We're #9, We're #9!

Brag, Brag, I'm not comfortable with it, but I'm fixin' (about to, if you are not from Alabama) but I'm about to do it anyway.

Barbara is always asking me if I'm proud about my running. And to tell you the truth, I never really think about it. I don't consider that what I do is special, it's just a lot of hard training, nor do I consider that I'm particularly good at what I do. Don't get me wrong, I've had many of you tell me that I inspire you, I am proud of that, and I've won an award or two of which I'm proud. Regardless, there hasn't been any moment in my running that made me particularly proud of myself. Until yesterday. I don't know why but I've been checking the Arkansas Traveller 100 website off and on since I signed up for the race a couple of months ago. Some race websites have news bulletins, weather, and keep up to date, Arkansas' website hasn't changed in months, but I've still been checking. Yesterday they finally added the entrants list. So, I checked it out. I wanted to see if there were three more folks from Florida to see if we could enter the team competition (an age and sex adjusted total time for the team). Well I got two pieces of news:



1- I'll be the first finisher from Florida (if I finish) for the second year in a row (aint nobody else :)



2 (here's the bragging): They gave me race #9. They gave all returning racers from last year's top ten their finishing spot as their race number. Many races do this, but believe me, I've never thought about it before. Sure, Arkansas is a small race (about 130 entrants), but the only time I've ever noticed single-digit numbers were on runners like, Scott Jurek, Tim Tweitmeyer, and Ann Trason. Even Dean has a double-digit number at Western States. So, yes, I'm proud because in a small venue because of one great day for me, I'm one of those guys. I have no idea how I'll do in that race, but I know I'll keep that race number forever, because it's the only one like that I'll ever get! You know what, that makes it more special.

.................. A little more bragging, sorry, That race number yup, above, that one, with the 9er on it; well I drew that, no, no it's not a photo, and those aren't real safety pins, it's paintbrush, in the accessories section of your computer, who knew?..............

The Long and (I hope to God!) Winding Road

As Bobby Beaucheaux said in the excellent (if you're 12) movie Waterboy, "You can Deaux it!" Well, the movie may have (did, I know I saw it 1o 1/2 times) sucked swamp water, I agree with Bobby, you can in fact do it. You may not, but you can. Shoot, I've seen it done.

Just yesterday I was running with my Cross Country team and they did it. A month ago they begged me to take them on the "River Loop." It's a 4-mile loop which goes along the ...... River. And it's a loop, so I call it .... the River Loop (mine may not be creative but at least mine's accurate, the 100 years war was like 112 years long.) So, a month ago I took them on the river loop, and a short 55 minutes later we were all back. High School kids, 4 miles, 55 minutes. Yeah, they weren't in very good shape and it was hot, and they walked some. Well yesterday against my better judgement I let them talk me into it again, and guess what. They all ran the whole thing we were back in well under 40 minutes. It was like magic! If in fact magic is working almost every day at something. If in fact magic is meeting every day after school in 95 degree heat and running. If in fact magic is going to meets over the weekends. If that's magic then viola! magically we did it!

From Soup to Nuts in 4 short weeks! You Can do it! I don't know that you will, but you can.

You Don't Suck! Ha, Gotcha!

You know what really sucks? When the dude, team, state, family, school, that you hate doesn't even have the decency to hate you back.

Example, in the 1980's ask a Seminole fan, who do you hate? Gators suck!

Ask a Gator fan same question: Bulldogs suck!

Of course, now that the Seminoles own the team that owns Ohio State, the Gators hate the Noles pretty good, that must feel better.

It's nice to be hated. Ask an Alabama fan: Auburn Sucks!

Ask an Auburn Fan and they'll tell you true,: Alabama Sucks!

(Roll Tide Roll, Around the bowl and down the hole, Roll Tide Roll!)

The most excellent Race director (who shall remain unnamed by me) of the Arkansas Traveller 100 has a great habit of relaying her opinion on Texas when the state raises it's horns, Texas Sucks. Alas, when I relayed this tidbit, this morsel, this grain of enlightenment to one of my great Texas friends, all she could say was, the only thing that keeps Texas from falling into the Gulf is that Oklahoma Sucks.

Poor Arkansas :( I'm sure there will be about 125 of us hating them pretty good in less than two weeks when we are going up and over Smith Mountain for the second time, sadly, we won't hate them for long.

Summer has Fallen

You sure can tell that it isn't summer anymore. At 4:51 AM on Sunday it clicked over to fall. That must be why my run on Sunday was so pleasant :) Yeah, that's it.

Couldn't have been that I got to sleep in (all the way till 7 AM).

Couldn't have been that I ran a scant 4 Miles (hey, I know it's a long way, but when you're facing 25 times that long, and yes, that's literal.)

Couldn't have been that I had the company of the lovely Barbara with me (ah, it was a heckuva treat.)

Couldn't have been the weather, oh wait, that what I was saying, yeah it was the change of seasons, it's fall, the Bucs are on a long winning streak, (2 games) and you guys have ordered 7 new bracelets (and only one from Arlene this time, thanks Arlene, you know she qualified for Boston wearing hers :) And I'm tapering. Woowhooo, live is good!

AndyMan
ps, ready Chases' blog and my comment. The airlines screwed us both, but I don't feel like rewriting.

One more PS. Yall, I am not saying that there is a God, I'm saying don't bet against it. The night after I wrote the Don't Quit Post, I saw Lynne Muldoon at the Tampa Catholic football game. Lynne is Kelly's mom, and she was wearing the bracelet that Ali and I made for her after Kelly passed. Lynne offered to give Ali and I all of Kelly's beads. Seems that Kelly was in to that for a hobby. I'm not saying there is a God, I'm just saying we might want to live as if there is.

The Dates are In

Grand Slam dates are posted as of yesterday.

They are:

Western States: June 28-29

Vermont: July 19-20

Leadville: August 16-17

Wasatch: September 6 - 7

.

I AM NOT COMPLAINING: (now is where I'll complain) But, that is 4 x 100 mile races in 10 Weeks. The slam usually goes 11 or 12 weeks.

The dates for the first and last race are as close as they get. Western States, last full weekend in June, is at its latest possible date (save one day) and Wasatch , first Saturday after Labor Day, is at its earliest possible date. Sadly, this Grand Slam will be the hardest recovery wise since 1985. Regardless, it's a weather and injury issue more than a time factor, but it would be nice to have time on my side!

Oh, buy a bracelet. Read that post. I just ordered more letters, for the 'Don't Quit' braclets (there are still just 26 in the Amarkin language.)

Well Google me Silly!

Yall know I don't teach English, shucks, I hardly speak it at all. I do; however, teach history and government. In my quest to keep up to date I often refer to the Internet to spice up my otherwise dull lectures. You know you can plug about anything in to the Google images and you'll get a picture similar to what you want.

For instance, I had my government students create a state (what you lay-people may call a nation.) One of the things they had to design was a flag. Well, I had recently been to Springfield, VT, the official home of the Simpsons, so I'm thinking I'll design my example around the Simpsons. So I plug the following in to a Google image search, Doughnut Flag (Homer loves doughnuts) and this is what I got:

Not Bad Huh?

Today I was doing a lesson on Rome, complete with the educational focus activity (Hangman) and so I decided to bring my lesson to life with a picture of both the Leaning Towers.. Pisa and Pizza, here they are:

So, naturally, I get to wondering, what if I Google myself? I've done an Internet search before, and all it says is that this guy runs, sometimes pretty fast other times PDS. But I had never done an image search. I wonder what I'll get....

Well, I did the image search, and nothing, not one picture of me. But, I did get one that involved Andy Mathews in Tampa, Florida. And here that one is:

Now, those that know me well, know that Ali and I produce "Don't Quit" bracelets. We started this in honor of one of Ali's classmates that was suffering from cancer. Sadly, this trooper, Kelly, passed away earlier this year, but her memory lives on in the more that 150 bracelets that Ali and I have made in her name. We have donated more than $750 dollars to Locks of Love and the Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports to help those that must fight everyday, and to whom quitting isn't an option. Well seeing this Google image, of one of our bracelets on the lovely wrist of Michelle Barton, champion ultra runner, has inspired Ali and I. We are cranking up the Don't Quit factory again.

I'm telling you, with the bracelet on, you can't quit, you won't quit. My bracelet has been on me in 6 of my eight 100 mile finishes, and I've never quit while wearing it.

Here's the skinny, send us $5 ($7 if you want it personalized, Bubba Don't Quit) and we'll send you a bracelet, and the profit will go to a great cause.

This was my first experience with the Don't Quit Bracelet. I didn't quit, and I went sub-24 At Western States :)

It's the Name Game

Best Ultra Trail Runner Names in other runs of life:

Football: Jeramiah Trotter

Second Place: Orlando Pace

Last Place: Kenyatta Walker, Lance Stallworth, Donald Driver

Baseball: Clint Hurdle

Second Place: Quenten McCrakin'

Last Place: Larry Stahl

..

World Wrestling Alliance: Dusty Rhodes

Second Place: Harley Race

Last Place: The Rock

Nascar: Lake Speed

Second Place:

Last Place: Dick Trickle

Basketball: Tree Rollins

Second Place: Charles Barkley

Last Place: Spud Webb

Golf: Tiger Woods

Second Place: Woody Austin

Last Place: Payne Stewart

Entertainment/Characters: Jonathan Swift

Second Place: Forest Whittaker, Forest Gump

Last Place: Ben Stiller, Deforest Kelly

US History/Politics: Plough Jogger (he was a big factor in Shays' Rebellion, 1780's)
Second Place: Samuel Dash
Last Place:

Your Category:
Second Place:
Last Place:

The Pinch that no longer Satisfies

Thank the lord for small miracles. Today marks four months since I've done this self-satisfying activity: Oh, none of that sissy peach, vanilla or apple, pure tobacco all the way. It's not my fault, I went to college in Alabama, tobacco was a required course (along with cow tipping and towels) I told my buddy Bill Oswald upon trying his Cope for the first time, "Man, you don't start on this stuff."

His reply was pure Ozzy, "Yeah, you don't quit on it either!" Well, you do if you're planning to run 4 Hunnert milers in 3 months (and also if you don't want lip, throat or gum cancer)

Anyway, I only bring it up because my neighbor here at work is a tobacco dipper (no it is not right next to the big-dipper) and the son-of-a-Kelly is always trying to get me to come out of smokeless retirement and to put a pinch between my cheek and gum, Earl Campbell style, and thus far I've resisted.

Do I miss it? Rarely. As I was told by the curious young man in restroom in the Minneapolis airport (it was actually a convenience store in Ashboro, NC), "I can think of a lot better things to put in my mouth." I guess we all have to have a hobby.

All Better (almost) Now

Hey, I have been sick. Not ate expired Power Gel sick, but dizzy, headaches, can't run out of my own shadow sick. This wouldn't be a big deal, except I don't get sick. Yall, I had to skip two days of running. I was all set to go on Monday and Tuesday, but I just felt it wasn't a good idea, so I didn't do it.

No big deal, except that I have Arkansas coming up on Oct. 6, and I remember that last year I was running twice a day and never took a day off and I'd like to break 24 hours again. At least I thought I remembered all of that. Turns out that my running log tells a different story. Seems like I took several days off during my training. Turns out that I am running almost exactly the same number of miles this year as last year. Oops. Guess keeping this blog and keeping track of my workout may help many the aspiring Grand Slammer, and it will help any of you who feel the need to interject the truth into my stories when I look back and "Remember" my experience in the slam. Course if you let me, I will continue not to let the truth get in the way of a good story!

"I don't know if it happened, I only know that it's true." Andy Mathews 9/13/2007. And you can quote me on that!

The Thin Ice Report

As I said, the results are in. 11 of 30 finished the Grand Slam. Wasatch claimed two victims, one a lady that had done Western States in sub-24 hours, (something no Florida runner has done since 2005 when a sassy school teacher from Tampa clocked a 23:44:44, sadly he would later give up running to pursue a career in Alchemy after failed attempts at both Voodoo and shoe repair) but who seemed to feel the cumulative affects of the slam as she slowed with every race. Still she made it to mile 50 at Wasatch. The other runner never made it to the start at Wasatch even though he was sub 24 at both Western States and at Vermont. Additionally, he finished Leadville in sub 28.

...............Andy's failed ventures.............................................

...........................................................................................

As for the finishers there were just a couple of close calls:

Cory Johnson, 42 from Utah, had only 31 minutes to spare at WS, but went sub-24 at Vermont and had about 90 minutes to play with at Leadville and WF.

Mark Wieneke, 55 from California (our nation's most populous state and 3rd largest in land mass) never gave himself too much breathing room, but he prevailed. WS, 60 minutes under; Leadville, 20 minutes under the cut-off; WF 59 minutes to spare.

Lastly Wisconsin's (home of the Grilled Cheese would you like cheese on That? Biggie Cheese Fries, and my favorite the Cheddar Shake, it's a dance) Phil Rosenstein, 37, prevailed after relatively close calls at both Leadville, 44 minutes, and WF, 45 minutes to spare.

No one finished all races in less than 24 hours, but several completed the first 3 in less than 24. I think those going into the last race were focused solely on finishing. The best cumulative time was turned in by Hiroki Ishikawa, 32 of Japan. He ran three amazing times, and had a solid effort at WF. His times were, WS 18:14; VT 16:56; LV 22:41; WF 29:29.

Two ladies finished the Slam, both ran very well and very steady. Neither was in danger (time wise) of DNFing. The women's title went to Ronda Sundermeier, 40 or Oregon. Her cumulative time was right around 97 hours (I hope to be around 100), with times of: WS 23:14; VT 21:36, LV 24:16, and WF 27:57.

There you have it! Looks tough doesn't it? Should anyone want to waste a few hours you can look up these stats and other fascinating (for ultra geeks, like me!) stats at http://www.run100s.com/

Four for Two

Don't know what this is all about, but many times when I run long two days in a row I run better the second day than the first. Now, this doesn't go for the real long runs, they have to be 31 miles or less.

Yesterday Becky, Woody, Candi, Julie, Andrea and I ran up in Croom. Woody, nice guy that he is, brought along a saw and chopped up some of the felled trees that have been blocking the trails, the rest of us took off around an 8 mile loop, the plan was to do 3 of these loops. The Beckster and I veered off after loop one and did the regular 15 mile loop with a two mile adder for a total of 25. It was a fun run with Becky, Candi and I running much faster than we normally do, but it felt good. What didn't feel so good was that the woods were trying to get us! I am not kidding. I guess they were revolting against Woody buzzing them to dust. On more than one occasion a tree grabbed Becky. And close to the end I saw Becky brush against a tree, so I figured I'd go under it, but the branch snagged my circa-1980 1/2 shirt and allowed me to run forward about 6 feet before it snatched me and threw me back the 6 feet I'd traveled. It was a weird run.

Scary Tree!

Ok, that was yesterday. Today Woody, Candi, Becky and I gathered at Flatwoods for a 16 mile sprint. I took out the early spider webs. Then Becky took over at mile 8 and I guess there were no webs left to slow us down, because Becky picked up the pace and we flat cooked around that loop. It felt so good to hit those last two miles and have energy left. Usually it's a walk/run/walk for me those last couple. Not today, I even sprinted up the last hill and down the path, just maybe I can get off the schnide and break 24-hours at Arkansas, don't bet against it.

Tomorrow I'll have the final grand slam tally for you, 30 started, 13 were still in it with Wasatch left to go, it's tough, but the generous time cut-off of 36 hours leave me predicting that 10 or 11 will end up finishing the Slam this year. Speaking of the Slam I am using the header as a Slam countdown, so check that out it will change daily.

Be good, and watch out for those branches!

......This Branch Caught Everything near him in the 1970's......

It's 3:44 AM in the Morning

My journalism professor at Auburn University warned against using phrases such as, It's 3:44 AM in the morning (like there is another one?) I don't know if I'd have ever heard that phrase if not for him, so thank you Professor! In case you are wondering, yes, it's pretty common to be up and getting ready to leave for a run this early in the AM.

The hilly woods are 1 hour away, gotta start before sun up, gotta get done by 10 AM, and naps are a given! Gee, we ultra runners we really aren't much fun.

Ok, I'm off... By the way, today it's one year till the finish of Wasatch, the last of the four races, so now, it's 366 days in the slam, dunn, dunn, done!

Pinging away at the Slam!

Queen sings..... And another one's gone, and another one's gone, another one bites the dust. The son of a king, 70-year-old Karsten Solheim Jr., son of the King of all Golf Club makers, Karsten Solheim, lost his quest to become the oldest grand slammer this century when he bowed out at at the 1/2 way point at Leadville.
Karsten Solheim

Those of us who run ultras know Karsten as a mild but shoe leather tough ultra runner. He has finished dozens of 100 milers. He was the last official finisher at this year's Western States, finishing with less than 2 1/2 minutes to spare. He was one of the very last official finishers at Vermont this year. But, he finished, and he finished running. Some ultra runners tend to be a little obsessed with running, with the exception of Roger Sutton and me, very few probably recognized that Karsten Solheim JR is of royal heritage. His dad's Ping clubs did nothing short or revolutionizing golf clubs. The Ping Corporation was at war with the PGA for years. Put very simply, Solheim's clubs were too good, and many of the old-school players objected to their use, due to contractual commitments to use other clubs. Ping won most of the lawsuits making instant multi-millionaires out of the Solheim family.
Like Karsten, Ping uses a solid, technical, game plan.


I was cheering with Karsten. First he's 70. Second he's humble. Third, I love the way the family went up against the "Man" and kicked his arse! I still use a Ping Putter, and believe a better putter than my Ping Eye-Two will never be made.
This is my Ping Putter, and you can't have it!

But darn, as tough as Karsten Solheim is, like a two-dollar steak I tell you, I am telling you, ahmo open up a can of Whoop-Ass on that old slam. I'm gonna dissect it, train for it, and tear into it like a windmill in a hurricane! Let's go out and win one for Karsten!

Today's workout, 6 miles 3 fast with CC team, 8 Hill Kings in the heat, good workout :)
Tomorrow, Gym, 6 miles in the hood.
Saturday, 28 at Croom
Sunday, I don't know.

The Morning After The Morning After

Well, the B'day run went swimmingly. I was able to scratch out 5 miles for a recovery run on Monday. It weren't too bad. Shoot, I am hardly sore (still glad I'm not running with Davo today, I learned my lesson there, I have to wait till he's run 46 miles and I've been living the life of Riley, which Davo is doing in Seatle with a slew of Lisa's family.)

I am all set for a 90 minute run today, figure that'll be about 8 miles (there is all that filling water bottles, waiting on running partners, using the facilities, route discussion, and such to claim some of the time.)

I'm all kinds of 'xited about Arkansas, honestly, I didn't even want to go my running has been so sub-par (great in Golf, crappy in everything else) but the B'day run rejuvenated me. Now I may even finish in the top 50%. No matter, I'll have fun.

Boring post today, don't have fancy graphics like Chase, so, go Devil Rays (and take the Bucs with you!) and I'll have something clevererer tomorrow.

And Four plays later the Bucs the scored a touchdown to beat the Devil Rays by a grand slam!

A Fish, A Beer, and a Birthday

Woo..whoo! It's done. It's in the books. Now, here's what it took.

I went to bed around 9:30 PM on Saturday night. After 3 restful hours of sleep, I popped up right up (er, maybe not right up) at 12:27 AM on Sunday morning, my birthday.

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday dear Andy
Happy Birthday to me!

Yall knew I wanted to do this, crazy, whacky birthday run. I nixed the run from the house run, figured it was too dangerous and too much road running. It's a good thing I did, there is a lot of traffic on the roads at midnight on a Saturday, and a lot of it is perpetrated by drunks on Labor Day weekend. So on Saturday I'd put all of my stuff for the run together. This is no small feat as we decided to do a little my birthday (that was my idea :) and Labor Day (the rest of the USA's idea) BBQ today. So here's a partial list of the junk Barbara and I put together for the run/Q:
For the run:
1/2 gallon Gatorade. 1/2 gallon Hammer Heed electrolyte drink. Shot Blocks by Cliff, Power Gels, Cliff Bars. Two Pepsi's, Two Starbucks Coolers, two gallons of water. I partially freeze the Gatorade and water the night before so I do not need to put ice in the cooler which goes at the 1/2 way point of our trail.

For post run:
1 1/2 pounds of ginger terriyaki salmon (yum yum). chips, salsa, guacamole (homemade of course), asparagus (marinated in Lemon and garlic, yum yum), Homemade spinach dip, wheat thins, charcol, propane and propane grill, er beer (yum yum).

Anyway all this took some time.

Special thanks to Woody, who met me up there at around 2 AM for the run (it's 50 miles for me, more like 75 for Woody). Woody and I took off from the Croom parking lot at 2:30 AM (I had already run one warm-up mile), and we ran the 3 1/2 miles on the dirt road to our cooler, we decided to save the woods until it got light out. When we arrived at the cooler that we stash in the woods, we noticed that the two cars that had been there when we dropped the coolers were gone. We thought this was odd, we figured we were the only nut-jobs out running this time of the morning. Turns out the cars belonged to the trail LunaChicks, E, P, Linda, and Marilyn, we know this because hanging on a bush right above my cooler was my first B'day card of my 46th year! Complete with a handful of green cash money from the Lunachicks! $1 for every decade of my life in one wad, and $1 for every year in my fourth decade in the other wad. Woo-Who, those 10 clams will buy me a movie and popcorn, these are few of my favorite things. That was cool, thanks ladies :)

Anyway, the Woodman and I took off once more and ran down Nobleton Road, this is a hard-packed dirt road for 5 miles, then we picked up the bike trail that crosses it. When then ran another 2 miles to a little park that had opened restrooms as well as a water fountain that dispensed ice-cold water. We filled our bottles, I filled the restroom (10-200 for you Smokey and the Bandit fans, Gimme a Diablo Sandwhich and a Dr. Pepper to go, and make it fast, I'm in a Gotdamn hurry!), and we went back the way we came.

We arrived back at the cars just prior to 6 AM with 20 miles under our belts (geez, only 26 more to go!) In the parking lot we saw a few cars, Dan Miller's, Candi's, Julie's and Andrea's vehicles had joined ours in the parking lot. Things were shaping up for the BBQ, if I could just get this simple additional MARATHON finished! This time Woody and took off down the trail, (special thanks to Dan Miller for knocking down all of those webs, they don't call him Spyderman for nuttin!) When we got back to our stashed coolers after 7 more miles, Woody and I decided to part ways for the time being. As it wasn't his 46th birthday he figured he'd just take the 8-mile South trail back and call it a day with a measly 35 miles (wuss!). Well my considerably math skills had deteriorated, but I figured since the first out-and-back Woody and I did was 20 miles, that if I did that again and added 5 miles (I'd done 1 before Woody got to Croom) that I'd be Aces. Ok, how was I going to pick up 5 miles. Well, I'd already added 3.5 by taking the trail instead of the road, to the coolers, I'd figure out how to get the other 1 1/2 later. between miles 29 and 40 I was cruising. I was back on the road wanting to finish and grab a brewski. I also wanted to get back to the parking lot by the time Barb came up with my lovely daughter Alison. Anyway I was clocking sub-9 minute miles (not fast for you road marathon runners, but downright speedy for a trail runner not named Sutton or Docs!) So my miles back to the little park were rapid, but uneventful. I arrived back at the cooler after clocking in about 12 more miles in about 1:45. 5 miles to go. Duh, there are two 5-mile trails that lead back to the parking lot. I took the South trail and ran (mostly) back to the car. My 9 minute miles turned into 13 minute minute miles for the last 5 miles, but that worked out well, because as I was finishing my 46th mile, Barbara and Ali pulled up in Barb's sporty red Prius, we hit the parking lot simultaneously :)

After the run we had a wonderful BBQ with Pete and his pretty finance Mary Beth (will somebody please explain to Pete what it means to outkick his coverage?), Julie and her gracious husband Eddie, my long time pal Candi (whom I love dearly), Dan and Woody (they are ok) and of course my best gals, Ali and Barb. I'll tell you one thing, I grilled some salmon that was so good it would make you want to slap your granny! And Barbara's spinach dip was right handy to swaller as well! As a special surprise Ali had decorated a cake in honor of my B'day, it was beautiful as well as tasty :) As for the brew, well, two words, Downtown Brown! As one of my all-time favorite people has pointed out, anyone that likes Downtown Brown can't be too bad (and that's exactly what I am shooting for, not too bad! Here lies Andy, he wasn't very handy, but we are a little sad, because he really wasn't too bad!)

Nough said! Tomorrow, just about a 5 mile shake out the dried up platelettes run.