Darn, This Cheese is Hard!

Holy Guacamole (pronounced like John Beliushi pronounced it in Animal House, with the horse and D-Day, and Flounder, in Dean Wormer's office), but this ultraRunning is hard!

Western States is this weekend, and many of my best friends in the Ultra world are there. Dan Miller, John Wood, Chase, and Chris Wedge are all people I have run with for many miles, and they are like family to me. Chrissy Weiss, Leigh Corbin, and Gordy from California are people I like very much and would be great friends with were it not for geography. Well, other than Chris Wedge, who went into this race in as good a shape as anyone I've ever known, and probably in better shape than I was in 2005 when I was the last Florida resident to earn the Silver Buckle for completing the race in less than 24-hours. all of my friends have either dropped, or are up against the clock in the race. Chris was comfortably under the 30-hour cut-off, finishing in 24:51, a great time for a flatlander, but I know not what he was hoping for. Word on Woody is confusing, the webcast was projecting him to finish just under the cutoff, but late word is that he dropped at 55. We'll get clarification soon. Chase dropped at Devil's Thumb, the toughest spot on the course. Gordy (paced by one of my best friends in the world, Mischa Redblurr aka, Michelle Barton), Leigh, and Chrissy are all projected to finish with about 1/2 hour to spare (not a huge window in a 30-hour race of 100.2 miles!).

The saddest story is poor Dan Miller. Dan and Woody have devoted 18 months of their lives to training for this race, and both are in great shape. Dan dropped in 2004 due to under training because of a broken heart. Dan's mother was ill in 2004 and he spend many hours and made many trips to Ohio to see her. She passed shortly before the race, and the whole scenario killed his chances for success. This year Dan trained so hard, and was in great shape for success, and a couple of weeks before the race his father took ill. Dan's dad passed the week before the race, the funeral was race week, and he had a late flight in the day before the 5 AM start, spending 10 hours on a plane. Dan missed the cutoff 30 miles in, at Robinson Flat, by seconds. He was literally on the scales waiting for his weight to be recorded when the horn went off. Without Dan, Woody's incentive was lessened, and may have also cost him a finish. When my mom passed, I used that as incentive to shatter my PR, but this was 4 months later, had I had to run that week I would have been lucky to finish any race, and probably wouldn't have been able to. I know Western States would have presented too much of a challenge.

Anyway, like the Penguin says, (paraphrased) "The wonder isn't that I finished, rather that I had the courage to start at all!" The only value is in the preparation and the attempt, weather we succeed or not is of no significance!

Best to you all, and please stay with me as I start my training on June 28, to put myself through this drama FOUR FREAKING TIMES!!!

AndyMan