Ok... 48th in the top 50 men, anyway... 54th overall. I ran a 40:01, which for me is pretty darn good. A new PR! (By almost 1:30, no less.)

I even got a medal for my efforts... which has never happened before. I was 9th in my age group.

Don't tell my PT what I've been up to this weekend... I think she'd be horrified.

The 10k is a weird distance for me... I haven't run one in two years. With only 6.3 miles of course and all on roads, it's hard to really get going and fall into a rhythm before the race is basically over. Strategy plays a big role in that kind of race, so it was a little difficult to know when to push and when to hang off... plus, I didn't bring my trusty water bottle, so I actually stopped to drink water at the aid stations for a few seconds. Kinda weird, I know... but it worked for me.

It was a perfect morning in Phoenix, though. Nice and cool... maybe in the low 60's, slightly overcast. There was a bit of wind, but nothing significant.

With 2,100+ runners in the race, the starts of these things can be a real fiasco. I kinda settled in behind the folks who were clearly faster than me and waited for the signal to begin. There's really something kind of awesome about starting in the front of the pack at a race like this -- it's like, there are the elites, then a pack of fairly serious runners, then the rest of the rabble. Somehow, instinctively, most folks know to queue up behind us.

As a consequence, once the race got going, it was on! There was very little in the way of dodging in between people... almost everyone who went out fast stayed pretty fast, at least for the first couple miles.

The new course is fast and flat. It's in downtown Phoenix, so you pretty much run down a straight street for awhile, turn, turn again, and run back. No surprises... especially since it's a two loop course.

When the first loop went fine and I clocked in around 20:10, I knew everything was going to turn out just fine with this race. I felt good... the shoulder wasn't giving me any trouble at all, although Sandra from ARR yelled "You don't have your sling on anymore!" when she saw me cruise by -- I guess I wasn't really making use of my right arm very well.

With that under control, I spent the second lap stalking the group of guys a few hundred yards ahead of me, patiently closing the gap. With about 200 meters left to go, I found myself running neck and neck with some serious looking runner guy, totally pushed to the edge of puking. He won that little battle, but when I crossed the finish line, I got a medal for my finish and we each thanked each other for providing the necessary push to get a great time.

I still feel like I could've cut a minute or two off my time with a little better preparation and if I were in perfect shape, but that'll have to wait for next year...

That was just a totally fun race. Saw lots of folks I knew, of course... and I'm sure I'll see a bunch of 'em at PF Chang's as well for a rematch.

Oh mah gawd that hurt!

So... here's what happened: I'm running on Camelback like I always do, only this time I randomly hook up with some dude named, "Steve," who I know from running there a bunch. He's totally, totally fast... so I battled him a bit on the uphill on Cholla, then raced him down Echo.

We were really hauling ass. With Man Against Horse the next weekend, I was in fine, fighting shape. Just feeling good.

I lost him on the climb back up Echo, but no biggy -- it's all about challenging yourself, not some random guy. Anyway... having a really good time, reached the top in a pretty brutal pace.

I immediately begin my descent. Now, I've run down Cholla about a billion times... I've fallen a bunch over the years, but never taken much more damage than a few cuts and bruises. Wipeouts are inevitable, really.

However, when I hit a slippery patch of rocks about halfway down, I went right over the side. The actual fall wasn't too bad, but I knew immediately something was wrong.

I halfway composed myself, took a good look at my shoulder, and the whole world went white for a moment. I sat down, and took another look... my shoulder was all out of place. It was crazy looking!

Since it's a well traveled trail, some random dude came upon me almost immediately. Acting purely out of instinct, I was like, "Hey! Will you help me out? I just need you to pull on my arm and try to jam this thing back into it's socket!"

The pain was incredible... he was, understandably reluctant: "Uhh... I don't really know how to do that."

"Oh come on man, we've seen this in the movies a million times! All you gotta do is pull it and it should work. Why not?"

To his credit, he actually gave it a shot. Of course, it didn't work... nor did my attempt to swing my arm out and make it pop back in on it's own.

A few moments later, Steve and another dude came down the mountain and stopped to help. Let me take a break for a sec to say this -- the people who hike that mountain are awesome! So many people -- total strangers, really -- took time to help out some freak wearing nothing other than a black pair of running shorts and some shoes who had a completely horrible looking injury.

The called 911. Then this other guy -- I wish I knew his name -- took off his shirt and used it as a kind of brace. He tied it around my chest, holding my damaged arm tight to my body.

"Ouch!" is pretty much I was thinking... but I really, really didn't want to be rescued by a helicopter. I've seen that happen too many times on Camelback.

We decided to give it a shot walking down the mountain.

When you've run it a million times, it's hard to be careful and go slow! Still... with their help, I took my time, and made it down to meet the firefighters / paramedics at the bottom.

I hope I thanked everyone! I was a little out of it, but that was super awesome. If you ever need to renew your faith in humanity, take a nasty fall on Camelback.

From there, the rest is a little bit of a blur. The paramedics loaded me up with morphine, which made me dopey, but didn't really dull the pain.

I hopped in the ambulance and, after a quick stop at my car to grab my phone, id, keys, and credit card, we went to the ER.

After a quick set of x-rays... again ouch ouch ouch ouch... the doc and nurse knocked me out and reset my arm. Sooooo glad I wasn't awake for that!

I woke up a few moments later feeling way better. Surveying the damage, I had a bunch of road rash, but nothing too serious. I'll probably have a pretty gnarly scar on my right leg, but it'll just balance out the scar on my left thigh.

... Where did I get that, you might wonder... Don't ask. I'm 33, I should probably know better than to run on Camelback.

So... it doesn't look like I did any permanent damage. My right shoulder is messed up and I'm wearing a sling, so that kinda sucks... I'll have it on for the next three weeks or so. No pain, really... a little bit from my right leg, but nothing that would prevent me from running. My right shoulder has a very limited range of motion, though... and is feeling pretty weak.

Could certainly be worse.

I'm going to miss my next couple of scheduled races -- Man Against Horse and the Javalina Jundred, but I'll probably roll by a few of the local events to volunteer and help out.

I got a leash for my dog that I can wrap around my waist so we can still get out, so I've been doing some nice long walks. It's totally dorky, but it's all good. That's the price I have to pay, I guess.

So... I'd say that it's a rather auspicious way to begin 5769, but enough good stuff is going on that I've got no complaints. Got a bunch of good books to read, plenty to keep me busy while I'm off my feet.

Lesson learned, I guess.

So... I'm chugging along at mile 40 or so on the Tahoe Rim Trail 50 Miler, climbing some big ass hill, and I'm like, "You know... I've really done a bunch of these races in a relatively short period of time."

Kind of a strange way to spend my 33rd birthday, running my third 50 miler since last October... but what can you say, really? I really had a blast.

Tahoe... that place is amazing. Sure, the altitude was pretty crazy, but the scenery more than made the extra effort worth it. The view, looking out over Tahoe and the whole Sierra Nevada range, was stunning.

"A Glimpse of Heaven... a Taste of Hell." That's how the race bills itself. The DVD, which is actually remarkably well produced, does a pretty good job of breaking down the race. There's even a race theme song.

I managed to bring it in at 11:18... for me, that's pretty good, especially on a challenging course like that. It's not Zane Grey or anything, but with almost 10,000 ft of total elevation change, it delivers big time in terms of brutality.

The whole thing just went super smoothly. Remarkably so.

First... the hotel where I stayed, the Carson City Station, was awesome for the price. Not amazing, certainly, but pretty much exactly what I wanted. There's a typical hotel-casino restaurant in there, so... again... nothing spectacular... but very convenient and totally reasonable, cost-wise. I'd stay there again without hesitation.

I don't really gamble, but that's a nice area of Carson City. There's a nice little coffee shop right there with a cat, but a good bar with outside seating and a good view of the street.

Everything to do with the race seemed really well organized. Race packet pickup, drop bag dropoff... all super smooth. I put considerable effort into planning out my drop bag strategy only to... well...

Pretty much completely ditch it. Here's what happened: I ran into Jamil and Nick Coury before the race.

Now... for a coupla kids (23 and 20 respectively) , those guys are awesome ultra runners. Nick finished 5th at Hardrock last weekend with Jamil pacing for the last 43 miles, so I totally had the chance to pick their brains about trail running and whatnot.

They convinced me to ditch all the crap. Forget the Camelbak... there's no need for it, with only 6 miles between aid stations. A hand bottle... that'd be just fine. Just eat what's at the aid stations... and go from there.

And they were right, of course. I tried for awhile to do my whole Perpetuem / cliff block thing, but that just got gross after awhile. I pretty much settled on aid station Gatorade and whatever else there was to eat.... plus a pretty hefty amount of gu. Mmmmmm... gu. Those Hammer gels aren't bad, either.

Given that I'm unfamiliar with the course, took it nice 'n' slow. The weather was perfect -- clear blue skies, 45 degrees at start, maybe hitting a high of 85. Did the whole hat thing for the firs time in a race... it was good, I think. The white shirt, of course... but with my number pinned to my shorts so I could ditch it if I had to. (I didn't.)

Keep it simple and light... there's something to be said for that. Those boys are on to something.

Obviously... I love running, but it's the people who keep me coming back to these events. I had the pleasure of tagging along with some really great folks... so thanks to everyone who helped me pass the time out there. Lots of shit-talking about the IronMan triathletes... you know I enjoy that. Lots of good advice, general philosophy about stuff.

I dunno about these hundred milers. I'm not sure I coulda made myself do the second loop... but more power to 'em! At some point, I'm sure I'll join 'em... for me anyway, I'm glad this wasn't the race.

Right... so... maybe not the normal way to celebrate a birthday, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thanks!

I'll probably post way more pics shortly from other sources shortly... I don't even really know my finishing place yet.

Happy Bastille Day! Six years of blogging.... albeit only with random, infrequent updates. Mostly to do with running.

'Cuz... you know. That's my thing, these days. I mean... don't get me wrong -- it's not all I've been up to, but yeah...

It's kinda gobbled up my life. In a good way.

So... on the eve of my 33rd birthday, I'm getting set to take the plunge into the void once again with the Tahoe Rim Trail 50 Miler. Should be pretty epic... I have no idea if I'm ready, but since I survived Zane Grey, I'm kinda feeling like I can survive anything.

Training has been going... well... ok. Summertime in AZ is pretty brutal, so I've turned my attention, at least somewhat, towards swimming. I've been hanging out a lot of evenings at the El Dorado pool, swimming on and off with a buncha pretty serious triathletes. It goes without saying that they're kicking my ass... but it remains fun, nonetheless.

Did I really only run 133 miles in June? (That did include the San Diego rock 'n' Roll Marathon). Have I really only done 54 miles this month?

Ahh well.. been getting up Camelback a lot, doing it in the morning with the dog before work. No major injuries as of late, but I did crack my sunglasses in half yesterday morning when I went headfirst into a cliff. I can't believe I didn't end up with a bigger lump on my head... luckily, no one was around to see it.

It was the hat's fault. That's been the big thing that I learned lately -- wearing a hat and a white shirt when it's hot out really, really helps out. Who knew that all those people who told me that were actually right?

I fall fairly frequently on the descent, especially on the Echo side... but I wasn't paying attention as I was climbing Echo and the hat was blocking my peripheral vision. Basically, I hiked straight into one of the overhanging rocks. Ouch!

Anyway... random adventures have been afoot recently. In the coincidence of the century, I ended up at Felix Sutanto's wedding, someone I went to high school with many years ago and many thousands of miles away. (It's a long story, but apparently we're both moving in the right circles.)

I also foiled a beer run at Circle K the other night. Here's what happened:

So... I stop by Circle K at 68th and McDowell to buy a six pack of soda after a nice evening out.

I make my purchase and I'm on my way out and right after I hop in my car and start to pull away, this kid runs out -- maybe 12 years old -- with two cases of bud light in tow. Almost immediately, the Circle K clerk runs out and I'm like, "He went that way!" signaling the direction he ran off in...

Before I really knew what was going on, the Circle K dude hops in car and is like, "Get him!"

What do you do in that situation? I mean... it's not like I'm gonna go, "Uhh... I dunno if I feel comfortable with that..."

So, we take off down an alley in a low speed pursuit. The kid drops the beer and we continue to follow him 'till he gets clever and runs through an apartment complex.

Now, it's hardly my place to run down some kid on foot... so we just kinda let him go and called the cops. I think we succeeded in scaring the shit out him though... (For the record, that makes me a vigilante, not a narc.)

In other news... my coworker Pete made the news!.

Revenge! After being repelled from the summit of Humphreys Peak  by cold and high winds last september, I've had my eye on the highest point in AZ. At 12,637 feet, it's a pretty significant climb -- a 10 mile trail with 3,300 feet of elevation gain, starting at 9,300'.

I didn't really try and kill myself up there pace-wise, but the dog 'n' I did it in about 5 hours: 2.5 up, parking lot to the summit... then about 1.5 down. It was a perfect day!

With temps hitting 115 in The Valley, it was time to escape up to Flagstaff. I probably over packed for the trip, but up there, you really never know. I had a wool hat, gloves, a fleece jacket, a long sleeve technical shirt, 100 oz of water, a buncha gu and a couple of packs cliff shots. MMmmmmm... cliff shots.

We reached the trailhead at the parking lot of Snow Bowl at around 11:30 and immediately set off up the trail. It's a really neat climb -- it starts easy and gets progressively steeper and more intense, the higher you go. The effects of altitude are interesting... I definitely felt it and had to concentrate a bit on pacing myself, keeping a slow but steady pace.

The dog would have none of that. He was thrilled to be in the forest, chasing squirrels and gobbling down snow. Snow! In Arizona! In June! Mmmm.... snow.

So, you hike up and up through the pines and after awhile, you start to notice a change in the vegetation around you. Trees, they're not looking so robust now, more kinda gnarled and stunted. When you hit the saddle at around 12,000, that's it... no more trees.

That's where we got turned back last time. It was just too friggin' cold. This time, though, it was a perfect 55 degrees. We kept climbing...

The rest of climb is totally exposed, just basically climbing around rocks. Nothing too technical, but at that altitude I was feeling a little clumsy. Nothing serious, just a little kinda off. Anyway, we made quick work of it and reached the summit right before 2:00 pm.

The view is remarkable, of course. Turns out I didn't need any of the cold weather stuff at all, but that's the type of situation where it pays to be prepared. The weather up there can change quickly and be somewhat unpredictable, and I didn't really wanna take any chances. I didn't hang out for long -- took some pictures, chatted a bit with a bunch of the other dudes hanging out up there, gobbled down my cliff shots, made sure the dog was good and hydrated, and began my descent.

I made quick work of the downhill. I didn't run straight down from the summit... that just seemed like it could easily go horribly wrong... but once I made it into the forrest, the dog 'n' I just kinda took off running. The temps warmed as we made our way down, but it was still pretty nice and the trail was a nice change of terrain than the hard desert we've been dealing with at Camelback and whatnot.

Ran into a couple of other Zane Grey people up there. Gotta reprazent with the shirt, I guess.

We both arrived back at the car pretty exhausted at about 3:30. Just a really fun hike / run. Gus slept all the way home... awwwww....

Holy cow that's fun!

My coworker, Zarif, and I headed out to SkyDive Arizona in Eloy this morning and jumped outof a friggin' airplane.

Zarif was, understandably, pretty nervous about the whole thing. Don't get me wrong --I was a little nervous, too, but since I've been doing a lot of kooky somewhatextreme sports lately, I was feeling pretty cool and confident. (I am, after all, pretty much indestructible... right?) The folks atSkyDive Arizona are just super cool... we both elected to do tandem jumps the first time,so that makes it pretty straightforward.

Not much is required of the tandem jumper -- you're attached to the instructor, so he does all the hard work -- pulling the cord, setting up the right position, etc...

Also along for the ride was a photographer for each of us. Now, those guys were amazing... the control they've got over their freefall was spectacular. It's an interesting scene out there in Eloy... they've taken over the airport there, kinda like ski bums in Durango or surf bums in San Diego. Can't blame 'em, really.

That feeling of looking out of the airplane door at the desert below, some 13,000 ft. away, was pretty disconcerting. It's way different than looking off the peak of a mountain or something... it doesn't even really look real.

That first step out is intense! The change in pressure is spectacular... and, although it's pretty cold up there, the adrenalin more than compensates. The modern parachutes are pretty amazing pieces of equipment -- particularly for the tandems -- but we didn't have to wear anything fancy beyond a harness. We just jumped in shorts and a t-shirt.

The freefall was an amazing ride, but it's over quick. We (ok... the instructor) pulled the chute at about 3,000 ft. and gently glided into the landing area. I got to play around a bit with the controls, get a feel for guiding the chute down towards the ground. It's very peaceful up there, up over the desert. Quiet. Especially after the rush of falling 10,000 ft. out of an airplane.

I'm sold. I'd totally go again... I might even look into what it takes to get certified or whatever.

It's official... I am now the fastest Roig, at least in my immediate family.

  You know... it's nice when a run just goes well. I picked up 20 minutes (!!!) from last year, finishing the 2008 San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in 3:16:02, good enough  to cruise in at 300th place.

  ... I guess all that training really does pay off, eh?

  So... yeah. Just really, really a fun race. Tons of Elvii, of course, big crowds cheering people on almost the entire way. I got seeded in the first coral --   I'd love to know how that works because I can't imagine that I put anything faster than 3:30 on my application -- but I think that starting   with the 3:15 people really paid off in terms of keeping a good, consistent pace through the whole race. Plus, all the cheerleaders along the way   were nice 'n' fresh, totally peppy and full of energy. Whenever you need a boost, you can just go down a line of enthusiastic middle school kids, slapping five   the whole way.

  It was perfect day for a run -- nice 'n' overcast, temps in the mid 60's. I took along 2 gu's and a Ultimate Direction bottle full of Accelerade... and snagged  an extra Powershot along the way. Basically, I took a gu at 7,14, and 20 and just kinda sipped off the bottle the whole way.  

  The sun didn't come out 'till around mile 20, but it started to heat up a bit when it finally did appear. So... I took off my shirt for a couple of miles, something  I always wanna do during a race, but had never done. Felt really good. I was a little worried about finishing shirtless without a number, though, so  I put it back on for the last mile.

  I did kinda hit the wall around 23, but suffered through it, kept moving pretty well. I forgot to bring along electrolyte pills, so I think that negatively impacted  me a bit... but gobbling down one of those packs of salt seemed to kill the nausea.

  'Course, I was only 5 mins off the pace to get into Boston, so at some point around mile 20, I did kinda try and push to make it...   my attempt fell a little flat -- I couldn't sustain the increase in speed at that point of the race, so I ended up back with the people with whom  I was running at the beginning of my modest surge. Which is fine... not the  best race to try and qualify. Still... so close!

Here are the official stats:
Bib: 1689
FName: Jon
LName: Roig
City: Tempe
State: AZ
Country: USA
Age: 32
Sex: M
ChipTime: 3:16:10
lockTime: 3:16:02
Overall: 300
SexPl: 270
DivPl: 52
AgeGrade: 63.7%
Pace: 7:29
Ttldiv: 1328
Ttlsex: 7948
10K: 45:49
Half: 1:37:15
21 Mi: 2:34:24

I came in first! That counts... right?

Let me say this right off the bat -- this was not the best organized race I've ever done. The folks behind the race, Sierra Adventures, are mostly an adventure sports events company, so this was their first foray into a running event. And it showed.

Two weird things happened. First, I pretty much duked it out with some highschool cross country kid for the lead spot in the race. Now... did I expect to win? Of course not... I mean, not only am I not that fast to begin with, I just race a 50 mile race a week ago... So, it surprised the hell out of me when all of a sudden we were some huge distance ahead of the next runner.

Now, we were kicking ass, don't get me wrong, but I guess we missed a turn somewhere and, given that this was an obstacle course, we came across some roller type things with arrows that more or less matched the official race markings. (The few that we'd seen...) So... we did the natural thing and followed the arrows over the rollers and proceeded appropriately.

It turns out that the rollers had nothing to do with the race at all -- they were just a bunch of random tubes with the same color arrows out on a poorly marked course filled with obstacles.

Right. Obviously, it seemed weird that were so far ahead, but we proceeded through that and a small assortment of other obstacles, including a wall to climb, a mud pit, some over / under hurdles, some hay bales, and a balance beam... actually, that balance beam was really challenging. Going from a run to having to balance... not easy. And I don't wanna sound too harsh here to the organizers -- they did a good job with a couple of good obstacles, given what they had to work with.

By the time we get through the mud, the cross country kid is well ahead of me... I'm following his muddy footprints towards the finish, since there aren't any course markers. Somewhere between the last obstacle and the finish, the kid gets totally lost, and I somehow finish first.

Now... that's kind of a hollow victory. 'Course, almost immediately after my victory, I was informed of my penalty for cheating / course cutting and that I'd be penalized 10 minutes... whatevah! (They didn't even have a clock up, so I didn't see my official time anyway...)

What do you do after that? Stick around for the awards? They were outta cups, so even getting an after-race drink was kinda challenging.

Bumped knuckles with the cross country kid -- who was actually pretty upset about the situation... Chatted with a couple of the other runners for a little while, watched people steam in over the finish, covered in mud... went out and grabbed some breakfast.

Overall, I'd give this event a 3/5... totally fun and definitely a a great idea, just not really well executed. I'm looking forward to seeing where the folks behind the race take it...

Update: According to a friend of a friend who stuck around for the ceremonies, I was announced as the winner... which makes that literally the only thing I've ever won ever. We're not just talking races... the only thing I've ever won of any kind. We'll credit this victory to age and guile. (Yeah....)

"Uh... I was promised there would be rocks on the trail... "

Total insanity... that's how I'd describe the Zane Grey. The advance reports mentioned rocks, trees across the trail, creek crossings... and boy, they were right. Now, to be fair, the race does bill itself as "America's Toughest 50 Miler."

As far as I'm concerned, it delivered...

Now... before plunging into this at 5:00 am on Saturday morning, I'd asked myself, "What is it, exactly, that makes a race like this so much more difficult than other races of this distance?"

It's the friggin' rocks. They never end. At no point on the trail can you just relax, really, and take in the beauty of Northern Arizona. The trail itself is in pretty rough shape, and you really had to keep your wits about you the whole time. Aid stations are up to 11 miles apart over rough and confusing groud. Navigation was an issue and got lost for a moment at the beginning of the race, but ultimately I did ok on that front, mostly by hitching in behind folks who looked like they knew what they were doing.

Not a race for beginners, but just really, really fun. I met all kinds of cool folks, saw all kinds of random people I've seen around the running scene. One of the cool things about a race of this distance is how you can really hang with another runner for hours and just kinda chat about the world and whatnot -- without their help, I wouldn't have had a clue how to pace myself on a course like that.

There are a surprising number of people who do Badwater... and all kinds of other crazy races.

Dinner the night before was rad. I got to hang out with a whole bunch of super athlete women down from Colorado, including the 5 time winner of Hardrock, Betsy Kalmeyer... caught a glimpse of Anton Krupicka, that dude was the talk of the race. He's just a beast, speed-wise.

I'd love to see how he handled all that technical running. I mean... according to someone at the finish line, he did it in 8:02... which is just really fast.

My ankles really took some serious punishment -- my left one is still a bit swollen... and the blisters, they're remarkable. (Remind me to do something about the relative looseness of my shoes.) I'm covered with tiny little cuts from all the random grass and bushes and whatever that I plunged through. Took one minor fall... not serious, but enough to wake me up.

So... yeah! Finished well under the cutoff in 13:something... (I wasn't really paying that close of attention at that point.) Official results will be out shortly... hopefully with splits.

Most of the run felt really good and consistent, again, mostly due to the help of some awesome folks who let me tag along. The was a diabolically evil last 10k. I just kinda walked it in as quickly as I could, pretty much wincing and whining the whole time. I started to get that puky feeling I get sometimes... I'm not sure if I just neglected nutrition a little too much or what, but something went awry there.

Today... one day later... I feel like I've been run the ringer a bit, but I'm up and around, feeling ok. (...And off to lunch in the Roffler household for recovery...)