Western States 100 - Week 5

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices, and I praise Him with my song." Psalm 28:7D -11 and counting! This was the first week of tapering going into the big race. The goal was to try and reduce my miles by 25% and I was able to accomplish that with a 45 mile week and some pretty good running. The body is in pretty good shape, nothing is bothering me at the moment. I kept my pace slower this week , in an effort to keep anything from breaking.

Last Friday I unofficially retired from the Marine Corps, I am actually on a period of terminal leave with a final retirement date of 1 September. So this week I got to enjoy some low stress taskers around the house as well as some easy running. Monday I got out to the Bull Run Conservancy and ran a solid hill routine for about 8 miles. While I was running my dad and son had the chance to get in some hiking in the Bull Run mountains.

Tuesday I had plans of running 10 miles around the battlefield but a nasty thunderstorm cut that short and I ended up logging 6 miles of very soggy running. I took Wednesday off and ran 15 on the Bull Run-Occoquan trail on Thursday morning. I ran this at a 10:30mpm pace and felt real good at the end. The trail was in pretty bad shape from all of the ran we had the week prior.

Friday I took a 7 mile run in the neighborhood and tried out a new pair of Nike Lunartrainer road shoes that I had sent to me by a College classmate and Nike Running representative. Thanks Phil, the shoes felt great and even though I don’t do much road running these will be the shoe of choice for those kind of runs.

Saturday was my last run in the Virginia area prior to heading west and it was fitting that I ran out at the Bull Run Battlefield. As I have said in previous posts, this has become my favorite place to run and this last 10 mile run was just the send off that I needed going into the Western States.

Sunday my dad and I loaded up the car with 4 kids and started the drive out to Colorado. The kids are going to camp and I will be able to get some altitude acclimatization as well as a couple of good mountain runs. We are planning on driving out to Squaw Valley starting next Tuesday, arriving on Wednesday. Right know all systems are go and the Lord continues to watch over me. I need to stay focused and healthy, continue to plan and study the course and remember where my strength comes from. Run Strong!

God Bless and Semper Fi,
Huffer

Training for 8-14 June: Weekly Mi (45.6), June Mi (104), 2009 Mi (1149.2)

Mon: 8.1 mi- Bull Run Conservancy
Tues: 6.1 mi- Bull Run Battlefield
Wed: Off
Thurs: 15 mi- Bull Run-Occoquan Trail
Fri: 7 mi- Neighborhood
Sat: 9.4 mi- Bull Run Battlefield
Sun: Off