Knuckledraggers like poetry too

 I like to wear flannel and jeans and look like a hick.It is a tactic I use to get others to underestimate who they are dealing with. Old habits die hard.When I went through the Special Forces qualification course we were given instruction on "cross cultural" communication. In a nutshell you need to learn to blend in to your surroundings and not stand out. Be the grey man, the average joe. I play up the fact that I am a blue collar guy,however I do enjoy alot of things that don't involve guns,sports or fart noises, Here are some of my favorite cultural items.

My favorite poem:



My favorite opera:

My favorite painting

My favorite sculpture

My favorite Native American drum group



My favorite thing to listen to while drinking German Coffee



What I like to do when I am not working,shooting,running,blogging or farting:

I guess that sums it up

St Jude's Sweet Corn Festival 10K

I haven't run this race in a few years but since I go to this church it used to be one of my go to races. Things have happened in the last few years like work commitments etc.. that kept me from participating. Since the last time I ran the race, they had moved the race location from its former location to the local Catholic High School. This was a wise move as parking at the other location was horrible and the route was filled with traffic. I was happy to be able to participate this year. I registered for the 10K but since I am in the middle of training for another ultramarathon I knew I would have to make up some miles.

Bright and early race morning I donned my camelbak and headed out on the 7.5 miles from my house to the start of the race. I took it nice and easy just warming up prior to the race. It was nice to run down one of the busiest streets in town before the sun came up.

I made to the high school about 30 minutes prior to the 0730 start and I used the facilities, picked up my timing chip and milled around. I saw my friends Brian and Kris and they let me stash my camelbak in their car for the race itself. Eventually we all moved towards the start where the national anthem was song and an invocation was given. A color guard was provided by the Knights of Columbus which was cool.

The 10 K route followed the 5K route and then we did another loop before finishing. At the start we headed out the school parking lot and took a left for about 200 meters then another left to follow a residential street for about 1.5 miles. We then took a right and headed uphill for another mile or so through a business park eventually turning right through a large parking lot. This is where the one aid station was located. We then took another right and headed back downhill for a little over a mile. I really tried to let it go on the downhill as I was feeling pretty good during the race and wanted to give a good effort. At the bottom of the hill we 10K participants had to repeat this loop. I  passed the 4 mile mark in under 30 minutes. As we headed downhill on the second loop we had to veer off into a neighborhood for about .4 miles to make up the 6.2 mile distance. They had thrown a little mental surprise in for us and this little jog off route was mostly back uphill. No big deal though as eventually it was back down the hill and a right into the parking lot to the finish. I finished in 44:47 which is a 7:13 minute mile average and my fastest 10K for the year.

 I hung around after the race a bit and cheered my friends on. Brian set a 10K PR and Kris came in second in her age group, excellent work. I talked to them for awhile then I grabbed my camelbak and ran the 7.5 miles home then added about 3 miles of trail running in Beverly Park to finish off for a total of 24 miles for the morning. I really liked what they have done with this race and will run it again next year.

Ultrarunning as a Leadership Tool

I have been leading and mentoring others since I was 19 years old. I even have a degree in the subject. However I wasn't always very good at it. When I was 19 I was a do as I say because I said so kind of leader. Any one who has ever been a leader knows this technique never works. This is the technique of the weak and inexperienced leader. This is the technique of the "manager" or the "boss" not of a leader. Hopefully I have improved somewhat in the last 30 years but I will leave that judgement up to others. What I do know is I have learned a lot about the subject and I have a strong opinion on what a good leader should do.

Another subject I have learned a lot about is ultra distance or ultramarathon running. Ultramarathon distances vary from the 50KM to multiple day stage races that cover hundreds of miles. Basically an ultramarathon is anything farther than the marathon distance of 26.2 miles.In the last few years the sport has become my passion and my favorite way to pass the time. I often spend the weekends on long training runs as I prepare for my next race. I have a lot of time to think on these runs and during one of them it occurred to me the planning and preparation for an ultramarathon mirrors the necessary planning and preparation that is conducted by a good leader.

1. You Need To Have a Goal- In ultrarunning your goal might be completing a certain distance, conquering a certain race or beating a certain time. As a leader your goal may be to build a cohesive team, lower your overtime percentage or decrease turnover. Whatever your goal is a good leader has one. Goals provide focus for training and give your team something to work towards. Goals are never static however because once a goal is achieved it ceases to become a goal and must be replaced with another goal. Organizations that fail to reevaluate their goals become stagnant.

2. You Need To Make a Plan- In preparing for an ultra the runner must develop a training plan. This is done by conducting research, evaluating priorities, making choices and deciding on a particular plan. Perhaps the runner also needs to do a cost benefit analysis to juggle his/her training plan with an already busy schedule and or family life. Leaders need to do the same. What do successful companies in their industry do? What are the priorities of actions and what is the intent to be accomplished? What are the resources necessary to put the plan in place. Leaders must develop a good solid plan to achieve the stated goal.

3. You Need To Execute the Plan- One of my favorite sayings is that "the training schedule doesn't care." What I mean by that is that in ultrarunning you need to stick with the plan. You need to stick to the plan no matter what adjustments need to be made. You might have to switch your long run to Friday when you normally do it on Sunday. However the intent of an ultratraining plan is to build up the base miles and execute the required mileage for the week so the body can handle the stresses of the ultra distance. Although adjustments may need to be made the intent remains the same. The same can be said for a good leader. Adjustments need to be made but the intent remains the same.When I was in the military we had a METL or Mission Essential Task List. This list was exactly what it sounded like a list of essential tasks needed to complete the plan. A good leader will identify the small list of essential things that need to be accomplished for the plan to be a success. Some of these things may be individual tasks or they may be group activities. A good leader will be the guiding hand to keep everyone on track and constantly direct the team towards the stated goal utilizing theses tasks.

4. You Need to Accomplish the Goal- This may seem like a no brainer but accomplishing the goal what the entire leadership experience is about. In ultrarunning there is a acronym called DNF. Simply this stands for Did Not Finish. Most runners that have attempted multiple ultramarathons have at least one DNF under their belt. Sometimes not accomplishing the goal allows us to readjust our plan and use lessons learned from earlier failures. A good leader uses the knowledge gained from setbacks to move forward. Relentless forward progress is another ultra term that applies to leadership. Leaders must keep their eyes on the goal, make adjustments and always move forward even if incrementally. Smaller in progress goals may be set that complement the larger goal.

5. You Need to Reward Success- Ultra runners are often rewarded with a medal or belt buckle or some other bauble when the reach their goal. A good leader also rewards his team when they accomplish their goals. The reward doesn't have to be big but it does have to be thoughtful and tangible. Often the reward is a symbol of the hard road required to reach the goal. As a symbol the reward will become a source of pride that is much bigger than the actual physical reward.

A good leader is like a good runner. Careful,well trained and flexible.

Xterra Trail 10K

I put this race on the schedule because it was close to home and on a trail system I was familiar with. This is the second year for the Xterra Trail 10k which is held on Saturday with a Trail Triathlon held the next day in the same location. I run quite a bit on this trail system as it is only 15 miles from my house but I had never raced there.

I arrived about 2 hours early with the intention of putting in a few easy miles in before the race. The race was going to be just part of my normal training day. So I arrived about 0720 for the 0900 start, checked in and then went on a easy 5 mile run on some of the trails that were not being used for the race. I arrived back at the start about 40 minutes before race time. I geared up then spent time chatting with Eric and Javier some acquaintances from my running group. Eric was going to run the 5K and Javier was volunteering.

The race start was pretty laid back as was the whole race. They just announced over the PA that we would all line up by the big tree. I knew that we would run down a gravel road for about 1/3 of a mile before we took a left onto the single track. I wanted to get behind the fast runners but before most of the slow ones because I knew there wouldn't be much passing on the trails. The 5K and 10K runners all started at the same time.

So we got the READY, SET, GO!!! and everyone took off. The 10K course included the easy and intermediate  mountain bike trails which as I said before were single track and very hilly. I managed to get ahead of all the slower runners and was with a quick group as we entered the single track. At that point I had decided to go ahead and actually race the race so I was pushing it and my breathing was labored. I had someone right behind me and he pushed me over the first 2 miles but I managed to stay ahead of him and I settled into a comfortable breathing pattern. I really let it go on the downhills and kept a steady pace on the ups.

 About 2.5 miles into the race we hit Cyclocross hill which was a very steep incline over a short distance, the guy who had been pushing me passed me at that point but I kept him within sight and was right behind him pushing him.

Eventually we popped out of the woods and hit the point where the 5K and the 10K split. The 5K runners took a right and headed back to the start while the 10K took a left and continued up about 300 meters of steep gravel road. I passed the guy who had passed me at this point and also passed one other runner at the top of the hill. I took a right and entered once again onto the single track. There was no one in front of me as far as I could see and the two guys I had passed were right behind me. Over the next 2-3 miles we would have our own mini race. We stuck together as I really picked it up on the downhills with them right on my heels. They even tried to engage in some mind games with me telling me about a big hill that was ahead ( Not sure which one they were talking about because they were all big). We traded position back and forth with me in the lead or in second, with the other guy right behind me. About 4-5 miles into the race as I was trying to take a picture on the downhill ( I had been taking pictures the whole race) I tripped on a root and paid for my lack of attention. I did a head over hills combat roll with my cell phone flying one way and my sunglasses the other. I was OK beside my hurt pride. Both of the guys I had been running with asked me if I was ok and as I dusted myself off they took off down the trail. Now I was chasing, Over the next section I managed to catch up to and pass one of the guys but the other one had found a new gear and he was out of sight.

We once again came out of the woods and did a short section in the open, it was in the this section where I started to really feel the miles I had run before the race. Two other guys had come up from behind and managed to pass me. I was still ahead of the guy I had passed though and that was my goal not to let him pass me before the finish line. We hit the gravel again for .5 miles and I could now see 3 guys ahead of me, the two that had passed me and the other guy who had taken off after I fell. I really tried to stretch it out and catch them but it was not to be. I crossed the finish in 57:55 in 13th place overall and 1st in my age group. I was extremely happy with my performance in my first trail 10K.

Random Thoughts

When I started this blog over 2 years ago it was supposed to be a place I could tell my war stories and talk about things that interested me. And that is what I did, that is what I still do. However as I move farther and farther in time from my military career the stories about actual war get less and the "war stories" become more common. Anyone that has read this blog for awhile knows I have become heavily involved in running ultra distances so although I am not ready to turn this into a running blog sometimes it feels like I already have. But those are my stories, I don't get shot at much anymore, but the pain and suffering of running 50 or 100 miles sure makes me feel like I am back in some of those places and times.

And now for some random thoughts:

If you are going to call 911 for your elderly relative who has fallen off the bed, has obviously wet herself and cannot get up because of the sepsis in her leg, at least have the decency to act concerned. Her 103 degree temperature didn't happen instantly and  you just hung out in the living room watching TV while an ambulance crew and 5 fireman tended to her and got her to the hospital. This without you even asking how she was. Pisses me off.

Conversely if you are pregnant but smoke and drink well into the pregnancy and lose the baby, I don't feel sorry for your dumbass. I do however pray for the unfortunate child.

I think I would have made a good cop, if I didn't follow the path I did I mean. However no regrets things happen for a reason.

In all seriousness ( and maybe a little weirdness) I often think I was born in the wrong time. I  think I should have been my father's age as I have a great nostalgia for the 1960's and the military of that time. I believe I would have fit in very well with the Special Forces soldiers of that period and Vietnam should have been my war. Not sure why I think this, I have always just felt that way even in high school.

Don't let this get around but the dirty little secret is for a professional soldier war is fun. Sure I was never seriously injured and maybe that is why I think this way but it is more of the fact that we were masters of our own destiny. We were out running missions with the full power of the last great superpower at our beck and call. We took no shit from anyone and answered to no one but our chain of command. I made lifelong friendships and have memories I will never forget.

I could live pretty good just eating pizza and pancakes

I have developed this phobia about math. I never was that great at math but I did take calculus in high school so I wasn't a total neophyte. However in the last few years even simple math problems give me stage fright. I can do them on the calculator but hand me a pencil and let someone watch and I can literally screw up 2 + 2. My mind just locks up and the harder I try the harder it is is to focus. Very bizarre.

I'm denying it but I probably will need to start wearing full time bifocals soon. Been wearing "cheaters" for a few years but my eyes are getting worse.

Some things I used to do a lot and now no longer do at all- drink beer, skydive, scuba dive, read science fiction or actual books for that matter, and play video games

Things I do instead- run, think about running, read books on my kindle, blog, emergency medicine, law enforcement

I weigh the same now in 2012 that I did in 1992. Pretty happy about that. Hair is no longer black though, finally changed it to grey on the drivers license last renewal.

I think about my old Special Forces teammates and some of my friends from the 82nd Airborne and 10th Mountain at least once a day. Something will just remind me of a training exercise or something. I miss those guys.

Well enough rambling, got a race coming up this weekend and next post we will be back to your regularly scheduled broadcast.


OLD ME


NEW ME


Some things don't change

Dances with Dirt Ultra: Sometimes Your the Windshield

Where to start? I guess bottom line up front this years attempt at the Dances with Dirt 50 mile UltraMarathon was not the disappointment that last year's attempt was, I chronicled that here http://www.mikemac356.blogspot.com/2011/07/dances-with-dirt-50-mile-ultra-some.html. This year was not a total success though and lessons were learned that will be used on upcoming Ultramarathons.  I can see that Dances with Dirt and I are going to have a sordid history, I will call this year's attempt a draw. I finished but as my brother said DWD is going to be wearing a few more of my toenails around his neck on a string.

This years choice of hotel was much better and closer than last years, something to remember for next year. Myself, Starr and Jay drove up on Friday, checked into the hotel, drove the 15 minutes to packet pickup and then chilled the rest for the evening. I tried to go to bed early after laying out all my gear but didn't actually fall asleep until about 2300 for a 0315 first call, nervous anticipation I guess.

So everything went as planned on race morning, we met my brother Steve in the parking lot of the hotel at 0400. This stud drove 7 hours after work Friday night to make it in time to help crew my race. That is awesome. So we all piled in the Scooby Van and headed to the start line at the Devils Head resort. We got there about an hour early for the 0530 start which gave me enough time to get my shit together and get ready for the race. Soon enough the 5 minute call was made and we all lined up behind the timing mats. There were two races, my 50 miler and a 50K, starting at the same time so maybe 120-150 people where at the start. Later on the would have a marathon, half marathon and 10K sharing part of the course with us. So the announcer said go and we were off.

Like last year the course started out with the first 4.5 miles being straight up a intermediate ski slope and then down an expert slope covered with waist high grass. This year however they reversed the direction and we ran this loop back to the start in a counter clockwise fashion. I remember thinking running it this way was easier than last year, I wouldn't be thinking that the second time through this loop however. But that was 12 hours in the future and I finished this first section in a decent time of 54 minutes even with all the congestion at the start and on the single track trail.

After I passed the start again and headed out on the next section we ran along a sandy road for about half a mile then turned into the woods back on the single track. As soon as I did this I was swarmed with hornets. I got stung about 4 times the worst one on top of my head, the guy in front of me must have stirred up the nest. I am just glad I am not allergic although my noggin did throb for a few miles. This section was basically about a mile of straight up hill then flatness and then downhill. I was feeling good and even though I knew I shouldn't I let it rip. I flew through that section over some pretty narly rocks and roots passing train after train of people on the single track. I didn't worry about twisting an ankle, I just flowed, it felt awesome. I got to the next aid station (Steinke Basin) at mile 10 in a little under 2 hours. I was still feeling really good, I got to see my sister Deborah and her husband John who had driven up that morning from Madison to help out. I waved, grabbed some more water and a PBHoney flat bread and headed out on the next section. 

This next section was where the race really started. It was a loop that went up a very steep bluff then down the other side. Then it went out into a swampy flat area for about 2 miles and you turned around and went back up the bluff and back to the Steinke Basin aid station. That loop was almost 15 miles of extreme elevation changes, temperature extremes and uneven footing. Did I mention by this time it was approaching 95 degrees and when I was not in the shade it felt like I was in an oven. We had also ran up this bluff last year but from another direction so this was also a new section of trail for me. Once I got to the top though the view was awesome, then it was a quick stop at the aid station on top ( South Bluff) and down the other side over the creeks and through the woods. My crew would shuttle between the aid station in the swamp ( Bug Pit) to the one at the Steinke Basin and I would see them every 10 miles or so. They did an extremely competent job at refueling me and encouragement. They did such a good job I barely even used the provided aid stations preferring to let them take care of me when I stopped. I completed this first 25 mile loop in about 5 hours, a decent time especially on this terrain and well under the cut off. I was smelling a PR but the trail gods had something else in mind.

 So I headed out on the second loop, this one was a lot lonelier. All the other racers had headed back t the finish and it was only the 50 mile racers left. I ran most of this 15 mile section alone in the woods, stopping only to piss and take some pictures. During this point of an ultra at least the ones I have done, there isn't much position changing. That happens at the beginning and sometimes at the end. In the middle people are just trying to survive and not a lot of extra effort is being put out to pass. The guy that  won the race this year took the lead in mile one and held on until the end. I was starting to hurt a little after over 30 miles of this punishing terrain. The published map said the course had over 7900 feet of elevation gain and I believe it. The bottom of my feet were starting to get tender and my feet were also starting to swell. Something I have discovered after doing a few of theses races is that my right foot seems to be smaller than my left, so consequently when I lace my right shoe after about 30 miles it is either too tight causing pain from my foot swelling or it is too loose allowing my toes to slam into the front of my shoe during descents causing blisters and trauma to the toenail . This happened again during this section, I have to get a handle on fixing this issue, maybe a smaller size shoe on the right foot? I got  to Bug Pit for the second time and my crew was there shouting encouragement. My wife had made a large sign and was waving it up and down like a maniac. i couldn't have loved here more than at that point right there. I had finished about 36 miles and with only 14 to go I felt pretty solid but had slowed down somewhat. I knew I wouldn't beat my PR from the Ice Age Trail 50 but thought I could be under 12 hours. So I headed back up the bluff to Steinke Basin.

When I got to Steinke and 10 miles left, I was starting to feel a little sorry for myself. I had covered 40 miles in about 9 hours 20 minutes but I was a hurting unit. My brother made mention of the fact that I was slacking and I hadn't even fallen. I flipped him off and ran down the trail on what should have been an easy section back to the start. This section is devious though about two miles into it, the trail gods got the last laugh and I was ambushed by a fricking rock and did a head over heels faceplant on the trail. I did a quick assessment and discovered all parts where still functioning. I was covered in dirt though and had a big scrap on my left palm. My left big toenail that had just grown back from last years race was a goner as well. This section that I had flown down at the beginning ate my lunch, where did all the downhill come from? My quads and feet were screaming for mercy. Eventually I just quit running and discovered I could actually move faster and in less pain if I walked with a purpose like I was trying to make time on the expert infantryman 12 mile road march. So I strode it out for about 3 miles figuring I still had plenty of time to make the 13 hour cutoff. Eventually I made it back to the start/finish and the last aid station. I had 2 hours to finish the race so I gave my brother my hydration pack and grabbed just my two hand bottles for the last 4.5 sucky loop up and down the damn ski slope. I kept walking at a very brisk pace up the slope until I reached the top. With about 1.5 miles to go the ski slope stretched out below me and I started running again. I just pointed my tips down hill and let it go. It wasn't pretty but I gritted my teeth and went with it. I passed a few people on the downhill and crossed the finish line in 12:22:40. This was about 90 minutes slower than my previous best effort but I will take it. Every race is different. All in all this is a great race at a great location. The best news is we raised over $1500 for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Donations will still be taken until 9.14.12 so don't be shy!!! http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/michaelmcelmeel/danceswithdirt50mileultramarathon