My First Blog on my Running Habit's....Gulp...enjoy!?

Brett Goldsmith's Ultra-Running Introduction

1 Brett's Pre-Zion Blog      

    

   

Me @ the Bandit Ultra 50k(photo cred to Howie Stern)

    Hello!  I want to preface this by saying that this is my first stab at writing a blog on my love of running, races, and everything outside!  Please enjoy, grab a beer(or glass of wine), or stop now and get outside and run!(which is probably what I'm either doing, or planning on doing soon!)

     It’s now 1 week exactly from my latest 100 mile adventure.  I sit here comfortably in my bar at home with a cold pint of “Victory at Sea.”  It’s so easy to glorify the running of a hundred miles in hindsight, be-little the brutality and pain of the event itself, I’m not writing this report as a one-up/victorious self-congratulating slap my back, raise a glass (unless you have a glass, then by all means raise it and drink) “Brett you da Man”  tale.  I want this to serve as a memory to myself for races to come, to remember my failures, mistakes, stumbles, to revel in the friendships/companionships joined in our struggle to realize the goal we (the Runners) had set for ourselves.  My story for this race begins well before I toed the line at Zion 100 in Virgin, Utah.  Bear with me, this could take a few secs, min, hours?(hope not)…LOL but hey we as long distance runners revel in the idea of a journey, NOT a finish line, finish lines signifies victory, but in a way a somewhat anti-climactic conclusion to months of effort.

    

                       WS100 start line, I'm in the red shirt(Becca, Des, and Kenny to Right)

    In some ways this story begins way back on June 26, 2015.  I had just DNF’d at WS100 Endurance run.  This is by far still the most difficult page on my “Resume” as a so-called ultra runner.  I had built that race up as a sub-24 hour Epic (favorite word) run in front of family, and friends.  It didn’t help that one of my best friends Kenneth Ringled had rocked the course a year before.  It felt like serendipitous that the next year after pacing Kenny for 20 miles, from Rucky Chucky to Placer High School, that it was “MY” time, that I would round that track and claim my spot in the history of that magnificent beginnings of 100 mile ultra running GLORY.  It was not to be, by mile 23 my race had fallen, no flown, of the tracks, becoming a slog of thoughts of self-doubt, pity, and failure.  By mile 56 I had reached Michigan Bluff, barely in the light of day, to copiously vomit in front of Kenny. I took this literally gut-wrenching moment as a particularly perfect send-off to a vomitus, and diarrhea filled day. (Are you still reading?  This could get ugly, OH and BTW I will get to Zion, just have to put you in the right frame of my Brett mind).   And there is my WS100 failure story.  Though this might sound like the perfect ending to, not only my confidence, but my Ultra-Running dreams, it was not, this was a turning point for me.        

    Luckily I had “fallen” into signing up for the Angeles Crest 100, never once expecting to win the lottery to run WS.  I say luckily because it gave me less time to fall into a hole, bury my running dreams, and run scared screaming hysterically into that cold dark night…..

      

                 Kenny and I training for AC Headed to Chantry Flats(on the way to Newcomb)

    August 1 2015 came and I found myself on the starting line of a brutal, BIG, elevationally challenging 100 mile race.  I was scared beyond words the night/morning before.   My only goal was finish come Hell or high water, no give, no quarter, no surrender.  At WS100 I was my own worst enemy, doubt to the bitter end, at AC100 it was time to prove that I belonged there.  That I CAN FINISH!!!! Funny thing is somewhere along the way before Western States, I had forgotten the most important thing that I loved about running!  This is what I love to do, the question of “what is behind the next bend in the trail”, “what is the view like that from that peak, or ridge”.  My perspective had become flawed, my aim to finish “fast”, to look good on a finisher’s list. Is that why I do these events?  To look good on an ultra signup list, the defining answer was, is, and shall always be a resounding NO.  I ran and finished AC100 with my head held high, ran strong and hard into the arms of my wife Rebecca Goldsmith,  I wept tears of accomplishment, tears of joy.  I shared the trail with so many AWE inspiring people, I ran through many a mountain pass, shared in the gorgeous views that are the San Gabriel’s, I breathed in the moment, I truly was THERE.  I was focused on finishing, but that wasn’t the total reason for my being there.  I was simply on an epic voyage through brutal terrain, and I completed it.  I FINISHED!  I breathed in the joy of my personal victory, and reveled in the joy, pain, and sheer totality of it.   Now caveat to the journey at AC, I did vomit for 40 straight miles (I know vomiting again!), this difficulty vanquished me at WS, but not at AC, from somewhere inside of me I find a strength of spirit to tap into.  I learned from my failures that there is almost always a WAY, a How, but most importantly a WHY.   There where so many important people at AC that made it possible for me to finish.  These Crew and Pacers, I believe, gave me the ability to recognize that there is strength yet in me, that I can, and will continue.

                                                 Headed to the Finish @ AC100 

Kenny, Me(in Green shirt), Dave(white shirt),Randy(Black Shirt), John(the face!) at the Finish

2        Zion Training

    After Western States failure I hired a Coach to change my focus, and mix up my training.  Chris Vargo filled that role incredibly well.  He began to throw Speed training at me, and Hill repeats, Stride Workouts, and different types of back to back training runs. Thanks Chris!  My average speed on runs began to tick up a little quicker, and I began to have more confidence in my ability to run stronger, and longer. 

Photo Cred to my Wife....Beautiful Zion Pic!

    Looking for a 100 miler in 2016 I knew it had to be a Western States Qualifier.  The 2015 shirt still hangs in my closet, never worn, a reminder of unfinished business.  I happened upon Zion 100 on ultra-signup, looking at the course (eh not too tough), and the location (So Sweet!!!), I chose it for my next 100 mile adventure!  If you’ve ever hit that button of submit to run a long, tough, race, you know how the next few moments feel (excited, nervous, stoked, scared).  These are emotions that keep me feeling alive, and happy, so bring it on man!!!!!! 

                           On the Backbone Trail with John, headed toward Butt Crack Rock

     A little over month before the race I decided it would be appropriate to run 50 miles as a prep for Zion.  It so happens that in my own backyard there is a trail called the Backbone.  It totals 68 miles of the Santa Monica Mountains, with views of the Pacific Ocean starting at Will Rogers State Park and running through beautiful valleys and passes to Ray miller Campground just South of Camarillo, Ca.  My particular Journey would start at Stunt Rd, on an incredibly foggy morning.  I was lucky enough to Have Kenny, Tim, Dave, John, and Randy join me for parts of that 50 mile run to Ray miller.  We started in the full dark of that morning with headlights, headed up a little hill together laughing into those early morning hours. Our lights refracted off the beading dew on the plants looking like clusters of diamonds.  This perfectly cool morning start would set the tone for the rest of the day.  Just me and a sublime single track in front of me, surrounded by great people to share the miles.  Before I knew I knew it I was running 6min miles down to the beach at Ray Miller Whooping and Hollering my arrival(it was too foggy to see) to let my friends know I was coming!  If you can have a perfect day running, this was it for me.  Without feeling as though I was running a race, running happy wild and free I finished 50 miles in 10 hrs!  I was ready for Zion!  Oh yeah my hard work was done. Now all I had to do was show up in Virgin, strap my BIB on my chest like superman, and sail over the Mesas!?  Yeah that’s the ticket.  It’s as easy as that right?  Hmmm Maybe….. (And your thinking does this guy ever learn?!) Well I don’t learn so let’s move on….

                                                                 Race Prep time

    

      Fast forward to 2 weeks before race day, Chris Vargo had me on a nice couple weeks of taper, and honestly I was looking forward to backing off a smidgen (though I will say Chris’s “tapers” are much more aggressive than mine have ever been!)  I don’t know about you but the last couple weeks before a race, especially a big one, I get a little mental.  I’m worried about turning my ankle on “ALL” of my runs, or getting rest, or not running enough, or trying to figure out all the last minute details that need to be accomplished.  I’m surprised my wife actually lets me sleep in the bed with her…incessantly going on and on about Zion!!!!   Well maybe I’m not that bad(or I am)….So two Fridays before race day my wife Rebecca came home and had a terribly scratchy throat, couldn’t breathe through her nose and all in all felt like crap.  So of course in my pre-race mind I panicked.  I grabbed all the over the counter anti-sick things I could find.  Crammed them all into my body by the hour.   By Saturday afternoon I was as sick as a dog.  So two weeks out from Zion I stopped running completely, and just focused on healing up.    It gave me an entire week of phlegm splattering fun to consider how this stupid cold would affect my race.  Everything had been clicking until now, I’d felt supremely confident before this and now just a scotche of reality had hit me….my goal of sub 24 had gotten just that much harder.  I had to be thankful that I got sick the week before race, and not the week of!!!  Got to find that silver lining somewhere! 

                                  Zion Mesa Pic from the website!!! Looks Epic!!!

     Finally race week was upon me, I was on the mend and all my nervous energy was focused on just getting to Zion, have all my running gear, have my pacers lined up and just RUN already!  As I was working that week I constantly checked the weather, as I’m sure most of you do, for race day.  Just after doing so, and seeing possible rain in the forecast, I receive 3 very thorough, and daunting emails from the race director Matt Gunn, and other entities to inform us of race day conditions.  They went on to describe the overall mayhem and death possible on said clay, muddy Mesas.  They very thoughtfully offered us a deferred race entry to any of there events this, or next year.  They gave us a couple days to decide our fates….Show up run, possibly slide through muddy clay off a Mesa( hope not), or get lucky and just get a drop here and there of rain fall!  Obviously I decided to forego caution (we are runners right?), and show up come Hell or high water!! Yeah!!!   The gloriousness of extreme weather don’t faze me…I laugh in the face of dangerous elements…Bring it!!  Ok enough bravado, I had simply worked too long and hard to just not show up.  Let fate decide, the weather will be, what it will be. 

    April 7, 2016 flashed into existence, to find Becca, Kenny, and I headed north toward adventure unknown.  Becca’s Jeep was loaded to the gills with so much crap we could probably aid half the runners toeing the starting line, and I had packed enough ginger ale to quench the thirst of 2 full busloads of human.  9 hours later we arrived in Virgin, Utah, having only stopped to gas up, and stop at every stinking Starbucks between here and eternity (or better known as Simi Valley).   We ran over to the start/finish, I checked in grabbed my bib, and other odds and ends, and had a little of that pre-race nervous chatter with a couple fellow runners about the next morning’s jaunt into them hills!  Getting back to our campsite my crew, and I, got ourselves ready for the next day’s event!  My Papa-san (as I call him, names Philip but I don’t call him that) my other Dad, had joined us to help crew me.  We also stayed at the campground that Becca’s Dad, Rich had claimed earlier in the week.  Rich regaled us of his scouting of the Zion 100 course that he had ridden with his dirt bike.  At this point I was sipping on a nice Hoppy Sculpin, trying my best to appear attentive, and calm, the exact opposite the nervousness/anxiety that was building inside.  

     

The Campsite! My Papa-San, Becca, and Rich...

     

     Tomorrow I will toe the line of my 5^th 100 start.  For all the marbles (what does that saying mean anyway!?)….All my wildly active mind knew was that tomorrow was going to be epic, gorgeous, amazing, and probably hellaciously tough.  I also knew that I was blessed to have so many people who were joining my crew!  Rebecca my wife, Kenny R. great friend Crew/Pacer, Rich Redlin Father-in-Law dirt-biker, Tim M. Pacer Extraordinaire, Dave L. pacer Extraordinaire, and Papa-san Crew Captain!! I’m so blessed and thankful to have these people there to roll me towards the finish….Alright Flying Monkey(the first Mesa,i'm coming for ya!) tomorrow is the day….Finally!!!!!  Now a night full of sleep…right.

To Be Continued…..