OLD GOATS PREDICTIONS

Inspired by friends at LA Marathon

Nice kick Ruperto.
photo by Dom Grossman

Sometimes I badmouth road running.  It's not that I don't appreciate it, I have run a handful of road races and it's fun to push yourself really hard and run faster than you can in a typical trail race.  However, I prefer to train out in the dirt, out in the mountains - away from cars and traffic and buildings.  Having to stop repeatedly at traffic signals, or running circles around a track just doesn't do it for me.

After watching the LA Marathon I must admit I was pretty inspired.  Friends achieving goals, not quite reaching goals but keeping their heads high, friends appreciating their health and ability to run 26 miles for fun.  Kate Martini-Freeman running sub 3hrs for 10th woman overall?  Wow.  49 year old Ruperto Romero (pictured above) running a PR of 2:47, dannnnnnng.  Loved how the local news interviewed him afterwards as he stood there in his Angeles Crest 100 t-shirt as he professed his goal of winning it this year.  I got to know him a little better last year during our day of trail work before the race.  What a nice, hardworking, cool guy.  He has been on the podium in each of the last three years at AC and he seems to be the Benjamin Buttons of running.  Watch out Jorge & Dominic =)

OLD GOATS PREDICTIONS:

Men:  Winning Time 7:00's to 7:10's (yes that'll be a new CR)

1)  Jorge Pachecho - after recently running with him up around Mt. Wilson, and not being able to keep up with him on the climbs on the Mt. Disappointment 50k course, I've got to give him the nod for the W.  Last year at this race he wasn't his normal chivo loco self.  This year he's bringing his A game and will dominate.

2-4) Jesse Haynes, Dominic Grossman and myself - Jesse recently recovered from an injury and is fresher and healthier than he's been in a long time.  He was sandbagging a bit when we were hanging out last, but you can't fool me Muppet!

Jesse sporting his new aviator sunglasses.

With his loving handler.

Dom has been looking pretty spry out on some recent training runs, but his taper was a little shorter than optimal IMHO (but what do I know?).  He was out on the LAM course running people towards the finish, snapping pictures, getting all inspired 'n' stuff.  I have no doubt he will have his best Old Goats performance ever this year.

As for me... I dunno.  I don't feel great, have a couple minor issues I'm dealing with.  I don't feel horrible either.  I'm going to attempt to shave my facial hair like Jesse's in attempt to synergize our Wolfpack souls.  Maybe looking similar, like the Solomon guys, will help us run up front together and win, like the Solomon guys.

I'm not going to wear white spandex though, gotta draw the line somewhere.

5-8) Chris Zurbuch, Elan Lieber, Evgeniy Sklaynskiy, Peter Cross - Chris & Elan both ran well at the Bandit 50k in February.  Evgeniy ran well at Ray Miller 50k last month as well, especially considering that he went crashing  into the bushes at mile 3 and ran the rest of the race with a busted and bloody nose.  Peter 'frosty fingers' Cross has been putting in a lot of training on the snowy days, post-holing is good for ya, he's gonna do well this year.

**Unfortunately, Fabrice Hardel and James Walsh have dropped out of the race.  Both of them would definitely be pushing the pace and running FTW.  Sad to see them pulling out, heal quickly fellas.

Women:  Winning Time: 8:45 (yes another CR)

1&2) Keira Henninger (handler pictured above) and Margaret Nelson - Margaret has definitely proven how speedy she is lately in a handful of races - including winning Baz's 21k and the Bandit 50k on CONSECUTIVE DAYS .  Keira is known for doing well on mountainous courses, the more elevation gain the better and she has really been working on increasing her speed lately.  I've seen firsthand that she's faster than she's been in a long time... maybe ever?  She knows this course as good as anyone.  She knows how to pace herself.  Gonna be close.

2-)Maggie Beach - always runs solidly.

4-8) Nicole Matera, Liz Onufor, Cory Hoffman, Susan Rice.

I haven't run down in these parts as much as I did last year, so I haven't seen my OC & SD ultrarunning families enough lately.  Really looking forward to seeing a bunch of familiar faces and hanging out at the finish of another one of Steve Harvey's well run events.

Looks like low temperature will be around 50 and high 80.  I think this means it will likely be a little warmer than last year... can anyone confirm or refute this?

Ray Miller & Bandit Race Reports + Old Goats Prep.

RAY MILLER 50K

photo by Chandra Farnham

Felt good to finish in 2nd place, but a little embarrassing that the first place finisher, Chad Ricklefs, beat my by 26 minutes... ouch.  But I had a great time running with Dominic Grossman for the first 20 miles, then slowly being able to pull ahead of him towards the end.

It was also embarrassing to have the 50 mile leaders pass me at mile 15 or so.  Hmm, maybe I went out a little too fast?

While it felt really good to run hard and race again for the first time since July last year, and the first time since my surgery in September (thanks for the pre-race shout out Keira!), something was missing.  Can't describe it any better than by saying that I was missing a gear.

Enough about my race.  My wife Elissa ran her first 50 miler, on a difficult course, in less than 10 hours and was out smiling, goofing around and really enjoying herself.  Can't wait to see what she does next =)

photo by?

The atmosphere of the event was phenomenal:  many good friends sitting around the picnic tables in the campground, rehashing race day stories, devouring food and sipping delicious beverages.  Didn't hurt that it was a gorgeous day and the course offered many views of the Pacific Ocean.  Thanks for putting on another perfect event Keira!

"Here Jimmy, this Pliny will help you get over your DNF."
photo by JB Benna

BANDIT 50K

Loved the new course with more climbing, more serene single track and removed loop.  Randy Shoemaker, his wife Sarita, Larry, Eric and all of the other people putting on this event did a great job.  Reminded me of Ray Miller, how we got to finish in a park, then sit around eating and drinking with friends, watching other friends finish, all on another California Bluebird day.

Chan taking a picture of Chan-Chan, taking a picture of me.

I thought James Walsh was going to run away with a W, but he ran a tough 21k the day before and wasn't fresh.  We ran pretty much together for the first 6 miles, I pulled ahead just a little bit, and kept that tiny lead for the next 20 miles.  I pulled ahead just a few more minutes, finishing first in 4:10.

Chris Zurbuch on the left, James Walsh on the  right.

Thanks for crewing for me honey!

Now that I've got a couple weeks to put in some proper training for Old Goats, I've had to eat wayyyyy more food, what a good problem to have.  A month ago I was trying hard to lose a couple pounds, eating celery, watching what I ate.  Now that I've put in a 100 mile week running around the mountains I've been able to chow down without gaining any weight.  Best diet ever.

Building up an appetite.
photo by Colin Cooley

Another dreamy shot from Baldy.
photo by Colin Cooley

Hoping to put in another 100 miles and 20k'+ of climbing this week as my training for Old Goats is nearing its peak.  I'll dig up some insider information on the contenders and post my predictions in the next week or so.