West Virginia Mountain Trail Runners

Short version: I had a very good race. 28 hours 44 minutes.

Longer version: I was not very enthusiatic about this race. I was undertrained for it. My long run for it (as I joked) was my DNF at 80 miles at Rocky in early February. Since then, I had gotten a 18 mile, a 50K, and a 26.4 mile in as long runs. So I just wasn’t feeling all that confident, and really didn’t want another DNF at the 100 mile distance.

The Umstead Endurance Run is both a 50 mile and 100 mile race though. You can always drop down to the 50 mile distance (or drop anywhere after 50 and will still get credit for the 50 mile race) which is both good and bad. Good, in that you get something to show for your efforts; bad in that there is the temptation to stop.

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The a new stock of Sport Science short sleeve shirts arrived at WVMTR South (aka Dan Todd’s house). The other Dan has plans to brand them with the our logos and have them for sale at an upcoming WVMTR event. Be on the lookout for this quality performance apparel.

Click to enlarge image. The women’s sizes will be available in sand and blue. The men’s tees will be sand and denim. All colors are the heather pattern.

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When you Register you should receive an initial temporary password via email almost immediately. Use this password to login, then go to Profile and change it to something you will remember. I heard from someone this evening that has been waiting since yesterday for the temporary password. If you do not receive the initial temporary password contact Lehmann or Todd and we will assign another. You might also check your junk folder, maybe your browser filed it there. 

I wasn’t trying to go for a night run. But it had been a super busy day at work, and Joel was gone to an evening meeting, and I wasn’t really all that hungry. So when I finished my second job (baking bagels) by 7:00pm and still had the urge to throw on the running shoes and head for the door, I did not hold back.

Out the door by 7:30, in this week just past the solstice and already well into Daylight Savings Time, there was still light in the sky. I’d just go for a few miles, just to stretch out the legs. Continue Reading »

It’s a catchphrase, a cliché, a figure of speech, but for us runners, it’s often a literal truth. Adversity in the form of weather conditions – hot, humid, icy, gale force winds & driving rain – sure, mentally and physically these forms of heavenly adversity make us stronger in some sense of the word.

Adversity in the form of competition makes us stronger too. We out kick a rival and we learn to doubt ourselves less. We lose a race to a young whippersnapper who blew past at the midpoint and we learn something about humility – and we strengthen our will to do better next time. We race to the very end against a proven equal and we can boast a new PR as a results – we are stronger than we were before the race, by the numbers.

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