Gold Country 20-Miler

Karalee Morris (first overall in the 20-miler) and I

On Saturday, I had to fly to Denmark for work. However, I also wanted to run the Gold Country 50K (and pick up some ultrarunner.net grand prix points to stay in first place) that day, but knew I would never be able to finish it in time for my 1 o'clock flight (it is about a 45-minute drive to the airport from Auburn). Skipping the race would be risky though (I just might lose my first place overall).

Robert Mathis (RD) Explains the Course

Fortunately, there was also a 20-mile option. I had run the course before and estimated that it would take me about 3:15 to run 20 miles and that would leave me exactly 15 minutes to get changed and book it to the airport.

Jethro Smith (Second in the Grand Prix) Gets Ready

I started out fast on the four-mile downhill section to No-Hands Bridge, where Lainie was running the aid station. I could still feel some residual fatigue from the Tahoe Triple in my legs, expecially on the flats and the uphills.

Ray Sanchez pulled past me on the first uphill (K2) and soon after that, Aaron Summerhayes passed me as well. Aaron had marked the course, but he was patching up the flagging as he went, because a lot of the flags had been taken down and thrown on the ground.

At one point, Aaron and I came to an intersection that had been vandalized. Somebody had changed the tape around altogether and that had sent Ray the wrong way. Fortunately, Aaron quickly corrected it for me and all the other runners, and Ray could run the loop in reverse without losing time. I really don't understand why someone would do this. Let's just say it was a good thing we did not run into these pranksters (Ray being an ex-golden glove boxer and... let's just say it is hard to outrun any of us). So, vandalize at your own risk!

Aaron Summerhayes Marked the Original Course and Marked it Again While Running!

The rest of the run was pretty uneventful. It was a great day for a morning run, but I kept looking at my watch to see how I was doing for time. I made it back to No Hands bridge with 45 minutes to spare. I was in first place in the 20-miler at that point. I slowed down a bit on the uphill sections and this is where Karalee passed me like I was standing still. She ran a great race and finished in first place overall.

I finished in 3:17 and that's when the real race began. For winning the male race, I received a shoe certificate, I ate about ten pieces of watermelon, and then Vicky and the kids helped hose me off, and I changed in less than 5 minutes. Then we were off to the airport! I made it in time and made it safely to Aarhus Denmark where I will be presenting a training session at the JAOO conference this week. And, guess what? The conference is going to put on a 7.5 kilometer run on Tuesday night. That should be fun.

The Lake of the Sky Marathon "Training Run"

I suppose the subtitle of this blog post could be "How a training run turned into a race." On top of that it turned into a race against... my own imagination.

With two weeks to go before the Super Triple, it was time for a final long run at elevation, and as luck would have it, the Lake of the Sky Trail Runs, which is part of the ultrarunner.net series, was held on Saturday.

Course Profile--The Marathon Had 4050' Elevation Gain and Loss (Courtesy of LOTS Website)

Matt Thau and Jethro Smith showed no signs of slowing down their pursuit of ultrarunner.net series points, so having missed the Hotter than Hell race in August due to a forest fire, it was important to pick up some points in this race. Also, it would be fun to chat with running friends, old and new.

I had run this section of the Tahoe Rim Trail before--once in the 2007 version of the Lake of the Sky 50K a week after the Super Triple and once during my TRT thru-run (mile 91-110)--and thoughts of this section were always associated with keywords like "pain," "suffering," "slow," and "exploding lungs." This time, of course, I was fresh, but I still had a healthy respect for the serious elevation changes on this section, especially the steep start.

Cruising Down My Favorite Trail (Photo by Turi)

My shoe choice for the race was, for once, an actual trail shoe--the Saucony Progrid Xodus. I had recently won a pair in Dave "Running Trails in Atlanta" Schoenberg's blog shoe give-away and this would be a good test. Typically, I run a lot of the trails in road shoes, but I knew this section of the TRT was going to be very rocky, so I wanted a little bit more support.

The Saucony Progrid Xodus After the Race (with Balega Socks, of Course)

The Xodus shoes are very light for a trail running shoe and they provide excellent cushioning and traction thanks to their super-grippy Vibram soles. I was really happy I picked these shoes and will definitely use them again for trail races.

Fellow TRT-165 Club Member Turi Becker (3rd in the Marathon) Before the Race

Just before the race started, I ran into Turi "Runnin' Round Reno" Becker, who is training for the Lake Tahoe Marathon in two weeks. Turi decided to run this race on a whim, instead of a self-supported training road run around the lake--a good choice (I think).

Like me, Turi was running "just-the-marathon." But wait, if that was the case, why did we have different bib colors? It was a good thing Turi noticed this, because I had accidentally been given a 50K bib. We straightened that out and it was time for the 7 a.m. start.

Turi at the Finish

I tried to start my Garmin Forerunner, but it would not cooperate. It has been harder and harder to start it lately, but I think it has finally died for good. No worries though, because my plan was to simply run a nice, easy long run--I did not really need any mile splits.

Second Place Marathon Finisher Jamie Cogley (Watch for his Son in Future Races!)

Close to 90 runners lined up for four different events: the 36-mile "50K," the Marathon, the 2-Person Marathon-Relay, and an 8-mile race. For the first 7 miles, I paced a while with female GP points leader Lainie Callahan-Mattoon, who had recently won the Hotter than Hell 6-Hour run. We caught up on our fall race plans. Lainie is signed up for the Sierra Nevada Endurance Run (a double marathon), which is one of my favorite races. The only problem with that race is that it is usually held on the same weekend as the Tahoe Triple. Good luck at SNER, Lainie!

Lainie Before the Race

I paced a few more miles with Alan and Caroline Barichievich from South Lake Tahoe--two very strong uphill runners--and after the second aid station (9 miles), I ran by myself to the turnaround at Watson Lake.

Alan and Caroline Barichievich from South Lake Tahoe

Before I reached the turnaround, I met two marathon runners that were already on their way back. One of them was Tahoe City's Chris Luberecki. I had seen Chris's name in a lot of local race results and it was nice to finally meet Chris in person.

Tahoe City's Chris Luberecki at the Finish

Chris was running in the relay with his wife Elisa, but unfortunately, she got lost on the way back. To my surprise, the volunteers at the Watson Lake aid station told me that I was the first non-relay marathoner on my way back. Mind you, this was a fairly small event with only about 20 runners in the marathon and about forty runners in the 36-miler.

The other runner I had met on my way to the turnaround had been part of Tyler Curley's winning relay team from Auburn (Their winning time was 3:57:59). Hmmm, running up front was not the plan. I was here to cruise in a training run, not to race. That said, there was only a half marathon left and I definitely had not gone out too fast...

Elisa at the Finish After Getting Lost for an Hour

I set my stopwatch to see how far I was ahead of the second and third place marathon runners and it looked like I had a 6-8 minute lead shortly after the turnaround--too close for comfort. I turned it up a notch and started going faster on the downhills and powerwalked the hills at a faster-than-normal pace. I knew that if I could make it to the 20-mile mark, or to the aid station at mile 22 in first place, I would have the win in the bag--I love downhill finishes--but I still had quite a few miles to go.

Ivy and Chuck After the Race

On my way back I ran into a runner going in the other direction. She shouted "I read your blog," but before I could register what she said, I was already 50 yards ahead. Thanks! I found out after the race that it had been Ivy "Strong Legs and Pancakes" Chastain--a runner from Reno whose running blog I've been following myself. Ivy is planning to run the entire TRT next year and she's scouting out a lot of the individual sections already.

Ray Sanchez and Tyler After the Race. Tyler Hill Ran his First Ultra and Finished Strong in 6th Overall (He Might be Hooked on Utras Now)

I kept looking over my shoulder every 5 to 10 minutes, but to my surprise there were no challengers. I cranked up the iPod with some tunes from my favorite DJ (and fellow Dutchman) Tiesto (his Club-Life podcasts, available on iTunes, are great, free, and great for running).

Sport Store Owner Jefff Halligan (2nd in the 8-mile race) and his Wife Jeni (50K) Came from Idaho to Run the Race

At the 22-mile aid station, I grabbed some water and a last gel and continued to rocket down the final downhill section, covering 4 miles in less than 27 minutes. Like I said, I love those downhill finishes! Speaking of which, can't we reverse the Rucky Chucky 50K (at least every other year)?

Gretchen at the Finish of the 50K

I stuck around a bit and watched the other runners finish. I talked to Jefff Halligan who had come up from Idaho for a training run and I also met Erin Lenzi, who was also running the relay with her husband as part of her final preparation for the Tahoe Triple (they came in second).

As it turned out, my looking over my shoulder had been completely unnecessary, because the next marathon runner showed up more than 40 minutes behind me. Oh well, it had been good motivation to get done quickly!

Wicked-Fast: 50K Winner (Doctor) Cameron Berg After the Race

I thoroughly enjoyed Linda's post-race buffet and talked to some of the other runners. Then decided to soak my legs in the lake and have a nice latte at Tahoe House Bakery, before heading home.

Thanks to Robert, Linda, and all the volunteers for the well-run event and special thanks to volunteer George, who spent 9 hours marking the course perfectly!

Next Up: The main event--The Tahoe Super Triple! Defending the title for the fourth time. Wish me luck!

Auburn Trail 50K and Fitness in the Foothills

Rocky Wins the Fitness in the Foothills Triathlon!

On Saturday (D-Day!), we decided to use a divide-and-conquer race strategy, Vicky was taking our youngest son Rocky to the first annual Fitness in the Foothills triathlon, our oldest son Sean, was studying his brains out in an effort to become valedictorian of his eighth grade class (we'll know the results of that on Wednesday), and I would run the 5th straight ultrarunner.net series race--the Auburn Trail 50K.

Let's start with the least impressive result of the day: mine. I had not been feeling too well all week and if it was not for my insatiable appetite for grand prix points and the fact that I had already preregistered, I probably would have stayed home. When I stopped at Starbucks at 6 a.m. for a much-needed extra jolt of caffeine and it felt like an effort to just walk 50 feet from my car to the store, I knew this was going to be a long day...

Winner Van McCarty and Thomas Reiss (4th) Before the Start

I had run the Auburn Trail 50K race last year, but the course had been changed significantly. This year, the race would start at Overlook Park in Auburn (Not at the Cool fire station), bomb down the hill for 4 miles to No Hands Bridge, then do a double loop of the dreaded "K2" climb and the Olmstead Loop, and finally head back up the steep hill to the finish at Overlook Park. This course change also made the race quite a bit longer than 50K. In the end I measured the course to be 33.62 miles. Maybe this supposed to be payback for the very short Jenkinson Lake 50K course--ouch!

Before the start, I caught up with lots of running friends. Thomas Reiss and his friend (and ultimately the 50K winner) Van McCarty, Gretchen Brugman, Lainie Callahan-Matoon, Matt Thau, Jethro Smith, Austin Violette (crewing his friend), Joe Palubeski, Greg Bomhoff, and many others. Many runners were doing a last training run before Western States (some sections of the course run on the WS course) and others were simply taking advantage of the unseasonably cool weather to go for a nice long run.

Jethro Smith With his Very Supportive Parents Before the Start

In an effort not to completely kill myself, I settled in at about 15th place and just kept a steady easy pace. To save some weight, and because it was so cool, I decided to run without any water bottles. This strategy would have been foolish on a normal day in June, but it worked out pretty well this time. I just stopped a little longer at the aid stations, but enjoyed running blue-tooth style. If this weather stays like this for another three weeks, we could see a new course record at Western States!

I ran a few miles with Gretchen and even the downhill miles felt like work; I was just not feeling it. Yet, I did get the sense that breathing the fresh air and being outside was actually doing me some good and I felt re-energized and quite a bit better the next day.

After about seven miles I caught up with Lainie, the women's leader in the ultrarunner.net series. Lainie is now running for Team Inov-8 and I am sure she will make a great addition to their team. We pretty much paced together for the rest of the race and finished together, which was fun and it made the miles go by quite a bit faster.

That's the great thing of the ultrarunning community: you go out and enjoy the day, and meet interesting people like Lainie, a mother of four, who had some excellent stories to share and even gave me tips on how to save a bundle of money on my favorite Starbucks drink (Iced Venti Mocha)--yes, the one I have been buying for the last ten years!

The course was extremely well marked and the aid stations were close enough together for my bottle-less approach. In the final miles, we passed another five runners. As expected, the last 4.2 miles were tough and it was a long grind up the hill from No Hands Bridge. Lainie and I finished the race together in tenth place overall in 5:55, with Lainie finishing second female just ten minutes behind Gretchen who won the women's race.

As far as the ultrarunner points go, I picked up another handful of points, further increasing my overall lead in the series. Matt Thau started the race, but unfortunately had to stop halfway through the race and Jethro Smith, who finished strong despite having some stomach issues during the middle miles, moved from third to second in the overall points division. Note, however, that a new race (The Jenkinson Fall 50K--this time a real 50K) has been added to the 2009 series, so it ain't over till it's over!

Rocky on the Home Stretch

After lounging around for a while, enjoying Linda's great barbecue, I headed home (stopping at Starbucks on the way) and called home to see how Rocky had done in his age group in the triathlon. Great news: he had won! Using a smart race strategy, Rocky had paced himself on the bike, coming in second place after the bike leg. He then floated by the bike leg winner who was throwing up from going out too fast, and went on to finish the obstacle course in first place.

Part of the Obstacle Course

Due to a lack of clean swimming water, the swim leg of this race had been replaced with an obstacle course. After that, the kids had to run a mile and Rocky ran pretty much all the way and completely blew away the competition in his age group, winning by about a half mile! Next year, we'll come with the whole family!

The Bike Ride

And Sean? Well, he studied for his finals the entire weekend, so let's hope he can keep up that 4.0 GPA for a few more days!

Next Up: The Tahoe Relay with the Sean, Rocky, Hayes, Chris, and Turi this weekend. I'm already looking forward to it.

Sub-5 at the Rucky Chucky 50K

Yesterday turned out to be a good day for the Lubbers family! In Marysville, my sons Sean and Rocky placed first and third respectively in their age groups in the 13th Annual Tri-Counties Music Competition and in Foresthill, I placed fourth overall (first in my age group) in the Rucky Chucky Roundabout 50K in a time of 4:52 (almost an hour faster than last year).
Of course, my wife deserves "honorable mention," because she cooked the pre-race pasta dinner, baked the post-race pancakes, drove the kids to countless rehearsals, and made sure everything was properly organized.

The American River

Last year, I did not have such a great day at this race. It was pretty warm that day and we had to carry a lot more water due to an inaccessible aid station. This year's forecast called for cooler weather with a chance of rain and there would be an extra aid station, so times would probably be faster.

Lots of vertical feet on the course

Based on some recent training times, I decided to shoot for a sub-5 hour finish. The course is a very steep out-and-back trail run. You start at Foresthill Elementary School (3300'), follow the Western States trail and bomb down to the famous Ruck-a-Chuck river crossing (750'). Then, you turn around and crawl back up to Foresthill.

Before the start

Last year, I started out a bit too fast and arrived at the turnaround at 2:15, but then the wheels came off. So this year my plan was to run a more conservative first half, leaving enough in the tank to actually run most of the return trip. My projected splits were:

• Sandy Bottoms aid station (mile 13.9)--2:00
  
• Rucky Chucky turnaround (Mile 15.8)--2:15
• Mile 22--3 hours
• Finish--sub-5

This schedule would leave two hours for the last ten (very steep uphill) miles and it would take into account being in better shape and running without a CamelBak.

Andy Anderson on his way back

Training had been going well. After recovering from the Pony Express 100K for about a week, I ramped up my training and focused exclusively on steep mountain training. I ran 111 miles with roughly 30,000' vertical in 11 straight days before tapering back down for Rucky Chucky. On day 6, I ran my usual 10-mile mountain training loop in my fastest time ever: 1:10:38, so I knew I was ready for some fast mountain miles. The main thing was not to go out too fast. This race is mostly about being able to run back up the hill.

Chatting with CJ Callans

Troy offered to crew for me, although there was really only one place where he could meet me on the course (The Rucky Chucky river turn-around). Nevertheless, it was good to get a little bit of race intelligence and, most importantly, a ride back home! Thanks again, Troy.

With Dave before the race

Before the race, I finally got to meet Dave "Atlanta Trails" Schoenberg in person. Dave lives in Berkeley these days and came out to explore the Western States trail.

Dave in action

I also caught up with Gretchen and met Mike Scammon plus a few other runners who were going to do their first ultra. They sure picked a challenging run for a first ultra, but then again, if you're going to run an ultra, you may as well go all the way.

Checking out the elevation profile with Dave and Mike

I started out a little bit more conservative than last year, holding back more on the steep downhills, in the hope I would be able to run a lot more of the return trip. This proved to be a good strategy. Mark Lantz, out for a training race a week after running the Way Too Cool 50K a week earlier, set the pace from the start and slowly pulled away with the very positive (and fast) Andy Anderson on his tail.

I spent the majority of the downhill section chatting with Oregon's JC Callans, a very fast marathon runner (2nd in the Redding Marathon this year) who was running his first ultra. JC would pull ahead of me occasionally, but I would catch up with him again at the aid stations. Although he was new to ultrarunning, JC had received plenty of good ultra advice. He lives close to the Rogue Valley Runners store, which seems to provide employment for about half of all the top ultrarunners in this country. JC even carried a good luck charm-a Gu Roctane, rung up by Anton Krupicka himself.

Some of the great volunteers

I hit the 14-mile mark at 1:52 and the turnaround in 2:05 (both earlier than expected, but feeling pretty comfortable), and then started making my way up the hill again, exchanging "good job" and "looking-good" with all the other runners coming down the trail. I hit the 22-mile mark a little behind schedule at 3:05. At the last aid station (with 8.7 miles to go) I found out that Andy Anderson had a commanding lead, Mark Lantz was about 10 minutes ahead, and JC was only about 3 minutes ahead.

Mark Lantz powers back up the hill

Some of the uphill sections were insanely steep and almost impossible to run. I took a few walking breaks, but tried to keep a running rhythm going as much as possible. For the longest time I was not sure if I would make it under 5 hours, but once I hit some of the familiar trail sections before California Street, I knew sub-5 was within reach. I sped up a little and crossed the finish line in 4:52 (4th overall and 1st AG), still 3 minutes behind JC, who definitely has a future in ultra running (his wife was running the 50K as well). I was quite happy with the result and stuck around for Lisa Mathis's excellent post-race buffet.

JC Callans cruises into the Sandy Bottoms aid station

Andy Anderson easily took first place in 4:18, just 5 minutes off Lon Freeman's CR and Mark Lantz came in second in about 4:30 (great time for a training run!). Though perhaps not a familiar name on the ultrarunning scene (yet), watch out for Andy Anderson. He's an avalanche forecaster, who logs about 30 miles on cross-country skis in the Tahoe Truckee area every day in addition to some low-volume high altitude running--wow!

Andy Anderson (1st place)

After the lunch, I found out that Sean and Rocky had won first and third place in the music competition and that they would be performing in the winner's concert/award ceremony that evening. I rushed home, took a shower, and made it just in time for the final concert, which was a real treat. All their hard work and practice had really paid off. Rocky played a Die Harfe (Mayer) on the piano and received a $50 third place prize and trophy, and Sean played Humoresque (Dvorak) on the cello and received $100 and a trophy. Hmm, there seems to be more prize money in music than in ultrarunning...

Sean and Rocky with their prizes

Next up: the River City Marathon on April 19th. Aim: sub-3.

Taking the Blue Planet 30-Mile Challenge to the Tahoe Rim Trail

I just signed up for the Blue Planet Run 30-Mile Challenge! As a "Team Blue" member, I will run 30 miles (approximately 50K) to raise awareness and help support a special project that needs immediate attention in Tanzania, East Africa.

Although this is not much of a "challenge" for any self-respecting ultrarunner, it is a great initiative and certainly one that makes you appreciate all the luxuries we have in our lives.

To reach the 30 miles, I will first run a 10K race (Run through the Colors 10K in Nevada City) on the 19th of October. After that I will run a 24-mile trail run on the Tahoe Rim Trail on the 26th of October (from Tahoe Meadows to Spooner Summit) with my friends Chris and Turi and anyone else that would like to join. Note: this is a self-supported run, so bring food and... water.

Check out the event details here.

Unsafe water is responsible for more sickness and death than AIDS, cancer and wars combined. Yet it is a simple problem for us to solve. My efforts will help bring safe drinking water to three schools in Tanzania which will provide 1,200 students with healthy water and allow them to attend school instead of walking long distances to collect water each day.

Part of the 24-Mile Course

Join me or create your own 30-mile challenge! It's easy. For more information on the program and the water project, visit http://blueplanetrun.org/30-mile. Remember, no effort is insignificant. This is an easy way to improve another person's life in big ways! Water is life. Pass it on.

Ting-a-Ling, Here Comes the Walking Express

Last week, we joined about 4000 walkers for the 55th annual Vierdaagse in Apeldoorn, Holland. Apeldoorn is located on “De Veluwe,” one of the most beautiful forests in Holland. Although it exists, ultrarunning is not nearly as popular in Holland as it is in the US. Instead, there are many non-competitive events and many of those are multi-day events. These untimed events require a slightly different endurance; getting up day-after-day to repeat a specific distance on increasingly tired legs. In other words, a perfect training opportunity for the upcoming TRT thru-run and the Super Triple in September.

I signed up for the (longest) 4x50K distance and Vicky and the kids picked the (shortest) 4x20K distance. They would try it out for a few days and were not dead set on finishing it. The weather in Holland is always unpredictable, but it looked like it was going to be a particularly wet week. We had rented a bungalow about 7 km from the start and it was raining when we arrived. Since the 50K started at 6:30, two hours before the 20K start, I rented a bike so the others would not have to get up early and wait for two hours. As it turned out, bicycling 7K to and from the start really helped keep the legs loose.

My aim was to use this four-day walk as a test in recovery and power-walking. Since I foresee quite a bit of walking at the later stages of TRT165, I wanted to practice power-walking and spend lots of time on my feet. Although this part of Holland is considered hilly, the trail was really pretty flat. Most of the routes were on single or double-track paths in the forests, but there were also a lot of sandy horse trails and some paved sections to get out of the city. Lots of the trails were muddy due to the rain.

For extra training weight, I took a fully-loaded CamelBak Rim Runnner and I put on my Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra GTX (the Goretex version of the Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra I reviewed earlier this year) shoes , which are pretty heavy but supply good water resistance. The hydration pack ended up saving me a lot of money, because unlike in the US, you pay for all your refreshments at the aid stations in Holland, and not just a few quarters either! Having my own water saved me time and about 2 euros per bottle of water.

The 50K started promptly at 6:30 each day. You receive a card that you have to get punched at five different checkpoints. On the first day, I did not have any idea what I could expect, so I followed the leaders. They were walking pretty fast, following the yellow arrows that were placed at each intersection. After a few miles, I took the lead, only to be called back by one of the walkers behind me, after having missed an obscure left turn. I quickly recovered and after a few more miles, I pulled away again, this time for good.

The first 30K was great; beautiful nature and wonderful walking temperatures. I had aimed to keep a solid 8K/hr (12-minute miles) pace, but was actually moving faster than that on many sections, clocking 10:30, 11:00, and 11:30 miles on the Garmin. After about 30K, however, it became increasingly hard to keep a solid pace, because the 50K merged with the other distances: first the 40K, then the 30K, and finally the most-popular distance, the 20K, which had over half of the participants (There were only 150 participants in the 50K). On the double track paths it was easy to pass, but it was a lot harder on the narrow single-track forest trails.

I hit the marathon mark in 5 hours and finished the first day (51K) in 6 hours, just before it started raining really heavily. I ‘beat’ the second-place walker by about an hour, but of course, this is not a competitive event. Vicky and the kids had a good, though tiring and wet, first day and decided to do something else on day 2.

The start and finish were located at a huge soccer stadium and a live band welcomed the finishers with lots of classic Dutch walking songs, like “Ting-a-Ling, Here Comes the Walking Express.” Most of the walkers are really here to just finish the walk on the four consecutive days and have a good time. Lots of beer and fried food was served at the finish line.

Meeting the Man with the Hammer -- literally (This is a Dutch way of saying you've completely blown up)

On the second day, I took the lead again after a few miles—My increased early tempo in large part thanks to the “Walking Express” song being stuck in my head. Each day would take us to another part of the beautiful forests surrounding the city of Apeldoorn. I spent some times walking the last few miles of day 2 with Ari, a speedwalker, who was part of the centurion association, a club of mostly English and Dutch speedwalkers that have completed 100 miles of speedwalking in less than 24 hours. Ari shared lots of details about the Dutch speedwalking scene with me, including a story about his wife’s 360K speedwalk in France—whoa! I finished day 2 (52K) in 6:24.Day three was going to be fast, because it was only 48K, but after only 12 Km, I ran into two guys on bicycles who were still putting up the yellow course-marking arrows. Apparently they had gotten lost in the forest while putting up the markers. I had just built up a 15-minute lead, but now I had to wait at each turn for these guys to put up signs. Oh well, time to look around a bit more and pick some delicious blueberries. Soon there was a group of six of us, walking slowly behind the sign guys. Many of the walkers up front were doing this Vierdaagse for the 5th, 10th, or even 25th time. A lot of them would also walk the Vierdaagse Nijmegen the following week, which is the largest four-day event in Holland, with about 40,000 walkers. After we merged with the 40K, the signs were up again and I pulled away again to finish in 6:24 again.

An added incentive for finishing quickly was that we could do fun things in the area. We visited the great Kroller-Muller museum, which has a huge Van Gogh collection, and on the second day we visited the monkey zoo Apenheul, which was a blast, because it had free-roaming monkeys. We also had many nice dinners and lunches in the area, including pancakes at one of Holland’s best pancake houses “’Het Vergulden Hert” (The Golden Deer).

The final day was the most beautiful and also the fastest; I finished the 49K walk in 5:30 and was the first 50K finisher to pick up the nice medal. Hundreds of spectators lined the course with flowers for the folks who had completed the event, which, of course, was a huge achievement for many. Many bands lined the course as well, playing songs to cheer the walkers on.

Overall It was a fun event, but I don’t think I’ll do this one again, mainly because of the huge numbers of people you have to pass in the last 20 kilometers. The entry fee of 30 Euros was not too high for this event, but you don’t get anything else for free (no shirts, goodie bags, and no free water and snacks at aid stations).My legs were definitely a little tight and sore afterwards, but overall, I felt great on all days and was quite surprised about how it almost started feeling easier as the days went by. Overall a real confidence-booster for the upcoming TRT thru-run-- I could not have imagined a better training session.

Next up: TRT 50M – provided it is not too smoky!