It’s not like I started out thinking “I ought to run for 24 hrs straight”… I started trail running to stay in shape for skiiing and climbing, and enjoy time in the mountains. I kept pushing my distances, until I was putting in 17-18 miles on a “long run” and 6-7 on a “short run”. I learned about organized 50k trail races, gave one a try and found out that I enjoyed the process, so… I keep entering and running them. Then I got hooked up to pace Troy Robertson (longtallandslow.blogspot.com) on part of the Wasatch 100 mile race, (which took him 31hrs 59min). The entire environment was really cool, so I decided that might be a good goal. So… a good first step would be running for 24 hrs… logical, no?
Now enter my daughter Paislee, who wants to do something to make the world a better place, and I introduce her to the MORE Project (http://www.themoreproject.org/). We dropped by and talked to Valerie, and she mentioned the “MORE Expeditions”, and instantly, Paislee had her volunteer opportunity. Now she just needed a way to start raising funds… see the pending convergence?
So I pay my entry fee for the 24 hours of MOAB, and we start collecting pledges from anyone and everyone willing to support this combo of philanthropy and insanity. Sounded simple enough, but now the concept of logistics set in. I need support for the entire 24 hours including; pacers, food preparation, sleeping arrangements for the pacers and support crew, etc. I initially sent out a request for volunteer help to the entire IT department I work in, and WOW! I work with some great people! Not only did I get several pacers to help me through the run (Chandler Childs, Dan Eastman, and Bruce Arnett from IT, and Tina Walls from Excel Staffing), but also a crew chief (Steve Brigham from IT).
Even more impressive, Tina Walls is not only going to pace during my run, but she’s volunteered to take on the kitchen duties for the entire day! That’s a big task and one I am so glad I don’t have to figure out now!
All of this is just a big realization of how this is not just one guy going running for 24 hours; it’s an entire team of people coming together to help make it possible for one, philanthropically-minded young woman to make a difference in this world. I am, and will always be humbled by this kind of outpouring of support for a good cause. Thank you all!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
MORE Project Fundraiser!
Hi,
My name is Paislee Romney, I'm seventeen and even at my young age, I have learned that my greatest fulfillment comes from helping people in need. Whether they be friends or strangers, I completely believe that everyone should have opportunities to fulfill their highest potential, and sometimes a little help from others makes all the difference.
Just last year my friend Brad went to Peru on a humanitarian trip helping to build schools and I have wanted to do something just like that ever since. Having a wickedly amazing father, Vince Romney (UltraOldGuy), he was able to bring this totally awesome opportunity to me. The opportunity I've been given is called "The MORE Project," and it focuses on helping those less fortunate living in the slums of Rio in Brazil. MORE's goal is to get families and children who are in extreme poverty out of their situations permanently. I'll be spending two weeks in Brazil with the MORE Project helping them with their efforts which include building schools, homes, teaching life-skills, educating all ages, and much more so that those in poverty can get out of that cycle and do more with their own lives and help future generations. I will be doing certain fundraiser activities and events to collect money so we can go along with the MORE project to Brazil and be apart of the whole process.
The first fundraiser I'm having is a "Dollar per Mile" endurance running event. My dad is running a solo 24 hour endurance run in Moab on the 27th of March. I am asking you to pledge $1 for every mile he runs in those 24 hours. Now any amount of money will work, whether it be a dime per mile or five dollars per mile. I am grateful for anything you can donate, as it gets me closer to being able to help the MORE project. During the event I will be putting updates of the run in this blog and I'll also be tweeting. We'll include the amount of miles, fun pictures, video and just anything else that goes on during his run.
If you are interested at all in helping us, stay tuned to our blog and we'll have a link setup on our page where you can pledge. I would also like your help with ideas. If you have any great ideas for Fundraiser events please post a reply to this blog. I will be 100% grateful for any good ideas you can come up with for raising money. And not only will I be thankful, but those families and children in Brazil the MORE Project helps will be too because you made it possible. Thank you so much for looking into this and I look forward to hearing your ideas and seeing you donate.
Thanks,
Pais
My name is Paislee Romney, I'm seventeen and even at my young age, I have learned that my greatest fulfillment comes from helping people in need. Whether they be friends or strangers, I completely believe that everyone should have opportunities to fulfill their highest potential, and sometimes a little help from others makes all the difference.
Just last year my friend Brad went to Peru on a humanitarian trip helping to build schools and I have wanted to do something just like that ever since. Having a wickedly amazing father, Vince Romney (UltraOldGuy), he was able to bring this totally awesome opportunity to me. The opportunity I've been given is called "The MORE Project," and it focuses on helping those less fortunate living in the slums of Rio in Brazil. MORE's goal is to get families and children who are in extreme poverty out of their situations permanently. I'll be spending two weeks in Brazil with the MORE Project helping them with their efforts which include building schools, homes, teaching life-skills, educating all ages, and much more so that those in poverty can get out of that cycle and do more with their own lives and help future generations. I will be doing certain fundraiser activities and events to collect money so we can go along with the MORE project to Brazil and be apart of the whole process.
The first fundraiser I'm having is a "Dollar per Mile" endurance running event. My dad is running a solo 24 hour endurance run in Moab on the 27th of March. I am asking you to pledge $1 for every mile he runs in those 24 hours. Now any amount of money will work, whether it be a dime per mile or five dollars per mile. I am grateful for anything you can donate, as it gets me closer to being able to help the MORE project. During the event I will be putting updates of the run in this blog and I'll also be tweeting. We'll include the amount of miles, fun pictures, video and just anything else that goes on during his run.
If you are interested at all in helping us, stay tuned to our blog and we'll have a link setup on our page where you can pledge. I would also like your help with ideas. If you have any great ideas for Fundraiser events please post a reply to this blog. I will be 100% grateful for any good ideas you can come up with for raising money. And not only will I be thankful, but those families and children in Brazil the MORE Project helps will be too because you made it possible. Thank you so much for looking into this and I look forward to hearing your ideas and seeing you donate.
Thanks,
Pais
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
“Red Hot” 50k not exactly “Hot”
So I finally “get” the joke of the Red Hot 50k… it’s COLD in Moab! And not just cold, it was 12 degrees Fahrenheit at the start of the race (8:00). And there was snow… a LOT of snow. I was completely surprised by the snow. I always knew there was some snow in Moab during the winter, I was even snowed off the Kor-Ingalls route on Castleton Tower one year, but I never saw it “stick” in any quantity.
This year was apparently a tad heavier than usual, as nearly the entire climb to the top of “Metal Masher” was in a foot or more of grainy, non-packing snow that was more like sand
than snow. Every step was unstable, slippery, and was often accompanied by a “near fall” where every muscle in my body worked overtime to simply maintain balance. I stopped and shot this photo of the race start from the rim trail as I ran towards the second aid station. The snow here was well over a foot deep, and I must have rolled my ankles a dozen times each. A couple of near falls caused me to strain my left knee to the point where every step became more and more painful as the run continued.
By the time I made it to the aid station at about mile 18 (11:45), my knee was swollen and seriously painful. The course marshal at the junction had run the course several times and warned me that to continue would be a potential problem as extraction past this aid station was difficult at best if things worsened. As I contemplated her comments, I also thought about the fact that the 24 hrs of Moab at the end of March would be at risk if I seriously injured myself, and that race is more than just a race... it’s a fund-raiser for my daughter to be able to volunteer for the MORE project expedition, and I didn’t want to jeopardize that, so it was time to call it a day.
The course marshal I spoke with asked me to drive her car into Moab when I got back to the start (I would ride back with the aid station volunteer), and that seemed pretty reasonable, so I hung out in the sun and took a nap on the warm sand. Funny how 38 degrees can feel “warm”. When we finally arrived at the start at 2:00, I gimped to her car, climbed in, and I discovered… it has a manual transmission. Every time I pushed the clutch in I was reminded that particular motion was exactly what my knee didn’t want any of.
After making it to Moab, my wonderful and very patient wife drove the entire way home so I could keep my knee iced and get an early start on recovery. Now, three days later, I’m really feeling the net effect… my training was pretty good for a 50k race, but it was inadequate for the conditions. All of the small muscles in my legs that are responsible for stabilizing are completely wasted. My big muscle groups feel fine, but even my hip stabilizers, abs, back and neck are far more sore than I would expect, and I believe all due to the constant effort they expended to keep me from falling as I ran through that snow.
I always look back and analyze my runs, regardless of how they went, just to see if there's anything I can learn. I really think I could have avoided any injury buy just pulling back to a walk for the entire climb up Metal Masher and down to Aid 2. Instead, I kept checking my watch and tied to keep my pace up. I also think my training program is lacking in stability training. Even the guys at Lifetime have told me that, but fitting it all in is tough.
Oh well. I’ll chalk it up to experience, I'll include some stability training as a regular component of my regimen… and I’ll wait till next year for a Red Hot success.
This year was apparently a tad heavier than usual, as nearly the entire climb to the top of “Metal Masher” was in a foot or more of grainy, non-packing snow that was more like sand
than snow. Every step was unstable, slippery, and was often accompanied by a “near fall” where every muscle in my body worked overtime to simply maintain balance. I stopped and shot this photo of the race start from the rim trail as I ran towards the second aid station. The snow here was well over a foot deep, and I must have rolled my ankles a dozen times each. A couple of near falls caused me to strain my left knee to the point where every step became more and more painful as the run continued.By the time I made it to the aid station at about mile 18 (11:45), my knee was swollen and seriously painful. The course marshal at the junction had run the course several times and warned me that to continue would be a potential problem as extraction past this aid station was difficult at best if things worsened. As I contemplated her comments, I also thought about the fact that the 24 hrs of Moab at the end of March would be at risk if I seriously injured myself, and that race is more than just a race... it’s a fund-raiser for my daughter to be able to volunteer for the MORE project expedition, and I didn’t want to jeopardize that, so it was time to call it a day.
The course marshal I spoke with asked me to drive her car into Moab when I got back to the start (I would ride back with the aid station volunteer), and that seemed pretty reasonable, so I hung out in the sun and took a nap on the warm sand. Funny how 38 degrees can feel “warm”. When we finally arrived at the start at 2:00, I gimped to her car, climbed in, and I discovered… it has a manual transmission. Every time I pushed the clutch in I was reminded that particular motion was exactly what my knee didn’t want any of.
After making it to Moab, my wonderful and very patient wife drove the entire way home so I could keep my knee iced and get an early start on recovery. Now, three days later, I’m really feeling the net effect… my training was pretty good for a 50k race, but it was inadequate for the conditions. All of the small muscles in my legs that are responsible for stabilizing are completely wasted. My big muscle groups feel fine, but even my hip stabilizers, abs, back and neck are far more sore than I would expect, and I believe all due to the constant effort they expended to keep me from falling as I ran through that snow.
I always look back and analyze my runs, regardless of how they went, just to see if there's anything I can learn. I really think I could have avoided any injury buy just pulling back to a walk for the entire climb up Metal Masher and down to Aid 2. Instead, I kept checking my watch and tied to keep my pace up. I also think my training program is lacking in stability training. Even the guys at Lifetime have told me that, but fitting it all in is tough.
Oh well. I’ll chalk it up to experience, I'll include some stability training as a regular component of my regimen… and I’ll wait till next year for a Red Hot success.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Dialed In
The constant "tweaking" I referenced in the last post has continued, but after my last couple of runs, I honestly think I have the left foot totally dialed in, and am really close to getting the right foot dialed in too. The real fun part is ahead... Once I get these dialed in, I'm going to go visit Dr. Seegmiller and ask the loaded question: Can my orthotics be re-done to accommodate the tweaks so I don't have "franken-footbeds"? You'd think so for the price, but... stay tuned.
I'm also totally psyched for the Red Hot 50K! (http://mas50.com/redhot/) Several other Ultra Runners I know will be there and it'll be great to meet up again after the several months since the last race. I never really think I'm going to be all that pumped up about a race, but then a couple weeks out it starts to build and just keeps growing till race day. Honestly, it's that feeling that really drives me from race to race, and keeps my training relatively consistent. It's a great space to be in, and one I certainly hope to stay in for a long, long time.
I'm also totally psyched for the Red Hot 50K! (http://mas50.com/redhot/) Several other Ultra Runners I know will be there and it'll be great to meet up again after the several months since the last race. I never really think I'm going to be all that pumped up about a race, but then a couple weeks out it starts to build and just keeps growing till race day. Honestly, it's that feeling that really drives me from race to race, and keeps my training relatively consistent. It's a great space to be in, and one I certainly hope to stay in for a long, long time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
