Fly Gap 40 Fun Run

July 27th at Turner Bend. Start whenever you want and keep your own time. We'll figure out what to do for water but you're on your own for everything else. It will be hot. Map to follow, but it's basically Turner Bend to Hwy 215 to Morgan Mountain Road to Fly Gap Road to FR# 1510 to White Rock Mountain Road and back to Turner Bend for a shower. No T-shirts or finisher awards. No whining.

Hope to see you there!

Inaugural FlatRock 101k

Last Saturday, I was one of 37 people who thought it would be pretty fun to run the famously technical FlatRock 50k course, after an entire day and night of rain, and then run it again. The Elk River Hiking Trail runs along the north side of Elk City Reservoir, near Independence, Kansas. It is 15 miles long plus a short paved section to get to the start/finish line. We would be running out and back twice, for a total of 62.7 miles, give or take. At the starting line, I marveled at all the spectacularly fit people gathered around me. Over the next 22 hours and 43 minutes, I would discover that I was one of them.


Pre-race briefing and spaghetti feed the night before. The people in this picture felt like long-time friends the moment I met them.


Thousands and thousands of runners knew this race would be happening. These are the ones who showed up.


Elk City Reservoir on a rainy morning.


Approaching a cool waterfall feature at about mile 13.


I ran with this group for about the first 20 miles when the mud was the worst. It was tough keeping up, but thanks to them, I hit my first two splits exactly on plan. They really made my race!


This is pretty much what the whole course was like: Descend muddy, rocky slope; wash shoes; climb muddy, rocky slope; repeat. The creeks fell out a little bit as the rain stopped, but I was in ankle-deep water as late as three o'clock in the morning. It was wonderful!


Don't eat the manure! It's poison!


Feeling strong coming into the half-way point aid station. I arrived in nine hours exactly as planned. I knew at this point I could power walk the rest and finish in around 22 hours, so I went into total energy conservation mode and quit running completely, even though I had lots of running left in me. That would prove to be a very good decision some hours later.


I changed socks three times, which was time well spent. I finished with zero blisters.


Here I am celebrating prematurely at the second turnaround, about mile 47, with my first burger in two months. Actually, not counting the few bites I'd stolen from my wife's plate every now and then, it was my first meat, poultry, dairy, eggs, or fish in two months, but that's a subject for a different blog post. The burger hit the spot!

Counting the long pit stop at the half-way point, I had still power walked a 6:01 split to the turnaround. I left out just as fast and was feeling great, but that would not last.

I had done everything right. I went in with a realistic plan, given my level of preparedness, and I had executed it flawlessly. But at about mile 55, after doing so much more than I had ever asked them to do before, my legs simply gave up. I could still climb, but I had to descend backwards with my hands on the ground, gently lowering myself down each large step. The rest I could do at a slow walk.

I had purposely not taken the jacket from my drop bag during my last trip through the Oak Ridge aid station, a few miles earlier, because I wanted to experience the night the way it really was, and the night was cold. I was cold. I was also having the time of my life. I was glad I blew up because blowing up added to the experience. It told me just how far I had pushed myself. I was also glad I had done the hard work early. I still had a ton of time left to finish within the 24-hour cutoff. The last few miles, when I knew I had it, I even sat down a few times, turned off my headlamp, and just enjoyed the night. I had earned it.

Finally, after zig-zagging through the last limestone fracture, after sliding down the last muddy slope, there was no more trail to walk on, only a paved road leading to the base of the dam. I could see a glow ahead in the mist and expected to find a finish line there. I did not expect to see--and hear--this!


I can't help feeling a little bit sad for the fast finishers who had to cross this finish line in the daylight. Hitting it at 4:43 in the morning was visually and sonically the most bad-ass finish line experience you could ever imagine!


Get some hand, baby! Get some hand!


I think the smile says it all!

It's taken me a week to write this race report. What I did last Saturday was so much harder than anything else I have ever done that I simply haven't yet developed the lexicon to describe it. Running this race has not in any way diminished all the other amazing running experiences I have had since December 6th, 2010, when I ran two miles at Fayetteville Lake and then puked in the grass. What it has done is change the scale by which I measure all my future running adventures. That's okay, though, because it has also changed my concept of what is possible. It was an indescribable experience.

I won't name any particular volunteers who made this race happen because all of them made it happen. They marked trail, they cooked, they dug trenches to divert runoff from aid stations, they filled water bottles, they dug in pockets for headlamps, they asked if you needed this or needed that as you stared glassy-eyed into your drop bag not understanding what you were seeing. They stood in cold mud for 24 hours so we could go out and play, and it means the world to me. Great job Epic Ultras! I'll be helping out at the War Eagle Trail Races next month at Hobbs so come on down and I'll attempt to return the favor. It's the least I can do!

I was the only rookie in the race. God and everyone could go to UltraSignup.com and see that I had run exactly one ultra previous to this one. Never once, though, did I feel like I was out of my league. Meeting and chatting with the other participants at the spaghetti dinner and at the starting line, and at every step on the trail, I was made to feel like I belonged. I was in the same league. I was in the league of runners who thought it would be pretty fun to run the FlatRock 50k course, after an entire day and night of rain, and then run it again. That was the only qualification. I am so grateful for the friendships I made on this sloppy day in April. Everyone get some hand!



Thanks to Epic Ultras photographers Greg Highberger and Harrison Steele for the excellent photos and thanks especially to Eric Steele for giving me the opportunity to "kick my own ass and BE EPIC!" You and your amazing crew "co-created the experience of a lifetime!" just as you promised. I'll be back!

OHT Photo Dump

Last Tuesday's little OHT jaunt was not worth writing up, other than to say my chance of dying on the hike was fantastically slim. The wind chill was below freezing the whole way but I was carrying enough clothing to survive the night if something happened. I had photos of maps on my camera. I had food. I had a water filter. I left a hike plan with Mrs. DMG and adhered to it. I managed the whole experience with such a nod to caution that there simply was no way it would become an adventure. I wanted a really fun 25-mile hike, and that's all I had. I did snap a few pictures, though, so I guess I'll post them:

I started at the Hwy 23 trailhead and hiked west to Spirits Creek and back.





Obligatory rock house photo.

I took my shoes off to cross Fane Creek the first time but did the proper thing and got my shoes wet on the way back.

Amazingly, I did not see a single deer. I did see three turkeys and a rabbit, though.

Spirits Creek.

This is where I turned around. A more adventurous soul would have pressed on to White Rock Mountain.

Funny, it was an early morning kayak trade that precipitated this whole safe, measured outdoor experience. I won't get into it.

(Trip report to follow.)

The battery on my Garmin ran out before I finished my little OHT hike, but Tim Ernst's guidebook puts the distance at not quite 25 miles. I'm going with that because he's wheeled the entire trail twice. The Garmin samples position periodically rather than continuously causing smoothing of switchbacks and such, short-changing my mileage by several percent. No problem. It took me about eight and a half hours. Nice hike!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/280945125

A Veganism Fact:

If you work at an ammunition factory, wearing leather safety shoes is not your biggest crime.

Vego-pragmatism F.A.Q.

What the hell is a vego-pragmatist?
A vego-pragmatist is someone who agrees philosophically with many tenets of veganism and makes many vegan choices, but due to personal circumstances, is not able to adopt a purely vegan lifestyle.

How many vego-pragmatists are there in the world?
Probably millions, though I might be the only one identifying himself as such, given that I invented the term myself only a few hours ago.

Is it pronounced vejo- or veego-?
Whichever you like. I'm going with veego because, while I'm not vegan, I do want my lifestyle's name to evoke veganism. I admire vegans very much.

Why name it at all?
Good question. I want to have a conversation starter: Hot dogs are ready. No thanks. Why not? I don't eat hot dogs. Why not? I'm a vego-pragmatist. What the hell is a vego-pragmatist? . . .

So you want to browbeat others into adopting your alien lifestyle?
Not at all. I just like talking about whatever topic I'm thinking about at a given time, whether my interlocutor is interested in it or not. I've always been that way and people keep listening. Right now I'm thinking about improving my diet. Other people can eat whatever they want to eat.

How's it going so far?
Ask me in a week. Today I cooked up the last pound of hamburger in the fridge and finished off a bag of shredded cheddar cheese. The last of our milk will go in my breakfast cereal tomorrow. We have a few slices of American cheese but I'll use that to make grilled cheese sandwiches for Mrs. DMG to take to work. We have mayonaise to last until I can find a suitable substitute, which shouldn't be too hard. after that, it's off to the races! The first big challenge, this coming Wednesday, will not be a challenge at all. I will be in the break room celebrating 90 days without a recordable incident by eating a banana and a crunchy gala apple while every one of my co-workers sickens herself on Papa John's pizza. I can't wait!