 5K)

Mar. 17/18: 30-35 miles at 100K goal pace

Mar. 31: Some random 5K?

Apr. 7: Mad City 100K

As you can see, the first big workout is . . . tomorrow, when the Jureks and I will be at Seward Park, simulating the Mad City terrain by switching back and forth between the flat perimeter loop and a hilly alternative loop. (Thank you to USATF for the great map-drawing tool.)

Posted by crowther at 8:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

A few days ago Phil and I had our first conversation. It went something like this.

PHIL: Hehhhhhh.

ME: Hehhhhh?

PHIL: Eeeeeehhh.

ME: Oooh-uhh-eeee!

PHIL: [silence]

ME: I said, oooh-uhh-EEEE!

PHIL: Hehhhhhh.

Obviously, it was not a dialogue heavily rooted in facts and figures. Still, I was delighted that Phil was willing and able to take part in this back-and-forth interaction. Pretty advanced stuff for a three-month-old, don't you think?

Posted by crowther at 12:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Williams College, my alma mater, lost one of its most distinguished alumni and emeritus faculty earlier this month when J. Hodge Markgraf '52 succumbed to an apparent heart attack.

I'm not really qualified to comment on Hodge's research output. He authored papers like
Substituent effects on 15N and 13C NMR chemical shifts of 3-phenylisoxazoles: a theoretical and spectroscopic study, and when I see a title like that, I don't bother continuing on to the Abstract. I knew Hodge as the guy who taught me Organic Chemistry in the spring of 1995. He had a child's enthusiasm and an expert's knowledge, and both traits were frequently evident in the off-the-wall things he said during lecture and lab. I enjoyed these spontaneous outbursts so much that I collected many of them in a Hodge quote board.

In rereading these quotes, I'm struck once again by how effortlessly and how passionately Hodge connected chemistry with sports, music, cooking, geography, etc. Just listen to him weigh in on labs that are set up ahead of time versus labs requiring that you do everything yourself:

It's like a Duncan Hines cake mix. You bring it home, mix it up, and by gosh you've got muffins. And they're the same muffins you got last week and the same muffins you get next week. And some people call that cooking! But scratch is always better. Scratch is always better.

Last week, as a small nod to the bow tie-wearing professor, I made a dinner featuring farfalle, the bow tie-shaped pasta. Many would consider this a ridiculous tribute, but somehow I think that Hodge, the master of surprising juxtapositions, would have approved.

Posted by crowther at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I first ran the Bridle Trails 50K in January of 2005. It was only my second ultramarathon, so my approach was somewhat casual, and communication between myself and my crew (my wife) was suboptimal. After the first of six five-mile laps, I lost some time removing my wind pants while my wife scolded me for having worn this extra layer over my shorts. After the second lap, I expected her to hand me a flashlight (the race starts at 3 PM), but she was nowhere to be seen, having left with race director Scott McCoubrey to hang glowsticks along the course. Mishaps aside, I ran the first three laps while chatting with Brian Morrison and Jim Kerby, who gave us periodic updates on the Seahawks game to which he was listening. I eventually outdueled Brian, 3:40:24 to 3:41:07, with both of us eclipsing William Emerson's course record (3:44:28) from the previous year.

Last year, I skipped Bridle Trails because I was preparing for a road 100K and didn't want to risk injuring myself while trying to run fast in the dark. Phil Kochik won in 3:50:58, an amazing time considering the horribly rainy and muddy conditions that afternoon.

This year, I decided to run once it became clear that both the course conditions and my left Achilles tendon would allow me to take a shot at my course record. The trail wasn't muddy at all; in fact, due to the cold temperatures this week, it was frozen solid, which wasn't a problem except for a few patches of ice here and there. And the thin layer of snow on the ground reflected light remarkably well, improving the visibility quite a bit.

My preparation and attitude were also conducive to running fast. For starters, I wore "Runderwear" under my shorts this time and carried a flashlight with me from the beginning. My overall plan was to run a Dan Salazar first half and a Greg Crowther second half, meaning that I hoped to post some fast splits in the daylight and then finish strongly and steadily.

I followed the 50K relay leader through a 33-minute first lap, then logged splits of 32:00 and 32:30 on my own. Darkness descended during the fourth lap, but I managed to clock another 32:30. At this point, a new record was well in hand, and the main challenge remaining was to see if I could break 3:20. In the end, it was close, but laps of 34:30 and 35:10 brought me to the finish in 3:19:40. It was very satisfying to slice so much time off of the record, and I also snuck under Uli and Trish Steidl's pairs relay record of 3:19:54, though I doubt I'll get credit for that even if I argue that I was "paired" with myself.

The next items on my running agenda: (1) give my Achilles a couple days (or more, if necessary) to recover; (2) decide which races to do during the next few months.

Posted by crowther at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)

I'm reluctantly surrendering to the YouTube revolution.

Although I generally avoid online videos, my sister recorded some short clips of Phil during our vacation in Vermont, and they're pretty cute. This one, for example.

Bonus points will be awarded to anyone who can identify the style of dancing that Phil is demonstrating. Whatever it is, he didn't learn it from his parents, who, collectively, have four left feet. (At our wedding, we did our first dance to Sarah McLachlan's "Ice Cream" because it only lasts two and a half minutes.)

Anyway, here are the links to the other clips.

Dad sings a song he wrote for Phil

My sister coaxes Phil into smiling (sort of)

Phil shows off his reindeer booties

The old banjo-as-pacifier trick

Posted by crowther at 9:44 PM | Permalink

This fall, I spent a couple months intermittently trying to replicate a study published in 1961. The good news: after numerous false starts, I eventually got numbers consistent with the previous data. The bad news: my boss and I are now unsure of what those results mean.

Sorry to be so vague, but I need to protect my intellectual property. I mean, if I'm not careful, some rival scientists could read this blog, decide that they should reconfirm the 45-year-old data, and publish their findings first. That would be tremendously unfair, since it was my brilliant idea to slavishly repeat the earlier study without improving upon it in any way. I think I deserve credit for that, at least.

Posted by crowther at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)