Yes, you read that correctly. My last post was over three long years ago. That said, since I am no longer on any form of social media, I'm pretty sure the viewership of this blog is pretty close to non existent. That's a big change from the glory days of Lost in the Woods Running, which was somewhere between 2009 and 2014. But, alas, life has a tendancy to throw us curve balls, and for me, right at the moment when I thought I was nearing the pinnacle of my running "career".
Flashback to three years ago. Ah yes, it was 2017, and 2017 was going to be a huge year! I had been in a groove since the fall of 2014 and the momentum was going strong. 4 ultra wins, a marathon win, a 100k state record, a 2nd place trail marathon and my first BQ.
I had qualified, again, for the legendary Spartathlon ultramarathon and I actually was selected to represent team USA. A dream come true!
Lastly, on the heals of a 77 mile 12 hour run, I was going to attempt to qualify for the US men's 24 hour team by running at least 140 miles in a 24 hour race.
....Oh, but did I mention those life curve balls? My 2017 curve was more like one of those cartoon baseball games where the pitcher throws a zig zagging, swirling, spinning curve that defies the logic of science.
That's when my running started to come to a halt, and over things I literally could not control.
But, I made my efforts here and there, so I was able to fake the funk through 2017.
September 2017 - I completed a casual 64.63 miles at the Hinson Lake 24 hour. It was one lap more than my previous year.
October 2017- I won a small, but unique road marathon, the Cary Firehouse Tour Marathon. Marathon win number 2.
October 2017- This was the beginning of the end. I "ran" the Medoc Trail Marathon the day after confirming my significant other had been cheating on me. This coupled with family health issues all bubbled up to a disapointing run/hike. It was nearly three hours slower than my 2nd place time from the previous year.
Then came the one year away from racing, and pretty much away from running completely. It wasn't planned or predictable. I made a poor job choice that seemed wise at the time, a very poor relationship choice(taking back the cheating ex and having history repeat itself), and I found myself pulled away from running and the running community by things I had placed a false value on, as well as things that truly did take priority over running.
My weekly mileage became non-existent and over a four month span from late 2017 into the spring of 2018, I literally did not run a step or even go to the gym. I gained 13 lbs, and none of it was muscle. I was roughly 10% body fat and a lean 150 lbs when I qualified for Boston in October of 2015. Although others said they didn't notice a difference, I could see and feel it all too well. I was 163lbs and over 15-16% body fat for the first time since my sophomore year of college. I realized if all that could happen in just 4 months, what would happen within a year? A 40lb weight gain? 50!? I didn't want to find out.
It wasn't until May that I cowboyed up and committed to getting back into shape. It was now or never. I hit the gym hard and the muscle came back quick. I went from barely being able to bench 175 lbs for one repetition (my pr is 260 from college) to repping 185 for five reps within six weeks. The running, however, was a bit different. I was getting in the mileage, but the speed didn't seem to come back. I remembered when I was running a brisk 8-10+ miles every day from 2010 through 2016, and now I was lumbering through 2-3 mile runs at a 10:00 pace. I couldn't even run my marathon pr pace for ONE mile. It was tough, but I knew it wouldn't be easy. My ego hurt more than my legs, and at times I didn't even want to enter any races, and although I have never been super fast, I was still embarassed of how slow I had gotten in such a "short" period of time.
(The Bell Buckle Summer)
It's funny how just a few months in the right place can change a trajectory.
Remember that poor job choice I mentioned above? Well, I got laid off after three short months. At the time it sucked. I was living off a lousy $600 a month in unemployment, applying for work, trying to find someone to takeover a lease, but it turned out to be more a blessing than a curse. I got my apartment subleased and spent the summer of 2018 in Bell Buckle, TN. I spent some time with a family you may have heard of if you've ever heard of the Barkley marathons. I got back the hunger to run regularly, to run far, though the speed still hadn't come back. Although some of the people and relationships revolving around my Bell Buckle Summer have since moved along in their own directions, I still look back at it with fondness as the place that brought me back from the year away from ultras.
The Comeback.
September 2018- A Race for the Ages. My first race in nearly one year. My 2nd year running ARFTA. 115 miles. The most I've ever done in a running event. Some running, but also a lot of walking in the intense TN summer heat.
October 2018- High Bridge 50k. 4:22. Pleasantly surprised considering my typical weekday mileage was still in the 20-30 range, but again this was a pancake flat course.
November 2018- Paced the 4:00 hour group at the Richmond Marathon. Achieved the most consistent segment splits of any pace group. It was my 4th year pace leading there.
January 2019- Tideland 24 Hour. 63+ miles. Learned I could still run 50 miles in 9 hours on trails.
January 2019- Frostbite 15k. Finished in 1:11. Better than expected, but the 7:27 pace was still slower than my marathon pr pace and very close to my trail 50k pr pace.
February 2019- Colonial Half. Ran the entire event with a friend. Our 1:51 felt pretty easy, even on a cold and icy day, so that was a good sign.
March 2019- Dogwood 12 Hour. 58.65 miles. 1st overall. It was nice to finally win an ultra again, but truthfully, this was not even close to a competitive event. The 2nd and 3rd place runners were 14 and 17 miles back.
April 2019- Hampton 24 Hour Run for Cancer. 56.25 miles. This was almost entirely social to catch up with old friends. It was my 3rd running.
May 2019- Bust the Banks Half. 1:57. This was a nice challenging trail half that was part of Dominion Riverrock weekend in my home city of RVA. Definitely a reminder of my lack of running fitness, but at least I broke 2 hours.
September 2019- A Race for the Ages. 122 miles. New event PR, but my legs were toast only 20 miles in.
September 2019- Pepsi 10k. A local Charlottesville 10k. Legs were recovered from ARFTA 12 days earlier, but still felt slow, though fresh. Finished in 46:54. That said, even without ARFTA, I doubt my lack of speed would have let me break 46 minutes.
October 2019- High Bridge 50k. 4:36. Ran without a gps. The 8:51 overall pace felt fairly comfortable and I never walked. I could have definitely dipped under 4:30 if I knew what pace I was running, but likely would not have reached my 4:22 from the previous year (which was still 24 minutes slower than my 50k trail pr).
November 2019- The Richmond Marathon t-rex. Yes, I ran the entire FULL marathon in an inflatable t-rex costume. Logistically and physically very demanding, but worth it. My time of 4:15:03 was nearly two hours faster than the only other recorded full marathon run in the same costume.
February 2020- Icy 8 Hour Trail Run. Every year I've run this event, I have run less than the previous year. In 2009, I won the innaugural event with 50.3 miles. I ran 48.9 miles in 2012 for 2nd place and then 47.5 in 2013 for 4th. This year my small victory was just that I showed up and completed at least a 50k. I ran a controlled 28.5 miles in 4:50 followed by walking a final 4.7 mile cool down loop to finish 32.9 miles in 6:10. I volunteered in 2019, but it was nice to come back as a participant for the first time in seven years. I also become the first person to have run this event in three different decades.
February 2020- Sugar Hollow Bridges 10k. Signed up the day before and regretted it the moment I showed up. 30 degrees with a wind chill in the low 20's and light snow drifting over the Crozet mountains. My A goal was to break 46 minutes, which would have been nearly a minute faster than my 10k six months ago. My B goal was to break 45 minutes, which I hadn't done in three years, which seemed like a long shot. The end result was a pleasantly surprising 43:45. The course is a gradual uphill 5k, turning around with a gradual downhill 5k. Thanks to a fairly controlled first 5k, I left enough in the tank to really hit the downhill with a decent effort. While this was still well off a 10k pr, it was 30 seconds per mile faster than my last 10k (7:03 pace vs 7:33).
What's next?
Qulifying for Boston 2022. I BQ'ed in 2015, only to miss the acceptance cut-off by 6 seconds. I've now waited five years, and you bet your ass I've been itching to give a BQ another attempt. After a long layoff, I finally think my running fitness is turning in the right direction for it to be a possibility this fall. The one catch, five years ago my qualifying time was a 3:10 and now it is.....still....a 3:10 since the BAA once again lowered the standards two years ago. On the bright side, if I go sub 3:10, there is, knock on wood, a 100% of getting entry in Boston, as opposed to maybe getting in with a time 2:03 under the qualifying mark.
But, while I am already working to get that sub 3:10 leg speed back, I am doing several spring ultras to build up my core endurance. This spring will mark a long awaited return to trail and mountain ultras after really only doing flatter loop styled fixed time events much of the past three years. I will also be closing in on my 150th marathon, or longer, event with the Terrapin Mountain50k being number 149 and the Bull Run 50 miler being the big number 150. Bull Run being number 150 is fitting, since a Virginia Happy Trails event was also where my 50th marathon/ultra took place in July 2010. After that, I will likely cap off April by returning to the Promise Land 50k. Perhaps with the residual build up of endurance from the spring races, I may attempt a summer 100 miler (though not Old Dominion as it falls on my parent's 50th anniversary) before turning exclusively to fall marathon training in late July or August.
Well, whew! That was the quick recap of the long three year gap between posts, but I am hoping to be back semi-regularly with not as fast as before race reports, but reports none the less.
Happy trails and happy running in 2020.
-Mike Bailey
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